ine on their
domains, watches with an eagle eye lest any other government on the
globe should venture upon the most humble act of annexation. So it was
with Catharine. Though adding to her vast dominions in every quarter;
though appropriating, alike in peace and in war, all the territory she
could lay her hands upon, she could inveigh against the inordinate
ambition of other nations with the most surprising volubility.

The increasing fame and power of Frederic II. had for some time
disturbed her equanimity, and she manifested great anxiety lest he
should be guilty of the impropriety of annexing some petty duchy to
his domains. Since he had united with Catharine and Austria in the
banditti partition of Poland, he had continually been making all the
encroachments in his power; adding acres to his domains as Catharine
added square leagues to hers. In precisely the same spirit, England,
who was grasping at all the world, protested, with the most edifying
devotion to the claims of justice and humanity, against the ambitious
spirit of Russia. The "beam" did not exclude the vision of the "mote."
Catharine, offended by the opposition of England, retaliated by
entering into a treaty of commerce with France, which deprived England
of an important part of the Russian trade.

The spirit of toleration manifested by Catharine is worthy of all
praise. During the whole of her reign she would not allow any one to
be persecuted, in the slightest degree, on account of religious
opinions. All the conquered provinces were protected in the free
exercise of their religion. Lutherans, Calvinists, Moravians, Papists,
Mohammedans, and Pagans of all kinds, not only enjoyed freedom of
opinion and of worship, but could alike aspire to any post, civil or
military, of which they could prove themselves worthy. At one time,
when urged by the hateful spirit of religious bigotry to frown upon
some heresy, she replied smiling,

"Poor wretches! since we know that they are to suffer so much and so
long in the world to come, it is but reasonable that we should
endeavor, by all means, to make their situation here as comfortable as
we can."

Though Catharine II. had many great defects of character, she had many
virtues which those who have denounced her most severely might do well
to imitate. Her crowning vice, and the one which, notwithstanding her
virtues, has consigned her name to shame, was that she had a constant
succession of lovers who by secret a