Alexander Suvorov

“ Of men born for battle, to whose ears the roar of cannon and the clash of sabres are the only music, the smoke of conflict their native atmosphere, Suwarrow (Suvarof, to give him his Russian name) stands among the foremost. A little, wrinkled, stooping man, five feet four inches in height and sickly in appearance, he was the last to whom one would have looked for great deeds in war or mighty exploits in the embattled field. ”

“ Louange à Catherine! Toutoukai est pris. Souwaroff y est entré." W. Tooke (Life of Catherine II., 1800, iii. 278) . Castéra's translator, gives the original Russian with an English version. But according to Spalding (Suvóroff, 1890, pp. 42, 43) , the words, which were written on a scrap of paper, and addressed to Soltikoff, ran thus: "Your Excellency, we have conquered. Glory to God! Glory to you! Alexander Suvóroff." When Ismail was taken he wrote to Potemkin, "The Russian standard floats above the walls of Ismail," and to the Empress, "Proud Ismail lies at your Majesty's feet." ”

“ Many officers confidently rely on the fleet. They look on the four new battleships, Suvaroff, Borodino, Alexander, and Orel, as invincible. [217] The Japanese will put forth all their power to destroy the Suvaroff, in which is the admiral commanding the whole fleet. The torpedo attacks and the fire of all guns will be concentrated on the Suvaroff. She will be exposed to the greatest danger. It will be less dangerous in the other ships, especially in the Borodino and Orel. ”

“ Does not honour and a decent code of patriotism require that, sir?”
He asked the question of Bertram, who did not answer.
“We think,” said Prince Alexander Suvaroff slowly, and with a touch of embarrassment, “that England, and other countries, made a mistake in supporting the attacks of men like Wrangel and Denikin. Bad as the Bolsheviks are, as God knows, the leaders of the White Armies were, perhaps, equally corrupt. My son expresses the thought of the younger generation.” ”

“ In 1784 he became major-general, in 1787 governor-general of the Crimea; and under Suvorov, whose constant companion he became, he won considerable distinction in the Turkish War of 1788–91, at the taking of Ochakov, Odessa, Benda and Ismail, and the battles of Rimnik and Mashin. He was now (1791) a lieutenant-general, and successively occupied the positions of ambassador at Constantinople, governor-general of Finland, commandant of the corps of cadets at St Petersburg, ambassador at Berlin, and governor-general of St Petersburg. ”

“ He was, further, a man of phlegmatic and unforgiving character, and above all of great cunning—in fact a thorough Tartar—rather a courtier than a general, but redoubtable on account of his reputation. To the Russians his person, his conversation, his dress, and, last but not least, his superstitions and even his age, recalled Suvoroff and the Russia of the days of Catharine the Great—a fact that endeared him to his fellow-countrymen. In Moscow the popular enthusiasm aroused by his appointment was so great that the people exchanged congratulatory embraces in the streets. ”

“ Suvaroff was bent upon a ceaseless pursuit of the enemy; the Austrian Council insisted upon the reduction of fortresses. What at first appeared as a mere difference of military opinion appeared in its true political character when the allied troops entered Piedmont. The Czar desired with his whole soul to crush the men of the Revolution, and to restore the governments which France had overthrown. As soon as his troops entered Turin, Suvaroff proclaimed the restoration of the House of Savoy, and summoned all Sardinian officers to fight for their King. ”

“ In spite of her injuries, the Suvaroff held off a swarm of cruisers and destroyers until at last torpedoed at 7.20 p. m.
The Russian battleships had meanwhile described a large circle to southward, and at 5 p. m. were again steaming north, accompanied by some of their cruisers and train. Attacked once more between 6 and 7 o'clock, and almost incapable of defense, the Alexander III and Borodino went down, making 4 ships lost out of the 5 new vessels that had formed the backbone of Rojdestvensky's forces. In the gathering darkness. Nebogatoff collected the survivors and staggered northward. ”

