Kelly W.K. The History of Russia: from the Earliest Period to the Present Time. Volume 2
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A.D.
1773]
EEBELLIOK
OF PUGATCHEF.
75
announced. Whilst
Catharine
in
reality
released
Moldavia,
Vallachia, Bessarabia,
Budjiak,
and the
Crimea
from
Turkey,
and secured for
her
country
the dominion
of the Black
Sea
and the
passage
of
the
Dardanelles,
she
contrived
to
have her
government
magnified
for its
inexpressible
mag-
nanimity.
Moreover,
Potemkin
took
good
care
that
those
conditions
of
the
treaty
of
Kutchuk
Kainardji,
which
were in
any
wise
advantageous
to
Turkey,
should
never be fulfilled.
About the time in which
Poland
was
fully
taken
possession
of
by
the
Bussians,
and
the
empire
of
the
Turks was
threat-
ened
with
destruction,
an adventurer raised
a
commotion
in the
interior
of Bussia which seemed to threaten
the
empress
herself,
but in
reality only brought
ruin on
the
educated
part
of
the
nation,
because neither
the
originator
of
the
rebellion,
nor those who attached themselves
to his
cause,
were in a condition to offer
any
permanent
opposition
to an
organised power.
Bussian
peasants
and
Cossacks
might
be
very
suitable instruments
for
terrible
devastations
and the
practice
of
enormous
cruelties,
and that indeed
they proved
themselves
to be
for a
year
and
a half
under
Pugatchef
;
but
they
were
by
no means
fit elements
to
lay
the
foundation of
a
permanent
revolution.
The rebellion
in
Bussia
of which
we are
now
about to
speak,
had
its
origin
in the
circulation
of a
report
that
Peter III. had
escaped
from
the
hands of
his
murderers
;
an
opinion
which,
however absurd
in
itself,
was
maintained
by distinguished
Bussians
and
ecclesiastics,
to
whom
Catharine's
philosophy,
her
splendour
and
extravagance,
and the
insolence
of her
favourites,
were
equally
hateful.
Just as in
the
period
of
the
false
Dmitris,
advantage
was
taken
of this
opinion
by
adventurers
in
various
parts
of
Bussia,
and
at various
times,
to excite disturbances or
to
promote
per-
sonal
designs.
It
is
said that
four Bussians and a
native
of
Montenegro
had
made
attempts
at
various times
to
pass
themselves
for Peter
III.
previous
to that
of
Pugatchef.
He
was more
fortunate than his
predecessors,
and
might
have
been
very
dangerous
had
he not
preferred
the character
of
a
leader of bands
of
barbarians
to that of
an
intelligent
friend
of
the
oppressed.
During
the two
years
of his
dominion,
he
proved
the worst
friend
to
himself,
lie was a Don
Cossack,
who
had
originally
served
among
his
countrymen
as
a com-
76
HISTORY OF
RUSSIA.
[CH.
XLIII.
mon
soldier,
and
afterwards as
an
officer
at
the
time
of the
conquest
of
Bender
;
at a
later
period
he
spent
some
time in
Poland
among
monks
and
ecclesiastics,
where
his
attention
was first
called to
his
alleged
resemblance
to
Peter
III.
Pugatchef
s
countrymen,
as well
as
almost
all
the
other
Cossacks
of
the
Don,
belonged
to the
old
orthodox
party
or
Eoskolniks
of the
Greco-Eussian
Church
;
he
no
sooner
re-
turned than
he found
adherents
among
them,
and
in
Malin-
kofka on
the
Volga
first
began
to
give
himself out
for
Peter
III.*
The
Eussians
themselves
paid
very
little
heed
to
the
extravagances
which
were
exhibited
by
Pugatchef
on
his
first
appearance.
He
was
seized
in
Malinkofka
and
brought
to
Kasan,
but
his
guards
were
so
negligent
that
he
found
means
of
escape,
and
immediately
set
about
col-
lecting
adherents
among
his
friends the
"Cossacks
on the
Yolga,
in
the
neighbourhood
of
the
Caspian
Sea.
