R U S 
174$, they were ordered to quit the country on pain of 
death. 
The army was augmented under Elizabeth, but certainly 
not improved. The excessive licence which the regiments 
of guards, particularly the life company of the Preobajerskoy 
guards, presumed to exercise, under the very eyes of the 
empress in St. Peiersburgh, afforded no good example to the 
rest of the army. A great number of excellent regulations 
that had been introduced into the army, were suffered by the 
Russian generals to fall into total disuse. The bad effects of 
this negligence were very soon perceived, when the Russians 
had to engage with the king of Prussia. 
Elizabeth tarnished her reign, by the institution of a 
political court of inquisition, under the name of a secret state 
chancery, empowered to examine into and punish all such 
charges as related to the expression of any kind of displeasure 
against the measures of government. This, as is usual in 
such cases, opened a door to the vilest practices. And the 
lowest and most profligate of mankind were now employed 
as spies and informers. 
The grand duke ascended the throne by the name of Peter 
III. This prince’s conduct has been variously represented. 
He entered on the government possessed of an enthusiastic 
admiration of the virtues of the king of Prussia, with whom 
he immediately made peace, and whose principles and 
practice he seems to have adopted as patterns for his imitation. 
He might have surmounted the effects even of those pecu¬ 
liarities, unpopular as they then were in Russia-, but it is said 
that he aimed at reformations in his dominions, which even 
Peter the Great durst not attempt; and that he ventured 
to cut off the beards of his clergy. He was certainly a weak 
man, whose chief amusement was buffoonery. He was a 
stranger to the country, its inhabitants, and their manners; 
and sutfered himself to be persuaded by those about him, 
that his people were unworthy of his attention, except to 
make them, by means of the Prussian discipline, good fight¬ 
ing machines. These sentiments regulated his whole conduct 
and prepared the way for that revolution which improprieties 
of a different kind tended to hasten. 
Becoming attached to one of the Vorontzoff ladies, sister 
to the princess Dashkoff, he disgusted his wife, who was then 
a lovely woman in the prime of life, of great natural talents 
and great acquired accomplishments. The princess 
Dashkoff, who was married to a man whose genius was not 
superior to that of the emperor, being dame d'honneur j and 
lady of the bed-chamber, had of course much of the empress’s 
company. Similarity of situations knit these two illustrious 
personages in the closest friendship. The princess being a 
zealous admirer of the French ceconomistes, could make her 
conversation both amusing and instructive. She retailed all 
her statistical knowledge ; and finding the empress a willing 
hearer, she spoke of her in every company as a prodigy of 
judgment, and philanthropy. Whilst the emperor, by his 
buffoonery and attachment to foreign manners, was daily 
incurring more and more the odium of his subjects, the 
popularity of his wife was rapidly increasing; and some 
persons about the court expressed their regret, that so much 
knowledge of government, such love of humanity, and such 
ardent wishes for the prosperity of Russia, should only 
furnish conversations with Catharina Romanovna (the princess 
Dashkoff). The empress and her favourite did not let these 
expressions pass unobserved ; they continued their studies in 
concert; and whilst the former was employed on her famous 
code of laws for a great empire, the lattei- always reported 
progress, till the middling circles of Moscow and St. Peters- 
burgh began to speak familiarly of the blessings which they 
might enjoy if these speculations could be realized. 
Meanwhile Peter III. was giving fresh cause of discontent. 
He had recalled from Siberia Count Munich, who was 
indeed a sensible, brave, and worthy man; but as he was 
smarting under the effects of Russian despotism, and had 
grounds of resentment against most of the great families, he 
did not much discourage the emperor’s unpopular conduct, 
but only tried to. moderate it and give it a system. Peter, 
however, was impatient He publicly ridiculed the exercise 
S I A. 475 
and evolutions of the Russian troops; and hastily adopting 
the Prussian discipline, without digesting and fitting it for 
the constitution of his own forces, he completely disgusted 
the army. 
Four regiments of guards, amounting to 8000 men, were 
instantly brought over to the queen’s party. The people at 
large were in a state of indifference, out of which they were 
roused by the following means. A little manuscript was 
handed about containing principles of legislation for Russia, 
founded on natural rights, and on the claims of the different 
classes of people. In that performance was proposed 
a convention of deputies from all the classes and from 
every part of the empire, to converse, but without 
authority, on the subjects on which it treated, and to 
inform the senate of the result of their deliberations. It 
passed for the work of her majesty, and was much ad¬ 
mired. 
While Catharine was thus high in the public esteem and 
affection, the emperor took the alarm at her popularity, and 
in a few days came to the resolution of confining her for 
life, and then of marrying his favourite. The servants of 
that favourite betrayed her to her sister, who imparted the 
intelligence to the empress. Catharine saw her danger, and 
instantly formed her resolution. She must either tamely 
submit to perpetual imprisonment, and perhaps a cruel and 
ignominious death, or contrive to hurl her husband from his 
throne. No other alternative was left her, and the conse¬ 
quence was what was undoubtedly expected. The proper 
steps were taken; folly fell before abilities and address, and 
in three days the revolution was accomplished. 
When the emperor saw that all was lost, he attempted to 
enter Cronstadt from Oranienbaum, a town on the gulf of 
Finland, 30 versts, or nearly 26 miles, from St. Petersburgh. 
The sentinels at the harbour presented their muskets at the 
barge; and though they were not loaded, and the men had 
no cartridges, he drew back. The English sailors called 
from ship to ship for some person to head them, declaring 
that they would take him in and defend him; but he preci¬ 
pitately withdrew. Munich received him again, and ex¬ 
horted him to mount his horse, and head his guards, 
swearing to live and die with him. He said, “ No, I see it 
cannot be done without shedding much of the blood of my 
brave Holsteiners. I am not worthy of the sacrifice." 
He was soon after taken prisoner, and removed to a 
pleasant retreat called Ropscha, about 30 miles from St. 
Petersburgh; here he supposed he should be detained but a 
short time previous to his being sent into Germany. He 
therefore sent a message to Catharine, desiring permission to 
have for his attendant a favourite negro, and that she would 
send him a dog, of which he was very fond, together with 
his violin, a bible, and a few romances, telling her that, 
disgusted with the wickedness of mankind, he was resolved 
henceforth to devote himself to a philosophical life. These 
requests were not granted. 
In the mean time the soldiers were amazed at what they 
had done ; they could not conceive by what fascination they 
had been hurried so far as to dethrone the grandson of 
Peter the Great, in order to give his crown to a German 
woman. The majority without plan or sentiment of what 
they were doing, had been mechanically led on by the 
movements of others; and each individual now reflecting on 
his baseness, after the pleasure of disposing of a crown' had 
vanished, was filled only with remorse. The sailors, who 
had never been engaged in the insurrection, openly reproached 
the guards in the tippling houses with having sold their em¬ 
peror for beer. Pity, which justifieseven the greatest criminals, 
pleaded irresistibly in every heart. One night a band of 
soldiers attached to the empress took the alarm, from an idle 
fear, and exclaimed that their mother was in danger, and 
that she must be awaked, that they might see her. During 
the next night there was a fresh commotion more serious than 
the former. So long as the life of the emperor left a pretext 
for inquietude, it was thought that no tranquillity was to be 
expected. 
On the sixth day of the emperor’s imprisonment at 
Ropscha, 
