| HISTORY OF EUROPE. [201 
Catharine, being informed of this, 
immediately gave orders for a body 
of troops, which she had in the Ku- 
ban, to go and reinforce the army 
of Valerian Zuboff, not doubting 
that her general would very soon 
give a total defeat to Aga Mah- 
med. She also flattered herself with 
the hopes of obtaining a greater tri- 
umph. The new treaty, which she 
had just concluded with Great Bri- 
tain, and with Austria, secured to 
her the assistance of those two pow- 
ers against Turkey. In a word, she 
now reckoned on the full accom- 
plishment of her darling projet, 
of driving the Ottomans out of Ku- 
rope, and of reigning in Constan- 
tinople. Butshe suddenly finished, 
by an easy death, the career of a 
splendid life,.in the sixty-seventh 
year of her age, and thirty-sixth of 
her reign. She died at Petersburgh, 
of an apoplexy, on the tenth of 
November; on which her son, the 
great duke, Paul Petrowitz, was 
proclaimed emperor. 
Catharine was the most illus- 
trious sovereign, after the exit of 
Frederick the great, king of Prus- 
sia, on the theatre of Europe, for 
comprehension of mind, lofty am- 
bition, courage, and perseverance 
in her designs, and the general 
influence of her policy and arms, 
in the affairs of Europe. Her 
ambition was not direéted merely 
to the security and extension of the 
empire, but to the civilization and 
welfare of subject tribes and na- 
tions, by the introduction of arts, 
liberal and mechanical, and the 
improvement of manufactures and 
commerce: and all this, by means 
more gentle and gradual than many 
of those employed by Peter the 
great; and, consequently, more ef- 
fectual. In all her wars, she was 
successful: in all her regulations, 
for the internal government of her 
mighty empire, there appeared that 
benevolence, which, for the honour 
of human nature, is usually found 
in conjunétion with sublimity of 
genius. She wished, soon after her 
accession to the throne, to intros 
duce civil liberty among the great 
mass of the people, by the eman- 
cipation of the peasantry. It wag 
found impraéticable to emancipate 
their bodies without enlightening 
their minds. To this objeét' she 
bent the powers of her inventive, 
though prudent, genius. Schools 
were instituted in all parts of her 
dominions, and a way was opened 
for the lowest of her subjeéts to 
libertyy by certain privileges, within 
the scope of industry and merit. 
The code of laws, drawn up by 
her own hand, was never exceeded, 
in point either of sagacity or good- 
ness: for, we are always to bear in 
mind, that even Solon found it 
expedient not to diétate the best 
laws, but the best that the people, 
for whom he diétated, were capable 
ofbearing. Her military plans par- 
took of the strength of simplicity. 
She did not feed the flame of war 
to no purpose, by throwing in, as 
it were, faggot after faggot, nor 
wasie time in tedious detours, but, 
with a mighty and irresistible cone 
centrated force, proceeded direétly 
to her object. She had not the 
art of appearing affable, generous, 
and magnanimous, but the merit 
of really being so. She was not 
onlya patroness, but a great proe 
ficient, in literature; and, had not 
her life been spent in great actions, 
it would, probably, have been em- 
ployed, though with somewhat less 
glory, in celebrating the illustrious 
achievements of others. It is an 
, invidious 