Pugatchef
remained
on the
banks
of
the
river
Taikf
from
the middle
of
the
month
of
August,
1773,
till
the 17th
of
September
;
he
then
appeared
with
300
Cossacks
before
the
town
of
Taitsk,
and
published
a
manifesto
addressed
to
the
orthodox
believers,
and
calling
upon
them
to
acknow-
ledge
him as
Peter III.
The
number
of
his
partisans
speedily
became
very
great
;
immense
crowds of
the
rudest
tribes
collected
around
him
;
but
the
unprovoked
and
useless
cruelties
which
they
perpetrated
deterred all
respectable
and
educated
persons,
who
might
have
given
some
degree
of
importance
to his
cause,
from
joining
in
his
enterprise.
In
the
mean
time,
Pugatchef
had
collected
an
army
of
several
thousand
men,
and a
considerable
number
of
cannon
;
but he
besieged Orenburg
without
success from
the
beginning
of
October
till the 9th
of
November,
and
he
was
equally
un-
successful
in a
subsequent
attempt.
*
The
dreadful
nature of this
rebellion
may
he at
once
learned,
-without
going
into
details,
from
the
two
lists
which
are
given
as
a
supplement
to
the
account in
Busching's
Magazine:
—
1.
A list of
the
churches which
were
plundered
by
Pugatchef
and his
rabble,
which
occupies
three
pages
(52,
53,
54);
and 2.
A
list of the
persons
who
were murdered
by Pugatchef,
occupying
25
pages—
a fearful
catalogue
of names.
f
In order to
extinguish
all
remembrance of
Pugatchef's
rebellion,
the
river Yaik had
its
name
changed
to
Ural;
Yaitsk
to
Uralsk;
and
the Cossacks
of the Yaik to
the
Uralian
Cossacks.
A.D.
1774]
REBELLION OF PUGATCHEF.
77
Pugatchef
having
defeated
colouel
Tchernitchef,
who
had
been
sent
against
him in
December,
and
afterwards
general
Carr,
it
began
to be
thought
he would
make
rapid
progress
;
but
both
he and his followers
were
utterly
deficient
in
mili-
tary
capacity
and
in all sense of
discipline
and
order.
The
peasants
at first
rallied
around this barbarian
adventurer,
who
was half monk
and
half
soldier,
because
he
proclaimed
their
freedom,
sanctioned
the
rude outbreaks
of their barbarous
nature,
and
gave
them
opportunities
for
robbery
and
plunder.
His
success
against
his first
opponents
encouraged
him
to
push
northwards,
and he now caused
money
to
be
struck in
his
name,
as
if
he were the lawful
emperor.
Bibikof,
to
whom
Catharine
entrusted the command
of
the
troops
assembled
from
all
quarters
to act
against
the
rebels,
was
slow
and
uncommonly
cautious
;
he did not live to
see
the
end
of
the war
;
but
his
subordinate
commanders,
Galitzin
and
Michelson,
were
more active.
The
rebellion
assumed
a
dangerous
aspect,
because
the
Tatars,
Kirghis,
and Baskirs
seemed
disposed
to
take
advantage
of the occasion
to shake
off
the
Bussian
yoke.
The
people
rushed
in
crowds
to the
standard of
the
pretended
Peter
III.,
and
many
of
the
Poles
who had been
banished
from
their
country joined
in
the
rebellion
only
because
it was
raised
against
their
tyrants.
The
people
in and around
Moscow
itself were
anxiously
looking
for the
near
approach
of
the
rebels,
in
order
to
break out.
During
Bibikof's
illness,
and
up
till the
time of
the
nomination
of a new
commander-in-chief,
Michelson
appeared
to have
put
an
end to the
rebellion,
but
it
suddenly
broke
out
again
more
violently
than before.
Michelson
defeated the rebels
six or seven
times
in the
field
between
the
beginning
of March
and the end
of
May
;
Pugatchef's
partisans
were
routed,
and
he himself
being
hotly
pursued,
and
accompanied only
with
some
hundreds
of fol-
lowers,
fled
to
the
lake
of
Arga,
and
wandered
about
in the
Ural
Mountains.
