The history of Russia has already furnished our records with some
remarkable cases of pseudo royalty in the tragic stories of the
Demetriuses and others, the suspicious circumstances so frequently
attendant upon the death of members of the royal family of the
Romanoffs having, doubtless, been the means of engendering such
impostures as herein detailed. Yet the mystery surrounding the death
of Peter the Third was not very dense, scarcely any one doubting that
he was murdered at the instigation of his consort, Catherine the Second.
Well acquainted with the use schemers made of hasty and private
interments, the Empress determined that the body of her deceased
husband, upon whose vacated throne she was installed, should be
publicly exposed in accordance with ancient observances,
notwithstanding the circumstances of his death. The corpse was
conveyed to the capital, and bedecked with his well-known Holstein
uniform, Peter the Third's remains were placed in the Church of St.
Alexander Newsky, and for three days the people were permitted to take
their last view of their murdered monarch. The appearance of the
exhibited body is said to have confirmed the spectators in their idea
that the unfortunate Czar had been assassinated, whilst the forethought
of the Empress was quite ineffectual in preventing impostors
personating the deceased sovereign. Soon after Peter's death rumours
were circulated to the effect that he had escaped from the hands of his
intended assassins, and was living in an obscure part of the country in
close concealment. In consequence of these reports six several false
Peters, with stories more or less plausible, arose to excite
insurrections amongst the discontented people. Five of these impostors
were easily disposed of, and without any great loss of life; but the
rebellions excited by the sixth shook the Empire to its foundations,
and caused a frightful effusion of blood and treasure. Pugatchef, this
sixth and last claimant, was the son of a poor Cossack, and as a
private soldier had served some years in the Russian army. At the
siege of Bender, in 1769, his extraordinary likeness to Peter the Third
had been much noticed, one officer observing, "If the Emperor, my
master, were not dead, I should believe that I saw him once more." He
was of larger make and far greater vigour than Peter, but otherwise the
resemblance was great, as may be seen by comparing the portraits in the
British Museum of the Czar and the rebel. Having deserted from the
army, and taken refuge amongst some religious sectaries of the Cossacks
of the Ural, Pugatchef, acquiring the support of these discontented
fanatics, boldly announced that he was Peter the Third himself, that he
had escaped from the daggers of the assassins, and that the story of
his death was an invention of his enemies. In September 1773, he
raised the standard of revolt, and having some military skill and
experience, combined with personal activity and courage, and a perfect
knowledge of the country, he was enabled to entirely defeat the small
force sent against him. This success swelled his band into an army,
and brought many skilled soldiers, especially discontented Poles, to
his aid. Combining religious impositions with his regal one, he
tricked the populace into receiving him as their benefactor, and as the
supporter of the Church, as well as their Czar. Force after force that
was sent against him was defeated, until even Moscow trembled before
his approach; and had he boldly marched upon the capital, the
probability is that it must have succumbed, and the imperial power
would have been completely overthrown.
He established a court, adopted the insignia of the empire, conferred
patents of nobility, and issued gold, silver, and copper coins, bearing
his image, and the inscription: "Peter the Third, Emperor of all the
Russias." But as the adventurer became powerful, he cast off the mask,
and dissipated the confidence of his followers by his debauchery and
contempt for religious observances. His natural ferocity, no longer
under curb, was exercised upon his opponents, whom he mercilessly
massacred without respect to sex or age.
Catherine and her advisers, no longer able to treat this rebellion as
the marauding expedition of a gang of robbers, were compelled to make
the most strenuous efforts to meet the impostor's forces. An army of
veterans, chiefly recalled from the Turkish campaign (then being
prosecuted), and numbering forty-five thousand men, aided by a
formidable train of artillery, took the field under the command of an
experienced general. Proclamations were issued, offering a pardon to
all who returned to their allegiance, and proffering a reward of one
hundred thousand silver roubles for the person of Pugatchef, alive or
dead. The pretender, in return, circulated manifestoes, in which he
abolished servitude, freed unconditionally all the serfs, and created
them proprietors of the soil which they tilled. This was an attack
upon the empire's weakest point; and had the insurgent leader been as
prudent as he was daring, he might easily have overturned the existing
government.
During the spring of 1774, victory, followed by the most terrible
excesses, hovered between the two opposing powers, until at last
Palitzin, the imperial general, completely routed Pugatchef, and drove
him into the fastnesses of the Ural mountains. Just as the Empress and
her courtiers were congratulating themselves upon the supposed
annihilation of the rebellion, however, the claimant reappeared with
recruited strength, and again obtained many successes. Again was he
routed and driven back, and again did he return with fresh armies to
renewed victories. Once more repulsed, he was still enabled, for the
fourth time, to gather together fresh legions of insurgents, who seemed
to spring into being at his call. But his strength was nearly spent;
his experienced men had been destroyed; his new recruits were ill-armed
and untrained serfs, whilst peace with Turkey enabled the Empress to
concentrate all her strength for a crushing blow. Pugatchef advanced
along the banks of the Volga towards Moscow, committing the most
terrible atrocities at the various places he captured. Aware that the
late Czar, whom he still personified, spoke German, he carefully
executed any of his prisoners who owned to a knowledge of that
language. Finally, surprised by the Imperial troops, his hordes were
routed with great slaughter, and he himself narrowly escaped by
swimming across the Volga, and gaining the almost inaccessible steppes
of the Ural. Attended by three followers only, he lurked about for
some time, until at last betrayed and handed over to a Russian general.
Sent to Moscow, he was tried with all possible formality, condemned,
and executed on January 21st, 1775, having previously, according to
official report, confessed his real name, and been recognized by his
relatives. Thus ended one of the most daring impostures on record,
after having cost the empire upwards of a year's panic and confusion,
an enormous loss of property, and, worse than all, the sacrifice of at
least three hundred and fifty thousand lives.