History. THE history of Russia commences shortly after the middle of the ninth century, when a Scandinavian race, known as the Varages or Varangians, established their dominion over several of the less warlike Slavonic and Finnish tribes who inhabited the eastern shores of the Baltic. These seem to have made some progress in the arts of peace, and even at this early period to have carried on a considerable commerce. Harassed by more warlike neighbours, they had called in the assistance of the Varangians; but these unscrupulous allies no sooner rid them of their enemies than they established themselves in their country.
Ruric, A.D. 862. Ruric, the leader of the Varangians, built a town near the Volkhof, where Old Ladoga now stands, and made it the seat of his government. This is said to have been about A.D. 862. His two brothers Sinaf and Truvor, who had accompanied him, established themselves, the former at Bielo Ozero, and the latter at Isborsk, near Pleskof. The rightful owners of the soil, however, were not inclined peacefully to submit to this species of usurpation, and accordingly they took up arms under the leadership of Vadim, a chief who had greatly distinguished himself for his military talents. A fierce engagement took place, in which the Varangians were victorious, Vadim and several of the other chiefs having lost their lives. This success emboldened Ruric to extend his territories, and to change the seat of his government from Ladoga to Novgorod, the capital of the Slavs, which was even then a large and opulent city. His brothers Sinaf and Truvor died soon after, and Ruric became sole monarch of the conquered territory, over which he reigned without further molestation for fifteen years. At his death his son Igor was only four years of age, and the government devolved upon his kinsman Oleg. The new ruler did not long remain idle, and one of his first expeditions was against Kief, where two Varangian chiefs, Oskhold and Dir, seem to have established their dominion over the Slavs of that part. To effect his purpose, Oleg had recourse to strategem; and, taking with him Igor, he descended the Dnieper with a few boats, in which he had concealed a number of armed men. On approaching Kief, he sent a message to the two chiefs, stating that some Varangian merchants, on their way to Greece by order of the Prince of Novgorod, desired to see them as friends and kinsmen. Oskhold and Dir accepted the invitation, and, suspecting no harm, went unarmed and unattended. They no sooner reached the place of meeting than they were surrounded by armed men, and Oleg taking Igor in his arms, cried, "You are neither princes nor of the race of princes; but I am a prince, and this is the son of Ruric." No sooner were these words uttered than the soldiers fell upon the two chiefs and slew them. The inhabitants of Kief, thrown into consternation by this bold and treacherous act, made no resistance, but opened the gates of their city to the invader. But his ambitious designs did not end here. He now meditated an attack upon Constantinople, and for that purpose he removed the seat of his government to Kief. At length he embarked on the Dnieper with 80,000 warriors, on board of no fewer than 2000 vessels. After encountering numerous obstacles, and having several times to disembark and carry their vessels for some distance overland, the Russians at length reached the Black Sea, and, coasting along its shores, they soon arrived at the Strait of Constantinople. To prevent their approach to the city, the inhabitants had thrown a chain across the harbour; but the invaders, not deterred by this, are said to have drawn their vessels ashore, and fitting them upon wheels, by means of sails, converted them into carriages,
and thus arrived under the walls of the city. The weak Leo, who was then upon the throne, did not offer any resistance, but was content to purchase an ignominious peace, and Oleg returned to Kief laden with wealth. Soon after this Oleg sent deputies to Constantinople with articles of a treaty to be signed by the Greek emperor. From this treaty we learn many important particulars respecting the internal policy of the Russians at the beginning of the tenth century. It shows that they laid great stress upon oaths; that murder was punished by death, and not by fine; that a thief taken in the fact might be killed by the proprietor with impunity, or, if bound and brought before the judge, he was obliged to restore the stolen goods, together with three times their value; that wives had a part of the estates of their husbands; that punishment did not extend to the entire confiscation of goods, and hence the widow and orphan did not suffer for a crime of which they were innocent; that citizens might dispose of their effects in favour of friends, without fear of the sovereign seizing on their heritage. Oleg died in 913, after having conducted the government for thirty-three years, leaving Igor in full possession of the throne, who, up to this time, does not seem to have had any share in the administration. On the accession of the new sovereign, several of the nations that had been subjugated by Oleg attempted to regain their independence. The Drevlians were the first to revolt; but they were soon quelled, and punished by the imposition of an increased tribute. The Uglitches, who dwelt on the southern side of the Dnieper, contended longer for their liberty, and one of their principal towns withstood a siege for three years; but at length they too were subdued and made tributary. Igor had next to contend with a more formidable enemy in the Petchenegans, a nation hitherto unknown, who, quitting their settlements on the Oural and Volga, established themselves on the Don and the Dnieper. Igor finding himself unable to cope with his new enemies, concluded a treaty of alliance with them. About five years afterwards disputes seem to have arisen between them, and both parties had recourse to arms. It appears that the Russians were finally victorious, and the Petchenegans were for some time disabled from giving farther molestation.
We next hear of Igor in 941 setting out on an expedition against the Greeks with, if we may credit the Russian accounts, 10,000 barks, each carrying forty men. The government of the empire, however, was now in different hands from those that had held it during the former invasion. The Greeks were commanded by two able generals, Theophanes and Phocas, the former of whom was over the fleet, the latter over the army. Theophanes attacked them in their ships, and throwing among them the terrible Greek fire, with the effects of which they were totally unacquainted, caused such consternation that many cast themselves into the sea to avoid the flames. Their vessels were dispersed, shattered, or burned, and great numbers of their crews perished. Those that reached the land were immediately attacked by Phocas, so that Igor carried back with him scarcely one-third of his immense army. Though discouraged by this ill success, it did not deter him from making a second attempt, and accordingly, three years afterwards, he set out with a new army, which included many of the Petchenegans whom he had taken into pay. Before he had advanced beyond the Taurian Chersonesus, however, he was met by deputies from the emperor, offering to pay to him the same tribute that his predecessor had received; and Igor, doubtful of the issue of a contest, complied with this offer, and retired with his army. Igor was
History. now far advanced in years, but the insatiable rapacity of his officers impelled him to turn his army against the Drevlians, for the purpose of obtaining from them an increase of their yearly tribute. In this he was at first successful, and was returning home loaded with booty; but, not yet satisfied, he sent home the greater part of his troops with the spoil, and with the remainder marched again into the enemy's country. The Drevlians, now driven to desperation, fell upon him and his followers near the town of Iskorosch, and massacred the whole of them.
Igor's son, Sviatoslav, was very young at the death of his father, and the regency devolved upon Olga the queen-mother. Her first act was to revenge the murder of her husband. The Drevlians were anxious to renew friendship with the Russians, and their chief made offer of his hand to Olga. Pretending to listen to their overtures, the queen received the messengers kindly, but immediately caused them to be put to death. In the meantime, she requested a larger deputation to be sent to her, consisting of the chief men of the state; and these, on their arrival, she treated in the same inhuman manner, taking care, in each case, that no tidings should reach the Drevlians. She then set out, as if on a friendly visit, to conclude the new alliance, and having invited to a great entertainment some hundreds of the principal inhabitants, she caused them all to be assassinated. Not yet satisfied, she now laid waste the country with fire and sword. The town near which Igor had lost his life long withstood her utmost efforts, the inhabitants dreading the horrible fate that awaited them. At length she had recourse to stratagem, and promised them mercy on condition of receiving all the pigeons in the town. To the tails of these she attached lighted matches, and then set them all at liberty. They of course made for their usual haunts, and the houses being all of wood, the town was speedily in a blaze. The wretched inhabitants, endeavouring to escape the flames, were immediately butchered by the Russians.
The only other remarkable event during Olga's regency was her conversion to Christianity. Though Christianity seems to have been introduced into Russia before this time, and full liberty allowed to its professors in their worship, yet it had hitherto made little progress. The people were still pagans, practising the most absurd and cruel superstitions. Olga, however, resolved to embrace the Greek religion, and for that purpose undertook a journey to Constantinople about A.D. 955. Constantine Porphyrogeneta, who was then upon the throne, received the royal convert with the greatest respect,—himself conducting her to the baptismal font, where, in the character of sponsor, he gave her the name of Helen. Her example, however, had little effect upon the Russians, and even her son disregarded all her solicitations to become a Christian. She died about the year 969. It is not known at what time Sviatoslav obtained the reins of government, but it is generally supposed to have been about the time of his mother's departure for Constantinople. His first care was to improve the character and discipline of his army, and to this he devoted himself with the greatest zeal, living in the camp, and sharing in the duties and dangers of the meanest of his followers. His food was of the simplest and coarsest description; and he had no tent, but, wrapped in a bear's skin, usually slept on the bare ground. Nor was he less distinguished for his contempt of danger than for his disregard of the luxuries and conveniences of life. His soldiers emulated his example, and were proud to follow a leader who shared in all their toils and hardships. His army thus became formidable, not so much from its numbers as from the courage and discipline of the soldiers; and having little baggage, they could rapidly move from place to place. His first great expedition was against the Kozars, a people that had come from the shores of the Caspian and the sides of the Cau-
casus, and had established themselves along the eastern side of the Black Sea. He totally vanquished them, and took their capital by storm. He is even said to have annihilated the nation, at least we find no mention of it after that time. The Greek emperor Nicephorus Phocas, harassed by the Hungarians, assisted by his treacherous allies the Bulgarians, applied for assistance to Sviatoslav, who hastened southward with a large army. He quickly made himself master of all the Bulgarian towns along the Danube, and was so elated with his success, that he resolved to remove the seat of his government from Kiev to Pereiaslavatz, now Yamboly, on the banks of that river. He was, however, obliged to defer his intentions and hasten home, having received intelligence that the Petchenegans, taking advantage of his absence, were ravaging his territory, and had laid siege to his capital. Before his arrival, however, the Petchenegans had, by an artifice of the Russian general, been induced to raise the siege. After reducing them to subjection, Sviatoslav resumed his design of establishing himself on the Danube. By this time the Bulgarians had recovered most of their towns, and were prepared to resist his encroachments. At length he succeeded in establishing himself in Bulgaria, but by this time the Emperor Nicephorus had been assassinated, and his murderer, John Zimisces, had ascended the throne. The new emperor saw clearly that the Russians would be a more dangerous neighbour than the Bulgarians, and sent ambassadors to the Russian monarch, desiring him to evacuate Bulgaria, in terms of his treaty. This Sviatoslav refused to do, and prepared to maintain his ground by force. He raised his army by the addition of Bulgarians, Petchenegans, and Hungarians, to the number of 300,000 men. He first made an incursion into Thrace, burning and ravaging in all directions, and laid siege to Adrianople, but was defeated by stratagem by the commandant of that town. This was succeeded by a series of other losses, and his army was further weakened by desertions among the allied troops, until a great part of them were shut up in the city of Pereiaslavatz. The city was taken by assault, but 8000 of the Russians threw themselves into the citadel, which was considered impregnable. The enemy, however, succeeded in setting it on fire; many threw themselves from the summit of the rock, others perished in the flames, and the rest were taken captive. Sviatoslav, who had not been shut up in Pereiaslavatz, now took refuge in Durostole, the strongest of the few towns that now remained to him on the Danube. It was immediately besieged by the enemy; and the Russians, reduced to extremity, made a sally from the town. A desperate battle ensued, in which the Russians were defeated; and Sviatoslav made for Russia with the shattered remains of his army. Contrary to the advice of his most experienced officers, he attempted the navigation of the Dnieper, and was intercepted near the cataracts of that river by his old enemies the Petchenegans. After remaining on the defensive all winter, exposed to famine and disease, he attempted to force his way through the enemy, but was defeated, and himself slain. He was succeeded by his three sons—Yaropolk in Kiev, Vladimir in Novgorod, and Oleg in the country of the Drevlians. Vladimir A war soon took place between Yaropolk and Oleg, in and Oleg, which the latter was defeated and slain; and Vladimir, dreading a similar fate, abandoned his dominions, which were quietly seized on by the Kievan prince. He did not, however, long enjoy his success; for Vladimir, who had taken refuge among the Varangians, returned with succours which enabled him not only to secure his possessions, but to make war on the Kievan territory. Yaropolk's chief adviser, Blude, was in the interest of his brother, and led him on to his ruin. He was thus prevailed upon to leave his capital, which immediately opened its gates to the enemy; and was afterwards induced to throw himself on
History. the mercy of his brother, by whom he was ordered to be put to death. The commencement of Vladimir's reign was but a continuation of those atrocities by which he had obtained the throne. The traitor Blude was one of the first to suffer. For three days he was treated with the highest distinction, at the end of which time the king said:—"I have now fulfilled my promise; as executor of justice, I condemn you to death;" and caused him to be immediately executed. He displayed like perfidiousness towards the Varangians, who had assisted in placing him upon the throne. They were beginning to feel the effects of his ingratitude, and so they asked permission to go and seek their fortune in Greece. He granted their request, but also privately advised the emperor of their approach; so that they were arrested and secured. He engaged in numerous wars with the neighbouring states,—the Poles, Bulgarians, Pechenegans, and others; and being generally successful, he added very considerably to his territory. He was very devout in his religious duties, and usually sacrificed a number of his prisoners at the shrine of his gods. On one occasion, to show his devotion, he resolved to sacrifice one of his own subjects, and his choice fell upon a young Varangian, whose father had adopted the Christian faith. The unhappy father refused the victim, and the people, enraged at what they considered an insult to their gods, assaulted the house, and slew both father and son, folded in mutual embrace. Yet this furious pagan and bloody warrior became afterwards equally zealous in the cause of Christianity. The fame of Vladimir's military exploits had rendered him so formidable to the neighbouring nations that each courted his alliance, and strove to unite him by the ties of the same religion with themselves. Determined to act with judgment, Vladimir despatched deputies to inspect the religious tenets and ceremonies of the several nations, and to report. The accounts of the imposing splendour of the Greek worship, and the gorgeous decorations of the priests and churches, attracted his attention, and he resolved to join that church. Being too proud to seek from the Greek emperor a priest to instruct him in the Christian religion and administer baptism, he resolved to obtain one by arms. Assembling his army, he marched to Taurida, and laid siege to Theodosia. After a lengthened siege, he obtained possession of the town, and soon after of the whole of the Crimea. He might now have obtained baptism, but he was also desirous of an alliance with the Greek monarch, and therefore demanded in marriage Anna, sister of Basilus and Constantine, who were then upon the throne. After some deliberation, his request was complied with, on condition that he and his people should become Christians. These conditions being accepted, the Russian monarch was baptized, and took the name of Basilus, receiving the Grecian princess, and carrying with him several popes and archimandrites, together with sacred vessels and church books, images of saints, and consecrated relics. The change effected in his conduct by his conversion to the Christian faith was, if we may credit the Russian accounts, most marked. Formerly delighting in human blood, he could now scarcely be prevailed upon to sanction the death of the greatest criminal; instead of destroying cities and laying waste territories, he now built churches and endowed seminaries of education; and though he is said to have had six wives and 800 concubines, he now became faithful to the imperial princess. He destroyed the idols that he had formerly worshipped, and used every exertion to persuade his subjects to adopt the Christian reli-
gion. His last days were embittered by domestic vexations. His wife and one of his favourite sons died long before him; while another of his sons, Yaroslav, on whom he had bestowed the government of Novgorod, refused to acknowledge him as his liege lord, and applied to the Varangians for assistance against his father. The aged Vladimir, compelled to march against a rebellious son, died of grief upon the road, after a long and glorious reign of thirty-five years. The improvements introduced by this prince were great and permanent. With the Christian religion he imported from Greece the arts which then flourished in that empire; and almost entirely new-modelled the language of his country, by engraving on it the more refined dialect of the Greeks and adopting in a great measure the letters of their alphabet. He extended the boundaries of Russia westward along the shores of the Baltic into Lithuania and Poland; southward along the shores of the Buxine, so as to include the Crimea and great part of the Bulgarian territories; and eastward to the Oka, the Don, and the Volga.
History. Vladimir had before his death divided his territories among his twelve sons, reserving to himself and his immediate heir the principality of Kief. This was the occasion of almost perpetual warfare among the brothers. Sviatopolk, who had obtained possession of Kief after the death of his father, attempted by stratagem and force to possess himself of some of the neighbouring principalities. Yaroslav, Prince of Novgorod, took up arms to stop his encroachments, and forced him to flee for refuge and succour to his father-in-law, Boleslaus of Poland. The latter accompanied him back to Russia with an army, and forced Yaroslav to retreat with precipitation. Sviatopolk now plotted the destruction of his allies, and a massacre ensued in which many of the Poles lost their lives; whereat Boleslaus was so enraged that he plundered Kief and several other towns, and then left his perfidious son-in-law to shift for himself. He next applied for assistance to the Pechenegans, and with an army of these auxiliaries offered battle to Yaroslav. The contest was long and bloody, but at length terminated in favour of Yaroslav. Sviatopolk died soon afterwards. By this victory Yaroslav became possessed of the greater part of his father's dominions. He advanced the Christian religion by causing the Bible to be translated into the Russian language, and circulated. He also established a metropolitan at Kiev, and devoted himself generally to the advancement of his people. He drew up a code of laws for Novgorod, which is still known as the municipal law of Novgorod. He is supposed to have died about 1054, after a reign of thirty-five years. Like his father, he divided his territories among his sons, but exhorted them on his deathbed to live in peace and harmony among themselves. From his death to the beginning of the thirteenth century, the history of Russia comprises little else than a continued series of intestine commotions and petty wars with the neighbouring states. The same system of dismemberment was continued by the succeeding princes, and was attended with the same result. There were during this period not fewer than seventeen independent principalities, though these were at length reduced to seven, viz., those of Kief, Novgorod, Smolensk, Vladimir, Tver, Halitch, and Moskva or Moscow. Of these, Kief and Novgorod long continued to be the most powerful, though they could not always maintain their superiority over the others; and towards the latter end of the period which we have mentioned, the district of Vladimir erected itself into a grand principality, and became at least as powerful as Kief and Novgorod.1
1 In the supremacy of these three great principalities we may trace the division of European Russia into Great, Little, and White Russia, a distinction which long maintained its ground, and in later times gave to the sovereign of this empire the title of monarch or emperor of all the Russias. Great Russia comprehended the principality of Novgorod, and extended northward to the White Sea, eastward to the River Dvina and the entrance of the Petchora into the Ural Mountains, whilst to the south it bordered on the district of Vladimir as far as the Volga and the mouth of the Medveditz, and to the west on Lithuania and Prussia, including the tributary
eruptions.
Such a state of anarchy and confusion held out a strong temptation to powerful states in the vicinity. In the neighbourhood of the Sea of Aral, not far from the confines of Vladimir and Kief, the wandering hordes of Mongols, or Mongol Tartars, took up their residence, about the year 1223, under the conduct of Tusch, son of the famous Tschinghis Khan, chief of the Mogul empire. From the Aral, Tusch conducted his horde along the shores of the Caspian Sea, and gradually approached the Dnieper. In his course he attacked and overcame the Tscherkasses, or Circassians, who on his approach had joined with the Povolozes to resist the terrible enemy. The defeated Povolozes gave notice to their neighbours the Russians of the approaching storm, and the two united their armies to oppose the common enemy. A furious engagement took place near the small river Kalka, which flows into the Sea of Azoff, and ended in the complete overthrow of the Russians and their allies.
About thirteen years after this defeat another horde of Tartars, headed by Baaty Khan, the grandson of Tschinghis Khan, penetrated into Russia, after having attacked and defeated their neighbours the Bulgarians. The invaders soon spread far and wide the terror of their name. Wherever they came, the whole face of nature was laid waste; towns and villages were destroyed by fire; all the men capable of bearing arms were put to the sword, and the children, women, and old men, carried into captivity.
They advanced unimpeded to the capital of Vladimir, which, left to its fate by the Grand Prince Yury, who, with unpardonable negligence, was celebrating a marriage feast when he ought to have been employed in collecting the means of defence against the enemy. The city, which contained the princess and two of her sons, was left to the protection of a chieftain totally unqualified for its defence, and fell an easy prey into the hands of the Tartars; who, like wild beasts, glutted their appetite for blood amongst the wretched inhabitants. The grand princess, and other ladies of distinction, had taken refuge in the choir of a church; but it was set on fire by the barbarians, and they perished in the flames. Yury, incensed almost to desperation, assembled all his forces, and marched against the enemy. Though his army was greatly inferior in number, he attacked them with the most determined valour; but victory was with the Tartars, and the body of Yury was found amongst the slain. This appears to have been the only vigorous stand made by the Russian princes. The Tartars pushed forward with rapidity, and successively overpowered the principalities of Novgorod and Kief.
They had now established themselves in the Russian territories, and their khan or chief, though he did not himself assume the nominal sovereignty, reigned as paramount lord, and placed on the throne any of the native princes whom he found most obsequious to his will, or who had ingratiated themselves by the magnificence of their presents. Till the middle of the fourteenth century the miseries of a foreign yoke were aggravated by all the calamities of intestine discord and war; whilst the knights of Livonia on one side, and the Poles on the other, lost no opportunity of attacking Russia, took several of its towns, and even some considerable countries.
About the year 1362 Dimitri Ivanovitch received the sovereignty from the Tartar chief, and established the seat
of his government at Moscow. This prince possessed considerable ambition, and contrived to inspire the other Russian princes with so much respect for his person and government that they consented to hold their principalities as fiefs under him. This excited the jealousy of Mamai, the Tartar khan, who determined to take measures for maintaining his superiority. He began by demanding an increase of tribute; but when Dimitri demurred to this, the khan not only insisted on his demand, but required the grand prince to appear before him in person. This requisition Dimitri thought proper to refuse, and prepared to support his refusal by force of arms. A combination of favourable circumstances operated strongly in favour of Dimitri. The terror with which the Russians had at first viewed the Tartars had now in a great measure subsided; while the haughty bearing of the latter, with their barbarism and paganism, served to keep alive the hatred with which they had ever been viewed. The clergy, too, did all in their power to foster the spirit of revolt, and promised crowns of glory to all who should fall in battle. Thus the grand duke soon found himself at the head of an army of 200,000 men, with which he marched towards the Don, on the southern bank of which the Tartars were encamped in numbers greatly exceeding his own forces. This, however, did not deter him from crossing the river, and the fight commenced with the greatest fury on both sides. The issue was long doubtful; but victory at length declared for the Russians. The Tartars appear to have been so much humbled by this defeat that for a time they left the Russians to enjoy in peace their recovered liberty. This forbearance, however, was not of long duration. Before the death of Dimitri, returning with increased numbers, they laid siege to Moscow, which, after an obstinate defence, was at length induced to surrender, and Russia once more submitted to her old masters.
Dimitri died in the year 1389, and was succeeded by his son Vasilii Dimitrievitch. In the reign of this prince a new incursion of the Tartars took place, under the great Timur or Tamerlane, who, having subdued all the neighbouring Tartar hordes, extended his conquests to the Russian territories, took Moscow by assault, and carried off immense plunder.
The grand principality of Vladimir, or, as it may now be called, of Moscow, had at the end of the fourteenth century attained its greatest height, whilst that of Kief had proportionately declined. This latter principality was, at the time of which we are now writing, under the dominion of the Poles, having been seized on in 1320 by Gedemin, Duke of Lithuania.
The later part of the fifteenth century forms a splendid epoch in the history of Russia. At this time, viz., from 1462 to 1505, reigned Ivan Vasilivitch, or, as he is commonly called, John Basilovitch. This able prince, by his invincible spirit and refined policy, became both the conqueror and deliverer of his country, and laid the first foundation of its future grandeur. Observing with indignation the narrow limits of his power at his accession to the throne, he began immediately to resolve within himself upon the means of enlarging his dominions. He demanded and obtained in marriage Maria, sister of Michael, Duke of Tver, whom he soon afterwards deposed, on pretence of revenging the injuries done to his father, and added this duchy to his own territories of Moscow. Maria, by whom he had a son, who died before him, did not live long; and upon her death he
tribes on the Baltic, as far as Memel. Its capital was Novgorod. Little Russia extended on the north along the River Ager to White Russia, on the east above the Donetz and the Oka to the Polovtzes and the Petchenegans, whilst to the south it stretched as far as the Tauric Chersonesus or the Crimea, and to the west along the banks of the River Goryn. This was the principality of Kief, and in that city was the seat of government. The principality of Vladimir received the name of White Russia. It extended northward along the Volga to the southern boundary of Great Russia; to the east it bordered on the possessions of the Ugres and the territory of the Mordvines, stretching down the Volga to the mouth of the Oka; and to the south it extended along the Oka to the principality of Riazan and the Bulgarian territory. The metropolis of this division was at first Shuja, and afterwards in succession Rostof, Sudal, and Vladimir, till at length the seat of government was transferred to Moscow.
History. married Sophia, daughter of Thomas Paleologus, who had been driven from Constantinople, and forced to seek shelter at Rome, where the Pope portioned this princess, in hopes of thus procuring great advantage to the Catholic religion; but his expectations were frustrated, Sophia being obliged to conform to the Greek Church after her arrival in Russia.
This princess, shocked at the servile manner in which her husband was treated by the proud Tartars, stirred him up to resistance. He gradually increased his forces, and at length openly disclaimed all subjection to the Tartars, attacked their territories, and made himself master of Kazan. Here he was solemnly crowned, about the year 1470, with a diadem which is said to be the same that is still used in the coronation of the Russian sovereigns. He afterwards carried his arms against the neighbouring states. Asiatic Bulgaria and great part of Lapland soon submitted to him; and the great Novgorod, a city then so famous that the Russians were accustomed to intimate their idea of its importance by the proverbial expression, "Who can resist God and the great Novgorod?" was reduced by his generals after a seven years' siege, and yielded immense treasure. After he quitted the city, which had been awed by his presence, the discontents, excited at his violent measures, broke out into acts of mutiny, upon which he, in 1485, carried off fifty of the principal families, and distributed them through several of the Russian towns. He afterwards removed some thousands of the most considerable inhabitants, and substituted for them more loyal subjects from other places. By these proceedings the flourishing commerce of this city received a considerable shock, and it suffered still more by the imprisonment of all the German merchants, and the confiscation of their effects, with the abolition of the old municipal franchises. Indeed from this period Novgorod never recovered its former splendour.
After his reduction of this city, Ivan invaded the territories of Livonia and Esthonia, in consequence, as we are told, of an affront offered to him by the inhabitants of Revel. Here, however, he met with a stout resistance, and does not seem to have made much progress. Towards the conclusion of his reign the Kazanian Tartars, who, though humbled, had continued to inhabit that district, made a hard struggle to shake off the Russian yoke that had been imposed on them; but Ivan had established his authority too firmly for them to accomplish their purpose during his life. He died in 1505, and was succeeded by his son Vasili Ivanovitch, commonly called Basilus III.
About fourteen years after the death of Ivan, the Tartars of Kazan rebelled against the Russian yoke, and united themselves with their brethren of the Crimea. With their assistance, they assembled a mighty force, entered the Russian dominions, and carried their arms even to the gates of Moscow. The grand prince Vasili finding himself at that time unable to resist the barbarians, purchased an exemption from general pillage by great presents and a promise of renewed allegiance. The Tartars retired, but carried off immense booty, and nearly 300,000 prisoners, the greater part of whom they sent to Theodosia in the Crimea, and sold to the Turks. Vasili, however, was soon enabled to make head against the Tartars, and to recover possession of the city Kazan, and of Pscove, a city which had been built by the Princess Olga, and was the great rival of Novgorod in wealth and commercial importance. Under this prince all the principalities of Russia were once more united, and they have remained ever since under the dominion of one sovereign. He died in 1533, having reigned 28 years.
It was under the son and successor of Vasili, Ivan IV., or, as he is styled by the Russian historians, Ivan Vasili-vitch II., that Russia completely emancipated herself from her subjection to the Tartars, and acquired a vast accession of territory, which extended her empire into the N.E. of Asia, and rendered her for the first time superior in ex-
tent to any state that had appeared since the Roman empire. He was only three years old when his father died; and during his minority the state became a prey to anarchy and confusion. But when he attained his seventeenth year he was able to assume the reins of government; and he displayed so much prudence and manly fortitude as soon raised him very high in the estimation of his subjects. His first aim was to still the contending factions which surrounded him; and he then resolved to attempt liberating his country from the dominion of the Tartars. In 1551 he marched an army in the depth of winter into the district of Kazan, and laid siege to the capital, which he made himself master of in 1552, by the new, and, to the Tartars, unheard-of method of springing a mine below the walls. By this important conquest the dominion of the Tartars, who had oppressed the Russians for more than three centuries, was completely and permanently overthrown. About two years later Ivan extended his conquests eastward to the shores of the Caspian, and took possession of the territory that lay on the right bank of the Volga, round the city of Astracan, and which was also inhabited by the Tartar hordes. In 1570 the inhabitants of Novgorod being suspected of forming a plot for delivering that city and the surrounding territory into the hands of the King of Poland, felt still more severely the effects of his vengeance. All who had been in any degree implicated in the conspiracy, to the number of 25,000, suffered by the hands of the executioner. The city of Pscove was threatened with a similar proscription; but Ivan, on their voluntary submission, contented himself with the execution of a few monks, and the confiscation of the property of the most opulent inhabitants.
In 1547 Ivan sent a splendid embassy to the Emperor Charles V., requesting a number of German artists, mechanics, and literary men to be sent into Russia. Several hundred volunteers were thus collected; but they were intercepted in their journey through Livonia, and obliged to return home, though some of them escaped and succeeded in reaching Moscow. Ivan endeavoured to revenge himself on the Livonians by invading their country, which was strenuously defended by the Teutonic Knights; and these champions, finding at last that they were unable to maintain their ground, put the territory under the protection of Poland. The Swedes also received a share of the Livonian territories; and this circumstance gave rise to a war between them and the Russians. Ivan invaded Finland; but that country was bravely defended by William of Furstenberg, grand-master of the Livonian Knights, with the assistance of the troops of Gustav Vasa; and it does not appear that Ivan gained much in this expedition, though we are told that the Livonian grand-master ended his life in a Russian prison. In 1553 some Englishmen, who were at that time on a voyage of discovery, landed on the shores of the White Sea, where soon after was built the port of Arkhangel. They were hospitably received by the natives; and intimation of the circumstance being conveyed to Ivan, he sent for the strangers, and was so much pleased with their abilities and deportment that he resolved to give every encouragement to the English commerce. It was in consequence of this accidental communication between the Russians and the English that England first engaged in a trade to Russia, and promoted this new commerce by the establishment of a company of Russian merchants in London.
About twenty years after Astracan had been annexed to the Russian empire, a new acquisition of territory accrued to it from the conquests of a private adventurer, in the unknown regions of Siberia. A merchant named Stroganof, who was proprietor of some salt-works on the confines of Siberia, perceiving among the persons who came to him on affairs of trade men who belonged to no nation with which he was acquainted, he questioned them concerning the
place whence they came, and once sent a few of his people with them back to their country. These brought with them, at their return, a great quantity of valuable furs, and thus opened to their master a new road to wealth. The attention of the government was thus directed to this country, but the conquest of it was reserved for an adventurer or robber named Timoseyef Yermak. This Yermak, at the head of a gang of Don Kozzacks of not fewer than 6000 men, in fleeing from a band of Russian troops, came accidentally to the dwelling of Stroganof, where, hearing much about Siberia, they resolved to seek there at once their safety and their fortune. After numerous struggles and conflicts with the natives, which greatly reduced their numbers, they at length conquered the capital, and shortly after the whole country. Yermak now presented the fruit of his toilsome and perilous victories to his czar, and thereby obtained a pardon of his former depredations. The less and the greater Kabardey were also added to Russia in the reign of Ivan. This czar, however, not only enlarged the circumference of his empire, but he also attempted to reform his people, to render them more polished, more skilful, and more industrious; but this he found to be a most arduous enterprise. The insuperable impediments which threw themselves in the way of the execution of this grand work were the principal incitements to those frequent acts of cruelty and despotism which have covered his memory with so deep a stain.
Towards the close of Ivan's reign a prodigious army of Tartars entered Russia, with a design to subdue the whole country. But Zerebrinoff, the czar's general, having attacked them in a defile, put them to flight with considerable slaughter. They then retired towards the mouth of the Volga, where they expected a considerable re-inforcement; but being closely pursued by the Russians and the Tartars in alliance with them, they were again defeated, and forced to fly towards Azof, where their army was almost annihilated. In 1571, instigated by the Poles, the Crim Tartars again invaded the country with an army of 70,000 men, which totally defeated the Russians in a battle fought within 18 miles of the city of Moscow. The czar retired with his most valuable effects to a well-fortified cloister; upon which the Tartars entered the city, plundered it, and set fire to several churches. A violent storm which happened at the same time soon spread the flames all over the city, which was entirely reduced to ashes in six hours. The fire likewise communicated itself to a powder magazine, by which upwards of fifty rods of the city wall, with all the buildings near it, were destroyed; and, according to the historians, upwards of 120,000 citizens were burned or buried in the ruins. The castle, however, which was strongly fortified, could not be taken; and the Tartars, hearing that a formidable army was coming against them under the command of Magnus, Duke of Holstein, whom Ivan had made king of Livonia, thought proper to retire. The Livonians, the Poles, and the Swedes, having united in a league against the Russians, gained great advantages over them; and in 1579 Stephen Batory, who was then raised to the throne of Poland, levied an army expressly with a design of invading Russia, and of regaining all that Poland had formerly claimed, which, indeed, was little less than the whole empire. Ivan found his undisciplined multitudes unable to cope with the regular forces of his enemies; and it is possible that the number of enemies which now attacked Russia might have overcome the empire entirely, had not the allies grown jealous of each other. The consequence of this was, that in 1582 a peace was concluded; shortly after which the czar, having been worsted in an engagement with the Tartars, died in the year 1584. His eldest son Feodor (or, as he is commonly called, Theodore) Ivanovitch was by no means fitted for the government of an empire so extensive, and a people
so rude and turbulent; and to obviate the effects of this incapacity, Ivan had appointed three of his principal nobles as administrators of the empire, whilst to a fourth he committed the charge of his younger son Dmitri or Demetrius. This expedient, however, failed of success, partly from the mutual jealousy of the administrators, and partly from the envy which their exaltation had excited in the other nobles. The weak Feodor had married a sister of Boris Gudonof, a man of great ambition, immense riches, and tolerable abilities. He had long directed his wishes towards the imperial dignity, and began to prepare the way for its attainment by removing Dmitri. This young prince suddenly disappeared; and there is every reason to believe that he was assassinated by the order of Boris. Feodor did not long survive his brother, but died in 1598, not without suspicion of having been poisoned by his brother-in-law.
With Feodor ended the family of Ruric, a dynasty which had enjoyed the supreme power in Russia for more than 700 years. On the death of Feodor, as there was no hereditary successor to the vacant throne, the nobles assembled to elect a new czar; and Boris having, through the interest of the patriarch, procured a majority in his favour, was declared sovereign. Notwithstanding the means that he had used to obtain imperial power, Boris seems to have employed it in advancing the interest of the nation, and in improving the circumstances of his people. He was extremely active in his endeavours to extend the commerce and improve the arts and manufactures of the Russian empire; and for this purpose he invited many foreigners into his dominions. Soon after the commencement of his reign the city of Moscow was desolated by one of the most dreadful famines recorded in history. Parents are said to have eaten their children, and children their parents; and we are told by one writer of the time that he saw a woman bite several pieces out of her child's arm as she was carrying it along. This dreadful calamity lasted three years, notwithstanding all the exertions of Boris to mitigate its severity. During these distresses the power of Boris was threatened by an adventurer who pretended to be the young prince Dmitri, whom he had caused to be assassinated. This adventurer was a monk named Otrepiel. He retired from Russia into Poland, where he had the dexterity to ingratiate himself with some of the principal nobles, and at length even the King of Poland was brought over to his party. The Kozzacks of the Don also, who were oppressed by Boris, eagerly embraced the opportunity of declaring in his favour; and although Boris did all in his power to destroy the illusion, by prohibiting all intercourse between his subjects and the Poles, the cause of the pretender rapidly gained ground in Russia. He soon made his appearance on the frontiers with a regiment of Polish troops and a body of Kozzacks, and signally defeated an army sent by Boris to oppose him. He greatly strengthened his cause by treating his prisoners with the utmost humanity, and strictly enjoining his troops not to molest the inhabitants in passing through the country. This gentle behaviour, when contrasted with the horrible excesses committed by the soldiers of Boris, gained Dmitri more adherents than even the persuasion that he was the lawful sovereign of the country. At length, Boris, unable to resist the torrent of public opinion in favour of his rival, is said to have taken poison, and thus hastened that fate which he foresaw awaited him if he should fall into the hands of his enemies.
The death of Boris took place in the year 1605; and though the principal nobility at Moscow placed his son Feodor on the throne, the party of Dmitri was now so strong that Feodor was dethroned and sent to prison with his mother and sister, within six weeks after his accession. The successful monk now made his entry into Moscow with the utmost magnificence. One of his first acts was
History. to remove the son of Boris, whom he caused to be strangled, together with one of his sisters. Though possessed of considerable abilities, he was deficient in prudence; and the partiality that he showed towards the Poles, and the contempt with which he treated the Russian nobility, so exasperated the Russians that discontents and insurrections arose in every quarter of the empire. The people were still further incensed by the clergy, who declaimed against Dmitri as a heretic, and by Schuiskoy, a nobleman who had been condemned to death by the czar, but had afterwards been pardoned. This nobleman put himself at the head of the enraged mob, and led them to attack the palace. They entered it by assault, put to the sword all the Poles whom they found within its walls, and afterwards extended their massacre to such as were discovered in other parts of the city. Dmitri himself, in attempting to escape, was overtaken by his pursuers and thrust through with a spear; and his dead body, being brought back into the city, lay for three days before the palace, exposed to every outrage that malice could invent or rage inflict.
Schuiskoy was now raised to the vacant throne, but his reign was short and uninteresting; and indeed, from this time till the accession of the House of Romanof in 1613, the affairs of Russia have little to gratify our curiosity. The Russians, dissatisfied with the reigning prince, treated with several of the neighbouring potentates for the disposal of the imperial crown. They offered it to Vladislaf or Uladislaf, son of Sigismund, King of Poland, on condition that he should adopt the Greek persuasion; but as he rejected this preliminary, they turned their eyes first on a son of Charles IX. of Sweden, and then on a young native Russian, Mikhail Feodorovitch, of the House of Romanof, a family which was distantly related to their ancient czars, and of which the head was then metropolitan of Rostof, and as such held in great estimation. The influence of the clergy, who exerted themselves for Mikhail, both by personal intrigues and by the dissemination of pretended revelations from heaven, silenced the supporters of the other claimants; and, after a long series of confusion and disaster, there ascended the Russian throne a family whose descendants have raised the empire to a state of grandeur and importance unequalled in any former period.
State of the empire at the beginning of the 17th century. At this period the government of Russia may be considered as a pure aristocracy, since the supreme power rested in the hands of the nobles and the superior clergy. In particular, the boyars, or chief officers of the army, who were also the privy counsellors of the prince, possessed a very considerable share of authority. The election of the late princes Boris, Dmitri, and Schuiskoy had been conducted principally by them, in concert with the inhabitants of Moscow, where was then held the seat of government. The common people, especially those of the inferior towns, though nominally free, had no share in the government or in the election of the chief ruler. The boors, or those peasants who dwelt on the noblemen's estates, were almost completely slaves, and transferable with the land on which they dwelt. An attempt to annul this barbarous vassalage had been made both by Boris and by Schuiskoy, but from the opposition of the nobles it was abandoned.
The laws then in force consisted partly of the municipal laws drawn up for the state of Novgorod by Yaroslav, and partly of an amended code, called Sudebnik, promulgated by Ivan Vasilievitch II. By this Sudebnik the administration of the laws was made uniform throughout the empire, and particular magistrates were appointed in the several towns and districts, all subject to the czar as their chief. The Sudebnik consisted of ninety-seven articles, all containing civil laws; as the penal statutes are only briefly mentioned in some articles, so as to appear either connected with the civil, or as serving to illustrate them. The criminal laws were contained in a separate code, called
Gubnaia Gramota, which is now lost, but is referred to in the civil code. In neither of these codes is there any mention of ecclesiastical affairs; but these were regulated by a set of canons drawn up in 1542, under the inspection of Ivan Vasilievitch, in a grand council held at Moscow. In the civil statutes of the Sudebnik theft was punished in the first instance by restitution; or, if the thief were unable to restore the property stolen, he became the slave of the injured party till by his labour he had made sufficient compensation. Of murder nothing is said, except where the person slain was a lord or master, when the murderer was to be punished with death. There is no mention of torture, except in cases of theft. Notwithstanding that attempts had been made by Ivan I., Ivan Vasilievitch II., and Boris, to cultivate their manners and to improve the state of their arts and manufactures, the Russians were still deplorably behind the rest of Europe in civilization.
At the accession of Mikhail, who was crowned in June 1613, the Swedes and Poles were in possession of several parts of the empire; and to dislodge these intruders was the first object of the new czar. He began by negotiating a treaty of peace with Sweden, agreeing to give up Ingria and Karelia, and to evacuate Esthonia and Livonia. A numerous body of Poles next entered Russia, to support the claims of their king's son Vladislaf. Mikhail, however, instead of opposing them in the open field, entrapped them by ambuscades, or allured them into districts already desolated, where they suffered so much from cold and hunger that in 1619 they agreed to a cessation of hostilities for fourteen years and a half, on condition that the Russians should cede to Poland the government of Smolensk.
Mikhail now applied himself to arranging the internal economy of his empire, and formed treaties of alliance with the principal commercial states of Europe. He also commenced those improvements of the laws which were more fully executed by his son and successor; but the tide of party ran so high that he could effect only a very imperfect reformation. He died in 1645, and was succeeded by his son Alexei, who being then only fifteen years of age, a nobleman named Morosof was appointed his governor and regent of the empire. This man possessed all the ambition of Boris, without his prudence and address; and in attempting to raise himself and his adherents to the highest posts in the state, he incurred the hatred of all ranks of the people. Though, by properly organizing the army, he provided for the defence of the empire against external enemies, he shamefully neglected internal policy, and connived at the most flagrant enormities in the administration of justice. The populace at length rebelled against these abuses, and were only pacified by the execution of one of the most nefarious of the judges, Morosof's life being spared at the earnest entreaty of the czar.
Similar disturbances had broken out at Novgorod and Pscov; but they were happily terminated, chiefly through the exertions of the metropolitan Nikon, a man who, though of low birth, by his reputation for extraordinary piety and holiness, had raised himself to the patriarchal dignity, and was high in favour with Alexei. The pacific conduct of the neighbouring states did not long continue, though, indeed, we may attribute the renewal of hostilities to the ambition of the czar.
The war with Poland was occasioned by Alexei's supporting the Kozzacks, a military horde, who, after the subjugation of the Tartars, had put themselves under the guardianship of Poland. As the Polish clergy, however, attempted to impose on them the Catholic faith, they threw off their allegiance, and claimed the patronage of Russia. Alexei gladly received them as his subjects, hoping by their assistance to recover the territories which had been ceded to Poland by his father. The Russians, assisted by the Kozzacks, were so successful in this contest that the King of
History. Sweden became jealous of Alexei's good fortune, and determined to take a very active part in the war, especially as the Lithuanians, who were extremely averse to the Russian dominion, had sought his protection. The war with Sweden commenced in 1656, and lasted for two years, without any important advantage being gained by either party. A truce was concluded in 1658 for three years, and at the termination of this period a solid peace was established. In the meantime, the war with Poland continued, but was at length terminated by an armistice, which was prolonged from time to time during the remainder of Alexei's life.
The authority which Alexei had obtained over the Don Kozzacks excited the jealousy of the Sublime Porte, and after a successful attempt on the frontiers of Poland, a Turkish army entered the Ukraine. Alexei endeavoured to form a confederacy against the infidels among the Christian potentates of Europe; but the age of crusading chivalry was over, and the czar was obliged to make head against the Turks with no assistance but that of the King of Poland. The Turkish arms were for some years victorious, especially on the side of Poland; but at length a check was given to their successes by the Polish general Sobieski, who afterwards ascended the throne of that kingdom. Hostilities between the Turks and Russians were not, however, terminated during the reign of Alexei, and the czar left to his successor the prosecution of the war.
The reign of Alexei is most remarkable for the improvements introduced by him into the Russian laws. Before his time the Emmanoy Ukases, or personal orders of the sovereign, were almost the only laws of the country. These edicts were as various as the opinions, prejudices, and passions of men; and before the days of Alexei they produced endless contentions. To remedy this evil, he made a selection, from all the edicts of his predecessors, of such as had been current for a hundred years, presuming that these either were founded in natural justice, or during so long a currency had formed the minds of the people to consider them as just. This digest, which he declared to be the common law of Russia, and which is precluded by a sort of institute, is known by the title of the Uloshenié or "Selection." It was long the standard law-book, all edicts prior thereto being declared to be obsolete.
An. 1676.
Reign of
Feodor.
Alexei died in 1676, leaving three sons and six daughters. Two of the sons, Feodor and Ivan, were by a first marriage; the third, Peter, by a second. The two former, particularly Ivan, were of a delicate constitution, and some attempts were made by the relations of Peter to set them aside. These attempts, however, proved unsuccessful; and Feodor became the successor of Alexei.
The reign of this prince was short, and distinguished rather for the happiness which the nation then experienced than for the importance of the transactions which took place. One important service he rendered to his country places his energy and talent in a very favourable light, and that was his causing the destruction of the family registers of the nobility, and thus removing an endless source of contention in the kingdom. The Russian noble placed the highest value upon his ancestry; and to such an extent was this carried that no one would take an office under one with a shorter or less distinguished pedigree than himself. All these registers Feodor ordered to be brought to Moscow, under the pretence of adjusting certain errors that had crept into them, and then caused them to be burned. He continued the war with the Turks for four years after his father's death, and at length brought it to an honourable conclusion by a truce for twenty years, the Turks acknowledging the Russian right of sovereignty over the Kozzacks. Feodor died in 1682, having nominated his half-brother Peter his successor.
The succession of Peter, though appointed by their fa-
vourite czar Feodor, was by no means pleasing to the majority of the Russian nobles, and it was particularly opposed by Galitzin, the prime minister of the late czar. This able man had espoused the interest of Sophia, the sister of Feodor and Ivan, a young woman of eminent abilities and the most insinuating address. Sophia, upon pretence of asserting the claims of her brother Ivan, who, though of a feeble body and weak intellect, was considered as the lawful heir of the crown, had really formed a design of securing the succession to herself; and with that view, had not only insinuated herself into the confidence and good graces of Galitzin, but had brought over to her interests the Strelitzes, who were the body-guard of the czars, and at this time were about fourteen thousand in number. These licentious soldiers assembled for the purpose, as was pretended, of placing on the throne Prince Ivan, whom they proclaimed czar by acclamation. During three days they roved about the city of Moscow, committing the greatest excesses, and putting to death several of the chief officers of state who were suspected of being hostile to the designs of Sophia. Their employer did not, however, entirely gain her point; for as the new czar entertained a sincere affection for his half-brother Peter, he insisted that this prince should share with him the imperial dignity. This was at length agreed to; and on the 6th of May 1682, Ivan and Peter were solemnly crowned joint emperors of all the Russias, while the Princess Sophia was nominated their copartner in the government.
From the imbecility of Ivan and the youth of Peter, who joint reign was now only ten years of age, the whole power of the government rested with Sophia and her minister Galitzin, although till the year 1687 the names of Ivan and Peter only were annexed to the imperial decrees. Scarcely had Sophia established her authority when she was threatened with deposition, from an alarming insurrection of the Strelitzes. This was excited by their commander Prince Kovanskoi, who had demanded of Sophia that she should marry one of her sisters to his son, but had met with a mortifying refusal. In consequence of this insurrection, which threw the whole city of Moscow into terror and consternation, Sophia and the two young czars took refuge in a monastery about twelve leagues from the capital; and before the Strelitzes could follow them thither, a considerable body of soldiers, principally foreigners, was assembled in their defence. Kovanskoi was taken prisoner, and instantly beheaded; and though his followers at first threatened dreadful vengeance on his executioners, they soon found themselves obliged to submit. From every regiment was selected the tenth man, who was to suffer as an atonement for the rest; but this cruel punishment was remitted, and only the most guilty among the ringleaders suffered death.
The quelling of these disturbances gave leisure to the friends of Peter to pursue the plans which they had formed for subverting the authority of Sophia; and about this time a favourable opportunity offered, in consequence of a rupture with Turkey. The Porte was now engaged in a war with Poland and the German empire, and both these latter powers had solicited the assistance of Russia against the common enemy. Sophia and her party were averse to the alliance; but as there were in the council many secret friends of Peter, these had sufficient influence to persuade the majority that a Turkish war would be of advantage to the state. They even prevailed on Galitzin to put himself at the head of the army, and thus removed their principal opponent. It is difficult to conceive how a man, so able in the cabinet as Galitzin, could have suffered his vanity so far to get the better of his good sense, as to accept a military command, for which he certainly had no talents. Assembling an army of nearly three hundred thousand men, he marched towards the confines of Turkey, and there consumed two campaigns in marches and countermarches, and
History. lost nearly forty thousand men, partly in unsuccessful skirmishes with the enemy, but chiefly from disease.
While Galitzin was thus trifling away his time in the south, Peter, who already began to give proofs of those great talents which afterwards enabled him to act so conspicuous a part in the theatre of the north, was strengthening his party among the Russian nobles. His ordinary residence was at a village not far from Moscow, and here he had assembled round him a considerable number of young men of rank and influence, whom he called his play-mates. Among these were two foreigners, Lefort a Genevese, and Gordon a Scotchman, who afterwards signalized themselves in his service. These young men had formed a sort of military company, of which Lefort was captain; and the young czar, beginning with the situation of drummer, gradually rose through every subordinate office. Under this appearance of a military game, Peter was secretly establishing himself in the affections of his young companions, and effectually lulled the suspicions of Sophia, till it was too late for her to oppose his machinations.
About the middle of the year 1689, Peter, who had now attained his seventeenth year, determined to make an effort to deprive Sophia of all share in the government, and to secure to himself the undivided sovereignty. On occasion of a solemn religious meeting that was held, Sophia had claimed the principal place, as regent of the empire; but this claim was strenuously opposed by Peter, who, rather than fill a subordinate situation, quitted the place of assembly, and, with his friends and adherents, withdrew to the monastery of the Holy Trinity, which had formerly sheltered him and his copartners from the fury of the Strelitzes. This was the signal for an open rupture. Sophia, finding that she could not openly oppose the party of the czar, attempted to procure his assassination; but as her design was discovered, she thought proper to solicit an accommodation. This was agreed to, on condition that she should give up all claim to the regency, and retire to a nunnery. The commander of the Strelitzes, her agent in the assassination of Peter, was beheaded, and the minister Galitzin sent to banishment to Archangel.
Peter now saw himself in undisputed possession of the imperial throne; for though Ivan was still nominally czar, he had voluntarily resigned all share in the administration of affairs, and retired to a life of obscurity. The first object to which the czar directed his attention was the establishment of a regular and well-disciplined military force. He had learned by experience how little dependence was to be placed on the Strelitzes; and these regiments he determined to disband. He commissioned Lefort and Gordon to levy new regiments, which, in their whole constitution, dress, and military exercises, should be formed on the model of other European troops. He next resolved to carry into execution the design which had been formed by his father, of constructing a navy. For this purpose he first took a journey to Archangel, where he employed himself in examining the operations of the shipwrights, and occasionally taking a part in their labours; but as he learned that the art of ship-building was practised in greater perfection in Holland, and some other maritime countries of Europe, he sent thither several young Russians to be initiated into the best methods of constructing ships of war.
The war with Turkey still languished, but Peter was resolved to prosecute it with vigour, hoping to get possession of the town of Azof, and thus open a passage to the Black Sea. He placed Gordon, Lefort, and two of his nobles, at the head of the forces destined for this expedition, and himself attended the army as a private volunteer. The success of the first campaign was but trifling; and Peter learned that his deficiency of artillery and his want of transports prevented him from making an effectual attack on Azof. These difficulties, however, were soon surmounted. He
procured a supply of artillery and engineers from the emperor and the Dutch, and found means to provide a number of transports. With these auxiliaries he opened the second campaign, defeated the Turks on the Sea of Azof, and made himself master of the town. Peter was so elated with these successes, that on his return from the seat of war he marched his troops into Moscow in a triumphal procession, in which Lefort as admiral of the transports, and Schein as commander of the land forces, bore the most conspicuous parts, while Peter himself was lost without distinction in the crowd of subaltern officers.
He now resolved to form a fleet in the Black Sea; but as his own revenues were insufficient for this purpose, he issued a ukase, commanding the patriarch and other dignified clergy, the nobility, and the merchants, to contribute a part of their income towards fitting out a certain number of ships. This proclamation was extremely unpopular, and, together with the numerous innovations which Peter was every day introducing, especially his sending the young nobles to visit foreign countries, and his own avowed intention of making the tour of Europe, contributed to raise against him a formidable party. The vigilance and prudence of the czar, however, extricated him from the dangers with which he was threatened, and enabled him to carry into execution his proposed journey.
In returning to his own dominions, Peter passed through An. 1700. Rawa, where Augustus king of Poland then was. The czar Peter endeavored, in conjunction with Augustus and the king of Denmark, to take advantage of the youth and inexperience of Charles XII. who had just succeeded to the Swedish throne; and in this interview with Augustus, he made the final arrangements for the part which each was to take in the war. Augustus was to receive Livonia as his part of the spoil, while Frederick king of Denmark had his eye on Holstein, and Peter had formed designs on Ingria, formerly a province of the Russian empire.
In the middle of the year 1700, Charles had left his capital to oppose these united enemies. He soon compelled by the king of Denmark to give up his designs on Holstein, and sign a treaty of peace; and being thus at liberty to turn his arms against the other members of the confederacy, he resolved first to lead his army against the king of Poland; but on his way he received intelligence that the czar had laid siege to Narva with an army which some authorities calculate at a hundred thousand men. On this he immediately embarked at Carlsrorna, though it was then the depth of winter, and the Baltic was scarcely navigable; and soon landed at Pernau in Livonia with part of his forces, having ordered the rest to Revel. His army did not exceed twenty thousand men, but it was composed of the best soldiers in Europe, while that of the Russians was little better than an undisciplined multitude. Every possible obstruction, however, had been thrown in the way of the Swedes. Thirty thousand Russians were posted in a defile on the road, and this corps was sustained by another body of twenty thousand drawn up some leagues nearer Narva. Peter himself had set out to hasten the march of a reinforcement of forty thousand men, with whom he intended to attack the Swedes in flank and rear; but the celerity and valour of Charles baffled every attempt to oppose him. He set out with four thousand foot and an equal number of cavalry, leaving the rest of the army to follow at their leisure. With this small body he attacked and defeated the Russian armies successively, and pushed his way to Peter's camp, for the attack of which he gave immediate orders. This camp was fortified by lines of circumvallation and contravallation, by redoubts, and by a line of a hundred and fifty brass cannons placed in front; and it was defended by an army of eighty thousand men; yet so violent was the attack of the Swedes, that in three hours the intrenchments were carried, and Charles, with
only four thousand men, that composed the wing which he commanded, pursued the flying enemy, amounting to fifty thousand, to the river Narva. Here the bridge broke down with the weight of the fugitives, and the river was filled with their bodies. Great numbers returned in despair to their camp, where they defended themselves for a short time, but were at last obliged to surrender. In this battle, thirty thousand were killed in the intrenchments and the pursuit, or drowned in the river; twenty thousand surrendered at discretion, and were dismissed unarmed, while the rest were totally dispersed. A hundred and fifty pieces of cannon, twenty-eight mortars, a hundred and fifty-one pairs of colours, twenty standards, and all the Russian baggage, fell into the hands of the Swedes; and the Duke de Croy, the Prince of Georgia, and seven other generals, were made prisoners. Charles behaved with the greatest generosity to the conquered. Being informed that the tradesmen of Narva had refused credit to the officers whom he detained prisoners, he sent a thousand ducats to the Duke de Croy, and to every other officer a proportional sum.
Peter was advancing with forty thousand men to surround the Swedes, when he received intelligence of the dreadful defeat at Narva. He was greatly chagrined; but comforting himself with the hopes that the Swedes would in time teach the Russians to beat them, he returned to his own dominions, where he applied himself with the utmost diligence to the raising of another army. He evacuated all the provinces which he had invaded, and for a time abandoned all his great projects, thus leaving Charles at liberty to prosecute the war against Poland.
As Augustus had expected an attack, he endeavoured to draw the czar into a close alliance with him. The two monarchs had an interview at Birzen, where it was agreed that Augustus should lend the czar fifty thousand German soldiers, to be paid by Russia; that the czar should send an equal number of his troops to be trained up to the art of war in Poland; and that he should pay the king three millions of rix-dollars in the space of two years. Of this treaty Charles had notice, and, by means of his minister Count Piper, entirely frustrated the scheme.
After the battle of Narva, Charles became confident and negligent, while the activity of Peter increased with his losses. He supplied his want of artillery by melting down the bells of the churches, and constructed numerous small vessels on the lake of Ladoga to oppose the entrance of the Swedes into his dominions. He took every advantage of Charles's negligence, and engaged in frequent skirmishes, in which, though often beaten, he was sometimes victorious. He contrived to make himself master of the river Neva, and captured Nyenschantz, a fortress at the mouth of that river. Here he laid the foundation of that city which he had long projected, and which was to become the metropolis of his empire. At length, in 1704, he became master of Ingria, and appointed his favourite Prince Menzikoff to be viceroy of that province, with strict orders to make the building of the new city his principal business. Here edifices were already rising in every quarter, and navigation and commerce were increasing in vigour and extent.
In the mean time Augustus king of Poland, though treating with Charles for the surrender of his dominions, was obliged to keep up the appearance of war, which he had neither ability nor inclination to conduct. He had been lately joined by Prince Menzikoff with 30,000 Russians; and this obliged him, contrary to his inclination, to hazard an engagement with Meyerfeldt, who commanded 10,000 men, one half of whom were Swedes. As at this time no disparity of numbers whatever was reckoned an equivalent to the valour of the Swedes, Meyerfeldt did not decline the combat, though the army of the enemy was four times as numerous as his own. Menzikoff, with his own countrymen,
defeated the enemy's first line, and was on the point of defeating the second, when Stanislas, with the Poles and Lithuanians, gave way. Meyerfeldt then perceived that the battle was lost; but he fought desperately, that he might avoid the disgrace of a defeat. At last, however, he was oppressed by numbers, and forced to surrender; suffering the Swedes for the first time to be conquered by their enemies. The whole army were taken prisoners excepting Major-general Krassau, who having repeatedly rallied a body of horse formed into a brigade, at last broke through the enemy, and escaped to Posnan. Augustus had scarcely sung Te Deum for this victory, when his plenipotentiary returned from Saxony with the articles of the treaty, by which he was to renounce all claim to the crown of Poland in favour of his rival Stanislas. The king hesitated and scrupled, but at last signed them; after which he set out for Saxony, glad at any expense to be freed from such an enemy as the king of Sweden, and from such allies as the Russians.
The czar Peter was no sooner informed of this extraordinary treaty, than he learned also the cruel fate of his plenipotentiary Patkul, a Livonian emigrant, whom Charles claiming as a subject, seized and executed. Peter immediately sent letters to every court in Christendom, complaining of this breach of the law of nations. He entreated the emperor, the queen of Britain, and the states-general, to revenge this insult on humanity. He stigmatized the compliance of Augustus with the opprobrious name of pusillanimity; and exhorted them not to guarantee a treaty so unjust, but to despise the menaces of the Swedish bully. So well, however, was the prowess of the king of Sweden known, that none of the allies thought proper to irritate him, by refusing to guarantee any treaty which he thought proper to accept. At first, Peter thought of revenging Patkul's death by massacring the Swedish prisoners at Moscow; but from this he was deterred, by remembering that Charles had many more Russian prisoners than he himself had of Swedes. In the year 1707, however, he entered Poland at the head of sixty thousand men, and, assembling a diet, solemnly deposed Stanislas, with the same ceremonies which had been used with regard to Augustus. The appearance of a Swedish army under King Stanislas and General Lewenhaupt put a stop to this invasion, and the czar retired into Lithuania, giving out as the cause of his retreat, that the country could not supply him with the provisions and forage necessary for so great an army.
During these transactions Charles had taken up his residence in Saxony, where he gave laws to the court of Vienna, and in a manner intimidated all Europe. At last, satiated with the glory of having dethroned one king, set up another, and struck all Europe with terror and admiration, he began to evacuate Saxony in pursuit of his great plan, the dethroning the czar Peter, and conquering the vast empire of Russia. While the army was on full march in the neighbourhood of Dresden, he took the extraordinary resolution of visiting King Augustus with no more than five attendants. Although he had no reason to imagine that Augustus either did or could entertain any friendship for him, he was not uneasy at the consequences of thus putting himself entirely in his power. He reached the palace door of Augustus before it was known that he was in the city; and he entered the elector's chamber in his boots before the latter had time to recover from his surprise. He breakfasted with him in a friendly manner, and then expressed a desire of viewing the fortifications. While he was walking round them, a Livonian, who had formerly been condemned in Sweden, and served in the troops of Saxony, thought he could never have a more favourable opportunity of obtaining pardon. He therefore begged of King Augustus to intercede for him, being fully assured that his majesty could not refuse so small a favour to a prince in whose power he then was. Augustus accordingly made the request, but Charles refused
History. it in such a manner that he did not think proper to ask it a second time. Having passed some hours in this extraordinary visit, he returned to his army, after having embraced and taken leave of the king he had dethroned.
Hemarches against the Russians. The armies of Sweden, in Saxony, Poland, and Finland, now exceeded seventy thousand men; while the available force of Russia amounted to about a hundred thousand. Peter, who had his army dispersed in small parties, instantly assembled it on receiving notice of the king of Sweden's march, was making all possible preparations for a vigorous resistance, and was on the point of attacking Stanislas, when the approach of Charles struck his whole army with terror. In the month of January 1708, Charles passed the Niemen, and entered the south gate of Grodno just as Peter was quitting the place by the north gate. Charles at this time had advanced some distance before the army, at the head of six hundred horse.
The Russians again defeated. The czar having received intelligence of his situation, sent back a detachment of two thousand men to attack him; but these were entirely defeated, and thus Charles became possessed of the whole province of Lithuania. The king pursued his flying enemies in the midst of ice and snow, over mountains, rivers, and morasses, and through obstacles which appeared to be insurmountable. These difficulties, however, he had foreseen, and had prepared to meet them. As he knew that the country could not furnish provisions sufficient for the subsistence of his army, he had provided a large quantity of biscuit, and on this his troops chiefly subsisted, till they came to the banks of the Beresina, in view of Borisow. Here the czar was posted, and Charles intended to give him battle, after which he could the more easily penetrate into Russia. Peter, however, did not think proper to come to an action, but retreated towards the Dnieper, whither he was pursued by Charles, as soon as he had refreshed his army. The Russians had destroyed the roads and desolated the country, yet the Swedish army advanced with great celerity, and in their march defeated twenty thousand Russians, though intrenched to the very teeth. This victory, from the circumstances in which it was gained, was one of the most glorious that ever Charles had achieved. The memory of it was preserved by a medal struck in Sweden with this inscription; Sylvar, paludes, oggeres, hostes, victi.
Peter attempts to make peace, but is unsuccessful. When the Russians had repassed the Dnieper, the czar, finding himself pursued by an enemy with whom he could not cope, resolved to make proposals for an accommodation. Charles made only this arrogant reply, "I will treat with the czar at Moscow;" a taunt which was received by Peter with the coolness of a hero. "My brother Charles," said he, "affects to play the Alexander, but he shall not find in me a Darius." He still, however, continued his retreat, and Charles pursued so closely that daily skirmishes took place between his advanced guard and the rear of the Russians. In these actions the Swedes had generally the advantage, though their petty victories cost them dear, by contributing to weaken their force in a country where it could not be recruited. The two armies came so close to each other at Smolensk, that an engagement took place between a body of Russians composed of ten thousand cavalry and six thousand Kalmuks, and the Swedish vanguard, composed of only six regiments, but commanded by the king in person. Here the Russians were again defeated; but Charles, having been separated from the main body of his detachment, was exposed to great danger. With one regiment only he fought with such fury as to drive the enemy before him, when they thought themselves sure of making him prisoner.
An. 1708. Charles advances towards Moscow. By the 3d of October 1708, Charles had approached within a hundred leagues of Moscow; but Peter had rendered the roads completely impassable, and had destroyed the villages on every side, so as to cut off every possibility of
History. subsistence to the enemy, while the season was far advanced, and the severity of winter was approaching. In these circumstances, the king, at length sensible that he had committed a perilous mistake, endeavoured to retrieve it by a step which proved yet more calamitous. He resolved, before attacking the Russian capital, to achieve the conquest of the Ukraine, where Mazepa, a Polish gentleman, was general and chief of the Kozaks. Mazepa having been affronted by the czar, readily entered into a treaty with Charles, whom he promised to assist with thirty thousand men, great quantities of provisions and ammunition, and with all his treasures, which were falsely stated to be immense. The Swedish army advanced towards the river Disna, where they had to encounter the greatest difficulties; a forest above forty leagues in extent, filled with rocks, mountains, and morasses. To complete their misfortunes, they were led thirty leagues out of the right way; all the artillery was sunk in bogs and marshes; the provision of the soldiers, which consisted of biscuit, was exhausted; and the whole army were spent and emaciated when they arrived at the Disna. Here they expected to have met Mazepa with his reinforcement; but instead of that, they perceived the opposite banks of the river covered with a hostile army, and the passage itself rendered almost impracticable. Charles, however, was still undaunted; he let his soldiers by ropes down the steep banks; they crossed the river either by swimming, or on rafts hastily put together, drove the Russians from their post, and continued their march. Mazepa soon after appeared, having with him about six thousand men, the broken remains of the army he had promised. The Russians had got intelligence of his designs, defeated and dispersed his adherents, laid his town in ashes, and taken all the stores collected for the Swedish army. However, he still hoped to be useful by his intelligence in an unknown country; and the Kozaks, out of revenge, crowded daily to the camp with provisions.
