THE CONSPIRACY; AND ACCESSION OF CATHARINE II.
From 1762 to 1765.
Peter III. at Oranienbaum.--Catharine at Peterhof.--The Successful
Accomplishment of the Conspiracy.--Terror of Peter.--His Vacillating
and Feeble Character.--Flight to Cronstadt.--Repulse.--Heroic Counsel
of Munich.--Peter's Return to Oranienbaum.--His Suppliant Letters to
Catharine.--His Arrest.--Imprisonment.--Assasination.--Proclamation of
the Empress. Her Complicity in the Crime.--Energy of Catharine's
Administration.--Her Expansive Views and Sagacious
Policy.--Contemplated Marriage with Count Orlof.
It was the morning of the 19th of July, 1762. Peter, at Oranienbaum,
had passed most of the night, with his boon companions and his
concubines, in intemperate carousings. He awoke at a late hour in the
morning, and after breakfast set out in a carriage, with several of
his women, accompanied by a troop of courtiers in other carriages, for
Peterhof. The gay party were riding at a rapid rate over the beautiful
shore road, looking out upon the Bay of Cronstadt, when they were met
by a messenger from Peterhof, sent to inform them that the empress had
suddenly disappeared during the night. Peter, upon receiving this
surprising intelligence, turned pale as ashes, and alighting,
conversed for some time anxiously with the messenger. Entering his
carriage again, he drove with the utmost speed to Peterhof, and with
characteristic silliness began to search the cupboards, closets, and
under the bed for the empress. Those of greater penetration foresaw
what had happened, but were silent, that they might not add to his
alarm.
In the meantime some peasants, who had come from St. Petersburg,
related to a group of servants rumors they had heard of the
insurrection in that city. A fearful gloom oppressed all, and Peter
was in such a state of terror that he feared to ask any questions. As
they were standing thus mute with confusion and dismay, a countryman
rode up, and making a profound bow to the tzar, presented him with a
note. Peter ran his eyes hastily over it, and then read it aloud. It
communicated the appalling intelligence which we have just recorded.
The consternation into which the whole imperial party was thrown no
language can describe. The women were in tears. The courtiers could
offer not a word of encouragement or counsel. One, the king's
chancellor, with the tzar's consent, set off for St. Petersburg to
attempt to rouse the partisans of the tzar; but he could find none
there. The wretched Peter was now continually receiving corroborative
intelligence of the insurrection, and he strode up and down the walks
of the garden, forming innumerable plans and adhering to none.
The tzar had a guard of three thousand troops at his palace of
Oranienbaum. At noon these approached Peterhof led by their veteran
commander, Munich. This energetic officer urged an immediate march
upon St. Petersburg.
"Believe me," said Munich, "you have many friends in the city. The
royal guard will rally around your standard when they see it
approaching; and if we are forced to fight, the rebels will make but a
short resistance."
While he was urging this energetic measure, and the women and the
courtiers were trying to dissuade him from the step, and were
entreating him to go back to Oranienbaum, news arrived that the troops
of the empress, twenty thousand in number, were on the march to arrest
him.
"Well," said Munich to the tzar, "if you wish to decline a battle, it
is not wise at any rate to remain here, where you have no means of
defense. Neither Oranienbaum nor Peterhof can withstand a siege. But
Cronstadt offers you a safe retreat. Cronstadt is still under your
command. You have there a formidable fleet and a numerous garrison.
From Cronstadt you will find it easy to bring Petersburg back to
duty."
The fortresses of Cronstadt are situated on an island of the same
name, at the mouth of a bay which presents the only approach to St.
Petersburg. This fortress, distant about thirty miles west of St.
Petersburg, may be said to be impregnable. In the late war with Russia
it bade defiance to the combined fleets of France and England. As we
have before mentioned, Peterhof and Oranienbaum were pleasure-palaces,
situated on the eastern shore of the Bay of Cronstadt, but a few miles
from the fortress and but a few miles from each other. The gardens of
these palaces extend to the waters of the bay, where there are ever
riding at anchor a fleet of pleasure-boats and royal yachts.
