Comparing to the typical big projects of Peter I, this one was almost perfect in the terms of the losses ratio and ROI. 😉
The “Magnificent Age” - Catherine II TL
- Thread starter alexmilman
- Start date
Realistically, it can avoid a number of the messy OTL situations, which would put it in a better position economically and geopolitically.
17. Quiet times
17. Quiet times
Russia-Britain.
The Russian-British negotiations kept going on without moving anywhere. The Brits were still reluctant to agree to a military alliance that potentially may get them involved in the Russian conflict with the Ottomans while the Russians were not eager to provide the Brits with the trade advantages they wanted.
Regarding the military treaty, which was a part of the Panin’s pipe-dream “system”, the Russian ambassador reported that with a present government it would be of a little use, anyway, because that government is extremely unpopular and may fall at any moment.
On the trade agreement, which was a purely practical issue, Panin was on a much more sound ground both in assessing the situation and in negotiations. British ambassador, Lord Macartney, assured his government that the trade treaty is already agreed upon but this was not the case. The discussion stumbled on one article: the Russian version regarding the new trade regulations said that English merchants would receive the same benefits from these new regulations as the Empress's subjects. The British demanded that this article be expressed as follows: "The new agreement will not in any way constrain or limit the trade of English merchants in Russia, will not change its direction and nature." The imperial cabinet did not agree to this change. Panin listened carefully to Macartney’s speeches, and all his arguments and replied: "I see that we will never have a trade treaty."
Macartney answered with a long message that contained a rather confused mixture of a flattery and smokescreen intending to obscure the real issue in a clear expectation that his counterpart is a complete idiot. “…The constant goal of English politics is to please the empress…. Will you really want because of a single absolutely insignificant item to miss the opportunity to subordinate Britain to your ideas, make it join your allies and act under your leadership?” If it was so insignificant, why so much effort to push it through?
To which Panin answered that the main Russian goal is establish principle of a mutual equality. The British Navigation Act puts limits to the foreign participation in the British trade and this is why the Russian government wants an item that will allow in a future to issue an internal regulation encouraging Russian naval trade. “What will happen to an independent government if it is deprived of the power to do whatever it pleases within the state?” He than pointed out that while the trade is a foundation of the British politics, it is not going away due to an absence of a trade treaty, which has nothing to do with the relations between the two countries. The British merchants are and will be treated as friends in Russia.
To justify his failure to cheat, Macartney wrote a report explaining that the Russians are too barbaric and uneducated to understand the difference of the political systems and that the international law is not working in a country, which does not have an university (actually, Russia did have one) and which ministers do not know Latin. The logical conclusion was: “Their perseverance in the present case comes purely from arrogance, and it is much more difficult to break the Russian in the matter of pride than in the matter of interest. In my extreme opinion, it is absolutely impossible to persuade them to concede to our demand, and therefore I think that it is necessary to ratify the treaty, otherwise we can lose a lot.” Which was done in a form requested by Panin.
Russia-Prussia.
After the Russian-Prussian treaty had been signed, the differences of the views became obvious. While Frederick was purely pragmatic about usefulness of the bilateral agreement and did not see any reason for anything else, Panin considered it just the first step toward the utopian Northern Accord and sent von Saldern to teach the Old Fritz what’s good for him. Conversation started with the Polish affairs on which both sides had been singing in a perfect unison:
- Are you still considering the Poles to eliminate liberum veto?
- Your Majesty, we never thought about this. If our government ever mentioned this subject in secret to your minister it was done exclusively with a purpose to know your opinion on the issue.
- Ah, then it is fine.
But then discussion went to a touchy issue of the alliance vs. the “system”. Frederick stated that Russia and Prussia do not need any other union but their own, and that it does not want to be in an alliance with anyone other than Russia. Saldern expressed the opposite opinion that Russia and Prussia need to add to their alliance other powers to establish the Northern system, completely independent, that this is the only way to ensure themselves from alien strife and provide a service to the other states, which, of course, should be afraid of the terrible alliance of Austrian and Bourbon houses.
Frederick remarked that there is no reason to be worried about that “terrible alliance” alliance because its participants are paupers without money “(се sont des gueux)”. Saldern got into Panin’s favorite spiel about necessity of the system that will guarantee a power balance in Europe by including both active and passive states. The active states being Russia, Prussia and Britain. Frederick’s reaction was that Britain can’t be relied upon because its king changes his ministers, how he changes his shirts. When it came to the German states and, specifically, Saxony, Frederick stated that Saxony is his business into which Russia should not interfere. About potential usefulness of the minor German states, Denmark and Sweden he was quite skeptical, to put it mildly.
During the second meeting the differences became even more clear with Frederick being quite pragmatic and explaining that he does not fear the Austrian-Bourbon alliance and that the best thing for Russia and Prussia is to keep together and laugh at everybody else and Saldern talking in the general terms about potential future friends and enemies, a subject in which Frederick was not interested at all, except that such alliances, while being absolutely useless, may involve inconvenient obligations.
Both sides ended up being unhappy and Frederick got an impression that the Russian court is trying to manipulate him: “I'm starting to get bored with the yoke they want to put on me; I'll be happy to be in alliance with the Russians, but until my eyes close, I won't be their slave.”
The only cheerful part was Panin’s assurance (as quote from Catherine) that if Austria decides to make any aggressive move in the PLC, it will be sorry.
“Ambition and glory”
For quite a while Catherine was starting her day with two hours of writing a document dedicated to the well-being of her loyal subjects. Of course, the well-being could be achieved by implementing ideas of some of the great French authorities on the subject but, being a practical person with a well-developed instinct of self-preservation, Catherine was trying to combine the French wisdom with the Russian realities.
“The sovereign is autocratic, because no other power, once united in his person, can act similarly to the space of a great state. It is necessary that the speed in solving cases, from distant countries sent, rewards the delay, the remoteness of the places caused. Any other rule would not only be harmful to Russia, but also completely ruinous.. The intention and end of autocratic rules are the glory of citizens, the state and the sovereign…. In the state, freedom can consist of nothing but the ability to do what everyone must want, and not to be forced to do what they should not want…. State freedom in a citizen is peace of mind, which comes from the opinion that each of them enjoys safety on their own, and for people to have this freedom, it must be such a law that one citizen cannot be afraid of the other, but would be afraid of all of the same laws…”
This was followed by the prolonged and quite progressive discussions regarding the death penalty, lesse majeste, torture, etc. The manuscript had been given for review to a chosen group of people who removed half of the text (including proposals regarding the serfs’ right to buy their freedom and limiting owner’s right to punish the serfs) and the rest was published. Translation of even that abridged version was forbidden in France.
