little more than one of the provinces of Catharine's
empire. The Grand Seignior formed an alliance with the disaffected
Poles, arrested the Russian embassador at Constantinople, and mustered
his hosts for war. Catharine II. was prepared for the emergency. Early
in 1769 the Russian army commenced its march towards the banks of the
Cuban, in the wilds of Circassia. The Tartars of the Crimea were the
first foes whom the armies of Catharine encountered. The Sea of Azof,
with its surrounding shores, soon fell into the possession of Russia.
One of the generals of Catharine, General Drevitch, a man whose name
deserves to be held up to eternal infamy, took nine Polish gentlemen
as captives, and, cutting off their hands at the wrist, sent them
home, thus mutilated, to strike terror into the Poles. Already
Frederic of Prussia and Catharine were secretly conferring upon a
united attack upon Poland and the division of the territory between
them.

Frederic sent his brother Henry to St. Petersburg to confer with
Catharine upon this contemplated robbery, sufficiently gigantic in
character to be worthy of the energies of the royal bandits. Catharine
received Henry with splendor which the world has seldom seen equaled.
One of the entertainments with which she honored him was a moonlight
sleigh ride arranged upon a scale of imperial grandeur. The sleigh
which conveyed Catharine and the Prussian prince was an immense parlor
drawn by sixteen horses, covered and inclosed by double glasses,
which, with numberless mirrors, reflected all objects within and
without. This sledge was followed by a retinue of two thousand others.
Every person, in all the sledges, was dressed in fancy costume, and
masked. When two miles from the city, the train passed beneath a
triumphal arch illuminated with all conceivable splendor. At the
distance of every mile, some grand structure appeared in a blaze of
light, a pyramid, or a temple, or colonnades, or the most brilliant
displays of fireworks. Opposite each of these structures ball rooms
had been reared, which were crowded with the rustic peasantry, amusing
themselves with music, dancing and all the games of the country. Each
of the spacious houses of entertainment personated some particular
Russian nation, where the dress, music and amusements of that nation
were represented. All sorts of gymnastic feats were also exhibited,
such as vaulting, tumbling and feats upon the slack and tight rope.

Through such sc