Kelly W.K. The History of Russia: from the Earliest Period to the Present Time. Volume 2
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A.D.
1767-8]
CESSION
OF
HOLSTEIN
AND SCHLESW1G.
15
overthrow
everything.
Russia
was
in
fact
so certain
of
accomplishing
her
ends,
that
notwithstanding
the
numerous
protestations
which
were
made
against
what
was
going
for-
ward
in
AVarsaw,
and
in
contempt
of
the armed confedera-
tions
which
were
on
foot
in all
parts
of
the
kingdom,
she
suifered
a
portion
of her
troops
to
be
withdrawn,
because
the
diet
had
agreed
to all
her
demands.
The
sittings
of
that
body
were
drawing
to
a close
;
it
had
adopted
all the
proposals
of
the
committee,
recognised
the
rights
of
the
dissidents,
re-
established
the
old constitution
and all
its
abuses,
and
also,
on
the
28th
of
February,
1768,
sanctioned
the
treaty
by
virtue
of
which
Poland
was
for
ever
placed
under
the
guar-
dianship
of
Russia.
This took
place by
means
of what
was
called
the
friendly
agreement
with
Russia,
by
virtue of
which
that
power
was
recognised
as
the
guarantee
of the
Polish
con-
stitution,
and therefore
justified
in
interfering
with
all the
internal
affairs
of
the
kingdom,
whilst
neither
the diets
of the
provinces
nor
those
of the
kingdom
could
come
to
any
binding
resolution
without
the sanction
of
Russia.
This
last deter-
mination
roused
the
spirit
of
the
patriots,
and
made an
easy
game
for
the
fanatics
who
formed
the
confederation
of Barr.
Krasinski
had first
excited
the most
ardent
among
the
Catholics
to resist
the
extension
of new
rights
to
the dissi-
dents
;
and
then
Pulawski
and
Potocki
united
these
malcon-
tents
into
a new
confederation
opposed
to
the
general
con-
federation
of
the diet.
The
government
in
Warsaw,
wholly
dependent
as
it was
on
Repnin,
could
calculate
on the
Russians
alone
for
sup-
port.
Even
the
Polish
diet
formally
solicited
their
aid,
at
the
end of
March,
to assist
in
putting
down
the
con-
federates,
who were
designated
as
rebels.
This
step
was
taken
in
consequence
of
the
latter
having
at
length
made
themselves
masters of
the fortress
of
Barr,
the town
having
been
already
long
in
their
power.
In
compliance
with
this
demand a
new Russian
army
under
Soltikof
advanced
into
Poland.
The
Poles were
always
defeated
in
serious
engage-
ments,
and the
Russians
avenged
their
guerilla
warfare
by
devastation,
burning,
and murder.
It
was
about
this
time
(in
1767)
that
Catharine
Bigned,
in
the
name of
her
son
Paul,
a
treaty
with
Christian
\
II.,
which was
ratified
on the
young
grand-
duke,
heir
to
IIol-
46
HISTOET
OF
ETJSSIA.
[CH.
XLI.
stein-Gottorp,
attaining
his
majority,
1st of
July,
1773.
By
virtue
of
this
act,
against
which Sweden
vainly
protested,
Paid
ceded
to the
royal
family
of Denmark all
his
rights
to
the
duchy
of
Holstein-G-ottorp
and
to
Schleswig,
in
exchange
for
Oldenburg
and
Delmenhorst,
which the
emperor Joseph
II.
immediately
erected into
a
duchy,
and
governed
for
the
space
of
three
days
;
at the
expiration
of this time Catha-
rine's son
gave
the
new
duchy
to
his
relative,
Frederick
Augustus, prince-bishop
of
Liibeck,
head of the
house
of
Holstein-Eutin,
a
younger
branch
of his
own
family.
CHAPTER
XLI.
WAR
WITH TUEEJ5T.
