Ivan the Terrible Quotes
We had thought you had been ruler over your land ... but now we perceive that there be other men that do rule, and not men but peasants and merchants ... and you flow in your maidenly estate like a maid.
The Russian autocrat found it hard to believe that peasants and merchants could have any rights at all as they did in England. He faulted the female ruler, the great Queen Elizabeth I. By modern standards Elizabeth had awesome power and the English People very little, but Elizabeth was relatively restrained in her use of power and paid attention to the effect of affairs of state had on the people." Ivan the Terrible
Ivan IV, 1530-1584, , Czar of Russia, Letter to Queen Elizabeth I of England, October 24, 1570
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
These unfortunate characteristics of Germany at that time, produced the aggressive nation that started two world wars. Looking at Germany a century later, the country has changed radically—especially the three factors described in this quote. Germany has become very much like the rest of Western Europe and America.
What is fascinating about this quotation is that England itself was an aristocracy with a monarchy and very few elements of fairness and equality. The aristocracy and the monarch very much used the system and the common people for their benefit. However, the degree of abuse and tyranny and absence of any sense of equity, shocked even this English aristocrat. Behoof was a Middle English word derived from words that mean to profit from. By the time he used it, it meant benefit or advantage—a slightly wider meaning, but even in 1591 it was not a commonly used words but one used more by the intelligentsia of the day.
"Imperium" is a Latin word which, in a broad sense, translates roughly as 'power to command'. In ancient Rome, different kinds of power or authority were distinguished by different terms "Imperium" referred to the sovereignty of the state over the individual—Wikipedia. The Consul was a wonderful diplomat. He had no respect for the South not only because they were fighting to maintain slavery, but also he found most of their diplomats and officials very incompetent. He found it hard to participate in all the Confederate ceremonies as he was their exhibit number one that they had International Recognition and they "exhibited him frequently. Despite this he was charming and never argumentative about slavery or other political positions that he loathed. As a matter of fact, the Southern Diplomats regarded him as a man sympathetic to the South with an understanding of their point of view. As a result he gained a huge amount of intelligence which he regularly dispatched back to London. England was neutral {35520} in the Civil War, but England did not recognize the Confederacy as a nation, else they would have sent an ambassador. The Southern politicians worked hard to get him to carry their message that if they would be recognized, they would grant England many favorable trade advantages as the English textile industry really wanted Southern cotton. While apparently sympathetic to the Southern cause, his reports contained all the negative information about the South and counseled against recognition just as the English Ambassador in Washington did—see {583131}.
Ivan IV Vasilyevich (25 August 1530 – 28 March 1584), commonly known as Ivan the Terrible, was Grand Prince of Moscow and all Russia from 1533 to 1547, and the first Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia from 1547 until his death in 1584. Ivan's reign was characterised by Russia's transformation from a medieval state to an empire, but at an immense cost to its people and long-term economy.
