MASTER 
 NEGA TIVE 
 
 NO. 91-80027 
 
MICROFILMED 1991 
 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES/NEW YORK 
 
 as part of the 
 "Foundations of Western Civilization Preservation Project 
 
 Funded by the 
 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES 
 
 Reproductions may not be made without permission from 
 
 Columbia University Library 
 
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT 
 
 The copyright law of the United States — Title 17, United 
 States Code ~ concerns the making of photocopies or other 
 reproductions of copyrighted material... 
 
 Columbia University Library reserves the right to refuse to 
 accept a copy order if, in its judgement, fulfillment of the order 
 would involve violation of the copyright law. 
 
AUTHOR: 
 
 TYRRELL HENRY 
 
 TITLE: 
 
 HISTORY OF RUSSIA 
 
 PLACE: 
 
 LONDON 
 
 DA TE : 
 
 [1 879-80] 
 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 
 PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHIC MICROFORM TARGET 
 
 Master Negative # 
 
 9\-S0021''1 
 
 Original Material as Filmed - Existing Bibliographic Record 
 
 
 S^T I 
 
 T9S 
 
 r»^ J 
 Tou-nda 
 
 y 
 
 H 
 
 ■l-ioT) 
 
 Lo"ncl 
 
 is+o-»/ of T<ussia tTfO-vn the 
 
 on, "no 
 
 ^A41?'l 
 
 dak. CL. 3V. ill. poT^-pl-'»^'ps 
 
 L> 
 
 Restrictions on Use: 
 
 FILM SIZE 
 
 :JS. 
 
 mm. 
 
 TECHNICAL MICROFORM DATA 
 
 1/ 
 
 REDUCTION RATIO: 
 
 IMAGE PLACEMENT: ,IAM;A) IB IIB /^-~r^ 
 
 DATE F1LMED:_^_LUJSJ- INITIALS__n2_L^ 
 
 nLMEDBY: RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS. INC WOODBRIDGE. CT 
 
D 
 
 Association for Information and Image Management 
 
 1100 Wayne Avenue, Suite 1100 
 Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 
 
 301/587-8202 
 
 Centimeter 
 
 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 
 
 liiiiliiiiliiiiliii 
 
 12 13 14 15 mm 
 
 II 
 
 iiii|iiiilii[ilii[ilii|ilii|iliiiilim^^ 
 
 Inches 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 1.0 !: 
 
 I.I 
 
 1.25 
 
 TTT 
 
 llllllllllll 
 
 1^ 2.8 
 
 2.5 
 
 IJ£ 
 
 
 y. 1 3-2 
 
 2.2 
 
 163 
 
 !t 1- 
 
 2.0 
 
 i& 
 
 
 tl u. 
 
 Bibu 
 
 
 1.8 
 
 
 
 1.4 
 
 1.6 
 
 
 
 |l||iiliiiilii ii nil INI III! 
 
 MfiNUFfiCTURED TO fillM STflNDfiRDS 
 BY APPLIED IMfiGE, INC. 
 
I 
 
 Columbia <!t1nit)n^ttp 
 
 intlifCitpofJlfttigork 
 
 THE LIBRARIES 
 
rJ I iJ 
 
 JJ 
 
 if T 
 
 J. 
 
 K 
 
 N 
 
 6^ 
 
 CO 
 
 
 «^ 
 
 OQ 
 
 
 is 
 
 mi 
 
 I 
 
 y 
 
 ;;:ir»i-^7.v 
 
 a 
 
 //J//^y/zy (iycZ^a/4y'Vy(/:^7?/Z^t/y/?J^4.^. 
 
 ') 
 
 im. 
 
 ■^ \?m.mm^.mM 
 
 \ \ ^. t S'^' ♦^^ ?-^W^ . - ^ f' F^' " "i' 
 
$ 
 
 THE 
 
 ( 
 
 \ 
 
 HISTORY OF 
 
 FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE EMPIRE 
 
 TO THE 
 
 WAR WITH TURKEY IN 1877. 
 
 BY 
 
 H. TYRRELL., 
 
 AND 
 
 HENRY A. HAUKEIL, 
 
 Late Press Correspondent in the East, 
 
 Mit| IHustratifliis aiiii ||U]ps. 
 
 \ 
 
 THE LONDON PRINTING AND PUBLISHING COMPANY, LIMITED, 
 
 LONDON AND NEW YORK. t 
 
\'^ 
 
 l-c 
 
 THE 
 
 HISTORY OF RUSSIA 
 
 FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE EMPIRE 
 
 TO THE 
 
 1' 
 
 I i 
 
 WAR WITH TURKEY IN 1877-'T8. 
 
 yd 
 
 ii 
 
 BY 
 
 H. TYRRELL, 
 
 AND 
 
 HENRY A. HAUKEIL, 
 
 Lafe Press Correspondent in the East, 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS. 
 
 VOL. 1. 
 
 THE LONDON PRINTING AND PUBLISHING COMPANY, LIMITED, 
 
 LONDON AND NEW YORK. 
 
'\ 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 ^f7 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 C^i 
 
 
 en 
 
 ex? 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 Peter the Great Beheading the Strelitz. (Frontispiece.) 
 
 VinxFTTE Title— Russian Cavalry Encounter. ^ ^ rt ^ 
 
 Map OF EussiA in Europe, showing Acquisitions since the Time of Peter the Great 
 
 Tower of Ivan and Velekoi 
 
 The Kremlin . . 
 
 The Battle of Pultowa 
 
 The Nevskoi Prospect, St. Petersburg 
 The Column of Alexander, St. Petersburg 
 Napoleon I. 
 
 • • 
 
 Battle of Eylau 
 
 TO FACE page 
 
 1 
 
 51 
 
 60 
 152 
 152 
 379 
 396 
 399 
 
 • • 
 
 VOL. IL 
 
 Alexander II., Emperor of Eussu. (FmitispieceJ 
 
 The Kremlin, Moscow 
 
 The Battle of Moscow 
 
 The Eetreat from Moscow 
 
 Eeturn OF the French Army FROM Moscow 
 
 Battle of Citate 
 
 Map of the Crimea 
 
 General Todleben 
 
 Britis^L^ght cIvalry Ittacmng the Eussian Guns at the Battle of Balaclava 
 Battle of Inkermann . . 
 
 Bombardment of Odessa 
 
 Bombardment of Odessa by the English and Irench 
 
 Cronstadt 
 
 sweaborg 
 
 Attack on Bomarsund . . 
 
 General Mouravieff 
 
 Bombardment OF Kars 
 
 Battle of Eupatoria . . 
 
 Nicholas I., Emperor of Eussia 
 
 Coronation of Alexander II 
 
 Eetreat OF THE EussiANS from South Side OF Sebastopol 
 
 General Windham in the Eedan 
 
 Cemetery of the Smolensk© Church, near St. Petersburg 
 
 Map of Eussia in Europe * * mr 
 
 The Church of the Protection of the Holy Virgin, Moscow 
 
 The Church of Yasili Blagennoi, Moscow 
 
 Interior of the Grand Cathedral of the Assumption 
 
 The Smolnoi Convent, St. Petersburg 
 
 Interior of the Kazan Church, St. Petersburg 
 
 The Haymarket, St. Petersburg 
 
 The Exchange and part of the Fortress, St. Petersburg 
 
 • Moscow 
 The Grand Duke Constantine 
 
 VOL. IIL 
 
 Prince Gortschakoff. f Frontispiece.) 
 
 Vignette Title — Tower of the Nikolskoi Church, St. Petersburg. 
 
 Map of the Baltic Sea 
 
 Count Orloff . . 
 
 Map of the Black Sea . , 
 
 Map of Turkey in Asia 
 
 Map of Turkey in Europe 
 
 Adrianople 
 
 Map of Eussia in Asla. . 
 
 1 
 
 S81L 
 
 27 
 28 
 28 
 40 
 110 
 130 
 135 
 137 
 139 
 140 
 145 
 145 
 146 
 147 
 147 
 151 
 155 
 167 
 168 
 170 
 173 
 173 
 182 
 200 
 208 
 209' 
 213 
 213 
 214 
 222 
 225 
 300 
 316 
 
 1 
 
 17 
 
 19 
 
 34 
 
 137 
 
 321 
 
 367 
 
 I 
 , i 
 
 1% , 
 
 'i * 
 
 •* ■,! i 
 
 itiJ 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 With the abolition of serfdom, Old Russia disappeared for ever, and New Eussia arose 
 from its grave. The old distinction of classes into nobles and bondsmen was merged 
 into that beautiful weapon of constitutional despotism, known on the continent as 
 universal compulsory service in the army. Henceforth, instead of fighting for their 
 king, emperor, or czar, the people of such happy lands now fight for their country 
 only. It is true, the common populace is so blinded by its prejudices, that it is apt 
 not to understand the difference as long as the country is under the immediate and 
 irresponsible control of its whilom sovereign; and Russia forms no exception to this 
 rule. Consequently, though the form has somewhat changed, the material remains 
 the same ; and where it has altered it has been sagaciously made use of to fit into the 
 new order of things, and to form an integral portion of the new system. Thus the 
 result of abolishing serfage was the creation of a fresh national feeling ; the e^-boi'ds- 
 man felt that he had a stake in his newly-acquired soil j whilst, on the other hand, the 
 noble felt that a new danger was threatening him by the growth of this national 
 consciousness and the growing conviction of the ex-serf that he really was a unit in the 
 empire, and that many units piled up on the top of the other, amounted to a very 
 considerable sum, and no mean force if united in action. To counterbalance these ideas 
 it was necessary to shape certain grooves for the new national feeling to run m. Thus 
 three principal channels were fashioned. 1. Compulsory military service. 2. The 
 instituUon of communal self-government. 3. The reunion of the Schismatics and 
 other dissidents under the paternal care of the Orthodox Greek Church, as represented 
 by the Holy Synod, as represented by the czar, who in turn represents the Deity himself, 
 in Russia. These grooves having been duly fashioned, the next thing to be done was 
 to furnish a reservoir for them to run into-a vast reservoir that would contain the 
 national flood for long years to come, and prevent its overflowing the channels cut for 
 it, and causing serious damage at home. This great goal was set up m the shape o 
 pLnslavism ; the object of Panslavism being the reunion of all the various Slav races 
 in Austria, in Prussia, and in Turkey, under the sceptre of him who rules at St. 
 Petersburg The attention of the freshly-made freeman was thus to be diverted from 
 home matters to foreign affairs, and his black bread spread with the butter of glory 
 abroad rather than with the fat of the land at home, for which it appears that the noble 
 has a remarkable fancy Of the working of this new system, of the bad that exists, and the 
 Ld that is latent in the communal system; of the atrocities of the Holy Synod ; of 
 L burden the army imposes upon the nation, we shall speak in the proper pace. 
 The above rapid sketch is simply designed to give in a few words the character of the 
 change that has come over Russia, and made her again an enemy and a standing menace 
 to tht peace of Europe, and the cause of liberty, commerce, and progress. And if, as 
 
 Goethe says, ^ _ ^^^ ^^^^ against ignorance battle in vain," 
 
 it may well be imagined what a task Europe has before her, when she is called upon 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Ill 
 
 11 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 to war against tho bottomless ignorance of eighty million souls, all well armed with 
 breech-loaders and Krupp guns. Under such circumstances, it may well be asked why 
 Europe should submit to a continual threat in order to enable the Muscovite nobility 
 to preserve their station against those principles of individual liberty and local self- 
 government they are so proud of pointing to as the lever that is to raise Slavonic 
 Russia on the ruins of an effete western civilisation, and to regenerate the sluggish blood 
 of worn-out Europe ? In short, why should Europe allow the Russian leaders and rulers 
 to impede the development of liberty at home, by imposing a tyrannic rule on races 
 abroad, under the catchpenny title of national glory ? Is the country too small and 
 too poor to support its teeming population ? Is it a kind of magnified Montenegro, that 
 must perforce extend its boundaries to feed its starving population ? If so, there would, 
 perhaps, be some excuse for its periodical attacks on somebody or other — on the Khan 
 of Khiva yesterday, the Sultan of Turkey to-day, and probably the Shah of Persia 
 to-morrow. But we find exactly the contrary to be the case ; for whilst we in Europe 
 count our inhabitants to the square mile in some cases by thousands, and in most 
 cases by the hundred, we find in Russia a population of about ten to the square 
 mile. Let any Englishman try to stretch his imagination to the wonderful extent of 
 fancying himself in the possession of more than 309,7G0 square yards of soil— or the use 
 
 of it and he will have an accurate idea of the position of the Russian in his native 
 
 land. Is there any biped, be he white, yellow, or black, belonging to the working 
 
 classes to the classes to whom labour is a necessity — who would not be satisfied with 
 
 such a possession, or at any rate be content to increase it by legitimate means, and thus 
 in possession of material independence, would not also be in possession of his moral 
 independence, and defy tho intrigues of those who will not work themselves, but buy 
 up streams of living blood and bushels of money in exchange for a few tinsel tatters of 
 impalpable, evanescent glory ? 
 
 The reply is self-evident*; so self-evident that the Russian government has never 
 propounded the question, and works upon a system by which they hope it will never be 
 proposed. What this system is we now propose showing, for it is the most important 
 element foreign nations have to consider in their relations with Russia. It is the govern- 
 ment that does everything, without consulting the people. There is no appeal to the 
 nation. What the czar and his nobles decree has to be performed, and is performed, in 
 the same unreasoning, slavish spirit of obedience, which the liberation of the serfs has 
 in no way changed. In dealing with Russia, we have to deal with a crafty, unprincipled, 
 Asiatic government, and a mass of ignorance in all things that concern the Russian's 
 relations with foreign nations and ideas. Not that there are not communities upon com- 
 munities who cultivate the soil in peace, and successfully ; whose villages are all that 
 could be desired from an agricultural and social point of view. Of these there are many ; 
 'and there is an amount of good-nature and common sense in the Russian peasant that only 
 needs time and opportunity for development to make him one of the most peaceable 
 and industrious of men. But just for this very reason, because he has the capacity for 
 attaining material and moral independence, the vast army of drones do all they can to 
 stifle these good qualities in a mass of bigotry, ignorance, and superstition. Be it well 
 understood— what we protest against is not the existence of the people of Russia, but of 
 
 the Russian government, which is worse than the Turkish rule, for the reason that the 
 Russian government has not the excuse which the Turkish has, of being a weak govern- 
 ment that has fallen into the hands of the Jews and Greeks. 
 
 As we shall show in a future chapter, the Russians discovered that the Crimean war 
 had opened the eyes of the people to the fact, that Russia was not altogether the blessed 
 paradise her rulers tried to make them believe, and that an entire re-constitution of the 
 government system was necessary to satisfy the growing discontent. How to do this 
 and yet alter nothing; how to give liberty and yet at the same time to curtail it, was 
 no easy task. But it was accomplished. 
 
 The czar, whose official title is Autocrat-Self-ruler-of all the Russias, is 
 the fountain-head of all legislation. All laws proceed from him; he alone makes 
 them ; he alone can unmake them. This is done as follows :-All decrees of the czar 
 published by the Senate are Laws; all decrees published by other departments of the 
 State are only to be regarded as Decrees ; and theoretically, disobedience to these decrees, 
 or ukases, can only be punished when such punishment can be legally justified, and it is 
 proved that the ukase in question was known to the culprit. As a matter of fact, there 
 is, practically, no distinction between the two. Administrative ukase, or imperial senato- 
 rial law, they both amount to the same thing, and centre in the irresponsible czar. 
 
 The executive power is also in the hands of the czar, and all departments act in 
 his name. The Minister of Police, for instance, is responsible to no one but the czar. 
 A man disappears; inquiries show that he has been arrested by the police; there the 
 matter ends, and it depends entirely upon the police or the czar whether he ever reappears. 
 Life under such circumstances would be insupportable, were it not that the communes 
 retain a species of self-government that invests them with a show of liberty. Of the nature 
 of this liberty we shall speak in the proper place; suffice it to say now, that the system is 
 based on the principle, not of a division of property, as the Socialists try to make out, 
 but upon the division of the use of the soil, which is a very different matter altogether. 
 It is in short, a system that fully employs the spare time and all the spare brains of the 
 peasantry to carry out, and prevents them from agitating for that representation of the 
 people in the councils of the nation which is the first step to liberty. To keep the 
 peasantry in this circumscribed oasis of local liberty in the commune, or mir, and prevent 
 their union with each other in the cause of universal and general liberty, is, of course, the 
 chief object and aim of the nobility. Compulsory service is one of these means. The 
 church affords another. To bring all the various sects of Russia under the control of 
 the parish priest, who is under the control of the Holy Synod, and who can command 
 the assistance of the civil authorities— aye, and even of the military authorities, if he 
 sees fit— is the great object, for the attainment of which such measures have been taken as 
 those that furnished the material for the Blue Book published recently by the British 
 government. An imperial ukase was published in 1871, subjecting all the heterodox, or 
 dissenting, churches to the authority of the Holy Synod. This is equivalent to an act 
 of parliament, in England, placing all the Nonconformists, Catholics, and Jews under 
 the administration and authority of the Church of England. Thus the Uniates were 
 ordered to conform in all respects to the habits of the Orthodox clergy— to alter their 
 churches in conformity with the system adopted by the Orthodox church. Priests obeying 
 
 ijiV 
 
 ( ai 
 
 **^#* » I 
 
 \ 
 
r 11 
 
 iy 
 
 INTRODUCTION, 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 these instnictions were to be compensated for any pecuniary losses ; disobedient priesta 
 to be transferred to some other place, or banished. An inquisitorial commission sat in 
 permanence at Siedlce, before which the clergy were summoned from time to time, and 
 examined as to their conduct. These measures were energetically enforced, but met 
 with great resistance, especially on the part of the inhabitants of Chelm, Lublin, Popil, 
 and Siedlce. On hearing of tliis. Count Tolstoi gave strict orders that the necessary 
 measures were to be enforced with the utmost rigour, and no benches, organs, rosaries, 
 mass-bells, &c., to be allowed in the churches under any pretence whatever. Most of 
 the clergy yielded : the peasantry, however, refused to obey this tyrannical order, and 
 many conflicts, resulting in loss of life, occurred in many places. At Myncievicz, the 
 peasants defended their church by force, but were defeated by the Cossacks, and every 
 one of the congregation summoned to sign forthwith a declaration of his conversion to 
 the Orthodox church. On their refusing, each man received fifty strokes of the knout, 
 every woman twenty-five, and every child, without distinction of age or sex, ten blows. 
 One woman, who was especially energetic in her refusal, received more than one hundred 
 blows, and is described as having her flesh completely mashed. These brutalities were 
 taking place just at the time of the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, 
 and created so painful a feeling at St. Petersburg that they were suspended for a time. 
 In fact, so great was the indignation aroused amongst the foreign community, that it 
 was openly wondered at that an English prince could ally himself with a power guilty of 
 such atrocities ; and it is said, on apparently good authority, that the coolness existing 
 between the Duke of Edinburgh and the Russian royal family is due to a very energetic 
 expression of opinion by the duke on the subject. This was in January, 1874. In 
 February the atrocities recommenced; villages were occupied by troops of Cossacks, 
 who plundered the wretched peasants, and "hunted them down" when they took 
 refuge and bivouacked in the forests. Fines to a large amount were imposed upon the 
 congregation, their crops trampled down, and, in one case, six hundred married men 
 banished to Cherson (on the 14th February, 1876), and employed in hard labour— stone- 
 breaking — all day long, whilst their wives and families remained at home, with a number 
 of Cossacks quartered upon them. Under such circumstances, it is not surprising to 
 read, in Count Tolstoi's report (1877), that no less than 237,000 Russian subjects saw 
 the error of their ways in 1876, and were converted to the Orthodox faith. 
 
 Having thus undergone a preliminary preparation for their subsequent complete 
 subjection to the autocrat government, which is supposed to represent paternal solicitude 
 and authority, the Russian is then put into the drilling machine provided by the 
 military system, and which ever afterwards holds him in its iroc grasp. When the man 
 who stole a loaf excused the act by saying he must live, the magistrate appropriately 
 replied, that he did not see the necessity at all. On the same principle, the existence of 
 the Russian is only regarded as a necessity in so far as he forms an element in the army 
 which keeps the government and its friends on its legs. Consequently it is necessary 
 that the army should be subjected to the strictest discipline, and be as perfect as 
 possible. A sketch of the machine is therefore necessary to understand the working of 
 
 the system. 
 
 Thus we find that the Russian infantry consists of forty-eight divisions, each 
 
 division comprising two brigades of two regiments each. In ten of these divisions the 
 regiments have four battalions of 1,000 each ; in the other thirty-eight the regiment has 
 only three battaUons, or 3,000 men. Thus the effective strength of the infantry 
 amounts to 616 battalions of 1,000 men each, or 616,000 men. It is, however, intended 
 to extend the four-battalion system to all the regiments, whereby another 152,000 men 
 will be gained. To this effective must be added eight brigades of Rifles, with an 
 effective of 28,000, and a special corps described as "line battalions." Of these there 
 are thirty-four, pretty widely scattered : thus there are two in the province of Orenburg, 
 ten in Siberia, fifteen in Turkestan, and seven in the Caucasus. Several have, however, 
 been incorporated with infantry regiments to form fourth battalions. These line 
 battalions have done excellent service during the last campaign in Central Asia. Their 
 total effective amounts to 35,650 men. Recapitulating the totals given above, we find 
 for the regular infantry a general total of 682 battalions, with 679,600 men. Of 
 irregular infantry, there is extremely little-viz., the nine Orenburg battalions and two 
 battalions of Kuban Cossacks. The former can, in case of need, be employed in 
 Turkestan and Central Asia. The Kuban battalions, the number of which could 
 be increased in time of war, are chiefly made use of m Russian expeditions to Asia 
 
 The regular cavalry consists of fifty-six regiments, each comprising four field 
 squadrons and one reserve squadron. The strength of the field squadron, whether on 
 war or peace footing, is invariably the same— sixteen non-commissioned officers, four 
 trumpeters and 128 men: the effective of the regiment (officers included) is 629 men; 
 and therefore the total strength of the regular cavalry is 35,224. This number is smaU 
 when compared with that of the infantry ; and the War Office itself seems to admit a^ 
 much, as it has supplemented the fifty-six regular horse regiments by twenty-two 
 
 regiments of Cossacks. 
 
 In the event of mobilisation the Don Cossacks have to supply sixty-two regi- 
 ments: sixteen of these are incorporated with the divisions of regular cavalry, four 
 form a separate division, and two remain available. A Cossack regiment consists of 
 894 men, four sotnias (the two regiments of Cossacks of the Guard to be formed 
 in the event of mobilisation are 1,134 strong). The addition of the Cossacks to 
 the regular cavalry brings up its strength to 55,372 men. Of late years the Russian 
 government has laboured hard to assimilate the Cossacks to the regulars as regards driU 
 and tactics-an experiment the value of which has yet to be tested, for the free-and- 
 easy habits of the Cossacks, who may be regarded as the Bashi-Bazouks of Russia, 
 are ill-adapted to the strict discipline of the rest of the army. The additional forty 
 regiments of Don Cossacks are never called out save in time of war. They are divided 
 into two categories. The twenty regiments which form the first category must have 
 their arms, horses, and equipment in constant readiness, so as to be able to take the field 
 at a moment's notice; the men of the twenty regiments forming the second category are 
 not subjected to any such obligation. In addition to the above sixty-two regiments 
 forming the contingent of the Don Cossacks, there are ten regiments of Kuban Cossacks, 
 five regiments of Terek Cossacks, nine of Ural Cossacks, fifteen of Orenburg, and three 
 of Astrakhan Cossacks, besides several contingents from provinces too distant to be 
 
 
 4 
 
Tl 
 
 INTEODUCTION. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Vll 
 
 available in a European war. Here then we have the total mass of the Russian 
 cavalry : — 
 
 Regular Cavalry . . 
 Cossacks embodied with the regulars 
 Don Cossacks, 1st and 2nd categories 
 Other Cossacks 
 
 Squadron!! or Sotnias. 
 
 224 
 132 
 240 
 236 
 
 832 
 
 Sabres. 
 
 35,000 
 20,000 
 36,000 
 35,000 
 
 126,000 
 
 Without going into technical details, it may be stated that the Russian artillery 
 is so organised as to provide a proportion of three guns for every 1,000 infantry. 
 The following tabular statement will give a view of its effectives ; — 
 
 Foot Artillery 
 
 Horse and Cossack Artillery 
 
 Sundry Cossack Artillery 
 
 Batteries. 
 
 288 
 84 
 24 
 
 Guns. 
 2,304 
 
 204 
 
 164 
 
 346 
 
 2,672 
 
 Men. 
 
 73,500 
 7,650 
 6,150 
 
 ■ ^ 
 
 87,300 
 
 The guns of the foot artillery are akin to those of the French artillery before the 
 war : they are of two calibres, four-pounders and nine-pounders. The guns are not to 
 be compared with those of either Germany or Austria. The organisation of the force 
 also leaves much to be desired. 
 
 There are eleven battalions of sappers and miners, six half-battalions of pioneers, 
 parks of field engineers, two parks siege ditto, nine telegraph parks, and four battalions 
 of reserve sappers. The total efficiency of the scientific corps is 14,340 men ; thus 
 bringing up the total of the army to 907,000 men. In addition, there are about 254,000 
 "local troops," for garrison duty, and to keep order at home. 
 
 As regards the armament of this huge force, it is far from uniform. The infantry 
 have two different kinds of muskets; some corps having the Berdan rifle, others the Krnka 
 musket. Each man is supposed to go into action with sixty rounds of ammunition. It 
 has been recently ordered that an ammunition cart, with reserve ammunition, should 
 follow every battalion into the field. A cart carrying a few trenching tools is attached 
 to each company. The armament of the cavalry is peculiar to Russia. In every corps, 
 with the exception of the dragoons, the first rank are armed with lances ; the second 
 rank have neither lance nor revolver, but a Berdan rifle. The dragoons alone have the 
 Krnka musket. The Cossacks are armed with lance, sabre, and musket. The men armed 
 with rifles have twenty rounds of ball-cartridge ; those armed with revolvers only 
 eighteen rounds. 
 
 The training of the Russian army leaves much to be desired, and the drill seems in 
 a transition state—between the close order of former days, and the loose formation which 
 long-range fire-arms have rendered necessary. The men are fairly trained in marksman- 
 ship. Their sang-froid is admirable ; their movements are possibly not rapid; but they will 
 follow their officers anywhere with unquestioning docility, will take good aim, and not 
 fire without orders. Whoever encounters them will have to deal with a formidable foe. 
 
 Nevertheless, there is, unquestionably, a falling-off in the rigid bearing, in the smart 
 performance of movements that used formerly to be a characteristic feature of Russian 
 infantry. There is, perhaps, a little too much of the French laisser-aller ; and as 
 regards the drill for action in loose order, it is performed without either the precision or 
 dash of the Prussian or Austrian armies. Respecting the cavalry, all that can be said is, 
 that the addition of the Cossacks has deprived it, to some extent, of its gallant and soldierly 
 bearing. The regulars have learnt from the Cossacks their bad habits. The teams of the 
 artillery are excellent, and the movements rapid. There is, however, a great dearth of 
 men able to lay a gun. The distinction between divisional and corps artillery appears to 
 be unknown. — The most important element in an army is its officers ; and here great 
 changes have been effected of late years. Formerly, a great many officers got a commis- 
 sion through mere favour ; but this abuse has been reformed by the able war minister, 
 General Milutine. No man can now obtain a commission without undergoing a strict 
 examination. To promote the means of military education. General Milutine created 
 " Junker," or, as we should say, cadet schools. These schools, since their creation, have 
 turned out upwards of 10,000 candidates for commissions, and 2,000 cadets duly qualified 
 for commissions now pass through them every year : they remain at the disposition of the 
 State, and get appointments as vacancies occur. In spite of many praiseworthy efforts 
 to raise it, the intellectual level of the officers is not high ; but they know the routine of 
 their business thoroughly well, and are regarded generally with respect and affection by 
 their men. As to the question, " Has Russia a general ? " it would be difficult to answer 
 it. The march to Khiva, and the more recent campaign in Central Asia, has not revealed 
 the existence of any man of genius in the Russian ranks. 
 
 In time of peace the Russian infantry has no ready-formed reserve, with the exception 
 of the skeleton of a battalion of the Reserve Regiment of the Guard, which has to be created 
 in time of war. There is something quite peculiar about this regiment which requires 
 little detail to be made intelligible. When the decree is issued for the mobilisation of the 
 army, it becomes necessary to create 164 battalions of reserves — that is to say, one 
 battalion for each infantry regiment, with the exception of the Guards and the 
 Grenadiers. This latter is the sole four-battalion reserve regiment to be created in case 
 of war : it consists of twelve line companies and four companies of Rifles, the reserve 
 battalions having no Rifle companies. Up to the present time, there exists no machinery 
 in the Russian service for the formation of infantry reserves in peace-time : all that is 
 provided is, that, in the event of the formation of a reserve being deemed advisable, a 
 field-officer, and four officers of lower rank, together with a quartermaster and two clerks 
 belonging to the active or local troops, should be transferred to these reserve battalions. 
 An intention, however, is entertained of drawing up the cadres thoroughly on paper in 
 time of peace ; but as there are really no cadres at the command of the government, the 
 question yet remains unsettled. The strength of the reserve battalions of the line and 
 the Guards is estimated at 960 men. To provide the requisite reserves in the event of 
 mobilisation would require 168 battalions, and an effective of 168,000 men. When the 
 mobilisation is decreed, 192 depot battalions are created for the supply of men to the 
 line, and nine depot battalions for the Rifles. But a mobilisation in Russia is a matter 
 of no small difficulty, on account of the extent and scanty population of the territory. 
 
 
VIU 
 
 INTEODUCTION. 
 
 the scarcity of communication, and the precautions which require to be taken against the 
 population in Poland and other provinces. The country, indeed, is divided into a certain 
 number of recruiting districts ; but as the corps belonging to these districts are generally 
 quartered elsewhere, when the order for mobilisation goes forth, there is a chassez-croisez 
 of men and horses all over the empire. As regards the artillery, its mobilisation requires 
 a supplement of 40,000 horses. Under the most favourable circumstances, the mobili- 
 sation of the Kussian army cannot be effected under from five to six weeks. 
 
 Such, in few words, is the character of official Kussia. But there is another Eussia 
 — the Eussia of the masses, — unofficial Eussia, which slowly, but surely, is modifying 
 and influencing the government and its principles ; so that, even in the army, there is a 
 marked difference between the old generation and the younger, that is much in favour 
 of the latter. 
 
 Down to the time of the Crimean war, Eussia was an earthly paradise for diplo- 
 matists of the old school. Enjoying great social consider don, and living in an almost 
 constant round of splendid festivities, they had only very light and very simple duties to 
 perform. They never required to undertake such complicated operations as calculatino^ 
 the strength of political parties or the force of public opinion. All the springs of 
 government were to be found within a radius of a mile from the Winter Palace ; and 
 beyond this small enchanted circle there was nothing for a diplomatist to observe. The 
 czar and his ministers worked the great machine as they pleased, free from control and 
 extraneous advice, and the nation confined itself to unquestioning obedience. If any 
 voice did happen to rise from the crowd, it was very soon silenced. Once, in a moment 
 of heroic self-forgetfulness, a rash newspaper editor ventured to hint that some new seats 
 in the imperial garden were not quite in perfect taste ; but the all-seeing eye of the 
 press-censor was upon him, and he was severely punished for venturing to criticise seats 
 that had been fortunate enough to obtain the imperial approval ! 
 
 These halcyon days for old-fashioned diplomatists and statesmen of the Metternioh 
 type are now beginning to be numbered amongst the things of the past. The czar, 
 though still as autocratic as ever in the legal sense of the term, no longer drives the 
 machine by his own unaided energy. There are still, it is true, no regularly constituted 
 political parties, no National Assembly ; but the great silent inert mass, composed of 
 eighty millions of human beings, has begun to show, here and there, symptoms of human 
 intelligence and human will, and the government is no longer at liberty to act entirely as 
 it pleases. Eussia has now, in fact, many of the blessings which belong to advanced 
 political development, and which complicate enormously the art of government. There 
 is a press which, though liable to be gagged occasionally, criticises things much more 
 important than rustic seats in imperial gardens ; and a public which, though enthusiasti- 
 cally loyal to the head of the State, insists sometimes on having opinions of its own. 
 There was a Slavonic Committee which supplied the Servians with a commander-in-chief, 
 and sent several thousand volunteers to fight the Turks ; and there are even secret societies 
 which aim at overthrowing the government and inaugurating a Socialistic millennium. 
 In a word, this is the unofficial Eussia, which exercises a certain influence on the govern- 
 ment, and which must therefore be taken into consideration by diplomatists and 
 statesmen in their endeavours to forecast th^ policy 'of the country. 
 
 INTEODUCTION. 
 
 IX 
 
 _ t 
 
 This new political factor, and the part it has played during the last twenty years, 
 will be described in its proper place ; but we may give here a short account given on 
 excellent authority by the Examiner, of that section of official and unofficial Eussia which 
 has its centre in Moscow, and which has recently played a prominent part. 
 
 " Between St. Petersburg and Moscow there exists an antagonism of long standing. 
 Ever since its foundation, St. Petersburg has striven to be a European city, and to adopt 
 all the products of West-European civilisation. Moscow, on the contrary, strives to be 
 distinctively Eussian, and afifects to look down on her younger rival as a half-caste 
 parvenu. Abandoned by the imperial family and the heads of administration, she 
 glories in her ancient monuments and her ancient spirit, and boasts that she still holds 
 the first place in the veneration and love of the Eussian people. All Moscovites are 
 more or less imbued with this Platonic hostility to the capital on the Neva, and love to 
 reproach its inhabitants — the ministers and other official dignitaries not excepted — with 
 gross ignorance of Eussia l d the^true Eussian character ; but when they come to discuss 
 the present and future of their country, they are by no means unanimous. We easily 
 distinguish amongst them two groups or coteries, holding peculiar views, which distin- 
 guish them from each other. The one is composed of the Slavophils, the other may be 
 called the Moscovites proper. These groups are often confounded, and the confusion is 
 excusable, for many worthy Moscovites themselves do not clearly distinguish between the 
 two, and consider that they belong to both ; but in reality there is a decided distinction, 
 for the leaders are by no means at one, and do not generally entertain very friendly rela- 
 tions. The chief difference may be briefly stated. The Slavophils are the representa- 
 tives of the old Eussian orthodox spirit. They idealise and admire ancient Eussia, 
 condemn the sweeping reforms of Peter the Great, and the foreign principles of admin- 
 istration in vogue since his time, profess an inordinate admiration for the uneducated, 
 uncorrupted peasantry, aspire to] the creation of a specifically Eussian culture on the 
 basis of the Slavonic character and Eastern orthodoxy, are deeply imbued with Slavonic 
 patriotism, and hope to see some day a great Slavonic federation or Panslavonic empire. 
 With regard to questions of home policy, they are adherents of the Mir, or Eural Com- 
 mune, with its periodical reallotment of the land, advocate the fostering of native 
 industries by means of protective tariffs, desire the elimination of the Grerman element 
 and German influence from the administration, and would like to see the church eman- 
 cipated from the supervision and control of the State. The party of the Moscovites 
 proper is at once more modern in its conceptions and more modest in its aims. Though 
 desiring equally to see the German influence eliminated from the administration, it has 
 no feeling of hostility to Peter the Great and Western culture, and no sentimental love 
 of ancient Eussia. It thinks that Eussia ought to adopt all manner of civilisation and 
 enlightenment from Western Europe, and shows no sympathy with institutions simply 
 because they are specially Eussian. On the contrary, it holds that the social and poli- 
 tical development of the country must be fundamentally the same as that of the West- 
 European nations, and hails with delight all reforms conceived in the West-European 
 spirit. Whilst the Slavophils believe that the mission of Eussia is to develop certain 
 very abstruse principles which are supposed to be hidden in the Slavonic nature and in 
 
 Greek orthodoxy, this party — less dreamy and wiser in its generation — think that Eussia 
 
 b 
 
 
 iT 
 
 1(i 
 
 4. 
 
 ,1 1 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 INTKODUCTION. 
 
 should develop her institutions by the light of modem experience, and extend her 
 political influence by the same means as other nations. 
 
 "In ordinary times the influence of the Moscovite spirit, as represented by these two 
 parties, is very small. The Petersburgians look upon it with kindly condescensions as an 
 amiable provincialism, and some Russians are rather proud of it, as they are of the old 
 picturesque buildings of the Kremlin ; but it has little practical significance. The 
 Slavophils, with their mystical principles, which have an interest for those who study 
 the philosophy of history rather than for practical administrators, stand apart from the 
 busy crowd in a region of philosophical abstraction. If they indulge in any practical 
 activity, it takes the form of educating young Bulgarians or sending ecclesiastical vest- 
 ments and sacred vessels to the Slavs of Turkey and Austria. All this, however, is 
 changed when certain political complications arise. As soon as the Eastern question is 
 raised, and Russia finds herself in antagonism with Western Europe, Moscow always 
 comes prominently to the front, as the representative of Holy Russia and of the genuine 
 national spirit. Words which at ordinary seasons would only provoke a smile are now 
 listened to with attention and respect. For the moment the two sections of Moscovite 
 society combine. The Slavophils declare that the time has come for emancipating the 
 oppressed Slavonic brethren, and protecting them against the insidious influences of 
 Western Europe ; whilst the more moderate party urge ^the government to uphold the 
 honour of the country, and maintain legitimate Russian influence in the Slavonic world. 
 In view of the national danger, the government thinks it necessary to know the real 
 sentiments of the people, and considers that Moscow is the truest representative of these 
 sentiments. The czar visits the ancient capital, and the inhabitants show him the most 
 unbounded devotion — humbly urging him, in more or less disguised language, to im- 
 pregnate himself with the genuine national spirit, to close his ears to the seductive voice 
 of foreign counsellors, and to act as a czar who can rely implicitly on the boimdless 
 devotion and self-sacrifice of his loyal subjects. Though his majesty may be a man of 
 cool head and unimpulsive character, he cannot remain wholly impervious to the 
 patriotic excitement. It was during one of those visits that Alexander II. pronounced 
 the famous speech, in which he pledged himself to act independently, if the powers 
 would not act with him, for the protection of the Christians in Turkey." 
 
 Thus we see, though autocracy is still unshaken in Russia, that section of unoflBcial 
 Russia which is represented by Moscow exercises a certain influence on the imperial 
 government, and consequently its views and aims are deserving of attention. Now the 
 bulwark of unofficial Russia — of the masses — is undoubtedly the Zemstvo. It is im- 
 possible to translate this word Zemstvo by any other phrase than local government. 
 But the very existence of such an institution, hedged in as it is, and as we have already 
 seen, by the government and its autocratic principles, is in itself a most remarkable 
 feature ; and it is from this institution that the future, not only of Russia, but of all 
 the Slavonic races, is expected to blossom forth in a perfection so far distant that it must 
 be re^^arded as Utopian — at any rate, as far as Europe is concerned, as it presupposes 
 the possession of an abundance of ground that does not exist in Europe in sufficient 
 quantity to allow of each individual holding his own acres, whether personally or com- 
 munally. 
 
 The Zemstvo was instituted in 1864. There is a provincial Zemstvo and a district 
 Zemstvo. Each district Zemstvo consists of a Zemstvo assembly and a Zemstvo executive. 
 The assembly consists of the landowners of the district and members chosen by the muni- 
 cipal and country communities. Neither the governor nor vice-governor of the district 
 can be a member of the Zemstvo. Nor can any member of the government nor lawyers 
 be elected. The term of office is three years. The executive is chosen by the assembly, 
 and consists of a president and two assistants, who are paid by the assembly. The execu- 
 tive thus has to carry out the orders of the assembly, and depends upon it entirely. 
 
 The provincial Zemstvo is constituted in a precisely similar manner, divided into 
 an assembly and an executive. Both Zemstvos meet once a year. 
 
 By this means the government has transferred a great burden from its own 
 shoulders to those of the people, which has accordingly no small sum to pay for the 
 privilege. The people are placed in a condition thereby — and it is part of their duty — 
 to provide for their material and moral progress ; but at the same time, in making these 
 concessions, the government has not ceded one jot of its own rights. The Zemstvo may 
 build hospitals, appoint surgeons and doctors, construct roads, and open schools, all at 
 its own expense. But further than this it cannot go. On the policy of the central 
 government, it has but the smallest, if indeed any, influence. Still, as we said before, 
 the development of the Zemstvo is the only hope the Russian has of progressing ; and, 
 though slowly, it is doing its work. Thus there was a debate recently in one of the 
 Ural Zemstvos, when a proposal was brought forward by a Colonel Steinfeldt, to award 
 an increase to the school funds of 15,000 roubles. The proposal was supported by one 
 peasant only, and that peasant an ex-serf. He said — " It has been fully proved that, 
 with the education of the labourer, his wealth also increases. Even for this reason alone, 
 it would be the duty of the Zemstvo to promote the cause of education, by all the means 
 in its power. Those who say that the existing town schools suffice, and that we have no 
 need of primary village schools, forget that the case is the same for us as with the 
 buffet here in the ante-chamber. It is open to all : quite true I But it does not suit 
 our pockets. We do not want champagne and Strasburg pies." But, in spite of the 
 sturdy peasant's good common sense, the proposition wss almost unanimously rejected. 
 Nor are such matters confined to the remote districts of the Ural. The Zemstvo of 
 Odessa, for instance, can only boast of thirteen schools, with 500 pupils, upon which it 
 expends a sum of 6,000 to 7,000 roubles ; whilst the sale of playing-cards, which is a 
 monopoly of the Zemstvo, brought in a nett profit of 32,000 roubles. But then 
 gambling is a vice to which the Russians, especially the higher classes, are notoriously 
 addicted, more so than in any other country. Still it is satisfactory to find even 
 one peasant endeavouring to promote the cause of education. Some of the seed has 
 fallen on good ground. On the other hand, nothing exemplifies the spirit in which the 
 government instituted and regards the Zemstvo so much as the fact, that when several 
 Zemstvos endeavoured to introduce compulsory education, the home ministry placed its 
 veto on the proposal, saying—" All compulsion prevents, but does not forward, the 
 
 development of the good ! " 
 
 Of the country which is thus governed, we find that European Russia comprises 
 2,261,657 square miles, with a population of 78,281,447; Asiatic Russia, 6,170,882 
 
 I'itJ 
 
\ 
 
 zu 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xiu 
 
 square miles, with a population of 7,229,495 : forming a total of 8,432,549 square miles, 
 with a population of 85,510,942. Gifted with an almost boundless territory, with 
 enormous tracts of land yet unreclaimed from the primitive wilderness, with mines 
 which yield prolific stores of wealth, what a power of expansion such a population must 
 necessarily possess ! What will that population be within a century ? What, even in 
 the year 1900 ? Evidently an enormous, perhaps irresistible, power for good or for evil. 
 A solid foundation for European despotism, or a glorious aid to that rationally free and 
 constitutional government which appears to be so safe and wise in action. Russia may 
 abandon a policy which exhausts the energies of the people, in adding to its already 
 overgrown dominions countries it cannot benefit by ; but its present czar does not seem 
 to have forgotten the ambitious lessons of Peter and of Catherine, whilst directing his 
 attention to promoting the prosperity of the vast empire he possesses. Russia, with all 
 her craft and crime, has yet been the pioneer of civilisation in the sterile and savage 
 north : it is now time that she should rest in her dazzling and feverish progress, and, 
 turning back her eyes on the lands and peoples she has subdued, devote herself to culti- 
 vating the one, and elevating the other. Her nobles and officers are among the most 
 polished gentlemen of Europe ; but her people are yet scarcely more than semi- Asiatic 
 hordes, deeply plunged in barbarism and superstition, and almost as much an anomaly 
 in Europe as the Turks. In political, as well as in social progress, it may be certainly 
 pronounced that 
 
 " The bells of time are ringing changes fast." 
 
 The present age is one of transition for Russia. She cannot continue into the future 
 that which she was in the past. Nature cries aloud, in tones of commanding eloquence, 
 to empires as well as to men — "Advance, or perish ! " The statesmen of Russia are too 
 wise to remain insensible to an injunction which is as unalterable as destiny, as "un- 
 shunnable as death." Should their successors be blind to the great problem which will 
 stand before them for solution, the work of an empire's progress and redemption will be 
 done in other ways. Czardom is not necessarily eternal ; and revolution may accomplish 
 what the slow and silent progress of genial reforms could not effect. In spite of political 
 statistics and ominous inferences, we have great hope for the future of Russia. The 
 young giant is wilful and sullen, but we think he is growing wiser, though it may not 
 appear so at the present moment. 
 
 We shall here speak particularly of European Russia only ; the Asiatic portions 
 of that empire we shall briefly describe when we state how they were annexed to the 
 dominant power. European Russia comprises the north-eastern portion of the con- 
 tinent most distinguished for power and for civilisation. The long range of the Ural 
 Mountains and the river Ural divide it from Asia. From thence it is bounded by the 
 waters of the Caspian, the snow-clad mountains of the Caucasus, and the shores of the 
 Black Sea. On the west, Russia extends to the frontier of Roumania ; while further 
 north, between Austrian Galicia, Silesia, and Prussia, no natural boundary can be 
 said to exist. On reaching the Baltic, the confines of the empire are marked by nature 
 by the gulfs of Riga and Finland, and up to the northern extremity of the Grulf of 
 Bothnia. Still farther north, it touches Sweden and Norway. On the extreme north, 
 
 V 
 
 this gigantic empire is washed by the Arctic Ocean, which, at that point, forms the 
 extensive gulf known as the White Sea. 
 
 Russia is, for the most part, one extensive plain ; much of which is covered with 
 bogs, and swamps, and forests ; while in other districts there exist dry, woodless, and 
 indeed desert tracts, called steppes. In some places the swamps are from fifty to one 
 hundred miles in width, though frequently interrupted by tracts of drier and more 
 elevated land. Other portions are covered with interminable forests of pine and fir, 
 and are nearly uninhabited. Some tracts of the soil are almost as sterile as the Great 
 African Desert; while in others its fertility will bear comparison with the most 
 favoured spots of nature. Bordering upon Archangel is the largest forest in Europe, 
 if not on the entire globe : it is said to cover 150,000 square miles, and consists chiefly 
 of different kinds of pine, mingled with fir, larch, and birch. Here and there occurs a 
 cultivated spot, on which rye, barley, oats, peas, hemp, and flax are grown ; but 
 as the brief summer which prevails in this gloomy region is frequently interrupted 
 with fogs and rain, the crops often fail. West of the river Onega lies the region 
 of rocks and lakes which extends over the immense tract between the gulfs of Finland 
 and of Bothnia on the west and south, and the White Sea on the north-east. The land 
 is level and very swampy, and though not devoid of fertility, requires great labour for 
 its successful cultivation. The consequence is, that most of it is left in its natural 
 state ; and even within twenty miles of the extensive and gorgeous city of St. Petersburg 
 (where, notwithstanding the trying severity of the climate, the refinements of magnifi- 
 cence and the delights of all that is rare and elegantly sensual in civilisation find a 
 home), those forests commence which spread over nearly the whole of the country. 
 They consist almost entirely of fir, pine, and birch; among which are dispersed 
 immense boulders of granite. To an imaginative mind, their vast and gloomy grandeur, 
 and wild, savage sublimity, may be regarded as a symbol of the empire itself. 
 
 The most important, and in many respects the most fertile, portion of the empire, 
 is the basin of the great river Volga, which occupies about 650,000 square miles, and 
 is equal in extent to three times the area of France. All connected with this interesting 
 empire is on a scale of rude, uncultivated greatness. The lower course of the Volga 
 traverses an immense steppe or desert, which stretches out eastward to the banks of 
 the river Ural. This region, extending over about 336,000 square miles, is unfit for 
 cultivation, and merely supplies a scanty pasture for the wandering tribes which 
 inhabit it. Coarse tall grass grows in turfs several feet apart ; a few wild plants, such 
 as wormwood and salsola, are also found ; but with the exception of these, the soil 
 consists of a bare yellow clay, without vegetation. The Kirghiz steppe, east of the 
 river Ural, has a similarly desert and forbidding aspect ; and it is conjectured that the 
 whole region, as far as the lake of Aral, was once covered by the waters of a now 
 shrunken and diminished sea. The soil is still impregnated with salt ; while saline 
 plants and short wormwood are the vegetation most commonly met with. 
 
 The principal rivers of European Russia are the Volga, the Dwina, the Duna, 
 the Niemen, the Neva, the Dnieper, the Dniester, the Danube, Don, Vistula, and the 
 Ural. On account of the flatness of the country, they present a greater line of inland 
 navigation than those of most other countries ; though necessarily, all are not equally 
 
XIV 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 subservient to the interests of man in this respect. The Volga is navigable to its 
 greatest length, extending as it does more than 2,000 miles over a course devoid of 
 cataracts, rapids, or whirlpools. Lakes are numerous in some parts of the empire, 
 especially in the north-west and south-east. Those of Ladoga and Onega are the most 
 important ; the former being the largest in all Europe. 
 
 The severity of the climate in Russia, though it has retarded the civilisation of its 
 people, has yet braced them up to a vigorous manliness. Her prolonged winters, and 
 her snowy deserts, have been the nurseries of a race hardened by privations and inured 
 to suffering. Though her people may be apathetic, they spring to action at the call of 
 their rulers. The North has ever been the cradle of conquering races ; and its dreary 
 plains produce the simple man, neither contaminated nor unnerved by the enervating 
 pleasures and vices of a higher civilisation. But the soldiers of Russia are debilitated 
 by the crushing despotism of their government, apparently to a greater extent than 
 they are strengthened by the bracing severity of their climate. Happily, the thinking 
 citizen-soldiers of the West are fully a match for the ignorant, machine-like, hardy 
 warriors of the North. 
 
 With regard to climate, Russia is divided into what is termed the Arctic region, 
 the cold region, and the temperate region. Russian Lapland, and the broad district of 
 Archangel, are comprised within the first, over a considerable portion of which the mean 
 annual temperature is below 32 degrees. Near the mouths of the rivers Pechora and 
 Mezen the temperature is much lower, and, with the exception of a shrub a few inches 
 high, vegetation is rarely met with. To the south of this locality lies the cold region, 
 in which the mean annual temperature varies between 32 and 40 degrees. The southern 
 limit of this region begins on the shores of the Baltic, on the Gulf of Riga, and runs 
 thence east-south-east to the confluence of the Moskwa and Oka, whence it continues in 
 the same direction towards the southern extremity of the Ural Mountains, terminating 
 south of Uralsk, on the river Ural. In this latitude the winter lasts from seven to eight 
 months in the northern districts, and from five to six in the southern. Spring and 
 autumn are both short, and the transition from cold to heat is rapid ; the latter is very 
 great for two or three weeks during summer, the thermometer rising to 86 and even 90 
 degrees. Both heat and cold are greater in the interior than on the coast. The tem- 
 perate region commences at the boundary just mentioned, and extends over the southern 
 provinces. It is distinguished by severe though short winters, and by long and very hot 
 summers. The mean annual temperature varies between 40 and 50 degrees ; though in 
 the Crimea, and the country adjacent to it, it rises occasionally to 56 degrees. 
 
 Russia exports a large amount of grain, and is regarded as one of the most important 
 storehouses in Europe. Grreat crops of rye are produced in all parts of the empire, 
 except the steppes and the Arctic region. Oats do not succeed so well, but wheat is 
 extensively cultivated in the fertile tracts along the rivers in the southern districts. Flax 
 and hemp are grown more largely than in any other country in Europe. Along the river 
 Don, and even on the steppes of the Volga, they are found in a wild state. Tobacco is 
 cultivated in the Ukraine ; and in some parts of southern Russia, millet and maize are 
 grown in large quantities. Fruit-trees are rare, except in the south ; but in the most 
 favoured portions of this district there are peaches, apricots, quinces, mulberries, and 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XT 
 
 walnuts. The orchards of the Crimea also produce almonds and pomegranates. Grapes 
 are also found, but the wine produced from them is generally badly made, and of inferior 
 quality. Hops and asparagus are found growing wild, and liquorice thrives luxuriantly 
 on the banks of the Volga. Potatoes, cabbages, turnips, and carrots are grown abundantly; 
 while melons, especially water-melons, are very numerous in the hot and dry countries 
 near the steppes. The forests of Russia, gloomy and impenetrable as they seem, also 
 constitute one of the principal sources of its wealth. Large quantities of timber, fire- 
 wood, tar, pitch, pearlash, and potash are exported. Horses are numerous in Russia, but 
 are of a small breed, The horses of the Cossacks, which pasture on the steppes, and are 
 almost wild in their nature, are famous for their power of sustaining the greatest fatigue 
 upon a very scanty allowance of food. Cattle are abundant ; and although the home 
 consumption of both tallow and hides is great, yet large quantities of both are exported. 
 Sheep are even more numerous ; and although the wool is mostly of an indifferent quality, 
 the skins form the common dress of the peasantry during the winter. Goats are plentiful 
 in Russia; hogs are largely reared (especially where oak forests are to be found); 
 buffaloes are found at Astrakhan ; while the nomadic tribes, which wander about the 
 steppes, keep a great number of camels. In the extreme north reindeer are found. 
 Where there is so much uncultivated land, wild animals necessarily exist. The bison 
 roams in the forests of Bialoviza ; while in those of the north are to be found elks, deer, 
 hares, wild hogs, bears, gluttons, badgers, wolves, foxes, martens, polecats, weasels, 
 ermines, otters, squirrels, and marmots. In the steppes, besides wolves and foxes, wild 
 asses, saiga antelopes, konsaks, and the dipus jerboa, prowl and prey — like nations — the 
 stronf^er on the weaker. Fierce contests are waged where perhaps the foot of man never 
 left its impress, and the jaws of the tyrants of the forest and the desert drip with the 
 blood of the weak or the defenceless. Nearly all the birds met with in England are to 
 be found in Russia, and the pelican is sometimes seen on the lonely and romantic-looking 
 shores of the Caspian and the Euxine. Fish, though plentiful, are not largely exported, 
 but isinglass and caviare are sent to foreign markets. In the steppes serpents and lizards 
 are common, while the districts adjoining these sterile spots are occasionally infested by 
 swarms of locusts. Wild bees are found near the large forests ; and wax, though largely 
 used in the churches, is exported. Scorpions, millipedes, tarantulas, and the scorpion 
 spider are among the noxious insects to be found in Russia. 
 
 The mineral wealth of Russia is very great. Its European mines produce gold, 
 platinum, copper, and iron ; while from those of Siberia silver is obtained. The mines 
 most extensively worked are in the government of Perm, which lies on both sides of the 
 Ural Mountains. Here most of the inhabitants are employed in the mines, of which 
 there are 200 of different kinds in operation ; while 7,200 furnaces, and above 180,000 
 men, are engaged in different branches of metallurgy. Besides iron, copper, and platinum, 
 they produce lead, graphite, gold, silver, salt, marble, jasper, agates, amethysts, loadstone, 
 and some diamonds. The mines of the Ural Mountains yield annually about 300 poods 
 (a pood is thirty-six pounds) of gold, 200,000 poods of copper, and 5,500,000 poods of 
 iron. The neighbouring government of Viaka and Orenburg are also important mining 
 districts. In addition to the metals we have enumerated, quicksilver, arsenic, nickel, 
 cobalt, antimony, and bismuth are found. Marble, granite, and malachite are quarried 
 
 " '',1 
 
i 
 
 XVI 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 at the northern extremity of the Lake of Onega, and on the northern shores of Lake 
 
 Ladoga. 
 
 With this extent of territory, of population, and, to say the least, latent wealth, it 
 
 is not surprising that every fresh attempt of Russia to extend her boundaries should be 
 regarded with something very like dismay by a large party— perhaps the majority of 
 people— in this country. At once we are loudly warned that every advance of Russia 
 towards Constantinople, or the valley of the Euphrates, is a menace to British rule in 
 India. It would be well to inquire what amount of truth, and how much exaggeration, 
 there is in these warnings ; and this we shall do in a chapter devoted to the subject. 
 We shall then find that it is quite true that the interests of the British mercantile com- 
 munity would be threatened and seriously injured as soon as the Russians show that 
 aptitude for trade, commerce, and manufacture of which they have as yet certainly given 
 but slight proof. When the Russian shall have become the equal of the British mer- 
 chant, then, no doubt-premising that the British merchant remains stationary whilst 
 the Russian progresses— the annexation of considerable portions of Asia Minor would 
 materially affect British commercial interests. But that is a question for the very 
 remote future. What we now have to consider is, whether we are commercially in need 
 of further centres of raw produce, and whether we are prepared, if we have that need, 
 not simply to refuse Russia the exclusive possession of any large portion of Asia Minor, 
 but to acquire a share of it for ourselves also. As for the poUtical interests involved, we 
 are quite unable to see any cause for alarm until Russia makes such progress as to 
 threaten the Persian Gulf. That would certainly be a step which would render counter- 
 action on our part imperative. But until then, we hold that the outcry of the mihtary 
 party can only be explained by the fact-as a simple arithmetical fact-that the propor- 
 tion of privates killed to officers killed is, at least, as fifty to one, and,^ consequently, that 
 each surviving officer, either directly or indirectly, benefits by the value of the work of 
 which fifty lives are the equivalent. We commend this view to the notice of those who 
 are inclined, from ignorance or vanity, to follow the lead of the war-at-any-price people. 
 
 / 
 
W{ 
 
 r- ~ 
 
 
 ^ ^ 1^ #" 
 
 \3 ■% W^" 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 f^f: 
 
■ ■ % 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE AKCIENT INHABITANTS OF RUSSIA ; KIEF AND NOVGOROD, THE NUCLEUS OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE ; THE 
 PIRATES OF THE BALTIC ; RURIC'S CONQUEST, AND HIS ASSUMPTION OF THE GOVERNMENT OF NOVGOROD. 
 
 *'What is history/' said the emperor Na- 
 poleon, "but a fable agreed upon?'' Though 
 we are by no means inclined to admit of 
 the extensive application of this aphoristic 
 inquiry, which was doubtless intended; yet 
 it is certainly true with regard to the re- 
 mote records of most nations. The early 
 chronicles of all European nations are 
 clouded by the mists of antiquity, and dis- 
 torted by the national vanity of those who 
 have, perhaps, returned to the dust centu- 
 ries ago. Rays of truth struggle faintly 
 through clouds of suspicious traditions; and 
 it is ever difficult to say where fable ends 
 and actual history begins. 
 
 This is especially the case with the his- 
 tory of the Russian empire. Its early 
 chroniclers were the monks, whom we are 
 probably guilty of no injustice in describing 
 as partial, credulous, careless, and ignorant 
 of the importance of the labour they had 
 undertaken. The jealousy of its despotic 
 princes, also, led them rather to withhold 
 information concerning the states they 
 ruled ; and although manuscript chronicles 
 "were deposited from age to age in the pub- 
 lic libraries, yet permission to inspect them 
 was rarely to be obtained. Unfortunately, 
 also, these records are written in the ancient 
 Slavonic dialect, which has become obso- 
 lete; and labour in this mine of informa- 
 tion has rather bewildered than enlightened 
 those who have attempted to profit by it. 
 Under these circumstances, a modern his- 
 torian observes, that "commentators some- 
 times grew bold, from the very want of 
 materials, which made detection doubtful 
 or impossible, and sometimes obscure, by 
 leaving the enigmas of dates, names, and 
 
 VOL. I. B 
 
 events, as unsolved as they found them.'' 
 Happily, the mystery of doubt hangs only 
 over the early portion of Russian history : 
 for the record of its marvellous progress 
 and proceedings in modern times, we have 
 generally ample materials. Necessarily, 
 the vital interest of Russian history com- 
 mences with the time when that state first 
 took a prominent part in the great drama 
 of European politics. Prior to that time, 
 it has the interest of a wild romance of 
 barbarous life ; subsequently it possesses a 
 more sober tone, but is yet crowded with 
 startling adventure and gigantic events, and 
 is pregnant with that wisdom which the 
 observing mind gathers from the recital of 
 the great actions, the vices, the errors, and 
 the virtues of the past. 
 
 There are satisfactory reasons for the 
 supposition, that the greatest part of the 
 numerous tribes that inhabited Russia be- 
 fore the ninth century (about the middle of 
 which its history may be said to commence), 
 sprang from the Slavonic stock. The rest 
 were composed chiefly of the Fins, who 
 occupied the north, and the Scythes or 
 Scvthinns, who dwelt in the south. Of the 
 latter race very little is known ; and a mist 
 of doubt surrounds even the country from 
 which they came. Some writers speak of 
 them as sweeping into Europe from the 
 savage wilds of Tartary ; but various tracts, 
 both in Asia and Europe, have been spoken 
 of as the ancient Scythia — a country of 
 which the exact site is unknown, and the 
 inhabitants of which have been extinct as a 
 people for ages. The antiquity of the Slave 
 race in Europe is such, that no clue remains 
 to show when they first settled in it. 
 
THE SLAVONIANS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [the SLAVONIANS. 
 
 Equally uncertair are the speculations as to 
 whence they came. Asia is presumed to 
 have been theii cradle, though what portion 
 of it, is unki) iwn. It is probable that they 
 were settled in Europe before Rome was 
 founded, or the progress of nations placed 
 upon record. Attempts have been made to 
 trace their descent from Japhet, the third 
 son of Noah; but the authors of such 
 speculations are guided rather by idle 
 imaginings than stern facts. The name 
 Slave, or Slavi, is supposed to signify '*glory" 
 or "glorious," one which it was natural for 
 a warlike and ambitious race to assume. 
 Other antiquarians, however, consider it to 
 1)C derived from the terra Slovo, which 
 means 'Svord" or "speech." Either they had 
 earned great fame by heroic achievements, 
 of which no records remain; or their lan- 
 guage was distinguished by its power or 
 copiousness. In remote times they appear 
 to have subjugated every country into which 
 they pushed their arms ; and the extent of 
 dominion they acquired assumes propor- 
 tions almost incredible. From the shores 
 of the Adriatic (says an historian) to the 
 coast of the Frozen Ocean, and from the 
 shores of the Baltic, through the whole 
 length of Europe and Asia, as far as Ame- 
 rica, and to the neighbourhood of Japan, 
 we evervwhere meet with Slavonian nations 
 either ruling or ruled. 
 
 From the pages of a writer Avho appears 
 to have spent much labour on this part of 
 his subject,* we extract the following ac- 
 count of a race which was, as we have said, 
 for the most part the parent of the modern 
 inhabitants of Russia: — "The character of 
 this people was such as the uncertainty and 
 peril of their habits were calculated to pro- 
 duce. They were courageous and reckless 
 of life ; cruel and rapacious ; prompt to 
 secure, by any means, the conquest that 
 was nccessarv to their wants ; but as their 
 excursions were undertaken from meaner 
 motives than aggrandisement or ambition 
 (being chiefly to make provision for their 
 immeiliate necessities, or to procure re- 
 sources for a future supply), their intervals 
 of repose were passed in supineness and 
 indolence. They were hospitable to the 
 excess of that virtue. It was a law^ amongst 
 them, that a poor man might steal from 
 his rich neighbour the means of entertain- 
 ing his guest. The debasing usages of the 
 East, respecting the treatment of females, 
 they carried >Yith them into the North. 
 • Bell's History of JRussia, 
 
 Women were considered as drudges and 
 slaves. Polygamy was allowed ; and the 
 power of the husband asserted beyond the 
 grave. Widows were consumed at the funeral 
 pile ; and, as if to complete the last show of 
 household authority, a female slave was sacri- 
 ficed on the body of her master. This cus- 
 tom arose from the notion, that women, 
 wives, and slaves, were destined to serve 
 their lords in the next world as well as in 
 this, and they were accordingly put to 
 death, iu order that their lord should not 
 be left in want of their attendance. It is 
 probable that the suttee of the Indians may 
 be traced to the same origin. All the male 
 children of the Slavi were dedicated to war; 
 but the curse of proscription awaited the 
 females, even at their birth. Whenever it 
 happened that the number of female infants 
 in a family appeared to exceed the probable 
 wants of the community, they were at once 
 destroyed. These inhuman customs of the 
 parents generated a corresponding inhu- 
 manity in their offspring. The old and 
 feeble were deserted by their children, and 
 left to expire of hunger and disease. These 
 revolting practices were to be attributed to 
 the unsettled and migratory habits of the 
 people. Their mode of life required that 
 they should always be prei)ared for action. 
 They struck off the incumbrances of age 
 and superabundant infancy, in order that 
 their motions might be free to rove wherever 
 their vagrant desires pointed. The same 
 inordinate thirst after new scenes and 
 strange adventures that enabled them to 
 conquer those sacred associations which, 
 under a different organisation of society, 
 are universally reverenced, also enabled 
 them to surmount the physical obstacles 
 that constantly lay before them. We know 
 that the Scythians removed their families 
 from place to place in waggons, covered 
 with hides, to protect them from the in- 
 clemency of the weather ; but we have no 
 means of ascertaining how the Slavi crossed 
 seas and rivers, traversed vast deserts, pene- 
 trated untrodden forests, and made their 
 way over trackless mountains. 
 
 " It was amongst such a people, who lived 
 in a constant state of excitement, that 
 poetrj^ may be believed to have originated. 
 The earliest Slavonian records describe 
 them as practising the arts of music and 
 poetry. In the sixth century, the Winidse, 
 a northern extended branch of the Slavi, 
 informed the Emperor of Constantinople 
 that their highest pleasures were derived 
 
 THE RELIGION OF THE SLAVI.] RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [tHE RELIGION OF THE SLAVI. 
 
 from music ; that in their journeys they 
 seldom encumbered themselves with arms, 
 but always carried lutes and harps of their 
 own workmanship. There were other musi- 
 cal instruments, too, which are still retained 
 amongst their descendants. In their war- 
 like expeditions they never appeared with- 
 out music* Procopius informs us, that 
 they were once so much engrossed by their 
 amusements within sight of the enemy, as 
 to have been surprised by a Greek general, 
 before they could arrange any measures of 
 defence. Many of the war odes and ballads 
 of the Slavi are still in existence. They 
 exhibit a wild and original spirit ; are re- 
 plete with mythological allusions ; and those 
 that are of a peaceful cast, are particularly 
 remarkable for the quiet sweetness of their 
 character, of a kind quite distinct from the 
 elaborate and artificial felicity of the Greek 
 and Roman pastorals. 
 
 " The religion of the Slavi resembled, in 
 all essentia] respects, the mythology of the 
 Romans, to which were superadded some 
 features of a more superstitious and cruel 
 nature. They offered up human victims to 
 their Jupiter, who, built up with a trunk of 
 hard wood, a head of silver, ears and mus- 
 tachios of gold, and legs of iron, was called 
 Perune. Like all other rude nations of an- 
 tiquity, they trembled before thunder, which 
 they received as the voice of the god in 
 anger. But their notions of a supreme 
 deity were very vague ; for, although they 
 entertained some half-formed idea of the 
 existence of a First Cause, they yet incon- 
 sistently attributed all events to chance. 
 They personified the elements in a similar 
 way. They had their sacred rivers and 
 forests. They had their god of the waters, 
 and attendant dryads and sea-nymphs : also 
 a benevolent god, who presided over their 
 games and festivals ; a goddess of love and 
 marriage ; a pastoral divinity ; and a goddess 
 of the chase ; nor did they omit some hiero- 
 glyphical Penates, whom the boors of Rus- 
 sia, to this day, scrawl in uncouth figures 
 on the walls of their houses. The outline 
 of the Slavonian mythology was not desti- 
 tute of imaginative qualities. All the 
 leading or chief deities had subordinate 
 ones, to perform the functions identified 
 with the elements or objects to which they 
 were assigned. Their fauns, and satyrs, 
 s.Qd forest spirits, and demons of fire, and 
 ot midnight dreams and pestilence, were all 
 conceded distinctly enough, and helped out 
 a sort of system tha.'- was well calculated to 
 
 act upon the fears of a superstitious race. 
 There were innumerable idols, of various 
 degrees of power, and all differing in par- 
 ticular attributes. The ceremonies by which 
 these were propitiated were usually very 
 costly, as were the temples in which they 
 were performed, and the apparel of the 
 priests who officiated. These ceremonies 
 were generally closed by horrible immola- 
 tions to the frenzy, or abandoned festivals 
 to the honour, of the god. The mixture of 
 the sanguinary and the ridiculous, of the 
 poetical and the animal nature, of the 
 elevated and the degraded, were visible 
 throughout all their rites. Not a solitary 
 want or enjoyment cf mankind appears to 
 have escaped the fertile invention of the 
 Slavi, in the corresponding application of 
 their image-worship. They had gods for 
 all possible occasions, and gorgeous pre- 
 liminaries to their invocation. But this 
 kind of religion wanted unity. It was in- 
 complete, both in its materials and its pur- 
 pose. It made the savage more savage, 
 and the timid more timid. To quail before 
 the storm, or to dare it, were the only 
 effects it produced. It never softened fero- 
 city, nor inspired its believers with rever- 
 ence for eternal wisdom. It was the 
 rudest religion of external nature, and ex- 
 acted servitude without love, or reason, or 
 hope. In this, of course, the Slavonian 
 superstition was not singular; but, perhaps, 
 it was the most complicated and compre- 
 hensive that prevailed amongst the bar- 
 barous tribes that flourished iu the age of 
 the world in which it arose. 
 
 " The Slavi, in the original state in 
 which we find them, admitted no particular 
 form of authority in the government of 
 their affairs. Their paramount doctrine of 
 chance had much to do in settling the mode 
 by which their domestic concerns were 
 managed. The people at first met in large 
 bodies in some of their temples or holy 
 places. Gradually the national concerns 
 fell into the hands of particular persons, 
 who, according to their superior military 
 talent, and the amount of individual esteem 
 in which they were held, insensibly acquired 
 the ascendancy. Out of this unconscious 
 delegation, at last, sprung the hereditary 
 tenure : fathers who had deserved well of 
 their countrymen, bequeathed their honours 
 to their children ; that which was, m the 
 beginning, but a personal distinction, ulti- 
 mately became a permanent dignity; and 
 finaUy, the formless chaos assumed a shape; 
 
 3 
 
NUCLEUS OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Fa BOUT 700. 
 
 chiefs, and civil judges, and petty magistrates, 
 springing up rapidly enough when once the 
 lawlessness of the great body had been 
 overcome. But the Slavi were slow to 
 yield the right of election. They asserted, 
 for a long time, the privilege of electing 
 and deposing their rulers. 7^he principal 
 seats of power were, however, rendered 
 hereditary by force; and the popular pre- 
 rogative, thus extinguished by one decisive 
 innovation, could never again be recalled. 
 The manner of the election of a voyvodc, or 
 duke, in Carinthia, may be taken as a proof 
 of the tenacity with which the people clung 
 to their electoral privileges as long as they 
 could.- When the duke was elected, he was 
 ordered to appear before his constituents, 
 clothed in the poorest attire. A throne, 
 formed of a huge stone, was placed in the 
 centre, upon which was seated a common 
 labourer. Before this organ of the multi- 
 tude the new governor took the oaths of 
 office, which bound him to respect truth 
 and religion, and to support the friendless. 
 This temporary magistrate then descended ; 
 the duke ascended ; and the vows of fidelity 
 were immediately subscribed by the people. 
 Such was the simple, but impressive form, 
 by which rulers, in the early stages of 
 society, were pledged to the interests of 
 their subjects.^' 
 
 The Slavonians in Europe suffered many 
 vicissitudes. Overthrown in turn by other 
 races of barbarians, they appear to have 
 lost something of their original vigour and 
 ferocity, or, at least, of their conquering 
 power, and the close of the seventh cen- 
 tury found them located chiefly in Rus- 
 sia and in Poland. In the former country 
 they were cast away into a variety of widely 
 separate settlements ; and, as time rolled 
 on, became known by distinct appellations. 
 The aboriginal population of Russia was, 
 however, swelled from other sources, and 
 the Fins, the Tartars, and the Mongols, 
 contributed to the roots of what, after a 
 succession of wars and revolutions, was to 
 become, perhaps, the mightiest, though 
 rudest, state of modern Europe. 
 
 These various tribes were known bv the 
 common name of Russians, prior to the 
 time of Ruric, the founder of the first 
 dynasty of the present empire ; and many 
 conjectures have been formed as to the 
 origin of this term. One is, that the name 
 was derived from a tribe called Rhoxolani 
 or Rhoxani, and thence corrupted into Rus- 
 sian ; another, that a prince called Russus ' 
 
 gave his name to the people. It has been 
 attempted to be shown, that the followers 
 of Ruric, the northern pirate (of whom we 
 shall speak presently), called themselves 
 Russians, and transferred the name to a 
 state which they had a large share in found- 
 ing. Again, it has been somewhat fancifully 
 conjectured, that the nymphs or goddesses 
 called Russalki (with which the vivid Sla- 
 vonian imagination, fertile as that of the 
 ancient Greeks, peopled the waters and the 
 forests), might have had their names assumed 
 by their devotees, as a token of regard and 
 veneration. M. Levesque, in his interest- 
 ing essay on the religion of the Slaves, 
 observes — " The Russalki were nymphs, the 
 subordinate goddesses of waters and forests. 
 They possessed all the graces of youth, en- 
 hanced by the charms of beauty. They 
 were frequently seen sporting on the banks 
 of rivers and lakes ; sometimes bathing in 
 the limpid streams, or swimming on the 
 surface ; and in this exercise, some of their 
 charms were only concealed from the pry- 
 ing view for the sake of presenting more 
 enchanting attractions ; to attitudes full of 
 grace succeeded movements still more volup- 
 tuous. Sometimes they were seen on the 
 margin of the waters, combing their fine 
 long azure locks ; at others swinging, now 
 with a rapid motion, now with a gentle 
 vibration, on the flexible branches of the 
 trees. Their light drapery, flowing to the 
 sport of the winds, in its varied undula- 
 tions alternately concealed and displayed 
 the treasures of beauty. Sacrifices were 
 made to these amiable beings.^' 
 
 We have said that the nucleus of the 
 Russian dominions was comparatively small. 
 The first Slavonian state was established 
 on the banks of the Dnieper (the ancient 
 Borysthenes),* and possessed a chief city 
 called Kief, from Kivi ; a Sarmatian word, 
 signifying mountain. The capital of the 
 Slavi who had settled in the north, on the 
 river Volkhof, was called Novgorod or New 
 Town, and stood a hundred miles from the 
 site of the present city of St. Petersburg. 
 Its early annals, like those of Kief, are in- 
 volved in obscurity. It is, however, suffi- 
 cient that we are enabled to arrive at the 
 conclusion, that the kingdoms or settle- 
 ments of which these cities were the capi- 
 tals, constituted the germ of the future 
 
 • The name Borysthenes signifies a rampart formed 
 by a forest of pines. It is derived from the word 
 W, a forest of pines, and stena^ a wall. The banks 
 of the Dnieper are still in many parts li ordered with 
 dense pine forests. 
 
 A.D. 860.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [ruric the riRATE. 
 
 empire of Russia. So powerful were the 
 resources of Novgorod, and so great its dis- 
 tinction above rival states, that it gave rise 
 to a proverbial expression of remarkable 
 arrogance and audacity. '' Who," said its 
 inhabitants and their dependents, " shall 
 dare to oppose the gods and great Nov- 
 gorod !" It extended its commercial in- 
 tercourse to Persia, and even to India, in 
 one directi(m, and to the settlers on both 
 shores of the Baltic in another. Its govern- 
 ment was a republic, and its people were 
 bold and hardy. Its prosperity, however, 
 excited the jealousy of its neighbours ; dis- 
 sensions arose within its walls, and the 
 famous city was at length torn hj^ distrac- 
 tions from within, and surrounded by ene- 
 mies without. 
 
 At this period the waters of the Baltic 
 were hannted by Scandinavian pirates, who 
 necessarily were a great impediment to the 
 commerce of the people of Novgorod, which 
 their depredations threatened altogether to 
 annihilate in that direction. Tlie North- 
 men, inhabiting that large peninsula an- 
 ciently known as Scandinavia, but now com- 
 prising Norway and Sweden, and located 
 chiefly in the vicinity of rivers, friths, and 
 bays, where the climate was severe and the 
 soil unproductive, became pirates, just as 
 the wandering Arabs of the desert became 
 robbers — from a stern necessity. In bar- 
 barous times, when agriculture was little 
 understood, and even when practised ren- 
 dered comparatively unproductive by the 
 barrenness of the soil and the severity of the 
 elements, it may be supposed that many 
 seasons of famine occurred. These drove 
 the hardy Scandinavians, who were no 
 strangers to the sea (which they loved to 
 brave in its fiercest moods), to seek from its 
 waters by fishing, that sustenance which 
 the hardened land, irresponsive to their 
 rude efforts, appeared to deny them. Once 
 upon the sea, the conversion of these fierce 
 people from fishermen into pirates was a 
 very rapid one. It was easier to take a 
 vessel laden with fish, than to discharge the 
 patient labour of catching fish for them- 
 selves. Piracy, from an accident, became 
 a vocation; and, by degrees, vessels were 
 equipped for that purpose alone : then the 
 villages on the coast were plundered ; and 
 any trading vessel that was unfortunate 
 
 • The term Varangian seems rather to indicate a 
 profession than a tribe. It was synonymous with 
 a pirate; but an old author says, that there were 
 Swedish, Norman, English, and Kussian Varangians. 
 
 enough to come in the way of the rovers, 
 made a prize. The inevitable dangers at- 
 tending such a profession did not damp the 
 spirif of adventure. Courage was a part of 
 the religion of the Northman ; and if he 
 died fighting against his fellow-men, and 
 with his weapons stained with the blood of 
 his adversaries, his superstition induced him 
 to believe that he entered at once on the 
 enjoyments of the halls of Odin — the Scan- 
 dinavian paradise of the brave. 
 
 The dominant tribe of these Baltic pirates 
 were the Varangians;* and the citizens of 
 Novgorod, oppressed and enfeebled by the 
 attacks of many enemies, made overtures to 
 them for assistance. The hardy Northmen, 
 ever ready for war, and as mercenary as 
 they were fierce and brave, sold their ser- 
 vices to the wealthy traders of Novgorod. 
 Thus reinforced, the latter were enabled 
 efiectually to subdue their surrounding 
 enemies. Tranquillity was restored, the 
 mercenaries rewarded for their assistance, 
 and it was then expected that they would 
 return to their ships and their former 
 occupations. Like many other reasonable 
 expectations, however, this was not fulfilled. 
 The pirates were pleased with the locality 
 of their recent exploits, while a sense ol 
 power made them ambitious. They had no 
 desire to depart. They felt also that a 
 wealthy body owed its safety to their 
 arms, and that they could not be too largely 
 rewarded for their services. The feeling 
 was natural, and the consequences result- 
 ing from it immense. A resolve to settle 
 on the banks of the Volkhof was soon 
 formed ; and under the direction of Ruric, 
 their leader, a town was built, and called 
 Ladoga. To secure themselves in this 
 position, the intruders surrounded it with a 
 rampart of earth. Ruric also established 
 his brothers, Sinaus and Truvor, in a similar 
 manner; and the alarmed Novgorodians 
 saw that, in inviting assistance, they had 
 created a fresh enemy. They repented of 
 the confidence they had shown, but it was 
 too late ; the new-comers had seen their 
 weakness, and were resolved to hold by 
 force what they had acquired by stratagem. 
 
 Enfeebled as the Novgorodians were by 
 dissensions and long-continued conflicts, 
 they yet resolved to expel their uncere- 
 monious invaders by force of arms. Such a 
 
 General Count Segur, in his History of Russia^ ob- 
 serves, that everything leads us to believe that these 
 Russian Varangians were Normans. Perhaps they 
 were a confederation of outcasts of the Baltic shores. 
 
RtTRIC SUBDUES NOVGOROD.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 862. 
 
 step was doubtless expected by the Varan- 
 gians, who, fearless and desperate, at once 
 turned their swords against those whom they 
 had so recently succoured. A conflict took 
 place, in wliich the republican traders were 
 defeated, their leader slain, and themselves 
 thrown into confusion. Ruric and his fierce 
 associates followed up their advantage, and 
 advanced upon Novgorod; for an ambitious 
 project had arisen in the mind of the 
 Scandinavian pirate; — might not this fine 
 and well-reputed city become in his hand 
 the nucleus of a kingdom, and he the 
 founder of a regal dynasty? It was a bril- 
 liant day-dream, which his courage and 
 
 energy enabled him to convert into a 
 reality. When he and his ruthless bands 
 appeared before Novgorod, the inhabitants 
 were thrown into despair. Demoralised 
 by recent defeat — without leaders, and with- 
 out hope — they anticipated the result of a 
 siege, and submitted. Ruric entered the 
 city a conqueror ; and assuming the reins 
 of goremment, converted the trading re- 
 public into an absolute monarchy.* Thus, 
 in the year 86.2, was laid the foundation- 
 stone of the Russian empire. Little, how- 
 ever, did Ruric dream of the mighty work 
 he was beginning ; or of the vicissitudes to 
 which his descendants would be subject. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 REIGN AND DEATH OF RURIC ; THE REGENT OLEG ; HE SUBDUES KIEF AND INVADES CONSTANTINOPLE ; HE 
 IS SUCCEEDED BY IGOR ; HIS FEROCIOUS EXPEDITION TOWARDS CONSTANTINOPLE, AND RETALIATIVE VEN- 
 GEANCE OF THE GREEKS ; HIS SECOND INVASION OF GREECE ; HIS OPPRESSION OF THE DREVLIAN8, AND 
 ASSASSINATION. 
 
 The people of Novgorod, tired of a form of 
 government where individual ambition had 
 latterly pushed the forms of democracy 
 to the verge of anarchy, submitted pas- 
 sively to the new mode of rule forced upon 
 them, in the hope that it would be better 
 than the late one. Ruric assumed the title 
 of Grand Prince, which, as it recognised 
 other princes subordinate to himself, was 
 calculated to satisfy the ambition of his own 
 immediate chieftains, and also to soothe the 
 national feelings of the people who had sub- 
 mitted to his sway : since by such an 
 arrangement minor princes might still arise 
 from amongst them. Ruric's government 
 was of a military character ; and the Varan- 
 gians regarding themselves as conquerors, 
 and having swords in their hands, naturally 
 seized upon all posts of honour or profit. 
 From this period the country, under the 
 sway of Ruric, took the general name of 
 Russia. That which the new sovereign had 
 acquired by force, he preserved with firm- 
 ness, and governed with some wisdom. He 
 
 • An ancient chronicle, to which no authority is 
 attached, represents the Novgorodians as soliciting 
 the powerful Ruric and his brothers to assume a sove- 
 reign power over them. The principal citizens are 
 reported to have sought an interview with the Va- 
 rangian princes, and observed, " Our country is large 
 6 
 
 gave laws to the people, enlarged the boun- 
 daries of the city, and endeavoured to re- 
 store its former prosperity and reputation. 
 Having established his authority, he re- 
 turned to Ladoga, which he made the chief 
 seat of the infant empire. 
 
 Ruric, in his capacity as grand prince, 
 claimed the right of granting separate prin- 
 cipalities to his two brothers, who in return 
 were to do him homage, and to be held as 
 his vassals. By a decision of Ruric's, or 
 perhaps in consequence of a custom existing 
 among the Varangians, the right to grant 
 was accompanied by the right to resume, 
 and also to remove the subordinate ruler 
 from principality to principality. At the 
 same time, any of these subordinate princes 
 who were left undisturbed in their pos- 
 sessions at the death of the grand prince, 
 acquired in consequence an hereditary title 
 and power. The result was extremely in- 
 jurious to the consolidation of the empire 
 contemplated by Ruric. In course of time 
 these princes became small independent 
 
 and fruitful, but it is without order; come and 
 govern it according to our laws." It is added, thai 
 Ruric hesitated, for he knew the licentiousness of the 
 people, but that he eventually complied with their 
 desires. Perhaps a few citizens were bribed or inti- 
 midated into this surrender of their independence. 
 
 A.b. 879.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [death of RURia 
 
 eovereigns, and instead of one powerful, 
 united state, there existed many feeble, 
 jealous, and even antagonistic principali- 
 ties. The curse of division was to aflfect the 
 new state, but not yet. Sinaus and Truvor, 
 the brothers of Ruric, who had been ap- 
 pointed to the government of chief towns 
 in dependent territories, both died childless 
 before the demise of the head of their 
 family, who, as if conscious of the error he 
 had made, then reunited their territories to 
 his own. 
 
 Ruric, doubtless, was a man of superior 
 talents, and of a firm and resolute character. 
 He appears not only to have been respected 
 by his subjects, but to have been looked up 
 to with admiration by the inhabitants of 
 surrounding territories. He had not swayed 
 his iron sceptre for any length of time be- 
 fore another city appealed to him for assis- 
 tance against its enemies. The inhabitants 
 of Kief, the other Slavonian city we have 
 mentioned as standing on the banks of the 
 Dnieper, appealed to him for protection 
 against the Khazares, and desired him to 
 appoint a prince of his own blood to be 
 their ruler. This was an opportunity for 
 the extension of his rule, which he was far 
 too active a man to neglect. Confemng 
 the new sovereignty on his step-son, Oskold, 
 he sent him at the head of a considerable 
 force on the mission of aid and annexation. 
 Oskold's sword was not drawn in vain ; he 
 defeated the Khazares, and assumed the 
 sovereignty of Kief, which thus became 
 subordinate to the growing power at Nov- 
 gorod. Dir, a Scandinavian warrior, was 
 united with him in the government 
 
 Ruric reigned in peace during a period 
 of seventeen years, and died in 879. His 
 iron determination awed his fierce depen- 
 dents into tranquillity, and the firmness of 
 his rule restored to the state that security 
 without which commerce must ever decline 
 until it hovers on the verge of dissolu- 
 tion. His only son, Igor, was but a child ; 
 and although the right of the infant prince 
 to the throne was acknowledged, the affairs 
 of the government were placed in the hands 
 of Oleg, his guardian and relative, until the 
 young prince was of an age to administer 
 them himself. 
 
 Oleg, though possessed of many of those 
 qualities which are commonly found in the 
 characters of successful rulers, was cunning, 
 unprincipled, and savage. Count Segur, 
 the historian, himself a soldier, estimates 
 this barbarian as a great man; a circum- 
 
 stance which, he truly remarks, is sufficient 
 to account for the most remarkable events. 
 " Oleg," he says, " seems to have possessed 
 in a high degree the qualifications, the 
 vices, and all the passions most suitable to 
 the age in which he lived. A true speci- 
 men of barbaric greatness : brave, crafty, 
 insatiable, adventurous, indefatigable ; faith- 
 ful, as with respect to Igor, his ward, yet 
 with others occasionally treacherous." To 
 such a man it was not sufficient that he 
 should rule the dominions committed to 
 him in peace and wisdom. He desired the 
 excitement arising from war, and from un- 
 justly despoiling his neighbours of their 
 possessions. The habits of the pirate were 
 not forgotten in the dignity of the ruler, 
 and he remembered with pleasure the savage 
 exploits of earlier days. Similar feelings 
 dwelt in the minds of the Varangians. 
 Their love of the sea and of daring adven- 
 tures was not extinguished; and a citizen's 
 life was doubtless irksome to these wild 
 spirits. Even the warlike and ambitious 
 feelings of the Novgorodians were again 
 awakened; and a desire for war animated 
 the whole people. No enemy required 
 chastisement — no necessity existing for 
 taking up arms in self-defence; but war 
 was wanted merely for the excitement of 
 the pursuit and the love of plunder. Oleg 
 was the very man to respond to such a 
 feeling; and he speedily planned a cam- 
 paign that promised employment for the 
 idle, and reward for the discontented. That 
 it was wickedly aggressive and unjust was a 
 matter totally disregarded by his followers. 
 Semi-barbarians never seem to look at 
 events from that point of view. To the 
 state of mind apparently inseparable from 
 such a stage of existence, that which pro- 
 mises success is to be undertaken — that 
 which proves successful is deemed right. 
 
 The city of Kief owned the supremacy 
 of the grand prince of Novgorod ; while 
 Oskold and Dir, its rulers, had been fol- 
 lowers of Ruric, and appointed by him to 
 the authority they held. Yet against Kief 
 did Oleg resolve to direct his arms ; and 
 trampling upon the rights of the subordi- 
 nate princes, annex it to the dominions he 
 governed as regent. Such was his ambition, 
 that he even looked upon Kief only as a 
 step forward in the direction of the gorgeous 
 and wealthy city of Constantinople, then 
 the seat of the Greek emperor, and the 
 capital of the great empire of the East. In 
 such a direction conquest was perhaps not 
 
THE REGENT OLBG.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 879—904. 
 
 dreamed of; but a sudden attack upon the 
 rich city promised great opportunities for 
 plunder* Oleg soon collected a numerous 
 army, consisting certainly of discordant 
 materials; for it was composed of frag- 
 ments of tribes of different languages, cos- 
 tumes, and habits, but all animated by one 
 feehng — a love of Tiolence and plunder. 
 Taking with him the young prince Igor, 
 he directed his march towards Kief, cap- 
 turing Smolensk, the capital of the Kri- 
 vitches, in his way, and spreading terror 
 among the inhabitants of the small towns 
 and villages through which he and his army 
 of marauders passed. 
 
 Oleg did not rely for success on force 
 alone, but had recourse to cunning and 
 treachery. On approaching Kief he hid his 
 troops in the neighbourhood of the river 
 Borysthenes, or Dnieper, and disguising 
 himself as a merchant of Novgorod, pro- 
 ceeded up the river with a few followers 
 only to the gates of the city. He had pre- 
 viously sent a messenger to the two princes, 
 to request permission to travel through 
 their territory into Greece. The messenger 
 added, that illness prevented his master 
 from attending to pay his respects to them 
 in person, and begged that they would come 
 and honour him with an interview, Oskold 
 and Dir, not suspecting villany, and de- 
 sirous of paying respect to a powerful mer- 
 chant of Novgorod, consented, and shortly 
 arrived at the rivers bank, attended only 
 by a very few followers. When they ap- 
 peared, the soldiers of Oleg sprung from 
 their vessel, and the ruffian chief holding 
 aloft the young Igor in his arms, shouted, 
 " You are neither princes, nor sprung from 
 princes; but I am a prince; and, behold, 
 here is the son of Ruric V' The ferocious 
 soldiers, who had doubtless been instructed 
 in the part they were to take in this repul- 
 sive tragedy, rushed upon the unarmed 
 chiefs, and laid them dead upon the spot. 
 While the bodies of the victims were dis- 
 torted with the convulsions of dying agony, 
 and their blood yet dripped from the swords 
 of the murderers, Oleg shouted exultiugly, 
 " Let Kief be the mother of all the Russian 
 cities V An observation which revealed the 
 extensive schemes of territorial extension 
 his ambitious nature had engendered. 
 
 The inhabitants of Kief, struck with 
 amazement, and unprepared for defence, 
 opened their gates to the regent of Nov- 
 gorod; and the two Slavonian states were 
 60on united under one government. Oleg 
 8 
 
 transferred the seat of his government to 
 the city he had so unjustly obtained, and 
 fixed his residence there. His object in 
 doing so, was chiefly that he might be 
 nearer to Constantinople, with the promised 
 spoils of which he bought the mercenary 
 loyalty of his wild followers. His energy 
 raised new towns in the vicinity of Kief, 
 and subdued or won over all the neigh- 
 bouring tribes who had previously been 
 under subjection to the feeble khans of the 
 eastern Khozars. He was a man wise in 
 his generation, and eminently fitted to rule 
 the diverse tribes of barbarians whom fear 
 or interest induced to acknowledge his 
 authority. In their estimation, a just man 
 would have appeared an insipid character, 
 and a merciful one, an imbecile. The savage 
 nature of Oleg won their respect, while his 
 subtlety attracted their attachment. He 
 wisely relaxed the severity of the laws 
 within the neighbourhood of the city where 
 he resided, and reduced the amount of 
 tribute money. 
 
 He pursued his cherished design of the 
 invasion of Constantinople with remarkable 
 tenacity. The vanquished tribes flocked 
 readily to his standard ; for they were all 
 animated by a greedy desire of gain, and a 
 thirst for the excitement of war and its un- 
 bridled gratifications. In those barbarous 
 times, an army rather resembled an aggre- 
 gate of bands of robbers, each individual of 
 which followed his own lawless and savage 
 desires, than the rigidly disciplined and 
 machine-like masses of life which modern 
 military art has found to be most efficient. 
 Oleg collected an army said to amount to 
 80,000 men, whom he embarked on board 
 2,000 of the primitive vessels which the rude 
 constructive skill of his artisans enabled 
 them to build. Leaving Igor to rule at 
 Kief during his absence, the robber- warrior 
 and his hordes sailed down the waters of 
 the Borysthenes, or Dnieper, in their pro- 
 gress to the Black Sea. Elated with excite- 
 ment, and mad with the thirst for spoil and 
 blood, they met and overcame obstacles 
 which appear almost insurmountable even 
 in these days of science, when so many of 
 the forces of nature are rendered subservient 
 to the designs of man. For a considerable 
 distance the navigation of the river was im- 
 peded by cataracts, where its waters fell 
 in foam and spray over seven rocks. Bar- 
 barian energy was equal to this emergency. 
 Unloading their small vessels, the followers 
 of Oleg dragged them by sheer strength over 
 
 A.D. 904.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [oleg invades Constantinople. 
 
 the rocks ; an enterprise attended by her- 
 culean labour, and great risk of life. Other 
 difficulties also lay in their path. On the 
 banks of the river dwelt hostile tribes 
 adverse to the advance of the marauders, 
 who had frequently to fight their way on- 
 ward, and leave behind them many ghastly 
 evidences of their destructive trail. At 
 length they emerged into the waters of 
 the Euxine, or Black Sea ; and then their 
 vessels entered the Bosphorus, and took up 
 a position near the walls of the queen of 
 cities, and the seat of the power and mag- 
 nificence of the East. 
 
 The inhabitants of Constantinople were 
 almost taken by surprise at this formidable 
 visitation. The emperor Leo, surnamed "the 
 philosopher," though without much justice, 
 as he employed his time rather in specu- 
 lating on abstruse theological questions than 
 in attending to his duties as a sovereign, 
 had made no other defensive preparations 
 than that of ordering a heavy iron chain to 
 be slung across the harbour, for the purpose 
 of preventing ships from entering it. This 
 obstacle Oleg is said to have overcome by a 
 laborious scheme, which in its singularity 
 has an air of incredibility to modern ears. 
 Unable to break or pass the chain, he 
 ordered his 2,000 vessels to be drawn up on 
 land. Then placing their flat-bottoms on 
 wheels, he caused all sails to be spread, and 
 actually proceeded in his ships on land up 
 to the gates of the city. As they passed 
 along, his ruffian troops committed every 
 sort of atrocity. They massacred the in- 
 habitants in mere wantonness, and left their 
 habitations in flames. They even appeared 
 to be actuated by a frenzy of cruelty ; and 
 not content with putting their victims to 
 death, subjected them to every torture and 
 indignity which a brutal nature could sug- 
 gest. These atrocities produced the in- 
 tended effect. Oleg and his ruffian troops 
 created such terror, that on their arrival at 
 Constantinople, it submitted ; and the in*- 
 vader having proudly hung his shield over 
 the gate as a symbol of conquest, entered 
 the city in triumph. Thus the lance of 
 this warrior, "cut from the forests of 
 Lagoda, penetrated the gates of Byzan- 
 tium." 
 
 The emperor Leo attempted to accom- 
 plish by artifice what he had been unable 
 to effect by force. Inviting Oleg to a feast, 
 he endeavoured to remove him by poison. 
 The plot failed, and the baffled emperor 
 was compelled to purchase the retirement 
 
 VOL. I. c 
 
 of his enemies by a disgraceful peace. He 
 bound himself to pay a large tribute to 
 every vessel sailing under the flag of Oleg ; 
 or, according to other accounts, to give a 
 considerable gratuity to each of his fol- 
 lowers. In addition to this, he was to 
 remit all duties upon Russian merchants 
 trading in the Greek empire, to support 
 them for half a year, and to furnish them^ 
 on their departure with means to prosecute* 
 their journey homewards. Such terras form 
 a painful comment on the insolence of the 
 aggressor, and the helplessness and humility 
 of his victims. The treaty being ratified, 
 Oleg and his barbarians returned in triumph 
 to Kief, laden with plunder and trophies. 
 The people, astonished at the ease with 
 which he had accomplished so great a 
 victory, received him on his return with 
 an enthusiasm approaching to veneration. 
 Their superstitious minds at once yielded to 
 the spreading belief, that a chieftain who 
 conquered so readily must be a favourite of 
 the gods. 
 
 For some years the victor seems to have 
 rested contented with the blood-stained 
 laurels he had acquired. During this period 
 the Greeks observed the galling treaty to 
 which they had bound themselves ; and the 
 Russians enjoyed all the advantages arising 
 from it. Oleg then exhibited a fresh in- 
 stance of his power, by extorting the ac- 
 quiescence of the emperor Leo to a fresh 
 treaty, embodying several stipulations which, 
 he said, he had omitted on the former oc- 
 casion by inadvertence. These conditions, 
 relating chiefly to the terms on which inter- 
 course should be conducted between the 
 two nations, were moderate, and might have 
 been regarded as inoffensive, but that they 
 were so couched, as to imply indirectly the 
 supremacy of the Russian sovereignty in all 
 matters over that of Greece. Oleg gov- 
 erned nominally as regent, but he was in.> 
 reality an actual sovereign during the whole 
 of his life. Such a man was too powerful 
 to be displaced from an authority it did not 
 please him to resign; and Igor passively 
 consented to wear a shadowy crown, while 
 the real one encircled the brows of his 
 relative. Resistance would have endangered 
 his safety, and probably have led to his 
 death. He did wisely in leaving the real 
 power in the hands of Oleg, whose iron 
 despotism and fierce energy cemented and 
 enlarged the infant state laid by the pirate 
 Ruric. Oleg ruled for three-and-thirty 
 years, and died in 913. The ancient chro- 
 
 9 
 
■1( 
 
 SUCCESSION OF IGOR.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 913—941. 
 
 nicle of Nestor contains an account of 
 the mode of his death, which, however, has 
 all the air of a fable, and has been applied 
 to other characters in more modern times. 
 According to this narrative, he possessed a 
 favourite horse which he had ceased to use, 
 as the diviners had foretold it would be the 
 cause of his death. After a lapse of five years 
 something reminded him of the prediction, 
 and inquiring for the horse, he was informed 
 that it was dead. With a natural feeling of 
 exultation, in consequence of the presumed 
 failure of the prophecy, he desired to see the 
 body of the animal. On being conducted 
 to it, he placed his foot upon the skull, and 
 exclaimed, " So, this is my dreaded enemy !" 
 No sooner were the words uttered than a 
 serpent, which had lain concealed in the 
 cavity of the head, darted out and inflicted 
 a mortal wound on the foot of the sovereign, 
 whose death in consequence verified the 
 truth of the prediction. The world has 
 outlived a belief in diviners and secular 
 prophets, and will doubtless accept this 
 tradition for no more than it is worth. The 
 wild fancies of romance have ever a ten- 
 dency to intrude themselves into the early 
 history of nations. 
 
 Igor I., the son of Ruric, now ascended 
 the throne, which had long been his by 
 inheritance, though not in fact. Arrived at 
 the mature age of forty, he had been for 
 some time married to a Slavonian lady of 
 great personal attractions; a union wisely 
 intended to promote the gradual fusion of 
 the two races. As might be expected in so 
 young and unsettled a state, a new rule was 
 not commenced without some disturbances. 
 The recently subdued tribes evinced symp- 
 toms of insubordination, and resisted pay- 
 ment of the tributes imposed upon them. 
 Igor enforced his authority with some 
 energy, and succeeded in reducing to sub- 
 mission those who dared to oppose his 
 authority. One tribe, occupying the south- 
 ern branch of the Dnieper, prolonged its 
 opposition during a period of three years ; 
 but was then subdued by the gallantry of 
 one of his chieftains. Events of this kind, 
 however, brought neither distinction to the 
 prince, or plunder to his followers. Their 
 military ardour was excited by the riches of 
 the capital of the eastern empire, where 
 wealth abounded, and commerce and arts 
 flourished. It was but a small and unpro- 
 ductive triumph to reduce tributary nations, 
 composed of poor tribes, living by their 
 cattle and rude methods of agriculture. 
 10 
 
 Igor also had made an inglorious peace with 
 the Petchenegans, a fierce people who had 
 descended on Russia from their lairs on the 
 Yaik and the Volga; and his subjects chafed 
 under the indignity. Grown used to con- 
 quest, and feeling the necessity of the ex- 
 citement produced by war, they felt no 
 regard for a sovereign who did not seek to 
 extend his rule by conquest, and impress 
 surrounding countries with the terror of his 
 arms, while he converted them into fields of 
 spoil for his followers. Igor seems to have 
 felt this; and in an unhappy moment he 
 resolved to imitate the aggressive career of 
 Oleg, by again directing the arms of Russia 
 against the Grecian empire. 
 
 A considerable period must have been 
 occupied in preparing for this wanton and 
 uncalled-for war, which was undertaken with 
 no other object than that of plunder. It 
 was not until the year 941 that Igor had 
 completed his arrangements. These were of 
 a gigantic nature. It is said that he had 
 collected an army of 400,000 troops on board 
 10,000 barks. This is doubtless a great 
 exaggeration; for it seems incredible that 
 such a sovereign could have raised and 
 maintained an army of a fourth part of that 
 number. AYe may, however, fairh^ assume 
 that Igor sailed for Constantinople with a 
 force which was regarded as not only power- 
 ful, but almost invincible. 
 
 His course was marked by barbarities 
 which far exceeded those of his predecessor 
 Oleg. He displayed all the ferocity of a 
 mean nature, intoxicated with the fatal 
 possession of irresponsible power. He 
 overran and ravaged Paphlagonia, Pontus, 
 and Bithyuia. Unhappily for the inhabit- 
 ants of these countries, the troops of the 
 empire were at a distance, and therefore 
 unable to protect them. Such a circum- 
 stance might have elicited the forbearance 
 of generous foes; but it only aggravated 
 the ferocity of Igor and his savage fol- 
 lowers. None of the unfortunates who fell 
 into their hands were spared. The Russians 
 gave themselves up to the most revolting 
 excesses of what may be termed a carnival 
 of blood. Some of their helpless victims 
 they crucified; many they impaled, de- 
 liberately cut to pieces, or buried alive. 
 Others were suspended by the arms from 
 trees or gibbets, and then used as a target 
 for the arrows of these predatory fiends, to 
 whom their agonies afi'orded a horrible 
 amusement. The wretches especially sought 
 out the priests, whom they bound and then 
 
 A.D. 941—944.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [igor's expeditions to greeck. 
 
 put to a dreadful death, by driving with 
 their iron maces long nails into the heads 
 of their miserable victims. Everywhere the 
 track of the invaders was marked by burn- 
 ing villages and mutilated corpses. The 
 ferocious Igor, instead of restraining, en- 
 couraged his troops in these shameful out- 
 rages upon a defenceless people. 
 
 Reports of these terrors soon reached 
 Constantinople. The awe -struck Greeks 
 were roused from their apathy, and resolved 
 this time not to resort to the miserable ex- 
 pedient of purchasing a peace, but to meet 
 their invaders in the field, and extirpate 
 them, or hurl them back. While Igor and 
 his ruffians were leisurely wallowing in 
 ])lood, the Greeks prepared for vengeance. 
 Marching their troops from all parts, they 
 succeeded in surrounding the invaders, 
 whom they fell upon and slew with as little 
 mercy as they had shown during the time 
 of their unopposed triumph. Igor lost great 
 numbers of his followers, and was scarcely 
 able to reach his ships with the remainder. 
 There new and unexpected terrors awaited 
 them. Theophones, who commanded the 
 Grecian fleet, attacked them by surprise in 
 sight of the Pharos, and threw amongst 
 them that unquenchable preparation known 
 as the Grecian fire, the art of composing 
 which is lost, but which was ever regarded 
 with terror in ancient times. It was an 
 inflammable substance, which spontaneously 
 kindled on falling, and consumed everything 
 near it. Water made it burn with renewed 
 fury ; and only vinegar, wine, or sand were 
 supposed to have the power of restraining 
 its ravages. Its motion is said to have been 
 contrary to that of natural fire, and always 
 followed the direction in which it was 
 thrown — whether downwards, sideways, or 
 in anv other manner. 
 
 The followers of Igor, terrified by a mode 
 of warfare with which they were unac- 
 quainted, leaped into the sea to avoid the 
 fires that appeared to threaten and pursue 
 them. Their dispersed vessels, left to them- 
 selves, were, many of them, consumed and 
 sunk ; others were run on shore ; and the 
 remains of the Russian army who escaped 
 death from fire and water, reached the 
 coasts of Bithynia, along which they fled in 
 panic-stricken confusion. In this situation 
 they were fallen upon by the Greek patri- 
 cian, Phocas, at the head of a small but 
 efficient army. The invaders had lost faith 
 in themselves ; to use a modern word, they 
 were altogether " demoralised :" great num- 
 
 bers perished beneath the weapons of the 
 Greeks, and the rest again fled in disorder. 
 
 Regaining the remains of their fleet, they 
 p\it out to sea under cover of the darkness 
 of night, but were pursued by Theophones, 
 who again attacked them, and burnt and 
 sunk several of their remaining barks. In- 
 deed, such were the retributive terrors of 
 this unprovoked aggression, that when Igor 
 reached his own territories, scarcely a third 
 of his immense army survived. 
 
 Disgraced and weakened, and advanced 
 in years, it might be supposed that this 
 fee))le prince would have sought only to 
 spend the remainder of his life in peaceful 
 repose. Such was not the case; his vin- 
 dictive nature prompted him, by another 
 eff'ort, to obliterate the stigma he had drawn 
 upon himself and his people. He devoted 
 his energies to the collection of a fresh 
 army ; and even purchased the mercenary 
 services of his natural enemies, the Petche- 
 negans. The latter eagerly consented ; for 
 mutual hatred was for the time forgotten 
 in the common hope of plunder. In the 
 year 944, Igor again advanced against the 
 capital of the Grecian empire. On this 
 occasion the savage monarch met with a 
 fortune he did not deserve. On arriving at 
 the Chersonesus Taurica, now named the 
 Crimea, he was met by messengers from 
 Romanus, the Greek emperor. That poten- 
 tate having usurped the throne of the 
 Caesars, felt more anxious to consolidate his 
 power than to repel the external enemies 
 who threatened him. With an almost in- 
 credible meanness, he off"ered to resume the 
 payment of the tribute which had been im- 
 posed on his predecessors by the conquering 
 Oleg. Igor was not disposed to accept this 
 off*er ; for barbarians appear to consider it a 
 sort of disgrace to obtain their demands with- 
 out bloodshed. His followers, humbled by a 
 remembrance of the issue of their last expe- 
 dition, were more reasonable than their chief. 
 " Is it not better," said they, " to get gold, 
 silver, and precious stuff's without fighting? 
 Can we tell who will be the victor, and who 
 the vanquished ? and can we enter into a 
 covenant with the sea? We march not on 
 land ; we are borne upon the abyss yf the 
 waters, and are menaced by one common 
 fate." Igor yielded to these re})resenta- 
 tions, accepted the off'ers of the Greek em- 
 peror, and withdrew his army. The Pet- 
 chenegans, who would not remain satisfied 
 without slaughter and plunder, he sent to 
 ravage the country of the Bulgariaus. 
 
 11 
 
 ''L (I 
 
t: 
 
 DEATH OF IGOR.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 945. 
 
 Haunted by a restless desire for excite- 
 ment, or by the insatiable rapacity of the 
 leaders of his troops, Igor now resolved on 
 a less dangerous project, and turned his 
 arms against the Drevlians, a people who 
 had already submitted to his authority. He 
 met witli little resistance from a foe unable 
 to oppose his power with much hope of suc- 
 cess, and returned loaded with the addi- 
 tional contributions he had exacted. His 
 mean and grasping spirit urged him again 
 to smite or terrify an unresisting people. 
 Despising the Drevlians as a spiritless peo- 
 ple incapable of resistance, he dismissed a 
 great part of his army, and returned with 
 but a small body of troops to desolate their 
 country, iu the hope of extorting further 
 advantages. He demanded a double tribute, 
 and it was paid. This ready compliance 
 rather excited than satisfied his cupidity, 
 and he insisted on a threefold payment. 
 To enforce his orders, he imprudently 
 
 pushed forward into the country, blind to 
 danger in his thirst for gain. The oppressed 
 Drevlians, rendered desperate by repeated 
 outrages, resolved to assassinate him. " He 
 is a mere wolf,^' said they, " who begins by 
 stealing the sheep one by one, and then 
 comes to fetch away the whole flock. He 
 must be knocked on the head." A number 
 of the Drevlians lay in ambush for their 
 oppressor, and rushing out upon him sud- 
 denly, left him dead and weltering in his 
 blood. This act of retribution took place in 
 the year 945, in the neighbourhood of a town 
 called Korosten. There he was buried, 
 and his widow afterwards raised a gigantic 
 mound or high hill over his grave. The 
 close of his inglorious reign of two-and- 
 twenty years terminates what is commonly 
 regarded as an epoch in the history of 
 Russia. The next period was distinguished 
 by the introduction into the country of the 
 Greek form of Christianity. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 BEGENCY OF OLGA ; SHE AVENGES HER HUSBAND's ASSASSINATION ; BECOMES A CHRISTIAN ; RESIGNS THE 
 THRONE TO HER SON SVIATOSLAF ; DANGER OF KIEF ; SVIATOSLAF DIVIDES HIS TERRITORIES BETWEEN 
 HIS THREE SONS; PROCEEDS TO BULGARIA J INVADES GREECE; IS DEFEATED AND SLAIN. 
 
 Igor left a son, named Sviatoslaf ; but as 
 he was very yoimg at the time of his father^s 
 death, Olga, his mother, assumed the gov- 
 ernment during his minority. She was the 
 Slavonian lady whom Igor had married at 
 the desire of his predecessor Oleg. Her 
 real name is said to have been Prekrasna, 
 which signifies "very beautiful;" but she 
 assumed that of Olga out of compliment to 
 Oleg, who desired her to do so as a mark of 
 the friendship he entertained towards her. 
 She was a woman of more than ordinary 
 ability, and possessed of a more than com- 
 mon portion of the savage temper charac- 
 teristic of those times. Her first act of 
 power was to avenge the murder of her 
 •worthless husband ; and this, not upon the 
 assassins, but upon the whole people to 
 "which they belonged. 
 
 The Drevlians were a Slavonian people, 
 
 who, dwelling in a locality thickly studded 
 
 with forests, derived their name, which 
 
 signifies "a wood/' from the land they inhab- 
 
 12 
 
 ited. This extended along the river Pri- 
 pet, where several of the towns once belong- 
 ing to them are still to be found. They 
 were long regarded as the most savage of 
 Slavonic tribes, and lived like barbarians, 
 without any form of government, or even 
 any idea of the social and civilising rite of 
 marriage. The great teacher Time had, 
 however, modified their barbarism ; and in 
 the period of which we are now speaking 
 they cultivated the land, dwelt in towns and 
 villages, and were governed by a prince, 
 named Male. Influenced by ambition (for 
 it cannot be supposed that he was smitten 
 with the faded charms of a princess advanced 
 in years), Male sent ambassadors to Olga to 
 make an off'er of his hand. The subtle 
 tigress listened with a seeming pleasure to 
 the description they gave of the person and 
 qualities of their master, and then, aban- 
 doning her dissimulation, caused them to be 
 hurled into a pit and buried alive. The 
 ' savage act "was carefully concealed, and a 
 
 A.D. 945—955.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [regency of olga. 
 
 second and more considerable deputation, 
 the attendance of which had been requested 
 by herself, shared a similar fate. On their 
 arrival, the treacherous woman sent a mes- 
 senger, who desired them to enjoy the 
 luxury of a bath before they entered her 
 presence. They complied; and while in the 
 bath the doors were made fast, the house set 
 on fire, and the whole of the unsuspecting 
 men perished in the flames. Still using 
 every conceivable precaution that a report 
 of these murders should not reach the ears 
 of the Drevlians, she set out on an expedi- 
 tion to their country, attended by a small 
 army. Arrived there, she dressed her face 
 in smiles, and invited some hundreds of the 
 principal citizens to a solemn banquet. 
 Solemn indeed was this entertainment ; for 
 death hovered in the air, and murder lurked 
 behind the seat of every guest. At a given 
 signal, they were surrounded and massacred 
 by the orders of the regal demon, who, with 
 a dreadful sense of enjoyment, thus off'ered 
 up a sacrifice to the memory of her hus- 
 band. 
 
 Her vengeance, however, was not ap- 
 peased by this act of wholesale slaughter ; 
 for she next proceeded to ravage the whole 
 country, and especially to direct her arms 
 against Korosten, the city near which Igor 
 was slain by those whom his oppressions 
 had provoked past endurance. Though she 
 had ravaged the surrounding country, she 
 was unable to take the capital by force of 
 arms. As usual, therefore, Olga had re- 
 course to artifice. She sent a message to 
 the Drevlians to this eff'ect : — " Why do you 
 hold out so obstinately? All your other 
 towns are in my power; the rest of your 
 people are peacefully tilling the fields whilst 
 you persist in dying of hunger. You have 
 no more to fear from me ; I have sufiiciently 
 revenged the death of my husband.'^ The 
 unfortunate Drevlians fell into the snare, 
 and off*ered her a tribute. Olga pretended 
 to disregard it, and said she would accept 
 nothing but a present of three sparrows 
 and a pigeon from each house. The birds 
 were sent readily, and the implacable 
 princess having caused lighted matches to 
 be attached to their tails, immediately set 
 them at liberty. Flying back to the nests 
 under the eaves of the wooden houses of the 
 city, they set it on fire in a thousand places. 
 The inhabitants rushed forth in terror, and 
 perished by the swords of the enemy, who 
 lay beneath the walls awaiting the result of 
 the catastrophe. The prince and all the 
 
 chief citizens were among the victims ; the 
 common people only being spared from mo- 
 tives of policy. The whole country of the 
 Drevlians was thus subjugated and incorpo- 
 rated with the territories of Russia. 
 
 The regal fury then visited the northern 
 part of her dominions, where she built towns 
 and villages, constructed bridges and roads, 
 and left many traces of a superior administra- 
 tive ability. At this period, Christianity had 
 penetrated into pagan Russia, and obtained 
 a few converts at Kief, where they were not 
 only tolerated but respected. It may seem 
 strange that the merciless Olga should have 
 been attracted by its doctrines ; but such was 
 the fact. It has been acutely observed, that, 
 perhaps, the very fanaticism of mind which 
 produced such enormous crimes in the 
 satisfaction of what she deemed a pious 
 revenge, led her, by a somewhat similar 
 impulse, to indulge in the consolations of 
 religion. However that may be, she re- 
 solved to become a Christian ; and, in order 
 to do so with a becoming dignity, she pro- 
 ceeded in 955 to Constantinople to be in- 
 structed in its doctrines, and to receive 
 baptism from the hands of the Greek patri- 
 arch. The numerous atrocities of which 
 she had been guilty, formed no obstacles in 
 the estimation of the Greek emperor and 
 priesthood, who were pleased to receive as a 
 convert the chief of a powerful and bar- 
 barous nation, which they had hitherto re- 
 garded only as a scourge. Constantine 
 Porphyrogeneta, the historian, then occupied 
 the throne of the empire of the East, and he 
 himself led Olga to the baptismal font, and 
 introduced her into the Christian commu- 
 nion under the name of Helena. During 
 her stay at Constantinople, she was treated 
 with an imperial ceremony and honour, and 
 on her departure the emperor made her 
 some valuable presents, consisting of vases 
 and beautiful stuff's, of a kind only to be 
 procured in the East. She, in return, pro- 
 mised to send him furs, wax, and soldiers; 
 for the troops of her nation were held in 
 great estimation by the Greeks; but she 
 never kept her word. 
 
 The conduct of Olga was not of a kind 
 likely to induce her subjects to follow her 
 example with respect to religion. The mild 
 precepts of Christianity were despised by 
 such of the fierce Russian chieftains who 
 understood anything of them, and disre- 
 garded by those who did not. Sviatoslaf, 
 Olga's son, considered them as calculated to 
 effeminate a soldier and make him a coward. 
 
 13 
 
 Iviir 
 
i 
 
 RULE OF 6VIAT0SLAF.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 955—968. 
 
 To the appeals of his mother he returned 
 the inquiry, " Wouhl you have me be a 
 iaugliint^-stock to my friends?" It is 
 worthy of remjirk, that the people, thouo^h 
 they j^enerally held aloof from tlie new reli- 
 gion, (lid not attempt to resist it by persecu- 
 tion. To that very circumstance may be 
 attributed the tardiness of its progress. 
 Had the new converts been made martvrs to 
 their faith, it would liave taken a rapid root 
 in the sympathy and superstition of the 
 multitude. Olga founded churches and 
 encouraged the residence of priests in her 
 capital with no better success. The Rus- 
 sian people were not prepared for Christi- 
 anity, and as yet it took no root. Olga's 
 new-born zeal for religion appears to liave 
 dictated her next })ubhc act, which was the 
 resignation of the throne to her son. Some 
 uncertainty exists as to the time when this 
 event took place ; but it followed rapidly 
 upon lier conversion, which appears to have 
 exercised a beneficial influence upon her 
 ferocious nature. 
 
 Sviatoslaf I. was a princely barbarian, 
 M'ho revived the predatory and savage 
 habits of the Varangians, together with the 
 ambitious feelings of the Skivi. He was a 
 remarkable character ; animated witli a pas- 
 sion for war, and a defiance of fatigue and 
 hardships. Segur terms him the Achilles, 
 the Charles XII. of that epoch. The 
 social and moral progress of a state, its ad- 
 vancement in agriculture, commerce, or 
 other primitive arts, he neither understood 
 or regarded. War, without any suitable 
 cause; conquest, for the sake of extending 
 his authority; — these were the cherished 
 aims of his existence. Regarding the regal 
 palace at Kief as little better than a magni- 
 ficent prison, he abandoned it, and took to 
 the field with an army composed of the most 
 reckless and savage of his people. For the 
 future, the camp was his home; and he ap- 
 peared ambitious of exhibiting the hardi- 
 hood and rough self-denial of his nature. 
 Emulating the roving Kalmuks, he lived 
 chiefly upon horseflesh, which he cut up 
 himself with his sword, and broiled upon the 
 naked fire. He used no vessels for culinary 
 purposes, and dined in common with his 
 guards. The use of horseflesh was conve- 
 nient to one wliose life was devoted to war, 
 since the same animal that carried the sol- 
 dier, served in times of extremity for his 
 food. The other habits of the new sove- 
 reign were as rude and as severely simple as 
 his diet. He disdained to sleep in a tent ; 
 14 
 
 but, braving the inclemency of the Russian 
 sky, passed his nights upon the bare earth, 
 with a saddle for a pillow, and a saddle-cloth 
 or a cloak for a covering. In matters of 
 personal indulgence, he abolished all dis- 
 tinction, and shared the hardships of the 
 meanest of his followers. Such a leader 
 was necessarily popular; and his soldiers 
 were ])rc|)ared to follow and obey him with 
 a rigid sul)mission amounting to devotion. 
 One point of the character of Sviatoslaf is 
 deserving of honourable notice. Unlike liis 
 subtle mother, he did not avail liimself of 
 the advantages likely to result from unex- 
 pected attacks, but always prefaced active 
 liostilities by a declaration of war. 
 
 For some time the warlike prince was at 
 a loss to find an enemy upon whom he could 
 exhibit his prowess. At length he turned 
 his arms against the Kozans, a people who 
 l]ad poured down from the eastern shore of 
 the Euxine, and subdued some of the Sla- 
 vonic tribes dwelling in the south of Russia. 
 The khan of the Kozans was defeated in a 
 sanguinary l)attle, and his capital, a fortified 
 city on the Don, taken possession of by the 
 victor in the year 964. Other successes 
 over these people followed ; and thenceforth, 
 it has been dramatically said, the name of 
 the Kozans disappears from the page of 
 history. 
 
 The warlike services of Sviatoslaf were 
 next purchased by Nicephorus Phocas, the 
 Greek emperor. The repeated incursions of 
 the Hungarians upon the territories of the 
 latter had been secretly assisted by the 
 Bulgarians, and it was against them that 
 Nicephorus derived the aid of the Russians. 
 Sviatoslaf eagerly embraced the design, and 
 entering the Danube with a fleet contain- 
 ing 60,000 men, captured the chief towns 
 that lay along the banks of that extensive 
 river. His success inspired him with the 
 idea of annexing these newly acquired pos- 
 sessions to his Russian dominions. To ac- 
 complish this ambitious but unwise design, 
 he resolved to transfer the seat of his gov- 
 ernment to the city of Yamboly. 
 
 While the grand prince was in the pur- 
 suit of conquest abroad, his own territories 
 were subjected to the rude feet of invaders. 
 Those ancignt enemies of the Russians, the 
 Petchenegans, taking advantage of his ab* 
 sence, desolated the whole country in the 
 direction of Kief, and then set down before 
 the city in great force. Though it was 
 strongly built and enclosed within fortifica- 
 tions, yet the garrison it contained was 
 
 A»D. 968—972.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [sviatoslaf in Bulgaria. 
 
 feeble; and the inhabitants, amongst whom 
 were the mother and sons of Sviatoslaf, were 
 in the most imminent danger. Besides, the 
 city was not supplied with provisions neces- 
 sary to enable it to stand a siege ; and the 
 only choice of its inhabitants appeared to lie 
 between famine and the swords of the inva- 
 ders. They contrived, however, by a stra- 
 tagem to inform Prititch, a Russian general, 
 who was posted with a small army on the 
 other side of the Dnieper, of the position in 
 which they were placed ; and he resolved on 
 making an effort for their relief. Embark- 
 ing at daybreak, he commanded his soldiers 
 to blow their trumpets and raise their voices 
 in tumultuous shouts. These were answered 
 from within the city by the clang of military 
 instruments and joyous shouts of welcome. 
 The stratagem succeeded; the Petchenegans, 
 believing that the victorious army of Svia- 
 toslaf was approaching to the rescue, were 
 seized with terror, and scarcely restrained 
 by their leader from taking to an ignomini- 
 ous flight. Requesting an interview with 
 Prititch, he inquired whether he was the 
 grand prince. The Russian leader adroitly 
 replied that he was but the commander of 
 the vanguard of Sviatoslaf, who was liimself 
 advancing with a formidable army. After 
 h courteous interview, and an exchange of 
 gifts, the two leaders parted ; the prince of 
 the Petchenegans retired with his followers, 
 and Kief was saved. 
 
 On receiving information of the danger of 
 his capital, Sviatoslaf hurried from his con- 
 quests in Bulgaria, and following the re- 
 treating Petchenegans, overtook and defeated 
 them. After the infliction of this punish- 
 ment, he generously permitted them to re- 
 turn to their homes without further chas- 
 tisement. Soon afterwards the aged princess 
 Olga, or Helena, was gathered to that silent 
 resting-place to which, during her turbulent 
 career, she had sent so many of her enemies. 
 History has accorded to her the merit of 
 being an able ruler ; yet it is scarcely pos- 
 sible, in its numerous records, to find a 
 woman more vindictive, savage, and remorse- 
 less. Her crimes did not prevent the Rus- 
 sian church from bestowing upon her memory 
 the inappropriate honour of canonization; 
 and the name of St. Olga was long cherished 
 as that of the princess who introduced 
 Christianity into Russia. 
 
 Sviatoslaf now resolved on returning to 
 Bulgaria, and concluding there the conquest 
 he had begun. The Bulgarians were at this 
 period rising rapidly into importance as a 
 
 trading nation, and they carried on extensive 
 commercial operations' with Persia, India, 
 Greece, France, and, through Russia, with 
 the countries that lay to the north. Their 
 wealth aroused the avarice of Sviatoslaf; 
 and telling his chieftains that he preferred 
 Yamboly to Kief as a residence, he prepared 
 for a second expedition, with the intention 
 of converting the Bulgarian city into the 
 capital of Russia. Before departing, he 
 committed an error that might have led to 
 the utter ruin of the state, and which was 
 not rectified without much bloodshed. Con- 
 sidering the claims of his family, and regard- 
 less of the interests of his people, he divided 
 the Russian territories between his three 
 sons, retaining in himself only the nominal 
 sovereignty. Yaropolk he installed in the 
 government of Kief; Oleg, that of the coun- 
 try of the Drevlians ; and Vladimir, a natu- 
 ral son by one of Olga's attendants, in the 
 ancient throne of Novgorod. In addition 
 to the danger of thus partitioning a state, 
 the principle was introduced that the grand 
 prince had a right to divide his territories, 
 and regulate as he pleased the order of the 
 succession. 
 
 Having provided for the government of 
 his dominions, Sviatoslaf, in 970, set out on 
 his second expedition to Bulgaria, from 
 which he was destined never to return. 
 Advancing upon Yamboly, his troops were 
 attacked with great bravery and driven back 
 with terrible loss. Deeming their destruc- 
 tion certain, they determined to sell their 
 lives as dearly as they could. Tiiis resolve 
 once taken, they fought with such ferocity 
 as to strike terror into their assailants, and 
 to turn the scale of victory. The efl'orts of 
 the Russians appeared almost superhuman ; 
 the astonished Bulgarians were defeated, 
 and yielded their capital to the enemy, who 
 once more was master of the fertile territory 
 on the right bank of the Danube. 
 
 Submission did not restore peace to Bul- 
 garia: that country was yet to be the 
 theatre of more important struggles. The 
 Greek emperor Nicephorus, who had origi- 
 nally engaged Sviatoslaf to descend upon 
 Bulgaria, had been succeeded on the throne 
 by his assassin, John Zimisces. The latter at 
 once perceived the error his predecessor had 
 committed in attracting the ambitious Rus- 
 sians to the banks of the Danube ; for they 
 were a far more dangerous enemy than the 
 less warlike Bulgarians. Findmg that a 
 pledge had been given to Nicephorus that 
 the Russians should not occupy the con- 
 
 15 
 
DEATir OF SVIATOSLAF.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 973. 
 
 It 
 
 » t 
 
 quered territory, Ziraisces demanded of Svia- 
 toslaf the immediate evacuation of Bul- 
 garia. The Russian prince not only refused 
 compliance, but added, that lie would shortly 
 come to Constantinople and drive the 
 Greeks into Asia. On receiving this defiant 
 answer, Zimisces instantly prepared for 
 war; for he was a man who, to quote the 
 language of Gibbon, "in a diminutive body 
 possessed the spirit and abilities of a hero/' 
 The Russian prince was secretly encouraged 
 in his breach of treaty by a Greek patrician, 
 named Kolokir, who aspired to the throne 
 of Constantinople himself, and hoped to ob- 
 tain it by the assistance of the Russians, 
 whom he intended to bribe by the relin- 
 quishment of Bulgaria. Sviatoslaf fell in 
 with the schemes of the traitor ; for it was 
 important to him to place an emperor of his 
 own choosing on the throne of the Eastern 
 world. 
 
 Sviatoslaf commenced the war. Com- 
 pelling the conquered Bulgarians and other 
 nations to join his forces, he succeeded in 
 raising an army, said to amount to the 
 enormous' number of 300,000 men. Ad- 
 vancing into Thrace, he ravaged the country 
 as far as Adrianople, where his vast host 
 was defeated through a stratagem of the 
 commandant of that town, and driven back 
 upon Yamboly. He was followed and be- 
 sieged there the following year by a Greek 
 army, under Zimisces in person. The assault 
 was rapid and successful, and the city taken 
 by the Greeks. Eight thousand Russians 
 threw themselves into the royal citadel; 
 though held to be impregnable, it was soon 
 set on fire by Zimisces, and the greater 
 part of these wretched men perished in the 
 flames. Sviatoslaf, however, kept the field 
 with a remnant of his army, whose fidelity 
 he attempted to secure by the ferocity with 
 which he punished disaffection. Victory 
 still sat upon the standards of the Greeks, 
 and most of the towns of Bulgaria sur- 
 rendered to them. The Russian prince, 
 after pursuing a wandering and predatory 
 career, shut himself and his followers up in 
 Durastole, the last important town which 
 had not yet submitted to the Greeks. There 
 he was followed by the energetic Zimisces, 
 and defeated in an obstinate combat in 
 which he ventured to engage. Blockaded 
 by land and sea, the Russians were threat- 
 ened with the horrors of starvation. In vain 
 did they frequently rush out upon their 
 foes, and exhibit the most despairing 
 courage. They were constantly repulsed; 
 
 and the advisers of Sviatoslaf implored him 
 to sue for peace. The undaunted prince re- 
 jected this advice, and resolved to risk every- 
 thing upon one last effort. Placing himself 
 at the head of his troops, he made a final 
 sortie; and having no hope but from the 
 desperation of his followers, ordered the 
 gates of the city to be closed the moment 
 they had left it, thus leaving no alternative 
 but death or victory. The battle, thcjugh 
 obstinate and sanguinary, was but a brief 
 one, and ended in the total defeat of the 
 Russians. 
 
 Their prince was now compelled to beg 
 for peace, which the victors had the mode- 
 ration or prudence to grant. Having bound 
 himself, by the oaths he regarded as most 
 sacred, to observe the conditions dictated 
 to him, Sviatoslaf turned his steps towards 
 Russia, attended by the half-clothed and 
 half-starved remnant of his army. Notwith- 
 standing the entreaties of those by whom 
 he was surrounded, this wilful man insisted 
 on embarking on the Borysthenes, the 
 shores of which were inhabited by his 
 ancieut foes the Petchenegans. The latter, 
 aware of the deplorable condition of the 
 retreating Russians, assembled in great 
 force, and awaited their approach near the 
 rock of the cataracts. The vear was closing 
 when the grand prince arrived near that 
 spot ; and there he was compelled to pass 
 the winter, beset by the miseries of cold 
 and famine. On the return of spring he 
 endeavoured to cut a passage through the 
 ranks of his enemies; but defeat again 
 attended him, and this time he himself 
 perished in the encounter. The prince of 
 the Petchenegans had his skull converted 
 into a goblet, and encircled it with gold, on 
 which this moral reflection was inscribed — 
 " In the attempt to seize the property of 
 others, thou didst lose thine own." Svia- 
 toslaf fell a victim to his own turbulence in 
 the year 973. 
 
 Again are we about to enter upon what 
 is justly regarded as another phase in the 
 history of the Russian state. "The five 
 sovereigns,^' says a writer whom we have 
 previously quoted, " Ruric, Oleg, Igor, 
 Olga, and Sviatoslaf, reigned alone and 
 dominant. In each of these cases there 
 was but a single heir to the throne, so that 
 the country was, in its infancy, auspiciously 
 saved from the evils of partition, and en- 
 abled to accumulate strength and coherence. 
 The only instances of delegated rule — those 
 of the two brothers of Ruric — lapsed before 
 
 A.D. 973—977.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [partition of RUSSIA. 
 
 the death of the sovereign; the accession 
 was therefore regulated by an accident 
 that confirmed the conservation and power 
 of the state. During these reigns the cha- 
 racter of the sovereigns, with the exception 
 of the feeble Igor, harmonised admirably 
 with the demands of the time. The firm- 
 ness of Ruric, the boldness of Oleg, the 
 wild devotion and ferocity of Olga, and the 
 savage valour of Sviatoslaf, contributed seve- 
 rally to enlarge, to bind, and to establish 
 the empire. Many mistakes were doubtless 
 committed ; but the science of government 
 
 was then young; and better tempers and 
 more consistent laws might have failed to 
 preserve the allegiance, as they could hardly 
 have permitted the lawlessness, of the 
 banded savages that prowled over the face 
 of the country. But with the partition 
 of the land amongst three princes of unequal 
 capacity came a long train of misfortunes, 
 which we shall find alternately averted and 
 exasperated by circumstances quite as for- 
 tuitous as those by which the first struggles 
 of this formidable power were rendered suc- 
 cessful.^' 
 
 If 
 
 h 
 
 m 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 YAROPOLK SEIZES XJTOS THE DOMUfTDNS OF HIS BT^OTHERS; IS DRTTENPROM THE THRONE BY VLADIMIR L ; 
 HE PUNISHES THE TRAITOR BLUDE ; EXTENDS HIS DOMINIONS; INORDINATE LICENTIOUSNESS OP 
 VLADIMIR ; HE ADOPTS CHRISTIANITY, AND INTRODUCES THAT FORM OF RELIGION INTO RUSSIA : HIS 
 SUBSEQUENT WEAKNESS AND DEATH. 
 
 Russia was now governed by three princes. 
 The title of grand-duke no longer existed, 
 and with it the paramount sovereignty was 
 destroyed. Yaropolk ruled in Kief, Oleg 
 in the country of the Drevlians, and Vladi- 
 mir in Novgorod. Yaropolk is described as 
 of a weak, inactive nature, ever prone to be 
 led into wrong by the counsels of his subor- 
 dinates. Oleg was rash, vindictive, and un- 
 principled; while Vladimir was ambitious, 
 romantically brave, inordinately licentious, 
 original in genius, and energetic in action. 
 Under such circumstances, it was not diffi- 
 cult to predict which of these princes would 
 become paramount; if even he did not sub- 
 due his brothei-s ana reunite their territories 
 to his own. < 
 
 Svenald, an old warrior, who had been 
 the esteemed friend of Sviatoslaf, followed 
 the fortunes of Yaropolk. The savage Oleg 
 had, either from provocation or caprice, 
 conceived a dislike for the son of Svenald. 
 Meeting the young man in a wood during 
 a hunting party, Oleg fell upon and assassi- 
 nated him. The father resolved on revenge, 
 and instigated the feeble-minded Yaropolk 
 to raise an army and invade the country of 
 the Drevlians. The fierce Oleg collected 
 his forces, and the brothers met in battle. 
 The Drevlians were defeated; and in the 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 D 
 
 confusion of flight, Oleg was hurled over the 
 broken parapet of a bridge, and either 
 drowned or crushed to death by the multi- 
 tude of horses and troops that fell upon 
 him. Yaropolk pretended to mourn for his 
 brother's fate ; but he took possession of his 
 territory. 
 
 Vladimir is described as giving way to 
 such a passionate grief in consequence of 
 the violent death of Oleg, that he retired 
 from Novgorod; and crossing the sea in a 
 fit of despondency, took up his abode with 
 the Varangians. It is far more probable 
 that he feared the power of his surviving 
 brother, and fled to provide for his own 
 safety. Yaropolk, finding Novgorod left 
 without a ruler^ yielded to the importunities 
 of his followers, and seized that also. Thus 
 the Russian dominions became again united 
 under the sway of a single prince. 
 
 Vladimir remained a fugitive among the 
 Varangians for a period of two years, during 
 which he occupied himself in collecting a 
 band of adventurers sufficient to enable him 
 to recover his lost territory. Returning 
 suddenly to Novgorod, he was received by 
 the people with joy. The chiefs who gov- 
 erned in the name of Yaropolk were taken 
 by surprise, and, without attempting resist- 
 ance, sought their safety by submission, 
 
 17 
 
I 
 
 rl 
 
 1 1 *i> 
 1. I 
 
 H 
 
 VLADIMIR I.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 980.. 
 
 Vladimir dismissed them with a message to 
 his brother, that he would soon see him at 
 Kief. 
 
 While Vladimir was preparing to seize 
 his brother's throne, he was attracted by the 
 charms of the daughter of Rogvolode, prince 
 of Polotsk. Yaropolk also was a suitor for 
 the hand of the lady ; and the father, fear- 
 ing to offend either of the brothers, referred 
 them to his daughter. The lady's choice 
 was rapid, and her answer coarsely uncour- 
 teous. Vladimir was the son of one of the 
 attendants of the princess Olga ; and in re- 
 ference to this stain on his birth, and also 
 to a custom which then existed for brides to 
 pull off the boots of their husbands on the 
 wedding night, she replied, "I will never 
 unboot the son of a slave. I choose Yaro- 
 polk." This insulting answer naturally 
 aroused the anger of Vladimir, and he re- 
 solved on a revenge in the severity of which 
 we forget the offence. He marched against 
 Rogvolode, defeated him in battle, slew him 
 and his two sons with his own hand; and, 
 while reeking with their blood, compelled 
 the indiscreet princess, who had been the 
 cause of these calamities, to become his 
 wife. 
 
 Flushed with this savage triumph, Vladi- 
 mir led his army against Kief. The city 
 was capable of prolonged resistance, and its 
 inhabitants were faithful to their ruler. 
 The feeble mind of Yaropolk, however, was 
 influenced by the suggestions of a villanous 
 counsellor, named Blude. Though this 
 traitor had received the highest marks of 
 distinction from his prince, yet, influenced 
 by promises of reward, he entered into a 
 conspiracy with Vladimir for his destruction. 
 He persuaded Yaropolk that the people were 
 treacherously disposed towards him, and 
 convinced the shallow prince that his only 
 chance of safety lay in flight. The latter 
 adopted this suggestion; and the inhabitants 
 of Kief, finding themselves deserted, were 
 induced to submit to Vladimir. The timid 
 Yaropolk did not by flight secure the safety 
 he coveted. The traitor Blude accompanied 
 him, and, as the wretched prince fled from 
 place to place like a hunted hare, informed 
 Vladimir of his hiding-place and his designs. 
 Yaropolk was at length rendered desperate 
 by a fear of his pursuers and the sufferings 
 he endured, and resolved to throw himself 
 on the mercv of his brother. He trusted to 
 a man devoid of fraternal emotions : as he 
 was advancing to throw himself into the 
 arms of Vladimir, he was assassinated by| 
 18 
 
 some of the attendants of the latter. Again 
 the Russian dominions were united under 
 one prince, who, despite his crimes, possessed 
 the ability to govern them. 
 
 The throne was now filled by Vladimir I. 
 His first act was to seize and debauch the 
 widow of his brother Yaropolk, a lady far 
 advanced in pregnancy. As a reward for 
 her submission to his desires, he adopted 
 the infant of which she subsequently became 
 the mother. His next was to punish the 
 traitor Blude, notwithstanding that he de- 
 rived the advantages arising from the guilt 
 of this northern Judas. Vladimir knew 
 that a man who was so ungrateful and 
 treacherous to one master, was incapable of 
 faithfully serving another. For three days 
 he entertained the miscreant at his court 
 with a royal magnificence, and conferred on 
 him the chief dignities of the stafe. On the 
 fourth, Blude was summoned to the pre- 
 sence of his sovereign, who said — " I have 
 kept my promise strictly. I have received 
 you with welcome, and heaped unwonted 
 honours upon your head. This I have done 
 as your friend. To-day, as judge, I con- 
 demn the traitor and assassin of his prince." 
 This sentence was followed by immediate 
 execution, and the traitor expiated his guilt 
 with his blood. 
 
 The fierce Varangians, by whose assistance 
 Vladimir had recovered his authority, were 
 clamorous for the reward of their services, 
 and desired that he would compel the inhab- 
 itants of Kief to pay them a tribute. The 
 grand prince had a wise objection to subject 
 his people to any oppression but his own. 
 Though unprepared to resist the demands of 
 his greedy dependents, he hesitated to com- 
 ply with their demands, and fed them with 
 promises, while he avoided giving any deci- 
 sive answer to their applications. During 
 the delay thus created, he so strengthened 
 himself that the Varangians became con- 
 vinced of the hopelessness of pressing their 
 claims. He was too powerful to be influ- 
 enced by intimidation, too crafty to be de- 
 ceived into compliance, and too firm to yield 
 to solicitation. Perceiving this state of 
 things, the Varangians requested his per- 
 mission to make an incursion into Greece, 
 and pay themselves by plunder. To this he 
 consented, after selecting the bravest of 
 them for his own service. Still unwilling 
 to convert the Greek emperor into an enemy, 
 he secretly informed that potentate of the 
 designs of the desperadoes, and desired him 
 to arrest them and disperse them over his 
 
 I* 
 
 a:d. 985.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [vladimir seeks a reliqiox. 
 
 dominions, so that thus divided, they should 
 cease to be an object of alarm to either gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 The brave and subtle Vladimir was now 
 firmly seated upon his throne, the authority 
 of which he greatly extended by his ability 
 and warlike exertions. He subdued many 
 neighbouring peoples, and enlarged his do- 
 minions on almost every hand. Inflated by 
 success, he appears to have been inspired 
 with a sense of gratitude towards the pagan 
 gods of his nation, though it is not unlikely 
 he was desirous of captivating the people by 
 a pompous display of religious ceremonies. 
 He caused a new statue of the god Perune, 
 with a silver head, to be erected near his 
 palace, and announced his intention of pro- 
 pitiating the image by a sacrifice of some 
 prisoners taken in war. His followers sug- 
 gested that the god would be better pleased 
 with the blood of a victim selected from his 
 own people. Vladimir consented to this ar- 
 rangement ; and the lot, probably by design, 
 fell upon a young Varangian, who had been 
 educated by his father in the Christian 
 faith. Great preparations were made for 
 the savage ceremonial ; but, at the appointed 
 hour, the aflaicted father not only refused to 
 surrender his son, but denounced the pro- 
 ceeding as a sanguinary superstition. The 
 priests and people, enraged equally by the 
 disappointment and the insult to their carved 
 deity, rushed into the house, and put both 
 father and son to death. The unfortunate 
 men were eventually canonised, and remain 
 the first and only martyrs of the Russian 
 church. 
 
 Vladimir indulged in an inordinate licen- 
 tiousness. He had married six wives ; and 
 had so many establishments of concubines, 
 that these female ministers to his pleasure 
 are said to have amounted altogether to 
 eight hundred. Still his lustful nature was 
 not satisfied ; every fresh pleasing face and 
 form attracted his attention, and he violated 
 the honour of the wives and daughters of 
 many of his subjects. An ancient chroni- 
 cler remarked, that no woman of any per- 
 sonal beauty was safe frpm the lust of this 
 second Solomon, He did not, however, 
 perceive the incongruity of this reckless 
 gratification of his passions with his zeal 
 for any religion that recognised even the 
 scantiest moral duties. A wild zeal for the 
 religion of his country filled his mind, and 
 communicated itself, in some degree, from 
 the ruler to the people. He built new 
 temples in honour of the pagan gods recog- 
 
 nised by his nation, and enriched them with 
 a magnificence new to their barbarous wor- 
 shippers. The valour of the Russian sove- 
 reign in war, his power over his dominions, 
 and his awakened zeal in favour of his reli- 
 gion, attracted the notice of distant states ; 
 the representatives of four of whom sought 
 to convert him to the faith they followed. 
 The eastern Bulgarians solicited his attri- 
 tion to the sensual and warlike religion of 
 Mohammed. The voluptuous mind of 
 Vladimir dwelt' with pleasure upon the de- 
 scription of its paradise, where rose-lipped 
 houris ministered to the pleasures of the 
 faithful ; but he was repelled by the doctrine 
 of circumcision and the interdiction of wine. 
 The Germans unfolded to him the doctrines 
 of the Roman church ; but this he rejected 
 on account of its pope, whose asserted power 
 over princes he regarded as not only inad- 
 missible, but monstrous. The laws of Moses 
 were laid before him by the professors of 
 Judaism ; but this he rejected, because he 
 thought it irrational to accept a religion 
 from a people without a country, who were, 
 moreover, wanderers under the curse of 
 heaven. A priest from Constantinople de- 
 scribed to him the doctrines and ceremonials 
 of the Christian church of the East, and 
 these did not seem open to any apparent 
 objection. 
 
 Discussion and reflection had shaken the 
 faith of Vladimir in the ancient supersti- 
 tions of his people; but a conflict took 
 place in his mind as to the religion he 
 should adopt in lieu of them. In this 
 situation, he composed a commission of ten 
 of the most thoughtful of his chiefs, and 
 sent them into the several countries where 
 the various religions were received, to in- 
 vestigate the arguments on which they were 
 based, and to report which was the most 
 worthy of adoption. The envoys proceeded 
 on their journey. The church of the Ara- 
 bian prophet was not to their taste, because 
 it made too many demands upon their self- 
 control. The Roman churches in Germany 
 repelled them, on account of the meanness 
 of their decorations and the tawdry finery 
 of their priests. When, however, they 
 beheld the minarets of St. Sophia at Con- 
 stantinople, and the extravagant magnifi- 
 cence of the Greek religion, they were 
 touched with emotions of wonder and awe, 
 and concluded that they had at length 
 found the true mode of worship. Return- 
 ing home, they made a highly favourable 
 report of it to Vladimir, and added — " K the 
 
 19 
 
 'f'! 
 
ir 
 
 
 11 
 
 ].' 'V. 
 
 I 
 
 ! ^i 
 
 ill 
 
 P 
 
 it 
 
 I 
 
 
 1. 
 
 VLADIMIR ADOPTS CHRISTIANITY.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 988. 
 
 Greek religion was not the best, Olga, your 
 ancestress, the wisest of women, would 
 never have thought of adopting it." The 
 imagination of the grand prince was excited 
 by the narratives to which he listened ; and 
 after some deliberations with his council, he 
 resolved to adopt the Greek form of Chris- 
 tianity, and undergo the public ceremony of 
 baptism. 
 
 Here, however, a difficulty arose ; for 
 Vladimir would not be made a member of 
 the Christian church unless the baptismal 
 rite was performed by an ecclesiastical digni- 
 tary of the highest order, and none such were 
 to be found in Russia. To solicit from the 
 Greek emperors, Basil and Constantine, the 
 assistance of their archbishops, seemed de- 
 rogatory to his imperious nature ; and 
 therefore he resorted to a singular and cir- 
 cuitous mode of obtaining that which he 
 would not condescend to accept as a favour. 
 Actuated even in this matter by the fierce 
 spirit of his times, he declared war upon 
 Greece, that he might extort from her 
 that service he was too haughty to obtain 
 by the readiest means ! Having assembled 
 a numerous army, he proceeded, by sea, to 
 the rich and powerful city of Kherson, in 
 the Taurica Chersonesus, now called the 
 Crimea. Laying siege to the city, he put 
 up this strange prayer to the Deity : — *^ O 
 God, grant me thy help to take this town, 
 that I may carry from it Christians and 
 priests, to instruct me and my people, and 
 to convey the true religion into my do- 
 minions !" 
 
 The siege was prolonged over six months, 
 and a terrible destruction of human life took 
 place, to satisfy the whimsical pride of a 
 pagan prince. So obstinate was the resist- 
 ance, and so numerous the reverses expe- 
 rienced by the army of Vladimir, that he 
 would have been compelled to retire from 
 the walls of Kherson, but that a treacherous 
 priest within the city betrayed it to him. 
 This traitor, either from malignity or a 
 mad excess of zeal in favour of his religion, 
 contrived, by means of a letter tied to an 
 arrow, and shot into the Russian camp, to 
 inform Vladimir that the water-springs from 
 which the subterranean pipes of the city 
 were supplied, were situated immediately in 
 his rear. The springs were discovered, the 
 water diverted into other channels, and the 
 citizens, after suffering the horrors of ex- 
 treme thirst, were compelled to surrender. 
 
 Vladimir could now be baptized with 
 such an amount of ceremony as he deemed 
 20 
 
 becoming his dignity. But his religious 
 emotions, though probably sincere, were 
 not unmixed with political motives of a very 
 worldly nature. He demanded from the 
 Grecian emperors the hand of their sister 
 Anna in marriage, and accompanied his 
 message by a threat, that he would lay 
 siege to Constantinople in the event of re- 
 fusal. It was his intention, by this match, 
 to acquire an indirect claim upon the 
 throne of the Greek empire, which, at some 
 favourable time, he or his successors might 
 enforce. The emperors Basil and Constan- 
 tine were not in a condition to refuse com- 
 pliance ; and, after some hesitation, they 
 yielded — stipulating, howe^rer, that he should 
 embrace the Christian faith. Accordingly, 
 in the year 988, Vladimir was received into 
 the bosom of the Greek church, under the 
 name of Basil, and united to the Princess 
 Anna, who is reported to have been by no 
 means flattered with the conquest she had 
 made. The Russian sovereign, in return, 
 restored the territory he had so recently 
 captured, listened to an exposition of his 
 new creed, and returned to Kief, carrying 
 with him priests, relics, vases of holy water, 
 and images of saints. 
 
 The royal convert resolved on at once 
 forcing upon his subjects the religion of 
 which he had so recently become a member, 
 and with which he must necessarily have 
 been very imperfectly acquainted. With 
 a decision natural to a despotic barbarian, 
 he resolved on the disgrace and destruction 
 of the pagan gods, from the worship of 
 whom he had fallen so lately. Perune, the 
 silver-headed and golden-whiskered father 
 of the gods, first excited his anger. He 
 caused the image to be stripped of all its 
 costly ornaments, and after exposing the 
 naked log to the people, had it tied to the 
 tail of a horse, beaten with cudgels by 
 twelve stout soldiers, and then thrown into 
 the Borysthenes, amidst the shouts and 
 groans of the multitude. No divine ven- 
 geance followed this seemingly impious act; 
 and the people began to think that Perune 
 was but a wooden and powerless god after 
 all. A belief in his divinity was not, how- 
 ever, universally extinguished. For, some 
 time afterwards, a legend related, that when 
 the statue of Perune at Novgorod was 
 hurled into the river, the figure of the god 
 rose from the water, and, casting his staff 
 amongst the people, exclaimed, *' Citizens, 
 I leave you that in remembrance of me 1" 
 The minor gods of Russia were disposed of 
 
 ^JPtiffclJIlA .. 
 
 _s#: 
 
 .t4-SP'TPN* 
 
 A.D-. 993.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [war with the petchenegans. 
 
 in a similarly arbitrary manner; and Vladi- 
 mir then issued a proclamation, command- 
 ing all his subjects to assemble on a certain 
 day at Kief, and be baptized there, on the 
 banks of the river. ^ The people appear to 
 have entertained but little affection for the 
 ancient faith, as they offered no opposition. 
 " That must be a good religion,^' said they, 
 " which is adopted by the prince and the 
 boyards.^' In the remote districts of Rus- 
 sia, however, paganism lingered for some 
 centuries ; it was more in acordance than 
 the new faith with the rude and wonder- 
 loving barbarians of those northern forests. 
 
 Not satisfied even with these vigorous 
 proceedings, Vladimir zealously endeavoured 
 to enforce Christianity wherever he had for- 
 merly enjoined the superstitions of paganism. 
 He lavished the revenues of his state in 
 building churches and houses for pious pur- 
 poses, and instituted public repasts, in imi- 
 tation of the love-feasts of the early Chris- 
 tians. Certainly, it must be admitted, that 
 the religion he adopted exercised a soften- 
 ing influence upon his mind, and induced 
 him to lead a purer life. He dismissed his 
 trains of concubines, and is reported to have 
 become a pattern of conjugal fidelity. In- 
 stead of the avidity he had shown to shed 
 blood in unjust wars, he hesitated even to 
 condemn a criminal to death. He also in- 
 troduced some good judicial regulations, 
 and effected many improvements in the 
 various towns throughout the country. 
 
 Always prone to go to extremes, Vladi- 
 mir now became effeminate and almost 
 imbecile in his mildness. The Petchene- 
 gans, taking advantage of this state of the 
 Russian prince, made frequent incursions 
 into his dominions. In one of these, the 
 two armies lay on opposite sides of the 
 river Sula, the waters of which fall into 
 the Dnieper. ^*i. battle appeared inevitable; 
 when the Petchenegan chief proposed to 
 Vladimir to spare the blood of their res- 
 pective troops, by deciding the quarrel by 
 single combat between two champions, one 
 chosen from each army ; the people whose 
 representative should perish in the strife, 
 binding themselves to abstain from hostili- 
 ties for the space of three years. Vladimir's 
 pride forbade him to reject the proposal; 
 but he acceded to it unwillingly; for he 
 knew not where to find a man of sufficient 
 strength and courage to cope with the 
 gigantic champion of th3 Petchenegans. 
 On the day appointed for the combat he 
 was compelled to request a delay. During 
 
 the interval thus obtained, an old man, who, 
 together with his four sons, had long served 
 in the Russian army, came forward and 
 offered the services of a fifth son, who, 
 though but a youth, was gifted with pro- 
 digious strength. Before the offer was ac- 
 cepted, the aspirant was ordered to exhibit 
 his prowess in an encounter with an infu- 
 riated bull. The animal was irritated with 
 red-hot irons, and then set at liberty. The 
 young athlete struck the bull down, and 
 speedily dispatching the animal, tore off his 
 skin as a trophy. Vladimir was satisfied, 
 and surveyed the beardless champion with " 
 feelings of hope. The day of trial arrived, 
 and the combatants met in an open space 
 between the two camps. The bulky Petche- 
 negan looked contemptuously on the unde- 
 veloped yet well-proportioned and muscular 
 frame of his adversary. His feeling of 
 triumph was, however, premature; his an- 
 tagonist rushed upon him at once, brought 
 him to the earth with a well-directed blow, 
 and there dispatched him. It is said that 
 the Petchenegans fled in terror on seeing 
 the fall of their champion : this is doubtful ; 
 but they observed the agreement into which 
 they had entered, and abstained from ag- 
 gression for the space of three years. The 
 young victor, who followed the humble 
 occupation of a currier, was, together with 
 his father, raised to the rank of nobility, 
 and a town erected as a memorial of his 
 honourable encounter. 
 
 During the three years, the weakness of 
 Vladimir appeared to increase ; and on the 
 expiration of that period, the Petchenegans 
 again took to the field. They laid siege to 
 Vassilef, a town built by the grand prince, 
 who, in endeavouring to succour it, was de- 
 feated and wounded, and only saved his life 
 by hiding under the arch of a bridge, over 
 which his victorious enemies passed in pur- 
 suit of him. This was in 996; and in the 
 following year he was subjected to fresh in- 
 dignities by his untiring foes. 
 
 The latter years of the once fierce and 
 powerful monarch were bereft of the bril- 
 liancy which attended the earlier period of 
 his reign, and his life was extinguished in 
 gloom and bitterness. Perplexed as to the 
 mode in which he should provide for his 
 numerous sons, he adopted the weak and 
 fatal expedient of partitioning his dominions 
 amongst them. This he did during his life; 
 and, while parting with his provinces, re- 
 tained only the title of grand prince, and a 
 tribute from each of his sons. Yaroslaf, 
 
 21 
 
 

 M 
 
 f 
 
 A 
 
 li 
 
 Li*' 
 hi J 
 
 I I'll 
 
 ■-f '! I 
 
 
 DEATH OF VLADIMIR.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1016. 
 
 the one to whom he had given Novgorod, 
 refused the tribute, and prepared to resist 
 the paramount authority of his father. The 
 aged parent, though struck to the heart by 
 this ingratitude, yet retained enough of his 
 former energy to collect an army and march 
 upon Novgorod, with the object of reducing 
 his rebellious son to submission. The 
 effort, however, was above his strength ; 
 and the contemplation of the unnatural 
 conflict was as a sword in his heart. Un- 
 able to reach the scene of expected strife, 
 he expired of grief on the road. His death 
 took place in 1015, after a protracted reign 
 of five-and-forty years. 
 
 Notwithstanding his serious defects of 
 character, it must be granted that Vladimir 
 was no common man. Bold, resolute, subtle, 
 and gifted with an acute though not pene- 
 trating intelligence, the force of his mind was 
 confined by caprice and unregulated im- 
 pulsiveness. A fratricide and a despot, he 
 might elicit our severest reprehension ; but 
 we ought not to judge his conduct in these 
 respects by our modern estimates of morality 
 and duty. He was tinctured with the bar- 
 barity of the age in which he dwelt, and 
 acted in compliance with its ferocious in- 
 stincts. Yet in some respects he was in 
 advance of his time. He rejected the effete 
 
 idolatry of his country, and replaced it by 
 the purer spirit of Christianity. He estab- 
 lished schools for the education of different 
 classes of the community, and placed them 
 under the direction of learned men from 
 Greece. These efforts were regarded with 
 repugnance by his people, who considered 
 educational arts as identified with sorcery.' 
 So great was their dislike to the instruction' 
 introduced, that Vladimir could only obtain 
 scholars for these institutions by the unjus- 
 tifiable means of compelling the attendance 
 of the children of his people. He also strove 
 to improve the taste of his people by em- 
 ploying the architects of Greece to erect 
 palaces, churches, and other buildings, and 
 to redeem his dominions from the native 
 desert by felling forests, and erecting towns 
 on spots which previously harboured only 
 wolves and other beasts of prey. Though 
 many of his reforms were vehemently re- 
 sisted by his people, yet they mourned his 
 loss, and he obtained from them the title of 
 the Great, on account of his abilities as a 
 ruler; while the infant Christian church of 
 Russia canonised him as a saint, and pro- 
 nounced him as coequal with the apos- 
 tles. Nearly eight centuries afterwards 
 the empress Catherine instituted an order 
 of knighthood to his honour. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 8VIAT0P0LK, BY TREACHERY AND MURDER, UNITES THE PRINCIPALITIES OF RUSSIA UNDER HIS SCEPTRE ; 
 HE IS SUPPORTED BY THE DUKE OF POLAND, BUT DRIVEN FROM THE THRONE BY YAROSLAF ; THE LATTER 
 BECOMES GRAND PRINCE j HIS CODE OF LAWS ; HE PARTITIONS RUSSIA AMONGST HIS SONS, AND DIES. 
 
 The deatn of Vladimir was followed by a 
 period of confusion and unnatural warfare. 
 Sviatopoik, the adopted son of the late grand 
 prince, born of the beautiful widow of Yaro- 
 polk, resolved on the immediate execution 
 of a design he had long entertained of setting 
 aside his half-brothers and re-establishing 
 the divided country under his own authority. 
 With this view he caused three of them to 
 be assassinated ; and the other sons of Vla- 
 dimir, with one exception, fearing a similar 
 fate, refrained from opposing so reckless and 
 remorseless a man. 
 
 Yaroslaf, the Prince of Novgorod^ resolved 
 22 
 
 on making a stand against the ambitious 
 projects of the usurping fratricide. So 
 vigorous were the efforts of Yaroslaf, and so 
 ably was he seconded by his subjects, whose 
 affection he had won by the clemency of his 
 rule, that he soon drove his unprincipled 
 brother out of Kief, and compelled him to 
 take refuge with his father-in-law, Boleslas, 
 the Duke of Poland. The latter yielded to 
 the solicitations of the fugitive, and advanced 
 into Russia at the head of a powerful force, 
 with the intention of restoring Sviatopoik to 
 the throne. Yaroslaf was prepared, and met 
 the invaders on the banks of tl\e Bug. For 
 
 A.D. 1015—1026.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [rule of yaroslaf. 
 
 ,jP^^*, 
 
 some days each army remained encamped 
 within sight of the other, neither caring to 
 commence the conflict. At length a Russian 
 soldier stood upon the bank of the river and 
 mimicked the corpulent size and gait of the 
 Polish duke. Boleslas, whose intrepidity 
 had obtained for him the surname of the 
 Lion-hearted, was incensed beyond the 
 bounds of prudence by this insult. Plunging 
 into the water, he commanded his soldiers to 
 follow him, and the Poles soon landed on 
 the other side, and stood face to face with 
 their foes. A protracted battle followed, but 
 the Russians were defeated, and Sviatopoik 
 re-seated on the throne he had won by 
 treachery and murder. 
 
 The disheartened Yaroslaf fled to Nov- 
 gorod, and was preparing to retire across 
 the Baltic, but the loyalty of his subjects 
 restrained him. Destroying the ships that 
 were to take him away, they laid heavy taxes 
 upon themselves for the sake of engaging 
 mercenary troops to assist his cause. The 
 prosperity of Sviatopoik was of brief dura- 
 tion. Influenced by a mean jealousy of the 
 Poles who had succoured him^ he conceived 
 a design for their destruction. This trea- 
 cherous scheme was discovered by Boleslas, 
 who proceeded to take a decisive revenge. 
 He gave Kief over to be plundered by his 
 followers, who, infuriated at the baseness 
 of their allies, could with difficulty be re- 
 strained from reducing the city to ashes. 
 Loaded with spoil, they then returned to 
 their own country. They were followed by 
 Sviatopoik, who, maddened by wrath, sought 
 to obtain vengeance for the desolated capital ; 
 but he was defeated in a battle on the banks 
 of the Bug, and compelled to return to Kief 
 in confusion. Yaroslaf seized this opportu- 
 nity of hurling the usurper from his throne. 
 Marching rapidly against the fratricide, he 
 defeated him in a fiercely contested engage- 
 ment. Sviatopoik deserted his troops before 
 the battle was ended, and perished in a 
 miserable condition on the road. 
 
 Yaroslaf now ascended the throne as grand 
 prince, and it soon became apparent that 
 the government could not be in better hands. 
 His claim, however, was disputed by his 
 brother Motislaf, the seventh son of Vladi- 
 mir, and Prince of Tmutaracan, who had 
 gained some distinction as an able soldier. 
 Motislaf desired Yaroslaf to cede to him a part 
 of the fraternal appanage he governed. The 
 latter consented ; but t'le territory he gave 
 did not satisfy the exp'jctations of his bro- 
 ther, who immediately resorted to arms to 
 
 obtain by force that which he was unable to 
 get by supplication. In the war which fol- 
 lowed, Motislaf was triumphant; but he 
 generously divided the Russian dominions 
 between himself and his brother, with whom 
 he continued to remain in amity until his 
 death, which took place seven years after- 
 wards. The Russian dominions were then 
 again united under one ruler. 
 
 The commencement of the reign of Yaros- 
 laf was rendered unsettled by numerous 
 wars, in most of which he was successful. 
 He carried hostilities into Finland, Livonia, 
 Lithuania, and Bulgaria, and even pene- 
 trated into Greece, where he suffered a 
 defeat. He did not, however, seek to ac- 
 quire distinction by feats of arms ; he sel- 
 dom sought war, and usually entrusted the 
 command of his armies to his lieutenants. 
 Notwithstanding his ingratitude to his aged 
 father, he behaved well to his people. He 
 governed with wisdom, and addressed him- 
 self to the noble task of exalting the cha- 
 racter of his subjects. Especially devoting 
 himself to the spread of education and the 
 promotion of religion, he caused the Scrip- 
 tures to be translated into the Slavonian 
 language, and even accomplished the labo- 
 rious task of transcribing several copies 
 with his own hand. But the great work of 
 his life was the construction of a code of 
 laws, which, though it may read strangely 
 to modern ears, was doubtless adapted to 
 the wants of the time. Hitherto, written 
 laws were rare, and always liable to be in- 
 terpreted by the strong in their own favour. 
 Princes had been occupied rather in protect- 
 ing their dominions from aggression than 
 in administering justice to their subjects. 
 The result was a state of society in which 
 life and property was insecure, the arts un- 
 known, and commerce almost stagnant. 
 
 A rapid glance at this code of laws will 
 give some insight into the character of the 
 Russian people at this period. It was 
 couched in a spirit of paternal despotism. 
 " Respect this ordinance," said the prince ; 
 " it must be the rule of your conduct. 
 Such is my will." Its first article consti- 
 tuted the law the public avenger only in 
 cases where the friends of the murdered 
 man were unable to retaliate on the crimi- 
 nal themselves. This, doubtless, was but the 
 reduction of an existing practice into a 
 written law, and the legal permission of 
 outrages the ruler felt it impossible to re- 
 strain. Though life was taken in retalia- 
 tion, the law was not broken, and order 
 
 23 
 
;» 
 
 15 ; ' 
 
 li 
 
 n 
 
 I' 
 
 \l } 
 
 yaroslaf's code of laws.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1030. 
 
 appeared to exist. To have made the laws 
 widely different to all established customs, 
 would have been to run the risk of their 
 being laid aside altogether. If there were 
 no relatives to revenge the death of a mur- 
 dered man, the assassin was to pay a fine 
 regulated according to the rank of his vic- 
 tim. In this scale, the life of a woman was 
 estimated at only half the value of that of a 
 man — a circumstance which showed how 
 highly mere brute strength was regarded; 
 while no fine was imposed on the murderer 
 of a slave. In this case, the shedder of 
 human blood was to pay to the owner the 
 Talue of the slave, if he had been killed 
 wantonly; but if the victim had insulted 
 his assassin, the law required nothing at the 
 hands of the latter. It is also significant of 
 the scarcely disguised contempt which was 
 cherished against the pursuit of learning, 
 that while for the murder of the prince's 
 cook, or other domestic, a penalty of forty 
 grivnas was to be paid to the state, only 
 twelve grivnas was the fine demanded in the 
 event of the victim being a schoolmaster ! 
 
 Though Yaroslaf's code of laws paid so 
 small a respect to the lives of slaves that it 
 would not deprive the rich of the savage 
 gratification of slaying one on any caprice, 
 yet it held the honour of free Russians in 
 great estimation. For striking a blow, a 
 fine was exacted equal in amount to that 
 imposed for the murder of a schoolmaster or 
 artisan. The ofi'ence of pulling a man by 
 the beard, or knocking out one of his teeth, 
 was visited with a similar penalty. Many 
 regulations were framed for the security of 
 property ; but one law seemed made as if 
 with the intention of favouring dishonest 
 men. If a man lent money to another who 
 denied the loan on oath, the latter was re- 
 leased from the debt. Such an enactment 
 in a country where the legal interest of 
 money was forty per cent., was calculated 
 to create fraud, and to extinguish trading 
 transactions. 
 
 The code divided the population into 
 three classes : namely, the nobles, the free- 
 men, and the slaves. Of these, the latter, 
 chiefly prisoners of war and their descen- 
 dants, were left wholly unprotected. The 
 law did not recognise the humanity of these 
 unhappy men, but placed them in the 
 same category with the inferior animals. 
 The freemen, composed of citizens, farmers, 
 landholders, and hired servants, were fenced 
 in from the encroachments of the nobles. 
 They were subdivided into centuries, each 
 24 
 
 of which elected its representative, or tri- 
 bune, who, by virtue of his office, took equal 
 rank with the boyards or nobles. The latter 
 were regarded as the voyevodes, or military 
 leaders of the state, and the direct coun- 
 sellors of the prince. The hereditary rights 
 of property were preserved unconditionally 
 in their families alone. Thus arose a class 
 of rich patricians, identified with the in- 
 terests of property, while commerce and the 
 popular privileges were represented in the 
 assemblies of the elected representatives of 
 the people. Here were the germs of a legis- 
 lative system which, but for subsequent cir- 
 cumstances which swept over and extin- 
 guished them, might have ripened into a 
 wise mode of government and a just social 
 balance. It must be added, that the people 
 paid no taxes for the support of their prince. 
 His revenue was derived from the fines im- 
 posed for infractions of the law, from the 
 tribute, in kind, which he received from 
 the cultivators of his estates, and from the 
 voluntary oflferings of his subjects. The 
 boyards did not pay taxes ; their allegiance 
 consisted in rendering military service when 
 called upon to do so. The position of the 
 grdnd prince was necessarily a difficiilt one, 
 which could scarcely be filled except by a 
 man of severe temper and of commanding 
 will. The throne stood, as it were, in a 
 plain surrounded by forests, from which 
 frequently issued hordes of ruthless savages, 
 whose violence threatened to overturn the 
 dawning institutions of civilisation. Under 
 such circumstances, it was a great matter to 
 maintain any advance that had been made, 
 and not again to recede into the darkness of 
 barbaric life. It was, indeed, difficult to 
 civilise barbarians surrounded by barba- 
 rians. The antipathy entertained towards 
 the Greeks by the people was a great ob- 
 stacle to their progress, as it extended itself 
 to the arts, the sciences, and the manners 
 introduced by these foreigners. Christi- 
 anity, as being to a Russian mind essentially 
 a Greek religion, bore some share of this 
 dislike. 
 
 Very little is recorded of the reign of 
 Yaroslaf; which circumstance, connected 
 with his reputation for wisdom, leads to the 
 inference that Russia enjoyed peace and 
 prosperity under his sway. Towards the 
 close of his life, he committed a serious 
 error in abandoning the city of Novgorod to 
 his son Vladimir. Scarcely had the latter 
 ascended the throne of the once republican 
 state, than, with all tl e ardour of a barbarian 
 
 f A.b. 1054.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [death of yaroslaf. 
 
 in quest of plunder, he led an army into the 
 Grecian empire, under pretence of obtaining 
 satisfaction for the death of a Russian who 
 had been killed there. The iniquity of this 
 act elicited an appropriate but terrible retri- 
 bution. Fifteen thousand of the invaders 
 were left dead upon the plains of Greece, 
 and the aggressor driven back with disgrace 
 to his own dominions. Undeterred by the 
 criminal folly of one of his sons, Yaroslaf, 
 before his death, followed the evil example 
 of his predecessors, and partitioned the 
 whole of Russia amongst his sons, only or- 
 daining that the younger ones should be 
 subordinate to the eldest, who was autho- 
 rised to reduce them to obedience by force 
 of arms, should they exhibit a disposition 
 to dispute his authority — of course, if he 
 was powerful enough to do so. This 
 arrangement, enforced by death-bed ad- 
 
 monitions, he trusted would sufficiently 
 secure the empire from the afflictions of 
 civil commotion and disputes concerning 
 the succession. Such a confidence, placed 
 in the fleeting honour of ambitious and 
 greedy semi-barbarous princes, shakes our 
 faith concerning his possession of that 
 wisdom which the ancient chroniclers attri- 
 bute to him. Often, however, the wise in 
 one direction are guilty of folly in others; 
 the purest golden ore is frequently found 
 mingled with baser metals and with mire. 
 Yaroslaf died in 1054, after a prolonged 
 reign of thirty-four years. Before he had 
 long lain in his grave, Russia became the 
 prey of internal dissensions and of servile 
 war ; the fatal result of that partitioning of 
 the empire which he had not the wisdom to 
 foresee. This tragic error almost led to the 
 dissolution of the infant empire. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ISIASLAF SUCCEEDS TO THE GRAND PRINCEDOM ; HE IS TWICE DRIVEN FROM THE THRONE, AND TWICE 
 RESTORED TO IT BY THE POLES; THE LATTER RECALLED FROM KIEF BY THE INCONSTANCY OF THEIR 
 WIVES; CONFUSION ARISING FROM THE WEAKNESS OF ISIASLAF; HIS DEATH ; REVERSAL OF THE ORDER 
 OF SUCCESSION ; VSEVOLOD SUCCEEDS ; IS FOLLOWED BY SVIATOPOLK ; EXPULSION OF THE JEWS FROM 
 RUSSIA VLADIMIR MONOMACHUS CALLED TO THE THRONE; HE ARRESTS THE DECLINE OF THE STATE- 
 HIS FAREWELL ADMONITION AND DEATH. '' 
 
 Isiaslaf I., the eldest of the five sous of 
 Yaroslaf, succeeded as grand prince to the 
 regal seat of Kief, which, from its magnifi- 
 cence and civilisation in comparison with 
 the other important towns, had really be- 
 come, in accordance with the words of Oleir. 
 the mother, or chief, of Russian cities. 
 
 It is one matter to have a presumed au- 
 thority over other princes, and quite a dif- 
 ferent one to maintain it. The wisest and 
 most powerful sovereigns have been per- 
 plexed in such positions, and have commonly 
 been compelled to enforce their claims with 
 the sword. Isiaslaf was too feeble to pre- 
 serve his paramount authority, and its be- 
 queathment to him embittered his life and 
 distracted the country. Ucheslaf, Prince of 
 Polotsk, was the first of the brothers of 
 Isiaslaf who set him at defiance. Nor did 
 1)0 stop at defiance : advancing with a well- 
 disciplined army against Kief, he compelled 
 the inhabitants to submit, and drove Isiaslaf j 
 
 VOL. I. J 
 
 from his throne. The unfortunate })rince 
 sought the protection of Boleslas II., grand- 
 duke of Poland, justly called the Bold, on 
 account of his fearlessness and skill in war. 
 Boleslas received the fugitive, to whom he 
 was distantly connected by marriage, with 
 sympathy, and at once adopted his cause. 
 His ostensible motive was of the purest and 
 most generous kind. " I am obliged to 
 succour that prince," said he, "by the blood 
 which unites us, and by the pity so justly 
 due to his misfortunes. Unfortunate prince's 
 are more to be commiserated than ordinary 
 mortals. If calamities must necessarily 
 exist on earth, they should not be allowed 
 to aff*ect such as are exalted for the happi- 
 ness of others." 
 
 This seeming nobility of conduct was, 
 however, but a cover forVeelings of a selfish 
 character. His secret motive was the re- 
 covery of the possessions which his prede- 
 cessors had held in Russia, and of the do- 
 
 25 
 
 ,(i5f«#|r^ 
 

 ! 
 
 ! 
 J 
 
 PI' 
 
 h 
 
 ■1 
 
 I' • 
 
 u •' •'■ 
 
 :i ) 
 
 ^^;!» 
 
 AVEAKNESS OF ISIASLAF.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1066—1077. 
 
 mains he conceived he had a right to 
 inherit through his mother and his queen, 
 both of whom were Russian princesses. 
 
 Boleslas the Bold, therefore, entered 
 Russia at the head of a numerous army 
 inured to victory, and full of confidence in 
 their leader, and advanced within a few 
 leagues of Kief before he was opposed by 
 Ucheslaf and his troops. Such was the 
 martial appearance and undaunted mien of 
 the Poles, that Ucheslaf s heart sank within 
 him ; and, quitting his tent secretly, he took 
 to flight. He had not, however, proceeded 
 far before he experienced the natural shame 
 arising from the dishonourable course he 
 •was pursuing. He felt the inevitable con- 
 viction, that not only would his conduct 
 lead to a loss of his dominions, but that it 
 might also expose him to the vengeance of 
 his betrayed and irritated followers. Col- 
 lecting his resolution, he returned to the 
 camp l»e had so shamefully abandoned, and 
 gazed once more upon the formidable enemy 
 arrayed against him. His dastard spirit 
 could not bear the sight,, and again he fled. 
 His troops being without a leader and with- 
 out a purpose, speedily dispersed, leaving 
 Kief unprotected. The city was infested by 
 the Poles, and no choice left to the inhabit- 
 ants but to receive the late fugitive Isiaslaf 
 as their prince. Polotsk followed the ex- 
 ample of Kief, and submitted ; but Ucheslaf^ 
 who had taken refuge there after his igno- 
 minious flight, contrived to escape. 
 
 Boleslas, though a brave soldier, was an 
 abandoned sensualist. He and his troops 
 remained some time at Kief, and gave them- 
 selves up to the pleasures of this compa- 
 ratively polished city. During their stay, 
 it was the scene of a continued round of 
 profligacy. Fortunately for the Russians, 
 the aft'airs of Boleslas demanded his pre- 
 sence in Hungary, whither he and his army 
 departed, leaving Isiaslaf again in the pos- 
 session of his throne and the dangerous 
 claim to paramount authority bequeathed to 
 him by his father. 
 
 For seven years Isiaslaf contended against 
 his brothers and their kindred, who asserted 
 unjust claims, or prosecuted predatory ad- 
 ventures. The spirits of contention, exac- 
 tion, and misrule swept over the land like a 
 triple pestilence ; and the empire seemed 
 abandoned to anarchy. At the end of the 
 seven years, the unfortunate prince was 
 again expelled from Kief by Ysevolod, a 
 prince of one of the tributary liefs. It 
 would have been better if a sovereign so in- 
 26 
 
 capable of standing alone as Isiaslaf had 
 shown himself to be, had accepted his fate, 
 and reconciled himself to the tranquil secu- 
 rity of private life. The annals of history 
 do not record many instances of moral 
 heroism of this kind ; and certainly the 
 again fugitive Prince of Kief did not possess 
 it. He applied for aid to several European 
 mouarchs; and at length implored the in- 
 terference of Pope Gregory VIIl. The pope 
 eagerly caught at an ofi'er which he thought 
 might ultimately lead to the transference of 
 the faith of the Russian people from the 
 Greek church to that of Rome ; but he gave 
 assistance in a second-hand and equivocal 
 manner. In other words, he did nothing 
 himself; but he instructed the Duke of 
 Poland to support Isiaslaf to the utmost of 
 his power. This Boleslas, actuated, as we 
 have shown, by secret views of his own, 
 consented to do. Necessarily, these selfish 
 views rose in proportion to the urgency of 
 the demand upon his services. This time, 
 though he resolved to restore Isiaslaf to his 
 throne, he was no less resolved to make him 
 tributary to Poland. With this design, he 
 speedily subjugated the whole of Volhynia, 
 as a place of retreat in case he experienced 
 a reverse of fortune. This done, he a second 
 time marched against Kief. His progress 
 was arrested by the forces of the reigning 
 prince, Vsevolod, and a terrible battle en- 
 sued, in which the army of the latter was 
 almost annihilated. Kief, however, was 
 ably prepared for resistance. Well gar- 
 risoned and provisioned, it withstood his 
 efi'orts ; and he was obliged to subj'ect it to 
 the tedious process of a siege. As Boleslas 
 was as impatient as he was valorous, he 
 might have retired in consequence of this 
 obstinate resistance, but that an unsought 
 and unseen ally played into his hands. 
 This was a contagious fever, which broke 
 out amongst the inhabitants, and led them to 
 open the gates in terror, that they might 
 escape the eflects of the pestilence. Just as 
 the latter had exhausted itself, Boleslas 
 poured in his troops ; and the enfeebled 
 citizens submitted with patience to a fate 
 they could no longer avert. Thus was 
 Isiaslaf restored to a throne from which he 
 had been twice expelled. Boleslas acted 
 with the generosity of a noble nature. In- 
 stead of incorporating the territories of Kief 
 and its dependent provinces with his own 
 dominions, he preferred leaving friends ra- 
 ther than enemies behind him; he merely, 
 exacted a tribute from these territories, and 
 
 ^B. 1078.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [evil state of RUSSIA. 
 
 caused himself to be acknowledged as sove- 
 reign paramount. 
 
 The generous and afl'able bearing of Bo- 
 leslas soon rendered him a favourite with 
 the people of Kief; and he and his com- 
 panions plunged into a dissipation even ex- 
 ceeding their former revels in that city. 
 His days were occupied in feasting and 
 drinking, while his nights were devoted to 
 the society of such of the frail ones of Kief 
 as possessed more charms than virtue. His 
 followers, down even to the humblest, soon 
 imitated the conduct of their chief, and all 
 ordinary business appeared superseded by 
 the wild vortex of incessant sensuality, 
 which drew both Poles and Russians into its 
 debilitating embrace. The gratitude of 
 Isiaslaf prompted him not to off'er opposition 
 to the desires of his restorer ; but he sought 
 to win him from the numerous debaucheries 
 to which the Polish duke surrendered him- 
 self. Desiring, on one occasion, to obtain 
 a visit from Boleslas, the Russian prince 
 offered him as many marks of gold as his 
 horse should take steps in making the jour- 
 ney from one residence to the other. The 
 gift is said to have been one of a surpris- 
 ingly liberal kind. 
 
 While the Poles were thus wallowing in 
 the grossest sensuality at Kief, they received 
 information which filled them with a violent 
 desire to return to their homes, from which 
 they had been absent in Russia and Hun- 
 gary for the space of seven years. During 
 this period, their wives and children had 
 never seen them. The former, weary of 
 their cheerless condition, which was worse 
 than widowhood, forgot their chastity in 
 their desolation, and submitted to the em- 
 braces of their slaves. A rage for these 
 base amours seized the Polish women. De- 
 bauchery of this nature became the rule; 
 and it is said that but one of the wives of the 
 absent warriors had the virtue to refrain 
 from it. This is probably an exaggeration ; 
 but a fashionable frenzy, in any direction, 
 commonly overpowers every opposing feel- 
 ing, and dominates alike over reason or 
 honour. We shall not follow other writers 
 in any cheaply virtuous indignation respect- 
 ing the conduct of these unfortunate women ; 
 for men too often utter pompous rhapso- 
 dies in favour of a rigid chastity which 
 they never observe. The Polish women, 
 wounded bv the evident indifference of their 
 husbands, deprived of those social endear- 
 ments and words of affection which enter 
 so largely into the happiness of the fairer 
 
 sex, and incensed by the licentious conduct 
 of their partners (rumours of which must 
 have reached them), adopted the often-erring 
 principle of lex talionis, and returned like 
 for like. The Polish warriors, however, did 
 not reflect on the provocations of their ab- 
 sence and their infidelity ; and on hearing 
 of this unexpected depravity on the part of 
 their wives, they were distracted with shame 
 and fury, and begged permission of their 
 sovereign to return home. Actuated by a 
 confidence in his queen, or entranced by 
 the libidinous pleasures into which he was 
 plunged at Kief, Boleslas, though he pro- 
 mised his troops that he would return, made 
 no preparation for doing so. Many of his 
 irritated followers lost all patience, and de- 
 parted without his permission ; and Boleslas 
 was soon compelled, by this multitudinous 
 desertion, to follow their example. When 
 the Poles arrived at their homes, they found 
 their slaves presiding at their boards, and in 
 possession of all their privileges. In some 
 instances they were resisted to the last ex- 
 tremity, and in others, they were pacified 
 by submission and entreaties for pardon. 
 Some of the women and their paramours 
 fled, and others were put to death by the 
 enraged husbands. 
 
 Isiaslaf, left without his protectors, soon 
 showed his inability to use the authority be- 
 queathed to him. The subordinate princes 
 refused to recognise his supremacy, and se- 
 parated themselves from the grand prince- 
 dom. Fierce dissensions swept over the 
 empire, which was rapidly falling to pieces, 
 in consequence of the suicidal fury of con- 
 tending governments. Such a state of 
 things encouraged the hostile incursions of 
 the barbarous nations and tribes that lay 
 upon its borders. Poles, Hungarians, and 
 Tartars swept like a pestilence over the 
 Russian borders, and marked their track by 
 burning villages, the women of which they 
 had violated; while they put the men to 
 death, or carried them away into slavery. 
 The wretched Isiaslaf died in 1078, after a 
 reign of twenty-four years. 
 
 The discord that existed did not perish 
 with him, and even the order of- succession 
 was reversed. No ancient custom was res- 
 pected; and the interests of the strong 
 towered over the rights of the weak. Isias- 
 laf was not succeeded by his eldest son, but 
 by his brother Vsevolod, who ascended the 
 throne with the consent of the children of 
 the deceased prince. Such a case was with- 
 out precedent in Russia ; for although the 
 
 27 
 
REVERSAL OF THE SUCCESSION.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1078—1114. 
 
 i ■"■■) 
 
 » i 
 
 n 11 
 
 
 wrarrior Oleg absolutely exercised the regal 
 power during his life, he did so with the 
 title of regent. But Vsevolod endeavoured 
 to perpetuate the example he had intro- 
 duced, by fixing the order of successioii from 
 brother to brother as the law of the .and. 
 He wore a tottering crown during a period 
 of fifteen years. History is almost silent 
 concerning him. It has been well remarked, 
 that his reign is " an agitated canvas, in 
 which the observer can discern nothing 
 niore than the chaos of the elements, with 
 a single star of promise glittering distinctly 
 in the person of the prince.^' He is most 
 remembered on account of the virtues and 
 wisdom of his son Vladimir Monomachus, in 
 whose arms he breathed his last, and to 
 whom he bequeathed the throne of Kief, in 
 contravention of tlie very rule of succession 
 he had himself introduced as law. 
 
 Vladimir, influenced by a noble self- 
 denial, refused to accept the regal legacy. 
 The peace of his country was dearer to him 
 than personal honours and interests. To 
 the entreaties of the citizens, he replied, 
 he would not violate the recently established 
 order of succession, which conferred the 
 title and position of grand prince upon his 
 cousin Sviatopolk. '' His father,^' reasoned 
 Vladimir, "was my father's senior, and 
 reigned first in the capital. I wish to pre- 
 serve Russia from the horrors of civil war.^' 
 
 Sviatopolk was a splenetic and feeble- 
 minded prince, who not only owed the 
 throne of Kief to the moderation of Vladi- 
 mir, but was preserved in it solely by the 
 wise counsels of the latter, which, neverthe- 
 less, he ventured frequently to disregard. 
 The reign of Sviatopolk is as barren in in- 
 cident as that of his predecessor, and is 
 neglected alike by ancient chroniclers and 
 modern historians. It appears to have been 
 chiefly passed in fierce but uninteresting con- 
 tentions between the rival Russian princes, 
 each one of whom seems to have neglected 
 his own territories, and turned all his atten- 
 tion towards seizing that of his neighbours. 
 Sviatopolk died in 1113, after a reign of 
 twenty years, leaving Kief and the Russian 
 empire generally in a state of apparently in- 
 extricable disorder. 
 
 The death of Sviatopolk was followed by 
 a savage outbreak of the citizens of Kief 
 against the Jews. These unfortunate peo- 
 ple having excited there a feeling of enmity, 
 probably by the exhibition of a selfishly ac- 
 quisitive temper, a cruel design was formed 
 for a general massacre of them. Some, it 
 28 
 
 appears, fell victims to the popular fury; 
 but it would seem that many of the citizens 
 hesitated to slaughter unarmed men in cold 
 blood ; and Vladimir was appealed to to 
 arrest the progress of the savage tumult. 
 Order, however, was only restored by the 
 expulsion of the Jews from the whole of the 
 Russian territory — a banishment which en- 
 dured for six centuries, Vladimir, though 
 he could not save them from this doom, 
 protected their retreat, and caused their 
 exile to be respected. 
 
 Above all the clamour that shook the 
 ancient city of Kief, there rose a wild de- 
 mand that Vladimir Monomachus must now 
 assume the sceptre, for that he was the only 
 man who could restore tranquillity to the 
 state. Again he refused. He maintained 
 that the princedom was not elective, and 
 that he was not the true heir to it accord- 
 ing to the order of succession established by 
 his dead father. As he appeared fixed iu 
 this resolution, the citizens broke into open 
 revolt, and declared that they would not 
 acknowledge any sovereign but the one 
 they had elected. Vladimir now saw that 
 further resistance would be merely irrational 
 obstinacy, and tend to plunge the country 
 still further into that anarchy from which 
 he had sought so earnestly to save it. 
 
 The accession of Vladimir to the throne 
 of Kief in 1114, gave a promise of coming 
 peace, and a hope of again binding together, 
 in a bond of union, the now discontented 
 states of the empire. Such a work was, 
 however, one both of time and difficulty, and 
 Vladimir was in the fall of life. During 
 the twelve years he bore the sceptre, he was 
 occupied with those important but unobtru- 
 sive labours which, though of inestimable 
 value, afford but a narrow theme for the his- 
 torian. He appeased jealousies, satisfied 
 conflicting claims, repressed disorderly pas- 
 sions, maintained justice, and restored con- 
 fidence. To these labours he devoted himself 
 with an efficiency which was not only ap- 
 preciated by his subjects, but obtained lor 
 him the esteem of foreign courts. It even 
 elicited from the Grecian emperor a com- 
 pliment the most distinguished such a mo- 
 narch could pay. Recognising iu Vladimir 
 a greatness of mind worthy of the noblest 
 station, he sent him the ensigns of imperial 
 dignity, as a sign that he considered him 
 his equal. 
 
 Shortlv before his death, Vladimir ame- 
 liorated the laws; softening the rigour of 
 some, and rendering others more exact and 
 
 A.D. 1125.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [fareavell advice of vLADimR. 
 
 comprehensive. The last public act of his 
 life was to leave a farewell admonition to 
 his subjects or children, as he called them, 
 which is interesting, as being illustrative of 
 the habits and principles of one of the 
 heroes of an age struggling slowly and labo- 
 riously from a barbarism which it was neither 
 prepared to leave or to remain satisfied with. 
 This testament appears derived from a re- 
 membrance of his own actions, and offered 
 to his subjects as a guidance to theirs. 
 
 " My dear children,^' ran the document, 
 "praise God and love men; for it is neither 
 fasting nor solitude, nor monastic vows, that 
 can give you eternal life; it is beneficence 
 alone. 
 
 " Be fathers to the orphan; be yourselves 
 judges for the widow. Put to death neither 
 the innocent nor the guilty, for nothing is 
 more sacred than the life and soul of a 
 Christian. 
 
 " Keep not the priests at a distance from 
 you ; do good to them, that they may offer 
 up prayers to God for you. 
 
 " Violate not the oath which you have 
 sworn on the cross. My brothers said to 
 me, • Assist us to expel the sons of Rotislaf, 
 and seize upon their provinces, or renounce 
 our alliance.' But I answered, ' I cannot 
 
 forget that I have kissed the cross.' 
 
 " Bear in mind that a man ought to be 
 always employed : look carefully into your 
 domestic concerns, and fly from drunken- 
 ness and debauchery. 
 
 " Love your wives, but do not suffer them 
 to have any power over you. 
 
 " Endeavour constantly to obtain know- 
 ledge. Without having quitted his palace, 
 my father spoke five languages; a thing 
 which wins for us the admiration of fo- 
 reigners. 
 
 " In war be vigilant ; be an example to 
 your boyards. Never retire to rest without 
 having posted your guards. Never take off 
 your arms while you are within reach of the 
 enemy ; and, to avoid ever being surprised, 
 always be early on horseback. 
 
 " When you travel through your pro- 
 vinces, do not allow your attendants to do 
 the least injury to the inhabitants. Enter- 
 tain always, at your own expense, the master 
 of the house in which you take up your 
 abode. 
 
 '* If you find yourself affected by any ail- 
 ment, make three prostrations down to the 
 ground before the Lord ; and never let the 
 sun find you in bed. At the dawn of day, 
 my father, and the virtuous men by whom 
 
 he was surrounded, did thus : They glorified 
 the Lord. They then seated themselves to 
 deliberate, or to administer justice to the 
 people, or they went to the chase ; and in 
 the middle of the day they slept; which 
 God permits to man, as well as to the 
 beasts and birds. 
 
 " For my part, I accustomed myself to do 
 everything that I might have ordered ray 
 servants to do. Night and day, summer 
 and winter, I was perpetually moving about. 
 I wished to see everything with my own 
 eyes. Never did I abandon the poor or the 
 widow to the oppressions of the powerful. 
 I made it my duty to inspect the churches 
 and the sacred ceremonies of religion, as 
 well as the management of my property, 
 my stables, and the vultures and hawks of 
 my hunting establishment. 
 
 " I have made eighty-three campaigns, 
 and many expeditions. I concluded nine- 
 teen treaties with the Polovtzy. I took 
 captive one hundred of their princes, whom 
 I set free again; and I put two hundred 
 of them to death, by throwing them into 
 rivers. 
 
 " No one has ever travelled more rapidly 
 than I have done. Setting out in the 
 morning from Tchernigof, I have arrived at 
 Kief before the hour of vespers. 
 
 " In my youth, what falls from my horse 
 did I not experience ! wounding my feet and 
 my hands, and breaking my head against 
 trees. But the Lord watched over me. 
 
 " In hunting, amidst the thickest forests, 
 how many times have I myself caught wild 
 horses, and bound them together! How 
 many times have I been thrown down by 
 buffaloes, wounded by the antlers of stags, 
 and trodden under the feet of elks! A 
 furious wild boar rent my sword from my 
 baldrick ; my saddle was torn to pieces by a 
 bear; this terrible beast rushed upon my 
 courser, whom he threw down upon me. 
 But the Lord protected me. 
 
 " O, my children, fear neither death nor 
 wild beasts. Trust in Providence; it far 
 surpasses all human precautions.'^ 
 
 The perusal of this experience of a wise 
 and good barbarian (for we think that is 
 the most appropriate description of this 
 prince), leads back the imagination to an 
 imperfect realisation of the country and 
 state of society in which he lived. It shows 
 us man yet dwelling on the borders of dense 
 forests, and contending with beasts of prey 
 for the possession of the soil. It shows 
 cities enjoying peace, only in consequence 
 
 29 
 
 \i\ 
 
 .J] 
 
DEATH OF VLADIMIR.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1125. 
 
 of the indolence or forbearance of hordes of 
 barbarians, with whom war was an occupa- 
 tion and murder a revolting pastime. What 
 promise-breaking and treachery is recorded 
 by the simple fact, that the truthful Vladi- 
 mir had to conclude nineteen different trea- 
 ties with the Polovtzy Tartars ; every one of 
 which these human wolves broke through as 
 soon as it suited their convenience to do so. 
 What a revelation of their cruelty, also, is 
 contained in the circumstance that this 
 simple-minded prince, who shrunk from 
 taking human life, was compelled to put 
 200 of these Tartar chiefs to death bv 
 drowning; a doom which their treachery 
 and depravity no doubt justly deserved. It 
 shows us Vladimir himself as a just, merci- 
 ful, active, and, indeed, indefatigable ruler. 
 Temperate, chaste, and industrious; in the 
 latter respect a slave to duty. Earnestly 
 pious, yet strongly impressed with what we 
 may designate the coarse materialism of 
 religious formula, rather than penetrated by 
 a spirit of devout aspiration. There is 
 something approaching even to the low 
 idolatry of fetish worship in the superstition 
 which dictated three prostrations before the 
 Deity as the means of curing the ague or a 
 fever. But Vladimir would, indeed, have 
 been in advance of his time if he had recog- 
 nised the important truth, that spiritual 
 evils must be cured by spiritual remedies, 
 and material evils by material remedies. A 
 patient suffering from consumption or 
 paralysis, does not apply to a clergyman for 
 
 aid; or a sinner, writhing under the pangs 
 of an outraged and awakened conscience, 
 proceed to a physician. In the first case, 
 prayer is a secondary instrument of allevia- 
 tion ; in the second, the same may be said 
 of medical attention. There is an odd sim- 
 plicity, also, in the mode in which the good 
 Vladimir connects the inspection of the 
 churches and the management of his stables ; 
 but his evident good faith utterly exonerates 
 him from intentional levity on a serious 
 theme. His inoffensive vanity, too, in re- 
 cording the trivial acts of his life — his fall 
 from his horse, and his conflicts with stags, 
 wild boars, and buffaloes — in a document 
 addressed as a solemn admonition to his 
 people, is amusing. Altogether, we should 
 estimate Vladimir as a man of the purest 
 integrity, a benevolent temper, and a mind 
 considerably above the average of his coun- 
 trymen, but not as one possessing genius 
 for government. His well-known virtues 
 caused men to have confidence in him ; and 
 that produced its natural results — tranquil- 
 lity and a return in the direction of national 
 prosperity. We say in the direction of na- 
 tional prosperity, for his rule was too brief 
 to permit him to consolidate the noble work 
 he had so happily began. He died in 1125, 
 after a reign of twelve years. He had been 
 thrice married, and left five children behind 
 him. Motislaf, the eldest, who succeeded 
 him as grand prince, was the son of Gyda, 
 daughter of Harold, the last Saxon king of 
 England. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PERIOD OF ANARCHY ; IGOR OF SUZDAL ; HIS SON ANDREW ATTEMPTS THE CONSOLIDATION OF RUSSIA ; HE 
 IS MURDERED; THE AGE OF WEAKNESS AND DARKNESS; GHENGIS KHAN AND THE TARTAR INVASION OF 
 RUSSIA ; BATOU AND HIS TARTAR HOST RAVAGE THE COUNTRY, AND PERPETRATE GREAT ATROCITIES ; 
 "WHILE OCCUPIED IN MARCHING UPON NOVGOROD, THEY SUDDENLY TURN AND ABANDON RUSSIA. 
 
 On the aeath of Vladimir Monomachus, 
 Kief and its dependent dominions com- 
 menced a backward motion to that state of 
 confusion and decay from which he had 
 partially rescued them. Motislaf, who in- 
 lierited the virtues of his father, retained 
 the broken sceptre during six years only; 
 when his death gave the signal for a series 
 of selfish struggles which exhausted the life- 
 30 
 
 blood of the country, and prepared it for 
 that state of miserable and prolonged servi- 
 tude which ensued. A period followed which 
 partook of the nature of an interregnum. 
 Government and the protection of the 
 people was at an end, and the throne of 
 Kief was seized by an adventurer one year, 
 who was displaced by another the next. 
 History recoils from the wearisome task of 
 
 A.D. 1154—1160.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [ANDREW OF SUZDAL. 
 
 chronicling the contests, the murders, the 
 treacheries, and the insane ambitions of 
 these paltry actors in the tragedy of a 
 country's ruin. It is sufficient to say, that 
 in the course of thirty-two years, eleven 
 princes mounted the tottering throne, which 
 each forfeited directly another arose armed 
 with sufficient power to tear it from him. 
 A curse had fallen upon Kief; its streets 
 ran with blood from the frequent contests 
 between rival factions which took place in 
 them. Its people were reduced to poverty ; 
 its soldiers became thieves and ruffians, 
 wandering about in search of food and 
 plunder ; and its merchants trembled for the 
 wealth which they scarcely dared employ in 
 its natural channels. The neighbouring 
 provinces were seized by whoever was strong 
 or daring enough to grasp them ; and the 
 fields, once devoted to agriculture, were 
 wasted by fire and sword. This state of 
 things continued until the grand princi- 
 pality had dwindled to little more than the 
 city of Kief. " Its paramount authority,^' 
 said Segur, " was nothing but a vain title ; 
 and yet, whether it arose from the influence 
 of a name, or that it was still looked upon 
 as the Capua, the Babylon of the Russians, 
 the metropolis of their religion, the empo- 
 rium of their commerce, the source of their 
 civilisation, it is certain that all the anarchy 
 of the princes continued to be obstinately 
 bent against Kief; and the eye becomes be- 
 wildered in gazing upon the confusion.^' 
 
 One figure at length became the most 
 prominent among the crowd of rulers whose 
 fatal ambition had struck upon the heart of 
 their country. This was Igor, the Prince of 
 Suzdal, an immense territory, occupying 
 the centre of Russia. But this vast appa- 
 nage was to him only a source of discontent. 
 His dominions, he said, were distinguished 
 only by an inclement climate, uncultivated 
 deserts, gloomy forests, and a people sunk 
 in ignorance. This barbarian, therefore, 
 longed to possess himself of the once polished 
 but now humbled city of Kief, to which, at 
 this gloomy period, might almost be applied 
 the mournful language which the prophet 
 Jeremiah uttered concerning the abject de- 
 solation of Jerusalem — " How doth the city 
 sit solitary, that was full of people ! how is 
 she become as a widow ! She that was 
 great among the nations, and princess 
 among the provinces, how is she become 
 tributary ! '' 
 
 Igor of Suzdal marched upon the dis- 
 tracted city of Kief, and the helpless citizens 
 
 surrendered to the power he brought with 
 him. Seated upon a throne he had so easily 
 acquired, the barbarian abandoned himself 
 to an amount of riotous sensuality that 
 speedily ended his worthless life. Such a 
 mere warlike libertine would neither have 
 deserved nor received notice, but for the 
 perilous and important part afterwards played 
 by his son, known as Andrew of Suzdal. 
 This prince was not disposed to follow the 
 example of his father, but remained, at 
 least for a time, contented with his paternal 
 dominions. ^ " There,'' he observed, with 
 the placid spirit of a philosopher, " still 
 abide simplicity of manners, the obedience 
 of the people, and the devoted fidelity of the 
 boyards ; while at Kief, a city which is on 
 the frontier of the Hungarians, the Poles, 
 and the Polovtzy, all is pillage, murder, 
 servile and foreign war." 
 
