1762.

A.D. rius Pappadopoulo, or Pappas Oglou as he is more generally termed, was a Thessalian of Larissa, who had retired in disgust from his country, and in the reign of Peter III. entered into the service of Russia. Here he rose to the

rank of a captain of artillery, and was one of the conspirators who, in 1762, united with the Orloffs in deposing and murdering the Czar and placing Catharine upon the throne. A close intimacy had subsisted between him and Gregory Orloff, the distinguished favourite of the Empress, and with him he renewed the project of emancipating Greece. The proposal was met with enthusiasm by one who had just triumphed in effecting a revolution in his own country, and who longed to hide the stigma of ignoble birth in the glory of a splendid enterprise. He had aspired even to share the throne of the Czarina; but, disappointed in this, and influenced by the example of Stanislaus Poniatowski (son to the famous Castellan of Cracow), who had lately, by the influence of Catharine, been elected sovereign of Poland, the ambitious favourite dreamed but of crowns and kingdoms. He grasped eagerly at the proposals of the Thessalian, as a portion of a grand design for seating the Empress on the throne of Constantinople; and though the affair was discounte

1764.

nanced by the minister Panin, Orloff exerted A.D. his authority as Grand Master of Artillery, to grant leave of absence for three years to Pappas Oglou, whom he instantly dispatched to sound the feelings of the Greeks. Catharine was induced to support this project of Orloff less from any real ambition of her own, than from a desire to gratify the wishes of her favourite. There was something too romantic in the idea, which pleased the imagination of a woman; and throughout the entire progress of the undertaking, she seems to have treated it as an exploit of chivalry, rather than a matter of political importance. Besides, she had a constitutional detestation of the Turks, which served to give a zest to any project for their subversion. She embarked cordially in the projects of Orloff, and, notwithstanding the disapproval of her ministers, she continued to render every assistance, both official and private, to his designs. She endeavoured, but in vain, to rouse the energy of the Venetians against their old opponents, but the torpor of decay had already seized upon the "Rome of the ocean," her senate had abandoned all schemes of war and ambition, and dreamed only of enjoying, as long as fate would permit them, the quiet blessings of repose and peace. They declined the over

A.D. 1764.

tures of Russia. Catharine next turned towards England, and was more fortunate in purchasing her friendship, by means of a commercial treaty highly favourable to Great Britain.* About 1764, she dispatched six young Russians to Malta, under the pretext of having them instructed in the building and management of galleys, a species of craft then much in use along the shores of the Baltic, but with secret instructions to make themselves thoroughly acquainted with the navigation of the Mediterranean, and the passages of the Archipelago, and to engage for the Russian service all those of the islanders who were best skilled in the seamanship of the Levant. Finally, two ships, the first that had borne the Russian flag in the Southern seas, arrived at Leghorn laden with furs and other productions of the North.f The expense of this adventure was borne by Catharine and Orloff, and its proceeds were privately transferred to Pappas Oglou, for the

Rulhiere, v. iii. p. 355. The treaty, which was concluded in June 1766, will be found in Martens, Recueil des Traités, v. i. no. 21. p. 241.

Rulhiere, v. iii. p. 298. Villemain, p. 209.-A frigate, named the Nadejda Blogopelontschik, "The Successful Hope," had previously been dispatched to the Levant, under the command of Capt. Plestschyef, and remained cruising there for two years. Life of Catharine II. v. ii. p. 29. Cas

tera, v. ii. p. 68.

costs of his mission, and the purchase of ornaments for the churches, and presents for the leading men of the Greeks. This adventurer, in the mean time, had been actively employed amongst the Greek residents of Venice, Trieste, and the Adriatic; he had dispatched agents throughout the various districts of Greece, and at length, in 1766, had set out in person for the Morea.

A.D.

1766.

1767.

It was at this juncture that a remarkable A.D. commotion, effected by the interference of Pappas Oglou, occurred amongst the Montenegrins, which tended for some time to attract the attention of the Porte from the affairs of Poland to the disturbances of her own frontiers, and served for a little to retard the declaration of hostilities against Russia.* In 1765, the Bishop of this warlike district had aroused the spirit of his people by proclaiming the advent of a deliverer, and the speedy approach of freedom from the Turks. Whilst their enthusiasm was still ardent, a young and singular adven

• An interesting account of the proceedings of the Russians, in Greece, in 1770, will be found in the XIth Book of Rulhiere's Histoire de l'Anarchie de Pologne, vol. iii, p. 285. Rizo, the native historian of the Modern Greeks, and the secretary and friend of Capo d'Istria, the late Russian minister, has cautiously passed over, with a few lines, this interesting event. P. II. c. ii. P. 82.

A.D. 1767.

turer appeared amongst them, a monk of one of their convents, who had added to his theological lore the study of medicine, and had gained during a short residence, by his talents and services, the affections of the mountaineers and

their priests. His influence over them was strengthened by an air of mystery in which he enveloped all his actions; his features were hidden by the shadow of a huge bonnet, which concealed his face, and a single whisper was sufficient to spread amongst the people the belief that Stephen, the caloyer, was no other than Peter III. the husband of Catharine, who had escaped from the hands of Orloff and his other assassins.* At length, in 1767, so powerful was his hold on the imaginations of the people, that at his summons the Vladikas, or chiefs of the tribe, assembled in one of their gloomy valleys, listened to his proposal of revolt against the Ottomans, entered into a league which was to continue for a year, and received at his hands an oath of fidelity and brotherhood. At a second convocation he proposed that the bond, instead of being annual, should be for ever; the first conjuration was dissolved, and the chiefs of the Montenegrins, under the conduct of Stephen, bound them* Villemain, p. 211.