capital of Lithuania, followed the example of Warsaw, but the triumph of the insurgents was there less terrible, as Colonel Yasinovsky, who headed the patriots, conducted himself with so much skill, that he made all the Russians prisoners without bloodshed. The inhabitants of the cantons of Chelm and Lublin, also declared themselves in a state of insurrection, and three Polish regiments who were employed in the service of Russia, espoused the cause of their country. Some of the principal partizans of Russia were arrested, and sentenced to be hanged.

Kościuszko exerted himself to the utmost to augment his army. He procured recruits among the peasants, and to inspire them with the more emulation, he adopted their dress, ate with them, and distributed rewards among such as appeared most to merit encouragement. All his attempts to inspire the lower orders of the Poles with the ardour of patriotism were, however, unavailing. A mutual distrust prevailed between the nobles and the peasants, and this was fomented by the arts of Stanislaus and the other partizans of Russia.

The empress had sent into Poland two of her best generals, Suvaroff and Perlen. For some time Kościuszko succeeded in preventing the junction of these generals, and several engagements took place between the Russians and patriots, in which the former were generally successful. At length, on the 4th of October the fate of Poland was decided by a sanguinary conflict between Kościuszko and Perlen, at Maciejowitch, a small town of Little Poland, about 60 miles from Warsaw. The talents, the valour, and desperation of Kościuszko, could not prevent the Poles from yielding to superior numbers. Almost the whole of his army was either cut in pieces, or compelled to surrender at discretion, and the hero himself, covered with wounds, fell senseless on the field of battle, and was made prisoner.

The small number that escaped fled to Warsaw, and final disfurnished themselves up in the suburb of Praga. Hither members they were pursued by Suvaroff, who immediately laid siege to the suburb, and prepared to carry it by storm. On the 2d of November, the brutal Suvaroff gave the assault, and having made himself master of the place, put to the sword both the soldiers and the peaceable inhabitants, without distinction of age or sex. It is computed that 20,000 persons fell victims to the savage ferocity of the Russian general; and, covered with the blood of the slaughtered inhabitants, the barbarian entered Warsaw in triumph.

Thus terminated the feeble resistance of the Polish patriots. The partition of the remaining provinces was soon effected, and Stanislaus Augustus, who had long enjoyed merely the shadow of royalty, and had degraded himself by becoming the instrument of Russian usurpation, retired to Grodno, there to pass the remainder of his days on a pension granted him by the empress.

In 1795, on the 18th of February, a treaty of defensive alliance between the empress of Russia and his Britannic majesty was signed at St Petersburg. The offensive object of this treaty was to maintain the general tranquillity of Europe, and more especially of the north; and by it Russia agreed to furnish Great Britain with 10,000 infantry and 2000 horse in case of invasion; while Great Britain was, under similar circumstances, to send her imperial majesty a squadron consisting of two ships of 74 guns, six of 60, and four of 50, with a complement of 4560 men. On the 18th March was signed the act by which the duchies of Courland and Semigallia, together with the circle of Piltzen, all which had lately belonged to the duke of Courland, but had long retained only the shadow of independence, submitted themselves to the Russian dominion.

In this year there took place between the courts of St Petersburg and Stockholm, a dispute which threatened to terminate in a war. Gustavus III. had been attracted by Ankerstroem at a masquerade, on the 15th March 1791, and the young king Gustavus Adolphus being still a minor, the duke of Sodermania, his uncle, had been appointed regent of the kingdom. The regent had determined to effect a marriage between his nephew and a princess of the house of Mecklenburg; but Catharine publicly declared that the late king had betrothed his son to one of her granddaughters. The misunderstanding hence originating, was increased by the rude and indecent behaviour of the baron Von Budberg, the Russian chargé des affaires at Stockholm, and matters seemed tending to an open rupture; when in 1796, a French emigrant named Christin effected a reconciliation, and General Budberg, the baron's uncle, was sent In consequence of this reconciliation, the young king attended by the regent, and a numerous train of Swedish courtiers, set out on a visit to St Peterburgh, where they arrived on the 24th of August, and an interview took place between the empress and her royal visitors, for the purpose of finally adjusting the projected matrimonial alliance. Gustavus Adolphus was much pleased with the appearance of the grand duchess Alexandra; but informed the empress, that by the fundamental laws of Sweden he could not sign the marriage contract before the princess had abjured the Greek religion; and as neither the solicitations nor the flatteries of Catharine could prevail on the young monarch to depart from the received custom of his country, the negociation ended, and the next day Gustavus and his retinue quitted St Peterburgh.

The last transaction of importance in the reign of Catharine was her invasion of the Persian territories, undertaken for the purpose of acquiring certain possessions on the shores of the Caspian. A Russian army entered Daghestan, and made itself master of Derbent, but was afterwards defeated by the Persians under Aga Mahmed.

The death of the empress took place, as we have elsewhere stated, on the 9th of November of this year; and the grand duke Paul Petrovitch ascended the throne under the title of Paul I.

Paul Petrovitch had attained his 42nd year before the death of his mother placed him on the imperial throne; but for many years before her death, he had lived in a state of comparative obscurity and retirement, and had apparently been considered by the empress as incapable of taking any active part in the administration of affairs. It is well known that Catharine never admitted him to any participation of power, and kept him in a state of the most abject and mortifying separation from court, and in almost total ignorance of the affairs of the empire. Although by his birth he was generalissimo of the armies, president of the admiralty, and grand admiral of the Baltic, he was never permitted to head even a regiment, and was interdicted from visiting the fleet at Cronstadt. From these circumstances it is evident that the empress either had conceived some jealousy of her son, or saw in him some mental imbecility, that appeared to her to disqualify him for the arduous concerns of government. There is little doubt, from the circumstances which distinguished his short reign, that Catharine had been chiefly influenced in her treatment of the grand duke, by the latter consideration. There were certainly times at which Paul displayed evident marks of insanity, though he occasionally gave proofs of a generous and tender disposition, and even of intellectual vigour.