Potocki,
generalissimo
of
the confederation
of
Barr,
was
unable
to
make head
against
his
opponents
;
in
May,
1768,
he was
vanquished
in
the
field,
and
obliged
to take
refuge
in
the Turkish
territory
beyond
the Dniestr. This
occurred
at the time in
which
the
comte de
Vergennes,
one
of the
ablest of the
French
diplomatists,
filled the
post
of
minister
in
Constantinople,
and
by
Choiseul's
command he
lost
no
opportunity
of
encouraging
and
urging
the
Turks to
support
the
cause of the
Poles.
The
Turks had
long
observed with
great
jealousy
that
the
Poles were more
and
more driven
upon
their
territories,
and
that one
place
after
another was seized and
occupied
by
the
pursuing
Eussians
;
and
when at
last,
in
June,
1768,
the
latter took
possession
of
Biala and
Sulatck,
the Turks de-
clared
to the
Prussian
minister
their
determination to
render
assistance
to the
oppressed
Poles and
summon
the Tatars
to
arms.
The
Eussians now
seeing
that
a war with
Turkey
was
unavoidable,
were
eager
to
put
an
end
to the
Polish
war
before
a new
one
should
begin.
They
sent considerable
reinforcements
to their
army
in
Poland,
and issued
orders
for the
reduction
of Barr
and
Cracow,
the two
bulwarks
of
the
confederation,
at
any
cost,
and
without
regard
to
the
A.D.
1768]
WAR
WITH TURKEY.
47
loss of men.
Ban* was
taken
by
storm
at the end
of
July,
4000 Poles
were cut
down,
and the
treasures which had
been
brought
from
a
distance into this
place
of
security
were
plundered.
Both Krasinski
and Potoeki
had the
good
for-
tune to
escape.
They
at first
took
refuge
in
Mohilef,
but
immediately
afterwards found it
advisable to seek the
pro-
tection of the
Turks in
Khotchim.
Many
of the
scattered
Poles followed the
example
of
their leaders and
assembled
in
Moldavia,
especially
in
that
part
of it
which
lay
near the
Polish
frontiers,
and was under the
dominion
of
the
khan of
the
Tatars.
The small
town of Balta
was
situated
in
this
district,
which on the one
side touched on
Bessarabia,
and
on the
other
was
separated
from
the
Ukraine
only
by
a
small
brook.
The
destruction of
this
little town
first
gave
occasion
to the
war with
the
Turks,
and
afterwards to the
fall of the
Tatar
power.
The Tatar commander
in
Balta not
only
received the
fugi-
tive
Poles into the
town,
but
suffered
them,
after the
Tatar
fashion,
to make
predatory
incursions
into
the Polish terri-
tory.
Colonel Weissmann cut
down these
confederated
Poles
by
hundreds wherever he
could meet
with
them,
fol-
lowed
them across
the
Turkish
frontiers,
conquered
and
plundered
the small town
of
Balta,
and
laid
it
in ashes.
The
news of this
daring
violation
having
reached
Constantinople
on
the 13-14th of
July,
1768,
the
mufti
at
length granted
the
ecclesiastical
sanction
(fetwah)
for the
commencement of
war,
which
had
been
long
sought
from
him
in vain
;
the
grand
vizier
was
removed
from his
office,
and orders
were
issued
to the Tatar khan. The
miserable Turkish
govern-
ment,
however,
allowed six
weeks to
elapse
before the
war
Mas
actually begun
;
and the
Russians availed
themselves
of
the interval to
reduce
Cracow,
where indeed
thc3
r
met with ;:
more
determined
resistance than
before Barr.
The Poles
now
continued
to
carry
on
a war of devastation and
murder
with
i lie
Russians
and with
their
countrymen
who adhered
to
the
government,
so that
this
miserable
country
was
wasted
in all
directions
by
fire
and
sword,
and
cruelties
of
the
most
shocking
description
were
practised
by
the
Russians,
to
whom the
confederates
were
unable
to
offer
an v
opposition
ill
Hi'-
Held.
