prison by Elizabeth in 1741, was now (p. 186)
twenty-one years old. It was reported that he had lost his reason,
which may have been true or false. Catherine disposed of him. She
said: "It is my opinion that he should not be allowed to escape, so as
to place him beyond the power of doing harm. It would be best to
tonsure him (that is, to make a monk of him), and to transfer him to
some monastery, neither too near nor too far off; it will suffice if
it does not become a shrine." She did not desire that the people
should make a martyr of a descendant of Peter the Great, while she, a
foreign woman, was occupying the throne. Poor Ivan was murdered by his
keepers two years later, when a lieutenant of the Guards was trying to
effect his escape. After that, Catherine had no rival for the crown,
except her son Paul, whom she disliked.

At first it seemed as if Catherine would reverse her husband's policy
with regard to Prussia. She gave orders to the army to leave the
Prussian camp, but she did not command active hostilities; since the
parties felt the exhaustion of a seven years' struggle, peace
negotiations were begun and concluded successfully.

Catherine made Russia a party to the System of the North; that is, she
entered into an alliance with England, Prussia, and Denmark, as
against France and Austria. Nearly all Europe was deeply interested in
the severe illness of the King of Poland, because of the election
which must follow his death. Unhappy Poland was bringing destruction
upon itself. A lawless nobility kept the country in anarchy, and
religious persecution, which had disappeared elsewhere, was still
rampant. It was the gold distributed by interested powers, that
controlled the vote of the Diet, and since it was merely a (p. 187)
question of the highest bidder, Frederick the Great and Catherine came
to an understanding. They decided to elect Stanislas Poniatowski, a
Polish noble. France and Austria supported the Prince of Saxony, who
was also the choice of the Court party. After the death of Augustus
III, the Diet assembled and elected the French and Austrian candidate.
Members of the Diet asked for Russian intervention and, supported by
Catherine's army, Poniatowski was placed on the throne.

Russia and Prussia were not satisfied; they wanted part of the
kingdom and the prevailing anarchy on their frontiers justified
them. But Catherine made a pretext out of Poland's religious
intolerance,--although