e should pay
no attention to any lady but the empress.

The year 1775 dawned upon Russia with peace at home and abroad.
Catharine devoted herself anew to the improvement of her subjects in
education and all physical comforts. Prince Gregory Orlof had been for
many years the favorite of the empress, but he was now laid aside, and
Count Potemkin took his place.

Catharine now divided her extensive realms into forty-three great
provinces, over each of which a governor was appointed. These
provinces embraced from six to eight hundred thousand inhabitants.
There was then a subdivision into districts or circles, as they were
called. There were some ten of these districts in each province, and
they contained from forty to sixty thousand inhabitants. An entire
system of government was established for each province, with its laws
and tribunals, that provision might be made for every thing essential
to the improvement and embellishment of the country. The governors of
these provinces were invested with great dignity and splendor. The
gubernatorial courts, if they may so be called, established centers of
elegance and refinement, which it was hoped would exert a powerful
influence in polishing a people exceedingly rude and uncultivated.
There were also immense advantages derived from the uniform
administration of justice thus established. This new division of the
empire was the most comprehensive reform Russia had yet experienced.
Thus the most extensive empire on the globe, with its geographical
divisions so vast and dissimilar, was cemented into one homogeneous
body politic.

Until this great reform the inhabitants of the most distant provinces
had been compelled to travel to Petersburg and Moscow in their appeals
to the tribunals of justice. Now there were superior courts in all the
provinces, and inferior courts in all the districts. In all important
cases there was an appeal to the council of the empress. Russian
ships, laden with the luxuries of the Mediterranean, passed through
the Dardanelles and the Bosporus, and landed their precious freights
upon the shores of Azof, from whence they were transported into the
heart of Russia, thus opening a very lucrative commerce.

The Polish nobles, a very turbulent and intractable race of men, were
overawed by the power of Catharine, and the masses of the Polish
people were doubtless benefited by their transference to new masters.
Russia was far more benignant in its treatment of