Greater misfortunes still awaited the Swedes. When Charles entered the Ukraine, he had sent orders to General Lewenhaupt to meet him with fifteen thousand men, six thousand of whom were Swedes, and a large convoy of provisions. Against this detachment Peter now bent his whole force, and marched against him with an army of sixty-five thousand men. Lewenhaupt had received intelligence that the Russian army consisted of only twenty-four thousand, a force to which he thought six thousand Swedes superior, and therefore disdained to intrench himself. A furious contest ensued, in which the Russians were defeated with the loss of fifteen thousand men. Now, however, affairs began to take another turn. The Swedes, elated with victory, prosecuted their march into the interior; but, from the ignorance or treachery of their guides, they were led into a marshy country, where the roads were made impassable by felled trees and deep ditches. Here they were attacked by the czar with his whole army. Lewenhaupt had sent a detachment to dispute the passage of a body of Russians over a morass; but finding his detachment likely to be overpowered, he marched to support them with all his infantry. Another desperate battle ensued. The Russians were once more thrown into disorder, and were just on the point of being totally defeated, when Peter gave orders to the Kozaks and Kalmuks to fire upon all that fled; "Even kill me," said he, "if I should be so cowardly as to turn my back." The battle was now renewed with great vigour; but notwithstanding the czar's positive orders, and his own example, the day would have been lost, had not General Bauer arrived with a strong reinforcement of fresh Russian troops. The engagement was once more renewed, and continued without intermission till night. The Swedes then took possession of an advantageous post, but were next morning attacked by the
History. Russians. Lewenhaupt had formed a sort of rampart with his waggons, but was obliged to set fire to them to prevent their falling into the hands of the Russians, while he retreated under cover of the smoke. The czar's troops, however, arrived in time to save five hundred of these waggons, filled with provisions destined for the distressed Swedes. A strong detachment was sent to pursue Lewenhaupt; but so terrible did he now appear, that the Russian general offered him an honourable capitulation. This was rejected with disdain, and a fresh engagement took place in which the Swedes, now reduced to four thousand, again defeated their enemies, and killed five thousand on the spot. After this Lewenhaupt was allowed to pursue his retreat without molestation, though deprived of all his cannon and provisions. Prince Menzikoff was indeed detached with a body of forces to harass him on his march; but the Swedes were now so formidable, even in their extremity, that Menzikoff dared not to attack them, so that Lewenhaupt with his four thousand men arrived safe in the camp of Charles, after having destroyed nearly thirty thousand of the Russians.
This may be said to have been the last successful effort of Swedish valour against the troops of Peter. The difficulties which Charles's army had now to undergo exceeded what human nature could support; yet still they hoped by constancy and courage to subdue them. In the severest winter known for a long time, even in Russia, they made long marches, clothed like savages in the skins of wild beasts. All the draught-horses perished; thousands of soldiers dropped down dead through cold and hunger; and by the month of February 1709 the whole army was reduced to eighteen thousand. Amidst numberless difficulties these penetrated to Pultava, a town on the eastern frontier of the Ukraine, where the czar had laid up magazines, of which Charles resolved to obtain possession. Mazepa advised the king to invest the place, in consequence of his having correspondence with some of the inhabitants, by whose means he hoped it would be surrendered. He was, however, deceived. The besieged made an obstinate defence; the Swedes were repulsed in every assault, and eight thousand of them were defeated, and almost entirely cut off, in an engagement with a party of Russians. To complete his misfortunes, Charles received a shot in his heel from a carbine, which shattered the bone. For six hours afterwards, he continued calmly on horseback, giving orders, till he fainted with the loss of blood; after which he was carried into his tent.
For some days the czar, with an army of seventy thousand men, laid lain at a small distance, harassing the Swedish camp, and cutting off the convoys of provision; but now intelligence was received that he was advancing as if with a design of attacking the lines. In this situation, Charles, wounded, distressed, and almost surrounded by enemies, is said to have, for the first time, assembled a grand council of war, the result of which was, that it was determined to march out and attack the Russians. Voltaire, however, asserts that the king did not relax one iota of his wonted obstinacy and arbitrary temper; but that, on the 7th of July, he sent for General Renschild, and told him, without any emotion, to prepare for attacking the enemy next morning.
The 8th of July 1709 is remarkable for the battle which decided the fate of Sweden. Charles, having left eight thousand men in the camp to defend the works and repel the sallies of the besieged, began by break of day to march against his enemies with the rest of the army, consisting of twenty-six thousand men, of whom eighteen thousand were Kozaks. The Russians were drawn up in two lines behind their intrenchments, the horse in front, and the foot in the rear, with charms to suffer the horse to fall back in case of necessity. General Slippenbach was despatched to attack the cavalry, which he did with such impetuosity that they were broken in an instant. They, however, rallied behind the infantry, and returned to the charge with so much vigour,
that the Swedes were disordered in their turn, and Slippenbach was made prisoner. Charles was now carried in his litter to the scene of confusion. His troops, re-animating by the presence of their leader, returned to the charge, and the battle became doubtful, when a blunder of General Creuk, who had been despatched by Charles to take the enemy in flank, and a successful manoeuvre of Prince Menzikoff, decided the fortune of the day in favour of the Russians. Creuk's detachment was defeated, and Menzikoff, who had been sent by Peter with a strong body to post himself between the Swedes and Pultava, so as to cut off the communication of the enemy with their camp, and fall upon their rear, executed his orders with so much success as to intercept a corps de reserve of three thousand men. Charles had ranged his remaining troops in two lines, with the infantry in the centre, and the horse on the two wings. They had already twice rallied, and were now again attacked on all sides with the utmost fury. Charles in his litter, with a drawn sword in one hand, and a pistol in the other, seemed to be everywhere present; but new misfortunes awaited him. A cannon-ball killed both horses in the litter; and scarcely were these replaced by a fresh pair, when a second ball struck the litter in pieces, and overturned the king. The Swedish soldiers, believing him killed, fell back in consternation. The first line was completely broken, and the second fled. Charles, though disabled, did every thing in his power to restore order; but the Russians, emboldened by success, pressed so hard on the flying foe, that it was impossible to rally them. Renschild and several other general officers were taken prisoners, and Charles himself would have shared the same fate, had not Count Poniatowski, father of the future favourite of Catherine II., with five hundred horse, surrounded the royal person, and with desperate fury cut his way through ten regiments of the Russians. With this small guard the king arrived on the banks of the Dnieper, and was followed by Lewenhaupt with four thousand foot and all the remaining cavalry. The Russians took possession of the Swedish camp, where they found a prodigious sum in specie; while Prince Menzikoff pursued the flying Swedes, and, as they were in want of boats to cross the Dnieper, obliged them to surrender at discretion. Charles escaped with the utmost difficulty, but at length reached Ochakov, on the frontiers of Turkey.
By this decisive victory, Peter remained in quiet possession of his new acquisitions on the Baltic, and was enabled to carry on, without molestation, the improvements which he had projected at the mouth of the Neva. His haughty rival, so long and so justly dreaded, was now completely humbled, and his ally the king of Poland was again established on his throne. During the eight years that had elapsed from the battle of Narva to that of Pultava, the Russian troops had acquired the discipline and steadiness of veterans, and had at length learned to beat their former conquerors. If Peter had decreed triumphal processions for his trifling successes at Azof, it is not surprising that he should commemorate by similar pageants a victory so glorious and so important as that of Pultava. He made his triumphal entry into Moscow for the third time, and the public rejoicings on this occasion far exceeded all that had before been witnessed in the Russian empire.
The vanquished Charles had, in the mean time, found a valuable friend in the monarch in whose territories he had taken refuge. Achmet II. who then filled the Ottoman throne, had beheld with admiration the warlike achievements of the Swedish hero; and, alarmed at the late successes of his rival, determined to afford Charles the most effectual aid. In 1711, the Turkish emperor assembled an immense army, and was preparing to invade the Russian territories, when the czar, having intimation of his design, and expecting powerful support from Cantemir, hospodar of Moldavia, a vassal of the Porte, resolved to anticipate the
History. Turks, and to make an inroad into Moldavia. Forgetting his usual prudence and circumspection, Peter crossed the Dnieper, and advanced by rapid marches as far as Yassy or Jassy, the capital of that province, which is situated on the river Pruth; but his temerity had nearly cost him his liberty, if not his life. From this dangerous situation he was extricated by the tact of his consort the Czarina Catherine, who by a liberal bribe succeeded in gaining over the grand vizier to her interests, and thus brought about the treaty of the Pruth.
An. 1721. By this treaty, in which the interests of Charles had been almost abandoned, Peter saw himself delivered from a dangerous enemy, and returned to his capital to prosecute those plans for the internal improvement of his empire which justly entitled him to the appellation of Great. Before we enumerate these improvements, however, we must bring the Swedish war to a conclusion. The death of Charles, in 1718, had left the Swedish government deplorably weakened, by the continual drains of men and money occasioned by his mad enterprises, and little able to carry on a war with a monarch so powerful as Peter. At length, therefore, in 1721, this ruinous contest, which had continued ever since the commencement of the century, was brought to a conclusion by the treaty of Nystadt, by which the Swedes were obliged to cede to Russia, Livonia, Esthonia, Ingria, a part of Karelia, the territory of Vyborg, the isle of Oesel, and all the other islands in the Baltic, from Courland to Vyborg; for which concessions they received back Finland, that had been conquered by Peter, together with two millions of dollars, and the liberty of exporting duty free, from Riga, Revel, and Arensberg, corn to the annual amount of fifty thousand roubles. In consequence of this great accession to the Russian empire, Peter received from his senate the title of Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias, and the ancient title of czar fell into disuse.
Peter's national improvements. The improvements introduced by Peter into the internal policy of the empire must be acknowledged to have been numerous and important. He organized anew the legislative assembly of the state; he greatly ameliorated the administration of justice; he new-modelled the national army; he entirely created the Russian navy; he rendered the ecclesiastical government milder and less intolerant; he zealously patronized the arts and sciences; he erected an observatory at St Petersburg, and by publicly proclaiming the approach of an eclipse, and the precise time at which it was to take place, taught his subjects no longer to consider such a phenomenon as an omen of disaster, or an awful menace of divine judgment. He enlarged the commerce of his empire, and gave every encouragement to trade and manufactures. He formed canals, repaired the roads, instituted regular posts, and laid down regulations for a uniformity of weights and measures. Lastly, he in some measure civilized his subjects, though it is evident that he could not civilize himself.
Character of Peter. Various have been the estimates formed of the character of Peter by those who have detailed the events of his reign. It is certain that to him the Russian empire is greatly indebted for the position which she now occupies among the nations of Europe. As a monarch, therefore, he is entitled to our admiration; but as a private individual we must consider him as an object of detestation and abhorrence. His tyranny and his cruelty admit of no excuse; and if we were to suppose, that in sacrificing the heir of his crown he emulated the patriotism of the elder Brutus, we must remember that the same hand which signed the death-warrant of his son, could with pleasure execute the sentence of the law, or rather of his own caprice, and, in the moments of dissipation and revelry, could make the axe of justice an instrument of diabolical vengeance or of cool brutality.
Peter was succeeded by his consort Catherine, in whose favour he had, some years before his death, altered the or-
History. der of succession. As the character of this princess, and the transactions of her short reign, have been already detailed under her life, we shall here only notice in the most cursory manner the events that took place. From the commencement of her reign, Catherine conducted herself with the greatest benignity and gentleness, and thus secured the love and veneration of her subjects, which she had acquired during the life of the emperor. She reduced the annual capitation tax; ordered the numerous gibbets which Peter had erected in various parts of the country to be cut down; and caused the bodies of those who had fallen victims to his tyranny to be decently interred. She recalled the greater part of those whom Peter had exiled to Siberia; paid the troops their arrears; and restored to the Kozaks those privileges and immunities of which they had been deprived during the late reign, while she continued in office most of the servants of Peter, both civil and military. In her reign the boundaries of the empire were extended by the submission of a Georgian prince, and the voluntary homage of the Kubinskian Tartars. She died on the 17th of May 1727, having reigned about two years. She had settled the crown on Peter the son of the Czarovitch Alexei, who succeeded by the title of Peter II.
An. 1727. Peter was only twelve years of age when he ascended the imperial throne, and his reign was short and uninteresting. He was guided chiefly by Prince Menzikoff, whose daughter Catherine had decreed him to marry. This ambitious man, who, from the mean condition of a pye-boy, had risen to the first offices of the state, and had, during the late reign, principally conducted the administration of the government, was now, however, drawing towards the end of his career. The number of his enemies had greatly increased, and their attempts to work his downfall at last succeeded. A young nobleman of the family of the Dolgoruki, who was one of Peter's chief companions, was excited by his relations, and the other enemies of Menzikoff, to instil into the mind of the young prince feelings hostile to that minister. In this commission he succeeded so well, that Menzikoff and his whole family, not excepting the young empress, were banished to Siberia, and the Dolgorukis took into their hands the management of affairs. These artful counsellors, instead of cultivating the naturally good abilities of Peter, encouraged him to waste his time and exhaust his strength in hunting and other athletic exercises, for which his tender years were by no means calculated. It is supposed that the debility consequent on such fatigue increased the natural danger of the small-pox, with which he was attacked in January 1730, and from which he never recovered.
An. 1730. Notwithstanding the absolute power with which Peter I. and the Empress Catherine had settled by will the title to the throne, the Russian senate and nobility, upon the death of Peter II. ventured to set aside the order of succession which those sovereigns had established. The male issue of Peter was now extinct; and the Duke of Holstein, son to Peter's eldest daughter, was by the destination of the late empress entitled to the crown; but the Russians, for political reasons, filled the throne with Anne duchess of Courland, second daughter to Ivan, the eldest brother of Peter, though her eldest sister, the Duchess of Mecklenburg, was still alive. Anne's reign was extremely prosperous; and though she accepted the crown under limitations which some thought derogatory to her dignity, yet she broke them all, asserted the prerogative of her ancestors, and punished the aspiring Dolgoruki family, who had imposed those restrictions, with a view, as it is said, that they themselves might govern. She raised her favourite Biren to the duchy of Courland; and was obliged to give way to many severe executions on his account. Few transactions of any importance took place during the reign of Anne. She followed the example of her great predecessor Peter, by interposing in the affairs of Poland, where she
History. had sufficient interest to establish on the throne Augustus III. She entered into a treaty with the shah of Persia, by which she agreed to give up all title to the territories that had been seized by Peter I. on the shores of the Caspian, in consideration of certain privileges to be granted to the Russian merchants.
In 1735, a rupture took place between Russia and Turkey, occasioned partly by the mutual jealousies that had subsisted between these powers ever since the treaty on the Pruth, and partly by the depredations of the Tartars of the Crimea, then under the dominion of the Porte. A Russian army entered the Crimea, ravaged part of the country, and killed a considerable number of Tartars; but having ventured too far, without a sufficient supply of provisions, it was obliged to retreat, after sustaining a loss of nearly ten thousand men. This ill success did not discourage the court of St Petersburg; and in the following year another armament was sent into the Ukraine, under the command of Marshal Munnich, while another army under Lasey proceeded against Azof. Both these generals met with considerable success; the Tartars were defeated, and the fort of Azof once more submitted to the Russian arms. A third campaign took place in 1737, and the Russians were now assisted by a body of Austrian troops. Munnich laid siege to Ootchakof, which soon surrendered, while Lasey desolated the Crimea.
No material advantages were, however, gained upon either side; and disputes arose between the Austrian and Russian generals. At length, in 1739, Marshal Munnich, having crossed the Bog at the head of a considerable army, defeated the Turks in a pitched battle near Stavutshan; made himself master of Yassy, the capital of Moldavia; and before the end of the campaign reduced the whole of that province under his subjection. These successes of the Russian arms induced the Porte to propose terms of accommodation; and in the end of 1739 a treaty was concluded, by which Russia again gave up Azof and Moldavia, and, to compensate the loss of above a hundred thousand men, and vast sums of money, gained nothing but permission to build a fortress on the Don.
An. 1740. Upon the death of Anne, which took place in 1740, Ivan, the son of her niece the Princess of Mecklenburg, was, by her will, entitled to the succession; but as he was no more than two years old, Biren was appointed to be administrator of the empire during his minority. This nomination was disagreeable to the emperor's father and mother, and unpopular among the Russians. Count Munnich was employed by the princess to arrest Biren, who was tried and condemned to die, but was sent into exile to Siberia.
The administration of the Princess Anne of Mecklenburg and her husband was upon many accounts disagreeable, not only to the Russians, but to other powers of Europe; and the Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Peter the Great by Catherine, formed such a party, that in one night's time she was proclaimed empress of the Russias, and the Princess of Mecklenburg, her husband, and son, were made prisoners. The fate of this unhappy family was peculiarly severe. All but Ivan were sent into banishment, to an island at the mouth of the Dvina, in the White Sea, where the Princess Anne died in childbirth in the year 1747. Ivan's father survived till 1775, and at last ended his miserable career in prison. The young emperor Ivan was for some time shut up in a monastery at Oranienburg, when, on attempting to escape, he was removed to the castle of Schlusselburg, where he was cruelly put to death.
An. 1741. The chief instrument in rousing the ambition of Elizabeth, and procuring her elevation to the throne, was her physician and favourite Lestocq, who, partly by his insinuating address, and partly by the assistance of French gold, brought over to Elizabeth's interest most of the royal guards. During the short regency of Anne of Mecklenburg,
a new war had commenced between Russia and Sweden; and this war was carried on with considerable acrimony and some success by Elizabeth. The Russian forces took possession of Abo, and made themselves masters of nearly all Finland. But at length, in 1743, in consequence of the negotiations that were carrying on regarding the succession to the Swedish crown, a peace was concluded between the two powers, on the condition that Elizabeth should restore the greater part of Finland.
Soon after her accession, Elizabeth determined to nominate her successor to the imperial throne, and had fixed her eyes on Charles Peter Ulric, son of the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, by Anne, daughter of Peter the Great. This prince was accordingly invited into Russia, persuaded to become a member of the Greek church, and proclaimed Grand Duke of Russia, and heir of the empire. The ceremony of his baptism was performed on the 18th of November 1742, when he received the name of Peter Feodorovitch. He was at this time only fourteen years of age; but before he had attained his sixteenth year, his aunt had destined him a consort in the person of Sophia Augusta Frederica, daughter of Christian Augustus prince of Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg. This princess, on entering the Greek church, took the name of Catherine which she afterwards bore on the throne.
Having thus settled the order of succession, Elizabeth began to take an active part in the politics of Europe. The death of Charles VI. emperor of Germany, had left his daughter, Maria Theresa queen of Hungary, at the mercy of the enterprising king of Prussia, till a formidable party was organized in her behalf. To this confederacy the empress of Russia acceded, and in 1747 sent a considerable body of troops into Germany, to the assistance of the empress-queen. The events of this long and bloody contest have been fully detailed in the article PRUSSIA. The more private transactions of the court of St Petersburg, as far as they are connected with the intrigues of her niece Catherine and the follies of the Grand Duke Peter, have also been related in our life of CATHERINE II., or they will be found at greater length in the recently (1859) published Memoirs of Catherine II., said with every appearance of truth to have been written by herself, and extending from her birth in 1729 to 1759. Elizabeth died on the 5th of January 1762, the victim of disease brought on by intemperance.
The grand duke ascended the throne by the name of Peter III. He entered on the government possessed of an enthusiastic admiration of the virtues of the King of Prussia, with whom he immediately made peace. He is said to have aimed at reforms which Peter the Great durst not attempt; and to have even ventured to cut off the beards of his clergy. He was certainly a weak man, who had no opinions of his own, but childishly adopted the sentiments of any person who took the trouble to teach him. His chief amusement was buffoonery; and he would sit for hours looking with pleasure at a merry-andrew singing drunken and vulgar songs. He was a stranger to the country, its inhabitants, and their manners; and suffered himself to be persuaded by those about him that the Russians were fools and beasts unworthy of his attention, except to make them, by means of the Prussian discipline, good fighting machines.
Becoming attached to a lady of the noble family of Vorontzoff, he disgusted his wife, who was then a beautiful woman in the prime of life, of great natural talents and great acquired accomplishments; whilst the lady whom he preferred to her was but one degree above an idiot. The Princess Dashkoff, the favourite's sister, who was married to a man whose genius was not superior to that of the emperor, being dame d'honneur and lady of the bed-chamber, had of course much of the empress's company. Similarity of situations knit these two illustrious personages in the
History. closest friendship. The princess, being a zealous admirer of the French économistes, could make her conversation both amusing and instructive. She retailed all her statistical knowledge; and finding the empress a willing hearer, she spoke of her in every company as a prodigy of knowledge, judgment, and philanthropy. Whilst the emperor, by his buffoonery and attachment to foreign manners, was daily incurring more and more the hatred of his subjects, the popularity of his wife was rapidly increasing; and some persons about the court expressed their regret that so much knowledge of government, such love of humanity, and such ardent wishes for the prosperity of Russia, should only furnish conversations with Catharina Romanovna (the Princess Dashkoff). The empress and her favourite did not let these expressions pass unobserved, but continued their studies in concert; and whilst the former was employed on her famous code of laws for a great empire, the latter always reported progress, till the middling circles of Moscow and St Petersburg began to speak familiarly of the blessings which they might enjoy if these speculations could be realized.
Meanwhile Peter III. was giving fresh cause of discontent. He had recalled from Siberia Count Munnich, who was indeed a sensible, brave, and worthy man; but Munnich, as he was smarting under the effects of Russian despotism, and had grounds of resentment against most of the great families, did not much discourage the emperor's unpopular conduct, trying only to moderate it and give it a system. Peter, however, was impatient. He publicly ridiculed the exercise and evolutions of the Russian troops; and hastily adopting the Prussian discipline, without digesting and fitting it for the constitution of his own forces, he completely ruined himself by disgusting the army.
In the midst of these imprudences, indeed, Peter was sometimes disturbed by the advice of virtuous counsellors. But these remonstrances produced only a temporary gleam of reformation, and he soon relapsed into his accustomed sensuality. What he lost in popularity was gained by the emissaries of Catherine. Four regiments of guards, amounting to eight thousand men, were speedily brought over by the three brothers Orlov, who had contrived to ingratiate themselves with their officers. The people at large were in a state of indifference, out of which they were partially roused by the following means. A little manuscript was handed about, containing principles of legislation for Russia, founded on natural rights, and on the claims of the different classes of people, which, insensibly formed, became so familiar as to appear natural. In that performance was proposed a convention of deputies from all the classes, and from every part of the empire, to converse, but without authority, on the subjects of which it treated, and to inform the senate of the result of their deliberations. It passed for the work of her majesty, and was much admired.
While Catherine was thus high in the public esteem and affection, the emperor took the alarm at her popularity, and in a few days came to the resolution of confining her for life, and then of marrying his favourite. The servants of that lady betrayed her to her sister, who imparted the intelligence to the empress. Catherine saw her danger, and instantly formed her resolution. She must either tamely submit to perpetual imprisonment, and perhaps a cruel and ignominious death, or contrive to hurl her husband from his throne. No other alternative was left her, and the consequence was what was undoubtedly expected. The proper steps were taken. Folly fell before abilities and address, and in three days the revolution was accomplished.
When the emperor saw that all was lost, he attempted to enter Cronstadt from Oranienbaum, a town on the Gulf of Finland, thirty verst, or nearly twenty-six miles, from St Petersburg. The sentinels at the harbour presented their muskets at the barge; and though they were not loaded, and the men had no cartridges, he drew back.
Munnich received him again, and exhorted him to mount his horse and head his guards, swearing to live and die with him. He said, "No, I see it cannot be done without shedding much of the blood of my brave Holsteiners. I am not worthy of the sacrifice."
Six days had already elapsed since the revolution, and that great event had been apparently terminated without any violence that might leave odious impressions upon the mind of the public. Peter had been removed from Peterhof to a pleasant retreat called Ropscha, about thirty miles from St Petersburg; and here he supposed he should be detained but a short time previous to his being sent into Germany. He therefore transmitted a message to Catherine, desiring permission to have for his attendant a favourite negro, and that she would send him a dog, of which he was very fond, together with his violin, a bible, and a few romances; telling her that, disgusted with the wickedness of mankind, he was resolved henceforth to devote himself to a philosophical life. However reasonable these requests, not one of them was granted, and his plans of wisdom were turned into ridicule.
In the mean time the soldiers were amazed at what they had done. They could not conceive by what fascination they had been hurried so far as to dethrone the grandson of Peter the Great, in order to give his crown to a German woman. The majority, without plan or consciousness of what they were doing, had been mechanically led on by the movements of others; and each individual now reflecting on his baseness, after the pleasure of disposing of a crown had vanished, was filled only with remorse. The sailors, who had never been engaged in the insurrection, openly reproached the guards in the tippling-houses with having sold their emperor for beer. One night a band of soldiers attached to the empress took the alarm, from an idle fear, and exclaimed that their mother was in danger, and that she must be awaked, that they might see her. During the next night there was a fresh commotion more serious than the former. So long as the life of the emperor left a pretext for inquietude, it was thought that no tranquillity was to be expected.
On the sixth day of the emperor's imprisonment at Ropscha, Alexei Orlov, accompanied by an officer named Teploff, came to him with the news of his speedy deliverance, and asked permission to dine with him. According to the custom of that country, wine glasses and brandy were brought previous to dinner; and while the officer amused the czar with some trifling discourse, his chief filled the glasses, and poured a poisonous mixture into that which he intended for the prince. The czar, without any distrust, swallowed the potion, on which he immediately experienced the most severe pains; and on his being offered a second glass, on pretence of its giving him relief, he refused it, with reproaches against him that offered it. He called aloud for milk, but the two monsters offered him poison again, and pressed him to take it. A French valet-de-chambre, greatly attached to him, now ran in. Peter threw himself into his arms, saying in a faint tone of voice, "It was not enough, then, to prevent me from reigning in Sweden, and to deprive me of the crown of Russia. I must also be put to death."
The valet-de-chambre presumed to intercede for his master; but the two miscreants forced this dangerous witness out of the room, and continued their ill treatment of the czar. In the midst of this tumult the younger of the Princes Baratinsky came in, and joined the two former. Orlov, who had already thrown down the emperor, was pressing upon his breast with both his knees, and firmly gripping his throat with his hand. The unhappy monarch now struggling with that strength which arises from despair, the two other assassins threw a napkin round his neck, and put an end to his life by suffocation.
History. It is not known with certainty what share the empress had in this event; but it is affirmed that on the very day on which it happened, while the empress was beginning her dinner with much gaiety, an officer, supposed to be one of the assassins, precipitately entered the apartment with his hair dishevelled, his face covered with sweat and dust, his clothes torn, and his countenance agitated with horror and dismay. On entering, his eyes sparkling and confused, met those of the empress. She arose in silence, and went into a closet, whither he followed her. A few moments afterwards she sent for Count Panin, the former governor of Peter, who was already appointed her minister, and, informing him that the emperor was dead, consulted him on the manner of announcing his death to the public. Panin advised her to let one night pass over, and to spread the news next day, as if they had received it during the night. This counsel being approved, the empress returned with the same countenance, and continued her dinner with the same gaiety. On the day following, when it was published that Peter had died of an hæmorrhoidal colic, she appeared bathed in tears, and proclaimed her grief by an edict.
The corpse was brought to St Petersburg, there to be exposed. The face was black, and the neck excoriated. Notwithstanding these horrible marks, in order to assuage the commotions, which began to excite apprehension, and to prevent impostors from hereafter disturbing the empire, it was left three days exposed to all the people, with only the ornaments of a Holstein officer. The soldiers, disbanded and disarmed, mingled with the crowd, and as they beheld their sovereign, their countenances indicated a mixture of compassion, contempt, and shame. They were soon afterwards embarked for their country; but, as the sequel of their cruel destiny, almost all of these unfortunate men perished in a storm. Some of them had saved themselves on the rocks adjacent to the coast; but they again fell a prey to the waves, while the commandant of Cronstadt despatched a messenger to St Petersburg to know whether he might be permitted to assist them. Thus fell the unhappy Peter III. in 1762, in the thirty-fourth year of his age, after having enjoyed the imperial dignity only six months.
Catherine II. ascends the imperial throne. On her accession, Catherine behaved with great magnanimity and forbearance towards those who had opposed her elevation, or were the declared friends of the deceased emperor. She gave to Prince George, in exchange for his title of Duke of Courland, conferred on him by Peter, the government of Holstein. She reinstated Biren in his dukedom of Courland, received into favour Marshal Munnich, who had readily transferred his fidelity from the dead to the living, and even pardoned her rival the Countess Vorontzoff, and permitted her to retain the tokens of her lover's munificence. She permitted Gudovitch, who was high in the confidence of Peter, and had incurred her particular displeasure, to retire to his native country. Perhaps the most unexpected part of her conduct towards the friends of Peter, was her adhering to the treaty of peace which that monarch had concluded with the king of Prussia six months before. The death of his inveterate enemy Elizabeth had relieved Frederick from a load of solicitude, and had extricated him from his dangerous situation. He now, as he thought, saw himself again involved in a war with the same formidable power; but, to his great joy, he found that Catherine, from motives of policy, declined entering on a war at the commencement of her reign.
An. 1764. Assassination of the dethroned czar. In one particular the empress showed her jealousy and her fears. She increased the vigilance with which the young prince Ivan was confined in the castle of Schlusselburg, from which Peter III. had expressed a resolution to release him. Not long after her accession, this unfortunate prince was assassinated, though whether this event was to be imputed to the empress or her counsellors, cannot
be positively determined. But a manifesto published by the court of St Petersburg, and supposed to have been written by the empress herself, admitted that the prince was put to death by the officers of his guard, alleging that this was necessary, in consequence of an attempt to carry him off.
Were we to offer a detailed account of the principal chronotransactions that took place during the long reign of Catherine, we should far exceed the limits within which this article must be confined, and should at the same time repeat much of what has already been given under other heads. As the events that distinguished the life of Catherine, however, are too important to be wholly omitted, we shall present our readers with the following chronological sketch of them, referring for a more particular account to Tooke's Life of Catherine II., and to the articles CATHERINE II., BRITAIN, FRANCE, POLAND, PRUSSIA, SWEDEN, and TURKEY, in this work.
The year 1766 presented at St Petersburg the grandest spectacle that perhaps was ever seen in Europe. At an entertainment, which the empress chose to name a carousal, the principal nobility appeared in the most sumptuous dresses, sparkling with diamonds, and mounted on horses richly caparisoned, in a magnificent theatre erected for that purpose. Here all that has been read of the ancient jousts and tournaments was realized and exceeded in the presence of thousands of spectators, who seemed to vie with each other in the brilliancy of their appearance.
In 1768, the empress composed instructions for a new code of laws for her dominions; and the same year she submitted to the danger of inoculation, in order that her subjects, to whom the practice was unknown, might be benefited by her example.
In the same year a war broke out with the Ottoman War with Porte. The various events of this long and important conflict, which continued for seven years, must here be only briefly enumerated, as they will hereafter be more particularly noticed under the article TURKEY. In this war our countryman Greig, then an admiral in the Russian service, highly distinguished himself by his conduct in a naval engagement with the Turks, in the harbour of Tchesme, in the Archipelago, in which the Turkish fleet was entirely defeated, and their magazines destroyed. This took place on the 4th of November 1772.
In the beginning of the year 1769, the khan of the Crimea made an attack on the territory of Bachmut, on the river Bog, where he was several times bravely repulsed, with his army of Tartars and Turks, by Major-General Romanus and Prince Prosorofskoi. At the same time were fought the battles of Zekanofca and Soroca on the Dnieper, when the large magazines of the enemy were burned. In February the Polish Kozaks in the voivodeship of Bracław put themselves under the Russian sceptre. In the same month the Nisovian Saparogian Kozaks gained a battle in the deserts of Krim. In March the Polish rebels were subdued, and their town taken, by Major-General Ismailof. On the 2d of April the fort of Taganrog, on the Sea of Azof, was taken. On the 15th the Russian army, under the general-in-chief Prince Galitzin, crossed the Dnieper. On the 19th a victory was gained by Prince Galitzin near Chotzim. On the 21st the Turks were defeated not far from Chotzim by Lieutenant-General Count Soltikof. The 29th, an action was fought between the Russian Kalmucks and the Kuban Tartars, to the disadvantage of the latter. June the 8th, the Turks were defeated at the mouth of the Dnieper, near Otchakof. An action took place on the Dnieper on the 19th, when the troops of Prince Prosorofskoi forced the Turks to repass the river in great disorder. Chotzim was taken on the 19th of September. Yassy, in Moldavia, was taken on the 27th of September. Bukarescht, in Wallachia, was taken, and the hospodar made prisoner, in November 1770. A victory was gained
History. by the Russians under Generals Podborishany and Potemkin, near Fokshany. The town of Shursha was taken by Lieutenant-General Von Stoffeln, February 4. A Russian fleet appeared in the port of Maina, in the Morca, on the 17th February. Mistr, the Lacedemon of the ancients, and several other towns of the Morca, were taken in February. Arcadim in Greece surrendered, and a multitude of Turks were made prisoners, in the same month. The Turks and Tartars were driven from their intrenchments near the Pruth, by Count Romantzof, Prince Repnin, and General Bauer, 11th-16th June. Prince Prosorofskoi gained several advantages near Otschakof, June 18. The Russian fleet, under Count Alexei Orlof, gained a complete victory over the Turks near Tschesme, 24th June; the consequence of this victory was the destruction of the whole Turkish fleet, near Tschesme, where it was burned by Admiral Greig on the 26th of June. A battle was fought on the Kagul, in which Count Romantzof defeated the Turkish army, consisting of a hundred and fifty thousand men, and took their camp, and all the artillery, July 21. The fortress Bender was taken July 22. The town of Ismail was taken by Prince Repnin, July 26; Kilia by Prince Repnin, August 21; and Akjerman in October. Brailof was taken on the 10th of November 1771; the town of Kaffa, June 29; and numberless other victories were obtained by sea and land, till peace was concluded on the 13th January 1775. By this the Crimea was declared independent of the Porte, and all the vast tract of country between the Bog and Dnieper was ceded to Russia, besides the Kuban and the isle of Taman, with free navigation in all the Turkish seas, including the passage of the Dardanelles, privileges granted to the most favoured nations, and stipulations in behalf of the inhabitants of Moldavia and Wallachia.
An. 1779. In 1779, the empress intending to divide the empire into viceroys, began in January with the viceroys of Orlof. March 21st, a new treaty was signed at Constantinople between Russia and the Porte. May 13th, the treaty of peace between the belligerent powers in Germany and the French king was signed under the mediation of her majesty. In October, a ship built at Taganrog, named the Prince Constantine, sailed to Smyrna with Voronets commodities. December 3d, the viceroys of Voronets was instituted; and the 27th, Count Romantzof Zadunaiski opened the viceroys of Kursk with great solemnity.
An. 1780-1. In 1780, February 28th, appeared the memorable declaration of her imperial majesty, relating to the safety of navigation and commerce of the neutral powers. In 1781, March 1st, the empress became mediatrix between England and Holland; April 5th, instituted the first public school in St Petersburg.
An. 1782. In 1782, by a command of her majesty, dated January the 18th, a Roman Catholic archbishop was installed in the city of Mobilef, with authority over all the Catholic churches and convents in the Russian empire. August 7th, the famous equestrian statue of Peter the Great, being finished, was uncovered to the public in presence of the empress, on which occasion she published a proclamation containing pardons for several criminals. November 22d, the order of St Vladimir was instituted. The 27th, the empress published a new tariff.
An. 1783. In 1783, May 7th, the empress instituted a seminary for the education of young persons of quality at Kursk. June 21st, a treaty of commerce was concluded with the Ottoman Porte. July, the institution of the other viceroys of the empire followed in succession. On July 21st, the empress published a manifesto by her commander-in-chief Prince Potemkin, in the Krim, in regard to the taking possession of that peninsula, the Kuban, and the island of Taman. The 24th, a treaty was concluded with Heraelius II. czar of Kartalinia and Kachetti, by which he submitted himself, his heirs and successors for ever, with his territories and dominions, to the sceptre of her majesty, her heirs and successors. On the 29th, accounts were received from the camp of Prince Potemkin, at Karas-Basar, that the clergy, the boys, and other persons of distinction, with the towns of Karas-Basar, Bachtshiserai, Achmetchet, Kaffa, Kosloff, with the districts of Turkanskoikut and Neubasar, and that of Perekop, in the peninsula of the Krim, together with the hordes of Edissank and Dishambolusk, the sultan Alim Giray, and his vassals, with all the Budshaks and Bashkirs there, and all the tribes dwelling beyond the river Kuban, the sultan Boatur Giray and his vassals, took the oath of allegiance to her imperial majesty, and with willing hearts submitted for ever to her glorious sway. On the 30th the hospodar of Wallachia was deposed, and Draco Sutoz set up in his place. September 22d, her majesty raised Gabriel, archbishop of Novgorod and St Petersburg, to the dignity of metropolitan. October 21st, in the great hall of the Academy of Sciences, the new institution of the Imperial Russian Academy was opened, after a most solemn consecration by the metropolitan Gabriel, and others of the clergy, under the presidency of the Princess Dashkoff. November 7th, the empress became mediatrix for accommodating the differences between the king of Prussia and the city of Dantzig. The school for surgery was opened at St Petersburg on the 18th. December 13th, a school commission was instituted for superintending all the public schools. On the 28th, an act was concluded with the Ottoman Porte, by which the possession and sovereignty of the Krim, the Kuban, and Taman, were solemnly made over to the empress.
An. 1784. In 1784, January 1st, the senate, in a speech by Field-Mar-shal Count Razomofskoi, performed the ceremony, repeated Georgia annually, of most humbly thanking her majesty for the benevolence which she had graciously bestowed on the whole empire in the preceding year. October 14th, the Lesgiers, having crossed the river Alasan, and invaded the dominions of Georgia, were repulsed with great loss by a detachment of Russian troops. December 29th, Katolikos Maksim, the serdar and court-marshal Prince Zeretelli, and the chief justice Kuinichese, ambassadors from David, czar of Incretia, were admitted to a public audience of her majesty, at which they submitted, in the name of the czar, him and his subjects to the will and powerful protection of her imperial majesty, as the rightful head of all the sons of the orthodox eastern church, and sovereign ruler and defender of the Georgian nations.
An. 1785. The 12th of January, Maurocordato, hospodar of Wallachia, was deposed, and Alexander Maurocordato, his uncle, restored to that dignity. The 21st, the empress visited the principal national school, and passed a long time in examining the classes, and the proficiency of the youth in that seminary; on which occasion a marble tablet was fixed in the wall of the fourth class, with this inscription, in gold letters: THOU VISITEST THE VINEYARD WHICH THINE OWN HAND HATH PLANTED. April 21st, the privileges of the nobility were confirmed, and on the same day the burgheers of towns constituted into bodies corporate, by a particular manifesto. The public school in Voronets was opened. July 14th, a manifesto was issued, granting full liberty of religion and commerce to all foreigners settling in the regions of Mount Caucasus, under the Russian government. September 15th, the public school at Nishnei Novgorod was opened. October 12th, the Jesuits in White Russia, in a general assembly, elected a vicar-general of their order. November 1st, a treaty of commerce was concluded with the emperor of Germany. The 24th, the Russian consul in Alexandria made his public entry on horseback, an honour never before granted to any power; erected the imperial standard on his house, with discharge of cannon, &c. December 28th, a Russian mercantile frigate, fully freighted, arrived at Leghorn from Constantinople.
History. 1786. The 29th of January, the empress confirmed the plan of a navigation school. February 12th, by a decree, the usual slavish subscriptions to petitions were to be discontinued; and, instead of them, only the words humble or faithful subject, and in certain cases only subject, were ordered to be used. March 2d, the empress granted the university of Moscow a hundred and twenty-five thousand roubles, and all the materials of the palace Kremlin, for increasing its buildings. The 25th, a decree was passed for making and repairing the roads throughout the whole empire at the sole expense of the crown, and four millions of roubles were immediately allotted for the road between St Petersburg and Moscow. April 10th, a new war establishment for the army was signed; 23d, the hospodar of Wallachia was deposed, and Mavroveni set up in his place. June 28th, the empress instituted a loan bank at St Petersburg, to the fund whereof she allotted twenty-two millions to be advanced to the nobility, and eleven millions to the burghers of the town, on very advantageous terms. August 5th, there were published rules to be observed in the public schools. October 4th, a large Russian ship, with Russian productions, from St Petersburg, arrived at Cadiz. November 24th, the empress erected public schools at Tambov. December 14th, Prince Ypsilanti was appointed hospodar of Moldavia, in the room of the deposed Maurocorodato. December 31st, a treaty of commerce and navigation was concluded between Russia and France.
An. 1787. 1787. March, public schools were endowed and opened at Rostov, Uglits, Molaga, and Romanov, in the vicereality of Yaroslavl; also at Usting and Arasovitz, in the vicereality of Vologda. April 21st, a manifesto was issued for promoting peace and concord among the burghers of the empire. The 25th, took place the concerted interview between the empress and the king of Poland, near the Polish town of Konief. The treaty of commerce with England being expired, the British factory were informed that they must henceforward pay the duties on imports in silver money, like the other nations who had no commercial treaty. May 7th, the empress hearing that the emperor of Germany was at Cherson, proceeded thither, and met him there on the 12th. June 28th, the twenty-fifth anniversary of her reign, she displayed various marks of her bounty. The debtors to the crown were forgiven, prisoners released, imposts taken off, soldiers rewarded, &c. The 12th July, the new-built school at Riga, called a Lycœum, was solemnly dedicated. August 5th, Bulgakoff, the Russian ambassador at the Ottoman Porte, was imprisoned in the Seven Towers, contrary to the law of nations, which the empress regarded as a public declaration of war. 21st, The Turkish fleet at Otchakof attacked the Russian frigate Skorui and the sloop Bitingi, but was repulsed and put to flight by the bravery of the latter. Many signal advantages were gained over the Turks; several public schools founded in various parts of the empire between this and August following, during which time the war broke out with Sweden.
An. 1788. 1788. August 12th, in the expedition beyond the Kuban, the Russian troops entirely routed a company of four thousand Arutayans and Alcasinians; eight hundred of the enemy were slain, and five villages destroyed. 15th, The surrender of the Turkish fortress of Dubitsha took place. 18th, The Turks made a violent sortie from Otchakof, but were repulsed by the Russian yagers, and, after a battle of four hours, were driven back with the loss of five hundred men. 23d, A fierce battle was fought between the Russian troops and Sacubanians, in which the latter lost a thousand men. The Russian fleet kept the Swedish blocked up in Sveaholm ever since the battle of July 6th. The Swedish army left the Russian territory in Finland. September 18th, The town and fortress of Chotzim surrendered to the Russians, with the garrison of two thousand men, a hundred and fifty-three cannon fourteen mortars, and much ammunition.
History. 19th-29th, A small Russian squadron from the fleet at Sevastopol, cruising along the coast of Anatolia, destroyed many of the enemy's vessels, prevented the transporting of the Turkish troops, and returned with great booty. 20th, Us-sener Shamanachin, chief of the Bsheduchovians, was, on his petition, admitted a subject of Russia. 26th, A numerous host of Kubanians and Turks were beaten on the river Ubin, with the loss of fifteen hundred men. November 7th, Prince Potemkin, at the head of his Kozaks, took the island Beresan, with many prisoners and much ammunition. December 6th, the town and fortress of Otchakof were taken by Prince Potemkin Tavrisheskoï; nine thousand five hundred and ten of the enemy were killed, four thousand taken prisoners, a hundred and eighty standards, three hundred and ten cannons and mortars. All the inhabitants were taken prisoners, amounting to twenty-five thousand; the Russians lost nine hundred and fifty-six killed and eighteen hundred and twenty-four wounded. December 19th, General Kamenskoy gained considerable advantages over the Turks near Gangur.
An. 1789. 1789. April 16th, Colonel Rimskoy Korsakoff was surrounded by the Turks, who were beaten, with great slaughter, by Lieutenant-General Von Derfelden. 17th-28th, Some Russian cruisers from Sevastopol effected a landing on Cape Karakarman, burnt six mosques, and carried off great booty. 20th, General Derfelden drove the Turks from Gatalach, gained a complete victory, killed two thousand, took fifteen hundred prisoners, with the seraskier Ibrahim Pasha, and the whole camp. Several skirmishes took place between the Russians and Swedes in Finland, always to the advantage of the former. May 31st, another victory was gained over the Swedes. June 5th, Sulkof was taken from the Swedes, and Fort St Michael on the 8th. July 15th, Admiral Tchitchagoff engaged the Swedish fleet under the command of the Duke of Sudermania; but no ship was lost on either side. 21st, A battle was fought at Fokshany, to the great loss of the Turks, and Fokshany was taken. August 13th, the Russian galley fleet fought the Swedish under Count Ehrenschwerdt, the former took a frigate and five other ships, and two thousand prisoners. August 21st, another sea-fight took place, and Prince Nassau Siegen made good his landing of the Russian troops in sight of the king of Sweden at the head of his army. September 7th, Prince Repnin attacked the seraskier Hassan Pasha near the river Seltka, and took his whole camp. 11th, Count Suwaroff and prince of Saxe-Cobourg engaged near the river Kymnik the grand Turkish army of nearly a hundred thousand men, and gained a complete victory; from which Count Suwaroff received the surname Kymnikskoi. 14th, The Russian troops under General Ribas took the Turkish citadel Chodshabey, in the sight of the whole of the enemy's fleet. 30th, The fortress Palanka being taken, the town of Belgorod or Akjerman surrendered to Prince Potemkin Tavrisheskoï. November 4th, the town and castle of Bender submitted at discretion to the same commander.
An. 1790. 1790. April 24, General Numsen gained a victory over the Swedes near Memel. May 2, a sea-fight took place off Peace with Revel, in which the Russians captured the Prince Charles of Sweden. 23d, The fleet under Vice-Admiral Kruse engaged the Swedish fleet near the island Siskar in the Gulf of Finland, without any advantage being gained on either side, though they fought the whole day. 24th, An action was fought at Savataipala, when the Swedes were forced to fly. June 6th, the Swedes were defeated by Major Buxhovden, on the island Uransari. June 22, the whole Swedish fleet, commanded by the Duke of Sudermania, was entirely defeated by Admiral Tchitchagoff and the Prince of Nassau Siegen; on this occasion five thousand prisoners were taken, amongst whom were the centre admiral and two hundred officers. 28th, General Denisoff defeated
History. the Swedes near Davidoff. July 9th, Admiral Ushakoff obtained a victory over the Turkish fleet commanded by the capudan pasha, at the mouth of the Straits of Yenikali. August 3d, peace was concluded with Sweden, without the mediation of any other power. August 28th, 29th, an engagement took place on the Euxine, not far from Chodshabey, between the Russian admiral Ushakoff and the capudan pasha, when the principal Turkish ship, of eighty guns, was burnt, one of seventy guns and three others taken, the admiral Said Bey being made prisoner, and another ship sunk; the rest made off. September 30th, a great victory was obtained over the Turks by General Germann, with much slaughter, and the seraskier Batal Bey, and the whole camp, were taken. October 18th, Kilia surrendered to Major Ribas. November 6th, 7th, the fortress Cultsha and the Turkish flotilla were taken. December 11th, the important fortress of Ismail, after a storming for seven hours without intermission, surrendered to Count Suwaroff, with the garrison of forty-two thousand men; thirty thousand eight hundred and sixteen were slain on the spot, two thousand died of their wounds, nine thousand were taken prisoners, with two hundred and sixty-five pieces of cannon, an incredible store of ammunition, &c. The Russians lost only eighteen hundred and fifteen killed, and two thousand four hundred and fifty wounded.
An. 1791. 1791. March 25th-31st, the campaign opened by the Turks troops under Prince Potemkin, not far from Brailof, when the Turks were defeated in several battles, in which they lost upwards of four thousand men. June 5th, the troops under General Golenitsch Kutusoff, near Tultsha, drove the Turks beyond the Danube, and at Babada entirely routed a body of fifteen thousand men, of whom fifteen hundred were left dead upon the field. 22d, The fortress Anapuas was taken by storm, when the whole garrison, consisting of twenty-five thousand men, were put to the sword, excepting one thousand who were taken prisoners. 28th, The troops under Prince Repnin attacked the Turkish army, consisting of nearly eighty thousand men, commanded by the grand vizir Yussuf Pasha, eight pashas, two Tartar sultans, and two beys of Anatolia; and after a bloody battle of six hours, entirely routed them: five thousand Turks were killed in their flight. June 28th, Sudzuk Kale was taken. July 31st, Admiral Ushakoff beat the Turkish fleet on the coasts of Rumelia. Prince Repnin and Yussuf Pasha signed the preliminaries of peace between the Russian empire and the Ottoman Porte, by which the Dniester was made the boundary of the two empires, with the cession of the countries lying between the Bog and Dniester to Russia. August 15th, 16th, at Pilnitz, near Dresden, a congress was held by the emperor of Germany, the king of Prussia, the elector of Saxony, the Count d'Artois, &c. &c. One of the most important events in this year was the death of Prince Potemkin, at Yassy in Moldavia, on the 15th October.
An. 1792. 1792. Early in this year Bulgakoff, the Russian minister Fresh in Warsaw, declared war against Poland; and the Polish patriots raised an army in which Thaddeus Kosciuszko soon bore a conspicuous part.
In 1788, the diet of Poland had abrogated the constitution which the empress of Russia had, in 1775, compelled that nation to adopt, and had formed an alliance with the king of Prussia, by way of defence against the further encroachments of the Russian despot. Three years after, viz. on the 3d of May 1791, the new constitution, which was intended further to destroy the ambitious hopes of Catherine, was decreed at Warsaw. (See POLAND.) These were affronts which the Russian empress could not forgive, and in one of the conciliabula, in which the ministers of state, and the favourite for the time being, sat to regulate the affairs of the north of Europe, and to determine the fate of the surrounding nations, the annihilation of the Polish monarchy was resolved on.
The declaration of war above mentioned was denounced by Bulgakoff at an assembly of the diet. That body received the declaration with a majestic calmness, and resolved to take measures for the defence of the nation. The generous enthusiasm of liberty soon spread throughout the state, and even the king pretended to share in the general indignation. An army was hastily collected, and the command of it bestowed on Prince Joseph Poniatowsky, a general whose inexperience and frivolous pursuits were but ill adapted to so important a charge.
In the mean time several Russian armies were preparing to overwhelm the small and disunited forces of the Poles. A body of eighty thousand Russians extended itself along the Bog, another of ten thousand was collected in the environs of Kief, and a third of thirty thousand penetrated into Lithuania. While these armies were carrying murder and desolation throughout the Polish territories, Catherine was employing all her arts to induce the neighbouring powers to join in the partition of Poland; and in this she was but too successful. A treaty was accordingly concluded between the empress and the king of Prussia, by which each appropriated to itself a share of the remains of Poland. Stanislas Augustus, the powerless head of that state, was prevailed on to make a public declaration that there was a necessity for yielding to the superiority of the Russian arms.
An. 1793. 1793. On the 9th of April the Polish confederation of the partisans of Russia assembled at Grodno; and on this occasion the Russian general placed himself under the canopy of that throne which he was about to declare for ever vacant, and the Russian minister Sievers produced a manifesto, declaring the intention of his mistress to incorporate with her domains all the Polish territory which her arms had conquered.
The Russian soldiers dispersed throughout the provinces committed depredations and ravages of which history furnishes but few examples. Warsaw became especially the theatre of their excesses. Their general, Igelstrom, who governed in that city, connived at the disorders of the soldiers, and made the wretched inhabitants feel the whole weight of his arrogance and barbarity. The patriots of Poland had been obliged to disperse, their property was confiscated, and their families reduced to servitude. Goaded by so many calamities, they once more took the resolution to free their country from the oppression of the Russians, or perish in the attempt. Some of them assembled, and sent an invitation to Kosciuszko, to come and lead them on against the invaders of their freedom.
Kosciuszko had retired to Leipzig, with a few other Poles, all eminent for patriotism and military ardour. These hesitated not a moment in giving their approbation to the resolution adopted by their indignant countrymen; but they were sensible that, in order to succeed, they must begin by emancipating the peasants from the state of servitude under which they then groaned. Kosciuszko and Zagonchek repaired with all expedition to the frontiers of Poland, and the latter proceeded to Warsaw, where he held conferences with the chief of the conspirators, and particularly with several officers, who declared their detestation of the Russian yoke. All appeared ripe for a general insurrection; and the Russian commanders, whose suspicions had been excited by the appearance of Kosciuszko on the frontiers, obliged that leader and his confederates to postpone for a time the execution of their plan. In order to deceive the Russians, Kosciuszko retired into Italy, and Zagonchek repaired to Dresden, whither Ignatius Potoski and Kolontay had gone before him. On a sudden, however, Zagonchek appeared again at Warsaw, but was impeached by the king to General Igelstrom, and, in a conference with the general, was ordered to quit the Polish territory. He must now have abandoned his enterprise altogether, or immediately proceed to open insurrection. He chose the latter.
History. 1794. Kosciuszko was recalled from Italy, and arrived at Cracow, where the Poles received him as their deliverer. Here he was joined by some other officers, and took the command of his little army, consisting of about three thousand infantry and twelve hundred cavalry. On the 24th of March was published the manifesto of the patriots, in which they declared the motives for their insurrection, and called on their countrymen to unite in the glorious attempt to free the republic from a foreign yoke. Kosciuszko was soon joined by three hundred peasants armed with scythes, and some other small reinforcements gradually came in. A body of seven thousand Russians had collected to oppose the movements of this little army, and a battle took place, in which the patriots were successful.
While the insurrection had thus auspiciously commenced on the frontiers, the confederates of the capital were nearly crushed by the exertions of the Russian general. Hearing at Warsaw of the success of Kosciuszko, Igelstrom caused all those whom he suspected of having any concern in the insurrection to be arrested; but these measures served only to irritate the conspirators. On the 18th of April they openly avowed their confederacy with the patriots of the frontiers, and proceeded in great numbers to attack the Russian garrison. Two thousand Russians were put to the sword, and the general, being besieged in his house, proposed a capitulation; but, profiting by the delay that had been granted him, he escaped to the Prussian camp, which lay at a little distance from Warsaw.
Wilna, the capital of Lithuania, followed the example of Warsaw; but the triumph of the insurgents was there less terrible, as Colonel Yasinsky, who headed the patriots, conducted himself with so much skill, that he made all the Russians prisoners without bloodshed. The inhabitants of the cantons of Cheim and Lublin also declared themselves in a state of insurrection, and three Polish regiments who were employed in the service of Russia espoused the cause of their country. Some of the principal partisans of Russia were arrested, and sentenced to be hanged.
Kosciuszko exerted himself to the utmost to augment his army. He procured recruits among the peasants, and to inspire them with the more emulation, he adopted their dress, ate with them, and distributed rewards among such as appeared most to merit encouragement. All his attempts to inspire the lower orders of the Poles with the ardour of patriotism were, however, unavailing. A mutual distrust prevailed between the nobles and the peasants, and this was fomented by the arts of Stanislas and the other partisans of Russia.
The empress had sent into Poland two of her best generals, Suwaroff and Fersen. For some time Kosciuszko succeeded in preventing the junction of these commanders, and several engagements took place between the Russians and patriots, in which the former were generally successful. At length, on the 4th of October, the fate of Poland was decided by a sanguinary conflict between Kosciuszko and Fersen, at Maciejowitch, a small town of Little Poland, about sixty miles from Warsaw. The talents, courage, and desperation of Kosciuszko could not prevent the Poles from yielding to superior numbers. Almost the whole of his army was either cut in pieces or compelled to surrender at discretion, and the hero himself, covered with wounds, fell senseless on the field of battle, and was made prisoner.
The small number that escaped fled to Warsaw, and shut themselves up in the suburb of Praga. Hither they were pursued by Suwaroff, who immediately laid siege to the suburb, and prepared to carry it by storm. On the 2d of November he gave the assault, and having made himself master of the place, put to the sword both the soldiers and the peaceable inhabitants, without distinction of age or sex. It is computed that twenty thousand persons fell victims to the savage ferocity of the Russian general; and, covered
with the blood of the slaughtered inhabitants, the barbarian entered Warsaw in triumph.
Thus terminated the feeble resistance of the Polish patriots. The partition of the remaining provinces was soon effected, and Stanislas Augustus, who had long enjoyed merely the appearance of royalty, and had degraded himself by becoming the instrument of Russian usurpation, retired to Grodno, there to pass the remainder of his days, on a pension granted him by the empress.
1795. On the 18th of February, a treaty of defensive alliance between the empress of Russia and her Britannic majesty was signed at St Petersburg. The ostensible object of this treaty was to maintain the general tranquillity of Europe, and more especially of the north; and by it Russia agreed to furnish Great Britain with ten thousand infantry and two thousand horse in case of invasion; while Great Britain was, under similar circumstances, to send her imperial majesty a squadron consisting of two ships of seventy-four guns, six of sixty, and four of fifty, with a complement of four thousand five hundred and sixty men. On the 18th of March was signed the act by which the duchy of Courland, together with the circle of Pilten, all of which had lately belonged to the Duke of Courland, but had long retained only the shadow of independence, submitted themselves to the Russian dominion.
In this year there took place between the courts of St Petersburg and Stockholm a dispute which threatened to terminate in a war. Gustavus III. had been assassinated by Ankerstroem at a masquerade, on the 15th of March 1791; and the young king Gustavus Adolphus being still a minor, the Duke of Sudermania, his uncle, had been appointed regent of the kingdom. The regent had determined to effect a marriage between his nephew and a princess of the house of Mecklenburg; but Catherine publicly declared that the late king had betrothed his son to one of her grand-daughters. The misunderstanding hence originating was increased by the rude and indecorous behaviour of the Baron von Budberg, the Russian minister at Stockholm; and matters seemed tending to an open rupture, when, in the year 1796, a French emigrant named Christin effected a reconciliation, and General Budberg, the baron's uncle, was sent as ambassador to Stockholm from the Russian court. In consequence of this reconciliation, the young king, attended by the regent, and a numerous train of Swedish courtiers, set out on a visit to St Petersburg, where they arrived on the 24th of August, and an interview took place between the empress and her royal visitors, for the purpose of finally adjusting the projected matrimonial alliance. Gustavus Adolphus was much pleased with the appearance of the Grand Duchess Alexandra, but informed the empress, that by the fundamental laws of Sweden he could not sign the marriage-contract before the princess had abjured the Greek religion; and as neither the solicitations nor the flatteries of Catherine could prevail on the young monarch to depart from the received custom of his country, the negotiation ended, and the next day Gustavus and his retinue quitted St Petersburg.
The last transaction of importance in the reign of Catherine was her invasion of the Persian territories, undertaken for the purpose of acquiring certain possessions on the shores of the Caspian. A Russian army entered Daghestan, and made itself master of Derbent, but was afterwards defeated by the Persians under Aga Mahmoud. The death of the empress took place, as we have elsewhere stated, on the 9th of November of this year; and the Grand Duke Paul Petrovitch ascended the throne under the title of Paul I.
Paul Petrovitch had attained his forty-second year before the death of his mother placed him on the imperial throne; but for many years before her death he had lived in a state of comparative obscurity and retirement, and had apparently been considered by the empress as incapable of taking
Final dismemberment of Poland.
History. any active part in the administration of affairs. It is well known that Catherine never admitted him to any participation of power, and kept him in a state of the most abject and mortifying separation from court, and in almost total ignorance of the affairs of the empire. Although by his birth he was generalissimo of the armies, president of the admiralty, and grand admiral of the Baltic, he was never permitted to head even a regiment, and was interdicted from visiting the fleet at Cronstadt. From these circumstances, it is evident that the empress either had conceived some jealousy of her son, or saw in him some mental imbecility, which appeared to her to disqualify him for the arduous concerns of government. There is little doubt, from the circumstances which distinguished his short reign, that Catherine had been chiefly influenced in her treatment of the grand duke by the latter consideration. There were certainly times at which Paul displayed evident marks of insanity, though he occasionally gave proofs of a generous and tender disposition, and even of intellectual vigour.
It is generally believed that, a short time before her death, Catherine committed to Plato Zuboff, her last favourite, a declaration of her will, addressed to the senate, desiring that Paul should be passed over in the succession, and that on her death the Grand Duke Alexander should ascend the vacant throne. As soon as Zuboff was made acquainted with the sudden death of the empress, he flew to Pavlovsk, about twenty-three miles from St Petersburg, where Paul occasionally resided; but meeting the grand duke on the road, he, after a short explanation, delivered up the important document. Paul, charmed with his zeal and loyalty, rewarded the favourite, by permitting him to retain the wealth and honours which had been heaped on him by his mistress, while a general and rapid dispersion soon took place among the other adherents of the late sovereign. On the day following the death of his mother, Paul made his public entry into St Petersburg, amidst the acclamations of all ranks of people.
One of the first measures adopted by the new emperor excited considerable surprise, and divided the opinions of the public with respect to the motives by which it had been suggested; some attributing it to his respect for the memory of his late father, and others to a culpable reflection on that of his mother. He ordered the corpse of Peter III. to be removed from the sepulchre in which it had been deposited in the church of St Alexander Nevsky, solemnly crowned it, and caused it to lie in state for three weeks, while it was watched day and night by the only two remaining conspirators who had assisted at his assassination. After this dreadful mark of his justice on the murderers of his father, surely more terrible to the guilty mind than death itself, he consigned the ashes to the sepulchre of Catherine II. in the cathedral of St Peter and St Paul, obliging the assassins to walk in the procession as chief mourners.
Few political events of any importance marked the reign of Paul previously to the year 1798, when, in consequence of a treaty between him and the emperor of Germany, a Russian army of forty-five thousand men, under Field-Marshal Suwaroff, joined the imperialists in the Austrian territories in Italy. The progress of Suwaroff, his successes over Moreau, and his final recall by his master, have already been related in the article FRANCE.
In 1799, Paul entered into a treaty of offensive and defensive alliance with his Britannic majesty. This treaty was signed at St Petersburg on the 22d of June, having
been preceded by a provisional treaty between the same powers at the end of the year 1798. By the latter, which was fortified by a relative treaty with Austria, it had been stipulated that Paul should assist the king of Prussia, if the latter could be persuaded to join his arms to the allied powers against France, with forty-five thousand men, and that the king of Great Britain should pay to Russia a subsidy of L.75,000 sterling per month; and in case the king of Prussia should refuse to join the coalition, the same number of troops, in consideration of the same subsidy, should be employed, as occasion might require, to assist the common cause. By the new treaty, the emperor of Russia, instead of the forty-five thousand troops, engaged to furnish seventeen thousand five hundred and ninety-three, with the necessary artillery, to be employed in an expedition against Holland; and six ships, five frigates, and two transports, for the purpose of transporting part of the invading army from Britain to the continent. In consideration of these succours, the court of London engaged to advance to Russia a subsidy of L.44,000 sterling per month; to pay the sum of L.58,929. 10s. sterling for the expenses of equipping the fleet; and after the period of three months had elapsed from such equipment, to pay a further subsidy of L.19,642. 10s. sterling per month, as long as the fleet should remain under the command of his Britannic majesty.
In consequence of this treaty, a Russian fleet joined that of Britain in Yarmouth Roads, and took part in the unfortunate expedition to the coast of Holland, which was undertaken in the summer of 1799. The military fame of Russia was more augmented by the share which its army under Suwaroff took in the campaign of Italy during the same year, although the victories which won for the veteran his name of Italinski were far more than overbalanced by the misfortunes which ensued in Switzerland under the emperor's favourite Korsakoff. But in December 1800, Paul, after having laid an embargo on the British shipping which lay in his ports, openly abandoned his relations with our country, and proclaimed, in confederacy with Sweden and Denmark, to whom Prussia afterwards added herself, the great Northern Coalition with France against Great Britain.
In the beginning of the year 1801, all Europe was astonished or amused by a paragraph which appeared in the Hamburg Gazette of the 16th of January. It was dated from Petersburg, the 30th December 1800, and is as follows.
"We learn from Petersburg, that the emperor of Russia, finding that the powers of Europe cannot agree among themselves, and being desirous to put an end to a war which has desolated it for eleven years past, intends to point out a spot to which he will invite all the other sovereigns, to repair and fight in single combat; bringing with them, as seconds and squires, their most enlightened ministers and their most able generals, such as Messrs Thugot, Pitt, and Bernstorff; and that the emperor himself proposes being attended by Generals Count de Pahlen and Khutosof. We know not if this report be worthy of credit; however, the thing appears not destitute of some foundation, and bears strong marks of what he has been often taxed with."
This paragraph was immediately copied or translated into all the public papers, and it was strongly affirmed by many that it was the composition of Paul himself. This has since been confirmed by the poet Kotzebue, who was employed by the emperor of Russia to translate the original into German, for the express purpose of its being inserted in the Hamburg Gazette.1
1 This paragraph is such a curious morsel of witty insanity, that we shall here give the original French, as written by Paul himself, and published by Kotzebue in his account of his exile into Siberia. "On apprend de Petersburg, que l'Empereur de Russie, voyant que les puissances de l'Europe ne pouvoient s'accorder entr'elles, et voulant mettre fin à une guerre qui a désolé depuis onze ans, vouloit proposer un lieu où il inviteroit tous les autres Souverains, de se rendre et y combattre en champ clos, ayant avec eux pour évaluateurs juges de camp et héros des armes leurs ministres les plus éclairés et les généraux les plus habiles, tels que MM. Thugot, Pitt, Bernstorff; lui-même se proposant de prendre avec lui les généraux C. de Pahlen et Khutosof. On ne sait si on doit y ajouter foi; toutefois, la chose ne paroît pas destituée de fondement, en portant l'impression de ce dont il a souvent été taxé."
History.
Other
marks of
the em-
peror's de-
rangement.
This was not the only mark of mental derangement displayed by the unhappy monarch. The army, which formed his favourite employment, was tormented by incessant caprices affecting its discipline; and the press, the native Russians, and the resident foreigners, suffered tyrannical and unaccountable restrictions. His favours and his displeasure were alternately experienced by some of his most distinguished courtiers and adherents. Stanislas, the deposed king of Poland, partook by turns of his beneficence and his severity; and at length, on the death of that monarch, Paul assisted at his funeral, commanded in person the guards that attended on the ceremony, and uncovering himself with the utmost emotion, saluted the coffin as it passed. To the memory of the aged Suwaroff, who is said to have fallen a broken-hearted victim to the distraction of his imperial master, he raised a colossal statue of bronze; and on the days when he reviewed his troops in the square where the figure had been erected, he used to command them to march by in open order, and face the monument. Notwithstanding the important service that had been rendered him by Zuboff, the emperor soon became disgusted with him; spoke of him to his friends with great asperity; at length denounced him as a defaulter to the imperial treasury of half a million of roubles; and, convinced of the justice of the allegation, proceeded to sequester the vast estates which belonged to him and his two brothers. Driven to desperation by such conduct, the second brother of the favourite one day walked up boldly to the emperor upon the parade, and with manly eloquence represented the injustice of his measures. Paul received him without anger, heard him without interruption, and restored the property; but soon afterwards he ordered Plato Zuboff to reside on his estate, though he again restored him to favour.
Conspiracy
formed
against the
emperor.
