CONTEMPORARY MEMOIRS

OF

RUSSIA,

FROM THE YEAR 1727 TO 1744.

BY

GENERAL CHRISTOPHER HERMANN V. MANSTEIN,

AN OFFICER OF DISTINCTION IN THE RUSSIAN SERVICE.

FIRST EDITED IN ENGLISH BY DAVID HUME,
AND NOW RE-EDITED, COMPARED WITH THE ORIGINAL FRENCH, AND
ILLUSTRATED WITH BRIEF NOTES,

BY

A HERTFORDSHIRE INCUMBENT.

LONDON:
LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS.
1856.

PREFACE.

THE Memoirs of General Manstein were first published in London in the year 1770, in quarto, under the auspices of the celebrated historian, David Hume, who prefixed to the volume an advertisement, in which he states that they were sent to him from Berlin by the Earl Marshal of Scotland, with a desire that they should be published in England. "They were originally," says Hume, "composed in the French language; but as the author was a foreigner, and a military man, they were less remarkable for elegance of expression, than for candour, good-sense, and impartiality. For this reason, as the bookseller thought that an edition in English would be more agreeable to the British reader than the original French, I gave my consent to the publication of the work in the present translation, and I hope it will prove both entertaining and instructive. It contains the history of Russia during an interesting period, which is not generally known. The narrative breathes a manly spirit, which will not easily evaporate

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vi

PREFACE.

in any translation. And as the work is authentic, it
seems well entitled to the attention of the public."

Unfortunately the bookseller to whose opinion Hume
thus deferred, entrusted the task of translation to most
incompetent hands. In spite of its intrinsic interest
as a faithful transcript of Russian policy during the most
eventful period of the history of that country by the
pen of one who played a very important part in it, the
work seems to have excited scarcely any attention in
England. This was no doubt mainly owing to the
very wretched character of the version, which seems
to have been executed by different persons, some of
whom possessed very little knowledge of the language
from which they were translating, and as little skill
in the use of the one into which they were rendering.
On the Continent the effect was very different. A
German translation from the English volume appeared
at Leipzig in the beginning of the next year. In the
course of it, an edition in French, professedly from the
original manuscript of the author, was published at
Amsterdam. The editor of this, M. Huber, asserts that
the copy from which he printed came into his hands from
the possession of an intimate friend of the writer. It
contains several passages, amounting on the whole to
twenty or thirty pages, of very different lengths, and
very different degrees of interest, which do not appear
in the English edition. The latter, according to Huber,

PREFACE.

vii

had been mutilated. In many instances, perhaps in most,
this was probably the case; but not, in my opinion,
in all. It seems to me likely that some of the passages
which are found exclusively in the French edition are
additions to the original manuscript, made — in one
instance at least — subsequently to the death of the
author.

To reprint a version so bad as that of 1770 was
obviously impossible: otherwise, I should have preferred to
do so, on account of the undeniable authority its original
possessed as coming direct from the hands of the Earl
 Marshal. This individual was the elder brother of the
General Keith who appears so favourably in Manstein's
narrative. He was attainted for being concerned in the
rebellion of 1715, and took refuge in Prussia, where he
remained through life the intimate and confidential friend
of Frederic, who made him governor of Neufchâtel.*
As it was necessary to revise the version, and the original
no longer exists, the only course was to correct it by
the French edition of Amsterdam, — an extremely scarce
book. This I have accordingly done, but not being
fully satisfied of the genuineness of the whole of the
additions, I have thought it only right to point them out in
every instance where they are of any importance. There

* In the year 1761, he revisited Scotland with some thoughts of remaining; but in a few days he changed his mind, and returned to Potsdam, where he died in 1778 at the age of 86.

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viii

PREFACE.

are also a few cases, where two or three sentences exist
in the English edition, which are wanting in the French.
These I have also preserved generally, distinguishing
them by placing them between brackets. They occur
mostly towards the end of the volume, and are very likely
to have been additions by the hand of one of the Keiths.

In 1772 another edition in French appeared at Lyons.
The text, so far as I have examined it, is identical with
that of the Amsterdam edition; but it is printed in two
octavo volumes instead of one. It, too, is an extremely
scarce book.

The notes which appear in the Amsterdam edition
I have translated and appended to the text. Some of
them proceed from the author of the Memoirs, others
from M. Huber. The latter are (he tells us) mainly
drawn from Büsching's *Magazin fur die neue Historie und
Geographie*, published at Hamburg in 1767.

In the Memoirs the author expressly confines himself to
treating of events which happened while he was in the
country. He added a supplement containing a sketch of the
internal progress of Russia from the time of Peter I to the
period comprehended in the Memoirs. This is in itself inter-
esting; but the interest is of so different a character from
that of the Memoirs themselves, that it seemed hardly
worth while to increase the expense of the volume by its
addition.

The reader will perhaps be glad of a slight outline of

PREFACE.

ix

the author's life, as a guide to the opportunities which he
possessed for acquiring information on the topics which he
handles. He was born at Petersburg on Sept. 1st, 1711.
His family was of Bohemian origin, and had emigrated
into Prussia to avoid religious persecution. His father
entered the service of Peter I. of Russia, and became a
lieutenant-general in the army, and governor of Revel.
His mother was Dorothea von Ditmar, a lady of a Swedish
family of rank, which possessed estates in Livonia. He
was educated at home till the age of thirteen, when he
entered the college at Narva. From thence he passed into
the corps of cadets, established by the King of Prussia, and
after remaining there three years took service in the
Prussian army. In the year 1736, he returned to Revel
to pay a visit to his father, who was anxious that he should
take service in Russia; but the younger Manstein, whose
merits appear to have been highly appreciated in his
adopted country, declined to do so from motives of gra-
titude to his Prussian patron. Proceeding, however, to
Petersburg to visit his maternal uncle, M. Ditmar, the
Swedish minister at that court, he was presented by him
to the Empress Anne, who, being much pleased with him,
renewed the proposition which his father had just made,
and on receiving a similar answer, replied that she would
herself request the King of Prussia to allow him to transfer
his services to her. Under these favourable auspices he
was made a captain in the Petersburg regiment of guards,

X

PREFACE.

having been only a lieutenant in the Prussian service,
and forthwith joined the army which marshal Munich was
assembling in the Ukrain, in order to invade the Crimea.
He received a wound at the storming the lines of Perekop.
During the winter 1736-7, he was employed in defending
the lines of the Ukrain against the forays of the Tartars, a
service of which he gives a very graphic description. He
accompanied Munich through the campaigns of 1737,
1738 and 1739. In the winter of the last year he became
attached to Mademoiselle de Fink, the daughter of the
grand equerry of the court of Russia, whom, on the 30th
of January, 1741, he married, his fortunes having in the
meantime improved, through the part he took in the coup
d'état by which the duke of Courland was expelled from
the regency. In the campaign of Finland, which he made
under marshal Lacy, he decided the fortune of the day
at the battle of Wilmanstrand, by an opportune attack
which he conducted at the head of two Russian regiments
on the left wing of the Swedes. He was again wounded
on this occasion, and obliged to return to Petersburg,
where the regent presented him with a year's pay in ac-
knowledgment of his bravery.

After the revolution which placed the Princess Eliza-
beth on the throne, the estates conferred on Manstein
by the Princess Anne were confiscated, his regiment taken
from him, and he was offered in its place nothing but an
honourable exile as colonel of a regiment in Siberia. He

PREFACE.

xi

succeeded, however, in obtaining, in lieu of this post, the command of another quartered at Weissenstein in Livonia. But his part in the *coup d'état* of 1740, had made him an implacable enemy in the person of count Bestucheff, now chancellor; and the annoyances resulting from this circumstance at last determined him to leave the service of Russia. This decision was hastened by a false accusation of treason brought against him in revenge by a Russian officer in his regiment, whom he had been compelled to put in arrest for repeated misconduct. On his trial he was honourably acquitted, his accuser even confessing the motive which had induced him to make the charge. Manstein, however, not being willing to subject himself to a repetition of such treatment, requested permission to quit the service. The empress declined this, in terms flattering to him, but did not offer to restore the estates of which he had been deprived. He determined therefore not to stay, and taking advantage of a six months' furlough to leave the country, he wrote from Lubeck to the empress, absolutely resigning his commission, and assigning as the reason the persecution to which he had been subjected by his enemy, the chancellor. She again refused to accept his resignation, and endeavoured by promises and threats to induce him to return. But knowing that he had gone too far to be forgiven by his implacable foe, he resolutely refused to do this. Bestucheff upon this imprisoned the elder Manstein, and compelled the old man to write to his

xii

PREFACE.

son to command him to return. But Manstein, seeing plainly that his father was writing under constraint, still refused. Bestucheff then ordered that he should be condemned in his absence by a court-martial. But the German generals in the Russian service, knowing the real state of the case, refused to take part in this proceeding: the attempt was given up, and the elder Manstein released, not, however, before hardship and mortification had undermined his health and sowed the seeds of consumption, of which he died in 1747.

On leaving Russia, Manstein entered the service of the King of Prussia, and accompanied him in the campaign of 1745. Distinguishing himself highly in the command of a battalion of grenadiers, the king made him his aide-de-camp, and took him with him to Saxony, where he appointed him governor of Zittau. After the peace of Dresden, he settled at Potsdam, and enjoyed in the highest degree the favour of Frederic. It was while resident there that he began to write his Memoirs, at the request of friends to whom he had shown some fragmentary portions.

In the campaign of 1757, Manstein, who had been made a major-general three years before, highly distinguished himself against the Austrians in Bohemia. At the battle of Prague he commanded the right wing of the army under general Schwerin. But on the 18th of June in the same year, he received a wound in the left arm, and although the injury was not so severe as to prevent his

PREFACE.

xiii

remaining on the ground until the end of the day, the king,
who was much attached to him, unfortunately insisted
upon his going to Dresden, for the sake of surgical treat-
ment. On his way thither with thirty other wounded
officers, under an escort of 100 men, he was attacked by
a number of Austrian hussars and Croats. He posted
his little force on an eminence, and made a barrier of his
carriages, but was overpowered by numbers, and fell dead
in the arms of his eldest son, pierced by a ball through his
chest.

He is described as of a tall person, and hardy constitu-
tion, capable of enduring any amount of fatigue. He
never slept more than five hours at a time; but he had
the power of commanding sleep at will at any hour of the
day or night. His extreme vigilance obtained for him in
Russia the sobriquet of "the officer of the day," there being
no time and no place at which there was any certainty of
not meeting him. With this activity was combined a
decided taste for reading, and an acquaintance with the
Latin, French, Italian, German, Swedish, and Russian
languages. In his desk were even found several papers
upon Polybius; so little did he share the contempt which
some military authorities appear to entertain for all know-
ledge which is gained in the closet. He also possessed
both a talent and a fondness for teaching, by which his
own children benefited. Humane in war as well as
brave, he made himself beloved by the inhabitants of the

xiv

PREFACE.

very countries in which his troops were quartered; and
he was popular with his own soldiers, although a strict
disciplinarian.

The unadorned and almost colloquial style in which the
Memoirs are written would, perhaps, have revolted the
public of eighty years back, even without the additional
disadvantage of the bad translation in which they were
offered to it. But at the present day, when we look
back upon the brocaded coats and ruffles of our ancestors
with a feeling of wonder, such a rugged simplicity may
seem only becoming in one accustomed to wield the sword
rather than the pen; and calculated to set off the straight-
forwardness of the soldier, better than a higher literary
polish would have done. At any rate, the domestic events
of the period embraced in the narrative possess an interest
equal to that of a work of fiction; while the detailed
campaigns of two such commanders as Munich, "the
prince Eugene of the Muscovites," and Lacy, "the first
general of his day," according to the testimony of the
prince de Ligne,—even if tedious to a civilian,—can
hardly fail to be a welcome addition to the scanty stock
of military history accessible to English readers.

The main value of the Memoirs, however, and that
which alone has compensated the present editor for the
painful task of directing attention to the hideous selfishness
and reckless immorality which reigned in the court of
St. Petersburg a century ago, is, that they exhibit un-

PREFACE.

XV

mistakeably the true nature of the title which timid
minds are apt to ascribe to the inheritors of "the
policy of Peter, Catherine, and Nicholas," to be the chief
conservators of social order and reverence for law in
continental Europe. Let such as have ever been tempted
to look to Russia as a welcome counterpoise to the ultra
liberalism of late years, bestow a leisure hour on the
policy even of Anne and Elizabeth in their relations
with Turkey, Persia, Poland, and Sweden, here disclosed
in the calm and impartial narrative of General Manstein.
It will be strange, indeed, if they do not rise from the
perusal with the sentiment:

> "Non tali auxilio, non defensoribus istis
> Tempus eget,"

and also with a feeling of thankfulness that it has pleased
Providence, through the present alliance between the two
most powerful nations in the world, to stop the onward
progress of a more terrible barbarism than that from which
Europe emerged at the revival of letters.

March 1st, 1856.

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

As I passed a great part of my life in Russia, and had
plenty of time to learn the Russian language, a thing
quite necessary in order to understand the habits of that
country, and as I have withal been witness to several
extraordinary events, the thought occurred to me of
writing an account of the most remarkable which have
happened since the death of the Empress Catherine to
the present moment.

Catherine, that remarkable woman who occupied the
throne of Russia after the death of Peter I., died on the
16th of May, 1727; and Peter II., as lawful heir of this
vast empire, succeeded. This prince was born in 1715,
from the marriage of the Czarewitz with the Princess of
Wolfenbuttel. He was but eleven years and a half old
at his accession to the crown; on which account Catherine
had, in the second article of her will, ordered that he
should be under the guardianship of a regency, constituted
of the Princesses Anne and Elizabeth, her daughters,
the Duke of Holstein, husband of the Princess Anne, the
Prince of Holstein, Bishop of Lubeck, who was engaged
to marry the Princess Elizabeth, and the members of the
Supreme Council of State, which at that time consisted of
six persons; and this state of things was to continue
until he had accomplished the age of sixteen. The
Supreme Council of State was composed of the follow-

B

2

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

ing members; the Prince Menzikoff, the High-admiral Apraxin, the High-chancellor Count Golofkin, the Vice-chancellor Count Osterman, and the actual privy-counsellors Princes Demetrius Michaëlowitz Galitzin and Basilius Loukitz Dolgorouki.

This regency never assembled in a body but once, which was on the day that the Empress Catherine died; and then nothing was done but to ratify the will, which itself was broken two hours after; for it was expressly ordered therein, that all measures should be decided by a plurality of votes, and this by no means suited Prince Menzikoff, who meant to be sole arbiter of affairs, and that the others should only obey his orders.

It was easy for him to succeed in this design, no one daring to oppose whatever he resolved, for fear of their own ruin. He had immediately on the death of Peter I. got the whole power into his hands; and in order to maintain himself in it, he had won over the Empress Catherine to accept one of his daughters as a wife for the emperor. She had made this an article in her will; and Menzikoff, to prevent any one's access to the emperor without his leave, caused him to be lodged in his own palace on the very day of the decease of the empress; and this while the Duke of Holstein and his ministers were amusing themselves with exultation on the capital stroke they thought they had made, in having themselves included in the regency by the will of Catherine; for it was in this light they considered the arrangement. The duchess being at the head of affairs, and having the presidency of the council, they imagined they should have all the votes of it at their own disposal; but Menzikoff, more dexterous than they, had taken early care for the contrary.

It is a custom in Russia at every change of reign, for the new sovereign to set free some prisoners of state.

RELEASE OF THE EMPRESS EUDOXIA.

3

Peter II. not to be wanting in such a point, gave orders for the liberation of his grandmother, the empress Eudoxia Feodorowna Lapouchin*, whom Peter I. had divorced and confined in a convent in 1696. He ordered her a court proportionate to her rank, and invited her to Petersburg. But this princess having too great an aversion to that city, and not finding the ministry pliable enough to give her any share in the government, resolved to remain at Moscow, where she lived in retirement. The family of the Lapouchins, near relations to the empress, were also recalled from the exile in which they had been for several years.

These acts of grace had been carried against the inclination of Menzikoff, at the suggestion of some of the members of the supreme council, who had found in a favourable moment means to soften the young monarch in favour of his grandmother, and of her near relations, [and had persuaded him to insist on their release from imprisonment].

Though all this was not very pleasing to Menzikoff, he dared not openly oppose it, but he continued to beset the emperor, to the exclusion of every one that was not one of his own creatures; not being able to enjoy a moment's

* This unfortunate princess was the daughter of Prince Feodor Abrahamowitz Lapouchin, and was married to Peter I. in the year 1689, when he was only seventeen years old. To effect this stroke of policy, advantage was taken of the absence of the Prince Galitzin on an expedition against the Nogay Tartars. The prince was forced upon the expedition much against his own will and the desire of the Princess Sophia, Peter's half-sister, whose favourite he was. By the marriage in question the ambitious views of both were entirely crushed. Disappointment induced them to venture upon a conspiracy, which was baffled, and the princess confined in prison till her death, which happened in 1704. Galitzin was banished to Karga, a place within the Arctic circle, and narrowly escaped being executed.

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4

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

rest, in the fear of having ill offices done him, being
sensible that the whole nation detested him.

Some of the grandees had already, in the preceding
reign, entered into a combination against him, and wanted
the empress to remove him from her councils. Those
nobles, who had projected this, had been employed
by Peter I. in the affair of the Czarewitz*, and were
afraid of the revenge of Peter II. in the event of his
coming to the throne, in return for the ill-treatment
which his father had received. They tried, therefore,
to persuade Catherine to send the young prince abroad to
pursue his studies; having made up their minds that if
the empress should chance to die while he was absent,
they would effect his exclusion, and raise the Duchess
of Holstein to the throne.

For this purpose they had taken an opportunity, while
Menzikoff was in Courland, to settle some affairs: and for
fear he should disconcert their designs on his return, they
had tried to give the empress bad impressions of him; in
which they had so far succeeded, that her majesty had actually
signed an order for putting him under an arrest, before
he should re-enter Petersburg. By a piece of Menzikoff's
good-luck, the Count De Bassevitz, first minister of the
Duke of Holstein, had taken it into his head to support
this favourite, and easily persuaded his master to the same.
The duke begged of the empress forgiveness for Menzikoff,
and to his own misfortune obtained it. Menzikoff on his
return to court, was made acquainted with the sinister

* The Czarewitz Alexis, son of Peter I., by his first wife Eudoxia Lapouchin. He was compelled to sign an act of self-exclusion from the succession, in the month of February 1718, and died (of apoplexy) on July 7th of the same year, the day after sentence of death had been passed on him. The son of Peter I. by Catherine had the succession settled upon him at the time it was renounced by his half-brother, although he was then an infant of only two years and a half old.

POWER OF MENZIKOFF IN THE

5

designs of his enemies against him. He caused a strict
search to be made for them, and all the partizans
of the house of Holstein were arrested, and severely
punished. Menzikoff's own brother-in-law, a Portuguese,
called De Vyeira, and the general Pisarew, underwent
the *knout*; their estates were confiscated, and themselves
sent to Siberia. An actual privy-councillor, Tolstoy, as
well as his son, general Bouterlin, and some others, were
also banished to Siberia; the count Alexander Nariskin,
and the general Ouschakow were confined to their
estates.

It is said, that it was the Count De Bassevitz himself,
who by an over-confidence in Prince Menzikoff, commu-
nicated to him the overtures made to him, by some of the
great men of the court, respecting their intentions in
favour of the Duchess of Holstein. He thus furnished
Menzikoff with the occasion, of which he instantly
availed himself, of ruining all their measures. Others,
who still remained attached to the court of Holstein, were
extremely intimidated at this; and conceived not only a
great distrust, but also a sovereign contempt for Bassevitz.
But Prince Menzikoff was not satisfied with his enemies
being punished; he was determined to preserve the
memory of it in Russia, so as to prevent any disposition
to hurt him for the future. Accordingly the supreme
council issued a proclamation, in which solemn warning
was given against dangerous confederacies, under the
penalty of a punishment of still greater rigour. This
edict was signed on the 6th of June*, and on the same
day were celebrated the espousals of the young emperor
with the daughter of Prince Menzikoff. Her father then

* The year is not mentioned, but it is probably 1726, as it was during the reign of the Empress Catherine, and after the return of Menzikoff from Courland.

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MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

imagined himself on the pinnacle of earthly felicity. There
remained for execution but one project more, to set him
above all danger. He wanted to marry his son to the
Grand-duchess Natalia, sister to the emperor.* By this
he made sure he should transmit the throne of Russia to
his posterity. The plan was not ill-imagined; but it
failed of execution. In the mean while, he got himself
declared generalissimo by sea and land.

The duke and duchess of Holstein were now the only
personages that stood in the light of Menzikoff, who was
afraid lest the duchess should form a new party, that
might oppose his vast designs. He at the same time
imagined, that if he could make them leave the field to him,
no one else would dare to stir. On a sudden, therefore, he
ceased to keep any measures with them; and throwing
in their way every kind of difficulty and annoyance, he at
length constrained them to leave Russia.† Their departure,
however, did not lessen the number of his enemies;
for he had drawn upon himself the universal hatred of the
nation.

He had taken the precaution to place in attendance about
the emperor none but his own creatures, and such as owed
their fortune to him; but as he had directly broken with
all the ancient families, and as, among those whom he
could not well debar of access to the emperor, there were
some who saw with pain their relations in exile ‡, they
seized an occasion of making the young prince remark, that

* The first child of Alexis, born 1714.

† This would be during the lifetime of the Empress Catherine; but on the day of her death, they attended the meeting of the Regency, and consequently had returned to Russia.

‡ In this paragraph Manstein resumes his account of events subsequent to the death of Catherine. He apparently alludes to the Princes Galitzin and Dolgorouki, who were members of the Regency.

CABALS AGAINST MENZIKOFF.

7

Menzikoff was exercising a perfect despotism, which he was hoping still more to confirm, by the consummation of the emperor's marriage with his daughter; that, in short, to judge of him by his ambition, he might easily take it into his head to attempt ascending the throne. They at the same time earnestly entreated the emperor to keep their secret, which he promised; and actually did disassemble, till he found a fair occasion for venting his resentment. Menzikoff soon furnished this, by a stroke of terrible giddiness or imprudence.

It was on the 17th of September that his ruin appears to have been decided. The company of masons had, I do not remember exactly on what occasion, made a gift to the emperor of nine thousand ducats. This prince, having a mind to make his sister the compliment of a present, sent her that sum by one of his gentlemen; who, being met on his way by Menzikoff, was asked by him, where he was going with that money? The gentleman told him. The other replied, "The emperor is as yet too young to know how to dispose of money; carry it to my apartments; I will take an opportunity to speak to him of it." The gentleman, who knew how dangerous it was to oppose the will of Menzikoff, did not fail to obey him. The next day, the princess, sister to the emperor, came to pay him a visit, according to custom. She was no sooner in the room, than he asked her, if the present he had sent her yesterday was not worth thanks. The princess naturally answering, that she had received nothing, the emperor flew into a great passion. The gentleman was called, and being asked what he had done with the money given him to carry to the princess, was obliged, in his own defence, to say that Menzikoff had taken it from him. But this only irritated the emperor the more, who ordered Menzikoff to be sent for, and, when he came, demanded of

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8

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

him in a great rage, how he came to have the boldness to hinder his gentleman from executing his orders? The prince, who was not used to hear the emperor speak to him in that tone, was perfectly thunderstruck. He answered, however, that it was very well known the state was in want of money; that the treasury was exhausted, and that he had proposed that very day to present a project of the manner in which that sum might be more usefully employed. He added, "If, however, your majesty commands it, I will not only cause the nine thousand ducats to be returned, but will add to them a million of rubles out of my own purse." The emperor was not pacified with this answer; but, stamping with his foot, said, "I will make you know that I am emperor, and that I will be obeyed." Then, turning his back upon him, he left him. Menzikoff followed him, and at length, with much entreaty, appeased him for that time; but this calm did not last long.

A few days afterwards, Menzikoff fell dangerously ill. This gave his enemies time to make his ruin sure. The Princes Dolgorouki, and especially the Prince Iwan, whose great favour was beginning at that time, prevailed so far as entirely to alienate the mind of their master from him. Menzikoff was not ignorant of these cabals, nor of the decline of his credit; but he hoped soon to recover his former degree of favour, and to overawe the emperor by that tone of authority, which he had been used to take towards him.

As soon as his health was re-established, he committed a fresh blunder, in going to his country-house at Oranjenbaum, which was about two miles from Peterhoff, where the court had removed during his illness. He had built a chapel at Oranjenbaum, which he wanted to have consecrated. The emperor and all the court were invited to assist at the ceremony. But his enemies, who had too

FALL OF MENZIKOFF.

9

much cause to dread his revenge, in case of his reconciliation with the emperor, persuaded this prince to excuse himself on the day of the ceremony, under pretence of an indisposition. He followed their advice; and yet, for all that, Menzikoff did not apprehend that he was so near to his disgrace. He had even the imprudence, during the festival, to seat himself on a kind of throne, which had been placed for his majesty. His enemies did not fail of making the most of this circumstance, which put the finishing stroke to his fall.

The same evening, Menzikoff repaired to Peterhoff, where he did not find the emperor, who had been carried off on a hunting party. He addressed himself to the Count Osterman, with whom he had an interview full of acrimony and an ostentatious coldness, and not free from even harsh and rude expressions. He remained that day and the next at Peterhoff; but the emperor not returning, and the countenances of all wearing a frozen aspect, he took the resolution of going to Petersburg, probably in the idea that he should be more formidable in the midst of the court. In fact, on arriving at the capital, far from acting the disgraced courtier, he employed the whole morning in going round the government offices, and giving orders everywhere. He regulated the details of a reception intended for the emperor in his palace, where he imagined he would continue to lodge; but towards noon, the general Soltikoff came, with an order to remove the emperor's furniture, and to carry it to the imperial summerpalace. This was a thunderstroke to him, but what paralysed him the most was, the sending back the goods and furniture of his son, who, in quality of high-chamberlain, had officially to lodge near the emperor. In this confusion he fell into another mistake, that of sending into quarters the regiment of Ismailoff, which, for his safety,

10

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

he had ordered to encamp on the island of Wasili-Ostrow,*
at a short distance from his palace. This regiment, of
which he had been colonel from its first being raised, was
entirely devoted to him; and it is certain that with it he
would have impressed his enemies with irresistible awe.

Next day the emperor returned to Petersburg, and
general Soltikoff was sent on to Menzikoff, and announced
to him an order of arrest. His wife and children repaired
immediately to the summer-palace, to throw themselves at
the feet of the emperor, but were refused admittance.
Meanwhile Menzikoff was induced to believe, that he
would only be deprived of his offices; but that he would have
all his fortune left him, and that he would be permitted to
pass the remainder of his days at Oranjenburg, a pretty
town on the frontiers of the Ukrain, which he had built,
and even to some extent fortified. In fact, the free dis-
posal of his goods and fortune was left to him, while he
remained at Petersburg; and when he went out of it, his
train had not in the least the air of that of a minister
in disgrace. He was accompanied by his whole family,
and by a great number of domestics; and in the manner
he was treated on the first days of his journey, it did not
appear that there was any intention to do him more hurt.
But, on his arrival at Tver, a town situate on the road
between Moscow and Petersburg, he found an order
waiting for all his effects to be sealed up, and nothing to be
left him beyond bare necessaries. His guard was doubled,
and he was narrowly watched during the rest of his
journey. Scarce had he arrived at Oranjenburg, when

* Wasili-Ostrow is an island which makes part of the town of Peters-
burg; the palace of Menzikoff stood there. Peter I. had made him a
present of the whole island, but resumed the grant some time afterwards,
in the intention that the whole town of Petersburg should be built there;
which design however was not carried out. (Note of French editor.)

REPUTED ORIGIN OF MENZIKOFF.

11

there were sent to him whole reams of complaints made against him for grievances. These were instantly followed by commissaries, who were to proceed forthwith to his trial. He was condemned to pass the rest of his life at Berosowa, situate on the most distant frontiers of Siberia. His wife, grown blind with weeping, died by the way: the rest of his family followed him into exile. He bore his misfortunes with more firmness than one would have imagined; and from being of a weak habit of body, he recovered health and plumpness. He was allowed ten rubles a day; a sum which not only served him for the supply of his wants, but he saved enough out of it to build a church, at which he himself worked, hatchet in hand. He died in November 1729, of a repletion of blood; because, as it was said, there was not one person to be found at Berosowa who knew how to bleed.

The general opinion about the origin of Menzikoff is, that his father was a peasant, who had placed him at Moscow with a pastry-cook, and that he carried about little pies, singing as he went along the streets with them. The Emperor Peter I. having stopped to speak to him, was pleased with the wit and liveliness of his repartees. Upon this he put him servant to Monsieur Le Fort; thence took him about his own person, and by degrees raised him to be his highest favourite. Others say, that his father was an officer in the service of the Czar Alexis Michałowitz, and that as it is not extraordinary to see gentlemen serve in the stables of the Czar, Menzikoff had also been employed in them as head groom; that Peter having often spoken to him, had taken notice of the wit and shrewdness of his answers, and on that account took him out of the stables, and placed him about his own person; when, observing great talents in him, he in a few years raised him to the first posts in the empire.

12

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

I have always thought the first of these opinions the nearest to the truth; for it is certain, that he was of an obscure birth, and that he began with being a common servant; after which the emperor placed him as private soldier in the first company of regular troops, which he raised under the appellation of Poteschnie.* Having thence taken him about his person, he gave him his entire confidence, in such a manner, that, on many occasions, Menzikoff governed Russia with the same despotism as his master. His credit had, however, greatly diminished during the last years of the reign of Peter I., and it is believed, that if that emperor had lived some months longer, there would have been great changes at court, and in the ministry.

By the following portrait, any one will be able to decide which preponderated, his good or his bad qualities.

He was strongly attached to his master, and to the maxims of Peter I. for civilising the Russian nation; affable and polite towards strangers, that is to say, such as did not pretend to have more wit than himself; neither did he misbehave to those of the Russians who were submissive to him. He treated all who were his inferiors with gentleness, never forgetting a service done him. Brave he was, even to rashness; and whenever he had once attached himself, he continued a zealous friend. On the other hand, he was possessed with a boundless ambition; he could not endure a superior or an equal, still less any one that he might suspect of pretending to surpass him in understanding. His avarice was insatiable, and he was an implacable enemy. He did not want for natural wit; but having had no education, his manners were rude and coarse. His avarice brought upon him several disagree-

* "For amusement."

CHARACTER OF MENZIKOFF.

13

able explanations with Peter I., who more than once condemned him to pay arbitrary fines; notwithstanding which, there was found, on his imprisonment, the value of three millions of rubles in jewels, plate, and ready money.

He had a son and two daughters: the one who had been betrothed to the emperor died before her father, in exile; the other was married, in the reign of the Empress Anne, to General Gustavus Biron, brother to the Duke of Courland, and died in the beginning of the year 1737. The son is a major in the guards. So long as his father was in favour and prosperity, all the world allowed him a great deal of wit, though he was but a child; but since the disgrace and death of his father, there are few persons in the whole empire of Russia that have credit for less.

Menzikoff, who, from the lowest condition, had been raised to the highest offices of state, would have finished his career with honour, if he had not been so infatuated by an insatiable ambition, as to seek to place his posterity on the throne of Russia. It is the same rock against which all the favourites that followed him have struck, and like him sunk, as will hereafter be shown.

It was appointed in the will of Catherine, that Peter II. should be under the guardianship of a regency; but this disposition not suiting the views of Menzikoff, he usurped the whole authority, and governed alone. After his fall, no mention was ever made of the regency; the emperor resolving to reign himself.

Upon this, every ancient family flattered itself with the hope of monopolising the young prince's favour. The Lapouchins and the Soltikoffs, being near relations to the emperor, imagined this circumstance gave them a right to aspire to the first places, but they were all deceived. The Princes Dolgorouki, some of whom were more immediately

14

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

about the emperor's person, had availed themselves of the moment, and had, as one may say, seized all the avenues to the emperor's ear. The Knez * Iwan, son of the Knez Alexis Dolgorouki, actual privy-councillor, and sub-governor to the emperor, was a young man of handsome person, and of great vivacity. He had often had the honour of entertaining the young monarch, who took a liking to him, and in a short time became so fond of his company, that he could not pass a moment without it. His family did not fail to take advantage of the opportunity thus afforded to place themselves at the head of affairs.

Some time after the exile of Menzikoff, all the families which had been banished into Siberia upon the affair of the Czarewitz, were recalled, and their estates were restored to them.

The emperor had been desirous of going to Moscow for his coronation immediately after the death of Catherine, but had been hindered from it by Menzikoff, who was afraid, that, not being able to keep the prince shut up there as he did in his palace at Petersburg, his enemies would find favourable opportunities to contrive and accomplish his ruin. Menzikoff being now dispatched out of the way, the journey to this capital was fixed for January 1728, and the court accordingly set out on the 20th from Petersburg; but the emperor falling ill of thrush by the way, was obliged to stop for fifteen days at the town of Tver, and could not make his public entry into Moscow till the 15th of February.

All the other great families saw, with extreme jealousy, the great power of the Princes Dolgorouki. They did not, however, accomplish their wish of wresting it from them, though they played off several engines for that purpose.

* A title only applied to the high ancient nobility; meaning prince.

CABALS AGAINST THE PRINCES DOLGOROUKI. 15

On the 7th of April, there was found an anonymous letter thrust under one of the gates of Moscow, the super-scription of which denoted, that the letter contained many things of the utmost importance to the state. It was found to contain an ample justification of Menzikoff's conduct, and withal, an attempt to inspire a diffidence of the ministers and favourites then in place. But this had no other effect than more firmly fixing the influence of the Dolgoroukis, and giving them warning to be more than ever on their guard.

The Prince Iwan applied himself sedulously to study the inclinations of his master; he was for ever striving to procure him new pleasures, and thereby gained the sole and entire confidence of the young prince, who invested him with the post of high-chamberlain, and gave him the blue ribbon. In proportion, however, as his honours increased, so did the number of his enemies, through his overbearing conduct, and imperious manner.

The sickness into which the emperor fell in the month of August following, alarmed the whole empire. It being a violent burning fever, every one feared for his life. He escaped death, however, for that time. The enemies of the favourite did not fail to impute to him the cause of this disorder; and represented to the emperor, that the prince made him take too much exercise; that his constitution would be weakened, from his allowing himself too little rest; in short, that if he did not soon change his manner of life, he would altogether disorder his health.

In the main, those who remonstrated thus were in the right. The emperor had a passion for hunting; and instead of persuading him to use moderation in this pleasure, the Prince Alexis, father to the favourite, made him take long courses for a whole day, and even for

16

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

many days successively, which fatigued and fevered him extremely. He had too delicate a constitution to endure the breaking in to such great fatigue, at so tender an age.

It was about this time that the Cossacks of the Ukrain made some movements. Peter I. had brought them so low after the revolt of Mazeppa, as to hinder them from ever shaking off his dominion; and in fact they never dared to lift their heads up during the life of that prince. But they imagined the time of the minority of Peter II. would be more favourable, and accordingly began to raise commotions; but they were soon reduced to order on sending some troops against them. Some of the richest, and the most turbulent, were [seized, and sent to Siberia: the rest begged mercy and obtained it; not, however, without having been] compelled to send a numerous deputation to Moscow, to implore the imperial mercy. Their prince, or hettman, was at the head of it. They were, besides, obliged to leave hostages for the security of their future good behaviour. Since that time, there has been no need to watch them so narrowly. They were so reduced by the last war with the Turks*, that they cannot for a long time be in any condition to revolt.

As probably this nation is not sufficiently known, I shall here give a succinct account of them. There are several kinds of the Cossacks; the most known are those of the Don, the Zaporavian Cossacks†, and those of the Ukrain. It is of these last that I have just made mention; they inhabit the *Ukrain*, which is also called *Malo Russia* or *Little Russia*, and is unquestionably one of the finest

* This is the war which began in 1736, and lasted for four years. The Ukrain was entirely stripped in order to provide stores and baggage animals for the army which operated in Taurida and Bessarabia.

† This word is in the French edition always written " Saporogian."

COSSACKS OF THE UKRAIN.

17

countries in Europe; one half of it belongs to the Emperor of Russia, the other to Poland. The Borysthenes or Dnieper divides this country into two parts, forming at the same time the common frontier.

The Cossacks were once a free nation, descended from the same race as the Poles; but in their religion they follow the Greek church. When these people were united they could bring 150,000 horsemen into the field. They were long under the protection of the republic of Poland, and did it great service in its wars against the Turks; but the Poles attempting to treat them like slaves, they revolted about a hundred years ago, under the hettman Chmelninski, and put themselves under the protection of the Turks. Some years after the death of Chmelninski, his successor, Doroschonko, gave himself and his country up to Russia. This brought on a war, which terminated in the destruction of the town of Czigria, at that time the capital of the Ukrain. This happened in the year 1674.

For the first years ensuing they preserved all their privileges, and were governed by a prince of their own choice from among themselves. But the hettman Mazeppa having taken the side of Charles XII. king of Sweden, Peter I. reduced this restless people to a condition which was a guarantee against any movement of importance for the future. At present they have no longer any privileges worth speaking of, and are looked upon in the light of a conquered province. Their last hettman, Apostel, dying in 1734, they were not allowed to choose another, and are now governed by a Russian regency, which resides at Glouchow.* They can at present bring 22,000 men into

* These Memoirs were already written, when the Empress Elizabeth restored to the inhabitants of the Ukrain a great part of their ancient privileges. She gave them, at the same time, the liberty of choosing a new

C

18

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

the field. They served in the Russian armies during the last wars against the Turks, without any other result than augmenting the number of the troops. It is believed, not without reason, that their pristine valour is totally extinct. In the last campaigns they scarce did any other service than that of driving provision waggons for the army.

The Zaporavian Cossacks inhabit the islands of the Dnieper, and a small tract of country in the direction of the Crimea, below the cataracts. They are a collection of all nations, mostly however Poles, Russians, and Ukrain Cossacks. They were formerly sometimes under the protection of the Turks, or Tartars of the Crimea, sometimes under that of Russia. If I am not mistaken, it was only in the year 1734 that they resumed their submission to Russia, having previously been under the rule of the Turks from the time when Charles XII. arrived at Bender.

Their general, or chief of the republic, has the appel-
lation of Koschowoy Ataman. They choose him from
among themselves, and for so long as pleases them, they
pay him a blind obedience; but the moment they are dis-
contented with him, they depose him without further
ceremony, and choose another in his place. It is however
requisite, ever since their submission to Russia, that their
election should always be confirmed by the regency of
Glouchow; nor is it at all improbable, that the principal
motive for their so often changing their Koschowoy is,
that it is customary for the court on this occasion to make
a present of seven thousand roubles to the new official,
who commonly shares them among the principal Cossacks,
to attach them to himself. But very often they do not let

hettman; when the choice fell on Count Rasoumowski, brother of her
majesty's favourite, and in 1751 he went to the Ukrain to take possession
of that government. (Note by the French editor.)

ZAPORAVIAN COSSACKS.

19

him keep his post above a few months, when he is degraded, and becomes again only a private Cossack; and many of them have even been massacred, without any other reason but their having incurred the displeasure of the multitude. In time of war the court gives them pay, and furnishes them with provisions during a campaign.

They have but one secretary, or clerk, who dares send or receive letters: if any other were to hold any the least correspondence, he would be put to death without mercy, were it even the Koschowoy himself. But, in case of any letter coming for any one, it is carried to the secretary, who reads it in presence of the Elders. The number of troops they can bring into the field is not invariable. In the last war against the Turks, 8000 of their horse served in the Russian armies; but on a stretch, with their best efforts, they might raise 12,000 or 15,000.

Their customs are very singular. No Zaporavian Cossack is allowed to be married within the precincts of their territory. If he is married, his wife must live in some neighbouring country, where he resorts to her from time to time; and even this intercourse must be without the knowledge of the Elders: but every one may quit their society when it no longer pleases him, and that without giving any notice. Another may come and have his name enrolled, without any other ceremony than that of declaring that he will conform to their customs, and submit to their laws. It is for this reason that they can never precisely ascertain the number of their forces. They are divided into different comradeships; and all who are present in their capital are obliged to dine and sup in their public halls or refectories.

They do not even suffer women to remain at any stranger's whomay come among them, and bring any of

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20

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

that sex with him. While the Russians were at war with
the Turks, the Zaporavians received a garrison of regular
troops into their capital, which is nothing more than an
entrenched village called Setz. The lieutenant-colonel
Glebow, who commanded those troops, being unapprised
of their custom, had sent for his wife to come to him. No
sooner was she arrived, than all the Cossacks assembled, and
surrounding the commanding officer's house, demanded
what women there were in it to be delivered to them,
that they might each have their share. Glebow had a
good deal of trouble to appease them, nor could he effect
it without sacrificing some casks of brandy to them.
Even then, he was obliged to send away his lady in-
stantly, for fear of a fresh disturbance.

Their manner of punishing is as singular as their
manner of living. They are great thieves and robbers of
strangers; but if any one should steal the least thing
from his comrade, he is tied to a post in the open
public place of the town; a bottle of brandy, a loaf of
bread, and a number of stout sticks, are set by his side,
when every one that passes has a right to give him as
many blows as he pleases; after which any one may give
the poor wretch, if he thinks proper, a drop of brandy,
and a morsel of bread. The sufferer, at the discretion of
the judges, remains thus tied to the post a whole night
and day, and often five times twenty-four hours without
relief. After which, if he has the good-luck to survive
the blows, he is received anew into the society.

The whole republic is in fact made up of thieves and
vagabonds, who subsist on nothing but rapine, both in
peace and war. The Haidamacks, who infest Poland,
are no other than some of these Zaporavian Cossacks.
The court of Russia cannot hinder their continual forays;
nay, it is even obliged to keep on terms with them, for fear
of their changing sides.

DEATH OF THE EMPEROR'S SISTER.

21

The Cossacks of the Don inhabit that tract which is between the river Don, the same as the ancient Tanais, and the Donetz, or Little Don. They have a very fertile country, and several towns. Their capital is called Czerkaskoi.* They are all originally, by descent, Russian peasants, to whom the yoke of their masters having proved insufferable, they, little by little, took refuge in this country, where they formed a commonwealth. In process of time they voluntarily put themselves under the protection of the Russian empire, by which they are treated with great gentleness and moderation. They are excellent soldiers, and can bring as many as 15,000 men into the field. The Russians derive great service from them against the Turks, and the Tartars of the Kuban. Their general, or chief of their republic, is styled Voiskowoy Ataman; he is chosen by themselves from among the principal officers of their nation, but he must be confirmed by the court. They profess Christianity according to the Greek rite.

I return to the history of the emperor. He took great delight in Moscow, and seemed to have no thoughts of returning to Petersburg. The ancient Russians were charmed with this disposition; for they cordially detested the town of Petersburg, which had cost them the greatest part of their fortunes.

In the beginning of December, the Princess Natalia fell sick, and died on the 14th of that month. All who knew this princess agree, that she gave great promise, and had an understanding above her years. She was not above fourteen years and four months old when she died; and

* Tscherkask. This town was a settlement, under the auspices of the Czar Iwan Wasiliowitz I., in the 16th century. With the Don Cossacks he united in it the survivors of a body of 5000 Saporogians, whom he had brought to oppose the Turks in an expedition they made against Astrakan.

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22

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

yet it is asserted that she often represented to the em-
peror, that he gave himself up too much to pleasure, and
allowed the Dolgorouki family to usurp to itself the same
supreme power that had been exercised by Menzikoff.
But the emperor, who was too young to govern for him-
self, and was very well satisfied so that pleasures were
procured him, paid no attention to his sister's advice; on
the contrary, he gave himself wholly up to that family.
Everything was left to them. The emperor kept no
company but the Dolgoroukis; and no one even durst
approach him without their consent.

