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 and very informal nuptial rites were bound to her for a season, each one of whom was exchanged for another as caprice incited.  The spirit of national aggrandizement which influenced Catharine, was a spirit possessed, to an equal extent, at that time, by every cabinet in Christendom.  It was the great motive power of the age.  Dismembered Poland excites our sympathy; but Poland was as eager to share in the partition of other States as she was reluctant to submit to that operation herself.  In personal character Catharine was humane, tolerant, self-denying, and earnestly devoted to the welfare of her empire.  Religious teachers, of all denominations, freely met at her table.  This Christian liberality, thus encouraged in the palace, spread through the realm, producing the most beneficial results.  On the occasion of a celebrated festival, Catharine gave a grand dinner party to ecclesiastics of all communions at the palace.  This entertainment she called the “Dinner of Toleration.”  The representatives of eight different forms of worship met around this hospitable board.