narch who possessed their love and affection. So dangerous may the virtues of princes become to their people as their vices! In every age there is generally one hero who commands a greater share of the public admiration than any other. Gustavus III. appeared beyond all doubt as the most heroic character among sovereign princes, after the death of his illustrious relation, the King of Prussia. If there be a region in the world where military campaigns roughen to the eye, and the hardships and horrors of war become more harsh and horrible than others, it is the ancient Scandinavia, Norway, Sweden, and the northern parts of the Russian empire. Bodies of armed men, now traversing a country intersected by mountains, morasses, glens, ravines, rapid rivers, and lakes; now on board of vessels, grappling with their enemies in narrow and tempestuous seas; and now descending into mines, and in those gloomy caverns seeking victory over their enemies, or death, these appearances indicate a more than ordinary degree of human hardihood and courage, and are of such a nature that, if they had been reported to the Grecian poets, they would have been wrought into fables of a race of beings of gigantic force and ferocity; living in the gloomy regions of Tartarus, and beyond the precincts of the habitable world, and accustomed to wage war against the immortal Gods, presiding over the different departments of nature. The enterprize, courage, and activity of Gustavus were highly distinguished, even in this daring and desperate mode of warfare. The defects and blemishes in the character of this illustrious prince, were such as human nature easily pardons, being only the excesses of generous passions: a gallantry and fearlessness respecting his own person, carried to a degree of fatal improvidence; and a clemency of disposition carried not only beyond the bounds of just policy, but almost to the length of weakness. On the whole, Gustavus III. King of Sweden, endowed with many natural advantages, cultivated by a fine education, and emulous of the high renown of his relations, both by the paternal and maternal side, proved that the celestial fire of the human race is not extinguished by the lapse of ages; and to what exertions human nature might be animated by the love of glory, properly directed. CHAP. V. Rejoicings at Petersburg on Account of the Peace with Sweden. An Ambition of Conquest the ruling passion of the Empress. The Pacification of Werela a Countermine to the Convention of Reichenbach. Effects of this on the Minds of the Turks. Resentments against the Swedes. Misplaced. The King of Sweden's Conduct in making Peace with Russia vindicated. The haughty Spirit of the Empress reduced by the Allies within the Bounds of greater Circumspection and Caution. Cessation of Hostilities on the Danube. Vigorous Prepa rations rations for War on the Part of the Ottomans. Naval Engagements. Heroic Atchievements of a Greek Squadron, under the Colours and Auspices of Russia, and of a Body of Greeks at Land. A Concert formed between the Czarina and the Greeks, for emancipating that Nation from the Mahomedan Yoke. Deputies from the People of Greece sent to Petersburg. How received. Great and extensive Plan of the Greeks for expelling the Turks from Europe. Approved by the Empress, who gives Earnest of future Succours in case of certain events. Russian Plan for a winter campaign on the Danube. Turkish army under Batal Bay, on the side of Asia, routed and totally ruined. The strong fortress and town of Ismailow taken by storm, after a noble defence, by General Suvarof. Dreadful and unheard-of massacre there. Various actions between the Turks and Russians. Treaty of peace concluded suddenly at Galatz. THE The Gala-days commenced on Sunday, early in the morning. The principal streets were lined with infantry. The square in which the equestrian statue of Peter the Great stands, was filled with troops. The blaze of arms, the sound of martial music, and military honours public. ly conferred on certain regiments, at the same time that they were exhibited as expressions of joy at the return of peace, carried an air of exultation and triumph. Catharine beheld her troops from the windows of one front of her palace: and from those of the opposite side, the galley fleet lying at anchor in the river, with all their flags and pendants displayed from every mast and yard. The decks of all the vessels were crowded with soldiers and seamen. Vast multitudes of the citizens were collected together upon the banks of the Neva to view the fleet; while others were assembled, in the great square, to see their Sovereign; who, after divine service, in which a grand te Deum was performed, came into the balcony attended by the ladies of the court. Catharine bowed to her subjects, who made the air resound with their acclamations. Medals struck to commemorate the peace, were thrown amidst the crowd, by two heralds on horseback. A feu de joie was fired by the guards, drawn up in the grand square, and ran from thence along the lines of troops