faults of Catherine were summed up, her infidelities stated, and her son pronounced illegitimate, was found and published in the city. This paper, composed with force and eloquence, was circulated among the people, and made its way to the troops, who already deplored the consequences of their infatuation, and lamented the fate of their lawful sovereign. Every thing portended a new revolution, when an imperial proclamation suddenly came forth, by which the guards were forbidden to assemble without orders from their superiors. Some of the ringleaders were, at the same instant, seized, and condemned to the punishment of the knout; others were banished to Siberia; while terror for a time held the rest to their duty. The empress believing that, by a prompt severity, and the chastisement of the guards, she should effectually silence the priests, refused even to temporise with those who displeased her. She even added, in some instances, contempt to severity: to Ivan Schuvaloff, whose services had merited from her a recompence, and whose pretensions had awakened the jealousy of Orloff, she sent an order to leave the court, and presented to him, as a reward of his exertions in her favour, an old negro, who played about the palace the part of a buffoon. Villebois, the general of the artillery, who had yielded at her command his duty to the czar, was, at the instance of Orloff, who wished for his employment, and dreaded his talents, dismissed from his office, of which his enemy took possession. The pretensions of the princess Dashkoff had become offensive to her friend: this young heroine, who, at the commencement of the revolution had, with the empress, put on the uniform of the guards, and marched at their head, demanded, as an acknowledgment of her activity and courage, the title of colonel of the regiment of Préobajensky. Catherine, smiling, ironically replied, that the academy, she should suppose, would be more suitable to her character than a military corps.' The princess, severely mortified, murmured among her friends at the ingratitude of the empress, to whose elevation she had sacrificed her family; while yielding to the impetuosity of her character, she sought for an opportunity of testifying her resentment. Odart, her Piedmontese favourite, was the first to observe the change in her sentiments, and to report his observation to Catherine. The princess, deserted by the woman whom she had raised to a throne, and betrayed by the man who owed to her his fortunes, immediately received orders to retire to Moscow. But even this was not considered as sufficient; Odart was commissioned by his imperial mistress, to engage the embassador of France to write to Voltaire a caution against the vanity of madame Dashkoff, with an intimation that, should he transmit to posterity the recent events, he would do well to mention this young person but slightly, as having acted a subordinate and inferior part in a revolution which, it was hinted, was to be attributed wholly to the courage and sagacity of the empress. How truly contemptible does the great Catherine appear in this conduct! how rare is true magnanimity and greatness of soul! The embassador, M. Breteul, went somewhat beyond his commission, when, in his letter he added "C'est pousser bien loin la jalousie et la hardiesse de l'ingratitude." The same commission was given to the Russian embassadors at London and Paris*. * More than five-and-twenty years after the event, Catherine held the same language. It was her wish that the history of her life and reign should have been composed by the historian of Charles V. Various suggestions were, from time to time, given to that effect, and transmitted to Scotland. The papers and documents for the purpose were to be furnished by herself. The archbishop of Novgorod, a principal instrument in the revolution, and who, gained over by money and promises, had assisted in diminishing the privileges of the monks, found all his hopes and expectations frustrated. Catherine, no longer needing his services, abandoned him, disgraced and mortified, to the contempt of the clergy, by whom he was hated, and to the rage of the people who detested his ambition. The triumph of the empress had, in the mean time, been learned with joy by Poniatoffsky, who, since his departure from Petersburg, had, by the aid of some friends, kept up a regular correspondence with Catherine, who still affected constancy to the attachment with which he had inspired her. Depending upon these professions, and aspiring probably to the hand of her whose heart he fondly believed to be his own, the Pole advanced to the frontiers of his country, whence he sent to entreat permission to repair to Petersburg. The answer informed him, that his presence at court was not necessary, and that the empress had different views in his favour. Still solicitous that he should remain in ignorance of her other connections, she wrote to him in her accustomed style: in speaking of him before their mutual confidants, she even pretended to shed tears, while she complained of the reports which attributed to her an inclination for Orloff, of whom she affected to speak with contempt. But the lover, proud of his advantage, had not the same motives for mystery: coarse and haughty in his manners, he submitted to dissemble with an ill grace, and obliquely vaunted of his favour and power. Accustomed to reside in the barracks and cabaks*, he was not unfrequently guilty of excesses, by which he was completely thrown off his guard. Being at supper one evening with Catherine, Razumoffsky, and other courtiers, he boasted of his ascendancy over the guards and of his instrumentality in the revolution, which, he declared, had been solely effected by himself. To this he added (a temerity which liquor had inspired), that in one month, if he chose to abuse his power, he could undo his own work, and dethrone the empress. 'You might do so,' returned the hetman, smiling contemptuously, 'but, my friend, within a fortnight after, we would hang you.' The courtiers were disgusted * Houses for drinking, frequented by the lower orders of the people. |