Her murders and orgies were soon forgotten in the new hopes for Russian
regeneration. Her dealings with Russia strengthened these hopes. The
official style required that all persons presenting petitions should
subscribe themselves "Your Majesty's humble serf." This formula she
abolished, and boasted that she had cast out the word serf from the
Russian language. Poets and philosophers echoed this boast over
Europe--and the serfs waited.
The great Empress spurred hope by another movement. She proposed to an
academy the question of serf emancipation as a subject for their prize
essay. The essay was written and crowned. It was filled with beautiful
things about liberty, practical things about moderation, flattering
things about the "Great Catharine"--and the serfs waited.
Again she aroused hope. It was given out that her most intense delight
came from the sight of happy serfs and prosperous villages. Accordingly,
in her journey to the Crimea, Potemkin squandered millions on millions
in rearing pasteboard villages, in dragging forth thousands of wretched
peasants to fill them, in costuming them to look thrifty, in training
them to look happy.
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