 Remaining at home, Andrew devoted 
 himself to the duties of the principality 
 which had descended to him from inheri- 
 tance ; and there he frequently gave himself 
 up to reflection upon the calamities of his 
 country. Those calamities were still pro- 
 longed at Kief, which continued the prey of 
 men whose ambition ever exceeded their 
 power. Chief after chief entered its gates 
 in petty triumph, rested for a brief time on 
 the royal seat, and was as speedily ejected. 
 Andrew at length saw the principal cause 
 of the misery of Kief and the disunion of 
 Russia. That cause was the partitioning 
 the empire into separate governments, and 
 the establishment of feudal principalities. 
 Satisfied of the correctness of this important 
 political truth, he determined to avoid, 
 within his own territory, that error of which 
 he saw so abundantly the fatal eff'ects else- 
 where. He therefore peremptorily abolished 
 the system of granting territorial tracts, 
 even to his relations and favourite boyards ; 
 and pronounced an opinion condemnatory 
 of princes dividing their dominions into 
 appanages for their sons. The wisdom of 
 his conduct was soon apparent: Vladimir, 
 his chief city^ became worthy of being 
 the Russian capital ; Moscow, a town 
 created by his father, rose into distinction ; 
 and a portion of the population of the south 
 was attracted to his dominions, where they 
 sought refuge from the horrors of war and 
 confusion. 
 
 Andrew at length, lured from the unam- 
 bitious simplicity of his early life, felt en- 
 couraged to attempt the regeneration and 
 consolidation of Russia. As Kief declined, 
 
 31 
 
 
Andrew's designs and death.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1174. 
 
 if' 
 
 III 
 
 if, 
 7 4' 
 
 Novgorod, the earliest Russian city, rose in 
 prosperity. It had recently been admitted 
 into the Hanseatic league, and was become 
 the emporium of the commerce of the East. 
 The bravery of its people maintained its 
 independence, while the extent of its com- 
 mercial transactions was a fertile source of 
 continually increasing wealth. We have 
 now to record what must be regarded as a 
 dark stain upon the character of Andrew. 
 Influenced by a base jealousy of the pros- 
 perity of Novgorod, which he was desirous 
 should not eclipse Vladimir, the capital of 
 his principality, he collected a powerful 
 army, and advanced upon the former city. 
 The motive appears an insufficient one, but 
 it sprung from an ambitious self-love. 
 Vladimir, he was resolved, should be the 
 new capital of Russia; then it would be 
 identified with his name and reputation, 
 and must therefore stand unrivalled. To 
 have raised it to an isolated elevation by 
 securing its tranquillity, extending its com- 
 merce, encouraging the arts practised within 
 it, and adorning it with noble buildings, 
 would have been a lofty way of accomplish- 
 ing this object; to weaken and humiliate 
 a prosperous rival, was a dastardly and vile 
 one. 
 
 His first expedition against Novgorod ter- 
 minated in disgrace; his troops were op- 
 posed by the citizens with great intrepidity, 
 and hurled back from the gates of the proud 
 city. Disappointed in not being able to smite 
 the powerful, he turned his arms against 
 the weak, and led his beaten soldiers in 
 an attack on the forlorn city of Kief. 
 Against a dispirited foe they fought brutally 
 and fiercely enough, and the city was taken 
 by storm and rendered dependent upon this 
 prince of yesterday, who had achieved vic- 
 tory without honour. The following year 
 he again led an enormous army against 
 Novgorod, and was again defeated by its 
 spirited and hardy citizens ! What he could 
 not win from them by force of arms, he had, 
 however, sufficient address to acquire by 
 policy. We are told the Novgorodians saw 
 the advantages of the system he proposed, 
 and consented to acknowledge the supre- 
 macy of a prince whose principles of govern- 
 ment seemed calculated to bind together 
 the now severed appanages of the empire. 
 We must confess to an incredulity that any 
 arguments he could use would be likely to 
 produce so remarkable an eflect. Perhaps 
 his gold, judiciously administered to the 
 chiefs of Novgorod, removed diflficulties his 
 32 
 
 sword could not hew down. However this 
 may be, he was now acknowledged as occu- 
 pying the throne of the grand princedom. 
 
 Andrew's success induced him to depart 
 still further from the moderation and wisdom 
 of his youth, and to push forward his scheme 
 of consolidation with a dangerous rapidity. 
 Great works, if intended for endurance, 
 must not be suddenly or violently accom- 
 plished. That which is hastily constructed 
 is often even more rapidly demolished. 
 Man, the most highly organised of animals, 
 is the slowest in arriving at maturity ; while 
 it is computed that a thousand years must 
 elapse before the soft and comparatively 
 worthless charcoal becomes, by the subtle 
 chemistry of nature, transmuted into the 
 hard and dazzling diamond. Thus, with 
 governments and peoples, unnaturally hasty 
 reforms are followed by an inevitable reac- 
 tion, which plunges them back still further 
 into the darkness from which an effort was 
 made to emerge. Andrew's design embraced 
 the subjection of every independent prince, 
 each of whom then began to regard him 
 with suspicion and hatred. It was his in- 
 terest to destrov that which it was theirs to 
 maintain. Each prince had boyards and 
 troops dependent upon him, and was neces- 
 sarily more or less formidable. One princi- 
 pality after another revolted against the 
 authority of the grand prince; and the people 
 so disliked the new system, that they were 
 ever ready to take to arms at the call of 
 their leaders. 
 
 Andrew's authority, beyond his own ap- 
 panage, soon extended only where he could 
 enforce it with his sword. Not only did he 
 refuse districts to his own kindred, but even 
 banished some of them for their resistance 
 to his will. His authority declined ; and the 
 troops he once employed to reduce refrac- 
 tory princes, were now occupied in fencing 
 in his own immediate dominions from at- 
 tack. Kief and Novgorod, taking advan- 
 tage of the weakness of the man who had 
 humbled them, declared themselves inde- 
 pendent of his authority. The example was 
 followed by other cities; and the flame of 
 insurrection at last made its appearance in 
 Andrew's own capital of Vladimir. The 
 result may be conjectured: in 1174, six 
 years after his first descent upon Novgorod, 
 the grand prince was murdered by his own 
 subjects. He had committed the common 
 error of ambitious princes — that of under- 
 taking tasks beyond their strength to ac- 
 complish, and then urging them forward 
 
 A.D. 1175—1220.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [anarchy IX RUSSIA. 
 
 with a blind, unreasoning energy. Had 
 Andrew possessed the integrity and self- 
 denial of the good Vladimir Monomachus, 
 he might have been regarded as an illustri- 
 ous reformer. But he lacked the patient 
 perseverance of the true hero, and his 
 efforts were corrupted by selfishness. When 
 he thought he was serving his country, he 
 was, perhaps unconsciously, bent on exalting 
 himself. The selfish nature does not recoir- 
 nise its own vice, and so Andrew might not 
 see the obstacle that lay in his path. The 
 subordinate princes would naturally exclaim, 
 '* Who is this man, that we should surrender 
 our rights and interests to him?'* Neces- 
 sarily, he was not identical, in their minds, 
 with Russia. They did not esteem him as 
 essential to binding up the wounds of the 
 empire. His claim to the grand princedom 
 was only a usurped one ; right he had none. 
 Any other powerful prince might exclaim, 
 " Why not / as well as this man of yester- 
 day?" If Andrew had proposed his theory 
 for the regeneration of the country, and 
 offered, at a convention of the princes, to 
 support it in the person of another, that 
 would have been the act of a hero. As it 
 was, he resolved on beating down, with an 
 iron hand, all opposition to a plan for the 
 execution of which he had not obtained the 
 consent of those whose interests were af- 
 fected by it — that was the part of a despot. 
 In the hardness of a selfish and wrong- 
 headed will, he adopted the least noble 
 course ; and the harvest he reaped was the 
 natural fruit of the seed he sowed. Some 
 writers have recorded his assassination in 
 the language of pity : we waste no emotion 
 on any such event; but regard it as the 
 inevitable result of natural law^ ! 
 
 The successors of Andrew abandoned a 
 design at once so difficult and unpopular. 
 They even followed the old practice of sub- 
 dividing their dominions, and thus promoted 
 the impending ruin of the state. The 
 prince who first succeeded Andrew parcelled 
 out the dominions of Suzdal into inferior 
 appanages ; the next permitted a dependent 
 to dispute with him his title to the sove- 
 reignty ; while the third released the tribu- 
 tary princes from the obligation of their 
 recognition of his power as their superior 
 lord, and declared that they were not res- 
 ponsible to him, but only accountable for 
 their trusts to God. 
 
 • His real name was Temugin ; but he discarded 
 it when barbarous victories over opponents had con- 
 ferred power upon him. His birth was noble ; but, in I 
 VOL. T. F 
 
 The Russian empire now no longer ex- 
 isted, and anarchy prevailed throughout the 
 north of Europe. Government, commerce, 
 and civilisation were alike becoming rapidly 
 extinct. The population of the borders 
 sought the protection of the neighbouring 
 states; while their room was supplied by 
 the barbarian vagabondage that swept over 
 tracts which yielded but little to the plun- 
 derer. Russia was ripe for bondage, and 
 its doom was at hand. 
 
 Ghengis, or Zingis Khan, whose adopted 
 name* signified the " most great," and who 
 boasted of a divine right to the conquest 
 and dominion of the whole earth, having 
 laid Asia at his feet, now turned his eyes 
 upon the adjoining continent of Europe. 
 This fearful barbarian, who, according to 
 the calculation of oriental historians, had 
 destroyed in the East no less than five mil- 
 lions of human beings, was the son of a 
 Mogul chief, who reigned over thirty or 
 forty thousand families of shepherd-warriors. 
 Ghengis, by the aid of craft, bravery, and 
 superstition, contrived to get himself pro- 
 claimed Great Khan, or emperor of the 
 Moguls and Tartars. As the savage race 
 who followed Ghengis are inseparably inter- 
 woven with the next period of Russian his- 
 tory, we will quote from the well-digested 
 pages of Gibbon a sketch of these scourges 
 of the earth. To our mind the colours em- 
 ployed are too favourable (the historian, 
 disgusted with the vices of civilisation, looked 
 with a too lenient eye upon the atrocities of 
 barbarism) ; but an antidote will be supplied 
 to this error by the subsequent and painful 
 facts we have to relate. — '' The code of laws 
 which Zingis dictated to his subjects was 
 adopted to the preservation of domestic 
 peace, and the exercise of foreign hostihty. 
 The punishment of death was inflicted on 
 the crimes of adultery, murder, perjury, and 
 the capital thefts of a horse or ox ; and the 
 fiercest of men were mild and just in their 
 intercourse with each other. The future 
 election of the Great Khan was vested in the 
 princes of his family and the heads of the 
 tribes; and the regulations of the chase 
 were essential to the pleasures and plenty of 
 a Tartar camp. The victorious nation were 
 held sacred from all servile labours, which 
 were abandoned to slaves and strangers ; 
 and every labour was servile except the pro- 
 fession of arms. The service and discipline 
 
 the pride of triumph, he or his people declared that 
 his seventh ancestor was born from the immaculate 
 conception of a virgin. 
 
 33 
 
A.D. 1237.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 IXVASION BY THE TARTARS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1221—1223. 
 
 [great tartar ixvastox. 
 
 iM, 
 
 f I 
 
 of the troops, who were armed with bows, 
 scimitars, and iron maces, and divided by 
 hundreds, thousands, and ten thousands, 
 were the institutions of a veteran com- 
 mander. Each officer and soklier was made 
 respo!isible, under puin of death, for the 
 safety and honour of Iiis companions ; and 
 tlie spirit of conquest breathed in the law, 
 that peace shouhl never be jjjranted unless 
 to a vanquished and suppliant enemy. But 
 it is the rcli«i;ion of Zingis that best deserves 
 our wonder and applause.* The catholic 
 inquisitors of Europe might have been con- 
 founded by the example of a barbarian who 
 anticipated the lessons of philosophy, and es- 
 tablished by his laws a system of pure theism 
 and perfect toleration. His first and only 
 article of faith was the existence of one God, 
 the author of all good ; who fills by his pre- 
 sence the heavens and the earth, which he 
 lias created by his power. The Tartars and 
 Moguls were addicted to the idols of their 
 pecuhar tribes ; and many of them had been 
 converted by the foreign missionaries to the 
 religions of Moses, of Mohammed, and of 
 Christ. These various systems, in freedom 
 and concord, were taught and practised 
 within the precincts of the same camp; and 
 the Bonze, the Iman, the Rabbi, the Nesto- 
 rian, and the Latin priest, enjoyed the same 
 honourable exemption from service and 
 tribute. In the mosque of Bochara, the in- 
 solent victor might trample the Koran 
 under his horse*s feet; but the calm legis- 
 lator respected the prophets and pontiffs of 
 the most hostile sect. The reason of Zingis 
 was not informed by books ; the khan could 
 neither read nor write; and, except the 
 tribe of the Ingours, the greatest part of the 
 !Mognls and Tartars Avere as illiterate as 
 their sovereign. The memory of their ex- 
 ploits were preserved by tradition; and sixty- 
 eight years after the death of Zingis, these 
 traditions were collected and transcribed." 
 
 The first descent of the Tartars and Mo- 
 guls upon Russia took place in 1221 ; but 
 the information we possess concerning it, is 
 both meagre and contradictory. It was 
 conducted not by Ghengis himself, but by 
 a son of that formidable barbarian, named 
 Joodgee Khan. The invaders made them- 
 selves masters of the Caucasus, the rich 
 
 • Scarcely so, we think, if it is to be estimated by 
 the conduct of the Mogul conqueror and his army of 
 butchers. But this does not seem to have been 
 guided by any bonds of religion or morality ; and the 
 historian alludes to his speculative opinions. Such 
 men, or monsters, as Ghengis Khan, may be in- 
 
 34 
 
 valleys of the river Ural, and swept over 
 and destroyed many Russian towns and 
 villages. After this they retired, leaving 
 the startled Russians astonished at the 
 seemingly almost supernatural visitation. 
 It was not until 1223 that the Tartars again 
 made their appearance. Then, traversing 
 the shores of the Caspian Sea, they reached 
 the river Dnieper, and subdued the Circas- 
 sians who dwelt there. The latter had 
 united with the Polovtzy, for the sake of 
 opposing their common enemy. But the 
 Tartars, whose craft was nearly equal to 
 their ferocity, separated them by bribes, 
 and then defeated them singly. Had Russia 
 been united under one head, it might have 
 successfully resisted the hordes of bar- 
 barians that fell upon it; but the insane 
 discord of its princes betrayed their country 
 to the enemy. Still they were aroused from 
 their apathy by alarm, and appear to have 
 made some overtures for a union, for their 
 common protection. The wily Tartars, who 
 always sought rather to slaughter their vic- 
 tims than encounter them fairly, resorted 
 to the arts of intrigue, to prevent the junc- 
 tion of those Russian princes whose forces, 
 taken singly, would fall by their swords like 
 ripe wheat before the sickle of the reaper. 
 With this treacherous object, they even sent 
 ambassadors into Russia with instructions 
 to off'er terms of alliance and friendship. 
 These barbarian diplomatists met the fate 
 they deserved, though its infliction was ex- 
 tremely impolitic. The Russian princes 
 saw through the snare ; and, feeling con- 
 vinced that the enemy was not to be bound 
 by oaths and treaties, they, in a moment of 
 exasperation, put the Tartar ambassadors 
 to death, and then prepared for hostilities. 
 
 The act was both a crime and a mistake. 
 Unless the person of an ambassador is held 
 secure from injury or insult, all communi- 
 cation between hostile forces must neces- 
 sarily terminate. These murders were, more- 
 over, a serious error, because they gave 
 the Tartars and Moguls an excuse for the 
 ravages of war and the attempt at conquest. 
 Even in this hour of common danger, the 
 Russian princes, though both their country 
 and themselves stood on the verge of des- 
 truction, could not subdue their mutual 
 
 fluenced by superstition, but can scarcely be said 
 to possess a religion. We know of none — Pagan, 
 Boodist, Jewish, Christian, Mohammedan, Deist, or 
 Pantheist — that does not recognise moral duties as a 
 sequel to religious faith ; necessarily including self- 
 denial and forbearance. 
 
 jealousies. They were still unwilling to 
 co-operate, and their troops were for the 
 most part disorganised and worn out by 
 domestic contentions. The Tartars were 
 not slow^ to avail themselves of this advan- 
 tage, and the Russians were defeated with 
 great slaughter on the banks of the Kalka, 
 near the mouth of the Don. While the 
 forces of the Prince of Galitsh were being 
 thrown into confusion and beaten down by 
 their adversaries, those of the Prince of Kief 
 stood aloof, and looked with indiff'erence, or 
 with secret satisfaction, at the carnage which 
 was proceeding. His mahcious and idiotic 
 gratification w^as of very brief duration ; the 
 enemy having destroyed his rival, soon 
 trampled him and his forces beneath their 
 victorious feet. After the battle, the Tar- 
 tars entered the country, and ravaged the 
 whole of its southern side ; and then, leaving 
 it a desert, withdrew their armies. 
 
 Thirteen years elapsed before these scourges 
 of humanity reappeared. During this period 
 the Russian princes remained inactive, and 
 neglected to fortify the vulnerable points of 
 approach, or to concert together means of 
 defence against the terrible enemy who 
 might at any time return. The princes 
 could not abandon their dissensions ; and 
 the people in the border districts seemed 
 passive and bewildered, like men exposed to 
 a fate against which it was useless to struggle. 
 Other afflictions, of a no less appalling cha- 
 racter, also fell upon the unhappy land; 
 and a famine, a plague, and an earthquake, 
 added to the horrors which racked it. The 
 measure of its woe seemed full; and yet, 
 even in these times of terror and darkness, 
 when the night of history seemed descending 
 with a starless and profound blackness upon 
 Russia, and the grave of empires seemed 
 yawning for a yet infant though decrepid 
 state, a greater woe was to come ! 
 
 Batou, a grandson of Ghengis Khan, with 
 a force said to consist of 500,000 Tartars 
 and Moguls, had started on a great expedi- 
 tion of conquest and destruction, bent on 
 accomplishing what the family of Ghengis 
 affected to consider the conquest and 
 punishment of the whole earth. In 1237 
 Batou fell upon the Bulgarians, the imme- 
 diate neighbours of the Russians, who natu- 
 rally applied to the latter for assistance. 
 It is astonishing that it was not granted at 
 whatever sacrifice ! Such, however, was 
 the fact; a selfish policy prevailed in the 
 counsels of the Russian princes, and they 
 declined to assist the Bulgarians. Yet the 
 
 grand prince of Vladimir, in this time of 
 probable national extinction, occupied him- 
 self in adorning the churches, bestowing 
 alms on beggars, and purchasing the prayers 
 of monks. So buried was he in the barren 
 formularies of his religion, that he had no 
 time for the performance of secular duties. 
 
 When Batou and his hordes had van- 
 quished the Bulgarians, and wasted their 
 country with fire and sword, they entered 
 Russia. The latter appeared almost too 
 exhausted for resistance. The principality 
 of Riazan fell at the approach of the Tartars; 
 and, in many places, the people came forth 
 and surrendered themselves to the invaders, 
 in the hope of thus obtaining a merciful 
 treatment. In this anticipation they were 
 fatally deceived. The brutal habits, and the 
 almost entirely carnivorous diet of the shep- 
 herd-soldiers, had closed their hearts to the 
 approach of compassion. The sentiment of 
 pity is imperceptibly weakened by the sight 
 and practice of domestic cruelty. Those 
 horrid objects which are disguised by the 
 arts of European refinement, were exhibited 
 in their most naked and disgusting simpli- 
 city in the tent of a Tartar shepherd. The 
 ox or the sheep were slaughtered by the 
 same hand from which they were accustomed 
 to receive their daily food, and the bleeding 
 limbs were served, with very little prepara- 
 tion, on the table of the unfeeling slaughter- 
 man. As the wandering habits of these 
 hordes did not permit of the pursuit of 
 agricultural arts, their food consisted, there- 
 fore, almost entirely of milk and of flesh in 
 the state to which we have alluded. Such 
 a diet, and a life spent in war, gradually 
 converted the natural man into a ferocious 
 creature, more akin to the brute than to the 
 human race. 
 
 We are, therefore, prepared to believe 
 that much cruelty was committed by the 
 Tartars on the submissive people who sought 
 to win their pity. Even then, reality out- 
 strips imagination. Mercy was an emotion 
 unknown to the Tartars; and they com- 
 mitted the most revolting atrocities on men 
 and women, age and infancy. All men 
 capable of bearing arms were butchered in 
 cold blood, and young girls and children 
 were tortured before the eves of their 
 agonised parents. Plunder, violation, and 
 carnage succeeded each other; and when a 
 town or village had been rendered little 
 more than a collection of open sepulchres, 
 the Tartars gave the houses to the flames or 
 razed them to the earth. They only re- 
 
 35 
 
MMn 
 
 ATROCITIES OF THE TARTARS.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1238. 
 
 quired liunting-grounds. They dwelt in 
 rude tents, and liad no need of cities ; there- 
 fore they would not spare what might be- 
 come the nucleus of an armed population, 
 and, perhaps in time, an instrument of re- 
 tribution. When u!iable to o])tain admis- 
 sion into a fortified town, they promised 
 safety to the inhabitants if they would sub- 
 mit; and when, by this means, they had 
 obtained an entrance, they immediately vio- 
 lated their promises, and put the deceived 
 Russians to death. Indeed, the particulars 
 of their progress is an awful catalogue of all 
 that is wanton and revolting in crime ; all 
 that is appallingly refined in cruelty. One 
 is tempted — we trust not irreverently — to 
 wonder that the wrath of the Almighty w^is 
 not aroused to manifest itself by some 
 miraculous deed of retribution, in which 
 the destroying angel should have smitten 
 dead every one of that vast horde of trea- 
 cherous assassins and torturers ! 
 
 The Prince of Riazan, compelled to aban- 
 don his principality to the ravages of the 
 foe, solicited the assistance of Yurv, the 
 grand prince of Vladimir; but this monk- 
 like simpleton was still busy painting 
 churches, testing the sound of bells, and 
 buying tlie prayers of his retinue of priests 
 with gold. Tiie application was made too 
 late; the small force that circumstances 
 permitted him to send was totally iuadc- 
 quatc to perform the gigantic task required 
 at their hands. The unhappy men were 
 massacred by the Tartars, and Riazan left 
 in flames. Onward, like a surging torrent, 
 went the dark tide of invasion and murder. 
 Town after town fell before the hosts of 
 human fiends; and in each were perpe- 
 trated many of those terrible tragedies of 
 which we have already spoken. Soon the 
 country was laid waste up to the very gates 
 of the citv of Vladimir. Yurv, finding it 
 necessary now to adopt some stringent mea- 
 sures, and being utterly unequal to the task, 
 confided the defence of the city to one of 
 his chieftains, and then sought his own 
 safety by retiring to a fortified camp on the 
 banks of the river Sit. 
 
 The inhabitants of Vladimir had lost all 
 confidence in themselves, and were para- 
 lysed with fear in consequence of the pre- 
 sence of Tartars before their walls. The 
 officer to whom the command of the city 
 had been entrusted shared the general feel- 
 ing of dread; and the inhabitants, aban- 
 doning themselves to terror, neglected all 
 
 36 
 
 rational means of defence, and, crowding 
 to the churches and the sanctuaries, pros- 
 trated themselves before the images of the 
 saints, and implored assistance. Many, 
 looking upon death as inevitable, embraced 
 some holy order, and, entering the cells of 
 some house devoted to the services of reli- 
 gion, resolved to die at least in the exercise 
 of their faith. 
 
 The Tartars soon discovered the abject 
 state of their victims, whom they accord- 
 ingly despised for cowardice. A party of 
 them having s^aleJ the walls almost without 
 resistance, opened the gates to their coun- 
 trymen, who rushed in, and, with an almost 
 incredible thirst for blood, slaughtered every 
 person they found. It is actually said, that 
 not one Russian survived the massacre. 
 Tlie wife and two sons of Yury were among 
 the victims; the former, together with her 
 attendant ladies, being massacred on the 
 steps of the sacred altar, to wliich they had 
 fled in the vain hope that within its shadow 
 they would be secure from the murderers. 
 While yet reeking with the blood of those 
 whom thev had slain so remorselesslv, the 
 Tartars set Vladimir on fire, and left it the 
 mere blackened and crumbling skeleton of a 
 city. This atrocity was perpetrated in the 
 February of 1238. The phlegmatic Yury 
 was roused at last ; but it was now too late. 
 He awaited the Tartars in his fortified posi- 
 tion, where, early in the following month, 
 he Avas attacked by overwhelming forces, 
 and fought bravely, until he was slain in 
 the heat of the battle. His scanty band of 
 followers were annihilated by their ruthless 
 foes. 
 
 After a brief rest, Batou and the Tartar 
 host directed their steps towards Novgorod ; 
 but, when within sixty miles of the city, 
 they suddenly halted and retraced their 
 steps. Whether the climate was not agree- 
 able to them, or they were wearied with 
 lon«r marches in a countrv which did not 
 repay the toil of conquest, is unknown. 
 Many of the Russians attributed the de- 
 liverance to the intercessions of their fa-\ 
 vourite saints. Certain, however, is it, that 
 turning their backs upon Novgorod, the}' 
 abandoned the empire. During their pro- 
 gress they had destroyed fourteen fortified 
 cities, and a great number of inferior towns 
 and scattered villages. Those whom they 
 put to death have been so variously esti- 
 mated, that no confidence can be placed in 
 anv of the statements. 
 
 A.D. 1240—1242.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the golden horde. 
 
 CHAPTER Vni. 
 
 REAPPEARANCE OF THE TARTARS ; AFTER DESOLATING A PART OF RUSSIA, THEY CARRY THEIR ARMS INTO 
 POLAND AND HUNGARY ; THEY RETURN TO RUSSIA, WHERE THEIR CHIEF, BATOU, ESTABLISHES* A GOV- 
 ERNMENT ON THE BANKS OF THE VOLGA, UNDER THE NAME OF THE GOLDEN HORDE- THE T4RT\R 
 POLICY; MEANNESS AND WEAKNESS OF THE RUSSIAN PRINCES; RISE OF ALEXANDER NEVSKY ■ RESIST- 
 ANCE TO THE TARTAR TAX-GATHERERS ; DEATH OF ALEXANDER; EXECUTION OF THE GRiND PRINCE 
 
 The respite of the unhappy people of Russia 
 was but a brief one. Early in 1240, Batou 
 and his Tartar hordes again made their ap- 
 pearance. Such was the terror with which 
 they were regarded, that the inhabitants 
 fled at their approach, and sought for safety 
 in hiding-places and remote retreats. Batou 
 passed through a solitude of deserted towns 
 and villages; and his fierce barbarians, dis- 
 appointed in their thirst for blood, gave the 
 silent habitations to the flames. The fortress 
 of Kief, which was strongly built and well 
 garrisoned, resisted the invaders for a time. 
 It was defended by a fearless and expe- 
 rienced oflficer, who repelled the first assaults 
 of the Tartars with great intrepidity. But 
 the contest was too unequal for contfnuance, 
 and their number too great to be long with- 
 stood. With one tremendous assault they 
 broke through the defences; and, having 
 obtained an entrance into the city, com- 
 menced their usual work of slaughter and 
 destruction. Having reduced Kief to heaps 
 of blackened and smouldering ruins, between 
 which stood the charred walls of palaces and 
 churches, they deliberated upon some more 
 than usually cruel way of putting to death 
 the Russian officer who had resisted them. 
 Yet such was the 'dignified and fearless 
 bearing of this man, that it won respect 
 even from the barbarian Batou; Mho spared 
 his life, and even admitted him to his confi- 
 dence. The Russian represented to the 
 Tartar chieftain, that the country was so 
 impoverished that scarcely anything was to 
 be gained by a prosecution of the war. 
 With a view of getting rid of the aggressor, 
 he also pointed out Poland and Hungary, 
 which had been accumulating wealth during 
 a long interval of comparative repose, as 
 fields w^here far more abundant spoil could 
 be obtained. 
 
 Batou was convinced; and, abandoning 
 Kief, he and his vast army forced a passage 
 into Poland. Its king, Boleslas V., struck 
 with terror, fled into Hungary ; and, when 
 danger approached that country, retreated 
 
 to a monastery in the heart of Moravia. 
 Poland, rent by domestic factions, became 
 an easy prey to the invaders. Its towns 
 were taken and destroyed ; its rivers stained 
 with the blood of its people; and its fields 
 desolated. Some of the Polish nobles made 
 a resolute stand, but they were crushed by 
 the overwhelming numbers of their foes. 
 After the battle of Lignitz, in which the 
 dukes of Silesia, the Polish palatines, and 
 the Teutonic knights were defeated, the 
 Tartars filled nine sacks with the right ears 
 of the slain. Thence the mighty tide of 
 barbarism rolled forward into Hungary, 
 which fell before their fury; cities and 
 towns were given to the flames, and the soil 
 whitened by the bones of its inhabitants. 
 Such was the savage insolence of the Tartars, 
 that they assigned but eighteen years for 
 the conquest of Europe ! The Roman pon- 
 tiflf made an attempt to soften and convert 
 these barbarians by a mission of Franciscan 
 and Dominican friars; but Batou fiercely 
 replied, that the sons of God and of Ghengi*s 
 were invested with a divine power to subdue 
 or extirpate the nations, and that the pope 
 would be involved in the universal destruc- 
 tion, unless he visited in person, and as a 
 su])pliant, the royal Horde. 
 
 On his return from Poland and Hungary, 
 Batou settled on the banks of the river 
 Volga. Having declared himself indepen- 
 dent of the parent authority, he here estab- 
 lished the empire of the khans of Kapts- 
 chak, or the Golden Horde; a name derived 
 from the gorgeous tapestry and sumptuous 
 appearance of the tent of the Tartar prince. 
 Russia, as an independent state, no longer 
 existed ; all its principalities were subjected 
 to the iron supremacy of the Tartar khan. 
 The Russian princes could only purchase 
 peace by a humble attendance, with tribute, 
 at the Golden Horde, where they were also 
 compelled to submit to ceremonies of the 
 most humiliating kind. The Horde, form- 
 ing but one of five divisions of the empire 
 of the Mogul Tartars, derived its subsistence 
 
 37 
 
 y 
 
POLICY OF THE TARTARS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1243. 
 
 from the revenues it extorted from tlie Rus- 
 sians. Its power, as will be seen, ^vas pre- 
 served by a mixture of craft and cruelty. 
 
 It was part of the Tartar policy to weaken 
 and humiliate the Russian princes, probably 
 that no patriot should arise froni among 
 them and succeed in throwing off the op- 
 ])ressive yoke they were made to bear. The 
 Russian people had been reduced to such a 
 state of national prostration, that they were 
 no longer able to drive back the border 
 nations, who at intervals poured in upon 
 their desolated districts; and, in their misery, 
 they were comi)elled to look even to the 
 khan for protection from the Lithuanians, 
 the Swedes, the Livonians, the Poles, and 
 the Hungarians. The Tartars, also, encou- 
 raged that tendency to religious observances 
 which despair had engendered in the Rus- 
 sian people. This they did w ith the subtle 
 intention of gradually weaning the latter 
 from warlike habits, and making them sub- 
 rait i)assively to the exactions of a grinding 
 and insulting tyranny. With this view tliey 
 conferred honours on the church, and in- 
 creased its revenues, while they used it as 
 an instrument for effeminating the people. 
 So far did they carry this assumed respect, 
 that they condescended to listen to the 
 petitions of metropolitans and bishops: 
 while similar applications, on the part of 
 princes, were disdainfully rejected. Sacri- 
 lege they punished with death ; and they 
 released the ecclesiastical domains from the 
 payment of taxes, either to themselves or to 
 the native princes. The influence of the 
 church thus became very great; the dis- 
 lieartened Russian nobles retired to its 
 cloisters to spend the close of their lives, 
 and enriched its revenues with their pro- 
 perty. A pious resignation to calamity 
 became general : Russians acquired a habit 
 of leaving their property to the church; 
 while numbers of the wealthy devoted their 
 means to the erection of religious houses ; 
 so that, eventually, it came to be observed, 
 that more churches and monasteries were 
 built during the sway of the Tartars than at 
 any other period of Russian history. In no 
 other point of domestic government did the 
 Tartars think it worth their while to inter- 
 fere. They were satisfied with having de- 
 graded the princes by an inordinate patron- 
 age of the church, and of reducing the 
 former to puppets ; while the latter, seem- 
 ingly honoured as it was, only existed by 
 their forbearance. 
 
 Russia had still a grand prince, although 
 38 
 
 his dignity was but a name, and his autho- 
 rity a delusion. This was Yaroslaf, who, on 
 the death of his brother Yury, had resigned 
 Novgorod to his son, and taken possession 
 of the principality and ruined city of Vladi- 
 mir. Though the empty title of grand 
 prince attached to this locality, yet Yaroslaf 
 could not obtain permission to assume it, 
 without first paying a large sum to the ava- 
 ricious Baton/ By the means of lavisli 
 bribes he obtained the indulgence he 
 sought, and was nominated grand prince, 
 on condition that he acknowledged the khan 
 of Kaptschak as his feudal lord, and the 
 supreme or head khan of all the Tartar 
 hordes as his sovereign in chief. His hol- 
 low dignity only provoked the jealousy of 
 his fellow-princes, who, irritated at his 
 selfishness, refused to acknowledge his sove- 
 reignty. They would even have made war 
 upon him, but that they feared he would be 
 supported by the power of the khan. Sooner 
 than acknowledge the paramount authority 
 of Yaroslaf, the i)rinces voluntarily tendered 
 their obedience to the Tartars ! The word 
 of the khan settled all disputes as to terri- 
 tory and other matters, and from his deci- 
 sion there was no appeal. Each prince 
 strove to win the favour of the Tartar chief 
 by bribes ; and all of them earned his con- 
 tempt, by their base endeavours to induce 
 him to place them in the scat of the grand 
 princedom instead of Yaroslaf. It is impos- 
 sible to bestow even a passing thought of pity 
 upon these unprincipled men, whose insolent 
 despotism and cruelty in prosperity, was only 
 to be equalled by their abject humility and 
 greediness in adversity. Not one of them 
 seems to have been actuated by an active 
 sense of patriotism ; country to them was 
 but as the quivering carcase whose scarcely 
 lifeless limbs are torn asunder by a horde of 
 wolves. National spirit seemed for a time 
 extinct in the Russian princes and nobles; 
 the highest dignity of manhood appeared 
 crushed beneath the starless darkness of a 
 stifling tyranny ; and, for a while, nothing 
 remained but the meanness of abject minds 
 and the weakness of helpless ones. 
 
 The terrible desolation inflicted by the 
 Tartars had caused the little land that had 
 been placed under cultivation to remain a 
 desert ; and now a series of famines added to 
 the calamities of the people. Border nations 
 also proceeded to appropriate to themselves 
 portions of the territory of a people who 
 seemed incapable of defending themselves. 
 Amongst these ungenerous foes who warred 
 
 
 A.D. 1244—1256.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [alexandp:r neysky. 
 
 upon misery, w^ere the Swedes, Danes, and 
 Livonians, who made preparations for a 
 descent upon Novgorod. » This ancient city 
 had not been reached by the Tartars, and 
 had suffered comparatively little from the 
 calamities that had fallen on the rest of 
 Russia. Something of the ancient spirit 
 yet remained among its people ; and at the 
 call of their prince, Alexander, they prepared 
 to resist the march of the intruders. All 
 difficult emergencies require men of decision 
 and stren^h of character to grapple with 
 them. Alexander was a man of this kind. 
 Without waiting for an assistance which the 
 grand prince was unable to afford, he col- 
 lected an army, and, marching out of the 
 city, met his advancing foes on the banks 
 of the Neva, where, after a fierce contest, he 
 gained a decisive victory. Erecting strong 
 forts on the spot to check future aggression, 
 he returned in triumph to Novgorod, where 
 his delighted people bestowed upon him the 
 name of Nevskv, in commemoration of his 
 victory on the banks of the Neva. 
 
 Alexander Nevsky was but in the early 
 summer of life, and consequently easily ac- 
 cessible to the dangerous promptings of 
 ambition. The attachment evinced towards 
 him by his army, and the honours offered 
 by his people, made him desirous of extend- 
 ing his dominions. Novgorod, though gov- 
 erned by a prince, still retained much of its 
 original republican character and mode of 
 administration. Its citizens enjoyed a 
 proud exclusiveness. They had a strong 
 antipathy to be mixed with the people of 
 neighbouring principalities, and being also 
 apprehensive that their prince might abuse 
 his advantages, they vehemently opposed his 
 design of territorial extension. Finding 
 their remonstrances disregarded, they at 
 length broke into open rebellion, and Alex- 
 ander retired in disgust from the city, and 
 proceeded to Novgorod, where he begtjed 
 from his father a sufficient force to enable 
 him to chastise his refractory subjects. 
 Yaroslaf wisely refused the mad request, and 
 appointing another of his sons to rule over 
 Novgorod, conferred upon Alexander the 
 inferior principality of Pereislaf. 
 
 This state of things did not last long. 
 The new prince soon demonstrated his in- 
 capability of defending Novgorod from those 
 attacks which were encouraged by the 
 absence of Alexander. The citizens im- 
 plored the latter to return to them and 
 resume the reins of government. At first 
 he refused indignantly; but he yielded to 
 
 the entreaties of a second deputation. 
 Taking up arms, he was again victorious 
 against the invaders of his country, whom 
 he assailed in their turn, and defeated them 
 so decisively that his reputation spread 
 throughout Russia, and even elicited the 
 real or assumed approbation of the Golden 
 Horde. 
 
 Yaroslaf, the titular grand prince of 
 Russia, went to an inglorious tomb in 1246, 
 on which occasion the Tartar khan sum- 
 moned Alexander to make his appearance 
 at the Golden Horde. The young soldier 
 obeyed ; and there he met many of the Rus- 
 sian princes, contending against each other 
 with valuable offerings for the favour of the 
 khan, and each hoping to obtain from him 
 the empty dignity of grand prince. Alex- 
 ander would not solicit a title to which he 
 felt he had a right not possessed by any of 
 the selfish triflers by whom he was sur- 
 rounded. His frank and fearless manner 
 elicited the admiration of the khan, who 
 treated him with unusual respect. But 
 the Tartar chief was anxious to show his 
 power, and to keep the order of succession 
 to the grand princedom in a state of uncer- 
 tainty ; therefore it was not until Alexander 
 made a second journey to the Golden 
 Horde, in 1252, that that dignity was con- 
 ferred upon him. 
 
 On attaining this new title, Alexander 
 led an expedition into Sweden, chiefly with 
 the object of inflicting chastisement upon a 
 foe who seemed ever ready to harass his 
 frontier districts. Success attended his 
 arms, and he returned home laden with 
 prisoners, spoil, and trophies. Such was his 
 military talent that, added to the favourable 
 impression he had made upon the khan, it 
 raised the grand princedom to an actual 
 dignity. When dissensions arose amongst 
 the princes, and they sought the adjudica- 
 tion of the khan, he either referred the 
 adjustment of their differences to Alexander, 
 or confiscated their dominions and annexed 
 them to the grand princedom. The princes 
 of Kief and Vladimir, probably influenced 
 by some agents of the pope, signified their 
 submission to that potentate, and their 
 adoption of the Roman religion. This 
 fickleness was offensive to the khan, who 
 patronised the Greek church; and, in his 
 anger, immediately deprived them of their 
 territories, which, also, he bestowed upon 
 the favoured grand prince. 
 
 Hitherto the khan had been satisfied by 
 receiving from each of the princes a large 
 
 39 
 
 jiffl.- 
 
 
alexa:<der*s career and death.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1256—1264. 
 
 sum as tribute money, which he left them 
 to collect from their subjects in the way 
 most in consonance with their feelings. 
 Now, however, he adopted a more strin- 
 gent metliod, and appointed Tartar offi- 
 cers to collect a tax imposed upon every 
 Russian according to his means, with the 
 exception of the clergy. This burden, in 
 the shape of direct taxation by a foreign 
 power, was heavily felt, and produced great 
 discontent among the people. The Tartar 
 tax-gatherers were regarded with aversion, 
 and, in some places, even received with 
 execration. Resistance produced increased 
 severity on their part. A spirit of opposi- 
 tion led to one of insurrection, in which the 
 citizens of Novgorod took the lead by re- 
 fusing to pay the tax, and threatened with 
 death those who were appointed to collect 
 it. The city was now governed by one of 
 Alexander's sons, who sanctioned this out- 
 break of popular feeling. The grand prince, 
 knowing that neither the people of Nov- 
 gorod, nor those of any other part of the 
 Russian dominions, were able to resist the 
 power of the khan, hurried to Novgorod to 
 appease the tumult. Rebuking the citizens 
 for having perilled the safety of the country, 
 he punished the advisers of his son, and ar- 
 ranged the payment of the tax, to the satis- 
 faction of the Tartar collectors. Still the 
 people were discontented, on account of the 
 inequality of the tax ; nor could Alexander 
 pacify them, until he personally undertook 
 the responsibility of the payment. 
 
 Novgorod was no sooner tranquillised 
 than the spirit of resistance broke out else- 
 where. The despotic insolence of the Tartar 
 tax-gatherers provoked retaliation from the 
 Russians, who sometimes drove them from 
 their cities, and at others put them to death. 
 Such events necessarily came to the ears of 
 the khan, who resolved on at once crushing 
 the insubordination by a terrible example. 
 To accomplish his vengeance, he craftily 
 summoned all the Russian princes to appear 
 before him at the head of their troops, say- 
 ' ing that he required their aid for a distant 
 campaign he was about to undertake. His 
 real object was to sweep over the land with 
 his barbarians, during the absence of its 
 armed population. Alexander detected the 
 treachery, and he resolved to go alone to 
 the Horde, and, at the risk of exciting the 
 anger of the khan, endeavour to avert his 
 vengeance. On arriving there, he was 
 treated with great contumely by the Tartar 
 chieftains. Persevering in his patriotic en- 
 40 
 
 deavours, he remained a whole year at the 
 Horde, before he was able to appease the 
 wrath of the khan. Then he was allowed 
 to return home, with a promise that the 
 Tartar prince would forgive the insubordi- 
 nation of the Russians, and abandon his 
 designs of vengeance. He set out on his re- 
 turn to his dominions in the year 1264; 
 but he had not proceeded far before he ex- 
 pired suddenly upon the road. His death 
 is attributed to poison, administered by the 
 Tartars, who had become jeal^s of the 
 great influence he had acquired over his 
 countrymen. The Tartars, in dealing with 
 their enemies, recognised no obligations 
 either of honour, religion, or humanity. 
 They were butchers in practice, Jesuits in 
 principle, and resorted to the profoundest 
 dissimulation in cases where they deemed 
 open violence to be injudicious or danger- 
 ous. On subsequent occasions, also, they 
 administered poison to some of the Russian 
 princes whom they wished to remove. A 
 modern writer has acutely observed of these 
 Tartar oppressors, that " the system of open 
 outrage had been gradually abandoned as 
 the sphere of their settled possessions be- 
 came determined. The excuse for putting 
 the vassal princes to death, which a war of 
 extermination yielded, no longer existed ; 
 and they could not hope to maintain their 
 authority in Russia without an enormous 
 expenditure of blood, and an incessant ap- 
 peal to arms, unless they observed some ex- 
 ternal respect for the forms of justice. 
 Other causes, too, had imperceptibly di- 
 minished the passion for slaughter which 
 marked their predatory mode of life. A 
 love of luxury was springing up amongst 
 them. The change from a roving, maraud- 
 ing, and wild state, to that of permanent 
 location, brought with it a corresponding 
 desire for ease, and a cultivation of luxu- 
 rious habits. Public breaches of good faith 
 would have been attended with vexatious 
 consequences and endless disturbance; and 
 it is likely that, in such a frame of mind, 
 the Tartars preferred the secret assassina- 
 tion, which entailed no results, to the open 
 murder of the Russian princes, which must 
 have produced an attempt at retaliation.'^ 
 
 To the memory of Alexander Nevskv 
 must be accorded the painful honour, that 
 he was the only distinguished Russian 
 patriot of his time. Amongst a crowd of 
 worthless princes he stands alone, as a man 
 who often risked, and finally lost his life, in 
 an endeavour to raise the depressed energies 
 
 A.D. 1264—1319.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [depressed state of rdssia. 
 
 of his country. A wise statesman, and a 
 gifted soldier, his rule was distinguished 
 alike by victories abroad and improvements 
 at home. Had the jealousy of the Russian 
 princes permitted them to acknowledge him 
 as their superior sovereign, and to serve 
 under his command with all the forces they 
 could raise, the oppressive sway of the Tar- 
 tars might have been broken, and the inde- 
 pendence of Russia restored. But the petty 
 dissensions of a class which had brought 
 upon the country the curse of a foreign 
 yoke, now prevented it from rising from the 
 dust, and again taking its place among the 
 nations. Alexander, however, was deeply 
 mourned by tiie people, who felt that a 
 great one had departed from them. So 
 impressed were men's minds with his death, 
 that supernatural events were believed to 
 have accompanied it. It was said, that the 
 approaching decease of the grand prince 
 was announced to the metropolitan by a 
 voice from heaven; and that, while the bod}^ 
 lay in the coffin, the dead man opened one 
 of his hands as the prayer of absolution was 
 spoken over him. Such narrations, false 
 and puerile as they may seem to us, are not 
 to be regarded as idle inventions. In times 
 of national calamiry, marvellous tales arise 
 from the mind-mists of popular superstition 
 and ignorance, as new and strange births 
 are supposed to have done from the reeking 
 slime of an infant world. The circum- 
 stances attending Alexander's death, neces- 
 sarily caused him to be canonised as a saint. 
 Centuries later, when Tartar oppression had 
 faded into a dim tradition among the masses 
 of the Russian people — when the empire was 
 born anew under the gifted Peter the Great, 
 that monarch erected a monastery to the 
 memory of Alexander, and caused his relics 
 to be removed, with much devotional cere- 
 mony, to St. Petersburg. His name was 
 further honoured by being connected with a 
 new order of knighthood, which compre- 
 hended some of the monarchs of Europe 
 among its members. 
 
 Once again Russia, during the period of 
 its darkness, was without a single star which 
 might serve for guidance and for hope. AVe 
 have no glimpses of the people; who, per- 
 haps, despised and disregarded, may still 
 have been, for the most part, exempt from 
 those terrors and suff'erings which fell upon 
 them in the advent of the Tartar bondage. 
 Rut the princes presented the same paltry 
 -spectacle as ever. Each neglectfnl of his 
 own snbjects, and perfectly oblivious of the 
 
 VOL. I. G 
 
 duties attaching to his station, was fighting 
 or intriguing for the shadowy honour ot 
 the grand princedom. This internal confu- 
 sion was increased bv a division which arose 
 among the Tartars. Nogay, a powerful 
 chieftain, declared himself independent of 
 the khan of Kaptschak, or the Golden 
 Horde ; and setting up his sovereignty in the 
 southern provinces, contended with his rival 
 for the tribute, or rather taxes, of the Rus- 
 sians. Here was a great opportunity for 
 the princes of the latter people; for, by 
 united action, they might have aided one 
 division of the Tartars to exterminate the 
 other, and then have turned their arms un- 
 expectedly against those who remained. 
 Instead of this, the princes paid court to 
 whichsoever ol)tained an ascendancy for the 
 time, and thus incurred the anger of the 
 other when his day of power came. 
 
 Constant dissensions so enfeebled the 
 Russian princes, that at length most of 
 them fell into obscurity, and the struggle 
 for the grand princedom lay between tw o of 
 them only — the princes Michael of Twer ana 
 Yury of Moscow ; the latter city having 
 been rebuilt, and erected into a separate 
 appanage, since it had been destroyed by 
 the Tartars. Yury, as the weakest, must 
 probably have submitted, but that he ha(i 
 the address so to insinuate himself into the 
 favour of the reigning khan, Usbek, as to 
 gain the hand of the sister of the Tartar in 
 marriage. This connection — a closer one 
 than had hitherto existed between the Rus- 
 sians and their masters — encouraged Yurv 
 to make war upon Michael, who had as- 
 sumed the title of grand prince. A battle 
 followed, in which Yury was defeated, and 
 his new-made wife, the Tartar princess, 
 taken prisoner. The unfortunate lady soon 
 after expired at Twer, under circumstances 
 that led to the suspicion that her death was 
 the result of violence. Yurv accused Mi- 
 chael of having poisoned the princess, and 
 Usbek-Khan summoned the victor to the 
 Golden Horde, to answer to the crime laid 
 to his charge. 
 
 It is generally assumed that the accusa- 
 tion was a calumny, or, at least, that if the 
 Tartar princess did come unfairly by her 
 death, vet that Michael was innocent of the 
 crime. Distrustful of the intentions of the 
 khan towards him, the prince sent one of 
 his sons to the latter to assure him of his 
 devotion, and to explain the malignant 
 motives of the Prince of Twer. The khan 
 was not to be appeased, and insisted on the 
 
 41 
 
 y\ 
 
I 
 
 EXECUTION OF MICHAEL.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.p. 1319—1339. 
 
 •r 
 
 A.D. 1339—1341.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [iVAN KALITA. 
 
 personal appearance of the grand prince to 
 meet the charge. After some hesitati^on, 
 Michael departed, conscious of his inability 
 to resist the will of the oppressor of his 
 country. With a presentiment of coming 
 evil, he made his will before he started on 
 his journey to the Horde, and carried with 
 him rich presents, by which to modify the 
 anger of his self-constituted judge. The 
 implacable Yury had been there before, and 
 striven to prejudice the Tartar chieftains 
 against his own countryman. A court was 
 formed— the Tartar general who had been 
 defeated by Micliacl was at its head, and 
 Yury was the accuser. Under such circum- 
 stances, the trial which followed was a judi- 
 cial mockery ; and a grand prince of Russia 
 was sentenced to death by a foreign court ! 
 Such a proceeding was a startling one ; and 
 even Usbek-Khan hesitated before carrying 
 it to extremities. Either to satisfy some 
 scruples that might have arisen in his seared 
 mind, or to make an idle parade of pretended 
 justice, he ordered the case to be again tried 
 before a new court. The same spirit per- 
 vaded both, and the same result followed. 
 Michael was kept in chains for five-and- 
 twenty days, during which his sons and 
 friends were permitted to visit him ; and he 
 then suffered death at the hands of the 
 headsman. This insulting exercise, or rather 
 abuse, of Tartar authority occurred in the ye:ir 
 1320. A deeper humiliation could scarcely 
 have been inflicted on either prince or people. 
 The implacable Yury of Moscow suc- 
 ceeded to the throne of the grand prince ; 
 but he had only enjoyed his dignity a few 
 years when he was assassinated by the 
 eldest son of ISIichael, who, at the command 
 of the khan, shared the fate of his father, 
 and was put to death for the deed. 
 
 Michael's second son, Alexander, suc- 
 
 ceeded, in 1326, to the grand princedom. 
 Scarcely a year had elapsed since his acces- 
 sion, when a report reached him that the 
 Tartars living in Twer had formed a con- 
 spiracy to murder him. It is supposed that 
 no such design was entertained by them; 
 but that the calumnious report was spread 
 by Ivan, the Prince of Moscow, who had 
 succeeded to all his brother Yury's implaca- 
 ble hatred to the family of the unfortunate 
 Michael. But even on the assumption that 
 the Tartars were guilty of the treacherous 
 design attributed to them, justice and pru- 
 dence both demanded a calm investigation 
 into their conduct, that only those who were 
 really involved in the guilty intention should 
 suffer the punishment due to them. In- 
 stead of this, the grand prince acted like a 
 despot and a madman, and caused every 
 Tartar resident within his principality, who 
 would not adopt Christianity, to be put 
 to death. Such a wanton atrocity naturally 
 aroused the anger of Usbek-Khan, whose 
 power, fortunately for the subjects of the 
 grand prince, was on the decline, or he 
 would probably have executed an appalling 
 vengeance. Still he drove Alexander from 
 his throne ; gave his dominions to his rival, 
 Ivan of Moscow, whom he bound to pursue 
 the outlawed prince wherever he went, and 
 to deliver him a prisoner to the Tartars. 
 He was eventually captured, together with 
 his son ; and both of tlieni being sent to the 
 Golden Horde, peiished by the weapon of 
 the headsman. 
 
 We now approach a })eriod when Russia, 
 still feeble and humbled, and threatened 
 with another terrible Tartar visitation, was 
 yet slowly and insensibly collecting its 
 energies, prior to its resurrection to a 
 national lite more promising than any it 
 had yet enjoyed. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 IVAN I • HIS WFALTK.AND CUNNING; SIMEON THE PROUD, AND IVAN II.; THE MOSCOW LINE OF SUC- 
 cL'ioN SUSPENDED- RESTORED IN THE PERSON OF DMITRY DONSKOI ; HIS CONFLICTS WITH THE 
 PRINCE OF TWER; DMITRY DEFEATS THE TARTARS AT THE GREAT BATTLE OF THE DON; THE TARTARS 
 BURN MOSCOW AND RECOVER THEIR ASCENDANCY; DEATH OF DMITRY; HE IS SUCCEEDED BY VASSILY ; 
 INVASION OF RUSSIA BY TAMERLANE; VASSILY THE BLIND; HIS WILFULNESS, TROUBLES, AND DEATH. 
 
 The grand princedom now fell to Ivan I., I having a purse carried before him, to relieve 
 who obtained the surname of Kalita, or the j the ^ants of the poor; but chiefly because 
 Purse ; partly, perhaps, on account of his of the immense wealth he eventually ac 
 42 
 
 
 quired. He was a covetous, crafty, and 
 unprincipled man, who still, however, had 
 the wisdom to perceive that his interests 
 were identical with those of his country ; 
 and that, in promoting the one, he was 
 extending the other. 
 
 The wealth of Ivan enabled him to pur- 
 chase entire domains and appanages, the 
 protection of Usbek-Khan, and the pre- 
 ference of the primate of the Russian church, 
 who, by removing his residence from Vladi- 
 mir to Moscow, made the latter the capital 
 of the empire. It is important to show 
 liow Ivan became possessed of so much 
 wealth, as his mode of acquiring it reveals 
 a trait in his character. He paid such as- 
 siduous and flattering attention to the khan, 
 as to become appointed the representative 
 in Russia of the Tartar chief, and collector 
 of the taxes imposed by that foreign poten- 
 tate. From the people he extorted, through 
 the terror of the Tartar name, far more than 
 he was authorised to do ; and even sub- 
 jected to the tax the inhabitants of parts of 
 Russia who had not hitherto paid it at all. 
 As it may well be supposed, the latter sums 
 never reached the Tartar exchequer; and 
 the careful Ivan went on increasing his 
 wealth, and extending his dominions every 
 year. Such was his extortion, that he 
 sometimes exacted a double tribute, under 
 the pretence that it was the command of 
 the khan. He soon became far more 
 powerful than his rival, the Prince of Twer ; 
 while the distance between him and the 
 ordinary princes of Russia was constantly 
 increasing. The Prince of Twer sometimes 
 courted the Tartar power, and at others 
 treated it with insulting neglect. Ivan 
 hated the Tartars quite as much as his 
 rival did ; but he saw that it was only by 
 the aid of the khan that he could ever hope 
 to consolidate Russia under his own sway, 
 and therefore he made frequent journeys to 
 the Horde, and ever sought to propitiate 
 the favour of the khan by flatteries and 
 costly presents. The Tartar power was 
 useful to Ivan, because he had cunning 
 enough to direct it in such a way as pro- 
 moted his interest ; and he was too skilful 
 an actor on the wide and varied theatre of 
 actual life, to betray any emotion he deemed 
 it prudent to conceal. It is not surprising 
 that a man so subtle and unprincipled, 
 should succeed in procuring the ruin of his 
 rival, the Prince of Twer. He brought 
 about a union of most of the Russian 
 princes, who now acknowledged the au- 
 
 thority of a ruler whose wealth, dominions, 
 and administrative abilities so far exceeded 
 their own. Directing their power against 
 the Prince of Twer, Ivan drove him as an 
 outcast from Russia, and finally hunted 
 him to death. 
 
 The crafty Ivan Kalita beheld with a 
 profound satisfaction the almost daily in- 
 crease of his power. In his hands the 
 grand princedom was becoming what it had 
 never been before in Russia, and its para- 
 mount authority was indisputable. Petty 
 princes regarded him with a deep respect ; 
 the people looked upon him with awe ; and 
 his name was a terror in the ears of his 
 enemies. He settled all disputes between 
 the inferior princes ; and, as he had the 
 power to enforce his decisions, they were 
 respected. Success attended his footsteps ; 
 the clergy favoured his designs ; the boyards 
 submitted placidly to his authority ; and he 
 might be said, in efi'ect, to rule over the 
 whole of Russia. 
 
 Despotism is preferable to anarchy ; and 
 under the tortuous rule of Ivan — who pur- 
 sued even kinsmen who off*ended him with 
 as much ferocity as he would have displayed 
 towards external enemies — the country be- 
 came tranquil, and, to some extent, pros- 
 perous. He held his iron sceptre with 
 firmness, and awed down the host of petty 
 tyrants who were ever ready to prey upon 
 tlie people. Though with one hand he ex- 
 torted heavy imposts, with the other he 
 conferred protection on what he left. The 
 depredations to which the country had been 
 a prey were repressed ; commerce rose from 
 the dust; and markets and fairs appeared 
 in many parts of the country ; even in some 
 where they had been hitherto unknown. 
 At these fairs the produce of the East, of 
 Greece, and of Italy, were bought or bar- 
 tered for by the Russians, whose comforts 
 were thus enhanced, while the revenues of 
 the grand prince were promoted by the tax 
 arising from these commercial gatherings. 
 Kamenevitch, an old Russian chronicler, in 
 describing the great mart of Mologa, on the 
 Volga, where the commerce of Asia and 
 Europe met in the seventy inns of its Slavo- 
 nian suburbs, says, that at that place alone, 
 7,200 pounds' weight of silver were col- 
 lected for the regal treasury. Ivan dimly 
 perceived that the commercial prosperity of 
 a people promoted the power of their sove- 
 reign, and he encouraged fairs and markets, 
 on account of their golden results. As in- 
 creasing wealth to some extent emancipated 
 
 43 
 
 y 
 
DMITRY DONSKOI.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1341—1362. 
 
 A.D. 13G7.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [policy of DMITRY. 
 
 liim from the declining power of the khan, 
 he laid heavy taxes — or what were then so 
 reprardedj— upon all spJeable articles. 
 
 The Russian chronicles relating to this 
 period are extremely meagre. Notwith- 
 standing the power acquired by Ivan, his 
 reign was but a brief one, and he expired in 
 or about 1341. He left two sons — Simeon 
 (surnamed the Proud) and Ivan. These 
 princes vowed, on the grave of their father, 
 to agree to a peaceable division of his do- 
 minions; and, strange to say, they ke})t 
 their oath. Simeon took the dignity of 
 grand prince, and one-half the revenues ; 
 Ivan contented himself with the other half, 
 and became Prince of Moscow. Simeon 
 had to purchase his paramount title from 
 the khan, who guaranteed him in the pos- 
 session of it for an enormous pecuniary 
 consideration. Simeon pursued the policy 
 of his father ; but his reign of thirteen years 
 remains a blank on the scroll of history. 
 This silence mav at least be received as in- 
 direct evidence that no great war or ca- 
 lamity fell upon Russia while he bore the 
 chief sway in it. 
 
 Simeon died childless in the vear 1353, 
 and Ivan purchased the grand princedom of 
 the khan, and became paramount ruler, 
 under the title of Ivan II. Neither his 
 brother nor he possessed the subtle talents 
 of their father ; but the influence of the 
 latter was felt long after he had been in his 
 grave. His shadow yet rested upon the 
 land, and tranquillity was preserved. Some 
 uf the minor princes attempted to promote 
 Their ambition at the sacrifice of their 
 country's peace ; but the paramount power 
 was strong enough to punish their unprin- 
 cipled presumption. 
 
 Ivan reigned during six eventless years; 
 and then the design of his father, to pre- 
 serve the sovereign authority in the line of 
 the princes of Moscow, was for a time in- 
 terrupted. Naurus-Khan, the Tartar chief- 
 tain, then gave the grand princedom to 
 Prince Dmitry, of the Nevsky branch of the 
 descendants of Ruric. So brief and feeble 
 was his reign, that it had neither influence 
 nor result. For a few years he sat in the 
 regal seat rather than governed, and list- 
 lessly held a sceptre he could not wield. 
 In 1362 he was put down by one khan just 
 as he had been set up by another, and 
 Dmitry Donskoi, the son of Ivan 11., made 
 grand prince in his stead. 
 
 The new sovereign was a man well adapted 
 to the exalted but dangerous position he was 
 41 
 
 called to occupy. With an ambitious temper 
 he united a calm and strong judgment. Con- 
 vinced that the restoration of Russian inde- 
 pendence depended upon the unity of the 
 empire, and the rigid maintenance of the 
 natural order of succession from father to 
 son, he convened a meeting of the sub- 
 sidiary princes, and obtained their consent 
 to this important measure. Won for once 
 to an act of reason and self-denial, thev 
 sisrned a treatv renouncing the disastrous 
 mode of succession from brother to brother, 
 and engaging themselves "to recognise the 
 authority of the grand prince, and that of 
 his son and grandson after him. Vladimir 
 the Brave, uncle to Dmitry Donskoi, and 
 one of the most influential of Russian 
 princes, first placed his name to the treaty, 
 and his example was readily followed. This 
 self-denial produced an abundant reward. 
 By such attention to general, in preference 
 to individual interests, a power was rising 
 which was eventually to break the galling 
 voke of the Tartars, and to raise the seem- 
 iug corpse of Russian independence to a 
 second and a better life. 
 
 " Such,'' says a modern writer, '' were the 
 circumstances under which Dmitrv ascended 
 the throne. He clearly perceived the ex- 
 traordinary progress towards a concentra- 
 tion of the resources of the empire that had 
 been made in the two previous reigns, and 
 his earliest care was to carry it still farther, 
 by securing the right of succession in a 
 direct line, so that the same course of policy 
 might, with the more certainty, be trans- 
 mitted without deviation. This wise mea- 
 sure was useful in everv wav. It had the 
 effect of consolidating the common interests, 
 which had hitherto been sacrificed to un- 
 seemly contentions ; while it gave to the 
 reigning prince a greater stake in tranquil- 
 lity and conservation, since he felt that the 
 labours of government were directed to the 
 maintenance of the rights of his children, 
 which, of course, were dearer to him than 
 the rights of nephews, or brothers, or 
 strangers. The heir, too, had the example 
 of his father tg emulate, and a similar 
 motive actuated him on behalf of his suc- 
 cessor. The establishment of the heredi- 
 tary principle was also more acceptable to 
 the nobles, who, dwelling about the court, 
 were solicitous to cultivate the favour of the 
 acknowledged heir, in order that the per- 
 sonal attachments which grew out of habi- 
 tual intercourse, should descend to their 
 children, who might tlius, in turn, succeed 
 
 
 to the dignities enjoyed by their fathers. 
 In fiict, the old order of succession, from 
 brother to brother, w^as hateful to the 
 boyards of the grand principality, as the 
 new prince was always attended by the 
 boyards of his own appanage, for whom he 
 was forced to provide by displacing all 
 those whom he already found stationed at 
 the capital." 
 
 Such was the liberal policy observed by 
 Dmitry towards the boyards of the empire, 
 that thev became more attached to him 
 than to their own immediate princes. In 
 the last address he made to tliem, he ob- 
 served, *' Under v(\j reign, you were not 
 boyards, but really Russian princes." By 
 raising the power of the bovards he de- 
 pressed that of the princes, until both were 
 verging into an order of nobility in which 
 there were but small degrees of distinction. 
 Dmitry saw that if unity was to exist, the 
 grand prince must hold an unshared 
 sceptre; that all appanaged princes must 
 be actually subordinate to him as well as in 
 theor}^; and that he must have no power- 
 ful and half-independent subject near the 
 throne. Dmitry pursued his plans with a 
 cautious wisdom ; and so successful was 
 he, that, in 1392, the boyards of Roris, the 
 last Prince of Suzdal, surrendered him and 
 his dominions to the grand prince. 
 
 It must not be supposed that Dmitry was 
 enthroned on roses, and permitted to carry 
 out his plans of family advancement and 
 national regeneration without opposition. 
 He had to contend with foes both at home 
 and abroad. The Prince of Twer, the old 
 rival of his family, could not quietly aban- 
 don the struggle for supremacy. Michael, 
 or Mikhail, of Twer, assisted by his son-in- 
 law the fierce Olgnerd, Prince of Lithuania, 
 rose in arms four times against him. Dur- 
 ing this suicidal conflict, Moscow itself M'as 
 twice subjected to siege, and would have 
 been taken but for the great strength of 
 the stone walls which had been recently 
 erected around it. For a time, victory 
 seenled to favour the insurgent prince; but, 
 at last, Olguerd died ; and Dmitry, leading a 
 confederation of his kinsmen against Mi- 
 chael, defeated him, and finally induced 
 him to submit to a power he could no 
 longer hope successfully to resist. 
 
 The most distinguishing event of Dmitry's 
 reign was a war of a more dangerous and 
 important kind. The decline of the Tartar 
 power in Russia was still further accelerated 
 by the breaking up of the Golden Horde 
 
 into rival factions. Several of the chiefs 
 set themselves up as khans, and the vast 
 forces of the Tartars were broken into de- 
 tached bodies, following their own imme- 
 diate chief, and as likely to make war on 
 each other as to unite against a common 
 foe. A dissatisfied prince who was disposed 
 to seek the aid of the Tartars against his 
 sovereign, knew not to which khan to 
 apply. The Tartars were unable to conceal 
 their constantly increasing weakness, and 
 the princes were driven by necessity to seek 
 assistance from Dmitry, when their posses- 
 sions were invaded by bodies of vagrant 
 Tartars, or other foes. The grand prince 
 yielded aid, on condition of the return of 
 implicit submission ; and thus eventually all, 
 or nearly all, the princes of the empire*^ be- 
 came his vassals. 
 
 Though the Tartars were broken up into 
 several hordes, each distinguished by the 
 name of the chief wdiose standard they fol- 
 lowed, yet the paramount authority was 
 claimed by Mamai, the khan of the Tartars 
 of the Don, who exacted tribute from 
 Dmitry. Mamai, with the quick perception 
 of his race, saw that the Russians were 
 making rapid strides towards independence. 
 Aware that this would lead to the final 
 expulsion or submission of the Tartars, he 
 resolved to re-establish his despotic sway 
 by the same ferocious means by which it 
 was at first imposed. Dmitry had many 
 spies at the Horde, who revealed to him 
 the intentions of the khan, and he prepared 
 for the coming struggle, by collecting around 
 him the dependent princes and their armed 
 followers. Mamai also appears to have had 
 his informants, and each side became con- 
 scious of the designs of the other. The 
 khan sought to gain time for the concentra- 
 tion of his strength by sending an embassy 
 to the grand prince, with complaints about 
 the insufficiency of the tribute money. 
 Dmitry did not object to a delay, which he, 
 also, could devote to increasing his strength, 
 and drawing around him all those princes 
 of Russia who could be convinced of their 
 common danger. He therefore sent a 
 counter-embassy to the khan, the members 
 of which referred to a treaty, by which it 
 was arranged that the tribute should be re- 
 duced. Mamai, baffled in diplomacy, re- 
 sorted to intimidation, and commanded the 
 grand prince to appear before him in person. 
 Had the latter obeyed this despotic injunc- 
 tion, he would doubtless have fallen a 
 victim to the fury of his oppressor, and have 
 
 45 
 
 I 
 
BATTLE OF THE DON.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1380. 
 
 A.D. .1382.] 
 
 EUSSIAN EMPIRE. [the tartars burn Moscow. 
 
 been openly put to death, after a judicial 
 mockery, on some concocted charge, or have 
 been munlered secretly by the subtle arts 
 of the poisoner. Dmitry had proceeded 
 with prudence, and was in a condition to 
 resort to tbc only alternative which a re- 
 fusal to obey the command of the khan left 
 open to him. The princes of Russia were 
 at length resolved to make a great effort 
 in vindication of the liberties of their 
 country; the people were possessed of a 
 painful remembrance of the atrocities of 
 the Tartars, and inspired by a bitter hatred 
 of them; and the clergy feared that if 
 Tartar violence was again lot loose upon 
 the land, Christianity would be overthrown, 
 for the sake of seizing the large possessions 
 of the chiirch. They consequently pro- 
 claimed the coming struggle to be a holy 
 war — a war for the honour of God and the 
 safety of man — a war alike for the church 
 of Christ and the nationality of the empire 
 — a war to preserve the altars of God from 
 desecration, and the homes of the people 
 from outrage and destruction. Such was 
 the natural and becoming ardour of the 
 priesthood for the war, that they declared 
 the crown of martyrdom would be placed 
 by angels on the head of every Russian 
 who perished in the conflict, and that the 
 gates of heaven would open of themselves 
 to receive his soul. 
 
 Such was the spirit pervading both princes 
 and people, that Dmitry was enabled to 
 take the field with a power said to amount 
 to 200,000 men; a force which, fighting 
 on its own territory for its religion and 
 nationality, ought to be invincible. Dmitry 
 did not permit the Tartars to ravage the 
 country between them and Moscow; but he 
 led his troops at once to the river Don, to 
 the point where, at no great distance, the 
 Tartars were encamped on the opposite side. 
 After addressing his soldiers, he gave them 
 the choice of awaiting the assault of the 
 enemy, or of crossing the river and them- 
 selves commencing the attack. Animated 
 by patriotic ardour, they unanimously de- 
 cided for the latter; and seemed to long 
 impatiently for the hour which should 
 decide the fate of their country. Having 
 transported his battalions across the river, 
 the grand prince set the vessels adrift, so as 
 to cut off all hopes of retreat, and excite 
 that ferocity of valour which is the result of 
 desperation. The measure appears to have 
 been a necessary one : not only were the 
 Russians opposed to a race whom they had 
 46 
 
 been accustomed to regard as conquerors 
 and masters, but the Tartars far exceeded 
 them in numbers. The old chroniclers 
 assert that the Tartars were thrice the 
 number of the Russians ; but this statement 
 bears an air of incredibilit)% and is, we 
 suspect, merely a flourish of pardonable 
 trium})h. The Russians, who had genera- 
 tions of oppression to avenge, commenced 
 the assault with ungovernable fury. Such 
 was their impetuosity, that numbers even of 
 their own troops were thrown down and 
 trampled to death in the mighty shock. 
 The astonished Tartars reeled for a moment, 
 and then dashing onward, met the assault 
 with equal fury. Terrible was the slaughter 
 on each side ; but the superior numbers of 
 the Tartars enabling them to fill up every gap 
 that was made in their ranks, and continually 
 to pour down fresh supplies of men upon 
 the field, seemed to promise them the 
 victory. Apparently overwhelmed, the Rus- 
 sians seemed to waver, and would probably 
 have fled, but that the river was at their 
 backs, their ships were gone, and flight was 
 impossible. Nothing remained for them 
 but to conquer or to perish nobly after 
 having avenged their fall by the slaughter of 
 many of their foes. Wrought to an excite- 
 ment scarcely short of madness, it is related 
 that they fought rather with the ferocity 
 and strength attributed to demons than as 
 if animated with the common passions of 
 men. The slaughter of the Tartars was 
 enormous; but their great numbers and 
 stolid bravery might yet have won them the 
 victory, but for one of those incidents 
 which, occurring in the moment of exhaus- 
 tion, so often decide the result of battles. 
 Dmitry, with the wisdom of an able soldier, 
 had kept back a considerable detachment 
 from his army, to be called into action only 
 if their presence was urgently required. At 
 a critical time this reserve fell unexpectedly 
 upon the rear of the Tartars, whom their 
 attack threw into confusion and dismay. 
 The apprehensions of the Tartars magnified 
 the number of these fresh foes, and they 
 fell into that disorder which precedes panic. 
 The Russians perceived their advantage, 
 and renewed the assault with a fury at 
 once led by hope and pricked forward by 
 despair. Mamai and the Tartars fled head- 
 long from the well-contested and bloody 
 field, and the Russians had obtained a great 
 victory over their oppressors. Terrible was 
 the loss of life at which it was achieved; 
 but no price could be *oo great for the 
 
 
 glorious result that had been obtained. 
 The spell of Tartar invincibility had been 
 broken, and the infant liberty of Russia 
 baptized in blood ; while the same red 
 stream had wiped away the shame of gene- 
 rations of national slavery. Eight days 
 were passed in bestowing the rites of 
 sepulture upon the Russian dead ; but the 
 bodies of the Tartars were regarded with 
 such aversion, that they were left unburied, 
 to become the prey of birds and beasts. 
 Those heaps of Tartar bones, which long 
 whitened the banks of the river, were an 
 eloquent though silent warning against 
 aggression, and an insolent scorn of the 
 claims of the helpless. It was in honour of 
 this victory, that the grand prince, Dmitry, 
 received from his applauding people the 
 surname of Donskoi, by which he stands 
 distinguished in the records of his country. 
 Great was the joy of the Russians, but 
 their national independence was not estab- 
 lished. The work was begun, and well 
 begun, but it remained to be completed ; 
 and calamitous reverses were yet to be 
 experienced. Russia, exhausted by the 
 great effort it had made, was unable to 
 follow up the blow ; and the defeated Tar- 
 tars had time to recover themselves. Bent 
 on vengeance, they cautiously prepared for 
 a renewal of the struggle, but they did not 
 dare again to provoke hostilities until the 
 hordes of the Don and the Volga had effected 
 a union. The battle of the Don was fought 
 in 1380, and it took the Tartars two years 
 to recover from the effects of it. But in 
 1382 they swept with a mighty power over 
 the frontier provinces, and, ravaging the 
 country as they went, penetrated to the 
 strong walls of Moscow. The fortifications 
 of the city had lately been strengthened ; 
 the ramparts were powerful; and the pon- 
 derous gates were of iron. Dmitry looked 
 upon them with pride and hopefulness, and 
 anticipated another victory over his despotic 
 and barbarous foes. Such was his confi- 
 dence, that he left the charge of the city to 
 one of his generals, while he went further 
 into the interior to recruit his army. The 
 act was an unfortunate one ; for the people 
 had more confidence in their sovereign than 
 in themselves. Yet all might have been 
 well but for the meanness and cowardice 
 of the priesthood. Had they placed a vital 
 trust in the Deity whose providence they 
 preached, they would have cheered the 
 fainting hearts of the timid, have roused 
 the fearful from their apathy, and have 
 
 strengthened the feeble to the heroism of 
 endurance. The calm and inspiring bear- 
 ing of a brave priest might, at such a time, 
 do more than the brawnv arm of the 
 soldier. Heroes impart their spirit to all 
 around them; and, in like manner, the 
 craven temper of the coward cot ru})ts and 
 def)resses even the brave. The metro- 
 politan and priests of Moscow, accompanied 
 by a number of base and wealthy citizens, 
 taking advantage of the absence of Dmitry, 
 abandoned the city on the approach of the 
 Tartar host. The act was contagious ; those 
 who should have remained in the city to the 
 last, offering the consolations of religion to 
 the dying, and the incitements of patriotism 
 to those who yet lived to wreak the fury of 
 an injured people on the foe, had slunk 
 silently away, preferring to secure the safety 
 of their worthless lives to the discharge of 
 their duties on earth, and the attainment of 
 that bliss which awaits the just in heaven ! 
 
 The priesthood fled, and a sense of terror 
 sunk deep into the hearts of the people. 
 The garrison made a feeble show of resist- 
 ance upon the walls ; and the Tartars, be- 
 holding the strength of the defences, treache- 
 rously held out promises of pardon to the 
 inhabitants if they would submit without 
 further hostilities. Experience must have 
 taught the Russians that their foes were as 
 false as they were cruel; that their words 
 were as unstable as water, and as deceitful 
 as the sultry air oppressed by the coming 
 storm. Many a terrible tradition must 
 have told as to what had been the fate of 
 those who had trusted to Tartar mercy ! 
 They must have known that it was better 
 to die with weapons in their hands, dripping 
 with the blood of an implacable and unprin- 
 cipled foe, than have trusted to a horde of 
 robbers who never forgave, and who actually 
 experienced a satanic delight in slaughter. 
 But fear dulls the senses and blinds the 
 perception. The people of Moscow trusted 
 to the promises of their foes, and threw 
 open their gates to them. The result might 
 have been anticipated. The Tartars rushed 
 in, massacred every person they met in the 
 streets, and then set the citv on fire. Hav- 
 ing accomplished the revenge they meditated 
 for their defeat on the banks of the Don, the 
 barbarians returned to their haunts, flatter- 
 ing themselves that they had eflectually 
 trodden down the rising spirit of inde- 
 pendence and recovered their tottering 
 power over the Russians. For a time they 
 had so ; but no mortal means could stay the 
 
 47 
 
 ■ i 
 
 H 
 
1 
 
 PEATH OF DMITRY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1382—1389. 
 
 decline that was consuming their power, and 
 the time of their own doom was approach- 
 ing. "All they that take the sword, shall 
 perish with the sword," is a divine truth, 
 even more applicable to nations than to 
 individuals. Injustice and violence pro- 
 voke the spirit of retaliation ; and, if not in 
 one age, yet in another, the day of vengeance 
 will inevitably come. 
 
 When Dmitry returned to his smitten 
 capital, nothing was left him but to purchase 
 safety by an ignoble submission to the foe 
 over whom he had so recently triumphed as 
 a victor. His great heart must have swelled 
 with intense and suffocating emotion when 
 he had to propitiate the forbearance of the 
 khan, and once again perforin the bitter 
 humiliation of begging his dignity at the 
 hands of the Tartar potentate. The empire 
 that had been within his grasp was shat- 
 tered into fragments; the glorious dream of 
 national independence liad melted like the 
 early frosts of autumn before a yet powerful 
 sun ; the hopes of a life — a life of wisdom, 
 toil, and heroism — were gone like the 
 memory of a chaotic and uneasy dream, 
 which has left behind it only a sense oi 
 gloom and impending evil. 
 
 Russian independence, though checked, 
 was not destroyed : the wounds on its infant 
 liberty began to heal even with the resto- 
 ration of Moscow. Princes, boyards, and 
 people were alike roused to the necessity 
 of unity, and all hoped for the time which, 
 though deferred, they yet expected. The 
 grand princedom was still acknowledged, 
 and the consolidation of the empire remained 
 unbroken. The recent outrage of the Tar- 
 tars had excited still more bitterly against 
 them the hatred of those whom they op- 
 pressed. During his reign of seven-and- 
 twenty years, Dmitry was unable again to 
 make head against the Tartar power ; yet 
 lie silently pur.sued his plans of raising the 
 power of the grand princedom, and of con- 
 solidating the empire. He died in 1389, 
 leaving a solemn injunction to his sou to 
 persevere in his policy, and to direct all 
 liis efforts to the eventual expulsion of the 
 Tartars from Russia. Dmitry was a wise 
 prince ; and, but for the sad mistake of 
 once depending upon otliers where he 
 should have relied only upon himself, would 
 have been regarded as a great one. The 
 recreant priests who fled from Moscow 
 trampled the glory of their sovereign be- 
 neath their feet; and his fame was sullied 
 by the flames which enveloped the city. 
 48 
 
 Yet is the name of Dmitry Donskoi hon- 
 oured in the scroll of history ; as, indeed, it 
 truly deserves to be. The successful are the 
 most applauded by posterity ; but those who 
 aim highly, and labour wortliily, even in 
 failure scarcely deserve less. 
 
 Vassilv, the son of Dmitry, succeeded to 
 the throne of the grand princedom without 
 opposition. Of a haughty character and 
 unbending turn of mind, Vassily was fitted 
 to wield a sceptre in barbarous times. Stern, 
 even to ferocity, to his princes and people, 
 he was patient and pliant to his Asiatic and 
 European neighbours. He was resolved not 
 to waste his strength in contentions with 
 them, but to reserve it in case of another 
 collision with the Tartars. Though of a 
 remarkably aristocratic and imperious na- 
 ture, he felt it necessary to humble his 
 pride so far as to proceed to the Golden 
 Horde, and purchase of the Tartar khan 
 the right to his dignity. At the same time 
 he acquired permission to assume the sove- 
 reignty over seven appanages, which he 
 had wrunjiT from as many of his kinsmen, 
 whom he reduced to the necessity of rain- 
 gling in the ranks of his courtiers, or of dying 
 in exile. The Lithuanians, who had for 
 some time harassed his western frontier, 
 he opposed rather by policy tlian by force 
 of arms ; and he contrived to obtain from 
 their prince, who was his father-in-law, a 
 forbearance it would have been inconvenient 
 to extort. 
 
 A few years were passed in comparative 
 tranquillity, when Russia was threatened 
 by two fierce and powerful foes in opposite 
 directions. These were Vitovt, the prince 
 of the Lithuanians, in the west, and the 
 barbarous conqueror Tamerlane, and his 
 hordes of Tartars, in the east. Tim our, or 
 Tamerlane, was one of those romantic bar- 
 barians who, though of humble birth, yet 
 cherished the ambitious and brutal dream 
 of universal conquest. Though reported to 
 have been merely an Asiatic shepherd, yet 
 he came of a tribe regarded as noble. Born 
 in unsettled and revolutionary times, bred 
 to the use of arms from his infancy, at the 
 aire of five-and-twenty he stood forth as the 
 most distinguished man of his country. 
 Reverses, however, came upon him : he 
 experienced vicissitude of a romantic kind ; 
 and, for some time, led the life of a vagrant 
 and an outlaw. Again did he become the 
 favourite of fortune. At the age of thirty- 
 four, he was invested with that imperial 
 command supposed to reside only in the 
 
 '(/ 
 
 1 
 
 i\ 
 
 A.u. 1398—1420. 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [invasion by TAMERLANE. 
 
 descendants of Ghengis Khan. Zagatai, 
 the kingdom of the usurper, was a fertile 
 territory, five hundred miles in length and 
 in breadth ; but this was so far from satis- 
 fying his ambition, that it was but one of 
 seven-and-twenty crowns which he seized 
 and wore before his death. After the con- 
 quest of Persia, Tamerlane resolved to re- 
 duce to submission those of the Tartars 
 who had proclaimed their independence of 
 the parent authority. In the execution of 
 this project, he marched, in 1398, at the 
 head of 400,000 soldiers, upon the Golden 
 Horde, or that branch of the Tartars who 
 had so long settled on the banks of the 
 Volga. He fell upon the combined Tartars 
 there, and inflicted upon them a severe 
 chastisement. To use the language of his 
 own chronicler, he gave them to the wind 
 of desolation. Some of the Tartars who 
 fled, lured the victor on in the direction of 
 Moscow. His course was marked by ruin 
 almost to the walls of the city, which, at 
 the same time, was threatened in another 
 direction by Vitovt, and an enormous army 
 of Lithuanians. The Russians were in 
 despair; the capital of their empire was 
 threatened with destruction from opposite 
 quarters, and stood between two fires ; while 
 the people themselves, enervated by bon- 
 dage and frequent defeat, placed all their 
 trust in an image of the Virgin, to which 
 miraculous powers were attributed. The 
 desponding Vassily beheld approaching de- 
 struction on every hand; and it seemed as. 
 if the extinction of the empire was at hand. 
 Under these circumstances, their impending 
 doom was averted by an unforeseen event, of 
 a kind which gave an apparently rational 
 colour to the statements of the Russians — 
 that it was the result of the merciful inter- 
 ference of the Virgin in their favour. 
 Tamerlane, recalled by his ambition to the 
 south, suddenly retraced his steps; while 
 Vitovt and his Lithuanians pushed ! forward 
 towards the Golden Horde. The invading 
 armies met, and fell upon each other. 
 Russia was thus relieved from the presence 
 of two terrible' foes, neither of whom she 
 had the power or spirit to encounter. 
 "When Tamerlane had subdued the Lithua- 
 nians, he turned towards the vast peninsula 
 of India, where a period of conquest and 
 plunder was followed by his assumption of 
 the title of emperor. 
 
 Happily, Tamerlane was too much occu- 
 pied elsewhere to permit him to return; 
 and, in this invasion, the Russians suffered 
 
 VOL. I. H 
 
 far less than the Tartars of the Golden 
 Horde. Their wealth had been pillaged, 
 their forces scattered, and their military 
 reputation humbled. Notwithstanding the 
 tenacity with which they cluns: to the des- 
 potic power they had acquired by the 
 sword, it was evident that this blow must 
 rapidly accelerate their decline. The as- 
 cendancy of the princes of the Moscow line 
 continued to increase ; but vet Vassilv was 
 not able to set the Tartars at defiance. 
 Some years afterwards, he made an experi- 
 ment in that directidh ; but it only led to 
 his own humiliation. Without consulting 
 the khan, he caused himself to be crowned 
 at Moscow, M'ith all the splendour of impe- 
 rial dignity. Not only was the act a breach 
 of treaty, but it was regarded by the Tai- 
 tars as an insult to their supremacy. The 
 anger of the khan was aroused; and his 
 power, broken as it had been, was yet such 
 that the Russians feared to brave it. Vas- 
 sily acknowledged that he had committed 
 an error, and sued to the khan for pardon. 
 The Tartars had no desire to appeal to 
 arms, and the Russian prince was permitted 
 to retain his dignity as grand prince, on 
 condition that he again tendered fealty to 
 the khan as his superior lord. 
 
 Vassily died in 1425, after a reign of six- 
 and-thirty years, which he had devoted 
 chiefly to the promotion of the interests of 
 the grand princedom. Though destitute of 
 the great talents of his father, he had car- 
 ried out his principles with much persever- 
 ance. At the close of life, he compelled 
 the Russian princes and boyards to acknow- 
 ledge his infant son as the indisputable heir 
 to the throne. He also exacted from them 
 a vow that they would have no communica- 
 tion whatever with the Tartars or Lithua- 
 nians, but preserve against them a spirit of 
 implacable resentment. With the temper 
 of a despot, he banished all those who re- 
 fused to comply with these demands. It 
 was during the reign of Vassily that money 
 was first coined in Russia. Prior to this 
 time, mention had been made of grivnas ; 
 but the term did not refer to a coin, but to 
 a certain weight of silver. Foreign com- 
 merce was carried on either by barter, or by 
 gold and silver weighed in exchange for the 
 corresponding articles. Pieces of marten 
 skins, or other scraps of fur, were the cur- 
 rent money in petty transactions. At 
 length, a Tartar coin came into circulation 
 at Moscow and at Twer. Polish and German 
 coins also found their wav into use among 
 
 49 
 
 
 n 
 
^ 
 
 VASSILY THE BLIND.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Ta.d. 1425—1462. 
 
 the Russian people; and, in 1420, a mint 
 was established at Novgorod. 
 
 Vassily Yassihevitch, the infant son of 
 the late sovereign, succeeded to the throne ; 
 but not without difficulty. Yury, Prince of 
 Galitsch, relying upon his own power, en- 
 deavoured to restore the old and disastrous 
 order of succession from brother to brother. 
 Claiming the throne, he appealed to his 
 followers for support. The- time for a suc- 
 cessful opposition of this kind had passed, 
 and the principle of succession from father 
 to son had taken a firm root in the nation. 
 The clergy took the alarm ; and the primate, 
 Avho had proclaimed the young sovereign, 
 summoned the princes to sui)port his au- 
 thority, and pronounced an excommunica- 
 tion against the rebellious Yury. It is pro- 
 bable that the feeble thunder of the church 
 might have been disregarded, but that it 
 happened to be followed by a pestilence, 
 ■which alarmed the malcontents, and checked 
 their hostile preparations. The effect, how- 
 ever, was but transitory ; and when the con- 
 tagious sickness passed away, Yury returned 
 to his demand. An appeal to tlie Golden 
 Horde was considered requisite, and both 
 the infant prince and his turbulent uncle 
 proceeded Avith their dependents to the 
 banks of the Volga, and laid their claims 
 before the khan. So strong was the assem- 
 blage of boyards on the side of the legiti- 
 mate sovereign, and so powerful were their 
 arguments, or bribes, that the khan re- 
 jected the pretensions of Yury, and con- 
 firmed the succession of the infant Vassily. 
 The Tartar chief even went so far as to re- 
 lease the latter from the payment of tribute 
 to the Horde, and to decree that Yury should 
 hold the bridle of his nephew^s horse, on 
 the entrance of the latter into his capital. 
 
 The decisions of the Tartar khans were 
 no longer regarded as inevitable, and exempt 
 from all appeal. Yury put on a semblance 
 of submission ; but he resolved speedily to 
 seize by force Avhat he had been nnable to 
 obtain by his representations. Collecting 
 his forces, he appeared suddenly before 
 Moscow, took the city by surprise, and 
 compelled it to surrender. This done, he 
 banished Vassily, and seized the throne 
 which was the cause of his conspiracy. But 
 a public opinion had now grown up in ]Mos- 
 ^ cow; and the moral influence of public 
 opinion is more powerful than the sword. 
 It soon neutralised the triumph of the 
 usurper; and that, too, without shedding 
 one drop of blood. Every one declared for 
 50 
 
 the rights of the deposed prince ; the au- 
 thority of Yury was disavowed by the 
 nobles, priests, and people : and the whole 
 population of the capital, in solemn proces- 
 sion, followed their legitimate sovereign into 
 banishment. An appalling silence reigned 
 in the streets of Moscow, which seemed as 
 if it had been smitten and depopulated by 
 the plague. Yury found himself deserted ; 
 and even his own son had left him. This 
 painful isolation struck terror to his heart, 
 and he felt how dependent a prince was 
 upon the submission of his people. Of 
 what value was a sceptre that could be held 
 only in a desert, or a throne that stood 
 amidst a silent wilderness of dwellings? 
 Yury was vanquished by this passive oppo- 
 sition ; and in a few days he descended 
 from his solitarv throne, and restored it to 
 the legitimate heir. 
 
 The devotion of the boyards and citizens 
 of jNIoscow was not personal to the infant 
 grand prince ; it was merely an attachment 
 to the principle of legitimacy. Vassily was 
 imprudent, perverse, and obstinate. Un- 
 able to direct his own steps with wisdom, 
 he yet impatiently rejected the advice of 
 those who had proved their attachment to 
 his interests, and their ability to profiler 
 valuable counsels. A calamity of after-life 
 procured for him the melancholy title of 
 Vassily the Blind, which was applied to him 
 
 in a double sense. Then sightless in^body 
 and dark in mind, this wilful i)rince was in- 
 debted to the compassion of his people for 
 that support which he could not have ob- 
 tained from their respect. His caprice led 
 him into such errors as excited alike the 
 suspicion both of Russians and Tartars. 
 He is described as seeming to vacillate fron 
 choice, or in obedience to some infatuation 
 that was always leading him into crooked 
 paths of policy, and perplexing and pervert- 
 ing his views. Once the Tartars liurled 
 him from the throne; but they permitted 
 him to resume his regal dignity. Another 
 time the son of Yury, encouraged by the 
 discontent which prevailed, unfurled the 
 banner of insurrection. - Vassily was a 
 second time deposed ; and his brutal cousin 
 put out the eyes of the unfortunate prince. 
 Hence his surname— the Blind. The bar- 
 barity of the deed produced a reaction o. 
 popular feeling in favour of the down- 
 trodden monarch. Some emotion of pity 
 was mingled with an almost idolatrous res- 
 pect for the principle of hereditary succes- 
 sion. Tradition had much to say of do- 
 
A.D. 1462.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [death of VASSILY. 
 
 «n 
 
 /«•%«,•. 
 
 ^v 
 
 X^ 
 
 mestic conflicts waged by rival claimants of 
 the grand princedom; of Russian blood, 
 shed in torrents by Russian hands, to settle 
 questions in which the people had no in- 
 terest, and no part. Thus the principle of 
 succession from father to son had become 
 dear to the people ; for they regarded it as 
 a source of peace. True, by this means the 
 crown might descend upon the head of a 
 perverse prince like Vassily ; or, indeed, 
 upon one hopelessly devoid of intellect : yet 
 it was not the blindly obstinate man, or 
 the drivelling idiot, the people reverenced, 
 but the principles of order, peace, and jus- 
 tice. It mattered little by what machinery 
 they were obtained, so that the nation 
 reaily enjoyed them. Idiotic prince, if it 
 must be so ; yet even that painful alterna- 
 tive, rather than servile war. 
 
 Thus the usurpation of the son of Yury 
 was as hateful to the people as that of his 
 father. Even in Russia, rude as its society 
 yet was, the time had passed when any 
 powerful chieftain could seize with impunity 
 
 that which he desired to possess. Neither 
 nobles nor people would tolerate the would- 
 be sovereign. All fell from his side, and 
 declared for their blind monarch. Trem- 
 bling for his unworthy life, the usurper fled 
 to Novgorod, where he was poisoned by his 
 own attendants ; a fate which, sombre as it 
 was, he well deserved. The city that had 
 sheltered him was compelled to pay a heavy 
 fine for having done so. No other incident 
 of importance diversified the long reign of 
 Vassilv the Blind, who went unregretted to 
 his grave in the year 1462. But the prin- 
 ciple of hereditary succession Mas now es- 
 tablished ; and his son, Ivan III., ascended 
 without opposition a throne the power of 
 w^iich he was to consolidate, and the dignity 
 of which he was to exalt in the eyes of Europe. 
 One hundred and thirty years had elapsed 
 since Ivan Kalita commenced his reign ; and 
 the people, during that period, had come to 
 regard the right of the princes of the Mos- 
 cow line to the sovereignty of Russia as 
 something unimpeachable, if not divine. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 IVAN TIT KNOWN AS THE GREAT ; HIS CRAFTY POLICY ; HE TAKES THE TARTAR CITY OF KASAN ; SUBDUES 
 NOVGOROD AXD ANNEXES IT TO HIS DOMINIONS ; TARTAR INVASION AND COWARDICE OF THE GRAND 
 PRINCE • BRFAKING UP OF THE GOLDEN HORDE AND ANNIHILATION OF THE TARTAR POWER ; IVAN 
 SUBDUES YIATKA AND PSKOF, AND THE INDEPENDENT PRINCES OF RUSSIA; CAUSES THE DEATH OF HIS 
 BROTHER- AVRESTSA LARGE TERRITORY FROM THE LITHUANIANS; ASSUMES THE TITLE OF CZAR; HIS 
 POLICY TO THE COURTS OF EUROPE ; DISCO.^TENT OF THE BOYARDS ; IVAN CAUSES HIS GRANDSON DMITRI 
 TO BE CROWNED AS HIS SUCCESSOR, BUT AFTERWARDS EXCLUDES HIM; JEWISH HERESY IN THE RUSSIAN 
 CHURCH ; IVAN'S REFORMS AND DESPOTISM ; HIS DEATH AND CHARACTER. 
 
 The time we are now approaching has been 
 justly termed the period of despotism. As 
 the principle of strengthening the power of 
 the grand prince met with fewer obstacles, 
 it went beyond the point at which it should 
 have been restrained, and eventually pro- 
 duced a government in which unmitigated 
 despotism was supported by frightful cruelty. 
 Ivan III., known as Ivan the Great (a 
 surname he can scarcely be said to have 
 deserved), ascended the throne of Moscow at 
 the early age of twenty-two. At this time 
 of life, the fresh mind of youth is seldom 
 contaminated by the sinister principles of 
 statecraft; but the new grand prince was 
 one of those passionless natures who may 
 
 be said never to have been influenced by 
 the feelings of youth. Before the bounding 
 elasticities of boyhood had ceased in other 
 men, he was an adept in casuistry, and 
 gifted with the power of mental conceal- 
 ment. A worshipper of the autocratic prin- 
 ciple, the labours of his long reign of 
 forty-three years were devoted to the estab- 
 lishment of Russian independence and of 
 an unmitigated despotism ; and the princi- 
 ples established by Ivan still cast their 
 heavy shadows over the broad territories of 
 the Russian empire. He was prepared to 
 sacrifice everything to his interests ; and no 
 lofty emotions appear to have ever animated 
 his bosom. So intensely selfish was he, 
 
 51 
 
 \ 
 
•• 
 
 ACCESSION OF IVAN III.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 14G2— 1469. 
 
 A.D. 1470.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [designs against Novgorod. 
 
 that the contemplation of mucli of his con- 
 duct excites emotions of disgust. Pro- 
 foundly crafty, he obtained all his objects 
 in some indirect and frequently ignoble 
 manner. His perseverance bordered upon 
 greatness; but his prudence degenerated 
 into abject cowardice. Such was the cau- 
 tion with which lie proceeded, that the 
 early acts of his reign are described as more 
 resembling the subterfuges of a coward than 
 the crafty artifices of a despot. 
 
 He was placed in trying circumstances, 
 which required all the exercise of his subtle 
 talents ; of which, as yet, he knew not the 
 extent. Enemies abroad were to be met, 
 while independence at home was to be 
 created. On one hand were the Tartars, 
 and on the other the Lithuanians; while 
 within the Russian frontiers were the inde- 
 pendent states of Novgorod, Viatka, and 
 Pskof, besides other unsettled appanages, 
 the princes of which did not yet recognise 
 his authoritv. Trulv there was work enouj'h 
 both for diplomacy and the sword ; but the 
 subtle and sometimes seemingly perplexed 
 Ivan was equal to the position it was his lot 
 to fdl. Those evils he had most resolved to 
 check, he pretended at first to entirelv ae- 
 quiesce m. His cold smile fell ofteuest upon 
 the man he meant at some future time to 
 crush. Thus he bctraved his enemies into 
 carelessness, and patiently awaited for a 
 favourable hour in which he could exter- 
 minate them. He first practised upon the 
 khan by withholding the customary tribute, 
 but without any appearance of hostility or 
 opposition. He merely evaded the payment, 
 while he acknowledged the right of the 
 khan, who was induced to believe that the 
 grand prince was still his vassal. Such was 
 the seeming humility of Ivan, that he even 
 induced the khan to withdraw the Tartar 
 residents and their retinues, together with 
 the Tartar merchants, from Moscow. A 
 little briuery contributed to this result ; and 
 the haughty strangers, who insulted even 
 the precincts of the palace with the insolent 
 bearing of masters, were, in eifect, banished 
 from the city. Such was the seeming 
 humility of this designing man, that his 
 wife, a high-spirited lady, had much diffi- 
 culty in persuading him to abandon the 
 humiliating and even disgusting ceremo- 
 nials with which Russian princes had been 
 compelled to receive the Tartar envoys. 
 Hitherto they had advanced to meet the 
 barbarian ambassadors — spread a carpet of 
 fur beneath the feet of his horse — gone upon 
 52 
 
 ' their knees while the khan's letter was read 
 to them — presented to the envoy a cup of 
 koumiss, and licked from the mane of the 
 horse any drops of the beverage that might 
 have fallen upon it ! 
 
 Kasan, the first and most important of 
 Tartar cities, was a standing insult and a 
 perpetual source of irritation to the Rus- 
 sians. Its inhabitants, rather thieves than 
 citizens, subsisted chiefly by predatory ex- 
 cursions. So general and indiscriminate 
 were their licentious proceedings, that even 
 neighbouring liordes of Tartars were not 
 unwilling to witness their humiliation. 
 Here, then, was an opportunity which in- 
 vited even the cautious Ivan to action. Col- 
 lecting all his available forces, he marched, 
 about the year 14G8, against Kasan, with 
 the intention of driving out those restless 
 men who had brought the habits of robbers 
 within the walls of a city. At the time 
 Ivan conducted this movement, the armies 
 of the Golden Horde were advancing into 
 Russia, doubtless with the hope of restoring 
 that power which the khan must have seen 
 was crumbling into nothingness. Ivan's 
 army was not only numerous, but it con- 
 sisted of the flower of the Russian popula- 
 tion. So imposing was its appearance, that 
 the army of the khan retired at its approach. 
 Thus Ivan had all the honour ofhavinjrwon 
 a victory without the hazard of striking a 
 single blow; a kind of triumph quite iu 
 harmony with his timid and fox-like nature. 
 
 Instead of being encouraged to decisive 
 action by this fortuitous success, Ivan de- 
 ferred his attempt on Kasan until the fol- 
 lowing year. Even then he held back his 
 impatient soldiery, and acted in a strangely 
 hesitating and equivocal way. Resolved not 
 to return without plunder, the Russians 
 attacked the city, even against the orders of 
 Ivan to the contrary. Electing a leader of 
 their own, they fell upon Kasan, and utterly 
 defeated its defenders. The spiritless grand 
 prince, perceiving that the enemy was no 
 longer capable of resistance, poured his 
 enormous forces upon the fallen city, and 
 once again obtained the semblance of a- 
 victory. Yet even in this proceeding, where 
 the Russian force was so overwhelming that 
 danger was almost an impossibility, Ivan 
 kept far from the scene of action, and issued 
 his orders from Moscow. 
 
 The attention of the grand prince was 
 now called to the three independent states 
 of Novgorod, Yiatka, and Pskof. Nov- 
 gorod, as the most wealthy and powerful^ 
 
 openly exhibited its distrust of his inten- 
 tions. Its citizens solicited the assistance 
 of the inhabitants of Pskof, and expressed 
 their intention to march at once against the 
 grand prince, as a measure of anticipation. 
 They had detected his cowardice, and be- 
 lieved they could inspire him with a sense 
 of terror. Still, to protect themselves 
 against his power, they submitted to Casi- 
 mir. Prince of Lithuania, and became his 
 subjects. The politic Ivan sought by every 
 means to win over Pskof to his interests, 
 that he might deal with Novgorod alone. 
 So artfully did he proceed, that he suc- 
 ceeded iu this design, and even contrived to 
 neutralise all the opposition he had reason 
 to fear. AVhen fully prepared, he demanded 
 that the citizens of Novgorod should ac- 
 knowledge his authority. As he anticipated, 
 the reply was conveyed in the language of 
 scorn and defiance. He had obtained the 
 pretext he desired, and his next messengers 
 to Novgorod were three powerful armies, 
 who entered the territories of the state in 
 different directions. Such was their over- 
 whelming superiority to the forces of Nov- 
 gorod, that resistance was hopeless. The 
 more so, as the troops of Ivan possessed lire- 
 arms and cannon — a recent acquisition, the 
 use of which he had learned from Aristotle 
 of Bologna, an Italian, whom he had taken 
 into his service as an architect, mint-master, 
 and founder. After a brief and gallant 
 struggle, the opposition of the Novgoro- 
 dians was trampled into the dust. Swarms 
 of peasantry, following in the rear of the 
 army of the grand prince, succeeded the 
 soldiers in the work of plunder and license. 
 Ivan had really encouraged these outrages ; 
 but with an aff'ectation of compassion, he 
 pretended to repress them. He said he 
 grieved for the people, and wished to pro- 
 tect them from unnecessary violence; but, 
 in secret, he gloated over the severit}^ of the 
 wound he had caused to be inflicted. Weak- 
 ened as Novgorod was, the victor did not at 
 once attach it to his dominions. That would 
 have involved its partition among those 
 princes by whose aid he had subdued it. 
 He had made promises to that eff'cct ; but 
 without the least intention of fulfilling them. 
 He therefore affected a generous and mag- 
 nanimous tone, and merely exacted a rich 
 ransom and an act of submission from the 
 conquered city. Enfeebled as it had been, 
 he knew that it must fall into his hands 
 whenever, at some future time, he extended 
 them to receive it. Still he seized upon 
 
 some of its tributaries, under the transpa- 
 rent pretext of relieving an exhausted state 
 from some of the toilsome duties of govern- 
 ment. Bv this means he transferred much 
 of the commerce of Novgorod to his own 
 city of Moscow. 
 
 Availing himself of that feeling of discon- 
 tent and jealousy ever felt, to some extent, by 
 the poor towards the rich, Ivan succeeded in 
 sowing dissension between the nobles and the 
 people of Novgorod. That done, he induced 
 the latter to appeal to him for justice — an ap- 
 plication which he at once answered by pro- 
 ceeding to their city with great magnificence. 
 The people were dazzled by the almost 
 oriental splendour of his numerous retinue, 
 and captivated by the generous interest he 
 appeared^ to take in their affairs. The no- 
 bles and wealthy citizens of Novgorod whom 
 they accused, he loaded with chains, and 
 sent as prisoners to Moscow. Thus the 
 crafty despot got rid of those who alone 
 could efficiently oppose his selfish designs 
 upon the city. The blind animosity of the 
 people induced them to overlook, that, in 
 this proceeding of the grand prince, one of 
 those laws which had for centuries been the 
 basis of their libertv, was violated. The 
 ancient law of the state was, ''that none of 
 its citizens should ever be tried or punished 
 out of the limits of its own territory." Yet 
 Ivan, in trampling down this safeguard of 
 the freedom of the citizens of Novgorod, 
 acted with such profound duplicity, that 
 he even won the popular favour by his vio- 
 lation of the charter of their independence. 
 
 Gradually the inhabitants of Novgorod 
 referred all their disputes to the decision of 
 the grand prince. Profiting by this disposi- 
 tion, he at length summoned offenders to 
 appear before him at Moscow. The Novgo- 
 rodians hesitated; submission seemed a 
 surrender of their national independence; 
 and vet they were won to submission bv 
 the artful representations of Ivan. His 
 penetrating gaze was always bent deep into 
 the future. For seven years did this perse- 
 vering despot labour to lure them from those 
 distinctive habits, and that original charac- 
 ter, which separated them from the rest of 
 the empire. 
 
 At length he deemed events ripe for the 
 disclosure of the design he had so long 
 veiled. An envoy from Novgorod, in an 
 interview with the grand prince, either in- 
 advertently or in consequence of having 
 been bribed to do so, addressed him by the 
 title of liege lord, instead of by that of 
 
 5a 
 
 ^ 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 
IVAN SUBDUES NOVGOROD.l 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1470—1478. 
 
 A.D. 1479.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [apprehensions from the tartars. 
 
 master, which liad hitherto been the custom. 
 Ivan grasped eagerly at the mistake, or 
 treachery, and at once claimed all the privi- 
 leges of an absolute master. He demanded 
 that the republican city should take an oath 
 to him as a legislator and its judge; that it 
 should receive his bovards with full autho- 
 rity to exercise their almost irresponsible 
 control : that it should yield to them the 
 revered palace of Yaroslaf, esteemed as the 
 sacred temple of Novgorodian liberty, and 
 where, for more than five centuries, their 
 public assemblies had been held ; and, finally, 
 that each citizen should abdicate his share 
 of the sovereignty for the sake of the general 
 good. 
 
 The ])eoplc of Novgorod were filled with 
 astonishment and rage; for hitherto they 
 appear not to have entertained any suspicion 
 that the extinction of their independence 
 was aimed at. The great bell of the city 
 summoned the people to the market-place. 
 Thither thev rushed in furious crowds ; and, 
 having seized on their imprudent envoy, 
 they placed liim on his trial for treason 
 against the state; and on his being con- 
 demned, tore him limb from limb on the 
 spot. Some of the nobles, whom they also 
 suspected of being accessory to the sur- 
 render of their freedom, they murdered in 
 the streets, and they then again solicited 
 the aid of the Prince of Lithuania, and ac- 
 knowledged him as their sovereign. The 
 crafty Ivan was quite prepared for this 
 storm of passionate excitement; but when 
 the intelligence reached his ears, he pre- 
 tended to be overcome with surprise at 
 what he called the treachery and ingrati- 
 tude of the people. This man, who was 
 impenetrable to any other feeling than that 
 of the most concentrated selfishness, affected 
 much emotion, and groaned repeatedly. It 
 was not they, he declared, but he who had 
 been deceived. With well-assumed vehe- 
 mence, he broke out into lamentations, 
 which blinded even those who knew his 
 habitual hypocrisy. He accused the people 
 of Novgorod of having spread a snare for 
 him. It was they, he said, who sought 
 him for their sovereign ; and when, yielding 
 to their wishes, he had assumed that title, 
 they disavowed him — they had the impu- 
 dence to give him the lie formally in the 
 face of all Russia — they had dared to shed 
 the blood of their compatriots who remained 
 faithful, and to betray heaven and the holy 
 land of the Russians, by calling within its 
 limits a foreign religion and domination. 
 54 
 
 These crafty lamentations were addressed 
 by Ivan to his priests, nobles, and people, 
 and to all his subordinate princes, whom he 
 sought to unite in a crusade against Novgo- 
 rod. Many entered warmly into the scheme, 
 which was supported strongly by the clergy. 
 The republic of Pskof and the principality 
 of Twer alone stood aloof; but the crafty 
 tyrant withdrew their military power, under 
 the form of a contingent, and left them 
 helpless. The citizens of Novgorod were 
 alarmed at the cloud which hung over them, 
 and endeavoured to obtain conditions. 
 These were refused by Ivan, who demanded 
 a surrender of everything. *' I will reign 
 at Novgorod,^' he exclaimed, " as I do at 
 Moscow V^ At the same time, as if to 
 temper his despotic bearing, he promised 
 to respect the liberties of the citizens ; 
 though he carefully took away every means 
 of defending them. 
 
 The Novgorodians were in despair. Seve- 
 ral times they armed themselves, and ap- 
 peared resolved to risk a conflict which the 
 overwhelming number of their foes rendered 
 hopeless. Then, terrified by the desperate 
 nature of their afi'airs, they sunk into a 
 hopeless despondency. For a month the 
 armies of Ivan remained stationary, but 
 yet, as it were, with swords uplifted, as if 
 in the act to strike. He cared nothing for 
 military glory, but merely wanted the ac- 
 complishment of his purpose. To him the 
 mode was nothing; his mind regarded only 
 the end. He sought to domineer by terror 
 rather than by arms, and shrunk even from 
 encountering that loss which might attend 
 upon victor3\ He was patient ; and he had 
 collected so powerful a military force only 
 that he might avoid war. His calculations 
 were correctly made; Novgorod, weakened, 
 oppressed, and distracted, at length sub- 
 mitted without a blow. The liberty of 
 Novgorod, held in his murderous embrace, 
 suff'ered the agonies of protracted sufl*oca- 
 tion, and at length died in despair. On the 
 15th of January, 1478, the national assem- 
 blies ceased, and the people took the oath 
 of servitude. Three days later the boyards, 
 and the most influential of the inhabitants, 
 passively entered into the service of the 
 grand prince, who showed his now unim- 
 peachable power by confiscating the vast 
 revenues of the clergy, and bestowing them 
 upon the boyards and their followers, by 
 whose assistance he had smitten the pros- 
 trate and abject city. Nor did he go with- 
 out his own share of the spoil ; for, in such 
 
 a distribution, he was not the man to forget 
 himself. He desired to bleed Novgorod of 
 its treasure, until the once prosperous city 
 -should be so exhausted as never to be able 
 again to make head against his power. 
 With this view, quickened by the inordinate 
 selfishness which possessed him like an evil 
 spirit, he seized upon everything valuable to 
 which he could establish the faintest shadow 
 of a claim. An estimate may be formed of 
 the rapacity of this regal vulture, from the 
 fact, that he is said to have conveyed to 
 Moscow 300 cart-loads of gold, silver, and 
 precious stones, besides an enormous quan- 
 tity of furs, cloths, and other valuable mer- 
 chandise ! 
 
 Ivan had not long enjoyed his insidious 
 triumph before he himself was assailed by 
 terrors similar to those which he had so 
 remorselessly inflicted. News reached him 
 that the Tartars of the Golden Horde were 
 preparing for another invasion of Russia, 
 with the hope of recovering their expiring 
 power over it. Russia, concentrated and 
 prepared with a powerful army, was un- 
 daunted ; and Ivan had no cause for fear. 
 Two hundred thousand soldiers awaited his 
 command, and felt themselves fully equal to 
 encounter the weakened Tartars. His troops 
 panted for distinction, and longed to avenge 
 themselves on their ancient oppressors; 
 while the princes of the empire were warmly 
 devoted to his cause. Even civilians and 
 women spoke with an auger, mingled with 
 contempt, of the barbarous foe. A prince 
 of a martial and enthusiastic nature might 
 have enlisted in his cause every able man 
 among his subjects, and by one merciless 
 and well-directed blow, have extinguished 
 the Tartar army in a sea of blood. Yet, 
 under these circumstances, there was but 
 one man in Russia who trembled at the 
 danger, and that man was the sovereign. 
 When his vast power, full of spirit and 
 confident of victory, marched forward to 
 meet the enemy, this miserable recreant 
 deemed himself conquered. Overcome by 
 his shadowy terrors, he sent his princess to 
 find an asylum in a remote district of the 
 north; and then, deserting the army, shut 
 himself up within the walls of Moscow. 
 He even recalled his son to the capital ; but 
 the prince, humiUated at beholding the 
 abject fears of his father, properly refused 
 to leave his post with the army. Even the 
 people became indignant ; and, amidst por- 
 tentous murmurs, demanded, *^ Why he 
 had overburdened them with taxes, without 
 
 paying the khan his tribute? And why, 
 when he had brought the enemy into the 
 heart of the country, did he refuse to fight 
 
 them?" 
 
 The grand prince knew not how to 
 answer these reproaches, which he could 
 not altogether avoid hearing. The mur- 
 murs of an indignant people added to his 
 terrors, even in his remote and well-guarded 
 chambers. Casting vainly about for ex- 
 cuses, he convoked a meeting of the bishops 
 and boyards, for the purpose, he said, of 
 asking their advice. Their counsel was 
 conclusive : even the ouccessors of those 
 timid and selfish priests who had betrayed 
 Moscow to destruction in the time of the 
 brave Dmitry Donskoi, were decided now. 
 '' Does it," said they, " become mortals to 
 dread death ? It is*^in vain to fly from fear. 
 March boldly against the enemy; such is 
 
 our advice !" 
 
 The reluctant autocrat was compelled by 
 a sense of shame to rejoin his army ; but 
 his unconcealed fears diminished the ardour 
 of his troops. He remained behind the 
 river Lugra, and secretly opened a dis- 
 graceful communication with the Tartars, in 
 which he treated for pardon. The baseness 
 of fear could not be carried further : the 
 soldiery and the people of Moscow, on 
 hearing of his conduct, grew turbulent. 
 The primate of Moscow, animated by des- 
 pair, sought his presence, and endeavoured 
 to rouse him to a sense of manliness. 
 " Moved by our tears," said the head of 
 the church, "you set out once more to 
 combat the enemy of the Christians ; and 
 now you implore peace from that infidel 
 who scorns your prayer ! Ah, prince, to 
 what counsels have you lent your ear ! Is 
 it not to throw away your shield, and 
 shamefully take to flight? From what a 
 height of grandeur are you not descending ! 
 Would you give up Russia to the sword, 
 and the churches to plunder ? And 
 whither would you fly? Can you soar like 
 the eagle ? Will you fix your nest amidst 
 the stars? The Lord will cast you down 
 even from that asylum ' No ! you will not 
 desert us ; you will blush at the name of 
 fugitive, and traitor to your country !" 
 
 Even these forcible expostulations pro- 
 duced no effect. Surrounded by an enor- 
 mous army swelled by constant reinforce- 
 ments, nothing could inspire him with 
 confidence. So paralysed was he with 
 cowardice, that when the ice of a premature 
 winter had frozen over the river between 
 
 55 
 
 ? :- 
 
 I 
 
 '■■ (1 
 
 5. 
 
 I 
 
DESTRUCTION OF THE TARTARS.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1479. 
 
 A.D. 1480.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [designs of IVAN. 
 
 '.'f 
 
 him and the enemy, he took to a disgraceful 
 and disorderly flight. Fortunately for him, 
 his motives were not transparent to the 
 multitude, who were removed too far from 
 their prince to he able to judge critically of 
 his conduct. Even had thev beheld the 
 abject despot trembling with fear while 
 victory was within his grasp, yet their 
 reverence for autocracy was so great, that 
 they could not have felt anger or bitterness 
 towards tlie throned representative of the 
 race of Ruric. 
 
 Fortune conferred upon the dastard that 
 success which brave and deserving men 
 have too often failed to obtain. When his 
 disgraceful flight threatened to bind faster 
 upon the Russians those Tartar chains they 
 had nearly cast aside, an unexpected in- 
 cident turned the scale of victory. His 
 lieutenant of Svcnigorod, and his ally, the 
 khan of the Crimea, advanced suddenly 
 upon the Golden Horde, and carried their 
 victorious arms into the very den of the 
 Tartars. News of this movement soon 
 reached the invading army, which made a 
 precipitate retreat, with the object of averting 
 the destruction which threatened the seat of 
 its power. The khan and his forces were 
 too late; the Russians had fallen like 
 avengers upon the Golden Horde, slaughter- 
 ing the Tartars they found there, and 
 carrying oft' the treasures. No sooner had 
 they retired than a band of marauding 
 Tartars entered, and completed the work 
 of devastation. « They carried away the 
 women, together with what wealth yet re- 
 mained; and then retired, leaving the 
 palace and other dwellings of the Golden 
 Horde in flames. Yet another and still 
 greater disaster fell upon the discomfited 
 khan. His army was attacked, during its 
 retreat, by a hetman of the Cossacks and 
 the Murza of the Nogays, who fell upon 
 its disorderly ranks with such fury, and 
 used the sword with so merciless a severity, 
 that scarcely a remnant of the invaders 
 escaped. As an army they were destroyed ; 
 nothing was left of them but a disorganised 
 and starving rabble. The Golden Horde 
 was annihilated ; the Tartar yoke was 
 trampled into the dust ; and the scourge of 
 Russia was no more. 
 
 It might be supposed, that though Russia 
 was jubilant, yet that the people regarded 
 their sovereign with the scorn his cowardice 
 merited. The very reverse was the case. 
 Though his pusillanimity had almost brought 
 ruin upon the empire, to him was given all the 
 56 
 
 honours of the unexpected success. It was 
 even attributed to his wisdom and foresight. 
 His credulous people believed that he had 
 devised it all ; and that even his fliglit was 
 merely a snare to delude the foe. With a 
 blind stupidity which excites astonishment, 
 they now regarded Ivan as a man of pro- 
 found genius; gifted alike in the field or 
 the council-chamber. In the joy they felt 
 at their deliverance from two centuries and 
 a-half of national slavery, they were dis- 
 posed almost to worship the grand prince as 
 an incarnation of their new-born liberty I 
 
 The crafty Ivan resolved to profit by this 
 error of his people. It enabled him to 
 draw the bands of government tighter, and 
 to increase his wealth and power. His 
 fears vanished with the danger that caused 
 them, and his ambitious acquisitiveness re- 
 turned. He now directed his eff'orts to the 
 subjugation of the republics of Viatka and 
 Pskof, both of which he accomplished with 
 little bloodshed, and rather by stratagem 
 than power. Novgorod, enfeebled as it had 
 been, was still occasionally agitated by re- 
 collections of its former liberty. Its citizens 
 could not wear their chains patiently ; and 
 sometimes the crushed republic smouldered 
 with the suppressed fires of revolution. 
 Ivan resolved to tranquillise it after his own 
 fashion. To do this, he seized every pre- 
 text for removing Novgorodian families to 
 other parts of the empire, and supplying 
 their places with parasites of his own. The 
 city was at length exhausted of its original 
 inhabitants, and filled by men penetrated 
 with feelings of abject submission to the 
 grand prince. Novgorod was quite trans- 
 formed by this process. The city stood as 
 before; but the proud freemen who once 
 trod its streets had departed, and the groups 
 who now traded and chafi'ered in them were 
 slaves. Amidst all this craft and crueltv 
 
 • 
 
 the interests of Russia were advancing; its 
 consolidation was being promoted. It was 
 necessary that the petty tyrants of the 
 difi'erent principalities should fall before one 
 great tyrant, that union might take the 
 place of discord, and a great empire arise 
 out of a number of small and ever-jarring 
 states. It has been truly observed, that 
 unless Ivan had broken all the ties of 
 honour and humanity, and sacrificed the 
 best feelings of his nature, he could not 
 have subdued the insurgent population so 
 efi'ectually as to have bound up the whole in 
 one sentiment of common national interest. 
 Mean, unprincipled, and worthless as was 
 
 the man, the monarch accomplished an im- 
 portant labour, of a kind that better men 
 would probably have failed to eff'ect. 
 
 Some powerful and independent princes 
 yet existed in Russia, and Ivan now re- 
 solved to weave his snares around them. 
 He would have no independent appanages ; 
 he must reign supreme : Russia he desired to 
 see one and undivided, and yet merely his 
 footstool. Ivan had long foreseen and pre- 
 pared for the contest on w^hicli he was 
 .•ibout to enter; but his habitual cunning 
 and deceptive bearing had prevented his 
 intended victims from entertaining a sus- 
 picion of his purpose. This cold-hearted 
 man ever smiled on those he meant to ruin ; 
 and disarmed them by a well-simulated 
 bearing of gentleness, and even humility. 
 For three-aud-twenty years his Machiave- 
 lian patience recognised the right and in- 
 dependence of those princes whom he 
 meant to despoil, and, if necessary, to 
 crush. He would not encumber himself 
 with quarrels at home while the Tartar 
 power remained unbroken. When two of 
 his brothers revolted, and withdrew with 
 what forces they could collect into Lithu- 
 ania, he implored their return with the most 
 humble supplications. The motives for hypo- 
 crisy in this direction were now at an end, 
 and he resolved to adopt a very difi^er- 
 ent course. He did not wear a lion's robe, 
 and patch it, when necessary, with the skin 
 of the fox; but he wore a mantle of the 
 skins of foxes, to which he added, when it 
 was perfectly prudent to do so, some portions 
 of the hide of the lion. 
 
 Throwing aside the mask he had worn so 
 many years, Ivan commenced his desisrns 
 upon the Prince of Twer, the most formi- 
 dable of those who vet assumed a vain 
 
 w 
 
 rivalry with the power and splendour of the 
 grand princedom. In early life he had 
 married a princess of the house of Twer, 
 and a son was the result of the union. The 
 tie had done much to restrain him in this 
 direction ; but Ins wife and son were both 
 dead, and the thread of connection was 
 severed. He had since married a Greek 
 princess ; and there was nothing now to ex- 
 cite emotions of kindliness or forbearance. 
 The principality of Twer was fiturrouuded 
 by his possessions, and he could threaten 
 and strike at it from all sides. Having by 
 some injustice goaded the Prince of Twer 
 into the desperate resort of seeking assist- 
 ance from the now enfeebled state of 
 Lithuania, he charged its prince with trea- 
 
 VOL. I. I 
 
 son, and terrified him with the exhibition 
 of an armed confederacy ajirainst him. 
 Appalled by the armies that surrounded 
 them on all sides, the inhabitants appealed 
 to Ivan for forgiveness ; which he consented 
 to grant only on the paym.ent of a tribute 
 that enfeebled the whole territory. Thus, 
 though he held the sword aloft and did fiot 
 strike, yet he drained away the wealth and 
 strength of his intended victim. He then 
 excited disputes between the Muscovites 
 and the Twerians ; and made the latter feel 
 their helplessness and insecurity to such an 
 extent, that they were at length glad to 
 purchase the protection of Ivan at the 
 price of their independence. Their prince, 
 robbed of his heritage and driven to despair, 
 fled to Lithuania, where he died in exile, 
 and, fortunately for the prosperous Ivan, 
 without children to claim his dominions. 
 
 Ruler of Twer, the appanage of the 
 powerful rivals of his house, the grand 
 prince became an unapproachable autocrat. 
 Those princes who yet retained their inde- 
 pendence, saw that resistance was unavail- 
 ing and submission unavoidable. Ivan no 
 longer wore a mask of humility, but spoke 
 in a voice of thunder. He knew his power, 
 and he was inflexible. The terror of his 
 name procured the immediate submission 
 of the rulers of Rostof and Yaroslaf. Ivan 
 extended his sceptre over their principali- 
 ties, but permitted them still to retain 
 their authority as governors appointed by 
 him. The Prince of Vereia, in a vain at- 
 tempt to avoid this confiscation, fled into 
 Lithuania ; but the autocrat punished his 
 flight, by compelling the dying father of the 
 fugitive to disinherit him of several cities, 
 which Ivan appropriated to himself. Among 
 the independent princes, were two brothers 
 of the tyrant, on the annexation of whose 
 dominions he was as much resolved as 
 though the owners had been strangers to 
 his blood. One of them surrendered his 
 appanage sooner than expose himself to the 
 dark machinations of so treacherous and re- 
 morseless a despot. The other, a man of 
 an active nature and less disposed to sub- 
 mission, was invited by the grand prince to 
 his court. There the unsuspicious guest, 
 though received with smiles, was suddenly 
 arrested and loaded with chains. In this 
 painful position, he sunk ulider a too acute 
 sense of impatience and the ignominy of the 
 insult that had been ofi*ered to him, and ex- 
 pired. Ivan was seized with remorse when 
 this intelligence was conveyed to him, and 
 
 57 
 
IVAN INVADES LITHUANIA."! HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 148.2. 
 
 ii 
 
 he is said even to have wept over his mur- 
 dered brother. It is with shame and anger 
 we add, tiiat the awakened voice of con- 
 science was stifled by his bisliops, who 
 readily pacified his religious fears, and 
 granted him a plenary absolution. 
 
 Ivan now sat upon an absolute throne. 
 Tliose princes who, at the commencement 
 of his reign, were almost as much sovereigns 
 as himself, were either dead or banished, or 
 had become transformed into obsequious 
 servants. They mingled with the boyards 
 — became in effect bovards themselves, and 
 did not dare even to refer to that descent 
 from Ruric which had once placed them on 
 an equality with Ivan himself. 
 
 The life of the grand prince was one of 
 ceaseless activity, and another opponent 
 remained for him to subdue. This was 
 Casimir, Duke of Poland, who, though a 
 man of feeble character, had been the con- 
 stant, though often indirect, adversary of 
 Ivan for many years. While the hands of 
 the latter were full of other business, he had 
 let Casimir proceed; but he only delayed 
 retribution that he might effect it with the 
 greater certainty. Casimir had encouraged 
 both Livonians and Tartars in their efforts 
 against Russia, and had promoted rebellion 
 in many of the Russian principalities, whose 
 prince or people disliked the supremacy of 
 Ivan. Indeed, the Polish duke pursued the 
 same indirect policy as that followed by the 
 Russian grand prince, and w ith a consider- 
 able amount of success. Ivan now com- 
 menced a war of artifices on the Duke of 
 Poland, against whom he contrived alter- 
 nately to excite many neighbouring poten- 
 tates. His superior ability in the work of 
 artifice was soon apparent. Casimir, how- 
 ever, died before he felt the full weight of 
 his adversary's hand. On his demise, the 
 •duchy of Lithuania was divorced from the 
 parent state, and separately organised under 
 Prince Alexander; while the rest of the 
 Polish territories were re-formed into a 
 distinct government. Ivan saw that the 
 time had now arrived for more decisive ac- 
 tion. Poland weakened by division ; Russia 
 strengthened by concentration;— this was 
 the time to recover those possessions which, 
 in former times, the Lithuanians had 
 wrested from his ancestors. 
 
 Having collected an enormous army, 
 Ivan advanced towards Lithuania. As 
 usual, he avoided fighting; but attempted 
 to terrify his foes by the display of an 
 overwhelming militarv superiority. At the 
 58 
 
 same time, his allies, Menghli-Ghirei, the 
 khan of the Crimea, and the hospodar of 
 Moldavia, assailed Lithuania in other direc- 
 tions. The device succeeded, and the un- 
 fortunate Prince of Lithuania was terrified 
 into submission. A treaty was entered 
 into, and Ivan bestowed the hand of his 
 daughter upon his fallen adversary. Tliis 
 apparent generosity was only for the pur- 
 pose of weaving a closer snare around his 
 intended victim, and with the object of 
 I extirpating the Roman Catholic religion 
 I from Lithuania, and planting the Greek 
 i form of Christianity in its place. The lady 
 was a zealous member of the Greek church, 
 and she effectually executed the intention 
 of her father; which was, by seeking all 
 occasions to introduce her own faith, to 
 produce religious dissensions between her 
 husband, his people, and the Russians. As 
 Prince Alexander was an ardent catholic 
 and a man of narrow understanding, the 
 result may be readily divined. He entered 
 into some violent measures to defeat the 
 designs of his wife, and thus gave the in- 
 sidious Ivan a pretext for waging against 
 him a war in the name of religion. This 
 
 time the sword was not only drawn, but 
 used. Ivan obtained a decisive victory, 
 and then wrested from the defeated bigot 
 the country as far as Kief and Smolensk, 
 which had been taken from his ancestors by 
 the then prosperous and powerful Lithua- 
 nians. 
 
 It was now that Ivan, naturally elated by 
 his many triumphs, adopted a title which 
 was regarded as more august and important 
 than that of grand prince. It was that of 
 Tzar, or, as custom now almost universally 
 renders it in other European countries. 
 Czar. Some obscurity rests upon the origin 
 and precise meaning of this Asiatic and 
 semi-barbarous sounding title. It was gen- 
 erally presumed to have been a corrup- 
 tion 'of the word Caesar; but this supposi- 
 tion is laid aside. Philological critics have 
 now pronounced that it is an old oriental 
 word, which the Russians acquired through 
 the Slavonic translation of the Bible, and 
 which they at first bestowed upon the Greek 
 emperors,' and afterwards upon the Tartar 
 khans. In Persia, it signifies a throne, or 
 supreme authority ; and it is to be found in 
 the termination of the names of the kings! 
 of Assyria and Babylon ; such as Phalossar,! 
 Nabonassar, Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzari 
 To the Russian subjects of Ivan's time, aj 
 of ours, supreme authority, or power derive^ 
 
 A.D. 1482.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [rkflections. 
 
 from God, and onlv controllable bv him, was 
 the signification of the term. It is strange 
 that this pusillanimous monarch should not 
 only have raised the power of the Russian 
 sovereignty to a height that his predecessors 
 seem scarcely to have contemplated, ])ut 
 should have established a religiously guarded 
 despotism on the part of the prince, and a 
 sense of the religious duty of passive obe- 
 dience on that of the people, Avhich have 
 existed to this hour. How true is it, that 
 institutions are but the lengthened shadow 
 of one man. A crafty despot prepares his 
 people for passive slavery; w'hile a lilieral 
 monarch inspires them with a love of ra- 
 tional freedom, and a desire for advance- 
 ment in those arts which, on the one hand, 
 create magnificence and abundance, and on 
 the other, tend to the amelioration both of 
 poverty and disease. 
 
 *'0n looking back,''* said a modern histo- 
 rian, "at the progress of Ivan's career to- 
 wards this unexampled elevation, while we 
 discover much that is referable to that com- 
 bination of favourable accidents which usu- 
 allv occurs to those who least stand in need 
 of extraneous help, we also find much that 
 was produced by a calm and persevering 
 spirit incessantly engaged in the calculation 
 of the chances of every movement, and 
 Avhich took advantage of the most trifling 
 circumstance that could be turned to the 
 credit of the great account. Pusillanimous 
 by nature, Ivan had the larger leisure for 
 maturing his intrigues ; and, by the exercise 
 of a system of stratagems in an age when 
 physical force was the common appeal of 
 nations, he vanquished his antagonists by 
 bearing down on those points where they 
 were the least prepared for resistance. Nor 
 did he lose sight of the leading features of 
 national superstition. He carefully sounded 
 the depths of the Russian character ; and, 
 availing himself of the weaknesses of the 
 
 * In the pages of Gibbon, the historic reader will 
 find a gorgeous word-picture of the fall of Constan- 
 tinople, and abundant accounts of the selfishness, 
 timidity, and superstition of its people We quote a 
 brief but remarkable passage : — *' On the assurance 
 of the public calamity, the houses and convents were 
 instantly deserted ; and the trembling inhabitants 
 flocked together in the streets, like a herd of timid 
 animals, as if accumulated weakness could be pro- 
 ductive of strength, or in the vain hope that, amid 
 the crowd, each individual might be safe and in- 
 visible. From every part of the capital they flowed 
 into the church of St. Sophia ; in the space of an 
 hour the sanctuary, the choir, the nave, the upper 
 and lower galleries were filled with the multitude of 
 fathers and husbands, of women and children, of 
 
 people, did not suffer a solitary occasion to 
 pass away without reaping from it some per- 
 sonal benefit under the mask of the public 
 good. Thus, when he hung back on the 
 banks of the Lugra, and fled from an infe- 
 rior force, he converted his disgrace to a 
 glory, and M-as rewarded by the admiration 
 and idolatry of his countrymen, who con^ 
 ferred upon him all the applause of a signal 
 triumph, in which he not only had no share, 
 but from which he turned in dismav. There 
 was less, too, of cruelty than of artifice in 
 his nature ; for although he never scrupled 
 to execute summarv and sanguinarv ven- 
 geance where other means failed, yet he 
 always deferred the adoption of such an 
 alternative to the last extremity. This ex- 
 hibition of placidity, which really sprang 
 from a secret misgiving as to results, con- 
 tributed in a great measure to check any 
 ebullitions of popular distrust, if not to 
 establish his empire more firmly in the good- 
 will of the people. Even the violation 
 of his promises, usually justified by some 
 plausible pretext of a patriotic description, 
 and his reckless conduct towards the ene- 
 mies of his throne and his religion, were 
 easily excused by a population that began 
 to be accustomed to the apparent interposi- 
 tions of Divine Providence on behalf of their 
 sovereign. They were induced, without 
 much trouble, to believe that the prince 
 who was so highlv favoured bv heaven, 
 could not receive too much confidence and 
 gratitude from man." 
 
 We have alluded to the marriage of Ivan 
 with a Greek princess. This union was the 
 result of his subtle policy and farseeing 
 views. When, in 1453, Constantinople 
 had fallen before the power of the sultan, 
 !Mahommed II., and the last of the Greek 
 emperors, after exhibiting a nobility of 
 conduct which contrasted painfully with 
 the miserable cowardice of his people,* fell 
 
 priests, monks, and religious virgins : the doors were 
 barred on the inside, and they sought protection 
 from the sacred dome, which they had so lately 
 abhorred as a profane and polluted edifice. Their 
 confidence was founded on the prophecy of an en- 
 thusiast or impostor — that one day the Turks should 
 enter Constantinople, and pursue the people as far as 
 the column of Constantino, in the square before St- 
 Sophia ; but that this would be the term of their 
 calamities : that an angel would descend from 
 heaven, with a sword in his hand, and would deliver 
 the empire, with that celestial weapon, to a poor 
 man seated at the foot of the column. * Take this 
 sword,' would he say, ' and avenge the people of the 
 Lord.' At these animating words the Turks would 
 instantly fly, and the victorious Greeks would drive 
 
 59 
 
 / 
 
POLICY OF IVAN.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1482. 
 
 beneath the swords of the Janizaries, the 
 last priMC( bs of tlie imperial family had lied 
 for shelter to what were regarded as the 
 8acrcd walls of Home. Ivan sought the 
 hand of the lady, and entreated the pope's 
 consent to tiieir union. He was not un- 
 aware of the possible, though remote, ad- 
 vantages of the connection. The example 
 of vFadimir I. was not lost upon him: 
 though Constantinople had passed from the 
 posse.«'sion of the effeminate Greeks into the 
 hands of a fierce and warlike race, who 
 should say what the future might bring 
 forth V It would be, at least, well that his 
 descendants should be capable of putting 
 lorward a claim to be the representatives of 
 the family of the last Greek emperor of 
 Constantinople. So Ivan sought and gained 
 the hand of the Greek princess, content 
 though her only dowry was the imperial 
 ..effigy of the two-headed eagle— the symbol 
 ' of autocratic power. Such a thing might 
 seem trifling and worthless, but it was not 
 so in the estimation of the self-created czar. 
 He designed that the Grecian princess 
 should introduce into the regal palace at 
 Moscow the haughty hierarchy of the sump- 
 tuous court of Constantino, and its pompous 
 ceremonies ; in a word, that despotism of 
 divine right by which the slavish devoted- 
 ness to the prince who then reigned in 
 Russia should be strengthened and sancti- 
 tied. The Russian priesthood, dehghted to 
 receive a royal fugitive from the now broken 
 fountain whence they had derived their 
 religion, welcomed her with a chorus of 
 adulation, and declared that she was sent 
 by the Deity. " God sends, lum/' said they 
 of Ivan, '' this illustrious spouse, an offset of 
 that imperial tree, the shadow of which was 
 formerly spread over all orthodox Christian 
 brothers. Fortunate alliance ! w^ich brings 
 to mind that of the great Vladimir, and 
 which will make another Byzantium of 
 Moscow, and give to its grand princes all 
 the rights of the Greek emperors !" 
 
 The craft of Ivan, and the flatteries of his 
 priests and courtiers, tended to inspire their 
 descendants with dreams of conquest and 
 aggrandisement, which it had been better, 
 both for them and for Europe, had never 
 risen in the cradles of their souls. Yet the 
 presence of the Greek princess gradually 
 
 exerted a favourable, and probably almost 
 unsuspected, influence upon Russia. The 
 triumph of the Turks over Constantinople 
 had destroyed the commerce of that mighty 
 city, and of the empire of which it was tht^ 
 head. The polished Greeks who fled from 
 their native city, now sought protection in 
 the capital whose sovereign had received to 
 his couch the daughter of their fallen em- 
 peror. With them they brought those arts 
 and sciences, for the exercise of which their 
 nation was so distinguished. Russia thuN 
 received an impetus in civilisation, in ele- 
 gance of taste, and in commercial pros- 
 perity. She was drawn closer to her Euro- 
 pean neighbours, who had hitherto disre- 
 garded her as a chaotic power, utterly sunk 
 in barbarism. Ivan had been altogether 
 occupied in snaring or crushing enemies 
 abroad and at home. At length he had 
 leisure for a task probably more in accord- 
 ance with his un warlike nature. He 
 dreaded bloodshed, and used his sword 
 rather as statesmen do the pen. He used 
 it less as a weapon to smite with, than as 
 an instrument to terrify and circumvent his 
 foes. Now, this necessary labour accom- 
 plished, he turned his attention to the 
 study of the policy of European courts, and 
 to pondering on the mode by which he 
 should elevate his throne to an equality 
 with the proudest and most powerful among 
 
 them. 
 
 To forward this design, he employed 
 great numbers of architects and artists to 
 erect the magnificent regal residence called 
 the Kremlin— a city of palaces and churches, 
 which still stands' the glory and pride of 
 the people of [Moscow, and the admiration 
 of all strangers. The Kremlin has neces- 
 sarilv been much enlarged and added to 
 since its first erection ; but the original de- 
 sign had much of grandeur in its gigantic 
 massiveness. *'If,'' says a modern traveller, 
 " the giant whom we call the Russian em- 
 pire had a heart, I should say that the 
 Kremhn w^as the heart of this monster." 
 Men gifted in the arts and sciences were 
 invited from Germany and Italy. Amongst 
 them were miners and engineers, architects, 
 founders, and minters. The mines of 
 Petchora were worked for the first time, 
 and new money, in silver and copper, coined 
 
 them from the west, and from all Anatolia, as far as 
 the frontiers of Persia. It is on this occasion that 
 Ducas, with some fancy and much truth, upbraids 
 the discord and obstinacy of the Greeks. * Had that 
 angel appeared," exclaims the historian— ' had he 
 
 60 
 
 offered to exterminate your foes if you would con- 
 sent to the union of the church {i.e., the Greek and 
 Pwoman forms of Christianity), even then, m that 
 fatal moment, you would have rejected your satety, 
 or have deceived your God.' " 
 
 I 
 
 I. 
 
A.D. 14S4.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [policy 
 
 OF IVAN. 
 
 •!| 
 
 at Moscow. The arts and sciences, though 
 not destined to flourish for centuries in the 
 cold regions of Russia, yet took a shallow 
 and feeble root there.* " A new idea of life 
 was opened to the rude minds of the people 
 by gorgeous public entertainments, pageants, 
 and processions. 
 
 In his communications with the polished 
 courts of the great powers of Europe, Ivan 
 was extremely anxious to convey an idea of 
 his power and dignity. He carried this 
 feeling so far, as sometimes to offend where 
 lie wished to conciliate. For a slight omis- 
 sion of formalities he refused to receive the 
 envoy of Austria, and even drove him from 
 his presence. He eventually compelled the 
 emperor to treat him as his equal ; and 
 when that monarcli offered to confer on 
 him the title of king, he replied haughtily, 
 '' that he would not degrade himself by 
 receiving titles from any prince on earth, 
 and that he held his crown from God 
 :iione!'^ His powerful neighbours, the 
 Turks, then a source of dread to nearly all 
 Europe, he would not suffer to commit 
 wrong in any way towards him or his sub- 
 jects without reproof. Some Russian mer- 
 chants having been injured by the Turks of 
 Kaffa, he demanded redress from the Sultan 
 Bajazct, to whom he sent this message : — 
 " Whence do these acts of violence arise ? 
 Are you aware of them, or are you not ? 
 One word n^ore. Mahommed, your father, 
 was a great prince; he intended to have 
 sent ambassadors to me to pay me a com- 
 pliment, but God prevented the execution 
 of his project. Why should it not now be 
 
 accomplished ?" At a later period, he com- 
 manded his ambassador at the court of the 
 sultan carefully to avoid compromising the 
 dignity of his master ; to address the sultan 
 standing, and not upon his knees, as had 
 been the custom ; and never to yield pre- 
 cedence to the representative of any other 
 nation. 
 
 Although Ivan had degraded the boyards 
 bv employing them in servile offices about 
 his person, yet he sometimes found it 
 necessary to make them feel the extent of 
 his power, and of their weakness in com- 
 parison with it. When they contended 
 together for offices and for precedence, he 
 checked their restless vanity with the re- 
 mark, that ** they ought to submit without 
 a murmur to the will of their sovereign, 
 and that when the question related to his 
 service, every office was good.^' But the 
 discontents of the boyards were not confined 
 to trifles of this nature. The privileges 
 they had enjoyed through the dissensions 
 of the princes had been enormous; and 
 they became aware that much of their 
 power was melting away beneath the firm 
 rule of Ivan. This feeling was cautiously 
 shown on many occasions ; and on one, it 
 burst out into something more than a vio- 
 lent remonstrance against the continuance 
 of a state of things which was slowly 
 changing the form of government in Rus- 
 sia. On the death of the czar's eldest son, 
 the result of his first marriage, they ad- 
 dressed Ivan in what he deemed a tone of 
 unseemly vehemence, and implored him to 
 confer the succession upon his grandson 
 
 * Sir Archibald Alison appears to think that lite- 
 rature, the arts and sciences, will never flourish in 
 Jlussia, but that that empire will for ages, if not for 
 ever, remain a nursery of military strength,^ ready to 
 be used as "the scourge of vicious civilisation." 
 His opinion, from which we entirely dissent, is_ thus 
 expressed:— ''What, then, is the destiny of Russia ?— 
 fur a destiny, and that a great one, she evidently 
 has. Her rapid growth and ceaseless progress, 
 through all the mutations of fortune, in the adjoining 
 states, clearly bespeak not only consummate wisdom 
 of general internal direction, but the evolutions of a 
 mighty design. She is probably not intended to 
 sliine in tlie career of civilisation. Her sons will 
 not, at least for long, rival the arts of Italy or the 
 chivalry of France, the intellect of England, or the 
 imagination of Germany There will be no Shakes- 
 peares or Milton?, no llacines or Corneilles, no 
 Tassos or Kaphaels, no Schillers or Goethes, amidst 
 the countless millions of her boundless territory 
 Ithis is hold and baseless pro}}hecy, merely the idle 
 declamation of an accomplished mind'] ; but there 
 may be — there will be — an Alexander, an Attila, a 
 Timour. Literature, science, the arts, are the efllo- 
 rescence of civilisation j but in the moral, not less 
 
 than in the physical world, efflorescence is succeeded 
 by decline, the riches of the harvest border on the 
 decay of autumn. There is a winter in nations as 
 well as in seasons." — History of Europe (Continua- 
 tion, vol. ii.) In the same passage in which Sir A. 
 Alison so confidently predicts that Russia will re- 
 verse the action of natural laws which govern the 
 progress of nations, and go backward into the past, 
 instead of forward into the future, he speaks of that 
 great empire as saved from the corruption of that 
 civilisation to which it has not attained, and the 
 vices of which it is from time to time to correct by 
 means of brute power. Russia the teacher of politi- 
 cal virtue ! Russia spared from the corruption of 
 civilisation ! Why, political and judicial corruption, 
 in their meanest and most abject forms, are the 
 curse of the Russian empire ; while its history, from 
 the time of Catherine to the present hour, shows its 
 social life blasted by sensuality and dishonesty. 
 Russia has yet much to learn from civilisation be- 
 fore she need fear being corrupted by it ; and she 
 must study to restrain and govern herself, before she 
 assumes the task which properly belongs to Deity 
 alone— that of scourging the vices of surrounding 
 nations. 
 
 61 
 
 if 
 

 HERESY IN THE CHUllCH.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 
 
 148S. 
 
 A.D. 1488— 1505.J 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [death of IVAN ni. 
 
 Dmitri, whom they doubtless hoped to be 
 ;ible to mould according to their desires. 
 The czar angrily refused, and even threw 
 his grandson into prison. The boyards 
 then resorted to stratagem and calumny, 
 and spread many evil reports concerning 
 the Greek czarina, the mother of the second 
 son. So craftily were they framed, that even 
 the far-seeing Ivan was for a while led to 
 believe them. Acting upon this conviction, 
 he publicly disgraced his wife, and releasing 
 his grandson Dmitri from prison, caused 
 him to be solemnly crowned as his suc- 
 cessor. The czar, however, soon discovered 
 the designs of the boyards, and the inno- 
 cence of the Greek princess, and he at once 
 restored lier to liberty and his favour. He 
 also excluded the grandson who had so re- 
 cently been crowned as his successor, and 
 proclaimed his son to be his heir. There 
 was a whimsical rapidity about these pro- 
 ceedings that was not calculated to allay 
 disaffection. The boyards were not in- 
 clined to abandon the struggle; and they 
 succeeded in stirring np the inhabitants of 
 Pskof to expostulate with the czar in behalf 
 of the elder branch, against the heir whom 
 he had chosen. Ivan inquired haughtily, 
 "Am I not then at liberty to act as I 
 please ?'"' Then he added, in the spirit of 
 that unreasoning despotism which regards 
 itself as above the judgment of men, "I 
 will give Russia to whom I think proper, 
 and I command you to obey." 
 
 The boyards who had been most ac- 
 tively concerned in the conspiracy against 
 the czarina, were seized by command of 
 Ivan, and several of them were beheaded. 
 The high rank of their order had hitherto 
 protected its members from such summary 
 violence, and the people beheld with asto- 
 nishment acts which showed the vast power 
 of the czar, and the apparently inevitable 
 fate of those who had the temerity to op- 
 pose it. The rest who had incurred his 
 displeasure he degraded in their rank, and 
 reduced to a situation of court servitude. 
 Amongst other means of limiting their con- 
 sequence, he took away their ancient privi- 
 lege of transferring their service to any 
 other prince possessed of an appanage, and 
 rigidly forbade their removal from such 
 offices about his own court, or elsewhere, 
 as he thought proper to select for them. 
 
 One of his latest acts of public interest 
 
 was a collision with the Russian priesthood. 
 
 Few sovereigns have been able to overcome 
 
 clerical opposition, and many have fallen 
 
 62 
 
 before it; but the wise autocrat proved 
 himself equal to this emergency also. It 
 has been well said, that " if in the field he 
 betrayed a lack of nerve, in the cabinet lie 
 showed a degree of imperturbability which 
 invested him with impunity. The waive of 
 his hand, and the sound of his voice, were 
 decisive. No impediments retarded, no re- 
 sistance repelled him.'' He effected some 
 reforms in the manners of the Russian 
 priesthood; but the particular occasion 
 which brought him into opposition with 
 them, was the appearance of a startling 
 Jewish heresy amongst them. Its tenets 
 were remarkable, and, to the dispassionate 
 critics of our time, have an air of grotesque 
 absurdity. But it is wise to judge chari- 
 tably in these matters; for all history shows 
 us, that religious fanaticism and its atten- 
 dant extravagancies, frequently enter even 
 into the highest order of intellects, and leave 
 their votaries, on this point, the victims of a 
 '••loomy and immovaljle monomania. The 
 Mosaic novelties which had stolen into the 
 Russian church were indeed of a serious 
 nature, and altogether incompatible with 
 the profession of the Christian faith. They 
 consisted in a denial of the divinity of 
 Jesus, and of the Virgin Mary ; in the un- 
 seemly acts of spitting on the images of 
 saints, and tearing them with the teeth ; in 
 a disbelief of paradise and a resurrection of 
 the dead; and in placing an implicit faith 
 in a certain book, which it was audaciously 
 said had been given, by the Deity himself, 
 to Adam. From that book the credulous 
 advocates of the new principles maintained 
 that Solomon had derived all his wisdom ; 
 and Moses, Joseph, Elias, and Daniel, their 
 power over the elements and monsters, 
 their skill in the interpretation of dreams, 
 and their faculty of looking into futurity. 
 The Messiah, it*^ was declared, was yet to 
 come, as the Hebrew prophecies concerning 
 him remained unfulfilled. Zosimus, the 
 primate, was understood to be the chief 
 professor of these heresies, in which he was 
 followed by the great bulk of the Russian 
 priesthood. 
 
 Some of those who yet remained true to 
 the Christian faith as it had hitherto been 
 generally received in the country, pro- 
 claimed their horror and indignation. A 
 pious fanatic of some distinction, known as 
 St. Joseph of Volok, thus vehemently de- 
 manded the punishment of the misbe- 
 lievers :— " We see," he exclaimed, " a son 
 of Satan seated on the throne of the holy 
 
 
 1 
 
 prelates ; we see a devouring wolf under 
 the garb of a simple shepherd ! They are 
 no more; thev have flown to the bosom 
 of Christ, those daring eagles of religion, 
 those godly bishops, Avho would have 
 pitilessly torn out with their talons every 
 eye that was bold enough to look askance 
 on the divinity of the Saviour. Now, in 
 the garden of the church, we hear nothing 
 but the hiss of a horrible reptile, which 
 vomits forth blasphemy against the Lord, 
 and against his blessed Mother.'' 
 
 The czar had far too much prudence to 
 permit him to go to any of the extremities 
 indicated in this theological denunciation. 
 Had he persecuted the new doctrines with 
 any great degree of severity, they would in- 
 fallibly have taken root, and endured for at 
 least many generations. He probably cared 
 but little for the purity of the church ; but 
 he had certain political reasons for wishing 
 to extirpate the strange heresies which had 
 appeared within it. If the most vital doc- 
 trines of religion were disregarded, he knew 
 that the throne could not easily retain its 
 alleged sanctity. Novelties were the nurse 
 of restlessness and change, alike in religion 
 or politics ; and Ivan desired no changes 
 except such as he himself had brought 
 about. These were all of an autocratic 
 character, in which the person of the sove- 
 reign was invested with something akin to 
 divine power, and the church was converted 
 into a sort of pious outwork around the 
 throne. Ivan therefore caused the heresy 
 to be anathematised ; appointed a new pri- 
 mate, whose inauguration he himself some- 
 what significantly performed;* and banished 
 the heretics from the empire, after confis- 
 cating their property, and adroitly convert- 
 ing it to his own use. Such measures, 
 severe though calm, no doubt created great 
 excitement ; but the clergy were awed, and 
 submitted. The Eastern doctrine of fatal- 
 ism permeated through their religious 
 tenets; and of what use would it be to 
 resist a man whose supremacy, they rea- 
 soned, was preordained by Him "who 
 layeth the beams of his chambers in the 
 waters ; who maketh the clouds his chariot ; 
 who walketh upon the wings of the wind ! " 
 
 Ivan did not neglect the internal condi- 
 tion of the empire. A system of order and 
 
 • Implying thereby that the church derived its 
 power and dignity from him, not he his power and 
 dignity from the church. Ivan professed to receive 
 his authority directly from the hands of God, or, as 
 he said at another time, from the Holy Trinity. 
 
 classification was made to extend to every- 
 thing. A more equitable system of taxation 
 relieved the people of those burdens to which 
 they had been frequently subjected by the 
 caprice of their immediate lord. The roads 
 were repaired, and the police and army 
 more regularly organised. The right of the 
 peasantry to change their servitude from 
 one lord or fief to another, on payment of a 
 certain tax, was clearly defined. This was 
 an important matter ; for it was the subse- 
 quent abolition of this privilege by Boris 
 Grodunof that led to the conversion of the 
 Russian peasantry into serfs — an act preg- 
 nant with mischief, which at the time re- 
 mained unseen. The power of the boyards 
 over their followers was limited, by asso- 
 ciating with them in their judicial rights the 
 elders of the districts and the established 
 civil functionary. Thus, though Russia was 
 far behind the rest of Europe, yet some faint 
 colouring of civilisation began to appear in 
 it. In 1497, Ivan collected the existing or- 
 dinances and customs of the country into a 
 code, of which, though it was probably suited 
 to the age, it has been observed, everything 
 partook of the keenness of the sword, which 
 was brought into action in every part of it. 
 The majority of criminal oftences were de- 
 cided by the ancient and unreasonable prac- 
 tice of single combat, and torture was used 
 for the extortion of evidence. Other punish- 
 ments chiefly consisted in the knout, confis- 
 cation of the criminal's property, condemna- 
 tion to slavery in the mines, and death. So 
 little hesitation was there to proceed to the 
 latter extremity, that when a thief was 
 detected in a second ofi'ence, iie was exe- 
 cuted at once without any formality. 
 
 Ivan's reign was prolonged for three-and- 
 forty years, a length of time which enabled 
 him to accomplish all the reforms and 
 changes he eff'ected in the state. He died 
 in 1505, at the age of sixty-seven. Though 
 a contemplation of his character may make 
 us recoil with disgust as we would from 
 some venomous reptile, yet it must be con- 
 ceded that this heartless, unprincipled, and 
 monstrouslv selfish man had, in some indi- 
 rect way, a claim upon the title of Great, 
 which was conferred upon him by his 
 people, and even admitted by foreigners. 
 Yet, perhaps, paradox as the assertion may 
 seem, there never existed a man whose 
 mind was more deficient in the elements of 
 true greatness. Insincere, indeed false to 
 everything but himself and the one great 
 idea which he laboured all his life to pro- 
 
 63 
 
CHARACTER OF IVAN.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.p. 1505. 
 
 / 
 
 mote-actually loving falsehood rather tlian 
 truth— the man was a living, aggregate, in- 
 carnate lie. A coward in adversity, a des- 
 pot in prosperity, a shuffler at all times. 
 Yet this strange man went patiently for- 
 ward, and laboured incessantly at the ex- 
 altation of his country !— did it also, not 
 only with craft, but with wisdom ! Yet all 
 his work was contaminated by his vices, 
 and, most of all, by his cold, unmovable 
 selfishness. He created order m Russia; 
 but it was the order resulting from a sense 
 of fear, and a habit of abject submission. 
 He had no thought of bringing into being 
 a great people ; for them he had no feeling, 
 save that thev were to be ruled for his 
 advantage and that of his successors. A 
 crreat empire was what he had hiboured for— 
 Cue of such extent and resources, that its 
 sovereigns should not stand second to any 
 of the potentates of the civilised world. 
 His plans were often promoted by a favour- 
 able combination of circumstances ; but he 
 had the facultv of pursuing them with an 
 unwearied tenacity. Russia owed him 
 much ; but she also owed to him that ser- 
 vile, broken spirit, which to this hour is 
 prevalent among the lower orders of the 
 
 people. Two centuries and a-half of Tartar 
 tyrannv had doubtless done much to debase 
 the character of the masses, and cxtin-uish 
 their spirit ; but the policy of Ivan finished 
 what tiie hand of an enemy had begun. 
 He wanted subjects, but not a people ; and 
 he obtained his wish at the price of the ex- 
 tinction of popular spirit. He wanted em- 
 pire and he obtained it : during his reign 
 19 000 square miles and 4,000,000 subjects 
 were added to the already immense territories 
 of Russia. He strove also to promote the 
 arts and to forward civilisation, and his cha- 
 racter was not tainted by cruelty. He was 
 despotically severe at times, but he generally 
 seemed to shrink from shedding blood. 1 he 
 sword and the axe, if it must be ; but they 
 were his last alternatives. That was a 
 negative virtue, certainly ; and it may also 
 be said that, in some measure, the tune had 
 need of the man. Evil, oppressive, and 
 even mean work was to be done for the 
 good of Russia; and he did it with a will. 
 For the rest, he was a wise sovereign— much 
 in the same way that a crowned I ago would 
 have been one : he pursued the interest of 
 Russia just so far as it was identical with 
 his own. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 HELENA i HER EXCESSES AND ASSASSINATION ! I^^■™;^f ^ f^^^^^ INSURRECTION AT MOSCOW J REEORMA- 
 SBRNAMED "THE TERRIBLE ;" ™^,^.°"'7,'-^.'^^^^'c"^t-ERlf S 1^0 CHRISTIAN CULRCHES ; 
 
 HON OF lYAN ; HE ADVANCES AOAI^^T ^f -^^' *^." f^Jl'^^^'ig^KIA ; PRINTING INTRODUCED INTO rXS- 
 ANNEXATION OF ASTUACAN ; DISCOVERT ^'^i'^^^^'^^^",^ °.' ''^^^^^^^ TO DEATH; HE RETIRES TO 
 
 SIA; KETURNOFTHEFEROCITVOF IVAN; he puis H^^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ ,,ASSACRES 
 
 THE FORTRESS OP ALEXANDRO^ ^Kl ; l'»-^0"^,';=j' ™^ ':":^,s ' pjiivKD OF TERRITORIES BY FOREIGN 
 
 foErHTsTEksT»"HA^-r«^-^ -— ^^''^ ='^ 
 
 DEATII AND CHARACTER. 
 
 No opposition was offered to the succession 
 of the son of the late monarch, nor was any 
 effort made on behalf of his grandson 
 Dmitri. Vassili Ivanovitch, the son ot 
 Ivan, by the czarina Sophia, of Byzantium, 
 ascended the throne of the grand prince- 
 dom in 1505, and occupied it for eight-and- 
 twenty comparatively uneventful years. His 
 character appears to have borne some re- 
 semblance to that of his father, whose prin- 
 ciples of government he addressed himseit 
 64 
 
 to carrying out. It may, however, be in- 
 ferred, that he did not possess the profound 
 craft, restless energy, and political wisdom 
 of his predecessor; for history is almost 
 silent concerning him. No great act, or 
 remarkable saying, is recorded of him ; and 
 he either possessed a mind which, except in^ 
 the exhibition of a serpent-like and venom- 
 ous cunning, scarcely rose above the 
 almost stagnant level of mediocrity, or the 
 I chroniclers of his nation have been unjust 
 
 A.D. 1505—1523.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [cx)^tests with the tartars. 
 
 to his memory. Still, whatever were his 
 deficiencies, he has drawn from the his- 
 torian Segur the flattering comment, ''That 
 lie maintained the dignity of the empire 
 bequeathed to him by his father, and en- 
 larged its extent." Perhaps it would be 
 more correct to say, that the fabric of Ivan's 
 government stood and worked well for a 
 time by virtue of its own strength. 
 
 For some years before Ivan the Crafty 
 (a far more appropriate surname for him 
 than that of Great) went to his grave, he 
 was disturbed bv the turbulence of the 
 Tartars of Kasan. These people submitted 
 with an ill-will to his authority, which they 
 resolved to cast off on the first opportunity. 
 Not caring to conceal their rebellious tem- 
 per, they proceeded so far as to set up a 
 new khan, in defiance of the authority of 
 the czar. Ever averse to a resort to the 
 sword, and probably influenced by unplea- 
 sant reminiscences of Tartar strength and 
 ferocity, Ivan pretended to acquiesce plea- 
 santly in this disregard of his power ; but, 
 with his customary duplicity, appointed a 
 Russian boyard with the nominal duty of 
 assisting the khan in the administration, 
 but with the real one of neutralising his 
 authority. The Tartars understood this 
 well enough; but, awed by the increasing 
 power of Ivan, they sullenly submitted to 
 what they could not readily avoid. The 
 calm produced by such a state of things, 
 however, resembles the oppressive tranquil- 
 lity which precedes the eruption of a volca- 
 nic mountain; and the rule of the prince 
 who holds his authority by so uncertain a 
 bond, is about as secure as the peasant who, 
 on the eve of the fiery outburst, sleeps in 
 apathy in his cot at the mountain's base. 
 The death of Ivan gave the Tartars of 
 Kasan the opportunity they desired, and 
 the repressed feelings of animosity burst 
 forth. This turbulent people rose in insur- 
 rection, and murdered the representative of 
 Russian authority. 
 
 Vassili liad no alternative but to resort to 
 arms : his father might plot and equivocate 
 with safety; but it was necessary for a prince 
 who had yet to acquire distinction, to act. 
 Accordingly, in 1508, he sent a great army, 
 under the command of his brother, to reduce 
 the Tartars of Kasan to obedience. At 
 first the Russians gained a doubtful victory 
 over their foes; but a second battle was 
 fought, in which they sustained an unequi- 
 vocal defeat. The Tartars, inflated with 
 the consciousness of victory, were encou- 
 
 VOL. I. K 
 
 raged to attempt some more daring exploit. 
 Having induced the Tartars of the Crimea 
 to join them, they invaded Russia in great 
 strength, and even penetrated as far as the 
 gates of Moscow. During this marauding 
 expedition, it is said they made prisoners of 
 the unarmed population to the almost in- 
 credible number of 300,000, whom they 
 afterwards disposed of as slaves to the 
 Turks. We are inclined to suspect exag- 
 geration in this statement; but there can 
 be no doubt that this horde of semi-savages, 
 whose chief object was plunder, inflicted an 
 enormous amount of misery upon the un- 
 happy Russians, whom Vassili left without 
 protection. The czar, whose cowardice and 
 meanness on this occasion almost went 
 beyond that of his father in early life, pur- 
 chased the forbearance and departure of 
 the Tartars by costly bribes and dishonour- 
 able promises of submission ! Yes, incre- 
 dible as it may seem in an independent 
 sovereign, he had the abject baseness to 
 promise that he would take a new oath of 
 allegiance to them. We scarcely think it 
 lessens his offence against common manli- 
 ness, and his treason against the prostrate 
 dignity of his people, that he never intended 
 to keep his word. Vile and worthless as 
 were the Tartars — a race whom it would 
 have been a mercy to mankind to extermi- 
 nate, as the pioneers of civilisation do 
 droves of famished wolves — yet it is almost 
 a matter of regret that this man eventually 
 neutralised his own submission, and, by 
 falsehood and cunning, triumphed over his 
 foes. More by stratagems than force of 
 arms, he eventually recaptured Kasan, and 
 made severe examples of the most distin- 
 guished insurgents. This event did not 
 take place for many years, during which 
 time the regal coward patiently nursed his 
 auger. In 1523 he attempted to wreak his 
 vengeance upon the Tartars, but his army 
 was repulsed with disgrace. Seven years 
 later he was more fortunate : Kasan was 
 taken by his troops ; the fortress destroyed 
 by fire; and, it is affirmed, no less thau 
 60,000 of the Tartars massacred. 
 
 During the continuance of this struggle, 
 the city of Pskof exhibited expiring signs of 
 independence, and made some efforts to 
 separate itself from the empire. It was in 
 vain; the time of petty princedoms and 
 small republican states was past in Russia. 
 The tendency of events had set in towards 
 consolidation and despotism; and resistance 
 on the part of small states was useless. It 
 
 65 
 
 M- 
 
\ 
 
 DEATH OF VASSILI.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1533—1538. 
 
 A.D. 1538—1542.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 showed no statesmanlike skill on the part 
 of Vassili, that he was able to reduce the 
 feeble city which strove vainly to rear itself 
 against him. Even this poor exploit was 
 done by stratagem. He drained away the 
 flower of the population by exhausting mili- 
 tary levies ; he absorbed the wealth of the 
 citizens by burdensome taxes, and crushed 
 their commerce by heavy restrictions. Pskof, 
 utterly debilitated, sunk still deeper beneath 
 that Muscovite rule from which she had 
 thoughtlessly, and without calculation, at- 
 tempted to emancipate herself. The only 
 other event of importance during this reign 
 was the annexation of Severia, the last prin- 
 cipality which maintained an independent 
 existence. Having sat for eight-and-twenty 
 years in the seat of the czar, and sullied the 
 title during that period by the meanness of 
 his nature, Vassili died in 1533. Insignifi- 
 cant as he appears to have been, his reign 
 tended to the consolidation of the empire ; 
 for the machinery of government set in 
 action by his father, was permitted silently 
 to take its course. For himself he would 
 have been one of those who come and go 
 upon the earth unhonoured and unheeded 
 — mere living bubbles, floating for a brief 
 space in the sunlight — but for the accident 
 of his having been born to wear a crown. 
 
 Vassili was succeeded by his son Ivan 
 Vasilovitch, an infant of only three years 
 old. The early years of this young prince 
 were rendered miserable by those who little 
 deemed that he would extort a merciless 
 revenge for the indignities and suff'erings 
 they then heaped upon him. Who, in a 
 handsome child, could have recognised the 
 future Nero of Russia — the monster whose 
 atrocious cruelties appalled his people, and 
 astonished those of surrounding states? 
 But, unhappily, Ivan is far from being the 
 only instance in which an oppressed infancy 
 has ripened into a depraved manhood. 
 
 The tender age of the czar rendered a 
 regency imperative ; and Helena, his mother, 
 assumed the actual responsibility of govern- 
 ment. She was an unprincipled and worth- 
 less woman, who off'euded the boyards by 
 her insolence, and disgusted the nation by 
 her licentiousness. Her dignity she shared 
 with a paramour, whose injudicious eleva- 
 tion to such a rank was naturally regarded 
 as an insult by the princes and nobles of 
 the empire. To the education and future 
 interests of her son this sensual woman was 
 altogether indifierent : she lived but for the 
 pleasures or the passions of the passing hour^ 
 66 
 
 and he was but a gilded property bv which 
 she obtained their gratification. 
 
 A feeling of discontent was general among 
 the princes and boyards. They were not 
 reconciled to the loss of that inordinate 
 authority which had been wrung from them 
 by Ivan the Crafty, and kept from them by 
 his less able son. What was the consolida- 
 tion and peace of the empire to them, who, 
 regardless of the claims of country, or the 
 feelings of patriotism, sought only for in- 
 dividual distinction and aggrandisement? 
 " Formerly," says Segur, " the whole empire 
 was the theatre of their ambition; its par- 
 tition into appanages, their end ; civil war, 
 their means : but now that was all concen- 
 trated in the prince, their sole arena was his 
 court ; their end, the precarious power de- 
 rived from favouritism; their means, in- 
 trigue." They longed for a pretext to take 
 advantage of the infancy of the czar, so that 
 they might seize upon the empire, and divide 
 it amongst themselves. Such a pretext was 
 furnished bv the dissolute conduct of the 
 regent, and a conspiracy was formed amongst 
 many of the princes and boyards. Favour- 
 able as the time seemed for a movement of 
 this nature, no opportunity ofi'ered for a 
 general outbreak. The overbearing conduct 
 of the conspirators led to a betrayal of their 
 designs, and the regent was enabled to strike 
 the first blow. Three uncles of the infant 
 czar were the principal plotters against his 
 interests, and these Helena seized, on the 
 ground that they entertained designs upon 
 the throne. Once in her power, they were 
 thrown into loathsome prisons, in which they 
 soon breathed their last, whether in the 
 course of nature, or in consequence of secret 
 outrage, is known but to God. They died ; 
 and the most active of their followers were 
 punished by torture, death, or imprisonment. 
 The other conspirators, alarmed at a degree 
 of energy they did not anticipate, fled for 
 safety to Lithuania or the Crimea. 
 
 For five years of anarchy the regent 
 maintained her position by the exercise of a 
 ferocious cruelty. During this time she 
 showed herself a fitting mother of the child 
 whom her neglect was assisting to mature 
 into a monster. It has often been said, that 
 those men whom the world regards as its 
 great ones, have usually been born of gifted 
 women. The same rule, doubtless, holds 
 good in cases of most abandoned depravity 
 or gigantic crime. In this instance, the 
 wretch whose diabolic cruelty earned for 
 him the repulsive title of " The Terrible," 
 
 was the son of a woman who was not onlv a 
 libel upon her sex, but a disgrace to huma- 
 nity. It was her delight to appal and agonise 
 her enemies by torture before she extin- 
 guished them in death. But her five years 
 ot power ended, and the hour of retribution 
 came. She died suddenly ! Yes, indeed, 
 suddenly; but her death was anticipated 
 and designed. The boyards, whom the 
 high-placed wanton had terrified by her 
 cruelty, had poisoned her. If by some 
 superhuman power we could learn aueht of 
 the dark secrets of the buried past, it would 
 be an instructive thing to know something 
 of the last hours and words of such a woman 
 as this : a wild sermon that, we think ; which 
 might cause a shudder in the guilty whom 
 hitherto no precept could reach, no warning 
 touch. ^ 
 
 The czar was still in his infancy, and it 
 was necessary to appoint some person or 
 party to conduct the affairs of the empire. 
 It was confided to, or rather seized upon by 
 a member of the factious boyards, who di^' 
 nified themselves with the title of the 
 ''supreme council." The president of this 
 body was Prince Schuisky, a coarse-minded, 
 brutal noble, in whom vulgar audacity 
 struggled for pre-eminence with dangerous 
 ambition The turbulent disposition of the 
 family of this man had long made them dis- 
 liked and shunned by the czar as enemies of 
 the state ; and Schuisky now resolved to re- 
 sent, upon a mere child, the supposed injuries 
 his relatives had received from former sove- 
 reigns. He brought up the young Ivan 
 altogether without education ; subjected him 
 to numerous insults; even lolled upon his 
 bed ,• and, on one occasion, insolently placed 
 
 nl^^^ !l! 1^^ ^^P ^^ ^^^ b«7 sovereign. 
 Child as the latter was, he felt these slights 
 bitterly, and resolved to repay them when 
 time should really place the power of the 
 sceptre in his hands. 
 
 The supreme council of the boyards 
 speedily showed themselves unequal to the 
 successful conduct of the affairs of state 
 The feeling of patriotism was a stranger to 
 the bosoms of these rude and selfish men 
 Each pursued his own interest, and confusion 
 and mutual distrust was the result of their 
 deliberations. Everywhere the people be 
 came a prey to petty tyrants; and it seemed 
 as if Russia would recede to that barbarism 
 from which she had been so slowly emerging 
 1^^ treasury of the young czar was plun- 
 dered, his dominions encroached upon and 
 himself only tolerated in his own palace 
 
 [the youth of ivax. 
 
 where not he, but the boyards were masters. 
 In this state of things the country was in- 
 fested by large bodies of wandering Tartars, 
 who robbed and murdered the unprotected 
 people. 1 hese unchecked excesses encou- 
 raged the Tartars to attempt an invasion 
 on a sea e of actual warfare; but the coun- 
 cil startled at the danger, united for once; 
 and the Tartars, who were but the shadow 
 ot their ancient power, were repulsed. 
 
 fl'^'f .?^^'^^ ^""^ ^^'^ ^^ssian primate, 
 who both appear to have been actuated by 
 honourable motives, endeavoured after this 
 to restore order, and for a time they were 
 successful— for a brief time only:" their 
 patriotic exertions elicited the hatred of 
 their compeers; for even the presence of 
 virtue IS a reproof to those who are devoid 
 ot It. A cabal was formed against the pri- 
 mate and the prince. The former was ill- 
 treated and deposed; and the latter thrown 
 into prison and murdered there. 
 
 The turbulent Prince Schuisky and his 
 companions had been displaced from their 
 power on the invasion of the Tartars ; but 
 shortly before the overthrow of the primate 
 and the murder of Belsky, they reappeared 
 and recovered their influence by force of 
 arms. In the month of January, 1542, they 
 surprised Moscow in the dead of night 
 made themselves masters of the city, and 
 entering the palace, penetrated even to 
 the bedside of the young czar, and rousing 
 him suddenly from sleep with alarming 
 shouts, endeavoured to overthrow his intel- 
 lect through the influence of sudden terror 
 Such was the early life of one bom to the 
 eventual possession of absolute power ! The 
 young czar, neglected, insulted, and treated 
 with brutality, was an object of pity. When 
 he exhibited, for a short time, some natural 
 and genial feeling of early life, his perse- 
 cutors scoffed at the generous emotion. 
 Crrief for his dead mother was for Schuisky 
 and his satellites a theme for laughter. 
 When, on one occasion, he formed an at- 
 tachment to a young boyard, they fell upon 
 the latter in the presence of Ivan, and beat 
 him with a malignant fury. These cruelties 
 were producing their natural result. The 
 young Ivan became at first morose, then 
 savage and vindictive. All that was evil in 
 the boy ripened with a diseased rapidity : 
 his wholesome feelings seemed to freeze up 
 and perish within him; while a natural 
 tendency to brutal actions was encouraged 
 by his abandoned misleaders. He soon 
 began to love mischief and brutality for the 
 
 67 
 
 J 
 
 \ 
 
FEROCITY OF IVAN.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1542—1547. 
 
 A.D. 1547—1554.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [a period of prosperiit. 
 
 excitement tliey alTorded him. The develop- 
 ment of sucU a mind must be a curious 
 psychological study for the philosopher ; but 
 the pursuit of so speculative a theme would 
 be out of place here. His childhood had 
 been cheerless enough; and the earliest 
 amusements in which he indulged were dis- 
 gusting. They consisted in riding furiously 
 over old men and women, and trampling 
 even children beneath the feet of his horses ; 
 in throwing stones at the passers-by ; in 
 tormenting wild animals, and in hurling 
 cats and dogs from the summit of his palace. 
 These barbarities were applauded by the 
 brutal Prince Schuisky, who trusted, by 
 encouraging such debasing deeds, to bring 
 up the czar to be an idiotic tool in his 
 hands. The wretch was mistaken : he was 
 but sharpening a weapon of which he was to 
 be the earliest victim ; and digging a pit for 
 another, which was destined to become his 
 own grave ! 
 
 The uneducated Ivan possessed far more 
 intellect than the dull Prince Schuisky 
 imagined. The latter appears to have been 
 a man not distinguished in any way for 
 ability, and who procured his transient 
 supremacy merely by audacity and the 
 exercise of brutal force. Ivan had carefully 
 treasured up a remembrance of the insults 
 he had received at the hands of this man ; 
 and at length the hour of repayment ar- 
 rived. Schuisky had not the intellect to 
 appreciate the force of that fierce yet boyish 
 will which, now rapidly developing itself, 
 was soon to crush him. He was blind to 
 the meaning of the ferocious glare which 
 sometimes lighted up the eyes of the young 
 czar when engaged in his diabolical sports. 
 Ivan was only in his thirteenth year; but 
 royal children' are usually almost unnaturally 
 precocious. One day he was engaged at a 
 hunting party, which comprised amongst its 
 members Schuisky (the president of the 
 council) and a Prince Gluisky, who regarded 
 him with emotions of jealousy and hatred. 
 Gluisky was anxiously on the watch for 
 some incident which might be used to pro- 
 mote the ruin of his rival. During the 
 chase he prompted the young czar to ad- 
 dress Schuisky in words of command and 
 insult. The astonished president, who 
 thought he had effectually intimidated his 
 sovereign, replied in an angry manner. 
 Backed by his new friend, Ivan exhibited 
 the native fury of his disposition. He gave 
 the command to his followers, who, rushing 
 upon Schuisky, hurled him amongst the 
 68 
 
 dogs. The fierce brutes, encouraged by the 
 hunters, tore the guilty wretch limb from 
 limb, and speedily devoured him. Thus the 
 ruffian who depraved the mind of a youthful 
 sovereign, and exposed his infancy to con- 
 stant insults and terrors, met with a fate 
 which, despite its appalling nature, we are 
 compelled to say he deserved. 
 
 Though rid of an oppressor and master, 
 the boy-czar fell beneath the ascendancy of 
 another too powerful subject. This was 
 Prince Gluisky, who now became the leader 
 of the administration. This man and his 
 associates were as worthless as their pre- 
 decessors. They sought to confirm their 
 influence over Ivan by the encouragement 
 of his excesses ; and even seduced him into 
 the commission of the most extravagant 
 atrocities. They constantly impressed upon 
 his mind, that the only way to make his 
 authority respected was by the exercise of 
 severity, and that power consisted in op- 
 pression. He was an apt pupil in such 
 pernicious lessons ; and the ferocity he ex- 
 hibited elicited the applause of his barbarous 
 advisers. These abandoned men actually 
 pandered to the love of cruelty of their 
 young master, by murdering, in his pre- 
 sence, any unfortunate person who was so 
 unhappy as to offend him. 
 
 Tilings went on thus for three or four 
 years, when, in his seventeenth year, Ivan 
 was crowned Czar of Russia. His minority 
 had been disfigured by such acts of blood- 
 shed as converted the latter part of it into 
 a reign of terror. His conduct produced 
 that reaction which frequently, though we 
 regret not always, attends upon tyranny. 
 The citizens of Moscow, maddened by the 
 bloodthirsty caprices of their sovereign, 
 resorted to one of those material protests 
 against his conduct, with which the op- 
 pressed commonly warn their despots. One 
 night they set the city on fire in several 
 places ; and with the early dawn the young 
 tyrant was aroused from his slumbers by 
 the roaring of flames, the hurried trampUng 
 of excited crowds, and the curses of the 
 multitude. The sudden terrors to which he 
 had been subjected in his infancy had made 
 him the slave of fear. A sensation of 
 hoiTor seized him, which was much in- 
 creased when he learned that the infamous 
 Prince Gluisky had been torn in pieces by 
 the furious mob. Struck to the heart, the 
 young tyrant feared that he himself might 
 fall a victim to the just anger of his incensed 
 people. In this state of mental disorder, 
 
 and while the fierce outcries of the excited 
 crowds who thronged the streets, and the 
 Rtifling smell of fire penetrated to his cham- 
 ber, he was approached by a wandering 
 monk, named Sylvester, whose piety, bold- 
 ness, and rude eloquence had obtained for 
 him, among the people, the reputation of 
 being a prophet. Carrying the Bible in 
 one hand, and extending the other in an 
 attitude of warning, while his eyes flashed 
 with that excitement which hovers on the 
 verge of insanity, the monk arrested the 
 attention of the czar ; as he predicted, from 
 certain appearances of the stars, his speedy 
 ruin, if his courses of cruelty and tyranny 
 were not abandoned. He succeeded in making 
 a deep impression on the scared mind of 
 the czar; whose crimes, he assured him, 
 had aroused the vengeance of heaven. The 
 efforts of the monk were seconded by the 
 entreaties and exhortations of the virtuous 
 Alexis Adascheff, and by the persuasions of 
 the young and beautiful Anastatia, to whom 
 Ivan had been but recently united. A 
 change was thus effected in the mind of the 
 juvenile despot; and for a time he became 
 human in his conduct. 
 
 Ivan appeared to delight in astonishing 
 his counsellors and his people; and the 
 seeming change in his nature created as 
 much surprise as his recent atrocities. 
 Under the influence of his new advisers, he 
 sanctioned an entire change in the system 
 of government. His evil companions were 
 dismissed from all posts of authority, and 
 their places supplied by able and upright 
 men. Everything was 'reduced to order, 
 and tranquillity re-established throughout 
 the country. The army was reorganised, 
 the pay of the soldiery increased; the 
 proprietors of estates compelled to con- 
 tribute, according to their means, to the 
 military strength of the empire, which rose 
 to a height it had never reached before. 
 Amongst the new military arrangements 
 was the institution of the afterwards turbu- 
 lent and infamous Strelitz, a permanent 
 militia of fusileers, who were eventually 
 regarded as the Janizaries of Russia. Such 
 was the extent and population of the em- 
 pire, that its available military power was 
 estimated at 300,000 men ! The possession 
 of so much power roused the military 
 ardour of the czar, and stimulated him to 
 action. In the year 1552, he marched, at 
 the head of a powerful army, against the 
 turbulent Tartars of Kasan, who never 
 remained in tranquillity except when the] 
 
 ( 
 
 sword was suspended over their heads. 
 Ivan commenced his campaign in the depth 
 of winter, to the disgust of his soldiers ; 
 whose complaints, however, he soon ex- 
 tinguished by the severity of his punish- 
 ments. He took Kasan in consequence of 
 his engineers springing a mine before it ; a 
 mode of warfare with which both his troops 
 and that of the enemy were unacquainted, 
 and which accordingly gained him much 
 reputation. Having entered the city in 
 triumph, he caused the Tartar mosques to 
 be converted into Christian churches; and 
 compelled the khan to submit to the rite of 
 baptism. Notwithstanding the questionable 
 source from which these acts of religious 
 ardour proceeded, they won for the czar 
 some popularity among the people, who 
 were not given to the analysis of motives. 
 One wise measure of Ivan's was the erec- 
 tion of fortresses to keep the Tartars in 
 check. He was further successful in re- 
 ducing the kingdom of Astracan, then 
 much esteemed for its vines and other 
 valuable productions, and annexing it to 
 the Russian empire. Indeed, during this 
 period of grace, everything seemed to 
 prosper with him, and he basked in the 
 sunshine of fortune. The sultan, Selim II., 
 apparently surprised at the approach of the 
 Russians to the shores of the Caspian, sent 
 an army of 80,000 Turks against Astracan. 
 The Turks were then almost in the zenith 
 of that dazzling power which astonished 
 and awed all Europe. Their troops were 
 flushed with repeated victories, and their 
 statesmen and generals accustomed to re- 
 gard with disdain the most distinguished 
 of European soldiers. Had they encountered 
 the Russians, just shaking off the enervating 
 effects of two centuries and a-half of bon- 
 dage to the Tartars, there can be but little 
 doubt they would have been the vic- 
 tors. But the prolonged contests between 
 these antagonistic races were not yet to 
 commence ; they were unborn events, slowly 
 germinating in the mystic body of the 
 future. Turkey was to be weaker, and 
 Russia stronger, before these great powers 
 crossed each other's path. The formidable 
 army which Selim II. sent against Astracan, 
 perished miserably in the desolate steppes 
 by which it is surrounded. 
 
 Some writers attribute to this period the 
 accidental discovery of Siberia, and its an- 
 nexation to Russia. Much uncertainty, 
 however, reigns over the actual date of this 
 circumstance; and if Siberia was discovered 
 
 69 
 
 J \ 
 
 .Vv. 
 
 
DEATH OF ANASTATIA.T 
 
 HISTORy OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 15G0. 
 
 at this time, it was disregarded— a probable 
 circumstance, as the czar had already more 
 territory than he could govern efficiently, or 
 his subjects use advantageously. Russia 
 was already too extended ; her power would 
 have been greater had her subjects been 
 confined within a smaller arena. The dis- 
 covery of Siberia is attributed to a wander- 
 ing Cossack chief of the Don, called Yermak 
 Timofeyew ; but though some accounts re- 
 present him as penetrating into these deso- 
 late regions during the early part of the 
 reign of Ivan, others state that that event 
 took place in 1581, only three years before 
 Ivan's death. The entire subjugation of 
 Siberia, which was accomplished by private 
 adventurers, and without expense to the 
 government, occupied a period of about 
 eighty years. Those warlike people, the 
 Don Cossacks, to whom we have just 
 alluded, gave in their voluntary adhesion to 
 the Russian government in the year 1549. 
 
 During this early period of his reign, 
 when the ferocious nature of Ivan appeared 
 to be softened and subdued by the amia- 
 bility of his beautiful consort Anastatia, the 
 young czar seems earnestly to have desired 
 to promote the prosperity of the empire. 
 In 1547 he dispatched an embassy to the 
 eccentric Charles V., emperor of Germany, 
 to obtain his permission for the engagement 
 of artisans and engineers for the instruction 
 of the Russians. The request was refused ; 
 but as we are told that a number of German 
 artists were shortly afterwards imported 
 into Russia, it must be assumed that the 
 decision of the emperor was evaded. Certain 
 it is that Ivan has the honour of having in- 
 troduced the art of printing into the empire. 
 Russia was at this time beginning, in some 
 measure, to hold out her hands in amity to 
 distant countries. During the reign of our 
 boy-king, Edward VI., whose unripe buds 
 of promise were so prematurely withered, 
 Russia opened a trade with England through 
 the inhospitable port of Archangel. Some 
 English navigators having, while attempt- 
 ing to find a north-east passage to China 
 and India, penetrated into the White Sea, 
 and been compelled to put in at Arch- 
 angel, were so kindly received by the Rus- 
 sian people, and by the czar himself, into 
 whose presence they were graciously ad- 
 mitted, that they brought home a report 
 which led to the immediate formation of a 
 company of merchant traders with that 
 nation. 
 
 This period of tranquillity for Russia was 
 70 
 
 about to terminate. The virtuous czarina 
 died in the year 1560, after having succcss- 
 I fully restrained the furious passions of her 
 1 husband during a period of thirteen years. 
 With her died the moderation and calmness 
 of the czar; and the ferocity which she had 
 charmed into inaction, burst forth with an 
 increased force and an appalling rapidity. 
 Some years before, Ivan had consulted an 
 old bishop, who had been banished from 
 court on account of his crimes. In reply, 
 the woridly prelate observed—" If you would 
 become truly an absolute monarch, never 
 seek a counsellor wiser than yourself; never 
 receive advice from any man. Command, 
 and never obey; then you will be a real 
 sovereign, and a terror to the boyards. 
 Bear in mind, that the counsellor of the 
 wisest prince always ends by being his 
 ruler." The czar at once recognised the 
 subtle policy expressed in these words, and 
 kissing the hand of the prelate, exclaimed — 
 " My own father could not have given me 
 more wholesome advice." These precepts,^ 
 though they probably slept in the mind of 
 the czar, never altogether faded from it. 
 During the life of Anastatia he had pa- 
 tiently received the advice of Adascheff and 
 Sylvester, who acted with virtue and wisdom; 
 but their ascendancy was doomed, and the 
 czar resolved henceforth only to take council 
 of his own mind and passions. 
 
 From this period to the fortunate hour 
 which saw the death of Ivan, he rioted in 
 every excess of cruelty which a morbid im- 
 agination could suggest, or a monster put 
 into execution. His life was but one pro- 
 longed gigantic crime. Lord Bacon truly 
 observed — " Nature is often hidden ; some- 
 times overcome ; seldom extinguished." The 
 atrocities of Nero or Caligula were ex- 
 ceeded by this northern tyrant ; while those 
 of our eighth Henry seem actually mild in 
 comparison. It has been well observed, 
 that "if the narrative of his crimes could 
 be spared from the page of history, it would 
 rescue us from a series of details, the very 
 relation of which must sicken the least 
 susceptible mind. But there was a passion 
 so unearthly in this paragon of monsters — ^ 
 he was so elevated in atrocity, and reached' 
 so sublime a height in the perpetration of 
 cruelties— that his life, incredible and dis- 
 gusting as it is, fills too great a space in the 
 annals of despotism to be passed over 
 
 lightly." 
 
 Shortly after the death of Anastatia, Ivan 
 banished his prudent advisers, and then en- 
 
 A.D. 1560—1568.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [iVAN ABANDONS MOSCOW. 
 
 couraged the vilest calumnies against them. 
 Some worthless court parasites charged them 
 with having brought about the death of the 
 czarina by violent means— a transparent 
 falsehood which Ivan pretended to believe. 
 Nothing could save them from his fury, and 
 they soon fell victims to his thirst for blood. 
 Even those who had been associated with 
 them were either put to the torture or to 
 death ; or, when a milder temper influenced 
 the despot for the hour, imprisoned or ban- 
 ished. While these indiscriminate severities 
 were going on, the court was the scene of 
 the wildest excesses. A boyard, who pre- 
 sumed to remonstrate with one of the new 
 favourites, was murdered on the spot by the 
 hand of Ivan himself; while another, who 
 refused to join in the lascivious pleasures 
 of his sovereign, was stabbed to the heart 
 while on his knees in church at prayer. 
 
 The prince Andrew Kurbsky, who had 
 rendered important services to the country, 
 learnt that he was one of the intended 
 victims of the czar. Knowing that integrity 
 would avail him nothing against false accu- 
 sations, or the furious whims of his sove- 
 reign, he fled to Poland for safety, and 
 placed himself under the protection of 
 Sigisraund II., the king of that country, 
 and most inveterate enemy of Russia. From 
 this asylum he wrote an accusatory letter to 
 the czar, in which he charged him with 
 being the cause of all the miseries which 
 their common country then endured ; with 
 having shed the blood of Israel's elders in 
 the temples of the Lord; and threatened 
 him with eternal vengeance for his crimes. 
 When this epistle was presented to Ivan, 
 he, on learning from whence it came, struck 
 the messenger across the legs with an iron- 
 bound staff" which he usually carried ; and 
 then, while the blood flowed rapidly from 
 the man's wounds, composedly perused the 
 document. The czar was not destitute of 
 abilities: neglected as his education had 
 been, he could write with freedom, and was 
 proud of his literary attainments. He him- 
 self replied to Kurbsky, in a vein of mingled 
 anger and sarcasm. * The letter is still pre- 
 served. In it the czar thus addresses th^ 
 fugitive prince—" Why, thou wretch, dost ^ 
 thou destroy thy traitor soul in saving bv 
 flight thy worthless body ? If thou art really 
 honest and virtuous, why not die by the hand 
 of thy master, and thereby obtain the crown 
 of the martyrs? What is life? What are 
 earthly pomps and riches? Vanity! a 
 shadow ! — What thou assertest of mv as- 
 
 sumed cruelties is an impudent lie. I do 
 not destroy the elders of Israel, nor do I 
 stain with their blood the Lord's temples : 
 the peaceful and religious live happily in 
 my service. Against traitors alone I am 
 severe; but who ever spared them? Did 
 not Constantine the Great sacrifice his only 
 son?— Thou tellest me that I shall never 
 again see thy Ethiop face. Heavens I what 
 a misfortune !" Finally, the letter says— 
 " But I am silent, for Solomon forbids us 
 to waste words with fools like thee." 
 
 Scornfully as the czar treated the accusa- 
 tions and enmity of Prince Kurbsky, the 
 result of the flight of the latter soon made 
 itself apparent. Sigismund gathered an 
 army for the invasion of Russia, and insti- 
 gated the Tartars to make a descent upon 
 its southern provinces. On finding the 
 fugitive not so helpless as he expected, Ivan 
 was seized with fits of passion and paroxysms 
 of cruelty. He regarded every one with 
 distrust, and treated all around him as if 
 they were the accomplices of Kurbsky. 
 Many he put to the rack, or to death, 
 merely from motives of suspicion. He con- 
 stantly charged the boyards with entertain- 
 ing evil designs against him and the state, 
 and then confiscated their property. Racked 
 by an unsatisfied vengeance, he frequently 
 lamented that he could not find victims 
 enough to allay his wrath. Haunted by a 
 real impression that a conspiracy against 
 him was in progress, or influenced by a 
 cunning desire to extend his power over his 
 people, he next performed a trick of so 
 whimsical a nature, that it gives some slight 
 colouring to the charitable suggestion that 
 he was insane. Early one winter morning 
 in the year 1568, he left the Kremlin in' 
 his travelling sledge, and, together with his 
 family, his attendants, and a regiment of 
 cavalry, abandoned Moscow. Prior to his 
 departure, he ordered the metropolitan to 
 celebrate mass in the church of the As- 
 sumption, where, having prayed with great 
 apparent devotion, he solemnly left the city. 
 Why he had departed, or where he was 
 going to, was kept a profound secret. 
 
 It might be supposed that the inhabitants 
 of Moscow were glad to be rid of his pre- 
 sence, even though but for a short time. 
 The reverse was the case : they were seized 
 with astonishment and despondency at his 
 inexplicable absence. Cruel as he was, he 
 had acquired something of popularity 
 amongst the people. His severities had 
 been exercised rather against the nobles 
 
 71 
 
 I > 
 
 f 
 
IVAN AT ALEXANDROVSKY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1568. 
 
 and the clergy thcan against them ; and as 
 they had frequently been the victims of the 
 tyranny of their masters, they often secretly 
 rejoiced at the calamities which fell upon 
 the latter. They had also gradually come — 
 in consequence of the pretensions of the 
 czar, and the servile if not blasphemous 
 teachings of the priesthood — to regard their 
 sovereign as the representative of God ; as 
 indeed standing between them and Deity; 
 and even, in some inexplicable way, per- 
 forming some of the beneficent functions of 
 the Supreme ! Strange as it may seem, 
 these unreasoning barbarians had ever 
 looked to the czar for that protection which 
 cultivated and devout minds expect only 
 from the Almighty Power which creates 
 and sustains all things. So far was this 
 perverted feeling carried, that the people 
 began to believe, that in being deserted by 
 Ivan, they were deserted by Omnipotence. 
 
 It was a month before the inhabitants of 
 Moscow learned what had become of their 
 sovereign. It is probable that, by that time, 
 lie had no intention either to abandon his 
 authority or to prolong his absence. Two 
 letters arrived from him — one addressed to 
 the metropolitan, and the other to the 
 people. From these letters it appeared that 
 he had taken up his abode at Alexandrovsky, 
 a distant fortress, surrounded by a gloomy 
 forest. The letter to the metropolitan de- 
 nounced the clergy and the boyards, but 
 especially the former, as the cause of all the 
 disorders wliioh had afflicted the country 
 dur.ug his minority; and he asserted that 
 they were even then promoting similar 
 sources of evil. So great, he added, was 
 the evil influence of the primate and the 
 priesthood, that he had abandoned the 
 management of the affairs of state, and left 
 Moscow to wander a fugitive upon the 
 earth. Ivan's epistle to the people was in a 
 different style, and showed the art with 
 which the despot influenced their childish 
 minds. He concluded a strain of mingled 
 flattery and melancholy by an assurance 
 that he had no cause of complaint against 
 them, and by bidding them farewell for 
 ever. 
 
 On hearing these letters, the spiritless 
 people broke out into senseless lamenta- 
 tions. Closing their shops, they assembled 
 in groups in the streets. Everywhere busi- 
 ness was suspended ; and the burden of 
 everv conversation was, "The czar has for- 
 saken us, and we are lost. Who will now 
 delend us against the enemy? What arc 
 73 
 
 sheep without the shepherd ?" So great 
 was their blind attachment to the regal 
 power, and the legitimate possessor of it, 
 that they proceeded in crowds to the metro- 
 politan, and urged him to solicit Ivan to 
 return to his faithful people. "Let him," 
 they exclaimed, " punish all those who de- 
 serve it; has he not the power of life and 
 death? The state cannot remain without a 
 head, and we will not acknowledge any 
 other than the one God has given us.'' 
 They added, "Who, without him, could 
 preserve the purity of religion? who could 
 save millions of souls from eternal perdi- 
 tion ?" The opinion of the people was too 
 general, and too vehemently expressed, to 
 be disregarded. After much consultation, 
 it was decided that a body of prelates and 
 boyards should proceed to the retreat of the 
 czar, and, humbling themselves before him, 
 implore him to return to Moscow. 
 
 Ivan beheld the abasement of the depu- 
 tation with a secret emotion of pleasure, 
 and affected to accede to their prayers with 
 reluctance. Before doing so, he extorted 
 from the clergy a condition, that they would 
 never interfere to avert those punishments 
 which he considered it necessary to inflict 
 on such of his subjects who entered into 
 conspiracies either against the state or him 
 and his famil3\ On his return to Moscow, 
 the czar was received with enthusiastic 
 acclamations ; but the slavish population 
 were welcoming a scourge which was to fall 
 like a curse upon their abject servility. 
 The appearance of Ivan, on his entrance 
 into the city, struck the beholders with sur- 
 prise and pity. The Russian chroniclers 
 observe — " Only a month had elapsed since 
 his absence, yet they hardly knew him 
 again. His large and robust body, his 
 ample chest, his broad shoulders, had 
 shrunk ; his head, which had been shaded 
 by thick locks, was become bald ; the thin 
 and scattered remains of a beard, which w^as 
 lately the ornament of his face, now dis- 
 figured it. His eyes were dull, and his 
 features, marked with a ravenous ferocity, 
 were deformed." This appearance — whether 
 the result of a debilitated state of body, pro- 
 ceeding from mental anguish ; or, w hicli is 
 far more probable, intentionally brought 
 about for the sake of producing an effect — 
 elicited a strong feeling of sympathy from 
 the people. 
 
 Addressing the assembled multitude, he 
 dwelt upon the crimes of the boyards, and 
 insisted on the necessity there existed for 
 
 a.d. 1568.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [eccextricittes of the c; 
 
 CZAK. 
 
 his possession of the absolute power to 
 punish where he thought fit to do so. He 
 concluded with an exhortation, couched in 
 the language of piety, on the vanity of the 
 world, and the worthlessness of life; the 
 object of which was to reconcile the people 
 to the wholesale sacrifice of it, which he 
 contemplated. He then desired and ob- 
 tamed from the populace permission to 
 institute a new body-guard, to be composed 
 of a thousand men of noble birth, who were 
 to bear the title of the Opritshnina, or 
 Select Legion. This body of men, when 
 actually formed, instead of being composed 
 of the nobly born, was a collection of per- 
 sons of the lowest class and most degraded 
 character, whose real business soon con- 
 sisted of acting as spies, informers, and 
 assassins. They were commissioned to find 
 out and denounce disaffected persons, of 
 whom they afterwards became the execu- 
 tioners. As the property of the victims fell 
 to these ruffians, it may be supposed that 
 they were diligent in their infamous voca- 
 tion ; and that, where a crime could not 
 always be discovered, one was sometimes 
 invented. 
 
 The next act of the despot was to erect 
 for himself a new palace, or rather fortress, 
 outside the walls of the Kremlin ; for a fear 
 of assassination seems to have made a deep 
 impression upon his mind. To obtain a 
 site for this building, he desolated the 
 streets, and instructed his ruffian guard to 
 drive to a distance those who had been thus 
 shamefully despoiled of their property. No 
 less than 12,000 of the citizens are said to 
 have been dispossessed of their habitations, 
 for the sake of erecting his regal prison. 
 Though the new palace was regarded as im- 
 pregnable, yet the terrors of the czar did not 
 permit him to reside in it in tranquillity. 
 Haunted by a constant sense of that retri- 
 bution which he knew he had provoked, he 
 left this building, and retired again to the 
 gloomy fortress of Alexandrovsky, around 
 which a considerable town was in course of 
 erection. This no one was permitted to 
 enter or leave without his express permis- 
 sion, and a guard was stationed to enforce 
 the regulation. In this seclusion an extra- 
 ordinary whim entered into the mind of the 
 despot. With a theatrical burlesque of the 
 formularies of religion, he assumed the habit 
 and title of an abbot, and bestowed upon 
 his depraved body-guard the vestments and 
 name of mouKS. They wore black robes 
 over their military dress, and were compelled 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 to adopt a mode of life resembling that prac- 
 tised in the cloisters. This did not consist 
 of any light duties, but was remarkably 
 rigid. A religious service commenced at 
 the early hour of three in the morning, and 
 was prolonged until seven. An hour later 
 mass was performed ; and at ten the mili- 
 tary brotherhood, with the exception of the 
 czar, sat down to a bountiful repast. During 
 this the eccentric Ivan stood and read aloud 
 from some book on a religious topic. Ever 
 influenced by a desire to conciliate even the 
 lowest of the people, he caused the remnants 
 of the meal to be distributed to the neigh- 
 bouring poor. After dinner the tyrant de- 
 scended to the dungeons of the fortress, to 
 superintend the infliction of the torture 
 upon some of his victims; and at night, 
 after the reading of prayers, he retired to 
 rest, and was lulled to sleep by three blind 
 men. Such was his disregard of the spirit 
 of the Christian religion, while intent upon 
 the letter, that his most sanguinary orders 
 were frequently given during prayers. 
 