In 1766 this work, “Instruction” (Наказ), was completed and and officially made a basis for writing a new “Code” (Уложение) by which the Russian Empire is going to live. As the first step, “Instruction” was sent to the Senate which immediately reacted with the proposal to erect a monument to Catherine and even presented its design. After this first step was done, the Senate appointed Commission which had to draft the rules for election of the deputies who are going to assemble in Moscow for discussing and writing the Code. The deputies, while the Code Commission was working would be getting salary according to their social status and will be forever free from the death penalty, torture and property confiscation. They were elected by the majority votes in seemingly clearly defined groups defined by location and social status. What could get wrong? Pretty much everything.
From Estonia governor-general fieldmarshal Prince Peter August Friedrich von Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck reported that elections had been conducted not according to the instruction and requested clarification. To which the Senate responded that instructions are quite clear and had been translated to a number of languages. Probably as a hint to the fact that during more than 30 on the Russian service the prince did not bother to learn Russian.
The Governor-General of Livonia, Brown, let the Senate know that the Livonian nobles are not allowing to vote the nobles who have their villages in Livonia but are not in the books of Livonian nobility. The Senate kicked issue upstairs and Catherine ordered to follow the instruction “Any nobleman who really owns his estate in that county can choose a noble deputy.”
But this was all peanuts comparing to situation in Little Russia. Rumyantsev’s 1st report informed Catherine that many locals from the ruling class consider any imperial law or decree as a violation of their liberties, don’t want any changes and, if there is a need to send the deputies, then the only task of these deputies should be confirmation of the existing privileges and liberties.
To which Catherine responded “…I hope that you will use such measures that do not know their own and social benefits will finally lead to the knowledge of it…” and recommended not to waste too much energy on getting a prescribed number of the deputies, at least some appearance will be enough. The local nobility and leadership persisted in being pains in a butt and finally Rumyantsev lost patience and ordered them to shut up and provide the required number of the deputies, as every other province. But when it was coming to the instructions for the elected deputies, it was the same song: confirmation of the rights, liberties and habits, the troops removed, removal of the state taxes and, from the former hetmanship territories, restoration of the Hetmanate. An additional problem was in a difficulty to find out who belongs to which social group because, unlike Russia and the Baltic provinces, there were no proper books and the local leadership was “making” nobles at its whim or demoting them into the Cossacks and peasants. In the towns the relations between nobility, burghers and the Cossacks always were tens and this this made situation even more complicated.
In Chernigov the deputy instruction written by certain Bezborodko contained, among other meaningful items, request to compile the official list of the local noble families to be then joined with the Russian nobility. “So that no one, except those included in the gentry list, is allowed to buy villages, mills, lands and all kinds of land from us, until the buyer from the leader and all the nobility is accepted into our community.”, etc. all the way to establish in Little Russia a state bank. But he failed to push through the item about restriction of the nobility power over the peasants. Rumyantsev reported that Bezborodko and his son were hated for this instruction but he did not forget their service.
While all that election process kept going, the empress decided, for a better familiarity with her subjects, “to travel to Asia”. To avoid misunderstandings, this meant sailing down the Volga.
“Pride is a child of ignorance, and therefore it is not surprising if the actions of the local court sometimes result of arrogance and vanity.”
Report of the British Ambassador after a failed attempt to push through a British version of the trade agreement
“The British are crap! (Les Angliais sont des miserables!)”
“Ambition and glory are the hidden springs that set the sovereigns in motion.”
Frederick II
“It is necessary to imagine in your mind exactly and clearly: what is freedom? Freedom is the right to do everything that the laws allow”
“The majority does not establish the truth, but only shows the desire of the majority.”
Catherine II
“Civilization is a science explaining how citizen of the Russian Empire must be strong in the midst of disasters.”
Saltykov-Schedrin, ‘History of a city’
Report of the British Ambassador after a failed attempt to push through a British version of the trade agreement
“The British are crap! (Les Angliais sont des miserables!)”
“Ambition and glory are the hidden springs that set the sovereigns in motion.”
Frederick II
“It is necessary to imagine in your mind exactly and clearly: what is freedom? Freedom is the right to do everything that the laws allow”
“The majority does not establish the truth, but only shows the desire of the majority.”
Catherine II
“Civilization is a science explaining how citizen of the Russian Empire must be strong in the midst of disasters.”
Saltykov-Schedrin, ‘History of a city’
Russia-Britain.
The Russian-British negotiations kept going on without moving anywhere. The Brits were still reluctant to agree to a military alliance that potentially may get them involved in the Russian conflict with the Ottomans while the Russians were not eager to provide the Brits with the trade advantages they wanted.
Regarding the military treaty, which was a part of the Panin’s pipe-dream “system”, the Russian ambassador reported that with a present government it would be of a little use, anyway, because that government is extremely unpopular and may fall at any moment.
On the trade agreement, which was a purely practical issue, Panin was on a much more sound ground both in assessing the situation and in negotiations. British ambassador, Lord Macartney, assured his government that the trade treaty is already agreed upon but this was not the case. The discussion stumbled on one article: the Russian version regarding the new trade regulations said that English merchants would receive the same benefits from these new regulations as the Empress's subjects. The British demanded that this article be expressed as follows: "The new agreement will not in any way constrain or limit the trade of English merchants in Russia, will not change its direction and nature." The imperial cabinet did not agree to this change. Panin listened carefully to Macartney’s speeches, and all his arguments and replied: "I see that we will never have a trade treaty."
Macartney answered with a long message that contained a rather confused mixture of a flattery and smokescreen intending to obscure the real issue in a clear expectation that his counterpart is a complete idiot. “…The constant goal of English politics is to please the empress…. Will you really want because of a single absolutely insignificant item to miss the opportunity to subordinate Britain to your ideas, make it join your allies and act under your leadership?” If it was so insignificant, why so much effort to push it through?
To which Panin answered that the main Russian goal is establish principle of a mutual equality. The British Navigation Act puts limits to the foreign participation in the British trade and this is why the Russian government wants an item that will allow in a future to issue an internal regulation encouraging Russian naval trade. “What will happen to an independent government if it is deprived of the power to do whatever it pleases within the state?” He than pointed out that while the trade is a foundation of the British politics, it is not going away due to an absence of a trade treaty, which has nothing to do with the relations between the two countries. The British merchants are and will be treated as friends in Russia.