It is not surprising that these instances of folly and caprice should alarm and disgust many of the nobles. In particular, Count Pahlen, the governor of St. Petersburg, with some other men of rank, entered into a confederacy with Zuboff and his brothers for removing the emperor. In their conferences, which were managed with great prudence and discretion, it was resolved that Paul should die, and that the day of the festival called Maslaintza, the 11th of March O. S. 1801, should be the day for executing the awful deed. At the time of this plot, the emperor and his family resided in the new palace of St. Michael, an enormous quadrangular pile standing at the bottom of the summer gardens. Paul being anxious to inhabit this palace soon after he was crowned, the masons, carpenters, and various artificers, toiled with incredible labour, by day and by torch-light, under the sultry sun of the summer, and in all the severity of a polar winter; and in three years this enormous and magnificent fabric was completed. The whole is moated round; and when the stranger surveys its bastions of granite, and numerous draw-bridges, he is naturally led to conclude that it was intended for the last asylum of a prince at war with his subjects. Those who have seen its massive walls, and the capaciousness and variety of its chambers, will easily admit that an act of violence might be committed in one room, and not be heard by those who occupy the adjoining one; and that a massacre might be perpetrated at one end, and not known at the other. Paul took possession of this palace as a place of strength, and beheld it with rapture, because his imperial mother had never even seen it. While his family were here, by every act of tenderness endeavouring to soothe the terrible perturbation of his mind, there were not wanting those who exerted every stratagem to inflame and increase it. These people were constantly insinuating that every hand was armed against him. With this impression, which added fuel to his burning brain, he ordered a secret staircase to be constructed, which, leading from his own
chamber, passed under a false store in the anti-room, and led by a small door to the terrace.
It was the custom of the emperor to sleep in an apartment next to the empress's, upon a sofa, in his regimentals and boots, whilst the grand duke and duchess, and the rest of the imperial family, were lodged at various distances, in apartments below the story which he occupied. On the 10th March, the day preceding the fatal night, whether Paul's apprehension, or anonymous information, suggested the idea, is not known; but conceiving that a storm was ready to burst upon him, he sent for Count Pahlen: "I am informed," said the emperor, "that there is a conspiracy on foot against me; do you think it necessary to take any precaution?" The count, without betraying the least emotion, replied, "Sire, do not suffer such apprehensions to haunt your mind; if there were any combinations forming against your majesty's person, I am sure I should be acquainted with it." "Then I am satisfied," said the emperor; and the governor withdrew. Before Paul retired to rest, he, beyond his usual custom, expressed the most tender solicitude for the empress and his children, kissed them with all the warmth of farewell fondness, and remained with them for a considerable time. He afterwards visited the sentinels at their different posts, and then retired to his chamber. Soon after the emperor had retired, the guard that was always placed at his chamber door was, on some pretext, changed by the officers who had the command for the night, and who were engaged in the conspiracy. One man only remained. This was a hussar whom the emperor had honoured with particular marks of attention, and who always slept at night in the antechamber, at his sovereign's bed-room door. This faithful soldier it was found impossible to remove, except by force, which at that time the conspirators did not think proper to employ. Silence now reigned throughout the palace, disturbed only by the pacing of the sentinels, or by the distant murmurs of the Neva; and only a few straggling lights were to be seen, irregularly gleaming through the windows of the palace. In the dead of the night, Zuboff and his friends, amounting to eight or nine persons, passed the draw-bridge, ascended the staircase that led to the emperor's apartments, and met with no opposition till they reached the antechamber, where the faithful hussar, awakened by the noise, challenged them, and presented his fusée. Though they must have admired the brave fidelity of the guard, neither time nor circumstances would admit of an act of generosity which might have endangered their whole plan of operations. Zuboff therefore drew his sabre, and cut the poor fellow down. In the mean time, Paul, roused by the unusual bustle, sprang from his couch. At this moment the whole party rushed into his chamber. The unhappy sovereign, anticipating their design, at first endeavoured to intrench himself behind the chairs and tables; but soon recovering some share of his natural courage, he assumed a high tone, told them they were his prisoners, and required them to surrender. Finding that they fixed their eyes steadily and fiercely upon him, and continued to advance, he implored them to spare his life, declared his willingness instantly to relinquish the sceptre, and to accept of any terms which they might dictate. He even offered to make them princes, and to confer on them orders and estates. Regardless alike of his threats and promises, they now began to press on him, when he made a convulsive effort to reach the window, but failed in the attempt; and, indeed, had he succeeded in his endeavour to escape that way, the height from the window to the ground was so great, that the expedient would probably have only put a more speedy period to his existence. As the conspirators drew him back, he grasped a chair, with which he knocked down one of the assailants, and a desperate conflict now took place. So great was the noise, that notwithstanding the massive walls and double folding
History. doors that divided Paul's apartments from those of the empress, she was disturbed, and began to call for help, when a voice whispered in her ear, commanding her to remain quiet, and threatening that if she uttered another word she should instantly be put to death.
Paul was now making his last struggle, when one of the party struck him on the temple with his fist, and laid him prostrate on the floor. Recovering from the blow, the unhappy monarch again implored his life. At this moment the heart of one of the conspirators relented, and he was observed to hesitate and tremble, when a young Hanoverian who was present exclaimed, we have passed the Rubicon; if we spare his life, we shall, before the setting of to-morrow's sun, become his victims; on saying which he took off his sash, turned it twice round the naked neck of the emperor, and giving one end to Zuboff, he himself drew the other, till the object of their attack expired.
Accession of Alexander. The Emperor Alexander, Paul's eldest son, was in his twenty-fourth year when he ascended the throne, and from his amiable disposition had acquired the love and respect of all his subjects. The first measure which he adopted, his proclamation, and his first imperial orders, all tended to encourage and confirm the confidence with which the people beheld him ascend the throne of his forefathers. He solemnly promised to tread in the steps of Catherine II.; he allowed every one to dress according to his own fancy; he exonerated the inhabitants of the capital from the trouble and duty of alighting from their carriages on the approach of the imperial family; he dismissed the court advocate, who was universally and justly detested; he suppressed the secret inquisition, that had become the scourge of the country; he restored to the senate its former authority, set at liberty the state prisoners, and recalled from Siberia several of the exiles. He even extended his mercy to the assassins of the late emperor. Zuboff was ordered not to approach the imperial residence, and the governor of the city was transferred to Riga.
It is not easy to explain the motives that induced Alexander to forego that vengeance which justice seemed to demand on the heads of his father's assassins. It has been attributed by one of his panegyrist to a forlorn and melancholy conviction that the murderers had been prompted to commit the bloody deed solely by a regard for the salvation of the empire. This conviction might have induced the young monarch to diminish the weight of the punishment which piety and justice called on him to inflict, but can scarcely account for his total forbearance.
Alexander, on his accession to the throne, appeared desirous to cultivate the friendship of the neighbouring states, and especially that of Great Britain. His late father, among other projects, had procured himself to be elected grand-master of the knights of Malta, and had laid claim to the sovereignty of that island. This claim, which had nearly produced a rupture between the courts of London and St Petersburg, Alexander consented to abandon, though he expressed a wish to be elected grand-master of the order, by the free suffrages of the knights. A confederacy, as we have seen, had been formed among the northern powers of Europe, with a view to oppose the British claim to the sovereignty of the seas; but by the spirited interference of the British court, especially with the cabinet of St Petersburg, the good understanding between Britain and the northern states was re-established, and the embargo which had been laid on British vessels in the Russian ports was taken off. Alexander, however, earnestly desired to maintain peaceful relations with France; and expressed this wish, both in public manifestos, and in private communications addressed to the First Consul.
Early in the same year there was signed at St Petersburg a treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation, between Russia and Sweden, to continue for twelve years, by which Sweden was allowed to import into Russia, alum,
salt herrings, and salt, on the payment of one half of the duties then exacted, and into Russian Finland the produce of Swedish Finland duty free; while the importation of Russia into Sweden, of hemp, linen, and tallow, was allowed at one half of the existing duties, and of linseed at two thirds. The most remarkable part of this treaty was the recognition, by the court of St Petersburg, of the northern confederacy, which the amicable adjustment with Britain appeared to have done away. The commerce of Russia had now recovered its former splendour. The exports from the city of Riga alone, for the year ending July 1801, amounted to L.1,043,806, and of these exports England alone imported to the value of L.386,935.
On the 25th of March 1802 was signed at Amiens the definitive treaty of peace between the belligerent powers of Russia and Europe, by one material article of which the islands of Malta, Gozo, and Comino, were to be restored to the knights of St John of Jerusalem, under the protection and guarantee of France, Great Britain, Austria, Spain, Russia, and Prussia; and his Sicilian majesty was invited to furnish two thousand men, natives of his states, to serve in garrisons at the different fortresses of the said islands, for one year after their restitution to the knights, or until they should be replaced by a force deemed sufficient by the guaranteeing powers. Some time after the conclusion of this treaty, disputes arose among the contracting powers relative to the sovereignty of Malta, which the emperor of Russia insisted should be yielded to Naples, otherwise he would not undertake to guarantee the order, and would separate from it the priories of Russia. The result of these disputes is well known, as they afforded a reason for renewing the bloody contest which so long desolated Europe.
During the short interval of peace, the emperor of Russia made several prudent regulations in the internal administration of his empire. On the 12th of September 1801, a manifesto had been published, proclaiming the union of Georgia, or Russian Grusia, with the empire; and on the 1st of April 1802, Alexander sent a deputation to establish the new government at Teflis, the capital of the province. On the 28th of May the emperor wrote a letter to the chamberlain Wittostoff, president of the commission for ameliorating the condition of the poor of St Petersburg, in which he recommended to the commission to follow the example of a similar establishment at Hamburg, in selecting proper objects for their charitable bequests, preferring the humble and industrious pauper to the idle and sturdy beggar. He also offered considerable premiums to persons who should introduce any new or advantageous mode of agriculture, or who should bring to perfection any old invention, open any new branch of commerce, establish any new manufacture, or contrive any machine or process that might be useful in the arts.
Early in the year 1803, the emperor fitted out, at his own expense, two vessels for a voyage of discovery round the world, under the command of Captain Krusenstern. These ships were provided with every necessary for accomplishing the object of the voyage; and several men of eminence for science and literature, among whom was Churchman the American astronomer, volunteered their services on this occasion.
In the beginning of 1804 the emperor established a university at Kharkof, in Lithuania, for the cultivation and diffusion of the arts and sciences in that part of the Russian empire; and Mr Fletcher Campbell, a Scotch gentleman, was employed to procure masters for this new institution. Some time after, the emperor ordered that meteorological observations should be regularly made at all the universities and public schools, and the results published. It appears that at the end of this year the sums allotted by the Russian government for defraying the expenses of these institutions amounted to L.331,337, besides a gift of nearly L.9250 towards erecting the new university.
History.
Emancipation of the Jews in Russia.
Dispute with France.
An. 1805.
Treaty of concert between Great Britain and Russia.
About this time an imperial ukase was published, granting to the Jews a complete emancipation from the shackles under which that devoted people had long groaned, and allowing them the privileges of educating their children in any of the schools and universities of the empire, or establishing schools at their own expense.
For some time the genius of discord, which had again actuated the minds of the European sovereigns, failed to extend her baleful influence over the Russian empire; but it was scarcely possible that the emperor should long remain an impartial spectator of the renewed disputes between his more powerful neighbours. An important change had, in the latter end of 1802, taken place in the ministry of the empire; and Count Worontzoff, brother of the late ambassador at London, had been appointed great chancellor-in-chief of the department of foreign affairs, with Prince Adam Czartoryski for his assistant. How far this change in the councils of the empire influenced the political measures of the court of St Petersburg, it is not easy to determine; but in the latter end of 1803, Alexander appeared to view with a jealous eye the presumption and violence exercised by France among the German states, and the encroachments which she appeared desirous of making on the freedom of the Baltic. Alexander had offered his mediation between Great Britain and France, but without effect; and both these parties strove to bring over the Russian emperor to their alliance. France seems to have held out to the ambition of Alexander the bait of a partition of the Turkish territories, the dismemberment of which had long been a favourite object with his predecessors. At length, however, the court of London prevailed, and the Russian ambassador, by his master's orders, took leave of the First Consul of the French republic, though without demonstrating any intentions of immediate hostility. A new levy of a hundred thousand men was immediately ordered, to recruit the Russian army; and, to prevent any jealousy on the side of Turkey, assurances were given to the Sublime Porte of the amicable intentions of Russia towards that power.
On the 11th of April 1805 a treaty of concert was concluded between Great Britain and Russia, in which the two governments agreed to adopt the most efficacious means for forming a general league of the states of Europe, to be directed against the power of France. From the terms of the treaty, its objects appear to have been, first, the evacuation of the country of Hanover and the north of Germany; secondly, the establishment of the independence of the republics of Holland and Switzerland; thirdly, the re-establishment of the king of Sardinia in Piedmont; fourthly, the future security of the kingdom of Naples, and the complete evacuation of Italy, the island of Elba included, by the French forces; fifthly, the establishment of an order of things in Europe, which might effectually guarantee the security and independence of the different states, and present a solid barrier against future usurpation.
For the prosecution of the great objects of this treaty, it was proposed by the first article that an army of five hundred thousand men should be levied; but in a subsequent separate article, the contracting parties, after observing that it was more desirable than easy to assemble so large a force, agreed that the treaty should be carried into execution as soon as it should be possible to oppose to France an active force of four hundred thousand men. It was understood and stipulated that these troops should be provided by the powers of the continent who should become parties to the league, and subsidies should be granted by Great Britain in the proportion of L.1,250,000 sterling for every hundred thousand men, besides a considerable additional sum for the necessary expense occasioned in bringing them into the field.
About this time the occupation of Genoa by the French,
on the pretence that that republic was too feeble to support itself against the attacks of Great Britain, was communicated to the different courts of Europe, and excited in every quarter the highest indignation. The Emperor Alexander, in particular, was incensed at this new outrage. Such an open violation of those principles which were justly regarded as essential to the general safety, committed not only during the peace of the continent, but when passports had been delivered to his ambassador, in order that a negotiation might be commenced for the purpose of providing for the permanent security and repose of Europe, he considered as an indecent insult to his person and crown. He issued immediate orders for the recall of M. Novosiltzoff; and the messenger despatched upon this occasion was commanded to repair with the utmost diligence to Berlin. M. Novosiltzoff had not yet left that city; he immediately therefore returned his passports to the Prussian minister of state, Baron de Hardenberg, and at the same time delivered, by order of his court, a spirited memorial explanatory of the object of his mission, and of the circumstances which had led to its termination.
The recall of the Russian envoy appeared to be the signal of hostilities on the part of Russia and Austria against France. These hostilities may be said to have commenced and terminated in the autumn of this year. The military operations that distinguished this short but bloody conflict, the rapid successes of the French, the capitulation of Ulm on the 17th of October, the occupation of Vienna by the French on the 12th of the same month, and the sanguinary battle of Austerlitz on the 27th of November, have been already noticed under the head of FRANCE. The consequences of these disastrous events were, first a cessation of hostilities, and at length a treaty of firm alliance between France and Russia. (See FRANCE.)
But before Alexander finally stooped to the imperial eagles of Napoleon, he was determined to make one more effort to preserve his independence. The Russian envoy at Paris, D'Oubril, had hastily concluded a preliminary treaty of peace between his master and the emperor of the French, which he signed at Paris on the 8th of July 1806, and instantly set out for St Petersburg to procure the ratification of his master. When the terms of this convention were laid before the privy council by Alexander, they appeared so derogatory to the interests of Russia, that the emperor refused them his sanction, and declared that the counsellor of state, D'Oubril, when he signed the convention, had not only departed from the instructions he had received, but had acted directly contrary to the sense and intention of the commission with which he had been intrusted. His imperial majesty, however, signified his willingness to renew the negotiations for peace, but only on such terms as were consistent with the dignity of his crown and the interests of his empire.
In the mean time the king of Prussia began, when it was too late, to see the folly and imprudence of the neutrality which he had so long maintained, and he at length prepared to oppose his now feeble efforts to the growing power of France. He brought together in the summer of this year an army of at least two hundred thousand men, near Weimar and Jena, while the French myriads assembled in Franconia and on the frontiers of Saxony. Previously to the commencement of hostilities, his Prussian majesty issued a spirited manifesto, in which he explained his motives for abandoning his plan of neutrality, and appealed to Europe for the justice of his cause. He entered into an alliance with the Emperor Alexander, and with the king of Sweden; and it was expected that these united forces would at length hurl the tyrant of Europe from his throne, or at least compel him to listen to equitable terms of pacification. These expectations were, however, miserably disappointed. The same extraordinary success was still to attend the arms of France,
History. and the north of Europe was again condemned to submit in silence to her yoke.
On the 13th of October 1806, the Prussians received a dreadful check at the battle of Jena; and on the 27th of the same month Napoleon entered Berlin. While the French were thus successful, the troops of the Emperor Alexander occupied Prussian Poland, and took up their residence at Warsaw; but they were soon attacked by the French under Murat, who on the 28th entered Warsaw with his cavalry, on which the Russians retreated across the Vistula, burning the bridge over which they had passed. On the 26th of December, a dreadful engagement took place between the Russians commanded by General Benningsen, and the French under Generals Murat, Davoust, and Lannes. The scene of action was at Ostralenka, about sixty miles from Warsaw, and the fighting continued for three days. The loss was immense on both sides, though the advantage appears to have been on the side of the French. According to French accounts, the Russian army lost twelve thousand men in killed and wounded, together with eighty pieces of cannon, and all its ammunition wagons; while the Russian account states the loss of the French at five thousand men.
In the beginning of February 1807, the Russians obtained a partial advantage in the battle of Eylau. According to the account of this battle, given by General de Budberg in a despatch to the Marquis of Douglas, the British ambassador at St Petersburg, the Russian general Benningsen, after having fallen back for the purpose of choosing a position which he judged well adapted for manœuvring the troops under his command, drew up his army at Preussisch Eylau. During four days successively his rear-guard had to withstand several vigorous assaults; and on the 7th of February, at three o'clock in the afternoon, the battle became general throughout the whole line of the main army. The contest was destructive, and night came on before it could be decided. Early on the following morning the French renewed the attack, and the action was contested with obstinacy on both sides; but towards the evening of that day the assailants were repulsed, and the Russian general remained master of the field. In this action Napoleon commanded in person, having under him Augereau, Davoust, Soult, Ney, and Bessières at the head of the imperial guards. The loss of the Russians in that engagement was by themselves stated at above six thousand men, while they estimated that of the French, probably untruly, at nearly double that number.
This was the last important stand made by the Russian army. In May, Danzig, defended by eighteen thousand Russians and Prussians, surrendered to the French. Several actions succeeded at Spanden, at Lamitten, at Guttstadt, and at Heilsberg, in all of which the French had the advantage, till at length, on the 14th of June, the Russians appeared in considerable force upon the bridge of Friedland, whither the French army under Napoleon was advancing. At three in the morning the report of cannon was first heard, and at this time Marshals Lannes and Mortier were engaged with the Russians. After various manœuvres, the Russian troops received a check, and filed off towards Königsberg. In the afternoon the French army drew up in order of battle, having Marshal Ney on the right, Lannes in the centre, and Mortier on the left, while Victor commanded a corps de reserve, consisting of the guards. At half-past five the attack began on the side of Marshal Ney; and notwithstanding the different movements of the Russians to effect a diversion, the French soon carried all before them. The loss of the Russians, according to the usual exaggerations of the French bulletins, was estimated at from ten thousand to fifteen thousand men, and twenty-five of their generals were said to have been killed, wounded, or taken. In consequence of this victory the French became masters of all the
country round Königsberg, and Marshal Soult entered that city in triumph. Thus concluded the campaign in Germany, in which the Russians sustained a loss of at least thirty thousand of their choicest troops.
While these military operations were going forward on the continent of Europe, the emissaries of France were busily employed at Constantinople in exciting the divan to declare against their ancient enemies. They at length succeeded; for on the 30th of December 1806 war with Russia was proclaimed, and twenty-eight regiments of janissaries assembled under the command of the grand vizir. But the disturbances which broke out in the latter end of May 1807 prevented any operations of importance from taking place; and the pacification which was soon concluded between Russia and France, though it did not entirely put a stop to the war between the former power and Turkey, in some measure diminished their hostile preparations.
The defeats which the allied armies had sustained in Prussia and Poland rendered peace, on almost any terms, a desirable object; and Alexander found himself constrained to meet, at least with the appearance of friendship, the conqueror of his armies. Propositions for an armistice had been made by the Prussian general to Murat near Tilsit, and after the battle of Friedland the Russian prince Labanoff had a conference, on similar views, with the prince of Neufchatel, soon after which an armistice was concluded between the French and Russians. On the 25th of June an amicable meeting took place on the river Niemen, between the emperors of France and Russia, and adjoining apartments were fitted up for the reception of both courts in the town of Tilsit. This politic friendship was soon after cemented by the treaty of Tilsit, concluded between the emperor of the French on the one part, and the emperor of Russia and the king of Prussia (whom it despoiled of a fourth of his dominions) on the other, on the 7th and 12th of July in this year. Thenceforth, until Napoleon's star began to wane, Alexander was his firm partisan; and his faithlessness towards his former allies gave them no temptation to repose further confidence in him.
The conclusion of the treaty of Tilsit was notified to the court of London on the 1st of August; and at the same time a proposal was made from his imperial majesty for mediating a peace between France and Britain. This mediation, however, was declined on the part of Great Britain, until his Britannic majesty should be made acquainted with the stipulations of the treaty of Tilsit, and should find them such as might afford him a just hope of the attainment of a secure and honourable peace. This declining of the mediation of Russia was no doubt expected by the court of St Petersburg; but it served as a pretext for binding more closely the alliance between that power and France, by breaking off her connection with Great Britain. Accordingly, in October, Lord Granville Leveson Gower, who had succeeded the Marquis of Douglas as British envoy, received a note from the government, intimating that, as a British ambassador, he could no longer be received at the court of St Petersburg, which he therefore soon after quitted. An embargo was laid on all British vessels in the ports of Russia, and it was peremptorily required by Napoleon and Alexander that Sweden should abandon her alliance with Great Britain.
An additional ground of complaint against the British court was furnished by the attack on Copenhagen, and the seizure of the Danish fleet, in the beginning of September; and though Lord Gower had attempted to justify these measures on the plea of anticipating the French in the same transaction, the emperor of Russia expressed, in the warmest terms, his indignation at what he called an unjust attack on a neutral power. A considerable Russian fleet joined the French; but the combined squadrons were compelled to seek for shelter in the Tagus, where they remain-
History. ed blocked up by the British, till they were surrendered by the convention of Cintra; and another fleet of fifteen sail of the line that proceeded up the Mediterranean, and advanced as far as Trieste, shared a similar fate.
On the 26th of October the emperor of Russia published a declaration, notifying to the powers of Europe that he had broken off all communication between his empire and Great Britain, until the conclusion of a peace between this power and France. In a counter-declaration, published at London on the 10th of December, his Britannic majesty repels the accusations of Russia, while he regrets the interruption of the friendly intercourse between that power and Britain. His majesty justifies his own conduct, and declares, that when the opportunity for peace between Great Britain and Russia shall arrive, he will embrace it with eagerness; satisfied if Russia shall manifest a disposition to return to her ancient feeling of friendship towards Great Britain, to a just consideration of her own true interests, and to a sense of her own dignity as an independent nation.
AN. 1808.
Renewed
negotia-
tions with
Britain.
In October 1808, a meeting took place at Erfurt between the emperors of France and Russia, and a letter was drawn up under their signature, addressed to his Britannic majesty. The object of this letter was, to induce the king of Great Britain to enter into negotiations for a general peace, and with that view it was despatched by Count Romanzoff, the Russian minister at Erfurt, to Mr Canning, the British secretary of state for foreign affairs. It was answered by an official note, requiring the emperors, as an indispensable condition of any treaty with Britain, to receive Sweden as a party, to protect the interests of Portugal and of the ex-king of Naples, and to extend the benefits of the projected arrangements to Ferdinand VII. of Spain. These requisitions were evidently quite inconsistent with Napoleon's views; the emperors refused to accede to them; and all hope of accommodation was in the mean time at an end.
War with
Sweden.
The demand of concurrence in the views of France and Russia made on Sweden was formally repeated in a declaration of the Emperor Alexander, published at St Petersburg on the 10th of February in this year. In this declaration his imperial majesty intimated to the king of Sweden that he was making preparations to invade his territories; but that he was ready to change the measures he was about to take, to measures of precaution only, if Sweden would, without delay, join Russia and Denmark in shutting the Baltic against Great Britain, until the conclusion of a maritime peace. He professed that nothing could be more painful to him, than to see a rupture take place between Sweden and Russia; but that his Swedish majesty had it still in his power to avoid this event, by resolving without delay to adopt that course which could alone preserve strict union and perfect harmony between the two states.
The king of Sweden, however, determined to abide by the measures which he had for some time pursued, and to adhere to the terms of the convention which had just been concluded between him and the king of Great Britain. In consequence of this determination, a Russian army entered Finland in the beginning of March, under the command of General Buxhovden, and advanced against Helsingfors, which was occupied by a single battalion of a Swedish regiment. This small force retired into the fortress of Sveaborg, where they maintained themselves with great bravery till the 17th of April, when they were obliged to capitulate. The loss of this fortress, though inconsiderable in itself, so highly enraged the king of Sweden, that he dismissed the naval and military commanders who had been concerned in the capitulation.
On the 27th of April, some slight advantage was gained over the Russians near Rivalax, by the Swedish army under General Count Klinspor; but this was only a partial gleam
of success. The Russians soon overran almost all Finland, took possession of Wasa, Old and New Carleby, and reduced under subjection the whole province of which Wasa is the capital. The army of Field-Marshal Klinspor, which originally consisted of sixteen thousand regulars, and many boors, was, by the end of the campaign, reduced to little more than nine thousand men.
The king of Sweden sent some reinforcements to his army in Finland; but the forces which should have supported Klinspor were foolishly employed in a fruitless attempt to conquer Norway; and in 1809 the Swedes were compelled to cede Finland to Russia.
Russia continued to appear in the unworthy character of Napoleon's ally; and when Austria made an effort in 1809 to recover her losses, a Russian army advanced to co-operate with the French. The diversion which this produced was one cause of the final success of Napoleon, whose situation after the battle of Aspern was extremely critical. When Austria was at last compelled to accept of peace on humiliating terms, Russia received as the reward of her services the district of Tarnopol in Galicia, with a population of four hundred thousand souls. This district was restored to Austria in 1815.
In 1811, hostilities commenced between Russia and the Porte. It is of little consequence to inquire into the causes of this rupture; a powerful and ambitious government in the neighbourhood of a weak one never wants pretexts for war. The result might have been serious, if not fatal to the Porte, had not the prospect of a more arduous struggle induced Russia to suspend her efforts in that quarter, and conclude a peace on condition of receiving a part of Moldavia and Bessarabia.
The great contest was now approaching which was to try the resources of Russia, and ultimately to raise her to unexampled greatness. The seizure by France of the territories of the Prince of Oldenburg, who was the emperor of Russia's brother-in-law, on the one hand, and the admission of British produce into the Russian harbours on the other, furnished the ostensible grounds of the quarrel. After some fruitless negotiations, Napoleon dismissed the Russian ambassador, and left Paris to join the army on the 9th of May 1812. The events of this disastrous expedition into Russia have been minutely related in the article FRANCE; and the reader does not require to be reminded of those lamentable sufferings of the French army, which were its principal result. The spirited resistance of Russia now roused Prussia and Austria; and early in 1813 a league was formed between these powers, to which Bavaria and other small states acceded. The battle of Leipsic, fought on the 18th of October, led to the final overthrow of the French domination. In all the transactions which followed, Russia bore a leading part. At the congress of Vienna in 1814, the duchy of Warsaw, consisting of part of the original conquests of Austria and Prussia in Poland, was assigned to Russia, which thus ultimately obtained about four fifths of the territory and three fourths of the population of that ancient kingdom.
In passing to the new system of foreign policy which has prevailed in Russia, as well as in the rest of Europe, since the year 1815, we must pause for a moment to remark the accessions of territory which the empire had made during the half century which preceded that epoch. The reign of Catherine II. had, as we have seen, been by far the most fertile in foreign acquisitions. Her conquests included the Crimea, which was an incorporated portion of Russia since 1783; Georgia, gained in 1785, though, as we have observed, not formally annexed till 1801; Bessarabia, with a part of Moldavia, and other Turkish possessions, finally secured to Russia by the treaty of Bukarescht in 1812; Courland, acquired in 1795; and the extensive spoils of Poland in 1793 and 1794. Paul's reign made no permanent addition of import-
History. ance, except some districts within the Persian frontier. Alexander's gave to Russia in the first years of the present century several of the tribes of the Caucasus; Finland in 1809; Daghestan and other large territories ceded by Persia in 1813; and in 1814, Napoleon's grand duchy of Warsaw, which was erected into a kingdom of Poland. The total population of these new Russian provinces cannot at the very least be estimated under fifteen millions, and probably exceeds that number.
Alexander's foreign policy after 1815. During the ten years of Alexander's reign which succeeded the peace, and ended with his death in 1825, he acquired no new territory as a substantive addition to his dominions, but occupied himself assiduously in that indirect augmentation of Russian influence on the states around the frontier, which had before his time formed, and has since continued to form, the first step in all the schemes of conquest projected by his ambitious nation. The objects of Alexander's foreign policy after 1815 were chiefly three; the suppression of constitutional, or, as they were called by preference, revolutionary movements, in the central and southern states of Europe; the weakening of Turkey, and the gradual reduction of that power into a state of dependence on the cabinet of St Petersburg, so as to pave the way for the Russians towards the sovereignty of the Levant; and the extension of the Russian influence in Persia and those adjacent states, which must form the stepping-stones by which the Muscovites will strive to pass, if they shall ever make the attempt, to the throne of British India. For the attainment of the first of these great ends, there was formed, under the guidance and by the suggestion of Alexander, that league of princes which has been named the Holy Alliance; a confederacy whose bitter fruits have been tasted in full measure by Italy and Spain, but whose conception is in one view an encouraging tribute to the growing enlightenment of the world, since it is the earliest instance in which despots, conspiring against truth and freedom, have condescended to speak the language of Christianity and peace. In reference to Turkey, the policy of Alexander aimed at gradually detaching the Porte from its friendly relations with Great Britain and other European powers, and insidiously advancing towards a position in which the sultan should find himself powerless against his neighbours and his own subjects, until Russia should stretch forth her protecting hand; but a check was administered to this train of diplomacy, and a peculiar relation introduced between the courts of Constantinople and St Petersburg, by the insurrection of Greece in 1821. To the founder and head of the Holy Alliance the Greeks must have appeared to be mere rebels, whom it was his duty as a neighbouring sovereign to assist in punishing; while to the watchful power which desired by every available means to weaken and circumscribe the power of Turkey, such an opportunity as the Greek revolution was unusually tempting, and indeed the sultan's ministers openly alleged that the disturbances had been fomented by Russian agents. The result of the rising in Greece has been related in our article on that country; and the other misunderstandings between Russia and Turkey, the principal of which related to the appointment of the hospodars in Wallachia and Moldavia, were not sufficient to disturb the diplomatic system which was resumed after the Greek question had been settled by the interposition of the other great European powers. The designs of the emperor on the side of India chiefly exhibited themselves in intrigues among the northern neighbours of our possessions in that country; and the system scarcely came to light till after Alexander's death.
Alexander's internal government. In the internal government of the empire, Alexander introduced many salutary changes, especially in the early part of his reign; but here, not less than in his foreign policy, the last ten years of his life exhibited a marked contrast to its earlier portion. The transition in his mind from a
History. love of liberal institutions to a distrust of every thing that seemed to threaten the stability of thrones, began almost with his alliance with Napoleon, but reached full maturity after that extraordinary man's fall. In the first year of his reign he abolished the literary censorship, and afterwards restored it with less absurd but not less severe rules than those of his father. He at one time patronized both the education of the young and the general dissemination of religious knowledge; but after the peace the missionary societies were suppressed, and very harsh measures adopted against the universities. In several particulars a better spirit prevailed. That tolerant disposition towards the various sects of Christianity, of which we have remarked more than one instance in passing, had already become systematic, and was never departed from. The emancipation of the peasants from their state of serfdom was long a favourite object with the emperor, who was able to attain it in Courland, Livonia, and one or two other provinces, and used openly to lament that private interests and prejudices had baffled his good intentions elsewhere. Another plan of his, which was connected with the scheme just mentioned, was that of the military colonies, of which Dr Lyall has published an interesting account. The advantages which this system promised to confer were these: the diminution of the expenses of the army in times of peace, and the easy training of a large agricultural population to the trade of war. For these purposes villages were built on the crown-estates along the western frontier of the empire, and in these, soon after the peace, formidable detachments of soldiers were settled with their families, and mixed among the boors who, belonging to the crown, had previously been the sole or the principal inhabitants of the districts. The whole male population of these new settlements was to occupy itself alternately in rural labour and military exercises; and while the troops who had already seen service were always in a position to take the field again, the boors were gradually to qualify themselves for acting as a corps de reserve, and for filling up vacancies. The plan excited considerable opposition; and although the obstacles were finally to appearance vanquished, and the colonies speedily mustered four hundred thousand fighting men, yet new difficulties arose after his death, and his successor at length abandoned the idea of extending the principle, or of making it permanent.
During the last few years of Alexander's life he appears Alexander's death to have been completely miserable. To family misfortunes, religious despondency, and disappointment in political schemes, was added the continual terror of conspiracies in the heart of the empire, which were said to have ramifications everywhere, and to aim at nothing less than a total revolution, and the assassination of the whole royal family. Those constant travels through the several Russian provinces in which Alexander was engaged for two or three years before his death, have been mainly attributed by some writers to his dread of poison or the dagger. In the course of one of these journeys he died at Taganrog, on the Sea of Azof, on the 1st day of December 1825.
Alexander's brother, the Grand Duke Constantine, whose Resignation conduct as governor of Poland has been described in our article on the history of that country, was immediately proclaimed emperor at St Petersburg; and whatever may have been the feelings of the Russians themselves, foreigners who were acquainted with the new sovereign by his general reputation, looked on his accession with pity for his subjects and alarm for the peace of Europe. But the danger had been foreseen and averted by Alexander and the rest of the family. Constantine had been induced to resign his claims to the crown by a formal deed executed in 1822. The senate, on opening the will of Alexander, found it to contain a nomination of his second brother, the Grand Duke Nicholas, as his successor in the empire. The act of resign-
nation was at the same time discovered, and in a few days there arrived from Warsaw a communication from Constantinople, in which he acknowledged the existence and validity of the deed, and anew waived his right of succession.
Accordingly Nicholas I. ascended the throne, announcing the event by a proclamation of the 23d of December 1825. The disturbance of the natural order of succession was seized by the discontented as a favourable pretext for insurrection; and the reign of the new emperor was opened by a military mutiny in St Petersburg, which, after having been suppressed with bloodshed, was followed by several executions, and many imprisonments and banishments to Siberia. Nicholas and his spouse, the princess-royal of Prussia, were crowned at Moscow in 1826, and at Warsaw in 1829. Scarcely had Nicholas ascended the throne when war was declared against Persia. It originated in a dispute respecting the boundaries between the two countries, and was continued till 1828, when the Persians were obliged to sue for peace. This was only granted them on condition of their yielding up the provinces of Erivan and Nakshivan, and paying about £3,000,000 sterling to account of the war. The peace of Turkmanchai was concluded in February 1828, and in May of the same year the war with Turkey broke out. In that month a Russian force of about 150,000 men, under the command of General Wittgenstein, crossed the Pruth at three different points, took possession of Jassy, Bucharest, and Galatz, and in a few weeks occupied the whole of the left bank of the Danube. It was resolved to cross the river at Braila; and in order to accomplish this, the army was formed into two divisions, one of which invested the town, while the other successfully crossed the river and continued its march southward. In the meantime, the siege of Braila continued, and after a series of sanguinary assaults the garrison capitulated. The besieging force then crossed the Danube, and in a short time all the Dobroudtscha was in the possession of the Russians. An attempt upon Shumla failed, though in the first instance directed by the czar in person. They were more successful, however, with Varna, which surrendered on 10th October, after a vigorous defence of more than two months. The utmost efforts were now made to reduce Silistria; but from the advanced state of the season, and the difficulties of the attempt, nothing of importance could be effected; and the Russians retired beyond the Danube to winter in Wallachia. Notwithstanding the success of this campaign, it had been attended with a great loss of life to the Russians. A number had fallen by the hand of the Turks, but many more fell by disease; so that of the number that crossed the Danube not more than one-half remained.
Meanwhile, in Asia operations had been carried on with equal vigour, and with even a greater measure of success, under General Paskievitch. His force consisted of about 21,000 infantry and 5500 cavalry. In the brief space of a week he invested and took Kars, one of the strongest and most formidable fortresses in Asia, obtaining thereby a large store of ammunition, a number of cannon, and 7000 prisoners. This was on the 15th of July; and Poti, a fortress on the east coast of the Black Sea, surrendered on the 26th. The general now resolved to attack the town and fortress of Akhalzik, a place strongly fortified both by nature and art, and defended by a garrison of 10,000 men. A battle was fought under the walls of the town on 4th September, when the Turkish army, though greatly inferior in numbers, fought with great bravery, but was defeated with much slaughter. The Russians now prosecuted the siege with vigour, and a breach was at length effected in the walls. The assault was made on the 7th of September, but such was the desperate valour of the Turks, that not till the city was reduced to a heap of ashes, and a great number of its defenders destroyed, could the survivors be
brought to capitulate. The surrender of Akhalzik was followed by that of other important fortresses in Asia before the close of the campaign of 1828.
Both sides now made vigorous exertions for the renewal of hostilities in the following spring. Troops were summoned from various parts of the Turkish empire, and the garrison of Shumla was augmented from 10,000 to 40,000. The Russian force was strengthened by an addition of 70,000, and the command entrusted to Count Diebitsch, an officer of high military attainments, General Wittgenstein having retired from active service. On the 10th of May 1829 the Russians again crossed the Danube, and immediately besieged Silistria, while General Kouprianoff was stationed with a force at Pravadi, a fortress on the east of Shumla, and important as lying in the line of communication between Silistria and Varna. Redschid Pasha, who had been appointed commander-in-chief, perceiving the position of the invading army, formed the design of attacking Pravadi and Varna, which would also have the effect of drawing off the troops from Silistria. He accordingly set out from Shumla at the head of 36,000 men, leaving only a small garrison behind him under Ibrahim Pasha, and advanced rapidly on Pravadi. General Diebitsch, however, on being informed of his design, instead of advancing to meet him at Pravadi resolved to cut off his communication with Shumla; and accordingly, leaving one of his generals to continue the siege, he hastened southward at the head of 20,000 men to put his design in execution, and sent word to General Roth at Varna to co-operate with him. He took up a favourable position near Koulevscha, a village between Pravadi and Shumla, scarcely 3 miles from the latter. His army was posted on the hills on each side of the road through which the Turkish army had to pass on their return to Shumla, and so concealed that only a very small portion of them were visible. Redschid, not knowing that Diebitsch had quitted Silistria, and believing that his opponents were only a portion of the army at Varna, did not hesitate to force his passage, sending a body of cavalry to disperse the enemy. He soon found out his mistake, for the Russian army rushing down upon them in a body, instantly put them to flight. Every attempt to bring them to a stand proved abortive, and Redschid himself escaped with difficulty. The artillery and baggage fell into the hands of the enemy; but the loss of men to the Turks was by no means so great as might have been expected, the killed, wounded, and prisoners amounting only to about 6500. Had Count Diebitsch immediately on this victory attacked Shumla, he would in all probability have taken it; but instead of this, he contented himself with some minor operations, till the grand vizier, with the scattered remains of his army, had thrown himself into the town. After the battle of Koulevscha, the siege of Silistria was carried on with redoubled vigour; and on the 30th of June the fortress surrendered, when the whole garrison, amounting to about 8000 men, were made prisoners of war. The fall of Silistria now determined the Russian general to cross the Balkan. Leaving, therefore, a body of troops before Shumla, he set out for Aidos on the 17th of July. The town of Sizeboli, on the other side of the Balkans, having one of the best and safest harbours on the western shores of the Black Sea, had been already seized by a naval coup de main to form a depot where the troops might refresh themselves for a short time after their arduous undertaking. The Russians crossed the Balkans without opposition, the Turks everywhere fleeing before them. Towards the end of July, when General Rudiger, with his division, was advancing on Aidos, a body of 10,000 or 12,000 men were sent out to attack him, but as soon as their skirmishers were beaten back, the Turks fled in precipitation, passing through the town, which they left to the enemy without firing a shot. Here the Russians obtained
History. an immense booty of ammunition and military stores. After this it is not to be wondered at that the Russians soon found themselves within sight of Adrianople. During their progress they had scarcely met with an appearance of opposition, whereas had only a feeble stand been made at some of the Balkan passes, or even afterwards, it would have been impossible for the Russians to have advanced. Yea, even had they been harassed by small parties of the enemy during their march, they could not have ventured to Adrianople. As it was, they were now unable to attempt any active operations. Their force, originally small, was now weakened by sickness and fatigue, while hundreds of them were dying daily. Diebitsch, however, carefully concealed his real condition from the Turks, and by acting on their fear and ignorance he was able to obtain terms of peace as a conqueror.
In the meantime, General Paskievitch was following up his brilliant successes in the Asiatic portion of the sultan's dominions. One of the first operations of the Turkish army was an attempt to recover the fortress of Akhalzik, which, notwithstanding the valour displayed by the sultan's forces, was in vain. General Paskievitch anticipated every movement, and defeated every attack. On the 1st of July, anticipating the junction of the seraskier of Erzeroum with Haski Pasha in the valley of Zevine, he marched first against the former, whom he put to flight, and on the next day defeated the latter, whom he made prisoner. In these two actions the Russians took about 1500 prisoners, with a large quantity of artillery, ammunition, and provisions. Paskievitch now pushed on with all possible rapidity to Erzeroum; and on the 5th of July took the strong fortress of Hassan Kale, the key of that capital. After a feeble resistance, Erzeroum surrendered on the 9th of July, and in it was found 150 cannon, and large magazines of ammunition and provisions. The seraskier himself and four of his pashas were made prisoners. The Russian commander next directed his movements towards Trebizond, and on the 19th of July took Baibout, a fortified town on the road to Trebizond. The pasha of Trebizond having collected a body of troops, set out to attack the Russians; and General Bursov, who commanded in Baibout, marched out to meet him, and attacked him on the 30th July near the village of Chart. The Russians being greatly inferior in numbers, were repulsed with the loss of their commander. On learning of this reverse, Count Paskievitch brought up the main body of his army and attacked the Turkish camp on the 8th of August. A series of severe engagements took place on that and the following day, which terminated in the Russians carrying the entrenched camp of the enemy, who fell back in confusion upon Trebizond. It was at this stage of his victorious course that Paskievitch received intelligence that the war was at an end.
Treaty of Adrianople. The celebrated treaty of Adrianople, which concluded the war of 1828-9, was signed 14th September 1829, and contained sixteen distinct articles, the substance of which was as follows:—The principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, and all the conquered places in Bulgaria and Roumelia were to be restored to the Porte, with the exception of the islands at the mouth of the Danube, which were to remain in possession of Russia, the Pruth continuing to form the boundary of the two empires, from the point where that river touches the territory of Moldavia to its mouth in the Danube, and thence the boundary-line was to be the Danube and its southernmost mouth, St George. In Asia the boundary between the two countries was to be the line which, following the present boundary of the province of Gouriel from the Black Sea, ascends to that of Imeritia, and thence in the most direct line to the point where the frontiers of the pashalies of Akhalzik and of Kars unite with those of Georgia, Russia thus acquiring that portion
History. of the coast of the Black Sea lying between the mouth of the Kouban and the port of St Nicholas inclusively, comprising a considerable extent of country, and the forts of Anapa, Akhalzik, and others. The principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia were to enjoy the free exercise of their worship, perfect security, an independent national government, and full liberty of commerce; and the conditions of previous treaties were to be implemented regarding Servia. Russian subjects should enjoy throughout Turkey, as well by land as by sea, the full and entire freedom of trade guaranteed to them by previous treaties; and were to be under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Russian ministers and consuls. Russian ships were not to be subjected to any search by the Turks either at sea or in port. The trade and navigation of the Black Sea were to be impeded in no manner, and the passage of the Strait of Constantinople and of the Dardanelles was declared to be entirely free and open to all Russian vessels, and to all vessels trading with Russia belonging to powers at peace with the Porte. An indemnity of £750,000 was to be paid to the Russian government for losses incurred at various times by Russian merchants and others. The Russian government was also to receive a sum of money, the amount of which was to be afterwards fixed, as indemnification for the expenses of the war. Russia was not to evacuate the territories of which she had taken possession till the articles relative to the European and Asiatic boundaries, and the privileges of Wallachia, Moldavia, and Servia, "could be considered as fulfilled," and until the complete evacuation of the territories occupied by the Russian troops; the administration and the order of things established under the influence of the court of Russia was to be maintained, and the Porte was bound not to interfere with them in any manner. To this treaty two separate acts were annexed, explanatory of some of its most important conditions, which were much harder upon Turkey, and betrayed a much more grasping and insidious disposition on the part of Russia than the treaty itself. One of these related to the amount of the indemnification to be paid to Russia, and which was now fixed at the exorbitant sum of £5,000,000 sterling, to be paid in ten equal annual instalments of half-a-million each. The smaller sum of £750,000 was to be paid in four separate instalments: the sum of £50,000 upon the ratification of the treaty, £200,000 within six months, £250,000 in the six months following, and the last instalment of £250,000 in the next six months. Within the space of one month after payment of the first instalment the Russians were to evacuate Adrianople; within a month after the second payment they were to retreat across the Balkans; on the third payment they were to cross the Danube, but they were to retain possession of Moldavia, Wallachia, and Silistria, till the balance of this as well as the whole of the other sum of £5,000,000 were paid. Thus the possession of the Principalities was secured to her for at least ten years, and the treaty had already provided that while she remained in possession the order of things established by her could not be interfered with. By the other supplementary article alterations of great importance, and permanent in their nature, were introduced into the administration of the Principalities themselves. The hospodars were to be elected for life instead of for seven years as previously. They were to govern within their respective principalities as they and their divans might think proper, without being interfered with in any manner by the Porte or any of its officers. The Turkish government relinquished all claim to those contributions in kind which it had hitherto received from the Principalities; and as an indemnification for this sacrifice, it was to be allowed an annual sum of money, the amount of which was to be afterwards determined, but which, as well as the regular tribute, was not to commence until two years after the
History. total evacuation of the Principalities by the Russian troops. Further, the Porte was to surrender everything on the left bank of the Danube to the Principalities,—cities, fortresses, and lands; not a single Mussulman being allowed to reside there, and such as already possessed soil there were required to dispose of it within the space of eighteen months. The manifest object of these articles was to weaken the power of the Porte over these principalities, and to pave the way for their annexation to Russia.
Polish insurrection. Nicholas was crowned at Warsaw on the 24th of May 1829; and on the 29th of November 1830 the Polish insurrection broke out, an account of which has already been given. (See POLAND.) The Poles stood unaided and alone, and displayed bravery worthy of any age or country. General Diebitsch perished in the struggle, the victim of disease, chagrin, and fatigue, and was succeeded in the command by Paskievitch. The war was brought to an end by the celebrated battle of Warsaw, fought on the 5th, 6th, and 7th of September 1831. The Poles submitted; and fearful was the vengeance taken by Nicholas upon his prostrate foe. Every species of punishment was inflicted upon the vanquished, and neither property nor the ties of family were respected. Siberia, the Caucasus, and the army were the lot of multitudes of these unhappy beings, and every attempt was made to destroy every sentiment or vestige of nationality. The Russian division of governments was substituted for the Polish division of palatinates, the Russian weights and measures for those of Poland, and the old Julian calendar for the modern one. It was further attempted to banish the Polish language out of the country by commanding the use of the Russian language in the schools, and forbidding the youth to speak in their own native tongue, suppressing its use in the different administrations, and dismissing those functionaries who were unacquainted with Russian.
Caucasian struggle. The territory ceded to Russia by the treaty of Adrianople included the Caucasus, a mountainous region inhabited by several independent races who owed no allegiance to the sultan, and who therefore refused to acknowledge the supremacy of Russia. Nicholas at first endeavoured to gain over the chiefs of the various tribes by means of military appointments, decorations, and pensions, but these being ineffectual, he at length had recourse to arms. The two tribes who have come most prominently forward in this struggle are the Lesghians and the Circassians; and though the contest has been going on with little intermission for nearly thirty years, at an enormous expense of men and money, the Russians have yet been able to effect little of permanent advantage. (See CAUCASUS, and CIRCASSIA.)
Farther treaties. The revolt of the Pasha of Egypt, and the series of successes that attended the advance of his son Ibrahim Pasha, rendered it necessary for the sultan to apply for aid to his old enemy the czar. This was readily granted; and on peace being established, the treaty of Unkiar-Skelessi was entered into between the sultan and the Emperor of Russia. This treaty, which was signed at Constantinople on the 8th of July 1833, purported to be a defensive alliance between the two contracting powers; but its real import was expressed in a separate and secret article, which provided that, as the Emperor of Russia was willing to spare his ally the expense and inconvenience of affording him military aid, "the Sublime Ottoman Porte, in place of the aid which it is bound to furnish in case of need, according to the principle of reciprocity of the patent treaty, shall confine its action in favour of the imperial court of Russia to closing the Strait of the Dardanelles; that is to say, to not allowing any foreign vessels of war to enter therein under any pretext whatsoever." In 1834 another treaty was entered into between these two powers, by which the sultan ceded to the czar an extensive district in Asia, in consideration of which the czar relinquished his right to three-fourths of
what remained to be paid of the indemnities fixed by the treaty of Adrianople, and agreed to leave the Principalities as soon as hospodars shall be chosen, the Sublime Porte formally recognising the regulations made, while the Russian troops occupied these provinces, by the principal inhabitants for their internal administration. In addition to these stipulations, the free passage of the Dardanelles was permitted to Russian ships. Silistria, however, still remained in the hands of Russia; and it was not till 1836, when it was agreed that it should be given up upon payment of one-half of the balance still remaining due to the czar, that the Turks obtained possession of this important fortress.
The peace between the Sultan and the Pasha of Egypt was not of long duration, and the war broke out afresh in 1839. (See TURKEY.) At length England and France interfered in behalf of the Sultan; and on the 27th of July 1839 a note was signed, by which the Ottoman empire was placed under the common safeguard of the five great European powers,—England, France, Prussia, Russia, and Austria, instead of exclusively under the protectorate of Russia. This was followed by a convention, signed at London on the 15th of July 1840, for "maintaining the integrity and independence of the Ottoman empire, as a security for the peace of Europe." The allies bound themselves to unite their efforts in order to bring about peace; and the Sultan, on his part, declared it to be his firm resolution to adhere to the ancient rule of the Ottoman empire, which prohibited ships of war of foreign powers from entering the Straits of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus,—thus virtually setting aside the treaty of Unkiar-Skelessi.
In 1840 an expedition was fitted out against Khiva; but 1840-40. after encountering numerous obstacles and suffering many disasters, it was obliged to return without being able to get beyond the Russian frontier. In the beginning of June 1844 the emperor spent eight days in England. In February 1846 an insurrection broke out in Cracow, which had been established as an independent state under the protection of Russia, Prussia, and Austria by the treaty of Vienna in 1815. The town was immediately seized upon by the allied troops, and by agreement between the three powers it was annexed to Austria; and thus this last remnant of independent Poland was abolished. Soon after, the Russian portion of Poland was entirely incorporated with the empire, and made a Russian province. During the time of the revolution in Germany in 1848 Russia stood quite aloof, and the emperor contented himself with strengthening his army at all points, and watching, without taking part in the events that filled all Europe with astonishment. In 1849, however, she readily responded to the call of Austria for aid against the Hungarians, and sent a powerful army into the country. This turned the scale in favour of Austria, whose forces had previously been several times beaten and driven out of the country. (See HUNGARY.) After the fall of Hungary a number of the civil and military leaders, and others, took refuge in Turkey. Russia and Austria demanded the expulsion of the refugees, but this was peremptorily refused by the sultan. The Emperor of Russia attempted to threaten him into compliance, and even suspended all diplomatic intercourse between the two countries; but the appearance of a British fleet in the Dardanelles induced him to lower his tone, and he contented himself with requiring that they should be removed to a distant part of the empire.
Before entering upon the last important event in the Policy of reign of Nicholas, it may be necessary to glance shortly at Nicholas the general character of his policy. In this respect he has followed the course pursued by his brother since the peace of 1815, but with an additional degree of force and boldness, which may be attributable partly to the natural progress of the political tactics which were common to both, and partly to the more energetic will, and greater attachment to mili-
History. tary principles and forms, which distinguished the younger brother. Nicholas was in moral endowments far behind his predecessor. In his political principles he was strictly despotic, and when necessary carried these out with unmitigated cruelty. His favourite pursuits were those connected with the military sciences and military operations; but he had also a taste for the fine arts and for music. He was upwards of six feet in height, muscular, and well-proportioned, and was admitted to be one of the handsomest men in his empire. His features, however, were stern and severe; and his manner was cold, inanimate, and without grace. In his personal habits he was simple, abstemious, and of indefatigable industry. In foreign policy his great object was the extension of the Russian empire by unscrupulous diplomacy, and when that failed, by war. If we look at the three questions which were described above as forming the main business of Alexander in his foreign policy, we find the position of Russia regarding them to have remained, with slight alterations, the same. The anti-constitutional views of the Holy Alliance were necessarily modified, but not abandoned. Turkey had been reduced to a state of servile and helpless dependence till the other powers of Europe stepped in for its defence. In the direction of Persia, and undoubtedly not without an eye towards India, Russia was likewise rapidly extending her dominion. The domestic government of Nicholas had little to distinguish it from that of his brother. Education was to some extent more favoured than it had recently been by Alexander; the Catholic and Lutheran churches continued to receive the support of the government, which also lent its aid to missions to the Calmucks and other nomadic hordes; trade and manufactures had been furthered by regulations devised with much liberality; and the laws since 1826 had received a tolerably complete revision and concentration.
History of the late war with Turkey. Russia had been looking for an occasion of quarrel with Turkey long before the outbreak of the late war, and there can be little doubt that a chief object of his imperial majesty's visit to England in 1844 was to come to some arrangement with the British government as to the Turkish empire. On that occasion he had several conversations with the Duke of Wellington and the Earl of Aberdeen, who was then foreign secretary, relative to the state of Turkey; and on his return to Russia his views on that subject were embodied in a memorandum, drawn up by his chancellor Count Nesselrode, and forwarded to the British government. This document, read in the light which subsequent events have thrown upon it, shows clearly that even at that time the czar had been looking forward to a war with Turkey at no distant period, and was endeavouring to obtain the countenance, or at least to lull the suspicions, of England in such a case. It states that it was for the interest of both that they should unite in maintaining the integrity of the Turkish empire; but that the Porte had a constant tendency to free itself from the engagements imposed upon it by treaties concluded with other powers, and that it reckoned upon the mutual jealousies of the cabinets to enable it to do so with impunity. It was essential not to confirm the Porte in this delusion, but to exhort it to act rightly towards the cabinet demanding its just rights; and the Porte, on perceiving that it was not supported by the other cabinets, would give way, and consent to an amicable arrangement of the differences. Another difficulty existed in reconciling the respect due to the sovereign authority of the sultan, founded on the Mussulman law, with the forbearance required by the interests of the Christian population of the empire; and it was necessary ever to impress upon the Porte that it could only reckon upon the support of the great powers while it treated its Christian subjects with mildness and toleration. It was by all the great powers pursuing this line of policy that they would be most likely to preserve the existence of Turkey; but at the same
History. time that empire contains within itself so many elements of dissolution, that unforeseen circumstances may hasten its fall without it being in the power of friendly cabinets to prevent it, and the danger which may result from such a catastrophe will be much diminished if, in the event of its occurring, Russia and England shall have come to an understanding as to the course to be taken by them in common. That understanding would also have the full assent of Austria, as between her and Russia there exists already an entire conformity of principles in regard to the affairs of Turkey. It concludes as follows:—"The object for which Russia and England will have to come to an understanding may be expressed in the following manner: (1.) To seek to maintain the existence of the Ottoman empire in its present state so long as that political combination shall be possible. (2.) If we foresee that it must crumble to pieces, to enter into previous concert as to everything relating to the establishment of a new order of things intended to replace that which now exists, and in conjunction with each other to see that the change which may have occurred in the internal situation of that empire shall not injuriously affect either the security of their own state, and the rights which the treaties assure to them respectively, or the maintenance of the balance of power in Europe. For the purpose thus stated the policy of Russia and Austria, as we have already said, is closely united by the principle of perfect identity. If England, as the principal maritime power, acts in concert with them, it is to be supposed that France will find herself obliged to act in conformity with the course agreed upon between St Petersburg, London, and Vienna. Conflict between the great powers being thus obviated, it is to be hoped that the peace of Europe will be maintained even in the midst of such serious circumstances. It is to secure this object of common interest, if the case occurs, that, as the emperor agreed with her Britannic Majesty's ministers during his residence in England, the previous understanding which Russia and England shall establish between themselves must be directed." In the early part of 1853 his imperial majesty had several interviews with the British ambassador at his court, which plainly show his intentions with regard to Turkey, and that he thought the time of her dissolution had arrived. "Turkey," he said, "has by degrees fallen into such a state of decrepitude, that, as I told you the other night, eager as we all are for the prolonged existence of the man (and that I am as desirous as you can be for the continuance of his life I beg you to believe), he may suddenly die upon our hands; we cannot resuscitate what is dead; if the Turkish empire falls, it falls to rise no more. And I put it to you, therefore, whether it is not better to be provided beforehand for a contingency than to incur the chaos, confusion, and the certainty of a European war, all of which must attend the catastrophe, if it should occur unexpectedly, and before some ulterior system has been sketched? This is the point to which I am desirous that you should call the attention of your government." "If your government has been led to believe that Turkey retains any elements of existence, your government must have received incorrect information. I repeat to you that the sick man is dying, and we can never allow such an event to take us by surprise." "I am not so eager about what shall be done when the sick man dies as I am to determine with England what shall not be done upon that event taking place." When requested to explain his own ideas upon this negative policy, he for some time declined doing so; but at length said, "Well, there are several things which I never will tolerate: I will begin by ourselves. I will not tolerate the permanent occupation of Constantinople by the Russians. Having said this, I will say that it never shall be held by the English or French, or any other great nation. Again, I never will permit an attempt at the re-construction of a Byzantine empire, or
such an extension of Greece as would render her a powerful state; still less will I permit the breaking up of Turkey into little republics, asylums for the Kossuths, and Mazzinis, and other revolutionists of Europe. Rather than submit to any of these arrangements I would go to war; and as long as I have a man and a musket left, would carry it on." The emperor went on to say that, in the event of a dissolution of the Ottoman empire, he thought it might be less difficult to arrive at a satisfactory territorial arrangement than was commonly believed. "The Principalities are," he said, "in fact an independent state under my protection; this might so continue. Servia might receive the same form of government. So again with Bulgaria. There seems to be no reason why this province should not form an independent state. As to Egypt, I quite understand the importance to England of that territory. I can then only say that if, in the event of a distribution of the Ottoman succession upon the fall of the empire, you should take possession of Egypt, I shall have no objection to offer. I would say the same thing of Candia; that island might suit you, and I do not know why it should not become an English possession."
At this time a dispute was going on between the Greek and Latin churches relative to the guardianship of the holy places in Palestine, and Russia warmly espoused the cause of the former. At length, however, this question was brought to an apparent settlement, chiefly through the unremitting efforts of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, her British Majesty's ambassador at Constantinople. But while the Russian government was holding out that the mission of Menschikoff to Constantinople was exclusively for the purpose of effecting a settlement of the dispute regarding the holy places, that minister was pressing upon the Porte other demands of a far more serious and important character, which, if complied with, would have had the effect of virtually admitting the sovereignty of the emperor over the Greek Church in Turkey. This the sultan refused to do; and Prince Menschikoff quitted Constantinople on the 21st of May 1853, declaring that the refusal of his demands would impose upon his government the necessity of seeking a guarantee by its own power. On the 28th of the same month an official note was transmitted by the Turkish government to the different embassies of the foreign powers, in which it said: "The Porte announces that the question of the holy places has terminated in a manner satisfactory to all parties; nevertheless the Prince Menschikoff, not satisfied with that, has demanded of the Porte a treaty to guarantee the rights and privileges of all kinds accorded by the sultan to his Greek subjects. However great may be the desire of the Porte to cherish and preserve more and more the most amicable relations with Russia, she can never engage herself by such a guarantee towards a foreign government, either concluding with it a treaty, or signing a simple official note, without compromising gravely her independence, and the most fundamental rights of the sultan over his own subjects."
The emperor based his claim to interpose himself as protector of the Greek Church in Turkey on the treaty of Kainardji, concluded in 1774; but the only parts of that treaty bearing upon the Christian religion are contained in the 7th and 14th articles, and they do not afford the smallest countenance to the claim of the emperor to interfere in behalf of the religious privileges of the Christians throughout the Ottoman empire. In the 7th article of the treaty "the Sublime Porte promises to protect constantly the Christian religion and its churches; and also it allows the ministers of the imperial court of Russia to make on all
occasions representations as well in favour of the new church at Constantinople, of which mention will be made in the 14th article, as in favour of those who officiate therein." And by article 14th "it is permitted to the high court of Russia, in addition to the chapel built in the house of the minister, to construct in the Galata quarter, in the street called Bey Oglu, a public church of the Greek rite, which shall be always under the protection of the minister of that empire, and shielded from all obstruction and all damage." It will be observed that here the Porte does not promise to allow Russia to interfere for the protection of the Christian religion and its churches, but to afford that protection itself; and the only right of protection accorded to Russia is limited to a chapel and a church at Constantinople. In a note of 31st May Count Nesselrode intimated to Reschid Pasha that in a few weeks the Russian forces would receive orders to cross the frontier and occupy the Principalities, not to wage war, but until the Ottoman government should give to Russia the moral securities she had in vain demanded. No time was lost in putting this threat into execution; and on the 2d and 3d of July two divisions of Russian troops, amounting to 80,000 men, under the command of Prince Gortschakoff, crossed the Pruth, one at Skoliani and the other at Leovd. The news of this proceeding caused great excitement at Constantinople; and a formal protest against the invasion of the Moldo-Wallachian provinces was drawn up by the Ottoman Porte, and issued on the 14th of July. Its tone was conciliatory, but at the same time firm; and it stated that the Sublime Porte "is still disposed, if an arrangement of a nature to satisfy Russia can be arrived at without prejudice to the sacred rights of the sultan, to send an ambassador extraordinary to St. Petersburg to seek in concert with the Russian cabinet the means of arriving at that end." On the 1st of June a despatch was forwarded by her Majesty's government to Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, authorizing him in certain specific contingencies to send for the fleet; and instructions were also sent to Admiral Dundas to proceed to the neighbourhood of the Dardanelles, and there to place himself in communication with her Majesty's ambassador. Similar orders were about the same time issued by the French government to their fleet, and they both anchored in Besika Bay about the middle of June. Soon after, a conference of the representatives of the four great powers was held at Vienna, and by the end of July a Note, originally drawn up by the French government, and sanctioned, with some modifications, by those of Britain and Austria, was finally adopted by the conference, and submitted for acceptance to Russia and Turkey. It was immediately acceded to by the former, but the latter declined doing so until some alterations were made in the wording of the Note, which might be misconstrued. At first the conduct of the Porte was disapproved by the four powers, but they afterwards admitted that the objections were well-founded. The czar, however, refused to receive the Note as altered, and would only accept of it in its original form. That the objections of the Porte were valid, was evinced by the fact, that the interpretation which in subsequent communications Russia insisted on putting upon it was just that which was not intended.
On the 5th of October the Porte issued a formal declaration of war, and on receiving intimation thereof, Omar Pasha, the Turkish general, who was then at Slumla, despatched a letter to Prince Gortschakoff, the Russian commander-in-chief in the Principalities, offering him fifteen days to evacuate that territory before commencing hostilities. To
1 According to a census taken in 1844, the total population of European Turkey was 15,500,000, of which only 4,550,000 were Muslims, while 10,000,000 were members of the Greek Church, 640,000 Roman Catholics, and 70,000 Jews. In Asia Minor the proportions were of course very different. The total population there in that year subject to the Porte was 18,050,000, of whom 12,050,000 were Muslims, 3,000,000 Greek Church, and 200,000 Roman Catholics.
History. this the Russian general replied, that he "had no orders to commence hostilities, nor to conclude peace, nor to evacuate the Principalities." On the 14th of October the combined fleets of England and France, which had been for some time lying at Besika Bay, entered the Straits of the Dardanelles at the request of the sultan; and on the 1st of November the czar issued his manifesto of war.
In the beginning of November the Turks crossed the Danube at four places. The first passage was effected at Widdin, a place far up near the frontier of Servia, from which they pushed on to Kalafat, and occupied it with a force of 12,000 men. Lower down the river at Rustchuk a body of 2000 or 3000 men crossed, and entrenched themselves at Giurgevo. At Turtukai, still lower down, a large Turkish force crossed over to Oltenitza, where they established themselves, although they were vigorously attacked by the Russians. On the 2d and 3d of November the attacks of the Russians were repulsed with loss. On the 4th they mustered to the amount of 30,000 strong, and attacked the Turks, who numbered only about 18,000. A desperate engagement ensued, in which the Russians were defeated with a loss of about 1000 killed and twice that number wounded. Several spirited engagements subsequently took place at Kalafat and its neighbourhood, and notwithstanding all the efforts of the Russians, the Turks effectually made good their position there. Towards the end of November Omar Pasha, not deeming it prudent to expose his troops to attack during the winter, withdrew across the Danube, only retaining possession of the works at Kalafat, on the left bank of the river.
Destruction of Turkish fleet at Sinope. An event now happened that filled Europe with horror, and gave a new character to the war. This was the unprovoked attack on, and the total destruction of, the Turkish fleet in the harbour of Sinope. On the 30th November the Turkish fleet, consisting of 7 frigates, 3 corvettes, and 2 smaller vessels, were lying at anchor in that harbour, when a Russian squadron, composed of 6 sail of the line, 3 of which were three-deckers, 2 sailing frigates, and 3 steamers, entered the bay, the frigates and steamers remaining outside the heavy ships. The action immediately commenced, and though the Turks fought with the courage of desperation, in the short space of two or three hours the whole of their vessels were burned or sunk, except one small steamer which got out and made for sea during the heat of the conflict. About 5000 of the Turks were killed, and only a very few escaped by swimming to land. The czar having, as we have seen, announced his determination to act only on the defensive, and to repel the advance of the Turks into the Principalities, this blow was totally unexpected on the part of the allies, whose representatives at Vienna were still exerting themselves to bring about a peace, and had just prepared a protocol, which the Ottoman Porte had agreed to receive as a basis of negotiation, when the news of this disaster reached them. The English and French fleets, too, instead of taking possession of the Black Sea for the protection of the Turks, were lying in the Bosphorus, while the Russians were actively using that sea for the conveyance of troops, arms, and ammunition to their various military posts. When the news reached St Petersburg the czar ordered a solemn "Te Deum" in the churches, and published an exulting manifesto. The English and French, who may be said to have hitherto acted only as spectators of the war, now saw that it was necessary to have recourse to more active measures. The combined fleet was immediately ordered into the Black Sea, and though negotiations were carried on for some time after, it could not be with any sanguine hope of a peaceful termination to the war.
