The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1869-04-06


ing instantly followed, and shrek of
horror rose from all present. The ice Of
death was broken up-my trance ended
The utmost exertion, werc made to restore
me, and IN the course of an hour | was
IN full possession Of all my faculties,
CATHERINE III. or RusHA.-Int tho year
l762 Catherine became empress. Around
her we're gathered the chief conspirators,
men coarse, ill-educated, and risen from the
lowest ranks Of the people, in whose society
she complained that she could find no
pleasure, yet to whose aid she was indebted
Tor all she was. Ter subjects were discon
tented and rebelious. She visited Moscow
the ancient seat Of the Cz4r. but her If,
was threatened. and sha hastily returned
to It. Petersburg, Even there she found
herself surrounded by conspiracies against
her power and her person. The European
monarch- looked coldly upon the parvcnu
empress who now welded the uncertain
sceptrc, which she was believed TO have
won by Il barbarous and dreadful crime
and, from her dangerous eminence, Gather
inc beleld herself everywhere surrounded
by thousand terrors which might have
appalled, any nature less resolu,e than her
own.
Danger, however, seemed only to draw
out her wonderful genius for command,
and her fierce, unhallowed ambition guided
her to course Of policy that made her
the most potent monarch of her time.
She crushed discomfort at home with un
paralleled vigor. The ancient nobility of
Russia, who hated and despiscd the Ger.
man usurper and her low. born courlicrs,
at length became her willing slaves. Tho
countless legions of bishops and monks,
whom she had offended and treated with
ignominy when they had ceased to be useful
10 her, hid Themselves, overswed and help
less, in their cells, Her splendid victories
and conquests won for her a popularity
among her subjects such ms none OF her
predecessors but Peter the Great had po--
sessed. Abroad, the monarch4 Of Europe
were soon overmastered by her impcriou@
will. Frederick the Great courtcd her f,-
vor. Joseph H., Of Austria, became n will
ing instrument in accomplishing her most
unscrupulous design. George Ill, OF
England, sank into her ally. And dissolute
Louis XIV. yainly slroye by feeble di-
plomacy to check the stately progress Of
the new Semiramis. Catherine became the
master intellect Of Europe,
Of all her vast designs, that upon
which her chief energies were expended
was TO make Russia acknowledged as one
of the civilized nations of the time. ~
Philip of Macedon had labored with fierce,
untiring zeal to make his native kingdom
Greek, 30 Catherine lived to make Russia
European. She was resolved to be received
as peer into that assemblagc of crowned
heads whose naughty caste was still i'm
inclined to look down upon the barbM ous
empire which the great Peter had brought
into notice and She prepared to take IN
equal place among the Hapsburg', the
Bourbons, and the Guelphs.
lfshe had not been an empress Cathcrinc
might perhaps have won higher glory II,
an author. Her love for letters was intels,
and lasting. She sought the correspondent,
and the friendship OF almost every eminent
; literary man of the day; she wrote /,
VOltalrc in terms Of sincere admiration
and strove in vain Ia allure him TO st. Pc
iersburg. With Diderot she was more sue
cesstul, and the philosopher condescendct
. n Ul "a nf x.s,t ..
the faithful empress. Their convers, ,tion
were loug and philosophical; and Didcro
seems to have found far more agrccahl,
friend IN Catherine than the sarcastic ' ol
iarc in his admrer and prosecutor, Fred
'erick. Catherine was always profuse il
her liberality to literary men. She pur
chased Diderot's library for Il con,iderahl,
sum, in order 10 provide dowry for hi
daughter, allowed him to retain the use -
itfor life, and settled upon him pension
as her librarian, She wished TO 'uduce lh'
historian Robertson, by muniiiccnt offers
TO write au account Of her reign. He
court was filled with men OF intelligenc
and learning, OF science aud art. Ever,
form of mental excellence found in her
friend; she established academies or socic
ties tf learning and science and lavishc,
her revenues in seeking to awaken the in
tellect OF her people Poets, musicians
philosophers, actors, and artists sprang ul
under her careful patronage and she sue
ceeded, at last, in making st. Petersburr
lluslrious as one Of the intellectual centre
of Europe. -EUGENg LAWRENCE, in Har
ps's Adgasas.