The death of Catherine the Great brought her son, the Emperor Paul, to the throne. This imperial Hamlet — whose youth was constantly overshadowed by the fate of his father — had always considered his mother in the light of a usurper. Constant brooding over his uTongs and misfortunes had made him in reality little better than a madman. "You must know," he once declared to a foreign ambassador soon after his accession, "that there is no one worth considering in Russia, except the person to whom I am speaking, and then only during the time I am addressing myself to him." But the Emperor Paul had little of the character of Louis XIV except his overwhelming self-conceit. The Tsar hated everyone who had found favour in his mother's eyes. Every plan by which she had raised her adopted country to be the first Power of Europe, even the glorious military traditions of Catherine's reign, were set at naught and reWsed. Paul's mania for reforming and his passion for copying Prussian models did not even spare the national uniforms of the Russian army, so suitable for the changing climate and conditions of steppe warfare. These were replaced by tight-fitting Prussian military tunics, plaited queues, buckled shoes, gaiters and the awkward beaver hats worn by Frederick's troops of the line.*
How seriously the Emperor was attached to these military details is shown by his treatment of the veteran general Souvarov, hero of a hundred victorious battles, who was sent to Siberia for composing a little rhyme in which the virtues of "wigpowder" and "gun-powder" were somewhat disrespectfully compared.
"Russia no longer looks for conquest, nor warlike aggrandizement — only for peace." This was the platitudinous message which Paul's diplomats were instructed to deliver to a distracted Europe I
In pursuit of his mania for undoing the schemes of his great predecessor, the Russian troops on the frontiers of Persia were so abruptly withdrawn that the brave little kingdom of Georgia, which for centuries had formed the bulwark of Christianity against the forces of Islam, was left to bear, almost without warning, the brunt of the uneven struggle.
During this time the subject of our sketch, the Hetman Platov, like many others of Catherine's party, had the misfortune to fall under the morbid displeasure of the Emperor. No reasons were given for the order which exiled him to the provincial capital of Kostroma, from which place he was soon
* See Rambaud, "Histoire de Russie," p. 513.
afterwards brought under heavy guard to Petrograd and imprisoned in the fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul.*
Platov has himself described the painful conditions of his capti\ity passed in company with many other distinguished officials of Catherine's reign. How this second involuntary stay in the capital must have recalled strange memories of his first •vasit! "Even in Summer the dampness and cold which radiate from the walls of our prisons penetrate to the very bones. In the hot season we all suffer from fever. In winter, however, our condition is far worse. We must then huddle together about the stoves to keep from freezing, in spite of the blinding sting of the wood smoke which fills our cells. Nearly all of us are half blind from this cause. Our only distraction is to watch the antics of the rats. These are everywhere, but though at first odious, they have finally became my most sjTnpathetic companions."
Like many another brave soldier of Catherine's army, Platov might have remained forgotten among the sad company gathered in this famous fortress until death released him, had not a fresh turn in the weather-vane of Paul's foreign policy incidentally recalled him to his sovereign's
* It is now known that Platov was accused of tampering with the loyalty of the Kirghiz and Kalmouk tribesmen with whom the honest soldier had become popular during his campaign along the Kouban.
memory. The course of the French Revolution had been diverted by the personal ambitions of Bonaparte into channels more acceptable to Paul's autocratic views. Moreover the cowardice or treachery shown by his Austrian allies during the campaign against the French in Switzerland had cooled his enthusiasm for the Hapsburgs. Napoleon's great victory over the Austrian armies at Marengo was applauded all over Russia. The English ambassador, always alert to note the varying changes of Paul's enthusiasms, now reported that "portraits of Bonaparte are found even in the public rooms of the imperial palaces."