all parts to do homage to the new emprefs of the east, but that the would thereby have enlarged and fecured her dominion without the trouble of war and conquest. But these iron-minded Tartars do not appear ever to have had any true taste for magnificence; excepting, indeed, when they have Occafionally conquered half the world, and that too much wealth, and too long ease, have led them by degrees to depart from their ancient inftitutions, and to adopt the follies and vices of the conquered. In the prefent inftance, as soon as the intended grand progrefs, and its great object, were known, inflead of producing the expected effect, in dazzling or terrifying the Tartars, it ferved on the contrary, as a fignal of general and immediate danger, to cement their union in the ftrongeft manner, and to urge them to the greateft poffible exertion, and to the moft determined refiftance. This foon became apparent; and the war daily became more ferious. The different confederacies of Tartars were faid, in a little time, to amount to a hundred thousand men; they were faid to have fhewn an unusual degree of judgment and fkill in feizing the gorges of the mountains, and poffeffing themfelves of the ftrong pofts and leading paffes in fuch a manner, that while they were in a great measure fecure themfelves from attack, they interrupted in a very dangerous degree the Ruffian communications, not only between different parts of the conquered countries, but between their armies and home. We are to observe, that as the particular scenes of these tranfactions are never fpecified in the loofe accounts given of them, no aid can be derived from geogra phy in eftimating their validity. It however appears, that the defultory inroads of the Tartars had caufed much trouble in the new countries, and kept the Ruffian troops on the frontiers in conftant employment through the fummer.Whether the measure adopted by the former of cutting off the communications led to the fucceeding event, or from whatever other caufe it might have proceeded, we are totally uninformed, but in the fucceeding autumn the moft confiderable action of the war took place between the Ruffians and Tartars: the accounts of it from Petersburgh were very fhort; fome mentioning that their troops had received a check, and others acknowledging a defeat on the fide of Caucafus; but it was a bare as well as unwilling acknowledgment; not a fingle particular of the action, nor any fpecification of the number engaged, or lofs fuftained on either fide, being given. It was, however, repeated in fubfequent accounts; and what fhewed the affair to be of no fmall, confideration, was, that this lofs was faid to have greatly fhaken the intereft and power of that fupreme favourite, prince Potemkin, who had long been confidered as paramount in the affairs of that empire. That prince was not himself in the action, but as he had the unlimited government of those regions, and the fole conduct of the war, he was liable of courfe to blame for mifadventure, and was charged in this inftance with fuffering the army to be furprized. There are two ill confequences that attend a glaring and habitual mifreprefentation of [K] 2 public public affairs, or a concealment of public loffes; the one is, that if a true statement ever becomes neceffary it is not credited, and in cafe of concealment, that the lofs is always fuppofed and confidered as being much greater than it really is. This was exemplified in the prefent inftance. The accounts from Conftantinople, as well as thofe through the medium of France, reprefented this as a formal and decifive battle, in which, they faid, that an army of 30,000 Ruffians had been totally defeated, and nearly cut to pieces. These are, however, as totally deftitute of all circumstances and incidents, as those from Petersburgh; and are undoubtedly as faulty in one refpect, as the latter in the other. ly to know any particular owner, the Georgians were forely preifed by their ancient neighbours and eternal enemies the Lefghis Tartars; a nation as brave as themfelves, but who, being lefs civilized, were infinitely more ferccious. A fort of conftant war, generally confined to depredation and defultory incurfion, had probably at all times fubfifted between them ; but the great objects of religion, general liberty and fecurity, being now at ftake with the Tartars, and the Georgians allies to their mortal enemy, the Lefghis, who were principal members of the confederacy, attacked them with a fury and effect before unknown. The Georgians, overborne and diftreffed in this war, looked in vain for protection from Ruffia; which was too much embarraffed and too diftant to afford any effectual aid; a circumftance which could not but be extremely vexatious to the latter, and the more fo, if the Georgians at this time (which feems probable) fubmitted to defcend from the state of allies to that of vaffalage, in the hope of obtaining thereby the more speedy and effectual protection. This extraordinary and unexpected refiftance of the Tartars occafioned, however, a great alteration in the scheme of the progrefs to Cherfon. It seems to have been greatly narrowed in the defign, to have been difencumbered of much of its intended fuperb magnificence; the great object of the coronation, and of the affumption of new titles, was entirely given up; the formidable military force that was