RUSSIA. 



Kurfk, Kazan, Simbirlk, Penza, Tambof, Voronetz, Sa- 

 ratof, Ufa, Kolyvan, Irkutfk, Minfk, Ifiaflaf, Brazlau, 

 Kief, Ekaterinoflaf, Caucafus, and Taurida, together with 

 the country of the Don Coffacks, and the provinces which 

 fell to Ruffia on the laft partition of Poland. 



Ivan the Terrible continued the aggrandizement of the 

 empire, of which his father and grandfather had laid the 

 foundation, with equal zeal and fuccefs. He conquered, 

 in 1552 and 1554, Kazan and Allrachan, and united 

 the countries dependent on thofe cities for ever with 

 his empire. ^It was during his reign that a band of 

 Don Colfacks, whom he had driven as robbers from the 

 inferior Volga, forced their paflage acrofs the Uralian 

 mountains, overturned the dominion of the Tartars on the 

 Tobol and Irtifch, and, unknown to the grand prince, con- 

 quered the north-weftern diftridts of Siberia to the laft- 

 mentioned river. Though it cannot be faid that the 

 Ruffian tzars had neglected to make conquefts in the 

 northern Afia ; it may, neverthelefs, be affirmed, in a cer- 

 tain fenfe, that the conqueit of Siberia was completed of 

 itfelf in nearly the fame manner in which it was begun. 

 The court of Mofcow undoubtedly liftened with encouraging 

 atttention to the advantageous propofals that were made 

 refpedting the extenfion and fortification of the .Siberian 

 diftri&s, and royally rewarded the perfons who, by their 

 prudence and bravery, had deferred fo well of the empire. 

 The tzar fent, or at leaft agreed to the reinforcements 

 that were wanted for the farther profecution, or the defence 

 of the acquifitions, now that they were made. Thefe rein- 

 forcements were, however, generally fo fmall, that in 

 Mofcow, much lefs abroad, they were fcarcely remarked. 

 The hopes of obtaining riches either by a fortunate chace, 

 or by extortions practifed on the unarmed tribes that were 

 found inhabiting the iteppes and wilds of Siberia, annually 

 allured thoufands of bold hunters and warriors into thofe 

 parts ; and thefe adventurers, fnurred on by their infatiable 

 avarice and unbounded licentioufnefs, were perpetually 

 exploring new regions and populations, which were not 

 yet exhauftcd and plundered of their all. Thus it hap- 

 pened, that about a century after Yermak had deftroyed 

 the empire of the Tartars upon the Irtifch, almolt the whole 

 of that prodigious trait of country was fubdued at a far 

 lefs expence of blood and treafure than the fmallelt of the 

 weftern and northern provinces which had hitherto been 

 conquered had colt, or, as was afterwards feen, thofe which 

 then remained to be fubdued. 



Feodor, the Ion and immediate fucceflbr of Ivan the 

 Terrible, abandoned his claim to Efthonia, and in return 

 forced from Sweden in 1594, the ceffion of Ingria and 

 Karelia. By Feodor's death, in 1598, the dynafty of 

 Rurik became extin£t ; and during the fubfequent inter- 

 regnum, many pretenders, under the name of Demetrius, 

 involved the empire in confufion, till, in 1613, Mikhaila 

 Romanof, or Michael Feodorowitz, of the dynafty of 

 Romauow, defcended in the female line from Ivan IV. 

 was cledted fovereign, and by large facrifices purehafed 

 the repofe of his empire. To the Swedes he was obliged 

 to rellnquifh Ingria and Karelia, and to the Pcles, Smolenfk, 

 Severia, and Tchernigof, and to make a formal renunciation 

 of all claims upon Livonia, Efthonia, and Courland. From 

 that period to the prefent day, Ruffia has not only been 

 gaining its ancient poileffions, but fo far extending and 

 enlarging them, that the prefent circumference of the 

 empire has no parallel in the hiftory of the world. Alexey, 

 or Alexis, the fon and fucceffor of Michael, not only re- 

 conquered the countries ceded by his father to the Poles, 

 but alfo reduced Kief and the Ukraine on the E. fide of 



the Dnieper, in 1655, to a re-union with the parent ftate of 

 the Slavo-Ruffian nation. His fon, Peter I., " the creator 

 of modern Ruffia," acquired to his empire in 1721, by . 

