COXE’s TRAVELS IN RUSSIA.

737

a dofe of poifon to be prepared for his fon at a chemift’s fhop, and that Marffial Weydewould openly fend for it without the leaf: myftery ? May we not rather infer that thepotion was a medicine fimilar to thofe which had been already prefcribed for the Prince,who had for fome time been extremely indifpofed ? The fright of the chemift mightproceed from his delivering a medicine for the Tzarovitch, who was Paid to be in theagonies of death; as in a defpotic country, and under fuch a fovereign as Peter, hisown fafety might be involved in the cataftrophe. The agitation of Marffial Weyde willbe dill more fatisfa&orily accounted for; if, according to Bufching, he was preparingto perform, or had already performed the execution.

The principal circumftance which feems to contradict the opinion that he was be-headed is, that if Bruce’s narrative is to be depended upon, the Prince, when he fellafterwards into repeated convulfions, was vifited by the phyficians; and yet, if Buf-ching’s account can be relied on, he mud have been already beheaded ; as MarihalWeyde, according to Bruce, had finally quitted the fortrefs. But it is poffible that thephyficians, although ordered to attend the Prince, might be prevented from feeing him ;it is poffible that Marffial Weyde might have feci-etly returned to the fortrefs withoutthe knowledge of Colonel Bruce ; it is poffible that Bruce himfelf, as being an intimatefriend of the Marffial, might have been entrufted with the fecret, but was unwilling torecord, in his Memoirs, fo horrid a cataftrophe, which was totally repugnant to the ma-nifefto of the Emperor. When the fecret execution of the heir apparent in a defpoticempire becomes the fubjeCt of inquiry, it muft always be difficult to afcertain the truth;and it would be unreafonable to expert that no contradictory circumftances ffiould occurin the different relations of fuch a myfterious tranfaftion; when even in the moft com-mon occurrences, no two perfons would relate the fame event precifely in the famemanner.

Catharine is not free from fufpicion of being concerned in this horrid affair, becaufeher fon by Peter was declared fucceffor, and becaufe Tolftoi, to whom the managementof the procefs and private examination of Alexey were chiefly entrufted, was a creatureof Mentchikof. This accufation of Catharine could be only a mere furmife, and herinterference, if Ihe really interfered, muft have been fo fecret as not to have been dif-covered. Peter himfelf exculpated her, openly teftifying *, that fhe interceded for hisfon’s life, and requefted, that initead of being put to death, he might be confined in aconvent. Not to mention that fuch proceedings militate ftrongly againft the well knownhumanity of Catharine ; there was no occafion to irritate the favage temper of Peter,too much inclined to inflidft the fevereft pu'niffiment upon his fon, who threatened todeftroy in a moment that vaft fabric of glory and power which he had employedyears in erecting. The monarch who could himfelf attend the infliction of torture,who had occalionally performed the office of executioner, and who even orderedthe firft partner of his bed to be fcourged, would not require any incitement tocommand the execution of a fon, whom he had publicly treated with the moft inhumanferocity.

A note, written with Peter’s own hand to Count Romanzof, who, in conjunctionWith Tolftoi, brought the unfortunate Alexey from Naples, will difplay the inflexiblefpirit of that Monarch, who forgot the feelings of a father in his anxiety for the publicgood. “ I grant you the ranks of fnajor-general and lieutenant-general, and the eftatesof Alexander Kikin and Kuril Matuihkin |, in confideration of the fignal fervice which

* Baffevitz.

+ Two of Alexey’s unfortunate adherents, who with many others were executed upon this occafion.

vol vi. 5 s you