The Press.
London, England, 1858-12-04 00:00:00

1186 THE PRESS, DECEMBER 4,1858.
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1

fittratart.

cruelty and vice are almost the unavoidable
attendants upon the throne ; we see that intrigues
and conspiracies naturally pullulate where affec-
tion is forbidden as a crime ; and we no longer
wonder at the sustained energy of a Government
the reins of which, by whomsoever passively
held, must inevitably be guided by the hand best
able to seize them.

then entered his room and reminded them of their dnt to which they immediately submitted, which made the
Gr
and Duke say to me, on more than one occasion, that
he did not know how I managed his people--he thrashed
them well and yet could not make them obedient, while
I obtained from them all I wanted by a single word.
His respect for his wife's superiority, however,
does not seem to have been by any means a
constant feeling,—witness the following hist°.
riette :
At Zarskoe Selo the Grand Duke conceived a decided
tendresse (especially of an evening after drinking) for
the little hump-backed Princess of Courland. He kept
constantly at her side, and would speak to nobody else.
At length this affair came to be carried on openly in my
own presence and in that of all the rest of the world ; and
it certainly hurt my vanity and my selfesteetn to see this
little mor.ster preferred to me. One day, on leaving table,
itme. Vladislava told me that everybody was shocked at
this hump-backed girl being thus preferred. I answered,
" What can Ido ? " The tears started to my eyes, and I
went off to bed. I was scarcely asleep when the Grand
Duke came to bed also. As he was drank and did not
know what he was about, he began to entertain me with
lauding the eminent qualities of hie mistress. I pretended
to be fast asleep in order to silence him ; but after raising
his voice to wake me, and seeing that I still slept on, he
gave me two or three heavy blows in the aide, cursed my
drowsiness, and then turned round and went to sleep.
I wept much that night over the thing itself, the blows
he had given me, and my own position, which was in
every respect as disagreeable as vexatious.

liEnwires de rlnyWratrice Catherine II.;
Ecrits par Ella-mime. (Autobiography of
the Empress Catherine II.) With a Preface
by A. llerzen. London : Triibner.
THERE is perhaps no class of works which the
world is more given to overvalue than that to
which these Memoirs belong. An autobiography,
as a general rule, is a mere tissue of special plead-
ing. That it must be so, a glance into our own
hearts, if taken in one of the rare lucid intervals
of that self-approving monomania which is com-
mon to all mankind, will infallibly demonstrate.
Why, even before the secret tribunal of con-
science, what marvellous ingenuity do we not
display in imagining ex post facto motives—in
painting over ugly spots—in transferring the
hverage of all irksome burdens from our own to
our coadjutors shoulders ! No—if an auto-
biography has any value whatever as a delinea-
tion of character, or even of correlative events,
such value must be arrived at by a process of
sifting and of restoration which will almost
require the patience of a Liebig and the sagacity
of a Cuvier. Only the most subtle analysis of
the complex amalgam can detect its true bases;
only the most keensighted examination of what
is given can supply all the important and dis-
tinctive parts which are left out.
If the above remarks are applicable to auto-
biographies in general, how much more so to the
autobiographies of that sex in which the love of
approbation is more decidedly developed ? Such
at least was our persuasion in taking up the work
before us; and if that persuasion has not been
strengthened by the perusal, it certainly has not
been weakened. The fact is, that this book—
spite of its author's maturer " philosophic"
tastes—makes no pretension whatever to that
self-analysis, to that confessional tone, which
generally seasons works of the kind. All that we
do learn of character is learnt indirectly—through
remarks upon the conduct of others, through
expressed impatience of control, through careless
avowals and studied reticences. The scattered
grains of individuality thus supplied, although
destitute either of novelty or profundity, possess
at least the merit of being genuine. If we are
only told what we knew before, we are told so
by the best and the most incontrovertible of all
authorities; and we are so constituted that a
certain degree of gratification is always expe-
rienced even where assurance itself is made
" doubly sure."
But if the autobiographical Memoirs of this
most remarkable woman contain nothing either
to enhance the qualified admiration of the histo-
rian, or to mitigate the unqualified censure of the
moralist, they possess a general interest, in their
simple, straightforward revelations of life at the
Muscovite Court, which will serve, with the
sober reader, as some set -off against this parti-
cular disappointment. For us, and probably
still more for our children, and our children's
children, all that relates to Russia—all that
contributes to lay bare to our scrutiny the
process of consolidation constantly going on
in that stupendous mass whose shadow throws
a darker gloom over the mystery of the future
—ought to he fraught with a special attrac-
tion. " The East " meant India, and India only,
some half-century ago. When we speak it
now, who does not feel that the chill mists of the
Neva will creep at times across the gloaming sky
of that picture-word ?
From this point of view these Memoirs would
be interesting, even if read by the light of a far
inferior reputation. The profoundly demoralizing
influences of a Court where devotions are ordered,
and filial grief counter-ordered, through the
medium of a chamberlain; where a valet-de-
chambre is commissioned to remonstrate with
Catherine on the impropriety of an unconcealed
(but innocent) preference for one of her husband's
servants; and where her " grande-gouvernante,"
after an ostentatiously rigid surveillance of her
earliest married years, undertakes the delicate
task of recommending a similar provision for
" the succession," as (niutatis mutandie) Sarah
recommended to Abraham—are placed before us
in all the cold, uuidealized colours of reality. We
understand, as we read, that, where the path to
irresponsible power lies through abject slavery,