At
length
the
Turks
appeared
on
the
stage.
They
had
given
the
Russians time
enough
to
prepare
for
48
HISTOEY
OF RUSSIA.
[CH.
XLI.
the
war,
for
they delayed
their
declaration
from
July
till
October :
they
calculated
particularly
upon
the services
of
the
Nogai
Tatars,
whose
khan,
however,
the
Turks
distrusted
;
he was therefore
deposed,
and
Krimgerai,
an
able
general
whom the Russians
both feared
and
hated,
was
named in his
stead.
Meanwhile
hostilities had
begun long
before the
actual declarations
of
war,
and
hordes of
Tatars
had carried
away
thousands
of the colonists
of New Servia before
they
were driven back
into their
steppes
(in January, 1769)
by
the Russians
under lsakof. In this
year
the
Russians set
on foot three
armies
;
the one
in Podolia under
prince
Alexander Gallitzin
was to
take
Khotchim,
and then
occupy
Moldavia:
this
general,
however,
was
unequal
to the task.
The
second,
under Peter
Romantzof,
was to cover and
pro-
tect the frontiers of Russia between
the
Dniepr
and the
Sea
of
Azof
against
the incursions
of the
Tatars,
and
to recover
the
fortresses of
Azof
and
Taganrok,
which had
been sur-
rendered
by
the
treaty
of
Belgrade.
The
third,
under
general
Weissmann,
was
destined to act
against
the
Poles
;
and
at
the same
time,
in
order to
prevent
other Poles
who
were now
quiet
from
joining
their
countrymen
in
arms,
Repnin
was recalled
from
Warsaw,
and
Volkonsky,
a man
of
milder
character,
was sent
thither in his
stead.
The
Turkish
army
advanced
with
great boasting,
and
accompanied
by
innumerable
multitudes of
people
;
but it was far
more
destructive
to
Moldavia and
Vallachia than
dangerous
to
the
enemy.
Gallitzin'
s
failure, therefore,
in his
first
attack
upon
Khotchim
must be
attributed,
not to
his
opponents,
but
to his
own
incapacity
;
and in the
beginning
of
May (1769)
he was
again
obliged
to
retreat
beyond
the Dniestr.
The
only
able man
among
the Turks and
Tatars was
Krimgerai,
the new
khan
;
but he
died
suddenly,
just
as the
Turkish
army
was
advancing
which he
was to
join.
The
grand
vizier was
no better
a
general
than
Gallitzin,
but he
knew
his
deficiency
and the
nature of
his
army,
and therefore
avoided
the risks
of a battle.
In
other
respects,
he left
the
whole
direction
of the
army
to
Chalil
Pasha,
seraskier
of
Rumelia and
Khotchim,
and
to
Moldavandji
Pasha,
a man of
foolhardy
impetuosity.
Gallitzin
drew
together
large
rein-
forcements
in
Podolia,
and
passed
the Dniestr
a second
time
in
the same
year,
1769.
He
closely
blockaded
Khotchim,
and
A.D.
1769]
WAR TVITH TTJBKEY.
49
many bloody
skirmishes
were
fought
in its
neighbourhood.
In these
the Russians were
almost
always
victorious,
but
the
grand
vizier succeeded
in
avoiding
a
regular
battle.
In
consequence
of this
harassing
warfare,
Gallitzin,
after
having
lost
great
numbers of
his
troops,
notwithstanding
his
victo-
ries,
was
again obliged
to retire
beyond
the
Danube.
This
campaign
was
equally
inglorious
and hurtful
to
the
Turks
and the
Russians,
and both
the
grand
vizier and
Gal-
litzin were
removed
from their
respective
commands
;
their
fates,
however,
were
very
different. Gallitzin
was
created a
field-marshal,
because,
a few
days
before his
departure
from
the
army,
Weissmann,
one of his subordinate
generals,
had
achieved some
splendid
successes,
after
he
himself
had
lost a
whole
year
in
marching
to and
fro,
and sacrificed
20,000
men
to
no
purpose
;
the
grand
vizier,
on the
other
hand,
because
he had
wisely
spared
his
people,
and
gained
greater
advantages
by
his
delays
than he
could
have
secured
by
a
decisive
engage-
ment,
was
beheaded
in
Adrianople
immediately
after his
de-
position.