To justify his failure to cheat, Macartney wrote a report explaining that the Russians are too barbaric and uneducated to understand the difference of the political systems and that the international law is not working in a country, which does not have an university (actually, Russia did have one) and which ministers do not know Latin. The logical conclusion was: “Their perseverance in the present case comes purely from arrogance, and it is much more difficult to break the Russian in the matter of pride than in the matter of interest. In my extreme opinion, it is absolutely impossible to persuade them to concede to our demand, and therefore I think that it is necessary to ratify the treaty, otherwise we can lose a lot.” Which was done in a form requested by Panin.
Russia-Prussia.
After the Russian-Prussian treaty had been signed, the differences of the views became obvious. While Frederick was purely pragmatic about usefulness of the bilateral agreement and did not see any reason for anything else, Panin considered it just the first step toward the utopian Northern Accord and sent von Saldern to teach the Old Fritz what’s good for him. Conversation started with the Polish affairs on which both sides had been singing in a perfect unison:
- Are you still considering the Poles to eliminate liberum veto?
- Your Majesty, we never thought about this. If our government ever mentioned this subject in secret to your minister it was done exclusively with a purpose to know your opinion on the issue.
- Ah, then it is fine.
But then discussion went to a touchy issue of the alliance vs. the “system”. Frederick stated that Russia and Prussia do not need any other union but their own, and that it does not want to be in an alliance with anyone other than Russia. Saldern expressed the opposite opinion that Russia and Prussia need to add to their alliance other powers to establish the Northern system, completely independent, that this is the only way to ensure themselves from alien strife and provide a service to the other states, which, of course, should be afraid of the terrible alliance of Austrian and Bourbon houses.
Frederick remarked that there is no reason to be worried about that “terrible alliance” alliance because its participants are paupers without money “(се sont des gueux)”. Saldern got into Panin’s favorite spiel about necessity of the system that will guarantee a power balance in Europe by including both active and passive states. The active states being Russia, Prussia and Britain. Frederick’s reaction was that Britain can’t be relied upon because its king changes his ministers, how he changes his shirts. When it came to the German states and, specifically, Saxony, Frederick stated that Saxony is his business into which Russia should not interfere. About potential usefulness of the minor German states, Denmark and Sweden he was quite skeptical, to put it mildly.
During the second meeting the differences became even more clear with Frederick being quite pragmatic and explaining that he does not fear the Austrian-Bourbon alliance and that the best thing for Russia and Prussia is to keep together and laugh at everybody else and Saldern talking in the general terms about potential future friends and enemies, a subject in which Frederick was not interested at all, except that such alliances, while being absolutely useless, may involve inconvenient obligations.
Both sides ended up being unhappy and Frederick got an impression that the Russian court is trying to manipulate him: “I'm starting to get bored with the yoke they want to put on me; I'll be happy to be in alliance with the Russians, but until my eyes close, I won't be their slave.”
The only cheerful part was Panin’s assurance (as quote from Catherine) that if Austria decides to make any aggressive move in the PLC, it will be sorry.
“Ambition and glory”
For quite a while Catherine was starting her day with two hours of writing a document dedicated to the well-being of her loyal subjects. Of course, the well-being could be achieved by implementing ideas of some of the great French authorities on the subject but, being a practical person with a well-developed instinct of self-preservation, Catherine was trying to combine the French wisdom with the Russian realities.
“The sovereign is autocratic, because no other power, once united in his person, can act similarly to the space of a great state. It is necessary that the speed in solving cases, from distant countries sent, rewards the delay, the remoteness of the places caused. Any other rule would not only be harmful to Russia, but also completely ruinous.. The intention and end of autocratic rules are the glory of citizens, the state and the sovereign…. In the state, freedom can consist of nothing but the ability to do what everyone must want, and not to be forced to do what they should not want…. State freedom in a citizen is peace of mind, which comes from the opinion that each of them enjoys safety on their own, and for people to have this freedom, it must be such a law that one citizen cannot be afraid of the other, but would be afraid of all of the same laws…”
This was followed by the prolonged and quite progressive discussions regarding the death penalty, lesse majeste, torture, etc. The manuscript had been given for review to a chosen group of people who removed half of the text (including proposals regarding the serfs’ right to buy their freedom and limiting owner’s right to punish the serfs) and the rest was published. Translation of even that abridged version was forbidden in France.
In 1766 this work, “Instruction” (Наказ), was completed and and officially made a basis for writing a new “Code” (Уложение) by which the Russian Empire is going to live. As the first step, “Instruction” was sent to the Senate which immediately reacted with the proposal to erect a monument to Catherine and even presented its design. After this first step was done, the Senate appointed Commission which had to draft the rules for election of the deputies who are going to assemble in Moscow for discussing and writing the Code. The deputies, while the Code Commission was working would be getting salary according to their social status and will be forever free from the death penalty, torture and property confiscation. They were elected by the majority votes in seemingly clearly defined groups defined by location and social status. What could get wrong? Pretty much everything.
From Estonia governor-general fieldmarshal Prince Peter August Friedrich von Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck reported that elections had been conducted not according to the instruction and requested clarification. To which the Senate responded that instructions are quite clear and had been translated to a number of languages. Probably as a hint to the fact that during more than 30 on the Russian service the prince did not bother to learn Russian.
The Governor-General of Livonia, Brown, let the Senate know that the Livonian nobles are not allowing to vote the nobles who have their villages in Livonia but are not in the books of Livonian nobility. The Senate kicked issue upstairs and Catherine ordered to follow the instruction “Any nobleman who really owns his estate in that county can choose a noble deputy.”
But this was all peanuts comparing to situation in Little Russia. Rumyantsev’s 1st report informed Catherine that many locals from the ruling class consider any imperial law or decree as a violation of their liberties, don’t want any changes and, if there is a need to send the deputies, then the only task of these deputies should be confirmation of the existing privileges and liberties.
To which Catherine responded “…I hope that you will use such measures that do not know their own and social benefits will finally lead to the knowledge of it…” and recommended not to waste too much energy on getting a prescribed number of the deputies, at least some appearance will be enough. The local nobility and leadership persisted in being pains in a butt and finally Rumyantsev lost patience and ordered them to shut up and provide the required number of the deputies, as every other province. But when it was coming to the instructions for the elected deputies, it was the same song: confirmation of the rights, liberties and habits, the troops removed, removal of the state taxes and, from the former hetmanship territories, restoration of the Hetmanate. An additional problem was in a difficulty to find out who belongs to which social group because, unlike Russia and the Baltic provinces, there were no proper books and the local leadership was “making” nobles at its whim or demoting them into the Cossacks and peasants. In the towns the relations between nobility, burghers and the Cossacks always were tens and this this made situation even more complicated.
