Kelly W.K. The History of Russia: from the Earliest Period to the Present Time. Volume 2
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A.D.
1772]
FIRST
PARTITION OP
POLAND.
65
JStackelberg,
who,
although
of
a
more
courtly
and
refined
nature
than his
predecessor,
was
equally
studious
to
violate
the usual and
becoming
forms of
politeness
towards
the
king.
Stanislaus,
indeed,
was entitled to
no real
respect
;
for
on
the
one hand
he
had
sold his nation
and
himself
to
strangers
out
of mere
feelings
of
empty
vanity,
and
on the
other
evinced
a
desire to
play
the
part
of
a
patriot.
Inasmuch
as the
Russians were
now
opposed by
the
government
and the
members
of
the
general
confederation
of
Eadom,
who had
been of the
highest
service to
them in
176S,
they
suffered the
four chief
enemies of the
government
to
return
to
Poland,
set
at
liberty
the
bishop
of
Kaminiec,
who
had
also been
taken
pri-
soner,
and
persecuted
their own
protege
Eadzivil.
The
latter
possessed
immense
wealth,
was
the
owner
of the
greater
part
of
Lithuania,
and
maintained
his
own
troops
in
that
province
;
but,
incensed
by
the universal
oppression
exercised
by
the
Eussians,
he
came to
a
rupture
with
them,
and
left the
country
;
the
Eussians took their
revenge
on his
property,
confiscated
his
estates,
carried
off his
plate
and
movables,
and
conveyed
his
library,
which was
one
of
the
richest
in
Europe,
to
Petersburg,
where it
was
afterwards
converted
into
a
public
library.
In
order to
gain
his
assent to the
document
which
they
wished
to extort
from
the
nation,
they
offered to
restore him
everything
of
which he
had
been
robbed
except
his
library
and
plate
;
but
he
answered,
that
his
ancestors had
lived
free,
and he
would
die
free.
The
same
kind of
vengeance
was
inflicted
upon
the
aged
chancellor and
his
nephew,
who
had
subscribed
an
admirably
written
manifesto,
which most
completely
refuted the
so-
phisms
of
the
venal
perverters
of
justice,
and
proved
the
injustice
of
the
pretensions
of the
three
powers.
The
estates
of
Czartorinski,
which
lay
within
that
portion
of
Poland
taken
_
possession
of
by
the
Prussians,
were
confiscated
;
and
Austria
followed
the
same course
with
those of
the
starost
Kiscki of
Lemberg,
who
refused to
do
homage
to
their
usurpation.
An
attempt
was made
to
force
upon
the
senate,
from
which
all
opposing
members
were
carefully
excluded,
a
resolution
to
summon
a
diet
of
the
nation,
which
was
to
grant
the
final
confirmation of
the
injustice
;
but
only thirty
out of
about
120
senators
assembled.
This
small
number of
magnates
resisted the
urgent
de-
TOL.
II.
F
66 HISTOBY OF EUSSIA.
[CH.
XLII.
nmnds
of
the
ambassadors of
the
three
powers
and of
the
commanders of the
troops
who were
encamped
around
their
place
of
assembly
till the 19th of
April,
1773
;
on which
day,
surrounded and
besieged
by
soldiers,
they
first
gave
their
assent
to a
call
of
the
general
diet of the
kingdom. They
had no sooner
done
so,
than
they
were
commanded
to
abstain
from all further
meetings.
Before the diet
assembled,
a
pro-
test
had, however,
been made in an
assembly
at Cracow
by
prince
Czartorinski,
high
chancellor of
Lithuania,
the
primate
of
Poland,
the
high
chancellor of
the
kingdom,
and others of
the chief
nobles,
against
such
a
diet as that which
was
about
to
meet,
and
which
they
called a
conspiracy
to
destroy
the
rights
and
privileges
of
their
country
by
force.
The
powers,
who
regarded
might
as
right,
paid
no attention
whatever to
the
protest.