1854. On the 4th of February 1854 Baron Brunow, the Russian representative at St James's, formally announced the suspension of diplomatic relations between the two countries, and in a few days afterwards he closed his embassy, and
quitted London. On the 7th Lord Clarendon wrote to Sir G. Seymour at St Petersburg, directing him to withdraw from that capital with every member of the embassy; and about the same time similar instructions were forwarded by the French government to their charge d'affaires there, M. de Castelbajac. On the 12th of March a treaty or convention between England, France, and the Porte was signed, regulating the terms on which the two former were to assist the latter. Previous to this, however, on the 28th February, the first detachment of troops left for the East, and landed at Malta, where they remained till the 31st of March. On the 27th and 28th March the French and English respectively declared war. A portion of the French army sailed from Marseilles on the 19th of March, and on the 30th arrived at Gallipoli, a seaport of European Turkey, near the place where the Dardanelles expand into the Sea of Marmora; and on the 5th of April they were joined by the English detachment from Malta. Powerful works were constructed here, extending from the Gulf of Saro to the Sea of Marmora, so that, in case of necessity, the allied armies might have a safe place of retreat. Afterwards the allied forces were removed to the neighbourhood of Constantinople, the English occupying Scutari. Lord Raglan, who was appointed commander-in-chief of the English troops, arrived at Constantinople on the 29th of April, and Marshal St Arnaud, the French commander-in-chief, on the 8th of May.
Operations on the Danube. The campaign on the Danube opened on 6th January 1854 with a vigorous engagement between the Turks and Russians in the neighbourhood of Citate, a village where the Russians had established themselves. The Turks were victorious, and completely dislodged the enemy from the village. Attempts were made the next day, and for several succeeding days, with fresh troops, to re-take the place, but without success. A Russian report states that, in January 1854, 35,000 Russian soldiers had already perished in the Principalities. Besides those slain in battle, many had died from disease, want, and fatigue. For about a month after the battle of Citate both armies on the Danube were chiefly occupied in making preparations for fighting. About the 13th of February the Russians collected in considerable force against Giurgevo, and attacked it, so far successfully that the Turks, after an obstinate resistance of two or three days, evacuated the place, and retreated in perfect order across the Danube to Rustchuk. On the 23d of March the Russians, having been considerably re-inforced, crossed the Danube at three points, Ismael, Galatz, and Matchin, and entered the Dobrudschia with artillery and a siege-train, for the purpose of storming Silistria and attacking Omar Pasha at Shumla before the allied armies could come to his assistance. Silistria was invested on the 17th of May, and gallantly resisted for six weeks every effort of the enemy to take it. Among the besieged were two British officers, Captain Butler and Lieutenant Nasmyth, who greatly contributed to the success of the defence. The latter of these, in a letter to the Times, dated June 29, says,—"The Turkish army may well talk with pride. Their opponents had an army on the right bank of the Danube, which at one time amounted to 60,000 men. They had sixty guns in position, and threw upwards of 50,000 shot and shell, besides an incalculable quantity of small-arm ammunition. They constructed more than 3 miles of approaches and sprang six mines; yet during forty days not one inch of ground was gained, and they abandoned the siege, leaving the petty field-work against which their principal efforts had been directed a shapeless mass, from the effects of their mines and batteries, but still in possession of its original defenders."
The bombardment of Odessa took place on the 22d of Black Sea. April, that town having fired upon an English flag of truce. The firing lasted for about ten hours, and did not cease till
History. most of the batteries had been destroyed or silenced. The attack, however, was strictly confined to the forts, batteries, and military store-houses. On the 12th of May the Tiger, an English steam-frigate, ran aground near Odessa, and being attacked by artillery from the town, she surrendered after a short fight, her guns having been thrown overboard to lighten her. The crew were made prisoners and taken to Odessa, where they were well treated. About the same time a squadron dislodged the Russians from their stronghold of Redout Kaleb, on the coast of Circassia.
By the middle of May the French and English armies were in sufficient force and organization to take the field; and on the 19th of that month a council of war was held at Varna, at which Lord Raglan, Marshal St Arnaud, and Omar Pasha were present. It was then decided to bring up all the disposable forces to Varna; and accordingly, on the 29th of May the greater portion of the French and English troops disembarked at that place.
The raising of the siege of Silistria, and the retreat of the Russians, were the signal for the general advance of the Turkish army. They re-crossed the Danube in the beginning of July; and on the 8th of that month an action was fought at Giurgevo, very creditable to the Turkish arms. At night the Russians abandoned their camp, leaving an immense quantity of stores, and retreated to Bucharest. They soon afterwards quitted the latter city, and retired beyond the Sereth. Towards the end of August the Austrian troops took possession of the Principalities, in terms of a convention concluded between the Emperor of Austria and the Porte. During this time the fleet in the Black Sea was doing good service by destroying the Russian batteries at the Sulina mouth of the Danube.
Baltic fleets. Meanwhile the allied fleets were cruising about in the Baltic. The English fleet, under the command of Sir Charles Napier, had left Spithead on the 11th of March. It at first comprised 8 screw line-of-battle ships, 4 screw frigates, and 4 paddle-steamers, and was subsequently augmented by others, till it amounted to 42 vessels, with 2200 guns, 16,000 horse-power, and 22,000 sailors and marines. About the middle of April a French squadron of 23 vessels carrying in all 1250 guns, sailed from Brest under the command of Vice-Admiral Parseval-Deschênes. A detachment of the English fleet under Admiral Plumridge, cruising in the Gulf of Bothnia during May and the early part of June, took and destroyed 46 merchant vessels, with from 40,000 to 50,000 barrels of pitch and tar, and an immense quantity of naval stores. The only proceeding that was attended by loss of life was an attempt upon Gamle Karleby, a small seaport-town of Finland. The vessels Odin and Vulture were despatched to that place to take possession of any vessels or naval stores that might be found there, but the water off the port was so shallow that they were obliged to anchor 5 miles from the town. Four boats were therefore manned, and sent in to destroy the stores. Hoisting a flag of truce, they first demanded the surrender of the place; and this having been refused, the flag was hauled down, and the Odin's cutter was proceeding to reconnoitre when it was fired upon from an ambuscade, and eleven of its men killed and wounded. The firing was kept up with vigour on both sides, and the Vulture's paddle-box boat became so unmanageable, and her crew were so much cut up, that she drifted on shore, and became the prize of the enemy, who made prisoners of all that remained alive. Our loss amounted to fifty-four officers and men, killed, wounded, and missing. In the month of May the Hecla and Arrogant proceeded by night from Hango roads up 7 miles of a narrow river to Eknæs, destroyed a powerful battery which opened fire upon them, put to flight a large troop of horse artillery and a large body of infantry, and cut out a large merchantman laden with a valuable cargo, returning in safety with the prize. A day or two after this the large
fort of Gustavus Varn in Hango Roads was shelled, and great loss inflicted upon the Russians. About the end of June the allied fleet, amounting to 51 sail, proceeded to reconnoitre Cronstadt, anchoring about 8 miles from that fortress, and sending forward six steam-vessels to take soundings, and to make a closer inspection, with orders to keep out of cannon range. The two main divisions of the allied fleets subsequently proceeded to the Bay of Ledsund, to the south of the Aland Islands, in the Gulf of Bothnia. On the 15th of July 10,000 French troops were embarked at Boulogne on board of English vessels for the Baltic. These were disembarked in the morning of the 8th of August in the vicinity of Bomarsund, a strong fortress on one of the Aland Islands. The chief fortress was a structure of granite about 40 feet in height, and mounting about 80 cannon. The land rose above this fort, and on the crests of the low hills were two granite towers, each surrounded by a broad ditch. There was also an earthen battery of 5 pieces of artillery. About 1200 marines of both nations were also landed on the north of the island, and commenced erecting a battery. On the 13th the French commenced the bombardment of the western tower, which was captured by them on the following morning. On the 15th two batteries, manned by English seamen and marines, began to play upon the eastern tower, and a complete breach having been made, and all the guns silenced, a white flag was hoisted in the evening, and the place surrendered. On the same day the bombardment of the principal fort commenced both on land and from the sea, five vessels firing shot and shell at the front of the battery from a long range. Next day the attack was renewed; but at noon a white flag was hoisted from the walls, and the garrison surrendered unconditionally. There were taken 112 mounted and 79 unmounted guns, 3 mortars and 7 field-pieces, and also 2235 prisoners. Our loss was 1 officer and 1 private killed, and 7 wounded; the French loss was somewhat greater. The fortifications were subsequently reduced to a mass of ruins. After this the allied fleets effected nothing of importance in the Baltic. The French fleet returned early in the autumn, and the English fleet returned by single vessels as the winter drew on, some remaining in the Baltic till the ice began to form, and reaching England late in November. Of the French land forces about 800 perished by cholera, besides those who had fallen in action.
The months of July and August were very calamitous Varns. for the allied armies at Varna and the neighbourhood, as well as for the fleet at Baltchik Bay. The mortality was fearful, and the men were reduced to great despondency; praying to be led against the enemy at whatever risk rather than to die the inglorious death that was so fast decimating their ranks. On the 26th of August a council of war was held at Varna by all the English and French generals; and on the 3d of September the final order for the embarkation of the British troops from Varna was issued. Their destination was the Crimea, and they were to disembark at some place not far from Sebastopol. The order of battle was formed before the landing. The troops were to enter the boats in the order in which they stood in the ranks. The boats were to form in line abreast, and to pull into the shore stoutly, steadily, and in perfect silence. On landing, they were to form in continuous columns. Three days' provisions were to be carried by each individual, both officers and men. The troops were thus ready to encounter the enemy had he met them on landing, and it is clear that such an encounter was expected. On the afternoon of the 13th of September the fleets anchored in Eupatoria Bay, and the town was summoned to surrender, which it at once did, being without the means of defence. They left early next morning, and, keeping near the shore, anchored about 12 miles below Eupatoria, where they com-
History. menced to disembark, and before night they had landed without opposition 20,000 British troops, with 36 guns, and a large number of horses, and about an equal number of French. In the afternoon it rained, and a swell arose along the coast, which continued to increase. At night the rain came down in torrents, and the troops on the beach were drenched, being houseless and tentless. The swell next day impeded the landing of the guns and cavalry, and occasioned some loss in horses and boats; but during that and the following day the disembarkation was completed. As yet no enemy, except a few isolated bands of Kozacks, had been seen; but the steamers sent to reconnoitre the coast reported that the Russians had formed a strong camp on the heights to the south of the River Alma. The troops commenced their march in the morning of the 19th, and halted for the night on the left bank of a small stream called the Bulganac. On that day there was a skirmish between our light cavalry and a party of Russian dragoons. At daybreak the following morning the Agamemnon, with the inshore squadrons, moved along the coast, and took up a position off the Alma. A column of French infantry, preceded by skirmishers, now descended from the heights about the Bulganac, and boldly advanced by the seaside. It was soon followed, more inland, by the main body of the French army. When within a mile of the Alma the French halted. They were then joined by the English, who formed into line with their allies. Both armies then moved forward, and again they halted. Before them, on the lofty cliffs and precipitous slopes on the other side of the Alma, were the enemy. Their position was well chosen, and seemed to defy attack. Running closely along the left bank of the Alma for about 2 miles from the sea, is a bold and almost precipitous range of heights of from 350 to 400 feet in height. It then makes a long sweep, forming a great amphitheatre about 2 miles in width at its mouth. Across this great opening, running parallel to the river, and at distances of from 600 to 800 yards from it, is a low ridge of heights varying from 60 to 150 feet. Across a part of the slope was a trench deep enough to protect the Russian marksmen, and to impede the progress of the assailants. On the right, and a little retired, was a powerful covered battery armed with heavy guns, which flanked the whole of the right of the position; whilst artillery were stationed on almost every eminence commanding the open ground over which our troops must advance. On the slopes of these hills, which formed a sort of table-land, were placed dense masses of the enemy's infantry, whilst on the heights above was his great reserve; the whole amounting, it is supposed, to between 45,000 and 50,000 men. The banks of the river were extremely rugged, and for the most part steep, and the willows along it were cut down to prevent them from affording shelter to the attacking party. The attack was commenced by the French division of troops under General Bosquet, which was nearest the shore. He first detached a regiment of Zouaves and a body of sharpshooters, who crossed the river near its mouth without being perceived by the enemy. Presently they were seen "swarming like ants," with extraordinary agility, up the almost perpendicular face of the cliff, and they soon reached the summit. On reaching the plateau they immediately formed into line under a deadly fire of musketry and artillery. General Bosquet now brought up the remainder of his division; and at the same time the main body of the French army, under Prince Napoleon and General Canrobert, advanced through the village of Alma-tomak, and, fording the river, gained a pathway which led up to the plateau. It was only with the greatest difficulty that the French artillery could be dragged up these rough passes; but at length one battery gained the heights, and was rapidly carried to the assistance of the Zouaves. The Zouaves and the few troops that had joined them held their ground with admirable courage and
steadiness until other French corps came up. Some regiments of the line were foiled in an attempt to force the Russian position to the left of the Zouaves; but the most deadly contest took place near a tumulus on which stood an unfinished tower. Here the main body of the enemy was collected, and to dislodge them the Zouaves, with some regiments of the line, charged with the bayonet. The Russians made a most determined stand, but after sustaining repeated and impetuous charges, they fell back apparently in good order. Seeing his left about to be turned, Prince Menschikoff now sent a considerable mass of infantry and artillery to its support. Up to this time the English had remained inactive, the arrangement being, that they were to wait until the French should have gained the heights and have turned the Russian left. But Marshal St Arnaud, seeing that fresh columns of infantry and more batteries of heavy artillery were being brought up against him, sent to request Lord Raglan to advance without further delay. The command was accordingly given to advance, and as they approached the bank of the river the Russian batteries on the slopes opened up a deadly fire. At the same time sharpshooters behind walls or in the vineyards harassed our troops, but these were soon driven over the river by our rifles. The Russians had set fire to the village of Burliuk, lying between our troops and the river, but as soon as the artillery got beyond the smoke they began to play upon the enemy, and inflicted considerable damage. Partly under cover of this fire, Lord Raglan, at the head of his staff, plunged into the ford, and, amidst a thick shower of shot and shell, gained the opposite bank, close to the left of our allies. In consequence of the burning of the village two regiments of Brigadier-General Adams's brigade, being part of Sir De Lacy Evans's division, had to pass the river at a deep and difficult ford to the right, under a sharp fire; while his first brigade, under Major-General Pennefather, and the remaining regiment of Brigadier Adams, crossed to the left of the conflagration, opposed by the enemy's artillery from the heights above. In the meantime, the light division, under Sir George Brown, which was to be the first to attack, effected the passage of the Alma in their immediate front. The banks of the river, from their rugged and broken nature, were serious obstacles to their advance; while the vineyards through which they had to pass, and the trees which had been felled, created additional impediments, and rendered every attempt to form under a galling fire almost an impossibility. Nevertheless, Sir George nobly persevered. The first brigade, under Major-General Codrington, composed of the 7th, 23d, and 33d regiments, rushed up the slope in teeth of the heavy guns placed in the earthwork, and with a courage that has never been surpassed, in spite of ball and grape-shot, drove the enemy before them even to the cannon's mouth. Some of our men even leaped into the redoubt, but these were soon driven out by the awful fire of the Russian infantry. "Sir George Brown," says an eyewitness (the Times' correspondent), "conspicuous on a grey horse, rode in front of his light division, urging them with voice and gesture. Gallant fellows! they were worthy of such a gallant chief. The 7th, diminished by one-half, fell back to re-form their columns, lost for the time; the 23d, with eight officers dead and four wounded, were still rushing to the front, aided by the 19th, 33d, 77th, and 88th. Down went Sir George in a cloud of dust in front of the battery. He was soon up, and shouted '23d, I'm all right: be sure I'll remember this day,' and led them on again; but in the shock produced by the fall of their chief the gallant regiment suffered terribly while paralysed for a moment. Meanwhile, the Guards on the right of the light division, and the brigade of Highlanders, were storming the heights on the left. Their line was almost as regular as though they were in Hyde Park. Suddenly a tornado of round and grape rushed through from
History. the terrible battery, and a roar of musketry from behind, thinned their front ranks by dozens. It was evident that we were just able to contend against the Russians, favoured as they were by a great position. At this very time an immense mass of Russian infantry were seen moving down towards the battery. They halted. It was the crisis of the day. Sharp, angular, and solid, they looked as if they were cut out of the solid rock. It was beyond all doubt that, if our infantry, harassed and thinned as they were, got into the battery, they would have to encounter again a formidable fire, which they were but ill calculated to bear. Lord Raglan saw the difficulties of the situation. He asked if it would be possible to get a couple of guns to bear upon these masses. The reply was 'Yes'; and an artillery officer, whose name I do not know, brought up two guns to fire on the Russian squares. The first shot missed, but the next, and the next, and the next cut through the ranks so cleanly and so keenly, that a clear line could be seen for a moment through the square. After a few rounds the columns of the square became broken, wavered to and fro, broke, and fled over the brow of the hill, leaving behind them six or seven distinct lines of dead lying as close as possible to each other, marking the passage of the fatal messengers. This act relieved our infantry of a deadly incubus, and they continued their magnificent and fearful progress up the hill. The duke encouraged his men by voice and example, and proved himself worthy of his proud command and of the royal race from which he comes. 'Highlanders,' said Sir C. Campbell, ere they came to the charge, 'I am going to ask a favour of you; it is that you will act so as to justify me in asking permission of the Queen for you to wear a bonnet! Don't pull a trigger till you're within a yard of the Russians.' They charged, and well they obeyed their chief's wish: Sir Colin had his horse shot under him; but his men took the battery at a bound. The Russians rushed out, and left multitudes of dead behind them. The Guards had stormed the right of the battery ere the Highlanders got into the left, and it is said the Scots Fusilier Guards were the first to enter. The second and light division crowned the heights. The French now turned the guns on the hill against the flying masses, which the cavalry in vain tried to cover. A few faint struggles from the scattered infantry, a few rounds of cannon and musketry, and the enemy fled to the south-east leaving 3 generals, drums, 3 guns, 700 prisoners, and 4000 wounded behind them. The battle of the Alma was won. It was won with a loss of nearly 3000 killed and wounded on our side. The Russians' retreat was covered by their cavalry; but if we had had an adequate force we could have captured many guns and multitudes of prisoners. The total loss of the allies was 619 killed and 2860 wounded, of which the British counted 362 killed and 1640 wounded. The loss of the Russians is stated at somewhat less than 8000 men, besides nearly 900 prisoners. The allies had in the field about 50,000 men, but of this number some 20,000 were not engaged. The entire force of the Russians amounted to about 40,000 men.
For the next two days the allies were busy in burying the dead and taking care of the wounded, and on the 23d they commenced their march towards Sevastopol. Learning that the enemy occupied a formidable position on the left bank of the Belbek, and that this river could not readily be rendered a means of communication with the fleet, and calculating that the chief preparations for defence would be made on the north side of the town, the commanders altered their original intention of making their attack on that side; and after their first night's bivouac they made a flank movement, and striking across a woody country, through which they had to steer their way by the compass, they reached an open road leading from Baktchiserai to Balaklava. At a place called Mackenzie's Farm
our advanced guard encountered a part of the Russian army, which fled in consternation at the unexpected meeting. On the 26th we obtained possession of Balaklava without opposition. The harbour is commodious and secure, but the entrance is narrow and somewhat difficult of access. The next day the allied armies took up their positions in the valley to the north of Balaklava and on the bleak heights above Sevastopol. The allies now suffered a severe loss in the departure and death of Marshal St Armand. He had left France in bad health, and finding himself quite overcome by acute and severe illness, he resigned his command to General Canrobert, and died on the 29th, on his way down to Constantinople.
The position taken up by the English before Sevastopol was to the right of the French, at a distance of 6 miles from their ships; while the French, on the left, rested on Cape Chersonese, and were within 3 miles of their ships. The ground in front of the French being soft, permitted the usual process of sapping and trenching to be carried on quickly, while the ground in front of the English was hard and rocky, and moreover broken by so many chasms or ravines that regular approaches were almost impracticable. The attack both by sea and land was opened on the 17th of October. Seven large Russian ships had been sunk at the mouth of the harbour, so that our ships could only fire at long range, and so produced very little effect. During this time the Russians had been exerting every effort to strengthen their position. A round stone tower at their extreme left was rapidly surrounded by strong, thick earthworks, upon which none but our heaviest artillery could make an impression; while the tower itself, originally white, was painted of the colour of the earth, so as to be a less conspicuous object to our mark. This round tower was by a line of earthworks connected with a formidable redoubt on the right known as the "Redan." Between the Redan and the arsenal at the head of Dockyard Creek were the "Barrack" batteries, and to the west of the Creek, facing the French line, was the Flagstaff Battery, united by a wall and strong defences to the Quarantine Fort and the sea. The average distance of the English batteries from the Russian lines was about 1500 yards. The French works, from the causes already mentioned, were considerably nearer than the English, but they had not so many guns in position. The attack opened early in the morning of the 17th, but the result proved that the French batteries were not strong enough, neither were their magazines well placed. About two hours after the commencement of the bombardment a French powder magazine blew up, doing considerable damage; and at 1:30 P.M. a more destructive explosion took place in their lines, rendering it necessary for their artillery to suspend its fire during the rest of the day. Between 2 and 3 P.M. a terrific explosion took place in the Redan Battery, which it was thought would have rendered this work untenable; but the Russians, with unflinching bravery, continued at their guns, and kept up the fire until nightfall, when both sides ceased. The Round Tower, being of stone, was soon knocked to pieces by our heavy guns, and completely silenced, while the Redan, which was of earth, was not materially injured. The loss of the English was 44 killed and 266 wounded; of the French, 30 killed and 164 wounded; while the Russians acknowledge to a loss of 500 in killed and wounded. The siege was proceeding steadily, when, early in the morning of the 25th, the Russians made an attack upon the position in front of Balaklava. A low range of heights that runs across the plain, at the bottom of which the town stands, was protected by four small redoubts hastily constructed. Three of these had guns in them; and on a higher hill in front of the village of Camera, in advance of our right flank, was established a work of somewhat more importance. These redoubts were garrisoned by Turkish troops.
History. The 93d Highlanders was the only British regiment in the plain, with the exception of a part of a battalion of detachments composed of weakly men, and a battery of artillery belonging to the third division; and on the heights behind our right were placed the marines. At daybreak in the morning of the 25th the enemy were seen in great force advancing up the valley of the Tchernava. This was indeed a new army, under the command of General Liprandi, which had just arrived from the Danubian Principalities, Austria having taken upon herself the occupation of the Principalities, and thus set free both the Russian and Turkish armies. Redoubt No. 1 was carried after a feeble resistance by the Turks, and Nos. 2 and 3 were evacuated without an attempt at defence. When the news reached Balaklava, Sir Colin Campbell, who commanded there, sent the 93d Highlanders, under Lieutenant-Colonel Ainslie, to draw up in line in front of the road leading to the town. Lord Raglan also, as soon as he was apprised of this movement of the enemy, withdrew from before Sevastopol the 1st and 4th divisions, and brought them down into the plain. After the three redoubts had been carried, the Russian cavalry at once advanced, supported by artillery and dividing into two bodies, the smaller of which charged down the slope upon the 93d, whose vigorous and steady fire instantly carried death into their ranks and threw them back in disorder. The other and larger mass turned to the right to attack our heavy cavalry, advancing straight towards the camp of the Scots Greys and the Enniskillen Dragoons, whose united number did not amount to 400 men. Their first line was at least double the length of ours, and it was three times as deep; while behind them was a similar line equally strong and compact. Though the ground was very unfavourable, it presented no check to our men, who charged into the Russian column with the utmost fury. "As lightning flashes through a cloud, the Greys and Enniskilleners pierced through the dark masses of the Russians. The shock was but for a moment. There was a clash of steel and a light play of sword-blades in the air, and then the Greys and the red coats disappear in the midst of the shaken and quivering columns. In another moment we see them emerging and dashing on with diminished numbers and in broken order against the second line, which is advancing against them as fast as it can to retrieve the fortune of the charge. It was a terrible moment. . . . With unabated fire the noble hearts dashed at their enemy. It was a fight of heroes. The first line of the Russians which had been smashed utterly by our charge, and had fled off at one flank and towards the centre, were coming back to swallow up our handful of men. By sheer steel and sheer courage Enniskilleners and Scots were winning their desperate way right through the enemy's squadrons, and already grey horses and red coats had appeared right at the rear of the second mass, when, with irresistible force, like one bolt from a bow, the 1st royalists, the 4th dragoon guards, and the 5th dragoon guards rushed at the remnants of the first line of the enemy, and went through it as though it were made of pasteboard, and, dashing on the second body of Russians, as they were still disordered by the terrible assault of the Greys and their companions, put them to utter rout." (Times' correspondent.) As the enemy withdrew from the ground which they had momentarily occupied, and seemed to be removing the captured guns, the Earl of Lucan was desired to advance and try to prevent them from effecting their object. From some misconception of the instructions, the lieutenant-general considered that he was bound to attack at all hazards; and he accordingly ordered Major-General the Earl of Cardigan to move forward with the light brigade. By this time the Russians had re-formed their own ground, with artillery in front and upon their flanks. According to the graphic account of the Times' correspondent—"They advanced in
two lines, quickening their pace as they closed towards the enemy. A more fearful spectacle was never witnessed than by those who, without the power of aid, beheld their heroic countrymen rush to the arms of death. At the distance of 1200 yards the whole line of the enemy belched forth from thirty iron mouths a flood of smoke and flame, through which hissed the deadly balls. Their flight was marked by instant gaps in our ranks, by dead men and horses, by steeds flying wounded or riderless across the plain. The first line is broken; it is joined by the second; they never halt or check their speed one instant; with diminished ranks thinned by those thirty guns which the Russians had laid with the most deadly accuracy, with a halo of flashing steel above their heads, and with a cheer which was many a noble fellow's death-cry, they flew into the smoke of the batteries, but ere they were lost from view the plain was strewed with their bodies and with the carcasses of horses. They were exposed to an oblique fire from the batteries on the hills on both sides, as well as to a direct fire of musketry. Through the clouds of smoke we could see their sabres flashing as they rode up to the guns, and dashed between them, cutting down the gunners as they stood. We saw them riding through the guns, as I have said; to our delight we saw them returning, after breaking through a column of Russian infantry, and scattering them like chaff, when the flank fire of the battery on the hill swept them down, scattered and broken as they were. Wounded men and dismounted troopers flying towards us told the sad tale: demi-gods could not have done what we had failed to do. At the very moment when they were about to retreat an enormous mass of lancers was hurled on their flank. Colonel Shewell of the 8th hussars saw the danger, and rode his few men straight at them, cutting his way through with fearful loss. The other regiments turned and engaged in a desperate encounter. With courage too great almost for credence, they were breaking their way through the columns which enveloped them, when there took place an act of atrocity without parallel in the modern warfare of civilized nations. The Russian gunners, when the storm of cavalry had passed, returned to their guns. They saw their own cavalry mingled with the troops who had just ridden over them, and to the eternal disgrace of the Russian name, the miscreants poured a murderous volley of grape and canister on the mass of struggling men and horses, mingling friend and foe in one common ruin. It was as much as our heavy cavalry brigade could do to cover the retreat of the miserable remnants of that band of heroes as they returned to the place they had so lately quitted in all the pride of life." The brigade numbered only 607 men, and of these only 198 returned. The enemy made no further movement in advance; and at the close of the day the brigade of Guards of the first division and the fourth division returned to their original encampment.
The next morning several columns of infantry, accompanied by artillery, were seen issuing out of Sevastopol, to the number of 6000 or 7000, it was thought, on their way to join Liprandi's corps. Turning to the right, however, they ascended the hills, and suddenly appeared on a crest which commanded the second division under Sir De Lacy Evans. These withstood the attack with great bravery, and having at length received assistance, succeeded in putting the enemy to flight with the loss of about 600 killed and wounded, and 80 prisoners. Our loss was only about 80 killed and wounded. During all this time the siege was steadily progressing, but large reinforcements were joining the Russian camp to the north of Sevastopol, while supplies and other reinforcements were poured into the town itself.
On the 5th of November the Russian army, augmented by reinforcements from the north, and animated by the presence of the Grand Dukes Michael and Nicholas, attacked
History. our position overlooking the ruins of Inkermann. Shortly before daylight strong columns of the Russians came upon the advanced pickets covering the right of the English position. These defended the ground foot by foot with the utmost gallantry, until the 2d division, with its field guns, was got into position. The morning was extremely dark and drizzly; but it soon became apparent that the enemy had advanced numerous batteries of large calibre to the high grounds to the left and front of the 2d division, while powerful columns of infantry attacked with great vigour the brigade of guards. Additional batteries of heavy artillery were also placed on the slopes whence they could best tell upon us, until the guns in the field actually amounted to 90 pieces, independently of the ships' guns and the guns of Sevastopol, which were also playing upon our men. Protected by a tremendous fire of shot, shell, and grape, the Russian columns advanced in great force, requiring every effort on our part to resist them. Two battalions of French infantry now joined our right, and contributed materially to our success. About the same time a determined assault was made on our extreme left, and for a moment the Russians possessed themselves of four of our guns, but these were speedily re-captured. In the opposite direction the brigade of Guards was engaged in a severe conflict. The enemy advanced in two heavy bodies under cover of a thick brushwood, and assaulted with great determination a small unarmed redoubt. The combat here was most arduous, and the brigade, after displaying the utmost bravery and gallantry, was obliged to retire. Again and again they advanced to the charge, and again and again were driven back. At length a body of French troops came to their assistance, and occupied the redoubt, while the Guards speedily re-formed in rear of the right flank of the 2d division. Subsequently to this the battle continued with unabated vigour, and with no positive result, till towards the afternoon, when symptoms of giving way first became apparent; and shortly after, although the fire did not cease, the retreat became general. Thus for more than six hours 8000 English and 6000 French sustained a hand-to-hand fight against 50,000 Russians. "The battle of Inkermann," says the Times' correspondent, "admits of no description. It was a series of dreadful deeds of daring, of sanguinary hand-to-hand fights, of despairing rallies, of desperate assaults,—in glens and valleys, in bushwood glades and remote dells, hidden from all human eyes, and from which the conquerors, Russian or British, issued only to engage fresh foes, till our old supremacy, so rudely assailed, was triumphantly asserted, and the battalions of the czar gave way before our steady courage and the chivalrous fire of France." The loss of the enemy is estimated at about 9000; our loss was 632 killed, 1878 wounded, and 63 missing, total 2573; and that of the French was 1726 in killed and wounded.
On the 14th of November a terrible hurricane occurred on the Black Sea, and did great damage both on sea and shore. The tempest commenced at Balaklava about seven o'clock in the morning, and in less than two hours eleven transports had been wrecked, and six more dismantled and rendered unfit for service. The steamship Prince, a magnificent vessel of 2700 tons, which had arrived only a few days before, and had a valuable cargo of stores and necessaries for the war, was driven on the rocks with such force that hardly a piece of her was left. Of a crew of 150 men only six were saved. The French vessels suffered equally with ours. The pecuniary loss of the English alone was estimated at about a million sterling, while that of the French could not have been less. The total loss of men was estimated at about 1000, besides about 400 or 500 more who were taken prisoners and carried into Sevastopol.
History. On land the tents of our soldiers were torn up and blown about in all directions. Snow also fell in abundance; and before the tempest had ceased, which was not till the afternoon of the 16th, the inland hills and ridges were deeply covered by it. After Inkermann the Russians did not for a long time make any grand attack upon the allies. The latter also contented themselves with remaining on the defensive till the arrival of reinforcements should enable them to take more active measures. They too were besieged as well as being besiegers, having on their flank a force far superior to their own, and in front an irregular fortress of great strength, and an arsenal with almost unlimited resources. Reinforcements and supplies were also constantly pouring into the place, which, from our limited forces, it was impossible to check. The allies were now suffering severely from disease and the want of necessaries, which became more felt as the winter set in. These pressed less heavily on the French than on us, their medical and commissariat departments being much better managed than ours. Indeed, the shameful neglect, carelessness, and ignorance that were manifested in the commissariat department of our army are scarcely credible. Thousands of our brave countrymen fell victims to this deplorable state of things. Many of them had to lie on the cold, damp earth under the wide canopy of heaven, thus frequently contracting diseases which there were no medicines to cure or comforts to allay; what food they obtained (and they were frequently on short rations) had often to be consumed in an unprepared state; 1500 sick and wounded after the battle of Alma were sent to Scutari, many of whom had not had their wounds dressed, though five or six days had elapsed on the passage.1 Not the least culpable part of the business was, that abundant supplies had been provided by the government, most of which were lying at Balaklava, but from a blind adherence to form could not be removed, or were stowed away where they could not be reached or could not be found. It is well known that articles sent out for the army in the Crimea were brought back in the same vessels, and articles intended for the sick at Scutari were carried to Balaklava. The road, too, between the camp and Balaklava soon became such a wilderness of mud as to be almost impassable. According to the Report of the committee of the House of Commons, "from the middle of November this army was, during a period of many weeks, reduced to a condition which it is melancholy to contemplate, but which was endured both by officers and men with a fortitude and heroism unsurpassed in the annals of war. They were exposed under single canvas to all the sufferings and inconveniences of cold, rain, mud, and snow, on high ground and in the depth of winter. They suffered from overwork, want of clothing, insufficient supplies for the healthy, and imperfect accommodation for the sick." When the news of this state of matters reached England it naturally excited the greatest indignation and sympathy. In the beginning of October the Times originated a subscription for the sick and wounded, and in less than a fortnight £15,000 were collected, which a special commissioner was sent out to administer. A few days later the "Patriotic Fund" was set on foot, and before the end of the year the subscriptions had reached half a million, and soon afterwards they amounted to about a million and a quarter. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts also sent out to the hospitals and the camp, with the concurrence and partly at the expense of the government, twenty-four additional chaplains. About the same time Miss Florence Nightingale, a lady singularly adapted for the work, set out with thirty-seven nurses to attend the sick in the hospital.
1 At the beginning of February 1855 the grand total of our army in the East was 44,918, of whom 6773 were in the camp hospital, and 12,344 in that of Scutari, making a total of 18,117 sick.
History. During the last three months of the year 1854, 9000 English reinforcements were landed in the Crimea, but these being chiefly raw recruits, many of them, by the hardships which they had to endure, were soon rendered unfit for duty. Meanwhile the Russians, under the direction of General Todleben, were incessantly employed in improving their position, by strengthening their old fortifications and by the addition of new works. They scarped the ground in front of all their batteries; constructed a strong abattis in front of all their lines; threw up earthworks and mounted guns on every available point; and made sunken batteries before their redoubts, the Redan and Malakoff, as well as along the scarps of the slopes.
In the beginning of the year an insurrection broke out among the Greek subjects of the sultan, at the instigation of Russia, and aided and abetted by the Greek nation. A series of early successes emboldened the insurgents, and the movement was rapidly gaining ground. Ineffectual remonstrances with King Otho led to an open rupture between Turkey and Greece, and on the 28th of March the Greek ambassador quitted Constantinople. Turkish troops were now poured into the disaffected districts, and their arms were generally successful; but still the rebels held out, encouraged by the free Greeks, and confidently relying on the speedy advance of the Russians to their assistance. On the 18th May the allies declared the whole of Greece to be in a state of blockade, and about the same time a body of French and English troops were landed at the Piraeus. These energetic measures speedily brought King Otho to submit to the terms imposed upon him, and to engage to maintain a strict neutrality towards Turkey. Many of the insurgents now submitted, and one or two successes over the remainder speedily put an end to the insurrection. Early in summer a small squadron, consisting of the Miranda and Brisk, screw steamers of 15 and 16 guns respectively, and the Eurydice, a sailing-vessel of 26 guns, were despatched to the White Sea to blockade Archangel. Leaving the Eurydice at the mouth of the Dwina, the bar at which they were unable to cross, to maintain the blockade, the other vessels attacked and destroyed several places in that quarter. Kola, the capital of Russian Lapland, they took and destroyed, as also the town of Novitska. They also landed and destroyed all the public buildings and government stores at Shayley Island. An attack on the town of Solovetskoï, however, was unsuccessful, and they retired after twelve hours' firing. The squadron thereafter returned to England.
In the Pacific a fleet of the allies suffered a severe check before the town of Petropaulovski. It consisted of 3 French and 3 English ships of war, carrying in all 194 guns; and was on the outlook for two Russian war frigates that had caused some alarm in these seas. This town is the principal seaport of Kamtschatka, and was strongly fortified both by nature and art. The firing of the ships commenced on the 28th of August, and was kept up for some days, and a partial landing did some damage, but a subsequent attempt to storm the town was unsuccessful. Our loss was 30 men killed and 156 wounded, while the French loss was about as great. The English admiral Price fell by a pistol-shot from his own hand on the first day of the attack, and survived only a few hours.
The war in Asia was maintained by Turkish troops, but with them were a considerable number of European officers to aid and counsel them. Chief among these was M. Guyon, an English gentleman, who had been an officer in the Austrian service, but having married a Hungarian lady of noble birth and large fortune, he left the army, and subsequently took part in the Hungarian war of 1848-49, in which he greatly distinguished himself. On the termination of that struggle he was of those that took refuge in Turkey. He accepted the offer made by the Turkish government to enter that service, and was sent to Damascus
to organize and instruct the army. The ability and skill of Guyon, however, was almost entirely neutralized by the wrongheadedness and incompetency of the commander-in-chief, Zarif Pacha, who would rarely follow his counsel, while his refusal to embrace the Mohammedan faith incapacitated him from having any direct authority over the soldiery. In July a body of 8000 Turks, under Selim Pacha, were totally defeated at Bayazid by a detachment of General Bebutoff's army. When news of this reached the Turkish army, which was lying 40,000 strong in a position of considerable strength a few miles in advance of Kars, Guyon advised an immediate attack on the main body of Bebutoff's army before it could be joined by the other portion or receive further assistance. Instead of this, however, several days were allowed to elapse before the attack was made, and by that time the Russian army was increased from 12,000 to 20,000 men, and was prepared to receive them. The 6th of August was the day of attack, but before the battle was well begun many of the Turks were fleeing, and the others were speedily put to flight. The loss of the Turks was 1200 killed, 1800 wounded, and 2018 prisoners. Had the Russian general marched directly upon Kars it is believed that he would have taken it without striking a blow; as it was, the defeated Turks got time to recover from their consternation and to gather strength; so that, as will be subsequently noticed, they made a most heroic defence. On 20th August Schamyl appeared suddenly before Tiflis, and did considerable damage, carrying off a large booty and a number of prisoners. This compelled the Russian general Bebutoff to send a portion of his troops to defend that place.
In the beginning of 1855 the allies received an accession of strength in the King of Sardinia. On the 26th of January Victor Emmanuel II. acceded to the convention concluded between Great Britain and France, and agreed to furnish and keep up for the war a body of 15,000 men, consisting of infantry, cavalry, and artillery; France and England guaranteeing the integrity of his dominions during the period of the war. England also undertook to furnish gratuitously the means of transport to the Sardinian troops, and also to recommend to Parliament to advance in loan to the King of Sardinia £1,100,000 sterling, the interest to be at the rate of 4 per cent., of which 1 per cent. was to form a sinking-fund.
At daybreak on the 17th of February a strong body of the Russians made an attack upon Eupatoria, which was defended by Omer Pacha at the head of a Turkish body of troops, and a French detachment. After a cannonade of some duration, the Russians advanced to the assault. Three times they attempted to carry the town, but were as often beaten back, and were at length obliged to retire with considerable loss. Their great superiority in cavalry and artillery prevented the garrison from molesting them on their retreat. The Turks behaved admirably on this occasion, and made a most gallant defence.
On the afternoon of the 2d of March all Europe was startled by the intelligence that the Emperor of Russia was dead. He was attacked by influenza on the 14th of February, but persisted in going out as usual, and on the 22d held a review of a corps of infantry of the Guards. After this he became much worse, but continued working as usual in his cabinet. On the 1st of March, however, soon after hearing of the unsuccessful attack upon Eupatoria, he became slightly delirious, and expired about noon of the 2d. He was succeeded on the throne by his eldest son Alexander II.
On the 15th of March a conference of plenipotentiaries Conference of the five states (England, France, Austria, Russia, and of Vienna. Turkey) was opened at Vienna, with the view of coming to some arrangement regarding the points in dispute, based upon certain preliminaries that had been previously communicated by the allies to the Russian government and
History. accepted by it. These preliminaries consisted of four articles, the substance of which was as follows:—1st, To abolish the exclusive protectorate exercised by Russia over Moldavia, Wallachia, and Servia, and henceforward to place the privileges accorded by the sultan to these principalities under the collective guarantee of the five powers; 2d, To give all the development possible to the free navigation of the Danube, for which purpose it would be necessary to place it under the control of a syndicate authority, invested with powers necessary to destroy the obstructions existing at the mouth of that river; and it would also be desirable that the course of the Lower Danube, from the point where it becomes common to the two bordering states, should be withdrawn from territorial jurisdiction; 3d, To revise the treaty of July 13, 1841, with the object of connecting the existence of the Ottoman empire more completely with the European equilibrium, and to put an end to the preponderance of Russia in the Black Sea; 4th, Russia to renounce any official protectorate of the Christian subjects of the sultan, the allies affording their mutual co-operation in obtaining from the Ottoman government the confirmation and the observance of the religious privileges of the different Christian communities, without distinction of sect. The conference, after sitting for about six weeks, dissolved, having been unable to come to any satisfactory arrangement on the third point. Afterwards Count Buol-Schauenstein, the Austrian plenipotentiary, summoned the members to meet again on the 4th of June to consider a proposition which it was believed might lead to an amicable settlement of the point in dispute. This was, instead of a mere one-sided limitation of the power of Russia in the Black Sea, to have an equality of the naval forces which each of the two coast powers should keep up in the Black Sea, and which should not exceed the actual number of Russian ships in that sea. This arrangement was to be entered into by the two powers between themselves, but was, nevertheless, to form an integral part of the general treaty. The French and English plenipotentiaries, M. Drouyn de Lhuys and Lord John Russell, had both left Vienna, but they had expressed themselves favourable to this arrangement. The proposal, however, did not meet with the favourable consideration of their governments, which saw no likelihood of a satisfactory peace being arrived at in that way. M. Drouyn de Lhuys accordingly resigned or was deprived of his office; and the conduct of Lord John Russell having given rise to a vote of censure being moved, that minister resigned his seat in the cabinet on the 16th of July.
During this time the war continued to be actively prosecuted. In front of the Malakoff, and between it and the trenches of the allies, was a slight elevation, the possession of which was of great importance to either party. This the besieged succeeded in taking possession of on the night of the 9th of March unknown to the allies, who were next morning disagreeably surprised to see it occupied by works which were hourly gaining strength. This was afterwards known to the allies as the Mamelon. On the second night after its occupation a vigorous attempt was made by the French to dislodge the enemy but without success. The Russians lost no time in sinking a number of pits before and on each side of their new acquisition, to serve as cover for riflemen, who became a source of great annoyance to the French. On the night of the 17th March the French made another attempt to possess the Mamelon. They succeeded in carrying the first and part of the second line of pits, but the heavy fire of the Russian musketry forced them to retire. On the night of the 22d March,—a dark and windy night,—a large body of the Russians issued silently from the Mamelon, and reached the advanced parallel of the French unobserved. After a short but severe struggle, the French were obliged to fall back upon their
reserves. The Russians then marched rapidly along the parallel to attack the English trenches. Here they were met by detachments of the 97th and 77th regiments, which gallantly stood their ground, and drove back the Russians at the point of the bayonet. At the same time, the French, having rallied, fell upon them, and pursued them so far that they were enabled to level and destroy a number of the rifle-pits along their front. It was on this occasion that Captain Hedley Vicars, who led on the 97th, lost his life. Our loss amounted to 182 killed and 373 wounded, besides 56 missing.
History. Early in April the railway between the camp and Balaklava was completed, and was of immense service to our army; and a month later London was in telegraphic communication with the seat of war. At daybreak on the Second morning of the 9th of April the second bombardment of Sevastopol commenced, and was continued for several days, but without any decisive result. In the beginning of May the Sardinian troops began to arrive at Balaklava, and considerably strengthened the hands of the allies. About the middle of this month a change took place in the command of the French army, and General Canrobert was succeeded by General Pelissier, an officer who had greatly distinguished himself in the Algerine wars. General Canrobert, with true soldier spirit, requested to be still permitted to take part in the war, and obtained the command of a division. On the night of the 2d of May the French had taken by storm the Russian counter-approaches in front of the central bastion, and the enemy then, to impede their progress and take their attacks in flank, began to construct new lines of counter-approach on the Quarantine side, connecting by a gabionnade their ambuscades at the extremity of the bay with those at the cemetery, and forming a continuous covered way between this work and the right lunette of the central bastion. This would have enabled them to make powerful sorties by assembling large bodies of men behind these defences. The French general therefore determined to carry these works; and accordingly an assault was arranged to take place on the night of the 22d of May. Two simultaneous attacks were organized,—one on the ambuscades at the bottom of the bay, the other on the ambuscades of the cemetery, by the south-east angle of that inclosure. The Russians seemed quite prepared for the attack, and were awaiting it in great force. It is thus described by the correspondent of the Morning Chronicle:—"From every point of the Russian batteries commanding the trench a fire of artillery was poured upon them with such density and effect that whole companies were swept away before it. Still they held their ground, though under the fire of the batteries they fell by scores. Strong parties of the enemy occupied the covering trenches, and from their position were enabled to enfilade the advanced trench with a murderous fire of infantry. It was a mere slaughter of the French. Twice driven to desperation by the cross fire from the trenches, they sallied out and attempted to carry them at the point of the bayonet; but these mere ebullitions of valour were of no avail against the strong works and well-organized resistance of the enemy. In both cases the French were driven back with loss, and retired to the cross-trench, where they still continued to melt away under the devastating fire of artillery and musketry. It was close on dawn when a message was sent to the French general informing him that nearly half the column had fallen in the attempt to hold the place; that it was a mere useless waste of life, as by daylight it would be utterly untenable. The answer was returned that they were to gather their dead and wounded, and retire. This they accordingly did at about four in the morning, after having maintained the sanguinary and unequal contest for more than six hours." Next night "the plan was better arranged under the immediate care of General Pelissier
History. himself, who informed the troops that if they failed then they must attack again at daybreak, and continue to attack until the trench was in their possession. Three columns—each 3000 strong—were chosen for the assault, and started just as dusk was commencing,—two slightly in advance, for the capture of the covering trenches on each side and the centre column for the trench itself. In spite of all the vigilance of the enemy, the right and left columns closed with the covering trenches before they were discovered, and instantly attacked them. For a moment the Russians seemed bent on an obstinate resistance, but the attack at such an early hour of the evening (a little after eight) evidently took them by surprise, and after a short struggle, both trenches were captured, the enemy flying in all directions.
On the 22d of May an expedition, comprising 3800 English, under Sir George Brown, 7500 French, under General d'Autemarle, and about 5000 Turks, was despatched for Kertch and the Straits of Yenikale, whence large supplies were constantly pouring into Sevastopol. As soon as they made their appearance before Kertch the enemy fled, blowing up their fortifications and destroying immense stores of provisions. Anapa was also abandoned; and large stores of provisions were destroyed at Genitchi, Berdiansk, Arabat, and Taganrog on the Don. It is calculated that the stores destroyed at Kertch and in the Sea of Azoff amounted to nearly four months rations for 100,000 men, the loss of which must have caused serious embarrassment to the Russian army in the Crimea. The object of the expedition being thus fully accomplished, the troops were re-embarked about the 12th of June, with the exception of those left in garrison at Yenikale and Pavlovskaja, the latter commanding the entrance to the strait at a point where it is narrowed by a sandbank to about miles across.
Third bombardment. The third bombardment of Sevastopol commenced in the afternoon of the 6th June, and next evening simultaneous attacks were made by the French upon the Mamelon and White Works (Ouvrages Blancs), and by the English on the Quarries. These were in each case successful. The French had to traverse a considerable extent of open space, exposed to a terrible fire of artillery and musketry, but this did not for a moment check the impetuosity of their attack. Within the redoubts a determined struggle took place, and continued for an hour before the Russians were driven out of the works. The French pursued them as far as the Malakoff, and even made an attempt to storm that work, but this not having been previously calculated upon, their force was insufficient for that purpose, and they had to retire under a terrific fire from the enemy. In this affair they took 62 guns and 400 prisoners, of whom 14 were officers. The English were equally successful in their attack upon the Quarries, which they carried in the most determined and gallant manner, and kept their ground in spite of repeated attacks by the Russians to dispossess them. The possession of these works materially strengthened the position of the allies; and it was resolved to follow up the success by an attack on the Malakoff and Redan. Accordingly, during the whole of the 17th a vigorous fire was kept up by the allies upon the town, and it was arranged to make the assault after a two hours' fire the following morning. At the suggestion of Pelissier, however, this part of the arrangement was departed from, and the attack was to commence at three o'clock in the morning at a signal from the French general. Unfortunately, General Mayran, who had the command of one of the divisions of the French army, mistook a blazing fuse for the rocket-signal that had been agreed upon as the notice for a general advance, and immediately gave the order for attack. They were immediately assailed by an overwhelming shower of ball and grape, not only from the works, but also from the enemy's steamers in the harbour. Advance was
History. impossible but not one step did they retreat; while the other divisions rushed forward to support this premature movement. They reached and sealed with impetuous gallantry the entrenchment which connected the Karabelnaia ravine with the Malakoff, and succeeded in penetrating the enceinte itself. But in the meantime the English attack on the Redan had failed, and the French, deprived of their simultaneous support, and exposed to a crushing fire of artillery from the Redan and other works, were compelled to give way. The retreat commenced about half-past eight o'clock, and was carried out with order and coolness, without any attempt at pursuit on the part of the enemy. In their attack upon the Redan, the English, as soon as they showed themselves beyond the trenches, were assailed by a most murderous fire of grape and musketry. "Those in advance," says Lord Raglan in his despatch, "were either killed or wounded, and the remainder found it impossible to proceed. I never before witnessed such a continued and heavy fire of grape, combined with musketry, from the enemy's works, which appeared to be fully manned." Another part of the English attack, however, was crowned with success, though fruitless. General Eyre was despatched, at the head of a body of 2000 men, for the purpose of making a demonstration at the head of Dockyard Creek, and withdrawing the attention of the enemy from the real object of assault. He found the enemy strongly posted between a cemetery on their left and a mound or hillock on their right, and protected by stone walls in front. This position, however, was gallantly carried under a heavy fire. Our troops held their ground until the evening, and then retired unmolested. Our loss amounted to 165 killed, 1126 wounded, and 152 missing; and the French to 1598 killed or missing, and 1740 wounded. The Russians, according to their own account, lost during the two days 787 killed, and 4029 wounded. While the assault was going on several of the vessels of the allies opened fire upon the town and its sea defences, but with little effect. The English army now sustained a severe loss in the death of its commander, Lord Raglan, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. His strength and energies had been taxed to the utmost during the whole of the Crimean war, and the failure of the attack on the 18th is believed to have preyed upon his spirit, vexed as it no doubt must have been by the previous unfavourable comments upon his conduct at home. He had been unwell for some days, but before the evening of the 28th no danger was apprehended by his medical attendants. Alarming symptoms, however, then showed themselves; he became unconscious, and sank rapidly until he expired, in the course of a few hours. He was succeeded in the command by General Simpson. On the 16th of August the Russians made another desperate effort to raise the siege. This was by the covering army under the command of General Liprandi, which had remained inactive since the battle of Inkermann, but had recently been largely augmented by reinforcements. For some days rumours of a premeditated attack on the part of the Russians had been current, and at daybreak on the morning of the 16th they advanced against our lines on the Tchernaya, where the French and Sardinians were posted, to whom belongs the entire glory of the victory, though they received some assistance from an English battery. A paper found in the pocket of one of the Russian generals, Read, who was killed, showed the nature and magnitude of the attack. "Had they succeeded," says General Simpson in his despatch, "Balaklava was to have been attacked by one portion of their army, while the heights on which we now are were to have been stormed by the other; at the same time, a vigorous sortie was to have been made from the town on the French works on our extreme left, from the Quarantine, and another on the works on our extreme right on Mount Sapounne. The action is most glorious to the arms
History. of the French and Sardinian troops. To meet the force of the Russians the former had but 12,000 infantry and 4 batteries of artillery engaged; the latter had 10,000 men in position, 4500 actually engaged, and 24 pieces of cannon. The Russian force consisted of from 50,000 to 60,000 men, with 160 pieces of artillery, and cavalry to the amount of 6000. This disparity of numbers will readily explain the difficulty that would have been experienced had an attempt been made to follow up the advantage by a pursuit. The Russian retreat, moreover, was protected by the fire from the heavy guns in position on the Mackenzie heights. The loss sustained by the Russians is estimated at between 5000 and 6000 men, including 600 prisoners; while on the part of the allies it does not amount to more than 1000 men."
Attack on
the Mala-
koff;
The French lines of approach had now been advanced so near the Malakoff, and the loss of life was daily increasing to such an extent, as to render it necessary either to take the work or retire to a greater distance. Accordingly on the 5th of September a terrific cannonade was opened and kept up till noon of the 8th, the time of the attack. "This infernal fire," says Prince Gortschakoff, "principally directed against the embrasures, proved that the enemy was endeavouring to dismount our guns, to demolish our ramparts, and to prepare for taking the city by storm. It was no longer possible to repair the damage done to our works, and our efforts were limited to covering the powder magazines and the blindages with earth. The parapets crumbled down and filled up the ravines; it was necessary to continue clearing the embrasures, and the number of artillerymen killed was so great that it was with difficulty we could bring up others to take their place. Our loss at this period of the siege was extraordinary: from the 5th to the 8th of September there were placed hors de combat superior officers 4, subalterns 47, and 3917 soldiers, without reckoning the artillerymen who perished at their guns." At noon precisely the French rushed upon the Malakoff, and by this time almost all the Russian guns that bore upon the attack had been silenced. They crossed the ditches with surprising agility, and climbing on the parapets attacked the enemy to the cry of "Vive l'Empereur." At the fort of Malakoff, the slopes on the inside being very high, they stopped for a moment in order to form, and then mounted on the parapet and leaped into the work. The contest, which had commenced by musket-shots, was continued with the bayonet, with the butt-ends, and stones; and in a quarter of an hour the French flag was floating on the conquered redoubt. This was the signal for our troops to attack the Redan. The assaulting column consisted of only 1000 men, preceded by a covering party of 200, and a ladder party of 320 men. They had 220 yards of ground to cross under a very heavy fire of grape, and this space was soon covered with slain. Nevertheless, this did not impede their progress; and as they came nearer the salient the enemy's fire became less fatal. They crossed the abatis without difficulty, and made straight for the salient and projecting angle of the Redan. The ditch here was about 15 feet deep, but the men, led by their officers, leaped into it, and scrambled up the other side, whence they scaled the parapet almost without opposition. The few Russians who were in front ran back and got behind their traverses and breastworks, and opened fire upon them. On reaching the parapet, our men unfortunately began loading and file-firing, instead of following their officers and attacking the breastworks. The Russians now flocked to the traverses, whence they kept up a heavy fire on the men getting over the parapet or through the embrasures; and thus so many were killed and wounded that no sufficient force was left of the first arrivals to make a rush across the open space which lay between the salient and the traverses. For nearly two hours did our troops maintain this unequal contest before they abandoned the
on the Re-
dan.
Redan and gave up the attempt. French attacks had also been directed against the Little Redan on the right and the central bastion on the left, but these were also unsuccessful. In both cases our allies succeeded in penetrating within the works, but they found themselves exposed to such a murderous fire from all sides that they were obliged to give way. The struggle for the possession of the Malakoff was long and deadly, and again and again did the Russians attempt to retake it during the day, but without success. Our loss on that day amounted to 385 killed, 1886 wounded, and 176 missing; the French loss to 1489 killed, 4259 wounded, and 1400 missing. The Russians, according to their own account, lost 2684 killed, 7243 wounded, and 1763 missing. The possession of the Malakoff rendered the south side of the town quite untenable; so that the enemy, finding every effort to retake it unavailing, began in the evening to evacuate the town. During the night they exploded their magazines, blew up their fortifications, and set fire to the town. The ships, frigates, and other sailing-vessels were all sunk, with the exception of the steamers. Next morning the allies found the town deserted and in ruins. The walls of the houses attested the force and effect of the terrible bombardment, hardly a building remaining intact from shot or shell. The number of cannon and the quantity of the materials of war obtained was immense. The French took possession of the eastern and the English of the western part of the town.
On the 29th September a body of French cavalry put to flight a strong body of Russian horse at Kougell, 5 leagues N.E. of Eupatoria. The Russians lost about 50 killed and 169 prisoners, besides 6 pieces of cannon; whereas the loss of the French was only 6 killed and 28 wounded.
On the 17th of October Kinburn surrendered to the allied fleet, after a short bombardment. This fortress is situated on a low promontory at the entrance of a gulf into which flow the Boug and the Dnieper. On the opposite side of the gulf, and about 24 miles distant, is Oczakoff, which the Russians blew up and evacuated on our getting possession of Kinburn. The possession of these forts was of the utmost importance to the allies, as they thus commanded the sea-approach to Kherson on the Dnieper, and Nicolaieff, the naval arsenal of the Black Sea, on the Boug. The English troops soon after embarked for the Crimea, leaving a French force to garrison the forts. Soon after, a detachment of vessels from the allied fleet lying at Kertch took and destroyed the Russian establishments at Taman and Fanagoria.
On the 10th of November General Simpson resigned the command of the English army, and was succeeded by General Sir William Codrington. On the 15th of the same month a terrible explosion of 100,000 lb. of powder took place in the French siege-train, destroying an immense quantity of stores, and killing 21 and wounding 116 of the English and a still greater number of the French. On the 12th of this month the Emperor of Russia reviewed his troops in the Crimea; and soon after an imperial ukase was published, announcing a new Russian loan of 50 millions of silver roubles.
This year the allied fleet in the Baltic was as barren of great results as last year. Rear-Admiral Dundas commanded the English fleet, and Rear-Admiral Penaud had the command of the French. Eleven sail of the line and five paddle-steamers left the Downs on the 9th of April, and arrived at Kiel on the 19th. They were gradually re-inforced by others; and in the month of July there were in the Baltic 85 English vessels of war, mounting 2098 guns, and 16 French vessels of war, with 408 guns. In the combined fleet there were 23 line-of-battle ships, with 1853 guns; 31 frigates and corvettes, with 554 guns; 29 smaller steamers and gunboats, with 78 guns; and 18 mortar-boats and other craft, with 21 guns. The utmost
History. indignation was excited in England by the news of a boat, landing some prisoners under a flag of truce, having been attacked, and its crew either killed or taken prisoners. The facts were these:—On the 5th of June H.M.S. Cossack, when off Hango Point, despatched a cutter with a flag of truce to land some prisoners taken on board of some merchant vessels. After landing the prisoners, the officer in command, with several of the boat's crew, proceeded to communicate with the officer of the station, carrying the flag of truce along with them. They had not proceeded more than 50 yards from the boat when they were suddenly fired upon by Russian soldiers in ambush, and at the same time those in the boat were also attacked. Of the crew of eleven, six were killed and four badly wounded. The survivors were carried to Eckness (except one of the wounded, who made his escape in the boat), where they were treated with great kindness; but no satisfaction was obtained for this inhuman outrage.
The allied fleet, consisting of forty vessels, lay for more than three weeks off the north side of Cronstadt without attempting any hostile movement, and afterwards Admiral Baynes was left in command of a strong squadron there. One division of this squadron advanced along the north side of the island of Cronstadt, until it cast anchor within 5 miles of the town and shipping, and in view of the spires of St Petersburg. This part of the channel was found to be thickly studded with "infernal machines," which were taken up in large numbers by the boats. The only operation of importance effected this year by the allied fleet in the Baltic was the destruction of Sweborg, which protects the great naval station of Helsingfors. The allied fleet arrived off Sweborg on the 6th of August, and the two following days were spent in making preparations for the attack. The French had established a siege battery of four mortars on the small island of Abraham, within 2500 yards of the forts. They opened fire on the morning of the 9th, and in less than three hours the shells were observed to cause considerable damage in the fortress. Numerous fires broke out on several points at the same time, and the flames were soon seen to rise above the dome of the church situated in the northern part of the island of Est-Swarte. A monster explosion soon after took place, and was followed by three others in the course of half-an-hour. The bombardment was kept up till the morning of the 11th, and during that time Sweborg presented the appearance of a vast fiery furnace. Storehouses, magazines, barracks, government establishments, and a great quantity of military stores were all destroyed. The loss on the side of the allies was confined to one English sailor killed and a few slightly wounded. Nothing further of any moment was attempted by the allied fleet; and on the approach of winter the main body returned home, leaving a flying squadron to continue the blockade until the ice rendered the sea impassable by vessels.
War in Asia. We now turn to the seat of war in Asia. We left the Turkish army at Kars in the end of last year, and it was not till the 16th of June that the Russians made their first attack on that town. The Russian army was now nearly 40,000 strong, including 10,000 cavalry, and was under the command of General Mouravieff. The cavalry drove in the Bash-Bazooks, who were posted in the plain to the south-east of the city, but were checked and thrown into disorder by a well-directed fire from the batteries of the Koradagh and Hafiz Pasha. They subsequently brought up their artillery and cannonaded the earthworks of those defences for some time without effect, and then retired. They, however, invested the fortress and works so as to cut off all supplies.
In the end of July Lieutenant-Colonel Williams was sent out by the English government to act as her Majesty's commissioner at the head-quarters of the Turkish
army in Asia, and reached Kars about the middle of September. No attempt was made by the Russians to carry the place by assault until the morning of the 29th of September. At daybreak on that day they advanced in three columns, supported by twenty-four guns, and attacked three different parts of the defences. The garrison received them, as soon as they came within range, by a crushing fire of artillery from all sides, but the Russians rushed up the hill against the redoubts and breastworks in the face of a deadly fire of musketry. After a long and desperate struggle, the left division was completely broken, and fled in disorder down the hill, leaving 850 men dead on the field, besides those carried off by their companions. The central column attacked the redoubts of Tahmash and Yukseh, and here a sanguinary contest was maintained for several hours, the enemy being repulsed in all his attempts to enter the closed redoubts, which mutually flanked each other with their artillery and musketry, and made terrible havoc among the enemy. After a severe struggle, the right column turned the left flank of the entrenched wing of the Tahmash defences, and penetrated to the rear of the Turkish position. They were here met by several bodies of reinforcements which immediately fired upon them, and then charged them with the bayonet. At the same moment the Turkish troops made a sortie from the Tahmash redoubts and attacked the wavering column of the Russians, which broke and fled down the heights, under a murderous fire of artillery. Meanwhile the Russians had captured, by overwhelming numbers, that portion of the defences called the English tabias or redoubts; but battalions of infantry were sent up, which gallantly attacked and drove them out at the point of the bayonet. The Russians now hastily retreated along the whole line, and suffered severely from the batteries, which kept up an incessant fire upon their crowded columns. General Williams, in his account of the battle says,—"During this combat, which lasted nearly seven hours, the Turkish infantry, as well as artillery, fought with the most determined courage; and when it is recollected that they had worked on their entrenchments, and guarded them by night throughout a period extending to nearly four months, I think your lordship will admit that they have proved themselves worthy of the admiration of Europe, and established an undoubted claim to be placed among the most distinguished of their troops. With regard to the enemy, as long as there was a chance of success, he persevered with undaunted courage, and the Russian officers displayed the greatest gallantry. Their loss was immense; they left on the field more than 5000 dead, which it took the Turkish infantry four days to bury. Their wounded and prisoners in our possession amount to 160, while those who were carried off are said to be upwards of 7000." The Turkish army lost 362 dead and 631 wounded, and the towns-people, who also fought with bravery, lost 101 men.
Notwithstanding this bloody repulse the Russians continued their blockade of the town, and at length the garrison was reduced to the greatest distress. After the most dire sufferings, and seeing no appearance of relief, they at length agreed to surrender. The conditions agreed to were highly honourable to the besieged, and the whole conduct of General Mouravieff was honourable and courteous towards his unfortunate foes.