 Always terrified by the dread of insurrec- 
 tion or assassination, the tyrant increased 
 his recent body-guard from one to six thou- 
 sand men. Those who were added to it 
 consisted of the most infamous and blood- 
 thirsty wretches that could be procured. 
 They paraded the streets, armed with dag- 
 gers and hatchets; and the victims of their 
 suspicion or ferocious wantonness are said 
 to have averaged a score daily. As types of 
 their office, these wretches bore a dog's-head 
 and a broom suspended from their saddle- 
 bow ; the former, to signify that they w^orried 
 the enemies of the czar; the latter, to indi- 
 cate that they swept them from off the face 
 of the earth. 
 
 No rank preserved its possessors against 
 the fury of the tyrant. Prince Schuisky 
 and his son, relatives of the worthless man 
 who fell a victim to the first-awakened wrath 
 of the czar while in his boyhood, were seized 
 and beheaded. The same day four other 
 princes shared the same fate, and a fifth was 
 impaled. Subsequently a great number of 
 victims perished by the axe, impalement, or 
 poisoning, while their wives and children 
 expired under the scourge, or were driven 
 naked into the forests, where they perished 
 from cold and hunger. The passion of the 
 tyrant for blood increased with its gratifica- 
 tion, and the horrors of each new day ex- 
 ceeded that of its predecessor. The mangled 
 bodies of the dead lay in the public streets 
 and squares; and such a terror fell upon the 
 
 73 
 
 ■A 
 
• •■ 
 
 REIGN OF TERROR.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1569. 
 
 V 
 
 •urvivors, that few dared to give the rites 
 of burial to these terrible evidences of a 
 diabolical tyranny. 
 
 Executions, even though numbers were 
 put to death together, soon failed to supply 
 ihe bloodthirsty excitement which this awful 
 man longed for. The axe, the scourge, and 
 the instrument of impalement, were too 
 slow to meet his fearful wishes. His con- 
 stant demand was for blood ! — more blood ! 
 and his chief pleasure appeared to consist in 
 dwelling, with a horrible malignity, upon 
 the agonies of his fellow- men. He soon 
 sought for excuses to give up whole towns to 
 the operations of his army of ruffians and 
 executioners. One day, a few of the inhab- 
 itants of Torjck had the misfortune to 
 quarrel with some of his legionaries. The 
 czar seized upon the incident with avidity, 
 declared all the inhabitants to be rebels, and 
 caused them to be tortured to death, or 
 drowned in crowds. The inhabitants of 
 another town were exposed to a similarly 
 dreadful fate, because they were the depen- 
 dents of a nobleman to whom he had con- 
 tracted a dislike. Infancy, womanhood, and 
 old age were no protection from the hellish 
 wrath of the czar. He delighted in com- 
 pelling ladies of rank to stand in indelicate 
 positions in the public streets, while others, 
 after being exposed in a state of nakedness, 
 were shot in the presence of the horrified 
 spectators. 
 
 Frightful as were these atrocities, they 
 were exceeded by the subsequent deeds of 
 the tyrant. His proceedings at Novgorod 
 are perfectly frightful to relate. A criminal 
 of that city, wishing to take revenge upon 
 the authorities who had punished him, in- 
 formed the czar that the archbishop and 
 inhabitants of the city designed to break 
 their allegiance to Ivan, and to place Nov- 
 gorod under the protection of the King of 
 Poland. The villain further informed the 
 czar that a letter to the Polish monarch, of 
 a nature to prove the guilt of the accused, 
 would be found concealed behind an image 
 of the Virgin, in the church of St. Sophia. 
 This was true ; as the scoundrel had written 
 such a letter, and placed it there himself, 
 where it was subsequently found by Ivan^s 
 messengers. A proper investigation would 
 have exposed the treachery of the fellow, 
 who pretended to discover a plot which had 
 no real existence ; and, indeed, the accusa- 
 tion bore an air of improbability upon the 
 face of it. But the czar cared little for its 
 truth. He longed for an opportunity to 
 74 
 
 indulge, on a gigantic scale, his morbid appe- 
 tite for slaughter, and this circumstance 
 afforded one. His march of devastation to 
 Novgorod, and his awful massacres there, 
 are regarded as the most appalling acts of 
 his career of blood. 
 
 Accompanied by his son, and followed by 
 his legion of monsters, Ivan left the dismal 
 fortress of Alexandrovskv in the December 
 of 1569, and marched towards Novgorod. 
 At the town of Klin, where he paused for a 
 while, his army of executioners extermi- 
 nated the whole of the population. On 
 arriving at the ancient city of Twer, he sent 
 his soldiers ^into the streets with permission 
 to murder and plunder as they pleased. 
 The wretches availed themselves of this 
 diabolical license to such a dreadful extent, 
 that the horrors enacted were compared by 
 the miserable people to the terrible cruelties 
 inflicted upon their ancestors by the Tartar, 
 Usbek-Khan. The czar himself assisted in 
 the work of slaughter ; and his confidential 
 minister, Skaratof, entering the cell where 
 the deposed metropolitan was confined, 
 strangled him with his own hands. 
 
 The czar continued his march, and de- 
 populated all the towns and villages that 
 lay in his way to Novgorod, which mise- 
 rable city was entered by his advanced 
 guard on the 2nd of January, 1570. In 
 conformity with the commands of Ivan, the 
 dog's-head legion closed all the convents, 
 and demanded from each of the monks the 
 sum of twenty roubles. The unfortunate 
 creatures who could not comply with this 
 extortion, were mercilessly scourged, from 
 daybreak until evening. Guards were placed 
 at the entrances of the city, to prevent any 
 one from escaping, and the principal inhab- 
 itants were placed in fetters, to await their 
 doom. 
 
 Four days elapsed in this state of uncer- 
 tainty and terror, and then all the wretched 
 monks who could not pay the sum de- 
 manded of them were beaten to death with 
 clubs, and the disfigured corpses returned 
 to their respective monasteries for burial. 
 On the fifth day, Ivan solemnly entered the 
 city, at the head of a large body of troops. 
 The terrified archbishop and the clergy, 
 carrying all the worthless images and relics, 
 in which they placed so much faith, met 
 him in a body, and the primate endea- 
 voured to pronounce the customary bene- 
 diction. The despot interrupted him with 
 a fierce address, in which expressions of 
 aff'ected piety were mingled with furious 
 
 A.D. 1569.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 -xecrations against the primate and his 
 order. Then entering the church of St. 
 bophia, Ivan commanded mass to be per- 
 formed, during which he prayed with great 
 apparent fervour. This ceremony over, he 
 entered the episcopal palace, and sat down 
 to dmner, surrounded by his boyards. Per- 
 haps the agitated primate thought after- 
 wards, by pathetic and pious appeals to the 
 czar, to allay that furious and maniacal ex- 
 citement which seemed rapidly transform- 
 ing him into a demon. If so, the unhappy 
 prelate was painfully deceived. During the 
 meal, the tyrant started up, and, with eyes 
 flashmg with an excitement that trembled 
 upon the brink of insanity, uttered a wild 
 and piercing cry. It was a preconcerted 
 signal; and, in a moment, the chamber was 
 filled with his military executioners, who 
 seized the archbishop, priests, and servants. 
 No crime was urged against them ; not even 
 a faint mockery of the forms of justice were 
 observed ; and the doomed archbishop was 
 cast into confinement, until the crowned 
 demon had leisure to gloat over his dying 
 agonies. The episcopal palace, and "the 
 neighbouring cathedral, were then aban- 
 doned to plunder ; and everything valuable 
 and regarded as sacred— rich yestments, 
 plate, images— were carried away by ruffians. 
 The churches and monasteries of the city 
 were also given up to spoliation, and soon 
 cleared of everything yaluable, by the im- 
 pious hands of these abandoned depredators. 
 A darker tragedy followed; for plunder 
 was but the ominous prologue to the work 
 of blood. By the commands of Ivan, an 
 unsparing and even systematic massacre of 
 the inhabitants of the city took place. The 
 wretch sat in judgment with his son by his 
 side, who, it would seem, was averse to the 
 atrocities which he was powerless to check. 
 Every day, from five hundred to a thousand 
 of the miserable inhabitants of the city were 
 hurried from the presence of the tyrant, 
 and put to death by torture or fire. A 
 reign of terror prevailed ; and almost every 
 mode of butchery and torture were resorted 
 to. A number of the inhabitants were 
 huddled together in a large enclosure, 
 where the czar put many of them to death 
 himself. When, however, his fury had ex- 
 hausted him, he gave up the rem'ainder to 
 be murdered by his guard, or torn to pieces 
 by his dogs. Immense numbers of the 
 people (including women with their infants) 
 were thrown into the river Volkhof, and 
 drowned. Those who strove in their mor- 
 
 [massacre at XOyOOROD. 
 
 tal agony to escape by swimming, were dis- 
 patched by soldiers, who sailed about on 
 the water, armed with long spears for that 
 purpose For more than a month, hun- 
 dreds of unhappy creatures perished daily 
 m the freezmg waters of the Volkhof: and 
 then the work of murder was checked by 
 the scarcity of victims. But the fury of 
 Ivan was not yet satiated ; and he and hi^ 
 troops of monsters desolated the surround- 
 ing country and monasteries, where in 
 addition to the work of indiscriminate mur- 
 der and plunder, they wantonly gave houses 
 to the flames, destroyed the cattle, and de- 
 vastated the springing corn. 
 
 Returning to Novgorod, he feasted his 
 eyes on the terrible spectacle the smitten 
 city presented. All the yaluable goods that 
 remained, such as silks and furs, he caused 
 to be divided among his soldiers; while 
 such as they could not carry away with 
 them, were either burnt or thrown into the 
 river. Wearied at length with bloodshed 
 and rapine, the czar prepared to depart. 
 Before he did so, he issued a general par- 
 don to the surviving population, and sum- 
 moned them to appear before him A 
 mournful assembly of spirit-broken* and 
 despairing wretches obeyed the command, 
 and stood— the mere shadows of men and 
 women— in the presence of the slayer of 
 their fellow-countrymen. It was a painful 
 sight to see these wretched creatures, whose 
 passive dullness bordered upon idiotcy 
 and whose lank forms were emaciated by 
 famine and the incessant apprehensions of 
 death and of tortures, to which a speedy 
 death would have been mercy. Such a 
 mournful spectacle might have touched the 
 hardest heart; and perhaps it did make a 
 momentary impression on the Satanic in- 
 carnation who had gathered them together. 
 Whether in a transient spirit of compassion, 
 or from a diabolical irony, he spoke to them 
 m the mildest language, and bidding them 
 farewell, desired them to pray to God that 
 his reign might be a long and happy one. 
 The monster then abandoned the city he 
 had converted into a slaughter-house, a 
 grave-yard, and a place of wailing. It was, 
 indeed, almost depopulated; for 60,000 of 
 the inhabitants had fallen victims to his 
 capricious fury. To complete the misery 
 of the survivors, the rotting remains of the 
 unbuned dead produced a pestilence, which, 
 m consequence of the destruction of the 
 crops and cattle, was followed by famine. 
 The czar having visited the city of Pskol, 
 
 76 
 
I' 
 
 EXECUTIONS AT MOSCOW.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 A.D. 1570. 
 
 H: 
 
 where he contented hinnself with terrifying 
 and plundering the inhabitants, directed 
 his steps towards Moscow. He carried in 
 his train the Archljishop of Novgorod, and 
 other distinguished prisoners whom he had 
 resolved to put to death with a solemn 
 parade of horror. To increase the number 
 of the victims to be offered up at this 
 bloody carnival, he caused many of the 
 bovards of Moscow to be arrested : even 
 including among them a number of his 
 personal favourites, or those who were 
 deemed so. Some suspicion of treason was 
 assigned as the cause of these arrests ; but 
 it was known to be a mere pretence. A 
 day was appointed for the execution of the 
 whole number ; and when the light dawned 
 upon it, spectators were horrified at the 
 sight of eighteen gibbets, erected in the 
 market-place, while, in the centre of them, 
 a huge copper cauldron was suspended over 
 a blazing fire. In addition to these fright- 
 ful preparations, instruments of torture lay 
 about in every direction. When the news 
 spread, a panic seized the people, and they 
 fled from the city, or hid themselves in 
 terror. In a few hours Moscow was de- 
 serted, and no one was to be seen but a 
 troop of the select legion arranged around 
 the gibbets and the cauldron. At length 
 the oppressive silence was broken by the 
 roll of drums. It heralded the approach of 
 the czar, who came on horseback, attended 
 by his son, and followed by a regiment of 
 his torturers. After them, the executioners 
 brought along a troop of about 300 wretched- 
 looking men, pale and haggard, and many 
 of them stained with blood from recent in- 
 juries, and scarcely able to walk. These 
 were the destined victims. 
 
 The tyrant was disappointed on finding 
 that there was not any audience to witness 
 the awful pageantry he had provided. He 
 therefore commanded his soldiers to compel 
 the attendance of the people. Finding that 
 the latter assembled very slowly, he went 
 on the same errand himself; and, assuring 
 them of his good-will, desired their presence 
 at the spectacle he had provided for them. 
 The territied citizens dared not disobey, and 
 soon the market-place was filled with spec- 
 tators, even to the roofs of the houses. The 
 czar then addressed them upon what he 
 termed the righteous justice of the punish- 
 ments, and elicited from tliem insincere ex- 
 pre>sions of approval. They knew that to 
 have crossed his will would have been to 
 court instant destruction. This prelimi- 
 76 
 
 nary over, 120 pallid creatures were se- 
 lected from the group of destined vic- 
 tims, and pardoned, on account, said the 
 despot, of their being less guilty than 
 the others. The rest were given into the 
 hands of the executioners, who put them 
 to death in the most revolting manner. 
 Some were cut to pieces, or plunged half 
 alive into the boiling cauldron. We cannot 
 dwell longer on these disgusting atrocities : 
 it must be sufficient to say that the execu- 
 tions lasted about four hours, and that 
 nearly 200 innocent persons were put to 
 deaths of the most repulsive and protracted 
 kind. The monster endeavoured to recon- 
 cile his subjects to his mad career of blood, 
 by asserting that his authority over them 
 was divine. " I am," he said, " your god, 
 as God is mine ; whose throne is surrounded 
 by archangels, as is the throne of God." 
 
 It may be supposed that, under this time 
 of progressive horror, the Russian people 
 lost all public spirit, and were no longer 
 formidable to surrounding enemies. The 
 distracted country soon became a prey to 
 those foes who were ever ready to take ad- 
 vantage of its weakness. Sweden made 
 itself master of Esthonia ; the Livonian 
 knights seized upon Courland and Semi- 
 gallia. Towards the close of Ivan's reign, 
 Stephen Bathori, who, though of a noble 
 family, had been raised by his merits and 
 military reputation to the rank of King of 
 Poland, defeated the czar in many engage- 
 ments, and deprived him of Livonia, which, 
 on account of its being washed by the 
 waters of the Baltic, was justly regarded as 
 a highly important part of his dominions. 
 It, as well as Courland, was an outlet for 
 the commerce of Russia, and a point from 
 which communication with the more civilised 
 nations of Europe could be opened. The 
 Polish king, who was a wise, brave, and 
 just man,* viewed the conduct of Ivan with 
 disgust ; and acted with such decision, as to 
 throw the tyrant into the greatest trepida- 
 tion. Bathori charged him with the com- 
 mission of the grossest of crimes, with 
 falsifying treaties, with revolting inhu- 
 manity to his people, and, finally, chal- 
 lenged him to single combat. 
 
 Ivan not only shrunk from the proffered 
 duel, but carefully kept back from all 
 
 * An instance of his just and tolerant nature is 
 contained in the following fact. On being urged to 
 adopt severe measures for the su])pression of certain 
 religious nonconformists, he replied, " 1 reign over 
 persons ; but it is God who rules the conscience." 
 
 A.D. 1570—1580.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [further horrors. 
 
 danger in the contests between his troops 
 and the Poles. This man, so reckless of 
 human life, was himself the slave of the 
 most abject fears. He dreaded assassination, 
 as well he might ; and it is strange that he 
 did not fall a victim to the fury and despair 
 of some bereaved father or maddened son, 
 who had been deprived of those dearest to 
 them by his wanton cruelties. He feared 
 death even in the course of nature ; as well 
 he might, if he believed in the doctrines of 
 that religion of the forms of which he made 
 so ostentatious a parade, and ever had visions 
 of judgment and the wrath of an avenging 
 God. It has even been stated, that the 
 very cruelties of this Russian monster were 
 chiefly the result of the terrors which 
 haunted him like evil spirits by day and by 
 night, and made him dread an assassin in 
 every one who approached him. 
 
 Awed by the courage of the Polish mon- 
 arch, Ivan, for a time, held back from repel- 
 ling his aggressive actions. Impelled at 
 length by the urgency of the position, and 
 the entreaties of his boyards, he was in- 
 duced to take the field. But he took no 
 share in the conflicts that followed, and in 
 which his troops were generally defeated. 
 Such was his aversion to the war, that he 
 actually bought the intercession of the 
 pope's envoy by lying promises that, in the 
 event of his proving successful in disarming 
 the animosity of Bathori, he would en- 
 deavour to convert the Russian people to 
 Catholicism. When any of the Poles or 
 Livonians were taken prisoners by Ivan's 
 soldiers, the wretch caused the captives to 
 be put to death in some shocking manner. 
 Some he had spitted on lances; while 
 others were thrown into boiling cauldrons, 
 or slowly consumed at fires, which the 
 monster often amused himself by stirring 
 lip while the execution was in progress. 
 These atrocities Bathori had resolved to 
 avenge ; and he was occupied in preparing 
 for a vigorous campaign, when he died sud- 
 denly, and thus relieved the czar from the 
 fear of a well-merited retribution. 
 
 Among his other tyrannies, Ivan op- 
 pressed his people with the most exorbi- 
 tant taxes. Next to cruelty, a selfish 
 desire for accumulation seemed his master- 
 passion. Not content with the imposition 
 of taxes, which were enormous for those times, 
 he established the most offensive monopo- 
 lies, and even robbed his people by the 
 frequent confiscation of their property on 
 
 and resistance was unavailing: to have 
 offered it, would have been a suicidal ex- 
 posure to his fury. Accustomed in all 
 things to obey his appetites, he disregarded 
 the customs of Rnssia and the precepts of 
 the Greek church, and married seven wives. 
 Notwithstanding, he even sought the hand 
 of Queen Elizabeth of England, who politely 
 declined it. Thinking that a refuge from 
 the fury of his subjects would be necessary, 
 in the event of their awakening from the 
 state of apathetic terror into which he had 
 plunged them, he solicited and obtained 
 from Elizabeth a promise that she would 
 grant him an asylum in England, " should 
 his ungrateful subjects render it necessary 
 for him to retire from Russia.'' Disap- 
 pointed in obtaining the hand of EHzabeth, 
 he desired to add an eighth lady to his 
 matrimonial circle, and that she should be 
 from the English court. Elizabeth, who 
 was devoid of womanly delicacy in such 
 matters, had no objection ; and the daughter 
 of the Earl of Huntingdon was, at her own 
 desire, and with the permission of the 
 queen, offered to the inspection of the 
 Russian ambassador. Statements of Ivan's 
 atrocities, however, reached the ears of the 
 lady before the match was concluded, and 
 she begged Elizabeth to spare her the 
 perilous honour. 
 
 The czar's appetite for cruelty increased 
 as he advanced in life. All ordinary modes 
 of slaughter, and even wholesale massacres, 
 at length failed to arouse that sanguinary 
 excitement from which he derived delight. 
 He broke at length into an eccentricity of 
 murder, in which he compelled his victims 
 to trample upon the most sacred bonds 
 which unite society. He required his sub- 
 jects to become fratricides and parricides. 
 One man he compelled to become the 
 executioner of his own father; another, of 
 his brother ! Then he caused no less than 
 800 unhappy women to be drowned, and 
 put their relatives to the torture until they 
 pointed out the places in which their wealth 
 was hidden. Amongst the lesser atrocities 
 of this abandoned wretch, was the keeping 
 a number of bears, who, when hungry and 
 irritated, he would let loose in the public 
 streets ; especially when he happened to 
 see from his windows a group of citizens 
 collected in them. The struggles and cries 
 of those who were injured by the brutes 
 elicited from him uncontrollable shouts of 
 laughter. 
 
 \ .' 
 
 any pretext, or on none. It was his will, | This frightful man had other moments of 
 
 77 
 
IVAN KILLS HIS SON.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [ad. 1584. 
 
 A.D. 1584.] 
 
 HUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 h 
 
 grim mirth when he required a number of 
 jesters, whom he retained to amuse him. 
 This was commonly both before and after 
 executions, at which times he was more than 
 usually disposed for hilarity. Sometimes 
 these professional fools were beaten or 
 severely injured by their capricious master, 
 if their jests did not happen to please him. 
 The most distinguished of these jesters, 
 who bore the name of Goosdef, met with a 
 sterner fate. Failing one day to amuse the 
 tyrant, the latter poured a basin of scalding 
 soup on his head. The unhappy jester at- 
 tempted to retreat, when Ivan struck him 
 in a vital part with a knife, and he dropped 
 senseless. A feeling of momentary regret 
 followed the act, and a surgeon was imme- 
 diately summoned. " Preserve my faithful 
 servant,'' exclaimed the czar, "I have jested 
 a little too hard with him !" " So hard," 
 was the sycophantic and blasphemous reply, 
 *'that only God and your majesty can 
 restore him to life ; he breathes no more." 
 Ivan threw a glance of contempt on the 
 corpse of the murdered jester, bestowed 
 upon it the name of dog, and returned to 
 his pastimes. Even the merriment of this 
 terrible man was frightful ; and those to 
 whom he seemed most attached were not 
 safe from his whimsical cruelties. On 
 another occasion a boyard, who is described 
 as one of his favourites, visited the czar. 
 No sooner had he made the reverential 
 bow which the etiquette of the court ex- 
 acted, than the czar exclaimed, " God save 
 thee, my dear Boris, thou deservest a proof 
 of my favour." As he spoke, he seized a 
 knife and cut off one of the boyard's ears. 
 The miserable sycophant uttered no cry or 
 word of complaint ; but concealing the pain 
 he endured, thanked his persecutor for his 
 gracious favour, and wished him a happy 
 reign. There was something of policy, as 
 well as brutal instinct, in this conduct of 
 the czar. He lost no opportunity of im- 
 pressing upon the Russians that, as their 
 ruler, he was something more than human — 
 something even akin to Deity ; that, indeed, 
 to repeat the impiously arrogant expres- 
 sion of his we have already quoted, " he 
 was their God, as God was his." Such a 
 point once admitted, it necessarily followed 
 that even injuries or death, at his hands, 
 were to be received with submission, and, 
 if possible, with gratitude. Repulsive as 
 this may seem, it was merely carrying to 
 the extreme that effete doctrine of divine 
 right and passive obedience which the 
 78 
 
 Stuarts afterwards struggled so long to 
 establish in England. There was a wide 
 difference between the dispositions of 
 Charles I. and Ivan the Terrible ; so wide 
 a one, that some will be surprised at my 
 establishing a comparison on any point 
 between them; but the principles which 
 actuated them were the same. 
 
 The blood-red catalogue of Ivan's crimes 
 was nearly complete, and the close of his 
 awful life was approaching. One dark deed 
 yet remained to be performed, and then the 
 sadly imperfect work of retribution com- 
 menced. His eldest and favourite son, ac- 
 companied by several of the boyards, one 
 day entered his presence, and desired to be 
 entrusted with the command of a body of 
 troops, that he might proceed to the assist- 
 ance of the city of Pskof, which was then 
 being besieged by the Poles. The sus- 
 picious czar, always apprehensive of con- 
 spiracy and assassination, believed that 
 even his own son was implicated in some 
 insurrection against his government, and 
 that the troops were perhaps wanted for 
 the purpose of deposing him. A wild gust 
 of rage broke over him ; and, with a furious 
 voice, he replied, " Rebel ! you are leagued 
 with the boyards in a conspiracy to dethrone 
 me." As the words left his mouth he 
 struck the prince several severe blows with 
 the iron-bound staff he carried. Each in- 
 flicted a severe wound, and the last felled 
 the unfortunate man to the earth, where 
 he lay in a pool of blood. This frightful 
 result was unintentional — the consequence 
 of giving way to that madness of passion 
 which years of unchecked cruelty had made 
 a tyrant over the tyrant. Nothing was 
 further from Ivan's intention than to slay 
 the only one of his three sons who was 
 capable of succeeding him on the throne. 
 Indeed, it will shortly be seen that, in effect, 
 those mad, thoughtless blows, destroyed the 
 regal race of Ruric, and extinguished his 
 dynasty. 
 
 On seeing the tragic consequence to which 
 his unbridled fury had led, Ivan was in- 
 stantly seized with remorse. Struck with 
 horror and despair, and trembling violently, 
 he threw himself upon the body of his son, 
 and, with mingled words of endearment to 
 his victim, of self-reproach and passionate 
 appeals to heaven for assistance, he endea- 
 voured to stop the crimson tide with which 
 the life of the prince was issuing. It was 
 too late : he who had ever been deaf to the 
 agony of others, was now himself to expe- 
 
 rience the torture of heedless supplication. 
 Whatever might have been the character of 
 the victim, had he succeeded to power, he 
 had at least the merit of being a remarkably 
 dutiful and even affectionate son. At this 
 sad moment, his chief care was to soothe the 
 Jigony of his father. Clasping the hand of 
 the repentant wretch, he implored him, with 
 tears of tenderness, to be patient, and not 
 to distress himself for an unintentional deed. 
 His next thought was to exonerate himself 
 from the unjust suspicions which had by 
 this time vanished from the mind of the 
 czar. " I die," he exclaimed, " an obedient 
 son and a faithful subject." For four days 
 the wretched prince lingered, and the now 
 more wretched father sat by the bedside of 
 his murdered son. Then the latter breathed 
 his last in a chamber of that gloomy fortress 
 of Alexandrovsky, whose dungeon walls had 
 otten re-echoed with the groans and wailing 
 cries of those whom the tyrant had tortured 
 m reckless wantonness. 
 
 The calamity which Ivan had brought 
 upon himself, he felt with a poignancy which 
 could scarcely have been expected from his 
 hardened and brutal nature. His heart 
 which had so long been inaccessible to the 
 iaintest eniotion of pity, seemed riven in 
 twain. His conscience, so long seared and 
 closed was awakened into a condition of 
 morbid activity. His mind was filled with 
 horrible imaginations, and his sleep disturbed 
 by dreadful dreams. Sometimes he started 
 from his bed during the solemn hours of 
 night, and appalled his attendants by his 
 cries of terror; nor would sleep again visit 
 him until exhaustion followed the excite- 
 ment. So greatly did he suffer from remorse 
 that he expressed an intention of leaving ' 
 Moscow and spending the remainder of his I 
 Jite in some monastery. The accomplish- 
 ment of this desire was prevented by his 
 subjects, who entreated him not to desert 
 them. These strange people, who thus wooed 
 the scourge and the gibbet, must have been, 
 as it has been acutely expressed, " fascinated 
 by the very cruelties that appalled them." 
 
 The tyrant did not long survive his son • 
 withm a few months both were- laid in the 
 grave. The exhaustion resulting from con- 
 stant nervous excitement, induced a de- 
 clining state ; and, iu the spring of 1584, his 
 illness assumed a form which indicated that 
 the career of this curse of the peace of his 
 country was near its close. 
 
 The approaching death of Ivan had been 
 predicted by some astrologers, whom he 
 
 [death of IVAN. 
 
 threatened to burn alive for their officious- 
 ness. Yet he felt the coming shadows ot 
 dissolution, and seemed, at times, disposed 
 to die in peace with a world he had so fear- 
 tul y outra-ed. He appointed wise coun- 
 sellors to watch over tlie actions of his son, 
 Feodor or Theodore, who, though twenty- 
 seven years of age, was very feeble in 
 intellect. He commanded that all prisoners 
 not charged with capital offences should be 
 iberated, and that the enormous taxes he 
 had extorted from his subjects should be 
 reduced. Yet this conscience-smitten man 
 had his hours of repose from self-accusation 
 and mental disquiet. There were times 
 when the expiring czar forgot with what a 
 Irantic violence he had murdered his son 
 and massacred his people. On one of these 
 occasions he caused himself to be carried 
 to the chamber where his treasures were 
 accumulated, that he might feast his eyes 
 upon the glittering store. To an English 
 gentleman who accompanied him, he dwelt 
 at some length on the qualities of diamonds 
 and other precious stones, pointing out to 
 him the marks by which their genuineness 
 could be ascertained, and their value esti- 
 mated. At other times his fancies were not 
 so innocent. Only two days before his death 
 he attempted to violate the person of his 
 daughter-in-law, who rushed terrified from 
 his chamber, and thus avoided the violence 
 of the hbidinous savage, who persevered in 
 crime even to the verge of the grave. 
 
 The last few days of his hfe he suffered 
 from fever and delirium, and, in this con- 
 dition, fancied himself in the presence 
 of his murdered son, whom he sometimes 
 seemed to converse with in accents of ten- 
 derness, and whose name he at other periods 
 shouted aloud in tones of terror. The 
 astrologers had predicted that he would die 
 on the 18th of May. Having taken a warm 
 bath on the 17th, and feeling himself better 
 in consequence, he gave orders, on the fol- 
 lowing morning, that they should be put to 
 death. The supposed prophets begged delay, 
 on the ground that the time spoken of by 
 them had not yet expired. Ivan then re- 
 sorted to the remedy which had benefited 
 him the preceding day, and, entering the 
 bath, remained in it three hours. He in- 
 dulged in a sleep after his bath, and, upon 
 awaking, called for his chess-board. It was 
 brought, and the czar, sitting up in bed, 
 busied himself in arranging the pieces. Wliile 
 thus occupied a sudden pang seized him, 
 and he fell backward, and expired almost 
 
 79 
 
T.STIMATE OF HIS CHAKACTER.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1584. 
 
 A.D. 1584.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 instantly. The prophecy was accomplished : * 
 the world's worst monster was no more. 
 
 Thus, in the fifty-fourth year of his age, 
 perished Ivan the Terrible, who, into a life 
 of but moderate length, had compressed 
 the atrocities of centuries of crime. A 
 nominal monarch from infancy, he was 
 crowned czar at the age of seventeen, and 
 ruled for thirty-seven years after that period. 
 To sum up the character of such a wretch 
 is almost a superfluity : the darkness of his 
 crimes is not irradiated by one sunbeam of 
 goodness ; and in speaking of him, it is dif- 
 ficult to prevent the sobriety of judgment 
 from merging into the bitterness of invec- 
 tive. It might be supposed that he was a 
 madman, but that he steadily pursued, 
 throughout his whole reign, a prudent and 
 crafty policy. His object was to exalt the 
 czar at the expense of the princes and 
 boyards ; and he accomplished this so per- 
 fectly, that those who at the commence- 
 ment of his reign aspired to divide the 
 empire, had, at the close of it, sunk into the 
 abject courtiers of a tyrant. Notwithstand- 
 ing his career of murder and oppression, 
 Russia, in some respects, prospered under 
 his rule ; for, while he smote his people, his 
 policy bound more closely together the yet 
 unamalgamated portions of the empire. 
 We cannot explain the crimes of Ivan on 
 the theory of madness. His brain was 
 rather malformed than diseased. That fury 
 led occasionally to a state of transient 
 disease, and produced brief aberration, is 
 probable, nay, almost certain ; but we must 
 seek for the source of his crimes not in 
 madness, which is the result of a diseased 
 brain, but in an originally darkly-evil 
 nature proceeding from a deformed brain. 
 These distinctions may not be heeded by 
 the cursory reader, but they will be re- 
 garded with interest by the reflective one. 
 A wicked mother, and a persecuted infancy, 
 
 will serve also, in some degree, to explain 
 the awful nature of this man : the fountain 
 of his being was evil, and the early progress 
 of the stream contaminated by severity, 
 neglect, and polluting influences. 
 
 During some part of his reign he was the 
 promoter of civilisation, and appeared to 
 take an interest in the prosperity and ad- 
 vancement of his people. Notwithstanding 
 his neglected education, his natural abilities 
 were good, and his understanding far above 
 the average of those by whom he was sur- 
 rounded. Nor was he destitute of accom- 
 plishments. We have referred to the fact 
 that he was proud of his talent as a letter- 
 writer ; and his epistles show a considerable 
 power of sarcasm and a freedom of language. 
 His behaviour with respect to religion is 
 difficult to be accounted for. A believer 
 even down to the coarsest superstitions of 
 his church, yet he frequently burlesqued its 
 most venerable forms and its sacred princi- 
 ples, in a manner which, in most men, 
 would have been regarded as profane, even 
 to the height of blasphemy. We do not, 
 however, think that his conduct ever ap- 
 peared to him in that light. He had pro- 
 claimed, and heard others maintain, his 
 serai-divinity so long, that he no doubt 
 came in a large measure to believe it. He 
 endeavoured to prove himself the god of 
 Russia, by trampling upon those things 
 which other men held sacred, and by disre- 
 garding those laws which common men 
 must obey. When he condemned the inno- 
 cent to deaths of torture, and when he sur- 
 veyed their dying agonies undisturbed, he 
 appears to have believed that he was imi- 
 tating the Divine wrath and immovable 
 calmness. Awfully arrogant as such an 
 idea is, and painful as it must appear to the 
 bulk of English readers in this age, yet it 
 was pandered to by his priesthood — fostered 
 by that very clergy against whom he after- 
 
 [feodor IVAXo\^aI. 
 
 * Concerning uninspired prophecies, Lord Bacon 
 observes—" My judgment is, that they ought all to 
 be despised, and ought to serve but for winter talk 
 by the fireside. Though when I say despised, I 
 mean it for belief; for otherwise, the spreading or 
 publishing of them is in no sort to be despised ; for 
 they have done much mischief; and I see many 
 severe laws made to suppress them." The prediction 
 in the czar Ivan's case is remarkable ; yet it is one of 
 those which have an especial tendency to bring 
 about their own fulfilment. The monarch whose 
 life has been by one of his historians described as 
 one Ions: scene of fear, might have had the feeble 
 flickering of life extinguished by the nervous excite- 
 ment arising from such a prophecy. A living writer, 
 of more merit than orthodoxy, insists on the ex- 
 
 80 
 
 istence of prophecy— or, we should rather say, of 
 natural insight into the future— in these days, and 
 instances many curious examples in support of his 
 opinion. He explains it upon the principles of mes- 
 merism—an unproved science, which we neither be- 
 lieve nor disbelieve, for the very sufficient reason that 
 we have not addressed ourselves to a serious exami- 
 nation of it. Credulity is not our failing ; yet are we 
 ready to confess we think society, for the most part, 
 is too ready dogmatically to condemn new-born and 
 unestablished matters. AVhen on such themes we 
 hear totally uninformed persons say, with an air of 
 authority, " / think this," and " / think that, &c.," 
 we are almost disposed to say aa Coleridge did once 
 to a superficial fellow— "You think, sir! you only 
 think you think." 
 
 wards so prominently directed his cruelties ; 
 and who, in his capricious furv, found the 
 punishment of their parasitical parodv of 
 the sacred tenets of their Divine Master. 
 
 Nearly the whole of Ivan's life was a 
 prolonged outrage against both God and 
 man; the former, he beheved, he propi- 
 tiated by his reiterated prayers, while the 
 latter he terrified by the recklessness of his 
 cruelty. His nerves of steel, and his utter 
 absence of feeling, awed his superstitious 
 and brutal people into that abject obe- 
 dience on which his power was based. His 
 sceptre was a sword which ever ran with 
 the blood of his subjects. His very ferocity 
 was by them regarded as greatness; and 
 the people of Moscow deplored his absence 
 whenever he withdrew himself from their 
 city. Truly, barbarous nations are the 
 nurseries of tyrants ; and Ivan was made 
 worse by the base adulation of his courtiers, 
 
 and the dull, superstitious reverence of his 
 people. We dismiss the consideration of 
 this bloodthirsty and capricious wretch by 
 saying, that he was a concentration of the 
 darkest vices which disfigure our nature; 
 brutally savage; utterly remorseless, sparing 
 neither helplessness nor innocence; revel^ 
 Img in carnage with more than the ferocity 
 of a beast ; abandoned to a gross licentious- 
 ness, which spurned even the commonest 
 forms of decency; rapacious and avaricious; 
 a crafty hypocrite and a trembling coward. 
 In a word, he went beyond the greatest 
 tyrants of the earth in tyranny ; and in the 
 number and diversity of his crimes, outdid 
 its most infamous criminals. Such was the 
 man, that until the records oi Russia are 
 forgotten in the dreamy lapse of distant 
 centuries, the name of Ivan the Terrible 
 will be pronounced by all posterity either 
 with a shudder or a malediction. 
 
 CHAPTER Xir. 
 
 "^"'orTnE^'EMPTlf TA?xf«™ ™^'^^^' ^^^'^ ^^^^^'^^ ^^^«^^ES CH^^F MINISTER AND ACTUAL RULFB 
 TO ™. 1' xfo^TED THE CKiTe' TTHOrrV^ ''^'^ "' ^''^ CZAREVITCH DMITRI ; BORIS IS BEUEVED 
 
 The royal house of Ruric was virtually ex- 
 tinguished on the death of Ivan IV., though 
 that event did not absolutely take place 
 until seven years later. The deceased mon- 
 arch left two sons, Feodor and Dmitri, or 
 Demetrius; the latter the offspring of' his 
 father's seventh marriage, and an infant 
 only two years of age. 
 
 Feodor Ivanovich, though he had reached 
 the age of twenty-seven, was altogether in- 
 capable of directing the affairs of state. 
 Extremely feeble, both in body and mind, 
 he seems to have been not far above that 
 point from which feebleness of intellect 
 degenerates into idiotcy. Phant, timid, 
 superstitious, and devout, he was better 
 fitted to be an obscure monk than the 
 sovereign of a vast empire. In early life, 
 his chief amusement was to ascend the 
 towers of churches, and ring or strike the 
 bells; a silliness in which he frequently 
 
 TOL. I. ^ -^ J 
 
 passed hours of his time. Though this 
 miserable creature was married, such was 
 his state of debility, that there was but little 
 expectation of his having children to suc- 
 ceed him. He had been united, in 1580, 
 to Irene, the sister of Boris Godunof. 
 
 As this remarkable man was in reality 
 the new sovereign of Russia, and swayed 
 the sceptre which the feeble Feodor could 
 scarcely grasp, it is necessary to bring him 
 forward upon the canvas. He was born in 
 1552, of a noble family of Tartar descent. 
 At the age of twenty-two he was attached 
 to the court of Ivan the Terrible, in conse- 
 quence of having married the daughter of 
 ^laloota Skooratoff, a favourite of the czar, 
 and the leading actor in his atrocities! 
 Though Boris ayoided taking any part in 
 the monstrous cruelties which disgraced the 
 reign of Ivan, yet he contrived to insinuate 
 himself into the good graces of that mon- 
 
 81 
 
 I 
 
DESIGNS OF BORIS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1585—1590. 
 
 arch. So much so, that he was made one 
 of the five members of the supreniC council 
 of state, which Ivan appointed to watch 
 over and direct the actions of his imbecile 
 successor. To an untiring activity, Boris 
 united a more comprehensive mind than 
 fell to the lot of any of his coadjutors. 
 Versed in business and in the ways of men, 
 possessed of an inordinate ambition — which 
 he concealed under a veil of religion — and 
 a grave and noble presence, he soon became 
 the paramount member of the council, and 
 acquired a complete ascendancy over it. 
 By the exhibition of an assumed tenderness 
 for the feeble-minded czar, Boris gained a 
 yet more decided power over him, and the 
 able minister soon became regarded as the 
 real ruler of the empire. He received from 
 the czar the highest titles ever bestowed 
 upon a subject, and such enormous estates, 
 that his wealth has been estimated as 
 amounting to ^150,000 a-year ; though 
 other writers set it down as being less than 
 a third of that sum — which last would have 
 been a magnificent fortune in those days. 
 His wealth enabled him to secure numbers 
 of active partisans and followers, amongst 
 whom were many of the poorer nobility. 
 It is not surprising that such a man, at 
 such a period, should aspire to obtain the 
 sceptre which he really wielded, and to 
 become the acknowledged czar of the em- 
 ])ire as well as its secret ruler. What stood 
 between him and the throne ? An idiotic 
 and childless sovereign, and his infant 
 brother. To an ambitious and unprinci- 
 pled man, the temptation was irresistible. 
 
 Boris Godunof ruled the empire, under 
 the name of Feodor, with an absolute sway; 
 and, for a while, he exercised his unlimited 
 power to the satisfaction of both boyards 
 and people. Some jealousy necessarily 
 existed ; but the court and the first offices 
 of the state were filled with his adherents, 
 and all attempts to overthrow him were 
 speedily and severely repressed. He had a 
 politic aversion to public executions, as 
 being calculated to deprive him of that 
 popularity which lie laboured constantly to 
 attain. But those who were opposed to 
 him were driven into exile, or thrown into 
 prison, where they died suddenly, or were 
 at other times poisoned by domestic trai- 
 tors. It was soon apparent to close ob- 
 servers that Boris aimed at the crown, and 
 that he was reckless as to the means by 
 which he obtained it. 
 
 The boy Dmitri was the most serious im- 
 82 
 
 pediment to the designs of Boris, and the 
 latter soon resolved upon removing him. 
 Soon after the accession of Feodor, the 
 subtle minister had removed Dmitri and his 
 mother from the court of Moscow to a 
 distant and obscure town called Uglitch, 
 where they lived in a state resembling hon- 
 ourable banishment. For some time, Boris 
 thought of branding the boy Dmitri with 
 illegitimacy, on the ground that he was the 
 son of Ivan's seventh wife — it being con- 
 trary to the canons of the Greek church for 
 any one to marry more than thrice. He, 
 however, abandoned this idea; because, 
 although the marriage of the czarina was 
 unquestionably illegal according to the laws 
 of the church, yet, as it had been sanc- 
 tioned, or at least tolerated, by the eccle- 
 siastical authorities, they could not now 
 pronounce it to be so without a serious 
 loss of credit. Boris had too much need of 
 the assistance of the priesthood to drive 
 them to a confession of weakness or of 
 shame. Besides this, he knew that even if 
 the young prince was declared to be ille- 
 gitimate, the people were so attached to the 
 race of Ruric, that they would still regard 
 the boy as the true czarevitch, and rightful 
 successor of Feodor. 
 
 Boris therefore resolved upon another 
 and more pitiless course. He decided on 
 the murder of the boy. As a preliminary, 
 he spread evil reports over the country con- 
 cerning his intended victim. To inspire 
 the people with a disgust for the young 
 prince, the crafty minister caused it to be 
 reported that the boy's disposition exactly 
 resembled his father's ; that he was per- 
 verse, whimsical, and savage ; that he 
 manifested a precocious delight in blood 
 and the sight of torture, and that his 
 favourite amusements consisted in putting 
 domestic animals to death. Another story 
 was spread abroad among the nobles to 
 excite their antipathy to the boy. It was 
 related, that while playing on the ice one 
 day with other children, he gave orders 
 that twenty images of men should be made 
 of snow. To each of these he gave the 
 name of one of the leading men of the 
 state, and the largest of them he called 
 Boris Godunof. Then, armed with a wooden 
 sword, he began to hack and hew at them 
 all. Having cut off the head of GodunoPs 
 image, he stabbed at the rest, or lopped off 
 their feet and hands, exclaiming as he did 
 so, " This is what you will have when I am 
 czar.'' If this tale was true, it showed that 
 
 A.D. 1591.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 the boy possessed an evil disposition ; and 
 It has an air of probability when related of 
 a child of Ivan's—especially of one born 
 during the latter part of the life of that 
 monster. We have, however, no means of 
 judgmg as to its truth or falsehood ; but 
 we know that it was freely circulated in 
 Moscow by the agents of the man who had 
 an interest that it should be believed. 
 
 When the minds of the people had been 
 sufficiently prepared, the tragical catastrophe 
 followed. Dmitri, now ten years old, was 
 playing one afternoon in May, 1591, with 
 four other boys, in the courtyard of the 
 palace of Uglitch~a large enclosure contain- 
 ing several detached dwellings, irregularly 
 placed. His governess and two other 
 women were also near him at the time; but 
 all of them lost sight of him for a moment. 
 When last seen before the event we are 
 about to speak of, he had been amusin- 
 iiniself by cutting a piece of wood with a 
 knife. Suddenly one of the women saw 
 him struggling on the ground bathed in 
 blood, which was flowing from a lar^e 
 wound in his throat. The unhappy boy 
 unable to articulate, died almost imme- 
 diately, of course without being able to ex- 
 plain hovv he came by so terrible an injury. 
 I he shrieks of the women brought the 
 mother of the prince to the spot, who at 
 once denounced one Michael Bitiagofski a 
 man whom Boris had placed in the palace 
 ot Uglitch, as the murderer of her son 
 The alarm-bell was rung, and in a short 
 time the courtyard was thronged with ser- 
 vants and townspeople, who, supposing the 
 palace to be on fire, had hurried to the 
 place with forks and hatchets. Bitiagofski 
 his son, and some of his followers, came 
 among the rest. Raising his voice above 
 the tumult, he shouted that the prince had 
 killed himself by falling on his knife in a 
 fit of epilepsy ; a disorder to which he was 
 known to be subject. This ready explana- 
 tion of an event concerning which he 
 could, if innocent, know no more than 
 others, instantly aroused the suspicions of 
 the distracted mother, "No, no!" she 
 cried : " There"— pointing to Bitiagofski— 
 " there is the murderer !" The accusation 
 was at once believed, and the excited crowd 
 rushed upon him with uplifted weapons. 
 The startled assassin (for very little doubt 
 can be entertained that he was such) fled to 
 one of the houses in the courtyard, and 
 barred himself in. He could not, however, 
 elude the fury of the mob, who burst the 
 
 [murder of DMITRI. 
 
 door, and massacred him and his son on 
 the spot. The excitement of the crowd 
 was uncontrollable; and they hacked to 
 death every one who was known to belong 
 to the presumed murderer, or who dared 
 to say a wc^rd in his hehalf. J Even the 
 daughters of Bitiagofski were with great 
 difficulty rescued from the mob by the 
 priests of the neighbouring church, to 
 which the blood-bedabbled corpse of the 
 young prince was carried. His governess 
 was savagely beaten; and her son, who was 
 on friendly terms with Bitiagofski, cruelly 
 murdered. 
 
 So tragical an event demanded the 
 strictest investigation ; but the weak Feodor 
 left the niatter entirely in the hands of 
 Uoris. This minister immediately appointed 
 a commission, consisting of two boyards to 
 conduct the inquiry. Unfortunately for his 
 good name, they were both men entirely 
 devoted to his interests. The inquiry was 
 conducted m secret, without any examina- 
 tion of the body, or comparison of the 
 wound with the weapon said to have in- 
 flicted it, or indeed any rigid attempt to 
 ascertain the truth. Under such circum- 
 stances, it is difficult to resist a suspicion 
 that the verdict had been prearranged. It 
 was, that Prince Dmitri had met his death 
 in the way declared by Bitiagofski ; that is 
 by a wound accidentally inflicted upon him' 
 self during a fit of epilepsy. 
 
 The czar Feodor remained satisfied with 
 this report; and the easy patriarch and 
 bishops unanimously adopted it. The latter 
 even added, that the people of Uglitch de- 
 served to be put to death for their treason 
 in murdering the czar's officers;* though 
 this, they said, was a matter which con- 
 cerned the secular jurisdiction. Some of 
 the persons thus prejudged were brought to 
 trial before the supreme council. Amongst 
 them were the two brothers of the dowager- 
 czarina. The object to be obtained by 
 these trials was to clear the name of Bitia*^- 
 gofski (and, necessarily, that of his high- 
 placed master) from the suspicion of having 
 murdered the czarevitch, and to convince 
 every one interested in the aff'air, that the 
 boy came to his death in the course of 
 nature. Certain witnesses ^deposed that 
 Michael and Gregory, the brothers of the 
 czarina, influenced by a fraudulent desire to 
 
 •Bitiagofski and his followers held in the house- 
 hold of the prince appointments which had been 
 conferred upon them by Boris; that is, nominally by 
 the czar. ' ' 
 
 83 
 
ATROCITIES AT TGLITCH.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1591. 
 
 A.D. 1592. 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [serfdom forced ox the teasanis. 
 
 prove that the young prince had been mur- 
 dered, had produced knives, sabres, and 
 other weapons, smeared with the blood of a 
 fowl, and pretended that they had seen 
 them iu the hands of the persons put to 
 death in the tumult at Uglitch. The trial 
 was as unsatisfactory as the investigation ; 
 and both were doubtless instigated for the 
 same purpose. The brothers of the czarina 
 were sent to distant prisons ; and she her- 
 self to adopt the dismal seclusion of a con- 
 vent. As to the inhabitants of Uglitch, 
 they were punished with an atrocious and 
 indiscriminate severity. More than 200 of 
 them were executed, and many others had 
 their tongues cut out, or were incarcerated 
 in dungeons. Some fled in terror : but the 
 remainder were sent to the newly-discovered 
 country of Siberia, there to pass their lives. 
 Thus a town, said to contain 30,000 persons, 
 was converted into a desert ; — a wild act 
 of fury, which gave rise to rumours that 
 Boris had exterminated a people who were 
 too numerous to suborn, and destroyed a 
 whole city to deface even the mute memorial 
 of his guilt. He had overacted his part ; 
 and from that time was generally regarded 
 as an assassin. 
 
 While those who dared to express the 
 suspicions they entertained of the guilt of 
 Boris were seldom able to elude his ven- 
 geance, he showed a great anxiety to reward 
 his adherents, and to gain new ones. Nearly 
 every powerful offender against the laws, 
 who applied to him, was sure of protection. 
 The documents granting pardon to such 
 persons, always declared that these acts of 
 grace were due to his intercession with the 
 czar ; but his name never appeared in the 
 decrees of condemnation, where it was 
 always declared that the punishment was 
 ordered by the boyards. The regent (for 
 so Boris was in effect) adopted many other 
 modes of procuring popularity. The same 
 year that his erroneous policy converted 
 Uglitch into a collection of deserted ruins, 
 a tremendous fire broke out at Moscow and 
 destroyed a considerable portion of the 
 city. Boris expressed great sympathy with 
 the sufferers from this calamity, distributed 
 pecuniary assistance amongst them, ex- 
 empted them from taxes, and even rebuilt 
 whole streets at his own expense. 
 
 Before this eventful year (1591) passed 
 awav, Russia was invaded bv Kassim Gherei, 
 khan of the Crimea, who, at the head of a 
 powerful army, directed his march upon 
 Moscow. The Russians were in a state of 
 84 
 
 despair ; for their army was in a neglected 
 state, and there was no commander of repu- 
 tation to lead it. The vacant-minded Feo- 
 dor, when applied to concerning what should 
 be done, replied, that " the saints who pro- 
 tected Russia, would fight for her." Boris 
 stood aloof sufficiently to make the people 
 feel their weakness and their dependence 
 upon him. He then showed himself fully 
 equal to the emergency. Reanimating the 
 drooping courage of the people, and impart- 
 ing something of his own activity to all 
 with whom he came in contact, he effected 
 wonders in the space of a few days. Within 
 that brief space, Moscow was surrounded by 
 palisades and redoubts, and defended by 
 numerous forces and a formidable artillery. 
 A new spirit animated the people ; and, in- 
 fluenced by him, cowards became men. 
 When the Tartars attacked the city, they 
 were repulsed with so severe a loss, that 
 they dared not attempt a second assault. 
 After several days spent in hesitation, the 
 invaders turned to depart. They were not 
 suffered to go scathless. The troops of 
 Boris attacked them during their retreat, 
 and converted it into a disorderly rout. 
 Confusion was followed by carnage, and 
 scarcely a third of the Tartar army reached 
 home again. The imbecile Feodor, though 
 grateful to his preserver, thought that the 
 saints had discomfited the foe; while the 
 common people said that Boris had brought 
 in the Tartars, in order to efface the re- 
 membrance of the death of the boy-prince 
 Dmitri. 
 
 Notwithstanding that the feeble constitu- 
 tion of the czar had led his subjects to 
 believe it to be impossible for him to be- 
 come a father, yet, in the year 1592, it was 
 unexpectedly announced that the czarina 
 Irene had given birth to a daughter. This 
 circumstance was a formidable obstacle to 
 the designs of Boris. The people ever sus- 
 pected him of acting treacherously, and even 
 w^orse when it answered his purpose. At 
 first it was rumoured that he had caused 
 a female child to be substituted for the male 
 of which it was averred his sister had become 
 the mother. After a few days the infant 
 died, and then it was said he had poisoned 
 it. It is probable that both of these reports 
 were idle calumnies. Certainly, if the last 
 was true, the first was false ; for it is not 
 likely so acute a man would have committed 
 a crime which the necessity of several ac- 
 complices rendered easy of detection, at the 
 very time when he contemplated another 
 
 crime which would have rendered the first 
 quite unnecessary. No motives of humanity, 
 or feelings of conscience, would have de- 
 terred Boris from the murder of an infant 
 which stood in his path to power; but 
 nothing is more probable than that the 
 child of a father whose debility of nature 
 hovered on the verge of exhaustion, should 
 expire soon after birth. Though the czar 
 was merciless when under the influence of 
 his master-passion — ambitlbn — yet he did 
 not, like Ivan the Terrible, love crime for 
 its own sake. There were occasional 
 touches of softness in that iron nature; 
 and, like the remorseless and sensual 
 Egyptian in one of our modern romances, 
 Boris would have stepped out of his path to 
 avoid crushing a worm, though he had but 
 just consigned one whom he deemed his 
 enemy to a lingering death. Such are the 
 dark enigmas of human nature ! 
 
 The year 1592 was memorable for an j 
 event which, though not very seriously re- ' 
 garded at the time, was fraught with deep I 
 and calamitous mischief for the future ; an i 
 event, the effects of which, even at this 
 hour, rankle deeply in the social condition 
 of the Russian people, and which has pro- 
 duced a state of things at once perplexino- 
 to the government, dangerous to the security 
 of society, obstructive to national advance- 
 ment, and formed a reproach to the empire 
 over the rest of Europe. We allude to that 
 measure which converted the peasants of 
 Russia into serfs, and which was deliberately 
 framed by Boris as a [bribe to the boyards 
 and landed proprietors, as it increased the 
 wealth of the rich at the price of the per- 
 sonal liberty of the poor. Up to this time 
 the Russian peasantry enjoyed that freedom 
 which arises from the absence of oppressive 
 restrictions. They had the natural right of 
 being enabled to leave the estate on which 
 they lived or had been born, and enter the 
 service of another master, if they desired to 
 do so. Certainly the liberty of the peasantry 
 was of a passive and negative, rather than 
 active and positive character. They did not 
 enjoy liberty on any reasonable basis ; but 
 were free rather because they had been 
 overlooked; because no powerful party in 
 the state saw any reason for restraining or 
 extinguishing the barren freedom enjoyed 
 by them. The thinness of the population, 
 and the vast distances which separated the 
 towns and villages, and almost prevented 
 communication, rendered co-operation among 
 the peasantry an impossibility, and public 
 
 opinion scarcely more than an imagination. 
 Thus the peasants were politically nothing ; 
 and though not slaves, they did not possess 
 the privileges of freemen.' The peasantry 
 had not uufrequently availed themselves of 
 their slender right of moving from place to 
 place, with the natural hope of impronng 
 their condition; but their doing so dimi- 
 nished the wealth and personal influence of 
 the noble on whose estates they dwelt, and 
 who had already but a very small part of 
 his lands subjected to any 'profitable use. 
 When land was so cheap* as to be almost 
 worthless, men came to be regarded as 
 valuable. Without them the soil was unre- 
 claimed desert ; but if they surrendered 
 ever so small a portion of what they raised 
 ^ from it to the owner, their presence was iu 
 j some measure productive of wealth. Boris, 
 I therefore, to conciliate the bovards— and 
 I especially that inferior order of 'them who, 
 j without ancestral distinctions, had risen by 
 j craft or merit to their position— made a law 
 I by which the peasant was bound to the soil, 
 I and thus sunk into the serf. Before this 
 ; there had been domestic slaves in Russia, as 
 I we have already stated ; but from this time 
 I only is the existence of the predial serfs to 
 be dated. Boris coloured his tyranny by an 
 excuse which bore an air of soundness. 'The 
 peasantry of Russia were in the habit of 
 migrating towards the south, in consequence 
 of the mildness of the climate and other 
 presumed advantages to be found there. 
 This was necessarily injurious to the less 
 favoured bulk of the country— a circum- 
 stance which was put forward by Boris as 
 the cause of his new decree, rendering the 
 people irremovable from the domains on 
 which they were located. The immediate 
 result was, however, the very reverse of that 
 anticipated by the regent. The peasants 
 fled by thousands to escape slavery — an act 
 to which they were encouraged by those 
 landed proprietors who wanted hands to cul- 
 tivate their estates. Unjust legislation 
 seldom promotes the end for which it was 
 designed ; its reaction is always dangerous, 
 and its remote working pregnant with un- 
 foreseen evils. 
 
 We alluded to the patriarch of the Rus- 
 sian church— an ecclesiastical dignity which 
 was first used in the reign of Feodor. Prior 
 to this time, the Russian church derived 
 what was assumed to be its divine power 
 through the medium of the patriarch of 
 Constantinople, who consecrated the metro- 
 politan of ]\Ioscow. But the supremacy of 
 
 85 
 
 / 
 
DEATH OF FEODOH,] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1592—1598, 
 
 A.D. 1598.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 the Greek patriarch was almost a titular 
 affair after the city of Constantinople had 
 passed by conquest into the hands of the 
 Turks. Boris had need of the services of 
 the church to assist him in carrying his ambi- 
 tious designs to a successful result. Jeremy, 
 the patriarch of Constantinople, having ar- 
 rived at Moscow to collect alms for the 
 erection of churches, it occurred to Boris 
 that it would be an excellent thing to 
 induce him to consecrate a Russian patri- 
 arch who, of course, the regent took good 
 care should be entirely the creature of his 
 will, and devoted to his interests. He 
 accordingly induced the childish and devout 
 Eeodor, who was delighted at the presence 
 of the Greek patriarch, to load him with 
 honours and rich donations. The head of 
 a once powerful, but then comparatively 
 ruined church, showed his gratitude by 
 acceding to the suggestions of Boris. Mos- 
 cow accordingly had its patriarch — a dignity 
 which lasted until the time of Peter the 
 Great, who abolished it, and blended the 
 chief authority of the Russian church with 
 the absolute power of the czar. 
 
 Russia prospered under the shadowy 
 domination of Feodor. This must neces- 
 sarily be attributed to the able administra- 
 tion of Boris, who was czar in all but the 
 name, and wanted but the claim of a legiti- 
 mate sovereign to have been an illustrious 
 one. Commerce was protected and ren- 
 dered secure. Smolensk was fortified to a 
 state of presumed impregnability. The 
 Tartars were confined within their own 
 domains by strong military posts. For- 
 tresses were erected at the foot of the Cau- 
 casian range, into the regions of which 
 Russia made her first abortive attempt to 
 penetrate; and the arts and arms of the 
 empire, rude though they were, carried into 
 the wilds of Siberia. The Swedes were 
 driven into Narva, and closer diplomatic 
 relations were entered into with foreign 
 courts, and especially with that of England. 
 But one of the most remarkable events of 
 the reign of Feodor was the attempt of 
 Boris to get his master, or rather creature, 
 the czar, elected king of Poland. Boris 
 proposed to the states of Lithuania and 
 Poland, that if they elected Feodor their 
 king, he would unite all the forces of Russia 
 with those of Poland, and conquer the 
 Crimea for the former power; and Walla- 
 86 
 
 chia, Moldavia, and Hungary for the latter. 
 The proposed union would probably have 
 created a power perfectly capable of accom- 
 plishing the projected conquests. The pro- 
 posals of the czar also found many partisans 
 among the Poles, and were readily accepted 
 by the Lithuanians. The union might, in 
 fact, have been accomplished, but that the 
 Poles' were disgusted with the overbearing 
 conduct of the Muscovite ambassadors, 
 which induced *them to elect Sigismund 
 Vasa, Prince of Sweden, as their king, in- 
 stead of Feodor. 
 
 Boris had dazzled the boyards by his 
 power, and the people by an assiduous prac- 
 tice of the arts of popularity. He had been 
 long regarded as the actual ruler of the 
 empire, whose interests he had promoted, 
 and whose reputation he had raised in the 
 estimation of Europe. The bulk of the 
 Russian people looked to him as the na- 
 tural successor of the childish and childless 
 czar. Such was the state of things when, 
 early in the year 1598, Feodor died ! With 
 the death of this nonentity the dynasty of 
 Ruric expired, after having yielded no less 
 than fifty-two sovereigns to part or the 
 whole of Russia. It now terminated in 
 weakness, in mystery, and perhaps in vio- 
 lence. It is impossible to say absolutely 
 that the feeble Feodor did not come by his 
 death naturally; but it is equally difficult 
 not to suspect that his life was shortened 
 by treachery. It is at least a startling 
 coincidence, that the impotent czar lived 
 until all the schemes of Boris were matured, 
 and that he died exactly at the time when 
 the interests of that ambitious man required 
 that he should die. A reasonable presump- 
 tion therefore exists, that the life of Feodor 
 was practised upon, and that the crafty 
 minister was the assassin. 
 
 Some comparatively obscure members of 
 the race of Ruric still existed, but they 
 were in no condition to set up a claim to 
 the vacant throne; they had, in fact, be- 
 come private persons. Virtually the family 
 was extinguished. No powerful prince 
 existed who could legally claim the Russian 
 sceptre; and the succession being thus 
 broken, the people were at liberty either to 
 change the form of government, or elect a 
 new czar from themselves. With this event 
 terminates a natural era of the history of the 
 I empire of whose progress we are writing. 
 
 [BORIS ELECTED CZAR. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 BORIS OODUNOF ELECTED CZAR; HE OVERAWES THF TAT?tapq nr. o^t.^ 
 
 PART OF HIS rule; HE BECOMES DISLIKED; rDREADFuf F^MTvf pp™"' ' ^^«^«^^ ^^ ^HE EARLY 
 COUNTRY INFESTED BY FORMIDABLE BANDS OF ROBBERS BORl^BEpLpfn^'f ^""^ "'^"'^ ^^^^« ' ^°« 
 CLAIMS TO BE PRINCE DMITRI, THE SON OF 1x7^17 ! uTIItTrT^^^^^^ 
 
 ARMY; OBTAINS A VICTORY AT NOVGOROD- IS DFFFATPn a-t J ^^^^^ '^^ "^^^ ^^^^ OF A SMALL 
 
 FAVOUR; SUDDEN DEATH OF THE CZAR mssovppn^.S ^ DOBRYNITCHI; GENERAL FEELING IN HIS 
 AND DMITRI PROCLAIMED CZAR^ TO POPU^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^ ^ HE IS DEPOSEd! 
 
 WIDOW OF IVAN AS HER SON; HIS IMPRuSe mIkfs m^ rrJn ' "^ '' ACKNOWLEDGED BY THE 
 HIS MARRIAGE; INSURRECTIoi, AND MURDeIof D^^^^^^ ^ UNPOPULAR; CONSPIRACY AGAINST HIM; 
 
 Boris Godunof was well prepared for a 
 state of things which he had at least antici- 
 pated if not brought about. He, however 
 affected to be quite overcome with grief on 
 account of the death of the last lineal 
 descendant of Ruric. In this assumed 
 despair he retired to a monastery, and de- 
 clared his intention of spending the re- 
 mainder of his life in religious seclusion. 
 Ihe late czar had bequeathed the throne to 
 his widow Irene, who was immediately pro- 
 claimed sovereign. But she appears to 
 have shrunk from a responsibility she felt 
 herself unable to bear; and, after a few 
 days, she followed her brother into retire- 
 ment, and expressed a firm resolution to 
 take the veil. She was sincere, and resisted 
 all entreaties to alter her determination. 
 
 The eyes of the people and of the lesser 
 nobles were now turned towards Boris as 
 the most fit person to fill the vacant throne, 
 liie greater nobles, the ancient princes of 
 Kussia, looked for advice at this juncture to 
 the patriarch, who, in addition to the autho- 
 rity necessarily attaching to his holy office 
 and dignity, had acquired a considerable 
 influence over both nobles and people. In- 
 deed, so much was he respected, that no 
 opposition was anticipated to the election of 
 the noble whom he nominated. 
 
 It would seem that the election was by 
 no means a general act of the people ; for 
 those permitted to express an opinion must 
 have been very few in number. The depu- 
 ties of the towns of Russia, and the princes 
 and boyards of the empire, assembled in 
 the house of the patriarch six weeks after 
 the death of Feodor. The greatest anxiety 
 existed on the part of the people to know 
 whom the patriarch would recommend to 
 their choice as the future czar. Most of 
 the nobles, however, were prepared for the 
 result that followed; for they knew that the 
 patriarch was but a creature of the late 
 
 minister, and would act according to his 
 instructions. After a pious prelude, he 
 named Boris as the wisest man in the coun- 
 try, and the one most deserving the confi- 
 dence of the people. The name was hailed 
 with clamorous applause, which was repeated 
 m other places by mercenary agents, as soon 
 as the news was known. No one was bold 
 enough to offer opposition; and thus, on the 
 17th of February, 1598, was Boris Godunof 
 (notwithstanding his Tartar descent) elected 
 Czar of Russia ! With a remembrance of 
 his declared intention of devoting his life 
 m seclusion, to the exercise of piety, public 
 prayers were offered that he might be in- 
 duced to accept the throne. 
 
 When Boris was informed that he was 
 chosen to wield the sceptre of the empire, he 
 declined to accept it. Like our Richard III, 
 to whom he has been compared, he affected 
 to despise the prize he longed for. He 
 thanked the people for so distinguished an 
 honour, but he begged with humihty to 
 decline it. This stratagem was perfectly 
 understood by the patriarch and his other 
 friends, who were not so dull as to take the 
 ambitious schemer at his word. The next 
 day the systematic priest returned, accom- 
 panied by the principal clergy and nobility, 
 and followed by immense crowds of the 
 people. Entering the church of the con- 
 vent, preceded by a train of monks carry- 
 mg the cross and a multitude of saintly 
 relics, the patriarch performed a religious 
 service, and then again requested Boris to 
 accede to the wishes of the nobles and 
 people, and accept the throne. t^The answer 
 was another refusal, which was persisted in, 
 notwithstanding the entreaties and tears of 
 the chief clergy, and the enthusiasm of the 
 people who surrounded the convent. The 
 crafty Boris was so certain of the game he 
 was playing— had grasped with so firm a 
 hand all the links of power, that he seems 
 
 87 
 
BORIS RULES 'VVISET.Y.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1600- 
 
 I 
 
 , i 
 
 to have felt a pleasure in obstinately refusing 
 II sceptre he so ardently desired. For nearly 
 six weeks he kept up the excitement of the 
 people, and repeated, at intervals, the farce 
 of refusal. At length his sister, the widowed 
 Irene, added her entreaties to those of the 
 patriarch and the populace. Then, with an 
 appearance of the greatest humility, he 
 exclaimed— " The will of God be done!' 
 and appeared rather resigned to make a 
 sacrifice than to accept a position of great 
 ])Ower and dignity. Boris ascended the 
 throne amidst a chorus of adulation from 
 the deceived people ; but he continued to 
 show himself so able a ruler as to justify 
 their apparent choice. His first act was to 
 repay the populace for their enthusiasm by 
 means of pageantries, public shows, and acts 
 of grace to offenders. He outdid all his 
 predecessors in the splendour and hospi- 
 tality of the entertainments which he pro- 
 vided for the people and the soldiery, and 
 in the affability of his bearing in public. 
 
 Successful usurpation commonly depraves 
 the character of the man who profits by it, 
 and brings evils upon the people who suffer 
 it. Of this particular instance of triumphant 
 political intrigue, it has been observed—" A 
 crown, obtained by indirect and fraudulent 
 measures, could not be preserved without 
 tyranny. Boris, conscious of the jealousies 
 which his elevation engendered in the 
 minds of the nobles, and especially in the 
 family of the Romanoffs, who were allied to 
 the race of Ruric, but not to the Moscow 
 line, was constantly haunted by apprehen- 
 sions, and sought to lose them in the revel, 
 and to propitiate them by the sacrifice of all 
 persons whom he suspected. Had he been 
 a legitimate sovereign, he would have con- 
 ferred lasting benefits upon his country ; be- 
 cause he was a wise and paternal ruler in 
 all matters apart from his personal affairs. 
 He bestowed considerable pains on many 
 laudable measures of improvement; but 
 these were so sullied by acts of merci- 
 less revenge, to which he was moved by the 
 danger in which he was placed by his usur- 
 pation, that it is difficult to separate his 
 merits from his crimes.^' 
 
 At first the new czar seemed likely to 
 retain the popularity he enjoyed on ascend- 
 ing the throne. Scarcely had his coro- 
 nation taken place before the Tartars of 
 the Crimea threatened a descent upon the 
 southern part of Russia. The people stood 
 in awe of these turbulent and savage foes ; 
 but Boris promptly assembled so numerous 
 88 
 
 an army, that the Tartars were dismayed in 
 their turn, and abandoned their intended 
 enterprise ; and the khan, instead of attack- 
 ing him, sued for a continuance of peace. 
 This incident won for Boris, at least to some 
 extent, the gratitude of the people, and the 
 admiration of the soldiery. , ^ , , , 
 
 While on one side Boris hurled back the 
 savage barbarism of Asia, on the other he 
 courted the arts and civilisation of Europe. 
 Before his whole time was engrossed by 
 troubles at home, he strove earnestly to ex- 
 tend the relations of Russia with the great 
 powers of the continent. He was also 
 anxious to establish himself on the throne, 
 and secure it to his descendants by pro- 
 moting a matrimonial alliance between his 
 own family and some reigning house ot 
 Europe. With this object he invited Gus- 
 tavus, son of Eric, the deposed king ot 
 Sweden, to his court, where he treated 
 that accomplished prince with great honour. 
 Extensive estates were even conferred upon 
 him; but as the prince was unwilling to 
 become a tool of the Muscovite pohcy 
 against his native country, he fell into dis- 
 grace, and was exiled. Boris then pro- 
 posed an alliance between his daughter 
 Xenia, a princess of great beauty, and the 
 Duke John, brother of the King of Den- 
 mark and of the queen of James I. of Eng- 
 land. This proposal was assented to both 
 by the king and the duke; but it could 
 not be carried into effect on account of the 
 premature death of the latter. Amongst 
 the diplomatic negotiations of Boris with 
 foreign powers, should be mentioned his 
 frequent, though desultory communications 
 with Austria, to bring about a league 
 against the Turks. Some negotiations with 
 Persia on the same subject were equally 
 unsuccessful. Like the fierce Ivan, Boris 
 exhibited a decided partiality towards the 
 government and people of England. This 
 seems to have been, at least to some extent, 
 reciprocated; for, in the year 1603, Queen 
 Elizabeth proposed to the czar a marriage 
 between his son and a young English lady 
 of rank, then only eleven years old. 
 
 The first two years of the reign of Boris 
 were attended with remarkable prosperity 
 to the empire. Though the character of the 
 czar has been variously drawn, and he has 
 even been represented as a savage tyrant, 
 yet during this period he ever leaned 
 rather towards clemency than severity. He 
 laboured to raise Russia in the scale of 
 nations, by importing into it the civilisation 
 
 A.D. 1601—1603.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [a terrible famine. 
 
 of the most polished of the neighbouring 
 states. He conceived the plan of estab- 
 lishing universities, where the young Mus- 
 covites should be instructed in foreign lan- 
 guages and the sciences. He even sent 
 into Germany for teachers for the intended 
 schools; but his project failed on account 
 of the vehement opposition of the clergy, 
 who considered the measure as an innova- 
 tion dangerous to religion. Notwithstand- 
 ing this obstruction from a quarter whence 
 it ought not to have arisen, he sent eighteen 
 young men of noble families to be educated 
 in Germany, England, and France. He 
 further showed his desire to promote the 
 elevation of the empire and people by an 
 anxiety to attract to Russia all gifted 
 foreigners, such as physicians, engineers, 
 and able artisans. lu these agents of the 
 country's progress he placed great confi- 
 dence, and frequently conversed" with them 
 with familiarity. Indeed, this must have 
 been a period of calm, if not of happiness 
 to him, as well as of prosperity to the 
 country ; but unfortunately it was not des- 
 tined to last, and a darker time — a time of 
 calamity and terror — was at hand. 
 
 Jealousies against the elected sovereign 
 had existed from the first; but this wasl;o 
 be expected, especially in a country which 
 contained a nobility so turbulent as that of 
 Russia. Boris constantly experienced some 
 incident which reminded him that he was 
 not regarded as altogether a legitimate 
 sovereign ; that he could not plead either 
 divine right or ancestral claims to the 
 throne. From this feeling arose the resist- 
 ance of the clergy to his educational inno- 
 vations. It was natural for ignorant and 
 narrow-minded men to oppose the spread of 
 information among the people; for persons 
 of this description ever dread novelties, 
 however wise or brilliant, and "cling to 
 error like a bat to a dead bough." But it 
 did not proceed from this alone ; but from 
 the fact that the clergy, released from the 
 presence of a sovereign who ruled them by 
 a presumed mission from heaven, and in- 
 fluenced by the jealousy of which we have 
 spoken, began to exhibit uneasiness and 
 impatience of control. A similar feeling 
 animated the boyards, some of whom were 
 accused by their slaves of being ill-disposed 
 to the czar. Boris punished them with 
 merciless severity; some he banished or 
 imprisoned, while others were consigned to 
 the hands of the executioner, and that fre- 
 quently without trial or other preliminary 
 
 VOL. I. N 
 
 ceremony. These actions turned indiffer- 
 ! ence or ill-feehng into hatred ; and he Avho 
 [had been regarded as an adventurer, was 
 now secretly denounced as a tyrant. 
 
 In countries where agriculture has scarcely 
 risen to the dignity of an art, where com'- 
 merce only just exists, and communication 
 between distant parts is so difficult as to be 
 impracticable for all ordinary purposes, a 
 scanty harvest is necessarily followed by 
 severe distress, and a repetition of it by 
 famine. A heavy calamity of this nature 
 now fell upon Russia. The harvests of 
 1601 and 1602 were meagre in the extreme. 
 A general famine was the result ; a famine 
 so terrible, that its horrors, as described by 
 eye-witnesses, seem almost incredible. As 
 IS commonly the case, its ravages were fol- 
 lowed by those of pestilence, both of which 
 afflicted the people for a period of three 
 years. In this time of prolonged misery, 
 Boris acted in a most commendable manner,' 
 and showed himself not only the sovereign' 
 but the father of the nation. He employed 
 himself incessantly in inventing modes of 
 relief, and he caused immense quantities of 
 provisions to be distributed daily. These 
 were paid for, to a large extent, out of his 
 own private wealth, which we stated to be 
 very great. He also levied a kind of rate 
 upon the rich, to ameliorate the miseries of 
 the poor. The nobles and clergy, so far 
 from imitating his noble example, displayed 
 a grasping avariciousness, which induced 
 them not only to hold aloof from the 
 miseries that surrounded them, but to take 
 advantage of those very miseries by ex- 
 acting enormous prices for their stores of 
 grain. Boris punished them for this selfish 
 conduct by compeUing them to dispose of 
 their stores of grain to him at a low price, 
 the better to enable him to distribute it 
 gratuitously among the starving people. 
 
 Means of this nature, necessarily limited 
 and inefficient, were eventually exhausted. 
 Still the terrible famine prevailed ; and the 
 number of its victims increased. Half a mil- 
 lion of people are computed to have died of 
 hunger in Moscow alone. The attenuated 
 dead lay unburied in the streets and squares, 
 rotting in loathsome heaps. The mouths 
 of many of the shrunken corpses were full 
 of hay, straw, or the filthiest offal, which 
 they were vainly endeavouring to eat when 
 death terminated their terrible and de- 
 grading misery. The pangs arising from 
 prolonged hunger must indeed be dreadful; 
 for they induce men and women to cast 
 
 89 
 
MISERIES OF THE PEOPLE.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1603. 
 
 A.D. 1604.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the .^SUMED DMITRI. 
 
 Aside those antipathies which are so deeply 
 woven into our instincts as to be regarded 
 as natural, and therefore unalterable laws. 
 Not only was strange and loathsome food 
 consumed at Moscow, but the frightful 
 practice of cannibalism arose in that city. 
 In many houses, the person who had 
 suflfered least from the effects of the famine, 
 .was secretly slain, to furnish food for the 
 rest. So far was this terrible practice car- 
 ried — so far had the tyrannical cravings of 
 liunger subdued the natural bonds of affec- 
 tion, that parents devoured their own chil- 
 dren, and children their parents ; or, still 
 worse, sold them for the same revolting 
 purpose to others, that they might purchase 
 bread with the price of the blood of those 
 who, till hunger had made them mad, were 
 dearest to them. A Russian chronicler re- 
 lates, that he saw a woman in the open 
 street tearing with her teeth the flesh of a 
 living child she carried in her arms. 
 Another mentions, that four women having 
 decoyed a peasant into their house under 
 pretence of purchasing food from him, 
 killed him and his horse, and dragged the 
 two carcases into their ice-pit, to serve 
 them as food. 
 
 At length this time of horror passed 
 away, and the diminished population was 
 relieved from the incessant cravings of hun- 
 ger by the return of nature to her cus- 
 tomary beneficence. But so severe a 
 calamity had produced a general disorgani- 
 sation, and the country was infested by 
 bands of robbers, who had taken to that 
 lawless life in consequence of the drying up 
 of the regular channels of industry. The 
 chief of these gangs of ruffians, who was 
 named Khlopko, became so formidable, 
 that it was necessary to send an army to 
 subdue him^ He was defeated and cap- 
 tured in a regular battle not far from Mos- 
 cow, in which the commander of the czar's 
 forces was killed. - This engagement, how- 
 ever, by no means exterminated the rob- 
 bers, who continued their depredations and 
 outrages to a great extent, especially in the 
 border provinces, where they were further 
 from the avenging arm of authority. But 
 the existence of this social scourge must 
 not be attributed to the famine alone. It 
 arose partly from unwise and unjust legis- 
 lation. The ordinance by which Boris had, 
 during the reign of Feodor, bound the 
 peasant to the soil, and converted him from 
 a state of negative freedom to that of abso- 
 lute serfdom, had induced great numbers 
 90 
 
 to take to flight. Of these, many doubtless 
 settled down peaceably upon the lands of 
 other proprietors ; but many also joined 
 the wandering bands of robbers which 
 famine, pestilence, and a stoppage of the 
 ordinary business of society had engen- 
 dered. This circumstance led to verv 
 severe measures against these barbarous 
 but miserable mer. An inquisitorial search 
 after runaways was established, and the 
 bitterness of despotic rule was felt even 
 down to the lowest link of the social chain. 
 This, too, to such an extent, that it has 
 been plaintively observed by a sympathetic 
 writer, that "the Russian nation was 
 now no longer anything but a hierarchy of 
 slaves. Thenceforth there was no inter- 
 course ; none of those public meetings in 
 which the youthful part of society, at least, 
 orally acquired knowledge ; no compacts to 
 protect the weak, no asylum for them. 
 Russia became sad and sullen ; the min- 
 strels, who had been wont to traverse the 
 country, now disappeared ; their songs of 
 war and the chase, and even of love, were 
 heard no longer. It is only in the chroni- 
 cles of the time that we discover the traces 
 of those perished manners, those forgotten 
 songs : on meeting with them, the national 
 historian is surprised and affected, and 
 mournfully exclaims, 'that in these recol- 
 lections, the Russia of the present day, 
 mute and enslaved, finds but the image of 
 an object which no longer exists — the echo 
 of a voice which no longer vibrates on 
 her ear.''' 
 
 Boris was driven into despotism by the 
 disaffection of the nobles and people whom 
 he ruled. His benevolent exertions during 
 the period of the famine, were regarded 
 with malice by the former, who set them 
 down to the score of a subtle policy. Their 
 murmurs were no longer uttered in private, 
 but even assumed a threatening tone. The 
 signs of disaffection were no longer to be 
 misunderstood. In this position Boris fol- 
 lowed the example of Ivan, and resolved to 
 appal those whose confidence he could not 
 win. Many of the proudest grandees were 
 consigned by him to the hands of the exe- 
 cutioner, and a number of capital punish- 
 ments were crowded into a short space of 
 time. The danger to which he was un- 
 donbtedly exposed was magnified by alarm, 
 and thus all the latent cruelty of his nature 
 brought into action. He even rose up 
 from table at his own banquets, and de- 
 nounced some of his guests as traitors, who 
 
 were immediately seized upon by his fol- 
 lowers, and dragged away to dungeons or 
 to death. Despotism thus became uni- 
 versal, and noble and peasant were alike 
 oppressea ; not from any desire of the czar 
 for such a result, but as an inevitable con- 
 sequence of the disorder arising from usur- 
 pation. Some measures of this period were 
 remarkably severe and sanguinary. With 
 an unreasoning and capricious ferocity, it 
 was enacted, that all the members of a 
 family were held to be involved in the 
 punishment of a single member. To re- 
 strain the peasantry in their natural exodus 
 from bondage, every Russian who passed 
 beyond the frontiers was denounced as a 
 rebel and a heretic. One of the injudicious 
 measures of Boris, and that which perhaps 
 more than anything else contributed to his 
 unpopularity, was the whimsical one of 
 punishing drunkenness with death. 
 
 Something of the despotism of the crown 
 was transferred even to the heads of fami- 
 lies; probably with a view to win their 
 allegiance by sanctioning existing barbarous 
 practices. The peasant within his own hut 
 was invested with all the powers of a 
 despot. Not only was he permitted to in- 
 flict summary chastisement upon his wife 
 and children, but also to sell the latter into 
 slavery— privileges which were, however, 
 restrained by the edict which converted 
 the father himself into a serf. Yet the 
 merciless sway of Boris must be regarded 
 as a consequence of his situation, which 
 exposed him to hazards from which he 
 could not escape except by some such de- 
 cisive and terrible measures. 
 
 Throughout the whole of Russia there 
 prevailed that sort of feeling which so often 
 precedes insurrections. In 1604, a singular 
 rumour was brought from the frontiers of 
 Lithuania, and spread with surprising ra- 
 pidity throughout the empire. It was to 
 the effect, that Prince Dmitri, who was 
 supposed to have been murdered at Ug- 
 litch, was alive, and making preparations in 
 Poland to recover the throne of his ances- 
 tors. Several versions exist as to the way 
 in which this presumed discovery was first 
 made. The one generally regarded by 
 Russian historians as authentic, runs thus. 
 A stranger having fallen seriously ill in a 
 Polish town, sent for a confessor, and in- 
 formed him that he was the youngest son 
 of the czar Ivan, and consequently legiti- 
 mate heir to the Russian throne. This 
 information the confessor communicated to 
 
 Prince Adam Wiszniowiecki, who, on the 
 recovery of the stranger, sent for him to 
 substantiate his statement. The latter 
 obeyed, and stated that his physician, 
 Simon, having been tampered with by 
 Boris, had affected to comply with the 
 regent's designs against the life of the heir- 
 presumptive, but only that he might the 
 more effectually frustrate them. With a 
 forgetfulness of the actual circumstances of 
 the case, he added, that on the night ap- 
 pointed for the murder, Simon put the 
 child of a serf into his young master's bed, 
 and it was this unhappy boy who fell a vic- 
 tim to the assassin. Simon, satisfied of 
 the uselessness of appealing to the feeble- 
 minded czar Feodor against so powerful 
 and unscrupulous a man as Boris, fled with 
 Prince Dmitri from Uglitch, and committed 
 I him to the care of a loyal gentleman, who, 
 for his better protection, made him enter a 
 monastery. The stranger admitted that 
 this gentleman and the physician were both 
 dead ; but in confirmation of his narrative 
 he produced a Russian seal, bearing the 
 arms and the name of the czarevitch, and a 
 gold cross, adorned with jewels of great value, 
 which he said was the baptismal gift of his 
 godfather, the Prince Ivan Mstislavski. 
 
 Notwithstanding the suspicious nature of 
 this story, the Polish noble was convinced 
 of its truth. The plausible manner of the 
 stranger won upon him, and the costly 
 diamond cross seemed an irresistible evi- 
 dence in favour of the truth of the preten- 
 sions of the young man ; for how, he rea- 
 soned, could such a jewel have come into 
 his hands unless he really was the czare- 
 vitch ? Prince Wiszniowiecki was con- 
 vinced. He treated his mysterious visitor 
 with great distinction, presented him with 
 money, raiment, horses, and a retinue 
 suitable to his supposed birth. On taking 
 him to the residence of his brother Prince 
 Constantine, a Russian fugitive, named Pie- 
 trovski, made a voluntary statement, that 
 he had formerly been in attendance on the 
 czarevitch Dmitri, of whose identity with 
 the youth before him he was perfectly con- 
 vinced. These coincidences were certainly 
 remarkable. The murdered czarevitch, if 
 alive, would have been about twenty-two 
 years old ; which was the apparent age of 
 the stranger. The latter had a wart on the 
 forehead, another under the right eye, and 
 one arm a little longer than the other : the 
 son of the czar Ivan was said to have been 
 marked in the same wav. 
 
 91 
 
PROCEEDINGS OF DMITRI.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1604 
 
 ii 
 
 The pretender— for such he assuredly was 
 — soon subdued all doubts in the Polish 
 nobles, who thronged to Prince Constan- 
 tine's niiinsion, to be presented to the man 
 they regarded as the rightful czar of Russia, 
 and to offer their services to hira. The 
 bold intriguant performed his assumed part 
 with consummate skill — a representation in 
 which he was assisted by nature. Even his 
 gestures and tone of voice were said to have 
 resembled those of the murdered prince. 
 His deportment was perfectly in accordance 
 with his alleged rank. Possessed of a fine 
 figure, an insinuating manner, and a ready 
 speech, he was always perfectly at his ease 
 amongst the noble 'persons with whom he 
 now associated. He had been liberally edu- 
 cated for those days ; spoke both Polish and 
 Russian, had a slight smattering of Latin, 
 wrote a bold and rapid hand, was well versed 
 in the history of Russia, and in the genealo- 
 gies of all the great families. In addition to 
 this, he ingratiated himself not only with the 
 Pohsh nobles, but with the Roman pontiff, 
 by representing that he was disposed to em- 
 brace the catholic faith ; and that, should he 
 be so fortunate as to recover the throne of 
 his ancestors, he would endeavour to bring 
 his subjects into the communion of the 
 Roman church. Such was the success of 
 the assumed Dmitri, that the Palatine 
 of Sandomir, a Polish noble of great 
 wealth and influence, promised him the 
 hand of his daughter Marina when he 
 should become czar — a promise to which 
 the lady cheerfully assented. The palatine 
 even presented the young adventurer to the 
 King of Poland (Sigismund III.), who was 
 delighted with an incident which promised 
 an opportunity of gratifying a dislike he 
 entertained towards Boris. Sigismund hav- 
 ing received the youth at a solemn audience, 
 and listened to a statement of his pretended 
 birth and misfortunes, observed — "God 
 preserve thee, Dmitri, Prince of Muscovy ; 
 thy birth is known to us, and attested by 
 satisfactory evidence : we assign thee a pen- 
 sion of 40,000 florins ; and, as our friend and 
 guest, we permit thee to accept the counsels 
 and services of our subjects." 
 
 In the May of 1604, Dmitri (as we must 
 call him) signed a promise of marriage to 
 Marina, the daughter of the Palatine San- 
 domir, in which he engaged to confer on 
 her the towns of Novgorod and Pskov as a 
 wedding gift, and to pay her father a million 
 of Polish florins (about £160,000) as soon 
 as he should have ascended his throne. 
 
 The following month he signed another 
 document, by which he engaged to cede the 
 province of Severia to the palatine and the 
 Kin"- of Poland ; and at the same time he 
 privately abjured the Greek faith, and was 
 admitted as a member of the Roman church 
 in the palace of the nuncio. By these 
 equivocal acts he secured the services of a 
 small Polish army ; but they eventually 
 assisted in destroying his reputation. 
 
 News of Dmitri's proceedings soon reached 
 Boris, who had excellent reasons for knowing 
 that he was an impostor, and that the true 
 prince had long lain in his grave. The czar 
 denounced Dmitri as an impostor, and stated 
 that he was a renegade monk, named Gregory 
 Otrepief, who, on account of his bearing an 
 accidental resemblance to the dead prince, 
 had been led into the idea of personating 
 him. Some mystery hangs over this ques- 
 tion, and many inquiries have been made 
 concerning it, but without any satisfactory 
 result. The distinguished modern Russian 
 historian, Karamsin, considers that Otrepief 
 was the spurious Dmitri ; other writers, who 
 have had the advantage of being able to 
 compare all the circumstances (many of 
 them minute, and necessarily uninteresting 
 to an English reader), are of opinion that 
 the assumed Dmitri was neither what he 
 pretended to be, nor what Boris asserted— 
 a negative conclusion, which leaves us as 
 much in doubt as before as to the man's 
 actual origin. 
 
 The first proceeding of the czar Boris, 
 with respect to Dmitri, was an unwise one. 
 He off'ered a heavy bribe to Prince Wisznio- 
 wiecki and his brother Constantine, if they 
 would give the impostor up to him. This 
 they indignantly refused, and the circum- 
 stance only had the efl*ect of confirming 
 their belief in the representations of their 
 prottgt. Boris then proclaimed Dmitri to 
 be an adventurer ; and employed a numbei- 
 of spies, who were artoed with authority to 
 seize and put him to death. He proceeded 
 further, by prohibiting all intercourse be- 
 tween the Poles and the Russians, compelled 
 the patriarch to anathematise " the rascally 
 disrobed monk, the apostate rebel and magi- 
 cian, who wished to introduce the Latin 
 heresy into Russia, and to build catholic 
 churches in the orthodox land."'* Boris also 
 procured the testimony of the living mother 
 of the murdered prince to her son's death, 
 and wrote a letter to the Polish monarch, 
 entreating his majesty to withdraw his pro- 
 tection from the impostor. These eftbrts 
 
 92 
 
 / 
 
 A.D. 1604.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [dMITRI enters RUSSIA. 
 
 failed to produce the desired effect, and 
 indeed only more eff'ectually aroused the 
 curiosity of the Russian people, who, tired 
 of what they regarded as an illegitimate 
 government, were disposed to give credence 
 to a claim which might overturn it. For 
 this reason, also, the discontented nobles 
 lent an ear to a tale which thev did not 
 really believe. 
 
 Dmitri was unabashed by the denuncia- 
 tion of Boris, which he aff'ected to treat with 
 calm contempt. He again asserted his claim 
 to the Russian throne, and detailed the 
 whole story of his life, which he said Boris 
 endeavoured to discredit from motives of 
 selfish fear. He spoke of the extraordinary 
 interposition of Providence, which had, he 
 said, preserved him for the sacred purpose of 
 rescuing his faithful subjects from the thral- 
 dom of usurpation ; and reiterated his de- 
 termination never to cease in his efforts to 
 restore the throne of Muscovy to the race 
 of Ruric. 
 
 Unquestionably, the pretender was a man 
 of remarkable talents and activity. While 
 Boris was vainly endeavouring to blacken 
 his reputation, he was busily occupied in 
 gathering recruits to his standard. He 
 knew that the Russian people were favour- 
 ably disposed towards him, and likely to 
 rise in his favour if he appeared among 
 them. Accordingly, on the 31st of October, 
 1604, he crossed the Russian frontier with 
 )iis little army, which consisted of about 
 3,000 Polish horse, 500 foot of the same 
 nation, and a few thousand Russian refugees. 
 It would have been an act of madness to in- 
 vade so vast an empire with such a petty 
 force, had not Dmitri reallj'- won the attach- 
 ment of the common people, most of whom, 
 by this time, firmly believed that he was 
 the son of the czar Ivan. His forces in- 
 creased rapidly on his march, and town 
 after town received him with enthusiasm. 
 The barbarian inhabitants not only pre- 
 sented him with bread and salt, as tokens of 
 allegiance, but placed their governors and 
 other officers, bound and gagged, in his 
 hands. The pretender immediately liberated 
 these unfortunate gentlemen, and behaved 
 to them with great courtesy — a policy which 
 brought with it its own reward. 
 
 Boris had been unwilling to increase the 
 importance of his rival by making any 
 great military preparation ; and it was not 
 until the 23rd of November, by which time 
 Dmitri had arrived before the walls of Nov- 
 gorod, that he met with any opposing force. 
 
 Peter Basmanof, an able general, had 
 thrown himself into that city with a body 
 of no more than 500 Strelitz. On being 
 summoned to surrender in the name of the 
 czar and the grand prince Dmitri, he re- 
 plied, "The grand prince and czar is at 
 Moscow, and your Dmitri is a robber, who 
 shall be impaled, and his accomplices with 
 him. Be off", if you value your lives." 
 Basmanof was not to be won ; and the in- 
 vaders were unable to take the citadel, into 
 which he and his troops had retired. Several 
 weeks were passed before the fortress, and 
 the besiegers repulsed with considerable loss 
 in an attempt to storm it. Their enthusiasm 
 was rapidly cooling, when it was revived by 
 the capture of a sum of 80,000 ducats, 
 which the czar was sending to the governors 
 of the towns that adhered to him. The 
 siege was renewed; and Basmanof, aware 
 that an army was on its march from Moscow 
 for his relief, had the address to obtain a 
 truce for a fortnight, by promising to sur- 
 render at the end of that time, if he was 
 not succoured. 
 
 The usurping czar had proved himself an 
 able soldier; and if he had the energy that 
 marked his actions in earlier years, would 
 no doubt have destroyed his opponent. But 
 he was no longer the man he had been ; 
 his health was broken, and his spirits 
 crushed by the opposition with which he 
 had had to contend. He is said to have 
 laboured under the pangs of a guilty con- 
 science; and it is possible that his mind 
 was to some extent diseased. Confiding to 
 others the command he should have assumed 
 himself, he trusted men who were at least 
 cold in his cause, if not absolutely averse 
 to him. 
 
 Mstislavski, the general entrusted by 
 Boris with the command of a largre armv, 
 which he had much difficulty in collecting, 
 arrived at Novgorod towards the close of 
 December. Some days were passed in 
 inactivity. The sanguine Dmitri hoped to 
 see the hostile army adopt his cause, and 
 arrange itself beneath his banner; while 
 Mstislavski expected that the adherents of 
 the pretender, who scarcely amounted to 
 15,000, would disperse without coming to 
 hostilities. Both were disappointed ; and on 
 the 31st, Dmitri, whose army was not more 
 than a third as numerous as that opposed 
 to him, boldly led his troops into an open 
 plain, and placed them in array of battle, 
 Such a challenge was of course accepted, 
 and the adversaries were soon drawn up 
 
 93 
 
PROGRESS OF DMITRI.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.u. 1605. 
 
 A.D. 1605.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [the people favour dmitri. 
 
 face to face. Before the battle, Dmitri 
 prayed aloud before his soldiers, and then 
 addressed them in tones of the most 
 animating eloquence. ''Almighty God!" 
 cried he, in conclusion, " if my cause is un- 
 just, may thy wrath fall on me alone ! But 
 thou knowest my right, and will make my 
 arm invincible !'' The strife, though fierce, 
 was brief; for there were many among the 
 army of Boris who trembled lest they should 
 be fighting against the czarevitch. The 
 brave and well-armed Polish lancers, by a 
 desperate charge, broke the right wing of 
 the Russian army, and drove it upon the 
 centre, which soon fell into confusion. 
 Prince Mstislavski strove in vain to rally 
 his dismayed troops; and, after receiving 
 fifteen wounds, was borne from the field. 
 This was conclusive ; the victory fell upon 
 Dmitri ; and the Russians would have been 
 utterly routed, but that Basmanof made a 
 sortie in their favour, set fire to the camp of 
 the conquerors, and thus drew them from 
 the field. By means of this rusty the 
 humbled troops of Boris were enabled to 
 escape beneath the cover of the woods. 
 
 The pretended Dmitri conducted himself 
 after the battle with princely moderation, 
 and a policy which would have done credit 
 to an older man. The prisoners taken were 
 addressed by him with kindly familiarity, 
 and treated as mistaken subjects, instead of 
 as foes. He also commanded his followers 
 to conduct themselves with humanity — a 
 circumstance which rendered them a striking 
 contrast to the brutal Russian soldiers, who 
 ruthlessly slaughtered the inhabitants of 
 those districts which had exhibited a dis- 
 position to favour the cause of the adven- 
 turer. Dmitri also actively spread abroad 
 the idea, that his victory had been due to 
 the fact that Providence fought upon the 
 side of truth, and that it should, therefore, 
 be accepted as an indication from heaven 
 that he was undoubtedlv the son of Ivan IV. 
 This belief rapidly made way among the 
 ignorant peasantry, who were ready, at the 
 first opportunity, to hail him as their sove- 
 reign. 
 
 Still the position of Dmitri was but a 
 desperate one ; and he knew that he could 
 not obtain any permanent success unless 
 the people fell away from Boris and adopted 
 his cause. Shortly after the battle, a man- 
 date came from the King of Poland, com- 
 manding his subjects to return home im- 
 mediately. It had been drawn from him 
 by Boris before Sigismund knew of the 
 94 
 
 victory obtained by Dmitri, and while he 
 was influenced by disgust at the incon- 
 ceivable prolongation of the siege of such a 
 petty fortress as that of Novgorod. The 
 command was obeyed by the palatines and 
 the principal Polish gentlemen; and within 
 a fortnight after the battle, but 400 soldiers 
 of that nation remained with Dmitri. Feel- 
 ing that nothing but a daring stroke could 
 save him from destruction, and that hesi- 
 tation would be death, he abandoned the 
 siege of Novgorod ; and after refreshing 
 his troops by a i^vf days' rest, again took 
 the field with a force which, in consequence 
 of the Russians w^ho had joined him, still 
 amounted to about 15,000 men. 
 
 Prince Mstislavski was disabled bv his 
 wounds from resuming the command of the 
 czar's army. Basmanof was summoned by 
 Boris to Moscow to receive the honour he 
 had won by his bravery, and the royal troops 
 were committed to the direction of Vassili 
 Schuisky, Avho, though brave, did not pos- 
 sess those other and more important quali- 
 ties which aid in forming an accomplished 
 general. On the 20th of January, 1605, 
 the czar's forces, amounting to 70,000 men, 
 were drawn up on the plain of Dobrynitchi. 
 Dmitri, with his army of only 15,000 men, 
 did not hesitate to attack them. Having 
 addressed his troops and prayed aloud be- 
 fore them, he, with one division of his army, 
 gallantlv chargred the centre of the cnemv. 
 He was received with a fire from fourteen 
 C!».nnons and 16,000 muskets, which might 
 have done terrible execution had it not been 
 hurried and ill-directed. As it was, it 
 proved almost harmless, and a few moments 
 afterwards Dmitri's horse had broken the 
 line of their opponents. Once again victory 
 might have favoured the pretender but for 
 the cowardice, or more probably treachery, 
 of 8,000 mounted Zaporogues, who formed 
 the main body of his array. Instead of 
 seconding their brave young leader, these 
 men stood still until the troops of Boris 
 were enabled to rally, and then wheeling 
 round, they quitted the field without strik- 
 ing a blow. It is said that they were 
 bribed bv Boris ; but whatever was tlie 
 cause of their misconduct, its result was the 
 defeat of their companions. Dmitri per- 
 ceived that the dav was irredeemably lost : 
 his Cossack infantry, numbering 4,000 men, 
 withstood for a time the wliole Russian 
 army, and perished on the field to a man. 
 The scanty remnant of Dmitri^s army took 
 to a flight in which he was compelled to 
 
 join. It is said, that they might have been 
 all put to the sword, but that Schuisky and 
 his officers, though they fought on the side 
 of the czar, had no intention of altogether 
 removing a man through whom they could 
 keep Boris in a state of constant agitation 
 and necessity for their services. For this 
 reason, they gave orders to check the pur- 
 suit, saying, " The fowl is in the pof — a 
 familiar phrase by which the soldiers under- 
 stood that Dmitri was either slain or taken 
 prisoner. 
 
 The pretender had no longer an army. 
 He and the miserable remnant of his fol- 
 lowers fled to a town named Putivle, near 
 the frontiers, which, on account of its strong 
 defences, off'ered an asvlum he deemed 
 tolerably secure. Schuisky, instead of at- 
 tempting to secure his person, remained at 
 Dobrynitchi, where he occupied himself 
 with hanging or shooting the prisoners he 
 had taken. Then, after several subterfuges 
 for avoiding action, he placed his troops in 
 winter quarters, and sent word to the czar 
 that no more could be done that season. 
 
 Boris, delighted with the recent victory, 
 expected a very different result. He ex- 
 pressed his displeasure in so severe a man- 
 ner as altogether to alienate from him 
 many of those ofiicers who had before been 
 lukewarm in his service. Animosity to the 
 czar naturally engendered a favourable 
 feeling towards his opponent; which only 
 needed some return of good fortune to 
 Dmitri to induce the disaffected to desert to 
 him. Though stimulated by the reproaches 
 of the czar to some further exertions, such 
 as besieging the town of Kroury, which had 
 declared for Dmitri, Schuisky merely de- 
 ceived his master by idle efforts, which had 
 not, and wTre not intended to have, any 
 result. Dmitri, who remained unmolested, 
 still preserved an undaunted spirit and a 
 hopeful mind. He made use of the time 
 which the delays of Schuisky created for 
 him, by sending manifestos and letters 
 throughout the country. He had many 
 a^rents also at work in the army of the czar: 
 and the result was soon seen in the deser- 
 tion to him not only of many common 
 soldiers, but also of some persons of rank. 
 The alarmed Boris again attempted to ac- 
 complish by stratagem that which he could 
 not effect by the open hand of power. He 
 sent three monks to the town of Putivle 
 with letters from himself and the patriarch, 
 offering to the townspeople a full pardon, 
 and a magnificent reward, if they would give 
 
 up the impostor to him alive or dead. The 
 inhabitants disdained the bribe, and, arrest- 
 ing the monks, put them to the torture. 
 One of them then confessed that he carried 
 about him a subtle poison, which was to be 
 administered to the supposed czarevitch by 
 two boyards, who had insinuated themselves 
 into his confidence for that purpose. The 
 monks were put to death ; and the exposure 
 of the attempt of Boris on the life of his 
 rival, did much mischief to the cause of the 
 former. Dmitri turned it to advantage by 
 writing a haughty letter both to the patri- 
 arch and the czar. He reproached them 
 with the dastardly and criminal means to 
 which they had resorted, and boasted of the 
 especial protection of Divine Providence. 
 With a calm audacity, he told Boris that 
 he was disposed to act mercifully towards 
 him. "Let him,^' he said, "descend from 
 the throne he has usurped, and seek in the 
 solitude of the cloisters to reconcile himself 
 with heaven ; in that case I will forget his 
 crimes, and even assure him of my sove- 
 reign protection.'^ 
 
 The arrogance of Dmitri was extremely 
 politic. To a populace who were daily be- 
 coming more impressed that his claim was 
 a just one, his haughty language seemed 
 but natural to a person of such distin- 
 guished birth. At this period all things 
 seemed to favour him, and to frown darkly 
 upon the fortunes of the troubled czar. The 
 northern lights having appeared with un- 
 usual brilliancy, and a comet being visible, 
 the superstition of the people interpreted 
 these events into a mystic indication of the 
 ruin of the czar. Others went further, and 
 believed that these appearances were signs of 
 the anger of God, and warnings to them to 
 come forward in support of their rightful 
 sovereign ; and that, unless they abandoned 
 the usurper who had attempted the life ot 
 the last descendant of the royal race, the 
 phials of the divine wrath would be poured 
 out upon the country. In consequence of 
 the prevalence of this feeling, Dmitri re- 
 ceived so many offers of allegiance, that he 
 was soon at the head of a very formidable 
 party. 
 
 Boris appears to have been quite un- 
 nerved at the progress of the defection, and 
 it is very probable that he was now the 
 victim of great mental excitement, if not 
 disease. It is said that sometimes, during 
 periods of despondency or terror, he fancied 
 that the forces of the pretender were led by 
 the disinterred skeleton of the murdered 
 
 95 
 
 b 
 
1i 
 
 DEATH OF BORIS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1605. 
 
 prince. Surrounded, as usual, by a court 
 reputed for its splendour, and directing as 
 hitherto the councils of the nation, yet he 
 knew that he was environed by hypocrites 
 and traitors. He was still the autocrat ; 
 but he knew that amongst his courtiers were 
 some who feared his fall, and others who 
 secretly rejoiced at the probability of such 
 an event. 
 
 Such was the aspect of affairs when the 
 Russian people were startled by the news of 
 the sudden death of the czar ! This unex- 
 pected event took place on the 13th of 
 April, 1605. Boris had that day risen ap- 
 parently in his usual state of health, which, 
 though seriously impaired, was not such as 
 to excite alarm of immediate danger. He 
 had presided, according to custom, at the 
 council-board, and afterwards dined with 
 some distinguished foreigners who had been 
 presented to him. Before leaving the 
 <lining apartment, he was seized with 
 sudden sickness, and effusions of blood 
 from his nose, ears, and mouth. Every 
 assistance was rendered, but he sank slowly 
 into a state of insensibility, and expired 
 within two hours. Before lie became un- 
 conscious, he desired to enter the church as 
 a monk, and was accordingly consecrated 
 by the name of Bogolep, which means, 
 agreeable to God. Thus, after a reign of 
 .six years, died one of the most remarkable 
 rulers of Russia, in the fifty-third year of his 
 age. His death was generally attributed to 
 poison administered by his own hand ; and 
 some writers affirm, without any qualifica- 
 tion, that such was the fact. Such an end 
 to the life of a man who had won his path 
 to power by hypocrisy and murder, seems so 
 poetically just, that many will not wish to 
 sift its accuracy. But however we may 
 feel on such points, experience instructs ns 
 differently. The great criminals of the 
 Avorld too often escape the doom to which a 
 moral justice would condemn them ; and the 
 faith of the weak is vexed by events in 
 which they strive in vain to discern the in- 
 visible hand of Deity. Perhaps Boris, the 
 murderer and tyrant, did commit suicide in 
 a paroxysm of despair, in which case popu- 
 lar belief would be confirmed, and moral 
 justice vindicated. But the circumstances 
 of his death are perfectly consistent with 
 natural dissolution. It might have arisen 
 from apoplexy, or from the bursting of a 
 large blood-vessel; either of which events 
 would have been promoted by the long 
 nervous excitement which the czar had en- 
 96 
 
 dured. Certainly there are difficulties in 
 the way of a belief that he was the volun- 
 tary cause of his own death. It has been 
 well reasoned, "That so long as the czar 
 lived, and the army had not actually re- 
 volted, the pretender's aspiring fortunes 
 were not secured from all chance of failure. 
 The existence of Boris was the only safe- 
 guard of his family. Would so cool a cal- 
 culator have thrown away a chance however 
 faint ? Would a man of such energy and 
 resolution, so noted for the depth and 
 tenderness of his domestic affections, have 
 wilfully hastened the triumph of his foe, 
 and abandoned his wife and children to in- 
 evitable destruction — to destruction onlv 
 rendered inevitable by his own act ?" To 
 this it may be replied, that if Boris suffered 
 from sickness, despair, and partial insanity, 
 he would be unable to reason upon his mis- 
 fortunes, or to feel for the position of those 
 dependent upon him. Despair excludes 
 with clouds of impenetrable gloom all but 
 one, and that the most painful, view of a 
 case ; while insanity is incapable of reason- 
 ing upon it. 
 
 But to whatever circumstance we must 
 attribute the death of the czar Boris Godu- 
 nof, or however sternly we may denounce 
 his many crimes, it must be admitted that 
 he was a sovereign of remarkable abilities. 
 Russia prospered under his administration 
 when the simple Feodor sat in the seat of 
 the czar ; and Boris, during the early part 
 of his own reign, acted in many matters 
 like the father of his people. His strong 
 arm swept back the Tartars ; his acute 
 sense encouraged a civilisation which might 
 have produced brilliant results but for the 
 barbarous opposition of the priesthood ; 
 and benevolence, or policy, induced him to 
 pour out his mighty hordes of wealth at the 
 feet of the people, to avert the horrors of 
 famine. Such was his administrative abilitv 
 and mental vigour during the early part of 
 his reign, that he has even been compared 
 with his illustrious successor, Peter the 
 Great. He was assuredly a murderer and 
 a tyrant ; but he was no common criminal. 
 His earlv crimes arose from a dazzling: am- 
 bition, and his later ones from a constantly 
 oppressive sense of insecurity. Such are the 
 evils of usurpation. . Had he been a legiti- 
 mate sovereign, he would have proved not 
 only a wise one, but most probably have 
 descended to his grave in honour, and left 
 an unsullied reputation for the contempla- 
 tion of a sad yet grateful people. 
 
 U > 
 
 A.D. IGOO.J 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [dMITRI enters MOSCOW. 
 
 The death of Boris was so sudden, that 
 Dmitri was not prepared to take instant 
 advantage of it. A hurried council of the 
 principal nobility took place at Moscow, at 
 which it was decided that Feodor, the son 
 of the late czar, should succeed him on the 
 throne. Feodor, who was but sixteen or 
 eighteen years old, was proclaimed without 
 opposition. General Basmanof was ap- 
 pointed to the command of the army, 
 which, notwithstanding its disaffection, pas- 
 sively took an oath of fidelity to the new 
 czar. 
 
 His day of power was but a brief one. 
 Basmanof proved false, and opened a secret 
 correspondence with Dmitri, which he 
 shortly afterwards followed up by pub- 
 licly declaring for him, and proclaiming the 
 adventurer as czar of Moscow. Most of 
 the troops received the proclamation with 
 enthusiasm, and the rest were overawed by 
 superior numbers. On the 8th of May, 
 Prince Galitzin presented himself at Putivle, 
 to tender to Dmitri the submission of the 
 army. The pretender received him with 
 great affability, and sent a command to 
 Basmanof to prepare to march to Moscow. 
 Dmitri also dispatched envoys to the capi- 
 tal, who, backed by a number of the bo- 
 yards and wealthy merchants, assembled the 
 people in the grand square, and called upon 
 them to acknowledge and proclaim their 
 lawful sovereign. The people were ripe for 
 the desired change; and with vociferous 
 shouts they declared for Dmitri. Thoroughly 
 excited, they then hurried to the Kremlin, 
 which they forced, and bursting into the 
 royal apartments, seized Feodor, his sister 
 Xenia, and his mother, and placed them as 
 prisoners in the house which Boris had 
 occupied before he ascended the throne. 
 The other distinguished members of the 
 Godunof family were put in chains, and 
 sent to the camp of Dmitri. 
 
 The latter had now almost attained the 
 summit of his wild ambition : he had but 
 to advance and seize the crown, for which 
 lie had played so boldly. The priuces 
 Galitzin find Massalski preceded him to the 
 capital as his plenipotentiaries. There they 
 arrested the patriarch who, in the time of 
 Boris, had anathematised Dmitri as a 
 rebel and "rascally monk." The time- 
 serving old priest now professed his willing- 
 ness to crown the man whom he had jfor- 
 merly denounced ; but this suppleness did 
 not save him from deprivation and im- 
 prisonment. For deposed princes there is 
 VOL. r. o 
 
 but a step between the prison and the 
 grave, and the unfortunate Feodor and his 
 mother soon ceased to live. It was re- 
 ported that they had destroyed themselves 
 by poison; but a chronicler of the time 
 stated, that when their bodies were exposed 
 in public, he himself saw on their necks 
 the livid marks of the cords with which 
 they had been strangled. The murder was 
 generally attributed to the commands of 
 Dmitri ; but doubts are entertained on 
 that point. " The zeal of his agents," says 
 Merimee, " doubtless had no need of posi- 
 tive instructions. The sequel of this young 
 adventurer's history shows that, far from 
 being cruel, he was goodnatured and gene- 
 rous to a degree which was very rare in 
 those days, even among the most civilised 
 nations. I am more inclined to believe 
 that men who, within a month, had taken 
 two oaths, and successively betrayed Boris 
 and Feodor, eagerly seized, without orders, 
 the opportunity to remove enemies out of 
 their new master's way, and objects of re- 
 morse out of their own." Indeed, the 
 blood of but one other person was shed in 
 the accomplishment of this remarkable 
 revolution. Semen, the head of the secret 
 police under Boris, was put to death, ap- 
 parently more from the general odium he 
 had incurred, than from any vindictive 
 feeling on the part of the new czar. 
 
 Dmitri behaved with a princely compo- 
 sure, and avoided any undignified haste in 
 grasping the sceptre which fortune had laid 
 at his feet. At length he complied with 
 the entreaties of his subjects; and on the 
 20th of June, 1605, he entered Moscow in 
 great state, amidst the enthusiastic con- 
 gratulations of enormous throngs of people. 
 No heir of the house of Ruric had ever 
 been received by his subjects with such 
 demonstrations of affection. Yet even in 
 this hour of triumph, there were to be dis- 
 cerned slight indications of that popular 
 fickleness, the bitter cup of which the new 
 sovereign was to drain to the dregs. As the 
 procession crossed the great square before 
 the Kremlin, a sudden whirlwind arose, 
 which almost deprived the horsemen of 
 their seats, and hid the czar and his cortege 
 for a short time from the spectators, beneath 
 clouds of dust. This natural event was re- 
 garded by the superstitious people as an omen 
 of evil ; and, making the sign of the cross, 
 they whispered to each other, " God keep 
 us from harm." Other incidents occurred 
 which the fickle Muscovites beheld with 
 
 97 
 
RULE OF DMITRI.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1605. 
 
 displeasure. The new czar was attended 
 by a large body of Poles, who, at the mo- 
 ment he dismounted from his horse to kiss 
 the relics with which the clergy advanced 
 to meet him, struck up a flourish of mili- 
 tary music, which drowned the chaunt of 
 the 75? Deum. The Poles, or " Pagans," 
 as the Russians contemptuously called all 
 foreigners who were not of the Greek 
 church, entered the cathedral with him — a 
 circumstance which was regarded as a pro- 
 fanation. Afterwards, Dmitri knelt in tears 
 before the tomb of Ivan, and kissing it in 
 a welUaflected transport, exclaimed, " O 
 father ! thy orphan reigns ; and this he 
 owes to thy holy prayers!^' At this sight 
 the spectators were affected with a conta- 
 gious emotion, and, weeping with him, ex- 
 claimed, " He is indeed the son of the 
 Terrible.'' 
 
 Notwithstanding the natural doubts en- 
 tertained by many of his subjects, and their 
 superstitious regard to omens, the reign of 
 the new sovereign began auspiciously. The 
 nobles rejoiced tliat Boris was no more ; and 
 the people, that events promised a return of 
 tranquillity. Dmitri's manners were cour- 
 teous and attractive — a circumstance which 
 won for him the attachment of those who 
 approached him. He was also extremely 
 generous, and conferred with a profuse 
 hand benefits upon all who had helped him 
 to the throne, and sometimes even upon 
 those who had been his enemies. With a libe- 
 rality approaching to wantonness, he doubled 
 the pay of the army, and the salaries of all 
 public functionaries. He also created some 
 siensation by an announcement that he 
 would pay all the debts contracted by his 
 father the czar, Ivan IV. Corrupt judges 
 he punished with severity ; and sternly 
 admonished others in whose decisions he 
 detected any partiality. In order to insure 
 a better administration of justice, he adopted 
 the Eastern practice of sitting, twice a-week, 
 in the portico of his palace, for the purpose 
 of receiving the petitions of the poorest of 
 his subjects, and redressing their grievances. 
 He also accomplished many important re- 
 forms ; remitted many taxes which had pre- 
 viously fettered commerce and made justice 
 unattainable by the needy ; and modified 
 the unjust enactment of Boris, which con- 
 verted the peasantry into serfs. The noble 
 was authorised to reclaim his fugitive serf, 
 but restrained, under severe penalties, from 
 fraudulent claims of ownership. All serfs, 
 also, who had been abandoned by their lords 
 98 
 
 during the late famine, were enfranchised* 
 upon the principle that the master's right 
 of property was inseparable from the serf's 
 right of maintenance. Where freemen, who 
 liad hired out their services for a period 
 only, were retained as serfs against their 
 wili, Dmitri visited the oppressor with a 
 severe punishment. Proceedings of this 
 nature induced the people to anticipate that 
 his reign would be a period of prosperity 
 for the empire. His supporters, also, were 
 highly gratified ; for he had shown himself, 
 in no small degree, a brave and skilful 
 soldier in the field, and an efficient states- 
 man at the council table. 
 
 The new czar had yet to pass through one 
 remarkable trial before his presumed identity 
 with the murdered son of Ivan could be said 
 to be confirmed. The mother of the true 
 Dmitri was yet Hying in the convent to 
 which Boris had compelled her to retire. 
 If she acknowledged him as her son, it was 
 naturally assumed that even the most scep- 
 tical would be satisfied. A month elapsed 
 after the entrance of Dmitri into Moscow 
 before the interview took place — a circum- 
 stance that created some remark. A meet- 
 ing with the lady before she had been pre- 
 pared and won over to countenance the de- 
 ception, would have been fatal to his claims. 
 Her own brother, however, undertook the 
 delicate task of eradicating any scruples she 
 mijj;ht entertain against a compliance with 
 what was required of her. It was pretty 
 certain what course a woman, of no great 
 strength of mind or loftiness of principle, 
 would take in such a matter. If she refused 
 to acknowledge the czar as her son, her life 
 was in danger; if she consented, she ex- 
 changed a position of obscurity for one of 
 distinction and brilliancy. 
 
 At length the widow of Ivan left her con- 
 vent at Vyska, and proceeded to Toiuinsk, 
 where she was to meet her supposed son. 
 Dmitri started from Moscow with a nume- 
 rous and magnificent retinue, and was fol- 
 lowed by multitudes of people anxious to 
 behold the result. The first interview took 
 place in a sumptuous tent erected for the 
 occasion. Dmitri and the widow of Ivan 
 each entered alone; for it was cunningly 
 assumed that the first emotions, at such a 
 meeting, were too tender and sacred to be 
 beheld by common eyes. A brief time 
 elapsed ; and then, emerging from the tent, 
 they threw themselves into each other's 
 arms with every appearance of intense aftec- 
 tion. The multitude shouted with joy : they 
 
 A.D. 1605.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [dmitri becomes unpopular. 
 
 were now thoroughly convinced that Dmitri 
 was the true son of 'ivan the Terrible. He 
 then escorted the princess to Moscow with 
 the profoundest respect, walking during 
 part of the distance bare-headed by the 
 3ide of her carriage. On their arrival, he 
 conducted her to the convent of St. Cyril, in 
 the Kremlin, where she was to reside until 
 he should have built a magnificent convent 
 expressly for her. He also assigned her a 
 revenue and household suitable to her rank, 
 visited her every day, consulted her on 
 affairs of state, and even associated her 
 name with his own in the ukases he issued. 
 The coronation of Dmitri followed her ar- 
 rival, on which occasion the favour shown 
 by him to the Poles again excited the 
 jealousies of his subjects. 
 
 It was necessary, at least in the com- 
 mencement of his reign, for the new czar to 
 be more circumspect than other monarchs. 
 Unfortunately for the permanence of his 
 sway, he was less so. It has frequently 
 been observed, that perhaps no man can 
 effectually fulfil the duties of a ruler, unless 
 his education has been directed into that 
 channel. The habits of private life, of un- 
 restrained intercourse, and of commonplace 
 associations, form an incompetent prepara- 
 tion for the novelty of a station which 
 admits of no equality, and is removed from 
 the sympathies and influences affecting the 
 rest of mankind. The new czar had been 
 intoxicated with the splendour of his fortune 
 and the rapidity of his success. This, com- 
 bined with his intrepid spirit and a supersti- 
 tious confidence in his destiny, rendered him 
 indifferent, if not averse, to the counsels of 
 prudence. The Russian people were then, 
 as now, animated by a powerful feeling of 
 nationality, which is usually attended with 
 a contempt or disUke for the inhabitants of 
 other countries. Prudence required that 
 the new czar should be, or affect to be, 
 eminently national in his habits and predi- 
 lections. So far from this being the case, 
 his subjects soon began to perceive, with 
 uneasiness, that their sovereign was influ- 
 enced by foreign notions ; that he sur- 
 rounded himself with Polish guards, pre- 
 ferred them to all offices of importance, and 
 laughed at many of the customs of his 
 people, which he deemed uncouth, and even 
 barbarous. In the council-chamber he as- 
 tonished the Russian nobles by his superior 
 knowledge and capacity, and offended them 
 by his sarcastic observations and his prefer- 
 ence of foreigners. " Go and travel," said 
 
 he to the boyards ; '^ observe the ways of 
 civilised nations ; for you are no better 'than 
 savages." The very truth of this and similar 
 remarks, made them the more bitter and 
 less easy to be forgiven. The marked pre- 
 ference Dmitri gave to the Poles, had the 
 effect not only of making the Russians dis- 
 contented, but also of encouraging the 
 haughtiness and insolence of the former. 
 His private secretaries were Poles; while 
 the only Russian on whom he bestowed his 
 confidence was General Basmanof, a man 
 not liked by the nobles of his nation. 
 
 This imprudence on the part of the czar 
 revived the controversy, which had never 
 altogether slept, concerning the questioned 
 royalty of Dmitri's birth. The assumed 
 proofs of his royal origin had never been 
 examined by any competent tribunal. They 
 were accepted, without examination, during 
 the wild tumult of revolt; and as important 
 evidence of the fact of the murder of the 
 young prince was still extant, very little 
 persuasion was requisite to induce the 
 people to adopt any opinion in accordance 
 with their political bias. Latent doubts 
 were called into activity by Dmitri's neglect 
 of the national prejudices. These, once en- 
 couraged, were carried to an absurd extent. 
 Even his mode of riding was quoted to show 
 that he was not of royal blood. He de- 
 lighted to leap, without help, upon the back 
 of a wild stallion, and ride the animal 
 furiously hke a Cossack ; while the czars, in 
 imitation of oriental custom, were in the 
 habit of being lifted into the saddle, and 
 riding with slowness and gravity. Other 
 insignificant matters in the personal habits 
 of the czar were cited in disproof of the 
 distinguished origin to which he laid claim. 
 He frequently passed the images of saints 
 without saluting them ; he ate veal (which 
 was considered an unclean meat), dined 
 without having his table blessed and sprinkled 
 with holy water, and even so far neglected 
 pious conventionalities, as to rise from it 
 without washing his hands. Then he never 
 slept after dinner, according to Russian 
 custom, but selected that period for walking 
 about the city, alone or with one companion, 
 greatly to the astonishment of the people, 
 who, being accustomed only to see their 
 sovereigns when surrounded by a pompous 
 equipage, not unnaturally considered such 
 conduct undignified, and indicative of a 
 humble origin. In addressing the clergy, it 
 was noticed that he spoke of ^^ your reli- 
 gion," and ''your ritual;" which gave a 
 
 99 
 
CONSPIRACY AGAINST DMITRI.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1605. 
 
 A.D. 1606.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 Tmarina mniszek. 
 
 I 
 
 further colour to the suspicion that he had 
 adopted the religion of the church of Rome. 
 One day, during a sitting of his ministers, 
 he was told that something he had just pro- 
 posed was prohibited by the seventh general 
 council of the church. He replied — " Well, 
 what matter? very likely it is allowed by 
 the eighth." This flippant response, which, 
 at the worst, was but an unbecoming levity, 
 was condemned by the clergy as an abomi- 
 nable blasphemy. 
 
 The circumstance, however, which most 
 excited the nationality and anger of the 
 Russiaus, was the approaching marriage of 
 the czar with Marina Mniszek, the daughter 
 of the Palatine Sandomir. ** Could it be 
 possible," said they, " that a heretic woman, 
 an unbaptized Pole, was to be raised to the 
 throne of orthodox Russia ?" Such was the 
 state of public feeling when Dmitri ventured 
 upon an expedient which led to his ruin. 
 Ambitious by nature, he aspired to the 
 glory of conquest: he contemplated, by a 
 combination of the Polish and Russian 
 forces, to reduce to insignificance those ag- 
 gressive and insolent powers the Turks and 
 Tartars. The enterprise would be glorious, 
 but it presented numerous difficulties, some 
 of which were of a kind to be encountered 
 rather by the statesman than by the warrior. 
 It was necessary to conciliate the King of 
 Poland, whose assistance he desired ; and to 
 amuse the pope, against whose decision that 
 monarch would not enter into the scheme. 
 The vastness of the military preparations, 
 also, were such, that the resources of the 
 Kremlin were found to be altogether inade- 
 quate to the expense. Here was the point 
 which led the inconsiderate czar to his 
 doom. He reasoned, that it was the duty 
 of the clergy to bear part of the cost of an 
 expedition to be undertaken for the glory 
 and triumph of Christianity. He therefore 
 demanded an exact account of the revenues 
 of the numerous monasteries throughout 
 the empire, and bluntly affirmed that he 
 would not suff'er so many monks to live 
 in idleness, when a part of Christendom was 
 to be delivered from Mussulman bondage. 
 Reform in this direction was needful, but not 
 judicious at the time. Dmitri, however, went 
 beyond reform, and proceeded to confisca- 
 tion, which was manifestly unjust. With 
 arbitrary severity he suppressed several 
 monasteries, and seized the wealth be- 
 longing to them. The rest of the priesthood 
 lived in fear of a similar proceeding towards 
 their religious houses, and a clerical con- 
 100 
 
 spiracy was soon formed against him. 
 Segur observes — "His other offences and 
 irregularities might have been endured ; the 
 enmity of other classes he might have 
 assuaged or curbed ; but when he laid his 
 sacrilegious hand upon the ark of the Lord, 
 that is to say, upon the coff"ers of the clergy, 
 he raised up against himself 'egions of im- 
 placable foes, whose malice baffled resist- 
 ance, for they fought with the impalpable 
 but deadly weapons of calumny and super- 
 stition. The priests and monks became the 
 industrious propagators of every false or 
 exaggerated rumour that could poison the 
 minds of the people against the czar. They 
 compared him to Julian the Apostate ; and 
 all the truly royal qualities, which they could 
 not but recognise in Dmitri, they turned 
 to his vilification, as so many points of 
 resemblance to the persecutor of the Chris- 
 tians." 
 
 The clergy promoted a conspiracy against 
 the czar, which many of the boyards readily 
 joined. They had assisted his cause, without 
 caring whether or not he was the son of 
 Ivan. All they wanted was some one whom 
 they could set up against Boris. It was 
 their intention to make a puppet of the new 
 czar, and to grasp the reality, while he held 
 the shadow, of regal authority. In this 
 they were disappointed. Dmitri had far too 
 much intelligence to be made a tool of; and 
 they found that, notwithstanding the gen- 
 eral mildness of his nature, he could be 
 quite as absolute as ever Boris was. 
 
 Prince Schuisky was the principal of the 
 conspirators; for, as the nearest collateral 
 heir of the Rurics, he looked forward to 
 obtaining the crown for himself, in the 
 event of the deposition or death of Dmitri. 
 Schuisky advised the delay of the execution 
 of the plot until the arrival of the intended 
 czarina from Poland — a circumstance which 
 led to its detection, and the arrest of himself 
 and his two brothers. The latter were con- 
 demned to be banished to Siberia, and the 
 former to death. They were, however, all 
 subsequently pardoned — Schuisky himself, 
 at the very moment when, having knelt upon 
 the scaffold, the axe was uplifted over him. 
 The traitor then behaved with so much 
 humility as to disarm the suspicions of 
 Dmitri; but his danger had only made him 
 the more cautious ; and, in reality, he di- 
 rected the proceedings of the malcontents 
 with as much authority as ever. To those 
 who advised the generous czar not to spare 
 a convicted traitor, his reply was — " I have 
 
 sworn not to shed Christian blood, and I 
 will keep my oath. There are two ways 
 of governing an empire — tyranny and gen- 
 erosity. I choose the latter. I will not be 
 a tyrant. I will not spare money; I will 
 scatter it on all hands." 
 
 Before the arrival of Marina from Poland, 
 a new pretender to the throne made his ap- 
 pearance among the Cossacks of the Volga ; 
 and, assuming the name of Peter Feodoro- 
 viteh, represented himself to be the son of 
 the czar Feodor and his consort Irene. The 
 clumsy tale he told was, that immediately 
 after birth he had been taken from his 
 mother, and placed with some Cossacks; 
 while the female infant, which had been 
 substituted at the command of Boris, died 
 in its cradle. This statement found Cos- 
 sacks simple enough to believe it; and a 
 few thousand of them, having proclaimed 
 Feodorovitch as the lawful czarevitch, aban- 
 doned themselves to the congenial occupa- 
 tion of plundering. Dmitri acted with a 
 dignity befitting his presumed rank; he 
 addressed a letter to the new pretender, 
 ssaying, that if he would come to Moscow 
 and prove his parentage, he should receive a 
 pension suitable to his high birth ; but that, 
 if he knew himself to be an impostor, he had 
 better retire at once, while he might do 
 so with safety. The hint was taken, and 
 Feodorovitch and his followers disappeared 
 for the time among the barren wilds of the 
 steppes. 
 
 Notwithstanding the impatience of the 
 czar for the arrival of his bride, to whom he 
 appears to have been sincerely attached, the 
 nuptial journey, from Cracow to Moscow, 
 was conducted with so much pomp and 
 ceremony, that it extended over a period of 
 three months. It was not until the 12th of 
 May, 1606, that she made her public entry 
 into the Russian capital. So numerous was 
 her retinue, that the offended people com- 
 pared it to an invading army ; and such was 
 the haughty bearing of the Poles, that they 
 rather gave themselves the airs of victors 
 than assumed the courteous bearing of 
 guests. Consequently, amidst all the ex- 
 ternal demonstrations of loyalty and glad- 
 ness, there was a deeply-seated and widely- 
 spreading spirit of discontent. "Is it the 
 custom in your country," said the jealous 
 Musco.'ites to their armed and uninvited 
 guesto, " to go to a wedding cased in steel, 
 as if you were going to a battle?" The 
 feelings of the citizens grew more bitter 
 when they beheld the Poles, who had come 
 
 with the expectation of a campaign against 
 the Tartars, unloading whole arsenals from 
 their waggons. The conspirators turned 
 this uneasiness to account. Mingling with 
 the people, they spread a report that the 
 czar had sent for the Polish allies for the 
 purpose of massacring the orthodox Chris- 
 tians, and, by this terrible exhibition of 
 his power, seat himself more firmly on the 
 throne. The idle calumny was believed; a 
 general though suppressed hatred to Dmitri 
 followed ; and even the grim passiveness of 
 the people indicated the coming storm. A 
 less unreasonable, though equally unfounded 
 report was, that the real object of the Polish 
 ambassadors who came in the equipage of 
 the elect czarina, was to receive from the 
 czar the cession of a considerable portion of 
 Russian territory. 
 
 During the week that elapsed between 
 the arrival of Marina and her marriage, 
 her conduct was not of a kind to conciliate 
 those among whom she had come to dwell. 
 Though lodged in the convent occupied by 
 the dowager-czarina, she could not, even 
 for so brief a period, behave with the de- 
 corum which was considered due to the 
 character of the place. She pettishly com- 
 plained of the tiresome babble of the Greek 
 priests, and the long litanies of the nuns. 
 She induced the czar to bring her musicians, 
 and the convent was profaned with concerts, 
 balls, and masquerades. She would not 
 even place any restraint upon her most 
 frivolous caprices ; and in this temper, in- 
 sisted on having a set of Polish cooks in- 
 stead of the Russian ones, as she protested 
 she could not eat the food prepared by the 
 latter. These circumstances were soon 
 spread abroad, and added considerably to 
 her unpopularity. Even so comparatively 
 unimportant a thing as the rejection of the 
 Russian cooks was converted into a religious 
 question; and the offended people said, 
 that the czar and his betrothed had brought 
 in pagan cooks, that they might break the 
 commands of the orthodox church with 
 respect to forbidden meats and fast days. 
 She also insisted in being married and 
 crowned in a Polish dress, though no czarina 
 ever went through those ceremonies except 
 in the national costume, consisting of a 
 head-dress, called kokoshnik, a gown hanging 
 straight down from above the bosom, and 
 boots with great iron-shod heels. Marina de- 
 clared that she would never consent to be 
 made such a fright of; but the affair was 
 taken up so seriously, that it was brought 
 
 101 
 
INSURRECTION AT MOSCOW.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1606. 
 
 A.D. 1606.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [murder of DMITRI. 
 
 before the council for their decision. This 
 was against the petulant girl, who was thus 
 compelled to conform to the national usages 
 for a single day. 
 
 The marriage and coronation took place 
 on the 18th of May ; but the czarina did 
 not abjure the Romish form of Christianity, 
 or the Latin heresy, as the Russians termed 
 it, as they had fully expected her to do. The 
 Poles, who were admitted into the cathedral 
 on the occasion, excited great scandal by 
 the levity of their behaviour. Some sat on 
 tombs that contained revered relics, others 
 laughed and talked aloud, and derided the 
 ceremonies of the Greek church. Their in- 
 tercourse with the Russians was altogether 
 marked by great insolence and barbarity of 
 manners. "It is we,'' said they to the 
 citizens, " who have given you a czar." 
 During the festivals that followed the mar- 
 riage, the Poles often, while in a state of 
 intoxication, drew their swords upon peace- 
 ful persons in the streets, and behaved with 
 disgusting effrontery to their wives and 
 daughters. Even the wives of the boyards 
 suffered insults from them, and, on some 
 occasions, were actually pursued to the 
 doors of their husbands. 
 
 The chief conspirator, Schuisky, rightly 
 conjectured that the fitting time for the 
 execution of his villany had arrived. Secret 
 meetings were held at his house, and im- 
 mediate action resolved upon. Agents 
 were chosen to go about among the people, 
 and declare Dmitri an impostor and a 
 heretic, and that the indiscriminate massacre 
 of the people, to which we have alluded, 
 was to take place on the 27th of the month. 
 One fellow was arrested while spreading 
 these reports; but his examination took 
 place before some of the boyards who were 
 in the conspiracy, and they informed the 
 czar that the language of the prisoner was 
 the incoherent raving of a drunkard. The 
 unsuspecting czar believed a report which 
 corresponded with his own impressions. 
 He believed that his troops were attached 
 to him, and that he was perfectly secure 
 against any attempts to shake his power. 
 Even the warnings of General Basmanof 
 and the Polish officers were utterly disre- 
 garded by him. So far from deeming that 
 danger was near, he seemed to think him- 
 self eminently secure. "I hold Moscow 
 and the empire in my hand," he remarked, 
 " and nothing shall be done in it but my 
 will." 
 
 The insurrection began during the night 
 103 
 
 of the 28th of May, only teii days after the 
 ill-fated marriage which had drawn down 
 on Dmitri his ruin. At daybreak on the 
 following morning the whole city was in a 
 savage tumult. In the great square. Prince 
 Schuisky and a number of boyards were 
 assembled on horseback, and arrayed in 
 armour. The people, still further inflamed 
 by the monks who mingled with them, were 
 assembling in vast numbers, and, with bar- 
 barous shouts and cries, preparing to storm 
 the Kremlin. Violence in this direction 
 was needless ; the guards within had been 
 tampered with, and at a signal from 
 Schuisky, one of the gates was thrown open. 
 The armed boyards and their followers 
 entered, followed by countless throngs of 
 the people, bearing axes and clubs. 
 
 Rebellion, to be successful, must ever be 
 associated with religion. In this case, the 
 Russian prelates were among its chief in- 
 stigators. The crafty Schuisky, however, 
 resolved to avail himself of every advantage 
 that might be derived by throwing the veil 
 of religion over a deed which, in him at 
 least, was selfish and criminal. Proceeding 
 to the church of the Assumption, he leapt 
 from his horse, and falling on his knees 
 before an image of one of the saints, appeared 
 for a few moments as if absorbed in prayer. 
 Then rising suddenly, as if inspired, he 
 brandished his sword with one hand, while 
 he grasped the crucifix with the other, and 
 shouted aloud, " Orthodox Christians, death 
 to the heretic I" The shout was re-echoed 
 by the people, accompanied by furious yells 
 and discordant shouts of execration. At 
 the same time the great bell of Moscow 
 rung out a solemn note of alarm, which was 
 responded to by all the church bells of the 
 
 city. 
 
 At this signal, the people yet in the 
 streets began to break into the houses of 
 the Poles, and to massacre the inhabitants 
 as they started from sleep in alarm. The 
 czar, who was aroused by the sound of 
 the bells, inquired the cause of the con- 
 fusion. It happened that one of the con- 
 spirators was on duty at the palace, and 
 he replied to his unsuspicious master, that 
 a great fire had broken out in the city ; and 
 then hurried off to join his comrades. But 
 the increasing uproar soon comduced Dmitri 
 that something more serious than a fi-e had 
 taken place. Having hastily dressed him- 
 self, he sent General Basmanof to ascer- 
 tain the actual state of affairs. The latter 
 beheld the outer court filled with an armed 
 
 and furious mob, who constantly yelled out 
 " Death to the impostor ! death to the 
 heretic !" Commanding the halberdiers to 
 stand to their arras, the faithful soldier 
 liurried back to his prince. He was fol- 
 lowed by one audacious conspirator into the 
 apartmeiit of the czar. " Well ! unlucky 
 emperor," exclaimed the fellow, "at last 
 thou art awake. Come and give an ac- 
 count of thyself to the people of Moscow." 
 Basmanof cleft the skull of the insolent 
 rufiian ; and then he and the czar prepared 
 to cut their way through the rebels who 
 were assembled around the peristyle of the 
 palace. Dmitri slew several Avho assailed 
 him, and appealed to others who had for- 
 merly been his adherents. Basmanof also 
 vainly attempted to recall the conspirators 
 to a sense of their duty. While thus en- 
 gaged, one whom he had recently saved 
 from banishment stabbed him to the heart, 
 exclaiming, as he did so, '' Go to hell, vil- 
 lain, with thy czar." 
 
 Dmitri and his guards were compelled to 
 retire into the interior of the palace, where 
 they barricaded themselves in chamber 
 after chamber, as the latter successively 
 yielded to the violence of the insurgents. 
 When the last apartment was forced, and 
 the guards compelled to surrender, it w^as 
 discovered that the czar had escaped. The 
 unfortunate man, hunted like a wolf, and 
 seeing the hopelessness of resistance to the 
 overwhelming multitudes of his howling 
 pursuers, laid down his sword, and leaped 
 from the window of a room in a retired 
 part of the palace. It was thirty feet to 
 the ground, and in the fall he broke his 
 \g^. No one was near; but the groans 
 which agony elicited from Dmitri brought 
 some soldiers to the spot. These men, who 
 Avere not in the conspiracy, on recognising 
 the czar, swore that they w^ould defend him 
 with their lives. The rebels soon found 
 out the retreat of the miserable prince, and 
 thronged tumultuously to the spot. They 
 induced the guards to lay down their arms 
 by a threat of slaughtering their wives and 
 children unless they did so. Dmitri was 
 then dragged back into the palace, which 
 by this time had been sacked by the mob. 
 His captors having torn off his royal gar- 
 ments, insultingly placed upon him the 
 dress of a menial, and brought him before 
 the assembled chief «onspirators, to un- 
 dergo the mockery of a trial. But the 
 brutal impatience of these men defeated 
 their object, and shortened the agony of 
 
 their victim. "Bastard dog," said one of 
 their number, " tell us who thou art, and 
 whence thou art come?" Collecting his 
 strength, the persecuted man replied, " You 
 all know that I am your czar, the legitimate 
 son of Ivan Vassilovitch. Ask my mother. 
 If you desire my death, give me time at 
 least to collect my senses." On this, one 
 of the numl)er, by rank a Russian gentle- 
 man, named Valuief, exclaimed passionately, 
 " What is the use of so much talk with the 
 heretic dog? This is the way I confess 
 this Pohsli fifer!" As he thus spoke, the 
 traitor shot Dmitri through the breast, and 
 laid him a corpse upon the floor. 
 
 Not satisfied with this savage act, the 
 conspirators abandoned the body to the 
 mob, w ho exhibited their barbarous fury by 
 hacking it with axes and sabres. Then 
 rolling it down the palace steps, they threw 
 it contemptuously upon that of his faithful 
 general Basmanof. "You were friends in 
 life," shouted the ruffians, in their savage 
 exultation; "go along to hell together." 
 The frenzy of the mob was not yet satisfied. 
 Eventually, they carried the bodies to the 
 place of execution, and exposed them upon 
 a table. There one man placed a set of 
 bagpipes on the breast of the murdered 
 czar, and thrust the pipe into the mouth of 
 the corpse, remarking, " You played upon 
 us long enough ; now play for us." Other 
 brutes lashed the mangled body with their 
 whips ; while the women, in the exhibition 
 of a frantic fury, even went beyond the 
 obscene ferocity of the men. 
 
 The murder of Dmitri was followed by 
 a frightful massacre of the Poles, who, 
 wherever they were met, were slaughtered 
 on the spot. Polish priests, musicians, 
 domestics, and other defenceless persons, 
 were murdered without mercy; but the 
 nobles and their armed adherents barri- 
 caded themselves within their strong-built 
 houses, and repelled their assailants with 
 volleys of musketry. About mid-day the 
 confusion abated, and Prince Schuisky and 
 the chief boyards of the council rode 
 through the streets, attended by a body of 
 troops, and pacified the people. They also 
 promised the Poles that their lives and pro- 
 perty should be respected, provided they 
 would remain within their houses until the 
 popular excitement had subsided. Amongst 
 those who escaped the slaughter was she 
 whose wanton caprices had partly occa- 
 sioned it. Marina, whose marriage festivi- 
 ties had terminated so tragicallv, eluded 
 
 103*^ 
 
 
 X 
 
SCHUISKY BECOMES CZAR.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1606. 
 
 the fury of the mob, who would probably 
 have toVn her limb from limb. When the 
 insurgents first burst into the palace, she 
 ran, in her night-dress only, to hide in the 
 cellars Unable to reach them on account 
 of the mob, who fortunately did not recog- 
 nise her, she returned to her own apart- 
 ments. There she was for a time concealed 
 by the grand-mistress of the palace, be- 
 neath the wide-hooped skirts of her dress, 
 while the door was defended by a Polish 
 chamberlain, sabre in hand. The door was 
 at length shattered by a volley of musketry, 
 which killed the Pole and one of the ladies of 
 the czarina's suite. The rufTians then poured 
 in and gratified their brutal appetites by 
 subjecting the trembling women to the 
 most insulting violence. Some of the chief 
 conspirators entering the chamber, drove 
 out the savages, and having detected Ma- 
 rina, placed her in secure custody. 
 
 The mangled body of Dmitri was exposed 
 for three days, in the place of execution, to 
 the gaze of the people. This was done 
 that, at least, no doubt might exist as to 
 his death. But the disgusting fury of the 
 assassins had defeated their purpose. The 
 corpse, bruised, mangled, and misshapen, 
 covered with blood and dirt, bore but little 
 resemblance to humanity. Certainly, no 
 one could recognise in that shocking mass 
 the handsome young man who, but a few 
 
 days before, had been seen glittering with 
 gold and jewels, and wearing on his open 
 brow the imperial crown. As the disfigured 
 features could not be identified, conjecture 
 was speedily at work ; and some of the 
 people suggested that Dmitri had again 
 escaped, and that some one else had fallen a 
 victim by mistake. Some persons even said 
 that the* dead man had a beard; while it 
 was well known that Dmitri had none. On 
 the third night a blue flame was observed 
 playing over the body, and this natural 
 result of putrefaction inspired the people 
 with a feehng of superstitious terror. The 
 corpse was therefore buried in a cemetery 
 beyond the city walls. As a hurricane 
 blew when Dmitri entered Moscow, so 
 another followed his mangled corpse out of 
 it. It was reported that supernatural events 
 followed even after the body had been placed 
 in the grave; and the affrighted people 
 whispered to each other, that the dead 
 Dmitri was a vampire, or one of those 
 wizards who, bv means of hell- born arts, 
 can rise at intervals from the grave, and 
 resume the functions of life. This wild 
 superstition was so generally believed, that 
 the authorities caused the body to be ex- 
 humed and burnt. The ashes were then 
 collected, mixed with gunpowder, rammed 
 into a cannon, and fired down the road 
 leading to Poland. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 PKINCE SCHUISKY IS PROCLAIMED CZAR ; IT IS RUMOURED THAT DMITRI IS ALIVE ; INSURRECTION IN HIS 
 FAVOUR ; SIEGE OF TOULA ; APPEARANCE OF A SECOND FALSE DMITRI ; MARINA ASSERTS HIM TO BE HER 
 HUSBAND ; THE KING OF POLAND INVADES RUSSIA, AND LAYS SIEGE TO SMOLENSK ; SCHUISKY IS DEPOSED ; 
 MURDER OF THE PRETENDER DMITRI J AN INTERREGNUM ; THE POLES COMPELLED TO ABANDON RUSSIA. 
 
 AVe now approach a period of anarchy and 
 national danger. Russia was to pass through 
 one of those fiery ordeals in which nations 
 are sometimes extinguished ; while at others 
 they emerge from them endued with a 
 renewed strength and a better life. The 
 overjoyed Muscovites neglected to proceed 
 at once to the election of a new sovereign : 
 ^or several days they were entirely occupied 
 in celebrating their brutal triumph. The 
 ambitious Prince Schuisky then directed 
 his adherents to proclaim him as the czar — a 
 104 
 
 result with which bribes and intimidations 
 induced the council to comply. Imme- 
 diately upon his assumption of the regal 
 authority, Schuisky took an oath not to 
 punish any one without the advice and con- 
 sent of the boyards ; not to visit the offences 
 of the fathers on the children ; and never to 
 revenge himself in any way on those who 
 had offended him dmring preceding reigns. 
 Dreading the anger of the Poles, Schuisky 
 also sent an ambassador to Sigismund III., 
 witli directions to represent the late czar as 
 
 A.D. 1606.] 
 
 an impostor, who had deceived both Poland 
 and Russia. But Sigismund had deter- 
 mined to revenge the recent slaughter of 
 his subjects at Moscow, and he would not 
 
 even permit the ambassador to approach 
 him. 
 
 By his irregular assumption of the crown, 
 Schuisky had taken both the Russian people 
 and nobles by surprise. He had never been 
 popular with the latter, who now felt that 
 they had merely been used as steps to 
 enable him to ascend the throne. They 
 felt that, had the people been allowed to 
 elect a czar for themselves, they mij<ht have 
 competed with him for that illustrious posi- 
 tion. The new sovereign also, despite the 
 oath he had taken, was unable to conceal 
 his dislike to old opponents ; and he showed 
 that he was ready to become a tyrant as 
 soon as he could assume a despotic bearing 
 with safety. Like many other utterly worth^ 
 less persons, Schuisky affected a great devo- 
 tion to orthodox religion, and he made 
 large promises to the clergy, bv whicii 
 means he obtained their support ;*^ but this 
 did not balance the indifference, if not dis- 
 hke, of the people, and the bitter animosity 
 of the nobles. The latter actively dissemi- 
 nated their feelings of antipathy to the czar, 
 which soon became almost universal through- 
 out the country ; and he who had been the 
 chief of the late conspiracy, appeared likely 
 to become the victim of a new one. So 
 fleeting is popular favour, so rapid its re- 
 actionary power ! 
 
 Credulity and ignorance are natural, and 
 indeed inseparable, companions. In the 
 unsettled state of society which now existed 
 in Russia, the people were disposed to credit 
 the wildest assertions, and tlie nobles to 
 encourage any reports which threatened to 
 endanger the throne of the czar, whom they 
 hated and burned to depose. It might be 
 supposed that the last had been heard of 
 Dmitri, and that the memory of that unfor- 
 tunate pretender was scon to be engulfed in 
 oblivion. Had he survived the insurrec- 
 tion, it would be supposed that death would 
 be the penalty of his making himself known. 
 Such does not seem to be the case; for 
 rumours that Dmitri was still living were 
 received with avidity and satisfaction. ''Many 
 denied that the mangled body exposed in 
 the place of execution was that of the late 
 czar, and affirmed it to be the corpse of an 
 officer who had been accidentally murdered 
 instead of him by mistake. Some swift 
 horses were missed from the royal stable, 
 
 VOL. I. p 
 
 RUSSIA N EMPIRE. [ dmitri reported living. 
 
 from whence they had no doubt been stolen 
 by the mob; but it was supposed that 
 Dmitri, by means of them, had escaped 
 during the tumult of the insurrection. 
 Three strangers in Russian attire, but 
 speaking the Polish language, crossed the 
 Oka in a boat ; and one of them gave the 
 ferryman six ducats, observing, as he did so, 
 " You have ferried the czar ; when he comes 
 back to Moscow with a Polish armv, he will 
 not forget this service." Similar language 
 was held by the same party at an inn m 
 the direction of Putivle. It was eventually 
 ascertained that one of them was Prince 
 Shakhofskoi, who, upon the death of Dmitri, 
 had, in anticipation of a revolution of popu- 
 lar feeling, immediately conceived the idea 
 of finding a new impostor to personate the 
 dead one— a device which might, perhaps, 
 enable the prince to place a creature of his 
 own upon the throne. 
 
 The incompetent Schuisky held the sceptre 
 with so feeble a grasp, that the laws were 
 openly violated, and confusion prevailed 
 throughout the empire. The nobles, who 
 regarded the new czar not only with feel- 
 ings of anger and jealousy, but considered 
 him also as a political trickster, pretended 
 to believe the rumours concerning Dmitri 
 with the hope that they might yet be able 
 to dethrone Schuisky, and set up some 
 puppet in his stead, whom they would permit 
 to reign until they had come to a better ' 
 
 understanding amongst themselves. 
 
 The startled czar devised a plan which, 
 he trusted, would at once silence these idle 
 but dangerous reports. He had the grave 
 of the real Prince Dmitri, at Uglitch, 
 opened, and the body of the unfortunate 
 boy removed to Moscow, and canonised by 
 the patriarch. It w^as remarked that the 
 corpse, though it had lain in the grave for 
 fifteen years, was in a state of perfect pre- 
 servation ; that the hue of life was upon it; 
 and that, in its hands, it held some nuts— an 
 incident which seemed inconsistent with 
 the received details of the boy's death. 
 This circumstance eventually led to the no 
 doubt calumnious report, that Schuisky had 
 substituted the body of a newly-murdered 
 boy for that of the decomposed Dmitri. 
 For the present, however, it was reported 
 that miracles were performed by the remains 
 of the martyred prince ; but these gross in- 
 ventions took no root in the behef of the 
 people, and were soon disregarded. Another 
 proceeding of the czar would probably have 
 had considerable effect, if his conduct had 
 
 105 
 
 f--\ 
 
INSURRECTION TO RESTORE DMITRI.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1607. 
 
 A.D. 1607.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [the second false dmitri. 
 
 not been such as to destroy his character 
 for truth and honour. He obtained from 
 the czarina (the widow of Ivan), a declara- 
 tion that the impostor Gregory Otrepief, 
 the late czar, had threatened to put her and 
 all her family to death, unless she acknow- 
 ledged him as her son; so that she had 
 merely supported his false claims for the 
 sake of saving her life. She was not be- 
 lieved; but it was assumed that she acted 
 under intimidation rather on this occasion 
 than on the former one. 
 
 A popular belief in the existence of 
 Dmitri still existed, and an insurrection 
 was actually got up in the cause of a 
 phantom. Of this, Prince Shakhofskoi was 
 the chief mover. He excited the inhabit- 
 ants of Putivle to rise in arms; and, with 
 the assistance of a body of Cossacks and 
 peasants, successfully resisted the forces 
 which Schuisky sent against them. Though 
 this success wonderfully increased the num- 
 bers of the insurgents, still no czar Dmitri 
 made his appearance to lead them. Not- 
 withstanding this, one Ivan Bolotnikof 
 arrived from Poland with a commission, 
 bearing, he asserted, the imperial seal of 
 Dmitri, and conferring on the bearer the 
 command of the insurgent forces. This 
 adventurer had been a serf, who had suffered 
 imprisonment amongst the Turks, and, 
 having escaped from them to Venice, had 
 acquired some military knowledge in flie 
 service of the republic. His commission 
 -was recognised; he was installed in the 
 command; and, shortly afterwards, twice 
 defeated the forces of the incompetent czar. 
 But the non-appearance of the supposed 
 living Dmitri damped the ardour of the 
 rebels, and many of them deserted from the 
 visionary cause, which they began to feel 
 they had too readily embraced. In conse- 
 quence of this defection, Bolotnikof was 
 defeated by Skopin Schuisky, the nephew 
 of the czar, and compelled to take shelter 
 in the fortress of Kaluga. 
 
 Prince Shakhofskoi appears to have been 
 unable, during this period, to meet with 
 any unprincipled person, suited by nature 
 and education, to personate the murdered 
 czar Dmitri. Under these circumstances, 
 the impostor, who had taken the name of 
 Peter Feodorovitch, and assumed to be the 
 son of the czar Feodor and his consort 
 Irene, made his appearance at Putivle, and 
 offered himself to Shakhofskoi and the 
 people as regent, during the absence of his 
 uncle. Under other circumstances, the 
 106 
 
 audacious adventurer would probably have 
 been put to death for his traitorous and 
 insolent pretensions ; but as the rebels were 
 terribly in want of some colouring for their 
 conduct, any royal name was acceptable. The 
 offer was received, and the assumed czare- 
 vitch, Peter, welcomed with acclamations. 
 
 The czar Schuisky resolved to make a 
 decisive effort to crush a rebellion which 
 distracted the empire and poisoned his peace 
 of mind. Collecting an army of 100,000 
 men, he took the field in person, and be- 
 sieged the rebel chiefs in the strongly-forti- 
 fied town of Toula, where they had taken 
 refuge. The rebels, despairing of pardon if 
 they were defeated, 'fought with a reckless 
 fury which drove their assailants to a re- 
 spectful distance, and prevented Schuisky 
 from being able to take the place. The 
 czar began to despair of success, when one 
 day a priest, named Kravkof, presented him- 
 self before the council, and said he would 
 communicate a plan which, if followed, 
 would drown both the inhabitants and gar- 
 rison of Toula. On being desired to explain 
 himself, he called their attention to the fact 
 that Toula is situated in a valley, and that 
 the little river Cupa ran through the town. 
 This river he ingeniously proposed to dam 
 up below the town ; and he pledged himself 
 that, within a few hours after that operation, 
 it would be under w^ater. The scheme was 
 adopted, and a bank of earth raised across 
 the stream. The project, though partially 
 successful, was not entirely so. An inunda- 
 tion which did much mischief was produced, 
 but the water did not rise in the town to 
 such a height as to destroy the lives of the 
 inhabitants. Still the garrison held out 
 manfully, though suffering from famine and 
 a severe epidemic. Besiegers and besieged 
 laboured incessantly at the dam ; the first to 
 maintain it, and the latter to break it down. 
 The superstitious inhabitants believed it 
 could not have been raised without the as- 
 sistance of niagical power, and they attempted 
 to resort to the same supernatural means for 
 its destruction. Wizards and exorcists are, 
 in barbarous times, soon found when they 
 are wanted ; and it is well known that men 
 have actually believed themselves to be pos- 
 sessed by the spirit of concentrated evil, or 
 to have power over him. A monk of Toula 
 presented himself before the rebel chiefs, 
 and boasted that he possessed the power 
 of controlling the agents of darkness. He 
 made the somewhat suspicious offer of over- 
 throwing the infernal schemes of the enemy 
 
 on consideration of a reward of a hundred 
 roubles. His proposal was accepted, and, 
 stripping off his clothes, he plunged into the 
 swollen river, and was lost to sight. As 
 some time passed without his reappearance, 
 he was given up for dead. After the lapse 
 of an hour, however, he rose to the sur- 
 face, with his body covered with scratches. 
 These he accounted for by saying, *' I have 
 just had to do with the twelve thousand 
 devils at work on Schuisky's dam. I have 
 settled six thousand of them, but the others 
 are the worst of all, and will not give in.^^ 
 
 The garrison and inhabitants of Toula 
 still held bravely out, despite the inunda- 
 tion, and the terrible effects of famine, 
 which were felt more severely every day. 
 Rumours that Dmitri was coming to their 
 assistance with an army, supported and sus- 
 tained them ; but it is needless to say, that 
 he did not make his appearance. Yet such 
 was the indomitable spirit of the Cossacks, 
 that when Prince Shakhofskoi, the principal 
 conspirator, proposed to capitulate, they in- 
 dignantly thrust him into a dungeon. At 
 length, all the horses, dogs, and carrion of 
 the town were consumed, and the hour 
 of inevitable submission approached. The 
 town was surrendered to the czar on con- 
 dition of an amnesty being granted to the 
 garrison and inhabitants ; but the leaders of 
 the insurrection were not included in this 
 act of grace. Bolotnikof, though a rebel, 
 was at the least a brave man, and such a 
 one as a generous sovereign would have 
 pardoned. He approached the czar with 
 an undaunted air, and presenting his sword 
 with the edge turned towards his neck, 
 said — " I have kept the oath I swore to 
 him who, rightfully or wrongfully, calls 
 himself Dmitri. Deserted by him, I am in 
 thy power. Cut off my head if thou wilt ; 
 or if thou wilt spare my life, I will serve 
 thee as faithfully as I served him.'' This 
 manly appeal did not affect Schuisky. He 
 sent the bold rebel to a distant prison, 
 where he was soon after put to death. 
 As to the impostor Peter Feodorovitch, 
 Schuisky caused him to be hanged at once ; 
 but Shakhofskoi, whom he found in a 
 dungeon, had the address to obtain his 
 liberty, by persuading the czar that he had 
 been so treated iu consequence of an at- 
 tempt to induce the rebels to return to their 
 allegiance. 
 
 While Schuisky was engaged in the 
 attempt to crush rebellion at Toula, it ap- 
 peared in a more dangerous form else- 
 
 where. A new impostor arose in the fron- 
 tier town of Starodub, and boldly pro- 
 claimed himself to be the czar Dmitri. 
 The audacity of the attempt was remark- 
 able ; for the new speculator, in a game 
 where the stakes were a crown or the 
 scaffold, did not bear any resemblance to 
 the unfortunate man whose name he 
 assumed. Dmitri was at least a prince in 
 his appearance, manners, and education ; 
 but the new candidate for a sceptre or a 
 grave was a vulgar and ignorant fellow, 
 whose numerous deficiencies for the part he 
 assumed to play, were supplied only by a 
 daring effrontery. The original position of 
 the man was a humble one, though some 
 doubt exists as to its exact nature. Some 
 writers aver that he was a Russian school- 
 master; others, that he was a Polish Jew, 
 named Michael Moltchanof. 
 
 Such was the unsettled state of the 
 country, the knavery of some of the people, 
 and the credulity of others, that the new 
 twice-murdered Dmitri not onlv obtained 
 numerous adherents, but was even received 
 with enthusiasm. Zurucki, a Polish adven- 
 turer, who had become a leader of the 
 Cossacks of the Don, and had won distinc- 
 tion in the service of the first Dmitri, 
 entered that of the new pretender, and im- 
 pudently declared that he recognised him 
 as the late czar. Miechawiecki, another 
 Pole, who had held a distinguished position 
 in the court of the first Dmitri, also affected 
 to recognise his master in the new in- 
 triguant. Indeed, the latter was secretly 
 instructed by Miechawiecki in the details 
 connected with his assumed character. 
 
 Dmitri — as, for the purpose of avoiding 
 circumlocution, we shall call the new im- 
 postor — grew rapidly in popularity and in 
 strength. He defeated a considerable force 
 sent against him by the czar, and advanced 
 as far as the town of Kozelsk, on the road 
 to the capital ; though he was compelled to 
 retire when Schuisky had made himself 
 master of Toula. Still adherents flocked to 
 the adventurer; and many Polish officers 
 of distinction joined his standard, together 
 with large bodies of their countrymen. 
 Amongst them was Prince Adam Wiszino- 
 wiecki, who brought with him 2,000 armed 
 horsemen. This unprincipled noble knew 
 at a glance that the new pretender was not 
 the Dmitri whom he had been the first to 
 assist ; still he countenanced the deception, 
 in the hope of being able to place a puppet 
 of his countrymen on the throne of Russia. 
 
 107 
 
ffTRUGGLE FOR THE SCEPTRE.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1608—1609. 
 
 A.D. 1609—1610.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [fall of schuiskt 
 
 
 Schuisky directed his forces against his 
 new antagonist ; and in the month of April, 
 1608, they were defeated, with great 
 slaughter, by those of the pretender, near 
 the banks of the Volkhof. The routed 
 forces of the czar fled in disorder to Mos- 
 cow ; and the capital itself was in danger of 
 falling into the hands of Dmitri and his 
 followers. It had been suggested, that the 
 Polish leaders were not disposed to bring 
 the war to a speedy conclusion. Whatever 
 was the cause, they halted about twelve 
 versts from Moscow, at the village of 
 Tushino, where Dmitri established both his 
 camp and court. From this circumstance, 
 his opponents gave him the name of " the 
 Robber of Tushino." 
 
 We mentioned that Marina, the young 
 wife of the czar Dmitri, had escaped the 
 massacre that accompanied the insurrection 
 to which her husband fell a victim. She 
 and her father, the Palatine Sandomir, had, 
 since that period, been kept in confinement 
 by Schuisky, who now thought it politic to 
 liberate them ; only exacting a pledge that 
 they would not bear arms against Russia, 
 or favour the new pretender. He then 
 allowed them to depart, under the protec- 
 tion of a small escort. It was intercepted 
 by a body of Poles from Tushino, who 
 brought to the disgraced czarina and her 
 father a letter from the assumed Dmitri. 
 " Come," said the document, " both of you 
 to me, instead of going into Poland to hide 
 yourselves from the world^s scorn." No 
 doubt little choice was left to the humbled 
 girl and her father, as they were in effect 
 prisoners to the band who had crossed 
 their path ; but they went without much 
 unwillingness to pay a visit to "the Rob- 
 ber." Marina, frivolous and wanton, long- 
 ing for the pleasures which she associated 
 with the enjoyment of royalty, and burning 
 for revenge upon those who had murdered 
 her husband and harled her from splen- 
 dour to desolation, was willing even to 
 acknowledge a vulgar impostor to be her 
 husband, and to share the bed of one who 
 might, perhaps, be able to replace the im- 
 perial diadem upon her brow. On being 
 brought into the presence of the man whom 
 she was to acknowledge as the husband to 
 whom he bore no resemblance, the natural 
 womanly emotions of Marina made her re- 
 coil from so impudent a deception. What 
 delicacy she possessed rose within in insur- 
 rection against the abandoned part she was 
 playing. It was a painful thing at once to 
 108 
 
 lay aside her modesty, and to become, 
 morally speaking, a harlot, though the re- 
 ward for her offence might be grandeur and 
 revenge. But she had made her choice; and, 
 at a second interview, she publicly embraced 
 the impostor as her husband, and apolo- 
 gised for her former coldness, which she 
 said arose only from a doubt that what she 
 beheld was perhaps but a delusion, and 
 that she could not at once believe her dear 
 Dmitri to be alive again. 
 
 This recognition of the adventurer by 
 Marina greatly assisted his cause. The 
 people reasoned that it was not possible that 
 a wife could be deceived as to the identity 
 of her husband ; and as they were not dis- 
 posed to suspect her of falsehood, they con- 
 cluded that the present Dmitri was, indeed, 
 the czar. But the chief strength of the 
 pretender lay in his Polish adherents, who 
 were disliked by the Russians, and divided 
 amongst themselves. Such was the jealous 
 feeling with which their commanders re- 
 garded each other, that it became necessary 
 to resort to the dangerous expedient oi 
 separating them. Dmitri sent Sapieha with 
 a force, amounting to 30,000 men and sixty 
 cannon, to reduce the monastery and for- 
 tress of the Trinity, near Moscow. This 
 place conferred a considerable moral support 
 or sanction to whoever held it. The monks 
 adhered to Schuisky ; and so valuable was 
 their aid in influencing the loyalty of the 
 people, that it was considered the loss of the 
 monastery would go far towards promoting 
 his ruin. , 
 
 Sapieha and his Poles were, notwith- 
 standing their numerical force, unable to 
 take the monastery. Subjected to harassing 
 attacks from the surrounding peasantry, 
 they were at length defeated in a sanguinary 
 engagement, and compelled to retire for 
 shelter within the walls of Dmitrof. Skopin. 
 Schuisky and James de la Gardie, assisted 
 by 5,000 Swedish auxiliaries, had taken the 
 field for the czar in the spring of 1609, and 
 gained many successes, by which the aspect 
 of the war was changed. It was Skopin 
 who defeated Sapielia; but the jealousy o* 
 the czar induced him to recall his brave 
 relative to the capital, where, two months 
 aftei wards, he died suddenly — a circum- 
 stance which brought upon Schuisky the 
 odium of having poisoned him. 
 
 The Kmg of Poland, though he had de- 
 ferred his design of revenge for the massacre 
 of his subjects at Moscow, had not abandoned 
 it. In September, 1609, Sigismund, having 
 
 declared war, entered Russia with a small 
 army, and laid siege to the important town 
 of Smolensk. Most of the Poles who had 
 ' hitherto followed Dmitri, obeyed the com- 
 mand of their sovereign, and flocked to his 
 standard — a circumstance which reduced the 
 pretender to great distress and danger, 
 though he yet held possession of Kaluga, 
 Toula, and other places. 
 
 Amidst all this confusion and crash of 
 selfish interests, the country was falling into 
 a distracted state. Governed by a powerless 
 czar, torn by an unprincipled and factious 
 nobility, furrowed by the tracks of opposing 
 armies, it naturally followed that commerce 
 was oppressed, civilisation driven back, and 
 the coherence of the empire itself endan- 
 gered. Those calamities also arose which are 
 ever found in a disordered state. Bands of 
 Polish mercenaries offered their services to 
 the highest bidder, and lived upon plunder, 
 until they were hired to slay their fellow- 
 men for any reason whatever. A powerful 
 and worthless Russian noble, Procope Lia- 
 punof, also indulged his appetite for blood 
 und plunder at the expense of his suffering 
 country. Having no valid claim to put for- 
 ward, he assumed to be greatly interested in 
 religion, and proclaimed himself the defender 
 of the faith : his pretensions were of little 
 importance; but what he did was to carry 
 on a war of extermination against the ad- 
 herents of either Schuisky or Dmitri. This 
 necessarily placed him in a hostile position 
 towards the great mass of the people ; and 
 such was the brutality of his nature, that a 
 Russian chronicler applied to him the re- 
 mark which had been in past times made 
 use of concerning Attila : *' No grass grew 
 where his horse's hoof had trod." 
 
 During the seven years that the unprin- 
 cipled and incompetent Schuisky occupied 
 the throne, Russia was a prey to desolating 
 anarchy and civil war. Ill-fortune almost 
 constantly attended the proceedings of this 
 poor shadow of an imperial ruler. An army 
 of nearly 60,000 men, consisting partly of 
 Swiss mercenaries, whom he sent to the 
 relief of Smolensk, was disgracefully de- 
 feated at Tushino by the veteran Polish 
 general Zolkiewski, at the head of a very 
 small army of his countrymen. 
 
 Smolensk surrendered to Sigismund : the 
 power of the czar Schuisky had been anni- 
 hilated by the Poles, who, led by Zolkiewski, 
 directed their march upon the capital, where 
 the people were in a state of insurrection. 
 The fortunes of the pretended Dmitri were 
 
 thus again raised from the dust, for the 
 Poles advocated his cause, and claimed for 
 him the Russian sceptre. The citizens of 
 Moscow, finding the Polish army thundering 
 at their gates, were thrown into a state of 
 consternation. In this position they resorted 
 to cunning, and rested their hope of escape 
 from destruction in an attempt to create 
 division between Dmitri and the Poles. 
 They accordingly opened their gates to the 
 latter; and, delivering their czar Schuisky 
 and his two brothers to Zolkiewski, professed 
 their willingness to place Uladislas, or Ladis- 
 las, the son of Sigismund, the Polish king, 
 upon the throne of Russia. The offer was 
 accepted, and the prince proclaimed. The 
 deposed Schuisky, fearing that assassination 
 might follow on his fall from power, obtained 
 permission to retire into a monastery. The 
 Poles, however, did not long leave him even 
 in this obscure retreat. As a punishment 
 for the indignities he had heaped upon the 
 husband of Marina, they threw him into a 
 prison, where he lingered out the remainder 
 of his worthless life. 
 
 The pretended Dmitri was scarcely more 
 fortunate. The Poles abandoned his cause 
 when Uladislas was proclaimed czar of 
 Russia, and the adventurer then became 
 little better than a robber and a public 
 pest. Having lost all hope of ascending 
 the throne of Moscow, he kept up his 
 camp at Kaluga, surrounded by ferocious 
 gangs of Cossacks and Tartars, who ob- 
 tained their support by plundering the 
 neighbouring country. At length he was 
 murdered by a Tartar chieftain, in revenge 
 for having taken the life of one of the 
 countrymen of the latter. Shortly after 
 the death of the impostor, Marina became 
 the mother of a son, to whom the followers 
 of the late Dmitri swore allegiance. That 
 poor infant, however, was not to become a 
 brand of discord in the country of its birth ; 
 its little life was soon to be tragically ex- 
 tinguished. 
 
 After the deposition of Schuisky, Russia 
 had, in fact, no ruler, and an interregnum 
 existed. Pretenders arose almost daily, 
 and disappeared with as much rapidity ; 
 the Russian nobles abandoned themselves 
 to the most grasping avarice; universal 
 disorder prevailed ; and the empire was 
 swayed by an incessant fluctuation of 
 names and authorities. Not only Poland, 
 but Sweden, also, aimed at becoming mas- 
 ters of this immense territory. The son of 
 the Polish sovereign had been proclaimed, 
 
 109 
 
! ^ 
 
 INTERREGNUM.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1612. 
 
 A.D 1612.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the ROMANOFFS. 
 
 f«! 
 
 and even invited to Moscow to assume the 
 imperial dignity. But here a difficulty 
 arose : a condition had been made, that 
 before Uladislas could ascend the Russian 
 throne, he should adopt the Greek form of 
 Christianity. Sigismund, though he had 
 agreed to this condition, was not disposed 
 to fulfil it. He first hesitated, and then 
 refused. His motives might have been con- 
 scientious ones ; but it is said that he re- 
 pented having nominated his son to the 
 sovereignty of Russia, instead of having 
 secured the crown of the northern empire 
 for himself. Whatever was the cause, his 
 vacillation was fatal to his ambition. Zol- 
 kiewski, incensed at the conduct of his 
 master, and still more so that he could not 
 obtain money for the payment of his troops, 
 returned in disgust to Poland, leaving his 
 countrymen in Moscow under the com- 
 mand of a leader of little or no military 
 talent. 
 
 The people of Moscow now began to re- 
 flect upon their conduct in reference to 
 recent events. They saw that their na- 
 tionality was at stake : a revulsion of feel- 
 ing took place ; and a sense of something 
 approaching to patriotism sprung up amongst 
 them. Was Russia to remain a powerful 
 empire, or become a dependency of the 
 comparatively little kingdom of Poland? 
 No less a question was now to be decided. 
 Moreover, its religion was at stake ; for the 
 Russians soon began to perceive, that after 
 the election of a catholic czar, there was no 
 security for the Greek religion. This re- 
 flection decided the clergy; who, as if 
 roused from a strange slumber, devoted 
 themselves with untiring energy to arousing 
 the national feelings of the people. At the 
 call of the patriarch Hermogenes, they 
 armed themselves arid rose in hostility 
 against the Polish garrisons. A furious 
 contest followed, and great slaughter took 
 place on both sides. After burning down a 
 considerable part of Moscow, the Poles took 
 refuge within the Kremlin. There, en- 
 compassed by the walls of this old heart of 
 the empire, which the Russians deemed 
 polluted by the presence of foreign in- 
 truders, the Poles were besieged by three 
 armies from the Russian provinces. Of 
 these, the only really formidable one was 
 that led by Procope Liapunof — the turbu- 
 lent noble who had hitherto plundered and 
 slaughtered both Poles and Russians alikcj 
 110 
 
 in the name of religion, of which he as- 
 sumed himself to be the defender. But 
 this human nuisance was assassinated, 
 and his disheartened followers dispersed. 
 Still the siege of the Kremlin was main- 
 tained, though the country generally seemed 
 abandoned to irretrievable confusion, and 
 almost inevitable partition. Kasan and 
 Viatka proclaimed the infant son of Marina 
 as their sovereign ; the citizens of Nov- 
 gorod, out of hatred to the Poles, offered 
 the crown to Charles Philip, the second son 
 of the reigning king of Sweden ; while at 
 Plcskof, another impostor arose, and calling 
 himself Dmitri, claimed the Russian sceptre: 
 the knavery of this fellow, however, soon 
 became apparent : he was identified as a 
 fugitive monk: and after adding for a 
 while to the distraction of his country, 
 met the fate he deserved, and was hanged. 
 
 But in the career of nations, as in that of 
 men, the hour of the blackest darkness is 
 commonly followed by that of the gray 
 streaks of dawn; the time of the severest 
 danger and most painful trial, by one of at 
 least tranquillity and repose. Thus, when 
 the fate of the empire seemed doomed, 
 there arose a man of the people, w^ho, in- 
 fluenced by a powerful sense of patriotism, 
 succeeded in reviving the drooping energies 
 of his countrymen, aroused their nationality, 
 and induced them to unite their efforts. 
 Once again the cry rang throughout the 
 land, of '^ Russia for the Russians.^' This 
 man, Kozma Miuin, was merely a butcher ; 
 but his unselfish energy obtained him so 
 much popularity, that he was called "the 
 Elect of the whole Russian empire.'' Through 
 his exertions, a Russian army, under Prince 
 Pojarski, took the field, dislodged the Poles 
 from the Kremlin, and, after a severe strug- 
 gle, forced them to abandon the empire. 
 The Polish monarch now saw the mistake 
 he had made, and was willing that his son 
 should adopt the Greek faith, so that he 
 might rule the great empire of the north. 
 It w^as too late ; the Russians were now 
 thoroughly aroused, and they treated his 
 offers to that effect with disdain. Sigis- 
 mund would have renewed the conflict, and 
 endeavoured to force the Russians to sub- 
 mit to his wishes ; but his own subjects 
 were not disposed to enter into another war, 
 and he was very unwillingly forced to sub- 
 mit, at least for a time, to a state of things 
 which he could not avert. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 ASSEMBLY OF DEPUTIES TO ELECT A NEW" CZAR ; THE ROMANOFF FAMILY ; MICHAEL ROMANOFF ELECTED AS 
 CZAR ; AN OATH LIMITING HIS AUTHORITY IS REQUIRED FROM HIM ; THE SETTLING DOWN OF THE ELE- 
 MENTS OF DISCORD ; UNSUCCESSFUL WARS WITH SWEDEN AND POLAND ; MICHAEL CONFERS THE DIGNITY 
 OF PATRIARCH UPON HIS FATHER, AND SHARES THE GOVERNMENT WITH HIM ; CHARACTER AND DEATH 
 OF MICHAEL. 
 
 The seven years of discord which had pre- 
 vailed in Russia were drawing to a close. 
 The expulsion of the Poles left the nation at 
 liberty to proceed as it pleased with respect 
 to the formation of a government. Anarchy, 
 and the misery which ever attends it, had 
 exerted a purifying influence upon the 
 nobles and people ; and the emotion of 
 patriotism obtained that sway over them 
 which it commonly has over all civilised 
 states. It has been observed, that the Rus- 
 sians " felt that the last spring of hope was 
 within themselves. That it was worse than 
 fruitless to place any trust in the protec- 
 tion and fosterage of neighbouring states, 
 who only made their necessities an excuse 
 for preying upon the last fragments of 
 their means; and that security for life or 
 property could not be obtained through 
 an^ other measure than the establish- 
 ment of the sovereignty in the person of 
 some man who should combine the qualities 
 of the statesman with that loftiness of cha- 
 racter which should elevate him above the 
 reach of faction.'' 
 
 Rulers of this kind are at all times de- 
 sirable ; but they are not commonly to be 
 found. It is not likely that the vicious 
 nobility of Russia could furnish one. But 
 the attempt must be made; and in the 
 month of November, 1612, the boyards of 
 the council summoned the inhabitants of 
 every town throughout the empire imme- 
 diately to send deputies to Moscow, to meet 
 in national council, and proceed to the elec- 
 tion of a new czar. To render the occasion 
 the more solemn, and also with the object of 
 obtaining the blessing of heaven upon it, a 
 national fast of three days was proclaimed, 
 and most rigorously observed. 
 
 The election took place during Lent, in 
 the year 1613; but the new czar had pre- 
 viously been chosen. Two of the ancient 
 princes of Russia declined to put forward 
 any claim for a crown, the possession of 
 which would probably expose them to the 
 iealous animosity of their peers. Few others 
 
 were able to obtain the confidence of the 
 people ; while it was useless for any candi- 
 date to start from the ranks of the latter, as 
 the nobility would have instantly combined 
 to dethrone him, on account of the humility 
 of his origin. After much debate and hesi- 
 tation, the name of Michael Romanoff was 
 generally pronounced as the person to 
 whom the destinies of his country were to 
 be entrusted. 
 
 This Romanoff was a youth only, in his 
 seventeenth year; and the election by the 
 people of such a person did not, as Voltaire 
 has observed, seem to be the surest way of 
 putting an end to their troubles. His fitness 
 for the distinguished position of ruler of the 
 Russian empire was somewhat of a negative 
 character, and consisted largely of his not 
 being obnoxious to the nobility, and less 
 likely, therefore, to excite their jealousy. 
 At the same time it must be remarked, that 
 he came of a family which enjoyed the con- 
 fidence of the people, and of a father who 
 was generally esteemed by them. On the 
 female side the Romanoffs were distantly 
 related to the extinct dynasty of Ruric. 
 Michael was himself too young to have any 
 strongly-marked character, or to be at all 
 known to the people; but great reliance 
 was placed on his father Philaretes, who had 
 inflexibly asserted the independence of the 
 empire under the least hopeful aspects. 
 One circumstance might have militated 
 against the general feeling in favour of the 
 young Michael. The family was not of a 
 Russian stock. Its founder is said to have 
 been an obscure Prussian, who settled in 
 Russia about 1350; but, for two centuries 
 and a-half, all who bore the name had been 
 distinguished for public virtue, national 
 zeal, and brilliant achievements. At the 
 time of the election, Philaretes was a captive 
 in Poland ; for he was one of several ambas- 
 sadors whom Sigismund, regardless of the 
 generous fiction which deems the persons 
 of such officers to be sacred, had carried 
 away with him when he abandoned Russia. 
 
 Ill 
 
MICHAET. ELECTED CZAR.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 AD. 1613. 
 
 X.D. 1616—1620.] 
 
 "Hfi 
 
 Though Philaretes contrived to communi- 
 cate with the council of the boyards, and 
 use his influence in the election, it is said 
 that he had no idea the imperial honour 
 would be conferred upon his son. 
 
 The day of election came, and the choice 
 fell upon Michael Romanoff. His name 
 was received with acclamation, and he was 
 chosen by the unanimous voice of the as- 
 sembly. Certain conditions considered 
 requisite were fulfilled in him. "There 
 were but three surviving members in his 
 family,'' says Strahlenberg ; " he had not 
 been implicated in the preceding troubles ; 
 his father was an ecclesiastic, and in conse- 
 quence, naturally more disposed to secure 
 peace and union, than to mix himself up in 
 turbulent projects.'' 
 
 Michael Romanoff was unwilling to ac- 
 cept the crown ; he remembered the fate of 
 Boris, Dmitri, and Schuisky, and declined 
 the offered dignity. He had lived in strict 
 retirement with his mother; and that lady, 
 on the arrival of the deputies, entreated 
 them, with tears in her eyes, to spare her 
 son the intended distinction. Decisions of 
 this kind are, however, seldom persevered 
 in ; and upon the repetition of the offer, it 
 was accepted. While the power was yet in 
 the hands of the people, they wisely re- 
 solved to obtain some recognition from the 
 newly-elected czar, of the duties as well as 
 of the right of his exalted position — some 
 guarantee, or at least solemn promise, that 
 lie would not abuse the sacred trust reposed 
 in him. With this object, they proposed to 
 him the following oath, which, as it placed 
 a rational limitation on the hitherto abso- 
 lute power of the czar, would, if rigidly ob- 
 served, have transformed the government 
 from a despotism to something resembling 
 what in England we call a constitutional 
 government. The oath which was proposed 
 to, and accepted by Michael, ran thus : — 
 " That he would protect religion ; that he 
 would pardon and forget all that had been 
 done to his father ; that he would make no 
 new laws, nor alter the old, unless circum- 
 stances imperatively required it; and that, 
 in important causes, he would decide nothing 
 by himself, but that the existing laws, and 
 the usual forms of trial, should remain in 
 force ; that he would not at his own pleasure 
 make either war or peace with his neigh- 
 bours; and that, to avoid all suits with 
 individuals, he would resign his estates to 
 his family, or incorporate them with the 
 crown domains." 
 112 
 
 The throne which the young czar ascended 
 had been stripped of much of its power and 
 magnificence. A Russian writer thus de- 
 scribes the internal condition of his country 
 at this period : — " Bands of Cossacks, from 
 the Don and the Zaporogues, and whole 
 divisions of Poles and Tartars, ravaged the 
 villages and the convents that were still 
 entire, where there were hopes of finding 
 booty. The country was wasted, soldiers 
 were dying of hunger, the land-tax was no 
 longer collected, and not a kopeck was in 
 the treasury. The state jewels, crowns of 
 great price, sceptres, precious stones, vases — 
 all had been plundered and carried into 
 Poland. The young prince was surrounded 
 by persons belonging to twenty different 
 factions. There were to be found the friends 
 of Godunof, the defenders of Schuisky, the 
 companions of Uladislas, and even partisans 
 of the brigand of Tushino ; in a word, men 
 professing the most various opinions and 
 aims, but all equally ambitious, and in- 
 capable of yielding the smallest point as 
 regarded precedence. The lower class, irri- 
 tated by ten years of misery, were become 
 habituated to anarchy ; and it was not with- 
 out difficulty, and resistance on their part, 
 that thev were reduced to obedience." 
 
 Notwithstanding these deplorable and 
 trying circumstances, the young czar was 
 successful in restoring tranquillity to the 
 country ; or perhaps it would be more cor- 
 rect to say, that his election having silenced 
 all other claims, tranquillity naturally suc- 
 ceeded to a state which bordered upon 
 exhaustion. Michael himself was not, even 
 in mature life, the sort of man to rule the 
 storm, and awe the turbulent into sub- 
 mission. 
 
 Michael Romanoff had soon to contend 
 against a formidable foreign foe. This was 
 Gustavus Adolphus, the young king of 
 Sweden, who afterwards, by his holy struggle 
 of thirty years in favour of religious liberty, 
 obtained the honourable title of " the Lion 
 of the North, and the Bulwark of the Pro- 
 testant Faith." Gustavus was one of the 
 most just and honourable men that ever 
 wore a crown ; and his proceeding against 
 Russia did not arise from any attempt to 
 profit by its misfortunes. The war arose 
 chiefly from the dishonesty of the Russians, 
 who refused to repay to Sweden a sum of 
 money advanced to her in a period of dis- 
 tress. Gustavus was greatly offended at 
 this dishonesty; and leading a powerful 
 army across the Russian frontier, he took 
 
 possession of the province of Ingria. This 
 success was followed by others, remarkable 
 alike for their rapidity and brilliancy. They 
 brought Gustavus, however, httle else than 
 reputation; and in the year 1617, peace 
 was restored between Sweden and Russia. 
 The latter country purchased the cessation 
 of hostilities at a heavy price. She was 
 compelled to submit to the cession of Ingria 
 and Karelia, and once again to give up 
 Esthonia and Livonia. Though dishonesty 
 oftener succeeds with nations than with 
 individuals, it sometimes, as in the present 
 case, meets with the punishment it deserves. 
 The year before peace was concluded with 
 Sweden, the frivolous and unhappy Marina, 
 the widow of the two Dmitris, closed her 
 chequered and restless career. Influenced, 
 probably more by a mother's affection than 
 by personal ambition, she contrived to get 
 up an insurrection in favour of her infant 
 child, the son of the " Robber of Tushino," 
 whom she announced to be the true heir to 
 the throne. Schemes of this kind had had 
 their day ; they were now almost worthless, 
 for popular credulity no longer ran in the 
 direction of resuscitating murdered princes, 
 or finding new and suspicious claimants to 
 the throne. The people did not second the 
 mad attempt, and the chief conspirators 
 were seized. No mercy was shown to them. 
 Zurucki, the leader of the insurrection, was 
 impaled ; Marina thrown into a prison, where 
 she was eventually murdered ; and her child, 
 the poor infant, who was but three years 
 old, hanged or strangled ! Such a circum- 
 stance is painful and revolting; but it must 
 be recollected that we are speaking of a 
 semi-barbarous people, in an age altogether 
 barbarous. 
 
 Sigismund, the king of Poland, was un- 
 able long to acquiesce in the recent decision 
 of the nobles and people of Russia; and he 
 still cast longing glances towards the throne 
 he had lost by his irresolution and equivocal 
 conduct. He therefore, in 1617, sent his 
 son. Prince Uladislas, across the Russian 
 frontiers with an army. The latter pene- 
 trated even to the walls of Moscow, but ob- 
 tained no satisfactory results. In fact, the 
 struggle was soon discovered to be profitless 
 and exhausting to both sides; and, after 
 many Poles and Russians had perished by 
 the sword, and more by the severity of the 
 weather, an armistice was entered into on 
 the 1st of December, 1618. It was to last 
 for fourteen years, and was accepted by 
 each nation as a present necessity, which 
 
 VOL. I. Q * 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [philaretes made patrl^rch. 
 
 they intended to disregard as soon as they 
 had the power to do so without involving 
 too heavy a sacrifice. In this instance, also, 
 Russia purchased peace at the price of ter- 
 ritory; for she abandoned Smolensk and 
 several other towns to the enemy, not, how- 
 ever, without a secret intention of getting 
 them back again on the first favourable op- 
 portunity. 
 
 On the conclusion of peace with Poland, 
 Philaretes, the father of the young czar 
 Michael, was restored to liberty, and re- 
 turned to his native land. He arrived at 
 Moscow in June, 1619, and was immediately 
 raised by his son to the oflace of patriarch, 
 which had been vacant for several years. 
 The affection of the czar even led him to 
 associate his father with him in the govern- 
 ment, and divide with the venerable pontiff 
 the dignity of the sceptre. Henceforth his 
 ukases, or imperial edicts, were headed — 
 " Michael Feodorovitch, sovereign, czar, and 
 grand prince of all the Russias, and his 
 father Philaretes, mighty lord, and most 
 holy patriarch of all the Russias, &c." Such, 
 indeed, was the influence of the father, that 
 he sometimes issued ukases in his own 
 name alone; and the power he exercised 
 was more absolute than that of his son. 
 At solemn audiences he sat on the right- 
 hand of the czar, and all foreign ambassa- 
 dors were specially presented to him. He 
 held his own court, and raised the patri- 
 archate to such a height of power and 
 splendour, as to cause it, in after-times, to 
 excite the jealousy of Peter the Great, who 
 consequently abolished it. Fortunately, the 
 vast influence of Philaretes was exercised 
 for good; and to him is attributed the 
 endurance of the tranquillity which pre- 
 vailed during the reign of his son. He 
 appears, indeed, to have been a very esti- 
 mable character; and he revived that feeble 
 civilisation which discord had almost extir- 
 pated from the land. Among many other 
 useful labours, he re-established a printing- 
 press at Moscow, and had the satisfaction of 
 seeing many copies of the Liturgy issued 
 from it. 
 
 The czar himself appears to have had 
 neither a large amount of mind or prin- 
 ciple. It was dishonesty which brought 
 upon him a chastisement from Sweden; 
 and he now resorted to some equivocal con- 
 duct towards Poland. The amnesty with 
 that nation was approaching a termination, 
 and Michael busied himself in collecting 
 a powerful army, that he might imme- 
 
 113 
 
 Vi 
 
 \ 
 
REIGN OF MICHAEL.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1620—1645. 
 
 4. p. 1645.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [alexis becomes czar. 
 
 ! f. 
 
 r :^' 
 
 1 1 
 
 diately, upon its expiration, reconquer the 
 provinces he had been compelled to cede to 
 Sigismund. That monarch had been suc- 
 ceeded by his son Uladislas ; and Michael, 
 taking advantage of the disorders attending 
 the installati(m of the new sovereign, com- 
 menced hostilities even before the close of 
 the armistice, on the pettifogging pretext 
 that he had entered into it with Sigismund, 
 and not with his successor. This vile 
 quibble, unworthy of a monarch of any 
 position, again brought punishment and 
 disgrace upon its inventor. 
 
 Uladislas, though surrounded by difTicul- 
 ties, and at a loss both for money and 
 troops, was an able soldier, and the idol of 
 his peo))le. Seconded by the declared wish 
 of his council, he took the field against the 
 Russians, who, after several destructive in- 
 cursions into his territories, were engaged 
 in the military investment of Smolensk, pre- 
 paratory to laying siege to it. Tin; Russian 
 army of 50,00b men was under the command 
 of a general named Michael Sekin, who had 
 earned a reputation in the field for prompt- 
 ness, activity and courage. These qualities 
 seemed at length to have deserted him. 
 Having remained in complete inaction for 
 two whole years, encamped within sight of 
 Smolensk, he fled before the far inferior 
 force of Uladislas. Sekin took refuge in an 
 intrenched camp Avithin the depths of the 
 neighbouring forests ; but there he was 
 pursued by the Polish king. The Russians 
 resisted their assailants for five months, and 
 trusted to the extreme severity of the Avinter 
 to rid them of the Poles. The ranks of the 
 latter were rapidly thinned by the bitterness 
 of the weather. The soldiers, however, were 
 nerved to endurance by the heroism and 
 self-denial of their king, who took up his 
 abode in a wretched hut, and submitted to 
 the same privations as those endured by the 
 meanest of his followers. Sekin at length, 
 not daring to encounter his hardy enemies, 
 submitted ; and surrendering his camp to 
 Uladislas, purchased safety by entering into 
 an engagement not to take any further part 
 in the war. For this unsoldierly behaviour, 
 Sekin and several of his officers were brought 
 to account, and suffered the punishment of 
 decapitation. 
 
 The beheading of a few unsuccessful or 
 timid soldiers, did not bring Russia any 
 nearer to a triumph over her foes. The 
 Poles proceeded in their energetic course, 
 and took possession of many places, of 
 which Viazma was the most cousiderable. 
 114 
 
 The czar Michael was alarmed ; for he 
 feared a decent upon Moscow, and the 
 probable loss of his capital, and perhaps of 
 liis throne. He therefore resolved to shuffle 
 out of this war, into which he had been so 
 dishonestly eager to enter. He had suffi- 
 cient cause; for the Russian troops were 
 not a match for those of Poland, of whom 
 they stood in awe : consequently, all the 
 victory was upon one side, and the suffer- 
 ance upon the other — a distribution of 
 matters extremely unsatisfactory to the 
 weaker party. So Michael sued to Ula- 
 dislas for peace, which the latter only 
 granted at the price of the cession of a 
 large extent of territory. The Polish mon- 
 arch was, on his part, to renounce all 
 claims upon the throne of Russia, and to 
 return tlie diploma of election which had 
 been sent to him : but as he thought the 
 latter might, some time or other, be useful, 
 he pretended it was lost, and the Russians 
 were obliged to close the treaty without re- 
 ceiving it. 
 
 .Michael had a long reign, extending over 
 a period of thirty-two years ; but it was 
 neither eventful nor illustrious. Historians 
 have pronounced it as *' distinguished by 
 moderation." It would have been better to 
 have said characterised by moderation ; for 
 it was not distinguished in any sense, ex- 
 cept in the altogether accidental circum- 
 stance, that Michael was the founder of a 
 new dvnastv. The first czar of the Romanoff 
 line was a feeble, tepid, no-character sort of 
 man; Hpparentlycomposed,as one of our poets 
 very ungallantly said of the opposite sex, of 
 " matter too soft a lasting mark to bear." 
 In the early part of his reign, he rushed 
 into quarrels without any regard for their 
 justice or injustice ; but he afterwards got 
 very much more prudent, and warily avoided 
 entering upon wars wliicli he was incapable 
 of conducting. At all times he had the 
 negative merit of being able to see his own 
 mistakes, and to retreat from the conse- 
 quences before the latter became too 
 serious. Yet such an insipid ruler as this 
 was an advantage to the country. Russia 
 wanted peace and leisure to recover from 
 the terrible ravages to which she had been 
 subjected. The empire enjoyed peace 
 under a czar who was unable to conduct 
 war ; for it fortunately happened that 
 neighbouring nations were too much en- 
 gaged with their own affairs, to think of 
 aggressions. The length of Michael's reign, 
 also, gave the count^-y that leisure which 
 
 was necessary for the restoration of order, 
 security, and an approach to the proper ad- 
 ministration of justice. Russia re«:ained 
 strength during the passive reign of Michael ; 
 and he obtained the credit of a change due 
 only to the undisturbed action of n atural laws. 
 It has been well observed, that " his reign 
 was the term of convalescence ; that which 
 followed was the development of restored 
 
 strength." True; but Michael was like the 
 wily physician who, observing the restoring 
 influence of nature upon his almost ex- 
 hausted patient, takes credit for the cure lie 
 was unable to accomphsh. Michael expired 
 on the 12th of July, 1645, and left the 
 throne to his son, Alexis Michaelowitz, by 
 his second consort Eudokia Lukianownk 
 Streshnew. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 ALEXIS BECOMES CZAR ; COUNCIL OF HEGENCY ; ITS AVARICE AND EXTORTIONS ; INSURRECTION IN CONSE- 
 QUENCE ; A NEW PRETENDER TO THE THRONE ; THE COSSACKS OF THE UKRAINE ; COSSACK INSURRECTION 
 UNDER BOGDAN CHMIELNICKI ; BOGDAN SOLICITS AID FROM ALEXIS, AND PROFFERS IIIS ALLEGIANCE; 
 TRIUMPHS OF ALEXIS OVER THE POLES ; CHARLES GUSTAVUS OF SWEDEN SNATCHES POLAND FROM THE 
 GRASP OF RUSSIA; BRIEF AND PROFITLESS WAR AVITH SWEDEN; RUSSIA OBTAINS POSSESSION OF THE 
 UKRAINE, AND THE COSSACKS ACKNOWLEDGE THE SWAY OF THE CZAR ; PEACE RESTORED ; DEPRECIATION 
 OF THE CURRENCY, AND CONSEQUENT INSURRECTION; SEVERITY OF THE CZAR; HE GOVERNS WISELY; 
 BUILDS THE FIRST RUSSIAN VESSELS; INSURRECTION OF STENKA RADZIN ; OUTRAGES COMMITTED BY 
 HIM ; HE IS TREACHEROUSLY SEIZED AND EXECUTED ; DISPUTE AVITH TURKEY ; DEATH OF ALEXIS. 
 
 Alexis, who uas born at Moscow in 1630, 
 was therefore but in his sixteenth year at 
 the death of his father. In consequence of 
 the youth of the new czar, he was guided 
 in all government affairs by a council nomi- 
 nated by his deceased parent. These were 
 three grasping and worthless persons. The 
 chief of them was Morosof, a noble of an 
 ambitious and intriguing temper, who was 
 tutor and brother-in-law of Alexis, and was 
 suspected of a desire to tread in the steps of 
 Boris Godunof. The others were Milos- 
 lawskoi and Plessow; the latter a judge in 
 one of the high courts at Moscow. 
 
 Morosof took the lead in the administra- 
 tion, and showed both ability and energy in 
 the introduction of military reforms, and in 
 strengthening the Russian frontiers against 
 Poland and Sweden. He also erected 
 manufactories for arms, in which he em- 
 ployed a number of foreign artisans. In- 
 deed, for a while Morosof ruled Russia in 
 the name of the czar, and might have con- 
 tinued to do so much longer, but for the 
 imprudence of himself and his compeers. 
 
 Avarice was the ruling passion of the 
 whole three, and they were incessantly bent 
 upon the accumulation of wealth, without 
 the slightest compunction as to the means 
 by which they did so. The base dishonesty 
 with which they acted, was as mean as it i 
 
 was unbecoming in men of high position. 
 The records of most European nations, even 
 at so comparatively modern a period as that 
 of which we now speak, reveal incidents 
 which often make us blush for humanity. 
 Yet remembering this, there does still ap- 
 pear to have been a more than ordinary 
 addiction to petty vices in Russian nobles 
 and ministers, and a more incessant grasp- 
 ing after bribes and penalties, than is to be 
 heard of in other countries laying claim to 
 civilisation. Under the direction of Mo- 
 rosof, the most flagrant enormities were 
 committed, especially in the administration 
 of justice. The public courts were made 
 mere instruments of extortion ; and the 
 judges, whom Morosof appointed, sold their 
 decisions with a more than common au- 
 dacity and openness, and shared the tainted 
 produce with their high-placed accomplice. 
 These men scarcelv concealed the infamons 
 trade they carried on in selling the sen- 
 tences they so gravely pronounced; and 
 such was the extent to w hicii thev carried 
 their shameless profligacy, that many of 
 them kept a number of depraved vagabonds 
 in their pay, who were ready at all times, 
 for a trifling sum, to come forward and 
 afiirm or deny anything. These fellows 
 were also employed as spies upon the 
 wealthy, whom they would get arrested 
 
 115 
 
 y 
 
 ( 
 
INSURRECTION AT MOSCOW.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1648. 
 
 A.D. 1648.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [cossacks of the ukr.une. 
 
 m 
 
 upon some real or concocted charge, for 
 which the unfortunate accused could only 
 get exonerated by the payment of heavy 
 fines. In some cases persons unjustly 
 charged were sentenced to death and exe- 
 cuted, merely that the villanous judge and 
 his ruffian assistants might seize the pro- 
 perty of the presumed criminal. 
 
 Oppression of this galling kind had a 
 most demoralising and injurious effect upon 
 the people, whom it was rapidly converting 
 into two classes — the plundered and the 
 plunderers. But not only was the fountain 
 of justice polluted for the basest of purposes, 
 but the whole system of government was 
 used as a means of extortion. Monopolies 
 were created, and the heaviest taxes laid 
 even upon the necessaries of life. In addi- 
 tion to this, those officials who plundered 
 the people most, behaved to them with an 
 insolent haughtiness which caused great 
 offence. 
 