to the most distant parts of the city. The cannon from the admiralty fired at the same time, and immediately afterwards, the whole galley fleet fired repeated broadsides. These These awful peals called the multitude, who were scrambling for the medals, to the river. Clouds of smoke mixed with the continual flashes from the mouths of the cannon, and the numerous ships and pendants, discovered at intervals through the dispersion of the smoke by the wind, gave, on the whole, no bad idea of real naval engagements. In the evening the galley fleet was superbly illuminated with different coloured lamps, hung upon the masts, the yards, the sides, and among the rigging. The darkness of the night, and the wild irregularity of the lamps, which appeared like meteors in the air, had an uncommon but grand effect. The city, too, was illuminated in every quarter. On Tuesday her Imperial Majesty dined in public with her naval and military officers. Upon Thursday the populace were entertained with oxen roasted whole, and two fountains of wine. The fountains, beautifully painted and decorated, were erected in front of the palace, and the oxen were placed on stages near them. The wine sprung into the air the moment that her Imperial Majesty appeared in the balcony. The populace crowded about the basons, which received the falling bounty; while another party, at the same signal, mounted the stages, and pulled in a thousand pieces the silken cover which hid the bodies of the oxen; nothing of them being seen before, besides their heads and The oxen were gilded horns. then quickly dissected: and from their bellies, stuffed with every sort of viands, fowls, tongues, hams, joints of veal and mutton, &c. showered in great profusion. On the succeeding Tuesday a public masquerade was given at court, and all ranks were admitted by tickets. The Empress, the Grand duke and Duchess, with the young Imperial Family, the Russian ministers, the foreign ambassadors, the naval and military officers, and the principal inhabitants of the city, as well as the lowest classes, were assembled together. Besides the assemblage that appeared in characters and fancied dresses, or in dominos, there was an equal number in their ordinary habits; which, however, were more curious and even various than the others. Russians, Moors, Finlanders, Poles, Danes, Swedes, Italians, French, Germans, English, Turks, Greeks, Persians, Jews, Armenians, and Tartars of various tribes, in their native dresses, and speaking the different languages of their nations, presented a group of singular variety. And what was very striking, and particularly characteristical of the genius of these festivities, * • During the time of the Greek empire, the great (as it was the most natural) centre of communication between the European and Asiatic nations, was Constantinople. The gross bigotry, ignorance, and pride of the Turks, have given a check to this communication on that quarter; while a new point of communication and, as it were, contact has been formed by the more liberal sentiments and views of the court of St. Petersburg, and the immense extent of the Russian empire. To speak in a style familiar, but apt enough, St. Petersburg is a kind of half-way house between Europe and Asia, by land, as the Cape of Good Hope is by sea. There is not any station where human nature is to be seen in so great a diversity of character and festivities, Swedish and Russian of ficers in their respective uniforms, were now walking side by side, or mixing in the dance. It might well appear to be a matter of wonder, were it not so common, and perhaps even of humiliation and regret, that men of liberal and cultivated minds, who have no manner of quarrel with one another, but who, on the contrary, are naturally inclined to mutual sympathy and good offices, nay, and that whole nations are so easily to be engaged in mutual hostilities, by the nod of one, or the intrigues of a few of their fellow-creatures! It depended solely on the wills of their respective sovereigns, whether those gentlemen should not, in a very little time, be ranged on opposite sides in a field of battle. The Gala-days ended with fireworks, which were played off in a field adjoining to the summer-gardens, which were superbly illuminated. In the front of the field, a small wooden building was fitted upfor the accommodation of the Imperial family, and stages around it for the conveniency of the public. The firing of cannon announced the approach of the Empress: the temple of Janus opened its gates; the furies hissed within it, and tossed their flaming heads: the thunder of cannon and musketry declared the raging of war: the gates of Janus, after this had continued for some time, were shut: the and appearance, as that residence of the "Russian monarchs" (it is observed by a very pleasing and profound writer) "is made up of a variety of nations, differing from one another in language, dress, and manners. The court-dress being wholly foreign, there are no circumstances that give to any one national dress of