Department of the Streltsi, appeared on the Red Staircase, and even before he spoke, the humor of the mob changed. The prince was pompous, arrogant, and especially ill fitted to cope with the situation. He gave evidence of his incompetence at once, by ordering the rioters to disperse, in the tones of a master rebuking them for their insolence, and, by speech and gesture, provoking a storm of indignation that burst on his devoted head. He had scarcely ceased speaking when, with a yell of fury, they rushed up the Red Staircase once more, and seizing him by his long robes, dragged him down the stairs. The rabble had gone mad, and I saw that the worst had come. The prince was hurled to the ground and surrounded by a howling mob; a moment later, his mutilated body was trodden under foot as the rioters rushed on into the palace. I hoped to be carried in with them, but another pause checked us, and then I saw the cause of it. The ringleaders had found Matveief and were dragging the white-haired chancellor out to the head of the stairs. He who a moment before had enjoyed their confidence, was to test the fickle passion of the populace. The howls about me were demoniacal, and nothing now could curb the fury that the unhappy Dolgoruky had let loose. Protesting and struggling, Matveief was pushed to the top of the Red Staircase and thrown down upon the spears of the rioters below. I looked aside; I had served in many a battle under the Lilies of France, but this brutal murder and mutilation of an old man sickened me. The rabble had tasted blood, and the scene that followed was hideous beyond description. Their fury was directed against the Naryshkin party and the boyars. As they began the work of slaughter, they broke up into small parties, searching for their prey, and there was more space in the square, the crowd, though dense and furious, being less packed. “Down with the Naryshkins! Give us the traitors!” they howled, and I found that they were determined to compel the czarina to surrender her brothers, Ivan and Athanasius Naryshkin, to share the fate of her guardian Matveief.