It had been for a long while a project much at Dolgo-
rouki's heart, to make a match between the emperor and
his sister, in which he partly succeeded. His sister, the
Princess Catherine, without being absolutely a beauty,
had a very pretty face; she was above the middle stature,
and very well shaped. She had something of a languish-
ing expression in her large blue eyes, and besides, wanted
for neither wit nor education. With this princess
Peter II. became violently in love. The emperor had
made several excursions and hunting-parties on the
grounds of his favourite, who, taking the opportunity of
giving him a breakfast one day, at a country house which
he had near Moscow, presented his sister to him; and
he, from that instant, resolved to marry her.

On the 19th of November his majesty ordered this his
intention to be declared in full council. A few days
afterwards he further caused it to be intimated to the
foreign ministers, and all who attended his court, that he
expected their compliments of congratulation on the occasion.
On the 30th of the same month, the ceremony of
betrothing was solemnised in great form at the palace of
Le-Fort, where the emperor then resided. The princess
was conducted thither in the court equipages, and the

MARRIAGE AND DEATH OF THE EMPEROR.

23

Archbishop of Novogorod pronounced his benediction on the betrothal; after which ceremony, his majesty and the princess, his betrothed bride, received anew the compliments of the whole court, and of the foreign ministers. There was nothing but feasting and rejoicing for the rest of the year 1729, and the beginning of 1730. The Dolgorouki family now imagined they had surmounted all obstacles and proposed to have the nuptials consummated in a few days; reckoning that after this step they should have nothing to fear from their enemies' cabals. But they were deceived in their hopes. The young emperor fell sick on the 17th of January, of the small-pox. The ignorance of the physicians, who mistook it for merely a violent fever, and the ungovernable vivacity of the prince himself, were the cause of his death. In his impatience he opened a window, the small-pox which had begun to come out struck in again, and on the 29th of January (old style) he died, in the flower of his youth.

The reign of Peter II. lasted but two years and nine months, but though this prince was so very young when he died, he was nevertheless regretted by the whole nation. The Russians of the old stock found in him a prince after their own heart, especially for his having quitted Petersburg, and brought back the residence of the court to Moscow. Even at this day all Russia pronounces this epoch the happiest known for a century. The empire was at peace with all its neighbours; there was no compulsion to serve in the army, so that every one could stay at home quietly, enjoy his property, and even improve it. Except a few of the grandees, who were jealous of the power of the Dolgoroukis, all the rest of the nation were content. Universal joy appeared on every face; the treasury was becoming replenished, and the town of Moscow lifting its head again out of the condition of decadence to which Peter I. had

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MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

reduced it, by his predilection for Petersburg. Nothing went amiss but the marine and the army, which, indeed, would have been entirely ruined had this reign continued some years more on the same footing.

It is difficult to define the character of Peter II., on account of his extreme youth. It is generally however agreed, that he had a good heart, a great deal of vivacity and penetration, and an excellent memory. It was enough for him to hear any thing once to be able to retain it; so that, if with so many naturally good qualities he could have had the advantage of foreign instruction, it is likely he would have become a very great prince.

Peter I. had entrusted his education to a Hungarian, whose name was Sekan, who had been tutor to the young counts Nariskin; but this family having been exiled a little before the death of Catherine, Sekan had been obliged to follow them; and the empress named Count Osterman first governor, and Prince Alexis Dolgorouki sub-governor to the prince. Osterman was especially appointed to preside over his studies. Of this duty he acquitted himself with all possible diligence; that is to say, he gave as much time to it as he was left the master of, or could spare from the other affairs committed to him.

I had forgotten to mention, that in the will of Catherine there was an article, by which she ordered that the Princess Elizabeth, her daughter, should be married to the Prince of Holstein, bishop of Lubeck, who had already resided for several months at the court of Petersburg; and that there should be paid to him a dowry of three hundred thousand roubles. But this marriage was prevented by the death of the prince, who, falling sick on the 22nd of May, 1727, died on the first of June. This was the brother of the Princess of Zerbst, and of the now reigning King of Sweden, consequently own uncle to

CHARGES AGAINST THE DOLGOROUKIS.

25

the present Grand-duchess.* But while mentioning this designed marriage, it will not be foreign to the purpose to specify two other matches, which, it is said, had been on the carpet for the same princess. The first was, some years before the death of Peter I., with the French King Louis XV. There are some who assert that the Czar made the first proposition towards this alliance, but that the court of France eluded it; others say, that the Duke of Orleans, the regent, would have readily come into it; that Monsieur de Campredon, at that time minister of France at Petersburg, had even had orders to negociate it; but that several other courts, who would not have found their account in the alliance, had by their management and secret interfering got it broken off. The second was under the reign of Peter II., with the Margrave Charles, prince of the blood of Prussia; but how this came not to take place, I cannot say.

It was also under the reign of Peter II., that the first boats passed the canal of Ladoga. This was the great work which Peter I. had begun, to facilitate the commerce from the centre of the empire to the Baltic Sea. As I shall have occasion to speak again of this canal, I will subjoin the particulars of it in another place.

During the whole reign of Peter II., Russia was governed by none but Menzikoff and the princes Dolgorouki. The first was detested by the whole empire, for having oppressed the ancient families and carried his ambition beyond all bounds. The princes Dolgorouki, who supplanted him and succeeded to his favour and power, inherited his vices also, and their end was even more traumatic than his.

To the Dolgoroukis the charge was laid, that they had

* Catherine II.

26

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

endeavoured to hide from all the world the danger of the
emperor's sickness as long as they possibly could; and
that as soon as they found there were no hopes of his
recovery they had framed a will by which the Princess
Catherine, who had been betrothed to the emperor, was
constituted empress and heiress of the empire; which will
the Prince Iwan had signed, in the name of the emperor,
having been accustomed to sign the name of that prince
during his life, by his order. Accordingly, scarce had
Peter II. closed his eyes in death, when the Prince Iwan
came out of the chamber, flourishing his drawn sword in his
hand, and cried out, "Long live the Empress Catherine!"
but no one joining the cry, he saw that his project would
miscarry; upon which, putting his sword up again into the
scabbard, he went home immediately and burnt the
will. There are, many however, who will have it that
no such will was ever made, and that it was merely
an invention of the enemies of the Dolgoroukis, to
accomplish the ruin of that family. But as this charge
was inserted in the manifestoes which were published
against these princes, as one of the principal articles of
their guilt, I could not well avoid mentioning it; besides,
as to the fact above specified of the Prince Iwan's coming
out of the apartment with his sword drawn, it is perfectly
true. I had it from a man of great veracity, one of the
family itself. It is moreover certain, that if the Dolgoroukis
had not been at variance among themselves, the Princess
Catherine would infallibly have mounted the throne; but
the disunion that reigned among their chiefs was the
destruction of all of them.

The council of state, the senate, and such of the prin-
cipal generals of the army as were then at Moscow, assem-
bled immediately after the decease of Peter II., and sat in
close committee in a chamber of the palace of the Kremlin.

SCHEME FOR LIMITING THE MONARCHY.

27

The High-chancellor Golofkin announced to the assembly
the death of the emperor, and as soon as he had done
speaking, the Prince Demetrius Michaelowitz Galitzin got
up, and said, that "since, by the demise of Peter II., the
whole male line of Peter I. was extinct, and Russia had
suffered extremely by despotic power, propped up by
the great number of foreigners that had been brought
in by Peter I., it would be highly expedient to limit
the supreme authority by salutary laws, and not confer
the imperial crown on the new empress that should be
chosen except under certain conditions;" concluding
with putting the question to the whole assembly, whether
"they did not approve this proposal?" They all
assented to it, without any the least opposition. Upon
which the Prince Basilius Loukitz Dolgorouki proposed
the Duchess Dowager of Courland; alleging, that as the
crown was now falling to a female, it was but just to
prefer the daughter of the Czar Iwan, the elder brother
of Peter I., to those of this emperor; that though the
Duchess of Mecklenburg* was the eldest, it was to be
considered that she was married to a foreign prince,
whereas the Duchess of Courland was actually a widow,
and only thirty years of age; so that she might marry, and
give heirs to Russia.†

The true reason, however, for preferring the Duchess
of Courland was, that she being at Mittau, the remote-
ness of that place would afford time for the firmer esta-
blishment of the proposed republican system.

All the votes then united in her favour, and it was

* The Duchess of Mecklenburg was then at Moscow, where she had resided for many years; having in 1719 left her husband, and returned to Russia. (Note by the French editor.)

† The English edition makes the Duchess of Courland in her 36th, instead of her 31st year.

28

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

agreed, that the council of state, which at that time consisted of seven members, of whom the majority were Dolgoroukis or their relations, should have the whole power; and the assembly framed the following articles:

1st. That the Empress Anne was to reign only in virtue of the resolves, after deliberation, of the supreme council.

2nd. That she should not declare war nor make peace on her own authority.

3d. That she should not lay on any new tax, or bestow any post or place of consequence.

4th. That she should punish no gentleman with death unless he was first duly convicted of his crime.

5th. That she should not confiscate any one's property.

6th. That she should not alienate or dispose of any lands belonging to the crown.

7th. That she should not marry, nor choose an heir, without asking, upon all these points, the consent of the supreme council.

The assembly then chose three members to notify to the empress her accession to the throne, and to propose to her the conditions under which she was to reign. On the part of the council was deputed the Prince Basilius Loukitz Dolgorouki; on the part of the senate, the Prince Michael Galitzin; and on the part of the nobility, the Lieutenant-general Leontew. In the instructions given to these deputies, it was enjoined upon them to require of the empress that she should sign the above articles, and that she should not bring her favourite, Biron, gentleman of the chamber, with her to Moscow.

The Count Osterman, who had not for one moment quitted the emperor during his illness, retired to his own house, overwhelmed with fatigue, and feigning sickness, that he might not be at the assembly of the council and

THE ARMY SWORN TO THE NEW CONSTITUTION. 29

senate, though he was vice-chancellor of the empire. It
was by means of these sicknesses, which occurred at
proper times, that this minister kept his ground so long in
Russia.

Notwithstanding these precautions taken by the
supreme council, the Princess Elizabeth might probably
have been empress, if in the first moments she would but
have followed the advice of her surgeon, since Count
Lestock. As soon as he learnt the death of the emperor,
he entered the chamber of the princess, who was asleep;
and waking her, pressed her strongly to assemble the
guards, show herself to the people, and, going at once
to the senate, assert her title to the crown. But she
could not be prevailed on to stir out of her room.
Perhaps she had not, at that time, firmness enough to
execute so great an enterprise. We have since seen her
show more boldness and decision. But just then she pre-
ferred innocent amusements to the glory of reigning; and
very certain it is that if she had not been molested in the
reign of Anne, she would have continued to prefer the
tranquillity of a private life to the burthen of a crown.
It is also true, that at that time her party was far from
strong; many of the grandees of the empire saying pub-
licly, that she was too young to be empress. Indeed,
after this princess had ascended the throne, she herself
talking one day with General Keith, on his telling her
that he much wondered her majesty had not asserted her
right to the crown immediately on the death of Peter II.,
she replied, "I am very glad I did not: I was too young,
and my people would never have borne with me."

The council imagined they had taken sufficient pre-
caution against the restoration of despotic government,
having exacted from the whole army an oath, that it
would not serve the empress but at the discretion of the

30

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

senate. Moreover, before the assembly broke up, they forbade on pain of death, the acquainting the new empress with any thing that had been debated or resolved. She was not to receive advice of her election, and of the conditions under which she was to mount the throne, but at first hand from the deputies. Notwithstanding these precautions, the Lieutenant-general Jagouzinski despatched his aide-de-camp, M. Samarokow, to Mittau that night to apprise the empress of every thing. He wrote to her, and entreated her to hasten her departure from Mittau as soon as the deputies should have had their audience; to submit to all the conditions that might be required of her; and for the rest, to trust to his counsels; that, in the mean-while, until her arrival at Moscow, he would use his best endeavours to increase the party of such as were not at all pleased with this government by the council of state; that his father-in-law, the High-chancellor Golofkin, was already on her side; and that on the arrival of her majesty everything would turn out according to her wish.

Samarokow had a good deal of trouble to pass, all the roads round the capital being strictly guarded. Every traveller was diligently searched for papers or letters. However, he disguised himself so well, that he got through undiscovered. But that was not all; he had the same dangers to encounter at the advanced posts on the confines of Courland, where there were orders to stop all persons that should come by the road from Moscow. The apprehension of this made him take a large circuit, and thus in spite of all obstacles he got safe to Mittau. It is true, he had necessarily been so much retarded in his journey, that he had barely time to deliver his des-patches to the empress before the deputies arrived and demanded audience.

The Prince Dolgorouki had, I do not know by what

DISSIMULATION OF THE NEW EMPRESS.

31

means, discovered that a courier from Moscow had got
thither before the deputies, and had had a conversation
with the empress. Upon this he ordered a strict search to
be made for him; and finding that he was just set out on his
return, he sent to pursue him, and he was accordingly
brought back to Mittau. The deputies then ordered him
an unmerciful bastinade; and had him put into irons, and
carried to Moscow, where the count Jagouzinski was also
seized, and thrown into close prison.

There were some who did not spare to accuse the
empress herself of having betrayed to the deputies
the reasons of Samarokow having been sent to her. I
have always doubted of this, and yet it is certain, that
during the whole reign of the Empress Anne, Samarokow
was never employed. On the contrary, he was suffered to
languish in indigence.

The empress consented, without making any difficulty,
to sign whatever the deputies presented to her on the part
of the supreme council. She did not even oppose the
leaving her favourite behind her at Mittau, and immediately
got ready to set out for Moscow.

Her majesty came on the 20th of February to a village
called Use-Swiaitzki (All Saints), two leagues from
Moscow, where she stopped for five days. As soon as she
arrived, the high-chancellor, at the head of the members of
the supreme council, repaired thither, and presented her
with the ribbon of St. Andrew, and the star, in a gold
basin. As soon as the empress saw it, she said, "True, I
had forgotten to put the order on;" and taking it with her
own hands out of the basin, she made one of her attendants
put it on her, without suffering any of the members of the
privy council to help her on with it; and when the
high-chancellor was beginning to harangue her, she stopped
him, and prevented his going on. On the same day,

32

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

she appointed the Prince Soltikoff, a very near relation to
her majesty's mother, lieutenant-colonel of the guards.
This was the first act of authority she took upon her after
her accession to the throne. The rest of her conduct,
after her arrival at Moscow, gave many of the members
of the council and senate reason to think, that she was sa-
tisfied with the restrictions laid on despotic power. She
signed anew all that the council of state required, and af-
fected to submit cheerfully to all the conditions.

Her secret conduct was very different from her public.
Her favourite, whom she had left behind at the re-
quisition of the council, arrived at Moscow; and she
took all imaginable pains to form a strong party. She
tried to gain the guards by liberality to those who daily
did duty about her person. In short, she left no artifice
unemployed, towards effecting her purpose of creating
misunderstandings between the members of the council
of state. Every thing succeeded to her wish. It had been
insinuated to the army that the family of the Dolgoroukis,
and its connections, would be the only persons that would
be benefited by the smallness of the empress's influence;
that they had tied up her hands only to establish more
firmly the power which they had usurped under Peter II.;
that there were already of that family many members of
the supreme council, and of the senate; that, little by
little, the number would go on augmenting; and that they
ought to reflect on their conduct, after the death of
the late emperor, at which time they had aspired to
transmit the imperial crown to their own house, and not
having been able to succeed in this, they had still not
given up the hope of bringing it about in time, through
their circumscription of the supreme power.

Neither was it omitted to instil discontent into the lesser
nobility, which is very numerous in Russia, by giving

SHE TAMPERS WITH THE LESSER NOBILITY. 33

them to understand, that none of them stood any chance
of obtaining preferment of the least consequence, while
the council of state should have all power in its own hands;
as each member would make a point of procuring the
most considerable employments for his own relations and
creatures; and that, properly speaking, they would be the
slaves of the council: whereas, if the empress were
declared sovereign, the least private gentleman might
aspire to the first posts of the empire, as easily as the
princes; that there were examples of this under Peter I.
when the greatest regard was paid to true merit; and that
if that prince had done acts of severity, he had been com-
pelled to it; besides, that the lesser nobility had never suf-
fered by him; on the contrary, they had recovered their
consequence under his reign.

Such hints thrown out with proper discretion, did not
fail in producing the expected effect. The guards, who,
even to the private soldiers, are made up almost entirely
of the nobles of the country, formed meetings. Several
hundreds of country-gentlemen assembled at the houses
of the princes Troubetzkoi, Boraitinski, and Czerkasky,
as being those in whom they had the greatest confidence,
and who were in the interest of the empress. These did
not fail to incite them more and more, till, on the 8th of
March, they judged them ripe to the point at which they
wanted them. It was then that these princes, at the head
of 600 gentlemen, went to wait on the empress; and
having obtained an audience, entreated of her to order the
council of state and the senate to assemble, for the further
examination of certain points touching the regency. The
empress having consented, she at the same time ordered
count Soltikoff, lieutenant-general, and lieutenant-colonel
of the guards, to have all the avenues well guarded,
and not to permit any one to go out of the palace. The

D

34

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

guards were also commanded to have their pieces loaded; and special care was taken to acquaint all those who came to court, of the precautions which had been taken.

While these arrangements were making, the council of state and the senate assembled. The empress gave orders that both these bodies should appear before her. This princess then having repaired to the presence-chamber, the count Mattweeff, advancing towards her majesty, said, that he was deputed by the whole nobility of the empire to represent to her, that she had been, by the deputies of the supreme council of state, surprised into the concessions she had made; that Russia having for so many ages been governed by sovereign monarchs, and not by a council, all the nobility entreated of her to take the reins of government into her own hands; and that all the nation, of whom he was the organ, wished that the family of her majesty might reign over them to the end of time.

The empress, at this speech, affected great surprise: "How? (said she) was it not then by the wish of the whole nation that I signed the act presented to me at Mittau?" Upon which the whole assembly answered, "No." At this she turned towards Prince Dolgorouki, and said to him, "How came you then, Prince Basilius Loukitz, to impose on me?" She then ordered the high-chancellor to go and bring her the writings which she had signed. This being done, she made him read them with an audible voice; and at each article stopped him, and asked if such an article was agreeable to the nation. The assembly having to all and each of them constantly answered "No;" she took the deeds out of the hands of the high-chancellor, and tore them, saying, "These writings then are not necessary." She declared at the same time, "That as the empire of Russia had never been governed but by one sole monarch, she claimed the same

AND THROUGH THEM EFFECTS A REVOLUTION. 35

prerogatives as her ancestors had possessed, from whom she derived her crown by right of inheritance, and not from the election of the council of state, as had been pretended; and that whoever should oppose her sovereignty should be punished, as guilty of high treason." This declaration was received with applause, and nothing was heard all over the town but acclamations and shouts of joy. The empress also gave an assurance, " That though she had taken the supreme power into her own hands, she should nevertheless make it her care to govern with all justice and mildness; that she would have always at heart the happiness of her people; that she would constantly avail herself of the good counsels of her senate, composed as it was of persons of the greatest experience and the most acknowledged probity; and that she would never have recourse to acts of rigour, unless in the utmost extremity."

To secure her against any attempts of the disaffected, there were picquets of guards posted in all the streets; the troops took the oath of allegiance afresh; and couriers were dispatched into all the provinces, with the notification of the empress having taken the supreme authority upon herself.

The lesser nobility and the common people, who had dreaded the government by a council of state, rejoiced much at this alteration of things; but the evening after the affair had been decided, there was observed an Aurora Borealis, which overspreading the whole horizon, made it appear as if all drenched in blood. This phenomenon made such an impression on the superstitious people, as to create a general terror; and in the sequel the Russians alleged that this presage was but too fatally verified, by the streams of blood which Biron caused to be shed in the country.

The consternation of the members of the council, and

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36

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

especially of the Dolgoroukis, was extreme, when they
were summoned to appear before the empress. Prince
Demetrius Michaëlowitz Galitzin was the only one of them
who preserved a serenity of countenance, with even a dash
of disdain in it. He said to some of his friends, "Well!
the feast was prepared, but the guests were not worthy
of it; I know I shall be the victim of this. Be it so.
It is for my country I shall suffer. I see before me the
end of my career; but those who now make me mourn,
will have cause to mourn longer than me."

There were four capital mistakes imputed to the re-
publican party:

First, their not having brought the clergy into their
interest, who, by strengthening their system with the bond
of an ecclesiastical malediction upon all opponents,— a
ceremony of which the Russians stand incomparably more
in awe than of an oath,—would have given a stability to
it not easily overcome. Secondly, the not having dispersed
the guards, so as to have the duty at court done by the
line regiments in turn. Thirdly, the not having taken
off the head of Jagouzinski; as such a resolute measure
would have struck terror into every one. Fourthly, the
not having sent back Biron immediately when Anne had,
contrary to her word given to the deputies at Mittau, sent
for him to Moscow.

As to the first point, the prince Demetrius Galitzin re-
jected it. He knew and feared the clergy too much, and
did not choose to be emancipated from one slavery to en-
ter into another. He was, besides, in hopes to dispense
with them. As to the second, the marshal Galitzin and the
marshal Dolgorouki opposed it, because they commanded
two regiments of guards. From the third they abstained,
for the sake of keeping on terms with the high-chancel-
lor, count Golofkin, and from the fourth, out of mere

SHE ESTABLISHES A CABINET COUNCIL. 37

weakness. Yet it is certain that one or two strokes of vigour would have made such an impression, that not a soul would have dared to make the least stir, especially if the members of the supreme council had been united.

The first thing that the empress did after having declared herself supreme, was to release count Jagouzinski from the prison in which he had been shut up by order of the council; he was not, however, immediately restored to his employments; and it was not till some time after that the empress restored them to him, at the solicitation of the count Loewenwolde, as will hereafter be shown.

Anne being now absolute sovereign, and every thing quiet in the capital, the count Osterman thought it time to be entirely cured of his disorder. His eyes, which had been out of order, now saw clearer than ever; and he felt himself in a condition to do any service that might be required of him. As an able politician he had taken special care to avoid being present at the deliberations of the council of state and of the senate, after the death of Peter II. On the arrival of the empress at Moscow, she applied to him for forming the plan of management that was to give her the sovereignty. Osterman came into her design, and, all sick as he was, directed affairs so well, that they took the favourable turn for Anne, which has been described above. Monsieur de Korf, who has since been minister at Copenhagen, was the person who carried all the necessary advices to Biron; and the secretary of the chancery, Criponoff, was taken into confidence as to what was in agitation, that he might inform the high-chancellor of every thing. By this service it was that Osterman obtained the favour and confidence of the empress, which he preserved during her whole reign.

Anne, naturally enough, was not pleased with the

D 3

38

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

supreme council of state appointed by the Empress Catherine, since most of its members had expressed themselves for curtailing the sovereign prerogative; and the council itself had, under the reigns of Catherine and Peter II. acquired an overgrown power; a thing easy enough for it to do, both Catherine and Peter being glad to be eased of the burthen of government, provided they were left at liberty to give themselves up entirely to their pleasures. Besides, Peter II. had not yet attained to a competent age for governing so vast an empire himself. It was not so with the Empress Anne; she insisted on information as to all affairs, and on seeing every thing with her own eyes, or rather with those of the favourite. She broke up the old council, and created a new one in its place, under the title of the cabinet-council, and to this the general direction of affairs was committed; nothing of any consequence being resolved on without its consent. It was composed of three members, the high-chancellor Count Golofkin, the vice-chancellor Count Osterman, and the actual privy-counsellor Prince Czerkaski.

In the speech which the empress made when she assumed absolute sovereignty, she had, it is true, promised to govern her states with mildness, and not to recur to rigorous punishments, unless in the last extremity. She could not, however, forget, that the Dolgoroukis had dared to aspire to place a princess of their own blood on the throne; and that, finding they could not bring that project to bear, they had employed all their arts to overturn the despotic power, and to remain in place, so as still to govern under another title.

All the princes Dolgorouki, who had been concerned in the schemes of the council of state, were arrested at one and the same time. They were tried and accused of various crimes; among others, of having diverted the emperor from the study of sciences worthy of him, and the

PROSCRIPTION OF THE DOLGOROUKIS.

39

acquisition of knowledge necessary for reigning; of having ruined his health by over-frequent hunting parties, and consequently caused his premature death. It was also added, that, in order to accomplish their ambitious ends, they had projected to marry the emperor to a princess of their family before he was of sufficient age; and that they had bestowed the greatest offices in the state on their relations and creatures, and so on. The empress, for this time, granted them their lives. The princess that had been betrothed to the emperor was shut up in a convent. The Prince Iwan, who had been high-chamberlain and favourite, was, together with his father, his uncle, and all their nearest relations, banished, some to their estates, others to Beresowa, or other remote places in Siberia; with a prohibition against any correspondence being held with them without the express leave of the court.

The marshal Dolgorouki, and his brother the privy counsellor, were not immediately involved in this disgrace of their house; but some time after, the marshal having spoken a little too freely of the court, was arrested, and carried prisoner to the fortress of Iwanogorod near Narva. Neither did his brother keep his position; a few years afterwards he also was taken up, and sent to Schlüsselburg; and both remained in confinement till the accession of the empress Elizabeth to the throne. It was the Prince of Hesse Homburg who, to recommend himself at court, turned informer against the marshal's wife, and reported some disrespectful phrases which she had let slip with regard to the empress.* The cabinet issued an order, that no one of the house of Dolgorouki in the military service should be promoted, without an express order from the court.

* This sentence is only found in the French edition.

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MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

This unfortunate family had remained near eight years
quiet in exile, when the empress took it into her head to
employ some of its members in her service. The Prince
Sergius Grigoriwitz had already been employed in several
embassies to France, Vienna, and London. He had
been recalled from exile to Petersburg, with a view to
send him to England, when, on the eve of his departure,
some secret enemy stirred up anew a persecution against
him and his whole family. Instead of setting out on his
mission, he was seized and sent to Novogorod, whither
there were also brought the other princes of his family.
The charge was renewed against them of their having
framed the false will in the name of the emperor, in
favour of the princess Catherine; with the addition,
that though they had not produced it in the council of
state, or in the senate, such a will afforded proof of their
bad intentions; and that, notwithstanding their exile,
they had found means to keep up dangerous correspon-
dence in foreign countries, &c. Their trial soon came off,
and the issue of it was, that the princes Basilius and Iwan
(he who had been the favourite) were broken on the
wheel, two others were quartered, and three more were
punished with another kind of death.

The contradictory alternatives of their recall, and of
their being put to death, will here doubtless appear very
singular; I will endeavour to explain this. So long as
the family of the Dolgoroukis was kept remote from all
affairs or employment, their enemies did not stir against
them; but so soon as the empress recalled any it alarmed
the fears of them, lest the family should rise again
from its depressed state, and gather strength enough to
replace itself at the head of affairs. This induced them
to exert their utmost efforts to destroy them, and they
succeeded as has been said. It is asserted, that it was

FAMILY HISTORY OF THE FAVOURITE BIRON. 41

M. Walinski who most contributed to their ruin; but the true reason is only to be found in the vindictive heart of Biron, who could never forgive their having required the empress to leave him behind at Mittau; and he was, besides, afraid of their throwing obstacles in the way of the vast designs which he had conceived on being declared duke of Courland.

The family of the princes Galitzin, which was nearly connected with that of Dolgorouki, suffered also by the fall of this last. None of them, indeed, were sent into exile; they were only forbidden the court, and debarred from any share of affairs by having governments given them in the direction of Kazan and Siberia. But this family never recovered its footing during the whole reign of the Empress Anne.

After every thing had resumed its usual tranquillity, the empress had herself crowned on the 28th of April (old style) in the cathedral church of Moscow; and the archbishop of Novogorod, as metropolitan of the Russian empire, performed the ceremonies of the coronation. Biron, who had served many years in quality of gentleman of the chamber, while the empress was duchess of Courland, was made a count and received the blue ribbon, and withal the place of high-chamberlain vacant by the exile of prince Iwan Dolgorouki.

As this same Biron has acted so very great a part at the court of Petersburg, it may not be improper to give the reader some account of him.

His grandfather, whose proper name was Bieren, was head-groom of the stables to the duke James III. of Courland; and as he attended him everywhere, found means to acquire his favour; insomuch that, by way of gratuity, he gave him a little farm in free-gift. This Bieren had two sons, of which one entered into the service

42

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

of Poland, and beginning with carrying a musket, got to be promoted to the rank of general.

The other, father of the Biron of whom I have been just speaking, remained in the service of Courland and followed the duke Alexander, the youngest of the duke's sons, when he went to Hungary in 1686. The prince was wounded before Buda, and died of his wounds. Bieren, who had followed him as his groom of the stable, with the title besides of lieutenant, brought back his equipages to Courland, where they gave him the place of master-huntsman, so that what with that, and the small inheritance of his father, he was in tolerably easy circumstances.

He had three sons; the eldest of them, Charles, began by serving in Russia, where he advanced to the rank of an officer, and was taken prisoner by the Swedes, in an action with the Russians. Having found means to escape out of confinement, he went to Poland, took service there, and rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He afterwards returned to the service of Russia, where, in a few years, he got to be a general officer. He was the most ruffianly of men; and was maimed with the number of wounds which he had received in various scrapes, into which his drunkenness and clownishness had brought him. In Russia every one dreaded him and avoided having any thing to say to him, for fear of drawing down the hostility of his brother, who was become the favourite, and omnipotent in the government.

The second son was Ernest John, who rose to the dignity of Duke of Courland, of whom I shall presently speak more at large. The third, Gustavus, was also a general officer in the Russian service. He had begun with serving in Poland, and the Empress Anne, when seated on the throne, sent for him and appointed him major of a newly raised regiment of guards. As he was brother to

HIS UNPOPULARITY IN COURLAND.

43

the favourite, it was easy for him to obtain promotion.
He was a very honest man, but without education, and of
no understanding.

To return to the second brother; he had been for some
time at the academy of Königsberg in Prussia, when he
was obliged to leave it, to avoid being arrested for some bad
doings. In Courland he found that he could not subsist
without service, and he went in 1714 to Petersburg,
and solicited a gentleman's place at the court of the
princess, consort to the Czarewitz. It was then thought
an impertinent presumption that one of so low a birth
should pretend to such a post. He was not only rejected
with contempt, but advised to make the best of his way
instantly out of Petersburg. At his return to Mittau, he
made acquaintance with Bestucheff, (father of the high-
chancellor,) who was then master of the household at the
court of the Duchess of Courland. He soon got into the
duchess's good graces, and obtained a place as gentleman
of the chamber. He was scarce settled in it, before he
fell to work at the ruin of his benefactor; in which he
succeeded so well, that the duchess not only forbade him
her court, but persecuted him as much as she could, and
sent De Korf expressly to Moscow to institute a suit
against him.

This Bieren was of an extremely handsome person, and
soon got deep into the favour of the duchess, who took
such delight in his company, that she gave him her con-
fidence.

The nobility of Courland conceived a great jealousy
against this new favourite, and some carried it to such a
length, that they laid out for occasions to pick a quarrel
with him. As he then stood in need of support among
the nobility, he sought the alliance of some ancient
family. He met with several refusals; at length he pre-

41

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

vailed upon mademoiselle de Treiden, maid of honour to
the duchess, who married him even before he had got the
consent of her friends. By this marriage he hoped to
get some lands and to gain admission into the body of the
nobility: he solicited it, and was obstinately refused.

The ministry of Russia did not like him more than the
nobility of Courland. The scurvy trick he had played
Bestucheff had set the whole world against him, so that
he was detested and despised. At Moscow, this went to
such a pitch, that when, a little while before the death of
Peter II., De Korf solicited an augmentation of pension
for the duchess, the ministers of the supreme council de-
clared to him frankly, that everything should be done for
her highness, but that they would not have Bieren
dispose of it. On the emperor's demise, and Anne being
elected empress, one of the proposals made to her by the
deputies at Mittau was, as already related, that she
should leave her favourite behind her there. She con-
sented, but he soon followed her. After she had de-
clared herself absolute sovereign, she made him her
chamberlain, and, on the day of her coronation, he was
raised to the honours above mentioned.

The Duke Ferdinand of Courland, last survivor of the
house of Kettler, being dead, he managed so successfully,
by his arts and cabals, that he was elected duke*, and
consequently became the sovereign of a country, the nobi-
lity of which had, but a few years before, refused to admit
him into their body.

When he began to advance himself in the career of
fortune, he took the name and arms of the dukes of
Biron in France. This man it is who, during the whole
life of the Empress Anne, and some weeks after her death,

This was in 1737. Manstein gives the account below.

REMODELLING OF THE GUARDS.

45

reigned with perfect despotism over the vast empire of
Russia. He had no sort of learning, nor yet any educa-
tion except what he gave himself; neither had he that
kind of wit which confers the power of pleasing in society;
but he was not destitute of a certain amount of natural
good sense, though there are some that deny him even
that. It is not without reason that the proverb might be
applied to him, "that affairs form men;" for, before his
arrival in Russia, he had not, perhaps, so much as heard
of the name of politics; whereas, after having resided
there some years, he became perfectly well acquainted
with all that related to the empire. The two first years,
he professed his wish to be to meddle with nothing, but
at length he took a taste for business, and managed every-
thing. He loved pomp and magnificence to excess,
and had especially a great fancy for horses. The
minister of the emperor, count Ostein, who detested him,
used to say: when the count Biron talks of horses, or to
horses, he speaks like a man, but when he speaks of men,
or to men, he speaks as a horse might do. His character
was full of faults: he was haughty and ambitious beyond
all bounds; abrupt, and even brutal; avaricious, an impla-
cable enemy, and cruel in his revenge. He took a great
deal of pains to learn to dissemble, an art so essential to a
courtier, but could never attain any degree of perfection
in it, comparable to that of count Osterman, who was a
master of the craft.

After so long a digression, it is time I should resume
the thread of my story.

The corps of knights of the guard which Peter I. had
instituted at the coronation of Catherine, was broken up
by the Empress Anne. In place of them, she raised a
regiment of horse-guards, of which the greatest part of
the officers were taken out of the old body. The King

46

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

of Prussia sent several officers and sergeants to introduce the Prussian exercise. For the augmentation of the foot-guards, the empress raised a new regiment of three battalions, to which she gave the name of Ishmaëlow, from that of a country-seat situate near Moscow. She made count Loewenwolde colonel of it, Keith lieutenant-colonel, and Gustavus Biron major. The greatest part of the officers were chosen from among the foreigners, and from among the Livonian nobility. These two regiments of guards were raised as checks upon the old ones, and to overawe the people.

In the month of December, Russia lost the best native general it had ever had. This was the marshal Prince Galitzin, who died in the fifty-sixth year of his age. He was a man of a great deal of merit, and one who, upon all occasions, had given proofs of courage and capacity in the military art. It was he that won the battle of Lesna against the Swedes.

The count Jagouzinski, of whom I have before made mention, had hoped, that, after the service he had done to the empress, he should be more favourably distinguished than the rest of her subjects. So far from this, he was left for some time without having his employments restored to him; and he might have been still longer neglected, had he not induced the count Loewenwolde to use his interest for him, which he did on the occasion of the following affair. Peter I. had, at the peace of Nystadt, made with Sweden, confirmed the privileges of the Livonians, with this clause of limitation: "so far as they should be compatible with the system of government;" a clause which had also been inserted in the charters of his successors. As soon as Anne was on the throne, the master of the horse, Loewenwolde, who was in high esteem with the empress, tried to avail himself of

TEMPER AND FORTUNES OF JAGOUZINSKI.

47

her favour, to free his country from this restriction. But the count Osterman, as a faithful minister, opposed it; upon which Jagouzinski seized the occasion, and influenced Loewenwolde, that if he were restored to his former post of attorney-general to the senate, he would undertake to terminate the affair to his satisfaction. The master of the horse easily enough obtained from the empress the re-establishment of Jagouzinski, who, on his side, kept his word with him, and procured the royal signature to the privileges of Livonia without any limiting clause. This affair being thus happily ended, Jagouzinski, who had been one of the great favourites of Peter I. imagined that he might exercise his official functions on the same footing that he had done under the reign of that prince, when he had, in the senate, almost as much authority as the emperor himself. But the cabinet-council not approving this, stopped his proceedings, not without some rather sharp animadversions on him. At this he was touched to the quick, and as he believed that the count Biron, the favourite, had contributed to this treatment; for the count had, according to him, been deficient in personal respect to him; he was highly incensed, and did not fail to speak ill enough of him on several occasions. Not thinking himself revenged enough by what he said of him behind his back, he chose to go still farther, and happening, one day, to dine at the count's, and to drink too freely, he gave vent to most offensive language. A violent quarrel ensued, and Jagouzinski even laid his hand on his sword against the very man at whose table he was. They were separated, and he was carried home.

Any one but Jagouzinski would have led a sad life after such an adventure; but the empress, unwilling so soon to forget the services he had done her, after reprisals

48

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

manding him for his fault, sent him as her minister to Berlin, by way of removing him from the court, and giving him the chance during his absence of pacifying the grand chamberlain.

Some years afterwards, the high-chancellor, count Golofkin, dying, Jagouzinski was recalled, and placed in the cabinet. The count Biron, being, at that time, on very ill terms with count Osterman, became reconciled to Jagouzinski, in order to counterbalance the influence of the other; for these two ministers had never been friends. Their animosity had taken its rise from the congress of Nystadt. When Peter I., in 1721, sent count Osterman thither, he recommended him in his instructions, to press the cession of Wybourg, but not so far as to break off the conference on that point. Osterman, who was sensible of the importance of the place, did not fail in all his despatches to press the necessity of keeping it; offering, withal, to answer with his head for the compliance of the Swedes at the last extremity. It is asserted, that he had certain information of this, through the treason of a Swedish minister, who sold the secret for eighty thousand roubles. And, in fact, the instructions of the Swedish plenipotentiaries, on this point, were precisely the same as those of Osterman; that is to say, not to break off the treaty. Osterman, who knew his master's turn of mind, and the passionate desire of Jagouzinski to make a figure at the congress, was afraid that he would avail himself of the impatience that Peter I. had to get out of the war, to induce him to relax on this article. Judging then that, in such a case, Jagouzinski would himself in person be the bearer of the ultimatum to the congress, he concerted his measures with general Schowalow, commandant of Wybourg, and his intimate friend; begging him, that if it should happen that

PROPOSAL FOR THE MARRIAGE OF THE EMPRESS. 49

Jagouzinski came with the ultimatum, he would contrive to entertain and stop him as long as he possibly could, and dispatch an express at once to him. The thing happened just as he had foreseen. Jagouzinski, incapable of refusing a drinking-party, suffered himself to be detained for two whole days. Osterman, receiving timely advice of this from Schowalow, availed himself of the other's imprudence, and acquainted the Swedes that he had just received an order to conclude matters within twenty-four hours, or else break off the conferences. The artifice succeeded; the Swedes, reduced to extremity, agreed to the cession of Wybourg, and the treaty was concluded and signed before the arrival of Jagouzinski. This was a thunderbolt to him, and the more so, as he dared not complain. He never forgave Osterman the stroke. The justice, however, must be done him, that after being admitted to the cabinet, he lived, at least to all appearance, on tolerably good terms with him. It might be partly owing to the state of bodily infirmity to which they were both reduced, and which hindered their meeting over a bottle; for no consideration on earth could bridle the violence of Jagouzinski when he had taken a glass too much.

In the beginning of the year 1731, the Prince Don Manuel of Portugal arrived at Moscow, in the idea of marrying the Empress * Anne. It was the Count Wratislaw, minister of the emperor, that had formed this project, and previously engaged him to come to Vienna, where the proposal was greatly approved and encouraged by the imperial court, who sent the prince on to Russia. There he was received with all the distinction and all the

* The French edition has "Princess," but Anne Iwanowna, the reigning empress, seems decidedly to be meant, not her niece. The English edition has "Empress."

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MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

honours possible; but of a match there was not so much as the mention suffered. He returned to Vienna, after having stayed some months at Moscow. Biron could by no means relish this project of Count Wratislaw, and for some months behaved very coolly to him. Happily the court of Vienna did not at that time stand in need of any assistance from Russia; for certainly it would have been refused, as the favourite was not in its interests. Things however soon changed their aspect; and, during the whole reign of Anne, the ministry of Vienna had great influence in all the affairs of Russia.

The empress, though of an age at which she might marry again, would not hear of it. She wished, however, to choose her successor in her lifetime. The first step she took towards this was to adopt her niece, daughter of Charles Le pold Duke of Mecklenburg and her sister Catherine Iwanowna. This princess formally abjured the Protestant religion, and took the name of Anne, in lieu of that of Catherine, which had been given her at baptism. She was then only twelve years old, but still the empress was anxious to choose her a husband. She first cast her eyes on the house of Prussia; and the Margrave Charles was thought of for her. A negotiation was entered into, and the affair already far advanced, when the marshal Seckendorf, who at that time resided at Berlin, in quality of minister to the emperor, acquainted his court with it. Umbrage was taken, and he received instructions to use his utmost endeavours to thwart the alliance. Upon this so many engines were set to work, that every thing was broken off; and the court of Vienna proposed as a husband for the princess the prince Anthony Ulric of Brunswick Lunenburg, nephew of the Empress of the Romans. He was accepted, and came in 1733 to Petersburg. Such were at that time the

TRAVELLING BETWEEN MOSCOW AND PETERSBURG. 51

appearances in his favour, that one might have imagined
fortune was opening her arms to lavish her caresses upon
him; but the sequel has shown that he came only for his
own misfortune, and that of many others.

Towards the end of the year 1731, an oath was imposed
on the whole nation, to acknowledge for successor who-
ever the empress should name. Anne took this step
in imitation of Peter I., who in 1722 had done the same
thing: but the sequel has proved that such oaths can-
not prevent revolutions. On this occasion, all the regi-
ments that were at Moscow were assembled at night,
and posted in the streets. At the same time cannon were
pointed, to prevent any commotion on the part of the
people. It was about this time that the empress felt
much disposed to shut the Princess Elizabeth up in a
convent, to deprive her of any hopes of ascending the
throne of Russia, and to fix the crown the firmer on the
head of such successor as she might appoint. Anne was,
and not without reason, afraid that the order of succession
she established would scarcely be maintained while there
remained at court a princess, daughter of Peter I., whom
the contrary party might oppose to the successor she
should name. Count Biron interceded for her, and ob-
tained her liberty; otherwise she would undoubtedly have
been compelled to take the veil.

In the month of January 1732, the court quitted Moscow,
and came to Petersburg. The winter-season was chosen
for this removal, because journeys in summer are ex-
tremely disagreeable, on account of the extensive marshes
of this country, and of the gnats. In winter one may
go by sledge from Moscow to Petersburg, which is more
than two hundred French leagues, very easily in three days
and nights. Nor is there, perhaps, a country in the world
where the post is better regulated, or at a cheaper rate,

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MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

than on the road between these two capitals. Elsewhere
you commonly give the postilions something to drink
to quicken their pace, but between Moscow and Peters-
burg you would rather give them something to make them
go slower.

