1770 long enjoyed the highest place in his sovereign's esteem, and was supposed to have an ascendency in his councils, was dismissed from his appointments and banished the court. And his disgrace was followed by that of counts Molke, Thott, Reventlau, and Rosencrantz. These changes were rendered more interesting by the abrupt departure of the Russian minister. The empress's interests being opposed by France in the northern courts, it was conjectured by some that they were brought about by the intrigues of the French ambassador at Copenhagen." The national attention was, at this time, directed to an expedition, conducted by admiral Kaas, to chastise the Algerines for their piracies on the Danish trade. The success of it, however, did not correspond with the expectations of the public; terminating in an ineffectual bombardment of the fortress of Algiers. 1770 SWEDEN. To gratify his curiosity and gain a more perfect insight into the political affairs of Europe, the prince royal, accompanied by his brother, Adolphus Frederic, left Stockholm in the autumn; intending to make a tour of some of the southern states.-His first objects were the court of Berlin and the Prussian dominions; than which none could be more interesting to a young statesman. His visit at that court, however, was intended chiefly to pay his respects to his illustrious uncle. His brother, Charles duke of Sudermania, passed some time, this year, at Sans Souci, and conferred with the king on the common interests of the two kingdoms, and the private concerns of his father and the Prussian monarch." a RUSSIA • Annual Register. 44 Idem. 45. a a Sheridan. 28. RUSSIA AND TURKEY. THE intermission of warlike operations, which ensued after the close of the campaign, was not a season of inaction.-Catharine, being convinced that the result of her scheme for the subjugation of Poland, must depend on the event of her war with the Porte, exerted her utmost strength to give it success.-Peter the Great had founded the Russian navy: but the honour of the first grand expedition was reserved for Catharine, if honour can be derived from a war originating in oppression.-She was now to attempt the execution of a design, suggested by count Munich, for possessing herself of the Turkish territories in the Mediterranean, and, if possible, of Constantinople itself. Two fleets had been prepared for sea in the late year, one under admiral Spiritof and count Orlof, the commander in chief; the other under admiral Elphinson, consisting, in all, of seventeen ships of the line, and a great number of small vessels; having on board near 13,000 seamen and 2500 marines. These were destined to make a diversion on the coast of Greece, in favour of the Russian armies in the Moldavia and Walachia; while a third fleet, consisting of small vessels, built at Worontzof, on the Don, was to pass the sea of Asof into the Euxine and awe the Crim Tartars. And The scale now evidently preponderated on the side of Russia. nothing but the support of either the Poles or Turks by some powerful state could arrest the empress's progress towards the final accomplishment of her ambitious views in Poland. Application was made by the Polish confederates, in their distress, to the French premier for so small a sum as 2,000,000 livres, to enable them to maintain their cause. But either the exigencies of that government, or the influence of the Austrian court, which me have already conceived the plan of dividing Poland, or an unwillingness to involve itself in war with the empress of Russia, prevented it from complying 1770 VOL. II. E a Tooke. 2. 39. b Williams. 3. 283. 1770 complying with their suit.* -The Italian states prudently observed a neutrality in this contest. And Great Britain, to merit Catharine's friendship,a expressed its good wishes of success to the enterprise by supplying her with able officers, and suffered her fleets to winter and refit in the ports of England and Minorca.-Early in the year, Orlof sailed from Port Mahon,† and appeared off the Morea. Being joyfully received by the Mainots, descendants from the ancient Spartans, who had yet the spark of liberty in their breasts, and hoped by the aid of one tyrant to free themselves from the oppression of another, he debarked on the coast of Greece; and, after several fierce encounters with the Turkish garrisons and the forces sent to their assistance, he reduced the fortresses of Navarino, Coron, and Patras. They were engaged in the siege of Modon, which was bravely defended, when Elphinson arrived with his fleet from England; ‡ soon after which, the Turkish fleet made its appearance in those seas.** After some slight engagements, 66 * Monsieur Favier, than whom no one was more conversant in the politics of Europe at this period, attributes to the evil influence of Austria on the councils of France the inaction of that state during the contest in Poland. "If it had sent subsidies to the amount of £.2,000,000 to "Poland at the time of the confederation of Bar, and whilst it had acknowledged M. de Willor"rusky as minister of the confederacy, had sent a minister into that country capable of employing "it properly, all Poland would have confederated in three months, and above a 100,000 Poles "would have been in the field, divided into different bodies, which would have distressed the "Russian army, would have cut off their communication, and have plundered their convoys, "magazines, and hospitals; and the utility of such a diversion in favour of the Turks would "certainly have justified our demanding from them a reimbursement of the subsidy. All this was proposed in a memorial presented by monsieur de Mokronosky to the duke de Choiseul."Moreover, that minister had, of his own conviction of their good policy, begun to adopt these "sentiments: but the court of Vienna prevented the execution of them." The same author says that it was to the old system respecting alliances, which had fallen a sacrifice to that formed with the house of Austria in 1756, that France owed her weight in Europe, and that it was this weight, and especially its intimate connection with the Porte, which made her friendship sought after by the two parties in the last war between the Turks and Austrians, and gave her the honour of mediating the treaty of Belgrade.