“ He had all the contempt of a man of ability and action for ignorant favourites and ornamental carpet-knights. But his drolleries served, sometimes to hide, more often to express, a soldierly genius, the effect of which the Russian army has not outgrown. If the tactics of the Russians in the war of 1904-05 reflected too literally some of the maxims of Suvárov's Turkish wars, the spirit of self-sacrifice, resolution and indifference to losses there shown was a precious legacy from those wars. ”

“ Alexander Vasilievich Suvaroff (1729-1800) , a Russian general who fought against the Turks, in the Polish wars, and in the early Napoleonic campaigns. When he took Ismail in 1790 he sent this couplet to Empress Catherine.
[177] "Newton hath determined rightly," "Newton hath not determined rightly." ”

“ A chill seized Suvaroff. He began to shake, and in the next instant a fever burned his cheeks. His head was full of little darting pains. He turned away from the Italian, impatiently. "You must be a pretty sort of man to let a little hunchback frighten you! Good night."
And with that Suvaroff went out, slamming the door.
When Suvaroff got to his room he felt dizzy. He threw himself on the bed and lay for some time in a stupor. When he came to his senses again the first sound to greet him was the wail of his neighbor's accordion. ”

“ All, from the highest order to the lowest, look to the fulfillment of their ancient prophecy, that "All the world is to be conquered by the arms of Russia." Should some man of resplendent genius, like Suwarrow, chance to command, there is no calculating on the position to which the Russian army might attain. Suwarrow was not alone fitted to lead an army, but was exactly the general to form one: his frankness and generosity, and the manner in which his habits identified him with his soldiers, endeared him to the army ”

“ One morning a large packet was brought to him by an Imperial courier. To his astonishment, and the amusement of his staff, it was but models of tails and curls. Suvaroff gave vent to a sneer, a much more fatal thing than a sarcasm, in some Russian verses, amounting to—
"Hair-powder is not gunpowder;
Curls are not cannon;
Tails are not bayonets."
The general's rough poetry was instantly popular; it spread through the army, it travelled back to Russia, it reached the Imperial ear; the Czar [Pg 220] was stung by the burlesque, and Suvaroff was recalled. ”

“ Such was the most conspicuous figure at Moscow in those days, Prince Yusúpov, a Tatar prince, a grand seigneur of European reputation, and a Russian grandee of brilliant intellect and great fortune. He was surrounded by a whole pleiad of grey-haired Don Juans and freethinkers—such 97men as Masalski, Santi, and the rest. They were all men of considerable mental development and culture ”

“ Thus ended this extraordinary march, which had cost Suwarrow all his artillery, nearly all his horses, and a third of his men.
These losses in the Russian armies stirred the czar to immeasurable rage. All the missing officers—who were prisoners in France—were branded as deserters, and Suwarrow was deprived of his command, ostensibly for his failure, but largely for the sarcasm already mentioned. He returned home to die, having experienced what a misfortune it is for a great man to be at the mercy of a fool in authority. ”

“ I am afraid to go out. There is somebody waiting for me. Tell me, did you see a cripple standing on the corner, near Bollo's Wine Shop, as you came in?"
Suvaroff reflected. "Well, not a cripple, exactly. But I saw a hunchback with—with—"
"Yes! yes!" cried the other, excitedly. "A hunchback with a handsome face! That is he! I am afraid of him. For three days he has sat there, waiting!"
"For you? How absurd! Why should any one do such a ridiculous thing?"
The Italian slipped his hands from the accordion and laid it aside. "Nobody but one who is mad would do it, but he is mad. ”

“ The victory was splendid, the booty immense, the Turkish army a second time utterly dispersed—a necessary consequence of the nature of its composition—and the number of killed and wounded much greater than at Fokshani. Prince Coburg, on account of this victory, in which he was entitled to little share, was created a field-marshal; Suvarov received the dignity of a count of the empire from the emperor Joseph, and the empress of Russia for once gave an honourable surname to a man who had really earned it by his personal services ”