Moldavandji
Pasha succeeded
him as
grand
vizier.
Eomantzof
appeared
on
the 27th
of
September
to
relieve
Gallitzin of his
command,
but in
the
beginning
of the month
the
fortune of war had
already
decided
in favour of the
Rus-
sians. The new vizier had most
inconsiderately
followed the
Russians
across
the
Dniestr,
which
brought
him
into con-
tact
with
general
"Weissmann.
This
able commander
allowed
one
division
of
the
Turkish
army
after another to
cross
the
river
without
molestation
;
but
they
had
no
sooner
reached
the
further
bank
than he
attacked
and
defeated
them.
Their
bridge
was afterwards carried
away
by
the
stream,
and
Weissmann
having
defeated the
enemy
in two
pitched
battles,
destroyed
30,000
of them in a
series of
engage-
nta,
which
were
always
favourable to the
Russians.
A
still
greater
number,
particularly
of
Asiatics,
forsook
their
colours
in
autumn,
according
to
the
Turkish cus-
fcom,
and retired
to their
homes for the
winter.
The
Russians
pursued
the
fugitives
on the farther
side of
the
river,
and were
astonished
beyond
measure as
they
ap-
proached
Khotchim to find
that the
whole
garrison
of
this
important
fortress had
been
seized
with
a
panic
and
fled,
and that on
the 20th of
September they
were suffered
to
trch
in
and
take
possession
without the
slightest
opposi-
VOL.
II.
E
50 HISTORY
OF RUSSIA.
[CH.
XLI.
tion. This
occurred seven
days
before Grallitzin
surrendered
his
command into the hands
of Romantzof. Soon
afterwards
Chalil
Pasha,
who
had been removed
by
the late
vizier
on
account
of his
incapacity,
was
nominated instead
of
Molda-
vandji,
who had
only
retained his exalted
situation for four
months.
Romantzof remained
with the
main
body
of the
troops
behind
the
Dniestr,
and
despatched
separate
divisions into
Moldavia and
Yallachia,
to take
possession
of
the
capitals
and
fortresses of these
provinces.
Before
the end of the
year
1769 both
Yassy
and Bucharest
were
occupied,
and
the
hospodar
carried
away
captive.
Colonel
Pabrician,
with
1500
men,
stormed
batteries defended
by
10,000
to
15,000
Turks,
and
took the fortress
of Grallatch
on
the Pruth. This
feat was
so
astonishing,
that the
empress immediately
re-
warded
the colonel with
the new
order
of
St.
Greorge,and
added,
that she
and the
colonel
were as
yet
the
only
persons
who
had
worn
it. Braila was not
destroyed
till the
commence-
ment
of
the
following year.
Panin was
less
fortunate,
for
he
had made
an
unsuccessful
attempt
to
reduce Bender before
he
took
up
his
winter
quarters
in the Ukraine.
In
the
following year
(1770),
Stoffeln
had
already
finished
a
campaign
before Romantzof commenced
his in
May.
The
grand
vizier had made his
appearance
on the Danube in
winter,
and sent
divisions of
his
army
into Moldavia and
Vallachia,
but
Stoffeln
gained
several victories
over him in
the
field,
whereupon
the
Turks
retired.
The Russians fol-
lowed
them,
burnt
down the
towns
of
Griurgevo
and
Braila,
but
were unable to reduce
the fortress
of the
latter,
and
re-
turned
to Bucharest on
the 27th
of
Pebruary.
Romantzof
at
length
crossed
the Dniestr
in
May,
in
order
to march
upon
the
Pruth,
whilst
Panin
sent one division
of
his
army
against
Bender,
and
a
second
against
Otchakof.