The diet in due time
met,
and
the armies of the
three
powers
advanced,
in order to
compel
its
members to
acknowledge
the deed
of
partition,
and to force
upon
them
the
adoption
of a
paper
drawn
up
by
themselves
in
three-
and-twenty
articles,
as
the future
constitution
of Poland.
Complete
success would never have been
gained
through
the diet
alone,
and
recourse was
therefore had
to the anar-
chical Polish
constitution,
in
order
to
carry
out
the views
of the three
powers by
the
instrumentality
of the venal
Poninski
and
of
the
king,
who
was
decoyed
into
acquiescence
by
the
promise
of a
yearly stipend
of
1,200,000
florins. The
diet was first
compelled
to assume
the form and
adopt
the
laws of a confederation
{sub
nexit
confederationis),
and,
in
consequence
of
this
step,
Poninski,
now
appointed
grand-
marshal,
became,
according
to the
Polish
laws,
in some
measure
military
ruler of the
country,
as
long
as such a con-
federation
lasted.
The scheme was
completely
successful
;
the
vain
king,
whose
patriotic
declamations had been
univer-
sally
disseminated since
October,
1772
;
the Czartorinskis
and
other
magnates,
who had
made and
issued such
high-
sounding
protestations
in
Cracow,
all
thinking
upon
the
flesh-pots
of
Egypt,
subscribed
the
confederation.
The
diet,
whose
sittings
were
only
allowed
to
extend to
six
weeks,
were
next
to elect a
committee
invested
with unconditional
powers,
as in
the time of
the
disputes
respecting
the
dissidents
;
it
was
a
long
time,
however,
before
those
members
of
the
diet
who
neither
belonged
to
the
party
which
was
to
be
bought,
A.D.
1773]
FIEST
PARTITION OF POLAND.
67
nor to
that
which was
to
he
frightened,
could he
brought
to
acquiesce
in such
a measure.
The six weeks
appointed
by
law
had
elapsed,
before
the
menaces and
military
demonstra-
tions of the
powers proved
efficient
in
compelling
the
diet to
nominate
a
committee,
and
grant
it all
the
rights
and
privi-
leges
of
a
plenum.
Even
the
committee
itself
stoutly
defended the
rights
of
the nation
;
and
three
of its members continued their re-
sistance when
all the
others had
yielded.
Compared
with
the German
princes
in the
time of
Bonaparte,
these Polish
magnates
must be admired
as
Scsevolas
and
Catos.
There
was no
hope
either of
aid or
protection,
and
the
patriotic
Poles were
exposed
to much
greater
danger
of bad
treatment
than
Bonaparte
would have
inflicted
upon
a
patriotic
Ger-
man
prince,
had such
a
being
existed.
Some
fifty
or
sixty
men,
Russians
and
Austrians,
were
billeted
in the
houses of
the
most
distinguished
Polish
nobles
in Warsaw
;
the
Czartorinskis and
Lubomirskis
were
threatened with
banishment
;
and the
estates
of
almost
all those who either
hesitated
to
give
their assent
or refused
it,
were
ruined
by
excessive
impositions
;
in
the cases of
many
individuals
of
great
wealth
as much
as
100,000
ducats
was extorted.
The
committee,
at
length
unable
to offer
any longer
re-
sistance,
yielded
in
August
to
the
imperious
dictates
of
the
powers.
The
diet
was
again
assembled
;
and as
it had now
assumed
the
form
of
a
confederation,
its decisions
no
longer
required unanimity
of
opinion,
but
depended
on the
votes
of
the
majority
; still,
however,
it
continued
to
defend
the
privileges
of
the
nation
till
September,
and then
only
adopted
the
treaty
of
partition, by
virtue of
which a
third
of the
kingdom
was
sacrificed,
by
a
majority
of
two.
The senate
concurred
in
everything
which
was
proposed,
and
promised,
by
means of
plenipotentiaries,
to
come
to an
understanding
with
the
ambassadors of the
three
powers
respecting
the form
of
government
to
be maintained
in
the
remaining
two-thirds
of
Poland,
and the
circumstances
connected
with
those
who
professed
the
(
I
reck
or the Protestant
faith.