Some days before her departure the empress pitched
upon Lieutenant-general Romanzow, to put him at the
head of the finances; but this officer, who had always
served in the army, begged to be excused, saying, that so
long as her majesty would employ him as a soldier, he
would serve her with pleasure, but that he was obliged to
confess to her his want of capacity for the kind of service
she proposed. The empress was piqued at this refusal,
and obliged Romanzow to resign his posts of lieutenant-
general and lieutenant-colonel of the guards; his red
ribbon of St. Alexander was taken away, and he was ban-
ished to one of his estates in the neighbourhood of Kasan.
In 1735, he was recalled from this exile; the empress
restored him the red ribbon, and named him governor
of Kasan. The next year he had the government of the
Ukraine; and in 1737, 1738, 1739, he made, as will be
related hereafter, the campaigns against the Turks under
marshal Munich.

The exile of Romanzow reminds me here of some other
persons who, much about that time, had the like fate.
The first was the counsellor of state, De Fick, whom
Peter I. had, in 1716, sent to Sweden, to acquaint
himself with several things relative to the government of
the country. For at that time the emperor had deter-
mined to introduce into his own dominions the same
police and finance regulations as prevailed in Sweden.
But the Swedish system not proving compatible with
the institutions of Russia, he abandoned that project
some years afterwards. De Fick however had, during

RUIN OF ADMIRAL DE SIVERS.

53

his stay in Sweden, contracted a taste for republican government; and when, after the death of Peter II, the council of state entered on the plan of limiting the royal authority, he tried to get himself listened to. He accordingly entered into a correspondence with the Prince Demetrius Galitzin, for the purpose of suggesting advice to him towards the more firm establishment of the new system. When the Empress Anne declared herself absolute sovereign, this correspondence was discovered; and as De Fick had, at the same time, the indiscretion to speak in rather free terms of her favourite, he was arrested, and, without being examined on any one article, was sent off to Siberia, where he remained till the princess Elizabeth mounted the throne.

Another sufferer was the admiral De Sivers, an excellent naval officer. Over-precaution on his part was the cause of his misfortune. I have above observed, that the supreme council had required of all the states of the empire an oath not to serve the empress unless conjointly with the council. When this princess took the sovereignty into her own hands, an ordinance was issued for administering a new oath. The courier who had been sent to the admiralty not getting to Petersburg at the same time that the one did who had been dispatched to the war office, De Sivers hesitated in tendering the oath to the fleet, as he wanted first to be assured of all that had passed at Moscow. But as soon as he received the orders for which he had waited, he submitted to all that was required of him. Now though there was nothing reprehensible in this conduct, there were, nevertheless, people who succeeded in blackening him to the empress, prejudicing her against him by a malignant misconstruction of his precautions, as if they had been marks of contempt for her majesty's orders, and a formal disobe-

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MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

dience. On this he was disgraced, and had an order
sent him to leave Petersburg in four hours. His pension
was taken from him, and he was banished to a small
estate he had in Finland, where he died miserably after
ten years of exile. He had two sons, of which one was
serving in the navy, the other in the army. They were
both dismissed. Count Munich is accused of having been
the chief cause of their ruin, as well as of that of De Fick.

After having related some acts of severity on the part
of the empress, it is but just to specify some instances of
her graciousness. She recalled several families from
the exile into which they had been sent under the
reigns of Catherine and of Peter II., and among others
the family of Menzikoff, to which she ordered a
part of the lands confiscated from them to be restored,
though she had great reason for resentment against
Menzikoff, who, during the reign of Catherine, had given
her every imaginable cause for enmity.

The court having arrived at Petersburg, the empress
applied herself with great assiduity to business, determined
as she was that every branch of the administration
throughout her vast empire should be put upon a better
footing. She began with the military.

The count Munich, whom the empress had made presi-
dent of the war department, after the fall of the marshal
Dolgorouki, was raised to the rank of marshal, and placed
at the head of all affairs connected with the army. She
could not have made a better choice, for it was by the care
and management of this general that the Russian army
was put upon the respectable footing it has since main-
tained, and a discipline, till then unknown among
them, introduced into the troops, thus finishing the work
begun by Peter I.

Munich had already, so far back as the year 1731, pro-
posed that in order to have good subaltern officers in read-

IMPROVEMENTS IN THE RUSSIAN ARMY.

55

iness to fill vacancies in the army, there should be established a military seminary for the families of the Russian and Livonian nobility, and also for the sons of the foreign officers who should wish to enter. This project was considered and approved. Munich himself had the direction of it, and under him the Lieutenant-general Baron de Louberas: and this is the origin of the corps of cadets. The King of Prussia sent officers and some sergeants for the first establishment of this corps, and for teaching the pupils the Prussian exercise. The palace of Menzikoff was selected to lodge the cadets. This is a spacious building, where the whole corps, consisting of 360 cadets, are conveniently lodged, with all their officers and masters.

It was also by the advice of count Munich that the empress caused three regiments of cuirassiers to be raised. Till then Russia had not any, and I rather think she might have done very well without them; for this cavalry has been of great expense, and hitherto the empire has hardly made any use of them. The first was called the regiment of body-guards; the second was given to Munich, and the third to the Prince of Brunswick. Russia itself not affording horses strong enough to remount a heavy cavalry, there was a necessity for buying them out of Holstein. The King of Prussia assisted these regiments also with a certain number of officers and sergeants, to get them into order, and put them upon the Prussian footing. Nor was this prince satisfied with showing his friendship for the empress by furnishing her with officers and sergeants, for training the corps of cadets and the cavalry, but he also, some time after, sent her officers of the artillery to form her corps of engineers. He got, in return, fourscore men of very great stature for his regiment of tall grenadiers.

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MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

Nearly about this time the empress approved another project of the count Munich; it was to raise the pay of the Russian officers, which till then had been very slender. Peter I. in forming his army, had instituted three degrees of payment. The foreigners newly entered into the service received a very high pay. Those who were born in the country, and who had the appellation of *starie inoremtzi* (ancient foreigners), because their fathers and grandfathers were already established in Russia, had a somewhat smaller. The Russians had still less, the pay of a ensign not amounting to above eight German florins a month. Munich represented to the court that they could not subsist upon it, and that it was unjust that foreigners should have a higher pay than the natives; so they were all rated alike, and the Russian pay became thus augmented to the double of what it had been. It was also by the advice of Munich that a new military board was formed, to put the affairs of the army on a more regular footing than they had before been. The court appointed for carrying out this purpose a committee of general officers, under the direction of Munich. The board was gazetted, and put in action in 1733.

The empress was not content with seeing her army put on a good footing; she meant also to have trade flourish in her dominions. She lessened the import duties on some kinds of merchandise by one third, and renewed all the ancient treaties of commerce.

To the misunderstanding which had existed for several years between the courts of Petersburg and Copenhagen, an end was put by means of a treaty of alliance concluded at Copenhagen, under the mediation of the emperor. The broils between these two courts had begun under Peter I. This prince had conceived a discontent against the King of Denmark, even at the time he was his ally. After having resolved to marry his daughter to the Duke of

CHINESE EMBASSY TO PETERSBURG.

57

Holstein, he espoused the interests of his son-in-law against that crown. The same maxims had been adhered to under the reigns of Catharine and of Peter II., so that harmony between the two courts had entirely ceased. But Anne, having mounted the throne, cared nothing for the Duke of Holstein's interests, so that it became very easy to reconcile the two parties. The King of Denmark, who had not hitherto acknowledged the sovereigns of Russia under the title of Emperor, did it by this treaty; and the empress bound herself to guarantee all the provinces possessed by the King of Denmark, without any exception.

It was about this time that there arrived at Petersburg an embassy from China. It was the first that had ever been sent from that empire to any court of Europe, and consisted of three ambassadors and a numerous retinue. In time past, the envoys of China had been sent only to the governors of Siberia, and had regulated all affairs relating to commerce at Tobolsk.

This embassy had not been originally destined for the court of Russia, but sent to Ayuk Khan, chief of the Calmucks. On their arrival in Siberia, the governor learnt that their credentials were addressed to Ayuk, on which he represented to them the impropriety of paying this respect to a vassal of the empire, and declined giving the permission of his court for such a purpose. The reply was that in China the Calmucks were not known to be Russian vassals, but taken for an independent people, with whom, as they reached to the Chinese frontier, some arrangements had to be made. This appearing to be a mistake, the ambassador offered to send a courier for fresh instructions, and in answer there came two additional envoys with credentials addressed to the empress.*

* This paragraph is only found in the French edition.

58

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

The public was not on this occasion much edified with
Chinese manners, though the ambassadors were mandarins
of the second order, that is to say, persons of great
quality. One of them even had two peacocks' feathers, a
mark of high distinction in China. The presents they
brought to the court of Petersburg consisted of China
porcelain, images made of coral, and mother-of-pearl.
Those they carried back in return were valuable furs,
and the model of a man-of-war in silver, which latter the
court might have been induced to select to send to the
Emperor of China, in order to give him an idea of the
maritime power of Russia.

The court of Petersburg, which long before would have
been highly pleased with any pretence for getting rid hon-
courably of those provinces which Peter I. had conquered
from Persia *, the keeping of which cost more than they
were worth, (a prodigious number of people having
perished in them,) at length found means to do so. A ne-
gotiation was entered upon with the court of Ispahan, and
the provinces were ceded to it, in consideration of several
advantages granted to Russian commerce. But as Thomas
Kouli Khan † designed to recommence war against the
Turks, one of the articles of the treaty was, that Russia
should still maintain her garrisons for some years; so in
fact the empress kept those places till 1739. ‡

Russia had been obliged to keep near thirty thousand

* The provinces in question were Daghestan, Schirwan, Ghilan, Masenderan, and Astrabad; which were ceded by Persia in the year 1723, in the sequel of the war commenced by Peter in person the year before.

† The celebrated Nadir Shah.

‡ The Russian merchants contrived to get the trade of the Caspian
very much into their hands during this brief tenure of the provinces.
Hanway, who was in Ghilan in 1743, speaks of the great influence they
had acquired there. They were probably Armenians who had become
Russian subjects.

DUPLICITY OF RUSSIAN MEDIATION.

59

men in garrison in those provinces, and not a year passed
without its being necessary to recruit a deficiency of above
one half, as the Russians, not being able to endure the
climate, died like flies there. It was computed that from
the year 1722, in which Peter I. had entered that country
in force, to the time when the Russians evacuated it,
there had perished a hundred and thirty thousand men.*

Some time after the conclusion of this treaty, Shah Nadir†, having declared war against the Turks, laid siege to Artebil, but made no progress in his attack; upon which the general Lewascheff, commander-in-chief of the Russian troops in the provinces of Persia, sent him, by order of his court, some officers of artillery and engineers to direct the siege. The town being about to surrender, general Lewascheff offered his mediation, which both parties accepting, he obtained for the garrison the privilege of marching out with the honours of war, and being conducted to Schamaki, a place belonging to the Porte. By this means Lewascheff earned great thanks from both sides. The Russian officers, during the time of their stay in the Persian camp, had worn

* Peter, with a view of securing a footing on the western shore of the Caspian, founded the fortress Swiatoi Krest, about 20 versts from the sea, and conveyed thither a thousand families from the Don, and three hundred from the Kabarda, together with the garrison of Tarku, the schamkal (or vice-caliph) of which, a feudatory of Persia, had been brought over to Russian interests. But the scheme failed, and in 1728 the fortress was dismantled, and the inhabitants removed to Kisliar on the Terek. Swiatoi Krest lay between the rivers Soulak and Agrakhan. Armenians were encouraged to settle along these rivers, and also along the Terek,— a policy which has borne lasting fruits.

† Thomas Kouli Khan did not take this title till 1736, although he had virtually all the power some years before. In 1734 he imprisoned the Shah Thomasip his sovereign, and placed his son Abass for a time on the throne, announcing this event by an embassy to Russia. Two years afterwards he added the name of royalty to its power.

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MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

the Persian dress, that they might not be known by the
Turks.

It was much about this time that Russia had a quarrel
with Poland. The republic was bent on dividing the duchy
of Courland into palatinates, to take effect on the decease
of the reigning duke, and this affair was to be agitated
at the next diet. But the empress ordered a declaration
to be made that she would never suffer such a division;
and that as she had claims upon Courland on account
of her own dowry, she designed to preserve to the nobility
their right of electing a duke on the demise of the
reigning one without issue. Her minister, then at
Warsaw, put in several memorials upon this matter; and
as the court of Petersburg did not think there was
respect enough paid to these, several regiments had orders
to move near to the Polish frontier to give the more weight
to the solicitations of her minister. But after some nego-
tiations, the affair was made up, and the troops returned
into quarters; such, however, as not to keep them at too
great a distance from the border. Another reason for the
march of the troops to the frontiers of Poland was, that
the prince and the family of Pototski * had demanded aid
from Russia. They were apprehensive of the king's
infringing the liberties of Poland, as he had already done
several acts contrary to the *pacta conventa*. He had wanted,
among other things, to declare Count Poniatowski crown-
general even before the opening of the diet. Upon this
they sent the Palatine of Belck, who was also of the
family of Poniatowski †, to the court of Russia, to solicit
assistance from the empress against the king. This prince
dying some months afterwards, those very troops who

* The English edition has "the primate, who was of the family of Pototski."

† The English edition has "of Pototski."

OPENING OF THE LADOGA CANAL.

61

had advanced to the borders against him entered Poland to
place his son upon the throne.

In the month of September, the empress, with her
whole court, went to view the canal of Ladoga. This
expedition was performed by water, in fourscore vessels,
some of which were galleys, and some smaller barks
called *boyers*. She went up the canal from one end to the
other, and expressed great satisfaction at seeing the work
finished. Peter I. had begun it in 1717. This prince,
when he laid the foundations of Petersburg, had determined
not only to fix his residence in it, but to make it the
most important commercial town in his whole empire. To
accomplish this, it was necessary to facilitate the transport
to it of provisions, as well as of merchandise, from
the interior of his dominions; the country around Petersburg
not being able to supply so large a town with
the means of subsistence. The best means to this
was to form canals; and as this prince had great ideas
in every thing he undertook, he conceived the thought
of joining the Caspian to the Baltic Sea. This project
did not appear to be of very difficult execution, by the
help of a small canal which he caused to be made near
Vishnei Voloschok, between the two rivers Tzan and
Smila; the first of which is united by the Tweretz to the
Volga, while the second enters into the Merda, which
again discharges itself into the Volchova near Novogorod.
The Volchova runs into the lake of Ladoga, out of which
the river Neva issues, and falls into the sea below Petersburg.
But there was no making use of the lake of Ladoga; it being so
subject to storms, and full of rocks and dangerous
places, that a number of vessels perished there
every year. It was necessary therefore to have recourse
to a more considerable work. The land along the shores
of the lake was surveyed, and as there appeared no great
obstacles, Peter I. gave the undertaking in charge to Prince

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MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

Menzikoff, and the general Pizareff; neither of whom understood anything of works of this kind. Accordingly they employed two whole years in excavating the ground, without it being possible to say they made the least advance; so that probably the canal never would have been finished if Munich had not entered into the service of Russia. The emperor gave him the direction of it, and he had the honour of finishing it, and putting it into the condition in which it is in at present. This canal begins at Schlüsselburg, where it communicates with the Neva, and continues along the lake of Ladoga, as far as the town of that name, where it joins the river Volchova. It is in length about a hundred and four wersts, or about twenty-six French leagues. The breadth is seventy feet, and the depth nearly sixteen. The banks are reveted with timbers, except a small space that is faced with stone. There are twenty-four sluices in the whole length of the canal, to raise or lower the water.

After the court was returned from this voyage, Munich had an altercation with count Biron, by which he had like to have been undone. As Biron, Munich, and Osterman have acted chief parts in the history of Russia, it seems incumbent on me to omit nothing that may illustrate their characters and ways of thinking; and accordingly I will here relate this quarrel at full length.

As soon as the court was settled at Petersburg, Munich found means to insinuate himself with the count Biron, and to make himself so necessary to the favourite that he would not undertake or decide on any affair of consequence without previously consulting him. Munich, devoured by ambition, desired nothing better than to be constantly employed, and invariably acquitted himself well in all matters put into his hands. He seized every occasion for insinuating himself into the ministry

MUNICH IN GREAT DANGER OF DISGRACE.

63

and into the cabinet; but as in doing this he encroached
on the rights of count Osterman, he found in his way
one that was not of a humour to suffer him, and who lost
no opportunity of instilling suspicions of him into the
mind of the chamberlain. He told the latter, that the
ambitious views of the general had clearly no other object
than to gain the entire confidence of the empress;
and that no sooner should he be established in this, than
he would undoubtedly remove to a distance from her
all such as might think of opposition to him; and that the
first whom he would endeavour to send away would
naturally be the high-chamberlain. The Count Loewen-
wolde, master of the horse, and colonel of the guards,
a great favourite of Biron's, confirmed this insinuation;
and, being a mortal enemy to Munich, blew the flame
as much as he possibly could. Biron, who did not care
to come immediately to an open rupture, employed some
emissaries to watch the conduct of Munich with regard
to him; and many days did not pass before there were
reported to the favourite certain disrespectful expressions
of which the marshal had made use in speaking of him.
This served to complete his persuasion of the other's
bad faith to him, and he began to see clearly that, if he
continued to allow Munich to see the empress as frequently
as he had done, his own ruin would be inevitable.
He greatly dreaded his abilities, and was even apprehensive
of being supplanted by him with the empress, who
(he thought) might take such a fancy for him as to make her
the very first to think of getting rid of her old favourite.
This induced him to try to get the start of his enemy;
and the first thing he did was, to make him remove to a
house in a part of the town at a distance from the court,
instead of the one which he before occupied, and which
joined on to his own; and that he might have a pretext

64

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

for this, he persuaded the empress to give Munich's house to the princess Anne of Mecklenburg. Munich received all on a sudden an order to remove, and to go and settle on the other side of the Neva. He requested of the count Biron some little delay, for the more convenient removal of his household furniture, but could not obtain it. He was obliged to obey immediately; and as the manner of the favourite was entirely altered towards him, he became, not without reason, apprehensive of greater mischief still, if he could not contrive to appease him. He, therefore, left no stone unturned to recover his favour. A number of friends on each side interposed their good offices, and used every endeavour to reconcile the two. They only half succeeded; for ever after that time Biron and Osterman had a mistrust of Munich, who on his part had an equal one of them.

Towards the close of the year 1732, the Russian troops, under the orders of the Prince of Hesse Homburg, had a smart engagement with the Tartars of the Crimea, in the provinces conquered from Persia, where that prince had been sent to take the command of a part of the forces. I have above mentioned the treaty made with the Shah Nadir.* This prince being at war with the Turks, wanted to have his rear covered by the Russian garrisons, that he might be the more free to invade his enemy. He had laid siege to Bagdad, which he was pressing closely. The court of Constantinople, anxious for the fate of this town, had sent orders to the khan of the Crimea to march with his best troops to the relief of the town, and to choose the shortest and the most convenient way for entering Persia, in order to make a diversion. The khan put his troops in motion without delay, and made them take their line of march through the Russian territory, without asking leave. Upon this the prince Hesse Hom-

* See note on page 59.

AFFAIR BETWEEN THE RUSSIANS AND TARTARS. 65

burg sent word to the sultan *, Terti-Gheraï, who com-
manded the Tartars, to refrain from passing through the
Russian dominions, or that he would oppose him and
treat him as an enemy. So far was the sultan from
paying any regard to this remonstrance, that he not only
persisted in his design of crossing the forbidden province,
but endeavoured to stir up several of the Tartar hordes,
subjects to Russia, and inhabitants in or about those parts,
to a revolt. He sent them letters to excite them to an
insurrection; but the chiefs of these Tartars were so far
from listening to his proposals, that they sent his letters
unopened to the Prince of Hesse. Meanwhile the sultan
having, with his army, crossed the river of Teski, en-
camped near the village Tschetschenei, and made all the
requisite dispositions for passing onward; when the
prince's spies gave him notice that the enemy contem-
plated advancing to another village, called Goraitschkie.
As there were only two ways of getting thither, and both
lay through narrow defiles, at a small distance one from
the other, and the first of them considerably less narrow
than the other, he divided the force with him into three
bodies, and sent a colonel with 500 dragoons to take pos-
session of the more difficult of the defiles. The other he
caused to be occupied by major-general Jerepkin, with
500 dragoons, 800 infantry, and some hundreds of Cos-
sacks; and the remainder of the troops, which might be
about 400 dragoons and as many infantry, he kept with
himself, and took post in such a manner as to be able to
afford succour where circumstances might require it. The
Tartars made at first as if they would attack the post of
general Jerepkin, but all of a sudden they detached their
main strength towards the other defile, which they at-

* This would be the Kalga-Sultan, a title given to the generalissimo of the Crimea. See the note on page 104, below.

F

66

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

tacked furiously. The colonel who commanded there defended himself a long while, but would have been obliged at length to give way, if he had not been promptly supported by the prince, who, receiving intelligence of his danger, hastened instantly to his assistance with his reserve, and sent an order to general Jerepkin to march also thither with a part of his forces. Scarce had they had time to form, when the Tartars fell with fury upon them, attacking the Russians sword in hand. They were received with a brisk fire of small arms and field-pieces, which cooled their ardour a little, and they retreated out of gun-shot; but having formed afresh, they returned to the attack, and obliged the left wing, commanded by Jerepkin, to give way, and retreat for above five hundred paces. A fire was then opened on them from some field-pieces which the prince had placed for the defence of the wider defile; and these, taking them in flank, stopped them short. They abandoned the victory which they had almost in their hands, and fled in great confusion, leaving above 1000 dead on the field of battle. The Russians had in this action about 400 killed and wounded. The general Jerepkin, who was in the thick of the fight, received a cut in his face with a sabre; and the prince, who had been surrounded by the enemy, would certainly have been taken prisoner, but for the goodness of his horse. The Tartars were above 25,000 strong, while the Russians were in all but 4000, the Cossacks included. This is the only action where the prince of Hesse Homburg commanded in which he had need of any courage. Ill-natured people said that he was forced on the occasion to draw so largely on his stock of bravery, as to leave himself a very moderate balance.*

* The last two sentences are only found in the French edition.

RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE WITH POLAND.

67

The disturbances of Poland began with the year 1733. The King Augustus II., who had gone to Warsaw to hold there an extraordinary diet, died on the 11th of February. The archbishop of Gneissen, primate of the kingdom, took the regency, and convened the diet of convocation, in which it was unanimously agreed to exclude all foreign princes, and to elect none but a piaste, or native nobleman.

The courts of Petersburg and Vienna at first highly approved of this resolution of the diet, and gave orders to their ambassadors to express their satisfaction to the republic, but to add at the same time, that they could never suffer King Stanislaus to be chosen, he having been, by the resolution of a diet, declared ineligible to the crown. These two courts were, at that time, very far from declaring in favour of the Elector of Saxony; on the contrary there had for some years prevailed so great a coolness towards him, as might not improbably have brought on a war, had the death of the king not prevented it. As regarded the court of Vienna, he had not only refused to sign the Pragmatic Sanction, but had even entered into a close connection with France against the interests of the house of Austria. For Russia, its motives of discontent were, the king's not having acted in accordance with the views of the court of Petersburg in the affairs of Courland; besides which, the primate and a part of the nobility, who suspected the king of designs upon the liberties of Poland, had applied to Russia, imploring its assistance in case of his undertaking anything to the prejudice of the republic.*

Affairs soon changed their aspect. The new Elector of Saxony found means to appease the court of Vienna by

* See above, p. 60.

F 2

68

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

signing the Pragmatic Sanction; and as to Russia, he pro-
mised to conform to the wishes of the empress with
regard to Courland: so that both courts united to procure
him the crown of Poland. Their ambassadors had orders
diametrically opposite to the first,—to inform the primate
in plain terms, that they would recognise no other King
of Poland than the Elector of Saxony, and that Russia
would support the election of that prince with all her
forces, in case of the republic's not coming into their views
with a good grace. The court of Petersburg had caused
two bodies of troops to be assembled, the one in the
Ukrain on the frontiers of Lithuania, the other in
Livonia upon those of Courland.* In the mean while,
France had spared neither pains nor money to get
King Stanislaus elected. The primate and the greatest
part of the nobility, seeing that the Russians signified
their commands to them in the tone of masters, and that
the point insisted on amounted to nothing less than a com-
pulsion to receive the law from foreign powers, and a total
destruction of the *liberum veto* (the great essential of
Polish liberty), united in favour of Stanislaus. They
wrote accordingly to France to hasten that prince's
departure, that he might arrive in Poland time enough to
be present at his proclamation. The diet for the election
began on the 25th of August, and continued, not
without violent contests, till the 12th of September,
when Stanislaus Leczinski was, for the second time, una-
nimously elected King of Poland by all the gentlemen
who were at the *hola*, or field of election. This prince
had arrived at Warsaw on the 9th, and had remained in-
*cognito* in the house of the French ambassador. The
primate, and all the nobility of his party, now imagined

* See above, p. 60.

LACY ADVANCES ON WARSAW.

69

that they had triumphed over all opposition, and were in
hopes that though the courts of Petersburg and Vienna
might not be pleased with their procedure, they could
never succeed, however this might be, in overturning what
was the act of almost the whole nation.

The courts of Petersburg and Vienna had been duly
informed of the schemes of France, and the cabals of the
primate. The empress [of Russia] had set in motion every
possible influence to retard the election of Stanislaus, in
the hope that, by gaining time, the Elector's party would
increase, and he be chosen king without the necessity
of an open rupture. Her ambassadors at Warsaw
had orders to spare neither fair promises nor money
to weaken the French party. She wrote to the states of
Lithuania, and impressed upon them the concern she
took in the maintenance of the liberty of the republic.
Her aim was to persuade the senators of the grand duchy
to detach themselves from Poland. She did not, however,
entirely succeed. Only a few came into the plan of
a separation, and retired to the other side of the Vistula, to
a village called Praag. The bishops of Cracow and
Posnania, the princes Wiesnowiski, and some others, were
of the number, but the whole together appeared a very
small party in comparison of the rest of the nobility. And
yet it was these that gave the first impulse to the whole
machine, and placed Augustus III. on the throne of Poland.
Some of the separatist nobles had canvassed for the crown
on their own account; but finding that they could not
succeed, they united to procure it for the Elector of
Saxony, rather than suffer it to be peaceably possessed
by King Stanislaus. They wrote to Petersburg, and
requested the protection of Russia against the primate
and the French party. The empress, who only wanted
a pretext for sending troops into Poland, could not

F 3

70

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

have hoped for a fairer one than to be called in by the
Poles themselves. She sent orders to count Lacy to enter
Lithuania, at the head of 20,000 men. He at once
advanced by forced marches towards Warsaw, in the hope
that he should arrive time enough to hinder the proclama-
tion of King Stanislaus; but the primate had taken
his measures too well for this. In the mean while,
the malcontent nobility went out to meet Lacy, and on
the 30th of September proceeded with him to the
banks of the Vistula. They proposed passing the river,
and repairing directly to the field of election; but the
Poles of the contrary party had broken down all the
bridges as soon as Stanislaus had retreated to make
himself master of the town of Dantzig. Not to lose time,
therefore, they proceeded to the election of the Elector
of Saxony, near the village of Comiez, upon the same
field where Henry of Valois [the third of France] had
been chosen. It was on the 5th of October that this im-
portant affair came off, on the eve of the day fixed to be
the last of the diet of election. About fifteen senators and
600 gentlemen were present at it.

While count Lacy, with the Russian troops, was occu-
pied in giving the Poles a new king, these last had sent
notice to the ministers of the courts of Petersburg and
Dresden to quit Warsaw within a certain time. This
term having expired on the 29th of September without
their having left the town, the people plundered the
palace of Count Loewenwolde the younger, second in
rank of the Russian embassy, and attacked the palace of
the Saxon minister with six pieces of cannon. Twenty
or thirty shots were fired before they could break open the
doors; and after this they proceeded to storm it, but
having near forty men killed, their courage cooled, and
they granted a capitulation to those that were in the house,

LACY LAYS SIEGE TO DANTZIG.

71

the ministers having withdrawn themselves some days
before, and taken shelter with count Weldseck, the
emperor's ambassador.

After the proclamation of King Augustus, Lacy, with
the troops under his command, passed the Vistula, and put
some regiments into quarters at Warsaw. The empress
also ordered several more bodies of troops to move
off towards Poland and Lithuania, under the command
of Prince Boraitinski and General Keith. The whole of
the forces might amount to 50,000 men. The generals
received reiterated orders from court not to remain a
moment inactive, but to take whatever steps could tend
to strengthen the party of Augustus, and weaken that
of Stanislaus. The court of Petersburg had it at heart
to settle the affairs of Poland before the opening of the
next campaign, but in vain; almost the whole kingdom
being in the interest of Stanislaus, and the nobility too
attached to their privilege of choosing their king
so easily to renounce an act of their own. So it plainly
appeared, that there could be no hopes of tranquillity
while Stanislaus remained in the country. The count Lacy
therefore had orders to assemble the greatest force he
could, and march straight upon Dantzig, in order to force
Stanislaus to quit that town and all the territory of the
republic. Such an enterprise was not without many dif-
ficulties; for notwithstanding the great force Russia
had in Poland, its troops were dispersed over various
provinces, both for the facility of their subsistence, and to
keep the whole country equally in check; so that Lacy
could not assemble above 12,000 men to act on that point.
With this body he advanced towards Polish Prussia, and
on the 16th of January arrived at Thorn. This town
submitted without any hesitation to the new king, and
received a Russian garrison; and after making the neces-

F 4

72

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

sary arrangements for establishing magazines, Lacy pursued his march.

On the 6th of February the troops took up their first quarters within the territory of Dantzig. On the 22nd, they approached the town, and occupied positions in the neighbouring villages. The general's quarters were at Prust, about half a mile * from Dantzig. Thence he sent a trumpet to the town, to exhort the senate to abandon the party of Stanislaus, and to submit to their lawful king Augustus III. by receiving a Russian garrison; intimating to them, at the same time, the bad consequences of a refusal. But the Dantzigers had taken their resolution; the presence of the king, and the promises of the Marquis de Monti on the part of France, had determined them to risk everything sooner than abandon a prince who had taken refuge among them, and placed confidence in their fidelity. It is true, that neither the king nor the citizens then believed that things would be pushed so far as they at length were. In the mean while, the townspeople had made all the necessary arrangements for a long and vigorous resistance. There were several new regiments raised. The burghers themselves repaired to their banners, to serve on the ramparts. France had sent them engineers; and from Sweden there were come above a hundred officers, with a good quantity of muskets and other munitions of war. All this, together with the promise of important succour soon to follow, had more and more encouraged the town to persevere in its fidelity. Most certain too it is, that if there had been in the party of Stanislaus resolute men, with able officers at their head, not afraid of an enterprising policy, the Russians would have

* The "mile" here spoken of is the German one, 15 to a degree of latitude.

MARSHAL MUNICH ARRIVES BEFORE DANTZIG. 73

been obliged to abandon their project of rendering them-
selves masters of Dantzig, even before opening the trenches.
For at the beginning their forces did not consist of above
12,000 men, whereas those of the besieged were thrice the
number. Now, as the besiegers had extended positions to
keep, they were dispersed through the villages for the space
of above two miles. Nothing could have been more easy
than to have fallen with a great superiority upon some one
of their posts, beaten them, and consequently thrown all
their operations into confusion. The party of Stanislaus
had also several Polish nobles with above 50,000 men in
the field, who instead of any attention to aiding the king,
did nothing but plunder and ruin their own country. Thus
it happened that the Russians had all the time they could
wish for taking their measures, and reducing the town
to a desperate condition.

The month of February passed over without Lacy's
undertaking anything; for beside the season not being
proper for beginning a siege, he was in want of every ne-
cessary for it, so that he only employed himself in forming
his magazines, and rendering subsistence difficult to the
town by intercepting the provisions it used to receive from
the country. By cutting the banks of the river Radaune,
he stopped the working of the best, if not the only, mill that
Dantzig had. The townspeople made several trifling
sorties, and there was scarcely a day without some skir-
mish between them and the Cossacks, in which sometimes
the one side and sometimes the other had the best of it.*
Such was the situation of things when, on the 9th of
March, the marshal Count Munich arrived, under a Prussian
escort, before the town.

Count Biron, unable to conquer his suspicions of Munich,

* The last sentence is only found in the French edition.

74

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

had wished to see him removed to a distance from the
court; and managed to get the command in chief of all the
troops in Poland bestowed on him, with orders to act
vigorously for the reduction of the town of Dantzig, not,
however, at all with the intention that he should succeed.
The marshal, finding that he had too small a force for an
expedition of this importance, dispatched orders to several
regiments to join him. He likewise began anew with
sending a manifesto to Dantzig, in which he called upon
the inhabitants of the town to renounce Stanislaus, to sub-
mit to Augustus III., and to receive a Russian garrison;
allowing them only twenty-four hours' time to come to a
determination. This term being expired without their
having changed their resolution, he caused the trenches to
be opened, and a redoubt to be made on the side of Zigan-
kenberg.

On the night between the 19th and 20th the besiegers
attacked the fort called Ohra, where there was a garrison
of 400 men, and made themselves masters of it after a
resistance of two hours. On the 21st were fired the first
shots upon the town, but without effect, for the besiegers
had nothing but field-pieces, the greatest not being above
eight-pounders, and these they had taken, together with
two mortars, at Ohra.

In the mean while, the town was more and more closely
invested. The besiegers took a fort, which was called the
Head of Dantzig, and made themselves masters of all the
ground between the town and the sea.

Munich having judged that the possession of the town
of Elbing would be of great service to him, detached a
colonel, with 500 dragoons and 400 foot, to summon it;
upon which it surrendered without any demur, the Polish
regiments that were in it took an oath to King Augustus,
and the town received a Russian garrison. The cannon

POLES ATTEMPT IN VAIN TO RELIEVE DANTZIG.

75

and ammunition found there were sent to the camp before Dantzig. Receiving advice that a great body of the confederates, under the count Tarlo and the Castellan Czerzky, had passed the Vistula, and were advancing to succour the town, he detached the lieutenant-general Segraiski, and the major-general Charles Biron, with 2000 dragoons and 1000 Cossacks, to keep them in check. This detachment, near the little town of Schwetz, fell in with a body of the enemy's troops, under the command of the Castellan, consisting of thirty-three banners, or about 3000 Polish gentlemen on horseback, and at least 2000 foot, regulars, who had posted themselves behind the river Breda, the bridge of which they had destroyed. The general Segraiski instantly ordered workmen to repair it, and 2000 dragoons to alight to support them. The Poles began by firing on the Russians, and these returned it with some field-pieces, which frightened the others so that they began to retreat. As soon as the bridge was in order again, the Russians passed it, and pursued the remainder of them. At Schwetz there was found a magazine, containing some eighty bushels of rye, and as many of oats, but a very great quantity of straw and hay.

Some days afterwards advice was received that count Tarlo was advancing with 130 Polish banners, two regiments of infantry, and the remains of the body that had fled under the Castellan Czerzky. His design was to attack general Segraiski, and after that to approach Dantzig, and compel the raising of the siege. Upon this, Munich detached general Lacy, on the 17th of April, with 1500 dragoons, to join Segraiski, and to drive the enemy from those parts. Lacy, making a forced march, joined Segraiski the same day, and took the command of all the troops. They marched during the 18th and 19th, and at length, on the 20th, came up with the enemy near

76

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

a village called Wuicezina, situate near the sea, and not
far from the frontiers of Pomerania. The enemy had
there drawn up in order of battle, with two very difficult de-
files in front, one behind the other, and these had to be passed
before they could be attacked. Two regiments of dragoons
immediately dismounted and passed the first defile; and to
make the enemy believe that they had also infantry with
them, the drums were ordered to beat the infantry march.
The Russians, after having got through the first defile,
formed and advanced in order to pass the second, which
was very near the enemy. Some hundreds of Cossacks
were sent before to harass him, and give the regular troops
time to deploy. These Cossacks were at first repulsed,
but having been joined by the others, the enemy was
attacked and routed. The Polish nobles were the first
that took to flight, abandoning the regular troops; who,
seeing themselves thus deserted, soon followed the ex-
ample. The Poles were at least 10,000 strong; whereas
the Russians had not above 3200 dragoons and 1000
Cossacks. And this was the only attempt the confederate
Poles made to succour Stanislaus, and relieve the town
of Dantzig!

During the last days of the month of March, the be-
siegers had constructed a redoubt on the bank of the
Vistula, to cut off the communication between the town
and the fort of Weichselmunde, and as the river was very
narrow in that part, they succeeded in their purpose; no
vessel being able to pass without great difficulty.

It was, however, impossible for Munich to push the
siege with the vigour he could have wished, for want of
proper battering cannon. The King of Prussia had, even
at the beginning, objected to give leave for the transport
of siege artillery through his country; but after repeated
requests, he consented at length to its being disembarked

THE SIEGE OF DANTZIG IS PRESSED.

77

at Pillau, and conveyed by water to the army. Here I
cannot help mentioning a very singular incident, and, per-
haps, the only case that ever occurred of this kind; which
is, that mortars were sent for, and brought by the post
from Saxony. They came in covered waggons, and passed
through the King of Prussia's territory, under the name
of the Duke of Weissenfels' baggage. These mortars
arrived on the 29th of April before Dantzig; and as the
artillery which had been disembarked at Pillau came
pretty nearly at the same time, the marshal now made the
requisite dispositions for attacking the town with more
vigour.

On the 30th the besiegers began to throw the first
bombs, and the town took fire in several places, but with no
great results. On the night between the 6th and 7th of
May, the marshal ordered an assault on the fort called
Sommerschantz, which was carried after an hour's resist-
ance. The officer who commanded in it, with about seventy
men, found means to retreat to Weichselmunde. The
taking this fort was of so much the more importance, as
it was the only means by which the town could at this time
maintain a free communication with Weichselmunde.

I have observed above, that Munich had with him too
small a force for so great an enterprise as the siege of
Dantzig; and so, judging the troops which were at War-
saw, and in the neighbourhood of that town, not all to
be necessary there, he sent orders to Major Louberas,
who commanded a part of them, to march with the troops
under his orders to join him. But this officer, who
thought quarters in Warsaw better than the camp before
Dantzig, alleged some bad excuses, and stayed where he
was. Munich sent him a second order, which Louberas
obeyed as little as the first. Upon this Munich had him
put under arrest, gave the command to the senior officer

78

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

of the corps, and had these troops embarked in great
boats, in which they came down the Vistula to the camp
before Dantzig. Meanwhile Louberas, who had the inter-
est and patronage of the master of horse, Loewenwolde,
easily found means to excuse himself to the court, and
was set at liberty. Loewenwolde would not have been
sorry for Munich to have miscarried in his undertaking.

The taking Sommerschantz, and taking it with so little
loss, had inspired Munich with the confidence of being
able, with the same facility, to make himself master of the
fort of Hagelsberg; and as a courier from Petersburg had
brought him orders to press the siege, he was in hopes
after taking that position to compel the Dantzigers to beg
a capitulation. On the 8th of May he went, accompanied
by count Lacy and general Biron, to reconnoitre the
outworks of the hill. Upon the right hand*, on the
side of the gate of Oliva, it is very steep and almost
inaccessible. At the summit there is a regular hornwork,
with a ravelin, a counterscarp, and a glacis; and the whole
is well palisaded, staked, and defended by several pieces
of cannon. But upon the left, on the side of Scheidlitz,
there is but one earthwork, without covered way or glacis.
The ditch is dry and without palisades; there is only the
berm † with a quickset hedge running along it. It was
therefore resolved to attack it on that side. Upon the
9th, all the necessary dispositions were made. Eight
thousand men were ordered under arms, of which 3000
were to storm, and the others to support them. They
assembled, towards evening, at the extremity of the trench,
and about ten o'clock began their march in three columns.
There were, besides, 1500 men sent to make three false

* i. e. the proper right of the Hagelsberg.

† A narrow path between the foot of the rampart and the ditch.

FAILURE OF THE ASSAULT.

79

attacks: the first on the other side of the Vistula; the
second against the Bischofsberg; the third against the
right of Hagelsberg. The officer who commanded this
last attack penetrated as far as into the covered way.
The troops who were to give the assault had advanced in
admirable order and silence to the place where they were
to mount, and towards midnight the attack began. After
having passed the ditch, the troops moved to the assault
with all the steadiness imaginable, and made themselves
masters of a battery of seven pieces of cannon; but by a
singular fatality, the commanders of the three columns, and
almost all the staff officers, as well as the engineers, were
killed or wounded at the first discharge from the enemy.
The columns, instead of keeping their distances and acting
separately, got so mixed up, that the soldiers, having now
no leaders to avail themselves of the advantage they had
gained, did not go on; and yet they were determined to
maintain the position they had won. They remained
there for three whole hours under a terrible fire from the
besieged. Count Munich and the other generals, who
were at the head of the trenches, observing the disorder of
the men, sent their aides-de-camp to order them to
retreat. The soldiers would not obey, and sent back
word they would sooner die on the spot than give way an
inch. General Lacy was at length obliged to go himself
to them to persuade them; and him at last they obeyed.
The Russians, in this attack, had above 2000 men killed
and wounded, and 120 officers. The loss was not half
so great on the part of the besieged. If the garrison had
known how to take advantage of the failure of this
attempt, and had immediately made a sally with the
bulk of their troops, they would have forced the Russians
to raise the siege. Munich, who found his numbers con-
siderably thinned by the check, sent orders to the regi-

80

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

ments, who were coming from Warsaw, to hasten their
march, and called into camp several detachments which
had been sent to the neighbouring towns.

At that time, there was more talk than ever of the ex-
pected French succours, and even advice of some ships
having arrived in the road of Dantzig. Munich, in order
to deprive the new comers of the means of subsistence in
the event of their disembarking, set fire to all the villages
along the coast; and to render it impracticable for them
to throw succours into the town on the side of the sea, he
caused the river to be so effectually barricaded as to cut
off all communication with Weichselmunde. The vessels
that attempted to pass were all obliged to return.

On the 14th, a part of the troops that were to come
from Warsaw entered the camp, and the remainder arrived
on the following days, till the 20th.

On the 22nd, the marshal, at the repeated request of
the magistracy, granted the town a suspension of arms
for eight-and-forty hours. The magistracy wanted to
confer with all the orders of the townspopple upon the
proposals which Munich had made afresh to them, to
submit to the clemency of the Empress of Russia, and
to acknowledge King Augustus III. But the armistice
ended without anything being concluded, and hostilities
recommenced on the 24th with greater vigour than ever.

On the same day, the French fleet, consisting of
sixteen sail, arrived, and landed three regiments of French
infantry, Blaisois, Perigord, and La Marche, under the
command of Brigadier-general de la Motte Perouse. They
came too late, and in too small a number, to force the
Russians to raise the siege, being only 2400 men in all.

On the 25th, the Saxons under the orders of the Duke
of Weissenfels arrived in camp. They consisted of eight
battalions and twenty-two squadrons. Their right en-

REPULSE OF THE FRENCH

81

camped on the side of Neuscholland *, their left towards Oliva, and the duke's quarters were at Langfour.

On the 27th, the French troops, who had encamped along the shore between the canal and the sea, marched out of their camp, and advanced in three columns direct upon the Russian entrenchments. They made several signals for the townspeople to assist their attack by a sally. And in fact a great detachment of infantry was seen to come out of the town, and advance towards the left wing of the Russians, while the French attacked them on the other side with all imaginable vigour. These last had passed an abatis of felled trees which covered the retrenchment, to within fifteen paces of which they had advanced, before the Russians fired a single shot at them; but when these began, they kept up a sustained and murderous fire. The French, after repeated attempts to force the retrenchment, finding that they could not accomplish it, retreated, leaving 160 dead on the spot, among whom was the Count of Plelo, the French king's ambassador at Copenhagen. The townspeople, seeing that the French had been repulsed, retreated behind their walls, and were pursued to the very glacis.

