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Tartars by a Russian army commanded by general Apraxin and colonel Nagel. The prophet himself appeared at the head of a strong body of Tartars, and wielded the temporal sword with much valour. But he was put to flight; a great number of his followers were slaughtered in the pursuit; and Mansour himself narrowly escaped with his life.

So far were these successes of the Russian arms from subduing, or intimidating the Tartars, that the spirit of liberty seems to have operated with increasing force, and their numbers to have been continually augmented, as the apprehensions of being robbed of that independency with which they flattered themselves, and of that unconstrained life which they enjoyed, was dispersed through their hordes. Their different bodies are said, at this time, to have amounted to 100,000 men: and they displayed an uncommon degree of judgment in possessing themselves of the gorges of the mountains, and the passes where they could attack the Russians with most advantage, or embarrass their movements, and intercept the communication between their different detachments.-So formidable were they now become, that prince Potemkin took on himself the conduct of the war, and led a strong army against them. But even this did not prove successful. The accounts given of the events of the present campaign are various; and none of them well authenticated. But they all agree in stating that the Russians sustained a defeat. And Potemkin, though not present in the action, was censured for his conduct in suffering his forces. to be takenby surprise.

Lenient measures were, in the mean-time, tried, but with equal ill success. In vain were the advantages of protection, and an admittance to the privileges of Russian subjects, held out to induce them to submit to the empress's sovereignty. The love of that independency which had been transmitted to them from their ancestors prevailed over all the allurements of Russian privileges.

b

During these warlike occurrences in the south, Catharine was pursuing the plan long since formed by the Russian monarchs for gaining the complete sovereignty of Courland, which was already governed by her influence over duke Biron. That mock sovereign, although not in the empress's good graces, had avoided absolute subjection chiefly by the interest which the king of Prussia

Prussia had in preventing it: and he took the most effectual means to secure the protection of that monarch by accommodating him with large sums of money. But the great Frederic was now dead. And Catharine, being relieved from the awe in which she had been held by him, embraced the earliest opportunity to forward the accomplishment of her views in this country. On intelligence that the duke was in an ill state of health, she dispatched a body of troops into the duchy, "to support the freedom of "election in case of his demise."-Thus do vultures, we may suppose, guard the carcase from the attacks of eagles.-We cannot be surprised that the empress should practise this mockery in Courland after the success which she had experienced in her insidious policy in Poland.

1786

TURKEY.

It was announced, at this time, at Constantinople, that the empress of Russia was preparing for a progress to Cherson and other southern parts of her dominions.-This intelligence concurred with other circumstances to excite apprehensions in the divan that Catharine meditated further conquests on the Turkish dominions. The sultan, therefore, that he might not be taken by surprise, prepared for the attack by giving his subjects a proper impression respecting the views of that princess, and the necessity of a resolute resistance to them. For this purpose he published an appeal to the Turkish nations, wherein "he represented his own invariable mode"ration, his inviolable adherence to treaties, the repeated injuries that he "had endured, the great concessions and sacrifices that he had made, "particularly in submitting to the usurpation of the Crimea and the adjoining provinces, through his anxious desire of preserving the public tranquillity, and securing his people from the numberless evils ever inci"dent to war. That his endeavours were ever frustrated by the violence,

66

injustice, and rapacity of their enemies, by their repeated violation of "faith and of treaties; their ambition being so insatiate, that he no sooner "submitted to their injustice in one instance, however great the con❝cession,

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"cession, than they immediately required others still more exorbitant than "the former. That they had scarcely established their usurpations on "the Black Sea than they endeavoured to extend them into Asia, to coun"tries so remote that they could not pretend to any connexion with "them: that, having insidiously prevailed on some of his vassals to depart "from their allegiance, but being bravely repelled by others, they made it a new ground of quarrel with him, that he would not become the "instrument of punishing his subjects or friends for their fidelity and courage. He, therefore, called on all true mussulmen seriously to reflect on their condition, to arm their bodies and their minds, that they might "be prepared to withstand the approaching danger, and to be ready, with "their hands and hearts, to support the standard of their prophet when it "should be exalted: that it would not be a war of ambition, but of self"defence; that their religion and every thing dear was at stake, for that nothing less than the extermination of every thing Ottoman, and of all true believers, would satisfy their inveterate enemies."*