On the 19th
of
November
the
king
subscribed all
that
the senate
had
approved.
The most
extraordinary
measures
were
now
forced
upon
the nation
after
the
conclusion
of
this
compul-
sory treaty
;
and
the
cruel
irony
with
which
the
diploma-
f 2
gg
HISTORY
OF
RUSSIA.
[CH.
XLII.
tists
imposed
on
the remnant
of the
mutilated
kingdom
as
beneficent
provision,
the
maintenance
of
that
anarchy
by
which
Poland
had
already
been
sunk
so low
in
the scale
of
nations,
will be
seen
from
the commencement
of
a
ministerial
note
which
was
sent
to
the
government
in
September,
1773.*
The
diet,
however,
still
continued
to
resist
the
oppres-
sive
demands
of
the
spoilers;
but
such
resistance
merely
served
to
prolong
and
increase
the
sufferings
of
the
unfor-
tunate
country.
Whilst
the
nobles
in
the
following
year,
1774,
and
in
the
first
three
months
of
1775,
were
striving
against
the formal
acceptance
of
the
territorial
cessions
which
had
been
agreed
to
by
the
committee,
and
their concessions
re-
specting
the
constitution,
the
other
part
of
the
nation,
which
'
*
It
would
be
useless
in
this
place
to enumerate
the
whole of
the
single
articles;
we
shall
therefore
merely
give
the
introductory passages
of
the
original,
and
subjoin
four
of the
general
resolutions.
They
run
as
follows
:—"
The
courts
are
so
strongly
interested
in the
pacification
of
Poland,
that
while the
treaties
are
prepared
for
signing
and
ratifying,
their
ministers
think
that
not
an
instant
of
that
precious
interval
should
be lost
in
restoring
order
and
tranquillity
to that
kingdom.
They
will therefore
communicate
to the
commission
a
part
of
those
fundamental
laws,
to the
acceptation
of which
our
courts
will not
per-
mit
the
least
obstacle
or
delay.—
1. The crown
of
Poland
shall
be
elective
for
ever,
and all
order
of
succession
remain
prohibited.
Every
person
who
shall
attempt
to
infringe
this
law shall
be declared
an
enemy
of
the
country,
and
prosecuted
accordingly.—
2.
Strangers
who
aspire
to
the
throne,
frequently
being
the
occasion
of
divisions
and
troubles,
shall hereafter
be excluded
from
it;
and a
law shall
be enacted
that,
in
future,
none
but a
native
Pole,
born
a
gentleman,
shall be
elected
king
of Poland
and
grand-duke
of
Lithuania.
The son
and
grandson
of a
king
shall
not
be elected
immediately
upon
the
death
of
his
father,
or
of
his
grandfather;
and he
shall
not be
eligible
till after
the
interval
of two
reigns.—
3.
The
government
of
Poland shall
be,
and
continue
for
ever,
a free
and
independent
government,
of
a
republican
form.—
4. The true
principles
of that
government,
consisting
in a strict
observance
of the
laws,
and
in
an
equal
balance
of the three
orders,
viz.,
the
king,
the
senate,
and
the
nobility:
these
shall
form
a
perma-
nent
council,
in which the
executive
power
shall be
vested.
Into
this
council
shall be
admitted
persons
of the
order of
nobility,
who
have,
hitherto,
been
excluded
from
the administration
of
affairs,
in the
in-
terval
of
diets,"
&c.
—
By
these laws
the house
of
Saxony,
and
other
foreign
princes,
who
might
have
been
able to
preserve
the
integrity
of
the
rest
of
Poland,
were
excluded
from
the
tlirone;
the
liberum^
veto,
with
the other
dangerous
privileges
of
the
nobility,
was
re-established,
and all the
disorders
were
perpetuated.
A.D.
1773]
WAR WITH TURKEY.
G9
bad
nothing
either
to
gain
or
to lose
by
constitution
or
par-
tition,
was
suffering
all the
evils of
war in
the
midst
of
peace,
because no one bad
troubled
himself about
its
condition
and
interests for an
incredible
time,
and
it
appeared
to be
for-
gotten
even
by
Providence.