the empire the superiority over all the rest. Hence every tribe preserves its own: and as the capital naturally attracts to itself some individuals from every nation of which the empire is composed, the inhabitants of St. Petersburg are accustomed to see much greater variety of dresses than those of almost any other city. The diversity is as great in the manner of life as it is in the external appearance of those who inhabit this city. Foreigners generally continue attached to their native habits and predilections: and in St. Petersburgh you may be entertained after the manner of almost every nation in Europe, as well as of most of the Asiatic tribes, from the Wall of China to the Mouth of the Oby, and from Constantinople to the Sea of Kamtschatka. In short, St. Petersburg presents a natural masquerade. In other cities the variety of strangers is not so distinguishable as here, owing to their accommodating themselves to the dress of the country in which they reside, or sojourn, in order to prevent the mob from staring at them. In this imperial residence of Russia, there is no need of such compliance. Let foreigners be dressed ever so oddly, they will find at every turning subjects of the Russian empire to keep them in countenance. She brings into this ball her various swarms from the snowy mountains near the Frozen Ocean, to the fertile plains of the Ukraine (a space of 4000 miles) Siberians, Tongusians, Finns, Calmucs, Cossacks, and an endless train of other Tartarian tribes. The masquerade is a favourite amusement at Petersburg: there are such great distinctions of ranks without doors, that they are happy at times to sink and forget these in a masquerade. In England, on the contrary, we are so much on a level without and within doors, that it would be no amusement or relaxation to repeat the same scenes: and this I take to be the reason that we have few masquerades." the temple of Minerva blazed forth, and moved towards the place where her Imperial majesty was seated: the temple of Janus, at the same time removing to a distance. The Imperial initial was emblazoned, and appeared amidst a glory playing around it. Another temple displayed the blessings of peace, of science, of agriculture, and commerce, while two palm-branches flourished, one on each side. But while the Empress was represented by these emblems, as enjoying the glories of the sciences, and all the liberal and useful arts, as well as that of war, and though it was thereby represented that the end of all wars ought to be the supreme blessing of peace, it was the love of military glory and of conquest that was still uppermost in her mind. She delighted more in the means than the end. If peace with Sweden was a subject of sincere joy to the Czarina, it was chiefly on account of the freedom at which it left the Russian fleet and armies, to pursue the favourite line of conquest in another quarter.* The pacification of Werela, between Russia and Sweden, proved in a very considerable degree what it was intended, a countermine to the convention of Reichenbach. The secession of Leopold from the confederacy between the Imperial courts, seemed to be fully counterbalanced by that of Gustavus from the cause of the allies. The sanguinary temper of Catharine disposed her to contemplate the advantages to be expected from the undivided force of her empire, brought to bear against the Turks more than on those, that the Turks might on their part expect from their undivided force exertedagainst her. And as the peace with Sweden relieved her, on the one hand, from actual and most violent aggressions, so it lessened the danger to be apprehended from Prussia and Britain, whose menaces, indeed, had already begun to lose somewhat of their awe, by the delay of execution. The joy and exultation which prevailed at Petersburg, were naturally contrasted with the disappointment, grief, and indignation which took place on the news of the peace of Werela, at Constantinople. The Swedes had just been comprehended among the most favoured of Christian nations. It was but a few days before intelligence of that heavy stroke was received, that an uncommonly fine and valuable diamond, sent by Gustavus, was presented to the Grand Seignior. Both the Swedish minister at the Porte, and the bearer of the present, were treated with peculiar marks of • The victories which Catharine gained over the Turks in the war concluded by the Convention of 1784, were celebrated by an English artist in an allegorical painting now preserved at Czarsko-Zelo. In this painting the Empress points with her right hand to standards and other warlike trophies, which allude to the success of her arms. Greece, with her attributes, at the Empress's feet, seems on one side to implore her protection, while Apollo, at the head of the nine muses, advances with a suppliant air on the other. The rising sun illumines Catharine's forehead; and in the back ground arises the new city of Cherson; behind which is the Black Sea, covered with ships directing their course towards Constantinople. |
