Kelly W.K. The History of Russia: from the Earliest Period to the Present Time. Volume 2
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A.D.
1789]
AUSTR0-RTJSSIA>
T
WAR
WITH TURKEY. 105
advancing
thither
slowly
and
methodically,
when
the
Turkish
army encamped
in the
neighbourhood
of the town turned
suddenly upon
him.
and
filled
him with such
apprehensions
of
being completely
shut
in,
that instead of
boldly
doing
what Suvarof
afterwards
did,
he
anxiously besought
that
general's
speedy
assistance.
Suvarofs
army
was
lying
at Belat
in Moldavia
;
when
the
news reached
him
he
at once
began
a march of be-
tween
forty
and
fifty
miles
in a direct
line
over
mountains,
across ravines
and
pathless
wilds,
and
in
less
than
thirty-six
hours
reached
the Austrians on
the 30th of
July,
at five
o'clock in the
evening.
At eleven
that
night
he
sent the
plan
of the attack
upon
the
Turks,
which
was to commence
at
two
in the
morning,
to
the astonished
prince,
who had
never heard of such
rapidity
of
movement,
or seen
it
equalled
even
on
parade.
•
The bewildered
prince
went three
times to
Suvarof'
s
quarters
without
having
seen
him :
in the battle he
made no claim to the
supreme
command,
which
should have
belonged
to
him as the eldest
general,
but submitted
as a
subordinate to
Suvarof's
orders. The
Turks,
to
the amount
of
between
50,000
and
G0,000
men,
Avere in
position
at
Pokshani when the Russians and
Austrians
with
40,000
men
passed
the river
Purna and stormed
their
fortified
camp,
mounting
the
ramparts,
and
driving
them
in
at
the
point
of
the
bayonet,
as if
they
were
assaulting ordinary
field-works.
The
camp
was taken in an
hour,
with
the
loss of about 800
men
;
the whole
body
of
the Turkish
infantry
fell
into
di-order,
their
cavalry
galloped
ofi",
were scattered
in all
directions,
and
pursued
for some
miles with the
greatest
impetuosity
and vehement zeal. The whole
of
the
baggage
and
artillery,
all the
stores collected
in
Tokshani,
a
hundred
standards
and
seventy pieces
of
cannon,
fell into
the hands
of the
victors
;
the
Austrians exhibited
the same
zeal,
per-
severance,
and
courage
as the
Russians,
and
had
they pos-
sessed such
a
commander as
Suvarof,
they
would
have
reaped
immense
fruits
from
the
victory,
but
they
became
sensible,
as
early
as
August,
that
they
were in
want
of
a
proper
leader.
Suvarof
returned to
Moldavia;
Coburg
looked
quietly
on
whilst the Turks
were
collecting
a new
army,
and suffered
the
grand
vizier to
advance
without obstruction
in
Vallachia.
The
Turks
directed Hassan
Pasha,
who
lay
in
Ismail,
to make
105
HISTORY
OF RUSSIA.
[CH.
XLTI.
an
expedition
against
Repnin,
whilst
the
grand
vizier
was
to
march
against
prince
Coburg,
who had taken
up
a
position
at
Martinesti,
on the river
Rimnik. The news of this fresh
attack
no
sooner readied
the
Austrian
camp,
than
Coburg,
instead of
attempting
to
help
himself,
again
had
recourse to
Suvarof,
who
had
already
drawn nearer to
Coburg
from
Belat. The
grand
vizier's
army,
which
had been estimated
at
100,000
men,
pushed
forward
rapidly
by
Braila
(Ibrahil),
and
compelled
the
advanced
posts
of
the
prince
to retire
into their
camp.
Suvarof received
the
prince's
letter on
the
16th of
September, immediately
gave
orders
to
march,
and
two
days
afterwards succeeded
in
forming
a
junction
with
the
Austrians,
at
the
very
moment
in which
they
were to have
been attacked
by
the Turks.