Whilst
the
grand
vizier
still
delayed
on
the farther side of
the
Danube,
Romantzof
directed
his
forces,
in
the first
instance,
against
the new
Tatar
khan,
who
had
advanced
to
the Pruth
at the
head of
a
combined
army
of
Turks and Tatars.
At this
time
there were two
generals
of
division in the
Russian
army
who
had studied
military
tactics in the
seven
years'
war
: Ro-
mantzof had conducted
the
siege
of
Colberg,
and
Repnin
had
served under
the French
on
the Rhine
;
the
third
division
was
A.D.
1770]
WAE WITH TUBKEY.
51
commanded
by
the
able
general
Bauer. He
was the man
who,
without
loss or
almost
trouble,
took
the
khan's
camp by
storm
on
the 17th of
July,
on
the banks
of
the
Larga
or
Kumlas.
The Turks and
Tatars fled
on this occasion
with
such
preci-
pitation,
that
scarcely
a
single
man was taken
prisoner
;
and
Bauer,
at the
head
of
the
grenadier company
which formed
the
body-guard
of the
commander-in-chief,
with
flying
colours
entered
the immense
silken tent of the
khan,
which
was
covered
with
embroidery
in silver and
gold.
The
victors did
not lose a
hundred
men,
whilst
they
took
all
the
enemy's
baggage
and
sixty
pieces
of
cannon,
but
only
about
thirty
prisoners.
Whilst
Bornantzof
was
advancing
along
the
Bruth to the
Danube,
the Turks and Tatars
again
united
and
furnished
him
with a new
opportunity
of
astonishing
all
Europe
by
the
boldness
of
his
attack
upon
an
army
six
times the
number of
his
own, 20,000 Bussians,
whilst the
khan with
80.000
men
was
in his
rear,
and
might
at
any
moment
have
surrounded
and
cut
off his left
wing. Immediately
after the
battle
of
Larga,
intelligence
was
brought
to the Bussians
that
the
grand
vizier,
whose
army
was stated
by
the Turks at
300,000
men,
but which Falkenskiold
computes
at
100,000,
was
en-
camped
on
the
left bank
of
the
Kahul. The
20,000
Bussians
advanced
by
forced marches
against
the Turkish
camp,
which
was
almost
destitute of defences
;
general
Bauer led
the
attack
upon
the left
wing,
Bruce and
Bepnin
that on the
right.
The
battle of the Kahul resulted
in the
same
way
as the
assault
upon
the Tatar
army
on
the
Larga
;
camp,
baggage,
and
immense
treasures became
the
booty
of
the
Bussians,
together
with
160
pieces
of cannon
and 7000
baggage
wag-
as,
but the
prisoners
did not
amount to a
hundred in all.
The
flight
of the
Turks was so
hasty
and
precipitate,
that
it
was
alleged
their
loss did
not
amount
to
500
men.
The
grand
vizier rallied his
troops
on the
farther
side
of
the
Danube,
as
the
small Bussian
army
was
obliged
to turn its
attention to
the
fortresses
and
the
occupation
of
the Tatar
territory
from
t
lie
Bruth as
lar as
the
lines
of
Berekop,
that
is,
to
the
isth-
mus
of
the Crimea. From
the 6th
of
August
one
fortress
fell
after
another,
till
the
Bussians were able to
take
up
a
safe
position
in the
country
of
the Tatars
on
the
shores of
e2
52
niSToitx or
ktjssia.
[ch.
xlt.
the
Black
Sea.
