conceal their design from all suspicion, Mr. Crustiew and Mr. Panow were on the 30th of March deputed to wait on the governor with five and twenty of their associates, to request that he would be pleased to receive the title of PROTECTOR of the new colony; and the embassy was not only favourably received, but orders were given to prepare every thing that might be necessary for the execution. of the project. At this crisis, however, an accident occurred which had nearly overturned the success of the scheme; and as it tends to discover the disposition of the count, we shall relate it in his own words.

"About ten o'clock this day (1st of April, 1771), I received a message from miss Nilow, that she would call on me in the afternoon, requesting at the same time that I would be alone, because she had affairs of importance to communicate. As I supposed the latter part of this message to be mere pleasantry, I was far from expecting any extraordinary information; and my surprise at the event was much greater, as I had not the least reason to suppose she had made any discovery of my intentions. Miss Nilow arrived at three in the afternoon: her agitation on her first appearance convinced me that she was exceedingly afflicted. At sight of me she paused a moment, and soon after burst into tears, and threw herself into my arms, crying out, that she was unfortunate and forsaken. Her sighs and tears were so extreme, that it was more than a quarter of an hour before I could obtain a connected sentence. I was extremely affected at her situation, and used every expedient to calm her mind, but this was extremely difficult, because I was entirely ignorant of the reason of her affliction. As soon as she became a little composed, she begged me to shut the door, that no one might interrupt us. I came back, and on my knees intreated her to explain the cause of her present situation, which she did to the following effect:

"She informed me that her maid had discovered to her, that a certain person named Ivan Kudrin, one of my associates, had proposed to her to share his fortune, and that this indiscreet person had assured the girl, that he was about to quit Kamschatka with me, to make a voyage to Europe, where he hoped to place her in an agreeable situation. The maid had first related the circumstance to her mistress; but as she could never believe me capable of such base and treacherous behaviour to her, she was desi

rous of hearing the account herself, and had, for that purpose, persuaded the maid to appoint a meeting with Kudrin, in order to question him more amply, while she herself might hear the whole, by being concealed behind a curtain. In this manner, she said, she became convinced of her unhappiness and my treachery, and that she would have spared me the confusion of hearing this, if, from a conviction that she could not live after such an affront, she had not been desirous of bidding me a last farewell.

"On finishing these words she fainted, and though I was exceedingly alarmed and distressed on the occasion, yet I did not fail to arrange a plan in my mind, during the interval of her insensibility. When this amiable young lady recovered, she asked if she might give credit to what she had heard. I then threw myself at her feet, and entreated her to hear me calmly, and judge whether I was to blame or not. She promised she would, and I addressed her in the following terms:

"You may recollect, my dear friend, the account I gave you of my birth, and the rank I held in Europe; I remember the tears you shed on that occasion. The misfortune of being exiled to Kamschatka would long since have compelled me to deliver myself from tyranny by death, if your acquaintance and attachment had not preserved me. I have lived for you, and if you could read my heart, I am sure I should have your pity; for the possession of your person is become as necessary to my existence as liberty itself. The liberty I speak of is not that which your worthy father has given me, but implies the possession of my estate and rank. I have hoped for the possession of your person, with a view of rendering you happy in the participation of my fortune and dignity. These views cannot be accomplished at Kamschatka. What rank can I bestow on my love but that of an exile? The favours of your worthy father may be of the shortest duration. His successor may soon recal his ordinances, and plunge me again into that state of suffering and contempt, from which I was delivered for a short moment. Represent to yourself, my dearest friend, the affliction and despair that would overwhelm my soul, when I beheld you a sharer in my pain and disgrace; for you well know that all the Russians esteem the exiles as dishonoured persons. You have forced me to this declaration of my intentions, in which I have been guided by the attachment and sincerity of my heart. I deferred the com

munication to you, but I swear that such was my resolution."-"Why then," interrupted she, "did you conceal your intention from me, who am ready to follow you to the farthest limits of the universe?" This assurance encouraged me to proceed, and engage this charming young lady in my interests. I told her, therefore, that I was prevented only by the fear lest she should refuse my proposals on account of her attachment to her parents; but that, as I now had ning to fear in that respect, I could inform her, that my intention being to leave Kamschatka, I had determined to carry her off; and in order to convince her, I was ready to call Mr. Crustiew, who would confirm the truth. On this assurance she embraced me, and entreated me to forgive her want of confidence, at the same time that she declared her readiness to accompany me.