The Austrians then
proved
anew
that
they
were not to
be
surpassed
when
not
commanded,
as
usual,
by princes
and
privileged persons,
who
become
generals
whilst
they sleep.
Coburg,
as
he had
previously
done at
Eokshani,
totally
re-
linquished
the command at Martinesti
to
Suvarof,
who im-
mediately
availed himself of the
oversight
of the Turks
in
not
fortifying
their
camp
before
they
offered
battle,
and
attacked them
by
storm
in their unfinished
trenches. The
issue was as
glorious
as it
had been
on
the 31st of
July
at
Fokshani
;
the
contest, however,
was
more
obstinately
main-
tained.
On this occasion the Russians
formed
the left
wing,
whilst the
centre
and
right
were
occupied by
the
Austrians,
whose
admirably-
served
artillery
scattered
the
Turkish ca-
valry,
which
had made an
attempt
to surround and
cut
off
the small
body
of the
Russians.
The
victory
in this dan-
gerous
and
hard-fought
battle
was
gained
not
merely
by
the
courage,
activity,
and
bayonets
of
the Austrian
and Russian
infantry,
but
especially
by
the
great
military
skill of
the com-
mander. His orders to avoid
the
village
of
Bochsa,
and
first
to drive the Turks
out
of
the
woods
by
which
they
were
covered
before
commencing
the main
attack,
have
been
greatly
admired,
and above all his
prudence
in not
sacrificing
the
infantry
in a blind
storm,
which were
the
more remark-
able
in a
general
accustomed to
bring everything
to a
rapid
determination.
The
victory
was
splendid,
the
booty
immense,
the Turkish
army
a
second
time
utterly dispersed,
—
a
necessary
conse-
A.D.
1789]
AUSTRIA WITHDRAWS FROM
THE WAR. 107
quence
of the nature of its
composition,—
and the number of
killed
and wounded
much
greater
than
at Pokshani. Prince
Coburg,
on account of
this
victory,
in which he was entitled
to little
share,
was created a field-marshal
;
Suvarof
received
the
dignity
of
a
count
of the
empire
from the
emperor
Joseph,
and
the
empress
of Russia for once
gave
an
honourable sur-
name to
a man who had
really
earned
it
by
his
personal
services
;
she
raised
him to
a
level with her Tchesmian Orlof
and her Taurian
Potemkin,
and called
him
Rimniksky,
from
the
name
of
the river
on
the banks
of which he
had
been
victorious.
The
victory
of
Rimnik and the
capture
of
Belgrade
by
Laudon on
the 9th
of October
were the
harbingers
of
greater
success. Hassan
Pasha,
the Turkish
high-admiral
and
cele-
brated
conqueror
of
Egypt,
whose confidence
in
his
good
fortune
had
encouraged
him to assume the command
of
an
army,
was
totally
defeated at
Tobac,
in
Bessarabia,
by prince
Potemkin,
and
his
discomfiture
was
followed
by
the
surrender
of
Bender,
Akerman,
Kilia
]Nova,
and
Isatza,
and
by
the
investment of Ismail.
At the
same
time
the
prince
of
Coburg
took Bucharest and
Hohenlohe,
forcing
the
passes
which lead into
Vallachia,
made
himself
master of Rimnik
and
Crajova.
Laudon also reduced Semen
dria
and
Cladova,
and
blockaded
Orsova, which,
being
situated
in
an island of
the
Danube,
was inaccessible
to
regular
attacks.
By
these
conquests
the
allies
became
masters of the whole line of for-
tresses
which covered
the
Turkish
frontier
;
the three
grand
armies,
originally separated by
a vast extent of
country,
were
rapidly converging
to the same
point,
and
threatened,
by
their united
force,
to
overbear all
opposition,
and in
another
campaign
to
complete
the
subversion
of the
Ottoman
empire
in
Europe.
But in the
midst of
this successful
career,
the
increasing
ferment
in the
hereditary
states of
Austria,
the
rebellion
in
the
Netherlands, and,
still
more,
the
interposition
of
the
maritime
powers
and
Prussia,
cheeked
the
hopes
of
Joseph
at the
very
moment
when his
projects
of
aggrandisement
seemed
hastening
to
their
completion.