 Murmurs were giving place to curses ; and 
 the temper of the people of Moscow, who 
 were the greatest sufferers from the prevail- 
 ing iniquities, grew threatening. They first 
 addressed a number of petitions to the czar, 
 imploring a reform of abuses, and plainly 
 exposing the oppressive dishonesty of the 
 council of regrencv. Morosof took care that 
 none of these petitions reached the young 
 monarch, and things went on as before. 
 But the fraudulent minister had not rightly 
 estimated the perseverance and the power of 
 a goaded and insulted people. Guessing the 
 fate of their petitions, they resorted to a 
 more effective way of reaching the ear of 
 their sovereign. Wavlavingr him one dav as 
 he was returning from church to his palace, 
 they reiterated their complaints, and, with 
 loud outcries and fierce gestures, demanded 
 the appointment of righteous judges and 
 officers, instead of those who were merely 
 instruments of knavery and extortion. Alexis 
 listened with patience, promised to make a 
 strict inquiry into the grievances complained 
 of, and to inflict punishment on the guilty. 
 At an earlier period, such an assurance 
 would have calmed the popular excitement ; 
 but now it came too late. The people had 
 learned to distrust judicial inquiries ; and 
 they believed that their oppressors, if left in 
 the hands of the law, would be suffered to 
 escape, if not to plunder them still. The 
 limits of passive endurance had been past, 
 and affairs had arrived at that point where 
 discontent merges into insurrection. Leaving 
 the czar, they proceeded in a state of furious 
 116 
 
 tumult to the houses of the public officers 
 who had incurred their displeasure. These 
 they broke into and plundered ; while the 
 principal magistrate and a few others they 
 put to death. Even Morosof himself would 
 have fallen a victim to their fury, but that 
 he was saved bv the entreaties of the czar, 
 who implored the mob, with tears in his 
 eyes, to spare the guilty minister. This 
 they consented to do, on condition that 
 Alexis put another corrupt judge to death 
 and promised to remit some of the recent 
 oppressive taxes. The young monarch was 
 wise enough to see and avoid the precipice 
 upon the verge of which he had been so un- 
 consciously standing. Though he had saved 
 the life of Morosof, yet he prudently dis- 
 missed that worthless man, together with his 
 associates, from the imperial councils. 
 
 This event occurred in 1648, in the third 
 year of the young czar's reign; and not long 
 after, disturbances scarcely less violent, and 
 arising from similar causes, broke out at 
 Novgorod and at Pskof. Salutary measures 
 were, however, instantly taken; the guilty 
 instruments of corruption were restrained 
 or dismissed, and tranquillity soon returned. 
 Necessarily, the cause of discontent being 
 removed, the effect ceased. 
 
 It might be supposed that no one had the 
 effrontery again to personate the thrice-mur- 
 dered Dmitri. This source of imposture 
 seemed utterly exhausted ; but let none pre- 
 sume to set bounds to the extravagances 
 of credulitv and knaverv. An obscure and 
 worthless young man, the son of a draper in 
 the Ukraine, suffered himself to be made the 
 tool of a scheming Polish nobleman, named 
 Danilovski, who hoped, by troubling the 
 political waters, to be able to fish in them 
 with ease and profit. One day, when the 
 young draper was bathing, certain natural 
 marks were observed on his back, of so 
 peculiar a kind that it was surmised they 
 resembled letters in some unknown tongue. 
 The circumstance coming to the ears of the 
 Polish intriguer, he resolved to create a 
 conspiracy out of it, which might lead to 
 the overthrow of the Russian government. 
 Sending for the young man, he had the 
 marks examined by a Greek priest, whom he 
 had prepared and paid for the expected expo- 
 sition. The vagabond priest, after looking 
 intently upon the marks, exclaimed, "A 
 miracle 1 '' and then added, in explanation, 
 that they were, indeed, mystic words, and 
 that their signification was, " Dmitri, son ot 
 the czar Dmitri." The murder of Marina's 
 
 infant child was notorious, for the atrocious 
 barbarity had been done in public, under 
 the pretence of a legal execution; the diffi- 
 culty, however, was clumsily evaded by the 
 stale device of an alleged change of children. 
 Both Poles and Swedes were invited to sup- 
 port the cause of the pretender, and some of 
 the former nation offered their services. But 
 the plot utterly failed to create a sensation 
 in Russia; and the impostor, after leading a 
 life of forlorn misery for a time, fell into the 
 hands of the czar, who executed the unfortu- 
 nate wretch by quartering him alive. 
 
 The hatred borne by the Russians to the 
 Poles was not diminished by the reverses 
 which the former suffered from the latter 
 during the reign of Michael. Uladislas died 
 in 1648, and Alexis became one of the can- 
 didates for the throne of Poland ; but he was 
 rejected by the people, who elected John 
 Casimir, one of the sons of Sigismund III., 
 who resigned his dignity of cardinal, and 
 succeeded at once to his brother's throne 
 and the hand of that brother's widow. This 
 rejection ^vas a fresh source of irritation to 
 Alexis, who soon had an opportunity of ex- 
 pressing his displeasure. 
 
 The Ukraine (a name derived from the 
 Polish, and signifying boundary) is the title 
 of that vast and fertile tract of land lying 
 on the banks of the broad Dnieper, and 
 extending to those of the Don. This wild 
 district had been peopled by the Cossacks, 
 a race of mixed origin, but derived chiefly 
 from Poles and Tartars. ^ The nucleus of 
 this singular people were deserters from the 
 armies maintained by Poland near the 
 banks of the Borysthenes, or Dnieper, to 
 arrest the incursions of the Tartars. The 
 almost inaccessible islands of that river, and 
 the vast steppes of the Ukraine, served for 
 places of retreat. The course of nature, and 
 the constant arrival of fresh fugitives, rapidly 
 increased their numbers. They opened their 
 arms to recruits from every nation, and w^ere 
 joined by all the outcasts whose crimes com- 
 pelled them to abandon civilised society. 
 In this manner they ceased to be mere 
 fugitives, and became a people. As may be 
 supposed, their hal)its revealed the taint 
 which sullied their origin. Plunder became 
 a recognised pursuit amongst them. Thev 
 frequently made predatory incursions into 
 the Ottoman territories, sometimes venturinsr 
 even as far as the suburbs of Constantinople. 
 Such was their boldness, that they trusted 
 themselves on the stormy surface of the 
 Black Sea in mere boats of very primitive ) 
 
 construction, consisting only of trees hol- 
 lowed out; and thus they ravaged every 
 shore of that great inland\'ater. As the 
 richness of the soil they occupied made it 
 produce without much 'labour, they were 
 consequently at liberty to pass their time 
 mostly in plunder, piracy, or open war. " As 
 they were Christians in their origin, they 
 preserved a sort of Christianity among thein- 
 selves; but so mingled in time with idola- 
 trous and Mohammed annotions, that its fair 
 characters were almost lost. The Polish 
 gentleman, whom infamy had branded or 
 justice threatened ; the PoHsh serf, who fled 
 from the iron despotism of a haughty, rapa- 
 cious master; the Greek schismatic, the per- 
 secuted Lutheran, either imperfectly remem- 
 bered, or but negligently practised*^ the rites 
 of their respective churches ; hence a sort of 
 mongrel w^orship prevailed, of which the 
 leading features more resembled the Eastern 
 than the Western church. But they did not 
 much trouble themselves with either the 
 doctrines or the duties of Christianity. 
 Robbers by profession, and cruel by habit, 
 they were the terror of surrounding coun- 
 tries : strong, hardy, of indomitable courage, 
 fond of war, even more for the dangers 
 which attended it than for the plunder it 
 procured them, their alliance was eagerly 
 sought by • Lithuanians, Poles, Muscovites, 
 Tartars, and Turks. To the former people, 
 as the stock whence the majority were de- 
 rived, they long bore sentiments of affection ; 
 indeed, they acknowledged themselves vas- 
 sals of the republic, though their chief obe- 
 dience was owing to their own grand hetman. 
 Ostafi Daskiewitz, a peasant on the estates 
 of a Lithuanian noble (many nobles, both of 
 the crown and the grand-duchy, had exten- 
 sive estates in the Ukraine), Was the first 
 who divided them into regiments, and taught 
 them discipline. As a reward for his exer- 
 tions, he was presented by Sigismund L, 
 who Pwppeared sensible of the advantages 
 which these formidable warriors might pro- 
 cure for the kingdom, with the starosty 
 of Tserkassy, and the jurisdiction of some 
 fortresses near the Borysthenes. Had the 
 advice of this simple but strong-minded man 
 been taken, Poland would have been effec- 
 tually screened against the incursions of the 
 Tartars. He counselled Sigismund to main- 
 tain 10,000 armed men on the banks of the 
 river, who in their rude rafts could easily 
 prevent the enemy from crossing: a few- 
 troops of horse might forage for this sta- 
 tionary little army. A still more im.portant 
 
 117 
 
BEVOLT IN THE UKRAINE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1648. 
 
 A.D. 1650.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [bogdan asks aid from alexis. 
 
 BUggestion was to build forts and little 
 towers on the islets of that magnificent , 
 stream. What Sigismund had not the spirit, 
 perhaps the means to accomplish, Bathori 
 might and should have effected. Tlie latter 
 monarch, however, did much towaids so 
 desirable an end. He diligently cultivated 
 the affection of the Cossacks ; and they are 
 among the most grateful of men. He gave 
 them the city of Tryclitymirow, which be- 
 came their chief magazine, and the residence 
 of their grand hetraan ; he introduced among 
 them the useful arts of life, and greatly im- 
 proved their discipline ; he formed them into 
 six regiments, each consisting of 1,000 men 
 (ten companies of 100), and commanded by 
 a hetraan [hattaman.) Each grand hetman, 
 whom the whole force obeyed, received his 
 investiture at the hands of the king; the 
 symbols were an ensign, a horse-tail [bonzuk), 
 a baton resembling a club, and a looking- 
 glass. The Cossacks, being thus attached 
 by those of new ties— those of gratitude and 
 allegiance— to the republic, were well dis- | 
 posed to fulfil the purpose assigned them : j 
 their fidelity was striking; until, from 
 friends, they were transformed into enemies 
 by the most intolerable wrongs.'' ^ 
 
 Of these wrongs we must speak briefly, 
 that it may be seen why the czar Alexis 
 became engaged in a war with Poland. The 
 nobles of that country long behaved towards 
 the Cossacks with great haughtiness and 
 inhumanity. Many grants of land in the 
 Ukraine had been bestowed upon these 
 nobles, who seldom visited their new pos- 
 sessions, which they abandoned to the 
 direction of Jews— who, in Poland, as, in- 
 deed, elsewhere, were the most exacting 
 and unpopular of stewards. These men 
 usually advanced money on the forth- 
 coming produce of the soil, and they were 
 therefore naturally anxious to make the 
 most of it, and less likely to show any in- 
 dulgence in its collection. The fierce Cos- 
 sacks would not submit in patience to this 
 system of oppression ; and they insisted, 
 not only on the entire abolitii)n of their 
 grievances, but also that their chiefs should 
 have a seat in the Polish diet. Their de- 
 mands not being complied with, they rose 
 in insurrection. They were at first de- 
 feated, and reduced to the condition of 
 serfs; and the insolent Polish nobles even 
 
 • Dunham's History of Poland. Also Chevalier, 
 Histoire de la Guerre des Cossacs coutre la Pologne, 
 &c., p. 302, &c. Malte-Brun, Tableau de la Pologne 
 ancienne et modernei torn, i., p. 464, &c. 
 
 118 
 
 resolved to extirpate them and their reli- 
 gion if they attempted to throw off" the 
 bondage thus forced upon them. Again 
 the Cossacks rose in arms, and presented so 
 formidable an appearance, that a promise 
 was given that their privileges should be 
 restored to them. The Polish rulers had 
 no intention of keeping this promise; and 
 the Cossacks knew as much, and no longer 
 refrained from depredations on the territory 
 of the former. 
 
 Such was the state of things, when a 
 shameful outrage incensed the Cossacks, 
 and drew down much trouble upon their 
 oppressors. A veteran Cossack named 
 Bogdan Chmielnicki, who was famous for 
 the valour he had displayed against the 
 Tartars, possessed a mill and some land 
 near the banks of the Dnieper. This small 
 estate was coveted by the steward of a Polish 
 noble, who resolved* to obtain it by ruining 
 the owner. Preferring some petty charge 
 against the Cossack, the latter was thrown 
 into prison, but liberated through the inter- 
 ference of the castellan of Cracow, to whom 
 he had rendered some service. But the 
 protector of Bogdan died ; and then Czapa- 
 linski, the covetous steward, seized the poor 
 Cossack's mill and land. The latter, un- 
 able to obtain redress, fled to the Tartars 
 for assistance. In his absence, the in- 
 famous Czapalinski violated and murdered 
 Bogdan's wife, and then set fire to his 
 house, the flames of which consumed his 
 infant son. Another son, a young man, the 
 rutfian procured to be publicly scourged, for 
 expressing a natural indignation. Some ac- 
 counts state, in explanation of the diabolical 
 malice of the steward, that on one occasion 
 he had been ignominiously whipped by the 
 servants of Bogdan. 
 
 The hour of retribution soon arrived. 
 The infuriated Bogdan succeeded in interest- 
 ing the Tartars in his behalf; and at the 
 head of 40,000 of them, he commenced a 
 
 march against the Poles. His force was 
 soon trebled by the number of Cossacks 
 who flocked to his aid, in answer to a call 
 to unite themselves in a great eflbrt for 
 liberty. Two successive Polish armies, 
 which endeavoured to stem the tide of in- 
 undation, were swept away by it, their 
 generals and officers led away captives, and 
 70,000 peasants consigned to bondage. In 
 a short time Bogdan was in possession of 
 the whole of the Ukraine. At this time, 
 Uladislas died; and a brief interregnum 
 followed, which necessarily favoured the 
 
 progress of disorder. Bogdan, breathing 
 threats of vengeance as he advanced, 
 directed his steps towards Ked Russia. 
 In his destructive march through Podolia 
 and Volhynia, the excesses committed by 
 him and his followers were of a frightful 
 and repulsive kind. He had been joined 
 by crowds of Mussulmans, Greeks, and 
 Socinians, who all, equally with himself, 
 detested the Roman church ; and his cru- 
 sade of vengeance assumed something of a 
 religious nature. The Jesuits, who had 
 been notorious for their animosity to the 
 Greek church, and the Jews, whose ac- 
 quisitiveness in their capacity of stewards 
 to the Polish landowners had excited the 
 people against them, were visited with un- 
 relenting vengeance. The Roman churches 
 and monasteries were laid in ruins, and 
 the nuns forced to satisfy the brutal ap- 
 petites of the infuriated followers of this 
 fierce avenger of a people's wrongs and 
 an irreparable private injury. Some priests 
 were forced, under threats of instant death 
 should they refuse, not only to contract, 
 but also to consummate, a marriage with 
 the trembling inmates of the cloister; 
 and frequently they were both afterwards 
 slaughtered. But it was upon the recently 
 insolent and oppressing nobles that the 
 chief weight of vengeance fell. Those who 
 were unfortunate enough to fall into the 
 hands of the Tartars and the Cossacks, 
 were put to death in various cruel and 
 lingering ways; their unhappy wives and 
 daughters also suffered even an aggravated 
 doom. Thev were stripped naked before 
 their husbands or fathers, and after being 
 violated, were mercilessly flogged to death. 
 Terrible as were these atrocities, it must be 
 remembered that they were the inevitable 
 retribution of an ignorant and infuriated 
 people, lashed into desperation by a painful 
 accumulation of wrongs. 
 
 But though the chivalry of Poland fled in 
 dismay before the fierce hosts of Bogdan, 
 yet the latter experienced a great reverse of 
 fortune in the desertion of his Tartar allies ; 
 who, being well loaded with plunder and 
 captives, retired to their own country to 
 enjoy the proceeds of their expedition. On 
 the election of John Casimir to the throne 
 of Poland, that monarch admitted the jus- 
 tice of the complaints of Bogdan, and 
 opened negotiations with the Cossack chief. 
 While these were in progress, and Bogdan, 
 relying upon the honour of the king, exer- 
 cised less than his customary vigilance, his 
 
 camp was attacked by Wiszinowiecki, a 
 Polish general, who committed a terrible 
 slaughter amdngst his followers. Bogdau 
 was compelled to retreat ; but it was with 
 a stern resolve to punish this perfidy at the 
 earliest opportunity. When he returned, 
 he was reinforced by a large body of Tar- 
 tars, and then invested the intrenched 
 camp of the treacherous general. The 
 combined forces under the command of 
 Bogdan, are said to have amounted to 
 160,000 men. The army which Casimir 
 advanced to relieve his besieged general 
 was but 20,000 strong, and he was unable 
 to efl*ect a junction with those shut up m 
 the camp. In this position, policy accom- 
 plished for him what valour could not eff'ect. 
 He bribed the khan of the Tartars to with- 
 draw his followers from the Cossack host ; 
 and Bogdan, weakened by so vast a de- 
 sertion, thought it prudent to accept the 
 terms of peace proposed by the king. 
 
 This enforced tranquillity did not last. 
 Instead of being grateful for their escape 
 from utter destruction, the Polish nobles 
 felt irritated by the shame of receiving a 
 boon from a people whom the long habit of 
 oppressing had made them despise. The 
 nobles became the aggressors, and the war 
 was renewed. The Poles collected an army 
 of 100,000 men ; and the contending forces 
 met near Beresteeko, in Red Russia. Here, 
 it has been observed, was at length decided 
 the conflict between schism and orthodoxy— 
 between slavery and tyranny. An obstinate 
 and furious battle ensued, and terminated 
 in the defeat of Bogdan, nccompanied by a 
 terrible slaughter of his followers. Though 
 they retire4 from the field, it was with a 
 threatening face towards the foe. Several 
 contests took place ; and in one of these, a 
 bodv of nearly 40,000 Poles were almost 
 exterminated bv a sudden and sweeping 
 onslaught of the insurgents- The balance 
 of success was thus kept nearly equal; tor 
 if Bogdan had been staggered by defeat, 
 Poland was thrown into terror and con- 
 fusion. It was in this state of things that 
 Bogdan, further incensed by the death ot a 
 brave son, applied for assistance to Russia, 
 and offered to become the vassal of the czar 
 Alexis, on condition that 200,000 Musco- 
 vites were poured into Lithuania. 
 
 Alexis hesitated, for he could not forget 
 how Poland had chastised Russia during 
 the reign of his father Michael. Urged 
 forward, however, by the patriarch, he re- 
 solved first to seek the opinion of Heaven, 
 
 •> M 
 
WAR WITH POLAND.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1650—1661. 
 
 by means of a strangely superstitious ap- 
 peal to it. He caused two wild bulls, one 
 of which he named Poland, and the other 
 Russia, to be opposed to each other in an 
 arena, and determined to enter upon the 
 war if the representative of his country 
 should succeed in the strife. He had the 
 mortification to see the brute which repre- 
 sented Poland triumphant ; but the patriarch 
 removed his superstitious fears, and repre- 
 sented to him that the interests of religion 
 required that he should declare war against 
 catholic Poland. But the acquisition of 
 the vast territory the czar obtained by the 
 submission of Bogdan, no doubt influenced 
 the Russian potentate more than the pre- 
 tended interests of the Greek church. 
 Such was the distracted state of Poland, 
 that success against it was a matter of com- 
 parative certainty. The Russian triumphs 
 were rapid; and if accomplished at any 
 other time, they might have been deemed 
 brilliant. Smolensk, Witepsk, Polotsk, 
 Mohilof, Severia, and Semigallia were taken 
 by the armies of Alexis, while his Cossack 
 ally was subjugating Haman, Bratslaw, 
 and other fortresses on the Moldavian fron- 
 tier. The doom of Poland semed at hand ; 
 and it appeared that its independence would 
 be crushed beneath the iron heels of the 
 Russian and Cossack armies. 
 
 But Poland was saved from the disgrace 
 of conquest by Russia, in consequence of 
 the natural jealousy entertained by Charles 
 Gustavus, king of Sweden, of the power 
 and growth of his great northern neigh- 
 bour. Charles, at the head of 60,000 
 Swedes, landed in Pomerania. His march 
 was one triumphant career to the walls, 
 first of Warsaw, and next of Cracow, which 
 submitted without resistance. A panic 
 seized both the nobles and people of Poland ; 
 John Casimir fled into Silesia; and the whole 
 country, from the Carpathian mountains to 
 the duchy of Courland, submitted to the 
 conquering Swede. 
 
 The czar Alexis paused, and felt that the 
 prey he had hoped to seize was thus wrested 
 from him by another. He accused Charles 
 Gustavus of having hindered the operations 
 of his troops ; the accusation ripened mto a 
 quarrel, and led to a fierce warfare between 
 the Russians and the Swedes. 
 
 The irritated czar next poured his troops 
 into Sweden, where they plundered many 
 villages, and put the unarmed inhabitants 
 to the sword. This was during the absence 
 of the warlike Charles; but the Russians 
 120 
 
 soon found themselves unequal to contend 
 with the experienced Swedish veterans, 
 trained to service amidst the victories of the 
 famous thirty years' war. Alexis obtained 
 neither advantage nor credit ; and he with- 
 drew his troops, and concluded a truce for 
 three years. It was signed on the 23rd of 
 April, 1658 ; and three years after, on the 
 21st of June, 1661, was converted into a 
 treaty of peace at Karelis, by which their 
 former possessions were mutually secured 
 
 to each party. 
 
 Alexis, satisfied with the military glory 
 he had acquired in Poland, had withdrawn 
 his troops from that distracted country. A 
 revulsion took place in the feelings of the 
 Poles : a resolve to make a great eftbrt to 
 recover their national independence suc- 
 ceeded the fierce religious disputes between 
 catholic and Lutheran, which had made 
 those involved in them almost indifferent to 
 the claims of their country. Thousands 
 flocked into Silesia, and rallied round the 
 standard of their fugitive monarch. The 
 great powers of Europe also showed them- 
 selves favourable to the causjC of the Poles, 
 from a mixed feeling of commiseration for 
 a gallant people, and a dread of the aspiring 
 views of the Swedish monarch. Poland 
 rose against the king whose foot had been 
 placed upon her neck, and, recovering her 
 ancient spirit, defeated the troops of Charles 
 in several engagements. It is difficult, in- 
 deed it is almost impossible, to conquer a 
 people resolved to be free. After some 
 severe contests, Charles thought proper to 
 retire from Poland; his conduct being 
 further influenced by the circumstance that 
 Sweden itself was invaded by the King of 
 Denmark. The war, however, lingered in 
 Pomerania and along the shores of the 
 Baltic until the death of Charles, when a 
 peace was concluded between Poland and 
 Sweden at Ohva. The only state which 
 derived any sohd advantages from all these 
 fierce contentions was Russia. By the sub- 
 mission of Bogdan and the Cossacks, Alexis 
 had obtained possession of that portion of 
 the Ukraine which, lying on the left bank 
 of the Dnieper, had hitherto not been in- 
 cluded in the empire. This comprised many 
 provinces, together with the important border 
 fortresses. As Poland, in her enfeebled 
 state, saw the hopelessness of attempting to 
 recover this broad territory from the power- 
 ful grasp of Russia, the Ukraine became a 
 part of that vast empire, and the Cossack* 
 acknowledged the sway of the czar. Bogdan, 
 
 A.D. 1662—1668.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [CX)SSACK INSURRECTION. 
 
 whose wrongs caused this revolution, and 
 whose untiring pursuit of revenge mMnly 
 produced it, passed the remainder of his 
 life in tranquillity, and went to his grave in 
 the course of nature — a somewhat remark- 
 able circumstance, when we consider how 
 few public men in these turbulent times 
 escaped a violent death. 
 
 Peace was welcome to Russia; for the 
 wounds which anarchy had inflicted upon 
 her were yet scarcely healed. Her com- 
 merce was much depressed, and her treasury 
 nearly exhausted. The silver money had 
 almost disappeared from circulation, and 
 Alexis caused copper, of the same nominal 
 value, to be coined and put in circulaticm. 
 This depreciated money was received with 
 readiness, until the court itself destroyed 
 the confidence of the people in it, by its 
 greedy efl'orts to secure all the sterling 
 money, and leave only the new coin for the 
 use of commerce. It fell rapidly in public 
 estimation, and great general distress ensued. 
 Distress led to discontent, and in 1662 a 
 rebellion broke out at Moscow. No attempt 
 was made to pacify the poor ignorant people, 
 but the disaftection was extinguished with a 
 severity amounting to savage fury. The 
 rioters who were captured were hanged or 
 drowned by hundreds; and others were 
 punished with torture or mutilation. It is 
 estimated that the number who suff'ered 
 death, in consequence of this arbitrary alter- 
 ation of the currency, amounted to upwards 
 of 7,000; while 15,000 more wretched vic- 
 tims were tortured or maimed. 
 
 But Alexis, though merciless in his mode 
 of government, was by no means indifi'erent 
 to the prosperity of the empire. He courted 
 every opportunity which off"ered itself of 
 forming or strengthening connections with 
 the courts of Europe — a wise policy, which 
 led to the introduction into Russia of foreign 
 arts and manufactures. With a natural 
 and not altogether ungraceful sympathy, 
 he offered kindnesses to the worthless fugi- 
 tive Charles Stuart, and sent a special am- 
 bassador to congratulate him on his accession 
 to the English throne. Charles II. recipro- 
 cated these civilities, and proposed a com- 
 mercial treaty between England and Russia; 
 but this was declined hy Alexis, on account 
 of its not being sufficiently favourable to 
 the interests of his nation. 
 
 Whether Alexis saw the necessity which 
 his famous son Peter eventually so power- 
 fully felt, of extending the boundaries of 
 Russia until they reached the sea, we are 
 VOL. I. a 
 
 unable to say. It is not an improbable 
 assumption, that he felt convinced that an 
 outlet to the sea and a considerable navy 
 was necessary, not only to the commerce, 
 but also to the greatness of Russia. This 
 idea naturally presents itself to the mind, 
 when we learn that the two first Russian 
 vessels that ever were built, were constructed 
 under the personal superintendence of the 
 czar Alexis. Certainly he was an observant 
 and reflective man, and he strove to excite 
 among his subjects a desire for progress and 
 the arts of civilisation. On all questions 
 of great public interest, he called the states- 
 general together to assist him with their 
 counsels. This circumstance, so adverse to 
 the spirit of despotism, showed a desire to 
 bestow upon the people something ap- 
 proaching to a representative voice in the 
 affairs of state. But the peculiar circum- 
 stances of the empire, its vast extent of 
 territory, and the fluctuations to which it 
 was exposed, both from within and without, 
 discouraged this advance in the direction of 
 popular government, and caused it to be 
 abandoned. 
 
 Russia was not long permitted to enjoy 
 the repose so requisite to the development 
 of her prosperity. The Cossacks of the 
 Don had been treated with harshness and 
 injustice — a circumstance which led to in- 
 subordination amongst them. Several of 
 them were put to death — an act of severity 
 which produced great irritation in the minds 
 of these turbulent men. Stenka Radzin, a 
 brother of one of the victims, instigated his 
 countrymen to revolt, and offered himself as 
 their leader. They placed themselves under 
 his banner, with the avowed objects of re- 
 venging the past, and securing their liber- 
 ties for the future ; though no doubt can be 
 entertained that many of them were ani. 
 mated only by a hope of plunder. Thi^ wa* 
 so well known to Radzin, that he lured 
 great numbers, not only of Cossacks, but of 
 discontented Russians, to him by a promise 
 of piratical expeditions on the Caspian, and 
 on the Persian shores of that sea, where it 
 was supposed that great wealth might be 
 gained at the point of the sword. Other Rus- 
 sians were won to join the insurrection bv 
 a promise of the immediate redress of all 
 popular grievances. Radzin also denomi- 
 nated the nobles as the enemies of the 
 people; and he even had the audacity to 
 give out, that the czar felt himself so power- 
 less against the factious conduct of the selfish 
 grau dees, that he had applied to him for the 
 
 121 
 
A.D. 1676.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [death of ALEXIS. 
 
 SEVERITY OF THE CZAR.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1671. 
 
 means of crushing them. Such was the 
 ■uccess of these expedients, that the rebel 
 Cossack found Inmself the leader of a pro- 
 miscuous army of 200,000 men. 
 
 Radzin commenced operatitms by seizing 
 a fleet of boats belonging to the czar, while 
 on its way to the city of Astracan ; of which 
 province *he talked of making himself the 
 sovereign. With these boats he descended 
 into the Caspian, the shores of which were 
 ruthlessly plundered by him and his com- 
 panions. Though the rebels were rather 
 banditti than soldiers— irregularly armed, 
 and influenced more by a desire for spoil 
 than bound together by anything which 
 deserved the name of a principle—yet they 
 possessed themselves of Astracan in 1670, 
 and became really a formidable body. For 
 three years was Radzin enabled to continue 
 his wild career of insurrection and plunder ; 
 during which period he repeatedly defeated 
 the forces sent against him. At length he 
 received so severe a check, that he promised 
 to lay down his arms, on condition that a 
 pardon was given both to himself and his 
 followers. The general who had brought 
 him to bay, knowing that the Cossack was 
 still formidable if driven to desperation, 
 accepted these terms, and they were con- 
 firmed by the czar. The Cossacks and 
 other rebels were permitted to return to 
 their homes with the plunder they had 
 acquired, and it seemed as if the insurrec- 
 tion was at an end. 
 
 This was not the case. Either in conse- 
 quence of his own restless nature, or from a 
 suspicion that treachery was intended to- 
 wards him, Radzin was soon at his piratical 
 employment again, at the head of a great 
 body of his old followers. The banks of the 
 Volga were swept by them with reckless 
 audacity, and numerous instances of infa- 
 mous cruelty occurred. As before, he raised 
 the cry of liberty and the natural rights of 
 man; and the oppressed and discontented 
 crowded to his aid. Even large numbers of 
 the soldiers murdered their officers, and 
 joined a leader who, to such popular war- 
 cries, combined an unlimited license to 
 plunder. Had Radzin been a man of com- 
 prehensive talents, and fitted by nature to 
 be the leader of a great popular movement, 
 he might have revolutionised Russia. He 
 had no such quahties, and was altogether 
 unable to direct the power he raised. In 
 fact, the extent of his own success awed 
 him : he did not understand the next step ; 
 and feeling the peril of his own position, 
 122 
 
 feared to perish in the storm which, wizard- 
 like, he had created. In the very height of 
 his power, he was snared by an assurance 
 that the czar desired to see the famous chief 
 of the Don Cossacks in the capital, where 
 he would, in admiration of his boldness, 
 again extend to him a pardon. The delu- 
 sion would have been seen through by a 
 man of ordinary intelligence ; but Radzin, 
 flattered by what he regarded as so great 
 a distinction, was deceived and entrapped 
 by it. His friends urged him not to go; 
 and represented that, even if treachery was 
 not intended, the czar had perhaps not 
 made the promise attributed to him. Re- 
 gardless of remonstrances, the devoted man 
 pressed thoughtlessly and eagerly forward 
 towards the pit that had been dug to engulf 
 him. As he approached Moscow, he beheld 
 a gallows on a cart, which had been sent 
 forward to meet him as a prognostic of his 
 fate. Whether it was too late to recede, or 
 that he was blinded by infatuation, we can 
 not say ; but he still went on, and entered 
 the city. No sooner had he done so, than 
 he was seized, and shortly afterwards expi- 
 ated his crimes upon the scafl'old. After 
 his departure from Astracan, it was in- 
 vested and taken by the Russian troops : a 
 o-reat number of his followers perished be- 
 neath the swords of their assailants ; while 
 no less than 12,000 of them were subse- 
 quently gibbeted on the high roads of the 
 disturbed districts. This terrible severity 
 struck awe into the rebels ; the wild dreams 
 of liberty of some, and the habits of plunder 
 of others, were abandoned ; the storm of in- 
 surrection subsided, and peace was restored 
 in the district of the Ukraine ; but in many 
 places it was the peace of desolation and of 
 the charnel-house. 
 
 Another war was impending. Turkey 
 beheld with emotions of jealousy the ex- 
 tending territory and power of Russia. The 
 recent subjugation of the Cossacks placed a 
 barrier between the great northern empire 
 and the dominions of the sultan, which 
 Mohammed IV. considered it expedient to 
 remove. The Saporogian Cossacks, led by 
 their hetman Dorenseusky, had revolted 
 against the Poles, and made a treaty of 
 alliance with the sultan. This circumstance 
 naturally led to a dispute between Poland 
 and Turkey; and the haughty Porte, used 
 to conquest, conceived the bold design of 
 first crushing Poland, and then descending 
 
 upon Russia. 
 
 Mohammed poured a Moslem army ot 
 
 80,000 men into Poland, where he was 
 bravely withstood by the heroic John 
 Sobieski, at the head of a force not amount- 
 ing to a fourth part of that of the invaders. 
 Yet the ultimate success of Turkey was 
 evident, unless assistance was given to 
 Poland. Alexis was bound, both by treaty 
 and by a wise policy, to assist the Poles 
 against an enemy dreaded by all Chris- 
 tendom. He was further induced to oppose 
 himself to the great representative of Mo- 
 hammedanism by a haughty message he 
 received from the sultan, requiring him to 
 evacuate his possessions in the Ukraine. 
 The sultan, in his communication, treated 
 Alexis as if he had been only a Christian 
 hospodar, while, with Asiatic vanity, he en- 
 titled himself "Most glorious majesty, king 
 of the world." The answer of the czar was 
 a memorable one, and sternly indicative of 
 the growing power as well as reputation of 
 tlie vast empire he governed. The message 
 he returned was, that " he was above sub- 
 mitting to a Mohammedan dog; but that 
 his sabre was as good as the grand seignor's 
 scimitar." 
 
 Not only did Alexis prepare for war, but 
 he endeavoured to create a Christian league 
 agauist the Turks. With this object he 
 sent ambassadors to the pope and to almost 
 all the great sovereigns in Europe, except 
 Prance, which was in alliance with Turkey : 
 but the monarchs of Europe were fully occu- 
 pied with their own quarrels and interests, 
 and were, consequently, not disposed to give 
 anything but their good wishes. 
 
 The exertions of the Russians were fore- 
 stalled by the unexpected and brilliant suc- 
 cess of the Poles. Sobieski — now raised to 
 the throne of Poland, after having, at the 
 head of only 10,000 men, opposed the 
 Turks, who had an army, raised by rein- 
 forcements to 300,000— at length, on the 
 morning of the 14th of October, 1676, had the 
 audacity to lead his followers from their in- 
 trenchments, and offer battle to the over- 
 whelming hosts before them 1 The Turks 
 were not only astonished, but a superstitious 
 fear fell upon them. They could not believe 
 that ordinary men could be capable of such 
 reckless and seemingly hopeless daring. 
 They declared that the Poles were assisted 
 by magic, that their leader was Sheitan, or 
 the devil, and that it was useless to fight 
 against them. The Turkish pasha, though 
 above this superstition, knew the debilitating 
 influence it would have upon his troops ; and 
 knowing, also, that Polish succours were 
 
 approaching, he offered an honourable peace, 
 which Sobieski was glad enough to accept. 
 Though not victory, it was at least triumph, 
 and won for the brave Polish monarch the 
 admiration of Europe. 
 
 Before this event occurred, the czar 
 Alexis was no more. He died on the 10th 
 of February, 1676, in the forty-sixth year 
 of his age, and the thirty-first of his reign. 
 His death was hastened by the ignorance of 
 an old woman, to whose medical skill he 
 trusted in preference to that of his physi- 
 cians ; at least the latter said so, though if 
 he had died while under their treatment, it 
 would have been discovered that nature had 
 succumbed to the resistless force of the 
 
 disease. 
 
 Alexis was mourned for by his subjects, 
 and in some respects he deserved this hon- 
 ourable tribute to his memory. The fault 
 of most of the sovereigns of the house of 
 Romanoff" was want of heart, or of that be- 
 coming gentleness which, in those who hold 
 the issues of life and death, tempers the 
 severity of justice with the sweetness of 
 mercy. From this Alexis was not exempt ; 
 and though not wantonly cruel, yet he 
 crushed opposition and insurrection with a 
 severity that bore an aspect of vindictive- 
 ness and brutality. Certainly the barbarous 
 people whom he ruled did not seem to un- 
 derstand any other mode of correction : but 
 it was not tried with them. Yet, setting 
 aside the exercise of an unnecessary severity, 
 which must be regarded as a vice of the 
 times, Alexis was an able and an estimable, 
 prince. His prudence and his firmness 
 consolidated the throne of the empire, 
 and bound up deep wounds which, though 
 closing, were far from being healed. Though 
 not deficient in the qualities of the warrior, 
 yet his courage was balanced by a sagacious 
 statesmanship which counselled him to mo- 
 deration and prudence. Ou. noble point 
 of his character must not be forgotten : he 
 abolished the inhuman custom by which, 
 in Russia, all prisoners taken in war were 
 consigned to slavery. He felt that brave 
 men ought not to be punished for serving 
 their sovereign ; and all military captives he 
 sent into the uncultivated parts of the em 
 pire, for the purpose of colonising those 
 remote districts. He never lost sight of 
 the improvement of his country, and de- 
 voted himself especially to the promotion 
 of agriculture and manufactures. He in- 
 duced many foreigners of ability to settle in 
 Russia, and treated them with great libe- 
 
 123 
 
 ' 
 
ACCESSION OF FEODOR.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1676. 
 
 rality. In the same spirit, he caused works 
 on mathematics, military science, tactics, 
 fortification, geography, and other valuable 
 subjects, to be translated into the Russian 
 language. He introduced important re- 
 forms in the laws, and attempted others in 
 the church. The city of Moscow was en- 
 larged, and two suburbs built by him. His at- 
 tention was also turned to ship-building; but 
 in this direction he only commenced a work 
 which was left for a greater man to carry 
 out. He was twice married. By his first 
 
 wife, Maria Iljinishna Miloflafskoi, he had 
 two sons and four daughters ; though some 
 writers say six, and others seven: his second 
 wife, Natolia Kirillowna Narishkin, brought 
 him one son and one daughter — the for- 
 mer being Peter Alexeiewitz, afterwards so 
 famous as to acquire the title of Peter the 
 Great. We may briefly sum up the cha- 
 racter of Alexis, by quoting the judgment 
 of a distinguished writer concerning him; 
 that is, that he was worthy of being the 
 father of so distinguished a son. 
 
 Hi 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 ACCESSION OF FFODOR ; HE EXECUTES MINOR REFORMS; IIIS BENKVOLENCE; HE ABOLISHES THE MESTNI- 
 CHESTVO- IIIS MAURIAGH AND DEATH; AMBITION OF THE PRINCESS SOPHIA, AND RKVOLT OF THE STRE- 
 LITZ- IVAN AND PETER ARE CROWNED AS JOINT SOVEREIGN ; SOPHIA BECOMES REGENT; REBELLION OF 
 KOVANSKOI; UNSUCCKSSFUL WAR WITH THE TARTARS OF THE CRIMEA; THE BOYHOOD OF PETER; IIIS 
 MARRIAGE; SOPHIA ENDEAVOURS TO PROCURE THE ASSASSINATION OF PETER; HE COMPELS HER TO 
 ABDICATE THE REGENCY, AND RETIRE INTO A CONVENT; PETER BECOMES SOLE SOVEREIGN. 
 
 Feodor, the eldest son of Alexis, was, at the ! 
 time of his father's death, only nineteen years 
 of age. Some objections were urged against ^ 
 his succeeding to the throne, on account j 
 of the extreme delicacy or feebleness of his • 
 constitution. These objections would have 
 had more force if they had not proceeded 
 from the Narishkins, the family of the 
 second wife of the late czar, who were ex- 
 tremely anxious to place the infant Peter, 
 then only three years of age, on the throne 
 instead of Feodor ; who, it was pretended, 
 was weak in intellect as well as in bodily 
 frame. Ivan, the brother of Feodor, was 
 undoubtedly almost imbecile; but the subse- 
 quent acts of the latter showed him to pos- 
 sess considerable mental power, in conjunc- 
 tion with a resolute will. 
 
 Alexis had bequeathed to his successor 
 one dangerous legacy, namely, his dispute 
 with Turkey on the subject of the territory 
 of the Ukraine, and the sovereignty over 
 the Cossacks of that region. Neither em- 
 pire cared to prolong, or rather to enter 
 upon, an active state of hostilities; and 
 three years after the accession of Feodor, 
 an armistice, which was to last for twenty 
 years, was entered into between the Porte 
 and the czar, by which the contested terri- 
 tory was surrendered to the latter. 
 124. 
 
 Feodor, young as he was, entered with 
 avidity upon the task of promoting the 
 civilisation of the empire. This he for- 
 warded by the minute attention he paid to 
 the administration of its internal aflfairs. 
 That of justice particularly occupied his 
 attention ; and he laboured hard to extir- 
 pate the corruption which infected its de- 
 cisions. Then, and unhappily even now — 
 for the villanous practice has lasted from 
 that time to the present — the verdicts of 
 judges were given, or rather sold, to the 
 litigant who bribed the highest. It is said, 
 in apology for this gigantic evil, that judges 
 and other highly responsible officials are 
 paid so small a sum, that men of high posi- 
 tion and irreproachable character will not 
 accept such positions, and that the dis- 
 honesty of those who do, is consequently 
 winked at by the imperial government. 
 The statement as to the insufficiency of 
 remuneration is at least correct; for we 
 have already stated, that at the present 
 time, the highest legal functionaries of 
 Russia receive only £160 a-year ! Bribery, 
 or the acceptance of presents, as it is termed 
 by the Russians, is therefore almost a neces- 
 sary consequence among a people where the 
 tone of public morality is by no means a 
 high one. We may be allowed to question 
 
 •,4.T\ 1680.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [abolition of the mestnichestvo. 
 
 the sincerity, or at least the earnestness, 
 of the government in its endeavours to ex- 
 tinguish this vile trading in that which 
 should be above all price, because it has 
 never adopted the most evident means of 
 putting an end to it ; that is, the awarding 
 of such stipends to those who administer 
 the law, as to place them at least beyond 
 the cares of poverty and its accompanying 
 temptations. The Russian peasants have a 
 proverb which expresses their conviction of 
 the difficulty of obtaining justice. They 
 say, " God is in heaven, and the czar is far 
 off." That is, that both are so above them, 
 and so inaccessible to their approach, that 
 they must submit to oppression with pa- 
 tience. Nikolay Gogal, a Russian author 
 of the present century, who has acquired 
 great celebrity, and occupies, in the litera- 
 ture of the northern empire, a position 
 something resembling that of Mr. Charles 
 Dickens in the literature of England, wrote 
 a comedy on the subject of judicial corrup- 
 tion, called The Revisor, which not only 
 met with the most brilliant success, but 
 was witnessed more than once by the late 
 emperor Nicholas, who gave it his marked 
 applause. A revisor, in Russia, is the title 
 of a high government officer, dispatched to 
 a province to ascertain and report on the 
 character of its administration. The plot 
 and moral of the play is, that an impostor 
 who makes his appearance at a provincial 
 capital, assuming this title, finds such uni- 
 versal peculation and misconduct among all 
 the government officials, that when he is at 
 last discovered, they are glad to let him off 
 scot-free, and hush up the whole affair. 
 
 To return from this momentary digres- 
 sion. The young czar Feodor found the 
 task he had undertaken was too great for 
 him. He did not remove the cause (pro- 
 bably did not recognise it), and the effect 
 remained. The underpaid and crafty judges 
 devised wavs to evade his enactments ; and 
 all he found it expedient to do, was to 
 punish flagrant cases with severity. The 
 young among the wealthy are seldom 
 thoughtful of the poor ; but Feodor gave 
 much of his attention to their sufferings, 
 and the mode of alleviating them. With 
 more of philanthropy, perhaps, than wis- 
 dom, he caused the price of provisions to be 
 regulated by what was regarded as an equi- 
 table standard, and made enactments with 
 the object of preventing the dealers in such 
 commodities from oppressing the indigent. 
 He even took such a kindly interest in the 
 
 affairs of the people, as to lend sums of 
 money to small tradesmen and ingenious 
 artisans, to assist them in their business, 
 and received the payment in small instal- 
 ments. He reformed the police arrange- 
 ments of Moscow, and gave attention to 
 many matters which, though they gene- 
 rally escape the observation of princes, yet 
 do much towards constituting the content- 
 ment and prosperity of a people. 
 
 One reform Feodor accomplished which 
 made his name memorable. It was the 
 abolition of a troublesome custom, called 
 Mestnichestvo or placeship, from Mesto^ 
 place. Every family amongst the nobility 
 kept a book containing its genealogy; and 
 pride of ancestry was carried to an ex- 
 tent that caused many inconveniences and 
 quarrels. No nobleman would serve in 
 a post subordinate to another whose an- 
 cestry had stood at any time in an inferior 
 position to his progenitors. As the genea- 
 logical books contained an account of all 
 the positions held at any time by those 
 mentioned in them, it w^as easy for a dis- 
 contented boyard to find out at once what 
 had been the appointments of the ancestors 
 of any rival who was raised to some posi- 
 tion above him. This foUv was carried to 
 such lengths, that it seriously interfered 
 with the progress of public business, being 
 a source of incessant discords. A public 
 office had been instituted at Moscow, in 
 which exact copies of the genealogical table 
 and service-register were deposited. Feodor 
 consulted with his minister. Prince Vassili 
 Galitzin, on the best means of putting au 
 end to this pride-engendered confusion ; 
 and they soon devised a curious and rather 
 dramatic expedient. 
 
 The czar issued a proclamation, requiring 
 that all noble families should deliver into 
 court faithful copies of their service-rolls, 
 that certain errors might be erased from 
 them. The command was obeved; and at 
 the appointed time the czar, the patriarch, 
 the superior clergy, and the nobles were 
 assembled together. The patriarch, who 
 had been informed concerning the real 
 object of the meeting, first delivered an 
 animated address against the Mestnichestvo 
 and the jealousies and inconveniences caused 
 by it. These prerogatives, said he in con- 
 clusion, '^ are a bitter source of every kind 
 of evil ; thev render abortive the most 
 useful enterprises, in like manner as the 
 tares stifle the good grain ; they have intro- 
 duced, even into the heart of families, dis- 
 
 125 
 
IkLAJlRIAGE OF FEODOR.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1680. 
 
 V ' 
 
 sensions, confusions, and hatred ; but tlie 
 pontiff comprehends the {<raud desi^m of 
 his czar. God alone can have inspired it !" 
 The nobles expressed their satisfaction at 
 the yet unrevealed intention, by the utter- 
 ance of servile acclamations, in the midst of 
 which Feodor proposed, that all the papers 
 relative to the positions they or their an- 
 cestors hud held, should be at once burnt, 
 in order that the feuds arising from them 
 might be altogether forgotten. The nobles 
 were extremely unwilling ; but their assent 
 had been given, and could not readily be 
 recalled. The records were thrown into a 
 fire, prepared in the courtyard of the 
 palace, and soon reduced to ashes. In 
 conclusion, the patriarch pronounced an 
 anathema against every one who presumed 
 to contravene this ordinance of the czar ; 
 and the humbled nobles joined the rest of 
 the assembly in a response of ''Amen/' 
 The importance of this reform, and the diffi- 
 culties in the way of accomplishing it, may 
 be inferred from the fact, that Ivan the 
 Terrible, who had deluged Russia with 
 blood and decimated its nobility, was un- 
 able to abolish the Mestnichestvo. That it 
 might not be supposed that he was inimical 
 to an order of nobility, Feodor ordered a 
 new set of books to be made, in which the 
 names and rank of the noble families were 
 duly inserted; but the old distinctions, 
 arising from the accidental occupation of 
 place, were altogether abolished. 
 
 Even in such a circumstance as his mar- 
 riage, the young czar exhibited his thought- 
 fulness and his care for the prosperity and 
 enlightenment of the empire. It was the 
 custom for the Russian czars always to 
 marry a subject ; as it was said such a prac- 
 tice shut out of the empire the evils of 
 foreign influence. This might be the case ; 
 but it also excluded the benefits of foreign 
 alliances, and checked that intercourse be- 
 tween nations so productive of the exten- 
 sion of civilisation, and of which Russia 
 stood so pre-eminently in need. Besides 
 this, a peculiar honour was conferred upon 
 the family from whose circle the consort of 
 the czar was selected, which commonly 
 encouraged ambitious views in it, and ex- 
 cited a feeling of jealous irritation against it 
 on the part of the other nobles. In cases 
 also where the sovereign married, twice, it 
 created rival factions, whose animosities 
 might disturb the peace of the country. 
 An incident of the latter kind was ob- 
 servable when Feodor ascended the throne, 
 126 
 
 and the Narishkin family, the relations of 
 the second czarina, endeavoured, on the 
 false plea of his being of feeble intellect, to 
 set him aside in favour of the infant Peter. 
 In the event of their being successful, the 
 Narishkins would have enjoyed the chief 
 offices and emoluments of the state, which, 
 as they failed, were probably to no small 
 extent' filled by the members of the house 
 of Miloflafskoi, a daughter of the head of 
 which was the mother of Feodor. 
 
 These considerations induced the czar to 
 resolve upon not selecting a cotisort from 
 the daughters of the Russian nobles, but to 
 look abroad for a partner of his crown and 
 bed. Probably a more personal and imme- 
 diate motive also influenced him ; for he 
 chose a Polish lady for whom, we learn, he 
 had conceived a passionate attachment. 
 The noblt's objected to the match; and 
 those who had marriageable daughters were, 
 we may not unfairly presume, decidedly ad- 
 verse to a departure from old customs. 
 But the chief opposition came from the 
 clergy, who nevertheless uttered remon- 
 strances, warnings, and anathemas in vain. 
 Feodor replied that he should marry the 
 lady of his choice, whether the church ap- 
 proved of it or otherwise ; and marry her he 
 (lid — a circumstance which we are sure that 
 our lady readers, at least, will not censure 
 
 him for. 
 
 Feodor endeavoured to withdraw the 
 people from many prejudices, and pernicious 
 or barbarous habits. His reign was too 
 brief to permit of any great success in this 
 direction ; for it takes years, and sometimes 
 even generations, to effect changes in na- 
 tional customs. To vulgar minds it is a 
 sufficient reason fur anything, that their 
 fathers and forefathers did it. So strongly 
 dues this feeling — a wholesome one under 
 proper restrictions — influence the Russian 
 peasantry, that even to this day they can 
 scarcely be induced to adopt agricultural 
 improvements. Their ancestors followed a 
 plan which, with greater labour, yielded a 
 smaller produce ; and they will do as their 
 ancestors did. Inertness of mind and con- 
 stitutional apathy has much to do iu bring- 
 ing about this obstructive temper in a 
 people ; and the Russian peasant was and 
 is, notoriously idle and uureflective. Feodor 
 tried hard to raise the people from their 
 slothful ways, and to show them the value 
 of intellectual energy. It is very possible 
 that his exertions softened the severity of 
 the subsequent labours of Peter in the same 
 
 A.D. 1682.] 
 
 RUSSIxVN EMPIRE. 
 
 [death of feodor. 
 
 path ; indeed, but for his premature death, 
 he might have accomplished much of what 
 was eventually effected by his illustrious 
 half-brother. It is somewhat remarkable, 
 that he endeavoured to reform the common 
 dress of the people, and to induce them to 
 adopt a costume resembling that worn by 
 the inhabitants of other European nations, 
 instead of one of an Asiatic character. 
 
 The reign of this amiable and wise young 
 czar was a very brief one. It extended 
 over a period of six years only ; when his 
 feeble constitution sunk under some dis- 
 order, and he died early in 1682, at the age 
 of twenty-tive. During the time he hela 
 the sceptre, he accomplished a considerable 
 amount of good in those small matters 
 which bring more benefit to the people 
 than reputation to the sovereign. His was 
 the work of preparation; and he proved 
 himself a worthy forerunner of the national 
 regenerator who was to effect that which he 
 had laid his hand upon. Reformer as he 
 was, the Russians regretted their young 
 czar, and mourned his death. Though 
 they disapproved of many of his designs, 
 they were conscious that he laboured ear- 
 nestly in the cause of his country. 
 
 Feodor, shortly before his death, ap- 
 pointed his half-brother Peter to succeed 
 to the empire ; for he knew that the in- 
 firmities of Ivan were such as to prevent 
 the possibility of his discharging the duties 
 of the government. The unhappy boy, 
 besides being of defective intellect, was 
 subject to epileptic fits, and nearly bhnd. 
 Sensible of his own unfitness for a post of 
 such serious responsibility, Ivan readily 
 consented to the proposition of Feodor, and 
 resigned a crown, the weight of which he 
 had not strength to bear. ^ 
 
 The princess Sophia, a sister of Ivans, 
 distinguished alike for her beauty, her am- 
 bition, and her reckless want of principle, 
 was much incensed at this arrangement. 
 It was her desire that Ivan should sue- 
 ceed to the throne, that she might be able 
 to rule through the instrumentality of her 
 feeble brother. The members of the house 
 of Miloflafskoi, or the family of the mother 
 of Ivan, were all ready to second any 
 scheme she might conceive for that pur- 
 pose ; while the Narishkins, the family of 
 Peter, were equally as ready to oppose it. 
 Much excitement was produced by this 
 division in the imperial family; and ad- 
 •herents to both parties arose in every 
 quarter of the city. 
 
 The Miloflafskois had the advantage that 
 arose from the possession of authority. 
 The officers of state were in their confi- 
 dence, the kevs of power in their hands, 
 and the bands of the Strelitz under their 
 command, or at least nominally so; for 
 these turbulent and ferocious troops were 
 scarcely to be controlled by any power m 
 the state. The designing Sophia resolved 
 to make these men the instruments of her 
 approach to power. She addressed herself 
 to them even before Feodor had breathed 
 his last, and pleaded in behalf of her 
 brother Ivan; knowing, that if this poor 
 puppet was placed upon the throne, she 
 would have the field to herself, and could 
 do as she pleased. It is said, that her 
 beautv made a great impression upon the 
 Strelitz; but it is more likely that ner in- 
 fluence arose solely from the bribes which 
 she scattered amongst them with great 
 liberalitv. Within two days after the fune- 
 ral of 'Feodor, the Strelitz assembled m 
 arms to the number of 14,000, and pro- 
 ceeded in a body to the Kremlin. They 
 had received their instructions; which were, 
 in the tumult of insurrection to assassinate 
 the chief members of the Narishkin family, 
 and to take, if possible, the life of the 
 young prince Peter. To give a false colour 
 to their objects, a report was spread 
 throughout the city, that the Narishkins 
 had poisoned Feodor to make way for 
 Peter; that some foreign physicians had 
 been the guilty agents ; and that a similar 
 act of treachery was contemplated towards 
 
 Ivan. cf^ V 
 
 On arriving at the Kremhn, the Strelitz 
 broke out into insurrection. They began 
 by accusing nine of their colonels of de- 
 frauding them of their pay, and demanding 
 the sums that had been taken from- them, 
 and that the nine officers should be given 
 up to them. Both demands were complied 
 with, and the defaulters subjected to the 
 punishment of the bastinado. Subordina- 
 tion once broken, furious excesses soon lol- 
 lowed. These were encouraged by the 
 princess Sophia, who had given to the 
 chiefs of the Strelitz a list of forty nobles, 
 whom she declared to be enemies of the 
 state, and deserving of death. Forcing 
 their way into the palace, the Strelitz de- 
 manded the lives of the Narishkins. The 
 princes Dolgorouki and Maffeof were the 
 first victims. These unfortunate men were 
 thrown out of the windows of the palace by 
 the Strelitz, and received on the pikes of 
 
 127 
 
 m 
 
 mi 
 
TV AN AND PETER.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1682, 
 
 
 
 their comrades beneath. Athanasius Narish- 
 kin, a brother of the widow of the czar Alexis, 
 and uncle of Peter, was also murdered, 
 together with most of those denounced by 
 the fierce and ambitious Sophia. Tliree of 
 the proscribed were dragged from the altar 
 of a neighbouring church, stripped naked, 
 and then cut to pieces. In their fury, the 
 ruffian soldiers murdered a young noble- 
 man, by mistake, for one of the uncles of 
 Peter, of whom tliey were in search. AVhcn 
 the deed was done, they disc(3vcred they 
 had slain a member of the house of Soltikof, 
 who, so far from incurring their vengeance, 
 had ever been a great favourite with them. 
 To show their regret, they respectfully car- 
 ried the body of the young noble to liis 
 father, who, influenced by fear, gave them 
 a considerable reward for so doing. The 
 ladies of his household reproached him for 
 his weakness. *' Let us wait," responded 
 the bereaved noble, "for an opportunity of 
 being revenged." The retiring soldiers 
 overheard the words, and returning, they 
 dragged the aged man by the hair into the 
 street, and cut his throat at his own door. 
 
 A Dutch physician named Daniel Von- 
 gad, had been accused of poisoning the 
 czar Feodor — a crime of which the unfor- 
 tunate man was undoubtedly innocent. 
 While searching for Vongad, they met his 
 son, and murdered him, because he would 
 not inform them where his father was. 
 Shortly afterwards, a German physician fell 
 into their hands, and was instantly put to 
 death by these ruffians; who said to him, 
 "You are a doctor; and if you have not 
 poisoned our master Feodor, you have 
 poisoned others, and therefore you merit 
 death." 
 
 Vongad was at length discovered, con- 
 cealed in the palace in the disguise of a 
 beggar. The princesses (sisters of the re- 
 morseless Sopliia) implored the soldiers to 
 spare him, assuring them that he was a 
 very skilful man, and had taken great care 
 of their brother Feodor. The wretches, 
 thirsting for blood, replied, that he deserved 
 to be put to death for sorcery; for that 
 they had found the skeleton of a large toad, 
 and the skin of a snake, in his cabinet. 
 Having discovered John Narishkin, another 
 brother of the mother of Peter, they put 
 him and the poor physician to a mock trial, 
 and condemned them to be cut to pieces. 
 After the execution of this savage sentence, 
 the heads, feet, and hands of the two vic- 
 tims were exposed upon the iron points of 
 128 
 
 a balustrade of the palace. Happily the 
 mother of Peter escaped with that young 
 prince from this scene of horror. She fled 
 with her boy in her arms; but the Strelitz 
 were soon upon her track. When almost , 
 exhausted, she could hear the yells of her 
 pursuers and the tramp of their feet. She 
 had just time to gain the sanctuary of the 
 convent of the Trinity, and to place her 
 child upon the altar, when two of the 
 ruffians entered. One of them seized the 
 prince, and raised his weapon to dispatch 
 the boy. At this moment, a noise of horse- 
 men, joined, perhaps, to a feeling of super- 
 stitious terror, caused him to hesitate. A 
 strange panic had fallen upon his comrades 
 in the other part of the church; it extended 
 itself to him : the ruffian released the 
 prince, and fled ; and the future regenerator 
 of Russia was saved. 
 
 The result of all this violence was, that 
 the feeble Ivan was declared czar. The 
 poor boy shrunk from a responsibility to 
 which he felt himself unequal, and desired 
 that his half-brother, Peter, might be asso- 
 ciated with him in the government. This 
 proposition was considered reasonable, and 
 brought about a compromise. The partisans 
 of the princess Sophia thought it prudent 
 to consent : and on the 6th of May, 1682, 
 Ivan and Peter were crowned as joint 
 sovereign, she herself being appointed as 
 regent. The ambitious princess, though 
 thus in possession of the imperial power, 
 was not satisfied without being recognised 
 as ruler in name as well as in fact. She 
 enjoyed all the honours of sovereignty ; her 
 features were stamped upon the public coin, 
 she signed all despatches, had the first seat 
 in the council, and enjoyed an authority 
 which knew no control. 
 
 To preserve the power of the sceptre in 
 her own family, she married her brother 
 Ivan to a young lady of the house of 
 Soltikof. The way in which the consort of 
 the czar was selected at this period, was 
 remarkable and romantic. Voltaire ob- 
 serves, that on these occasions it seems as 
 if we were reading the history of Ahasuerus, 
 or that of Theodosius the younger. The 
 ceremony was conducted according to 
 Asiatic precedents. The most beautiful 
 girls of the country were diligently sought 
 for, and when a sufficient number were 
 collected, they were invited to the palace, 
 and dressed in their most costly appareL 
 Each had an apartment provided for her, 
 but they dined together at a general table. 
 
 A.D 1684. J 
 
 On these occasions, the czar attended either 
 publicly or incognitOj and had an oppor- 
 tunity of comparing their beauty, and 
 listening to their conversation. Some 
 authors assert, that he watched them upon 
 other and unsuspected occasions, and even 
 sometimes visited their chambers at night, 
 to see which of them slept quietest. When 
 he had made his selection, he presented 
 the chosen lady with a handkerchief and a 
 ring, as tokens of his afifection and accept- 
 ance of her. The rest were honourably 
 dismissed with presents, and returned to 
 their respective homes. The chosen beauty 
 was then declared in public, and had the 
 title of grand princess conferred upon her. 
 
 Having induced her brother Ivan to 
 marry, Sophia sent Peter to an obscure 
 village, where, by causing his education to 
 be neglected, and surrounding him with low 
 companions, she trusted to render him 
 unfit to attain and direct the powers of the 
 state. Thus, with two czars upon the 
 throne, the one almost an idiot, the other a 
 mere child, the regent Sophia might have 
 been an absolute sovereign but for other 
 difficulties which arose in her path. Men's 
 minds were unsettled, and a fresh insurrec- 
 tion broke out. The Strelitz were especially 
 turbulent. They first broke into rebellion 
 on the subject of rehgion ; and, in defence 
 of some new doctrine, drove the patriarch 
 and his clergy from the cathedral with 
 stones. After much confusion this out- 
 break was subdued, the leaders beheaded, 
 and the soldiers pacified or intimidated. 
 
 But the Strelitz did not long remain 
 quiet; they felt that they had given the 
 sceptre into the hands of Sophia, and that 
 she could not sufficiently repay them for 
 such an important service. Like the prae- 
 torian guards of the Roman emperors, they 
 assumed the right of dethroning as well as 
 enthroning; and the regent soon became 
 sensible that she must awe them into sub- 
 mission, or become merely a slavish instru- 
 ment of their desires. Prince Kovanskoi, 
 their commander, had been the confidant of 
 the ambitious princess, and was necessarily 
 in possession of dangerous secrets. At first 
 he appears to have been merely jealous of 
 the superior ascendancy of Prince Basil 
 Galatzin, the favourite and lover of the 
 princess, whom she had created general- 
 issimo, minister of state, and lord-keeper. 
 Soon, however, he enlarged the horizon of 
 his ambition, and even aimed at the im- 
 perial dignity. With this view he proposed 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [insurrecttion of the strelitz 
 
 to the regent, that she should marry one ot 
 her sisters to his son. The acute princess 
 suspected the design of Kovanskoi, and 
 returned a haughty refusal. Irritated by 
 her reply, he resolved on revenge, and de- 
 termined to clear a path to the throne by 
 the murder of the two czars, Sophia, and all 
 who were attached to the imperial family. 
 At the instigation of Kovanskoi, the tur- 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 bulent Strelitz again broke out into insur- 
 rection. On this occasion, also, the name 
 of religion was perverted into an excuse for 
 outrage. The soldiers demanded certain 
 changes, but the object of their chief was 
 merely ambitious. Moscow was thrown 
 into a state of confusion; and the czars and 
 the princesses having no power at hand to 
 oppose the insurgents, fled to the fortified 
 monastery of the Trinity, within twelve 
 leagues of the capital. This retreat was at 
 once a convent, a palace, and a fortress; 
 and was encompassed with deep ditches and 
 brick ramparts, on which were planted a 
 numerous artillery. Ensconced within these 
 walls, the imperial party prepared to defend 
 themselves to the last extremity. 
 
 Prince Kovanskoi possessed far more am- 
 bition than talent; and he soon showed 
 that he was no match for the crafty princess 
 against whom he had conspired. She opened 
 a negotiation, and having prevailed upon 
 him to meet her half-way, she came to the 
 spot with a considerable body of soldiers, 
 and seizing Kovanskoi and the thirty-seven 
 Strelitz who attended him, caused them to 
 be instantly beheaded. The rebels were 
 furious on learning the fate of their leader, 
 and advanced upon the monastery, threat- 
 ening death to everyone within it. While 
 they were approaching, they received in- 
 formation that troops were marching on 
 all sides against them ; and their fury was 
 succeeded, first by fear, and next by an 
 absolute panic, taking advantage of this, 
 the regent, reassured by the assistance that 
 was at hand, demanded that all the ring- 
 leaders should be delivered up to her, and 
 that every tenth man in each regiment 
 should also be surrendered as a security 
 for the behaviour of the rest. The dispirited 
 rebels at once complied, and the selected 
 victims having taken leave of their wives 
 and families, went in a long melancholy 
 procession to the monastery. Two-thirds 
 of the number carried blocks ; while the 
 remainder bore axes — the intended instru- 
 ments of their own execution. On arriving 
 at the open space in front of the building, 
 ^ , 129 
 
 «-'*'»«- 
 
WAB WITH niE TARTARS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1687. 
 
 A.D. 1689.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [marriage of peter. 
 
 they laid their heads upon the blocks they 
 had brouj^ht with them, and passively 
 awaited their doom. The court and the 
 spectators were touched by this exhibition 
 of abject submission. The most guilty only 
 were put to death; while the rest were 
 pardoned and distributed among the frontier 
 regiments. 
 
 This last was the act of the prince 
 Galitzin, who sent the most mutinous corps 
 of the Strclitz into the Ukraine, Kasan, and 
 Siberia. Sophia, who now recovered the 
 regal power, was fortunate in the possession 
 of this man as her minister. The Polish 
 envoy then in Russia described him as 
 superior, in every respect, to any other 
 person in that tempestuous court — as being 
 not only })olitc, but magnificent; full of 
 grand designs, and learned beyond any of 
 Ids countrymen ; being a master of the 
 Latin tongiie, at that time almost unknown 
 in Russia — a man of an active spirit, of in- 
 defatigable application; in short, a genius 
 superior to the times he lived in, and capable, 
 liad he leisure and power as he had inclina- 
 tion, of refurniing the manners of Russia. 
 
 The partisans of the young czar Peter, 
 discerning in him some touches of mental 
 vigour, lived in hopes of eventually securing 
 for him the sole power of the state. With 
 this object they watched anxiously for an 
 opportunity of weakening the regent Sophia, 
 and of bringing her minister, Galitzin, into 
 disgrace. 
 
 It was known that Galitzin had more 
 talent for the cabinet than for the field; 
 and for this reason his enemies clamoured 
 for a war with the Tartars of the Crimea, 
 who still exacted from Russia an annual 
 tribute of ()(),0()0 roubles. Such a condition 
 was very humiliating to Russia; but, under 
 the circumstances, with an unsettled gov- 
 ernment, and an almost exhausted treasury, 
 it was not prudent to enter upon a war. 
 Yet the Narishkin faction induced Galitzin 
 to take the field, in the year 1687, at the 
 head of the army, with the hope that a 
 disaster minht prove his ruin; or that, at 
 least during his absence, they might more 
 effectually advance the claims of Peter. 
 
 The armv is said to liave amounted to 
 300,000 nien; but they were undisciplined 
 and ill-armed. Galitzin was, moreover,, en- 
 cumbered with an enormous quantity of 
 baggage, and he wasted the strength of his 
 men in marches and counter-marches, which 
 failed to produce any equivalent results. 
 The war was prolonged over two campaigns, 
 130 
 
 attended with a loss of 40,000 soldiers, and 
 ended without victory. The enemies ol 
 Galitzin had calculated correctly : the un- 
 successful general incurred general odium, 
 from which the regent Sophia by no means 
 escaped. 
 
 In the meantime Peter grew up towards 
 manhood in his retirement. Left as far as 
 possible without education, the regent had 
 placed around him a number of dissolute 
 voung Russians, many of whom were mere 
 adventurers, who, though but lads in years, 
 possessed the vices of men, and had become 
 reckless of honour, and even of reputation. 
 Sophia naturally supposed that Peter would 
 sink to the level of this depraved set, and 
 never afterwards rise above it. She was 
 both right and wrong : partly right, because 
 Peter imbibed from these dissolute lads evil 
 habits which never left him; and partly 
 wrong, because she had not recognised in 
 her half-brother the ori|2;inality of character 
 and firmness of will that led him to attain 
 an ascendancy over them. He acquired 
 their vices; but he attracted both their 
 affection and esteem. Much of their time 
 was passed in those profligate amusements 
 to which Peter ever remained attached ; but 
 the military taste of the young czar soon 
 became apparent, and he formed his com- 
 panions into a corps of soldiers. In this 
 mimic military community he set an ex- 
 ample of discipline himself, by entering 
 the ranks first as a drummer, and becoming 
 successively a private soldier, an officer, and, 
 finally, commander of the troop. While 
 engaged in these instructive sports, Peter 
 erected fortifications, and himself wheeled 
 the earth from the trenches in a barrow 
 constructed by his own hands. The spirit 
 of the thing was contagious, and in a short 
 
 time the whole village became a sort of 
 military school. But the time of the young 
 czar was not wholly occupied in this man- 
 ner. Amongst his companions was a young 
 Genevese, named Fran9ois Lefort, who, 
 having quitted his father's house at the age 
 of fourteen, had, after many vicissitudes, 
 entered the military service of Russia during 
 the reign of the czar Feodor, and greatly dis- 
 tinguished himself against the Tartars. At 
 length he obtained an introduction to the czar 
 Peter, who took a liking to him, and en- 
 gaged him to be one of his companions, or 
 amusers, as they were called. Lefort was a 
 self-educated man, and not deeply versed in 
 literature, the arts, or the military sciences. 
 But young as he was, he had seen the world, 
 
 and profited by what he had seen. Though 
 not deep, he was versatile, and possessed 
 very agreeable manners. He was something 
 of a linguist also, and not unacquainted 
 with mathematics; and it was under his 
 instructions that Peter made a ran^d pro- 
 gress in the elenxentary branches of litera- 
 ture and science. Probably the irregular 
 genius of the young czar would have re- 
 volted against the drudgery of a systematic 
 education; but information thus acquired 
 by snatches, and to some extent by stealth, 
 possessed an air of fascination extremely 
 attractive to him. 
 
 Sophia beheld with pleasure her half- 
 brother occupied with dissipated and seem- 
 ingly boyish pursuits. The military displays 
 of his troops she regarded as the idle frolics 
 of boys, and fancied that the midnight 
 carousals and premature habits of the young 
 czar, would, in a few years, induce a bodily 
 and mental weakness which would render 
 him incapable of governing. She was de- 
 ceived. Peter, though dissolute, was not 
 wholly so : though his education had been 
 purposely neglected, his great natural ca- 
 pacity enabled him to acquire and digest 
 every useful information that came in his 
 way. A sense of the dignity and responsi- 
 bility of the position that was withheld 
 from him, crossed his mind, or rather pene- 
 trated it, and dwelt there. Though his 
 position was such as a boy might submit to, 
 yet a man could not endure it without 
 shame. Animated by a hope of obtaining 
 the reality of that sceptre of which he and 
 Ivan scarcely touched the shadow, and en- 
 couraged by his friends, he made his appear- 
 ance occasionally in the city of Moscow, 
 and also in the senate, where he took his 
 seat by the side of his feeble-minded brother. 
 Such was the state of affairs, when, in the 
 June of 1689, the friends of Peter brought 
 about a marriage between him and Eudoxia 
 Federowna Lapuchin, the daughter of a 
 Russian noble. This union was intended 
 not only to allure Peter from the dissipa- 
 tion to which he was so much addicted, but 
 also to defeat the scheme of the princess 
 Sophia with respect to Ivan/s wife, who was 
 supposed to have sullied the purity of the 
 marriage bed, and to be in a state of criminal 
 
 pregnancv. 
 
 The decided bearing of Peter in the senate 
 startled Sophia, who saw that she had been 
 deceived in her estimate of his mental 
 powers. Several contentions took place be- 
 tween them.; and each recognised in the 
 
 other an enemy whom it was necessary to 
 remove. Accounts of the promising cha- 
 racter of Peter had gone al)road, and he 
 was gaining ground in popular favour. 
 Sophia felt that her choice lay between some 
 imrre<:^&t*^ and d'isperate step,aud her speedy 
 removal from the power she had usurped. 
 So remorseless a woman probably felt no 
 compunction in consequence of the resolu- 
 tion at which she arrived, which was, to pro- 
 cure the assassination of her rival. She 
 appears to have been steeled to this base 
 purpose by an open quarrel, of a serious 
 kind, which took place between them. On 
 the occasion of some religious festival, So- 
 phia insisted on attending as regent, tr, 
 according to some authorities, as czarina. 
 We should presume the latter to be the 
 case, as the regency of the princess had 
 been long admitted, and Peter had never 
 questioned it. On this occasion he vehe- 
 mently denied her claim, and an angry alter- 
 cation was the result. The imperious So- 
 phia, accustomed to command, and more 
 irritated than convinced by the expostula- 
 tions of the young czar, persisted in her 
 pretensions. As there was no umpire to 
 whom the quarrel could be referred for 
 decision, Peter withdrew from the cere- 
 mony, and protested, in the name of the 
 sovereign power, against an act of assump- 
 tion on the part of the princess, which he 
 regarded as an usurpation. 
 
 Once again Sophia resorted to the Stre- 
 litz as the instruments of her vengeance ; 
 and a body of 600 of these desperate men 
 was sent during the night to the residence 
 of Peter, with orders to seize or dispatch 
 him. The friends of the young czar were 
 on the alert : he had received information 
 of the murderous design against him, and 
 had secretly left the city, and retired to the 
 fortified monastery of the Trinity. There 
 he summoned all the nobles of his party 
 and the friends of Russia, and entreated 
 their assistance to set aside an oppres- 
 sive usurpation. His call was generally 
 responded to, for the Russians are remark- 
 ably "orthodox" in their devotion to the- 
 true sovereign ; and Sophia, if she had not 
 excited disgust by her assumption of im- 
 perial power, had at least failed to attract 
 the affections of the people. 
 
 Peter soon had a considerable force at his 
 command ; and the Strelitz, disappointed in 
 their attempt on his life, were alarmed at 
 the danger they had incurred, and aban- 
 doned an enterprise which gave no promise 
 
 131 
 
 •I 
 
 (M' 
 
OVERTHROW OF SOPHIA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1689. 
 
 of success. The princess Sophia, feeling 
 herself deserted, sent commissioners to her 
 half-brother, to propose terms of accommo- 
 dation, and express a hope that their differ- 
 ences might be amicably adjusted. Hesi- 
 tation at this time, on the part of the 
 young czar, would probably have had an 
 evil influence on the whole of his life. But 
 he felt himself master of the position, and 
 refused all terms except those he dictated, 
 which were, the immediate and entire 
 abandonment, by the princess, of her 
 authority as regent. The commissioners 
 themselves, on hearing Peter's statement of 
 the misconduct and treachery of Sophia, 
 abindoned their trust, and attached them- 
 selves to his cause. The princess then left 
 Moscow at the head of a considerable 
 guard, and proceeded towards the convent 
 of the Trinity, with the hope of being able 
 to soften Peter, or, by her beauty and in- 
 trigues, regain her lost influence over the 
 
 soldiery. 
 
 She was met by messengers from the 
 czar, who forbade her approach, and de- 
 manded, in the name of the czar, the sur- 
 render of Scheglovitoi (the commander of 
 the Strelitz), the banishment of her minister, 
 Prince Galitzin, and her full resignation of 
 all right and title to the throne of Russia. 
 These terms were a death-blow to the am- 
 bition of the princess ; but she was helpless. 
 
 and compelled to submit to them. Not 
 only was she deserted by her former sup- 
 porters, but the anger of the people was 
 excited against her on account of her recent 
 attempt on the life of Peter. Galitzin was 
 banished, nis wealth confiscated, and an 
 allowance made to him scarcely sufficient for 
 the support of life. The chief of the Strelitz, 
 together with many of his followers, suff*ered 
 the punishment of the knout, and were 
 then beheaded. Nor did the princess 
 escape with the forfeiture of her power ; for 
 Peter compelled her to enter a convent, 
 where she was confined during the re- 
 mainder of her life. This was in Septem- 
 ber, 1689, in which mouth, the young czar 
 issued a proclamation, stating, that the 
 name of the late regent would no longer be 
 mentioned in any public document : at the 
 same time, her image was struck from the 
 coinage, and her favourites and servants 
 dismissed from the Kremlin. 
 
 Peter and his supporters then made a 
 solemn entrance into Moscow, where, in 
 the sight of the assembled people, he em- 
 braced his brother Ivan, who left all the 
 power in his hands. From this period 
 Peter reigned alone ; for his brother had no 
 share in the regal authority. Sensible of 
 his unfitness for the duties of his high posi- 
 tion, Ivan led a retired life, and died in the 
 year 1696. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 NEW ERA IN RUSSIAN HISTORY ; PETER THE SOLE RULER; HE RAISES AN ARMY ON THE EUROPEAN PRIN- 
 CIPLE • ADDRESSES HIMSELF TO THE CREATION OF A NAVY ; PETER DECLARES WAR AGAINST TURKEY ; 
 AFTER BEING REPULSED FROM AZOFF, HE SUCCEEDS IN TAKING IT; HIS TRIUMPHAL ENTRY INTO MOSCOW; 
 THE CZ\R RESOLVES TO TRAVEL, THAT HE MAY CIVILISE RUSSIA BY TRANSPLANTING INTO IT THE ARTS OF 
 OTHER NATIONS ; CONSPIRACY TO MURDER PETER; HIS FEROCIOUS REVENGE ON THE BAFFLED ASSASSINS. 
 
 We commence a new era in Russian his- 
 tory. At this point there is a gulph placed 
 between the past and the future of the 
 empire. The past is Asiatic, the future 
 European: the past is a blind, unsteady 
 struggle from barbarism ; the future a pro- 
 gress — slow, but full of purpose — towards 
 civilisation. Russia had gone through a 
 long probationary period of political discord 
 and social abasement; a period necessarily 
 long, in consequence of the barbarism of 
 132 
 
 her people, and the numerous races from 
 which they sprung ; but she was now ready 
 for the iron hand that was to break the chains 
 of the past, and mould her into a better 
 and a softer future. The wild races of which 
 that scattered population was composed, had 
 become an empire. They had been bound 
 together into a people, and become a bul- 
 wark, which broke off from Europe the savage 
 inundations of the robber-hosts of Asia. 
 The Tartars had exhausted their dangerous 
 
 A.D. 1689.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [peter the sole sovereign. 
 
 power by dashing themselves blindly against 
 the territories and cities of the north: the time 
 was coming when the Turks were to do the 
 same. The Russian empire both was, and is, 
 an imperious necessity. Her supposed dream 
 of European conquest was a dek^siou, which 
 would have led to her ruin and probable 
 partition; but her natural work is in the 
 East. In that direction she has much of 
 inert barbarism to crush beneath her iron 
 feet. Imperfect as her own civilisation is 
 even to this hour, she is yet the pioneer of 
 progress, and will share with England the 
 gigantic labour of regenerating the Asiatic 
 world. It is the very similarity of the 
 destiny of these two great empires that 
 created a jealousy between them, and at 
 length led to war. But the governments of 
 England and Russia had very little inten- 
 tion of permanently injuring each other ; 
 they know that the decrepid Eastern world 
 has spoil enough for each of them, and that 
 they were wasting their efforts by attacking 
 each other. 
 
 During the remarkable reign of Peter, 
 Russia was, to speak metaphorically, reborn; 
 and from this period dates her greatness, 
 and, indeed, her history, as a European 
 state. Empires must progress or decay. 
 It has been well observed, that poHcy 
 would have drawn Russia into an inter- 
 course with Europe, even if necessity had 
 not compelled her to advance. A writer 
 whom we have frequently quoted, says — 
 "What appeared at this crisis to be wanted, 
 was a master mind that should break up 
 old customs, and enlighten the empire 
 against its will. Bound on all sides by 
 mountains and arid plains, except where a 
 wild sea, that for three-fourths of the year 
 was locked up in ice, interrupted the mono- 
 tonous girth with a no less repulsive barrier, 
 Russia presented a spectacle of moral and 
 physical exclusion, which could not be made 
 to yield unless before some gigantic power 
 that should be capable of creating a new 
 people out of the sturdy and hitherto 
 changeless elements of the old. The nian 
 who should effect this mighty revolution 
 required many qualities, as rare in their 
 separate existence as they are almost un- 
 known in their combination : a mind 
 springing far beyond its age; a judgment 
 sound and rapid; a spirit of self-devotion 
 to the interests of humanity; herculean 
 bodily strength ; firmness of purpose ; and 
 indomitable energy. All these qualities 
 were comprehended in Peter, and, fortu- 
 
 nately, he dedicated them with inflexible 
 zeal to the benefit of his country." 
 
 When, in 1689, Peter obtained the 
 government, and really commenced his 
 chequered but brilliant reign, he was but ^n 
 his eighteenth year. In person he was tail 
 and well made. He had a robust constitu- 
 tion, and a countenance which regular fea- 
 tures and eyes that sparkled with vivacity, 
 gave some claim to the term handsome. 
 When grave, the expression of his face 
 often indicated great severity ; but at other 
 times he was lively and sociable, and always 
 full of energy and activity. 
 
 Young as Peter was, he immediately ad- 
 dressed himself to the task of reforming the 
 entire government of the country and the 
 manners of the people. He began with the 
 army ; for the art of war, as practised by 
 the more civilised nations of Europe, was 
 almost unknown in Russia. The empire 
 had no regular army, nor any regular troops 
 except the Strelitz; and they were turbulent 
 in times of peace, and little to be depended 
 on in those of war. Having devoted him- 
 self assiduously to a study of the principles 
 of military science, Peter resolved to raise a 
 standing army on the European principle. 
 With this object, he appointed two of his 
 early companions (Lefort the Genevan, and 
 General Patrick Gordon, a Scotchman) to 
 raise and drill some regiments of foreign 
 troops. They were readily enabled to 
 execute their commission, on account of 
 the troubles which at that time agitated 
 both France and Scotland. Lefort raised 
 a regiment of 12,000 men, of which force 
 he was made the general, and five colonels 
 were appointed to serve under him. The 
 troops raised by General Gordon increased 
 this force to 20,000 men, who were intended 
 to balance the power of the Strelitz, and, if 
 necessary, extinguish them as enemies to 
 
 the state. 
 
 While thus surrounding himself with a 
 well-organised army, Peter did not lose sight 
 of the great necessity of Russia — a navy, and 
 outlets to the sea. Without them the em- 
 pire would be a lonely giant dwelling in 
 the midst of deserts, and shut out from com- 
 munication with the rest of the world. To 
 speak without a metaphor, Russia, with- 
 out ships and sea-coasts, would be without 
 commerce and civilisation. Her people were 
 isolated to an extent that made them 
 barbarous and unsocial. An ancient law 
 had prohibited them from leaving the coun- 
 try : and, in their ignorance, they despised 
 
 •^ 133 
 
PETER RESOLVES TO CREATE A NAVY.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.i. 1690— 1694. 
 
 I 
 
 the inhabitants of other lands. This isola- 
 tion not only kept them ignorant and boor- 
 ish, but was an almost insurmountable ob- 
 stacle in the path of national improvement. 
 Peter resolved this should be changed — that 
 Russia Jihould have ships and harbours, 
 commerce and intercourse with nations of 
 more enlarged ideas and polished manners 
 — that his country should take her place 
 amongst the greatest empires of the earth, 
 and become all that her vast territory and 
 immense natural resources would permit ! 
 
 The creation of a navy in such a country 
 as Russia, whose only outlets were, at that 
 time, into the two inland seas— the Euxine 
 and the Caspian, and the inclement waters 
 of the Arctic ocean — was a work of almost 
 insuperable difficulty ; the more so to a man 
 who, it is said, on account of some acci- 
 dent which occurred in liis infancy, enter- 
 tained such a dread of the water as to be 
 seized Avith a shuddering, and sometimes 
 with convulsions, even if obliged to pass over 
 a brook. The authenticity of the story has 
 been questioned ; but if it is true, the future 
 reformer utterly subdued, if he did not 
 altogether extinguish, this antipathy. 
 
 It has been said that, in every task, 
 nothing is so difficult as the beginning. One 
 day Peter was walking in the gardens of 
 Ismaelof, a summer palace built by his 
 grandfather, when he saw the wreck of a 
 small English sailing-boat lying rotting in 
 the grounds. Turning to Timmerman, his 
 master of mathematics and a native of Ger- 
 many, he inquired how that little boat came 
 to be of a different construction from those 
 which he had seen on the Moska? The 
 mathematician explained that it was made 
 to go with sails, the use of which was not 
 then known in Rnssia. The czar desired to 
 make atrial of it, anfl directed that the boat 
 should be repaired and rendered fit for ser- 
 vice. Here lay a difficulty: where was a 
 workman to be found able to undertake the 
 task ? Peter's father, Alexis, had imported 
 a ship-builder and a number of carpenters 
 from Holland, for the purpose of building 
 vessels to trade down the river Volga to the 
 Caspian Sea; but the piracies of Stenka 
 Hadzin and his followers extinguished this 
 budding commerce "^ The Dutch artisans 
 left the country — all except one, named 
 Brandt, a master-carpenter and very good 
 ship-builder. After a considerable search, 
 this man was discovered in obscurity at 
 Moscow, and employed to restore the wreck. 
 This he did so successfully, that Peter 
 134 
 
 ordered him to build two frigates and three 
 yachts, which, when completed, were placed 
 on a large lake, and occasionally navigated 
 bv the czar himself, who soon acquired a 
 knowledge of the duties of a pilot. Here, 
 then, was the beginning small enough, it is 
 true, but one which led to great results 
 nevertheless. In all remarkable projects, it 
 is not the bulk of the germ we have to con- 
 sider, but the capacity of growth. 
 
 A few years later — that is, in 1694 — Peter 
 visited Archangel, the chief town on the 
 shores of the White Sea. He took Brandt 
 with him; and, after inspecting the mer- 
 chant vessels that lay in the harbour, ordered 
 the Dutchman to build him another vessel 
 larger than the previous ones. Peter care- 
 fully inspected the progress, and frequently 
 assisted the workmen. When his ship was 
 built, he embarked in it upon the White Sea, 
 and acted in the capacity of steersman. 
 Peter had, no doubt, visited Archangel with 
 the object of personally observing how far 
 it was adapted by nature for becoming a 
 great commercial port. He soon became 
 convinced that it was too remote from the 
 centre of Russia, and also from the chief 
 ports of other countries, to command any 
 great trade, or be a convenient outlet for 
 the commerce or fleets of the empire. His 
 thoughts, therefore, naturally reverted to 
 the Black Sea, the Caspian, and also to the 
 Baltic. Then it was that he saw the policy 
 of Ivan the Terrible in his constant endea- 
 vours to obtain possession of Livonia, which 
 necessarily gave to those who held it an 
 outlet to the Baltic. Probably from this 
 time dates the conception of those gigantic 
 projects of territorial extension which Peter 
 afterwards so steadily pursued, and even 
 bequeathed to his successors. 
 
 The czar left Archangel to put a part of 
 his views into immediate execution. Turkey 
 and Poland were still at war, and the sultan 
 was also engaged with other formidable 
 enemies. Taking advantage of these cir- 
 cumstances, Peter declared war upon the 
 Ottoman Porte. This was not from caprice, 
 or love of military glory : war with this re- 
 markable man was not an exciting pastime, 
 but always a means to some definite end 
 which could not be obtained without it. 
 In this instance he desired to extend his 
 southern frontier to the shores of the Black 
 Sea ; and for this purpose he desired to ob- 
 tain possession of Azoflf, which was then an 
 important fortress in the hands of the Turks. 
 It will be seen, by referring to a map of 
 
 A.D. 1696.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [capture of azoff. 
 
 Russia, that Azoff stands at the mouth of 
 the Don, where that river pours its waters 
 into the little sea which bears the same 
 name as the town. Peter had ordered 
 vessels to be constructed, with which he 
 intended to sail down the river and attack 
 
 Azoff once in the hands of the czar, he 
 made preparations for keeping it there. 
 With this view he improved the fortifica- 
 tions, erected a large harbour, and prepared 
 to augment his fleet. His design was to fit 
 out a fleet to act against the Turks, con- 
 
 Azoff by water, while his troops assailed it sisting of nine 60-gun ships, and of forty- 
 
 by land. Many difficulties necessarily lay 
 in the way of projects to which his people 
 were so unused, and the vessels could not 
 be got ready in time. The czar, therefore. 
 
 one more, carrying each from thirty to 
 fifty pieces of cannon. The principal no- 
 bility and the wealthiest merchants were 
 obliged to contribute to the fitting-out of 
 
 was compelled to conduct this his first cam- this fleet; and as Peter thought that the 
 
 paign by land only. 
 
 The Russian army commenced its march 
 in the summer of 1695. Conscious of his 
 own inexperience in military matters, and 
 desirous of setting an example of subordina- 
 tion to his nobility, Peter served in the army 
 as a volunteer, and gave the command to 
 Generals Lcfort, Gordon, Scheremetof and 
 Schein. The fortress of Azofi' was very 
 strong, and defended by a powerful garrison. 
 
 estates of the clergy ought to bear a pro- 
 portion in the service of the common cause, 
 orders w^ere issued that the patriarch, the 
 bishops, and heads of the church, should 
 find money to forward this new expedition, 
 in honour of their country, and for the 
 general advantage of Christendom. He 
 also obliged the Cossacks to build a number 
 of light boats, such as they were in the 
 habit of using, with which they might 
 
 After^'a long encampment before the walls, ' easily infest the whole coast of the Crimea, 
 and a vain attempt to storm them, the Rus- I His object was, to drive both Tartars and 
 sians were compelled to raise the siege. Turks from this fertile peninsula— the 
 
 This circumstance was largely attributable 
 to the conduct of a native of Dantzic, 
 named Jacob, who had the direction of the 
 artillery under the command of General 
 Scheim The latter had condemned Jacob 
 to the terrible and disgraceful punishment 
 of the knout. The Russians submitted to 
 this humiliation, and remained in the ser- 
 vice; but Jacob resolved to be revenged. 
 Accordingly he spiked the Russian cannon, 
 deserted to the Turks, turned Mohammedan, 
 and defended the town with great success. 
 
 present Italy of Russia — and to establish, 
 through Georgia, a trade with Persia. 
 
 The changes Peter had made, notwith- 
 standing their evidently beneficial nature, 
 had excited some uneasiness, if not discon- 
 tent, among the slothful and superstitious 
 people. This was not unobserved by the 
 czar, who endeavoured to counteract it by 
 deeds of a benevolent and parental kind. 
 He had already mitigated the suffering re- 
 sulting from a season of great scarcity, by 
 his exertions in procuring such a supply ot 
 
 Though baffled in this attempt upon corn as sufficed for the most urgent wants 
 Azoff-, Peter renewed it in the spring of the of the people. He now resolved, on his 
 
 following year, 1696. By that time his 
 little fleet, consisting of twelve armed ves- 
 sels, was ready ; and he had remedied many 
 defects which action had rendered apparent 
 in his army. Instead of separating it into 
 divisions independent of each other, he 
 placed it under the sole command of Gen- 
 eral Schein. • its numerical strength, also, 
 was increased, and several foreign engineers 
 
 return to Moscow, to gratify the national 
 vanity and the love of amusement of his 
 subjects, by making a magnificent triumphal 
 entry into the capital, after the manner of 
 the ancient Romans. If something of per- 
 sonal pride and ostentation was mingled 
 with the motives that actuated him in 
 taking this step, we may yet .believe the 
 assertion of his biographers, that it was 
 
 employed to give greater effect to the artil- intended less as a memorial ot his own 
 lery department. This time Peter was more triumph, than to re\yard the soldiers b^ a 
 
 fortunate ; his vessels defeated the Turkish 
 saicks that had been sent from Constanti- 
 nople; the fire of his cannon also proved 
 superior to that of the enemy ; and on the 
 
 public token of admiration, and to inspire 
 the spectators with patriotic enthusiasm. 
 Peter gave the foremost places in the pro- 
 cession to General Schein and to Lefort, 
 
 28th of July the Turks surrendered the I whom he had created admiral of the fleet, 
 town to the victors, and even complied with He himself mingled with the other officers. 
 
 Peter's demand that they should deliver up 
 the traitor Jacob. 
 
 endeavouring by this example to convince 
 the nobility that merit ought to be the only 
 
 135 
 
 li 
 
PETER RESOLVES TO TRAVEL.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1697. 
 
 A D. 1697.] 
 
 i 
 ■I 
 
 road to military preferment. Jacob, the 
 artillery officer who had deserted to the 
 Turks, was drawn along in the procession in 
 a cart, together with the gibbet to which his 
 body had been fastened after he had been 
 broken upon the wheel. Fireworks and 
 other rejoicings attended this military fes- 
 tival, and a medal was struck to commemo- 
 rate it. On one side it bore the inscrip- 
 tion, *' Peter I., the august Emperor of 
 Muscovy ;" on the reverse was a represen- 
 tation of AzofT, and the words, " Victorious 
 by fire and water.'' 
 
 Peter was not the monarch to rest satis- 
 fied with military triumphs and the applauses 
 of his people. The entrance he had ob- 
 tained into the Black Sea was useful, but 
 insufficient as an outlet for commerce and 
 an opening for civilisation. The Euxine 
 did not make a passage to the arts and 
 commerce of Europe. Savage and unculti- 
 vated Asia lay stretched along its shores, 
 and the cannon of Constantinople closed up 
 the mouth of the Bosphorus to all but 
 friendly vessels. The thoughts of the czar 
 reverted to the Baltic — it alone could con- 
 nect Russia with the rest of Europe; but 
 the way to its indurated coasts lay through 
 a country then in the possession of the war- 
 like Swedes, and thickly studded with strong 
 fortresses. Yet the end to be accomplished 
 balanced the dangers to be encountered, 
 and Peter resolved to overcome all obstacles 
 that shut out his country from intercourse 
 with those European nations which, in man- 
 ners, knowledge, and the arts, were so much 
 beyond it. 
 
 Matters were not yet ripe for the daring 
 experiments he contemplated. Suppose 
 that he was master of Livonia, the Baltic 
 would be almost valueless to him till he was 
 well prepared to turn its advantages to 
 account. Unless he could cover its waters 
 with an efficient fleet, they were but as a 
 thunderbolt in the hands of a child. Truly 
 great minds are ever patient, and recognise 
 the fact that haste and rashness are weak- 
 ness. Peter resolved first to gain from other 
 countries that information on naval and 
 other topics which did not exist in his own. 
 With this object he sent, in the year 1697, 
 sixty young Russians of Lefort's regiment 
 to Venice and Leghorn, to learn the art of 
 navigation. Forty more he sent to Holland, 
 to instruct themselves in the art of building 
 and working large vessels ; while he di^ 
 patched others to Germany, to become 
 acquainted with the military discipline of 
 136 
 
 that nation. The expense attending upon 
 these circumstances he provided for by 
 raising the custom-house duties from five to 
 ten per cent. 
 
 Peter was not yet satisfied with his efforts 
 to obtain a knowledge of the arts of other 
 nations. He desired to see with his own 
 eyes that civilisation he longed to introduce 
 into Russia. He was now four-and-twenty 
 years of age — one admirably fitted for the 
 endurance of fatigue and the habit of obser- 
 vation. *'The period,'' says an interesting 
 writer, " was one when popular opinion had 
 revolutionised nearlv the whole surface of 
 the civilised world. It was admirablv 
 adapted to his purposes. In England, the 
 people had just deposed a weak and bigoted 
 monarch, who attempted to arrest the pro- 
 gress of mind ; and William III., the in- 
 trepid stadtholder of the house of Orange, 
 filled the throne. In France, Louis XIV. 
 was on the point of closing the memorable 
 treaty of Ryswick; Charles XII. had just 
 ascended the throne of Sweden, and the 
 elector of Brandenburg had assumed the 
 regal honours. In Poland, the death of 
 Sobieski opened a contest for the sove- 
 reignty, which lay between the Prince of 
 Conti and Augustus of Saxony ; the latter 
 of whom, for politic reasons, was favoured 
 by Peter ; while Mustapha II., quailing 
 before mightier arms, was overthrown by 
 the emperor Leopold. At this juncture, 
 while other powers were engrossed in the 
 agitations consequent upon improved civili- 
 sation, Peter the Great left Moscow to go 
 forth into Europe, and glean the ripe ears 
 of the harvest for his own empire." 
 
 Before the czar's departure, an alarming 
 outbreak occurred, in which Peter narrowly 
 escaped with his life. Notwithstanding his 
 recent triumph at Azoff, he was unable to 
 win the affections of the people. Ignorant, 
 bigoted, and slavish, there was scarcely an 
 act of his life that did not grate against 
 some of their prejudices. He had brought 
 foreign artisans, and even foreign troops, 
 into Russia ; sent young men out of the 
 country — an act which the clergy regarded 
 as both dangerous and profane; and had 
 even resolved to travel abroad himself. His 
 manners, also, were displeasing to his dull- 
 minded subjects, and quite inconsistent 
 with those which they thought becoming in 
 a czar. The solemn pomp and ostentatious 
 haughtiness to which they were accustomed, 
 were not to be seen in Peter. His manners 
 were familiar even to vulgarity. Instead of 
 
 '!' 
 
 appearing but seldom in public, and then 
 surrounded by guards, he was to be seen 
 almost every' lay in the square of the 
 Kremlin, exercising the troops; or to be 
 met with, in the plainest dress, in the 
 streets, on his way to visit some private 
 citizen; or in the workshops of the artisans, 
 where he passed a great deal of his time. 
 
 It might be supposed that the unpopu- 
 larity produced by such inoffensive acts as 
 these, would be but slight and transient. 
 It was not so. The nobles felt their dig- 
 nity lessened by a novel system which 
 made rank dependent upon intellectual 
 strength ; and the clergy were vehemently 
 opposed to Peter's innovations, because 
 they knew their power was based upon the 
 ignorance of the multitude, and it therefore 
 became their interest to keep down the 
 spirit of inquiry. As for the people them- 
 selves, generations of barbarism and igno- 
 rance, added to their constitutional indo- 
 lence, made them regard all improvement 
 with detestation. The comprehensive mind 
 of the czar perceived and understood all 
 this. He knew that he should have much 
 opposition to overcome, and he resolved to 
 overcome it, even though it was necessary 
 to crush those who offered it. He saw that 
 it was imperative that he should grasp and 
 wield all the power of the empire, for that 
 tlie state of Russia required a wise despot 
 for its regeneration. He saw that a mild 
 exercise of power would not always serve ; 
 and he resolved, if necessary, to terrify the 
 people into submission by deeds of appalling 
 
 severity. 
 
 Influenced by the prevailing discontent, 
 the turbulent Strelitz, who had been sup- 
 ])lanted by the regiments disciplined after 
 the European fashion, entered into a con- 
 spiracy to murder the czar. Tsikler and 
 Sukanim, two leaders of the Strelitz, were 
 at the head of the plot. The design of 
 these men was, to set the city on fire at 
 night, and when Peter hastened to assist in 
 extinguishing it, as they were convinced he 
 would, to murder him in the confusion. 
 After this,'»they intended to massacre all 
 the foreign soldiers, release the princess 
 Sophia from her convent, and place her 
 upon the throne. 
 
 On the evening of the night appointed 
 for this sanguinary outbreak, the principal 
 conspirators assembled at a banquet held at 
 the house of Sukanim. Here they stimulated 
 their courage with large draughts of wine, 
 and prepared themselves by this means for 
 
 VOL. I. T 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [conspiracy to murder peter. 
 
 the work of slaughter that was to follow. 
 Two of tht number, however, quailed before 
 a contemplation of the approaching mas- 
 sacre. On the plea of having drank too 
 much, they obtained permission to return 
 home and sleep until midnight ; but on 
 leaving the place of rendezvous, they hur- 
 ried to the czar, and revealed the par- 
 ticulars of the conspiracy. Peter imme- 
 diately sent an order to the captain of one 
 of his regiments, to proceed with his troop 
 to Sukanim's house, and silently surround 
 it exactly at the hour of ten ; — that is, ten. 
 was the hour Peter intended to write, and 
 believed he had written ; but in the con- 
 fusion of the moment he wrote eleven. 
 
 Shortly after ten, Peter went alone to 
 the dweUing of Sukanim, expecting to find 
 the conspirators already in the hands of iiis 
 guards. The soldiers were not to be seen ; 
 but the doors of the house were open, and a 
 considerable noise was heard from within. 
 Peter supposed that this proceeded from 
 the struggle and confusion attending the 
 arrest of the rebels ; and acting on the im- 
 pulse of the moment, he at once entered. 
 To his astonishment, he found himself 
 alone in the midst of the men who, in an 
 excited and half-intoxicated state, were at 
 that moment vociferating an oath that they 
 would put him to death. At his unex- 
 pected entrance they rose in confusion, 
 and would probably have rushed upon him 
 at once, in the belief that they had been 
 betrayed; but Peter's presence of mind 
 saved him. Though surprised and angry 
 that his commands had not been obeyed, 
 he assumed a cheerful air, and advancing 
 unhesitatingly among the throng of con- 
 spirators, greeted them with familiarity. 
 Having, he said, seen a light in the house 
 as he was passing by, and hearing the 
 sounds of revelry, he entered with a view 
 of sharing in their pleasures, and begged 
 leave to join them at their table. 
 
 The intended assassins, deceived by the 
 cordiality and apparent unsuspiciousness of 
 his manners, returned his greeting, and 
 gave him as unconstrained a welcome as 
 they could. Putting the wine about, they 
 drank his health; but soon the leaders 
 amongst them began to exchange looks and 
 signals concerning the expediency of dis- 
 patching him at once. Peter saw his dan- 
 ger, and kept his eyes fixed upon their 
 movements, though without seeming to do 
 so. The restraint which each party felt, 
 soon produced an uneasiness in the com 
 
 137 
 
II - 
 
 PUNISHMENT OF THE CONSPIRATORS.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1697. 
 
 pany; and one of the conspirators, leaning 
 over 'the table to Sukanim, whispered, 
 "Brother, it is time?" The latter hesi- 
 tated, and muttered, "Not yet P' feehng, 
 no doubt, an additional responsibility as 
 master of the house, and perhaps some 
 sense of shame that one who had entered 
 beneath his roof as a guest, should be 
 inhospitably murdered there. Peter heard 
 the whisper ; but fortunately, at the same 
 time, he caught the tramp of his approach- 
 ing guards. Starting from his seat, he 
 felled the traitor to the ground with a blow 
 upon the face, and shouted, " Not yet, vil- 
 lain ; if it is not yet time for you, scoun- 
 drel, it is for me!" At the same moment 
 the guards entered the apartment, and the 
 startled conspirators fell upon their knees 
 and implored pardon. Peter was im- 
 movable, and ordered them all to be in- 
 stantly put in chains. Then turning sternly 
 to the captain of the guards, he struck 
 him on the face, and reproached him for 
 his want of punctuality. The officer, who 
 was exact to the time he had been com- 
 manded, produced his written order, and 
 the czar found the error was his own. He 
 at once acknowledged it, proclaimed the 
 fidelity of the officer, and endeavoured to 
 atone for the blow he had inflicted by kiss- 
 ing him upon the forehead, and embracing 
 him in his arms. 
 
 Peter's vengeance might have been poli- 
 tic, but it was barbarous and revolting. 
 He sometimes expressed an admiration for 
 the imperial savage, Ivan the Terrible ; and 
 on this occasion he rivalled him in the 
 exercise of a merciless administration of 
 justice. The wretches first had their limbs 
 dislocated upon the rack; then separately 
 severed from their bodies; after which, the 
 maimed and mostly lifeless trunks were 
 decapitated. The heads were subsequently 
 exposed on the summit of a column, around 
 the base of which the limbs of the trai- 
 tors were piled with disgusting symmetry. 
 With all Peter's greatness of mind, he 
 had, when provoked, a ferocious love of 
 cruelty, even for its own sake. When 
 he surrendered himself for a time to the 
 savage instincts of his nature, he actually 
 experienced gratification from the sight of 
 humanity writhing in torture, or pouring 
 out its life-blood on the scaffold. Much 
 he did in aftertimes that was utterly inde- 
 fensible ; but for this exhibition of revenge- 
 ful justice some excuse may be offered. 
 It was his first stern lesson to a people 
 who would not be governed except by the 
 sword; his first intimation, that if mild- 
 ness could not win them to submit to 
 beneficial changes, severity should coerce 
 them into doing so — a sad but inevitable 
 I necessity. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 TTTP CZKU TRAVELS • VISITS THE DOCKYARD OF SARDAM ; ENGAGES HIMSELF AS A COMMON CARPENTER ; HE 
 
 "^'isiTS England; A^^^^^^^^^^ received with great courtesy by william ni; peter ^^^^^l^^^^^^^', 
 
 LAND, AND THEn' VISITS VIENNA ; HE RETURNS TO RUSSIA ON ACCOUNT ^^^ J^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ' 
 
 VRTPiTTFTTT SFVFRITIES OF PETER: DEATH OF LEFORT ; SOCIAL AND LEGISLATIVE REFORMS Ot ^^^'^'^ 
 HE TOLERATErATZ-OMINrxiONS OF CHKISTIANS I.N BUSSIA; ALTERS IHE CALENDAR ; PROGRESS OF 
 
 REFORM. 
 
 Having struck terror into the discontented 
 people, and appalled the turbulent Strelitz 
 by the fearful example he had made of their 
 traitorous leaders, the czar commenced his 
 journey in the month of April, 1697. He 
 travelled incognito in the train of General 
 Lefort and the boyards Mentschikoff and 
 Golowin, whom he appointed ambassadors 
 to the countries he intended to visit. An 
 old boyard, of iron resolution and inflexible 
 honesty, named Romodanovsky, together 
 138 
 
 with another, were entrusted with the gov- 
 ernment during the absence of the czar, 
 who directed them to consult with the rest 
 of the nobility in maUers of importance. 
 General Gordon also remained at Moscow 
 with Peter's foreign troops, whose very lives 
 depended upon their fidelity to their master. 
 Hated as they were by the nobles, the 
 Strelitz, and the people, they could only 
 repose in security under the shelter of his 
 favour. 
 
 A.D. 
 
 1697.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [peter at sakdam. 
 
 Peter and his ambassadors left Russia by 
 the way of Novgorod, and proceeded from 
 thence through Esthoniaand Livonia, which 
 were at that time in the possession of 
 Sweden. At Livonia he desired to see the 
 fortifications of Riga, its capital— a wish the 
 governor of them refused to grant; which 
 slight Peter did not readily forget. Indeed, 
 from that time he resolved to annex Livonia 
 to his dominions. He then proceeded to 
 Prussia, the alliance of which growing power 
 he thought it prudent to cultivate. The 
 Elector, Frederic, who afterwards assumed 
 the title of king, received the czar with an 
 ostentatious magnificence; and the most 
 costly presents were exchanged on both 
 sides. Peter dressed in the German 
 fashion; but the contrast between the 
 Erench costume, which prevailed at the 
 court of Berlin, and the long Asiatic robes 
 of the Russians, with their caps adorned 
 with pearls and diamonds, and their scimi- 
 tars hanging by their sides, had a remark- 
 able effect. During his stay at Berlin, 
 Peter, in a fit of intoxication, drew his 
 sword upon his favourite general, Lefort; 
 but, happily, he was pacified before mis- 
 chief ensued. 
 
 At length the Russian party arrjved at 
 Amsterdam, where Peter assumed the dis- 
 guise of a Dutch skipper, and went to the 
 great ship-building village of Sardam. He 
 was much surprised at the number of work- 
 men constantly employed, the order and 
 exactness observed in their several depart- 
 ments, the dispatch with which they built 
 and fitted out ships, the quantity of stores, 
 and the various machines for the purpose of 
 economising labour. He was incessant in 
 his inquiries and observations, and some- 
 times placed himself in positions of danger ; 
 as, in order to see everything himself, he 
 climbed the rigging of vessels, and inspected 
 those parts of them where only an expe- 
 rienced sailor could expect to be secure. 
 On these occasions he was greatly annoyed 
 by the vulgar curiosity of the people, who 
 not only came in crowds to see a powerful 
 sovereign in the habit of a seaman, but im- 
 peded his progress by thronging upon him, 
 and even frequently subjected him to rude 
 exclamations and remarks. At times he 
 was so irritated by this annoyance, that his 
 rage brought on one of those epileptic fits 
 to which it is said he was subject from in- 
 fancy. They were sometimes even excited 
 by the sight of any object to which he 
 entertained an antipathy, such as black- 
 
 beetles, and certain reptiles which he held 
 in abhorrence. 
 
 The czar purchased a boat, made a mast 
 for it himself, worked at the forgets, the 
 rope-yards, the mills for timber-sawing, and, 
 by degrees, educated himself as a working 
 ship-builder. Then he engaged himself as 
 a common carpenter, that he might have an 
 opportunity of impressing upon his mind all 
 he had learnt. He took the name of Peter 
 Timmerman, though his fellow-workmen 
 generally called him Master Peter, or Peter- 
 bas. While in this strange position, he 
 scrupulously attended his work at the re- 
 quired hours, prepared his own meals, 
 worked hard from morning till night, and 
 received his wages like the rest of the 
 workmen. The latter were at first greatly 
 astonished to see a sovereign their com- 
 panion, but they gradually got used to it. 
 Here, for seven weeks, the ruler of a vast 
 empire lived in a little shingle-hut, on the 
 proceeds of his own labour, in the intervals 
 of which he corresponded with his ministers 
 at home. During this period, the famous 
 English warrior, the Duke of Marlborough, 
 visited Sardam, and put himself in the way 
 of Peter. The great soldier, who was proud 
 of his handsome person, and almost a dandy 
 in the matter of dress, beheld the czar 
 habited in a red woollen shirt, duck trow- 
 sers, and a sailor's hat ; and seated, adze in 
 hand, on a rough log of timber, which lay 
 on the ground. His dark-brown hair fell 
 in natural curls about his bare neck, while 
 his keen eyes glanced from one object to 
 another with singular rapidity, as he con- 
 versed with great earnestness and much 
 gesticulation with some strangers. Marl- 
 borough approached, and contrived, in some 
 measure, to engage the czar's attention by 
 some remarks on ship-building. They were 
 interrupted by the appearance of a stranger 
 in a foreign costume, who respectfully pre- 
 sented an official letter to the seeming work- 
 man. Peter rose instantly, snatched the 
 letter, tore off the seals, and read it eagerly. 
 The duke, who had achieved so great a 
 military reputation in Europe, and exercised 
 almost more political influence than any 
 man not seated on a throne, walked unre- 
 garded away. It was from his miserable 
 hut at Sardam that Peter issued instruc- 
 tions to his army in the Ukraine, under the 
 command of General Schein and Prince 
 Dolgorouki, then acting against the Turks, 
 which resulted in a victory over the latter, 
 and the conquest of the town of Perekop. 
 
 139 
 
 i'^l 
 
 rn 
 
 
PETER VISITS ENGLAND.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1698. 
 
 ' ' V' 
 
 J*' 
 
 Peter desired Lefort and the other am- 
 bassadors to disguise themselves also as 
 working-men, and follow his example ; but 
 they by no means relished the scheme, and 
 contrived to evade partaking the severe and 
 unromantic toils of their master. Treating 
 his desire as a royal jest, they dwelt h\ a 
 comfortable house, and enjoyed all the 
 luxuries of their station ; while he lived in a 
 hovel, and subsisted upon fare of the coarsest 
 description. During this period, he went 
 frequently from Sardam to Amsterdam, to 
 hear the anatomical lectures of the cele- 
 brated Ruish, from which he derived so 
 much bencMt, as to be able to perform som€ 
 surgical operations in case of necessity. 
 He also studied natural philosophy, under 
 Vitsen, a man celebrated for his patriotic 
 virtue, and for the noble use he made of his 
 immeuL fortune. In addition to this, the 
 indefatigable czar attended the hospitals, 
 where he learned to bleed and draw teeth; 
 visited nearly every literary, scientific, or 
 charitable institution; together with all 
 extensive manufacturing establishments, 
 which he examined carefully, with the in- 
 tention of introducing similar ones into 
 Russia. Whenever he beheld anything 
 new, he made inquiries concerning its na- 
 ture and use, and his active mind did not 
 rest until he obtained an explanation. 
 
 Having passed about nine months in 
 Holland, Peter left that country, and pro- 
 ceeded to England, where he was very hos- 
 pitably received by William III. These 
 two remarkable men appear to have had a 
 generous and enlarged estimation of each 
 other. The czar arrived in this country in 
 the January of 1698; his object being to 
 learn the theory of ship-building, and to 
 visit the dockyards of Deptford, Woolwich, 
 and Chatham. King William appointed 
 the Marquis of Carmarthen to attend upon 
 him, who agreed so well with the whims of 
 the autocrat, that they are reported to have 
 sat up together late into the nights, drink- 
 ing brandy and pepper. William also placed 
 two vessels at the command of the czar 
 whenever he should think proper to sail on 
 the Thames. 
 
 Having lodged for a short time in London, 
 he hired the house at Deptford of the 
 famous John Evelyn, who bitterly com- 
 plained of the havoc which the czar and his 
 attendants made in his elegantly laid-out 
 garden. One of Peter's favourite amuse- 
 ments was to be driven in a wheelbarrow 
 through a holly-hedge of which Evelyn was 
 140 
 
 verv proud. The dirtiness of the czar's 
 habits were such as to excite the disgust of 
 the gentlemanly and gossiping old royalist. 
 Peter spent much of his time at Rother- 
 hithe, where a ship was building for him. 
 He often went out on the Thames in a 
 sman-aecked boat, accompanied only oy 
 Mentschikoff and three or four others of his 
 suite, who worked the vessel, while he 
 steered it. His object in these excursions 
 was to teach his companions how to com- 
 mand ships when they returned home. In 
 the evening they usually went to a tavern 
 in Great Tower-street, near Tower-hill, 
 where they smoked their pipes, and drank 
 beer and brandy. During his sojourn in 
 this country, Peter went to Portsmouth, 
 and visited a grand naval review and sham 
 fight. The university of Oxford compli- 
 mented him by conferring upon him a 
 doctor's degree. In England, as in Hol- 
 land, the czar visited the public institutions 
 and great manufactories, and seemed ever 
 intent upon acquiring such information as 
 would tend to the promotion of the civilisa- 
 tion of his people. His attention was par- 
 ticularly attracted to the art of engineering, 
 and he took into his service upwards of 
 five hundred persons, comprising engineers, 
 officers, surgeons, and artisans. Amongst 
 the former was Captain Perry, who after- 
 wards wrote a life of the czar ; in which the 
 author asserts that there was not so much 
 as a single article belonging to a ship, from 
 the castmg of cannon to the making of 
 cables, but what Peter minutely observed and 
 set his hands to. Mr. Ferguson, a mathe- 
 matician and astronomer of some distinc- 
 tion, also accompanied the Russian reformer 
 back to his own country. Ferguson intro- 
 duced the arithmetical mode of keeping 
 accounts into the Russian exchequer, where, 
 before that time, they had made use only of 
 the Tartar method of reckoning with balls 
 strung upon a wire ; a method which its 
 primitive simplicity made extremely imper- 
 fect and perplexing. 
 
 The czar left England in April; but 
 before doing so, he was presented by 
 William with a beautiful yacht. Peter 
 returned the compliment by making Wil- 
 liam a present of a ruby of the value of 
 £10,000, which, in a thoroughly character- 
 istic manner, he took from his waistcoat 
 pocket, wrapped up in a bit of brown paper. 
 He also conferred a valuable privilege on 
 the Marquis of Carmarthen, by granting 
 I him a right to license every hogshead of 
 
 A.D. 1698.] 
 
 tobacco exported to Russia. The habit of 
 smoking had hitherto been condemned m 
 Russia bv the patriarch, on the ground that 
 it was unclean and sinful. Peter thought 
 otherwise, and resolved on its introduction 
 into the country.* During his stay, he 
 was much struck by that magnificent build- 
 ing which a generous nation has erected at 
 Greenwich for its superannuated seamen. 
 Until Peter had actually visited it, and 
 seen the pensioners, he could scarcely be 
 persuaded but that it was a royal palace. 
 William having one day asked him how he 
 liked his hospital for decayed seamen, the 
 czar replied, " If I were the adviser of your 
 majcstv, I should counsel you to remove 
 vour court to Greenwich, and convert St. 
 James's into a hospital." 
 
 Leaving England, Peter returned to Hol- 
 land ; from whence, after a brief stay, he 
 proceeded to Vienna, with the object of 
 making himself acquainted with the dress, 
 discipline, and tactics of the emperor's 
 army, then considered the best in Europe. 
 '' During his stay at Vienna," observes his 
 biographer Voltaire, "there happened no- 
 thing remarkable except the celebration of 
 the ancient feast of * Landlord and Land- 
 lady,' which Leopold thought proper to revive 
 upon the czar's account, after it had been 
 disused during his whole reign. The manner 
 of making this entertainment, to which the 
 Germans give the name of wirthschaft, was 
 as follows:— The emperor is landlord and 
 the empress landlady, while the king of the 
 Romans, the archdukes and the arch- 
 duchesses, are generally their assistants. 
 They entertain people of all nations, dressed 
 after the most ancient fashion of their re- 
 spective countries. Those who are invited 
 as guests draw lots for tickets, on each of 
 which is written the name of the nation 
 and the character they are to represent. 
 One has a ticket for a Chinese mandarin ; 
 another for a Tartarian mirza ; another for 
 a Persian satrap, or a Roman senator. A 
 princess may happen to draw lots for a 
 gardener's wife, or for a milkworaan, and a 
 prince may act the peasant or soldier. 
 They have dances suited to these different 
 characters ; and the landlord and landlady, 
 with their family, wait at table. Such was 
 the old custom ; but on this occasion, Joseph, 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [peter returns to moscow. 
 
 king of the Romans, and the Countess ot 
 Traun, represented the ancient Egyptians ; 
 the Archduke Charies and the Countess of 
 Walstein were dressed like the Flemings in 
 the reign of Charles V. ; the Archduchess 
 Mary Elizabeth and Count T-aun were in 
 the habit of Tartars; the Archduchess 
 Josephine and the Count of Vorkla appeared 
 in a Persian dress ; the Archduchess Mari- 
 amme and Prince Maximilian of Hanover, 
 acted the character of North Holland 
 peasants. Peter assumed the habit of a 
 Friesland boor, and in this character was 
 addressed by everybody ; at the same time 
 that they talked to him of the great czar of 
 Muscovy. These are indeed minutenesses; 
 but whatever revives the memory of ancient 
 customs, is, in some measure, worthy of 
 being recorded." 
 
 The czar intended to pass throu^^i Italy 
 homewards; but just as he was about to 
 leave Vienna, he received information from 
 Moscow that the Strelitz had again broken 
 out into rebellion. He instantly departed 
 in secret, and, passing through Poland, 
 arrived at Moscow in September, 1698, 
 before any one there knew of his having 
 left Germany. 
 
 During the absence of Peter, the discon- 
 tented had recovered their courage; and 
 the clergy, together with some of the old 
 nobles, longed for the destruction of a 
 prince whose reforming spirit they detested. 
 During the czar's stay in Holland, he signed 
 an edict commanding a body of Strelitz to 
 proceed to the frontiers of Poland, to be 
 ready, if necessary, to support the claims of 
 Augustus, the elector of Saxony, against 
 those of the French prince de Conti, both 
 of whom had been chosen to fill the throne 
 of Poland. The Strelitz were averse to this 
 duty ; and, instead of discharging it, they 
 proceeded in the direction of Moscow, 
 under the pretence that the czar had died 
 abroad, and that it was necessary for them 
 to secure the succession to his son Alexis. 
 Their real object, however, was to place the 
 plotting princess Sophia on the throne, and 
 to exclude Peter, who they considered had 
 violated the laws and customs of his coun- 
 try by daring to travel for instruction among 
 foreign nations. Prince Romodanovsky, the 
 regent, dispatched General Gordon with his 
 
 * Voltaire, in his Life of Charles XIL, while 
 speaking of Russia at this period, observes— " A 
 person of undoubted veracity, assured me, he was 
 present at a public disputation where the question 
 "was, ♦ Whether the practice of smoking tobacco was 
 
 \ 
 
 a sin ?' The respondent maintained that it was law- 
 ful to get drunk with brandy, but not to smoke, be- 
 cause the Holy Scriptures saith, ' That which prc^ 
 ceedeth out of the mouth of a man defileth him,^an(l 
 that which entereth into it doth not defile him. 
 
 141 
 
"»r 
 
 FEROCITY OF THE CZAR.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 lA.D. 1698. 
 
 
 K-ii' 
 
 
 foreign troops, with directions to crush this 
 insubordination at once. The latter tried 
 to persuade the rebels to return to their 
 duty, but they were secretly urged on by 
 the priests, who infamously pronounced 
 their cause to be sacred. Gordon, finding 
 mildness to be useless, gave battle to the 
 Strelitz, and vanquished them, after ^ short 
 contest. The prisoners were immediately 
 chained and thrown into dungeons, to abide 
 the judgment of the czar. 
 
 Thus, on Peter's arrival at Moscow, he 
 found the rebellion extinguished, and him- 
 self welcomed by a people who had been 
 taught to stand in awe of his commanding 
 intellect and his relentless severitv. He 
 first rewarded the foreign troops, and then 
 addressed himself to take such a ferocious 
 revenge upon the rebels, as should for the 
 future effectually intimidate the discon- 
 tented among his subjects. The accounts 
 existing of some of the details which fol- 
 lowed have been disputed, and no doubt 
 many exaggerated statements concerning 
 the savage severity of the czar, obtained a 
 currency throughout Europe. Still enough 
 is known with certainty to warrant us in 
 the expression of emotions of wonder and 
 horror. Strange is it, that so great a man 
 should have been actuated by the wildest 
 excesses of brutality, and have derived the 
 ferocious pleasure of an infuriated tiger, in 
 rending and crushing those who had offended 
 him. The only excuse that can be framed 
 for him, is the necessitv he was under of 
 reducing to obedience the insolent barbarity 
 of the Strelitz, and of intimidating the fac- 
 tious and ignorant priesthood and their dull 
 followers, who hated and opposed the re- 
 forms he had resolved to effect. 
 
 The czar did not satisfy himself with 
 putting the offenders to death, but he 
 spared no torture that could prolong their 
 dying agonies. An immense number were 
 put to the rack in his presence, and the 
 cries and moans of the unhappy wretches 
 were mingled with his questions and re- 
 proaches. Several were put to death by 
 the horrible process of being broken upon 
 the wheel ; and two women, who had played 
 an active part in the conspiracy, were buried 
 alive. As to the common offenders, it is 
 said that no less than 7,000 of them were 
 executed over a period of several months. 
 Of these, 2,000 were hanged by his guards, 
 and the rest beheaded, kneeling in rows of 
 fifties, before trunks of trees laid on the 
 ground. At these frightful scenes Peter 
 142 
 
 was also present, and sometimes assisted at 
 them himself, being proud of the dexterity 
 with which he could strike off the head of 
 the victim. Occasionally he was maddened 
 with wine, as well as with blood; and he i^ 
 reported to have struck off twenty heads 
 within an hour, and drank a draught of 
 wine between each blow. This anecdote is 
 related on the authority of M. Printz, the 
 Prussian ambassador, who states tliat he 
 was present, and that the czar invited him 
 to try his skill — a proposal which, of course, 
 he declined. 
 
 The executions lasted during a period of 
 five months, and the whole empire was struck 
 with terror. Hundreds of bodies were left 
 to moulder and drop from their gibbets, 
 and the rest remained unburied on the spot 
 where they had been decapitated. Stone 
 monuments were afterwards erected, with 
 inscriptions, describing the punishment and 
 the crime that led to it. In consequence of 
 the connection of the princess Sophia with 
 the insurrection, the czar had a number of 
 the rebels hanged around the convent in 
 which she was confined. The Strelitz had 
 deputed three of their number to present an 
 address, soliciting her to accept the crown. 
 These three were gibbeted before the single 
 grated window of her cell, and the fatal 
 document was held out to her by the 
 stiffened arm of one of the dead men. This 
 cruel punishment crushed the hopes and 
 shortened the life of this ambitious and 
 worthless woman; whom a sense of justice 
 forbids us to pity. She became a nun ; 
 changed her name to that of Morpha; and 
 died in 1704. The widows and children of 
 the victims of the czar's anger were sent to 
 wild and remote spots, where a certain ex- 
 tent of land was assigned to them, out of 
 which they and their descendants were 
 never to pass. 
 
 Peter now wisely resolved utterly to 
 abolish a body of men who were ever ready 
 to break out into disorder and insurrection. 
 From this time the Strelitz ceased to exist 
 as a military body, and their place was sup- 
 plied by regular regiments, clothed and 
 disciplined after the fashion of other Euro- 
 pean nations. Within three mouths twenty- 
 seven new regiments of infantry and two of 
 cavalry were disciplined and brought into 
 marching order. 
 
 The severity of the czar, though it gene- 
 rally produced its designed effect of intimi- 
 dating the disaffected, yet produced some 
 amount of rebellious reaction. A number 
 
 A.D. 1699.] 
 
 KUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [death of lefort. 
 
 I 
 
 of the Strelitz had escaped, after their body 
 had been defeated by General Gordon, and 
 dispersed in different directions. Peter for- 
 bade any one, on pain of death, to har- 
 bour one of them, or render him the slight- 
 est assistance. This severity was ill-judged ; 
 for it made the fugitives desperate, and 
 ready for any extremities. Besides, it ex- 
 cited sympathy in their favour ; and in the 
 following year (1699), fresh insurrections 
 broke out in distant parts of the empire. 
 Peter had resolved to crush this rebellious 
 temper, even at the cost of his throne itself. 
 Eighty of the Strelitz, who had been taken 
 prisoners, were brought to Moscow and be- 
 headed ; it is said by the hands of the czar 
 himself; assisted in this repulsive work by 
 one of his boyards, who held the victims 
 by their hair. 
 
 This terrible severity was not without its 
 effect : the superstitious and ignorant obsti- 
 nacy of the people was broken ; they were 
 sooner wearied of rebellion than Peter was 
 of remorselessly punishing it. He appears 
 to have been convinced that the life of a 
 great reformer must be a prolonged struggle 
 against open opposition and secret enemies. 
 Expecting resistance, he was prepared for 
 it; and even persevered in forcing upon 
 Russia the civilisation she vainly strove to 
 reject. That civilisation has been de- 
 nounced as a spurious one; and it is said, 
 that while he promoted the material inter- 
 ests of his country, he neglected the moral 
 progress of his people. Perhaps he did; 
 but he was not indifferent to it; and no 
 doubt he felt that it was not the sort of 
 work he was most fitted for. Peter ad- 
 dressed himself to the accomplishment of 
 that which he could do best ; and though, 
 perhaps, his reforms might have been effected 
 too rapidly, we think he began at the right 
 end. He broke up the apathy of the people 
 by the material benefits and changes he 
 forced upon them. This was more likely to 
 create a tendency to thoughtfuluess, and a 
 teachable temper, in the people, than all the 
 moral influence in the world. Indeed, with 
 an ignorant priesthood, fanatically opposed 
 to the new order of things, reform could 
 not have made any perceptible progress 
 through the door of moral teaching. The 
 people would have viewed it with suspicion, 
 and closed their ears and hearts against it. 
 
 It was at this period that Peter lost his 
 early friend, Lefort, who, after having been 
 for some time in a declining state, died on 
 the 12th of March, 1699, at the age of 
 
 forty-six. The czar bestowed a magnificent 
 funeral upon the man who had been his 
 early instructor, and his faithful assistant 
 in the regeneration of the empire. Peter 
 lamented him as a brother, and walked in 
 the procession, with his pike in his hand, 
 behind the captains, and in the rank of a 
 lieutenant, which, for the purpose of setting 
 an example of subordination to the nobles, 
 he had held in the late general's regiment. 
 Though as a foreigner and a reformer it is 
 not to be expected that Lefort was popular, 
 yet the excellence of his character won him 
 a certain amount of respect. Considera- 
 tions of self-interest were always sacrificed 
 by him to the public good and the glory of 
 his sovereign, and his whole career was 
 marked by a noble contempt of everything 
 mean or mercenary. 
 
 The death of Lefort did not suspend the 
 reforms which the active-minded czar had 
 resolved to carry into effect. Having passed 
 through the lowest degrees in the army 
 himself, he commanded that the sons of the 
 nobility should serve in the capacity of com- 
 mon soldiers before they became officers. 
 Other young nobles he sent on board his 
 ships, and compelled them to serve an 
 apprenticeship to the navy. These com- 
 mands were extremely arbitrary ; but such 
 was the awe with which the czar was re- 
 garded, that none dared refuse to obey them. 
 
 But Peter did not confine his reforms to 
 the army, and to the creation of a navy ; he 
 resolved to modify the government, the 
 church, and to change even the costume and 
 customs of the people. The dress of the 
 Russians was of an Asiatic kind, consisting 
 of a long robe or petticoat, which, together 
 with the practice of wearing long beards, 
 gave them an Eastern look. The beards 
 were a convenience, if not almost a necessity, 
 on account of the severity of the climate ; 
 but Peter set himself against both beard and 
 robe, as being associated with, and likely to 
 preserve, the barbarous manners he desired 
 to polish. Certainly the dresses worn in 
 other European countries admitted a freer 
 exercise of the limbs, and tended to the 
 introduction of variety and elegance of cos- 
 tume. Yet the people had the greatest ob- 
 jection to abandon their loose and graceless 
 style of dress, and opposed a passive resist- 
 ance to the will of the czar. Peter would 
 not suffer his decisions to be evaded, and he 
 laid a heavy tax upon 'wearing beards and 
 long petticoats. Many parted with their 
 money sooner than conform, but poverty 
 
 143 
 
 J 
 
Peter's reforms.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1699. 
 
 -1 ' 
 
 ^.h 
 
 h 
 
 compelled others to submit. As the people 
 fell in very slowly with the czar's regulations 
 in this respect, he began to quicken their 
 progress after his own eccentric but very 
 decisive fashion. He placed tailors and 
 barbers at each of the gates of Moscow, with 
 directions to cut off the beard, and shorten 
 the dress, of every man who entered. The 
 tenacitv with which many of the people, 
 especially the aged, clung to their old cos- 
 tumes, had something of superstition in it. 
 It is related that, on one occasion, the czar 
 met an old citizen coming from the barber's, 
 and, addressing him, observed that he looked 
 quite like a young man, now that he had 
 lost his beard. With a mournful look, the 
 aged man drew from his bosom the beard 
 which had been cut off, and with tears in 
 his eyes told the czar he should preserve it 
 during life, and have it placed in his coffin 
 after death, that he might be able to produce 
 it to St. Nicholas in the next world. 
 
 One reason why the czar insisted so 
 earnestly in an endeavour to make his sub- 
 jects dress themselves like Europeans, in- 
 stead of Asiatics, was to abolish the fanatical 
 odium in which foreigners were held. As 
 the priests pronounced it to be an act of 
 profanation for strangers to wear the native 
 garb, foreigners were instantly recognised 
 as such by their dress, and, consequently, 
 compelled to have a quarter of the city 
 appropriated to themselves, as a protection 
 against the dislike with which the Russians 
 regarded them. Peter's cosmopolitan mind 
 had, therefore, another cause for putting an 
 end to an external and odious distinction. 
 The czar himself dressed plainly, even to 
 eccentricity and slovenliness. A diplomatic 
 agent at his court gave the following descrip- 
 tion of this peculiarity, which, though it 
 refers to a later period of his reign, may be 
 quoted here as illustrative of his general 
 habits :— " On all the solemn festivals," ob- 
 serves the writer, " he only wore the uniform 
 of the Presbrazinski regiment of guards. * I 
 saw him, in 1721, give a public audience to 
 the ambassador of Persia. He entered the 
 hall of audience in nothing more than a 
 surtout of coarse brown cloth. When he 
 was seated on the throne, the attendants 
 brought him a coat of gros-de-Naples, em- 
 broidered with silver, which he put on with 
 great precipitation, because the ambassadors 
 were waiting for admittance. During this. 
 
 • So called from the body of soldiers which the 
 czar had raised during boyhood, in his retreat at Pres- 
 brazinski, during the regency of his sister Sophia. 
 144 
 
 he turned his eyes towards a window, where 
 the czarina had placed herself to observe the 
 ceremony. Catherine was heard repeatedly 
 to burst into loud fits of laughter, as the 
 czar seemed to her to be astonished at 
 seeing himself so finely dressed; and the 
 czar laughed at it himself, as also did all 
 the spectators. As soon as the ambassadors 
 were gone, Peter threw off his embroidered 
 coat, and put on his surtout." 
 
 The system of the government, and the 
 collection of the revenue, were placed upon 
 quite a new basis. Hitherto every boyard 
 paid a stipulated sum for his lands, and 
 raised it from his dependents and bonds- 
 men. Sensible that he was greatly de- 
 frauded by this means, the czar appointed 
 citizens as his collectors ; men who were 
 not powerful enough to claim the privilege 
 of paying into the public treasury only just 
 what they pleased. Rank he resolved to 
 build upon merit, and title upon desert. 
 He abolished the old council of boyards, 
 which had frequently acted with a despotism 
 that enthralled even the sovereign, and estab- 
 lished a senate instead. He also suppressed 
 the titles of boyards, of okolnitchi, and of 
 dumnie-diaki ; substituting the modern and 
 more expressive titles of presidents, counsel- 
 lors, and senators. All persons holding any 
 office, civil or military, under the crown, he 
 divided into fourteen distinct classes, which 
 prevail to the present time. 
 
 An attempt to reform the priesthood has 
 been an effort fatal to many sovereigns; but 
 such was the resolution of Peter, and the 
 terror that he had inspired, that he was 
 enabled to accomplish this dangerous task 
 with comparative ease. The patriarchs had 
 divided and frequently opposed the im})erial 
 authority, while the bishops assumed tlie 
 right of condemning people even to death. 
 Peter resolved to limit the power of both, 
 as occasion offered ; but, at first, he struck 
 only at those prejudices which obstructed 
 intellectual improvement, and poisoned the 
 social intercourse of the people. Only those 
 Christians who adopted the Greek church 
 were permitted to reside in Russia; nor 
 were the Russians allowed to marry with 
 persons of a different communion. Peter 
 abolished these interdicts, and estabhshed a 
 perfect toleration to all denominations of 
 Christians — Jesuits only excepted, as he had 
 seen so much of their mischievous activity 
 during his travels, as to cause him to enter- 
 tain an aversion towards them. Strangers 
 he permitted to build churches, and contract 
 
 A.D. 1700.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [SOCLVL REFORMS. 
 
 marriages with the native Russians. To 
 enlighten the obtuse ignorance of both 
 priests and people, the czar also caused the 
 Bible to be translated into the Russian 
 language, and diffused among the people. 
 The clergy were furious : they resorted both 
 to maledictions and prophecies ; but Peter 
 was unmoved. .^ 
 
 At the commencement of the year 1700, 
 the first of a new century, the czar altered 
 the calendar, in order to assimilate it to 
 that of modern Europe. Before that time, 
 the Russians began their year on the 1st of 
 September, because they considered the 
 world was no doubt created in autumn, the 
 season when the fruits of the earth were in 
 their full maturity; never suspecting, as 
 has been observed, that the autumn of one 
 part of the world might be the spring of 
 another. Peter ordained that in future the 
 year should commence, as in other parts of 
 Europe, on, the 1st of January. He did 
 not introduce the Gregorian calendar, be- 
 cause it was at that day rejected by the 
 English mathematicians, but adopted in- 
 stead the old Julian one; an unfortunate 
 circumstance, by which a disparity of eleven 
 days now exists between Russian dates and 
 those of other European nations. Peter 
 celebrated this alteration by some public 
 festivities and solemnities. The people, 
 however, were averse to it, as, for a time, it 
 introduced confusion into their calculations 
 and commercial accounts. The peasantry 
 were astonished at the power of the czar, 
 who they fancied had, in some inexplicable 
 way, altered the course of the sun; and 
 some old-fashioned folks obstinately adhered 
 to the former mode of computing ; but, at 
 length, a uniformity was attained. 
 
 The Russians were a heavy and unsocial 
 people. In conformity with the Asiatic 
 custom, they kept their wives and daughters 
 in a state of complete seclusion. Married 
 women were not permitted to appear in 
 public without their husbands; while at 
 home they were shut up in the back part of 
 the house. Necessarily, women degenerated, 
 both morally and intellectually; and the 
 softening influence which in other countries 
 they shed upon society, was altogether lost. 
 Indeed, in Russia, at this period, social 
 intercourse may be said to have had no 
 existence. The marriage customs of the 
 people, also, were remarkably barbarous and 
 Asiatic. Young people were married with- 
 out any previous acquaintance with each 
 other; and the bridegroom was not even 
 VOL. I. u 
 
 allowed to see his bride until the ceremony 
 was over. Mutual affection was, of course, 
 rendered an impossibility before marriage, 
 and merely a chance after it. The parties 
 had been united from convenience, and in 
 accordance with the will of the parents, who 
 sometimes even sold the bride to her future 
 husband. The many small sweet courtesies 
 which, in civilised society, form the current 
 coin between the sexes, and exert an im- 
 mense influence in the way of humanising 
 and elevating them, had no place in such a 
 system. In fact, marriage could only have 
 been regarded as a license for the gratifica- 
 tion of those passions which the young had 
 hitherto been taught to restrain. 
 
 The czar abolished this uncouth and un- 
 reasonable custom, and decreed that mar- 
 riages should not take place without a 
 previous acquaintance of at least six weeks 
 between the bride and bridegroom. But 
 little opposition was offered to this change, 
 and the young people were highly pleased 
 with it. It gave them a choice where, 
 hitherto, none existed, and raised them in 
 the social scale. It was now necessary to 
 give the opposite sexes an opportumty of^ 
 meeting and becoming acquainted with each 
 other. For this purpose, Peter established 
 regular evening assemblies amongst the 
 families of the aristocracy and the wealthy, 
 knowing that the custom once introduced, 
 would find its way, in some form, down 
 even to the lowest circles of society. For 
 the government of these, Peter issued a 
 code of regulations. The assemblies were 
 to commence at four in the afternoon, and 
 close at ten at night ; and to be free, not 
 only to all persons of rank and respecta- 
 bility, but also to their wives and daughters. 
 The guests were at liberty to come and go 
 as they pleased; but the host was not 
 obliged to receive or wait upon them. Still 
 he was to provide them with chairs, lights, 
 and refreshments. One apartment was to 
 be set aside for dancing ; another for cards, 
 
 chess, and draughts; and a third for 
 smoking. The code also instructed the 
 visitors to bow on entering or leaving the 
 room, and many minute directions were 
 given on the subject of personal behaviour. 
 The penalty for violating any of these was a 
 boorish one, the offender being compelled 
 to drink the contents of a large tumbler of 
 brandy, called the ''great eagle.^' These 
 changes won over the women, who from 
 that time exerted themselves to bring the 
 czar's innovations into favour. 
 
 145 
 
 > IS 
 
CONFEDERACY AGAINST SWEDEN.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1700. 
 
 A.D. 1700.] 
 
 KUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the BATTLE OF N.UIVA. 
 
 p. 
 
 11,. 
 
 The mind of Peter was a comprehensive 
 one, and few tilings escaped his observation. 
 Anything which he felt would tend to the 
 improvement of the people, he introduced 
 into the country. He established an obser- 
 vatory and a public theatre at Moscow; for, 
 prior to his time, nothing but the puerile 
 and vulgar miracle plays were performed in 
 Russia. He improved the roads, and caused 
 posts, marking the distances, to be placed 
 on them at stated intervals. He erected 
 hospitals, almshouses, and other humanising 
 institutions ; and reforms came so rapidly, 
 chat the slow Russian mind was almost in a 
 
 state of bewilderment. The people hardly 
 knew what was right and what was wrong; 
 but, though they parted from their old 
 customs with regret, they gradually per- 
 ceived that the new ones were calculated to 
 add both to their social happiness and com- 
 mercial prosperity. The clergy were the 
 most strenuous opponents of this great 
 social reformation, and preached and argued 
 vehemently against it ; but Peter exposed the 
 shallowness of their reasoning, and turned 
 them into ridicule. He afterwards retaliated 
 in another way : but of his great church re- 
 forms we shall speak presently. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 PETER ENTFRS INTO AN UNJUST LEAGUE AGAINST CHAELES XII. OF SWEDEN ; CHARLES INFLICTS A TERRIBLE 
 DEFKAT ON THE RUSSIANS AT NARVA; THE CZAR IMPKOVKS THE DISCIPLINE OF HIS TROOPS; THE 
 RUSSIANS OBTAIN A VICTORY OVER THE SWKDKS ; SACK OF MARIKNBURG; MARTHA THE ORPHAN, WHO 
 AFTKRWAllDS BECAME THE EMPRESS CATHERINE; MENTSCHIKOFF ; CAPTURE OF ROTTKBURG AND 
 NIENTSCHANTZ; THK CZAR FOUNDS ST. PETERSBURG ; HE FORTIFIES OTHER CITIES; DORPT AND NARVA 
 ARE TAKEN BY THE RUSSIANS. 
 
 To a period of social reform succeeded one 
 of warlike struggle. Peter had concluded 
 a truce of thirty years with the Turks, and 
 he was thus left free to pursue his ambi- 
 tious views in reference to extending his 
 dominions to the shores of the Baltic. At 
 this time, certain events were in progress 
 which afforded the czar some shadowy sort 
 of excuse for aggression. 
 
 In the year 1697, Charles XII., then 
 only in his fifteenth year, and not suspected 
 of possessing those great military talents, 
 and that fearless audacity, by which he for 
 so long kept the north of Europe in a state 
 of tumult, ascended the throne of Sweden. 
 On his accession, he found himself not only 
 the absolute and undisturbed master of 
 Sweden and Finland, but also of Livonia, 
 Carelia, Ingria, Wismar, Wibourg, the 
 islands of Uugen and Oesal, and the fiuest 
 part of Ponierauia, together with the duchy 
 Lof Bremen and Verdun — all of them the 
 conquests of his ancestors, secured to the 
 crown by tl»e fact of possession, by the trea- 
 ties of Munster and Oliva, and supported 
 by the terror of the Swedish arms. All 
 this in the hands of a mere bov ! and one 
 who had revealed so little of his real cha- 
 racter, that he was presumed to be indolent 
 146 
 
 and of a mean capacity. The temptation was 
 great to surrounding sovereigns; for princes 
 seldom consider the injustice of an act 
 which enriches them at the expense of their 
 neighbours. By the time Charles had 
 reached his eighteenth year, a league was 
 formed against him by Frederick IV., king 
 of Denmark; Augustus,electorof Saxony and / 
 king of Poland; and the czar Peter of Russia; , 
 their object being to dismember Sweden,' 
 and to take back from that country all that 
 had been obtained from them by conquest 
 or ceded by capitulation. Poland wanted 
 Livonia and Esthonia ; Denmark, the pro- 
 vinces of Holstein and Schleswig; while the 
 czar desired to obtain possession of Ingria 
 and Carelia, which lay in his way to the 
 Baltic. 
 
 This triple confederacy was entered into 
 in the year 1700. The Swedes were an 
 eminently courageous people ; but so for- 
 midable a league against them, created 
 alarm in the council and the nation, the 
 more so as all their distinguished generals 
 who had attained celebntv under Gusta- 
 VU8 Adolphus were since dead. One day, 
 when the council were deliberating on their 
 dangerous situation, the young king Charles 
 rose, and observed, with a grave and assured 
 
 air — "Gentlemen, I am resolved never to 
 begin an unjust war; but never to finish 
 an unjust war but with the destruction of 
 my enemies. My resolution is fixed; I 
 will march and attack the first who shall 
 declare war; and when I have conquered 
 him, I hope to strike terror into the rest.'' 
 
 Charles more than fulfilled this proud 
 assertion : he first turned his arms against 
 Denmark, besieged Copenhagen, and within 
 six weeks compelled Frederick to sue for 
 peace. At the same time, Augustus of 
 Poland laid siege to the town of Riga, the 
 capital of Livonia; but was so vigorously 
 opposed, that he caught eagerly at a trans- 
 parent pretext for retiring. The struggle, 
 therefore, lay chiefly between Charles and 
 Peter, the two most remarkable men in 
 E^irope. 
 ' The czar led an army of 60,000 men into 
 Ingria, and laid siege to the small town of 
 Narva. The time Avas ill-chosen, for it was 
 during the month of October, in a climate 
 of remarkable severity, within thirty degrees 
 of the Pole. Notwithstanding the apparent 
 strength of Peter's army, it contained but 
 12,000 disciplined soldiers, who, though 
 robust and personally brave, were far in- 
 ferior to the Swedes in all those matters 
 which distinguish veteran troops. In fact, 
 they were untried on the field, and had 
 been used chiefly as a military police. The 
 rest were mere barbarians, drawn from 
 forest villages, clothed with the skins of wild 
 beasts, and many of them armed only with 
 bows and arrows, or with clubs. The czar's 
 army was also attended by 150 pieces of 
 cannon ; but there was not one person who 
 well understood artillery to direct it. Thus, 
 though Narva was almost without fortifica- 
 tions'^ and contained only a garrison of 
 1,000 men, it successfully resisted the at- 
 tacks of the barbarian host which lay in- 
 trenched before it. 
 
 Ten weeks passed away, and then the 
 czar learned that Charles was approaching 
 to Che rehef of the town. The young 
 Swedish monarch was followed only by 
 8,000 men ; but they were veteran soldiers, 
 and flushed with recent victory. Notwith- 
 standing his immense numerical superiority, 
 Peter exhibited more prudence than was 
 quite consistent with the natural fearless- 
 ness of his nature. Not satisfied with the 
 forces he had already with him, he ordered 
 the advance of another considerable body of 
 troops, then stationed at Novgorod. As 
 they did not arrive so soon as he desired. 
 
 he left the camp to hasten their movements, 
 resigning the command to the Duke de 
 Croi (a Flemish officer) and Prince Dol- 
 gorouki. Perhaps he was satisfied that he 
 might leave the progress of the siege with 
 perfect safety, as Charles would have to cut 
 his way through three small Russian armies 
 before he coidd arrive at Narva. Be this 
 as it may, his absence assisted to bring de- 
 feat and—considering the nature of the de- 
 feat — disgrace upon his troops and nation. 
 
 Charles and his 8,000 Swedes dispersed 
 the first of Peter's advanced posts, consist- 
 ing of 5,000 men, who, falling back in con- 
 fusion, threw the others into a panic, and 
 all fled precipitately to the intrenched camp. 
 Charles, immediately on his arrival, notwith- 
 standing the fatigue of his troops, gave orders 
 for the attack of a camp consisting of more 
 than 60,000 Russians, and defended by 150 
 pieces of cannon. The famous battle of 
 Narva occurred on the 30th of November. 
 It was commenced during a blinding snow-/ 
 storm, which blew directly in the faces of 
 the Russians, and eff'ectually concealed the 
 smallness of the Swedish force. Jealousies 
 existed between the Russian commanders : 
 the Duke de Croi issued orders which 
 Prince Dolgorouki refused to execute ; and 
 their troops were in a state of confusion 
 before the conflict began. To such an 
 extent was this carried, that the Russians 
 rose against the German officers, and mas- 
 sacred several of them. No man was at his 
 post, and the Russian army became little 
 more than an armed mob. The Swedes 
 opened the battle with a furious cannonade, 
 and soon succeeded in making a breach in 
 the Russian intrenchments. They charged 
 with their bayonets; and for half-an-hour 
 the Russians fought from behind their 
 trenches; but then they began to yield. 
 Charles was struck in the neck by a spent 
 bullet, and had his horse killed under him 
 
 incidents which in no way disturbed his 
 
 c^iposure. The engagement lasted for 
 about three hours, when the intrenchments 
 were forced upon every side, and the Rus- 
 sians, seized with panic, fell into irredeem- 
 able confusior. Many threw themselves 
 into the river Narva, where great numbers 
 were drowned; others flung away their 
 arms and begged for quarter upon their 
 knees. The Duke de Croi and the German 
 officers, as much afraid of the mutinous 
 Russians as they were of the Swedes, sur- 
 rendered themselves to Charles. Prince 
 Dolgorouki and the principal Russian offi- 
 ^ 147 
 

 If"" ^ 
 
 * ,1 
 
 PETER IMPROVES HIS ARMY.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1701. 
 
 A.D. 1702."! 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [war with the swedes. 
 
 u 
 
 ^ 
 
 cers did the same. Charles received them 
 with politeness; and with an affected dis- 
 dain of the power of Russia, only detained 
 the generals as his prisoners. The subal- 
 tern officers and soldiers were disarmed, 
 conducted to the banks of the Narva, and 
 directed to return into their own country. 
 This was an error which it is probable that 
 Charles afterwards repented of: the Rus- 
 sians, whom he now so contemptuously 
 dismissed, afterwards became disciphned 
 and formidable troops. The Swedish victor 
 captured all the Russian artillery and majija- 
 zines, toj^cther with 120 transports laden 
 with provisions. The Russians lost C,000 
 men, the Swedes but 1,200. Narva was 
 delivered, and Charles entered it in triumph. 
 The shattered remains of the recently con- 
 fident army of the czar dared no longer 
 show themselves. 
 
 Charles, instead of pursuing his advan- 
 tage, which might have led him as a victor 
 even to the gates of Moscow, where he 
 could have dictated any peace he pleased, 
 turned off into Poland to punish Augustus 
 for the part that monarch had taken in the 
 confederacy against him. The news of the 
 Russian defeat reached Peter as he was 
 approaching to Narva with the additional 
 forces — amounting to 40,000 men — that he 
 had been in quest of. He would not risk 
 the loss of this army also, but resolved on 
 jeturning to Moscow. He bore his reverse 
 as great minds almost always bear calamity 
 — with fortitude. He had been defeated, 
 hut not necessarily ruined ; and he resolved 
 to persevere incessantly in raising his troops 
 to a higher state of discipline. His designs 
 on Ingria were not altered by the severe 
 check he had received. "1 know very 
 well,'' he observed, " that the Swedes will 
 beat us for a long time; but, in the end, 
 they themselves will teach us to beat them.'' 
 The inhabitants of Moscow did not re- 
 ceive this national chastisement with so 
 much dignity and resignation. Such ti^^s 
 the ignorant' vanity of the people, that they 
 supposed that those who conquered them 
 must have been assisted by diabolical 
 agency, and that the Swedes were magi- 
 cians.' So general was this opinion, that 
 a Russian bishop composed a form of prayer 
 to St. Nicholas, imploring him to baffle the 
 infernal arts of their enemies. This docu- 
 ment was read in all the churches ; and we 
 introduce it here as an instance of the igno- 
 rance and superstition of the Russian people 
 and clerjicv at the commencement of the 
 148 
 
 ' seventeenth century : — " O Thou ! who art 
 I our perpetual consoler in all our adversities, 
 great St. Nicholas ! infinitely powerful ! by 
 what sin have we offended thee in our sacri- 
 i fices, kneelings, bowings, and thanksgivings, 
 that thou hast thus abandoned us ? We 
 have implored thy assistance against these 
 terrible, insolent, enraged, dreadful, and 
 unconquerable destroyers ; when, hke lions 
 and bears who have lost their young, 
 they have attacked, terrified, wounded, and 
 killed by thousands, us thy people. As it 
 is impossible that this can be done without 
 sorcery and enchantment, we beseech thee, 
 
 great St. Nicholas ! to be our champion 
 and our standard-bearer, to deliver us from 
 this tribe of sorcerers, and to drive them far 
 from our frontiers, with the recompense 
 that is their due." The Russians have 
 made some progress during the last century 
 and a-half. They would no longer write 
 such barbarous stuff as the preceding. 
 
 Charles's expedition into Poland gave 
 Peter time to recover himself, and repair(| 
 the losses he had experienced. Returningf 
 to Moscow, he occupied himself during the! 
 winter in raising and drilling troops. He 
 also had 143 pieces of cannon cast, to re- 
 place those which were lost at Narva. 
 Metal was requisite to furnish this new 
 artillery; and, to obtain it, he ordered a 
 number of the bells of churches and monas- 
 teries to be melted down, and converted 
 into instruments of war. Such was his 
 activity in this direction, that in the spring 
 
 1 of 1701 he had an artillery consisting of 
 100 pieces of cannon, 142 field-pieces, 
 twelve mortars, and thirteen howitzers. All 
 these preparations for renewing the war he 
 superintended in person ; and the most in- 
 dustrious man in the empire was the czar. 
 But this military activity did not withdraw 
 Peter's attention from those arts Avhich 
 seldom flourish except in times of peace. 
 At the same time he imported sheep and 
 shepherds from Saxony, erected establish- 
 ments for the manufacture of linen and 
 paper, fostered the civilising art of print- 
 ing, and invited to Russia many foreign 
 artisans, consisting of smiths, braziers, and 
 artificers of every description. He also 
 employed workmen to explore the mines of 
 Siberia. Thus, at the same time, endea- 
 vouring both to enrich and defend his 
 dominions. 
 
 During this period, Peter entered into a 
 further treaty with the King of Denmark, 
 who engaged to assist him with three regi- 
 
 ments of foot and three of cavalry — an un- 
 dertaking which his fear of Charles XII. 
 never permitted him to fulfil. As soon as 
 this treaty was signed, the czar hurried to 
 Birzen, on the frontiers of Courland and 
 Lithuania, where he had an interview with 
 Augustus, king of Poland. It was con- 
 ducted without any of those formalities 
 which usually interrupt the intercourse of 
 monarchs, and prolong the business to be 
 settled between them. Engagements for 
 mutual assistance were entered into; but 
 such was the precarious position of Augus- 
 tus, that he was unable to fulfil his part of 
 the contract. The Polish diet, jealous both 
 of the Saxon troops of Augustus and the 
 Russian troops of the czar, refused to sanc- 
 tion a league that they felt must involve 
 them in difficulties. Peter soon saw that 
 he must depend upon himself alone, and he 
 resolved to do so. After five days passed 
 in revelry (for the czar could never over- 
 come his tendency to excess and debauchery), 
 the monarchs parted. The king of Sweden, 
 having left a body of forces on the Russian 
 frontiers of his dominions to preserve them 
 from attack, pursued a course of victory 
 and intrigue in Poland, where he had re- 
 solved to dethrone King Augustus, and 
 then push his way to Moscow, and punish 
 the czar. 
 
 While Charles was occupied in ravagmg 
 Poland, Peter was employed in strengthen- 
 ing Russia. During the year 1701, the 
 czar caused 150 half-galleys, each carrymg 
 about fifty men, to be built on the great 
 lake Peipus, in order to prevent Swedish 
 vessels from insulting the province of Nov- 
 gorod, and to be within a proper distance 
 for making a descent up(m the Swedish 
 coasts. These vessels were also intended 
 as a nursery for seamen— a service in which 
 they were exceedingly useful. The year 
 1701 was a time of preparation with Peter : 
 his troops were learning war as an art ; and 
 they made so great a progress, that in some 
 border skirmishes which took place between 
 them and the Swedes, they sometimes had 
 the advantage. The czar himself was inde- 
 fatigable. He travelled constantly between 
 Pleskow, Moscow, and Archangel, and suc- 
 ceeded in imparting to his recently-defeated 
 troops a spirit of enthusiasm. 
 
 In the following year (1702) the war was 
 actively renewed; for on the 1st of January 
 a battle took place near Dorpt, on the bor- 
 ders of Livonia; when the Russians, after a 
 conflict of four hours, obtained a victory 
 
 over the Swedes. It is said that 3,000 of 
 the latter perished; while the Russians, who 
 took four colours, lost but 1,000 men. 
 General Schereraetof, who commanded, was 
 made a fleld-marshal ; and the Russian 
 clergy, conceiving that St. Nicholas was 
 reconciled to them, off"ered a public thanks- 
 giving accordingly. Several petty engage- 
 ments took place by water between the 
 Russian and Swedish vessels on the lakes 
 Peipus and Ladoga. Though commonly 
 terminating in favour of the Swedes, yet 
 the Russians had the advantage occa- 
 sionally; and in the month of May, a 
 Swedish frigate was captured. During 
 July, Peter received intelligence that a 
 Swedish fleet was on its way to the North 
 Sea, for the purpose of destroying Arch- 
 angel. Starting instantly for that remote 
 citv, he put it into a state of defence ; and 
 having prevented the landing of the Swedes, 
 drew the plan of a citadel, called the New 
 Dwina; and after laying the first stone, re- 
 turned to the seat of war. 
 
 ]Marshal Scheremetof having obtained 
 another triumph over a body of Swedes 
 commanded by Schlippenbach, acquired the 
 reputation of being a great general. Taking 
 advantage of his success, he laid the whole 
 country under contribution, and marched 
 upon Marienburg, a little town on the con- 
 fines of Livonia and Ingria. The garrison, 
 satisfied that resistance would be useless. 
 
 immediatelv capitulated, on condition that 
 they and the inhabitants should be allowed 
 to 'depart unmolested. The terms were 
 granted; but an intemperate Swedish officer 
 set fire to the powder-magazine, which, m 
 exploding, killed many both of the Russians 
 and of his own countrymen. The former, 
 irritated at this act of treachery, fell upon 
 the garrison, destroyed the town, and car- 
 ried off the inhabitants. 
 
 Among these unfortunate people was a 
 voung peasant girl named Martha, of about 
 sixteen vears of age. She was an orphan, 
 and had been brought up by the Lutheran 
 minister of Marienburg, in whose house- 
 hold she fulfilled the duties of a servant. 
 It is said, that only the day before, she had 
 been married to a sergeant m the Swedish 
 army, who was killed in the contusion, and 
 that when she was brought into the pre- 
 sence of one of the Russian generals named 
 Bauer, she was in tears for tlie loss of her 
 new-made and early-lost husband. Martha 
 was graceful and interesting, and had a 
 neculiarly soft and fascinating expression of 
 ^ ^ 149 
 
 • LtMn I 
 
\ 
 
 \ 
 
 
 ! ^ 
 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 MARTHA AND MENT^^HIKOFF.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1702. 
 
 countenance. Bauer was struck with her 
 appearance, and, being a single man, h e ^ 
 took her to his home, where she became his j 
 housekeeper, and, as it is generally sup- i 
 posed, his mistress. The general afterwards 
 denied this circumstance; but it was when 
 lie had powerful motives for doing so. The 
 world believed that Martha lived with the 
 general on terms of more than common 
 familiarity ; and we do not see any reason 
 to suppose that, in this instance, the world 
 was wrong. Prince Mentschikoff, seeing the 
 pretty widowed orphan at the house of the 
 general, was likewise impressed by her 
 beauty and amiability, and begged Bauer 
 to part with her. The general was not dis- 
 posed to deny anything to a prince, espe- 
 cially to a rising prince, who stood high in 
 the favour of the czar. He acceded to the 
 request, and Martha then became the avowed 
 mistress of Mentschikoff. In this capacity 
 she remained until the year 1704, when the 
 czar accidentally beheld her, and was as 
 much struck with her appearance as either 
 Bauer or Mentschikoff. Entering into con- 
 versation with Martha, Peter soon felt 
 strongly attracted towards her: the first im- 
 pression was not only sustained, but height- 
 ened ; and the Livonian orphan left the bed 
 of Mentschikoff to share that of the czar. 
 In the vear 1696, Peter had put away his 
 wife Eudoxia Lapuchin, whose jealousy and 
 bigoted opposition to his reforms excited 
 his disgust and anger; and he eventually 
 married Martha, to whom he gave the more 
 dignified name of Catherine. " There had 
 been instances before this,'' says Yoltaire, 
 "of private persons being raised to the 
 throne. Nothing was more common in 
 Russia, and in all the Asiatic kingdoms, 
 than marriages between sovereigns and 
 their subjects. But that a poor stranger, 
 who had been discovered amidst the ruins 
 of a plundered town, should become the 
 absolute sovereign of that very empire into 
 which she was led captive, is an incident 
 which fortune and merit have never before 
 produced in the annals of the world." 
 
 The rise of Prince Mentschikoff was only 
 something less remarkable than that of 
 Martha— or rather of Catherine, as we 
 must henceforth call her. His parents 
 were extremely humble people, vassals of 
 the monastery of Cosmopoli. When their 
 son had reached the age of thirteen, they 
 sent him to Moscow to get his living as 
 best he could. Being received into the 
 ■ervice of a pastrycook, he went about the 
 150 
 
 i*'*v 
 
 streets to sell puffs and cakes. Having an 
 a^Tceable voice, he used to attract notice 
 to his humble dainties by singing ballads. 
 One day the czar happened to hear the l)oy, 
 and being pleased with his appearance and 
 voice, sent for him, and asked if he would 
 sell his pies and his basket. The young 
 itinerant pastrycook answered modestly, 
 that his pies were for sale, but he must 
 ask his master's leave to sell his basket; 
 though, as everything belonged to his 
 prince, he needed only to lay his commands 
 upon him. This answ^cr further pleased 
 the czar, who ordered the boy to come to 
 court, where he was at first employed in 
 some mean station. As he exhibited con- 
 siderable address and capacity, Peter made 
 him groom of his bedchamber ; and thence 
 gradually raised him to the highest prefer- 
 ments. As if this career was not in itself 
 sufficiently romantic, a wild story has been 
 related of Mentschikoff having, while a 
 pastrycook's boy, saved the czar from being 
 poisoned by a discontented boyard ; but it 
 bears an air of improbability, and is geue- 
 rallv discountenanced. ^^ . 
 
 \Ve have, though indeed inevitably, been | 
 digressing slightly from the strict chrono- 
 logical march of historic facts. This is / 
 sometimes necessary for the sake of grace ' 
 and pictorial effect, and also for the avoid- 
 ance of repetition ; but woe be to the writer 
 who does not keep his facts in good chro- 
 nological order: then, like ill-disciplined 
 troops, they fall into confusion, perplex the 
 general who has assumed to arrange them, 
 and bring him to disgrace and defeat. ^^ 
 We diverged at the point where, in 
 the year 1702, Marshal Scheremetof had 
 marched upon and destroyed the town of 
 I^Iarienburg, on the confines of Livonia 
 and Ingria. After this success, Peter pushed 
 forward his operations in the direction of 
 the river Neva, which connects Lake Ladoga 
 with the Baltic Sea, and at the mouth of 
 which now stands the large and elegant 
 city, the foundations of which Peter was so 
 soon to lay. Near that point where the 
 river Neva left the lake, was an island, on 
 which stood Rotteburg, a strongly-fortified 
 town, commanding the lake. This town 
 was indispensable to Peter in carrying out 
 the extensive design he had formed, aud he 
 resolved to obtain possession of it. His^ 
 troops besieged the town from the 18th of 
 September until the 12th of October. 
 Three breaches having been made, the Rus- 
 sians gave the assault; but such was the 
 
 A.D. 
 
 1703.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [capture of fort nientschaxtz. 
 
 desperate valour of the Swedish garrison, 
 that though reduced to only eighty-three 
 effective men, they yet obtained an honour- 
 able capitulation, even when victory was 
 almost in the grasp of their assailants. 
 Peter gained what he wanted ; but the siege 
 was by no means a very brilliant triumph, 
 in a military sense. He, however, chose so 
 to consider it, and distributed rewards to 
 the officers and soldiers by whom it was 
 conducted. Others, who had run away 
 during the assault, were subject to a severe 
 punishment. They were put to a whim- 
 sically-ignominious death: their comrades 
 spat in their faces, and then shot them. 
 The czar caused the fortifications of Rotte- 
 burg to be repaired; and changed its name 
 into that of Schliisselburg, or City of the 
 Key, because it was regarded as the key of 
 Ingria and Finland. Prince Mentschikoff, 
 formerly the pie-boy, but now grown a very 
 good officer, was made the first Russian gov- 
 ernor of the conquered town. Charles XII. 
 thought very little of this. He regarded 
 the Russians with contempt, and fancied 
 that he could readily drive them out as soon 
 as he returned froni Poland. His easy con- 
 quest at the battle of Narva had given him 
 a false estimate of his enemies. 
 
 The depth of winter produced some brief 
 pause in the execution of the czar's designs 
 with respect to his intended city near the 
 shores of the Baltic. He therefore spent 
 the early part of the year 1703 at Moscow, 
 where, however, he by no means gave hinri- 
 self up to luxurious ease, but employed his 
 time in seeing that his new regulations were 
 carried into effect, and in improving the 
 civil as well as military government. Even 
 in his amusements he promoted those more 
 social and rational customs which he de- 
 sired to introduce amongst his unwilUng 
 subjects. At the marriage of one of his 
 jesters, he caused all the nobles and their 
 Indies to be invited; and gave, at the same 
 time, a command that everybody should be 
 dressed in the ancient fashion. The dinner 
 was placed on the table in the uncouth 
 manner that was customary a hundred years 
 before. Mthough the cold w^as intense, he 
 would not permit a fire to be kindled, be- 
 cause there had formerly been a superstitious 
 custom of not lighting a fire on a wedding- 
 day. Neither was any wine permitted, be- 
 cause the Russians, in old times, used only 
 to drink mead and brandy; and he would 
 not suffer any other liquoV. The shivering 
 and disgusted guests complained to the 
 
 czar of this cheerless treatment; but he 
 replied, in a jocular tone, " Your ancestors 
 did so, and surely ancient customs are 
 alw^ays the best." This covert sarcasm, 
 added to the practical lesson which pre- 
 ceded it, discouraged the complaints of 
 those who were always ready to prefer the 
 customs of the past, and taught them to 
 believe that changes might possibly be im- 
 provements. 
 
 Returning to the frontiers of Sweden, 
 the czar visited the dockyards of Olonetz, to 
 inspect the ships he had directed to be 
 built there, and the foundries he had estab- 
 lished in that town for the manufacture of 
 arms. The object of Peter was to obtain 
 the secure occupation of both shores of the 
 Neva. It was therefore necessary to expel 
 the Swedes from all places in the neigh- 
 bourhood, and to take or destroy all the 
 fortified posts they held in Ingria and 
 Carelia. The most important of the latter 
 was a fortress called Nientschantz, situated 
 near Lake Ladoga, and not far from the 
 Neva. As Peter laid seige to this fortress 
 by land, and prevented its receiving supplies 
 by water, it surrendered on the 12th of 
 May. Two Swedish vessels that came too 
 late to relieve the garrison, were also cap- 
 tured by the ships of the czar. 
 
 Peter now resolved at once to erect the 
 new capital of his empire, although the very 
 ground on which it was to stand did not 
 belong to him, and would have to be con- 
 tested for with a powerful rival, who knew no 
 sense of fear, and loved war as a pastime. 
 Advancing up the Neva, in the direction of 
 the sea, he selected a wild and marshy 
 island, covered with brushwood, and in- 
 habited only by a few fishermen. The place 
 was unpromising, and extremely ill-adapted 
 for the purpose for which the czar intended 
 it. So low was it, as to be little better 
 than a muddy swamp in summer, and a 
 frozen pool in winter. Such a situation 
 was necessarily unhealthy; and the sur- 
 rounding country was covered with marshes, 
 and almost impenetrable forests— the haunts 
 of wolves and bears. The place was also 
 subject to inundations when the tide set in 
 more fiercely than usual from the Baltic: 
 but all these' considerations were overlooked 
 by Peter in his anxiety to obtain , a great 
 fortified seaport. 
 
 On the 27th of May, 1703, was laid the 
 foundations of the fortress of St. Peters- 
 burg, the nucleus of the magnificent cit;^ 
 which now bears that name. The difl&cul- 
 
 151 
 
|(K#«it«iltMie<4Mli»«fW#'>NMMWa!9W 
 
 FOUNDATION OF ST. PETERSBURG.] HISTORY OP THE 
 
 [a.d. 1703. 
 
 f*.-. 
 
 i.i 
 
 ties to be overcome were stupendous. The 
 neighbouring country was one vast morass, 
 intersected by numerous branches of the 
 Neva, and countless pools of water.* Every- 
 where there was water, and deadly miasma 
 arising from it ; while the soft spongy soil 
 seemed to defy the skill of man to convert 
 it into a solid foundation. As fo^ stone, 
 the neighbouring country was actually des- 
 titute of it ; and the new fortress was built 
 with the stone taken from that recently 
 captured at Nientschantz. Again, the popu- 
 lation was so scanty, that it could not 
 furnish labourers; and such as were at 
 once obtained, did not possess the tools 
 necessary for the accomplishment of their 
 work. But Peter was not to be baffled, and 
 his energy soon overcame all obstacles. 
 Workmen were sent for from all parts of 
 the empire; and a vast concourse of la- 
 bourers was soon collected, including in its 
 motley groups, Russians, Tartars, Cossacks, 
 Calmucks, and Finns. These poor people 
 were employed in deepening the channels of 
 the river, and raising the levels of the land 
 destined for the site of the city. Unhappy 
 men ! the new capital may, without a meta- 
 phor, be said to be constructed upon their 
 /\ bones. Such was the severity of the weather, 
 the unhealthiness of the place, the hard- 
 ness of the toil, and the scarcity of provi- 
 sions, that no less than 100,000 of them 
 perished during the first year. But such a 
 powerful fact as this did not afifect the iron 
 nerves of the czar. He was eager and in- 
 flexible, and the work went rapidly on. The 
 fortress was completed within five months ; 
 and, at the expiration of a year, 30,000 
 wooden houses and huts had arisen from 
 the dreary swamp, whose yielding soil was 
 hardened with human bones. The begin- 
 ning was humble enough ; and few, even of 
 the idealists and dreamers of the world, 
 could have conceived that this new-born 
 city was, at no distant time, to challenge 
 the admiration of the world for its gorgeous 
 palaces, its magnificent cathedrals, its im- 
 perial academies and libraries, its gigantic 
 squares, its massive quays, its superb thea- 
 tres, its pleasure-gardens, and all that con- 
 duces to the brilliancy of an exotic civili- 
 sation ! Yet St. Petersburg was but slowly 
 
 populated; and even now its inhabitants 
 can scarcely be said to be numerous. 
 
 At the time of Peter's death, in 1725, it 
 contained 75,000 inhabitants : these had 
 increased to 110,000 on the accession of 
 Catherine II. ; and it is now about 500,000 ; 
 of which number two-thirds are males^ 
 Some authorities add, that the men are re-\ 
 markable for their good looks, and the 
 women for the contrary. v^x^ 
 
 While Peter was struggling to subdue 
 the wildness of nature in this locality, and 
 wooden houses were daily rising above the 
 swamp, he devoted his attention to securing 
 the safety of his new city. Charles XII. 
 was not a monarch from whom territory 
 could be filched or wrested with impunity ; 
 and other enemies might strike at the un- 
 finished sea-cradle of Russia, if it remained 
 undefended. The czar, therefore, diligently 
 examined the neighbourhood himself, and, 
 selecting a little island lying near the mouth 
 of the river Neva, he gave it the name of 
 Cronstadt; and, making a model of the 
 
 * Lady Eastlake remarks—" No one can judge 
 of the daring position of St. Petersburg, who has 
 not mounted one of the artificial heights (such as 
 the gilt spire of the admiralty), and viewed the im- 
 mense body of water in which she floats like a bark 
 overladen with precious goods; while the autumn 
 
 152 
 
 fortifications he designed to be erected 
 there, employed Prince Mentschikoff to 
 carry the works into execution. With what 
 success this was accomplished, the present 
 world-famous seaward defences of St. Peters- 
 burg attest. 
 
 In the month of November the czar re- 
 turned to Moscow, where he had again to 
 encounter the discontent of the people. 
 Noble, priest, and citizen were alike dis- 
 satisfied at the erection of a new city on so 
 unfavourable a site ; where winter predomi- 
 nates over eight months of the year; in 
 which rye was an article of garden culture, 
 and a bee-hive an absolute curiosity. The 
 nobles dreaded that the wealth and dignity 
 of Moscow would be transferred to the 
 dismal islands of the Neva ; while the poor 
 looked upon the place with a superstitious 
 horror, on account of the enormous amount 
 of life sacrificed in its erection. The new 
 city, however, prospered, notwithstanding 
 the many ominous predictions that it would 
 soon be engulphed beneath the waters of 
 the Neva. Five months from the day of its 
 foundation, a Dutch vessel, freighted with 
 merchandise, entered the river. Presents 
 were made to the captain to encourage 
 
 waves, as if maddened by the prospect of winter's 
 long imprisonment, play wild pranks with her re- 
 sistless shores, deriding her false foundations, and 
 overturning in a few hours the laborious erections 
 of as many years." St. Petersburg has been com- 
 pared to a floating city of palaces. 
 
 r"'. 
 
) 
 
 I ■**!*■ 
 
, -'^o^wj^imiaimi i^ut t Mi K m ' mu m^,^ 
 
 y 
 
 L.v. 1704.] 
 
 RUSSIAIS EMPIRE. 
 
 [the siege of narta. 
 
 others to follow his example, which they 
 speedily did. The third ship, however, that 
 entered the port was from England. These 
 commercial visits gave some hope to the 
 downcast inhabitants, whose compulsory 
 residence in the new city was by no means 
 to their taste. Indeed, after the departure 
 of Peter for Moscow, the priests tried their 
 hands at a miracle, which was intended to 
 be a visible expression of the assumed dis- 
 pleasure of the Omnipotent. A church was 
 amongst the earliest of the buildings erected ; 
 and an image of the Virgin, with which it 
 was adorned, was seen to shed tears, in 
 pity — so said the pious men — for the suffer- 
 ings of the people. It caused great excite- 
 ment until the return of the czar, who, 
 being a little sceptical in such matters, 
 caused the image to be taken down and 
 carefully examined. The vulgar fraud was 
 soon exposed; and the mechanical contri- 
 vance by which the figure was made to 
 appear to weep, shown to the simple people. 
 The czar could afford to despise opposi- 
 tion even of a more serious kind than this. 
 His power was rapidly increasing; and not- 
 withstanding his great outlays, his personal 
 expenditure was so trivial, that he was 
 enabled to accumulate wealth. Almost at 
 the same time that he was employed in the 
 erection of a new capital, he fortified Nov- 
 gorod, Pleskow, Kief, Smolensk, Azoff, and 
 Archangel. He also bestowed a consider- 
 able subsidy upon Augustus, the king of 
 Poland, to enable him to oppose the Swedish 
 monarch. Yet he informed Cornelius de 
 Bruyer (a Dutch traveller, with whom Peter 
 would frequently converse with familiarity), 
 that after providing for all the expenses of 
 the war, he had still 300,000 roubles in his 
 coffers. 
 
 The Swedish gladiator Charles, who still 
 preserved his contempt both for the Rus- 
 sians and their ruler, said that Peter might 
 amuse himself as he thought fit in building 
 a city, as he should soon take it away from 
 him, and set fire to his wooden houses. 
 The Turkish government, however, took a 
 different view of the proceedings of the 
 czar: the fortifications he had erected at 
 Azoff and in its neighbourhood excited their 
 alarm ; and the sultan sent an ambassador 
 to complain of these warlike preparations. 
 Peter replied, that he was as much a sove- 
 reign in his own dominions as the great 
 signior was in Turkey, and that it could be 
 no violation of the peace to render Russia 
 respectable on the Euxine. 
 
 VOL. I. X 
 
 A reference to the map will show tlie 
 reader that Narva, where Peter's forces hj 
 been so ignominiously defeated by tl 
 Swedes, lay in dangerous proximity to th| 
 new capital. To secure the safety of th< 
 latter, and to wipe off the disgrace he hac 
 formerly received at Narva, the czar re- 
 solved on another attempt to make himselt 
 paster of that town. In the spring of 1704,1 
 he divided the military force of Russia into 
 three portions. One he sent to the assist- 
 ance of King Augustus, whom Charles had 
 succeeded in driving from his throne ; a 
 second he led in person to accomplish the 
 reduction of Narva ; while a third he placed 
 under the direction of General Schere- 
 metof, for the purpose of laying siege to 
 Dorpt, a town in Esthonia, in which the 
 famous Gustavus Adolphus had estabhshed 
 a university. 
 
 Dorpt, after holding out for six weeks,^ 
 was taken by a stratagem. The Russian 
 general disguised two regiments of infantry 
 and one of cavalry in Swedish uniforms. 
 These pretended Swedes attacked the 
 trenches, and the Russians feigned a flight. 
 The garrison of the town, believing that 
 some succour had arrived, were deceived 
 into making a sortie, when the false attackers 
 and the attacked united their forces, and 
 fell upon the astonished Swedes. So great 
 was the slaughter which followed this sur- 
 prise, that the town capitulated on the 23rd 
 of Julv, 1704, and thus avoided the horrors 
 of an assault. y 
 
 The czar was equally successful at Narva ; 
 for he was a far more formidable enemy 
 than when his troops had been so severely 
 chastised there by Charles in 1700. "He 
 not only," says Voltaire, " began to be a 
 good soldier, but he likewise taught the art 
 of war to the Muscovites; discipline was 
 established throughout his troops; he had 
 able engineers, an artillery well served, and 
 many good officers ; and he likewise knew 
 the art of subsisting his armies. Some of 
 his generals had learned both how to fight, 
 and also, as occasion required, to decline 
 fighting." The siege of Narva was con- 
 ducted under the personal superintendence 
 of Peter; and when, on the 20th of August, 
 it was taken by assault, three famous bas- 
 tions, respectively called Victory, Honour, 
 and Glory, were carried sword-in-hand. 
 Bursting into the town, the besiegers de- 
 voted themselves to plunder, obscenity, and 
 slaughter, without the slightest pity or com- 
 punction. Such were the atrocities of the 
 ^ 153 
 
 \ 
 
f 
 
 HUMANITY OF THE CZAR.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1704. 
 
 Russian troops, that even the stern czar 
 was moved to disgust and indignation. To 
 his honour it must be recorded, that he ran 
 from place to place to stop the massacre. 
 He saved unhappy women from the hands 
 of his brutal soldiers, who, after having vio- 
 lated them, were about to cut their throats. 
 Several of these ruflaans, blinded by their 
 beastly fury, perhaps did not recognise the 
 czar ; and refusing to obey his commands, 
 he cut them down with his own hands. 
 Then entering the town-house, where great 
 numbers of the citizens had retired for 
 shelter, he threw his reeking weapon upon 
 the table, and exclaimed, " My sword is not 
 stained with the blood of the inhabitants, 
 but with that of my own soldiers, which I 
 have spilt to save your lives." — "If," re- 
 marked one of his biographers, "the czar 
 had always observed this humanity, he 
 would have been the first of men." On this 
 occasion, he seems to have been much im- 
 pressed by the horrors of war, especially as 
 waged by barbarous troops. It is reported, 
 that when Count de Horn, the governor of 
 
 the town, was brought before Peter, the 
 czar angrily struck him on the face, and 
 observed, " It is you, and you only, who 
 are the cause of so many calamities. Ought 
 you not to have capitulated when you had 
 no hope of assistance ?" 
 
 This last acquisition made Peter master 
 of the whole of Ingria, the government of 
 which province he conferred upon Ments- 
 chikoff, now raised to the rank of a prince. 
 The elevation of this man from the streets 
 of Moscow to so exalted a position, was not 
 merely a point of eccentricity in the czar. 
 He intended it as a reproof to his ignorant 
 and indolent nobility, and as an assurance 
 to them that merit and assiduity were the 
 only passports to his favour. Under him, 
 the old system of conferring honours and 
 rewards had ceased to exist. The ancient 
 nobility were discontented ; but a spirit of 
 emulation was at length excited among the 
 people, who began to perceive that the path 
 to affluence and distinction was open to 
 the gifted, no matter how humble their 
 origin or obscure their station. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 ST PETERSBUHG threatened by a SWEDISU fleet ; CAMPAIGN IN COURLAND ; BATTLE WITH THE SWEDES ; 
 MURDFROF GENERAL PATKUL ; AFFAIRS OF POLAND; CHARLES XII. RESOLVES TO INVADE RUSSIA AND 
 DFTIIRONE THE CZAR; THE LATTER DRIVEN FROM GRODNO; ENGAGEMENT AT BEREZINA; THE RUSSIANS 
 RETREAT FOLLOWED BY THE SWEDES ; ENGAGEMENT NEAR MOHILO ; CHARLES ENTERS THE UKRAINE; 
 BRILLI\NT CONFLICT OF THE SWEDES, UNDER GENERAL LEWENIIAUPT, WITH THE RUSSIAN ARMY; CHARLES 
 DISVP-^OINTED OF HIS SUPPLIES, AND OF THE AID HE EXPECTED FROM MAZEPPA ; CHARLES LAYS SIEGE TO 
 PULTOWA; PETKR ADVANCES TO ITS ASSISTANCE; THE FAMOUS BATTLE OF PULTOWA, AND RUIN OF 
 CHARLES / MILITARY SOLEMNITY AT MOSCOW 
 
 It was Peter's policy to keep Charles XII. 
 as long as possible in Poland, in the hope 
 that he might exhaust his strength, or per- 
 haps even receive a check which would 
 cripple his power. With this design, he had 
 no sooner secured himself in Ingria, than 
 he made an offer of further assistance to the 
 dethroned king, Augustus. In the August 
 of 1704, Peter sent General Repnin from 
 the borders of Lithuania to the assistance 
 of Augustus, with a body of 6,000 horse 
 and 6,000 foot. The autumn of this year 
 the czar spent in improving his new city, or 
 rather colony — for it was as yet no more— 
 of St. Petersburg : the winter he passed in 
 Moscow j on his return into which, accord- 
 ing to his general custom, he made a 
 triumphal entry. 
 154 
 
 As the winter of I704-'5 melted into 
 spring, Peter prepared to take the field him- 
 self in Poland, for the double purpose of as- 
 sisting his helpless ally Augustus, and of weak- 
 ening his warlike rival Charles. While thus 
 engaged, Cronstadt and St. Petersburg were 
 threatened by a formidable Swedish fleet, 
 consisting of two-and-twenty ships of wai, 
 carrying from fifty-four to sixty-four guns 
 each, besides six frigates, two bomb-ketches, 
 and two fire-ships. The Swedes landed 
 their troops on the little island of Kotin, 
 but were received with so unexpected and 
 precise a fire, that they retreated in con- 
 fusion, abandoning their dead, and leaving 
 300 prisoners in the hands of the enemy. 
 Two other descents were made; but they 
 were equally unsuccessful. At length the 
 
 A.D. 1706.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [war with SWEDEN. 
 
 " 
 
 f/ 
 
 hostile fleet, which had hovered about the 
 coast, seeking for an opportunity of striking 
 at St. Petersburg, being thus baffled and 
 repulsed, retired; and the new city, yet only 
 rising from its swampy bed, was saved. 
 
 In the meantime Peter had marched - 
 into Courland, where he was encountered^ 
 and defeated by a Swedish army under 
 General Lewenhaupt. So severe was this 
 check, that the czar lost about 5,000 mer/, 
 together with all his artillery. Notwith- 
 standing this and other reverses, Peter pre- 
 served the discipline of his forces, pene- 
 trated to Mitau, the capital of Courland, 
 and compelled it to surrender by capitula- 
 tion. His troops were beginning to show 
 the results of that superior training to 
 which they had been subjected. Since the 
 taking of Narva, Peter had so repressed the 
 plundering propensities of his troops, that 
 when the Russian soldiers were appointed 
 to guard the vaults in the castle of Mitau 
 (the usual burying-place of the dukes of 
 Courland), they, on finding that the bodies 
 of those princes had been dragged out of 
 their tombs, and stript of their ornaments, 
 refused to undertake the charge until they 
 had sent for a Swedish colonel, and in- 
 duced him to sign a certificate that these 
 depredations were the acts of his own coun- 
 trymen. 
 
 . At the approach of winter the czar again 
 returned to Moscow, where his presence 
 was required in consequence of an insur- 
 rection of an insignificant character. This 
 he soon quelled ; and then he might have 
 obtained some repose from those incessant 
 toils to which he was subjected, but that he 
 received intelligence that Charles XII., at 
 the head of a powerful army, was advancing 
 upon Grodno, where the combined Russian 
 and Saxon armies in the service of Augus- 
 tus were encamped. Peter hurried to the 
 spot occupied by the Swedes. A battle 
 took place at Frauenstadt on the 12th of 
 February, 1706. It scarcely lasted a quar- 
 ter of an hour, by which time the Swedes 
 were victors.- So great was the disorder, 
 and so sudden the panic in the ranks of 
 the allied Russians and Saxons, that 7,000 
 loaded fusees were found on the field of 
 battle, which they had thrown down with- 
 out firing. The victory of the Swedes was 
 complete; the slaughter of their foes ter- 
 rible. Of 6,000 Russians in the army 
 of Augustus, scarcely any escaped. The 
 Swedes gave no quarter to the fallen, and 
 v/ere guilty of great atrocities. The czar 
 
 asserted, in a manifesto he published, 
 that many of his soldiers who had been 
 taken prisoners were murdered in cold 
 blood three days after the battle. Doubt 
 less, a savage spirit predominated on each 
 side, and war was made even more than 
 commonly terrible by the brutal passions of 
 a barbarous soldiery. 
 
 Peter was not disheartened; misfortune 
 lost its usually enfeebling influence when it 
 assailed him. He raised more troops, and 
 encouraged the dispirited Augustus to take 
 advantage of the absence of Charles in 
 Saxony, and again to enter Poland. Augus- 
 tus yielded ; but terrified by the success of 
 the fierce Swede, he at last wrote a letter 
 with his own hand to Charles, begging him 
 to grant a peace. The terms of the latter 
 were severe ; the chief of them being, that 
 he should for ever renounce the throne of 
 Poland and the Russian alliance. To the 
 expostulations of the plenipotentiaries of 
 Augustus, the minister of Charles replied, 
 " Such is the will of the king, my master; 
 and he never changes his mind.'' 
 
 While these negotiations were being pri- 
 vately carried on. Prince Mentschikoff 
 joined the forces of Augustus with 20,000 
 men, much to the confusion of the fugitive 
 monarch, who, having resolved on submis- 
 sion, wished to be left to himself. Not 
 only had he been dethroned by his enemy, 
 but, should the negotiations be discovered, 
 he was in danger of being taken prisoner 
 by his ally. At this crisis, the consterna- 
 tion of Augustus was increased by the in- 
 telHgence that 10,000 Swedes, under the 
 command of General Meyerfeldt, were ap- 
 proaching to give him battle. To attack 
 the Swedes, and either to win or lose the 
 battle, would add to the complexities of his 
 situation. He therefore sent a secret mes- 
 senger to Meyerfeldt, informing him of the 
 expected peace, and begging him to retire. 
 Even this incident produced a result exactly 
 the reverse of what was intended. The 
 Swede thought that a snare was being laid 
 to intimidate him, and therefore resolved 
 on the attack. The battle took place ; the 
 Russians were the victors, and entered 
 Warsaw in triumph. There the irresolute 
 and humiliated Augustus was met by his 
 own plenipotentiaries, who presented to him 
 the treaty they ha4 just concluded, by 
 which he promised to give up all claim to 
 the crown of Poland, and to abandon for 
 ever his alliance with the Russians. Feel- 
 ing that he could not struggle for any time 
 
 155 
 
 I ^3 
 
MURDER OF PATKUL.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1707. 
 
 A.D. 1707.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [charles resolves to in^\\de Russia. 
 
 effectually aj^ainst the power of Charles, he 
 signed the treaty, and then set out to apolo- 
 gise in person to that monarch for having: 
 defeated his troops, and to endeavour to pro- 
 pitiate his favour. The two monarchs met 
 without ceremony at a place called Guters- 
 dorff. " Charles was, as usual, in his jack- 
 boots, with a piece of black taffeta tied 
 round his neck instead of a cravat ; his 
 clothes of coarse blue cloth, with gilt copper 
 buttons. He had a long sword by his side, 
 which had served him in the battle of 
 Narva, and on the pommel of which he fre- 
 quently leaned. The conversation turned 
 wholly upon those jack-boots ; Charles in- 
 formed Augustus that he had not laid them 
 aside for six years, except when he went to 
 bed. These trifles were the only subjects 
 of discourse between the two kings, one of 
 whom had just deprived the other of his 
 crown ! Augustus, especially, spoke with 
 an air of complaisance and satisfaction, 
 which princes and men accustomed to the 
 management of great affairs know how to 
 assume amidst the most cruel mortifica- 
 tions. The two kings dined together twice. 
 Charles always affected to give Augustus the 
 right-hand ; but so far from mitigating the 
 rigour of his demands, he OLly increased 
 their severity.^'* 
 
 Augustus not only surrendered his crown, 
 but he gave up to Charles the brave and 
 unfortunate Livonian general, Patkul. This 
 gentleman had, in consequence of a shameful 
 injustice he experienced at the hands of the 
 father of Charles, left the military service of 
 Sweden for that of Russia; which, as he 
 was not a native of either country, he had a 
 right to do, if such was his desire. At this 
 time he was acting with Augustus in the 
 capacity of ambassador from the czar, in 
 which character his person ought to have 
 been regarded as secure from all outrage. 
 The ungrateful Augustus arrested and gave 
 him up to the vindictive Charles, whose 
 troops had been beaten by his military 
 genius; and the Swedish monarch not only 
 condemned him to deaths but caused him to 
 be executed by the horrible and lingering 
 mode of being broken on the wheel ! The 
 pretence for this shameful murder — the 
 darkest blot on the character of Charles — 
 was that Patkul was a rebel; which military 
 authorities have decided he was not. What- 
 ever had been his offence, his position as 
 general and ambassador of the czar of 
 Russia, ought to have exempted him from 
 • Voltaire's Life of Charles XIL 
 
 156 
 
 such cruel ignominy. The fate of Patkul was 
 as romantic as it was horrible: he 'Was en- 
 gaged to be married to a lady of high birtli 
 and great heauty, about the very time that 
 this calamity came upon him. The brave 
 man who had faced death with intrepidity 
 in so many battles, melted into tears upon 
 the bosom of the chaplain, as he confided to 
 him the portrait of his beloved, entreat- 
 ing him to wait upon her, and impart all 
 the consolation that lay in his power. The 
 condemned officer had only been informed 
 that he was to die; and when he saw the 
 wheel to which he was to be bound, and the 
 frightful nature of his punishment shot 
 across his mind, he fell into convulsions, 
 and dropt, shuddering, into the arms of the 
 pitying and weeping minister. 
 
 The czar was disj^usted at the weakness 
 of Augustus, and furious at the conduct of 
 Charles. The surrender of his ambassador 
 by one monarch, and liis execution by an- 
 other, were violations of the law of nations, 
 and insults to him as a sovereign. Prior to 
 the death of General Patkul, the czar com- 
 plained bitterly of these indignities to the 
 several courts of Europe, and tried to induce 
 them to interpose their mediation to pro- 
 cure the restoration of his ambassador, and 
 to avert the aflront which, in his person, 
 was about to be oflered to crowned heads. 
 _Uiese appe als werg .without avail ; Oermany-y... 
 England, and Holland were then engaged 
 in a ruinous war against France, with 
 the object of restraining the ambition of 
 Louis XIV. : the monarchs of these coun- 
 tries also felt that Charles was a dangerous 
 person to interfere with. Not one of the 
 princes of Europe interposed in behalf of 
 the unhappy Patkul, who was abandoned to 
 the fate that the vengeance of Charles had 
 condemned him to. Justly did Voltaire 
 observe — " There is not a civilian in Euro})e, 
 nay, there is not a slave, but must shudder 
 with horror at this barbarous act of injus- 
 tice." He added — " The splendour of high 
 achievements used formerly to cover such 
 cruelties; but now they are an indelible 
 stain to military glory." 
 
 Poland had at this time two monarchs, 
 and each of them almost powerless; — Augus- 
 tus, whom Charles XII. had driven from 
 the throne, and Stanislaus, whom he had 
 placed upon it. The latter, though a prince 
 of many virtues, was not willingly sub- 
 mitted to by the distracted nation on which 
 he had been forced, and he was threatened 
 with dethronement by Peter, who had re- 
 
 solved on the restoration of Augustus. At 
 a meeting of the Polish nobles, the throne 
 was declared vacant; and it was agreed that 
 a diet should be assembled for the purpose 
 of electing some one to fill it. So that 
 Poland was on the point of having three 
 kings at once, and under circumstances 
 which would have perplexed the people 
 as to whom their allegiance was due. As 
 Augustus had renounced the protection 
 of the czar, the latter favoured the project 
 of a new election. Peter had obtained a 
 considerable influence over many of the 
 Polish nobles, and much weight was attached 
 to his advice. It was therefore agreed that 
 an interregnum should be declared, and the 
 primate invested as regent until the result 
 of the election was known. 
 
 Such was the state of affairs when, in the 
 July of 1707, Stanislaus, who had been 
 acknowledged by most of the sovereigns of 
 Europe, advanced into Poland, accompanied 
 by the famous general Renschild and sixteen 
 regiments of Swedes. Wherever he came 
 he was acknowledged as sovereign; and the 
 discipline of his troops, which made the bar- 
 barity of the Russian soldiers more keenly 
 felt, conciliated the affections of the people. 
 Besides this, the great affability of Stanis- 
 laus won to his side most of the different 
 factions ; and a large sum of money he had 
 brought with him, secured the greatest part 
 ofthe army of the crown. 
 
 harles, in his camp at Altranstad, was 
 caressed and feared by nearly every sove- 
 reign of Europe. His intentions were matter 
 of speculation to all the politicians of Europe. 
 It was reported that he intended to join 
 with France in humbling Austria ; and our 
 famous soldier, the Duke of Marlborough, 
 visited the Swedish hero, to use his influ- 
 ence in preventing a design which would 
 have been fatal to the interests of England 
 _^id her allies in the war against France. 
 Charles was not communicative. He thought 
 the distinguished English general too cour- 
 tier-like in his manners, and too foppish in 
 his dress, for a soldier. But though Charles 
 would not at all reveal his mind, the acute 
 Marlborough divined it. " He detected, in 
 the brief observations of the Swede, a dis- 
 like to France; and he observed that the 
 eyes of Charles kindled at the name of the 
 czar, while a map of Russia also lay on the 
 table before him. The Englishman was 
 convinced that the real design and ambition 
 of Charles was to dethrone the czar, as he 
 had already done the king of Poland. In- 
 
 /-Ci 
 
 deed, Charles, who was prepared to take the 
 field with an armv of 45,000 men trained 
 upon the battle-field, scarcely concealed his 
 intention to make Russia the theatre of war. 
 Afterwards he was remarkably explicit. To 
 an attempt of the French ambassador to—^ 
 bring about a peace between Sweden and ) ^ 
 
 Russia, Charles answered proudly, that he / 4^* 
 would treat with the czar in the city of^ ^ 
 Moscow. When this insulting remark was 
 repeated to Peter, he observed, " My brother 
 Charles wants to act the part of Alexander, 
 but he shall not find me a Darius." 
 
 Charles was at length ready to leav^ 
 Saxony. While there, he had intimidated 
 the pope, whom he treated with contempt ; 
 humbled the emperor Joseph; protected 
 the Lutheran religion in the midst of the 
 catholics; dethroned one king, crowned \ 
 another, and made himself the terror of all 
 the princes around him. Voltaire, in his 
 life of this distinguished monarch, remarks — 
 " The pleasures of Saxony, where he had 
 remained inactive for a whole year, had by 
 no means abated the austerity of his mode 
 of living. He rode out thrice a-day; rose 
 at four in the morning; dressed himself 
 witli his own hands ; drank no wine ; sat at 
 table only a quarter of an hour ; exercised 
 his troops every day; and knew no other 
 pleasure than that of making Europe trem- 
 ble." He left Saxony in the September of 
 1707; his troops so enriched by its spoil, 
 that it is said every soldier carried with 
 him fifty crowns in ready money. It was 
 his intention to invade Russia and dethrone 
 the czar, many of whose subjects, disgusted 
 with his innovations, Charles believed would 
 welcome him rather as a friend than oppose 
 him as a foe. In this, however, he deceived 
 himself; for the Russian people were rapidly 
 becoming sensible of the wisdom of their 
 ruler, and patient with respect to his 
 changes, many of which they perceived to 
 be beneficial. 
 
 The news of Charles's intention to ad- 
 vance on Russia, drew Peter from Moscow, 
 where he had retired to pass the winter. 
 The Swede had fixed his winter quarters in 
 Lithuania; and the czar hurried to Grodno, 
 in that country; where, with a very small 
 force, he established his head-quarters. 
 Charles, on hearing of his arrival, dashed 
 forward with only 800 men to besiege the 
 town, which, on account of the rapidity of 
 his movements, he took by surprise. A 
 German officer, who had the command of a 
 body of troops at one of the gates of the 
 
 157 
 
 Vi 
 
 \^ 
 
 i 
 
THE RUSSIANS RETIRE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 fA.D. 1708. 
 
 town, on seeing the king of Sweden, imme- 
 diately concluded that he was followed b}' 
 his army. Struck with consternation, he 
 fled from his post, and left the passage open 
 to the enemy. The alarm spread through- 
 out Grodno, and the few Russians who at- 
 tempted to make a stand were cut to pieces 
 by the Swedish guards. Peter, and the 
 officers who surrounded him, shared the 
 panic and retreated from the town; and 
 Charles planted a guard of thirty men at 
 the very gate by which the czar had retired. 
 During the night, some Jesuits, whose house 
 had been allotted for the accommodation of 
 the king of Sweden, contrived to repair to 
 the czar, and acquaint him with the actual 
 state of affairs. Peter immediatelv returned 
 with 1,500 horse, in the hope of capturing 
 Charles. Having forced the Swedish guard, 
 an engagement ensued in the streets and 
 public square; but during it the Swedish 
 army arrived, and the czar was a second 
 time compelled to abandon the city. 
 
 The position of Peter was a dangerous 
 one ; but, fortunately for him, Charles could 
 not make a rapid progress, in the depth 
 of winter, through a swampy and famine- 
 smitten country. The Russians retired by 
 forced marches, followed by the Swedes, 
 whose king had resolved to carry matters to 
 extremity. The czar strengthened the 
 principal posts where the enemy were to 
 pass, and adopted every expedient in his 
 ^ower to stop their progress. 
 ^ His chief movement was a masterly one. 
 Seeing that Charles was resolved to pursue 
 him, he did not retire towards Moscow, but 
 withdrew into a part of the country where 
 the invader could not procure supplies for 
 his army, or make good his retreat in case 
 of disaster. Proceeding to the country of 
 the Ukraine, he established himself behind 
 sheltered lines, on the right bank of the 
 Dnieper. In June, 1708, before he had 
 effected this movement, lie was overtaken 
 by Charles at the little river Berezina. The 
 latter threw a bridge across the river, forced 
 a passage under unfavourable circumstances, 
 and formed in order of battle. The Rus- 
 sians now proved the value of that discipline 
 to which Peter had subjected them. They 
 sustained a fierce contest of some hours with 
 the Swedes. 2!ertainly the latter obtained 
 the advantage, but it was not until they 
 had attacked the Russian intrenchments 
 seven times. Charles was in the greatest 
 personal danger during this battle; and 
 though he was regarded as the victor, it 
 158 
 
 was no discouragement to Peter. The saga- 
 cious czar saw the truth of the observation 
 he had made after the terrible defeat of his 
 troops at Narva — that the Swedes, in time, 
 would teach the Russians to beat them. 
 Under the guidance of the indefatigable 
 czar, they were learning that important 
 lesson rapidly. 
 