Before the close of the year 1855 Russia had given indications that she was desirous for peace; and Austria, doubtless feeling that she could not much longer remain, as she had hitherto done, an almost passive spectator of the war, strained every nerve to bring the opposing powers to terms. Accordingly, in the month of December Count Esterhazy was sent by the court of Vienna to St Petersburg with certain proposals for peace which would be consented to by the allies. These proposals were acceded to
by Russia, and a meeting of representatives took place at Vienna on the 1st of February. It was then agreed that plenipotentiaries from each of the six states should assemble at Paris on the 26th of February. Prussia was also invited to send representatives to the conference. The conference opened on that day, and their first business was to declare an armistice, which was to cease, if not renewed, on the 31st of March next. The conference lasted until the 30th of March, on which day the treaty of peace was definitely signed, but the ratifications were not exchanged until the 27th of April following. The substance of the treaty of peace was:—That the territories conquered or occupied by the respective belligerent powers be evacuated and restored; that prisoners of war be immediately delivered up on either side, and full and entire amnesty granted to those subjects of either party that may have been compromised by connection with the enemy. Each and all of the other states engage to respect and maintain the independence and territorial integrity of the Ottoman empire, and declare the Sublime Porte admitted to participate in the advantages of the public law and system of Europe. In the event of a misunderstanding between the Sublime Porte and one or more of the other contracting powers, each engages to submit the cause of quarrel to the others before having recourse to arms. The sultan records his generous intentions towards the Christian population of his empire; and intimates his having issued a firman with the view to ameliorate the condition of his subjects, without respect to sect or race,—it being, however, clearly understood that none of the other powers shall have right to interfere in the relations of his majesty with his subjects, nor in the internal administration of his empire. The convention of 1841, which maintained the right of the sultan to close the Straits of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus to all foreign ships of war is confirmed, reserving always to the sultan the right to grant firmans of passage for light vessels under flag of war employed in the service of the missions of foreign powers; or stationed, according to treaty, at the mouths of the Danube (in number not exceeding two for each power) to secure the execution of the regulations relative to the liberty of that river. The waters and ports of the Black Sea are thrown open to the mercantile marine of every nation, the two bordering powers engaging not to establish or maintain any military-maritime arsenal upon the coast. These two powers further mutually engage each not to have in that sea more ships of war than six steam-vessels of 50 metres (164 feet) in length at the line of flotation, of a tonnage of 800 tons at the maximum, and four light steam or sailing vessels of a tonnage which shall not exceed 200 tons each. The navigation of the Danube shall be free to the flags of all nations, in accordance with the principles established by the act of the congress of Vienna to regulate the navigation of rivers which separate or traverse different states; and to carry out these views a commission shall be named composed of a delegate for each of the seven contracting states, who shall also cause to be executed the works necessary to clear the mouths of the Danube, and put and maintain them in the best possible state for navigation; to cover the expenses of which fixed duties of a suitable rate shall be levied, but no duty or charge shall be leviable founded solely upon the fact of the navigation of the river. A permanent commission, composed of a delegate for each of Austria, Bavaria, Turkey, and Wurtemberg, and commissioners from the three Danubian principalities, subject to the approval of the Porte, shall prepare regulations of navigation and river police, remove all impediments to the navigation of the river, and on the termination of the European commission (within two years) shall assume their powers, and duties. To insure the due execution of these regulations each of the contracting powers shall have right to station at all
times two light vessels at the mouths of the Danube. In order the more fully to secure the free navigation of the Danube, and in consideration of the possessions restored to him, the Emperor of Russia consents to the rectification of his frontier in Bessarabia; the new frontier-line to be from the Black Sea, 1 kilometre east of the Lake Bourna Solâ, northward to the Akerman road, then along that road and the Wall of Trajan, passing south of Bolgrad to the River Yalpuck, extending along that river to the height of Saratsika, and terminating at Katamori on the Pruth, above which the old frontier should undergo no modification; the territory thus ceded to be annexed to the principality of Moldavia, under the suzerainty of the Sublime Porte. The principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia to continue under the suzerainty of the Porte, which engages to preserve to them an independent and national administration, as well as full liberty of worship, legislation, commerce, and navigation. The laws and statutes at present in force to be revised by a special commission, to meet at Bucharest without delay; and the sultan to convoke immediately in each of the two provinces a divan ad hoc, representing most closely all classes of society, to express the wishes of the people in regard to the organization of the Principalities. The report of the commission having regard to the opinions expressed by the two divans, shall be submitted to a convention to meet at Paris, and in conformity with the stipulations of that convention, a hatti-sherif shall constitute definitively the organization of those provinces. No exclusive protection shall, however, be exercised over them by any of the other contracting powers, nor shall there be any separate right of interference in their international affairs. If the internal tranquillity of the Principalities shall be menaced or compromised, the Sublime Porte shall come to an understanding with the other contracting powers regarding the steps to be taken to restore peace, and no armed intervention shall take place without their sanction. The principality of Servia to continue to hold of the Sublime Porte, in conformity with the imperial hattis, which fix and determine its rights and immunities, under the collective guarantee of the contracting powers. A commission, consisting of two Russian, two Turkish, one French, and one English commissioners, to be appointed to settle the boundary between Russia and Turkey in Asia, as before the war. The Emperor of Russia further engaged to France and England that the Aland Islands should not be fortified, or any military or naval establishment maintained or created there.
Several disputes subsequently arose regarding the interpretation of certain parts of this treaty, all of which, however, were at length satisfactorily arranged. One of these was regarding the Isle of Serpents at the mouth of the Danube; another was regarding the possession of Bolgrad, and the frontier of Russia towards the Danube. On the maps before the conference, furnished by the French government, the town of Bolgrad was placed at some distance from the Lake of Yalpuck, and the Russians strongly insisted on the possession of this town, in order to have a capital for the Bulgarian colonies, that still remained in their possession. It was subsequently found, however, that Bolgrad stood at the northern extremity of the lake, and to allow it to remain in the hands of Russia was directly contrary to the spirit of that part of the treaty which was to remove Russia from all direct communication with the Danube and Lower Pruth. Accordingly, Bolgrad was assigned to Moldavia; and to meet the desire of Russia to have a capital for her Bulgarian colonies, the town of Komrat, on the right bank of the Yalpuck, was given to her, the boundary-line from the point where the Kirsan falls into the Yalpuck proceeding up the former stream instead of up the latter. The Isle of Serpents, it was agreed, should belong to Turkey, and it was also agreed that the islands
Statistics. included between the different branches of the Danube at its mouth, and forming the delta of that river, should, instead of being annexed to Moldavia, be replaced under the immediate sovereignty of the Sublime Porte, of which they formerly held. A treaty in these terms was signed at Paris on 19th June 1857 by representatives of the several powers.
The final evacuation of the Crimea took place on the 12th of July, on which day Sevastopol and Balaklava were formally given up to the Russians. The coronation of the
emperor took place at Moscow on the 7th of September, under circumstances of extraordinary splendour, and was attended by special representatives from all the powers with which Russia had been recently at war. The new monarch has already done much to ameliorate the condition of his subjects, by the adoption of many liberal and enlightened measures favouring the spread of education, encouraging commerce and manufactures, alleviating the burdens of taxation, &c., as will be found noticed in the different sections of the subsequent portion of this article.
List of the Dukes, Czars, and Emperors of Russia, with the Date of their Accession.
| I. DUKES OF KIEF. | II. GRAND DUKES OF VLADIMIR. | III. GRAND DUKES OF MOSCOW. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A.D. | A.D. | ||||
| Ruric..... | 861 | Andrew I. .... | 1167 | Ivan or John I. .... | 1328 |
| Igor..... | 878 | Michael II. .... | 1177 | Ivan or John II. .... | 1328 |
| Sviatoslav..... | 945 | Vsevolod III. .... | 1213 | Simeon..... | 1340 |
| Yaropolk I. .... | 972 | Yury, Igor, or George II. | 1238 | ||
| Vladimir I., the Great.... | 980 | Yaroslav II. .... | |||
| Yaroslav I. .... | 1013 | Saint Alexander Neffsky..... | 1245 | ||
| Isiaslav I. .... | 1054 | Yaroslav III. .... | 1263 | ||
| Vsevolod I. .... | 1078 | Vasilii or Basil I. .... | 1270 | ||
| Sviatopolk..... | 1093 | Dimitri I. .... | 1277 | ||
| Vladimir II. .... | 1114 | Daniel..... | 1294 | ||
| Matilasav or Michael I. .... | 1125 | Yury, Igor, or George III. | 1302 | ||
| Yaropolk II. .... | 1132 | Michael III. .... | 1305 | ||
| Vistcheslav (eight days).... | 1138 | Vasilii or Basil II. .... | 1320 | ||
| Vsevolod II. .... | 1146 | George III., restored..... | 1325 | ||
| Isiaslav II. .... | 1154 | ||||
| Rostislav..... | 1154 | ||||
| Isiaslav III. .... | 1154 | ||||
| Yury, Igor, or George I. .... | 1155 | ||||
Geography and Statistics.
Geographical extent. Russia, the largest of all empires, ancient or modern, in the world, forms a connected territory extending west to east from 17. 40. to 232. 30. E. Long. from Greenwich; or in words, from the frontier post-station Pyzdry in Poland, on the Prussian border, at the confluence of the Wartha and Prosna, to Observatory Inlet, opposite the N.E. point of Queen Charlotte's Island in North America; and south to north from 38. 25. to 78. 26. of N. Lat., or from the most southerly inhabited point of the Russian empire, the mouth of the Astara River in the Caspian, to Cape Severo-Vostochnoi in Siberia.1 Russia thus embraces nearly 215 degrees of longitude, or two-thirds of the circumference of the earth, and more than 40 degrees of latitude; one-sixth of the habitable globe, and one twenty-third of its whole superficies. Between its two farthest points, west by east, the length in a straight line is about 9681, and the greatest breadth about 2628 miles. The sea-board, which is little available, stretches over 25,100, and the land frontier over 9200 miles. The superficial area is difficult of computation; but, as nearly as possible, it may be estimated as follows:—
| Eng. sq. miles. | |
|---|---|
| The forty-nine European governments2..... | 1,848,564 |
| Poland..... | 49,167 |
| Finland..... | 145,668 |
| The Caucasus..... | 167,832 |
| Siberia..... | 4,940,875 |
| North American Possessions..... | 370,905 |
| 7,523,011 | |
| Recent acquisitions in Daoceria and the Amoor region..... | 1,059,750 |
| Total..... | 8,582,741 |
| Ivan or John II. .... | 1353 | Alexei..... | 1645 |
| Dimitri II. .... | 1359 | Feodor or Theodore III. .... | 1676 |
| Vasilii or Basil III. .... | 1389 | Ivan V. and Peter I., together..... | 1682 |
| Vasilii or Basil IV. .... | 1425 | ||
| Ivan or John III. .... | 1462 | ||
| Vasilii or Basil V. .... | 1506 | ||
| V. EMPERORS OF RUSSIA. | |||
| Peter I., the Great, alone..... | 1698 | ||
| Catharine I. .... | 1725 | ||
| Peter II. .... | 1727 | ||
| Anne..... | 1730 | ||
| Ivan VI. .... | 1740 | ||
| Elizabeth..... | 1741 | ||
| Peter III. .... | 1762 | ||
| Catharine II. .... | 1762 | ||
| Paul..... | 1796 | ||
| Alexander I. .... | 1801 | ||
| Nicholas..... | 1825 | ||
| Alexander II., the present emperor..... | 1855 |
Where, however, extreme limits are not only far from precisely defined, but are even, through their vastness, partly unknown to the Russian government itself, where extension of frontier is almost yearly going on, and where the learned themselves disagree, entire accuracy is of course unattainable.
The Russian government admits of no distinction between European and Asiatic Russia, but views these divisions as forming a compact whole; some governments lying partly in Europe and partly in Asia. The natural boundary, however, betwixt European and Asiatic Russia is formed by the River Kara, the Ooral chain of mountains, the River Ooral to its mouth in the Caspian, and thence by the shores of this sea to the eastern extremity of the Caucasus. The natural division between Asiatic and North American Russia is formed by Behring's Straits. To the north Russia is bounded by Norwegian Lapland and the Arctic Ocean; to the east by British North America; to the south by the Sea of Okhotsk, the Gulf of Tartary, China, Free Tartary, the Caspian Sea (which it now mostly includes), Persia, Turkish Armenia, the Black Sea, and European Turkey; to the west by Moldavia, Galicia (including Cracow), Prussia, the Baltic Sea, Sweden and Norway. By the treaty of 1858 with China, the whole left bank of the Amoor, from its source down to the Oossoori, one of its chief affluents, belongs to Russia, and the right to China; from the Oossoori, downwards to the Gulf of Tartary, both banks now belong to Russia. The new measurement of the boundary with China will be laid down from an angle taken 60 verst (40 miles) up the Oossoori, and extending, as said, down to the Gulf of Tartary. Turning to another part of the territory, the impending absorption into Russia of the Caucasus will lend interest to a more circumstantial account of this region. The line drawn from the mouth of the Kooban,
1 Russia, like Germany and many other powers, draws her first meridian from the island of Ferro, 20° W. from Paris, 17° 39' 50" W. of Greenwich, and 47° 59' 30" W. of Poolkova. Russia adopts this method for the sake of not having two longitudes, E. and W. She has now her own observatory at Poolkova, but calculations are made from that spot only for astronomical and chronometrical purposes. Russian navigation charts are generally constructed from Greenwich. Cape Severo-Vostochnoi means North-East Cape.
2 Those parts of the governments of Fermo and Orenburg which are situated beyond the Ooral in Asia are included here.
Statistics. which falls into the Black Sea, to the mouth of the Terek in the Caspian, is called the northern boundary, or line of the Caucasus. The southern boundary extends from the mouth of the Reon to that of the Koor. The whole length of the Caucasian mountain range, from Fort Anapa on the Black Sea, to Cape Apsheron on the Caspian, is calculated at 691 miles. The whole superficial extent of the Caucasian isthmus, reckoning from within the limits indicated, is 167,733 English square miles; of which are subjected to Russia 123,245, and are yet free 44,488. The whole population amounts to 4,058,064 souls; and of this number are already subjugated 3,391,064,—viz., Christians, 1,762,741; Mohammedans, or of other religions, 2,295,323.
The languages of all the mountain tribes are totally distinct, and show that these races were not originally a homogeneous people, but a residue of the different nations from various quarters, which were either driven to this spot of earth by other nations pressing on them, or were the subsidence both of them and of the aborigines. It is also worthy of note, that war is more seriously carried on in that region of the Caucasus which lies towards the Caspian, and in particular with the Lezghéens and Tchetchentsi tribes; less so on the Black Sea region, with the Adéghéi, Oobékhi, and Abkháztsi tribes. It is further remarkable, that in the subjugated Caucasus only twenty-four souls go to the English square mile, whereas there are forty-nine to the English square mile in the unsubjugated portion; thus showing how these races are being fast hemmed in prior to their ultimate absorption into the Russian empire.
Generally, as regards the boundaries of Russia, the following remarks may be noted as of vital importance to England. The Asiatic border of Russia on China, and towards India, passes in the Keerghee region beyond the Caspian, down from Fort Perofski on the Sir Daria, in an easterly direction, to Lake Teletski, and farther along the River Tchoo round Lake Esseeck-kool, thence from Esseeck-kool to the north-east, where the regular Chinese boundary commences. The Rock-Keerghee dwell about this last-mentioned lake, in a cauldron-shaped hollow environed by snow-capped mountains of immense height. A little to the north of Lake Esseeck-kool, between it and the River Eelee, is situated Fort Vernoyeh, which commands the whole of this Keerghee region. Higher up, again, we come to the south-eastern boundary of Russia towards India, and would beg to call special attention to the following facts, as important to English policy. By the embankment of the Volga mouths at the Caspian, and the large establishments forming in that quarter, Russia is brought 2000 English miles nearer to India; and were once the Amoo Daria or Oxus reverted into its former course of disemboguation in the Caspian, a navigable road is ready made to within 500 miles of Herat. The skill of the natives in this sort of work is quite astonishing. The consequences may be appreciated when we reflect that all past history shows how uniformly Central Asia has been the arena of events controlling the ultimate destiny of the human race. Any future struggle for mastery between Russia and England must eventually be fought out on this field. Let us look to it!
General aspect.
European Russia, together with Poland, belongs to that immense plain which begins in Holland, and extends over the north of Germany and the whole east of Europe. From the Carpathian to the Ooral range, a distance of 500 leagues, all is one undulating level, without a mountain to break the monotonous lowness of the horizon, or oppose a barrier to the winds. A great proportion of it, in the south especially, consists of those immense tracts called steppes, which, like the pampas of South America, present to the eye only a dead flat for many hundreds of miles. Occasionally, indeed, the surface is diversified by ancient tumuli, supposed to be the burial-places of the Scythians, and
here and there small table-lands occur; but the latter rise Statistics. so gently as to be scarcely perceptible. Of these, the most worthy of notice are the Valdai Hills, situated in the governments of Moscow, Tver, and Toola, the loftiest summit of which, lying between the villages of Toloshva and Mosti, and the towns of Ostashkoff and Valdai, is only 1000 feet in height. No part of the Valdai Hills is very rugged; on the contrary, they form a gently-sloping plain; but the rivers and lakes are usually inclosed by steep banks. They form the watershed between rivers flowing into the Baltic and those flowing into the Black and Caspian seas; and here, within a short distance of each other, are the sources of the rivers Volga, Dviná, Dnieper, Lovat, Pola, and other smaller ones. To the north-east the land gradually slopes to the shores of the Baltic Sea, themselves mostly flat, and is for the greater part covered with immense forests, marshes, and turf-moors. Between this ocean inlet and the White Sea, on the N.N.W., lies an expanse of country richer in water than any other in Europe. Here a multitude of lakes, large and small, are united together like a net-work of water, and between them extend those rocky ridges which, on the north-west, rise into the inferior Finnish chain of hills. These, however, sink again towards the Lake Enara and the River Tana, without joining the Scandinavian system of mountains. Proceeding south-west from the interior hills of Valdai, the land also gradually sinks and changes into the immense marshes lying between Minsk and Volhynia, called Polesich. Through these the River Priepetz, the great feeder of the Dnieper, pursues its course, constituting their drain or outlet. The northern declivities of the Carpathian Mountains only in a few places cross the borders of the Austrian territory and enter Russia, but not as hills of any height. Near the sources of the Oder they stretch on towards the Vistula, and along this stream, in the form of a plateau 800 feet in height, rising eastwards between Pilica and the above river into groups of mountains, which extend in five parallel chains, having for a distance of 90 a breadth of about 50 miles. In two or three places they rise to the height of more than 1000 feet, and these are the loftiest points in Poland. Upon the other side, in the east, the declivities of the Carpathian range form a broad table-land, extending across the whole of Southern Russia. It thus separates the low land of the interior from the maritime country of the Black Sea. Unlike the table-land of Valdai, which bears on its broad surface lakes and fens, this southern plateau consists of large steppes, watered by the rivers Dniester, Dnieper, and Don, which here form cataracts. Between the last-named stream and the Volga it rises as a continuation of the lower Volga range, which, under the name of the Irgheni Hills, extends southwards to the Caucasus. On the peninsula of the Crimea a wholly insulated chain of mountains rises to a considerable height, and runs from east to west nearly 120 miles, close to the coast of the Black Sea. In one part it attains an elevation of 5185 feet. Along the eastern boundary of European Russia the Ooral mountain chain extends from the shores of the Frozen Ocean southwards towards the Caspian Sea for a distance of nearly 1500 miles, unconnected with any other mountain system of Europe. The northern portion of the Ooral chain, from the Straits of Waygats to the sources of the Petchora, consists of rough naked limestone rocks, and rises to a considerable height; but this part of the country is comparatively little known. The middle portion of the chain, as far as the sources of the Oofa, called the Verkhotoorie Oorals, forms a broad table-land of moderate elevation, overspread with morasses. Farther to the south the Oorals rise again in height, and become thickly wooded; whilst in the government of Orenburg they expand into broad ramifications on both sides of the River Ooral. The chain, with all its branches, sinks towards the Caspian, without coming into contact on the
Statistics. east with the mountain systems of Asia. It is called, at different points, the Orenburg, Bashkir, and Keergheez Oorals, and sends out an offshoot on the south-west between the rivers Ooral and Samara,—the Obshchei-Syrt, which stretches to the banks of the Volga. The Sok Mountains form a part of this spur of the Oorals. There are seven defiles or passes through this great range, the most practicable of which are the roads from Perm and Orenburg into Asia. Between the southern declivities of the Oorals and the Caspian Sea and Lake Aral there is an opening of about 280 miles in breadth, through which more than once the hordes of Asia have poured like a flood over Europe.
Steppes and toondras are an important feature of the geography of Russia. These steppes are treeless tracts of country, mostly level, although not uniformly so; and often bear heather or feather-grass, called Kovell (Stipa pennata), on a soil sometimes fertile, and sometimes arid, marshy, or sandy. They are in their nature to the south and east what the toondras are to the north of Russia, in the governments of Olonetz and Arkhangel, mostly toward the shores of the Arctic Ocean. The toondras are also treeless wastes, bearing a poor vegetation of low shrubs on a moss or turf surface. The steppe region extends from the River Pruth, across the lower water-courses of the Dnieper, Boog, Dnieper, and Don, as far as the Volga and Caspian Sea. There is but one acclivity in the western part of this region, Bessarabia, where the Carpathians branch off; and in the southern, where the Taurian mountains rise. It is only in the western and middle parts that rich meadow-land is met with; the rest is poorly watered, thinly-populated, and, notwithstanding the occasional fertility of the soil, but little favourable to agriculture. The Taurian peninsula, although belonging by its position to the middle part of this flat region, has quite another character, and totally differs from it in the variety of its vegetable kingdom; the mountains and their declivities being covered with building and ship-timber, and the slopes with fruitful vineyards. In the valleys, particularly of the southern coast, the most delicate fruits attain to maturity. The eastern part of this plain, mostly sandy, is covered with bogs and salt-marshes; agriculture is almost unknown, and there is little arable land, excepting at the foot of the Caucasus. The land of the Don Kozzacks, an oasis in this part of the huge level, has a better soil, favourable to the pursuits of the husbandman. According to Pallas, part of this immense level must, at some remote period, have lain beneath the tide of the ocean.
The soil of Russia is so slightly undulated that to consider the spaces traversed by its rivers as true basins would be an abuse of terms, notwithstanding that it contains the most important water-courses in Europe. Some eminent geographers have adopted the plan of classifying the rivers according to the seas into which they discharge themselves; and as it has several advantages over the usual method of describing the streams of a country in the order of their size and importance, we shall follow it. In the declivity which slopes to the Black Sea and the Sea of Azoff there is (1.) the Pruth, an affluent of the Danube. It descends from the mountains of Galicia or Austrian Poland, and in the northern part separates Bessarabia in Russia from Moldavia in Turkey. (2.) The Dnieper, which rises also in Galicia, and flows, winding serpent-like, towards Russia. Below Chotzim it is broken by rapids, so that near Bender boat navigation is interrupted; and without receiving any tributaries of importance, it falls into the Black Sea at the broad but shallow estuary or lake of Ovidovo. (3.) The Dnieper, which has its source in the government of Smolensk, on the southern slope of the Valdai Hills, and empties itself into the Black Sea below Kherson. This noble stream receives many tributaries; amongst which, on the right, flow into it the Bereznina, the Priepetz, and the Ingooletz; and on the left, the Soj, the Desna, Soola, Psol,
Vorskla, and others. This river is the ancient Borysthenes. (4.) The Don, which originates in the small lake of Ivanovsko, in the government of Riazan. After intersecting the Kozzack territory, to which it gives name, it discharges itself below Tcherkask into the Sea of Azoff by several mouths. In summer it is shallow; in spring it overflows its low banks to a great extent, and forms unhealthy morasses. Its principal affluent on the right are the Metcha, Nepriavda, and Donetz; and on the left the Voronej (on which stream Peter the Great built his ships for the Black Sea), the Khopér, Medveditsa, Ilovlia, and Mánitch. (5.) The Koobán, which descends from the northern side of Elburz in the Caucasus, flows first north and then west, upon the boundary between Asia and Europe. It separates into two main branches, the northern of which falls into the Sea of Azoff, and the southern into the Black Sea.
On the Caspian declivity we have (1.) the Volga, the largest river in Europe. It originates in a small lake in the government of Tver, near the village of Volgo-Verkhovie, in the forest of Volkonski, in N. Lat. 57. It traverses lakes Oselok, Piana, and Volga; and on receiving the waters of the River Selizarovka from Lake Seligher, it becomes navigable, and falls into the Caspian Sea at Astrakhan by eight principal arms, which have in all sixty-five mouths, forming about seventy islands. It has thirty-eight navigable and one hundred and fifty-seven unnavigable tributaries, the principal of which on the left is the Kama or Little Volga, which has a course of about 1000 miles in length. Before the Volga receives the Kama the rivers Tvertsa, Mologa, Oonja, Vetlooga, and others, join it on the left; and on the right the Oka, which descends from the water-shed where the Don and Dnieper originate, and the Soorá, which flows from the Volga hills. The Volga is upwards of 2000 miles in length. Its breadth at Astrakhan, where it embraces many islands, is 5 leagues. The depth varies from 7 to 18 feet. In the winter it is covered with ice throughout its whole extent, but there are always many apertures in the south from which currents of air escape, and hence they are termed the lungs of the Volga. During summer the Volga is crowded with thousands of boats, constructed in the well-wooded districts of Russia, and conveying from the interior all sorts of commodities to St Petersburg, where, being destined only for a single journey, they are usually broken up and sold. This noble river is the chief commercial road of the whole interior of the Russian empire. It encircles the central table-land, receiving, as we have seen, the Oka, the principal river of this fertile region. It communicates in the upper part of its course, by the canal of Vishni-Volotchok, with the Lakes Ladoga and Onega; and lastly, the Kama conveys to it all the waters of Eastern Russia. (2.) The Ooral, formerly the Yaik, but so called in conformity to a decree of Catherine II. in order to obliterate the remembrance of Pogatchoff's rebellion. It descends from the eastern declivities of the mountains that bear the same name, and, flowing in a smooth channel sufficiently deep for small vessels, traces out for a considerable distance the eastern and southern frontiers of the government of Orenburg, and the eastern limits of Europe. On the right it receives the Sakmara; on the left the Ilek; and after a course of above 1000 miles, falls into the Caspian near Gourieff. (3.) The Terek rises at the base of the Kazbek; receives on the right the rivers Songa and Aksai; on the left the Oorong, Tsherek, Bekhar, and Malka; and enters the Caspian by three principal mouths.
On the declivity of the Frozen Ocean we have (1.) the Petchora, which rises in the Ooral mountain range, and traverses the most solitary deserts of Russia, the governments of Arkhangel and Vologda. Its steep calcareous banks are broken by caverns and ravines; and hence its name Petchora, which in the Russian language signifies caverns. After receiving, amongst other tributaries, the
Statistics. Oossa on the right, and the Tzma and Taima on the left, it falls into the Arctic Ocean in N. Lat. 67. 10., its mouths forming an immense estuary. The length of its course is about 670 miles. (2.) The Mezen, which originates in some bogs in the government of Vologda, and after a course of 500 or 600 miles discharges itself into a bay of the same name on the shores of the White Sea, almost under the Polar Circle. (3.) The Dvina is the name which the rivers Sookhona and Yoog receive after their junction near Veliki-Oost-Yoog. The Sookhona flows from Lake Koobinskoe, in the government of Vologda; and the Yoog rises in the same government, but is a much smaller stream. The Dvina does not assume the dimensions of a large river till after the junction of the Vychegda, which falls into it on the right. Near Kholmogory the Dvina divides into several arms, and after a course of above 650 miles falls into a gulf of the same name. Its mouth is greatly obstructed by a bar of mud. (4.) The Onega, which is the outlet of several lakes, but not that of Onega, although it is situated in the neighbourhood.
The declivity of the Baltic Sea is furrowed by several rivers: (1.) The Tornéo, which originates in Swedish Lapland and after the confluence of its great tributary the Muonio, forms to its mouth into the Baltic the boundary between Russia and Sweden. The Muonio likewise traces for some distance the limit of the empire on this side. The Tornéo has a course of about 280 miles. (2.) The Neva. Its length from Schlüsselburg, at the south-west angle of the Ladoga Lake, to its mouth is 44 miles; its direction that of a straight line from east to west; its medium breadth about 1500 feet, and its depth, in many places 70 or 80 feet, is generally in the channel about 50 feet. The water of this river is remarkably pure. This noble stream is the only outlet for the waters of four great basins, each of which has an extensive natural reservoir of its own. These reservoirs are the lakes Onega, Ilmen, Saima, and Ladoga, the last receiving the drains of the other three. Ten different streams flow into the Onega, whose length from north to south is 120 miles, and its breadth from east to west 46 miles. It discharges itself into the Lake Ladoga by the Sver, a river 133 miles long, and of very unequal breadth. The Ilmen is 36 miles long from north-east to south-west, and about 20 wide from north-west to south-east. It receives eleven streams, and has its outlet into the Ladoga by the Volkoff, 135 miles long, with a medium breadth of 400 feet. The Saima is a collection of lakes, gulfs, and bays, of all shapes and sizes, communicating with each other, rather than a single sheet of water, and is about 145 miles in length by about 50 in extreme breadth. It communicates with the Ladoga by means of the Voxa, a river about 119 miles in length, but not navigable in consequence of its several rapids, of which the most considerable, that of Imatra, has an inclination of upwards of 32 feet, forming a grander fall than that of Schaffhausen, and second only in Europe to the Trollhättan in Sweden. Besides the Sver, Volkoff, and Voxa, the Ladoga receives the water of thirteen other streams. This, the largest lake of Europe, is about 130 miles long, 75 broad, of an oval form, and having an area of 6360 square miles. The Onega has an estimated area of 5300, the Saima of 2650, and the Ilmen of 300 square miles. (See PETERSBURG, St.) (3.) The Dvina, or Southern Dvina, originates in a fen on the western declivities of the forest of Volkonski, in the government of Tver, not far from the sources of the Volga. It soon becomes deep enough to be navigable, but its course is broken by rapids and sandbanks; it falls into the Bay of Riga without having received in its course any affluents of importance. (4.) The Niemen, which rises in the forests of Kopisloff, in the government of Minsk, flows first in a northerly direction, and then, bending to the west, enters Prussia under the name of the Memel. On the right it receives the Vilia, a navigable stream; and on
the left one or two others, not important enough for notice. Statistics. (5.) The Vistula rises in the principality of Teschen in Austrian Silesia, at the foot of the western Carpathian range of mountains. It flows in an easterly direction to Cracow, where it becomes navigable, and as far as Sandomir forms a boundary-line between Galicia and Poland. Amongst its affluents the most important is the Boog, which originates on the northern side of a chain or lofty ridge of hills separating the chalky lands of Volhynia from the rich plains of Podolia, and receiving at Sierock the Nareff, a river which flows from the plains of Lithuania. Its other tributaries are the Wieprz, the Pilica, the San, and the Bzura. (6.) The Wartha, a river which rises in a plateau near Kromoloff in Cracow, flows in a broad channel like the Vistula, and inundates the neighbouring fields. After receiving the Ner it becomes navigable; and though not so deep as the Vistula, may be considered a large river. After receiving the Prosna, which for a great distance forms the boundary between Poland and Prussia, the Wartha flows into the Prussian territory, and joins the Oder.
The Baltic, the Black Sea, and the Caspian, will be found lakes, seas, and coasts, described under their respective heads in this work. In the foregoing account of the rivers of Russia we have noticed four of the most considerable sheets of water in this country. Deep in the interior are a few pretty large collections of water; but lakes are not a characteristic of Russia, except in the north-west part, where Finland is situated. Here, indeed, immense numbers of winding lakes, of varied form and dimensions, intersect the country in all directions, giving rise to numerous rivers, but none of them irrigates a great extent of country. All these, surrounded by rocky shores, a sterile soil, and pine-clad hills, present the most striking scenery in European Russia, but afford few facilities for internal intercourse. The coasts of Russia are deeply penetrated by large arms of the sea, forming gulfs, bays, and creeks. Besides the Black and Baltic seas we have the Kara Sea, signifying "brown" or "hazel," which is the most easterly, and washes at once Europe and Asia. It is 450 miles in length; but navigation is almost constantly obstructed by the ice at its northern entrance. On the north-west is the Bieloie Morie, or White Sea, which itself embosoms a number of bays and gulfs of considerable size. The largest of these are the Gulfs of Mezen, Dvina, and Onega, so called from the rivers which flow into them; and Kandalask, which communicates with Lake Kovdozero. The White Sea is about the same length as that of Kara, with a breadth of from 60 to 70 miles. Between these two great inlets of the Arctic Ocean occur other gulfs; the most considerable being Tchenskaia, which is separated from the White Sea by the peninsula of Kaniskaia Zemliä; and that formed to the east of this by the estuary of the Petchora.
The extensive inlets of the sea above mentioned of course Capes, &c. form numerous promontories. In looking over a good map the most striking to the eye is Cape Kanin, the north-western extremity of the peninsula of Kaniskaia Zemliä. This neck of land, which separates the Gulf of Tchesc from the White Sea, stretches directly north into the Arctic Ocean, a distance of about 150 miles. Its breadth is between 40 and 50 miles. Cape Onega projects into the White Sea near the bottom of that gulf, and forms the Bay of Arkhangel on the N.E. and the Bay of Onega on the S.W.
The geological structure of Russia in Europe corresponds Geology. in its vastness and simplicity to the other characters of that huge empire. Single formations extend over spaces equaling whole kingdoms, and have never been broken up or subjected to those igneous convulsions which have complicated the structure of other parts of Europe. From Finland and the shores of the Baltic, till we reach the low ridges of the Oural, and from the Arctic Sea almost to the Black Sea and the Caspian, no trace of igneous or intrusive
Statistics. rock breaks the wide expanse of the regularly-stratified deposits.
The oldest and deepest-seated strata are the great masses of granitic and hornblende gneiss, generally dipping S.E., which compose nearly the whole province of Finland. They form a low, undulating country, full of irregular lakes and morasses, and rarely varied even by intrusive igneous rocks except near Lake Onega. But immediately south-east of the depression from the White Sea to the Gulf of Finland, the series of fossiliferous deposits begins. The first of these is the Silurian formation, stretching from the southern extremity of Lake Ladoga, by St Petersburg and Esthonia, to the islands Dago and Oesel in the Baltic. The Lower Silurian is well seen in the cliffs of the Estonian coast, and forms all the flat country round the capital. It begins below with beds of blue or greenish clays, marked with faucoidal impressions, and still so soft and plastic as to be readily moulded with the hand, though the equivalent in age of the hard, compact slaty rocks of Wales. Above are beds of white or yellow sand, occasionally hardened into a calcareous sandstone, named the unguilite grit by native geologists, from the abundant remains of the horny shell of the obolus or unguilite. Dark-coloured graptolite slates, often bituminous, and a thin band of greensand, containing the curious bodies named conodonts by Pander, and supposed by him to be teeth of fishes, but which are rather remains of molluscs or annelids, follow. These are covered by the Pleta or orthoceratite limestone, rich in remains of trilobites, orthidæ, orthoceratites, and other characteristic fossils, identifying it with the strata of our own country. Above these deposits, especially in the island of Oesel, bands of marly or dolomitic limestone, often grey-coloured and full of the pentamerus and other fossils, represents the Wenlock or upper Silurian of England. In this region all these beds are soft, incoherent, and slightly consolidated; and it is only where they again appear in a narrow zone skirting the western declivities of the Ooral, and pierced by the granites, syenites, porphyries, and trap rocks of that chain, that they assume a harder and denser structure, and even graduate into metamorphic and crystalline strata.
Next in order is the Devonian, or old red sandstone formation, extending over a much wider surface of 150,000 square miles, and thus considerably more than the whole British Islands. Beginning in Courland and Livonia, and resting on the Silurian beds, one branch runs north to the shores of the White Sea, beyond Arkhangel, and skirts even the west coast of the Kola peninsula. Another branch extends south and east from the Valdai Hills, by Smolensk and Orel, to the valley of the Don, north of Voroneje. In the northern band sands and marls prevail south of St Petersburg, and in the great region from the Baltic provinces to Orel red and green marls, shales, and sands are covered by, or alternate with, laminated limestones. In these beds fossil fish, —as the gigantic Asterolepis, the Osteolepis, Diplopterus, Dipterus, Pterichthys, and lately the Coccosteus, —characteristic of Caithness and the north of Scotland, —are associated with the typical mollusca of Devonshire and the Eifel. This important fact, first recorded by Sir R. I. Murchison and his colleagues, thus casts a most valuable light on the structure of our own country, where these dissimilar types of life have never been found conjoined.
To the east and north, as is well seen in the Valdai Hills, the Devonian strata are overlaid by a scarcely less extensive deposit of Carboniferous beds. From Cape Voronin, on the White Sea, they run down through Novgorod, Tver, and Moscow, to Riazan, forming the upper basin of the Volga, and the low plateau from which this river, the Don, Dnieper, and Dvina diverge to the far-separated Caspian, Euxine, and Baltic seas. Sinking down below the newer formations in the centre of the kingdom, they re-appear in a long, narrow zone along the flanks of the Ooral, and in other
detached portions, showing an enormous underground extension. In all this region it is, however, chiefly the lower parts of the formation, or the mountain limestone, with its characteristic crinoids, products, and spirifers that are seen, and the few seams of coal are thin and poor in quality. Like the associated strata of sand and clay, the coal is only half-mineralized, and more resembles the tertiary lignites than the true coal of Western Europe. Recent attempts, too, to find workable coal by boring through the overlying Jurassic beds at Moscow have failed; a small detached field between the Donetz and the Sea of Azoff alone affords a better promise. There several seams of good coal, interstratified with sandstone, shale, and limestone, have been wrought; and though the beds are often broken and highly inclined, Sir R. I. Murchison thinks that valuable and extensive deposits of this mineral may yet be discovered in that vicinity.
The Permian, which succeeds, is the most extensive formation in Russia. It was so named by Sir R. I. Murchison from its full development in the ancient kingdom of Perm. Touching on the shores of the White Sea and Arctic Ocean in the north, and skirting the base of the Oorals in the east, it occupies the whole basin of the Dvina, the Kama, and the northern tributaries of the Volga, and runs south into Orenburg and the Keerghes steppes. Everywhere the beds are nearly horizontal, but of very varied mineral character—grits, sandstones, marls, conglomerates, and limestones including great masses of gypsum and rock-salt, and often impregnated with copper ores. According to Von Qualen, it consists, in the province of Orenburg, of three divisions: the lower division, very rich in copper ore, is composed of large masses of gypsum, thick beds of red, brown, and grey sandstones and conglomerates, and of various marls, with limestones and thin layers of coal. The middle division consists of clays and marls, with many beds of limestone and slaty coal, but less abundance of copper ore. Fucoids and ferns, products, and other molluscs, with remains of fishes and Saurian reptiles, occur in this and the lower division, and in the latter, also, innumerable fragments of fossil wood. The third or upper division, of thin layers of marly or tufaceous limestone, with no fossils, is seen only on the top of some hills and plateaux. The most remarkable feature of the Permian formation in Russia is the abundance of copper ore and gypsum. The ores of copper are chiefly malachite and azurite; but cuprite, native copper, and copper pyrites also occur. These ores are mostly mixed in the sandstones and marls, rarely in small nests, and are peculiarly rich on the broken stems and branches of trees that abound in the sandstones of the lower division. Generally there is only one metalliferous bed, from a few inches to less than six feet thick, but occasionally more than one is seen. These copper ores are found all along the foot of the Ooral in Orenburg and Perm, but decrease as the distance from the mountains is greater, and disappear beyond 300 to 350 miles from their foot. The gypsum also follows this mountain chain in an unbroken band from Orenburg to beyond 60. N. Lat., with a breadth of about 80 miles near Perm, but extends farther west into the basin of the Dvina. Numerous salt springs and beds of salt, in some places 50 feet thick, accompany this gypsum. The most remarkable salt deposit is found at Iletzkaya-Zastelchta, in the barren wilderness south of Orenburg. At that place a mass of pure salt, more than a mile in diameter, is wrought at an open quarry 70 feet deep, and, according to Rose, yields about 700,000 poods of salt annually.
Resting on the Permian, though separated from it by a long geological interval, during which the Trias and Liass of other parts of Europe were deposited, come the Jurassic strata. These consist chiefly of incoherent, dark-coloured clays and sands, containing many characteristic fossils of the middle oolite,—ammonites, belemnites, gryphaea, and tere-
Statistics. bratula. In the centre of the country it extends from Moscow, where it rests on the carboniferous beds, by Vladimir to Simborsk on the Volga. Further north it forms the great marshes along the watershed of the Dvina and Volga, and also fills the trackless valley of the Petchora, between the Timan Mountains and the Oural, covered by marshy forests and bleak tundras. All this region is a low, scarce hilly, land; but on the south shore of the Crimea and the flanks of the Caucasus it rises into a more varied mountain country, and contains a richer store of corals and crinoids than in its northern extension.
These Palæozoic and Jurassic strata compose the northern and larger half of European Russia. The newer cretaceous and tertiary beds occur only in the southern portion, drained by the rivers flowing to the Caspian and Black seas. Their northern boundary is marked generally by a line drawn from Memel, south-east to Voroneje on the Don, thence north to Jelatma on the Oka, and again south-east to the southern end of the Oural and Lake Aral. The chalk is chiefly seen in the central region between the Dnieper and Volga, but probably is concealed below the tertiary beds in other parts of the great plain, as it rises through them in irregular patches in many localities. According to Von Buch, the chalk in the north belongs chiefly to the upper beds, whilst the lower Neocomian, or greensand, is seen only in the south near the Caucasus, where Abich estimates the formation as 5000 feet thick. The rocks in the north resemble those of Western Europe, or are pure white chalk, forming highly picturesque rocks on the Donetz, chalk-marls, and ferruginous sands. Near Voroneje, sandstones containing 31 per cent. of phosphate of lime have been described by Khodnieff. On both flanks of the Caucasus this formation is partly represented by a formation, several thousand feet thick, of clay slates, in which fossils characteristic of the chalk occur, though not in abundance.
The older tertiary, in many places composed of clay, and not distinguishable in aspect from the similar deposits in the London basin, extends from the Baltic to Poltava, north of the Dnieper. Large masses of it also cover the chalk strata to the west of the Volga; and in the south of the Crimea the nummulite formation is well seen resting on the chalk and oolite rocks. The upper tertiary, widely extended from the Dnieper to the Caspian, and over the wide steppes from the Volga to the Oural, is more interesting. This formation begins with blue marls and clays, alternating with a yellow calcareous tufa. In the higher part the tufa alone prevails, and is almost entirely made up of broken shells, partly freshwater, partly brackish-water species, either identical or closely analogous to those now living in the Caspian. This formation, spread far and wide over the vast steppes round the Caspian and Aral seas, and used as the common building-stone even in Odessa, proves the former enormous extension of an inland sea of brackish water. According to Murchison, this sea, larger than the Mediterranean, was reduced by two elevations, the latter leaving only the present Caspian behind.
Connected with the same recent period must be placed the formation of the gold sands of the Oural, and the extinction of the mammoth, rhinoceros, and urus, whose bones are so often imbedded in them. The dispersion of erratic blocks over Russia and Northern Europe is a kindred phenomenon. More important for the agriculture of Russia is the chernozem, or black earth, found only in the southern provinces, and unquestionably the finest soil in the empire for the production of wheat and grass. "It is so fertile," say Sir R. I. Murchison, "as arable land, that the farmers never apply manure; and after taking many crops in succession, leave it fallow for a year or two, and then resume their scourging treatment." It has been supposed of vegetable origin, but is more probably derived from the waste of the Jurassic beds.
(For further details on the geology, &c., of this vast empire, see especially Russia and the Ural Mountains, by Sir R. I. Murchison, E. de Verneuil, and Count Keyserling, 2 vols. 4to; Siluria, by Sir R. I. Murchison, 2d edition; Reise nach dem Ural, von G. Rose; the Petchora-Land, by Count Keyserling; with many memoirs in the Russian and German scientific journals; and for the distribution of the rocks, the Geological Map of Europe, by Sir R. I. Murchison and Professor Nicol.)
In a country of such vast dimensions, the soil must of course vary considerably in different situations. There is a vast tract of territory, 65,000 geographical square leagues in extent, which possesses a peculiar and rather remarkable soil. Indeed, Ritter, in his Erdbunde, informs us that there is only one other place on the surface of the earth where anything similar in soil has been discovered, and that is the north of Hindustan. It consists entirely of decomposed vegetable matter, and is deposited in a thick layer. It is situated in the S. of Russia, stretching in a broad belt from Volhynia, in a north-easterly direction, to the foot of the Oural chain near Perm. It is prolonged on one side from this to the shores of the Black Sea; and on the other it stretches from Perm to Orenburg, and thence to the Caspian Sea. All this vast tract, exceeding in extent France, Spain, and Prussia united, is covered throughout with a stratum of vegetable mould, which varies in thickness from 3 to 5 feet. It is so extremely productive as to stand in no need of manure. Its fertility is shown in the large returns of grain, especially rye, which it yields; and in the excellent breeds of cattle which are reared upon it. From the thinness of the population, vast tracts of this country still remain unoccupied. The soils of the steppes, which cover so large a portion of Russia, we have already adverted to when describing these plains. The country between the Dnieper and the Dniepr has a soil impregnated with nitre, a substance deleterious to vegetation; yet, as soon as it is removed or diminished, wheat, millet, and the arbute melon, may be cultivated with great success. The mildest and most fruitful region in all the Russian empire is that continuation of valleys arranged in natural amphitheatres at the southern base of the Taurida, along the coasts of the Black Sea. Proceeding eastward, we come to the government of Astrakhan. Only part of its soil is fertile. This portion includes the low districts on the banks of the Volga, the Oural, and the Terek, and is by no means large; but here vegetables attain an enormous size. The soil is impregnated with saline and bituminous substances. Higher up, the land on the Volga becomes sandy and unproductive. The soil of Little Russia and the Polish Ukraine is partly sandy and not very fruitful, partly very rich and fertile. A great part of Western Russia is sandy, and intersected by vast marshes and bogs. Large tracts are covered with immense forests, the retreat of the bear, wolf, and wild boar; whilst not an inconsiderable portion of this westerly territory ranks amongst the most fertile in the empire.
It thus appears, with regard to the soil of Russia, taking a summary view of it along with the climate, that from the 44th to the 50th parallel of N. Lat., comprising Bessarabia, Podolia, Kherson, Yekaterinoslaff, and Taurida, it is for the most part low and level, little wooded, partly very fruitful, partly arid and unfruitful, besides being here and there impregnated with salt. The winters are short, with little snow; but in some parts the cold is severe. The spring is early and mild; the summer is of long duration, with oppressive heat and little rain; autumn follows late in the year. Violent whirlwinds are frequent, and the S. of Russia is subject to tremendous snow storms, called metel. The middle or temperate district, extending from 50° to 57°, has a rough and lasting winter, especially in the eastern territory. This district is the largest and wealthiest portion of the empire, forming broad, open, undulating
Statistics. plains, over which, up to the declivities of the Oural chain upon the E., only slight elevations break the monotonous level. The northern district, from 57° to 67° in European Russia, has a much milder climate than the same parallels in Asia. With the exception of the wooded mountains of Finland on the W., it is, as far as the Oorals, a continuation of the former flat land, upon which forests, meadows, marshes, and moor ground alternate with one another. The poor, meagre soil only insures the husbandman a return as far as the 60th parallel. The winter here is long and severe, there being six or seven months in which sledges are the only mode of travelling. Mercury freezes in winter, and the autumn is foggy. Here only slow-growing timber succeeds, and beyond 67 is confined to dry, stunted shrubs. From 64° the rearing of cattle is always difficult, and agriculture is limited to roots. Under the parallel of 66° the sun does not set on the 21st of June, nor rise above the horizon on the 21st of December. Snow and ice often set in at St Petersburg about the middle of October, and sometimes continue till the middle of April. For 160 days, that is, from the end of November till the middle of April, the Neva is generally bound fast with ice. In summer the W., S.W. and N.E., in winter the S.W., S., and S.E. winds prevail. The climate in this part has become much milder, through the cultivation of the soil and the hewing down of the forests. The quantity of rain which falls is about 18 English inches at St Petersburg, and the number of rainy and snowy days is reckoned at about 150 at St Petersburg. The following table has been supplied us by Academician Vesseloffski, and is extracted from his recent learned work on the Climatology of Russia:—
| Number of Snowy and Rainy Days. | Quantity of Water. English Inches. | |
|---|---|---|
| Western region..... | 146 | 22 |
| Baltic "..... | 140 | 21 |
| Northern and central region..... | 114 | 20 |
| Eastern region..... | 113 | 16½ |
| Southern steppe..... | 83 | 11½ |
"Taking, for St Petersburg," Academician Kupffer informs us, "the mean temperatures of every month, they are, during five months, below 32° Fahr. The mean annual temperature is 38°9 Fahr. The difference between the mean temperatures of winter and summer, calling by the name of winter the months of December, January, and February, and by that of summer the months of June, July, and August, is 42°5 Fahr. At Yakootsk in Siberia, Lat. 62. 2., Long. 129. 73. E. from Greenwich, the mean temperature of the year is +12°2 Fahr.; that of winter, December, January, and February, -36°6 Fahr.; and that of summer + 58°3 Fahr.; the difference, therefore, between the mean temperatures of the summer and of the winter is 95°. Notwithstanding the rigour of the climate, the culture of rye has been attempted with success." In the Arctic or hyperborean region, extending from 67° to 74°, the rigour of the climate tells both upon men and domesticated animals, as well as upon vegetation; for neither attain their full size. In Arkhangel the sun rises on the 23d of December at 2 minutes past 10, and sets 57 minutes past 1; whilst on the 23d of June it rises 14 minutes past 1 in the morning, and does not disappear below the horizon until 49 minutes past 10 in the evening. Beyond 67°, however, the climate is one long summer day and one long winter night. The summer is still much overcast with vapours, which obscure the sun. The dreary region of winter is somewhat cheered by splendid moonlight, and the brilliant phenomenon of the aurora borealis. Trees entirely cease about 67°, only hardy shrubs being able to endure the intense cold of the climate. In St Petersburg in 1759 the cold was 41° Fahr. below zero, and in the winter of 1809-10 quicksilver froze into a solid mass in
Moscow, and was extended with a hammer like lead. As Statistics. this metal becomes solid about 32° Reaumur, we may reckon the degree of cold in this case as exceeding 40° Fahr.
From the vast extent of this empire, and the great range Vegetable of its temperature, it is not surprising that the productions produc- of every clime are found, or may be successfully cultivated, tions, in some parts of its wide-spread surface. On the E., the great chain of the Oural separates by a bold line the northern European from the northern Asiatic botany; and over this vast expanse winter reigns with excessive severity, while the almost tropical temperature of the brief summer ripens the productions of the vegetable kingdom to sudden maturity. This rapid growth is followed by as rapid a decay in autumn.
The forests of Russia are in several respects an important Forests. feature of the country: firstly, as a physical characteristic, from their overspreading such enormous tracts of country; secondly, in a commercial point of view, from the timber, tar, pitch, potash, and turpentine which they afford forming important articles of trade; and thirdly, from their supplying fuel in a country only recently found to possess coal. "Estimating the surface of European Russia," says Mr. Schnitzler, "at 402,100,552 dessiateens, 156,000,000 of this number are occupied by forests; 178,000,000 by uncultivated land, water, houses, and roads; 61,500,000 by arable, and a little more than 6,000,000 by meadow land. On this general view of the surface, we may compute that one dessiateen of wood occurs to every two, and five-ninths of a dessiateen without it. The forests, indeed, constitute a source of riches which may long continue inexhaustible, and which might be indefinitely increased by strict regulations for their economy and management. Seventy-six millions of dessiateens are still completely covered with pines, firs, and other cone-bearing trees, without counting the oaks, maples, beeches, poplars, and elms, which are by no means rare in the latitudes within the 52d degree, and the birch, which grows in still more northern regions. . . . The governments of Novgorod and Tver, in particular, are studded with forests, and that of Volkonski, which extends to the Valdai Hills, is one of the largest known. In the government of Perm, out of 18,000,000 of dessiateens, 17,000,000 are forest. These immense tracts covered with wood are a great blessing in so inclement a climate, as they form a shelter against the winds from the icy seas. The provinces to the S. have not the same necessity for them, and are so destitute of wood as to occasion the burning of grass and dung for fuel." Forest economy is now being more attended to. The trees furnish the inhabitants with fir-timber of the finest quality for building, household furniture, and utensils. The same trees supply the peasantry in some parts with torches, which they use instead of candles. The brushwood, covering a vast extent of forest land, consists almost entirely of the hazel, dwarf birch, alder, willow, and juniper. In other places the surface of the earth is covered with bilberry, and the cranberry, which latter is extensively exported.
Russia is as yet chiefly an agricultural country. It is Grain, so extensive, and in many parts yields such abundant crops hemp, and of grain, that enough is produced not only for home consumption, but for exportation in considerable quantities. The price of grain varies exceedingly in different governments. St Petersburg, Moscow, Arkhangel, Vologda, and Perm are the only governments that consume more than they raise; all the others produce more than they require. The grains most commonly cultivated are rye and oats. The best wheat is produced in Southern Russia, and in the eastern governments of Kazan, Seembeersk, and Orenburg; where also, along with millet, a little rice is raised. Hemp and flax are very largely cultivated, and yield not only material for the manufactures of the country, but a large
Statistics. surplus for exportation. (For statistics of agricultural pro-
ductions, &c., see after—"Productive Industry.") Whilst
vine, mul- corn and cattle constitute the riches of the central districts
berry, su- the southern abound in productions of a more precious or
gar-cane, delicate nature. The peninsula of the Crimea is adapted,
and indigo both by climate and soil, to all the productions of Italy and
Greece; and here, indeed, many of them are indigenous.
Government has taken a most lively interest in developing
the resources of each portion of the empire; and in conse-
quence of this, the cultivation of the vine, an indigenous
plant, the mulberry tree, and the sugar-cane, have been
fostered to a considerable extent. The vine cultivation
is extending with great success in the south, in the govern-
ments of Astrakhan, Kherson, Podolia, the country of the
Don Kozzacks, and especially in the Taurida. The mul-
berry tree has been as carefully attended to as the vine,
and the result has been upon the whole favourable. Vast
plantations of mulberries have been formed near all the
principal towns of the southern districts. Every encour-
agement is held out to planters by the government. In
the Crimea and countries of the Caucasus the rearing
of the silk-worm is likewise rapidly advancing. Experi-
ments have also been made to cultivate the sugar-cane and
indigo, but they have not succeeded. In Southern Russia,
a region whose climate differs little from that of Asia
Minor, we find a similar variety of fruits and vegetables.
The flora of Russia is very abundant in the south. As
Pallas informs us, the country presents the most enchant-
ing aspect. On the mountain-side, in the valley, in the
forest, everywhere, the earth is clothed with a profusion of the
loveliest flowers and most aromatic herbs, whose delicate
odours embalm the atmosphere. Russia further produces
hops (not sufficient for home consumption), and tobacco, the
Nicotiana paniculata, of which the young leaves are gen-
erally removed, dried in the shade, and buried beneath hay-
ricks, where they become of a brownish-yellow colour. Of
garden vegetables there are the usual varieties found in Eu-
rope. Spanish pepper and the mustard-tree are raised on the
Samara and Lower Volga; poppy in Kharkoff, where it
yields a return of 160-fold; rhubarb, which grows wild in
Taurida; rhapontick, which grows wild in the Oorals; and
Polygonum minus, which in the Oukraine engenders worms
that yield a beautiful crimson dye, used as paint by the
Kozzack women. Genuine turpentine might be collected
to a great extent. Many plants useful for dyeing are pro-
duced in a wild state; and for tanning there are several
valuable plants. In short, the Crimea presents great fac-
ilities for rendering this a lucrative branch of manufacture.
The quadrupeds of Russia are numerous. Some appear
to be peculiar to the country; but our business is chiefly
with the domesticated animals. Cattle of every descrip-
tion are bred in vast numbers in the steppes, and they
have increased with the improvement of agriculture. Black
cattle and oxen are raised as far N. as the 64th parallel, but
especially in Podolia and the Oukraine. Some of the
calves of the latter country weight from 480 to 600 lb.
Sheep are reared to a great extent. In the Taurida a
poor Tartar may have in his possession 1000, and a rich
Tartar 50,000. The Merino breed of sheep has been na-
turalized in Little Russia, in the governments comprised
under the name of New Russia, on the S. and E., and in
those of the shores of the Baltic Sea. (For statistics, see
after—"Productive Industry.") These different regions, so
remote from one another, are too dissimilar to enjoy pre-
cisely the same advantages; nevertheless, the perseverance
and judicious management of the cultivators have been
crowned with success. Even in those districts least favoured
by nature rapid improvement has been made. At Tagan-
rog the exports have greatly increased; and in Little Russia
this branch of commerce is acquiring fresh activity. The
wool trade is now also cultivated in Siberia, where a
Vine, mul-
berry, su-
gar-cane,
and indigo
Fruits and
flowers.
Garden-
stuffs, me-
dicinal
plants, and
dye-woods.
Animals,
cattle,
sheep, &c.
wool company was established in 1832. In fine, Russia, Statistics.
lately so poor in this species of produce, that even in
1824 her exports did not exceed annually 11,270 cwt.,
valued at only L.93,500; in 1857 sold 357,977 cwt., the
value of which amounted to L.2,069,456. This is of course
independently of the demand for home consumption, which
has increased to a very large extent. The breed of horses
has been considerably improved, by crossing the best native
with Arab, English, and Flemish races. Count Orloff was
a great benefactor of his country in this respect. So much
as L.1560 have been paid for horses from the Orloff breed-
ing-stables. The camel inhabits the warm, saline steppes of
the Taurida and Kherson; asses are especially domesticated
in the Taurida; and the goat, sheep, swine, and other tamed
animals exist in the usual proportions and qualities. Amongst
useful insects, there are bees, which yield an abundance of
honey and wax for exportation. In the north the reindeer
and the elk roam in countless herds; and there are many
wild animals, such as the untamed steppe-horse, wild ox, the
fox, bear, lynx, and wolf, besides others, the skins or furs
of which constitute important items of trade in the northern
parts of Russia. Birds of the usual European descriptions
are very numerous, including field and water game of
various kinds. The falcon is taught to chase even the
wolf in the Keergheez-Lands; and in the government of
Koorsk the magnificent greyhound of the country is
loosed upon the flocks of bustards that are met with there.
The seal and walrus haunt the waters of the north; and
fish abound in the seas, lakes, and rivers. The fisheries
constitute an important branch of productive industry.
Russia consists of the following countries:—Russia pro- Divisions
per (originally Novgorod and Moscow); the country of the em-
Kozzacks of the Don, and of the Black Sea; Bessarabia; pire.
the khanate of the Crimea; the Caucasus; the kingdoms
of Kazan and Astrakhan; Siberia; Daouria and the Amoor
region; the kingdom of Poland; the greater part of Lap-
land; the grand principality of Finland; the archipelagos
of Abo and Aland, with the islands of Dago and Oesel;
the Baltic provinces of Courland, Esthonia, and Livonia;
and possessions in North America. In administrative re-
spects, Russia is divided into governments and provinces,
of which in 1856 there were 65.
| Governments. | Provinces. | Kozzack-Lands. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| European..... | 47 | 1 | 1 |
| Caucasian..... | 6 | 0 | 1 |
| Siberian..... | 4 | 5 | 0 |
| Total..... | 57 | 6 | 2 |
The land of the Black Sea Kozzacks belongs to the Cau-
casus. The population of this empire, as diverse as its com-
ponent parts, was estimated in 1856 at nearly 71,500,000
souls, including Poland and Finland, thus distributed:—
| In Europe. | ||
|---|---|---|
| The European governments and provinces | 57,602,185 | |
| The kingdom of Poland..... | 4,696,919 | |
| The Grand Principality of Finland..... | 1,632,977 | 63,932,081 |
| In Asia. | ||
| The lieutenancy of the Caucasus, with the dependent lands..... |
3,179,997 | |
| The Sittian governments and provinces, with the Keergheez-Lands..... |
4,120,815 | 7,300,812 |
| In America. | ||
| Possessions of the North American Company..... | 10,723 | |
| Total population..... | 71,243,616 |
The increase may be computed at 0.88 per cent.; and the po-
pulation must therefore now, in 1859, amount to 73,387,600
souls. It doubles itself in 114½ years.
Table of the Population and Superficies of the Russian Empire.—Each Government is taken separately, and the Number of Inhabitants is that returned for 1856, in the Tables drawn up by the Central Statistical Committee. The Area is based on the calculations of Academician Koppen, founded on the returns of the Ninth Census.
| Governments. | Population. | Area. | Governments. | Population. | Area. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arkhangel | 263,630 | 329,778 | Pskoff | 1,689,783 | 17,042 |
| Astrakhan | 414,525 | 84,893 | Riazan | 1,394,235 | 16,213 |
| Bessarabia | 992,841 | 18,232 | St. Petersburg | 1,071,909 | 17,318 |
| Country of the Don Kozacks | 871,130 | 62,538 | Shemakha | 541,170 | ... |
| Country of the Black Sea Kozacks | 104,519 | 14,726 | Samara | 1,479,081 | 65,058 |
| Courland | 537,855 | 10,582 | Saratoff | 1,015,690 | 31,577 |
| Derbent | 427,913 | 8,755 | Semipalatinsk | 159,897 | 194,246 |
| Erivan | 254,077 | ... | Siberian Keerghbez country | 255,165 | 303,301 |
| Esthonia | 293,599 | 7,862 | Simbirsk | 1,118,505 | 18,763 |
| Grodno | 827,200 | 13,365 | Smolensk | 1,084,481 | 21,653 |
| Irkutsk | 348,187 | 13,153 | Sukropol | 334,425 | ... |
| Kaluga | 1,005,671 | 12,178 | Tamboff | 1,808,172 | 25,542 |
| Kaministak-Podolsk, with the military colonies | 1,717,314 | 16,447 | The Taurida, with Sevastopol and Kertch-Yen | 659,509 | 24,140 |
| Kamchatka | 7,331 | 635,587 | Tchernobogoff | 1,401,879 | 21,250 |
| Kazan | 1,492,130 | 23,715 | Tiflis | 560,455 | ... |
| Keerghbez, with the military colonies | 1,801,981 | 19,507 | Tobolsk | 1,011,413 | 574,345 |
| Kharkoff | 1,272,997 | 20,973 | Tomsk | 687,677 | 333,922 |
| Kherson | 1,083,852 | 28,666 | Tula | 1,125,517 | 11,772 |
| Koorsk | 1,839,949 | 17,382 | Trans-Baikal region | 358,683 | 254,447 |
| Kootais | 324,320 | ... | Tver | 1,466,194 | 20,031 |
| Kostroma | 1,055,558 | 30,833 | Veatebuz | 748,524 | 17,212 |
| Kovno | 982,595 | 16,167 | Viatka | 2,051,914 | 55,355 |
| Livonia | 963,635 | 17,680 | Vilna | 840,879 | 16,320 |
| Minsk | 983,338 | 34,467 | Vladimir | 1,920,820 | 18,062 |
| Mohileff | 873,888 | 18,805 | Volhynia | 1,498,387 | 27,540 |
| Moscow | 1,580,405 | 12,516 | Vologda | 326,689 | 148,240 |
| Nezgorod | 1,216,081 | 19,613 | Voronej | 1,840,146 | 25,691 |
| Norgorod | 804,410 | 49,070 | Yakobitz | 214,208 | 1,575,730 |
| Olbonet | 285,945 | 51,318 | Yaroslaff | 928,445 | 14,003 |
| Oral, or Orloff | 1,445,900 | 18,253 | Yekaterinoslaff, with Taganrog | 1,030,521 | 25,627 |
| Orenburg, with the Kozacks of the Oural | 1,893,254 | 146,986 | Yenisaysk | 271,600 | 571,295 |
| Penza | 1,135,979 | 14,662 | Possessions of the North American Comp. | 54,000 | ... |
| Perm | 2,011,453 | 128,562 | Total | 63,295,933 | .. |
| Poltava | 1,753,144 | 19,061 |
The central governments are the most populous; and the North American possessions the most thinly inhabited. 9-80 souls go to the English square mile in the whole Russian empire, exclusive of Poland and Finland:—
| Population. | |
|---|---|
| In European Russia | 31-08 |
| In the Caucasus | 22-49 |
| In Siberia | 0-74 |
And in the whole empire, without the dependent lands ..... 9-80
The whole population of the empire was further distributed in 1856 in the following manner:—
| Number of inhabitants of both Sexes. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| In Towns. | In Districts. | Total. | |
| In the European governments and provinces | 5,203,187 | 52,396,998 | 57,602,185 |
| In the lieutenantcy of the Caucasus | 288,102 | 2,618,895 | 2,906,976 |
| In the Siberian governments and provinces | 192,710 | 3,160,105 | 3,352,815 |
| Total | 5,683,999 | 58,177,998 | 63,861,997 |
The proportion betwixt the town and district populations was consequently as follows:—
| To every 100 inhabitants of the Governments there lived,— | To 1 inhabitant of Towns there falls in the Districts. | |
|---|---|---|
| In Towns. | In Districts. | |
| In the European governments and provinces | 9-03 | 90-97 |
| In the lieutenantcy of the Caucasus | 9-91 | 90-09 |
| In the Siberian governments and provinces | 5-75 | 94-25 |
| In the whole empire | 8-91 | 91-09 |
| 10-23 |
Numerical Proportion of the Sexes.
| Males. | Females. | Total. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| In the 49 European governments and provinces | 29,331,969 | 29,270,216 | 57,602,185 |
| In the 7 Caucasian do | 1,519,220 | 1,357,777 | 2,876,997 |
| In the 9 Siberian do | 1,738,314 | 1,614,501 | 3,352,815 |
| Total | 31,589,503 | 32,272,494 | 63,861,997 |
Hereto add the population of the dependent possessions:—
| In the Caucasus, about | 291,000 |
| In the Keerghbez hordes of Siberia, about | 750,000 |
| In the North American possessions | 10,723 |
| Total | 1,051,723 |
Total population ..... 64,913,720
If we further add the number returned by the secretaries of state for Poland and Finland, we have,—
| In the 5 governments of Poland | 4,696,919 |
| In the 8 governments of Finland | 1,632,977 |
| Total | 6,329,896 |
Entire population of Russia, with incorporated and dependent lands in 1856 ..... 71,243,616
Movement of the Population in 1856.—Number of Births and Deaths; also increase of Population.
| Born. | Died. | Increase of the Population. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| In the European governments and provinces | 2,496,595 | 2,007,457 | 489,438 |
| In the Caucasus | 88,515 | 64,024 | 24,491 |
| In Siberia | 121,359 | 75,291 | 46,068 |
| Total | 2,706,819 | 2,146,872 | 559,997 |
Statistics. From these figures, proportionally to the whole population of the empire, are deduced the following results:—
| Provinces. | Proportion to every 100 souls of both sexes. | 1 Birth occurs to | 1 Death occurs to | Percentual Increase of the Population. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Births. | Deaths. | ||||
| In the European governments and provinces..... | 4.34 | 3.49 | 23.04 | 28.65 | 0.85 |
| In the lieutenant of the Caucasus..... | 3.74 | 2.71 | 25.74 | 35.30 | 1.04 |
| In the Siberian governments and provinces..... | 3.62 | 2.25 | 27.62 | 40.00 | 1.37 |
| In the whole empire..... | 4.27 | 3.39 | 23.42 | 29.50 | 0.88 |
The result of several decennial deductions made in the present century gives the following average proportion of births:—1 born to 21-23 souls; and of deaths, 1 dead to 30-33 souls. The average annual increase would therefore be about 1 per cent., which is the utmost. This is the result returned by the statistical tables of 1856. Von Stein returns 0.88 per cent., which is nearly ths. We ourselves have many reasons, too manifold for recapitulation here, to give this return as rather nearer to ths than to ths. The returns of marriages in European Russia were 557,123. The average proportion to 100 souls of both sexes is 0.97 marriages, or 1 marriage to 103.09 souls of the whole population. In the above returns, the numbers given are only those of the tax-paying community, because most easily obtainable; the non-tax paying portion are not included, neither is the army nor fleet. The great uncertainty of the computation lies in the circumstance of the census not being taken at one and the same time, and in certain classes not being registered. It is the consistory of every government that has the charge of registering the movement of births, deaths, and marriages. Improved measures are now adopted for insuring reliable returns. It must not be thought that the learned of Russia are by any means indifferent to such a vital point. Academician Köppen's tables of measurement and population, and Mr Schweitzer's computation of areas, will most likely appear in the course of this autumn. Councillor Troinitski hopes likewise to be ready within the same period with his population returns, based on the tenth revision or census, which is now in progress on a surer basis than any of the foregoing. It is expected to show a lower amount of population. The census is taken at unequal intervals of time; the present was ordered in consequence of the late war, and of the proposed emancipation of the peasants. The number of nobles is estimated at about 400,000.
