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1718.

ment, that I will not punish you; and if you will submit to my Will, and be obedient to me now, upon your Return, I will love you more than I have ever done. But if not, by Virtue of the Power I have received from God, as a Father, I lay upon you my eternal Curfe, for the Contempt and Offences you have committed against your Father; and as your Sovereign, I affure you, that I fhall find Means to deal with you under that Capacity, in which, I hope that God will affift me, and take my juft Defence in Hand.

Laftly, remember that I have offered you no Violence in any Thing. Was it requifite that I fhould leave it to your free Choice to take what Part you pleafed? If I had been inclined to force you, had I not Power in my Hand to have done it? I need only to command, and I should have been obey'd.

Signed in the Original,

PETER.

The Czarewitz wrote the following Letter from
Naples, to his Czarian Majesty, on the 4th of
October, 1717.

I

Moft Clement Lord and Father,

Have received your Majefty's most gracious

Letter, by Meffieurs Tolstoi and Rumanzow, in which, as alfo by Word of Mouth, I am moft graciously affured of Pardon, for having fled without your Permiffion, in cafe I return. I give you moft hearty Thanks with Tears in my Eyes, and own myfelf unworthy of all Favour; I throw myfelf at your Feet, and im

plore

plore your Clemency, and befeech you to pardon my Crimes, who have deferved all kind of Punishment. Eut I rely upon your gracious Affurances; and fubmitting to your Pleasure, fhall fet out immediately from Naples, to attend your Majefty at Petersburgh, with those whom your Majesty has fent.

Your most humble and unworthy Servant, who
deferves not to be called your SON,

ALEXIS.

On the 3d of February, of the present Year 1718, the Czarewitz was brought to Moscow by Meffieurs Tolstoi and Rumanzow, and carried before his Czarian Majefty, into the great Hall of the Castle, where, in the Presence of all the People, he made Confeffion of his voluntary Flight, and at the fame Time prefented a Writing under his Hand, drawn up in the following Terms.

Moft Clement Lord and Father,

FTER having acknowledged my Tranf

greffion before you, my Father, and my Lord, I here present you with the Confeffion of my Crimes, I fent from Naples. I now farther confefs, that I have tranfgreffed the Duties of a Son and a Subject, in flying, and throwing myself under the Emperor's Protection, and in fuing for his Support. I humbly beg your gracious Pardon and Mercy.

Your most bumble and helpless Servant, un-
worthy to be called your Son,

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ALEXIS.

His

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His Majefty then declared to him, That it was his Will he fhould truly declare all the Particulars and Circumftances of his Escape; who had advised it, with whatever bore any Relation to it: That if he told the Truth without Disguise, Referve, and Restriction, he would grant him his Pardon. But that if he did not make a full Difcovery, and name all the Perfons who were Accomplices of the Fact, or fhould conceal any Thing relating to it, the Promife fhould be void and of no Effect.

Whereupon the Czarewitz promised and engaged to his Czarian Majefty, to declare the whole Truth, as before God, without any Diffimulation; and he kiffed the Holy Gospels, and the Holy Crofs before the Altar of the Cathedral Church, in Teftimony of the Promise he had made of a full Discovery.

He then gave his Majefty to understand in the fame Cathedral Church, That he had been obliged by the Imperial Court to write three Letters, two to the Archbishops, and one to the Senate, upon Account of his leaving the Country, the Contents of which fhall be afterwards explained.

On the 4th of February his Czarian Majesty wrote as follows, with reference to the Articles given to the Czarewitz.

AS

S you received your Pardon Yesterday, on Condition of difcovering all the Circumstances of your Efcape, and whatsoever relates to it; and to fuffer Death if you should conceal or diffemble any Thing; you then explained yourself in fome Points by Word of

Mouth.

Mouth.

But for more Satisfaction, and for your full Discharge, do it alfo in Writing, in the following Order.

I.

Was there any premeditated Defign in the Answer you gave to the Letter you received from me upon the Interment of your Spouse, or in your Reply to what I afterwards wrote upon the fame Subject? And as you always defired to go into a Convent, both by your Letters, and Difcourfe when I took leave of you before my Departure from Petersburgh, and it is now clear that all this was no other than Diffimulation on your Side; tell me with whom you contrived it, and who are thofe that know you acted only with a Design to deceive me?

The Czarewitz gave in the following Answer to his Czarian Majefty upon thefe Articles, and figned it with his own Hands.

I

The Answer to the first and following Points.

Moft Clement Lord and Father,

Communicated and read the Letters I received from your Majefty, after the Interment of my Spouse, to Alexander Kikin and Nicephorus Wafenfki; and confulted both of them in particular. 'Tis poffible they might have Confidence in each other, however they were confulted separately.

They advised me to renounce the Succeffion, and even to demand to be discharged from it, by Reason of my bad Health. I was alfo de

C 2

firous

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1718. firous of it myself, and wrote fincerely, and without Artifice, or Ill-meaning. For why fhould I take that upon me, I was not able to bear?

The fame Perfons also advised me to retire into a Convent, and to fay that I was minded, by this Means, to discharge myself of the Burthen of the Succeffion.

They spoke thus to me, If there is no other Remedy, the furest Way is to go into a Convent, as this will deprive you of the Succeffion.

They fpoke in the fame Manner upon the Occafion of your taking leave, and told me, that to comply with what had been concerted, I muft fay the fame Thing I had written, even tho' I had no Defign to put it in Execution, as I have already declared by Word of Mouth. And as you, my Lord, then told me, that I ought maturely to confider the Defign I declared myfelf refolved upon of retiring into a Monaftery, I was in hopes I could have delayed the Matter.

ALEXANDER KIKIN took a Journey to Carlsbad, not long after your Departure from Peterburgh, and about a Fortnight before (for I was at my Country-Houfe when he fet out) he told me he was going to feek a Place for me Some where or other, and I expected notice from him, as defigning to make my Escape.

I have clearly expreffed myself upon what relates to my Efcape under the third Article of my Interrogatory.

To return to the Time of my first Answer to your Letter.

*This he wrote fraudulently, as it afterwards appeared.

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