Russian Peasant Woman
In the August following, the duchess of Brunswick became the mother of a prince, who was immediately taken by the empress under her own guardianship and nominated to be her successor. This proceeding, apparently founded upon some show of justice, was in reality the result of a deep-laid conspiracy. The empress was in a declining state of health, and it was felt that she could not long continue to exercise the sovereignty. In this state of things, it became necessary to provide a successor by an authentic act that could not afterwards be called into question. Biron aimed at the concentration of the imperial power in his own hands; but as an open declaration to that effect would have provoked animosities dangerous to his safety, it was arranged that the young prince, then but a few weeks old, should be nominated to the throne, and that Biron should be appointed regent during the minority of Ivan. Ostermann and Munich, relying upon the future gratitude of Biron, favoured this crafty design. Biron coquetted for a time with the dignities which he was solicited to accept; and pretended at last that, in undertaking the toils of the regency, he yielded to the importunities of others at the sacrifice of his own private wishes.
The extent of the power thus delegated to him was specified in the provisions of the will of the empress, which ordained that he should be the administrator of government until the emperor Ivan had attained his seventeenth year; and that, should Ivan die before that time, Biron should continue guardian to Ivan’s brethren, born after him, who should succeed him on the throne; but that, should neither Ivan nor any of his brethren survive, then Biron, with the concurrence of the state, should elect and confirm a new emperor as unlimited monarch. This was the final injunction of the czarina, who died in 1740.[b]
A Russian Estimate of Anna and of Biron
Contemporaneous writers are unanimous in asserting that, during her entire reign, Anna Ivanovna was not only under the influence, but, so to say, under the domination of her favourite. On the basis of such authorities it therefore became customary to ascribe to Biron and the Germans who were grouped around him all the cruelties and coarseness that characterised her reign. But if we subject this question to a dispassionate and severe criticism it would appear that such an accusation of Biron—and in general of the Germans who governed with him—has no firm foundation. It is impossible to ascribe all the character of the reign to a German clique, because those Germans who were at the head of the government did not constitute a united corporation, but each of them followed his own personal interests; they were envious of one another and at enmity each with the rest.
Biron was a somewhat narrow-minded egotist, incapable of attracting any circle around him; his power rested exclusively on the personal favour of the empress; and therefore, as soon as Anna Ivanovna’s eyes were closed forever, her former favourite had no sure ground to go upon, and although his deceased mistress had made his position secure yet he was not able to maintain it a month without her. There is no contemporary indication that the cruelties which signalised the reign of Anna emanated from Biron or that they were accomplished at his initiative.
Moreover, the cruelties and in general the harsh measures which signalised the reign of Anna Ivanovna were not an exclusive characteristic of that epoch; they did not begin to make their appearance in Russia with her and did not cease with her. The administration of Peter the Great was signalised by persecutions even more cruel and harsh of everything opposed to the supreme power. The actions of Prince Romodanovski in accordance with the Preobrajenski edict were in no wise milder or more humane than those of Andrew Ivanovitch Uskakov in the secret chancery. On the other hand, similar features of cruelty and contempt for human dignity are to be met with after Anna Ivanovna under Elizabeth Petrovna. Therefore we do not hesitate to say that all that disturbs us in the reign of Anna should not be ascribed to the empress herself, nor to her favourite, the duke of Courland, but to the whole age in which such occurrences took place. On the contrary, if we separate from that which belongs to the age what we may justly ascribe to the empress herself and the statesmen of her time, we come to a conclusion which is more to the advantage and credit of the government of the epoch than to its condemnation. Many dispositions of the government of that time in matters of interior policy were accomplished in the spirit of Peter the Great and it was not in vain that Anna Ivanovna confided the affairs of the state to the wise and gifted “fledgelings” of Peter. Thanks to them, in many respects the reign of Anna may be called a continuation of the glorious reign of her great uncle: in general the life of Russia moved forward and was not stagnant. The people of Russia suffered from bad harvests during the reign, besides other various accidental calamities, as for instance fires and robbers; for all such evils, of course, the governments of the period cannot be blamed, and there is no doubt that measures were taken to alleviate the distress of the people.[c]
THE NOMINAL REIGN OF IVAN VI (1740-1741 A.D.)
For a short time after the death of Anna (1740) Biron maintained an autocratic rule, assuming the title of His Highness, Regent of the Russian Empire. But finally the people, jealous of seeing the administration of the imperial rule confided to the hands of a foreigner—and one too who, instead of exhibiting a sympathy in their interests, treated them with the most flagrant tyranny—betrayed universal discontent at the new order of things. It was held to be a direct act of injustice to debar the duke of Brunswick from the guardianship of his son; and a formidable party now rapidly sprang up, prepared to espouse the rights of that prince. The popular disaffection increased on all sides; but Biron had established his spies in every direction, and was unsparing in the punishments which he inflicted upon all those persons whom he had reason to believe inimical to his government. The streets groaned with the cries of the victims of the knout; the people fled before him, or, in an agony of fear, prostrated themselves upon the earth as he advanced; and the dungeons were filled with the unhappy objects of his suspicions. It was calculated that, throughout the period of his authority, including the reign of the empress Anna, no less than twenty thousand persons were exiled to Siberia.
At length the smothered flame broke out, and the demands in favour of Duke Ulrich took an affirmative shape. Count Munich, disappointed in his expectations by the hypocritical Biron, warmly embarked on the other side; and, by still affecting to be the friend of the regent, he was enabled to render essential service in the revolution which was now swiftly encircling the walls of the palace. The confidence which the military placed in Munich gave increased importance to his services; and, as he found that he had nothing to expect from the regent, he attached himself zealously to Duke Ulrich in the anticipation that he would ultimately be rewarded with the chief command of the army, which was the station he had long eagerly desired to obtain.