The year 1771 was also signalized by the outbreak of the great plague at Moscow, and many of its inhabitants perished. Afterwards occurred a rebellion by the Cossacks of the Don, whose leader declared himself to be the Emperor Peter III. He alleged that he had escaped from the hands of his would-be murderers, and would soon regain his throne. A large band of disaffected peasants gathered round him and he was joined by many of the Mongol races hostile to the Russian rule.
At first the generals sent against him were defeated, the path of the rebels being everywhere marked with bloodshed and pillage. He even got possession of certain towns of importance, including Kazan. If he had been anything other than a vulgar robber, Catherine might have trembled on her throne, but the people outraged by his cruelties, failed to support him and he was captured, taken to Moscow in a cage, and publicly executed in 1775.
In the same year the Empress put an end to the so-called Republic of the Zaporogian Cossacks, a people who had maintained themselves in South Russia, occupying a territory north of the Black Sea and west of the Don Cossacks.
Catherine prided herself on her learning, and a great codification of the laws took place under her direction, making what has been called the Sixth Period of Russian legislation. The serfs, however, received no benefit by the changes, being still refused the right to make complaints against their masters. In fact, the character of the tyranny of her reign, and the power of the nobility at the time, is illustrated by their right to send their serfs to Siberia as a punishment, or of handing them over to be enlisted in the army. The public sale of serfs was still legal and a matter of every-day occurrence.
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From General Nelson A. Miles
Thrilling Stories of The Russian-Japanese War, 1904