The
termination
of
the Polish
affairs
was
delayed by
a
fresh outbreak of a
war with
the
Turks
and
by
Pugatchef's
rebellion,
for
the
Russians
re-
quired
to
employ
those
troops
elsewhere
which had been
sent
into
Poland
to
overawe
and
constrain the
resolutions
of
the
diet.
The
war with
Turkey
was no
sooner
ended,
and
Pugatchef
executed
in
January,
1775,
than
the diet
expressed
its
concurrence
in the
laws
which had
been
prescribed
by
foreigners
and
accepted by
the
committee.
Poland at least
gained
so much
by
this
step,
that it
now
received
friendly
protection
till
1786
against
the
harassing
insults and in-
juries
which
were inflicted
by
the
Prussians and
Austrians.
CHAPTER
XLI11.
WAR WITH
TURKEY
—
TREATY
OF
KUTCHUK KAINARDJI
—
pugatchee's
REBELLION.
The
negotiations
between the Russians
and the
Turks
had
been
opened
in Fokshani
in 1772.
They
were carried
on,
as it must be
said,
with the
assistance
of Prussia
and
Austria,
for
the
Russians had
expressly
refused
what
diplomatists
understand
by
mediation.
At this moment also
the
inter-
vention of
Austria and Prussia
was
ridiculous,
they being
actually engaged,
in
connexion
witli
Russia,
in
despoiling
Poland,
and
making
it
wholly
dependent
on
Russian
power.
The dreadful
Gregory
Orlof,
the favourite
of the
empress,
was
ostensibly
to
play
the
chief
part
in the
congress
at
Pokshani,*
whilst the real
business
was
entrusted
to Obres-
*
Before
his
departure
from
Petersburg, preparations
were
made
for
his
journey
as
for that
of one of
the most
powerful
monarchs
;
lie
had
marshals, chamberlains,
grooms
of the
chambers,
pages,
and
imperial
servants,
and
went
to the
first
sitting
of the
congress
in
a
carriage
70
HISTOEY
OF
RUSSIA.
[CH.
XLIII.
kof,
who had
been
formerly
ambassador
in
Constantinople.
This
congress
was
actually
opened
on
the 19th of
August,
1772
;
and
it has been affirmed
that Orlof
intentionally
in-
sulted
the
Turks,
one of
whom
he
personally
maltreated,
in
order that he
might figure
as
a
great
military
hero in a
new
war.
At
this
very
time, however,
he
was
supplanted
in
the
empress's
favour
by
a successful
rival,
who for some time
publicly
assumed all the
rights
of a husband
;
on this account
he left Pokshani
very
suddenly
in
September
for
Petersburg.
On his
departure
the
congress
was at once
broken
up
;
and
neither
Gregory's
insolent behaviour
towards
the
Turkish
plenipotentiaries,
nor the
preparations
and armaments of
both
powers
which were made
during
the
congress,
allowed
any
reasonable
expectations
to be entertained
of a
favourable
result.
Gregory
Orlof left
his
embassy,
the
negotiations
for
peace
and his
diplomatic
duties,
without
the
command
or
permis-
sion
of
the
empress,
to hasten in
his
rage
to
Petersburg,
where a
ministerial
intrigue,
conducted
by
Panin and
prince
Baratinsky,
had set
up
a rival
against
him
:
they
had
suc-
ceeded
in
inducing
the
empress
to
give
Orlof's
place
and the
chamber which he had left in the
palace
to
Vassilitchikof,
an
officer
in
the
guards.
This
man,
however,
was
only
a sub-
stitute for
Orlof in
the
grossest
sense of the
term;
he
therefore maintained his
ascendancy
for
but
twenty-two
months.
Gregory's journey
to
Petersburg
filled
the
empress
with the
greatest
dread
;
it is
true
she
caused him
to
be
detained at
Gatchina,
but
he
set her at
defiance,
and
Catha-
rine
negotiated.
