Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Scientific Magazine, And Freemasons' Repository, For January 1797.
that he was both a weak and an imprudent prince : suc . ii of his regulations as were beneficial being accompanied by others that were detrimental ; and several of his plans of reform being totally repugnant to the customs and genius of his people . He irritated the clergy , by secularizing the estates of the monasteries , and ordering many painted images of saints to be rempved from the churches . He offended the army , by the preference which he publicly shewed to iiis Holstein
troops ; by introducing the Prussian discipline ; and appointing new uniforms to several regiments . He affronted the nobility , by appointing his uncle Prince George of Holstein , generalissimo of the forces ; and by the superior confidence he placed in foreigners . He raised great discontents as well by the war with Denmark , as by his alliances with Prussia ; and inflamed the general odium by the public contempt
he expressed for the Russian nation , for their religion , and for their manners . This impolitic defiance of popular prejudices , destroyed the affection of his subjects . ; fomented the intrigues of the opposite party ; and at length terminated in his dethronement . ' Jn no light does the inconsistency of this unfortunate emperor ' s character more strongly manifest itself than in his behaviour to his
. consort . After his accession , though he frequently gave public marks . of deep-rooted aversion ; yet he . would often behave to her with that deference , which the superiority of her understanding challenged . By an unaccountable act of imprudence , he would , in a full court , iinvest her with the . exterior decorations of sovereignty ; while , in the
character of a colonel , he presented to her the ollicers of his regiment . At the blessing of the waters , when the Russian monarch appears in all the pomp of majesty , the ceremonial part was left to the empress , and he mounted guard as colonel , and saluted her with his pike . Under all these circumstances , the dignity of her deportment was so striking , that it was impossible not to contrast her behaviour with the trilling levity of her husband's conduct ; and to give the preference
where it was so evidently due . Thus this infatuated prince , at ths very time he was fully determined to divorce and imprison his wife , imprude ' ntly displayed to his subjects ljer capacity for empire ; and , while he proclaimed her forfeiture of his own esteem , adopted every method to secure to her that of the whole nation . AfeamvhiJe the breach between them was continually widened : he \ yould occasionally
behave to her with the most brutal contumely ; and once , in particular , at an entertainment he gave in honour of the king at" Prussia , he publicly affronted her to such a degree , that she burst into tears , and retired from table . Thus his insults , no less than his deference , equally attracted odium to himself , and popularity to Catharine . It is also a well-known factthat he more than once avowed an
in-, tention of arresting both her and the great-duke , ( now Paul 1 . ) whom lie proposed to exclude from the succession , and of marrying Elizabeth countess of Voronzof , his favourite mistress . This alarming measure was scarcely adopted before it was immediately conveyed to Catharine , through the imprudence of ths countess . 13 y the same , or other means , as well as by the indiscretion pi' Peter himself , the eajT
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Scientific Magazine, And Freemasons' Repository, For January 1797.
that he was both a weak and an imprudent prince : suc . ii of his regulations as were beneficial being accompanied by others that were detrimental ; and several of his plans of reform being totally repugnant to the customs and genius of his people . He irritated the clergy , by secularizing the estates of the monasteries , and ordering many painted images of saints to be rempved from the churches . He offended the army , by the preference which he publicly shewed to iiis Holstein
troops ; by introducing the Prussian discipline ; and appointing new uniforms to several regiments . He affronted the nobility , by appointing his uncle Prince George of Holstein , generalissimo of the forces ; and by the superior confidence he placed in foreigners . He raised great discontents as well by the war with Denmark , as by his alliances with Prussia ; and inflamed the general odium by the public contempt
he expressed for the Russian nation , for their religion , and for their manners . This impolitic defiance of popular prejudices , destroyed the affection of his subjects . ; fomented the intrigues of the opposite party ; and at length terminated in his dethronement . ' Jn no light does the inconsistency of this unfortunate emperor ' s character more strongly manifest itself than in his behaviour to his
. consort . After his accession , though he frequently gave public marks . of deep-rooted aversion ; yet he . would often behave to her with that deference , which the superiority of her understanding challenged . By an unaccountable act of imprudence , he would , in a full court , iinvest her with the . exterior decorations of sovereignty ; while , in the
character of a colonel , he presented to her the ollicers of his regiment . At the blessing of the waters , when the Russian monarch appears in all the pomp of majesty , the ceremonial part was left to the empress , and he mounted guard as colonel , and saluted her with his pike . Under all these circumstances , the dignity of her deportment was so striking , that it was impossible not to contrast her behaviour with the trilling levity of her husband's conduct ; and to give the preference
where it was so evidently due . Thus this infatuated prince , at ths very time he was fully determined to divorce and imprison his wife , imprude ' ntly displayed to his subjects ljer capacity for empire ; and , while he proclaimed her forfeiture of his own esteem , adopted every method to secure to her that of the whole nation . AfeamvhiJe the breach between them was continually widened : he \ yould occasionally
behave to her with the most brutal contumely ; and once , in particular , at an entertainment he gave in honour of the king at" Prussia , he publicly affronted her to such a degree , that she burst into tears , and retired from table . Thus his insults , no less than his deference , equally attracted odium to himself , and popularity to Catharine . It is also a well-known factthat he more than once avowed an
in-, tention of arresting both her and the great-duke , ( now Paul 1 . ) whom lie proposed to exclude from the succession , and of marrying Elizabeth countess of Voronzof , his favourite mistress . This alarming measure was scarcely adopted before it was immediately conveyed to Catharine , through the imprudence of ths countess . 13 y the same , or other means , as well as by the indiscretion pi' Peter himself , the eajT