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180 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1692 countrey. I entreat you to gett Watertowne
Summary
Passages from the diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries : A.D. 1635-A.D. 1699"
180 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1692
countrey. I entreat you to gett Watertowne to do me justice. I rely upon
your Lordships word, that I should have my owne againe. As in this, so in
all my other concernes there, I rely on your Lordships protection. I was
moved to send the disposition upon the account of my sons intending to
marry. I have nothing else, but the tenor of humble and due respect, etc.
TO THE DUKE OF GORDON.
Mosco, 12 January, 1692.
May it please your Grace,
My last was the twenty second of May last yeare, since which I have
the honour of your Graces most acceptable of the twenty second July, which
made me grieved, and, in some measure, contented. I am exceedingly
grieved to heare of your Graces great losses, and that you must live so farr
and so long from your owne ; and am thereby surprized to hear of the large
measure of hard usage you had in such a tyme, when loyall persons should
have been cherished and courted by all who loved the King and governe-
ment. It seemes they had forgott the maxime of King James the Sixthe
in his BasiHcon Doron, that loyalty runneth in a race or lyne. Whom
should they have trusted, or who was able to have maintained the Kings
authority and their interest, if not your Grace ? I remember King Charles
the First, by evill counsell, upon the account of lessening the greatnes of
your house, tooke away the hereditary sherifdomes of Aberdeen and Inver-
ness from your predecessour, as his great grandmother did the earledomes
of Marr and Murray, which albeit it did not make them recede from their
loyalty, yet it made them less capable of serving their Majesties in their
need.
I have seen your Apologeticall Relation, and have heard by Harry Gordon
and others, passages which may justly eternize your memory for your
loyalty and sufferings, and raise both joy and compassion in all loyall hearts.
As for my owne part, I am sorry that I had not the honour and happines
to have been entertained in his Majesties service, and at such a tyme to have
had occasion to have signalized my loyalty. I am very sensible of your
Graces favour and endeavors to that purpose, and you were even tlien but
too true a prophet. I am infinitely obHged to your Grace for your gracious
expressions, and the esteemc you are pleased to have for my unworthines.
Wee Uve here in peace, neither can the perswasions and pressings of the
Gordon was brought up and remained a lifelong Roman Catholic, at a time when the Church was being persecuted in Scotland. At age of fifteen, he entered the Jesuit college at Braunsberg, East Prussia, then part of Poland. In 1661, after many years experiences as a soldier of fortune, he joined the Russian army under Tsar Aleksei I, and in 1665 was sent on a special mission to England. After his return, he distinguished himself in several wars against the Turks and Tatars in southern Russia. In recognition of his service he was promoted to major-general in 1678, was appointed to the high command at Kiev in 1679, and in 1683 was made lieutenant-general. In 1687 and 1689 he took part in expeditions against the Tatars in the Crimea, being made a full general. Later in 1689, a revolution broke out in Moscow, and with the troops under his command, Gordon virtually decided events in favor of Peter the Great against the Regent, Tsarevna Sophia Alekseyevna. Consequently, he was for the remainder of his life in high favor with the Tsar, who confided to him the command of his capital during his absence from Russia. In 1696, Gordon's design of a "moveable rampart" played a key role in helping the Russians take Azov. One of Gordon's convinced the Tsars to establish the first Roman Catholic church and school in Muscovy, of which he remained the main benefactor and headed the Catholic community in Russia until his death. For his services his second son James, brigadier of the Russian army, was created Count of the Holy Roman Empire in 1701. At the end of his life the Tsar, who had visited Gordon frequently during his illness, was with him when he died, and with his own hands closed his eyes. General Gordon left behind him a uniquely detailed diary of his life and times, written in English. This is preserved in manuscript in the Russian State Military Archive in Moscow. Passages from the Diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries (1635–1699) was printed, under the editorship of Joseph Robertson, for the Spalding Club, at Aberdeen, Scotland, 1859.
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