It is generally believed that, a short time before her death, Catharine committed to Plato Zuboff, her last favourite, a declaration of her will, addressed to the senate, desiring that Paul should be passed over in the succession, and that on her death the grand duke Alexander should ascend the vacant throne. As soon as Zuboff was made acquainted with the sudden death of the empress, he flew to Pavlovsk, about 23 miles from St Peterburgh, where Paul occasionally resided, but meeting the grand duke on the road, he, after a short explanation, delivered up the important document.

Paul, charmed with his zeal and loyalty, rewarded the late favourite, by permitting him to retain the wealth and honours which had been heaped on him by his mistress, while a general and rapid dispersion soon took place among the other adherents of the late sovereign. On the day following the death of his mother, Paul made his public entry into St Peterburgh, amidst the acclamations of all ranks of people.

One of the first measures adopted by the new emperor excited considerable surprise, and divided the opinions of the public with respect to the motives by which it had been suggested; some attributing it to his respect for the memory of his late father; others to a culpable reflection on that of his mother. He ordered the remains of Peter III. to be removed from the sepulchre in which they had been deposited in the church of St Alexander Nevski, and caused them to lie in state for three weeks, while they were watched night and day by the only two remaining conspirators who had assisted at his assassination. After this dreadful mark of his justice on the murderers of his father (more terrible to the guilty mind than death itself), he confirmed the ashes to the sepulchre of Catharine II. in the cathedral of St Peter and St Paul, obliging the assassins to walk in the procession as chief mourners.

Few political events of any importance marked the reign of Paul previous to the year 1798, when, in consequence of a treaty between Paul and the emperor of Germany, a Russian army of 45,000 men under Field-marshal Suvoroff joined the imperialists in the Austrian territories in Italy. The progress of Suvoroff, his successes over Moreau, and his final recall by his master, have already been related in the article France, from 498 to 506.

In 1799, Paul entered into a treaty of offensive and defensive alliance with his Britannic majesty. This treaty was signed at St Peterburgh on the 22d of June, having been preceded by a provisional treaty between Russia and Britain at the end of the year 1798. By the latter treaty it had been stipulated that Paul should assist the king of Prussia, if the latter could be persuaded to join his arms to the allied powers against France, with 45,000 men; and that the king of Great Britain should pay to Russia a subsidy of 75,000l. sterling per month; and in case the king of Prussia should refuse to join the coalition, the same number of troops, in consideration of the same subsidy, should be employed as occasion might require, to assist the common cause. By the new treaty, the emperor of Russia, instead of the 45,000 troops, engaged to furnish 17,593, with the necessary artillery, to be employed in an expedition against Holland; and he engaged to furnish six ships, five frigates, and two transports, for the purpose of transporting part of the invading army from Britain to the continent. In consideration of these favours, the court of London engaged to advance to Russia a subsidy of 44,000l. sterling per month; to pay the sum of £8,929l. 10s. sterling for the expenses of equipping the fleet; and after the period of three months had elapsed from such equipment, to pay a further subsidy of 19,642l. 10s. sterling per month, so long as the fleet should remain under the command of his Britannic majesty.

In consequence of this treaty, a Russian fleet joined that of Britain in Yarmouth roads, and took part in the unfortunate expedition to the coast of Holland, undertaken in the summer of 1799. See BRITAIN, No. 1069.

In the beginning of the year 1801, all Europe was thrown into the greatest astonishment by the appearance of a paragraph in the Hamburgh gazette of the 16th of January. The paragraph was dated from Peterburgh of Europe; the 29th December, 1800, and is as follows.

"We learn from Peterburgh, that the emperor of Russia, finding that the powers of Europe cannot agree among themselves, and being desirous to put an end to a war which has defoliated it for 11 years past, intends to point out a spot, to which he will invite all the other sovereigns to repair and fight in single combat; bringing with them as seconds and squires, their most enlightened ministers, and their most able generals, such as Messrs Thugot, Pitt, Bernstorff, &c. and that the emperor himself proposes being attended by generals count de Pahlen and Khutozof. We know not if this report be worthy of credit; however, the thing appears not defective of some foundation, and bears strong marks of what he has been often taxed with."

This paragraph was immediately copied or translated into all the public papers, and it was strongly affirmed by many, that it was the composition of Paul himself. This has since been confirmed by the poet Kotzebue, who was employed by the emperor of Russia to translate the original into German, for the express purpose of its being inserted in the Hamburgh gazette (n).

This was not the only mark of mental derangement displayed by the unhappy monarch. His favours and his displeasure were alternately experienced by some of his most distinguished courtiers and adherents. Stanislaus, the deposed king of Poland, partook by turns of his beneficence and his severity; and at length on the death of that monarch, Paul affixed at his funeral, commanded in person the guards that attended on the ceremony, and uncovering himself with the utmost emotion, saluted the coffin as it passed. To the memory of the hoary Suvoroff, who is said to have fallen a broken-hearted victim to the distraction of his imperial master, he raised a colossal statue of bronze; and on the days when he reviewed his troops in the square where the statue had been erected, he used to command them to march by in open order, and face the statue. Notwithstanding the important service that had been rendered him by Zuboff, the emperor soon became disgusted with him; spoke of him to his friends with great asperity; at length denounced him as a defaulter to the imperial treasury of half a million of rubles; and convinced of the justice of the allegation, proceeded to sequestrate the vast estates which belonged to him and his two brothers.

