t
to the Crimea that Catharine was quite unprepared for an attack from
the Swedish frontier.

The Grand Duke Paul begged permission of his mother that he might join
the army against the Turks. The empress refused her consent.

"My intention," wrote again the grand duke, "of going to fight against
the Ottomans is publicly known. What will Europe say, in seeing that I
do not carry it into effect?"

"Europe will say," Catharine replied, "that the grand duke of Russia
is a dutiful son."

The appearance of the powerful Swedish fleet in the Baltic rendered it
necessary for Catharine to recall the order for the squadron at
Cronstadt to sail for the Mediterranean. The roar of artillery now
reverberated alike along the shores of the Baltic and over the waves
of the Euxine. Denmark and Norway were brought into the conflict, and
all Europe was again the theater of intrigues and battles. It would be
a weary story to relate the numerous conflicts, defeats and victories
which ensued. Famine and pestilence desolated the regions where the
Turkish and Russian armies were struggling. Army after army was
destroyed until men began to grow scarce in the Russian empire. Even
the wilds of Siberia were ransacked for exiles, and many of them were
brought back to replenish the armies of the empress. At length, after
a warfare of two years, with about equal success on both sides,
Catharine and Gustavus came to terms, both equally glad to escape the
blows which each gave the other. This peace enabled Russia to
concentrate her energies upon Turkey.

The Turks now fell like grass before the scythe. But the Russian
generals and soldiers were often as brutal as demons. Nominal
Christianity was no more merciful than was paganism. Count Potemkin,
the leader of the Russian army, was one of the worst specimens of the
old aristocracy, which now, in many parts of Europe, have gone down
into a grave whence, it is to be hoped, there can be no resurrection.
The Turkish town of Ismael was taken in September, 1790, after
enormous slaughter. The French Revolution was at this time in rapid
progress, and several Frenchmen were in the Russian army. To one of
these, Colonel Langeron, Potemkin said,

"Colonel, your countrymen are a pack of madmen. I would require only
my grooms to stand by me, and we should soon bring them to their
senses."

Langeron replied, "Prince, I do not think you would be able to do it
with all your army!"

These words so exasperate