Justly
alarmed
at
the
successes of
the
two
imperial
courts,
the
three
combined
powers
incited Poland
to
throw
off the
yoke
of
Russia,
de-
livered the
king
of Sweden
from Danish
invasion,
and laid
10S
HISTOEY
OF
RUSSIA.
[CII.
XLVI.
the foundation of a
general
alliance for
reducing
the
over-
grown
power
of
Austria and
Russia. The
king
of Prussia
even
encouraged
the
risiug
discontents
in
Hungary,
fomented
the troubles
which the
impolitic
innovations of
Joseph
had
excited in the
Netherlands,
and,
in the
beginning
of
1790,
opened
a
negotiation
with
the
Porte
for
the
conclu-
sion of an
offensive
alliance,
intended
not
only
to
effect the
restoration of the dominions
conquered during
the
existing
war,
but
even of
the
Crimea,
and
the
territories
dismembered
by
the two
imperial
courts from
Poland.
The
only power
to
which
Joseph might
have
turned as
a
counterpoise
to
this
combination
was
France,
from whose
recent
change
of
system
he had nattered himself
with
hopes
of a
cordial
support,
and
from which
he had
even
received
private
largesses
to a considerable amount. But now
France
w
T
as in
the throes of
her
great
revolution,
and
Joseph
was
left without a
resource.
Worn
down
by
innumerable cala-
mities and
disease,
he died in
February,
1.790
;
and his
suc-
cessor,
Leopold,
was fortunate
enough
to
conclude
a
sepa-
rate
peace
with
the Porte.
Russia continued
to
prosecute
the war
against
the
Turks
without the aid of Austria. Ismail still held
out,
and
Po-
temkin,
who
had been
besieging
it for
seven
months,
began
to
grow
impatient.
Living
in his
camp
like one of
those
satraps
whom he even
surpassed
in
luxury,
he
was
surrounded
by
a
crowd of courtiers
and
ladies,
who
exerted
every
effort to
amuse
him. One
of these
ladies,
pretending
to
read
the
decrees
of fate in
the
arrangement
of a
pack
of
cards,
predicted
that
he
would take the town
at the
end of
three Aveeks.
Potemkin
answered,
with a
smile,
that he
had
a
method of
divination far more infallible. He
instantly
sent
orders to
Suvarof to
come from Galatz and take
Ismail
in
three
days.
Suvarof
arrived and
took such
measures as
would seem to
indicate that he
designed
a
renewal of
the
regular
siege
;
he
drew
together
the scattered
divisions
of
the
troops,
formed
them into
a
large besieging
army
of
about
40,000 men,
and
or-
dered the small Russian
fleet to
come
into
the
neighbour-
hood
of the
city
;
but his real
design
was to follow the
course
he had
successfully pursued
before
Otchakof,
take
advantage
of
the
frost,
and reduce the
fortress
by
storm. Had
not Is-
mail,
according
to ancient
usage,
been built without
advanced
A.D.
1790]
STORM
or ISMAIL. 109
works,
a
general
even like Suvarof would
scarcely
have ven-
tured
on such
an
attack,
which in the actual
condition
of the
defences
was
attended
by
such murderous
consequences.
On
the 21st
of
September
the
city
was twice
summoned,
and on
both occasions
the
garrison
and
inhabitants
were
threatened
with
the
fate of Otchakof. The
Turks,
however,
did not
suffer
themselves
to
be
terrified into
submission,
and
the
fearful
storm
was commenced on the
22nd,
at
four o'clock
in the
morning.
The Avail was
not
mounted
till
eight
o'clock,
after
an
unexampled
slaughter
;
but still the hottest
part
of
the
struggle
took
place
in
the
city
itself.