At
this time
Panin had received
the
chief
command
of
the
imperial
army,
and
strengthened
himself
by
reinforcements
;
Pugatchef,
nevertheless,
presented
himself
anew,
and
wherever he
appeared
he collected
an
army.
On
the 4th of
June,
1774,
he
suffered a new defeat
on
the
Ufa,
and
again
fled to
the Ural
;
but
he
no
sooner
returned
again
from the mountains
in the
beginning
of
July,
than
he found
78
HISTOUY OF
EUSSIA.
[CH.
XLIII.
himself
at
the
head
of
22,000
men.
It then
appeared
as
if
all
the
Russian
vassals
would
unite
in his
cause,
with
a
view
to deliver
themselves
from
feudal
bondage
;
but
at
this
very-
time
he committed
three
grand
oversights,
which
made his
downfal
unavoidable.
He excited
the
indignation
of
all who
did
not
belong
to
the common
rabble,
by
setting
no bounds
or
measure
to
the cannibal
cruelties
which
were
perpetrated
by
his
followers
;
as a
Roskolnik
and
rude
barbarian,
he en-
raged
the
clergy
and
laity
by
the
plunder
and
burning
of
churches
and
convents
;
and
thirdly,
at
the decisive
moment
he
gave
a
wrong
direction
to
his
army.
He should
have
made
every
effort
to reach
Moscow
before
Michelson
over-
took
him,
for
there
was
the seat of
the old
Russian
faith
and
prejudices
which
he
wished to
restore
;
whereas,
instead
of
that,
he marched
upon
Kasan.
He succeeded
in
conquering
this
city,
formerly
the
capital
of
a Tatar
kingdom
;
but
when
he
found
himself
unable
to reduce
the
citadel,
he
laid
waste
everything
with
fire and
sword,
and
delayed
till
Michelson
came
up
and
compelled
him to retire
precipitately
beyond
the
Volga.
He
escaped
from
Michelson'
s
pursuit,
and
on
his
retreat
to the
Volga
burnt
and
destroyed
all before
him,
wasted
the
cultivated
land
like a stream
of
lava,
and
again
assembled
a
new
army
of
20,000
men.
The
severest
blow
was inflicted
upon
the industrious
and
moral
colonies
of
Moravian
bre-
thren
on
the
Volga,
who
at that
time formed
a
species
of
German
colony
under
Russian
protection.
In
Saratof
this
monster
caused
all those
who came
in
his
way
to be
mur-
dered
without
distinction
;
but
his fate overtook
him at the
siege
of
Zaritzin.
On the
22nd of
August
Michelson
com-
pelled
the
barbarians
to raise
the
siege
;
on
the 24th
they
were overtaken
in
their
precipitate
flight,
defeated,
cut
down,
or scattered.
Pugatchef,
completely separated
from
his
followers,
and
accompanied
by only
sixty
of
his most
faithful
partisans,
swam
over
the
Volga,
and
found
safety
on
the farther side
in
a desert
500 versts in
extent,
but was
there
cut off from
all
connexion with
any
inhabited
countries.
The
Russians, notwithstanding,
were
only
able
to
get
pos-
session
of
him
by
treachery;
they
won
over
some
of the
Cossacks
who
were
made
prisoners,
among
whom
was
Pugat-
chef's
best
friend,
Antizof,
released
them
from
their
imprison-
ment,
and
sent
them
over
the
Volga
to
deceive
their
friend,
A.D.
1774]
RISE
OF POTEMKIN.
79
and
to take
some
opportunity
of
mastering
his
person.
This
opportunity
did
not offer
itself
till
November,
when
they
took
him
by surprise,
bound
him,
and
conveyed
him to Goro-
deck
in the
Ural,
a
place
where
Antizof's tribe was the most
powerful.
They
afterwards
delivered
him
up
to the
Russians
in
Simbirsk,
who
immediately
conveyed
him
like a
beast
of
prey
to
Moscow,
where
he was
beheaded
and
quartered,
in
January,
1775,
together
with
four of his
principal
followers.
