1 0.  The  Czar,  in  the  meantime,  had  not  been  an  idle  spectator  of
the  progress  of  the  Swedish  conqueror.     By  keeping  large  bodies  of
his  troops  actively  engaged  on  the  Swedish  frontiers,  he  gradually
accustomed  them  to  the  presence  of  the  enemy,  over  whom  he  gained
several  little  advantages ;  and  having  driven  the  Swedes  from  both
banks  of  the  Neva,5  in  the  year  1701  he  laid  the  foundations  of  St.
Petersburg,  in  the  heart  of  his  new  conquests,  and  by  his  judicious
measures  protected  the  rising  city  from  the  attacks  of  the  Swedish
generals.     During  the  year  1 704  he  gained  possession  of  all  Ingria  ;*
the  next  year  he  entered  Poland  at  the  head  of  sixty  thousand  men ;
but  the  advance  of  Charles  from  Saxony  soon  obliged  him  to,  retire
again  towards  the  Russian  territories.
11.  In  the  autumn  of  1707,  Charles  began  his  march  eastward,
with  the  avowed  object  of  the  conquest  of  Russia,  driving

the  Russians  back  to  the  eastern  banks  of  the  Dnieper,     CHARLES
then  the  dividing  line  between  Russia  and  Poland.    The        INTO
Czar,  seeing  his  own  dominions  threatened  with  war,
which  must  put  a  stop  to  the  vast  plans  which  he  had  formed  for  the
improvement  of  his  people,  now  offered  terms  of  peace,  but  Charles,
intoxicated  with  success,  only  replied,  "  I  will  treat  at  Moscow."
Peter,  resolving  not  to  act  the  part  of  another  Darius,  wisely  deter-
mined to  check  the  career  of  the  invaders  by  breaking  up  the  roads

1.  Borysthenes^  see  Dnieper,  p.  309.
2.  The  Neva  is  the  stream  by  which  Lake  Ladoga  discharges  its  surplus  waters  into  the  Gulf
of  Finland.    St.  Petersburg  is  built  at  its  entrance  into  the  Gulf.
