ce as if they were new men,
belonging to a new age--one marked by a new and higher civilization
than they had been accustomed to in former years. The effect which was
produced by this simple change was very marked--so great is the
influence of dress and other outward symbols on the sentiments of the
mind and on the character.

Peter had made a somewhat similar change to this, in the case of his
household troops and private body-guard, at the suggestion of General
Le Fort, some time previous to this period, but now he carried the same
reform into effect in respect to his whole army.

In addition to these improvements in the dress and discipline of the
men, Peter adopted an entirely new system in officering his troops. A
great many of the old officers--all those who were proved or even
suspected of being hostile to him and to his measures--had been
beheaded or sent into banishment, and others still had been dismissed
from the service. Peter filled all these vacant posts by bringing
forward and appointing the sons of the nobility, making his selections
from those families who were either already inclined to his side, or
who he supposed might be brought over by the influence of appointments
and honors conferred upon their sons.

Of course, the great object of the Czar in thus reorganizing his army
and increasing the military strength of the empire was not the more
effectual protection of the country from foreign enemies, or from any
domestic violence which might threaten to disturb the peace or endanger
the property of the public, but only the confirming and perpetuating
his own power as the sovereign ruler of it. It is true that such
potentates as Peter really desire that the countries over which they
rule should prosper, and should increase in wealth and population; but
then they do this usually only as the proprietor of an estate might
wish to improve his property, that is, simply with an eye to his own
interest as the owner of it. In reforming his army, and placing it, as
he did, on a new and far more efficient footing than before, Peter's
main inducement was to increase and secure his own power. He wished
also, doubtless, to preserve the peace of the country, in order that
the inhabitants might go on regularly in the pursuit of their
industrial occupations, for their ability to pay the taxes required for
the large revenues which he wished to raise would increase or diminish,
he knew very well, just in proporti