Munich had expended all his balls and bomb-shells, by the continued discharge he had kept up against the town. He had hoped the Saxons would have brought him a fresh supply; but that not being the case, the fire was necessarily slackened a good deal; and he waited with impatience for the arrival of the Russian fleet, on board of which a good quantity had been put.

In the night between the 28th and 29th, the Saxons for the first time relieved the Russians in the trenches. The

* Query "Neuschottland," a quarter of Dantzig at that time appropriated to Scotch merchants.

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besiegers, down to the 12th of June, employed themselves
in nothing but pushing on their works, and putting
their batteries in order, so as to be able to attack the town
with more effect when the artillery should arrive.

On the 12th of June, the Russian fleet at last appeared
in the offing. It consisted of sixteen ships of the line, six
frigates, and seven other vessels. They came into the
road of Dantzig, and no time was lost in landing the
artillery and ammunition they had brought for the siege.
By the 14th, the Russians had already begun to employ
these in their batteries against the town, and the fire con-
tinued very violent during the rest of the siege.

The three French regiments had encamped under the
cannon of Weichselmunde, on a small island called *La Platte*, where they had remained very quiet, without being molested by the besiegers; but after the arrival of the fleet, it was determined not to spare them any longer. The bomb-ketches that came with the fleet approached the shore, and began to bombard and cannonade the fort of Weichselmunde and the French camp. On the 15th, the magazine of gunpowder in the fort blew up, and the French suffered a great deal from the artillery of the ships. On the 19th, Munich caused the French brigadier and the commander of the fort to be summoned to surrender. They demanded a suspension of arms for three days, which was granted them. During that time, a conference was entered into with the French, who wished to be embarked and transported to Copenhagen; but this was refused. At length, after a great deal of going backward and forward, it was agreed that they should march out of their camp with military honours, and should be embarked on board the Russian fleet, where they were to lay down their arms till their landing at some port of the Baltic, to be agreed upon by the admirals. In consequence of this

CAPITULATION OF DANTZIG.

83

capitulation, they were embarked on the 24th; but as the
place at which they were to be landed was not settled by
the capitulation, instead of being conveyed to a neutral
port, they were carried to Cronstadt, and afterwards sent
into quarters at Livonia; and it was not till some months
after, that they were sent back to France.

The fort of Weichselmunde also surrendered on the
24th. The garrison evacuated it on the 25th, to the
number of 468 men, with the accustomed honours of war.
They took the oaths to the King Augustus III. On the
28th, the magistracy of Dantzig sent deputies to Mu-
nich to offer a parley; but were informed that nothing
could be granted them without the preliminary condition
of delivering up King Stanilaus, the primate, and the
Marquis de Monti. On the 29th, they sent to acquaint
Munich that the king had privately withdrawn himself.
This so irritated the marshal, that he caused the bom-
bardment, which had ceased for two days, to begin afresh.
Affairs were at length made up, and, on the 30th, the
capitulation was settled, the town submitting itself to
Augustus III. The Polish nobles who were at that
time in it did the same, and obtained the liberty of
retiring wherever they chose. There were none put under
arrest but the primate of the kingdom, the count Ponia-
towski, and the marquis de Monti, who were conveyed
under guard to Thorn.

The siege of Dantzig had lasted 135 days reckoning
from the 22nd of February, when the count Lacy made
the first approaches to the town; and cost the Russians
more than 8000 men, and near 200 officers. The damage
caused by 4000 or 5000 bomb-shells thrown into the
town was not so great as one might have imagined from
such a quantity.

The town was fined 2,000,000 of crowns, which it was

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MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

to pay to the Empress of Russia; 1,000,000 of which was
by way of punishment for not having hindered the re-
treat of King Stanislaus. The empress, however, for-
gave them half.

While one part of the Russian army had been employed
in the siege of Dantzig, the rest of the troops that were
dispersed over the provinces of Poland were employed
in making war upon the adherents of King Stanislaus.

I have already observed above, that almost all the
grandees of the kingdom, and the greater part of the
lesser nobility, had embraced the party of that prince.
They had raised a great number of troops, with which
they infested all Poland; but they were more taken up
with ravaging and burning the property and lands of their
adversaries belonging to the party of Augustus, than in
making war against the Russians. The whole of their
enterprises amounted to nothing more than harassing these,
by the needless marches they obliged them to make from
time to time. They would assemble at some miles from
the Russian camp or quarters, and set fire to everything
on the estates of their countrymen, letting the report go
abroad that they would give the enemy battle, if they
could but light upon him; but no sooner did they see
the Russians at a distance, than, without giving them
time to fire above a shot or two at them, they scampered
away. During this war, never did 300 Russians go a
step out of their way to avoid 3000 Poles; and they uni-
formly beat them in every encounter they had with
them. The Saxons were not so fortunate, having come
off worst on several occasions of trial with the Poles, who at
length came to hold them in contempt, whereas they
were extremely afraid of the Russians.

As the greatest part of the Polish nobles who had
been made prisoners at Dantzig submitted to the King

REBUKE OF AUSTRIAN INSOLLENCE BY KEITH. 85

Augustus, this circumstance determined near half the
kingdom to follow their example. The rest, nevertheless,
continued the war, and detained the Russians a whole
year more in Poland. The empress, however, finding
that there was no longer a necessity for keeping up so
numerous an army in this kingdom, and the Emperor
Charles VI. repeatedly urging on her his request to
send succours to him on the Rhine, she ordered sixteen
regiments of infantry to march for that purpose. The
count Lacy had the command of these. He led them
to near the frontiers of Silesia, where they had their
winter quarters, and were brought into fine condition.

At the opening of the spring, Lacy had orders to
march with eight regiments, making about 10,000 men, to
the Rhine; while the others remained on the confines of
Silesia, waiting for further orders. The generals who
commanded under Lacy, were Lieutenant-general Keith,
and Major-generals Bachmetew and Charles Biron. The
troops that were to go, on their entry into Silesia were
reviewed, by the commissioners of the emperor, which
were, the marshal Count Wildscheck and Lieutenant-
general Baron Haslinger. They crossed Bohemia and the
upper Palatinate, and arrived, in the month of June, on
the banks of the Rhine. Every one admired them, and
was astonished at the good discipline they observed on
their march and in their quarters.

As the Austrians rarely lose an opportunity of exhibit-
ing their pride, I will here relate an anecdote illustrative
of this trait, and the admirable way in which General Keith
met it. After the review, the Baron Haslinger, who had
directed his attention to Keith's division, assembled all the
officers, and made them a speech full of laudation and com-
pliment; but throughout his harangue, studiously confined
himself to the use of the title Czarina in speaking of the

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MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

At day-break of the 28th, Stoffeln retired into the town the regiments that had been encamped outside the lines.

The Turks had in the night-time made their approaches pretty near to the glacis, and had posted some thousands of men between the fort and the new flèche. At eight in the morning a body of about 6,000 Turks advanced to attack the lines in two places. Fifteen hundred of them fixed on the part where the regiment of Smolensko had begun to build its barrack, while the rest attacked the flèche constructed before the gate of Preobraschensky. Upon this a body of 400 men sallied out with two guns from St. Christopher's gate, and marched directly upon the party that were carrying on the attack of the barracks, whom they obliged to retreat. These, on their repulse, proceeded to unite with those who were making the other attack; but this detachment pursued them, and fell on their rear and flank, obliging the whole at last to fly and abandon all the posts they had occupied. They were pursued to their very batteries, and had four colours and two barrels of powder taken; and their loss amounted to above 400 men.

At ten o'clock the Turks returned to the attack, but without coming nearer than musket-shot; and while the small arms on both sides were keeping up a continual fire, another detachment formed a lodgement in one of the neighbouring gardens, where they placed a cannon and mortar, with which they did not cease firing on the flèche. But they were steadily repulsed [till two at night.] On the same day colonel Wedel arrived with 800 men from the two regiments at Kinburn. He reported that the enemy had appeared before that place, but without undertaking anything, though the Khan of the Crimea had

PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE.

187

boasted of having sent a detachment of Tartars thither
strong enough to raze it to the ground.

On the 29th the enemy made a general assault at the
gate of Ishmaëlow, where the bad weather had caused a
part of the ditch to be filled up, and penetrated into the
covered-way; but they were presently driven out of it
again, and pursued as far as the rear of their retrenchment,
and they would have been pursued farther if they had
not been supported by a reserve. They lost above 500
men and three colours. The same day the Turks com-
pleted their third battery, from which they began to
throw large bomb-shells and to give fire from several
eighteen and twenty-four pounders; those they had
hitherto employed not being above twelve-pounders. The
enemy worked the whole night at making a retrenchment
with redoubts on a rising ground opposite to the gate of
Ishmaëlow, and occupied it on the 30th. The firing was
continual on both sides; and in the evening the besieged
made a sally towards the redoubts along the Liman, drove
the Turks from all the posts they were occupying on that
side, killed near 150 men, took from them four colours,
and spiked six pieces of cannon. Major Antziforow,
who commanded this sallying party, was killed. At night
an officer with fifty men found means to pass the posts of
the enemy unperceived, and got into the camp, where he
killed a number of the enemy in their tents. It was above
half an hour before there was the least alarm; but the
men having at length begun to plunder the tents, after
killing all the occupants, only six succeeded in with-
drawing, and all the rest were cut to pieces.

On the 31st the firing continued with the same vivacity
as on the preceding evening. A shell from the besiegers
fell into one of the bastions, and set fire to some barrels
of powder, by which some men were killed. Towards

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MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

the evening two galleys of the enemy approached the redoubts, and opened fire upon them; but were so well answered, that they were soon obliged to sheer off. There were not, during the whole siege, counted above fourteen Turkish galleys, not one of which was able to enter the Liman for the cannon of Kinburn.

November 1st: the firing did not slacken; and a shell falling into the bastion, near the St. Christopher gate, on the side of the Liman, exploded some grenades, but did no other damage.

November 2nd: a bomb blew up a small magazine of powder, by which three men were killed. Seven galleys appeared in the offing, hugging the coast below Ockzakow, over against the enemy's camp.

November 3rd: the besieged completed the traverses in the main ditch and in the covered way, and drew a line of communication from the gate of Preobraschensky to their camp; they also threw up a retrenchment that reached from the Kalantscha to the sea, which they had begun on the 1st and 2nd.

November 4th: two hours before day-break, the fire of artillery and small arms became very violent on the side of the Ishmaćlow gate; and no sooner did the morning dawn, than 6000 Turks made a furious assault upon the redoubts which had been built near the sea. After an hour's combat they forced the retrenchment, carried the redoubts, and penetrated to the Kalantscha. But this advantage they did not hold long. Stoffeln having ordered out from the town a sallying party of 1000 men, under brigadier Bratke, these repulsed them on all sides, drove them out of the retrenchments and redoubts, and pursued them even into their camp. The confusion on this was general throughout the whole Turkish army; there were some that already began to quit the camp and betake

DESPERATE ASSAULT REPULSED.

189

themselves to flight; nor was it till after their own officers had killed several of them, that they could succeed in bringing them back to their duty.

This assault cost the enemy near 3000 men. The besieged did not lose above 150; nor would their loss have been so great, if it had not been for the excessive impetuosity of some 30 men, who, not content with having driven away the enemy, pursued him too far, though forbidden by their officers. They were all cut to pieces as soon as the enemy had recovered from his first surprise. On this occasion the small cohorns for throwing grenades of six pounds did special service.

On the 5th and 6th the enemy redoubled the fire of his artillery, and threw a great quantity of shells into the town; but he could do no damage, as there were scarcely any houses, and the garrison was distributed on the ram-parts, in the covered way, and in the redoubts.

November 8th: an hour before day, the enemy exploded two mines they had made over against the bastion of Loewendal; but these, not being deep enough, neither damaged the palisades nor did any mischief to the troops behind them.

An hour and a half afterwards the Turks, under cover of the fire of their whole artillery, made a false attack on the redoubt situate upon the rising ground on the side of the Liman; after which they wheeled all on a sudden to the right, and turning their efforts towards the gate of Ishmaëlow, made on that side a general assault with their whole infantry and 5000 spahis, who had been obliged to dismount and fight a-foot. The attack was made with such fury that 300 men forced the palisades and penetrated to the gate of Ishmaëlow; some hundred more also got across the palisades over against the St. Christopher gate, passed the ditch, and even reached the

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MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

water-gate. But the garrison defended themselves so well, that the enemy was soon repulsed, and driven back again into his own retrenchments. His loss might amount to 4000 men. Two mines, which during the assault the besiegers sprung with great success, contributed much to the discomfiture of the Turks, having blown up a great number of them into the air; while the others, in the apprehension of the like fate, were so intimidated, that it was impossible for their officers to keep them from running away. At the time of the assault Stoffeln commanded on the side of the covered-way, and the brigadier Bratke, with colonel Wedel, were on the water-gate side. The besieged took on this occasion several colours and four horse-tails, and found a great many scaling-ladders, fascines, and tools for sapping, which were all brought into the town.

It was during this siege, and especially in this action, that the Russians derived great service from their pikes; for while their enemies were in the ditch, and bent on attacking the water-gate, the colonels Wedel and La Tour made a sally out from another gate, marched up to them in a column, and, avoiding the closing with them, used merely their pikes, as the only thing to secure themselves against the Turkish sabres.

The enemy did not afterwards for the whole day fire a single gun; nor till the next, the 9th, did the batteries again begin playing, which they then did with great activity. They brought out in full daylight scaling-ladders and fascines to the approaches for a fresh assault; but three hours after sunset the cannonade ceased all on a sudden, and soon after fires were seen in different parts of their camp. On this a detachment from the garrison went out; and having pushed as far as into the enemy's camp, found

THE TURKS RAISE THE SIEGE.

191

not a soul still there, and neither gun nor mortar in the batteries.

November 10th: at break of day, there was, for fear of any surprise, a stronger detachment sent out; and it was not long before a confirmation was brought of the first report. The enemy had precipitately taken to flight, and had left behind him a great quantity of bombshells, grenades, and ammunition, besides all the fascines, scaling-ladders, and tools for the sap.

Some Zaporavian Cossacks, who had made an expedition from their capital quite up to the gates of Bender, arrived the same day at Ockzakow, and reported that the enemy had about noon passed the river Berosouka, at four French leagues from Ockzakow.

November 11th: advice was received that the enemy was already ten leagues off. The same day the garrison cleared the fosse and all round the town of the dead bodies. There were found 3000 of the enemy killed at only the assault of the 8th of November.

Their attempt cost the Turks above 20,000 men, of whom at least the half perished of sickness. The season, which was too far advanced before they undertook the siege, and the continual rains they had to endure, doubtless contributed greatly to the mortality, and to the miscarriage of the enterprise.

After the Turks had been repulsed with such loss at the last assault, near 10,000 men set out immediately for their own country; nor could either the entreaties or the severities of the officers, who caused several of the runaways to be beheaded, engage them to return to the camp [and to their duty]. The others, who remained, began to murmur openly, saying, that there must be a design to have them uselessly massacred; that it was impossible to take such a place as Ockzakow at so advanced

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MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

a season, where, too, the besieged defended themselves like
lions; that, in short, they would not take another step
towards the assault. Such speeches obliged the seraskier
to raise the siege, he fearing to be deserted by his troops
and to lose a numerous artillery, should he persist in
pressing it but a few days longer.

The loss of the garrison amounted to above 2000 men.
It had been 4000 strong on the day that the Turks in-
vested the place, and had, as above observed, received a
reinforcement of 800 men that colonel Wedel brought
from Kinburn; and on the day that the enemy raised
the siege there were not above 2000 in the town in
effective condition.

From the first day of the siege to the last the whole
garrison had been distributed over the ramparts, in the
covered-way, and in the redoubts, where they had re-
mained night and day without being relieved; and
indeed there were scarce numbers sufficient to man all
the posts. Such fatigue could not fail of producing
sickness; and as withal there was a want of a thousand
things necessary for ordinary subsistence, the soldiers
were at length so wasted, that they could hardly support
themselves on their feet; notwithstanding which, they
did their duty admirably and without murmuring; nor
were there, in the whole space of time that the Turks in-
vested the place, more than two deserters.

All the time this siege lasted marshal Munich was in
great anxiety. He had, it is true, taken all precau-
tions that depended on him to make the enterprise of
the enemy miscarry, but he had not dared to hope it
would, considering the bad state in which he knew the
garrison then was. As soon as he learnt that the place
was invested, he made fresh arrangements for relieving it.
General Leontew with 10,000 men was under orders to

ALLIANCE OF RUSSIA AND AUSTRIA.

193

reinforce it. Several regiments were also embarked in boats to go down the Dnieper; and these had already passed the falls when they received the news that the Turks had retreated. The joy was the greater for this result having been little expected.

The empress was extremely pleased with the conduct of general Stoffeln, and, not contented with promoting him to be a lieutenant-general, made him besides a grant of very considerable lands in the Ukrain. Bratke was made a major-general, and the whole garrison received a gratuity of several months' pay.

The flotilla which lay at anchor near the town of Ockzakow, and which consisted of about 100 sail, for the most part double shallops, contributed greatly towards the raising the siege; for besides hindering the Turks from investing the place to seaward, it seconded the fire from the ramparts to very good purpose. The commander of the Turkish squadron, who had had orders to attack and beat that of Russia, lost his head for not executing them.

I question whether there are any other troops in the world that could, or rather that would, have patiently endured such fatigues as those of the siege of Ockzakow; and this confirms me in the opinion I have always had that the Russians are capable of undertaking and executing everything when they are well led; but it is requisite they should have a number of foreign officers, as the soldiers have more confidence in them than in those of their own nation.

Having pursued without interruption the narrative of the operations of the campaign, I shall here insert some other remarkable facts that occurred in the course of the year 1737.

The courts of Petersburg and Vienna had already, under

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MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

the reign of Catherine, concluded a strict alliance, which
was drawn yet closer in that of the Empress Anne. It
had been agreed, that in the case of one of the two powers
feeling obliged to come to a rupture with the Porte, the
other should assist it with 30,000 men, and even declare
war, if the situation of things would permit it. In con-
sequence of this treaty, the Emperor had, during the
year 1736, made all necessary dispositions in Hungary;
and war was declared in the beginning of the year 1737.

They did not, however, in the mean time, neglect
negotiation. The small town of Nemirow was pitched
upon for holding a congress. It is situated in Poland, on
the river Bug, near the frontier of Wallachia, and belongs
to the count Pototski, the grand-general of Poland. The
court of Petersburg sent thither the baron Schafirow,
Mons. Walinski, and Mons. Neplueff; that of Vienna, the
count Ostein, the baron Thalman, and the count Weldsegg;
the Porte, the Reis Effendi, (or Grand Chancellor),
Metipi and Mustapha Effendis, these last both members of
the Divan. The congress commenced on the 16th of
August; but as not one of the three belligerent powers
would give up a tittle of their respective pretensions, the
negotiations did not continue long, and the congress broke
up on the 14th of October. The count Ostein returned to
Petersburg, where he had resided several years in quality
of minister plenipotentiary; but the Russian ministers
remained the rest of the year at Kiev.

The count Ostein, after his return to Petersburg,
exerted his utmost efforts to persuade the Russian court
to send a large body of troops by way of Wallachia into
Hungary, to join the imperial army, in order to act with
more effect on that side. General the marquis de Botta
was sent from Vienna to second the proposal; but mar-
shal Munich having arrived at court, managed to bring

AUSTRIAN HATRED OF MUNICH.

195

forward such good reasons against it, that the auxiliary force was refused. The wish of Russia was to have its armies act by themselves; and it consequently proposed by attacking the Porte on two sides, thus to make a diversion, and hinder the whole Turkish power from falling on the imperial army. And, indeed, it clearly appeared at the end of the war, that if the emperor had been as well served as Russia, he would not have been obliged to agree to the most shameful peace that had been made for many ages.

The court of Vienna had never been very well pleased with Count Munich, nor was it for want of its wishing it that general was not superseded many years before his disgrace. Munich, on his part, bore the Austrian court no more good-will; his pride could never brook the haughtiness of that court, nor did he let slip any occasion of calling the attention of the empress and the ministry to it. I am persuaded, that if he had remained at the head of affairs, the two courts would not be so united as they are at present. Colonel Barenklaw had been sent from Vienna to make the campaign with the Russian army, to observe its operations, and report them to his court. On the part of Russia, colonel Darewski, and some other officers, had been sent to the imperial army for the same purpose. After the capture of Ockzakow, Barenklaw gave an account of it to his court; and in a letter written to Count Ostein at Nemirow said, among other sarcastic remarks, that undoubtedly never had troops attacked a town with more courage; but that as to the generals, they were all of them, without exception, only fit at the most to be captains of grenadiers. Ostein gave a copy of this letter to the Russian ministry, who did not fail to send it to Petersburg, from whence it was transmitted to count

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MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

Munich, and he, as may well be imagined, was stung to the quick at Barenklaw's criticism. He reproached him in the bitterest language, and treated him ever afterwards with utter contempt. All this served to increase the hatred of the court of Vienna against the marshal. Barenklaw was recalled, and colonel baron de Reiske sent in his room. He went through the two campaigns of 1738 and 1739 with the Russian army.

As to colonel Darewsky, whom the court of Petersburg had sent in the year 1737 to the imperial army, he was employed the two ensuing years in Poland, on some negotiations with the nobles of that kingdom, and M. Bovier was sent in his room to the imperial army. In the unfortunate affair of Krotzka, the latter was taken prisoner by the Turks, and ransomed by count Villeneuve, the French ambassador.

It was also in the course of this year (1737), that count Biron was elected duke of Courland. The duke Ferdinand, of the house of Kettler, died at Dantzig; and with him the male line became extinct. The court of Petersburg, on receiving advice of this, instantly ordered general Bismark, governor of Riga, to enter the duchy with the troops under his command, to support the election of the new duke.* The nobility of Courland having, in the meanwhile, assembled at Mittau, repaired to the cathedral, where, after the *Veni Creator* being sung, Ernest John de Biron was elected duke of Courland by a majority of votes. It is to be observed, that general Bismark posted some companies of horse in the church-yard of the cathedral, and in the town, so that the election could not fail. I

* The republic of Poland had in 1732 formed a design of breaking up Courland into palatinates, and the measure was to take effect at the vacancy of the dukedom. The empress opposed the scheme, as Manstein relates above, page 60.

TYRANNY OF THE DUKE OF COURLAND. 197

have already related the origin and the personal qualities
of the new duke.*

The nobility of Courland, which had always been very
stirring, and had enjoyed great independence under the
government of the previous dukes, saw itself all on a sudden
in quite a different situation. No man could venture to
open his mouth without running a risk of being arrested
and sent to Siberia. For executing this, a particular me-
thod of procedure was used by the new duke. The party
suspected of speaking too freely, was, in the moment he
least thought of it, seized by persons in masks, who threw
him into a close carriage, and conveyed him to the re-
motest provinces of Russia. There were several of these
spiritings away during the three years that the duke
Ernest John reigned, but I will only relate one, which
deserves that distinction by its singular character.

A gentleman whose name was Sacken, while standing
one evening before the door of his country-house, was
seized by unknown persons and thrown into one of these
close carriages. He was for near two years carried about
from province to province, and not suffered to see any
human creature, even his conductors themselves never
appearing before him unmasked. At the end of that time,
the horses were one night taken out of the carriage, and
he left asleep in it. There he remained quietly till the
morning, in the expectation of being made to continue his
journey as usual. Broad day-light came on, without any
one coming to him, and all on a sudden he heard persons
talking in the Courland language, near the carriage; upon
which he opened the door and found himself at the gate
of his own house. He made his complaint to the duke,
who did not fail to carry the farce on by representing his
grievance to the court of Russia, from whence an answer

* See above, pp. 41—44.

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came, that if he could point out the persons who had done
this action, care should be taken that they were rigorously
punished.

I return now to the military operations. The Calmucks
had again invaded the Kuban, of which they laid waste
a great part, and reduced the remainder to an entire
subjection to the empress. The winter-quarters of the
army were the same as those of the preceding year; that
is to say, in the Ukrain; where the majority of the regi-
ments were employed in breaking the ice on the Dnieper,
and in guarding the frontiers against the invasion of the
Tartars; all which could not, however, prevent these
vagabonds from making fresh incursions.

It was in the month of February that they attempted
a very considerable one, but which, after all, came to little.
The Khan himself was in it, at the head, as was asserted,
of 40,000 men. His design had been to force the lines
of the Ukrain, to penetrate far into the country, and to
destroy every thing by fire and sword. On his approach
to the lines, however, he found it would be too dangerous to
enter on that side, because his retreat might be cut off;
so that he pursued his way to Izioum, where there are no
lines, and there are extensive plains. He would not, how-
ever, risk the entering with his whole army into the enemy's
country, but posting himself upon the river Donetz, he
sent off large detachments, which found means to burn
a number of villages, and to carry off some inhabitants
of the plain. In the mean while, the generals, who had
it in charge to guard the frontiers, assembled the troops
under their orders, and directed their movements so well,
that some of those Tartar detachments were intercepted,
and the booty they had made recovered from them. And
when he learnt that the troops were collected together,
and advancing to attack his army, the Khan retreated as

MUNICH'S THIRD CAMPAIGN.

199

fast as he could. The marshal, who just at the time
this happened, was returning from Petersburg to his
head-quarters at Pultowa, pursued the enemy, for some
marches, across the steppe, but could not come up with
him. After this the troops remained undisturbed in their
winter-quarters.

Munich, proposing to open the campaign as soon as
possible, set the regiments to work at preparing means of
transport, and ordered them to provide themselves with
biscuit for several months. In Russia nothing but the
crude material is served out to the soldier, and he must
work it up; carts, clothes, and the like, are all made by
himself. The flour is served out to the regiments, but the
soldier is obliged to bake his bread, and make his biscuits,
because both kinds of food are more portable in this form,
and less apt to spoil with keeping.

At the beginning of the year, the court made a great
promotion of general officers; and that the military chest
might not suffer by such an increase of the establishment,
those regiments which they had before in quality of
colonels were left to the new generals, so that the com-
missary only paid them a balance to make up the sum
they were to receive as generals. For in Russia the pro-
motion to the rank of general involves the loss of the regi-
ment.

In the beginning of April, the regiments received
marching orders for the general rendezvous of the army,
which was, as the year before, near Perevolotschna.

In the first days of May, the whole army assembled,
and passed the Dnieper on a bridge of boats.

The generals who served in this campaign under
marshal Munich were the general Romanzow; lieutenant-
generals Sagraïsky, Charles Biron, Löwendal, and Gus-

04

200

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

tavus Biron; and major-generals the Prince Antony Ulric of Brunswick, the Prince of Holstein Beck, Bouterlein, Lieven, Keyserling, Fermor, Magnus Biron, Philosophow, Chroutzcheff, Stockman, Prince Basil Repnin, &c.

Baron Löwendal had the special charge of the artillery; for the Prince of Hesse Homburg, who had got married at Petersburg, served neither in this campaign nor the following one; the court being dissatisfied with his conduct in the two preceding.

Keith could neither serve in this campaign nor the ensuing one, on account of the wound he had received at Ockzakow; but the empress gave him the rank of full general *, which answers to that of general of infantry or of cavalry in the German service. During this campaign he remained at Pultowa, and had the command of all the troops that were left to guard the Ukrain. For this year's campaign, Munich's army was not, at the most, above 50,000 strong, including the Cossacks.

After the army had crossed the Dnieper, it marched on very quietly and leisurely, without hurrying itself, as far as the river Bug, where it arrived on the 30th of June. It was not till this day that the first intelligence was received, from some prisoners made by the light troops, that the enemy was not far off, and that he was advancing upon the small river Kodima, where he designed to wait for the Russian army and give it battle. The bridges were instantly ordered to be got ready. Three were finished by the 3rd of July, one of pontoons, the others of casks.†

July 4th: the army began to defile over those bridges, and on the 7th the baggage was all got over. The army remained three days encamped on the other side of the

* Général en chef.

† See p. 138.

THE UKRAIN COSSACKS ATTACKED.

201

Bug. There three divisions were made, each of which formed a hollow square, and, in marching, had its equipages in the middle. In this disposition too the army encamped, whenever the situation did not allow it to rest upon a river, or to take up some stronger position.

July 10th: the army got under march, and towards noon crossed the river Kodima, near its confluence with the Bug, on several bridges thrown over it. It then encamped between the two rivers, having its left on the Kodima, and its right extending to the Bug, so that it had this river on its rear. Towards five in the afternoon, while the army was employed in pitching its camp, the chief of the Cossacks of the Don brought advice that the enemy, to the number of several thousands, were showing themselves on the other side of the Kodima, which the Russians had just crossed; and as a great part of the baggage-train of the army, as well as the artillery and provisions, had not been able to reach the camp on account of the defiles, general Romanzow and lieutenant-general Gustavus Biron took with them some regiments, and returned to the other side. The enemy attempted nothing all that day; the army formed its camp without hindrance, and the artillery, the provisions, and the baggage-train, had time to get into it during the night.

July 11th: very early in the morning, the Cossacks reported that a strong detachment of the enemy was in sight in the distance. No great attention was at first paid to this, but when towards seven o'clock, the whole neighbouring plain, for half a league round *, was seen covered with Turks and Tartars, the marshal began to think the affair might become serious. The foragers and their escorts were called in, and the whole army had orders

* The English edition has "for a league and a half round."

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MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

to get under arms. At eight o'clock the advanced guard of the right wing was attacked. The lieutenant-general Segraïsky, with a part of the picquets of the army, supported it so effectually, that the enemy was repulsed on that side. The Turks had, at the same time, attacked the camp of the Cossacks of the Ukrain, in the hope, as these are reputed the worst troops the Russians have, to take it without much resistance; but, on some picquets under the orders of major-general Philosophow advancing boldly, they retreated in all haste. The greatest efforts of the enemy were opposite to the centre. Brigadier Schipow, who was in turn for the day, seeing that the advanced guard of the right wing was attacked on all sides, assembled those of the centre into one body, and marched straight against the enemy; but advancing too far, he was entirely surrounded and attacked on all sides. He defended himself with incredible valour, but must have been overpowered by numbers, if he had not been soon succoured. The marshal hastened in person to his relief, at the head of a detachment of cuirassiers; and was supported by the lieutenant-generals Löwendal and Gustavus Biron, who put themselves each at the head of some battalions, and the enemy was soon repulsed on that side also. The Turks returned several times to the attack, without, however, being able to gain the least advantage. The artillery did wonders, the enemy having more killed by the fire of the cannon than by that of the small arms. The Turks kept the field some time longer in presence of the Russians; but marshal Munich having advanced with part of his army, so formed that the flanks were covered by the infantry, the dragoons, (of whom the greatest part had dismounted), being among the foot along the lines, while the hussars and Cossacks skirmished on the wings, they retreated entirely, not being able to sustain the fire

IMPORTANT SUCCESS OF THE RUSSIANS.

203

of the artillery. The loss on both sides was not great; the Russians had a colonel among the wounded, and of the Turks there were about 200 left on the field.

While the main strength of the Turks had been employed in attacking the army, they had sent a large detachment against a convoy that was coming from the Ukrain, and had, without any obstacle, got to within four leagues of the army. Happily there is nothing but level ground in that country*, so that the commanding officer could descry the enemy from a great distance. He had time to form a retrenchment of his waggons; behind which he defended himself, till the marshal, on advice of his danger, sent some regiments to relieve him. The enemy was repulsed, and the convoy got safe into camp, without having lost a single waggon. To this camp several foreign officers, some merely to make the campaign in quality of volunteers, others to enter the Russian service, came and joined the army. Earl Crawford, and several other English or Scotch men, as also the count of Isemburgh, [knight of the Teutonic order, and] lieutenant-colonel in the service of Hesse, were among the volunteers.

After this action, the army continued its march for some days quietly enough, the Turks not approaching it except in small parties. News however came, that they were marching with their whole force towards the river Savran, on the frontiers of Poland. Count Munich resolved to follow them thither. He arrived at the river-side on the 17th of July, and the bridges were instantly got in readiness for passing.

July 18th. The Zaporavian Cossacks, who had been sent on to reconnoitre, reported that the enemy was at

* The *dcfiles* mentioned above (p. 201.) are water-courses. See p. 150.

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MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

not above one or two leagues distance, in full march to attack the Russians.

July 19th. The advanced guard of the army, consisting of seven regiments of infantry, a regiment of hussars, and some thousands of Cossacks, all under the orders of lieutenant-general Charles Biron, crossed the Savran. At one in the afternoon, the enemy was observed making dispositions for advancing to attack the army. They began with the Zaporavian Cossacks, who had posted themselves on a rising ground, at the right wing, and had fortified their camp with their baggage-waggons. The Turks charged them several times both on horseback and on foot, with a great deal of vigour; but finding more resistance than they had reckoned on, they were extremely disheartened; and some support that the marshal sent to the Cossacks made them retire into a neighbouring wood. In the mean while, the marshal drew his army out of the camp, leaving under the command of general Romanzow no more men in it than would just serve to guard the baggage. He formed a line, the right of which rested on the Zaporavian camp, and the left on a ravine, deep and extremely steep, that was in advance of the camp. These measures did not disconcert the enemy; who made several attacks, sometimes on the right, sometimes on the left. Some of his forces even took a circuit and came to attack the camp, but they were everywhere repulsed with loss. Towards four the enemy had given way on every side; the Cossacks were even on the pursuit, insomuch that it was imagined the Turks were going altogether to quit the field of battle. But this was a mistake, for about five o'clock they formed afresh in front of a wood, and returned to attack the Russians with more fury than before, but they were again repulsed, and at length forced to fly. They left above 1000 dead on the

RUSSIAN ARMY ARRIVES ON THE DNIESTER. 205

field. Lieutenant-general Löwendal, who had placed the artillery on a rising ground at the right wing, from which his fire took the enemy in flank, contributed greatly to the victory.

This action had so much discouraged the Turks, that not only was the army not molested by them in its march for several days, but nothing was heard of them till the first of August, when intelligence came through a Walachian deserter, that a considerable body, composed of Turks and Tartars, and commanded by the Sultan of Bielogorod, and four Bashaws, was arrived to within four leagues of the army, and designed to attack the next morning. On this advice, dispositions were made for a battle, and the army, which was then entangled in some defiles, marched all night to get out of them. The Cossacks of the Don, who had been detached to observe the motions of the enemy, returned early on the morning of the 3rd of August bringing with them eight prisoners, made from a party of the enemy, which they had fallen in with and put to flight. These prisoners said, that the seraskier of Bender, after repassing the Dniester with his army, had ordered the Sultan of Bielogorod to proceed to attack the Russians with his Tartars; but that he had refused to do so unless he had with him some Turkish troops. The seraskier had then allowed him to take 8000 men, under Vely Bashaw, one of their best officers, and the same who had attacked the Russians in the actions of the 11th and 19th of July. This Vely Bashaw was the next year seraskier of Bender, and commanded the Ottoman troops against the Russians.

The army continued its march towards the Dniester, which was not above two leagues off, having the river of Molotschitzche on the right, and that of Bielotschitzche on the left. The enemy soon after coming in sight,

206

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

the marshal put himself at the head of a detachment of horse-guards and cuirassiers, to go and reconnoitre them. He saw them in order of battle behind a hill, at half a league's distance from the army. Upon this, he ordered the quartermaster general Fermor, who was in the vanguard with 7 regiments of foot, a regiment of hussars, and 2000 Cossacks, to throw his troops into a square, and march towards the hill to examine the posture of the enemy. At the same time, he sent word to lieutenant-general Charles Biron to follow the vanguard with his whole division, and to push on in advance three regiments of foot, and some companies of grenadiers on horseback, under the orders of the Prince of Brunswick; who, with this corps, took up a position over against the left wing of the enemy, where lieutenant-general Löwendal joined him, and proceeded to post the field-guns there. Soon after, the enemy advanced, and fell on the detachment of the Prince of Brunswick, but he was smartly repulsed, and such a confusion created among his troops, that, seeing the Russians advancing upon them, they betook themselves altogether to flight. The light troops were sent in pursuit of them, and brought word that they had retreated; some towards the Dniester, and the others along the Molotschitzche. Some days before this action, the army had made two marches in succession across a desert, in which there was not a drop of water to be had; and if the enemy had attacked it in this unfortunate situation, they might have done it a great deal of mischief.

August 6th: the army, at break of day, resumed its march, having still the small river Molotschitzche on its right, and Bielotschitzche on its left. They had not proceeded far, before they saw the camp of the Sultan of Bielogorod, who, with all the Tartars, and some thousands

THE ARMY STOPPED ON THE DNIESTER.

207

of Turks, was posted on an eminence on the other side of
the river Molotschitzche, at its confluence with the
Dniester. As soon as the enemy perceived the army ad-
vancing, they passed the little river, and posted themselves
on a rising ground, on the left of the Russians. This
movement made the marshal judge that they would come
on to attack him. Upon this, the vanguard halted, to give
time for the divisions and the rearguard, which had
become too much separated during the march, to come up;
and also to take the necessary measures for effectually
covering the baggage and provisions. The enemy made a
great many troops defile in order to attack the rearguard,
which was done towards ten in the morning, while at the
same time, another body of troops came to attack
the vanguard; but these last were instantly repulsed
by the Cossacks and Calmucks. The attack on the
rearguard lasted longer, and was sharper. Munich
repaired thither in person. The Cossacks of the Don were
exposed to the first brunt of the enemy, who fell
upon them with great impetuosity, and at first obliged them
to give way; but presently recovering from their disorder,
they returned to the charge, and attacking the Tartars
with their pikes, forced them to retreat in their turn,
though far superior in number. Major-general Philoso-
phow, who brought up the rearguard with four regiments
of foot, and had been obliged to remain a little behind to
cover the rest of the baggage, followed the army slowly,
and on account of the bad roads, was not able to march in
close order. The enemy attacked him with a great deal of
spirit, and would have gained an advantage over him if he
had not been promptly supported. But general Roman-
zow hastening to him with some companies of mounted
grenadiers, and three regiments of foot, obliged the Turks
to retreat.

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MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

The better to protect the baggage, several battalions
were posted on the flanks, at proper intervals from
the rear to the van of the army, which was allowed
to rest until every thing was ready for its reception
in the camp which it was to occupy. The enemy tried to
set fire to the grass, but as it had rained plentifully
for some days before, their endeavours were ineffectual.

Towards five o'clock in the afternoon, the enemy
attempted a fresh attack on the Cossacks of the Don and
the Calmucks, but having been again repulsed, they
retreated along the Dniester. The army then entered its
camp, the right wing being a cannon-shot off the Dniester,
and the rear resting on the river Bielotschitzche. The loss
the Russians sustained by this action might be about 200
in all. A colonel of the Cossacks of the Don was in the
number of the slain.

In this camp the Russians were situated over against
that of their enemies, who were in sight of them on the
other side of the river, well entrenched, and with effective
batteries. The janissaries from time to time crossed the
river in small boats, to skirmish with the advanced
posts.

August 7th: the whole day passed in skirmishes, and in
reconnoitring the sides of the river, to see if a proper place
could be found for passing it; but the banks, (which are of
rock,) were so steep in that part, that it would have been
rashness to think of undertaking it. The enemy were
60,000 strong, on the other side of the river, where they
had sixty cannon and fifteen mortars in position, besides
which, the Sultan of Bielogorod, who had not passed the
Dniester, had encamped but two leagues off from the left
of the Russians, and perpetually harassed their advanced
guard. The marshal, therefore, contented himself with

SUCCESSFUL TARTAR AMBUSCADE.

209

erecting batteries of cannon and mortars on the river side, and on the night between the 8th and 9th began a cannonade and bombardment of the enemy's camp, but to no effect; and as the forage was beginning to fall short in the Russian camp, it became a necessity to remove.

**August 9th:** at break of day the army got under march, and had scarce proceeded a cannon-shot from its last camp, when the Turks, crossing the river in great numbers, joined the Tartars, and afterwards kept alongside of the Russians during their whole march, and harassed them without intermission.

The enemy kept on passing the river during the whole day, so that before evening more than half of their army was got over.

**August 10th:** the army got under arms to cover the baggage, as it crossed the bridges thrown over the Molots-chitzche, when the enemy advanced in order of battle, and attacked them repeatedly in several places: but they were constantly repulsed, although they had never shown themselves so determined as on this occasion. The country hereabouts is intersected with a number of ravines, and full of rocks and great stones, which gave great advantage to the janissaries, who, creeping behind those stones, to within musket-shot of the Russian troops, kept up an extremely sharp fire upon them. But at length the marshal commanded several companies of grenadiers to attack them, and these charged them with such good effect, that they were dislodged from their lurking places, and obliged to fly for their lives. The regiment of Stoianoff hussars and the Cossacks, with some companies of dragoons, pursued the runaways as far as the ground would permit. The loss of the Russians amounted to 300 men; but there was not one officer either killed or

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MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

wounded. The enemy lost above 2000 men*, left on the field of battle.

 Marshal Munich remained some time longer in the vicinity of the Dniester, making as if he intended to cross it, but he always found the Turkish army opposite to him; at length, he moved upon the Bug, and [having advice that the enemy's army was separated, and that even the detachment which had kept along-side of the Russian army, continually harassing it in its marches, was re-treated, he] recrossed that river on the 1st of September.

Before the marshal crossed the Bug, the enemy had not shown themselves for several days, except at a great distance and in small parties. This had lulled the camp into a security, of which the Sultan of Bielogorod did not fail to take advantage. In the night-time, he got near the Russians with a considerable force, and posted himself in ambuscade in a deep ravine.† The next day, the lieutenant-general Sagraïsky, who commanded one of the divisions of the army, ordered a forage for his division, under the escort of a colonel and major, and 800 men, foot and dragoons. But as there prevailed a feeling of perfect security, the escort was only for form. The foraging party, leaving their escort behind, went on as far as two leagues from the camp, and straggled all over the country. The Tartars all on a sudden fell upon them, massacred 400 or 500 soldiers and camp-servants‡, took at least as many prisoners, and carried off above 2000 oxen and horses, without the covering party being able to hinder them.

This affair brought a severe penalty on the colonel

* The English edition has "a thousand."

† See above, note on page 120.

‡ "Goujats."

SUFFERING OF THE RUSSIAN ARMY.

211

who commanded the covering party. His name was Tutschef. The marshal having ordered a council of war, he was tried, condemned, and executed. The lieutenant-general, who had sent out the foraging party without notice to the marshal, and without having in person given his instructions to the colonel in command, was degraded, and reduced to the rank of a private dragoon; as was, also the brigadier of the day, the Prince Walache, of the house of Cantacuzenus, for not having been present at the place of arms when the detachment was sent out, [and likewise for not having given the colonel instructions]. The major, too, of the covering party was made a private dragoon; but, as he had not the command, this was only for some months, whereas the lieutenant-general and the brigadier were obliged to go through the whole of the following campaign in this capacity, and had not their pardon till peace was made.

Notwithstanding this unfortunate affair of the foragers, the general loss which the enemy occasioned to the Russians was anything but considerable. This campaign, however, did not cost them less in men than the preceding one, for there were a prodigious number of sick in the army, of whom a great part died; and even those who recovered were so reduced that they were in no condition to do the least service, nor were they thoroughly restored till after they had been some months in their winter-quarters. Never had the Russian army lost so many horses and oxen; and this went so far, that though they had taken with them some hundreds of supernumeraries of both kinds for reliefs in the service of the artillery, they had not, towards the end of the campaign, enough of them to draw it; and for want of this, they were obliged to bury in the deserts a great part of their bomb-shells and cannon-balls. A large quantity of them was also

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MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

left with the waggon train in Poland, which country the train of artillery, and a part of the army, had crossed. The forage in the steppe beginning to fall very short, from the Tartars having constantly set fire to the grass, the army was forced to march and encamp several days successively in a locality which had been burnt, without having fodder for the baggage cattle. This it was which obliged Munich to divide his army into several columns, keeping the rear-one with himself. By that means he greatly spared his resources.