Driven to desperation by such conduct, the second brother of the favourite one day walked up boldly to the emperor upon the parade, and with manly eloquence represented the injustice of his measures. Paul received him without anger, heard him without interruption, and restored the property; but soon after he ordered Plato Zuboff to reside on his estate. He formed an adulterous connexion with Madame Chevalier, a French actress, through whose influence Zuboff was again recalled to court, and restored to favour.

It is not surprising that these instances of folly and conspiracy should alarm and disgust many of the nobles, formed in particular, Count P——, the governor of St Peterf., against the burgh, a son of the celebrated general P——, emperor, who so eminently distinguished himself in the last Turkish war, Prince Y——, with some other men of rank, entered into a confederacy with Zuboff, to prevent the final ruin of their country, by removing the present emperor. In their conferences, which were managed with great prudence and discretion, it was resolved that Paul should die, and the day of the festival called Maffainitsa, the eleventh of March O.S. should be the day for executing the awful deed. At the time of this confederacy, the emperor and his family resided in the new palace of St Michael, an enormous quadrangular pile standing at the bottom of the summer gardens. As Paul was anxious to inhabit this palace as soon after he was crowned as possible, the masons, carpenters, and various artificers, toiled with incredible labour by day and by torch light, under the sultry sun of the summer, and in all the severity of a polar winter, and in three years this enormous and magnificent fabric was completed. The whole is moated round, and when the stranger surveys its battlements of granite, and numerous draw bridges, he is naturally led to conclude, that it was intended for the last asylum of a prince at war with his subjects. Those who have seen its massive walls, and the capaciousness and variety of its chambers, will easily admit that an act of violence might be committed in one room, and not be heard by those who occupy the adjoining one; and that a massacre might be perpetrated at one end, and not known at the other. Paul took possession of this palace as a place of strength, and beheld it with rapture, because his imperial mother had never even seen it. While his family were here, by every act of tenderness, endeavouring to soothe the terrible perturbation of his mind, there were not wanting those who exerted every stratagem to inflame and increase it. These people were constantly inferring that every hand was armed against him. With this impression, which added fuel to his burning brain, he ordered a secret staircase to be constructed,

(n) This paragraph is such a curious morceau of witty insanity, that we shall here give the original French, as written by Paul himself, and published by Kotzebue, in his account of his exile into Siberia. "On apprend de Peterbourg, que l'Empereur de Russie, voyant que les puissances de l'Europe ne pouvoient s'accorder entr'elles, et voulant mettre fin à une guerre qui la defolait depuis onze ans, vouloit proposer un lieu ou il inviteroit tous les autres Souverains de se rendre et y combattre en champ clos, ayant avec eux pour écuyer juge de camp et heros des armes leurs ministres les plus éclairés et les generaux les plus habiles, tels que M. M. Thugot, Pitt, Bernstorff; lui même se proposant de prendre avec lui les generaux C. de Pahlen et Khutozof. On ne sait si on doit y ajouter foix; toute fois la chose ne paroit pas défluite de fondement, en portant l'empreinte de ce dont il a souvent été taxé." It was the custom of the emperor to sleep in an apartment next to the empress's, upon a sopha, in his regimentals and boots, whilst the grand duke and duchess, and the rest of the imperial family, were lodged at various distances, in apartments below the story which he occupied. On the 16th March, 1821, the day preceding the fatal night, whether Paul's apprehension, or anonymous information, suggested the idea, is not known; but conceiving that a storm was ready to burst upon him, he sent to Count P——, the governor of the city, one of the noblemen who had resolved on his destruction: I am informed, P——, said the emperor, that there is a conspiracy on foot against me, do you think it necessary to take any precaution? The count, without betraying the least emotion, replied, Sire, do not suffer such apprehensions to haunt your mind; if there were any combinations forming against your majesty's person, I am sure I should be acquainted with it. Then I am satisfied, said the emperor, and the governor withdrew. Before Paul retired to rest, he, beyond his usual custom, expressed the most tender solicitude for the empress and his children, kissed them with all the warmth of farewell fondness, and remained with them for a considerable time. He afterwards visited the sentinels at their different posts, and then retired to his chamber. Soon after the emperor had retired, the guard that was always placed at his chamber door was, by some pretext, changed by the officers who had the command for the night, and who were engaged in the conspiracy. One man only remained. This was a huf- far whom the emperor had honoured with particular marks of attention, and who always slept at night in the antichamber, at his sovereign's bed-room door. This faithful folder it was found impossible to remove, except by force, which at that time the conspirators did not think proper to employ. Silence now reigned throughout the palace, disturbed only by the pacing of the sentinels, or by the distant murmurs of the Neva; and only a few straggling lights were to be seen, irregularly gleaming through the windows of the palace. In the dead of the night, Z——, and his friends, amounting to eight or nine persons, passed the drawbridge, ascended the staircase that led to the emperor's apartments, and met with no opposition till they reached the antichamber, where the faithful hufar, awakened by the noise, challenged them, and presented his tufa. Though they must have admired the brave fidelity of the guard, neither time nor circumstances would admit of an act of generosity, which might have endangered their whole plan of operations. Z—— drew his faute, and cut the poor fellow down. In the meantime Paul, roused by the unusual tumult, sprang from his couch. At this moment the whole party rushed into his chamber. The unhappy sovereign anticipating their design, at first endeavoured to entrench himself behind the chairs and tables; but soon recovering some share of his natural courage, he assumed a high tone, told them they were his prisoners, and required them to surrender. Finding that they fixed their eyes steadily and fiercely upon him, and continued to advance, he implored them to spare his life, declared his willingness instantly to relinquish the sceptre, and to accept of any terms which they might dictate. He even offered to make them princes, and to confer on them orders and estates. Regardless alike of his threats and promises, they now began to press on him, when he made a convulsive effort to reach the window, but failed in the attempt; and, indeed, had he succeeded in his endeavour to escape that way, the height from the window to the ground was so great, that the expedient would probably have only put a more speedy period to his existence. As the conspirators drew him back, he grasped a chair, with which he knocked down one of the assailants, and a desperate conflict now took place. So great was the noise, that notwithstanding the mazy walls, and double folding doors that divided Paul's apartments from those of the empress, she was disturbed, and began to call for help, when a voice whispered in her ear, commanding her to remain quiet, and threatening that if she uttered another word, she should instantly be put to death.

