new material on the revolt of pugachev

New Material on the Revolt of PugachevAuthor(s): B. H. SumnerSource: The Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 7, No. 19 (Jun., 1928), pp. 113-127Published by: the Modern Humanities Research Association and University College London, School ofSlavonic and East European StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4202244 .

Accessed: 13/06/2014 08:16

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Modern Humanities Research Association and University College London, School of Slavonic and EastEuropean Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Slavonic andEast European Review.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 194.29.185.216 on Fri, 13 Jun 2014 08:16:09 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=mhra

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ucl

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ucl

http://www.jstor.org/stable/4202244?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


NEW MAITERIAL ON THE REVOLT OF PUGACHEV,

THE interest aroused outside Russia by the revolt of Pugachev, coming as it did while the Turks were still at war with Russia and while Poland was just undergoing her first partition, is already well known from the diplomatic correspondence published by the Imperial Russian Society (Sbornik, Vols. XIX., LXXII., CXXV.), from Catherine's correspondence with Voltaire, Grimm, and Countess Bielke (Sbornik, Vols. XIII., XXVII., and (Euvres de Voltaire, I784 edition, Vol. XXVI.), and from the attention paid to it in the press of the day and in the numerous semi-historical or anecdotal publications on Catherine and her reign (see, e.g., Annaly, Petrograd; I923, No. III., I49-76).

Gunning, the British Minister at St. Petersburg, sent home regularly as much sound information as he could collect in despite of official secrecy and of grossly exaggerated rumours. Frederick the Great displayed keen interest in the revolt-not merely because his supplies of caviare were cut off-and his Minister de Solms, whose despatches have been published only down to the middle of March, I774, kept him well posted with news as to the measures taken against the rebels. Vienna seems, in this respect, to have been less well served by Lobkowitz at St. Petersburg: his reports show a rather excited readiness on his part to accept too optimistically the information given him by Panin and to castigate the revolt as of not very serious importance. While we thus have available in printed form the dispatches of the British, Prussian and Austrian Ministers for the years I773-74, those of Durand, the French Minister at St. Petersburg, have not been published.' At the time, both in St. Petersburg and outside Russia, it was widely stated that Durand was actively engaged in spreading alarmist reports of the extreme seriousness of the revolt, and even that it was. fomented by the French in order to assist the Turks.2

1 This gap is to a slight extent filled by A. I. Turgenev's La Coutr de Russie il y a cent ans, I725-83; only a few brief extracts from Durand's dispatches are printed there.

2 e.g., Sboynik, XIX., 382. Richard Oakes (Councillor at the British Legation) to William Fraser, i6 November, 1773, writes of the insurrection

113 I



II4 THE SLAVONIC REVIEW.

Panin in fact had the key to one at least of Durand's cyphers and claimed to be in possession of the contents of his dispatches.'

The records of Durand's official correspondence preserved in the Archives of the Minist?re des Affaires etrangeres show no trace of any connection between French agents and the rebels, but they do fully bear out the accusation that Durand sent to Paris very highly coloured accounts of the course of the revolt and of the internal political situation in Russia.

The documents consulted in the Archives of the Ministe're des Affaires etrangeres and utilised for this article are the following. Correspondence Politique: Russie (cited as C.P.R.); Tomes, 93, containing the four last months of I773; 94, miscellaneous letters, papers and commercial complaints, mainly from and to Durand, Vergennes at Stockholm, and the French consuls at Dantzig, in which there are only three casual mentions of the revolt of Pugachev; 95, the first six months of I774; 96, from i July to 30 November, I774; 97, from i December, I774, to 3I March, I775. Memoires et Documents: Russie, Tome ii, containing miscellaneous papers I764-74, including Durand's annual report on affairs in Russia for I773; this was written in December, I773, and consequently has only a few lines on the revolt; in it Durand for the first time mentions Pugachev by name; another copy of this memorandum is in C.P.R. 93. I have not been able to find Durand's annual report for I774. Tomes I0, I4, I6; these contain miscellaneous material, none of which bears on the revolt of Pugachev. Correspondance Consulaire: Petrograd, Tome 7, 1773-8I, containing nothing but commercial and con- sular papers. Correspondance Politique: Turquie (cited hereafter as C.P.T.), Tomes I59 and i6o, covering I773 and I774 respec- tively; there is no indication in the former volume that the news of the revolt had yet reached Constantinople. Me'moires et Documents: Turquie, Tome 8, St. Priest at Constantinople, I772-75; this contains his annual " memoire politique " on

and its consequences having been no doubt "exaggerated by the Bourbon ministers, as letters from all quarters inquire with great eagerness about it." Sbornik, CXXV., 3I3, 320, 348: Lobkowitz on Durand's grossly exaggerated reports; and LXXII., 429, less circumstantially, de Solms. LXXII., 5I9, 468: Frederick the Great, Finckenstein and Hertzberg on French exaggeration and possible fomenting of the revolt. Voltaire, cEuvres, 1784 edition, XXVI., 289, 295-96. Dubrovin, Pugachev i ego soobshchniki, III., 354, citing a letter of Alexis Orlov to G. A. Potemkin, 25 September, I774, from Pisa, in which Orlov still maintains his suspicions of French complicity; he said so when he was in St. Petersburg, but they would not believe him.

