time.  There is still a picture existing, painted by order of Catharine, representing the empress and the Swedish monarch in one of their most confidential interviews.  Catharine II. promised Gustavus that if he would faithfully remain neutral during her war with Turkey she would, at its close, aid Sweden in gaining possession of Norway.  The two sovereigns, having exchanged rich presents, separated, mutually delighted with each other.

The empress had now seventy thousand men on the frontiers of the Crimea, and a reserve of forty thousand on the march to strengthen them.  A third army of great power was rendezvoused at Kief.  A large squadron of ships of war was ready for battle in the Sea of Azof, and another squadron was prepared to sail from the Baltic for the Mediterranean.  England, alarmed by the growth of Russia, did every thing in her power to stimulate the Turks to action.  But the Porte, overawed by the force brought against her, notwithstanding the brave manifesto it had been induced to issue, sued for peace.  Yielding to all the demands of Russia a treaty was soon signed.  Catharine gained undisputed possession of the Crimea, large portions of Circassia, the whole of the Black Sea, and also the free passage of the Dardanelles.  Thus, without firing a gun, Russia gained several thousand square miles of territory, and an addition of more than a million and a half of inhabitants, with commercial privileges which added greatly to the wealth of the empire.

Catharine’s fleet now rode triumphantly upon the Caspian, and she resolved to extend her dominions along the western shores of that inland sea.  These vast regions were peopled by warlike tribes, ever engaged in hostilities against each other.  Slowly but surely she advanced her conquests and reared her fortresses through those barbaric wilds.  At the same time she was pushing her acquisitions with equal sagacity and success along the shores of Kamtschatka.  With great vigor she encouraged her commercial caravans to penetrate China, and even opened relations with Japan, obtaining from that jealous people permission to send a trading ship to their coast every year.

No persons are so jealous of the encroachments of others as those who are least scrupulous in regard to the encroachments which they themselves make.  The English government, whose boast it is that the sun, in its circuit of the globe, never ceases to shine 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.