COXe’s TRAVELS IN RUSSIA.

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5. The very arguments advanced by the Ruffians to prove his impofture, ftronglyeftablilh the contrary pofition. For how was the reality of his imperial defcent invali-dated by his being a forcerer, an heretic, or a mufician; by his prediledtion to the Poles,not bowing to the image of St. Nicholas , not bathing, eating veal, and fuch frivolous ac*cufations ? Does not the adoption of thefe nugatory infinuations belpeak a great defi-ciency of folid arguments ? They may incline, indeed, the Ruffians to believe him anufurper, but do not prove him one in the eyes of difpaffionate judges. The truth feemsto be, that as he began to lofe the affedtion of his fubjects by his inconfiderate contemptof their cuftoms and religion, thefe, and many other unfavourable reports, calculatedto raife and increafe the popular odium, were circulated by the intrigues of Vaffili Shu-ifki, who, upon his affaffination, was raifed to the throne.

The fame remarks extend, with ftill greater force, to the affertion, that the body in-terred at Uglitz was that of the real Demetrius from its uncorrupted date, and the mi-racles it performed. For the uncorrupted ftate of the body, when firft conveyed toMofcow, evidently proves it to have been fuppofititious ; and the miracles it is laid tohave performed will convert no profelytes without the pale of the Ruffian church.When every expedient failed of convincing the generality of the Ruffians, that the Tzar was an import or, recourfe was had to pretended miracles and facred relics. And it muftbe allowed, that this method of convincing an ignorant and fuperftitious people, -whodoubted (and there were many who doubted) was a ftroke of the mod confummate po-licy ; as by thefe means the affertions of Vaffili Shuifki were fan&ioned by an ecclefi-adical decree; and the impofture of his rival became an article of public faith. Indeed,fuch is the fuperftition with which the ufurpation of Grifka is ftill maintained, that evenat this diftance of time no Ruffian hiftorian could venture to hint that Demetrius wasnot affaffinated at Uglitz, and that the perfon who affumed his name was not Grifka:for it would be contradicting a fundamental principle of belief, and rejecting the relicsof a faint much revered in this country.

No. II .—Geographical Divifion of the Ruffian Empire into Governments , Provinces , and

D if riels.

AS the new divifion of Ruffia into governments, provinces, and diftricts, by Catharinethe Second, has totally altered the geography of that vaft empire ; and as no accurateaccount of the general divifion yet given to the public has fallen under my obfervation,I fhall here fubjoin a lift communicated to me in February 1785, from undoubted au-thority.

In comparing this lift of governments with that given, in book 6. ch. i. of this work,the reader will find a difference in the number and names of the governments ; for in-ftance, this lift enumerates forty-one, the other forty governments. This lift mentionsthe governments of Archangel , Catherinenflaf, Olonetz, and Caucafus ; and the otherthofe of Aftracan, Azof, and New Ruffia. But this difference may eafily be recon-ciled, by confidering that the former lift was made in 1782, the latter in 1784, when re-

public recantation poftponed to fo late a period ? and why was the not confronted with the Tzar , when herepeatedly appealed to her teftimony as the ftrongetl proof of his being the real Demetrius J Have wenot every reafon to conclude, either that the did not publicly retradt her former atfeverations in his favour ;or that, being in Vaffili Shuilki’s power, the was finally compelled to act in fufeierviency to his mandate ?

veral