In Chernigov the deputy instruction written by certain Bezborodko contained, among other meaningful items, request to compile the official list of the local noble families to be then joined with the Russian nobility. “So that no one, except those included in the gentry list, is allowed to buy villages, mills, lands and all kinds of land from us, until the buyer from the leader and all the nobility is accepted into our community.”, etc. all the way to establish in Little Russia a state bank. But he failed to push through the item about restriction of the nobility power over the peasants. Rumyantsev reported that Bezborodko and his son were hated for this instruction but he did not forget their service.
While all that election process kept going, the empress decided, for a better familiarity with her subjects, “to travel to Asia”. To avoid misunderstandings, this meant sailing down the Volga.
Amazing how Perfidious Albion is as good in projecting as they are with sailing and being arrogant.
His argument was too long and convoluted to reproduce but basically it was boiling down to the following. We, the Brits depend upon the trade more than you so what would it matter for you to agree upon this insignificant item and for this we’ll be your most loyal allies forever? Putting aside the fact that he outrageously flattered wisdom of Panin whom he classified as an uneducated barbarian in his report, wouldn’t it look suspicious for any negotiator that for an insignificant “punctilio” he offers such a huge gift as a permanent British friendship? Wouldn’t it be reasonable to assume that a value of the offered friendship is also insignificant? 😉
But seriously, the British offer was a pure arrogance: it implied that the British merchants operating in Russia would be forever excluded from any Russian regulations instead of, as per the Russian offer, be treated as the Russian own merchants, aka, being excluded from the possible restrictions on the foreign traders. Did the British cabinet consider the Russian ministers to be complete idiots?
Good thing (long-term) for the British that their own demands were resisted then.
That is a term we Dutch care a lot about https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geuzen
Considering the report he submitted, I imagined they thought so. After, how could a "Asiatic" power somehow best the most enlightened, industrious and brave people on the planet? It's a insult that they force the poor merchants who just want to share their goods at a reasonable price to follow the laws of the country they're in, even if Britain promises they'll be best mates forever, they swear it!
Indeed. The very thought that anything, especially an insignificant trifle like immunity from the local laws, can be remotely comparable in value with the British gratitude clearly indicates that the country is on the same cultural level as Tibet (comparison from the original report) and cant’t be considered civilized. And ignorance of the Latin….. 😂
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17a Trade treaty - background
17a Trade treaty - background
It looks like the trade treaty issue may be of some interest so here is a general background.
In 1734 Britain and Russia signed a treaty by which Britain got an exclusive right of trade with Persia via the Russian territory, low custom tariffs, free of pay use of the warehouses, etc. It looks like the treaty was mutually beneficial because to the Russians it provided profits from selling goods to the Brits and to the Brits profits from reselling the Russian and Persian goods. The Brits declared it “British triumph” even if the trade balance was in the Russian favor (in 1763 it was 555,000 rubles in Russian favor) 😉. After CII accession the Brits wanted its prolongation while the Russian side wanted a new trade treaty and military treaty, which Britain did not want because it may spoil they trade relations with the OE and require subsidies for the Russian activities in the PLC (which were of no interest to Britain).
Actually, instruction of King George to Count Buckinghamshire, ambassador to Russia, talked not only about preservation of status quo but also about obtaining all possible new privileges and help in dealings with the local administration. To be fair, the King recommended ambassador not to accept any complaints unless they are backed up by a very solid documentation.
The big issue for Britain was Persian trade and proposal was the same rights in Astrakhan as in Petersburg, Archangelsk, etc., a free trade in Astrakhan with 3% custom dues only for the goods to be sold through Petersburg. CII was much more interested in the military treaty so the whole thing was put on hold until conclusion of the Russian-Prussian military alliance in 1764.
New ambassador, Macartney, kept complaining to his bosses that the process is slow because the whole business is conducted “by some shops called ‘collegiums’ and the minor merchants whom they call commission members.” What’s wrong in inviting the merchants to discuss the trade treaty? And this was from an ambassador stressing the fact that he represents a “merchant nation”. Also Macartney was complaining about an absence of the “methodical approach to the affairs”, whatever this may mean, and finally coming to the statement that the treaty does not provide any benefit to Russia (of course, because the trade was going on without it).
Eventually, he started advocating in favor of signing the Russian version because it provides conditions better than the British merchants were expecting and the merchants like it.
But he got a reprimand from the government, which considered treaty bad for the trade and as such not to be ratified by the king. The government sent an additional Declaration saying that the British subjects will have a right to participate in all enterprises and receive the same benefits as the Russian subjects and that these measures will not result in any diminishing or restriction of the trade which the British subjects conduct now. Chapter above starts from that point.
Panin angrily rejected the Declaration and attempts to influence him through the “mutual friends” failed. Macartney tried to appeal directly to CII approaching her at the masquerade but “her steadfastness exceeded even usual female stubbornness”.
At that point Macartney (but not the cabinet) started getting grasp of a changed geopolitical situation and reported to London that after making alliances with Prussia and Denmark, achieving political success in Sweden and putting its candidate on the PLC throne the Russian court feels an increasing self respect and a decreasing respect to other countries (I’m skipping the epithets 😉). So it is advisable to ratify treaty ASAP because any new demand “may subject us to the answers … incompatible with the dignity of His Majesty and contradicting to the interests of his subjects conducting trade in this empire.”
CII, in her official answer gave an ultimatum: either the treaty is ratified in its present form or not at all.
King George tried to insist by linking the trade and military treaties, not understanding that after military treaty with Prussia the British one is not really necessary. Hence Panin’s remark about not having trade treaty at all. He did not stop there: “when the Russian trade will be free to other nations, don’t expect that we’ll restrict it in your favor”. After which he proposed to proceed immediately to removal of the signatures on trade treaty.
Macartney begged him to postpone this act for few days and on his next meeting asked Panin if he truly intended to cancel the old trade treaty, to which Panin answered affirmatively adding that it is impossible to conduct negotiations with the British on equal terms and that he decided to abolish the old treaty right now to give the local British merchants time to warn their friends in Britain before the navigation season starts so that can rearrange their plans and avoid the losses. Macartney appealed once more to the Secretary of State but also proposed to send annually 5 - 10 British ships to the Baltic Sea to protect the British trade interests.
