RED-HAIRED CATHERINE

Evening Star, Issue 18137, 29 November 1922, Page 4

RED-HAIRED CATHERINE

THE GREAT EMPRESS. REMARKABLE HISTORICAL FIGURE. It. would almost seem, from some recent writing, that people with crimson-crested heads are expected to hang them in shame. (Happily red-haired people are rarely meek and lowly; they aro usually quite able to keep the crown of the causeway, says a writer in the Melbourne ‘Age.’ Rod hair invariably accompanies .greatemotional capacity;, it is also frequently ■if Ices surely indicative of mental activity. The later generalisation is, of course, open to question; your answer will depend on whether you have, or your sweetheart has, red hair. But the theory receives some confirmation from history- A few women have been great mlora, great historical figures. It is significant that Ihreo of the greatest were red-haired. Elizabeth of England leaps instantly to the memory. Another less familiar tho English render, hub renowned in Europe, was Joanna of Naples. She was married at five; at fifteen she succeeded her grandfather as Sovereign of Naples, Provence, and Piedmont. She was married four times, chiefly for reasons of State; during many years, when powerful combinations of every kind were ranged- against her, she ruled ably and alone. A beautiful woman, with a wealth of red hair, she was at last foully murdered in a dismal castle in the Apennines.

But probably tho most outstanding of the red-haired trio was Catherine of Russia. Tho Russian Royal fine was abruptly cut short. But not even Bolshevism, upon the past has power, and the figure of. Catherine the Great is indestructible. It is safe to say that each succeeding generation will read her wonderful life’s story with an interest that will suffer no diminution. CAMOUFLAGE TO THE SKIN.

She has often been painted as a brunette; her hair was really flaring red. But when she was ten they began to comb it with leaden combs and to anoint it in order to darken it. They dyed her hair, but they could not deprive her of the temperamental qualities that wont with its original color, lb is something of an anomaly that this greatest woman Russian was a German. As a poor child she played with the neighbor’s children on the streets of Stettin; as an old woman she travelled through the empire sho firmly ruled scattering gold as she went.

She was born in 1729; her father was a princeling. When fifteen she was taken to Russia to be affianced to the Grand Duke Peter, who had seen her picture and who wished to possess her. There .was no direct heir to the throne, and the Empress Elizabeth had chosen Peter, her nephew, as her successor. No less Royal person ever lived; he was a hopeless drunkard, diseased in body, and more diseased in mind. Catherine sized up the position with the shrewdness of a company-promoting Jew, while playing tho part of a simple-minded girl. She ingratiated herself with Peter, with the Empress, and with the people. Sho learned the- Russian language, she adopted the Russian religious faith. In her memoirs, written long years after, she says she went to Russia determined io do everything, to pretend to believe- everything that would help her to wear the. Russian crown. . A pretty vaulting ambition for a young thing of fifteen. Peter was sixteen when the wedding took place. It was an occasion of memorable splendor, but it is hard to believe that in the great crowd of grown-up people who stood by there were not some who did not blush at the sin of launching two such children on tho evcr-prccarious. sea of matrimony. In most cases there is some hope of happiness; in this case there was none. Peter belied his name; there was nothing rookliko about his character. He was misshaped in body, mean in- soul, bankrupt in mind. Catherine fainted the first time she saw his smallpox-pitted face. He- had no regard for other people’s feelings, rye sense of self-respect. He never emerged from the childish stage of playing at soldiers. He kept a pack of hounds next to his wifris bedroom; their stench made her sick, their noise deprived her of sleep and drove her nearly silly. THE SINS OP HIS FATHERS.

Perhaps Peter could have pleaded extenuating circumstances. He was the product of Ids century and Ids vicious environment; he was the sufferer for tho sins of Ids lathers. The Russian Court was openly bestial; tho old Empress Elizabeth, whom Catherine hoped to succeed, was drunken and sensual. For ten years the marriageof Peter and Catherine was barren; then a boy was born. As far as Peter was concerned, the title of father was a courtesy term only. It is easy to raise hands in affected horror and to call Catherine an abandoned creature. But before calling her names recall her surroundings. She was bound to a husband whom she was equally bound to despise. She had been encouraged to forswear her religious faith; she lacked tho moral restrains religion is supposed to supply. Sho had handsome lovers in plenty, and an heir to the throne was needed. It was whispered in her ear that as long as discretion was observed no embarrassing questions would be asked. The most remarkable thing about the baby s birth was that it was so belated; the circumstance is greatly to Catherine’s credit. Her married life had been, a series of different kinds of misery. But after the birth of her child sho began to interest herself in politics; there her powers found scope. Her judgment was sound, her foresight clear. Peter, though ho hated her, appealed to her in every emergency; the emergency over, he would resume insulting her and, by way of variety, kicking her. He tried to turn tire Empress against her, and for a time Catherine was in bad- odor, but by dxeer courage and strategy she regained Elizabeth’s favor. The experience, however, taught her that while her husband lived she might at any moment unexpectedly die. Peter became Emperor a t Elizabeth s death, and he continued to be the knavo ho could not help being. His treatment of his wife became more brutal, but Catherine became more watchful. She knew him sufficiently well to bo sure ho would_ not bo Emperor long without proving himself a fool. And ho did. In a pet one day ho quitted St. Petersburg with some boon companions. 'Within a few hours the army revolted, deposed Peter, and enthroned Catherine. “ OFFICIAL APOPLEXY.” What caused that revolution was never clear. But it is suggestive that it was led by four brothers, two of whom had certainly been, and all of whom bad probably been, Catherine’s lovers. Peter was conveyed to a place in the country; a few days later ho died from a disease euphemistically called “ official apoplexy.” Catherine had no direct hand in tho murder. She had no need. Those who knew her know also tho most acceptable way to serve her. 'the once obscure German girl now stepped on to tho Russian throne. She was nearly thirty-four, and for nearly thirty-four years more she ruled that vast empire unaided. She did it so well that she won, the intense loyalty of the Russians and commanded ihe respect of tho onlooking nations. When little more than a child she had planned out her life; sho now pursued that plan determinedly. She became more Russian than ihe native bom. Sho abolished torture, founded hospitals, endowed schools, encouraged manufactures, patronised arts. She -repaired seaports, built ships, fortified towns. She is said to have doubled the resources of tho empire. She corresponded with and conferred favors upon Voltaire and the encyolopsedists. They held her up as a great philosopher and freedom lover. Doubtless their tongues were in their cheeks; they simply fawned on her_ for the lavish gifts she gave. That Catherine also had her tongue in her cheek may not have so readily occurred to them. But she was astute enough to see that their flatteries, even, if insincere, helped fo give her an exalted reputation. -She spent freely on works of art, yet she candidly confessed she had no taste for painting, sculpture, or music. She was, however, a great lover of literature; she was never without a book under her pillow or in her pocket. And. even though her red hair was dyed, the spell of her beauty survived. Her personal charm is attested by many a contemporary. She was in many respects deeply sentimental. She was kind to her personal servants; she rarely troubled to be angry over matters purely domestic. But if ever fiho thought, her dignity and authority as head of ihe Stale was at stake she was instantly aroused. Every opinion hostile to the supremacy of tho monarchy she suppressed ruthlessly. Sho was a- ruler rather than a mother, atateswoman' rather than wife.