1768. plied in abundance by Catharine; and Ma- A.D. ruzzi, a native of Joannina,* and proprietor of a banking-house at Venice, was induced, by the title of a Marquis and the decoration of St. Anne, to become the Russian agent in the Adriatic ports. These proceedings, however, did not escape the notice of the Senate; and Orloff received an intimation that his presence was no longer agreeable at Venice. His avowed object in visiting Italy, had been merely curiosity, and the pretext which covered his arrival served likewise to account for his departure. He obeyed without delay, and removed for the prosecution of his plans to other quarters. In the mean time, preparations were proceeding with equal activity at St. Petersburgh. The position of the army in the South was such as to conquer in some degree the opposition of the Russian ministry to the Grecian expedition. The division under Romanzoff had been driven from Moldavia and obliged to fall back upon Poland, where it was encamped upon the banks of the Dneister, surrounded by 60,000 Turks, and in a position of the most imminent danger. A diversion in Greece • Pouqueville, Regénération de la Grèce, v. i. c. ii. p. 41. + Castera, Histoire de Catharine II. v. ii. Life of p. 61. Catharine II. v. ii. p. 32. Rulhiere, vol. iii. p. 340. Rulhiere, vol. iii. p. 345. 1768. A.D. seemed the only measure to draw off the attention and forces of the Turks, and secure the success of the war. But whilst they consented to the attempt, they did not fail to point out to Catharine, that an expedition, on a scale such as she meditated, was totally beyond the means of Russia; that the expenses of supporting the army in the South, in the midst of a barren and devastated country, had already embarrassed the finances of the nation; that she had neither arms, stores, nor troops sufficient for such an enterprise, and that the inevitable result of her measures, if not conducted with greater moderation, would be the destruction of the Russian marine, the futile expenditure of enormous sums, the ridicule of Europe, the total destruction of Greece, and the malediction of its deluded and immolated inhabitants. A squadron, consisting of seven ships of the line, four frigates, and a few transports, and carrying twelve hundred men, was fitted out with all expedition, and dispatched precipitately from Cronstadt, in the month of September Sept. 1769. Its departure was expedited by the ap1769. proach of winter, and the dread of the ports being closed by the frost, as well as by a rumour that the Greeks were absolutely so frantic for freedom, that their leaders feared they could not be restrained longer from revolt, A.D. 1769. and that any attempt, unless supported by the AD. presence and co-operation of the Russians, would involve them in inevitable massacre. The equipment of the expedition could not, in consequence, be completed before its arrival in England, which it reached after many difficulties and some loss. Here its appearance was by no means calculated to excite favourable anticipations of its success. The Russian navy, which had been comparatively neglected since the days of Peter the Great, had made no advance in improvement during the eighteenth century. Their vessels still retained the enormous sterns and lumbering tackle which had been in use when the Czar conceived the first project of founding a marine; their sailors had but little expertness or practice in working them; and their filth engendered a contagion which had already swept away large numbers of the troops. In the haste of their departure, the antiquated stores of the old arsenals had been hurried on board, and their armouries were stocked with weapons of so ponderous and primitive a construction, as to be of little use in modern warfare. The squadron was under the direction of Spiritoff, a rude, uneducated sailor, who had risen from before the mast to the rank of admiral; but its real conduct was confided to an Englishman, the Commodore Gregg. Alexis 1769. A.D. Orloff likewise, though without the slightest experience of naval affairs, had received the title of Lord High Admiral, and on the arrival of the expedition in the Mediterranean was expected to take the command. It had on board a number of English seamen, who had been engaged by the exertions of the Russian minister, M. Mouskin Pouskin, together with the six young sailors who, I have already mentioned, had been sent to Malta for instruction. They had returned some time before to St. Petersburgh, and brought with them, besides much valuable personal knowledge, a code of instructions drawn up by some of the junior Knights of St. John, containing directions connected with every department of the Turkish navy, ports, passages, and seamanship, and suggestions as to the best modes of attacking them to advantage. There were besides, in each ship, a few Greeks from the island of Myconi, whose inhabitants enjoy a high reputation for their knowledge of the navigation of the Levant.* After a delay of a few weeks, the preparations of Spiritoff were at length completed, and towards the end of 1769 he sailed for the Mediterranean.† * Villemain, p. 215. ↑ Annual Register, 1770, p. 27. Rabbe, Histoire de Rus sie, p. 394. vol. ii. p. 28. Rułhiere, vol. iii. p. 347. Life of Catharine II. 1769. The Orloffs, on their departure from Venice, A.D. had visited the principal seaports of Italy with which they had correspondence, still occupied with the same extensive plan of intrigue and preparation. Some circumstances had, in the mean time, occurred to open their eyes to the exaggerations and falsehoods of Pappas Oglou. A deputy from the Mainotes had expressed to the Count Alexis, the dissatisfaction of his people, excited by a paragraph in one of the Count's letters, in which he had informed them that the Czarina consented" to receive them in the number of her subjects." Indignant at such an insult, the independent warriors had sent their representative to disclaim such a connection, but to offer their alliance in any measures taken by Russia with reasonable grounds of success, and at the same time to urge upon the Orloffs the utter impossibility of effecting any thing in Greece without the aid of at least ten thousand foreign troops. The forces expected from Russia fell, unfortunately, infinitely short of this number; but Alexis and his brother, satisfied of the justice of the views entertained by the Mainotes, used every exertion to remedy the deficiency. By means of the sums advanced by Maruzzi, and their other agents, by promises of estates in Greece and lands in Russia, they had enlisted in their service numbers of the |