text:  He ought to lave attributed them to the causes which would have produced the same effect in any age of the world--to the mastery of an immense population; to the daring of a head of empire possessed of remarkable ability and filled with projects of unbounded supremacy; and to the growth of a new generation of soldiers and statesmen encouraged to the highest exertion of their talents by the most munificent rewards--the policy of the empress making the evidence of courage and genius in the soldier the only requisite for promotion; and exhibiting the strongest personal interest of the sovereign in the elevation of those able servants of the crown