Repnin conquered
Kilia-Nova,
after
having
previously
reduced
Ismail at the
end
of a ten
days'
siege
;
Akerman
fell after a
very
short
defence
; Bender,
which is
situated
on
the
Dniepr,
and in the
very
heart of
the
Tatar
country,
offered
a more obstinate resistance
;
and when art
failed,
the
Russians
were
obliged
to
purchase
possession
of
the town
at a
tremendous
expenditure
of
blood. Maddened
by
the
losses
which
they
had
experienced
in
their
rash at-
tempts
to
take the
town
by
a
coup
de
main,
they
at
length
forced
an entrance
on
the 27th of
September,
cut
down thou-
sands,
and
were
obliged
to take one street after another
by
storm,
till the town
lost two-thirds
of
its
population
in the
slaughter
and
the
conflagration,
which
continued for three
days.*
The Tatars
of Edissa
and
Budjiak
renounced the
sovereignty
of
the
Turks
on
the
17th,
and did
horaage
to the
Russians,
who
then
pushed
forward
into
the
Crimea.
A de-
putation
from
the Tatars between
the Pruth
and
the
Dniepr
was
received
by
the
empress
herself in
Petersburg
on the 3rd
of
March,
1771,
when
they
did solemn
homage,
and
sub-
mitted
to the
sovereignty
of
Russia.
The
success
of
the
Russian
arms
was not so
expeditious
in
the case
of Braila
as in
that of
Bender
;
the citadel of
the former
held out
for
two months
longer,
and a vain
attempt
to
storm
it
cost
the
Russians
a
great
loss
in men
;
it
was, however,
obliged
to
capitulate
at the end of
November,
1770.
The circumstances
connected
with
this war
show
us how
deep
the
kingdom
of Poland
had
sunk,
and how
utterly
de-
pendent
it
had become.
On the command of
the
Russians,
the
government
was
obliged
to
declare
war
against
the
Turks
under
the
pretence
of
their
having
violated
the
Polish terri-
tory
;
but
no
result
of
any
kind
followed the declara-
tion. This
campaign,
which
shed
a
glory
and renown
upon
the
empress
and Romantzof
only
to
be
compared
with
*
The
Eussians
had recourse to
all the arts of
military
science,
and
employed
a French
engineer
who boasted
loudly
of
his
skill.
He con-
structed
a
whole
labyrinth
of
mines,
one
close
upon
another;
this
process
he
called
globe
de
compression
;
the
result,
however,
did not cor-
respond
to
his
expectations.
In
storming
the
streets
all
persons
were
cut
down
without
distinction,
so that
the
population,
which
had
pre-
viously
amounted
to
32,000,
after two months
only
reached
11,000,
who Avere
all
made
prisoners.
A.D.
1770]
WAB WITH TURKEY.
53
that of
Bonaparte
after his
first
campaign
in
Italy,
neaped
inexpressible
calamities on
the miserable inhabitants
of the
whole
region
from the Vistula
to
the
Danube,
and
thence
to the
Crimea,
and
completely
desolated
the
country.
Ro-
mantzof
took
up
his winter
quarters
in
Tassy,
and Olitch
in
Bucharest,
whilst
AVeissruann
commanded
on
the
Danube,
and
sent
single
divisions of
his
army
to
Kilia,
Akerman,
Braila,
and Ismail. The attack
in the
following
year
wis
chiefly
directed
against
the
Crimea,
and
the
favourites of the
empress
received
a commission at
the same
time for the re-
establishment of a Grecian
kingdom
in the islands and
in
Greece
Proper.
Three Russians
—
Romantzof,
Dolgoruki,
and one
of
the
terrible brothers
Orlof
—
received
the
respective
names
of
Zadunofsky,
Krimsky,
and
Tchesmensky,
from
the scenes of
their
exploits,
and
from
this time forward
the
empress
was
denominated the Great
;
every
one was
astonished
at the
splendour
of the
deeds,
but
no one
dared to call
to mind
the
millions
which were
spent
on the
useless
expedition
to
the
Grecian
Archipelago,
or the calamities
which were
brought
upon
unfortunate
Greece. We
shall
notice
the victors
and
their
conquests
one after
another,
beginning
with
Dolgoruki.
In 1770 Panin had
already pushed
forward
as far as Pere-
kop,
but afterwards
retired,
and took
up
his
winter
quarters
in
the
Ukraine.
