# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Catharine II., Alexieona

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CATHARINE II., ALEXIEONA,
Empress of Russia, born May 2nd., 1729, was the daughter of the Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, Governor of Stettin, in Prussian Pomerania. Her name was Sophia Augusta von Anhalt. She married in 1745 her cousin Charles Frederic, Duke of Holstein Gottorp, whom his aunt, the Empress Elizabeth of Russia, had chosen for her successor. In adopting the Greek communion, the religion of the Russians, he took the name of Peter, afterwards Peter the Third, and his consort that of Catharine Alexieona. It was an ill-assorted and unhappy match. Catharine was handsome, fond of pleasure, clever, ambitious, and bold. Her husband, greatly her inferior in abilities, was irresolute and imprudent. Catharine soon became disgusted with his weakness, and bestowed her affections upon Soltikoff, chamberlain to the Grand-duke. This intrigue was discovered, but Catharine contrived to blind the Empress Elizabeth to her frailty. Soltikoff was, however, sent to Hamburgh, as minister-plenipotentiary from Russia. Stanislaus Poniatowski, afterwards King of Poland, succeeded the chamberlain in the favour of the Grand-duchess; and Elizabeth, who became daily more openly devoted to pleasure ​herself, only interfered when the scandal became so public that she felt herself obliged to do so, and Catharine was forbidden to see Poniatowski. Although jealously watched by Peter, the Grand-duchess contrived to evade these orders, and Poniatowski often visited her in disguise.
In consequence of the many disagreements between them, as soon as Peter ascended the throne, rendered vacant by the death of Elizabeth on the 26th. of December, 1761, he talked of repudiating Catharine, then residing in retirement at Peterhoff, near St. Petersburgh, and. marrying his mistress, the Countess Woronzoff. Catharine determined to anticipate him by a bolder movement.
Although on his first accession Peter had shown, in many of his acts, true greatness and generosity of mind, yet he soon relapsed into his old habits of idleness and dissipation. While he was shut up with his favourites and mistress, the empress kept her court with mingled dignity and sweetness, studying especially to attract every man distinguished for his talents and courage. Hearing that the Emperor was about to declare her son illegitimate, and adopt as his heir the unfortunate Prince Ivan, whom Elizabeth had supplanted and kept in confinement since his infancy, she formed a confederacy, in which several noblemen, officers, and ladies, joined; among others, her new favourite, Gregory Orloff, and the Princess Daschkoff, sister to the Countess Woronzoff, a young widow of eighteen, celebrated for her abilities, courage, and warlike disposition; the regiments of the garrison were gained by bribes and promises; the emperor was arrested, and Catharine was proclaimed sole Empress of all the Russias, under the title of Catharine the Second. In July, 1762, after having reigned only six months, Peter signed an act of abdication. Six days afterwards, the conspirators, fearing a reaction in the army, went to Ropscha, where Peter was confined, and while drinking with him, fell suddenly upon him and strangled him. It does not appear that Catharine actually ordered the murder, but she showed no sorrow for it, and continued her favour to the murderers. She was solemnly crowned at Moscow, in 1762.
The first effort of the new empress was to establish peace with the foreign powers; her next was to secure the internal tranquillity of the empire. Although the nobles, incensed at the arrogance of the favourite, Alexis Orloff, raised a very serious rebellion, in which, but for Catharine's indomitable courage and presence of mind, she would have shared the fate of her husband, yet she contrived to suppress it, without even summoning a council. Combining policy with firmness, she found means to soothe the clergy, whom her ingratitude had incensed, and to restore quiet to her dominions. though fond of pleasure, she never suffered amusement to interfere with business, or the pursuits of ambition. Her firmness was remarkable. "We should be constant in our plans," said she, "it is better to do amiss, than to change our purposes. None but fools are irresolute." Her fame soon spread all over Europe.
Catharine abolished the secret-inquisition chancery, a court which had exercised the most dreadful power, and the use of torture. And, during her long reign, she avoided as much as possible capital punishment. She also, by a manifesto, published in August, 1763, declared that colonists should find welcome and support in Russia; she founded several hospitals, and a medical college at St. ​Petersburgh; and though often harassed by plots, that were incessantly formed against her, she constantly occupied herself with the improvement and aggrandizement of her empire. A resolution she had taken to marry Orloff, nearly proved fatal to them both, and she was obliged to renounce it.
In 1764, Poniatowski, a former favourite of Catharine's, was, by her exertions and the army she sent into Poland, elected king of that country, under the name of Stanislaus Augustus. In the same year, occurred the murder of Ivan, grandson of Peter the Great, and rightful heir to the throne of Russia. He was twenty-three years of age; and although his constant captivity is said to have somewhat impaired his faculties, yet his existence caused so many disturbances, that it was clearly for Catharine's interest to have him assassinated. Catharine's instrumentality in this murder was not proved; but the assassins were protected, and advanced in the Russian service.
The beneficial consequences of the regulations of Catharine became daily more apparent through all the empire. The government, more simply organized and animated with a new energy, displayed a spirit of independence worthy a great nation. Mistress of her own passions, Catharine knew how, by mingled mildness and firmness, to control those of others; and, whatever might be her own irregularities, she strictly discountenanced violations of decorum.
