The instruction of the masses of the people occupied much of the attention of this extraordinary woman.  She commenced with founding schools in the large towns; and then proceeded to the establishment of them in various parts of the country.  Many normal schools were established for the education of teachers.  The empress herself attended the examinations and questioned the scholars.  On one of these occasions, when a learned German professor of history was giving a lecture to some pupils, gathered from the tribes of Siberia, the empress proposed an objection to some views he advanced.  The courtiers were shocked at the learned man’s presumption in replying to the objection in the most conclusive manner.  The empress, ever eager in the acquisition of knowledge, admitted her mistake, and thanked the professor for having rectified it with so much ability.

She purchased, at a high price, the libraries of D’Alembert, and of Voltaire, immediately after the death of those illustrious men.  She also purchased the valuable cabinet of natural curiosities collected by Professor Pallas.  The most accomplished engineers she could obtain were sent to explore the mountains of Caucasus, and even to the frontiers of China.  When we consider the trackless deserts to be explored, the inhospitable climes and barbarous nations to be encountered, these were enterprises far more perilous than the circumnavigation of the globe.  The scientific expedition to China was escorted by a corps of eight hundred and ten chosen men, led by one hundred and seven distinguished officers.  The savans were provided with every thing which could be thought of to promote their comfort and to aid them in their explorations, and three years were alloted as the probable term of service required by the mission.  At the same time a naval expedition was fitted out to explore the northern seas, and ascertain the limits of the Russian empire.  But the greatest work of Catharine’s reign was the completion of the canal which united the waters of the Volga and the Neva, and thus established an inland navigation through all the countries which lie between the Caspian Sea and the Baltic.

In the year 1786 the empress announced her intention of making a magnificent journey to the Crimea, in order to be crowned sovereign of her new conquests.  This design was to be executed in the highest style of oriental pomp, as the empress was resolved to extend her sway over all the nations of the Tartars.  But the Tartars of those unmeasured realms, informed of the contemplated movement, were alarmed, and immediately combined their energies for a determined resistance.  The Grand Seignior was also goaded to the most desperate exertions, for the empress had formed the design, and the report was universally promulgated, of placing her second grandchild, Constantine, on the throne of Constantinople.