190 RUSSIAN COURT LIFE. the question, yet dissembled with the man and drew from him the secret of the conspiracy. Passik was immediately arrested, but had the presence of mind to avail himself of a moment to write on a scrap of paper, "Instantly, or we are lost. He thrust this into the hand of the man placed temporarily over him, telling him that a good reward awaited him if he carried it to the Princess Daschkoff. She received it. was with her. She proposed that they Panin should act immediately, to save themselves from the sure vengeance of the Czar should their plot fail. Panin was not willing; he said it was better to wait, and seemed rather to desire to withdraw from the affair altogether. But the Princess, after dismissing him, dressed herself, as she often did, in the uniform of the guards, and went to the Pont Vert, the usual place of rendezvous, to meet Orloff and other officers. Her news alarmed them greatly; that night, they declared, their work must be done, lest both troops and people should assemble for the defence of their sovereign. Their own soldiers, on whom alone they could rely, having bribed them with promises of money and brandy, were prepared to rise at the first signal, and Alexis Orloff undertook the perilous commission of fetching the Empress from Peterhoff. At two in the morning he arrived at Monplaisir. Catherine was awakened by her watchful duenna, Ivanowna, who put a paper into her hand-" Not a moment to lose -a carriage waits for you. Hastily she dressed; descended to the garden, and recognized in the messenger Alexis Orloff. Some hurried words of explanation were murmured; she entered the carriage, and Alexis, lashing the horses furiously, drove off with the utmost speed. Suddenly, when little more than half way to St. Petersburg, the hardly driven animals came to a standstill, then fell, exhausted, to the ground. All efforts to revive them were unavailing. Every moment of delay was fraught with danger. Catherine and her companion therefore determined to continue their journey on foot. They had proceeded some distance when a peasant's cart overtook them. Alexis hailed the driver; Catherine was placed in his wretched jolting vehicle, August, The and in this ignominious fashion the Empress entered the capital, at seven in the morning, worn out with bodily fatigue, but undaunted in spirit. She proceeded to the quarters of the Ismaïloff Guards, when about thirty halfnaked soldiers came out to receive her. Alarmed that the whole of the three companies did not turn out on her arrival, as she had expected, she, in a had gathered round her that she had broken, tearful voice, told the men who fled from Peterhoff to seek protection from the Czar, who intended that night she could escape death only by flight, to kill both her and her son. That, as she had come to place herself in the upon them. Their indignation at this hands of the troops, in fullest reliance supposed inhumanity was as great as she had looked for. Officers and men Razumoffskys and Orloffs then appeared, soon assembled in large numbers. and while the rage and resentment of the soldiers towards the hapless Czar were at their height, the chaplain of the Ismaïloff regiment was summoned to needful in the cause of injured innoswear them all on the crucifix to die if tributed, which induced other regiments cence. Beer and brandy were then disto follow their example. not in the confidence of the conspirato follow their example. Some officers, tors, objected to these proceedings, and under arrest. were unceremoniously seized and placed. failure had, so far, favored the plot, and What seemed to threaten at this juncture the Princess Daschkoff, the scene. in the uniform of the guards, came on of soldiers she rode through the streets At the head of a small band to assemble the partisans of the Czarina, shouting as they went loud vivas for the Empress Catherine. The inhabitants of the city, moved by curiosity, followed mechanically the movements of the troops and joined in their cries. Adopting the advice of her accomplices, Catherine proceeded to the church of Kasan, where the Archbishop of Novgorod-one of the most ardent of the conspirators-was waiting in his sacerdotal vestments to receive her. Leading her to the altar he there placed the imperial crown on her head, and in a loud voice proclaimed her "Catherine the same time Paul Petrowitz was deII., Empress of all the Russias." At clared her successor. A Te Deum was then sung, after which Catherine was accompanied to the winter palace by her adherents, a shouting multitude, and a drunken soldiery. Her calumny of the morning had been crowned with so much unlooked-for success, that the falsehood of the Czar's murderous intentions was diligently circulated by the priests, and was believed by the ignorant people. On the same day Catherine issued a manifesto to her “fidèles sujets," setting forth the great danger to which her beloved country had been exposed from the sacrilegious intentions (so happily frustrated) of the cidevant Czar to overthrow the orthodox religion. It concluded with: "Touchée du peril de nos sujets, et surtout ne pouvant nous réfuser à leurs souhaits sincères et unanimes, nous avons monté sur notre trône impérial de Russie." While this manifesto was being largely distributed, the Empress, in the uniform of the guards-borrowed from Count Talitzin and wearing the order of St. André, passed on horseback, with