The perplexed and uncertain jurisprudence of Russia more particularly engaged her attention; and she drew up herself a code of laws, founded in truth and justice, which was submitted to deputies from all the Russian provinces. But the clause that proposed liberty to the boors, or serfs, met with so much opposition from the nobles, that the assembly had to be dismissed. In 1767, the empress sent learned men throughout her immense territories, to examine and report their soil, productions, and wealth, and the manners and habits of the people. About the same time, the small-pox was raging in St. Petersburgh, and Catharine submitted herself and her son to inoculation, as an example to the people.
In 1768, she engaged in a war with Turkey, which terminated successfully in 1774, and by which several new provinces were added to the Russian empire. But, during this period, the plague raged throughout the eastern countries of Europe to a great extent, and this disease is said to have carried o£f more than 100,000 of Catharine's subjects. While the war with Turkey was going on, the empress concluded with the King of Prussia and Emperor of Austria, the infamous partition treaty, by which the first blow was given to the existence of Poland.
Orloff, who had been of the greatest assistance to Catharine during the war with Turkey, and the disturbances caused by the plague, again aspired to share with her the throne. Catharine bore with his caprices for some time, through her fondness for their child, a boy, who was privately reared in the suburbs of the city, but at length resolved to subdue an attachment become so dangerous to her peace; and having proposed to Orloff a clandestine marriage, which he disdainfully declined, she saw him leave her court without any apparent grief, and raised Vassiltshkoff, a young and handsome lieutenant, to his place in her affections. She loaded Orloff with magnificent presents in money and lands, and sent him to travel in Europe.
​In 1773, Catharine married her son to the eldest daughter of the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt; and in the following year, the advantageous peace with Turkey, and the great reputation the had acquired throughout Europe, placed her apparently at the summit of prosperity. But she was, nevertheless, kept in continual dread of losing her throne and her life. Threats of assassination were constantly thrown out against her; but she appeared in public, as usual, with a calm and composed demeanour.
Vassiltschkoff had, for nearly two years, filled the place of favourite with great success, but suddenly he was ordered to Moscow. He obeyed the mandate, and costly presents rewarded his docility. Orloff returned as suddenly, was received into favour, and reinstated in his former posts. Catharine, however, refused to banish, at the request of Orloff, Panim, her minister of foreign affairs, in whose ability and integrity she could entirely confide.
In 1773, a man resembling Peter the Third was persuaded to personate him; the priests, opposed to Catharine's liberal policy, circulated everywhere the report that the murdered emperor was still living. The spirit of rebellion spread over the whole country, and it was only by the greatest firmness and energy that it was quelled. Soon after this, Orloff was superseded by Potemkin, an officer in the Russian army, who accompanied Catharine to Moscow. Here he attempted, but in vain, to induce her to marry him. She spent the next few years in carrying on the internal improvements of her country, and perfecting the government. The Poles, once conquered, she treated with a generosity and justice which put Austria and Prussia to shame. At this time Potemkin exercised an unlimited influence over the empress. In 1784, he succeeded in conquering the Crimea, to which he gave its ancient name of Tauria, and extended the confines of Russia to the Caucasus. Catharine, upon this, traversed the provinces which had revolted under Pugatscheff, and navigated the Wolga and Borysthenes, taking great interest in the expedition, as it was attended with some danger. She was desirous, likewise, of seeing Tauris; and Potemkin turned this journey into a triumphal march. Two sovereigns visited Catharine on her journey—the King of Poland, Stanislaus Augustus, and Joseph the Second, Emperor of Austria. Throughout this royal progress of nearly one thousand leagues, nothing but feasts and spectacles of various kinds were to be seen.
Still pursuing her scheme of expelling the Turks from Europe, and reigning at Constantinople, Catharine, in 1785, seized on the Crimea, and annexed it to her empire. In 1787, the Porte declared war against her, and hostilities were continued till the treaty of Jassy was signed, January 9th., 1792, which restored peace. She indemnified herself by sharing in the dismemberment of Poland, which kingdom became extinct in 1795, She was on the point of turning her arms against republican France, when she died of apoplexy, November 9th., 1796.
Though as a woman, the licentiousness of her character is inexcusable, yet as a sovereign, she is well entitled to the appellation of great. After Peter the First, she was the chief regenerator of Russia, but with a more enlightened mind, and under more favourable circumstances. She established schools, ameliorated the condition of the serfs, promoted commerce, founded towns, arsenals, ​banks, and manufactories, and encouraged art and literature. She corresponded with learned men in all countries, and wrote, herself, "Instructions for a Code of Laws," besides several dramatic pieces and "Moral Tales," for her grandchildren. Her son Paul succeeded her.
She was very handsome and dignified in her person. Her eyes were blue and piercing, her hair auburn, and though not tall, her manner of carrying her head made her appear so. She seems to have obtained the love as well as reverence of her subjects, which, setting aside her mode of acquiring the throne, is not wonderful, seeing that her vices as a ruler were those deemed conventional among sovereigns, namely, ambition and a thirst for aggrandizement, unshackled by humanity or principle.