The advice of Munich was instantly adopted. A boat was sent off
conveying an officer to take command of the fortress, while, in the
meantime, two yachts were got ready for the departure of the tzar and
his party. Peter and his affrighted court hastened on board,
continually looking over their shoulders fearing to catch a sight of
the troops of the queen, whose appearance they every moment
apprehended. But the energetic Catharine had anticipated this
movement, and her emissaries had already gained the soldiers of the
garrison, and were in possession of Cronstadt.
As the two yachts, which conveyed Peter and his party, entered the
harbor, they found the garrison, under arms, lining the coast. The
cannons were leveled, the matches lighted, and the moment the foremost
yacht, which contained the emperor, cast anchor, a sentinel cried out,
"Who comes there?"
"The emperor," was the answer from the yacht.
"There is no emperor," the sentinel replied.
Peter III. started forward upon the deck, and, throwing back his
cloak, exhibited the badges of his order, exclaiming,
"What! do you not know me?"
"No!" cried a thousand voices; "we know of no emperor. Long live the
Empress Catharine II."
They then threatened immediately to sink the yacht unless the tzar
retired.
The heroic Munich urged the tzar to an act of courage of which he was
totally incapable.
"Let us leap on shore," said he; "none will dare to fire on you, and
Cronstadt will still be your majesty's."
But Peter, in dismay, fled into the cabin, hid himself among his
women, and ordered the cable instantly to be cut, and the yacht to be
pulled out to sea by the oars. They were soon beyond the reach of the
guns. It was now night, serene and beautiful; the sea was smooth as
glass, and the stars shone with unusual splendor in the clear sky. The
poltroon monarch of all the Russias had not yet ventured upon deck,
but was trembling in his cabin, surrounded by his dismayed mistresses,
when the helmsman entered the cabin and said to the tzar,
"Sire, to what port is it your majesty's pleasure that I should take
the vessel?"
Peter gazed, for a moment, in consternation and bewilderment, and then
sent for Munich.
"Field marshal," said he, "I perceive that I was too late in following
your advice. You see to what extremities I am reduced. Tell me, I
beseech you, what I ought to do."
About two hundred miles from where they were, directly down the Gulf
of Finland, was the city of Revel, one of the naval depots of Russia.
A large squadron of ships of war was riding at anchor there. Munich,
as prompt in council as he was energetic in action, replied,
"Proceed immediately to join the squadron at Revel. There take a
ship, and go on to Pomerania.[17] Put yourself at the head of your
army, return to Russia, and I promise you that in six weeks Petersburg
and all the rest of the empire will be in subjection to you."
[Footnote 17: Pomerania was one of the duchies of Prussia, where the
Russian army, in coöperation with the King of Prussia, was assembled.
Frederic might, perhaps, have sent his troops to aid Peter in the
recovery of his crown.]
The women and the courtiers, with characteristic timidity,
remonstrated against a measure so decisive, and, believing that the
empress would not be very implacable, entreated the tzar to negotiate
rather than fight. Peter yielded to their senseless solicitations, and
ordered them to make immediately for Oranienbaum. They reached the
dock at four o'clock in the morning. Peter hastened to his apartment,
and wrote a letter to the empress, which he dispatched by a courier.
In this letter he made a humble confession of his faults, and promised
to share the sovereign authority with Catharine if she would consent
to reconciliation. The empress was, at this time, at the head of her
army within about twenty miles of Oranienbaum. During the night, she
had slept for a few hours upon some cloaks which the officers of her
suite had spread for her bed. Catharine, knowing well that perjury was
one of the most trivial of the faults of the tzar, made no reply, but
pressed forward with her troops.
Peter, soon receiving information of the advance of the army, ordered
one of his fleetest horses to be saddled, and dressed himself in
disguise, intending thus to effect his escape to the frontiers of
Poland. But, with his constitutional irresolution, he soon abandoned
this plan, and, ordering the fortress of Oranienbaum to be dismantled,
to convince Catharine that he intended to make no resistance, he wrote
to the empress another letter still more humble and sycophantic than
the first. He implored her forgiveness in terms of the most abject
humiliation. He assured her that he was ready to resign to her
unconditionally the crown of Russia, and that he only asked
permission to retire to his native duchy of Holstein, and that the
empress would graciously grant him a pension for his support.