 The Russians continued their retreat to 
 the banks of the Dnieper, and were still 
 followed by the Swedes, who entertained no 
 apprehension of danger, and seemed scarcely 
 sensible of fatigue. Skirmishes occasionally 
 occurred in the rear of the Russians, on 
 which the Swedes hung like a cloud; but 
 though the latter generally obtained the 
 advantage, yet they were weakened even by 
 this profitless sort of victory. Peter could 
 etter bear loss in this way than could 
 harles; because his army was numerically 
 arger. It consisted altogether of nearly 
 00,000 men; comprising about 38,000 
 infantry, a similar force of cavalry, 20,000 
 Cossacks, and 6,000 Calmucks. The Swe- 
 dish army did not exceed 80,000 men ; but 
 ^rs*tliey were veteran soldiers, hijjhly disci- 
 plined and accustomed to victory, the 
 chances were in their favour. Peter's con- 
 sciousness of the superiority of the enemy, 
 deterred him from deciding the struggle by 
 an open battle, and he trusted to harass and 
 starve Charles into retiring. The expecta- 
 tion was a highly rational one ; for winter 
 was approaching, the country was desolate, 
 the roads bad, and the Swedes were short of 
 provisions. Moreover, scarcely any oppor- 
 tunity remained for obtaining the latter; 
 for Peter had laid waste the surrounding 
 country in the direction of Moscow, as far 
 as Smolensk. 
 
 At length Charles arrived at the banks of 
 the Dnieper, in the neighbourhood of a 
 small town called Mohilo. On the 22nd of 
 September he attacked a large body of 
 Russian and Calmuck cavalry. The latter, 
 used to a desultory mode of warfare, fled 
 through hollow and rugged ways, from 
 which they often unexpected Ij' reappeared 
 and renewed the conflict. By this means 
 they cut off" the regiment at the head of 
 which Charles fought, from the rest of the 
 Swedish army. The king's life was in the 
 greatest danger; two aides-de-camp fell dead 
 at his feet, and his horse was killed beneath 
 him. He then fought on foot, surrounded 
 by his officers; so many of whom were cap- 
 tured or slain, that he was left with no 
 more than live attendants. Yet, though he 
 
 A.D 1708.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [charles in the ukra^ine. 
 
 killed twelve of the enemy with his own 
 hand, he himself escaped without a single 
 wound. At length he was succoured from 
 this dangerous position by a colonel named 
 Dardof. The Calmucks were mostly put to 
 the sword, and the Russian cavalry sought 
 safety in flight. 
 
 Charles was still in the great road to the 
 capital of Russia ; but the country was so 
 wasted and depopulated, that his army be- 
 gan to be in serious want of provisions. 
 His minister. Count Piper, earnestly en- 
 treated the king to halt until General 
 Lewenhaupt, who was expected with sup- 
 plies and a reinforcement of 15,000 men, 
 should arrive. Charles rejected this reason- 
 able advice, and, quitting the road that 
 led to the capital, turned his steps towards 
 the barren and inhospitable wastes of the 
 Ukraine. This wild movement disheartened 
 his troops, and astonished the czar, who 
 knew that neither shelter nor provisions 
 could be obtained in that desolate region, 
 and that the country was defended by 
 30,000 Cossacks, under their hetman Ma- 
 zeppa. " This person,'' says Voltaire, '^was 
 a Polish gentleman, born in the palatinate 
 of Podolia ; he had been educated as page 
 to John Casimir, and had received some 
 tincture of polite learning in his court. An 
 intrigue which he had had in his youth 
 with the lady of a Polish gentleman, having 
 been discovered, the husband caused him to 
 be whipped with rods, to be bound stark 
 naked upon a wild horse, and turned adrift 
 in that condition. The horse, which had 
 been brought out of the Ukraine, returned 
 to his own country, and carried Mazeppa 
 with him, half dead with hunger and 
 fatigue. Some of the country-people gave 
 him assistance, and he lived among them 
 for a long time, signalising himself in 
 several excursions against the Tartars. The 
 superiority of his knowledge gained him 
 great respect among the Cossacks ; and 
 his reputation greatly increasing, the czar 
 found it necessary to make him prince of 
 the Ukraine. Being one day at table with 
 the czar at Moscow, the latter proposed to 
 him the task of disciplining the Cossacks, 
 and rendering them docile and dependent. 
 Mazeppa replied, that the situation of the 
 Ukraine, and the genius of those people, 
 were insuperable objects to such a scheme. 
 The czar, who began to be heated with 
 wine, and had not at all times the com- 
 mand of his passions, called him a traitor, 
 and threatened to have him impaled. Ma- 
 
 zeppa, on his return to the Ukraine, con- 
 ceived the idea of a revolt, the execution of 
 which was greatly facilitated by the Swedish 
 army, which soon after appeared on the 
 frontiers. He was determined to render 
 himself independent, and to erect the 
 Ukraine, with some other ruins of the Rus- 
 sian empire, into a powerful kingdom. 
 Brave, enterprising, and indefatigable, he 
 entered secretly into a league with the 
 king of Sweden, to accelerate the ruin of 
 the czar, and to convert it to his own ad- 
 vantage.'^ 
 
 Charles reposed an imprudent confidence 
 in the promises of Mazeppa, and proceeded 
 to the river Desna, where the latter had ar- 
 ranged to meet him with 30,000 Cossacks, 
 together with a considerable amount of 
 treasure, ammunition, and provisions. The 
 Swedish monarch also sent a command to 
 General Lewenhaupt, to bring his troops 
 and provisions into the Ukraine, where he 
 proposed to pass the winter. Charles was 
 a creature of impulse. He did not pause 
 to reflect whether the Cossack chief was in 
 a condition to fulfil his engagements, or 
 how he should provision his army in case of 
 any disappointment. In fact, the king had 
 fallen into a fatal error, which the czar re- 
 solved to omit no opportunity of pushing 
 forward to extremities. 
 
 Peter suffered the Swedes to march with- 
 out molestation upon their fate ; but it was 
 natut-e rather than man against whom they 
 had now to contend. A marshy forest of 
 fifty leagues had to be traversed : here the 
 Swedes mistook their way, which it cost 
 them a four days' weary march to recover ; 
 and even then they lost most of their artil- 
 lery and waggons, which either stuck or 
 sank in the morass. When they arrived, in 
 a state of exhaustion, on the banks of the 
 Desna, they were almost without provisions. 
 There Mazeppa was to have met the king, 
 and brought the necessary succours for the 
 troops. No news, however, was heard of 
 him ; and hunger began to blanch the 
 cheeks and shrink the bold figures of the 
 Swedes. Charles shared all the hardships 
 and privations of his followers, and by his 
 dauntless bearing, sustained their spirits ; 
 but though they admired his courage, they 
 condemned his conduct. 
 
 Instead of falling upon the main body of 
 the Swedes, the czar prudently resolved to 
 prevent a junction between that and the 
 troops under General Lewenhaupt. He 
 was charged, not only with the conduct of 
 
 159 
 
 f* 1 
 
i 
 
 REVERSE OF THE SWEDES.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1708. 
 
 A.D. 1709.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [siege of PULTOWAv 
 
 15,000 men, but with great stoves of pro- 
 visions, ammunition, and treasure. Peter 
 suffered him to cross the Dnieper, though 
 the rear of the Swede had been harassed by 
 a Russian force under General Bauer. The 
 czar also followed with a powerful army ; 
 and, in the month of October, the Swedes 
 found themselves pressed upon by a power- 
 ful army, the numerical strength of which 
 has been variously stated. Lewenhaupt, 
 with the fearlessness of his country, re- 
 solve<l to attack the czar, and a furious con- 
 flict took place on the 7th of the month. 
 So fierce was the first attack of the Swedes, 
 that they killed 1,500 of their foes, threw 
 the Russians into confusion, and put num- 
 bers of them to flight. The astonished 
 czar feared defeat, which, under the cir- 
 cumstances, would have been utter ruin. 
 Rushing to the rear-guard, where the Cos- 
 sacks and Calmucks— the most ferocious of 
 liis soldiery — were stationed, he shouted, 
 *' I command you to fire upon every one 
 that runs away, even upon me myself, 
 should I be so cowardly as to fly.'' The 
 Russians recovered themselves, but the 
 battle was not at first resumed ; for the 
 Swedish general, who had received strict 
 orders to rejoin liis master, chose rather to 
 continue his march than to resume the strife. 
 The following morning the czar attacked 
 the Swedes upon the borders of a morass. 
 The conflict raged for some time with great 
 fury ; but though the loss of the Russians 
 was three times greater than that of the 
 Swedes, the victory remained undecided. 
 At four in the afternoon the struggle was 
 renewed for the third time, when the supe- 
 rior numbers of the Russians gave them the 
 advantage; and the Swede's lines were 
 broken, and the men driven back upon 
 their baggage. Though conquered, they 
 would not submit; Lewenhaupt rallied 
 them behind the waggons, and the men ex- 
 hibited a readiness again to meet the foe. 
 At daybreak, the czar attacked the Swedes 
 again; and a fifth battle was fought, as 
 sanguinary as any of the preceding ones: 
 of the 9,000 Swedes that were left, one-half 
 perished, and the remainder were still un- 
 broken. These pursued their march during 
 the night, after having spiked their cannon, 
 and burnt a portion of their baggage-wag- 
 gons ; the rest, containing the provisions 
 for Charles's army, fell into the hands of 
 the czar. The latter lost about 10,000 men 
 in these desperate engagements; but he 
 succeeded in crippling the king of Sweden. 
 160 
 
 Lewenhaupt, though defeated, obtained the 
 credit of disputing a victory for three days 
 against an immensely superior force ; and 
 of having effected an honourable retreat. 
 In this condition he reached his master, 
 with a miserable remnant of his troops, 
 scarcely amounting to 4,000 men, and des- 
 titute alike of the expected provisions and 
 ammunition. 
 
 Much about the same time Mazeppa 
 arrived; and he, too, came rather like a 
 fugitive than a powerful ally; bringing 
 with him only 7,000 followers. The Cos- 
 sacks thought he was leading them against 
 Charles; and when he disclosed his design 
 of joining that monarch, the bulk of them 
 deserted him, and returned home. Those 
 who remained with him were fallen upon 
 by the Russians, and great numbers cut to 
 pieces. Thirty of the principal friends of 
 the hetman had been captured and broken 
 on the wheel; his towns had been burnt, 
 his treasures plundered, and the provisions 
 he had collected for the king of Sweden 
 seized. He himself escaped with diflicnlty 
 with the remnant of the Cossack force ; and 
 the enraged czar had conferred his dignity 
 of hetman on another. 
 
 Charles did not give way under these 
 accumulated misfortunes, or permit them 
 to alter his designs. Neither Mazeppa nor 
 Count Piper could induce him to relinquish 
 his intended progress towards the little 
 fortified town of Pultowa, the capital of the 
 Ukraine. To the suggestion of the latter, 
 that he should pass the winter in a small 
 town of the Ukraine, called Rom an a, the 
 king answered that it was beneath his 
 dignity to shut himself up in a town. To a 
 further entreaty that he would march back 
 into Poland to obtain for his troops that 
 refreshment of which they stood so greatly 
 in need, he responded, that this would be 
 the same thing as flying before the czar; 
 that the season would grow milder, and that 
 he must subdue the Ukraine, and march on 
 to Moscow. In the meantime, the Swedish 
 army was reduced to about 25,000 men, 
 and' these were gradually melting away. 
 The winter was remarkably severe, and 
 great numbers of the Swedes perished from 
 cold and want. In one of these terrible 
 marches, about 2,000 men fell, almost frozen 
 to death, before the eyes of their sovereign. 
 These brave soldiers were without shoes, 
 and their ur.iforms were reduced to rags. 
 Almost their only food w; s bread, and this 
 of the coarsest kind. Yet Charks assumed 
 
 an air of indifi*erence. A soldier ventured, 
 in the presence of the whole army, to pre- 
 sent to him, with an air of complaint, a 
 piece of bread that was black and mouldy, 
 made of barley and oats.^The king received 
 it without the least emotion, ate every mor- 
 sel of it, and then coolly said to the soldier, 
 " It is not good, but it may be eaten." Such 
 conduct contributed to make the Swedes 
 support hardships which would have been 
 intolerable under any other general. 
 
 The czar had advanced into the Ukraine 
 to harass an enemy whom he wisely con- 
 cluded must, in the end, be ruined, as 
 his army could not receive reinforcements. 
 Yet such was the intense cold of the winter 
 of 1708-'9, that the rival forces were com- 
 pelled to remain in a state of inaction. But 
 the positions of the two armies were widely 
 diff'erent. The Russians had a fertile country 
 to fall back upon for subsistence ; while the 
 Swedes were almost perishing from want. 
 Indeed, had it not been for the influence of 
 Mazeppa in procuring provisions, they must 
 liave been exterminated from the combined 
 action of cold and famine. Notwithstanding 
 the usual discipline of the Swedes, their 
 necessities drove them to ravage the sur- 
 rounding country; they thus became a 
 terror to the scanty population, and con- 
 stantly narrowed the field from which they 
 could obtain supplies. 
 
 Charles resumed his march in the month 
 of February, 1709; and proceeding across 
 the Ukraine in a south-easterly direction, 
 entered the sandy deserts lying westward of 
 the territory of the Don Cossacks. Finding 
 progress almost impossible, he was com- 
 pelled to retrace his steps over the country 
 just desolated by the progress of his starving 
 troops, who burnt all the villages on the 
 road, because the poor peasants hid their 
 flocks in caves and retired places, and 
 struggled hard with the invaders, who 
 wanted to deprive them of their means of 
 subsistence. Destitute alike of guide or 
 shelter, the obstinate Charles lost three 
 months in marching and counter-marching 
 through cold and barren solitudes ; during 
 which time his army was slowly mouldering 
 ^way. 
 
 ^he fortified town of Pultowa was well 
 supplied with provisions, and would, if 
 taken by Charles, have enabled him to rest 
 and feed his wretched troops until he could 
 obtain reinforcements from Poland and 
 Sweden. His only resource lay in the cap- 
 ture of Pultowa ; while, on the other hand, 
 «„ VOL. I. r 
 
 it was of immense consequence to the 
 Russians, as it commanded a mountain- 
 pass communicating with the main road to 
 Moscow. This defile the czar had had the 
 precaution to render almost impenetrable; 
 yet to the sanguine Charles nothing seemed 
 impossible ; and with his usual enthusiasm 
 and contempt of danger, he depended on 
 marching to Moscow after he had made / 
 himself master of Pultowa. J 
 
 The Swedes — now reduced to about 18,000 
 men, exclusive of their Cossack allies — felt 
 reanimated as they threw up trenches before 
 the batteries of Pultowa ; for they felt sure 
 of taking it, and thus terminating the 
 miseries they had so long endured. The 
 czar was soon aware of this movement ; and 
 he arrived in the neighbourhood of the 
 threatened town on the 15th of June, with 
 an army of about )60,000 inen, well provided 
 with artillery, ammunition, and provisions. 
 He first reinforced the garrison — an act 
 which he accomplished by a manoeuvre 
 which showed that he had made some ad- 
 vance in the practice of military tactics. 
 •Having by a feint attack drawn the be- 
 siegers out of their trenches, he took advan- 
 tage of the circumstance, and poured fresh 
 troops into the town. "^h_l!i-exclaimed __ 
 Charles, as he beheld the success of this -^ 
 expedient, " I see well that we have taught 
 the Muscovites the art of war!" 
 
 The river VorsMa flowed between the 
 rival armies. This Peter crossed with his 
 whole force, and intrenched himself, in a 
 single night, within view of the enemy. 
 The czar then posted his cavalry between 
 two woods, and covered them with several 
 redoubts, lined with artillery. Several skir- 
 mishes took place while these measures 
 were in progress. In one of them Charles 
 received a shot from a carbine, which shat- 
 tered the bone of his heel. Though the 
 pain was extreme, he did not mention that 
 he was wounded until an attendant per- 
 ceived that his boot was covered with blood. 
 So severe was the injury, that the surgeons 
 were of opinion that the leg must be ampu- 
 tated. One, however, affirmed that he could 
 save the limb by making deep incisions. 
 "Fall to work, then, presently," replied 
 the king; "cut boldly, and fear nothing." 
 Then holding the leg himself, he beheld 
 the operation with as much calmness as if 
 it had been made upon another person. 
 
 While confined to his bed, Charles was 
 informed that the Russians intended to 
 attack him ; and though himself unable to 
 
 161 
 
 C. 
 
 1 
 
 •i 
 
\i 
 
 >;i 
 
 BATTLE OF PULTOWA,] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1709. 
 
 ^ 
 
 l?aa-inir-gTmf into the field, lie resolved 
 upoa anticiputing the enemy. Voltaire^ 
 draws a comparison hctween the rival kings, 
 who at this time excited the attention of all 
 Europe. He observes— " On the 8th ot 
 July, 1701), tlie decisive battle of Pultowa 
 was Vought between the two mo^t extra- 
 ordinary monarchs that were in the world. 
 Charles XII., illustrious in consequence of 
 a succession of victories during nine years ; 
 and the czar Peter, distinguished by nine 
 years of labour, taken to form troops equal 
 to those of Sweden. The one glorious for 
 having given awav dominions ; the other 
 for having civilised his own. Charles, fond 
 of dangers and fighting for glory alone ; 
 Peter, not avoiding danger, and making war 
 only for advantage. The Swedish monarch, 
 liberal from greatness of soul ; the Musco- 
 vite, never giving but with some great 
 design. The one, master of a sobriety and 
 continence bevond example; of a magnani- 
 mous disposition, and never cruel but once : 
 the other, not having yet divested himself 
 of the barbarism of his education and of 
 his country; as much the object of terror 
 to his subjects as of admiration to strangers ; 
 and too prone to excesses, which even short- 
 iened his days. Charles bore the title of 
 'Invincible,' of which a single nu)ment 
 might deprive him: while the neighbcmring 
 Inations had given Peter the name of ' Great,' 
 /which, as he did not owe it to^ his victories, 
 . he could not lose by a defeat.'' 
 
 \. rpj^g battle commenced at half-past four 
 
 in the morning, with a desperate attack on 
 the Russian redoubts. Charles was carried 
 in a litter at the head of his infantry ; and 
 his troops, cheered by his presence, took 
 two of the redoubts sword-in-hand. Indeed, 
 so furious was the first charge of the Swedes, 
 that the Russian squadrons were broken, 
 and in danger of being defeated. Peter 
 dashed forward to rally his men, and a 
 musket-ball passed through his hat: an 
 inch difference in the flight of that bullet 
 would have altered the destinies of Russia. 
 Mentschikoff also fought as though he felt 
 that life, fortune, fame, country— all hung 
 upon his sword ; and such was the danger 
 to which he was exposed, that three horses 
 fell dead beneath him. The inspirited 
 Swedes shouted "Victory!" ai»d Cliarles, 
 who was still intoxicated with the remem- 
 brance of Narva, concluded that the battle 
 
 was won. 
 
 He was deceived. General Creuts, whom 
 be had sent with 5,000 horse to take the 
 162 
 
 enemy in flank, missed his way, and failed 
 to execute the duty assigned to him. This 
 gave the czar time to rally his cavalry, 
 which now fell upon the Swedes, and threw 
 them into disorder. At the same time th« 
 Russians kept up a fire from seventy-two 
 pieces of cannon upon the Swedish cavalry : 
 the latter were almost destitute of artillery ; 
 it had been abandoned during their long 
 and painful marches. Mentschikoff had 
 Been detache3~by the czar to take up a 
 position between "Pultowa and the Swedes; 
 and this command he executed with such 
 dexterity, as to surround a Swedish corps of 
 reserve,' amounting to 3,000 men, and cut 
 them to pieces. The Russian infantry now 
 advanced from their lines in order of battle ; 
 the Swedes also prepared for a general 
 engagement ; and a pause ensued. 
 
 Peter rode from rank to rank^ encou- 
 raging the soldiers and captains, and pro- 
 mising rewards to them all. At nine 
 o'clock the conflict recommenced, and the 
 horses of Charles's litter were almost imme- 
 diately killed by a cannon-ball. A second 
 shot broke the' litter in pieces, and over- 
 turned the king. So dangerous was the 
 position he occupied, that of the four-and- 
 twenty soldiers who afterwards relieved each 
 other by carrying him upon their pikes, no 
 less than one-aud-twenty were killed. At the 
 same time the cannon of the Russians made 
 terrible execution upon the Swedes, who 
 were struck with consternation at the 
 slaughter to which they were exposed. At 
 length their first line w'as driven back upon 
 their second, which, struck with panic, 
 broke and fled. The battle was prolonged 
 for two hours with great fury, when the 
 Swedes were altogether thrown into confu- 
 sion, and slaughtered in heaps. According 
 to the Russian calculation, 9,224 Swedes 
 were left dead upon the field, and two or 
 three thousand were taken prisoners. The 
 loss of the victors was comparatively small. 
 
 Charles was not only defeated, but ruined. 
 Though perfectly helpless, he refused to fly. 
 In this position, Poniatowski, a Polish 
 officer who had followed the king from 
 atfectiou, caused two soldiers to hft him on 
 a horse. Then rallying a body of 500 cav- 
 alry around the king, Poniatowski dashed 
 through the Russian regiments, and con- 
 ducted Charles to the baggage of the 
 Swedish army. During his flight, he suf- 
 fered extreme agony from the wound in his 
 heel, which led to suppuration, attended 
 with fever ; but, though sometimes insen- 
 
 A.D. 1709.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [victory of the Russians. 
 
 sible, he never complained. On inquiring 
 for Count Piper, his minister, and for his most 
 distinguished generals, he was informed they 
 had been made prisoners. ^^ Prisoners to 
 the Russians !" he responded, with a shrug 
 of the shoulders ; " come, then, let us 
 rather go to the Turks." This he and his 
 followers did ; for after almost unexampled 
 sufferings, they reached the Turkish town of 
 Bender, in Bessarabia, where he was re- 
 ceived with hospitality by the seraskier. 
 
 The remains of the Swedish armv, under 
 General Lewenhaupt, were pursued by 
 Prince Mentschikoff, at the head of 20,000 
 m-en. In consideration for the miserable 
 condition of his men, the Swede surren- 
 dered, and the whole army was made pri- 
 soners of war. Many of these brave men, 
 however, sooner than become captives to 
 the Russians, threw themselves into the 
 Dnieper, and were drowned. The rest wxre 
 sent to colonise Siberia, where they sup- 
 ported themselves by a mechanical ingenuity 
 for which they eventually became distin- 
 guished. As to the Cossacks who were 
 captured, the czar regarded them all as 
 traitors; and, with that vindictive ferocity 
 which commonly characterised him, had 
 them broken on the wheel. 
 
 On the evening of Peter's victory at 
 Pultowa, he honoured the captive Swedish 
 generals with an invitation to dine with 
 him. He was much disappointed that he 
 could not extend a similarly unwelcome 
 hospitality to their king. As the prisoners 
 were brought to him in crowds, after the 
 battle, he frequently inquired, " Where, 
 then, is my brother Charles?" At table, 
 the czar asked General Renschild, " What 
 might be the number of his master's troops 
 before the battle?" The Swede answered, 
 " That the king alone had the muster-roll, 
 and would never communicate it to any 
 one ; but that he imagined the whole might 
 be about 30,000, of which 18,000 were 
 Swedes, and the rest Cossacks." In a tone 
 of surprise, the czar theu inquired, " How 
 they durst venture to penetrate into so dis- 
 tant a country, and lay siege to Pultowa 
 with such a handful of men ?" " We were 
 not always consulted," replied the Swedish 
 general; "but, like faithful servants, we 
 obeyed our master's orders without ever 
 presuming to contradict them." *^Ah!" 
 exclaimed Peter, turning to some of his 
 courtiers who were formerly suspected of 
 having been engaged in a conspiracy against 
 him — *^ see how a king ought to be served." 
 
 Then, filling his glass, he said as he raised 
 it to his hps, " To the health of my masters 
 in the art of war." General Renschild 
 asked who were the persons honoured with 
 so high a title. " You, gentlemen," replied 
 the czar; "the Swedish generals." The 
 general responded, "Your majesty is very 
 ungrateful, then, for having handled your 
 masters so rudely." 
 
 The war between Sweden and Russia 
 may be said to have terminated, in fact, with 
 the battle of Pultowa, the results of which 
 were of the highest importance to Russia, 
 and of no small consequence to Europe. 
 The victory of Peter was the triumph of 
 patience and forethought over mere reckless 
 daring; Jjia exaltation of the refpuatng 
 statesman over the Avarrior who^preferred 
 personal fame to the advancement of his 
 subjects. Peter was the original aggressor; 
 but he had since been disposed to make 
 restitution, and to conclude peace with his 
 foe. On the other hand, Charles indulged ^ 
 in the dream of dethroning the czar, aud 
 conquering the Russian empire. In this 
 position the original aspect of the quarrel 
 was reversed ; Charles became the aggressor, 
 while Peter was the defender of his own 
 territories against one whose career was 
 desolation, and whose success brought no 
 good either to victors or vanquished. J£cqjqj_ 
 ,this--^mtms battle the Russian empire has 
 derived its present prosperity and cultiva- 
 tion; which, had Charles been successful, 
 would have been thrown back to an indefi- 
 nite period. If Peter had been defeated, or 
 had he fallen amidst the victory of his sol- 
 diers, Russia would again have become the 
 prey of civil wars and domestic convulsions, 
 from which she would not have escaped 
 until some other giant in the art of ruling 
 came to liberate her. 
 
 Qth^r~and more immediate results arose 
 out of the defeat of Charles at Pultowa. 
 When the Swede was flushed with the glory 
 of conquest, he compelled the emperor 
 Joseph to eject the catholics out of 105 
 churches, in favour of the Silesians of the 
 confession of Augsburg: the latter were 
 now ejected in their turn, and the churches 
 restored to the catholics. Augustus, the 
 dethroned king of Poland, protested against 
 an extorted abdication, and was, before the 
 close of the year, restored by Peter. The 
 senate of Sweden supposed their king to be 
 dead; but, on account of the uncertainty 
 on this point, both they and the nation 
 were thrown into confusion. A new treaty 
 
 163 
 
 
 
MILITAKY FESTIVAL AT MOSCOW.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1710. 
 
 against Sweden was entered into between 
 the czar and the kings of Poland, Denmark, 
 and Prussia. Its design was to restore to 
 each of those states the conquests obtained 
 from them by Gustavus Adolphus. The 
 czar thus acquired a title to Livonia, 
 Ingria, and a part of Finland; and he was 
 not slow in attempting to gain posses- 
 sion of these territories. In the month of 
 November he bombarded and afterwards 
 blockaded Riga, the capital of Livonia, 
 which submitted to the Russians after be- 
 tween nine and ten thousand of them had 
 })erished by a plague that was raging there. 
 Kexholm, Pernau, Revel, and other towns 
 also surrendered ; and the whole of Livonia 
 was in the hands of the czar. 
 
 The czar in the meantime had visited St. 
 Petersburg, to inspect the progress of that 
 city, from whence he proceeded to Moscow, 
 and superintended the preparations which 
 were making for a grand military festival in 
 celebration of the triumph over the Swedes. 
 The first day of the new year (1710) was 
 ushered in with this solemnity, by which 
 the czar sought to inspire his subjects with 
 military enthusiasm and ideas of conquest. 
 The artillery of the vanquished, their 
 colours and standards, the litter in which 
 their wounded king was carried on the field 
 of battle, the soldiers, officers, generals, and 
 ministers of the captive Swedes, all on foot, 
 moved in solemn procession under seven 
 magnificent arches, attended with the ring> 
 ing of bells, the braying of trumpets, the 
 booming roar of a hundred pieces of can- 
 non, and the wild joyous shouts of a living 
 sea of people. The victors, preceded by 
 their generals, mounted upon war-chargers, 
 closed the procession. The czar, as was 
 usual with him, took his position according 
 to the rank he held in the anny, which was 
 then that of major-general. At each tri- 
 umphal arch stood the deputies of the 
 several orders of the state ; and at the last, 
 a number of young noblemen, attired in 
 the garb of Roman patricians, presented 
 the victorious monarch with a crown of 
 laurel. At every pause made in this gor- 
 geous progress, the people rent the air with 
 acclamations of ''Long live the emperor our 
 father!" It has been truly said, that this 
 imposing s])lendour augmented the venera- 
 tion the Russians entertained for their 
 monarch, and perhaps made him appear 
 greater in their eyes than the real advan- 
 tages they derived from him. 
 
 164 
 
 The following month another ceremony 
 took place, which was doubtless more 
 agreeable to the czar than any festival imi- 
 tated from the military pageants of the 
 ancient Romans, for it showed the respect 
 in which he began to be held by the old 
 and powerful states of Europe. In the 
 year 1708, Mateof, his ambassador at the 
 court of London, was arrested in the streets 
 for debt, at the suit of some Enghsh mer- 
 chants, and obliged to give in bail. The 
 merchants contended that the privileges oi 
 ambassadors must yield to the laws of com- 
 merce; while Mateof and the foreign minis- 
 ters who advocated his cause, maintained 
 that, under any circumstances, their per- 
 sons ought to be regarded as sacred. Peter 
 was greatly off'ended at what he considered 
 as a slight off'ered to himself in the person of 
 his representative, and he wrote to the queen 
 of England, and insisted upon satisfaction. 
 Anne was perplexed. She could not com- 
 ply with his desire to have the merchants 
 punished, because, by the laws of their 
 country, they had a right to sue for their 
 just demands ; while, at the same time, no 
 law existed to exempt foreign ministers 
 from being arrested for debt. The irrita- 
 tion of the czar was increased by a sus- 
 picion, that the ambassadors of Russia were 
 not respected in other countries; for only 
 the preceding year, the unfortunate General 
 Patkul, his plenipotentiary in Saxony, had 
 been tortured to death at the command of 
 Charles XII. Anne induced her parlia- 
 ment to pass an act rendering it no longer 
 lawful to arrest an ambassador for debt; 
 and with this Peter was obhged to be con- 
 tented. But the great victory of Pultowa 
 rendered the czar a more illustrious and 
 powerful prince in the estimation of his 
 neighbours; and in England it was thought 
 necessary to make a further public satisfac- 
 tion to the hero of that famous contest. Mr. 
 Whitworth was selected to proceed to Russia 
 and offer a ceremonial apology. This gentle- 
 man was commissioned to address the czar 
 as " Most high and most mighty emperor," 
 and to inform him that the queen had 
 imprisoned the persons who presumed to 
 arrest his ambassador, and that they had 
 been rendered infamous. The statement 
 was an untruth ; but the czar accepted the 
 compliment, Avhich was an indication of the 
 rising importance of Russia. Peter had 
 not been called emperor by any foreign 
 state until he won the battle of Pidtowa. 
 
 a.d. 1711.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [war with turkey 
 
 ^ V ^ 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 WAR WITH TURKEY; PETER AND HIS ARMY ADVANCE INTO MOLDAVIA; ENGAGEMENTS ON THE B4NKS OF 
 THE PRUTH, AND DESPERATE SITUATION OF PETER; HE OBTAINS A PEACE, AND IS ALLOWED TO RETIRE • 
 MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCE ALEXIS, AND PUBLIC CELEBRATION OF THE CZAR'S MARRIAGE WITH CATHERINE ' 
 PETER ENTERS INTO A FRESH LEAGUE AGAINST SWEDEN ; ACTIVE HOSTILITIES WITH THAT COUNTRY ■ 
 PETER DEFEATS THE SWEDISH NAVY, AND BECOMES MASTER OF FINLAND; NATIOxNAL REJOICINGS OF THE 
 RUSSIANS. 
 
 Charles XII., in his retreat at Bender, 
 strained every nerve to induce the sultan, 
 Achmet III., to take up arms against 
 Russia. His endeavours were seconded by 
 the mother of the sultan, who, though she 
 had never seen Charles, was influenced by 
 a great admiration for this extraordinary 
 man. " When will you,^' she would some- 
 times say to her son, '^assist my lion to 
 devour this czar T^ 
 
 Though Charles and his followers, amount- 
 ing altogether to 1,800 persons, were all 
 hospitably entertained at Bender, at the 
 sole expense of the sultan, yet it is not very 
 probable that monarch would have been in- 
 duced to take any active part against the 
 czar, but that his own interests were in- 
 volved. The Ottoman Porte seemed in- 
 stinctively to recognise a growing enemy in 
 the rising empire of Russia, and to regard 
 it with jealousy, if not with aversion. The 
 sultan viewed with suspicion the fortifica- 
 tions which the czar had erected at Azoff 
 and Taganrog, and the increasing naval 
 power of Russia on the waters of Azoff and 
 the Euxine. He discerned a spirit of rest- 
 less encroachment in Peter, which he con- 
 sidered it necessary to check; and he was 
 confirmed in this resolution by the repre- 
 sentations of the khan of the Crimea, 
 whose independence was overshadowed by 
 the increasing might of Russia. 
 
 When, therefore, Charles presented me- 
 morial after memorial to the sultan, and his 
 favourite. Count Poniatowski, backed them 
 with all the insinuating arts of an accom- 
 plished statesman, the Ottoman Porte re- 
 solved on war. The sultan presented 
 the count with a purse containing 1^000 
 
 * « 
 
 The Seven Towers — that celebrated prison of 
 which the very name is a spell of power — are rapidly 
 crumbling to decay, but must continue to be amongst 
 the most interesting of the antiquities of Constanti- 
 nople, as long as one stone remains upon another. 
 * * * Instruments of torture — racks, wheels and 
 oubliettes — are rife within this place of gloom and 
 horror. One chasm, upon whose brink you stand, 
 is called the ' Well of Blood ;' and is said to have 
 overflowed its margin with the ensanguined stream 
 
 ducats; and the grand-vizier said to him, 
 '' I will take your king in one hand, and 
 a sword in the other, and will lead him to 
 Moscow at the head of 200,000 men.'* 
 Though the distribution of Russian gold 
 among the ministers of the sultan deferred 
 the coming storm, it was unable to avert 
 it. The chief vizier was changed, and hos- 
 tile feelings towards Russia influenced the 
 councils of the Porte. As a preliminary to 
 a declaration of war. Count Tolstoi, the 
 czar's ambassador, was arrested in the pub- 
 lic streets at Constantinople, and com- 
 mitted, together with thirty of his followers, 
 to the gloomy state prison called the Seven 
 Towers.* This was in accordance with a 
 barbarous custom then prevaihng at Con- 
 stantinople, arising from the contempt in 
 which the Turks held foreign ministers. 
 
 Peter was much irritated at this indig- 
 nity, and he resolved to avenge it. In the 
 January of 1711 he appointed a kind of 
 senatorial regency to govern during his 
 absence ; issued a conscription for the pur- 
 pose of recruiting his army, one division of 
 which he sent to Moldavia ; besides putting 
 his ships at Azoff and the Black Sea in 
 readiness. But before the czar left Mos- 
 cow, he made a public acknowledgment of 
 his marriage with the Livonian orphan, 
 which had been privately solemnised in 
 1707. "The young captive of Marien- 
 burg,'' observes Voltaire, '' was superior to 
 her sex, as well as to her misfortunes. 
 Her behaviour had rendered her so agree- 
 able, that the czar would always have her 
 near his person. She attended him in his 
 travels and in his most toilsome expedi- 
 tions, sharing his fatigues, and soothing his 
 
 which was once warm with life. A small court, 
 designated the 'Place of Heads,' is pointed out as 
 having been cumbered with the slain, until the re- 
 volting pile was of sufficient height to enable the 
 spectator to look out from its summit upon the 
 waves of the glittering Propontis ; and more than 
 one stone tunnel is shown, in which the captive was 
 condemned to crawl upon his hands and knees, and 
 there left to die of famine." — Miss Pardee's City <^ 
 the Sultan, 
 
 165 
 
 r 
 
BATTLE OF THE PRUTH.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.u. 1711, 
 
 A.D. 1711.] 
 
 cares, with the cheerfulness of her disposi- 
 tion and complaisant behaviour. She was 
 quite a stranger to all that fastidious pomp 
 and ceremony which the rest of the sex 
 have now converted into a real necessity. 
 But what rendered her a more extraordi- 
 nary favourite, was her neither being envied 
 nor opposed ; nor was any other person 
 sacrificed to make room for her promotion. 
 Often did she appease the emperor's wrath, 
 and add to his greatness by inspiring him 
 with clemency." The tie between Cathe- 
 rine and the czar was doubtless strengthened 
 by the fact, that she had already borne him 
 two daughters. 
 
 Peter left Moscow for his expedition to 
 Turkey on the 17th of March, attended 
 bv the devoted Catherine, who could not be 
 prevented from accompanying him on a 
 campaign which it was justly anticipated 
 would be an arduous one. The czar pro- 
 ceeded to Jassy, the capital of Moldavia, 
 with an army of only 40,000 men. The 
 princes or hospodars of Moldavia and Wal- 
 lachia, though acknowledging the supremacy 
 of the Porte, were intriguing with the czar, 
 through whose instrumentality they hoped 
 to accomplish their independence. Canti- 
 mir, the prince of Wallachia, had made 
 liberal promises of troops and provisions to 
 the czar, but he afterwards pleaded that he 
 was unable to fulfil them on account of the 
 attachment his subjects bore towards the 
 Porte. As for the Prince of Wallachia, he 
 shrunk from the coming storm, and dread- 
 ing the vengeance of the Turks, abandoned 
 his secret alliance with Russia, and returned 
 to his duty. These defections placed the 
 czar in a position of serious difficulty ; for 
 he found himself in a wild, uncultivated 
 country, where the herbage that should 
 have supplied forage to his horses, had been 
 destroyed by swarms of locusts, and provi- 
 sions for his troops could scarcely be ob- 
 tained. The men pursued their way across 
 a mere desert, oppressed by the scorching 
 heat of the sun, and greatly in want of 
 water. Desertion and hunger told heavily 
 upon his army. 
 
 Such was the situation of the czar, when 
 he received intelligence that the Turkish 
 vizier, Baltagai Mahomet, had crossed the 
 Danube at the head of 100,000 men, and 
 was directing his march towards Jassy, 
 along the banks of the Pruth. Peter held a 
 council of war, and decided upon marching 
 towards the Pruth, and attacking the 
 enemy, despite his superiority of numbers. 
 166 
 
 This resolve was put into execution, and 
 the czar arrrived at the banks of the river 
 by the 18th of June. He was too late to 
 dispute the passage of the Turkish army, 
 which, joined by the Tartars of the Crimea 
 and other reinforcements, was swelled to 
 the formidable strength of 200,000 men. 
 
 The disparity of numbers between the 
 rival forces was alarming; the situation of 
 the Russians extremely critical. Peter's 
 position resembled that of Charles at Pul- 
 towa. He was almost destitute of provi- 
 sions; while an array of Turks in front pre- 
 vented his advance, and an army of Tartars 
 behind cut off his retreat. Seeing his 
 safety to consist solely in the accomplish- 
 ment of the latter movement, Peter de- 
 camped during the night of the 20th of 
 July. It was too late; for at daybreak the 
 Turks fell upon his rear. The Russians 
 were compelled to pause, and intrench 
 themselves behind their baggage and heavy 
 waggons. In this position they met the 
 attack of the Turks with firmness, and even 
 compelled them to retire. Peter had formed 
 his army, which consisted of 30,000 in- 
 fantry and about 7,000 cavalry, into a hol- 
 low square, in the centre of which he placed 
 Catherine and the women; and in this posi- 
 tion the Russians received several furious 
 but irregular onslaughts from the Turks. 
 Yet the situation of the czar was desperate ; 
 for his enemies had only to maintain their 
 position, and the Russians must either sur- 
 render or perish from hunger. In the pro- 
 tracted sort of engagement, extending over 
 three days, the loss of both Turks and Rus- 
 sians was terrible. 
 
 In this painful state of affairs, the czar^s 
 spirits began to give way. To the Rus- 
 sian senate, whom he had appointed to rule 
 in his absence, he addressed this decla- 
 ration ; — " I announce to you, that deceived 
 by false intelligence, and through no fault 
 of mine, I am here shut up in my camp by 
 a Turkish army four times more numerous 
 than my own; our provisions cut off; and 
 on the point of being cut to pieces or taken 
 prisoners, unless Heaven comes to our aid 
 in some unexpected manner. If it befall 
 that I am taken by the Turks, you will no 
 longer consider me your czar and lord, nor 
 pay regard to any order that may be 
 brought you on my part ; not even though 
 you may see my hand signed to it; but you 
 will wait until I come myself in person. 
 If I am destined to perish here, and you 
 receive well-confirmed news of my death, 
 
 then you will choose for my successor the 
 worthiest among you." 
 
 To hide the torture of his mind, Peter 
 retired to his tent on the advance of night, 
 and gave orders that no one should ap- 
 proach him. He subsequently admitted 
 that, in his whole life, he never experienced 
 such agitation as racked him in that hour of 
 danger and apparent ruin. He revolved in 
 his thoughts all that he had been doing for 
 so many years to promote the glorv and 
 happiness of his country, and that he' must 
 now either see his army exterminated by 
 lamme, or encounter another of such supe- 
 rior force that defeat would be almost in- 
 evitable Yet, even in this distraction, he 
 decided for battle; and sending for General 
 bcheremetof, commanded him to have everv- 
 thmg ready, at break of day, for attackin- 
 the Turks with fixed bavonets. He also 
 ordered the baggage to be' burnt, to prevent 
 Its falhng into the hands of the enemy. 
 Ihe czar repeated his prohibition that he 
 should be undisturbed, and again he was 
 left alone. But there was one who, in this 
 night of consternation, dared to disobev 
 ins commands. Catherine felt that, in the 
 time of trial, the place of the wife was bv 
 the side of her husband. la spite of hi^ 
 prohibition, she entered the tent of the 
 czar, and found him in strong convulsions. 
 
 Peter was subjec't to these fits ; and Cathe- 
 rine, more than any other person, had the 
 power to soothe and restore him. Having 
 applied the necessary remedies, she assumed 
 a cheering tone, and suggested that, instead 
 ol fighting under such desperate circum- 
 stances, he should try what could be effected 
 by negotiation. This proposition was the 
 result of a council she had just before held 
 with General Scheremetof and the other 
 officers. It was impossible to anticipate 
 any terms that were not of a most un- 
 favourable kind, even if they did not involve 
 dishonour. Peter was perplexed ; the pros- 
 pect was dark every way ; but the entreaties 
 and tears of Catherine prevailed, and he 
 consented. 
 
 It has been said that Catherine bribed 
 Baltagai Mahomet, the Turkish minister 
 and general, and thus procured favourable 
 terms for the czar. The assertion appears 
 to be an idle calumny. It originated in 
 .hp circumstance that the czarina, in com- 
 phaace with Oriental custom (which enjoins 
 that a suitor should never approach a minis- 
 ter empty-handed), sent to Baltagai all her 
 jewels, mouey, and whatever valuables she 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [dangerous position of pbteh. 
 
 had with her in the camp. This was merelv 
 a customary tribute, and never designed 
 nor accepted as a bribe. It is indeed ab 
 surd, to suppose that a man who had the 
 control of the vast wealth of the Ottoman 
 treasury, would have sold a favourable 
 peace to a prostrate foe for a few iewels 
 which, had he reduced the czar, he could 
 still have obtained as spoil. Other causes 
 were a work. Baltagai had been disgusted 
 with the ingratitude and insolence of the 
 Swedish exile, Charles, whom he did not, 
 therefore, wish to see too triumphant! 
 Moreover, he was no soldier, and did not 
 care to risk a battle, although victory ap- 
 peared certain: and as to the alarming 
 power of the czar, he doubtless thought 
 hat would be sufficiently checked bv the 
 humiliation Peter must experience in soli- 
 citing peace under circumstances which 
 showed that his influence had been over- 
 rated. Much has been written upon this 
 point; and it is certainly difficult to under- 
 stand how Peter obtained such favourable 
 errns as he did; yet we think Baltagai may 
 fair y be acquitted of the charge of having 
 sold the interests of his country. 
 
 After some delay, a suspension of arms 
 was declared, and a favourable answer re- 
 ceived from Baltagai. He required that 
 the Russians should deliver up Azoff, and 
 burn the galleys which lay in that harbour • 
 demolish the important citadels built upon 
 the Pal us Maeotis, and surrender the ammu- 
 nition and cannon contained in them to the 
 sultan. The czar was also to renounce all 
 further interference in the affairs of Poland 
 and the Cossacks; and to promise that 
 Charles XII. should not be molested on 
 his return to Sweden. In addition to these 
 terms, it was proposed that the ancient 
 tribute of Russia to the Tartars of the 
 Crimea should be renewed; but this offen- 
 sive condition was abandoned. The Turks 
 also insisted that Cantimir, the prince of 
 Wallachia, who had promised assistance to 
 Peter, should be delivered up to them. 
 This the czar steadily refused, saying "I 
 will rather cede to the Turks the country as 
 far as Kursk; I should still have some 
 hopes of recovering it : but my word once 
 broken cannot be restored. Honour is all 
 that we have peculiar to ourselves; re- 
 nouncing that, is ceasing to be a monarch " 
 To the other conditions Peter assented, 
 and a treaty of peace was begun, concluded 
 and signed all in one day, the 21st of July. 
 Ihe Turks furnished their starving foes 
 
 167 
 
 t 
 
 1 
 
 .1 
 
 in 
 
THE CZAR OBTAINS A PEACE. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1711. 
 
 A.D. 
 
 1713.] 
 
 with provisions, and the czar was allowed to 
 retire with his army, artillery, colours, and 
 baggage. As the czar commenced his march, 
 the king of Sweden spurred, hot and impa- 
 tient, into the Turkish camp. He had come 
 to see the ruin of his rival ; and on hearing 
 of the escape of Peter, he ran to the tent of 
 the vizier, and angrily reproached him for 
 having signed the treaty. " I have a right,'^ 
 replied Baltagai, " to make war or peace.'^ 
 ** But,'' inquired the king, "had you not 
 the whole Russian army in your power?" 
 " Our law orders," returned the Turk, " to 
 give peace to our enemies when they implore 
 our mercy." "And does it command you," 
 exclaimed the king, passionately, " to make 
 a bad treaty when you may impose what 
 conditions you please ? Did it not depend 
 upon you to lead the czar prisoner to Con- 
 stantinople?" With a meaning sarcasm 
 the vizier replied, "And who would have 
 governed his empire in his absence ? It is 
 not proper that all kings should leave their 
 dominions." Stung to the quick, Charles 
 threw himself upon a sofa, and entangling 
 his spur in the robe of the vizier, purposely 
 tore it. Then, rising up, he disdainfully 
 quitted the tent; and, remounting his 
 horse, returned in rage and despair to 
 Bender. It has been well observed, that 
 the Turkish general, in overlooking the in- 
 dignity he received, showed himself greater 
 than the impetuous king who offered it. 
 Charles afterwards employed himself in 
 endeavouring, by intrigues at the Ottoman 
 court, to have the vizier displaced ; but his 
 activity only led to the withdrawal of the 
 sum allowed by the sultan for the main- 
 tenance of himself and his followers, and 
 his being ordered to quit the empire. 
 
 Peter returned to Russia by way of Jassy; 
 and, in compliance with the treaty he had 
 so recently made, caused the fortresses of 
 Samara and Kamienska to be demolished. 
 He, however, raised some difficulties about 
 the destruction of his harbour and works at 
 Taganrog, and the restitution of AzofF. 
 The sultan became impatient to receive the 
 keys of the latter city, and negotiations 
 were opened afresh. AzofF was then re- 
 stored to the Turks — a circumstance by 
 which the progress of Russia in the south, 
 towards the sea, was driven back. At the 
 same time the Ottoman Porte, notwith- 
 standing its habitual contempt for Christian 
 states, constituted itself the arbiter between 
 Russia, Poland, and Sweden. The sultan 
 desired the czar to withdraw his troops 
 168 . 
 
 from Poland, to which Peter consented, on 
 condition that Charles should be compelled 
 to retire from Turkey. The sultan was by 
 no means averse to this arrangement, for 
 he was tired of the whims and intrigues of 
 his ungrateful guest, whom, nevertheless, 
 he found it extremely difficult to get rid of. 
 The czar's health had been seriously im- 
 paired by the mental anxiety he had expe- 
 rienced, and he therefore went to Carlsbad, 
 in Bohemia, to drink the medicinal waters 
 for which it is famous. Peter had for some 
 time occasionally felt some mental uneasi- 
 ness from another cause. His first wife, 
 Eudoxia Lapuchin (whom, on account of 
 her uncongenial temper and her bigoted 
 opposition, he had thought necessary to 
 divorce), brought him a son, who was born 
 in the convent to which she had been com- 
 pelled to retire. This prince, though he 
 has been described as accomplished (an 
 assertion which is extremely apocryphal), 
 showed a headstrong disposition from his 
 boyhood, and an attachment to low plea- 
 sures. His time was spent with vulgar and 
 vicious companions; and, what was far 
 worse, he inherited all his mother's bigotry 
 and her aversion to those reforms which it 
 was the great object of Peter's life to effect. 
 Few things could have more deeply wounded 
 the czar than the reflection that his successor 
 might overturn his labours, and let the em- 
 pire relapse into barbarism. It is probable 
 that, even at this period, Peter had formed 
 the idea of excluding his son from the 
 throne, in the event of its being found im- 
 possible to reform him. The czar felt him- 
 self the parent of an empire, as well as the 
 father of a dull and graceless youth. 
 
 With a view of reforming his son Alexis 
 Petrovitz, the czar married him, in the Oc- 
 tober of 1711, at Dresden, to the princess 
 of Wolfenbuttle, sister to the empress of 
 Germany. The match had a political value 
 to the czar, who was glad to strengthen his 
 connections by so distinguished an alliance ; 
 but Alexis entered into it with reluctance. 
 After the ceremony the czar returned to 
 St. Petersburg, where he publicly celebrated 
 his marriage with the czarina Catherine, to 
 whom he had been previously united pri- 
 vately. The solemnity was conducted with 
 great splendour; and Peter not only de- 
 signed the festivities, but personally laboured 
 at the preparation of them. This ceremo- 
 nial was intended by him, and regarded by 
 his subjects, as an act of grateful acknow- 
 ledgment for the services Catherine had 
 
 lately rendered when the czar was hemmed 
 m by his foes on the banks of the Pruth. 
 The amiable nature of the czarina, and her 
 utter devotion to her distinguished husband, 
 neutralised any feeling of envy or ill-will 
 which might otherwise have been enter- 
 tained towards her on account of her 
 humble origin. But either in times of 
 grief or cheerfulness, the activity of the czar 
 never forsook him. He followed up the 
 public rejoicings with which the double 
 marriage of his son and himself were cele- 
 brated, by planning and executing many 
 national improvements. New roads were 
 laid down, and new canals were dug. His 
 city of St. Petersburg, now rapidlv increas- 
 ing m importance, was the favourite child 
 of his brain. He finished the foundry and 
 the admiralty, and caused an exchan-e and 
 warehouses to be built there. Further than 
 this he removed the senate from Moscow to 
 bt. Petersburg; and thus made the latter, in 
 some degree, the capital of the empire 
 
 At peace with Turkey, Peter determined 
 to strip Sweden of every place which could 
 be an annoyance to his new capital. He 
 even designed to take from Sweden all its 
 Irerman provinces ; and in order to eff'ect 
 this, he entered into a league with the elec- 
 tors of Brandenburg and Hanover, and the 
 kmg of Denmark. Charles, in his exile, 
 showed the same inflexible pride which had 
 ever characterised him. From his lonely 
 dwelling in the deserts of Bessarabia, he 
 hurled defiance at the czar and his allies- 
 and without attempting to break up the 
 league formed against him, sent commands, 
 that the most vigorous resistance should be 
 made both by land and sea. Notwith- 
 standing the impoverished state of Sweden 
 both with respect to men and mouev, his 
 orders were obeyed. The senate of Stock- 
 holm fitted out a fleet of thirteen ships of 
 the line; and a considerable land force was 
 raised, and placed under the command of 
 Count Stem bock, a general whose unques- 
 tionable courage and militarv skill were ex- 
 ceeded by his cruelty. Steinbock attacked 
 the Danish and Saxon troops near a place 
 called Gadebusch, before the Russians were 
 able to join them. The battle was fought 
 with great fury ; for such was the hatred 
 existing between the Swedes and the Danes 
 that m many cases the officers rushed furi- 
 ously upon each other, animated by a mad 
 thirst for their adversaries' blood, and fell 
 dead from the wounds received from this 
 recklessness. Steinbock gained the vic- 
 
 VOL. I. 2 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [wak hexewed .vith s^^dex. 
 
 tory; but that circumstance merely de- 
 ferred his ruin. The Swedish general fol- 
 lowed up his transient triumph by an act of 
 mfamous cruelty. Because the Danes had 
 reduced the town of Stade to ashes, he re- 
 taliated on that of Altona, a commercial 
 town below Hamburg, on the banks of the 
 Jilbe. The unfortunate inhabitants were 
 compelled to quit their houses at midnight 
 on the 9th of January, 1713, and to wander 
 torth into the open country during a winter 
 ot more than usual severity. "Men and 
 women,^' observes a modern historian, 
 weeping and wailing, and bending under 
 the weight of their furniture, fled to the 
 neighbounng hills, which were covered with 
 snow. Many palsied men were carried 
 thither on the shoulders of the young. 
 Women with newly-born infants in their 
 arms, fled and perished with them from the 
 cold, throwing their last looks towards the 
 flames which were consuming their homes. 
 All the inhabitants had not time to quit 
 the town before the Swedes set fire to it. 
 The conflagration continued from midnight 
 till ten m the morning ; almost all the 
 houses being wood, were entirely consumed- 
 and the next day, scarcely anything re- 
 mained to indicate that there had been a 
 town upon that spot r All Germany pro- 
 tested against this wanton cruelty ; and the 
 generals of the Polish and Danish armies 
 wrote to Count Steinbock, reproaching him 
 with his enormous cruelty, for the perpetra- 
 tion of which no military necessity could 
 be alleged. The Swede retorted, that the 
 allies were guilty of as great atrocities in 
 desolating Pomerania, and that he had only 
 endeavoured to teach the enemies of his 
 master not to make war for the future like 
 barbarians. The reproof was, no doubt, 
 merited; but the retaliation was an ig- 
 noble one. 
 
 Steinbock's success was extremely tran- 
 sient. The Saxons and the Danes were soon 
 joined by the Russians; and he was compelled 
 to retire before the troops he had recently 
 defeated, and shelter himself and his army 
 m Tenningen, a fortified place in Holstein 
 into winch he obtained admission by arti- 
 fice. The allied army then went into win- 
 ter quarters ; but on the renewal of hostili- 
 ties, the Swedes, amounting to 11,000 men 
 were compelled to surrender themselves 
 prisoners of war. As to Steinbock, unable 
 to repay the ransom which was demanded 
 tor his liberation, he languished out the 
 remainder of his life in prison at Copen- 
 
 169 
 
 
 f 
 
 ^ 'I 
 
 / 
 
DEFEAT OF THE SWEDISH FLEET.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1714. 
 
 hagen. Thus, at least on this occasion, his- 
 torical truth, and what is called poetical 
 justice, went hand-in-hand. 
 
 Everything seemed adverse to the absent 
 king of Sweden, whose turbulent behaviour 
 in the Turkish dominions had made him 
 the inmate of a prison. Nearly the whole 
 of Pomerania was overrun and partitioned 
 amongst the allies. With the exception of 
 Stralsund, scarcely a place remained in the 
 possession of the Swedes ; and that was be- 
 sieged by the llussians. The czar, satisfied 
 that it must fall, left the operations against 
 it in the hands of Prince MentschikofF. 
 He then (May, 1713) returned to St. Peters- 
 burg, and proceeded with a powerful squad- 
 ron of galleys, and 16,000 troops, to pur- 
 sue his career of conquest in the Gulf of 
 Finland. Helsingfors, Bergo, and Abo, the 
 latter the capital of Finland, successively 
 yielded to the czar, who commanded the 
 whole coast of the gulf up to the city he 
 thus easily subdued. There was nothing of 
 fighting for the love of glory about this : 
 military vanity seems never to have been 
 the moving principle in the mind of the 
 czar. A glance at the map will show any 
 one, that if St. Petersburg was to be main- 
 tained as the capital of Russia, the posses- 
 sion of the coasts of the Gulf of Finland 
 was a geographical necessity. On be- 
 coming master of Abo, the czar robbed it 
 of its magnificent library, which he con- 
 veyed to St. Petersburg, and erected a 
 building for its reception. 
 
 The insulted and fallen Swedes, who 
 were learning by painful experience, that 
 no nation can long pursue a course of con- 
 quest without eventually suffering bitterly 
 from that retaliation which seems a law 
 of nature, resolved, in spite of their im- 
 poverished condition, to resist this last act 
 of aggression. Collecting all their naval 
 power, they put to sea in the Gulf of 
 Bothnia, with a considerable squadron. 
 The czar, glad of an opportunity of dis- 
 tinguishing his infant navy, set sail with 
 sixteen ships of the line, and 180 galleys 
 fit for navigating the shallow waters of the 
 inlets of the gulf. The hostile fleets met 
 near the Aland Isles : that of the Swedes 
 was stronger in large ships, but inferior in 
 galleys. Under such circumstances, the 
 wisdom of the czar was apparent in bring- 
 ing the enemy to an engagement among 
 the rocks and shallows which lie in the 
 neighbourhood of Aland, where, though gal- 
 leys could act, large vessels could not. The 
 170 
 
 Swedes were defeated with terrible slaugh- 
 ter, their admiral captured, and many of 
 their vessels sunk or taken. The rest 
 escaped ; but so great was the consterna- 
 tion, that even the inhabitants of Stock- 
 holm did not think themselves safe. This 
 triumph at Aland, Peter regarded as the 
 most glorious action of his life after the vic- 
 torv at Pultowa. It made him master of 
 Finland, the government of which he gave 
 to Prince Galitzin, and then returned to 
 St. Petersburg, where he was received with 
 public rejoicings and festivities. These 
 were rendered more brilliant to celebrate 
 the birth of a daughter, of which the czarina 
 had been confined. In honour of her, 
 Peter instituted the order of St. Catherine, 
 which dignity she alone could bestow. 
 
 The Russian people were delighted with 
 the spectacles with which the czar occa- 
 sionally entertained them ; and not the less 
 so because they were all highly flattering to 
 their national emotions. On this occasion 
 the cannon, colours, and standards taken 
 from the captured Swedish ships, were car- 
 ried to St. Petersburg, accompanied by the 
 Russian army, marching in order of battle. 
 The triumphal arch which the czar, accord- 
 ing to custom, had himself designed, was 
 decorated with the emblems of his victories. 
 Admiral Apraxin, who commanded the 
 Russian fleet, headed the procession be- 
 neath the arch, and was followed by the 
 czar as rear-admiral, and the other officers, 
 according to their rank. Erenschild (the 
 Swedish admiral) and his officers followed 
 their conquerors. Gold and silver medals 
 were then distributed to all Russians en- 
 gaged in the battle ; and the czar, ascend- 
 ing a throne which had been prepared tor 
 the occasion, thus addressed his subjects 
 and companions-in-arms : — " Countrymen ! 
 is there any one among you who, twenty 
 years ago, could have thought of fighting 
 under me in the Baltic, in ships built by 
 yourselves, and that we should be settled in 
 those countries which we have conquered 
 by our great toils and courage ? The an- 
 cient seat of sciences is said to have been in 
 Greece ; they afterwards moved to Italy, 
 whence they spread themselves to most 
 parts of Europe. Now it is our turn, if 
 you will second my design, and to obe- 
 dience add study. Arts circulate in the 
 world as does blood in the body ; and per- 
 haps they will settle their empire amongst 
 us in their return to Greece, their ancient 
 country. I dare hope that, by our achieve- 
 
 I 
 
 A.D. 1714.] 
 
 ments and solid glory, we shall one day 
 make the most civilised nations blush.'' 
 
 Though many of the old boyards listened 
 to this manly harangue with indifference, if 
 not with actual dislike, the young nobles 
 were affected by it even to tears. To them 
 It opened up new paths to distinction, and 
 seemed, m raising the dignity and power of 
 their country, to add a greater brilliancy to 
 the rank they bore.^ But whatever of dis- 
 content lingered amongst those who loved 
 ever to look back to the dead past, rather 
 than to press forward with the living pre- 
 sent—to collect fading laurels from half- 
 torgotten graves, rather than to gain fresh 
 ones by deeds of heroic activity— it dared no 
 longer show itself. The czar had won the 
 people and he reigned now doubly abso- 
 lute-by the law of the empire, and by the 
 force of genius Real joy dwelt for a while 
 at bt. Petersburg, and public festivities 
 were prolonged by private hospitalities. 
 I he czar gave a series of public dinners, 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [chakles retuhns i^ s^veden. 
 
 to which all classes of the people were in- 
 vited ; and the illustrious monarch went 
 from table to table amongst his guests, and 
 conversed freely, even with those of the most 
 humble condition, concerning their trades 
 and occupations. The nobles, in their turn, 
 gave balls and pubhc entertainments on a 
 very grand scale; the mercantile classes 
 had their social festivals also ; even the 
 artisans and serfs drank their bad brandy 
 with an air of triumph; and St. Petersburg 
 presented a scene of rejoicing which had 
 never been known beneath its cold skv 
 before Yet under and around the great 
 
 fi ^ fnn nr.r^^'P ^^^ *^^ '^^^^s of more 
 than 100,000 men, victims of its creation; 
 sacrificed to the iron will of the brilliant 
 despot, whose restless energy and deep- 
 seeing genius remoulded his people, and, in 
 this wild spot, even changed the face of 
 nature ! How great, sometimes how ter- 
 rible is the power of one large and original 
 mind! & *" 
 
 I 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE noCTOKS O. THB SOKBON.E ; P.TEK ^..ZZ'^^^'.'H ^^^ [ ^^T^^^/^TolZL: "^" '^ 
 
 Sweden, exhausted by its efforts, sought 
 peace with Russia. The regency of Stock- 
 holm, despairing of the return of the kin^r 
 came to a resolution to consult him no 
 longer, and to make pacific proposals to the 
 czar. This resolution was interrupted bv 
 the sudden reappearance of the king afteV 
 a stay of five years and some months 
 m Bessarabia. Having passed through 
 the most extraordinary adventures, and 
 endured severe sufferings, Charles, on the 
 ^Ist of October, 1714, presented himself, 
 during the night, at the gates of the town 
 ot Stralsund, in the disguise of a courier. 
 He had not been in a bed for sixteen 
 nights, and his legs were so swollen from 
 extreme fatigue, that his boots were obliged 
 to be cut off. The fugitive king found 
 i^urope in a very different condition to that 
 in which he had left it. The war between 
 1? ranee, England, and Holland, was over. 
 
 Anne of England having made peace with 
 the aged Loms XIV, had just gone to that 
 bourne where warrior and politician, queen, 
 subject or beggar, alike remain in tranquil- 
 lity. George I, elector of Hanover, had 
 been called to the throne of Great Britain 
 and had taken from the territories of Sweden 
 the duchy of Bremen and Verden. Frede- 
 ric William, the new king of Prussia, had 
 seized on Stettin and part of Pomerania;. 
 while the czar had enriched himself enor- 
 mously at the expense of his former rival, 
 Charles. In the north of Europe, Peter 
 had acquired an uncontrollable ascendancy • 
 and all the neighbouring princes referred 
 their claims to him. 
 
 The spirit of the fallen Charles had not 
 sunk with his fortunes ; but his subjects 
 were now too feeble to second his daring 
 projects. They had lost their confidence, 
 and were no longer disposed to seek in 
 
 . .171 
 
PETER AGAIN VISITS EUROPE.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1716. 
 
 A.D. 1717.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 M 
 
 't 
 
 battle nobler terms than they could obtain ' 
 by arbitration. But when Charles applied 
 to the citizens of Stockholm for money to 
 raise a force equal to nis necessities, his 
 generous people, who pitied their wild king 
 even while they blamed him, complied, as 
 far as possible, with his wishes. His rash 
 conduct has been described as resulting not 
 from the fury of despair, but rather from 
 the gallantry of a nature that never could 
 be penetrated by despair. Shutting himself 
 up in Stralsund, which was made celebrated 
 by his connection with it, he undertook its 
 defence, with a garrison of about 9,000 
 men, against the combined army of Prus- 
 sians, Danes, and Saxons, amounting to 
 36,000 men. Charles defended the place 
 inch by inch ; and when it was at length 
 reduced to a heap of ruins, he succeeded in 
 escaping before it surrendered to the assail- 
 ants.* He made his way to Carlscrona; 
 and, though so near his capital, he yet 
 resolved 'never to enter it again until he 
 had obtained some signal victory. Regard- 
 ing his people only as born to become 
 soldiers to carry out his projects, he issued 
 orders for raising men throughout his whole 
 kingdom. Miserable Sweden ! infatuated 
 King ! 
 
 While the sun of Charles was thus set- 
 ting, the power of Peter was approaching 
 its utmost height. Livonia, Esthonia, Ingria, 
 and nearly all Finland, had been acquired 
 by him. He was ready to protect them by 
 war if necessary ; but not averse to peace, 
 if his adversaries desired it. Almost every 
 day he created some new regulations or 
 establishments in connection with the navy, 
 army, the commerce, or the laws. About 
 400,000 men were employed in the public 
 works at St. Petersburg, which rapidly 
 became a place of great commerce and 
 wealth. The czar, however, in his anxiety 
 for its prosperity, committed an act of folly 
 
 • The daring and energy of this extraordinary 
 man during this period, is thus graphically described 
 by his biographer Voltaire : — " Nothing was able to 
 move him ; he employed the day in making ditches 
 And intrenchments behind the walls, and in the night 
 he sallied out upon the enemy In the meantime 
 Stralsund was battered in breach, the bombs fell as 
 thick as hail upon the houses, and half the town was 
 reduced to ashes. The citizens, however, so far from 
 complaining, were filled with the highest veneration 
 for their royal master, whose fatigues, temperance, 
 and courage astonished them. He inspired them 
 with similar qualities; and, under him, they all 
 became soldiers : they accompanied him in all his 
 sallies, and served him in the place of a second 
 garrison. One day, as the king was dictating some 
 172 
 
 and injustice; for he prohibited all goods 
 imported into Russia at Archangel from 
 being sent to Moscow. 
 
 Peter now resolved to undertake a second 
 journey through the principal countries of 
 Europe. The time was eminently favour- 
 able for such an expedition ; for he had 
 established his reforms at home upon a 
 secure basis, and he had notliing to fear 
 from enemies abroad. He had performed 
 his first journey with the view of obtaining 
 information concerning the arts and manu- 
 factures of the places he visited ; but in the 
 second he desired to examine the secrets of 
 foreign courts, and the political systems of 
 Europe. He left Russia in 1716, accom- 
 panied by the czarina Catherine, and fol- 
 lowed by the gratitude of his people. His 
 journey was a kind of triumphal progress, 
 and he was generally received with public 
 rejoicings and festivities. Catherine, who 
 was approaching her confinement, was com- 
 pelled to rest for a short time at Schwerin, 
 while Peter pursued his way to Holland. 
 The czarina soon followed him, but was 
 compelled to pause at Wesel, where she was 
 delivered of a son, whose bmef existence 
 only disappointed the hopes of his father. 
 Such was Catherine's anxiety to rejoin her 
 husband, that, ten days after her confine- 
 ment, she accompanied him to Amsterdam. 
 The czar went to Copenhagen, and had 
 an interview with the king of Denmark, 
 who received him with great distinction. 
 He then visited the king of Prussia, and 
 paused at many places, either from motives 
 of pleasure or for the sake of making obser- 
 vations. All this time he travelled in a 
 very simple mauner, avoiding all show or 
 parade whatever. An amusing incident 
 arose out of this love of simplicity in so 
 great a man. He arrived late one night at 
 Nymegen, in a common post-chaise, and 
 accompanied by only two attendants. As 
 
 letters to his secretary, to be sent to Sweden, a bomb 
 fell on the house, penetrated the roof, and burst near 
 the apartment where he was. One-half of the floor 
 was shattered to pieces. The closet where the king 
 was employed, partly formed out of a thick wall, 
 resisted the explosion ; and, by an astonishing piece 
 of fortune, none of the splinters that flew about in 
 the air entered at the closet door, which happened 
 to be open. The report of the bomb, and the noise it 
 occasioned in the house, which seemed ready to fall, 
 made the secretary drop his pen. 'What is the 
 matter ? ' said the king, with a placid air, ' why do 
 you not write ? ' The secretary could only exclaim, 
 ♦ Ah, sire ! the bomb ! ' • Well,' continued the king, 
 ' what has the bomb to do with the letter I am dic- 
 tating to you ? Go on.* " 
 
 [peter in HOLLAND, 
 
 his frugal supper consisted only of poached 
 eggs and a little bread and cheese, he was 
 much astonished when, the next morning, 
 the landlord presented a bill of one hundred 
 ducats for his entertainment. Peter re- 
 monstrated, and asked if eggs were so 
 very scarce in that neighbourhood. "No,"' 
 answered the landlord; "but emperors 
 are." The czar settled the bill; for he 
 must have felt that, statesman as he was, he 
 had for once been overreached. 
 
 On reaching Amsterdam, Peter was re- 
 ceived with an exhibition of feeling which 
 surpassed enthusiasm. There the honest 
 ship-builders regarded him as their pupil; 
 and the workmen looked upon him as a 
 great man who had given additional dignity 
 to labour; and they remembered the "time 
 he performed the like work with them- 
 selves. They found his manners un- 
 changed: the great emperor of Russia 
 talked to them as familiarly as, about 
 eighteen years before. Master Peter the 
 amateur carpenter had done. The little 
 cottage at Sardam, in which he had dwelt, 
 though scarcely more than a hovel, had 
 been improved and carefully preserved. It 
 was known as " The Prince's House.'' On 
 re-entering it, after so long an absence, 
 Peter desired to be left alone; and there, 
 for a while, he remained absorbed by reflec- 
 tion of a kind it is not difficult to divine. 
 Wonder for the past, and grateful joy for 
 the present, no doubt filled that strong 
 mind, as, reflecting upon the strange vicissi- 
 tudes of life, he beheld the scene of his 
 early labours ; while his imagination, speed- 
 ing to the tideless Baltic, saw upon its 
 broad basin their result in the triumphant 
 fleet of Russia. 
 
 The czar remained three months in Hol- 
 land, chiefly because the Hague, then re- 
 garded as the centre of the negotiations of 
 Europe, and crowded with, travellers and 
 foreign ministers, aff*orded him an opportu- 
 nity of making certain political observa- 
 tions. A cunning adventurer, named Baron 
 Goertz, who had acquired the confidence of 
 Charles XII., and desired to bring about an 
 alliance between that fallen monarch and 
 the czar, had projected a great revolution 
 throughout Europe ; and many secret com- 
 munications concerning it were passing in 
 the diplomatic circles of that place. This 
 project was of a remarkable kind, for kings 
 and chief ministers were the conspirators. 
 Amongst other wild plans, it was designed 
 to drive George I. from the throne of Eng- 
 
 land, and to set the son of James II. in his 
 place. Charles XII., on being reconciled 
 to Peter, was to make a descent upon Soot- 
 land, and carry the plan into execution by 
 calling to arras all the partisans of the 
 Stuart family. It appears that the czar 
 was favourable to the designs of these 
 diplomatic revolutionists, and that he with 
 difficulty avoided becoming implicated in 
 them. Happily these plans were discovered, 
 and communicated to the king of England; 
 and, at his desire, the States-general placed 
 Baron Goertz under arrest. George also 
 put the Swedish ambassador at London into 
 confinement; and the two were examined 
 like some great criminals; as indeed they 
 were. Charles was indignant that his am- 
 bassadors had been so insulted, and main- 
 tained a disdainful silence towards England 
 and Holland. Peter, on the detection of 
 the conspiracy with which he was not iden- 
 tified, though he was favourable to it, wrote 
 a long letter to George L, full of compli- 
 ments and congratulations, and assurances 
 of a sincere friendship. George did not 
 believe a word of these protestations; but it 
 was not politic to quarrel with so powerful 
 a monarch as the czar; and he assumed a 
 satisfaction which he did not feel. 
 
 In the meantime Peter left Holland, and 
 proceeded on a visit to Paris, where great 
 preparations were made for receiving him 
 with a becoming splendour. Marshal Tesse, 
 with many of the nobility, a squadron of the 
 guards, and the king's coaches, advanced to 
 meet him. The czar, actuated by a real or 
 pretended contempt for splendour, rode on 
 so rapidly, that he left the escort far behind, 
 and entered Paris, attended only by four 
 gentlemen. The retiring habits of the czar 
 must have disappointed the French people, 
 who had prepared maaj files and entertain- 
 ments in his honour, which were rendered 
 nugatory by the rapidity with which he 
 travelled. The Duke of Orleans, then regent 
 during the infancy of Louis XV., received 
 Peter at the Louvre, where the state apart- 
 ments were prepared for himself and his 
 retinue. -^ The czar declined this grandeur. 
 "I am a soldier," said he; "bread and 
 beer are all I want; I like small rooms 
 better than large. I do not wish to move 
 about in state, and tire so many people." 
 The same evening he took up his lodgings 
 at the other end of the town, at the Hotel 
 Lesdiguiere, which belonged to Marshal 
 Villeroy. Here he was visited, the next 
 day, by the regent, and, the one following, 
 
 173 
 
PETER IN FRANCE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1717. 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 by the infant king. This visit courtesy 
 obliged the czar to return ; but he did so in 
 the evening, in as quiet a manner as pos- 
 sible. The household troops were placed 
 under arms, and the young king brought to 
 the czar's coach. So great was the crowd 
 that thronged about the royal child, that 
 Peter felt uneasy for his safety, and, taking 
 liim into his arms, carried him for some time. 
 
 However averse the czar might be to 
 ceremony or ostentation, he could not but 
 be pleased with many of the delicate atten- 
 tions he met with in France. On dining 
 with the Duke d'Antin, at his seat three 
 leagues from Paris, Peter observed that a 
 handsome portrait of himself had been re- 
 cently put up in the dining-room. Touched 
 by the compliment, it is said he felt that 
 true politeness was an ingredient in the 
 nature of the French. Another incident 
 of the same kind must have given him a far 
 greater satisfaction. On going to see medals 
 struck in that gallery of the Louvre devoted 
 to the artists of the kings of France, one 
 dropping from the die, fell at the feet of the 
 czar. He stooped, picked it up, and found 
 it to be a medal of himself, with a figure 
 representing fame on the reverse. Peter 
 and all his attendants were presented with 
 copies of this medal in gold. On visiting 
 the other artists in the Louvre, all their 
 finest efforts were laid at his feet, with a 
 request that he would deign to accept of 
 them. When he went to see the tapestry 
 of the Gobelins, the carpets of the Savonnerie, 
 the ateliers of the king's sculptors, painters, 
 goldsmiths, and mathematical instrument- 
 makers, whatever engaged his eye was 
 offered to him in the name of the sovereign. 
 On his visit to the Academy of Sciences, he 
 with his own hand corrected several errors 
 in old maps of the Russian dominions. He 
 even became a member of the academy, and 
 afterwards kept up a correspondence con- 
 cerning experiments and discoveries with 
 that distinguished body. 
 
 The most earnest minds in France ad- 
 mired the experienced glance and skilful 
 hand with which he selected such objects 
 as he designed to carry back with him to 
 Russia, and the masters whom he engaged 
 for the instruction of his people. Artists 
 and manufacturers were surprised at his 
 knowledge of their professions. They ob- 
 served, that " his questions uniformly gave 
 proof of his knowledge, and excited admira- 
 tion of the sagacity of an enlarged mind, 
 which was as prompt to comprehend in- 
 174 
 
 formation as it was eager to gain it. "While 
 travelling through France on his return, 
 the czar would often leave his carriage, and, 
 entering the fields, fall into conversation 
 with the labourers. He desired them to 
 explain the use of their agricultural instru- 
 ments, and took sketches of them with his 
 own hand. One day hit attention was 
 attracted by seeing a person of a different 
 dress and superior appearance working with 
 the labourers. The czar immediately inter- 
 rogated this man ; and then, turning to his 
 attendants, observed — "Look at this good 
 country priest ! With the labour of his own 
 hands he procures cider, wine, and money 
 to boot. Remind me of this when we are 
 in Russia again. I will endeavour to stimu- 
 late our priests by this example, and, by 
 teaching them to till the soil, rescue them 
 from their sloth and wretchedness.'' 
 
 The occasion on which the czar exhibited 
 the greatest excitement while in France, 
 was at his visit to the tomb of Cardinal 
 Richelieu. But it was not the beauty of 
 the design or sculpture that attracted him. 
 His thoughts were rather with the dust that 
 lay beneath that magnificent mausoleum. 
 His mind dwelt upon the character of 
 the great statesman, which these things 
 were designed to perpetuate. Giving way 
 to a transient enthusiasm, Peter exclaimed 
 earnestly — " Thou great man ! I would have 
 given thee one-half of my dominions to 
 have learnt of thee how to govern the other !" 
 Thus do the truly great ever recognise and 
 admit the claims of each other. 
 
 When the czar visited the mausoleum of 
 the wise priest and statesman, the doctors of 
 the Sorbonne placed a memorial in his 
 hands, with the object of bringing about a 
 reunion of the Greek and Latin churches, 
 by inducing Peter to recognise the spiritual 
 authority of the pope. The division of the 
 Christian church into that of the West and the 
 East, was completed about the middle of the 
 eleventh century, when the pope at Rome, and 
 the patriarch atfconstantinople, severally ana- 
 thematised each other, and all fnrther com- 
 munion between their respective churches 
 ceased. This schism the theological doctors 
 of the university thought to heal at the 
 expense of a piece of parchment ; as if such a 
 monarch as the czar would be at all likely 
 to acknowledge the authority of the pope in 
 any shape whatever. His path lay in quite 
 a different direction ; and it is not rational to 
 suppose that Peter would throw his country 
 into confusion, and encounter the enmity of 
 
 A.D. 1717.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [peter in francb. 
 
 the Russian clergy, and perhaps the whole 
 population of his empire, to bring about an 
 event, the result of which would be to intro- 
 duce an authority into it, differing from, and 
 claiming to be superior to, his own. The 
 wily doctors artfully confined their memo- 
 rial almost entirely to softening down this 
 point. They spoke of the liberties enjoyed 
 by the Gallican church; from which they 
 concluded that the Russian church would 
 forfeit nothing in that respect, should the 
 proposed union take place. They also 
 asserted that the popes were subject to the 
 councils, and that a decree of the supreme 
 pontiff was not a rule of faith. Peter cared 
 nothing for these matters ; and he had no in- 
 tention of placing a yoke upon his shoulders, 
 though it might be a very light one, and fit 
 so well as not to gall the wearer in any 
 direction. Never mind the lightness : why 
 wear a yoke at all, especially when there 
 was no necessity for doing so ? Still the czar 
 received the memorial with good humour ; 
 and, answering that he was a soldier, un- 
 accustomed to disputations of that kind, 
 referred the matter to the Russian bishops! 
 They, it may be anticipated, at once indig- 
 nantly rejected it. The pope, also offended 
 that the overture had failed, expressed a 
 dissatisfaction at its having been attempted ; 
 and the meddlers of the Sorbonne were 
 blamed on all sides; as meddlers generally 
 are, and always deserve to be. 
 
 However pleasantly the czar treated this 
 application at the time, he afterwards 
 thought it proper to express his real feeling 
 towards the papal authority, in order to 
 dissipate any needless apprehensions which 
 his subjects might entertain on such a matter. 
 With this object, when, in 1718, he ex- 
 pelled the Jesuits out of his dominions, 
 he instituted a burlesque ceremonial for 
 the entertainment of the people, in ridicule 
 of the pontiff of the Roman church. At 
 the Russian court was a vain old man, 
 named Jotoff or Sotoff, who, in earlier 
 years, had taught the czar to write, but 
 who, in the dechne of his life, occupied a 
 position analogous to that of a buffoon. 
 On this dotard, the czar whimsically said 
 that he would confer one of the most emi- 
 nent dignities in the known world. Jotoff 
 accordingly had the title of pope bestowed 
 upon him, together with a salary of 2,000 
 roubles, and a house at St. Petersburg in 
 the quarter of the Tartars. Jotoff was en- 
 throned by the mob, led by buffoons, and 
 harangued by four men who stammered.) 
 
 His mock holiness then created a body of 
 mimic cardinals; and after they had all 
 drank themselves into a state of staggering 
 intoxication, paraded the streets in proces- 
 sion, accompanied by rough music playing 
 out of time, and the clattering of pots and 
 pans, to the intense delight of the mob, to 
 whose not over-refined taste this drunken 
 carnival was admirably adapted. A mili- 
 tary procession and solemnity for some 
 great victory, would scarcely have pleased 
 them so much. This satirical ceremony 
 was retained for some years after the death 
 of Jotoff, and performed both in St. Peters- 
 burg and Moscow. Though, at first sight, 
 it appeared only a mere popular orgie, yet 
 it had the effect of confirming the national 
 aversion to a church which assumed a 
 power of control and anathema over kings 
 and nations. 
 
 Before the czar left France, he expressed 
 a desire to have an interview with the cele- 
 brated Madame de Maintenon, the widow 
 of Louis XIV., then in the decline of her 
 chequered life. The similarity that existed 
 between the marriage of Louis and his own, 
 excited his curiosity. Yet there was almost 
 as much difference between the two ladies 
 as between their respective husbands, who 
 were the most unlike of men. Catherine 
 was altogether uneducated ; while the mind 
 of Madame de Maintenon had been culti- 
 vated up to that exotic point where luxu- 
 riance sinks into weakness. The first was 
 a child of nature; the second lived the 
 artificial life of an over-refined court. The 
 first was in some respects a heroine ; the 
 last merely a fascinating woman. Peter had 
 not taken Catherine with him to France, 
 because, with a delicacy of feeling scarcely 
 to be expected in him, he feared that the 
 rigid ceremony of the French court might 
 embarrass her, and that its frequenters 
 might not suflBciently estimate the merits of 
 a woman who, from the banks of the Pruth 
 to the shores of Finland, had, at her hus- 
 band's side, faced death both by sea and 
 land. 
 
 The czar discerned in the luxurious ex- 
 travagance of the French court, a sign of 
 the unhealthy condition of a nation which 
 was then silently floating towards the ter- 
 rible convulsion in which an infuriated 
 people trampled king, government, church, 
 religion— everything beneath their feet. 
 Peter felt so strongly on the subject, that 
 he observed, he was sorry for France and 
 for its infant king, and believed that the 
 
 175 
 
 "f 
 
 1 
 
I i 
 
 PEl'EB AT BERLIN.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1717. 
 
 1 1 
 
 latter was on the point of losing his king- 
 dom through luxuries and superfluities. 
 While the czar condemned the extrava- 
 gance, and despised the high-breeding, of 
 the French courtiers, yet many amongst 
 them formed a generous estimate of his 
 character. The following description of 
 Peter, by an author attached to the court, 
 we will quote, on account of the value of 
 contemporary criticism respecting so re- 
 markable a man : — " His deportment is full 
 of dignity and confidence, as becomes an 
 absolute master. He has large and bright 
 eyes, with a penetrating, and occasionally 
 stern glance. His motions, which are ab- 
 rupt and hasty, betray the violence of his 
 passions, and the impetuosity of his dis- 
 position. His orders succeed e«ch other 
 rapidly and imperiously. He dismisses 
 with a word, with a sign, without allowing 
 himself to be thwarted by time, place, or 
 circumstance, now and then forgetting even 
 the rules of decorum ; yet with the regent 
 and the young king he maintains his state, 
 and regulates all his movements according 
 to the points of a strict and proud eti- 
 quette. For the rest, the court discovered 
 in him more great qualities than bad ones ; 
 it considered his faults to be merely trivial 
 and superficial. It remarked, that he was 
 usually sober, and that he gave way only 
 now and then to excessive intemperance ; 
 that, regular in his habits of living, he 
 always went to bed at nine o'clock, rose at 
 four, and was never for a moment unem- 
 ployed ; and, accordingly, that he was well- 
 informed, and seemed to have a better 
 knowledge of naval affairs and fortification, 
 than any man in France." 
 
 On leaving that country, the czar induced 
 many French artists and other skilful per- 
 sons to follow him, with the object of pro- 
 moting the exercise of their professions in 
 Russia. No government seemed actuated 
 by any ungenerous feelings towards him in 
 this matter. " All nations,'' observes Vol- 
 taire, "where he travelled, prided themselves 
 in seconding his design of transporting the 
 arts into a new country, and in concurring 
 to this kind of creation." 
 
 The czar rejoined Catherine at Amster- 
 dam, and they proceeded together to Berlin, 
 to pay a visit to Frederic William,* the 
 king of Prussia, who, to use the expressive 
 language of Mr. Macau lay, " must be al- 
 lowed to have possessed some talents for 
 administration, but whose character was 
 • The father of Frederic the Great. 
 176 
 
 disfigured by odious vices, and whose eccen- 
 tricities were such as had never before been 
 seen out of a madhouse." Though Frederic 
 was so mean that he half-starved his chil- 
 dren, and frequently had food in a state 
 unfit to be eaten placed upon the royal 
 table, yet he received his illustrious visitors 
 with as much respect as his rude nature 
 could be capable of. /he czar, on arriving 
 at Berlin, drove to a private lodging, where 
 he received a message that the king would 
 wait upon him the next day, at noon. Be- 
 fore the appointed time, a cortege of royal 
 carriages came to bring the czar to the 
 palace; but the officers who accompanied 
 them were told that he was already with 
 the king. He had gone out privately by 
 another door, with a view of avoiding that 
 ceremony which he regarded as obstructive 
 of freedom, and a waste of time. A king 
 who dressed like a common soldier, and sat 
 in an old-fashioned wooden arm-chair, pos- 
 sessed a recommendation to the good-will of 
 the eccentric czar. Peter, Catherine, and 
 Frederic William were a strange trio. " Had 
 Charles XII. been with them," says Voltaire, 
 " four crowned heads would have been seen 
 together, with less fastidiousness about 
 them than a German bishop or a Roman 
 cardinal." Though the boisterous king was 
 sufficiently well pleased with his guests, yet 
 the manners of Peter and Catherine were 
 by no means refined enough for the then 
 petty court of Berlin, which, in this respect, 
 was more critical than that of Paris. The 
 queen thought Peter rough, and Catherine 
 homely; and, therefore, the ladies of the 
 court thought so too. One of the latter, 
 the Margravine de Bareith, gave an account 
 in her memoirs of the reception of the illus- 
 trious strangers at court. From this descrip- 
 tion it may be seen how difficult it is for 
 little minds to estimate great ones. The 
 margravine remarked, that when Peter ap- 
 proached to salute the queen, that her 
 majesty looked as if she would rather be 
 excused. On another occasion he took her 
 hand so heartily, that the royal prude de- 
 sired him to be more respectful. Peter 
 laughed, and said that she was more delicate 
 than his Catherine. But the supercilious 
 description of the latter by the margravine, 
 while it is a bit of odd and, probably, truth- 
 ful portrait-painting, exhibits the hypercriti- 
 cal spirit in which the czarina was observed. 
 ** She is," says the narrator, " short and 
 lusty, remarkably coarse, and without grace 
 or animation. One need only see her to be 
 
 AD. 1717.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [peter returns to Russia. " 
 
 satisfied of her low birth. At the first blush 
 one would take her for a German actress. 
 Her clothes looked as if bought at a doll- 
 shop; everything was so old-fashioned and 
 so bedecked with silver and tinsel. She 
 Avas decorated with a dozen orders, portraits 
 of saints and relics ; which occasioned such 
 a clatter, that when she walked, one would 
 suppose an ass with bells was approaching." 
 Peter, during his tour, purchased great 
 quantities of pictures, chiefly of the Dutch 
 and Flemish school ; cabinets of birds and 
 insects, a large collection of books, and 
 
 whatever appeared likely to ornament the 
 new city, to which he had given his name. 
 Aniongst these valuables was a great hollow 
 globe, eleven feet in diameter, whose inside 
 represented the celestial, and the outside 
 the terrestrial, sphere. This was presented 
 to him by the king of Denmark. With 
 these treasures of art and literature he sub- 
 sequently laid the foundation of the Imperial 
 Academy of Sciences, the idea of which he 
 took from that of Paris, of which he had 
 been elected a member during a visit to 
 that capital. 
 
 »»s 
 
 L 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 rROTECTION OF THE EMPEROR- THE cLrpro.^^^^^^ "" °°^^ ™ ^'^NNA, AND CLAIUS THE 
 
 DOES SO, AND IS ARRESTETlMpCo>TD%'/D™fl.:v%?:cro'rHr "=^" 
 
 DEMNATION AND DEATH. rny^i^i^x ri.ALhD ON HIS TRIAL FOR TREASON; HIS CON- 
 
 The czar arrived at St. Petersburg, from his 
 foreign tour, on the 21st of October, 1717, 
 and his attention was soon engaged by an 
 incident of a peculiar character. 
 
 His son, the czarevitch Alexis, now nine- 
 and-twenty years of age, had long been a 
 source of anxiety to Peter. Alexis, even 
 from his youth, had shown an aversion to 
 the reforms of his father, and selected his 
 friends and advisers from among the disaf- 
 fected nobles and priests, who were opposed 
 to all change. These bigoted persons con- 
 firmed m the mind of the czarevitch the 
 lessons of his ignorant and superstitious 
 mother, who had taught him that the 
 changes the czar effected in the government 
 and manners of the people, were acts off"en- 
 sive to God. The obstinate mental blind- 
 ness of Eudoxia induced Peter to repudiate 
 her ; an act which he followed by taking a 
 mistress to his bed. The czarina's desire 
 for revenge was greater than the piety of 
 which she made so much parade, and she 
 chose a lover to supply the place of a dis- 
 gusted husband. The czar discovered her 
 misconduct, and, with his customary seve- 
 nty, caused her paramour to be im'paled; 
 after which he solemnly divorced his dis- 
 honoured wife, and condemned her to pass 
 her life in the cloisters. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 2a 
 
 Peter's active life prevented him from 
 paying much personal attention to his son ; 
 but he caused able foreign preceptors to be 
 placed about him. So intense were the 
 prejudices which had been instilled into the 
 mind of the young prince, that he hated 
 these persons merely because they were 
 foreigners. Yet, though weak-minded, he 
 was not without capacity, and seems to have 
 profited to some extent by the tuition he 
 received from them. He wrote and spoke 
 German readily, and had made some pro- 
 gress m mathematics. Though removed 
 from the influence of his mother, it yet 
 hung about him, and exerted a power over 
 him ; and the ecclesiastical books which the 
 priests put in his hands were his ruin. He 
 placed an implicit confidence in these works, 
 the composition of narrow-minded men; 
 and fancied that he read in their pages so 
 many execrations of the labours in which 
 his father was engaged. Indeed, priests 
 were the frequent companions of Alexis, 
 and they acquired an absolute ascendancy 
 over him. They persuaded him that the 
 whole nation abhorred his father's innova- 
 tions ; that from the fits to which the czar 
 was subject, it might be concluded that he 
 would not live long ; and that the way to 
 conciliate the aff'ections of the people was 
 
 177 
 
 5,. '•# 1 
 
REtROSrECT.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1707—1717. 
 
 ( 
 
 .! 
 
 ii 
 
 
 ; I 
 
 to show an aversion to novelties. Alexis 
 listened with satisfaction to these insidious 
 suggestions; and by so doing, became a 
 passive conspirator against his father. 
 
 The marriage of the czar with Catherine 
 in 1707, and the fertility of that marriage, 
 still further irritated the mind of the prince, 
 and he gave himself up to habits of drunkeh- 
 uess and dissipation. His marria«;e, in 1711 , 
 with the Princess of Wolfenbuttle, failed to 
 exercise any reforming influence. The un- 
 fortunate lady, ill-treated by her husband, 
 destitute of all comfort, and even of those 
 things which to the high-born are regarded 
 as necessaries of existence, lingered in 
 suffering until the November of 1715. She 
 left a son, who afterwards ascended the 
 throne which his father forfeited by his 
 offences. 
 
 The czar appears to have been touched 
 by the death of his daughter-in-law ; and 
 he beheld with great grief the unaltered 
 mind and temper of his son. What course 
 would he pursue when, in the natural suc- 
 cession of events, he ascended the throne? 
 Peter resolved that he would not permit a 
 graceless boy to overthrow the labours of 
 his life. After the death of the princess, 
 the czar addressed a letter to Alexis, in 
 which, after reviewing the charges brought 
 against him, and censuring the ruinous 
 course he was following, thus concluded : — 
 " I will still wait a while to see if you will 
 amend. If not, know that I will deprive 
 you of the succession as a useless limb is 
 cut off. Do not imagine I am only fright- 
 ening you, nor would I have you to rely on 
 the title of being my eldest son ; for since I 
 do not spare my own life for the good of my 
 country and the prosperity of my people, 
 why should I spare yours ? I would prefer 
 to transmit the crown to an entire stranger 
 who merited it, than to my own son who 
 had proved himself unworthy of the trust." 
 This menacing letter, in which the father 
 yet mingled with the statesman and the 
 judge, elicited from Alexis only a brief 
 reply, and that of so strange and submis- 
 sive a kind, as to create an instant doubt of 
 the sincerity of the writer. " God is my 
 witness,^' said the prince; "and I swear 
 upon my soul, that I will never claim the 
 succession. I commit my children* into 
 your hands; and for myself, I ask for 
 nothing more than a subsistence during 
 my life." 
 
 • Alexis had but one son by the Princess of Wol- 
 fenbuttle J but he had also illegitimate children. 
 
 178 
 
 The czar doubted the good faith of his 
 son, and suspected dissimulation ; he was 
 also deeply pained that he could not gain 
 the confidence and co-operation of his 
 natural successor. He wrote again to Alexis 
 a letter, in which pathos, entreaty, and 
 threats were combined. "I observe," he 
 said, " that all you speak of in your letter 
 is the succession, as if I stood in need of 
 your consent. I represented to you the 
 grief your behaviour has given me for so 
 many years, and you do not speak of it. 
 The exhortations of a father make no im- 
 pression on you. I have brought myself to 
 write to you once more ; but for the last 
 time. If you despise my counsels while 
 I am living, what regard will you pay to 
 them after my death ? Though you may at 
 present intend to keep your promises, yet 
 those bushy beards {i.e., priests) will be 
 able to wind you as they please, and induce 
 you to break your word. It is you on 
 whom these people rely. You have no 
 gratitude to him who gave you life. Since 
 you have been of proper age, did you 
 ever assist him in his labours ? Do you not 
 blame, do you not detest everything I do 
 for the good of my people ? I have all the 
 reason in the world to believe, that if you 
 survive me, you will destroy all that I have 
 done. Amend; make yourself worthy of 
 the succession, or become a monk. Let me 
 have your answer, either in writing or per- 
 sonally, or I will deal with you as with a 
 malefactor." 
 
 Alexis might easily have conciliated his 
 father by a promise, made in evident sin- 
 cerity, that he would change his conduct 
 and dismiss his evil advisers. This he was 
 unwilling to do ; and his obstinacy must have 
 confirmed the suspicions of the czar, that 
 his son only waited for his death in order to 
 commence the destruction of the cherished 
 labours of his life. Alexis pretended illness, 
 and wrote a short, cold letter to his father, 
 merely stating that he intended to embrace 
 the monkish life, and desiring the consent 
 of the czar to that effect. Such a decision 
 did not appear natural in a young man , 
 and must have been regarded by the acute 
 Peter as an evasion. Still the disquieted 
 father visited his son prior to setting out on 
 his travels to Germany and France; and 
 gave him six months to reflect upon his 
 future conduct, and to abandon his monastic 
 intentions, if he desired to fit himself to be- 
 come an emperor. Yet the very day that 
 the czar left the capital, Alexis rose from 
 
 A.D. 1717.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 the bed to which he pretended that illness 
 had confined him, and, in a riotous banquet, 
 celebrated with his evil advisers the depar- 
 ture of his father ! 
 
 During the absence of the czar, Alexis 
 never wrote a line to him— a circumstance 
 which caused him both disappointment and 
 irritation. At Copenhagen Peter received 
 information that his unworthy son only 
 admitted into his presence such evil-minded 
 persons as humoured his prejudices and 
 fostered his discontent. The outraged 
 father forthwith wrote to his ungrateful 
 son, that he must at once choose the cloister 
 or the throne; but that if he valued the 
 latter, to meet him at Copenhagen. The 
 czarevitch wrote that he would come ; but 
 his priestly counsellors suggested to him 
 that It might be dangerous to put himself 
 into the hands of a provoked and vindictive 
 father. Acting upon this sinister advice lie 
 resolved on a step of the most suspicious 
 and fatal kind. Drawing a considerable 
 sum of money from Prince Mentschikoff 
 under the pretext of paying the expenses of 
 Ills journey to his father, he departed ; but 
 on reaching the borders of Livonia, took 
 the road to Vienna, and threw himself on 
 the protection of the emperor, Charles VI 
 at whose court he trusted to remain until 
 the death of the czar. 
 
 The enaperor was displeased at a step 
 which if he countenanced, would place him 
 ma false position with respect to a powerful 
 neighbour. He would not keep Alexis at 
 ins court; and, as he could not deny him 
 the shelter he sought, sent him to a fortress 
 m the Tyrol, from which AlexisVent, under 
 a feigned name, to the castle of St. Elmo at 
 Naples. The czar traced the fugitive, and 
 sent M. Tolstoi, a privy councillor, and 
 Komanzoff, a captain of the guards, to him 
 with a letter. This communication, dated 
 from Spa, July 10th, 1717, ran as fol- 
 lows :— " I now write to you, and for the 
 last time, to let you know that you had best 
 comply with my will, which Tolstoi and 
 Komanzoff will make known to you If 
 you obey me, I assure you, and I promise 
 before God, that I will not punish you ; so 
 far from it, that if you return, I will love 
 you better than ever. But if you do not 
 by virtue of the power I have received from 
 trod, as your father, I pronounce against 
 you my eternal curse; and as your sove- 
 reign I assure you, I shall find ways to 
 punish you ; in which I hope, as my cause 
 w just, God will take it in hand, and assist 
 
 [misconduct of ALEXIS. 
 
 me m revenging it. Remember further, 
 that 1 never used compulsion with you 
 Was I under any obligation to leave you to 
 your own option? Had I been for forcin- 
 you, was not the power in my hand ^ It 
 was but to speak the word, and I should 
 have been obeyed." Alexis was induced to 
 return, in compliance with the wishes of his 
 tather--a circumstance to which it seems he 
 was led by the persuasions of his mistress, 
 Aphrosma, who had been bribed by Tolstoi 
 to exert her influence over him to that 
 eiiect. 
 
 Alexis reached Moscow on the 13th of 
 February, 1718, and the very day of his 
 arrival he went and paid his respects to his 
 father and had a long private interview 
 with him. The citizens believed that a 
 reconciliation had taken place between the 
 father and the son, and that everything was 
 forgotten. But the next morning they 
 were startled by the deep notes of the great 
 bell of Moscow, which tolled solemnly; and 
 by seeing the regiments of guards under 
 arms. The members of the senate, and the 
 nobles of the highest rank, were summoned 
 to meet the czar at the castle ; and the 
 bishops, archimandrites, and professors of 
 divinity, met in the cathedral. When these 
 solemn preliminaries were over, Alexis was 
 brought before his father, deprived of his 
 sword, and a prisoner! In this circnm- 
 stance the czar appears to have been guilty 
 of a breach of faith, as he had promised to 
 pardon his son if the latter would but 
 return and submit himself. Alexis had 
 returned, and instead of procuring the 
 pardon and tenderness which had been 
 promised, found himself under arrest. 
 This event has created a strong feeling 
 against the czar in the minds of many 
 historic writers, who have done their 
 utmost to blacken his character, as though 
 he was the offender in this painful case. 
 Up to this point he had exhibited more for- 
 bearance than could have been expected 
 from a man of his impulsive and violent 
 nature, and he deserves rather the compas- 
 sion, than the censure of the world. It was 
 no small crime to set at nought a father's 
 love — to practise year after year upon his 
 heart— to exhibit the blackest ingratitude— 
 and to torture such a monarch with the 
 fear that all his labours for the advancement 
 of a great empire would be trampled into 
 the dust by a bigoted and triumphant sue- 
 cessor, who would openly rejoice over a 
 parent's grave amid the acclamations of 
 
 179 
 
 J 
 t 
 
 I • f 
 
PROCEEDINGS AGAINST ALEXIS.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1718. 
 
 
 !>• 
 
 servile and ignorant priests and low disso- 
 lute fellows, who would delight in rending 
 to pieces that growing civilisation which 
 their base natures could not comprehend. 
 Certainly, in causing the arrest of his son, 
 the tortured father broke his word; but it 
 is difficult to censure this inconsistency in 
 the conduct of a distracted monarch. 
 
 Alexis, on being brought as a prisoner 
 into the presence of his father, threw him- 
 self at his feet, and with a flood of tears 
 presented to him a paper, in which he ac- 
 knowledged his off'ences, declared himself 
 unworthy of the succession, and only soli- 
 cited his life. The czar raised the ingrate, 
 and taking him into an adjoining cabinet, 
 questioned him as to his advisers, or rather 
 his accomplices, in what he regarded as 
 an incomplete and baffled conspiracy, de- 
 claring that if he concealed anything re- 
 lating to his escape, his head should answer 
 for it. 
 
 Peter then returned with his son into the 
 council-chamber, where the czar read a public 
 declaration, in which he reproached the 
 prince with his indolence and his dissolute 
 habits ; for his intimacy with those who ad- 
 vocated ancient abuses; for his bad conduct 
 to his wife, and his violation of conjugal 
 faith, by forming a connection during her 
 lifetime with a woman of low birth ; and for 
 going to Vienna, and placing himself under 
 the protection of the emperor, by which he 
 had slandered his father, declaring that his 
 life was not safe in Russia unless he re- 
 nounced the succession, and even going so 
 far as to desire the emperor openly to defend 
 him by force of arms. 
 
 After these charges the czar proceeded to 
 pass the following sentence of deposition 
 against the offender : — " Such was the 
 manner in which our son returned ; and 
 though his flight and his calumnies de- 
 served death, those crimes our fatherly 
 affection forgives. But his notorious un- 
 worthiness and immorality will not allow 
 us, in conscience, to leave him the succes- 
 sion to the empire ; it being too manifest that 
 his conduct would subvert the glory of the 
 nation, and occasion the loss of all the 
 provinces recovered by our arms. Our 
 subjects would be extremely to be pitied; 
 since, leaving them under such a successor, 
 would be plunging them into a condition 
 much worse than any that they have ever 
 experienced. Accordingly, by our paternal 
 power, in virtue of which, according to the 
 laws of our empire, every private subject of 
 180 
 
 ours can at pleasure disinherit a son, and 
 pursuant to our prerogative as sovereign, 
 and in regard to the welfare of our do- 
 minions, we for ever deprive our said son, 
 Alexis, of succeeding after us to the throne 
 of Russia, on account of his crimes and 
 unwortliiness ; even though not a single 
 person of our family should exist at the 
 time of our decease. And we constitute, 
 appoint, and declare, in the want of a m or 
 aged successor, our second son, Peter,* 
 young as he is, successor to the said throne 
 after us. Accursed be our son Alexis, if 
 ever, at any time, he shall claim the said 
 succession, or go about to procure it. We 
 also require our faithful subjects that, pur- 
 suant to this appointment and our will, 
 they acknowledge and consider our said 
 son Peter as our lawful successor, and that 
 they confirm the same by oath at the altar 
 on the holy gospels, and kissing the cross. 
 And all those who shall, at any time what- 
 ever, oppose this our will, and dare to con- 
 sider our son Alexis as successor, or assist 
 him to that end, we declare traitors to us 
 and to their country ; and we have ordered 
 these presents to be everywhere published, 
 that no person may plead ignorance." 
 
 After this document had been read, the 
 prince signed an act of renunciation, in 
 which he acknowledged his exclusion to be 
 just, on account of his unworthiness, and 
 took an oath to submit himself in everv 
 particular to his father's will. The czar 
 then proceeded to the cathedral, where 
 these documents were read to the assembled 
 ecclesiastics, who testified their approbation 
 by affixing their signatures to copies of 
 them. An oath recognising the renuncia- 
 tion and order of succession, was afterwards 
 administered to the army and navy, and to 
 every subject of the czar. 
 
 It is natural to suppose that the dis- 
 graced and disinherited Alexis was now set 
 at liberty ; but such was not the case. The 
 czar had solemnly called God to witness, 
 that if his son would return to Moscow, he 
 would not only pardon him, but even love 
 him better than ever. The extorted renun- 
 ciation might be justified on the ground of 
 political expediency ; but by his submission 
 in this respect, Alexis had purchased his 
 pardon and his freedom. These were his 
 right, as he had not committed any new 
 offence to justify the revocation of his 
 father's promise of mercy. Yet, instead of 
 
 • Son of the empress Catherine; but who died 
 15th April, 1719. 
 
 A.D. 1718.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [examixatiox of alexis. 
 
 obtaining his freedom, he was led away into 
 close confinement, where no one but the 
 agents of the czar were permitted to ap- 
 proach him. In this condition the dejected 
 Alexis underwent a second examination, 
 first by his father, and secondly by com- 
 missioners. Peter felt that he had no ordi- 
 nary difficulty to deal with; and he feared 
 that Alexis, if set at liberty, might again 
 become the tool of the factious party which 
 had already poisoned his mind against the 
 improvements of his father. Thus, in the 
 event of the czar's death, the prince would 
 probably be induced to revoke his renun- 
 ciation of the crown, and a servile war 
 might ensue, in which the recent reforms 
 might be overthrown. Again Peter felt 
 the necessity of crushing the disaffection of 
 which the weak prince was the instrument 
 and the centre, by ascertaining the names 
 of his ill-advisers, and punishing them as 
 conspirators, if their offence could be 
 brought under such a term. The old party 
 yet possessed a power in the state, and the 
 czar resolved to administer such a correc- 
 tion as should strike its adherents with 
 a salutary terror. 
 
 To obtain the necessary information for 
 this proceeding, the czar had placed his 
 son m confinement, and subjected him to a 
 constant inquisition, under a threat that he 
 should be punished with death if he con- 
 cealed or misstated any facts that were 
 known to him. The mind of the miserable 
 prince was still further weakened by the 
 influence of terror, and he seems to have 
 attempted to save his life by making such 
 confessions as he thought were desired. 
 
 One subject on which the prince* was 
 questioned, was concerning a letter written 
 from St. Petersburg, after the flight of the 
 pnnce Alexis, by M. Beyer, the emperor's 
 resident there. The substance of it was, 
 that a mutiny was in progress in the Rus' 
 sian army in Mecklenburg, and that the 
 officers talked of sending Catherine and her 
 infant son to the prison where the re- 
 pudiated czarina was confined, and of 
 placing Alexis upon his father's throne. 
 There had been a sedition in the Russian 
 troops alluded to, and though speedily sup- 
 pressed, it gave an air of probability to the 
 design spoken of in the letter. Yet, if this 
 design existed, the prince was not impli- 
 cated in it, nor was the letter addressed to 
 nim ; he had only received a copy of it, sent 
 irom Vienna. Still the czar put this ques- 
 tion to the prince—" When you saw, bv 
 
 Beyer's letter, that there was a revolt in 
 the Mecklenburg army, you was glad of it. 
 I apprehend you had some view, and tha*- 
 you would have declared for the rebels eveu 
 in my lifetime?" This was interrogating 
 the prince as to his secret sentiments, 
 which, if they may be owned to a father 
 who, by his counsels, would rectify them, 
 may be concealed from a judge, who is to 
 determine only from attested facts. The 
 hidden sentiments of the heart are not 
 within the cognizance of a court of judica- 
 ture. Alexis might have concealed or dis- 
 owned his thoughts; but, with an inex- 
 plicable infatuation, he answered in writing, 
 " Had the rebels invited me in your life- 
 time, I should probably have joined them, 
 had they been strong enough." 
 
 By this strange and most unnecessary 
 confession, elicited by a mode adverse to 
 the judicial proceedings of the most en- 
 lightened countries of Europe, Alexis fur- 
 nished the ground of a charge of treason 
 against him. But other evidence existed, 
 of a kind calculated to criminate the now 
 bewildered prince. The rough draught of 
 a letter, written by him from Vienna to the 
 senators and archbishops of Russia, was dis- 
 covered amongst his papers. It contained 
 this passage— "The continual injuries which 
 I have undeservedly suffered, have obliged 
 me to quit my country. It was very nar- 
 rowly I escaped being shut up in a convent; 
 they who have confined my mother were 
 about using me in the same manner. I am 
 under the protection of a great prince, until 
 it please God that I may return to my 
 country. It is my desire you will not for- 
 sake me at present." The concluding 
 words, at present, which might be supposed 
 to cover some treasonable project, were 
 drawn through with a pen— afterwards re- 
 stored—then again crossed out ; which suffi- 
 ciently showed the writer to be in a state 
 of perturbation; giving himself up to his 
 resentment one minute, and repenting of 
 it the next. Moreover, this letter never 
 reached its destination, as it was inter- 
 cepted by the court of Vienna, which had 
 no intention of embroiling itself in a dis- 
 pute with that of Russia. 
 
 Several witnesses were brought forward 
 whose depositions proved the sullen oppo- 
 sition and the hostile mind which Alexis 
 entertained towards his father; but thev 
 proved nothing of a more criminal nature. 
 A man named Afanassief maintained that, 
 on one occasion, he heard the prince de- 
 
 181 
 
 "i 
 
'• ,..r. .":uug;;:V--»'~ ' ---- ' - • 
 
 SEVERITY OF THE CZAR.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1718. 
 
 A.D. 1718.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [trial of ALEXIS. 
 
 li ' 
 
 I 
 
 i"l 
 
 a; I 
 
 I 
 
 clare — " I will say something to the bishops, 
 and they will repeat it to the priests, and 
 the priests will tell it to their parishioners, 
 and I shall be placed upon the throne, even 
 though it were against my will." His own 
 mistress, Aphrosina, gave evidence of a 
 similar kind. But, observes Voltaire, " none 
 of the accusations were very precise. In- 
 stead of a digested plan, a connected in- 
 trigue, a conspiracy, or an association, and 
 still less any preparatives, here was only a 
 discontented, unruly son, complaining of his 
 father, flying from his presence, and even 
 wishing for his death. But this son was 
 heir to the greatest monarchy of our hemis- 
 phere ; and, in liis situation, no fault was 
 small." 
 
 The mother of Alexis, and his sister, the 
 Princess Mary, were implicated in these 
 proceedings. The prince was charged with 
 consulting them respecting his flight ; and 
 the Bishop of Rostof, who was in the con- 
 fidence of all three, on being arrested, de- 
 posed that the imprisoned princesses had 
 expressed some hopes of a change which 
 would set them at liberty ; and that it was 
 by their advice that the prince fled into 
 Germany, instead of joining his father at 
 Copenhagen. It must be admitted, that the 
 examination was conducted in an inquisi- 
 torial and merciless manner. Everything 
 was collected that could in any way tell 
 against the prince, and assist in composing 
 a charge of constructive treason against 
 him. Thus, a priest, named Jacques, was 
 seized and put to the torture, with the ob- 
 ject of wringing from him any secrets which 
 the prince might have poured into his ear 
 during the solemn confidence of the con- 
 fessional. Under these circumstances, the 
 priest acknowledged that Alexis had accused 
 himself before God of having wished his 
 father's death, to which he (the confessor) 
 liad responded, " God will forgive you; it is 
 no more than what we all wish." The 
 spectacle of a confessor accusing his peni- 
 tent was a strange one. All proofs derived 
 from auricular confessions are, by the canons 
 of the church, not to be received in a court 
 of justice. Such statements are regarded as 
 secrets between God and the penitent ; this 
 rule and belief holds equally in the Greek 
 and Roman churches. But Peter con- 
 sidered that the welfare of the empire was 
 concerned, and he conducted his inquiries 
 rather in the temper of a wronged and un- 
 forgiving parent, than with the dignified 
 calmness and rigid impartiality of a judge. 
 182 
 
 The czar appears to have thought that 
 sufficient was proved against the prince, not 
 only to justify the reversal of the promise of 
 pardon extended to him, but even to make 
 it expedient to place him on his trial. But 
 first, Peter wreaked his vengeance on 
 the misleaders of his wretched son. Two 
 bishops, two nobles, and fifty priests were 
 put to death, and their heads exhibited in a 
 ghastly circle around the scaff'old. During 
 this period, the public excitement was 
 greatly increased by Moscow being declared 
 in a state of siege, and no citizen permitted 
 to leave it under pain of death. 
 
 When Peter had made a terrible example 
 of the bigots whose influence had corrupted 
 and ruined his son, he took the captive 
 prince to St. Petersburg, where, four months 
 afterwards, he was subjected to fresh ex- 
 aminations. At Moscow he had been ques- 
 tioned as to what communications had passed 
 between him and the emperor at Vienna. 
 That potentate had not admitted the prince 
 to his presence ; but the latter had applied 
 to Count Schonbron, a lord of the bed- 
 chamber, who said, " The emperor will not 
 forsake you ; and that, at the proper season, 
 after your father's death, he will assist you 
 with an armed force to ascend the throne." 
 " My answer was," added the prince, " that 
 is not what I ask. All I desire is, that the 
 emperor will be pleased to grant me his 
 protection." On the resumption of the in- 
 terrogations at St. Petersburg, this point 
 was revived, and a rigid inquiry instituted 
 into all particulars concerning it. Whether 
 the prince had forgotten his former state- 
 ment, or whether, in his disordered state of 
 mind, he had gradually accustomed himself 
 to believe in the truth of assertions which 
 were constantly put before him in the shape 
 of affirmative queries, or whether the answer 
 was merely extorted from his fears, cannot 
 positively be determined. Certain it is, that 
 he now made a statement, in writing, which 
 greatly diff'ered from his first simple and 
 highly probable explanation. It ran thus : — 
 " Intending in nothing to imitate my father, 
 I sought to obtain the succession by any 
 means whatever. I was for having it by 
 foreign assistance ; and if I had got my ends, 
 and the emperor had done what he promised 
 me, to procure the crown of Russia, even by 
 open force, I would have spared nothing to 
 have secured mvself in the succession. For 
 instance, had the emperor asked me, in 
 return, some of my country's troops for 
 service against any of his enemies, or large 
 
 sums of money, I would have willingly done 
 everything he wished, even to the giving 
 great presents to his ministers and generals. 
 I would, at ray own expense, have main- 
 tained the auxiliary troops with which he 
 would have supplied me, to put me in pos- 
 session of the crown of Russia; and, in 
 short, I would have refrained from nothing 
 to have accomplished my object." 
 
 This deposition has every appearance of 
 having been extorted from the prince by 
 threats, or drawn from him by hopes of 
 pardon. > It has also an air of falsehood ; 
 for it directly contradicts the former state- 
 ment on the same subject, made by the 
 prince at Moscow. This discrepancy seems 
 to have been fatal to the cause of the dis- 
 tracted Alexis. The czar had commanded 
 him to make a full confession of the names 
 of all the accomplices of his elopement; 
 and, from this statement, it was certain the 
 prince had been guilty of prevarication, if 
 not of concealment. It would, indeed, 
 have been no more than honourable to sup- 
 press the names of those persons who were 
 in his confidence ; for to disclose them, was 
 but to send these unhappy men to the 
 scaff'old; yet it was none the less a disobe- 
 dience to the commands of the czar, and a 
 crime in the sight of that inflexible parent. 
 Peter resolved to punish his son for these 
 suppressions; to bring him before a solemn 
 tribunal, composed of the great officers of 
 state, the judges, and the bishops ; to charge 
 him with high treason, and to leave the de- 
 cision of the case in their hands. 
 
 It is not easy to sanction this severe and 
 painful resolve. The conduct of the czar 
 has found many to condemn, and but few 
 to apologise for it. Though we must disap- 
 prove of Peter's proceedings, we cannot join 
 in the vehemence of invective that has been 
 
 • Bell, in his critical and reflective work on Russia, 
 has the following remarks on these opinions of the 
 great French writer :— « It would hardly lead to any 
 profitable conclusion to discuss the subtle doctrine 
 which a modern historian has laid down in reference 
 to this extraordinary trial. If the question really 
 lay between the life of one individual and the safety 
 of an empire, political expediency would pronounce 
 a sentence that would be irreconcilable with Chris- 
 tian equity This is the only ground upon which 
 the conduct of Peter will admit of justification— if, 
 indeed, there be any justification for making a state 
 necessity paramount to domestic obligations, and 
 those immutable principles of justice which regulate 
 the punishment by the measure of the offence. But 
 we must not venture to judge of the actions of this 
 monarch by a reference either to the laws of any 
 other nation, or to any abstract code of right and 
 wrong. He was the apostle of a mighty reformation. I 
 
 used against him. Voltaire has placed both 
 aspects of the case in what we regard as a 
 tolerably impartial light ; and we cannot do 
 better than quote his sentiments upon it. 
 He observes— '' In this last interrogation 
 Alexis says what he believes he should have 
 done in case of a contest for his inheritance; 
 an inheritance which he had not judicially 
 renounced before his journey to Vienna and 
 Naples. Now we see him deposing a 
 second time, not what he has done, and 
 what may be made obnoxious to the rigour 
 of the law, but what he fancies he might 
 one day have done ; which of course comes 
 not within the cognizance of any court ot 
 justice. We see him accusing himself twice 
 of secret thoughts which he might have had 
 hereafter. The whole world does not aflford 
 a single instance of a man tried and con- 
 demned for transitory ideas starting up in 
 his mind, and never communicated to any- 
 one living. There is not a court of justice 
 in Europe, where a man accusing himself of 
 a criminal thought, would be minded ; and 
 it is said that God himself does not punish 
 them, unless accompanied with a deter- 
 mination of the will. To these considera- 
 tions, however natural, it may be answered 
 that Alexis, by his concealing' several of the 
 accomplices of his elopement, had given his 
 father a right to punish him. His pardon 
 was annexed to a general confession; and 
 this he did not make till it was too late. 
 In fine, after such a procedure, it did not 
 seem possible, according to human nature, 
 that Alexis would ever pardon a brother for 
 whose sake he had been disinherited; and 
 it was said — ' Better a delinqnent be punished, 
 than a whole empire endangered.' The 
 rigour of justice also corresponded with 
 reasons of state.^^* 
 
 The tribunal summoned by the stern 
 
 He stood alone against the prejudices, the ancient 
 customs, and the superstitions of his subjects. Had 
 he observed a strict system of morals in legislation, 
 and in his heroic resistance to the popular will ; or, 
 rather, had he not constantly sacrificed minor con- 
 siderations of that nature in his efforts to accomplish 
 the great objects to which he dedicated his life, he 
 certainly never would have succeeded in reclaiming 
 Russia from the' state of barbarism in which he 
 found her, and linking her in spirit, in knowledge, 
 and by national treaties, to the states of Europe. 
 With reference, however, to the case of the unfortu- 
 nate Prince Alexis, the historian is spared the pain- 
 ful task of analysing the mere legal propriety of the 
 proceedings adopted by the czar ; for, by the law of 
 Russia, the sovereign, in common with all parents, 
 possessed the dangerous, but incontestable, right of 
 life or death of his son. Peter, therefore, did not 
 infringe the law of the country. He calmly availed 
 
 133 
 
TRIAL OF ALEXIS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1718. 
 
 A.D. 1718.] 
 
 
 1 
 
 t, 
 
 I i 
 
 
 
 father for the trial of his son for high 
 treason, met on the 24th of June, 1718. 
 The court presented a solemn spectacle. 
 The criminal, wasted, haggard, and utterly- 
 subdued from mental excitement and im- 
 prisonment, was so changed that even his 
 friends scarcely recognised in him the once 
 wild and profligate czarevitch. On the 
 other hand was the accuser, who, crushing 
 in his bosom the emotions of parental feel- 
 ing, stood there to arraign his son. The 
 robust frame of the czar stooped slightly 
 from the weight of yeai's and care ; but his 
 stem face and eagle eye were stamped with 
 the expression of judicial rigour. On the 
 faces of the solemn and in part venerable 
 auditory, sat looks of expectancy, pain, and 
 pity. 
 
 After the preliminary proceedings of the 
 court had been passed over, the czar com- 
 menced a narrative of the offences of his son ; 
 and having detailed them, he added that his 
 own joy in the success of his arms and 
 internal reforms, was overbalanced by the 
 deep sorrow he experienced in consequence 
 of the profligate conduct of the prince. He 
 then continued in the following strain : — 
 "Though by all laws, human and divine, 
 and especially by those of Russia, which 
 exclude all interposition of the civil power 
 between father and son, even among private 
 persons, we have a full and sufficient power 
 of sentencing our son according to his 
 crimes and our will, without consulting the 
 opinions of any persons whatsoever ; yet, 
 as men are not so clear-sighted in their 
 own affairs as in those of others, and as the 
 most skilful and experienced physicians 
 trust not to their own judgment concerning 
 themselves ; so, fearing lest I should bring 
 some sin on my conscience, I state my case 
 to you, and require a remedy. For if, igno- 
 rant of the nature of my distemper, I should 
 go about to cure it by my own ability, the 
 consequence may be eternal death; seeing 
 that I have sworn on the judgments of God, 
 and have in writing promised my son his 
 pardon, provided he tells me the truth ; and 
 afterwards confirmed that promise with my 
 mouth. Though he has broke his promise, 
 yet, that I may not in anything depart 
 from my obligations, I desire you to con- 
 
 himself of the fatal jurisdiction which was reposed 
 in his hands. Posterity will not accuse the monarch 
 of having strained any legal principle, or of having 
 prevented any legal right, to achieve his purpose ; 
 but it will unhesitatingly condemn the father for 
 having resorted to a prerogative which he was not 
 
 184 
 
 sider this affair with the greatest attention, 
 to see what he has deserved. Do not flatter 
 me, or fear that, should he deserve only a 
 slight punishment, and you deliver your 
 opinion accordingly, you will offend me ; 
 for I swear to you by the great God, and by 
 his judgments, that you have nothing at all 
 to apprehend. Let it not give you uneasi- 
 ness that you are to try your sovereign's 
 son; but do justice without any respect of 
 persons, and destroy not both your souls 
 and mine. Lastly, let not our conscience 
 have anything to reproach us with on the 
 terrible day of judgment, and let not our 
 country be hurt." 
 
 The czar having delivered this address to 
 the judges, transmitted another to the 
 clergy, which concluded with these observa- 
 tions : — " Though this case does not come 
 within the spiritual, but rather the civil, 
 jurisdiction, and we have this day brought 
 it before the secular court; yet, recollecting 
 that passage in the Word of God which re- 
 quires us to consult the heads and elders of 
 the church, that we may be informed in the 
 will of Heaven, and being anxious of re- 
 ceiving all possible instruction on so impor- 
 tant an occasion, we desire of you, the 
 bishops and the whole ecclesiastical power, 
 as propounders of the Word of God, not to 
 pronounce any judgment in this case, but 
 to examine it, and give us your opinions 
 according to the sacred oracles, from which 
 we may be best instructed as to the punish- 
 ment our son deserves ; which opinions you 
 will deliver to us in writing under your 
 hands, so that, being rightly informed 
 therein, we may not lay any burden upon 
 our conscience. We therefore repose im- 
 plicit confidence in you, that, as guardians 
 of the divine laws, as faithful pastors of the 
 Christian flock, and as promoters of your 
 country's good, you will act with dignity 
 suited to your station ; and we conjure you, 
 by that dignity and the holiness of the 
 functions you discharge, to proceed without 
 fear or dissimulation.'' 
 
 The clergy delivered their response to 
 this solemn appeal on the 1st of July. 
 After a preamble, stating that the case did 
 not come within the scope of ecclesiastical 
 jurisdiction, followed several texts from 
 
 enforced to employ, and which it would have well 
 become him to have relinquished. He was superior 
 to his age, but of a severe temper, and not always 
 magnanimous in the exercise of those powers with 
 which he was invested by nature and by his posi- 
 tion." 
 
 '•*l 
 
 Scripture, having reference both to the exe- 
 cution of justice and the beauty of mercy. 
 They, however, drew particular attention to 
 the passage in Leviticus, in which it is said, 
 that whoever curseth his father or mother 
 shall be put to death; and to a verse in 
 the gospel of St. Matthew, which gives the 
 sanction of Christianity to this rigid Judaical 
 law. After these and similar citations, the 
 document concluded witli these remarkable 
 words:— "If his majesty is inclined to 
 punish the cTelinquent according to his 
 actions and the measure of his guilt, he has 
 before him examples from the Old Testa- 
 ment. If he be inclined to show mercy, he 
 has the pattern of Christ himself, kindly 
 receiving the penitent prodigal ; dismissing 
 the woman taken in adultery, who, by the 
 law, was to be stoned; and delighting in 
 mercy more than in sacrifice. He has like- 
 Wise the example of David, who was solici- 
 tous for the safety of his son Absalom, 
 although he had rebelled against him ; who 
 recommended him to the commanders of 
 his army when they went forth to give him 
 battle, saying, 'Spare my son Absalom!' 
 The father was for showing mercy; but 
 divine justice did not spare the offender. 
 The czar's heart is in the hands of God; let 
 him choose that to which God shall incline 
 him." 
 
 The merciful tendency of this answer has 
 drawn down considerable admiration upon 
 the body from whom it emanated. Even 
 Voltaire has a sentence of generous com- 
 mendation upon them in consequence. 
 Our judgment, however, rather coincides 
 with that of another writer, who arrives at 
 a very different conclusion with regard to 
 the merit to be attributed to the clergy in 
 this matter. "If/' says he, "they had i' 
 been sincerely disposed to impress upon the ' 
 mind of the czar a merciful construction of! 
 the case, and if they had been sufficiently 
 courageous to have tendered such an 
 opinion unreservedly, it is quite clear that 
 their answer would have been very dif- 
 ferently prepared, j The fact seems to be 
 that they were afraid of committing them- 
 selves to one side or the other; and that 
 m order to escape all responsibility, they 
 placed a sufficient number of examples 
 bearing both ways, before the czar, so that 
 whatever course his majesty mii'ht ulti- 
 mately pursue, should be justified V satis- 
 factory precedents. The reforms that Peter 
 had effected in the church had already ren- 
 dered the clergy subservient to his will 
 VOL. I. 2 B 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. ^ [condemnation of alexis. 
 
 They felt that they were no longer an inde- 
 pendent body. Their arrogance, which for- 
 merly had kept the throne in awe, was now 
 sunk into servility ; and it is therefore not 
 surprising, that, thus called upon to give an 
 opinion on a question respectiiig which it 
 is scarcely assuming too much to say that 
 the czar's mind was already made up, or 
 had, at all events, exhibitccl so strong a 
 feelmg against the prince as to warrant 
 them in believing that he desired to punish 
 and not to spare his son— it is not surprising 
 tnat they should have submitted so equi- 
 vocal a statement to his majestv. But it is 
 a source of no slight surprise, that any 
 commentators on this event should have 
 traced to the Christian benevolence of those 
 ecclesiastics a document which was dictated 
 by their fears. ^^ 
 
 On the day in which the clergy delivered 
 their opinion to the czar, the Prince Alexis 
 was examined for the last time. He then 
 signed a written confession, in which he 
 acknowledged himself to have been a bigot 
 in his youth, to have kept the company of 
 monks and priests, and drunk intemperately 
 with them: to have received from them 
 those impressions which first alienated him 
 from the duties of his condition, and even 
 created in him a hatred of his father's 
 person. He further admitted, that he 
 would have used any means whatever to 
 I have secured the succession. 
 
 Several days elapsed; and then, on the 
 5th of July, the ministers, senators, mili- 
 , tary and civil officers, whom the czar had 
 j constituted the judges of his son, delivered 
 I their judgment. The document stated, 
 j that having put the case to the vote, they 
 unanimously, and without any contradic- 
 tion, agreed and resolved that the czare- 
 vitch, Alexis, deserves death for his many 
 capital crimes and offences against his 
 sovereign and father. After an enumera- 
 tion of these, the document concluded ; 
 
 '' It is with grieved hearts and eyes full of 
 tears, that we, being servants and subjects, 
 pronounce this sentence, seeing that, as such^ 
 it does not belong to us to take cognizance 
 of so momentous a concern ; and especially 
 to pronounce a sentence against the son of 
 our sovereign and most bountiful lord, the 
 czar. However, it being his will that we 
 should pass our judgment, we by these pre- 
 sents declare our real opinion, and we pro- 
 nounce this condemnation with a clear and 
 Christian conscience, as we shall answer for 
 it before the just and impartial tribunal of 
 
 185 
 
 I 
 
 1 ; i 
 
 li, 
 
 i It 
 i 
 
 •J 
 
DEATH OF THE CZAREVITCH.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1718. 
 
 God. Submitting, withal, this sentence and 
 condemnation to the supreme power, will, 
 and merciful revision of his czarish majesty 
 and most gracious sovereign/' This sentence 
 is open to the same censure as the opinion 
 of the clergy; it was not impartial. The 
 servile senators understood the wishes of 
 the czar, and they obeyed them. They 
 would willingly have spared the prince, but 
 they had a still stronger desire to please the 
 czar. 
 
 Sentence was pronounced on the 6th; 
 and on hearing it, the wretched Alexis was 
 seized with convulsions, and carried in a 
 state of insensibility from the court. The 
 next morning, the czar received word that 
 his son was dangerously ill, and implored to 
 see him. Peter, attended by the principal 
 officers of his court, immediately went to 
 visit the miserable prince. During this 
 tragic interview, both father and son shed 
 tears. The condemned prince then asked 
 his father's pardon, which the latter gave 
 him. The czar took his leave; but in the 
 evening a second message was sent, inform- 
 ing him that the prince was in mortal ex- 
 tremity ; but before the father could arrive 
 at the bedside of his son, Alexis was no 
 more. 
 
 There is nothing in these circumstances 
 inconsistent with the supposition that the 
 prince died a natural deatli ; but suspicions 
 to the contrary prevailed throughout Europe; 
 and the czar has been charged with the 
 shocking crime of murdering his own son ! 
 This charge has never been conclusively 
 refuted, nor definitely established, as we 
 think it must have been, had it been true. 
 Most historians have written on the sub- 
 ject with a palpable bias against the czar, 
 and an evident desire to believe him guilty 
 of so great a crime. The wildest, most im- 
 probable, and revolting stories were cir- 
 culated at the time, and Peter was said to 
 have personally put his son to death in 
 many different ways. According to one of 
 them, the czar first knouted, and then be- 
 headed the prince with his own hands; and 
 the head was so carefully sewed on to the 
 body again by a lady of the court, that 
 although the corpse lay in state during 
 four days, the mode of death was never 
 detected ! 
 
 Another narrative, though scarcely less 
 improbable, is entitled to more considera- 
 tion, because it is related on the authority 
 of a person who was in the service of the 
 czar, and, moreover, himself an actor in the I 
 186 
 
 A.D ]718.] 
 
 incident he describes. Captain Bruce, a 
 military officer in the service of Russia, 
 Prussia, and Great Britain, after alluding^ 
 in his Memoirs, to the trial of Prince Alexis,' 
 thus co!itinues : — "The trial was begun on 
 the 25th of June, and continued to the 6th 
 of July, when the supreme court, with una- 
 nimous consent, passed sentence of death 
 upon the prince, but left the manner of it 
 to his majesty's determination. The prince 
 was brought before the court, his sentence 
 read to him, and he was reconveyed to his 
 prison in the fortress. On the next day his 
 majesty, attended by all the senators and 
 bishops, with several others of high rank, 
 went to the fort, and entered the apart- 
 ment where the czarevitch was kept pri- 
 soner. Some little time thereafter. Marshal 
 Weyde came out, and ordered me to go to 
 Mr. Bear's, the druggist, whose shop was 
 hard by, and tell him to make the potion 
 strong which he had bespoke, as the prince 
 was then very ill. When I delivered this 
 message to Mr. Bear, he turned quite pale, 
 and fell a shaking and trembling, and ap- 
 peared in the utmost confusion, which sur- 
 prised me so much, that I asked him what 
 was the matter with him ; but he was un- 
 al)le to return me any answer. In the 
 meantime the marshal himself came in, 
 much in the same condition with the drug- 
 gist, saying, he ought to have been more 
 expeditious, as the prince was very ill of an 
 apoplectic fit. Upon this the druggist de- 
 livered him a silver cup with a cover, which 
 the marshal himself carried into the prince's 
 apartments, staggering all the way he went 
 like one drunk. About half-an-hour after, 
 the czar with all his attendants withdrew, 
 with very dismal countenances : and when 
 they went, the marshal ordered me to attend 
 at the prince's apartment; and in case of 
 any alteration, to inform him immediately 
 thereof. There were at that time two 
 physicians and two surgeons in waiting, 
 with whom and the officers on guard I 
 dined on what had been dressed for the 
 prince's dinner. The physicians were called 
 in immediately after to attend the prince, 
 who was struggling out of one convulsion 
 into another ; and, after great agonies, ex- 
 pired at five o'clock in the afternoon. I 
 went directly to inform the marshal, and he 
 went that moment to acquaint his majesty, 
 w ho ordered the corpse to be embowelled ; 
 after which it was laid in a coffin covered 
 with black velvet, and a pall of rich gold 
 tissue spread over it; it was then carried 
 
 out of the fort to the churcb of the Holy 
 Trinity, where the corpse lay in state till the 
 11th in the evening, when it was carried 
 back to the fort, and deposited in the royal 
 burial vault, next the coffin of the princess, 
 his late consort; on which occasion, the 
 czar and czaritza, and the c'^ief of the no- 
 bility, followed in procession Various were 
 the reports that were spread concerning his 
 death. It was given out publicly, that on 
 hearing the sentence of death pronounced, 
 the dread thereof threw him into an apo- 
 plectic fit, of which he died. Very few be- 
 lieved he died a natural death ; but it was 
 dangerous for people to speak as they 
 thought. The ministers of the emperor and 
 the states of Holland were forbid the court 
 for speaking their minds too freely on this 
 occasion ; and upon complaint against them, 
 both were recalled."* 
 
 This strange, and to us incredible nar- 
 rative, is adopted by Leclerc, a French 
 writer, who was then at St. Petersburg, but 
 who is admitted to be careless in the selec- 
 tion of his facts. Had the czar resolved to 
 poison his son, would he have disclosed his 
 design to so many persons as this account 
 states he did, some one of whom would have 
 been certain, after the death of Peter, to 
 have revealed the secret ? It is scarcely less 
 than ridiculous, to suppose that the czar 
 should have sent a marshal of the empire to 
 the shop of a neighbouring druggist for a 
 draught of poison for the prince ! A man 
 of honour would scarcely have performed 
 an office fit only for a hangman ; nor would 
 two persons have been sent to the druggist's 
 
 * Captain Bruce adds the following passage eluci- 
 datory of the character of the prince. Though 
 entitled to no further confidence than the extract 
 above, it is certainly far more probable : — " Thus 
 died Prince Alexis, undoubted heir to that great 
 monarchy ; little regretted by people of rank, as he 
 always shunned their acquaintance and company. It 
 was said, the czar had taken uncommon pains in the 
 education of this prince, but all in vain; indolent 
 and slovenly by nature, he kept the lowest of company, 
 with whom he indulged himself in all manner of vice 
 and debauchery. His father, to put a stop to this, sent 
 him abroad to see foreign courts, thinking thereby 
 to reclaim him, but all to no purpose ; on which he 
 ordered him to attend him in ail his expeditions, 
 thereby to keep a watchful eye over him himself; but 
 the prince evaded this by continually pretending to 
 be sick, which might probably be the case, as he was 
 most part of his time drunk. The czar, at last, 
 thought to reclaim him by marrying him to some 
 foreign princess; what effect that had has been already 
 mentioned. After the death of his amiable princess, 
 his majesty ordered him to attend him in his expe- 
 dition to Germany ; and being on his journey, under 
 pretence of going to join him in Mecklenburg, he 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [speculations concerning it. 
 
 for the poison, when one was sufficient. 
 Again, it is extremely improbable that the 
 four physicians and surgeons attending at 
 the bedside of the prince would, unless they 
 also were accomplices in the murder, have 
 permitted an unknown potion to be given 
 to their patient ; and quite impossible that 
 they would not have detected the symptoms 
 of poisoning. The only object to be gained 
 by the czar, if he had deprived his son of 
 life, was to avoid the odium which might 
 attach to him on account of his want of 
 parental emotion. Peter was not a man to 
 care much for the opinions of others ; but 
 had this been the case, his object was only 
 to be gained by the prince appearing to die 
 a natural death, and the fact of violence 
 being kept a profound secret. Yet, accord- 
 ing to this account, the czar had not only a 
 number of unnecessary accomplices, but the 
 murder was committed almost in public 
 If Peter had, indeed, resolved upon violently 
 terminating the life of his son, it would have 
 been more political to have left him to the 
 axe of the executioner, than to have com- 
 mitted a crime which could scarcely have 
 escaped detection, and must for ever have 
 left the name of its author exposed to the 
 abhorrence of mankind. The objection, 
 that the pride of the czar would have pre- 
 vented him from sending his unworthy son 
 to the scaflPold, has not, to our mind, the 
 weight which has sometimes been attributed 
 to it. Peter would not have felt disgraced 
 by having his name for ever associated with 
 that of the heroic and unbending Brutus. 
 The czar acted openly in the matter ; and. 
 
 fled privately, and sought the protection of his 
 brother-in-law, the emperor of Germany, whom he 
 endeavoured to engage in a war against his father. 
 It was made appear on his trial, that he threatened, 
 whenever he came to the throne, to overturn all his 
 father had done, declaring, that he would be re- 
 venged on Prince Mentschikoff and his sister-in-law, 
 by impaling them alive, as also the great chancellor. 
 Count Galatkin, and his son, for persuading him to 
 marry the Princess AVolfenbuttle ; that he would 
 send all his father's favourites into banishment, and 
 expel all foreigners out of the country; that h 
 would release his mother from confinement, and put 
 dame Catherine and her children in her place; 
 after this he would form his court of people who had 
 the ancient manners and customs of Russia most at 
 heart, for he hated all innovations. Nothing could 
 have touched the czar more sensibly than threaten- 
 ing to overthrow all he had been doing for so many 
 years for the welfare and glory of his country, with 
 so much danger, toil, and labour, without ever 
 sparing his own person ; which made him say with 
 great emotion, that he would rather give his do- 
 minions to a worthy stranger, than be succeeded by 
 so worthless a son." 
 
 187 
 
 1 
 
STATEMENT OF THE CZAR.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1718. 
 
 with «i view to correct any misrepresenta- 
 tion of his conduct, caused a report of the 
 whole trial to be printed, and copies sent to 
 the various courts of Europe. It was ac- 
 companied by a letter from the czar, stating 
 the reasons which had induced him to bring 
 his son to trial, and giving the following 
 account of the last moments of the prince : — 
 *' While," said Peter, ** we were debating 
 between the natural feelings of paternal 
 clemency and the duties we owed to the 
 security of our kingdom ; and while we were 
 pondering on what resolution we ought to 
 *ftkc in an affair of such difficulty and im- 
 portance, it pleased the Almighty God, by 
 his especial will and his just judgment, and 
 by his mercy, to deliver us out of that em- 
 barrassment, and to save our family and 
 kingdom from the shame and the dangers, 
 by abridging, yesterday, the life of our said 
 sou Alexis, after an illness with which he 
 was seized as soon as he heard the sentence 
 of death pronounced against him. That 
 illness appeared at first like an apoplexy ; 
 but he afterwards recovered his senses, and 
 received the holv sacrament as a Christian ; 
 and having desired to see us, we went to 
 him immediately, with all our councillors 
 and senators; and then he acknowledged 
 and sincerelv confessed all his said faults 
 and crimes committed against us, with 
 tears, and all the marks of a true penitent ; 
 and begged our pardon, which, according to 
 Christian and paternal duty, we granted 
 him. After which, on the 7th of July, at 
 six in the evening, he surrendered his soul 
 to God." This account was received 
 throughout Europe as a satisfactory ex- 
 planation of the sudden death of the 
 prince; and it is certainly far more pro- 
 bable than the one given by Captain Bruce, 
 or the rumours that the unfortunate Alexis 
 was beheaded either by his own father or by 
 Marshal Weyde. An accusation has even 
 been brought against the amiable Catherine, 
 that she urged on Peter to destroy Alexis, 
 in order that her own son might succeed to 
 the throne. Lamberti, the writer who re- 
 lates this, also infers that Catherine poisoned 
 her husband Peter — a supposition notori- 
 ously in opposition to the known facts. Vol- 
 tairc,who must have been well-informed upon 
 this point, remarks — " No foreign minister, 
 188 
 
 residing at the Russian court, has ever 
 accused, or so much as suspected, Catherine 
 of having taken the least step against a 
 son-in-law from whom she had everything 
 to fear. If it is not said that she inter- 
 ceded for his pardon, all the memoirs of 
 that time, especially those of Count Basse- 
 witz, agree, that she pitied his misfortunes. 
 I have before me the memoirs of a public 
 minister, in which I find these very words : 
 — ' I was present when the czar said to the 
 Duke of Holstein, that Catherine had en- 
 treated him to hinder sentence being pro- 
 nounced against the czarevitch ; only, said 
 she, compel him to become a monk; as the 
 disjrrace of a sentence of death will reflect 
 on your grandson.' " 
 
 Had the czar acted with perfect good 
 faith to his unworthy and unfortunate son, 
 we should have said that his conduct, 
 though stern, was unimpeachable. To lose 
 the father in the patriot, is an act of noble- 
 ness. But patriotism sliould be pure in its 
 integrity, and perfectly free from reproach. 
 Peter violated a solemn promise of pardon 
 when he arrested his son ; and the reasons 
 he assigned for placing him upon his trial 
 were strained and insufficient. Whether 
 Peter, after the condemnation of Alexis, 
 anticipated the office of the executioner by 
 the administration of poison, must perhaps 
 for ever remain a mystery. For reasons 
 already assigned, we are inclined to believe 
 that such was not the case ; though it must 
 be admitted that the well-known ferocity of 
 the czar's character gives an air of remote 
 probability to the inference that he was 
 guilty of procuring the murder of his son. 
 But many writers have acted on this subject 
 in a manner as illogical as it is unjust. 
 They first argue that it is highly probable 
 the czar caused poison to be administered to 
 his son; then assume that he actually did 
 so; and conclude by heaping on the memory 
 of Peter that invective which he would 
 deserve if guilty. Even Count Segur, who 
 adopts this course, and luxuriates in a storm 
 of dramatic eloquence, based on so unjust a 
 ground, observes — '' But it must be owned 
 that the blood which was shed was not shed 
 in vain : the last hope of barbarism was 
 destroyed, and the regeneration of the Rus- 
 sians was secured." 
 
 A.D. 1718.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [further reforms. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 DOMESTIC REFORMS ; DEATH OF CHARLES XTI. ; RUSSIA HARASSES SWEDEN ; IMPOTENT INTERFERENCE 
 OF ENGLAND ; SUCCESSFUL MEDIATION OF FRANCE; CONGRESS OF NEUSTADT, AND PEACE WITH SWEDEN • 
 GREAT REJOICINGS IN RUSSIA; CLIMAX OF THE GLORY OF PETER; THE SENATE BESTOW UPON HIM THE 
 TITLES OF GREAT, EMPEROR, AND FATHER ; PETER PUNISHES PUBLIC OFFICERS WHO HAVE BEEN GUILTY 
 OF CORRUPTION; FINAL ABOLITION OF THE PATRIARCHATE; THE CZAR COMPELS THE MONKS AND NUNS 
 TO ADOPT SOME USEFUL OCCUPATION ; THE CZAR's EXPEDITION TO PERSIA ; EXTENSION OF THE RUSSIAN 
 FRONTIER IN THAT DIRECTION; CORONATION OF THE EMPRESS; STRANGE CHARGE CONCERNING HER; 
 LAST ILLNiiSS AND DEATH OF PETER ; HIS CHARACTER AND PRESUMED POLICY. 
 
 The gloomy year (1718) which witnessed 
 the trial and death of Prince Alexis, was 
 yet distinguished by the number and extent 
 of the improvements the czar effected in 
 Russia. His mind was not engrossed by 
 the trouble which his son's misconduct had 
 hrought upon him; for he had in truth 
 become the father of the empire; all the 
 inhabitants of which he regarded as his 
 family. The punishments he inflicted he 
 considered as sacrifices which a stern neces- 
 sity obliged him to offer up for the welfare 
 of the state. 
 
 Thus, in a year which was certainly one 
 of sadness and suffering, the czar appointed 
 a general police throughout the empire, 
 under control of an office at St. Petersburg. 
 Luxury in apparel and games of chance 
 were prohibited; the streets cleared of 
 the swarms of beggars who used to infest 
 them ; and schools, almshouses, and hospitals 
 built and endowed. At St. Petersburg the 
 wealthy were compelled to erect houses of 
 a regular construction, the materials for 
 which the czar caused to be brought there 
 free of cost by such vessels and other con- 
 veyances as were returning empty from the 
 neighbouring localities. In this favourite 
 city the streets were paved and lighted with 
 lamps in imitation of those established at 
 Paris by Louis XIV. Regulations were 
 made for preserving order and cleanliness 
 in the streets, and for the speedy extinction 
 of fires. Weights and measures were fixed 
 and rendered uniform, and an erroneous 
 attempt was made to benefit the poor by 
 fixing the price of provisions. 
 
 Peter gave much attention to the promo- 
 tion of trade and manufactures; improving 
 many of the latter, and creating new ones. 
 He went in person to give directions to the 
 managers of corn, powder, and saw-mills; 
 rope-yards, sail-cloth, and linen manufac- 
 tories, brick-kilns, and slate quarries. He 
 instituted a commercial court of justice, or 
 board of trade, of which, that no injustice 
 
 might be done to strangers, one-half were 
 natives, and the other foreigners. The czar 
 encouraged the production of cloths and 
 woollen stuffs by liberal bounties, in conse- 
 quence of which Moscow came to make 
 linen equal to that of Holland ; while at 
 St. Petersburg, the silk of Persia was manu- 
 factured as finely as at Ispahan. He 
 caused the mines to be worked with in- 
 creased energy, built the city of Ladoga, 
 and connected the great lake of that name 
 with the Neva, by means of canals and 
 sluices. At the making of this and another 
 canal in the same localitv, the czar fre- 
 quently laboured with his own hands. He 
 measured the ground, and then mingling 
 with the labourers, threw up the earth into 
 a barrow, and wheeled it awav himself. 
 This example was occasionally followed by 
 his courtiers; and thus labour was dignified, 
 and the workmen stimulated to increased 
 exertion. At the same time he commis- 
 sioned a body of engineers to prepare cor- 
 rect maps of the whole empire, for the con- 
 venience of Russians, and the information of 
 the rest of Europe. 
 
 The conspiracy which had been originated 
 by the adventurer, Baron Goertz, had not 
 been abandoned. Latterlv, the sligrht hos- 
 tilities the czar had undertaken against 
 Sweden, had been less with a view of in- 
 juring her than from a desire of compelling 
 her to purchase peace by the cession of the 
 provinces he had conquered. A congress 
 for the promotion of peace even took place; 
 and there is every reason to suppose that its 
 conclusion would have been followed by an 
 alliance between Peter and Charles, who, in 
 conjunction with Cardinal Alberoni, in- 
 tended then to address themselves to carrv 
 out certain schemes which, in the event of 
 their being successful, would have revolu- 
 tionised the face of Europe. AVe have men- 
 tioned that a part of this conspiracy was the 
 restoration of the Stuarts to the throne of 
 England. But Charles was not permitted 
 
 189 
 
f • 
 
 DEATH OF CHARLES XII.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 to light up the flames of war in this country. 
 On the evening of the 11th of December of 
 this eventful year (1718), he was killed 
 before the town of Frederickshall, in Nor- 
 way. A ball struck him on the right temple, 
 passed through his head, and, in an instant, 
 he was a disfigured corpse. Thus perished 
 this " heroic madman,'' in his thirty-seventh 
 year; who must, to quote the language of 
 his celebrated biographer, be considered 
 " rather an extraordinary than a great man, 
 and more worthy to be* admired than imi- 
 tated." Suspicions were very generallv 
 entertained at the time, that Charles was 
 shot by one of his own officers, and not bv 
 the enemy. Voltaire discredits them, and 
 says that the shot which struck Charles was 
 much too large to have entered a pistol, 
 which must have been the instrument used 
 if the king was really assassinated. Other 
 writers take a different view of the matter; 
 and Dr. Clarke, the celebrated traveller, 
 who spared no trouble to ascertain the facts 
 of the case, observed— ''That he (Charles) 
 was really assassinated, seems so clear, that 
 it is marvellous any doubt should be enter- 
 tained as to the fact ; and yet, with a view 
 to ascertain the truth as to the manner of 
 his death, every succeeding sovereign has 
 thought it right to open his sepulchre and 
 inspect his embalmed remains.'^* 
 
 It is said, that when the czar heard of 
 the death of his former rival, he shed tears, 
 and exclaimed— " My dear Charles, how 
 much I lament you!" If this grief was 
 really sincere, it found few to share it. 
 Sweden was glad to be rid of a man whose 
 restless excitement had brought her to the 
 verge of ruin. The senate insulted his 
 memory by seizing and beheading the crafty 
 Earon Goertz, to whom they attributed 
 many of the ill-deeds of Charles. The con- 
 spiracy for remodelling Europe in the inter- 
 ests of despots was thus blown to the winds, 
 and the contemplated alliance between 
 Russia and Sweden abandoned. Though 
 Ulrica Eleonora (the sister of Charles, and 
 new sovereign of Sweden) sought to heal 
 the wounds of her country by the repose 
 of peace, yet, instead of becoming the 
 ally of Russia, she entered into friendly 
 
 " The character of this extraordinary man requires 
 nA further illustration. We shall merely observe, 
 that whatever the admiration excited by his earlier 
 military successes and his indomitable courage, he 
 was really a madman: that, as the cause of his 
 country's ruin (for, since his day, it has never been 
 more than a fourth-rate state in European affairs), 
 
 190 
 
 [a.d. 1718. 
 
 - — -^ 
 negotiations with England, which was only 
 not openly hostile to the czar. 
 
 Sweden sought for peace, and was ready 
 to make considerable sacrifices to obtain it. 
 Prussia and Denmark she disarmed by 
 large concessions, and she purchased from 
 George I. the protective presence of an 
 English fleet in the Baltic. But Russia 
 was the giant foe of Sweden; and the terms 
 on which the czar was willing to grant 
 peace were extravagantly large. As Sweden 
 hesitated, Peter put a fleet to sea, and 
 threatened the coasts of that country. His 
 vessels even engaged a Swedish squadron, 
 captured a ship and two frigates, and drove 
 the rest into port. 
 
 At this period (1719) the English fleet 
 which George I. had promised for the pro- 
 tection of Sweden, made its appearance in 
 the Baltic. Peter, who was serving with 
 his own ships as vice-admiral, sent a message 
 to Admiral Norris, who commanded the 
 English fleet, desiring to know^ whether he 
 came only as a friend to Sweden or as an 
 enemy to Russia. Norris answered, that as 
 yet he had no positive orders. This answer, 
 which might be interpreted as a threat, 
 rather incensed than intimidated Peter. 
 When, therefore, the English admiral shortly 
 afterwards sailed for Copenhagen, the Rus- 
 sian vessels made some descents on the 
 Swedish coast, even in the very neighbour- 
 hood of Stockholm, destroyed 'hundreds of 
 villages and castles, together with all the 
 copper and iron-works, and spread desola- 
 tion in every direction. The neij^hbourhood 
 of the English fleet proved worse than use- 
 less. Admiral Norris, unauthorised to resent 
 the outrages of the Russians, was compelled 
 to let the English flag bear part of the dis- 
 grace thus heaped upon Sweden. TIjc czar 
 showed his contempt of this impotent inter- 
 ference, by capturing aiid carrying off four 
 Swedish frigates, almost in sight of the 
 English fleet. We were said to have done 
 too much, if only mediators; and too little, 
 if enemies. 
 
 The severe inflictions which the Swedes 
 suffered at the hands of the Russians, made 
 them solicit a suspension of arms, for the 
 purpose of concluding a peace. As Enghsh 
 
 A.D. 1721. 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [peace with SWEDEN. 
 
 he deserves the execration, not the applause, of man- 
 kind. If he was really assassinated, we cannot, 
 indeed, praise the deed or the doer, since both must 
 be held in everlasting odium ; but we may observe, 
 that no deed could have been so useful to Sweden, 
 or even to Europe."--Z)?/wAa»i'5 History of Berf 
 markf Sweden^ and Noricay. 
 
 interference had failed, Sweden now sought 
 the mediation of France, and the Duke of 
 Orleans (the regent) succeeded in bringing 
 about the long-negotiated reconciliation. 
 Accordingly, a congress was held at Neu- 
 stadt, a small town in Finland, where the 
 czar had an army ready to overrun the 
 country in the event of the terms he dic- 
 tated being rejected. Sweden was in no 
 condition to dispute with him, and nothing 
 was left to her but to consent to his propo- 
 sals. The peace of Neustadt was finally 
 signed on the 10th of September, 1721, and 
 by it Peter retained possession of all the 
 provinces he had conquered, from Courland 
 to the extremity of the Gulf of Iceland, and 
 from thence through Kexholm and a narrow 
 slip of Finland; leaving him undisputed 
 master of Livonia, Esthonia, Ingria, Carelia, 
 Wybourg, and the neighbouring isles; the 
 whole occupying a space of about 300 
 leagues in unequal breadths, and equal in 
 extent to a large kingdom. Great was the 
 satisfaction of the czar; and he wrote to 
 his plenipotentiaries— « You have drawn up 
 the treaty as if we had done it ourselves 
 and sent it to you to cause it to be signed 
 by the Swedes. This glorious event will be 
 ever present to our memory.'' 
 
 Peace, though not necessary to Russia, 
 was highly welcome both to the people and 
 the sovereign. The former were delighted 
 at the prospect of a relief, after twenty 
 years of incessant strug^'e and warfare. The 
 latter, now relieved from the necessity of 
 maintaining large armies on the borders of 
 Sweden, and at peace with those other na- 
 tions from whom he had any reason to ap- 
 prehend hostilities, hailed with gratification 
 that leisure which enabled him to devote 
 himself entirely to the reformation of his 
 empire, which, even amidst the occupations 
 of war, he had cultivated with such restless 
 solicitude. 
 
 This peace was regarded by the subjects of 
 the czar as the most glorious of his triumphs, 
 and it was celebrated by public festivities,' 
 which, for their splendour and the enthu- 
 siasm with w^hich they were received by the 
 people, surpassed anything of the kind that 
 had previously taken place in Russia. Peter, 
 touched by the joy and gratitude of the 
 people, granted a remission of all taxes due 
 to the royal treasury, and a pardon to all 
 prisoners, except those confined for robbery, 
 murder, and high treason. Always the 
 teacher of his subjects, he also exhibited to 
 them the little sailing-vessel which, in his 
 
 young days, had suggested to him the idea 
 ot building a navy. This was a striking 
 lesson on the results of industry and per- 
 severance. The czar had preserved this 
 little boat with aff"ectionate care, and he 
 would sometimes amuse himself with de- 
 corating it and arming its miniature decks 
 with silver cannon. This period, indeed, 
 must be regarded as the climax of the glory 
 of this extraordinary man. The peace fes- 
 tivities were prolonged during a period of 
 fifteen days, and the senate took advantage 
 of the general happiness of the people to 
 confer on Peter the honourable titles of 
 Great, Emperor, and Father of his country. 
 The chancellor addressed him in the cathe- 
 dral, m the name of all the orders of the 
 state, after which the assembled senators 
 thrice shouted, ''Long live our emperor and 
 our father"— shouts which were taken up 
 and heartily re-echoed by the people without. 
 The same day the foreign ministers at St. 
 Petersburg congratulated the czar on these 
 honours, and addressed him by his new title 
 of emperor, which was recognised bv all the 
 courts of Europe, except that of Poland and 
 the pope ; the former being convulsed with 
 factions, and the latter sunk into an insig- 
 nificance which rendered its sufi*rage of verv 
 little importance. When the rejoicings at 
 St. Petersburg were over, they were renewed 
 at Moscow, into which the czar made a 
 triumphal entry under decorated arches. 
 
 Yet, during this visit to Moscow, Peter 
 appointed a military commission to inquire 
 into the truth of certain complaints which 
 had been made against those entrusted with 
 the administration of affairs during his ab- 
 sence. Prince Gagarin, governor of Siberia, 
 was found guilty of having robbed his ma- 
 jesty's caravan from China, and of murder- 
 ing the persons by whom it was conducted, 
 by which and other crimes he had acquired 
 enormous wealth. Prince Mentschikoff, 
 (now the first subject of the empire). Prince 
 Volkonski (governor of Archangel), Admiral 
 Count Apraxin, and General Bruce, were 
 also convicted of peculation. Gagarin was 
 hanged, like Haman, on a gallows fifty 
 cubits high, and Volkonski was shot; the 
 rest were let off with pecuniary fines and 
 castigation from the czar with his walking- 
 stick, which he never failed to use very 
 freely over the shoulders of any one he was 
 displeased with. As to Prince Mentschikoff, 
 he had so often been detected in peculation, 
 that the czar had come to regard him as an 
 incorrigible rogue, with whom, nevertheless, 
 
 191 
 
Akim 
 
 ABOLITION OF THE PATRIARCHATE.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [ad. 1721. 
 
 A.D. 1724.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [ecclesiastical reforms. 
 
 he did not wish to part. On one occasion 
 the senate, who possessed many proofs of liis 
 depredations, drew up a tabular statement 
 of them, and placed it on the table opposite 
 the czar's seat. Peter glanced at the paper, 
 and, discerning its contents, seemed to pay 
 no further attention to them. Tliere it 
 remained, day after day, in the same con- 
 spicuous place ; until at length Count Tolstoi, 
 who was sitting in the senate beside the 
 czar, ventured to ask him what he thought 
 of that document. "Nothing," replied 
 Peter, "but that Mentschikoff will be al- 
 ways Mentschikoff." 
 
 The year which brought peace to Sweden, 
 and gave repose to Russia (1721), witnessed 
 also the consummation of Peter's reforms in 
 the church. Though many years had elapsed 
 since the death of the last patriarch, the 
 czar had found means to evade appointing 
 a successor. "He was," he said, "greatly 
 occupied by business; and therefore, for 
 the present, he desired the metropolitan of 
 Rezan to take upon himself the ecclesiastical 
 affairs of the empire." In the years 1718 
 and '19 the czar caused a perpetual synod, 
 composed of members always to be nomi- 
 nated by the sovereign, to be erected for the 
 direction of the church. It was to inquire 
 into and decide all matters connected with 
 religion; but its decisions were to be re- 
 ferred to the czar for confirmation ; who be- 
 came, in effect, supreme head of the churcli. 
 He thus explained his motives for the estab- 
 lishment of this institution, Avhich, with 
 some alterations, exists even at this day. 
 " Under the administration of a svnod of 
 priests, none of those disturbances and in- 
 discretions are to be feared which might 
 happen under the government of one sole 
 ecclesiastical chief; that the people, seeing 
 on one side a head of the state, and on the 
 other a head of the church, might, from the 
 superstition natural to them, come to ima- 
 gine that there are in reality two supreme 
 powers." In illustration of this important 
 point, Peter cited instances of long dissen- 
 sions between the crown and the priesthood, 
 "which every reader of history well knows 
 have ever been a prolific source of bloodshed 
 and miserv. He further stated, " That the 
 notion of two distinct powers, founded on 
 the allegory of two swords, which the apostles 
 happened to have in their possession, was 
 absurd and extravagant." 
 
 For theology, as a separate branch of 
 learning, Peter had but little respect ; and 
 though, in a general sense, a believer in the 
 192 
 
 sacred character of the inspired writing's, vet, 
 in practice, he seems only to have regarded 
 the precepts of morality and those of natural 
 religion. On one occasion, the synod repre- 
 sented to the czar, to whom they should 
 have brought a person whom they recom- 
 mended to his notice as a bishop, that as 
 yet they knew of none but illiterate men. 
 " Well," answered Peter, "' it is but choosing 
 the man of the best life ; and he will do full 
 as well as the most learned scholar." Yet 
 Peter respected revealed religion ; and, 
 despite the well-known tolerance of his cha- 
 racter, exclaimed, one day — " The irreligious 
 cannot be tolerated, because, by sapping 
 religion, they turn into ridicule the sacred- 
 ness of an oath, which is the foundation of 
 all society." 
 
 The year 1721 witnessed, we said, the 
 consummation of the czar's reforms in the 
 church. On presiding at a meeting of the 
 synod, some of the superior clergy presented 
 to him a petition, praying him to appoint a 
 patriarch. The hour had now arrived for a 
 conclusive expression of opinion. Rising 
 suddenly from his seat, Peter diew his 
 sword, and, striking the table violently with 
 it, while with the other hand he smote his 
 breast, exclaimed vehemently — "Here is 
 your patriarch!" Then casting a stern 
 glance on his startled listeners, lie hastily 
 quitted the room. None of the clergy con- 
 sidered it prudent, subsequently, to Vcnew 
 the subject ; and from that time the office 
 of patriarch was no more. 
 
 Russia swarmed with monks and nuns, who 
 were for the most partVery idle and ignorant 
 persons, and often no better than they should 
 have been in many other respects. ' On the 
 31st of January, 1724, Peter issued an ordi- 
 nance with respect to them, which had been 
 drawn up by himself, in conjunction with an 
 enlightened dignitary of the church. Its 
 object was to discourage people from be- 
 coming idle dreamers in monasteries, in a 
 country where the thinness of the population 
 was such, that no man could be well spared 
 from the labour of improving the land. 
 Notwithstanding the gross ignorance of the 
 monks, many of them could write — an ac- 
 complishment of which, in the early part of 
 Peter's reign, they had made but a mis- 
 chievous use. This was to slander the sove- 
 reign who was labouring so zealously for 
 the good of his country. One priest even 
 proceeded so far as to publish that Peter 
 was antichrist, because he would have no 
 patriaich. Upon this^ another priest of a 
 
 more courtly nature, printed a reply, in 
 which he contended that it was impossible 
 for the czar to be antichrist, because the 
 number 666 was not to be found in his 
 name, and he had not the mark of the beast. 
 Peter at once showed that mischievous 
 theological speculations concerning him, 
 intended to foster conspiracy, or whet the 
 knife of the assassin, were not to be per- 
 petrated with impunity. He put the slan- 
 derous priest to death, and rewarded with a 
 bishopric the one who refuted him. This 
 was in an early part of the czar's reign : he 
 had, since that time,inspired the discontented 
 among the priests with so much awe, that 
 they had at least ceased to revile him openly. 
 Latterly they had confined their efforts to 
 poisoning the mind of his son — a circum- 
 stance which brought disgrace and death 
 upon the prince, and a terrible retribution 
 upon themselves. It is strange that igno- 
 rance and superstition will not learn that 
 the civilisation which ameliorates the condi- 
 tion, and elevates the nature of mankind, is 
 not to be hurled back by human might, and 
 that they who oppose its progress are crushed 
 beneath its iron tread. 
 
 Peter was himself the most industrious 
 man in the Russian empire, and he regarded 
 it as an outrage both upon morals and com- 
 mon sense, that a multitude of young men 
 and women should make a vow to live a life 
 of uselessness, and to become a public bur- 
 den. Impressed with this feeling, he at 
 first decreed that no person should enter 
 upon a monastic life until he had attained 
 the age of fifty ; at wTiich period the habits 
 of life are so thoroughly formed, that it is 
 probable very few would desire to make so 
 great a change. At the representation of 
 the clergy, however, the monastic age was 
 reduced to thirty, before which no person 
 was permitted to devote themselves to a life 
 of religious seclusion and veiled pauperism. 
 Military men, and occupiers of land, were 
 prohibited from adopting the life of the 
 cloister at any period, without an express 
 permission from the emperor or the synod. 
 The same rule applied to any person in the 
 service of the state. The monks, who had 
 hitherto passed their time chiefly in day- 
 dreams and gluttony, were each of them 
 compelled to work at some trade, or to 
 employ themselves in attending to the sick 
 poor, or the disbanded and disabled soldiers 
 who were distributed amongst the monas- 
 teries. The life of the monks being thus 
 made one of labour, and stripped of that 
 
 TOL. I. 
 
 2c 
 
 respect which might previously have dig- 
 nified it, many of these persons turned from 
 it in disgust, and sought occupations in 
 which they could render themselves more 
 useful to society. As to the nuns, such of 
 them as had not long passed the meridian of 
 life, were exhorted to marry. Those who 
 declined, or were unable to do so, were all 
 set to perform work suitable to their sex. 
 Some were taught to make laces, by work- 
 women brought from Brabant and Holland 
 for that purpose; others to labour in the 
 convent grounds, or tend upon the sick, or 
 keep schools for the instruction of the chil- 
 dren of the poor. Certain monasteries were 
 also assigned for the admittance and educa- 
 tion of orphans of each sex. Unhappily, the 
 life of Peter was not suflSciently prolonged 
 to render these improvements permanent. 
 
 The czar was naturally proud of his 
 power over a body of men whose influence 
 has usually ruined all monarchs who en- 
 deavoured to reform the abuses existing 
 amongst them. On one occasion, a paper 
 from the well-known English periodical, 
 TTie Spectator, the subject of which was a 
 parallel between Peter and Louis XIV., 
 being read to him, the czar observed — " I 
 cannot think that I deserve the preference 
 given to me above that monarch; but it 
 has been my happiness to go beyond him 
 on one point, and that an essential one. I 
 have brought my clergy to be submissive 
 and quiet, and Louis XIV. suffered his to 
 get the better of him." 
 
 Peter never lost his relish for the coarse 
 pleasures which had been the occupation of 
 his early youth. Even at this grave period, 
 when the tragic fate of his son could not 
 have been effaced from his memory, and his 
 time was chiefly occupied in ecclesiastical 
 reforms, he yet abused himself and the 
 people with a vulgar revel, of a nature so 
 strange, that it is wonderful how such a 
 mind as his could possibly be diverted by 
 it. We must, however, regard the most 
 illustrious men as a compound of strength 
 and weakness, and none the more separated 
 from the wants and propensities of the 
 meanest of men on account of their own 
 mental power in some other direction. 
 Shortly after the extinction of the patri- 
 archate, the czar caused Buturlin, the 
 second mock pope of his creation, to be 
 married to the widow of his predecessor 
 Jotoff. The bridegroom was in his eighty- 
 fifth year, and the bride much about the 
 same mature age. The messengers who 
 
 193 
 
 IP 
 
\ 
 
 THE PERSIAN EXPEDITION.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1722. 
 
 carried the invitations to the ceremony 
 were four stutterers. Four decrepid old 
 men attended the bride, and the runninsr 
 footmen were four of the most corpulent 
 fellows that could be found. The orchestra 
 was placed on a waggon drawn by bears, 
 who being goaded with iron spikes, their 
 hideous roarings formed a bass suitable to 
 the tunes played in the waggons. As to 
 the nuptial benediction, that was bestowed 
 by a blind and deaf priest, with spectacles 
 on. The procession, the wedding feast, the 
 ceremony of undressing the bride and 
 bridegroom, and putting them to bed, were 
 all in accordance with the rest of this 
 strange buffoonery. The czar and his 
 courtiers, who followed in the marriage 
 procession, and witnessed the subsequent 
 fooleries, seemed to enjoy them with im- 
 mense gusto. 
 
 Peter^s last great public act was an expe- 
 dition to Persia, which empire was then 
 falling to pieces under the feeble rule of the 
 imbecile Hussein Shah. The throne of the 
 iovereign was almost wrested from him bv 
 a usurper, while the empire was invaded on 
 one side by the Affghans, and on the other 
 by the Lcsghians, who resided in the neigh- 
 bourhood of the Caucasus. The latter 
 nation poured into the province of Shirvan, 
 sacked the city of Shamaki, and put the 
 inhabitants to the sword, including about 
 300 Russian traders, whose warehouses they 
 also plundered of goods estimated at the 
 value of 4,000,000 roubles. Peter was 
 greatly irritated, for he had himself induced 
 the Russian merchants to settle at Shamaki, 
 where they were carrying on a very pros- 
 perous trade. He therefore demanded 
 satisfaction for the outrage that had been 
 inflicted. The Persian monarch was wil- 
 ling, but unable, to grant it ; he therefore 
 pleaded his helpless condition, and entreated 
 the czar to aid in subduing the foes by 
 whom he was surrounded. 
 
 To this Peter had no disinclination, for 
 he had long entertained a project for 
 making himself master of the Caspian Sea, 
 with the object of directing the commerce 
 of Persia and a portion of India through his 
 own dominions. On the 15th of May, 1722, 
 the czar, accompanied by Catherine, set 
 sail with a considerable expedition. They 
 proceeded down the broad Volga as far as 
 the city of Astracan, where Peter paused to 
 await the arrival of his forces and materiel 
 of war. During this enforced leisure, he 
 occupied himself in examining the works 
 194 
 
 for the extensive canals designed to join 
 the Caspian, Baltic, and White seas. His 
 troops arrived while he was contemplating 
 these gigantic projects. The army con- 
 sisted of 22,000 foot, 9,000 dragoons, 15,000 
 Cossacks, and 3,000 seamen. The project 
 of the czar was full of difficulties ; for he 
 commanded that the horses should proceed 
 over land, through deserts which are fre- 
 quently without water; and beyond them 
 they were to pass the mountains of the 
 Caucasus, where 300 men might check the 
 progress of a whole army. But to this 
 movement the czar was encouraged by the 
 distracted state of Persia, which rendered it 
 almost helpless against aggression. 
 
 Sailing from Astracan, the expedition 
 proceeded as far as the little fortified town 
 of Andreof— a town founded by the Geor- 
 gians. This was soon captured, and the 
 Russians then advanced by land into the 
 province of Daghestan, where Peter caused 
 manifestos, in the Persian and Russian 
 languages, to be circulated. This was to 
 avoid giving offence to the Ottoman Porte, 
 which, besides its subjects the Circassians 
 and Georgians, had in these districts some 
 considerable vassals, who had lately placed 
 themselves under its protection. One of 
 the principal of these was Mahmoud d'Ut- 
 mich, who, assuming the title of sultan, had 
 the imprudence to attack the Russians. 
 He was utterly defeated ; and, according to 
 the account of the victors, "his country 
 was made a bonfire." The intense heat 
 was a source of great suffering to the Rus- 
 sian troops ; but Peter exhibited the same 
 attention to discipline, and disregard of 
 personal fatigue and discomfort, which had 
 characterised him in his earlier under- 
 takings. He shared the toil of his army, 
 and constantly either rode or walked by the 
 side of his troops. At this time, his cus- 
 tomary dress was a short dimity waistcoat 
 and a white nightcap, with a plain flapped 
 hat over it. He seems, however, to have 
 thought this odd costume more easy than 
 dignified; for he prepared himself to re- 
 ceive any deputation by putting on his 
 regimentals. 
 
 The march of the Russians was protracted 
 over the summer months, and in the middle 
 of September they reached the city of Der- 
 bend—known by the Persians and Turks as 
 Demir Capi, or Iron Gate, because it once 
 had such a gate towards the south. The 
 city was regarded as impregnable, for the 
 upper part of it joins a steep branch of the 
 
 JL.V. 1723.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [dismemberment of persia. 
 
 Caucasus, while its walls at the other side 
 are washed by the sea, which in stormy 
 weather breaks over them. Yet on the ap- 
 proach of the Russians, the governor volun- 
 tarily came forth to meet the czar, and 
 presented him with the silver keys of the 
 city and the castle, and invited him to 
 enter. Peter took peaceable possession of 
 the place, and encamped his troops within 
 the walls on the sea-shore. Mahmoud the 
 usurper, who had seized the crown of the 
 shah, hastened with an army of Tartars to 
 save Derbend from falling into the power of 
 the Russians ; but he was too late — it was 
 already in their hands. 
 
 Though Peter had been triumphant thus 
 far, he doubted of the ultimate success of 
 an expedition which, on account of the 
 many natural difficulties to be overcome, 
 he began to perceive had been somewhat 
 rashly undertaken. To provide for the 
 wants of a large army, in its passage through 
 vast sterile tracts and regions where not 
 even a village varied the profound solitude 
 of nature, was no common task. The czar 
 understood the tremendous responsibility of 
 a position where, perhaps, one false step was 
 destruction. In this state of mind he re- 
 ceived news that thirteen vessels, containing 
 provisions, stores, horses, and recruits for 
 his army, had been wrecked in their passage 
 from Astracan. This heavy loss, combined 
 with the fact that the season was then un- 
 favourable for military operations, induced 
 Peter to abandon the expedition. Retracing 
 his steps, he returned to Moscow, which he 
 re-entered on the 5th of January, 1723. 
 He celebrated his return from this un- 
 profitable campaign with a triumph, beneath 
 the forced festivities of which he must have 
 concealed the mortification he really felt. 
 
 The prizes of the world commonly fall to 
 the strong ; and even now, Peter derived 
 advantage from the distracted state of 
 Persia. The shah Hussein, and the usurper 
 Mahmoud, struggled hard for supremacy. 
 Hussein implored the support of the Rus- 
 sian emperor ; while Mahmoud feared him 
 as an avenger, who might wrest from him 
 all the fruits of his rebellion. He there- 
 fore used every endeavour to excite the 
 Ottoman Porte to hostilities against Peter, 
 by statements concerning the devastations 
 the latter had committed in Daghestan. 
 The apprehensions of the sultan were aroused 
 concerning the safety of Georgia, then a 
 part of the Ottoman dominions ; and he 
 was on the point of declaring war against 
 
 Russia — a circumstance from which he was 
 diverted by the interference of the courts of 
 Vienna and Paris. In the meantime, the 
 dethroned shah of Persia supplicated assist- 
 ance both from Russia and Turkey; and 
 with the blind selfishness of a despot, offered 
 each of them one part of his dominions, if 
 they would secure for him the remainder, 
 Russia and Turkey, therefore, instead of 
 commencing hostilities, entered upon a 
 treaty with each other, and with the shah, 
 by which it was arranged that Russia should 
 take possession of the provinces of Ghi- 
 lan, Astaraboth, and Mazandaran, the three 
 principal provinces of the ancient kings of 
 the Medes ; w hile Turkey was to have 
 Casbin, Tauris, and Erivan. Thus was the 
 fine kingdom of Persia dismembered, through 
 the weakness of its sovereign and the tur- 
 bulence of its people. Peter thus extended 
 his empire from the extremity of the Black 
 Sea to the southern limits of the Caspian. 
 " One single man,'^ observes Voltaire, '' by 
 his active and resolute genius, raised his 
 country; while in Persia, one single man, 
 being weak and indolent, occasioned the fall 
 of his.^' 
 
 Russia was again in a state of repose, and 
 silently carrying into action the great re- 
 forms which its illustrious ruler had often 
 made too abruptly for endurance, except 
 under favourable circumstances. The em- 
 pire had become a great power in Europe, 
 and Peter was the undisputed arbiter of the 
 north. He seems now to have desired that 
 rest from toil and excitement which his 
 long life of effort had deserved. Within 
 the period of his reign he had compressed 
 the events of a couple of centuries ; and it 
 was wise to rest upon his laurels, and watch 
 the working of the new state of society he 
 had created. 
 
 It was now that Peter resolved to bestow 
 upon the partner of his anxieties that illus- 
 trious reward which he derived as much 
 honour from bestowing as Catherine did in 
 accepting. In the spring of 1724, he pro- 
 claimed his intention of crowning "the 
 empress Catherine, our dearly beloved con- 
 sort.^^ In this document, Peter again re- 
 ferred to her services on the banks of the 
 Pruth, which had evidently made a deep 
 impression upon him. " It was in this 
 desperate exigency,^^ said he, "that she 
 especially signalised a zeal and fortitude 
 above her sex; and to this all the army 
 and the whole empire can bear witness. 
 For these causes, and in virtue of the power 
 
 195 
 
 J 
 
CORONATION OF CATHERINE.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1724. 
 
 A.D. 1724.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [illness of the emteroiu 
 
 which God hath given us, we have resolved, 
 in acknowledgment of all her fatigues and 
 good offices, to honour our consort with the 
 imperial crown." The ceremony was per- 
 formed with great solemnity at Moscow, on 
 the 28th of May. Peter had not alluded to 
 his intention of making Catherine his suc- 
 cessor ; but it is probable that this corona- 
 tion was intended to prepare the people for 
 such a result. The idea gained strength from 
 the fact, that the emperor walked on foot 
 before Catherine in the procession as captain 
 of a new company, which he had created 
 on that occasion, with the title of the 
 " Kuights of the Empress." On arriving 
 at the cathedral, Peter himself placed the 
 crown upon the head of his consort. Cathe- 
 rine was much affected, and sank on her 
 knees before him, but he raised her with 
 much gentleness, and calmed her agitation. 
 On leaving the cathedral, the globe and 
 sceptre were, at his command, carried be- 
 fore lier. 
 
 Peter had taken the family of his late 
 enemy, Charles XII., into his protection, 
 and invited the Duke of Holstein, that 
 monarch's nephew, to the Russian court. 
 Soon after the coronation of Catherine, the 
 emperor bestowed upon this prince the hand 
 of his eldest daughter, Anne Petrowna. 
 This princess bore a considerable resem- 
 blance to her father, and united a majestic 
 stature with great beauty. The marriage 
 was celebrated without much show ; for the 
 health of the czar was now giving way 
 before a painful disorder from which he 
 had for some time suffered. 
 
 A strange story is related concerning 
 Catherine at this period, and treated by some 
 writers as more than apocryphal ; but it is 
 supported by the authority of Leclerc, 
 Levesque, and other writers. Voltaire 
 alludes to the circumstance, but omits the 
 darkest portion of it, which he might have 
 done from motives of policy. If it is true, 
 Peter was, with difficulty, restrained from 
 sending to the scaffold the woman upon 
 whose head he had so recently placed the 
 crown. It is to be wished that the story is 
 false ; but the subsequent licentiousness 
 and intemperance of the empress, give to it 
 a strong colouring of probability. Peter, 
 though much attached to the sex, was ever 
 rather a sensualist than a lover ; and, except 
 in the case of Catherine, never seems to 
 have won the affection of any of the rather 
 numerous list of ladies with whom he had 
 lived on terms of more than ordinary 
 J 96 
 
 familiarity. If this narrative be true, we 
 must believe that she also never regarded 
 him with that pure, elevating emotion which 
 is known as love. In that case she might 
 have regarded him with gratitude, or with 
 admiration; but assuredly never with love. 
 The narrative of which we speak runs thus : 
 — Catherine had amongst her chamberlains 
 a very handsome young jjentleman, of agree- 
 able manners, named Moens de la Croix, 
 whose sister, many years previously, had 
 for a short time been the mistress of the 
 czar. This sister — then the widow of a 
 Russian general named Balk — was also em- 
 ployed at court in the capacity of first 
 dresser to the empress. Both brother and 
 sister possessed great influence with the 
 empress ; and, after a time, a guilty passion 
 sprung up between Catherine and the hand- 
 some chamberlain. So unguarded was their 
 conduct, that the suspicions of Peter were 
 aroused, and he caused the empress and her 
 supposed paramour to be watched. The court 
 at this period was held at Peterhoff; and 
 early one morning Prince Repnin, president 
 of the war department, who slept not far from 
 the czar, was roused from his sleep by the 
 door of his chamber being violently thrown 
 open. Starting up, he beheld some one 
 enter abruptly, and soon recognised the 
 czar, who stood by the bedside, his eyes 
 sparkling with rage, and his features livid 
 and distorted with convulsive fury. Repnin 
 remained for a time speechless from as- 
 tonishment and terror, and fearing that he 
 had in some way excited this storm of 
 passion in the czar, gave himself up for 
 lost. After a pause, the czar, in a hoarse 
 and broken voice, exclaimed — '^ Get up ! 
 speak to me ! there's no need to dress 
 yourself." The marshal obeyed ; and then 
 learned that the czar, acting upon informa- 
 tion conveyed to him by his spies, had 
 suddenly entered the chamber of Catherine, 
 and discovered her in the arms of her 
 paramour. Peter, struck with so monstrous 
 an ingratitude on the part of one to whom 
 he had borne so much affection, expressed 
 his determination of consigning the em- 
 press, at daybreak, to the hands of the 
 headsman. Marshal Repnin, having by 
 this time recovered his composure, ventured 
 to expostulate with his sovereign. The un- 
 expected treachery of the empress was, he 
 said, shocking ; but he suggested to the 
 czar that her crime was yet known to no 
 one, and that it would be highly impolitic 
 to make it public. He made bold to remind 
 
 the czar of the massacre of the Strelitz, and 
 that every sfibsequent year had been en- 
 sanguined with executions ; ^hat, in fine, 
 after the imprisonment of his sister, the 
 condemning of his son to death, and the 
 imprisonment of his first wife, if he should 
 likewise cut off the head of the second, the 
 inhabitants of other countries might come 
 to regard him as a ferocious sovereign, who 
 thirsted for the blood of his subjects, and 
 even for that of his own kindred. He 
 added, that the czar might punish Moens by 
 delivering him to the sword of the law upon 
 some other charge ; and also find means to 
 get rid of the empress, without any stain 
 upon his honour or his glory. 
 
 Peter listened in gloomy silence ; and 
 then, suffering frightfully from the convul- 
 sions which commonly attacked him while 
 under powerful excitement, he went into 
 the adjoining room, and walked hurriedly 
 backwards and forwards for about two 
 hours. Then, being somewhat subdued, he 
 returned to the marshal, and said — " Moens 
 shall die immediately ; and I will watch the 
 empress so closely, that her first slip shall 
 cost her her life !" 
 
 Moens and his sister were arrested the 
 next morning, upon an ideal charge of 
 having received bribes from the enemies of 
 the country, for the purpose of inducing the 
 empress to act upon the mind of the czar in 
 a way injurious to the interests of Russia. 
 With a hope of saving the life and honour 
 of the empress, Moens pleaded guilty to the 
 false charge brought against him, was con- 
 demned, and beheaded. His sister, who 
 had acted as a pander to his guilt, received 
 five strokes with the knout, and was banished 
 to Siberia; while her sons — one a chamber- 
 lain, and the other a page — were compelled 
 to serve in the army as common soldiers, 
 and sent in that capacity to the Persian 
 frontier. Marshal Repnin adds, that the 
 emperor never after spoke to Catherine, 
 except in public ; but this is certainly un- 
 true, as she attended him most assiduously 
 during his last illness ; and he died in her 
 arms. Probably the narrative we have just 
 related, and which we do not wish our 
 readers to accept without suspicion, is a 
 mingling of truth with falsehood. It is 
 known that Moens, his sister and her sons, 
 were punished in the way we have mentioned, 
 on a charge of accepting guilty bribes. 
 Perhaps Peter suspected Moens of being the 
 paramour of the empress, instead of detect- 
 ing him in her chamber at an hour which 
 
 left no doubt of guilt. A suspicion would 
 have been enough for so vindictive a man 
 as the czar to have acted upon ; and he was 
 not at all likely, having once entertained a 
 suspicion of the fidelity of his consort, to 
 remain almost in indifference until indis- 
 cretion ripened into her guilt and his dis- 
 honour. We are inclined to believe that 
 Moens fell a victim to the jealous fears of 
 the czar; that Catherine might have been 
 either guilty or innocent (and there is 
 much to favour either supposition), but 
 that she had the address to make Peter 
 believe her the latter, and to regain the 
 tottering place she held in his affections. 
 Certainly, in the almost uxorious passion 
 which the czar entertained for her, she had 
 a powerful advocate. 
 
 The health of Peter had for some time 
 been seriously impaired; but he had con- 
 cealed his disorder from his physicians, and 
 suffered in silence. It was a strangury, 
 from which he sought relief by fits of intem- 
 perance, which, while they brought a mo- 
 mentary alleviation, tended in the end to ag- 
 gravate the severity of his complaint. Dur- 
 ing the summer of 1724, his sufferings from 
 this cause became so severe, that he was 
 induced, despite his reluctance, to seek the 
 advice of his physicians. They found him 
 in a very dangerous state, and he was com- 
 pelled to keep his room for nearly four 
 months. Late in the autumn, finding him- 
 self much better, he resolved to visit the 
 works on Lake Ladoga, which were not 
 proceeding so rapidly as he wished. His 
 medical attendants expostulated against this 
 imprudence, but in vain. During the whole 
 of October he traversed the fetid marshes in 
 the neighbourhood of the lake. Feeble as 
 he was physically, he had lost nothing of 
 his former mental energy. He discharged 
 the unskilful engineer whose blundering 
 had retarded the progress of the work. 
 " Pisaref," said he to him, " there are two 
 kinds of faults — the one, when we err from 
 ignorance ; the other (which is more inex- 
 cusable) when we do not make use of our 
 five senses. Why are not the banks of this 
 canal prevented from giving way? Why 
 are there so many windings? Where are 
 the hills which you made an objection? 
 Truly you are an'absolute knave!" Turn- 
 ing to the engineer whose plans he ap- 
 proved, the czar addressed him with the title 
 of '' friend," and placed 25,000 workmen 
 under his orders. 
 
 Impelled by a restless and feverish ac- 
 
 197 
 
 \ 
 
DEATH OF PETER.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1725. 
 
 A.D. 1725.] 
 
 tivity, the czar proceeded to the extremity 
 of Lake Ilmen, and also to the salt-works of 
 Starai Roussa. On his return to St. Peters- 
 burg he turned from the road and pro- 
 ceeded to Finland, to inspect some manu- 
 factories he had established there. Enter- 
 ing the port of Lachta when the sea was 
 rough and the weather threatening, he saw 
 a small vessel, filled with soldiers and sailors, 
 stranded on a shoal, and in danger of 
 perishing from the ignorance of the un- 
 skilful mariners. Peter was an able pilot, 
 and he shouted to the men the course they 
 should pursue; but his voice was drowned 
 by the wind and the roaring of the sea. 
 He then sent a shallop to assist them; but 
 those who manned it were timid sailors, and 
 failed to render the required assistance. 
 Resolved to save the poor fellows whose 
 perilous situation had excited his compas- 
 sion, the czar entered a skiff, and him- 
 self pushed off for the spot. As his boat 
 could not reach the shoal, he leaped into 
 the sea, and wading to the boat, succeeded 
 in saving those on board of it, and convey- 
 ing them to the shore. 
 
 For this noble act he paid a severe 
 penalty. He took a violent cold, and during 
 the night his disease returned with all its 
 former severity. A burning fever also 
 seized him, and he suffered acute agonies. 
 He was removed to St. Petersburg, where 
 liis alarmed physicians feared that gangrene 
 and its fsital results were not to be averted. 
 Even in this alarming situation, the czar 
 attended to business in every interval of 
 suffering. He laboured to the last; and, 
 as it has been finely said, he paused only to 
 die. Two months he languished in this 
 condition ; at times prostrate with suffering, 
 and at others seeming to triumph over 
 disease and impending death, by the force 
 of a will accustomed to subdue everything. 
 About the middle of January, 1725, he 
 even braved the severity of the weather; 
 and, venturing out, attended the ceremony 
 of blessing the water. The following day 
 his most distressing symptoms returned 
 with all their force; and he suffered also 
 from a difficulty of breathing. 
 
 The most distinguished physicians that 
 could be procured, not only in St. Peters- 
 burg, but also from Leyden and Berlin, 
 were collected around his bed. They used 
 every means known to them to allay his 
 terrible malady; but it is said they only 
 tortured the illustrious patient, whom they 
 sought in vain to save. His agonies were 
 198 
 
 sometimes so great, that he filled the palace 
 with his cries ; then, ashamed of this in- 
 voluntary expression of his tortured frame, 
 he mournfully exclaimed, that "in him 
 might be plainly seen what a wretched ani- 
 mal is man V* 
 
 The czar lingered until about the end of 
 the month, and a few days before his death 
 he resigned himself to his approaching fate ; 
 for at first he did not appear to think that 
 his disorder would terminate fatally. On 
 the 26th he received the last consolations of 
 religion, and observed—" I dare hope that 
 God will look upon me with a merciful eye for 
 all the good that 1 have done to my countrv !" 
 To the last he thought of his beloved 
 reforms; and, in intervals of ease and reason 
 (for he was frequently in a state of de- 
 lirium), he directed Catherine to protect 
 his academy of sciences, and to invite to it 
 the learned men of Europe. Then, point- 
 ing out the virtuous and able Count Oster- 
 mann to her, he exclaimed—" Russia cannot 
 do without him; he is the only man wlio 
 knows her real interests.^' Ever occupied 
 with the labours of life, Peter had neglected 
 to write his will. He now, when it was too 
 late, sought to remedy this oversight. He 
 attempted to write, but his hand was no 
 longer sufficiently steady for that purpose, 
 and, after tracing a few almost illegible 
 words, he was compelled to give up the 
 attempt. When the paper was examined, 
 nothing further could be made out from it 
 
 than the words — "Give all to /' 
 
 Signifying his desire that his favourite 
 daughter, the Princess Anne, should attend, 
 he thought to dictate to her that which his 
 powerless fingers could not set down. Be- 
 fore she arrived, he was seized with a fit 
 which rendered him speechless, and pa- 
 ralysed his left side. For fifteen hours he 
 remained in this sad state, almost between 
 the living and the dead. Catherine watched 
 anxiously by his bedside, which she had 
 scarcely left during three successive nights. 
 At length, on the 28th of January, 1725, 
 about four in the morning, he breathed his 
 last in her arms. Thus, in the fifty-second 
 year of his life, and the forty-third of his 
 reign, died the most remarkable and gifted 
 monarch that Russia has ever possessed. 
 
 The body of the deceased emperor was 
 removed into the great hall of the palace, 
 followed by the imperial family, the senate, 
 and an immense number of persons of dis- 
 tinction. It was there laid on a bed of state, 
 and the people adn:'ned to kiss the cold 
 
 hand of the potentate who had effected such 
 mighty changes in the empire. His funeral 
 was conducted with a magnificence worthy 
 of his great achievements, and the most dis- 
 tinguished honours were paid to his memory 
 by a people who had at length learned to 
 value the greatness of their imperial re- 
 former; the true founder of modern Russia. 
 Since the death of Peter the Great, an 
 aggressive and absorbing policy, with respect 
 to other nations, has been observable in the 
 Russian government. This has probably 
 arisen from the necessity it felt for the ex- 
 tension of its seaboard, and the multiplica- 
 tion of its outlets into the great trading seas 
 of Europe ; but it has generally been attri- 
 buted to directions said to be bequeathed by 
 the czar Peter to his successors, and since 
 then handed down as a cabinet secret from 
 sovereign to sovereign. These directions, 
 contained in a document denominated the 
 " Will of Peter the Great,'' contain a plan for 
 the subjugation of Europe beneath Russian 
 supremacy, and the erection of a colossal 
 empire, extending over the whole civilised 
 and semi-civilised world. We have given 
 the text of this " will" elsewhere, * and have 
 in the same place reiterated the doubt gen- 
 erally expressed as to its authenticity. That 
 doubt we now repeat; for, upon a further 
 consideration -of the contents of this paper, 
 we are inclined to believe it a forgery; 
 though we will admit that it has never un- 
 dergone such an investigation — at least such 
 a known and open investigation — as the sub- 
 ject appears to demand. It is scarcely pos- 
 sible that so important and dangerous a 
 cabinet secret should have been allowed to 
 become public ; for the promulgation of it 
 might have roused all the rest of Europe 
 into a crusade against a neighbour whose 
 policy they must have regarded as incom- 
 patible with general tranquillity, or even 
 safety. But how do the believers in this 
 state paper account for its being made 
 public? They say that the empress Eliza- 
 beth, enamoured of the notorious Chevalier 
 d'Eon (a creature of tainted character and 
 doubtful sex, who was sent from the court of 
 France to Russia as a secret agent), allowed 
 him extraordinary opportunities for making 
 iniportant discoveries, and that he trans- 
 mitted this document to Louis XV. in 1757. 
 The tale is a romantic and suspicious one. 
 Certainly the will first became public through 
 the medium of D'Eon; and what more pro- 
 bable than that he composed it, taking as 
 • History of the War tcith Russia, vol. ii., p. 83. 
 
 RUSSIAN EiMPIRE. [supposed policy of peter. 
 
 his cue some vague hints dropped by Russian 
 statesmen or politicians, whose ambition and 
 national vanity were much greater than their 
 prudence and their wisdom. 
 
 But apart from the suspicious nature of 
 the external evidence given in support of the 
 authenticity of this paper, we do not think 
 that an examination of the contents of it 
 favours the supposition that it represents the 
 matured thoughts of Peter the Great. A 
 scheme of universal conquest bv a man who 
 never fought a single battle for the sake of 
 glory, but ever regarded war only as a means 
 to some useful and profitable end ! It has 
 an air of incredibility. Of what use would 
 the sovereignty of Europe have been to 
 Peter or his successors ? To achieve it, would 
 exhaust the strength of Russia in incessant 
 wars; to maintain it, would be to convert 
 half her population into a military pohce, 
 and to engage her in the continual sup- 
 pression of revolutions, which, by their 
 number, and the bloody fury with which 
 they would inevitably be conducted, would 
 probably ultimately triumph, from the in- 
 ternal feebleness and inanition of their 
 despot. European dominion would have 
 distracted Russia from itself, and it would 
 have fallen back towards barbarism, and pro- 
 bably been broken up again into petty and in- 
 significant states. Such extensive rule could 
 not be grasped by any ordinary hand, nor con- 
 ducted by any merely human head. Beneath 
 a powerful sovereign such an empire would 
 be always threatened with disruption; and 
 the accession of a weak one would inevitably 
 be followed by confusion, war, and ruin. In 
 later days the great Napoleon tried to 
 realise the day-dream of European conquest, 
 and the result was ruin to himself, prostra- 
 tion to France. Peter understood these 
 views. "It is,'' said he, on one occasion, 
 '* not land, but ivater, that Russia wants.'' 
 Russia had, in his time, more land than her 
 population could reclaim from the barren 
 wildness of nature; and such is yet the case. 
 Russia requires concentration and compres- 
 sion, not extension; for assuredly any great 
 extension would lead to its widely-separated 
 parts falling asunder, and becoming divided, 
 and perhaps antagonistic states. 
 
 As to the idle rant which the "will" attri- 
 butes to Peter, about Russia regenerating 
 worn-out Europe, a very little reflection 
 will show that the attempt at Russian supre- 
 macy would be far more likely to barbarisc 
 Europe. The great czar knew this, and he 
 regarded the old states of Europe with ad- 
 
 199 
 
 « T < 
 
 i» 
 
CHARACTER OF PETER.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1725. 
 
 I 
 
 {' 
 
 miration. He studied civilisation from them, 
 and ever held them up to his nobles and 
 people »H models. He was aware that 
 Europe had nothing to learn from Russia, 
 but that Russia had everything to learn 
 from Europe. So strongly did this convic- 
 tion appear in his actions, that he has been 
 reproached as having forced upon the Rus- 
 sians an imitative civilisation unsuited to 
 their national character, in preference to 
 letting their better qualities slowly develop 
 themselves. We do not share this opinion, 
 for Peter had to do with a vast nation of 
 semi-savages, whom he was compelled to 
 rend abruptly away from their barbarous 
 habits, and to coerce into decency and hu- 
 manity. It was necessary to tell them what 
 to do, and how to think; to open their 
 minds ; and reform, nay, altogether recreate, 
 their manners. With this object, he com- 
 pelled them to dress, and live, mingle to- 
 gether, and marry like the inhabitants of the 
 most polished states of Europe. Yet we are 
 told that the far-seeing, deep-thinking czar, 
 who never talked for display, and was as 
 plain in his speech and writing as he was in 
 his dress, babbled about Russia fertilising 
 and regenerating worn-out Europe.* Peter's 
 own opinion of his subjects was not a flatter- 
 ing one ; assuredly he did not regard them as 
 civilizers. To those around him, he would ex- 
 claim — " You may make war on wild beasts ; 
 it is a pleasure which is not unbecoming to 
 you ; but as for me, I cannot amuse myself 
 in such a manner, while I have so many to 
 combat in my obstinate and intractable sub- 
 jects. Uiey are animals whom I have dressed 
 like men, I often despair of overcoming their 
 pertinacity, and eradicating their wickedness 
 from their hearts. Let me, therefore, be no 
 longer painted as a cruel tyrant by those who 
 are unacquainted with the circumstances 
 which have imperiously directed my conduct: 
 what numbers of persons have thwarted my 
 designs, rendered abortive my most beneficial 
 plans for the country, and compelled me to 
 use the utmost rigour. I sought for their 
 assistance, and appealed to their patriotism. 
 Those who have comprehended and seconded 
 me, and have been the most useful to my 
 people, I have loaded with rewards; they 
 have been my only favourites !'' 
 
 • That the existing military despotisms of Europe 
 will be comparatively short-lived, is probable ; that 
 they must eventually perish, is certain ; but the re- 
 generating power will not come from without, but 
 arise from within. Nations become decrepit, but 
 man is ever young. The worn-out, expiring empire 
 
 200 
 
 The character of Peter was a complex 
 one; made up of diverse, and in some re- 
 spects discordant, qualities. Few men arc 
 wholly good or wholly evil : almost all are 
 both good and evil, according to the passion 
 or appetite which predominates at the time; 
 for our virtues and our vices spring from the 
 same germ ; and the last are but a morbid 
 exaggeration of the first. - Though a great 
 and most original man, Peter was still but 
 an extraordinary barbarian, who all his life 
 offered a noble homage to the civilisation 
 which he admired, but did not possess. He 
 once observed, after a fit of intoxication, 
 during which he had been guilty of some 
 violence, that he could reform his subjects, 
 but he could not reform himself — an ad- 
 mission as sad as it was evidently true. 
 Such was the vehemence and untameable 
 energy of this great, wild man — this Samp- 
 son, who pulled down the temple of bar- 
 barism, and crushed its obstinate votaries 
 beneath its ruins — that his habitual industry 
 extended to his vices. He was a drunkard, 
 even to the glaring, wolfish madness of in- 
 toxication; and a coarse sensualist, even 
 to that point where depraved appetite sinks 
 into pruriency. His ferocity was such, 
 that, when thoroughly aroused, he panted 
 for blood ; and the sighs and agonizing 
 moans of wretches on the rack, the wheel, 
 or the impaling stake, were as horrible 
 music to his ears. Such were his vices, and 
 they are terrible ones ; but every allowance 
 should be made for this great creature, 
 whose boyhood was purposely exposed to 
 contamination, whose education was such 
 as he himself gathered without any guide on 
 whom he could rely, and who was exposed 
 to obstacles which would have overwhelmed 
 almost any other man. The frantic oppo- 
 sition he had to subdue in his crusade of 
 civilisation, is an acceptable, if not altogether 
 sufficient apology for his cruelty ; while his 
 drunkenness and licentiousness were merely 
 personal vices, and did not affect his people. 
 Great as were the vices of this illustrious 
 sovereign, his noble qualities far outshone 
 them. He was the most industrious of 
 men, and commonly both frugal and self- 
 denying. He idolised his country, lived for 
 it utterly, laboured for it incessantly, and, 
 
 which is torn asunder by revolutions, or divided by 
 the swords of conquerors, yields in its dying struggles 
 those germs which, in the grand career of time, 
 ripen into young and more teachable nations. Na- 
 ture is ever employed in renewing the youth of the 
 world. 
 