Towards the end of September the whole army re-entered the Ukrain, and there went into winter-quarters. The marshal took up his at Kiev.

In the way to the Dniester the Russian army had passed over Polish territory, upon which the grand-general, count Pototski, sent to make a complaint on the subject to count Munich; but as the Turks had also crossed the same ground to come against him, he returned for answer, "that he knew perfectly well the regard due to a neutral country, and that he should not have set foot in it, had the enemy not shown him the way." The grand-general, not satisfied with this reply, made his complaints to the court of Petersburg, which gave him an answer much to the same purpose. But when on the return from the Dniester, a large part of the army was moved through Poland, the remonstrances against this grievance were more urgently made. The King of Poland himself, though he was on a footing of good understanding with the Empress of Russia, was obliged to order representations to be made by his minister, to which it was answered, that the enemy having marched that way, there was no just cause of complaint for the Russian army having done the same; that, however, if any disorders had been committed, or the least damage done, all should be made good.

MUNICH'S OPPOSITION TO AUSTRIA.

213

The court of Vienna also made great complaints against the marshal, for not having executed the plan concerted before the opening of the campaign. According to this, he was to pass the Dniester, and take the town of Bender, or that of Choktzim; but he had met with so many difficulties, that it was impossible for him to carry out that project.

Munich easily justified himself to his own court, making it palpably appear, that he could not undertake the passage of the Dniester, nor the siege of either of those places, without totally ruining the army under his command; seeing that, besides having in that case to enter a country, where the forage had been entirely consumed by the enemy, the plague was at that time actually rife in Moldavia and Wallachia. But all these reasons had no weight at Vienna, where it was said that count Munich had been always disposed to thwart that court; that he had hindered the empress from sending thirty thousand foot to join the army of the emperor in Hungary; where if they had had those forces, they could have undertaken great things against the infidels; but that the marshal was only actuated by passion, and impelled by ambition; that satisfied with being at the head of a great army, he had done nothing with it, because he was dissatisfied with the court of Vienna; and that notwithstanding all his allegations, he might have undertaken more had he pleased. In short, the emperor urged the point so strongly, that a positive order was sent from Petersburg to Munich, to retrace his steps, and set about taking one of the two above-mentioned places. This order he did not receive till he had already passed the river Bug, and divided his army for its return to the Ukrain. Upon this he held a council of war, in which the generals unanimously agreed with him in opinion, and demonstrated the impossibility of executing this order, even were the whole army to be

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MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

sacrificed to the attempt. The empress accepted their excuse, and permitted the return of the troops.

This was the second time that the court of Vienna had persuaded that of Petersburg to send Munich orders to renew the operations of the campaign; for the same thing had already happened the year before, when, after the reduction of Ockzakow, it was urged with all imaginable vehemence, that the Russians should go on and take Bender.

The conclusion of all these complaints was a reiterated demand upon the empress to send into Hungary for the year 1739, the 30,000 foot which had been so earnestly solicited for the preceding campaign. The court of Petersburg promised it; but Munich having, in the winter, arrived at court, found means so effectually to persuade the Duke of Courland and the empress that it would be against the interest of Russia to send its best regiments to Hungary, that the emperor did not obtain them this year any more than he had done in the preceding one.

While Munich was employed towards the Dniester, marshal Lacy, at the head of a second army, was resuming the march to the Crimea. His force was from 30,000 to 35,000 strong, including the Cossacks. On the 6th of July, he was with his army in sight of Perekop. The Khan, with 40,000 of his troops, was behind the lines, determined to make a better defence of the entrance into the Crimea than had been the case the preceding years. He had great confidence in the new lines, which the Tartars had constructed the year before. But Lacy disconcerted his projects, and entered the Crimea without the loss of a single man. In summer the heats dry up a part of the Sea of Azoph*, and a west-wind keeps the flood

* i. e., the northern branch of the Siwasch. See above, page 108.

LACY'S THIRD CAMPAIGN.

215

so back, that one may get into the Crimea almost dry-
shod. As good luck would have it, on the 7th this wind
began to blow, and the marshal lost not a moment in
taking the benefit of it. He instantly drew up his army
along the shore, in single line, and happily crossed the
sea before the return of the flood. Some, indeed, of the car-
riages of the rear-guard, that could not follow quick enough,
were lost, by the wind ceasing to blow shortly after the army
had passed. They seized on a small fort, called Czivas-
Coula. On the 8th the marshal marched towards Perekop,
and sat down before it. The siege did not last beyond
the 10th. The continual fire kept up against the place,
and the quantity of shell thrown into it with great effect,
obliged the Turkish commandant to capitulate. Lacy
would not hear of his surrender except as prisoner of war;
which, after several parleys, he accepted. The garrison,
consisting of 2000 janissaries, under a Bashaw of two
tails, came out of the place, and laid down their arms.
Major-general Brigny the younger entered the place
with two regiments of foot, and took the command of it.
He found there to the number of 100 pieces of cannon,
most of them brass, but no more than a small quantity of
bread. After this expedition, Lacy advanced farther into
the Crimea, which he found in a wretched condition, and
almost a desert.

On July 20th, there was a very smart action between
the Tartars and a part of Lacy's army. A body of near
20,000 men came on with such fury to attack the
Cossacks of the Ukrain, who constituted the rearguard,
that they routed them, and threw into confusion the
Azoph regiment of dragoons that endeavoured to support
them. Just at that juncture, lieutenant-general Spiegel
came up with four regiments of dragoons and the Cossacks
of the Don, to stop the runaways, and drive back the

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216

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

enemy; and scarce had they time to recover themselves, before the Tartars attacked them afresh, with a great deal of impetuosity. The combat was long and stubborn; but the marshal having caused some regiments of foot, who had just entered the camp, to advance, the Tartars were at last obliged to retreat, leaving above 2000* of their slain on the field of battle. On the side of the Russians, the loss was not above 600 or 700 men, including the Cossacks. General Spiegel was among the wounded, having received a sabre-cut in the face.

 Marshal Lacy had it in his instructions to take Caffa, the strongest place in the Crimea, and a sea-port, in which the Turks keep their fleet; but he found the country everywhere so ruined, that it was with great difficulty the army could get subsistence. Besides this, the vice-admiral Bredal, who was to bring him provisions from Azoph in his fleet, met with a terrible storm, that disabled the greatest part of his vessels, and dispersed the rest; so that the marshal, after having made some marches onward, thought it best to bring his army back to near Perekop, of which he ordered the fortifications to be blown up, and a great part of the lines to be levelled.

In his camp here he remained till towards the end of August, when he resumed his march back to the Ukrain, where his troops went into winter-quarters, at the beginning of the month of October.

As to Ockzakow, the advices from that place during the whole year 1738 were extremely unsatisfactory. Care had indeed been taken to send recruits for completing the regiments in garrison at that place and at Kinburn; but hardly had they arrived there, when they died like rotten sheep; and, to increase the misfortune,

TARTAR INVASION OF THE UKRAIN.

217

the plague got into both places, and made terrible havoc,
to such an extent that general Stoffeln had not, for some
days, men enough to do the duty of the day. And when,
in the month of September 1739, he received orders to raze
and abandon the two towns, he brought scarcely one-third
of his men back to the Ukrain. The town of Ockzakow
cost Russia near 20,000 men.

The army had no more rest in the winter of this year
than in the preceding. Part of the troops were employed
in breaking the ice of the Dnieper, and the remainder
were fully occupied in their quarters with repairing the
carriages of the baggage train, carrying out other arrange-
ments necessary for the next campaign, and defending the
frontier against the incursions of the Tartars. The latter
attempted an invasion of the Ukrain, in the month of
March 1739, and burned some villages. They were not
able, however, to carry off any booty; for measures had
been so well taken, that in a few hours several detach-
ments succeeded in forming a junction, and moving on
the point where the enemy showed himself. Several
bodies of these robbers were not only beaten in the
Ukrain, but were pursued into the steppe by the Cossacks,
and some captured there. Having succeeded so ill in the
Ukrain, and not liking to come back empty-handed, they
sought for compensation in Poland, and, in spite of the
treaties subsisting between them and the Poles, they
destroyed a number of little towns and villages, and
carried the inhabitants off to make slaves of them.*

The plague, which made great ravages in Moldavia and
Wallachia, communicated itself also to the Ukrain, where
the precautionary arrangements taken by Munich pre-
vented this dreadful scourge from extending over the

* This paragraph is found only in the French edition.

218

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

whole province, but they could not, however, hinder several
towns and villages from being depopulated by it.

In the month of November, there was a terrible exer-
cution in the Ukrain. The son of a peasant in that
country had given himself out for the Czarewitz *, son of
Peter I. deceased in the year 1718. He had come into
village on the frontier, where he declared himself as such
to three soldiers, who were on guard near the beacons set
up along the boundary. These did homage to him, as
did also the inhabitants of the village. The priest of it
had the bells rung, and said a mass for the prosperity of
the pretended prince. At length, the people of the village
assembled, and perhaps the matter would have gone
farther, if it had not been for a Sotnick, or Cossack captain,
who, hearing of it, acquainted general Romanzow, then
in quarters in the neighbourhood. The pretended prince
and his adherents, who were not very numerous, were
seized without trouble and conveyed to Petersburg, where
they were put on their trial in the secret chancery; and
after this sent back to the Ukrain. There the major-
general Schipow had an order to see them executed. The
self-made prince was impaled alive; the priest and the
three soldiers were put to different kinds of death. The
empress pardoned the peasants, but the village was razed
to the ground, and the inhabitants were removed to other
places.

 Marshal Munich having returned from the court at the
end of the month of March, issued orders for the regiments
to hold themselves in readiness for marching at twenty-
four hours' notice.

The general rendezvous of the army was at Kiev, in

* This was the prince Alexis Petrowitz, the son of Peter I. by his first
wife Eudoxia Feodorowna, whom he divorced after forming a connexion
with the celebrated Catherine. See above, note on page 4.

MUNICH'S FOURTH CAMPAIGN.

219

consequence of which a great part of the troops had a
much longer way to go than in the preceding years, when
they had assembled in the centre of their winter-quarters.
The regiments that were on the rivers Don and Donetz,
and near the lines of the Ukrain, had more than 200
leagues to march before they arrived. The 26th of
April was the day settled for the general assemblage of
the army, but for the reasons alleged, the more distant
troops could not get there at the time.

The Dnieper had swelled, and overflowed the country
for two leagues round; notwithstanding which obstacle, a
bridge of boats was set about, and finished by the 8th of
May.

The regiments that had been nearest passed first, and
the others as fast as they arrived; but with all the dili-
gence possible, the troops, with the artillery and the
magazine waggons, could not be collected before the 4th of
June, by which time the whole army was got on the other
side of the river.

The army of count Munich consisted this year of 49
battalions of infantry, including three battalions of foot-
guards; while 3 squadrons of horse-guards, 100 squadrons
of dragoons, 6 squadrons of hussars, 6 squadrons of
Wallachians, and 4 squadrons of Georgians, composed the
cavalry. Besides this there were 13,000 Cossacks of all
nations. The artillery consisted of 62 pieces of battering
cannon, 11 mortars, 16 howitzers, and 176 field-pieces.
There were 3000 cannoneers appointed to serve the
artillery; in short, the army might amount to 60,000 or
65,000 men.

The generals that served under marshal Munich were,
the general Romanzow, lieutenant-generals Charles Biron,
Löwendal, and Gustavus Biron, and major-generals the
prince of Holstein, Chroutzcheff, Philosophow, prince

220

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

Repnin, Bachmetew, Keyserling, Fermor, Schipow, Stockman, and Apraxin.

The court was resolved, notwithstanding the continual
complaints of the Poles, to make the army take its march
this year across their country; as this greatly shortened the
way that must else have been pursued to arrive at the
Dniester, and, besides, afforded the troops several con-
veniences with which they had been obliged to dispense in
the preceding campaigns. And, indeed, it must be owned,
that the army never suffered less, nor had fewer sick, than
this year.

On June 7th, the army entered Poland near to Wasili-
kow, a small fortress on the frontier. The grand-general of
Poland had ordered the nobility to take horse; and this
noble militia dispersed in several directions, to prevent as
much as possible the disorder of the light troops: but,
notwithstanding all the care the Poles took to keep along-
side of the Russians in their marches, they could not
hindering a great many irregularities being committed.

The Russian army, for their greater convenience,
marched in several columns, and, on the 10th of July,
arrived at the river Bug, which it passed in three places;
the first division at Constantinow, the second at Latiz-
chew, and the third at Mentzibosh. These three places
are situate within a space of five miles.*

Advice came, that the Turks, 60,000 strong, had
passed the Dniester, and advanced into Poland, to dispute
the passage of the Bug with the Russians, but that, find-
ing these had got the start of them, they had marched
back again after ravaging several villages.

To put the enemy on a wrong scent, and compel them

* These are apparently miles of Germany, 15 to a degree of latitude.
The French edition has the term "milles," although in other cases either
the "lieu," or the "werst," is taken as the unit of measurement.

MUNICH PASSES THE DNIESTER.

221

either to fruitless marches, or to keeping a great part of their army near Bender, a numerous detachment of Cossacks was sent on the side of Soroka*, with orders to give out by the way, that a part of the army would follow them in a few days. This false report induced the seraskier Vely Bashaw to stop, with the strength of his army, near fifteen days at Bender.

The party of Cossacks succeeded in swimming their horses over the Dniester, without being perceived by the enemy's troops, and having penetrated fifteen leagues into the country, they burnt a great number of villages, and the two towns of Soroka and Mohilew. On their return to the camp, they brought with them eighteen prisoners, and above 400 horses, of which a great part had been taken on the territory of Poland.

The army continued marching towards the Dniester till the 27th of July, having gone round the mountains called Nedoborschetz, and then turning down along the river Sbroutsch, on the side of Choktzim†, as if their design had been to force the passage of the Dniester, in the neighbourhood of that town.

A great body of the enemy's army had advanced towards the Sbroutsch, the sides of which are very steep, to dispute the passage. But the idea of the marshal was not to pass the Sbroutsch. He wanted to come upon the Dniester, and pass before the enemy could suspect

* This name is the same in both French and English editions; but it seems to arise from a mistake of handwriting for Jeroka or Jaruka.

† Choktzim (or Chotzim) lies on the right bank of the Dniester, just on the slope of the hill. Its position is such (says Tott) that the whole of the interior can be seen from the opposite shore. It could not be held for three days against a regular attack. (See note on p. 233.) The name is now usually spelt Chotym or Kotjim. The Zbroutsch, which takes its rise in Austrian Galicia, falls into the Dniester a little above the town, having there a direction towards the S. E.

222

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

his design. He therefore put himself, on the 28th of
July, at the head of a body of 20,000 picked troops,
taking with him nothing but the field artillery, and order-
ing the soldiers to carry six days' bread with them. The
siege train and the baggage remained in the camp with
general Romanzow.

This body of troops marched that day and the next
(the 29th), near twenty French leagues, and, towards the
evening, arrived on the banks of the Dniester, at Sin-
kowtza, a small Polish village. They immediately set to
work at the bridges; and as there was not a single enemy
to oppose any resistance, these were finished by the 30th,
at seven in the morning. Before night, the whole of the
infantry, and the train of field-pieces, had passed over to
the other side. The dragoons and Cossacks had got over
the preceding day, by means of a ford they had dis-
covered. The Turks, who were waiting for the Russians
at the passage of the river Sbroutsch, knew nothing of
this march, nor, till the 1st of August, of any part of
the army having passed the Dniester. They immedi-
ately retreated to Choktzim, and passed the Dniester under
the walls of that town.

Sinkowtza is not above six or seven leagues distant
from Choktzim, but the way between those places is made
difficult by impracticable mountains, which extend from
the Dniester to the Pruth; so that the enemy had three
or four days' march before them ere they could reach the
Russians, there being no passage for an army but through
the famous defile of Perekop. The Russians took ad-
vantage of this, and sent detachments on all sides, who pe-
netrated into the country beyond the Pruth, and brought
away with them near 100 prisoners, Turks and Wallachians,
whom they had chanced to meet, and a few colours taken
from small parties of the enemy, of whom they had

UNSUCCESSFUL ATTACK ON THE ARMY.

223

killed some, and dispersed the rest. The booty they
made of horses and oxen was prodigious.

After the passage of the Dniester, there were several
days of rain, which so swelled that river, that the violence
of the stream carried away the bridges, and took them
down with the force of the stream almost as low as Chok-
tzim; however, they were recovered at last, and with
a great deal of trouble brought up again to the têtes de
pont which had been constructed on each of the two
banks.

The same rains retarded the march of the army that
was following with the heavy artillery, the baggage, and
the stores; so that they could not arrive till the 7th of
August upon the Dniester. The bridges over this, too,
could not be at once got again into order: so, for some
days, there was no communication between the two bodies,
which obliged Munich to make some redoubts at the head
of his camp.

August 3rd. The Sultan Islam Ghereï, at the head of
12,000 Tartars, and Aali Kaltzchak Bashaw, governor of
Choktzim, with 6000 Serdengestis, or mounted janissaries,
who are called the janissaries of no-quarter*, presented
themselves in sight of the camp, and attacked the foragers
of the Tobolsk regiment of dragoons, commanded by the
colonel Roden. The colonel, who, with his whole regi-
ment, served them for escort, threw his men into a square,

* The name *Serdinguetchti* is said to mean the same thing as the ex-
pression "enfans perdus" in the French army. The bearers of it were
volunteers, and professed a resolution on all occasions to conquer or die.
Tott, who made part of a Tartar expedition to which a body of them was
attached, says that they never have the good or bad fortune to succeed in
either alternative. He tells an amusing story of one cutting off the head
of a dead Inat-Cossack, which he presented to the khan, forgetting, in
his anxiety to obtain credit, that the victim was an ally.

224

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

and defended himself valiantly for more than an hour, till
the picquets of the army came to his relief. The action
was sharp; nor were the enemy repulsed till they had
600 of themselves killed upon the spot. A Tartar gentleman,
called Ali Mirza, was taken prisoner. By his talk,
he appeared to be a man of sense. As he was wounded
in the leg, the surgeons told him it was impossible to
make a cure without amputation. He made up his mind
at once, and bore the operation with perfect firmness.
The marshal caused great care to be taken of him; notwithstanding which, he died a little while after. The
Russians had in this affair, 54 men killed, and 115
wounded. Among the first was a Saxon lieutenant-colonel, called Kiessling, whom the King of Poland had
sent to the Russian army to make the campaign with it.

On August 10th, there was heard the firing of the cannon
of Choktzim for the arrival of the seraskier Vely Bashaw,
who had at length got there from Bender with the
Turkish army, which he commanded in chief.

On the 11th, the Tartars made a fresh attempt. Fifteen
hundred of their picked horsemen stole silently into the
neighbourhood of the camp; but a party of the Cossacks
of the Don, and a detachment of hussars, who were concealed in a bottom, gave them so warm a reception, that
they not only repulsed them with the utmost vigour,
pursuing them as far as the Pruth, (in which several
Tartars were drowned), but even killed a great number
of them, and took sixteen prisoners.

It was the 15th of August before the rest of the
artillery and stores passed the Dniester; upon which the
bridges were removed.

Since the time when the first body of the Russians
crossed the river, there was hardly a day without some
Wallachian and Moldavian officers coming with troops to

DANGER AND REVENGE OF PRINCE CANTEMIR. 225

the camp to make their submission, and engage in the
service of the empress of Russia.

The marshal had, with the approbation of the court,
formed a regiment of Wallachians before the opening of
the campaign. A prince Cantemir, who had quitted
Moldavia towards the end of the year 1736, had the com-
mand of it; and all the Moldavians who came in were
placed in that regiment. This was a near relation of the
prince Cantemir, hospodar of Moldavia, who followed
Peter I. into Russia when he made the unfortunate
campaign of 1711 in Moldavia.

This prince, on his way from Moldavia to Russia, had
passed by Broda, the residence of count Potosky, the
grand-general of Poland, who was his relation, to whom
he unbosomed himself upon his intention of going to Kiev
in order to enter the Russian service. The count, who
was by no means in the interest of Russia, had him seized
and thrown into a dungeon, writing at the same time
to Constantinople to acquaint the Turks of his being
in his power, and that he was ready to deliver him
into their hands. The prince, sensible of the danger that
threatened him (for if he had been delivered to the Turks
he would have infallibly been flayed alive), found means
to procure a man to carry a letter from himself to the
commandant of Kiev, containing the particulars of what
had befallen him. General Keith, who happened to be in
that place, sent without a moment's delay an officer to
the grand-general to demand the prince of him. He at
first denied having him; but on the repeated demands
and threats of the court of Petersburg, he at length
set him at liberty, and had him escorted to the frontiers
of the Ukrain. This prince not having it in his power
to be revenged on the grand-general in person, vented
his rage upon his subjects; for having been detached

Q

226

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

with his regiment to penetrate farther into Moldavia,
he instead of so doing repassed the Dniester, and,
centering Poland, ravaged the lands of the grand-general
and put everything to fire and sword, without sparing
sex or age; in short, he committed unheard of cruelties,
and could he have got hold of count Potosky, there is
no doubt he would have made him undergo the same
punishment to which the other had meant to expose him,
in offering to deliver him up to the Turks.

These doings made a great noise in Poland. The
grand-general complained, but Cantemir denied the fact,
in the teeth of all the evidence; and as there were a
number of Wallachians serving in the Turkish army, it
was to them that all the excesses were imputed. This did
not, however, hinder the empress from being obliged, after
the peace, to pay considerable sums to the Poles for the
disorders of her troops in Poland.

On the 16th the army got under march, and, after
advancing four French leagues, encamped with its right
wing upon the Pruth and its left on the small river of
Waletzka. On the 17th it passed this river, and entered
among the mountains into the famous defiles of Perekop
[or passes of Tschernantza], where the king of Poland,
John Sobieski, had fought several battles with the Tartars
and inhabitants of the country. A Wallachian deserter
brought word that the enemy had abandoned the most
important pass, where 10,000 men might stop an army of
100,000. The marshal immediately sent a strong detachment to seize this post.

On the 18th the army gained the heights, and thence got
into the plain, covered with a not very thick wood*, where
it encamped, with the right still resting on the Pruth and

* 'D'un bois clair.''

THE DEFILES OF TSCHERNANTZA PASSED. 227

the left on the mountains. The whole army in short
passed the defiles with ease, except a detachment for
covering the artillery, baggage, and stores, which could
not make their way through them without a great deal of
trouble. The last carriages were not got clear through
till the 26th.

There is no astonishment too great for the blunder
which the Turks committed in abandoning those passes,
where they might have destroyed the whole Russian army,
almost without fighting. Nor was the good fortune of
Munich less astonishing, — a man with whom every enter-
prise, even the most difficult and hazardous, succeeded,
if he did but wish it.

The enemy did not show themselves for the whole day
except in small parties, which exchanged pistol shots with
the Cossacks. Towards the evening, as they retreated, it
was perceived that they had concealed a large body of men
in the valleys, with a view to draw our light troops into
an ambuscade; but the device failed.

On the 19th the Kaltzchak Bashaw and the Sultan of
Bielogorod, at the head of about 20,000 men, approached
the camp, sending parties on to skirmish with the Cos-
sacks; but after having lost some men by the artillery,
they retreated into their camp, which was separated from
the Russians by the little river Houka and its defiles.
In the night the marshal made his dispositions for attack-
ing the enemy.

On the 20th, very early in the morning, the army moved
out of camp, leaving behind the small quantity of baggage
that had come up to them; for the main part was still
engaged in the gorges of Perekop. It defiled by its left,
in column of battalions*, and passed into the plain with-

* "Sur la largeur d'un bataillon de front."

Q 2

228

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

out any opposition. The enemy burnt several villages in their front, and retreated without so much as making any show of resistance, leaving the Russians at full liberty to pass the Houka. Accordingly, the army took possession of the camp which the enemy had occupied the day before; while that of the Turks, dispersed in different directions, was three or four leagues off the Russians.

During the 21st the enemy continued to skirmish with light troops; but on the 22nd they attacked the hussars and Wallachians more earnestly; but these were succoured in good time, so that the enemy was obliged to retreat, with some loss.

August 23rd and 24th: the army did nothing more than shift camps, being obliged to wait for the artillery and heavy baggage. The enemy had posts all round the Russians, at 500 paces distance; there was no safety before the front or behind the rear, so that it was requisite to have strong escorts in order to go and come from the camp to the baggage train. Major-general Stockman, who did not apprehend the danger to be so great as was said, wishing to acquaint the marshal with something relative to the progress of the baggage, set out accompanied only by two Zaporavian Cossacks. Scarce had he entered a small wood, which he was obliged to pass, when he saw himself surrounded by the enemy. He at first resisted; but, having been wounded, was forced to surrender. He was carried to Choktzim, whence the Russians delivered him when they took that place. Great was the joy in the Turkish camp when he was brought into it, he being the only officer of note that they took from the Russians in the whole course of the war.

The marshal received advice that the enemy had occupied, at three leagues distance, a very advantageous position, on a rising ground, where they were still at work

MUNICH IN IMMINENT DANGER.

229

on the entrenchments, and waiting the approach of the
Russians to give them battle. On the 26th the heavy
baggage, artillery, and stores at last reached the camp.
Nearly 20,000 men had remained behind to cover this
enormous quantity of vehicles; and, being compelled to
wait for these, the marshal necessarily gave the enemy full
time to fortify his camp.* At break of day on the 27th
the army got under march, and, passing several small
rivers and defiles, approached the Turkish camp to within
cannon-shot. There the Russians found themselves en-
tirely surrounded by the enemy. The seraskier, Vely
Bashaw, commander-in-chief of their army, was upon an
eminence, in an intrenched camp, and defended by several
batteries. The Kaltzchak Bashaw, governor of Chok-
tzim, with the Serdingestis, was encamped on the left, with
his rear supported by forests and impracticable mountains.
Jentzch Ali Bashaw, who commanded the Turkish ca-
valry or spahis, was on the right, resting on the hills
which extend to the river Pruth; while the Sultan Islam
Gherei of Bielogorod, with all the Tartar hordes, kept
harassing their rear. The enemy attacked them on all
sides without allowing them a moment's breathing time
from morning to evening; and even gave them an alarm
in the night; but as the Russian camp formed three
squares, well provided everywhere with chevaux-de-frise
and artillery, they were repulsed on all points: however,
as there was no possibility of sending out to forage, nor
other means of giving fodder to the cattle of the army, it
was necessary to get out of this embarrassment, cost what
it would.

The generals of the Ottoman army, seeing the Russians
so finely in the toils, were now applauding themselves

* This sentence is found only in the French edition.

Q 3

230

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

for not having thrown more obstacles in their way at
the pass of Perekop, imagining that they would not be
able to redeem this false step but by surrendering them-
selves prisoners of war, or by capitulation.

On August 28th, at break of day, the whole Russian
army got under arms. The marshal, making a feint of
wishing to attack the fortified camp of the enemy, caused
to advance within half cannon-shot, the three battalions of
foot-guards, three regiments of infantry, two of dragoons,
400 men from the picquets, and some light troops; the
whole commanded by the lieutenant-generals Loewendal
and Gustavus Biron, with 30 pieces of battering cannon
and 4 mortars. The cannonade and bombardment was
incessant on both sides till noon, but without great effect,
especially on the part of the Turks, who killed but one
single horse of the Russians, after having fired above 100
rounds.

This movement had been made only to draw the whole
attention of the enemy to that side, and to hinder them
from perfecting their lines on the left, which they had but
just begun. It had all the success that could be wished;
for they immediately mounted two more batteries on their
right, and began to work at a new line. In the mean-
time, the marshal, who had already the day before recon-
noitred the enemy's camp, went to reconnoitre it again,
and found that the river Schoulanetz, which ran on the left
of the enemy, and which had been assumed as impracticable
on account of the marshes on both sides, was far from
being so; and that, by strewing those marshes with the
fascines, of which they had plenty in the carriages, they,
as well as the river, which was not deep, would be easily
passed; so that by this means they might turn the
camp of the enemy, who, not having imagined it possible
to attack them on that side, had entirely neglected to
fortify it.

HE GAINS A COMPLETE VICTORY.

231

At noon the marshal ordered the army to march by its right, recalling Loewendal and Biron's detachment to their places in his line. Several bridges were presently thrown over the little river Schoulanetz, the marshes were heaped with fascines, and thick planks laid over them; and the army passed under cover of a terrible fire from their artillery, without any obstacle from the enemy. At two in the afternoon, the Russians had arrived at the foot of the hill, which the Turkish camp crowned. Then the Turkish cavalry attacked them on all sides, but it was repulsed on every point without being able to get any the least advantage. The Russians kept gaining ground, and approaching nearer and nearer to the enemy's camp. At five o'clock in the evening, the enemy returned to the attack with more fury than ever. The janissaries, sabre in hand, advanced resolutely and charged the guards and infantry; but such a terrible fire was kept up on them, both from the cannon and small arms, that though they penetrated as far as the *chevaux-de-frise*, they could do nothing. After having made incredible efforts to break the Russian ranks, they were at length obliged to retreat, which they did in confusion. The Turks, still intending to defend their camp, caused some cannon to be transported to their left wing; but the Russians nevertheless advanced without a check, sustained by the terrific fire of their artillery; and soon afterwards the Turks set fire to their own camp, and betook themselves to flight with such precipitation, that when, at seven o'clock in the evening, the Russians, having carried the heights, entered it, they found no one remaining in it. The light troops, who went in pursuit of the fugitives, could with difficulty overtake a few, whom they massed.

The Turks had left behind, partly in the camp,

Q 4

232

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

partly on the road, 42 pieces of brass cannon, and 6
mortars. In the camp there were found above 1000
tents still standing, besides an infinite quantity of tools,
baggage, munitions of war, and provisions. The loss of
the enemy must have been considerable; near 1000 re-
mained on the field. On the side of the Russians, there
were but 70 men in all killed and wounded.

Never was so complete a victory obtained with so little
loss. It is also to be observed that the Russians fought
in this battle with all their baggage and stores within
the squares, in the midst of their army, so that they had
not their movements free, and at best could make them
but slowly.

This action was fought near a small village called Sta-
voutschane, which was at the right of the army.

In order to take advantage of the victory, the marshal
marched directly the next morning towards Choktzim, at
the head of a body of 30,000 men and of the battering
train. The general Romanzow was left behind, to cover
the baggage and stores, that were to follow by easier
marches. As the troops advanced on their way to
Choktzim, they found cannon, mortars, bomb-shells,
cannon-balls, barrels of powder, baggage-waggons, dis-
persed here and there,— evidencing in this general rout
the effect of a panic terror. The army pushed on that day
to within two leagues of Choktzim.

Early in the morning of August 30th a strong detach-
ment of light troops was sent to observe the posture of
the enemy, and found that the suburb, although intrenched
and surrounded with a wide ditch, was abandoned. With
this they acquainted the marshal, who was advancing with
his army, and arrived at ten in the morning before the place.
He instantly sent the governor a summons to surrender.

From some prisoners taken by surprise in the suburb, it

SURRENDER OF CHOKTZIM.

233

was learnt that Kaltzchak Bashaw, governor of Choktzim, had got into the place the very evening of the battle, but could not prevail on his garrison, which at the beginning of the campaign was 10,000 strong, to stand by him. Almost all the janissaries had followed Vely Bashaw in his flight, so that there remained but few troops with the governor.

The bashaw demanded an honourable capitulation, and to be escorted to the Danube; but his surrender on any terms than as prisoner of war was refused. At the same time the marshal moved on, through the suburb in question as far as to the glacis, three battalions of guards and three other battalions of foot. However, after some parley, he granted the article, that there should be no examination of the baggage-waggons of the garrison, and that the Turks might send away their wives home. None but the bashaw sent his there; all the rest kept theirs, and took them with them into Russia.

At two in the afternoon the bashaw and the garrison surrendered. The commandant of the place, and the Aga of the janissaries, presented the keys of the town to the marshal. The guards took possession of the gates; after which the bashaw, with a numerous retinue, waited on the marshal, who was in a house in the suburb, and delivered up his sabre to him. On the 31st the Turkish garrison, 763 men strong, evacuated the place, and laid down their arms and colours. The Russian garrison at the same time entered the town. Major-general Chroutscheff had the command of it in chief, and under him Prince Dadian, colonel of the artillery.

Choktzim is one of the strongest places in the Turkish dominions *; all the works are well faced and partly cut

* See the note on page 221. The remarks of Manstein, who entered the town from the south, perhaps refer to the works by which it was

234

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

into the rock; those which are on the side of Moldavia
are kept in better repair than the part towards Poland,
that being the side on which it cannot be attacked, since
the Dniester runs nearly under its walls. Most of its
works, as also the covered way, are mined. There were
157 pieces of cannon in the fortress and 22 mortars,
all of them of brass and mounted; the munitions were
infinite, and the magazines full of provisions.

Kaltzchak Bashaw said that all the misfortunes which
had befallen the Turks in this campaign were solely owing
to the bad measures taken by their commander-in-chief,
the seraskier Vely Bashaw, who had loitered too long
with a great part of his army under Bender, and not
followed his advice, which had been to dispute the passage
of the defiles of Perekop. Vely Bashaw was for letting
the Russians pass, in the hope of ruining them without
coming to a battle, by depriving them of the means of
forage, and continually harassing them. This project
would not have been bad, if he had had other troops under
his command than Turks and Tartars, and another general
opposed to him than count Munich. The Bashaw added
that he had been astonished at the quickness of the
Russian fire, especially at that of the artillery, which had on
all occasions made the greatest havoc among their troops.

September 1st: two bridges were thrown over the
Dniester, to establish a free communication with Poland.
The next day lieutenant-general Gustavus Biron was
ordered by the marshal to take back with him to the
Ukrain the three battalions of guards and some regiments
of dragoons. The prisoners were sent off at the same
time under this escort, in number 2121 persons of both sexes.

After the marshal had sent off this detachment, and had

defended, those of Tott, who came from the other side, to its unfavourable
locality.

ABANDONMENT OF JASSY.

235

regulated everything relative to the garrison of Choktzim, he resumed his march with the army on the 4th, to penetrate farther into Moldavia. On the 8th he arrived on the river Pruth, when there were immediately three bridges ordered, and finished by the evening. Prince Cantemir, who had been detached with his Wallachians, brought advice that he had penetrated into the heart of the country, without meeting with any resistance on the part of the enemy. On the 9th and 10th the whole army passed the Pruth, and the foraging parties brought a prodigious number of cattle into camp.* The river happened to be so low that the whole cavalry forded it. Otherwise the Pruth is deep and rapid. It was fifty fathom broad in the place where the Russians crossed it. Munich constructed on the bank a tête-de-pont, and a fort, to which was given the name of Fort St. John. There were also redoubts thrown up at proper distances, the better to keep up the communication with Choktzim.

On the 11th the army marched towards Jassy, the capital of Moldavia and residence of the hospodar. A party of the enemy showing themselves at a distance, the Cossacks gave chase to them, but could not come up with them. The States of Moldavia, which had assembled at Jassy, sent deputies to the marshal, with a letter containing an act of submission. The hospodar, Gregorius Jika, had fled the day before in the direction of the Danube. On the 12th the deputies were sent back with an answer, assuring the states of the protection of the empress. The army continued its march towards Jassy, which Prince Cantemir had entered with 3000 men, dragoons, hussars, and Wallachians. News came that the seraskier Vely Bashaw had been obliged to hide him-

* The last clause is only found in the French edition.

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MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

self for two days, in a small village near the Pruth,
called Bogdan, having no one with him but 14 menial
servants; and this to escape the fury of the janissaries, who
wanted to massacre him; also that, except 3000 men, who
had entered Bender, all the rest were gone over the
Danube.

On the 14th the marshal went to Jassy, under an escort
of 300 mounted grenadiers and 300 Cossacks of the Don,
to make the needful regulations, in conjunction with the
states of the country, for the subsistance of the army.
There he made a stipulation with them, by which they en-
gaged for the maintenance of 20,000 of the Russian army;
to find them in quarters, victuals, and forage; to furnish,
at their own expense, all the carriages necessary for the
transport of provisions within the circuit of the duchy;
and to maintain from 2000 to 3000 prisoners to work at
the fortifications of Jassy. After everything was settled,
the marshal surveyed the site of the place, and the
engineers traced out the lines of the works. Three
regiments of foot, one regiment of hussars, and the corps
of Wallachians, were put into garrison there; and major-
general Schipow and colonel Karkettel had the command
of it.

On the 21st the marshal returned to the army, which
had repassed the Pruth. His design was, before the end
of the campaign to enter the country of the Tartars of
Budziack, and even to take Bender, which was very
possible, considering the consternation in which the Turks
were after their defeat. He flattered himself, that if
the war should last one year longer, he would pass the
Danube, and penetrate into the heart of the states of the
Grand Seignior; but all these projects were disconcerted
by the peace.

The imperialists had signed it, on their part, under Bel-

MUNICH'S LETTER ON THE PEACE.

237

grade [in the Turkish camp]. Munich had intelligence of it on the 24th of September, and was furious with the generals of the emperor. He wrote on this subject to Prince Lobkowitz, who commanded in Transylvania, and from whom he got the news of this shameful transaction. As this letter contains several remarks on the conduct of the imperialists, and many other particulars, and is be sides very original in its character, I subjoin a translation of the German original.

*Letter of Marshal Munich to Prince Lobkowitz,*
*Sept. 27th, 1739.*

SIR,

“ I had the honour to receive your letter, together with the journal of operations up to the first of the current month, at the time when we were employed in celebrating a thanksgiving festival for the happy conquest of Moldavia, of which the States, spiritual and temporal, did, on the 16th, make their sub-mission to the empress, my most gracious sovereign.

“ I enclose the continuation of my own journal, by which your highness will see more at large, that after the taking of Choktzim, and the total defeat and precipitate flight of the enemy, (whose camp we took, with its field-artillery, consisting of forty-two cannon and six mortars,) I advanced farther into Moldavia with the army which I have the honour of commanding. Having passed the Pruth on the 9th and 10th of this month, I constructed a redoubt, called Fort St. John, which I provided with a good garrison and sufficient artillery. Next I drove out the hospodar, with his militia and some hundreds of Turks, who were at Jassy, his place of residence, of which I took possession on the 14th of this month. The fortifications I caused to be repaired, and left a strong garrison in it, with the necessary artillery. The retreat of the hospodar was so precipitate that he left us all his horse-tails, his two head-standards, the horse-tail of a Turkish bashaw, who was with him at the time, and more than thirty other colours belonging to the Turks and Moldavians, his kettle-

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

238

drums, all his field-music, besides three cannons, twelve barrels
of powder, and 1500 barrels of corn, with a great quantity of
rice.

“In the midst of this success, it is impossible to conceal
that the contents of your letter and journal have extremely
surprised, and even afflicted me. I have been astonished
to observe, that the irruption which the body of troops under
your highness was to make into the enemy's country will not be
executed, and consequently that not the least movement will
be made on the side of Wallachia in favour of our army, not-
withstanding all the solemn promises of the emperor, and
the plan of operations agreed upon with the empress my sove-
reign.

“Your highness's letter abundantly testifies that these cir-
cumstances, which you did not expect, give little less pain
to you than to me. On the perusal of your journal it is
obvious, that everything was in good condition in the im-
perial army up to the 13th of August, and in fact at Belgrade.
also, where, according to the advices I received thence
there was a garrison numerous enough to have still made a long
resistance against the Turks, and even to have compelled
them to raise the siege with loss; especially had the determina-
tion been come to of making vigorous sallies supported by
the imperial army, the bravery of which is acknowledged.
Certain it is that we had flattered ourselves here with
this hope; as we had beaten the enemy, taken Choktzim,
captured the garrison with the governor, a bashaw of three
tails, and were, in fine, advancing with great strides towards
the Danube;—events calculated to lower the arrogance of the
proud Turks before Belgrade.

“The generals of the imperial army were perfectly well ap-
prised that the Russian army having successfully passed the
Dniester and repulsed the Turks in the action of the 22nd of
July, designed to march straight for the enemy and advance
upon Choktzim,—an enterprise of which it might have been well
for them to wait the issue, without hurrying to a conclusion.
But no. Instead of doing what prudence seemed to dictate, it
appears by the journal you sent me that advice was received
from Monsieur de Neuperg, grand-master of the imperial

MUNICH'S LETTER ON THE PEACE.

239

ordnance, who had already been for some time in the Turkish camp, of preliminary articles having been signed on the 1st of September, on the part of the Porte.

“And although neither in your letter nor in the journal annexed, there is any mention made of the conditions stipulated by these preliminaries,— an omission at which I was the more surprised, as I could never have imagined there would have been such a want of regard for the empress my sovereign, as to leave me in the dark upon the points which concern her majesty, by which I was nevertheless to regulate my operations for the rest of the campaign,— yet I have learnt, through other channels, that the conditions of the said preliminaries are extremely disadvantageous, and altogether contrary to the honour and the interests of both the august imperial houses.

“For, first, if the fortress of Belgrade is to be razed at the expense of the emperor, and even by the hands of the imperial army, can there be a condition more prejudicial to the glory of the imperial arms?

“Secondly, if, instead of preserving that place, and causing Orsowa to be demolished, as had been agreed, the first is ceded to the Turks and the other suffered to remain in their hands, in a very good state, does not this throw down every obstacle to their entering, as often as ever they please to break the peace, into the Bannat, Transylvania, and the other hereditary possessions of the empire? Thence how very easy it is for them to penetrate to Vienna! Such a condition, then, cannot but be extremely burdensome to the emperor and to the whole empire.

“Thirdly, if it be true that the kingdom of Servia and imperial Wallachia are ceded to the enemy, at a time when the arms of the emperor's faithful allies are everywhere victorious, nothing can, it seems to me, be more contrary to the interests of the two imperial houses. Certainly, a more disadvantageous peace could not have been concluded, even if the enemy had actually taken Belgrade, and beaten the imperial army.

“In the meanwhile, what is become of that sacred alliance

240

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

that was to be maintained between the two courts? On the part of the Russians fortresses are taken from the common enemy, on the part of the imperialists they are demolished or given up to him. The Russians acquire provinces, the imperialists give up whole kingdoms to the enemy. The Russians drive him to extremities, the imperialists grant him all that he wishes, all that is capable of flattering and of increasing his pride. On the part of the Russians the war is continued, on the part of the emperor an armistice is agreed on, a peace concluded. I ask, what is become of that indissoluble alliance? I dare assure you, sir, that if the army of the emperor had been at the last extremity, the court of Vienna would have infallibly obtained, with the assistance of the empress my sovereign, a peace more honourable than that which has just been made.

"If a retrospect of the past be permitted, it may be observed of the empress my sovereign,

"That, first, her majesty, singly and alone, terminated the war of Poland against Stanislaus and the confederate Poles; in spite of France and Sweden, who spared neither money nor cabals to place Stanislaus on the throne from which we drove him; and in his stead placed Augustus, Elector of Saxony.

"Secondly, her majesty sent an auxiliary body of 10,000 foot as far as the Rhine, to the imperial army, and another body was ready to march thither, in case of need,—dispositions these which greatly contributed to the last peace concluded with France.

"Thirdly, her majesty, early and alone, undertook the present war against the Turks, leaving to the emperor the option of furnishing the stipulated succours or of taking part in the war.