'Sbornik, CXXXV., 95-96.



THE REVOLT OF PUGACHEV. II5

Turkey for I772, I773, and I775, but not that for I774. I have to express my thanks to the officials of the Service des Archives for their unfailing courtesy and assistance. All dates in this article are given in the new style. Durand's dispatches are in cypher, except where otherwise stated.

Durand had been appointed Minister Plenipotentiary at St. Petersburg in July, I772. He was then fifty-eight, and had been employed during the previous twenty-four years in a variety of diplomatic posts: in particular he had been Minister at Warsaw- I754-60 and was at Vienna I770-72, when he was active in organis- ing assistance for the Polish Confederates. Since the beginning of I755 he had been initiated into " le secret du Roi," and he continued, with variable but increasing success, to combine the role of official diplomat and secret agent of Louis XV.1 Franco- Russian relations had been growing consistently worse since the: accession of Peter III. : the traditional French policy of friendship with Sweden, Poland and Turkey as against the Habsburgs had now been maintained in the form of utilising these three states as a bulwark against Russia.2 These efforts failed in Poland and Turkey: only in Sweden did they succeed in the shape of Gustav III.'s coup d'etat of I772. Choiseul had been disgraced at the end of I770: his successor d'Aiguillon was vacillating and quite ineffectual in his attempted reaction against the dangerously- belligerent intrigues of Choiseul, although Durand was expressly instructed " de s'appliquer 'a detruire les prejuges personnels et particuliers qui paroissent avoir occasionne et augmente l'eloigne-- ment des deux cours." 3 If this were seriously desired, Durand was a bad choice: his past, notably his connections with the Polish Confederates, made it improbable that he would inaugurate a better understanding between France and Russia: in fact he entirely failed to do so as regards Catherine and the Court,4 if indeed he ever seriously attempted the task. The main events.

1 Recueil des instructions . . . Russie, II., 284-85. Boutaric, Corres- pondance secrete et inedite de Louis XV...., I., I54-57, I67, I70-73, I96-97, 428-29; II., 376, 396, 430. Broglie, Le Secret du Roi, II., 382-84.

2 The main lines of Louis XV's policy towards Catherine are excellently summed up in his secret instructions to Breteuil, 9 February, I 762. " Vous. savez deja, et je le rep6terai ici bien clairement, que l'objet de ma politique avec la Russie est de l'eloigner autant qu'il sera possible de l'Europe, sans rien faire personellement qui puisse donner lieu de se plaindre de vous. L'objet de votre attention doit etre de donner de la consistance a tous les partis qui se formeront immanquablement dans cette cour." Boutaric, I., I09-I0.

3 Recueil des instructions . . . Russie, II., 292. 4 This is admitted by Vergennes in his instructions to de Juigne,

Durand's successor, Recueil des instructions . . . Russie, II., 315.



iI6 THE SLAVONIC REVIEW.

during his tenure of the Legation were the Russo-Turkish War, the partition of Poland and the revival of the monarchical power in Sweden, and it was with these problems that his diplomacy was chiefly concerned, but commerce and the internal situation of Russia also figured prominently in his reports, even before the revolt of Pugachev provided still better scope for his bitter hopes of a revolution in policy and government. On the death of Louis XV. in May, I774, dAiguillon was removed, Bertin acting in his place until the arrival of Vergennes from Stockholm in July. Vergennes was to impart a new course to French policy, a course which included a rapprochement with Russia and entailed the withdrawal of Durand. Above all Louis XVI. did not continue the fatal double policy of Louis XV.; the king's secret diplomatic organisation was at once abolished; henceforward the French Foreign Office came into its own again. The material used for this article, being Durand's official correspondence, does not of course include the secret reports sent from St. Petersburg direct to the king. The outbreak of the revolt of Pugachev was not known in the Russian capital until November, I773, and Louis died in May, I774: in addition the secret diplomacy of Louis was in something like chaos from the summer of I773

onwards owing to d'Aiguillon's discovery of it and the semi- disgrace of Broglie, who conducted it.' Neither Broglie nor Boutaric have published any material relating to the internal affairs of Russia during the last six months of Louis XV.'s reign or to intrigues being conducted in Russia at that time behind the back of d'Aiguillon.

