RUSSIA. 



487 



Paut. 

 1796. 



his crown, and escaped a cruel and barbarous death l>y 

 poison administered to him while a prisoner at Ropsha, 

 not f:ir from St. I't-tcrsbur^h. 1 1 1- only enjoyed tlu- 

 imperial dignity three months, and thus ingloriously 

 fVII in the 31th year of his age. Vide Life of Catha- 

 rine II. 



After Catharine had ascended the throne, her con- 

 duct was cautious and judicious, gentle and magnani- 

 mous, even to her declared enemies. From motives of 

 policy she maintained the treaty of peace with Fre- 

 deric, which had been concluded with Kli/abcth. She 

 appears to have had considerable uneasiness at the 

 chance of Ivrin's being set at liberty. Greater vigi- 

 lance was employed in guarding him in the cajtle of 

 Schusselberg ; and he was afterwards assassinated, in 

 consequence of the failure of badly concerted measures 

 for his deliverance. Whether his death is to be imputed 

 to the empress and her counsellors is still matter of 

 dispute. 



When firmly seated upon the throne, Catharine 

 proved herself worthy of the high destination, and her 

 reign was one of the most brilliant in the annals of 

 time. Her private character seems to have been ex- 

 cellent, excepting the outrage she did to her sex and 

 to morality by openly adopting in succession, a num- 

 ber of declared favourites. The chief events of her 

 life are related in the articles Catharine II., France, 

 Britain, Prussia, and Poland ; some others will be no- 

 ticed under Sweden and Turkey. 



Among the most memorable events of Catharine's 

 reign are to be enumerated, the establishment of a new 

 code of laws for her dominions, however badly they 

 were administered ; the maintenance of a seven years 

 war with the Turks ; the unexpected and extraordinary 

 destruction of the Turkish fleet at Tchesme by the 

 Russian fleet under the command of Count Alexei 

 Orlof, but chiefly directed by the counsels of our coun- 

 tryman Admiral Greig ; the division of the empire 

 into vice-royalties ; the visit of the emperor Joseph to 

 Russia; the establishment of public schools through- 

 out her realms ; the erection of the justly celebrated 

 monument of Peter the Great; the capture of the 

 Krimea ; the receiving under her protection the domi- 

 nions of Heraclius II. tsar of Kartalinia and Kachetia; 

 the institution of the imperial Russian academy ; 

 the repair of roads throughout the empire ; the estab- 

 lishment of a loan bank for the accommodation of the 

 nobles and the burghers ; her visit to the south of 

 Russia and to the Krimea ; the capture of part of the 

 Kubdn, and of all the territory between the Boog, the 

 Dnester, and the Black Sea, from the Turks and their 

 adherents, after a series of victories ; the obtaining of 

 various advantages over the Swedes both by sea and 

 land, and then the conclusion of a peace ; her partici- 

 pation in the dismemberment of Poland after a suc- 

 cessful but cruel war ; the conclusion of a treaty of 

 defensive alliance between Russia and Great Britain 

 in 1795; the successful invasion of the Persian terri- 

 tories and her subsequent defeat ; and, finally, her sud- 

 den disease, which was followed by death. 



Catharine the II. died on the 9th of November, 

 1796', and the grand duke Paul, or rather Pavel 

 Pctiovitch, was seated on the throne in the fortieth 

 year of his age, totally ignorant of the duties he had 

 to perform, in consequence of having been obliged 

 by his mother's will, to pass much time in ob- 

 scurity and retirement. His politics and general con- 

 duct were very blameable. In consequence of his 

 extraordinary actions, by many he was reckoned a 



fool and a rmdman, while others have spoken of him Itimh. 

 as a misguided man of uncommon penetration, geniun, *""'" 

 and rectitude, whose grand plans were not allowed to 

 develop themselves, and which were calculated to 

 have rendered him one of the brightest ornaments of 

 hi country. The chief political events of his life 

 were his differing with England in 1797; his contri- 

 vance to become grand master of the order of St. John 

 of Jerusalem in 1798 ; the sending of a Russian army 

 under field-marshal Suvrtrof to join the Austrian army 

 in Italy ; and his declaration of war against England. 

 The progress of Sava>of, his extraordinary success 

 over Moreau, and his recal by his imperial and whim- 

 sical master, equally astonished Europe. Vide ITALY, 

 AUSTRIA, and BRITAIN. 



Paul's conduct became daily more and more singu- 1801. 

 Ur and tyrannical. The demi- barbarous but brave 

 Suvarof is supposed to have fallen a victim to his ca- 

 price, and the ataman of the Kozaks, the celebrated 

 Platoff, had nearly* shared a similar fate. Others in 

 power and favour had suffered sudden and great re 

 verse?, and no individual could lie down to quiet rest, 

 as he knew not what might be his fate before the 

 dawn of day. The regulations of the emperor with 

 respect to dress and salutations, and the exercise of 

 his police in seeing his errors executed, would fill vo- 

 lumes with ridiculous anecdotes, and have been a 

 great source of amusement for travellers. Dr. Clarke's 

 works are peculiarly rich on these subjects, which are 

 highly absurd and amusing. 



Some of the nobles who had suffered private inju. 

 ries, and who persuaded themselves that they would 

 render a most important service to their country, con- 

 spired and effected Paul's death in the most determined 

 and barbarous manner, while in his new palace of St. 

 Michael, and on the llth March, O. S. 1801. 



Early on the following morning, Alexander was Alfo'-.-V 

 proclaimed emperor of all the Russia*, and ascended l&ot. 

 the throne in his 21th year, beloved by all classes of 

 his subjects. Mildness and forbearance were charac- 

 teristic of the first acts of his government. He ar- 

 rested the power of the senate, and recalled those who 

 were innocent from banishment. He cultivated the 

 friendship and entered into amicable arrangements 

 with the states of Europe, and he adopted every mea- 

 sure which might procure advantages to his empire. 

 Some of the most remarkable deeds of his commenc- 

 ing reign, were his taking off* the embargo which had 

 been laid by Paul on British vessels ; his entering into 

 a treaty of commerce with Sweden ; his guaranteeing 

 the sovereignty of Malta to the knights of St. John of 

 Jerusalem ; his proclamation of the union of Georgia 

 to the empire ; his sending two vessels round the 

 world on a voyage of discovery under the command of 

 Captain Krusenstern ; and the emancipation of the 

 Jews from the shackles under which they had long 

 groaned, and allowing them various privileges. 



After some disputes with France, war was declared, IS05. 

 and an alliance formed between Russia and Austria, as 

 also between Russia and Great Britain. The king of 

 Prussia and the king of Sweden soon afterwards 1806. 

 entered into an alliance with Alexander. It was 

 expected that by the united forces of these sovereigns 

 Napoleon would have been hurled from his throne or 

 compelled to listen to equitable terms of pacification. 

 Under the articles BRITAIN, AUSTRIA, ITALY, SWE- 

 DEN, are particular accounts of the events of this 

 period, but especially under FRANCE, where they are 

 detailed with minuteness. The battle of Austerlitz in 



