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refused to do it instantly to leave them. And she even dismissed colonel la Harpe, a Swiss, from his appointment of preceptor to the young princes, Alexander and Constantine, because he was a warm advocate for liberty."

Catharine, mean-time, employed every political engine to forward the interests of the coalition at the courts of Stockholm and Copenhagen. But the duke of Sudermania resisted all the arguments used by the Russian ambassador, Stackelberg, to draw him from his neutrality; and the Danes, though desirous of preserving the empress's favour, did not choose to sacrifice to it their present commercial advantages.

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During these intrigues, by which Catharine endeavoured to influence the councils of foreign courts, and the cabals which continually embroiled her she did not for a moment intermit her schemes of aggrandizement.— Courland had ever been a favourite object on account of its advantageous situation for commerce, as well as its intrinsic value.*-We have seen the means adopted by her, in 1786, to gain possession of it in case of the duke's decease. But Biron was still alive: and Catharine was driven to the last expedient of direct usurpation, to effect her purpose before she should sink into the grave herself. This the circumstances of the duchy enabled her easily to accomplish.

Biron, who was unpopular in his manners, avaricious, and without dignity either of person or character, had made himself odious by some recent innovations,

*

Courland is thus described by Busching." Courland is bounded on the west by the Baltic, "and on the north by the gulf of Riga and Livonia. It borders on Lithuania, properly so called, "towards the east, and on Samogitia towards the south. It extends fifty German miles in length, " and the breadth is in some places twenty, in others hardly ten German miles; and towards the "south-west it gradually terminates in a cape, or point of land.

"The soil, Golding, Windaw, Alschwang, and some other districts excepted, is heavy, fat, and "clayey, and the country abounds, with woods and swamps: hence the Courland roads are remark"ably bad. In spring and autumn the meadows and low grounds are under water; but this serves to improve the land. Some skilful farmers have drained several of the fenny or swampy parts "of Courland, by means of dykes or canals, and converted them into what they call staungen. "These staungen are sown three years successively with summer seeds; and then they are left "uncultivated for the like term, being laid under water, and stocked with fish.

"Courland, however, contains good arable land, fine pastures, and produces great quantities of "excellent flax. Here is also plenty of sea-fish; and the woods abound with bears, wolves, and "elks. Amber is found here on the coast of the Baltic; and Courland has its mines of iron ore, "and minerals, its quarries of stone, chalk, and stucco, and its mineral springs."-Busching's Geography. 1. 654.

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innovations, and by raising the rents of the lands which the nobles held under him. This rendered them disaffected to him.-On the other hand, Catharine contrived that the Courlanders should feel the disadvantage of not being her subjects, by embarrassing their trade, and giving the profits of it to the Livonians.-Poland, to which this duchy had formerly been subordinate, being annihilated as a state, the Courlanders, finding themselves defenceless, and despising their sovereign, now deemed it advisable to submit to the dominion of Russia, and thus merit the favour and privileges of subjects, rather than continue objects of the empress's oppression, with only an ideal independency.-Actuated by these motives, when the duke was at Petersburg, whither he was invited by Catharine, the states of Courland and Semigallia, attended by the Russian general Pahlen, by a royal deed, surrendered themselves to the empress of Russia.‡

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This transaction answered a further purpose to the empress, beside that of making a valuable acquisition of territory.-Discontent being expressed by some of the nobles, the malecontents were proscribed; and Catharine disposed of their estates among her courtiers; her favourite, Zubof, and his brother, receiving the most liberal, though not most honourable testimonies of her esteem."

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TURKEY.

THE sultan was earnestly solicited, at this time, by the Russian ambassador, general Kutuzof, to express his abhorrence of the proceedings of the French government and nation, by expelling all the French from the Ottoman territories. But the divan, who were still smarting under the wounds of the late war, in which they had been disappointed of the support which they had expected from the Anglo-Prussian alliance, and were moreover influenced by the arguments of the French minister, Descorches, positively refused; choosing rather to maintain an amicable correspondence with a nation whose trade was of essential service to the Turks, than to sacrifice it to a resentment that might embroil him in war.

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WEST INDIES.

THE war was still prosecuted in St. Domingo, though the British forces were constrained by necessity to act chiefly on the defensive.-Sir Adam Williamson, whom his majesty had appointed governor-general and commander in chief in this island, arriving here in the month of may, prepared to make every exertion for the maintenance of the British interests. These were, however, at this time in a state bordering on despair. The English troops in the month of january amounted only to 1490 men. They were reinforced with 1400 men from England in the month of april.* But the whole of the force then in the island was not by competent judges deemed sufficient for the defence of the fortress of Port au Prince alone. In the mean-time, every day afforded the most melancholy evidences of the baneful consequences of war carried on by Europeans in this climate; where its own calamities lose their terrors when compared with those of the sickness, and often devouring pestilence that accompanies it.*