Paul was now making his last struggle, when the prince Y—— struck him on the temple with his fist, and laid him prostrate on the floor. Recovering from the blow, the unhappy monarch again implored his life. At this moment the heart of one of the conspirators relented, and he was observed to hesitate and tremble, when a young Hanoverian, who was one of the party, exclaimed, We have passed the Rubicon; if we spare his life, we shall, before the setting of tomorrow's sun, become his victims; on saying which he took off his hat, turned it twice round the naked neck of the emperor, and giving one end to Z——, himself drew the other, till the object of their attack expired.

The assassins retired from the palace without the least molestation, and returned to their respective homes. As soon as the dreadful catastrophe was discovered, medical assistance was called in, in the hope of restoring what might be only suspended animation; but these attempts proved fruitless. At seven o'clock on the morning of the 12th, the intelligence of the death of Paul, and the accession of the grand duke Alexander were announced to the capital. By eight o'clock the principal nobility had paid their homage to the new emperor, in the chapel of the winter palace; and the great officers of state being assembled, Alexander was solemnly proclaimed emperor of all the Russias. The emperor presented himself at the parade on horseback, and was hailed by the troops with loud and cordial acclamations.

The emperor Alexander was in his 24th year when Accession he ascended the throne, and from his amiable disposition of Alexander had acquired the love and respect of all his subjects. The first measure which he adopted, his proclamation, and his first imperial orders, all tended to encourage and confirm the confidence with which the people beheld him ascend the throne of his forefathers. He solemnly promised to tread in the steps of Catharine II.; he allowed every one to dress according to their own fancy; exonerated the inhabitants of the capital from the trouble and duty of alighting from their carriages on the approach of the imperial family; dismissed the court advocate, who was universally and justly detested; suppressed the secret inquisition that had become the scourge of the country; restored to the senate its former authority; set at liberty the state prisoners, and recalled from Siberia several of the exiles. He even extended his mercy to the assassins of the late emperor. Zuboff was ordered not to approach the imperial residence, It is not easy to explain the motives that induced Alexander to forego that vengeance which justice seemed to demand on the heads of his father's assassins. It has been attributed by one of his panegyrist to a forlorn and melancholy conviction that the murderers had been prompted to commit the bloody deed, solely by a regard for the salvation of the empire. This conviction might have induced the young monarch to diminish the weight of that punishment which piety and justice called on him to inflict, but can scarcely account for his total forbearance.

The emperor Alexander, on his accession to the throne, appeared desirous to cultivate the friendship of the neighbouring states, and especially that of Great Britain. His late father, among other projects, had procured himself to be elected grand master of the knights of Malta, and had laid claim to the sovereignty of that island. This claim, which had nearly produced a rupture between the courts of London and St Peterburgh, Alexander consented to abandon, though he expressed a wish to be elected grand master of the order, by the free suffrages of the knights. In the mean time a confederacy had been formed among the northern powers of Europe, with a view to oppose the British claim to the sovereignty of the seas; but by the spirited interference of the British court, especially with the cabinet of St Peterburgh, the good understanding between Britain and the northern states was re-established, and the embargo which had been laid on British vessels in the Russian ports was taken off.

On the 19th of June, Alexander caused to be published the following circular letter, showing his disposition to be on terms of amity with the French republic.

"All the relations of policy, commerce, and correspondence with France, which were interrupted, in consequence of the revolution in that country, have not yet been re-established in their full extent; but as at the present moment negotiations are going on to effect a reconciliation with that power by every means consistent with the dignity of the emperor and the interests of his people, his majesty has been pleased to charge his ministers to apprise his foreign ambassadors and agents, that he is willing to renew the usual course of connection with the government, and that the conferences respecting that object are in full activity. In the situation in which this matter stands, therefore, it is no longer proper that the ambassadors of his imperial majesty should continue to observe any distance towards the ambassadors of the French government."

Early in the same month there was signed at St Peterburgh, a treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation, between Russia and Sweden, to continue for 12 years, by which Sweden was allowed to import into Russia, alum, salt herrings, and salt, on the payment of one-half of the duties then exacted, and into Russian Finland the produce of Swedish Finland, duty free; while the importation from Russia into Sweden, of hemp, linen, and tallow, was allowed at one-half of the existing duties, and of linseed at two-thirds. The most remarkable part of this treaty was the recognition, by the court of St Peterburgh, of the northern confederacy, which the amicable adjustment with Britain appeared to have done away.

The commerce of Russia had now recovered its former splendour. The exports from the city of Riga alone for the year ending in July 1801, amounted to 6,773,638 rubles; and of these exports, England alone imported to the value of 2,509,853 rubles.