ટ

Whilst the sultan was thus prudently preparing for defence by stimulating his subjects to exert themselves in the maintenance of his dignity and the preservation of the Turkish empire, he was distressed by those revolts in the provinces by which his despotic power was ever destined to be disturbed. At this season of danger, when he was in continual expectation of an invasion from his most formidable enemies, the bashâ of Scutari was in arms against his authority in Anatolia; and Murad and Ibrahim Beys, who exceeded all their contemporaries in fierceness of character, and in all the warlike qualities of the mameluke race, had thrown off their obedience; and, whilst they were engaged in contests with the other beys in Egypt, were desolating that country with remorseless cruelty.— These affairs were of the utmost importance in a political light, because the revolted beys were supposed to be instigated by the emissaries of Russia, and because the Egyptian provinces were the grand source from which the sultan had been accustomed to draw his supplies of corn in time of war or scarcity.-That he might reduce his revolted provinces to obedience before he should be attacked by his foreign enemies, the sultan fitted out two fleets with the utmost secrecy: and, whilst one of them

was

a

Annual Register. 151.

was left to guard the Euxine, the captain pachâ, Hassan Bey, sailed with the other, having 20,000 landmen on board, to the mouths of the Nile.

A stout resistance was made to their landing by the forces which the enemy assembled, on intelligence of their approach.-This being overcome, the Turks pressed forward to Grand Cairo, where Murad and Ibrahim were prepared to receive them at the head of a strong army.A battle ensued before the walls of that city, which was fought by the forces on each side with their accustomed fierceness. The mamelukes had the advantage in point of numbers; but this was balanced by the superior merit of the Turkish general. The brave veteran, placing himself in the front of his army, so animated his troops by his ardour that he soon led them to a complete victory. The mamelukes gave way on all sides: the revolted beys with difficulty escaped by the swiftness of their horses: vast spoils became the reward of the victors: and obedience was, for an instant, restored. It was, however, only the obedience of constraint; and much remained to be done before the sultan's sovereignty could be perfectly established in this country.Þ

So warmly was the sultan interested in the advancement of literature and the sciences, that we find him attending to this object at a period when his empire was disturbed by civil commotions and threatened with foreign war. Against the opinion of the mufti and all those who thought that the admission of light would be prejudicial to their interests, and therefore represented such a measure as offensive to their prophet, he procured persons to undertake a translation of the French Encyclopedie. Thus were despots, in every quarter of the world, led, either by ambition or by a benevolent regard for the good of mankind, to provide the instruments which will, probably, at some future period, be employed in the destruction of despotism.

1786

EAST

C

Annual Register, 152.

Idem. 154.

1786

EAST INDIES.

We have seen a treaty of peace concluded with the rajah of Mysore in 1784. But as long as the sovereignty of that country was in the hands of so enterprising and warlike a prince as Tippoo Sultan, of one whose ambition aspired to an ascendency in the peninsula of India, and who, on that account, bore an inveterate enmity to the English company, which he had been taught by his father to consider as the rival of his power, the continuance of it must be considered as very precarious. A revenue amounting to £.5,000,000, a well-stored treasury, and an army to which he devoted his chief attention, rendered him an enemy against whom it was necessary to be ever on our guard. And the excellent state of preparation in which he held his dominions during this peaceful period afforded a presumptive proof that he was meditating an attack on the territory of the company or their allies, as soon as his own circumstances and the situation of affairs in Indostan should recommend warlike measures.-It was deemed expedient, therefore, to place a person of distinguished military talents at the head of the government in this country.-Lord Cornwallis was now chosen to fill this important station: and that he might want no power which could give energy to his administration, he was honoured with the double appointment of governor-general and commander in chief.

His lordship entered upon his united offices with the advantages arising from the good management and judicious regulations of sir John Macpherson, his predecessor in the government of Bengal: which were such that, according to the ministerial report, a retrenchment was made in the expenditure amounting to a million sterling. The prosperous state of affairs at Madras, where sir Archibald Campbell was, about this time, appointed governor, was, moreover, propitious to his administration. The revenues of that presidency, we are informed, were advanced from £.900,000 to .1,400,000 per annum. In the mean-time, the fortifications had been strengthened, and due attention had been paid to the military department. AMERICAN