More maneuvers were organized in Kremenchug, with 45 squadrons of cavalry and numerous infantry; “I have rarely seen such a beautiful and brilliant army,” notes Segur. Ekaterina also wrote in her letters to Eropkin and Saltykov: “Here I found 8 light horse regiments, about which the late Panin and many other old women said that they were only on paper, but yesterday I saw with my own eyes that those regiments are not card regiments, but in fact they are beautiful.”
In general, everything that Catherine saw here, everything that the magician and wizard Potemkin showed her, aroused her delight and admiration. “We all really liked Kremenchug,” she wrote to Saltykov: “especially Ambassador Yuev, who did not receive a partisan among us, and if I had known that Kremenchug was the way I found it, I would have moved long ago... To see that it is not in vain that I have confidence in the abilities of Field Marshal Prince. Potemkin, you should come to his province, where all units are arranged as possible better and more decent: the troops that are here are such that even foreigners praise them without falsehood; cities are being built, there are no arrears. In three Little Russia provinces, because nothing has been given movement, arrears reach up to a million; The cities are disgusting, and nothing is being done.”
The empress considered it her duty to express her pleasure to its main culprit, Potemkin; she told him: “From St. Petersburg to Kev, it seemed to me that the springs of my empire had weakened from use; here he is in full strength and strength.” (Segur).
The Empress of Kremenchug was in the most joyful mood! "If you knew," she wrote to Grimm, "what was being said and going on every day in my galleys, you would die of laughter. All these people traveling with me, 'have become so accustomed to me that they feel at home.'
[fragment illegible in the scan of the first edition]
Catherine was supposed to come to Kherson with the German Emperor, Iosiem P.
This was not the first time that a representative of the brilliant House of Habsburg was going to spoil Ross1. He was already visiting Catherine 7 years ago, in 1780. It was a political policy: Austria had to “tear Russia away from the alliance with Pruscha”; Austrian diplomats tried to “restore the previous friendly relations”
between the imperial courts,” and for this they had to “spare neither labor nor money.” For this purpose, Tosif, who was then still heir to the throne, went to Russia.
Tosie came under the name of Count Falkenstein, and met with Catherine in Mogilev; then he visited Moscow, and again visited the empress in St. Petersburg and in Tsarskoe village. Catherine prepared with great interest and even, as if with fear, for this prize of the royal community; she complained to her son that she was sweating just thinking about the upcoming meeting; When the meeting took place, she tried to thoroughly study the guest. Catherine really liked Count Falkenstein; she was captivated by his courtesy, his eloquence and education. “I wouldn’t finish if I started praising him,” Catherine wrote to Grimm. “This is the most thorough, deepest, most enlightened head I know. Well, whoever gets ahead of him will have to get up early. If you happen to talk to him, he will take over your entire ear, and you won’t hear enough of him.” To please Catherine, Gosie ordered a memorial service to be celebrated for the repose of Voltaire’s soul...
They also talked about politics then, Catherine asked the guest if he, as a future emperor, was going to take over Rome. He answered her in the same tone, that it would be easier for her to capture the second Rome (i.e., Constantinople) than for him to capture the first. The Second Rome was not the property of Catherine; but this did not prevent her from acquiring Crimea and penetrating the Black Sea. For this
Tosif P, Austria! emperor
I had to be grateful. Now a new war was coming with Turschey; there was a lot to discuss; Tosif should have become familiar with the forces of Russia, with its readiness for war. It was especially important to see the newly acquired Novorossya and Taurida. There he and UBhal are now on a date with Catherine.