Furthermore Potemkin's influence had not disappeared. When Fawkener finally suggested that England would agree to Russian terms, Potemkin simply accepted the deal himself, without even checking with Catherine. Deboli noted that this irritated Russian ministers - but it hardly suggests that he had lost his power.41 Then Potemkin delivered a series of victories: on 19 June, he announced that Kutuzov had followed his precise orders to strike at Badadag- and had defeated 20,000 Turks. On 22 June, Gudovich stormed the fortress of Anapa, where - as a bonus - he captured the Chechen hero, Sheikh Mansour who had sought refuge there.[107] 'This is the key that has opened the door for the big blows,' Potemkin declared to Catherine on 2 July. 'You'll be pleased to see how they will roar in Asia!' That day, maybe to reconcile with Potemkin, the Empress, accompanied by two Zubovs, came into Petersburg from Peterhof to dine with the Prince at the Taurida Palace, where she toasted her consort. So much for the imminent fall of Potemkin.42
On 11 July, the Ochakov Crisis ended: the British and Prussians signed the compromise that allowed Catherine to keep Ochakov and the land between the Bug and Dniester - provided that the Turks made peace immediately. If they did not, Russia was free to fight for better terms. That very day, a courier arrived to announce that Repnin, following Potemkin's order to strike across the Danube at enemy concentrations, had won a splendid victory at Manchin on 28 June, destroying the Grand Vizier's army of 80,000 and preventing the two Turkish armies from combining. Thank you for the good news, my friend,' Catherine wrote to Potemkin. 'Two holidays in one, my friend, and other wonderful events besides. I'll come to the city to celebrate tomorrow.' The 'Те Deums' were sung before the Empress at the Kazan Cathedral. Catherine threw dinners and balls, attended by the Prince, for Fawkener.43
Warsaw and Petersburg now awaited Potemkin's reaction to the May the Third Constitution. The Prince, like a giant if rusty howitzer, was turning slowly towards Poland, but what were his plans? Intrigues and plans swirled around him. Deboli was convinced that Potemkin planned to be king of Poland by creating a 'civil war', meaning either the Confederation or the Cossack invasion.44 Branicki in Warsaw swaggered from planning his Confederation to patriotic suggestions to increase the size of Poland. Alexandra Branicka wanted Potemkin to be Stanislas-Augustus' heir.45 Warsaw had been awash for years with pamphlets warning that Potemkin would make Alexandra's children heirs to the throne.46 There were comical interludes amid the menace. The Prince could not resist teasing the Polish envoy, Deboli, at a party, saying that the Poles liked the Sublime Porte so much they even wore Turkish pantaloons. Deboli was offended by this trouser insult, 'so I responded that we did not need other people's pantaloons because we had our own'.47
Potemkin was torn. His duty was to gallop south and negotiate peace with the Turks, but his instinct was to stay in Petersburg, where he remained exposed to Zubov, until he and Catherine had thrashed out what to do about Poland. This once again raised the tension between these two hypersensitive connoisseurs of power, who now became unhappy with each other, ruled by 'little mutual jealousies'.48 Catherine wanted him to focus on the peace.
When the row blew up, it was about women as welclass="underline" was she still jealous of Potemkin even though she loved her Blackie or was she simply weary of his parade of debauchery? Potemkin suggested that the feckless Prince Mikhail Golitsyn be appointed one of the new army inspectors, created to wipe out abuses in the military. 'He won't bring credit upon you in the Army,' replied Catherine, but she was most irritated about Golitsyn's wife. Everyone in Petersburg now knew that Potemkin, bored of the Beautiful Greek, was infatuated by Princess Praskovia Andreevna Golitsyna (nee Shuvalova), the literary but 'restless' girl who became the Prince's 'last passion'.49 Catherine told him: 'Let me say that his wife's face, however nice it may be, is not worth the cost of burdening yourself with such a man ... his wife may be charming but there's absolutely nothing to gain by courting her.' Indeed Praskovia's family were protecting her virtue, so Potemkin might well end up with the husband without even getting the wife. Catherine pulled no punches. Both Golitsyns were deceiving him. 'My friend, I am used to telling you the truth. You should also tell it to me.' She begged him to go south and 'conclude peace and after that you'll come back here and amuse yourself as much as you wish ... As for this letter, do tear it to pieces after reading it.'50 But the Prince kept the most biting letter Catherine ever wrote to him.[108]
Her paroxysm of anger was, as so often, the letting-off of steam at the end of their argument. She had just signed her second secret rescript to Potemkin of 18 July that settled their debate and meant he could immediately leave for the south. Russian, Polish and Western historians have argued about its meaning for 200 years. Most of the confusion is caused by the problem of reconciling the extraordinary powers it granted Potemkin with the conviction that he was falling from power. The legend claims that the Prince was a broken man, haemorrhaging power, who 'could not bear the thought of disgrace' when 'he learned that Platon Zubov seemed to have absolute power over the Empress's mind'. This is what foreigners were told when they visited Petersburg in the Zubov ascendancy after Potemkin's death.51 Since it has been accepted that Catherine and Zubov were about to remove him, how could she be giving him vast powers to make peace or war with Turks and Poles? Therefore, they argued, Catherine must have signed a sham just to get rid of him. This was based on hindsight, not on reality.52
Not one contemporary in 1791 believed he was about to be dismissed. Though all of them knew that there had been rows, even the hostile foreigners Deboli and British envoy Whitworth reported that Serenissimus was increasing his power, not losing it: 'such is the confidence reposed in him', Whitworth told Grenville, 'he is left in full liberty' to make war or peace with the Turks.53 As for Zubov's intrigues, 'there is no probability of their succeeding so unaccountable is the predilection of the Empress for him'.54 Long afterwards, Zubov himself admitted he had 'won a semi-victory', by surviving Potemkin's attempts to dislodge him, but 'I could not remove him from my path; and it was essential to remove him because the Empress always met his wishes halfway and simply feared him as though he were an exacting husband. She loved only me but she often pointed to Potemkin as an example for me to follow.' Zubov then revealed his true interest in the Empress's love: 'It is his fault I am not twice as rich as I am.'55
Once one realizes that he was not about to be dismissed at all, it is clear the rescript was a triumph for Potemkin that more than compensated for his failure to dislodge Zubov. Once peace with the Porte was signed, Potemkin was granted massive powers to make war in Poland, to pursue his plans and even to decide the form of the Polish constitution. The Prince could negotiate with Potocki on the details, though it was vital that the Poles be seen to invite the Russians, not vice versa. But 'our own interests demand that it be carried out as soon as possible so that the evil ... will not take root'.56 The rescript implies that Potemkin had persuaded the Empress that his plans could achieve a submissive neighbour without partition. But Catherine made clear that, if the Prince's schemes failed, partition was the only alternative.
On his last night in Petersburg, Serenissimus dined at his niece Tatiana's along with Countess Golovina, who thought him a most disreputable man. But this time he moved her. He told her again and again that he would never forget her. He was sure he was going to die soon.57