CHAPTER
XLIY.
RISE
OF
POTEMKIN
—
MODE OF
APPOINTING
AND DISMISSING
FAVOURITES
—
CONTINUED
ENCROACHMENTS
ON
TURKEY
AND
THE
CRIMEA
—
ARMED
NEUTRALITY
—
MASSACRE
OF
TAURIS
SCHEME OF
A NEW BYZANTINE
EMPIRE
—
POM-
POUS JOURNEY
OF
THE EMPRESS
TO
KHERSON,
Upon
the decline of Vassilitchikof
s
favour,
which lasted
but
twenty-two
months,
Gregory
Orlof
returned,
and
by
his
importunity
and insolence
regained
his
former
place
for
a
while.
In 1774
he was
driven
from
it a second
time
by
the
bold
and
colossal
Potemkin,
the
only
one
perhaps
of all the
empress's
favourites
who felt
a true
passion,
and wooed her
affections
on
this
ground
alone,
and not
from
ambition.
He
alone
could
console
her
majesty
in
secret,
under
the
uneasy
feelings
occasioned
by
the war
in
Turkey,
the
rebellion of
Pugatchef,
and the
vexatious
misunderstanding
that
pre-
\
ailed between
the
old
favourite
and
the minister
Panin.
Potemkin
grew presumptuous
;
success
increased
his
pride,
of
which
he
soon
became
the
victim.
One
day,
as
he was
playing
at
billiards
with
Alexis
Orlof,
Ik;
inconsiderately
boasted of
the
favour
he
enjoyed
;
and
even asserted
that
it
entirely depended
upon
him to remove
from
court
such
persons
as were
displeasing
to
him.
Orlof
made
a
haughty
reply.
Upon
this a
quarrel
ensued
;
in
the
heat of
which
Potemkin
received
a blow
that occasioned
the
loss of
an
eye.
This was
not
his
only
misfortune.
Gregory
Orlof,
informed
of the
affray
by
his
brother,
ran
to the
em-
press,
and
requested
Potemkin's removal
from
court.
Potemkin
retired
to
Smolensk,
his native
place,
where
he
remained
almost
a
year
in
solitude,
suffering
much
from
his
80
HISTOET
OF RUSSIA.
[CH.
XLIY.
eye,*
and
his
solitary
exile
from court.
At
one
time he de-
clared
his resolution
of
turning
monk
;
at another
vaunted
that
he
should become the
greatest
man in
Russia. At
length,
in a sudden
fit,
he
wrote to the
empress, beseeching
her
to
think of
him.
Her
majesty immediately
complied
-with
his
request,
recalled,
and
placed
him
again
in full
pos-
session
of
her
favour. Orlof had been for several
days
at the
sport
of
the chase.
His
absence
afforded an
opportunity
for
installing
Potemkin
at
the
palace
;
and
on
the
return
of
the
old favourite
no
complaints
or
reproaches
could
remove
the
new
one
from
his
exalted
situation.
It
may
be deemed
necessary
in this
place
to
explain
what
were
the
duties
expected
from,
and the
distinguished
honours
paid
to,
the favourites of Catharine.
When
her
majesty
had
made choice of
a
new
favourite,
she
created
him
her
general aide-de-camp,
in
order that
he
might
accompany
her wherever
she
went,
without
incurring
public
censure.
From
that
period
the favourite
occupied
in
the
palace
an
apartment
under
that
of his
royal
mistress,
with
which
it
communicated
by
a
private
staircase.
The first
day
of
his installation
he
received
a
present
of
100,000
rubles,
and
every
month he found
12,000
placed
on his
dressing-
table. The
marshal of the court
was
ordered to
provide
him
a table of
twenty-four
covers,
and
to
defray
all
his
household
expenses.
The favourite
was
required
to
attend the
empress
wherever
she
went,
and
was not
permitted
to
leave
the
palace
without
asking
her
consent.
He was
forbidden
to
converse
familiarly
with other
women
;
and if
he went
to dine
with
any
of his
friends,
the
absence
of the
mistress of the
house
was
always required.
