f its territory.
Catherine, secured White Russia with a population of 1,600,000;
Frederick the Great took West Prussia with 900,000 inhabitants, (p. 189)
and Austria received Western Gallicia and Red Russia with 2,500,000
people. This was the beginning of the end of Poland.

The peace negotiations with Turkey were broken off, and war was
resumed. Being busy elsewhere, Catherine could not prevent a _coup
d'etat_ in Sweden, which saved that country from the fate of Poland.
Besides suffering from these constant wars, Russia was visited by the
plague, which in July and August, 1771, daily carried off a thousand
victims in Moscow alone. The Archbishop, an enlightened man, was put
to death by a mob for ordering the streets to be fumigated. Troops
were necessary to restore order.

The condition of the country was dreadful. Alexander Bibikof was sent
to suppress a dangerous insurrection, he wrote to his wife after
arriving on the spot, that the general discontent was frightful. It
was for this reason that Catherine concluded peace with the sultan in
1774; besides an indemnity, she received Azof on the Don and all the
strong places in the Crimea, and was recognized as the protector of
the sultan's Christian subjects. In 1775, she finally broke the power
of the Cossacks.

Through the mediation of France and Russia, a war between Prussia and
Austria concerning the succession in Bavaria, was narrowly averted.
During the American War of Independence, Russia, Sweden, Denmark,
Prussia, and Portugal, proclaimed armed neutrality, and Holland
declared war, because British warships caused endless trouble to vessels
under neutral flags. This celebrated act declared "that contraband
goods" included only arms and ammunition. Most countries agreed (p. 190)
to this, with the exception of England.

In 1775 Catherine annexed the Crimea, on the plea that anarchy
prevailed. Turkey protested and threatened war but France meditated
and the sultan recognized the annexation by the Treaty of
Constantinople in 1783.

In 1787, a remarkable secret agreement was signed between Russia and
Austria. It is known as the _Greek Project_, and was nothing less than
a scheme to divide Turkey between the two powers. The plot as proposed
by Russia, was to create an independent state under the name of Dacia,
to embrace Moldavia, Wallachia, and Bessarabia, with a prince
belonging to the Greek Church at the head. Russia was to receive
Otchakof, the shore be