Catharine read the letter, but deigning no reply, sent back the
chamberlain who brought it, with a verbal message to her husband that
she could enter into no negotiations with him, and could only accept
his unconditional submission. The chamberlain, Ismailof, returned to
Oranienbaum. The tzar had with him there only his Holstein guard
consisting of six hundred men. Ismailof urged the tzar, as the only
measure of safety which now remained, to abandon his troops, who could
render him no defense, and repair to the empress, throwing himself
upon her mercy. For a short time the impotent mind of the degraded
prince was in great turmoil. But as was to be expected, he surrendered
himself to the humiliation. Entering his carriage, he rode towards
Peterhof to meet the empress. Soon he encountered the battalions on
the march for his capture. Silently they opened their ranks and
allowed him to enter, and then, closing around him, they stunned him
with shouts of, "Long live Catharine."
The miserable man had the effrontery to take with him, in his
carriage, one of his mistresses. As she alighted at the palace of
Peterhof, some of the soldiers tore the ribbons from her dress. The
tzar was led up the grand stair-case, stripped of the insignia of
imperial power, and was shut up, and carefully guarded in one of the
chambers of the palace. Count Panin then visited him, by order of the
empress, and demanded of him the abdication of the crown, informing
him that having thus abdicated, he would be sent back to his native
duchy and would enjoy the dignity of Duke of Holstein for the
remainder of his days. Peter was now as pliant as wax. Aided by the
count, he wrote and signed the following declaration:
"During the short space of my absolute reign over the empire of
Russia, I became sensible that I was not able to support so great a
burden, and that my abilities were not equal to the task of governing
so great an empire, either as a sovereign or in any other capacity
whatever. I also foresaw the great troubles which must thence have
arisen, and have been followed with the total ruin of the empire, and
my own eternal disgrace. After having therefore seriously reflected
thereon, I declare, without constraint, and in the most solemn manner,
to the Russian empire and to the whole universe, that I for ever
renounce the government of the said empire, never desiring hereafter
to reign therein, either as an absolute sovereign, or under any other
form of government; never wishing to aspire thereto, or to use any
means, of any sort, for that purpose. As a pledge of which I swear
sincerely before God and all the world to this present renunciation,
written and signed this 29th day of June, O.S. 1762."[18]
[Footnote 18: By the Gregorian Calendar or New Style, adopted by Pope
Gregory XIII. in 1582, ten days were dropped after the 4th of October,
and the 5th was reckoned as the 15th. Thus the 29th of June, O.S.
would be July 8, N.S.]
Peter III., having placed this abdication in the hands of Count Panin,
seemed quite serene, fancying himself safe, at least from bodily harm.
In the evening, however, an officer, with a strong escort, came and
conveyed him a prisoner to Ropscha, a small imperial palace about
fifteen miles from Peterhof. Peter, after his disgraceful reign of six
months, was now imprisoned in a palace; and his wife, whom he had
intended to repudiate and probably to behead, was now sovereign
Empress of Russia. In the evening, the thunderings of the cannon upon
the ramparts of St. Petersburg announced the victory of Catharine. She
however slept that night at Peterhof, and in the morning received the
homage of the nobility, who from all quarters flocked around her to
give in their adhesion to her reign.
Field Marshal Munich, who with true fealty had stood by Peter III. to
the last, urging him to unfurl the banner of the tzar and fight
heroically for his crown, appeared with the rest. The noble old man
with an unblushing brow entered the presence of Catharine. As soon as
she perceived him she called aloud,
"Field marshal, it was you, then, who wanted to fight me?"