The
empress
sp'ared Gregory, sought
to
win him
over,
and
yielded
to
his
demands,
as
she did
after-
wards to those of
Potemkin,
because
she
wished to
employ
the
services
of both
against
a
party
which was anxious
to
elevate her
son to
the
throne,
just
as
Jupiter
is
represented
which was
accompanied by
four state
carriages.
The
procession
was
preceded by
a
troop
of hussars and a
hundred and
fifty
servants on
toot
in
magnificent
liveries.
His
kitchen,
cellars,
and
all the rest were
in
the
same
style
of
splendour,
and
the
jewels
on his dress
were of
immense value.
It
is
said that
Gregory
wished to remove Romantzof
from his
command,
in order that
he
himself
might
be at the head of an
army
in
the
Crimea,
his
brother
Alexis in
command
of
a fleet
in
the
Archipelago,
and Theodore of
another
in
the Black
Sea.
A.D.
1773]
WAR
WITH TURKEY.
71
by
Homer
as
availing
himself of the
hundred-handed Briareus
against
Juno and
the other
gods.
He
received
immense
sums
of
money,
a marble
palace,
splendid
services
of
plate,
and was
allowed
to
exhibit his wealth
and
his
brutality
at
all the courts
of
Europe.
The
negotiations
at
Fokshani,
which
had
been
interrupted
by
Orlof's
sudden
departure,
were
opened again
in
October
at
Bucharest,
but
in
March
(1773)
the
negotiators
found
it
impossible
to
agree
on the
terms of
a
peace,
and
the
war was
renewed. The
grand
vizier was an able
statesman,
but
neither
desirous,
nor
capable
of
personally
conducting
a
war
;
he
had,
however,
made excellent use of the time
which
was
spent
in
negotiating
at
Fokshani and
Bucharest,
in
some
measure to
restore
discipline
in his
army,
and order and
quiet
in the
kingdom.
He
engaged
the services of the
French,
who
were
no
longer
of
any
use in
Poland,
especially
of
those
who
were
versed in
the science of
gunnery
and
engineering,
in order
to make the Turkish
artillery
at
least
serviceable,
which
it
had not been before.
The
Turks had
by
this time
again
become masters of
Egypt,
which
AH
Bey
had
long governed
as an
independent
state.
The Russians
and their fleet in the
Archipelago
proved
not
only
unable to
uphold
Ali
Bey,
but
they
were
obliged
to
evacuate the island
of
Lemnos,
which
they
had
previously
taken
at
a
great
expenditure
and
loss.
The
same
Capudan-
Pasha,
or
high-admiral,
who had
gained
such
great
renown
by
the
reconquest
of the islands and the
restoration
of
the
fleet,
which had
been
nearly
annihilated within a few
years,
now
distinguished
himself
also
by
the eminent ser-
vices
which
he
rendered in
the
campaign
on the
Danube,
whilst
the
grand
vizier
prudently
held back.
General
Weissmann
had
gained
some
advantages
at
Silistria,
but
had
retreated,
and the
grand
vizier in
May
sent one of
the small
divisions of
his
army against
Kutchuk,
where
he
gained
an
important
victory,
and made
prisoner
the
younger
brother of
prince
Kepnin,
well
known
by
his
conduct
in
Poland.
"Weissmann
first
took
revenge
"
upon
the
Turks
for this
victory by
surprising
them
at
Karassu,
on
the
7th
of
June,
and
capturing
sixteen
pieces
of
cannon;
Roman-
tzof next
crossed
the
Danube,
and
attacked
Silistria
with
72
HISTORY OF
RUSSIA.
[CH.
XLIII.
his
whole force.
The
commander in Silistria was
Hassan
Pasha,
high-admiral
and
seraskier
of the
Dardanelles
;
he
succeeded in
repulsing
the
Russians,
who on
this
occasion
suffered
considerable
loss. Hassan was rewarded with the
title
of
Ghasi,
or the
victorious.
In the
following
month
the
imprudence
of
the
seraskier of
Karassu
gave
the
Russians
an
opportunity
of
surprising
the
Turks,
who
were
encamped
near
Kainardji,
which led to
their defeat
and the
loss
of
twenty-five pieces
of
cannon,
whilst the
Russians on
their
part
had
to
deplore
the
loss of
the
brave
general
Weissmann.