On the 25th of March 1802 was signed at Amiens the definitive treaty of peace between the belligerent powers of Europe, by one material article of which the Russian guarantees of Malta, Gozo and Comino, were to be transferred to the knights of St John of Jerusalem, under the sovereignty protection and guarantee of France, Great Britain, Austria, Spain, Russia, and Prussia; and his Sicilian majesty, the knights of St John was invited to furnish 2000 men, natives of his states, to serve in garrisons at the different fortresses of the island, for one year after their restitution to the knights, or until they should be replaced by a force deemed sufficient by the guaranteeing powers. Some time after the conclusion of this treaty, disputes arose among the contracting powers relative to the sovereignty of Malta, which the emperor of Russia insisted should be yielded to Naples, otherwise he would not undertake to guarantee the order, and would separate from it the provinces of Russia. The result of these disputes is well known, as they afforded a reason for renewing the bloody contest which has so long desolated the face of Europe.

During the short interval of peace that was enjoyed by Europe, the emperor of Russia made several prudent regulations in the internal administration of his empire. On the 12th of September 1801, a manifesto had been published, proclaiming the union of Georgia or Russian Grusinia with the empire, and on the 1st April 1802, Alexander sent a deputation to establish the new government at Tiflis, the capital of the province. This deputation was received by the natives with enthusiastic joy, especially as they brought back the image of St Nina, which their prince Wachtang at his death had left at Mocca. On the 28th May, the emperor wrote a letter to the chamberlain Wittoloff, president of the commission for ameliorating the condition of the poor of St Peterburgh, in which he recommended the commission to follow the example of a similar establishment at Hamburg, in selecting proper objects for their charitable bequests, preferring the humble and industrious pauper to the idle and flabby beggar. He also offered considerable premiums to persons who should introduce any new or advantageous mode of agriculture, or who should bring to perfection any old invention, open any new branch of commerce, establish any new manufacture, or contrive any machine or process that might be useful in the arts.

Early in the year 1803, the emperor fitted out at his own expense, two vessels for a voyage of discovery round the world, under the command of Captain Kruzenstern. These ships were provided with every necessary for accomplishing the object of the voyage; and several men of eminence for science and literature, among whom was Churchman the American astronomer, volunteered their services on this occasion. The vessels sailed in the latter end of 1803, and about a year after, intelligence was received from M. Kruzenstern, who was then lying at Kamchatka. They had touched at the Marquesas islands, where they had found a Frenchman and an Englishman, who had been left there several years before. The Englishman had completely forgotten his native native language, and the Frenchman, who had for seven years spoken nothing but the language of the natives, scarcely retained sufficient French to inform M. Kruzenstern that he had made part of the crew of an American vessel which was wrecked on those coasts. The expedition was then preparing to fail for Japan, to carry thither M. de Rassanoff, who had been appointed ambassador extraordinary from the court of Russia to that of Japan.

In the beginning of 1804, the emperor established a university at Kharkof in Lithuania, for the cultivation and diffusion of the arts and sciences in that part of the Russian empire, and Mr Fletcher Campbell, a Scots gentleman, was employed to procure masters for this new institution. Some time after, the emperor ordered that meteorological observations should be regularly made at all the universities and public schools, and the results published. It appears that at the end of this year the sums allotted by the Russian government, for defraying the expenses of these institutions amounted to 2,149,213 rubles, besides a gift of nearly 60,000 rubles towards erecting the new university.

About this time an imperial ukase was published, granting to the Jews a complete emancipation from the disabilities under which that devoted people had long groaned, and allowing them the privileges of educating their children in any of the schools and universities of the empire, or establishing schools at their own expense.

For some time the genius of discord, which had again actuated the minds of the European sovereigns, failed to extend her baleful influence over the Russian empire; but it was scarcely possible that the emperor should long remain an impartial spectator of the renewed disputes between his more powerful neighbours. An important change had, in the latter end of 1802, taken place in the ministry of the empire; and Count Voronoff, brother to the late ambassador at London, had been appointed great chancellor in chief of the department of foreign affairs, with Prince Adam Tzartoriski for his assistant. How far this change in the councils of the empire influenced the political measures of the court of St Petersburg, it is not easy to determine; but in the latter end of 1803, Alexander appeared to view with a jealous eye the pretensions and violence exercised by France among the German states, and the encroachments which she appeared desirous of making on the freedom of the Baltic. Alexander had offered his mediation between Great Britain and France, but without effect, and both these parties strove to bring over the Russian emperor to their alliance. France seems to have held out to the ambition of Alexander the bait of a partition of the Turkish territories, the dismemberment of which had long been a favourite object with his predecessors. At length, however, the court of London prevailed, and the Russian ambassador, by his master's orders, took leave of the First Consul of the French republic, though without demonstrating any intentions of immediate hostility. A new levy of 100,000 men was immediately ordered, to recruit the Russian army, and to prevent any jealousy on the side of Turkey, assurances were given to the Sublime Porte of the amicable intentions of Russia towards that power.

On the 11th April a treaty of concert was concluded between Great Britain and Russia, in which the two governments agreed to adopt the most efficacious means for forming a general league of the states of Europe, to be directed against the power of France. The objects of this league were undoubtedly of great importance to the welfare of Europe; and it is deeply to be regretted that the circumstances of the times did not admit of their being carried into execution. From the terms of the treaty, these objects appear to be—Firstly, Great Britain and the north of Germany. Secondly, The establishment of the independence of the republics of Holland and Switzerland. Thirdly, The re-establishment of the king of Sardinia in Piedmont, with as large an augmentation of territory as circumstances would allow. Fourthly, The future security of the kingdom of Naples, and the complete evacuation of Italy, the island of Elba included, by the French forces. Fifthly, The establishment of an order of things in Europe, which might essentially guarantee the security and independence of the different states, and present a solid barrier against future usurpation.