"Yes, madam," Munich answered, in a manly tone; "could I do less for
the prince who delivered me from captivity? But it is henceforth my
duty to fight for you, and you will find in me a fidelity equal to
that with which I had devoted my services to him."[19]
[Footnote 19: Marshal Munich was eighty-two years of age. Elizabeth
had sent him to Siberian exile. Peter liberated him. Upon his return
to Moscow, after twenty years of exile, he found one son living, and
twenty-two grandchildren and great grandchildren whom he had never
seen. When the heroic old man presented himself before the tzar
dressed in the sheep-skin coat he had worn in Siberia, Peter said,
"I hope, notwithstanding your age, you may still serve me."
Munich replied, "Since your majesty has brought me from darkness to
light, and called me from the depths of a cavern, to admit me to the
foot of the throne, you will find me ever ready to expose my life in
your service. Neither a tedious exile nor the severity of a Siberian
climate have been able to extinguish, or even to damp, the ardor I
have formerly shown for the interests of Russia and the glory of its
monarch."]
In the afternoon, the empress returned to St. Petersburg. She entered
the city on horseback, accompanied by a brilliant retinue of nobles,
and followed by her large army of fifteen thousand troops. All the
soldiers wore garlands of oak leaves. The immense crowds in the city
formed lines for the passage of the empress, scattered flowers in her
path, and greeted her with constant bursts of acclaim. All the streets
through which she passed were garlanded and spanned with triumphal
arches, the bells rang their merriest peals, and military salutes
bellowed from all the ramparts. As the high ecclesiastics crowded to
meet her, they kissed her hand, while she, in accordance with Russian
courtesy, kissed their cheeks.
Catharine summoned the senate, and presided over its deliberations
with wonderful dignity and grace. The foreign ministers, confident in
the stability of her reign, hastened to present their congratulations.
Peter found even a few hours in the solitude of the palace of Ropscha
exceedingly oppressive; he accordingly sent to the empress, soliciting
the presence of a negro servant to whom he was much attached, and
asking also for his dog, his violin, a Bible and a few novels.
"I am disgusted," he wrote, "with the wickedness of mankind, and am
resolved henceforth to devote myself to a philosophical life."
After Peter had been six days at Ropscha, one morning two nobles, who
had been most active in the revolution which had dethroned the tzar,
entered his apartment, and, after conversing for a time, brandy was
brought in. The cup of which the tzar drank was poisoned! He was soon
seized with violent colic pains. The assassins then threw him upon the
floor, tied a napkin around his neck, and strangled him. Count Orlof,
the most intimate friend of the empress, and who was reputed to be her
paramour, was one of these murderers. He immediately mounted his
horse, and rode to St. Petersburg to inform the empress that Peter was
dead. Whether Catharine was a party to this assassination, or whether
it was perpetrated entirely without her knowledge, is a question which
now can probably never be decided. It is very certain that the grief
she manifested was all feigned, and that the assassins were rewarded
for their devotion to her interests. She shut herself up for a few
days, assuming the aspect of a mourner, and issued to her subjects a
declaration announcing the death of the late tzar. When one enters
upon the declivity of crime, the descent is ever rapid. The innocent
girl, who, but a few years before, had entered the Russian court from
her secluded ancestral castle a spotless child of fifteen, was now
most deeply involved in intrigues and sins. It is probable, indeed,
that she had not intended the death of her husband, but had designed
sending him to Holstein and providing for him abundantly, for the rest
of his days, with dogs and wine, and leaving him to his own
indulgences. It is certain, however, that the empress did not punish,
or even dismiss from her favor, the murderers of Peter. She announced
to the nation his death in the following terms:
"_By the Grace of God, Catharine II., Empress of all the Russias, to
our loving Subjects, Greeting:_
"The seventh day after our accession to the throne of all the Russias,
we received information that the late emperor, Peter III., was
attacked with a most violent colic. That we might not be wanting in
Christian duty, or disobedient to the divine command by which we are
enjoined to preserve the life of our neighbor, we immediately ordered
that the said Peter should be furnished with every thing that might be
judged necessary to restore his health by the aids of medicine. But,
to our great regret and affliction, we were yesterday evening apprised
that, by the permission of the Almighty, the late emperor departed
this life. We have therefore ordered his body to be conveyed to the
monastery of Nefsky, in order to its interment in that place. At the
same time, with our imperial and maternal voice, we exhort our
faithful subjects to forgive and forget what is past, to pay the last
duties to his body, and to pray to God sincerely for the repose of his
soul, wishing them, however, to consider this unexpected and sudden
death as an especial effect of the providence of God, whose
impenetrable decrees are working for us, for our throne, and for our
country things known only to his holy will.
