"The next day I received a letter from Potemkin in which he apologized for his fault and made a new appointment. I appeared to him, and this time, as soon as I entered, I was immediately greeted by the prince; he was powdered, dressed up, in a caftan with braid, and received me in his office." He was very interested in the American order with which the ambassador was decorated; “Since he loved orders very much, he picked up, turned over and examined my Order of Cincinnati many times, and wanted to know what kind of order it was... Having started talking about his favorite subject, he spent almost an hour talking with me about various Russian and European orders.”.
From then on, the Russian prince and the French count became friends, and Segur regularly visited Potemkin; he asked him “to be friends and abandon all ceremony.” Now in K!ev Segur has hit Potemkin more than once. These tributes were in no way similar to those at Catherine's court. "If someone went up to the Pechersk Monastery to visit Potemkin, who was stationed there," says Segur, "he would have thought that he was present at the vizier's meeting in Constantinople, Baghdad or Cairo. Silence and some kind of fear reigned there. Whether due to an innate inclination towards nb5g, or from a feigned high spirit, which he considered It’s amazing to discover that this powerful and whimsical favorite of Catherine, showing up in a field marshal’s uniform, covered with orders with diamonds, all in sewn and braided, combed, powdered - most often he wore a fur-lined robe, with an open neck, in wide Tuels, with loose and unkempt hair; He usually lay lounging on a wide sofa, surrounded by many officers and the most significant dignitaries of the empire; He rarely invited anyone to sit down and almost always played chess diligently, and therefore did not consider himself obliged to pay attention to the Russians or foreigners who flattered him.
"I knew these oddities. But since most of those present did not know about the sincere reciprocity that had established itself between us, I confess that my pride sometimes suffered when the thought occurred to me that foreigners would see the ambassador of the French king forced to submit, in opposition to others, to the arrogance and whims of Potemkin. But, in order not to arouse false rumors, I acted as follows: when I I came to him and was informed that I entered, and seeing that the prince was sitting at chess, not deigning to look at me, I walked straight up to him, grabbed his head with both hands, kissed him and simply sat down next to him on the sofa. This familiarity surprised the audience a little, but since it did not seem unwise to Potemkin, then everyone understood my attitude towards him.”
Segur kept an eye on Rossi's relationship with Turshi. Potemkin, in his opinion, wanted war; Segur did everything to prevent war. Svftliypiyy more than once told the ambassador: “It became clear that yours, ours, the most educated in the world, will always be the protector of the Isouvfrs and the non-FJs. And all under the pretext of trade benefits, which could be completely replaced for you with benefits to the Archipelago. All of Europe is right to blame Francia, who stubbornly guards barbarism and plague in her bowels." Segur responded to this that the French king was striving to preserve universal peace, and the fall of Turchy would have caused a general war in Europe. "So be it," said Potemkin, "if you absolutely want to preserve plague and believe that the Christian state or the Greek republics will be less favorable for your trade than the proud, self-willed and arrogant Muslims. But, at the very least, you would have to agree that the Turks should stay within natural, decent borders to avoid the constantly expected wars.” “I understand,” replied Segur. “You need Ochakov and Ackerman, this is almost the same as demanding Constantinople.”...
"On those days when Prince Potemkin did not receive guests, or, better to say, did not play the role of the ruler of Azatia, I loved to visit him at home, to see him surrounded by kind nieces and friends. He was a different person, it is true, always quirky, but witty, and he always made the most varied conversations interesting."
Here, at breakfast with his saint, Segur once had to witness a curious scene, as the prince himself with his nieces and friends tried to smuggle precious lace, prov.