Boris was crowned czar and ruled with an iron hand so that, although some of the remote collateral branches of the house of Rurik still existed, none dared to aspire to the sovereignty. The great princes whom he could not cajole, or coerce, he exiled. He was of Tartar descent and fully imbued with the spirit of Asiatic despotism and was just the man to oppress Russia with the heavy yoke of serfdom at a time when bondage to the soil had for the most part ceased in the rest of Europe. His administration was brilliant and able, and under his name Russia won fame both in arms and diplomacy.
He was respected abroad and feared and hated at home. The noblest and best families were in exile and the people, crushed under a ruthless despotism, became sullen and despondent. The minstrels who, under the influence of the romantic days of the Renaissance, had risen to great popularity, and who enlivened the times with songs and stories of chivalry, disappeared. The cold chill of suppression fell upon the genius of the people. Before his time a form of literature which could exist without the art of printing had attained a splendid development.
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From General Nelson A. Miles
Thrilling Stories of The Russian-Japanese War, 1904
