b o o k through weaknefs, and partly through mifconducft, was over-
, / , powered. Another corps, who, in order to join the former,
marched from Simbirfk up the Samara, under the command
o f general Tchernichef, (fo ill were the operations concerted)
arrived too late. Deceived by parties o f Pugatchef’s fpl-
lowers, they were drawn into the defiles near Tcherno-
rethinlk, and fo fuddenly befet, that they were incapable of
making any refiftanoe. In all thefe actions, the officers who
fell into Pugatchef’s hands were indifcriminately maflacred;
and the common foldiers were either made prifbners or joined
the rebels. His army being confiderably augmented by thefe
fuccefles, he ventured to befiage Orenburg, where the governor
had fcarce forces fufficient to defend the fortifications;
and the town would have been inevitably taken, if the gar-
rifon o f Krafrogorlk had not thrown themfelves into the
place by forcing their way through the befiegers.
As footi as the report o f Pugatchef’s progrefs was difle-
•minated, the Bafchkirs, a people unfettled under the Ruffian
"government, declared immediately for the impoffor, and
joined him in large bodies : their example was followed by
many Ruffian colaniils, and particularly by the peafants employed
in the mines and founderies o f the Uralian mountains *.
Thefe forces he either employed in the liege of Orenburg,
before which town he fpent part o f the winter in all poffible
adfs of wantonnefs, drunkennefs, and cruelty, or fent them
to colleft money from the founderies, and to caff copper
guns., and balls, which he ufed in battering Orenburg.
At this time his army was fo ffrong, that all the
forces which could be drawn from Cafan could fcarcely op-
pofe him at the ridge of the mountains lying between that
town and Orenburg. In this fame winter he received a pow-
* T h e U ra lian mountains abound in copp er mines.
<5 erful
P U G A T C H E F.
erful reinforcement by the jundtioh o f i x,ooo Calmuc horfe
from the neighbourhood o f Stauropol, who revolted and'— .— *
killed their commander brigadier Vegetak. Strengthened
by thefe acceffions, his troops roved over the whole mountainous
diftridt of Orenburg, where only the fmall town of
Upha made the leaft refiftance. He was even advancing to
Catharienburg, where he would have found copper coin to
the value of ,£200,000 ; but a delay, occafioned by a faliV
report that afuperior force was marching againfl him, fortunately
afforded time to colledt the foldiers Rationed on the
Siberian frontiers, and to cover that place.
At firft Pugatchef affedled the appearance o f uncommon
fan ¿fit y : he frequently put on the epifcopal drefs ; gave his
benedidfion to the people ; renounced all ambitious views
for himfelf ; and exprefled a refolution that, as foon as he
had raifed his fon the great-duke to the throne, he would
again retire into the monaflery, which had given him an
aiylum upon his efcape from prifon. He was alfo active anil
enterprizing, eager to fignalize his arms, and ready to feize
every advantage which the fituation of thé enemy prefented :
but incapable of fupportirig with equanimity his fuccefles
which followed each other with.Rich rapidity, he began to
confiderall further diffimulation as unneceffary ; he became
for fome time dilatory in his meafures,and his natural temper
broke out into the moft unwarrantable excelles-.
He had omitted the moft favourable opportunity of
marching towards Mofcow, where the fpirit o f rebellion had
penetrated, and which would probably have fallen into his
hands, as it was defended by only 600 regular troops, and
as the Turkifh war prevented marfhal Romanzof from fending
any great detachment from the troops on the Danube.
Inftead of vigoroufly continuing the progrefs of his army, he
paffed