Many historians agree that despite Catherine's personal weaknesses, she was above all a ruler truly dedicated to her adopted country. She intended to make Russia a prosperous and powerful state and since her early days she had dreamed of establishing a reign of order and justice, of spreading education, creating a court to rival Versailles, and developing a national culture that would be more than an imitation of French models. Her projects obviously were too numerous to carry out, even if she could have given her full attention to them, yet she seemed determined to achieve her goals, and from the beginning of her reign began to impose reforms in order to do so.
On of the main things she wished to achieve was to replenishment of the state treasury, which was empty when Elizabeth died. She did this in 1762 by secularising the property of the clergy, who owned one-third of the land and serfs in Russia. …
