IX. 1792. CHAP. reserved for the nobles; but, by degrees, that invidious restriction was abandoned, and in the arduous struggle of 1813, when the co-operation of all classes could alone save her from destruction, Prussia had reason to felicitate herself upon the change. 58. Its statis tics and government. The states which composed the Prussian monarchy were by no means so coherent or rounded as those which formed the Austrian dominions. Nature had traced out no limits like the Rhine, the Alps, or the Pyrenees, to form the boundary of its dominions; no great rivers or mountain chains protected its frontiers; few fortified towns guarded it from the incursions of the vast military monarchies by which it was surrounded. Its surface consisted of fourteen thousand square leagues, and its population, which had been doubled under the reign of Frederick the Great, amounted to nearly eight million souls. But they were composed of various races, spoke different languages, professed different religions, and were protected by no external or internal line of fortresses. Towards Russia and Austrian Poland, a frontier of two hundred leagues was totally destitute of places of defence: Silesia alone enjoyed the double advantage of three lines of fortresses, and the choicest gifts of nature. The national defence rested entirely on the army and the courage of the inhabitants; but animated by the recollections of the Seven Years' War, they were both elevated to the highest pitch. The government was a military despotism; no privileges of individuals or corporations restrained the authority of the sovereign; the liberty of the press was unknown though the public administration was tempered by the wisdom and beneficence of an enlightened system of state policy. This system, begun by Frederick the Great, had passed into settled maxims, which regulated the administration of his successors. In no country of Europe, not even in England or Switzerland, was private right more thoroughly respected, or justice more rigidly observed, both in the courts of law and the domestic IX. 1792. measures of government. "Everything for the people, CHAP. nothing by them," was the principle of its administration. Toleration, established even to excess, had degenerated into its fatal ally, indifference and infidelity, in many of the higher orders; manners approaching the corruption of Paris were prevalent in the capital; while the middle ranks, united in secret societies of Freemasonry, already Cap. l'Eur. indulged those ardent feelings which afterwards exercised i. 37, 40, 44. so important an influence on the destinies of Europe.1 i. 47. Hard. Russia. The might of Russia, first experienced by Frederick at 59. the terrible battle of Cunnersdorff, was now beginning to State of fill the north with apprehension. This immense empire, comprehending nearly half of Europe and Asia within its dominions, backed by inaccessible frozen regions, secured from invasion by the extent of its surface and the severity of its climate, inhabited by a patient and indomitable race, ever ready to exchange the hardships and monotony of the north for the luxury and adventure of the south, was daily becoming more formidable to the liberties of Europe. The Empress Catherine, endowed, amidst all her feminine passions, with masculine ambition, was urging a bloody war with Turkey, in which the zeal of a religious crusade was directed by the sagacity of civilised warfare. The campaign had commenced with the taking of Oczakoff, which easily yielded to the audacity and fortune of Prince Potemkin; but the courage of the Turks, though long dormant, was at length roused to the highest pitch. Undisciplined and unstable in the field, they were almost invincible behind walls; and the most inconsiderable forts, manned by such defenders, became impregnable save at an enormous expense of blood and treasure. But a new and terrible enemy to the Ottomans arose in SUWARROFF, one of those extraordinary men, who sometimes, by the force of their individual character, alter the destiny of nations. This determined man and dauntless general, who to the highest talents for war united a religious influence over the minds of his soldiers, IX. 1792. CHAP. joined the Austrians with eight thousand men, when, with seventeen thousand, they were maintaining a doubtful contest with a hundred thousand Turks on the banks of the river Rymniski. His arrival infused such energy into the combined army, that they gained a complete victory over their formidable enemies. He was afterwards employed in the siege of Ismael, and, chiefly by the ascendency of real greatness over the minds of his soldiers, succeeded in carrying by assault that celebrated fortress, 155, 156. though defended by twenty-four thousand of the bravest xxxiii. 201. troops in the Turkish dominions. British diplomacy was Russia, i. employed before it was too late to avert the threatened 128. Ségur, calamities of the Ottoman empire; new objects of contenBiog. Univ. tion arose; fresh contests sprang out of the Western Suwarroff. Revolution, and the glory of placing the cross on the dome of St Sophia has been reserved for a future age. 1 Lac. viii. Ann. Reg. Tooke's ii. 279. xliii. 217. 