"Whenever the
empress
cast
her
eyes
on one of her sub-
jects,
with
the
design
of
raising
him to
the
post
of
favourite,
he
was
invited to dinner
by
some
one of
her
female
confidants,
on
whom
she called
as
if it were
by
chance.
There
she
would
draw
the new
candidate
into
discourse,
and
judge
how
far he was
worthy
of
her destined
favour.
When
the
opinion
she
had formed
was
favourable,
a
significant
look
apprised
the
confidant,
who,
in her
turn,
made it known
to the
object
*
It
has
been
reported
that
the
injury
done to
his
eye might
have
been
cured;
but
that,
in his
impatience,
he burst
a
slight
tumour that
had
formed on the
side of
the
ball.
Se'gur
says,
that
he
purposely
put
out his
eye
to remove
a blemish
that
impaired
his
comeliness.
A.D.
1775]
THE
OFFICE OF FAVOURITE.
81
of
her
royal
mistress's
pleasure.
The
next
day
he
was
exa-
mined
as to
the
state of his
health
by
the
court
physician,
and
as to some
other
particulars
by
Mademoiselle
Protasof,
one
of
the
empress's
ladies,
after
which
he
accompanied
her
majesty
to
the
Hermitage,
and
took
possession
of
the
apart-
ment
that had
been
prepared
for
his
reception.
These
for-
malities
began
upon
the choice
of
Potemkin,
and
were
thenceforth
constantly
observed.
"When
a favourite
had
lost
the
art of
pleasing,
there
was
also a
particular
manner of
dismissing
him. He
received
orders to travel
;
and from
that moment
all
access
to
her
majesty
was
denied
him
:
but
he
was sure
of
finding
at
the
place
of his
retirement
such
splendid
rewards
as were
worthy
of
the munificent
pride
of Catharine.
It was
a
very
remark-
able feature
in
her character
that
none
of her favourites
incurred
her
hatred or
vengeance,
though
several
of
them
offended
her,
and their
quitting
office
did
not
always
depend
on herself.
Potemkin's rule commenced
at
the
very
time
in which
the
peace
of
Kutchuk
Kainardji
was
concluded
(July,
1774).
The
disputes
with Poland
and
the
rebellion
of
Pugatchef
were
no
sooner
ended
than he
immediately
violated
every
condition of that
treaty,
well
knowing
that
the
empress
would
approve
of
everything
he
might
do.
Dowlet
Gherai,
who
was elected
khan
by
the
now
independent
Tatars,
still
re-
mained
much
more
favourably
disposed
to
the Turks
than to
the
Eussians
;
the
latter,
therefore,
by
means
of
money
and
intrigues
raised
up
a
pretender
against
him
;
and
then,
under
pretence
of an
armed
mediation,
a Eussian
army
occupied
a
part
of
the
Crimea,
and
seemed
disposed
to make
the khan a
prisoner,
and to
seize
the whole
province.
Dowlet Grherai
took
refuge
with the
Turks
in
April,
1775,
and Sahim
Gherai,
who was
a mere creature
of
Eussia,
was elected
in his
stead,
to
the
great
satisfaction
of
the
Eussians,
who
foresaw that the
majority
of the
Tatars
would
oppose
the
new
khan,
and
thus furnish them
with
another
pretext
for
a
renewal of
hostilities.
A
war with
the Porte
appeared
unavoidable,
and
Romantzof
received
commands
to collect
a
considerable
army
on
the
Dniepr,
whilst
Eepnin
in
Con-
stantinople
was
endeavouring
to deceive
the
sultan,
and
Potemkin
betrayed
the
unfortunate ftahiin
Gherai.
VOL.
II.
O
82
HISTORY
OF
RUSSIA.
[cH.
XLIV.
By
this
time Potemkin
had ceased to be the
personal
favourite
of the
empress
;
but
he himself
recommended his
successors
in that
post
to her
notice. Potemkin
was indis-
pensable
to
Catharine in
consequence
of those colossal
under-
takings
which
procured
her
the
name of
great
;
and
because
the
fear
with which
he
inspired
all
her
enemies secured
to
her the
possession
of the
throne,
which
she
withheld
from
her
son
Paul.