expected did not attend; the proceffion The court of Petersburgh feemdid not take place until the followed to vent her indignation entirely ing year; and the only end obtained, faving the conferences held with the king of Poland and the emperor, feemed to be nothing more than the emprefs's fhewing herfelf to the new fubjects, and appearing to take fome fort of formal poffeffion of Cherson and the Cri mea. During the war thus carried on in those unmeasured and almost unknown regions, which feemed scarce upon the Porte, for all the vexation which this and other untoward circumftances excited. The Ottomans were charged with being the fomenters of the war, or (what was a more favourite term) rebellion of the Tartars; and were to be made refponfible for their whole conduct. No great ceremony was ufed at Conftantinople upon thefe occafions; threats of war, and denunciations of the heaviest vengeance, were fami liar. liar. Indeed, this haughty tone, with a high affumption of authority, only ufual to vaffals, is what the Ottoman pride has been conftantly doomed to fubmit to, ever fince its last unfortunate and inglorious war. No measures were, however, left untried, which could tend to reconcile the Tartars to the change that was meditated in their condition, and induce them to a voluntary fubmiffion to the Ruffian government. Repeated proclamations were iffued, affuring them of the most perfect fecurity to their religion, and the most unlimited freedom in the exercise of its rites; at the fame time, that they were to partake of all the temporal advantages which were enjoyed by the old fubjects of the empire. The emprefs likewife iffued an ordinance which feemed calculated to afford immediate conviction how much their condition would be bettered under her government, by announcing, that in their addreffes to her they were not, according to the eastern form, to ftyle themselves her flaves, but merely, in the European manner, to fubfcribe themselves her loyal fubjects. But antient prejudices are not eafily fubdued; and it does not appear that this condefcenfion produced any great effect in allaying the obftinacy of the Tartars. Some difcontent or jealoufy on the fide of the Chinese occafioned their putting a temporary ftop to the trade between Ruffia and that empire, which is their ufual mode of expreffing diffatisfaction or refentment. The cause of this meafure was unknown at the court of Petersburgh; but as that commerce is confidered as being of the great eft importance to the empire, an embaffy was in contemplation to China, and the moft fpeedy meafures, which the greatness of the diftance would admit, were adopted, in order to induce the court of Pequin to appoint commiffioners to meet thofe of Ruffia upon the borders, and amicably to adjust the matters in difference. But while things were in this unfettled ftate, advice was received of the death of Kienlong, the emperor of China, a prince defervedly little lefs than adored by his subjects; and who, poffeffing all the excellencies to be wished for in a monarch and the father of his people, was no less diftinguished by the elegant accomplishments of learning, philofophy, and poetry; in the latter of which he was confidered fo eminent, that tranflations of fome of his productions have been tranfmitted into Europe. A new and fingular measure has been adopted by the empress of Ruffia, by which, reverfing the ufual order of things, instead of borrowing money from her fubjects, she becomes the great money-lender of the empire. Upon this principle fhe has opened a bank, whofe capital is to confift of 33 millions of roubles; and is empowered to emit bills, with the currency of money, to the amount of 100 millions more; (which, at the lowest estimate of the rouble, amounts to 20 millions fterling) but it is particularly restricted from ever exceeding this prodigious emiffion of paper; which, indeed, feems more correfpondent to the extent than to the wealth of the empire. Of the capital fund, twenty-two millions is to be lent to the nobleffe for the term of twenty years, upon mortgages on their eftates, at [K] 3 an an intereft of five per cent. befides a payment of three per cent. which is to be applied annually towards the discharge of the original debt. The mortgages are not to include the whole eftates; but fuch a number of villages, with the peasants appertaining to them, as fhall appear to the directors a fufficient fecurity; the peasants to be estimated at forty roubles; but we have no certain knowledge whether whole families or heads are thus rated. The mortgaged eftates are not subject to conAfcation; but heavy pecuniary mulets arife upon any delay in paying either the five per cent. intereft, or the three per cent. which is allotted to the discharge of the principal; and if these mulets are not fufficient to remedy the contumacy or neglect, the directors are to take the adminiftration of the estate into their own hands. Four periods are stated in the course of the term, at any of which the borrower may redeem his eftate by paying off the remaining debt. The remaining eleven millions of the capital are deftined to the encouragement both of foreign commerce and of the internal trade of the empire, by being lent out to the merchants and retail dealers for the term of twenty-two years, at only four per cent. intereft, with the fame annual application