RUSSIA IN EUROPE. 13T 



solemn thanks to heaven for the success of such atrocious crimes, 

 will be a foul and indelible stain on the memory of Catharine. 



She was succeeded by her son, Paul I, who in the beginning of 

 his reign appeared to display a milder and more pacific disposition 

 than that of his mother. Immediately on his accession to the throne, 

 he ordered hostilities to cease between Russia and Persia ; and a 

 peace was soon after concluded between the two countries. He set at 

 liberty the unfortunate Kosciusko, the general of the Polish patriots, 

 with liberty either to reside in his dominions or retire to America, 

 which latter country the general chose for his asylum, but whence he 

 has since returned to Europe, and now resides in France. He be- 

 haved with an honourable liberality towards the deposed king of Po- 

 land ; and restored to their estates a great number of Polish emi- 

 grants and fugitives. 



In the year 1T99, he, however, took a very active part in the war- 

 against France, and sent a powerful army, under the command of the 

 celebrated general Suwarrow, which, co-operating with the Austrians, 

 drove the French almost entirely out of Italy, entered Switzerland, 

 and threatened the interior of the republic. He, at the same time, 

 sent a considerable force to act with the English army which had in- 

 vaded Holland. But suddenly, with a capriciousness which from this 

 time appeared to attend all his actions, he recalled his general, Su- 

 warrow, and his army from Switzerland, and appeared to have be- 

 come more hostile to England than he had been to France. He 

 seized all the British ships in his ports, detained upwards of 200 trad- 

 ing vessels in the harbour of Riga alone, and sending their crews up 

 the country. From whatever cause proceeded his animosity against 

 England ; whether from perceiving, as has been supposed, that it 

 was not the intention of the British ministry to give him possession 

 of Malta, of which he was eagerly desirous, or whether it was a con- 

 sequence of his natupal extravagance and caprice, which in many in- 

 stances bordered on phrenzy ;* he entered into alliance with France, 

 and excited a formidable confederacy of the maritime powers of the 

 North against the naval interests of Great Britain, Avhich was brokerV 

 by the famous battle of Copenhagen. His frantic acts appear to have 

 given great offence to many of the principal nobles. But on the 23d 

 of March 1800, he expired suddenly in the night-, of an ajiojilexij* 

 Respecting the cause and manner of his death a cautious silence has 

 been maintained in Russia, and it might not be proper to repeat the 

 reports concerning it circulated in this country. 



The day succeeding his decease, his eldest son, Alexander, was 

 proclaimed emperor of all the Russias ; and the new emperor soon 

 after visited the senate, and issued several popular ukases ; one ia 

 particular, reviving and confirming all the regulations of the empress 

 Catharine for the encouragement of industry and commerce. 



The conduct of Alexander, since his accession to the throne, has 

 been characterised by a moderation, forming a strong contrast to 

 the hasty violence of his predecessor. He soon entered into a 

 pacific accommodation with Great Britain, relinquished the claim on 



* Particularly in the case of the extraordinary challenge which he inserted in the 



Petersburg 1 gazette, proposing to the sovereigns of Europe to end the wars in 



they bad so long been engaged, by meeting him, with their respective mi* 



?, and engaging in single combat with himself and his minister. This chal« 



enge, it has since appeared, was written under his directions by the celebrated 



Kotzebue. 



Vor.. T. T 