The accounts sent by Durand as to the revolt of Pugachev represent for the most part the gossip and rumour current in St. Petersburg, where Durand, unlike Gunning, remained contin- uously from the outbreak of the revolt until Catherine's visit to Moscow in March, I775. They are therefore full of exaggerated, erroneous or fantastic versions of the course and scope of the revolt, and Durand on the whole attached too much weight to them in forming his judgments on the internal prospects of Russia. This was partly due to his insufficient knowledge of conditions beyond the Volga and of the deep-seated divergences between the motley elements which made up the Pugachevshchina. Viewing events from amidst the murky surroundings of Court intrigues at St. Petersburg, with a violent bias against Catherine and Panin, he

1 Broglie, Le Secret du Roi, II., chap. IX. Vienna, at least, had also discovered Durand's cypher during this period, Boutaric, Correspondance secrete et inedite de Louis XV . . ., II., 376; I., I90.




was far too ready to see everywhere the likelihood of a coup d'etat which should replace Catherine by Paul. He had been instructed to pay special attention to Paul,' and was thoroughly imbued with the whole anti-Catherine policy of France during the past ten years. At the same time it must be remembered that Catherine's position had from the first been regarded by the foreign representa- tives as insecure; in I77I and I772 in particular the air was full of projects for her deposition, and in I773 Paul came of age and was married. It was true that Pugachev posing as Peter III. made much of Peter's son Paul and denounced Catherine as an usurper; far and wide beyond the Volga the rebels spread wild tales of Paul coming to join his father with large forces. Durand's mistake lay not in retailing such rumours but in linking them up with possible action by the old noble families in Moscow or court factions at St. Petersburg. What he failed to recognise sufficiently was that the real danger of the Pugachevshchina was its spread west of the Volga into provinces with a purely or mainly Russian population predominately composed of the landlords' serfs; a rising of these serfs against their masters could only result in the upper classes relying on Catherine and the government of the day to prevent by force a complete social revolution and anarchy. There was at no time with Pugachev any person of any rank, or of political or administrative experience, and Pugachev's appeal to class war against the landlords meant that the opposition to Catherine among the possessing classes must inevitably give way before extreme fears for their lives and property. What Durand did supply to his government, was a detailed kaleidoscope of much of what was being bruited about in the Court, and also in the streets of St. Petersburg by the common people: this corresponded in general with similar rumours afloat in Moscow and elsewhere, and in part with what was actually happening away in the area of the revolt.

Durand's reports supply little positive indication as to his sources of information. He was on bad personal terms with Panin, and seems to have seen him but rarely. In any case the very close official secrecy maintained was not likely to be lifted for the benefit of the representative of France. He evidently made special efforts to keep in close touch with Paul and those around him. Much of his information was obtained by an attache at the legation, Denon, who was a personal friend of the Bibikov family,2 and was in liaison with a member of Paul's

1 Recueil des instructions . . . Russie, II., 294. 2 C.P.R., 95. Durand to d'Aiguillon, No. 68, I2 April, I774 (received

5 May).



II8 THE SLAVONIC REVIEW.

household 1. and with other persons about the Court. Denon, however, had to leave Russia hurriedly, owing to an affair with the police over an actress in May, I774.2 Durand had at the time of his appointment received special instructions to take the necessary steps to secure agents at the Court and had been empowered to disburse the necessary monies for this end: 3

this of course was an invariable procedure among foreign diplomats at St. Petersburg, during the i8th century, and Durand did not fail to follow it, but his dispatches do not reveal the identity of his agents, except perhaps one. As long as Branicki was at St. Petersburg, he served Durand as an important source of information, especially as regards Panin; after his return to Poland in September, I774, he arranged to maintain with Durand a secret correspondence, which Vergennes guardedly approved.4 In the autumn of I773 Durand made special efforts to acquire the confidence of Zakhar Chernyshev, President of the War College, who, he thought, would probably shortly replace Panin, but with what success does not appear. Later he made similar efforts with Potemkin, certainly without success. There is only one statement, between October, I773, and March, I775,

showing that he met Catherine: and on that occasion the invita- tion was extended to the whole diplomatic corps and Durand does not record having any conversation with her.5

D'Aiguillon and Louis XV. seem to have accepted the some- what lurid reports of Durand as to the Pugachevshchina in pre- ference to the news of it which was received from other quarters.6 Durand was considered at St. Petersburg to be the centre of anti- Russian intrigue, and especially of intrigue against Catherine herself, and to be assiduously magnifying and distorting the importance and character of the revolt. An echo of this is heard from Constantinople, where in June, I774, St. Priest, the French Minister, reported in some perturbation that rumours were wide- spread there that St. Petersburg had discovered intrigues of his

C.P.R., 95. Durand to d'Aiguillon, No. 76, I3 May, 1774 (received i6 June).

2 C.P.R., 95. It should be noticed that the secretary of the Legation, Marbeau, was one of Louis XV's secret agents; Broglie, Le secret du Roi, II., 472, 482.