 twenty years' war with Sweden, the provinces on the 

 fliores of the Baltic, which had occafioned bloody conten- 

 tions among the northern powers for ni3ny centuries : 

 .Livonia, Efthonia, Ingria, and a part of Kexholm'and 

 Karelia, were fubjeCted to the Ruffian fceptre, thus adding 

 to the Ruffian empire great advantages for commerce, and 

 a refpettable rank among the principal European powers. 

 Catharine II. aggrandized Ruffia both within and without, 

 by a reform of its government, and bv feveral fuccefsful 

 wars. She obtained from the Porte, in 1774, the pofleffion 

 of the city of Azof, with its territory ; and ior the fecurity 

 of the Ruffian navigation on the Euxine, the forts of Kin- 

 burn, Kertlch, and Yenicaly in the peninfula of the 

 Krimea. In 1783 the whole province became, by treaty, 

 a Ruffian government ; and recovered its ancient name of 

 the Tauridan Cherfonefe. Ruffia alfo, by the fame con- 

 vention, enlarged her borders to the fouth by the Kuban, 

 where at prefent the Caucafiati mountains form the bound- 

 ary of the Ruffian dominion. Afterwards the Porte was 

 compelled to furrender a confiderable traft of country 

 on the fhores of the Euxine, between the Bogue and 

 the Dniefter. In the difgraceful partition of Poland, 

 Catharine obtained for her (hare, in 1773, the four Li- 

 thuanian voivodefhips of Smolenfk, Viteplk, Mftiflaf, and 

 Pohfh Livonia, with a part of the voivodefhips of Polotlk 

 and Minfk. An unprofperous war terminated in 1793, 

 with the lofs of the fertile provinces of the Leffer Poland 

 and Lithuania ; and at length the capital of the kingdom 

 fell into the hands of the Ruffians ; its political exiitence 

 was annihilated, and in 1796 the lait veftiges of it were loft 

 in the confines of the bordering ltates. One confequence 

 of the annihilation of Poland was the acquifition of the 

 duchies of Courland and Semigallia, including the circle 

 of Pilten, which, on the diilolution of their feudal con- 

 nection with the republic, by a refolution of the ftates of 

 the country, fubmitted themfelves unconditionally in 1795 

 to the fceptre of the emprefs. 



Catharine extended her territory, by the mild authority 

 of her laws, and the methods of civilization which fhe 

 adopted, as well as by her conquefts and treaties. Ac- 

 cordingly the tzar of Kartuelia and Kakhetty put himielf 

 under the protection of the Ruffian empire, by acknow- 

 ledging, in 1783, the fupremacy of its monarch. She alio 

 invited people from all countries to fettle in her dominions, 

 and thus eltabliflied numerous colonies. She reduced a 

 multitude of tributary nations dwelling in the interior of 

 Siberia to fubmit to her laws. She fet on foot and en- 

 couraged feveral voyages of difcovery, which obtained for 

 the Ruffian empire a new fovereignty in the ealtern ocean, 

 and on the weftern coalt of America. 



The brilliant conquefts of Catharine may, indeed, im- 

 mortalize her fame as a conqueror ; but they alone will 

 never render the memory of that accomplifhed and fagacious 

 monarch beloved and bleffed. Cordial affeCtion and admi- 

 ration are the proper tribute both of contemporaries and 

 pofterity, due only to her as the wife and benign legif- 

 latrix, inftruCtrefs, ai'd patronefs of her numerous popula- 

 tions and countries. Thoufands of perfon^, to whofe judg- 

 ment even upright and excellent fovereigns cannot be indif- 

 ferent, lament at prefent, and will lament to lateft ages, that 

 the emotions of affection and admiration, fo congenial to 

 the heart with which the exalted legillatrix, initructrefs, 

 and patronefs of the nations obedient to the Ruffian fceptre 

 has infpired, and ever will infpire them, are painfully dif- 



turbed 