The
two
main
armies,
the
one under
the
grand
vizier and the
other under Roman-
tzof,
were
now in
presence
of each other:
but the Turks
sought
to
avoid a
decisive
engagement,
although
the
grand
vizier had
appointed
a most unusual number
of
new seras-
kiers,
and
had
called
Hassan
Pasha,
seraskier
of
the Darda-
nelles,
to
his
head-quarters.
Several
Russian
generals
served
under
Romantzof,
with
whose names
the
world
became
better
acquainted
at
the
end of the
century. Dolgoruki,
the con-
queror
of
the
Tatars,
was Romantzofs second
in
command,
and
Suvarof
and
Kamenskoi
were each at
the
head of
separate
divisions. The
Russians contented themselves
with
exercising
revolting
cruelties,
but were resolved to remain
on the
farther side of
the
Danube
till
they
had
effected some-
thing
decisive. A
Russian division made
a
successful
attack
upon
a
portion
of
the
Turkish
army
at
Karassu on the 12th
of
October,
but
the
grand
vizier remained
quietly
in
his
camp
at
Shumla,
for
he had not confidence
enough
in his
gene-
rals or in his
troops
to venture on a
pitched
battle. Three
days
after
the
defeat
at
Karassu,
he
was,
however,
fortunate
enough
to
vanquish
one
of the
three
divisions of the Russian
army,
which
was
wasting
the
country,
whilst
the two
others,
under
TTngern
and
Dolgoruki,
pushed
forward in
all
haste to
Varna,
in
order
to take
that
city
by
storm. This
attempt
also
proved
unsuccessful,
although
the
Russians
had made
good
their
entrance into the town.
After
they
had
lost
many
of
their men and
some
pieces
of
artillery,
one
divi-
sion retreated
upon
Karassu
and the other
upon
Ismail.
Winter
brought
a cessation
of hostilities
;
on
the
24th
of
December,
1773,
sultan
Mustapha
died,
and
his
successor,
A.D.
1774]
WAR
WITH TURKEY.
73
Abdulhainet,
wisely
retained
the
prudent
and
cautious
grand
vizier
of his
predecessor.
The new sultan
might
have concluded
the most advan-
tageous peace
which the
Turks
could
ever
hope
to
obtain,
and
according
to
Von
Hammer's
account,
he
himself,
his
grand
vizier,
the other
ministers,
and the
army
in
general,
were anxious for
a
peace
;
but the
sultan had
been unfor-
tunately
brought
up
in
the
pietism
of
Islam,
and the
Maho-
metan Jesuits
had
much
more influence
with him
than
the
advice
of his
wisest
ministers,
his own
inclinations,
and
the
representations
of
the
Austrian and Prussian
ministers.
No
sooner
had
Pugatchef's
rebellion
given
rise to an in-
ternal war
in
Russia,
and the Poles shown a
disposition
to
offer
a continued resistance to the demands
respecting
their
constitution,
than
Romantzof offered
to
make the articles
which
had been
previously signed by
the
Turks in
Bucharest
the foundations of
the
present peace
;
but
according
to
Von
Hammer,
the
theological jurists
or ulemas would hear
nothing
of the
proposal,
and therefore the
grand
vizier
was
obliged
to
continue to
carry
on
the
war. He remained
true to his defen-
sive
system,
and
kept
within his
camp
at Shumla till Romantzof
again
crossed
the
Danube in the middle
of
June, 1774,
and
took
advantage
of the
unexampled
disorder which
reigned
among
the
Turks.
Two of Romantzof
s three
divisions,
one
under
Soltikof,
the
other under
Suvarof and
Kamenskoi,
offered battle
on
the 20th
to the
two divisions of the Turkish
army
to which
they
were
severally
opposed,
whilst Roman-
tzof
himself remained
with
a
third division
in
camp
at
Silistria.