3 Recueil des Instructions . . . Russie, II., 301. 4 C.P.R., 95, 96. 5 C.P.R., 96. Durand to d'Aiguillon, No. I, 9 August, 1774 (received

2 September). 6 C.P.R., 95. D'Aiguillon to Durand, No. II3, 24 March, 1774;

No. II5, 6 April, holding to Durand's version of events rather than to '.des relations pretendues de victoires de Mr. Bibicow."




for stirring up revolt among the Crimean Tartars by telling them that Catherine was dethroned, Paul poisoned, and the whole country in the most complete confusion.' He attributed these rumours either to the English or to the Russians making use of the English. They were current apparently only in Constanti- nople,2 and according to Durand had not made their way to St. Petersburg. His remarks on the incident show up in an interesting light Catherine's attitude to France. " Ou l'accusation est ignoree, ou Catherine 2de l'a jugee mal fondee, sans quoi elle ne garderoit pas le silence sur un fait qui serviroit 'a justifier sa haine. C'est toujours vaguement qu'elle s'exprime sur les causes de son animosite, et qu'elle assure avoir des preuves en main d'une infinite de traverses que nous lui avons suscites. Je suis averti par une voye bien sure qu'elle prend en consequence plaisir a certains details peu avantageux pour nous que lui a transmis le Prince Baratinsky (the Russian Minister at Paris), que celui-ci m'accuse d'etre auteur des bruits qui de tems a autre se repandent dans Paris d'une revolution prochaine en Russie, et que sans des evenemens extraordinaires, l'Imperatrice ne changera pas sitot de sisteme, malgre l'evidence d'une necessite a le faire." 3 Baratin- sky's accusations were well founded; and the revolt of Pugachev gave Durand ample scope for putting the worst interpretation on the actions of the government and the hostility of the country towards it.

The outbreak of the revolt took place at the beginning of October, I773, when Pugachev, a runaway Don Cossack, with a variegated past of crime and duplicity, gave himself out as Peter III. and raised the Cossacks of the Yaik (Ural river), promising them the redress of all their grievances and the fulfilment of all their desires. He immediately rode up the river for Orenburg, overcoming what slight resistance was offered and being joined by numerous adherents, and in the middle of October established himself at the head of a rebel " government " at Berda on the outskirts of Orenburg, keeping Reinsdorp, Governor of the province of Orenburg, closely beleaguered there until the middle

1 C.P.T., i6o. St. Priest to d'Aiguillon, No. I5, 17 June, 1774 (received 2 August).

2 C.P.T., i6o. Vergennes to St. Priest, No. 13, 6 August. 3 C.P.R., 96. Durand to Vergennes, No. 9, 6 September (received

29 September). Vergennes had on 7 August, No. 137, passed on to Durand St. Priest's dispatch, and had instructed him as follows:- -" Si contre toute attente on vouloit l'y accrediter vous vous bornerez a donner le dementi le plus formal a une calomnie aussi absurde qu'elle doit paroitre odieuse, et de defier a la preuve."



I20 I THE SLAVONIC REVIEW.

of the following April. From Berda Pugachev at once dispatched emissaries north and west to raise revolt in the Urals among the Bashkirs and the peasants ascribed to the mines, and in the region lying between Orenburg, Samara and Kazan. The wild flame of rebellion spread with astonishing rapidity, and for six months the vast area lying east of the Volga and Kama and west of Chelyabinsk was the scene of savage anarchy, or at the best terrified suspense. The scattered garrisons, mostly of very poor material, either deserted, surrendered or were killed. Only a few of the more important centres held out-Yaitsk (Uralsk), Orenburg, Ufa, Kungur, Ekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk. Fortu- nately the much feared participation of the Don Cossacks did not take place, and there was no movement south-west or west of the Volga-as yet.

The first news of the rising reached St. Petersburg on 25 October, and General Carr was immediately appointed to take command against Pugachev. His troops were too few and of very poor morale; the distances were enormous; the rebels mobile, determined; the inhabitants, if they had not joined the rebels, were terrified into helplessness. Carr himself displayed small military capacity and was, justifiably, depressed by the magnitude of the revolt and the very inadequate means at his disposal. His troops advanced to the relief of Orenburg from the direction of Kazan and from Samara; both detachments were defeated in the latter part of November. Carr, on his own responsibility, started back to St. Petersburg to represent the true condition of affairs to the authorities.

Catherine, indignantly castigating his " weakness of spirit," cashiered him. But she realised how serious the situation was, and prompt steps were taken. Early in December Bibikov, thoroughly experienced and fully trusted, was appointed Com- mander-in-Chief with very wide powers, and. he was given important and effective reinforcements. Moving from Kazan, by dint of methodical energy and firmness he succeeded in restoring confidence and in rounding up the westernmost bands of rebels: then his troops slowly forced their way along the Kazan-Oren- burg route or tackled the rebel forces in Bashkiria: Pugachev himself was completely defeated on 3 and I2 April and Orenburg was relieved: at the same time Michelson, an officer of great dash and capacity, triumphantly raised the siege of Ufa.

