considerable influence he was able to command,
called upon all his resources of brain and address,
and brought Catherine to the point of consenting
to sign the charter he needed. Before it was ready
for the imperial signature she died. Rezanov was
forced to begin again with her ill-balanced and in-
tractable son. Natalie Shelikov, his famous mother-
in-law, the old shareholders of the Company, and
the many new ones that had subscribed to Rezanov's
ambitious project, gave themselves up to despair.
For a time the outlook was dark. The personal
enemies of Rezanov and the bitter and persistent
opponents of the companies threw themselves eager-
ly into the scale with tales of brutality of the mer-
chants and the threatened extirpation of the fur-
bearing animals. Paul announced his attention to
abolish all the companies and close the colonies to
traders big and little.

But the enemy had a very subtle antagonist in
Rezanov. Apparently dismissing the subject, he ap-
plied himself to gaining a personal ascendancy over
the erratic but impressionable Tsar. No one in the
opposing camp could compare with him in that fine
balance of charm and brain which was his peculiar
gift, or in the adroit manipulation of a mind pro-
pelled mainly by vanity. He studied Paul's moods
and character, discovered that after some senseless
act of oppression he suffered from a corresponding
remorse, and was susceptible to any plan that would