Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-04-05
THE GAZETTE.
TUESDAY MORNING, APRIL ), 1859.
THE SECRET DIARY OF AN EMPRESS.

THE DAYS when Miseellanies Ill Prose and
Verse, "by Person of Honor and Roman
ces of NJ. Scuder, done into English by
Person of Quality, was attractive to rea-
ders and profitable to book sellers, have
long gone by" So wrote the Great Essayist
,wenty-six wears ago. He was mistaken
The fools are not al dead yet. Noble blood,
and whatever the possessor Of it does, says,
thinks, feels, has still a mysterious charm not
only for that class of feeble minds which ad-
mire the productions Of George Gorden
Byron, simply because he was Lord, and
for no other EARTHLY reason-but for minds of
much higher order. We all like to know
what great people-whether great by virtue
of intrinsic merito or by the accident of position
do, how they think, and how they feel
There is vague notion that an insight into
the mental and moral nature of such people
will unfold the secret of greatness and ena-
bic us to become great; and. however often we
may be disappointed, the feeling always re-
mains with US
Hence it may safely be predicted that the
Memoirs de Plmperdtrice Catherine H.,
ecrits par ellemepse, ct precedes dune preface
par A. Hcrzes," lately published in London
by Trubner, will have a most successful run,
especially if it be done into English, by a
Person Of Quality. We all know who the
Empress Catherine Of Russia was. School
boys can recite the story of that crafty, bold,
cruel, intriguing ''Mes lima of the North"
whose crimes surpassed the crimes of the
Borgias, and whose RIGHTEOUSNESS was such
that Lord Brougham says, "the soldiers Of
the guard were at last detailed to fatigue
an appetite which nothing could satiate."-
We now behold her in a new attitude, as
young girl newly introduced into profigate
Court, practicing the craft which finally led
her to the throne, just beginning that career
ofintrigue which ended in practices the most
unnatural and abhorrent, and chronicling,
unwittingly it would seem, her own shame.
For, in the very breath with which she naive
" details her intrigues, she represents her
Gelf as the msekest, most submissive, patient,
long suffering and abused Of women, and the
sentence which narrates the fortunes she
endured, contains frank statement of the
arts she practiced to win that favor which
ultimately secured to her the sceptre OF all
the Russias. .......,..
How NJ. Herzen obtained the Imperial
Ms. it is impossible to say. Enough Tor us
to know that it bears internal evidence of
authenticity. 1t is valuable for the insight
it gives of Court life, and ofthe early charac-
ter of Catharine, showing plainly that 1.-The
girl was mother to the woman" She came
to Moscow in l774, German Princess, so
poor that she had only dozen chemises, no
sheets of her own, and only two or three
dresses. She came to marry her cousin Pc
ter, the grandson of Peter the Great. lie is
described succintly, as "a sot, simpleton,
and sickly," a drunkard at ten years old,
fond of English beer and oysters, hater of
church, lover of the histories of highway
robbers, fond of dogs, and blessed with Il
decided genius for puppets. He kept his
wife, the good, innocent Catharine, awake all
night by playing on the fiddle, and by whipp-
ing his hounds until they howled in unison
with his instrument Catherine represents
him as irredeemably bad, and hideously
ugly after the smallpox. Yet he confded
implicitly in his wife, and told her every
thing he knew.
As Peter was, so was the Court around
him, of which he was not yet the head. his
mother the Empress Elizabeth, being then in
power. Catharine tells us that one Of the
first presents she received after reaching Mos
COW, was arouSe-pot. This to girl fifteen
years old! The Empress and all her ladies
were in the habit of getting drunk-"there
was nothing but intrigue and drink to relieve
the stately tedium of daily duties Every
body was spy on everybody else; the ladies
of the court were forced to send billet-doux
to their lovers through the hands of jewel
Ter and fiddler. Cholic, from over-cating and
drinking, was a common complaint. The
principal amusement Of the Court was mas
auerading-the men dressing IN women s
clothes and the women in mems, the Empress
herself setting the example. This did not
suit the men, who found pctticoats very trout
blesome to manage; nor did it suit the women
who were of bad shape.
In this atmosphere Catherine lived many
years, playing the angel in sweetness and
submission, writing hard to please, spending
half her income on a single fete to crafty the
public, putting up rs best she could with
the caprices of her foolish husband, pretend
ing to unbouuded piety, and sustained through
ali her tritas, as she tells US, "by o something
she didn't exactly know what, which never
permitted her for o single moment to doubt
that she would ut last come to be Importance
Soureraine de Russie." She studies hard,
reads Cicero, Yoltaire, Plutarch and Monies
quein, and can bear everything but pimples on
her face. She weeps much. Every little
loss sets her to weeping. At Court they pity
her innocence and laugh at her softness:-
And this was the bloody and lustful Catherine
IL. What cunning.
In process of time, Catherine discovers that
it is "a State necessity to have children. =
She meekly complies with the State necess-
ity," and prepares pleasant little surprise
for her husband in the shape of son, the
future Emperor Paul. Afterwards comes
a daughter Peter exclaims, 'Je ne sdis pas
trop sicet en- FAINT est a moi" but is well con-
tent with 10000 roubles as a present,
Catherine give the names of her lovers, aud
tells many of their antics. The diary ends
lust before the assassination of Peter. by which
Catherine was made Empress. 1t isa terri
BILE record of crime and RIGHTEOUSNESS, but 1t
may serve to remind US of the purer times IN
which we live, and make US grateful that we
enjoy Republic and not Despotism.-
Bali. american. .. a..,ra
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