Everywhere the rebel bands had been heavily defeated and were in dissolution. The revolt seemed at an end; actually it was only the end of the first act of the Pugachevshchina. Puga-



THE REVOLT OF PUGACHEV. I2I

chev himself had not been captured; he had fled none knew precisely whither, north to the Bashkirs. It was essential to capture him; but the Russian commanders were divided in their counsels. Bibikov had died of fever at the moment of his final success. Indecision and personal jealousies gave Pugachev time to raise new forces, chiefly from the Bashkirs, in the eastern Urals, and in June he was again as formidable as ever: more so; for, succeeding in avoiding a decision against Michelson, now in hot pursuit of him, he crossed the Kama at the beginning of July and made for Kazan, which he captured, on 23 July, all but the citadel. The terrible scene of pillaging and arson was terminated next day by Michelson's recapture of the town. Pugachev, beaten again two days later, made off across the Volga, his following reduced now to but 400 desperados, mostly the remnant of his Yaik Cossacks.

The third act began. This was the moment of most serious danger. Would the presence and incitements of Pugachev arouse a general revolt of the serfs against their masters in the central Russian lands ? Would he make for Moscow? What would Moscow do?

The news of the capture of Kazan reached St. Petersburg on i August. The utmost consternation reigned. Catherine was prepared for extreme measures. She appointed Peter Panin with dictatorial powers to deal with the rebellion. Reinforce- ments were rushed to Moscow. Volkonsky, the governor of Moscow, hurried on the defence measures and the formation of a landlords' militia. On 3 August had come saving news,- Rumyantsev had concluded the peace with Turkey; troops at once began to move from the Turkish front towards the Volga districts: ahead of them, driving night and day without escort through country infested with bandits, came Suvorov.

Mercifully Pugachev did not dare to make for Moscow or Nizhny-Novgorod. He rode south, making for the Don and the lands he knew so well. But his passage through Alatyr, Saransk, Penza and Saratov was serious enough. Everywhere the peasantry joined him or formed pillaging bands in imitation, hanging any landlords, bailiffs or officials they could seize, plundering, burning, and drinking. Eight provinces were in complete anarchy; five others were smouldering dangerously. Three things saved the situation. The Don Cossacks took part- against, not for, Pugachev. Michelson overtook him south of Tsaritsyn and on 6 September completely routed and dispersed his forces; the game was finally up, and Pugachev, betrayed by



122 THE SLAVONIC REVIEW.

his Yaik Cossacks, was brought in to Yaitsk a prisoner, in the night of 25-26 September. Away to the west of the Volga Panin unsparingly crushed the fires of revolt; his soldiers could be trusted to fire; his gibbets creaked ominously. Pugachev was taken to Moscow, where finally he was sentenced by the Senate and a number of other dignitaries to be quartered. The execution was carried out on 2I January, I775. Disturbances were feared, but none took place. In the revolted areas the turmoil had been increased by a bad harvest; famine measures had to be im- provised. By the beginning of I775 quiet had been restored. Significantly, during the remaining twenty-one years of Catherine's reign we know of serf risings on only seven estates. The Yaik Cossacks were renamed, reorganised and kept under tight con- trol from St. Petersburg. Slowly and sullenly the Bashkirs and other nomad peoples were reduced to subjection or dependence.

Such is the bare outline of events, behind which boiled bloody passions, strange wild hopes, chaotic ignorance and belief, child- like impersonation. Overshadowing and permeating everything flitted fantastic Rumour, the echoes of which sounded loud enough on the far banks of the Neva in the eager ears of Durand. His first news connected the rising with the Don Cossacks, but a week later he corrected this,' and on i6 November reported that the Yaik Cossacks were in full revolt with a pretender at their head as Peter III. and had surprised Reinsdorp, the Governor of Orenburg, and " tout massacre." General Carr had been sent with reinforcements against them: he was described as " homme peu propos a calmer une emeute" (Lobkowitz styled him " ein schlechter Held "): his reputation for severity in Poland suggested the likelihood of his driving the Don Cossacks into definite rebellion; his lack of military qualities the likelihood of his meeting only with reverses against the Yaik Cossacks. Durand emphasised the mass flights of peasants to avoid recruitment and suggested that they might join the pretender, " qui paroit etre un homme de quelque intelligence, puisq' en meme tems qu'il s'annonce comme injuste de posseder son throne, il reclame son fils le Grand Duc." 2

1 C. P. R.,93. Durand to d'Aiguillon, Nos. 2I and 23, 6 and I2 Novem- ber, I773 (received 6 December). The first news of the rebellion had reached the Government on 25 October. In fact the Government was apprehensive of the Don Cossacks and expected Pugachev to move in their direction and not towards Kazan, A rkhiv Gosudarstvennago Soveta, I768-96, I, 439.