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If we would form a just idea of these, we need only read the account given us of them by the elegant historian of the West Indies.-Speaking of the toils to which the garrison of Port au Prince were subject in throwing up intrenchments for the security of that fortress, "Thus," says he, 66 a most severe and unusual burthen was imposed on the soldiers. They were compelled, "with but little intermission, to dig the ground in the day, and to perform military duty in the "night; exposed, in the one case, to the burning rays of the sun; in the other to the noxious "dews and heavy rains of the climate. Such extraordinary and excessive labour imposed on men, most of whom had been actually confined six months on shipboard, without fresh provi❝sions or exercise, co-operating with the malignancy of the air, produced its natural consequences. "They dropped like the leaves of autumn, until at length the garrison became so diminished and "enfeebled that deficiencies of the guards were oftentimes made up from convalescents, who were "scarcely able to stand under their arms.”—[Edwards's St. Domingo. 163.]—Nothing can be more pathetic than the reflections of the same author on the death of colonels Brisbane and Markham. "Yet," says he, "it affords some consolation to reflect that these brave young men, "though cut off in the bloom of life, fell in the field of glory, nobly exerting themselves in the cause of their country, and dying amidst the blessings and applauses of their compatriots. Alas, "how many of their youthful associates in this unhappy war might have envied them so glorious exit! what numbers have perished, not in the field of honour, but on the bed of sickness"not amidst the shouts of victory, but the groans of despair! condemned to linger in the horrors of "pestilence; to fall without a conflict, and to die without renown."-Edwards's St. Domingo. 170. b Idem. 172.

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Edwards. 172. 73.

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There was another affair which occasioned much disturbance to the

English government in Jamaica at this time. It was distressed by an insurrection of a description of persons in that island, called Maroons; descendants from those slaves, who, on its conquest by the English, not choosing either to retire with their Spanish masters to Cuba or to submit to the conquerors, made their escape, and took refuge among the mountains. These had, at different periods, given great annoyance to the planters, issuing from their fastnesses, and, after making their predatory incursions, and maintaining a contest with the troops sent against them by their irregular mode of fighting, returning with their plunder.-In process of time they increased in number,* were formed into regular communities, built towns, had lands granted by the government, and were governed by a superintendent appointed by it. They, in general, subsisted on what they took in hunting, what they received for their services to the planters, and the product of their lands; which, however, were very ill-cultivated."

The causes of the present insurrection, as formally represented by them, were an infringement of their treaty by the magistrates of Montego Bay, in causing the punishment of whipping to be inflicted on some of their people by the hand of a slave.-That the land originally granted them was worn out; and, being insufficient for their support, they required an additional quantity, saying that the pens of several settlers in the neighbourhood would suit them.-That captain Craskell, their superintendent, was, on account of his timidity, unqualified for his office; and, as they had experienced the disposition and abilities of major James, they were desirous of his re-appointment, and averse to receiving any other.

The justice of these complaints was not admitted. In the mean-time, suspicions were entertained, that some people of colour and Frenchmen were conspiring with the Maroons, and that the revolutionary principles, now prevalent in St. Domingo, would be extended to Jamaica. The council of war, called by lord Balcarres, the governor, therefore, gave it as their opinion, that martial law should be proclaimed,' and the most active

measures

The number of the Maroons who surrendered in 1738 and 1739, according to M. Dallas, did not amount to 600. In the year 1788 they had increased to about 1400.- Dallas's Maroon War. 1. 120.

Dallas's Maroon War. 2. 24.

Idem. 1. 79. 104.

• Idem. 157.

Idem. 167. 75.

measures taken to suppress the insurrection.-The desperate expedients were then adopted, of offering a reward of three hundred dollars for taking. or killing a Trelawny Maroon, and of sending to Cuba for a number of Spanish chasseurs with their dogs, to assist in discovering the Maroons who were lying in ambush, and, if required, to assist in the destruction of them.*

The incidents of this war are too numerous to be related here.-The reader will, no doubt, be gratified by hearing that the terror occasioned by the intelligence of the arrival of forty chasseurs with their dogs precluded the necessity of employing them.-The Maroons made their submission, and a treaty was concluded by general Walpole, who was employed to suppress them, which was ratified by lord Balcarres. +-Some difference of opinion afterwards took place respecting their future destination; the council and assembly of the island not approving of a secret article, by which it was agreed that they should be suffered to remain on the island under certain restrictions.-It was the general opinion that the tranquillity of the island required that they should be transported to some other country; and the neglect of a great number to surrender before the day appointed

*

+ December 28.

These dogs are thus described by Mr. Dallas. "The dogs carried out by the chasseurs del "Rey are perfectly broken in, that is to say, they will not kill the object they pursue unless "resisted. On coming up with a fugitive, they bark at him till he stops, they then couch near "him, terrifying him with a ferocious growling if he stirs. In this position they continue bark"ing to give notice to the chasseurs, who come up and secure their prisoner. Each chasseur, "though he can hunt only with two dogs properly, is obliged to have three, which he maintains 66 at his own cost, and that at no small expence. These people live with their dogs, from which "they are inseparable. At home the dogs are kept chained, and when walking with their masters, are never unmuzzled, or let out of ropes, but for attack. They are constantly accompanied with

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one or two small dogs called finders, whose scent is very keen, and always sure of hitting off track. Dogs and bitches hunt equally well, and the chasseurs rear no more than will supply "the number required. This breed of dogs, indeed is not so polific as the common kinds, though "infinitely stronger and harder. The animal is the size of a very large hound, with ears erect, "which are usually cropped at the points; the nose more pointed, but widening very much. towards the after-part of the jaw. His coat, or skin, is much harder than that of most dogs, " and so must be the whole structure of the body, as the severe beatings he undergoes in training "would kill any other species of dog. There are some, but not many, of a more obtuse nose, and "which are rather squarer set. These, it may be presumed, have been crossed by the mastiff, "but if by this the bulk has been a little increased, it has added nothing to the strength, height, "beauty, or agility, of the native breed."-Dallas's Maroon War. 2. 56.

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