View of the Foreign Races inhabiting European Russia, taken from Academician Köppen's Returns of 1853, the latest existing.
| Both Sexes. | |
|---|---|
| 1. Samoyéds, in the government of Arkhangel..... | 4,485 |
| 2. Loparees, " " Do..... | 2,289 |
| 3. Vogols " " Perimi..... | 872 |
| 4. Fins.— | |
| A. The Tchood race, in its widest acceptance,— | |
| (a.) Tchoods, strictly taken (Tchookaree), in the governments of Novgorod and Olonetz..... | 15,617 |
| Both Sexes. | Statistics. | |
|---|---|---|
| (b.) Vods (Tchoods), in the government of St Petersburg..... | 5,148 | |
| (c.) Esths (Tchookaree), in the governments of Vitebsk, Livonia, Pskoff, St Petersburg, and Esthonia..... | 633,496 | |
| (d.) Leers, in the governments of Courland and Livonia..... | 2,074 | |
| B. Karels, in the widest acceptance,— | ||
| (a.) Erremetsis, in the governments of Novgorod and St Petersburg..... | 29,375 | |
| (b.) Savakots, in the government of St Petersburg..... | 42,979 | |
| (c.) Içeri1 " " "..... | 17,800 | |
| (d.) Karels, in the governments of Arkhangel, Novgorod, Olonetz, St Petersburg, Tamboff, Tver, and Yaroslaff..... | 171,593 | |
| 5. Perm Races,— | ||
| (a.) Ziriens, in the governments of Arkhangel and Vologda..... | 70,965 | |
| (b.) Perms in the governments of Perm and Viatka..... | 52,204 | |
| (c.) Votiaks, in the governments of Viatka, Kazan, Orenburg and Samara..... | 186,770 | |
| (d.) Beseriane, in the government of Viatka..... | 4,545 | |
| 6. Volga races,— | ||
| (a.) Tchermessies, in the governments of Viatka, Kazan, Kostroma, Neezgorod, Orenburg, and Perm..... | 165,676 | |
| (b.) Mordva (Moksha, Erals, and Karatais) in the governments of Astrakhan, Kazan, Neezgorod, Orenburg, Penza, Samara, Saratoff, Simbeersk, Taurida, Tamboff..... | 480,241 | |
| (c.) Tchovvashes, in the governments of Viatka, Kazan, Orenburg, Samara, Saratoff, Simbeersk..... | 429,952 | |
| 7. Tartars, in the widest acceptance,— | ||
| (a.) Tartars, in the strict acceptance (with the Nogais), in the governments of Astrakhan, Vilna, Viatka, Grodno, Don-Kozack country, Kazan, Kostroma, Minsk, Neezgorod, Orenburg, Penza, Perm, Podolia, Riazan, Samara, Saratoff, Simbeersk, Stavropol, Taurida, Tamboff, Esthonia..... | 1,284,234 | |
| (b.) Bashkeers, in the governments of Viatka, Orenburg, Perm, and Samara..... | 392,072 | |
| (c.) Mestchericks, in the governments of Orenburg, Penza, Perm, and Saratoff..... | 79,941 | |
| (d.) Keerghezi (Kaisaks), in the governments of Astrakhan..... | 82,000 | |
| 8. Mongols,— | ||
| (a.) Kalmucks, in the government of Astrakhan, the Don-Kozack country, Orenburg, Samara, Saratoff, Stavropol..... | 119,162 | |
| 9. Lithuanians, in the widest acceptance,— | ||
| (a.) The Leetva, in the strict acceptance (Zmood), in the governments of Vilna, Grodno, Kovno, and Courland..... | 716,586 | |
| (b.) The Letts, in the governments of Vitebsk, Kovno, Courland, Livonia, Pskoff, and St Petersburg..... | 872,107 | |
| 10. Vòlokhs (Moldavians) in Bessarabia, and in the governments of Yekaterinoslaff, Podolia, and Kherson..... | 498,464 | |
| 11. Slavonic races,— | ||
| (a.) Bulgars, in Bessarabia and the governments of Taurida and Kherson..... | 77,102 | |
| (b.) Serbs, in Bessarabia and the governments of Yekaterinoslaff and Kherson..... | 1,383 | |
| (c.) Poles, in the government of Astrakhan, Bessarabia, Volhynia, Grodno, Yekaterinoslaff, Keeyeff, Kovno, Courland, Livonia, Minsk, Mohileff, Orenburg, Podolia, St Petersburg, Saratoff, Stavropol, Kherson, Esthonia..... | 477,635 | |
| 12. Gypsies,2 scattered throughout the empire..... | 48,247 |
1 Throughout this article, in all Russian words the z has the power of the s in azure. The Poles, who are also Slavonians, but who use the Latin character, adopt this mode of rendering that sound. It is a far more simple way than sz, sh, or j. It is a law in philology that languages proceeding from parent stocks not akin, and with totally dissimilar characters, should have their sounds rendered phonetically when bodily transported into a totally dissimilar language. The learned of the Continent all obey this law. It is the English alone who, from ignorance of the Russ, still keep up the old absurd way of writing Russian names, which thus become unintelligible to the Russians themselves! It is time this were remedied.
2 The greater number of these gypsies live in Bessarabia and Kherson. They are enrolled in the towns and villages as peasants. This measure—a wise one—is taken in order to absorb them into the Russian population.
| Statistics. | Both Sexes. |
|---|---|
| 13. Jews,— | |
| (a.) Talmudists (Polish and Turkish), mostly in the governments of Volhynia, Podolia, Minsk, Mohileff, Grodno, Vilna, Vitebsk, Kieff, Kherson, Tchernigoff, Bessarabia, and Courland..... | 1,054,407 |
| (b.) Karaims, in the governments of Vilna, Volhynia, Kovno, the Taurids, and Kherson... | 5,725 |
| 14. Greeks, in Bessarabia and in the governments of Astrakhan, Yekaterinoslaff, Podolia, Taurids, Kherson, Tchernigoff..... | 48,773 |
| 15. Armenians, in Bessarabia and in the governments of Astrakhan, Yekaterinoslaff, St Petersburg, Stavropol, Taurids, Kherson..... | 37,676 |
| 16. Germans, settled in various parts of the country, but mostly in the governments of St Petersburg, Moscow, Courland, Esthonia, Livonia, Saratoff, Samara, Taurids, Bessarabia, and Yekaterinoslaff..... | 373,000 |
| 17. Swedes, settled mostly in the governments of St Petersburg and Esthonia..... | 11,470 |
| Total of foreign races settled in Russia..... | 8,493,782 |
The following Races are further set with in European Russia.
| Armenians (Albanians or Shipetars) in Bessarabia..... | 1,328 |
| Bokharians, number not shown..... | ... |
| Grusinians, in the governments of Astrakhan and Stavropol..... | 1,000 |
| Karakalpaks, in the government of Astrakhan..... | 60 |
| Ossetians, in the government of Stavropol..... | 1,650 |
| Persians, Kizilbashes, in the governments of Astrakhan and Samara..... | 641 |
| Turcomans, in the governments of Astrakhan, Stavropol, and Taurids..... | 7,321 |
| Kheevites, in the governments of Astrakhan and Saratoff..... | 215 |
| Circassians, in the Don-Kozack country, and in the governments of Samara and Simbeersk..... | 175 |
| Indians in the government of Astrakhan..... | 10 |
| (All these figures are returned mostly from the census of 1831.) | |
| French colonists in Bessarabia in 1850..... | 250 |
| French foreigners, about..... | 3,000 |
| English " "..... | 3,000 |
A Statement of Deaths in the year 1856, of Males and Females of the Orthodox Catholic Confession, according to their ages.
| Females. | Males. | Age. | Females. | Males. | Age. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 492,563 | 538,320 | ill 5 years. | 20,330 | 19,847 | 70-75 |
| 53,784 | 57,158 | 5-10 | 14,188 | 15,106 | 75-80 |
| 22,560 | 25,604 | 10-15 | 7,823 | 8,443 | 80-85 |
| 22,071 | 25,632 | 15-20 | 4,349 | 5,068 | 85-90 |
| 23,241 | 29,178 | 20-25 | 1,943 | 2,218 | 90-95 |
| 27,114 | 31,086 | 25-30 | 871 | 1,088 | 95-100 |
| 28,519 | 28,252 | 30-35 | 98 | 123 | 100-105 |
| 29,004 | 30,900 | 35-40 | 34 | 62 | 105-110 |
| 27,434 | 28,993 | 40-45 | 21 | 19 | 110-115 |
| 31,045 | 30,585 | 45-50 | 8 | 22 | 115-120 |
| 30,729 | 29,245 | 50-55 | 2 | 5 | 120-125 |
| 35,373 | 33,353 | 55-60 | 2 | 1 | 125-130 |
| 31,536 | 28,223 | 60-65 | 1 | 2 | 135-140 |
| 28,029 | 26,099 | 65-70 |
In all European Russia the total amount of the male population in 1857 was 28,613,380 souls, and in this number are included 10,844,902 male serfs. The number of female serfs is supposed to be greater, in consequence of the constant draft entailed by the conscription. They are not taken into count for financial reasons, as they pay no taxes. The serf percentage of the whole population in European Russia is thus 37.90; i.e., out of one hundred souls of the entire population, more than one-third, or about thirty-eight souls, are in a state of serfage. All these serfs belong to 114,967 proprietors, which number amounts to no more than 0.40 per cent., or two-fifths of the whole male population of European Russia. In the year 1856 so many as 6,596,620 souls,—i.e., 60.82 per cent., or three-fifths of the
total number of serfs,—were hypothecated to the crown-banks for debts of their holders, amounting to L.62,186,665. In Asiatic Russia, out of a population of 2,818,948 souls, there were 1844 serfs belonging to 153 proprietors, which gives a serf percentage of 0.06 on the whole population. A serf at present pays to his master a poll-tax (obrok) of from L.1, 5s. to L.4 yearly, subject to family considerations too long to enumerate; and to the government a capitation-tax of about 6s. yearly; of which part goes to the national treasury, and part to the communal fund, toward salaries for judges, road-repairing, &c. The government peasants, who are considered as free, pay only from L.1, 2s. to L.1, 8s., or L.1, 11s. yearly, including the capitation-tax. There are no poor-rates, but every proprietor is bound to provide for his destitute serfs. The government does the same. The schools for the crown peasants are as follows:—Under the first and second departments of the crown domains, in the settlements of the crown peasants, there are 2611 schools, with 2803 teachers, and attended by 90,178 boys, and 19,486 girls; of which number 488 were Mohammedan schools, with 511 teachers, and attended by 13,588 boys and 6016 girls.
In the number of crown peasants, it is noteworthy that there are 268,473 who live on crown lands, and possess, besides, land of their own in freehold; and that of the above number only 29,101 live on their own freeholds, without taking the benefit of the crown lands.
The serfs in Russia were not originally attached to the soil, or to the persons of their masters. It was when the Ruricks died out, and a boyar, Boris Godoonoff, ascended the throne, that the nobility got the ascendancy, and that the peasants were deprived of the right to remove at will from master to master. By this ookaz, dated 21st November 1601, every peasant was thenceforth attached to the soil of that commune in which he might happen to be on St George's Festival; and "Yoorieff Den" has ever since been a day of wail and woe throughout the land. It should therefore be well understood that the people were first enslaved, not by their tsars, but by the nobility, whom they therefore look upon as their despoilers. The tsar is rather looked up to as a father. This circumstance explains many matters in Russia. By ookaz of the emperor, promulgated on the 5th December 1857, the serfs are to be finally liberated within twelve years after settling the terms to be resolved on between them and the proprietors. The intervening period is considered needful to prepare the serfs for the coming change in their position. In every government a committee has been appointed, consisting of two deputies from the nobility of every district, and to this number are adjoined two deputies as members for the crown. Their labours, with the opinions thereon of the provincial governors, and of the minister of the interior, are subsequently revised by the Central Committee of Serf Emancipation sitting at St Petersburg. It was originally the emperor's intention to convocate in the capital an assembly of proprietors; but whether from the probability of stormy discussions or dislike of anything resembling a representative system, a commission has been appointed, and now sits at St Petersburg, to collect opinions and to decide on the final plan. The chief difficulty lies in conciliating the conflicting interests of the proprietors and peasants. The former would willingly enough part with their serfs, but they wish to retain the whole of their lands, or to receive for them full compensation, according to their own estimate. The emperor, again, has decreed that the peasants shall be allowed 4 dessiatines (about 11 English acres) of land and a cottage in freehold, and this they are allowed to pay for during the twelve years intervening betwixt the settling of the rules and their final emancipation. The sum proposed is moderate enough (L.16); but this is the real point at issue: The rich landholders, 3917 in number, are on
Statistics. the whole not so much against the measure, because aware that, although they lose the last remnant of their feudal rights, the ultimate gain to their descendants, through rent-income and tillage of their estates by free labourers, is certain. The Russian noble, however, looks more to the present than to the future, and has little public spirit, as in England. It is the minor landholders, 111,050 in number, who are most dissatisfied, and for the following reasons:—In some trading and manufacturing governments, the central in particular, land is very dear, and the proprietors have positively not enough disposable soil for portioning off to their peasants the number of dessiateens required, which it has been proposed shall be reduced to 3. Land in those parts, and about St. Petersburg, Taganrog, &c., is fully worth L.16 the dessiateen; in other parts only from L.4 to L.8. Some proprietors, besides, who possess forty peasants, have but 60 dessiateens of land in all; so that to allow them only 3 dessiateens, the proprietors must purchase 60 dessiateens additional to make up the 120 dessiateens at least required. Other proprietors possess 1000 dessiateens, with 400 peasants, and they would be deprived of the whole of their lands, besides having to purchase 200 or 600 dessiateens more were they to give the 3 or 4 dessiateens demanded. Some, again, who are perfectly landless, possess as many as fifty house-serfs. What are they to do? In Little Russia, and some other parts, land is very cheap, and there the proprietors would be at an advantage; for they could easily afford to pay the peasants as free labourers. As Russia comprises different climates, soils, and peoples, the difficulty of settling rules in all their details becomes manifest; it is therefore believed that the country will be divided into zones. It is also noteworthy that in Siberia there are very few serfs, and they are mostly attached to the government foundries; so that this portion of the empire can be first freed. In order to develop national industry, Peter I. bestowed serfs both on nobles and merchants, in various manufacturing governments, on condition that these men should revert to the crown, in case the manufactories were closed. These people, who were called possession-serfs, are landless, and now amount to about 40,000. The Emperor Nicholas did all he could to diminish their number, which was 100,000. The position of this class was dreadful, and they were positively slaves. Fears are entertained that the peasants will desert their villages, and when no longer attached to the glebe, will turn more to trade than follow agricultural pursuits. When roused, these peasants are an intractable class. The great point is, that the matter is too far advanced to be withdrawn; and come of it what may, the reign of Alexander II., who is pledged to the measure, will be immortalized by a glorious act, that can best be contrasted with the barbarity of the one that reduced the peasants, 258 years ago, to their present condition.
Government. The government of Russia is an absolute hereditary monarchy. The emperor, or White Tsar of his people, rules of divine right, and acknowledges no fixed law but his own will. Round his diadem is wound the pontifical tiara, and he bears the following titles:—By the grace of God, Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias, of Moscow, Kieff, Vlademir, Novgorod; Tsar of Kazan, Tsar of Astrakhan, Tsar of Poland, Tsar of Siberia, Tsar of the Tauric Chersonesus; Lord of Pleskoff, and Grand Duke of Smolensk, Lithuania, Volhynia, Podolia, and Finland; Duke of Esthonia, Livonia, Courland, and Semigallia; of Samogitia, Bielostock, Karelia, Tver, Yugoria, Perm, Viatka, Bulgaria, and other lands; Lord and Grand Duke of Lower Novgorod, Tchernelieff, Riazan, Polotsk, Rostoff, Yaroslavl, Bieloozersk, Oodor, Obdor, Condia, Vetebsk, Matislaff; Dominator of all the Land of the North; Lord of Iberia, Cartalinia, Georgia, Cabardia, and of the province of Armenia; Hereditary Prince and Sovereign of the
Statistics. Princes of Circassia and other mountain princes; Successor of Norway; Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, Stormarn, Dithmarsen, and Oldenburg, &c. The dynasty of his house is that of Romanoff the senior, and of Holstein-Gottorp the junior branch. The title of Tsar was first taken 1462-1505 by John III., the breaker of the Tartar yoke, the putter-down of the independent princes, and the conqueror of Novgorod, who married Sophia, niece of the last Greek emperor, Constantine Palaeologus. It was he who in consequence quartered the Byzantine arms, the two-headed eagle, with his own of St. George the Conqueror, although the titular patron of the country is St. Nicholas. The Roman and Greek emperors being Casars, and Caesar having been pronounced by the old Romans Tsarsar, by the Greeks Kaisar (Kasrap), it is evident how from Kaisar, by the ellipsis of a syllable, came Tsar, written by the ignorant Czar, which gives no idea of the sound, as it is Polish for Char. Previously to John III. the title of Tsar was unknown, and the Russian sovereigns were always called Grand Princes, which is the title of the emperor's own children; the other members of the imperial house are styled Imperial Highnesses. Princes, Counts, and Barons are the only titles of nobility; the latter being but seldom bestowed. Formerly the sole title was boyar, equivalent to feudal lord. These titles descend to all the children equally, and there is no right of primogeniture; although majorats, or entailed estates, have been created in favour of some families. The orders of knighthood are 7 in number. The highest is the purely military order of St. George, with four degrees. The others are both military and civil: St. Andrew the First-Called, 1 degree; Vlademir, 4 degrees; St. Alexander Nevski, 1 degree; the White Eagle, 1 degree; St. Anne, 4 degrees; St. Stanislaus, 3 degrees. There are military decorations, such as occasional medals of honour, and gold swords for courage. When any of the above orders are given to military men, swords are added to the insignia. For soldiers there is a particular cross of St. George, also with 4 degrees, corresponding to the Victoria medal; and further a medal of St. Anne, 1 degree. The officials, including teachers in the government service, are all classed as of certain chins or ranks, of which there are nominally 14, but really only 12; two having fallen into desuetude. These ranks rise in degree as follows:—14th, or lowest class, college registrar; 13th, does not exist; 12th, government secretary; 11th, does not exist; 10th, college secretary; 9th, titular councillor; 8th, college assessor; 7th, court councillor; 6th, college councillor; 5th, state councillor; 4th, actual state councillor; 3d, privy councillor; 2d, actual privy councillor; 1st, the chancellor of the empire. The rank of personal nobility is part of the privilege conferred by the lowest degree, upwards to that of actual state councillor, which confers the privilege of hereditary nobility. The highest department of the government is the council of the empire, established in 1810 to render the laws less changeable, and their application more correct. The other main objects are the revision and sanction of the budget. The number of members is not limited, but it generally amounts to 35 or 36. The council is divided into 5 departments:—1. Legislation; 2. War. 3. Church and civil affairs. 4. Internal political economy, or the administration of the public revenue. 5. The affairs of Poland. The emperor himself is the real president; but the council has further a permanent presiding member, selected by the emperor for life. Each department has its own president and state secretary; and the whole together have a common grand secretary of state, who is the principal director of the chancery, and the organ through whom the council makes known its decisions to the monarch. On receiving the emperor's confirmation of the council's decisions, this grand secretary communicates them
Statistics. to the respective authorities upon whom their execution devolves. Neither this secretary of the council, nor the council itself, receives from private persons any petitions, which must be presented to the Emperor's special state secretary for the receipt of petitions, who, after perusal, forwards them to the respective ministers. Without the monarch's sanction the decisions of the council are valueless. The directing senate is divided into 10 departments: 5 in Petersburg, 3 in Moscow, and 2 in Warsaw. It is the supreme civil and criminal tribunal of the empire, a guardian of the law, and a watcher over the inferior tribunals. The minister of justice is the chief ober-procurator, procurator or attorney-general of the whole senate; but every department of the senate has its own crown-attorney, dependent on the ober-procurator, or minister of justice. No laws can be promulgated without the senate, which prescribes their execution to all ministers and tribunals by separate edicts, or okazes, printed in the Senate gazette. The holy directing synod has for its object the management of ecclesiastical affairs. The ministries of state, whose members officiate in their several departments independently of each other, form the first instance of administration. Important affairs, purely administrative, are presented by every minister to the committee of ministers, and their collective opinion is then confirmed by the emperor. Each committee has its own state secretary, who bears to it the commands of the sovereign, and communicates them to the individual chiefs of the administration throughout the empire. The presiding member of the council of the empire is also the president of the committee of ministers. The ministries are as follows:—1. Foreign affairs and state archives; 2. War (artillery, engineering, inspection, audit, commissariat, victualling, and the medical department); 3. Marine and the colonies; 4. The Interior (police, municipal revenue and expenditure, interior administration, foreign religions, and medicine); 5. Public instruction; 6. Finances and trade (revenues and expenditure, trade, manufactures, treasury of the empire, customs, and mints); 7. The crown domains (crown-lands, peasants, and their management); 8. Justice; 9. The general direction of land and water communications; 10. Financial control; 11. Ecclesiastical affairs (Russian church); 12. The imperial household and appanages; 13. The post-office. The emperor's chancery, divided into four sections, one of which, the third, comprising the secret police, is another high organ of government; and there is, further, a special minister or state secretary for Poland, and a secretary of state for Finland. The governors and other authorities in the provinces receive their commands through the ministers and their departments. Every government has a civil governor, who is often also military governor.
Ministry of Justice. The senate is the third instance, or supreme court of jurisdiction. The nomination to places resting solely with the crown, and all presidents being removable at will, it follows that the courts are nothing but an organ of jurisdiction, entirely at the command of the government; the nobility-assessors not being eligible of right, but nominated at the sovereign's will. In the middle courts of second instance, however, the nobility have a privilege of admission, being elected by their own order, and in some cases with merchants for assessors. These courts of second in-
Statistics. stance, which revise the law proceedings of the first instance courts, are the palata graždanskogo souda or civil court, the criminal court, the executive police, the court of conscience, and the commercial court; the last with no deputies from the nobility, but with merchant-assessors only. To the lowest or first instance belong the district court, which investigates, in legal form, all law matters appertaining to it; the zemskoy-souda, or county police court, which is its executive; the nobility tutelage court, all with representatives from the nobility, merchants, burghers, and peasants; the nadeznoy-souda, or aulic court; the orphan's court; the town magistracies and town-halls, with no representatives from the nobility, but solely from the merchants, burghers, and peasants. There are judges only in the conscience and district courts. Finland and Poland have their independent codes and jurisdiction. The torture is abolished, as are also the knot and slitting of the nostrils. Some criminals are stamped, but not branded. The corporal punishment inflicted is the plet, or cat-o'-nines; and sometimes, when a criminal is exceptionally punished by military law, running the gauntlet. The nobility, clergy, and merchants are exempted from this punishment. Criminals are further sent to work in the mines of Siberia.1 The secondary degree is simple banishment to the settlements in Siberia; and the third, infliction of the rod, imprisonment, confinement in penitentiaries and reformatories, public reprimands in court, sometimes entered on the official's commission, and fines.2
All proceedings are carried on in writing, which is the great evil of the system, leading to venality, delay, gorging of the prisons, and vexations innumerable. The administration of justice is indeed the department most requiring reform; for of no country can it be more truly said that there is one law for the poor and another for the rich. But this may be looked upon as a remnant of the old bad order of things which is now being rapidly amended.
The first book of laws was the Rosskaia Pravda, or Russian jurisprudence, issued by Yaroslaff in 1020, and continued in the thirteenth century. John III. next commenced a book of laws in 1497; and this was again revised by John IV. in 1550. In 1664 the Tsar Alexay Mikhailovitch issued his Obozrenie, or general book of laws; and this code formed the foundation of the later jurisprudence, supplemented by okazes, or edicts, of the successive sovereigns; the number of statutes, up to the time of Alexander I., amounting to 30,920. Many attempts were made regularly to codify the whole; and Peter I., in particular, appointed in 1700 a commission for this purpose. Elizabeth, Catherine, and Alexander I. followed up his plan; but it was Nicholas I. who, after a previous outlay of about 1,900,000, partially succeeded in the purpose. Up to 1859, 15 tomes, containing 21 sections, have been published; but the work, although still continued in the second section of the emperor's chancery, is far from concluded, contains numerous errors, and by no means does away with the special edicts of the sovereign, which can at any time upset the written law. The school of jurisprudence was instituted by Nicholas, with a view of bettering matters, by forming legists, and appointing from among them and the law-students of the universities, crown-officials for the senate and law-courts, incorruptible, well-mannered,
1 No atrocities equalling those of Norfolk or Cayenne are enacted in Siberia, where all the condemned are under the special supervision of the secret police. The town prisons, however, and even the police-stations, are sinks of horror; the condition of prisoners on trial being scarcely better than that of the condemned themselves.
2 In 1856 there were (exclusive of Finland and Poland) 283,229 criminal, civil, and police cases; of these, 57,130 were convicted, 53,000 pardoned by manifests, 99,656 acquitted, 1574 sentenced to labour in the mines, 167 sentenced to the settlements in Transcaucasia, 3839 to Siberia. Among the above were 1124 cases of murder, 290 arson, 73 highway robbery, 6049 theft and robbery, 743 burglary, 101 false coinage, 130 offences against religion. In Poland many crimes are committed, in Finland few, in Courland but one case occurred. In 1856 acts and obligations to the amount of L.31,353,758 for the sale and transfer of property were registered in the government courts, excepting those of Poland and Finland. In 1849, in 46 governments and 1 province of European Russia there were 1089 cases of murder, 1512 of suicide, 30 infanticide, 3114 child exposure, 804 personal insult, 194 unlawful gratification of the passions, and 690 horse stealing. There were, further, 27,694 vagrants, and 1183 vagrant and thief harbourers.
Statistics. and likely to exercise a beneficial influence on their confraternity. But "a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump;" and no radical good can result until a total sweep is made of the whole corruption, and trial by jury, with public pleading and a free press, introduced—not a licentious, but a public press, for exposing evil, and for giving a voice to the public wants. Trial by jury did once exist in the remoter ages of Russian history. The present monarch, Alexander II., who has begun so well, might do still better, would he but extend his admirable reforms to this vital object. When so many princes of the imperial house are appointed to public functions, it is to be hoped that the energies of some will be directed to the sword of justice as well as to the sword of war.
Schools under the Ministry of Justice.
| Teachers. | Scholars. | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 School of jurisprudence..... | 43 | 231 |
| 1 Preparatory class to this school..... | 20 | 67 |
| 1 Constantine surveyors' school..... | 36 | 250 |
| 1 Writers' school, to form scribes for the government offices..... | 7 | 60 |
| 1 Surveying topographers' school..... | 23 | 200 |
| Total..... | 129 | 808 |
Religion. The established religion of Russia is the Greco-Russian, nationally called the Orthodox Catholic Faith, and is professed by 49,099,717 souls. This church separated from the Roman in 1054, and from the Byzantine patriarchate in 1587. It has now its own independent synod, but it maintains, with the four patriarchates of Constantinople, Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria, the intimate relations of a sister-church, possessing over them, as well as over the whole Slavonic race, a moral supremacy, which, though not despotic like that of the Roman Church, appears likely one day to rival that of the Pope over the Latins. It further maintains at Jerusalem a mission, with a bishop at its head. This religion was introduced into Russia by the Grand Princess Olga and the Grand Prince Vladimir in A.D. 955 and 988. Previously to the year 955, Christianity counted in Russia only a few followers at Kieff; but the general introduction into Russia of Christianity is reckoned from the year 988. Under Yaroslav (1019-1054) Russia had her own metropolitan, but until that time the upper hierarchy came from Greece. In 1589 a patriarch was nominated head of the national religious establishment; but under Peter the Great the emperor was declared its spiritual head, the synod taking the place of the patriarchate. With it was vested the management of ecclesiastical affairs. An ober-procurator is its secular chief. The synod consists of permanent and temporal assessors, all selected from among the highest ecclesiastical dignitaries. It is generally composed of three metropolitans, several archbishops of the black, and, further, two assessors of the white clergy, the senior priests of the guards, and of the army and fleet. It never consists of less than three bishops. The ecclesiastical hierarchy, recruited mostly from its own ranks and the lower classes, although the upper also occasionally supply members, is divided into two orders,—the black or monastic, and the white or secular clergy. The following is a return of numbers of the black clergy:—4 metropolitans, of St Petersburg, Moscow, Kieff, and Lithuania, and 1 exarch of Grusia; 26 archbishops or arch-hierarchs; 39 bishops, also styled arch-hierarchs; 176 arch-mandrites or abbots, and 84 beguems or priors; 5612 monks; 2339 nuns; 5349 lay brothers and novices; 7091 lay sisters and novices. The black clergy has Basilus the Great for its tutelar saint, and it is entirely provided for by
Statistics. the state. White clergy: 1400 protolierics or arch-priests; 35,593 popes or priests; 12,804 deacons; and 63,358 sub-deacons, readers, sacristans, and low ecclesiastical servants. The secular clergy receive from L.16 to L.40 yearly salary from the state, with some income in fees and in kind, which altogether places them, as a body, above positive want, but no more. When a clergyman gets too old for service, his successor, should he be his son-in-law, is bound to maintain him. When he dies, a place is first found for his son, and his daughter is married off if possible to the successor. A retiring-fund has been instituted, to afford pensions, but it is as yet too trifling for mention. The fees are prescribed by usage, but the priest can be compelled to perform his functions without remuneration. There are 4 first, 19 second, and 27 third class eparchies or bishoprics; in Grusia 10. Further, 463 monasteries, of which 44 of the first, 85 of the second, and 160 of the third class; the chief or laurel monasteries are the Kieff-Grotto, the Trinity-Sergius, the Alexander-Nefiski, and the Potchâiefski. There are 129 nunneries and 36,697 churches, of which 145 are for the Staropr, or Assimilated faith. Spiritual education is provided for by 4 ecclesiastical academies, at St Petersburg, Moscow, Kieff, and Kazan, with 73 professors and 336 students; each with but 1 faculty for theology, although the Hebrew, the ancient and modern Greek, the Latin, and now even the English, German, and French languages are taught, besides mathematics in extenso, and the natural sciences in part. Further, 48 seminaries, with 708 teachers and 13,864 scholars; 183 clerical district schools, with 1054 teachers and 36,359 scholars; and 18 clerical parish schools, with 32 teachers and 1401 scholars: total, 253 schools, with 1867 teachers and 51,960 scholars. These church-schools were once the light of the land. Several schools have been founded for clergymen's daughters, but their number is not returned. The national church property cannot be valued, but its capital is stated at L.1,700,000 sterling, and its annual income suffices to defray all the church expenditure, besides leaving a large surplus, which is credited to the church account. It is chiefly derived from the candle-money collected for the wax tapers burned. The amount of free gifts derived from the church-boxes amply suffices to defray the building and repairing of churches. Each government has its archbishop or bishop, excepting the governments of Petersburg, Moscow, Kieff, and Vilna, in each of which there is a metropolitan in lieu of an archbishop; and under these metropolitans, archbishops, and bishops are placed all ecclesiastics and schools, excepting those of the war ministry, which has its own senior priests, standing under the synod and the war minister. The archbishop of every government is the president of the government consistory,—a spiritual college, consisting of five to seven members, according to the extent of the bishopric. It is composed of several archimandrites, protolierics, and some of the worthiest clergymen. For punishment, monks are removed from a higher to a lower class monastery; the secular clergy are sent for a time to monasteries; and for more serious offences are either degraded by one degree, or are deprived of the riassa, their every-day upper vestment, their hair being cut off before final dismissal from the clerical function. Grave crimes come under the cognisance of the criminal law of the country; but the clergy possess a right of having deputies to see that they are treated fairly, and they are not sent to prison without the knowledge of the consistory or synod, where the sentence meets with approval or disapproval. The following distinctions exist for protopopes and popes:—Epigonations,1 palitzas,2 skull-caps, calottes, the synodal and cabinet naperstnoy krest, or
1 Epigonation, a sacerdotal decoration of embroidered stuff, in the shape of a parallelogram, worn on the right hip, below the upper and above the under reza or sacerdotal vestment. It denotes the spiritual sword.
2 Palitza, a similar distinction, but now ranking higher than the epigonation. It is shorter, square, and richly embroidered.
Statistics. breast-slung cross,1 and the orders of St Anne, 2d and 3d, and of St Vladimir, 3d and 4th classes. The same distinctions, excepting the skull-caps and calottes, are given also to the black clergy, from the hieromonach to the archimandrite inclusively; archiheresis and proto-presbyters receive the orders of St Anne, 1st; St Vladimir, 1st and 2d classes; of St Alexander Nevski; and of St Andrew the First-Called. All the black clergy indiscriminately wear beads.
Church. The Greco-Russian Church guards vigilantly against the introduction of any doctrine open to the slightest suspicion of heresy, and has its own censorship and journals. It is also very observant of hierarchical subordination. Generally, however, the Russian clergy, although jealous of their dignity, have not the spiritual pride or priestcraft of the Roman Catholic order, attributable no doubt in part to the kindly national character, and in part to the humanizing influence of marriage, which prevents the overwhelming concentration of all the human passions into one single channel. The Greco-Russian Church is mostly antagonistic to the Roman Catholic, and differs from it in the following essential particulars:—1. In not recognising the primacy of the Pope. 2. In denying that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Son (filioque). 3. In rejecting a purgatory, predestination (except in the omniscience of the Deity), indulgences, dispensations, and works of supererogation, although admitting the intercession of saints by prayer. 4. It holds the necessity of complete submersion of the whole body at baptism, unless in urgent cases, when even lay-men and women may perform it; but they must immerse the infant with the baptismal words, "In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost," if the infant can bear the immersion; if not, then sprinkling or ablution is used. Should the priest arrive in time, he reads the supplementary prayers, and performs the mystery of anointing with chrism. 5. Whilst admitting the doctrine of transubstantiation in regard to the eucharist, it affirms that the holy bread (prosphora) must be leavened; the wine and water being placed in the chalice; and it is only at the prayer of transubstantiation that part of the agnus is placed in the chalice. The element of wine with water, is alone administered to children up to the age of seven, for fear of the elements being ejected or falling to the ground. 6. Another important distinction, is that marriage is obligatory on the secular clergy, although monogamy is a strict tenet of the church. A priest may continue to serve after his wife dies. 7. No instrumental music is allowed, but vocal music forms a most attractive portion of the service. This church rejects all massive images of the Saviour or saints as idolatrous; but pictures, mosaics, bas-reliefs, and, in short, all that is represented on a flat surface, is not held a violation of the law which says, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image!" Broadly stated, and besides some of the preceding tenets, the Greco-Russian religion differs from the Anglican in so far as the latter church approaches to the Lutheran. The general harmony, however, with the Anglican is greater than with any other church; and several attempts have been made, but not successfully, to unite them, particularly in 1723. Addresses still pass at intervals between the two churches; and independently of the Irvingites, the ritual of Hatherly's new community at Liverpool so strongly resembles the Greek service that it has attracted the notice of the Russian synod. There are
four great fasts:—1. Lent, or the great fast, between the carnival and Easter, of seven weeks' duration, and of which the first and last are the most rigidly observed, being more specially devoted to repentance, confession, and preparing for the sacrament; 2. The Petroff, or Peter's fast, before St Peter's day in June of two to five weeks' duration, accordingly as Easter Sunday falls; 3. The Oospinski, or Conception fast, called by the people the Gospinski, from the 1st to 15th August. 4. The Philippoff, or St Philip's fast, of six weeks before Christmas. The first fast or Lent is the most rigidly observed. Besides the above, the Wednesday and Friday of every week are fast days, and the common people scrupulously keep them all. Catechising and preaching are practised—the latter frequently, the former at set intervals. Confirmation is not practised, the chrism used at baptism being held to comprise a mystery, rendering that ceremony supererogatory. The church festivals and saints' days, kept with eastern splendour, are numerous, and consequently form drawbacks to the business of life, although they greatly relieve the labouring classes. The venerative feeling of the people is profound, and they are zealous church-goers, early and late, being due observers besides of all the outward forms of religion, in which the essence is sometimes absorbed. There is, however, much genuine piety to be met with; pilgrimages to monasteries are frequent among all classes; donations, free gifts, offerings, and alms, being liberally bestowed by both rich and poor. There are no entrance-fees, no distinctions for great and little, no pews, no reserved places in Russian churches; the congregation stand: all are equal before God. The Sabbath is not much observed, except as a church-going day. The shops are shut during the hours of worship, but all public places of amusement are afterwards thrown open; visits are made, and business is but little affected by obedience to this salutary ordinance of the Supreme Lawgiver. The church service is performed in the ancient church Slavonic, and the lower classes cannot therefore completely follow it, except as a thing they take for granted, although they comprehend its general signification. The Bible, however, is now being translated into the vernacular Russ. The congregation fervently join in the choral parts, the responses, and the ejaculations. This portion of the service, and the great pomp investing the whole system of worship, together with the procession of banners, pictured saints, and relics, have no doubt been the great means of originally impressing on a rude people the holy awe they entertain for tsar and church; which two, with them, are identical. Church service usually consists of the vozglass, or call to worship; singing of psalms or hymns; the Litania,2 a series of prayers, mostly intoned, for the welfare of the church and her chiefs, for the peace and union of the Christian churches, and for every separate member of the imperial family; the reading of the epistles and evangel; choral and part singing of unexampled harmony; a sermon, always in the common language, explaining the evangel read; prayers, preparing for the communion, and during which the priest prepares himself; the consecration of the elements, and the administration of the sacrament, which the clergyman takes every time, and the congregation at will; then, thanksgiving for the sacrament, and parting benediction; the chanting and incense-burning throughout being frequent. Asperging with holy water is also used.3 The Old Testament is read only during evening
1 Nopirsnoy krest, a gold cross slung over the breast, a mark of distinction common to all the black clergy. The imperial family often give, besides, for distinguished services, so-called brilliant crosses (diamond). The other crosses for proficiency in the learned degrees are 2 in number: one, a small square gold cross for the degree of Magister Scientiarum; and the other a more elongated, light-blue, enamelled one, for the degree of Doctor of Divinity. The last reward for a member of the white clergy is a mitre.
2 The Litania: there are several forms of prayer so called. Some portions of this service resemble that of the Irvingites.
3 A foreigner is mostly struck by the constant signing of the cross, the repetition of the Gospodi Smelkoi, or "Lord be merciful," the genuflections, and the seal or entire prostrations.
Statistics. service, which is intended to prepare for the morning or principal service, and it therefore has a prophetic tendency, the psalms and hymns being all appropriate. The morning service represents the fulfilment of these prophecies. Service much of the same kind is often performed—sometimes exorcisms too—at private houses, on special occasions; and the remembrance-service, or Pomšenki, forty days after a person's death, is a pious custom; as is that of the yearly visitation of family graves, although this often degenerates into revelling. It is another laudable custom of the Russians to remove their hats, in the streets, before all funerals that pass. Every Russian is obliged to take the sacrament at least once a year. The calendar in use is the Julian or Greek, which is twelve days behind the Gregorian or Latin. The antagonism of the two churches is perhaps the chief objection to a reform in this respect. The superstitious belief of the common people in good and bad spirits, in house-spectres, forest and water demons, is fast dying out, although too much credence is still given to omens and witchcraft. All decent creeds are liberally tolerated,—a beautiful contrast to Roman Catholic usage; and no civil disabilities attach to those who profess another faith, except to the most hateful of the sectarians. The chief attributes of pre-eminence assigned to itself by the Russian Church are the ringing of the larger church-bells—the smaller ones being allowed to the foreign denominations,—and, further, the public processions. The Roman Catholics are permitted to walk in state round the outside of their churches when walled in, or within them when not. The host must be carried in coaches. Funerals may be publicly followed by the clergy of all persuasions. Collisions with the populace are thus prudently avoided, whilst perfect toleration is granted. In towns and places where the Roman Catholic faith is predominant, greater public display is permitted. There exists, too, a species of church police, in the form of visitation, at times, of foreign churches by a deputed person. The confine where toleration touches on persecution is in the ordinance, that the children of a foreigner, man or woman, married to a Russian, must, unless specially exempted, be brought up in the national religion. Apostasy to any other faith is strictly prohibited; but Mussulmen and Jews, on the contrary, who go over to the Russian Church, are allowed many immunities,—the latter, a consideration in money! The empress, too, and foreign princesses marrying into the imperial family, must likewise embrace the national religion, but they are not re-baptized, being only anointed with the holy chrism. None but Jews, Mohammedans, and those baptized in one person of the Trinity are re-baptized.
Sectarians. Since the first introduction into Russia of Christianity, many schisms have taken place, such as the Adrianites and the Self-Mutilators; but the chief separations were:—(1.) In 1649, when a considerable number of Greco-Russians went over to the Unia, which was formed
by orthodox believers abandoning the ritual of the national church, and accepting the dogmas of the Roman Catholic faith. The Unians, 2,000,000 in number, were again forcibly taken into the bosom of the mother church in 1839. (2.) Under the Tsar Alexay Mikhailovitch (1645 to 1676), when the amendment of the church-books occasioned a new separation. Many who believed not in the right correction of the church books of worship, which had become full of errors, formed a community holding to the ancient order of things, and they were called Stáro-Obriädsti or Starovëri (Old Ritualists or Old Believers), because opposed to all innovations, even in non-spiritual matters. Latterly, some of them have consented to accept priests from among the orthodox hierarchy, on condition of their performing church-service according to the ancient ritual. This section is called the Assimilated Church, and it counts 145 places of worship. Their church-service is very coarse and unimpressive. Those sectarians who accept no such clergy are called the Bezpopöstichina, or Popless. There are at least 40 different sects, officially stated at about 2,000,000 in number; but the well-informed calculate them as amounting to nearly 8,000,000; and they all conceal their profession as much as possible. The most respectable are the Stáro-Obriädsti. The Dook-höörtsi, or Soul-Strugglers, and the Molokhäne (so called from the locality they inhabit), are schismatics, living, as do the Mennonites, mostly in the south of Russia, and their tenets have much in common with those of the Protestant dissenters, particularly of the Anabaptists. The other sectarians dwell in the remoter governments and in Siberia. Many of their tenets are horrible; the Skoptseé, or Self-Mutilators, in particular, who are met with even in St Petersburg, and include some Germans and Fins; but they are rigidly put down, and must eventually finish by becoming absorbed into the national church. Many converts are annually made both from them and other religions,—Mohammedans, Jews, Buddhists, Lamaites, and pagans; the Russian Church prudently confining its charity to its own home-circle of heathen; but there are no sufficient data for specifying the number christianized. This was partly the reason why the Foreign Bible Society-branch, together with free masonry in Russia, was put down by Alexander in 1824. Another reason was jealousy of Protestant interference with the Russian translation of the Bible, which is that of the Septuagint. The Evangelical Church counts many adherents, called Herrnhuters—United Moravian Brethren,—living mostly in the German colonies on the banks of the Volga, in the town of Sarepta, in Southern Russia, and about Tiflis. The Jews abound mostly in Poland and in the semi-Polish governments. The Karaïm Jews, a peculiar sect, dwell in the Crimea.
The Armenio-Gregorian church in Russia has six eparchies, of which five are under archbishops, and one is ruled Gregorian by a supreme patriarch.
| Eparchies. | Churches. | Burial-grounds and Chapels. | Total. | White Clergy. | Monasteries. | Monasties. | Number of Parishioners of both sexes. | Learned Establishments. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cathedral. | Parish. | Officiating Divines. | Church Servants. | Male. | Female. | Seminaries. | District and other Schools. | |||||
| 1. Nakhichevan and Bessarabia... | 4 | 28 | 4 | 36 | 54 | 44 | 3 | 3 | ... | 23,854 | ... | 9 |
| 2. Astrakhan... | 3 | 14 | 5 | 22 | 81 | 30 | ... | 1 | 3 | 17,511 | ... | ... |
| 3. Erivan... | 1 | 319 | 7 | 327 | 373 | 270 | 13 | 55 | ... | 168,535 | 1 | 2 |
| 4. Grusino-Imertia... | 4 | 18 | 277 | 299 | 312 | 332 | 8 | 7 | 14 | 128,761 | 1 | 7 |
| 5. Karabagh... | 1 | 163 | 4 | 168 | 169 | 86 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 63,394 | ... | ... |
| 6. Shirvan... | ... | 35 | 3 | 38 | 32 | 32 | 2 | 2 | ... | 15,602 | ... | 1 |
| 13 | 577 | 300 | 890 | 1621 | 794 | 34 | 76 | 24 | 357,558 | 2 | 19 | |
The present patriarch, Matheos, is the 141st supreme patriarch of the Haikan people since the time of St Gre-
gory, the Enlightener. He has his throne at Etchmiadzin, in Armenia. Church affairs are administered, under him,
Statistics. by a synod consisting of four archbishops or bishops, and four archimandrites. These members are chosen by the patriarchs, and confirmed by the emperor, who likewise sanctions the nomination of the eparchial archbishops. The synod is further assisted by several consistories and spiritual directories. This church is wholly supported by voluntary contributions, the government adding only a sum of about L.1150 yearly for some particular expenses. The Lazareff Institute of Oriental Languages, at Moscow, provides for the education of twenty youths, who are afterwards either ordained as priests, or appointed
as teachers in the seminaries, or to situations in the synod, consistories, and spiritual directories. The Armenio-Gregorian Church considers itself the most ancient in Christendom. It differs from the Greek—with which, however, it has much similarity—in the doctrine of Jesus Christ's humanity; the Armenio-Gregorians maintaining that his two natures, of divinity and humanity, are blended into one; the Greeks, on the contrary, that they are distinct. The Armenio-Gregorian supreme patriarch, or Katholikos, styles himself in consequence Αυτοκέφαλος, or independent head.
| Eparchies. | Churches. | Monasteries. | Number of Clergy. | Parishioners of both sexes. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parish. | Filiat. | Chapels. | Male. | Female. | White. | Monastic generally. | ||||
| 1. Mohileff..... | 164 | 14 | 331 | 4 | 3 | 11 | 392 | 106 | 52 | 301,354 |
| 2. Vilna..... | 259 | 97 | 331 | 17 | 9 | 11 | 538 | 339 | 213 | 833,608 |
| 3. Telzky..... | 214 | 112 | 134 | 9 | 4 | 10 | 612 | 160 | 72 | 815,881 |
| 4. Lutsk..... | 165 | 15 | 371 | 9 | 4 | 13 | 241 | 150 | 35 | 251,059 |
| 5. Kamenetz..... | 99 | 2 | 66 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 148 | 24 | 9 | 209,550 |
| 6. Minsk..... | 81 | 79 | 184 | 6 | 4 | 12 | 182 | 134 | 68 | 188,586 |
| 7. Tiraspol..... | 88* | 20 | 17 | ... | ... | 11 | 112 | ... | ... | 129,749 |
| Total..... | 1110 | 340 | 1464 | 47† | 25† | 79 | 2225 | 913 | 540 | 2,752,787 |
* In this number are included 40 parish churches of the Armenian Catholics, and 4 chapels; 54 white parish clergy, and 14,345 parishioners of both sexes.
† Of the total number of these monasteries (72), 49 are on the government civil list, and 23 on the superannuery list, which implies that they are doomed ultimately to suppression, as has been already the case with many.
Mode of support. The Roman Catholic clergy are supported from the income of their immovable property and funded capital, which accrued to the government when they were deprived of them in 1841. The reason assigned was, that they were thus only placed on a footing similar to that of the Russian clergy, who are paid by the government, likewise out of the church income. All expenses relating to the church, and amounting to L.110,000, are defrayed by the government out of the above income, the state treasury adding only, of its own, L.6000. Every eparchy has its seminary, and there is one ecclesiastical academy at St Petersburg. There are three tribunals: the eparchial direction, the spiritual college, and the ministry of the interior. This college consists of assessors chosen by every eparchy, and is presided over by the metropolitan. A government procuror, or superior crown-attorney, always attends. This church has its chief seat in Poland and the neighbouring governments. It has two metropolitans: one of Warsaw, for Poland; and one of Mohileff, for the whole empire of Russia. He is the primate, and resides mostly at St Petersburg, which is the seat of the chief ecclesiastical academy.
Lutheran Church. The consistorial sessions, formed of deputies, take place twice a year, and a government procuror assists at them. As a means of learning the wants of the Lutheran Church, a general synod, consisting of members and deputies of the consistories, is sometimes convened at the pleasure of government. Many evangelical Lutheran churches have large funds, amply sufficient for defraying all their expenses; others, again, receive assistance from government, to the amount of L.9000. All these churches have the undisturbed management of their property. Theological faculties for this confession exist at the universities of Dorpat and Helsingfors. The Bible Society at St Petersburg had distributed 13,000 copies of the Book among members only of the Reformed Church, and had 30,000 more remaining. Its fund amounted to nearly L.2000.
| Consistorial Districts. | Number of Churches. | Number of Clergy. | Number of Parishioners. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parish. | Affiliated. | Chapels. | Upper Clergy. | Preachers. | ||
| 1. St Petersburg | 55 | 14 | 50 | 2 | 78 | 221,695 |
| 2. Moscow..... | 33 | 59 | 6 | 1 | 34 | 145,937 |
| 3. Livonia..... | 108 | 33 | 161 | 1 | 109 | 588,654 |
| 4. Courland..... | 120 | 64 | 19 | 1 | 115 | 491,244 |
| 5. Esthonia..... | 48 | 26 | 57 | 1 | 44 | 289,580 |
| 6. Oesel..... | 14 | 0 | 59 | 1 | 14 | 35,403 |
| 7. Riga..... | 10 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 47,315 |
| 8. Revel..... | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 16,781 |
| Total..... | 397 | 195 | 353 | 9 | 414 | 1,830,012 |
The Reformed denomination counts in all 31 churches and chapels, with 26 officiating clergy. All matters relating to this church, excepting those of the Reformed denomination in the governments of Vilna, Kovno, Grodno, Minsk, and Mohileff, are regulated in separate Reformed church-sessions, held at the Lutheran consistories. The Vilna Evangelico-Reformed synod takes cognisance of all church affairs relating to these last-mentioned governments. There is, also, a spiritual college for this church at Vilna. Of Hebrews, Mohammedans and Pagans, there are as follows:—
| Hebrews1..... | 1,322,936 |
| Synagogues..... | 345 |
| Rabbis, readers, and teachers..... | 4,935 |
| Mohammedans..... | 1,948,817 |
| Mosques, called мечети..... | 4,718 |
| Muftis, mullahs, and teachers..... | 7,924 |
| Pagans2..... | 374,074 |
| Places of worship..... | 490 |
| Priests..... | 4,778 |
The philanthropic institutions of Russia are mostly under charitable institutions
1 We believe this number to be more correct than that given in Köppen's returns of the foreign races. It is a year later.
2 In this number of pagans are included,—Lamites, 190,390; Places of worship, 386; Priests, 4,410.
Statistics. the direction of the Philanthropic Society, composed of various classes, and particularly of merchants. Its chief curator is the metropolitan of St Petersburg. Under this society are many establishments for widows, orphans, the deaf and dumb, cripples, &c. There is also a committee of prison inspection. Besides these, and the alms-houses maintained by the towns, there are numerous establishments supported by the government; such as the founding hospitals, and the Widows' Home at the Smolna convent. Several more are supported by private charity; as the Demidoff Institution, for orphan girls, and Zookoff's Asylum, for minor orphans. There were also, in 1851, 75 infant asylums in the whole empire, attended by 7980 children of both sexes.
Education. Public Instruction.—Education was introduced into Russia conjointly with Christianity in the tenth century. The first school for boys was founded by the Grand Prince Vladimir, Russia's Alfred, about 988; and the first school for girls, under Yaroslav, 1019 to 1054, by his sister Anne. Public schools were afterwards founded in different parts of Russia during the eleventh century, yet little had been done when the great Peter first flung his mighty intellect into the work before him, and by his rough but useful lessons forced civilization upon his unwilling subjects. This sovereign was indisputably as much the primary teacher of his people as the founder of Russia's present greatness. He began by making education compulsory on the nobility and officials, and each succeeding sovereign after him did more or less in furtherance of his views. The sole honourable record, indeed, of Elizabeth Petrovna's reign is the founding, at Shoovaloff's suggestion, of the Moscow university in 1755, and two years later of the Academy of Fine Arts at St Petersburg, afterwards completed by Catherine II. It was Elizabeth who first showed the first leaning towards Gallic ideas. Catherine II. zealously continued Peter's labour, and was properly the founder of the national schools. Her action is mostly evidenced by the marked introduction, in moral culture, manners, and dress, of an exclusively French system, which continued down to the time of Nicholas. Russia still owes much to Catherine, both in point of learning and refinement of manners; but it is a question whether her system has not been in other respects hurtful by diminishing the national self-respect, and perhaps by corrupting the national morals. Alexander I. greatly contributed to the advancement of learning. He founded the universities of Dorpat, Kharkoff, Kazan, and St Petersburg, as also the Alexander Lyceum, ardently carrying out the work of reform, much on Catherine's plan, with steady perseverance and great success. His system was chiefly marked by the introduction of a soldier-like discipline in the training of youth. This system was yet more rigidly carried out by Nicholas, to whom still belongs the credit of having been the first to re-Russianize his empire. With this view, he gave a more national direction to the course of studies pursued, by making the Russian language, literature, history, geography, statistics, and knowledge of Russia the chief objects of study. He further prohibited the young gentry from being educated abroad, except by special permission, and even laid restraints on their stay in foreign countries, in order to counteract their inoculation of too liberal ideas. He also made it imperative to obtain his sanction for staying abroad, inflicted passport duties so heavy as to be equivalent to a prohibition from travelling, and sharpened the action of a severe censorship. He still vigorously carried out the work of improving the national education, and, like all his predecessors, considerably increased the number of the learned establishments. This sovereign was vastly superior to any of his predecessors after Peter. His personal gifts, mental and physical, were of the highest order; and few men in his position have possessed so much mastery of the mind over the body.
Statistics. The accession of the present emperor Alexander II. has been marked by an abatement of his father's restrictions, by a comparative liberty of the press, and, strangely enough, by a happy revulsion in favour of English principles, but without any exaggeration of the sentiment. Already the healthful impulse given in particular to literature surpasses expectation, and promises the happiest results, although in so vast an empire education has of course not yet had time to permeate the masses. The Russian system of education is on the whole too much intended for the eye; too hollow; too superficial; embraces too many objects at once; and does not sufficiently provide for the education of the body. The education of females is the one most requiring reform. Girls of all classes are superficially taught all that they least want to know; whilst the real objects for which woman was created are precisely those mostly left out of view. In the female government establishments an undue luxury prevails, that totally unfits the poor girls for the rude families into whose bosoms they return; and worst of all, their long stay in those semi-conventional establishments damps in them the faculty of love, by severing them from the bonds of family affection. As regards the general direction given to learning, it was mostly the scholastico-eclesiastical spirit that prevailed up to the time of the minister Ovaroff, in Nicholas's reign. The system followed in the universities and gymnasia was bad to a degree, having besides the old seminaristic tendency. Ovaroff abolished this, and gave to learning a more German or philologo-philosophical direction, in which it now continues, although Nicholas interrupted it awhile by stopping in 1848 the teaching of many branches of philosophy in the universities, retaining only the lectures on logic and psychology, and confiding them to priests, who still occupy these chairs.
The fine arts came into Russia with Sophia, the Greek spouse of John Vassilievitch III. The learned establishments of Russia, religious, military, naval, civil, and special, are severally placed under particular chiefs at the head of these different departments,—Poland and Finland being separately administered,—and are mostly divided into three classes, which take rank according to the degree of distinction that attaches to them, regard being had to the importance of the schools, and to the social position of the scholars. These classes confer on the pupils various advantages, which are held out as inducements for parents to send their children to them for education, it having been found both impossible and needless to carry out the system of compulsory education first enforced by Peter. The academies of sciences and of fine arts, the liberal, charitable, and many special institutions, are under the immediate protection of the imperial family, who further provide for the instruction of their servants' children, as do also several of the separate ministries. By this special superintendence for each branch of education, the object in view is no doubt best attained; but the fault lies in over-government, and in nothing being left to the generous action of public spirit, which is thus destitute of a high moral tone. Teachers in public schools are very properly subjected to examinations as to their competency, but when once this is certified, they partake of the advantages bestowed on the schools in the shape of pay,—which once was liberal, but is not so now,—a gradually rising rank, and subsequently a pension for their old age. Domestic tutors, private teachers, and governesses, are all alike subjected to tests, varying in proportion to the degree they may wish to take, and are thus all equally under the control of the government. Female teachers in the numerous government establishments for young ladies, have advantages corresponding to those of the men. Generally speaking, the social standing of a teacher is, as it ought to be, highly respectable. Not to detail the minor establishments existing under the different
Statistics. ministries, a minute return of which would be of little interest, we shall hereafter give the most important tables when we touch the several heads to which they respectively relate. The following summary will meanwhile answer all needful purposes:—Esthetics, and their affiliated branches, are fostered by an Academy of Fine Arts,—the noblest in Europe,—with its splendid sculpture and picture galleries, and its collection of engravings; the Hermitage, with its countless treasures of sculptures, paintings, and coins; the National and the Roomiantsoff museums; the museum of sculpture in the Taurida Palace; the permanent exhibition of works of art near the Exchange; four porcelain, glass, bronze, and tapestry manufactories; four theatres, including a national and an Italian opera, with a ballet, and where French and German pieces are also performed; one summer theatre, and one court-singers' school,—all at St Petersburg, or near it. A marked feature of the time is the introduction of parks and public squares; some of the bridges, too, in the empire, are of unparalleled magnificence; and generally the improvement in architecture is striking to the dullest eye. In architecture, it is the Indian, the ancient Russian, the Russo-Byzantine, the renaissance, and mixed styles that mostly prevail. Moscow has but little to boast of in point of art, unless in the quaint architecture of its Kremlin and its countless churches. It possesses a branch-school of the Academy of Fine Arts, and, further, Yablonskoff's cabinet of art-curiosities, two theatres, and one theatre-school. Near that city are the picture-galleries of Mr Narishkin, Count Strogonoff, Count Bezborodko, and Prince Yooosopoff. Science is provided for by more numerous establishments: the Academy of Sciences, with its cabinets of natural curiosities and oriental coins, and its costly library; the public library, with 802,717 volumes, 28,536 manuscripts, and 63,503 engravings, independently of the libraries of the universities and ecclesiastical academies; the magnificent astronomical observatory at Poolkova; numerous other observatories at Moscow, Kazan, Nikolaieff, Dorpat, Riga, Mitau, and other places; the physical observatory at St Petersburg; the cabinets of natural curiosities at Moscow, Vilna, Dorpat, Riga, and Mitau; the scientific collection and models of marine apparatus in the Naval College of St Petersburg; Loder's anatomical museum at Moscow; the museum of South Russian antiquities at Odessa and at Kertch; the Geographical and Imperial Mineralogical societies; the botanical garden; the Free Economical and Horticultural societies; the Society for Mutual Instruction; another for the encouragement of artists,—all at St Petersburg; the Society of Friends of Russian Literature, for Russian history and antiquities; the Medico-Physical Society, for the discussion of the natural sciences, and of pharmacæutic knowledge; the Agricultural and Antiquarian societies; the Literary and Lettish societies; one for rural economy; the Livonian societies of Public Instruction and of Agriculture at Riga; the Courland Society for Literature and the Fine Arts at Mitau; the Literary societies of Kalooga and Zitomir; the Philotechnic and Scientific associations of Kharkoff; the societies of Friends of the Russian Language at Yaroslaff; of Friends of the National Literature and of the Sciences at Kazan; and the Physiological Society at Abo; one of which might have been advantageously replaced by a society for the prevention of cruelty to animals. A society for the acclimation of animals has been recently formed at Moscow, and Mr Lamanski has projected one for the diffusion of useful knowledge. Among the special institutes, the most noteworthy are the learned section for the oriental languages, under the minister of foreign affairs, instituted to qualify young diplomats for their vocations; and the Lazareff Institute for the oriental languages at Moscow.
First-class Establishments for the Daughters of the Nobility, Officers, and Officials, under the immediate protection of their Imperial Majesties. Statistics.
| Teachers. | Scholars. | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Smolna rearing establishment..... | 83 | 392 |
| 1 School of the Order of St Catherine at St Petersburg..... | 56 | 357 |
| 1 School of the Order of St Catherine at Moscow..... | 59 | 288 |
| 1 Patriotic Institute..... | 93 | 244 |
| 12 Other institutes for noble young ladies at different places..... | 356 | 1589 |
| 13 Second-class establishments at different places..... | 425 | 1533 |
| 12 Third-class establishments for girls of lower condition at different places..... | 207 | 953 |
| Special Establishments. | ||
| 1 Nicholas Orphan Institute at St Petersburg..... | 166 | 793 |
| 1 Nicholas Orphan Institute at Moscow..... | 108 | 725 |
| 1 Deaf-and-dumb school at St Petersburg..... | 23 | 65 |
| 1 School of midwifery " " "..... | 14 | 131 |
| 1 " " " " " at Moscow..... | 16 | 82 |
| 1 Section of the Moscow foundling-hospital for infants..... | 40 | 125 |
| Total..... | 1590 | 7277 |
Five female gymnasia, of which four are at St Petersburg and one at Veechny-Volotchock,—number of scholars not shown—have been recently instituted, much on the plan of the German daughter-schools.
Male Educational Establishments at St Petersburg.
| Teachers. | Scholars. | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Alexander Lyceum..... | 33 | 126 |
| 1 Deaf-and-dumb school..... | 13 | 101 |
| 1 Commercial school..... | 35 | 299 |
| 2 Hospital-assistants' schools..... | 11 | 85 |
| 1 Nicholas Orphans' Institute at Gatchina..... | 44 | 671 |
At Moscow.
| 1 Section of the foundling hospital for infants.. | 21 | 96 |
| 1 Commercial school..... | 24 | 121 |
| 1 Hospital-assistants' school..... | 15 | 251 |
| 1 Mechanics' institute..... | 18 | 290 |
| Masters for instructing in artizanship..... | 14 | ... |
| Total..... | 228 | 2040 |
There are also 3 schools—the Maria, Midwives', and St Helen's—under the protection of H.I.H. the Grand Duchess Helen, with 30 teachers and 490 scholars; and 12 private and 3 sectional schools belonging to the Ladies' Patriotic Community, with 32 teachers and 507 scholars.
This ministry, established by Alexander I. in 1802, is Ministry of presided over by a special minister, assisted by a colleague, public in a superior director of schools, a high committee of censorship, ship consisting of three individuals of note, a committee of censorship, and a staff of 46 censors; of whom 8 are at St Petersburg, 5 at Moscow, 6 foreign, 3 at Riga, 3 at Vilna, 2 at Keeveff, 3 at Odessa, 11 at Warsaw, 2 at Tiflis, 1 at Dorpat, 1 at Revel, and 1 at Kazan. Besides these censors, there are others for the ministry of foreign affairs, the synod, the post-office, the theatre-direction, and one for the ministry of war.1 The ministry of public instruction is at present divided into 11 learned circles,—of St Petersburg, Moscow, Keeveff, Kazan, Kharkoff, Odessa, Dorpat, Siberia, the Caucasus, Vilna, and Warsaw,—each under the superintendence of a curator, and each district under a separate inspector of schools. The six universities of St Petersburg, Moscow, Keeveff, Kazan, Kharkoff, and Dorpat, are under this ministry; that of Helsingfors is under the state-secretary for Finland. The following is a special return of their status:—
1 This vexatious censorship is beginning to cause a most serious evil or blessing—the printing of Russian books abroad.
| Universities. | Faculties. | Objects of Study. | Professors. | Students. | Statistics. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Helsingfors (formerly at Abo), founded in 1640 | 5 | a, Theological; b, medical; c, juridical; d, historico-philological; e, physico-mathematical. | 60 | 600 | |
| 2. Moscow, founded 1755 | 4 | a, Historico-philological; b, physico-mathematical; c, juridical; d, medical. | 117 | 1725 | |
| 3. Dorpat, 1802 | 5 | a, Theological (Protestant); b, juridical; c, historico-philological; d, physico-mathematical; e, medical. | 84 | 555 | |
| 4. Kazan, 1804 | 4 | a, Historico-philological; b, physico-mathematical; c, juridical; d, medical. The physico-mathematical faculty has two sections—for the mathematical and the natural sciences; the juridical faculty has two sections—for jurisprudence proper and the cameral sciences. | 76 | 353 | |
| 5. Kharkoff, 1804 | 4 | a, Historico-philological; b, physico-mathematical; c, juridical; d, medical. The mathematical faculty is subdivided into the two sections of the natural and the mathematical sciences. | 79 | 459 | |
| 6. St Petersburg, 1819 | 4 | a, Historico-philological; b, physico-mathematical; c, juridical; d, oriental languages. The physico-mathematical faculty is subdivided into the two sections of the mathematical and the natural sciences; the juridical into the juridical proper and cameral. Cameral science comprises—State institutions, laws of organization and police, finance, rural and political economy, statistics, technology, and international law. The faculty of oriental languages comprises five sections: the Arabic—Persian, Turkish, and Tartar; the Mongolian and Kalmuck Tartar; the Chinese—Mantchoor; the Arabic—Hebrew; and the Armenian—Grusian and Tartar. | 82 | 716 | |
| 7. St Vladimir, at Kee-yeff (re-established in 1839) | 4 | a, Historico-philological; b, physico-mathematical; c, juridical; d, medical. The physico-mathematical faculty has two sections—for the natural and the mathematical sciences. | 96 | 906 | |
| Total. | 594 | 5314 | |||
By a decree of the emperor, promulgated in January 1859, the upper pedagogical institute, as it now exists, will be suppressed, and replaced by special courses of pedagogy. Similar pedagogical courses are to be established in all university-towns. The other educational establishments are—2 lycees, the Richelieu at Odessa, and the Bezboroko at Nezin; further, 84 gymnasia, each government and every important town having at least 1; 458 district, 1090 parish, 19 primary, 654 private, 2 veterinary, and 107 Hebrew schools. Total under this ministry, exclusive of Poland, 2434 schools, with 7472 teachers, and 104,164 scholars, at an annual outlay to the state of L. 475,000.
Educational matters in Poland are under a curator, who reports both to the lieutenant of the kingdom and to the minister of public instruction. The Warsaw learned circle is the only one in the country, and under it formerly stood a university at Vilna; but it was suppressed in 1833 on account of the political troubles, and removed in 1839 to Kee-yeff; the Vilna professors being bodily translated thither, and the former university at Kee-yeff re-established under the name of St Vladimir. There exist at present in Poland 1 medico-chirurgical academy, 1 nobility institute, 1 government ladies' boarding-school, 1 school of arts, 6 philological gymnasia, 1 practical gymnasium, 2 practical high schools, 1 school of agriculture and forest economy, 181 private and 9 practical district schools; 17 district, 1 Sunday commercial, 1 primary teachers, 1119 primary, 93 Sunday artisans, 1 rabbinical, and 5 Hebrew schools. Total, 1441 places of education in Poland, with 74,343 scholars, the number of masters not being shown.