 A.D. 1725.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [character of peter. 
 
 by his almost superhuman exertions, raised 
 it from a distracted, barbarous, and despised 
 state to a powerful empire, with a numerous 
 and a highly-disciplined army; a navy which 
 was not only promising, but powerful; a 
 commerce which was rapidly becoming a 
 broad and inexhaustible source of wealth ; 
 and a reputation for national dignity and 
 influence second to no state in Europe. 
 Never did he abandon his exertions for the 
 exaltation and benefit of his native land. 
 We are struck with wonder and admiration 
 at the number and extent of his labours, 
 and the untiring perseverance with which 
 he urged them into practice. He greatly 
 enlarged the boundaries of the empire, and 
 gave it an outlet to the sea, both in the 
 north and in the south. His navies arose 
 with a rapidity that resembled the fabulous 
 works of enchantment, and his fleets feared 
 no foe, either upon the waters of the Baltic 
 or the Euxine. Hitherto the army of 
 Russia had been little better than a savage 
 and riotous mob ; this he exterminated, and 
 supplied its place by one organised upon 
 the systems pursued by the most military 
 nations of Europe. He established many 
 institutions for the cultivation of science, 
 literature, and the arts, and also for humane 
 and charitable purposes. Above all, he 
 modified and improved the character of the 
 people; softened their sullen and brutal 
 manners; gave touches of social grace to 
 their domestic life ; did something towards 
 breaking up their apathetic ignorance and 
 superstition; and, indeed, raised them in 
 the scale of existence. These things make 
 the impartial mind look with a glance of 
 regret upon his ferocity, his storms of pas- 
 sion, his wild impulses, and his vulgar riots. 
 It is difficult to dwell harshly on these 
 painful topics, when we contemplate the 
 character of the heroic sovereign to whom 
 his people gave, with acclamations, the title 
 of Father, and whose grateful descendants 
 regard him with a feeling approaching 
 adoration, as the embodiment of the tute- 
 lary Genius of the Empire. 
 
 Here we shall introduce a few anecdotes 
 and remarks concerning Peter, which are 
 rather illustrative of his character than of 
 the history of his country. He was an 
 early riser, commonly leaving his bed at the 
 hour of four, even during the winter, and 
 lighting his own fire. He dined at one; 
 and though not a large feeder, would eat 
 anything except fish, to which he had an 
 
 VOL. I. 2d 
 
 antipathy. He altogether discarded the 
 solitary state, during meals, of his prede- 
 cessors on the imperial throne, and loved 
 to dine with Dutch and English skippers, 
 with whom he conversed familiarlv, and 
 enjoyed his clay pipe and mug of quass. 
 
 Sometimes the czar would pilot the foreign 
 vessels that came to Cronstadt ; on which 
 occasions he always took his pay like other 
 pilots, chiefly because he desired to render 
 the service honourable He commonly re- 
 ceived the ambassadors sent to Russia, 
 wherever he chanced to be, without any 
 ceremony; because, he said, thev were 
 accredited to his person, and not *^to any 
 hall or palace. M. Printz, the Prussian 
 ambassador, was taken on board a ship to 
 be introduced to the czar, where Peter, who 
 was aloft, shouted to him to climb up into 
 the maintop, though the eccentric sovereign 
 came down to the quarter-deck, on his 
 visitor pleading his want of practice as an 
 excuse for not complying with so unusual a 
 request. Occasionally, the czar's humours 
 placed those who shared them in dangerous 
 positions. One day he invited several 
 foreign ministers to accompany him on a 
 trip by water from St. Petersburg to Cron- 
 stadt. About half-way the vessel was 
 caught in a sudden storm. One of the 
 ambassadors implored the czar, who was 
 steersman, to make for the shore. " We 
 shall all be lost," he added, in accents of 
 terror, "and your majesty will have to 
 answer for my life to the king my master.'' 
 Peter laughed as he replied, " Sir, if you 
 are drowned, we shall all go to the bottom 
 with you, and there will be nobody left to 
 answer to your court for your excellency's 
 life." 
 
 The czar usually indulged in an hour's 
 sleep after dinner. When he was from 
 home he would lie down for this refresh- 
 ment on the deck of a ship, the floor of a 
 hut, or even the bare ground, if no more 
 convenient resting-place was to be had. 
 When disposed to sleep, the officer in at- 
 tendance upon him had to he down and 
 support his mastei-'s head on his belly, in 
 which position he was expected to remain as 
 still as the pillow he represented. If by a 
 motion, cough, or sneeze, he woke the czar, 
 the latter kicked or thumped him for liis 
 restlessness. Indeed, no one about him 
 was secure from personal violence, as, when 
 offended, he frequently struck or caned his 
 principal officers or nobles, even in pubhc. 
 So common had this become, that the sense 
 
 201 
 
 't 
 
 
 .v:i 
 
ANECDOTES OF PETER.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1725. 
 
 A.D. 1725.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [m.^nners of the Russians. 
 
 I 
 
 of degradation attending it was lost sight of, 
 and, by a pleasant fiction, those who suffered 
 such chastisement, regarded it as a sort of 
 fatherly correction. Having on one oc- 
 casion beaten some of his ministers for a 
 fault which they afterwards satisfied him 
 liad not been committed, he rendered a sort 
 of apology by acknowledging his mistake, 
 and promising to make an allowance the 
 next time they deserved chastisement. With 
 .this impetuous irritability, he was patient 
 and courteous to all persons who desired to 
 lay some useful project before him. He 
 caused the requisite experiments to be made 
 in his presence, and liberally rewarded those 
 who devised anything new, and, not unfre- 
 quently, even those who deceived themselves. 
 To the latter, he would kindly explain the 
 causes of their mistake ; because, he said, 
 he wished to encourage them to do some- 
 thing better. In the same generous temper, 
 he would stand godfather to the children 
 even of the poorest persons who had the 
 confidence to request such a favour at his 
 hands. He would also occasionallv dine 
 and talk familiarly with the common soldiers, 
 and behave towards them with so much 
 simplicity, that he seemed for the time 
 rather their companion than tlieir sovereign. 
 Such popular manners, as soon as they were 
 understood by the then unsocial Russian 
 people, much endeared the czar to his sub- 
 jects. 
 
 With all Peter's manual labours he did 
 not neglect mental cultivation. He not 
 only ordered a number of useful works to 
 be translated into the Russian language, 
 but also translated several himself. Amongst 
 the latter were U Architecture de Sebastien 
 Iteclerc, UArt de Tourner, par Plumier (the 
 fizar was a very skilful turner), and UArt 
 des Ecluses et des Moulins, par Sturm. The 
 manuscripts of these, in the handwriting of 
 the emperor, are still preserved at St. 
 Petersburg. In any Russian version which 
 he ordered to be made of a foreign work, if, 
 as sometimes happened, the translator modi- 
 fied passages which reflected upon the Rus- 
 sians, Peter would severely rebuke him, and 
 have the passage literally rendered. " He 
 did not,^' he observed, "want to flatter his 
 subjects, but to instruct them ; and, espe- 
 cially, to show them what they had been, 
 and what foreigners thought of them, that 
 he might stimulate them to change, by their 
 exertions, the opinion of Europe." 
 
 In the gusts of passion to which the czar 
 was subject, a manly and fearless expostu- 
 202 
 
 lation would sometimes disarm his fury. 
 One day, while on board a boat, he, in a 
 fit of anger, seized a senator who had 
 offended him, and was about to hurl him 
 into the water, when the other exclaimed 
 — " You may drown me, but your history 
 will tell of this." Peter felt the reproof, 
 and, admiring the self-possession of the 
 man who gave it, set him down unhurt. 
 
 We will conclude this chapter with a 
 curious picture of the manners of Peter and 
 his court while at table. Assuredly the 
 Russians of that period were disgustingly 
 coarse in their habits ; and their conduct, as 
 here described, forms a striking contrast to 
 the highly-polished manners and personal 
 dignity of the Russian nobles and gentry of 
 the present day. The following description 
 is taken from a manuscript in the hand- 
 writing of Dr. Birch, contained among the 
 Sloane papers in the British Museum : — 
 " There are twenty-four cooks belonging 
 to the kitchen of the Russian court, who 
 are all Russians; and as people of that 
 nation use a great deal of onions, garlic, 
 and train oil in dressing their meat, and 
 employ linseed and walnut oil for their 
 provisions, there is such an intolerable stink 
 in their kitchen, that no stranger is able to 
 bear it, especially the cooks being such 
 nasty fellows, that the very sight of them is 
 enough to turn one's stomach; these are 
 the men who, on great festivals, dress about 
 seventy or eighty or more dishes. But the 
 fowls which are for the czar's own eating 
 are very often dressed by his grand mar- 
 shal, Alseffiof, who is running up and down, 
 with his apron before him, among the other 
 cooks till it is time to take up dinner, when 
 he puts on his fine clothes and full-bottomed 
 wig, and helps to serve up the dinner. The 
 number of persons invited is generally two 
 or three hundred, though there is room for 
 no more than above a hundred at four or five 
 tables ; but as there is no place assigned to 
 anybody, and none of the Russians are wil- 
 ling to go home with an empty stomach, 
 everybody is obliged to seize his chair and 
 hold it with all his force, if he will not have 
 it snatched from him. 
 
 "The czar being come in, and having 
 chosen a place for himself, there is such 
 scuffling and fighting for chairs, that nothing 
 more scandalous can be seen in any com- 
 pany, though the czar does not mind it in 
 the least, nor does he take care for putting 
 a stop to such disorder, pretending that a 
 ceremony, and the formal regulations of a 
 
 marshal, make people sit uneasy and spoil 
 the pleasure of conversation. Several foreign 
 ministers have complained of this to the 
 czar, and refuse to dine any more at Court, 
 but all the answer they got was, that it was 
 not the czar's business to turn master of 
 the ceremonies, and please foreigners, nor 
 was it his intention to abolish the freedom 
 once introduced ; this obliged strangers for 
 the future to follow the Russian fashion, in 
 defending the possession of their chairs, by 
 cuffing and ^boxing their opposer. The 
 company thus sitting down to table without 
 any manner of grace, they all sit so crowded 
 together, that they have much ado to lift 
 their hands to their mouths; and if a 
 stranger happens to sit between two Rus- 
 sians, which is commonly the case, he is 
 sure of losing his stomach, though he should 
 have happened to have eaten nothing for two 
 days before. Carpenters and shipwrights 
 sit next to the czar ; but senators, ministers, 
 generals, priests, sailors, buffoons of all 
 kinds, sit pell-mell without any distinction. 
 The first course consists of nothing but cold 
 meats, among which are hams, dried tongues, 
 and the like, which, not being liable to such 
 tricks as shall be mentioned hereafter, 
 strangers ordinarily make their whole meal 
 of them, without tasting anything else, 
 though generally speaking, every one takes 
 his dinner beforehand at home. 
 
 "Soups and roasted meats make the 
 second course, and pastry the third. As 
 soon as one sits down, one is obliged to 
 drink a cup of brandy, after which they ply 
 you with great glasses of adulterated Tokay, 
 and other vitiated wines, and between 
 whiles, a bumper of the strongest English 
 beer, by which mixture of liquors every one 
 of the guests is fuddled before the soup is 
 served up. The company being in this 
 condition, make such a noise, racket, hal- 
 looing, that it is impossible to hear one 
 another, or even to hear the music, which is 
 playing in the next room, consisting of a 
 sort of trumpets and cornets ; for the czar 
 hates violins ; and with this revelling noise 
 and uproar the czar is extremely diverted, 
 particularly if the guests fall to boxing and 
 get bloody noses. 
 
 Formerly the company had no napkin 
 given them, but instead of it they had a 
 piece of very coarse linen given them by 
 a servant, who brought in the whole piece 
 under his arm, and cut off half an ell for 
 every person, which thev are at liberty to 
 carry home with them,- for it had been 
 
 observed that these pilfering guests used 
 sometimes to pocket the napkins; but at 
 present two or three Russians must make 
 shift with but one napkin, which they pull 
 and haul for, like hungry dogs for a bone. 
 Each person of the company has but one 
 plate during dinner; so if some Russian 
 does not care to mix' ^he sauces of the 
 different dishes together, he pours the soup 
 that is left in his plate either into the dish 
 or into his neighbour's plate, or even under 
 the table, after which he licks his plate 
 clean with his finger, and, last of all, wipes 
 it with the tablecloth. The tables are each 
 thirty or forty feet long, and ten-and-a-half 
 broad ; three or four messes of one and the 
 same course are served up to each table; 
 the dessert consists of divers sorts of pastry 
 and fruits, but the czaritza's table is fur- 
 nished with sweetmeats : however, it is to 
 be observed that these sweetmeats are only 
 set out on great festivals for a show, and 
 that the Russians of the best fashion have 
 nothing for their dessert but the produce of 
 the kitchen-garden, as peas, beans, &c., all 
 raw. At great entertainments it frequently 
 happens that nobody is allowed to go out of 
 the room from noon till midnight ; hence it 
 is easy to imagine what a pickle a room 
 must be in, that is full of people who drink 
 like beasts, and none of them escape being 
 dead drunk. 
 
 " They often tie eight or ten young mice 
 in a string, and hide them under green 
 peas, or in such soups as the Russians have 
 the greatest appetite to, which sets them a 
 kicking and vomiting in a most beastly 
 manner, when they come to the bottom and 
 discover the trick; they often bake cats, 
 wolves, ravens, and the like, in their 
 pastries, and when the company have eaten 
 them up, they tell them what they have 
 devoured. 
 
 " The present butler is one of the czar's 
 buffoons, to whom he has given the name of 
 Wiaschi, with this privilege, that if any one 
 else calls him by that name he has leave to 
 drub him with his wooden sword. If, 
 therefore, anybody, by the czar's setting 
 them on, calls out ' Wiaschi !' as the fellow- 
 does not know exactly who it was, he falls a 
 beating them all round, beginning with 
 Prince Mentschikoff and ending with the 
 last of the company, without excepting even 
 the ladies, whom he strips of their head- 
 clothes, as he does the old Russians with 
 their wigs, which he tramples upon; on 
 which occasion it is pleasant enough to see 
 
 -^203 
 
/ 
 
 STRUGGLES OF FACTTOX.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1725. 
 
 A.D. 1725.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [accession of Catherine i. 
 
 Ni 
 
 the variety of their bald pates. Besides 
 tlicse employments or entertainments, the 
 said Wiaschi is also surveyor of the ice, and 
 executioner for torturing people, on which 
 occasion he gives them the knout himself; 
 
 and his remarkable dexterity in this de- 
 testable business has already procured him 
 above 30,000 thalers, the sixth part of the 
 confiscated estates of the sufferer being hia 
 perquisite/^ 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 ATTF.MPT TO PLACE PETER's GRANDSON ON THE THRONE; CATHERINE BECOMES EMPRESS; POPULARITY OF 
 HKR EARLY PROCEEDINGS; IIER LICENTIOUSNESS ; LIBELS CONCERNING HER; HER DEATH; PETER, THE 
 SON OF ALEXIS, ASCENDS THE THRONE; DISGRACE OF MENTSCHIKOFF ; PREMATURE DEATH OF THE CZAR. 
 
 The old party, which clung to the perishing 
 customs of the past, was not extinct in 
 Russia. Peter had awed the factious among 
 the nobles, and the perversely bigoted among 
 the people, into silence; but he had not 
 convinced them of the efficacy of his re- 
 forms. The czar knew this, and, doubtless, 
 looked to the next generation for an appre- 
 ciation of his changes. 
 
 While the speechless, delirious, and pa- 
 ralysed emperor lay on his bed awaiting 
 the moment which released him from his 
 sufferings, secret cabals were in progress 
 for the purpose of bestowing the sceptre on 
 the party identified with the interests of 
 those who composed these political con- 
 claves. The old party, amongst whom were 
 many of the principal nobility, desired to place 
 Peter Alexievitch upon the throne; to arrest 
 Catherine ; to abolish the institutions that 
 had been established by the dying czar ; to 
 banish all the foreigners who had assisted in 
 the introduction of novelties ; and to restore 
 the empire to its primitive barbarism. The 
 mean origin of Prince Mentschikoff, added 
 to the insolence of his bearing, made them 
 resolve to include him in the ruin of the 
 empress. It was therefore the intention of 
 the conspirators to send her to the dreary 
 solitude of a convent, and him to the frozen 
 deserts of Siberia. 
 
 Mentschikoff was informed of these de- 
 .signs, and his interests were thus more com- 
 pletely identified with those of Catherine. 
 His measures were prompt and effective. As 
 soon as he knew that the czar was actually 
 ^yi"&> lie seized the royal treasures, caused 
 them to be conveyed into the citadel, and 
 secured the officers of the guards to his 
 interest bv bribes and promises. Then 
 204 
 
 assembling a council of some of the prin- 
 cipal clergy, senators, and officers in the 
 palace, he led Catherine into their presence. 
 Briefly addressing them, she claimed the 
 throne in right of her coronation at Mos- 
 cow ; referred to the dangers which might 
 be anticipated should it be occupied by a 
 minor ; and promised that, " so far from 
 depriving the grand-duke of the crown, she 
 would receive it only as a sacred deposit, to be 
 restored to him when she should be united, 
 in another world, to an adored husband, 
 whom she was now upon the point of 
 losing.^' This address, the utterance of 
 which was broken by tears, had consider- 
 able effect ; yet, when Catherine withdrew 
 and left the meeting to deliberate, the 
 general opinion was not altogether favour- 
 able to her claim. 
 
 As soon as Peter was dead, the great 
 nobles and the most influential of the 
 clergy thronged to the palace, with the in- 
 tention of carrying out their views respect- 
 ing the proclamation of the new sovereign. 
 The adherents of the son of Alexis were 
 confident of success, and the cause of 
 Catherine seemed doomed. Yet it was 
 stronger than her enemies believed. Count 
 Bassevitz, one of her most active partisans, 
 whispered to a chief of the opposite party — 
 " The empress is mistress of the treasure 
 and the fortress ; she has gained over the 
 guards, the synod, and many of the chief 
 nobility. Even here she has more followers 
 than you imagine. Advise, therefore, your 
 friends to make no opposition as they value 
 their heads.'' 
 
 j The rapid circulation of this statement 
 I produced a considerable effect among the 
 j worldly, the timid, and the irresolute mem- 
 
 bers of that distinguished meeting. The 
 signal Avas then given for the two regiments 
 of guards — who, won by heavy bribes, had 
 declared for Catherine, and were stationed 
 around the palace — to beat to arms. A 
 pause of excitement and consternation was 
 followed by some angry words between 
 Marshal Repnin (the commander-in-chief) 
 and General Butterlin, who had ordered 
 out the troops, as he said, " in obedience to 
 the commands of my most gracious mis- 
 tress." At this moment Catherine entered, 
 preceded by Mentschikoff, and supported 
 by her son-in-law, the Duke of Holstein. 
 After some struggle to subdue her emotion 
 (which we have no right to assume was not 
 perfectly sincere), she said — " I come, not- 
 withstanding the grief which now over- 
 whelms me, to assure you that, submissive 
 to the will of my departed husband, whose 
 memory will be ever dear to me, I am 
 ready to devote my days to the painful 
 occupations of government, until Provi- 
 dence shall summon me to follow him.'' 
 Then, after a brief pause, she added — " If 
 the grand-duke will profit by my instruc- 
 tions, perhaps I shall have the consolation, 
 during my wretched widowhood, of forming 
 for you an emperor worthy of the blood and 
 the name of him whom you have now irre- 
 trievably lost." Mentschikoff then ob- 
 served — *^As this is a crisis of such im- 
 portance to the good of the empire, and 
 requires the most mature deliberation, your 
 majesty will permit us to confer without 
 restraint, that this great business may be 
 transacted without reproach, not only in 
 the opinion of the present age, but also of 
 posterity." Catherine readily assented ; 
 and having gratuitously promised to submit 
 to the decision of the assembly, whatever it 
 might be, she retired. 
 
 Mentschikoff, who had arranged what 
 followed, then demanded of the secretary of 
 the deceased emperor, whether his late 
 master had left any written declaration of 
 his intentions with respect to who should 
 succeed him. The secretary answered ac- 
 cording to his instructions. He said — 
 '' That the emperor, a little before his last 
 journey to Moscow, had destroyed a will, 
 and that he had frequently expressed his 
 design of making another ; but had always 
 been prevented by the reflection, that if he 
 thought his people, whom he had raised 
 from a state of barbarism to a high degree 
 of power and glory, could be ungrateful, he 
 would not expose his final inclinations to 
 
 the insult of a refusal; and that if they 
 recollected what thev owed to his labours, 
 they would regulate their conduct by his 
 intentions, which he had disclosed with 
 more solemnity than could be manifested 
 by any writing." This ambiguous reply 
 was not generally regarded with satisfac- 
 tion; some confusion arose, and several of 
 the nobles of the old party opposed the 
 accession of Catherine. At this point, 
 Theophanes, one of the high dignitaries of 
 the church, reminded all present of the 
 oath which thev had taken in 1722, to 
 acknowledge the successor appointed by the 
 late emperor; whose sentiments, just de- 
 livered by his secretary, clearly pointed to 
 Catherine as the person whom he desired 
 to fill the throne after him. The opposite 
 party declared the sentiments of the late 
 emperor, as enunciated by his secretary, 
 were not so clear as he assumed them to 
 be ; and maintained, that as Peter had failed 
 to nominate his heir, the election of the 
 new sovereign should revert to the empire. 
 
 The archbishop Theophanes again inter- 
 fered in favour of Catherine, and testified, 
 that the evening before her coronation at 
 Moscow, he had heard the czar declare that 
 he should place the crown upon her head 
 with no other view than to leave her mis- 
 tress of the empire after his death. This 
 statement was confirmed by other persons 
 present ; and Mentschikoff then cried aloud, 
 "What need have we of any testament? 
 A refusal to conform to the inclination of 
 great sovereign, thus authenticated, 
 
 our 
 
 would be both unjust and criminal. Long 
 live the empress Catherine !" This shout 
 was repeated by the majority of those pre- 
 sent, and vehemently responded to by the 
 troops without, to whom Catherine pre- 
 sented herself at the windows of the palace, 
 while Mentschikoff scattered handfuls of 
 money amongst them. Thus, it has been 
 observed, was the empress raised to the 
 throne by the guards, in the same manner 
 as the Roman emperors by the praetorian 
 cohorts, without either the appointment of 
 the people or of the legions. 
 
 The accession of the low-born Catherine 
 to the imperial throne, though it was greatly 
 in opposition to the desires of the proud 
 old nobility of the empire, was yet wel- 
 comed with acclamations by the people. 
 The late emperor had been much attached 
 to her, and she had repaid his affection by 
 an entire devotion to him, and also by 
 such heroic services as are seldom per- 
 
 205 
 
1 
 
 DISSIPATION OF THE EMPRESS.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1726. 
 
 I. 
 
 I ' 
 
 formed by women. What so natural as for 
 them to transfer to her the loyalty they 
 bore towards him. Besides, the army loved 
 her; for she had often accompanied the 
 soldiers in their marches, and shared their 
 toils. 
 
 The satisfaction of the people was aug- 
 mented by the popularity and humaneness 
 of the early acts of the reign of the new 
 sovereign. The annual capitation-tax, which 
 was regarded as a heavy burden, she reduced 
 one-eighth. Most of the persons wliom 
 Peter had banished to Siberia she pardoned 
 and permitted to return. The numerous 
 gibbets which, during the late reign, had 
 been erected in various parts of the country, 
 were cut down, and the decaying bodies sus- 
 pended upon them, buried. The army was 
 paid all the arrears due to it, and many pri- 
 vileges of which the Cossacks had been de- 
 prived by Peter, were restored to them. The 
 various officers of state were retained in their 
 situations, and all parties conciliated. Thus 
 every precaution was taken to secure peace 
 within the empire ; while, as a defence against 
 external enemies, Catherine augmented the 
 army, maintained the navy in a state of 
 efficiency, and, in the first year of her reign 
 (1726), contracted a treaty with the emperor 
 of Germany, by which these two potentates 
 reciprocally guaranteed to assist each other 
 with an army of 30,000 men in case of ne- 
 cessity. By the last arrangement Catherine 
 hoped to obtain for her daughter's husband, 
 the Duke of Holstein, the succession to the 
 throne of Sweden, and to compel the king 
 of Denmark to restore to him the duchy of 
 Schleswig. She even contemplated resorting 
 to arms to obtain for the duke those posses- 
 sions to which she considered him entitled ; 
 but she was induced to forego these threat- 
 ened hostilities by the indifference of her 
 senate to a dispute which they considered 
 merely personal. 
 
 The brief reign of Catherine was not dis- 
 tinguished by any event which can be re- 
 garded as important by the historian. In- 
 deed, it has been designated the reign of 
 Mentschikoff ; for that active and ambitious 
 minister directed the chief affairs of state, 
 which the empress herself showed neither 
 ability nor inclination to guide. Mentschi- 
 
 * Voltaire says that Peter was acquainted with 
 this presumed brother of Catherine; and on the 
 authority of a person at that time in the service of 
 the czar, he relates the following story, which though 
 usually discredited, has in it nothing improbable, or 
 inconsistent with the character of such a sovereign 
 M Peter : — " An envoy from King Augustus to the I 
 
 206 ' 
 
 koff had, to some extent, been the means of 
 introducing her to fortune, and she placed 
 the most implicit confidence both in his 
 ability and his faithfulness to her interests. 
 But it was not to indolence alone that 
 Catherine now gave way. Either from the 
 influence of early habits, or powerful pas- 
 sions, from which the check of a husband's 
 presence was now removed, she became very 
 irregular and dissipated in her conduct. 
 Extremely intemperate, she frequently in- 
 dulged to excess in Tokay wine, while from 
 among the gentlemen of her court, she 
 selected two favourites at once, on both of 
 whom she bestowed her caresses. So open 
 was this licentiousness, that the rival can- 
 didates for her favours met each other with- 
 out reserve, made it their sole business to 
 please their mistress, and alternately received 
 proofs of her tenderness, without suffering 
 their tranquillity to be marred by mutual 
 jealousy. 
 
 This unbecoming behaviour strengthened 
 the dislike borne to Catherine by the old 
 anti-reform party, and gave their cause a 
 fictitious appearance of being associated with 
 that of public morality. Satirical papers 
 were constantly circulated, with the ol)ject 
 of depriving her of the respect of the people, 
 and the grossest observations were made 
 concerning her birth, her familv, and her 
 early career. So bitter and offensive did 
 these slanderous papers become, that at 
 length the empress, stung into a resent- 
 ment scarcely natural to her whose sweetness 
 of temper had become almost proverbial, 
 threatened to punish with death any person 
 who spoke or wrote disrespectfully of herself 
 or her family. This threat did not silence 
 the libellers of the empress, whose irregu- 
 larities of life further excited the enmity of 
 her traducers. One circumstance that gave 
 a colour to the popular scandals, was the 
 arrival at St. Petersburg of her brother, who 
 had never been heard of before, and on 
 whom, for the sake, it was supposed, of avert- 
 ing further discoveries, she conferred the 
 title of Count Skavronski. Something of 
 suspicion attached to this event, in conse* 
 quence of the general belief that prevailed, 
 that the empress had no knowledge whatever 
 of the members of her family.* 
 
 czar, returning to Dresden through Courland, over- 
 heard in an inn a man, whose apparel betraying 
 necessitous circumstances, was the cause of his being 
 treated with that contempt and insult to which such 
 a condition is too often exposed. The stranger, with 
 proper resentment, said to them, that could he but 
 once come to the speech of the czar, they who made 
 
 A.D. 1727.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [death of CATHBRINE I. 
 
 During the reign of Catherine two im- 
 postors arose, each assuming the name of 
 the deceased Prince Alexis, and, in imitation 
 of the Dmitris, attempting to dispute the 
 claim of the empress to the throne. Their 
 claims were, however, too transparently im- 
 pudent to obtain credence, and the authors 
 of them both expiated their vulgar fraud 
 upon the scaffold. 
 
 The life of Catherine was doubtless short- 
 ened by dissipation ; but the atmosphere of 
 slander and ill-will with which she was sur- 
 rounded, preyed upon her mind, and pro- 
 bably increased those intemperate habits 
 which proved so fatal both to her reputation 
 and her life. The rise of Prince Mentschi- 
 koff from the streets to be the most powerful 
 man in the empire ; the insolence of his be- 
 haviour to the old aristocracy ; the story of 
 his former connexion with the empress, and 
 his present position near her person — all con- 
 tributed to aggravate the malice of the dis- 
 contented, and to give greater bitterness 
 and point to their sarcasms. During the 
 life of Peter, Catherine exhibited many vir- 
 tues ; but her character, exalted by her con- 
 nection with him, seemed to lose strength 
 when he was removed from her. It has 
 been correctly said, that the latter period of 
 her short reign discovered not only the 
 
 so free with him, would change their note, as at that 
 prince's court he should find greater friends than was 
 imagined. At this the envoy had the curiosity to 
 question the person who pretended to such interest 
 at court; and on his vague answers, viewing him 
 more attentively, he thought that in many of his 
 features, he discerned some resemblance to the em- 
 press. Arriving at Dresden, he could not forbear 
 writing to a friend of his at St. Petersburg, about this 
 adventure. The letter was shown to the czar, who 
 sent instructions to Prince Repnin, governor of Riga, 
 to make an inquiry after the man mentioned in the 
 letter ; and by the diligence of a person whom the 
 prince dispatched to Mittau in Courland, he was 
 found out. His name, he said, was Charles Scav- 
 ronski ; he was son to a Lithuanian gentleman who 
 had been killed in the Polish wars, leaving two 
 children in the cradle, a boy and a girl ; both had no 
 education but from nature, being destitute of every 
 thing. Scavronski having been separated from his 
 sister in their childhood, all he knew of her was, that 
 she had been taken at Marienburg in 1704, and he 
 believed her still to be with Prince Mentschikofi", in 
 whose family he imagined she might have mended 
 her condition. Prince Repnin, according to express 
 orders from his master, had Scavronski brought to 
 Riga under pretence of some state crime ; and a kind 
 of charge being drawn up against him, he was sent 
 under a strong guard to St. Petersburg, but with direc- 
 tions that he should be well used on the road. At St. 
 Petersburg, he was immediately carried to a steward 
 of the czar's, named Sheplefi", who being instructed 
 in the part he was to act drew from this man several 
 
 abandonment of that admirable line of con- 
 duct which had secured to her the attach- 
 ment of the nation, but the adoption of 
 habits which, if death had not removed her 
 from the throne, must have ultimately ren- 
 dered her unfit to sustain the imperial duties. 
 It is probable that, had she continued much 
 longer to preside over the affairs of the 
 empire, she would have committed herself to 
 such acts of impropriety as would have 
 finally led to her dethronement. 
 
 Catherine expired on the 17th of May, 
 1727, a little more than two years after her 
 accession to the throne, and about the thirty- 
 ninth year of her age. Her death is usually, 
 and most likely correctly, attributed to a 
 cancer and a dropsy, induced by her irregu- 
 larities. Suspicious rumours, however, pre- 
 vailed concerning the cause of her demise, 
 which some writers attribute to poison. It is 
 commonly supposed that the diseases brought 
 on by her intemperate habits, in conjunc- 
 tion with her eccentric custom of passing 
 whole nights in the open air, either walking 
 or riding in sledges, produced the fatal 
 result. 
 
 In person, the empress was below the 
 average height of women. She was delicate 
 and graceful in youth, but became rather 
 corpulent as she advanced in life. With 
 
 particulars relating to his condition, after which he 
 told him, that the charge sent against him from Riga 
 was of a very serious nature, but that he should have 
 fair play ; that his best way would be to present to 
 his majesty a petition, which should be drawn up in 
 his name, and that ways and means should be found 
 out for him to deliver it himself. The next day the 
 czar dining with Shepleff, as had been concerted, 
 Scavronski was brought before him : his answers to 
 the czar's questions being perfectly natural and con- 
 sistent, Peter was fully convinced of his being the 
 very brother of the czarina. In their childhood they 
 had both been in Livonia ; all Scavronski's answers 
 to the czar's questions perfectly coincided with what 
 his spouse had told him about her birth, and the 
 early misfortunes of her life. The czar having now 
 no longer any doubt about Scavronski, proposed to 
 his spouse the day following to go and dine at Mr. 
 Shepleff 's : after dinner, he ordered Scavronski to be 
 brought in ; he appeared in the same clothes which he 
 had worn in his journey, it being the czar's order 
 that he should not be seen in any other garb than 
 that to which his misfortunes had habituated him. 
 He again questioned him before his consort, and 
 according to the manuscript, on finishing his ques- 
 tion, he said these very words : — * This man is thy 
 brother ; come Charles, kiss the empress's hand, and 
 embrace thy sister.' The author of this account adds, 
 that the empress fainted, and that on her recovery 
 the czar said to her, * There is nothing in this that is 
 in the least mysterious. This gentleman is my 
 brother-in-law : if he has merit, we will make some- 
 thing of him ; if not, we must leave him as he is.* " 
 
 207 
 
 m 
 
CHARACTER OF CATHERINE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1727. 
 
 f 
 
 dark eyes, she possessed a fair complexion 
 and light hair, which she had the bad taste 
 to dye black. It is asserted that she could 
 neither read nor write, and that Count 
 Ostermann signed lier name to all the 
 despatches. Her natural abilities did not 
 rise much above the average of those of 
 women generally; but in her connection with 
 Peter, she exhibited much of that fidelity, 
 self-denial, and personal fearlessness wliich 
 ever mingles largely with the heroic. Her 
 influence over the czar arose from a source 
 purely womanly ; it was the soft charm of 
 sweetness of temper, not the proud spell 
 of mental power. Men of such laborious 
 habits as Peter, and whose minds are almost 
 always stretched upon the rack of excitement, 
 usually love those women in whose society 
 they can find repose. Stern as they may 
 be to the world, yet, in the brief placid 
 hours they yield to domestic life, they also 
 perhaps inwardly murmur, " Blessed is the 
 woman who consoles." This was the part of 
 Catherine ; to cheer the great man in those 
 gloomy hours when his strong nature yielded 
 to sadness, or, almost overwhelmed with 
 difficulties, staggered with uncertain steps 
 near the sharp precipice of despair. When 
 enclosed within living walls on the banks of 
 the Pruth; when tortured by the mental 
 blindness and ingratitude of a son whom 
 he sought in vain to convert into a worthy 
 successor ; or racked by an agonising dis- 
 ease which wrung groans from his iron 
 frame — the czar ever found Catherine at 
 hand to speak those soothing words, render 
 those tender courtesies, which tranquillise 
 and console. It was to this, and not to 
 strength of intellect or quickness of imagina- 
 tion, that she owed the affection borne to 
 her by her illustrious husband. Motraye 
 observed — *^ She had in some sort the gov- 
 ernment of all the czar's passions; and 
 even saved the lives of a great many more 
 persons than Lefort was able to do. She 
 inspired him with that humanity which, in 
 the opinion of his subjects, nature seemed 
 to have' denied him. A word from her 
 mouth in favour of a wretch just going to 
 be sacrificed to his anger, would disarm 
 him ; but if he was fully resolved to satisfy 
 that passion, he would give orders for tlie 
 execution when she was absent, for fear she 
 should plead for the victim." The cele- 
 brated Munich also declared, that " she was 
 the mediatrix between the monarch and his 
 subjects." 
 
 It is much to be rpgretted that the later 
 208 
 
 incidents of the career of Catherine should 
 sully the period of her life which had been 
 passed without reproach. The irregularities 
 of her early life it requires no great exercise 
 of charity to pardon, but those of her later 
 days do not admit of apology. '' The 
 power of early habits," says a writer to 
 whom we have been much indebted, " unless 
 it be restrained by strong motives, or curbed 
 by the presence of overruling authority, ex- 
 tends to the last moments of life, even 
 should it have been suppressed during a long 
 interval of vears. Such seems to have been 
 the case with the empress Catherine; nor 
 shall we find, upon a close analysis of her 
 history, that she was exactly placed in a 
 situation to discourage the lurking propen- 
 sities of the class from which she si)rung, 
 until a very short period before her death. 
 Her connection with Peter, if not actually 
 ambiguous, was at least private, and graced 
 by none of the privileges of the nominal 
 eminence to which it apparently elevated 
 her. Her coronation invested her, for the 
 first time, with authority; previously to 
 that event she was the chamber confidant of 
 the czar, the creature of his will, and the 
 nurse of his distempers. It is true that he 
 married her privately; but, unlike Madame 
 Maintenon, she could not confer upon that 
 secret union those ennobling embellishments 
 of feeling and of intellect that would have 
 rendered it respectable. The blemishes of 
 her private life, worse than the blemish on 
 her birth, could never be obliterated. It 
 cannot, therefore, excite much wonder that, 
 when she came at last into the possession of 
 unbounded authority, released from the sur- 
 veillance of a rigid sovereign, and left to 
 the free play of her natural tendencies, she 
 should have terminated her course in a way 
 consistent with the spirit of its opening." 
 
 Catherine, by will, bequeathed the throne 
 to the grandson of her late husband, and 
 son of the bigoted and unfortunate Alexis. 
 Thus, in the year 1727, Peter Alexievitch, 
 then in the eleventh year of his age, became, 
 both by hereditary right and the will of the 
 late sovereign, emperor of Russia under the 
 title of Peter II. By the will of Catherine, 
 the young czar was placed under the 
 guardianship of the princesses Anne and 
 Elizabeth, the Duke of Holstein, and certain 
 members of the council, until he should 
 attain his sixteenth year. The will had 
 evidently been drawn up either by, or 
 under the dictation of, Mentschikofi*, for he 
 was appointed president of the council of 
 
 A.D. 1727.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [ruin of MENl^XJHIKOFF. 
 
 regency ; and it also provided that the 
 young emperor, when of proper age, should 
 be united to his daughter. The commission 
 of regency soon became powerless and in- 
 operative ; no member dared to vote except 
 as Mentschikofif desired, and he continued 
 to sway the almost absolute power he had 
 held during the life of Catherine. 
 
 Prince Mentschikoff paid great court to 
 the young emperor, and adopted a parental 
 tone towards him, labouring earnestly at 
 the same time to obtain an absolute ascen- 
 dancy over the boy-czar. By this means 
 ne embittered still further the jealous feel- 
 ings entertained towards him by those 
 nobles of high birth whom he kept at a 
 distance from the person of their sovereign. 
 Many of these had long looked with anxiety 
 for his fall ; and several incidents now com- 
 bined to promote it. Indeed, a secret 
 cabal of some of the most distinguished per- 
 sons at court was formed against him, and 
 his eventual ruin became almost a matter of 
 certainty. They placed about the person 
 of the emperor a youth named Ivan Dol- 
 goruki, a member of one of the most an- 
 cient families in Russia. This lad, as it 
 was anticipated, obtained the confidence of 
 Peter, and, in hours of familiarity, poured 
 into his ear those feelings of bitterness 
 against Mentschikoff which the old aristo- 
 cratic party entertained. Young Dolgo- 
 ruki represented that the low-born adven- 
 turer usurped an authority which it was 
 neither becoming nor safe for him to pos- 
 sess ; that he kept the sovereign in a state 
 of vassalage ; and that both the nobles and 
 people expected the emperor would release 
 himself from an authority which degraded 
 him and injured the state. These argu- 
 ments were the more effective from the fact 
 that Peter had taken a dislike to his pro- 
 posed bride, Maria Mentschikoff, and sought 
 to be released from her by any means that 
 offered. Every action of the hated presi- 
 dent was watched, and he was soon detected 
 in appropriating to himself a considerable 
 sum of money which Peter had sent as a 
 present to one of his relatives. He unex- 
 pectedly taxed Mentschikoff with this 
 offence, and observing the confusion of the 
 minister, angrily ordered him from his pre- 
 sence. A sentence of confiscation and 
 banishment was immediately pronounced 
 against the arrogant and grasping states- 
 man. His enormous wealth, accumulated 
 by corruption and oppression, and consist- 
 ing of 9,000,000 roubles in bank notes and 
 
 VOL. I. 2 B 
 
 obhgations, 1,000,000 in cash, 105 lbs. of 
 gold utensils, 420 lbs. of silver plate, and 
 precious stones to the value of about 
 1,000,000, besides his estates, his palace, 
 and his costly furniture, were all seized for 
 the advantage of the imperial treasury. 
 He himself, together with his family, in- 
 cluding even the betrothed wife of the 
 young emperor, were compelled to leave 
 Russia in September, 1727, for Beresof, in 
 Siberia. The miserable statesman bore his 
 merited punishment with fortitude, and died 
 two years afterwards, poor and forlorn, in 
 his place of exile. 
 
 The young emperor only got rid of one 
 faction to fall beneath the influence of 
 another. The Dolgoruki family now grasped 
 the principal authority of the state, and 
 even contrived to engage the affection of 
 Peter to Catherine, a young lady of that 
 house, to whom he was soon afterwards 
 publicly affianced. It is probable that this 
 attachment hastened the ruin of Prince 
 Mentschikoff ; for it was arranged that the 
 coronation should take place early in the 
 following year to that in which he departed 
 for the wastes of Siberia. 
 
 The education of Peter had been en- 
 trusted to the able Count Ostermann, of 
 whose talents and integrity the illustrious 
 grandfather of the young sovereign had, 
 while on his death-bed, expressed so high 
 an opinion. The count laboured to dis- 
 charge his high responsibility with that 
 zeal and wisdom which usually charac- 
 terised him. He led the young sovereign 
 through a course of instruction, consisting 
 chiefly of history, political codes, the rights of 
 magistrates, the relations existing between 
 the ruler and the ruled, international obli- 
 gations, and military art. 
 
 But from these studies Peter was decoyed 
 by the members of the Dolgoruki family, 
 who did not desire him to become personally 
 either very accomplished or powerful. They 
 sought to save him the labour of think- 
 ing for himself, by preventing him from 
 acquiring the power of doing so. It was 
 their intention so to train him, that he 
 should lean upon them for support, and 
 that they should transact the affairs of 
 state. With this object they lured him 
 into excesses, especially with regard to the 
 sports of the field, to which he was greatly 
 attached. To such an extent did they in- 
 duce him to indulge in these exhausting 
 pastimes, that his strength began to sink 
 beneath the fatigues he encountered. In 
 
 209 
 
 ■t'l 
 
 \ 
 
DEATH OF PETER II.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1730. 
 
 
 this condition Peter was attacked by the 
 small-pox, which made hasty ravages in his 
 enfeebled frame, and terminated his life on 
 the 29th of January, 1730. 
 
 We are inclined to believe that his death 
 was a fortunate event for Russia. The 
 Dolgoruki belonged to the old nobility, and 
 were prejudiced against the reforms of Peter 
 the Great. Though it is impossible to say, 
 with absolute certainty, what course the 
 czar would have taken, yet the future of 
 this young monarch, had his life been 
 prolonged, may be inferred. The Dolgoruki 
 had obtained his confidence, and he was 
 continually subject to their influence. They 
 still resided at Moscow ; and the czar had 
 already expressed an intention of restoring 
 to that city the distinction arising from the 
 imperial residence. This would have been , 
 
 materially to injure the prospects of St. 
 Petersburg, and to retard the progress of 
 the empire. From this incident, it is t(?be 
 feared that the errors of the father might 
 have reappeared in the son ; and Peter, 
 like Alexis, have striven to overthrow the 
 reforms of their distinguished progenitor. 
 This was no improbable apprehension; 
 though, on the other hand, the young em- 
 peror might perhaps, in maturer years, have 
 thrown off the debilitating tutelage to which 
 he was subjected, and been aroused to a 
 just appreciation and a worthy imitation of 
 the virtues of his grandfather. The death 
 of Peter II. was, notwithstanding, much 
 regretted in Russia; and doubtless the 
 more so, from the fact that he was the last 
 male representative of the line of Ro- 
 manoff". 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 ANNA, DTJCHESS OF COURLAND, BECOMES EMPRESS; CONDITIONS EXACTED FROM HER; SHE ANNULS THEM • 
 SHE CONFIDES GREAT POWER TO HER FAVOURITE BIREN ; RUSSIA PLACES IIER CHOSEN CANDIDATE ON 
 THE THRONE OF POLAND DESPITE THE OPPOSITION OF FRANCE ; JEALOUSY AND INTRIGUES OF THE LATTER 
 POWER ; RUSSIA, IN CONJUNCTION WITH AUSTRIA, WAGES A PROFITLESS WAR AGAINST TURKEY ; AUSTRIA 
 MAKES A PRIVATE AND DISHONOURABLE PEACE WITH THE SULTAN; RUSSIA ALSO MAKES PE\CE WITH 
 TURKEY; COURT OF THE EMPRESS; SAVAGE AND CAPRICIOUS DESPOTISM OF BIREN: DEATH OF THE 
 EMPRESS ANNA. 
 
 Russia was again agitated by the question 
 — " Who should wield the sceptre of the em- 
 pire?" The Dolgoruki family made a vain 
 and foolish attempt to secure the imperial 
 crown for Catherine, the young lady of 
 their own family, who had been affianced to 
 the late emperor. One of them forged a 
 document, which he pretended to be a will 
 of Peter II., wherein Catherine was named 
 as the successor. With this spurious instru- 
 ment in one hand, and a drawn sword in 
 the other, the shallow schemer rushed into 
 the hall where the senators were assembled, 
 and shouted, " Long live the empress Dolgo- 
 ruki !" As he observed nothing but looks 
 of cold and stern reproof upon the faces of 
 those present, he abandoned his fraudulent 
 design, and withdrew the forged will. This 
 baffled attempt, however, eventually brought 
 a heavy penalty upon himself and his 
 family. 
 
 The Russian nobles and counsellors re- 
 210 
 
 solved to be guided, in the matter of suc- 
 cession, by the will of the empress Cathe- 
 rine I. By this it was arranged, that if 
 Peter II. should die without heirs, Anne, 
 Duchess of Holstein (eldest daughter of 
 Peter the Great), and her heirs should suc- 
 ceed, or, on failure of them, the Princess 
 Elizabeth, second daughter of Peter and 
 Catherine. Anne had died two years before 
 in Germany, where she and her husband 
 had retired in consequence of the persecu- 
 tions to which they were subjected by 
 Mentschikoff'. Though Anne had left a 
 young prince, yet as he was a foreigner on 
 the father's side, and the council entertained 
 a great aversion to the introduction of 
 foreigners into the state, they decided that 
 his claim should not be even taken into 
 consideration. As to the Princess Eliza- 
 beth, she had no desire to ascend the 
 throne; and notwithstanding some en- 
 treaties to that eff'ect, she declined the 
 
 A.D. 3730.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [accession of anna. 
 
 a 
 
 sceptre, preferring to resign herself to 
 private life, in which indolence, sensuality, 
 and piety were incongruously mingled. 
 
 It was therefore necessary for the council 
 to look in some other direction in this search 
 for an imperial sovereign. There were other 
 female members of the Romanoff* family vet 
 living. The feeble and imbecile Ivan, who 
 during his short life shared the throne with 
 his subsequently illustrious brother, Peter I., 
 had left three daughters. Catherine, the 
 eldest, had been married to, and afterwards 
 separated from, the turbulent Duke of Meck- 
 lenburg; the second, Anna, Duchess of 
 Courland, was a widow, residing at Mittau ; 
 while the third was unmarried, and had 
 made St. Petersburg her home. Of these 
 three princesses, the council resolved to 
 off'er the throne to the second, Anna of 
 Courland. This council was a body estab- 
 lished by Catherine, with the assumed ob- 
 ject of off'ering advice to the sovereign ; but 
 it soon proved itself to be both intriguing 
 and despotic. Its members now hoped to 
 obtain an empress who should be their in- 
 strument, and permit them to enjoy, in 
 fact, the power which they intended her to 
 possess only in name. With this object 
 they drew up the following conditions, 
 which, if carried into operation, would have 
 materially diminished the imperial power; 
 and, in fact, changed it from an absolute 
 into a limited, and, in some respects, con- 
 stitutional monarchy : — *^ That the empress 
 should govern solely by the resolves of the 
 high privy council; that she was not, of 
 herself, to declare war or to conclude peace ; 
 that she should not, of her own authority, 
 impose any new tax upon the people ; that 
 she should not dispose of any important 
 office, or inflict capital punishment on any 
 nobleman, or confiscate his estates, unless 
 he had been previously convicted of the 
 crime laid to his charge ; that she should 
 not alienate any lands belonging to the 
 crown; and that she should not marry, 
 or nominate an heir, without first obtain- 
 ing the consent of the council.'^ Another 
 stipulation was added, to the eff*ect that 
 her chamberlain and favourite, Ernest Von 
 Biren, should not accompany her into 
 Russia. 
 
 These conditions were not intended to 
 soften the rigour of the government with 
 respect to the people, but merely to con- 
 vert an unlimited monarchy to an irre- 
 sponsible oligarchy. This aim was soon 
 understood by the great bodv of the nobles 
 
 who did not form a part of the council of 
 seven. They saw, also, that the Dolgoruki 
 had the chief voice in the council, and they 
 resolved not to permit their interests, and 
 those of the empire, to be sacrificed to a 
 family compact. A rapid reaction took 
 place, in which the army and the people 
 sided with the nobles against the restrictive 
 conditions; and declared that they would 
 rather have one master than seven. The 
 Princess Anna, however, accepted the con- 
 ditions; for General Yagujinski had sent a 
 secret message to her, advising her to do so, 
 and assuring her that means would soon be 
 found for having them annulled. 
 
 Anna speedily arrived at Moscow, bring- 
 ing with her her obnoxious favourite, Biren ; 
 bv which circumstance she broke the con- 
 ditions on the very moment of her appear- 
 ance. Had the council been strong enough 
 to insist on the instant expulsion of the 
 low-born adventurer, and either to dismiss 
 or awe the guards who were opposed to 
 their views, they might, at least for a time, 
 have exercised the imperial power. But, as 
 they were unable to do this, their over- 
 whelming influence, and consequently that 
 of the Dolgoruki, was doomed. The down- 
 fall of the usurping oligarchy was a rapid 
 one. Scarcely had Anna passed through 
 the ceremony of coronation, before a peti- 
 tion, signed by several hundred noblemen, 
 was presented to her, entreating her to 
 abolish the restrictions placed upon her 
 authority by the council, and to assume the 
 unhmited power that had been exercised by 
 her predecessors. The empress understood 
 the proceeding, and called an assembly of 
 the deputies and representatives of the 
 nobles and the army. Presenting herself 
 before them, she caused the conditions to 
 be read, and then desired to know whether 
 they were in accordance with their desires. 
 The great majority of those present re- 
 sponded in the negative, and demanded the 
 restoration of the old form of government. 
 Anna expressed great surprise that the con- 
 ditions forced upon her were so opposed to 
 the wishes of the Russian people ; and taking 
 the objectionable document, she tore it to 
 pieces before the assembly, saying, "Then 
 there is no further need of this paper.'' 
 Shortly afterwards a proclamation was issued, 
 which declared that the empress ascended 
 the throne not by election but by here- 
 ditary right, and exacted an oath of alle- 
 giance to her as unlimited sovereign. 
 
 The first use the empress made of her 
 
 211 
 
 I' 
 
 ¥'K 
 
AFFAIRS OF POLAND.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1733. 
 
 ' J ■■■ 
 
 unfettered authority was to abuse it, by 
 raising her unworthy favourite, Biren, to 
 the post of grand chamberlain, and con- 
 fiding to his hands the chief power of tlie 
 state. This man was the grandson of a 
 groom ; but having contrived to ingratiate 
 himself with Anna's master of the house- 
 hold when she was Duchess of Courland, 
 he obtained a position near her person. 
 His liandsorae figure and polite address at- 
 tracted her attention, and she made him her 
 secretary and chief favourite. Biren soon 
 acquired an unbounded influence over her 
 mind, and became, in fact, an absolute 
 tyrant to his mistress. 
 
 Anna abolished the council of seven, and 
 resigned herself to the directions of a cabinet 
 composed of Biren, Count Ostermann, and 
 General Munich. Ostermann was the pre- 
 sumed head of this cabinet; and Munich, a 
 soldier of great ability, was appointed gen- 
 eralissimo of the army. The favourite be- 
 haved with courtesy to these two able men ; 
 for he was aware that his own abilities were 
 not of a character to enable him successfullv 
 to direct the affairs of a great empire. The 
 latent ambition, insolence, and ci'uclty of 
 this man's nature, were not vet fully de- 
 veloped : for a time he acted with discre- 
 tion : and the first three years of the new 
 reign were regarded as those of a mild 
 sovereign, who justly enjoyed the attach- 
 ment of her people. Anna admired the 
 wisdom of Peter the Great, and desired, as 
 far as her capacity permitted her, to follow 
 in his footsteps. In this temper she en- 
 couraged the military reforms of Marshal 
 Munich, who completely remodelled the 
 army ; and, amongst other valuable altera- 
 tions, placed the emoluments of Russian 
 ofl&cers on an equality with those of fo- 
 reigners, which had hitherto been double, 
 and thus proved an incessant source of 
 enmity and discontent. He established a 
 corps of engineers, which, until that time, 
 was unknown in Russia; and founded a 
 military institution for the instruction of 
 cadets of noble families, with a view to the 
 formation of a body of able commanders. 
 
 Poland was still convulsed by the struggles 
 of rival candidates for the throne ; and these 
 were of a kind that threatened not only to 
 disturb the peace of Russia, but that of 
 France and Sweden also. The Russian 
 cabinet still maintained the cause of Au- 
 gustus, the elector of Saxony, whom Peter 
 the Great had placed upon the throne of 
 Poland, which France desired to see in the 
 212 
 
 possession of Stanislaus Leczinski, the 
 father-in-law of Louis XV. But the in- 
 fluence of Russia over Poland was greater 
 than that of France, and Stanislaus was 
 compelled to fly the country and abandon 
 the throne to his more fortunate rival. 
 This circumstance excited a sense of irrita- 
 tion on the part of France against Russia; 
 added to which, she had other cogent 
 reasons for desiring to restrain the still 
 increasing power of that empire. France 
 had long desired to place on the throne of 
 Poland a monarch who should be the in- 
 strument of her will ; and, although hitherto 
 baffled, she vet trusted ultimately to ac- 
 complish her design. Besides, the French 
 government were jealous of the rise of so 
 powerful an empire as Russia, which threat- 
 ened to surmount and destroy the influence 
 they had hitherto exercised over a con- 
 siderable part of Europe. Actuated by these 
 motives, France stirred up Sweden — j^et 
 bleeding from her recent wounds — against 
 Russia, to which the people of that despoiled 
 and humiliated countrv entertained emotions 
 of the bitterest hatred. So successful were 
 the diplomatic arts of the French court, that 
 Russia was compelled vigilantly to watch 
 the movements of a dangerous neighbour. 
 
 Frederic Augustus died in the February 
 of 1733, after a reign which had been one 
 prolonged scene of misery to the Polish 
 people. The philosophical Stanislaus, then 
 residing at the peaceful court of Lorraine, 
 was reluctantly induced by the French 
 court to proceed to Warsaw, where he was 
 received with acclamation ; while in the 
 diet of election, 60,000 voices pronounced 
 him king of Poland. But Russia, backed 
 by the power of Austria, declared in favour 
 of the son of the late king, and arbitrarily 
 interfered to displace a sovereign who was 
 the choice of the majority of his people. A 
 Russian army, consisting of 50,000 men 
 under the command of Marshal Munich, 
 entered Poland; and, under their protec- 
 tion, a party of nobles, opposed to the 
 French interest, proclaimed Frederic Au- 
 gustus II. as their king. Frederic shortly 
 afterwards entered Cracow in triumph, 
 where he and his queen were crowned. 
 Stanislaus was driven forth as a fugitive, 
 and pursued by the Russian troops to 
 Dantzic, in which town the bravery of the 
 inhabitants enabled him to stand a siege of 
 five months. He relied upon receiving aid 
 from France; but when it arrived, it was 
 too small to render any material service. 
 
 A.D. 1735.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [surrender of Persian territory. 
 
 The city was at length compelled to capitu- 
 late; and then the dethroned Stanislaus 
 stole away in disguise, and after many sur- 
 prising adventures and escapes, contrived to 
 reach the Prussian territories. The phleg- 
 matic and incapable Frederic Augustus 
 gave himself up entirely to his favourite 
 occupations of smoking and hunting, and 
 scarcely bestowed a thought upon the 
 miserable people whose welfare had been 
 committed to his charge. France was 
 baffled, and Russia triumphant. The em- 
 press Anna also received a private gratifica- 
 tion, the obtainment of which had been 
 her chief motive for interfering so capri- 
 ciously in the internal arrangements of 
 another nation. In consequence of the 
 influence thus gained, her favourite, Biren, 
 was shortly afterwards chosen Duke of 
 Courland by the nobles of that duchy ; and 
 thus he acquired a distinction which the 
 wealthy and able MentschikofF had sought 
 for in vain. 
 
 The territories which Peter the Great 
 obtained by treaty from Persia, had been 
 found to be a burden rather than an acqui- 
 sition. The Russian government discovered 
 that it was quite possible to be embarrassed 
 by an extension of the empire in an un- 
 profitable direction. Peter, in his desire to 
 possess, had for once overlooked the neces- 
 sity of ascertaining whether the new pro- 
 vinces were likely to produce advantages in 
 the way of revenue, or to add strength to 
 the frontiers. To retain the possession of 
 them, it was necessary to keep a consider- 
 able garrison in the interior, even in times 
 of peace. These were exposed to frequent 
 attacks and desultory warfare ; and the cli- 
 mate was so injurious to the Russians, that 
 they lost, in a few years, no less than 130,000 
 men. Such a drain as this began to be 
 seriously felt ; and Anna wisely resolved on 
 relinquishing her Persian dependencies to 
 the shah on the best terms she could get for 
 them. She therefore opened a negotiation, 
 and proposed to restore the ceded provinces, 
 on condition that the Persian monarch would 
 conclude a commercial treaty of an advan- 
 tageous kind to the Russians. The offer 
 was accepted; and, in 1735, Anna formally 
 surrendered her Persian territories to the 
 shah. At the same time, the two countries 
 entered into a defensive treaty; Russia 
 being induced to propose this, because she 
 was about to commence a new war with the 
 Turks. Peter I. had himself contemplated 
 such a war, with the object of effacing the 
 
 disgrace he had sustained at the Pruth, and 
 of recovering the valuable territory he had 
 been compelled to sacrifice on that occasion. 
 The czar had been further irritated by the 
 haughty refusal of the Porte to acknowledge 
 the imperial title which his people had con- 
 ferred upon him. As a necessary prepara- 
 tion for his hostile design, he had fortified 
 the Russian frontiers in the direction of 
 Turkey; but his death arrested the exe- 
 cution of his project, which was entirely 
 laid aside by his successors, Catherine and 
 Peter 11. 
 
 The empress Anna had many induce- 
 ments to attempt to carry into execution 
 the design of her illustrious predecessor. 
 The Tartars of the Crimea, who were under 
 the protection of the Turks, had for some 
 time made many predatory inroads upon 
 the Russian territory; the loss of Azoff, 
 and the destruction of the fortifications at 
 Taganrog, had the effect of destroying the 
 Russian trade on the Black Sea; the inso- 
 lence of the Ottoman government also 
 rankled in the minds of the Russian autho- 
 rities ; and, most important with the empress, 
 Biren was anxious for the war. His desire 
 for it has, by some waiters, been attributed 
 to a wish to preserve the Russian army in 
 the high state of discipline to which it had 
 been brought ; but the suggestion, that it 
 rather arose from a jealousy he entertained 
 towards Marshal Munich, and a hope to 
 send him to a distance, is far more probable. 
 
 Anna was further encouraged to hope for 
 success in her intended hostilities against 
 Turkey, in consequence of the treaty of 
 alliance existing between Russia and Aus- 
 tria, by which either nation was to assist 
 the other with 30,000 men against any foe. 
 The first step of the empress was to remon- 
 strate with the sultan on the subject of the 
 ravages made by the Tartars, and to demand 
 satisfaction. As was anticipated, the sultan 
 declined to interfere, and excused himself 
 from doing so on the pretence, that although 
 the Tartars were under his protection, yet 
 that it was impossible to keep these preda- 
 tory people under the desired restraint. 
 This was what was desired, because, as the 
 sultan refused satisfaction, the Russians 
 had a pretext for endeavouring to obtain it 
 for themselves. 
 
 Before the year 1735 had expired, a Rus- 
 sian army marched into the Crimea, where 
 t.)ey overrun a part of the country, and 
 slew a great number of the Tartars. Their 
 success led them to penetrate further than 
 
 213 
 
 I 
 
WAR IX THE CRIMEA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1736—1739. 
 
 I. 
 
 I! i' 
 
 ■, .tt , 
 
 M 
 
 *4 
 
 w 
 
 
 was prudent; where, from want of provi- 
 sions and incessant attacks, they experienced 
 a loss of 10,000 men, and were compelled 
 to retire. 
 
 Notwithstanding this reverse. Marshal 
 Munich, at the head of a powerful army, 
 scoured the Ukraine, and entered the 
 Crimea in the following year (173G), with 
 a free commission to retaliate upon the 
 Tartars. The latter, unable to compete 
 with the now disciplined Russians in the 
 open field, fled before them, and took refuge 
 behind some formidable intrenchments they 
 had erected, and Avhich extended from the 
 Sea of AzofF to the Euxine. As these lines 
 had been raised to protect the Crimea from 
 any attack on the land side, and were 
 strongly fortified with cannon, the Tartars 
 regarded them as impregnable. This illu- 
 sion was soon dispelled. The impetuosity 
 of the Russian troops enabled them to burst 
 through the intrenchments, and to slay or 
 scatter the hordes that defended them. 
 But a short time elapsed before a great part 
 of the Crimea was in the hands of the vic- 
 tors. The Russians could not retain what 
 they had seized so rapidly. The Tartars, as 
 they fled, devastated the country they 
 passed through, and the Russians again 
 began to feel the difficulty of obtaining 
 provisions. Marshal Munich, therefore, 
 found it necessary to return to the Ukraine, 
 where he took up his winter quarters. 
 
 During the expedition of Munich to the 
 Crimea, General Lascy had proceeded with 
 another army against Azoff*, to which he 
 laid siege, and reduced to submission on 
 the 1st of Jul v. The Porte was roused 
 from a contemptuous apathy, and compelled 
 to employ some measures to arrest the pro- 
 gress of the Russian arms. Not desirous of 
 entering on a war with a powerful enemy, 
 the sultan endeavoured to enlist the media- 
 tion of Austria for the restoration of peace. 
 Russia, however, was not disposed to listen 
 to pacific overtures, and therefore de- 
 manded the fulfilment of the treaty existing 
 between her and Austria, by which the 
 latter power was bound to furnish 30,000 
 men to fight against the Turks. Austria 
 was unwilling to supply a contingent which 
 would have the efl'ect of enabling Russia to 
 extend its conquests without the production 
 of any advantages to herself. She there- 
 fore decided on making war on the Turks, 
 in alliance with Russia ; as a result of which 
 arrangement, any conquests would have to 
 be divided between the victors. 
 214 
 
 Though such a formidable alliance neces- 
 sarily imperilled the safety of Turkey, the 
 sultan felt that it must be resolutely encoun- 
 tered for the maintenance of the honour of 
 the Ottoman empire. He therefore raised 
 new levies, put his army on a war footing, 
 and equipped a fleet for the protection of 
 the Black Sea. 
 
 The Russian and Austrian forces entered 
 on their campaign against Turkey in the 
 year 1737, but the efficiency of it was marred 
 by the jealousies and dissensions existing 
 between the respective commanders and 
 officers of these novel allies. The Russian 
 army was divided into two portions, one of 
 which, under the command of General 
 Lascy, again penetrated into and desolated 
 a portion of the Crimea. The other was 
 led by Marshal Munich, who carried his 
 aversion to the Austrians to such a dan- 
 gerous extreme, that he stood almost aloof 
 from active proceedings; and, although 
 Russia lost about 50,000 soldiers during 
 this campaign, yet all that she obtained in 
 recompense was the fortress of Otchakoff", 
 on the Black Sea. The condition of the 
 Austrian army was worse ; for, besides en- 
 countering severe losses, it scarcely escaped 
 untouched by disgrace. The Turks poured 
 out their strength against the German 
 army, broke through its ranks on several 
 occasions, and obtained many advantages. 
 
 Some attempts were made to bring about 
 a peace ; but the Turks, encouraj^ed by the 
 results of the campaign of 1737, took so 
 high a tone, that the war was resumed, 
 though with very little animation on the 
 part of Austria. During 1738, Marshal 
 Munich seemed anxious to redeem his repu- 
 tation ; but, with the exception of some 
 vigorous marches through the territories of 
 the Tartars, he eff'ected nothing of any im- 
 portance. General Lascy was not more 
 fortunate in the Crimea, where he found 
 the country desolated in every direction 
 as he approached; and his troops snff"ered 
 from a terrible mortality, which thinned 
 their ranks with a far greater rapidity than 
 the swords of the enemy could have done, 
 and at length compelled them to retire. 
 
 The campaign of 1739 opened more fa- 
 vourably for the Russians. Marshal Munich, 
 with a larger army than before, penetrated 
 into Moldavia, where he engaged and en- 
 tirely defeated an array of Turks and Tar- 
 tars, capturing forty pieces of cannon, and 
 the whole camp of the enemy. The fortress 
 of Khotzim surrendered on the approach of 
 
 a.d. 1739.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [peace with turkey. 
 
 
 the Russians, who also made themselves 
 masters of Jassy, the capital of Moldavia, 
 the whole of which territory was awed by 
 the terror of their arms. Returning into 
 Bessarabia, Munich then prepared for a 
 descent upon Binder, when his further 
 progress was arrested by the intense disgust 
 he experienced on learning that Austria 
 liad concluded a separate peace with the 
 Turks, and dishonourably left Russia to 
 carrv on the war alone. 
 
 Jealous of the triumphs reaped by their 
 rivals, and suff'ering from a contagious dis- 
 ease, which tended greatly to paralyse their 
 activity, the Austrian troops were heartily 
 tired of the war. At the same time the 
 emperor, Charles VI., was suff*ering from a 
 dangerous illness ; and his daughter, shrink- 
 ing with apprehension from the future, was 
 anxious by any means to make peace with 
 Turkey. Proposals were therefore made 
 by Austria, which the sultan was glad to 
 accept, and a treaty of peace between them 
 was Imrriedly drawn up, and signed at 
 Belgrade on the 1st of September, 1739. 
 By this disgraceful treaty, Austria escaped 
 from all further responsibility in the war; 
 but she purchased peace at a price which, 
 but a short time before, would have been 
 regarded as incredible. Austria restored to 
 Turkey Belgrade, Shabatz, the whole of 
 Servia, a portion of Bosnia, and Austrian 
 Wallachia. It has been remarked, that 
 " the infatuation which tempted Austria 
 into this step, can be referred only to her 
 jealousy of Russian aggrandisement. She 
 desired, above all things, to embarrass that 
 power, whose ambition, stretching to all 
 points, appeared to be boundless. Had she, 
 however, preserved her good faith with 
 Russia, she might have shared in the spoils 
 which she feared her growing rival would 
 monopolise, and partitioned with the em- 
 press the fields of their mutual victories. 
 But it was fortunate, perhaps, that the 
 jealousies of the Austrian army, and the 
 timidity of the court, led to this unexpected 
 result ; for, had the combining powers pro- 
 secuted their design with unanimity, they 
 might have ultimately established a league 
 subversive of the repose and independence 
 of the rest of Europe.'' 
 
 Russia did not feel inclined to carry on 
 the war alone against the formidable power 
 of the Porte, the more especially as she 
 feared that while her armies were engaged 
 with. Turkey, she might be exposed to an 
 attack from Sweden, which was secretly 
 
 urged to that course by the French court ; 
 Russia therefore followed the example of 
 Austria, and that, too, with such promptness, 
 that by the 18th of September, she too had 
 concluded a peace with Turkey. Though 
 the conditions of this treaty involved some 
 sacrifices on both sides, yet, as a whole, 
 they were highly favourable to the sultan. 
 Azoff and the territory surrounding it, 
 together with Kabardia, were to be aban- 
 doned, and remain uncultivated, as a neu- 
 tral boundary between the two empires. 
 It was settled that Russia should be allowed 
 to erect a fortress on the Don, and Turkey 
 another in the Kuban. The Russians also 
 surrendered some minor conquests, and 
 consented to the exclusion of their fleets 
 from the Palus Maeotis and the Black Sea ; 
 and to the irritating condition that all their 
 commerce in the latter should be carried on 
 in Turkish ships. Such was the abrupt 
 and disastrous termination of a war which 
 had cost the Russian empire upwards ot 
 100,000 men, and an enormous expenditure 
 of money. All that Russia gained was an 
 increase of reputation for her troops, who, 
 under the improved discipline to which 
 they had been subjected by Marshal Mu- 
 nich, had become both efficient in attack 
 and enduring in suffering. The Turkish 
 government supposed the Russian soldiers 
 had degenerated during the interval of 
 peace that had elapsed since the death ot 
 Peter I.; but they now admitted that the 
 Russians were not baffled by the superior 
 courage or skill of the Turkish troops, but 
 by excessive fatigues, want of provisions, 
 and exposure to a climate altogether un- 
 suited to them. 
 
 The restoration of peace enabled the em- 
 press to pay more attention to those inter- 
 nal reforms, in the carrying out of which 
 she strove to imitate the example of Peter 
 the Great. The canal from the Lake ot 
 Ladoga, designed to facilitate the transport 
 of provisions to St. Petersburg, was finished 
 in the year 1738. Anna also dispatched an 
 expedition from Kamschatka towards the 
 north, with the object of discovering whether 
 Siberia was connected with North Ame- 
 rica. She attracted to Russia great num- 
 bers of artisans, who were skilful in such 
 trades and arts as her people were most 
 ignorant of. She also entered into a com 
 mercial treaty with England, with the ob- 
 ject of furthering this view ; and by obtain- 
 ing the submission of the Kirghises, a wan- 
 dering tribe on the borders of China, 
 
 215 
 
 Ir , 
 
IH 
 
 ■ 'J 
 
 C»URT OF THE EMPRESS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1739. 
 
 j'-ii' 
 
 ■'I ■-* 
 u 
 
 I 
 
 'I 
 
 
 In. 
 
 I 
 
 ! 
 
 II 
 
 i 
 
 f, 
 
 i: 
 
 li 
 
 
 extended her commercial intercourse with 
 that ancient empire. 
 
 The empress, during her residence in 
 Courland, had imbibed tastes of a character 
 more refined than those which prevailed 
 at the yet uncouth Russian court. The 
 social improvement introduced by Peter, 
 though not of a very exalted kind, had not 
 altogether superseded the barbarous old 
 customs. Drunkenness, even amongst the 
 highest aristocracy, including the female 
 members of it, was still not unfrequent, and 
 the revels of the palace frequently degene- 
 rated into coarse and offensive orgies. In- 
 deed, traces of the grossest barbarism con- 
 tinually mingled with the greatest splendour 
 and the most immeasurable extravagance. 
 Anna was greatly averse to this vulgar 
 rioting ; and with the natural emulation of 
 a woman in matters of ceremonial ob- 
 servance, she entertained the ambition of 
 making her court the most brilliant in 
 Europe. By fostering music, dancing, the 
 courtesies inseparable from intellectual in- 
 tercourse, and the tranquil pleasures of 
 social life, she diffused a somewhat softer 
 tone of society around her, and contrived 
 to curb the boisterous and licentious amuse- 
 ments in which the Russian nobles had 
 hitherto indulged. Yet social improvement 
 is necessarily a matter of slow growth ; it 
 cannot be raised suddenly; and it is not 
 until past barbarism slowly perishes and 
 moulders away, that the gracefulness of re- 
 fined manners, and that high tone of cour- 
 tesy and honourable feeling which prevails 
 in the best society, can effectually take its 
 place. This it requires the lapse of more 
 than one generation to accomplish ; and 
 therefore it is not surprising that it should 
 have been said, that the empress only suc- 
 ceeded in gathering around her an incon- 
 gruous display of profusion without elegance, 
 finery without taste, and pomp sometimes 
 without even personal cleanliness. Gross 
 gluttony and drunkenness disappeared from 
 her court ; but dissipaMon of every other 
 kind, ruinous gambling, and uncouth ex- 
 travagance, supplied their places, and rioted 
 without any check except that which nature 
 ever lays on vice. v. 
 
 Even the empress Anna herself was de- 
 ficient in that refinement of mind which is 
 almost invariably exhibited by ladies occu- 
 pying positions of exalted rank in these 
 days. A sense of humanity is the basis of 
 the highest courtesy; and the empress, 
 during the latter part of her reign, suffi- 
 216 
 
 ciently showed that she was not influenced 
 by any active emotions of benevolence. 
 This was sometimes even perceptible in her 
 amusements. She preserved the ancient 
 custom of keeping buffoons, and had six 
 attached to her household. Some of these 
 were men of high rank, who were con- 
 demned to the exercise of a feigned mirth 
 and folly, as the expiation of some real or 
 presumed offence. If these victims of a 
 capricious tyranny, overcome by some re- 
 collection of their past dignity, refused to 
 perform the fooleries that were required of 
 them, they were sometimes severely beaten, 
 with the object of stimulating their wit, 
 and dispelling their melancholy or unwil- 
 lingness. 
 
 Prince Galitzin, for having changed his 
 religion, was punished by being deprived of 
 his rank, and reduced to the position of a 
 buffoon. In his case, the degradation was 
 made the more bitter by the coarse and 
 eccentric cruelty with which it was accom- 
 panied. As he had lost his wife, the em- 
 press commanded him to be married to 
 a girl of the lowest birth ; and herself 
 sanctioned, if she did not devise, the ex- 
 travagances attending the wedding. Though 
 it took place in a winter of more than 
 customary severity, yet a house, built en- 
 tirely of ice, was prepared for the reception 
 of the married couple. The furniture, even 
 to the nuptial bedstead, was composed of 
 the same frozen material. Four cannons 
 and two mortars of ice were also placed in 
 front of the house, and fired several times 
 without bursting. The governors of all the 
 provinces in the empire were commanded 
 to send some persons of both sexes, chosen 
 from all the nations subject to Russia, and 
 dressed in the costume of their respective 
 countries. The procession, consisting of 
 more than 300 persons, passed before 
 the imperial palace, and through the prin- 
 cipal streets of the city. The unfortunate 
 prince and his bride were placed in a great 
 cage on the back of an elephant. Some of 
 the guests were mounted on camels, while 
 others were drawn in sledges by reindeer, 
 dogs, oxen, goats, pigs, and other animals. 
 At the dinner which had been prepared 
 for the guests, each of them were treated 
 to their food cooked in the manner which 
 prevailed in their own country. A ball 
 followed, at which the representatives of 
 each nation had their own music and their 
 own style of dancing. AH this practical 
 joking, though low and foolish, need not ex- 
 
 A.D. 1740.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [tyranny of BIREN. 
 
 cite censure, if the object of the merriment 
 had not been to heap degradation on a 
 victim of intolerant and unjust legislation. 
 But the conclusion of this proceeding was 
 both offensive and cruel. The degraded 
 prince and his bride were conducted to the 
 ice-house, and with derisive ceremoniousness 
 shown to the frozen bed ; and in this dismal 
 place they were compelled to pass the night, 
 though their lives might have paid the 
 penalty of exposure to so much cold in 
 such a climate. It was also during the 
 reign of this princess, who has been com- 
 mended for her gentleness, that a Russian 
 nobleman who had embraced Judaism, was 
 Durnt at the stake with a gag in his mouth, 
 along with the wretched Jew who had been 
 the means of his conversion. 
 
 Indeed, the latter part of the reign of 
 the empress Anna was a period of terror, 
 in consequence of the savage and furious 
 despotism which she permitted her favourite, 
 Biren, to exercise. Such was his influence 
 over the empress, that it is affirmed, that 
 though she often fell on her knees before 
 him in the hope of moving him to clemency, 
 yet that both her entreaties and tears were 
 alike unavailing. After the first three years 
 of Anna's reign, the dictatorial temper of this 
 low and bad man broke out into the ex- 
 cesses to which he afterwards gave himself 
 up without restraint. So vindictive was he, 
 and to such an extreme was his tyranny 
 carried, that it diffused terror throughout 
 the empire. On the disgrace of the Dolgo- 
 ruki family, they were banished; but the 
 bitter hate of Biren pursued them even in 
 the sad loneliness of their exile. To satisfy 
 his revengeful nature they were recalled, 
 and then accused of forging the pretended 
 will (to which we have already alluded) of 
 Peter I., in favour of Catherine Dolgoruki ; 
 and also of a conspiracy, with the object of 
 placing the Princess Elizabeth^ daughter of 
 the last-named monarch, on the throne. 
 Being found guilty, some of the family 
 were beheaded, and two unhappy members 
 of it broken upon the wheel. Biren brooked 
 no opposition, and regarded it as an un- 
 forgivable offence. In the year 1740, a 
 cabinet minister named Boluinski, ventured, 
 at a council in which Biren took the part of 
 the Poles, to observe sarcastically, that as 
 he was not a vassal of Poland, he did not 
 think himself obliged to defend the cause 
 of the enemies of Russia. Biren felt that 
 this remark was directed against him, as 
 holding from Poland the fief of Courland, 
 VOL. I. 2 F 
 
 the dukedom of which his mistress had pro- 
 cured for him. In retaliation he brought a 
 number of petty charges against Boluinski, 
 one of which was, that he had dared to pre- 
 sent a Russian translation of Machiavelli's 
 Prince to the empress. Such was the in- 
 fluence of Biren, that he procured the re- 
 cord of a sentence of death against the 
 minister. The empress justly refused to 
 confirna the warrant for the execution, and 
 burst into tears when it was repeatedly 
 brought for her signature. Biren at length 
 obtained it by a threat, that if it was longer 
 withheld he would leave Russia for ever. 
 The weak empress granted it with many 
 tears, and the upright Boluinski perished 
 on the scaffold. 
 
 By this exhibition of reckless vindictive- 
 ness, Biren crushed any opposition that 
 might have been offered to him in the 
 cabinet. Abandoning himsfelf, therefore, to 
 extravagance and tyranny, he became so 
 grasping, and accumulated so much treasure 
 in his own coffers, that the plundered 
 revenues of the state were insufficient to 
 support the requisite expenditure; and 
 taxes were collected by the most violent 
 means. Soldiers were directed, instead of 
 receiving pay, to live at free quarters. Whole 
 villages were laid waste ; many were burned, 
 and the inhabitants sent to Siberia. It is 
 estimated that, during the period of Biren'a 
 authority, no less than 20,000 persons were 
 driven into this species of exile. This came 
 even to be regarded almost as a mild 
 punishment : many unfortunate persons who 
 incurred the anger of the savage favourite 
 were punished with the knout ; numbers 
 had their tongues cut out; many perished 
 beneath the axe of the executioner; and 
 not a few were broken on the wheel. The 
 number of persons put to death in conse- 
 quence of the tyranny of this monster is 
 computed at 11,000. 
 
 The empress was distressed at the perpe- 
 tration of the cruelty which she was weak 
 and wicked enough to permit to be trans- 
 acted in her name. It is said that her 
 conscience was wounded by the death, or 
 rather murder, of Boluinski, whom she much 
 respected, knew to be innocent, and yet 
 sacrificed to the malice of the incarnate 
 fiend who, through the instrumentahty of 
 a coarsely sensual affection, had obtained 
 such a tyrannous influence over her. It is 
 supposed that her remorse at the sacrifice 
 of Boluinski was so acute, as to bring her 
 to the grave. She died at St. Petersburg, 
 
 217 
 
 f;l 
 
 * k 
 
DEATH OF TIIE EMPRESS.] 
 
 HISTORY OP THE 
 
 [a.d. 1740. 
 
 If, 
 
 "J 
 
 on the 29th of October, 1740, in the forty- 
 seventh year of her age, and the tenth of 
 her reign. Shortly before she expired she 
 bequeathed the crown, by the advice of 
 Biren, to the infant prince, Ivan, the grand- 
 son of her elder sister Catherine, and son 
 of the Princess Anne and Ulric, Duke of 
 Brunswick. The little prince had been 
 born only in the August preceding, and 
 Biren directed the dying empress to nomi- 
 nate him, instead of his mother, to the im- 
 perial crown, because he calculated that, 
 under those circumstances, there must in- 1 
 
 evitably follow a long minority, during 
 which, by the will of the empress, he was 
 to act as regent and guardian of the prince ; 
 in case of whose death he might, perhaps, 
 be enabled to mount the throne himself. 
 This gorgeous day-dream, promising as it 
 seemed, was not to be fulfilled ; the long- 
 silent but unresting spirit of retribution 
 was at work; the clouds were gathering 
 around the ferocious and insolent man who 
 grasped the executive power of the empire, 
 and the storm was ready to burst over his 
 head. 
 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 BIREN ASSUMES THE REGENCY DURING THE MINORITY OF IVAN ; FALL OF BIREN, AND EXALTATION OF THE 
 PRINCESS ANNE TO THE REGENCY ; WAR WITH SWEDEN ; CONSPIRACY TO RAISE THE PRINCESS ELIZABETH 
 TO THE THRONE; OVERTHROW OF TIIE REGENT ANNE AND THE INFANT EMPEROR j ELIZABETH PRO- 
 CLAIMED EMPRESS. 
 
 Ivan, the infant to whom the empress 
 Anna had bequeathed the imperial sceptre, 
 was but two months old. The ambitious 
 Biren had attempted to prevent the mar- 
 riage of the father and mother of this 
 unfortunate babe — the Princess Anne and 
 Ulric, Duke of Brunswick ; but as he failed 
 in this, his next object was to derive advan- 
 tage from it, by persuading the empress to 
 nominate the new-born Ivan as her suc- 
 cessor, instead of his mother (the daughter 
 of Anna's elder sister Catherine, and grand- 
 daughter of the imbecile Ivan, elder brother 
 of Peter I.), through whom he derived such 
 imperfect right as he possessed. 
 
 The father and mother were the natural 
 protectors of the baby emperor, and should 
 have been chosen to act together as a joint 
 regency ; but, as we have mentioned, the 
 crafty Biren had induced his doting mistress, 
 the late empress, to appoint him regent 
 during the minority of Ivan. By the will 
 of Anna it was further arranged, that if the 
 young emperor died before attaining his 
 seventeenth year, Biren should continue 
 guardian to his brethren born after him, 
 who should succeed him on the throne ; 
 but in the event of none of them surviving, 
 then the regent, with the concurrence of 
 the state, was to elect and confirm a new 
 218 
 
 emperor, as unlimited monarch. This 
 opened up a brilliant view to the ambitious 
 Biren, who immediately assumed the title ot 
 *' his highness, regent of the Russian empire/' 
 laid his grasping hand upon the revenues ot 
 the state, and resolved to uphold, by the 
 exercise of despotic cruelty, that dazzling 
 position which he had acquired by fraud. 
 
 The Russian nobles and people were irri- 
 tated at this assumption on the part of a 
 foreigner; discontent became general, and 
 a large party was formed against the 
 tyrannical upstart. Biren endeavoured to 
 awe his opponents into passive submission 
 by an exhibition of the most savage and 
 wanton cruelty. He had a legion of spies 
 under his direction ; and all who were de- 
 tected in any act adverse to his government 
 were exiled to Siberia, cast iato dungeons, 
 or tortured with the knout. Such was his 
 vindictiveuess, that he was dreaded as much 
 as he was detested. But now that the pro- 
 tecting hand of the empress was removed, 
 his ruin was even more rapid than could 
 have been anticipated. A cabal was secretly 
 formed against him, and Marshal Munich, 
 whom he had offended, took the lead in it. 
 Measures were concerted for the arrest of 
 the regent, and he was seized in his house, 
 during the night, by a detachment of the 
 
 A.D. 1741.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [war with SWEDEN. 
 
 guards. The following morning Anne was 
 acknowledged by the senate as grand- 
 duchess of Russia, and guardian of her son 
 the infant emperor. Thus, within a month 
 after the death of the empress Anna, Biren 
 fell from power, and not a hand was raised 
 in his defence. The wretch had made him- 
 self so detested, that scarcely a Russian 
 existed who did not rejoice in his ruin. 
 One of the conspirators observed, that the 
 secret means by which the arrest was ac- 
 complished were quite unnecessary, for 
 that Biren might just as safely have been 
 publicly arrested in open day. Hurried 
 from his bed to the castle of Schlusselburg 
 as a prisoner, he was afterwards placed on 
 his trial on the charges of having im- 
 properly obtained the regency; of having 
 squandered the imperial treasures, treated 
 the parents of the emperor with contumely, 
 and violated the statutes and ordinances of 
 the empire. Being found guilty, he received 
 sentence of death, which, by an undeserved 
 lenity, was mitigated to exile for life to 
 Siberia. Thus he shared the fate to which 
 he had consigned many thousands of his 
 victims, to whose vengeance it is surprising 
 he did not fall a sacrifice. Yet, strange to 
 say, he was afterwards restored to liberty by 
 Peter III.; while Catherine II. gave back 
 to him the duchy of Courland. 
 
 Biren was arres-ted on the 28th of No- 
 vember, 1740, and the Princess Anne 
 became regent; yet, within a year and a 
 few days, power had passed from her hands 
 also ; and she, her husband and her child, 
 were numbered among the ranks of the 
 obscure and the unfortunate ! 
 
 Anne commenced with the sad mistake 
 of placing the duke, her husband, at the 
 head of the army, instead of Marshal 
 Munich. The latter was naturally very 
 discontented ; and, to appease him, she 
 removed Count Ostermann, and made Mu- 
 nich first minister in his place. This was a 
 second error, by which the services of 
 another able man were lost, and a new 
 enemy created. Duke Ulric was devoted 
 to the interests of Austria; and Munich 
 detested Austria, and desired to enter into 
 a close alliance with Prussia : therefore dis- 
 sensions arose between them ; and when 
 the veteran soldier (in March, 1741) ten- 
 dered his resignation, it was accepted. 
 Thus Anne thoughtlessly threw away the 
 second great support of her regency. 
 
 In the August following, Sweden de- 
 clared war against Russia — a proceeding to 
 
 which it was incited by the court of France, 
 and by a belief that the Russians them- 
 selves, discontented with their government, 
 were ripe for revolution. Notwithstanding 
 all that the Swedes had suffered at the 
 hands of the Russians during the time of 
 Peter I., they were so confident of success, 
 that before a sword was drawn or shot fired, 
 they drew up the articles on which they 
 would grant peace to the enemy, who, they 
 concluded, would be ready to accept the 
 terms they were prepared to impose. Rus- 
 sia, they presumed, should be compelled to 
 surrender Carelia, Ingria, and Livonia; 
 that she should not be allowed to keep any 
 vessels on the Livonian or Esthonian coasts ; 
 and that she should be made to grant the 
 free importation of corn. To enforce these 
 extravagant ideas, Sweden had an empty 
 treasury, a fleet not seaworthy, and an 
 army clamorous for pay, and almost desti- 
 tute of provisions. But the Swedish gov- 
 ernment trusted to enlist on its side the 
 antipathy which the Russian people enter- 
 tained towards foreigners. With this object 
 it issued a manifesto, which thus appealed 
 to the emotions of nationality of the Rus- 
 sian population : — " The sole intention, on 
 the part of Sweden, is to defend herself by 
 arms against the oppressions exercised 
 against her by the arrogant foreigners, the 
 ministers of the Russian court ; and at the 
 same time to deliver the Russian nation 
 from the yoke which these ministers have 
 imposed on it, by assisting the Russians to 
 regain their right of electing for themselves 
 a lawful ruler." This document, peculiarly 
 calculated to arouse a sensitive people, either 
 was unable to overcome the stolid apathy 
 of the Russians and their indiflFerence to 
 liberty, or it was counteracted by a na- 
 tional jealousy at the interference of other 
 countries in their affairs. At any rate, it 
 fell perfectly harmless — was disseminated 
 and forgotten. 
 
 Notwithstanding the discord that pre- 
 vailed in the Russian cabinet, the forces of 
 the empire anticipated the efforts of the 
 Swedes ; and General Lascy, advancing 
 against the Swedish army, which was en- 
 camped under Wrangel, near Vilmanstrand, 
 attacked and defeated it on the 3rd of Sep- 
 tember, 1741. The fortress of the place 
 immediately surrendered to the Russians; 
 but the latter were compelled to withdraw on 
 the approach of winter, in consequence of 
 the rapid reinforcements of the Swedes. 
 Before the next campaign a new change 
 
 219 
 
 ■ I 
 
 * _ 
 
1< 
 
 f 
 
 r 
 
 k. 
 
 [ 
 
 1 
 
 If 
 
 Is 
 
 COKSPIRACT AGAINST THE REGENT.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1741. 
 
 had been effected iu the government of 
 Russia; but it was not accomplished by 
 
 . the people, but by a court faction. The 
 Russian populace felt no attachment to the 
 infant emperor, whose father was a German ; 
 or to his mother, who, though descended 
 from a member of the house of Romanoff, 
 was yet the daughter of a German prince. 
 A jealousy of German influence already 
 existed among the Russian nobles ; but had 
 the regent been a woman of enlarged un- 
 derstanding, she would have succeeded in 
 reconciling them to the sway of her family. 
 But the conduct of the Princess Anne was 
 such, that the people had nothing to divert 
 them from the fact, that neither she nor her 
 son were true Russians. She was a woman 
 whose mildness of temper merged into 
 apathy. Once installed as regent, she 
 neglected the duties of her high position, 
 and allowed them to be performed by the 
 advisers of her husband, from whom, never- 
 theless, she seemed almost estranged. She 
 created great dissatisfaction by withdrawing 
 for weeks from public affairs, and shutting 
 herself up with a Countess Mengden, who 
 had obtained a remarkable ascendancy over 
 her. The aversion which the Russians 
 entertained towards foreigners broke out 
 with increased violence, and complaints 
 were made by the disappointed nobles, that 
 the administration of affairs had passed 
 altogether out of the hands of their country- 
 men. When the indolence of the regent 
 permitted her to display her inclinations, 
 they were found to tend to a discourage- 
 ment of Russian customs, and a lavish 
 patronage of foreigners. 
 
 Under these circumstances, some eyes 
 were again turned towards the Princess 
 Elizabeth, the surviving daughter of Peter 
 the Great. She was Russian by birth ; re- 
 garded as national in her habits and ideas ; 
 nearer by blood to the throne than the 
 infant Ivan ; and the immediate descendant 
 of an illustrious and popular sovereign. 
 Yet she had lived so retired a life, that she 
 was without a party in the country, and her 
 friends were few in number. Indeed, so 
 limited were they, that the chief agent in 
 the conspiracy which was set on foot in her 
 favour, was her French physician, Lestocq ; 
 and the money required to conduct it, was 
 supplied by the Marquis la Chetardie, which, 
 
 ^ at the direction of his government, he gave 
 with the object of distracting Russia with 
 internal commotions. 
 
 Elizabeth, during her previous life^ ap- 
 220 
 
 peared to be devoid of ambition; and she 
 had even refused the imperial sceptre. Oc- 
 cupied by her amours and her devotions, 
 she either did, or at least seemed to, prefer 
 the irresponsibility of a private station to 
 the gorgeous uncertainty of a throne in a 
 great but unsettled empire. While the em- 
 press Anna occupied the throne, Elizabeth 
 was indifferent to politics, and avoided the 
 society of the statesmen of the day. The 
 empress reposed in her a confidence which 
 appears not to have been misplaced. But 
 when Elizabeth beheld an infant emperor 
 consigned to the regency of an unprincipled 
 and cruel foreigner, the small amount of 
 ambition existing in her, and which had 
 hitherto remained latent, became aroused. 
 It was not checked by the ruin of Biren ; 
 for then the guardianship of the baby-czar 
 was transferred to its parents, of whom the 
 father was a German by birth, and the 
 mother by descent. Elizabeth was doubt- 
 less further stimulated to the adoption of 
 the course which had been suggested to 
 her, by the rumour that the Princess Anne 
 (the mother of the infant Ivan) intended to 
 cause herself to be proclaimed empress, and 
 to establish the succession in the line of her 
 daughters. 
 
 Elizabeth was without a party, but she 
 was the representative of a principle — that 
 which, springing from the nationality of the 
 people, demanded that the sovereign should 
 be a native of the empire he ruled. Les- 
 tocq (Elizabeth's physician), Grimstein, a 
 corporal, and Schwartz, a trumpeter, were 
 the active agents of the conspiracy in her 
 favour. The latter two were instrumental 
 in gaining over to Lestocq's purpose a 
 strong party of the guards; the French 
 Marquis la Chetardie, as we have said, sup- 
 plying the money required to bribe the 
 latter. The means appeared strangely in- 
 sufficient for the end proposed ; and Eliza- 
 beth, influenced by a natural timidity, 
 hesitated and shrunk back from the dangers 
 which stood between her and the imperial 
 sceptre. Delays thus arose, and rumours 
 were spread abroad concerning the existence 
 of the plot. Count Ostermann warned the 
 regent Anne of her danger, who received 
 similar instructions from the English and 
 Austrian ambassadors. Anne was incredu- 
 lous, and would not take any step to frus- 
 trate the design of those who were preparing 
 for her overthrow. Her indolent and un- 
 suspecting nature wae not even aroused by 
 I her receiving an anonymous letter, denounc- 
 
 A.D. 1741.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [fall of the regency. 
 
 ing the conspirators. Instead of causing 
 them to be instantly arrested, she merely 
 read the letter before her court, and in the 
 presence of Elizabeth, who, bursting into a 
 flood of tears, asserted her innocence with 
 such an appearance of sincerity, that the 
 regent was satisfied, and made no further 
 inquiry. 
 
 Lestocq saw that unless the conspiracy 
 was put into instant practice, failure and 
 would be inevitable. He therefore 
 
 ruin 
 
 urged Elizabeth to fix the following night 
 for the execution of the scheme, which, if 
 successful, was to place her on the throne. 
 She still hesitated, when he drew from his 
 pocket a card, on one side of which was a 
 representation of herself, in the costume of 
 a nun, while the reverse bore a portrayal of 
 her wearing the imperial crown. He then 
 demanded which fate she preferred, and 
 added that the choice depended entirely 
 upon herself, and the promptitude, or other- 
 wise, with which she then acted. This 
 argument was conclusive, and Elizabeth 
 consented to fulfil her part in the plot, 
 which was to be carried into execution on 
 the following night, the 5th of December, 
 1741. 
 
 At the appointed hour, having first made 
 a vow before the crucifix that no blood 
 should be shed in the attempt, Elizabeth 
 entered a sledge, attended by Lestocq and 
 her chamberlain, and drove to the barracks 
 of the guards. On arriving there she ad- 
 vanced amongst the soldiers with the cross 
 in her hand, and addressed them at some 
 length, stating her claims to the throne, 
 reminding them that she was the daughter 
 of their great emperor Peter, that she had 
 been illegally deprived of the succession, 
 that an infant of foreign birth had been 
 placed upon the throne, and that native Rus- 
 sians were excluded from the highest offices 
 of the state, which were conferred alone on 
 foreigners. Elizabeth was well known to 
 the guards, and a great favourite with 
 them. They had been extensively bribed, 
 and intoxicating liquors were distributed 
 freely amongst them. The result was, that 
 the great majority responded to the address 
 with enthusiasm, and placed in confinement 
 those who adhered to their duty. Then, 
 with the Princess Elizabeth and her attend- 
 ants, they marched to the palace, where the 
 regent, her husband, and her infant son 
 resided. Seizing the sentries at the gates, 
 they rushed into the sleeping apartments of 
 the regent and her family, and dragging 
 
 them out of their beds, scarcely allowed 
 them time to dress before they were hurried 
 away as prisoners to the palace of Elizabeth. 
 The infant emperor, when roused from 
 sleep, on hearing the shouts of the soldiers 
 in front of the palace, clapped his little 
 hands, and endeavoured to imitate their 
 vociferations. Elizabeth was touched, and 
 exclaimed, " Poor babe ! thou knowest not 
 that thou art joining in the noise that is 
 raised at thy undoing." 
 
 During the night, many persons con- 
 nected with, or supposed to be favourable 
 to, the government of the regent, were ar- 
 rested, and amongst them Count Ostermann 
 and Marshal Munich. The news spread 
 rapidly through the city ; the troops, gene- 
 rally, declared for Elizabeth, and, by eight 
 in the morning, she was proclaimed em- 
 press, and the revolution was accomplished. 
 A manifesto was then issued to the people, 
 to explain what had taken place. It con- 
 tained the following passage : — " The em- 
 press Anna having nominated the grand- 
 son of her sister, a child born into the 
 world only a few weeks before the empress's 
 death, as successor to the throne; and 
 during the minority of whom various per- 
 sons had conducted the administration of 
 the empire in a manner highly iniquitous, 
 whence disturbances had arisen both within 
 the country and out of it, and probably, in 
 time, still greater might arise; therefore, 
 all the faithful subjects of Elizabeth, both 
 in spiritual and temporal stations, particu- 
 larly the regiments of the life-guards, had 
 unanimously invited her, for the prevention 
 of all the mischievous consequences to be 
 apprehended, to take possession of the 
 throne of her father, as nearest by right of 
 birth ; and that she had accordingly resolved 
 to yield to this universal request of her 
 faithful subjects, by taking possession of her 
 inheritance derived from her parents, the 
 emperor Peter I. and the empress Cathe- 
 rine." 
 
 Thus easily was an unpopular govern- 
 ment swept away, and a revolution efi'ected 
 in the succession. Even in the most des- 
 potic countries, public opinion is an instru- 
 ment of remarkable power. Such public 
 opinion as existed in Russia at that period 
 was averse to German influence and a 
 foreign rule, and it welcomed Elizabeth as 
 the representative of a national government. 
 It was only necessary for her, therefore, to 
 grasp the imperial sceptre, and the empire 
 recognised her as its sovereign. As to the 
 
 221 
 
ELIZABETH BECOMES EMPRESS.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1741. 
 
 h 
 
 regent Anne and the infant emperor, no 
 weapon was drawn in their favour, no voice 
 raised in their behalf. Tliey passed away 
 like a shadow, and were soon almost as 
 unremembered as they were unregarded. 
 Elizabeth stated that she had sent the 
 Princess Anne and her husband, Duke 
 Ulric, back to their native land ; but this 
 was not the truth.. They were thrown into 
 captivity, and removed from fortress to for- 
 tress at her pleasure or caprice. Their 
 child, the late baby-emperor, was allowed to 
 remain with them until he attained his 
 eighth year, after which he was consigned 
 to solitarv confinement : first in the fortress 
 of Oranienburg, and then in that of Schlus- 
 selburg. The consequences of a life of 
 confinement rendered him almost idiotic, 
 and he was eventually murdered, in con- 
 formity with a conditional order given by 
 the empress Catherine II., who regarded 
 him as a pretender to the throne whom 
 circumstances might render dangerous.* 
 The parents of this most unfortunate youth 
 lingered out their lives in captivity ; the 
 mother dying after a few years, during 
 childbirth; and the father surviving her, and 
 reaching a sad and embittered age. As to 
 the Oidvisers and friends of the regent and 
 her husband, most of them were exiled to 
 Siberia. Amongst them was the' wise 
 statesman Ostermann, and the able general 
 Munich. The latter was, after a mock 
 trial, condemned to death as a traitor ; but 
 
 • The following touching account is given of a 
 visit subsequently paid by the emperor, Peter III., 
 to the dungeon of this unhappy prince : — " General 
 Ungern Sternberg was aide-de-camp to Peter III., 
 and accompanied him in a secret visit to the unfor- 
 tunate Ivan at Schlusselburg, where he had been 
 confined by Elizabeth. They found this wretched 
 young man in a dungeon, the window of which ad- 
 mitted but a faint gleam of day, the light being 
 intercepted by piles of wood heaped up in the court. 
 He was in a very dirty white jacket, with a pair of 
 old shoes on his feet. His hair was very light, and 
 cut short like that of a Russian slave. He was 
 tolerably well-made, and his complexion had a pale- 
 ness which showed that the sun had never shone on 
 his face. He was then upwards of twenty, and had 
 been confined ever since he was fourteen months 
 old ; but he had received some impressions and ideas 
 ■which he still retained. Peter III., afiected at his 
 condition, put several questions to him ; among the 
 rest, ♦ Who are you ?' — * I am the emperor.* — * Who 
 put you into prison, then ?' — * Vile, wicked people.* 
 — * Would you like to be emperor again ?' — * To be 
 sure; why not. I should then have fine clothes, 
 and servants to wait upon me.' — * But what would 
 you do if you were emperor ?' — ' I would cut off* the 
 hfiads of all those who have wronged me.' Peter 
 HI., having then asked whence he learned what he 
 
 222 
 
 Elizabeth commuted his sentence into one 
 of perpetual imprisonment. His captivity 
 was of a mild kind — he being confined in 
 an astrog or prison, of which he himself 
 had drawn the plan, and ordered to be con- 
 structed for the reception of Biren, the 
 ferocious favourite of the empress Anna. 
 It was an area about 170 feet square, and 
 enclosed with high palisades. Within was 
 a wooden house, inhabited by himself, his 
 wife, and a few servants ; and a small 
 garden, which he cultivated with his own 
 hands. He received a daily allowance ot 
 twelve copecks (about sixpence) for the 
 maintenance of himself, his wife, and do- 
 mestics ; which miserable pittance he in- 
 creased by keeping cows and selling part ot 
 their milk, and by instructing lads in geo- 
 metry and engineering. Strange are the 
 vicissitudes which attended those who, in 
 unsettled times, fulfilled the highest and 
 most responsible offices of the state. In 
 this case, the hand which had forced a king 
 upon Poland, and carried on a fierce war 
 against the might of the Ottoman empire, was 
 employed in tracing mathematical figures 
 for children. It is much to the honour of 
 the veteran soldier, that he bore his misfor- 
 tunes with tranquillity, and proved himself 
 a moral no less than a military hero. He 
 was ultimately recalled by Peter III., whom, 
 it will be seen, he faithfully served; enjoyed 
 the favour of Catherine II., and died in 
 1767, in his eighty-fifth year. 
 
 told him, he answered, that he had it from the Vir- 
 gin and the angels ; and began to enter into long 
 stories of these pretended visions. Though alone, 
 and confined from his infancy, he did not appear 
 terrified at the sight of the emperor and his officers. 
 He examined his dress and weapons with much 
 curiosity and pleasure, as a bold child would have 
 done. The emperor asked him again what he wished 
 for, and he answered in his vulgar Russian dialect, 
 * To have more air.' Ungern was left some time at 
 Schlusselburg to gain his confidence, and find out 
 whether his apparent imbecility were only assumed. 
 He was soon convinced, however, that it was the 
 natural consequence of his mode of life. He gave 
 him, from the emperor, a silk morning gown. Ivan 
 put it on with transports of joy, running about the 
 room, and admiring himself as a savage would have 
 done who had never been dressed before. As all 
 his wishes centred in the requisition of more air, 
 Peter III. sent the plan of a little palace, in the 
 centre of which was to be a garden, with orders to 
 have it built for Ivan in the court of the fortress. 
 It was cruel that this act of humanity towards an 
 innocent man should have served as a pretext against 
 the unfortunate Peter. He was charged with having 
 intended to build a prison for his wife and son, 
 and this was made a pretext for his own assassi- 
 nation." 
 
 A.D. 1741.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [court of the empress. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 CLEMENCY OF THE EMPRESS ELIZABETH AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF HER REIGN; BRIEF WAR WITH 
 SWEDEN ; THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR AND ITS ORIGIN ; ELIZABETH JOINS A LEAGUE AGAINST FREDERIC OP 
 PRUSSIA; PROGRESS OF THE WAR; THE GRAND-DUKE PETER FEDOROVITCH ; HIS MARRIAGE WITH THE 
 PRINCESS SOPHIA AUGUSTA OF ANHALT-ZERBST, AFTERWARDS CATHERINE II.; BATTLE OF KUNERSDORF ; 
 ILLNESS, DEATH, AND CHARACTER OF ELIZABETH. 
 
 Elizabeth became possessed of the im- 
 perial power on the 6th of December, 1741. 
 Though she punished all who had been in- 
 strumental in keeping her from the throne, 
 she liberally rewarded those by whose 
 agency she had been placed there. Lestocq 
 was made head physician of the court, pre- 
 sident of the college of the faculty, and 
 privy councillor, with a magnificent income. 
 Grinstein, the corporal, was first created 
 adjutant, and then major-general; and 
 Schwartz, the trumpeter, received the rank 
 of colonel, and a considerable estate. The 
 favourites and paramours of the new em- 
 press, who were mostly incapable and 
 vulgar persons, were all handsomely pro- 
 vided for. RasumofFski, her most favoured 
 admirer, she afterwards privately married; 
 Vorontzoff (whose descendants are generally 
 called Woronzow), another of them, showed 
 a considerable capacity for business, and 
 became vice-chancellor, and finally high 
 chancellor. All the grenadiers who had 
 obtained the smiles of the new empress, 
 received the rank of officers, and were 
 formed into a body-guard, of which she 
 herself became captain. But the conduct 
 of these people was so intolerable, that most 
 of them fell into disgrace and were ruined. 
 Even Lestocq, the physician, in consequence 
 of his avarice and arrogance, was eventually 
 banished. Grinstein shared the same fate; 
 and Schwartz was ordered to retire to his 
 estates. 
 
 Elizabeth soon confided the business of 
 the state to those who were able to direct 
 it, instead of to the incompetent crowd of 
 unknown and mostly uneducated persons 
 by whom she was surrounded. The grand- 
 chancellor, Bestuchef, became her chief 
 minister, and the principal affairs of the 
 empire were managed by him. One inci- 
 dent shed a lustre over the advent of Eliza- 
 beth's reign, and caused great expectations 
 to be raised of her clemency. She par- 
 doned and liberated more than 20,000 per- 
 sons who had been banished or imprisoned. 
 Yet, strangely enough, an enormous num- 
 
 ber of people were exiled during her sway. 
 This arose from her having made a vow not 
 to sanction the death of any criminal ; but 
 this measure, even if wise in itself, was too 
 much in advance of the ideas and habits of 
 the Russian people. The judges, deprived 
 of the power of directly sentencing a male- 
 factor to death, adopted the practice of 
 awarding such severe inflictions of the 
 knout, and other punishments, as amounted 
 to an indirect sentence to that effect; for 
 the sufferer often died, as a result of the 
 merciless chastisement which he had been 
 made to endure. Minor punishments, of a 
 savage and revolting kind, also came much 
 into use ; dislocation of the arms, slitting 
 of the tongue, cutting off the ears, and 
 other mutilations, were extremely common 
 under the reign of an empress to whom 
 many have awarded the praise of clemency, 
 but of whom, in justice, scarcely more on 
 this point could be said, than that she 
 was good-tempered to those who had the 
 fortune to please her. When personally 
 offended, she could be both cruel and re- 
 morseless. Women, and even ladies of 
 rank, were made to feel the severity of her 
 vengeance, by being condemned to the 
 hideous torture of the knout. Some crude 
 conspiracy, for the purpose of restoring the 
 infant Ivan to the throne, was discovered 
 soon after her accession, and those implicated 
 in it were first punished with the knout, 
 and then exiled to Siberia. Amongst the 
 victims was one of the ladies of the court, 
 whose personal beauty had inspired the em- 
 press with feelings of jealous envy, and who 
 thus permitted the law to mangle, and for 
 ever to sweep from her path, both the rebel 
 and the rival. 
 
 Through the wisdom of Bestuchef, France 
 soon found herself entirely deceived con- 
 cerning the advantages she had expected 
 to derive from the revolution which raised 
 Elizabeth to the throne. No national 
 'commotion or popular discontent had fol- 
 lowed ; and the secret cabals of France 
 I were met and neutralised by the superior 
 
 223 
 
 'J 
 
 ■;■> j 
 i .1. 
 
WAB WITH SWEDEN.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1742—1743. 
 
 ill 
 
 11 
 
 11 < 
 
 
 
 
 state-craft of Bestuchef. The French cabi- 
 net, however, succeeded in exciting Sweden 
 to a renewal of hostilities with Russia. 
 Frederic I. demanded the restoration of 
 Finland; which, as he must have antici- 
 pated, was refused. Hostilities were there- 
 fore resumed ; but the military glory of 
 Sweden seemed to have departed, and her 
 sons possesses! neither the territory, wealth, 
 population, or vigour of former years. 
 Sweden, indeed, suflfered from the influence 
 of the gold, as well as the sword, of Russia, 
 and she was slowly sinking into a position 
 not much above that of a province of her 
 great imperial neighbour. 
 
 The war recommenced in the spring of 
 1742. The Russian forces were under the 
 chief command of Marshal Lascy ; those of 
 the Swedes were headed by Lewenhaupt 
 and Buddenbrock. The latter, by their 
 want of readiness, betrayed the interests of 
 their country, and sacrificed the fortress of 
 Fredericshaum, together with all their 
 stores and munitions of war ; which, in the 
 impaired condition of the Swedish finances, 
 it was impossible to replace. As if labour- 
 ing under some infatuation, the Swedes left 
 the passage of the Kymene undefended, 
 and retired rapidly to Helsingfors, whither 
 they were pursued by the Russians. The 
 Swedes, imagining themselves secure on 
 account of the woods by which they were 
 surrounded, neglected any further precau- 
 tions. Under these circumstances, a Fin- 
 lander who was much incensed against the 
 Swedes, led the Russians to a path cut by 
 Peter I., but since completely overgrown by 
 bushes, which enabled them to surround 
 and cut oft* their enemies. The Swedish 
 generals, after their troops had sufi'ered a 
 blockade of fourteen days, abandoned them, 
 under pretence of yielding obedience to the 
 commands of the diet. They trusted, 
 through their influence in the council, to 
 evade the penalty of this desertion; but 
 such was the irritation both of their sove- 
 reign and their countrymen at their un- 
 worthy conduct, that they sufl*ered death 
 for it. Their deserted troops were com- 
 pelled to conclude a capitulation with the 
 Russians, and the whole of Finland fell into 
 the power of the latter. 
 
 The Swedes perceiving that the war was 
 a hopeless struggle, which they had not the 
 means of contiuuiug, endeavoured to con- 
 ciliate the empress Elizabeth. In order to 
 induce the Russians not to insist on the 
 cession of Finland, they had, at an earlier 
 224 
 
 period, off'ered the crown of Sweden to her 
 relative, the young Duke of Holstein-Got- 
 torp, the grandson of Peter the Great, by 
 his favourite daughter Anne Petrovna, who 
 had been married to the Duke of Holstein 
 shortly before the death of her illustrious 
 father. Charles Peter Ulric, the young 
 duke (afterwards the unfortunate Peter III.), 
 declined the off'er, in consequence of his 
 having been summoned to Russia by the 
 empress Elizabeth, who announced her in- 
 tention of making him her successor. 
 Under these circumstances, the Swedes 
 purchased peace from the Russian empress, 
 by adopting a recommendation to elect her 
 relation, the Bishop of Liibeck, as their 
 king; in consequence of which, that prelate 
 ascended the Swedish throne on the death 
 of Frederic I. 
 
 The majority of the Swedish people were, 
 however, so dissatisfied with this arrange- 
 ment, that the peace negotiations were de- 
 layed, and, in the year 1743, Russia again 
 resorted to hostilities, and a Russian fleet 
 made some descents upon the coasts of 
 Sweden, though without producing as much 
 eff'ect as was anticipated. In the same year 
 peace was concluded at Abo. Adolphus 
 Frederic, duke of Holstein and bishop of 
 Liibeck, was elected king of Sweden. Fin- 
 land, then in the possession of the Russian 
 troops, was restored to Sweden, which was 
 only compelled to cede the province of 
 Kymmenegard, together with the branches 
 and mouths of the river Kymene Nyslot, 
 and all the district around it in the province 
 of Savolar. Yet, in accordance with the 
 spirit of Russian policy, which enfeebles 
 that which at some future time it may be 
 necessary to engulph, the Russian troops, 
 before quitting Finland, took care, accord- 
 ing to Mannstein, "to squeeze from it 
 everything they possibly could ; the inten- 
 tion of the court being to ruin that province 
 totally, and reduce it, notwithstanding the 
 peace, into so wretched a condition as not 
 to be able for a long time to hold up its 
 head again ; the generals had even repeated 
 orders not to fail of attending to this point. 
 The empress, however, feigning a desire to 
 restore a good harmony with her neigh- 
 bours, ordered some thousands of bushels of 
 grain out of the magazines which had been 
 established in Finland, to be distributed to 
 the peasants of that country for sowing their 
 grounds.'' 
 
 Several uneventful years rolled on, and 
 proved barren of incidents of value or interest 
 
 A.D. 1756.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the seven years' war. 
 
 to the historian. EHzabeth then engaged 
 in that celebrated struggle known as the 
 SEVEN years' war, which shook and seri- 
 ously aff'ected the interests of the whole of 
 Europe. A history of it is, in fact, the his- 
 tory of Europe during the period over which 
 it extended. It must be sufficient that we 
 mention the cause from which it arose, and 
 relate the part that Russia took in it. 
 Frederic II. of Prussia, who won from his 
 contemporaries and from posterity the title 
 of " the Great," had wrested Silesia from 
 Maria Theresa, archduchess of Austria, who 
 had succeeded her father, Charles VI., on 
 the imperial throne. " Maria Theresa" (we 
 quote the brilliant language of Macaulay) 
 *' had never for a moment forgotten the 
 great wrong which she had received at the 
 hands of Frederic. Young and delicate, 
 just left an orphan, just about to be a mo- 
 ther, she had been compelled to fly from the 
 ancient capital of her race; she had seen 
 her fair inheritance dismembered by rob- 
 bers, and of those robbers he had been the 
 foremost. Without a pretext, without a 
 provocation, in defiance of the most sacred 
 engagements, he had attacked the helpless 
 ally whom he was bound to defend. The 
 empress-queen had the faults as well as the 
 virtues which are connected with quick sen- 
 sibility and a high spirit. There was no 
 peril which she was not ready to brave, no 
 calamity which she was not ready to bring 
 on her subjects, or on the whole human 
 race, if only she might once taste the sweet- 
 ness of a complete revenge. Revenge, too, 
 presented itself, to her narrow and super- 
 stitious mind, in the guise of duty. Silesia 
 had been wrested not only from the house 
 of Austria, but from the church of Rome. 
 The conqueror had, indeed, permitted his 
 new subjects to worship God after their own 
 fashion; but this was not enough. To 
 bigotry it seemed an intolerable hardship 
 that the catholic church, having so long 
 enjoyed ascendancy, should be compelled to 
 content itself with equality. Nor was this 
 the only circumstance which led Maria 
 Theresa to regard her enemy as the enemy 
 of God. The profaneness of Frederic's 
 writings and conversation, and the frightful 
 rumours which were circulated respecting 
 the immorality of his private life, naturally 
 shocked a woman who believed with the 
 firmest faith all that her confessor told her ; 
 and who, though surrounded by tempta- 
 tions, though young and beautiful, though 
 ardent in all her passions, though possessed 
 
 VOL. I. 2 G 
 
 of absolute power, had preserved her fame 
 unsullied even bv the breath of slander. 
 To recover Silesia, to humble the dynasty 
 of HohenzoUern to the dust, was the great 
 object of her life. She toiled during many 
 j'cars for this end, with zeal as indefatigable 
 as that which the poet ascribes to the 
 stately goddess who tired out her immortal 
 horses in the work of raising the nations 
 against Troy, and who offered to give up to 
 destruction her darling Sparta and Mycenae, 
 if only she might once see the smoke going 
 up from the palace of Priam. With even 
 such a spirit did the proud Austrian Juno 
 strive to array against her foe a coalition 
 such as Europe had never seen. Nothing 
 would content her but that the whole 
 civilised world, from the White Sea to the 
 Adriatic, from the Bay of Biscay to the pas- 
 tures of the wild horses of the Tanais, should 
 be combined in arms against one petty state." 
 The exertions of Maria Theresa led even- 
 tually to a secret alliance against Frederic, 
 and that monarch learned from his agents 
 at foreign courts, that an alarming league 
 was formed for the purpose of ruining him 
 and partitioning his dominions. With this 
 view he was to be attacked at once by 
 Austria, France, Russia, Saxony, and Swe- 
 den. "It was not," says the eloquent 
 writer from whom we have just quoted, " to 
 any political theory that the strange coali- 
 tion between France and Austria owed its 
 origin. The real motive which induced the 
 great continental powers to forget their old 
 animosities and their old state maxims, was 
 personal aversion to the king of Prussia. 
 This feeling was strongest in Maria Theresa ; 
 but it was by no means confined to her. 
 Frederic, in some respects a good master, 
 was emphatically a bad neighbour. That 
 he was hard in all dealings, and quick to 
 take all advantages, was not his most odious 
 fault. His bitter and scoffing speech had 
 inflicted keener wounds than his ambition. 
 In his character of wit he was under less 
 restraint than even in his character of ruler. 
 Satirical verses against all the princes and 
 ministers of Europe were ascribed to his 
 pen. In his letters and conversation he 
 alluded to the greatest potentates of the age 
 in terms which would have better suited 
 Colle, in a war of repartee with young Cre- 
 billon at Pelletier's table, than a great 
 sovereign speaking of great sovereigns. 
 About women, he was in the habit of ex- 
 pressing himself in a manner which it was 
 impossible for the meekest women to for- 
 
 225 
 
 
 
 h 
 
 
 / 
 
11 
 
 t 
 
 if 
 
 'M'f 
 
 ill''' 
 
 %1 
 
 1< 
 
 f 
 
 It 
 
 1*1 
 
 1 
 
 '^ 
 
 RUSSIA JOINS THE COALITION.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1756—1757. ' 
 
 give; and, unfortunately for him, almost 
 the whole continent was then governed by 
 women who were by no means conspicuous 
 for meekness. Maria Theresa herself had 
 not escaped his scurrilous jests. The em- 
 press Elizabeth, of Russia, knew that her 
 gallantries afforded him a favourite theme 
 for ribaldry and invective. Madame de 
 Pompadour, who was really the head of the 
 Prench government, had been even more 
 keenly galled. She had attempted, by the 
 most delicate flattery, to propitiate the king 
 of Prussia; but her messages had drawn 
 from him only dry and sarcastic replies. 
 The empress-queen took a very different 
 course. Though the haughtiest of prin- 
 cesses, though the most austere of matrons, 
 she forgot, in her thirst for revenge, both 
 the dignity of her race and the purity of 
 her character, and condescended to flatter 
 the low-born and low-minded concubine, 
 who, having acquired influence by prosti- 
 tuting herself, retained it by prostituting 
 others. Maria Theresa actually wrote with 
 her own hand a note, full of expressions of 
 esteem and friendship, to her dear cousin, 
 the daughter of the butcher Poisson — the 
 wife of the publican D'Etioles — the kidnap- 
 per of young girls for the harem of an old 
 rake : a strange cousin for the descendant 
 of so many emperors of the West ! The 
 mistress was completely gained over, and 
 easily carried her point with Louis, who 
 had, indeed, wrongs of his own to resent. 
 His feelings were not quick ; but contempt, 
 says the eastern proverb, pierces even 
 through the shell of the tortoise; and 
 neither prudence nor decorum had ever re- 
 strained Frederic from expressing his mea- 
 sureless contempt for the sloth, the imbe- 
 cility, and the baseness of Louis. France 
 was thus induced to join the coalition; and 
 the example of France determined the con- 
 duct of Sweden, then completely subject to 
 French influence." 
 
 The ruin of Frederic was confidently an- 
 ticipated, and he himself expected no less. 
 Yet he was not dismayed, but acted with 
 that energy which is ever characteristic of 
 great minds. Having resolved to anticipate 
 his enemies, he demanded an explanation 
 from Maria Theresa ; and on receiving a 
 haughty and evasive one, he, on the 24th of 
 August, 1756, invaded the rich electorate of 
 Saxony with an army of 60,000 men. Thus 
 commenced " the seven years' war" — a con- 
 test the most extraordinary and important 
 in modern times, previous to those of the 
 226 
 
 French revolution. Frederic defeated Au- 
 gustus at Pima, and then captured Dresden, 
 where, among the state papers, he discovered 
 abundant evidence of the secret designs of 
 the coalition against him. Some of these 
 documents he published, and thus showed 
 the statesmen of Europe that, whatever 
 might have been the character of his former 
 proceedings, he was now the injured party,, 
 and had merely anticipated a blow intended 
 to destroy him. 
 
 It was not Elizabeth's interest to take 
 part against Frederic ; but, as has been 
 observed, she was animated by a personal 
 dislike towards him, on account of the 
 satires in which he had indulged respecting 
 her irregularities. Moreover, she professed, 
 and perhaps entertained, a feeling of com- 
 miseration for the Polish king, whose 
 Saxon dominions the Prussian monarch 
 treated as a conquered and enslaved pro- 
 vince. Another of Elizabeth's reasons for 
 entering on a war which she might wisely 
 have viewed as a spectator, instead of taking 
 part in as a principal, was the prospect of 
 certain ulterior advantages which she hoped 
 to derive with respect to Courland and other 
 Polish provinces. 
 
 The second year of the war (1757), Fre- 
 deric advanced into Bohemia ; and, on the 
 5th of May, gained a great victory over the 
 Austrians, led by Prince Charles of Lor- 
 raine and Marshal Brown. Frederic pur- 
 chased his triumph at the terrible cost of 
 a loss of 1 8,000 men ; but no less than 
 24,000 of the enemy were killed, wounded, 
 or taken. Part of the defeated armv took 
 refuge within the walls of the city. There 
 they were relieved by the approach of 
 another Austrian army under Marshal 
 Daun, who, however, on Frederic's ad- 
 vance to meet him, sheltered his troops 
 within an intrenched camp at Kolin. There 
 he awaited the attack of the Prussians ; and 
 on the 18th of June — "a day which, if the 
 Greek superstition still retained its in- 
 fluence, would be held sacred to Nemesis" — 
 Frederic was defeated with a frightful 
 carnage ; no less than 13,000 of his soldiers 
 having perished before he could be per- 
 suaded to quit the field. Abandoning the 
 siege of Prague, he was compelled to retire 
 hurriedly from Bohemia, and his enemies 
 concluded that his final ruin was at hand. 
 He himself was so depressed, that his health 
 was seriously impaired, and he contemplated 
 suicide as an escape from the heavy troubles 
 which environed him on all sides. He even 
 
 A.D. 1742.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [retrospect. 
 
 carried a certain and speedy poison about 
 his person. 
 
 But Frederic never lost his courage or his 
 energy, which enabled him to retrieve his 
 apparently desperate aff'airs. " At this very 
 time the scanty leisure of the illustrious 
 warrior was employed in producing odes 
 and epistles, a little better than Gibber's, 
 and a little worse than Hayley's." The 
 autumn seemed as if about to bring with it 
 the pall that should cover both the fortune 
 and the life of the heroic Prussian. Silesia 
 was overrun by the Austrians; a great 
 French army, under Marshal Soubise, was 
 advancing from the west ; and a Russian 
 army, under Marshal Apraxin, was in the 
 field. Frederic first marched against the 
 French, and, on the 5th of November, ob- 
 tained a brilliant victory over them at Ros- 
 bach. He then marched into Silesia ; and, 
 one month after his triumph at Rosbach, 
 defeated 60,000 Austrians under Prince 
 Charles of Lorraine at Breslau. This battle 
 was, in later times, pronounced by the 
 great Napoleon as a masterpiece, and 
 sufficient of itself to entitle Frederic to a 
 place in the first rank amongst generals. 
 The Austrians lost, in killed, wounded, 
 and prisoners, 27,000 men, together with 
 60 stand of colours, 100 guns, and 4,000 
 waggons. Silesia was reconquered, and 
 Charles of Lorraine retired to Brussels to 
 hide his shame and sorrow. As for the 
 Russians under Apraxin, they invaded 
 Prussia, took Memel, were guilty of shame- 
 ful cruelty to the poor inhabitants of the 
 districts through which they passed, and 
 defeated a body of Prussians under the 
 aged field-marshal, Lehwold. But having 
 done this, Apraxin not only omitted to fol- 
 low up his success, but even retired precipi- 
 tately across the Russian frontiers. 
 
 For this remarkj^Ue proceeding there was 
 a double cause. Elizabeth's nephew — the 
 grand-duke Peter, and successor to the im- 
 perial throne — entertained a romantic and 
 most extravagant attachment to Frederic, 
 and the Russian officers knew, that to in- 
 flict defeat upon the Prussians, was to incur 
 the displeasure of one who, ^ ^rhaps, at no very 
 remote date, would become their emperor. 
 The other cause of Apraxin's retreat was a 
 secret order from the chief minister, Bestu- 
 chef, commanding him to do so. The motive 
 of the chancellor was hatred to the grand- 
 duke Peter, to whom he rightly conjectured 
 this movement, so discreditable to the Rus- 
 sian arms, would be attributed. Bestuchef 
 
 was plotting to induce the empress to de- 
 prive the grand-duke of the succession; 
 and, as Elizabeth was earnest in the war, 
 it was likely that she would be seriously 
 off'euded with Peter, to whose secret inter- 
 ference she would attribute the disappoint- 
 ment of her hopes, and the loss of credit by 
 her troops. Bestuchef is also supposed to 
 have expected the death of the empress, 
 and to have desired the presence of the 
 troops for the purpose of effecting the con- 
 spiracy by which he hoped to exclude the 
 grand-duke Peter from the throne. 
 
 It is here necessary to retrace our steps, 
 and to dwell briefly on the career of this 
 well-meaning, but unwise and unfortunate 
 prince. In 1742, when only in his four- 
 teenth year, he obeyed the summons of the 
 empress Elizabeth, and went to St. Peters- 
 burg, where he adopted the Greek form of 
 the Christian religion, and received the 
 name of Peter Fedorovitch. EHzabeth 
 assigned him the palace of Oranienbaum, 
 not far from the capital, where he resided 
 when not at court. The empress — or, more 
 probably, those about her — excluded the 
 young grand-duke from any participation in 
 pubhc affairs. Though his youth and neg- 
 lected education by no means qualified him 
 to take part in matters of such importance, 
 yet Peter felt a dissatisfaction which he did 
 not care to conceal. He exhibited an 
 aversion to study, and devoted his time 
 chiefly to training some Holstein troops, 
 whom he had obtained permission to keep 
 at Oranienbaum. He had a perfect pas- 
 sion for military exercise; but he gave a 
 preference to the Prussian system over that 
 of Russia; and, indeed, showed plainly 
 enough that all his sympathies were Ger- 
 man, and that he held in contempt the 
 people whom he would be called upon to 
 rule. His companions were young German 
 officers — men of low birth and dissipated 
 and sensual habits. In their society Peter 
 indulged, without control, in excessive 
 drinking, smoking, and licentious amours. 
 He was encouraged in this course by Bestu- 
 chef, who hated him ; and some add, by the 
 empress also, with the view of preventing 
 her successor from acquiring a popularity 
 which might be displeasing to her. It would 
 be difficult to credit this statement if the 
 conduct of Elizabeth did not give it a 
 colouring; for Peter's German partialities 
 and known dislike of all those customs and 
 ideas which Russians regarded as national, 
 had made him more than sufficiently un- 
 
 227 
 
MARRIAGE OF THE GRAND-DUKE.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1745. 
 
 A.D. 1754.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [Catherine's first amour. 
 
 popular for that purpose. The empress 
 appears to have been somewhat attached to 
 him ; and, dissipated as she herself was, she 
 endeavoured to withdraw him from his 
 career of thoughtless sensuality, by inducing 
 him to marry. But towards Peter, as in 
 other cases, she exhibited a remarkable 
 capriciousness.* The lady she selected was 
 Peter's cousin, the Princess Sophia Augusta 
 von Anhalt, daughter of the Prince of An- 
 halt-Zerbst, governor of Stettin, in Prus- 
 sian Pomerania. The marriage took place 
 in 1745; the lady also being received into 
 the Greek communion, and taking the name 
 of Catherine Alexiewna. 
 
 The princess was born on the 2nd of 
 May, 1729, and brought up in the most 
 simple manner by her mother, who was, 
 notwithstanding, a scheming and artful 
 woman. It is said that, in girlhood, good 
 humour, intelligence, and spirit, were the 
 most striking features of the young princess 
 who was afterwards to play so distinguished 
 a part as the imperial ruler of a great people. 
 A lady of quality, who frequently saw her 
 during this phase of life, has left the 
 following sketch concerning her:— "Her 
 deportment, from her earliest years, was 
 always remarkably good : she grew un- 
 commonly handsome, and was a great girl 
 for her years. Her countenance, without 
 being beautiful, was very agreeable; to 
 which the peculiar gaiety and friendliness 
 which she ever displayed gave additional 
 charms. Her education was conducted by 
 her mother alone, who kept her strictly, 
 and never suffered her to show the least 
 symptoms of pride, to which she had some 
 propensity; accustoming her, from her 
 earliest infancy, to salute the ladies of dis- 
 tinction who came to visit the princess, 
 with all the marks of respect that became a 
 child." 
 
 The marriage between this young princess 
 and the grand-duke was an ill-assorted, un- 
 happy, and, indeed, fatal one. Catherine, 
 as we shall for the future call her, was 
 handsome, inordinately fond of pleasure, 
 possessed of considerable talents, ambitious, 
 bold, and unprincipled. She was a most 
 unlikely woman to have effected the refor- 
 mation of Peter, even had there been an 
 affection between them. But such an 
 emotion did not exist on either side. Peter, 
 when first introduced to his affianced bride, 
 was just recovering from the small- pox, 
 which had terribly disfigured a countenance 
 originally plain almost to ugliness. Though 
 Catherine was carefully prepared for the 
 interview, yet her disappointment and re- 
 pugnance were so great, that, though she 
 fell on his neck and embraced him with 
 affected joy for his recovery, no sooner 
 had she returned to her own apartment 
 than, unable to keep up the deception, 
 she fainted away, and remained for three 
 hours in a state of insensibility. But am- 
 bition prevailed; the lady suppressed her 
 feehngs of dislike, and the union was ac- 
 complished. Peter's manners were so un- 
 polished, and even vulgar, that Catherine 
 frequently blushed for him in society, while 
 he himself often felt deeply pained at her 
 superiority in this respect; and although 
 he was neither without good qualities nor 
 deficient in understanding, yet she was 
 greatly his superior, both in intellect and 
 resolution. This was soon discerned by 
 the courtiers, who, perceiving that though 
 Peter might be emperor, yet that the im- 
 perial power would be grasped by his more 
 able consort, were even more assiduous in 
 their attentions to her than to him. 
 
 Naturally, this widened the gulf between 
 the ill-matched pair. Peter turned with in- 
 difference from the society of a wife who. 
 
 • Tooke observes — " By one of those strange per- 
 versions of judgment which often appear in the un- 
 cultivated mind, Elizabeth pretended to think that 
 her nephew was too well-informed, and that he was 
 in danger of becoming too amiable by his manners, 
 and too enviable by his knowledge. From the very 
 moment of her choosing him for her successor, she 
 regarded him as a rival. For this reason it proba- 
 bly was that she took him from under the tuition of 
 the enlightened Brummer, who had begun his edu- 
 cation in Holstein, and placed about him Tshoglo- 
 koff, a man of mean talents and a narrow mind. In 
 vain did a few disinterested persons at the court of 
 St Petersburg (for there are some such in all courts) 
 — in vain did some estimable women (for there were 
 some such even about Elizabeth) — in vain did these 
 persons, lamenting the ignorance and the sort of de- 
 sertion in which the young Peter was left, endea- 
 228 
 
 vour to represent to his aunt the danger he m- 
 curred. The empress was deaf to their remonstrances, 
 and even on some occasions repulsed them with harsh- 
 Among many examples one need only be 
 
 ness 
 
 mentioned— that of a woman of the bedchamber, who 
 had the spirit to ask this princess why she kept the 
 grand-duke from all the deliberations of the council. 
 'If you permit him not to know anything of what is 
 necessary for governing the country, added she, 
 'what do you think will become of him, and what 
 do you think will become of the empire ? All the 
 answer she got was, that Elizabeth, looking at her 
 angrily, said, ' Johanna, knowest thou the way to 
 Siberia?' However, the generous Johanna escaped 
 with only the fright, and took care for the future to 
 make no more remonstrances on that head to her 
 mistress." Thus, by an assumption of anger, Jiliza- 
 beth evaded a disagreeable topic. 
 
 to him, possessed no charm, and, mingling 
 again with his boon companions, sought to 
 forget his disappointment in renewed dissi- 
 pation. Neglect turned Catherine's indif- 
 ference into absolute dislike, and the in- 
 sulted wife became the ambitious schemer. 
 While Peter was strengthening his unpopu- 
 larity, she was forming a political party 
 around her. But she did not give herself 
 entirely to ambition. Those powerful animal 
 passions which eventually made her conduct 
 the astonishment of Europe, soon manifested 
 their influence over her. For a time her 
 behaviour was at least outwardly decorous ; 
 but the unchaste examples set before her in 
 the court of the lascivious Elizabeth, fostered 
 and ripened the germs of voluptuous aban- 
 donment in the young and neglected wife. 
 She received into her favour a person of 
 humble birth and fortune, named Soltikoff, 
 who was one of her husband's chamberlains 
 and boon companions, and who had obtained 
 such a reputation for his gallantries, that 
 the husbands of St. Petersburg regarded 
 him as the most agreeable and most danger- 
 ous man in town. With this man, the first 
 of her known lovers, Catherine soon sulUed 
 the purity of the nuptial couch. As this 
 person was the immediate cause of Cathe- 
 rine's entrance upon that strange career of 
 sensuality by which her name is sullied, we 
 will quote from the pages of Tooke,* who 
 relates them at length, and in a manner 
 pregnant with interest, some particulars of his 
 intimacy with the grand-duchess: — "Solti- 
 koff was not long ere he lifted his eyes even 
 to the spouse of his master ; and vanity yet 
 more than love led him to conceive the bold 
 design of captivating her heart. He began 
 by sedulously studying the inclinations of 
 the princess. He perceived that, notwith- 
 standing the constraint in which she lived, 
 Catherine had always a propensity to plea- 
 sure; and that the solitude of Oranien- 
 baum rendered dissipation necessary to her. 
 He accordingly procured her some new 
 amusement with every returning day. He 
 engaged the grand-duke to give frequent 
 entertainments; he took upon himself the 
 task of inventing and directing them, 
 secretly giving the grand-duchess to under- 
 stand that she was the sole object for 
 which they were made, and that it was to 
 him alone she was indebted for them. 
 Catherine was not insensible to such gallant, 
 such continued attentions. The seducing 
 figure of Soltikoff, and the vivacity of his 
 • Life of the Empress Catherine IL, vol. L 
 
 wit, had made an impression on her mind. 
 His assiduities made him master of her 
 affections; but Soltikoff, sensible that the 
 heart of the grand -duchess was no ordinary 
 conquest, was afraid of betraying himself 
 by an imprudent explanation. It is even 
 not impossible that, at first, he meant only 
 to feign a passion which, in the sequel, grew 
 up into a real attachment. In short, for a 
 considerable time their fondness was mutual, 
 without any declaration on the part of 
 either. 
 
 " An unfortunate event was the occasion 
 of accelerating this declaration. Soltikoff 
 lost his father. His duty obhged him to 
 repair to Moscow. He obtained the grand- 
 duke's permission to depart ; and at taking 
 leave of Catherine, he was not sufficiently 
 master of his feelings to prevent his dis- 
 covering how much this parting cost him. 
 The princess, who saw his tears, was no 
 less touched herself at the cause whence 
 they flowed; and fixing her eyes with a 
 look of extreme significance on Soltikoff, 
 she conjured him to shorten his absence as 
 much as he could, and to return and forget 
 his grief in the midst of a brilliant court, 
 where, without him, there could be no such 
 thing as pleasure. 
 
 "The character of Soltikoff renders it 
 easy to judge what effect these words must 
 have produced. He thought he perceived 
 that he was beloved, and his conscious pride 
 redoubled. His journey occupied him but 
 a few days. What were domestic concerns 
 when balanced with the felicity he expected? 
 What was Moscow to him in comparison to 
 St. Petersburg? He abandoned all for the 
 sake of returning to secure his triumph. 
 
 "However, on approaching the grand- 
 duchess, all the flattering ideas with which 
 he had regaled his delighted imagination 
 began suddenly to dissolve and vanish. His 
 audacity forsook him. He found himself a 
 prey to the most serious and gloomy reflec- 
 tions. He saw at once all the danger of 
 his amour. He could no longer presume to 
 flatter himself that Catherine would so far 
 forget what she owed to her rank, to her 
 spouse, as to accept the assiduities of a 
 simple chamberlain. But if he were so 
 happy as to see her vouchsafe to correspond 
 to his passion, could he imagine that he 
 should deceive the penetrating eyes of the 
 jealous and humiliated courtiers by whom 
 she was surrounded ? In a word, how risk 
 a confession which might be repaid by a 
 perpetual imprisonment, or even with the 
 
YOUTH OF CATHERINE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1756, 
 
 A.D. 1758—1759.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [progress of the war. 
 
 loss of life ! He shuddered, he trembled ; 
 he had resolved to renounce the fallacious 
 hopes his unbounded arrogance had made 
 him cherish. 
 
 " In this state of perturbation and des- 
 pondency, Soltikoff no longer displayed 
 that brilliant gaiety for which he had 
 hitherto been always distinguished. In 
 vain did he sometimes affect an air of easy 
 elegance which he now no more possessed. 
 A settled melancholy corroded his heart, 
 and was depicted on his face; his health 
 was visibly declining. The grand-duchess 
 took the alarm; and one day, on finding 
 herself alone with him, desired him to reveal 
 the cause of so sudden an alteration. Solti- 
 koff, unable at that moment to stifle or 
 resist a passion thus preying on his vitals, 
 avowed it in expressions of the tenderest 
 emotion. Catherine heard him without 
 anger; she seemed even to pity him; but, 
 with a collected air, she counselled him to 
 renounce an inclination of the irregularity 
 and danger of which he ought to be sensible. 
 Although still very young, Soltikoff knew 
 but too well the female heart to be ignorant 
 that she who allows herself to listen to a 
 lover has already began to approve him. 
 He took courage. He threw himself at the 
 knees of the grand-duchess, and embraced 
 them with boldness. The princess was 
 agitated ; she let fall some tears ; and re- 
 tiring precipitately from the transports of 
 Soltikoff to go and shut herself in her 
 cabinet, she addressed to him that verse 
 which Monimia speaks to Xiphares in the 
 tragedv of Mithridates : — 
 
 »• 
 
 " * Et meritez les pleurs que vous m'allez coiiterJ 
 
 From that moment the chamberlain re- 
 sumed his wonted gaiety with returning 
 hope ; and the alteration in his behaviour 
 was ifelt by all around him.'' The con- 
 clusion of this adventure may be more 
 readily conceived than described. 
 
 Peter, blinded for a time, at length sus- 
 pected this domestic treachery, and com- 
 plained to the empress of the man who had 
 dared to inflict this dishonour upon him. 
 Ehzabeth was incensed, and would have 
 banished the offender to Siberia; but, at 
 the suggestion of the chancellor Bestuchef, 
 Soltikoff was sent abroad under the veil of 
 an honourable embassv. 
 
 Catherine did not long regret the absence 
 of her paramour, whose place was soon sup- 
 plied by another. This was Count Stanislaus 
 • And merit those tears you are about to cost me. 
 230 
 
 Poniatowski, a Polish adventurer, whose 
 grandfather had been a steward on a small 
 estate of one of the nobles of his country, 
 but whose father had acquired distinction by 
 the services he rendered to Charles XII., 
 whom, as we have related, he led, when 
 wounded and helpless, off thefield at Pultawa, 
 through the ranks of the opposing Russians. 
 The archduchess, in writing to the old count, 
 observed — '' Charles knew how to distinguish 
 your merit; I also can distinguish that of 
 your son, whom I may one day raise, per- 
 haps, even above Charles himself." To dig- 
 nify her new lover she contrived to obtain 
 for him the post of ambassador from the 
 king of Poland to the empress Elizabeth. 
 The open sensuality of the latter was con- 
 tinually increasing — a circumstance which 
 tended to make Catherine less guarded in 
 her amours. Her husband, who lived apart 
 from her, now acknowledged Elizabeth 
 Vorontzoff as his mistress; an event which 
 the archduchess rather rejoiced in, as fur- 
 nishing some indirect apology for her own 
 irregularities. So careless did she become, 
 that she was surprised by Peter in a situation 
 with Poniatowski which left no doubt of her 
 guilt. Irritated at this painful confirmation 
 of what he had previously merely suspected, 
 the grand-duke complained to the empress, 
 and, when exhorted to moderation, threat- 
 ened to cudgel Poniatowski to death. The 
 latter, fearing the consequences of his crime, 
 fled from St. Petersburg, and returned to 
 Poland. 
 
 Catherine's estrangement from her hus- 
 band had ripened from dislike into hatred. 
 He had the imprudence to talk of repudiating 
 her as soon as he came to the throne — a cir- 
 cumstance which she resolved to anticipate 
 by a bolder movement. Assisted by the 
 wily Bestuchef, and by several of the Rus- 
 sian nobles, she lent herself to a conspiracy 
 for the purpose of excluding her husband 
 from the succession, and the elevation of 
 herself as regent during the minority of her 
 infant son Paul. It was with this object, 
 then, that Bestuchef had laboured to make 
 the grand-duke unpopular, and had reported 
 to the empress every indiscretion he com- 
 mitted, every hasty expression he uttered. 
 
 Cautious as the high chancellor was, he 
 had proceeded in his criminal design with 
 too much rapidity. General Apraxin was 
 tried for his retreat from the Prussian troops 
 whom he had defeated, but acquitted — only, 
 however, to die immediately afterwards. 
 But the intrigues of Bestuchef were revealed, 
 
 and he was arrested. His letter, directing 
 Apraxin to retreat, was produced against 
 him, and found to be written in the name of 
 the empress, though it was dispatched with- 
 out her knowledge, and in contravention of 
 ner will. Amongst his papers, also, was found 
 a copy of the deed of renunciation, which he 
 intended to compel Peter to subscribe in the 
 event of the conspiracy being successful. 
 His guilt was evident, and he was sentenced 
 to banishment. 
 
 In the spring of 1758, the Russian army 
 again invaded the Prussian dominions. By 
 his successes, towards the close of the pre- 
 ceding year, Frederic had to some extent 
 retrieved his fortunes, and he received an 
 enormous subsidy from England, where his 
 heroism had excited as much enthusiasm as 
 it had elicited from his own subjects. After 
 some operations against the Austrian s, Fre- 
 deric marched to meet the Russians, who 
 slaying, burning, and destroying wherever 
 they went, had penetrated into the heart of 
 his realm. Frederic attacked them at Zorn- 
 dorf, near Frankfort, on the Oder. The 
 battle was a long and bloody one; for not 
 only were the Prussian soldiers irritated by 
 the wanton ravages of their half-savage in- 
 vaders, but a feeling of deep animosity 
 existed between them and the Russians. 
 The loss on both sides was immense, but that 
 of the Russians was the most severe. Yet 
 both armies claimed the victory, and the 
 Russians maintained their position for several 
 days after the battle ; but they gave Frederic 
 no further trouble that campaign. 
 
 Elizabeth still resolved on the ruin of 
 Frederic. In the fourth campaign (1759), 
 the most disastrous of all during this fiercely- 
 contested war, the Russians, under Count 
 Soltikoff (not the banished paramour of 
 Catherine), spread themselves over the Prus- 
 sian territory, and commenced their cus- 
 tomary devastations. The Russian army, 
 consisting of nearly 70,000 men, and aided 
 by a powerful artillery, was intercepted in an 
 attempt to effect a passage of the Oder by a 
 Prussian army, consisting only of 30,000 
 men, under General Wedel. Besides this 
 inferiority in numbers, the position of the 
 Prussians was very disadvantageous. They 
 had to pass a bridge and a defile, so narrow 
 that scarcely the third of a battalion could 
 march in front. From the nature of the 
 ground, also, the cavalry could not support 
 the infantry. Yet the engagement was reso- 
 lutely maintained, though it terminated in a 
 defeat of the Prussians, who lost 4,700 men 
 
 in those killed and taken prisoners, while 
 the wounded were estimated at 3,000 more. 
 The disheartened Prussians were compelled to 
 retire : their victorious adversaries seized on 
 the towns of Krossen and Frankfort, effected 
 a junction with 12,000 Austrian cavalry 
 and 8,000 infantry, under General Laudohn, 
 and intrenched themselves strongly at Ku- 
 nersdorf. 
 
 Frederic, joined by the discomfited forces 
 of General Wedel, and by some other rein- 
 forcements, was at the head of an army of 
 50,000 men. That of the Russians, since 
 the junction of General Laudohn, was up- 
 wards of 90,000, whose intrenched camp 
 was defended by a prodigious number of 
 cannon. Yet Frederic hastened to attack 
 them; and notwithstanding the disadvan- 
 tages arrayed against him, it was imperative 
 that he should give them battle. Berlin 
 was threatened by the Austrians, under 
 General Daun ; Saxony was also exposed to 
 the ravages of the imperial troops; while 
 the Russians were encamped before his 
 eyes in Silesia, the best and richest part of 
 his dominions. It has been observed, that 
 " the sanguine temper of other generals has 
 often obliged them to fight under disad- 
 vantages ; but the king of Prussia's cir- 
 cumstances were such, that, from the mul- 
 titude of his enemies, he was neither able 
 to consult times nor situations. Rashness 
 could hardly dictate anything which, in his 
 condition, would not have been recom- 
 mended by prudence.^' 
 
 The battle was fought on the I2th of 
 August, and after a fierce cannonade, Fre- 
 deric's troops attacked the left wing of the 
 Russian army with an impetuosity which car- 
 ried everything before it. Great slaughter 
 ensued, the Russian intrenchments were 
 forced, and seventy-two pieces of cannon 
 captured. Several redoubts which covered 
 the Russian camp were successively attacked 
 and taken by the Prussians. The former 
 fought with extraordinary obstinacy ; but 
 they were driven back with immense loss ; 
 and Frederic concluded that the day must 
 be his own. So satisfied was he of this, 
 that he dispatched a courier to Berlin with 
 a note to the queen, saying, " Madam, we 
 have beat the Russians from their intrench- 
 ments. In two hours expect to hear of a 
 glorious victory.^' The king's conclusion 
 was a precipitate one ; the Russians, shat- 
 tered and almost defeated as they were, 
 rallied and made a stand at a redoubt 
 which had been erected in a position re* 
 
 231 
 
 It" 
 
 P 
 
 
 k*. 
 
PEOGRESS OF THE WAR.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1759. 
 
 A.D. 1761.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [last days of Elizabeth. 
 
 garded as almost impregnable. Frederic 
 saw that if he could drive them from this 
 point, that utter defeat must await them. 
 But with an army which, though beaten, 
 was still numerically superior to his own, 
 and prepared to dispute every inch of 
 ground with a dodged courage that seemed 
 insensible of danger, the enterprise was 
 both hazardous and uncertain. Frederic's 
 generals expostulated with him ; as they 
 were unanimous in their opinion that it was 
 unwise to attempt to push any further the 
 advantages they had obtained. They repre- 
 sented to him that the enemy was still very 
 numerous, their artillery considerable, and 
 the post they occupied one of great strength; 
 that his troops, who had been engaged for 
 some hours in a severe action, during an 
 exceedingly hot day, were too much ex- 
 hausted for a new attempt, especially one of 
 such difficulty as might daunt even troops 
 that were fresh. They added, that he would 
 reap all the effects of a victory, as the enemy 
 would be obliged to retire into Poland, and 
 thus leave him free to act in other quarters 
 where his presence was just as necessary. 
 
 Admitting the force of these arguments, 
 Frederic yet decided' upon hazarding a blow 
 which might effectually scatter the Russian 
 forces. His infantry, almost fainting from 
 ' heat and the fatigue of six hours' fighting, 
 were again led to the attack, but repulsed 
 with great slaughter. Frederic led two 
 charges in person, had two horses killed 
 beneath him, and his coat pierced by several 
 bullets. It was in vain; and so fearful 
 was the massacre, that a feeling of terror 
 began to spread through the Prussian 
 ranks. Frederic then put the matter in 
 the hands of his cavalry, who spent their 
 remaining strength in several unavailing 
 attacks. When on the point of abandon- 
 ing their fruitless efforts, a large body of 
 Russian and Austrian horse, which had 
 been hitherto unengaged, charged their 
 jaded ranks. The Prussian cavalry was 
 broken, hurled back upon the foot, and the 
 whole army thrown into confusion. A 
 panic spread from rank to rank, and the 
 men fled in disorder. The king acted with 
 wonderful energy and heroism, and nearly 
 fell into the hands of his enemies. The 
 approach of night, and a judicious use of 
 some eminences, alone saved the Prussian 
 army from total destruction. All their 
 artillery was lost, 20,000 of them had 
 perished or been taken prisoners, and many 
 thousands more were hopelessly scattered. 
 232 
 
 Exhausted in body, and shattered in mind, 
 Frederic reached a ruined and deserted 
 farmhouse, where throwing himself on a 
 heap of straw, he dictated another despatch 
 to the queen. This second missive differed 
 widely from the one sent earlier in the day, 
 and ran thus : — " Remove from Berlin with 
 the royal family. Let the archives be car- 
 ried to Potsdam, The town may make 
 conditions with the enemy." So complete 
 did the king's ruin appear, that he again 
 thought of suicide, and even wrote a fare- 
 well to some of his friends. In one of 
 these letters he observed—" I have no re- 
 sources left ; all is lost. I will not survive 
 the ruin of my country. Farewell for 
 ever ! " 
 
 The Russians and Austrians lost some 
 time in congratulations and rejoicings, and 
 more in disagreements arising from jealousy. 
 Marshal Daun, the Austrian general, was 
 for pushing forward and passing the Oder; 
 but Soltikoff, the Russian general, said he 
 had done enough, and declined to move far 
 from Poland for fear he should be without 
 the means of provisioning his troops. He 
 therefore retired into winter quarters in 
 Poland, while his soldiers committed such 
 atrocities in their progress, that Frederic, 
 on learning the particulars, exclaimed — 
 " We have to do with barbarians who are 
 digging the grave of humanity." The king 
 so profited by the delays and dissensions of 
 his enemies, that, at the close of 1759, he 
 still stood on the defensive, with a consider- 
 able army at his command; but his pros- 
 pects for the future were gloomy in the 
 extreme. 
 
 Some fruitless negotiations for peace took 
 place in the following spring (1760.) Hos- 
 tilities were therefore resumed, and the 
 campaign opened unfavourably for Frederic. 
 The Russians and Austrians entered Berlin, 
 took up their quarters in the royal palaces, 
 emptied the arsenal, and levied contribu- 
 tions on the inhabitants ; but they deemed 
 it prudent to retire on the approach of the 
 king. As his presence was no longer re- 
 quired at Berlin, Frederic entered Saxony, 
 where he was induced, by the desperate 
 situation of his affairs, to attack the Aus- 
 trians under Marshal Laudohn at Lignitz, 
 ' where, after an obstinate battle, he gained 
 ' a victory, and compelled them to retreat. 
 ' Shortly afterwards he gained a sanguinary 
 ' triumph over another Austrian army under 
 I General Daun, which compelled the im- 
 perial troops to retire from his dominions. 
 
 Their example was followed by the Russians, 
 to the dissatisfaction both of' Elizabeth and 
 the Austrian court, who were each surprised 
 that the combined imperial forces had not 
 accomplished more. A feehng prevailed, 
 both at Vienna and St. Petersburg, that the 
 fault lay with the Russian general ; there- 
 fore Soltikoff was recalled, and the com- 
 mand given to Count Butterliu. 
 
 At the commencement of 1761, it was 
 evident that the position of the king of 
 Prussia was most critical; and probable 
 that the great soldier who liad so long held 
 at bay a most formidable and ungenerous 
 combination, would soon be hunted to his 
 The resources of Prussia were be- 
 
 ruin. 
 
 coming exhausted; and though in this cam- 
 paign no great battle was gained by the 
 enemy, yet, "in spite of the desperate 
 bounds of the hunted tiger, the circle of 
 pursuers was fast closing round him." Oc- 
 cupying a strong camp in Silesia, he re- 
 mained watching, with rage and bitterness 
 of heart, the proceedings of his enemies, 
 who, spread over his defenceless territories, 
 carried on the work of extortion or desola- 
 tion. His strong mind was much affected 
 by the seemingly desperate nature of his 
 position, and he felt his misfortunes more 
 heavily than ever. He became reserved, 
 and seldom talked even with his most con- 
 fidential officers; indeed, he afterwards 
 admitted that he began to look around him 
 with blank despair at the desolated state of 
 the country, unable to imagine where re- 
 cruits, horses, or provisions were to be 
 found. Towards the close of the year his 
 misfortunes received an addition by the 
 death of George II., king of England, who 
 expired suddenly on the 25th of October, 
 and the abandonment of the Prussian in- 
 terests by his youthful and narrow-minded 
 successor. The first Mr. Pitt was compelled 
 to retire from the ministry, and his succes- 
 sors sought to make peace with France, and 
 to shake off any continental alliance that 
 interfered with their project. " The policy 
 then followed," observes Mr. Macaulay, 
 '' inspired Frederic with an unjust but deep 
 iind bitter aversion to the English name, 
 and produced effects which are still felt 
 throughout the civilised world. To that 
 policy it was owing that, some years later, 
 England could not find on the whole conti- 
 nent a single ally to stand by her, in her 
 extreme need, against the house of Bourbon. 
 To that policy it was owing that Frederic, 
 alienated from England, was compelled to 
 VOL. I. 2 u 
 
 connect himself closely, during his later years, 
 with Russia, and was induced to ass'ist in 
 that great crime— the fruitful parent of other 
 great crimes— the first partition of Poland.'' 
 But the despondency of Frederic was 
 greatly lightened by another event which 
 occurred shortly after the death of George II 
 and the defection of England. This was the 
 death of his powerful and persevering enemy 
 the empress Elizabeth, which took place on 
 the 25th of December, 1761, after a reign of 
 twenty years. 
 
 The health of the empress had been for 
 some time declining ; and she doubtless ac- 
 celerated the progress of natural decay in 
 vain endeavours to evade the results of illness 
 by a recourse to her customary dissipation. 
 Festivities, balls, masquerades, "^and brilliant 
 shows still yielded a faint amusement; and, 
 dreading to lie down upon a restless pillow, 
 she frequently went to the opera or play at 
 eleven, passed the rest of the night at table, 
 and went to bed at five in the morning. At 
 other times she listened with avidity to the 
 idle tales brought to her concerning the 
 amorous revels of the grand-duke Peter 
 with his mistress, the coarse, ugly Countess 
 Vorontzoff, to whom she scornfully gave 
 the nickname of la Pompadour : and in such 
 amusements as these did the empress of 
 Russia seek for some alleviation of the in- 
 firmities that were rapidly terminating her 
 life. As the close of her existence approached 
 she was tormented with violent pains in the 
 stomach, which no medicines had power to 
 alleviate. To procure some respite from 
 suffering she had frequent recourse to her 
 usual means of stifling sensibility in the 
 stupefaction brought on by the use of strong 
 waters. In vain did her physicians represent 
 to her that she herself was contributing to 
 frustrate their efforts, and accelerating the 
 period of her days. In vain did her attend- 
 ants, by sacrificing obedience to afi'ection, 
 secretly remove or destroy the intoxicating 
 beverage ; she would constantly have a case 
 of it in her chamber, of which the key was 
 always kept within reach. 
 
 The enemies of the grand-duke had re- 
 cently so blackened his character to the em- 
 press, that she was even induced to entertain a 
 ridiculous fear that he might be led to acce- 
 lerate her death by poison. Influenced by 
 this feeling, she ordered him to be denied ad- 
 mittance to her apartment, and also extended 
 this prohibition to Catherine, with whom 
 she had been for some time displeased. li 
 Elizabeth died without seeing the grand. 
 
 233 
 
CHARACTER OF ELIZABETH.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1761. 
 
 duke and his consort, it was feared injurious 
 rumours miglit be circulated among the 
 people. Count Panin, therefore, the governor 
 of Catherine's infant son, Paul Petrovitch, de- 
 voted himself to bringing about an interview 
 aud a reconciliation. ^ The count, therefore, 
 concerted arrangements with the confessor 
 of the empress, who, approaching the bedside 
 of his mistress, commenced a religious dis- 
 course to her. He spoke of the Supreme 
 Sovereign by whom earthly monarchs reign — 
 of his justice, his clemency, and his tribunal, 
 before which only they who forgive can ob- 
 tain forgiveness; and of that kingdom of 
 God, of which the terrestrial paradise was 
 but a faint resemblance; but where only the 
 charitable can obtain admission, where only 
 the merciful can hope for mercy. Touched 
 by fears for her salvation, the dying empress 
 consented to see her nephew and his consort. 
 At this instant the grand-duke entered, 
 leading Catherine by the hand, and they 
 both fell upon their knees by the bedside. 
 Then Elizabeth, in an indistinct tone of voice, 
 and as if her lips only spoke the words, 
 uttered whatever was dictated to her by the 
 priest. Addressing herself to the prince 
 and princess, she said, " that she had always 
 loved them ; and that, with her dying breath, 
 she wished them all kinds of blessings." 
 Every witness of this scene saw that the 
 pardon came only from the lips of the 
 empress; but Peter was satisfied with the 
 appearance of a reconciliation, and his par- 
 tisans repeated, through the city, the affec- 
 tionate words pronounced by the empress, 
 together with several additional embellish- 
 ments of their own. 
 
 The partiality of the grand-duke Peter to 
 Frederic we have alluded to : it was more 
 than a friendship ; it amounted to a perfect 
 infatuation in favour of the monarch he ad- 
 mired and sought to imitate. He even went 
 so far, amongst his Holstein associates, as to 
 allude to him by the title of '' the king ?}iy 
 master/* Frederic knew that, from Russia, 
 he had no more to fear during this terrible 
 struggle, and he was at liberty to direct his 
 efiforts entirely against his other enemies. 
 
 Elizabeth died during the autumnal phase 
 of life, in her fifty-second year. She was 
 one of those comparatively negative cha- 
 racters who do little harm, and less good. 
 The business of the empire was conducted 
 for her by others ; for she was too indolent to 
 arrive at any judgment of her own. When, 
 as in the case of the war with Prussia, she 
 formed any strong opinion, it arose not from 
 
 234 
 
 \ 
 
 a dispassionate examination of conflicting 
 facts, but from motives of an entirely per- 
 sonal nature. Though not deficient in in- 
 tellect, yet her mental power was paralysed 
 by her constitutional indolence. > This was 
 so great, that even for months together 
 she could not be induced to give the 
 least attention to the affairs of state. 
 Sometimes, for a considerable period, she 
 refused even to sign her name. The three 
 great points in her character were indolence, 
 voluptuousness, and superstition. Perhaps 
 the greatest harm she did, was the immoral 
 example she set to the ladies of her court and 
 empire— an example which, sustained as it 
 afterwards was by the empress Catherine, 
 produced abundance of pernicious fruit. 
 
 The oppressions and tyranny carried on 
 during her reign, were, with a few excep- 
 tions, rather permitted than transacted by 
 her. Such was her superstition, that the 
 most abandoned licentiousness and the 
 most shameless orgies were alternated with 
 prayers and devotional exercises. The viola- 
 tion of a fast threw her into pangs of 
 remorse; and the sight of a person in 
 mourning awoke in her very painful emo- 
 tions. Profligacy of the most abandoned 
 kind remained unchecked by her ; for how 
 could she reprehend that which her own 
 example created? But she punished with 
 great rigour the assumed offence of eating 
 an egg on a day which the church had 
 appointed for abstinence. 
 
 " The empress Elizabeth," observes Tooke, 
 "had insensibly proceeded from moderate 
 pleasures to the extravagance of sensuahty ; 
 and her taste for devotion augmented with 
 her voluptuousness. She continued whole 
 hours on her knees before the picture of 
 some saint, to which she spoke, which she 
 even consulted ; and passed alternately from 
 acts of bigotry to the intemperance of lust, 
 and from scenes of lasciviousness to the 
 opiates of prayer. She would frequently 
 drink to excess; and, at such times, too 
 sensual, too impatient for the delays of 
 unlacing, her women used to effect the 
 same purpose by means of the scissors. In 
 what manner such nights were passed, it 
 becomes not the historian to undraw her 
 curtains to reveal." 
 
 Amongst her follies — for the word vice is 
 perhaps too harsh for these minor imperfec- 
 tions of character — were the girlish vanity 
 and wanton extravagance of the empress. 
 She regarded it as a crime against the state, 
 if one of the ladies of her court presumed to 
 
 \ 
 
 A.D. 1761.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [anecdote of ELIZABETH. 
 
 wear dresses of the same pattern as those 
 which adorned her, or received the newest 
 French fashions before she did. After the 
 death of Elizabeth between fifteen and 
 sixteen thousand dresses were found in her 
 wardrobe; some of which had been worn 
 but once, while others had never been put 
 on at all. In addition to these were two 
 large chests full of silk stockings, two others 
 of ribands, some thousand pairs of shoes, 
 and several hundred pieces of French and 
 other rich stuffs. These were neither given 
 away nor sold, although the empress was 
 constantly in pressing want of money ; but 
 left undisturbed until they spoiled. 
 
 The greatest virtue of Elizabeth was her 
 aversion to the shedding of blood ; but her 
 much-praised clemency was sullied by many 
 acts of oppression, and even of cruelty. If 
 she did not sanction the infliction of death, 
 she permitted that of torture, which was 
 used to a frightful extent during her reign; 
 she also established a detestable system of 
 espionage, which crushed all public, and 
 poisoned all private, freedom. It is com- 
 puted that, every year, about 1,000 of her 
 subjects were privately arrested and con- 
 signed to prison. It was an easy thing for 
 one of the numerous favourites and parasites 
 who swarmed around the empress, to obtain 
 a secret order, granted without inquiry, 
 for the arrest of some one who had incurred 
 their displeasure. Even if one of the ladies 
 of the court considered herself slighted, she 
 could obtain an order by which the object 
 of her anger was forced out of bed at 
 night, gagged, blindfolded, and hurried 
 away to some dungeon, where such unhappy 
 victims frequently dragged out the re- 
 mainder of their lives without being charged 
 
 with any crime, or even knowing in what 
 part of the country they were. It was 
 dangerous for the family to pursue inquiries 
 after the lost one. " He has disappeared," 
 was held to be a sufficient answer to their 
 distracted questions. Probably much, if not 
 all, of this dark tyranny was transacted 
 without the knowledge of the empress, who 
 was generally goodnatured, and even amia- 
 ble, to those who had the address to please 
 her, but unforgiving and vindictive when 
 offended. Even her good temper was 
 chilled and largely neutralised by a vivid 
 consciousness of what was due to her as 
 empress. It is related of her, that one 
 day she was waited on at her toilet by a 
 lady of the court, who remained stand- 
 ing only at the expense of great and visible 
 effort. This was at length discerned by 
 Elizabeth, who inquired what was the 
 matter with her. " My legs are very much 
 swelled," was the reply. " Well, well," 
 returned the empress, 'Mean against that 
 bureau; I will seem as if I did not see 
 you." Notwithstanding her personal indo- 
 lence, she had some taste for literature, and 
 established a university at Moscow, and an 
 academy for the fine arts at St. Petersburg. 
 She also exerted herself to forward the 
 compilation of a code of laws for the Rus- 
 sian empire — a task which was begun under 
 Peter the Great, but not completed until 
 the reign of Catherine II. Though Eliza- 
 beth was never married, she left several 
 natural children. One of these was the 
 unfortunate Princess Tarrakanoff, to whom 
 we shall have occasion to allude hereafter, 
 and whose sad fate, brought about by the 
 jealousy of Catherine II., forms one of the 
 I most touching episodes of Russian history. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 ACCESSION OF PETER III. ; HE MAKES PEACE WITH PRUSSIA ; HE EFFECTS RAPID BUT IMPORTANT REFORMS ; 
 RECALL OF MARSHAL MUNICH AND OTHER EXILES FROM SIBERIA ; PETER'S CONDUCT TO HIS CONSORT 
 CATHERINE; HE SEIZES ON THE PROPERTY OF THE CHURCH ; CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE EMPEROR ; HE 
 MAKES PREPARATIONS FOR A HOSTILE EXPEDITION TO DENMARK ; OUTBREAK OF THE CONSPIRACY, AND 
 APPEAL OF CATHERINE TO THE ISMAELOFFSKI GUARDS ; SHE IS PROCLAIMED EMPRESS ; VACILLATING 
 CONDUCT AND COWARDICE OF THE CZAR ; HE SURRENDERS TO CATHERINE ; SIGNS A FORM OF ABDICA- 
 TION ; TRIUMPHAL ENTRANCE OF CATHERINE INTO ST. PETERSBURG ; REACTION OF THE POPULAR FEEL- 
 ING ; MURDER OF PETER IIL ; ESTIMATE OF HIS CHARACTER. 
 
 The conspiracy against the grand-duke 
 Peter was not sufficiently ripe to be carried 
 into execution. No sooner, therefore, were 
 
 the eyes of Elizabeth closed m death, than 
 the courtiers pressed in crowds around 
 Peter, and accosted him as their sovereign. 
 
 235 
 
ACCESSION OF FE^ER III.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1561. 
 
 A.D. 1762.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [imprudence of peter. 
 
 Laying aside the weakness and indecision 
 which so frequently characterised him, he 
 accosted them with dignity, and at once 
 received the oaths of the officers of his 
 guards. He then rode through the streets 
 of St. Petersburg, and distributed money to 
 the people, who, notwithstanding the at- 
 tempts that had been made to bring him 
 into contempt, received him with acchima- 
 tions. The sokliers also mixed their shouts 
 with those of the populace; and, fiocking 
 arouYid the new monarch, exclaimed, " If 
 thou take care of us, we will serve thee as 
 faithfully as we served our good empress/' 
 Still it was plainly observable that there 
 was no enthusiasm or affection on the part 
 of the people towards Peter; none of that 
 real joy which is commonly manifested by a 
 people on the accession of a young prince 
 to the throne. The absence of this feeling 
 was universal, and the new sovereign did 
 not find any more affection in the larger 
 circle of his court, than in the smaller 
 one of his family. An ill-feeling towards 
 foreigners prevailed in Russia ; and although 
 the blood of Peter the Great ran in the 
 veins of the new emperor, and he had so far 
 a claim upon the national affection, yet he 
 was a German on the father's side, and had 
 resided so little in Russia, that he was re- 
 garded as almost a foreigner. Unhappily, 
 also, his confidence and familiarity were 
 confined to the Germans from his dukedom ; 
 and neither in manners, language, nor in 
 religious profession, did he seem a complete 
 and genuine Russian. He was also sus- 
 pected of a design to remodel the whole 
 system of the empire, and to put everything 
 on a German footing. In addition to this, 
 it was believed by the friends of his consort 
 Catherine, that he intended to divorce her, 
 deprive her son Paul of the succession, and 
 raise his mistress, Elizabeth Vorontzoff*, to 
 the imperial throne. 
 
 The young, energetic, brilliant, but we 
 fear unprincipled Princess Daschkaw, who 
 was the chief agent of the conspiracy which 
 80 soon deprived Peter of his throne and 
 life, in a work* written for the purpose of 
 vindicating herself from the aspersions cast 
 upon her, especially by the French authors, 
 assigns no reason for the part she took in 
 conducting this conspiracy, further than her 
 attachment to Catherine, and her fears that 
 Peter might divorce his erring consort, or 
 consign her to a convent or other prison. 
 
 • Memoirs of the Princess Daschkaw, Lady of 
 Honour to Catherine II. ; written by herself. 
 236 
 
 A few days after the accession of the em- 
 peror, he sought an interview with the 
 princess, whose sister was, as we have men- 
 tioned, his mistress, and a singular con- 
 trast in manners and intellectual culture to 
 herself. The princess thus relates what 
 passed : — '' The emperor, as soon as I had ap- 
 peared in his presence, began to address me 
 on a subject which seemed very near his 
 heart, and in a manner which confirmed all 
 my suspicions and alarm on account of the 
 empress. He spoke in a low voice and in 
 half-sentences, but in terms unequivocally 
 expressive of his intentions to displace heVy 
 as he indicated the empress, and to raise 
 Romanovna, as he said, when speaking of 
 my sister, to the throne. Having thus de- 
 clared himself, he proceeded to give me 
 some salutary cautions. ' If, my little 
 friend,' said he, 'you will take my advice, 
 pay a little more attention to us; the time 
 may come when you will have good reason 
 to repent of any negligence shown to your 
 sister; believe me, it is for your interest 
 alone I speak ; you have no other way of 
 making yourself of any consequence in the 
 world than by studying her disposition, and 
 striving to gain her countenance and pro- 
 tection.'" Without aspersing the truthful- 
 ness of the Princess Daschkaw, it is evident 
 that she wrote with a strong bias against 
 the unfortunate Peter, and she omits no 
 relation that can place him in a contempti- 
 ble light. "To act as corporal-major every 
 morning on the grand parade," she ob- 
 serves, " to eat a good dinner, to drink 
 Burgundy, to spend the evening among 
 buff*oons and a certain set of ladies, and to 
 do everything which the king of Prussia 
 ordered him to do, was what formed the 
 felicity and glory of Peter III., and is an 
 epitome of his mode of life for the seven 
 months which constituted his reign." 
 
 Peter announced his accession to the 
 king of Prussia before he communicated 
 this important information to any other 
 power. He even liberated all the Prussian 
 prisoners, and gave them money to defray 
 their expenses home. An armistice with 
 Prussia was soon concluded, attended by a 
 manifesto, in which Peter declared, that 
 his first duty being the welfare of his 
 people, that welfare could not be consulted 
 so long as hostilities were continued; that 
 the war had produced no advantage to 
 either party, but done incredible harm to 
 both ; that he would no longer sanction the 
 wanton destruction of his species; that, in 
 
 conformity with the divine injunction rela- 
 tive to the preservation of the people com- 
 mitted to his charge, he terminated the 
 unnatural and impious strife; and that he 
 was resolved to restore the conquests made 
 by the Russian troops. The emperor would 
 deserve high commendation for these gene- 
 rous sentiments, but that they were uttered 
 to colour the peace he was about to conclude 
 with Frederic, and not from any abstract 
 love of peace itself. At this very time he 
 was not only loud in his expressions of 
 enmity to Denmark, but he had resolved on 
 war with that kingdom to resent some in- 
 jury done to his father, and to wrest from 
 it the duchy of Schlesvvig, which he regarded 
 as being his by inheritance. Frederic gave 
 his admirer some good advice, and urged 
 him not to engage in a war with Denmark, 
 or to leave the empire before he was firmly 
 seated upon the throne; but Peter never 
 listened to good counsel until it was too 
 late to follow it. 
 
 The emperor was regardless of the in- 
 terests and intentions of his allies. The 
 Austrian court was merely informed that he 
 was about to conclude peace with the king 
 of Prussia. Peter hurried forward the pro- 
 ceedings ; and, on the 5th of May, the treaty 
 was signed at St. Petersburg, and shortly 
 afterwards proclaimed in Berlin. By it the 
 emperor not only concluded such a peace 
 with Frederic as the latter could only 
 have hoped for after a series of victories, 
 but entered into an offensive and defensive 
 alliance with him ; and 15,000 Russian 
 troops were sent to join the shattered Prus- 
 sian army, against which they had been so 
 recently opposed. Frederic made great use 
 of this timely assistance. He reconquered 
 Silesia, gave the Austrians a defeat, and 
 soon presented to the forces of Maria 
 Theresa a front as formidable as before the 
 great reverses of 1759. Sweden followed 
 the example of Russia, and concluded a 
 peace with Frederic shortly after the czar 
 had done so. 
 
 Peter's conduct towards Frederic was 
 both precipitate and unwise, when we con- 
 sider the strong anti-German feeling exist- 
 ing among the Russian people. It was 
 well to make peace with the Prussian 
 monarch, with whom the empress Eliza- 
 beth had gone to war without a sufficient 
 cause; and, indeed, for hardly any other 
 reason than that of personal animosity. 
 But that peace should have been concluded 
 with sobriety, and, if possible, in conjunction 
 
 with the allies of Russia. Assuredly Peter 
 should have abstained from rendering direct 
 assistance to Frederic, and from permitting 
 his troops to act against those of his ally, 
 Austria. To such an imprudent extent did 
 he carry his admiration of that monarch, 
 that one evening, when he had been drink- 
 ing to excess, he directed his conversation, 
 according to custom, upon the great soldier- 
 king. Fixing his eyes suddenly on Volkoff", 
 one of the ministers of state, he exclaimed — 
 " You must agree that he is a magician, a 
 sorcerer, that king of Prussia ! He knew 
 all our plans for the campaign as soon as we 
 had resolved on them." Volkoff coloured ; 
 but Peter resumed — " Whv that embarrass- 
 ment? You have no longer any need to 
 fear Siberia. Is it not true that, notwith- 
 standing the dread you had of it, you com- 
 municated to me all the plans and projects 
 that were resolved on in the council, and 
 that I sent them off to his majesty the 
 king ?" 
 
 Other circumstances, also, contributed to 
 place the emperor in a false light with 
 respect to his people. Instead of remaining 
 at home to win their aff'ections, he, at this 
 critical period, made preparations for a visit 
 to Germanv, merelv for the sake of obtain- 
 ing an interview wdth the distinguished 
 monarch, the contemplation of whose genius 
 seems to have disturbed the balance of his 
 intellect. It was observed, also, by the 
 numbers who were interested in the fate of 
 Catherine and her son, the grand- duke 
 Paul, that neither of them were mentioned 
 in the manifesto by which Peter proclaimed 
 his accession to the throne. This circum- 
 stance strengthened the suspicions of those 
 who believed that he intended to repudiate 
 Catherine and deprive Pitul of the succes- 
 sion, and gave additional activity to the 
 discontented courtiers who were conspiring 
 against him. He had also neglected to make 
 preparations for his coronation at Moscow, 
 which ceremony was viewed as deriving a 
 peculiar sanctity from its being performed 
 in that ancient city, which the people re- 
 garded with something of superstitious 
 reverence. 
 
 Yet Peter's errors were such as produced 
 little or no injury to the empire ; while he 
 possessed some estimable qualities. Though 
 he censured the late empress for having 
 abolished capital punishment, and declared 
 that it was necessary to put great off'enders 
 to death, yet he was one of the mildest and 
 least revengeful of sovereigns who ever occu- 
 
 237 
 
 , I 
 
1 1 
 
 1 1 
 
 REFORMS BY PETER.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1762. 
 
 i 
 
 pied the Russian throne. Though he had 
 many personal enemies, he pardoned them 
 all on his assumption of the imperial crown, 
 and seemerl, in his capacity of emperor, to 
 have forgotten the wrongs inflicted on the ' 
 grand-duke. Though some of his notions j 
 of reform were extravagant, yet he effected 
 many changes of a beneficial character. 
 He abolished that hateful system of es- 
 pionage which, under the name of the 
 " Secret Chancery,^' was the terror of every 
 family in Russia. He prohibited the use of 
 torture — a very necessary regulation, after 
 the frightful extent to which it had been 
 carried during the reign of Elizabeth. He 
 made a generous sacrifice to the interests of 
 his nobility, by making them independent 
 of the caprices of the sovereign. Prior to 
 his reign no boyard could enter on any pro- 
 fession, or forsake it when once embraced, 
 or retire from public to private life, or dis- 
 pose of his property, or travel into any 
 Ibreign country, without the permission of 
 the czar. Peter resigned these checks upon 
 the liberty of his nobles, and thus added an 
 important step to the career of social eman- 
 cipation. Though in the army he endea- 
 voured to introduce many changes which 
 were considered objectionable — such as the 
 introduction of the Prussian drill and cos- 
 tume — yet he enhanced the dignity of the 
 officers, by rescuing them from the de- 
 grading punishments to which they had 
 been previously subjected. He instituted a 
 court to take cognizance of all off'ences 
 committed against the public peace, and to 
 punish the delinquencies of those who were 
 entrusted with the general police of the 
 empire. He made arrangements for the 
 promotion of commerce, and he constantly 
 showed himself the protector and friend 
 of the poor. An elaborate historian of 
 this period remarks, that a complete and 
 sudden transformation occurred in the 
 character, or rather the behaviour, of the 
 new monarch. *^ Gentleness and humanity 
 took the place of violence, and reflec- 
 tion succeeded to passion. The grand- 
 duke had been inconsistent, impetuous, and 
 wild : Peter III. now showed himself equit- 
 able, patient, and enlightened.'' Unhappily, 
 this seeming reformation was very transient, 
 and the czar soon acted as if he actual Iv 
 desired to win the contempt of his nobles, 
 and the indifierence, if not dislike, of his 
 people. 
 
 Peter also recalled from Siberia most of 
 those who had been sent there during the 
 238 
 
 reign of Elizabeth. Amongst the exiles 
 who returned was Marshal Munich, then 
 eighty-two years of age. The venerable old 
 soldier was met, on his approach to the 
 capital, by his one remaining son and thirty- 
 two of his grandchildren and great-grand- 
 children. Accompanied by them, he pre- 
 sented himself before the emperor, dressed 
 in the rough sheepskin pelisse which he had 
 worn in the deserts of Pelim. Peter re- 
 stored to the aged soldier his rank of field- 
 marshal ; and expressed a hope that, not- 
 withstanding his advanced age, he might 
 still serve him. " Since your majesty," re- 
 plied Munich, " has brought me from dark- 
 ness to light, and called me from the depths 
 of a cavern to admit me to the foot of the 
 throne, you will find me ever ready to 
 expose my life in your service. Neither a 
 tedious exile, nor the severity of a Siberian 
 climate, have been able to extinguish, or 
 even to damp, the ardour I have formerly 
 shown for the interests of Russia and the 
 glory of its monarch." 
 
 Notwithstanding the clement temper of 
 the emperor, Catherine entertained a dread 
 that he might punish her for her infidelities 
 towards him. Though she had long ceased 
 to reside with him as his wife, yet she was 
 compelled to wear a peculiar dress at the 
 time of his accession, in order to conceal her 
 pregnancy. But Peter was remarkably for- 
 giving, and appeared not to discern those 
 faults in her which were patent to every one 
 else. He appeared to forget the wrongs he 
 had suff'ered, in the attractions of her per- 
 son and the power of her mind. He fre- 
 quently passed many hours in her apart- 
 ments, and discoursed with her, in a confi- 
 dential manner, on important matters. Yet, 
 with the inconsistencv which ever character- 
 ised him, he would sometimes refer with 
 bitterness to the wrongs she had done him, 
 and treat her with harshness and disrespect. 
 At one time he would bestow on her the 
 most profound marks of respect; and at 
 another, treat her in a manner which no 
 lady could bear with patience. Thus, on 
 the occasion of the benediction of the waters, 
 which is regarded as one of the most sacred 
 ceremonies of the Russian church, he made 
 her appear adorned with all the marks of im- 
 perial dignity ; while he followed in her train 
 as a simple colonel. Not long after, while 
 seated with Catherine at a public entertain- 
 ment, he called to his mistress, the Countess 
 Vorontzofl*, who was passing by, and made 
 her come and sit down beside them. The 
 
 
 A.D. 176.2.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [seizure of church lands. 
 
 empress immediately retired, and Peter 
 made no attempt to detain her. The 
 same evening, while at supper, he loudly 
 called her a fool before a number of guests. 
 Catherine burst into tears; and Peter in- 
 jured himself more in the estimation of the 
 spectators by this one act of temper than 
 he would have done by some public tyranny. 
 
 Scenes of this kind kept alive the dislike 
 which Catherine bore towards her husband, 
 and revived her hopes of supplanting him 
 on the throne. She made it her chief 
 business to gain those hearts which he was 
 losing. A perfect mistress of the art of 
 dissimulation, it cost her no eff*ort to as- 
 sume, when in the presence of the multi- 
 tude, sentiments the most opposed to her 
 own secret convictions. Though a student 
 of the sceptical philosophy of France, and 
 an admirer of Voltaire, she assumed the 
 manners of a fanatic. Every day she sedu- 
 lously repaired to the churches of St. Peters- 
 burg, and prayed with all the semblance of 
 a fervent devotion. She became punctual 
 in the performance of the most superstitious 
 practices of the Greek church. She accosted 
 the poor with benignity, and treated the 
 priests with reverence. As a natural result 
 of this, the latter proclaimed her praises 
 from house to house, and the populace 
 regarded her as a benevolent princess. 
 Catherine also kept her court with a mixture 
 of dignity and afl'ability which charmed all 
 who approached her. Peter, on the other 
 hand, soon relapsed into his old dissipated 
 habits. To such an extent did he forget 
 his rank, as to live familiarly with buff'oons, 
 and to allow them to sit at table with him. 
 One evening, while at the Countess Narish- 
 kin's, after having attended the theatre, he 
 caused the comedians to sit down promis- 
 cuously with the ladies and grandees of the 
 court, and seated himself beside a dancer, 
 whom he called his little wife. These acts 
 of imprudence not only displeased his 
 nobles and people, but caused injurious 
 reports to be made by the ambassadors 
 from foreign courts. 
 
 But the most dangerous of the emperor's 
 indiscretions was the sudden and sweeping 
 alterations he effected with respect to the 
 property of the church. He seems to have 
 been bent upon following the example of 
 his illustrious grandfather, without reflect- 
 ing that he had neither the power nor the 
 patience that was possessed by the wise 
 czar. Great was the difl:erence between 
 the conduct of the two monarchs with re- 
 
 spect to the church. Peter I. did not en- 
 deavour to abolish its notorious abuses 
 until, by a long career of great and brilliant 
 actions, he had laid the foundations of his 
 throne in the hearts of his people. Peter III. 
 had no sooner laid his hand upon the im- 
 perial sceptre than he struck at the root of 
 all the power of the church, by depriving it 
 of its wealth — an act which, as it was of the 
 nature of a confiscation, he had no right to 
 do unless the priesthood had, by some great 
 offence, deserved to lose what was taken 
 from them, and which even then would 
 have been imprudent and dangerous, when 
 the intensely superstitious character of the 
 Russian people is remembered. 
 
 Without reflecting on these matters, the 
 emperor seized the vast possessions of the 
 church, and made them into domains of the 
 crown. The clergy he placed upon yearly 
 salaries, varying from 5,000 down to 100 
 roubles. He even proceeded still further 
 to irritate the clergy, by taking from the 
 churches the figures of the saints, which 
 both priests and people regarded as objects 
 of profound veneration, and made certain 
 arbitrar}^ regulations concerning the beards 
 and costume of the secular clergy. The 
 Bishop of Novgorod, who exclaimed against 
 this conduct as an impious violation of the 
 sanctuary, he condemned to banishment, 
 but afterwards showed his weakness by re- 
 calling in obedience to popular clamour. 
 Peter cared but little for religion; but he 
 had exhibited a bias towards Lutheranism 
 rather than to the Greek form of Christianity 
 used by the Russian church. The incensed 
 priests therefore spread a report throughout 
 the empire, that the emperor had only pre- 
 tended to embrace the Greek communion 
 to qualify himself for filling the throne, but 
 that he was still a Lutheran at heart, of 
 which he was every day giving proofs by 
 showing a profound contempt for the rites, 
 the ceremonies, and the religion of the 
 Russians. Frederic of Prussia, with whom 
 Peter constantly corresponded and informed 
 of all he did, recommended him to be cau- 
 tious with respect to the possessions of the 
 church, and not to meddle with the dress of 
 the monks, as small matters were of great 
 consequence in the eyes of the ignorant and 
 fanatical. Fearing what miglit happen, 
 Frederic also urged him to maintain the 
 respect which was due to his consort, the 
 more especially so for his own security. 
 The unsuspicious Peter, who was sur- 
 rounded by traitors, and breathing an air 
 
 239 
 
\ 
 
 SITTTATION OF CATHERINE.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1762. 
 
 A.D. 1762.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [conspiracy against peter. 
 
 tainted by duplicity and conspiracy, replied, 
 *'In regard to the concern you take in my 
 safety, I beseech you to give yourself no un- 
 easiness. The soldiers call me their father, 
 and say that they had rather be governed 
 by a man than by a woman. I take my 
 walks alone about the streets of St. Peters- 
 burg; if any one designed to do me harm, 
 he would have executed his purpose long 
 ago. But I am continually doing good on 
 all occasions that ofier, and I trust in the 
 protection of God alone. With that I have 
 nothing to fear." 
 
 The Countess VorontzofF, Peter's mis- 
 tress, had obtained a considerable amount 
 of influence over him, and she now had the 
 address to cause him to renew the promise 
 he had made when only grand-duke — that 
 he would marry her, and place her on the 
 throne instead of Catherine. Elated with 
 the prospect of this distinction, she had the 
 imprudence to boast of it — a circumstance 
 which led to her own ruin, and accelerated 
 that of the czar. The latter, equally indis- 
 creet, seemed to authorise by his conduct 
 the reports she spread, and appeared no 
 longer to take any pains to conceal his in- 
 tention of repudiating Catherine, and pro- 
 claiming the illegitimacy of the grand-duke 
 Paul, whom it is commonly supposed was 
 the son, not of the emperor, but of liis 
 handsome chamberlain, Soltikoff. Peter 
 imagined that, by publishing the proofs of 
 Catherine's infidelity, she would sink in the 
 estimation of the people, and that his con- 
 duct would elicit the approbation, not only 
 of his subjects, but of every court of Europe. 
 With this view he recalled Soltikoff from 
 Hamburg, where the latter had resided 
 since his dismissal from the court of Eliza- 
 beth; and, loading him with caresses and 
 benefits, put every stratagem in practice to 
 draw from him an authentic avowal of the 
 criminal interviews which had formerly 
 passed between him and the empress. It 
 was at this period that Peter visited the un- 
 fortunate prince, the dethroned Ivan III., 
 at the fortress of Schlusselburg. It is pre- 
 sumed that the emperor designed to adopt 
 Prince Ivan — to declare him his successor, 
 and to unite him in marriage with the young 
 Princess of Holsteiu-Beck, then resident at 
 St. Petersburg, and whom he cherished as 
 a daughter. As it may excite surprise, and 
 perhaps incredulity, that Peter, yet in the 
 summer of life, should adopt a stranger for 
 his heir, it may be mentioned, that although 
 lie had an ardent passion for women, yet he 
 240 
 
 suffered from some physical disquabfication 
 which he appeared convinced incapacitated 
 him from again becoming a father. 
 
 On leaving the cell in which the unhappy 
 Prince Ivan was confined, the emperor 
 directed that a new edifice should be con- 
 structed, in which the prince could be 
 lodged in a manner more befitting his ex- 
 alted rank. '' Let the building," said Peter 
 to the commandant, " run in a straight line 
 from one wall to the other of this angle of 
 the fort, so as to form nine rooms in front ; 
 and the rest of the space, to the extremity 
 of the angle, may be made into a little 
 erarden, with which he mav amuse himself 
 in the air, and find some alleviation of the 
 severity of his confinement. When the 
 building is finished, I will come myself and 
 put the prince in possession." This building, 
 it was surmised, was not for the confine- 
 ment of Ivan, but intended for the recep- 
 tion and imprisonment of Catherine after 
 her disgrace and divorcement. The sup- 
 position, though probable, was not, how- 
 ever satisfactorily established. Peter caused 
 Ivan, for the meantime, to be removed to 
 the fortress of Kexholm, which stood on an 
 islet in the great lake of Ladoga, and was 
 much nearer to the imperial residence than 
 Schlusselburg. 
 
 The suspicions of the empress were now 
 converted into alarm. Peter dismissed her 
 from the court, and caused her to be lodged, 
 though not in actual confinement, in one of 
 the most retired apartments at Peterhoff", 
 where she passed her time in meditating 
 how to escape from the fate that threatened 
 her, by hurling her liusband from the 
 throne. It was here that she was assisted 
 by one of the most active of the conspira- 
 tors, her yet secret lover Gregory Orloft'. 
 This man was descended from one Ivan 
 Orel, or Eagle, who, in the reign of Peter 
 the Great, was a private soldier in the ranks 
 of the Strelitz. When this body of troops 
 was broken up in 1698, in consequence of 
 its insubordination and repeated rebellions, 
 an immense number of the men were be- 
 j headed ; the czar himself, as we have re- 
 I latcd, occasionally acting the part of execu- 
 tioner. It is a current story in Russia, 
 that this Ivan Orel, on being called to kneel 
 down to receive his death-stroke, kicked 
 away a head which still remained on the 
 beam of timber on which the victims were 
 decapitated in rows, coolly observing as he 
 did so, " If this is my place, it ought to be 
 clear." Peter, struck with the courage of 
 
 the man, spared his life, and placed him in 
 a regiment of the line, where, by his bravery, 
 he won his way to the rank of officer, which 
 brought with it that of noble. His son rose 
 to be governor of Novgorod, and had five 
 sons, of whom Gregory, the lover of the 
 empress, was one, and Alexis, who after- 
 wards rendered himself infamous as the 
 chief of the murderers of the unfortunate 
 Peter III., was another. 
 
 Gregory OrloflT, though he was destitute 
 of the advantages of birth and education, 
 yet possessed Considerable courage and 
 great personal beauty. To such an extent 
 was he favoured by nature, that although 
 he only possessed a post in the artillery, the 
 Princess Kourakin, one of the handsomest 
 women of the court, bestowed upon him 
 her embraces. The discovery of the amour 
 made some noise: and the curiositv of 
 Catherine led her to wish for an acquaint- 
 ance with the young oflficer who had become 
 the topic of public discourse. An inter- 
 view was brought about by an ingenious 
 and unscrupulous waiting-woman, to whom 
 Catherine confided the management of her 
 intrigues of this nature. Gregory Orlofi" 
 was introduced to the empress, and it is 
 said that several interviews took place before 
 he was acquainted with the name and rank 
 of the fair lady who had bestowed her afi'ec- 
 tion upon him. After a time, Catherine, 
 pleased with the boldness and apparent dis- 
 cretion of her inamorata, disclosed to him 
 who she was, and unveiled to hirn her am- 
 bitious designs. Orloff entered readily 
 into the conspiracy, into which he soon 
 after drew his companion BibikoflP, Lieu- 
 tenant Passik, and other officers. By this 
 means he was enabled to win over some 
 companies of guards, though without impart- 
 ing to them his secret design. Catherine's 
 real character now rapidly disclosed itself. 
 Not content with the attentions of her new 
 lover Orlofi^, she pursued other intrigues 
 with no less art than success. Her duenna, 
 Ivanova, behaved with so much address, that 
 those whom she presented to the empress, 
 enjoyed her favours without knowing who 
 she was. At the very time that she re- 
 ceived the attentions of Gregory Orlofi*, 
 she carried on amours with several other 
 oflScers and courtiers; but as she did not 
 expect to find in them the devotedness and 
 genius that she required, she never disclosed 
 her secret to them. 
 
 During this time the Princess Daschkaw 
 kept up a correspondence from St. Peters- 
 
 VOL. I. 2 I 
 
 burg with the empress in her retirement at 
 Peterhoff. In this she gave an account of 
 all that was passing at court, and suggested 
 such means as she considered should be 
 employed for preventing the designs of the 
 czar. The Princess Daschkaw does not 
 herself, in her Memoirs, give a satisfactory 
 reason for the enmity which she entertained 
 towards Peter, and the vehemence with 
 which she participated in the conspiracy 
 against him. " Her attachment to Cathe- 
 rine," says Tooke, " was not the sole motive 
 which excited her zeal. She was principally 
 jealous of the glorious elevation that awaited 
 her sister ; and neither the menaces of that 
 sister and of her father, nor the authority 
 of the chancellor her uncle, in whose house 
 she had been brought up, were able to de- 
 tach her from a party of which she fondly 
 made it her pride to be the prime mover. 
 She had studied the languages, and read 
 many of the works of foreign authors, 
 during her sojourn at Moscow, which aug- 
 mented her natural vanity, and taught her 
 to despise the ignorance of the nation to 
 which she belonged. In the hope of arriv- 
 ing at the slippery honour of directing a 
 conspiracy, she openly braved the resent- 
 ment of her family : she would have braved 
 every danger, and even boldly looked death 
 in the face." 
 
 A considerable party was soon engaged 
 to promote the views of the empress, chiefly 
 through the active instrumentabty of the 
 Princess Daschkaw. Amongst them were 
 the hetman Cyril Rasumoffski, brother of 
 the secret husband of the late empress 
 Elizabeth; the subtle Count Panin, tutor 
 of the young grand-duke Paul ; Prince Vol- 
 konski, major-general of the guards; and 
 the Archbishop of Novgorod, who only 
 waited for an opportunity of signalising his 
 vengeance for the impotent sentence of 
 banishment the emperor had pronounced 
 against him. To these were added many 
 officers, who, either disliking Peter's intro- 
 duction of the Prussian drill and costume 
 into the army, or hoping to acquire fortune 
 in the storm of revolution, were ready to 
 enlist in any conspiracy against the em- 
 peror. 
 
 To depose Peter was an enterprise of 
 great danger and difficulty, and the con- 
 spirators were divided as to the manner in 
 which It should be accomplished. Orloff, 
 and some others, thought it best to begin 
 by seizing on his person at Peterhoff, at the 
 conclusion of one of those orgies which 
 
 241 
 
AIMS OF THE CONSPIRATORS.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d*1762. 
 
 A.D. 1762.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [progress of the conspiract. 
 
 1 t 
 
 they felt satisfied would take place on his 
 arrival there to celebrate the anniversary of 
 St. Peter and St. Paul. Lieutenant Passik 
 proposed to stab him to the heart in the 
 midst of his court ; and this ruffian actually 
 lay in ambush for two days, that he might 
 accomplish this diabolical purpose, but 
 without meeting him. The conspirators 
 also differed as to who ought to succeed the 
 czar when he should be disposed of. Orloff 
 and the Princess Daschkaw, who were in 
 the entire confidence of the empress, pro- 
 posed that she should succeed her husband 
 on the throne. Count Panin, and the 
 Letman Rasumoffski, considered that she 
 sliould be appointed regent, and that the 
 title of emperor should devolve ou the 
 young grand-duke Paul. 
 
 Panin had the courage, at a meeting of 
 the principal conspirators, to represent to 
 Catherine the objections that existed to 
 placing the crown upon her head. " I 
 know, madam,'' said he, ^Svhat you would 
 have, and what you are able to do ; but I 
 know also where your ambition should stop. 
 You have repeatecl it a hundred times, while 
 as yet grand -duchess, that you were only 
 desirous of the title of mother of the em- 
 peror. Does that title at present seem too 
 diminutive to you? You would now re- 
 move your son from the throne of Russia ; 
 but what right have you to seat yourself 
 upon it alone? Are you of the blood of 
 the czars? Are you even a native of the 
 empire? Think you that this ancient and 
 warlike nation will acknowledge for their 
 sovereign a countess of Anhalt? Think 
 you that they will not be incessantly plotting 
 in favour of the descendants of Peter the 
 Great, while one of them lies languishing at 
 the foot of the throne, and others continue 
 to groan in dark and loathsome dungeons ? 
 Ah, madam, give up your pretensions to 
 what you can never obtain. Think it your 
 greatest happiness to be able to escape the 
 extreme danger that presses upon you ; and 
 that the only means of justifying our violent 
 undertaking, is to convince the Avorld that 
 your son is, more than yourself, the object 
 of your concern.'' 
 
 The conspirators were struck with the 
 sense and firmness of this address, and, for 
 a short time, all remained in silence. Cathe- 
 rine herself was the first to break it. Turn- 
 ing towards Panin, she said, " Count, your 
 arguments are full of force; but they are 
 not sufficient to produce any alteration in 
 my sentiments. I know the Russians ; and 
 242 
 
 you yourself are so well acquainted with 
 them as to know, that, provided they are 
 governed, they care but little about the 
 origin of those by whom the government is 
 administered. This nation knows of no- 
 thing but obedience, even when the hand 
 that rules it leans heavily on it. Mentschi- 
 koff, Bireu, Munich, may serve as proofs of 
 this truth. But it is not thus that I design 
 to reign; far from it. I shall act with 
 lenity, with justice, and in such manner as 
 not to give the slightest pretext to discon- 
 tent. But you, who tell me of murmurs 
 and rebellions, do you forget that it is chiefly 
 under regencies that rebellions break out ? 
 Nay, should we ever have had a thought 
 of that we have now been contriving, if 
 Peter III. were capable of guiding with 
 firmness the reins of government? You 
 are alarmed for my son ; but had you rather 
 abandon him to the fantastic humours of a 
 father, by whom he is already disowned, 
 than trust his fortune to a mother who 
 loves him ? And, if I aspire to the supreme 
 command, is it not for the welfare of that 
 child? is it not that I may be the better 
 able to recompense those who, like you, 
 assist me to defend him ? Doubtless, they 
 may all rely on my everlasting gratitude; 
 but, in order to prove it to my heart's con- 
 tent, I must have the power; and that 
 power is what I expect from you." The 
 conspirators were divided in opinion, and no 
 absolute decision was arrived at by them. 
 Catherine, however, discerned the motive 
 which dictated the opposition of Count 
 Panin. He desired to place his pupil, the 
 grand-duke Paul, on the throne, only that 
 he might himself occupy the second place 
 in the empire, and govern in the imperial 
 name. 
 