For the prosecution of the great objects of this treaty, it was proposed by the first article that an army of 500,000 men should be levied; but in a subsequent separate article, the contracting parties, after observing that it was more desirable than easy to assemble so large a force, agreed that the treaty should be carried into execution as soon as it should be possible to oppose to France an active force of 400,000 men. It was understood, and stipulated that these troops should be provided by the powers of the continent who should become parties to the league, and subsidies should be granted by Great Britain in the proportion of 1,250,000l. Sterling for every 100,000 men, besides a considerable additional sum for the necessary expense occasioned in bringing them into the field.

About this time the occupation of Genoa by the French, on the pretence that that republic was too feeble to support itself against the attacks of Great Britain, was communicated to the different courts of Europe, and excited in every quarter the highest indignation. The emperor Alexander, in particular, was incensed at this new outrage. Such an open violation of those principles which were justly regarded as essential to the general safety, committed not only during the peace of the continent, but when plenipotentiaries had been delivered to his ambassador, in order that a negotiation might be commenced for the purpose of providing for the permanent security and repose of Europe, he considered as an indecent insult to his person and crown. He issued immediate orders for the recall of M. Novofitzoff; and the messenger dispatched upon this occasion was commanded to repair with the utmost diligence to Berlin. M. Novofitzoff had not yet left that city; he immediately therefore returned his passports to the Prussian minister of state, Baron de Hardenberg, and at the same time delivered, by order of his court, a memorial explanatory of the object of his mission, and of the circumstances which had led to its termination.

It stated that the emperor had, in compliance with the wishes of his Britannic majesty, sent his ambassador to Bonaparte, to meet the pacific overtures which he had made to the court of London; that the existing disagreement between Russia and France might have placed insurmountable obstacles in the way of a negotiation for peace by a Russian minister; but that his imperial majesty majesty of Russia did not for a moment hesitate to pass over all personal displeasure, and all the usual formalities; that he had declared he would receive the passports only on condition that his minister should enter directly upon a negociation with the chief of the French government, without acknowledging the new title which he had assumed; and that Bonaparte should give explicit assurances that he was still animated by the same wish for a general peace, which he had appeared to shew in his letter to his Britannic majesty; that after his Prussian majesty had transmitted the positive answer of the court of the Tuilleries, that it persevered in the intention sincerely to lend its hand to a pacific negotiation, the emperor had accepted the passports; but that by a fresh transgression of the most solemn treaties, the union of the Ligurian republic with France had been effected; that this event of itself, the circumstances which had accompanied it, the formalities which had been employed to hasten the execution of it, the moment which had been chosen to carry the same into execution, had formed an aggregate which must terminate the sacrifices which the emperor would have made at the pressing request of Great Britain, and in the hope of restoring tranquillity to Europe by the means of negotiation.

The recall of the Russian envoy appeared to be the signal of hostilities on the part of Russia and Austria against France. These hostilities may be said to have commenced and terminated in the autumn of this year. The military operations that distinguished this short but bloody conflict, the rapid successes of the French, the capitulation of Ulm on the 17th of October, the occupation of Vienna by the French on the 12th of the same month, and the sanguinary battle of Austerlitz on the 27th of November, have been already noticed under FRANCE, No. 552—555, and are fresh in the memory of our readers. The consequences of these disastrous events were, first a cessation of hostilities, and at length a treaty of firm alliance between Russia and France.

Before Alexander finally stooped to the imperial eagles of Napoleon, however, he was determined to make one more effort to preserve his independence. The Russian envoy at Paris, d'Oubril, had hastily concluded a preliminary treaty of peace between his master and the emperor of the French, which he signed at Paris on the 8th of July 1806, and instantly set out for St. Petersburg to procure the ratification of his mission. The terms of this convention were laid before the privy council by Alexander; but they appeared derogatory to the interests of Russia, that the emperor refused them his sanction, and declared that the counsellor of state, d'Oubril, when he signed the convention, had not only departed from the instructions he had received, but had acted directly contrary to the sense and intention of the commission with which he had been intrusted. His imperial majesty, however, signified his willingness to renew the negotiations for peace, but only on such terms as were consistent with the dignity of his crown, and the interests of his empire.

In the mean time, the king of Prussia began, when it was too late, to see the folly and imprudence of the neutrality which he had so long maintained, and he at length prepared to oppose his now feeble efforts to the growing power of France. He brought together in the summer of this year, an army of at least 250,000 men, near Weimar and Jena, while the French myriads assembled in Franconia, and on the frontiers of Saxony. Previous to the commencement of hostilities, his Prussian majesty issued a spirited manifesto, in which he explained his motives for abandoning his plan of neutrality, and appealed to Europe for the justice of his cause. The king of Prussia entered into an alliance with the emperor Alexander, and with the king of Sweden, and it was expected, that these united forces would at length hurl the tyrant of Europe from his throne, or at least compel him to listen to equitable terms of pacification. These expectations were, however, miserably disappointed. The same extraordinary success was still to attend the arms of France, and the north of Europe was again condemned to submit in silence to her yoke.

On the 13th of October, the Prussians received a dreadful check at the battle of Jena, where, according to the French accounts, their loss amounted to 20,000 killed and wounded, and above 30,000 prisoners; and on the 27th of the same month, Napoleon entered Berlin. While the French were thus successful, the troops of the emperor Alexander entered Prussian Poland, and took up their residence at Warsaw; but they were soon attacked by the French under the grand duke of Berg.* On the 26th of November, the outposts of the respective armies fell in with each other, and a skirmish took place, in which the Russians were thrown into some confusion, and a regiment of Cossacks was made prisoners. On the 28th the grand duke of Berg entered Warsaw with his cavalry, and the Russians retreated across the Vistula, burning the bridge over which they had passed. On the 26th of December, a dreadful engagement took place between the Russians, commanded by General Benninglen, and the French under generals Murat, Davout, and Lannes. The scene of action was at Ostralenka, about 60 miles from Warsaw, and the fighting continued for three days. The losses were immense on both sides, though the advantage appears to have been on the side of the French. According to French accounts, the Russian army lost 12,000 men in killed and wounded, together with 80 pieces of cannon, and all its ammunition wagons, while the Russian account states the loss of the French at 5000 men.

