nd who was reputed to be her
paramour, was one of these murderers. He immediately mounted his
horse, and rode to St. Petersburg to inform the empress that Peter was
dead. Whether Catharine was a party to this assassination, or whether
it was perpetrated entirely without her knowledge, is a question which
now can probably never be decided. It is very certain that the grief
she manifested was all feigned, and that the assassins were rewarded
for their devotion to her interests. She shut herself up for a few
days, assuming the aspect of a mourner, and issued to her subjects a
declaration announcing the death of the late tzar. When one enters
upon the declivity of crime, the descent is ever rapid. The innocent
girl, who, but a few years before, had entered the Russian court from
her secluded ancestral castle a spotless child of fifteen, was now
most deeply involved in intrigues and sins. It is probable, indeed,
that she had not intended the death of her husband, but had designed
sending him to Holstein and providing for him abundantly, for the rest
of his days, with dogs and wine, and leaving him to his own
indulgences. It is certain, however, that the empress did not punish,
or even dismiss from her favor, the murderers of Peter. She announced
to the nation his death in the following terms:

"_By the Grace of God, Catharine II., Empress of all the Russias, to
our loving Subjects, Greeting:_

"The seventh day after our accession to the throne of all the Russias,
we received information that the late emperor, Peter III., was
attacked with a most violent colic. That we might not be wanting in
Christian duty, or disobedient to the divine command by which we are
enjoined to preserve the life of our neighbor, we immediately ordered
that the said Peter should be furnished with every thing that might be
judged necessary to restore his health by the aids of medicine. But,
to our great regret and affliction, we were yesterday evening apprised
that, by the permission of the Almighty, the late emperor departed
this life. We have therefore ordered his body to be conveyed to the
monastery of Nefsky, in order to its interment in that place. At the
same time, with our imperial and maternal voice, we exhort our
faithful subjects to forgive and forget what is past, to pay the last
duties to his body, and to pray to God sincerely for the repose of his
soul, wishing them, however, to consider this unexpected and sudden
death as an especial