2C.P.R.,93. Durandtod'Aiguillon,No.24, i6November, I773 (received IO December). Cf. No. 33, I7 December (received I2 January, I774), em- phasising the importance which Pugachev seems to attach to Paul; No. 35, 24 December (received 2I January) "Toutes les mesures imaginables ont



THE REVOLT OF PUGACHEV. 123

Thus early was Paul brought into connection with the revolt, and in fact Durand was here echoing with approximate correctness Pugachev's confused conversations and designs and Catherine's alarms on this subject.' In his next dispatch, though he reports that the pretender is said to be making for Kazan, he does not paint a very alarmist picture. " Selon toutes les apparences, un amas de pareils bandits ne causera pas une revolution et se dissipera a la longue, mais ses ravages, le pretexte de son soulevement et les pertes d'hommes, feront 'a cet Empire des playes qui augmenteront la fermentation interieure." 2 Ten days later, " . . . si la Guerre epuise l'Empire, le soulevement des Cosaques l'embarrasse encore plus"; Carr has been unable to prevent the Don Cossacks from setting out, apparently to join the Yaik Cossacks.3 This was false.

In mid-December the news of Carr's complete failure leaked out, and of Bibikov's appointment and the movement of troops to the Volga. St. Petersburg was full of the wildest rumours, disconcertingly mixed with some elements of truth. Durand sent nine pages of alarmist gossip. He began: " La revolte des cosaques n'est pas juge un evenement ephemere. Ce nuage se grossit et allarme asses la Cour pour avoir mis a cent milles roubles la tete de Pugachev (actually io,ooo was offered.) On a des inquietudes sur Moscow." 4

ete prises pour empecher que le Grand Duc n'ait connoissance du soulevement des rebelles et du serment qu'on fait preter en sa faveur." C.P.R., 95, No . 58, i March, I 774 (received 28 March) : " Le sisteme de Pugachev semble se developer dans un de ses manifestos. Des Gens qui ont vu la piece, me disent qu'elle est signee Pierre 3. On fait dire a ce Prince qu'il doit son salut a Pugachev; qu'ayant ete trahi par sa noblesse, c'est entre les bras du Peuple qu'il vient se jeter, et que c'est avec son secours qu'il va s'occuper, non a remonter sur le Throne, mais a y placer le Grand Duc et qu'apres avoir rempli l'objet qu'il se propose, il terminera sa vie par se retirer dans un cloitre."

I The fact that Pugachev, posing as Peter III., and the rebels made great play with Paul is well known. Further evidence of this appears in the new collection of documents Pugachevshchina, Tsentrarkhiv, I926,Vol. I., edited by S. G. Tomsinsky and G. E. Meyerson (cited hereafter as Pi ga- chevshchina): e.g., rumours spread among the Bashkirs that Paul is approaching with 72,000 Don Cossacks to join his father (p. I43); that he is coming with 30,000 men (pp. I04, I07); that he has arrived at Orenburg (p. II6); that Peter III. has taken Kazan, has met his son and is going to Moscow (p. I6I). S. G. Tomsinsky has also contributed an interesting article on certain aspects of the Pugachevshchina in Istorik Marksist, 1927, Vol. 6.

2 C.P.R., 93. Durand to d'Aiguillon, No. 25, 20 November (received 14 December).

3 C.P.R., 93. Durand to d'Aiguillon, No. 28, 3o November (received 23 December).

4 C.P.R., 93. Durand to d'Aiguillon, No. 34, 2I December (received 15 January, I774).




To Constantinople was sent the glad news, swollen to absurd proportions.' The grievances of the Russian people against Catherine are stated to be her assumption of the throne in the place of her son, her deprival of the clergy of their lands, her intrigues in Poland which have brought the exhausting war with Turkey. Special causes for the revolt of the Cossacks are given: recruiting regulations, interdiction of distilling, detention of their hetman for upholding their privileges. (Evidently there is confusion here with the Don Cossacks, and Pugachev is described as the lieutenant of the hetman.) Pugachev has taken Orenburg and Kazan; only Bibikov and a few troops remain to save Moscow. The danger is so grave that Catherine will probably have to accept peace from Turkey; " au fond elle accepteroit d'autant plus volontiers le simple retablissement du Traite de Belgrade." St. Priest did not fail to communicate this extract to the Porte. He considered that in any event the revolt would compel the Russians to remain on the defensive during the coming campaign, and that if the revolt were prolonged Rumyantsev would have to abandon his conquests and Catherine her dreams of a glorious peace.2 Actually Kuchuk Kainardji was not far short of a glorious peace. The Turks were in too great straits at home to profit by Pugachev's revolt, and neither St. Priest nor de Tott could prevent them from accepting Rumyantsev's terms at the end of June. The efforts of the former to delay ratification were equally unsuccessful, and France had to admit a severe diplomatic defeat.3

