RUSSIA IN EUROPE. 129 



her eldest sister, her heir. She gave him the title of grand-duke of 

 Russia ; and, soon after her accession to the throne, called him to her 

 court, where he renounced the succession of the crown of Sweden* 

 which undoubtedly was his right, embraced the Greek religion, and 

 married a princess of Anhalt-Zerbst, the late empress Catharine II, by 

 whom he had a son, the late emperor of Russia, Paul I. 



Few princes have had a more uninterrupted career of glory than 

 Elizabeth. She was completely victorious over the Swedes. Her 

 alliance was courted by Great Britain, at the expense of a large sub- 

 sidy ; but many political, and some private reasons, it is said, deter- 

 mined her to take part with the house of Austria against the king of 

 Prussia in 1756. Her arms alone gave a turn to the fortune of the war, 

 which was in disfavour of Prussia, notwithstanding that monarch's 

 amazing abilities both in the field and cabinet. Her success was such. 

 as portended the entire destruction of the Prussian power, which was, 

 perhaps, saved only by her critical death, on January 5, 1762. 



Elizabeth was succeeded by Peter III, grand-duke of Russia, and 

 duke of Holstein, a prince whose conduct has been variously repre- 

 sented. He mounted the throne possessed of an enthusiastic admi- 

 ration of his Prussian majesty's virtues ; to whom he gave peace, and 

 whose principles and practices he seems to have adopted as the rule 

 of his future reign. Pie might have surmounted the effects even of 

 those peculiarities, unpopular as they then were in Russia; but it is 

 said that he aimed at reformation in his dominions, which even Peter 

 ihe Great durst not attempt ; and that he even ventured to cut off the 

 beards of his clergy. It is also alleged that he had formed a resolu- 

 tion to destroy both the empress and her son, though they had been 

 declared heirs to the imperial throne by the same authority which had 

 placed the crown upon his head : even the advocates of Peter IIIj 

 acknowledge that he had resolved to shut up his wife and son in a 

 convent, to place his mistress upon the throne, and to change the 

 order of succession. The execution of his designs was, however, 

 prevented by an almost general conspiracy formed against him, in 

 which the empress took a very active part ; and this unfortunate prince 

 scarcely knew an interval between the loss oi his crown and his life, 

 of which he was deprived, while under an ignominious confinement, 

 in July 1762. His wife, the late Catharine II, was proclaimed empress. 



The death of prince Ivan, son to the princess of Mecklenburg, was 

 an act of state policy perfectly according with the means by which 

 Catharine ascended the throne. This young prince, as soon as he 

 came into the world, was designed, though illegally, to wear the im- 

 perial crown of Russia, after the death of his great aunt, the empress 

 Anne Ivannovna ; but, on the advancement of the empress Elizabeth, 

 lie was condemned to lead an obscure life in the castle of Schlus- 

 selburg under a strong guard, who had particular orders, that, if any 

 person or any armed force was employed in attempting to deliver him, 

 they should kill him immediately. He lived quietly in his prison, 

 when the empress Catharine II, mounted the throne ; and as the revo- 

 lution which deposed her husband Peter III, had occasioned a strong; 

 ferment in the minds of the people, Catharine was apprehensive that 

 some attempts might be made in favour of Ivan ; she therefore doubled 

 the guards of this unhappy prince, and particularly entrusted him to- 

 the care of two officers who were devoted to her interest. However, 

 a lieutenant of infantry, who was born in the Ukraine, undertook, or 

 at least pretended so, to deliver Ivan by forge of arms, from the for- 



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