"Done at St. Petersburg, July 7th (N.S., July 18th), 1762."
The news of the revolution soon spread throughout Russia, and the
nobles generally acquiesced in it without a murmur. The masses of the
people no more thought of expressing or having an opinion than did
the sheep. One of the first acts of the empress was to send an embassy
to Frederic of Prussia, announcing,
"That she was resolved to observe inviolably the peace recently
concluded with Prussia; but that nevertheless she had decided to bring
back to Russia all her troops in Silesia, Prussia and Pomerania."
All the sovereigns of Europe acknowledged the title of Catharine II.,
and some sent especial congratulations on her accession to the throne.
Maria Theresa, of Austria, was at first quite delighted, hoping that
Catharine would again unite the Russian troops with hers in hostility
to her great rival, Frederic. But in this expectation she was doomed
to bitter disappointment. The King of Prussia, in a confidential note
to Count Finkenstein, wrote of Catharine and the new reign as follows:
"The Emperor of Russia has been dethroned by his consort. It was to be
expected. That princess has much good sense, and the same friendly
relations towards us as the deceased. She has no religion, but acts
the devotee. The chancellor Bestuchef is her greatest favorite, and,
as he has a strong propensity to _guinées_ I flatter myself that I
shall be able to retain the friendship of the court. The poor emperor
wanted to imitate Peter I., but he had not the capacity for it."
The empress, taking with her her son Paul, and a very brilliant and
numerous suite of nobles, repaired to Moscow, where she was crowned
with unusual splendor. By marked attention to the soldiers, providing
most liberally for their comfort, she soon secured the enthusiastic
attachment of the army. By the most scrupulous observance of all the
external rites of religion, she won the confidence of the clergy. In
every movement Catharine exhibited wonderful sagacity and energy. It
was not to be supposed that the partisans of Peter III. would be
ejected from their places to give room for others, without making
desperate efforts to regain what they had lost. A very formidable
conspiracy was soon organized, and the friends of Catharine were
thrown into the greatest state of alarm. But her courage did not, for
one moment, forsake her.
"Why are you alarmed?" said she. "Think you that I fear to face this
danger; or rather do you apprehend that I know not how to overcome it?
Recollect that you have seen me, in moments far more terrible than
these, in full possession of all the vigor of my mind; and that I can
support the most cruel reverses of fortune with as much serenity as I
have supported her favors. Think you that a few mutinous soldiers are
to deprive me of a crown that I accepted with reluctance, and only as
the means of delivering the Russian nation from their miseries? They
cause me no alarm. That Providence which has called me to reign, will
preserve me for the glory and the happiness of the empire. That
almighty arm which has hitherto been my defense will now confound my
foes!"
The revolt was speedily quelled. The celebrity of her administration
soon resounded from one end of Europe to the other. She presided over
the senate; assisted at all the deliberations of the council; read the
dispatches of the embassadors; wrote, with her own hand, or dictated
the answers, and watched carefully to see that all her orders were
faithfully executed. She studied the lives of the most distinguished
men, and was emulous of the renown of those who had been friends and
benefactors of the human race. There has seldom been a sovereign on
any throne more assiduously devoted to the cares of empire than was
Catharine II. In one of her first manifestoes, issued the 10th of
August of this year, she uttered the words, which her conduct proved
to be essentially true,
"Not only all that we have or may have, but also our life itself, we
have devoted to our dear country. We value nothing on our own account.
We serve not ourself. But we labor with all pains, with all diligence
and care for the glory and happiness of our people."