Zavadofsky
had become the
occupant
of
the
apartments
of
the
royal palace
in
November, 1776,
and
been
created a
major-general
;
as
soon, however,
as he fell
under
Potemkin's
suspicion,
the
latter
authoritatively
insisted
upon
his dismissal.
Zavadofsky
had turned
against
his
patron,
and was
an
eager
favourer
of the
Orlofs and
field-marshal
Bomantzof. For
this
reason
Potemkin
succeeded in
obtain-
ing
leave of absence for the favourite
in
July,
1777,
in
order
to
provide
a
substitute
during
his
temporary
retirement
who
should
eventually displace
him.
Potemkin had
long
before
selected
a
major
Zoritch
for his
adjutant,
who was
politically
insignificant,
but
very
attractive
in his
hussar
uniform,
with
a view to
present
him to
the
empress.
Zavadofsky
had
no
sooner
left
the
palace
than
he carried
his
design
into
effect,
and the
empress
made
Zoritch a colonel
adjutant-general
and
her
companion.
At
the
expiration
of nine
months,
he too
fell under
Potemkin's
displeasure,
and was
obliged
to
retire,
for
the
empress
was
completely
under the
control of
her
minister.
Next
came
Korsakof,
a handsome
sergeant
in
the
guards,
who was
suddenly
raised to
the rank of
aide-de-camp
general.
He
too
was
indignant
at Potemkin's
unbounded
pride
and
avarice,
but
attempted
in vain to
open
the
eyes
of
the
empress
;
he was
obliged
to
yield
to the
influence of
the
indispensable
tyrant
after he had
enjoyed
the
favour of
the
empress
for
fifteen
months.
The
circumstances of
the
year
1778 were
peculiarly
favour-
able to
the
accomplishment
of Potemkin's
plans
of
conquest,
for war
had broken out
in the
spring
between
France and
England,
and both
powers
were so
fully occupied
in
the
west
that
they
had
no
leisure to attend
to
the
concerns
of
the
east.
Potemkin, therefore,
sent an
army,
commanded
by
Suvarof,
against
the
Kuban and
Budjiak
Tatars,
whilst
other Russians
penetrated
into
the
Crimea
and
were
guilty
of the most cruel
devastations.
This led
to
the
seizure
of
some Russian
ships
in
the
straits
of
the
Dardanelles
on the
A.D.
1780]
THE AEMED NEUTEALITY.
83
part
of
the
sultan,
who
was,
however,
unahle to commence
a
war
without
the
aid and
co-operation
of France.
But that
power,
unwilling
to break with
Russia,
insisted on
mediating,
and
the sultan
was forced
to
acquiesce.
The result
was,
that
the
Eussian
ships
were
restored,
and the sultan
formally
recognised
Sahim Gherai
as the
rightful
ruler of
the
Crimea.
Catharine
was so
pleased
with
the conduct
of
France
on
this
occasion,
that
she embraced
with
alacrity
the
plan
of
the
aemed
neutealitt,
which
was devised
by
the French
minister
Yergennes
;
and in 1780
she
put
herself
at
the
head
of
that
league
which
was
joined by
almost
all
the
powers
of
Europe
except
Great
Britain. It
was formed
for
the
purpose
of
resisting
the
right
asserted
by
our
own
navy
to
make
prize
of an
enemy's goods,
or
of
goods shipped
for
an
enemy's port,
wherever
found,
and even
though
covered
by
a
neutral
flag.
The
leading
principle
of
the
league
was
that
free ships
make
free
goods.
Great
Britain
would not
admit
this
;
but
at that time
she
did no
more
than
expostu-
late
with
her
good
friend
and
ally
the
empress
of Bussia.
It was
not until
the
reign
of
Paul
that she
waged
war
for
the
maintenance
of the
opposite principle,
which she has
spontaneously
repudiated
since
the
beginning
of
her
present
conflict
with
Eussia.