 Catherine therefore endeavoured to allure 
 Panin to the entire advocacy of her in- 
 terests, by a promise to appoint him prime 
 minister when she ascended the throne ; 
 and it is most probable that this promise 
 led him to adopt the advocacy of her am- 
 bitious views. It is said, however, that 
 his conversion was effected by tlxc Princess 
 Daschkaw, who obtained an influence oyer 
 him in consequence of an illicit passion 
 which he entertained for her. She, how- 
 ever, received the declaration of his love 
 with coldness, and gave him no hope of 
 success. One of the conspirators named 
 Odart, a scheming, unprincipled Piedmon- 
 tese, is reported to have undertaken to 
 remove her scruples, and that he actually 
 
 did so by representing that, if she thought 
 it a fault to yield to the solicitations of the 
 count, that fault would be ennobled by the 
 motive that impelled her to commit it ; that 
 no sacrifice should seem too dear in the 
 cause of friendship ; and that it would be 
 the triumph of heroism to brave the dis- 
 grace of making her charms subservient to 
 her ambition. It is added, that the roman- 
 tic imagination of the princess was excited 
 by this representation, and that she con- 
 sented to the proposals of the count ; who 
 thereupon withdrew all opposition to the 
 designs of the empress. It is probable the 
 princess did exercise some influence over 
 the count ;, but we do not credit the state- 
 ment that attributes a want of chastity on 
 her part with respect to him. She her- 
 self treated the accusation with indignant 
 scorn.* 
 
 It was necessary to gain over the sol- 
 diers ; but Catherine had not the requisite 
 funds for bribing them. Her situation at 
 this time was one of great danger ; and had 
 not Peter have acted with perfect infatua- 
 tion in disregarding the warnings that were 
 given him, the conspiracy must have been 
 discovered and crushed ; in which case arrest, 
 dethronement, and perpetual imprisonment, 
 or, perhaps, death itself, would probably 
 have been her doom. Disregarding the in- 
 timations he received of the plot against 
 him, the czar made ready to depart with 
 the expedition he had prepared against Den- 
 mark. One division of the fleet equipped 
 for this purpose remained at Cronstadt, 
 while the other lay waiting for it at Revel. 
 Some of the land forces were already in 
 Pomerania, and others were on their march to 
 join them ; while the czar had fixed his own 
 departure for the day following the festival, 
 which, according to custom, was to be cele- 
 brated at Peterhoff, and at the end of which 
 he designed to have the empress arrested 
 on a charge of being implicated in the con- 
 spiracy against him.f 
 
 In the meantime the emperor, absorbed 
 in indolent security, had gone to enjoy 
 
 * In her Memoirs she says — " I seldom saw M. 
 Odart, and not once during the three weeks pre- 
 ceding the revolution. I was glad to procure him 
 a livelihood, but I never asked his advice on any 
 occasion ; and I believe he knew me a great deal 
 too well to dare to make any such proposals to me 
 on the part of M. Panin, as some French writers, 
 in their libellous and senseless pamphlets, have 
 thought fit to charge him with." 
 
 t Such was the blindness of this doomed monarch 
 to all that was passing around him, that frequently, 
 
 himself in the company of some of the 
 handsomest women at his court, at his 
 country palace of Oranienbaum. The con- 
 spirators who had agreed to seize and carry 
 him off on his return to St. Petersburg, 
 considered it more prudent to hasten their 
 movements, and carry this plan into execu- 
 tion on the appearance of the czar at Peter- 
 hoff. Suddenlv, an event occurred which 
 threatened instant discovery and destruc- 
 tion to all engaged in the plot. The 
 ruffian Passik, who had offered to murder 
 Peter, had gained the soldiers of the corn- 
 pan}^ of the guards in which he was lieu- 
 tenant. One of them supposing that Pas- 
 sik did nothing but in concurrence with his 
 captain, asked the latter on what day they 
 were to take up arms against the emperor. 
 The captain had the dexterity to conceal 
 his astonishment, and, by giving vague 
 answers to the questions of the soldier, he 
 drew out from him the secret of the con- 
 spiracy, and at once reported it to the chan- 
 cery of the regiment. 
 
 Passik was immediately arrested, and at 
 first placed in a room, where he contrived 
 to write with a pencil, on a scrap of paper, 
 " Proceed to execution this instant, or we 
 are undone." Giving this to a man who 
 presented himself at the door, and who, 
 though a stranger to him, the desperate 
 nature of his situation made him trust to, 
 he told him that if he ran with it to the 
 hetman Rasumoffski, he would be hand- 
 somely rewarded. The fellow was a spy in 
 the employ of the Princess Daschkaw, 
 whose duty it was to watch Passik, and see 
 that he did not betray his fellow-conspira- 
 tors. The man, therefore, hurried with the 
 paper to his mistress. He found her with 
 Count Panin, who did not regard the arrest 
 of Passik as an incident that threatened 
 danger, but thought it was probably the 
 consequence of some mifftary offence. The 
 princess entertained a different opinion, and 
 desired Orloff to go to the barracks of the 
 regiment, and ascertain whether Passik was 
 guarded as a state criminal, or merely under 
 
 when in a state of partial -jitoxication, he talked of 
 schemes of conquest and gave himself up to the 
 transports of an extravagant ambition. Two days 
 before the revolution that hurled him from the 
 throne, he held, it is said, the following discourse : — 
 " Of what use are all those petty sovereigns of 
 Europe ? What are they ? I am resolved that, in 
 future, there shall be but three powers in this part 
 of the world — Russia, Prussia, and France. I will 
 have all the north ; the king of Prussia shall havo 
 all Germany ; and the king of France the rest.** 
 
 243 
 
CATHERINE ENTERS ST. PETERSBTTRG.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1762. 
 
 A.D. 1762.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the RE^'OLUnOX 
 
 i 
 
 arrest as a military offender. The informa- 
 tion they received was, that Passik was 
 under arrest as a prisoner of state, guarded 
 by four sentinels at the door, and two at 
 each of the windows of his room. 
 
 Disguising herself in a man's great-coat, 
 the energetic princess hurried forth, and 
 caused orders to be conveyed to the ofi&cers 
 in the conspiracy to repair, without a mo- 
 ment's delay, to their regiment, the Ismael- 
 offski guards, and remain at their posts in 
 order to receive the empress at the suburbs 
 of the city. She also desired Orloff, or one 
 of his brothers, to fly like lightning to 
 Peterhoff, and entreat the empress to place 
 herself instantly in a post carriage, which 
 she would find in readiness, and drive to 
 the quarters of the Ismaeloffski guards, 
 whom she would find waiting to proclaim 
 her as sovereign, and to escort her into the 
 
 capital. 
 
 After some hesitation, Alexis Orloff" under- 
 took the dangerous commission of going to 
 bring the empress from Peterhoff*. During 
 his absence the princess yielded to the 
 terrors of her situation. "Plunged in a 
 desponding train of thought," she observes, 
 " scarcely an image presented itself but of 
 the most appalling nature. My imagina- 
 tion, however, constantly at work, would at 
 some moments anticipate the triumphs of 
 the empress ; and all these pleasing illusions 
 were hastily succeeded by others which 
 made me shudder with horror. The least 
 sound startled me, and presented Catherine 
 to my view — that idol of my fancy— pale, 
 disfigured, dying — the victim, perhaps, of 
 our imprudence. This dreadful night, which 
 appeared to me a whole life of suff'ering, at 
 length passed away.'' 
 
 It was two o'clock in the morning when 
 Catherine was roused from a profound sleep, 
 and found a soldier standing by her bed- 
 side. To enable lier the more easily to 
 escape in the event of the discovery of the 
 conspiracy, she had taken up her lodging at 
 a summer-house in the grounds of the 
 palace. At the foot of this building ran a 
 canal, communicating with the river Neva. 
 Near the door a small boat was fastened, as 
 if without design, but, in reality, with the 
 twofold object, that it might be of service in 
 the secret visits of her favourites, and to 
 facilitate her own escape into Sweden, 
 should such a step become necessary. Gre- 
 gory Orloff" had given his brother Alexis a 
 key to this summer-house, and he it was 
 who had aroused the empress. "Your 
 244. 
 
 majesty has not a moment to lose," he ex- 
 claimed; "get ready to follow me;" and 
 then instantly retired. 
 
 Notwithstanding the astonishment and, 
 perhaps, alarm which seized the empress, 
 she called her confidant, Ivanova. They 
 hastily dressed themselves in such a manner 
 as to avoid being recognised by the senti- 
 nels about the palace ; and no sooner had 
 they done so than Alexis Orloff returned, 
 and told the empress that a carriage was 
 waiting for them at the garden-gate. It 
 was a coach which, under pretence of having 
 change of horses for an excursion into the 
 country, the Princess Daschkaw had kept 
 for several days in readiness at a house in- 
 habited by one of her peasants, a few miles 
 from Peterhoff", and which Orloff had sent 
 one of his comrades to fetch. 
 
 Catherine trusted her safety to the con- 
 spirator. She and her companion reached 
 the carriage unobserved. Orloff then took 
 the reins, and drove off with the speed of a 
 madman. So relentlessly did he urge the 
 horses forward, that after a time they fell 
 exhausted upon the road, and remained 
 unable to move. Every effort to rouse 
 them to renewed exertions failed; and al- 
 though the distance from St. Petersburg 
 was still considerable, such was the immi- 
 nent danger of delay, that they resolved to 
 proceed on foot. Before they had gone far 
 they met a peasant driving a light country 
 cart. Alexis Orloff seized the horses; the 
 man ran away in alarm; the empress and 
 her attendant got into the vehicle; and 
 again they started with such speed as they 
 could urge the animals to accomplish. Soon 
 they were met by another carriage, con- 
 taining Gregory Orloff, who, on the rack of 
 expectation, and alarmed at the non-ap- 
 pearance of the empress, had hurried forth 
 to meet her. Recognising her in an in- 
 stant, he called out that the conspirators 
 only waited for her presence to proceed to 
 action, and then hastily drove on before to 
 receive ner at St. Petersburg. There Cathe- 
 rine arrived at seven in the morning, almost 
 exhausted with fatigue and anxiety, but re- 
 taining sufficient command of herself to 
 assume a sedate and tranquil air. 
 
 She proceeded immediately to the bar- 
 racks of the Ismaeloffski guards, where, on 
 the report of her arrival, about thirty sol- 
 diers, onlv half-dressed, ran out and received 
 her with shouts of joy. Struck with alarm 
 at seeing so small a number, Catherine re- 
 mained silent for a few moments. But the 
 
 decisive step had been taken, and there was 
 no choice but to go forward. Addressing 
 the soldiers in a tremulous voice, she said 
 that her danger had driven her to the neces- 
 sity of coming to ask their assistance ; that 
 the czar had intended to put her to death 
 that very night, together with her son ; that 
 she had no other means of escaping her 
 doom but by flight; and that she had so 
 much confidence in their dispositions as to 
 put herself entirely in their hands. 
 
 The auditors were greatly excited at these 
 words, and swore to defend her to the 
 utmost of their lives. The numbers of the 
 soldiers collected around the empress in- 
 creased every moment, and before long the 
 hetman Rasumoffski made his appearance. 
 The chaplain of the regiment was then 
 called, and, fetching a crucifix from the 
 altar, he received on it the oath of the 
 troops of fidelity to Catherine. In the 
 tumult some voices were heard proclaiming 
 her as regent ; but these were soon stifled 
 by the threats of the conspirators, and the 
 far more numerous shouts of " Long live 
 the empress !" 
 
 Other regiments of guards tacitly fol- 
 lowed the example of those of Ismaeloffski ; 
 the officers placing themselves at the head 
 of their companies with as much docility as 
 if they had been engaged in the conspiracy. 
 General Villebois and the artillery were 
 also gained over ; and in less than two hours 
 she was followed by about 2,000 soldiers, 
 and a great number of the inhabitants of 
 the city, who applauded the troops, and ap- 
 peared favourable to her pretensions. With 
 these she proceeded to the church of Kazan, 
 where the Archbishop of Novgorod (who was 
 animated by a bitter hatred of Peter), arrayed 
 in sacerdotal costume, and a great number 
 of priests, stood at the altar to receive her. 
 Placing the imperial crown upon her head, 
 he proclaimed her sovereign of all the Rus- 
 sias, by the name of Catherine II., and de- 
 clared the young grand-duke Paul her suc- 
 cessor. To render this ceremony the more 
 imposing, a Te Deum was chanted ; the 
 solemn sound of the music being broken in 
 upon by the excited shouts of the multitude 
 without. Catherine then proceeded to the 
 palace that had been occupied by the late 
 empress Elizabeth, where, for several hours, 
 the crowd was indiscriminately admitted. 
 Many of the people, under the influence of 
 fickleness and excitement, fell on their 
 knees before her, and took the oath of alle- 
 giance. 
 
 The conspirators were incessantly active 
 in preparing for any resistance from the 
 friends of the emperor, but none was offered. 
 He seems for a time to have been perfectly 
 ignorant of the revolution that was being 
 effected at St. Petersburg. Such was his 
 simplicity, that he had that morning caused 
 a faithful officer to be arrested, who, the 
 evening before, having had some intimation 
 of the conspiracy, had hastened in the 
 night to Oranienbaum to inform him of it. 
 The emperor then set out in a calash, with 
 his mistress, his favourites, and the women of 
 his court, for Peterhoff, that he might be 
 present at the grand festivities designed to 
 take place on the following day. 
 
 The Princess Daschkaw was one of the 
 first to congratulate the impsrial traitress, 
 who had so easily snatched the sceptre 
 from the feeble grasp of her husband. It 
 was with much difficultv that she contrived 
 to reach the palace, so entirely was every 
 approach to it blocked up by soldiers. But 
 on being recognised by some of the officers, 
 she was borne off the ground, and passed 
 over the heads of all before her, until, with 
 a giddy head and a tattered robe, she was 
 set down safelv in an antechamber. From 
 thence she reached the presence of the em- 
 press. " We were soon," says the prin- 
 cess, "in each other's arms. * Heaven be 
 praised !' was all we could either of us for 
 some moments utter." 
 
 After some rest and refreshment, the 
 empress resolved on proceeding, at the head 
 of the troops, to Peterhoff, and proposed to 
 the princess to accompany her on the expe- 
 dition. The latter joyfully consented, and 
 they both equipped themselves in the uni- 
 form of the guards, having borrowed the 
 requisite costume of two young officers of 
 diminutive figure. It was on this occasion 
 that Potemkin (afterwards so distinguished 
 as favourite, and eventually minister of the 
 empress, but then only a lad of sixteen, and 
 ensign in the regiment of horse-guards), ob- 
 serving that Catherine had no plume in her 
 hat, rode up, and presented her with his. 
 The horse on which he was mounted, being 
 accustomed to form into the squadron, was 
 some time before it could be brought to 
 quit the side of that of her majesty — a cir- 
 cumstance which afforded her an opportu- 
 nity of noticing the manly grace and hand- 
 some features of him who eventually gained 
 such an influence over her. The troops, 
 who had been incessantly supplied with 
 beer and brandy, expressed their pleasure 
 
 245 
 
-i^TEAKNESS OF PETER.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1762. 
 
 A.D. 1762.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [irreso: ution of the czar. 
 
 \u 
 
 
 I 
 
 on beholding the empress in her male 
 attire, by reiterated shouts of their national 
 cry hourra, and by hurling their hats and 
 caps into the air. One regiment of cavalry, 
 of which Peter III. had been colonel when 
 only grand-duke, preserved a sullen silence ; 
 but its officers, who refused obedience to 
 Catherine, were placed under arrest, and 
 the men were too few to offer opposition. 
 
 The emperor, while on his way to Peter- 
 hoff, was informed of the flight of Catherine. 
 When he received the intelligence he 
 turned pale, and betrayed considerable agi- 
 tation. On arriving at Peterhoff, he ran to 
 the pavilion that had been occupied by the 
 empress, and, in his confusion, looked about 
 for her as if she might have been concealed 
 under the bed, or in one of the cupboards. 
 Every one he met he overwhelmed with 
 questions, but without obtaining any satis- 
 factory information. Turning to his mis- 
 tress, the Countess Vorontzoff, whom he 
 beheld approaching up the walks of the 
 garden, he called out "Romanovna, will 
 you believe me now ? Catherine has made 
 her escape. I told you that she was capable 
 of anything!" Rumours of evil passed 
 among the servants and the women by 
 whom Peter was surrounded, and a gloomy 
 presentiment prevailed among them. At 
 length a countryman approached, and, with 
 a profound bow, delivered a note to the 
 emperor, without uttering a single word. 
 Peter read it to the alarmed courtiers; it 
 was from one yet faithful to him, who had 
 contrived to evade the guards placed on the 
 road from St. Petersburg to Peterhoff, and 
 send him information of all that had oc- 
 curred in the capital. 
 
 Peter was greatly dejected ; the courtiers 
 uttered insincere consolations and assur- 
 ances that all w^ould yet be well ; and the 
 wily chancellor, Vorontzoff, represented that 
 this popular excitement could not be really 
 dangerous, and that, with the czar's permis- 
 sion, he would proceed to St. Petersburg, 
 and soon return with the empress. Peter 
 consented, and the chancellor hastened to 
 Catherine, who assured him that she was 
 only yielding to the ardent desires of the 
 nation. Vorontzoff concluded by offering 
 her his services, but begged that she would 
 place him under a guard in his own house, 
 that he might not seem to have abandoned 
 his duty to the emperor. After the depar- 
 ture of the chancellor, Peter strode anxiously 
 about the gardens; formed many different 
 plans, and abandoned them as soon as he 
 246 
 
 had formed them ; sometimes uttering vio- 
 lent imprecations against his faithless con- 
 sort, and at others dictating useless mani- 
 festoes. The only really useful thing he 
 did was to dispatch a command to the 3,000 
 Holstein troops whom he had left at Ora- 
 nienbaum, to come immediately, and bring 
 their artillery. 
 
 The aged Marshal Munich soon after- 
 wards made his appearance, and offered 
 advice which, if acted upon, might yet liave 
 effectually crushed the insurrection. " Your 
 majesty's troops are arriving,'' said the 
 veteran ; " let us put ourselves at their head 
 and march straight to St. Petersburg. You 
 have still many friends there ; immediately 
 on your appearance they will arm in your 
 defence. The principal part of the guards 
 are only under a momentary alienation, 
 into which they have been misled, and will 
 soon range themselves under your standard. 
 Besides, if we are forced to come to action, 
 be assured that the rebels will not long dis- 
 pute with you the palm of victory .'' Peter 
 consented to follow this advice; but, before 
 long, news arrived that the empress was 
 approaching with an army, said to consist 
 of 22,000 men. The courtiers trembled, 
 the women wept, and the timid emperor 
 seemed resolved not to expose himself to 
 danger. Munich then urged that they 
 should retire to Cronstadt. " You have 
 there," said he to Peter, '^a formidable 
 fleet and a numerous garrison. It is, in 
 short, from Cronstadt that you will find it 
 an easy matter to bring St. Petersburg back 
 to its duty." 
 
 Peter again consented, and two yachts 
 were hurriedly prepared for the departure 
 of himself and his court, who at once em- 
 barked. But this step was taken too late. 
 Catherine, aware of the importance of 
 securing the fleet in her favour, dispatched 
 Admiral Talitzen to take the command of it 
 in her name. Having obtained admission 
 into the fortress under the supposition that 
 he was a loyal subject of the emperor, 
 Talitzen excited the sailors to declare for 
 the empress, distributed money and brandy 
 amongst them, and induced them to arrest 
 the commandant and place him in confine- 
 ment. Many of the soldiers joined the 
 sailors, and Talitzen, assuming the com- 
 mand, ordered the artillery to stand with 
 lighted matches at their guns. As soon as 
 the yacht containing the unfortunate mo- 
 narch cast anchor, a sentinel demanded, 
 "Who comes there?" "The emperor," 
 
 was the answer. " There is no emperor," 
 replied the sentinel. Peter advanced on 
 deck, and throwing back his cloak, to show 
 the badges of his rank, exclaimed, " What ! 
 do you not know me ?" A thousand voices 
 responded simultaneously, "No, we know 
 of no emperor. Long live the empress 
 Catherine!" At the same time, Talitzen 
 threatened to sink the yacht if it did not 
 instantly retire. Gudovitch, the emperor's 
 aide-de-camp, took his startled master by 
 the arm, and then grasping one of the tim- 
 bers at the entrance of the mole, said, 
 " Place your hands by the side of mine, and 
 let us leap on shore. None will dare to fire 
 upon you, and Cronstadt will still belong to 
 your majesty." Marshal Munich reiterated 
 this advice ; but the spiritless czar shrunk 
 from all appearance of danger, and retreat- 
 ing to the cabin of the yacht, hid himself 
 among the terrified women. The cables 
 were then cut, and the yachts departed from 
 Cronstadt. 
 
 It was a fine starlight night, and Munich 
 and Gudovitch sat upon deck, gazing upon 
 the calm surface of the sea, and reflecting 
 sorrowfully upon the ruinous indecision of 
 the czar. After a time the vessels were 
 stopped, and Peter summoned Munich to 
 his presence. "Marshal," said he to the 
 old man, " I perceive that I was too late in 
 following your advice ; but you see to what 
 extremities I am reduced. *^You, who have 
 escaped from so many dangers, tell me, I 
 beseech you, what I ought to do." " Pro- 
 ceed immediately to join the squadron at 
 Revel," returned Munich; "there take a 
 ship, go on to Pomerania, put yourself at 
 the head of your army, return "to Russia, 
 and I promise you, that in six weeks St. 
 Petersburg and all the rest of the empire 
 will be in subjection to you." This sound 
 advice was frustrated by the fears of the 
 timid women and the abject courtiers, who 
 cried out, that the rowers would never have 
 strength to reach Revel. " Well, then," re- 
 joined the generous Munich, "we will all 
 row with them." Peter was more disposed 
 to listen to the representations of the women 
 and the women-like men who formed his 
 companions.- They persuaded him that his 
 
 • The unfortunate czar conducted himself with an 
 utter absence of dignity. The Princess Daschkaw, 
 who saw this note, says—" He declared, in distinct 
 and express terms, his abdication of the crown ; and 
 after naming some persons whom he wished to ac- 
 company him, he spoke of the supplies necessary for 
 his table, among which he did not forget to stipulate 
 M a plentiful supply of Burgundy, pipes, and to- 
 
 danger was not so great as he imagined; 
 that Catherine would rapidly come to an 
 accommodation with him ; and that it was 
 better to negotiate than to fight. The czar 
 fell in with this cowardly counsel, and gave 
 directions to the rowers to proceed to 
 Oranienbaum. 
 
 Peter arrived there at four m the morn- 
 ing; and, after commanding the servants 
 who received him not to mention his return 
 to any one, shut himself up in his apart- 
 ments. There he wrote a submissive note 
 to the empress, acknowledging his miscon- 
 duct, and promising to share the sovereign 
 authority with her. Catherine had no in- 
 tention of sharing her newly-acquired power 
 with any one ; she therefore detained the 
 messenger, and left the letter unanswered. 
 At ten o'clock the emperor emerged from 
 his apartments, and was received with en- 
 thusiastic aff'ection by his Holstein guards. 
 These faithful men shed tears of joy at 
 seeing him again; they even kissed his 
 hands and embraced his kness, and begged 
 him to lead them against the army of the 
 empress, declaring that, to a man, they 
 were ready to sacrifice their lives in defence 
 of his. Brave old Marshal Munich, also, 
 again strove to rouse the czar to adopt some 
 spirited course. " Come," said he, " march 
 against the rebels. I will go before you, 
 and their swords shall not reach you till 
 they have pierced my body." 
 
 The pusillanimous and irresolute mo- 
 narch seemed incapable of taking any bold 
 course. Learning that the empress and 
 her troops were still in a hostile attitude, 
 he ordered one of his horses to be saddled^ 
 with the mad design of escaping alone, in 
 disguise, towards the frontiers of Poland. 
 He also wrote a second and most abject 
 letter to Catherine, in which he implored 
 her pardon, offered to resign to her the 
 crown of Russia, and only desired that she 
 would grant him a pension, with liberty to 
 retire into Holstein.* General Ismaeloff 
 was the bearer of this communication ; and 
 he readily entered into the service of Cathe- 
 rine, and even allowed himself to be seduced 
 into an attempt to snare Peter into her 
 power. The traitor returned to the czar, 
 
 bacco r It is not surprising that the princess, who 
 was a woman of astonishing spirit, and one who 
 would have faced death rather than submit to per- 
 sonal indignity, should have added with disgust— 
 " But enough on the subject of this ill-fated prince, 
 whom nature had formed for the lowest walks of 
 life, and whom fortune had unhappily placed on a 
 throne." 
 
 247 
 
Peter's imprisonment.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1762. 
 
 A.D. 1762.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [CATHERINE SOLE RULER. 
 
 If 
 
 and coniured him to abandon his troops I manner, to the Russian empire and to the 
 
 and to repair to the empress, assuring him 
 that he would be well received, and obtain 
 all that he desired. Peter hesitated; but on 
 the assurance of IsmaelofF that delay was 
 most prejudicial to his interests, and that 
 his life was in danger, he entered a car- 
 riage, and, accompanied by the Countess 
 Vorontzoff, his mistress, and Gudovitch, 
 his aide-de-camp, proceeded to PeterhoflP, 
 where the empress and her supporters were 
 staying for a time. 
 
 Peter trusted that he would be enabled 
 to move the heart of the empress ; but he 
 was not permitted to see her. As his car- 
 riage drove through the ranks of the army, 
 most of the men preserved a gloorny silence, 
 while others vociferated, " Long live Cathe- 
 rine ; long live the empress!" The hope- 
 fulness he had encouraged was succeeded 
 by despondency, which was greatly in- 
 creased when coarae insults were added to 
 neglect. His mistress, on stepping out of 
 the carriage, was hurried away by the sol- 
 diers, who tore off the riband and order 
 with which she was decorated. Gudovitch 
 received the insults of the soldiers with a 
 dignified tranquillity, and reproached them 
 for their insolence and treason. As to 
 Peter, he was led up the grand staircase. 
 
 whole universe, that I for ever renounce 
 the government of the said empire, never 
 desiring hereafter to reign therein, either as 
 an absolute sovereign or under any other 
 form of government; never wishing to 
 aspire thereto, or to use any means, of any 
 sort, for that purpose As a pledge of 
 which, I swear sincerely, before God and 
 all the world, to this present renunciation. 
 Written and signed this 29th of June 
 (o.s.), 1762." The imbecile monarch was 
 thus worked upon, through the medium of 
 his unworthy fears, to become the assassin 
 of his own reputation ; for Catherine well 
 knew that although such an extorted docu- 
 ment as this would not bind Peter if he had 
 the power to disregard it, yet that it would 
 draw upon him the contempt of the people, 
 and bury what little was left in him of 
 the emperor beneath a load of self-created 
 obloquy. Peter appeared more composed in 
 mind after he had signed the deed of renun- 
 ciation, by which act of submission he be- 
 lieved he had purchased the favourable con- 
 sideration of the false wife who had become 
 his sovereign. He was deceived. Prudent 
 policy united in her mind with bitter per- 
 sonal dislike towards him, and she had no 
 intention of restoring him to liberty. The 
 
 and then stripped of the imperial orders very evemngofthe daym which he had signed 
 
 f 
 
 that decorated him, and even of his clothes. 
 For some time he remained in his shirt, 
 subjected to the outrages of a barbarous 
 soldiery. After having robbed him of all 
 his jewellery, they threw an old morning 
 gown over him, and, shutting him up in a 
 room by himself, placed a guard at the 
 
 door. 
 
 There he was waited upon by Count 
 Panin, who, after a conference of some 
 length, in which he assured him that the 
 empress would not keep him long in con- 
 finement, induced him to write out and 
 sign the following form of abdication: — 
 "During the short space of my absolute 
 reign over the empire of Russia, I became 
 sensible that I was not able to support so 
 great a burden, and that my abilities were 
 not equal to the task of governing so great 
 an empire, either as a sovereign, or in any 
 other capacity whatever. I also foresaw 
 the great troubles which must thence 
 have arisen, and have been followed with 
 the total ruin of the empire, and my own 
 
 eternal disgrace. After having, therefore, ^ ., , . 
 
 seriously reflected thereon, I declare, with- made so imprudent and ^"P^?^^^^./^ V'^' 
 out constraint, and in the most solemn I no longer than six months. His wite, wiin- 
 
 248 
 
 his abdication, he was removed, with a strong 
 escort, as a prisoner, to the castle of Ropscha, 
 distant about twenty versts from Peterhoff. 
 No presentiment of coming danger, no fear 
 of secret assassination or of open violence, 
 seems to have struck upon the mind of the 
 czar. He supposed that he should shortly 
 be liberated and sent into Germany. To 
 amuse himself during this period, he sent a 
 message to Catherine, desiring that she 
 would permit him to have a favourite negro, 
 who diverted him with his singularities, to- 
 gether with a dog he was fond of, his violin, 
 a bible, and a few romances ; at the same 
 time teUing her that, disgusted at the 
 wickedness of mankind, he was resolved, in 
 future, to devote himself to a philosophical 
 life. Perhaps this modest application never 
 reached Catherine; certainly it was never 
 complied with. 
 
 "Thus," it has been observed, "was a 
 revolution of such immense importance 
 effected in one day, and without shedding a 
 single drop of blood. The unfortunate em- 
 peror enjoyed the power, of which he had 
 
 out any hereditary title, was sovereign mis- 
 tress of the Russian empire ; and the most 
 absolute power on earth was now held by 
 an elective monarch." 
 
 Two manifestoes were published by the 
 empress, both filled with the strongest de- 
 clarations of affection towards the Russian 
 people, their interests, and their religion; 
 and interspersed with such strains of piety 
 as must have proved extremely edifying to 
 those who are acquainted with the senti- 
 ments of pure religion by which great 
 princes are generally animated on occasions 
 of this nature. Enumerating, in exag- 
 gerated terms, all the faults of her fallen 
 husband, Catherine observed — " Inconsider- 
 ately and incessantly bent on pernicious 
 regulations, he so alienated the hearts of his 
 subjects, that there was scarcely a single 
 person to be found in the nation who did 
 not openly express his disapprobation, and 
 was even desirous to take away his life ; 
 but the laws of God, which command sove- 
 reign princes to be respected, being deeply 
 engraved on the hearts of our faithful sub- 
 jects) restrained them, and engaged them to 
 wait with patience till the hand of God 
 struck the important blow, and by his fall 
 delivered an oppressed people." 
 
 The day after the removal of the de- 
 throned Peter to the castle of Ropscha, the 
 booming of cannon announced the trium- 
 phal entrance of Catherine, as an absolute 
 sovereign, into St. Petersburg. The citi- 
 zens, glad to have escaped from the dangers 
 of a prolonged revolution, and the horrors 
 of a military struggle, perhaps, in their very 
 streets, received her with acclamations which 
 were more noisy than sincere ; for Peter 
 had many friends in the city who would 
 readily have declared for him if he had 
 been bold enough to have made his appear- 
 ance at the head of a small force and de- 
 manded their assistance. Now, however, 
 the air was filled with shouts and the peals 
 of church bells, the strains of military 
 bands, and the dull roar of cannon, in 
 honour of Catherine. She well understood 
 the little arts by which popularity is won. 
 Entering the city on horseback, she re- 
 turned the shouts of the crowd by giving her 
 hand to many of the people to kiss. Near 
 the palace a great number of priests were 
 assembled, and as she passed by them, she 
 stooped to salute the cheeks of the principal 
 clergy while they were kissing her hand ; a 
 custom which prevailed in that country, 
 and was significant of the highest respect. 
 
 VOL. I. 2 k 
 
 While the neglected Peter passed his time 
 in obscurity, and almost in solitude, the 
 empress was receiving the homage of the 
 principal nobility, who came flocking around 
 her, and even of the members of the little 
 court which the dethroned czar had held at 
 Oranienbaum. Amongst the lattfer was 
 the aged Munich, who, now no longer able 
 to aid a master who could not be in- 
 duced to help himself, came to make his 
 peace with the ruling power. Catherine, 
 on seeing him, called out, " Field-marshal, 
 it was you, then, who wanted to fight me ?" 
 "Yes, madam," repHed the veteran in a 
 firm and manly tone, " could I do less for 
 the prince who delivered me from captivity? 
 But it is henceforward mv dutv to fi^ht for 
 you; and you will find in me a fidelity 
 equal to that with which I had devoted my 
 services to him." 
 
 For some days Catherine laboured inces- 
 santly to ingratiate herself with the different 
 ranks of the people. She enchanted the 
 multitude by the sweetness of her smiles 
 and the condescension of her manners ; she 
 attended the senate, and listened to the 
 causes that were tried there ; she held her 
 court with a graceful and easy dignity that 
 did much towards effacing the remembrance 
 of the means by which she had acquired the 
 throne ; and she had audiences with all the 
 foreign ministers, during which she ad- 
 dressed them in the most flattering terms. 
 Nor did she forget the services of the con- 
 spirators who had obtained for her the 
 sceptre she was so well able to grasp. 
 Panin was made prime minister; the title 
 of count was bestowed upon both Gregory 
 and Alexis Orloff : and the fiurmer, who was 
 for the time the favoured lover of the em- 
 press, was also appointed lieutenant-general 
 of the Russian armies, and chevalier of St. 
 Alexander Nevski. Promotion was be- 
 stowed upon many oflficers of the guards, 
 and four-and-twenty of them obtained con- 
 siderable estates. The finances of the em- 
 press were not sufficient to permit of any- 
 thing further than a distribution of brandy 
 and beer amongst the soldiers ; but Cathe- 
 rine behaved towards them with the greatest 
 affability. She sometimes even subjected 
 herself to restraint to please them. A sin- 
 gular instance of this occurred three days 
 after the revolution. A soldier who had 
 drunk himself into a state of intoxicated 
 sleep, probably at the expense of the em- 
 press, dreamed that she had been seized 
 and carried away. Starting up under this 
 
 249 
 
 L 
 
REACTION IN FAVOUR OF PETER.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1762. 
 
 A.D. 1762.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [murder of peter III. 
 
 
 impression, he ran about the barracks cry- 
 ing out that the Holsteiners and the Prus- 
 sians had got possession of the empress. 
 The alarmed troops took up arms, and hur- 
 rying to the palace, insisted on seeing 
 her majesty. The hetraan Rasumoffski, 
 on learning the cause of the disturbance, 
 made his appearance at a window, and as- 
 sured the soldiers that the report was a 
 false one, and that the empress was then 
 taking that repose which the fatigues of 
 the few preceding days had rendered so 
 necessan, . The soldiers were not satisfied ; 
 they redoubled their clamours, and refused 
 to retire without seeing their imperial mis- 
 tress. Rasumoffski therefore went to the 
 chamber of the empress, and causing her to 
 be aroused, begged her not to be frightened. 
 " You know," answered she boldly, " that I 
 am frightened at nothing : but what is the 
 matter V " The soldiers imagine that you 
 are not here," was the reply ; " they insist 
 on seeing you." "Well, they must be 
 satisfied," responded Catherine ; and hastily 
 dressing herself, she called for her carriage, 
 and ordered it to be driven to the Kasanskoi 
 church. As the vehicle passed on through 
 the crowds of soldiers, they glanced anxiously 
 into it, exclaiming, " Is that indeed the em- 
 press ? Is that indeed our mother ?" On 
 arriving at the church, she showed herself; 
 and addressing the soldiers, thanked them 
 for their solicitude, and dismissed them, 
 greatly satisfied. 
 
 Catherine not only rewarded her friends, 
 but she had the policy to forgive those 
 whom she might have regarded as her 
 enemies. As yet no blood was shed in 
 this rapid revolution. Some few of the offi- 
 cers and friends of Peter were forbidden to 
 appear at court, and three, including Gudo- 
 vitch, the emperor's aide-de-camp, were im- 
 prisoned ; but there the anger of the sove- 
 reign stopped. Peter's mistress, the Countess 
 VorontzoH; who had at first been roughly 
 treated by the soldiers, was sent to the 
 house of her father. She shortly after- 
 wards retired to a country place in the 
 neighbourhood of Moscow, and eventually 
 married a M. Palianski, with whom she 
 took up her residence at St. Petersburg. 
 Catherine forgot the wrongs of the wife so 
 far as to stand godmother, in person, to the 
 eldest son of this woman. Many years 
 afterwards her daughter, also, was nomi- 
 nated by the empress to be one of her 
 maids of honour. 
 
 Peter III., though he had made himself 
 250 
 
 many enemies, had yet no small number of 
 friends among the people, who could not 
 long forget that he had ever been the 
 friend of the poor, and to whom he was 
 perhaps even endeared by that very vul- 
 garity of manners which had disgusted so 
 many of his nobles and courtiers. The 
 revolution had been almost too rapid for its 
 endurance, and the safety of those engaged 
 in it. A reaction took place in favour of 
 the deposed monarch, and his clemency was 
 remembered, while his vices were forgotten. 
 The people pitied his sad reverse of fortune ; 
 and, even in the army, some regiments 
 murmured, and began to repent the part 
 they had taken against their lawful sove- 
 reign. As to the sailors, they openly re- 
 proached the guards that they had sold 
 their master for brandy and beer. Men 
 seemed as if aroused from a sense of intoxi- 
 cation, and, reflecting gloomily upon what 
 had passed, they doubted the probity and 
 wisdom of their own conduct. It was ob- 
 served that many of the citizens who had 
 been exceedingly active in the tumult of the 
 revolution, were seized with a deep and 
 painful remorse, and lamented the suffer- 
 ings they had brought upon their monarch. 
 Many of the soldiers, accusing themselves 
 of treason towards their deposed master, 
 cursed those who had led them into it. 
 From abuse and imprecations they pro- 
 ceeded to blows, and several lives were lost 
 in the furious altercations which took place. 
 It only wanted some able and resolute 
 leader to have replaced Peter on the throne 
 from which, but a few days before, he had 
 been so suddenly precipitated ; and the 
 minds of the conspirators were filled with 
 apprehensions of a new insurrection. 
 
 While discontent prevailed at St. Peters- 
 burg, a still more dangerous state of feeling 
 existed among the military at Moscow. The 
 governor of that ancient city, on hearing of 
 the revolution which had placed Catherine 
 on the throne, assembled the troops there, 
 consisting of five regiments, in the great 
 square before the palace of the czars. He 
 at the same time invoked the presence of 
 the people, who assembled in immense 
 crowds. Having read the ukase by which 
 the empress announced her accession and 
 the abdication of her husband, he shouted, 
 " Long live the empress, Catherine II. !" 
 No response followed either from people or 
 soldiers, and a sullen and ominous silence 
 prevailed. This was at length broken by 
 1 low murmurs, and then the troops, gaining 
 
 courage, complained that the regiments of 
 the guards hac^ insolently dared to dispose 
 of the throne. The startled governor then 
 called upon the officers to join the cry of 
 " Long live the empress !" and, having done 
 so, the multitude was dismissed, and the 
 soldiers marched back to their barracks. 
 
 Catherine felt much uneasiness and alarm 
 at these indications of popular feeling, so 
 threatening to her interest. To such an 
 extent was she haunted by the spectres of 
 her imagination during this period, that 
 sleep scarcely afforded her any repose ; and 
 several times in the course of the night she 
 would quit her bed, and occasionally even 
 her palace. It was not difficult to foresee 
 to what dark catastrophe such a temper on 
 the part of the people, and such a state of 
 mind on the part of the sovereign, would 
 eventually lead. 
 
 The deposed emperor liad been placed in 
 the custodv of Count Alexis Orloff and the 
 two brothers Baratinski, one of whom was 
 marshal of the court, and the other was 
 afterwards sent as envoy from Russia to the 
 court of France. Peter had been six days 
 in his obscure retreat, when Alexis Orloff, 
 and an officer named Teploff, entered his 
 apartment, assured him of his speedy libera- 
 tion, and requested permission to dine with 
 him. The unsuspicious monarch readily 
 consented, and, according to the Russian 
 custom, wine-glasses and brandy were 
 brought in before dinner. While Teploff 
 amused the czar with some trifling dis- 
 course, Orloff secretly poured some poison 
 into the glass intended for the czar. Peter 
 drank the deadly potion offered to him 
 without mistrust, and was immediately 
 seized with most acute pains. The assas- 
 sins offered him a second glass, saying that 
 it would give him relief; but the unhappy 
 man, who then discerned their diabolical 
 object, refused it, and burst into reproaches 
 against them. Racked with pain, he called 
 loudly for milk, when the two monsters 
 offered him poison again, and urged him to 
 take it. Attracted by the noise, a French 
 valet, to whom Peter was much attached, 
 ran into the apartment The czar threw 
 himself into the arms of his servant, and 
 said, in a faint 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 interceded for his master, but 
 the murderers forced the man from the 
 apartment, and renewed their ill-treatment 
 
 of the czar. A struggle followed, during 
 which the younger of the brothers Bara- 
 tinski entered. Orloff, who was a man of 
 great strength, had thrown the emperor 
 on to the ground, and was kneeling upon 
 his breast with both knees, while with one 
 hand he firmly grasped his throat. Peter 
 struggled with the force arising from des- 
 pair, and inflicted a mark on the face of 
 Baratinski, which that villain long retained ; 
 but he was rapidly losing strength, when 
 the other ruffians, throwing a napkin round 
 his neck, terminated his life by strangula- 
 tion. 
 
 Some writers have expressed a belief that 
 the empress Catherine was not implicated 
 in this revolting murder ; but it is difficult 
 to arrive at that conclusion. Perhaps the 
 crime was not committed in consequence of 
 any command from her; but the assassins 
 evidently knew that its commission would 
 be agreeable to her. The fact that she 
 attempted to conceal the cause of her hus- 
 band's death, and so far from punishing the 
 murderers, retained them in her service 
 and her favour, is sufficient evidence that 
 she sanctioned the crime, if she did not 
 command it. The Princess Daschkaw, 
 though evidently struggling at the time 
 with a suspicion she had much difficulty in 
 repressing, yet vehemently denies that the 
 empress directed or connived at the murder. 
 Her own language, however, shows that she 
 was not so satisfied on this point as she 
 desires her readers to believe. " I was 
 shocked," she observed, ''at the news of 
 this catastrophe — so indignant at such a 
 winding up of this glorious^ revolution, 
 that, although I spurned the idea of the 
 empress being in any degree an accomplice 
 in the crime of Alexis Orloff, I could not 
 bring myself to enter the palace until the 
 following day. I then found the empress 
 with a dejected air, visibly labouring under 
 much uneasiness of mind. These were her 
 words when she addressed me : — ' My horror 
 at this death is inexpressible ; it is a blow 
 which strikes me to the earth.' 'It is a' 
 death too sudden, madam,' replied I, ' for 
 your glory, and for mine.' " 
 
 No sooner was the murder effected, than 
 Alexis Orloff mounted his horse, and dashed 
 off at full speed to inform the empress that 
 her husband had breathed his last. He 
 imparted the news to her just as she was 
 about to make her appearance at court. 
 
 * Perhaps infamous would be a more appropriate 
 epithet. 
 
 251 
 
CONDUCT OF CATUERINE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1762. 
 
 A.D. 1762.1 
 
 KITS STAN E^IPIRE. [character of peter iil 
 
 c: 
 
 m 
 
 She received it tranquilly, and then, shut- 
 ting herself up with Panin, Gregory OrlofF, 
 Rasumoflski, and some other of her minis- 
 ters, she deliberated with them whether the 
 senate and the people should be immediately 
 acquainted with the death of the emperor, 
 or the news withheld until the following 
 day. The latter plan was adopted as the 
 most prudent one ; and Catherine, wearing 
 her customary smiles, dined in public as 
 usual, and lield a court in the evening. 
 
 The following day it was publicly an- 
 nounced that the emperor was dead. The 
 information was communicated to the court 
 while Catherine was at table. Rising from 
 her seat, with her eyes full of tears, she dis- 
 missed her courtiers and the foreign minis- 
 ters, and, retiring to her apartment, appeared 
 for several days to be plunged in the most 
 profound grief. During this time she pub- 
 lished the following declaration : — " By the 
 grace of God, Catherine II., empress and 
 autocratrix, &c. * "^ * The seventh day after 
 our accession to the throne of all the Rus- 
 sias, we received information that the late 
 emperor, Peter III., by means of a disorder 
 to which he was subject, was attacked with 
 a most violent griping cholic. That, there- 
 fore, we might not be wanting in Christian 
 duty, nor disobedient to the Divine com- 
 mand by which we arc enjoined to preserve 
 the life of our neighbour, we immediately 
 ordered that the said Peter should be fur- 
 nished with everything that might be judged 
 necessary to prevent the dangerous conse- 
 quences of that accident, and to restore his 
 health by the aids of medicine. But, to 
 our great regret and affliction, we were 
 yesterday evening apprised that, by the 
 permission of the Almighty, the late em- 
 peror departed this life. We have there- 
 fore ordered his body to be conveyed to the 
 monastery of Nevski, in order to its inter- 
 ment in that place. At the same time, 
 with our imperial and maternal voice, we 
 exhort our faithful subjects to forgive and 
 forget what is past, to pay the last duties to 
 his body, and to pray to God sincerely for 
 the repose of his soul; willing them, how- 
 ever, to consider this unexpected and sudden 
 death as an especial elieet of the providence 
 of God, whose impenetrable decrees are 
 Morking for us, for our throne, and for our 
 country, things known only to His holy 
 will." 
 
 The body of the murdered emperor was 
 brought to St. Petersburg, and exhibited 
 for three days in ac open coffin in the 
 252 
 
 church of the monastery of St. Alexander 
 Nevski. The deceased was attired in his 
 Prussian uniform, and, according to cus- 
 tom, persons of all ranks were admitted to 
 kiss his hand. But even the corpse seemed 
 to bear silent witness to the manner in 
 which the life of the unfortunate czar was 
 terminated. The face was nearly black; 
 extravasated blood oozed through the skin, 
 and even stained the gloves worn by the 
 body. So violent was the poison adminis- 
 tered, that some persons who, from motives 
 of affection, kissed the mouth of the dead 
 czar, returned with swollen lips. Catherine 
 and her ministers were aware that such 
 dreadful intimations might lead to a dis- 
 covery of the means by which the unhappy 
 monarch had been deprived of life; but 
 they were less interested in saving appear- 
 ances, than in preventing the excitement 
 which would have arisen in the event of 
 a supposition getting abroad among the 
 people that Peter was still living. On the 
 21st of July, the very day that the late em- 
 peror had fixed for his departure on the 
 expedition against Denmark, his body was 
 consigned to a grave within the church ; 
 but no monument, or even inscription, was 
 placed to mark the spot. The court of 
 Sweden went into mourning for him ; but 
 in no other nation was much sympathy 
 shown for his tragic fate. The Russian 
 people pitied their murdered czar; and the 
 day of his funeral was a melancholy one 
 in St. Petersburg. Masses of the people 
 thronged around the church, and reproached 
 the soldiers of the guards with having 
 basely shed the last drop of the blood of 
 Peter the Great. 
 
 The character of Peter III. cannot com- 
 mand our respect, but his dismal fate excites 
 our pity. He Avas misplaced in life, and 
 had neither the mind nor manners requisite 
 for one holding so exalted and highly respon- 
 sible a station. Vulgar in his demeanour, 
 sensual in his habits, and trifling in his be- 
 haviour, he lacked even the ordinary refine- 
 ment of a private gentleman. It is probable 
 that he gave way to coarse and unbecoming 
 manners, and selected vulgar associates in 
 imitation of Peter the Great; but that illus- 
 trious man, who redeemed all his vices by 
 far greater virtues as a ruler, could venture 
 on acts which it was dangerous for common 
 men to perform. The deposed czar, though 
 painfully deficient in energy and resolution, 
 and totally unable to confound his enemies 
 by the exhibition of a commanding will that 
 
 would brook no opposition, or a subtle intel- 
 lect capable of detecting and frustrating 
 their schemes, yet had the imprudence 
 to effect with rapidity a change, with respect 
 to the property of the church, more sweeping 
 than that which his wise ancestor had con- 
 sidered it well to delay until the latter 
 phase of his reign. The great wants of 
 Peter III. were the lack of discretion, bv 
 which he was led into danger, and the lack 
 of a courage which would have extricated 
 him from it. During his latter days, con- 
 tempt for his cowardice often checks the 
 rising pity which we feel for his misfortunes. 
 It has been conjectured that he was of un- 
 sound mind, but we do not think that this 
 supposition can be at all established. He 
 was mentally feeble, and rather eccentric; 
 but a weak mind is not a diseased one ; nor 
 is the extravagance of conduct which arises 
 from w ant of reflection, and from frequent 
 intemperance, to be dignified with the name 
 of madness. Yet Peter had gleams of light 
 in the ordinary dimness of his mental facul- 
 ties. He saw desirable results, but had no 
 clear idea of the manner in which they were 
 to be arrived at. During his brief sway he 
 effected many valuable reforms, and it can- 
 not be doubted that he would have accom- 
 plished many more had his reign been pro- 
 longed. Personally, he was amiable even to 
 a fault ; and most of those who composed his 
 more intimate circle of acquaintance were 
 much attached to him. His gentleness was 
 in excess for a monarch, for he was deficient 
 of the sternness required to crush an enemy 
 or punish a traitor. His conduct to Cathe- 
 
 rine was, however, an exception to the amia- 
 bility of character usual with him : from the 
 first he subjected her to occasional rudeness 
 and neglect, and contrived to convert her 
 indifference, first into disgust, and then 
 into fear and hatred. Yet, beyond petty 
 vices, he committed no crime; 'his inten- 
 tions were benevolent, though they were 
 mostly deformed by that thoughtlessness 
 and utter want of discretion which enabled 
 a few obscure conspirators to hurl him from 
 his throne, and led him to that tragic death 
 by which he obtained a place among those 
 illustrious unfortunates of the earth who 
 must ever be regarded with deep emotions 
 of pity. 
 
 Frederic of Prussia, who had foreseen the 
 probable fate of the unfortunate Peter III., 
 and endeavoured, by the frequent offer of 
 good advice, to prevent it, formed a tolerably 
 accurate estimate of his character. Shortly 
 after the revolution, the Prussian monarch 
 thus wrote to Count Finkenstein, one of his 
 favourites :—'^ The emperor of Russia has 
 been dethroned by his consort: it was to be ex- 
 pected. That princess has much good sense, 
 and the same inclinations as the defunct. 
 She has no religion, but acts the devotee. 
 It is the second volume of Zeno, the Greek 
 emperor, of his wife Adrian a, and of Mary 
 de Medicis. The late chancellor, Bestuchef, 
 was her greatest favourite, and as he has a 
 strong propensity to guineas, I flatter myself 
 that the attachments of the present period 
 will be the same. The poor emperor wanted 
 to iniitate Peter I., but he had not the 
 capacity for it.^' 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 THE EMPRESS CATHERINE CONFIRMS THE PEACE WITH PRUSSIA ; HER COROXATIOX AT MOSCOW ; SHE REFUSES 
 TO RESTORE THE PROPERTY OF THE CHURCH ; DANGEROUS INSURRECTIONS, AND INTREPIDITY OF THE 
 EMPRESS; GREGORY ORLOFF ; REFORMS EFFKCTED BY CATHERINE, AND MILDNESS OF HER ADMINISTRA- 
 TION ; SHE INVITES FOREIGNERS TO COME TO RUSSIA, AND PRP:SENTS THEM WITH LAND ; COUNT PANIN 
 DESIRES HER TO SURRENDER HER ABSOLUTE POWDER INTO THE HANDS OF AN ARISTOCRATIC SENATE ;' 
 INTRIGUE TO INDUCE HER TO MARRY HER FAVOURITE ORLOFF, AND CONSEQUENT IRRITATION OF THE 
 PEOPLE ; TERMINATION OF THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR. 
 
 It was supposed that the peace and alli- 
 ance which the late emperor had concluded 
 with Prussia would not long be observed by 
 Catherine. It was unpopular throughout 
 the empire; and as none of the conquests 
 which Peter had stipulated to restore to 
 
 Frederic were yet abandoned by the Russian 
 troops, they might yet be retained in the 
 event of a renewal of hostilities being de- 
 termined upon. Catherine was tempted to 
 pursue this course, but chiefly because she 
 believed that Frederic had encouraged the 
 
 253 
 
POLICY OF CATHERINE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1762. 
 
 A.D. 1762.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [popular DISAFFECnOX. 
 
 I ' 
 
 tiv 
 
 i 
 
 late emperor in the severe measures lie con- 
 templated against her. When, however, she 
 discovered some letters among the papers of 
 her late husband, counselling him to act with 
 more consideration and kindness towards 
 liis consort, she abandoned her intention of 
 renewing the war. She was indeed fully 
 aware that the crown as yet stood so loosely 
 upon her head, that it was wise to confine 
 her attention for a time almost entirely to 
 her own safety. She saw that it was expe- 
 dient to collect within itself all the forces of 
 the empire, that she should be able to oppose 
 the designs of malcontents who might ven- 
 ture on some attempt to revenge the fate of 
 the late czar, or seek their own advancement 
 in the tumult of a fresh revolution. Under 
 these circumstances, she informed the minis- 
 ters of the king of Prussia, "that she was 
 resolved to observe inviolably, in all points, 
 the perpetual peace concluded under tlie 
 preceding reign ; that, nevertheless, she had 
 thought proper to bring back to Russia, by 
 the nearest roads, all her troops in Silesia, 
 Prussia, and Pomerania." 
 
 Towards the empress-queen, Maria The- 
 resa, Catherine behaved with coldness. 
 Louis XV., of France, who had calculated 
 on deriving advantage from her supposed 
 attachment to his country, was surprised at 
 discovering that, notwithstanding her ad- 
 miration of French literature, she mani- 
 fested a feeling of aversion towards the court 
 of Versailles. Mr. Keith, the English am- 
 bassador, though he did not enjoy the same 
 freedom of access to the empress to which 
 his predecessor was admitted, was treated 
 as the minister of a friendly power, and 
 Catherine soon renewed the treaty which 
 had given to England the chief part of the 
 commerce of Russia. To the king of Den- 
 mark, against whom the Russian troops 
 were on their march at the time of the revo- 
 lution by which Peter was deposed, she 
 gave the assurance that he might make him- 
 self easy on the subject of Holstein, as it 
 was her intention always to keep up a good 
 understanding with liim. Catherine was 
 wisely desirous of establishing peace abroad, 
 that she might preserve it within the em- 
 pire, for she knew that she had more to fear 
 from her own subjects than from foreign 
 potentates. 
 
 The distribution of bribes and brandy 
 among the soldiery at Moscow effected some 
 change in their feehngs towards the empress, 
 and it was diflacult for them to refuse to 
 acknowledge so liberal a sovereign. Cathe- 
 254 
 
 rine, therefore, started for that city, for the 
 purpose of celebrating her coronation in the 
 ancient capital of the empire. She took 
 with her, as her attendants, Gregory Orloff, 
 whose influence was daily increasing; the 
 old chancellor, Bestuchef, whom she had 
 recalled from exile ; the greater part of the 
 nobles who had shown themselves devoted 
 to her interest, the prmcipal ladies of the 
 court, and the younj* Grand-duke Paul. 
 She bestowed the government of St. Peters- 
 burg, during her absence, on Count Bruce, 
 of whose fidelity she felt satisfied ; while the 
 regiments of the guards, to whom, before 
 leaving, she gave further assurances of her 
 approbation, she left under the command of 
 the hetman Rasumoffski and Prince Vol- 
 konski, while Alexis Orloff was charged to 
 watch over all with his usual activity. 
 
 Catherine and her court entered Moscow 
 with great pomp, were she was, notwith- 
 standing, received with much coldness. 
 Few acclamations welcomed her; and those 
 shouts which were raised at her appearance 
 were suspected of being purchased. Silent 
 as the people mostly were at the presence of 
 the empress, they hailed the appearance of 
 the young Grand-duke Paul, and showed, 
 by the affection they displayed towards him, 
 their regret for the misfortunes of his 
 father. Catherine was crowned at the 
 chapel of the czars on the 22nd of Septem- 
 ber, in the presence of the soldiers and the 
 court. She lavished the most attractive 
 flatteries on the archbishop and the priests, 
 and prolonged festivities were held for the 
 gratification of the people. She also issued 
 a proclamation, praising the troops that had 
 fought against Prussia, and awarded half a 
 year's pay to the subalterns and common 
 soldiers who had been present at the vic- 
 tories obtained over the armies of that state. 
 Her friends also were gratified by a number 
 of promotions and presents ; and the em- 
 press herself assumed the rank of colonel in 
 each of the four regiments of life-guards. 
 Yet all these arts did not win the people or 
 soldiers into the expression of any enthu- 
 siasm ; and Catherine soon left Moscow in 
 disgust, and returned to St. Petersburg. 
 
 The empress had other diflficulties to sur- 
 mount before she was firmly seated upon 
 the throne at which she had arrived by 
 such sinister and tortuous ways. But she 
 felt, and soon proved, herself equal to the 
 dangerous task. It was not only because 
 the priesthood were deceived by her habits 
 of assumed devotion that they had favoured 
 
 the revolution which deposed her husband 
 and placed the sceptre in her hand. They 
 expected to obtain, as a return for their 
 services, the restoration of the possessions 
 of which Peter III. had deprived them ; and 
 they now reminded her of the promises she 
 had made to that effect. Catherine had 
 sought popularity by joining in the outcry 
 against the spoliation of the church ; but 
 still she secretly knew that it was prudent 
 to reduce . the great wealth and conse- 
 quent power of the priesthood, which had 
 been, and might again be, employed against 
 the person or interests of the sovereign. 
 She therefore resolved to profit by the very 
 deed she had denounced as sacrilege : her 
 rash husband had incurred the odium of 
 the act, and she determined on reaping the 
 benefit arising from it. Instead, therefore, 
 of revoking the edict of Peter III., she 
 referred it to the examination of a synod, 
 composed of prelates whom she took care 
 should be implicitly subservient to her will. 
 The opposition of the principal members of 
 the clergy was then disarmed by the secret 
 distribution of heavy bribes, and the in- 
 terests of the rest were sacrificed. 
 
 The great mass of the priests were accord- 
 ingly actuated by a feeling of fury against 
 the empress; and as they had assisted to 
 place her on the throne, they resolved on 
 seeing if their influence could not prevail to 
 hurl her from it. Wherever discontent 
 existed among the populace, there they 
 fanned the embers of sedition, and they suc- 
 ceeded, in some measure, in introducing an 
 insurrectionary feeling among the soldiers. 
 They declared that the imprisoned prince, 
 Ivan, was the only lawful heir to the throne; 
 and they found, or, what is far more pro- 
 bable, forged, the copy of a manifesto, which 
 it was said Peter III. had caused to be 
 drawn up, and then signed with his own 
 hand. In it he enumerated all the weak- 
 nesses and faults of Catherine, accused her 
 of adultery, and declared that he would not 
 acknowledge the young grand- duke for his 
 son, since he was the fruit of the scandalous 
 commerce of his wife with Soltikoff. The 
 exasperated priests dispersed copies of this 
 document amongst the people and the sol- 
 diers, of whom many repented the part they 
 had taken in the recent revolution, and 
 pitied the sad fate of a prince whose life 
 had paid the penalty of his errors. 
 
 Many were soon disposed to avenge the 
 fate of one whom they could not restore ; 
 and there was some danger of a new revolu- 
 
 tion. But Catherine was far more vigilant 
 than her ill-fated husband, and her emis- 
 saries quickly discerned the signs and the 
 sources of the spreading discontent. An 
 imperial proclamation was issued, forbid- 
 ding the soldiers of the guards to assemble, 
 except on receiving orders to do so from 
 their officers. Some, whose violence had 
 betrayed them, were arrested, and suffered 
 the punishment of the knout, or were 
 banished to Siberia. As an intimation to 
 the priesthood, the empress also dismissed 
 the Archbishop of Novgorod from the court, 
 and he retired, with a heart bursting with 
 rage, to the clergy, who hated him for 
 having sold their interests. Several of the 
 officers and courtiers also experienced the 
 displeasure of Catherine, and were com- 
 pelled to retire from their posts. 
 
 But the spirit of insurrection, though 
 encountered, was not suppressed. The 
 priests were still active in exciting discon- 
 tent among the people and the soldiery. 
 They were so far successful, that great dis- 
 turbances prevailed in the barracks; and the 
 danger became so serious, that for a whole 
 day it was regarded as probable that the 
 empress would experience a fate similar to 
 that of her husband. But the high spirit 
 of Catherine never forsook her ; and with- 
 out calling her council, she took private 
 measures for calming the revolt. On her 
 ministers testifying their uneasiness, she 
 spoke to them with great confidence, and 
 with a dignity that was peculiar to her. 
 "Why are you alarmed?" she inquired. 
 " Think you that I am afraid to face the 
 danger, or rather, are you afraid that I 
 know not how to overcome it ? Recollect 
 that vou have seen me, in moments more 
 terrible than these, in full possession of the 
 whole vigour of my mind ; and that I can 
 support the most cruel reverses of fortune 
 with as much serenity as I have supported 
 her favours. A few factious spirits, a few 
 mutinous soldiers, are to deprive me of a 
 crown that / accepted with reluctance, and 
 only as the means of delivering the Russian 
 nation from the miseries with which it was 
 threatened ! I know not with what pre- 
 tence thev colour their insolence ; I know 
 not on what means they rely ; but, I say it 
 again, they cause me no alarm. That Pro- 
 vidence which has called me to reign, will 
 preserve for me the glory and the happiness 
 of the empire; and that Almighty arm 
 which has hitherto been my defence, will 
 now confound my foes." 
 
 255 
 
FIRMNESS OF CATHERINE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1762. 
 
 A.D. 1763.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [Catherine invites immigrants. 
 
 I I 
 
 The two Orloffs were incessantly active 
 in pacifying the guards by presents aiid 
 promises ; and when they had succeeded in 
 reducing the prevalent irritation, four-and- 
 twenty of the disaffected oflficers were ar- 
 rested and placed on their trial for lii^h 
 treason. Four of them were declared guilty, 
 and conaemned to be quartered; but Cathe- 
 rine, who desired rather to awe than to 
 punish, mitigated the terrible sentence into 
 banishment to Siberia, though, prior to their 
 expatriation, the offenders were scourged by 
 the hand of the common executioner. Com- 
 bining policy with firmness, the empress 
 stooped to soothe the most dangerous of the 
 priests, and contrived to stop the cabals 
 of the monks. The soldiers and people 
 soon discovered that they were ruled by a 
 vigorous hand, and they learned, first sub- 
 mission, and eventually admiration. Cathe- 
 rine delighted the young and gay among her 
 courtiers by her attachment to pleasure; and 
 the older and more grave of them by her devo- 
 tion to the business of the state. She assisted 
 at all the deliberations of the council; read 
 the despatches from her ambassadors ; dic- 
 tated the answers that were to be sent to 
 them ; and took every pains to observe that 
 her commands were executed. Aiming at 
 the acquisition of fame as well as that of 
 power, she contemplated the example of 
 those illustrious monarchs who, by the 
 grandeur of their actions, effaced the 
 memory of their crimes or follies. She saw 
 that elevation of purpose and firmness of 
 execution were essential to the character of 
 a *^reat ruler. " We should be constant in 
 ou^i' plans,'' she would observe; "it is better 
 to do amiss than to alter our purpose. 
 None but fools are irresolute.'^ 
 
 Among the courtiers who incurred the 
 displeasure of the empress was her friend, 
 as she called her, the Princess Daschkaw. 
 A mutual aversion existed between this 
 lady and the two Orloffs, who doubtless 
 misrepresented her to Catherine. The era- 
 presshad refused to the princess the title 
 of colonel in the Presbrazinski guards, 
 which carried with it certain social distinc- 
 tions she was anxious to possess. The 
 princess murmured at the ingratitude of 
 her imperial mistress, to whose cars her 
 complaints were carried. The latter first 
 warned the princess, and afterwards kept 
 her at a distance. Desirous of throwing as 
 much light as possible on the interesting 
 subject of the personal character of Cathe- 
 rine, we will quote a passage from the 
 256 
 
 Memoirs of the princess, having reference to 
 this period : — " As the days of my illusions," 
 she observes, " respecting the friendship of 
 sovereigns are about to cease, I may be 
 allowed to dwell a moment longer on the 
 recollection of those hours of intimacy which 
 the fascinating powers of the empress could 
 often diversify with the sportiveness of 
 childhood itself. I was enthusiastically 
 fond of music, but she was far from being 
 so; and Prince Daschkaw, though with 
 some taste for it, was as little of a per- 
 former as the empress. She was, neverthe- 
 less, fond of hearing me sing; and some- 
 times, when I had done, secretly passing a 
 sign across to Prince Daschkaw, she would 
 gravely propose a duet ; which she used to 
 call the music of the spheres, and which, 
 without either of them knowing how to 
 sing a note, they both performed in concert. 
 A sudden burst of the most exalted and 
 ridiculously discordant tones was the conse- 
 quence ; one seconding the other with 
 scientific shrugs, and all the solemn, self- 
 complacent airs and grimaces of musicians. 
 From this, perhaps, she passed to the cat 
 concert, and imitated the purring of poor 
 puss in the most droll and ludicrous manner, 
 always taking care to add appropriate half- 
 comic, half-sentimental words, which she 
 invented for the occasion ; or else, spitting 
 like a cat in a passion, with her back up, 
 she suddenly boxed the first person in her 
 way, making up her hand into a paw, and 
 mewing so outrageously, that instead of 
 the great Catherine, nothing but the wrongs 
 of a grimalkin remained upon one's mind. 
 I really believe there never was any one in 
 the world, and certainly never any sovereign, 
 who equalled her in the magic versatility of 
 her mind, the exhaustless variety of her 
 resources, and, above all, the enchantment 
 of her manner ; that in itself could give a 
 lustre to the commonest words and most 
 trifling matters." 
 
 Catherine's Polish lover, Poniatowski, had 
 kept up a correspondence with her ; while 
 she, on her part, aff'ected a romantic con- 
 stancy in her attachment towards him. 
 Delighted at the exaltation of the empress 
 to the throne, he advanced to the frontiers 
 of Poland, and requested the permission of 
 her majesty to pay a visit to her court. 
 Catherine, who had long transferred her 
 favours to Gregory Orloff", answered that his 
 presence was not necessary at St. Peters- 
 bursc, and that she had diff'erent views in 
 his ^behalf. Yet, unwilling that he should 
 
 be informed of her new connections, she 
 continued to write to him in an affectionate 
 style, and sometimes even carried her dis- 
 simulation so far, as to shed tears when in 
 the presence of his confidants. Orloff", 
 however, had no scruples, and no longer 
 concealed the intimacy which existed be- 
 tween him and tliC empress. As he did 
 not now fear the result of the discovery of 
 his amour, he would not submit to any 
 inconvenient precaution to prevent its dis- 
 closure. Coarse in his manners, he even, 
 wlien in his cups, boasted of his influence 
 over the empress, and his power in the 
 state. Such was the arrogance of this man, 
 and the favour with which she regarded 
 him, that she even permitted insolence from 
 liim to pass by unregarded. One evening, 
 when he w'tis at supper with the empress, 
 the hetman Rasumoffski, and some others 
 of the court, he talked of the influence he 
 had over the guards, and boasted of his 
 having solely brought about the revolution ; 
 adding, " that his power was so great, that if 
 he chose to abuse it, he could in one month 
 destroy his own work, and dethrone the 
 empress." The courtiers looked offended, 
 and the hetman thus rebuked the braggart; — 
 ** You might do so in one month ; but, my 
 friend, within a fortnight afterwards we 
 should have hanged you !" Catherine did 
 not resent Orloff*'s rudeness : she knew the 
 value of his services; and the attachment 
 which commenced in aff'ection, and still had 
 an influence over her, she maintained in- 
 violate through policy. 
 
 When early dangers were past, the em- 
 press did not relax her eff'orts for the con- 
 ciliation of her subjects. Most of the re- 
 forms that Peter III. decreed, she sanctioned 
 and caused to be carried into execution. 
 She confirmed the abolition of the secret 
 inquisition chancery, and commanded that 
 all its acts should be brought into the 
 senate, " and there sealed up in the archives 
 consigned to everlasting oblivion." She 
 also ordained that torture should never be 
 employed in the examination of criminals. 
 It must be acknowledged that Catherine, 
 with all her faults, was not a severe or cruel 
 sovereign: a spirit of mildness was usually 
 exercised in the administration of the laws ; 
 Hud throughout her reign, the punishment 
 of death was rarely inflicted. She devoted 
 herself with great assiduity to the adminis- 
 tration of her vast estates, the advancement 
 i'\' commerce, the augmentation of the navy, 
 and to the means of recoverinjr the finances 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 2l 
 
 of the empire from those derangements into 
 which they had fallen. She published a 
 manifesto, assuring foreigners that they 
 should find welcome and support in her 
 dominions, and instituted a court especially 
 for their protection. She pointed out to 
 them unoccupied districts adapted for culti- 
 vation, and offered free lands, suflficient for 
 some hundred farms, to foreigners who 
 would come to Russia and cultivate them. 
 Not agriculturists alone. Out merchants, 
 artificers, and workmen of any kind were 
 invited. The proclamation is in some re- 
 spects curious; and the example of the em- 
 press might be advantageously followed by 
 some states in Europe, and especially in Asia, 
 at the present time. The document set forth, 
 that " any one who is destitute shall receive 
 money for the expenses of the journey, and 
 shall be forwarded at the charge of the 
 crown. On his arrival, he shall receive a 
 competent assistance; and, if he want it, 
 even an advance of a capital, free of 
 interest for ten years. All that he brings 
 for his own use is dutv free ; even for sale, 
 a family may introduce to^the value of 300 
 roubles. The stranger is exempt from all 
 service, either military or civil ; even from 
 all taxes and imposts tor a certain time: in 
 Moscow, St. Petersburg, and the Livonian 
 towns, he enjoys five free years; in the 
 inland towns, ten ; on the hitherto unculti- 
 vated districts, thirty. In these new tracts 
 of land, the colonists live according to their 
 own good-will, under their own jurisdiction, 
 without any participation or cognizance of 
 the imperial officers. All religions are 
 
 TOLERATED." 
 
 This proclamation was the cause of au 
 extensive immigration, chiefly from the 
 German states, though settlers came also 
 from Poland, Sweden, and even from France. 
 Thousands of Germans, dissatisfied with 
 their government and the religion to which 
 they were forced to conform, hastened to ac- 
 cept the invitation of the empress. Obscure 
 literary men, artificers, mechanics, projectors, 
 vagabonds, and beggars, old and young, set 
 out in haste to take ship at Llibeck and other 
 Baltic ports. Some of the petty sovereigns 
 of Germany issued prohibitions against 
 these emigrations, which they regarded with 
 a jealous and uneasy feeling, forgetful that, 
 in many instances, it was their misgovern- 
 ment which had driven their subjects to 
 seek a home in a foreign land. But after 
 manv thousand families had settled in Rns- 
 sia, the movement received a check by the 
 
 257 
 
m 
 
 f\ 
 
 COURT OF TlIE EMPRESS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1763. 
 
 A.D. 1763.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [scheme of count panin. 
 
 {■ 
 
 ! W 
 
 reports sent back by the colonists them- 
 selves. Starting with inordinate expecta- 
 tions, they naturally experienced a sense 
 of disappointment. Ignorant of the lan- 
 guage of the country, feeling the want of 
 their customary accommodation, and some- 
 times exposed to the harshness of persons in 
 onice, many repented the step they had 
 taken. Others, who only wanted to live in 
 idleness, wondered that they were to begin 
 again to work, as it was exactly on thtit 
 very account that they had abandoned their 
 native country. Catherine, however, suc- 
 ceeded in planting a population in districts 
 which had been hitherto uninhabited ; and 
 although many of the new-comers were but 
 the offscourings of neighbouring states, and, 
 perhaps, never became indnstrious and esti- 
 mable subjects, yet, in the next generation, 
 they probably became respectable, and, in 
 the one following, were merged into the 
 general population of the empire. Cathe- 
 rine also encouraged many tribes from the 
 east of Europe and from Asia, who were 
 dissatisfied with their position or govern- 
 ments, to come and settle in her dominions. 
 Fully aware that the latent power of Rnssia 
 could only be developed as its population 
 increased, and also with a view to eradicate 
 n physical and moral cause of depopulation, 
 she erected a foundling and lying-in hos- 
 pital at Moscow, and also another at St. 
 Petersburg. In the November of the year 
 ill which she ascended the throne (1762), 
 she also founded the medicinal college of 
 the empire at St. Petersburg. 
 
 Catherine had a correct estimate of her 
 own peculiar talents, and of the influence 
 she was likely to exercise on the empire and 
 on Europe. In conversing with a foreign 
 minister who had complimented her on her 
 political sagHcitv, she observed— "You think, 
 then, that Europe has, at present, its eyes 
 fixed on me, and that I have some weight 
 in the principal courts?" The answer 
 could not fail to be in the affirmative. " I 
 believe, indeed," she continued, with that 
 miperial dignity of manner which she could 
 assume with so much ease, "that Russia 
 merits attention. 1 have the finest army in 
 the world. I am rather short of money, it 
 is true; but I shall be abundantly pro- 
 vided with it in a few years. If I gave the 
 reins to ray incUnation, I should have a 
 greater taste for war than for peace ; but I 
 am restrained by humanity, justice, and 
 reason. However, I shall not be like the 
 empress Elizabeth. I shall not allow my- 
 258 
 
 self to be pressed to make war. I shall 
 enter upon it when it will prove advan- 
 tageous to me; but never from complai- 
 sance to others.'' Catherine added, that 
 the world could not properly begin to form 
 a judgment of her until five years had 
 elapsed, as it required at least that time to 
 reduce her empire to order, and to gather 
 the fruit of her care. 
 
 The empress was frequently reminded 
 that the people had not forgotten the tragic 
 death of her unhappy husband. Petty con- 
 spiracies frequently broke out; and although 
 they were detected and defeated by the 
 vigilance of her government, yet Catherine 
 knew that it was impossible to remove the 
 cause of them, and she frequently suffered 
 much uneasiness in consequence. Anxious 
 to conciliate her people, and to cause them 
 to forget the past, she neglected no means 
 of winning their attachment. Though 
 generous by nature, she was still more so 
 by policy. She also acted with kindness 
 to the friends of the deceased emperor, and 
 released from prison those few of his imme- 
 diate adherents who had been sent there on 
 account of their exertions in his favour. 
 
 Another source of grief to the empress 
 was, that the most distinguished of the 
 Russian nobles held aloof from her court. 
 Disgusted with the arrogance of Gregory 
 Orloff, and jealous of his influence over the 
 empress, they would not mix in an arena 
 where he was paramount. The courtiers ot 
 Catherine were mostly rough soldiers who 
 had taken part in the conspiracy, and now 
 abused the claims they imagined they had 
 to her gratitude. She would willingly have 
 dismissed many of them from her presence, 
 but that she knew not how soon and how 
 urgently she might require their services. 
 Occasionally she blushed at the deference 
 she felt compelled to show them ; and to 
 excuse their defects of manners, she at- 
 tributed to them a fidelity wliich many 
 were far from possessing. "The life I 
 lead is far from agreeable to me," said she 
 one day ; " I know that I am surrounded 
 by people of no education ; but that I am 
 indebted to them for being what I am. 
 They are men of courage and probity, and 
 I am sure that they will never betray me." 
 
 Count Panin was almost the only one of 
 the courtiers of Catherine, at this time, who 
 was distinguished by polished manners and 
 a cultivated mind. But Panin injured his 
 influence with the empress by preferring his 
 own ambition to her interests. He had 
 
 
 / 
 
 desired Peter III. to place the real power of 
 the empire in the hands of an aristocratic 
 senate, and to resign the absolute power 
 which was supposed to reside in the hands 
 of the czar. Panin's scheme would have 
 rendered the nobles independent of the 
 sovereign, and have placed the people under 
 the rule of many tyrants instead of one ; 
 yet he endeavoured to induce Catherine to 
 adopt it. Observing, one day, that she 
 laboured under some anxiety in conse- 
 quence of the dangers to which her position 
 exposed her, he took the opportunity of 
 explaining to her the principles of the 
 system of government which he desired to 
 see established. " The sovereigns of this 
 empire," he remarked, " have hitherto uni- 
 formly enjoyed an unlimited power ; but it 
 is the very extent of that power which ren- 
 ders it dangerous to him in whom it is 
 lodged, sinc5^ it may at any time be usurped 
 by some bold pretender, and the usurper is 
 thenceforth above the laws. Trust me, 
 madam, make the sacrifice of an absolute 
 authority. Create a fixed and permanent 
 council, which will secure to you the crown. 
 Solemnly declare that you renounce, for 
 yourself and for your successors, the power 
 of depriving at pleasure the members of 
 that august body. Declare, that if they 
 commit any crime or high misdemeanor, 
 their peers alone shall have the right to 
 judge and to condemn them, on accurate 
 and severe informations. From the mo- 
 ment you shall adopt this prudent measure, 
 it will be forgotten that you obtained the 
 crown by violence, in the sentiment that 
 you intend to preserve it only by justice." 
 Catherine was at first pleased with the 
 novelty of the idea, and the hope that, by 
 adopting it, she would render her name 
 illustrious, and conciliate the love of her 
 subjects. She told her minister to commit 
 his plan to paper, and implied that she might 
 probably adopt it. Reflection, however, con- 
 vinced her that to do so would be to divide 
 the authority it had cost her so much to ac- 
 quire, and which she would never recover if 
 she once suffered to be taken from her. In 
 a subsequent interview with Panin, she 
 praised him for his zeal in her service, but 
 said that it was impossible she could adopt 
 his suggestions. " If the empress is deter- 
 mined to rule alone," said the disappointed 
 minister to his friends, " you will see what a 
 sad reign we shall make of it." But Panin 
 had not yet formed a correct estimate of the 
 abilities of his imperial mistress 
 
 Before long, Catherine had another dan- 
 gerous proposal made to her, which, also, 
 she had the discretion to decline. The 
 aged ex-chancellor, Bestuchef, with the ol)- 
 ject of rendering himself of more impor- 
 tance in the state, and probably sinking 
 into dotage, informed the favourite Orloff 
 that he should be glad to see him emperor. 
 With all the subtle eloquence he possessed, 
 the old statesman urged his listener to 
 aspire to the hand of his mistress. " She 
 knows," he observed, " with how much zeal 
 and intrepidity you have acted in her ser- 
 vice. She knows from what dangers you 
 freed her to invest her with a sovereign 
 power. She cannot, then, worthily reward 
 you but by giving you a share in that 
 throne which she owes to your prowess. 
 Indeed, why should she refuse it ? Who is 
 better able than you to support that throne 
 against all attempts of conspirators to over- 
 turn it ? Who would be more agreeable to 
 the sovereign in the twofold capacity of her 
 admirer and her defender ?" Orloff was 
 delighted, and, embracing the ex-chancellor, 
 promised to do whatever he desired. 
 
 Bestuchef soon sounded the empress on 
 the subject ; but Catherine answered, that 
 even if she was inclined to favour the pro- 
 posal, she could never resolve on taking a 
 step that might meet with so many difficul- 
 ties. To obviate these, the ex-chancellor 
 proposed a petition in the name of the Rus- 
 sian empire, in which, after eulogising all 
 that the empress had done for the happi- 
 ness of her people, he referred to the feeble 
 constitution of the young Grand-duke Paul, 
 and the anxieties caused by the frequent 
 alterations in his health, and conjured 
 Catherine to give the empire an additional 
 testimony of her love, by sacrificing her 
 own liberty to its welfare in taking a hus- 
 band. Perhaps, notwithstanding its ob- 
 vious imprudence, Catherine might have 
 been disposed to accede to the design ; for 
 she induced Maria Theresa, the empress- 
 queen, to dignify Orloff by the grant of a 
 diploma of prince of the empire, which it 
 was her own intention to follow up by 
 decorating him with the titles of Duke of 
 Ingria and of Carelia. 
 
 The ex-chancellor presented the petition 
 to the clergy, and induced twelve bishops to 
 put their signatures to it, specifying that 
 the empress ought not to marry Prince 
 Ivan (whom Bestuchef had artfully pro- 
 posed as her husband, merely for the pur- 
 pose of at first concealing his object), and 
 
 259 
 
SUSPECTED CONSPIRACIES.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1763. 
 
 A.D. 1763.] 
 
 n 
 
 f 1 
 
 M 
 
 addinjij a request that her majesty would 
 condescend to choose, from among her own 
 subjects, him whom she might deem most 
 worthy to participate in her throne. A 
 great number of general officers adhered to 
 the sentiment of the bishops ; but when 
 Bestnchef made known his proposition to 
 the chancellor Vorontzoff, the latter inter- 
 rupted him by saying, " By what conduct 
 have I merited the degradation of such a 
 confidence as you now dare to propose/' 
 Then, leaving the room, he ordered his car- 
 riage, and hurrying to the empress, remon- 
 strated with her against the indecency and 
 danger of such a proceeding, advising her 
 to retain OrlofF, if such was her pleasure, 
 as her lover, and to load him even with 
 riches and honours ; but not to think for a 
 moment of a marriage which could only 
 disgrace herself and the nation. Catherine 
 probably saw the peril of the step which, it 
 appears, she contemplated, and answered, 
 "I never authorised that intriguing old 
 man to do what he has done ; and as to 
 yourself, I discover in the frankness and 
 loyalty of your conduct, too much attach- 
 ment to my person ever to mistake its 
 motive." Count Panin and the hetman 
 Rasumoffski gave similar advice to the 
 empress, and its wisdom was soon ap- 
 parent ; for the project of the marriage 
 having transpired, the populace, in the 
 utmost indignation, tore down one of the 
 images of the empress, and, after publicly 
 whipping it, dashed it to pieces. 
 
 Catherine was not displeased with Bestn- 
 chef, nor pleased at the interference of the 
 chancellor Vorontzoff. Indeed, the latter 
 was treated both by her and Orloff with 
 such marked coldness, that, under pretext 
 of failing health, he asked and obtained 
 permission to travel abroad for two years. 
 The empress feigned a regret at his de- 
 parture, and paid great respect to him 
 when in public, desiring him to hasten his 
 return to resume the functions of an ad- 
 ministration which, she said, he filled so 
 successfully for the happiness of the empire. 
 
 The empress had much difficulty in 
 silencing the murmurs which her rumoured 
 marriage with Orloff had occasioned. A bold 
 attempt was even made to seize the person 
 of the latter. A guard stood at the door 
 of his bedchamber, and one of the sen- 
 tinels was induced by a bribe to consent to 
 deliver him, while asleep, into the hands of 
 three of the conspirators. Fortunately for 
 the favourite, a mistake was made in the 
 200 
 
 hour; and when the latter presented them- 
 selves, the sentinel who was their accom- 
 plice had been relieved by another. On 
 seeing three strangers about to enter into 
 Orloff's chamber, the man gave the alarm ; 
 other soldiers soon arrived on the spot, ancl 
 the conspirators had only time to escape 
 under cover of the uniform they wore. 
 Catherine was alarmed ; and reports of 
 plots were constantly brought to her ears. 
 Count Panin and the hetman Rasumoffski, 
 and even her once intimate friend the 
 Princess Daschkaw, were suspected of being 
 implicated in them. The empress contem- 
 plated the arrest of them all ; but having 
 no evidence against them on which she 
 could rely, and fearing to incur further 
 odium by an ill-timeJ severity, she thought 
 it better rather to act the part of the fox 
 than the lion, and to conciliate^those whom 
 she could not venture to crush.* 
 
 The empress knew that the Princess 
 Daschkaw, notwithstanding her high spirit 
 and her great abilities, was both precipitate 
 and imprudent. She therefore trusted to 
 be able to draw from her some information 
 which would clear up her doubts. With 
 this view, she addressed a long letter to 
 her, lavishing upon her many tender epi- 
 thets, and conjuring her, in the name of 
 friendship, to reveal to her what she knew 
 of the recent conspiracies, assuring her, at 
 the same time, that she would grant a free 
 pardon to all concerned in them. Tlie prin- 
 cess discerned Catherine's motive, and angry 
 that she should endeavour to use her as an 
 instrument of vengeance, replied, in a brief 
 note, as follows :— " Madam, I have heard 
 nothing; but if I had heard anything, I 
 should take good care how I spoke of it. 
 What is it you require of me? That I 
 should expire on a scaffold ? I am ready 
 to mount it." Though unsuccessful in her 
 attempt with the princess, Catherine yet 
 disarmed the disaffection of Panin and 
 Rasumoffski, and bestowed upon them fur- 
 ther distnictions. Though not able to un- 
 ravel the web of conspiracy which she knew 
 existed, she prevented its being carried into 
 effect. She threatened those who should 
 be detected in treasonable designs with 
 severe measures, and declared that, for the 
 future, she would not conform to the edict 
 of the empress Elizabeth, by which that 
 potentate had promised never to put a 
 criminal to death. At the same tune, 
 Catherine was aware that the best mode of 
 conciliating a people was to promote their 
 
 interests ; and with this view she founded 
 colleges and hospitals in every part of her 
 empire, encouraged commerce and indus- 
 try, and took many steps for the enlighten- 
 ment of her people. Sensible of the great, 
 and yet undeveloped, natural advantages of 
 Russia, she issued an imperial edict con- 
 tammg regulations for the promotion of 
 commerce, in which she thus enumerated 
 them:—'' On the whole surface of the 
 earth, there is no country better adapted 
 for commerce than our empire. Russia has 
 spacious harbours in Europe; and, over- 
 land, the way is open through Poland to 
 every region. Siberia extends, on one side, 
 over all Asia, and India is not very remote 
 from Orenburg; but on the other side it 
 seems to touch upon America. Across the 
 Euxine is a passage, tliough as yet unex- 
 plored, to Egypt and Africa; and bountiful 
 Providence has blessed the extensive pro- 
 vinces of our empire with such gifts of 
 nature as can rarely be found as they are 
 wanted in all the four quarters of the 
 world." The measures which Catherine 
 took for the promotion of the commercial 
 interests of the empire, consisted chiefly in 
 the abolition of a number of oppressive 
 monopolies, and of the permission to her 
 people to export corn free of duty, except in 
 times of scarcity at home. 
 
 We may here mention, that the famous 
 Seven Years' War was brought to a close at 
 this time. Russia being no longer opposed 
 to Frederic, that able soldier soon repaired 
 his losses, reconquered Silesia, and inflicted 
 heavy blows on the Austrian forces. Peace 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [exd of the sevex years' war. 
 
 having been concluded between En^^land 
 and France, they paired off, and France 
 abandoned the cause of the empress-queen, 
 as England had done that of the Prussian 
 monarch. The quarrel thus stood, as it at 
 hrst began, between Austria on one side 
 and Prussia on the other. Though the 
 former country had greater means than the 
 latter, she could not hope to succeed in a 
 war unaided, which, even when supported bv 
 powerful allies, she had been unai)le to 
 bring to a successful conclusion. Austria 
 too, was threatened by a formidable enemv 
 in another qua/ter; the standing enmitv of 
 the Ottoman Porte was roused into acti- 
 vity, and 300,000 Turks were gathered on 
 the frontiers of Hungarv. The bitterly-re- 
 vengeful spirit of ]\Iaria Theresa was com- 
 pelled to yield; and in the February of 
 1763, the peace of Hubertsburg terminated 
 a war which, for seven years, had devastated 
 Crermany. After immense sacrifices of 
 human life and treasure, the political 
 balance of Europe remained unchanged. 
 "The whole continent in arms," observed 
 an eloquent writer, "had been unable to 
 tear Silesia from that iron grasp. Frederic 
 was safe. His glory was beyond the reach 
 of envy. If he had not made conquests as 
 vast as those of Alexander, of Csesar, and of 
 Napoleon— if he had not, on fields of battle, 
 enjoyed the constant success of Marl- 
 borough and Wellington, he had yet given 
 an example, unrivalled in history, of what 
 capacity and resolution can effect against 
 the greatest superiority of power and the 
 utmost spite of fortune?'* 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 It was not long before Catherine had an 
 opportunity of exhibiting her power and 
 decision to the great states of Europe 
 Augustus III., king of Poland, died on the 
 5th of October, 1763; and the empress of 
 Russia, who desired that .the future monarch 
 of that country should be subservient to 
 
 her wishes, resolved to raise her former 
 lover. Count Poniatowski, to the vacant 
 throne. This was not agreeable to the 
 great majority of the Poles, who desired to 
 elect a Piast, one of the descendants of 
 their ancient kings. The Polish nobles, 
 
 * Macaulay. 
 
 261 
 
It* 
 
 AFFAtBS OF POLAND.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1764. 
 
 also, naturally indignant at the prospect of 
 being governed by a young man whose 
 birth was not illustrious, and who had not 
 those great natural gifts which enable their 
 possessors to command, as it were, by a 
 patent derived direct from nature herself, 
 viewed the proposed elevation of Count 
 Poniatowski with great aversion. What 
 services, inquired they, had he rendered 
 the country, to entitle him to so glorious a 
 reward ? 
 
 Poniatowski is described as endowed 
 rather with those qualities which are adapted 
 to conciliate the friendship of individuals, 
 than to fit him for wearing a crown. Tall, 
 well-made, of a figure at once commanding 
 and agreeable, he spoke and wrote with 
 fluency the principal languages of Europe ; 
 but he possessed only a sliglit knowledge of 
 those affairs with which it is necessary for a 
 statesman to be familiar. Rather weak 
 than gentle, rather prodigal than generous, 
 he might easily dazzle a thoughtless multi- 
 tude, but not persuade men of calm judg- 
 ment. He possessed more personal grace 
 than mental strength, and was better 
 adapted to mingle with the polished crowds 
 of a court than to occupy the solitary dig- 
 nity of a throne. But Catherine spared no 
 effort or political intrigue to effect his elec- 
 tion. Some one at St. Petersburg had the 
 boldness to tell her that Poniatowski was 
 not of a rank sufficiently dignified to entitle 
 him to the Polish throne, as his grandfather 
 had been steward of a little estate belong- 
 ing to the Princess Lubomirski. " Though 
 he had been so himself,'' retorted the em- 
 press, "I will have him to be king, and 
 king he shall be.'' She kept her word; 
 Poland was pressed upon by Russian 
 armies ; and on the 7th of June, 1764, an 
 action took place between the latter and a 
 body of Polish troops under Prince Radzivil, 
 in which, after a fierce contest, the Poles 
 were defeated. Finally, Poniatowski was 
 elected, and, on the 7th of September, pro- 
 
 • Frederic of Prussia sent a communication of this 
 kind to the Polish sovereign, which, from the sound- 
 ness of its political views, should be remembered by 
 princes and admired by their subjects. " Your ma- 
 jesty must reflect," said the great soldier-king, ♦♦ that, 
 as you enjoy a crown by election and not by descent, 
 the world will be more observant of your majesty's 
 actions than of any other potentate in Europe ; and 
 it is but reasonable that it should be so. The latter 
 being the mere effect of consanguinity, no more is 
 looked for (though much more is to be wished) 
 from him than what men are endowed with in com- 
 mon. But from a man exalted by the voice of his 
 equals, from a subject to a king, from a man volun- 
 
 262 
 
 claimed king of Poland and grand-duke ol 
 Lithuania, under the name of Stanislaus 
 Augustus. The nobles who had opposed 
 his election now thronged to do him 
 homage, and he began his reign with as 
 much tranquillity as if he had not been 
 raised to the throne by unjust and violent 
 means. Europe submitted to Russian dic- 
 tation in Poland, and the new sovereign 
 received letters of congratulation from most 
 of the great continental courts.* 
 
 Prior to the conclusion of this election, 
 the empress Catherine, attended by her 
 favourite. Count Orloff, and a small retinue 
 of nobles, had started on a tour through the 
 provinces of Esthonia, Livonia, and Cour- 
 land ; and, during her absence, a tragic in- 
 cident, which is yet involved in some mys- 
 tery, occurred at the fortress of Schlussel- 
 burg, to which prison the unfortunate Prince 
 Ivan had been again conveyed. This victim 
 of his illustrious birth was the object of 
 considerable sympathy on the part of the 
 people, and of concern on that of the sove- 
 reigns who had successively occupied the 
 throne which, while an infant, he had for so 
 brief a time occupied. The empress Eliza- 
 beth once caused him to be brought in a 
 covered cart to St. Petersburg, where she 
 saw and conversed with him. On that oc- 
 casion, it is said that the graces of his figure, 
 the plaintive accents of his voice, and the 
 touching complaints he uttered, awakened 
 the sensibility of all present, and even drew 
 from the empress abundance of tears. She, 
 however, directed him to be taken back to 
 his prison, and did not soften the dreary 
 misery of his confinement. Peter HI., as 
 we have already described, visited Ivan, and 
 probably contemplated restoring him to 
 liberty, and naming hira as his successor. 
 Catherine also had an interview with hira 
 soon after the commencement of her reign, 
 in order, according to her own statement, 
 to judge of his understanding and talents, 
 and to procure him an agreeable and quiet 
 
 tarily elected to reign over those by whom he was 
 chosen, everything is expected that can possibly de- 
 serve and adorn a crown. Gratitude to his people is 
 the first great duty of such a monarch ; for to them 
 alone (under Providence) he is indebted that he is 
 one. A king who is so by birth, if he acts in a man- 
 ner derogatory to his station, is a satire only on him- 
 self; but an elected one, who behaves inconsistently 
 with his dignity, reflects dishonour also on his sub- 
 jects. Your majesty, 1 am sure, will pardon this 
 warmth. It is the effusion of the sincerest regard. 
 The amiable part of the picture is not so much a 
 lesson of what you ought to be, as a prophecy of 
 what your majesty will be." 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 A.D. 17C4.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [conspiracy of mirovitch. 
 
 situation, suitable to his character and the 
 education he had received. To her great 
 surprise, she said, she found him suflfering 
 from an impediment of utterance which 
 rendered his discourse almost unintelligible, 
 and a total privation of sense and reason. 
 He was unable to read, knew no one, and 
 could not distinguish between right and 
 wrong. The empress, therefore, felt com- 
 pelled to leave him where she found him, 
 with an order that he should be supplied 
 with all the comforts and conveniences that 
 his melancholy situation would admit of. 
 
 This statement has been suspected of un- 
 truth, and as being merely made in accord- 
 ance with a policy attributed to Catherine 
 of calumniating the unfortunate object who 
 had a claim to the throne on which she sat. 
 Certain it is, that the Russian «?ourt circu- 
 lated many doubtful stories about the un- 
 liappy prince. At one time it was given 
 out that he was stupid, and incapable of 
 uttering articulate sounds; at another, that 
 he was a drunkard, and as ferocious as a 
 savage ; then it was rumoured that he was 
 subject. to fits of madness, and supposed 
 himself to be inspired. But these reports 
 were not generally believed, and the dis- 
 contented regarded them as the result of a 
 malignant policy. Almost all the numerous 
 conspiracies which, in the early reign of 
 ("atherine, constantly threatened her over- 
 throw, had for their object the restoration 
 of this unfortunate captive to the throne. 
 It was for his sake that men who had never 
 seen him, and whose very existence was 
 utterly unknown to him, were continually 
 braving the scaffold. That Ivan was igno- 
 rant is certain, from the way in which he 
 was brought up in a fortress, confined with- 
 out any means of obtaining even the most 
 simple education; but it does not appear 
 that he was either mad or simple; and, in- 
 deed, the conversation he held with Peterlll. 
 would exonerate him from the latter asper- 
 sion. 
 
 Catherine certainly had an interest in 
 the death of the imprisoned Ivan ; and she 
 is suspected, though perhaps wrongfully, of 
 promoting the incident we are about to 
 relate, which led to it under very painful 
 circumstances. The regiment of Smolensk 
 was stationed in the town of Schlusselburg, 
 and a company of about one hundred men 
 guarded the fortress in which Ivan was con- 
 fined. In this regiment was a young officer, 
 named Vassili Mirovitch, whose grandfather 
 had been implicated in the rebellion of the 
 
 Cossack chief IMazeppa, and had fought 
 under Charles XII. against Peter the Great, 
 at Pultowa. The estates of the family of 
 Mirovitch had, therefore, been forfeited to 
 the crown, and the young soldier had fre- 
 quently urged his preltensions to have them 
 restored. In answer to his application, 
 hopes were held out to him that the estates 
 might probably be restored, if he would 
 show himself active in securing the tranquil- 
 lity of the empire. The answer leads to the 
 suspicion, that the services required from 
 him were the adoption of some means for 
 the assassination of Prince Ivan in such a 
 manner as would not implicate the em- 
 press and her government. In what other 
 way could a subaltern oflUcer promote the 
 security of the Russian empire? 
 
 We have nothing but surmises to guide 
 us in this matter; but Mirovitch was soon 
 engaged in a mad attempt to set the prince 
 at liberty. Whether the ease with which 
 the late revolution had been accomplished, 
 induced him to suppose that the work ot 
 dethroning a sovereign was one of but little 
 difficulty, and to lead him to seek for for- 
 tune in the convulsion of an empire; or 
 whether, on the other hand, his attempt to 
 deliver the prince was a mockerj^ in collu- 
 sion with the emissaries of the empress, 
 for the purpose of bringing about the death 
 of the unhappy Ivan, is more than can be 
 conclusively established. 
 
 Two officers. Captain Vlassieff and Lieu- 
 tenant Tschekin, slept with the imprisoned 
 Ivan in his cell. These men were in pos. 
 session of a discretionary order, signed bv 
 the empress, by which they were enjoined 
 to put the imperial captive to instant death 
 on any insurrection that might be made in 
 his favour, supposing that it could not be 
 suppressed in any other way. 
 
 The door of Ivan's prison opened into a 
 sort of low arcade, which, together with it, 
 formed the thickness of the castle wall 
 within the ramparts, and in this arcade 
 eight soldiers usually kept guard ; the others 
 were in the guard-house, or at their re- 
 spective stations. This little force within 
 the fortress was commanded by an officer ot 
 the regiment, who was changed every week. 
 Whatever may have been the exciting cause, 
 it is certain that Mirovitch contemplated a 
 conspiracy for the release of the prince, or, 
 at least, for enabling him to obtain posses- 
 sion of the person of the royal captive. 
 Under the influence of irresolution, he had 
 allowed his period of duty to pass without 
 
 203 
 

 
 MURDER OF PRINCE IVAN.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 17G4. 
 
 'f I- 
 
 »:■ 1 
 
 '. I 
 
 rf^f 
 
 IHi 
 
 M 
 
 m 
 
 % 
 
 r 
 
 r 
 
 making the attempt he contemplated. 
 Under these circumstances, he solicite I and 
 obtained permission to remain on guard for 
 one week longer. Feeling that he must 
 make instant use of the time allotted him, 
 he admitted one Jacob Pishkoff into his 
 C(mfidence, and then began to tamper with 
 tliree corporals and two common sohliers. 
 These men also were won to his purpose, 
 aud, between one and two in the morning, 
 they assembled again, and induced about 
 forty of the soldiers on guard to join them 
 in their desperate purpose. 
 
 Mirovitch then led thera at once towards 
 the prison of Prince Ivan. Beredinkoff, 
 the governor of the fortress, roused from 
 his sleep by their noise, suddenly made his 
 ai)pearauce^ and authoritatively demanded 
 of Mirovitch the reason of his appearing in 
 arms at the head of the soldiers ? Mirovitch, 
 without answering a word, knocked him 
 down with the butt-end of his firelock, 
 and giving directions to some of the men 
 to secure him, continued his march. Ar- 
 rived at the corridor into which the door of 
 Prince Ivan's chamber opened, he attacked 
 the eight soldiers who guarded that avenue. 
 These men drove him back, on which he 
 ordered his followers to fire upon them. 
 The guard returned the fire, and though, 
 strange to relate, no one was killed or 
 wounded on either side, yet the conspirators 
 retired in dismay. Mirovitch endeavoured 
 to bring them again to the attack, but they 
 hesitated, and insisted on seeing the order 
 which lie said he had received from St. Pe- 
 tersburg, authorising his conduct. The 
 schemer was provided for this emergency, 
 and he immediately took from his pocket 
 and read to them a forged decree of the 
 senate, recalling Prince Ivan to the throne, 
 and excluding Catherine from it, because, 
 it averred, she was gone into Livonia to 
 marry Count Poniatowski. The simple sol- 
 dierswere deceived, and, falling into order, 
 prepared to resume their attempt to gain 
 possession of the prince. To render oppo- 
 sition useless, and to cause the inmates of 
 the cell to open the door, Mirovitch caused 
 a piece of artillery, which had been brought 
 from the ramparts, to be planted against it. 
 Having threatened to batter down the door, 
 it was thrown open, and Mirovitch aud his 
 followers entered without opposition. The 
 sight that met their gaze was the bleeding 
 aud lifeless body of the prince, on whose 
 pallid face the convulsive struggles of a 
 violent death yet lingered. By the corpse 
 2C-1 
 
 stood the two officers who had slept in the 
 cell of the unfortunate young man, and 
 who, from his companions, had become his 
 butchers. 
 
 These men had, in the first instance, 
 called out to the sentinels to fire; but when 
 they heard the cannon placed against the 
 door, and preparations made for its dis- 
 charge, they held it impossible to resist the 
 force opposed to them, which was greatly 
 magnified by their fears. Conscious that 
 the peace of the empire would be endangered 
 by the liberation of their prisoner, and fear- 
 ful of the punishment they might incur in 
 the event of their charge being wrested 
 from them, they held a hurried consulta- 
 tion, and came to the conclusion that their 
 duty required from them the performance 
 of the conditional command they had sworn 
 to execute — that of putting the wretched 
 captive to death. The prince had been 
 awakened by the report of the fire-arms ; 
 and hearing the shouts of the assailants 
 without, and the threats of the officers 
 within his cell, he implored the latter to 
 spare his miserable life. Regardless ot 
 these entreaties, they proceeded to execute 
 their horrible design; but Ivan, though 
 unarmed and in his night-dress, fought 
 with his murderers with the strength of 
 despair. In a short time his right hand 
 was pierced through, and he had receivec' 
 several wounds. Still he grasped the swor;: 
 of one of the assassins, and broke it; but. 
 at that moment, the other stabbed him from 
 behind, and threw him down. There the 
 ruffian whose sword he had broken, plunged 
 a bayonet several times into his body, and 
 the wretched prince soon expired. 
 
 It was at this moment that they opened 
 the door, and showed Mirovitch the new- 
 made corpse, and the order by which they 
 were authorised to perpetrate the fright- 
 ful deed they had just committed, in the 
 event of any attempt being made to 
 liberate their captive. Mirovitch appearec? 
 struck with horror, and throwing himseii 
 upon the body, exclaimed, " I have missed 
 my aim ; I have now nothing to do but to 
 die.'' He made no attempt to escape, or to 
 avenge the fate of the prince by ordering 
 his followers to shoot the murderers; but, 
 on rising, he went passively to the spot 
 where he had left the governor in the hands 
 of the soldiers, and surrendering him his 
 sword, coolly observed, " It is now I that am 
 your prisoner." 
 
 The following day the corpse of the iT- 
 
 A.D. 1764.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [punishment of MiRovrrcH. 
 
 fated Ivan was exposed before a timber 
 church within the castle, and the people 
 admitted to see it. Enormous crowds came 
 for that purpose from the neighbouring 
 towns, and even from St. Petersburg. On 
 beholding the mangled body, their ex- 
 pressions of grief and indignation were un- 
 bounded. Ivan was full six feet in height, 
 and was finely formed. His features were 
 regular, and his complexion extremely fair; 
 he had very light hair, and a red beard. 
 The partial absence of colour from his face 
 and hair, was no doubt the result of his 
 having lived the greater part of his life 
 where he never beheld the natural light of 
 day, or felt the cheering rays of the sun. 
 At the time when his gloomy life was ter- 
 minated by the hands of assassins, he had 
 not completed his twenty-fourth year. The 
 body of the ill-starred captive, who in his 
 babyhood had sat upon the imperial throne 
 of the most powerful empire in Europe, was 
 wrapped up in a sheepskin, and buried 
 without ceremony. VlassiefiF and Tschekin, 
 the murderers, were compelled, in conse- 
 quence of the murmurs of the people, to 
 hurry on board a vessel then about to start 
 for Denmark, where, on their arrival, they 
 were taken into the protection of the Rus- 
 sian minister. Shortly afterwards they re- 
 turned, and were rewarded by promotion 
 for their sanguinary fidelity to the empress. 
 The governor of Sehlusselburg sent an 
 account of the catastrophe to St. Peters- 
 burg, together with a manifesto discovered 
 on the person of Mirovitch, which con- 
 tained many scurrilous invectives against 
 Catherine, and represented Prince Ivan as 
 the sole legitimate emperor; and was to 
 have been published at the moment when 
 the prince, having been set at liberty, was 
 making a public entry into St. Petersburg. 
 A courier was immediately dispatched by 
 Count Panin to the empress, who was 
 then at Riga; suff'ering, it was observed, 
 under a visible impatience, and frequently 
 inquiring for news. So great was her 
 irritability and disquietude, that she oc- 
 casionally rose in the night to ask whether 
 any courier had arrived. These circum- 
 stances were remembered to her disadvan- 
 tage by those who suspected that the con- 
 spiracy of Mirovitch was originally insti- 
 gated by her or her ministers; but it must 
 be remembered that her agitation was by 
 no means unnatural, when we consider that 
 
 * '^'^6 Princess Daschkaw, always the apologist of 
 
 Catherine, thus endeavours to clear the character of 
 
 VOL. I. 2 M 
 
 she had for some time been suffering from 
 apprehensions of the conspiracies which, she 
 had reason to believe, were ever fermenting 
 around her. 
 
 Catherine pubhshed a long manifesto, in 
 which she gave an account of the affair, and 
 commended the conduct of the assassins 
 " who had nipped this rebeUion in the bud.'' 
 The trial of Mirovitch and his confederates 
 she referred to the senate, in conjunction 
 with the synod and the presidents of the 
 colleges. It was conducted with great for- 
 mality; but the conspirator himself pre- 
 served a calm and easy air. He even 
 replied in a frivolous and sometimes insolent 
 naanner to the questions which were put to 
 him, as if, it has been urged, he knew the 
 trial to be a mockery, and felt secure of a 
 pardon whatever might be the verdict. If 
 such was the case— if he had really acted in 
 collusion with the government, he was now 
 cruelly deceived. Sentence of death was 
 passed upon him as a disturber of the public 
 peace. He received it unmoved, and even 
 walked with indifference to the scaffold. 
 Probably his demeanour was the result of a 
 contempt of life, since all his attempts to 
 advance himself had been failures ; but if he 
 had l)een the instrument of a barbarous 
 policy, he was now its victim. So far from 
 any pardon being extended to him, the time 
 fixed for his execution was accelerated. 
 Indeed, if the empress was guilty of a com- 
 plicity with Mirovitch, how could she have 
 shielded him from punishment without 
 drawing upon herself the charge of having 
 prompted his crime ? Besides this, she would 
 have preserved a dangerous witness, who 
 might have proved extremely troublesome. 
 
 Public opinion was much divided on this 
 matter ; and on the return of the empress 
 to St. Petersburg, many persons endea- 
 voured, by watching her countenance, to 
 discover if they could read in it any confir- 
 mation of their suspicions. In this they 
 were disappointed. Catherine, always mis- 
 tress of herself, wore a face of smiles, and 
 had a demeanour as serene, and a step as 
 firm, as those whose minds knew no care, 
 and whose hearts were unoppressed by guilt. 
 There is, indeed, just room to hope that the 
 empress was not implicated in the crime of 
 Mirovitch; but, on the other hand, there 
 are heavy reasons for suspicions against 
 her.* Though Mirovitch was the only 
 person put to death in consequence of this 
 
 her imperial mistress. We append her observatiors 
 from a sense of justice to the empress, whose grea^ 
 
 265 
 
 ; i 
 
la 
 
 1»RUDENCE OF CATHERINE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 l< 
 
 [a.d. 1764 
 
 l! i 
 
 I- 
 
 
 
 I> i i 
 
 tnii 
 
 ■H 
 
 .. i 
 
 
 conspiracy, no less than fifty-eight were 
 punished, and some of them with great 
 severity Pishkoff, as the most guilty, was 
 sentenced to run the gauntlet twelve times 
 through a line of a thousand men. The 
 three corporals and the two soldiers, who 
 were the next seduced by Mirovitch, were 
 each flogged ten times, and then con- 
 demned to labour at the public works. 
 The rest were whipped through the ranks, 
 and sent into distant garrisons. This 
 severity was calculated to obviate the sus- 
 picions that were entertained concerning 
 the existence of any eminent participators 
 in their crime. 
 
 Whether or not Catherine or her minis- 
 ters were implicated in the events which 
 terminated in the murder of Prince Ivan, 
 the stability of her throne was established 
 by that dismal event. Under her rule the 
 empire was gradually becoming more Euro- 
 pean in its nature, more polished in its 
 population, and more developed with respect 
 to its resources. It was observed by one 
 of her biographers, that she had not only the 
 supreme authority which in Russia was the 
 source of the law, but also the judgment 
 which knew when to show that authority, 
 and how to employ it. Few monarchs 
 understood so well the art of being bohnti- 
 ful at the most fitting time, and of making 
 presents with such significance as to fix the 
 gratitude of the receiver, and elicit the 
 sense of affectionate loyalty which is com- 
 monly acquired by beneficent princes. 
 ** While Catherine,*' observes her biogra- 
 pher Tooke, " was giving law to Poland, 
 amusing Austria, conciliating the friendship 
 of Prussia, and treating with England, she 
 was also tampering with the other courts of 
 Europe, and labouring efficaciously towards 
 very soon making herself dreaded by them. 
 She exerted herself to the utmost in giving 
 new spirit to the commerce of her country, 
 in augmenting her navy, and, above all, in 
 softening the manners of her people, as yet 
 not far advanced in civilisation. But, badly 
 
 talents as a sovereign must ever act in modifying 
 our censure of her offences. " It has been said, and 
 affected to be believed in several countries of Europe, 
 that this whole affair was neither more nor less than 
 a horrible intrigue on the part of the empress, who 
 had gained over Mirovitch to act the part he did, 
 and had afterwards sacrificed him. During my 
 travels, in 1770, I frequently introduced in conver- 
 sation the subject of this conspiracy, in order to ex- 
 culpate Catherine from the twofold wickedness of 
 such a charge. I everywhere found, that nations, 
 viewing with a jealous eye the growing preponderance 
 
 266 
 
 seconded by the great personages of the em- 
 pire, and even by such as were about her, the 
 progress of her institutions was at first but 
 slow. The spirit of division continued to 
 reign in St. Petersburg. The outrages that 
 weretobe prevented or punished, always made 
 it necessary for Catherine to keep well with 
 the conspirators to whom she was indebted 
 for the throne. But the favours she was 
 incessantly heaping on that greedy and in- 
 solent crew, were so many additional sources 
 of hatred and discontent. Some new plot 
 or conspiracy was forming every day ; and 
 every day the good fortune of the empress, 
 or rather her prudence, delivered her from 
 danger. Punishments were secret and ter- 
 rible. The authors of one plot could but 
 rarely undertake a second. '^ 
 
 Dissensions existed between Catherine's 
 chief minister, Count Panin, and her favourite. 
 Prince Gregory Orloff. The latter, con- 
 sidering himself permanently established in 
 the favour of the empress, was regardless of 
 those assiduities by which he had won it, 
 and even neglectful of his attendance at 
 court, from which he would absent himself 
 for several weeks at a time, engaged in 
 the pleasures of the chase. The astute 
 Panin, therefore, with the view of depriving 
 Orloff' of the favour of his imperial mistress, 
 placed near her a young officer, named 
 Vissenski, whom he had observed her re- 
 gard with apparent interest. Vissenski was 
 admitted by the empress into her favour, 
 and Panin trusted that Orloff would soon 
 be discarded. But the latter, hearing what 
 was going forward, suddenly appeared at 
 court, and became so assiduous in his 
 attentions to the* empress, that the latter 
 felt her cooling affections for him revive ; 
 and the new favourite was loaded with bril- 
 liant presents, and dismissed to an employ- 
 ment that settled him in a province remote 
 from the capital. 
 
 Catherine employed many means for the 
 detection of the conspiracies which con- 
 tinually disturbed her repose, and for ascer- 
 
 of Russia, made it a common interest to establish 
 into truth, as a sort of political equipoise, every 
 calumny against its active and enlightened sovereign. 
 I remember, when speaking of this subject at Paris, 
 expressing my astonishment, as I had before done, 
 to M. and Madame Necker, at Spa, that a nation 
 like the French, which had had a Cardinal Mazarin 
 for its minister, should puzzle itself by accounting 
 for such an action in such a manner, when their own 
 annals must have so readily suggested the efficacious 
 expedient of a well-mixed cup, for arranging these 
 matters with greater secrecy and expedition." 
 
 H 
 
 A.D. 1764.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [liberaliit of catherixe. 
 
 taining the names of those who were dis- 
 affected to her government. For this pur- 
 pose she intercepted the correspondence of 
 the foreign ministers; and unsuccessful 
 insurrection thus increased the vigilance of 
 despotism, and called into being a dan- 
 gerous system of espionage. She succeeded 
 in purchasing the letters of the French 
 charge d'affaires, and also in obtaining a 
 copy of his key to those written in a secret 
 cipher. In this correspondence she fan- 
 cied she detected a knowledge of, if not a 
 participation in, the traitorous schemes 
 which existed around her. This increased 
 her aversion to the court of Versailles, and 
 caused her to treat the French minister 
 with so marked a coldness, that he deemed 
 it expedient to return to his native country. 
 Louis XV. replaced him by the Marquis de 
 Beausset, who arrived in St. Petersburg, 
 and was presented to the empress on the 
 1st of May, 1765. 
 
 This gentleman was unable to conciliate 
 the favour of Catherine, whom he presumed 
 to be actuated by a jealousy of the glory of 
 the French nation. Some such feeling pro- 
 bably existed ; but the coldness of the em- 
 press appears to have arisen from a sense 
 that the French government, and all per- 
 sons appointed by it, were inimical to her 
 
 interests, and ready to encourage any in- 
 surrection which might shake or overturn 
 her throne. As to the French nation, she 
 held It in esteem, and greatlv admired the 
 distinguished authors who graced its litera- 
 ture. She corresponded witli Voltaire and 
 D'Alembert, and solicited the latter to ac- 
 cept the situation of governor to her son 
 the Grand-duke Paul. She offered the phi- 
 losopher a salary of 24,000 livres a-vear, 
 and every convenience for finishing the' En- 
 cycloptdie at St. Petersburg. D'Alembert 
 declined, and Catherine wrote him a kindly 
 letter, in which she endeavoured to win him 
 to a reconsideration of his decision. Learn- 
 ing that the affairs of Diderot were not pros- 
 perous, and that he wished to sell his library 
 to provide for his daughter, she generously 
 purchased it, left it in his own possession, 
 and bestowed on him a handsome income as 
 her guardian of it. To the famous surgeon, 
 Morand, she sent a collection of gold and 
 silver medals which had been struck in 
 Russia, as a token of her satisfaction with 
 the anatomical subjects and surgical instru- 
 ments he had procured for her. Indeed, 
 almost all the distinguished men of letters, 
 and artists of Paris, received some proofs of 
 her princely, and it must be added politic, 
 munificence. 
 
 \' 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 INTERFERENCE OF THE EMPRESS WITH THE AFFAIRS OF POLAND ; SHE ASSUMES THE PROTECTION OF THE 
 DISSIDENTS. AND THE CATHOLIC POLES SEEK AID FROM TURKEY; CATHERINE EXCLUDES THE ENGLISH 
 MINISTER FROM HER COURT, IN CONSEQUENCE OF AN AFFAIR OF GALLANTRY ; TOURNAMENTS AND FESTI- 
 VITIES AT ST. PETERSBURG; CATHERINE'S LEGAL REFORMS AND ATTEMPT TO REGENERATE THE LEGISLA- 
 TURE OF THE EMPIRE; ASSEMBLY OF DEPUTIES FOR THE PURPOSE AT MOSCOW; HER FAMOUS INSTRUC- 
 TIONS FOR THE FORMATION OF A NEW CODE OF LAWS ; THE DEPUTIES VOTE HER THE TITLES OF GREAT 
 WISE, PRUDENT, AND MOTHER OF THE COUNTRY ; SHE NARROWLY ESCAPES ASSASSINATION ; HER ASSI- 
 DUITY IN THE PROMOTION OF THE SCIENCES j SHE INTRODUCES THE PRACTICE OF INOCULATION INTO 
 RUSSIA. 
 
 Catherine did not place her former lover. 
 Count Poniatowski, on the throne of Poland 
 in consequence of any affection she enter- 
 tained towards him. She was actuated 
 by a motive which, at the time, she did not 
 think it prudent to reveal. The empress of 
 Russia, rather than the king of Poland, was 
 the actual ruler of that country. But this 
 was not all; and Catherine now put forward 
 pretensions of a kind she knew could only 
 
 be enforced by the power of the sword. She 
 altered on the map the boundary line be- 
 tween Russia and Poland, and insisted that 
 the limits of the two countries should be so 
 fixed according to her dictation. She also 
 demanded that Poland should contract with 
 her a treaty of alliance, offensive and defen- 
 sive, and that all who did not profess the 
 Roman form of Christianity should enjoy 
 the same rights with those who did. The 
 
 267 
 
 ; 
 
III , *■ 
 
 In ' 
 
 I : 
 
 AFFAIRS OF POLAND.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 f'f'i 
 
 .« 
 
 HI 
 
 i 
 
 f I ■ 
 
 [a.t). 1765. 
 
 A.D. 1766.] 
 
 Poies hal adopted the Cliristian religion, 
 aecording to the church of Rome, between 
 the ninth and tenth centuries; and as men 
 were then governed much more by forms 
 than principles, and accepted the new mode 
 of worship without much inquiry, a uni- 
 formity of opinion, or rather of faith, pre- 
 vailed. But, in the course of time, many 
 neighbouring states, either by conquest, by 
 right of succession, or by marriage, became 
 united to the kingdom of Poland. These 
 new provinces, in which the prevailing reli- 
 gion was chiefly that of the Greek church, 
 were upon an exact equality with the old in 
 every respect, and each was protected in the 
 observance of its own mode of worship. So 
 late as the commencement of the fifteenth 
 century, it was thought a happiness peculiar 
 to Poland, that, while other countries have 
 at different times been distracted by intes- 
 tine feuds and rancour arising from diversity 
 of religion, yet that the great variety of 
 opinions on that subject never produced 
 any strife or animosity among this nation. 
 Under these favourable circumstances, it 
 might be anticipated that, after the Reforma- 
 tion, protestantism would make rapid ad- 
 vances in Poland. In the year 1563, Sigis- 
 mund Augustus passed a law, by which all 
 sects, whether protestant, Greek, or Arian, 
 were permitted the full enjoyment of exer- 
 cising their worship, together with the right 
 of voting in the diets, and of holding the 
 same offices as the catholics. No one was 
 offended by this noble act of justice and 
 wisdom ; indeed, so amicable a spirit existed, 
 that all men were glad to see that the differ- 
 ence of religion produced none in the poli- 
 tical and civil rights of the several members 
 of the community. As a mark of distinction, 
 the followers of the different modes of reli- 
 gion were called Dissidents, a term which, 
 though afterwards unhappily converted into 
 a signal for proscription, did not then convey 
 any injurious imputation. 
 
 In the course of time the Roman catholics 
 of Poland acquired the ascendancy, and, 
 breaking through the law to which we have 
 alluded, robbed the Dissidents of the rights 
 to which they were entitled by it. The 
 Romanists first persecuted the Arians, and di- 
 vested them of ail their privileges — a process 
 which the Greek and protestant Cliristian 
 beheld with great complacency. Their want 
 of charity and co-operation was a fatal error. 
 As might have been foreseen, they were next 
 attacked; and, in 1733, the Romanists suc- 
 ceeded in entirely excluding them from the 
 268 
 
 diets, and even deprived them of the natural 
 privilege of building any new churches. 
 Thus pressed, many of the Dissidents re- 
 turned to the church of Rome; but those 
 who retained their principles, cherished them 
 the more dearly on this very account. They 
 referred to the treaty of Oliva, of which so 
 many monarchs were the gnarantees, as 
 securing them the rights of which they had 
 been despoiled. In consequence of this the 
 diet, then composed only of catholics, passed 
 a decree, attaching the guilt of high treason 
 to such Dissidents as should have recourse 
 to foreign powers for obtaining the execution 
 of the infringed treaty, and the re-establish- 
 ment of the law so despotically repealed. 
 
 This produced a reaction, and the Dissi- 
 dents were furious. Those of the Greek 
 church at once sought the protection of the 
 court of St. Petersburg, while the protest- 
 ants entreated the interference of England, 
 Denmark, and Prussia. The sovereigns of 
 the latter countries promised their support 
 —a circumstance which Catherine and her 
 ministers regarded as a sufficient pretext for 
 the military interference of Russia. Such 
 was the state of affairs at the close of the 
 year 1765. 
 
 When the Polish diet assembled in the 
 autumn of 1766, the ministers of the pro- 
 tecting courts presented their memorials on 
 behalf of the Dissidents. This proceeding 
 produced much dissatisfaction, and the 
 catholic bishops were extremely violent. 
 Salty k, the bishop of Cracow, not satisfied 
 with the iniquitous law passed against the 
 Dissidents, proposed that new ones of a 
 more severe character should be adopted. 
 His example was followed by others among 
 the Romanist priesthood and nobles : violent 
 clamours took place ; and, despite the protest 
 of a few enlightened members, the recent 
 intolerant enactments against the Dissidents 
 were confirmed. 
 
 In the meantime a Russian army, under 
 the command of Prince Repnin, had entered 
 Poland, and advanced to the very gates of 
 Warsaw. The Russian general then de- 
 manded, in the name of the empress, not 
 only a toleration secured by law in behalf 
 of the Dissidents, but a complete political 
 equality with the catholic party. This the 
 latter furiously rejected ; and the Dissidents 
 formed themselves, under the Russian pro- 
 tection, into a confederation, for the pur- 
 pose of securing by force what they could 
 not obtain by reason. Romanist tyranny 
 thus led to a servile war, which soon raged 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 in all its horrors, and additional bodies of 
 Russian troops were constantlv entering the 
 Polish territories. King Stanislaus Augustus 
 assembled a diet-extraordinary, with the 
 hope of pacifying the contending parties. 
 His object was frustrated by the violence of 
 the Bishop of Cracow and his adherents, 
 who made speeches utterly in defiance of 
 reason and of prudence. 'Prince Repnin, 
 who had now quite invested the city of 
 Warsaw, caused the bishops of Cracow and 
 of Kief, and several of the most violent 
 catholic nobles, to be seized and hurried off 
 to Siberia. He offered the confederated 
 Dissidents an excuse for this outrage, by 
 assuring them that he had only violated 
 the liberty of the Poles for the benefit of 
 Poland; and when the king, at the instiga- 
 tion of the diet, desired the release of the 
 prisoners, Repnin treated the application 
 with disdain; nor were these offensively in- 
 tolerant persons permitted to return from 
 their exile in the deserts of Siberia, until 
 the lapse of a period of six years. 
 
 The diet was overawed, and adopted a 
 more moderate tone. It even appointed a 
 committee for settling the rights of the 
 Dissidents, in concert with the ministers of 
 the courts which had undertaken the advo- 
 cacy of their cause. Prince Repnin, in 
 consequence of the powerful armv he had at 
 hand, ruled almost absolutely at Warsaw, 
 and the Dissidents obtained whatever the 
 Russian ambassador demanded in their 
 behalf. The ancient law, enforcing not 
 only toleration, but equal political rights, 
 for those who professed other than the 
 Roman form of Christianity, was restored ; 
 and other enactments, stillmore favourable 
 to the Dissidents, were passed. This was 
 but justice ; but it was a notorious calamity, 
 that such a result was brought about by the 
 armed interference of Russia. Roman in- 
 tolerance gave a plausible pretext for that 
 foreign dictation which eventually led to 
 the extinction of Poland as a nation. More- 
 over, a number of regulations were enforced 
 by the orders of the empress Catherine, 
 which tended to promote the troubles and 
 anarchy of that distracted country, and to 
 leave it without defence against the usurpa- 
 tions she contemplated. 
 
 The catholic nobles, though intimidated 
 for a time, soon raised a loud outcry against 
 the Dissidents ; formed themselves into con- 
 federations for the defence of the Roman 
 religion; and even solicited, and obtained 
 the protection of the Turks! As to the 
 
 [affairs OF POLAND. 
 
 king whom Catherine had placed upon the 
 1 ohsh throne, he was altogether powerless 
 and resided at Warsaw more like a pri- 
 soner than a prince. The courts of Europe 
 regarded the conduct of the Russian empress 
 with amazement ; but she addressed herself 
 with consummate art to the task of dis- 
 arming any opposition they might be dis- 
 posed to give. She was sure of Frederic of 
 Prussia ; for she knew that he desired 
 nothing better than to share with her the 
 provinces of Poland. Sweden she kept 
 quiet by her intrigues; while she humoured 
 Denmark by holding out to it a hope of the 
 cession of Holstein. England she flattered 
 by a favourable treaty of alliance and com- 
 merce; while France alone seems to have 
 refused to be blinded as to her secret views. 
 The court of that country, in order to defeat 
 the projects of Russia by dissipating its 
 means, addressed itself to the design of 
 involving the empress in a war with Turkey. 
 The French ambassador at Constantinople 
 represented to the Porte, how unjust and 
 dangerous it was that Russia should dare to 
 violate the rights of the Poles, and invade 
 their territory. He assured the Moslem 
 cabinet that the demarcation of the limits 
 exacted by the court of St. Petersburg, 
 would be attended with consequences fatal 
 to the security of the Euxine ; and he ad- 
 vised them resolutely to oppose it. The 
 Turkish minister, therefore, sent a note to 
 the king of Poland, requesting that the 
 regulation of the limits might be suspended 
 till some explanations should be given the 
 sultan of a nature to remove his alarms 
 concerning the danger with which the ces- 
 sion of the Polish territory threatened the 
 Ottoman empire. Stanislaus Augustus, fear- 
 ful of offending Catherine, and most soli- 
 citous of regaining her friendship, answered 
 that there was not the least proposal for 
 altering the limits between Russia and 
 Poland. The Porte having received this 
 assurance, returned for a time to its cus- 
 tomary apathy. " Notwithstanding which,'' 
 observes a modern historical writer, ''the 
 great empires of Russia and Turkey— the 
 
 most powerful in Asia as well as in Europe 
 
 were soon to be engaged in a bloody conflict. 
 Religion had entered into the quarrel, and 
 added to its bitterness. The miserable 
 country of Poland was the theatre of a 
 contention not more destructive in its con- 
 sequences than singular in its causes and 
 pretexts. The despotic power of Russia 
 became the guardian of Polish freedom; 
 
 269 
 
Ir 
 
 11 : ;! 
 
 
 REFORMS OF THE EMPRESS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1767. 
 
 A.D. 1768.] 
 
 I' 
 
 Iff J 
 
 r^i 
 
 ' s 
 
 f"' 
 
 and the catholic religion fled for protection 
 to the standard of Mohammed/' 
 
 The favourable treaty of alliance and 
 commerce into which the court of Russia 
 entered with that of England, was conchided 
 in the Decerhber of 1767. Yet, notwith- 
 standing the partiality which the empress 
 displayed towards this country, she was 
 induced to exclude the British minister for 
 some time from her court. This was in 
 consequence of an affair of gallantry be- 
 tween him and one of the maids of honour, 
 which became so public, that Catherine 
 deemed it requisite to interfere. She there- 
 fore dismissed the offending lady, and pro- 
 liibited the presence of the ambassador. It 
 might be supposed that a consciousness of 
 her own frailties would induce the empress 
 to regard deviations from the path of a 
 stern chastity with feelings of peculiar 
 leniency. Such, iiowever, was not always 
 the case; and she occasionally assumed, 
 even in the presence of those who best 
 knew her, as great an appearance of aus- 
 terity in manners as of attachment to reli- 
 gion. On one occasion, when two ladies of 
 her court were, at a masquerade, talking 
 loudly concerning one of their admirers, 
 the empress went up to them, and com- 
 manded them to leave the ball-room, since 
 they knew no better than to pay so little 
 regard to decorum. 
 
 During the winter of 1767, Catherine 
 endeavoured to divert the disaffection which 
 yet existed, by the excitement of public 
 festivities. A spacious amphitheatre was 
 erected at St. Petersburg, and several tour- 
 naments took place, in imitation of those 
 common in the civilised countries of Europe 
 during the middle ages. On these occa- 
 sions the ladies of the court jousted as well 
 as the chevaliers; and all, both ladies and 
 knights, wore upon their gorgeous dresses 
 of silk or velvet, a profusion of gold and 
 silver, pearls, and other precious stones. 
 The entertainments lasted during several 
 days ; and then the company, amounting to 
 several hundred persons, sat down to a 
 splendid supper, the dessert at the con- 
 clusion of which represented the circus in 
 which the carousal had taken place. At 
 night the imperial summer gardens were 
 illuminated, and the walks lighted with 
 numerous arches of lamps burning with 
 naphtha, radiant temples, and illuminated 
 fountains. The pyrotechnic art lent its aid 
 to the display, and the festival terminated 
 with a masquerade in the gardens. 
 270 
 
 Catherine had a purpose in this gorgeous 
 trifling, which did not draw her attention 
 from the solid duties of her exalted station. 
 She was incessantly occupied in the erec- 
 tion of useful institutions, and the pro- 
 motion of those reforms which most soft- 
 ened the manners of her subjects. Ever 
 prepared to crush conspiracy, and active to 
 conciliate disaffection, she yet aimed at 
 dazzling the judgment of mankind, and 
 taking captive their admiration. The crude 
 state of the laws of the Russian empire had 
 for some time been notorious ; and previous 
 sovereigns had directed their attention to 
 the subject. Though absurdly voluminous, 
 they were yet found insufficient in practice, 
 extremely perplexing, and containing many 
 contradictions. In addition to this, they 
 were so loaded with precedents, reports, 
 cases, and opinions,- that they produced 
 constant altercations, and could scarcely be 
 reconciled or understood by the very pro- 
 fessors of them. 
 
 The empress resolved, by one great legis- 
 lative act, to re-create the laws of the 
 country in such a manner that they should 
 be impregnated with the spirit of justice 
 and clemency. The senate and the col- 
 leges she formed into separate departments, 
 each of which was to address itself to one 
 sort of business only, by which the latter 
 was executed with more dispatch, and fewer 
 opportunities given for artifice and venality. 
 To obviate the well-known dishonestv of 
 the judges, she augmented the emoluments 
 of their offices, openly observing, in the 
 ukase she published on the occasion — " In- 
 digence may, perhaps, hitherto have given 
 you a propensity to self-interest ; but now 
 the country itself rewards your labours: 
 and, therefore, what might heretofore have 
 been pardonable, will henceforward be cri- 
 minal." Besides increasing the salaries of 
 the judges, the empress made some, though 
 an insufficient, provision for them, when 
 that period of life should arrive at which 
 increasing infirmities dictated their retire- 
 ment from active duties. 
 
 These were merely preliminary matters; 
 and Catherine now aimed at the glory of 
 giving a new, and, as far as circumstances 
 would permit, perfect code of laws to the 
 empire. With this object she commanded 
 all the provinces of Russia, even the most 
 remote and barbarous, to send deputies to 
 Moscow, competent to represent their ideas 
 as to the laws most fitted for their respective 
 conditions. The empress then proceeded to 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [Catherine's instructions. 
 
 that ancient city, to welcome this novel 
 convention. The assembled deputies repre- 
 sented many nations and tribes, and differed 
 from each other widely in manners, in dress, 
 and in language. It might be supposed that 
 so heterogeneous an assembly — the greater 
 part of which had never even thought about 
 laws, much less the responsible task of con- 
 structing them — would merely listen to their 
 instructions, and obey them. Such, we may 
 not unfairly assume, was the intention of 
 the empress; and her object in convening 
 the assembly was to give at least the appear- 
 ance of a popular sanction to what, in reality, 
 she designed to be her own act. 
 
 When the deputies were assembled in 
 the hall appointed for their deliberations, 
 the business was commenced by the public 
 reading of a work written, or rather com- 
 piled, by the empress herself, and entitled. 
 Instructions to the Commissioners appointed 
 to frame a new Code of Laws for the Rus- 
 sian Empire."^ These instructions, preg- 
 nant with a humane and exalted spirit, 
 were borrowed chiefly from the writings of 
 Montesquieu, and others of the French phi- 
 losophers. Catherine, therefore, does not 
 deserve the praise which was so profusely 
 lavished upon her as their authoress. Yet, 
 though the merit of originality must be 
 denied to her, she deserves no small com- 
 naendation for having compiled, and thus 
 given her sanction to, principles tending to 
 destroy despotism and enlighten a people. 
 In them she recognised no legitimate autho- 
 rity but that which was founded upon jus- 
 tice; she aimed at the destruction of arbi- 
 trary legislation, and the prevention of those 
 who governed under her from exercising a 
 capricious or cruel authority. The instruc- 
 tions to the deputies were read to them in 
 the Russian language ; but the original was 
 written in French, almost entirely in the 
 handwriting of the empress. It has since 
 been deposited, inclosed in a magnificent 
 case, in an apartment of the Imperial Aca- 
 demy of Sciences at St. Petersburg. 
 
 The assembled deputies frequently inter- 
 rupted the reading of the instructions by 
 their bursts of applause; and all present 
 extolled the wisdom and humanity of the 
 sovereign. These expressions of admiration, 
 though no doubt proceeding, in some in- 
 stances, from conviction, were, in others, 
 
 • Tliis work, considered the most remarkable of 
 those which proceeded from the pen of the empress, 
 was translated into English by M. Tatischeff, and 
 published in London in 1768. 
 
 merely the result of adulation. Yet the 
 meetings did not pass without some opposi- 
 tion to the imperial will, and a threatening 
 appearance of affairs without. Much con- 
 versation took place about the right of the 
 serfs to liberty ; and many thousands of this 
 unfortunate class prepared to obtain by 
 force that which they correctly feared would 
 not be granted to them by equity. The 
 nobles dreaded an insurrection, in the event 
 of the system of serfdom being continued; 
 but they dreaded still more a falling-off of 
 their revenues if it should be abolished. So 
 strong were their feelings on the subject, 
 that some of them threatened to poniard 
 the first man who dared to move for the 
 enfranchisement of the serfs. Stdl, Count 
 Scheremetoff, the wealthiest man in Russia, 
 declared his wiUingness to accede to this 
 measure; and the debate was carried on with 
 so much warmth that fatal consequences 
 were apprehended, and the deputies dis- 
 missed to their respective homes. 
 
 Though the benefit intended for the people 
 of Russia was thus unhappily frustrated, it 
 was suggested that it should not be equally 
 lost to the sovereign who had projected it ; 
 therefore, before the deputies separated, 
 they decreed to the empress, by general 
 acclamation, the titles of Great, Wise, Pru- 
 dent, and Mother of the Country. This 
 was, doubtless, very agreeable to 'the em- 
 press ; yet, when she was solicited to accept 
 those titles, she replied, with an assumption 
 of modesty, "That if she had rendered her- 
 self worthy of the first, it belonged to pos- 
 terity to confer it upon her; that wisdom 
 and prudence were the gifts of heaven, for 
 which she daily gave thanks, without pre- 
 suming to derive any merit from them her- 
 self; that, lastly, the title of Mother of the 
 Country was the most dear of all in her 
 eyes — the only one that she could accept, 
 and which she regarded as the most benign 
 and glorious recompense for her labours and 
 solicitude in behalf of a people whom she 
 loved.'' 
 
 Yet Catherine was naturally proud of the 
 flattering adulation which had been offered 
 to her ; a luxury for which she possessed a 
 great and eager appetite. She commanded 
 copies of her instructions to be sent to those 
 sovereigns whose applause she most desired. 
 She received, in return, many compliments 
 on her literary performance, and assurances 
 that it would be an eternal monument to her 
 glory. The great soldier-statesman of Prus- 
 sia dazzled the empress by the incense he 
 
 271 
 
 
NATURE OF Till: INSTRUCTIONS.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Fa.d. 1768. 
 
 I. 
 
 A.D. 1768.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [nature of the instructions. 
 
 thus offered, and bound her still more closely 
 to a regard to his interests. Writing with 
 his own hand to the Russian minister Panin, 
 he observed — " I have read with admiration 
 the work of the empress. I was not willing 
 to tell her all that I think of it, because she 
 might have suspected me of flattery ; but I 
 may say to you, with due deference to mo- 
 desty, that it is a masculine performance, 
 nervous, and worthy of a great man. We 
 are told by history that Semiramis com- 
 manded armies. Queen Elizabeth has been 
 accounted a good politician. The empress- 
 queen has shown great intrepidity on her 
 accession to the throne ; but no woman has 
 ever been a legislatrix. That glory was 
 reserved for the empress of Russia, who 
 deserves it." 
 
 The construction of the articles was a 
 work of considerable extent, even though 
 we exclude the preparatory labour of study 
 and reflection which, had the document 
 been entirely original, must necessarily have 
 preceded its execution. Yet, as an ingenious 
 compilation, it was not a light task, consisting 
 as it did of no less than 525 articles. In- 
 deed, though it failed to produce the eff'ect 
 intended, yet even the publication and dis- 
 persion of such a work throughout the em- 
 pire, could scarcely have failed to produce 
 valuable civilising and educational results. 
 Though not in itself a law-book, but merely 
 a number of instructions as to the spirit in 
 which laws should be made, it must have 
 exercised, and no doubt still exercises, a 
 considerable influence over Russian legisla- 
 tion. We subjoin a few of the articles, in 
 the tolerably confident hope that they will 
 not be without interest to the intelligent 
 reader. 
 
 *'The spirit of the nation, the nation 
 itself, ought to be consulted in the framing 
 of laws. 
 
 "These laws should be considered no 
 otherwise than as a means of conducting 
 mankind to the greatest happiness. 
 
 "It is our duty to mitigate the lot of 
 those who live in a state of dependence. 
 
 "The liberty and the security of the 
 citizens ought to be the grand and precious 
 objects of all laws ; they should all tend to 
 render life, honour, and property as stable 
 and secure as the constitution of the govern- 
 ment itself. 
 
 " The liberty of the subjects ought only 
 to be restricted concerning what it should 
 be disadvantageous to them to do. 
 
 " In causes purely civil, the laws should 
 272 
 
 be so clear and precise, that the judgments 
 resulting from them be always in perfect 
 unison in the same cases, in order to remove 
 that jurisprudence of decisions which is so 
 often a source of uncertainties, of errors, or 
 acts of injustice, according as a cause has 
 been well or ill defended at one time or at 
 another, gained or lost, according to in- 
 fluence or circumstances." 
 
 With respect to legislation for crime, the 
 empress gave the following humane and 
 enlightened instructions : — 
 
 " It is incomparably better to prevent 
 crimes than to punish them. 
 
 "The life of the meanest citizen is of con- 
 sequence, and no one should be deprived of 
 it, except when it is attacked or required by 
 the country. 
 
 "In like manner his liberty should be 
 respected, by being cautious about imprison- 
 ment, by carefully distinguishing the cases 
 in which the laws will dispense with it, as 
 also those in which the public safety requires 
 arrest, detention, or formal imprisonment; 
 and in this case even concerning diff'erent 
 prisons. 
 
 " In the methods of trial, the use of 
 torture is contrary to sound reason. Hu- 
 manity cries out against this practice, and 
 insists on its being abolished. 
 
 " A prisoner is not to be sacrificed to the 
 torrent of opinions. Judgment must be 
 nothing but the precise text of the law; 
 and the office of the judge is only to pro- 
 nounce whether the action is conformable 
 or contrary to it." 
 
 Concerning punishments, she said — 
 "The aim of punishment is not to tor- 
 ment sensible beings. 
 
 " All punishment is unjust when it is not 
 necessary to the maintenance of the public 
 safety. 
 
 "The atrocity of punishments is repro- 
 bated by the compassion that is due to 
 human nature; whenever it is useless, it is 
 a sufficient reason to regard it as unjust, 
 and, as such, to reject it. 
 
 *'In the ordinary state of society, the 
 death of a citizen is neither necessary nor 
 useful." 
 
 Nothing in relation to government was 
 left untouched in these instructions, which 
 were replete with the most noble and liberal 
 sentiments. " Contrive," said the imperial 
 writer, " that the laws favour less the dif- 
 ferent orders of citizens, than each citizen 
 in particular. Let men fear the laws, and 
 nothing but the laws. Would you prevent 
 
 crimes ? provide that reason and knowledge 
 be more and more diff'used among mankind. 
 To conclude : the most sure, but the most 
 difficult, method of making men better, is 
 by rendering education more complete." 
 
 Some writers, sinking from the historian 
 into the mere moralist, have felt, or affected, 
 so much indignation at the vices of Cathe- 
 rine, that they have resolutely denied her 
 the admiration which was her due, and 
 have endeavoured to place her most meri- 
 torious deeds in the meanest possible light. 
 The cause of virtue will never be served by 
 conduct like this ; which is neither truthful 
 nor honourable. The character of Catherine 
 must be contemplated with sober judgment, 
 and not with intemperate invective. It is a 
 psychological problem, not difficult of solu- 
 tion to the student of the human mind. 
 The private vices of the woman must be 
 separated from the public virtues of the 
 sovereign, and the latter acknowledged, not 
 grudgingly, but in a tone of generous 
 appreciation. Attempt to write or compile 
 history in any other frame of mind, and it is 
 in danger of becoming not only partial in 
 its views, and low in its estimate of hu- 
 manity, but altogether worthless. The in- 
 structions of Catherine, like all else she did, 
 have, by some writers — and those among 
 the most recent on the subject — been con- 
 demned in the carping spirit of which we 
 have spoken, which, unhappily, is usually 
 more ready to censure than to deliberate; 
 more prone to the utterance of easy ob- 
 loquy, than addicted to habits of generous 
 forbearance. With respect to this literary 
 and legislatorial performance of the empress, 
 we are ourselves inclined to agree with the 
 favourable estimate of her biographer Tooke, 
 who says — " The whole performance is an 
 excellent compendium of choice observa- 
 tions, of just maxims, and of generous 
 sentiments ; and, at the same time, a beau- 
 tiful collection of striking passages from the 
 celebrated philosophers of Greece and 
 Rome ; of apt examples from ancient and 
 modem history, from the manners of cul- 
 tivated and savage nations, and even from 
 such nations as are not very much known 
 to the rest of Europe, the Chinese and 
 other Asiatics. Whoever would make him- 
 self acquainted with the philosophy of legis- 
 lation, might reap considerable advantage 
 by taking it as his manual." 
 
 Catherine laboured zealously to establish 
 her fame by the services she rendered to 
 material as well as to legislatorial science. 
 VOL. I. 2 N 
 
 Prior to the transit of the planet Venus 
 over the sun, in the summer of 1769, she 
 wrote a letter with her own hand to the 
 director* of the Academy of Sciences at 
 St. Petersburg, in which she desired to be 
 informed of the most proper places in hei 
 dominions for making observations; and 
 off'ered to send workmen and artists^ and to 
 construct buildings in all such places as the 
 academy might think proper for the pur- 
 pose, and to grant every assistance requisite 
 to the undertaking. At the same time she 
 desired, that if there were not sufficient 
 astronomers in the academy to make obser- 
 vations in all t-he favourable localities, that 
 notice might be given her, and she would 
 send a proper number of the officers of her 
 marine to qualify themselves, under the 
 direction of the professors of the academy, 
 for that undertaking. Such is the extent 
 of the Russian empire, that the observa- 
 tions "which were made, both on the transit 
 and exit of this planet (the one in the 
 frozen regions towards the Pole, and the 
 other on the borders of the Caspian), were 
 carried on within its own limits; to some 
 part of which, astronomers from every part 
 of Europe went to behold that remarkable 
 occurrence. It is interesting to add, that 
 the instruments used by the members of 
 the academy on this occasion, were specially 
 procured for them from London, by Mr. 
 Short, a member of the Royal Society, who 
 was so successful in his efforts, and in the 
 suggestions he offered, that he teceived the 
 thanks of that body, and a letter containing 
 a confession of the doubt they entertained 
 of being able to comply with the desires of 
 the empress without his assistance. 
 
 In the year 1768, Catherine narrowly 
 escaped perishing by the hand of an as- 
 sassin. The fate of Peter III. had not been 
 forgotten by the people, who now regarded 
 the memory of that unfortunate monarch 
 with a feeling approaching to affection. 
 Amongst the malcontents who mourned the 
 murder of the late emperor, was a young 
 officer named Tschoglokoff, who appears to 
 have been of a highly excitable, if not 
 disordered mind. He entertained a super- 
 stitious belief that he was directed by 
 heaven to avenge the fate of Peter, by- 
 depriving the empress of life. After brood- 
 ing for some time ou this idea, he resorted 
 
 * Vladimir OrloflF, the youngest brother of Gre- 
 gory and Alexis; the eldest, Ivan, lived a retired 
 life, and received from Catherine the nickname of 
 " the Philosopher." 
 
 273 
 
PATRONAGE OF SCTENCE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1768. 
 
 to the palace for several days in succession, 
 and lurked about in the ill-lighted passages 
 leading to the apartments to which Cathe- 
 rine retired when she wished to be alone. 
 In one of these passages, through which she 
 was shortly about to pass, was the intended 
 assassin arrested, in consequence of his 
 having rashly confided his design to another 
 officer, whose friendship for him he incor- 
 rectly supposed to be stronger than his 
 duty to his sovereign. When TschoglokoflF 
 was seized, a long poniard was found on 
 him, and he confessed, without hesitation, 
 the use for which it was designed. Cathe- 
 rine concealed the fear with which we 
 may reasonably suppose such a discovery 
 inspired her: she also suppressed her in- 
 dignation, and generously spared the life 
 of the enthusiast who would have taken 
 her's. Commanding him to be brought 
 into her presence, she mildly expostulated 
 with him on the enormity of the crime he 
 had striven to commit. Instead of being 
 hurried to the scaffold, he was at first sent 
 to prison, and afterwards exiled to the 
 heart of Siberia. Something of policy was 
 doubtless mingled with this mercy; but it 
 was mercy, nevertheless ; and such as per- 
 haps no other potentate in Europe, at that 
 time, would have been wise enough to ex- 
 tend to any similar criminal. Catherine 
 desired not publicly to punish a crime 
 which, if it had been much talked of, might 
 soon have had imitators. 
 
 In order 'to carry out those national im- 
 provements to which the empress addressed 
 herself with so much energy, she gave 
 orders to the Academy of Sciences to select 
 a number of learned and able men, for the 
 purpose of travelling over the empire and 
 reporting concerning the capacities of the 
 land and the wants of the people. Her 
 commands were executed in a manner that 
 did much honour to the academy. Several 
 very distinguished men were amongst those 
 engaged in this vast labour, and their 
 journals contained a vast amount of valu- 
 able information. At this period the court 
 of Catherine obtained the illustrious dis- 
 tinction of being regarded almost as the 
 home of the sciences ; for to it she invited 
 distinguished learned men from every part 
 of Europe. 
 
 The empress had the acuteness to per- 
 ceive that it is less by the power of the 
 Bword, the roar of artillery, and the fierce 
 parade of war, than by precedence in the 
 sciences and the arts, that nations obtain 
 274 
 
 an illustrious place in the annals of the 
 world. She therefore encouraged artists of 
 all kinds, and scholars of all views ; and 
 while granting new privileges to the Aca- 
 demy of Sciences with a noble liberality, 
 exhorted its members to add the names of 
 several celebrated foreigners to those which 
 already conferred a lustre on their society. 
 She also assigned an annual sum of 5,000 
 roubles for the purpose of procuring transla- 
 tions of the literature of other nations into 
 the Russian language. Nor did she less 
 cherish the interests of the Academy of 
 Arts. She increased the number of its 
 pupils, whom she directed were not, in 
 future, to be received after the age of six 
 years, that their tempers might not be 
 spoilt, or their manners corrupted by the 
 influence of a bad education. When ad- 
 mitted, the boys were placed for three 
 years under the care of women ; after which 
 thev were delivered to the more advanced 
 tutors ; and they were finally instructed in 
 the art for the acquirement of which they 
 displayed the most aptitude. Some became 
 painters, sculptors, architects, watchmakers, 
 or engravers ; while others learnt the art of 
 casting in metals, or of making mathe- 
 matical and optical instruments. All these 
 lads were clothed, fed, and lodged at the 
 public expense; and, during the whole 
 period of their residence at the academy, 
 their parents were not at any expense for 
 them whatever. They remained for fifteen 
 years at the institution ; and, on leaving it, 
 those who carried off the highest prizes, 
 received a sum of money for the purpose of 
 travelling for three years over Europe. 
 
 At this period, that once terrible, but 
 now disarmed malady, the small-pox, made 
 great ravages amongst the inhabitants of 
 St. Petersburg. Neither rank nor fortune 
 secured to its possessors any security from 
 the assaults of this frightful disease. The 
 beautiful Countess Scheremetoff was at- 
 tacked and carried off by it on the very eve 
 of her intended marriage to Count Panin. 
 Considerable alarm prevailed, and the em- 
 press and her son, the Grand-duke Paul, 
 avoided the capital, and remained at Tzarsko- 
 selo. Under these circumstances a proposal 
 was made for introducing the practice of 
 inoculation into the empire. A remedy was 
 anxiously desired ; but a natural antipathy 
 existed against submitting to an operation 
 which, on a first reflection, appeared both 
 repugnant and unnatural. The empress 
 and the Grand-duke Paul (the latter, doubt- 
 
 A.D. 1768.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [introduction of inoculation. 
 
 less, influenced by the decision of his distin- 
 guished mother) resolved themselves to set 
 an example by first submitting to an opera- 
 tion still regarded as both hazardous and 
 experimental in its nature. Inoculation had 
 been most practised in En[^land, where it 
 was introduced, about forty years before, 
 from Turkey, by the famous Lady Mary 
 Wortley Montague.* In the summer of 
 1768, Dr. Thomas Dimsdale, an able phy- 
 sician of London, was invited by Catherine 
 to St. Petersburg. On being introduced to 
 her majesty, she showed great perspicuity in 
 the questions she put to him concerning the 
 practice and success of inoculation, and then 
 invited him to dine with her. The following 
 is the doctor's description of the repast, 
 which, as presenting a picture of imperial 
 life in Russia at the court of this famous 
 sovereign, is not destitute of interest to 
 those who find a pleasure in efforts of the 
 imagination at realising the scenes of past 
 times and the habits of the famous ones of 
 the earth : — " The empress sat singly at the 
 upper end of a long table, at which about 
 twelve of the nobility were guests. The 
 entertainment consisted of a variety of ex- 
 cellent dishes, served up after the French 
 fashion ; and was concluded by a dessert of 
 the finest fruits and sweetmeats, such as I 
 little expected to find in that northern cli- 
 mate. Most of these luxuries were, how- 
 ever, the produce of the empress's own do- 
 minions. Pine-apples, indeed, are chiefly im- 
 ported from England ; though those of the 
 growth of Russia, of which we had one that 
 day, are of good flavour, but generally small. 
 Water-melons and grapes are brought from 
 Astracan; great plenty of melons from 
 Moscow, and apples and pears from the 
 Ukraine. But what most enlivened the 
 whole entertainment was the unaffected 
 ease and affabihty of the empress herself. 
 Each of her guests had a share of her atten- 
 tion and politeness; the conversation was 
 kept up with a freedom and cheerfulness to 
 be expected rather from persons of the same 
 rank, than from subjects admitted to the 
 honour of their sovereign's company." 
 
 Dr. Dimsdale afterwards desired the em- 
 press to grant him the assistance of her 
 court physicians, to whom he wished to 
 
 • When we occasionally descant with so much 
 fluency upon the barbarism and prejudices of other 
 nations, it would be as well to reflect upon the igno- 
 rant and superstitious opposition with which the 
 beautiful and witty Lady Mary was encountered in 
 her benevolent attempt to introduce the practice of 
 
 communicate his mode of proceeding, and 
 the medicines he administered to his distin- 
 guished patients. To this Catherine would 
 not consent, and stated her reasons at length. 
 " You are come well recommended to me,'' 
 said she; "the conversation I have had with 
 you on this subject has been verv satisfac- 
 tory, and my confidence in you is increased. 
 I have not the least doubt of your abilities 
 and knowledge in this practice, while it is 
 impossible that my physicians can have 
 much skill in this operation. They want 
 experience ; their interposition may tend to 
 embarrass you, without the least probability 
 of giving any useful assistance. My Hfe i*s 
 my own; and I shall, with the utmost cheer- 
 fulness, rely on your care alone. With re- 
 gard to my constitution, you could receive 
 no information from them. I have had, I 
 thank God, so good a share of health, that 
 their advice has never been required; and 
 you shall, from myself, receive every infor- 
 mation that can be necessary. I have also 
 to acquaint you that it is my determination 
 to be inoculated before the grand-duke, 
 and as soon as you judge it convenient. At 
 the same time I desire that this may remain 
 a secret business ; and I enjoin you to let 
 it be supposed that, for the present, all 
 thoughts of my own inoculation are laid 
 aside. The preparation of the great experi- 
 ment on the grand-duke will countenance 
 your visits to the palace ; and I desire to see 
 you as often as it may seem necessary, that 
 you may become still better acquainted with 
 what relates to my constitution, and also for 
 adjusting the time and other circumstances 
 of my own inoculation." 
 
 The empress was much pleased with the 
 satisfactory manner in which Dr. Dimsdale 
 performed the operation, both upon herself 
 and upon the grand-duke. She rewarded 
 the successful experimentalist with a pre- 
 sent of ^10,000, together with a pension of 
 £500 a-year, to be paid him in England, 
 and by creating him a baron of the Russian 
 empire. On Dr. Dirasdale's son, who ac- 
 companied and assisted his father, she con- 
 ferred a similar title, and presented with a 
 superb gold snuff-box, richly set with dia- 
 monds. Before Dr. Dimsdale left Russia, 
 the empress purchased a house, and, under 
 
 inoculation into this country. The clergy actually 
 preached from their pulpits on the impiety of thus 
 seeking to take events out of the hands of Providence; 
 and the people were taught to hoot at her, as an un- 
 natural mother who had risked the lives of her own 
 children. 
 
 . 275 
 
TURKEY DECLARES WAR.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1767. 
 
 A.D. 17G9.] 
 
 his able directions, converted it into a hos- 
 pital for the purposes of inoculation, which, 
 under these favourable circumstances, was 
 soon resorted to bv the most sensible of 
 the Russian people. In a grand thanks- 
 giving service for the recovery of the em- 
 
 press, which was performed in the chapel 
 of the palace, the metropolitan observed, in 
 the course of his sermon, "that the Rus- 
 sians liad borrowed assistance from Britain; 
 that island famed for wisdom, bravery, and 
 virtue.^' 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 AFFAIRS OF POLAND; WAR BETWEEN RUSSIA AND TURKEY; VISIT OF PRINCE HENRY OF PRUSSIA TO 
 CATHERINE; AN IMPERIAL FETE; REVERSES OF THE TURKS; WALLACHIA, MOLDAVIA, AND BESSARABIA 
 ACKNOWLEDGE CATHERINE AS THEIR SOVEREIGN ; NAVAL VICTORY OF THE RUSSIANS IN THE BAY OF 
 TSCHESME; SCHEME FOR THE SUBJECTION OF GREECE AND EGYPT TO RUSSIA J FATE OF THE YOUNG 
 PRINCESS TARRAKANOFF. 
 
 Poland, though retaining a delusive sem- 
 blance of independence, was in fact but little 
 more than a province of Russia. Its king 
 had been elected, and its laws were framed, 
 by Russian influence, while its states were 
 governed through the instrumentality of a 
 Russian array. The intolerant and tyraii- 
 iiical conduct of the Polish priesthood and 
 catholic nobles had given Catherine an ex- 
 cuse for interference; but the Poles saw 
 that their national independence was perish- 
 ing, and the Ottoman Porte became reason- 
 ably jealous of the almost absolute influence 
 over Poland which its great northern neigh- 
 bour had acquired. Catherine did not seek 
 for war with Turkey ; and when that power, 
 in consequence of the appeal made to it by 
 the Poles, and in accordance with a policy 
 usually regarded as a wise one, first assumed 
 a menacing attitude, she suspended the 
 settlement of the limits between Russia 
 and Poland, without, however, abandoning 
 her idea of eventually seizing on a portion 
 of the latter country. 
 
 Poland was distracted by a furious servile 
 war between the united catholic nobles 
 and priesthood and the Dissidents. Almost 
 everv conceivable horror reigrned in that 
 
 1 CD 
 
 miserable country ; and the fields, instead of 
 being devoted to the culture of the neces- 
 saries of life, were often covered with the 
 unburied bodies of those who used to till 
 them. The catholic confederates again im- 
 plored assistance from the Turks — a requisi- 
 tion which was supported by the influence 
 of France. The sultan resolved on war; 
 and causing the Russian ambassador to be 
 276 . 
 
 arrested, had him (in October, 1767) placed 
 in confinement within the walls of the 
 famous prison-fortress, called the Castle of 
 the Seven Towers. At the sajne time a 
 temperately- written manifesto, by the sultan, 
 explanatory of the cause of the hostile de- 
 meanour to Russia, was delivered to the 
 foreign ministers residing at Constantinople. 
 In it the empress was charged as a breaker 
 of treaties ; with having " set up for a king a 
 private Polish officer, in whose family there 
 had never been any king, and to whom 
 loyalty was not becoming ;'' and with in- 
 vading a frontier of the territories of the 
 Porte, and there massacring upwards of a 
 thousand Mussulmans. 
 
 Though Catherine had not desired war 
 with an enemy so powerful as the sultan, 
 yet she had prepared for, and no longer 
 sought to avoid, a contest which, sooner or 
 later, was inevitable. Catherine issued a 
 declaration to the courts of Europe, in which 
 she declared that the intentions of Russia 
 had been calumniated; and complained, in 
 a tone of dignity, of the insult offered to her 
 ambassador. " The honour and glory of her 
 imperial majesty/^ said this document, "the 
 regard to her empire, point out the part it 
 is right for her to take. Confiding in the 
 justice of her cause, she appeals to all Chris- 
 tian courts on the situation she finds herself 
 in with regard to the common enemy of 
 Christianity." Immense preparations were 
 made in Turkey for the war, and the Porte 
 gave out that they intended to open the 
 campaign with an army of 500,000 men. 
 
 The empress was not behindhand; and 
 
 she gathered a formidable armv, or rather ' 
 series of armies. Indeed, on the breaking 
 out of the war, the general voice of Europe 
 seemed to presage victory to Russia, and 
 many persons expressed an opinion that 
 that power would be in possession of Con- I 
 stantinople before the end of the first cam- | 
 paign. Early in 1769 her troops began 
 their march, and soon extended from the 
 banks of tiie Danube to those of the Kuban. 
 Azoff" and Taganrog were also put in a state 
 of defence; and Catherine caused her fleet 
 in the Euxine to be augmented. The Tartars 
 of the Crimea, so long dreaded by the Rus- 
 sians, were the first who now felt the weight 
 of their arms. The Russian forces next 
 laid siege to the fortress of Choczim, re- 
 gardcd as the key of the Turkish empire. 
 The Moslems knew the advantage of this 
 stronghold, and they concentrated their 
 whole power in its defence. Many furious 
 engagements followed, attended by im- 
 mense loss to both sides, and not produc- 
 tive of any great advantage to either. 
 
 Catherine and Frederic of Prussia sur- 
 mised each other's intentions with respect 
 to the partition of Poland; but each of 
 them felt the necessity of conferring to- 
 gether on that great design. Yet, as an 
 interview between them might excite sus- 
 picions in the minds of the other monarchs 
 of Europe, Frederic determined on sending 
 his brother, Prince Henry, into Russia, to 
 represent his views to the empress. This 
 prince was one of the most celebrated 
 generals of the age ; and so great were his 
 military talents, that even his illustrious 
 brother, never prone to pay comphiiients, 
 said of him, that, in commanding an armv, 
 he was never known to commit a fault 
 Professor Richardson, then at St. Peters- 
 burg with the family of Lord Cathcart (the 
 English ambassador), gave the following viva- 
 cious description of the Prussian prince :— 
 "To judge of him by his appearance, I 
 should form no high estimate of his abili- 
 ties. But the Scythian ambassadors judged 
 in the same manner of Alexander the Great. 
 He is under the middle size; very thin ; he 
 walks firmly enough, or rather struts, as if 
 he wanted to walk firmly; and has little 
 dignity in his air or gesture. He is dark- 
 complexioned, and wears his hair, which is 
 remarkably thick, clubbed and dressed with 
 a high toupte. His forehead is high, his 
 eyes large, with a Httle squint; and, when 
 he smiles, his upper lip is drawn up a little 
 in the middle. His look expresses sagacity 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [prixce henry visits Catherine. 
 
 and observation, but nothing very amiable- 
 and his manner is |rave and stiff", rather 
 than affable. He was dressed, when I first 
 saw him, in a light-blue frock, with silver 
 rogs; and wore a red waistcoat and blue 
 breeches. He is not very popular among 
 the Russians ; and their wits are disposeil 
 to amuse themselves with his appearance, 
 and particularly with his toupee. Thev say 
 he resembles Sampson ; that all his strength 
 lies in his hair ; and that, conscious of this 
 and recollecting the fate of the son of 
 I Manoah, he suffers not the nigh approaches 
 I of any deceitful DaHlah." 
 i Some artifices were resorted to to make 
 the visit of Prince Henry to the Russian 
 court appear a matter rather of accident 
 than of design. On his arrival at St. Peters- 
 l)urg, he was, however, received with the 
 honours which are usually paid only to 
 monarchs. On the day of his being pre- 
 sented to the empress, he dined in public 
 with her; and all that passed was con- 
 ducted with the most rigorous attention to 
 ceremony: but, on subsequent occasions, 
 the empress and the prince met and dis- 
 coursed together without the least restraint. 
 Catherine entertained her guest with trulv 
 imperial magnificence and hospitality. No't 
 a day passed without some new festivity; 
 and one entertainment, at Tzarsko-selo (the 
 palace of the czars, and the fixed summer 
 residence of Catherine), has been deemed 
 worthy of a lengthened description by many 
 writers. The palace stands at the extremity 
 of a thick forest, and is built in the form of 
 an amphitheatre. The exterior impresses 
 the observer with a sense of grandeur from 
 its magnitude; while he is dazzled with the 
 profusion of its gilded ornaments. The 
 gardens— laid out in the English fashion- 
 are of great extent and beauty, and contain 
 a collection of antique and modern statues, 
 picturesque ruins, baths, lakes, pyramids, 
 and a spacious hall for musical entertain- 
 ments. 
 
 It was in this magnificent palace that 
 Catherine gave to the Prussian prince one 
 of those extravagantly gorgeous entertain- 
 ments with which she, at times, delighted 
 and astonished her court. On the approach 
 of evening, the empress, the Grand-duke 
 Paul, and Prince Henry, entered an im- 
 mense sledge drawn by sixteen horses, and 
 set out from St. Petersburg, followed by 
 upwards of 2,000 sledges, filled with cour- 
 tiers in masquerade costumes. Along the 
 road were triumphal arches, lit up in the 
 
 277 
 
SUCCESSES OF RUSSIA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 17G9. 
 
 A.D. 1770.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [successes of RUSSIA. 
 
 most brilliant manner ; illuminated temples, 
 pyramids of lamps, displays of fireworks, 
 vaulting and tumbling, and rustic dances 
 by shepherds and shepherdesses. On ap- 
 proaching the palace, an artificial mountain 
 was seen through an avenue in the wood, 
 pouring out from its summit torrents of 
 flames, in imitation of Vesuvius during an 
 eruption. On arriving at the palace, the 
 company danced for two hours in a suite of 
 apartments lit by an enormous number of 
 wax- candles. Then came a roar of cannon ; 
 the ball was suspended ; the lights were all 
 extinguished ; and the company ran to the 
 windows, from which they enjoyed a magni- 
 ficent exhibition of fireworks. When these 
 were terminated, another discharge of artil- 
 lery took place, the wax-candles were sud- 
 denly relit as if by magic, and a splendid 
 supper was already served up, and only 
 waiting the attack of the guests. After 
 this refreshment, dancing was resumed, 
 and continued until a late hour in the 
 morning. Indeed, all the entertainments 
 of the empress were conducted with a mag- 
 nificence not exceeded by any court in 
 Europe. 
 
 Among the numerous presents which 
 Catherine bestowed upon the prince, was 
 the star of the order of St. Andrew, full of 
 very large brilliants, and containing a single 
 diamond valued at 40,000 roubles. AH 
 these pleasures did not arrest the accom- 
 plishment of the secret object of the journey 
 of the brother of the Prussian monarch. 
 The dismemberment of Poland was resolved 
 upon ; and it was determined that Austria 
 should be bribed into acquiescence by 
 making her a sharer in the spoliation. 
 Prince Henry was so satisfied of the con- 
 sent of Joseph II., the son and successor of 
 Maria Theresa, that he even settled with 
 Catherine the conditions to be observed in 
 the dismemberment of Poland, and fixed 
 the extent of territory that each of the 
 powers engaged in this iniquitous scheme 
 should appropriate to itself. The treaty, 
 however, was not signed until two years 
 afterwards. 
 
 The war between Russia and Turkey 
 raged with fury on the frontiers of the 
 latter country. The results were variable ; 
 and the Russians were twice repulsed from 
 the fortress of Choczim; and even driven, 
 for a time, into Poland. But though the 
 Turks fought with great courage, the igno- 
 rance of their generals drew upon them 
 many reverses; and, after ten months of 
 278 
 
 war, their once numerous army was almost 
 destroyed, and Choczim eventually sur- 
 rendered to a very small force. The 
 ofi'ended sultan not only caused his un- 
 successful general to be deprived of the 
 command, but also to be put to death. 
 
 Catherine, satisfied with the attitude or 
 her fleet on the Black Sea, boldly resolved 
 to strike a blow at her enemies even in the 
 Greek islands. With this object, she com- 
 manded a number of new vessels to be con- 
 structed ; and the dockyards of Cronstadt, 
 Revel, and Archangel swarmed with work- 
 men from all parts of the country. She 
 laboured strenuously to keep up a good 
 understanding with England and Denmark, 
 then the two most important maritime 
 powers; and she doubled the number of 
 English naval ofiicers engaged in her ser- 
 vice. Amongst the experienced British 
 naval officers who at this period entered 
 the service of Catherine, may be mentioned 
 the names of Elphinstone, Greig, Tate, Dug- 
 dale, and Admiral Knowles. The empress 
 also requested the maritime powers to give 
 a friendly reception and assistance to her 
 ships of war. England complied with this 
 desire ; but other states regarded it un- 
 favourably ; and France, Spain, Venice, 
 and Naples, would only consent to admit 
 the merchant vessels of Russia into their 
 ports. 
 
 By the September of 1769, a Russian 
 fleet, consisting of twenty sail-of-the-line, 
 together with six frigates, and several trans- 
 port vessels containing troops, steered their 
 course into the Mediterranean, whose 
 waters had never before been breasted by 
 the war vessels of the great northern power. 
 It was placed under the command of Alexis 
 Orloff*, assisted by Admiral Spiridoff*. Eu- 
 rope gazed with astonishment on the spec- 
 tacle thus presented. A nation which, 
 prior to that century, was scarcely known 
 but on the map, had sent a fleet to agitate 
 the remotest parts of the Mediterranean ; to 
 excite and support the insurrections of the 
 Greek Christians against their Mohamme- 
 dan masters; and to create confusion and 
 alarm in this distant part of the vast empire 
 of its Ottoman enemies. Indeed, this expe- 
 dition is regarded as a not unimportant 
 era in naval history. Catherine was aware 
 that the fate of Poland, and the considera- 
 tion in which Russia should in future be 
 held in Europe, depended on the result of 
 the war against the Turks, and she there- 
 fore exerted herself to the utmost to ensure 
 
 its success. For some time before the sail- 
 ing of the Russian expedition, the emis- 
 saries of the empress had been at work 
 among the inhabitants of the isles of 
 Greece, with the object of exciting a general 
 revolt against the authority of the Porte; 
 but the Greeks were soon found to be fickle 
 and unprincipled, deficient both in dis- 
 cipline and courage, and far more devoted 
 to plundering than to fighting. 
 
 Prince GaUtziu was superseded in the 
 command of the Russian army by Count 
 Roraantzoff". General Panin and Prince 
 Dolgoruki had each another army under 
 their directions. The Russians opened the 
 campaign of 1770 by laying siege to Bender, 
 in Bessarabia — a place which had acquired 
 some distinction as having been the refuge 
 of Charles XII. of Sweden. Their eff'orts 
 were unsuccessful, chiefly in consequence of 
 the harassing attacks to which they were 
 exposed from the Tartars. But the Rus- 
 sians were far more than compensated for 
 this disappointment by being victorious in 
 two pitched battles with the Turks. The 
 first was fought on the banks of the Pruth, 
 where a Turkish army, amounting to 80,000 
 men, was stationed. As General RomantzoflF 
 was unable, for some time, to bring them 
 to an engagement, he made such move- 
 ments as induced the enemy to imagine 
 that he was about to retreat. The Turks 
 were deceived, and detached 20,000 men to 
 pursue him. These were repulsed with 
 great loss, and fled back in terror to their 
 camp. The Russians followed them; the 
 engagement was renewed; and the Turks 
 finally abandoned their intrenchments and 
 a great part of their baggage and artillery. 
 The Turks retired towards the Danube, 
 where they were joined by large detach- 
 ments from the grand Ottoman army. The 
 Russian general, uninformed of this, and 
 supposing that he was in pursuit of an army 
 in confusion, followed them rapidly with a 
 force of only 18,000 men, and suddenly 
 found himself confronted by an army of 
 150,000 Turks. The grand- vizier saw his 
 advantage, and surrounded the Russian 
 army in such a manner as to cut off all 
 possibility of retreat. The following morn- 
 ing the Russians were attacked on all sides 
 at once ; and notwithstanding the immense 
 disparity of numbers, the firing was kept up 
 for five hours without any decided ad- 
 vantage to either of the adversaries. The 
 Russian general then seems to have re- 
 membered, that as the enemy could afford 
 
 to lose eight men to his one, a contest thus 
 conducted must terminate in his defeat, 
 and the probable destruction of his troops. 
 There was but one chance of escape— to 
 charge with the bayonet, and, by a despe- 
 rate effort, burst through the ranks of the 
 foe. This plan was adopted, and the Turks 
 gave way before the furious charge of their 
 assailants, and retreated within their in- 
 trenchments. Encouraged by this success, 
 the Russians renewed their efforts with 
 redoubled energy. The Turkish host was 
 thrown into confusion, and took to flight, 
 leaving an immense number of dead and 
 wounded upon the field of battle, and 
 abandoning 143 pieces of brass cannon, and 
 7,000 waggons loaded with provisions. 
 
 Other successes followed. Bender, which 
 had been a sfecond time besieged, sur- 
 rendered, after a resistance of nearly three 
 months, to General Panin. On the fall of 
 this fortress, the Tartars of Budziak and 
 Otchakof submitted to the Russian rule. 
 Indeed, so great were the triumphs of the 
 imperial arms, that the provinces of Wal- 
 lachia, Moldavia, and Bessarabia, acknow- 
 ledged the Russians as their masters, and 
 sent deputies to do homage to Catherine. 
 
 By sea the Russians obtained a success of 
 which they were far more proud than of 
 their triumphs by land. The squadron of 
 Admiral Spiridoff, in the Archipelago, was 
 joined by another under Elphinstone, an 
 English naval officer, who held the rank of 
 vice-admiral in the Russian service. The 
 Turkish fleet opposed to the united Russian 
 squadron was under the directions of a 
 capudan-pasha, whose skill and valour had 
 obtained for him the surname of Gazi, or 
 *' the Victorious." He had won some advan- 
 tage over the Russians, and compelled them 
 to retire from Lemnos ; but he was soon to 
 experience the superior power of his foe. 
 On the 5th of July, 1770, the rival fleets 
 met in the channel that separates the Isle 
 of Scio from Natolia. The Turkish fleet, 
 besides being superior in point of number 
 to that of the Russians, was stationed 
 behind some small islands and rocks, which 
 formed for it a sort of natural intrench- 
 ment. Yet the Russians had the spirit to 
 accept the offered battle, and the engage- 
 ment commenced. The Sultan, a ship of 
 90 guns, bearing the flag of the capu- 
 dan-pasha, challenged that of Admiral Spiri- 
 doff, and the two vessels were soon side by 
 side in furious combat. Desperate efforts 
 were made on each side, and showers of 
 
 279 
 
THE BATTLE OF TSCHESME.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1770. 
 
 balls and grenades crossed the deck of each 
 vessel. At length the Turkish ship caught 
 fire; and as the Russian one could not be 
 disengaged from it, they both blew up 
 together, and covered the sea with their 
 smoking fragments. The admirals and a 
 few officers were rescued; but the crews 
 perished. 
 
 A pause in the engagement ensued while 
 the ships were burning ; and the other 
 vessels, struck with terror for a time, aban- 
 doned the fight. It was soon renewed ; 
 but the approach of night separated the 
 combatants. The Turks then committed 
 an error which led to their destruction. 
 They had the imprudence to enter the nar- 
 row and slimy bay of Tschesme, where 
 some of their vessels ran aground, and the 
 confined space deprived the rest of the 
 power of action. The following morning 
 Vice-admiral Elphinstone stationed himself 
 at the entrance of the bay, to prevent the 
 egress of the Turks. He then directed 
 that four fire-ships should be prepared, 
 placed under the protection of the English 
 Lieutenant Dugdale, and protected by the 
 vessels of another Englishman — Vice-admi- 
 ral Greig. The day passed away; and as 
 midnight approached, Greig attacked the 
 Turks with four ships of the line and two 
 frigates. Under cover of this diversion, 
 Dugdale approached the Turkish fleet with 
 his fire-ships. Braving the vigorous fire of 
 the enemy, and encouraging the hesitating 
 Russians by his example, he himself fas- 
 tened the grapplings of a fire-ship to one of 
 the Turkish vessels, and then, with his 
 hands, face, and hair all burnt, threw him- 
 self into the sea, and swam to the Russian 
 squadron. So effectual was the fire, and so 
 crowded were the Turkish vessels, that 
 within five hours the whole fleet was de- 
 stroyed. Only one man-of-war and a few 
 galleys escaped the devouring flames ; and 
 this was in consequence of their being towed 
 off by the Russians. The Turkish sailors 
 made no efforts to stop the conflagration, 
 and sought only to secure their own safety. 
 Some got away in boats, and others leaped 
 into the sea and endeavoured to save them- 
 selves by swimming; but the Russians, 
 with an unnecessary ferocity, sent out boats 
 to knock these poor struggling wretches on 
 the head, or dispatched them by grapeshot 
 from the ships. An English officer who 
 was in command of a Russian boat, struck 
 with horror at this massacre, endeavoured 
 to put a stop to it ; but he was told by the 
 280 
 
 Russians that it was Count Orloff's order 
 that no quarter should be given. The 
 Turks who reached the shore dispersed 
 themselves about the country, and com- 
 mitted such excesses, that it was found 
 necessary to send out a body of troops to 
 put an end to their ravages. If it had not 
 been for the explosion of Admiral Spiridoff's 
 ship, which involved the destruction of six 
 or seven hundred persons, the Russians 
 would have purchased this victory very 
 cheaply, as, with that exception, they had 
 not fifty men killed and wounded. Indeed, 
 the greater part of the ships had never 
 come into action, and Orloff himself had 
 kept at a distance, which preserved him 
 from all chance of danger. The loss of the 
 Turks was very severe, and estimated by 
 their victorious enemies at 10,000 men ; 
 but this was a gross exaggeration. Still 
 the slaughter was terrible ; for this Russian 
 victory was little else than a conflagration 
 and a massacre; and for many weeks the 
 bay and its shores were covered with dead 
 bodies, putrefying beneath the burning heat 
 of a summer^s sun. When the work of 
 blood was over, and while the Russians 
 were yet reeking with the steam of 
 slaughter, Orloff ordered a general thanks- 
 giving to the Deity for the success of the 
 Russian arms; and the applauding Greek 
 priests, who had put off in boats from the 
 villages of Scio, Samos, and Anatolia, 
 sprinkled the ships with holy water, and 
 gave their blessings to the crews. On the 
 other hand, the infuriated Turks massacred 
 every Greek they could find — man, woman, 
 or child — between Tschesme and Smyrna. 
 
 After the destruction of the Turkish 
 fleet, the Russians entered the harbour and 
 bombarded the town, and a castle which 
 protected it, w^ith so much success, that 
 both were reduced to a heap of rubbish. 
 The conflagration of the Turkish vessels 
 was the result of the exertions of the Eng- 
 lishmen — Elphinstone, Greig, Dugdale, and 
 Mackenzie ; but the empress gave the 
 credit of the idea of it to Alexis Orloff. 
 The Russian fleet then anchored at Paros, 
 from which point they commanded all the 
 Greek seas, and where they did not permit 
 a single vessel to approach without lower- 
 ing its topsails. 
 
 Orloff dispatched a courier with the news 
 to the empress Catherine, who was the first 
 person in St. Petersburg made acquainted 
 with the victory of Tschesme. Information 
 of the event was received with extreme joy, 
 
 A.D. 1771—1772.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [alexis orloff. 
 
 and magnificent festivities given to cele- 
 brate it. When, in the spring of the fol- 
 lowing year, Alexis Orloff returned to St. 
 Petersburg to enjoy his triumphs, the re- 
 joicings were renewed; and he was de- 
 corated by the empress with the grand 
 riband of St. George. He then laid before 
 the council a scheme for the subjection of 
 Greece to the Russian sceptre, and the 
 rescue of Egypt from the dominion of the 
 Porte. To accomplish this, he said he 
 would force the passage of the Dardanelles ; 
 and that to effect all these designs, he 
 desired only ten millions of roubles. "I 
 grant you twenty,'' was the reply of the 
 ambitious Catherine, ''for I am resolved 
 that you shall want for nothing.'' At the 
 same time she issued a command for the 
 equipment of a new squadron, to reinforce 
 that which was already in the Archipelago ; 
 and the Russians, intoxicated by an acci- 
 dental success, vainly dreamed of becoming 
 a great naval power. Catherine, in the 
 height of her success, even contemplated 
 the expulsion of the Turks from Europe. 
 
 The Ottoman empire was not only humi- 
 liated by the serious reverses it had expe- 
 rienced, but distracted by internal misfor- 
 tunes. Egypt was in a state of rebellion, 
 under the able Ali Bey. Constantinople 
 was ravaged by the plague; where, for 
 several weeks, about a thousand people 
 died daily from this terrible visitation. 
 The runaway sailors from the destroyed 
 fleet also, united with all the vagabonds 
 and rufiians who chose to join them, filled 
 the city with dread, in consequence of their 
 plundering and violence, and made several 
 attempts to set it and the suburbs on fire. 
 So powerful did these dissolute ruffians 
 become, that they ventured on an open 
 engagement with the Janissaries, who cut 
 many thousand of them to pieces, and dis- 
 persed the rest. Notwithstanding these 
 calamities, the Porte adopted every pre- 
 caution for the security of the Dardanelles. 
 The Turkish government collected the ships 
 still in its possession, and fitted them out to 
 assist in defending that famous passage; 
 new batteries were erected on the straits, 
 and the castles put into a proper state of 
 defence. 
 
 In 1771, Count Alexis Orloff left St. 
 Petersburg, crowned with honours and 
 loaded with rewards, in order to return to 
 the Archipelago. On his way he passed 
 some time at Vienna, where he gave him- 
 self up to a luxuriousness so extravagant as 
 
 VOL. I. 2 o 
 
 to excite general surprise. One evening, 
 while at supper with the Russian ambas' 
 sador and a numerous company, he spoke 
 of the revolution which had 'placed the 
 empress Catherine on the throne. From 
 motives of delicacy no one questioned him 
 concerning the death of the unfortunate 
 Peter ; but he created a sensation of horror 
 throughout the company by calmly relating 
 the particulars of it himself. Perceiving 
 the shudders of disgust that he excited, the 
 dull and strong-nerved ruffian endeavoured 
 to excuse himself by saying, "That it was 
 a lamentable thing for a man of so much 
 humanity as he possessed, to be forced to 
 do what he had been commanded." 
 
 On leaving Vienna, Orloff proceeded to 
 ' Leghorn, where, in obedience to the com- 
 mands of the empress, he engaged a cele- 
 brated German artist, named Philip Hackert, 
 to represent the engagement of the Russian 
 and Turkish fleets, and the destruction of 
 the latter at Tschesme. The artist was 
 unable satisfactorily to represent the blow- 
 ing-up of the Turkish vessels; and on 
 Orloff complaining of this, he replied that 
 he had never seen a ship destroyed by ex- 
 plosion. To obviate this, Orloff furnished 
 him with the most expensive model that 
 was ever made for an artist. In the month 
 of May, 1772, he caused a Russian frigate 
 to be blown up in the roads of Leghorn, in 
 the presence of the painter and of thou- 
 sands of persons who had assembled to 
 witness this novel sight. The artist caught 
 the character of the evanescent spectacle, 
 and the picture was then completed entirely 
 to Orloff's satisfaction. 
 
 The empress Elizabeth had left three 
 children, regarded as illegitimate, the result 
 of her clandestine marriage with Alexis 
 Rasumoffski. The youngest of these was a 
 girl, who had been 'brought up under the 
 name of the Princess Tarrakanoff. This 
 young lady was, when about twelve years 
 old, carried away to Rome by the per- 
 sons to whom her education had been en- 
 trusted ; an act performed at the instigation 
 of the Polish prince and patriot, Radzivil, 
 who, irritated at Catherine's trampling on 
 the rights of his countrymen, entertained 
 the idea, that the daughter of Elizabeth 
 might furnish him with a signal means of 
 revenge. He conceived, that it would not 
 be in vain to oppose to the sovereign whose 
 armies were spreading desolation over his 
 unhappy country, a rival whom her mother's 
 name would render acceptable to the Rus- 
 
 281 
 
IHE PRINCESS TARRAKANOFF.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1772. 
 
 A.D. 1771. J 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [fate of the princess. 
 
 i 
 
 sians. It is probable that he also flattered 
 himself, that he, perhaps, might one day be 
 enabled to mount the throne on which he 
 desired to place the young princess. 
 
 Catherine was a dangerous foe, especially 
 wheu the secret agency of craft was to be 
 resorted to. On the ground of Prince 
 Radzivil being chief of the confederacy of 
 the malcontents, she caused all his estates 
 in Poland to be seized, and reduced him to 
 the necessity of living on tlic produce of the 
 diamonds and other valuables he had brought 
 with him to Italy. "When these were ex- 
 hausted, he left the Princess TarrakanofF at 
 Rome in extremely narrow circumstances, 
 and returned to Poland to learn what he 
 could with respect to his own affairs. Here 
 an offer was made to restore to him his 
 estates, on condition that he would take his 
 ward to Russia. To this baseness he would 
 not consent; but he committed the lesser 
 wrong of purchasing his confiscated pro- 
 perty by engaging to take no further heed 
 of the unfortunate daughter of Elizabeth. 
 
 But the empress was resolved on securing 
 the person of the Princess Tarrakanoff; and 
 Alexis Orloff undertook to become the 
 means of luring that young lady into her 
 power. Having engaged an unprincipled 
 Neapolitan, named Ribas, he sent him to 
 Rome, where this subtle agent soon dis- 
 covered the lodgings of the young princess, 
 and introduced himself to her as a Russian 
 officer. Affecting a profound grief at the 
 state of destitution in which he found her, 
 he said that he had waited upon her with 
 the sole desire of paying homage to a prin- 
 cess whose fate and fortunes were highly 
 interesting to all her countrymen. Finally, 
 he offered that pecuniary assistance of 
 which the unfortunate lady stood in so much 
 need; while she and her female attendant 
 regarded him almost as a messenger sent 
 from heaven for their relief. Ribas soon 
 gained the confidence of the deserted women ; 
 and he then informed the princess, that he 
 was commissioned by Count Alexis Orloff 
 to offer to her the throne that had been 
 occupied by her mother. He added, that 
 the Russian people were averse to the rule 
 of Catherine; that Orloff himself hated 
 her, on account of her ingratitude and her 
 tyranny ; and that, if the young princess 
 would accept of the services of that general, 
 and recompense him for them by the grant 
 of her hand, it would not be long before she 
 haw the breaking-out of the revolution he 
 bad prepared. The snare was successful, 
 282 
 
 for the inexperienced girl had no suspicions 
 of the worthlessness of the human viper 
 who was luring her to her fate. Her high 
 birth was no secret to her : Prince Radzivil 
 had dazzled her with hopes of a brilliant 
 destiny ; and she seemed now upon the eve 
 of realising the gorgeous day-dreams which 
 had made her recent poverty and neglected 
 condition the more bitter. 
 
 When Alexis Orloff himself arrived at 
 Rome, he was received by the princess as 
 her benefactor. Some friendly persons 
 warned her and her gouvernante against a 
 man who was notorious for the reckless 
 wickedness of his character. It was in 
 The deluded grirl would not mistrust 
 
 vaui. 
 
 her supposed benefactor, and even com- 
 municated to him the cautions she had re- 
 ceived; but he justified himself with so 
 much ease, that her confidence was rather 
 confirmed than shaken. Having removed 
 her transient distrust, he entreated her to 
 consent to their speedy marriage. The 
 trusting victim yielded to his wish ; the 
 ceremony was performed by some of his 
 attendants, disguised as priests and lawyers; 
 and the princess fancied herself secure in the 
 arms of a husband who had contracted a 
 mock marriage only that he might betray. 
 
 Orloff conducted his bride to Pisa, under 
 the pretence that they would be exposed to 
 too much observation at Rome, and that it 
 would be better to wait in some other Italian 
 city for the breaking-out of the expected 
 revolution in Russia. At Pisa, Orloff lodged 
 the princess in a magnificent palace, and 
 treated her with every apparent respect 
 and tenderness ; but he did not suffer her 
 to be approached by any persons except 
 those wlio were entirely devoted to his 
 interests. At the theatre, or on the public 
 promenades, he always accompanied her 
 himself One day, Orloff told the prin- 
 cess that a division of the Russian fleet had 
 just entered the port of Leghorn, and that 
 his presence was consequently necessary in 
 that city. He, however, offered to take her 
 with him, to which she readily consented, 
 more especially as she had heard much com- 
 mendation of the beauty of the port of 
 Leghorn, and the magnificence of the Rus- 
 sian ships. 
 
 On her arrival at Leghorn she was re- 
 ceived with the greatest consideration, 
 lodged in the house of the English consul, 
 and soon surrounded by a little court, in 
 consequence of the great number of persons 
 who came to pay their respects to her. 
 
 Every one seemed anxious to study and to 
 anticipate her wishes. In the streets, the 
 people crowded to see her ; at the theatre, 
 all eyes were directed to her box. Every- 
 thing tended to lull her into a fatal security, 
 and to dispel any thought of fear or sus- 
 picion. So strong was the confidence she 
 placed in her betrayer, that after a Hew days 
 spent in amusements, she herself requested 
 to be shown over the Russian fleet. Pre- 
 parations were immediately made for re- 
 ceiving her ^yith becoming state, and she 
 was handed into a boat with magnificent 
 awnings. Vice-admiral Greig, who was in 
 command of the Russian squadron, and 
 Alexis Orloff, entered a second boat ; while 
 a third followed, filled with Russian and 
 English officers. They pushed off from 
 the shore in the sight of an admiring multi- 
 tude, and were received by the fleet with 
 shouts, music, and salutes of artillery. A 
 splendid chair was let down from the vessel, 
 on which the princess was to go on board, 
 and in this manner she was hoisted upon 
 deck. It was also told her, that these hon- 
 ours were bestowed in recognition of her 
 distinguished rank. No sooner had the 
 unfortunate girl stepped on board than this 
 dissimulation ceased. In a moment she 
 was rudely seized and handcuffed. She 
 then saw that she had been deceived ; but 
 she knew not the deep villany of her be- 
 trayer. She yet called him husband, im- 
 plored his interference, threw herself at his 
 feet, and watered them with her tears. It 
 was in vain. He was silent, and his despair- 
 ing victim was torn away and carried down 
 into the hold. The next day the vessel 
 sailed for Russia. On arriving at St. Peters- 
 
 burg, the princess was shut up in the for- 
 tress there; and her subsequent fate re- 
 mains a mystery. Some affirm that she 
 was drowned six years afterwards, by the 
 waters of the Neva entering her prison 
 during the inundation of 1777; others say, 
 that she w^as secretly put to death bv the 
 hands of the executioner ; but neither state- 
 ment has been confirmed by any unexcep- 
 tionable evidence. 
 
 The inhabitants of Leghorn were horri- 
 fied at the treachery which had been prac- 
 tised towards the unhappv victim of Russian 
 policy. The Grand-duke of Tuscanv, whose 
 territory had been so shamefully insulted, 
 complained both to the courts of Vienna 
 and St. Petersburg, of the outrage that had 
 been committed, but he was unable to ob- 
 tain any satisfaction; and the Russian 
 traitor braved both his indignation and that 
 of the public. A circumstance which oc- 
 curred during the stay of Alexis Orloff at 
 Rome, tends to illustrate the coarse man- 
 ners of this brutal man. One evening, 
 when at supper at the house of the Mar- 
 chioness Gentili Bocca Paduli, he desired 
 to exhibit some instances of his extra- 
 ordinary strength. He first, with great 
 ease, broke in his hand several pieces of 
 crystal and iron; then, taking an apple 
 between two of his fingers, he crushed it 
 into bits by tightly compressing them. One 
 of the pieces flew with force into the face of 
 a royal duke who was at table. Every one 
 present, except Orloff, used some expression 
 of regret ; he alone, as if disdainful of the 
 courtesies ever current amongst gentlemen, 
 viewed the accident unmoved, and did not 
 even make the slightest apology. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 '^'l.TrT.rn?^''^'^^ ^^ ™ ^^''''''^' SUPERSTITION OF THE PEOPLE, AND CONSEQUENT RIOTS- ACTIVITY 
 
 fL^Lcp BPTWe'eN TUR^^^^^ '""^'^ "^ ^^^ PESTILENCE; UNSCC^CESSF^f ^EGOTIATmNl 
 
 *UK FhACE BETWEEN TURKEY AND RUSSIA; ORLOFF IS DISMISSED, AND VASSILTSCHIKOFF ^^VCC^^J^v< ttti, 
 FAVOURITE OF THE EMPRESS j THE FIRST DISMEMBERMENT OF POLAND. "^ ''^^^^^^^^^^''^^ BECOMES THE 
 
 During the whole of 1771, the city of 
 Moscow was subjected to the ravages of the 
 plague. The Russian army was first in- 
 fected, in consequence of the soldiers re- 
 siding in the Turkish towns which they had 
 
 captured ; the Turks being, either from want 
 of cleanliness, or from some other cause, 
 more subject to that dreadful malady than 
 any other people in Europe. The Russian 
 general at Jassy, where the pestilence raged 
 
 283 
 
THE PLAGUE AT MOSCOW.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1771. 
 
 A.D. 1771.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [pestilence and riot. 
 
 
 I 
 
 K 
 
 in the winter of 1770, endeavoured to arrest 
 its fatal influence by diverting the minds of 
 his soldiers from the contemplation of it. 
 He therefore issued a peremptory order that 
 its name should not be pronounced, and 
 even obliged the military surgeons to draw 
 up a declaration in writing, that it was only 
 a spotted fever. This artifice did not avail ; 
 several thousand soldiers died, and great 
 numbers of the citizens perished. Even 
 the general fell a victim to the pestilence 
 as the summer advanced. The infection 
 was also spread to a far greater extent by 
 the insane folly of the soldiers themselves, 
 who persisted in robbing the houses, and 
 even the persons of the infected dead. 
 
 From the army the dreadful distemper 
 spread into Russia, and went on with a 
 steady and deadly advance until it reached 
 Moscow. Here the authorities either de- 
 ceived themselves, or in the hope of allaying 
 the fears entertained upon the subject, issued 
 an ukase, assuring the people that there was 
 no pestilence, and that a false alarm had 
 been wickedly raised among the citizens. 
 In Kief, where also the terrible scourge had 
 made its appearance, similar language was 
 held respecting it; and as none of the 
 physicians or surgeons there had ever seen 
 cases of the plague, they pronounced it to 
 be a putrid spotted fever. 
 
 The principal families of Moscow hurried 
 away from the city and went into the 
 country. Their flight was useless ; they 
 carried the contagion with them, and spread 
 it through the neighbouring towns and vil- 
 lages, where it destroyed at least 30,000 
 persons. But its ravages were far more 
 terrible in Moscow itself; for before it sub- 
 sided, it was estimated that only a fourth 
 part of the ordinary number of inhabitants 
 were left alive. Such was the want of 
 labour, and the apathy produced by fear, 
 that the dead often lay for three or four 
 days in the streets, on the spot where they 
 had dropt and died. The empress, on 
 hearing the news, did not shut her eyes to 
 the real nature of the calamity. She issued 
 a proclamation, containing certain direc- 
 tions to be observed, and sent Gregory Orloff" 
 to Moscow with unlimited power to adopt 
 whatever expedient he considered necessary 
 for checking, and, if possible, terminating 
 
 • " It is difficult to imagine," says Tooke, " to 
 ■what length the Russians carry their fanaticism for 
 th^ pictures of the saints, which they call bohgs or 
 gods. The figure of some saint is painted in gaudy 
 colours on a {)iece of board, and the silver, gold, or 
 
 284 
 
 the evil. The conduct of the favourite upon 
 this occasion was bold, active, and efficient ; 
 and it gained him great distinction. Orloft 
 appointed a commission of health, com- 
 prising the most skilful physicians amongst 
 its members. He converted monasteries 
 and palaces into lazarets; appropriated a 
 building for the reception of children whose 
 parents had perished of the plague ; turned 
 several of the public offices into houses 
 of quarantine for suspected persons; and 
 adopted other salutary measures. By these 
 means, the further spread of the pestilence 
 was, to a considerable extent, arrested ; but 
 no efficient mode of cure was discovered. 
 Most of those who were attacked died, and 
 the plague only subsided as winter ap- 
 proached. It carried oflf in Moscow alone, 
 at the beginning of September, 800 persons 
 every day ; while in the middle of October, 
 five, six, or seven hundred were the daily 
 number of victims. By the 15th of No- 
 vember, the number had decreased to 150: 
 while, on the 30th, but seventy-five perished. 
 On the 4th of December only ten died; 
 and then the number diminished until the 
 6th of January, 1772, when the plague 
 ceased. 
 
 The folly or wickedness of men com- 
 monly steps in to aggravate those afflictions 
 which arise from the sickness of nature or 
 the decree of an offended Deity. In this 
 case, it was not sufficient that the invisible 
 power of death floated on every breeze, and 
 rose with the dews of night into the still 
 air, broken only by the moans of agony, 
 the low wailings of despair, or the fierce 
 imprecations of the maniac and the blas- 
 phemer. To these terrors must be added 
 the double curse of ignorance and its twin- 
 brother, fanaticism. The dull and brutal 
 populace could not be induced to observe 
 the precautions recommended to them by 
 the government; and so far were they from 
 following the prescriptions of the physicians, 
 that they charged the latter with being the 
 cause of the pestilence, and subjected them 
 to insult and violence. Foreign medical 
 men, especially, could not pass through the 
 streets without peril to their lives. The 
 ignorant people maintained, that the only 
 true mode of cure was continual prayer to 
 the pictures of the saints ;* and this super- 
 diamonds about the hands and face of it, constitute 
 its value. When a Russian enters a room, the first 
 thing he does is to salute the god, which is placed 
 against the wall in one corner, by bowing and cross- 
 ing himself. St. Nicholas, St. John the Baptist, St. 
 
 stitious delusion was not long before it led refuge in the Donskoi monastery without 
 
 to a criminal tragedy. 
 
 During the month of September, shortly 
 before the arrival of Gregory Orloff*, an 
 impostor, or a madman, stood by one of the 
 gates of the city, and declared to every one 
 ■ who passed by, that a picture of the mother 
 of God, placed near the gate, had appeared 
 to him, complained that its worship had 
 been neglected, and promised to quell the 
 pestilence by a miracle, if that worship was 
 zealously revived. Both priests and peo- 
 ple listened; and without questioning the 
 honesty or sanity of the fdlow, they spread 
 his story by relating it to every one they 
 met. With the mass of the people, to hear 
 was to believe ; for the terrors of the plague 
 had created so much dismay, that they were 
 
 the city; but he was tracked bv the rabble, 
 who rushed into the church, and found him 
 engaged in the celebration of divine worship. 
 Unawed by the sanctity of the place, the 
 venerable appearance of the man, or the 
 nature of his employment, thev beat the 
 unfortunate prelate to the ground, and then 
 dispatched him with their knives. 
 
 Leaving the mangled body lying before 
 the gate of the sacred building, the mur- 
 derers ran back into the city, where they 
 plundered the residence of* the primate, 
 turned the sick out of the lazarets, ill- 
 treated the surgeons, and, breaking into 
 some wine-cellars, soon added the madness 
 of drunkenness to that of fanaticism. Some 
 public officers who endeavoured to calm the 
 
 m the frame of mmd best adapted for the f tumult were severely beaten; and the tide 
 reception of the narratives of the wonderful of popular fury turned against the medical 
 and the miraculous. Multitudes flocked to men, who were accused of having occasioned 
 St. Barbara s gate, and bringmg with them the pestilence. Meeting with an Italian 
 trinkets to hang about the picture, they dancmg-master, whom they took to be a 
 addressed it in passionate entreaties or doctor, they broke both his arms and his 
 vehement cries. Processions then com- ' 
 
 menced, and the pestilence was aggravated 
 in consequence of the concourse of people 
 always congregated in the neighbourhood 
 of the picture. Ambrosius, the primate of 
 Moscow, desired to put an end to this con- 
 fusion. Having procured the assistance of 
 five soldiers, he sent them, late in the even- 
 ing, to take down and bring away the picture 
 that had been the object of so much excite- 
 ment. But neither by night nor day was 
 the gate free from a fanatical tumult before 
 the painted mother of God. The soldiers 
 were driven oflf, and the incensed mob de- 
 nounced the primate as a heretic. Eunning 
 to the churches, they rang all the bells, on 
 which nearly all the inhabitants of the city 
 rushed into the streets, supposing it to be 
 an alarm of fire. On the fanatics informing 
 them of the intended removal of the holy 
 picture, the majority joined in the riot, and, 
 swearing vengeance against the primate, 
 went in pursuit of him. He had taken 
 
 Sergius, and St. Alexander Xevski, are the figures 
 in most request, excej)t the bohgoroditza, the Mother 
 of God. Every one has his particular patron to 
 ^'hom he applies in cases of need. When his neigh- 
 bours see that he succeeds in the culture of his 
 fields or in trade, they borrow or hire his god, to 
 which they attribute his prosperity. They then pay 
 the borrowed figure all sorts of reverence and offer- 
 ings. There are in some towns god-markets ; and 
 the sole diff"erence between the chaff'ering is, that in 
 this the word 'money' must never be pronounced. 
 Some people will never go to their daily labour, or 
 
 legs, and left him lying in that shocking 
 condition in the street. Having attacked 
 and plundered the house of a well-known 
 physician, they pressed forward, staggering, 
 shouting, and filling the air with wild cries, 
 to the principal hospital. At their approach, 
 a hundred soldiers, who had been placed 
 there to protect it, took to their heels ; the 
 doctors and attendants had all previously 
 consulted their safety by retreating into the 
 country. 
 
