During the American war, when England, Holland, France, and Spain, tinged with blood the seas of the two hemispheres, the pride of Catharine was hurt by the English, who paid no respect to the vessels freighted in her ports, and even sometimes stopped those that sailed under her flag. She became, therefore, determined to protect the navigation of the north; a mea. sure to which she was implored by the merchants of Hamburgh, Bremen, and Lubeck. She proposed to the courts of Copenhagen and Stockholm to equip each of them a squadron, which, combined with hers, should defend the neutrality. This confederacy, to which Prussia, Austria, and Portugal, acceded, was intended to be wholly maritime, and confined to the protection of commerce.

Russia had experienced from her conquests on the frontiers of Turkey a rapid increase of commerce: her vessels passed the Dardanelles, proceeded to Aleppo, and Smyrna, and traded in the ports of Italy. On the shores of the Nieper, Catharine had laid the foundation of the city of Cason, which already counted within its walls forty thousand inhabitants, and from whose yards were launched vessels of commerce, and ships of war, destined to strike terror into the Ottoman empire. Desirous of conquering a country, so long the object of her ambitious projects, the empress determined to commence operations by detaching the Crimea from Turkey. Having, therefore, excited an insurrection, the Russian troops, under pretence of assisting the khan, found means to possess themselves of the A. D. Country. Intimidated by the immense 1783. Preparations of Catharine for attacking Turkey, the Porte concluded a treaty

with Russia, by which the empress retained the sovereignty of the Crimea, of the isle of Taman, and a great part of the Kuban, while her right was acknowledged to the dominion of the Euxine, and to the passage of the Dardanelles. Thus did Catharine acquire, without the necessity of a battle, an immense territory, and 1,500,000 new subjects. To the Crimea and to the Kuban she restored their ancient names of Taurida and Caucasus.

The vicinity of the Caspian invites the Russians to trade with Persia; by which a commerce with India can easily be prosecuted. Of these advantages they had long profited. In the Caspian, Catharine maintained a fleet, which cruised along the Persian coasts, and burned all the vessels met in those parts. The commanders were instructed to sow discord between the several khans, and to support the weak against the strong. She determined to execute the project formed by Peter I. against Persia, of extending the Russian dominion on the western shores of the Caspian sea. The dissentions which laid waste those fertile regions were favourable to her design, which unforeseen obstacles nevertheless opposed. The Russians, who had carried on a trade in China not less beneficial than that of the Caspian, had received a check by their arrogance and ill-conduct. Catharine appeased the Chinese, revived the spirit of commerce, and sent several young Russians to study the language of China.

The spirit of toleration was a distinguished and singular feature in the administration of Catharine II. who admitted both to civil and military offices persons of all countries and persuasions, VOL. XXII, lutherans

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lutherans, calvinists, moravians, papists, mohammedans, and infidels. Not satisfied with having appointed a catholic bishop, the empress established at Mohilef a seminary of jesuits, supported islamism in the Crimea, and gave annually to her people some solemn instances of her protection granted to liberty of conscience. By the orders of Catharine, on the day of the benediction of the waters, her confessor invited to his house the ecclesiastics of every denomination, to whom he gave a grand entertainment, called by the empress "the dinner of toleration," at which have been seen the clergy of eight different forms of worship.

A magnificent procession was intended A. D. to be made to Kerson and the Crimea, 1786. where Catharine was to be declared queen of Taurida, and declared protectress of all the Tartar tribes. It was expected that the adjoining nations, terrified by the power, or allured by the pomp displayed on this occasion, would flock from all parts to do homage to the new sovereign of the east, who would thus be enabled to conduct her grandson Constantine to the gates of that empire, to the sovereignty of which she had destined him from his birth. With this view, Greek nurses had been procured for him. Dressed in the fashion, and surrounded by children of that nation, he had acquired their language, which he learned to speak. The prince, however, sickening of the measles, was obliged to be left behind, and the empress took only a kind of formal possession of Kerson and the Crimea.

The ambition of Catharine had excited the jealousy and the fears of the Turkish empire by the

the designs she entertained respecting her grandson, whose name and education sufficiently denoted her intentions. Her grand object was said to be the establishing in her family two mighty empires, capable of subverting Europe and Asia. The injuries and insults of which the Porte complained, were neither few nor imaginary; and war was accordingly declared A. D. against Russia, whose minister was shut 1787. up in the castle of the Seven Towers. A formidable Turkish army advanced to the shores of the Danube, and the standard of Mohammed was prepared to be unfurled. Catharine, who had impatiently expected the declaration of war, was ready with her fleets and her armies; and Joseph II. emperor of Germany, sent eighty thousand Austrians to her assistance; and every thing seemed to announce the ruin of the Ottoman power.

Surrounding nations, however, beheld with jealousy the designs of the empress, who threatened to destroy the equilibrium of Europe; and the king of Sweden, incensed at her conduct, and excited by Prussia and England, declared immediate war against Russia, and attacked the town of Fredericksham. But Gustavus III. who hoped to carry terror to the gates of Petersburgh, had the mortification to discover that no confidence could be placed in his soldiers, that his officers were disaffected, and that a traitorous correspondence was carried on with the enemy. The defection of the Swedes was more than a victory to Catharine, who called upon Denmark for succours, which the court of Copenhagen immediately furnished. Accordingly the Norwegians entered the pro

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vinces of Sweden, and proceeded to lay siege to Gothemburg, when by the spirited conduct of the English and Prussian ministers, a truce was concluded, and the Danish army returned peaceably to Norway.

Gustavus was finally compelled by the superior force of Russia to evacuate Finland. He desisted not, however, from attempts to annoy the enemy; and the Russian and Swedish fleets continued to skirmish with various success. The prince of Nassau, who had with superior numbers given battle to the Swedes, by his unskilfulness suffered an entire defeat. This engagement cost the Russians half their fleet, and more than ten thousand men. This defeat, which went near the heart of Catharine, accelerated a peace; and Gustavus, sensible of his imprudence, and of the disordered state of his affairs, accepted the proposals of the empress.

In the mean time, the Russian forces, estimated at 150,000 men, under the command of Potemkin and count Romantzoff, assisted by prince Repnin, Suwarrow, and other officers, had besieged Oczakow, which was taken by an assault that cost the Russians 12,000 men, while 25,000 Turks perished in the town. This conquest, little less fatal to the victors than to the vanquished, did not abate the ardour of Catharine for the continuance of the war. Respecting Oczakow, the Crimea, the Euxine, and other points of her claim, she remained inflexible. This perseverance had nearly involved Russia in a war with Great Britain and Prussia; an event only prevented by the powerful opposition raised in England against the intentions of the govern

ment.

Suwarrow