In the beginning of February 1807, the Russians obtained a partial advantage in the battle of Eylau. According to the account of this battle, given by General de Budberg, in a dispatch to the Marquis of Douglas, the British ambassador at St. Petersburg, the Russian general Benninglen, after having fallen back, for the purpose of choosing a position which he judged well adapted for manoeuvring the troops under his command, drew up his army at Preussisch Eylau. During four days successively his rear guard had to withstand several vigorous attacks; and on the 7th of February at three o'clock in the afternoon, the battle became general through the whole line of the main army. The contest was destructive, and night came on before it could be decided. Early on the following morning, the French renewed the attack, and the action was contested with obstinacy on both sides, but towards the evening of that day the assailants were repulsed, and the Russian general remained master of the field. In this action, Napoleon commanded in person, having under him Angereau, Ruffia, geraen, Davout, Soult, Ney, and Berthier, at the head of the imperial guards. The loss of the Ruffians in that engagement, was by themselves stated at above 6000 men, while they estimated that of the French at nearly double that number.

This was the last important stand made by the Russian army. Several actions succeeded at Spanden, at Lamitten, at Guttstadt, and at Heilskirch, in all of which the French had the advantage, till at length on the 14th of June, the Ruffians appeared in considerable force on the bridge of Friedland, whither the French army under Napoleon was advancing. At three in the morning, the report of cannon was first heard, and at this time Marshals Lannes and Mortier were engaged with the Ruffians. After various manoeuvres, the Russian troops received a check, and filed off towards Koningsberg. In the afternoon, the French army drew up in order of battle, having Marshal Ney on the right, Lannes in the centre, and Mortier on the left, while Victor commanded a corps de reserve, consisting of the guards. At half past five the attack began on the side of Marshal Ney; and notwithstanding the different movements of the Ruffians to effect a diversion, the French soon carried all before them. The loss of the Ruffians, according to the usual exaggerations of the French bulletins, was estimated at from 10,000 to 15,000 men, and 25 of their generals were said to have been killed, wounded, or taken. In consequence of this victory, the French became masters of all the country round Koningsberg, and Marshal Soult entered that city in triumph.

Thus concluded the campaign in Germany, in which the Russians sustained a loss of at least 30,000 of their choicest troops.

While these military operations were going forward on the continent of Europe, the emissaries of France were busily employed at Constantinople, in exciting the sultan to declare against their ancient enemies. They at length succeeded; and on the 30th of December war with Russia was proclaimed, and 28 regiments of janissaries assembled under the command of the grand vizier; but the disturbances which broke out in the latter end of May 1807, prevented any operations of importance from taking place, and the pacification which was soon concluded between Russia and France, though it did not entirely put a stop to the war between the former power and Turkey, in some measure diminished their hostile preparations.

The defeats which the allied armies had sustained in Prussia and Poland, rendered peace, almost on any terms, a desirable object; and Alexander found himself constrained to meet, at least with the appearance of friendship, the conqueror of his armies. Propositions for an armistice had been made by the Prussian general to the grand duke of Berg near Tilsit, and after the battle of Friedland, the Russian prince Labanoff had a conference, on similar views, with the prince of Neuchatel, soon after which an armistice was concluded between the French and Ruffians. On the 25th of June an amicable meeting took place on the river Niemen, between the emperors of France and Russia, and adjoining apartments were fitted up for the reception of both courts in the town of Tilsit. This constrained friendship was soon after cemented by the treaty of Tilsit, concluded between the emperor of the French on the one part, and the emperor of Russia and the king of Prussia on the other, on the 7th and 12th of July in this year.

The conclusion of the treaty of Tilsit was notified to the court of London on the 1st of August by M. Aloisio Borelli, minister plenipotentiary from the emperor of Russia; and at the same time a proposal was made from his imperial majesty for mediating a peace between France and Britain. This mediation, however, was declined on the part of Great Britain, until his Britannic majesty should be made acquainted with the stipulations of the treaty of Tilsit, and should find them such as might afford him a just hope of the attainment of a secure and honourable peace. This declining of the mediation of Russia was no doubt expected by the court of St Petersburg; but it served as a pretext for binding more closely the alliance between that power and France, by breaking off her connection with Great Britain. Accordingly, in October, Lord Granville Leveson Gower, who had succeeded the Marquis of Douglas as British envoy, received a note from the government, intimating that, as a British ambassador, he could be no longer received at the court of St Petersburg, which he therefore soon after quitted. An embargo was laid on all British vessels in the ports of Russia, and it was peremptorily required by Napoleon and Alexander, that Sweden should abandon her alliance with Great Britain.

An additional ground of complaint against the British court was furnished by the attack on Copenhagen, and the seizure of the Danish fleet in the beginning of September; and though Lord Gower had attempted to justify these measures on the plea of anticipating the French in the same transaction, the emperor of Russia expressed, in the warmest terms, his indignation at what he called an unjust attack on a neutral power. A considerable Russian fleet joined the French, but the combined squadrons were compelled to seek for shelter in the Tagus, where they remained blocked up by the British; and another fleet of 15 sail of the line that proceeded up the Mediterranean, and advanced as far as Trieste, shared a similar fate (1).