"Fourthly, her majesty's army took the forts of Azoph and of Lutick, laid waste the Kuban, and reduced the Tartar inhabitants of that province.

"Fifthly, her majesty's armies reduced Perekop, a fort which had been always reputed impregnable; they made the Turkish garrison there prisoners two different times; they took a numerous artillery from them, penetrated as far as

MUNICH'S LETTER ON THE PEACE.

241

Koslov, Karasu-Bazar, Bachtschi-Serai, and into the very heart of the Crimea, ruining and destroying the whole country; they have entirely dispersed the Nogay Tartars between the Crimea and Dnieper, taking from them an innumerable quantity of horned cattle and horses.

"Sixthly, The forts of Ockzakow and Kinburn have been likewise taken by her majesty's troops; and the first of these afterwards effectually defended against the Turks, who strove to retake it. It may be calculated, that in all these operations, there have altogether perished from 40,000 to 45,000* of the enemy; and a numerous artillery has likewise fallen into our hands.

"Seventhly, the Russian fleet has, for four campaigns, held in play that of the Turks commanded by the Capitan Bashaw, which infested the Sea of Azoph and the Black Sea.

"Eighthly, the court of Petersburg has, at the expense of immense sums, frustrated all the cabals of Sweden and Poland, which were on the point of breaking out into a dangerous conspiracy; and, finally, its troops have beaten the enemy, taken the town of Choktzim, and totally subjugated Moldivia.

"In order to be brief, I shall not allege here all the motives which might have induced the court of Vienna to persevere in its resolution; I shall only say, that it might have safely relied on an ally so faithful, so great, and so fortunate, as my most gracious sovereign undoubtedly is; and not, contrary to all expectation, and without the excuse of any imminent danger, have made a peace so shameful and so very detrimental to the interests of both courts. Besides, the whole world knows, (and how many examples have we not of it?) that the Turks are frequently liable to surprises by sudden panic-terrors; and are often obliged, by the mutinies of the janissaries, to betake themselves to flight, at the very time that they are thought the strongest. The same thing might have been hoped, had there been a vigorous defence of Belgrade. The garrison had a secure retreat, and a strong fortress

* The French edition has "more than 50,000."

R

242

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

behind it: there was nothing to be lost, nor even risked, by
defending that place to the last extremity.

"Never will any credit be given to the specious pretext
under which an attempt is made to persuade the world, that
the court of Vienna had to bear the greatest burthen of the
war.

"We have an authentic list of the troops routed at Sta-
voutschane, which we got from the Hospodar's private secretary,
[by name Alexander Ducas]. This list makes it manifestly
appear, that the army of Turks and Tartars, which acted
against us, and was commanded by so many bashaws, was
considerably more numerous than that before Belgrade. It is
the Russian army which hindered the Turks from entering
Transylvania: it is the Russian army that can, from actual
experience, testify to the Tartars, especially the Nogays, being
better soldiers than the Spahis which compose the Turkish
cavalry. When we add to these numerous enemies, who were
all picked men, the garrisons of Bender, Bielogorod, and
Yenikalė, with the Turkish fleet, on board of which there were
in this campaign above 30,000 fighting men; it may easily be
judged, on which of the two sides the enemy has been, during
this war, the most numerous and the most formidable, and
which of the two allies has borne the greatest weight.

"To provide two different armies with artillery and stores
for a whole campaign; to convey the provisions and ammu-
nition for them the distance of more than 200 leagues in
our own carriages, is unquestionably a burthen which the
imperial army never felt; as to ours, it requires more than
200,000 horses, oxen, and camels, none of which are at the
end of a campaign in any condition for service in the follow-
ing one. My sovereign has also been obliged to cause two
flotillas to act, the one on the Don, and the other on the
Dnieper, upon the preparation of which there were employed
every year as many as 50,000 men.

"But what the most fatigued our troops was, that even
after having undergone the severest fatigues during the
campaigns, they were obliged to form a chain of above 300
German miles upon our frontiers, to hinder the irruptions
which the Tartars annually make. I assure you, sir, that

MUNICH'S LETTER ON THE PEACE.

24

there is not an army in Europe, except the Russian one, able to endure such fatigues. But your highness, and all the world at the same time, will readily judge, that all this must have occasioned most extraordinary expense to her imperious majesty, who had no other source to draw on than her own treasury.

"As to any thing farther, I cheerfully grant to the imperials the honour of having had the Grand Vizier opposed to them. He had, doubtless, his reasons for preferring to remain on the banks of the Danube. He probably thought it less easy to penetrate to Kiev than to Belgrade and Orsowa. At any rate, we would have spared him half of the way, if he had been pleased to give us the preference and measure himself with us.

"We detest a shameful peace. The Turks made advances to us; they offered us even advantageous conditions; but the empress my sovereign would not hear a word. As things are, peace is concluded between the emperor and the Turks. As to the court of Petersburg, I find a profound silence observed about it, both in your highness's letter and the journal thereto annexed.

"I am not ignorant of the Marquis of Villeneuve, the French ambassador at Constantinople, having limited instructions, in pursuance of which he may make peace with the Porte. If it is not to be granted to us upon favourable conditions, and an equivalent to be given for Choktzim and Moldavia, I will, under the favour of God, continue hostilities.

"I have the honour to entreat your highness to convey my answer and this journal to marshal count Wallis; and am, &c.

MUNICH."

Some days before Munich had learnt the news of the peace, he had detached the brigadier Froloff, who commanded the Cossacks of the Don, with all the troops under him, which might amount to 4000 or 5000, with orders to make an irruption as far as the Danube, and lay

R 2

244

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

waste all the enemy's country in his way. The brigadier had been successful enough in his march as far as the river; but, on his return, he had advice that a great body of Turks and Tartars was marching against him, and that by another his junction with marshal Munich's army was irretrievably cut off. He had then no alternative but to take refuge in Transylvania, and crossing this province and Poland, to return to the army, or into Russia, according to circumstances. The alliance between the courts of Petersburg and Vienna made him entertain no doubt of being well received by prince Lobkowitz. When therefore he found himself near the frontiers of Transylvania, he sent a notification of his arrival to the prince, and of the reasons that obliged him to take the course he did. Instead, however, of a friendly reception, there were at first great difficulties made of letting him enter the country; nor was it till after a great deal of discussion that the passage was at length granted him; and even then they treated him and his troops as if they had been prisoners. Three regiments of hussars and two of cuirassiers, surrounded the detachments of Froloff and served them for escort into Poland. Nothing was furnished them; they were forced to pay for every thing in ready money and at an exorbitant price; they were not allowed so much as to graze their horses, or to send out foraging for them; and what was worst of all, if a Cossack happened to straggle a hundred paces or so from the main body, he was unmercifully massacred by the Austrian hussars, for the sake of his horse and arms. For the horses of the Cossacks of the Don are remarkably good, all their muskets are rifled and inlaid*, and their sabres extremely well tempered.

* "Rayés et damasquinés."

REAL CAUSE OF THE PEACE.

24

Brigadier Froloff lost, in this manner, near 200 men, by the hands of the *good friends and allies* of Russia; scarce had he lost so many in the whole campaign, in spite of the frequent skirmishes he had had with the enemy. It may be easily imagined, that the court of Petersburg made great complaints of these unusual proceedings; but it had no other satisfaction than excuses from the court of Vienna.

Count Munich continued to make some marches toward the Budziack; but as he knew there were measures taking for concluding a peace between Russia and the Porte and as the weather began to be cold, he resolved to put his troops into quarters of cantonment in Moldavia, a country which he had no sort of inclination to quit; and, according to the arrangement he had planned of the winter quarters, a part of the army was to take up theirs in Poland.

It may now be proper to mention what were the steps taken by the court of Russia towards effecting a peace. In the first place, the court had given to marshal Munich on his opening the campaign, a full power to conclude peace, in case of his finding a favourable opportunity for it; they had even given him a private secretary to be employed by him in any overture of negotiation.

Both the courts of Petersburg and Vienna had accepted the mediation of France between themselves and the Porte. The empress in consequence entrusted this negotiation to the Marquis de Villeneuve, [the French minister, and sent a counsellor of the chancery, M. de Cagnoni, to manage her interests jointly with him. Every thing passed under the name of the ambassador of France, but properly speaking, it was M. de Cagnoni who had the confidence of the Russian court, and the full power to conclude the peace. He was actually in the Turkish

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246

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

camp when M. de Neuperg signed in the name of the
emperor, and protested against the whole procedure, but
in vain. Things were too far advanced before he was
made acquainted with them. At length, it became a
necessity to yield to the force of the conjuncture; and
the signature of the preliminaries between Russia and the
Porte took place, a month after the same proceeding on
the part of the emperor.

Towards the end of the month of October, marshal
Munich had orders to cease from hostilities. Jassy was
abandoned, and Choktzim restored to the Turks in the
same condition as when it had been taken from them. It
was also stipulated by the peace, that Azoph should
remain with the Russians, but that the outworks should
be demolished, and nothing left but the town within the
precinct, without any garrison or any fortification. It
was likewise allowed to the Russians, to extend their
frontiers twenty German miles into the steppe, and
keep Samara, &c.* The Turks were not to fortify on
this side of the river Kuban; but as to Ockzakow, they
might take possession of it again as well as of Kinburn,
and put both places into a state of defence. The pri-
soners on both sides were to be released without ransom.
In short, all the advantage Russia gained by this war was
very trifling, in comparison of the immense sums it cost
her, and of the loss of more than 100,000 subjects in it.

The army repassed the Dniester, and returned into
the Ukrain. Choktzim was not restored to the Turks
till the month of November, when M. de Löwendal de-
livered it up to the bashaw who was sent to receive it.

* The reference is probably to the entrenchments which Munich made during the campaign of 1736, at Samara, Kizikjermen, and some other favourable localities. See p. 141, and the note there.

DUPLICITY OF THE POLES.

247

When the Russian troops repassed the Dniester, this river was already bringing down great pieces of ice, and there was no possibility of refitting the bridges that had been broken by the floating masses; so that there occurred great difficulties in the passing of the troops, and yet more in the getting the stores and the artillery over. But as the bottom of the river was firm, Löwendal caused the guns and their carriages to be drawn under the ice by means of strong ropes, long enough to reach from one side of the river to the other, in which way the cannon were hauled over by heaving on capstans.

This campaign is unquestionably the most glorious and the most fortunate that the Russian arms had to boast during the war. It was well it was so: for had the contrary happened, and count Munich's army been beaten, the empire of Russia would have been in a very sad condition. The whole of that army would have perished without fail; those who had not fallen by the sword of the Turks would have been massacred by the Poles, who had assembled in several bodies, and as they had never loved their Russian neighbours, they wished them worse than they did the Turks and Tartars, and most certainly would not have failed to commence hostilities if the Russians had met with any considerable check. So long as the army marched on Polish territory no deputations were seen in the camp, but except to make grievous complaints of the injuries committed on the property of the inhabitants; but, as soon as the Russians had beaten the enemy, and taken Choktzim, the Poles changed their tone, and sent solemn deputations to marshal Munich to congratulate him, declaring themselves to be the very best friends and allies of Russia.*

* See below, p. 253.

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248

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

Sweden likewise was extremely dissatisfied with the court of Petersburg, and, for some years past, had been waiting for nothing but a fair occasion to attack it. Already, in the last disturbances in Poland, several Swedish officers, as I before observed, had obtained permission to go and serve king Stanislaus at Dantzig against the Russians. These having been made prisoners at the surrender of that town, the empress sent them back to Sweden; not, however, without showing some signs of discontent at the procedure. A new treaty of alliance was, nevertheless, concluded in 1735, and every thing appeared made up. But so soon as the Russians had declared war against the Turks, the Swedes were on the alert again, and in 1737, and still more in the year 1738, [when they convened a diet,] took many steps which gave uneasiness to the court of Petersburg. In fact they sent arms and cannon to Constantinople. A treaty — so it was said at the court of St. Petersburg—was concluded between them and the Porte; and Russia was even afraid of being attacked in Finland, while her armies were employed near the Dniester and the Crimea; the Swedes having already sent near 10,000 men into Finland, and begun to form magazines there. This was partly the cause of marshal Lacy's army not proceeding on any operation this year, but remaining quiet on the frontiers of the Ukrain. For the same reason, marshal Munich, after he had passed the Dnieper on opening the campaign, received an order from the court to send back two regiments of cuirassiers, and three regiments of foot; which troops, without a moment's delay, set out on their march for Petersburg. All these precautions happened to be needless; for Sweden was so very kind as to wait two years longer before attacking Russia, giving her time first to make a peace with the Porte, and to bring her

ASSASSINATION OF SINCLAIR.

249

army back into good order. Accordingly, nothing was got by the war when it came, but shame and loss [as will be shown hereafter], whereas had it been begun in 1738, Russia would have been extremely embarrassed.

While the court of Stockholm, instead of acting, was wasting the time in negotiations and fruitless complaints, that of Petersburg was in motion, and employing every imaginable engine to frustrate its enemy's measures. Nay, the precautions that Russia took against the Swedish cabals involved resort to the most violent remedies, even to actual murder on the highway, as the following narrative will show.

I have observed above that there had been talk of a treaty between Sweden and the Porte. Monsieur de Bestucheff, who resided at Stockholm as minister of Russia, sent advice to his court, that major Sinclair* had been sent to Constantinople, whence he was to bring back the ratification of this treaty. Upon this news, marshal Munich, by order of the cabinet, sent certain officers, accompanied by some non-commissioned officers, into Poland, with orders to disperse themselves in different directions, and try to carry off Sinclair on his return from Constantinople; to take away all his letters and dispatches; and even to kill him in case of resistance. The officers, as they could not be everywhere, employed certain Jews and some of the poorer Polish gentlemen, to procure them information of the arrival of Sinclair; by which proceeding the affair got wind before the major had set foot on the territory of Poland. He had warning from the governor of Choktzim to take care of himself, as there were several Russian officers lying in wait for him, particularly at Lemberg or Leopol, on the road by which he meant to pass.

* In the French edition "Zinkler."

250

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

Upon this intelligence, Sinclair changed his route, and the bashaw of Choktzim gave him an escort that saw him safe to Broda, where the grand-general of Poland was, who gave him another with which he got safe into Silesia. There he thought himself secure; but having been obliged to stop a few days at Breslau, the Russian officers, who learnt by their spies the road he had taken, pursued and overtook him within a mile of Neustaedel. There they stopped him, took away his arms, and, after having carried him some miles farther, massacred him without mercy in a wood. After this disgraceful stroke, they took his clothes and his papers, in which, after all, nothing of consequence was found. The court of Russia having had them examined, sent them some months afterwards by the post to Hamburg, whence they were forwarded to Sweden.

The empress disavowed this execrable action, protesting solemnly that it was without her cognisance. Her ministers presented memorials to all the courts, to remove suspicions that might have been entertained of that of Russia; and in order that the assassins themselves might not be able to betray the secret, they were all seized and sent to Siberia, where they spent some years in dungeons, till the Empress Elizabeth, on ascending the throne, released them, and had them placed in garrison-regiments in the interior of the country.

Those employed in this affair were, captain Cutler, a native of Silesia, and the lieutenants Lesowitzky and Weselowsky, both subjects of Russia, each of whom had two non-commissioned officers to assist him. The two first committed the assassination; the third remained in Poland, but he nevertheless underwent the same treatment as the others.

Certain it is, that the empress did not know the orders

MUNICH'S SUMMARY OF THE CAMPAIGN.

251

that were given to the officers about Sinclair, and that a great part of these proceedings were concealed from her, even after the assassination. The whole business was got up between the duke of Courland, count Osterman, and marshal Munich.

To finish what relates to this war against the Turks, and the field operations, I shall here insert a letter, which count Munich wrote to the duke of Courland, some time after the taking of Choktzim. It is translated from the original German.

*Letter from Count Munich to the Duke of Courland, August* *
29th, 1739.

"MY LORD,

"It must be owned, that God bestows a blessing on all enterprises of her imperial majesty, our most gracious sovereign. The Pruth, so often fatal for Russia, is become propitious to us, and will be the basis of a lasting and honourable peace.

"To assemble an army, from the Don, the Donetz, the lines of the Ukrain, and from several other of the remotest provinces from the Dniester, at the rendezvous at Kiev; — to carry it across the Dnieper, which had this spring swelled extraordinarily, and overflowed its banks for near a German mile; — to march from the frontiers of Russia, into the very heart of Moldavia, by way of Poland, without taking the least thing in the shape of munitions or transport; — to pass the Bug, the Dniester, and the defiles of Tschernantza, or Perekop, in presence of the enemy, without suffering the least damage; — to sweep off on the other side of the Pruth, in Moldavia, and almost in the enemy's rear, several thousands of horses, horned cattle, and sheep; and thus provide at once

* The English edition dates the letter, September 29. But on that day Munich was aware of the disgraceful terms of the peace which had been concluded. Still the French date, if correct, must be that of the Russian calendar, i. e. answering to September 10: for it was only on that day that the Pruth was passed. See page 235., above.

252

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

for transport and victualment, at the expense of the Turks,
without losing a single man*; — to repulse, with a consi-
derable loss, the attacks of the Turks and Tartars, and drive
the famous Kaltzchak Bashaw, with all the Tartar hordes, the
Kipkans, and all those gallants who neither give nor take
quarter †, from one camp to another; — finally, to attack
the Seraskier Vely Bashaw in a well-intrenched camp, where
he was at the head of an army of 90,000 men, of which he
had detached a part to entirely surround us; — there to beat him,
and take all his tents and baggage, six mortars, and forty-two
brass cannon, with all the ammunition, and this without having
more than seventy men in all killed and wounded; — to take the
important fort of Choktzim, provided with 157 cannon and 22
mortars, with all military stores and provisions in proportion,
and there make a bashaw and all his garrison prisoners of
war, without so much as burning a match; — to pursue the
fugitive enemy to the Pruth; to pass this river with the
army; to build small forts on its banks, and thereby take pos-
session of the centre of the enemy's dominions; to drive the
Hospodar of Moldavia out of his dominions and his capital to
the other side of the Danube; to raise contributions and main-
tenance in an enemy's country, and, with all our labours, to see
our army without sick, in the midst of abundance, and in
the best condition in the world; — all these great things, I
say, it must be confessed, could never have been executed
except with the hand of God conducting every thing to a happy
end.

"The greatest part of these facts are such, that, without
having been present at them, it is hardly possible to avoid
doubting some of the circumstances. Who could imagine the
janissaries having, in the fury of their attack, been received
with so terrible a fire, that they could neither make use
of their small arms nor sabres, much less accomplish the
breaking our ranks? Who could conceive too that the terror

* Munich refers to the operation related above, p. 222., when, by a stratagem, he crossed the Dniester on the 30th of July, and gained five days before the Turks could bring any sufficient force against him.

† The Serdenguetchtis. See p. 223.

MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS ANNE.

253

of the Turks was so great, that numbers threw themselves into the Pruth three days after the action, and the greatest part of the soldiers fled away as far as the Danube, without once looking behind them? On the other hand, no army was ever more anxious for fighting than ours.

"I receive every day solemn deputations, and letters of con-
gratulation from Poland; nor is it to be doubted, that, with
the divine favour, this campaign will terminate gloriously. I
am, &c.

MUNICH."

Having treated consecutively of what passed in the army
in the course of this year, I proceed now to the most im-
portant incidents of the interim at court.

The empress, though her thoughts were taken up with
so expensive and bloody a war, had yet a mind to conclude
the marriage which had been projected many years before,
between her niece, the princess Anne of Mecklenburgh,
and Prince Anthony Ulric of Brunswick, who had resided
at the court ever since the year 1733.*

The marquis of Botta, who had succeeded to count
Ostein, as minister of the court of Vienna, took the cha-
racter of ambassador, and, in a public audience, demanded
in the name of the emperor, the princess Anne in mar-
riage for prince Anthony Ulric, nephew of the empress
of the Romans.

The nuptials were solemnised a few days after this
audience, on the 14th of July, and were celebrated with
all possible magnificence. The equipages and dresses for
the day of the ceremony had been preparing for a twelve-
month before. The archbishop of Novogorod pronounced
the nuptial blessing, in the Church of the Holy Virgin of
Kasan, and delivered, on the occasion, a sermon which
was much admired and afterwards printed. But when the

* See above, pp. 50, 51.

254

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

empress Elizabeth ascended the throne, it was suppressed,
there being several passages in it that were not relished.

On the day of that ceremony, no one imagined that the
union of this prince and princess would one day prove
their greatest misfortune, as well as that of many persons
of distinction. The princess Anne was then looked on as
the presumptive heiress of the crown; I am persuaded,
too, that she could not have failed to ascend the throne, if
the duke of Courland had not opposed it.* I shall have
occasion to speak of this more at large, when I come to
treat of the sickness and death of the Empress Anne.

This marriage seems an occasion for giving an idea of
the magnificence of the court, and of the empress's usual
manner of living. Speaking of the duke of Courland, I
have already observed, that he was a great lover of pomp
and show: and this was enough to inspire the empress
with a desire to have her court the most brilliant of all
Europe. Considerable sums were sacrificed to this de-
sign, which was, after all, not so easily fulfilled. The
richest coat would be sometimes worn together with the
vilest dressed wig; or you might see a beautiful piece of
stuff spoiled by some clumsy tailor; or if there was nothing
amiss in the dress, the equipage would be a failure. A
man splendidly dressed would appear in a miserable coach,
drawn by the wretchedest hacks. The same want of taste
reigned in the furniture and maintenance of the houses.
On one side, you might see gold and silver plate in heaps,
on the other, the grossest filth. The dress of the ladies

* Except for the interposition of the duke of Courland, the Princess Elizabeth would have been put in a convent, and the revolution which placed her on the throne would not have taken place. (See above, p. 51.) But Manstein's remark apparently applies to Biron's inducing the empress Anne to make her niece's child heir, instead of herself. See below, p. 271.

HABITS OF THE RUSSIAN COURT.

255

was on a par with that of the men; for one well-dressed
woman, you might see ten frightfully disfigured; yet the
fair sex in Russia are generally handsome; at least they
have pretty faces, though very few have fine figures.

This incongruous union of finery and meanness in
Russia was almost universal; there were few houses
indeed, especially in the first years of the reform, where
every thing was in keeping. Little by little, however,
others imitated the example of those who had some taste.
But not even the court, nor Biron himself, succeeded at
first in getting everything into that order and finish
which are seen elsewhere. This was a work of years.
Yet it must be owned, that, at length, every thing went
on very well, except that the magnificence ran into excess
and cost the court immense sums. It is incredible how
much money went out of the country upon this account.
A courtier that did not spend above 2000 or 3000 rubles
a year in his dress made no figure. One might very
well apply here the saying of a Saxon officer to the late
King of Poland, advising him "to widen the gates of
the town in order to let in the whole villages that the
gentlemen of his court carried on their backs." In
Russia, all those who had the honour to serve the court,
ruined themselves past redemption in the effort to make
a figure. It was enough for a *marchand de modes* to
remain two or three years at Petersburg, to make a
fortune, even though beginning the world there with
goods upon credit.

The empress's usual manner of life was very regular.
She was always up before eight in the morning. At nine,
she began business with her secretary and ministers. At
noon, she dined in her chamber with the Biron family.
It was only on great occasions that she dined in public.
When that happened, she was placed on a throne under a

256

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

canopy, with the two princesses, Elizabeth the present
empress and Anne of Mecklenburgh. On these occa-
sions the Grand-chamberlain * waited on her at table.
There was commonly also a great table in the same hall,
for the noblemen and ladies of the empire, the clergy, and
the foreign ministers. But in the last years of the
empress's life, she did not any longer dine in public, and
the foreign ministers were entertained by count Osterman.

In summer, the empress took a good deal of exercise
in walking; and in winter in playing billiards. She made a
light supper and went regularly to bed, between eleven
and twelve.

The court used to pass the best part of the fine season at
a villa, which Peter I. had built at about seven leagues
distance from Petersburg, called Peterhoff. It is one of the
pleasantest situations that can be imagined. It stands on
the sea-side; and from it you may, on the left, see Cron-
stadt and the whole fleet; on the right, there is a prospect
of Petersburg; and opposite are the coasts of Finland.
There is a spacious garden, and a magnificent *jet-d'eau*,
but the house is no great matter; the apartments are
extremely small and low. The rest of the summer, the
empress resided at her summer palace at Petersburg,
which is far from being a successful building. It
stands on the banks of the Neva: the garden to it is
large, and well kept up. The Princess Anne caused
a new house to be set about, the old one being almost in
ruins, but she did not live to finish it. It was reserved for
the Empress Elizabeth to see the last hand put to it, and
to place there the furniture which was in the house of
marshal Munich at the time of his arrest.

There used to be deep play at court: many made their

* I. e. Biron. The English edition has "the High-Chancellor."

HABITS OF THE RUSSIAN COURT.

257

fortunes by it, and yet more were ruined. I have myself
very often seen as much as 20,000 roubles lost in one
sitting at *quinze* or *pharaoh*. The empress did not care
for play; if she did play, it was only to lose. She then
held the bank; and none were allowed to punt but those
to whom she called. Any person that won was imme-
diately paid; but as they played with counters, she never
received the money from those who lost.

She was fond of public entertainments and music; and
sent to Italy for all that was necessary for those objects.
Comedies, which were acted both in Italian and in German,
pleased her extremely; because they generally end with
some one getting a beating.* In 1736, the first opera
was played at Petersburg, and although very well ex-
ecuted, was less relished than comedy and the Italian
interludes.

In the time of Peter I. and in the following reigns,
drinking had been much practised at court; but it was
not so in the time of Anne, who could not bear to see
any one drunk. There was nobody but Prince Kourakin
who had free permission to drink as much as he pleased.
But that so excellent a custom might not be entirely
lost, the 29th of January (Old Style), being the day of
the empress's accession to the throne, was consecrated to
Bacchus. On that day every courtier was obliged to toss
off a great bumper of Hungary wine, with one knee on
the ground, in the presence of her majesty. This reminds
me of another singular ceremony. On the eve of the
great festivals, the courtiers and officers of the guards
had the honour of paying their compliments to her
majesty, and of kissing her hand; her majesty thereupon
presenting each with a glass of wine on a salver.

* The last clause is only found in the French edition. So also with the words “and to place there the furniture, &c.,” in the last page.

§

258

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

There is another old Russian custom that, when a married man receives a visit, and his wife is present, he is bound to request those who come to see him to give her a kiss. The visitors beg the husband to set them an example, and the lady's lips are forthwith saluted by the whole company all round. The mistress of the house is, also, obliged to offer her own visitors something to drink. In the morning it is generally *eau-de-vie*, in the afternoon wine and all kinds of other beverages, which are taken even to excess. If any of the party decline on the first solicitation, the lady redoubles her entreaties, and if she cannot succeed otherwise, even throws herself at her guest's feet, to make him swallow his glass of wine or brandy.

Court jesters were formerly much in vogue. It was an ancient custom in Russia for every one in easy circumstances to keep at least one buffoon. Of course the court was well provided with them, and it is only since the regency of the princess Anne, that they have been entirely done away with; for the present empress could not bear them. As for the first Peter, he had quite a passion for them, and often kept as many as a dozen, or even more.

The empress Anne had six: La Costa, Pedrillo, a prince Galitzin, a prince Wolchonsky, Apraxin, and Balakrew. The names will sufficiently indicate that these four last were chosen from among the most ancient families of the Russian nobility. Wolchonsky is the brother-in-law of count Bestucheff, at this time chancellor of the empire. His special duty was to take care of the empress's pet greyhound.

The way in which this princess amused herself with these gentry was extraordinary. Sometimes she made them dress up in a line along the wall; when one of the

TASTE FOR VULGAR BUFFONERY.

259

number would trip up the heels of the others, and make them come plump upon the floor. Sometimes in tussling they got to pulling each other's hair, and fighting till the blood flowed, while her majesty with the whole court looked on in raptures, exploding with laughter at the spectacle. Balakrew, who disliked practical jokes of the kind, one day would not let himself be tripped up, forgetting that a Russian sovereign does not know what the meaning is of listening to an excuse. La Costa was a Portuguese Jew, who had already served Peter I. in the same capacity. That monarch gave him the title of king of the Samoiedes. Pedrillo was an Italian, who had come to Petersburg to play the violin in the orchestra of the theatre, but finding that he had a talent for buffoonery, he changed his trade, and made so good a thing of the new one, that in nine years he realised more than 20,000 roubles. Like a wise man, he left the country with his money. The way in which he made the first 10,000 roubles was the following. It is a custom in Russia to pay a visit to a lady who has been confined, and to make her a present in money; if a person of quality, the least sum must be a ducat; and in acknowledgment of the compliment, the fair recipient's lips are saluted by the donor. The duke of Courland told Pedrillo one day by way of a joke that he was married to a she-goat. The jack-pudding replied, with a profound bow, that it was true; that his wife was just about to lie in, and that when the happy event occurred, he would take the liberty to ask her majesty, with the whole court, to come and see her; and that he trusted he should receive on the occasion presents enough to enable him to give a good education to his family. The court thought the joke excellent. On the day fixed, Pedrillo was put in a bed on the stage of the theatre with a she-goat by his

82

260

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

side; the curtains were drawn for the whole world to have
a view of the pair, and the empress, first of all making
her own present, fixed the sum which each of the members
of the court was to give to the interesting mother.

In order to distinguish Pedrillo and La Costa from the
other jesters, her majesty instituted an order in their
favour, which she called the order of St. Benedetto, and
invested them with it. The decoration consisted of a
miniature cross of St. Alexander, hung by a red riband
from the button-hole.*

The prince Galitzin, although of one of the first
houses of the empire, was forced to become a court-jester.
Though above forty years of age, and even having a son
serving in the army, of the rank of lieutenant, he
was made this, and at the same time page of the court, by
way of punishment for having in his travels embraced the
Catholic religion. His first wife being dead, the empress
told him he ought to marry again, and that she would be
at the expense of the wedding. He accepted the
proposal; and, pitching upon a girl in low life †, acquainted
the empress with his choice, and claimed her promise.
The empress, in giving this entertainment, had a mind,
while amusing herself, to give at the same time an idea of
her power, by showing how many different races of in-
habitants there were in her vast dominions. Accordingly,
she caused orders to be dispatched to the governors of the
provinces to send up to Petersburg several persons of both
sexes. These being arrived, were now dressed at the
expense of the court, each in the habit of his respective
country.

* The last five paragraphs are only found in the French edition; and in the place of the next sentence, the English edition has "Towards the end of the year 1739, the empress gave a comic entertainment. Prince Galitzin was the occasion of it."

† "Fille du commun."

RIDICULOUS WEDDING.

261

Monsieur de Walinsky, a cabinet minister, was appointed manager of the arrangements for this wedding, and winter, the end of the year 1739, was the season chosen for the celebration of it. The empress, to make it the more completely extraordinary, had a house built wholly of ice: it consisted of two chambers, in which every article of furniture, [even the bedplace on which the new-married couple were to lie,] was of ice. There were four small cannons and two mortars made of the same matter. The cannon were fired several times, [with half an ounce of powder in each,] without bursting; [and little wooden grenades were thrown out of the mortars, without their being damaged.]

On the wedding-day, when the feast was to be celebrated, all the guests were assembled in the courtyard of M. de Walinsky: thence the procession set out, and passed in front of the imperial palace, and through the principal streets of the town. There was a great train, consisting of more than 300 persons. The new-married couple were placed at the head of all upon an elephant, shut up in a great cage. The guests, two and two, were in sledges, drawn by all kinds of beasts, as reindeer, dogs, oxen, goats, hogs, &c. Some were mounted on camels. After the procession had gone the round prescribed to it, it was brought into the duke of Courland's riding-house, [where a flooring of planks had been laid for the purpose, and] where there was a dinner prepared on several tables. Each guest was treated according to the manner of the cookery in his own country. After the repast, there was a ball; each nation had its own music, and danced in the fashion of its own country. When the ball was over, the bridegroom and bride were conducted into the house of ice, where they were put into a dismally cold bed,

s 3

262

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

with guards posted at the door, that they might not get
out before morning.

Having related enough about the court, and the
manners of that time, I return to general affairs.

The peace having been concluded between Russia and
the Porte, under the mediation of France, the French king
sent an ambassador extraordinary to the court of Peters-
burg. It was the marquis de la Chetardie that was
invested with this character. He arrived at Petersburg in
the month of January. On the part of Russia, Prince
Cantemir, who had resided for some years in England, was
sent in the same quality to the court of Versailles. It
will appear in the sequel, that La Chetardie played a chief
part in the politics of Russia.

In the month of January, the peace was ratified
at Constantinople; and in the beginning of February,
Monsieur de Neplueff, counsellor of legation, and son
of the minister who had assisted at the congress of Ne-
mirow, brought the ratification to Petersburg. As soon
as the empress had received it, she sent couriers to
the marshals Munich and Lacy, to invite them to court.
They arrived there on the 24th of February, and on the
26th the peace was solemnly proclaimed. There were on
this occasion great rejoicings, and great promotions in the
army. Munich was gazetted lieutenant-colonel of the
Preobraschensky regiment of guards, a post to which he
had long aspired, without having been able to obtain it.
Some time after, circumstances made the duke of Courland
heartily repent having procured it for him; for, unless in
that post, it would have been difficult for Munich to have
seized the duke and made him prisoner in the manner he
did.

Prince Anthony Ulric was also declared lieutenant-colonel of the guards, [of the regiment Semeneowsky.]

ANXIETY TO QUIT THE ARMY.

263

and lieutenant-general of the army. I shall say nothing of the other promotions, nor of the gratifications bestowed by the empress on her ministers and generals; it will be enough to observe, that these last were immense. The duke of Courland had, for his share alone, 500,000 roubles in ready-money.

The court had, during the course of the war, augmented the number of generals in the army to such a degree, that they greatly exceeded the number prescribed by the military establishment of Peter I. After the peace, it was thought proper gradually to reduce the supernumeraries; upon which several of the old generals, who were wishing to retire, had permission to resign; others were employed in the affairs of the ministry.

The empress did more: she caused an edict to be published, in which permission was given to every gentleman who had been twenty years in the army, and seen actual service, to demand his discharge. But no sooner was this ordinance published, than the number of petitioners was infinite. Half at least of the officers presented petitions for leave to resign, each pretending to have served above twenty years. There were instances of young men who were scarce past thirty, that insisted on their discharge; for having, at the age of ten or twelve years, had their names enrolled in some regiment, they reckoned the time of their service from that date. Several even who had not a farthing in their purses, still preferred cultivating their fields with their own hands, to military service. This made it necessary, some months afterwards, to repeal the ordinance.

It was the marshal Munich that had originated this project; and when it was revoked, he underwent the mortification of some reproaches, [very severe and very

s 4

264

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

undeserved,] for being the author of a measure, which, at bottom, only tended to the greater good of the state.

The republic of Poland had beheld, with envious eyes, the progress which the Russians had made in the war against the Turks; and being also extremely angry, that during the last two wars their army had taken the liberty to march over its territory, it sent count Oginsky, in quality of ambassador, to Petersburg, to make complaints, and demand satisfaction for the excesses which the troops had committed in those marches. The claims of the Poles on this account were exorbitant. The empress named some commissioners, who examined the damages upon the spot, and who estimated them at very little; but the complaints did not cease till the empress had disbursed some hundred thousands of rubles.

I have already mentioned, that in the year 1738, some bombshells, balls, and other munitions of war, with carriages belonging to the train, had been left behind in Poland. The empress wanted to pass them off in part payment of the debt exacted from her. The republic of Poland would not accept them in payment; and as the bringing of them away into the Ukrain would have cost more than the things were worth, she would have made a present of them to the republic, but even that was refused; the whole therefore was left to whoever would take them.

General Romanzow, to whom the court had, on the death of prince Baraitinsky, given the government of the Ukrain, was selected to be sent as ambassador to Constantinople. The point was, to provide in his room a man of probity and independence; for, as this province had suffered extremely during the whole time of the war with the Turks, having, for four years successively, alone afforded winter quarters to all the military forces of Russia,

KEITH'S GOVERNMENT OF THE UKRAIN. 265

and means of transport for all the stores for the campaigns,
the country was reduced to a wretched condition; besides
which, not only the governors, but even the subaltern
officers, had grossly oppressed the inhabitants. The court
wanted to put things into order again, and to save from
total ruin one of the finest countries in its whole empire.*
General Keith was the person pitched upon for this:
he was just returned from France, where he had been for
the cure of his wounds. He had orders to repair to
Glogau, in quality of governor; where he did not reside
above one year, but in that time he dispatched more
business than his predecessors had done in ten. The
Ukrain received great benefit from the mildness of his
government, and from the order he established in the ad-
ministration of affairs. He had even begun to introduce
a sort of discipline among the Cossacks, which till then
had been unknown to them; but he had not time to com-
plete his work, for the war coming on with Sweden,
caused him to be recalled. When he quitted Glogau,
the whole country regretted him, saying, it was wrong in
the court to give them a governor who had made them
know the difference between him and his predecessors; or
else, having once given them such an one, it ought to
have left him; [and that his successors would only become
the more insupportable to them, for the pleasure they had
tasted in being governed with such gentleness].

Some months after the peace, the empress approved of
another project, which, in its consequences, came to be
most pernicious to the Princess Anne; this was the build-
ing barracks, or rather villages, near Petersburg, for
lodging the regiments of the foot-guards, who till then
had been billeted upon the inhabitants of the town. The

* See what is said of the Ukrain, above, page 16

266

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

ground was marked out, and the regiments went to work with such diligence, that the year following they were lodged in their own buildings. These barracks, where the whole regiment was assembled in one place, and where, through a great defect of discipline, all the officers are exempted from lodging, much facilitated the revolution which the Princess Elizabeth undertook and so successfully executed.

In the month of August, the court ordered the arrest of M. de Walinsky, cabinet minister; of the count Mouschin-Pouschkin, president of the college of trade; of the privy-counsellor Chrutscheff; of the superintendent of the board of works, Jerepkin; of the private secretary of the cabinet, Eichler; and of another secretary, called Sowda. There were several crimes laid to Walinsky's charge, but his greatest was, the misfortune of having incurred the duke of Courland's displeasure. During some days of coolness between the empress and her favourite the duke, Walinsky had given this princess a memorial, in which he accused the duke of Courland, and several others who were about her majesty. But he particularly aimed at infusing into her suspicions of the duke, and advised the empress to dismiss him. This princess having made it up with her favourite, had the weakness to put this memorial into his hands, in which there were but too many truths. The duke had no sooner read it than he resolved on the ruin of his antagonist; and as Walinsky was a man extremely impetuous, and often imprudent in his talk, and even in his actions, the other soon found the occasion he was seeking.

He was tried, and convicted of having often been guilty of speeches too free, and disrespectful towards the empress and her favourite; and was thereupon condemned first to have his hand cut off, and then his head. The

BARBAROUS EXECUTIONS.

267

sentence was executed. The privy-counsellor Chrou-
tscheff, and Jcrepkin, were also beheaded, because they
were his friends and confidants. The count Mouschin-
Pouschkin had his tongue cut out; Eichler and Sowda
underwent the knout, and were sent to Siberia. All the
estates of these unfortunate persons were confiscated, and
given to others, who did not keep them long. In this
way it is, that in Russia, not only money, but even lands,
houses, and moveables, circulate quicker than in any other
country in Europe. I have seen lands change masters
thrice, in a space of two years.

Walinsky was a man that had talents, but with them a
boundless ambition, vanity, and indiscretion. He was fond
of forming cabals, and was all his lifetime reckoned a tur-
bulent spirit. Notwithstanding these faults, which he did
not even know how to conceal, he had raised himself to
the first posts of the empire. He had begun by serving
in the army, where he arrived at the rank of major-
general. Having quitted the army, he was employed in
affairs of state. Already, under the reign of Peter I. he
had been sent as minister into Persia; he had been second
of the embassy at the congress of Nemirow; and count
Jagouzinsky dying towards the end of the year 1737, he
had, two years after, the post of minister in the cabinet;
where he could not remain long, without getting up a
quarrel with count Osterman, who naturally did not love
parts or wit in his colleagues; and having, besides, drawn
upon himself the resentment of the duke of Courland, he
could not well help coming to an unfortunate end.

Count Bestucheff, whom we shall afterwards see playing
a principal part in Russia, succeeded him in his place of
cabinet minister. He was an intimate friend of the duke
of Courland, who, as it was necessary for him to have some
one in the cabinet that should be entirely devoted to his

268

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

interest, preferred Bestucheff to all others who had any pretensions to that place.

The feud between the courts of Petersburg and Stockholm still continued. Russia, dissatisfied at the alliance of Sweden with the Porte, prohibited the exportation of grain from Livonia; and in Sweden, the assassination of Sinclair still made a great noise.* The populace at Stockholm rose, and wanted to pull down the house of the Russian minister; but this ended in only breaking his windows; the mob crying out, that they were inspired by the soul of Sinclair.

In the diet of Sweden, always very stormy, there were continual disputes barren of all result; the one party called the *Hats*, composed of almost the whole nobility of Sweden, of the officers of the army, and of some senators, were for war: the other, which had the king at the head of it, and comprehended mostly those of rather an advanced age, and those who knew the power of Russia, had the nickname of the *Nightcaps*, and were for the continuation of the peace. These two parties were extremely animated against each other; and the count Bestucheff, brother of the cabinet minister, had people enough to inform him of the resolutions come to, not only in the senate, but even in the secret committee; all which he communicated to his own court, where the necessary dispositions were made for beginning the war in case of need.

Monsieur de Nolcken, minister of Sweden at Petersburg, contributed greatly to inflame, among the party of the Hats, the desire of having a war, by reporting in his dispatches that Russia was entirely ruined by its campaigns against the Turks; that the regiments were made up of nothing but young raw recruits, who scarce knew

* Above, page, 249.

ILL-WILL BETWEEN SWEDEN AND RUSSIA. 269

how to handle their arms, and that many of them wanted
a third of their complement.* These reports were entirely
false; for, except those regiments which were returned
from Ockzakow, where they had been in garrison, the
Russian army was complete, and might almost be said to
be in better order than even before the war; and the regi-
ments which had constituted the army under Lacy had
suffered very little loss.

All this year (1740) passed in negotiations. The
French king offered his mediation, and proposed to adjust
the differences between Russia and Sweden, but the
animosity of the Swedes was not to be pacified; they
would have a war, at the same time without making the
necessary arrangements for it. At the eve of breaking with
so formidable a power as that of Russia, they had but a
very few troops in Finland, having recalled those they had
sent there in 1738; and they had hardly any stores in the
magazines of that province.

The court of Petersburg acted upon quite another plan,
taking all the necessary measures for giving the Swedes
an effectual reception in case of attack. The garrison of
Wyburg was reinforced with several regiments; the ma-
gazines were filled; and preparations were made for getting
the fleet into order.

 Marshal Munich, accompanied by the hereditary prince
 of Courland, took a trip in the month of July to
 Cronstadt, to inspect the fortifications, and to have a con-
 ference with the admiral, as to what service might be ex-
 pected from the fleet and gunboats †, in case of a rupture.

* The senate of Sweden has been accused of having transmitted to Nolcken ready-made minutes of the reports to be sent back to Sweden, with a positive order to write nothing from Petersburg but what had been prescribed to him. (Note of the author.)

† “ Galères.”

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270

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

Ten thousand foot had been put into garrison at Cronstadt, where they were employed at work on the fortifications, and in making the new dock. These were designed to be embarked on board the gun-boats, if war should be declared.

On his return from this trip, Munich was ordered to take another to Wyburg, Kexholm, and Schlüsselburg, to make a similar inspection of the defences of those places, and to examine the frontiers of Finland. The hereditary prince of Courland accompanied him in this voyage too; but little did he at that time dream, when in the fort of Schlüsselburg, that in a few months this was to be the prison of his father and his whole family.