a drawn sword in her hand, and accompanied by the Princess, also in uniform, through the lines of troops drawn up to salute her as their sovereign. Potemkin, an ensign of the cavalry guards, and then a youth of sixteen, seeing that the Empress's sword was without a dragonne," advanced towards her and respectfully offered his own. "The curveting and capering of his horse as he rejoined his squadron gave Catherine an opportunity of observing the beauty, the graceful figure and skilful horsemanship of the youth -seen then for the first time-who some ten or twelve years later exercised such unbounded by a servant from Peterhoff. In great terror he informed him of the abduction of the Empress, or her secret flight from Monplaisir, and of the alarm of her household in consequence. Dismayed at this intelligence, for what had taken place at St. Petersburg was not yet known beyond the capital, the Czar hastened on to the palace. All was consternation and confusion. None could solve the mystery, when, from amidst the trembling domestics, a man, disguised as a peasant, advanced and put a paper into the Emperor's hand. It contained a few hurried lines of warning, and information of what had occurred. The bearer was the servant of Bressan, a perruquier, to whom Peter had rendered some service. He alone of the many who had benefited by his reforms made an effort to warn him of the danger that threatened him. Marshal de Munich, Ghudowitsch, and other officers who still could be relied on were with him. Their advice, promptly followed, might have saved him. His situation was not, yet so desperate but that his presence at the head of troops still not tampered with would have brought back many who had yielded to their fears, their ignorance of the extent of the rebellion, and to the influence of strong drink. But, alas! Peter had not the energy of mind the occasion demanded. His disaster had the effect of a thunderbolt, and paralyzed him. He replied not to those who urged him to immediate action, but rushed from the palace and wandered alone on the seashore. There he wasted the precious moments that should have been em influence over her, and who, in fact, for six- ployed in assembling his troops and teen years ruled the Empire. Catherine and her partisans were wreathed with oak-leaves. Branches of oak were carried by the people and the troops, and under the stimulating influence of brandy and beer the bacchanalian procession joyously paraded the city. In the evening Catherine and Prince Paul dined at an open window of the palace. Riding in advance of the Emperor who, accompanied by the nobles and ladies of the Court, was on his way to Peterhoff to celebrate his festat-the aide-de-camp, Ghudowitsch, was met marching on the capital. When he decided to do so-it was already too late. The Chancellor Woronzoff, however, "craved leave to set out for St. Petersburg, to remonstrate with the Empress and bring her to her senses. Seeing how far matters had advanced, he gave in his adhesion to her. But, to save appearances, and in case of a possible change of affairs, he begged to be confined in his house, with a guard set over him. Villebois and his cavalry had, hitherto, resisted all attempts to seduce them. The Marshal also ventured on remonstrance; but Catherine imperiously silenced him. "I sent for you," she This was said, "not to ask your advice but to give you my orders ;" and he and his squadron soon succumbed to the pressure of the hour. Peter's messages to Catherine were received like those of Joram to Jehu, "What hast thou to do with peace? Turn thee behind me, and like them they obeyed, and came not to him again. But again, Munich counselled the wavering sovereign instantly to proceed to Cronstadt, where troops were assembled to embark for Denmark. This advice was supported by other officers, and General Liévas was sent on to announce the arrival of the Czar, who preferred to linger at Peterhoff until the evening. The delay was fatal to him. When his two yachts cast anchor in the harbor and the answer the emperor" was returned to the sentinel's qui vive? We have no emperor' was shouted back to him, and a few vivas for Catherine II. immediately followed this response. but a ruse of two or three daring partisans of his audacious enemy. Had he, when Ghudowitsch seized his hand and said "Let us jump on shore, none will dare fire on you, "but done so, there still had been a chance for him. "Jump on shore, I will follow," cried the aged but intrepid De Munich. But the Countesses Woronzoff and Zamisky were in Peter's yacht; the former implored him not to leave her, and he could not decide to do so. The cables were cut, in their haste to launch off, but whither should Peter betake him self? "Czar," exclaimed Munich, "you may still join your squadron at Revel. Instantly do so. Take ship there; press on to Pomerania; put yourself at the head of your army, and return to Russia. I venture to affirm that in six weeks St. Petersburg and the whole of the empire will have submitted to you." But the women were frightened; though the smooth sea and the soft summer night seemed to reassure them and to enforce Munich's counsel. The infatuated Peter listened to their fears rather than to the entreaties of his friends, and the yachts turned their prows towards Oranienbaum. There his Holstein regiment gathered around him, and swore to die in his defence. They conjured him to march with