On the 26th of October the emperor of Russia published a declaration, notifying to the powers of Europe that he had broken off all communication between his empire and Great Britain, until the conclusion of a peace between this power and France. In a counter-declaration, published at London on the 10th of December, his Britannic majesty repels the accusations of Russia, while he regrets the interruption of the friendly intercourse between that power and Britain. His majesty justifies his own conduct, and declares, that when the opportunity for peace between Great Britain and Russia shall

(1) By the unfortunate convention of Cintra, concluded on the 3d of September 1808, the Russian fleet in the Tagus was surrendered to the British, to be held as a deposit, till six months after the signing of a definitive treaty of peace. shall arrive, he will embrace it with eagerness; satisfied, if Russia shall manifest a disposition to return to her ancient feeling of friendship towards Great Britain, to a just consideration of her own true interests, and to a sense of her own dignity as an independent nation.

In October 1808, a meeting took place at Erfurt between the emperors of France and Russia, and a letter was drawn up under their signature, addressed to his Britannic majesty. The object of this letter was, to induce the king of Great Britain to enter into negotiations for a general peace, and with that view it was dispatched by Count Romanoff, the Russian minister at Erfurt, to Mr Canning the British secretary of state for foreign affairs. As this letter, and the official note of the British government in answer to it, supply two very important documents in the later history of the present war, we shall here introduce them. The letter of the two emperors is as follows.

"Sire.—The present circumstances of Europe have brought us together at Erfurt. Our first thought is to yield to the wish and the wants of every people, and to seek, in a speedy pacification with your majesty, the most efficacious remedy for the miseries which oppresses all nations. We make known to your majesty our sincere desire in this respect by the present letter.

"The long and bloody war which has torn the continent is abandoned, without the possibility of being renewed. Many changes have taken place in Europe; many states have been overthrown. The cause is to be found in the state of agitation and misery in which the stagnation of maritime commerce has placed the greatest nations. Still greater changes may yet take place, and all of them contrary to the policy of the English nation. Peace, then, is at once the interest of the continent, and that of the people of Great Britain.

"We unite in entreating your majesty to listen to the voice of humanity, silencing that of the passions; to seek, with the intention of arriving at that object, to conciliate all interests, and by that means to preserve all the powers which exist, and so ensure the happiness of Europe and of this generation, at the head of which Providence has placed us."

(Signed) ALEXANDER.—NAPOLEON.

In answer to this letter the following official note, signed by Mr Secretary Canning, was dispatched to Erfurt; and as the imperial correspondents refused to accede to the requisitions it contained, all hopes of present accommodation were at an end.

"The king has uniformly declared his readiness and desire to enter into negotiations for a general peace, on terms consistent with the honour of his majesty's crown, with fidelity to his engagements, and with the permanent repose and security of Europe. His majesty repeats that declaration.

"If the condition of the continent be one of agitation and of wretchedness; if many states have been overthrown, and more are still menaced with subversion; it is a consolation to the king to reflect, that no part of the convulsions which have been already experienced, or of those which are threatened for the future, can be in any degree imputable to his majesty. The king is most willing to acknowledge that all such dreadful changes are indeed contrary to the policy of Great Britain.

"If the cause of so much misery is to be found in the stagnation of commercial intercourse, although his majesty cannot be expected to hear, with unqualified regret, that the system devised for the destruction of the commerce of his subjects has recoil upon its authors, or its instruments, yet it is neither in the disposition of his majesty, nor in the character of the people over whom he reigns, to rejoice in the privations and unhappiness even of the nations which are combined against him. His majesty anxiously desires the termination of the sufferings of the continent.

"The war in which his majesty is engaged, was entered into by his majesty for the immediate object of national safety. It has been prolonged only because no secure and honourable means of terminating it have hitherto been afforded by his enemies.

"But in the progress of a war, begun for self-defence, new obligations have been imposed upon his majesty, in behalf of powers whom the aggressions of a common enemy have compelled to make common cause with his majesty, or who have solicited his majesty's affiance and support in the vindication of their national independence.

"The interests of the crown of Portugal and of his Sicilian majesty are confided to his majesty's friendship and protection.

"With the king of Sweden his majesty is connected by the ties of the closest alliance, and by stipulations which unite their counsels for peace as well as for war.

"To Spain his majesty is not yet bound by any formal instrument; but his majesty has, in the face of the world, contracted with that nation engagements not less sacred, and not less binding, upon his majesty's mind, than the most solemn treaties.

"His majesty, therefore, affirms that, in an overture made to his majesty for entering into negotiations for a general peace, the relations subsisting between his majesty and the Spanish monarchy have been distinctly taken into consideration; and that the government acting in the name of his Catholic majesty, Ferdinand VII, is understood to be a party to any negotiation in which his majesty is invited to engage."

The demand of concurrence in the views of France War with and Russia made on Sweden was formally repeated in a Swedish declaration of the emperor Alexander, published at St Petersburg on the 10th February in this year. In this declaration his imperial majesty intimated to the king of Sweden, that he was making preparations to invade his territories; but that he was ready to change the measures he was about to take, to measures of precaution only, if Sweden would, without delay, join Russia and Denmark in shutting the Baltic against Great Britain, until the conclusion of a maritime peace. He professed that nothing could be more painful to him, than to see a rupture take place between Sweden and Russia; but that his Swedish majesty had it still in his power to avoid this event, by refraining without delay, to adopt that course which could alone preserve strict union and perfect harmony between the two states.

The king of Sweden, however, determined to abide by the measures which he had for some time pursued, and to accede to the terms of the convention which had just been concluded between him and the king of Great Britain. In consequence of this determination, a Russo-