On the 24th of August, the princess Anne was brought to bed of a boy, who was christened under the name of Iwan.* The empress rejoiced extremely at this event, immediately made a declaration adopting the new-born infant as her own child, took it from its parents, and gave it an apartment adjoining her own.

Hitherto every thing had gone on to the empress's wish, but the end of her prosperity was come. Towards the end of September she fell sick; but as it appeared only an attack of flying gout, and her majesty did not even keep her bed, nobody was uneasy about it. In a few days, however, her illness greatly increased; she had, besides the gout, a violent spitting of blood, and great pains about the loins, and they began to fear for her life.

Count Osterman, who had not for many years stirred out of his room, on account of palsy in his feet, was

* This was the unfortunate prince lately murdered, after a confinement from his infancy. (Note of the English editor.) See the note on page 326.

THE EMPRESS APPOINTS HER SUCCESSOR. 271

obliged to be carried to court. The dispositions concerning the succession were made, and the new-born prince Iwan was declared grand-duke of Russia, and successor to the imperial crown. All the troops in quarters at Petersburg were assembled on the 18th of October, and the choice of a successor by the empress was proclaimed at the head of all the regiments. Even the princess Elizabeth, the princess Anne, the child's mother, and the prince Ulric, his father, took an oath to acknowledge him as their sovereign.

By the disposition made in this matter of the succession the empress had ordained, that in case of the prince Iwan's decease in his minority, or without lawful heirs, the second of the sons born in wedlock to the princess Anne and prince Anthony Ulric should succeed, and so on, in order of primogeniture.

The first great stroke had now been made by the duke of Courland, in procuring the exclusion of the princess Anne from the succession; for except for the favourite's continual cabals, she would infallibly have ascended the throne. The next point to be carried was to establish a regency, and to get that regency conferred on himself. He durst not however declare his design openly, but having confidentially intimated it to the baron Mengden, chamberlain to the empress, and president of the college of trade, so many artifices were employed in the cabinet and in the senate, that at last all officials in Petersburg, of the clergy, the civil-service, and the military, if as high as of the rank of colonel, were brought into the cabinet, to sign a memorial addressed to the duke of Courland, in which all the states intreated him to accept the regency during the minority of the grand-duke, till he should have completed the age of seventeen years. This done, it still remained to bring the empress to consent to this project;

and she was thereupon so beset by the duke's family
and his creatures, as not to be left an instant alone,
for fear the princess Anne should get a moment to speak
to her. In short, the duke made her sign the act of
the regency, without, as has been asserted, her knowing
the contents of it.

The empress, growing worse and worse every day, died
at length on the 28th of October, 1740, at the age of 46
years, 8 months and 20 days, after a reign of 10 years of
uninterrupted fortune.

She was naturally gentle and compassionate, never
liking to use severity; but she had the fault of weak
princes, the allowing evil to be done in her name. Her
favourite, a vindictive and cruel man, habitually abused
the authority he held in his hands. During the reign of
this princess, there were a great number of bloody exe-
cutions, without reckoning an infinity of persons, — and
some of them of the highest distinction,—who were sent
to Siberia without her knowing anything of it. The
number of exiles exceeded 20,000 persons.*

The day after the decease of the empress, the senate,
the clergy, and all persons of distinction at that time in
Petersburg, were summoned to the summer palace, where
the empress had passed the last days of her life; the
troops were put under arms, and the duke of Courland
caused the act to be publicly read by which he was
declared regent of the empire of Russia till the emperor
Iwan III. should have completed his seventeenth year.
Every one then took the oath of allegiance to the new
emperor, and all things passed off quietly enough for the
first days; but as the duke was universally detested,
murmuring soon began to break out.

* This paragraph is greatly toned down in the English edition.

VIOLENT MEASURES OF BIRON.

27.

The regent, who had spies everywhere, soon learnt that he was spoken of with contempt; that some officers of the guards, especially of the regiment of Semeneowsky, once which Prince Anthony Ulric was lieutenant-colonel, had said, that if the prince would undertake anything against the regent, they would readily assist him. He was also informed, that the Princess Anne and her consort resented their being excluded from the regency. Beginning to be uneasy at this, he had recourse to violence, causing several officers to be taken up and carried prisoners to the citadel; Grammatin, the aide-de-camp of the prince, being one of them. The general Ouschakow, president of the secret chancery, and the solicitor-general, prince Troubetzkoy, had orders to examine them with a view to their imaginable severity. Some of them had the knowledge inflicted on them, to bring them to an impeachment before others; in short, hardly a day passed, while this regency lasted, without some persons being apprehended.

Prince Anthony Ulric, who was the lieutenant-general of the army, lieutenant-colonel of the guards, and colonel of a regiment of cuirassiers, received an order to write to the regent, and request of him to dismiss from his post. Nor was this enough; the regent caused him to be advised to keep his chamber, or at least not to show himself in public.

The regent had frequent conferences with the Princes Elizabeth, which sometimes lasted for hours. One evening, he said, before a large company at his house, that if the Princess Anne gave herself airs, he would pack her with her prince, to Germany, and send for the duke of Holstein to place him on the throne. The project of the duke of Courland, who had long aspired to obtain the crown for his posterity, was, to marry the Princes Elizabeth to his eldest son, and his daughter to the duk

T

274

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

of Holstein; and I really believe, that if he had had sufficient time left him, he would have brought his plan to bear.

All this while, the Princess Anne and the prince her husband were under great uneasiness; from which, however, they were soon delivered.

 Marshal Munich, who had been one of the forwardest
intriguers in getting the regency for the duke of Cour-
land, had imagined, that so soon as this prince had the
power in his own hand, he would obtain from him every-
thing he could desire; that the duke would have nothing
but the title, while he himself would have the power
of regent; in short, he aspired to be at the head of
affairs, with the rank of general in chief of all the forces
by land and by sea.* All these ideas were by no means
agreeable to the views of the regent, who knew the
marshal too well, and feared him too much, to raise
him to a condition for hurting him; so that of all he
asked he granted him nothing.

The marshal, disappointed in his hopes, changed sides.

* The ambitious schemes of marshal Munich had gone still farther in the life of the Empress Anne. When he entered Moldavia with his army, even before he had effected the conquest of that duchy, he proposed to the empress to make him hospodar of it; and if Russia had kept that province, it is probable this title would have been granted him. But having, after the preliminaries of the peace were signed, been obliged to return into the Ukrain, he made another request at least as extraordinary. He asked for the title of duke of Ukrain, and explained his views to the duke of Courland, when he enclosed him the request to be presented to the empress. The duke, accordingly, gave it into the hands of the empress, who said, on seeing it, " Marshal Munich is still excessively modest; I thought he would have asked me for the title of grand-duke of Muscovy. " She made no other answer to this request; and there it dropped without farther mention. (Note of the author.)

The views of Munich probably were to make the Ukrain a sort of satrapy of Russia. See below, p. 283.

DISTRESS OF THE PRINCESS ANNE.

273

It was he that, on the part of the duke of Courland, had carried Prince Anthony Ulric the order for him to ask his own dismissal. He had caused the draft document to be prepared by his own secretary; and as the regent often commissioned him to the princess and her husband upon affairs relative to them, this intercourse gave him occasion of speaking to them in terms of complaint of the injustice of the regent.

One time in particular that Munich had, as usual, come to bring some disagreeable message from the regent to the princess, she complained bitterly of all the annoyances inflicted on her, adding, that she was tempted to leave Russia, and go with her husband and child to Germany; for that so long as Biron should hold the reins of government, she had nothing to expect but misery. The marshal, who only waited for an occasion to open himself to her, observed in answer, that though it was true that her imperial highness had no good to hope from the regent, she ought not to suffer herself to be cast down; and that if she would place confidence in him, he would soon deliver her from the tyranny of the duke of Courland. The princess, without hesitation, accepted his offer, leaving the whole direction of the affair to the marshal. It was then arranged, that the regent should be put under arrest, on the very first favourable occasion.

Meanwhile, the marshal continued to pay his court most assiduously to the regent, making show of great attachment, and of the firmest confidence in him. The duke, on his part, though he was not without his mistrust of Munich, treated him with the utmost politeness, kept him often to dinner, and, in the evenings, they would sometimes remain talking together far into the night; nor were there any present at their conversations but a few persons of confidence.

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MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

The day before the resolution, that is, the 18th of November, marshal Munich dined with the duke, who desired him to come back in the evening; when, as usual, they stayed very late together, talking of many things relative to the current times. The duke was restless and moody during the whole evening, often changed the discourse like an absent man, and at last abruptly, quite from the purpose, asked the marshal "If in his military expeditions, he had ever undertaken any affair of consequence in the night." This sudden question nearly disconcerted the marshal, who imagined from it, that the duke had some suspicion of his project. Recovering himself, however, quickly enough for the marshal not to observe his uneasiness, he answered, "That he did not remember to have "undertaken anything extraordinary in the night-time; "but that his maxim was, to seize all times that appeared "favourable." They parted at eleven at night; the marshal, in the resolution of not delaying his accomplishment of the regent's fall; and the regent, on his part, resolved to distrust all the world, to remove every person that could give him umbrage, and to fix himself yet more firmly in the sovereign power, by placing the Princess Elizabeth or the duke of Holstein on the throne; for he saw plainly, that without that he could never maintain his ground, the number of malcontents increasing every day. He would not, however, undertake anything till after the funeral obsequies of the late empress; and so his enemies were beforehand with him.

Marshal Munich was persuaded that he should be the first person dismissed; so that he was determined to strike his blow without loss of time. On returning from court, he told his senior aide-de-camp, lieutenant-colonel Manstein*, that he should have occasion for his service the

* The author of these memoirs.

PLOT AGAINST BIRON.

277

next day, very early in the morning. Accordingly, at two in the morning, he sent for him. They got into a coach together by themselves, and repaired to the winter-palace, where the emperor and his father and mother had lodged since the death of the empress. The marshal and his aide-de-camp entered the apartment of the princess, by the door of the wardrobe. There he made mademoiselle Mengden, lady of honour and favourite of the princess, get up. When Munich had explained himself to her, she went in and woke their highnesses; but it was the princess alone that came out to speak to him. They had but a moment's talk. The marshal ordered Manstein to call all the officers who were on guard at the palace, for the princess to speak to them. These being come, her highness represented in a few words to them, the outrages which the regent inflicted upon the emperor, herself, and her husband, adding, that as it was impossible, and even shameful, for her to endure such insults any longer, she was resolved to have him arrested, and had given marshal Munich the commission; so she hoped that the officers would be so good as to follow the orders of their general, and second his zeal. The officers made not the least difficulty of obeying the princess in all she required of them; upon which, she giving them her hand to kiss, and embracing them all, they went down stairs with the marshal, and got the guard under arms.

Count Munich told the soldiers what was in agitation; and all, with one accord, answered him, that they were ready to follow him wherever he should lead them. They were ordered to load their muskets, and an officer with forty men were left on guard with the colours. The other eighty marched with the marshal to the summer-palace, where the regent still resided.

About 200 paces from this house, the troop halted

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278

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

and the marshal sent Manstein to the officers of the regent's guard to acquaint them with the Princess Anne's intention. They made no more difficulty than the others had done, and even offered their assistance to seize the duke, if it were necessary. Upon this, the marshal told Manstein to put himself, with an officer, at the head of twenty men, to enter the palace, seize the duke, and in case of his making any the least resistance, to massacre him without mercy.

Manstein entered the palace, and, to make no noise, had the detachment follow him at a distance. All the sentinels suffered him to pass without any opposition; for, as he was personally known to all the soldiers, they imagined he might be sent to the duke upon some affair of consequence, so that he got across the apartment without any difficulty. But as he did not know the particular room in which the duke lay, he was all on a sudden extremely embarrassed where to go, for to avoid giving the alarm, he could not ask the servants who were waiting in the ante-chamber. After a moment's thought, he resolved to keep advancing on, in the hope he should at length find what he was seeking. And so it happened in fact; for, after he had gone through two chambers, he came to a door that was locked; luckily for him, this was a folding door, and the servants had neglected sliding the bolts at the top and bottom, so that he easily forced it open. In the chamber he found a great bed, in which the duke and duchess were lying, buried in so profound a sleep that not even the noise he made in forcing open the door had woke them. Manstein having got close to the bed, drew the curtains, and desired to speak with the regent. Upon this, both started up, and began to scream with all their might, rightly judging that he was not come to bring them any good news. Manstein happening to stand on the side

ITS COMPLETE SUCCESS.

279

on which the duchess lay, saw the regent throw himself
out of bed on the ground, apparently with an intention to
hide himself under the bed; on which, springing quickly
round to the other side, he threw himself upon him, and held
him fast locked in his arms till the guards came in. The
duke having at length got upon his legs again, and wanting
to disengage himself from their hold, distributed blows
with his fist to the right and left; which the soldiers
returned with strokes from the butt end of their muskets;
and throwing him down again on the floor, they crammed
a handkerchief into his mouth, bound his hands with an
officer's sash, and then carried him, naked as he was, to
the guard-room, where they covered him with a soldier's
cloak, and put him into a coach of the marshal's, that was
in waiting. An officer was placed in it by his side, and
he was carried to the winter-palace.

While the soldiers were struggling with the duke, the
duchess got out of bed in her shift, and ran after her
husband as far as the street, when a soldier took her by
the arm, and dragged her to Manstein, asking him what
he should do with her. He bade him carry her back into
the palace; but the soldier not caring to take the trouble
threw her down into the midst of the snow, and there left
her. The captain of the guard, finding her in this pitcous
condition, lifted her up, had clothes brought to her, and
reconducted her to her apartment.

As soon as the duke was secured, Manstein was sent to
seize his younger brother Gustavus Biron, who was then at
Petersburg. He being lieutenant-colonel of the Ishmaëlow
regiment of guards, this expedition required, if any thing,
more precautionary measures than the first; for Gustavus
Biron was beloved in his regiment, and had a guard from
it in his house of a serjeant and twelve men. Accordingly
the sentinels at first made some resistance, but they were

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280

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

soon secured and threatened with death if they made the least noise. Manstein then went into the bedchamber of Biron, and made him get up, telling him that he had an affair of the greatest consequence to impart to him. Having drawn him to the window, he acquainted him with his orders of arrest. Biron wanted to open the window, to call his guard; but he was instantly told that the duke was seized, and that he himself would be killed on the least resistance. The soldiers, who had waited in the adjoining room, came in directly, and satisfied him that there was nothing for him but to obey. They gave him a fur cloak, put him into a sledge, and he too was carried to the winter-palace. At the same time captain Koenigsfelt, another of the marshal's aides-de-camp, was sent to apprehend count Bestucheff. The duke was put into the chamber of the officers of the guard. His brother and count Bestucheff had each a separate room, where they remained a part of the day. About four o'clock in the afternoon, the duke, with all his family (except his eldest son, who was then sick, [and who staid till his recovery at Petersburg]) were carried to the fort of Schlüsselburg. The other two prisoners were sent to places at a short distance from the capital, where they were kept till after their examination.

As soon as the duke was seized, orders were sent to all the regiments that happened to be then at Petersburg, to get under arms, and to assemble round the palace. The Princess Anne then declared herself grand-duchess of Russia, and regent of the empire during the minority of the emperor. She at the same time put on the collar of the order of St. Andrew, and all the States took a new oath of fidelity, in which the grand-duchess was mentioned by name, which had not been done in that imposed by the regent. There were none that did not make great demon-

THE PRINCESS ANNE BECOMES REGENT.

281

strations of joy, at seeing themselves delivered from the tyranny of Biron; and from that moment every thing was quiet. Even the picquets were taken away, which the duke of Courland had posted in the streets to prevent commotions during his regency; and yet there were some who at the very moment of that event, prognosticated that it would not be the last revolution; and that those who had been the most active in bringing this about, would be the first to be overset by another. Time has shown that they saw only too clearly into futurity.

The grand-duchess dispatched also, on the same day, orders for arresting generals Bismark and Charles Biron. The first was nearly allied to the duke, having married his wife's sister, and was at that time at Riga, as vice-governor of the place; the other was own brother to the duke, and commandant-in-chief at Moscow. He had been his brother's worst enemy during his prosperity*, notwithstanding which he was involved in his disgrace.

The duke of Courland, who, as I before mentioned, was not without suspicion that something would be attempted against him, had given strict charge to the officers of the guard, not to suffer any one whatever to enter into the palace after his retiring to rest. The sentinels had orders to arrest whoever should come, and to kill on the spot any one that should make resistance. A picquet of an officer and forty men was posted in the gardens under the windows, besides sentinels all round the palace; notwithstanding which precautions, he could not avoid his fate.

The person who was principally employed in this affair confesses himself unable to conceive how it was possible for the attempt to succeed; for from the arrangements

* See above, p. 42.

282

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

made by the duke, the affair ought, naturally speaking, to
have miscarried. A single sentinel's making any noise
might well have ruined everything. It is even astonishing
that count Munich and his aide-de-camp were suffered so
much as to enter the winter-palace, where the Princess
Anne then was; for in the night-time there was a picquet
posted there, and sentinels all round, with orders to
hindering any one whatsoever from going in. True it is,
that the marshal chose, for seizing the duke, the day that
the regiment of which he was lieutenant-colonel was to be
on duty, both at the young emperor's and the regent's; to
every soldier of which the aide-de-camp was also known :
but notwithstanding this, if one single man had done his
duty, the failure was certain. It is this negligence of the
guards, to which no remedy was applied, which was so
fatal to the grand-duchess in facilitating the revolution
which the Empress Elizabeth effected the next year.

It would have been much easier to have apprehended
the duke in broad day; for he often paid a visit to the
princess, accompanied but by a single gentleman. Count
Munich, or even any other officer of confidence, need only
have waited in the ante-chamber of the princess, and
have pronounced the arrest to him as he came out of
her apartments; but the marshal, who liked that all his
enterprises should have something striking in them, pre-
ferred the most difficult means.

On the 22nd of November, the grand-duchess bestowed
several considerable rewards, and made many promotions
of general officers. The prince, her husband, was de-
clared generalissimo of all the forces of Russia, as well by
land as by sea; count Munich had the post of prime-
minister; count Osterman that of high-admiral, which
had been many years vacant; the prince Czerkasky was
appointed high-chancellor, a post that had not been filled

MUNICH'S NEW DISAPPOINTMENT.

283

since the death of count Golofkin; the count Golofkin, son of the high-chancellor deceased, was made vice-chancellor. Several others had great rewards in ready-money, or in estates. All the officers and subalterns, who had been employed in the arrest of the duke, were promoted. Manstein had a regiment, and some estates; [which were taken from him again when the Empress Elizabeth mounted the throne]. The soldiers who had been on guard received rewards in money.

 Marshal Munich had not thus worked the duke's fall, except to raise himself to fortune on the ruins of the Birons; he retained the same views as when he persuaded the duke to make himself regent, that is to say, to draw to himself the whole power of the regency, and leave the duchess nothing but the title; imagining that no one would dare to undertake any the least thing against him. He was much mistaken. The very same day that the Princess Anne declared herself grand-duchess and regent, he met with a rebuff that greatly mortified him. Having given the princess to understand, that he hoped to be appointed generalissimo, her answer was, that this post could suit no one better than her husband, as the father of the emperor. Upon this, Munich had a mind to ask once more for the sovereignty of the Ukrain*, with the title of duke; but his son, by earnest entreaties, dissuaded him from it. At length, he fixed upon himself for the post of prime-minister, and, by that step, extremely galled count Osterman, who till then had had the sole direction of the affairs of the ministry. He had never been a friend of Munich's, and he began from that moment to labour for his ruin.

* This expression seems to explain the nature of Munich's views, which were communicated to the duke of Courland, when his request for the title was made to the Empress Anne. See note on page 274, above.

284

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

The outrageous ambition of the marshal furnished only
too many occasions of doing him an ill office. He had,
in drawing up the declaration by which Prince Anthony
Ulric was named generalissimo, inserted the following
words:

"That though the marshal count Munich, after the
"great services he had done to the state, might have put
"in a claim to the post of generalissimo, he has never-
"theless declined to do so in favour of Prince Anthony
"Ulric, the father of the emperor, and is contented with
"the place of prime-minister."

Count Osterman did not fail to show up these ex-
pressions, and make the prince sensible of all the haugh-
tiness contained in them. This produced the first animo-
sity on the prince's part against Munich, who, on his
side contributed only too much to keep it up, [by the
want of due deference in all his conduct to the prince;
and yet the prince was the father of his emperor.] *

The first formal complaints of the prince against him
were about his manner of writing to him; for there is, in
Russia, a set formulary, which inferiors are obliged to
employ when they write to superiors on any subject that
relates to the service. The marshal disdained this, using,
when he wrote to the generalissimo, no other than the
common epistolary style. Moreover, he communicated to
him no affair of consequence, though the princess had ex-
pressly ordered it; but when there were any trifles to be
dispatched, such as promotion of the subaltern officers of
the army, then, indeed, count Munich never failed to com-
municate the matter to the prince.

As the prince had, every evening, conferences of several
hours with count Osterman, the count urged him to com-

* For this passage, the French has only "par sa conduite peu mesurée."

MUNICH DISMISSED FROM OFFICE.

285

plain to the grand-duchess of Munich's treatment. This
he did, and Munich thereupon had orders to confer with
the generalissimo upon all affairs; and in writing to him
to make use of the established formulary. This was a
great mortification; but soon after he had others to under-
go, more important, as well as more galling.

Count Osterman, who, in the time of the Empress Anne
had not stirred out of his room for some years, now often
had himself carried in a chair to the grand-duchess's. In
the conferences he had with her, he was at great pains to
insinuate, that the prime-minister was not well acquainted
with foreign affairs, of which he (Osterman) had had the
direction for twenty years; that consequently, he might,
through mere inadvertence, lead the empire to steps that
would be very prejudicial to the interests of the court;
that for his own part, he should be too glad to inform him
of everything, but that his infirmity hindered him from
waiting on him. He added, that neither did the marshal
know anything of the domestic affairs of the empire,
from having been always employed in the war department.
Upon these frequently reiterated representations, the
grand-duchess resolved to restore the direction of foreign
affairs to Osterman, and to give Golofkin charge of the
internal administration; so that there remained nothing
for Munich, with his title of prime-minister, but the war-
department.

Stung to the quick at this, he desired leave to resign the
office. The grand-duchess made some difficulty about
granting his request, saying, she could not possibly do with-
out his advice. The count really believing that his resig-
nation would never be accepted, insisted on retiring, if the
direction of all affairs was not restored to him on the same
footing as in the first months of the regency. Upon
which, his resignation was graciously accepted, at the

386

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

day major-general Bratke arrived with the five galleys that had wintered at Fredericsham. He had suffered much by contrary winds and storms, having even lost the mainmast of his own galley.

Keith now divided his fleet into three squadrons, giving the van-guard to the lieutenant-general, and the rear to the major-general, reserving the centre for himself.

On the 26th, at break of day, they saw the Swedish admiral's flag and some masts of the other vessels; of which, however, they could not ascertain the number, as they were posted among the islands. The general instantly gave the signal for attack; but scarce were the anchors weighed, when the enemy retreated towards Aland. A lieutenant of the navy was immediately detached with ten shallops and a cantschibass, supported by two galleys, to follow and reconnoitre. He reported, on his return, that he had seen seventeen galleys, one half-galley, one galliot, and two smacks, all armed; and that the admiral brought up the rear, plying his oars, on account of the contrary wind. The Russian squadron now took up its station near a village called Corpo. The islands thereabouts form a very good harbour, where the galleys might lie sheltered from any storm.

Keith learnt from the inhabitants along the coast, and from the spies, that the enemy was waiting for large reinforcements from Sweden, and that the vice-admiral Falkengruen, who commanded their galleys, had a positive order to attack him. As therefore the contrary winds and stormy weather did not allow him to quit the station where he then was, he made all the necessary dispositions for a good defence. The two prahms were posted opposite the mouth of the harbour, and a battery of four guns was raised on the right of it, to aid in defending the entrance.

SWEDES ATTACK KEITH'S SQUADRON.

387

He remained in this situation till the 29th, when the sentinels of the advanced guard, who were posted on the top of the rocks, gave notice that the enemy's fleet was in motion. The general upon this went himself up a hill to reconnoitre in person the dispositions of the enemy. He saw that the Swedish galleys were coming against him in three divisions. He ordered the alarm to be beaten, and drew up his galleys in order of battle [ac-cording as the situation would allow him]. At eleven in the morning the enemy formed in one line, over against the Russians, at about 1500 fathoms distance, and there came to an anchor.

During the 30th the two fleets remained opposite to each other, it not being possible to attempt any the least thing that day for the bad weather. On the 31st the wind was much abated, and they saw several Swedish galleys coming out from behind the islands, where they had on the preceding day taken shelter from the storm. At noon some signals were made with rockets from the Swedish prahm; from which a few minutes after-wards some guns were fired by way of trying the range of their shot. The balls fell near the land-battery (which was about 100 fathoms in advance of the Russian prahms); but, as they did not reach the vessels, the Swedish admiral ordered his prahm to be towed farther in by boats. At three in the afternoon the whole Swedish fleet, consisting of eighteen galleys, the prahm, and several small vessels, were seen advancing in a line towards the mouth of the harbour. At four they were not above a good cannon-shot distant. The officers who commanded on board the Russian prahms entreated leave of the general to fire upon them; but he positively forbade them, not intending a single gun to be fired till the enemy was within musket-shot. But when, a minute afterwards,

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MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

he saw that the Swedish prahm was coming to an
anchor, and preparing to bring its broadside to bear, he
ordered two guns to be fired from the upper tier of
his own prahms; one of the shot from which passed
over the Swede, and the other struck it on the poop.
Upon this trial Keith commanded all the guns to
open upon the enemy. Part of his own galleys he
withdrew, as there was not room enough for them to
act, and he himself took his post in the land-battery,
whence he could better observe the movements, [the bat-
tery being, as I have before observed, nearer to the enemy
by 100 fathoms than were the vessels].

The Swedes, who were formed in line of battle before
the mouth of the harbour, were able to employ the fire of
their whole fleet against the Russians, whereas these could
only bring to bear upon them the guns of the two prahms
and three galleys. However, after two hours' smart firing
on each side, the Swedish admiral's galley was obliged to
withdraw out of the line and bear away for shelter at the
back of an island that was on its right. Soon after, their
prahm did the same behind an island on its left. The
centre ships stood it some time longer; but having now
the whole fire to bear, which had before been shared with
the prahm, they also retreated; and at seven in the
evening the firing had totally ceased. Keith would not
have failed to pursue the enemy had the wind not blown
right into the mouth of the harbour, so that it was impos-
sible to get out; but some armed boats and a cantschibass
were sent to give chase to the small vessels that were
yet hovering about. The Russians in this action had
one officer and six soldiers or marines killed, and eight
wounded.

On June 1st, at break of day, news came that the
enemy had entirely retreated in the night, and were

SUCCESS OF KEITH'S SQUADRON.

389

already out of sight. Upon this two shallops were detached to get farther intelligence about them, and returned with advice that they had seen them at anchor near Rocksheera, about five miles from the place of action. The whole day was employed in repairing the prahms, which had received several cannon-shot between wind and water. There was also a necessity for refitting two of the galleys, which had received much damage; one especially, which had sprung a great leak, caused by the concussion of the guns it had fired.

The town of Abo, where the ministers were assembled for the congress, is not above seven or eight miles distant from the village of Corpo, so that the report of every gun that was fired by the combatants might be plainly enough heard, which must naturally have caused great anxiety to the ministers on both sides, each heart fluctuating between hope and fear of the issue of the engagement. Keith kept them twenty-four hours more than he needed in this irksome suspense; on which the Swedish plenipotentiaries, not conceiving it probable that the Russian general would have kept back the news of a Swedish defeat so long, were beginning to crow for victory, when Keith's aide-de-camp arrived with a circumstantial account of the combat.

On the 2nd the general held a council of war, in which it was resolved to pursue the enemy as soon as the damaged galleys were refitted, and attack him on the very first opportunity. [In those waters there was found an anchor, with fifty fathoms of cable, which the enemy had cut on the day of battle.]

On June 4th, everything being in order again, Keith got under way with his galleys, and having proceeded about three miles, there was heard the report of a gun from the Swedish fleet, which was judged to be about two miles off. Two hours afterwards there were two

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390

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

more guns heard very near, and presently the Swedish fleet was discovered at anchor at the back of an island, about a league off the Russians. The general instantly gave the signal for attack, and the three divisions or squadrons drew up in order of battle; but while they were forming the enemy set sail and bore away. The Russian fleet crowded sail to come up with them; but, after having got on about a mile, it arrived at a place where there was not more than eleven foot water; so that the prahms, being above that draught, were obliged to come to an anchor; while the galleys, keeping their order, got into a very convenient harbour formed by the islands. The place is called Soutonga.

There was the more reason for the Russians being surprised at the retreat of the Swedes, as it was known that on the very day after the action they had been reinforced by a frigate and some galleys, so that their fleet was altogether superior to that of Russia. Some time afterwards it came out, that the small victualling boats of the Russians had been the occasion of their panic; for the weather being fair, all these small craft had spread their canvas, and kept following the fleet, and the enemy, who saw the whole sea covered with sails, imagined that marshal Lacy with his fleet had joined Keith [and that consequently they themselves were too weak to hazard a fresh engagement].

Keith having surveyed the situation of the place where he had posted himself with his galleys, judged it so advantageous, that he determined to fortify it, and there wait the junction of the marshal. He had accordingly seven batteries built, of four or five guns each, to defend the different entrances of the port.

On June 8th, the weather being fair, and favourable for the prahms getting over the shoals, some boats took them in

LACY JOINS KEITII.

391

tow and brought them safe to that entrance of the harbour which faced the enemy, and there they were stationed. In this situation Keith remained till the arrival of marshal Lacy. Meanwhile, to keep the enemy in awe, and to make them believe he was reinforced, he made a galliot, which had brought [from Abo] provisions for the troops, hoist a broad pendant * such as the men-of-war carry. He also barred the left-hand entrance into the harbour by a triple cable, to keep out the enemy on that side. In short, he made the best dispositions possible for giving the Swedes a warm reception in case of attack.

The Swedes, who were not at above three-quarters of a league distance from them, threw up also, on their part, several batteries on the islands behind which they had posted themselves. From time to time, too, they made movements as if they would return to the attack [but without ever attempting anything]. To deprive the Russians of all means of intelligence about them, they had ordered the inhabitants of the islands to retire into Sweden. Some of them had obeyed, but the greatest part, especially those of Aland, had only quitted their houses and taken refuge in the woods.

 Marshal Lacy, as I have before mentioned, arrived on the 23rd of June with his fleet at Soutonga. At four in the evening the advanced guard gave notice that the enemy's fleet had weighed anchor and was making off. On this the marshal ordered Keith to proceed with his squadron, and post himself in the station that the enemy had quitted, and the next day followed himself with the fleet.

On the 25th he went with the generals of the army to reconnoitre the islands. They found on one of them a

* "Des banderoles et des flâmes."

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392

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

soldier, who had been left behind through negligence. He showed them from a hill the enemy's fleet at two leagues distance. Some of the vessels were at anchor, some already under sail. But from that day forward no vessel of the enemy was seen; for their galleys returned straight to Stockholm, where they arrived very opportunely to put down the revolt of the Dalecarlians, of which I shall soon have occasion to make farther mention.

The Russian galleys advanced that day as far as Degerby [one of the islands near Aland], and on the 26th a council of war was held, in which it was resolved to proceed as far as Rouden-ham, which is the last island of the Scheers of Finland, and with the first fair wind to stand for the coast of Sweden, and there make descents. Major-general Bratke was detached, with six battalions upon twelve galleys and some cantschibasses, to escort several vessels loaded with provisions for the troops at Ester-Bothnia, under the command of lieutenant-general Stoffeln, provisions being extremely scarce in those parts. The Swedes had been actually obliged to withdraw for want of subsistence, and the Russians could hardly maintain themselves there.

On the 27th and 28th it blew so hard, that the fleet could not stir from where it lay. [Some cantschibasses and boats, which had been sent on the look-out, returned with the report that they had seen no more of the enemy's fleet, which had borne away for the coast of Sweden.]

On the 29th the marshal had already given the signal for getting under way, when he received letters from the Russian ministers at the congress of Abo, in which it was notified to him that the preliminaries of peace had been signed the day before, and that they had agreed upon an armistice [so that they insinuated to the marshal not

PEACE BETWEEN RUSSIA AND SWEDEN.

393

to undertake anything farther]. Upon this the galleys returned to the same station which they had just quitted, where they remained till the latter end of August, and then made the best of their way back to Russia.

It is now time I should say something of the state of affairs in Sweden.

The diet of Stockholm had continued a year, and was principally taken up with electing a successor to the crown. Several competitors had declared themselves; to wit, the prince royal of Denmark, the prince of Holstein, bishop of Lubeck, the prince Frederic of Hesse-Cassel, and the duke of Deux-ponts. Each of these princes had his party, but the two strongest were that of the prince of Holstein, backed as he was by Russia, and that of the prince royal of Denmark, who could give great assistance to Sweden in its war against Russia, in consequence of which his party was the most numerous. It had even been decided, that if peace was not made before the 4th of July, he should on that day be declared hereditary prince of Sweden. This it was that greatly contributed to the signature of the preliminaries at the congress of Abo; but as a great deal of time had been wasted in disputing, there remained, when the articles were signed, no more than six days of the term prefixed. Lieutenant-colonel Lingen, in the Swedish service, was sent with this news to Stockholm; and as he was particularly charged not to lose a moment, he took the shortest way, which was to cross the isle of Aland; but when he had landed there, he found that all the inhabitants had left their houses, and were fled to the woods, so that he was obliged to walk several leagues on foot along the shore. At length he met with an old man, owning an old crazy boat full of leaks. Having no time to lose in looking out for another, he was forced to resolve upon making

394

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

use of that, at the risk of drowning. Having, with his
servant and the old man, got into the boat, two of the
three were obliged to row, while the third had enough
to do to keep baleing the water out with his hat, and
even with that he could scarce keep the boat free. Lingen
even employed some shirts he had in his portmanteau to
cram into the leaks; however, at last, they had the luck
to get safe to Sweden, and Lingen reached Stockholm on
the very day that they were to proceed to the election of
the prince of Denmark. The wretched boat that had
served to bring him from Aland to the coast of Sweden
is kept to this day at Stockholm, and shown as a curiosity.
[Certain it is, that it may be considered as a kind of
miracle, the good fortune Lingen had, to make a passage
of twelve Swedish miles (seventy-two English) over the
sea, in a boat on which few in the world would have ven-
tured to cross the narrowest river.]

The arrival of colonel Lingen at Stockholm changed
the whole face of affairs in Sweden. The Russians,
who had been the mortal enemies of the Swedes, were
now become their friends, their allies, their support; while
the Danes, whose prince they had so recently proposed to
seat upon the throne after the death of their king, became
in turn their greatest enemy. The fleet of Russian galleys,
which had put to sea with the object of laying waste the
coasts of Sweden, was obliged to stay for some time on
its frontiers, to quiet the domestic disturbances of that
country, and be at hand to assist the Swedes in case they
were attacked by Denmark.

The king of Denmark being informed that a great
party opposed the election of the prince his son, managed
to engage in his interest several Swedish provinces. That
of Dalecarlia was the first that declared itself; the peasants
of which, some thousands strong, headed by [one Scheduling,

RIOT IN STOCKHOLM.

395

who had been formerly a soldier in the service of Russia,
and by] De Wrangel, who was major of the Dalecarlia
regiment, marched straight to Stockholm, and there
attempted to lay down the law. There was a regiment of
guards encamped in front of the town, of which it was de-
signed to make use for reducing these rioters to reason;
but the soldiers refused to act against their countrymen,
and even suffered them to take their cannon from
them without resistance. The king and several senators
went out to try to appease them, but they would not listen
to reason. At last they were promised all the satisfaction
they could desire, and were persuaded to enter the town,
where they were dispersed in different quarters, which
was the cause of their misfortune. Some days after
there was a great tumult in the town, and count Adlerfeldt
[attempting to harangue and appease the Dalecarlians]
was killed. The guards were again commanded to march
against the rioters, and again the soldiers refused to obey.
By singular good fortune the galleys came that very day
into the port of Stockholm; some troops were immediately
landed, and, knowing nothing of what had passed, made no
difficulty of going against and dispersing the revolted
peasants. The ringleaders were seized; Scheduling, one of
the principal, had his head cut off, and Wrangel was
degraded from his rank and nobility, and condemned
to perpetual imprisonment. The others returned home.

If this affair had not been crushed in the bud, the
revolt would soon have become general; the provinces
of Upland, Surmaland, Småland, and Scania had been on
the point of also declaring themselves; but as the expedi-
tion of the Dalecarlians had succeeded so ill, the others
took care not to break out. However, half of Sweden
remained for a long time in the interest of the king

396

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

of Denmark. [This went so far, that when general Keith was arrived some little time afterwards at Stockholm, one of his aides-de-camp, whom he sent with some special despatches as a courier, being taken for a Danish officer, because he wore a red coat, the post-master desired him to be on his guard against the contrary party.]

The articles of the peace concluded at Abo between Russia and Sweden, contained in substance, that Sweden should cede to Russia, in perpetuity, the province of Kymenagor and the district of Nyslot in the province of Savalax in Finland; and that the river Kymen should form the frontier, to be regulated in detail by commissaries appointed by the two courts. The settlement of the affair of the frontier has been going on for several years without being finished.

The prince of Holstein, bishop of Lubeck, was elected successor to the kingdom of Sweden, for himself and his descendants. [It was the court of Russia that had principally contributed to carry the election, and consequently assumed it as a right to intermeddle more than ever in the affairs of Sweden, and even to prescribe laws to that kingdom; but the Swedes soon freed themselves from this grievance, and the misunderstandings began afresh before a twelvemonth was past.*]

After the peace had been published to the army, the marshal had orders to send back the troops that were in Finland, and general Keith was dispatched to Abo to regulate their march. Lieutenant-general Stoffeln, who had advanced with the body of troops under his command

* In the place of this sentence, the French edition has, — "Russia then believed that this election would put her in a position to treat Sweden as a dependency of the Russian empire. Subsequent events showed that she was deceived."

KEITH SENT TO STOCKHOLM.

397

as far as Ulo, had orders to return, and little by little
the regiments took their way back to Russia. But, before
they quitted Finland, they took care to squeeze from it
everything they could; the intention of the court being
to ruin that province so completely, that it should not
be able for a long time to hold up its head again; and
the generals had orders not to fail to attend to this
point.* The empress, however, feigning a desire of re-
storing relations of harmony with her neighbours, ordered
some thousands of bushels of grain out of the magazines
[which had been established in Finland] to be dis-
tributed to the peasants of Finland for sowing their
grounds.

The disturbances of the Dalecarlians being appeased,
it was imagined that Sweden had recovered its tran-
quillity, and marshal Lacy had orders from the court to
return with the galleys to Petersburg. Towards the latter
end of August he quitted the island of Degerby, where his
squadron had lain two months.

On the 14th of September the fleet of galleys arrived
at a place called Berosowa-Ostrow (*Birch island*), at
ninety wersts, or twenty-three leagues distance from
Petersburg. From thence count Lacy dispatched his
aide-de-camp to court for orders as to when and in what
manner he should make his entry before the capital with
his fleet.

On September 17th the fleet suffered a severe storm,
which drove six galleys ashore. They were entirely ruined,
and two others greatly damaged, but no lives were lost,
all the troops being ashore. On the 20th the marshal had
orders to send back general Keith with thirty galleys to
Helsingfors, where he was to wait for fresh instructions;

See other instances of this cruel policy, pp. 92, 145.

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

398

and the next day Keith took his departure, having on board of his squadron a regiment of grenadiers, composed of ten detached companies, and eighteen battalions of foot, making in all 11,000 men. The generals who commanded under him were, lieutenant-general count Soltikoff, and the major-generals Lapouchin and Stuart.

The empress sent her own yacht to marshal Lacy to bring him to court. He left the command in general Lewaschew's hands, and set out for Petersburg, where some days afterwards the fleet of galleys also arrived. The court caused great rejoicings to be made for the celebration of the peace. There were feasts and entertainments for several days together; and after the troops had delivered up the galleys to the admiralty, they were sent into winter-quarters.

I now return to the expedition under general Keith, and to what gave occasion for it.

The revolt of the Dalecarlians had, it is true, been quieted, but it was not entirely quelled. The king of Denmark had caused several bodies of troops to advance to the frontiers of Sweden; and as he had partisans in many of the provinces, an invasion from him was much apprehended. It was this that induced the king and senate of Sweden to request prompt aid from the court of Petersburg, both to oppose the Danes and to completely pacify the intestine commotions.

General During was, for this purpose, sent to Petersburg. The court of Russia was too well pleased to give a fresh proof of its power, to neglect this opportunity. It was moreover its interest to support the election which had taken place in favour of the prince of Holstein. Accordingly general Keith had orders to repair to Sweden. His instructions contained, in substance, that he was to

HIS PRIVATE INSTRUCTIONS.

399

make the best of his way thither with the 11,000 men
under his command, and on his arrival to be solely de-
pendent for his orders on the king; that he was to make
the reports of his corps direct to the empress, and, as
Russia had no minister at Stockholm, that he was at the
same time to exercise the functions of that office.

The troops under his orders suffered much from cold
and storms before he reached the coasts of Sweden; and
the Russian galleys, which never used to keep the sea
later than the beginning of September, were obliged to
remain on it till the latter end of November.

Any other general than Keith would hardly have been
able to execute this commission. He had not only to
contend with wind and weather, but also with the naval
officers, who were often representing to him the impossi-
bility of proceeding in so severe a season. But Keith,
who had served on board the galleys of Spain [where he
had seen that the galleys in that country could keep the
sea in all weathers], and knew better than any of the
officers in that squadron how much could be done where
there was a good will, persisted in his solitary opinion.
He received indeed the representations of the others made
in writing, put them into his pocket without reading them,
and gave the signal for sailing on. In this manner, on
the 23rd of October*, he arrived on the coast of Sweden,
at Sarmund. He left his galleys in the port, and re-
paired to Stockholm, where he received the orders for the
distribution of his troops in winter-quarters, to which
lieutenant-general count Soltikoff was to take them. But

* The English edition has "on the 4th November," which appears to be a correction made by the translator, on the supposition of the dates being according to the Russian calendar. But in the account of the conquest of the Crimea, Manstein's dates are correct according to the reckoning of western Europe, and it is therefore to be presumed they are so here.

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

400

as those quarters were assigned along the coast in Suder-
mania and Oster-Gothia, and it was wished to spare the
country the expense of furnishing transport for their
baggage, the galleys were required for this service; but
the season was so much advanced they could not get far.
The regiments were, however, forced to stay on board till
the beginning of December, when they were landed at
Staake, a little harbour four miles distant from Stock-
holm. The country was then obliged to furnish carriages,
and the troops marched into the quarters assigned them.
They were distributed in the following manner: the re-
giment of grenadiers was at Nykoping, two regiments at
Sudkoping, three at Norkoping, and two in Oster Gothia.*
The galleys were left at Staake, with two regiments that
had their quarters in the neighbourhood to guard them.