Every
street was con-
verted
into
a
fortress,
every
house became
a
redoubt,
and
it
was
twelve o'clock before the
Russians,
advancing
through
scenes
of
carnage
and
desperate
resistance,
reached
the
market-place,
where
the Tatars of the Crimea were collected.
The Tatars
fought
for two
hours
with all
the
energy
of
despair,
and
after
they
had
been all
cut
to
pieces
the
struggle
was
still
carried on
by
the
Turks in the streets.
Suvarof at
length opened
a
passage
for
his
cavalry
through
the
gates
into
the
devoted
city
;
they
charged through
the
streets,
and con-
tinued
to
cut
down and
massacre
the
people
till
four
o'clock
in the afternoon. At
the conclusion
of
this
dreadful
butchery
the Russians received the reward which
had been
promised
them when
they
were
led to
the storm
and to certain
death,
—
the
city
was
given
up
for three
days
to the
mercy
of
the vic-
torious
troops.*
Suvarof
himself,
in his official
report
of
this murderous
enterprise,
states,
that
in the
course
of four
days
33,000
Turks
were cither slain or
mortally
wounded,
and
10,000
taken
prisoners.
He
rates the
loss
of the
Russians
at 2000
killed and
2500 wounded: a
number which
seems to us as
improbably
small as
the usual
accounts,
which
assign
15,000
as
the
Russian
loss,
seem
exaggerated.
There
were
two
French
emigrants present
at this
storm,
one of whom after-
wards became
celebrated
as a
Russian
governor-general
and
French
minister,
and
the
other
as
a
Russian
general
in
the
war
against
his
countrymen.
The first was the duke
de
*
Catharine,
elated
with
Suvarof's
victories,
said to
Sir Charles
Whitworth,
the
English
ambassador,
"Sir,
since
the
king
your
master
is
determined to
drive
me out
of
Petersburg,
I
hope
he
will
permit
me
to
retire to
Constantinople."
110
HISTORY OF RUSSIA.
[CH.
XLVI.
Richelieu,
or as lie
was then
called de
Eronsac,
and
the
second the
count de
Langeron.
Kutusof also
served
in
this
affair under
Suvarof,
and led
the
sixth
line of
attack.
About this time
the whole
diplomacy
and
aristocracy
of
Europe
were
busily
employed
in
endeavouring
to
rescue
the
Turks,
in
order
to check
the
dangerously rapid
progress
of
the
French and
Polish
revolutionists. There
speedily
grew
up
such a
general
desire as the
English
wished to
promote
—
of
two
evils to
choose
the
least
—
to secure
and
uphold
the
em-
pire
of the
Turks and to let
the
nationality
of
Poland
perish.
Russia,
however,
declined the
proffered
mediation
of
England
in
the war with
the
Turks,
as she had
resolved
for this
time
to
give
up
her
conquests
in
Turkey
in
order to
indemnify
herself in
Poland
: she
accepted merely
the
intervention
of
the
friendly
Danes.
Potemkin and
the
empress
were not
unthankful
for
Suva-
rof's
servility,
since he threw
himself and all his
services
at
their
feet,
and
ascribed
everything
to
them alone.
Repnin,
whom
Potemkin left at
the head of
the
army
when
he
went
to
Petersburg
in
October, 1790,
pursued
a
very
different
course,
doing
more
in
two months than
Potemkin
had
done
in three
years.
He crossed the
Danube with his
army,
pushed
forward
into
Bulgaria,
and caused the
whole Turkish
army
to
be
attacked
and beaten near
Babadagh by
Kutusof,
after
Gudovitch,
the brother
of
him
who
had been
the
faithful
aide-de-camp
of Peter
III.,
had
completely put
down
the
Tatars
in the Kuban
in
January,
1791. At
the
head
of
40,000
Russians,
Repnin
then
advanced
against 100,000
Turks,
under the command of the
same
vizier,
Tussuf,
who
had
fought
with such
success
against
the
emperor
Joseph
in
the
Bannat.
Potemkin,
eager
to
appropriate
the
impending
victory,
flew
with the
rapidity
of
lightning
from
Petersburg
when
both
armies were
ready
for
battle
(July,
1791).