them to meet the Empress, who was on her way at the head of her army to fight against him. But he chose the feeble alternative of writing to her, and offered to cede the Russian crown, requiring only a pension, and permission to return to Holstein. She deigned no reply, but concerted with his messenger, his Chamberlain Ismaïloff, who was quite ready to betray him, that he should persuade him to leave his 800 Holsteiners at Oranienbaum and, trusting to her clemency, return to Peterhoff. The Czar objected to this proposal, but Ismaïloff persuaded him that he endangered his life by hesitating. At length he yielded. He passed through the avenue to the palace between a double line of Cossacks. The strictest silence was observed. On alighting, the Countess Woronzoff was seized by the soldiers, and her sister Daschkoff, who was present to witness her discomfiture, tore the cordon she wore from her neck, and the Empress decorated the Princess with it. The Czar was hurried up the grand staircase. His orders and other insignia of his rank were taken from him; his pockets were searched and the whole of his clothing, with the exception of his shirt, stripped off. Barefooted, and nearly naked, he was exposed to the outrages and insults of the soldiery. At last an old cloak was thrown over him, and he was locked in a room and a guard placed at the door. Soon after he was visited by Count Panin, deputed by Catherine to obtain from him his abdication in due form; and, on a promise that his request to return to Holstein would be acceded to, he wrote, signed, and sealed all that was asked of him. A strong guard and escort immediately entered to take him, as they represented, to the imperial palace of Robscha, but, instead, they conveyed him with great secrecy to the small country villa of Mopsa, belonging to Razumoffsky. He had been there some days when Alexis Orloff and Teploff (natural son of the Archbishop of Novgorod) presented themselves, to announce, as they said, his speedy release, and to beg him to dine with them. According to Russian custom, small glasses of brandy were first served. Orloff had brought with him some deadly mixture, which, while his companion engaged the Czar in conversation, he contrived to pour into the glass he handed to him. Unsuspectingly, he drank it off, and very soon experienced the most violent pains. Orloff handed him a second glass, saying it would relieve him. He refused it, taxed the ruffian with his crime, and called loudly to his servant for milk. The two wretches then endeavored to force him to swallow another draught. The German valet, who had been allowed to stay with his master, hearing his cries rushed in. Peter threw himself into his arms. "They prevented me from reigning in Sweden," he said.* "They have torn from me the crown of Russia, yet they are not satisfied. They would now take my life." The servant earnestly interceded for him, but was thrust out of the room. Peter being tall and strong, for some time struggled desperately with his murderers, though both were extremely powerful men. The younger of the Counts Baratinsky, who commanded the guard, came to their aid. Orloff had already thrown his victim on his back, and, with his knee pressed on his chest, was grasping his throat with one hand while he held back his head with the other. Aided by Baratinsky, Teploff passed a handkerchief round his neck, and while Orloff held him they completed the murder by strangulation. In the violence of his struggle for life Peter so tore the face of Baratinsky that to the end of his days the scars remained, an evidence of his participation in that deed of blood. The joyful news that the dethroned Czar was no more was carried with all speed to his widow. It was decided to delay for a day the public announcement of his death, and that evening she held a Court reception with more than her accustomed gaiety. On the morrow there was a grand state banquet, at which her bereavement, as arranged, was made known to her. She was startled, overwhelmed by the sad and sudden intelligence, even shed a few tears. The guests followed suit; those who were, as well as those who were not, in the secret. They of course were dismissed, prayed "to to stand not upon the order of their going, but * The crown of Sweden was offered to him at the time Elizabeth chose him for her heir. NEW SERIES.-VOL. XXX., No. 2 On the 7th day after our accession to the throne we were informed that the ex-Emperor was suffering from a violent attack of colic, a complaint to which he had for years been subject. That in order that we might omit no Christian duty, or neglect that command of the divine law which enjoins us to care for the life of our neighbor, we desired that everything should be done to afford him immediate relief and prevent any fatal result from his danger ous malady. But to our immense grief and regret we were informed yesterday that it has pleased the Almighty to terminate the ex-Emperor's career. body be brought to the monastery of Newsky, there to be interred. As the sovereign and mother of our people, we, at the same time, We have ordered that his exhort our faithful subjects to let past errors be forgotten, and while taking their last leave of him to pray to God for his soul. Also that they will regard this sudden judgment as one of the inscrutable decrees of the Almighty, and the result of that providential care which it pleases Him to bestow on