The Russian troops remained in Sweden till the month
of June 1744, when [the differences between Sweden and
Denmark having been by that time amicably adjusted]
Keith had orders to return to Russia. His voyage back
was more easy, and on the 13th of August he arrived
at Revel with his fleet. During his stay in Sweden
successful efforts were made to reconcile the differences
existing between the courts of Stockholm and Copen-
hagen. The affair was not quite concluded when the
Swedes became impatient of the yoke which Russia wished
to impose upon them, and took several steps which were
distasteful to the court of Petersburg. General Keith
had orders to keep a close watch over what they did, and
in case of the Danes making an irruption into the provinces,
not to march against them, but to take up a position with
his corps in the environs of Stockholm. He was then to
declare, that he had only come to Sweden to quell the

CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE EMPRESS.

401

domestic commotions, not to fight the Danes. So that, if
the war had begun, the Russians would have been only
spectators.*

Having placed in one view the affairs of Sweden, I now
return to those of Russia.

During the last campaign there was discovered at
Petersburg a conspiracy against the person of the empress.
The marquis de Botta, who had been minister of the
queen of Hungary at the court of Petersburg, appeared
to be the life and soul of the plot. The principal persons
concerned were, Lapouchin, commissary-general of the
marine; his wife, who had been the mistress of count Loe-
wenwolde; madame Bestucheff, sister-in-law to the high-
chancellor, and own sister to count Golofkin; lieutenant-
colonel Lapouchin [son to the commissary]; a chamberlain
called Lilienfeld, and his wife; with some other persons
of less consequence. Madame Lapouchin, one of the
most beautiful women of her time, and madame Bestucheff,
who was devotedly attached to her own family, could not
bear to think, the one of her lover, the other of her brother
languishing in exile.†

These persons had in their assemblies said all the harm
imaginable of the empress, and had tried more than one
means for finding some one to take the lead in an attempt
at another revolution: it was even said, that they had
bribed a domestic of the empress to assassinate her; but
as it is only upon hearsay that I mention this, I should
be loth to assert it for a truth. The marquis de Botta,
who had been recalled from Russia and sent to Berlin,
was, as I said, in correspondence with the conspirators.
He had begun the intrigue by order of his court before

* The last five sentences are only found in the French edition.

† This sentence is only found in the French edition.

D D

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MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

he left Petersburg; and had induced the parties concerned to hope that not only the queen of Hungary, but the king of Prussia also would second the affair. He named the latter openly in all his letters, although that prince was in ignorance of the matter, and assured them that his majesty wished nothing so much as to see the empress dethroned, and his brother-in-law and nephew return from exile.*

The imprudence of the lieutenant-colonel Lapouchin was the cause of all being discovered, he having, in the company of several officers, drank the health of the young emperor, and said many shocking things on the conduct of the empress. There were not wanting in the company some who, to make their fortune, made a point of repeating all that they had heard. A major named Falkenberg, and one Berger, a cornet of the cuirassiers, carried the first information to count Lestock, who gave them the cue to connect themselves more closely with Lapouchin, in order to get the whole secret out of him. The trap succeeded without trouble. All the conspirators were seized and tried. Lapouchin and his wife, his son, and madame Bestucheff had the knout, their tongues were cut out, and they were all sent to Siberia.

This affair had like to have embroiled the courts of Vienna and Petersburg; but the queen of Hungary having disavowed all that her minister had said and done in the matter, and having gained over Bestucheff, he managed things so dexterously, that the two courts became greater friends than ever they had been. To give some satisfaction to the empress, the marquis de Botta was recalled from Berlin, and confined in a fortress for some months.

After the publication of the peace with Sweden, it

* Prince Antony Ulric was brother of Christina, queen of Prussia.

MARRIAGE OF THE GRAND-DUKE.

403

had been designed to send the troops into the interior of
the empire, and distribute them among the provinces, but
the affairs between Sweden and Denmark that super-
vened retarded the execution of this project. The
greatest part of the infantry had quarters assigned them
in the neighbourhood of Petersburg, and in Livonia,
and all the regiments had orders to hold themselves in
readiness for marching the next spring. Ever since that
time Russia has maintained in Finland, in Ingria, in
Livonia, and in Courland, an army of above 120,000
men, including the garrisons of the different places there.

In the beginning of the year 1744 the court went to
Moscow, and in February the princess of Zerbst came
there, with the princess her daughter, whom she brought
to be married to the grand-duke. The empress, who
much wished to see her nephew married, likewise desired
that he should have for his bride a German princess.*
She cast her eyes first of all on the princess Amelia,
sister of the king of Prussia, and sent orders to her
minister at Berlin to open himself upon this point to the
Prussian ministry. But the king, who had no mind to
send off his sister to Russia, contrived to elude the pro-
posal, and at the same time to get up the match for the
princess of Zerbst, who [being a near relation to the
grand-duke] did not refuse so great an alliance. The
affair was presently concluded. Her mother brought her
to Moscow, where she embraced the Greek religion, and
in 1745 was married to the grand-duke.

Some time after the arrival of the princess of Zerbst at

* From here the English edition proceeds: "She sent orders to her minister at Berlin to open himself upon this point to the minister of Prussia. The king upon this offered to negotiate a match for him with the princess of Zerbst." The princess in question is the famous Catherine II.

DD 2

404

MEMOIRS OF RUSSIA.

the court of Russia, the marquis de la Chetardie had an
affair that made a great noise. This minister, who, as I
have related above, had borne so great a share in the
revolution in favour of the empress, flattered himself, not
without reason, that her majesty would retain a grateful
sense of all that France had done for her; and in the
first months of her reign, there was great room for thinking
that the French king's alliance would be preferred to all
others. While La Chetardie stayed in Russia he was
in fact omnipotent at court, the empress hardly making
any distinction between him and her own ministers. But
when he was gone, Monsieur d'Allion, who came in his
room, had not dexterity enough to pursue what La
Chetardie had so well begun, and the influence of France
little by little fell to nothing. It was in vain that the
French, on occasion of the conspiracy being discovered in
which the marquis de Botta had been engaged, flattered
themselves that the court of Petersburg might be
embroiled with that of Vienna. The high-chancellor was
too much in the interests of the house of Austria, and
entertained too great an aversion for that of Bourbon,
to allow his sentiments to be so easily changed.* He
rejected the proposals made by the court of Versailles,
and declared himself openly against those who held for
France. These, on their part, imagined things would
be put on a better footing by procuring the return of
La Chetardie. They found an occasion of proposing to
the empress that she should request this of the French
king; to this she readily consented, so that La Chetardie
was sent to Russia. On this, both he himself, and all

* In the place of this sentence the English edition has: "The count of Bestuchef, high chamberlain of Russia, had nevertheless remained firmly persuaded that the alliance of the house of Austria was preferable to that of France, so that he gave no heed to the proposals, &c." See above, page 349.

TREATMENT OF THE FRENCH AMBASSADOR. 405

those of the French party at Moscow, expected no less
than soon to see the high-chancellor banished. La Chet-
ardie had made himself so sure of it, that, in his way to
Russia by Hamburg and Copenhagen, he had spoken of
it as a thing as good as done. Bestucheff being advised of
this, was careful to be on his guard; he cut off from La
Chetardie all occasions of hurting him, and found means
of frustrating all his designs. He set spies upon him,
had all his steps watched, and intercepted his letters. In
short, he contrived so well to represent to the empress
the wrong she would do to herself in sacrificing him to the
court of France, seeing that everything he was doing was
for her honour, and the greater good of the empire, that
the empress became fully convinced of her minister's in-
tegrity, and resolved to send back La Chetardie. One
morning, very early, general Ouschakoff, adjutant-general
to the empress, repaired to his hotel, and signified to him
her majesty's order that he should quit Petersburg in two
hours' time. Carriages were at hand, and everything
that could possibly be necessary for his journey was
furnished him. A non-commissioned officer of the guards
escorted him to Livonia, where he was, moreover, detained
some months. After that he was carried to the frontier,
where the ribbon of St. Andrew, and the picture of the
empress, which she had 'given him in the time of his
favour, were demanded from him; but none of the jewels
were taken that belonged to the ribbon and the picture.
Since that affair the courts of France and Russia have
mutually entertained a kind of coolness towards each
other.

DD 3

INDEX.

AALI Kaltzchak Bashaw, governor of Choktzim, 223.

Abass, the Shah, 59. n.

Abo, 369. 372. 378. 389. Bridge of, 302. Congress of, 373.

Abskouk, town of, 128.

Ach-Metzid, or Sultan-Seraï (Simferopol), 118.

Aderkass, Madame d', head government of the Princess Anne, 89.

Adlerfeldt, Count, 395.

Aland, Isle of, 377. 391. 393.

Albrecht, Major-general, 310.

Aleschki, 141. n.

Alexander, St., order of, 52.

Alexander Newsky, St., Convent of, 326.

Alexis Michaëlowitz, the Czar, 11.

Alexis, the Czarewitz, son of Peter I., 4. 218.

Ali Mirza, the Tartar prisoner, 224.

Allion, M. d', French ambassador to Petersburg, 349. 404.

Alma river, 118.

Ambassadors in Constantinople, 98.

Amelia, the Princess, 403.

Andrew, St., order of, 31. 280. 348. 405. Fortress of, 166. 172.

Andriewska, 166.

Anne, the Princess, 1, 2. 6.

Anne, the Empress, 27—272. 289. 336.

Anne (Catherine), daughter of Charles Leopold, Duke of Brândenburg, 50. 64. 89. 253. 256. 270, 271. 275. 277. 280. 296. 315. 317. 322. 325. 327.

Anne, St., fort of, 98.

Anthony Ulric, of Brunswick Lünenburg, 50. 160. 164. 169. 199. 206. 253. 262. 271. 273. 282. 297. 299. 315. 317. 322. 325. 328.

Antziforow, Major, 187.

Apostel, the hettman, 17.

Apraxin, the High Admiral, 2.

Apraxin, the Major-general, 220.

Apraxin, the Court jester, 258.

Arabat, Spit of, 174. n.

Arachtschew, Major-general, 101. 119. 149. 160.

Armilà, camp near, 306.

Army, improvements in the, 55. Causes of the sickness in the, 170. Supplies of the, 199. Promotion in the, 199.

Arnaouts, 153. 161.

Artebil, siege of, 59.

Astrakhan, 131. 293, 294.

Astrakhan, regiment of, 308.

Augustus II., King of Poland, 67.

Augustus, Elector of Saxony, elected King of Poland, 68. 70. 72. 83. 290.

Aurora von Koenigsmarck, 291. n.

Austria, alliance of, with Russia, 193. 195. 213.

Ayuk Khan, chief of the Calmucks, 57.

Azoph, 95, 96. 173. 216. 246. Siege of, 98, 99. 124—128. Sea of, 107. 116. 126. 146. 173. 214.

Azoph dragoons, 215.

Bachmetew, Major-general, 85. 149. 163. 166. 169. 220. 310.

D D 4

408

INDEX.

Bachti-Gerëi, Sultan, chief of the
Jetiskodly Tartars, 147.

Bachtschi-Serai, 114. 116, 117. 178.

Backmout, 123. 129. 173.

Bagdad, siege of, 64.

Balakrew, the court jester, 258, 259.

Balck, 338.

Balmaine, Count, 87, 88. 308. 310.

Baltshick, 112.

Baraitinsky, Prince, 264.

Barenklaw, Colonel, 195.

Barracks near Petersburg, 265.

Barrows, sepulchral, of the Nogay-
Tartars, 139.

Bash-Tzchaus, or adjutant-general,
159.

Bassevitz, the Count de, 4, 5.

Begli-Gheri, Khan of the Crimea,
185. 198.

Belck, Palatine of, 60.

Belgrade, peace of, 236—245.

Beloser, regiment of, 110.

Benedetto, St., order of, 260.

Bender, 122. 150, 151. 153. 163.
191. 205. 213. 221. 224. 236.

Berda, the river, 173. 182.

Beresowa, town of, 11. 336. n.

Beresowa-Ostrolo, island of, 397.

Berosouka, the river, 191.

Berislav, 141. n.

Berutchi, Spit of, 181.

Beschleys, or Asiatic horsemen, 152.

Bestucheff, father of the high chan-
cellor, 43, 44.

Bestucheff, Count, 249, 258. 267.
280. 339. 341. 349. 374. 401. 405.

Bielogorod, Sultan of, 185. 205,
206. 208. 210. 227.

Bieloserka, river of, 138. 140.

Bieloserka, town of, 138.

Bielotschitzche, river of, 205, 206.
208.

Bieren, family of, 42.

Biron, Ernest John, Duke of Cour-
land, 28. 31, 32. 35. 41—45. 47.
51. 62—64. 73. 89. 196. 214.
251. 254. 256. 263. 271. 273.
277. 289. 347.

Biron, General Charles, 42. 75. 78.
85. 149. 199. 204. 206. 219. 281.

Biron, Gustavus, 13. 45. 149. 199.
201, 202. 219. 230. 234. 279.
289. 347.

Biron, Magnus, Major-general, 101.
118. 135. 149. 200.

Bischofsberg, the, at Dantzig, 79.

Bismark, General, governor of Riga,
196. 281. 289. 348.

Bogdan, village of, 236.

Bohemia, 85. 133.

Bond, Count, 373.

Bonneval, Count, in Turkey, 87.

Boraitinski, Prince, 33. 71. 169.

Borgo, 368. 371.

Bosnians, 153. 161.

Botta, General the Marquis de, 194.
253. 287. 289. 324. 401. 404.

Bousquet, Major-general, 370.

Bouterlein, Major-general, 5. 200.

Bovier, M., 196.

Bratke, the Brigadier, 190. 193. 355.
378.

Breda, the river, 75.

Bredal, the Vice-admiral, 125, 126.
173. 182. 216.

Breslau, 250.

Briansk, 93. 148. 153.

Brilkin, M., 89.

Brigny, the elder, Major-general,
125. 129.

Brigny, the younger, Major-general,
125. 173. 215.

Brilly, Major-general, 125. 173.
355. 376.

Broda, 225. 250.

Browne, Captain, 351. 355.

Bruce, Major-general, 355.

Buddenbrog, Lieutenant-general,
301. 305. 307. 311, 312. 370.

Budziac, Tartars of, 110. 121. 152.
245.

Bug, river, 149, 151. 164. 167. 200.
210.

Bugen, bailiwick of, 288.

Butler, Major-general, 355.

Cabinet Council of the Empress
Anne, 38.

Cadets, corps of, 55.

Caffa, port of, 116. 119. 179. 217.

Cagnoni, M. de, 245.

Calmius, the river, 129. 173.

Calmucks, the, 57. 130, 131. 145.
147. 174. 178. 198. 207, 208. 314.

Campredon, M. de, French minister
at Petersburg, 25.

INDEX.

409

Canaoia, village of, 303.

Cantemir, Prince, 225. 235. 262.

Caroulow, Major-general, 355.

Catacuzenus, house of, 211.

Catherine I., her death, 1. 336.

Catherine II., 403.

Catherine, daughter of Anne of Mecklenburg, 299. 322.

Cattle, transport, 171.

Charkow, 130. 183.

Charles VI., the emperor, 85.

Charles XII. of Sweden, 17, 18.

Charles, Margrave of Prussia, 25. 50.

Charles Leopold, Duke of Mecklenburg, 50. 327.

Chetardie, the Marquis de la, 262. 294. 318. 346. 348. 404.

China, embassy from, 57, 58.

Chmelninski, the hettman, 17.

Choktzim, town of, 213, 221. 223, 224. 228. 232, 233. 237. 246.

Chotym, town of, 221. u.

Chrutschef, Major-general, 160. 200. 219. 233. 266. 378.

Chripounoff, Colonel, 166.

Codja, Dgiaunum, the Capitan Bshaw, 126.

Comiez, village of, 70.

Conspiracy at Petersburg, 401.

Constantinoff, 220.

Copenhagen, treaty of, 57.

Corpo, village of, 385, 386.

Cossacks, 76. 92. 99. 100—102. 104. 110. 112. 115. 117. 118. 124. 125. 130. 146. 152, 153. 161. 168. 201. 204. 206. 208. 215. 224. 227. 265. 314.

Cossacks, the, of the Ukrain, 16. The Zaporavian, 18—20. Cossacks of the Don, 21. 161. 224. 236.

Costa, La, the jester, 258.

Courland, 196. 290. 349.

Courland, hereditary prince of, 269.

Court, habits of the, 254—262.

Cracow, Bishop of, 69.

Crawford, Earl, 203.

Crimea, the, 91. 98. 101. 111. 114—117. 142. 173. et seq. 214. Tarts of the, 64—66. 97. 104. 111.

Criponoff, secretary of the Chancery, 37.

Crona, 370.

Cronstadt, 83. 269. 375.

Cruys, Admiral, 335.

Cutler, Captain, 250.

Czerkaskoi, capital of the Don Cossacks, 21.

Czerkasky, Prince, 33. 38. 282.

Czernaia Dolina, battle of, 103, 104.

Czerzky, the Castellan, 75.

Czigria, town of, 17.

Czivas-Coula, fortress of, 215.

Dadian, Prince, 233.

Daghestan, 92. 293.

Dalecarlia, 394.

Dalecarlians, the, 397, 398.

Dantzig, 70, 71. Siege of, 72—83.

Darewski, Colonel, 195, 196.

Degerby, island of, 392, 397.

Denmark, Prince Royal of, 393.

Denmark and Russia, peace between, 56. 393.

Deux-ponts, Duke of, 393.

Dewitz, the Colonel, 103. 110. 173.

Didron, Captain, 314. 346.

Dieskau, Baron, 291.

Dnieper, the boundary of the, 17. 90. 142. 147. 199, 200. 219.

Dniester, the, 167. 206. 208. 234.

Dolgorouki, Prince Alexis, 14. 24.

Dolgorouki, Prince Basilius Loukitz, 2. 27, 28. 30. 36. 39, 40.

Dolgorouki, Prince Sergius Gregoriwetz, 40.

Dolgorouki, Prince Iwan, 8. 14, 15. 22—26. 39, 40.

Dolgorouki, the Princess Catherine, 22, 23—26. 39.

Don, the, 90. 93.

Don, Cossacks of the, 21. 161. 207. 215.

Don-Duc-Ombo, prince of the Calmucks, 131—133. 145. et seq.

Donducoff, Prince, 144. u.

Donetz river, 94.

Dongusla river, the, 132.

Doroschonko, the hettman, 17.

Douglass, Lieutenant-general Count, 91. 125. 127. 173, 174. 177.

Drouschka river, 102.

Drunkenness at the Russian Court, 257.

Dünamunde, fortress of, 326.

410

INDEX,

During, General, 398.

Dwina, the, 326.

Ebling, town of, 74.

Eichler, private secretary of the Cabinet, 266, 267.

Ekaterinodar, town of, 174. n.

Ekaterinoslav, town of, 141. n.

Elruz, 132.

Elephants sent from Persia, 293.

Elizabeth, the Princess, 1. 24. 28. 51.

Elizabeth, the Empress, 254. 271. 273. 282. 292. 294. 302. 315. 316. 320. et seq., 346. et seq. 401.

Esthonia, 299.

Eudoxia Feodorowna Lapouchin,
the Empress, 3., 218. n.

Eupatoria (Koslov), 112. 114, 115.

Execution, a terrible, 218. 267.

Fasts, the frequent, of the Greek
ritual, 170.

Ferdinand, Duke of Courland, 44.
196.

Fermor, Colonel, 165. 200. 206.
220. 302. 310. 313.

Fick, De, counsellor of state, 52, 53.

Finland, 248. 298. 300, 301. 304. 314.
316. 358, 359. 370. 372. 377. 397.

Fleet, the, before Dantzig, 82. In the
Dnieper, 169. In the Sea of Azoph
181. In the Baltic, 397, 398.

Food of the Tartars, 144. n.

Foreigners, Russian hatred for, 357.

Fort, Monsieur Le, 11.

France, 68. 72. 88. 301. 349.

French, the, at Dantzig, 81, 82.

Frederic of Hesse Cassel, 393.

Frederic William I., of Prussia, 76,
77. 288.

Fredericsham, 314. 353. 363. 372.
378.

Fruloff, Brigadier, 243—245.

Galitzin, family of, 41.

Galitzin, Prince, 110.

Galitzin, Prince, the jester, 258. 260.

Galitzin, Prince Demetrius Michaël-
owitz, 2, 3. n. 27. 36. 46. 53.

Galitzin, Prince Michael, 28.

Gambling at the court of the Empress Anne, 256.

Game in the steppes, 140.

Glebow, Lieutenant-general, 20.

Glogau, 265.

Glouchow, the Cossack town of, 17.

Gneissen, Archbishop of, 67. 83.

Goldan Narma, son of the Calmuck
Chief, 131. 174.

Gollowin, Admiral, 376. 380, 381.

Gollowin, Captain, 380.

Golofkin, the High Chancellor, 2.
27. 36. 38. 48. 283.

Golofkin, Count, Vice-chancellor,
283. 285. 297. 323.

Goraitschkie, village of, 65.

Goretowo, town of, 342. n.

Grammatin, aide-de-camp of Prince
Anthony Ulric, 273.

Grews, the Scotch officer of the
guards, 321.

Grünstein, 318. 338.

Guards, mutinous state of the, 351.
356.

Hadaimacks, the, of Poland, 20.

Hagelsberg, fort of, 78. 86.

Hamilton, Baron, 373.

Hangouth, 380.

Hanway, Jonas, referred to, 137. n.

Haslinger, Baron, Lieutenant-ge-
neral, 85.

"Hats," party of the, at Stockholm,
268. 301.

Hein, Major-general, 101. 112.

Helsingfors, 366—369. 372. 378,
379. 397.

Henry III. of France, 70.

Hesse Homburg, Prince of, 39. 64
—66. 100, 101, 102. 108. 111.
134, 135. 149. 156. 172. 299.
338. 344.

Hitischapel, 384.

Hochland, Island of, 382.

Holstein, Duke of, 1, 2. 6. 348.

Holstein, Prince of, 166. 200. 219.
274. 355. 393.

Homburg, Lieutenant-colonel, 160.
328.

Horseguards, the, of the Empress
Anne, 45.

Houka, the river, 227, 228.

Indschik, Greater, 131.

Ingermanland, regiment of, 308.

Ingria, 299.

INDEX.

411

Ingul river, 150. 169, 170.

Isemburgh, Count of, Knight of the
Teutonic Order, 203.

Ishmaëlloff, regiment of, 46. 94. 279.

Ishmaëlow, Lieutenant-general, 101,
102. 116. 118.

Islam-Ghereï, Sultan, 223. 229.

Ismailoff, the regiment of, 9.

Iwanogorod, fortress of, 39.

Iwan, Prince, son of Anne of Mecklenburg, 270, 271. 273. 326, 327.

Iwan Wasiliowitz, the Czar, 21. n.

Izioum, Cossack town of, 95. 125.
130. 198. 339.

Jagouzinski, Lieutenant-general, 30,
31. 36, 37. 46, 47, 48. 267.

James III., Duke of Courland, 41.

Janissaries, 161.

Jantzchikragh river, 152.

Jaroslaw, town of, 348.

Jassy, 235, 236, 237. 246.

Jatitzkaya river, 151.

Jaya, the Seraskier of Ockzakow,
160.

Jefremow, Colonel of the Cossacks,
145, 146.

Jegorlik river, the, 132. 146.

Jentzch Ali Bashaw, the Seraskier,
185. 229.

Jerepkin, Major-general, 65, 66.
155. 173. 266.

Jeroka, 221. n.

Jesters, court, 258.

Jesuits in the Crimea, 117.

Jetiskooly, horde of, 146.

Jika, Gregorius, hospodar of Moldavia, 235.

John, Fort St., 235.

Jungfern Sound, 384.

Kalantschi river, 105.

Kalga-Sultan, title of, 65. n., 104.
n., 118. 131.

Kaliberda, town of, 142.

Kaltzchak Bashaw, the, 227. 229.
233, 234.

Kamenoï Saton, 92. 102.

Kapil, town of, 146.

Kapnist, Colonel, 185.

Karasu river, 177.

Karasu-Bazar, town of, 176, 177.

Karga, 3. n.

Karkettel, Colonel, 236. 378.

Kazan, 41. 89. 253.

Kederkreutz, Baron de, 373.

Keith, General, 29. 45. 71. 85, 86.
90. 133. 149. 157, 158. 160—162.
200. 225. 265. 298, 299. 302. 305,
306. 310. 314, 315. 355. 357.
372. 374. 378. 382. et seq. 396,
397. 399 400.

Keith, Lord-marshal of Scotland,
374.

Kettler, house of, 44. 196.

Kexholm, 270. 298.

Keyserling, Major-general, 200.
220. 328.

Kibitkas, or movable Tartar huts,
131.

Kiessling, Lieutenant-colonel, 224.

Kiev, 141. 148. 194. 212. 218.

Kiev regiment of draguons, 306.

Kinburn, fortress of, 110. 119, 120.
152. 163. 169. 184. 186. 216, 217.
246.

Kinburn Bay, islands in, 166. n.

Kinderman, Major-general, 355.
360.

Kisikjermin, town of, 140.

Kisliar on the Terek, 59. 293.

Kiskow Point, 181.

Kizikjermen, 246. n.

Kodima, the river, 200, 201.

Koenigsfelt, Captain, 280.

Kolmogori, 326.

Kolokoltzow, Brigadier, 176.

Knez, the title of, 14.

Knights of the Guard, corps of, 45.

Königsberg, academy of, 43.

Konskie, river of, 130.

Korf, Monsieur de, 37. 43.

Koschowoy Ataman, the, of the
Zaporavian Cossacks, 18.

Koslov (Eupatoria), 112. 114, 115.

Kourakin, Prince, 257.

Koursk, province of, 94.

Krasna Gorka, 299.

Krasnatchoka, Colonel of the Cos-
sacks, 130. 145, 146.

Kremenschuk, 149.

Krotzka, affair of, 196.

Kuban, the, 246.

Kuban, Tartars of the, 100. 131.
133. 146, 147. 198.

Kuma river, the, 132.

412

INDEX.

Kymen, the river, 366, 367. 396.

Kymenagor, province of, 396.

Laba river, 131.

Lacy, Marshal Count, 70. et seq. 85.
100. 108. 123, 124. et seq. 136.
173, 174. 214. 262. 298, 299.
304, 305, 306. 310. 313, 314. 323.
352. et seq. 372. 390. 397.

Lacy, Count, Major-general, 355.

Ladoga, Canal of, 25. 61.

Ladoga, Lake of, 61, 62.

Lagenerantz, Colonel, 359. 372.

Lapouchin, Prince Feodor Abra-
hamowitz, 3. n.

Lapouchin, Major-general, 376. 398.
401.

Lapouchin, Lieutenant-colonel, 401,
402.

Lapouchins, family of, 3. 13.

Latizchew, 220.

Lemberg, or Leopol, 249.

Leonteff, Lieutenant-general, 28. 91,
92, 93. 101—103. 110. 119. 120.
122. 149. 151, 152. 164, 165. 192.

Lesly, Major-general, 101. 115, 116
117. 142, 143.

Lesna, battle of, 46.

Lesowitzky, Lieutenant, 250.

Lestock, Count of, 295. 317, 318.
321, 322. 324. 328. 342.

Lewascheff, General, 59. 100. 124,
125. 129. 173. 310. 362. 376.

Lewis of Brunswick, 291, 292. 299.
317. 329.

Liberum veto, the, of Poland, 68.

Liebau, 301.

Lieven, Brigadier, 155. 200. 309,
310. 355, 356.

Liman, the, 153. 155. 162. 184, 185.
188.

Lingen, Colonel, 394.

Lithuania, 68, 69.

Livonia, 46, 47. 83. 89. 295. 297.
299. 302.

Livonians, the, 46.

Lobkowitz, Prince, 237.

Loewendal, Lieutenant-general, 149.
154. 160. 199. 202. 205. 219. 230.
246. 288. 355. 364. 369—371.
373.

Loewenhaupt, Count, 301. 314. 316.
319. 354. 359. 365. 370.

Loewenwolde, Count, 46. 63. 90.
136. 323. 336. 340. 401.

Loewenwolde, Count, the younger, 70.

Lohman, Colonel, 128. 308. 310.

Louberas, Lieutenant-general Baron
de, 55. 77, 78. 373.

Louis XV. of France, 25. 269.

Lubeck, Bishop of, Prince of Hol-
stein, 1. 24.

Lubeck, Bishop of, 393. 396.

Lutick, fort of, 100.

Lynar, Count, 89. n. 290. 296. 297.

Mahmood I., Sultan of Turkey, 87. 96.

Malplaquet, battle of, 332.

Mamay, Sultan, 138.

Mamonow, Rear-admiral, 169.

Manners and customs of the Court
of the Empress Anne, 254—262.

Manuel, Don, the Prince of Portugal, 49.

Manstein, Lieutenant-general, 108.
276. 278, 279. 308. 310.

Manytsch river, the, 132.

Mardfeld, Baron, Prussian minister,
287.

Mascarti, the Abbé, 87.

Mattweeff, Count, 34.

Mazeppa, the hettman, revolt of, 16,
17.

Mecklenburg, Duchess of, 27.

Mengden, Mademoiselle Aurora,
295. 344. n.

Mengden, Baron, 271.

Mengden, Mademoiselle Dorothea,
295.

Mengden, Mademoiselle Jacobina,
295.

Mengden, Mademoiselle Julia, 277.
286. 295. 297. 322. 327.

Mengdens, the family of the, 295.

Mendolax, village of, 359.

Mentzibosh, 220.

Menzikoff, Prince, 2—14. 62. 288.
326. 333. 336.

Menzikoff, Major, 13.

Merda, the river, 61.

Mertwie-Wody, the river, 150, 151.
168.

Metipi-Effendi, 194.

Mirawitz, conspiracy of, 326, 327.

Mischakow, Vice-admiral, 355. 370.

Mittau, 196. 291.

INDEX.

413

Mius, the river, 173.

Mogulistan, conquest of, 293.

Mohilew, town of, 221.

Moldavia, 213. 217. 235. 245.

Moldavia, Prince of, 144.

Molotschnie-Wodi, the river, 130.
173. 180. 182. Fort of, 173.

Molotschitzche, river of, 205. 206.

Monarchy, scheme for limiting the, 27.

Montchevrcuil, M. de, 87, 88.

Monti, the Marquis de, 83.

Moola Muisa, village of, 299, 300.

Mouschin-Pouschkin, Prince, 266,
267.

Munich, Marshal, 52. 54. 56. 62, 63.
73—83. 86. 94, 95. 98. 100. 102.
105. 111. 133, 134. 140, 141.
147. 149. et seq. 168—170, 171.
192. 195. 199. et seq. 219. et seq.
251. 262. 269. 274. 276—282.
283—285. 322. 380—333. 347.

Munich, Count, son of the Marshal,
284. 322. 233.

Munich, Madame, 288.

Music, military, 171. Musical en-
tertainments, 257.

Mustapha, governor of Ockzakow,
161.

Mustapha Effendi, 194.

Nadir Shah, of Persia (Thomas Kouli Khan), 58, 59. n. 64. 87, 88. 91. 293, 294.

Nariskin, the Count Alexander, 5.

Natalia, the Grand Duchess, 6. 21.

Nedoborschetz, mountains of, 221.

Nemiroff, 194. Congress of, 194,
195. 262. 267.

Neplueff, M., minister at Constan-
tinople, 91. 194. 262.

Neuperg, M. de, 246.

Neuscholland, at Dantzig, 81.

Neuschottland, at Dantzig, 81. n.

Neustaedel, 250.

Neustadt, peace of, 95.

Neva, the, 319. 353.

"Nightcaps," party of the, at Stock-
holm, 268. 300.

Nitschegorod, regiment of, 304.

Nolecken, M. de, Swedish minister,
268. 298. 372, 373.

Norkoping, 400.

Novogorod, 40.

Novogorod, Archbishop of, 23. 41.
253.

Novo-Paulowska, 90.

Nykoping, 400.

Nyslot, district of, 396.

Nystadt, peace of, 46. 48.

Ockzakow, 110. 120. 122. 148. 151,
152. 159. 162. 169. 183—192,
216, 217. 246. 269.

Odnodwortzi, the, 94.

Ohra, the fort at Dantzig, 74.

Oldenburg, 332.

Oliva, gate of, at Dantzig, 78.

Omelnik river, 149.

Oranienburg, town of, 326.

Oranjenbaum, 8. 10.

Orleans, Duke of, the Regent, 25.

Orlik, 149.

Orp river, 131.

Ossinoua Rostchsche, village of, 299.

Ostein, Count, 45. 194. 253.

Oster-Gothia, 400.

Osterman, Count, the Vice-chan-
cellor, 2. 9. 24. 28. 37, 38. 47, 48.
62, 63, 64. 96. 251. 256. 267.
270. 282. 284. 297, 298. 316. 318.
323. 329, 330. 334—336.

Osterman, John Conrad, pastor of
Bockum, 335.

Ouschakow, General, 5. 273. 405.

Palatinate, the Upper, 85.

Paulovsky, fort of, 173.

Pedrillo, the jester, 258—260.

Pelim, in Siberia, 348.

Perekop, town of, 105, 106. 110.
119. 121. 214, 215, 216. Lines
of, 106, 107. 122. Bashaw of,
109. Defile of, 222. 226, 230.

Perevolotschna, town of, 148. 199.

Pernokirk, 368.

Perouse, De la Motte, Brigadier-
general, 80.

Persia, provinces taken from, by
Peter I., 58. Embassy from, 293.

Peter I., 45. 47, 48. 51.

Peter II., 1. 3. 5. 13, 14. 21—27.
335.

Peter III., 302. n. 348. 373. 403.

Peterhoff, 9. 256.

Petersburg, 313. 319. Fortress of,
344. n.

414

INDEX.

Philosophow, Major-general, 200.
202. 219.

Pillau, 77.

Pisarew, General, 5. 62.

Plague, the, in Moldavia and Wal-
lachia, 213. 217. In Kinburn and
Ockzakow, 217. In the Ukrain,
217.

Platte, La, at Dantzig, 82.

Plays, at the court of the Empress
Anne, 257.

Plelo, Count, French ambassador at
Copenhagen, 81.

Poland, 60. 67. 133. 212. 217. 220.
264. 291.

Poles, the, 247.

Pomerania, 76. 298.

Poniatowski, Count, 60. 83.

Posnania, Bishop of, 69.

Pototski, family of, 60.

Pototski, Count, 194. 212. 225.

Praag, village of, 69.

Pragmatic Sanction, 67, 68.

Preobraschensky regiment of guards,
262. 318. 338.

Prisoners of state, custom of releas-
ing, 2.

Pruth, the river, 224. 229. 235, 236.

Pruth, peace of the, 90.

Pultowa, 170 199, 200.

Quarenby, village of, 354.

Radaune river, 73.

Ramsey, M. (afterwards Count of
Balmaine), 87, 88. 308. 310.

Rasoumowsky, 338, 339.

Ravayocky, village of, 361.

Regiments of foot and horse, amount
of, 123. n.

Reis Effendi, the, 194.

Reiske, Colonel Baron de, 196.

Repnin, Prince, Major-general, 101.
149. 200. 220.

Revel, 355.

Revolution in favour of the Princess
Elizabeth, 320.

Rezanoff, Colonel, 306, 307.

Rialsk, province of, 94.

Riga, 325.

Rocksheera, 387.

Roden, Colonel, 223.

Romanzoff, Lieutenant-general, 52.

149. 156. 158. 169. 199. 201. 207.
218. 219. 222. 264. 357. 373.

Rouden-ham, Island of, 392.

Sacken, M., story of, 197.

Sagraisky, Lieutenant-general, 199.
210.

Samara river, the, 122, 123. 138.

Samara, town of, 138. 246.

Sandham, 301.

Sarmund, 399.

Savalax, province of, 396.

Savran river, the, 203, 204.

Sautron, the aide-de-camp, 352.

Saxe, Marshal, 291. 349.

Saxons, the, join the Russians, 80,
81.

Saxony, Augustus, Elector of, 67.

Sbroutsch, the river, 221.

Scania, province of, 395.

Schafirow, the Baron, 194.

Schamaki, 59.

Scheduling, the soldier, 394, 395.

Scheers of Finland, 392.

Scheffer, Baron, 373.

Scheidlitz, 78.

Schipow, Brigadier, 202. 218. 220.
236. 302.

Schoulanetz, river, 230, 231.

Schoungar, the river, 178.

Schoubin, M., 347.

Schowalow, the two brothers, 338.

Schlüsselburg, 39. 62. 270. 280.
289. 326, 327. n.

Schwetz, town of, 75.

Seckendorf, the Marshal, 50.

Segrański, Major-general, 75. 202

Sekan, the Hungarian tutor of Peter
II., 24.

Sekijervi, 316. n. 359.

Semeneowsky, regiment of, 262.
273.

Serdengestis, or "enfans perdus,"
223. 229 252.

Setz, the Zaporavian capital, 20.
102.

Siberia, 5. 11. 41. 167. 289. 297.
346. 357.

Silesia, 85. 250.

Simferopol. See Ach-Metzid.

Sinclair, Major. 249. 268. 302.

Sinkowtza, village of, 222.

Sivers, De, Admiral, 53.

INDEX.

415

Siwasch, the, 107, 108. n. 122.
214. n.

Skavronski, Countess, 342.

Småland, province of, 395.

Smila, the river, 61.

Smolensko, regiment of, at Ockzakow, 186.

Sobieski, John, King of Poland, 226.

Soisson, Congress of, 334.

Soltikoff, Prince, 9. 32, 33. 325.
376, 377. 398, 399.

Soitikoff family, the, 13.

Soma, the river, 366.

Somarokow, M., 30, 31.

Sommerchantz, fort of, 77.

Sophia, the Princess, half sister of
Peter I., 3. n.

Soroka, town of, 221.

Souchaia-tzchertala, the river, 150.

Soutonga, 390

Spahis, 161.

Sparrenter, General, 100. 125.

Spiegel, Major-general, 101—103.
117. 118. 121, 122. 129. 173. 215, 216.

Staake, island of, 400.

Stanislaus, King of Poland, 67—84.

Stavoutschane, village of, 232.

Steppes, difficulties of the, 136, 137.
Fertility of the, 139.

Stoanow, Colonel, 153.

Stockholm, Court of, 249. 298. Polulace, of, 268. Riot in, 395.

Stockman, Major-general, 200. 220.
228.

Stoffeln, Major-general, 101. 149.
169. 183, 184. 186. 188, 189. 193.
217. 302. 310. 355. 368. 396.

Stoianoff hussars, regiment of, 209.

Stuart, Major-general, 376, 377. 398.

Sudermania, 400.

Surgeons, military, 171.

Surmaland, regiment of, 313. Province of, 395.

Swart-ouva, 380.

Sweden, 72. 88. 248. 268, 269. 289.
298. et seq. 346. et seq. 352. et seq.

Swedes, 309. 313, 314. 346. et seq.
352. et seq.

Swiatoi Krest, fortress of, 59.

Tamilow, Major-general, 355.

Tannenburg, 326, 327. n.

Tarakanow, Major-general, 101, 102.
109. 149. 151.

Tarku, garrison of, 59.

Tarlow, Count, 75, 76.

Tartar warfare, 143. 168. 209. 212.
216, 217.

Tartars of the Crimea, 64—66. 90.
104. n. 130. 216. 223, 224. The
Nogay Tartars, 92, 93, 94. 97.
103. 125. 139. Tartars of the
Kuban, 100. 131. 145. Of Bud-
ziac, 110. 121.

Tatarskie Kolodesi, 104.

Tendra, peninsula of, 166.

Terek, the, 293. n.

Terti-Gherai, Sultan of the Crimea,
65.

Teski river, the, 65.

Thalmann, M, Austrian ambassador
at Constantinople, 96. 194.

Thomas Kouli Khan. See Nadir
Shah.

Thomasip, the Shah, 59.

Thorn, 71.

Tobolsk regiment of dragoons, 223.

Tolstoy, the Privy Councillor, 5.

Torno, 377.

Tott referred to, 110. n. 120. n.
221. n.

Travelling between Moscow and
Petersburg, 51.

Treiden, Mademoiselle de, 44.

Troubestskoi, Prince, 33. 101. 153,
154. 273.

Tschetschenei, village of, 65.

Tschungar, peninsula of, 179. n.

Turkey, war with, 89. 95, 96. Am-
bassador from, 292.

Turks, army of the, 87. et seq. 203.
et seq. 219. et seq. 246.

Tutschef, Colonel, 211.

Tweermunde, 380.

Twer, town of, 10. 14.

Tweretz, the river, 61.

Tzan, the river, 61.

Tzchernantza, defiles of, 226.

Tzchertala, 151.

Ukrain, the, 10. 16. 68. 86. 91, 92
94. 115. 121, 122. 133. 136. 141.
142. 169. 193. 198. 212. 217. 264,

416

INDEX.

265. 274. 283. Cossacks of the,
16. 201. 215. Lines of the, 93, 100.

Ulrica Eleonora, Queen of Sweden,
315.

Upland, Swedish province of, 395.

Use-Swiatzki, village of, 31.

Ustiak-Veliki, 344. n.

Uxkul, Major-general, 302. 310.

Vely Bashaw, 205. 221. 224. 229.
233—235.

Vereyocky, river of, 360.

Vessels, flat-bottomed, 148.

Villeneuve, Count, French ambassador, 196. 245.

Vishnei Voloschok, 61.

Vistula, the, 76. 79.

Voiskowoy Ataman, the, of the Don
Cossacks, 21.

Volchova river, 61, 62.

Volga, the, 61.

Vasnesensk, town of, 150.

Vyera, De, 5.

Walache, Prince, 211.

Waletzka, river of, 226.

Walinski, M., 41. 194. 261. 266.

Wallachia, 213. 217.

Wallachians, regiment of, 225. 228.

Waltzien-Bujerak, 130.

Warsaw, 70. 86.

Wasabourg, Count, 313.

Wasilikow, fortress of, 220.

Wasili-Ostrow, island of, 10.

Water in the Crimea, 115. Yellow
springs in the steppes, 183.

Wedding, a ridiculous, 261.

Wedel, Colonel, 119, 120. 163. 186.
358, 359. 376, 377.

Weichselmunde, fort of, 76. 80. 82.

Weisbach, General Count, 91. 103.
136.

Weissenfels, Duke of, 77. 80.

Weldseck, Count, Austrian ambassador to Warsaw, 71. 194.

Weselowsky, Lieutenant, 250.

Wiesnowiski, Prince, 69.

Windscheck, Count Marshal, 85.

Willbrand, Colonel, 304.

Wilmanstrand, action of, 88. 303.
et seq. 358.

Winterfeld, Major, 287.

Wischnowski, Colonel, 339.

Wisniakoff, M., ambassador at Constantinople, 96. 98.

Wlodimer regiment, the, 117.

Wolchonsky, Prince, the Courtjes-
ter, 258.

Wolfenbuttel, Princess of, 1.

Wolga, the, 139. n.

Wologda, town of, 334.

Woronetz, 90. 93.

Woronzow, 322. 338. 342.

Wrangel, Major-general, 303. 305.
307. 310, 311. 314.

Wrangel, De, Major of the Dale-
carlia regiment, 395.

Wratislaw, Count, 49, 50.

Wuicezina, village of, 76.

Wyburg, cession of, 48. Garrison
of, 269, 270. 299. 302. 313. 316.
353. 364.

Yenikale, Straits of, 182.

Yenitschi, Straits of, 173. 180. n.
182. n.

Zaporavian Cossacks, the, 18—20.
100. 121. 166, 167. 191. 203, 204.
228.

Zaritzin, 151. 139. n. 293. n.

Zaritzinka, town of, 100.

Zbrutsch, the river, 221. n.

Zerbst, Princess of, 24.

Ziczakleya river, 167.

Zigankenberg, 74.

THE END.

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