He
took it
for
granted
that
Repnin
would
certainly
await
his
arrival at
the
army
;
but
he did
no
such
thing.
He
offered
battle
before
the
arrival
of
Potemkin,
whose
custom it
was
to
enjoy
the
fruits in the
gathering
of
which
he had no
share.
The
victory
which
Repnin gained
over
the
great
Turkish
army
in
July
at
Matchin led
to
a
violent
altercation
between
him
and
Potemkin,*
who
came
too late
to
have
any
partici-
*
His
interview
with
Repnin
was an
amusing
scene.
"
You
little
A.D.
1792]
PEACE OE
TASSf
—
DEATH
OF
POTEMKIK.
Ill
pation
in
the honours
of
the
day
;
Bepnin,
however,
still
re-
mained
in
command
of the
army.
Potemkin
afterwards
did
everything
in his
power
to
prevent
the
peace
for which
Bep-
nin
was to
negotiate, although
he
clearly
saw
that the
course
of
events
required
the Bussians to
give
up
this
wholesale
conquest
of
Turkish
provinces.
Happily,
his
death left
Eepnin'
s
hands
free,
and a
treaty
was
concluded at
Tassy
on the
9th
of
January,
1792,
between Eussia and
the
Porte,
by
which the former
acquired
nothing
more than
the
fortress
of
Otchakof,
the
surrounding
territory
from
the
Dniestr to
the
Bog,
and
the
protectorate
of
Georgia.
CHAPTEE XL
VII.
DEATH
OE
POTEMKIN
—
HIS CHAEACTEE
—
MOMONOF
—
PLATO
ZTJBOF
A GLIMPSE
OF CATHAEINE's PRIVATE
LIFE
—
EFFECT OF
THE
FEENCH
BEVOLTJTION ON CATHAEINE's MIND
—
FINAL PABTITION
OF POLAND
—
ANNEXATION OF
COTTE-
LAND.
Not
long
after
Potemkin's
arrival
at
Tassy,
where his
head-quarters,
or
to
speak
more
properly,
his
capital
and
his
court
were
established,
he was
seized
with a
malignant
fever,
and
presumed
to treat it
with the same
haughty
contempt
with which
he
had
long
been used to treat his
fellow-men
:
he
laughed
at
his
physicians,
and ate salt meat
and raw tur-
nips.
His disease
growing
worse,
he desired
to
be
conveyed
to
Otchakof,
his
beloved
conquest,
but had not
travelled
more
than a
few
miles
before
the air of
his
carriage
seemed
to
stifle
him.
His cloak was
spread
by
the
road-side;
he
was
laid
on
it,
and
there
expired
in the
arms
of his
favourite
niece
Braniekn.
Catharine
fainted three
times when she
heard of
his death
:
it
was
necessary
to
bleed her
:
she
was
thought
martinist
priest,"
said
he
(Repnin
was a
zealous
martinist),
"
how
durst
you
undertake
so
many things
in
my
absence? Who
gave you
any
such
orders?"
Ucpnin, enraged
at
this
speech,
and
emboldened
by
success,
dared for once to
behave
with
firmness:
"
I
have
served
my country,"
he
answered;
"
my
head is
not at
your
disposal,
and
you
are
a devil
whom
I
ilefy."
Saying
this
he
went out of the
room
in a
tage,
slamming
the
door on
l'otemkin,
who rushed after
him with his
list
clenched.
The two
heroes of
Russia
were
within an
ace of
having
a
boxing-match
witli each
other.
112 HISTORY
OF RUSSIA.
[CH.
XLVII.
to be
dying.
She
expressed
almost as
much
grief
a3
at the
death of
Lanskoy
;
but
it
was not
the lover
she
regretted
;
it
was the friend whose
genius
assimilated with
her
own,
whom
she considered
as the
support
of her
throne,
and
the
executor
of
her vast
projects.
