" My brethren, who among you would have held it possible, thirty years ago, that you should navigate the Baltic with a Russian fleet, and that from Russian families such naval heroes and navigators should spring as we now see before us ? Could we then hope that so many able men, distinguished in science, would have hastened from all parts of Europe to assist the advance of our country in science ? Did we divine that we should inspire foreign nations with so much respect, that such abundance of renown so soon awaited us ? We learn from history that Greece was once the asylum of science and art, and that driven thence, they wandered to other parts of Europe. The negligence and indiHerence of our forefathers alone are to blame, that the muses did not traverse Poland to reach us. The Poles and Germans once groped in the same darkness of ignorance in which we so recently pined. By the care of their rulers their eyes were opened, and they received a portion of the inheritance of Greece, her civilisation and her arts. The wanderings of human civilization may be compared to the circulation of the blood. I hope that the muses, when they have forsaken Germany, France, and England, may still dwell with us. Look on this new city rising fresh and blooming on the soil conquered by our arms ; on the cupolas of these churches, that have arisen under your own eyes ; on these schools and academies ; behold the thronging masts and sails of our victorious fleet ; and you will acknowledge, that it is now our turn. Support me in my undertakings, unite the strictest obedience to the most energetic industry, and we shall soon behold our Ptussia taking the rank that is her due among the civiHzed powers of Europe."
After the victory that gave occasion to this speech, the fleet remained inactive under the reign of Peter the Great, and under Catherine the First it retreated timidly into the harbours of Reval and Cronstadt, when blockaded by the English, irritated by Russia's alliance wuth Spain and Austria. This is the only time that the English and Russian fleets have been opposed to each other, and they did not come to battle then, as a peace was soon afterwards concluded. In the seven years' war, the Russian fleet afforded active and able support to their army which had advanced on Prussia, by blockading the ports, cutting off all assistance by sea, and assisting the laud-forces to land on dlffeient parts of the coast. Under Peter the Third, troops were to have been landed in Holstein, which this prince designed to conquer, but his sudden death prevented the sailing of the ships. A new impulse was given by Catherine the Second to naval improvement ; the fleet in the Black Sea was formed, Europe was circumnavigated, and Russian ships were seen for the first time in the Levant, to protect Russian interests there. The ships which sailed from Cronstadt, and were exposed to the criticism and ridicule of England in 1769, were heavily built, and manned by inexperienced sailors ; nevertheless they accomplished the voyage round Europe, after encountering many dangers and adventures, the result of want of skill ; and, ill as they may have appeared in comparison with English vessels, they had, no doubt, a considerable advantage over the Turks, for in the following year the battle in the Bay of Tshcsme took place, wliich obtained for the
Oi'loffs the family name of Tshesmenski, and a triumphal arch in Zarskoye Selo ; for the soldiers and sailors who fought there, a medal with the words " Buil" (I was there) ; and for Russia the command of the Black Sea, and the free navigation of the Dardanelles.
After Catherine had acquired the Crimea, Asoph, and the mouths of the Dnieper, a great deal of pine timber was brought from Volhynia. Dutch and English admirals, German and Greek seamen, were engaged ; still the Russian fleet was so little available, that the English, to whose assistance against the French, Catherine had sent her ships, begged her to take them back again, as affording more embarrassment than help. However useless the English found them on that occasion, the Russian ships did good service towards the end of the last century ; in 1809, before the peace of Fredericksham, and also at the battle of Navarino, and in the years 1828 and 1829. The Swedes were eventually driven out of the Gulf of Finland, and the Turks from the Black Sea.