On the other side of the equation CII ordered to prepare a decree about cancellation of the old trade treaty. Macartney reported that there are two options: either to lose all benefits or to agree to ratify the new contract on Russian terms, if it is still possible. Finally, the King agreed, even if he was still unhappy. It is assumed that at least partially the deal was done because government of Pitt Sr. came to power and he was advocating a pro-Russian policy.
Treaty was beneficial for both sides because the Brits got access to the materials needed by the RN at the low prices while the Russians got a guaranteed access to the British goods due to the low tariffs.
Basically, the whole process was indication of the growing international strength of the RE, which finally allowed negotiations with Britain on equal terms.
It looks like the trade treaty issue may be of some interest so here is a general background.
In 1734 Britain and Russia signed a treaty by which Britain got an exclusive right of trade with Persia via the Russian territory, low custom tariffs, free of pay use of the warehouses, etc. It looks like the treaty was mutually beneficial because to the Russians it provided profits from selling goods to the Brits and to the Brits profits from reselling the Russian and Persian goods. The Brits declared it “British triumph” even if the trade balance was in the Russian favor (in 1763 it was 555,000 rubles in Russian favor) 😉. After CII accession the Brits wanted its prolongation while the Russian side wanted a new trade treaty and military treaty, which Britain did not want because it may spoil they trade relations with the OE and require subsidies for the Russian activities in the PLC (which were of no interest to Britain).
Actually, instruction of King George to Count Buckinghamshire, ambassador to Russia, talked not only about preservation of status quo but also about obtaining all possible new privileges and help in dealings with the local administration. To be fair, the King recommended ambassador not to accept any complaints unless they are backed up by a very solid documentation.
The big issue for Britain was Persian trade and proposal was the same rights in Astrakhan as in Petersburg, Archangelsk, etc., a free trade in Astrakhan with 3% custom dues only for the goods to be sold through Petersburg. CII was much more interested in the military treaty so the whole thing was put on hold until conclusion of the Russian-Prussian military alliance in 1764.
New ambassador, Macartney, kept complaining to his bosses that the process is slow because the whole business is conducted “by some shops called ‘collegiums’ and the minor merchants whom they call commission members.” What’s wrong in inviting the merchants to discuss the trade treaty? And this was from an ambassador stressing the fact that he represents a “merchant nation”. Also Macartney was complaining about an absence of the “methodical approach to the affairs”, whatever this may mean, and finally coming to the statement that the treaty does not provide any benefit to Russia (of course, because the trade was going on without it).
Eventually, he started advocating in favor of signing the Russian version because it provides conditions better than the British merchants were expecting and the merchants like it.
But he got a reprimand from the government, which considered treaty bad for the trade and as such not to be ratified by the king. The government sent an additional Declaration saying that the British subjects will have a right to participate in all enterprises and receive the same benefits as the Russian subjects and that these measures will not result in any diminishing or restriction of the trade which the British subjects conduct now. Chapter above starts from that point.
Panin angrily rejected the Declaration and attempts to influence him through the “mutual friends” failed. Macartney tried to appeal directly to CII approaching her at the masquerade but “her steadfastness exceeded even usual female stubbornness”.
At that point Macartney (but not the cabinet) started getting grasp of a changed geopolitical situation and reported to London that after making alliances with Prussia and Denmark, achieving political success in Sweden and putting its candidate on the PLC throne the Russian court feels an increasing self respect and a decreasing respect to other countries (I’m skipping the epithets 😉). So it is advisable to ratify treaty ASAP because any new demand “may subject us to the answers … incompatible with the dignity of His Majesty and contradicting to the interests of his subjects conducting trade in this empire.”
CII, in her official answer gave an ultimatum: either the treaty is ratified in its present form or not at all.
King George tried to insist by linking the trade and military treaties, not understanding that after military treaty with Prussia the British one is not really necessary. Hence Panin’s remark about not having trade treaty at all. He did not stop there: “when the Russian trade will be free to other nations, don’t expect that we’ll restrict it in your favor”. After which he proposed to proceed immediately to removal of the signatures on trade treaty.
Macartney begged him to postpone this act for few days and on his next meeting asked Panin if he truly intended to cancel the old trade treaty, to which Panin answered affirmatively adding that it is impossible to conduct negotiations with the British on equal terms and that he decided to abolish the old treaty right now to give the local British merchants time to warn their friends in Britain before the navigation season starts so that can rearrange their plans and avoid the losses. Macartney appealed once more to the Secretary of State but also proposed to send annually 5 - 10 British ships to the Baltic Sea to protect the British trade interests.
On the other side of the equation CII ordered to prepare a decree about cancellation of the old trade treaty. Macartney reported that there are two options: either to lose all benefits or to agree to ratify the new contract on Russian terms, if it is still possible. Finally, the King agreed, even if he was still unhappy. It is assumed that at least partially the deal was done because government of Pitt Sr. came to power and he was advocating a pro-Russian policy.
Treaty was beneficial for both sides because the Brits got access to the materials needed by the RN at the low prices while the Russians got a guaranteed access to the British goods due to the low tariffs.
Basically, the whole process was indication of the growing international strength of the RE, which finally allowed negotiations with Britain on equal terms.
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Thanks for this.17a Trade treaty - background
It looks like the trade treaty issue may be of some interest so here is a general background.
In 1734 Britain and Russia signed a treaty by which Britain got an exclusive right of trade with Persia via the Russian territory, low custom tariffs, free of pay use of the warehouses, etc. It looks like the treaty was mutually beneficial because to the Russians it provided profits from selling goods to the Brits and to the Brits profits from reselling the Russian and Persian goods. The Brits declared it “British triumph” even if the trade balance was in the Russian favor (in 1763 it was 555,000 rubles in Russian favor) 😉. After CII accession the Brits wanted its prolongation while the Russian side wanted a new trade treaty and military treaty, which Britain did not want because it may spoil they trade relations with the OE and require subsidies for the Russian activities in the PLC (which were of no interest to Britain).
Actually, instruction of King George to Count Buckinghamshire, ambassador to Russia, talked not only about preservation of status quo but also about obtaining all possible new privileges and help in dealings with the local administration. To be fair, the King recommended ambassador not to accept any complaints unless they are backed up by a very solid documentation.
The big issue for Britain was Persian trade and proposal was the same rights in Astrakhan as in Petersburg, Archangelsk, etc., a free trade in Astrakhan with 3% custom dues only for the goods to be sold through Petersburg. CII was much more interested in the military treaty so the whole thing was put on hold until conclusion of the Russian-Prussian military alliance in 1764.