1 C.P.R., 93. Extrait d'une lettre, de Petersburg du 2I Decembre. It immediately follows Durand's dispatch No 34.

2 C.P.T., I6o. St. Priest to d'Aiguillon, No. 6, 17 February, I774 (received 27 March). D'Aiguillon wrote to St. Priest, No. 29 bis, 2 February: " La revolte qui a eclatee en Russie paroit devenir de plus en plus serieuse le soin de l'appaiser prontement et les dangers personnels de Cath. II., influeront puissamment sur sa resolution relativement a la paix. Les mesures dont la Porte s'occupe, et surtout celles pour porter de bonne heure ses armes dans la Crim6e ne pourront que rendre encore ses conditions meilleures. L'irruption des tartares du Kouban (reported as a possibility by St. Priest), qui se trouveront peut etre i portee de donner la main aux Cosaques du jaik et du don, augmentera les embarras domestiques de la Russie." This is the first mention of the revolt of Pugachev in the official correspondence to and from Constantinople. D'Aiguillon wrote to St. Priest, No. 9, 30 May, that the non-pacification of the revolt made it impossible for Russia to conduct a new campaign, even despite " l'avantage que M. Dolgorouki (a mistake for Bibikov) a remport6 sur l'armee de Pugaschev."

3 C.P.T., i6o. St. Priest delivered to the Porte an office verbale on 20 August, I774, enclosed in his dispatch No. 20 to Vergennes, 24 August (received I7 October), in which he urged a variety of reasons against speedy ratification and advised further prolongation of negotiations. The



THE- REVOLT OF PUGACHEV. I25

At this same Christniras time of I773 Warsaw was in no way behind St. Petersburg in " news " of the revolt; and it was duly passed on to Paris by the French Minister at Dresden. Certain of these Warsaw canards appear about the same time in Durand's dispatches, but it does not appear whether Durand derived his information from Warsaw, or vice versa, or whether, which is most probable, they merely drew on a common source of information, very likely Branicki. At and around Kazan has been formed " une espece de Confederation contre le Gouvernement. Le mecontentement etoit ancien, et faisoit fermenter de vielles idees Republiquaines, qui furent sur le point d'etre realisee lors de l'avenement de la Duchesse Anne de Courlande au Throne Imp' de Russie." The present moment is very advantageous owing to acute divisions at the Court, and owing to " la conni- vance et les conseils insidieux d'une partie du Ministere. On nomme meme le Ct Panin comme l'instigateur secret de cette Revolte, et on ajoute que le Roy de Prusse de concert avec lui la fomente pour porter le Grand Ducsur le Throne . . ." The confederation of Kazan has had time to grow strong, and under its. leader Ismailov has beaten the troops sent against it. It is said that Moscow has declared for.the confederation; that 25,000 men have taken up arms there in favour of the rebels; and that Princess Dashkov is one of the heads of the enterprise. The writer of this letter admits the complete calm of Stackelberg, the Russian Minister at Warsaw, but explains it by the possibility that " M. de Stackelberg, qui est attache au Cte de Panin, ne doit pas etre allarme d'un evenement qui peut assurer a ce Ministre le triomphe le plus complet. On ajoute meme que le Cle Panin a

Pugachevshchina is referred to only at the close: " Les nouvelles qu'on a de la continuit6 de la rebellion sur les frontieres de Sib6rie et de la faussete des pretendus avantages remportes contre les rebelles qui dans le fait ont batu et tue le general Bibikoff sont faites pour rendre traitable la Cour de Petersbourg." There is no record in the official correspondence of Durand and St. Priest of communications between them, though Paris assumes that the latter is being kept informed of events in Russia by his colleague at St. Petersburg. St. Priest in fact received a steady supply of information from the letters of Gunning to Murray, the British Minister at Constanti- nople, for the French had the key to the cypher used. It is clear, however, that this information was too stale and uncertain to make much impression on the Turks. All that Vergennes could do was to bewail the ineptitude of the Turks in making peace just at the moment of success in Crimea and in despite of " la consistance que la r6volte de Pugaschew paroissoit prendre; Les efforts que la Cour de la Russie est obligee d'employer pour la dompter, en faisant passer a Moscou la meilleure partie des troupes du Danube, prouvent le peu d'espoir qu'elle eut eu de reussir, si cette ressource lui eut manquee." Vergennes to St. Priest, No. I7, 23 September; and in similar terms, No. 20, I7 October.




prepare de loin le Grand Duc a la Revolution qui doit le mettre a la tete d'une Nation libre, en lui inspirant des maximes tres opposees a forme de Gouvernement actuelle " . . *' Another letter from Warsaw contains the same general rumours as to the strength of the revolt under Ismailov and the danger of his reaching Moscow, and the same implication of Princess DashkoV 2

Two additional points are of interest; the objects of the revolt are to avenge Ivan VI. and " de delivrer l'empire du despotisme, et de rendre l'autorite au Senat": with Ismailov, there is said to be a Brunswick prince.3 A month later these rumours were

1 C.P.R., 93. Extrait d'une lettre de Varsovie en date du 25 Xbre I773. A note in the same hand states that it was enclosed with letter No. I of 20 January of the French Minister at Dresden. There are no other indications explaining the letter.

