tious to make her influence felt in every European
movement, and she was conscious that, in order to command the respect
of other courts, she must ever have a formidable army at her disposal.
In all the great movements of kings and courts this wonderful woman
performed her part with dignity which no monarch, male or female, has
ever surpassed. It is strange that it has taken so many centuries for
the nations to learn that peace, not war, enriches realms. Had Russia
abstained from those wars in which she has unnecessarily engaged, she
might now have been the most wealthy and powerful nation on the globe.
Admitting that there have been many wars which, involving her national
existence, she could not have avoided, still she has squandered
countless millions of money and of lives in battles which were quite
unnecessary. Russia, like the United States, is safe from all attacks
from without. Had Russia employed the yearly earnings of the empire in
cultivating the fields, rearing towns, and in extending the arts of
industry and refinement, infinitely more would have been accomplished
for her happiness and renown than by the most brilliant conquests. But
Catharine, in her high ambition, seemed to be afraid that Europe might
forget her, and she was eager to have her voice heard in the
deliberations of every cabinet, and to have her banners unfurled in
the march of every army.

There was an office, in the court of the empress, sanctioned by time
in Russia, which has not existed in any other court in Europe. It
perhaps originated from the fact that for about three fourths of a
century Russia was almost exclusively governed by women. The court
favorite was not merely the prime minister, but the confidential
friend and companion of the empress. On the day of his installation he
received a purse containing one hundred thousand dollars, and a salary
of twelve thousand dollars a month. A marshal was also commissioned to
provide him a table of twenty-four covers, and to defray all the
expenses of his household. The twelve thousand dollars a month were
for what the ladies call _pin money_. The favorite occupied in the
palace an apartment beneath that of the empress, to which it
communicated by a private stair-case. He attended the empress on all
parties of amusement, at the opera, the theater, balls, promenades and
excursions of pleasure, and he was not allowed to leave the palace
without express permission. It was also understood that h