Read Ebook: Wonderful Development of Peter the Great's Pet Projects according to His Last Will and Testament. American Invention as an Aid to Russia's Grasp on Asiatic Territory. by Gannon W Peter I Emperor Of Russia Contributor

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"The two steamers, together with one barge and a lifting dock, are finished, ready for shipment. Captain Boutakoff left Liverpool March 25 .

"Your Imperial Highness' humble servant,

"JOSEPH FRANCIS."

"MARINE MINISTRY OF THE SHIPBUILDING DEP'T. }

March 31, 1861--No. 189. }

"The letter which you addressed to His Imperial Highness the Grand Duke, General Admiral, on the 25th March, with which you presented to His Imperial Highness two drawings of corrugated iron steamers, has been sent to this committee, with a resolution from the Ministry of Marine, stating that His Imperial Highness desired his thanks to you. The committee has the honor to inform you thereof.

"Manager, BELLARMSKY. "THE PRESIDENT.

Major-General CHERNOFSKY."

"FORT NO. 1, SYR DARIAH, July 2, 1862.

"DEAR MR. FRANCIS--The new steamers of my flotilla, built at your works at Liverpool, are not yet launched, but I hope to accomplish it in about a month. The boilers, on account of the great difficulty of transporting them across the Desert, will not arrive before the middle of August, so that I shall not have sufficient time to employ the new steamers this year, but will give them a trial upon the Syr Dariah. The parts of the pontoon dock will be here about the end of August, giving us time to put them together next winter.

"With a hearty shake hands, and my sincere sympathies with your northern countrymen, of whose victories I congratulate you.

"I remain, yours most truly,

"A. BOUTAKOFF."

On the launching of the steamers, the Emperor congratulated Mr. Francis on the success of the invention by which the first obstacle that barred the way to the conquest of a vast territory was removed, opening an avenue to increased Empire.

After the survey of the Aral, only rendered possible by the construction of these vessels, fortifications were constructed on the shores of that sea, and the long-deferred conquest of that section of Asia was, to all intents and purposes, accomplished.

In order to still further emphasize his gratitude, the Emperor caused Mr. Francis to be created a Knight of the Royal Order of Saint Stanislaus, one of the richest decorations in the gift of royalty. Following is a copy of the parchment:

"We, by the grace of God, Alexander the Second, Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russians, Czar of Poland, Grand Duke of Finland, etc., etc., etc.

"ST. PETERSBURG, this 10th day of November, 1860.

No. 5,756."

Shortly after the securing of his patents in Russia Mr. Francis disposed of a portion of his corrugated system patent to Baron Rumin, Chamberlain to the Emperor, covering Moscow and the Rivers Volga and Don.

After the contract was drawn, a request was made on the part of the Baron to include the Caspian Sea, and to which no objection was made, as little value was placed on the Caspian at that time, on account of its shallow water and isolated position, no one supposing that a

RAILWAY WOULD EVER CROSS THE JAXARTES

and join both the great rivers that flow into the Aral Sea, connecting commerce with the Aral and Caspian, as well as China, and so onward to the Pacific Coast.

A factory was eventually established by Baron Rumin, on the Banks of the Volga, for the construction of steamers, and practical workmen were sent to this factory from the establishment of Mr. Francis, at Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York.

This brief account of Russia's struggle for supremacy among the family of nations, so intimately interwoven with the history of one of America's foremost inventors in the life-saving field, is another instance of the Providence that rules the destinies of the world, through the lives of unassuming and patient workers.

From experiment came invention. The Life-Car, in this instance the outcome of extended experiment on the part of Joseph Francis, proved the value of the corrugating system, the fame of which, within a few years, spread all over the world. The Life-Car, the first construction under the corrugated system, was merely the germ of the widespread uses to which the system was and is applicable, as has been shown. Steamships, floating docks, pontoon bridges, military wagons and railway cars are only a few among the many constructions to which the Francis system of corrugated iron was applied by him and those to whom he sold the right to manufacture. The Life-Car, then, was the suggestion that led to the construction of the portable, strong, light-draft ship, which proved the most powerful implement, in Russia's hands, of working out the vastest scheme of empire ever conceived in the brain of man. Mr. Francis, successful in all his inventions, has been honored beyond most men by foreign potentates, and now is about to receive what he holds to be the crowning honor, the bestowal of the gold medal awarded him by two Congresses, with the double thanks of this chosen body of representatives of the people.

Appendix.

WILL OF PETER THE GREAT, FATHER OF RUSSIAN SHIP-BUILDING.

THE WILL.

PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS.