Perhaps the most finished portrait the book
contains is that of Catherine's husband, l'eter
111. While we gaze at this moral and physical
deformity, the errors of the woman whose most
womanly feelings were immolated on the altar of
an idol so hideous assume a less sombre hue.
One of the noteworthy characteristics of this por-
trait is the natural and unexaggerated colours in
which it is drawn. That the feelings of the
artist towards her sitter must have reached the
extremest verge of loathing cannot be doubted.
But these feelings are never actually expressed—
never at least with any clearness, any impulsive
outburst. The profound self-control of Catherine
could scarcely be more strikingly exemplified !
Here are a few specimens of the character and
habits of this Imperial brute :

In the country the Grand Puke got up a pack of
hounds, which he began to train himself. When tired of
tormenting dim he set to scraping the violin. He did
not know a note, although he had a good ear. But he
made the whole beauty of music consist in the force and
violence with which he drew the tones from his instru-
{tient. His listeners, however, would often have gladly
stopt their ears if they had dared. This mode of life
was continued in town as well as in the country. On
her return to the Summer Palace, Mme. Krouse, who bad
never ceased playing the Argus, an far soitened as to take
part in galling the Tchoglokoffs (the " grande.gouver-
!tante" and her husband ), who had become the biles
noires of the whole household. She did more ; she
procured the Grand Duke toys, dolls, and other children's
playthings, of which he was immensely fond. During
the day these things were hidden inside and underneath
my bed. The Grand Duke retired first after sipper,
and as soon as we were both in bed, Mme. Krouse
locked the door, and then the Grand Duke played with
his toys till one or two o'clock in the morning. Whether
1 liked it or not, I was obliged to take part in this pretty
amusement, and so was Mine. Krouse also. Sometimes
it made me laugh, but oftener it wearied me to death
and even inconvenienced me; for the whole bed was
covered and filled with dolls and toys, some of which
were considerably heavy. I do not know if Mine.
Tchoglokoff got wind of these nocturnal amusements ;
but one evening, towards midnight, she came and knocked
at our bedroom door. It was not opened at once, because
the Grand Duke, Mine. Krouse, and I, were far too busy
clearing the bed of the toys and hiding them away, witn
the help of the bed clothes, under which we crammed
them. As soon as this was accomplished the door was
opened, but Madame was very cross at baying been kept
waiting. and told us that the Empress would be exceed-
ingly angry when she heard that we were not asleep yet
at such an hour. She then went away grumbling, but
without having made any discovery. As soon as she
was gone the Grand Duke resumed the same games until
he felt inclined to sleep.

We have said above that there is nothing in
these Memoirs either to enhance Catherine's
political or to meliorate her moral reputation.
But really, on reflection, we must revise the
latter part at least of this judgment. We must
confess that, after perusing the above and much
more in the same strain, we read with modified
horror the page in which the determination upon
the great crime by which Catherine possessed her-
self of the throne is calmly recorded. The Impe-
rial blackguard takes it into his head to become
jealous, and expresses this feeling openly. As
soon as the fact reaches his wife's ears,—

I saw (she says) from that in ment that three paths,
equally perillous, presented themselves to my choice,—
Ist., to share the fortunes of the Grand Duke, whatever they
might be; 2nd., to remain exposed at every moment to all
that it might please him to determine either for or against
me ; 3rd., to take a line of conduct independent of every
event. But, to speak more clearly, the alternative was to
perish with or by him, or to save myself, my children, and,
perhaps, the State, from the shipwreck menaced by the
moral and physical capacities of this Prince. This last
course appeared mo the safest.

