STATE PAPERS. 



4-51 



•heart, observe the great and praise- 

 worthy actions of our faithful sub- 

 jects, we carry our most warm and 

 Ijively gratitude to ,the firgt cause 

 5)f all ^,qp.^,rrrthe Alnpighty God ; 

 and ill ^beaexit place we have, to - 

 expr^ess our thanks in the name of 

 our common country, to all our 

 loyal subjects, as the true sons of 

 Russia. By their general energy 

 and zeal, the force of the enemy is 

 brought down to the lowest degree 

 of decline, for the greater part has 

 either been annihilated or made 

 prisoners. All have unanimously 

 joined in the work. Our valiant 

 armies have every where defeated 

 the enemy. The higher nobihty 

 have spared nothing by which it 

 could contribute to the increase 

 of the strength of the state. The 

 merchants have distinguished them- 

 selves by sacrifices of all kinds. 

 The loyal people, burghers, and 

 peasantry, have given such proofs 

 of fidelity and love for their coun- 

 try, as can only be expected of the 

 Russian nation. They have zea- 

 lously and voluntarily entered into 

 the hastily raised levies, and have 

 shown a courage and resolution 

 equal to veteran warriors. They 

 have with the same force and in- 

 trepidity penetrated the enemy's 

 regiments, with the same imple- 

 ments with which they only a few 

 weeks before turned up their 

 fields. In this manner the troops 

 of levies sent from St. Petersburgh 

 and Novogorod, for the strength- 

 ening of the forces under Count 

 Wittgenstein, have behaved them- 

 selves, especially at Polotzk, and 

 other places. We have besides, 

 and with heart-felt satisfaction, per- 

 ceived by the reports of the com- 

 mander in chief of the armies, and 



from Cither generals, that in several 

 governmer^ts, and particularly .in 

 those of Moscow and Kalouga, the 

 country people have armed tbeni- 

 s^ilves, • choseft their own leaders, 

 and not 6niy resisted, all attempts 

 at seducing thein, but also sus- 

 tained air the calamities that have 

 befallen them with the perse- 

 verance of martyrs. Often have 

 they united themselves with our 

 detachments, and assisted them 

 in making their enterprizes and 

 attacks against the enemy. Many 

 villages have secreted their fami- 

 lies and tender infants in the 

 woods ; and the inhabitants, with 

 armed hand and inconceivable cou- 

 rage, under engagements on the 

 Holy Gospel not to leave each 

 other in danger, defended them- 

 selves, and whenever the enemy 

 showed himself, have fallen upon 

 him, so that many thousands of 

 them have been cut to pieces, and. 

 dispersed by the peasants, and 

 even by their women, and numbers 

 taken prisoners, who were indebt- 

 ed for their lives to the humanity 

 of those very people whom they 

 came to plunder and destroy. 



So high a purpose, and such 

 invincible perseverance in the 

 whole nation, does it immortal ho- 

 nour, worthy of being preserved in 

 the minds of posterity. With the 

 courage of such a nation, we 

 entertain the most well-founded 

 hopes. Whilst we, jointly with 

 the true church, and the holy sy- 

 nod and clergy, supplicate God's 

 assistance, that if our inveterate 

 enemy, and the mocker of God's 

 temple and holiness, should not 

 be entirely and totally destroyed 

 in Russia, yet that his deep 

 wounds, and the blood it has cost 

 2G2 him 