60. army and Cossacks. The Russian infantry had long been celebrated for its The Russian immovable firmness. At Pultowa, Cunnersdorff, Choczim, and Ismael, it had become distinguished; and the cavalry, though greatly inferior to its present state of discipline and equipment, was inured to service in the war with the Turks, and mounted on a hardy and admirable race of horses. The artillery, now so splendid, was then remarkable only for the cumbrous quality of the carriages, and the obstinate valour of the men. The armies were recruited by a certain proportion of conscripts drawn out of every hundred male inhabitants; a mode of raising troops which, in an immense and rapidly increasing population, furnished an inexhaustible supply of soldiers. They amounted in 1792 to two hundred thousand men ; but ; the half of this force alone was disposable for active operations, the remainder being cantoned on the Pruth, the Caucasus, and the frontiers of Finland. In this enumeration, however, was not comprised either the youth of the military colonies, who afterwards became of great importance, or the well-known Cossacks of the Don. The last composed an immense military force in the southern IX. 1792. provinces of the empire. This irregular force, drawn CHAP. from the pastoral tribes in the southern provinces of the empire, costs almost nothing to the state. The government merely issues an order for a certain number of this hardy band to take the field, and crowds of active young men appear, equipped at their own expense, mounted on small but indefatigable horses, and ready to undergo all the hardships of war, from their sense of duty to their sovereign, and their hopes of plunder or adventure. Gifted with all the individual intelligence which belongs to the pastoral and savage character, and yet subjected to a certain degree of military discipline, they make the best of, all light troops, and are more formidable to a retreating 254, 258. army than the élite of the French or Russian guards.1 1 Jom. i. the Russian Inured to hardships from his infancy, the Russian 61. soldier is better calculated to bear the fatigues of war Character of than any in Europe. He knows no duty so sacred as soldiers. obedience to his officers; submissive to his discipline as to the ordinances of religion, no fatigue, no privation, can make him forget its obligations. Through every march, through entire campaigns, you behold the cannoneer near his piece, at the post assigned to him by his commander ; and, unless authorised to do so, nothing will induce him to abandon it. The waggon-train wax their harness in bivouacs under a cold of 15 deg. of Reaumur, corresponding to 5 deg. above zero of Fahrenheit, as they would do for a day of parade in the finest weather. They have greater facility at rallying after a defeat, than their high degree of individual intelligence has given to the French soldiers, for they have not so clear a sense of the dangers of their situation. By the concurring testimony of all military men, the Russian troops are the steadiest in Europe in disaster. They retire from a field of battle, how disastrous soever, with the precision of a field day, and often inflict severe losses on the enemy which ventures 126, 264. to molest their retreat.2 The whole energies of the nation are turned towards 2 Jom. i. 256. Cath cart's Rus sian War, CHAP. the army. IX. 1792. 62. The civil and govern ment, and national spirit of Russia. Im Commerce, the law, and all civil employments, are held in no esteem; the whole youth of any consideration betake themselves to the profession of arms. mense military schools, in different parts of the empire, institutions annually send forth the whole flower of the population to this dazzling career. Precedence depends entirely on rank in the army, or a corresponding position in civil life, which is arranged according to military grades; and the heirs to the greatest families are compelled to enter its ranks in the lowest grade. They face hardship and danger with the same courage as the private soldiers; they were to be found by their sides in the breach of Ismael and amid the snows of Finland. Promotion is open equally to all a government depending entirely on its military prowess, finds itself obliged to promote real merit; and great part of the officers at the head of the army have risen from the inferior stations of society. But, formidable as the power of Russia appeared even at that period, the world was far from anticipating the splendid part which she was destined to play in the approaching conflict. Her immense population, amounting in Europe alone to nearly thirty-five millions, afforded an inexhaustible supply of men. The ravages of war or pestilence were speedily filled up, in a country whose numbers were doubling every fifty years. Her soldiers, inured to heat and cold from their infancy, and actuated by a blind devotion to the Czar, united the steady valour of the English to the impetuous energy of the French troops. Dreaded by all her neighbours, and too remote to fear attack, she could afford to send forth her whole disposable force on foreign service; while the want of pecuniary resources was of little importance, so long as the wealth of England could be relied on to furnish the sinews of war. Before the conclusion of hostilities, France saw one hundred and fifty thousand Russian soldiers reRussia, ii. viewed on the plains of Burgundy; a force really greater than that with which Attila combated on the field of Chalons.1 1 Tooke's 138. Jom. i. 257. |