From
this
time forward
Potemkin,
Voltaire,
and
a host
of
flatterers,
amused the
empress
with
dreams of the
restoration
of
a
Byzantine
empire,
and the erection
of a new
capital
on
the
Black Sea.
Sahirn Gherai
prized
the slavish title
of a lieu-
tenant-colonel
in the
guards
of a
foreign empress
more
than
that
of
prince
of a nation
to
which
the Eussian czars for
many
years
had been
vassals,
and he renounced
the
national
costume
of his
people
in order to
glitter
in a Eussian
uniform
and
wear
the
decorations of the order
of St.
Anne.
Potem-
kin contrived
every
month to
alienate
him
more
and
more
from
his
people,
till
at
last
this
miserable
man was
induced
to
lay
down
his
khanate,
from which
he derived a revenue
of
three
or
four millions
of
rubles,
in
order,
as he
thought,
to revel
peacefidly
in
the
enjoyment
of some
hundred
thou-
sand
rubles,
which
Potemkin
was to
pay
him as the
newly-
appointed
Eussian
governor-general
of
Tauris,
as the
country
was
now to be called.
Potemkin
was too
much accustomed
to
receive and
not to
give,
and
to contract debts
without
1
Linking
of
paying
them,
to
give
himself
much
concern
about
o2
84*
HISTOET
OF
EUSSIA.
[CH.
XLIV
the
payment
of the
promised
salary,
although
the
empress
was led
to believe
that
the
yearly
sum
always charged
to
her
was
in
reality regularly paid
to
the khan.
The
shamelessness
of
the
Russian
government
on
this occasion
fully
equalled
the
audacity
of their
manifestoes
respecting
the
partition
of Po-
land,
or that of the
state-papers
of a Genz and
a
Talleyrand.
In
the
Russian
manifestoes
published
in
April,
1783,
it was
made
as
clear
as the
sun
to
the
Tatars,
that the
empress
and
Potemkin were
really proposing
to confer
upon
them the
most
signal
benefits.
It
was
stated
that
the
Tatars,
as Rus-
sian
subjects,
were
in
future
to be delivered
from all the
evils
of
their internal
disputes,
and
by
the
incorporation
of
the
Crimea,
the
Kuban,
and
the Eastern
Nogais,
an end was
to be
put
to those
oppressions
from which
they
had
hitherto
suffered
from the Turks and
the
Russians
alternately.
What
was the
correspondence
between
these
promises
and the sub-
sequent
reality, maybe
learned from all the works
of
recent tra-
vellers
who
have visited these
districts,
and
give
accounts
of
the
Crimea and the Tatars at the
present
day.
That
numerous,
free,
and rich race of
people,
clothed in
silks,
and of
noble
appearance,
has now dwindled into a crowd
of
starving beg-
gars
;
their
magnificent
tented cities are become
gipsy
en-
campments,
and
their
houses and
palaces
exhibit
mere
masses
of ruin and
decay.
These
manifestoes, indeed,
as is
usually
the
case,
were
not
intended for those
to
whoni
they
were
addressed,
but
merely
to
conceal in a cloud
of
words,
from the
eyes
of those at a
distance,
the
cruelties and bloodshed with which
they
were
accompanied.
The
Tatars made an effort
to defend their
liberties,
and
their
magnates
made no secret
of their dissatis-
faction
;
Potemkin, therefore,
had recourse
to one of those
heroic means
which
usually
find
defenders
enough
when
they
are
applied
for the
support
of the
true
faith and of autocratic
government,
and are
only
reviled and
execrated
in
the
hands
of a Danton and a
Robespierre.
He
proposed
by
a
single
massacre
summarily
to
annihilate the
malcontents,
and to
awe
the rest into
submission
by
the
dread
of
a similar fate.
Posorofsky
received
express
orders
to make
himself master
of
the
malcontents,
their
families,
and
adherents,
and
put
them
all to
the
sword
; he,
however,
possessed
moral
courage
enough
to
decline
the
business of an
executioner.
Potem-