Catharine
holding
her
usurped
sceptre,
was a
woman
and timid
: she was
accustomed
to
behold in
Potemkin
a
protector
whose
fortune
and
glory
were
inti-
mately
connected
with
her own.
She
appeared
to
feel
herself
again
a
stranger:
she
began
to fear her
son,
and
took
for
her
support
her
grandson
Alexander,
who was
just
emerging
from
boyhood,
with
intent to
oppose
him to
his
father.
What
a
contrast,
what a
lesson,
does the
death
of
the
three
greatest
personages
in
Russia offer
!
Gregory
Orlof,
who
reigned
twelve
years by
the side
of
Catharine,
died in a
wretched state of
insanity.
The
mighty
and
magnificent
Potemkin,
the founder
of so
many palaces
and
cities,
the
conqueror
of
a
kingdom,
expired
on
the
road-side
;
Catharine herself fell down in
her
water-closet in
a
fit,
and
expired
witli a lamentable
shriek.
The character of this
Russian
vizier has
been
thus
sketched
by
count
Segur,
who,
as
ambassador
to St.
Petersburg,
lived
long
in
habits
of
intimacy
with
him
:
"
Prince
Gregory
Alexandravitch
Potemkin
was
one of
the
most
extraordinary
men of his times
;
but in
order
to
have
played
so
conspicuous
a
part,
he must
have
been
born in
Russia,
and have lived in the
reign
of
Catharine
II. In
any
other
country,
in
any
other
times,
with
any
other
sovereign,
he
would have been
misplaced
;
and it
was a
singular
stroke of
chance
that created
this
man
for
the
period
that
tallied
with
him,
and
brought together
and
combined all
the
circum-
stances with which he could
tally.
"
In
his
person
were collected the
most
opposite
defects
and
advantages
of
every
kind. He was
avaricious
and
osten-
tatious,
despotic
and
popular,
inflexible and
beneficent,
haughty
and
obliging, politic
and
confiding,
licentious
and
superstitious,
bold and
timid,
ambitious and
indiscreet.
Lavish
of his
bounties to his
relations,
his
mistresses,
and
his
favourites,
yet
frequently
paying
neither
his
household
nor
his creditors.*
His
consequence
always depended
on
a
*
When
a creditor
presented
himself with his
bill,
Potemkin
would
say
to his
secretary,
"Why
don't
you
pay
this
man?"
giving
him
at
A.D.
1792]
CHARACTER
OF POTEMKIX.
118
woman,
and
lie was
always
unfaithful
to her.
Nothing
could
equal
the
activity
of his
mind,
or
the indolence of his
body,
!No
daugers
could
appal
his
courage
;
no
difficulties force
him
to abandon
his
projects.
But the success of
an enter-
prise
always
brought
with
it
disgust.
"
He
wearied
the
empire
by
the number of his
posts
and
the extent of
his
power.
He was himself
fatigued
with the
burden
of his
existence
;
envious of
all that he did not
do,
and sick
of all
that
he did.
Eest
was
not
grateful
to
him,
nor
occupation
pleasing.
Everything
with him was desul-
tory;
business,
pleasure,
temper,
carriage.
In
every
com-
pany
he had
an
embarrassed
air,
and his
presence
was a,
restraint on
every company.
He
was morose to
all that
stood
in awe of
him,
and caressed
all
such
as accosted
him
with
familiarity.
"
Ever
promising,
seldom
keeping
his
word,
and never for-
getting anything,
none
had read less
than
he
:
few
people
were better informed.
He had
talked with the
skilful
in
all
professions,
in
all
the
sciences,
in
every
art.
None better
knew how to
draw
forth and
appropriate
to
himself the
knowledge
of others.
In
conversation
he
would
have asto-
•
T
•
TT"
nished a
scholar,
an
artist,
an
artisan,
or
a divme.
His
in-
formation
was not
deep,
but
it
was
very
extensive.
He
never dived
into a
subject,
but
he
spoke
well on all
subjects.