Catharine found corruption and bribery everywhere, and she engaged in
the work of reform with the energies of Hercules in cleansing the
Augean stables. She abolished, indignantly the custom, which had
existed for ages, of attempting to extort confession of crime by
torture. It is one of the marvels of human depravity that intelligent
minds could have been so imbruted as to tolerate, for a day, so
fiend-like a wrong. The whole system of inquisitorial investigations,
in both Church and State, was utterly abrogated. Foreigners were
invited to settle in the empire. The lands were carefully explored,
that the best districts might be pointed out for tillage, for forest
and for pasture. The following proclamation, inviting foreigners to
settle in Russia, shows the liberality and the comprehensive views
which animated the empress:
"Any one who is destitute shall receive money for the expenses of
his journey, and shall be forwarded to these free lands at the
expense of the crown. On his arrival he shall receive a competent
assistance, and even an advance of capital, free of interest, for
ten years. The stranger is exempted from all service, either
military or civil, and from all taxes for a certain time. In
these new tracts of land the colonists may live according to
their own good-will, under their own jurisdiction for thirty
years. All religions are tolerated."
Thus encouraged, thousands flocked from Germany to the fresh and
fertile acres on the banks of the Volga and the Samara. The emigration
became so great that several of the petty German princes issued
prohibitions. In the rush of adventurers, of the indolent, the
improvident and the vicious, great suffering ensued. Desert wilds
were, however, peopled, and the children of the emigrants succeeded to
homes of comparative comfort. Settlers crowded to these lands even
from France, Poland and Sweden. Ten thousand families emigrated to the
district of Saratof alone.
"The world," said Catharine one day to the French minister, "will not
be able properly to judge of my administration till after five years.
It will require at least so much time to reduce the empire to order.
In the mean time I shall behave, with all the princes of Europe, like
a finished coquette. I have the finest army in the world. I have a
greater taste for war than for peace; but, I am restrained from war by
humanity, justice and reason. I shall not allow myself, like
Elizabeth, to be pressed into a war. I shall enter upon it when it
will prove advantageous to me, but never from complaisance to others."
A large number of the nobles, led by the chancellor of the empire, now
presented a petition to Catharine, urging her again to marry. After a
glowing eulogium on all the empress had done for the renown and
prosperity of Russia, they reminded her of the feeble constitution of
her son Paul, of the terrible calamity a disputed succession might
impose upon Russia, and entreated her to give an additional proof of
her devotion to the good of her subjects, by sacrificing her own
liberty to their welfare, in taking a spouse. This advice was quite in
harmony with the inclinations of the empress. Count Orlof, one of the
most conspicuous nobles of the court, and the prime actor in the
conspiracy which had overthrown and assassinated Peter III., was the
recognized favorite of Catharine. But Count Orlof had assumed such
haughty airs, regarding Catharine as indebted to him for her crown,
that he had rendered himself extremely unpopular; and so much
discontent was manifested in view of his elevation to the throne, that
Catharine did not dare to proceed with the measure. It is generally
supposed, however, that there was a sort of private marriage
instituted, of no real validity, between Catharine and Orlof, by which
the count became virtually the husband of the empress.
Catharine was now firmly established on the throne. The beneficial
effects of her administration were daily becoming more apparent in all
parts of Russia. Nothing which could be promotive of the prosperity of
the empire escaped her observation. With questions of commerce,
finance and politics she seemed equally familiar. On the 11th of
August, 1673, she issued an imperial edict written by her own hand, in
which it is said,
"On the whole surface of the earth there is no country better
adapted for commerce than our empire. Russia has spacious harbors
in Europe, and, overland, the way is open through Poland to every
region. Siberia extends, on one side, over all Asia, and India is
not very remote from Orenburg. On the other side, Russia seems to
touch on America. Across the Euxine is a passage, though as yet
unexplored, to Egypt and Africa, and bountiful Providence has
blessed the extensive provinces of our empire with such gifts of
nature as can rarely be found in all the four quarters of the
world."