In the name of the most Holy and Indivisible Trinity, we, Peter, the First Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias, etc., to all our descendants and successors to the throne and government of the Russian nation:

God, from whom we derive our existence, and to whom we owe our crown, having constantly enlightened us by His spirit, and sustained us by His Divine help, allow us to look on the Russian people as called upon hereafter to hold sway over Europe. My reason for thus thinking is, that the European nations have mostly reached a state of old age, bordering upon imbecility, or they are rapidly approaching it: naturally, then, they will be easily and indubitably conquered by a people strong in youth and vigor, especially when this latter shall have attained its full strength and power. I look on the future invasion of the Eastern and Western countries by the North as a periodical movement ordained by Providence, who, in a like manner, regenerated the Russian nation by barbarian invasion. These emigrations of men from the North are as the reflux of the Nile, which, at certain periods comes to fertilize the impoverished lands of Egypt by its deposit. I found Russia as a rivulet, I leave it a river: my successors will make of it a large sea, destined to fertilize the impoverished lands of Europe, and its waters will overflow, in spite of imposing dams erected by weak hands, if our descendants only know how to direct its course. This is the reason I leave them the following instructions. I give those countries to their watchfulness and care, as Moses gave the Tables of the Law to the Jewish people.

Endeavor by every possible means to bring in from the neighboring civilized countries of Europe officers in times of war, and learned men in times of peace; thus giving the Russian people the advanges enjoyed by other countries, without allowing them to lose any of their own self-respect.

On every occasion take a part in the affairs and quarrels of Europe; above all, in those of Germany, which country, being the nearest, more immediately concerns us.

Divide Poland, exciting civil discord there; win over the nobility by bribery, corrupt the diets, so as to have influence on the election of Kings, get partisans into office, protect them, bring to sojourn there Muscovite troops, until such time as they can be permanently established there. If the neighboring powers start difficulties, appease them for a time by parceling out the country, until you can retake in detail all that has been ceded.

Always choose, as wives for the Russian princes, German princesses, so as to increase family alliances, to draw mutual interests closer, and, by propagating our principles in Germany, to enlist her in our cause.

England--requiring us for her navy, and she being the only power that can aid in the development of ours, seek a commercial alliance with her, in preference to any other. Exchange our wood, and the productions of our land for her gold, and establish between her merchants, her sailors and ours a continual intercourse; this will aid in perfecting the Russian fleet for navigation and commerce.

Extend your possessions toward the North, along the Baltic, and toward the South by the Black Sea.

Approach as near as possible to Constantinople and its outskirts. He who shall reign there will be the true sovereign of the world. Consequently, be continually at war--sometimes with the Turks, sometimes with Persia. Establish dock yards on the Black Sea, get entire possession of it by degrees, also of the Baltic Sea; this being necessary to the accomplishment of the plan. Hasten the decline of Persia; penetrate to the Persian Gulf; re-establish, if possible, the ancient commerce of the Levant through Syria, and make your way to the Indies--they are the emporium of the world. Once there, you can do without the gold of England.

Seek, and carefully keep up an alliance with Austria; acquiesce, apparently, in her ideas of dominating over Germany, at the same time clandestinely exciting against her the jealousy of the neighboring provinces. Endeavor that the aid of Russia should be called for, by one and the other, so that by exercising a kind of guardianship over the country, you prepare a way for governing hereafter.

Give the House of Austria an interest, for joining in banishing the Turks from Europe; defraud her of her share of the booty, at the conquest of Constantinople, either by raising a war for her with the ancient states of Europe, or by giving her a portion, which you will take back at a future period.

Attach to yourselves, and assemble around you, all the united Greeks, as also the disunited or schismatics, who are scattered either in Hungary, Turkey, or the south of Poland. Make yourselves their centres, their chief support, and lay the foundation for universal supremacy, by establishing a kind of royalty or sacerdotal government; the Slavonic Greeks will be so many friends that you will have scattered amongst your enemies.

Sweden severed, Persia and Turkey conquered, Poland subjugated, our armies united, the Black and Baltic Seas guarded by our vessels, you must make propositions separately and discreetly--first to the Court of Versailles, then to that of Vienna, to share with them the Empire of the Universe.

If one of them accept--and it cannot be otherwise, so as you flatter their pride and ambition--make use of it to crush the other--then crush, in its turn, the surviving one, by engaging with it in a death-struggle; the issue of which cannot be doubtful, Russia possessing already all the East and a great part of Europe.

If--which is not likely--both refuse the propositions of Russia, you must manage to raise quarrels for them, and make them exhaust one another; then profiting by a decisive moment, Russia will bring down her assembled troops on Germany; at the same time, two considerable fleets will set out--the one from the Sea of Azov, the other from the port of Archangel--loaded with Asiatic hordes, under the convoy of the armed fleets from the Black Sea and the Baltic; advancing by the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean, they will invade France on one side, whilst Germany will already have been invaded on the other. These countries conquered, the rest of Europe will easily pass under the yoke, without striking a single blow.

Thus Europe can, and ought, to be subdued.

AUTOCRAT OF ALL THE RUSSIAS.

Lest the reader of this WILL may form an opinion antagonistic to its author, it may be well to state that while Peter the Great was a Despot he was also a Patriot--and while a Tyrant he was yet a Humanitarian. This man, who could icily command death by the knout was the same man who yielded up his own life in rescuing a sailor who had fallen overboard in the ice-laden waters of the Neva. And Peter was, above and beyond all, a Statesman, an Inventor, a finished Mechanic and Progenerator of the Russian Life-Saving Service.

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