s
proportions, the national question of "_to be or not to be_," was
pending with the same country under an emperor of the same ominous name
"Napoleon." Before Louisa's statue the aged monarch received the
inspiration and the strength which nerved him for the last gigantic
struggle.

Leaving the saintly Louisa, an entirely different type of royal
womanhood demands our consideration, a type rendered noteworthy by sheer
intellectual force. Catherine II., the Great, was the greatest woman,
politically speaking, ever produced by the German nation; but her genius
benefited, or rather raised to world power, a foreign and rival state,
namely, the Russian empire (1762-1796). Born at Stettin in 1729, and the
daughter of the petty Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, Catherine was married to
Peter of Holstein-Gottorp, heir to the Russian throne, whose blind
admiration for the great Frederick of Prussia alienated from him the
affections of the Russian people; while Catherine identified herself
with the Russians, whose future she was destined or determined to rule.
Even as crown princess she led a notorious life, at first with Count
Soltikof, and later with Count Poniatowski, afterward the ill-fated king
of dying Poland; but she never forgot to strengthen herself, all the
while, politically, and to secure all the instruments of power against
her hated and despised husband. Peter was deposed, imprisoned, and
strangled by Gregory Orloff, Catherine's paramour, certainly not without
her knowledge (July, 1762). As empress, she forcibly obtained for Russia
a controlling influence in the councils of Europe, while civilizing her
people and mightily fostering the arts and sciences. Her literary and
epistolary works and correspondence with the greatest men of her time
prove her to have been a woman of extraordinary genius and literary
capacity. As all her talents seemed to be out of proportion to womanly
limitations, so were her immorality and passion. She ruled with an iron
hand, through a succession of favorites or recognized lovers who, it
must be confessed, had nothing to recommend them but the physical
advantages of form and animal strength. The brutal Orloff, whom she
raised from a low station, maintained himself longest in her favor,
until his aspiration for the hand of his imperial mistress worked his
undoing. Other men, selected partly from the ranks of the common
soldiers, followed in rapid succession; finally, Gregory Potemkin became
the most