Internal Administration
The empress Anna, in thus suddenly concluding a peace with Turkey, was actuated by a still stronger motive than that which was supplied by the desertion of Austria. She justly apprehended that Sweden, influenced by the intrigues of France, who had now attained a decided ascendency in the councils of Stockholm, would endeavour to distract Russia in the north, while the main body of her army was occupied with the Porte on the south. Secret negotiations, carried on between the three powers, appeared to confirm this suspicion. It was true that, at the conclusion of the last war, Russia and Sweden had entered into an amnesty for twelve years, which was renewed for a similar period, on its expiration in the year 1736. But this amnesty served only as a thin disguise for the rankling and bitter hostility which the Swedes entertained towards Russia. They had not forgotten the protracted and ruinous struggle between Charles XII and Peter I, which convulsed the whole kingdom and exhausted its resources; nor the sacrifices which they were compelled to make at the Peace of Nystad. These feelings were assiduously cultivated by the French court, which found easy means of securing a strong party in the national council, which in fact was paramount in Sweden, the king being completely under its control. The empress, warned of this increasing desire for a rupture on the part of Sweden, was the more anxious to come to terms with Turkey, that she might be free to act in Finland and that neighbourhood, should it become necessary.
Anna was evidently guided in the whole course of her policy by the example of Peter I, whom she adopted as her model. Fortunate in the choice of at least two of her advisers—Ostermann in the council of state, and Munich at the head of the army—she persevered in her attempts to complete those projects of improvement which her great predecessor had left unfinished. The canal connected with the Lake of Ladoga, which was designed to facilitate the transport of provisions to St. Petersburg, was brought to a close by her in the year 1738. She also fitted out an expedition to sail from Kamchatka towards the north, for the purpose of determining whether Siberia was connected with North America.
The manufacture and commerce of Russia, too, commanded a large share of her attention. She instructed her ambassadors at foreign courts to make vigilant inquiries after the most skilful persons engaged in those trades in which Russia was most deficient; and by this means she was enabled to draw into her dominions a great number of artisans, particularly those who were experienced in the production of such fabrics as silks and woollen stuffs. In furtherance of these views she entered into a treaty of commerce with Great Britain, from which the industry of her people derived a fresh and invigorating stimulus. It may be observed, also, that she increased the numerical population by the return of the Zaparogian Cossacks to their allegiance, shortly after the opening of the campaign in the Crimea, which they had forfeited by the rebellion of Mazeppa; and that she enlarged her territories by the acquisition of the province inhabited by the Kirghiz, a nomad tribe, on the Chinese borders. This latter accession was of great importance, from the protection it afforded to the frontiers against the incursions to which they had hitherto been continually exposed: while it not only created a new trade with the Kirghiz themselves, but gave greater freedom to the commercial intercourse with China, which had been constantly interrupted by these hostilities.
Biron the Favourite
Throughout her life Anna placed unreserved confidence in a favourite who, rising from a humble station in society to the first place in the councils of his sovereign, at last aspired to the illicit possession of her affections. John Ernest Biron, the son of a gamekeeper in Courland, happening to attract the attention of the duchess, was appointed her private secretary. From this post he was elevated to the more important office of chamberlain; and even then it was rumoured that he stood higher in her grace’s favour than was consistent with the position which he nominally occupied. When the council elected his mistress to the imperial throne, it was stipulated that Biron should not be suffered to accompany her into Russia; and one of the conditions of the capitulation restricted her from marrying, or choosing an heir, without the consent of the council and senate. The empress, accepting the sovereignty under these limitations, left Biron at Mittau, when she came to St. Petersburg; but she had no sooner abrogated the stipulations within which her power was restrained, than Biron appeared at court, was created a Russian count, appointed first lord of the bedchamber, and raised at once to the same eminence which he had occupied before. Some years previously he had succeeded in prevailing on the nobility of Courland to confer upon him the title of duke; and when the Kettler family became extinct by the death of the duke of Courland, he procured that dignity from the hands of the electors for himself and his heirs in perpetuity.
Thus glittering with honours, which at best were but surreptitiously obtained, he took upon himself at once in St. Petersburg the character of one who wielded an absolute authority. He was careful, however, not to offend Ostermann or Munich, because, possessing no abilities for government himself, he was obliged to rely upon them as the instruments of his power. It was supposed that the Turkish war was undertaken at the instigation of this daring man, for the purpose of keeping Munich at a distance from the capital—that officer having attained in a high degree the confidence of the empress. By the most adroit measures Biron contrived to remove from a familiar intercourse at court everybody who might be likely to interfere with his ambitious designs. Apprehensive that the empress, freed from the control of the council, might entertain thoughts of marriage, he assiduously limited all opportunities that could lead to such a result; and even attempted to prevent a union between the princess Anna and Ulrich duke of Brunswick, the object of which had reference to the succession. In this scheme, however, the machinations of Biron were defeated, and the marriage was celebrated in the month of July, 1739. This event seriously interfered with the projects of the favourite; but his ingenuity was not exerted in vain in the attempt to derive profit from circumstances which at first seemed so discouraging.
Death of Anna (1740 A.D.); the Succession
[1740 A.D.]