“ Yushnevski’s widow was treated as a lady of the first consequence in Siberia; the official figures of the Siberian census were corrected by means of statistics supplied by the exiles; and Minich, in his prison, managed the affairs of the province of Tobolsk, the Governors themselves resorting to him for advice in matters of importance.
The common people are even more friendly to the exiles; they always take the side of men who have been punished. ”

“ On looking at him, I was afraid that he had not sufficient strength to struggle with the rough young men who were pouncing upon Russia from all corners of Europe: but the Russian courtiers at Petersburg become Tartars at the army: and we have seen by Suwarow that neither age nor honors can enervate their physical and moral energy. I was moved at taking leave of this illustrious Marshal Kutusow; I knew not whether I was embracing a conqueror or a martyr, but I saw that he had the fullest sense of the grandeur of the cause in which he was employed. ”

“ Why should you assail it merely because it does not harmonise with your theories?"
"My theories!" said Savrola. "Is that the name you give to the lines of soldiers with loaded rifles that guard this palace, or to the Lancers I saw spearing the people in the square a week ago?"
His voice had grown strangely vehement and his manner thrilled her. "You will ruin us," she said weakly.
"No," he replied with his grand air, "you can never be ruined. Your brilliancy and beauty will always make you the luckiest of women, and your husband the luckiest of men." ”

“ Then Souvaroff related the story of his imprisonment, his transportation to Siberia, his work in the Kara silver mines, and his subsequent escape and journey to England, where he had been joined by his daughter. Some English people thought, said he, that Russia was not prepared for the freedom the Narodnoe Pravo would like to see it possess; but he assured me that the time for autocracy was past, that the Tzar’s Empire had outgrown the period of benevolent despotism, and that the Russian people were quite capable of governing themselves. ”

“ Nadia spoke again, very gently, to avoid any hurt to her father and mother.
“The soul of our people will never die. It is a great, simple, and generous soul, as I know now by working among the peasants. Presently this régime will change. It is already changing. It will become moderate. Russia will get new liberties. There will be a greater happiness than before.”
Suvaroff shook his head.
“Russia is famine-stricken and diseased. For the sins of those who rule us, and for our own sins in the past, we shall perish as a civilisation.” ”

“ The Russian is a submissive man, and even capable of strong attachment to the throne: but there is no spot of the earth where national injury is more deeply resented; and Paul had been regarded as tarnishing the fame of Russia. His abandonment of Suwarrow—a warrior, of whom the annals of the Russian army will bear record to the end of time—had stung all classes. More than a soldier, Suwarrow was a great military genius. He gained battles without tactics, and in defiance of them. He had astonished the Austrian generals by the fierce rapidity of his movements ”

“ The genius of Suwarrow was superior to every difficulty, and led him to fame and honors such as few have ever attained. Though born of a good family, he had neither money nor interest to advance him, but pushed his own fortunes from his boyhood. He rose to the rank of colonel when he was but twenty-nine. He was nominated general-in-chief for having compelled the Tartars to submit to the Russian arms. He was created a count, and obtained the surname of Rimnisky for a victory over the Turks near the river Rimnisky, by which he saved the Prince of Saxe Coburg and the imperial army. ”

“ The French are unanimous in ascribing their defeat to Joubert's delay at Paris, and it is certain that the enemy did take Alexandria and Mantua during that month's delay, and thus were enabled to add the besieging forces to their main army, so that Joubert was about to retreat to the Apennines, and to assume a defensive position, when Suvaroff forced him to accept battle. But something should be allowed for the genius of the Russian general, who was one of the great master-spirits of war, and who seldom fought without being completely victorious. ”

“ The hunchback returned Suvaroff's stare with almost insulting indifference, but there was something in the look that quickened the beating of Suvaroff's heart.
"You are waiting here," began Suvaroff, "for an Italian who lodges across the street. Would you like me to tell you where he may be found?"
The hunchback shrugged. "It does not matter in the slightest, one way or another. If you tell me where he lodges, the inevitable will happen more quickly than if I sat and waited for the rat to come out of his hole. Waiting has its own peculiar interest. ”