The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-08-12

REIMBURSEMENT of the colonies: Rather
than sign the secession of the thirteen
provinces, as my brother George has
done, 1 would have shot myself" And
again. IN letter to Marie Antoinette'
she shows how little she comprehended
the nature of the storm about TO burst
over that unfortunate queens head:
kings and queens" wrote tie. empress
of all the Russias, fought TO proceed in
their career undisturbed by the cries
of the people. as the moon pursues her
course unimpeded by the bowling of
dogs"
She was inordinately fold of writing,
and arose at in the morning to COM
pose the plays. memoirs, poems, trans
lations and instructions which she dis
tributed throughout the courts of Eu-
rope. Her greatest. literary efforts was
her code of laws, in which she antici-
pated Napoleonis masterpiece, and won
for herself the title of the legislatrix
of the north. Her chief merit in this
lies in her power of selection, for she
frankly admitted that it was compila-
ton largely ''pillaged". from eminent le-
gal authorities. In order that she might
indulge her literary tastes more ex-
clusively she built THE Hermitage" a
royal retreat, corresponding somewhat
TO the Sans Soucf' of Frederick the
Great, and the 'Trianon" of Marie An
toinette. Thither she summoned the
literati of the day. with whom. laying
aside the dignities of state, she dis
coursed informally. Catherine also
caused the various classics TO be trans
lated into Russian. made the first sys-
tematic attempt TO publish a Russian
dictionary and grammar, and enriched
the national library by purchasing
those of Diderot and Voltaire.
Although hundreds of thousands of
lives were wasted during Catherine s
reign. the only wars in which Russia
achieved her object We're the ones re-
sulting in the capture of Crimea from
the Turks, and in the three disgraceful
partitions of Poland. So proud was the
empress of these transactions that she
often remarked with complaisance: Il
arrived in Russia poor, but l shall not
&c in debt to the empire. for l shall
leave her the Crimea and Poland as my
portion" After thii-ty-four years of
glory and shame for Russia, she died
very suddenly in 1896.
Whether assailed as the messalina,
the star, the cybele or the light of the
north, Catherine grasped greedily each
title as but another means of bringing
her more prominently before the world.
Striking effect IN law, learning and
glory was ell that she aimed at. Had
the dazzling display of her guilty gran
deur been expended in lighting up her
barbara. oppressed people. she might
have won the kernel instead of the
husk of greatness upon which she
prided herself.
Springing into her throne entirely
through assurance, Catherine neverthe-
less swayed with distinction her ill
gotten scepter over the most brutalized
peasant masses on the earth, and left
a kingdom more than double the entire
area of Europe. In spite of her open
vice she commanded the consideration
of the brilliant coterie of sovereigns
then ruling Europe, and in a measure
was a combination of the most striking
qualities of each. AS au 0crat of all
the Russias, she certainly possessed the
beauty and courage of Maria Theresa,
the executive patronage of Louis XIV.
the orofligacy of Louis XIV and the
grasping. logged cunning of Frederick
the Great.
Although the wall space of certain
rooms of GATHERINGS palace was COM
pletely covered with unframed por-
traits of herself. no artists brush ever
depicted her characteristics with such
realism as did the pen of a shrewd
russian cOurtier. who sent the follow
ing directions. in reply to Nine. lie
Bruins request for a description of his
recently deceased sovereign: "Take the
map of Russia he wrote. for the
canvas, the darkness of ignorance for
the ground, the spoils of Poland for the
drapery, human blood for the coloring,
the monuments of her reign for the
outlines and for the shading six months
of the reign of her successor"