impracticable. We consoled ourselves during our inactivity with the thought of a speedy termination to this tiresome and petty warfare with robbers and savages.
But Pougatcheff had not been captured. He made his appearance at the mines of Siberia, where he assembled fresh bands, and renewed his ravages. Rumours of his successes again spread about. We learnt of the destruction of several Siberian fortresses. Soon the news of the taking of Kazan and of the advance of the pretender on Moscow, alarmed the commanders of the military forces, who were listlessly enjoying repose in the fond hope that the despised rebel had been reduced to subjection. Zourine received orders to cross the Volga.
I shall not describe our march and the termination of the war. I shall briefly observe that wretchedness had reached its climax. All authority was at an end; landed proprietors were hiding in the woods. Insurgent bands pillaged in every direction. The officers in command of detached forces, punished and remitted at will; the condition of this large territory which had become a prey to the flames, was dreadful to contemplate! . . . . May Heaven spare us from witnessing a Russian rebellion; it is senseless and pitiless!
Pougatcheff had fled, and was pursued by Ivan Ivanovitch Mihelson. We soon heard of his complete annihilation. At length Zourine received intelligence of the capture of the pretender, and at the same time orders to halt. The war was at an end. I should now be able to go to my parents. The prospect before me, that I should embrace them, that I should see Maria Ivanovna,