of three per cent. towards the discharge of the principal. The bank is likewise to act as an infurance-office with refpect to Are, but the houfes must be built of ftone; and all foreigners, as well as natives, are admitted to the privilege of depofiting their money in it, and of having the emprefs's royal word pledged to them as a fecurity. The ordinance for this eftablishment conveys an admonition to the no bleffe, which will probably oblige many of them to become borrowers, however they may happen or not to approve of the conditions; for they are warned, that the emprefs having provided fuch a fund for their fupport, it is expected that they will be more punctual in fulfilling of their engagements than they have hitherto been; and that it is therefore ordered, that all who have given bonds, notes, or bills of exchange, and have failed in the payment, or who have contracted any debts whatever, fhall be profecuted, without any distinction of perfons, with the utmoft rigour. As this admonition can only relate to debts owing to the crown, and that thefe must have arifen generally through the inability of the poorer part of the nobility or landholders to discharge the taxes rifing on their eftates as they became due, it follows that they must borrow money at intereft from it with one hand, and pay it back at the fame inftant with the other: and that the inability being thus continually increafing, while the taxes remain always the fame, the eftates will in time become fo deeply involved, as to reduce the owners to abfolute dependence and beggary; the more especially, as a provident forefight in the conduct of their affairs is perhaps lefs the characteristic of that order of men in Ruffia, than, even in other countries. A bank founded on fome of thefe principles, corrected by certain modifications, might undoubtedly be very defirable, and productive of much benefit, in any country where the laws were fuperior to the will of the fovereign, and where the public were fecurity for the money, and for fulfilling the prefcribed cove nants. nants. But in a defpotic government, which ever carries the principles of inftability in its very nature, where the thort but magic words we will," are paramount to all laws, can in a breath overthrow all covenants, and cancel all obligations, and where the unfortunate fufferers dare not even to hint diflike, much lefs to claim right, or to complain of wrong, it will be eafily seen that fuch a measure is liable to be pregnant with danger and ruin to the people; and that it might be eafily converted to an engine for drawing much of the landed property, and the greater part of the money of the country, within the vortex of the crown. The reigning duke of Courland has long been out of favour at the court of Petersburgh, and being now reprefented or fuppofed to be in a precarious ftate of health, it has afforded an opportunity of marching a body of Ruffian troops into that duchy, under the colour of fupport ing the freedom of election in cafe of his demife; a pretence fufficient to excite the rifibility of thofe who are not too seriously affected by their intereft in the country to laugh at being reminded of its condition. While the Grand Signior, in conformity with the circumftances of the empire, endeavoured in fome fort to restrain the indignation excited by the continued threat and infult offered, and the never-ending claims and demands made by Ruffia, he, however, thought it neceffary to prepare his fubjects for that laft refort, which he well knew must be the inevitable confequence of her views and conduct. He accordingly published a fort of appeal to the people at large, and which was evidently intended to extend its effect to all believers whatever of the Mahometan doctrines, in which the language and colouring were fo ftrong, that he feemed not only to depart entirely from his ufual caution and forbearance, but it appeared actually tantamount to a declaration of war. In this piece he reprefented his own inyariable moderation, his inviolable adherence to faith and to treaty, the repeated wrongs and injuries which he had endured, the great conceffions and facrifices he had made, particularly in fubmitting to the ufurpation of the Crimea and the adjoining provinces, through his anxious defire of preferving the public tranquillity, and fecuring his people from the numberless evils ever incident to war. That his defign and endea vours were frustrated by the violence, injuftice, and rapacity of their enemies, by their repeated violation of faith and of treaties; their ambition being fo infatiate, that he no fooner fubmitted to their injustice in one inftance, however great the conceffion, than they immediately required others ftill more exorbitant than the former. That they had fcarcely established their ufurpations on the borders of the Black Sea, than they endeavoured to extend them into Afia, to countries fo remote that they could not pretend any connection with them; that having infidiously prevailed on fome of his vaffals to depart from their allegiance, but being bravely repelled by others, they had made it a ground of new quarrel with him, that he would not become the inftrument of punishing his fubjects or friends for their fidelity and courage. He therefore called upon all true Muffulmen feriously to reflect upon their condition, to arm their bodies [K] 4 and |