"The
inequality
of
his
temper
was
productive
of an
in-
conceivable
oddity
in his
desires,
his
conduct,
and his manner
of life. One while
he formed
the
project
of
becoming
duke
of
Courland
;
at another
he
thought
of
bestowing
on
himself
the
crown
of Poland.
He
frequently gave
intimations
of an
intention
to
make
himself a
bishop
or
even
a
simple
monk.
He built
a
superb palace,
and wanted to sell
it
before
it was
finished. One
day
he
would dream of
nothing
but
war
;
and
only
officers,
Tatars,
and
Cossacks
were admitted
to
him
:
the
next
day
lie
was busied
only
with
politics
;
he would
partition
the
Ottoman
empire,
and
put
in
agitation
all
the
cabinets of
Europe.
At other
times,
with
nothing
in
his head
but
the
court,
dressed
in
a
magnificent
suit,
covered
with
ribbons
presented
to
him
by every potentate,
displaying
diamonds
of
the
same time
a secret
sign
in what
way
payment
was to be
made.
If
Potemkin closed
his
liand,
the
secretary
gave
the
man
money;
if lie
opened
it,
the
poor
fellow
was sent to
Siberia.
VOL.
II.
I
114
HISTORY OF RUSSIA.
[CH.
XLVII.
extraordinary
magnitude
and
brilliance,
lie
was
giving
superb
entertainments
without
any
cause.
"
He
was sometimes
known for a
month,
and
in the
face
of
all the
town,
to
pass
whole
evenings
at the
apartments
of
a
young
woman,
seeming
to have
alike
forgotten
all
business
and all decorum.
Sometimes
also,
for several
weeks
succes-
sively,
shut
up
in his room
with
his
nieces and
several
men
whom
lie
honoured
with his
intimacy,
he
would
lounge
on a
sofa,
without
speaking,
playing
at
chess,
or at
cards,
with
his
legs
bare,
his shirt collar
unbuttoned,
in
a
morning
gown,
with a
thoughtful
front,
his
eyebrows
knit,
and
presenting
to
the view of
strangers,
who came to see
him,
the
figure
of a
rough
and
squalid
Cossack.
"
These
singularities
often
put
the
empress
out of
hu-
mour,
but rendered
him
more
interesting
to her. In
his
youth
he
had
pleased
her
by
the ardour of his
passion,
his
valour,
and
his
masculine
beauty.
Being
arrived
at matu-
rity,
he charmed
her still
by
flattering
her
pride,
calming
her
apprehensions,
confirming
her
power,
and
caressing
her
fan-
cies
of
Oriental
empire,
the
expulsion
of
the
barbarians,
and
the restoration
of
the Grecian
republics
"
Potemkiu
began
everything, completed
nothing,
disor-
dered
the
finances,
disorganised
the
army, depopulated
his
country,
and
enriched
it
with
other deserts.
The fame
of
the
empress
was
increased
by
his
conquests.
The
admiration
they
excited was for
her;
and
the hatred
they
raised,
for
her
minister.
Posterity,
more
equitable,
will
perhaps
divide
be-
tween them both
the
glory
of the successes and the
severity
of the
reproaches.
It will
not
bestow
on Potemkin the
title
of a
great
man
;
but it
will
mention
him
as
an
extraordinary
person;
and,
to draw his
picture
with
accuracy,
he
might
be
represented
as the real
emblem,
as the
living image
of the
Russian
empire.
"
For,
in
fact,
he was colossal like Russia.
In
hi3
mind,
as
in that
country,
were
cultivated
districts
and desert
plains.
It also
partook
of the
Asiatic,
the
European,
the
Tatar,
and
the
Cossack
;
the
rudeness
of
the
eleventh
cen-
tury,
and the
corruption
of
the
eighteenth
;
the surface
of
the
arts,
and
the
ignorance
of the
cloisters
;
an outside
of
civilisation,
and
many
traces
of barbarism.
In
a
word,
if
we
might
hazard so
bold a
metaphor,
even
his two
eyes,
the
one