his activity was prodigious, and catherine called him her factotum. in 1780 he accompanied her on her journey through novorossiya, meeting the emperor joseph, who urged him to study diplomacy. on his return from a delicate mission to copenhagen, he presented to the empress "a memorial on political affairs" which comprised the first plan of a partition of turkey between russia and austria. this document was transmitted almost word for word to vienna as the russian proposals. he followed this up by "epitomised historical information concerning moldavia". for these two state papers he was rewarded with the posts of "plenipotentiary for all negotiations " in the foreign office and postmaster-general.