FROM PETROGRAD TO MOSCOW 55 



1762 to 1796, when she died. She improved the 

 administration of the Empire, introduced a new 

 code of laws, and encouraged art and literature. 

 She has been called "the Semiramis of the North, " 

 and Voltaire said, with reference to her, "Light 

 now comes from the North. ' 



Rambaud, in his History of Russia, said of her: 

 "No sovereign since Ivan the Terrible had ex- 

 tended the frontiers of the Empire by such vast 

 conquests. She had given Russia for boundaries 

 the Niemen, the Dniester, and the Black Sea." 



Tracing the lineage of their hereditary monarchy 

 from the reign of Catharine II., history gives us the 

 following record: 



Paul L, her son, born 1754, was enthroned Emperor 

 1796, and was assassinated 1801. 



His son, Alexander I., was born 1777; enthroned 

 1801, and died 1825. 



His son, Nicholas I., born 1796, when his father was 

 19 years of age, enthroned 1825, at 29 years of age, 

 and died 1855. 



His son, Alexander II., was born 1818; enthroned 

 1855; emancipated the serfs 1861; and was assassin- 

 ated 1 88 1. 



His son, Alexander III., was born 1845. He mar- 

 ried Princess Dagmar, daughter of the King of Den- 