Education in Finland is under the secretary for that grand principality. It is provided for by 1 university at Helsingfors, 1 cadet corps at Friedrichshamm, 6 gymnasia, 14 upper elementary, 53 lower, and 25 Sunday-schools; further, 3 navigation, 3 technico-practical, and 3 commercial schools; 1 institute for rural economy, several people's schools, and 6 girls' schools; the total of masters being about 300, and of scholars 9000. Girls are mostly taught at home. No Fin is admitted to the sacrament unless he can read.
In 1849, only 917 books were printed in the whole empire, against 1626 printed in 1857, in the Russian, Polish, Finnish, Lettish, Estonian, Gruzinian, Armenian, German, French, Italian, and English languages. The number of
journals and periodicals issued in 1859 forms a total of 204. Piracy of literary property is punished by heavy fines, and copyright is inalienable for fifty years. Typography, as an art, although improving, is still in a backward state, and printing is dear. The greatest darkness prevails in the Caucasus and in Siberia; the greatest enlightenment, in the capitals and the Baltic provinces. It was through this German section of the empire, not to speak of the foreigners who co-operated in the work, that the country became permanently civilized.1 Russia is still the great barrier against Asiatic barbarism, and the great means of Asiatic civilization.
Summary from the Statistical Tables of 1856.
| Schools. | Scholars. | Percentage of Scholars of both Sexes. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| In the European governments and provinces. | 7841 | 432,889 | 0.75 |
| In the Caucasian lieutenancy. | 74 | 5,505 | 0.19 |
| In the Siberian governments and provinces. | 312 | 11,608 | 0.35 |
| In the whole empire. | 8227 | 450,002 | 0.70 |
On an average there fell to every government and province of the empire from 126 to 127 schools, and 6329 scholars; to every school 55 scholars; and in the whole empire 0.70 scholars to every 100 inhabitants of both sexes,—otherwise expressed, 1 scholar to 143 inhabitants.
Army.—The general direction of this branch of the service rests of course with the emperor; but the detailed direction is under the management of the Staff-Office, corresponding to the English Horse-Guards. In its organization the staff adheres mostly to the French. The officers of the staff are well versed in foreign languages; still their education calls for some amendment. There are many abuses of management, as well as much peculation, existing in the army generally; although, to the credit of the government be it said, commissions are nominated in regiments and elsewhere to inquire into and uproot abuses. The hospital service, during the recent war, was open to indignant animadversion. Promotion goes by seniority, favour, and for distinguished services; there is no putting of demerit over the head of merit by purchase; and every officer must serve from the rank of under-officer upwards. Young men educated in the military colleges come out as
1 The discharged soldier in Russia is an important agent in the communication of that floating knowledge which goes so far to instruct a people.
Statistics. officers. The whole army is under a minister of war, assisted by a colleague and a military council. The office of Master of the Ordnance is generally filled by a grand prince. The total amount of the regular forces, reduced as it has been since the war of 1853-55, may be taken at 500,000 men; and the total of the irregular troops, consisting of the Kozack forces and different militia troops, at 150,000 men. The following is a view of their composition:—
Regular Troops.—The active army consists (1.) of the separate corps of the Guards, comprising the infantry and reserve cavalry corps of the Guards; (2.) of the separate grenadier corps; (3.) of the 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, and 6th corps, the three first forming the 1st army and subordinate to its commander-in-chief; (4.) of the separate reserve cavalry corps; (5.) and of the following separate corps—the Caucasian, Orenburg, and Siberian; (6.) lastly, of the forces stationed in Eastern Siberia and in Finland.
Statement of Army.
| Guard Corps. | |
|---|---|
| 2 Divisions of heavy cavalry1 | 4,000 |
| 1 " light " | 2,000 |
| 3 " infantry | 36,000 |
| 9 Batteries of foot artillery | ... |
| 4 " horse " | ... |
| The grenadier corps, and the 6 army corps, are each composed of— | |
| 3 Divisions of infantry | 252,000 |
| 1 " light cavalry | 14,000 |
| 1 " foot artillery | ... |
| To each infantry corps is attached a division of foot artillery, and each division has 3 brigades, of which 1 brigade, composed of 4 batteries, is attached to each division of infantry. | |
| 1 Brigade of horse artillery, composed of 2 batteries | 4,000 |
| The separate corps of reserve cavalry consists of 2 divisions of cuirassiers, which form the cadres for wartime; to this reserve cavalry are attached— | |
| 6 Horse batteries | ... |
| 1 Division of horse pioneers | 250 |
| Separate Caucasian Corps. | |
| 4 Divisions (strong ones) of infantry | ... |
| 13 Battalions of the Caucasian line | ... |
| 18 " " Caucasian line | ... |
| 6 " " Black Sea line | ... |
| Forming a total of 139 battalions, equal to... | |
| Grand total | 482,250 |
The regular troops included in the separate corps of Orenburg, Siberia, and Finland, with the artillery, &c., will swell this amount to about 500,000 men. The irregular troops cannot be estimated with any degree of exactness on account of their peculiar organization, no permanent contingent being fixed, and the whole male population being in some parts liable to serve when summoned.
The recruiting is effected by alternate levies made in the different governments, and ordered by imperial command, designating the classes and the number of men to be taken from every thousand. Recruits are chosen by the communes or selected by lot, and are received by a commission in the presence of an imperial aide-de-camp. The nobility, officials, clergy, and merchants, are exempted from serving; the recruitment thus falls mostly upon the serfs between the ages of 18 and 35. The term of service is 20 years for the Guards, 22 for the line, and 25 for the train and military servants, although unlimited furloughs are given earlier. Every year after the manoeuvres, which take place at different times and places, the minister of
war demands of the regimental chiefs what soldiers may be Statistics. dismissed; but the principles on which furloughs, limited or unlimited, are granted, do not, from their complication, admit of detail. The general rule is, in case of war being expected, to give leave of absence only to such soldiers as are natives of the nearer governments, in order that they may be promptly called in when needed; but if war should not be expected, then the soldiers are dismissed to the remoter governments, though always liable to be summoned to the ranks so long as physical capacity allows. The furloughed soldiers must, on arrival at their homes, report themselves at the depot of the nearest regiment, no matter that it is not their own, and every year appear at the nearest place appointed for manoeuvres and drill, which never last beyond a few weeks. Little or no pension is given, but the old soldiers are emancipated as serfs, and provided for by being preferentially appointed to situations as doorkeepers, watchmen, overseers, and so forth, in government establishments and public institutions. There are but few hospitals for invalided soldiers; the chief one is at Tchesma, near St Petersburg. The Russian soldier of the Guards is tall and well made; but the line-soldier is often narrow-chested, has not so much strength or stamina, and he is but very indifferently fed in war, which explains why he dies so fast on march and in hospitals. The Russian is hardly beyond compare, and most unquestionably brave; but his bravery is of a stoical kind, totally differing from the fury of the French, and more resembling the intrepidity of the English soldier, which has no equal. His favourite weapon is the bayonet, which, like the Englishman, he takes to naturally, because used from infancy to the hatchet and to chopping. The Russian soldier can be his own cook, tailor, and bootmaker; he is handy to a degree, and enduring to martyrdom; but he wants that high tone of spirit which is imparted only by moral superiority, and this is the reason why his education is now being more attended to; the officers themselves being made, throughout the Guards and army, the schoolmasters of their men, who learn, good-humouredly and successfully, reading, writing, and the rudiments of arithmetic. The men are now also taught gymnastic exercises, besides bayonet and sword-play. Every battalion has a proportionate number of special marksmen with rifles, who are taught musketry-practice. The men are much more liberally treated than before the war of 1853-55, and the drill and exercise system is greatly altered, the automaton system having been found of bad effect, serving only to stupify. The Kozacks, the artillery, the cavalry, and infantry regiments of the Guards, are composed of fine men. The favourite mode of attack is in column; in Soovroff's time it used to be in line, like the English. The immense spaces to be traversed, and the distance from depôts, neutralizes one-third of the active force. Railways, however, are altering this state of things.
Scientific Establishments and Schools under the Ministry of War.
| 1 Medico-chirurgical academy, placed directly under the medical department of the war ministry | Teachers. | Scholars. |
|---|---|---|
| Several surgeon-barbers' schools at the different military hospitals | 35 | 978 |
| 1 Topographers' school | 17 | 1,020 |
| 22 Military schools2 | 13 | 140 |
| Total | Not shown. | 10,000 |
| 65 | 12,138 |
Further, 3 lower artillery schools, distinct from the artillery college, viz., the technical, pyrotechnical, and farriers' schools, with 22 teachers and 166 scholars.
1 To every division of infantry is attached a battalion of sharpshooters. Each infantry corps has 3 divisions, each division 2 brigades or 4 regiments, and each regiment is composed of 3 battalions. Each battalion has 4 companies of 250 privates. 1 cavalry division has 4 regiments of 4 squadrons each, consisting of 120 privates. A distinction is made in Russ between the words division and divisa; a division may consist of only 250; but a divisa corresponds to the continental division.
2 These military schools are a great improvement. They have been lately instituted in lieu of the cantonist schools, in which the
Statistics. Under the section of the Military Learned Establishments, whose chief is independent of the war minister, and reports to the emperor directly:—
| Three military academies, viz.: | Teachers. | Scholars. |
|---|---|---|
| 1. The Nicholas academy of the staff..... | 22 | 250 |
| 2. " upper engineer school.... | 50 | 125 |
| 3. The Michael artillery school..... | 32 | 117 |
| 1 page corps, or college..... | 41 | 159 |
| 1 ensigns' school of the Guards..... | 31 | 206 |
| 22 cadet corps, or military colleges, for the Guards and line..... | 723 | 7440 |
| Total..... | 839 | 8258 |
The engineers are perhaps the most learned of all the army. The Guard officers are gentlemanly in tone, and well educated, the artillery and staff particularly. Krupp's steel cannon is used in the Caucasus, and has proved itself a good weapon of war, although a costly one. The percussion-lock has long been adapted throughout the army to a plain bore, with the Minié ball. The artillery is very fine, and the horses are strong; but the powder is bad. This arm manoeuvres well, is bold in advance, and fires quickly. The cavalry is admirable, the Kozzacks making excellent light troops, through the hardness of their horses and their equipment being suited to its purpose. It is the Kozzacks of the Caucasian line and of the Black Sea who are the best and bravest; the other Kozzacks are but indifferent
troops. The arsenals, powder-mills, and great military manufactories are at St Petersburg, Systerbäck, Toola, and Petrozavodsk. Dark-green is the prevailing colour, often with red facings, but blue and other colours are also affected. One-half of the income of the empire was supposed to be applied to the former war budget, but retrenchments of great magnitude have been made since the last war. The numerical amount of the army is rigidly kept secret, as a supposed means of strength.
Statement of the Russian Fleet.
| Description of Vessels. | Baltic Fleet. | Black Sea Fleet. | White Sea Fleet. | Caspian Fleet. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sailing ships of large dimensions..... | 24 | Not precisely ascertainable, but may be taken at six corvettes, with a few schooners and steamers. | A few vessels for port purposes, but none for war. Many steamers, but the Baltic fleet are built here. | Inconsiderable, but two opposed to be employed. A few schooners and light steamers. This was now being surveyed. |
| Screw steam line-of-battle ships..... | 8 | |||
| Screw steam frigates..... | 7 | |||
| Steam frigates and paddle-boats..... | 9 | 66 | ||
| Inferior vessels*..... | 66 | |||
| Screw gun-boats..... | 70 | |||
| Total of fleet..... | 184 |
* Among the inferior vessels are classed the corvettes, clippers, yachts, brigs, and small steamers.
Names and Order of the Vessels.
| Screw Steam Line-of-Battle Ships. (Some new and all sound.) |
Inferior Vessels.—Corvettes. (Seaworthy and new.) |
Yästreb. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guns. | ||||||
| *Tsarsarevitch..... | 135 | Krasnoj..... | 84 | Bayán..... | 16 | Vestoydý..... |
| *Sinope..... | 131 | Ne Tron Meniãj..... | 84 | Vol..... | 11 | Bastroy..... |
| Orel..... | 84 | Bienne..... | 74 | Medved..... | 11 | Onaga..... |
| *Retvishn..... | 84 | Pâmlat Azovãj..... | 74 | Medvûd..... | 11 | Alexandria..... |
| †Gangút..... | 74 | Velëskoy Kniaz Meekhâel..... | 74 | Boyârin..... | 11 | Courtier..... |
| *Vûla..... | 74 | Fère Champenoise..... | 74 | Voyevûda..... | 11 | Graf Vrôntchenko..... |
| †Konstantæn..... | 74 | Ezekiel..... | 74 | Rinça..... | 11 | Nêfka..... |
| *Veøborg..... | 74 | Ingermannland..... | 74 | Posàdnik..... | 11 | Neva..... |
| *The General Admiral..... | 70 | Borodinô..... | 56 | Novdñsk..... | 11 | Veøborg..... |
| Prôkhor (sailing line-of-battle ship), like the Excellent, in England, used for gunnery practice ... | 84 | Vilaroche..... | 56 | Novêk..... | 11 | Ôkhita..... |
| Sèozy Velëskoy..... | 56 | Greeden..... | 11 | Ektora..... | ||
| Narra..... | 56 | |||||
| Amphétreds..... | 44 | Clippers. | Gun-Boats. | |||
| Tsarsarevitch Konstantæn..... | 44 | Strëlòk..... | 6 | 70 screw (serviceable). | ||
| Castor..... | 44 | Plastoon..... | 6 | 6 yachts. | ||
| Schooners. | ||||||
| Corvettes. (Nearly unserviceable.) |
Djêghòet..... | 6 | Bâkon (new), Screw..... | |||
| Screw Steam Frigates. (All new and sound.) |
Kniaz Varshâfsky..... | 30 | Rarzbôynik..... | 6 | Vekhâ " "..... | |
| *Svetlána..... | 60 | Olivôttas..... | 30 | Opritchnik..... | 6 | |
| *Olov..... | 58 | Smolansk..... | 28 | Nayêzdnik..... | 6 | |
| *Ilia Moorômets..... | 53 | |||||
| *Gremobôy..... | 50 | Steam Frigates—all paddle. | 20-gun Brigs. | |||
| *Askold..... | 45 | Philôktis (new)..... | 20 | Veekhr (old), Sailing..... | ||
| *Palkán..... | 44 | Agamemnon "..... | 20 | Dôshd " "..... | ||
| Seaworthy and serviceable. | Antenôr (old)..... | 20 | Meteor " "..... | |||
| Sailing Frigates and Large Vessels. |
Kamtchátka..... | 550 | Palinôor "..... | 20 | Grad " "..... | |
| (Nearly unserviceable.) | Gremiâstchy..... | 400 | Ooldess "..... | 20 | Râdôga " "..... | |
| Rossia..... | 120 | Smâlôy..... | 400 | Parqes "..... | 20 | Strelâ " "..... |
| Imperator Peter Pârvy .... | 110 | Grozhiâstchy..... | 400 | |||
| Imperatrôttas Alexandra... | 84 | Oltaff..... | 400 | Riser Paddle-Boats. | ||
| Poltáva..... | 84 | Visdœmir (post steamer)..... | 350 | St Petersburg (a post steamer). | ||
| Andráy..... | 84 | Rûrick..... | 300 | Fontâka..... | ||
| Vladœmir..... | 84 | Otvâzinoy..... | 300 | Lâdoga..... | ||
| Khrâbroy..... | 300 | Ilmen..... | ||||
| Maernoy..... | ||||||
| Pospâshnoy..... | ||||||
| Total of Russian fleet, 183 | ||||||
* New.
† Timbered afresh.
‡ Don't Touch Me.
§ Memory of Azoff.
It is asserted that the light craft in the Black Sea are so built as to be easily convertible into vessels of war. There are, further, a few steamers, corvettes, and transports built in the United States for the Amoor service.
As hereby appears, the Baltic fleet is at present the only
important one in the empire, and forms the nucleus of the Russian navy. The life of a Russian-built ship is ten years, and no more. The American-built vessels ordered for Russia, though infinitely dearer, live at least three times that term. The number of men actually serving in the
children of soldiers were forcibly brought up as scribes, and for service in the line, thus forming a positive caste, from which there was no escape. The military schools provide education for the same class without entailing any such bondage. The military colonies have also been done away with, as a mighty failure, candidly avowed, and the colonists are merged into the population.
Statistics. Russian fleet may be computed at about 38,000; but in point of fact the number is next to illimitable, for it can be augmented at will by drafts from the land force. Regard is certainly, in some degree, had to the provinces from which ships' crews are taken, but little positive good, through different causes, is on the whole derived from this measure; the chief reason being, that Nature herself is against Russia's ever being a great naval power, although she may be, and is, a considerable one. So long as her ports freeze up for half the year, so long will Russia possess only a second-rate navy. The fleet itself is now divided into three divisions,—the blue, white, and red. Cronstadt is the permanent harbour. The national navy flag is a blue cross transversing a white field. The marine is presided over by a minister, assisted by a colleague and an admiralty council. This forms the highest administration of the navy. The other departments are,—the general auditoriat, which is the highest naval court; the auditoriat department is its executive branch; the minister's chancery serves to link the administration with the departments, and transmits orders to them; the inspector's department checks accounts, exercises a general supervision over the navy, and is the managing section. The other divisions are,—the medical, building, ship-building, hydrographic, and commissariat departments; a scientific committee; a committee for the steam-engine service; and besides these, at Nicholaïeff, a hydrographic section, but on a small scale. The ship-timber department is under the minister of crown domains. The hospitals are numerous, well provided, and sufficient, were they only well conducted.
Statement of the Naval Schools under the Ministry of Marine.
| Teachers. | Scholars. | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Naval cadet college..... | 92 | 631 |
| 1 Training naval school for seamen, forming a complete ship's crew..... | 15 | 553 |
| 1 Company of commercial navigation at Cronstadt..... | 12 | 45 |
| 1 Pilots' school at Cronstadt..... | 32 | 355 |
| 1 Lower engineer and artillery school at St Petersburg..... | 38 | 255 |
| 1 Black Sea pilots' school at Nicholaïeff..... | 22 | 182 |
| 1 Black Sea midshipmen's company..... | 13 | 62 |
| 1 Nicholaïeff girls' institute..... | 7 | 100 |
| 1 Training naval school for seamen at Nicholaïeff..... | 18 | 415 |
| 249 | 2008 |
There are now no English officers in the Russian fleet: formerly, under Peter, Catherine, and Alexander, they contributed to make the Russian navy what it now is.
This ministry, answering to the English Home Office, is one of the most important branches of state-administration, embracing internal economy and police superintendence, besides the management of the medical department and of matters relating to the foreign religious denominations. It consists of the following departments:—(1.) General matters and the minister's chancery, in which are concentrated all affairs relating to the persons composing this extensive ministry,—i.e., the nomination of governors, town-chiefs, and so forth; to peasants applying for their emancipation, and to the sectarians. (2.) The executive police, charged with the correspondence relating to the repairing of roads, the prisons, alms-houses, the arrangement of corn-magazines in towns and manors, excepting the lands of the crown peasants, the land-rates and their outlay, the recruitment, the town and land-police, the nobility elections, and generally to events occurring in all parts of the empire, excepting Poland and Finland. The economical department has the management of all matters relating to the financial economy of the towns throughout the empire, again excepting Poland and Finland; to the town-halls, the merchant guilds, arti-
zans' companies, and burghers' corporations. This department has also the management of the committees of public supervision and of their funds. It is here necessary to explain that these committees manage the affairs of the charitable institutions, such as alms-houses, hospitals, &c., in every government; and at the same time form financial credit establishments, which receive sums of money on interest, and lend them out again, the profits on which transactions are made over to the charitable institutions. Under the department of foreign religious denominations are placed all their consistories, schools, and other establishments. This ministry has further a council for very important affairs, and a statistical committee. To the latter are entrusted all matters relating to statistical information, and the reports of governors concerning the state of affairs in all parts of the governments confided to their rule.
The highest instance in medical administration is the Medicine. medical council in St Petersburg, under the minister of the interior. The medical service is divided into three parts: (1.) The civil medical service. For this there exist a medical department, and a separate department for supplying all the medical establishments with drugs and other means of treatment. To this department belong a manufactory of surgical instruments, and five warehouses for medicaments in different towns, and with botanical gardens. In every governmental town there is a medical administration, consisting of three members, an inspector, an operator, and an accoucheur; in every smaller town, a district physician; and in most of them a physician for the town hospital. In both capitals spacious hospitals are founded, either at the expense of the crown or of private individuals and societies. (2.) The army medical service has a medico-chirurgical academy, with a scientific committee. Each army—the northern, southern, and the army of the Caucasus—has a general staff-doctor; and each corps, division, brigade, regiment, and battalion, also each military educational establishment, has its physician. (3.) The naval medical service resembles that of the army. There is a department, and a medical inspector for the Black Sea navy; and each naval division, ship, and sea-port hospital has one or more physicians, as required. The crown and appanage peasants, the manufactories and foundries, are all provided with physicians depending on the respective ministries. At each of the universities, with the exception of St Petersburg, there are faculties for medical students, with professors, anatomical cabinets, and clinical institutions. In lieu of the medical faculty there is in St Petersburg a medico-chirurgical academy. Another such academy has recently been established at Warsaw. Both in the universities and academies there are students of pharmacy. The veterinary schools are three in number; and there are schools for hospital-dressers connected with all the larger hospitals. Every one desirous of obtaining a license to practice in medicine or the veterinary art must pass an examination in one of the universities or academies. The lowest degree is that of lekar (medical practitioner); then follows that of doctor of medicine; and the highest is that of doctor of medicine and surgery. As for pharmaceuticals, young persons are engaged by private apothecaries as apprentices for a term of four or five years, and they afterwards pass an examination as pharmaceutical assistants, then as provisors. The highest degree is that of master of pharmacy: the two latter degrees entitle them to keep an apothecary's shop of their own. There are two principal lunatic asylums; one near St Petersburg, with 240, and the other at Moscow, with about the same number of beds. Besides these, in every governmental town there are hospitals under the inspection of the committee of public supervision, with separate rooms for the reception of the insane. The large asylums are well provided with all the means requisite for the successful treatment of patients. Not so the hospitals
in the provincial towns, which are totally destitute of every useful appliance. Private asylums, under strict government control, have been established at different times in both capitals, but they never succeeded, and have seldom lasted long. The number of persons attacked with mental derangement having increased of late years to an awful extent, especially during and after the war, the attention of the government was directed to this point; and in the winter of 1857-58, a committee, consisting of medical men and some superior civil officers, under the presidency of Dr Marcus, was formed, in order to deliberate upon the measures to be taken for the future. The opinion returned was, that eight central lunatic asylums were indispensable in Russia, besides those already existing in the greater provincial towns; that these asylums should be provided in the best manner, and considered as practical schools for young medical men in order to prepare them for their future calling,—i.e., physicians-in-chief of lunatic asylums, to be subsequently founded in each governmental town. It is not yet known whether government will confirm the measures proposed. In 1856, no fewer than 3616 cases of mental derangement were medically treated throughout the empire, both in the lunatic asylums and other civil hospitals. Of these, 2078 either recovered, or were dismissed as such, 288 died, and 1150 remained. This most happy result must surprise every one who is conversant with such matters; but it may be partly explained by what is designedly said in the report, that a sixth of the cases were such as are called in England brain-fever of drunkenness, or delirium tremens; a disease which in Russia is considered as insanity, and the treatment of which is generally successful. Still the veracity of the report is to be doubted.
| Teachers. | Scholars. | |
|---|---|---|
| 19 Orphan-houses, with | Not shown. | 1754 |
| 6 Foundling-hospitals | ... | 2410 |
| 19 Schools for the children of chan- | } | 953 |
| cery servants | ||
| 3 Hospital-assistant's schools | ... | 199 |
| 1 School for servants' children | 7 | 42 |
| Total | 7 | 5358 |
The navigable water-ways of communication, uniting the Baltic and White Seas with the Caspian, form the so-called eastern system. Of these water-ways, the most important is the one uniting the Baltic with the Caspian. It consists of three systems: the Veeschni-Volotski, the Têekhvin, and the Maria. (1.) The Veeschni-Volotski system is formed by the Neva, the Ladoga Canal, the Novgorod or Siever's Canal, the Alsta, Lake Alstino, the Veeschni-Volotski Canal, the Tvertsa, and the Volga. Its length from Petersburg to Ribinsk is 868 miles. (2.) The Têekhvin system is formed by the Neva, the Ladoga, and Siasski canals, the Siass, the Têekhvin, Lake Eglino, the Têekhvin Canal, the Voltchina, Lake Sômino, the Sômino, Lake Vozensk, the Goricon, Tchagodôstcha, Mologa, and Volga. Its length is 561 miles. (3.) The Maria system is formed by the Neva, the Ladoga, Siasski, and Sveer Canals, the Sveer, the Onega Canal, the Veetegra, the Maria Canal, the Kovza, the Bielozër Canal, the Sheksna, and the Volga. Its length is 699 miles. The water-way from the White Sea to the Baltic and Caspian is formed by the Northern Dveena, the Sookhona, Lake Koobensk, the Porogovetsa, the Duke of Wurtemberg Canal, and the Sheksna; whence it branches off on the right to the Neva, and on the left to the Volga. The Moscow Canal has been dug betwixt the upper courses of the Moskva and Volga.
The water-way from the Baltic to the Black Sea is formed by three systems: the Berézina, the Ogheen, and the Dniepro-Boog, and is called the western system. (1.) The Berézina system is formed by the Western
Dveena, the Oollah, Lake Leppel, the Essa, and Berézina, Lake Berézina, the Berézina Canal, Lake Flavio, and the rivers Sergootch, Berézina, and Dniepr. (2.) The Ogheinsk system is formed by the Niemen, the Shara, the Ogheinsk Canal, the Yasselda, Priepetz, and Dniepr. (3.) The Dniepro-Boog system is formed by the Vistula, Nareff Boog, Mookhiaretz, the Dniepro-Boog Canal, the Peena, Priepetz, and Dniepr. The Vistula and Niemen are also united by the Augustovo Canal betwixt the Netta, which falls into the Bobr, an affluent of the Nareff, and the River Gântcha, which runs into the Niemen. There are many smaller canals in Finland and the Baltic provinces.
| Miles. | |
|---|---|
| From St Petersburg to Pâvlovsk | 16 |
| " " Peterhoff | 18 |
| " " Pskoff | 170 |
| " " Moscow | 398 |
| " Warsaw to Tshentokhoff on the Prussian frontier, and for 25 versts beyond | 182 |
| Total | 784 |
| Miles. | |
|---|---|
| From Pskoff to Warsaw | 402 |
| " Dunaburg to Riga | 145 |
| " Moscow to Theodosia | 590 |
| " Dunaburg to Liebau (uncertain) | 198 |
| Total | 1795 |
| Miles. | |
|---|---|
| From St Petersburg to Abo | 396 |
| " " Cronstadt | 20 |
| " " over Kovno to the Prussian frontier | 594 |
| " St Petersburg to Polangen, over Narva, Revel, Pernau, Riga, Liebau | 663 |
| " St Petersburg over Dovsk and Keeyeff to the Austrian frontier | 928 |
| " Dovsk to Simpherepol | 520 |
| " Riga to Dunaburg | 132 |
| " Nicholaïeff to Odessa | 132 |
| Total | 3395 |
Many more lines are projected.
| Teachers. | Scholars. | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Institute of the Roads' Engineer Corps | 50 | 270 |
| 1 Master-builders' school | 32 | 164 |
| Total | 82 | 434 |
The national debt of Russia amounted on the 1st January Finance. 1859 to a sum of L.140,000,000, viz. :—
| (a.) Dutch loan at 5 per cent | L.3,752,375 |
| (b.) Foreign loans, at 5, 4½, and 4 per cent, without a term | 53,110,622 |
| (c.) Interior loans, to credit institutions, at 4 per cent | 68,830,000 |
| (d.) Exchequer bills, at 4½ per cent | 14,500,000 |
| Total | L.140,201,997 |
The 4 per cent. consolidated bill issue, announced on the 23d March 1859, is not a new loan, but only a consolidation of deposits, or substitution of one kind of value for another. A part object is to reform the vicious system which prevails at the banks. The amount, intended to reach 125 millions sterling, can be liquidated at the end of 56 years. Should the present measure succeed, the old order of things may be looked upon as superseded, and special mention of the banking returns is therefore superfluous, because the old system is now antiquated. The curious on this subject, as well as on the paper system of the country, would do best to consult at length Lamanski's very able works on Russian finance.
Statistics. The national income is presumed to be from 36 to 39 millions sterling. The expenditure amounts to the same sum, and for the last twenty years has generally exceeded it. This order of things gave birth to continual loans of the public banks, and to an unexampled emission of paper money, which amounted on the 1st January 1858 to a sum of more than 115 millions sterling, having been increased during the late war, and up to 1857, by more than 62 millions sterling. Since that year no fresh issues have been made. The amount of bullion formed, at the same period, a sum of 18 millions sterling, both in gold and silver. The exchange of the so-called credit bills, notwithstanding the large amount of bullion, takes place not, or only exceptionally, from a fear on the part of the government that a large portion of it, were the bills payable at call, would be exported.
The chief sources of revenue are:—1. The monopol-right of selling brandy. This right is sold for a term of four years by auction, which takes place at St Petersburg, where the prices for every province are settled separately. This monopol-right has been sold for the next four years, 1859–63, for an annual revenue of 18 millions sterling. 2. The capitation-tax, paid by every person, of all ages, of the male population, and by all classes except the nobility, clergy, and merchants inscribed in guilds, or by special classes. This personal tax is laid on the male population found in life at the period of the census, and its amount is never changed until a new census is taken. Children born after the census pay no taxes. The survivors pay for the dead. The amount of this tax is L.8,000,000. 3. The import duties give a sum of L.4,000,000. 4. Miscellaneous
unfixed taxes, L.3,270,000,—viz., (a.) Patents for trade, L.590,000; passes and road passes, L.310,000; (b.) Stamp-duties, L.1,070,000; (c.) Court and chancery duties, L.680,000; and (d.) Post revenue, L.620,000. 5. The salt taxes, and mineral taxes on gold and other mineral productions, 4½ millions sterling. The civil list, or court expenditure, is supposed to amount to L.1,700,000, towards which the peasants of the appanages and crown domains contribute about L.600,000.
The trading ports on the German coast of the Baltic are Foreign trade. St Petersburg, with its port of Cronstadt, Narva, Revel, Arensburg, Pernau, Riga, Windau, and Liebau. Of these ports, the first two are frozen up for six months; but the latter are much longer open to navigation, according to the season, generally for ten months, more or less. On the Finnish coast, Wyburg, Lovisa, Helsingfors, Abo, Nystad, New Carleby, and Torneo; on the Arctic Ocean, Kola; on the White Sea, Arkhangel and Onega; Petro Pavlovsk, on the Kamtchatkan Sea; and on the North Pacific, Sikhha, the capital of the possessions of the American Company; on the Sea of Azoff, Taganrog, Mariupol, Kertch, Berdiansk; on the Black Sea, Odessa, Theodosia; on the Caspian, Astrakhan, Bakoo, Derbent. The port of Nicholaieff, at the mouth of the Amoor, on the Gulf of Tartary, has just commenced its prospectively splendid career. The chief articles of export are corn and grain, hemp and linseed; also hemp and linseed oils, tallow, hemp, flax, iron, copper, timber, potashes, bristles, furs, hides, and isinglass. There are no free ports at present in Russia except Nicholaieff, on the Amoor. Odessa was, but is so no more.
A Statement of the Quantities and Value of Merchandise imported into Russia from Countries in Europe, and from America, in the year 1857.
| Description. | By the Tariff of 1857. Quantities. |
Value.1 | Description. | By the Tariff of 1857. Quantities. |
Value. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Merchandise imported paying no duty... | ... | L.1,538,289 | Chemical materials and produce | ||
| Merchandise on which one and the same duty is levied at 20 cop. (=7½d.) per pound (36 lb.) | 38,374 | 156,172 | Cotton | 193,417 | L.248,326 |
| Merchandise paying different duties:— | Cotton twist | 547,781 | 1,972,363 | ||
| Provisions and victuals (colonial merchandise:— | Raw and spun wool, and fine hair | 74,415 | 764,780 | ||
| Coffee, raw sugar, pepper, &c. (cwt.) | 355,576 | 1,008,093 | Raw and spun silk | 16,756 | 308,914 |
| Wines, liquors, porter, beer, mead, &c. | 159,064 | Olive, hempseed, linseed, &c. | 1,046 | 143,193 | |
| Kirschwasser | 9,675 | Oils | 140,525 | 451,369 | |
| Champagne and other wines | 738,385 | 881,658 | Turnip, cocoa, palm oils, &c. | ||
| Mead, porter, beer | 222,153 | Tallow, fat, blubber and grease | 8,079 | 23,978 | |
| Vegetables and fruits | 149,061 | 415,500 | Chalk | 15,243 | 6,596 |
| Oranges, lemons, &c. | 15,629,606 | Fuller's thistles, teasel | 2,651 | 12,145 | |
| Cherries, pears, apples, &c. | Other different raw materials, such as gum-arabic, gamboge, ink, soda, arsenic, incense, timber for joiners' and turners' work, &c. | 181,454 | |||
| Fish and herrings | 7,744 | Total | L.5,497,899 | ||
| Herrings | 147,944 | 312,010 | Manufactory and other produce:— | ||
| Cattle | Gum-elastic and gutta percha | 1,307 | 24,765 | ||
| Grain, wheat, rye, barley, groats, &c. | 33,463 | 62,764 | Wooden articles, playthings, furniture, &c. | 4,727 | 32,805 |
| Do. do. | 1,239 | Instruments, musical, mathematical, astronomical, &c. | 407 | ||
| Salt | 1,447,082 | 357,317 | Do. do. | 5,763 | 50,458 |
| Olive oil | 176 | 697 | Leather produce | 487 | 37,053 |
| Tobacco | 30,842 | 343,592 | Metal articles | 69,631 | 362,824 |
| Various provisions and victuals, such as cheese, mustard, vinegar, oysters, mushrooms, treacle, sweetmeats, &c. | 93,819 | Glass and crystals | 4,231 | ||
| Total | L.5,170,231 | Bottles | 4,667 | 57,651 | |
| Raw materials and other articles for manufacturing and agricultural produce:— | Plate-glass and mirrors | 10,561 | |||
| Dye-stuffs and colours | 316,466 | 1,158,765 | Woven produce of cotton, silk, wool, hemp, &c. | 29,458 | |
| Metals | 135,654 | 205,357 | Coarse linen bags | 10,552 | |
| Turkish fax caps | 5,978 | 1,650,233 | |||
| Turkish cotton and silk stuffs | 108,753 |
1 In translating Russian values into English, the L.1 sterling has been calculated throughout at 6 roubles 40 copecks, its average equivalent; the pound, or standard of weight, at 36–113 lb. avoirdupois; and the arshin, or unit of length, at 2.333 feet. The immense labour which attends the reduction of foreign values into corresponding English might be entirely spared to the compiler of statistics by the adoption of a universal system of decimal measures, weights, and coins.
| Statistics. | Description. | Quantities. | Value. | Description. | Quantities. | Value. | Statistics. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crockery and porcelain articles (cwt.) | 8,152 | L.47,172 | Machines and models | ... | ... | ||
| Clocks and clockwork | 129 | 123,235 | Other different manufactory produce, such as cosmetics, haberdashery, artificial flowers, glass beads, caps, soap, &c. | ... | L.178,111 | ||
| Do. do. (No.) | 73,342 | Total | ... | L.2,685,687 | |||
| Paper | 3,402 | 41,037 | |||||
| Cork | 1,852 | 13,458 | |||||
| Marble, &c. | 2,105 | 10,570 | |||||
| Hats | 3 | 4,240 | Various merchandise:— | ||||
| Do. (No.) | 6,794 | Apothecary's goods, furs, horses, &c. | ... | 295,262 | |||
| Ready-made clothes and linen | ... | 32,047 | |||||
| Equipages and their parts (cwt.) | 115 | 12,973 | Grand total | ... | L.13,649,079 | ||
| Do. do. (No.) | 385 |
A Statement of the Quantities and Value of Merchandise Exported from Russia to Countries in Europe, and to America, in the year 1857.
| Description. | Quantities. | Value. | Description. | Quantities. | Value. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Provisions and Victuals:— | Oils,—hempseed, linseed, and sunflower | 118,807 | L.222,400 | |||
| Grains, wheat, rye, barley, groats, &c. | 5,696 | L.8,008,796 | Raw silk | 1,689 | 28,572 | |
| Do. do. do. (qrs.) | 5,659,510 | Raw wool | 364,614 | 2,063,650 | ||
| Butter | 60,135 | 188,204 | Horses' tails | 4,512 | 30,816 | |
| Meat | 16,846 | 21,905 | Horse-manes | 11,746 | 31,460 | |
| Brandy, wines &c. | 21,932 | Bristles | 26,997 | 366,814 | ||
| Do. do. (gallons) | 351,325 | Isinglass | 13,078 | 108,867 | ||
| Do. do. (bottles) | 34,066 | 59,124 | Other different raw materials,—such as drugs, oleine, stearine, colours, hair, lime, &c. | ... | 157,927 | |
| Porter, beer, and mead (casks) | 23 | Total | ... | L.14,182,012 | ||
| Do. do. do. (gallons) | 8 | Manufacturing produce:— | ||||
| Poultry | 22,653 | 1,911 | Cotton, flax, and hemp produce (pieces) | 45,712 | ||
| Caviar | 28,675 | 73,134 | Do. do. do. (yards) | 3,129,296 | 152,892 | |
| Fish | ... | 8,352 | Silk produce | ... | 429 | |
| Cheese | 6,339 | 6,783 | Woollen produce | ... | 3,216 | |
| Cattle | 108,768 | 197,262 | Cloth | 8,139 | 1,375 | |
| Tobacco, cigars, papiroses, &c. | ... | 168,411 | Leather produce | ... | 2,273 | |
| Maccaroni | 6,277 | 8,103 | Metal articles | ... | 40,739 | |
| Aulse | 4,203 | 5,938 | Ropes | 160,181 | 179,610 | |
| Various provisions and victuals,—such as eggs, pepper, fruits, &c. | ... | 9,256 | Ready-made clothes and linen | ... | 7,874 | |
| Total | ... | L.8,757,270 | Candles | 13,524 | 66,697 | |
| Raw materials for manufacturing, agricultural, and other purposes:— | Other different manufactory produce,—such as instruments, paper, glass-ware, soap, harness, equipages, &c. | ... | 21,513 | |||
| Leather and hides | 193,249 | 803,887 | Total | ... | L.476,518 | |
| Wax | 2,169 | 11,753 | Various merchandise:— | |||
| Beeswax | 324,553 | 96,044 | Apothecary's goods, furs, mats, feathers, charcoal, bricks, horses, straw, hay, &c. | ... | 555,952 | |
| Flax | 1,789,792 | 2,591,447 | Grand total | ... | L.23,971,852 | |
| Hemp | 1,037,945 | 1,381,250 | ||||
| Wooden ware | ... | 932,986 | ||||
| Metals | 279,764 | 473,269 | ||||
| Potash | 198,552 | 285,522 | ||||
| Pitch | 115,945 | 57,959 | ||||
| Seeds | 1,102,966 | 2,300,581 | ||||
| Tallow, fat, mubber, and grease | ... | |||||
| (cwt.) | 1,151,425 | 2,231,008 |
Statement of the Quantities and Value of Merchandise Imported into Russia from Countries in Asia in the year 1857.
| Description. | Quantities. | Value. | Description. | Quantities. | Value. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Provisions and victuals:— | Cattle | ... | L.395,875 | |||
| Tea | 138,834 | L.925,742 | Tobacco | ... | 25,251 | |
| Sugar (raw) | 22,397 | 97,593 | Other different provisions and victuals,—such as cheese, anchovies, pickled hams, nuts, vegetables, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, sweetmeats, &c. | ... | 17,210 | |
| Coffee | 572 | 2,179 | Total | ... | L.1,640,234 | |
| Wines, liquors, champagne, &c. | 75 | Raw materials and other things for manufacturing, agricultural, and other purposes:— | ||||
| Do. do. do. (bottles) | 15,387 | Cotton | ... | 130,078 | ||
| Do. do. do. (gallons) | 879 | 7,350 | Cotton twist | 5,688 | 31,992 | |
| Arrack, rum, and brandy | 450 | Raw and spun silk | ... | 79,159 | ||
| Porter, beer, and mead | 14,900 | Raw and spun wool | ... | 15,426 | ||
| Fruits, oranges, lemons, cherries, grapes, dry and marinated fruits, &c. | ... | 101,791 | Madder | 8,931 | 17,075 | |
| Raw mead | ... | 3,087 | Cochineal | 116 | 2,276 | |
| Treacle | ... | 1,795 | Indigo | 66 | 1,595 | |
| Pepper | 109 | 1,706 | Colours | ... | 6,975 | |
| Olive oil | ... | 3,653 | ||||
| Batter | ... | 5,086 | ||||
| Grain,—wheat, rye, barley, groats, &c. | ... | 30,804 | ||||
| Salt | 184,956 | 8,878 | ||||
| Salted fish | 11,705 | 12,144 |
| Statistics. | Description. | Quantities. | Value. | Description. | Quantities. | Value. | Statistics. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Precious woods for joiners' and turners' work, &c..... | ... | L.2,545 | musical strings, wire, files, boxes, steel-pens, needles, knives and forks, &c..... | 246 | L.3,810 | ||
| Leather made up..... | ... | 12,002 | Clothes..... | ... | 1,498 | ||
| Tallow..... | ... | 14,773 | Glass, plate-glass, and mirrors (cwt.) | 141 | 1,236 | ||
| Other different raw materials,—such as isinglass, oils, metals, tar, pitch, sal-ammoniac, naphtha, lck, &c..... | ... | 146,329 | Do. do. do. (No.) | 15 | ... | ||
| Total..... | ... | L.461,465 | Silk produce..... | ... | 87,880 | ||
| Woollen produce..... | ... | 38,109 | |||||
| Manufactory and other produce:— | Other different manufactory produce,—such as haberdashery produce, artificial flowers, watches, cambrics, linens, paper, soap, machines, marble produce, &c..... | ... | 12,976 | ||||
| Cotton produce.....(cwt.) | 3,707 | 401,398 | Total..... | ... | L.564,145 | ||
| Wooden produce, playthings, furniture, &c..... | ... | 1,077 | |||||
| Instruments, mathematical, physical, musical, &c.....(cwt.) | 4 | 2,010 | Various merchandise,—apothecary goods, books, and pictures, stoves, skins and hides, incense, horses, &c..... | ... | 357,154 | ||
| Do. do. do. (No.) | 237 | ... | Grand total..... | ... | L.3,022,998 | ||
| Leather produce,—boots and shoes, gloves, harness, &c..... | ... | 13,251 | |||||
| Metal produce,—figures, bas-reliefs, | ... | ... |
A Statement of the Quantities and Value of Merchandise Exported from Russia to Countries in Asia, in the year 1857.
| Description. | Quantities. | Value. | Description. | Quantities. | Value. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Provision and victuals:— | Metals.....(cwt.) | 92,155 | L.61,762 | |||
| Grain,—wheat, rye, barley, groats, &c.....(cwt.) | 2,447 | L.51,982 | Horns and hoofs..... | 13 | 8,985 | |
| Do. do. do. (qrs.) | 133,935 | ... | Do. do. do. (No.) | 200,480 | 5,032 | |
| Brandy, wines, &c.....(gallons) | 5,548 | ... | Wooden ware..... | ... | ... | |
| Do. do. do. (bottles) | 8,777 | 2,794 | Other different raw materials, such as wax, oils, hemp, tar, pitch, seeds, &c..... | ... | 3,796 | |
| Porter and beer..... | 332 | ... | Total..... | ... | L.428,784 | |
| Tobacco, cigars, papiroses, &c. (cwt.) | 3,373 | 2,766 | Manufactory and other produce:— | |||
| Do. do. do. (No.) | 172,155 | ... | Woven produce of cotton, silk, wool, hemp, &c..... | ... | 576,740 | |
| Sugar.....(cwt.) | 2,941 | 14,804 | Metal produce..... | ... | 255,413 | |
| Salt..... | 24,484 | 1,432 | Cloth.....(yards) | 671,213 | 245,940 | |
| Caviar..... | 330 | 1,851 | Leather produce..... | ... | 2,183 | |
| Fruits and sweetmeats..... | ... | 1,355 | Crockery..... | ... | 8,949 | |
| Cattle.....(head) | 16,013 | 14,352 | Paper.....(reams) | 38,960 | 7,303 | |
| Meat.....(cwt.) | 5,079 | 869 | Wooden produce..... | ... | 2,687 | |
| Various provisions and victuals, such as fish, poultry, eggs, butter, cheese, mushrooms, &c..... | ... | 3,304 | Plate-glass and mirrors..... | ... | 1,775 | |
| Total..... | ... | L.95,509 | Other different manufacturing produce,—such as boxes, candles, soap, ropes, clothes, &c..... | ... | 11,830 | |
| Raw materials for manufacturing, agricultural, and other purposes:— | Total..... | ... | L.1,112,810 | |||
| Cotton.....(cwt.) | 678 | 1,311 | Various merchandise,—apothecary goods, furs, mats, camels, horses, &c..... | ... | 229,332 | |
| Cotton-twist..... | 3,340 | 25,681 | Grand total..... | ... | L.1,866,485 | |
| Silk..... | 3,422 | 129,452 | ||||
| Wool and fine hair..... | 5,370 | 5,806 | ||||
| Drugs..... | 27,054 | 9,400 | ||||
| Colours..... | ... | 15,598 | ||||
| Leather, hides, yoofts.....(cwt.) | 6,162 | 101,981 | ||||
| Do. do. do. (No.) | 172,518 | ... |
A Statement of the Quantities and Value of Merchandise exported from Russia to Finland in the year 1857.
| Description. | Quantities. | Value. | Description. | Quantities. | Value. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Provisions and victuals:— | Leather and hides.....(cwt.) | 2,100 | L.10,598 | ||
| Grain, wheat, rye, barley, groats, &c.....(cwt.) | 107 | L.495,046 | Oils,—hempseed, linseed..... | 3,628 | 5,748 |
| Do. do. do. (qrs.) | 372,951 | ... | Horse-manes..... | 407 | 1,581 |
| Tobacco, cigars, papiroses, &c. (cwt.) | 12,568 | 21,123 | Tallow..... | 2,640 | 4,420 |
| Do. do. do. (No.) | 633,600 | ... | Other different articles, such as wooden ware, potash, isinglass, wax, whalebones, colours, &c..... | ... | 11,856 |
| Meat.....(cwt.) | 1,400 | 2,239 | Total..... | ... | L.49,910 |
| Mead and treacle..... | 656 | 1,767 | Merchandise made up:— | ||
| Vegetables..... | ... | 2,071 | Ropes and cables.....(cwt.) | 13,648 | 20,206 |
| Chicory.....(cwt.) | 1,516 | 1,538 | Wooden produce..... | ... | 4,496 |
| Other different provisions, such as vinegar, fish, cheese, eggs, fruits, sweetmeats, &c..... | ... | 4,872 | Leather produce..... | ... | 2,445 |
| Total..... | ... | L.529,656 | Cotton, flax, hemp, and woollen produce..... | ... | 13,904 |
| Merchandise for manufacturing and handicraft purposes:— | Cloth.....(yards) | 27,622 | 6,256 | ||
| Metals.....(cwt.) | 6,951 | 7,830 | Metal produce.....(cwt.) | 5,340 | 6,673 |
| Drugs..... | 1,757 | 2,782 | Candles..... | ... | 15,704 |
| Hemp..... | 2,068 | 3,207 | Soap.....(cwt.) | 2,985 | 4,507 |
| Cotton..... | 661 | 1,208 | Boots and shoes..... | ... | 5,522 |
| Caps.....(No.) | 17,794 | 2,637 |
| Statistics. | Description. | Quantities. | Value. | Description. | Quantities. | Value. | Statistics. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Other different articles, such as machines and models, musical instruments, ready-made clothes and linen, paper, equipages, &c..... | ... | L.7,292 | Various merchandise,—furs, apothecary goods, stones, seeds, and plants, &c..... | ... | L.6,064 | ||
| Total..... | ... | L.89,762 | Grand total..... | ... | L.675,392 |
A Statement of the Quantities and Value of Merchandise imported into Russia from Finland in the year 1857.
| Description. | Quantities. | Value. | Description. | Quantities. | Value. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Provisions and victuals:— | Different articles,—such as leather, bones, wooden ware, &c..... | ... | L.404 | ||
| Grain, rye, &c..... | ... | L.1,221 | Total..... | ... | L.44,968 |
| Potatoes.....(qrs.) | 1,957 | 174 | Merchandise made up:— | ||
| Batter.....(cwt.) | 1,359 | 1,994 | Cotton, flax, and woolen produce.... | ... | 23,278 |
| Fish..... | 1,168 | 3,845 | Glass..... | ... | 1,640 |
| Smoked, dried, and salted meat.... | ... | 566 | Paper..... | ... | 2,965 |
| Different provisions..... | ... | 53 | Metal produce..... | ... | 1,264 |
| Total..... | ... | L.7,853 | Machines..... | ... | 804 |
| Different produce..... | ... | 96 | |||
| Merchandise for manufacturing and handicraft purposes:— | Total..... | ... | L.30,047 | ||
| Cotton twist.....(cwt.) | 337 | 312 | Various merchandise, such as furs, books, stones, &c..... | ... | 5,223 |
| Metals.....(cwt.) | 40,865 | 35,575 | Grand total..... | ... | L.88,121 |
| Wood.....(feet) | 38,888 | 1,917 | |||
| Pitch and white rosin.....(cwt.) | 4,058 | 6,790 |
A Statement of the Value of Merchandise imported into, and exported from, Russia, distinguishing the Trade with each Country, in the year 1857.
| Countries. | Value of Imports. | Value of Exports. | Countries. | Value of Imports. | Value of Exports. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| European and American trade,— | South America and the West Indies | L.34,387 | ... | ||
| Sweden..... | L.40,637 | L.392,422 | Turkey..... | 1,325,460 | L.1,307,576 |
| Norway..... | 215,751 | 102,429 | The North American United States.. | 1,266,847 | 353,638 |
| Prussia..... | 4,040,714 | 2,780,699 | Other countries..... | 137,367 | 39,233 |
| Denmark..... | 188,687 | 795,032 | Total..... | L.20,589,926 | L.23,971,859 |
| The Sound..... | ... | 106,231 | Asiatic trade,— | ||
| The Hanse towns..... | 1,839,212 | 713,800 | Asiatic Turkey..... | 75,894 | 191,956 |
| Holland..... | 1,505,008 | 1,546,597 | Peria..... | 621,540 | 136,287 |
| Belgium..... | 211,841 | 385,267 | The Keerbeeze steppes..... | 562,959 | 401,067 |
| Great Britain..... | 6,075,648 | 11,292,877 | Kheera..... | 43,578 | 3,155 |
| France..... | 1,422,474 | 2,239,602 | Bookharis..... | 213,720 | 84,283 |
| Portugal..... | 69,622 | 97,271 | Tashkent..... | 118,907 | 94,601 |
| Spain..... | 311,627 | 51,735 | China..... | 1,178,511 | 951,547 |
| Sardinia..... | 71,427 | 350,217 | Other countries..... | 208,729 | ... |
| Tuscany..... | 22,779 | 244,568 | Total..... | L.3,022,998 | L.1,866,495 |
| The Papal dominions..... | ... | 58 | Grand total..... | L.23,612,924 | L.25,838,355 |
| The kingdom of Naples..... | 607,944 | 12,250 | |||
| Austria..... | 1,115,344 | 1,160,810 | |||
| The Ionian Islands..... | 26,041 | 4,850 | |||
| Greece..... | 39,569 | 23,757 |
A Statement of the Import and Export of Gold and Silver from and into Russia in the years 1847 and 1857, in Russian and Foreign Coin and Bars, converted into British sterling.
| 1857. | GOLD. | SILVER. | 1847. | GOLD. | SILVER. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bars. | Coin. | Bars. | Coin. | Bars. | Coin. | Bars. | Coin. | ||
| IMPORT:— | L. | L. | IMPORT:— | L. | L. | ||||
| Foreign | 159,032 | 387,225 | 377,441 | Foreign | 222,000 | 78,372 | 6,425,976 | 413,135 | |
| Russian | 186,325 | 1,463,845 | 166,169 | Russian | 1,161,966 | 799,340 | |||
| EXPORT:— | EXPORT:— | ||||||||
| Foreign | ... | 222,414 | ... | 234,902 | Foreign | 1,396 | 47,437 | 2,993 | 2,816 |
| Russian | ... | 3,239,505 | ... | 1,328 | Russian | 1,579,395 | 298,995 | ||
Gold and Silver in Coin and Bars.
| Imported. | Exported. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1857. | 1847. | |||
| European trade..... | L.3,226,080 | L.1,340,433 | ||
| Asiatic trade..... | 18,911 | 39,773 | ||
| European trade..... | L.1,533,560 | L.2,800,757 | ||
| Asiatic trade..... | 478,357 | 897,691 | ||
Imported through the Custom-house at
St Petersburg, 1858..... L.647,743
Exported..... 3,565,136
The tables of foreign trade show that from 1843 to 1857 the value of importations, as well as of exportations, has constantly augmented, both for Europe and Asia; and that in the European trade, excepting the years 1851, 1854, and 1855, the Russian exports have constantly surpassed the imports.
| Imports. | Exports. | |
|---|---|---|
| 1813..... | L.9,596,490 | L.11,126,482 |
| 1844..... | 10,111,541 | 12,580,440 |
| 1845..... | 10,525,262 | 12,562,876 |
| 1846..... | 11,003,024 | 13,811,401 |
| 1847..... | 11,313,766 | 20,955,063 |
| 1848..... | 11,788,278 | 11,885,282 |
| 1849..... | 12,653,850 | 13,028,281 |
| 1850..... | 11,735,538 | 12,959,679 |
| 1851..... | 13,602,138 | 13,136,500 |
| 1852..... | 12,987,245 | 15,632,929 |
| 1853..... | 13,941,375 | 21,469,787 |
| 1854..... | 8,503,935 | 8,362,755 |
| 1855..... | 8,779,576 | 4,300,708 |
| 1856..... | 16,463,535 | 22,933,108 |
| 1857..... | 20,588,683 | 23,971,870 |
| Total..... | L.183,436,937 | L.218,727,141 |
In 1857 the amount of confiscated merchandise sold was L.118,183; and as contraband trade could not subsist if more than 20 per cent. of fraudulently-imported merchandise were to be confiscated, it must be supposed that at least L.600,000 worth was introduced into the country. The sole means of preventing contraband trade is to lower the tariff.
| Imports. | Exports. | |
|---|---|---|
| 1813..... | L.1,819,537 | L.1,283,459 |
| 1844..... | 1,898,175 | 1,518,072 |
| 1845..... | 2,163,938 | 1,585,615 |
| 1846..... | 2,273,078 | 1,638,499 |
| 1847..... | 2,280,221 | 1,646,517 |
| 1848..... | 2,168,979 | 1,350,682 |
| 1849..... | 2,157,317 | 1,409,249 |
| 1850..... | 2,469,007 | 1,753,586 |
| 1851..... | 2,458,568 | 1,740,570 |
| 1852..... | 2,601,476 | 1,941,232 |
| 1853..... | 1,874,791 | 1,245,086 |
| 1854..... | 2,437,785 | 1,548,127 |
| 1855..... | 2,539,745 | 1,616,820 |
| 1856..... | 2,656,592 | 1,655,294 |
| 1857..... | 3,022,969 | 1,866,499 |
| Total..... | L.34,756,268 | L.23,799,407 |
This table shows that, as regards the trade with Asia, the value of the exports has constantly been inferior to that of the imports, and that for these fifteen years the difference amounts to a total of L.10,956,961. This, however, is more than compensated by the larger amount of exports than imports in the European trade, the former exceeding the latter by L.47,290,240; so that the total difference in favour of Russia is L.36,333,243, on an amount of capital turned over of L.452,739,853, of which sum L.208,213,305 go to the account of imports, and L.244,526,548 of exports.
Peter would perhaps have done better had he founded his capital at Windau or Liebau, for the sake of more open water; but political considerations no doubt prevented him, as all his designs show foresight enough. Nearly the same result will now be attained by the railroads in course of construction.
The first company in Russia was established in 1790. The number of existing companies now amounts to 90. The original capital of all these companies amounts to about L.69,669,016, in which sum the chief company of Russian railroads figures for L.48,437,500.
The number of Russian merchant-vessels is supposed to be about 2000, including coasters, small craft, and steamers; but there are as yet no reliable returns; and until these be issued by the proper authorities, it would be entirely vain to aim at anything like a correct estimate of the Russian shipping.
| Ports. | Entered. | Cleared. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total. | Russian. | English. | Total. | Russian. | English. | |
| Northern ports..... | 5459 | 375 | 1989 | 5814 | 380 | 2099 |
| Southern ports..... | 3379 | 405 | 3272 | 416 | ||
| Total..... | 8838 | 780 | 1989 | 9086 | 796 | 2099 |
It is now only in consequence of Count Renaud de Chevancy's recent invention of an international marine telegraph, indicated by numbers, that Russian vessels are at last being counted, measured, and formally tabulated. The following returns are authentic:—
| Sea-Going. | Coasters. | Total. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vessels. | Tons. | Vessels. | Tons. | Vessels. | Tons. | |
| In the Black Sea..... | 25 | 5,070 | 160 | 9,580 | 185 | 14,650 |
| " Sea of Azoff..... | 13 | 1,330 | 291 | 10,670 | 304 | 12,000 |
| " White Sea..... | 128 | 4,781 | 212 | 4,922 | 340 | 9,704 |
| The colonial fleet (vessels of the Russo-American Company) | 13 | 2,368 | ... | ... | 13 | 2,368 |
| On the German side of the Baltic..... | 107 | 9,451 | 150 | 4,107 | 257 | 13,558 |
| 286 | 23,000 | 813 | 20,279 | 1,099 | 52,280 | |
| Or, 104,560 tons. | ||||||
In this total, for want of data, are not included the vessels belonging to the port of St Petersburg, to Finland, and to the Caspian Sea. The total number of registered sailors was only 5000, viz.:—In the Black and Azoff seas, 2300; in the White, 1620; in the employ of the Russo-American Company, about 300; in the Baltic, 1000. This number of sailors is most likely much below the mark. In the Baltic there were 30 foreign masters, mates, and pilots, besides 112 foreign sailors registered; but the legal proportion of foreign to native sailors (1 to 3) is never observed, the law obeyed being solely that of necessity. The causes of the little progress made in ship-holding affairs are insufficient education, vexatious over-government, the stupid passport system, the want of sea-insurance companies, and generally the manifold reasons which impede the development of the foreign trade. Compared with every other branch of national economy, the shipping interest may be said to have progressed in a ratio inverse to them. It will be observed from the above table, that the number of sea-going vessels is exceeded by the number of coasters in the proportion of nearly three to one; while the tonnage or lastage of the two are pretty nearly equal. But one can scarcely venture with safety upon any remarks regarding the state of the Russian shipping, while the exact returns remain undeclared for St Petersburg, Finland, and the Caspian Sea.
The following return of figures will best show the state of the manufactures, internal trade, and productiveness of the empire.
| In the European government and lands..... | L.34,715,716 |
| In the lieutenancy of the Caucasus..... | 89,059 |
| In the governments and provinces of Siberia | 250,249 |
| Total..... | L.35,052,024 |
Statistics. Statement of the Quantity of Metals, Coals, Vitriol, Saltpetre, and Salt, obtained from the Government and Private Foundries in Russia during the year 1857. Statistics.
| Foundries and Mines. | Gold. | Platina. | Silver. | Copper. | Lead. | Cast Iron. | Iron. | Steel. | Different Metallic Produce. | Anchors. | Seythes. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lb. | Oz. | Dwt. | Lb. | Oz. | Dwt. | Lb. | Oz. | Dwt. | |||||||||
| Government foundries ... | 5,779 | 9 | 2 | 15 | 4 | 11 | 16 | 10 | 18 | 19,038 | ... | 352,043 | 243,887 | 14,300 | 4,987 | 4943 | 3,939 |
| Private foundries ... | 65,450 | 9 | 12 | 328 | 10 | 2 | 412 | ... | ... | 98,788 | 4992 | 3,853,256 | 3,291,635 | 24,823 | 812,218 | 2101 | 35,780 |
| Total..... | 71,230 | 6 | 14 | 344 | 2 | 13 | 428 | 10 | 18 | 117,826 | 4992 | 4,205,299 | 3,535,542 | 39,123 | 817,235 | 7044 | 39,716 |
The government mines produced coals..... 131,057 cwt.
The private mines produced vitriol and saltpetre .... 12,392 "
A Statement of the Total Quantities of Gold, Platina, and Silver extracted from the Government and Private Mines in Russia during the years 1856 and 1857:—
Common Salt.
| Government salt-mines ..... | 6,986,217 cwt. |
| Private salt-mines ..... | 2,377,439 " |
| Total..... | 9,363,656 " |
The trading community consisted in 1857 of:—
| Merchants of the 1st guild..... | 963 |
| " 2d " | 2,067 |
| " 3d " | 49,372 |
| Foreign guests..... | 34 |
Number of peasants with trading certificates:—
| 1st class ..... | 4 |
| 2d " | 34 |
| 3d " | 2409 |
| 4th " | 4203 |
The amount of capital declared was, in 1856—
| Of the 1st guild ..... | L.18,000,000 |
| 2d " | 18,180,000 |
| 3d " | 47,820,000 |
| Total..... | L.84,000,000 |
Russian American Company.—In 1857 its trading operations stood as follows:—
| Income from the sale of furs and teas ..... | L.60,912 |
| " colonial produce and other articles, ..... | 55,676 |
| Total..... | L.116,588 |
| Expenses of management ..... | L.28,189 |
| For insurance of goods, carriage of furs and teas, duties, &c..... | 65,140 |
| Total..... | L.93,329 |
A dividend was paid of 18 roubles per share.
| Paid into the reserve capital..... | L.2105 |
| Paid into the poor fund..... | 105 |
A Statement of the Total Quantities of Gold, Platina, and Silver extracted from the Government and Private Mines in Russia during the year 1855:—
| Foundries and Mines. | In the Year 1855. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold. | Platina. | Silver. | |||||||
| Government Mines:— | Lb. | Oz. | Dwt. | Lb. | Oz. | Dwt. | Lb. | Oz. | Dwt. |
| 1. Yekaterinburg..... | 1,204 | 9 | 16 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
| 2. Bogolovsk..... | 1,805 | 9 | 15 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
| 3. Goroblagodatsk..... | 324 | 6 | 2 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
| 4. Zlatoustovsk..... | 2,155 | 3 | 18 | ... | ... | ... | 618 | 1 | 8 |
| 5. Alagheersk..... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
| 6. Altai..... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
| 7. Nertchinsk..... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
| Total..... | 5,850 | 5 | 11 | ... | ... | 618 | 1 | 8 | ... |
| Private Mines..... | 59,533 | 9 | 16 | 42 | 6 | ... | ... | ... | ... |
| Grand total..... | 65,184 | 3 | 7 | 42 | 6 | 618 | 1 | 8 | ... |
| Foundries and Mines. | In the Year 1856. | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold. | Platina. | Silver. | ||||||||
| Lb. | Oz. | Dwt. | Lb. | Oz. | Dwt. | Lb. | Oz. | Dwt. | ||
| Government Mines:— | ||||||||||
| 1. Yekaterinburg..... | 1,465 | 3 | 2 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
| 2. Bogolovsk..... | 1,769 | 4 | 18 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
| 3. Goroblagodatsk..... | 350 | 2 | 16 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
| 4. Zlatoustovsk..... | 2,191 | 3 | 12 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
| 5. Alagheersk..... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | 228 11 |
| 6. Altai..... | 3,565 | 1 | 12 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | 46,763 4 |
| 7. Nertchinsk..... | 2,878 | 6 | 4 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | 1,256 11 |
| Total..... | 12,189 | 9 | 4 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | 48,349 2 |
| Private Mines..... | 60,267 | 1 | 11 | 62 | 11 | 2 | ... | ... | ... | ... |
| Grand total..... | 72,466 | 10 | 15 | 62 | 11 | 2 | ... | ... | ... | 48,349 2 |
| Foundries and Mines. | In the Year 1857. | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold. | Platina. | Silver. | ||||||||
| Lb. | Oz. | Dwt. | Lb. | Oz. | Dwt. | Lb. | Oz. | Dwt. | ||
| Government Mines:— | ||||||||||
| 1. Yekaterinburg..... | 1,493 | 7 | 19 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
| 2. Bogolovsk..... | 1,554 | 8 | 8 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
| 3. Goroblagodatsk..... | 272 | 3 | ... | 7 | 7 | 8 | ... | ... | ... | ... |
| 4. Zlatoustovsk..... | 2,067 | 1 | 6 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
| 5. Alagheersk..... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
| 6. Altai..... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
| 7. Nertchinsk..... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | 7 | 7 | 5 |
| Total..... | 5,807 | 8 | 13 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 5 | ... |
| Private Mines..... | 65,450 | 4 | 6 | 328 | 7 | 9 | 412 | 1 | 2 | ... |
| Grand total..... | 71,257 | ... | 19 | 336 | 2 | 17 | 419 | 8 | 7 | ... |
The value of cotton-twist produced in 1858 was at least L.10,937,500, and it continues to increase rapidly. At present there are 480 mills, with 1,500,000 spindles. The linen manufactures, however, are rather declining. The woollen productions are estimated at L.7,031,250, and there are 640 cloth manufactures. The flax and hemp produce amounts to L.9,375,000, with 290 manufactures. Silk produce, L.937,500 (this return is obviously exaggerated); manufactures, 250. Tanneries and leather manufactures, 2060; produce, L.1,562,500. Paper manufactures, 180; produce, L.781,255. Distilleries, 800; brandy produce, 46,800,000 gallons; value, L.2,560,000. Licensed public-houses, 1899. At present, in consequence of the temperance movement, mostly beer and mead are drunk there.
It should be observed that, not as in France, where from vanity the manufacturers exaggerate the amount of their produce, the Russians generally return figures below the actual amount, perhaps from a fear of additional imposts.
Trade returns at Neezhe-Novgorod fair:—In 1857, of L.13,435,050 value brought, there was sold L.12,247,100; in 1858, of L.44,838,180 brought, was sold L.13,719,190.