New ambassador, Macartney, kept complaining to his bosses that the process is slow because the whole business is conducted “by some shops called ‘collegiums’ and the minor merchants whom they call commission members.” What’s wrong in inviting the merchants to discuss the trade treaty? And this was from an ambassador stressing the fact that he represents a “merchant nation”. Also Macartney was complaining about an absence of the “methodical approach to the affairs”, whatever this may mean, and finally coming to the statement that the treaty does not provide any benefit to Russia (of course, because the trade was going on without it).
Eventually, he started advocating in favor of signing the Russian version because it provides conditions better than the British merchants were expecting and the merchants like it.
But he got a reprimand from the government, which considered treaty bad for the trade and as such not to be ratified by the king. The government sent an additional Declaration saying that the British subjects will have a right to participate in all enterprises and receive the same benefits as the Russian subjects and that these measures will not result in any diminishing or restriction of the trade which the British subjects conduct now. Chapter above starts from that point.
Panin angrily rejected the Declaration and attempts to influence him through the “mutual friends” failed. Macartney tried to appeal directly to CII approaching her at the masquerade but “her steadfastness exceeded even usual female stubbornness”.
At that point Macartney (but not the cabinet) started getting grasp of a changed geopolitical situation and reported to London that after making alliances with Prussia and Denmark, achieving political success in Sweden and putting its candidate on the PLC throne the Russian court feels an increasing self respect and a decreasing respect to other countries (I’m skipping the epithets 😉). So it is advisable to ratify treaty ASAP because any new demand “may subject us to the answers … incompatible with the dignity of His Majesty and contradicting to the interests of his subjects conducting trade in this empire.”
CII, in her official answer gave an ultimatum: either the treaty is ratified in its present form or not at all.
King George tried to insist by linking the trade and military treaties, not understanding that after military treaty with Prussia the British one is not really necessary. Hence Panin’s remark about not having trade treaty at all. He did not stop there: “when the Russian trade will be free to other nations, don’t expect that we’ll restrict it in your favor”. After which he proposed to proceed immediately to removal of the signatures on trade treaty.
Macartney begged him to postpone this act for few days and on his next meeting asked Panin if he truly intended to cancel the old trade treaty, to which Panin answered affirmatively adding that it is impossible to conduct negotiations with the British on equal terms and that he decided to abolish the old treaty right now to give the local British merchants time to warn their friends in Britain before the navigation season starts so that can rearrange their plans and avoid the losses. Macartney appealed once more to the Secretary of State but also proposed to send annually 5 - 10 British ships to the Baltic Sea to protect the British trade interests.
On the other side of the equation CII ordered to prepare a decree about cancellation of the old trade treaty. Macartney reported that there are two options: either to lose all benefits or to agree to ratify the new contract on Russian terms, if it is still possible. Finally, the King agreed, even if he was still unhappy. It is assumed that at least partially the deal was done because government of Pitt Sr. came to power and he was advocating a pro-Russian policy.
Treaty was beneficial for both sides because the Brits got access to the materials needed by the RN at the low prices while the Russians got a guaranteed access to the British goods due to the low tariffs.
Basically, the whole process was indication of the growing international strength of the RE, which finally allowed negotiations with Britain on equal terms.
It was quite interesting.
Thanks.
The more I’m reading on the subject the more interesting and complicated OTL framework looks and now, with the Polish perspective and factual details (just found Polish history written by the Viceroy of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria in Austria-Hungary) added to the picture, I’m drifting even more away from my initial intentions based upon “everybody knows” level of information. The problem is that I did not, yet, figured in which direction exactly I’m drifting and there even a lesser certainty that this direction will survive contact with whatever I may find next. 😢
Hopefully, the lengthy quotations from OTL are not too boring.
This is a valid and very good question. Probably I’ll end up with the PLC losing some territories even if the time frame and details may differ from those in OTL. Totally avoiding the partitions would require either the PLC turning itself overnight into a strong state or the RE implementing similar trick turning itself into “superpower”. Both options are quite unlikely so just wait patiently and I’ll ask for the maps. 😉
18. Going to Asia
18. Going to Asia
Travel to Asia
Before work of the Code Commission started, Catherine decided to travel by the Volga to get herself familiar with situation in the region and, as she wrote to Voltaire, “create the laws that would serve both Europe and Asia.” [2] The trip was thoroughly prepared. The Atlas "Geographical Description of the Volga River from Tver to Dmitrievsk for Her Imperial Majesty's journey along this river" was compiled in the Geographical Department of the Academy of Sciences. All maps existing at that time, based on materials from 1735-1736, were used to compile the atlas. The texts contain a list of Volga tributaries indicating the distances between their mouths, a description of the turns of the Volga with an indication of the bearings and information about the main cities of the Volga region. More than 1,150 people participated in the trip, including prominent statesmen, court and army ranks, healers and lady-in-waiting. Foreign diplomats with their suites were invited to accompany the empress for the first time. But she did not take with her Grand Duke Paul.
300 "road carriages" and a large number of horses were prepared for the "massion" of Catherine II and court nobles in Tver. Specially equipped carriages carried a wardrobe, screens, appliances, pharmacy. Earlier, on March 2, 1767, a special decree of the Senate was issued, which required the Yam office to have 75 horses at each station where the Empress is supposed to stop.
The flotilla consisted of 25 ships including a galley specially built for the empress.
In April 29 the empress arrived to Tver, on May 2 she boarded the galley and sailed down the river. The first stop was in Yaroslavl where she visited the local manufactures. Her arrival put the end to a protracted dispute between the major and minor merchants who decided that it would be much wiser to define themselves as complete assholes whose “quarrels threaten the city with a complete ruin” then to get “motherly” involvement into the situation. Their consciousness finally took over and in a meeting of all city merchants, with the local policemaster-general being present, they voluntarily decided to repent and make peace and paid taxation money they owned. She was not satisfied with local voyevoda and sent to the Senate an order to replace him.
Then Catherine sailed to Kostroma, reception in which she liked. Presumably, her entourage had been regularly in tears out of joy. The foreign ambassadors went from Kostroma to Moscow and Catherine proceeded to Nizhny Novgorod where she confirmed creation of a merchant company. She was rather unhappy with the local bishop who was clearly unable to prevent mass conversions into the Old Creed. Her general impression was “This city is beautiful in the situation, and the structure is disgusting, only it will get better soon, because I alone need to build both salt and wine shops, so the governor's house, the office and the archive, that everything is either on its side, or close to it.”
