s the saint
from whom she is named as her patron saint, and the fete-day of this
saint, instead of her own birth-day, is the anniversary which is
celebrated in honor of her.

CHAPTER II.

THE PRINCESS'S DOWNFALL.

1684-1869

Sophia at the height of her power--Military expeditions--The Cham of
Tartary--Mazeppa--Origin and history--His famous punishment--Subsequent
history--The war unsuccessful--Sophia's artful policy--Rewards and
honors to the army--The opposition--Their plans--Reasons for the
proposed marriage--The intended wife--Motives of politicians--Results
of Peter's marriage--Peter's country house--Return of Galitzin--The
princess's alarm--The Cossacks--Sophia's plot--The commander of the
Guards--Prince Galitzin--Details of the plot--Manner in which the plot
was discovered--Messengers dispatched--The sentinels--The detachment
arrives--Peter's place of refuge--Sophia's pretenses--The
Guards--Sophia attempts to secure them--They adhere to the cause of
Peter--Sophia's alarm--Her first deputation--Failure of the
deputation--Sophia appeals to the patriarch--His mission
fails--Sophia's despair--Her final plans--She is repulsed from the
monastery--The surrender of Thekelavitaw demanded--He is brought to
trial--He is put to the torture--His confessions--Value of them--Modes
of torture applied--Various punishments inflicted--Galitzin is
banished--His son shares his fate--Punishment of Thekelavitaw--Decision
in respect to Sophia--Peter's public entry into Moscow--He gains sole
power--Character and condition of John--Subsequent history of Sophia

The Princess Sophia was now in full possession of power, so that she
reigned supreme in the palaces and in the capital, while, of course,
the ordinary administration of the affairs of state, and the relations
of the empire with foreign nations, were left to Galitzin and the other
ministers. It was in 1684 that she secured possession of this power,
and in 1689 her regency came to an end, so that she was, in fact, the
ruler of the Russian empire for a period of about five years.

During this time one or two important military expeditions were set on
foot by her government. The principal was a campaign in the southern
part of the empire for the conquest of the Crimea, which country,
previous to that time, had belonged to the Turks. Poland was at that
period a very powerful kingdom, and the Poles, having become involved
in a war with the Turks, proposed to the Russian