![1692] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 175 TO HIS SON JOHN. Mosco, January 11, 1692.](https://cache.getarchive.net/Prod/thumb/cdn2/L3Bob3RvLzE2OTkvMTIvMzEvMTY5Mi1kaWFyeS1vZi1wYXRyaWNrLWdvcmRvbi0xNzUtdG8taGlzLXNvbi1qb2huLW1vc2NvLWphbnVhcnktMTEtMTY5Mi1mZWJmNzItMTAyNC5qcGVn/320/481/jpg "1692] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 175 TO HIS SON JOHN. Mosco, January 11, 1692.")
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1692] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 175 TO HIS SON JOHN. Mosco, January 11, 1692.
Summary
Passages from the diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries : A.D. 1635-A.D. 1699"
1692] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 175
TO HIS SON JOHN.
Mosco, January 11, 1692.
Loveing Son,
My last to you was the eighth August, by Captain
William Gordon, since which I have yours of the third of July ; as also, a
joint letter from my unkle and Nethermuir, which I answered the next post
after I received it, viz., the twelfth past, and gave notice of my resolution.
But now to the particulars of yours. You tell me of many letters you have
written, but how addressed, nothing ; and if there be any miscarriage, it is
betwixt that and London or Dantzick, for Mr. Meverell in the first, and
Patrick Forbes in the last, are very carefall, to whom you should writt, and
enclose that to me in theirs. You tell me of paying postage from Mosco to
Aberdeen, for a packet dated the sixteenth of February last, which is a great
abuse, and I would gladly know where it lyeth, for I sent that packet by a
ffriend, one Mr. Brest, to Amsterdam, enclosing it in a letter to Mr. James
Gordon, merchant in Roterdam, who gave me notice that he had forwarded
it, but whether by ffriend or post he gave me no notice, so that at the most
you have but payed postage from Amsterdam to Aberdeen, after which you
may enquire. As to the business of the wedsett of the Mains,* you may
use the ordinary course and diligence, as also in the business with Water-
towne. I wonder to hear of a backbond given to my brother John by my
father concerning the Muirtake. It was great injustice in him to conceale
it when I was there, and even malice now to detaine it. If I had knowne
any thing of it, I had not ordered his bond of four hundred merks to be
given to him befor he had restored that. How he hath dealt with me, it is
well knowne. It was great injustice in him, if not worse (If worse can be),
first to move my father to give him an herctable right to the Muirtake,
which could not be either justly or lawfully done, my father haveing disposed
the here table right of the whole to me befor that ; and then to take a bond
of our father for three hundred merks, and hereupon to serve himself exe-
cutor creditor, thereby to defraude me and the rest of the moveables and
any thing left by our parents. But, transeat ; I never see men useing un-
* [The Mains of Auchleucbries.]
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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