prises, was still respectable in point of force; consisting of thirteen ships of the line and as many frigates, beside smaller vessels. But Orlow added nothing to his own credit or the repute of the Russian navy; contenting himself with carrying on a war of depredation against the Turkish islands, which he distressed by making descents on them, and by favouring the revolt in Egypt, till that was terminated by the death of Ali Bey." Catharine could not but feel some mortification from the unsuccessful result of armaments prepared at a vast expence. And her feelings were embittered by a revolt which took place, this year, among the Don Cossacs, headed by an impostor, named Pugatschef, who assumed the name of Peter the Third, pretending that he had escaped the death which the assassins were said to have inflicted on him.'-In the ensuing year we shall see a further account of this rebellion; which must be considered as one of the evils resulting from despotism, and as the proper punishment of that passion for dominion which grasps at a greater extent of territory than it can possibly govern with success. Her majesty, mean-time, was consoled with the final success of her schemes in Poland; the partition treaty being this year ratified, by which 3440 square leagues were added to the Russian empire.* Amidst the multiplicity of affairs which the empress's extensive empire brought on her, she was not inattentive to concerns of a more personal nature. Whilst she was carrying on war with the Turks, extending her dominions and establishing her power in Poland, using means to conciliate the attachment of Austria and Prussia, securing Denmark in her interests by a treaty of exchange with that crown,' and intriguing against the government in Sweden, a minister was employed to find a German princess who was a proper match for the grand duke, now in his twentieth year.-His Prussian majesty did not neglect to avail himself of so fair an opportunity to strengthen his interests at the court of Petersburg. With that design he recommended the princess Wilhelmina of Hesse Darmstadt, whose sister was married to the prince of Prussia, the king's heir. And Catharine was glad to confirm herself in the friendship of a monarch whom she so highly respected, by a marriage alliance which would form a connection between their families, and give her an influence at the court of one of the principal 1773 1773 protestant princes in Germany. The consent of all the parties being obtained, the princess embraced the Greek faith, and the marriage was celebrated with great pomp at Petersburg.‡ m 1773 POLAND. A SENATUS Concilium was called, agreeably to his majesty's promise.† And, that nothing might be omitted which could give validity to the proceedings of the intended diet, the ministers of the partitioning powers made the senators acquainted with those articles which they required them to lay before that assembly; particularly an acknowledgment, from the king and senate, of the right asserted by those powers to the territories claimed by them.-Stanislaus, then, admonished the senators to acquiesce with him in their present fortune; and to depend, for deliverance from foreign tyranny, upon that Being who had rescued him out of the hands of assassins. In consequence of which, a diet was convoked in the following words: "Since "there are no hopes from any quarter, and any further delays will only "tend to draw down the most dreadful calamities upon the dominions which "are left to the republic, the diet is convened for the nineteenth of April, "1778, according to the will of the three courts: nevertheless, in order to "avoid all cause of reproach, the king, with the advice of the senate, again appeals to the guarantees of the treaty of Oliva.” b The same spirit of submission was not, however, discovered by all the Polish nobles. Prince Czartoriski, great chancellor of Lithuania, the primate of Poland, the chancellor of the kingdom, the grand marshal, with many other nobles, repaired to Cracow, and disclaimed all connection with the ensuing diet; which they represented as a packed convention, entirely under the direction of a tyrannical triumvirate, which had already spoiled and divided the kingdom. It is worthy the attention of those who contemplate political events with a view of rendering their speculations beneficial to society, to review the causes which have led the Polish nation to its present distressful situation, to the mortifying necessity of giving a sanction to the outrages of their oppressors; and, what must have rendered oppression doubly galling, of formally acknowledging the justice of an act which all the world exclaimed against as the rankest tyranny, the most flagrant violation of the laws of nations.The chief of these was that erroneous idea of liberty which they attached to the feudal system of government. This, however captivating to a barbarous people, does not assimilate well with an advanced state of society. The vassal was elated with importance when he was supporting the banners of his chief: he easily fancied himself interested in his quarrel: and, under the influence of this delusion, he mistook the obligations of vassalage for the services of free men. He esteemed it his greatest glory to uphold his standard with valour: and, whilst in pursuit of this object, he seemed regardless of the calamities which he underwent in a perpetual scene of turbulence, licentiousness, and civil hostility. "Cum ventum in aciem, turpe principi virtute vinci, turpe comitatui virtutem principis non adæquare. "Jam vero infame in omnem vitam ac probrosum, superstitem principi suo. ex acie recessisse. Illum defendere, tueri, sua quoque fortia facta gloriæ ejus assignare, præcipuum sacramentum est. Principes pro victoria pug"nant; comites pro principe."