3C.P.R., 93. The copy of this letter dated 25 December is in a different hand from that just summarised, which it immediately follows in C.P.R., 93. There are no indications explaining it. Two other documents from Warsaw are in C.P.R., 95. The first, entitled " Relation de la Revolte arrivee en Russie," is undated and it is not stated that it is from Warsaw, but it is marked as having been enclosed in dispatch No. 23 of II June, I 774, of the French Mipister at Dresden. The narrative is muddled in the extreme; the figures are grotesquely exaggerated; there is no mention of the defeats of Pugachev and the relief of Orenburg. Pugachev is called a Don Cossack named Emelian Wasylov. The revolt is maintained to be due to the conspiracy of a foreign Power: it is described as being of a formidable character, with a good deal of organisation and skill shown, as well as merciless cruelty to the captured. Rumours are reported of the escape of forty-eight officers from Kamshchatka and of their junction with Pugachev." ". . . qu'il y avoit deux personnes habill6es a la fran,oise qui avoient le visage couvert de cr6pe, et dont l'une representoit la personne de Pierre III. [this rumour of masked men is echoed in an earlier report of Durand and in the foreign press] qu'il y avoit aussi douze hommes habill6s a la Turque . . . Le Colonel Ladygin homme d'esprit et qui a demeure longtems en Turquie fait la fonction de Chancellier." I have not met the name Ladygin elsewhere in connection with the Puga- chevshchina. The second document, headed " Extrait d'un relation envoyee de Varsovie le 29 Juin, I774, traduit du Polonais," is marked as having been sent with dispatch No. 8 of 7 August, I774, from Marbois at Dresden. The hand seems to be the same as that of the above document, but in that Cossacks are spelt " Kosaques," while in the " Extrait " they are spelt " Cosaques." It contains only a report of the madcap scheme of a French adventurer, Fran,ois Angeli, son of a refugee d'Erlang, a colonel in the Russian service, to carry out a military coup d'etat in St. Peters- burg with the object of proclaiming Paul Emperor: " il est entre en relation avec Pugatschew." C.P.R., 96, Durand to Bertin, No. 93, I2 July, I774 (received 4 August), mentions the arrest and deportation of Colonel d'Angely on his return from France, " jug6 comm6 ayant entretenu des correspondances illicites." This expulsion was duly chronicled in the Gazette d'Utrecht of 2 August, the reason given being his connection with the rebels, Annaly, No. III., I73.

3 The baby Tsar Ivan VI. had been deposed in I74I by the palace revolution which made Elizabeth Empress. Ivan (or possibly a substitute for him) and his Brunswick family had been kept in confinement ever



THE REVOLT OF PUGACHEV. I27

published in substantially the same form in the Gazette de Cologne,' and Warsaw continued to be the main supply of rumour for the press, such as it was in those days.

Durand at the same time also emphasised the seriousness of the revolt and in particular the apprehensions as regards Moscow, where he likewise incriminated Princess Dashkov and the old Moscow nobility, now almost ruined by the plague of I77I, recruiting, war expenses and high prices, and confirmed thereby in their hostility to Catherine.2 The same rumour as to the Brunswick family is repeated by him in a slightly different form: a courier has been dispatched from St. Petersburg to Kholmogory, near Archangel, to make certain that none of the Brunswick princes in confinement there have been seized by Pugachev: the courier found all three princes there. Some months later Durand again referred to the Brunswick princes, reporting, as the suspected reason for the dispatch of two more regiments to Moscow, the formation of a party there in favour of these princes; " soupSon qui pourrait bien n'etre fonde qu'en opposition sourde que rencontre Catherine 2de a son projet de faire declarer les deux Princes de Holstein qui sont ici, heritiers de la Couronne, au defaut de posterite de la branche regnante." 3

B. H. SUMNER.

Balliol College, Oxford.

(To be continued.) since. In I764 the conspiracy of Mirovich resulted in Ivan being killed by his guards. His father, two brothers and two sisters remained in confinement until the death of the former in I775 and the release of the children in I780.

1 Supplement No. 8 of 28 January, I774, cited in Annaly, No. III., I70.

A cautious reference to the same rumours was made in the Gazette d' Utrecht of i February. For Panin's strong protest to Vienna, see Sbornik, CXXXV., 45.

2 C.P.R., 93. Durand to d'Aiguillon, No. 36, 3I December (received 24 January, I774)-

3C.P.R., 95. Durand to d'Aiguillon, No. 69, I5 April, I774 (received 9 May).