Soltikof
came into contact with
Hassan Pasha
Ghasi,
whom he defeated
after
an obstinate
engagement,
but
Hassan
retired in
good
order. Suvarof
and Kamen-
skoi,
who
attacked the Reis-Effendi
in his
camp
at Kos-
lidshe,
pained
a
much
easier
victory.
The Turks did
not
await the attack of
the
Russians
;
their whole
army,
of
25,000
men,
fell
suddenly
into
disorder,
forsook their stan-
dards and
fled,
as
the
Tatars had done on
the
Larga,
and left
the
whole
of
their
baggage
and
artillery
in
the hands of
the
astonished
Russians.
.The
panic
or
treachery
which
caused
the rout
of
this
division
immediately
afterwards
infected
the
main bodv of the
armv.
74
HISTORY
OF RUSSIA.
[CH.
XLIII.
The
army
of the
grand
vizier
is said to
have been
100,000
strong,
but Eomantzof
no
sooner
advanced to
attack them
than the
whole
cavalry
fled
directly
to
Constantinople,
and
practised
unspeakable
cruelties*
by
the
way,
so
that,
in
order
to be free from
their
depredations
and
violence,
the
govern-
ment
was
obliged
to
send
them in all
haste to
Asia
Minor.
The
grand
vizier
presently
found
himself
suddenly
surrounded
by
the
enemy
in his
camp
at
Shumla,
and
could neither
attack
his
enemies nor
retreat from
his
position.
Eomantzof
and
Paniu,
who
then conducted
Catharine's
foreign
affairs,
had
at that
moment
many political
reasons
to lead
them to wish
for an
end
to the war
;
Eomantzof,
therefore,
in
Kutchuk
Kainardji,
in
July,
1774,
offered to
agree
to a
peace
on
the
same
conditions on
which it had
been
previously
offered.
The whole
of
Europe
was now filled with
the
glory
of
Eo-
mantzof and that
of his
empress
;
Poland and the
Crimea
were
forgotten,
and
nothing
was heard
of but
his
magnani-
mity
towards the
Turks,
although
every
one
who reads
the
conditions stated in
the
note,f
and
carefully
compares
them
with
the
history
of the
following
time,
will
perceive
that
the
approaching
dissolution
of the Turkish
empire
was
therein
*
Von
Hammer,
quoting
an
authority
which
we
have
not
seen,
relates
"
that
old
men and
women who
were not fortunate
enough
to
find
safety
in
flight
were
put
to
death,
those who
escaped
with
life
were
dragged
forth and
trampled
in
the
mud,
and
the
soldiers dashed
the
heads
of the
children
against
the walls."
f
The
treaty
of
peace
contained
twenty-eight
articles
and two
secret
ones,
which
related to the
payment
of
40,000,000
of
rubles
and the
evacuation of the
Archipelago.
The
articles which
were
published
confirmed all
those conditions which
had
been
previously
settled at
Bucharest and in
the
congress
of
Fokshani,
viz.,
the freedom of the
Tatars
in
the
Crimea, Bessarabia,
and
the
Kuban,
with the
exception
of the
religious
dependence
of
Islam
;
the
restoration of all their con-
quered
countries,
except
the harbours of
Kertsch and
Yenikaleh;
the
restoration
of the
Russian
conquests
in
Moldavia, Vallachia,
Bes-
sarabia, Georgia,
Mingrelia,
and in
the
Archipelago,
with the
exception
of the two
Kabardas,
Asoph
and
Kinburn,
and
the
release of all
prisoners;
the
free
navigation
of
the sea
of
Marmora,
the Black
Sea,
and
the
passage
of
the Dardanelles
;
the
greatest
facilities
and
protection
to
all
travellers,
especially
for
the
pilgrims
to Jerusalem
;
the
most honour-
able
treatment of
all
ambassadors,
consuls,
and
interpreters;
the mild
administration of Vallachia and
Moldavia,
ensured
by
ten
special
con-
ditions.
Thus,
the Tatars and
the
Crimea were
withdrawn
from
the
Porte,
and
Vallachia and
Moldavia
placed
under Russian
protection.