On May 26, the flotilla passed along the Kazanka River to the city to the sounds of cannon salute, bell ringing, trumpets and timpani, shouts of "hurrah". The empress's boats and her retinues approached the piers at the Kazan Kremlin, where Catherine II was met by the first persons of the city, the governor of the Orenburg province Prince A. A. Putyatin, officers, nobility and merchants.
“We found a city that can be the capital of a big kingdom in every way; the reception is excellent for me… Everything is very official everywhere; here the triumphal gate is like I haven't seen it even better… You can't leave the place: so many different objects worthy of a look that it may take ten years…. This is a special kingdom, and only here you can see what such a huge enterprise is our legislation and how the existing laws do not correspond to the position of the empire in general. They destroyed countless people, whose fortune has so far been going to disappear, not to multiply; the same is the same with their property.”
To Voltaire she wrote “These laws, about which there have been so many speeches, have not yet been written, and who can be responsible for their good quality? Of course, not us, but the offspring will be able to solve this issue. Imagine that they should serve for Asia and Europe, and what a difference in climate, people, customs and concepts themselves! Here I am in Asia; I wanted to see it with my own eyes. There are 20 different nations in this city, not at all similar to each other. And yet, they need to sew a dress that would fit them equally well on everyone.”
Convinced of the loyalty of Muslims, Catherine II confirmed the course to alleviate their situation in the country (in 1763 she equalized the Tatar merchants in rights with the Russian, and in 1764 liquidated the Office of New Baptism), giving oral permission to build mosques again. In addition, she proposed to teach some categories of civil servants the Tatar language. After the inspection of the city, the Empress approved the provision on its large civil stone building, for which she was instructed to draw up an accurate plan for Kazan.
In general, she liked what she saw: “Here the people all over the Volga are rich and very well-fed, and although the prices are high everywhere, everyone eats bread and no one complains and does not suffer from a deprivation… The earth is as black as in other places you can’t find it in the gardens. In a word, these people are spoiled by God; I did not eat such fish with taste like here, and everything is in abundance, what you can imagine, and I do not know what they would need: everything is there and everything is cheap.”
How can everything be cheap with the high prices we’ll never find out but she was obviously happy, even if inconsistent.
But Simbirsk was a major disappointment. Numerous houses had been confiscated for the debts, their owners were expelled, the empty buildings had been rotting and already were in such a bad condition that the state was not getting any profit. Catherine was trying to figure out how to get both get money and to put people back to their dwellings before they completely perish. It looked like the only way to save the people was just to forgive the debt (taxes on salt and liquor) that amounted to 107,000.
From Simbirsk she went by land to Moscow making one interesting observation: in the eastern provinces (Simbirsk region) the land is black soil but “the people are lazy”, big stretches of land are void of a population and not developed. Further to the west the soil is getting increasingly worse, the settlements are more frequent, there is no unused land and more grain is produced.”
She arrived to Moscow on June 22 and attended the Senate session at which she declared that during the travel she received more than 600 written complaints, none about the bribes. The Empress, with a straight face, expressed pleasure that since there were no complaints against any government person, it means that justice is in good condition, the administrators and judges conduct the cases unselfishly [3].
Most of the complaints were from the serfs complaining about the oppression by their owners and were returned with a warning that they should not do this in a future. These complaints could be ignored but there were never-ending reports of the peasant unrests (term “Peasants” included workers of various manufactures). By law the serfs sending petitions regarding their owners were rebels and could be executed or beaten and sent to katorga or to their owners and that law was vigorously enforced. However, the Senate in its wisdom came to an amazing conclusion that sometimes the acts of rebellion could be caused by excessively strict behavior of the owners and few senators volunteered to travel to these estate owners and privately and secretly discuss with them the possible reasons for these unfortunate accidents.
It was somewhat different on the state-owned manufactures because, as was the case with the Nerchinsk silver plant, this may indicate that administration was stealing from the state. In most cases the officials guilty of that sin, even if aggravated by lying while under the oath, were just fired from the state service.
Not to be forgotten, during the journey, Catherine II and her retinue carried out a collective translation of the work by J.-F. Marmontel "Velisarius" (fr. Bélisaire), sent to the empress by the author. Each translator got a part of the essay by lot. Also during the journey of M. M. Heraskov and the circle of courtiers accompanying the empress translated a number of articles of the Encyclopedia. Hersakov himself translated articles related to poetry, verbal sciences and magic. A. C Naryshkin translated the articles "Economics (moral and political)" by Rousseau and "Natural Law" by Diderot. The book "Translations from the Encyclopedia" was printed in three parts in 1767.
__________
[1] All my attempts to compose a comment worthy of the original failed miserably. 😢
[2] See above about geography not being a science suitable for the nobility.
[3] I wonder if the Senate would consider a purchase of the Brooklyn Bridge…
“Rather, the geography of Russia determines its history than vice versa."
Efim Bershin
“Geography is not a science needed by the noble people.”
Fonvizin, ‘The minor’
“Certain high ranking person expressed an indignation that town of Morshansk has its own meridian.”
Saltykov Schedrin
“If the globe is a proof of the sphericality of the planet Earth, then a geographical map is a proof that the Earth is flat.”
unknown author
“In the continuation of my journey along the Volga, I went down from my galley to the shore, 20 versts below the city of Kazan, in order to see the remains of ancient Bulgar, a city built by Tamerlane for his grandson.”
Catherine II to Voltaire [1]
Efim Bershin
“Geography is not a science needed by the noble people.”
Fonvizin, ‘The minor’
“Certain high ranking person expressed an indignation that town of Morshansk has its own meridian.”
Saltykov Schedrin
“If the globe is a proof of the sphericality of the planet Earth, then a geographical map is a proof that the Earth is flat.”
unknown author
“In the continuation of my journey along the Volga, I went down from my galley to the shore, 20 versts below the city of Kazan, in order to see the remains of ancient Bulgar, a city built by Tamerlane for his grandson.”
Catherine II to Voltaire [1]
Travel to Asia
Before work of the Code Commission started, Catherine decided to travel by the Volga to get herself familiar with situation in the region and, as she wrote to Voltaire, “create the laws that would serve both Europe and Asia.” [2] The trip was thoroughly prepared. The Atlas "Geographical Description of the Volga River from Tver to Dmitrievsk for Her Imperial Majesty's journey along this river" was compiled in the Geographical Department of the Academy of Sciences. All maps existing at that time, based on materials from 1735-1736, were used to compile the atlas. The texts contain a list of Volga tributaries indicating the distances between their mouths, a description of the turns of the Volga with an indication of the bearings and information about the main cities of the Volga region. More than 1,150 people participated in the trip, including prominent statesmen, court and army ranks, healers and lady-in-waiting. Foreign diplomats with their suites were invited to accompany the empress for the first time. But she did not take with her Grand Duke Paul.