Dolgoruki
had
no sooner
replaced
Panin
in
the
command of this
army,
than he advanced his whole
force
against
the
Crimea. In the same
manner as
China
was
protected
against
the incursions of
the Tatars
by
a
wall,
the
Crimea
was
secured
against
the
inroads
of the Russians
by
fortified
lines,
which
received
their name from
the
city
of
Perekop,
to
which
they
also served
as a defence. These
lines
consisted
of
a ditch
seventy
feet broad and
forty-two
feet
deep,
bordered
and
backed
by
a broad
embankment
of
earth,
which
extended
across the
whole isthmus from
sea
to
sea. The
Tut;!!.
s
had
already
learned
from
experience
how
little
such
fortilications
avail
against
the
military
arts
of
modern
Europe,
and the
undeniable valour of a Russian
army
well
commanded;
Munich
forced these
lines
in
the
year 1736,
and
Dolgoruki
now confirmed
that
lesson,
by
per-
forming
the
same
exploit
at the
head of an
army
of
40,000
men,
on
the
2Gth ef
July.
In
less than
a
month
from
that
51
HISTORY OF
RUSSIA.
[CH.
XLI.
time the
whole Crimea was
in
the
power
of the
Russians,
and
as an introduction
to
future
conquests
they
entered into an
agreement
Avith
the Tatars. The latter
held a
large
assembly
in
July,
1771,
wherein a
new
khan was
chosen,
who
was
wholly dependent
on the
Russians,
and
owed
his
elevation to
their
influence,
precisely
as Stanislaus bad been
previously
placed
on the throne of Poland.
At
the same time
as Poland
and Crim
Tartary
were made
footstools of the
empress's
throne,
a
similar
honour was de-
signed
for Greece. A
magnificent
naval
expedition
was
pre-
pared,
under
the command
of
Alexis
Orlof,
in
order to excite
and
support
a rebellion
among
the Greeks
and the Sclavonian
subjects
of the
Turks,
who
professed
the Greek
religion.
This
expedition
was
really
colossal,
and fitted out with
a
degree
of
fantastic
extravagance
which was characteristic
of
the
em-
press
and the
Orlofs,
who never
thought
of
anything
but
what was
either
horrible
or
magnificent.
To fit out this
useless
expedition,
a
loan of
thirty-five
millions of livres
was
first
expended,
which had been raised
by
the
marquis
Ma-
ruzzi
upon
Corfu
;
and
to
this
were
afterwards
added
large
loans,
which had
been raised for the
express
purpose
in
Hol-
land,
Leghorn,
Genoa,
and
Lucca. Alexis
had formed
the
plan
of
operations,
and
was nominated
generalissimo
of the
armies
as
well as
high-admiral
of
the whole
Russian
fleets in
the Mediterranean Sea
;
and
in
order
that the
family
of the
Orlofs
should have all the
first
places
of
honour,
like
imperial
or
royal princes,
without
rendering
any
actual
service,
his
brother Peodor
was
appointed
second in command. Neither
of the brothers was at all fitted to lead an
expedition,
and
the whole real direction of the
fleet devolved
upon
admiral
Spiridof,
who alone of the
Russians
possessed
the
necessary
knowledge
and
experience,
which was in
general
supplied by
the
English
naval
officers,
some
of
whom
were
to be found
almost in
every ship,
but
especially
by
admiral
Elphinstone.
Spiridof
set
sail in
October,
1769,
with
ten
ships
of
the
line
and
four
frigates, accompanied
by
a
number
of
transports
:
he first touched at
an
English port,
and
next
at
Port
Mahon
in Minorca.
Elphinstone
followed with
five
ships
of the
line,
two
frigates,
and
a number
of
transports
with
troops
on
board.
Alexis
spent
the
carnival
in
Venice,
but
in the
mean
time he caused
the Mainotes
and
all
the- inhabitants of the