Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/247

Rh like constitutionalism in governing quarters, Prussia found it prudent to acquiesce in the arrangements of Catherine. She restored all the old abuses and seized upon whatever territory pleased her, allowing Prussia a small share of it (1793). The resulting attempt at a national rising of Poland under Kosciusko failed; the Russian armies entered the heart of Poland and stormed Warsaw (^1794) ; and along with Austria and Prussia, Catherine effected the last partition in 1795. Thus was an event consummated, which some historians denounce as the foulest deed in the history of the world, and others justify not only as necessary to the order and tranquillity of Europe, but as a vindication of Heaven s laws on those who have contemned them. In any case, Catherine must almost alone bear the responsibility of it, and in her it would be useless to seek for any other motive than an unscrupulous ambition. She had skilfully taken her measures for it, in securing the acquiescence or co operation of Prussia and Austria, and in finally pushing it on while these and the other powers of Central and Western Europe were more and more involving themselves in the terrible struggles of the Revolution. She was a great hater of the Revolution ; but while others were endeavouring to suppress it, she profited by the oppor tunity to accomplish the partition of Poland. In the domestic government of Russia, Catherine professed to act on the principles she had learned from her French teachers. Most of her plans, however, proved illusory, in a country where all the elements and conditions of an ideal theory of government were wanting, even if Catherine had been perfectly resolute in her aims. The attempt to introduce a code of laws on the model of Montesquieu was a failure ; but in the administration, especially the administration of justice, in the furtherance of education, of industry, and of commerce, real improve ment seems to have been effected. All her schemes vitally suffered in two ways : from the absence of trustworthy public servants, and from the defects of her own character. In this, as in other reigns, bribery and corruption were prevalent to an extraordinary degree, and Catherine in trusted the government to her favourites and to upstarts, to the exclusion of the nobility. In the capital, at her court, and in her own circle there reigned the most systematic immorality, which she encouraged by her example. French admirers used to call her the Semiramis of the North. Mr Carlyle calls her a female Louis Quatorze. She justified both comparisons by her beauty, her masculine ambition, and her summary disregard of virtuous restraint. One favourite was dismissed after another ; but Potemkin eclipsed all others by the extra ordinary union of qualities most requisite for success in Russia, beauty, daring, extravagance, ambition, and in the length of time his influence over Catherine continued. From 1775 till his death in 1791, that is, for a period of sixteen years, he was supreme ; after Catherine s personal inclination for him had abated, he supplied her with new favourites and retained the power for himself, in all essential points directing Russian politics during that long period. To all her lovers she was munificent, not only during their season of favour, but after their dismissal, loading them with presents and pensions to such an extent, that altogether they are estimated to have cost Russia about 20,000,000. Towards the end of her reign discerning men began to fear that such extravagance, and the corrup tion attendant upon such a state 0f things, might lead to the exhaustion of the empire. In fact, the magnificence of her court, the marvellous extent of her empire, her foreign conquests, and the imposing position she held among the sovereigns of the world, only served to bring into more painful relief the moral corruption, the semi- barbaric violence, the hard-hearted cruelty, and systematic unscrupulousness which characterized the Russian court and the Russian policy. Things grew worse towards the end of her reign. The progress of the French Revolution damped all her sentimental enthusiasm for reform. The friend and correspondent of Voltaire and D Alembert, and the patroness of Diderot, lived long enough to prohibit the publication of French works in Russia. She died of apoplexy in November 1796. The best account of Catherine s early life is contained in the Memoirs written by herself in French, of which there is an English translation (1859). See also Hermann s Geschichte Russ- lands ; Carlyle s Friedrich the Second, vol. vi. ; Rulhiere s Histoire ou anecdotes sur la Revolution de Itussie en I annee 1762, and his Histoire de VAnarchiede Pologne.  CATHERINE (1519-1589), the wife of one French king, and the mother of three, was born at Florence in 1519. She was a daughter of Lorenzo de Medici, that ruler of Florence for whom Machiavelli wrote the Prince. Having lost both her parents at an early age, Catherine was sent to a convent to be educated ; and she was only fourteen when she was married (1533) to the duke of Orleans, afterwards Henry II. It was her uncle, Pope Clement VII., who arranged the marriage with Francis I. Francis, still engaged in his life-long task of making head against Charles V., was only too glad of the opportunity to strengthen his influence in the Italian Peninsula, while Clement, ever needful of help against his too powerful protector, was equally ready to hold out a bait. During the reign of Francis, Catherine exercised no influence in France. She was young, a foreigner, a member of a state that had almost no weight in the great world of politics, had not given any proof of great ability, and was thrown into the shade by more important persons. For ten years after her marriage she had no children. In con sequence, a divorce began to be talked of at court ; and it seemed not impossible that Francis, alarmed at the possible extinction of the royal house, might listen to such a proposal. On hearing of it, Catherine, with her fine Italian tact, found her way into the presence of the king, threw herself at his feet, and expressed her readiness to submit to the royal pleasure, either to remain the wife of his son, or in case another wife should be chosen, to be one of her humblest attendants. This appeal won the heart of Francis, the divorce was no more heard of, and Catherine had the happiness of bringing him grandchildren ere he died. During the reign of her husband, too (1549-1559), Catherine lived a quiet and passive, but observant life. Henry being completely under the influence of his mistress, Diana of Poitiers, she had little authority. This continued even after the accession of her son Francis II. Francis was under the spell of Mary Stuart, and she, little disposed to meddle with politics on her own account, was managed by her uncles, the cardinal of Lorraine and the duke of Guise. On the death of Francis, Catherine became regent during the minority of her second son, Charles IX., and now found before her a career worthy of the most soaring ambition. The new king was only ten years old. France was falling into a most critical condition. The opposition between the Reformation and the old religion was now beginning to assume a pronounced and openly hostile character, and the struggle was much intensified by the fact that most of the nobles who supported the Reformation represented also the old cause of feudal resistance to the centralizing tendencies of the court. The House of Guise were at the head of the Catholic party ; Coligny and the Prince of Conde&quot; were the leaders of the Huguenots. Michel 1 Hopital, who, by the neutrality of his position and the disinterestedness of his character, was the fittest to 