There is a dramatic brevity in this concluding
phrase—involving as it does the death-sentence of
her husband—which is about the only thing in
the book which reminds us that Catherine was
the patron of the Encyclopedistes, and the corm•
spondent of Voltaire. In other respects there is
little at all suggestive either of her Intellectual
ability or of her political greatness. Intrigues,
quarrels, descriptions of fifes, accounts of the
wretchedness of accommodation in their hunting
villas, and of the consequent agonies of toothache
and rheumatism, form the staple incidents of
this singular narrative. Only in one particular
—in the absorbing ambition which regulates her
whole demeanour and evidently bears her up
through every trial—does the personal identity
of the Empress and the Grand Duchess shine
clearly out.
In his brilliant but somewhat frothy preface,
M. Herzen remarks :

But his Imperial Highness's amusements are by
no means always of such an innocent character.
He establishes his pack of dogs in the room next
to his wife's chamber, and here

he occupied himself with rare perseverance in training
these animals with the help of a huge whip, uttering
hunting cries and making them race from end to end of
the two rooms which were his own. Whenever any dog
grew tired, or fell behind the others, it was severely
chastised, which of course increased the noise
One day, hearinit a poor dog yelling louder and longer
than usual, I opened the door of toy bedroom in which I
was sitting, and which adjoined the scene of punishment,
and found him holding up one of these animals (a poor
little English spaniel) by the collar, while a Kalmuck
page held it by the tai:, and heating it as hard as he could
with the butt end of his whip. I begin to intercede for
the poor beast, bat this only made him redouble his
blows. In general, tears and supplications, instead of
softening the Grand Duke, put hint into a rage. Pity was
a sentiment painful and even insupportable to his breast.

------- _
Reading these Memoirs, we are astonished to find one
thing constantly for,rotten—so constantly, indeed, as never
to appear at ;—/tuxsia, and the people. And this is tho
characteristic trait of the epoque.
This astonishment we cannot exactly share.
The Memoirs break off with the year 1759—that
is, three years before Catherine siezed the Impe-
rial power. That portion of her history, then,
during which she held the welfare of " Russia
and the people " in her hands, is untouched.
Had the autobiography been completed—as was
evidently her intention—other and far higher
interests would doubtless have appeared, in their
own proper time, upon the scene. But it would
be scarcely just to accuse of indifference to her
kingdom and her people a sovereign who was,
after Peter 1., Russia's greatest regenerator. A
catalogue of all the reforms that the .Muscovite
empire owes to the author of these Memoirs,
might put many a soi-disant leader of civilization
to shame. Under her sway the judicial system
was purified, public instruction was encouraged
and forwarded, commerce was extended, nanal,s
were opened, and the condition of the serfs
greatly improved.
The authenticity of the Memoirs cannot, we
think, be questioned. Not that the account

Matters get gradually worse and worse. While
Catherine is confined to bed by the effects of a
miscarriage (in which, she frankly tells us, the
Grand Duke had no sort of part), the future
Czar

spent the greatest part of his time in his room; where
a Ukrainian valet•de-chambre named Karnovitch, $ man
as idiotic as drunken, amused him as best he could,
supplying him with toys, wine and spirits, as long as he
could do so without the knowledge of M. Tchoglokoff,
whom, hythc•bye, everybody deceived and made a tool of.
Put in these nocturnal and hidden orgies with his own
servants, among whom were several Kalmuck boys, the
Grand Duke often found himself both ill obeyed and
ill-eerved ; for as they were all drunk they did not know
what they were doing, and forgot that they were with
their master, and that this master was the Grand Duke.
'Then his Imperial Highness had recourse to blows, with
his stick or with the flat of his sword. Spite of these,
however, his company obeyed him ill, and he was obliged
more than once to have recourse to me, complaining of
his people and begging me to bring them to reason. I