Fair of Irbit (in Western Siberia):—Value of merchandise sold in 1859:—
| Statistics. | |
|---|---|
| Russian..... | L.3,663,700 |
| European and colonial produce..... | 2,478,400 |
| Chinese..... | 465,100 |
| Bokhara..... | 50,000 |
| Horses..... | 3,400 |
| Total..... | L.6,600,600 |
In the government of Kieff a common plant, called the Asclepias syriaca, is being cultivated for the cotton-like tissue it produces.
Tcheffkin's work (written in 1851) gives the following statistics of the mining produce:—The whole quantity of pure gold won from sands and mines since the middle of the last century up to 1850, was 869,630 lb. troy. It is in the Asiatic governments of Perm, Orenburg, Tomsk, Yenisaysk, Irkootsk, and the Keerghee lands, that the gold is mostly found. In the government of Orenburg at present, in 1859, so many as 10,000 workmen are employed in this branch of industry, and the yearly produce for private account is 4370 lb. troy of the metal.
Lead and Silver Ore.—The lead produced barely suffices for the extraction of the silver required; in aid of which purpose 402 tons of foreign lead was not long ago sent up on trial to the Altai foundries, at a cost-price of L.15, 10s., and a further charge for carriage of L.10, 8s. per ton. Improvements are taking place in the working of these mines, and the veins of silver-lead ore lately discovered promise well for the future. The ore at Nertchinsk contained 9.7 oz. of silver, and about 168 lb. of lead in the ton.
Up to 1850 the whole quantity of pure silver won from the mines in Russia, chiefly in the Altai and Nertchinsk foundries, was 4,704,418 lb. troy.
| Between 1826 and 1850, in the course of 24 years, the value of the gold and silver won was..... | L.41,478,750 |
| Imported from abroad in bars and foreign coins..... | 7,072,800 |
| Exported..... | 27,229,600 |
| Deducting this export there remained, won and imported..... | 61,635,640 |
| Of which were delivered to the Mint..... | 59,104,400 |
| Coined..... | L.48,258,400 |
| Cast into medals..... | 240,300 |
| Re-delivered in bars..... | 6,997,300 |
| 54,593,000 |
The difference between the in- and out-going amounts is accounted for by the circumstance of the Mint retaining a considerable portion of the metal which it receives, either for re-coining or for delivery in the next year.
The whole amount of Russian bullion up to 1850 may be taken at:—
| In gold..... | L.26,625,000 |
| In silver..... | 20,781,000 |
| Total..... | L.47,406,000 |
And adding hereto the amount coined in 1850, at the average rate of the five years preceding, say L.3,281,000, the sum total of Russian gold and silver bullion may be taken, up to the beginning of 1851, at L.50,687,000.
Of this amount more than fifteen millions are deposited in the expedition of credit-bills (bank-notes or assignats), the current paper-money, and more than L.34,375,000 must be in circulation. Considering the national custom of hoarding and burying money, particularly bullion, this amount, although large, is not perhaps sufficient.
| Between 1826 and 1850 the amount of foreign bullion imported was..... | L.16,196,250 |
| Exported..... | 3,999,000 |
| Balance..... | L.12,197,100 |
This remarkably larger import of foreign bullion, compared to the export, is the more noteworthy that it did not decrease during 1843 and 1848, when the demand abroad for Russian gold and silver was so unusual as to cause the
government partially to prohibit the export, which was again permitted only in November 1849. A large portion of the foreign bullion, however, is converted into bars for purposes of trade, re-coined into Russian money, or used in articles of jewellery; so that the amount remaining in circulation can hardly be taken at more than one-fourth of the above quantity,—i.e., L.3,000,000. Including this latter sum, the whole mass of gold and silver coin at present circulating in Russia may be estimated at L.53,687,000.
Platina.—Since the time of its discovery in 1824 up to 1858,—89,563 lb. troy had been won, at the rate of 3.7 lb. avoird. from every ton of sand. The disuse of this metal as money has induced the owners of platina-yielding deposits to abandon the search, although much more might yet be obtained.
Copper.—The average of the ten years between 1841 and 1851 showed that about 14,872 cwt. of copper are yearly smelted in all Russia.
Lake-Salt.—The same decennial period showed a yearly return of 6,601,000 cwt. of lake-salt.
Coal.—The quantity yearly won was only 1,017,520 cwt., chiefly in the south of Russia, and in the land of the Don Kozzacks. Numerous veins have been discovered in Central Russia, the Caucasus, and Siberia. The import of English coal was 4,830,000 cwt. This mineral will soon be produced in larger quantities.
It is conjointly with coal that the production of other metals, excepting gold, takes place; and as the coal branch of industry has not yet attained to so much as the first stage of its proper development, the other metals are in a similar backward state. Russia produces gold, silver, copper, iron, lake-salt, and, in a small quantity, platina, lead, coal, and anthracite. In the Nertchinsk district there are indeed mines of tin, cinnabar, and zinc; but they are not worked on account of their distance and poorness. To speak now of iron, as of that metal on which the successful cultivation of the chief branches of industry is to such an extent founded, that the quantity of iron won and consumed might be taken as the best gauge of a country's industrious development:—
| By the decennial average of 1840-50, the government foundries produce annually of cast-iron about..... | Cwt. 644,000 |
| And the private foundries..... | 3,570,336 |
| Total..... | 4,214,336 |
Of which latter quantity, 2,973,140 cwt. were forged into iron. Of late years this branch of industry is increasing; the difference between 1832 and 1849 being 30 per cent. The demand for iron in the interior is so great that, notwithstanding the increased import from Poland and Finland, as well as the sensible falling off in the exportation abroad of Russian iron, prices have still risen.
| Per cwt. | |
|---|---|
| In 1838 the average wholesale price of bar-iron throughout the empire was..... | 15s. 2d. |
| Retail..... | 16s. 6d. |
| And in 1843 wholesale..... | 15s. 6d. |
| " " retail..... | 16s. 4d. |
Consequently in five years the average price had increased by 4d. The price for sorted iron was yet higher; and subsequently to 1843 prices had gone on rising; as, for instance, in Moscow, for 1846 and 1847, iron cost 14s. 2d. per cwt., but in 1848 and 1849 it cost 17s. 8d.; at Taganrog the proportion was 11s. 6d. to 13s.; and in Odessa 15s. to 15s. 6d. The average price of bar-iron in 1851 was in Prussia 12s. 4d., in France 10s. 6d., in Belgium 9s. 6d., and in England 5s. 2d. per cwt.; Welsh iron costing there only 4s. 4d. per cwt. Experience shows, as well in Russia as abroad, that no marked increase in the production of cheap iron can take place until coal is called in to aid this branch of industry. The difference in cheapness between the cost of iron produced by the agency of pit and charcoal
Statistics. was in France alone 30 per cent. In Russia this want of charcoal fuel is becoming more and more sensibly felt; and the foundries in the governments of Tula and Tamboff have already been closed on account of the thinning of the woods; but Providence seems likely to help the country in this respect, as coal veins will soon be largely worked in the government of Yekaterinoslav, on the Sea of Azoff. The Oural foundries possess the finest ore, particularly magnetic; yet notwithstanding its adaptation to steel and wire, the importation from abroad increases; as does also that of machinery, which in 1841 was for L.35,780, in 1846 for L.201,720, and in 1849 for L.293,590.
List of Manufactories in Russia, with Value of Annual Produce, according to latest returns:—
| No. | Amount. | |
|---|---|---|
| Sugar and treacle refineries..... | 443 | L.4,010,263 |
| Beer and mead breweries, also honey-melting establishments..... | 153 | 223,807 |
| Gloss and starch manufactures..... | 118 | 72,466 |
| Varnish..... | 9 | 9,384 |
| Sealing-wax..... | 10 | 12,662 |
| Tar, pitch, and turpentine..... | 225 | 32,997 |
| Oil-crushing..... | 290 | 47,733 |
| Chemical..... | 113 | 537,786 |
| White-lead and dye..... | 385 | 2,982,875 |
| Salt-making..... | 13 | 45,525 |
| Potash..... | 164 | 79,339 |
| Saltpetre..... | 182 | 124,017 |
| Soap-boiling..... | 316 | 293,197 |
| Tallow-melting and candle..... | 1147 | 2,486,106 |
| Stearins..... | 19 | 491,386 |
| Wax-crushing and wax-candle..... | 170 | 228,457 |
| Potteries, brick and lime..... | 1335 | 243,527 |
| China and delft-ware..... | 32 | 97,305 |
| Glass and crystal..... | 170 | 538,152 |
| Whitesmith's workshops, needle and pin manufactures..... | 93 | 178,725 |
| Musical instrument..... | 15 | 35,894 |
| Equipage..... | 66 | 106,352 |
| Wood-sawing..... | 85 | 153,897 |
| Furniture and wooden utensils..... | 95 | 72,728 |
| Furrieries..... | 81 | 65,929 |
| Hair, bristle, and tortoise-shell..... | 35 | 145,920 |
| Animal and vegetable preparations for food; such as meat, fish, macaroni, chocolate, mustard, &c..... | 452 | 69,598 |
Many other trading establishments relating to crafts and artizanship, not being manufactures, are under the minister of the interior.
Statement of Schools under the Ministry of Finance.
| Teachers. | Scholars. | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Mining institute..... | 37 | 242 |
| 1 " technical school..... | 36 | 21 |
| 1 Assaying school at St. Petersburg..... | 8 | 14 |
| 7 District foundry schools..... | 41 | 361 |
| 44 Lower foundry schools for the Mint and Mining Institute..... | 131 | 3957 |
| 1 Technological Institute..... | 35 | 257 |
| With a Sunday drawing-school..... | 3 | 72 |
| 1 Drawing-school at St. Petersburg, for visitors, with a Sunday do..... | 11 | 646 |
| 1 Female division of the same..... | 7 | 215 |
| 3 Drawing-schools at Moscow..... | 24 | 667 |
| Sundry primary schools for manufacture children..... | 4 | 143 |
| Sundry private manufacture schools..... | 8 | 335 |
| 1 Practical commercial academy at Moscow..... | 30 | 174 |
| 1 School of commercial navigation at Kherson..... | 9 | 48 |
| 1 School of commercial navigation at Riga..... | 1 | 10 |
| Public courses for the masters of merchant vessels:— | ||
| 1 At Arkhangel..... | 1 | 12 |
| 1 At Reri, in Finland..... | 1 | 9 |
| Total..... | 388 | 7183 |
Husbandry is still in a very backward state. Rotation of crops is the system mostly followed, but ignorantly, and
not by any means so profitably as might be the case. As many crops are taken out of the soil as it will yield, and then it lies fallow for a year or two. The Russians say that this state of things is best suited to the ignorance of the peasants, who have no instructors, and to the great quantity of land allowed them to till. The model farms established in most of the governments are slowly doing a small amount of good. In a few of these agricultural schools, steam apparatus have been tried; but the application of steam to husbandry is known only by hearsay. That agriculture might be rendered a very profitable branch of industry, is evident from the results obtained by the German colonists, who thrive prodigiously; and by the Quakers who have cultivated land in the neighbourhood of St. Petersburg. All have succeeded eminently in their undertakings.
According to calculations carefully collated in 1849 by the agricultural department, the quantity of winter and spring corn produced in Russia amounted to 168,000,000 qrs. There were 189,000,000 acres of arable land; 63,750,000 acres were used for winter and 63,750,000 acres for spring corn. The medium return of corn throughout the empire was four-fold, or about 10 bushels to the acre. The return of crop-produce may be calculated as follows:—Rye, 83,000,000 qrs.; wheat, 23,000,000 qrs.; oats, 42,000,000 qrs.; barley, pease, chives, buck-wheat, and maize, 31,000,000; potatoes, 14,000,000 qrs.; linseed, 1,500,000 qrs.; flax, 432,000,000 lbs. avoird.; hemp, 288,000,000 lbs.; sugar beet-root, 11,000,000 cwt.; tobacco, 354,200 cwt.; silk, 9660 cwt.
Table showing the Quantities of Horses, Horned Cattle, Sheep, and other Animals in Russia in the year 1856.
| Horses and Horned Cattle. | In the European Governments and Lands. | In the Caucasian Lieutenancy. | In the Siberian Provinces. | Total. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Horses..... | 15,065,750 | 469,522 | 3,033,011 | 18,571,283 |
| Horned cattle..... | 21,732,787 | 2,024,022 | 2,463,013 | 26,219,822 |
| Stags..... | 139,760 | ... | 292,582 | 432,342 |
| Camels..... | 31,023 | 24,885 | 3,929 | 59,837 |
| Asses, males..... | 2,025 | 24,322 | ... | 26,347 |
| * Sheep..... | 41,484,938 | 4,425,443 | 6,250,651 | 52,161,032 |
| Swine..... | 8,808,435 | 428,375 | 516,990 | 9,753,800 |
| Goats..... | 1,354,962 | 108,652 | 220,505 | 1,694,119 |
| Grand total..... | 88,629,681 | 7,505,231 | 12,783,681 | 109,918,593 |
* Of this number about 8,000,000 were of the so-called fine-fleeced sort.
The Russian is charitable, kindly of nature, and hospitable. Respectful, obliging, and content with little, he is honest enough in the country, but in town he sadly alters, losing most of his good, and acquiring none but bad qualities. He possesses the imitative faculty in an extreme degree, but not the inventive. An early riser, he can work well when put to it, and has but few wants. He is better than his master the noble. The dark side of the picture is, that he will lie remorselessly; is sly, false, and insincere; lazy when possible; fond of drink; and he rather enjoys uncleanliness, although his hot bath once a week is an example well worthy of being followed, because greatly contributing to his extreme longevity. Civilized, the Russian becomes a great thief. The temperance movement that has lately taken place in the semi-Polish and central governments is very remarkable, and is spreading widely. It originated with the Polish clergy (to their honour be it spoken), and was favoured by the badness of the brandy. Tall of stature and straight-limbed, the Russian is tolerably strong, robust, hardy, and not much subject to disease, through his out-of-door life during the greatest part of the year, and the continual exercise which
Statistics. the vastness of all things Russian,—embracing as well every object as every degree of distance,—forces him, against his will, to take. He is mostly fair of complexion, hairy, and bearded, pug-nosed, and rather small-eyed; but his good-humoured bearing and healthy look lend him a degree of handsomeness. The women are, alas, inferior to the men, being far from pretty; and even the beauty of youth fades with them much earlier than they could wish. The female population is likewise weakly, and much earlier broken down, through excessive labour in the fields, which, though a shame to the men, is a forced consequence of the impressment called conscription. Some few governments, however, are noted for their healthy, pretty-faced girls. Many men and women of huge proportions are to be met with; but there is more fat than muscle about them. Several of the strongest men of modern times were, however, Russians,—Orloffsky and Lookeen. The Russian man is the best specimen of the Slavonian race; the woman, not. The Russian has more real patriotism, too, than the vapouring Pole, who will sacrifice his country to his personal loves and hatreds; the Polish women, however, are superior to the Russian.1
Dress and food. A red or blue linen shirt, linen drawers, boots worn over very wide trousers, often mat or bast sandals, a cloth kaftan bound by a sash, the national sheep-skin tooloo or body-coat, with various descriptions of head-coverings, form the simple dress of the men. The hair is cut round. The women wear boddices, coloured jackets called sarafans or katsaeykas, and kokoshniks for the head. This national dress is exceedingly becoming, and is very properly used at court. The kokoshnik, set with brilliants, is a magnificent head-dress, and the other parts of the costume admit of much elegance of display. Girls wear kossas or plaited tails to their heads. Married women tie up their hair, which is mostly coarse, in gaudy-coloured handkerchiefs. In one word, the national garb is pretty, useful, and has a peculiar type. The food is simple. It chiefly consists of rye bread called black, always soup, curds, much milk, seldom meat, many vegetables, different farinaceous dishes, sundry peerogs or pasties, jams, preserves, and marmalades. The keas, a sour small beer, unhopped, is a horrible drink; but the braga and the mors (cranberry juice sweetened—the mead of the country), the donskoy, and various home-made wines, are delicious beverages. Tea and coffee are becoming more and more used. The former is said to be better than in England, through its being transported over land; but it is more likely that it is a different sort. The white-flour bread is excellent; the meat and mutton small, but sweet. The cabbage-soup, called stchee, the Little Russian borstch, the porosionok, or pickled sucking-pig,—all used with sour or clotted cream; the koolibiah, an egg and fish or meat pie; the rastagai, a little meat pasty; the pelmeni, a small chopped-meat pudding-tart, eaten warm; and the caviar, are well worthy of adoption into the English kitchen.
Amuse-ments. The Russian is fond of dancing and music, and sings at his work the plaintive ditties of his country, in a high, falsetto key, accompanied by indescribable quavers. The women's shrill skirl is extremely unpleasant; but both sexes are mirthful, and much given to amusements, which are innocent enough, consisting of eating nuts and gingerbread of holidays, and at their carnival shows, the Verbi, or Feast of Palms, and the Easter festival; of gliding down ice-hills in sledges; and swinging. The khorooodis are women's dances, accompanied by singing. A characteristic dance is the kazatchok. Strangely enough, skating is next to unknown. The indigenous musical instruments are the balalaika, a sort of guitar, and the goosli, a sort of spinnet, now falling into disuse. Public amusements in the capi-
tals are too dear and rare. The upper classes follow the usual European fashion. They love display; are graceful, polished, and urbane; but supple and false, not scrupulous in keeping his word, and with no manly love of exercise, the Russian nobleman is frequently one thing in public and another in private life. When the Russian noble is at the same time a gentleman, he is unsurpassed. Card-playing is the great social vice; but excessive drinking is now next to unknown. Higgling and dishonesty in trade are common in buying and selling. All classes take pride in rich furs and fine horses. Sledge-racing supplies the place of our English horse-racing, which, however, has lately been encouraged. High and low have a singular love of proverbial sayings, and all take a personal pride in the outward magnificence of the court.
The Russian language, one of the most beautiful exist-Statistics. Language. ing, is a dialect of the Slavonian, the common tongue of a large family of nations descended from the Scythians, but whose earlier origin is unascertained. If the language of a people were to be taken as an index of its destiny, a still brighter career than that already run might be augured of the country under review. In point of copiousness, flexibility, harmony, and grace, the Russian language has but few superiors, and not many equals. From the separateness of its roots, it is, however, but little assimilative; which must prevent its ever becoming so universal as English. Many of the modern roots are Sanscrit, Greek, Latin, and German. When the church-books of worship were translated, in the tenth century, into Slavonian-Russ, Greek forms, both alphabetical and of construction, were introduced, and thus was created a written church-dialect existing up to the present time, side by side with the vernacular, which it has greatly affected. The spoken language meanwhile incorporated many words from the Polish and other Slavonian dialects, the Tartar, and Mongolian; but Peter's reform of the alphabet, adoption of technical terms, and introduction into printed use of the vernacular, in lieu of the church-language, contributed the most to give the Russ that form which later culture has refined, and which it at present wears. The want of an article renders extreme precision less attainable than in those languages which possess one, otherwise than through the general sense of a phrase; but this is tolerably balanced by an avoidance of constantly-recurring particles, the great defect of the English and other languages. Adjectives, nouns, and pronouns are richly declinable in their various genders, persons, and numbers; and verbs, besides denoting in their inflections the numbers, persons, and genders, have further so-called modes, which clearly determine the frequent and unfrequent, the precise and unprecise modes of every action. A flexibility of construction, perhaps unsurpassed, is thus obtained; for, transpose the words as one may, sense can always be made of them. The prepositional verbs, mostly with prefixes, are a mine of wealth for the determination of action; but an insufficiency of this part of speech consists in its having but one compound tense, with shall, and, strictly speaking, only one past tense; through which defect a past action cannot be defined with such precision as in French. In consequence of the verb showing the gender, the personal pronouns may be dispensed with or used, at will. The great richness of the language consists, besides its inflectiveness and the copiousness of its roots, in the number of the derivatives; nouns, adjectives, and verbs, mutually giving and receiving, and all possessing this attribute to an inconceivable degree. The written character is a very neat one; and the printed has much resemblance to the Greek, some also to the Latin.
1 It was a just retribution of Providence that visited the iniquitous tyranny in old times of Poland over Russia with eventual subjugation to the latter, not that the punishment should be eternal. It testifies, besides, historically and undeniably, to the existence of a moral principle as positively pervading the unseen as the seen world of the senses.
Statistics. The alphabet is as nearly phonetic as can be desired, and has the advantage of expressing complex consonantal sounds, such as ts in tsar, ch in child, sh in shall, sth in question, kh in ladakh; each in one character. The Celtic guttural kh, the Greek χ, is the only consonantal sound in which the Russian language has the advantage, of the English; but it has not the English nasal ng, the th, the j as in join, nor the w as in will. All the vowels are neither long nor short, but properly between the two; neither have the Russians the long diph- or triph-thongal sounds of the English, as in meed, mound, and queen. The a sound in fat and fall, and the short i and u, as in bit and but, are totally wanting; whence follows that the English has several more sounds than the Russian. A set-off against this is the more frequent occurrence of liquids and of united vowel-syllables; the a-yah, e-yah, e-ay-yah, e-a-u, lending extreme harmony to the music of the rhythm. A harsh semi-vowel, which the English have not, is the quick contraction of the oo-ee into one sound. The most favoured letters are p and r; the ugly s is not so much used as in German or English; the vowels most affected are a, as in far; yah, and e. The diminutive, augmentative, and deprecative terminations are next in expression, strength, and grace only to the Italian. Another distinctive feature of the language is, that through the peculiar inflexiveness of its nature, the purely Russian race, from the White Sea to the Black, from Poland to the farthest confines of Siberia, speak with a grammatical correctness perfectly delightful to ears that care for such niceties. There are of course vulgarisms, and here and there some slight shades of difference in the pronunciation; but they are inconsiderable indeed, when contrasted with the barbarous idioms met with in all the countries of Europe. The Little Russian is certainly a marked deviation from the rule, but this is not the pure Russian race. Russ is spoken most elegantly in Moscow and Petersburg. The points of beauty in this language are so striking that much might be taken from it as first principles for a universal language, were any such possible; and an unbeliever in the great advantages derivable from these varied inflections would best be convinced by contrasting the cumbrous phraseology of an English law document with that of a Russian one. There is little intonation of whole phrases—raising or sinking of the voice—compared to English, the most intoned of living languages, and which is a remedy for its large number of monosyllabic words. Russian words, on the contrary, are egregiously long, in proportion to the graduated short words; a result of which is, that one page of Russian print, despite the saving of particles and repetitions incident to the varied inflections of the Russ, would make on an average no more than three-fourths of an English page. There are, however, much fewer ellipses in Russ than in English, the most elliptical language spoken; and this is partly another cause of English concision. For poetry, the language is beauty itself, being hard and soft in due proportion; and it admits of all rhythmical measures, besides affording every imaginable facility for rhyme. And it was for nasal French that the upper class of Russians could abandon their own far more beautiful tongue! What can not fashion in its folly do?
Mythology. The Russian mythology is common to that of the whole Slavonian race. Their thunder god Peroön answers to the Greek Zeus, or the German Wodan. His statue stood, in times of old, in the yard of Vlademir's court at Keeyeff, and was of wood, with a silver head and gold moustache. The annalist Nestor (1060) makes mention of the gods Kors, Dášbog, the god of fruitfulness (boy signifies god), Shrecbog, called also Samergl, and Mókosh. The name of Vóloss, denoting hairiness, occurs in the Grand-Prince Oleg's conversations with the Greeks, as the protector of
herds, and it was by his and Peroön's name that the Russians confirmed their sayings by oath. The goddess of love, friendship, and unity, was Tada; lovers and the newly-married sacrificed to her, praising her name in songs. Her sons Lelia and Palelia were also honoured as the gods of love and marriage. Kupálo was the name of the god of harvests, and sacrifices were made to him before harvest, on the 23d of June; this festival was called the Kupalitzza. Young people decked themselves with flowers, lit fires in the evening, danced round them, and sang in honour of the god. The memory of this feast may still be traced in the fires lit to this day on St John's Eve. In the government of Arkhangel, many of the peasants still heat their baths on the 23d of June, strew their floors with kupalinka (Ranunculus aeris), and then bathe. The root of the word implies bathing. Deóvo was the name of the Evil One. The 24th of December was holy to the god of peace, Kolbda; the rejoicings of Christmas Eve, consulting the future, and the custom called Koledovanie, now existing in Little Russia, are living remnants of this festival. Forest-demons, house-spectres, and good spirits were also supposed to exist. The Roossálka, a naiad, though no more seen, is still believed in; and the ancient Russians further venerated trees, particularly hollow ones, and bound linen cloths round their branches. They had temples and priests; they burned their dead, and held feasts in their honour.
Briefly outlined, Russian literature has undergone three marked changes: 1. The literature developed under Greek influence by the introduction of Christianity, 988–1689; 2. That first improved by Peter the Great on the general European model, from 1689–1801; 3. And the more polished, lasting from Alexander I. till the present time. The first period is long as regards duration, but poor as regards matter. Tales and songs, mostly oral; chronicles, and spiritual books describing the miraculous doings of the saints, reviling the Latins, or disputing about the sectarian heresies, were its chief products. The subsequent invasion of the Tartars, 1238–1480, not only checked the advance of civilization, but threw it back by many centuries; and during this period the learned sought refuge in the cloisters. The incorporation with Russia, in the sixteenth century, of the grand principality of Lithuania, naturally operated on the letters, such as they were, of the country, by introducing the more advanced literature of Poland. John IV. established the first printing-office at Moscow in 1564. Dramatic art dawned late. It was in the seventeenth century that the students of the Keeyeff academy began to perform religious mysteries in Polish and Slavonian; and under the tsar Alexay Mikhailovitch, 1645–1676, the boyar Matváyeff invited German actors to Moscow, where they performed pieces, with music and singing. Throughout this period, but no later, the whole literature of the country was in the hands of the clergy, who were thus the centre of the refinement that existed. The second period is marked by Russia arousing from her intellectual stupor. Peter had appeared; and from this time the country enters within the pale of European civilization. He invited learned foreigners to his dominions; sent young Russians to Germany and Holland for the acquirement of useful learning; and such was the impulse he gave, that in a few years Russia made more progress in civilization than in many preceding centuries. Relations had indeed been maintained with Europe under John III., but their influence had been unfelt. It was under Peter, too, that the first newspaper—The St Petersburg Gazette—was issued, in 1703. It contains matter very interesting for the present age. Peter's own time was not marked by any distinguished writers; but most of the successive sovereigns only executed what he had originally conceived and planned. Lomonossoff, the son of an Arkhangel fisherman, a learned prosaist, although an indifferent poet, under Elizabeth Petrovna, was the earliest
Statistics. classical writer of his country, and the great practical reformer of her letters. He first introduced measure, in lieu of the pre-existing Polish quantity. Kantemir, Soomarkoff, Kniaźnėn, and Kheraskoff are names of secondary note, intervening between this time and Catherine's more glorious epoch. Deržavin, the first great poet of his country, and who flourished in her reign, stands higher than all before and after him until the appearance of Pooshkin and Lermontoff. His Ode to God has been translated into English by Bowring, whose Anthology, containing specimens of the Russian poets, is deserving of commendatory notice. Von Wisin, the successor of Kantemir as a satirist, still retains possession of the stage. His comedy of the Spoiled Minor would alone throw more light on the manners and customs of his country than many books of history. This second period, although unmarked by many gifted writers, was still rich in translations from the ancient, French literature, and works of science, which circumstance had a vast influence upon the mental refinement of the people. There even existed under Catherine II. a department for translations. In this respect the country owes much to Novikoff, who, under Catherine II., founded the Literary Society of Moscow, the precursor of the Academy of Sciences, and devoted his whole life and fortune to this object. The earliest illustration of the third period is Karamzin, who, as a prosaist, first broke through the rules of ancient classicism, and introduced the romantic school. He is best known as the historian of his country, although his fame as such now suffers diminution; but his style is still deservedly celebrated for its purity, and he has been followed by Oostriakoff and Solovioff. In universal history, Granoffski and Koodriavtseff are the best representatives of Ranke's school. Dmeetrieff is a fable-writer of merit; but Kreeloff's fables, for point, satire, raciness of style, and adaptation to life in his country, are equal to those of any age or land. The best tragic dramatist is Ozeroff, but he is pompous, and writes too much in the French style. Greeboyedoff's comedy of Sorrow Comes of Sense, a social satire on Moscow society, may be classed with Beaumarchais' Marriage of Figaro, or Sheridan's School for Scandal. Gogol's Revisor is a satire of like eminence, on the corruption of his time. The only other dramatists of distinction are Pooshkin, and Ostrovski, a contemporary author. The Russian drama was originally formed on the declamatory French model; but Shakespeare has long beaten French tragedy off the stage. For vaudeville the French style still prevails, because the best. Independently of the earliest national poetry, of which numerous collections have been made, and not to dwell here on the claims, as poets, of Bogdanovitch, Khémnitzer, Batiushkoff, Kozlōff, Countess Rostoptchin, and others, all of more or less distinction, the names of Pooshkin and Lermontoff speak for themselves as the greatest. Pooshkin, in particular, is the poet of his country, from his identification with the national mode of feeling. His prose is a model of polite style. The living poets of mark are Maikoff, Tutscheff, Nekrassoff, and Stcherblina. It is remarked of Russian poetry, two-thirds of which is imitative, that, with much melody of versification, it has but little substance. More tender than impassioned, more graceful than energetic, the unseen spirit of song rather glides over the surface of feeling than issues from poetry's true home, the well of passion, lying deep within the heart. Russia is a land of song, and numerous collections therefore exist of national, Little Russian, Finnish, Lettish, and other songs, well meriting attention. The first novel was written by Kheraskoff, under Catherine II., not that it was a good one; but of the later novelists and belletrists, the oldest are Lazetchnikoff and Zagazkin; then follows the inimitable Gogol; and afterwards come Pečerski and Gontcharoff. Pooshkin, Kookolnik, Count Solohub, Greigorovitch, Count
Tolstoi, and Toorghènieff, the last and best, are delightful story-tellers. Translation, which now supplies the place of civilizers from abroad, is cultivated in every branch to an immense extent. A remarkable production in this art was Gnèditch's translation of the Iliad, which, though heavy, is still correct. It was from 1820 to 1840 that translations began chiefly to be made from the German. Zookoffski, in particular, gave the impulse to translations from that language and from English. The most distinguished in this department, not to speak of purely scientific works, are Batiushkoff and Zookoffski. The other names are Kozlōff, Huber, Vrōnchenko, Kronberg, and Min. Ketcher is a very accurate translator. Most of Shakespeare's plays, and indeed many of the best English productions in verse, including several of Byron's poems, have been beautifully done into Russ; besides numerous translations from the ancient and living languages. In philology, the chief names are Booskoff, Sjogren, Castrén, Schiffner, Wiedemann, Böttlingk, Dorn, Pavski, Vostokoff, Gretch, Kasembeg, and Davidoff. Statistics, including finance and political economy, have lately made immense progress. We need only allude to Arsenieff, Köppen, Tengoborski, Nebolsin, and Lamanski. In medical surgery, Peerogoff is known to all Europe. Philosophy is yet a barren field, and many departments of letters are still unrepresented; but in the higher walks of science it is sufficient to cite Pallas, Frehn, W. Struve, Bär, Ostrogradski, Kupffer, Jacobi, Pander, Abich, and Vesseloffski. The fine arts have had, and still have, distinguished disciples in Kokorin, Marthus, Count Theodore Tolstoi, Baron Klodt, Bruloff, Bruni, Basen, and Evānoff. Bortianski's church music is abstract beauty tangibly revealed to the senses. As travellers and navigators, we have Golovnin, Kotzebue, Krusenstern, Bellingshausen, Lütke, Wrangel, Tchikatchoff, Yermoloff, Demidoff, Middendorff, and Kovaloffski. The church literature is perhaps the most popular and widely diffused. Platōn, Innocent, and Philaret are the most eminent sermonists. Prokopovitch, Yavorski, Philaret of Moscow, Philaret of Kharkoff, and Macarius, are eminent as theologians. Periodical literature has made immense strides, and at present absorbs nearly all the intellect of the country. Bellinski, as a critic, exercised over it a lasting influence. Herzen's Kolokol, or Bell, and his Northern Star, both published in London, form a remarkable feature in the journalism of the day. An encyclopaedical lexicon is being published by Kraeffski; and a movement has been made towards furthering the introduction of the decimal system. Generally, it may be truly said that purely intellectual civilization has lately advanced with the step of a giant. That Russian literature has not yet contributed its full quota to the great hive of human learning should be mainly ascribed to over-government, to its being yet in the youth of its existence, and still in a condition which compels it to borrow much. When civilization shall have taken firm root in all classes, then Russia will no doubt enlarge her pretensions; but the time is coming, and the minds to do the work are ripening.
Asiatic Russia.
Russia in Asia comprehends the whole northern portion Asiatic of that continent extending from Lat. 38. 25. to 78. 26. Russia. N., and from Long. 37. 14. to 190. 22. E. from Greenwich. It is bounded on the west by European Russia and the Black Sea, on the south by Asiatic Turkey, Persia, the Caspian and Aral Seas, the territories of the Turkomans and Keerghee, and by China; on the east by the Pacific Ocean and Behring's Straits. The Frozen Ocean extends along the whole of its northern limits. Its greatest extent from west to east is about 4142, and its greatest breadth from north to south 2622 English miles. This vast dominion
Asiatic
Russia.
General
aspect.
is larger than the whole of Europe. Siberia, which occupies the whole north of Asia, from the Oural Mountains to the Great Ocean, has a general inclination towards the Northern Arctic Sea. It presents an immense plain, bounded on the south by ranges of mountains. In the northern part this plain gradually inclines into a low flat. Siberia is divided by the Yenisey into two regions, the western and eastern. Western Siberia is one entire level, unbroken by any hills whatever. The north-western region is covered by forests; the other part consists of steppes. 1. The Barabinskai steppe, between the rivers Irtysh and Ob, has large birch groves, and is suited to agricultural pursuits. 2. The Ishim, to the south of Omsk, along the rivers Irtysh and Ishim, consists of sands and salt-marshes. 3. The Kheergheez steppes, extending from the left of the River Oural to the Caspian and Aral seas, form a wilderness whose eastern and north-eastern parts alone are intersected by hills, forming a continuation of the centre chain of the southern Oural. The soil consists of clay and sand, but in the southwest it is overspread with salt-marshes and bogs. 4. The Abakan steppes lie along the River Abakan, which falls into the Yenisey. Their soil is so fertile that it requires no manure. 5. The Sagai, lying between the left bank of the Abakan and Lake Teletski, and extending in the north to the River Tchoulim, serve as excellent pasture-grounds for the countless herds possessed by the natives. Eastern Siberia affords a much more diversified aspect. The plains are here intersected by numerous offshoots of the high Altai and Sagan mountains, as well as by the Yablonnoy and Stanovoy ranges. The northern Siberian flat, from the Northern Arctic Circle to the Polar Ocean, and from the Oural Mountains to Behring's Straits, may be divided into three portions. The first, from the Oural to the Yenisey, does not rise above the level of the sea; the second, from the Yenisey to the Lena, is a little above that level; and along it, from south to north, extends the Poostinnoy range of hills, which, terminating in Cape Severo-Vostochnoi, serves as the dividing water-shed of the Yenisey and Lena. The third portion, from the Lena to Behring's Straits, is considerably higher than the water-level; and more eastwards it is intersected by branches of the Stanovoy Mountains, which never reach above 3000 feet. The whole of this flat has a dreary character, and the magnificent forests which cover the whole south of Siberia become gradually thinner. At 70 N. Lat. all vegetation ceases, and nature seems as if deprived of life. The soil of this northern Siberian flat is one continued moss-grown toondra.
Mountains.
The Siberian mountains extend from the River Irtysh at first eastwards to the upper sources of the Aldan, which falls into the Lena, and hence through Kamtchatka towards the north-east. They terminate in two branches, of which one extremity is called Tchookotskoi Noss, and the other Cape Lopatka. That part of the Siberian mountains which passes from west to east consists of the Altai, Sayan, and Daorian chains. The Altai sweeps along the southern confines of the governments of Tobolsk and Tomsk, and, by means of the Yablonnoy and Stanovoy ridges, unites in the north-east with the Okhotsk Mountains. This Altai range is 450 miles long and 230 miles broad, having numerous offshoots. Its general height is 7000 feet; but the pinnacle of one, called the Belokha, attains the height of 12,000 feet. The snow-line is from 6000 to 6500 feet above the horizon of the water. The Altai serves as the dividing-line from which flow the rivers of that region, on one side into the Arctic Ocean, and on the other into the streams of the Keergheez, Turkestan, and Zoonghò steppes. The Sayan mountains extend betwixt the Yenisey and Baikal, a distance of 1260 verst. The Daorian extend from the Sayan mountains,
touch the Yablonnoy range, and run into the Chinese dominions.
The rivers of Asiatic Russia that discharge themselves into the Arctic Sea are amongst the most considerable of Rivers. the ancient world. The most remarkable of these are.—1st, The Ob, whose course is 2170 miles in length, during which it receives the great rivers Tom, Tcholeem, Ket, Vakh, the Irtysh, Sosva, and all their tributary streams. 2d, The Yenisey, which has a course of 2000 miles, with fewer sinuities than are usually observed in other great rivers. It is formed by the confluence of the Great Ket and Angara, which latter is the greater river of the two. The upper Toongoozka or Angara rises in the government of Irkutsk, joins the Eeem, and flows for 1000 miles. The right affluents are the Middle and Lower Toongoozka, and the left are the Abakan and Toorookhan. 3d, The Lena, one of the largest of the Russian-Asiatic rivers. It rises in the Baikal Mountains, in the government of Irkutsk; is from half a mile to 2 miles broad, at Irkutsk about 6 miles; and falls into the ocean in Lat. 70. 40, and Long. 164. 26, after a course of 2666 miles. The Lena is navigable at Verkholensk, 200 miles from its source, until it receives the Aldan. Its tributaries on the right are the Veteem, Olekma, and Aldan; on the left the Velui. Besides the Ob, Yenisey, and Lena, whose lower courses water the northern flat of Siberia, along the toondras flow the following considerable rivers:—The Taz, Khatanga, Anabara, Olenek, Yan, Indighirka, and Kolecma. The rivers flowing from the eastern declivity of the Stanovoy hills into the great ocean and sea of Okhotsk are mostly unimportant and rapid, because this range is steep, rocky, and often closely approaches the shores. The chief are the Anadir, Kamtchatka, and Avatcha, remarkable as forming the bay of Avatcha, surrounded on all sides by mountains, and 9 miles in diameter; Port Peter and Paul, the Penzeena, Gizeeghina, Okhota, and Amoor.
The Amoor is formed by the confluence of the Argoon Amoor and Sheelka, in the south-east angle of the Trans-Baikal River. region, at a point called the Oost-Strelka. The Trans-Baikal region spoken of borders on Chinese Daoria, of which latter a vast portion has been silently incorporated with Russia, and called Russian Daoria. From the Strelka mouth to the last Russian station on the Tartar Gulf, called the Petrofskoié Winter Quarters, the entire length of the Amoor is 1880 miles. The chief tributaries of this river are the Zayab, Newman, Amgoon, Soongari-Oollah, and the Oossoori,—all mighty streams. The Soongari-Oollah, called in Chinese Khoon-Taon-Tsian, unites with the Amoor 950 miles below the Strelka mouth. The Soongari runs through Chinese Mantchooria, and the Amoor may rather be said to fall into it. In many places from a mile to a mile and a half broad, the Amoor is navigable throughout its whole course, the depth being considerable, often averaging ten fathoms; and there are few rapids or shallows to impede navigation. It must, however, be observed, that the last exploring expedition took place in May, when the waters were at their highest. The current generally runs at the rate of 2½ miles an hour. No forts are as yet laid down along the river's course, and it is only near the mouth of the Amoor that there are fortifications; but they have not yet had time to become important. The left river-bank is being permanently colonized. The sole considerable position at present held by the Russians on the right bank is the Mareeinski station, near Lake Keezi. Sakha-leeen-Oollah-Khoton is the only large town on the Mantchoorian or right bank of the Amoor. On the left bank there is not a single town. Toongooz tribes inhabit the whole of this region, which is extremely fertile, the soil and climate being both excellent.1
1 The rapid extension of the Russian empire at present taking place in this region, and the political results that are likely to ensue
Asiatic Russia. Lake Keezi, at the Mareeinski station, on the right bank of the Amoor, is 26 miles long, of varying breadth, and in parts tolerably deep. It naturally forms a convenient harbour, and the idea has therefore been entertained of establishing a way of communication, either by canal or rail, across the hilly ridge—only 13 miles in breadth—which separates Lake Keezi from De Castries' Gulf in the Sea of Okhotsk. When one takes into account that the Mareeinski station is 290 miles higher up the river than its mouth, the utility of the plan becomes obvious. A railway from the Amoor, to be connected with the internal lines of road, has been more than once projected; but either the demands made for a cession of bordering crown-lands were so unreasonably exorbitant, or the offers made so unsupported by sufficient guarantees, that the plan has been rejected. The railroad will yet be effected, though on another basis, and then the results will be of high interest to England. The chief considerations which suggest themselves are,—1st, That Russia has now managed to acquire a vast portion of Chinese territory, with a valuable harbourage and sea-board, on the North Pacific; 2d, That a vast amount of trade in Central Asia is being opened out to her merchants; and, 3d, That she is hereby obtaining a direct water communication with India, which is thus in process of becoming more and more closely hugged by Russia both by land and sea. Two rivers, of great interest to England, remain yet to be noticed: the Oxus, or Amoo-Daria, which rises in the western extremity of Lake Sir-i-Kol, Lat. 37. 27., and chron. Long. 69. east of Greenwich, in the table-land of Pamir in Central Asia; and the Jaxartes, or Sir-Daria, which rises in China, and passes through Kokan, Turkestan, and Tashkent. Both fall into the Aral Lake, the Amoo-Daria, after an approximative course of 800, and the Sir-Daria of about 520 miles.
Lakes. The lakes in Russian Asia are very numerous, and some of them so extensive as to form inland seas. One of the largest is the Baikal or Holy Lake, between Lat. 52. and 55., and Long. 104. 26. and 109. 56., extending over 11,180 square miles. Its water is clear and bright, and the depth varies from 18 to 500 feet. The River Angara, which runs into the Yenisey, issues hence. It contains a great number of rocky islands. The other is the Aral Lake, or Blue Sea, situated on a parallel with the northern part of the Caspian. It is 250 miles long by 150 miles broad. The lakes next in extent are the Tchani and the Piasenskoe, both in the government of Tomsk; but there are one or more lakes in every province. A large number of steamers already ply on these inland seas and rivers of Asiatic Russia.
Climate and productions. From the Oural Mountains to the Yenisey the climate differs little from that of European Russia, but beyond that river the difference is marked. The general severity, however, of the climate in Russia—apparently so inimical to health and comfort—is considered by the inhabitants as one of their greatest blessings. The vast expanse of frozen snow that environs them both shortens distances and facilitates travelling. Ice-cells also form a positive necessary of life, for by their means provisions, which could not otherwise be kept from putrefaction, are preserved during summer. The fine fresh air engendered by a bracing
frost is likewise most conducive to health. The intense cold, however, that prevails in Siberia beyond the Yenisey, like every extreme, is an evil, and forms one of the great obstructions to travelling, as does also the plague of mosquitoes in summer. The natural wealth of the country consists at present in its minerals, timber, furs, produce of the chase, fisheries, and cattle. The southern territory, which is often covered with luxuriant pastures, might be made to yield very rich crops, if the inhabitants would but change their taste for nomadic life, and till the ground. For some time past, indeed, the Kheergheeze have shown indications of commencing agricultural pursuits; yet notwithstanding the general neglect of tillage, the produce is in some parts extremely plentiful, and crops are raised even without the aid of manure. The rearing of sheep for wool is a branch of industry lately much increased in Siberia, and the Kheergheeze steppes supply countless droves of cattle for the Russian market. Pasturage, indeed, and agriculture will ultimately form the chief riches of the land, because inexhaustible. The mineral productions are gold, silver, lead, platina, copper, dendritic and stalactitic copper or malachite, iron, coal, anthracite, tin, cinnabar, and zinc; bismuth, arsenic, sulphur, alum, sal-ammoniac, nitre, naphtha, and natron, are met with in abundance; and a few precious stones are also found. Near the River Argoon are found the common topaz, the hyacinth, the Siberian emerald, the beryl, onyx, and beautiful red and green jaspers. Near Yekaterinburg are the gem-mines of Moorsinsk, where are found the beryl and chrysolite. Near Lake Baikal red garnets are very common; and lapis lazuli, as well as the baikalite of Keervan, are also met with. The Altai Mountains furnish the opal.
The mineral springs of Russia are found principally in the Asiatic part, especially in Kamchatka. The only European mineral waters that merit particular notice are the hot spring near Selo-Klintchy in Perm; a chalybeate spring in the village of Singovo, Olonetz; an assemblage of springs strongly impregnated with iron near Sarepta, on the Volga; the Sergius sulphur waters in the government of Orenburg; several naphtha springs in the Taurida; and at Piatigorsk, on the Terek in the Caucasus, warm springs, that serve as baths. Similar baths exist in the province of Nertchinsk, and springs impregnated with naphtha and petroleum are also found near Lake Baikal. Chalybeate waters likewise are met with among the iron mines near Yekaterinburg, and a few in the province of Daouria. The principal hot baths of Asiatic Russia are in Kamchatka. Those near Natchikhin, containing vitriolic and nitrous salts, fall in a rapid cascade, about 300 feet below which they are collected into a basin 6 or 7 feet broad, and 18 inches deep.
The territory which stretches along the southern Asiatic Frontier border alone deserves particular mention, as the most favoured district of Siberia. This vast space is chiefly inhabited by Kozzacks, whose number has been lately much augmented, under a system perfected between the years 1852-59 by Count Mooravieff-Amoorski. There are three descriptions of Kozzacks—the inhabitants of towns, foot regiments, and horse Kozzacks, who form the chief military
therefrom, warrant us in here giving a short account of the Amoor acquisition. It was in 1845 that Academician Middendorff, appreciating the necessity of an outlet for Siberia into the North Pacific, crossed the frontier despite Chinese prohibition, and found during his four months' travels in this quarter, that the Russian government erroneously considered the Stanovoi mountains as their boundary by the treaty of Nertchinsk, the Chinese themselves having erected boundary-posts much more southerly, among the left affluents of the Amoor; and that thus an immense extent of territory would accrue to Russia, besides the desired outlet into the Pacific. About the same time Captain Nevelskoi, after sailing round South America, entered unbidden the mouth of the Amoor, being the first European navigator who had ever done so, and proved that Sakhalin was not a peninsula, but an island. Delighted with the discovery communicated to him by Academician Middendorff, Nicholas immediately acted upon it. Captain Achte was despatched to execute the idea, and political circumstances being favourable, the result has at length been the acquisition by Russia of the whole left bank of the Amoor, its right and left banks from the Oosoori downwards, the dependent sea-board on the Gulf of Tartary, its outlet into the Pacific, its prospectively boundless trade, the whole island of Sakhalin, and nearly one million square miles of territory. Russia now wants only an outlet into the North Atlantic by the acquisition of a seaport in Swedish Finnmark.
Asiatic
Russia.
arm of the country. In their capacity of soldiers, they mount guard in turn at the different posts assigned them; and their leisure time is employed in the rearing of cattle, gardening, hunting, and fishing. The territory they occupy is for the most part very fertile, especially between the forty-ninth and fifty-first degrees of latitude, where the soil spontaneously produces fruit trees, melons, tobacco, &c.; whilst in the most easterly part the picturesque and fruitful valleys of the Altai, rich in every description of odoriferous flowers, enable the inhabitants to rear innumerable swarms of bees, which furnish the greater part of Siberian honey. Several manufactories, especially of leather, have been established in the towns. The progress of trade will doubtless hereafter enhance the value of the natural productions of these regions, amongst which must be reckoned the lakes of salt water so numerous in the steppes. Important as they are in relation to commerce, these lakes likewise present to the naturalist a series of interesting phenomena. Their waters hold so great a quantity of salt in solution that the action of the summer heat is of itself sufficient to convert it into crystals, which, carried towards the banks, form there immense shoals of salt. Magazines have been formed upon the borders of Lake Koriak, and the salt therein preserved generally amounts to many thousands of tons. But however rich this lake may be, it is less so than three others, the Karoshak, the Kolkaman, and the Djé-manton, situated in the steppes on the right bank of the Irish. Each of these basins is from 12 to 15 miles in circumference, and the action of the solar rays produces in them during the summer season crystals of salt so numerous that, by mutual contact, they at length form solid arches, which, like winter ice, cover the surface of the lakes. These masses are frequently nine inches thick. The action of the air whitens the upper layers; the lower ones preserve a bluish tint, which in some places assumes a beautiful violet hue; and the solidity of these crystal fields is such that horses, camels, and chariots pass over them with the greatest safety.
The mines of Russian Asia are by far more productive than those of any other portion of the empire, as from them is extracted the whole of the gold, silver, platina, and lead, nine-tenths of the copper, and eleven-twelfths of the iron which is brought into use. These mines are mostly situated in the Ooral and Altai mountain ranges. It is in those parts which face Siberia—that is, the eastern slope of the Ooral, and the northern declivities of the Altai, with its secondary branches—that are found the veins of precious metal. The best account of these mines is that contained in Tcheffkin's able work on the subject, published in 1851, and to which we call particular attention, as well worthy of translation. The original discovery of gold—and that, too, in its native state of veins—occurred in 1743, near Yekaterinburg; but the subsequent discovery, in 1814, of auriferous sand-fields afforded a much cheaper means of obtaining this metal, and caused the working of gold-mines to be nearly abandoned. The Berezoff mine gold, containing 14 oz. troy to 100 cwt. of ore, cost, for working expenses alone, 18s. an oz.; whereas the sand-gold of the same mining district, containing only 1 oz. in 100 cwt. of sand, cost but 10s.; so that, supposing the yield to be equal, the extraction of sand-gold would be ten times cheaper than that of ore-gold. The working of auriferous sand-fields was first introduced by the Ooral government mining foundries; but in 1819 it passed into the possession of private foundries. In 1829 private companies began to work these fields in Western, and about 1838 in Eastern Siberia. An extension of the gold produce in Russia is scarcely to be expected. For several years no new discoveries of importance have been made, excepting only in the Nertchinsk foundry district, where, indeed, such promising deposits have been found among the affluents of the
Sheelka that the yield of this district, which amounted from 1846 till 1849, to about 8 cwt. a year, rose in 1850 to 24 cwt. The love of exploration, however, has subsided; the former deposits are becoming exhausted; the yield of the auriferous sands is perceptibly diminishing; and the gain of the private Siberian companies, particularly of Eastern Siberia, has sensibly decreased. The average yield of the sands washed in the Oorals, which, from 1814 to 1839, was 12 dwt. of gold to 100 cwt. of sand, fell in 1846 to less than 5 dwt.; and there are whole districts where the yield of the sands has fallen to below 4 dwt. In the Verkh-Issetski foundries of Mr Yakovlieff, for many years, about 50 cwt. of ore are won, at a yield of only 2 dwt. With regard to diamonds, only small stones are found. These regions, as yet but little known, are now explored with systematic regularity. The two chains, the Ooral and the Altai, are divided into several mining districts. In each of them, the officers to whom is confided the direction of the works send out every summer detachments of discovery, whose duty it is to examine in detail the mountains assigned to them; and the point at which the expedition stopped the preceding year is generally that of departure for the next year's expedition.
Asiatic Russia, independently of Transcaucasia, has recently been distributed into the following divisions:—
Western Siberia, comprising the governments of Tobolsk and Tomsk, and the provinces of Semipalatinsk and Omsk; Eastern Siberia, comprising the governments of Yakootsk, Yenisey, and Irkootsk, and the Transbaikal and Kamchatka provinces. It is further intended to divide the Amoor region into two new provinces.
The population of this territory amounts to 5,361,231 inhabitants, and consists of Slavonians, called Siberians, settlers from the interior of Russia; Siberian Kozzacks, Finnish races, Samoyeds, Ostiaks, Toongooz, Yakoots, Booriats, Gheeliaks, Mongols, Tartars, and Keergheeze. It is rapidly increasing; and here, as in the Caucasus, it was religious questions, much more than political causes, which contributed most to the colonization of the country. In 1765 alone, 40,000 sectarians, called Polish settlers, were exiled to Siberia from Starodob and other towns in the government of Tchernieegoff; and fully two-thirds of the Ooral Kozzacks are also sectarians, whose superstitions are extremely absurd, and often noxious. In ten years, from 1832-42, seventy thousand peasants, male and female, were sent to Siberia for bad conduct by their proprietors, the town corporations, and rural communes. Except for crimes, however, none can be sent without their families. The Swedish officers who fell into the hands of Peter the Great, and a regular succession of recruits furnished by the empire itself, formed another part of the population. The lowest class of exiles are condemned to the mines; a class whose offences are of a milder character, are distributed amongst the distilleries; a third class receive grants of lands, for which a trifle is paid to government. The individuals comprising this section are formed into settlements, under the superintendence of a strict police. Siberia has its schools, gymnasia, and other institutions of the kind, which have lately been much increased. Irkootsk is the centre of the greatest civilization, and it possesses a section of the Russian Geographical Society, very important for statistics. The Keergheeze steppes are supposed to contain about 750,000 inhabitants, divided into the Great, Middle, and Little Ordes.
The manufactures are few, and unimportant, with the exception of spirits and leather, which are made to a considerable extent in various parts. There are several establishments for soap-boiling, the melting of tallow, and making of stearine candles. Cotton and wool are manufactured in some parts into coarse stuffs. The chief trading towns are Irkootsk, Kiakhta, Krasnoyarsk, Omsk, Tomsk, and
Tobolsk, Irkootsk, the principal city of Eastern, and Omsk, of Western Siberia, being the seats of the respective governors, are of course emporiums for the sale of European commodities, which are also largely dealt in at the fairs of Irbit and Tiumen. This latter place is rapidly rising in importance. Independently of the sale of colonial and other goods, the produce of European Russia, such as corn, meal, and iron, tools and utensils, are exchanged for the skins, cattle, caviar, fish (salted and fresh), and game, brought to them from the interior by the Ostiaks or Tartars. Every year the merchants of Tobolsk, Tiumen, and other towns send boats laden with flour up the Irtysh and Ob to Berezoft and other small towns situated farther to the north, and these boats return freighted with fish. It is, however, on the Caspian that the most productive fisheries are established. One alone is farmed for £34,375 yearly, and there are several others; but, like its waters, the productiveness of this sea is declining. Measures have been proposed to remedy this evil by piscicultural enactments. The Oural river yields also great quantities of belooga, or large sturgeon, which furnishes the delicate Russian caviar. The agents of the merchants, established in the small towns upon the banks of the Ob, purchase also of the Ostiaks valuable furs, which, together with soap, tallow, and leather, they afterwards export, partly to the fair of Neezni-Novgorod, and partly to the Keerghee of the steppes, who pay them in horses, cattle, and cotton stuffs, purchased by themselves of the Bookharians; the remaining produce of the government of Tobolsk is exported by the way of Kiakhta into China, whence are brought in exchange silks and tea. Kiakhta is the sole point of commercial intercourse between the two great empires of Russia and China. Almost all the principal tea-dealers in Russia have agents at that place, whilst the Chinese traffickers consist chiefly of temporary visitors without their families. The Russians there receive the staples of China, for which they give in return the productions of their own country. The nature and extent of the commerce of Kiakhta will be seen from the following statement:—
Exportation of Russian Merchandise to China.
| Description. | In 1833. Roubles. |
In 1837. Roubles. |
|---|---|---|
| Skins to the amount of..... | 638,964 | ... |
| Leather..... | 212,137 | 324,850 |
| Linens..... | 58,633 | ... |
| Cottons..... | 256,321 | 1,393,592 |
| Cloths..... | 641,897 | 1,429,445 |
| Furs..... | ... | 1,247,350 |
| Gold and silver articles..... | ... | 1,235,642 |
| Corn, iron, steel, copper, glass, and other articles..... | 413,185 | ... |
| Flax, hemp, silk, and woollen produce; hoofs and horns, metal articles, &c..... | ... | 477,225 |
| Transit merchandise..... | 155,923 | ... |
| Total..... | 2,384,460 | 6,109,104 |
| Or sterling..... | £1,372,337 | £1,054,547 |
Importation of Chinese Merchandise into Russia.
| Description. | In 1833. Roubles. |
In 1837. Roubles. |
|---|---|---|
| Tea..... | 1,974,042 | 5,892,261 |
| Sugar..... | ... | 73,782 |
| Silks..... | 59,599 | 13,146 |
| Cottons..... | 35,064 | 26,769 |
| Drugs, &c..... | 53,398 | ... |
| Wool..... | ... | 623 |
| Other different articles, such as fruits, grain, colours, furs, raw silk, &c..... | ... | 1,535,891 |
| Total..... | 2,122,103 | 7,542,472 |
| Or sterling..... | £1,331,578 | £1,178,511 |
There is a school at Kiakhta for teaching the Chinese language. The trade with China is a great source of wealth to Siberia, as will also be that carried on by the Amoor; for now that Siberia has an outlet on the navigable Pacific, it will flourish like California.
Another great commercial line is that which branches from Irkootsk, down the Lena, into the heart of the frozen regions and the shores of the Arctic Ocean. Yakootsk, situated about 800 miles down the Lena, is the emporium where the furs and other products of these desolate regions are collected. They are brought from the remotest extremities of the land which borders on Behring's Straits, and from the American territory. A considerable proportion consists of the tribute which is paid to government, and the wandering traders exchange tobacco, spirits, cutlery, beads, and toys for the remainder. The wild animals of this country are the polar bear, wolf, lynx, Arctic fox, wild boar, beaver, sable, ermine, squirrel, sea-lion, walrus, seal, otter, and sea-cat. Stray tigers and panthers have likewise been met with.
A geographical and statistical account of the Caucasus at large having been already given in the general description of Russia, we need only add the following complementary remarks. That part which extends from the southern governments of European Russia up to the central mountain range of the Caucasus belongs to Europe, and is called Ciscaucasia; the part beyond belongs to Asia, and is called Transcaucasia. The latter is divided into the following governments:—1. Tiflis; 2. Derbend; 3. Tchekmakha; 4. Erivan; 5. Kutais,—each with a chief town of the same name. Tiflis is the capital. These governments comprise the former provinces of Gruzia, Armenia, Imeritia, Daghestan, and some other lesser ones. Small as this territory is, compared with the vast extent of Russia, it is of no trifling importance to her in a commercial, financial, and political point of view. Its geographical position appears to us the happiest possible for a power prosecuting gigantic schemes of commercial intercourse and of territorial aggrandizement. Climate, soil, natural capabilities, situation, and political relations, all prove that, whatever it has cost Russia to acquire and maintain her Transcaucasian dominions, their value, which as yet is developed only to a small extent, justifies her policy. A history of the Caucasus, with a full account of its productions, by Colonel Uszar, being about to appear under the auspices of the Russian government, we would rather call attention to this fresh source of trustworthy information than give returns which are both incomplete and antiquated. The following general account we know to be true:—
The cultivation of the mulberry tree is now very much improved, and as much as 9660 cwt. of raw silk were forwarded in 1858 to Moscow alone for manufacture there. The natural capabilities of the country afford a possibility of immensely increasing the production of this valuable commodity. It has lately been very much developed. The quality is still rather inferior; and although cotton is produced in some of the other southern or Asiatic possessions, it will be long ere Russia becomes independent of the United States for this article, more particularly since her own internal demands are extensively increasing.
The wine is indigenous to these regions, and presents a great variety of kinds. The vineyards are numerous and rich, the country being well adapted for the cultivation of the plant. All the wine and brandy produced are entirely absorbed by the internal consumption, which is incredible. Among the natural products likely to become important articles of trade, but which are at present nearly all consumed at home, are rice, saffron, madder, and cochineal. The Armenian or southern parts of the Transcaucasian provinces, produce a kind of cochineal which is said to yield a dye equal to that of Mexico. The mountain off-
Asiatic Russia. shoots of the Kazbeck and Elbrooz are rich in silver-lead ore, which has been found in fifty different places. Parts of this country also produce coal.
Live stock. Extensive herds might be reared in these provinces, which afford great facilities for their maintenance. Great numbers of cattle and sheep are indeed raised, but the wool of the one is bad and the breed of the other inferior. Merino sheep have been successfully introduced into this quarter. There is a fine race of horses, and an abundance of camels, asses, mules, and swine. The natural capabilities of these provinces are very great, affording facilities for the production of the most valuable commodities, exclusively furnished by southern climates. These have only been developed to a partial extent; but the government displays so much laudable zeal in encouraging such branches of industry as are best suited to the various divisions of the empire that, after a certain time, she will be nearly independent of what are called colonial goods,—silk, cotton, and the like.
This is not the place to enter into the important question relative to the political influence which Russia is likely to exercise over the East by thus firmly establishing her dominion beyond the Caucasus; but her far-sighted policy has two main objects, which will be promoted by rendering the Caucasian isthmus a commercial country, securely incorporated with the rest of the empire. These are the creation of a manufacturing industry that will in time render her independent of other countries, particularly of England, and the establishment of her power in Asia, whence great advantages are not unreasonably expected. Now these provinces will at once supply the raw material necessary for manufactures, and at the same time open out a market for them in the East. It is true that the Caucasian mountains almost totally sever this limb from the great body of the empire, the passes of Mozdak being difficult of access, and the country infested with predatory hordes. But there are other and more eligible means of communication,—viz., the Caspian on the east, and the Black Sea on the west. Over the former Russia now reigns paramount, no other vessels of war but her own being allowed to navigate there. In this vast reservoir the Volga, which is the great artery of Russia, pours its waters, collected during a navigable course of 2055 miles through some of the most fertile regions of the empire, and including in its tributaries those most distinguished for manufacturing industry, which is the main object. This noble stream communicating with the Baltic, there is an easy transport of goods insured from the remotest governments of the empire to the Caspian, and thence to the Transcaucasian territory. There is also on the other side a communication by the Black Sea, but it does not present so many advantages as that by the Caspian.
In the Baltic Sea are,—1. The Åland Islands, more than 100 in number, forming a group at the entrance of the Bothnian Gulf. They are almost all rocky; and the largest are Åland, Lemland, Eckerö, Fegle, and Brende. 2. Hochland, nearly in the middle of the Finnish Gulf, is a high granite cliff. 3. Kotlin, on which is situated the fortress of Cronstadt, one of the strongest in Europe. 4. Oesel. 5. Dago. 6. Worms. 7. Mon, on the western coast of Estonia. 8. Runo, in the Gulf of Riga. Besides these, on the northern coast of Finland, lie a countless number of rocky islets called scheren, often affording very picturesque scenery. In the Caspian Sea the islands are generally rocky. The most remarkable on the western coast are the Türlen or Seals' Island, and the Zeeley, on which the vine is cultivated. In the White Sea is the Solovetsky group, abounding with Muscovy glass or mica (vitrum ruthenicum).
The islands in the Northern Ocean are,—1. Kolgoolieff, opposite Tchesk Bay, visited by the inhabitants of the go-
vernment of Arkhangel for its great quantity of geese and eider-down. 2. Novai Zemlia, consisting of two large islands, separated by the Matotchkin Strait, and of several smaller ones. In June the Russian hunters resort hither for chasing the morse, sea-hares, and seals. 3. Waigats, at the north-eastern point of European Russia. 4. The Spitzbergen Archipelago. 5. The Lena Archipelago, situated at the mouth of the Lena, and the principal of which are New Siberia, Thaldeus, Kotelni, and Likhoff. 6. To the north of the Kolecma lies the Bears' group. These islands are covered with snow during nearly the whole year. Their surface is generally rocky, and on some of them there are marks of volcanoes. They are chiefly remarkable for the teeth of the mammoth, rhinoceros, buffalo, and other animals found upon and beneath the surface of the ground. It was the search for ivory which originally induced the Russians to visit these regions, and their first exploring expedition was despatched in 1820. These islands are not inhabited, though traces of human beings have been discovered by the Russians engaged in the fisheries. Several kinds of shrubs are found, but no trees, although the shores are covered with drift wood. The southernmost point of these islands is in Lat. 69. 5, and they extend to Lat. 76. 20. Their longitude is between 154. and 183. 50. E. of Greenwich.
These consist of the N.W. coast of America, extending from the south of Behring's Straits to 127. 30. W. Long. from London, with a narrow stripe of coast reaching as far south as 55. 30. of N. Lat. Further, of the islands lying to the south and east of Kamchatka, enumerated as follows:—1. The Kurile group, twenty-two in number, and of which nineteen belong to Russia. They are all volcanic, and the few inhabitants are of Japanese origin. 2. The Commander's Group, comprising Behring's and Copper islands, on the latter of which Behring himself was buried. 3. The Aleutian Islands, divided into four groups,—the Bleezni or Near, the Rat, the Andeanoff, and the Fox groups. The largest of the Aleutian Islands is Oonalashka, 100 miles by 35. The volcano of Agazedan, on Oonimak, is 9000 feet above the water-level. 4. The Shoemagin; and 5. The Eudoxian, both to the south of the peninsula of Alaska. 6. Kadyak, to the east of Alaska. 7. Sitkha and the adjacent islands, lying on the extreme southern confine of the Russian coast. 8. The Prebeeloff, to the north of the Aleutian. 9. St. Matthew's Island; and 10. St. Lawrence's, both to the north of Prebeeloff's group. 11. Gvozdiëff, or St. Dioned's Island, in Behring's Straits. Every one of these islands is either a distinct mountain or the continuation of a chain. On the American continent the whole interior of the stripe extending from the southern border to Mount St. Elias, is one continued mass of mountains, which sensibly declines as it approaches the Polar Sea and Eastern Ocean. The eastern parts of these possessions are covered with marshes and forests. The soil is mostly stony and the climate cold, though not so much so as in Kamchatka. It is even warmer than the province of Yakootsk in Northern Asia. Thick fogs brood over these inhospitable shores; and the produce of the chase or fishing forms the sole source of riches to the natives. The population, on the 1st January 1858, in the American colonies of New Arkhangel, Kadyak, Oonalashka, Akhtinsk, the Kurile Islands, and Kenaisk Bay, amounted only to 5322 males and 4743 females, making a total of 10,065 souls; of which number 746 were Russians, 688 being males and 1838 Creoles, of whom 910 were males.
There were further in America 9 orthodox Greek churches and 35 chapels, besides 1 church at Ayon in Asia, altogether with 12,000 parishioners, of whom 9050 natives, called Koloshes, Kadyaks, Oonalashkins or Aleuts, Akhtins, Kenaisies, Tchoogatches, Alegmutes, and Koikpaktes, besides some Esquimaux. Five Creoles were or-
Islands of Russia.