-As long as the governments of all the principal kingdoms in Europe were constituted on the principles of the feudał system, an equality of weakness, arising from the same cause of internal distraction, kept the balance even among them. But when changes had taken place in most of them; when the force of some was concentred by absolute power, and the sinews of others were strengthened by the introduction of that rational liberty which is founded on legal restraint, and is productive of security, industry, and affluence, a state which was still enfeebled by its innate anarchy, and that rendered more grievous by religious dissension, no longer acted on equal terms with them.-Such were the relative circumstances of Poland, when the partition treaty, as we have seen, was brought forward by the Prussian monarch, and accomplished by a concurrence of the courts of Petersburg and Vienna. That 1773 Tacitus de Moribus Germanorum, 1773 That there might be no possible resistance to the arbitrary measures of the partitioning powers, the country round Warsaw, before the meeting of the diet,† was filled with their troops; which, by their excessive licentiousness, gave the Poles a foretaste of that hateful tyranny which they were destined to endure.-Notwithstanding which, the deputies of Podolia and Volhinia, in defiance of the terrors that surrounded them, boldly delivered a manifesto, protesting against the proceedings of the diet. Their efforts, however, only served to prove that the spirit of liberty was still alive in the breasts of the people. Every thing now tended to fill the advocates of independency with despair. The king, and even prince Czartoriski and most of the confederates of Cracow, perceiving that resistance must be fruitless, submitted to the requisitions made by the allied powers.-The answers given by the courts of France, England, Sweden, and Holland to his majesty's letters, disclaiming all interference in the affairs of this kingdom, were laid before the diet. And when the assembly was convulsed by the struggles which some of the dietines made for the preservation of their rights, several squadrons of Austrian and Prussian hussars entered Warsaw; the citizens were threatened with heavy contributions; and the ambassadors declared that their sovereigns would admit of no delay, nor of any mitigation of the terms prescribed.-The dismemberment was then reluctantly ratified by the diet. Yet, so great was still the opposition, that their accession was voted by a majority of only six in the senate, and of but one voice in the lower house, or assembly of the nuncios.-Delegates were afterwards appointed, with full powers to adjust, in concert with the ambassadors, all the terms of the dismemberment.' And when they had continued their discussions above six months, the separate treaties of peace, alliance, guarantee and partition, were concluded between the delegates and the ministers of the allied powers, and were ratified by the king. §-After this the same delegates, being empowered by the diet to concert with the three courts any alteration in the constitution which might appear beneficial to the kingdom, proceeded in their deliberations relative to that business.-When these proceedings were published, the nation exclaimed against them, as pusillanimous; nimous; not considering that they had themselves been the cause, or the instruments, of their own disgrace and misery by their jealousy, their turbulence, and dissensions. TURKEY. THE Sultan's affairs began at this period to wear a more auspicious aspect. Whilst the judicious conduct of Mousson Oglow gave success to the Turkish arms on the Danube, Aboudaab was victorious over his antagonist in Egypt. -Ali Bey, having reduced Joppa and ceded it to his ally, † soon after received a message from the Janissaries and citizens of Cairo, declaring that they were disgusted with the tyranny of Aboudaab, and were ready to open their gates to him.-Encouraged by this invitation, the chief, although he had only 6300 men with him, marched towards Cairo, accompanied by the Sheik Daher; and defeated a detachment of the enemy's army on his route. a Aboudaab, in the mean-time, had contrived to regain the citizens to his interests by persuading them, that, should they support his rival, they would fall into the hands of his christian allies; who would practise the 'same perfidious policy and cruelty towards them as they had done in the east. His artifice succeeding, the citizens enrolled themselves in his army; but the Janissaries refused to serve against Ali Bey.-He then advanced to meet his rival: and a battle ensued, || in which victory appeared to incline towards Ali Bey, till the desertion of his infantry decided the fortune of the day in favour of his enemy. That chief was taken prisoner and carried to Grand Cairo, where he died of his wounds in his forty-fifth year.-Aboudaab afterwards governed Egypt as Sheik Billet; and carried on the war against the Sheik Daher, the only remaining adversary of the Porte in this quarter. b 1773 1773 |