-There was no occasion for trouble, for expence, for intrigues, to enable France to preserve that honourable station which it held after the conclusion of, that treaty all that was necessary for that purpose was to remain as it was.-Politique de l'Europe. 1. 189. 362. 64. ** Baron de Tott, who had passed to Constantinople on the death of Kerim Guerai in 1769, after intimating that the Turks had been led to supineness in regard to their maritime force from an engagements, the Turks, though superior in force, withdrew. Orlof then sailing in pursuit of them, brought the captain pachâ to an action between Scio and the coast of Asia Minor. A desperate battle ensued; in which the two admirals' ships grappled, and were both fired; but most of the officers were saved. After a short pause, the battle was renewed with great fury; and victory at last declared for the Russians.-The Turks, escaping to the coast of Asia Minor, with much difficulty and damage to each other's ships, crowded into the bay of Cisme. This act of pusillanimity proved fatal to them. Four fire ships were instantly prepared, to burn them in their place of retreat. But no one could be found to conduct so hazardous an enterprise, till lieutenant Dugdale undertook to manage the fire ships, and commodore Greig to cover them.-At midnight, Greig approaching the shore, came to the attack in defiance of the batteries which the Turks had erected to guard the entrance of the harbour. Dugdale, then, entered it with his fire ships; and when no seaman was found bold enough for the enterprise, he with a most daring intrepidity, in the face of a boat manned with Turks bearing down upon him, lashed the helm, and, pressing in, hooked the cable of the first Turkish ship. The fire instantly took effect: and, such was the success of this desperate attempt, that, in a short time the whole fleet was destroyed except one man of war and a few gallies which were towed off by the Russians. When it dawned, the captain pachâ, who had escaped with great part of his crews to land, beheld only the miserable wrecks of a fleet which had made so proud an appearance the preceding day. His grief was, perhaps, enhanced by an anticipation of his doom; which was to be superseded by Zaffier Bey, who had opposed his fatal retreat to Cisme, and to be immediately put to death. 66 The an ignorant presumption that it was impossible for the Russian fleet to sail to the Mediterranean, thus describes the Turkish navy; "high decked vessels, the lower tier guns of which were laid under water by the least gale of wind, presented the enemy with much wood and little fire. Embar"rassed manœuvres; cordage and pullies which broke on the least effort, thirty men employed in "the gun-room, to move the tiller of the helm, no idea of properly stowing the ballast, no "nautical knowledge, encumbered decks, guns without equality in the calibre, were a part of the "defects of this armament, which was to be commanded by men too ignorant to perceive it had any imperfection."-De Tott's Mem. vol. 2. p. 21. 66 1770 1770 The Russians, after possessing themselves of Cisme, laid siege to the fortress which protected the island of Lemnos, near the entrance of the Dardanelles; but, after a siege of considerable length, they were repulsed by Hassan Bey, a commander of high repute, who brought 3000 men against them from the continent of Romania.f In the mean-time, the Russian admiral, knowing the terror and confusion that prevailed at Constantinople on intelligence of the destruction of the Turkish fleet, endeavoured to avail himself of it to force the passage of the Dardanelles. This strait, although it was the chief defence of the capital towards the Mediterranean, was guarded only by four castles, ill-constructed, with batteries mounted with artillery in bad condition. Fortunately for the Turkish empire, the sultan had retained in his service baron de Tott, a French engineer, whose skill in some measure compensated for the ignorance of his own subjects. * Entering upon the work with the zeal inspired by an idea of the importance of his commission, that officer, by indefatigable exertion, in a short time, constructed the fortifications anew after the European manner; put the artillery in order; and instructed a train of * artillery Baron de Tott thus describes the Dardanelles. "The strait of the Dardanelles, situated fifty "leagues to the west of Constantinople, between the Archipelago and the little sea of Marmora, "extends from the coast of Troy to Gallipoli, over against Lampsacus. This space, about "twelve leagues, of an unequal breadth, contains different points, in which the continents of "Europe and Asia, which this strait separates, approach to within the distance of three or four "hundred fathoms. Three leagues from its mouth, on the side next the Archipelago, at the nar rowest part of the strait, have been built the castles called the Dardanelles; the cannon of each "of which commanded the opposite shore. These were for a long time the only barrier "to secure Constantinople; but the Turks, becoming more powerful though not more enlightened, at length built two others near the mouth; but as they are at the distance of fifteen hundred "fathoms, their fire is uncertain, and their defence insufficient."-The baron gives this description of the condition of the Dardanelles in 1770. "Walls without mortar, raised more than thirty "feet above the batteries, which were level with the sea, were expected to tumble on the cannon "and gunners on the first broadside of the Russians; so that the Turks were in more danger from "such a defence than from the attack of the enemy. An artillery, formidable in appearance "from the width of its bore, but little to be dreaded, after the first discharge, from the slowness "with which these enormous pieces must be served, formed the principal batteries on each side "of the channel." "This artillery, all of brass, without trunnions or carriages, laid upon hol"lowed pieces of wood, with their breaches secured by large stones, to prevent their recoil; a "number of other pieces, lying in the sand, together with several mortars, seemed more like the "ruins of a siege than preparations for defence." Such was the state of the Dardanelles when threatened with an attack from the Russian fleet.-Memoirs. vol. 2. 38 to 205. f Ann. Regist. 35. and l'Evesque. |