ourself, our imperial throne, and our beloved country. July 19, 1762." An announcement that "the ci-devant Emperor had died of a violent colic" was also sent to each of the foreign ministers. For three days the body lay exposed at St. Alexander Newsky. It was dressed in the Prussian uniform; the lacerated hands were gloved, but the blackened face bore testimony to the kind of death the Czar had met with. Those who had the courage to comply with the Russian custom of kissing the mouth of the deceased suffered from the contact with his poisoned lips. The day of the funeral was a day of sorrow and desolation at St. Petersburg. The populace followed the soldiers with imprecations for having shed the blood of this last descendant of the great Peter. No arrests were made; for it was deemed politic to allow this demonstration of popular feeling to pass unnoticed. The Holstein Guards were the chief mourners, and received proofs of sympathy from those who but a very short time before had been foremost in execrating them. A vessel was waiting at Cronstadt, by order of the Empress, 13 to convey these troops to their country. The next day they embarked, but the vessel had scarcely left the harbor ere it foundered, and all on board perished; as probably was intended, as no aid was offered to the drowning men. Catherine II. was thirty-three when she usurped the throne of Russia. She had then lost all the grace of figure which in earlier days had been her chief attraction. Rather below the middle height, her embonpoint is described as already indicating the excessive obesity of her later years. Her face was large, her eyes prominent, her eyebrows strongly marked. She had a well-formed mouth, a heavy double chin, and vice and crime had imparted a hardness and effrontery to her features and their expression, to which the man's dress and cap she so frequently wore gave a still more masculine air. Every court in Europe was well aware by what infamous means she had become Empress of Russia, yet none hesitated to acknowledge her, some even rejoiced at her accession. But to the surprise and disappointment of Maria Theresa, she confirmed the peace that Peter had concluded with Frederick II., and ordered the Russian troops to evacuate Prussia. In the same spirit, too, she evinced disdain and aversion towards the Court of Versailles. She assured the King of Denmark that she would not make war upon him; but none the less sent Prince George of Holstein to command in the duchy on the part of Russia, while in order to wrest Courland from Poland she sent troops to reinstate Biren there. Frederick II. sent her the order of the Black Eagle, which she wore in public, thus repeating another of Peter's alleged crimes. The five ruffian brothers Orloff she raised to the rank of count. On her favorite Grégoire she bestowed the further honor of the order of St. Alexander Newsky, and gave him the important command of Lieut.-General of the Russian armies. To others who had assisted to enthrone her, and to assassinate her husband, she gave vast estates, with their due proportion of serfs. Owing to the reckless extravagance of Elizabeth; the wholesale appropriation of public money by her ministers; and the disorder in the financial arrangements of the short reign of Peter III., the treasury was pretty nearly empty; so that beer and brandy were the only rewards bestowed on the soldiers, except here and there some promotions. Towards the friends and partisans of the late Emperor she affected much leniency. To get rid of the aged Munich, she sent him as governor to Livonia, where he died at the age of eighty-five. Ghudowitsch she imprisoned, but soon after released him, and offered him a command; but he declined her favor, and retired to his estates. The Countess Woronzoff was ordered to reside at the distance of a thousand versts beyond Moscow. It was at this time that the Princess Daschkoff solicited the colonelcy of the Preobaginsky Guards. Catherine refused, and with some ironical remarks that roused the anger of the Princess. Still more was she exasperated on discovering the intrigue between Orloff and the Empress. With her natural impetuosity she sought her dear friend, and overwhelmed her with cutting reproaches. She revealed Catherine's secret to those who had favored her elevation to the throne, and many were indignant when they found that they had been working at and furthering plots for the advancement of a brutal frequenter of the casernes and cabarets. Catherine forbade the Princess to appear at Court, and compelled her to reside with her husband's family at Moscow. But she found it easier to purchase the services of unprincipled, mercenary men than to win real popularity. The reaction in favor of Peter was at this period general. There was everywhere an extraordinary demand for his portrait. His faults and follies appeared to be forgotten; his humanity and the good he had done alone remembered. The navy declared that it had been tricked into a show of rebellion, and the army was reproached for selling their emperor and father for an extra can of beer. A rising of the nation was dreaded, and Catherine was even in danger of a fate similar to her husband's. The priesthood, however, still adhered to the cause of the Czarina. Had she not saved the holy religion of Russia from a despoiling heretic? Were they not looking to her for the restoration of the church property he had sacrilegiously |