"This degree of confidential intercourse being established, I persuaded her to dismiss every fear from her mind. Many were the trials I made of her resolution, and the event convinced me that she was perfectly determined to follow my fortunes. The secret being thus secure, by her promise to keep it inviolably, I had no other uneasiness remaining but what arose from the communication having been made to her servant. I mentioned my fears to miss Nilow, who removed them, by assuring me that her servant was too much attached to her to betray her secret, and had, besides, an affection for Kudrin, so that she could answer for her discretion. Thus agreeably ended our conversation, though the commencement was rather tragical, and I received the vows of attachment and fidelity from an artless and innocent mind."

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On the 23d of April 1771, however, "Miss Aphanasia," says the count, came to me incognito. She informed me that her mother was in tears, and her father talked with her in a manner which gave reason to fear that he suspected our plot. She conjured me to be careful, and not to come to the fort if sent for. She expressed her fears that it would not be in her power to come to me again, but promised she would in that case send her servant; and she entreated me at all events, if I should be compelled to use force against the government, I would be careful of the life of her father, and not endanger my own. I tenderly embraced this charming young lady, and thanked her for the interest she took in my preservation; and as it appeared important that her absence should not be discovered, I

begged her to return and recommend the issue of our intentions to good fortune. Before her departure I reminded her to look minutely after her father, and to send me a red ribband in case government should determine to arrest or attack me; and, in the second place, that at the moment of an alarm, she would open the shutter of her window which looked to the garden, and cause a sledge to be laid. over the ditch on that side. She promised to comply with my instructions, and confirmed her promises with vows and tears."

The apprehensions of this faithful girl for the safety of the man she loved, were far from being without foundation; and on the 26th of April she sent the count two red ribbands, to signify the double danger to which she perceived he was exposed. The count, however, coolly prepared to brave the impending storm, and gave orders to the leaders of his associates, amounting in all to fifty-nine persons, to place themselves at the head of their divisions, and station themselves round his house, in readiness to act in the night, in case an attack should be made by the cossacks of the town, and soldiers of the garrison, who, it was rumoured, were busied in preparing their arms. At five o'clock in the evening, a corporal, with four grenadiers, stopped at the count's door, demanding admittance in the name of the empress, and ordered him to follow the guard to the fort. The count, however, proposed, from a window, to the corporal, that he should enter alone and drink a glass of wine; but, on his being admitted, the door was instantly shut upon him, and four pistols clapped to his breast, by the terror of which he was made to disclose every thing that was transacting at the fort, and at length obliged to call the four grenadiers separately into the house, under pretence of drinking, when they were all five bound together, and deposited safely in the cellar.

This measure was, of course, the signal of resistance, and the count marshalling his associates, who had secretly furnished themselves with arms and ammunition by the treachery of the store-keepers, issued forth from the house to oppose, with greater advantage, another detachment who had been sent to arrest him. After levelling several soldiers to the ground, the count, by the mismanagement of their commander, seized their cannon, turned them with success against the fort itself, and, entering by means of the drawbridge, dispatched the twelve remaining guards who

were then within it. "Madame Nilow and her children," says the count, "at sight of me implored my protection to save their father and husband. I immediately hastened to his apartment, and begged him to go to his children's room to preserve his life, but he answered that he would first take mine, and instantly fired a pistol, which wounded me. I was desirous nevertheless of preserving him, and continued to represent that all resistance would be useless, for which reason I entreated him to retire. His wife and children threw themselves on their knees, but nothing would avail; he flew upon me, seized me by the throat, and left me no other alternative than either to give up my own life, or run my sword through his body. At this period the petard, by which my associates attempted to make a breach, exploded, and burst the outer gate. The second was open, and I saw Mr. Panow enter at the head of a party. He entreated the governor to let me go, but not being able to prevail on him, he set me at liberty by splitting his skull."

The count by this event became complete master of the fort, and by the cannon and ammunition which he found on the rampart, was enabled, with the ready and active assistance of his now increased associates, to repel the attack which was made upon him by the cossacks; but flight, not resistance, was the ultimate object of this bold commander; and in order to obtain this opportunity, he dispatched a drum and a woman as a sign of parley to the cossacks, who had quitted the town and retired to the heights, with a resolution to invest the fort and starve the insurgents, informing them of his resolution to send a detachment of associates into the town to drive all the women and children into the church, and there to burn them all to death, unless they laid down their arms. While this embassy was sent, preparation was made for carrying the threat it contained into immediate execution; but by submitting to the proposal, the execution of this horrid measure was rendered unnecessary, and the count not only received into the fort fifty-two of the principal inhabitants of the town, as hostages for the fidelity of the rest, but procured the archbishop to preach a sermon in the church in favour of the revolution. The count was now complete governor of Kamschatka; and having time, without danger, to prepare every thing necessary for the intended departure, he amused himself with ransacking the archives of the town, where he found several manuscripts of voyages made to the eastward