300 "road carriages" and a large number of horses were prepared for the "massion" of Catherine II and court nobles in Tver. Specially equipped carriages carried a wardrobe, screens, appliances, pharmacy. Earlier, on March 2, 1767, a special decree of the Senate was issued, which required the Yam office to have 75 horses at each station where the Empress is supposed to stop.
The flotilla consisted of 25 ships including a galley specially built for the empress.
In April 29 the empress arrived to Tver, on May 2 she boarded the galley and sailed down the river. The first stop was in Yaroslavl where she visited the local manufactures. Her arrival put the end to a protracted dispute between the major and minor merchants who decided that it would be much wiser to define themselves as complete assholes whose “quarrels threaten the city with a complete ruin” then to get “motherly” involvement into the situation. Their consciousness finally took over and in a meeting of all city merchants, with the local policemaster-general being present, they voluntarily decided to repent and make peace and paid taxation money they owned. She was not satisfied with local voyevoda and sent to the Senate an order to replace him.
Then Catherine sailed to Kostroma, reception in which she liked. Presumably, her entourage had been regularly in tears out of joy. The foreign ambassadors went from Kostroma to Moscow and Catherine proceeded to Nizhny Novgorod where she confirmed creation of a merchant company. She was rather unhappy with the local bishop who was clearly unable to prevent mass conversions into the Old Creed. Her general impression was “This city is beautiful in the situation, and the structure is disgusting, only it will get better soon, because I alone need to build both salt and wine shops, so the governor's house, the office and the archive, that everything is either on its side, or close to it.”
On May 26, the flotilla passed along the Kazanka River to the city to the sounds of cannon salute, bell ringing, trumpets and timpani, shouts of "hurrah". The empress's boats and her retinues approached the piers at the Kazan Kremlin, where Catherine II was met by the first persons of the city, the governor of the Orenburg province Prince A. A. Putyatin, officers, nobility and merchants.
“We found a city that can be the capital of a big kingdom in every way; the reception is excellent for me… Everything is very official everywhere; here the triumphal gate is like I haven't seen it even better… You can't leave the place: so many different objects worthy of a look that it may take ten years…. This is a special kingdom, and only here you can see what such a huge enterprise is our legislation and how the existing laws do not correspond to the position of the empire in general. They destroyed countless people, whose fortune has so far been going to disappear, not to multiply; the same is the same with their property.”
To Voltaire she wrote “These laws, about which there have been so many speeches, have not yet been written, and who can be responsible for their good quality? Of course, not us, but the offspring will be able to solve this issue. Imagine that they should serve for Asia and Europe, and what a difference in climate, people, customs and concepts themselves! Here I am in Asia; I wanted to see it with my own eyes. There are 20 different nations in this city, not at all similar to each other. And yet, they need to sew a dress that would fit them equally well on everyone.”
Convinced of the loyalty of Muslims, Catherine II confirmed the course to alleviate their situation in the country (in 1763 she equalized the Tatar merchants in rights with the Russian, and in 1764 liquidated the Office of New Baptism), giving oral permission to build mosques again. In addition, she proposed to teach some categories of civil servants the Tatar language. After the inspection of the city, the Empress approved the provision on its large civil stone building, for which she was instructed to draw up an accurate plan for Kazan.
In general, she liked what she saw: “Here the people all over the Volga are rich and very well-fed, and although the prices are high everywhere, everyone eats bread and no one complains and does not suffer from a deprivation… The earth is as black as in other places you can’t find it in the gardens. In a word, these people are spoiled by God; I did not eat such fish with taste like here, and everything is in abundance, what you can imagine, and I do not know what they would need: everything is there and everything is cheap.”
How can everything be cheap with the high prices we’ll never find out but she was obviously happy, even if inconsistent.
But Simbirsk was a major disappointment. Numerous houses had been confiscated for the debts, their owners were expelled, the empty buildings had been rotting and already were in such a bad condition that the state was not getting any profit. Catherine was trying to figure out how to get both get money and to put people back to their dwellings before they completely perish. It looked like the only way to save the people was just to forgive the debt (taxes on salt and liquor) that amounted to 107,000.
From Simbirsk she went by land to Moscow making one interesting observation: in the eastern provinces (Simbirsk region) the land is black soil but “the people are lazy”, big stretches of land are void of a population and not developed. Further to the west the soil is getting increasingly worse, the settlements are more frequent, there is no unused land and more grain is produced.”
She arrived to Moscow on June 22 and attended the Senate session at which she declared that during the travel she received more than 600 written complaints, none about the bribes. The Empress, with a straight face, expressed pleasure that since there were no complaints against any government person, it means that justice is in good condition, the administrators and judges conduct the cases unselfishly [3].
Most of the complaints were from the serfs complaining about the oppression by their owners and were returned with a warning that they should not do this in a future. These complaints could be ignored but there were never-ending reports of the peasant unrests (term “Peasants” included workers of various manufactures). By law the serfs sending petitions regarding their owners were rebels and could be executed or beaten and sent to katorga or to their owners and that law was vigorously enforced. However, the Senate in its wisdom came to an amazing conclusion that sometimes the acts of rebellion could be caused by excessively strict behavior of the owners and few senators volunteered to travel to these estate owners and privately and secretly discuss with them the possible reasons for these unfortunate accidents.
It was somewhat different on the state-owned manufactures because, as was the case with the Nerchinsk silver plant, this may indicate that administration was stealing from the state. In most cases the officials guilty of that sin, even if aggravated by lying while under the oath, were just fired from the state service.
Not to be forgotten, during the journey, Catherine II and her retinue carried out a collective translation of the work by J.-F. Marmontel "Velisarius" (fr. Bélisaire), sent to the empress by the author. Each translator got a part of the essay by lot. Also during the journey of M. M. Heraskov and the circle of courtiers accompanying the empress translated a number of articles of the Encyclopedia. Hersakov himself translated articles related to poetry, verbal sciences and magic. A. C Naryshkin translated the articles "Economics (moral and political)" by Rousseau and "Natural Law" by Diderot. The book "Translations from the Encyclopedia" was printed in three parts in 1767.
__________
[1] All my attempts to compose a comment worthy of the original failed miserably. 😢
[2] See above about geography not being a science suitable for the nobility.
[3] I wonder if the Senate would consider a purchase of the Brooklyn Bridge…
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