 For a few hours Moscow was not only- 
 smitten with the plague which struck in- 
 visibly, and removed its victims from 
 amongst the living with a rapidity that 
 engendered a mysterious awe, but it also 
 lay at the mercy of a fanatical, desperate, 
 and drunken mob. Few situations could 
 be more calamitous, when the destructive 
 powers of nature, and the blind wrath of 
 brutal men, combined to spread death and 
 terror throughout its dwellings. But the 
 sanguinary carnival that furious ignorance 
 
 them ; and if a stranger call at their house in the 
 meantime, and asks to salute the hohg, the wife replies 
 that he is gone into the fields, or on a journey. St. 
 George is a j)rotector of horned cattle. The horses 
 are looked after by St. Anthony, and the fish by St. 
 Jonas ; one cures one disease and one another. But 
 perhaps it is unjust to deride any religion for its 
 superstitions; all national religious establishments 
 have them under one form or another. The Russian 
 peasants, notwithstanding, are extremely tolerant. 
 * Your God,' say they to those who are not of the 
 
 ■of «.,* - • • V , . ; •'. ' ^' I ^^^^ religion with them — 'your God commands vcu 
 
 •et out on a journey, without taking their god with « to serve him thusj our God orders us differently.'" 
 
 285 
 
NEGOTIATIONS WITH TURKEY.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1772. 
 
 A.D. 1772.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 i 
 \'f. 
 
 
 carried on within the city of the plague, 1 
 was suppressed in the evening by General 
 Yerakin, who arrived witli 150 soldiers and 
 two field-pieces. Encouraged by the sniall- 
 ness of this force, the rioters encountered 
 it, and a furious fight, which was prolonged 
 until midnight, ensued. By that time 250 
 of the insurgents lay dead in the street, 
 300 were taken prisoners, and many more 
 crawled away, desperately wounded, and 
 died in their miserable homes. The de- 
 cision of General Yerakin restored peace to 
 Moscow ; and the governor and officers 
 who had fled from their duty, speedily re- 
 turned to it. 
 
 Soon after this wild outbreak, Gregory 
 Orloff arrived in Moscow with absolute 
 authority to adopt any means he considered 
 expedient for the reduction of the pesti- 
 lence. His fearlessness and activity con- 
 tributed much to that result. Some of the 
 means he put in practice were admirable 
 ones. When, in the spring of 1772, a 
 return of the calamity was apprehended, he 
 proclaimed throughout the city, that who- 
 ever kept in concealment any goods or 
 other things in houses that had been in- 
 fected, even though they were stolen, might 
 freely produce them, and instead of punish- 
 ment, should receive from ten to twenty 
 roubles ; and that such articles as had been 
 in the possession of infected persons, and 
 must therefore be burnt, should be paid for 
 according to their full value. The re^jult of 
 this proclamation was, that all the infected 
 garments and other articles which a revolt- 
 ing avarice had filched from the dead, even 
 at the risk of themselves speedily following 
 in the same dark path, were collected and 
 destroyed. Happily the plague, which, ac- 
 cording to a Russian estimate, had cost the 
 empire the lives of 133,299 persons, did not 
 return. Such had been the exertions of 
 Gregory Orloff in promoting this end, that 
 the empress Catherine caused a triumphal 
 arch to be erected to his honour, bearing 
 the inscription, " Moscow delivered from 
 ^the contagion by Orloff.'' Medals also 
 were struck as memorials of the service he 
 'had rendered his country. 
 
 During this period Poland continued a 
 prey to confusion ; and on the 3rd of Sep- 
 tember, 1771, its powerless monarch nar- 
 rowly escaped assassination, in consequence 
 of the belief which prevailed amongst his 
 subjects, that he was acting in concert with 
 the empress Catherine, who, from day to 
 day, was adding to the weight of the yoke 
 286 
 
 she had forced upon their unhappy country. 
 The danger from which Stanislaus Augustus 
 had escaped, gave Catherine a new pretext 
 for pursuing the confederates of Bar, as the 
 intolerant catholic party were called, and 
 for preparing for the dismemberment of 
 Poland. 
 
 Turkey had suffered much in the wai 
 with Russia, and desired peace; Russia, who 
 had not sought the conflict, felt it to be a 
 heavy and dangerous responsibility, and 
 was, therefore, not averse to peace. The 
 more so, as the Russian squadron in the 
 Archipelago was devastated by an epidemic 
 which threatened to carry off every sailor 
 in the fleet. Consequently, when the minis- 
 ters of Austria and Prussia intervened to 
 bring about a peace, an armistice was 
 agreed upon, and a congress appointed to 
 meet at Fokshiani. Gregrory Orloff saw in 
 this what he deemed a favourable oppor- 
 tunity for promoting his ambition. Could 
 he obtain a favourable peace for Russia, he 
 conceived that the gratitude of the empress 
 might induce her to make him her partner 
 on the throne, and that popular opposition 
 to such a step would be abandoned in the 
 general joy at the restoration of tran- 
 quillity. 
 
 The empress had been greatly attached 
 to Orloff; but the feeling he entertained 
 towards her was, it has been conjectured, 
 not affection, but the result of gratitude 
 and ambition. Proud of the favour of his 
 sovereign, he showed himself zealous to 
 deserve it; but when once he thought he 
 had acquired sufficient grounds for his pre- 
 tensions, his ardour began to cool, and he 
 even assumed a distant behaviour. The 
 more Catherine wished to bring him back 
 to his usual attentions, the more he seemed 
 inclined to retreat, and to seek his amuse- 
 ment in the company of other ladies. The 
 empress could not but resent this ungrateful 
 conduct, and feel hurt at the insensibility 
 from which it proceeded. However, on 
 account of the fondness for her child, of 
 which Orloff was the father,* she did not 
 at once discard him. The offspring of the 
 adventurer and his imperial paramour was 
 brought up in one of the suburbs of the 
 city, where Catherine, deeply disguised, 
 and under a false name, frequently visited 
 him. It is said, that from affection to this 
 chdd, and with the object of remedying the 
 inconstancy of Orloff, the empress made 
 him an offer of a clandestine marriage, but 
 * A boy, afterwards known as the Count Bobrinski. 
 
 that he rejected it with disdain, as he pre- 
 sumed himself not unworthy of sharino- 
 with her a throne gained, to 'no small ex^ 
 tent, by his boldness, and upheld by his 
 mfluence. Catherine, though surprised, 
 masked her displeasure; but considering 
 that the ambition of Orloff was not only 
 humiliating to her, but might give rise to 
 dangerous consequences, she resolved to 
 subdue her attachment to her aspiring and 
 ungrateful lover. 
 
 Catherine's chief minister. Count Panin, 
 was acute enough to discern the intentions 
 of his mistress. He had long regarded 
 Orloff with secret aversion ; and now that 
 the favourite had departed on his mission to 
 the East, again endeavoured to supplant him 
 in the estimation of the empress. Panin 
 watched her majesty closely, and soon per- 
 ceived that she often looked with com- 
 placency on a sub-lieutenant of the guards 
 named Vassiltschikoff. This person was 
 young, handsome, and of a good figure ; but 
 he had not more than the average intel- 
 lect or talent, was deficient in a knowledge 
 of the world, and in that courage, or rather 
 confidence, which is commonly indispen- 
 sable in forwarding addresses where a dis- 
 parity of rank or fortune exists. But 
 Count Panin, and the courtiers who seconded 
 his design, played up to this new fancy of 
 the empress, and blackened the name of 
 Orloff, while they bestowed praises upon 
 his timid rival. In this case, the docility 
 of the latter was useful to him ; he did as 
 he was directed by the more accomplished 
 intriguers who were interested in his suc- 
 cess, and soon was appointed by the em- 
 press as her chamberlain ; in which situa- 
 tion her smiles and her magnificent presents 
 left no doubt concerning the famiharity 
 which existed between them. 
 
 When Gregory Orloff learnt that a rival 
 had supplanted him in the affections of the 
 empress, he was filled with rage and asto- 
 nishment. Trusting that his presence would 
 revive a passion which his pride forbade 
 him to belieye altogether extinguished, he 
 abandoned Fokshiani without the permis- 
 sion of the empress, and giving up the 
 peace negotiations, hastened to St. Peters- 
 burg. On arriving at the gates of that 
 city, an officer approached his carriage, and 
 presented him with an imperial order for- 
 bidding him to enter. The discarded favour- 
 ite regarded it with silent astonishment, and 
 directed his servants to drive him to Gat- 
 shina, one of his countrv-^eats. 
 
 [orloff is discarded. 
 
 i- ^^^^^""^''^tlierme, who knew the violence 
 ot Orloff s temper, received intelligence 
 that he had quitted Fokshiani, she ex- 
 perienced some alarm; and apprehensive 
 that he might make his appearance in spite 
 ot her, gave orders to double the guard of 
 the palace, and to place sentinels at the 
 gate of the new favourite. As Orloff had a 
 key to his apartments, she even caused the 
 locks to be changed. These precautions 
 were needless; nothing was to be feared 
 irora the once powerful and arrogant cour- 
 tier. No sooner was it known that he had 
 lost the favour of the empress, than he had 
 not a follower left; while those who had 
 hitherto been his enemies in secret, showed 
 themselves on all sides. He at first braved 
 the anger of the empress by refusing to 
 surrender his employments; but Cathenne 
 had no desire to punish where she had once 
 loyed. With a politic indulgence she entered 
 upon a compromise with him; and Orloff; 
 overcome by her bounty, consented to leave 
 Russia, and set out on a tour throu'^h 
 various parts of Europe. The empress re- 
 warded his submission with a present of 
 100,000 roubles, the brevet of a pension of 
 150,000, a magnificent service of plate, and 
 an estate with 6,000 peasants upon it. He 
 had already obtained a patent of prince of 
 the Roman empire, and Catherine desired 
 that he should take the title, no doubt 
 wishing that her former favourite should ap- 
 pear before the world with a magnificence 
 befitting the position he had once held. 
 
 The arrogant demands of the Russians 
 led to the rupture of the congress of Fok- 
 shiani, but negotiations for peace between 
 Turkey and Russia were afterwards resumed 
 at Bucharest. While they were pending, 
 the Russians concluded with a new khan 
 of the Crimea a treaty, by which he de- 
 clared himself independent of the sultan, 
 and placed himself under the protection of 
 the empress. He at the same time sur- 
 rendered to her the forts of Kertch and 
 Yenikale, together with the territory be- 
 longing to them. The Porte, incensed at 
 this, sent a squadron into the Black Sea to 
 oppose the war ships of the empress, which 
 already breasted its waters. 
 
 Catherine's attention was now particularly 
 directed to Poland, where she saw herself 
 about to reap the result of the political 
 intrigues she had so patiently carried on. 
 Frederic the Great was her accomplice in 
 the design of partitioning that miserable 
 country, which fell a prev to the ambition 
 
 287 
 
DISMEMBERMENT OP POLAND.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1772—1773. 
 
 !■ 
 
 of its neighbours through the vices of its 
 nobles and its priesthood, the weakness of 
 its kings, and the slavery of its people. 
 Frederic had drawn Austria into the scheme ; 
 and the emperor, Joseph II., was perfectly- 
 willing to share in the plunder. England 
 had been deluded by a highly profitable 
 commercial treaty, which bound up her 
 interests with those of Russia, and ensured 
 her neutrality. France — then in the op- 
 pressed and exhausted condition which, 
 twenty years later, produced that terrible 
 revolution which astonished the world — she 
 disregarded. The nations of the Baltic, 
 though they felt jealous of the growing 
 preponderance of Russia, were not in a con- 
 dition to oppose her designs ; and the 
 Turks had enough to do to defend their 
 own territory without sending assistance to 
 Poland. 
 
 Prussia and Austria both seized some 
 pretext for pouring their troops into Poland, 
 which was already occupied by those of 
 Russia. The rest of Europe looked on in 
 silence, and wondered why three formidable 
 powers, in a time of peace, should seize 
 upon a country the independence of which 
 had been guaranteed by the most solemn 
 treaties. They were not long kept in sus- 
 pense. The treaty that had been entered 
 into by the three powers was avowed, and 
 the ambassadors of each of them presented 
 to the king and the diet of Poland declara- 
 tions in support of it. The internal troubles 
 of Poland, it was said, were productive of 
 danger to neighbouring states, who were 
 consequently obliged, at a great expense, to 
 take measures of precaution, in order to 
 secure the tranquillity of their own fron- 
 tiers. Russia, Prussia, and Austria were 
 therefore resolved on terminating the dis- 
 sensions of Poland, and at the same time, of 
 satisfying certain claims they had upon that 
 country, by taking possession of such parts 
 of its territory as would serve to fix more 
 natural and certain bounds between it and 
 them. Tn the autumn of 1772, each of the 
 three partitioning powers issued a specifica- 
 tion of the particular territory which they 
 had respectively agreed to appropriate. In 
 these documents, the sovereigns of Prussia 
 and Austria merely commanded the inhab- 
 itants of the districts to which they laid 
 claim, to take an oath of allegiance to them, 
 and to conduct themselves as loyal subjects. 
 The inclination of the people as to this 
 sudden transference of their loyalty was not 
 taken into consideration. Catherine acted 
 288 
 
 with a greater liberality. She solemnly 
 promised her new subjects the free and 
 public exercise of their religion, together 
 with the perfect security of their property. 
 She added, that looking upon them now as 
 her dear children, she gave them equal 
 shares in all the rights, liberties, and pre- 
 rogatives enjoyed by her ancient subjects. 
 In return for these graces, she expected 
 they would render themselves worthy of 
 them by a sincere love of their new country, 
 and an inviolable attachment to its sovereign. 
 Catherine, at the same time, commanded 
 them to take an oath of allegiance to her in 
 the course of a month ; but she allowed any 
 of the nobility or landholders who were not 
 disposed to do so, three months to sell their 
 lands before they left the country. 
 
 Stanislaus Augustus, the king of Poland, 
 while his country was thus being torn 
 asunder by strangers, was a sort of honour- 
 able prisoner in his capital, which was sur- 
 rounded with foreign troops. He v» as re- 
 quired by the representatives of the par- 
 titioning powers to give a sort of sanction 
 to their act of spoliation. They insisted 
 that a diet, presided over by the sovereign, 
 should solemnly cede to them the provinces 
 of which they had already possessed them- 
 selves. On the 19th of April, 1773, a diet 
 met to deliberate with the bayonet at its 
 bosom. Bribes and threats were used to 
 influence the votes of the deputies, and that 
 so successfully, that after some resistance, 
 the diet confirmed the dismemberment of 
 the country. No sooner was this done, 
 than several of the principal members of 
 the diet went to the king, and reproached 
 him with the ruin of their country; for 
 though he had declared loudly against the 
 partition, he was suspected, by those who 
 knew his former devotion to the empress 
 Catherine, of still being the creature of her 
 will. At first he answered his irritated 
 nobles gently ; but as his moderation only 
 encouraged them to use expressions of in- 
 sult, he rose from his seat, and throwing 
 his hat upon the floor, said haughtily — 
 "Gentlemen, I am weary of listening to 
 you. The partition of our unhappy coun- 
 try is a consequence of your ambition, of 
 your dissensions, and your eternal disputes. 
 It is to yourselves alone that you ought to 
 attribute your misfortunes. As for me, if 
 no more territorv should be left me than 
 could be covered by this hat, I should 
 nevertheless be still, in the eyes of all 
 Europe, your lawful but unhappy king.^' 
 
 A.D. 1773.] 
 
 Py t^is, the first dismemberment of 
 Poland, It lost an extent of territory in- 
 habited by nearly 5,000,000 of persons, 
 and comprising more than one-third of its 
 whole extent. Of this territory, Russia 
 took 3,444 square leajj^ues ; Austria, 2,700 • 
 and Prussia, 900; but Frederic's portion' 
 though the smallest and least populous, was 
 also the richest and most enterprising.* 
 Some nobles of the usurped provinces pub- 
 lished protests against this proceeding ; but 
 these were of no avail in a country overrun 
 with foreign armies. The three powers 
 then brought forward, and induced the diet 
 to adopt, the plan of a new constitution 
 which was to obviate the defects of the old 
 one. Its real object, and its actual efi*ect, 
 was to confirm the dangerous privileges of 
 the nobility, and aggravate the confusion 
 from which the country suffered. These 
 were, indeed, calamitous; much of the land 
 was reduced to a mere desert, the inhab- 
 itants being either exterminated or forcibly 
 carried off into Russia or Prussia. The 
 extortions imposed by Frederic, durin^r the 
 occupation of Poland by Prussian troops 
 were enormous ; and the actual sovereignty 
 of Poland, so far as any could be said to 
 exist, was in the hands of the Russian am- 
 bassador, who never neglected an oppor- 
 tunity of treating its legitimate monarch 
 with the most galling insult. 
 
 The violent dismemberment and parti- 
 tion of Poland," said an author who wrote 
 a few years after the events we have just 
 narrated, *' without the pretence of war, or 
 even the colour of right, is to be considered 
 as the first very great breach in the modern 
 political system of Europe. It is not, said 
 the politicians of the continent, sapping by 
 degrees the constitution of our great western 
 republic, it is laying the axe at once to the 
 root, m such a manner as threatens the 
 total overthrow of the whole. The surprise 
 of a town, the invasion of an insignificant 
 province, or the election of a prince who 
 had neither abilities to be feared nor vir- 
 tues to be loved, would some years ago 
 have armed one-half of Europe, and elicited 
 the attention of the other. We now be- 
 hold the destruction of a great kingdom, 
 with the consequent disarrangement of 
 power, dominion, and commerce, with as 
 much indifference as we could read an 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [dismemberment of poi.ind. 
 
 cr 
 
 ^ Notwithstanding the smallness of the tract ac- 
 quired by Frederic, its importance to him M-as im- 
 mense, for it united the kingdom of Prussia with 
 i:'omerania and the marches of Lrandenburff, which it 
 
 VOL. 1. 2 P 
 
 account of the extermination of one horde 
 ot lartars by another, in the days of Ghen- 
 gis Khan or Tamerlane. 
 
 yihe idea of considering Europe as a 
 vast commonwealth ; of the several parts 
 being distmct and separate, though politi- 
 cally and commercially united; of keeping 
 them independent, notwithstanding their 
 inequahty in power; and of preventing 
 any one by any means, from becoming too 
 powerful for the rest, was great and liberal, 
 and though the result of barbarism, founded 
 upon the most enlarged principles of the 
 wisest policy. It is owing to this system, 
 that this small part of the world has ac- 
 quired so astonishing a superiority over the 
 rest of the globe. The fortune and glorv 
 of Greece proceeded from a similar system 
 of policy, though formed upon a smaller 
 scale. Both her fortune and glory expired 
 along with the system. 
 
 " Some of the most desert provinces in 
 Asia have been repeatedly the seats of arts, 
 arms, commerce, and literature. These 
 potent and civiHsed nations have repeatedly 
 perished for want of any union or system of 
 policy of this nature. Some Scythian or 
 other barbarian has been suffered, un- 
 noticed, to subdue his neighbouring tribes ; 
 each new conqnest was made an instrument 
 to the succeeding, until at length become 
 irresistible, he swept whole empires, with 
 their arts and sciences, off the face of the 
 earth. In the same manner, a banditti, 
 who were afterwards called Romans, were 
 suffered to accumulate power, until thev 
 had subdued the bravest and fiercest nal 
 tions, and become the masters of the best 
 part of the worid. Each state looked on 
 with indifference, or enjoyed a malignant 
 pleasure at the ruin of its neighbour, with- 
 out reflecting that the weapons and power 
 of which he was deprived would be quickly 
 employed to its own destruction. 
 
 "It will not be denied, that the idea 
 of supposing a balance of power has in 
 some cases been carried to an extreme ; 
 that by artfully employing it to operate 
 upon the passions and jealousies of man- 
 kind, it has been made an engine subser- 
 vient to the designs of interested and am- 
 bitious persons ; and has, perhaps, thereby 
 been productive of some unnecessary wars. 
 The same objections might be made to that 
 
 had previously separated in a very awkward man- 
 ner, so that Voltaire was accustomed to compare 
 his illustrious friend's dominions to a Ion? pair of 
 gaiters. *^ 
 
 289 
 
 r.f 
 
THE WAR WITH TURKEY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1773. 
 
 glorious jealousy with respect to civil 
 liberty, which has been the admiration and 
 envy of all ages ; which, for the happiness 
 of mankind, should subsist in full vigour in 
 every state in the world, and, to their mis- 
 fortune and punishment, is scarcely alive in 
 a few ; even that, the noblest quality of the 
 human mind, has been productive of wars 
 and other evils." 
 
 We may mention that, so perfectly was 
 England seduced by her commercial in- 
 terests to a connivance at the aggression of 
 Russia and the other partitioning powers, 
 that, when George III. met his reassembled 
 parliament on the 26th of November, 1772 
 (a time when the dismemberment of Poland 
 was known to all the world), his speech did 
 not contain a single allusion to that startling 
 
 innovation. As if approving all that had 
 been done, George expressed his satisfaction 
 at seeing there was reason to hope that the 
 war which had so long unhappily prevailed 
 in one part of Europe, was drawing to a 
 close; and he added, that although there 
 was no probability of England being in- 
 volved in these troubles, yet their discon- 
 tinuance would afford a fairer prospect for 
 the duration of peace, which he trusted would 
 not be affected by recent alterations in 
 Europe. Both houses of parliament gave a 
 formal and empty response to his speech, 
 and neither of them said a word about the 
 political annihilation of Poland, the Russian 
 proceedings in the Archipelago, and the 
 growing power and expanding territory of 
 the empress Catherine ! 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 HOSTILITIES BETWEEN RUSSIA AND TURKEY; FIRST MARRIAGE OF THE GRAND-DUKE PAUL; PEACE OF 
 KAINARDSHI ; PUGATSCHEF THE IMPOSTOR, AND THE GREAT COSSACK REBELLION ; PUGATSCHEF IS BE- 
 TRAYED AND EXECUTED; CONCILIATORY "MEASURES OF THE EMPRESS. 
 
 While the attention of the empress Cathe- 
 rine was chiefly occupied in the division of 
 Poland, her army and her fleet were engaged, 
 with variable success, with those of the 
 Turks. The Danube, which formed the 
 boundary between the hostile armies, was 
 the scene of many furious encounters, which 
 not unfrequently terminated in favour of the 
 Ottoman arms. The Russians, harassed bv 
 frequent attacks, and suffering greatly from 
 the climate, were losing immense numbers of 
 their best troops in ineffectual service. The 
 empress, on learning this, sent despatches 
 to Marshal Romantzoff, desiring to be in- 
 formed why he did not give battle to the 
 enemy. The answer the general returned 
 was, that the grand-vizier had three times 
 more people than he, and might easily find 
 his advantage in such an event. Catherine, 
 in reply, wrote with a proud impatience — 
 " The Romans never asked after the number 
 of their enemies, but where they were, m 
 order to fight them.'' 
 
 Neither on land or by sea were the Rus- 
 sians so successful as they anticipated being. 
 Some trifling engagements took place be- 
 tween the hostile fleets on the Black Sea; 
 290 
 
 but such was the badness of the vessels, and 
 the inexperience of the sailors on both 
 sides, that their contests did little more than 
 show that Russia was about as ill suited to 
 acquire, as Turkey was to defend, the do- 
 minion of those boisterous waters. In the 
 Archipelago the career of the Russian fleet 
 was a chequered one ; some hollow successes 
 were obtained, and some exhausting reverses 
 suffered. In the spring of 1773 the Russian 
 fleet made an unsuccessful descent upon the 
 island of Negropont, in which they suffered 
 great loss ; the Turks cutting off all the men 
 that were landed. Chiefly in consequence 
 of the numbers of their sick the Russians 
 quitted the isle of Paros, and sent a part of 
 their fleet to Leghorn, where they refitted 
 their ships, and fixed a hospital. The other 
 vessels were employed in desultory expedi- 
 tious of a piratical character. They made 
 several descents upon the islands of Cyprus, 
 Candia, and others, which were attended 
 with no further advantage than the accumu- 
 lation of plunder. They were, however, so 
 far from being always successful in these 
 aftairs, that four sacks, full of Russian heads, 
 were sent from Stanchio to Constantinople, 
 
 A.D. 1773—1774.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EM PIRE. [peace with the porte. 
 
 as a proof of the reception they had met 
 with in that island. 
 
 Catherine had, for some time, desired to 
 see her son, the Grand-duke Paul, contract 
 an alliance which should result in ensuring 
 the continuance of the imperial dynasty. 
 Paul was weak in constitution and cold in 
 temperament ; and the empress entertained 
 some fears that he might be indisposed or 
 incapable of giving heirs to the empire. 
 Some of her confidants undertook to dispel 
 her doubts. For this purpose they engaged 
 an attractive Polish lady, a widow, named 
 Sophia Ossipovna, to melt the coldness of 
 the prince, and win him to her endearments. 
 Paul was captivated; the lady bore him a 
 son,* and the empress was satisfied and 
 convinced. She shortly afterwards caused 
 Paul to be married to the Princess Wilhel- 
 mina, one of the daughters of the landgrave 
 of Hesse-Darmstadt. As a preliminary, the 
 lady embraced the Greek mode of worship; 
 and the marriage, which was conducted with 
 great magnificence, took place on the 10th 
 of October, 1773. 
 
 Catherine was fond of communicating with 
 distinguished men of letters, and Voltaire 
 and Diderot were the correspondents whom 
 she most distinguished. She had several 
 times invited them to visit her at St. Peters- 
 burg. Voltaire had ever declined ; but this 
 year Diderot accepted the hospitahty of the 
 empress, and travelled to St. Petersburg, 
 where he was received with much distinction 
 and liberality. The apostle of materialism 
 wrote to a friend, that " while in a country 
 called the land of freemen, he felt as a slave; 
 but now, in a land called the country of 
 slaves, he felt like a freeman.'' Every day, 
 after dinner, Catherine conversed with him on 
 philosophy, legislation, or politics. Diderot 
 unfolded his principles concerning the rights 
 of nations, with his usual eloquence and 
 enthusiasm. The empress used to make 
 him sit beside her; and, in his warmth, he 
 sometimes hit her on the knee with the back 
 of his hand — a familiarity which she never 
 resented or seemed displeased at. But, 
 though she seemed dehghted to converse 
 with the philosopher, he did not often win 
 her to the adoption of his principles. " Mon- 
 sieur Diderot,'' she remarked, " is a hundred 
 years old in many respects; but, in others, 
 he is no more than ten." 
 
 Immense preparations were made, both 
 by the Turks and the Russians, for the cam- 
 paign of 1774. The army of the grand- 
 vizier, on the Danube, was reported to 
 amount to no less than 400,000 combatants, 
 while the Porte also fomented rebellions 
 amongst the Cossacks, and troubles with 
 the Tartars of the Crimea. The Russians 
 also had a powerful army on the Danube, 
 under the command of Marshal Romantzoff, 
 beneath whom served Generals Soltikoff' 
 buwarrow, and Kamenskoi. 
 
 Notwithstanding the enormous numerical 
 force of the Turks, they were defeated in 
 several engagements; and the severe re- 
 verses they suffered led, as was usual, to a 
 spirit of insubordination amongst them. 
 They not only fought furiously amongst 
 themselves, but deserted by whole detach- 
 ments. Their general had fixed his camp 
 at Shumla, at a considerable distance from 
 the main body of his army. Romantzofi 
 soon discerned this vital error, and, sur- 
 rounding the camp of the vizier, he cut off 
 the communication of that thoughtless gen- 
 eral with the great body of his troops, and 
 also with his magazines. The vizier, un- 
 able to obtain any succours, to retire, or to 
 stand a battle, resolved to sue for peace. 
 
 The Russians had no objection to peace, 
 but they would abate nothing of their pre- 
 vious demands. To these the Turks now 
 agreed, and the treaty was concluded at 
 Kutschuk-Kainardshi, in Bulgaria. By it 
 Russia obtained the free navigation of the 
 Black Sea, and all other Ottoman seas, 
 together with the passage of the Darda- 
 nelles, with the sole restriction that she 
 should never have more than one armed 
 vessel in the Bosphorus. Russia retained 
 Azoff, Taganrog, Kertch, and Kinburn, 
 but restored the rest of her conquests. 
 But the condition which perhaps most of ' 
 all galled the pride of the Porte, was the 
 declaration of the independence of the 
 Crimea ; though that government does not 
 appear to have foreseen that Catherine only 
 desired to obtain the independence of the 
 Crimea, that she might be the better 
 enabled to incorporate it with her own 
 dominions, to which, indeed, in a geogra- 
 phical sense, it properly belongs. Besides 
 these concessions, the empress obtained 
 from the Porte that tract of land lying on 
 
 *r 4 
 
 m 
 
 Hp 1« nf '^^^f ^^^^ ,^^« "f "^^ ?? Simeon Velikoi. press Catherine to learn the art of navigation la 
 
 li elrlv 1p !n t %'^.^ T^''' disposition^ and at England. While in this country he volunte^ered in o 
 
 an early age entered the Russian navy. He after- the Enghsh navy, and died in the West Indies in 
 
 wards formed one of twelve officers sent by the em- 1797. 
 
 291 
 
r 
 
 STATE OF THE EMPIRE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.p. 1773. 
 
 \* 
 
 I 
 
 the Euxine between the Bug and the 
 Dnieper, a pecuniary equivalent for the 
 expenses of the war, and a recognition of 
 her imperial title. By this treaty, there- 
 fore, she derived the twofold advantage of 
 increasing her own power and decreasing 
 that of her enemy. The commerce of the 
 Euxine, and the mart of the Levant, opened 
 to her a source of immense riches. The 
 protection which she granted the Tartars 
 furnished her with the means of dividing 
 them, and of conquering their country. 
 The acquisition of the Polish Ukraine put 
 her in a capacity of more easily carrying on 
 a war in the regions of the Danube, of 
 overawing the Ottoman empire, and of 
 completing the ruin of Poland. The estab- 
 lishment of discipline among the Cossacks 
 added to her armies an excellent cavalry ; 
 and the empress beheld her influence and 
 her reputation extending throughout Europe. 
 Great joy prevailed at St. Petersburg in 
 consequence of the conclusion of peace, and 
 eight days were devoted to public festivities. 
 That the spirit of gladness might be uni- 
 versal, all prisoners, except those charged 
 with high treason, were released, and many 
 of the unfortunate outcasts who had been 
 exiled to Siberia permitted to return. 
 
 In fact, peace Avas almost as requisite to 
 Russia as to Turkey. The finances of the 
 empress were in a dilapidated state; Mos- 
 cow and the adjacent country had not 
 recovered the ravages of the plague, which 
 had made its appalling appearance in the 
 armies of the empress, and had even ex- 
 tended to her fleet in the Archipelago. An 
 insurrection, to which we shall presently 
 refer, was rife in the provinces of Kazan, 
 Astracan, and Orenburg; while from 
 seventy to one hundred thousand Kal- 
 muck families had, in consequence of some 
 oppression to which they had been sub- 
 jected, abandoned the steppes of Russia, 
 and sought the protection of the emperor of 
 China. Catherine, who could ill afford to 
 lose so considerable a number of the in- 
 habitants of her thinly-populated domi- 
 nions, demanded the restitution of the run- 
 aways. To this she received a dignified 
 refusal; the supreme tribunal of Pekin 
 saying — " Their sovereign was not so un- 
 just a prince as to deliver up his subjects to 
 foreigners, nor so cruel a father as to drive 
 away children who returned to the bosom 
 of their family. That he had no intimation 
 of the design of the Kalmucks till the 
 moment of their arrival; and that then, 
 292 
 
 without delay, he caused to be restored to 
 them the habitations that had belonged to 
 them from time immemorial.'' 
 
 Catherine herself, also, though equal to 
 immense exertions, yet desired repose. 
 Though triumphant over her enemies, the 
 admiration of Europe, idolised by her cour- 
 tiers, she was still frequently a prey to 
 secret disquietudes of great severity. Though 
 constantly projecting an extension of her 
 large dominions, she yet dreaded the 
 thought of being hurled from the throne. 
 Sometimes trembling for her life, yet she 
 gaily discoursed of the long career she had 
 probably still to run. On one occasion she 
 found a paper in her cabinet, in which 
 mention was made of a threatened assas- 
 sination; but never did she show herself 
 more confident and sedate than on that 
 day. Though sometimes distracted with 
 doubts, she never abandoned those pleasures 
 to which she had always been so much de- 
 voted. She frequently went from the 
 council to the ball-room and the theatre, 
 and from important sittings of the senate 
 to the most frivolous amusement. 
 
 Catherine was growing weary of her 
 favourite VassiltschikofF, who, though he 
 did not abuse the trust placed in him, and 
 conducted himself with much moderation, 
 was yet rather a passive and insipid cha- 
 racter. At this point, Prince Orloff re- 
 turned unexpectedly from his travels ; and 
 although the empress at first refused to see 
 him, she commanded Vassiltschikoff to retire 
 to Moscow, and loaded him with presents 
 for his complaisant obedience. Orloff soon 
 made his appearance at court, where the 
 empress received him with cheerfulness. 
 He aspired to gain his old ascendancy over 
 the heart of the empress ; but he was de- 
 ceived in this respect. She only desired 
 his presence and his influence, that she 
 might be the better able to oppose a faction 
 which she feared was forming under the 
 auspices of her son the Grand-duke Paul. 
 
 Clouds appeared to be gathering in the 
 horizon of Catherine. For some time discon- 
 tent had reigned among great bodies of the 
 people, on account of their sufferings from 
 the plague and the war, and the boors 
 were almost desperate at seeing their sons 
 successively taken from them to perish by 
 the sword of the Turks, or the pestilence 
 which raged among the Russian armies on 
 the Danube. The empress had never been 
 a favourite with the ancient nobility of the 
 empire, while the priesthood secretly hated 
 
 A.D. 1773.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [pugatschef the impostor. 
 
 her, on account of the wealth and privileges 
 she withheld from them. The latter, ready 
 to adopt any means of vengeance, privately 
 spread abroad a report that Peter III. was 
 still living, and would soon make his ap- 
 pearance to claim the throne which was his 
 right. So early as the year 1767, a shoe- 
 maker of Voronetch declared himself to be 
 the deceased czar ; but he was soon taken, 
 and executed as an impostor. Three years 
 afterwards, a Russian soldier, who had de- 
 serted from his regiment, made the same 
 dangerous assertion; and although he re- 
 ceived a great deal of support from the 
 priests, shared the same fate as his prede- 
 cessor. Stefano Piccolo, a foreigner, who 
 had served among the Austrian irregulars 
 in the Seven Years' War, and afterwards 
 entered into the Russian service, was the 
 third adventurer in this direction. An in- 
 surrection followed, and his claim was soon 
 exposed ; but he himself was fortunate 
 enough to escape. A fourth and fifth im- 
 postor, who each claimed to be the mur- 
 dered Peter, perished by the hands of the 
 executioner. These miserable attempts were 
 but a gloomy prelude to the tragedy that 
 was to follow. 
 
 The next attempt to personate the de- 
 ceased czar was made in 1773, and with 
 remarkable success. The chief actor in it 
 was Ikhelman Pugatschef, the son of a Cos- 
 sack of the Don. In early life he served as 
 a common soldier in the Russian army, and 
 fought against Frederic of Prussia. He 
 afterwards served in the campaign of 1769 
 against the Turks, and was present at the 
 siege of Bender. "When that town surren- 
 dered he applied for his dismission, and on 
 its being refused him, deserted and fled to 
 Poland. There he was concealed by some 
 hermits of the Greek church, whom he 
 sometimes entertained by narrations of his 
 various adventures. One day he mentioned, 
 that while he was in the Russian service, an 
 officer, after contemplating him for some 
 time, observed, " If the emperor Peter III., 
 my master, were not dead, I should believe 
 that I saw him once more in thee." The 
 hermits paid but little attention to this 
 anecdote, but a circumstance occurred 
 shortly afterwards which recalled it vividly 
 to their minds. One of their companions 
 who had been absent, seeing Pugatschef on 
 his return, exclaimed suddenly, "Is not 
 that the emperor, Peter III. ?" On this the 
 monks conceived the project of inducing 
 Pugatschef to assume the character of the 
 
 murdered czar, and found no difficulty in 
 winning him to a participation in the pro- 
 posed deception. 
 
 As soon as the monks considered the 
 deserter to be sufficiently prepared in the 
 details of the character he was to assume, 
 he proceeded to Little Russia, and putting on 
 the garb of a patriarch, bestowed his bene- 
 dictions on the people with all the solemnity 
 of a new apostle. He had no desire, he 
 told them, to recover his lost dignities; 
 declared that he was entirely weaned from 
 the vanities of the world ; that his life had 
 long been devoted to piety; and that as 
 soon as he had placed his dear son upon the 
 throne, he would again retire to terminate 
 his days in mortification and prayer. The 
 ignorant and superstitious people listened 
 with wonder and belief! Pugatschef was soon 
 at the head of a great number of followers, 
 and was even countenanced by many of the 
 nobility of that locality. 
 
 From Orenburg, where the revolt began, 
 Pugatschef went to the Cossacks of the Don, 
 where he was arrested on a charge of ex- 
 citing the people to sedition, and sent to 
 take his trial at Kasan. There the discon- 
 tented priests supplied him with money, 
 with which he corrupted his guards, and 
 then made his escape. Gathering a few of 
 his old comrades around him, they went 
 down the Volga as far as the mouth of the 
 Irghis, proceeded up that river, and pene- 
 trated into the desert. There, from day to 
 day, his followers increased, and soon be- 
 came sufficiently formidable to encourage 
 him publicly to declare that he was the 
 emperor Peter III., and had been dehvered 
 by a miracle from the hands of his assassins ; 
 that a soldier, who greatly resembled him, 
 had been substituted as a victim to their 
 fury ; and that the report of his death was 
 a fiction coined by the court to compose 
 the minds of the people, and reconcile them 
 to the usurpation of Catherine. 
 
 Serious discontents prevailed among the 
 Cossacks, especially those who resided in 
 the neighbourhood of the river Yaik. The 
 chief of these arose from religious differences, 
 for the Cossacks of that locality belonged to 
 a party of separatists known as Roskolniki, 
 or heretics ; though they called themselves 
 Starovertzi, or believers according to the 
 old faith. The pretext on which Peter III. 
 had been dethroned, was his attempt to 
 alter the dress and rites of the priests, and 
 to curtail the splendid revenues of the 
 church. The Cossacks, therefore, now be- 
 
 293 
 
 P 
 
Id' . 
 
 
 hi 
 
 PROGRESS OF THE REBELLION.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1773. 
 
 lit* 
 
 I,* 
 
 I'M 
 
 li. 
 
 \k 
 
 
 I 
 
 \l 
 
 lieved that he was a true Roskolnik, who 
 had been deprived of his crown on account 
 of his adherence to their tenets. What, 
 then, more natural than that believing him 
 to be alive, they should receive him with 
 open arms ? 
 
 In the month of September, 1773, 
 Pugatschef and his followers made their ap- 
 pearance before the town of Yaitsk, which 
 contained 5,000 Cossacks and two field 
 regiments, and summoned it to surrender. 
 To these troops the impostor issued a mani- 
 festo, in which he declared ''that he was 
 Peter III., who had escaped from Ropscha 
 at the instant when his assassins were about 
 to murder him ; that the traitors who had 
 dethroned him, and dreaded his return, had 
 falsely invented and propagated the report 
 of his death; that he had been obliged to 
 put on the disguise of a Cossack, to bear 
 arms for his persecutors, and afterwards to 
 conceal himself among the true and faithful 
 believers, to whom he had made himself 
 known; that having learnt, at length, that 
 the brave Cossacks of the Yaik were re- 
 solved to free themselves from the yoke of 
 the usurpatrix, he was come to put himself 
 into their hands, and to offer to march with 
 them to victory and to vengeance." Imme- 
 diately 500 of the Cossacks came over to 
 him, accompanied by eleven of their officers ; 
 many of the others soon followed their ex- 
 ample; and the commander of the place, 
 who remained true to bis duty, Pugatschef 
 seized and hanged. 
 
 It would be both wearisome and unneces- 
 sary to follow the steps of this barbarian in 
 his career of conquest and of cruelty. He 
 acted with great boldness and some military 
 skill, and defeated many bodies of troops 
 sent against him. Lured by the hope of 
 plunder and the excitement of a warlike 
 life, immense numbers joined his standard ; 
 and, during the winter, a body of 10,000 
 Kalmucks revolted, and went over to 
 him. At first Pugatschef conducted him- 
 self with an appearance of moderation ; he 
 wore an episcopal robe, gave his benedic- 
 tion to the people, and constantly repeated 
 that he was destitute of all ambition, and 
 that he only desired to place his son, the 
 grand-duke, on the throne, and then end 
 liis days in religious retirement. Though 
 this mode of conduct attracted to him many 
 followers, he soon became tired of it, and 
 the real character of the man revealed itself. 
 He omitted no opportunity for extending 
 the terror of his arms, and shrunk from no 
 294 
 
 cruelty that might promote that end. He 
 availed himself of every exhibition of weak- 
 ness or imprudence on the part of the 
 authorities, and displayed so much activity, 
 that scarcely had he reduced a town to sub- 
 mission, before he led his followers to engage 
 some force sent against him. Continued 
 success rendered him arrogant, and throw- 
 ing aside all restraint, he gave free scope to 
 his savage temper and his licentious pas^ 
 sions. While besieging Orenburg he caused 
 all the officers and gentry of the surround- 
 ing country to be massacred, together with 
 their wives and children ; resolving, as he 
 said, to shed the very last drop of blood of 
 the haughty and tyrannical nobility. 
 
 The spirit of rebellion extended itself as 
 far as Moscow. Catherine felt alarmed at 
 its extent, and recalling General Bibikoff 
 from the frontiers of Turkey, gave him the 
 command of a considerable army, with 
 orders to march agamst the insurgents. At 
 the same time she issued a manifesto, which 
 was circulated through the principal towns of 
 the empire. It promised a pardon to all de- 
 serters — especially to those of the Cossacks of 
 the Don and the Yaik — who should return 
 to their duty, and offered a reward of 100,000 
 roubles for the head of Pugatschef. The 
 rebel chief also published his manifestoes, 
 and affixed to them the name of Peter III. 
 By one of these documents he declared all 
 the serfs of the empire to be eniancipated. 
 He even caused roubles to be coined, bearing 
 an impress of his likeness, with the inscrip- 
 tion, " Peter III., emperor and autocrator of 
 all the Russias." 
 
 General Bibikoff led an army of 35,000 
 men against the rebels, and obtained several 
 successes over them, but without much af- 
 fecting their number or decreasing their 
 atrocities. His good fortune, however, soon 
 abandoned him; for, having detached Prince 
 Galitzin with a considerable body of troops, 
 he was unexpectedly attacked by Pugatschef, 
 and lost his life in the severe engjigement 
 which followed. Prince Galitzin, on his 
 return, attacked the rebels, who fought des- 
 perately for a period of six hours, when, 
 after a great number had perished, Pugats- 
 chef and the rest took to flij<ht, and escaped 
 to the shelter of the Ural Mountains. 
 
 Notwithstanding this heavy reverse, the 
 active rebel soon reappeared at the head 
 of a considerable force, and made himself 
 master of several towns to the east of the 
 mountains. Such as offered any resistance 
 he gave to the flames. Here he was again 
 
 111 
 
 % 
 
 A.D. 1774.] 
 
 attacked and defeated; and after being 
 hunted from place to place, though not 
 without occasionally inflicting sanguinary 
 checks upon his pursuers, he crossed the 
 Volga, and regained the desert with no 
 more than 300 followers, in whose bravery 
 and fidelity he placed his last hope. 
 
 Fortune had not yet deserted him, and 
 every day he was joined by numbers of 
 Cossacks, Kalmucks, and boors, who, at- 
 tracted by the name of liberty, had aban- 
 doned their labour and taken to arms. 
 Elated by his popularity and the seeming 
 attachment of his people, he resolved to 
 march upon Moscow, where the populace, 
 never perfectly reconciled to the sway of 
 the empress, waited for him as a redeemer 
 and champion of their cause. Fortunately, 
 as he was beginning his march, he received 
 information that the empress had just con- 
 cluded a war with the Turks; and, appre- 
 hensive that he should have to contend with 
 the greater part of the returning army of 
 Marshal Romantzofi", he thought it more 
 prudent to turn his arms in another direc- 
 tion. Learning that some Russian regi- 
 ments were encamped on the shores of the 
 Volga, he descended that river, fell upon 
 them by surprise, and routed them utterly. 
 Pugatschef also took several forts, and the 
 town of Drnitressk, the governor of which 
 he inhumanly caused to be impaled. The 
 rebel chief here showed himself as a ruffian 
 altogether destitute of merciful or generous 
 emutions. Hearing that the astronomer 
 Lovitch, member of the Imperial Academy 
 of Sciences at St. Petersburg, was employed 
 in the neighbourhood in taking levels for a 
 projected canal, he commanded the unof- 
 fending man of science to be brought before 
 him. As soon as the astronomer made his i 
 appearance, Pugatschef ordered his men to ' 
 lift him on their pikes, in order, said he 
 derisivel}^ " that he may be nearer the ' 
 stars.'' The unfortunate man was then cut 
 to pieces by the attending Cossacks. | 
 
 The career of the successful ruffian was 
 approaching to a conclusion. The empress | 
 had sent General Panin to arrest his pro- 
 gress ; and an intimate associate of Pugats- 
 chef, who had. been taken prisoner, '^was ' 
 suborned to betray him. But it was to 
 the indefatigable exertions of a Colonel 
 Mikelson that Catherine was peculiarly 
 indebted for the suppression of this dan- 
 gerous rebelliou. He pursued the insur- 
 gents without intermission, marching over 
 deserts of trackless snow without a guide, 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [capture of pugatschef. 
 
 and, at times, almost without food. lu 
 every collision he had with the rebels he 
 was always successful ; and not only did he 
 surprise and defeat them, while encumbered 
 with baggage m a mountain pass, but cut 
 on their convoys, and reduced them to a 
 state of famine. Again deserted bv the 
 great bulk of his followers, Pugatschef had 
 sought for safety in the deserts beyond the 
 Volga. His miserable associates, suffering 
 from hunger and thirst, and no longer able 
 to hope for any change in his fortune, re- 
 solved to betray him, and to purchase their 
 own safety with the life of their leader. 
 As he was seeking a meal by gnawing the 
 bones of a horse, the only food left him 
 several of his associates approached, and the 
 first observed, '' Come, thou hast been em- 
 peror long enough." Pugatschef shattered 
 the arm of the foremost of his assailants by 
 a pistol-shot, but he was soon overpowered 
 and bound by them. They then sent a 
 message to the Russian authorities, relatin^^ 
 what they had done. ° 
 
 Pugatschef was at first placed in close 
 confinement, together with several of his 
 principal accomplices, but he was afterwards 
 carried to Moscow in an iron cage. The 
 baffled rebel refused all sustenance, and ap- 
 peared resolved on self-destruction ; but his 
 keepers found means to compel him to eat. 
 He afterwards counterfeited madness, but 
 without producing the eff'ect he intended. 
 He was subjected to many examinations 
 lor the purpose of discovering if his career 
 of imposture had been suggested or aided 
 I by any distinguished persons. Both the 
 I Turkish and the French governments were 
 I suspected of having excited this formidable 
 I insurrection for the purpose of giving the 
 j emprciis full employment at home. °In a 
 letter which Catheriue wrote the French 
 monarch, informing him that the leader of 
 ' the revolt was in her power, she said, "I 
 ^ shall keep his depositions secret, that they 
 I may not aggravate the disgrace of tliose 
 who set him on." 
 
 The delinquent was tried by the senate, 
 assisted by a special commission; and the 
 empress recommended them to be satisfied 
 with a simple confession of his crime, and 
 not to apply the torture for the purpose of 
 extracting the names of his accomplices. 
 She was prudently apprehensive lest his 
 declarations might oblige her to multiply 
 punishments, and plunge the empire into 
 fresh excitement. The empress, however, 
 departed from her customary lenity on this 
 
 295" 
 
< !' 
 
 l:> f- 
 
 SUPPRESSION OF THE REBELLION.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1775. 
 
 r * 
 
 u. 
 
 ;i: 
 
 4 
 
 
 ,^'■1' 
 
 
 $' 
 
 
 
 Li 
 i t, 
 
 occasion. Pugatschef was condemned to 
 have his hands and his feet cut oflF, and then 
 to be quartered alive. Several of his asso- 
 ciates were to be hanged at tlie same time. 
 He was taken to the place of execution in a 
 cart painted black, and compelled to hold a 
 lighted candle in his hand. A priest sat on 
 each side of him, and behind stood the 
 executioner with two large axes placed on a 
 block. The preparations that had been 
 made created a great sensation in the minds 
 of the spectators, but Pugatschef himself 
 beheld them with an undaunted aspect. 
 With a strange insensibility respecting the 
 atrocities he himself had committed, he 
 uttered a wish, as he was driven through the 
 crowd, that if he had done aught amiss, the 
 people would pardon him for the love of 
 God ! He ascended the scaffold with per- 
 fect calmness and self-possession ; but, hap- 
 pily, the revolting sentence passed upon 
 him was not literally fulfilled. Either from 
 an error on the part of the executioner, or 
 from a sense of humanity in the man, he 
 struck off the head of the rebel first, and 
 severed the hands and feet afterwards. 
 Some persons have said that the punish- 
 ment of Pugatschef was thus mitigated in 
 consequence of a secret order from the em- 
 press to that effect ; but that is not probable, 
 as the unfortunate executioner had his 
 tongue cut out, and was sent to Siberia, for 
 presuming to alter the nature of the punish- 
 ment to which so notorious a criminal was 
 condemned. Five of the principal associates 
 of Pugatschef suffered with him, while 
 eighteen more underwent the knout, and 
 were exiled to Siberia. His rebelHon had 
 cost the destruction of a great number of 
 towns, and of upwards of 250 villages, be- 
 sides interrupting the works at the mines of 
 Orenburg, and the whole trade of Siberia. 
 The empress, to efface all memorial of the 
 revolt, changed the name of the river Yai'k 
 into that of the Ural; and the town of 
 Yaitsk, where Pugatschef commenced his 
 rebellion, into that of Uralsk. She also 
 
 • That is, not estimable, but having a certain air of 
 grandeur from their being absolutely and widely 
 removed from littleness and meanness. Great crime 
 lias often so dazzled the world by its brilliancy, that 
 men regard the author with emotions of admiration ; 
 but the criminal who crawls through life heaping 
 296 
 
 prohibited the discussion of the particulars 
 of this prolonged insurrection, forbade any 
 reproaches to be used on its account, and 
 pronounced a decree of silence and oblivion 
 on all matters concerning it. 
 
 After the suppression of this rebellion, 
 which had threatened to shake her throne, 
 Catherine adopted many measures of a na- 
 ture calculated to produce contentment in 
 the minds of the people, and to win their 
 attachment. She abolished a number of 
 the ancient taxes, especially such as were 
 considered discouraging to agriculture, or 
 oppressive to particular provinces or orders 
 of the people. With a remarkable generosity 
 she also lent considerable sums of money, 
 without interest, for a specified term of years, 
 to those provinces which had been devastated 
 by the rebels, and were consequently suffer- 
 ing from famine. Those criminals who had 
 undergone long periods of imprisonment, or 
 had otherwise suffered severely for their 
 offences, she set at liberty. The same hu- 
 manity was shown, under certain restric- 
 tions, to imprisoned debtors; while the heirs 
 of those who lay under pecuniary obliga- 
 tions to the crown, were released from them. 
 These prudent measures were so far suc- 
 cessful that the disturbed districts were 
 tranquillised, and the insurgents everywhere 
 returned to their duty. 
 
 "Thus," it has been well observed, "Russia 
 enjoyed her power, influence, and glory, with 
 a noble and splendid magnificence. All her 
 affairs were conducted upon a great and ex- 
 tensive system, and all her acts were in 
 a grand style. She sat supreme between 
 Europe and Asia, and looked like the dictator 
 of both. In her was seen a great but still 
 growing empire, which, not having reached 
 the summit of her destined power, felt life 
 and vigour glowing in every part. The suc- 
 cesses and consequences of the war enlarged 
 the spirit, extended the views, and dignified 
 the minds of the people. In such a state 
 everything is bold and masculine. Even its 
 vices and crimes are great."* 
 
 meanness upon meanness, and doing villanous work 
 from vile and utterly selfish considerations, is not 
 only wicked, but disgusting. No sane man can 
 apologise for that which is vicious ; but yet even 
 Edmund Burke exclaimed, "that vice list half its 
 evil by losing all its grossness." 
 
 A.D. 1774.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [potemkin becomes favourite. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 POTEMKIN BECOMES FAVOURITE OF THE EMPRESS; STATE VISIT OF CATHEEINP TO MOSCOW POTRMriv 
 ENDEAVOURS TO INDUCE THE EMPRESS TO MARRY HIM ; HE IS DISCARDED AS tJe "ovER BUT REM U^^ 
 AS THE FRIEND OF HIS MISTRESS; DEATH OF THE GRAND-DUCHESS; PAUL mIrRIK, THF PRIV-TsS OF 
 ^.fn^n'r""" CATHERINE'S THIRST FOR DISTINCTION ; HER INTRIGUES IN SWEDEN DHTIRBANxK W 
 TIE CRIMEA i CLAIMS OF RUSSIA WITH RESPECT TO MOLDAVIA AND WALLACHUrNEW TReItT BETWEEN 
 CATHERINE '""'"' ''"''"^'' "" ™^ ^"^^^'^^ ^^^ARDS ENGLAND; SPLENDOUR OF t'L COURT OF 
 
 When the empress dismissed her lover 
 Vassiltschikoff, Prince Gregory Orloff was 
 again taken into favour. But this was but 
 for a short time, for Catherine had been im- 
 pressed with the manly beauty and noble 
 air of Potemkin. She remembered with 
 pleasure that, on the day of entrance into 
 St. Petersburg, during the revolution of 
 1762, Potemkin, then a mere youth, on ob- 
 serving her to be without a plume in her 
 hat, had gallantly ridden up and presented 
 her with his. 
 
 The coarseness of Orloff's manners were 
 not calculated to revive a cold attachment, 
 and the empress secretly bestowed her smiles 
 on the handsome Potemkin. Elated by this 
 prosperity, he one day boasted to Alexis 
 Orloff of the favour he enjoyed, and even 
 ventured to assert that he could remove 
 from court any person to whom he had 
 taken a dislike. Orloff returned a haughty 
 reply; sharp words ensued, and Potemkin 
 received a blow, which eventually deprived 
 him of an eye. In addition to this, the em- 
 press yielded to the solicitations of Gregory, 
 and Potemkin was compelled to abandon the 
 court. Retiring to Smolensk he remained 
 almost a year in solitude, suffering much 
 from vexation and from the injury to his 
 eye. * Sometimes he expressed his intention 
 of turning monk, as thousands of worldly 
 and disappointed men have done before 
 him ; at others, he gave way to the most ex- 
 travagant hopes. At length an ardent and 
 submissive letter, which he wrote to the 
 empress, had the effect not onlv of producing 
 his recall, but of restoring to him the full 
 possession of her favour. He arrived during 
 the absence of Gregory Orloff on a hunting 
 excursion ; and the latter, on his return, soon 
 
 It has been said that he might have been cured 
 of the injury done to his eye, but that, in his im- 
 patience, he burst a slight tumour that had formed 
 close to the ball, and deprived himself of the sight 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 2q 
 
 discovered that his reproaches ana his com- 
 plaints were alike unavailing. 
 
 Potemkin was installed into the office of 
 favourite during the year 1774, with cer- 
 tain formalities, which were afterwards ob- 
 served towards all on whom the imperial 
 smiles were lavished. Some account of these 
 proceedings is, at the least, curious. When 
 Catherine cast her eyes on one of her sub- 
 jects with the intention of raising him to 
 the post of favourite, he was invited to 
 dinner by some lady in her confidence, and 
 she herself, as if accidentally, joined the 
 party. During the entertainment she en- 
 tered into discourse with the new-comer, to 
 ascertain if he was worthy of the favours she 
 contemplated bestowing upon him. A sign 
 to the confidant expressed her satisfaction, 
 or the reverse ; and, in the event of a favour- 
 able judgment, that discreet person took 
 care to inform the fortunate courtier of the 
 honour that was intended for him. The fol- 
 lowing day he received a visit from one of 
 the physicians of the court, who came to 
 inquire into the state of his health; and, in 
 the evening, he accompanied the empress 
 to her palace called the Hermitage, and 
 took possession of the apartment which had 
 been prepared for him. This was situated 
 immediately beneath that of the empress, to 
 which it communicated by a private staircase. 
 The position of general aide-de-camp to her 
 majesty was bestowed upon him, in order 
 that he might accompany her everywhere 
 without attracting reproach or inviting ob- 
 servation. On the day of his being received 
 into favour he was presented with 100,000 
 roubles, and every succeeding month he 
 found 12,000 on his dressing-table. In ad- 
 dition to this, the marshal of the court was 
 ordered to provide him with a table of 
 twenty-four covers, and to defray all the 
 expenses of his household. The paramour 
 of the empress, or rather her favourite (for 
 that was the polite term in use at the Russian 
 
 297 
 
 

 M 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 !'• 
 
 ru 
 
 
 CATHERINE VISITS MOSCOW.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1775. 
 
 court), attended her at all parties of amuse- 
 ment, at the opera, and on the promenade, 
 and was not permitted to leave the palace 
 without express permission. He was like- 
 wise given to understand, that it would not 
 be well received if he conversed familiarly 
 with other women ; and if he went to dine 
 with any of his friends, the mistress of the 
 house was always absent. When the fa- 
 vourite no longer possessed the power of 
 making himself agreeable to the empress, 
 he received orders to travel, and from that 
 time he was excluded from all further access 
 to her. But Catherine never dismissed her 
 paramours with anger, or behaved to them 
 otherwise than with a generosity truly im- 
 perial. The discarded favourite received 
 such lavish tokens of her past affection as, to 
 some extent, consoled him for the loss of her 
 presence. 
 
 The spring of the year 1775 saw the 
 Russian empire recovering from the ex- 
 haustion caused by its war against the 
 Turks, and the internal discord and misery 
 resulting from the great Cossack insurrec- 
 tion under Pugatschef. The time of the 
 empress was divided between those sensual 
 and extravagant pleasures to which she was 
 attached, and the cultivation of the arts of 
 peace and the improvement of the country. 
 In these efforts she found an efficient second 
 in Potemkin, who, notwithstanding his fri- 
 volity and waywardness, possessed consider- 
 able abilities, and of such a character as 
 enabled him to gain a remarkable ascen- 
 dancy over the empress. So conscious was 
 he of this, that he grew wanton in the 
 exercise of his power, and constantly de- 
 manded, and obtained, some new dignity or 
 accession of revenue. When any desire he 
 had formed was disappointed, he grew 
 sullen, and occasionally angry. By such 
 means he entered the council, and sup- 
 planted a more able man than himself in 
 the post of vice-president at war. Such 
 presumption necessarily created him a host 
 of enemies, and he was reproached for 
 undertaking all things, yet completing 
 nothing; and of making indiscriminate 
 promises which he never fulfilled. The 
 empress, though much captivated with him, 
 was still conscious of his failings; and it 
 was partly with a view to check his petu- 
 lance and audacity that she retained her 
 discarded lover (Prince Orloff) at court, 
 and strove to preserve peace between the 
 new favourite and the two fiery brothers. 
 Gregory, regardless of the pleasures, but 
 298 
 
 jealous of the honours of Potemkin, had 
 sullenly requested permission to retire ; but 
 to this the empress would not consent. 
 He then obtained an interview with her, 
 during which he recalled to her mind the 
 obligations which she owed to him ; spoke 
 of his zeal and fidehty ; and observed, that 
 she had nothing to reproach him with but 
 the circumstance of his not being so young 
 as his rival. Catherine listened with gentle- 
 ness ; and, without denying the wrongs of 
 which he complained, assured him she' 
 should ever be his friend. The discon- 
 tented prince was subdued, and still re- 
 mained at court her trusted, because pro- 
 bably hopeful, servant. 
 
 Early in 1775, the empress paid a visit 
 in great state to Moscow, chiefly for the 
 purpose of exterminating by her presence, 
 her favours, and her liberality, the traces of 
 disaffection and sympathy with the rebel 
 Pugatschef, which lingered there. Though 
 she held in contempt the childish bigotry of 
 the ignorant people, and almost equally 
 ignorant priesthood, and regarded the latter 
 as dangerous subjects, she did not disdain 
 to appeal to this very bigotry, and to use 
 the priesthood, for the purpose of regaining 
 the alienated minds of her subjects in the 
 city and neighbourhood of Moscow. With 
 this object, she carried with her a great 
 number of little figures of saints, and dis- 
 tributed them in the churches and chapels 
 on the road. She also carried a large pic- 
 ture, richly decorated with gold and dia- 
 monds, for presentation to the cathedral of 
 Moscow. She was preceded into that city 
 by 600 soldiers from each regiment of the 
 guards, and followed by a brilliant retinue. 
 Two triumphal arches had been erected, at 
 a cost of 40,000 roubles, for the procession 
 to pass under, and everything connected 
 with the entrance of the empress into the 
 ancient city was grand and gorgeous. Only 
 one tiding was wanting— but it was the one 
 least indispensable in displays of this nature 
 — the acclamations and enthusiasm of the 
 people. Catherine was unable to charm 
 them into any exhibition of loyalty, or to 
 dispel the dishke which the citizens of 
 Moscow had always entertained towards 
 her. They gazed on the gorgeous cavaU 
 cade with silence, and permitted the em- 
 press to pass without the least demonstra- 
 tion of welcome. To the Grand-duke Paul, 
 whom they regarded as the son of their 
 murdered sovereign, they displayed a marked 
 contrast of feeling. Such was the euthu- 
 
 A.D. 1775.] 
 
 siasm with which he was received, that it is 
 said, a courtier, either anxious to ascertain 
 his sentiments, or influenced by a treasonous 
 feeling towards the empress, observed to 
 him—'^Your imperial highness sees how 
 much you are beloved. Oh, if you would 
 " The speaker paused for en 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [cathbrine and her love,s. 
 
 couragement to pursue his daring remark • 
 but Paul only responded with a look of 
 reprimand, which implied that he had no 
 intention of plotting against a mother whom 
 he neither loved or was loved by. 
 
 Catherine carried out her assumption of 
 devotion at Moscow bv performing a pil- 
 grimage on foot, attended by her whole 
 court, to a convent situated at a distance of 
 forty versts. Her chief minister. Count 
 Panui, was the only one not invited to take 
 part m this laborious and dramatic piece of 
 pretended piety. This might have been a 
 slight to the minister, who now troubled 
 himself about little but ease and amuse- 
 ments. He was a great glutton, a great 
 gamester, and a great sleeper; and had 
 become so enormously fat, as to render it 
 extremely doubtful whether he could walk 
 the distance of forty versts, however gently 
 the task might have to be accomplished 
 So negligent had he become, that an urgent 
 despatch from Marshal Romantzoff (then 
 commanding the expedition against the 
 Turks) was, after an interval of four 
 months, found unanswered in the pocket of 
 Panin's dressing-gown. Such dangerous 
 inattention to the duties of his highly 
 responsible position, raised him up enemies 
 and rivals, amongst whom was Potemkin, 
 who strove to supplant the minister. 
 
 The favourite had also another and a 
 higher aim. Like Orloff, he sought to 
 become the husband of the imperial mis- 
 tress whose favour he enjoyed. During 
 the stay of the court at Moscow, Potemkin, 
 who was so far from being influenced by 
 religious emotions that he treated all modes 
 of faith with a daring and impartial ridi- 
 cule, put on a semblance of the most 
 austere piety. During Lent he abandoned 
 the luxurious hving to which he was much 
 attached, and fed upon nothing but roots 
 and water. Every day he went to con- 
 fession, and remained for some hours before 
 the pictures of the saints in prayer. It 
 was the confessor to the empress that this 
 crafty schemer selected to listen to the list 
 ot his transgressions also. With a penitent 
 air, Potemkin entreated the priest to in- 
 form his imperial mistress that his alarmed 
 
 conscience would no longer allow him to 
 indulge in an intercourse that was criminal 
 when not sanctioned by marriage. The 
 monk performed his mission; but the 
 shrewd empress at once divined the nature 
 of Potemkin^s scruples, and the object he 
 was aimmg at. Sending for him, she said, 
 with a dignity tempered by tenderness, that 
 though she had a regard for him, she was 
 sufficiently mistress of herself to subdue 
 her passion; and that, if he was disincHned 
 to hll the post of favourite, slie could easilv 
 resolve to put another iu his place. The 
 disappointed schemer was much humiliated 
 and even talked of entering the church' 
 and causing himself to be consecrated arch- 
 bishop : but he soon forgot both his devotion 
 and his resentment in the mingled pursuits 
 of pleasure and ambition. 
 
 Whether this trifling and duplicity cost 
 Potemkin the affection of his mistress, or 
 Catherine had merely vielded to a new 
 impression, we cannot say. Certain it is, 
 that, not long after this event, the empress 
 transferred her smiles to a young officer 
 named Zavadofski, whom she first appointed 
 her secretary, and afterwards bestowed upon 
 him the title of favourite. Potemkin, on 
 whom she had recently showered gifts and 
 dignities, received the usual command to 
 set out upon his travels. This command 
 he evaded, even while pretending to obey. 
 Having prepared for his departure, he left 
 the palace ; but the very next day returned, 
 and, with the utmost composure, placed 
 himself opposite the empress just as she 
 was sitting down to her customary whist 
 party. Perhaps the discarded favourite had 
 received secret permission to remain in the 
 character of friend ; certain it is, that the 
 empress did not appear displeased, but in- 
 vited him to join the table, saving that he 
 always played luckily. The subject of tra- 
 velling was not resumed, and Potemkin 
 retained all his posts, his honours, and his 
 influence, and, from the lover, became the 
 friend of his mistress. His abilities, which 
 bore some resemblance to her own, enabled 
 him to retain an ascendancy over her. The 
 amazed courtiers beheld two favourites; 
 and not understanding the somewhat equi- 
 vocal arrangement entered into, they could 
 not divine which lover the empress pre- 
 ferred. They did not suppose that Po- 
 temkin had resigned the latter character; 
 not reflecting that love is usually silent in 
 the presence of ambition. 
 
 It is not surprising that Catherine should 
 
 299 
 

 i ; 
 
 I' 
 
 1*. 
 
 l,i 
 
 DEATH OF THE GRAND- DUCHESS.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1776. 
 
 entertain some jealousy of the popularity of 
 her son the Grand-duke Paul, especially 
 as a party existed who were desirous of 
 seeing^ him lay claim to a throne which, 
 assuminjij him tG be really the son of 
 Peter III., undoubtedly belonged to him. 
 The empress viewed with distrust all per- 
 sons whom she deemed capable of instilling 
 ambitious thoughts into the grand-duke, or 
 who were in a condition to arm on his be- 
 half. Catherine's apprehensions were dis- 
 cerned and turned to account by Frederic 
 of Prussia. Aware that it would be scarcely 
 possible for Paul to succeed in any design 
 upon the Russian throne without his assist- 
 ance, he always, when desiring any conces- 
 sion from the empress, testified great con- 
 cern about her son. The alarmed Catherine 
 immediately made any sacrifices whatever 
 for preserving the friendship of the Prussian 
 monarch. 
 
 Paul lived in habits of close companion- 
 ship with Count Andrew Rasumoffski, who 
 had been brought up with him. The count 
 possessed a bold and enterprising spirit; 
 and Catherine, therefore, resolved to effect 
 a division between him and her son. Watch- 
 ing Rasumoffski with this object, she ob- 
 served some expressive looks pass between 
 him and the grand-duchess, the consort of 
 Paul; and, with a woman's quickness in 
 such matters, she at once concluded that 
 the count had presumed to form some 
 rash design upon the princess. Catherine 
 at once communicated her suspicions to her 
 son, who, though he imagined them to be 
 without foundation, resolved to keep an 
 eye upon his friend, and desired his consort 
 to be more reserved in her behaviour. That 
 the grand-duchess entertained a partiality 
 for Rasumoffski, may be inferred from the 
 fact that she kept up a secret correspond- 
 ence with him. Some surmise that she 
 went further, and entered into certain poli- 
 tical intrigues for the purpose of being 
 revenged upon the empress for having 
 brought her virtue into suspicion. If so, 
 she had no time to execute her designs, as 
 she soon afterwards expired in childbed.* 
 Rumour, probably engendered from ca- 
 lumny, attributed her death to some 
 
 • On the 26th of April, 1776. 
 
 t We are not inclined to credit this suspicion ; but 
 Tooke observes— •' What served to add credibility 
 to these surmises was, that the midwife who attended 
 the grand-duchess very soon made a great fortune. 
 She lived on a familiar footing with the empress, and 
 talked with Prince Potemkin and Count Besborodko, 
 who often went to dine with her, in the style of thee 
 300 
 
 criminal intervention of the empress.f 
 Paul was much affected by the sudden 
 demise of his consort ; but when his grief 
 had somewhat subsided, he examined lier 
 papers, and found among them letters from 
 the count. Presenting them to the empress, 
 he demanded vengeance : but she had at- 
 tained her object — the separation of Paul 
 and Rasumoffski ; and, desirous of avoiding 
 an unpleasant publicity, she sent the count 
 as her envoy-extraordinary to Venice. 
 
 In Poland, the commissioners of Russia, 
 Austria, and Prussia, could neither agree 
 among themselves nor with the Poles, 
 respecting the exact demarcations of that 
 country. Frederic, therefore, expressed a 
 wish that his brother. Prince Henry, might 
 go and confer with the empress, for the 
 purpose of settling such differences as 
 might have been raised in the matter be- 
 tween the courts of St. Petersburg and 
 Berlin. The prince arrived in Russia a 
 few days before the death of the grand- 
 duchess, and was received with as much 
 distinction as on his first visit. The prince 
 frequently discoursed in private with the 
 empress on the affairs of Poland ; and, on 
 one occasion, when Catherine had made 
 some objections, he replied — *' Madam, I 
 see one sure method of obviating all diffi- 
 culty. It may, perhaps, be displeasing to 
 you, on account of Poniatowski; but you 
 will, nevertheless, do well to give it your 
 approbation, since compensation may be 
 offered to that monarch, of greater value to 
 him than the throne, which is continually 
 tottering beneath him. The remainder of 
 Poland must be partitioned.'' The idea, 
 if not preconcerted, was at least welcome 
 to the ambitious empress; and the extinc- 
 tion of Poland as an independent nation 
 was resolved upon. 
 
 Scarcely had the grave closed over the 
 Grand-duchess Natolia, the consort of Paul, 
 than the empress directed her attention to 
 providing a second wife for her son, as his 
 first had died without leaving a heir to in- 
 herit the empire. She selected the princess 
 of Wirtemberg-Stutgard, niece to the king 
 of Prussia, and engaged Prince Henry to 
 negotiate the marriage. Frederic gladly 
 
 and thou. Dr. Almann was the official accoucheur; 
 but upon being asked by a friend afterwards why he 
 was not present at the delivery, he replied, * Because, 
 on a previous visit to her imperial highness, the em- 
 press said to me, * Sir, if anything disastrous should 
 happen, you will answer it with your head.' * Upon 
 which,' continued the doctor, ♦ I made my obeisance, 
 retired, and have never been at court since.' " 
 
 A.D. 1776.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [domestic incidents. 
 
 accepted a proposal which would lead to a 
 closer alliance between Prussia and Russia ; 
 and the young lady herself gave up the 
 Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt, to whom she 
 was engaged, in order to accept the offer of 
 the hand of an embryo emperor. Towards 
 the close of the summer of 1776, Paul and 
 Prince Henry, attended by Marshal Ro- 
 mantzofF and a numerous suite, set out on 
 this errand to Berlin. Paul was received by 
 the great Frederic with all the honours 
 due to the heir of the imperial house of 
 Russia. On being presented to the famous 
 soldier, the grand-duke observed — "The 
 motives which bring me from the extremi- 
 ties of the north to these happy dominions, 
 are the desire of assuring your majesty of 
 the friendship and alliance to subsist hence- 
 forth for ever between Russia and Prussia ; 
 and the eagerness to see a princess destined 
 to ascend the throne of the Russian empire ; 
 who, by my receiving her at your hands, I 
 dare to promise you, will be the more dear 
 to myself and to the nation over which she 
 is to reign; and chiefly to see that boon 
 granted me for which I have been ardently 
 wishing so long— the satisfaction of con- 
 templating the greatest of heroes, the ad- 
 miration of our age, and the astonishment 
 of posterity .^^ 
 
 " Instead of which," responded Frederic, 
 "you behold, my prince, a gray-headed 
 valetudinarian, who could never have wished 
 for a superior happiness than that of wel- 
 coming within these walls the hopeful heir 
 of a mighty empire, the only son of my best 
 friend, the great Catherine." 
 
 Paul was then introduced to the Princess 
 of Wirtemberg, and the ceremony of the 
 nuptial contract took place the same day. 
 Great festivities followed ; and, on the 3rd 
 of August, the grand-duke took leave of the 
 king, and returned, loaded with presents, to 
 St. Petersburg. The princess, shortly after, 
 followed, and was united to him on the 13th 
 of October. At the same time she embraced 
 the Greek religion, and assumed the name 
 of Maria Feodorovna. Twenty years after- 
 wards this imperial couple ascended the 
 throne of the Russian empire. 
 
 Prince Potemkin had forgotten the lover 
 in the minister, and now occupied the first 
 place about the throne of Catherine. Proud 
 of his political influence and abilities, he left 
 the empress in the tranquil indulgence of 
 her inclination for Zavadofski. The latter 
 had filled the post of favourite for about a 
 year and a-half, when he also became ambi- , 
 
 tious of political distinction, and endea- 
 voured to supplant Potemkin in his capacity 
 of mmister. By so doing he entered on an 
 antagonism with a rival of far greater talents 
 than himself, who at once resolved on his 
 expulsion from court. ^ Potemkin had per- 
 sonal experience both of the sensuality and 
 the inconstancy of the empress, and he 
 therefore placed in her way a young, tall, 
 and handsome Servian named Zoritch, ari 
 officer in a regiment of hussars, who had 
 come to St. Petersburg in search of promo- 
 tion. The artifice succeeded ; the fancy of 
 Catherine was ensnared; Zavadofski was 
 abruptly dismissed, loaded with presents; 
 and Zoritch was installed as favourite! 
 The latter was a man of neither education 
 nor experience, and in no way calculated to 
 interfere with the projects of the ambitious 
 Potemkin. 
 
 Russia now enjoyed more internal repose 
 than had fallen to its lot since the accession 
 of the empress. The flames of rebellion 
 were extinguished; and disappointed con- 
 spiracy, never revealing itself except to be 
 crushed, was content to submit in silence 
 to a governnoent it could not overthrow. 
 Catherine might herself have rested con- 
 tent with what she had done, and have 
 devoted most of her time to those pleasures 
 by which she was so much attracted. But 
 she was ever grasping after personal fame 
 and the aggrandisement of the Russian 
 empire. There was nothing she would not 
 sacrifice in the pursuit of glory, or, indeed, 
 of that celebrity which is not always real 
 fame. As her armies had ceased to gain 
 victories beyond her frontiers, she made 
 Europe resound with the brilliant acts of 
 her munificence, the encouragements she 
 afforded to the arts and sciences, the prizes 
 she assigned to talent, the bounties she 
 showered upon foreigners, and the numerous 
 institutions she created for augmenting the 
 industry and the riches of her people. Ever 
 intent upon carrying out that regeneration 
 of the empire commenced by Peter the 
 Great, she constantly addressed herself to 
 the extension of education and the erection 
 of institutions for national improvement. In 
 the various public schools— most of which 
 had been established by the empress — about 
 6,800 children, of both sexes, were boarded, 
 clothed, and educated at her expense. 
 
 Catherine was too ambitious a sovereign 
 not to be a dangerous neighbour. It has 
 been seen how Poland, distracted by its 
 own dissensions, fell a victim to her ab- 
 
 301 
 
i:f; 
 
 11 
 
 > 1 
 
 II'*, 1 
 
 ' '1? ■■ 
 
 <•' ' 
 
 I ; 'i ■ • 
 
 It ' 
 
 1 
 
 ii 
 
 
 If 
 
 I. 
 
 A 
 
 RUSSIA AND TURKEY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1777—1779. 
 
 sorbin g policy. Denmark liad fallen under 
 l»er influence, and she carried on intri«^ues 
 in Sweden, with the object of still further 
 weakening a power whose armies, in the 
 time of Charles XII.» had made Russia 
 tremble. By promoting the internal dis- 
 sensions of Sweden (the nobles of which 
 ■were divided into two factions, called the 
 "Caps" and the "Hats"), Catherine trusted 
 to reduce that country to such a condition 
 as would enable her to subjugate it at 
 some future period. Her efforts, however, 
 were interrupted by the abilities and deci- 
 sion of Gustavus III. Early in 1777, Gus- 
 tavus, alarmed at seeing that the empress 
 had fitted out a fleet of galleys from Cron- 
 istadt, demanded what might be the cause of 
 this armament. He received an unsatisfac- 
 tory answer ; and, although the Russian fleet 
 took no steps against Sweden, Gustavus 
 liiraself proceeded to St. Petersburg, under 
 the name of the Count of Gothland, to 
 confer personally with the empress upon 
 the subject. Catherine received him with a 
 sumptuous hospitality, and a hollow cor- 
 diality was exhibited on both sides. The 
 visit did not, however, raise the empress in 
 the esteem of Gustavus ; while it confirmed 
 in her the desire of humbling her youthful 
 rival. 
 
 By the late peace with Turkey, the 
 Crimea had been declared independent; 
 but the Tartars of that peninsula had now 
 two khans — the one supported by the 
 Turks, the other by the Russians. The 
 latter desired to place the whole of the 
 Crimea under the khan who enjoyed their 
 insidious protection, in order that they 
 might the more readily despoil him of it. 
 They therefore furnished him with a guard 
 of Russian soldiers, who, being viewed by 
 the ferocious Tartars with jealous feelings, 
 were attacked, and the greater part of them 
 massacred. 
 
 The empress immediately poured fresh 
 troops into the Crimea. The Russians 
 attacked and defeated the Tartars opposed 
 to the khan who had received the sanction 
 of the court of St. Petersburg; and his 
 competitor, Selim, was compelled to seek 
 for refuge in the mountains. As the 
 Turkish government refused to acknowledge 
 Sahim-Gueray as the khan of the Crimea, 
 the Porte was given to understand that that 
 country had placed itself under the protec- 
 tion of the empress, who would rather 
 rekindle the flames of war than abandon 
 the cause of the khan whom she supported. 
 302 
 
 The Turks were exasperated at this haughty 
 message, and seemed resolved to put the 
 dispute to the arbitrament of the sword. 
 
 France and other powers interfered to 
 prevent hostilities, for they had no wish to 
 see Russia further exalted, by fresh victories, 
 over its eastern neighbour. But the divan 
 continued undetermined and wavering be- 
 tween the diflperent impressions it received. 
 The people of Constantinople called loudly 
 for war; and the Porte could not easily 
 prevail on itself to pardon Russia for her 
 successes and her invasions, which made it 
 remember the many defeats it had suffered, 
 and the humiliating peace it had been 
 forced to sign. It was not to be expected 
 that the Turkish ministers could calmly 
 behold the Russian supremacy on the 
 Euxine, the flag of that empire displayed 
 even under the walls of Constantinople, 
 and its commerce extending from sea to 
 sea. The independence of the Crimea, also, 
 was a subject of annoyance ; but its pro- 
 bable subjugation by the Russians exceeded 
 their patience. Some other differences had 
 arisen between the ministers of Catherine 
 and the Ottoman Porte. By the recent 
 treaty of peace, the Russians had obtained 
 several privileges for the Greek Christians, 
 who were dispersed in great numbers 
 throughout the Turkish provinces of Mol- 
 davia and Wallachia. Since that period 
 many inhabitants of the opposite shore of 
 the Danube, who professed the Greek reli- 
 gion, abandoned their country, and passed 
 over into those localities in which they 
 exchanged toleration for protection. These 
 persons were naturally more attached to 
 the power to which they were indebted for 
 the new advantages they enjoyed, than to 
 that by which they had been so long op- 
 pressed. But Russia aimed at more than 
 this. She was secretly contriving to render 
 these provinces entirely independent of the 
 Porte ; and to accomplish that object, she 
 insisted that the princes or hospodars of 
 Moldavia and Wallachia should not be liable 
 to be deposed on any pretence whatever. 
 This interference the Turks regarded as not 
 more justifiable than that with respect to 
 the Crimea; but the good offices of the 
 French ambassador prevailed over the desire 
 for war. He induced the divan to release 
 several Russian vessels which had been de- 
 tained for more than a year in the Turkish 
 harbours. This courtesy led to the expres- 
 sion of a less hostile feeling ; and, in the 
 March of 1779, a new treaty was signed 
 
 A.D. 1779.1 
 
 through his mediation. By this the Russians 
 gave up some of their unjust claims with re- 
 spect to Moldavia and Wallachia, and agreed 
 to withdraw their troops from the Crimea, 
 the independence of which, however, was 
 again acknowledged. The Porte likewise 
 granted its subjects who professed the 
 Greek religion the privileges they desired 
 and enlarged the liberty already granted to 
 the Russians, of navigating the Ottoman 
 seas With this treaty Catherine was so 
 satisfied, that she sent magnificent presents 
 both to her minister at Constantinople, to 
 the French ambassador, the grand-vizier, 
 and, the principal members of the divan. 
 
 The French ambassador, while thus ser'vin'' 
 the interests of Turkey and propitiating the 
 favour of Russia, had also laboured to deprive 
 England of the support it derived from 
 Russia. This attempt met with some suc- 
 cess, and the close alliance that had so long 
 subsisted between the courts of London 
 and St. Petersburg was much weakened. 
 Catherine, free to navigate so many seas, 
 and the dominatrix of some, could not endure 
 that any other power should pretend to a 
 right of mastery in them. One of the causes, 
 therefore, that contributed to raise a cold- 
 ness on her part towards this country, was 
 the jealousy she experienced at its attempt 
 to force from every power an acknowledg- 
 ment of the superiority of the British flag, 
 btill the commerce with England was too 
 advantageous to be discountenanced. Cathe- 
 rme looked on with secret satisfaction while 
 the English were losing a part of their 
 colonies, and with an oppressive civility she 
 mvited them to come and fetch from her 
 ports the productions they could no longer 
 obtain from the continent of America. At 
 the same time she welcomed the vessels of 
 the new-born republic, and, in opposition to 
 the solicitations of the British minister, 
 granted to them the free navigation of the 
 Baltic. 
 
 Catherine had by degrees polished the 
 rough soldier-like court by which she had 
 been at first surrounded, until its splendour 
 surpassed that of any neighbouring po- 
 tentate. Indeed, it united the profusion of 
 Asiatic pomp with the ingenious invention 
 of European luxury. On court-days the 
 quantity of jewels worn by both sexes, and 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [splendour of the court. 
 
 Instituted, our readers will remember, by Peter 
 the Great, in honour of the assistance he received 
 trom his consort in the camp on the banks of the 
 -Truth. This distinction is bestowed upon ladies 
 only, and consists of a narrow red ribbon, edged with 
 
 the brilliant colours of the varied costumes 
 to be seen there, produced a remarkable 
 ettect. On these occasions both ladies and 
 gentlemen were, with the exception of the 
 mrlitary, dressed according to the prevailincr 
 modes at Paris. To a foreigner nothing was 
 more remarkable than the number of dia- 
 monds and precious stones, worn as much 
 I ^^"^ ^l ^^' women, who appeared to have 
 challenged one another which should be 
 most covered by these costly ornaments. 
 As to the nobihty, their buttons, buckles 
 the scabbards of their swords, and even their 
 epaulets often consisted of diamonds, in ad- 
 dition to which many even wore a triple row 
 of precious stones round the borders of their 
 hats. When, on days distinguished by a 
 more than ordinary amount of ceremony 
 the empress dined in public, she usually 
 wore a diamond crown of immense value 
 the ribbons of St. Andrew and of St. Geor-e' 
 both over one shoulder, with the collars^'of 
 St. Alexander Nevski, St. Catherine,* and 
 bt. Vladimir, and two stars, one above the 
 other, on her bosom. This imparted to her 
 a very brilliant appearance, and, as her 
 courtiers were equally fond of display, the 
 result presented was exceedingly gorgeous. 
 During the winter the empress gave mas- 
 querades at the palace, to which persons 
 of all ranks were invited. Sometimes the 
 number of tickets issued amounted to 8,000 : 
 yet inconvenient crowding seldom existed • 
 as twenty magnificent halls, splendidly illu- 
 minated, afi^orded sufficient room for this 
 multitude. One of these spacious apart- 
 ments contained an enclosure more adorned 
 than the rest, and appropriated to the nobi- 
 lity and the most favoured courtiers. At 
 these entertainments Catherine usually made 
 her appearance about seven in the evening, 
 and retired at eleven. 
 
 The Servian officer, Zoritch, had filled the 
 post of favourite about a twelvemonth, when 
 suddenly he received the usual orders to 
 travel. He immediately went and com- 
 plained to Potemkin, who supported him, 
 with the object of excluding any more able 
 and dangerous man from a position which 
 necessarily carried with it a certain amount 
 of influence over the empress. Potemkin 
 ventured to ask her for what reason she had 
 discarded her humble friend. "1 was fond 
 
 silver, to which the figure of thesam^r^^is suspended, 
 set with diamonds and a silver star of eight points, 
 on the left breast, with the inscription, *' Afnore ct 
 fdehtate: The empress was the grand-mistress of 
 the order. 
 
 303 
 
 ^ >tfii. 
 
 N 
 
 '• !. f. 
 
KIMSKl KORZAKOFF.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1780. 
 
 of him yesterday, and to-day I am not," 
 replied Catherine; "perhaps, if lie were 
 somewhat more informed, I might love him 
 still ; but his ignorance puts me to the blush. 
 He can speak no other language than Russ. 
 Let him travel into France and England to 
 learn foreign hmguages." 
 
 Prince Potemkin was not long in ascer- 
 taining the cause of the dismission of 
 Zoritch That evening, at the Hermitage, 
 he perceived with astonishment, behind the 
 chair of Catherine, a chamberlain of whom 
 he had no knowledge. It was the new 
 favourite Rimski Korzakoff, who, though 
 afterwards distinguished as an able general. 
 Lad been suddenly raised from the humble 
 rank of a sergeant of the guards to that of 
 aide-de-camp of the empress. Korzakoff had 
 a handsome face and an elegant figure ; 
 but if the ignorance of Zoritch had disgusted 
 Catherine, she was not likely long to remain 
 satisfied with her new lover. His want of 
 that common information which most men 
 
 moving in good society possess, is amusingly 
 evident in the following incident. He con- 
 ceived the idea that a man who occupied the 
 distinguished position to which he had been 
 advanced, ought necessarily to provide him- 
 self with a library. Sending, therefore, for 
 the principal bookseller of St. Petersburg, 
 he said that he wanted a great number 
 of books to put up in a house of which 
 the empress had just made him a present. 
 " What books would he please to have ?" 
 was the natural inquiry of the dealer in these 
 dumb, yet eloquent productions ; not at first 
 comprehending that they were ordered only 
 like tables and chairs, as articles of furniture. 
 " You understand that better than I," replied 
 the favourite ; " that is your business. You 
 know the proper assortments; I have destined 
 a large room to receive them. Let there be 
 large books at the bottom, and smaller and 
 smaller up to the top ; that is the way they 
 stand in the empress's library."* The book- 
 seller bowed, and retired. 
 
 > 1 • 
 
 it 
 
 «!' 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 THE ARMED NEUTRALITY ; LANSKOI ; POTEMKIN^S DESIGNS ON CONSTANTINOPLE ; MEETING OF CATHKIIINE 
 AND JOSEPH II.; STATUE OF PETER THE GREAT; RETURN OF TIIK PRINCESS DASCHKAW TO ST. PETERS- 
 BURG ; CATHERINE MAKES HER DIRECTOR OF THE ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES ; CATHERINE AND 
 THE EMPEROR JOSEPH AVOW THEIR INTENTION OF SUPPORTING EACH OTHER'S CLAIM UPON TURKEY; 
 ANNEXATION OF THE CRIMEA TO RUSSIA ; DEATH OF COUNT PANIN AND PRINCE GREGORY ORLOFF ; RELI- 
 GIOUS TOLERATION ; GRAND PROGRESS OF CATHERINE TO THE CRIMEA ; ANECDOTES OF THE EMPRESS. 
 
 The war in which America wrung her inde- 
 pendence from England, produced a con- 
 siderable agitation throughout the south of 
 Europe; and England, France, Spain, and 
 Holland were continually sending forth their 
 armaments to decide whether America should 
 become a free republic, or remain a mere 
 colony of Great Britain. This war neces- 
 sarily gave an impetus to the commerce of 
 the north, which supplies the bulk of the 
 commodities required for the construction 
 
 * " But how did you contrive to find a sufficient 
 quantity of the large books for the bottom rank, 
 since folios are now so much out of fashion ?" said a 
 person who happened to call at the bookseller's shop 
 while his counters and fioors were loaded with the 
 books just come from the binders for executing this 
 curious order. ^ Oh, I went to my warehouse, and 
 brought out a number of old German commentators 
 on the Bible, and writers on jurisprudence, where 
 they had lain in quires ever since they were sent to 
 304 
 
 of naval armaments, as well as the stores of 
 corn for the sustenance of the trading and 
 manufacturing nations. The Dutch, who 
 then possessed a great part of the commerce 
 of the Baltic, endeavoured to save the vessels 
 they employed in it from the English cruisers 
 by navigating them under the neutral flag 
 of Denmark. Nevertheless, their ships were 
 frequently captured by our privateers, and 
 carried into the ports of London or Ply- 
 mouth. The vessels of Hamburg, Bremen, 
 
 my predecessor for a bad debt of a bankrupt book- 
 seller at Leipsic. There they are. See how gay 
 they look in their new coats. I have only taken 
 care to put up a set of Voltaire, of Rousseau, of 
 BufTon, and other fashionable French authors, in 
 conspicuous parts of the library, to be at hand in 
 case some inquisitive reader should ask for them ; 
 and as for the rest, their elegant outsides, as is com- 
 mon in the world, must be a passport for any defi- 
 ciency within." 
 
 A,D. 1780.] 
 
 and Liibeck often met with a similar fate. 
 The merchants of those towns, therefore, 
 implored the protection of the empress, and 
 were fortunate enough to secure her atten- 
 tion. 
 
 Catherine desired to extend the maritime 
 trade of her own people, and her pride was 
 hurt in consequence of the little respect the 
 English paid to ships freighted in her ports, 
 and sometimes even to those which sailed 
 under her flag. Instij^ated also by France, 
 and solicited to that effect by the ministers 
 of Denmark and Sweden, she adopted the 
 |)lan of an armed neutrality; and, in the 
 July of 1780, a treaty to that eff'ect was 
 signed by the powers we have mentioned. 
 . The principal claims of the confederate 
 powers were thus specified:—!. That all 
 neutral vessels may freely navigate from one 
 port to another on the coasts of the nations 
 at war. 2. That the effects of the belligerent 
 powers shall be safe in all neutral vessels, 
 with the exception of prohibited mercantile 
 goods. 3. That the empress understands, 
 by prohibited mercantile goods, such as are 
 specified in the Articles 10 and 11 of her 
 treaty of commerce with Great Britain, ex- 
 tending her obligation in that respect to the 
 other powers at war. 4. Tliat by a block- 
 aded port, is to be understood only a port so 
 strictly watched by the ships of the powers 
 which attack it, that to enter it would be 
 dangerous. 5. That these principles should 
 be admitted as the sole rule whereby to 
 decide the legality of prizes.— The empress 
 added, that, to enforce the observance of 
 these articles, to protect the honour of her 
 flag, the secnrity of her commerce, and the 
 navigation of her subjects, she was about to 
 arm the greater part of her naval forces; 
 but that this measure should not in anvwise 
 injure the neutrality which she intended to 
 observe as long as she was not provoked to 
 exceed the bounds of a just moderation and 
 the most perfect impartiality. 
 
 Prussia, Austria, and even Portugal con- 
 curred with the other neutral states; and 
 thns a great power was seen dictating a new 
 code of maritime laws to mankind, essen- 
 tially different from those which for several 
 hundred years had been established among 
 commercial nations, and tending directly to 
 the overthrow of that sovereignty or pre- 
 eminence on the ocean, which had been so 
 long claimed and maintained by Great Bri- 
 tain. The English minister at St. Peters- 
 burg exerted himself in vain to break the 
 league of the neutral powers; his expostula- 
 VOL. I. 2 k 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [the armed neutrality. 
 
 tions were disregarded ; and, for a short time, 
 the friendly alliance between this country 
 and Russia was jeopardised. 
 
 The able Prince Potemkin acquired al- 
 most absolute power at the Russian court. 
 His riches were immense, the dignities he 
 enjoyed were numerous; and the court, the 
 army, and the navy were all submissive to 
 him. Marshal Roraantzoff alone would not 
 humble himself before the haughtv minister 
 —a circumstance for which the 'latter re- 
 venged himself on the Countess Bruce the 
 sister of Romantzoff, by encouragin- a fancv 
 she had taken to Korzakoff, the favourite of 
 the empress, and involving her in an intricrue 
 with that person. Catherine's pride was 
 hurt at the inconstancy of the presumed 
 lover, on whom, as usual, she had showered 
 presents of the most extravagant nature. 
 She dismissed Korzakoff, and commanded 
 the countess to retire to Moscow. Though 
 now at an age when, in most persons, the 
 sexual passions are "humble, and wait upon 
 the judgment,^'* yet the amorous empress 
 was unable, even for a brief period, to dis- 
 pense with the society of a favourite. 
 
 The very day that she discarded Korzakoff 
 Catherine fixed her choice on Lauskoi, one 
 of the chevalier guards— a youth of delicate 
 and almost womanly features, and of a re- 
 markably graceful figure. This person after- 
 wards acquired the distinction— if so it can 
 be called— of being the one of the empress's 
 favourites to whom she was most attached. 
 
 Catherine's ambition had long caused her 
 to turn her eyes to the east; but to Prince 
 Potemkin, whose views with respect to con- 
 quest in this direction coincided with those 
 of his imperial mistress, is attributed the 
 bold idea of causing Catherine to be crowned 
 in " the queen of cities,'' the capital of the 
 Ottoman empire ! Catherine acquiesced in 
 this extravagant idea, which, if practicable, 
 could only be accomplished by a long and 
 sanguinary war; but Potemkin was more 
 desirous than herself to carry it into execu- 
 tion. As a preliminary he proposed taking 
 possession of the Crimea, to which, as a mea*^ 
 sure almost ripe for execution^ the empress 
 at once consented. 
 
 Before entering on this project, Cathe- 
 rine felt the necessity of securing the good- 
 will of her most powerful neighbours. De- 
 sirous of an interview with the emperor 
 Joseph II., she requested him to join her 
 in Poland ; and on the 30th of May these 
 two illustrious potentates met at Moliilef. 
 • Catherine was in her fifty-first year. 
 
 305 
 
 '^^.^j 
 
CTATUE OF PETER THE GREAT.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1782. 
 
 Catherine was surrounded by a most gor- 
 {jeous court ; but the German emperor, 
 who travelled under the title of the Count 
 Von Falkcnstein, afifected a whimsical sim- 
 plicity in dress and manner, and begged liis 
 imperial friend to spare him tlie necessity 
 of all vain etiquette and constraining cere- 
 mony. In the private conversations which 
 ensued between them, they agreed to unite 
 in an attack on the Ottomans — to share a 
 part of the spoils between them, to drive 
 the Turks out of Europe, and to re-estab- 
 lish the ancient republic of Greece. Cathe- 
 rine, also, forgetful of her ally Frederic, 
 engaged to support the emperor against all 
 opposition on the part of the king of 
 Prussia and the other princes of the Ger- 
 man empire. These stipulations were after- 
 wards confirmed by a treaty, signed at St 
 Petersburg, which capital Joseph accepted 
 an invitation to visit. During his brief 
 sojourn there, it is said that he was equally 
 astonished at that mixture of refinement 
 and barbarism which the Russian nation 
 presented to his view, and the varied and 
 seemingly contradictoiy disposition of the 
 empress. He could not conceive how a 
 woman, who seemed formed by nature for 
 leading the whole world in chains, could 
 submit to be governed by two favourites at 
 her own court. 
 
 The year 1782 is in some respect memo- 
 rable at St. Petersburg, in consequence of 
 the inauguration of the famous statue of 
 Peter the Great, executed by Stephen Fal- 
 conet, who came from Paris for that pur- 
 pose, and was engaged for nine years in the 
 production of this colossal work of art. 
 Falconet proposed that the pedestal of the 
 statue should consist of a huge and rugged 
 rock, to indicate symbolically to posterity 
 the barren point from which the heroic 
 reformer started, and the tremendous ob- 
 stacles he surmounted. Catherine was 
 pleased with the idea ; and, after consider- 
 able search, a rock was found, partly sunk 
 in a vast morass, in a village near the shore 
 of the Gulf of Finland. The weight of this 
 enormous stone was estimated at 3,200,000 
 pounds, and it lay at the distance of eleven 
 versts, or about 41,250 English feet from 
 the spot where the monument was to be 
 erected. During its passage, it had to be 
 carried over heights, across rivers, morasses, 
 and swampy places ; then down the river 
 Neva, and finally to be disembarked, and 
 drawn by land to the place of its destina- 
 tion. The serious difficulty of moving such 
 306 
 
 a mass was sufficient to deter many per- 
 sons from the attempt ; but Catherine de- 
 lighted to triumph over difficulties ; and 
 although nearly four months elapsed before 
 the stone was raised from the earth, the 
 concentration of industrv, and the utter 
 disregard of expense in the erection of 
 mechanical appliances, enabled the labourers 
 to accomplish their task. It was noticed as 
 a remarkable circumstance, that neither in 
 the morass, or for some distance around it, 
 was another stone to be found, or anv other 
 kind of subtance, analogous to this stupen- 
 dous rock. Another circumstance respect- 
 ing it struck the beholders with astonish- 
 ment. One side of it had been struck and 
 damaged by lightning. On knocking off 
 the shattered fragment, a collection of many 
 kinds of precious stones was discovered ; 
 crystals, agates, topazes, cornelians, and 
 amethysts, presented to the eyes of the 
 curious a sight not less unexpected than 
 magnificent, and, to the naturalists, an object 
 of interesting investigation.* 
 
 The statue, of which this rock formed the 
 base, was generally considered as a master- 
 piece of art. The features are regarded as 
 being an admirable likeness of the illus- 
 trious original. The artist has represented 
 the hero on horseback, in the act of sud- 
 denly arresting the impetuous career of his 
 steed, on the overhanging verge of a steep 
 precipice which he has ascended. The czar 
 is attired in the Asiatic dress which he 
 discarded and condemned — an erroneous 
 conception, we think, of the sculptor. The 
 head of the statue is appropriately crowned 
 with laurels, and the right ^rm is extended 
 with dignity, while the left grasps the 
 bridle of the horse, whose beauty of form 
 and elegant attitude commands the admira- 
 tion of most spectators. The fiery courser 
 is represented as trampling on a serpent, 
 which writhes with anguish beneath its feet; 
 a type of the fate of those who, from mo- 
 tives of malignity, opposed the will of the 
 iron-handed and imperious Peter. The 
 statue is gigantic j the figure of the mo- 
 narch being eleven feet in height, and that 
 of the horse seventeen feet. The expense 
 of this monument was truly imperial, 
 amounting to 424,610 roubles, of which no 
 less than 70,000 were expended on the 
 
 ♦ Thousands of these gems, as well as other parts of 
 the stone, were cut and polished into bracelets, rings, 
 necklaces, snuff-boxes, heads of canes, &c. ; and 
 found a very rapid sale, not only among people of 
 fashion, but throughout the empire. 
 
 A.D. 1782.] 
 
 ^ RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [the prixcess dasciikaw. 
 
 transport of the rock from the morass near 
 the village of Lachta to St. Petersburg. 
 Still, a work which so prominently chal- 
 lenges attention, has necessarily elicited 
 much criticism ; and a recent French tra- 
 veller observes, that it is neither antique 
 nor modern, but a Roman of the time of 
 Louis XV. On the 7th of August, the 
 ceremony of the disclosure of the statue to 
 the public took place; and the empress, 
 making her appearance in the balcony of 
 the senate-house, solemnised the event by 
 the distribution of gold and silver medals. 
 She also issued an ukase, terminating every 
 process of more than ten years' standing, dis- 
 charging all debtors who had suffered a five 
 years' captivity, and remitting all debts to 
 the crown below the sum of 500 roubles. 
 
 During this summer, the Princess Dasch- 
 kaw returned to St. Petersburg from her 
 travels in Germany, Italy, France, and 
 England. She was welcomed and again 
 received into favour by the empress, who 
 appears to have missed her vivacious so- 
 ciety and the assistance of her strong in- 
 tellect. Catherine treated her with great 
 kindness, advanced her son in the army, 
 and bestowed upon the princess an estate 
 having on it about 2,500 peasants. The 
 empress shortly afterwards expressed the 
 eccentric desire of appointing the princess 
 directress of the Academy of Arts and 
 Sciences ! 
 
 That lady declined the unexpected honour, 
 and then said jestingly— " Appoint me 
 directress of your majesty's washerwomen, 
 and you shall see with what zeal I am 
 capable of serving you." Catherine per- 
 sisted ; and the princess, on her return 
 home, wrote a serious letter of expostulation 
 to the empress on the subject. "I told 
 her," says the princess, "without reserve, 
 that the private life of a sovereign might 
 pass unnoticed in the pages of history ; but 
 that an injudicious and hurtful nomination 
 to a public office never would ; that nature 
 herself, in making me a woman, had dis- 
 qualified me for the direction of an academy 
 of science; and that feeling as I did my 
 own literary insufficiency, I had never 
 sought the distinction of being admitted 
 into any learned society whatever, not even 
 
 * The inaugural discourse delivered by the princess 
 on this occasion will, we fancy, be perused with in- 
 terest, from motives which may vary according to 
 the sex or taste of the reader. The learned lady 
 Bpoke or read as follows :— " Gentlemen,— A new 
 instance of the solicitude of our august empress for 
 tue instruction of her subjecU has this day assembled 
 
 when the opportunity offered at Rome of 
 purchasing it for a few ducats." 
 
 The princess requested Potemkin to de- 
 I liver this communication to the empress ; 
 I but, to her astonishment, he tore it in 
 ! pieces. Then, to an angry inquiry as to 
 the cause of his conduct, he replied — " Be 
 composed princess, and hearken to me. 
 You are sincerely attached to her majesty ; 
 nobody doubts it; why will you, then, dis- 
 tress and grieve her on a subject which, for 
 the last two days, has occupied her thoughts 
 exclusively, and on which she has abso- 
 lutely fixed her heart? If you are really 
 inexorable, here is pen, ink, and paper; 
 write your letter anew ; but believe me, in 
 expostulating thus, I am only acting the 
 part of a man devoted to your interest. I 
 ought, besides, to add, that in urging your 
 acceptance of the place proposed, her ma- 
 jesty has the further object in view of 
 securing your residence in St. Petersburg, 
 and of making it the occasion of a more fre- 
 quent and more immediate intercourse be- 
 tween you; for, to say the truth, she is 
 worn out with the society of those fools by 
 whom she is eternally encircled." The 
 princess therefore consented, according to 
 her own account very unwiUingly, to the 
 desire of the empress, who was really serious 
 in this strange appointment. Setting aside 
 the accidental circumstance of the sex of 
 the princess, which certainly must, in such 
 a matter, be regarded as a disqualification, 
 she seems to have made an active and verv 
 excellent directress. She put an end to 
 much of that peculation which is the worm 
 that eats into the heart of most Russian 
 institutions; relieved it by good manage- 
 ment from pecuniary difficulties ; increased 
 the number of students; and established 
 three new courses of lectures in mathe- 
 matics, geometry, and natural history, which 
 were delivered in the Russian language by 
 a native professor, gratuitously to all who 
 chose to attend them. The following year 
 the princess was also appointed to preside 
 over a new academy, of a purely national 
 character, founded by the empress for the 
 purpose of perfecting the Russian language, 
 and the advancement of its literature.* In 
 connection with it, she conducted the com- 
 
 us together. That genius which has already dif- 
 fused so many benefits over Kussia has now given a 
 proof of its protective energy in behalf of the Rus- 
 sian language, the parent and source of so many 
 others. You will surely appreciate, gentlemen, the 
 gift which our great sovereign has conferred on our 
 country and on this assembly. The riches and 
 
 307 
 
AKSEXATlOy OF THE CRIMEA.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1782. • 
 
 pilation of a dictionary of the Russian lan- 
 guage, the first that had been accompHshed. 
 It was, however, subjected to much adverse 
 criticism ; and it did not satisfy the expecta- 
 tions of the empress, on account of its being 
 arranged, not in an alphabetical, but in an 
 etymological order. 
 
 Towards the close of the year 1782, the 
 emperor of Germany laid aside the mask, 
 and avowed his intention of supporting 
 both his own claims and those of Russia 
 against the Turkish empire. At the sam'e 
 time the courts of Vienna and St. Peters- 
 burg issued memorials, in which they 
 peremptorily insisted that the Porte should 
 not in future, under any pretence, interfere 
 in the affairs of the Tartars ; that the privi- 
 leges of the provinces of Moldavia and 
 Wallachia should not be infringed, nor the 
 free navigation of the Euxine and the 
 Archipelago in any way be obstructed. 
 The consequences of a failure with respect 
 to these demands could not be more fully 
 explained than they already were, by the 
 appearance of large Russian and Austrian 
 armies on the frontiers, and the vast pre- 
 parations for war made by both those em- 
 copiousness of our language are well known to you. 
 They are such as will render justice to the varied 
 treasures of antiquity. Transposed into our tongue, 
 the nervous eloquence of Cicero, the measured gran- 
 deur of Virgil, the attractive sweetness of Demos- 
 thenes, the easy eloquence of Ovid, and the thunder- 
 ing flashes of the lyre of Pindar, will lose nothing of 
 their respective beauties. Our mother-tongue unites 
 not only these advantages, gentlemen, but even in 
 all the subtleties of philosqphy, in their affinities and 
 oppositions, it furnishes appropriate expressions, and 
 terms the most applicable and descriptive. But with 
 such resources, we have to lament the want of de- 
 terminate rules ; rules for the inflections of words, 
 as well as an authorised definition and limitation of 
 their meaning. Hence have arisen those varieties , 
 of construction, those improprieties of imitation and 
 foreign idiom, which have hitherto disfigured and 
 depressed our language. The object of the Imperial 
 Russian Academy is to render it perfect, to raise it 
 to a standard of elevation suitable to the glorious 
 age of Catherine II. This, gentlemen, must be the 
 end and aim of the labours of a society founded and 
 supported by her gracious protection. The difi'erent 
 memorials of antiquity spread over the vast surface 
 of the Russian empire, our numerous chronicles, 
 those precious records of the great actions of our 
 ancestors, of which few of the nations of Europe 
 now existing can boast an equal number, present a 
 vast field for our exertions, upon which we are led 
 to advance under the guidance of the enlightened 
 genius of our august protectress. The high deeds 
 of our princes, the exploits of the past and the pre- 
 sent ever-memorable age, present an almost bound- 
 less range of su^ects worthy of our labour. But, 
 gentlemen, the first fruits of our endeavours, the 
 first offering to be laid at the feet of our immortal 
 
 308 
 
 pires. The Porte, though it acted with 
 dignity, yet felt it necessary to submit. 
 The following year, Catherine poured her 
 troops into the Crimea, where, after many 
 intrigues, the khan was deposed, and the 
 principal Tartars compelled to take an oath 
 of allegiance to the empress. Turkey, 
 though extremely irritated, was not in a 
 condition to prevent this annexation, which 
 Catherine justified in a manifesto addressed 
 to the crowned heads of Europe. It is 
 fashionable to denounce the aggressive 
 policy of Russia ; but we think there is no 
 necessity for any indignant declamation in 
 this case. Geographically, the Crimea must 
 be regarded as a portion of the Russian 
 empire, to which it naturally belongs. It 
 is utterly dissevered from the Turkish do- 
 minions; and for the sultan to exercise a 
 paramount and protecting power over it, 
 must have been an indignity and a cause 
 of uneasiness to Russia. As to the Tartars 
 themselves, they deserved no consideration 
 whatever: they had obtained the Crimea 
 by conquest, and, during the time of their 
 power, had ever been restless, marauding, 
 vindictive, and bloodthirsty neighbours. 
 
 sovereign, is a grammar of our language, exact and 
 methodical, and a rich and copious dictionary. 
 Allow me to flatter myself, gentlemen, that you will 
 not hesitate to give me credit for the sentiments with 
 which I am penetrated in the honour of being asso- 
 ciated with you by my generous sovereign, to concur 
 in the good of an establishment so useful to our 
 country. Believe me, gentlemen, that the zeal which 
 enkindles in my heart the love of that country will 
 never be extinguished, and that in everything which 
 may tend to render our society flourishing and suc- 
 cessful, I shall endeavour to supply, by indefatigable 
 application, the deficiency of other qualifications of 
 which I am most sensible. I deem it an indispen- 
 sable duty, on this first occasion of our meeting, to 
 place before you a sketch which I have had the 
 honour of submitting to the consideration of her 
 majesty, in order that it may have the benefit of 
 your remarks, and the addition of whatever may be 
 considered further necessary to establish the basis 
 of our constitution. Any imperfections which here 
 present themselves will not surely escape your pene- 
 tration ; but there are two considerations which solicit 
 your indulgence. The first is, that I have contracted 
 the habit of exposing to our incomparable sovereign 
 my ideas, however undigested and unarranged they 
 may be, with entire confidence and sincerity, which 
 she is pleased to receive with kindness, from a per- 
 suasion of the purity of my intentions. The other, 
 that it never entered my contemplation (and I trust 
 such a vain idea never can), that I, though placed at 
 the head of this academy, should be capable, in my 
 own person, of upholding the labours and glory of 
 such an institution. It is on your aid, gentlemen, 
 that I count; and the confidence which I place in it, 
 is the strongest proof I can give of my profound 
 esteem for you." 
 
 A.D. 1783.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [death of Gregory orloff. 
 
 They were, indeed, little better than a na- 
 tion of robbers, whose independence was 
 not consistent with the safety of peaceable 
 people. Russia did wisely in annexing the 
 Crimea, and governing her turbulent people 
 by the sword: under such circumstances 
 England would have acted in the same 
 manner. 
 
 The empress assured the Tartars that 
 they should be placed on an equality with 
 the ancient subjects of Russia; that they 
 should enjoy the most absolute liberty of 
 conscience, with the full exercise of their 
 public worship and religious ceremonies. 
 She also exhorted them to imitate the sub- 
 mission and zeal of the rest of her people. 
 The Tartars were not aflfected by these exhor- 
 tations, and resolved to free themselves from 
 the yoke just imposed upon them. Prince 
 Potemkin, informed of their design, gave 
 orders to General Prozoroffski to seize on 
 the principal persons concerned, and put 
 them instantly to death. That officer re- 
 coiled from a charge which he regarded as 
 inconsistent with the honourable duties of a 
 military man, and replied, that he was not 
 calculated for an assassin. General Paul 
 Potemkin, cousin to the minister, was less 
 scrupulous ; and under his directions no less 
 than 30,000 Tartars, of both sexes, were 
 massacred in cold blood. Such terrible in- 
 cidents are, we fear, ever the inseparable at- 
 tendants of conquest, even in humane times. 
 While Russia was engaged in this work 
 of annexation, she preserved an attitude so 
 formidable that Turkey despaired of being 
 able to encounter her in arms with any hope 
 of success. An army of 70,000 men, under 
 the orders of General Potemkin, was as- 
 sembled on the frontiers of the Crimea. 
 These Prince Repnin was ready to support 
 with another army of 40,000 men ; while 
 Marshal Romantzoff, with a third army, held 
 his general quarters at Kief. The squadrons 
 of the Euxine were armed; and ten sail- 
 of-the-line, with several frigates, were only 
 waiting the signal for proceeding from the 
 Baltic to the Mediterranean. Under these 
 circumstances France had no great difficulty 
 in inducing Turkey *o negotiate, rather than 
 fight, with Russia. On the 9th of January, 
 1784, a new treaty, between the empress and 
 the sultan, was signed at Constantinople, by 
 which the entire sovereignty of the Crimea, 
 of the Isle of Taman, and a great part of the 
 Kuban, was ceded to Russia. To these places 
 the empress restored their ancient names: 
 the Crimea was called the Taurica, and the 
 
 Kuban the Caucasus — titles which never fail 
 to remind us of the fables of ancient Greece; 
 Iphigenia in Tauris; the race-ground of 
 Achilles; the cities Pantikapaura, Bos- 
 phorus, and Tanais; of the chained Prome- 
 theus ; and of the tribes of Caucasus and 
 Circassia, still famous for the beauty of their 
 women. 
 
 Before Catherine obtained this accession 
 of territory, she had lost two of the principal 
 chiefs of the conspiracy that had placed her 
 on the throne. Count Panin and Prince 
 Gregory Orloff died within a very short time 
 of each other ; the first at St. Petersburg, 
 the other at Moscow. Panin, supplanted bv 
 Prince Potemkin, had fallen a prey to grief 
 and vexation, and died on the 31st of March, 
 1783: he left behind him the character of 
 an honest and generous man, though he 
 certainly did not always merit the first of 
 these epithets. The close of the life of 
 Gregory Orloff was in gloomy accordance 
 with that poetical justice of which we hear 
 more than we see. Though in the possession 
 of an immense fortune, and married to a 
 young and handsome wife, he was rendered 
 miserable by the knowledge that the smiles 
 of the empress were lavished upon younger 
 favourites. During the latter part of his 
 life he travelled almost incessantlv, and a 
 despondency into which he had fallen was 
 increased to a profound melancholy by the 
 loss of his wife, at Lausanne, in 1782. He 
 returned to St. Petersburg, in the hope of 
 recovering his serenity by mixing in the 
 scenes of his past pleasures. The court itself 
 afforded him no rehsf, and he soon startled 
 his friends by conduct which indicated a 
 disordered intellect. He would sometimes 
 give himself up to an extravagant gaiety, 
 and then as suddenly burst out into re- 
 proaches against the empress. After a time 
 he retired to Moscow, where he became the 
 victim of a consuming remorse. He was 
 incessantly haunted by a vision of the mur- 
 dered Peter III.; and, in the month of 
 April, 1783, he expired in the agonies of 
 despair. 
 
 The empress had long lost her affection 
 for Orloff; but she was deeply moved in the 
 following year by the loss of her favourite 
 Lansko'i. To him Catherine was so greatly 
 attached, that she addressed herself, per- 
 sonally, to remove the defects of his educa- 
 tion, and that with so much success, that he 
 soon became as distinguishable for his ac- 
 quirements and the elegance of his manners, 
 as he was already by the graces of his person! 
 
 309 
 
THE DIKXER OF TOLERATION.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1784. 
 
 "Whether her love for Lanskoi would have 
 been more enduring than that which she 
 entertained for her previous favourites, it is 
 difficult to say, as he was attacked with a 
 violent fever, and perished in the flower of 
 his age, in the arms of his imperial mistress, 
 who lavished upon him, to the very last mo- 
 ment, all the tenderness the most passionate 
 affection could inspire. After his death 
 Catherine abandoned lierself to the most 
 l)oignant sorrow. For some days she refused 
 all food, and remained three months within 
 the walls of her palace. She afterwards 
 erected a superb mausoleum to his memory 
 in the gardens of the palace of Tzarsko-selo. 
 Two years afterwards, while walking acci- 
 dentally near this monument, she burst into 
 tears on beholding it. 
 
 Many persons at court were ambitious of 
 fdling the post left vacant by the death of 
 Lanskoi; and the Princess Daschkaw has 
 the reputation of endeavouring to obtain it 
 for her son. This she denies. Certain it is 
 that the young Prince Daschkaw, though 
 possessed of a face and a figure calculated 
 to make an impression on the heart of 
 the susceptible empress, was not successful. 
 Catherine at length selected a lieutenant 
 of the name of Yermoloff, on whom to con- 
 fer her favours. 
 
 It has been observed that the spirit of 
 toleration which prevailed during the reign 
 of the empress was a remarkable feature in 
 a despotic government. Throughout her 
 long reign she never permitted any person 
 to suffer punishment on account of his reli- 
 gious opinions. She /;ould not be induced 
 to visit those denounced as heretics with the 
 signs of her displeasure. " Poor wretches,'^ 
 said she once, with a meaning smile, "since 
 we know that they are to suffer so much 
 and so long in the world to come, it is but 
 reasonable that we should endeavour, by all 
 means, to make their situation here as com- 
 fortable to them as we can/' A writer on 
 this subject aptly remarks — " The intolerant 
 of more polished nations might go to the 
 provinces of Esthonia, Livonia, Finland, and 
 Russia, to take lessons of moderation and 
 Christian forbearance. But at St. Peters- 
 burg, the general and peculiar feature in the 
 public character is toleration — a virtue which, 
 in some sense, has long since taken root in 
 the nation at large ; but, from the confluence 
 of such numbers of people of various persua- 
 sions and the most diversified systems of 
 faith, has acquired so general and extensive 
 a sway, that certainly it is not easy to find a 
 310 
 
 spot of earth upon the globe, where, in this 
 respect, a man may more quietly pass his 
 days than at St. Petersburg. It is to be 
 understood, moreover, that the word * tolera- 
 tion' is not here confined to that narrow 
 meaning in which it is usually taken, in 
 speaking of an extorted and commanded 
 forbearance in matters of religion, or of the 
 permission for the weaker party to exist by 
 a stated law. The idea here connected with 
 the term includes a voluntarily and univer- 
 sally- diffused forbearance, in every place, 
 and towards every person, his manner of 
 thinking and acting. It therefore compre- 
 hends not only rehgion, but also political 
 and social toleration; and is remarkable, 
 not as the characteristic of the form of gov- 
 ernment, but as entirely that of the public.'' 
 
 The liberality of Catherine was displayed 
 by the sanction of a seminary of Jesuits* at 
 Mohilef, and by the protection of Moham- 
 medanism in the Crimea. Indeed, almost 
 every year she exhibited to her people some 
 remarkable instance of the protection she 
 granted to the liberty of worship. On the 
 day of the benediction of the waters of the 
 Neva, her confessor, at her orders, invited to 
 his house the ecclesiastics of all commu- 
 nions, and gave them a grand entertainment, 
 which the empress called the "Dinner of Tole- 
 ration." It was commonly attended by the 
 priests of no less than eight different forms 
 of religion ; and at the conclusion of the re- 
 past, the metropolitan usually said, with a 
 loud voice, either in Russ or Latin, " Glory 
 to God in the highest ! — On earth peace !— 
 Good-will towards men !" 
 
 It was not in religion alone that the em- 
 press displayed an active liberality. Her 
 labours for the diffusion of instruction 
 amongst her people were unremitting. She 
 had already opened many schools in the 
 large towns ; but she now resolved to spread 
 these benefits to the future men and women 
 of Russia, as far as practicable, throughout 
 the empire. With this object she opened a 
 commission of public instruction, for the 
 institution of normal schools, which were 
 established on the same principle as those 
 then existing in Austria. Catherine took 
 much interest in her schools, and gave her- 
 self a great deal of trouble about them. 
 Occasionally she visited them herself during 
 
 ♦ However, to guard against the danger com- 
 monly apprehended irom this order of monks, they 
 were not permitted to leave the two or three towns 
 which had been assigned to them as places of resi- 
 dence. 
 
 i.n 1787.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [progress to KHERSON. 
 
 the hours of instruction. It was, indeed, a 
 pleasing trait in the character of the em- 
 press, that she was always fond of children, 
 and frequently bestowed great care upon 
 them. She generally had a number of them in 
 her apartments, where they enjoved the same 
 liberty with her grandchildren,' and she re- 
 turned their caresses with extreme kindness. 
 Catherine's favourite, Yermoloff", contrived 
 to make himself obnoxious to Prince Potem- 
 kin, to whom he is said to have behaved with 
 ingratitude. The irritable minister at length 
 said to the empress—-'' Madam, there is but 
 one alternative; you must either dismiss 
 Yermoloff" or me ; for so long as you keep 
 that white negro,* I shall not set my foot 
 within the palace." The empress yielded ; 
 Yermoloff" was dismissed, and a new fa- 
 vourite of the name of Count Momonoff" 
 succeeded him. 
 
 On the 18th of January, 1787, Catherine 
 started on a magnificent progress to Kher- 
 son and the Crimea. So extensive were 
 the preparations that had been made for 
 this journey, that it was reported the Cleo- 
 patra of the North intended to be crowned 
 queen of Taurida, and to be declared pro- 
 tectress of all the nations of Tartars. Cathe- 
 rine had an important political object in 
 this intended display of magnificence and 
 power. She proposed, after having taken 
 the sceptre of the Crimea, and awed the 
 surrounding nations into submission, to 
 conduct her grandson Constantine to the 
 gates of that Oriental empire over which 
 she had designed him to rule. So fixed 
 was this idea in the mind of the empress, 
 that Constantine, from his birth, was placed 
 m the hands of Greek nurses, dressed in 
 the Greek costume, and surrounded by the 
 children of that nation, that he might ac- 
 quire their language, which he soon spoke 
 with great facility. 
 
 The illness of the young prince, which 
 compelled the empress to leave him at St. 
 Petersburg, together with some other cir- 
 cumstances, induced Catherine to abandon 
 the idea of the coronation, the assumption 
 of new titles, and to dispense with the 
 large military force which it was intended 
 should accompany her. Yet, to give dig. 
 nity to the occasion, Catherine had induced 
 the emperor, Joseph II., to consent to meet 
 and confer with her at Kherson. Stanis- 
 laus, the poor shadow-king of Poland, the 
 
 • Potemkin called Yermoloff by that name, because 
 ne was thick-lipped and extremely fair. 
 t Memoirs and Recollections, 
 
 last of the monarchs of that divided coun- 
 try, also swelled the triumph of the auto- 
 cratrix by joining this distinguished party. 
 The Porte took the alarm; and a storm 
 was gathering throughout the Ottoman em- 
 pire to burst forth at no distant period. 
 Catherine, however, either despised, or 
 aff^ected to despise, the eff'eminacy and the 
 Ignorance of the Mussulmans, and the dull 
 hfe of their sultans, whose horizon did not 
 extend beyond the walls of their harem. 
 "These imbecile despots," said she, "weak- 
 ened by the pleasures of the seraglio, ruled 
 over by their ulemahs, and captives to their 
 Janizaries, can neither think, speak, fio-ht 
 nor administer pubUc aff"airs ; their infancy 
 is perpetual." 
 
 The empress started on her journey in 
 the depth of winter, attended by a brilliant 
 suite, and a cavalcade composed of fourteen 
 carriages and 18i sledges. "The cold" 
 said Count Segur,t who, in his capacity 
 of ambassador from France, accompanied 
 the empress, "rose to seventeen degrees; 
 the road was excellent, and our carriages' 
 mounted on a sort of lofty skates, were 
 drawn along with such rapidity, that they 
 seemed to fly through the air. To protect 
 us from the cold, we were wrapped up in 
 furs of bear-skin, which we wore over 
 pelisses finer and more valuable, and we 
 had on our heads caps of sable. With 
 these precautions we did not feel the cold, 
 even when it rose to twenty or twenty-five 
 degrees. In the houses where we lo'd^^ed 
 the stoves gave us reason to fear an excess 
 of heat rather than of cold. At this time 
 of the year, when the days were shortest, 
 the sun did not give us light till very late,* 
 and, at the end of six or seven hours, he 
 disappeared, and the darkest night suc- 
 ceeded. Eut in the midst of this darkness 
 we were not left in want of light. At short 
 distances from each other, and on both 
 sides of the road, enormous piles of fir, 
 cypress, birch, and pine had been raised' 
 which were set on fire, so that we posted 
 through a range of fires more brilliant than 
 the rays of daylight. It was thus that the 
 proud empress of the North, in the midst 
 of the deepest night, willed and commanded 
 that there should be light." 
 
 Away went the imperial cortege, with an 
 almost incredible celerity, over vast plains 
 covered with snow, across frozen marshes, 
 and through forests of fir, whose dark 
 branches, hung with innumerable icicles, 
 sometimes irradiated by the faint gleams oi 
 
 311 
 
ANECDOTES OF THE EMPRESS.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 178/. 
 
 a winter's sun, bore a brief resemblance to 
 the lustre of the crystal and the diamond. 
 For some little distance beyond the towns 
 and villages, the road was thronged by citi- 
 zens and rustics, whose curiosity led them 
 to brave the severity of the cold, and ven- 
 ture forth to salute their sovereign with 
 acclamations. 
 
 Count Segur relates the following anec- 
 dote of the empress, which occurred during 
 the journey; and though not in itself of 
 any great moment, may contribute some- 
 thing towards enabling us to take a just 
 view of her character. " One day," he ol)- 
 serves, " as I was sitting opposite to her in 
 her carriage, she expressed a desire that I 
 would repeat to her some little pieces of 
 poetry which I had composed. The de- 
 lightful familiarity which she permitted to 
 those who travelled with her, the presence 
 of her young favourite, the remembrance of 
 those who had preceded him in her favour, 
 her philosophy, her gaiety, her corres- 
 pondence with the Prince De Ligne, Vol- 
 taire, and Diderot, having led me to sup- 
 pose that she would not be shocked at a 
 tale of gallantry, I recited one to her which 
 was, in truth, a little free and gay, but 
 still sufficiently choice in its expressions to 
 have been well received at Paris by the 
 Due de Nivernais, by the Prince de Beau- 
 vais, and by ladies whose virtue equalled 
 their good-humour. To my great surprise, 
 I saw the laughing traveller suddenly as- 
 sume the deportment of a majestic sove- 
 reign. She interrupted me by a question 
 altogether foreign to the purpose, and 
 changed the subject of conversation. Some 
 minutes afterwards, in order to show that I 
 understood her lesson, I entreated her at- 
 tention to a piece of verse of a very different 
 kind from the former, and to which she lent 
 the most obliging attention. As if desirous 
 that her weaknesses should be respected, 
 she took care to cover them with a veil of 
 decency and dignity. This anecdote re- 
 minds me of what my brother said, with so 
 much justness and originality, when speak- 
 ing of the indulgence permitted by women 
 thoroughly virtuous, and the apparent seve- 
 rity of those who are not quite so perfect. 
 ' Where virtue reigns,' said he, * the show 
 of nice decorum is useless.' " 
 
 After six days' traveUing the empress be- 
 came fatigued, and remained for three more 
 at the picturesque city of Smolensk. On 
 the second evening there she gave a grand 
 ball^ at which 300 ladies, splendidly attired, 
 312 
 
 evidenced the progress which the provinces 
 of the empire had made in imitating the 
 luxuries, the fashions, and the elegance of 
 the capital. The journey was renewed, and 
 ten days' more travelling brought the impe- 
 rial party to Kief, the ancient capital of the 
 first princes of Russia, situated upon the 
 bank of the river Dnieper. Here Catherine 
 was compelled to remain until the 1st of 
 May. Still, in this ghost of a once great 
 city she kept a numerous and certainly 
 remarkable court. Around her were to he 
 seen warhke princes from many nations; 
 the nobles and beauties of Poland, who, 
 forgetful of the wounds of their country, had 
 flocked there to meet the proud autocratrix 
 whose sword hung suspended over it ; officers 
 of all the imperial armies, including those of 
 the Don Cossacks, richly clothed in the 
 Asiatic costume; Tartars, Circassians, and 
 Calmucks; together with envoys from many 
 warlike and mostly wandering tribes, often 
 beaten, but never subdued. " It was," said 
 an observer, " the whole East congregated to 
 see the modern Semiramis receiving the 
 homage of the monarchs of the West. It 
 was like a magic theatre, where ancient and 
 modern times seemed to be mingled and 
 confounded with one another, and where 
 civilisation went hand-iu-hand with bar- 
 barism." 
 
 Count Segur, disappointed at seeing so 
 little of the countries through which they 
 passed, ventured to complain that it was ex- 
 tremely vexatious to travel so far and never 
 to see anything but a court, never to hear 
 anything but Greek masses, and never to 
 attend at anything but balls. The empress, 
 hearing of it, said to him — " I am informed 
 that you censure me for traversing my em- 
 pire, in order to give nothing but audiences 
 and fetes: but listen to mv reasons. I do not 
 travel to see the places, but to see the people ; 
 I know enough, by charts and descriptions, 
 with regard to a matter which a rapid pro- 
 gress will not permit me to investigate. 
 That which is essential to me, is to give the 
 people the means of approaching me ; to open 
 a way for their complaints, and to make 
 those tremble who dare to abuse my autho- 
 rity in the expectation that I shall not dis- 
 cover their errors, their negligences, or their 
 injustice. Such, then, is the advantage 
 which I expect to derive from my journeys ; 
 their mere announcement does good; and 
 my motto is — The eye of the master fattens 
 the horse." 
 
 When the returning spring thawed the 
 
 A.D. 1787.] 
 
 waters of the ancient Borysthenes, the era- 
 press prepared to renew her journey. Before 
 doing so, she visited the monastery of Pets- 
 cherski, and distributed many favours and 
 decorations, diamonds and pearls. "The 
 Cleopatra of Kief," said the witty Austrian 
 soldier. Prince de Ligne, "does not swallow 
 pearls, but she gives many away." The 
 galley on which she embarked was attended 
 by a fleet of more than eighty vessels, manned 
 by about 3,000 men. The vessels containing 
 the empress and her immediate companions, 
 had splendid apartments, glittering with gold 
 and silk, constructed on the deck. Every 
 galley carried a band of music; the warlike 
 strains of which, added to the shouts of the 
 spectators and the roar of cannon, assisted 
 m producing a most imposing spectacle. 
 The snow had thoroughly disappeared when 
 the empress departed from Kief; the earth 
 was covered with a rich verdure, and even, 
 . in some spots, enamelled with early flowers; 
 above all, a brilliant sun animated, enlivened^ 
 and coloured every object. The rocks that 
 intercepted the navigation of the river, had 
 been partially broken down for this me- 
 morable occasion. 
 
 At Kaniefi* the fleet cast anchor to receive 
 Stanislaus, the king of Poland. Catherine 
 had not beheld her early lover for the space 
 of three-and-twenty years, and she seemed 
 momentarily aff'ected at the interview; but 
 on assembling at the dinner-table, she dis- 
 played more than her customary cheerful- 
 ness. On rising, the king took from the 
 hands of a page the gloves and fan of the 
 empress, and presented them to her. Cathe- 
 rine returned the courtesy by handing to 
 him his hat. "Ah ! madam," he remarked, 
 in allusion to the crown of Poland, "you 
 formerly gave me a much finer one." 
 
 At Krementchuk the empress was lodged 
 in a magnificent mansion, and entertained 
 by a mock battle carried on by 12,000 men 
 in new uniforms. This was arranged by 
 Prince Potemkin, who showed an extraordi- 
 nary ingenuity and a boundless extrava- 
 gance in providing for the amusement of his 
 imperial mistress. Every means was adopted 
 to give an appearance of hfe and fertility 
 even to the barrenness of the desert. Large 
 flocks had been collected for the occasion, 
 to impart animation to the meadows in the 
 neighbourhood of the villages; groups of 
 peasants enlivened the banks ; and boats, full 
 of youths and maidens, singing the rustic 
 airs of their country, sometimes surrounded 
 the galley of the empress. 
 VOL. I. 2 ■ 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [catheeinb at kherso:,. 
 
 W I 
 
 I 
 
 Joseph II. met Catherine, on the 18th of 
 May, near Kaydak, and from thence they 
 proceeded by land to Kherson. " We en- 
 tered," says the gossiping Count Segur. 
 upon what in Russia is called the Steppes- 
 vast and solitary meadows, altogether desti- 
 tute of trees, and varied only at great inter- 
 vals by hillocks quite bare, with some paltry 
 rivulet winding at their feet. We often tra- 
 versed seven or eight leagues without en- 
 countering a man, a house, or a bush. 
 Africa has its deserts of sand ; those of the 
 J^ast are less barren—they are the deserts of 
 verdure. Immense flocks of sheep, and a 
 numerous breed of horses, alone inhabit these 
 profound solitudes, where they are left to 
 rove about the whole of the year. At the 
 first view, this immense and verdant horizon 
 where nothing checks the sight, produces on 
 the mind the same impression as the ocean. 
 It seems to give greater grandeur to the 
 imagination, and greater depth to reflection ; 
 but, in proportion as you advance, the uni- 
 formity occasions weariness; you become 
 excessively tired of continually beholding, 
 above and around, nothing but the sky and 
 green fields, which have no limits." 
 
 The visit of the empress to the city of 
 Kherson, called by the Tartars " Kisiker- 
 man," or City of Daughters, was celebrated 
 with many festivities. It was here that she 
 beheld a gate bearing a Greek inscription 
 meaning, " By this the way leads to Byzan- 
 tium." This incident has been magnified 
 into the statement, that she erected a 
 triumphal arch at this place, and, in a fit of 
 arrogant prophecy, inscribed those words 
 upon It. The visit of the empress to the 
 Crimea, though necessarily displeasing to 
 the Porte, was not conducted in open de- 
 fiance of it. Long before leaving St. Peters- 
 burg, she had certified her intention to the 
 divan at Constantinople; the messenger 
 being directed to soften the communication 
 by the statement, that some necessary in- 
 ternal regulations were the only objects of 
 his sovereign in this visit to a part of her 
 subjects. The Porte, however, exhibited 
 symptoms of uneasiness, and appeared un- 
 decided as to whether they ought not to 
 consider the visit as an aggression. They 
 even sent four ships of war, while the em- 
 press was at Kherson, to anchor at the 
 mouth of the Borysthenes. This proceed- 
 ing so resembled a threat, that Catherine 
 beheld the vessels with much excitement, 
 and, turning to her courtiers, exclaimed — 
 " Do you see ! one would suppose that the 
 
 813 
 
CATHERINE AT PULTAWA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1787. 
 
 Turks had no recollection of Tschesme !" 
 Her indignation was the greater on finding 
 that the Ottoman8 were assisted by French 
 officers and engineers. Prince Potemkin re- 
 proached Count Segur with this circum- 
 stance; but the latter answered, that the 
 Russians could scarcely be astonished at 
 precautions dictated by common prudence.* 
 Catherine, for some days, treated the French 
 minister with coldness, but soon received 
 him again into her favour. 
 
 Crossing the famous lines of Perekop, 
 the imperial party proceeded to the city of 
 Bachtchi-Sara'i, and took up their residence 
 in the palace of the ancient khans. The 
 Turkish and Tartar merchants looked on 
 with an apathetic pride. On the approach 
 of a cavalcade they showed neither surprise 
 nor active displeasure. Regarding their 
 conquerors as infidels and dogs, they re- 
 tained their stupid pride; and instead of 
 imputing their reverses to ignorance, attri- 
 buted them to fatality alone. The pride of 
 the empress was natural and justifiable : it 
 had been reserved for her — a woman — to 
 annihilate the Tartar power in the Crimea, 
 
 and to subdue beneath the Russian sceptre 
 a race who had formerly been the con- 
 querors of Russia, ever delighting in fero- 
 cious excesses ; and who, but a few years 
 before their overthrow, had shown that they 
 still retained their brutal and brigand-like 
 spirit. 
 
 On the return of Catherine, she visited 
 the famous battle-field of Pultawa. There 
 a Russian army of 50,000 men was divided 
 into two bodies, and gave a mimic represen- 
 tation of the conflict between Charles and 
 Peter. During the charging of troops and 
 the roar of cannon, Catherine felt the full 
 excitement of the scene, and her eyes 
 sparkled with animation and delight. On 
 some of the courtiers pointing out to her an 
 error committed by the Swedes, she ob- 
 served — " Here we may see on what a small 
 matter the fate of empires depends. Had it 
 not been for this fault, we should not be 
 here." At Moscow the emperor Joseph took 
 leave of Catherine, and returned to his 
 dominions ; while she and her court pro- 
 ceeded to St. Petersburg, having traversed 
 nearly the whole length of the empire. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 TURKEY DECLARES WAR AGAINST RUSSIA ; SWEDEN DOES THE SAME ; EXTRAVAGANT DEMANDS OF GUSTAVUS ; 
 CONSTERNATION AT ST. PETERSBURG ; 8UCCKSSES OF THE RUSSIANS AND THE TURKS; CAPTURE OF OTCIIA- 
 KOFF, AND MASSACRE THKRR; GUSTAVUS OBTAINS A NAVAL TRIUxMPH OVER THE RUSSIANS; PEACB 
 BETWEEN SWEDEN AND RUSSIA; SUWARROW AND THE BATTLE OF THE RYMNIK ; DEFEAT OF THE TURKS 
 AT MARTINESTI; THE TAKING AND MASSACRE OF ISMAIL; ECCENTRICITY OF POTEMKIN; HE GIVES AN 
 EXTRAVAGANT ENTERTAINMENT TO THE EMPRESS ; CATHERINE'S LAST FAVOURITE; DEATH AND CHARACTER 
 OF POTEMKIN. 
 
 Turkey had been too bitterly wounded 
 long to submit in silence to the humilia- 
 tions it had received at the hands of its 
 northern neighbour. The Porte demanded 
 
 • Count Segur was also so fortunate as to enjoy 
 the confidence of the emperor Joseph, then accom- 
 panying the empress under the assumed tide of the 
 Count de Falkenstein. Notwithstanding the treaty 
 between Austria and Russia, the count considered 
 the emperor as but little disposed to second the am- 
 bition of Catherine. •' Constantinople," said Joseph, 
 " will ever be an object of jealousy and a ground 
 for discord, which will always render it impossible 
 for the great powers to agr«e in a division of Tur- 
 key." He appeared also very little struck with the 
 proj^ress of the Russian establishments. " I find," 
 said he, " more of show than of reality. Prince 
 Potemkin is active, but more fit to begin great works 
 than to finish them. As to the rest, all becomes 
 314. 
 
 the restitution of the Crimea. Fresh, 
 though trivial, disputes arose; and on the 
 18th of August, 1787, the sultan, secretly 
 instigated both by Prussiaf and England, 
 
 easy if we are prodigal of wealth and of human life. 
 We could not venture in Germany nor in France 
 upon what Is hazarded here without opposition. The 
 master commands, and troops of slaves obediently 
 labour. They are paid little or nothing; they are 
 badly fed ; they dare not let a murmur escape them ; 
 and I know that, during three years in these new 
 governments, fatigue and the unhealthiness of the 
 morasses have destroyed 50,000, without iu being 
 complained of, or even alluded to." 
 
 t Frederic the Great was no more. He died on 
 the 17th of August, 1786. in the seventy-fifth year 
 of his age, and the forty-seventh of his reign. To 
 his nephew and successor (Frederic William II.) 
 he left a kingdom enlarged from 2,190 to 3,516 
 
 A.U. 1787.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 declared war against Russia, and sent the 
 ambassador of that power to the castle of 
 the Seven Towers. M. de Bulgakoff was, 
 however, permitted to be attended by his 
 secretary and some servants, and an ele- 
 gant pavilion was constructed to enable 
 him to enjoy the fresh air. Shortly after- 
 wards Sahim-Gueray, the former khan of 
 the Crimea, was strangled at Rhodes, as a 
 punishment for his ancient concessions to 
 the Russians. 
 
 The Turks and the Russians were each 
 busied with preparations for a war, which 
 France strove in vain to prevent. England 
 had more influence with the Porte,*' into 
 whose quarrel it entered with some warmth, 
 in consequence of the jealous feelings with 
 which it beheld Russia form a treaty of 
 commerce with France. The divan ordered 
 80,000 men to march, in order to cover 
 Otchakoff; advanced a formidable army to 
 the banks of the Danube, and called upon 
 all true followers of the prophet to arm in 
 defence of his successor. The call was 
 readily obeyed; for the Turks were furious 
 at the recent visit of the empress to the 
 Crimea, covered as it was bv the vicinity of 
 an army of 150,000 men, 'and astonished 
 that a progress so insulting had not been 
 pre\^nted. The brave old capudan-pasha, 
 Gazi the Victorious, who had recently re- 
 turned from the Archipelago, declared, that 
 though grown gray in the service of his 
 country, he still felt himself strong and 
 vigorous, and that there was nothing upon 
 earth he wished for so passionately, as to 
 close his life with the glorious act of 
 driving the infidels out of their fraudulent 
 usurpations in the Crimea and on the 
 Euxiue, and of replacing the ruined na- 
 tions of Tartars and other Mussulmans in 
 their ancient possessions. He soon after- 
 wards entered the Black Sea with a fleet of 
 sixteen ships of the line, eight frigates, and 
 several galleys, intent on erasing the 
 memory of the disaster of his country at 
 Tschesme. The Tartars, also, on being in- 
 vited to return to their former allegiance, 
 met and elected a fresh khan, Par-Gueray^ 
 who soon beheld under his command an 
 
 [war with turkey. 
 
 German square miles; about 70,000,000 of dollars 
 (£10,000,000 sterling) in the treasury, and an army 
 of 200,000 men. Prussia had become a great power 
 in Europe ; but political errors soon lessened the new 
 sovereign's influence with foreign cabinets; while use- 
 less wars, and the extravagance of favourites, wasted 
 the treasure he had inherited. Tyrannical, sensual, 
 and superstitious, Frederic William abandoned him- 
 self to the society of his mistresses, and allowed his 
 
 army of 40,000 men. It was in vain that 
 Catherine had loaded the Tartars with 
 presents, and caused the Koran to be 
 printed at St. Petersburg for their use: 
 they beheld in her the Christian potentate; 
 while they longed to be ruled by a true 
 follower of the prophet. 
 
 The empress had long regarded a re- 
 newal of the war with Turkey as a proba- 
 bility, and had made preparations accord- 
 ingly. She had already a great force in 
 the Kuban, or Caucasus, and her armies 
 were advancing in detachments to the 
 Crimea. Potemkin, who longed for mili- 
 tary distinction, assumed the command of 
 all these forces ; while Su warrow, KamenskoY, 
 Korsakoflf, and other generals of reputation,' 
 served under him. The famous Marshal 
 Romantzoff; disdaining to swell the fame of 
 Potemkin, assigned his advanced age as an 
 excuse for holding aloof. A Russian fleet, 
 consisting of eight ships of the line, twelve 
 frigates, and nearly 200 gun-boats, made 
 its appearance in the Black Sea, and two 
 strong squadrons were in readiness at 
 Cronstadt, to sail for the Mediterranean. 
 Catherine also induced the emperor, Jo- 
 seph II., to support her with an armv of 
 80,000 Austrians, who proceeded to Mol- 
 davia; and not a few statesmen anticipated 
 the approaching overthrow of the Ottoman 
 empire. Catherine also appealed to thftt 
 deep sense of superstition in her people 
 which, in reality, she despised. She caused 
 papers to be circulated amongst them, con- 
 taining the assumed prophecies of the Rus- 
 sian patriarchs, Jeremiah and Nicon, in 
 which the speedy ruin of Constantinople 
 was affirmed. On the other side, a Tartar 
 prophet made his appearance, and affirmed 
 that an angel had revealed itself to him 
 in a wood, and promised to raise against 
 the Russians all the hordes of the Caucasus. 
 The Turks suffered a severe defeat before 
 Kinburn, where no less than three actions 
 took place. Suwarrow, who commanded, was 
 himself wounded, but 4,000 Turks perished ; 
 Otchakoff" was laid siege to, but vigorously 
 defended: the same was the case with 
 Choczim. But the other powers of Europe 
 
 mind to be influenced by the mystics known as the 
 lUuminati, who pretended to make Moses and Jesus 
 appear to him ; and on another occasion, during sup- 
 per, called up for his satisfaction, or rather seemed 
 to call up, the ghost of Caesar. This foolish monarch 
 was also so lavish in bestowing titles upon his 
 favourites, that a satirical writer observed, that it 
 would soon be more diflicult, in Prussia, to find a 
 man than a nohhman. 
 
 315 
 
 > / 
 
SWEDEN DECLARES WAR.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [AvD. 1788. 
 
 did not view the conduct of Russia with- 
 out uneasiness. Turkey was secretly en- 
 couraged by France, and also by Prussia; 
 while England was sending it supplies. 
 This Catherine might, perhaps, hare antici- 
 pated ; but she had not foreseen that Gus- 
 tavus III. of Sweden would have had the 
 boldness to declare war upon her. The 
 policy of Russia had long been to prevent 
 Sweden from ever recovering her former 
 rank among nations, or any part of that 
 influence which she once held in the politi- 
 cal scale of Europe. A nominal king with- 
 out power or effect ; with a nation con- 
 stantly rent and distracted by jarring fac- 
 tions, any of which she might occasionally 
 support against the others, as best suited 
 her immediate purposes, would, in process 
 of time, afford her such continual opportu- 
 nities for interference and regulation, and 
 such frequent pretences for sending armies 
 into the country to support her decisions, 
 that all the substantial benefits of conquest 
 would thus be obtained without the odium 
 and jealousy ever inseparable from that 
 term. These schemes were destroyed by 
 the Swedish revolution, which regenerated 
 the government of that country ; and the 
 Russian cabinet regarded with jealousy an 
 active monarch, under whose rule her 
 coveted prey had eluded her. When, 
 therefore, Gustavus offered his services to 
 avert the war, by mediation between Russia 
 and the Porte, they were rejected by the 
 former power with contemptuous scorn. 
 This aroused into activity the hereditary 
 hatred between Sweden and Russia; and 
 Gustavus, moreover, felt that it might be a 
 more prudent policy to attack his gigantic 
 neighbour while she was occupied in a war 
 with Turkey, than to permit her subse- 
 quently to turn her hostile armies against 
 him. Gustavus was, moreover, subsidised 
 by Turkey ; while Prussia lent him money ; 
 and England (now openly showing its ill- 
 will towards Russia) promised him the assist- 
 ance of a fleet. 
 
 The Swedish fleet captured two Russian 
 frigates as they were cruising off Sweaborg ; 
 while Gustavus himself, at the head of 
 30,000 men, marched against Frederic- 
 shaum — circumstances which created both 
 astonishment and aljlrm at St. Petersburg. 
 That city was almost unprotected; for all 
 the Russian troops had been sent off to 
 fight against the Turks; and Gustavus 
 trusted to cover himself with glory, by 
 retaking from Russia the provinces lost by 
 316 
 
 Charles Xlf. He even, on the 1st of July, 
 haughtily demanded that Catherine should 
 restore them ; that she should accept of his 
 mediation to restore peace between her and 
 the Ottoman Porte, and authorise him to 
 offer to the Porte the cession of the Crimea, 
 and the restoration of her frontiers as they 
 existed before the war of 1768. Catherine's 
 astonishment at these extravagant demands 
 was exceeded by her indignation and her 
 intrepidity. In a tone of irony she asked 
 the French ambassador what he thought of 
 them. " It seems to me, madam,'^ replied 
 the count, "that the king of Sweden, de- 
 ceived by a flattering dream, fancies that he 
 has already obtained three brilliant vic- 
 tories over your majesty.'' "And if he had 
 gained them, count,'' rejoined Catherine 
 with warmth — " were he even in possession 
 of St. Petersburg and Moscow, I would 
 still show him of what a woman of high 
 character is capable, at the head of a brave 
 and devoted people, and standing erect on 
 the ruins of a great empire." Yet Cathe- 
 rine experienced considerable uneasiness ; 
 Gustavus had taken the Russians by sur- 
 prise, and it was extremely possible that he 
 might be able, for a short time, to expel 
 the empress from her capital, and recover 
 possession of Livonia. Gustavus himself 
 was so confident of such a result, that he 
 actually invited the ladies of Stockholm to 
 the ball he promised to give them at Peter- 
 hoff, aud to the Te Deum he intended to 
 celebrate in the cathedral of St. Petersburg. 
 It was rumoured throughout the city that 
 the palace was all in alarm ; that the jewels, 
 furniture, objects of value, and private 
 papers of the empress were packing up; 
 that a great number of horses were in readi- 
 ness at every post, and that Catherine in- 
 tended to leave in the night, and seek for 
 safety at Moscow. The empress heard, and 
 contemptuously denied, the rumour. "I 
 have given orders," said she, " for a great 
 number of horses to be immediately col- 
 lected along the road to Moscow, but only 
 to bring up, in all haste, the regiments I 
 have called for. I remain in my capital; 
 if I should quit it, it would only be to go 
 and meet the king of Sweden." It was not 
 without reason that that brilliant and viva- 
 cious Austrian, the Prince de Ligne, gave 
 her the name of the imperturbable ! 
 
 The Swedish troops were opposed by 
 such Russian forces as could be hastily col- 
 lected ; and several petty actions took place, 
 in which the former were generally suc- 
 
 a.d. 1788.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the war with SWEDEN. 
 
 cessful. The Swedish fleet cruised about 
 the gulf, and advanced defiantly even within 
 sight of the batteries of Cronstadt. From 
 the harbour of that great fortress. Admiral 
 Greig issued with a strong fleet to counter- 
 act the desijjns of the enemy. There were 
 many British officers besides' the admiral on 
 board this Russian fleet; for numbers, find- 
 ing, at the conclusion of the American war, 
 neither reward nor active employment in 
 their own country, had tendered their ser- 
 vices to the empress. The notorious buc- 
 caneer, Paul Jones, who had gained so much 
 distinction by piratical efforts against his 
 countrymen during the American war, was 
 also received by Catherine into her service, 
 and made a Russian admiral. The English 
 officers considered it a degradation to serve 
 with such a man, and threatened to lay 
 down their commissions rather than act in 
 any capacity whatever with a pirate and 
 a renegade. The court of St. Petersburg 
 was both vexed and embarrassed. Punc- 
 tilios of honour, operating in the face of com- 
 mand, was a thing unheard of in that ser- 
 vice. No Russian, unless of the highest 
 rank, would dare to insinuate such an idea. 
 The conduct of the British officers was re- 
 garded as a direct insult to the Russian 
 government, and would, no doubt, have been 
 resented as such at any other period. But 
 the necessity of the time prevailed; Paul 
 Jones was recalled from his command in 
 the Cronstadt fleet; and a circumstance 
 shortly afterwards occurred, which induced 
 his retirement from the Russian service. 
 
 On the 22nd of July, 1788, the Russian 
 and Swedish naval forces met off the island 
 of Hoghland. An engagement of two hours 
 followed ; when each side, having lost one 
 vessel and had several others disabled, 
 claimed the victory. In a subsequent en- 
 gagement, the Swedes were thrown into 
 some confusion, and lost the Gustavus Adol- 
 phus, a ship of sixty guns, which was taken 
 and burnt by the enemy. The Swedes, 
 precluded from tlie means of refitting, con- 
 tinued during the campaign shut up in the 
 harbour of Sweaborg; while the Russian 
 fleet cruised triumphantly about the gulf. 
 
 The military ' efforts of Gustavus were 
 rendered almost poweriess by a disaffection 
 which spread among his officers, especially 
 those in high commands, several of whom, 
 he found, carried on a traitorous corres- 
 pondence with the enemy. A great num- 
 ber of others declared openly, that they 
 could not, without a violation of their con- 1 
 
 science and the oaths they had taken to 
 their country, draw their swords in a war 
 undertaken without the consent of the 
 states of the kingdom, and therefore con- 
 trary to the constitution. To such an ex- 
 tent was this mutinous feeling carried, that 
 at the siege of Fredericshaum, the officers 
 refused to lead their troops to the attack, 
 and many regiments of the men laid down 
 their arms. At the same time, an irruption 
 of the Danes— who acted in concert with Rus- 
 sia — into the richest provinces of Sweden, 
 induced Gustavus to abandon his refractory 
 army in Finland, and hasten to drive this 
 new foe from his dominions. Such was the 
 ill-success of a monarch who, on entering 
 into the war, had been so carried away by 
 his ambition, as to say vauntingly — "Should 
 fortune favour the arms of my people, of all 
 the monuments of Russian insolence I will 
 only spare the statue of Peter the Great, in 
 order to engrave upon the pedestal, and im- 
 mortalise, the name of Augustus." For- 
 tunately for Sweden, there existed in Europe 
 an alliance which proved a counterpoise to 
 the combined power of Russia and of Aus- 
 tria. A treaty, with that object, had been 
 concluded between England, Prussia, and 
 Holland; and the king of Denmark was 
 compelled, in consequence of their threats, 
 to withdraw his troops from Sweden, and to 
 conclude a peace with Gustavus. 
 
 During this period two or three desperate 
 engagements had taken place between the 
 Turkish and Russian fleets in that broad 
 lake which is formed by the Dnieper and 
 the Bug before their junction with the 
 Black Sea. In these, notwithstanding the 
 valour of the Turks, the Russians were vic- 
 torious. Indeed, such is the constitutional 
 indolence of the Turks, that they showed 
 themselves totally ignorant of the naviga- 
 tion of a river which for ages had been in 
 their possession. 
 
 The Russians defeated the Tartars of the 
 Kuban in several encounters, and made 
 themselves masters of Georgia. A Russian 
 army, estimated at 150,000 men, under the 
 orders of Prince Potemkin, assisted by the 
 most distir)guished generals of his country, 
 including Suwarrow, frequently beat the 
 Turks; who, in their turn, inflicted a severe 
 check upon the Austrians. Potemkin, who 
 had himself done little to contribute to the 
 success of the Russian arms, considered, or 
 affected to consider, it to be the consequence 
 of his having built a new church to his 
 patron saint, and declared, with an arro- 
 
 317 
 
 f r- 
 
MASSACRE AT OTCHAKOFF.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1788. 
 
 A.D. 1789. 1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 gant impiety — "I am, indeed, the spoiled 
 child of Godr' 
 
 Potemkin had been long employed in the 
 siege of OtchakofF, which was protected by 
 fortifications of uncommon strength, and 
 supplied, not only with a numerous garrison, 
 but also an abundant supply of ammunition 
 and provisions. As to the Russians, they died 
 in great numbers every night, from the seve- 
 rity of the cold, and suffered from want of 
 provisions. The cold, however, enabled 
 them to attack the fortress from the water- 
 side, where it was less fortified, and now ap- 
 proachable upon the ice. It was taken by 
 assault, led by subordinate officers, while 
 Potemkin himself remained in his camp 
 with his mistresses. This was the result of 
 eccentricity rather than fear; for only a 
 few days before, he had passed many times 
 to and fro, with the utmost coolness, under 
 the very cannon of the ramparts, because 
 he had heard that some one had presumed 
 to suspect his courage. 
 
 The Turkish garrison within Otchakoff de- 
 fended themselves with the utmost bravery ; 
 and almost the whole of these unfortunate 
 men were sabred by the victors. Many of 
 the inhabitants shared the same fate, aiid the 
 town was given up to plunder. A horrible 
 revel of blood and debauchery lasted during 
 three days, and cost the lives of 25,000 
 Turks. Amongst the captives were 4,000 
 women, who were spared less from motives 
 of pity than from those of sensuality. The 
 Russians, however, did not obtain their 
 triumph cheaply, as they were ten times 
 repulsed, and lost no less than 12,000 men 
 in the assault ; an expense of life at which 
 even victories were undesirable. This was 
 felt by the empress, who, early in 1789, 
 ordered a fresh levy of recruits throughout 
 her dominions, and even brought exiles 
 from the wilds of Siberia to serve in her 
 armies. So infuriated were the Russians at 
 Otchakoff, on account of the severe losses 
 they suffered, that two days after the as- 
 sault, when the fury of the battle-hour 
 might be supposed to have cooled, on find- 
 ing Turkish children who had been con- 
 cealed, they threw them into the air, and 
 caught them on the points of their bayo- 
 nets, saying, " These, at least, shall do no 
 harm to Christians." 
 
 It is not necessary to dwell upon all the 
 
 • The French Revolution ; a*IIistory : by Thomas 
 
 Carlyle. The eccentric and eloquent author thus 
 
 poiats to the true causes of this great convulsion, 
 
 this " truth clad in hell-fire :" — " Shall we say, then, 
 
 318 
 
 events of this war; and we may thus sura 
 up the events of the year 1788. The 
 Turks had been beaten at Kilburn, and re- 
 pulsed in the Crimea; in the Black Sea 
 they had experienced several reverses, and 
 lost many of their ships. They had lost 
 OtchakofF, with the adjacent territory; they 
 had been compelled to evacuate Wallachia, 
 while the Tartars of the Kuban had been 
 dispersed. The Austrians, despite some re- 
 verses, had taken Dubitza, Sabatch, and 
 Novi ; and the king of Sweden was driven 
 out of Russian Finland, and his fleet block- 
 aded at Sweaborg. At this period, France 
 made some effort to bring about a peace ; 
 but Catherine desired first to effect a 
 fourfold alliance between Russia, Austria, 
 France, and Spain, for the purpose of pro- 
 moting each other's interests, and counter- 
 acting the influence of England and Prussia. 
 Fortunately, neither France nor Spain could 
 be brought to coincide with the views of the 
 empress. Prince Potemkin also began to 
 entertain different ideas upon the subject; 
 for, finding that the emperor of Austria de- 
 sired to back out of the war, and regarding 
 the support of France as uncertain, he 
 changed his system, and began to recom- 
 n»end to his sovereign a connection with 
 England and Prussia, as being more for- 
 midable enemies, and more useful friends. 
 
 During the year 1789, the Swedes ex- 
 perienced several reverses, but scarcely of a 
 kind to render them incapable of continuing 
 the war, or to give much distinction to their 
 enemies. Indeed, Gustavus found, in his 
 talents and courage, resources proportioned 
 to the greatness of the perils which threat- 
 ened him. 
 
 It was the year 1789 which saw the 
 destruction of the infamous Bastille, and 
 the outbreak in France of that terrible revo- 
 lution which eventually convulsed Europe 
 and astonished the world. The crowned 
 heads of the continent beheld the pre- 
 liminary throes of this social storm with 
 surprise and perplexity, but none of them 
 appeared to foresee what was to follow. It 
 did not occur to one of them to consider 
 what would be the result, " if, indeed, that 
 dark living chaos of ignorance and hunger, 
 five-and-twenty millions strong, under his 
 feet, were to begin playing !"* 
 
 Gustavus, in 1790, himself took the com- 
 
 Woe to philosophism, that it destroyed religion ; what 
 it called ♦ extinguishing the abomination {Scraser 
 rinfamef) Woe rather to those that made the 
 holy an abomination, and extinguishable ; woe to all 
 
 mand of his fleet ; and, after a desperate 
 battle, defeated that of the Russians, under 
 the command of the Prince of Nassau, from 
 whom he captured thirty vessels. ' The 
 Swedish monarch followed up this advan- 
 tage by disembarking several battalions of 
 infantry, and some squadrons of light troops, 
 at a distance of not more than thirty miles 
 from St. Petersburg. The city and the im- 
 perial residence was thus again struck with 
 consternation; but the empress remained 
 at her summer palace. She commanded 
 General Igelstroem to spare nothing in the 
 attempt to recapture the post taken by the 
 Swedes, and to drive them from her do- 
 minions. 
 
 By sea, Gustavus experienced first a 
 reverse, and then a great victory. The 
 Russian fleet was twice as large as that 
 of the Swedes, but half of it was destroved 
 or captured, together with no less than 
 10,000 men. The Priuce of Nassau, who 
 commanded the Russians, imagined that 
 they had purposely allowed themselves to 
 be defeated, with the base object of tarnish- 
 ing his reputation. With this impression 
 he wrote to the empress—" Madam, I have 
 had the misfortune to fight against the 
 elements, the Swedes, and the Russians. I 
 hope that your majesty will do me justice.'' 
 As Catherine readily accepted this apology, 
 we may presume that there was some truth 
 in the supposition of the prince. Still she 
 must have experienced much secret humilia- 
 tion at having been defeated by a power 
 which, until recently, she had despised. 
 
 Gustavus had retrieved his reputation, 
 and was by no means unwilling to retire 
 from a war on which he had so imprudently 
 entered. Catherine, also, had more fighting 
 on her hands than she desired, or even her 
 vast resources were calculated to meet. 
 When, therefore, Spain oftered her media- 
 tion. It was at once accepted; and Cathe- 
 rine, with an affected generosity in this 
 instance, proposed liberal terms to her 
 Swedish neighbour. She requested no more 
 than the re-establishment of the treaties of 
 Neustadt and Abo, and the total oblivion of 
 the late liostilities. Peace was signed at 
 Varela on the 14th of August, 1790. It 
 
 [jEACE WITH SWEDKTC, 
 
 men that live m such a lime of world-abomination 
 and world-destruction ! Nay, answer the courtiers, 
 It was lurgot, it was Necker, with their mad inno- 
 vating ; ,t H-as the queen's want of etiquette ; it was 
 *ie, It was she, it was that. Friends! it was everv 
 8x.oundrel that had lived, and, quack-like, pretended 
 
 will excite little surprise that the news of 
 the peace was received with much joy at 
 Stockholm; but it was remarked with 
 astonishment, that the public rejoicings at 
 ^t. Petersburg were carried to an extreme, 
 which seemed little consistent either with 
 the pride oi that court, or with the con- 
 tempt with which it had so recently affected 
 to regard its late adversary. 
 
 We must return to our narrative of the 
 war which Catherine was waging against 
 her eastern neighbours, the Turks, whose 
 sultan, Abdul Achmed IV., died in the 
 year 1789, and was succeeded by the ca- 
 pricious, but enlightened reformer, Selim III 
 Though the empress had failed in her scheme 
 of driving the Turks out of Europe, and 
 placing her grandson Constantine on the 
 throne of the ancient Greek emperors; 
 though the jealousy of the other great 
 powers of Europe had also induced her to 
 abandon her next favourite object of erect- 
 ing the provinces of Moldavia, Wallachia, 
 and Bessarabia into an independent sove- 
 reignty for her favourite minister, Potemkin • 
 yet, with respect to the Crimea, the Black 
 Sea, and all other points of her claim upon 
 Turkey, she maintained an inflexible firm- 
 ness. England and Prussia expostulated 
 with warmth, and even wore a threatening 
 aspect. This it was that had made the em- 
 press anxious to conclude a peace with 
 Sweden ; for if the energetic Gustavus had 
 been supported by English fleets and Prus- 
 sian armies, he might have been enabled to 
 carry fire and sword into the heart of the 
 Russian empire. But this difliculty pro- 
 vided against, Catherine relaxed no jot of 
 her efforts against the Turks. Prince 
 Repnin and General Suwarrow, who had 
 taken Otchakoff, obtained magnificent pre- 
 sents from the empress. Suwarrow, whom 
 Byron has tersely described as 
 
 " Hero, buffoon, half-demon, and half-dirt," 
 
 received, amongst other things, a gorgeous 
 plume of brilliants to wear in his hat; a 
 strange present for a man whose habits were 
 so disgusting, that he sometimes took off 
 his shirt, when amongst the Cossacks, and 
 directed them to hold it to the fire, saying. 
 
 f . 
 
 .o be ao., andlaronf .- ^— r^Sot^'; | S up t^L^^ ^^^^ 
 
 in all provinces of life, as shoeblack or as sovereien 
 lord from the time of Charlemagne and earlier. 
 All this (for be sure no falsehood perishes, but is as 
 seed sown out to grow) has been storing itself for 
 thousands of years; and now the account-day has 
 come. And rude will the settlement be : of wrath 
 
 319 
 
 it} 
 
GENERAL SUWARROW.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1789. 
 
 A.D. 1790.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [fall of ISMAIL. 
 
 that it was the best way of killing the 
 vermin. 
 
 Catherine showered rewards not only on 
 her generals who captured Otchakoff, but 
 even on the subalterns and common soldiers. 
 This excited an active spirit of emulation in 
 the Russian armies, and their progress now 
 seemed one continued triumph. During 
 the year 1789, Prince Potemkin took the 
 island of Beresan ; Prince Repnin drove the 
 Turks from the borders of the Solska; while 
 Suwarrow defeated them at Fokshiani. The 
 latter then hurried, at the head of 8,000 
 men, to the assistance of the Prince of 
 Saxe-Coburg, who, with 30,000 Austrians, 
 had been attacked by an army of 100,000 
 Turks. The Austrians were already flying 
 before their enemies, when Suwarrow came 
 up with his handful of men, and changed 
 the fortune of the day. " My friends !" 
 said he to his soldiers, " never look at the 
 eyes of your enemies. Fix your view at 
 their breasts ; it is there you must thrust 
 your bayonets." A furious charge followed, 
 the Turks were routed with a dreadful 
 carnage, and he remained master of the 
 field of battle. 
 
 Suwarrow has been accused of wanton 
 cruelty — a charge which is not without foun- 
 dation ; but, on this occasion, he deemed it 
 expedient to give the Turks no quarter, on 
 account of their great numbers ; and there 
 can be little doubt that, judged as we must 
 judge such matters from a military point of 
 view, he was right. Besides, Suwarrow 
 was a soldier of impulse, not of intellect and 
 calculation ; and he gave way, in the hour 
 of victory, to that savage excitement which 
 exists in a latent state, to some extent, in 
 most men ; even in those who, under ordi- 
 nary circumstances, are generally actuated 
 by feelings of benevolence. Thus, on this 
 occasion, Suwarrow stood upon an eminence 
 surrounded bv his staff, and while he watched 
 the progress of the terrible carnage caused 
 by the artillery firing incessantly upon the 
 wretches who had plunged into the river 
 Rymnik, exclaimed repeatedly, " Yes, yes ; 
 as I always say, the bayonet for victory, and 
 then hurrah for the cannon and the cavalry 
 to sweep up the runaways." This was in 
 accordance with his mode of warfare, which 
 is best described in his own brief sentences ; 
 such as — "Forward and strike ! — No theory ! 
 — Attack ! — Push with bavonet ! — Trust to 
 the naked steel I — The ball is a fool ; the 
 bayonet a hero !" So confident had suc- 
 cess made hira in these tactics, that when, 
 320 
 
 on another occasion, an Austrian general 
 recommended a.reconnaissance,he responded, 
 *' Reconnaissance ! I am for none of them ; 
 they are of no use but to the timid, and to 
 inform the enemy that you are approaching. 
 It is never difficult to find your opponents 
 when you really wish it ! Form column — 
 charge bayonets — plunge into the centre of 
 the enemy : these are my reconnaissances^** 
 This extraordinary creature, eventually re- 
 garded by his countrymen as the first of 
 Russian generals, was as singular in his 
 appearance as he was repulsive in his 
 habits. Miserably thin, and almost a dwarf 
 in stature (being only five feet one inch in 
 height), the unpromising nature of his ex- 
 terior was increased by a pug nose, and a 
 mouth of uncommon size. He appeared to 
 regard contempt for cleanliness as a soldierly 
 virtue. He slept upon hay or straw ; his 
 wardrobe consisted of his uniform and a 
 sheepskin ; and he seldom wore linen, ex- 
 cept on occasions of ceremony or parade. 
 
 This victory, gained near the river 
 Rymnik, procured for Suwarrow the sur- 
 name of Rymnikski;* while the titles of 
 count, both of the Roman and Russian em- 
 pire, were conferred upon hira. Shortly 
 afterwards he captured Turtukai in Bul- 
 garia ; and many other towns, both in Bes- 
 sarabia and on the Danube, were taken by 
 the Russians. Indeed, defeat became almost 
 habitual to the Turks, and the Ottoman 
 power shook to its fonndations. 
 
 The Russians learnt to despise their foes ; 
 while the Turks feared that the hand of 
 the prophet was against them, and that 
 they were fated to humiliation. In the 
 month of September, 1790, a combined force 
 of Austrians and Russians, under the Prince 
 of Coburg and General Suwarrow, estimated 
 ordy at about 30,000 men, had the temerity 
 to attack the grand Turkish army, amount- 
 ing to 90,000. The battle took place near 
 Martinesti in Wallachia; and the allies, with 
 little loss or difficulty, gained a signal and 
 extraordinary victory. It was, indeed, rather 
 a slaughter and a dispersion than a battle. 
 About 7,000 Turks perished, and nothing 
 but the blunted sabres and tired horses of 
 the pursuers checked the butchery. No 
 prisoners were taken ; for the Turks, mad- 
 dened by shame, disdained to accept of 
 quarter. Their whole camp fell to the 
 victors; and 300 camels, 400 oxen, 5,000 
 loaded waggons, 3,000 tents, six mortars, 
 seventeen pieces of heavy cannon, sixty-four 
 • That is, « He of the Rymnik." 
 
 field-pieces, near 100 standards, and a pro- 
 digious quantity of ammunition and stores, 
 were among the spoils. The loss of the 
 victors amounted to but a few hundred men 
 killed and wounded. 
 
 The Russians pursued their conquests to 
 the Black Sea; but Ismail, or Ismailow — 
 an unskilfully fortified town in Bessarabia, 
 at the mouth of the Danube — still held out. 
 It had been besieged by Potemkin for seven 
 months; but at length, growing impatient, 
 he resolved upon taking it at any cost of 
 life whatever. 
 
 In the camp this extravagant and ex- 
 centric man passed his time like one of 
 those ancient satraps whom he equalled, and 
 almost surpassed, in luxurious sensuality. 
 Abandoned to indolence and pleasure, he 
 was surrounded by a crowd of parasites and 
 women, who employed every effort to amuse 
 him. One of these ladies, pretending to 
 read the decrees of fate in the arrangement 
 of a pack of cards, predicted that he would 
 take the town at the end of three weeks. 
 Potemkin, with a smile, replied, that he had 
 a mode of divination far less fallible, and 
 immediately sent his orders to Suwarrow to 
 come from Galatz and take Ismail within 
 three days. Suwarrow was the idol of the 
 Russian soldiers ; and, on his arrival, they 
 were animated by a feeling of enthusiasm. 
 The fortifications of Ismail had been erected 
 without advanced works ; and Suwarrow, on 
 glancing at the crumbling wall and half- 
 choked moat on the landward side of the 
 town, at once resolved on an assault. To 
 excite still more the ardour and ferocity of 
 the soldiers, he promised to give the town 
 up to them to plunder, and commanded 
 them to yield no quarter until it was taken. 
 On the 21st of September he twice sum- 
 moned the citv to surrender, and threat- 
 ened the inhabitants with the fate of Otcha- 
 koff in the event of refusal. The Turks, 
 however, disdained his threats, and he gave 
 orders to prepare for the assault. In the 
 evening he assembled his chief officers, and 
 gave his final directions for an escalade, in 
 seven columns, an hour before daybreak 
 on the following morning. Admiral Ribas 
 was to assist by attacking with his whole 
 force, at the same hour, on the side of the 
 Danube. The advanced troops were not 
 only to carry ladders, but bags of earth, to 
 fill up more completely, where necessary, 
 the filth-choked ditch. Having concluded 
 his explanations to his officers, Suwarrow dis- 
 missed them, saying, " You now understand 
 
 VOL. I. 2 T 
 
 what is to be done, and how to do it. Two 
 hours before daybreak I shall rise, say my 
 prayers, dress myself, go out in front of the 
 tent, and crow like a cock. The men must 
 then be immediately got under arms. At 
 the second crow, which will be just half-an- 
 hour^ after the first, I expect everything to 
 be in readiness for the advance; and, at the 
 third crow, you will push forward according 
 to my directions. And do not forget what 
 I have already told you— that, till resistance 
 has entirely ceased upon every point, the 
 men must not be encumbered with pri- 
 soners.'' 
 
 At four o'clock the cock-crow was given, 
 and so natural a sound before daybreak did 
 not alarm the Turks. The assault took 
 place; but the assailants were twice re- 
 pulsed with terrible loss. The Cossacks, 
 unused to storming operations, were mostly 
 shot down or cut to pieces. At length the 
 city was entered; but the hottest part of 
 the struggle took place within it. Every 
 inch of ground was savagely contested; 
 every street was converted into a fortress ; 
 every house became a redoubt. Amidst 
 the roar of cannon, the clash of sabres, the 
 wild cries of the assailants, the impreca- 
 tions of the Moslems, and the shrieks of the 
 wounded, was heard, at intervals, the voices 
 of the Russian officers, shouting, " Forward ! 
 Strike ! No quarter I No prisoners ! " 
 Still four hours of horror elapsed, after the 
 Russians entered the city, before they were 
 enabled to fight their way to the market- 
 place, where the Tartars of the Crimea were 
 collected. For two hours more they fought 
 with all the fury of despair, neither seeking 
 nor giving mercy. They were at length all 
 massacred ; but the struggle was still kept 
 up in the streets. At last a passage was 
 made for the cavalry into the city, and they 
 charged through the streets, and cut down 
 men, women, and children, until four o'clock 
 in the day, when resistance ceased. Then 
 — to quote the language of one of the 
 greatest of our modern poets — 
 
 The crescent's silver bow 
 Sunk, and the crimson cross glared o'er the field, 
 But red with no redeeming gore ; the glow 
 Of burning streets, like moonlight on the water, 
 Was imaged back in blood, the sea of slaughter." 
 
 The fighting ceased at four o'clock, but 
 not the carnage ; for Suwarrow gave the 
 devoted city up to be plundered by his 
 maddened and ferocious troops. This work 
 of horror was prolonged for three days and 
 nights, during which many Turks sacrificed 
 
 321 
 
ECCENTRICITIES OF POTEMKIN.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1790. 
 
 their lives in defending their property, and 
 many women were slain after poniarding 
 the ruffians who attempted to violate them. 
 Suwarrow, in the meantime, dispatched 
 a bulletin to Prince Potemkin, which, in 
 doggerel Russian rhyme, expressed the fol- 
 lowing meaning — " Glory to God ! Glory 
 to thee ! Ismail is ours, and I am in it." 
 Yet this man appears not to have been 
 altogether destitute of human emotion. 
 On an English traveller (who afterwards 
 met him in the Ukraine) asking him if, 
 after the massacre at Ismail, he was per- 
 fectly satisfied with the conduct of the day? 
 he replied, that he went to his tent and 
 wept. 
 
 It is estimated that no less than 33,000 
 Turks were killed or severely wounded, 
 and 10,000 (including women) taken pri- 
 soners. Eight days were occupied in bury- 
 ing the dead or throwing them into the 
 Danube. It was said that the Russians 
 purchased this sanguinary triumph at a cost 
 of 15,000 men ; though that is, no doubt, an 
 exaggeration, as Suwarrow himself stated his 
 loss at 2,000 killed and 2,500 wounded. 
 The very day after the assault, Suwarrow, 
 who was extremely superstitious, and very 
 attentive to all the formulas of religion, 
 caused a solemn service of thanksgiving to 
 God to be celebrated in the convent church 
 of St. John. There was something shock- 
 ing, if not blasphemous, in this proceeding, 
 as the intonations of the priests and the 
 responses of the military congregation were 
 constantly broken in upon by the shrieks, 
 curses, and pistol-shots arising from the 
 authorised plundering and violence then 
 in full operation without and around the 
 building. 
 
 After the taking of Ismail, Prince Po- 
 temkin returned to St. Petersburg, to enjoy 
 the honours which were really due to 
 Suwarrow. The empress received her 
 eccentric minister with transports of joy, 
 and bestowed on him another palace, which 
 had been fitted up for his reception at an 
 expense of 600,000 roubles; and also a 
 coat laced with diamonds, which cost 
 200,000. Potemkin himself exhibited a 
 pomp and an extravagance which would 
 have appeared excessive in the most splen- 
 did court in Europe. The expense of his 
 table alone, was, on ordinary occasions, 
 about 800 roubles a-day. In the depth of 
 winter he purchased all the cherries of a 
 tree reared in a hothouse, at a rouble the 
 cherry. He possessed an enormous quan- 
 322 
 
 tity of jewels, some of which he never 
 looked at again after he had purchased 
 them. On one occasion he took a dislike to 
 his diamonds, and ordered them to be sold : 
 not long after, he desired to repossess them, 
 and directed them to be repurchased at any 
 price. In the latter part of his life, this 
 man, who had all Russia at his feet, suffered 
 greatly from depression of spirits. At these 
 times he would spend long winter evenings 
 playing with his diamonds, as children do 
 with toys. Sometimes he would sit pour- 
 ing them from one hand into the other; 
 then he would amuse himself, for hours, by 
 spreading them out on a black velvet in the 
 forms of circles, crosses, and fanciful figures. 
 During these periods of depression, he would 
 pass a couple of hours in biting his nails as 
 he walked up and down his apartment, 
 though there were a score of persons 
 present. 
 
 Potemkin probably cultivated eccentricity 
 as a source of distinction. This he obtained, 
 apparently, in a proportion far exceeding 
 his merits ; for though there were many 
 princes in Russia, most of them his superior 
 by birth, yet he was always called the prince, 
 by way of excellence. The lustre of gigantic 
 talents would necessarily eclipse that of high 
 birth ; but the abilities of Potemkin, though 
 considerable, could not be regarded as great. 
 He was indebted largely to personal qualifica- 
 tions for his elevated position, and his genius 
 may be said to have been rather physical 
 than mental. His eccentricity was blended 
 with a strong acquisitiveness, and he had a 
 childish eagerness to procure the most 
 costly things of every kind. Though he 
 never played on a violin in his life, yet he 
 had ten or a dozen which had cost him an 
 exorbitant price; one of them being esti- 
 mated at the value of 6,000 roubles. Yet 
 he allowed them all to be either spoiled by 
 the dust or gnawed by the rats. When 
 some one spoke to him of a magnificent 
 library, he observed, that he had one of 
 greater value than the most learned man in 
 Europe could show. He then opened a 
 small case, containing several shelves of 
 books, which, on being taken down, were 
 seen to be boxes, gilt and lettered at the 
 back, filled with bank assignats, and rou- 
 leaux of imperials and ducats, to an amazing 
 amount. With all this wealth, it was with 
 great difficulty that he could be brought to 
 pay his debts; for, like all profligates, he 
 loved display more than justice. To those 
 who paid their court to him^ he usually 
 
 A.D. 1790.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [extravagance of potemkin. 
 
 behaved with great insolence ; and he more 
 than once struck a Russian prince or general 
 in public — a gross indignity, which certainly 
 no gentleman out of that empire would 
 submit to. Yet, from a knowledge of the 
 Russian character, and, no doubt, from mo- 
 tives of policy, he was kind and condescend- 
 ing to the soldiers, who, accordingly, were 
 attached to him in return. Many strange 
 projects of ambition were attributed to him. 
 It was even supposed that he designed taking 
 advantage of the influence he had over the 
 troops, for excluding from the throne the 
 Grand-duke Paul and his sons, on the death 
 of the empress, and of causing the eldest of 
 the grand-duchesses to be crowned. It was 
 added, that he designed to marry her, or, at 
 any rate, to have reigned in her name. 
 
 After the fall of Ismail, Potemkin remained 
 for several months at St. Petersburg, during 
 which period he expended upwards of 
 1,200,000 roubles. An entertainment which 
 he gave to the empress at the Tauridan 
 palace, reminds us of the fabulous scenes of 
 magnificence in the fairy tales of the East. 
 His mind was probably weakened by long- 
 continued debauchery, and he felt a presenti- 
 ment that this would be the last blaze of his 
 grandeur. He resolved, therefore, to distin- 
 guish the occasion by a gorgeousness which 
 should elevate the whim of an hour to the 
 dignity of an historical incident. A month 
 was passed in preparations, and several 
 hundred persons were daily assembled for 
 the purpose of rehearsing the final enter- 
 tainment. The empress, the imperial family, 
 the court, the foreign ministers, the nobility, 
 and great part of the people of condition in 
 the city were invited. When Catherine 
 entered her carriage, immense piles of gar- 
 ments, lofty pyramids of eatables, and an 
 enormous supply of liquors, were distributed 
 to the populace. On her entrance into the 
 Tauridan palace, she was greeted by the 
 music arising from an orchestra of 600 
 performers. When she and the brilliant 
 company had taken their seats, four-and- 
 twenty couple of the most beautiful persons 
 of both sexes, and of noble birth, including 
 among them the Grand-dukes Alexander 
 and Constantine, opened the dances with a 
 quadrille. Their dresses, the value of which 
 was estimated at 10,000,000 of roubles, were 
 all white, and the wearers were only distin- 
 guishable by the colours of their girdles and 
 fecarfs. The music to which they danced 
 was accompanied with singing, and a famous 
 vocalist concluded the scene with a solo. 
 
 The company then proceeded to another 
 hall, hung with tapestry of the most rostly 
 kind. In it stood an artificial elephant, de- 
 corated with emeralds and rubies. It was 
 led by a Persian, who struck upon a beli, at 
 which signal a curtain rose and displayed a 
 magnificently-decorated theatre, where two 
 ballets and a dramatic piece were performed. 
 On the termination of the latter, the com- 
 pany divided into the several rooms of the 
 palace, all of which were illuminated with a 
 magnificence which struck the spectators 
 with amazement. The walls and columns 
 seemed to glow with various-coloured fires, 
 while large mirrors, attached to the sides of 
 the apartments, or made to form pyramids 
 and grottoes, multiplied the effect, and even 
 made the whole enclosure seem to be com- 
 posed of sparkling stoves. Six hundred 
 persons then sat down at one table to supper, 
 and the rest were entertained at sideboards. 
 Every article of use was of gold or silver; 
 flowers were in the most delicious abun- 
 dance; a multitude of servants, in superb 
 dresses, were in attendance; and nothing 
 that the most studied epicurism was able to 
 procure could be asked for in vain ! 
 
 Catherine was pleased, and, for the first 
 time for many years, made an exception to 
 her general rule, by staying till midnight, 
 in order not to disturb the pleasure of the 
 host and his company. On her entering 
 the vestibule after supper, the choir of 
 voices melodiously chanted a hymn to her 
 praise. Surprised and affected,, she turned 
 round to the prince, who, overpowered with 
 emotion, fell on his knee, and, seizing her 
 hand, bedewed it with tears. A gloomy 
 foreboding seemed to shake his whole frame, 
 and his countenance was expressive of the 
 conviction, that this was the last time he 
 should ever, on that spot, pour out his gra- 
 titude to his magnanimous patroness. 
 
 Having passed five months at St. Peters- 
 burg, Potemkin, satiated with pomp and 
 grandeur, quitted it to retiirn to the army. 
 Pleasure no longer satisfied him ; he felt a 
 conviction he should never return ; he was 
 restless and uneasy, and his frequent sighs 
 betrayed the gloom that filled his mind. 
 Some time before his departure the empress 
 had dismissed Count Momonoff, and taken 
 another lover into favour. " That extraor- 
 dinary woman," said Segur, " presented in 
 her character an astonishing mixture of the 
 strength of our sex and the weakness of her 
 own. Age had set its stamp upon her fea- 
 tures; but her heart, as well as her self-love, 
 
 323 
 
COURT FAVOURITES.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1790. 
 
 juv. 1791—1792.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [peace wtth turkey/ 
 
 preserved their youth ; both the one and the 
 other were now severely wounded." 
 
 Catherine not only behaved to Count 
 Momonoff with her accustomed liberality, 
 but even permitted him to extort from her 
 the most extravagant sums. Love was not 
 to be expected from a man in such a po- 
 sition ; but he might have refrained from 
 insult. Young enough to be her son, he 
 felt his life to resemble that of a slave, and 
 groaned beneath the yoke of a favour which 
 restrained his liberty. His prison was a 
 palace, and his fetters chains of roses ; yet 
 still he sighed for freedom. In this con- 
 dition he contracted a passion for the Prin- 
 cess ScherebatofF, one of the ladies of honour 
 to the empress. The princess returned his 
 attachment; and having received from him 
 assurances of constancy, is presumed to have 
 granted him those favours which ladies 
 usually reserve for their husbands. This 
 amour was for some time known to all the 
 court except the empress. At length she 
 became aware of it, and told Momonoff that 
 he had not surrendered to her the whole of 
 his heart. She added, that, as she wished 
 his happiness, she had formed the design of 
 uniting him to the young Countess Bruce, 
 one of the richest heiresses of the empire. 
 Momonoff declined the intended honour, 
 and the empress desired to know the cause 
 of his reluctance. As, in spite of his em- 
 barrassment, she insisted on being informed 
 on this point, he threw himself at her feet, 
 confessed that he had plighted his faith 
 to the Princess Scherebatoff' ; that, though 
 ashamed of his ingratitude, he was incapable 
 of changing his sentiments; and implored 
 the clemency of his sovereign. Irritated 
 by this information, Catherine quitted the 
 court, and secluded herself in her apart- 
 ments. She, however, speedily recovered 
 from a passion and a weakness little worthy 
 of her. Commanding the presence of Mo- 
 monoff and the princess, she had them 
 affianced before her, gave a rich dowry to 
 her maid of honour, and a valuable estate 
 to the count. She even attended at the 
 marriage ceremony; and, in accordance 
 with custom, herself placed a set of dia- 
 monds on the head of the bride. Having 
 gained this victory over her pride, she com- 
 manded them to retire from her court. 
 
 Whatever were the weaknesses of Cathe- 
 rine, meanness was not one of them. She 
 was entitled to at least respect from the 
 man whose ingratitude towards her she had 
 the power to punish. The count, however, 
 324 
 
 had the meanness and the want of prudence 
 to mention to his wife the particulars of his 
 interviews with the empress, and the countess 
 had the dangerous folly to divulge them 
 with a levity injurious to her imperial mis- 
 tress. That sovereign punished the babbler 
 with peculiar and eccentric severity. The 
 newly-married couple had retired toMoscow; 
 and one night, after they had gone to rest, 
 the master of the police of that city entered 
 their apartment. Then showing them an 
 order from the empress, he left them in the 
 hands of six men disguised as women, and 
 retired to an adjoining chamber. The pre- 
 tended women then seized the talkative 
 lady, and having entirely stripped her of 
 her night-clothes, whipped her severely with 
 rods in the presence of her husband, whom 
 they forced to kneel down and witness this 
 humiliating flagellation. When the chastise- 
 ment was over, the police-master re-entered 
 the room, and said, '* This is the way the 
 empress punishes a first indiscretion. For 
 the second, people are sent to Siberia." 
 
 It might have been supposed that, in the 
 neighbourhood of the Hyperborean regions, 
 the passions, if not dormant, would be at 
 least moderate, and that the men would 
 consequently be temperate, and the women 
 chaste. Facts, however, lead us to a con- 
 trary conclusion; and it is left to the phi- 
 losophers to determine, whether the double 
 windows and heated rooms of St. Peters- 
 burg, added to an affectation of Oriental 
 manners, be not to the full as critical, in 
 respect to female virtue, as the climate of 
 Naples or Turin. Though now declining 
 in years, the empress still gave way to those 
 sensual pleasures to which she had ever 
 shown so strong a partiality. Momonoff 
 was no sooner dismissed, than she received 
 Plato Zuboff, a young officer of the guards, 
 into her favour. His name suggested to 
 Russian wits the pun, that the empress, after 
 all her amours, concluded with Platonic 
 love. This person rendered himself so 
 agreeable to the empress, that in a short 
 time he became almost omnipotent at St. 
 Petersburg. Not content with wealth and 
 honours, he affected public employments. 
 He was decorated with the title of prince, 
 and received the post of grand-master of 
 the artillery. Nearly all the admirals, 
 generals, and ministers of the empire were 
 to be seen at his levee, anxious to obtain his 
 smile of approbation, and even paying their 
 compliments at the same time, in great 
 form, to his favourite monkey. 
 
 The king of Prussia had signed a treaty 
 with the Turks, and another with the Poles. 
 Catherine thus lost an ally, and was ex- 
 posed to the probability of having a new 
 enemy to contend with. But though Frederic 
 William did not draw the sword against her, 
 he sent his troops into Poland, under pre- 
 tence of defending that country ; and, what 
 perhaps occasioned still more irritation at 
 the Russian court, he took possession of the 
 cities of Dantzic and Thorn. 
 
 Catherine saw at length, that her victories 
 over the Turks were not only dearly pur- 
 chased, but, in fa6t, ruinous ; and that re- 
 mote conquests might bring on the loss of 
 tlie provinces which she possessed in Poland. 
 Though she felt peace to be necessary, yet 
 her pride forbade her to seem to desire it ; 
 and rather than do so, she chose to con- 
 tinue the war. This involved the heavier 
 responsibility, as the death of her ally, the 
 emperor Joseph 11.,"^ on the 20th of Feb- 
 ruary, 1790, left her to contend with the 
 Ottomans singly. 
 
 Victory still favoured the Russian troops, 
 and they continued to gain unfruitful 
 triumphs. In the May of 1791, General 
 Kutusoff defeated a combined army of Turks 
 and Tartars at Babada in Bulgaria ; and in 
 the July following. Prince Repniu, at the 
 head of 25,000 men, entirely routed 70,000 
 Ottomans, whom he met and engaged not 
 far from Matzin. General Gudovitch also, 
 brother of the favourite of Peter III., cap- 
 tured the fortresses of Sudyuk-Kaly and of 
 Anapa, on the frontiers of the Crimea and 
 the coast of Circassia. But Austria con- 
 cluded in this year (1791), at Szistowa, a 
 peace with Turkey, by which she restored 
 all conquests to the latter power. 
 
 The revolution which was convulsing 
 France produced a considerable revulsion 
 of feeling in the empress Catherine. Falling 
 into the common error which attributed 
 that great and terrible outbreak to the 
 
 • Count Segur observes — " This prince, without 
 being a great man, was a monarch equally just, 
 virtuous, and prone to toleration ; severe to himself, 
 indulgent to others, kind, indefatigable, accessible to 
 truth, even occupied in relieving misfortunes, in en- 
 couraging the arts, and in rewarding merit. Prince 
 de Ligne, who sincerely deplored his loss, wrote the 
 following lines to the empress Catherine : — * It will be 
 said by the soldier — Joseph II. stood many a can- 
 non-shot at the dike of Beschania, and many a mus- 
 ket-shot in the suburbs of Sabatch ; he has had 
 medals struck as rewards for bravery. By the 
 traveller — what splendid establishments for schools, 
 for hospitals, for prisons, and for education ! By 
 llie manufacturer — what encouragement given to 
 
 writings of the French philosophers, she 
 discountenanced the study of them, and 
 banished the busts of Voltaire and of our 
 own statesman, Fox, to a lumber-room. 
 When the French ambassador left her court, 
 she observed to him, ''Your predilection 
 for the new philosophy and for liberty, will 
 probably incline you to support the cause of 
 the people ; I shall regret it ; for aristocracv 
 is my profession, and I must adhere to it." 
 The state of France, and her desire to ex- 
 tinguish the revolution, inclined Catherine 
 to forget, or try to forget, her animosity 
 towards England; the more so, as this 
 country, taking advantage of the moment 
 when she was detaching herself from France, 
 endeavoured to revive the amicable con- 
 nection that had formerly existed between 
 Russia and Great Britain. 
 
 England, therefore, proposed to mediate 
 between the empress and the sultan, on 
 condition that, in making peace, Catherine 
 should consent to give up her conquests, 
 and to take the treaty of Kainardshi as 
 the basis of the new arrangements. The 
 northern Cleopatra acted with a proud 
 independence, and treated a special envoy, 
 sent from this country, with alternate con- 
 ciliation and cold reserve. But Catherine 
 had resolved on making peace with the 
 Porte, and she accepted the mediation of 
 England, which was carried on in con- 
 junction with her allies^ Prussia and Hol- 
 land. These three powers agreed to pro- 
 pose to Turkey the terms to which the 
 empress was disposed to submit, and de- 
 clared that, in the event of the refusal by 
 the Turks, they would abandon their cause 
 and leave them to prosecute the war alone 
 with Russia. 
 
 Preliminaries of peace between Russia 
 and the Porte were signed on the 9th of 
 January, 1792, at Jassy. It was calculated 
 that, in this war, Austria lost 130,000 
 soldiers, and expended 300,000,000 of 
 
 commerce. By the common labourer — he has him- 
 self ploughed the ground. By the heretic — he was 
 our protector. By the president of every depart- 
 ment, the heads of all offices — he was our chief 
 clerk, whilst at the same time he was superintending 
 us. By the ministers — he was falling a sacrifice for 
 the state, of which he called himself the first sub- 
 ject. By the sick — he never ceased to visit us. By 
 the citizen — he embellished our town with squares 
 and public walks. By the peasant and the servant 
 — we spoke to him whenever we pleased. By heads 
 of families — he aided us with his advice. By society 
 — he was safe and of agreeable manners ; he related 
 agreeably; there was much point in his conversa- 
 tion ; truth could be told to him upon every subject."' 
 
 325 
 
DEATH OF POTEMKIN.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1791. 
 
 A.D. 1792—1794.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [second division of Poland. 
 
 ill 
 III 
 
 florins. Russia lost 200,000 men, five ships 
 of the line, seven frigates, and fourteen 
 smaller vessels, and expended 200,000 rou- 
 bles. The Turkish loss was estimated at 
 330,000 men, six ships of the line, and four 
 frigates, with several other vessels ; and an 
 expense of 250,000,000 piastres. Yet the 
 peace placed affairs much on the standing 
 in which they were before the commence- 
 ment of this sanguinary and expensive con- 
 flict. The Dniester was recognised as the 
 boundary between the two empires ; the 
 ancient rights of Moldavia and Wallachia 
 were confirmed ; and the Porte agreed to 
 put a stop to the proceedings of the bar- 
 barous corsairs, and to restore all Russian 
 prisoners. 
 
 The presentiments of Prince Potemkin 
 were not without foundation. He did not 
 live to witness the conclusion of the peace 
 with Turkey. Having repaired to the con- 
 gress of Jassy, he was there attacked with 
 an epidemical fever. On hearing that he 
 was ill, the empress sent two of her most 
 experienced physicians to his assistance. 
 He, however, disdained their advice, and 
 lived with his usual freedom. Nothing 
 could induce him to control his appetite. 
 His breakfast usually consisted of the 
 greater part of a smoke-dried goose from 
 Hamburg, aud slices of hung beef or ham, 
 after which he drank a quantity of wine 
 and Dantzic liqueurs. At dinner he was 
 equally voracious. It cannot, therefore, 
 create surprise that his disorder gained 
 upon him; though a groundless suspicion 
 was afterwards entertained that he had 
 been poisoned. Fancying that a removal 
 from Jassy might benefit him, he set out 
 for Nicolaiefl", a town he himself had built. 
 Scarcely, however, had he travelled ten 
 
 miles, when he felt himself to be dying. 
 He was taken out of his carriage, and laid 
 down on the grass by the roadside, under a 
 tree, where he expired in the arms of his 
 niece, the Princess Branicka. His death 
 took place on the 15th of October, 1791, at 
 the age of fifty-two. His body was removed 
 to Cherson, where a magnificent mauso- 
 leum was raised to him by command of the 
 empress. 
 
 The name of Potemkin holds a conspicu- 
 ous place in the annals of Russia. Nature, 
 in order to render him remarkable in every 
 point of view, had given him a gigantic 
 stature, and a proportion of bodily strength 
 such as, in fabulous times, excited astonish- 
 ment in a Hercules and a Theseus. When 
 first beheld, he had something savage in his 
 appearance, which exhibited an extraordi- 
 nary mixture of rude and of cultivated 
 nature. His look was animated, lively, and 
 piercing; his countenance, fine, pliant, and 
 lofty, bespoke the head of a Richelieu or a 
 Mazarin, on the robust shoulders of a 
 savage. Prone to taciturnity, and eager to 
 listen, his silence was the silence of thought 
 and reflection. Active, indefatigable, tur- 
 bulent, bold, and discreet, with a capacity 
 more comprehensive than just, he was 
 capable both of undertaking and accom- 
 plishing the most dangerous enterprises. 
 He paid little attention to the opinions of a 
 world which he pretended to despise, and 
 his passions acknowledged no restraint, 
 because his heart was destitute alike of 
 morality or principle. His mind was in- 
 fluenced by boundless ambition, a thirst 
 for independence, a love of sway, and also 
 by many noble, and all low, passions. He 
 was a wolf held by a golden chain; but 
 that chain was in the hand of Catherine. 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 CATHERINE, INTENT ON THE FURTHER DISMEMBERMENT OF POLAND, DECLARES WAR AGAINST IT ; SHE IS 
 JOINED BY PRUSSIA ; SECOND PARTITION OF POLAND ; REVOLT OF THE POLES UNDER KOSCIUSKO ; AUSTRIA 
 LENDS HER ASSISTANCE TO CRUSH THE POLES; DEFEAT OF THE LATTER AT MACIEJOVICE; STORMING AND 
 MASSACRE OF PRAGA UNDER SUWARROW ; FINAL DIVISION OF POLAND, AND ITS EXTINCTION AS A NATION; 
 CATHERINE PROMISES MILITARY ASSISTANCE TO THE FRENCH ROYALISTS ; SHE CONCLUDES A NEW TREATY 
 OF COMMERCE WITH ENGLAND, AND PREPARES TO ACT AGAINST THE FRENCH REPUBLIC ; THE YOUNG 
 KING OF SWEDEN ABRUPTLY BREAKS OFF A MATRIMONIAL ALLIANCE WITH ONE OF THE GRAND-DAUGHTERS 
 OF CATHERINE ; SHE ANNEXES COURLAND TO THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE, AND DIRECTS HER ARMS AGAINST 
 PERSIA ; DEATH OF THE EMPRESS ; HER APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER. 
 
 Catherine was soon reconciled to the loss I been under his direction she divided amongst 
 of Potemkin ; and the business which had ' her other ministers and her favourite. Plate 
 326 
 
 Zuboff". The second dismemberment of 
 Poland is said to have been suggested by 
 this person, and the idea was instantly 
 sanctioned by the empress. Indeed, she 
 was eager to punish the Poles for the con- 
 stitution which they established in 1791— a 
 constitution which abrogated the former 
 one (dictated by violence in 1775), and 
 afforded some prospect of a happy and 
 stable government ; if, indeed, such a thing 
 could exist in Poland while the power of the 
 state was in the hands of its own worthless 
 nobles and priesthood. The Poles, also, had 
 contracted an alliance with Prussia, in con- 
 tempt of the aversion of the empress to 
 such a measure, and in preference to one 
 with her ; and for this, also, she longed to 
 exact vengeance. 
 
 She therefore, in 1792, declared war 
 against Poland. The Poles received this 
 ungenerous declaration with calmness, and 
 prepared for their defence with enthu- 
 siasm ; for they felt inspired with new life 
 by every breeze which came from revolu- 
 tionary Paris. But they were neither 
 powerful nor united, and their troops soon 
 fell back before the far more powerful 
 armies of the empress. The plains of 
 Poland were again drenched with blood; 
 and, despite some advantages obtained by 
 the army of that country, it was soon over- 
 whelmed, and almost consumed. It was in 
 this campaign that the subsequently illus- 
 trious patriot, Thaddeus Kosciusko, first 
 rendered service to his country, though he 
 had previously won some distinction by 
 fighting with La Fayette for the purpose of 
 obtaining the emancipation of America from 
 the misgovernment of George III. 
 
 Catherine also fought with other weapons 
 than the sword. Notwithstanding the 
 coldness that existed between her and the 
 king of Prussia, she opened a negotiation 
 with him, and proposed the definite par- 
 tition of Poland. In fact, she had con- 
 trived to reduce Frederic William to the 
 alternative either of defending Poland 
 against Russia, by virtue of his alliance 
 with that state, or of making a second par- 
 tition of it in conjunction with her. Frederic 
 William chose the latter, and sent a body ' 
 of Prussian troops into that country, 1,100 
 German square miles of which they imme- i 
 diately occupied. He had bound himself 
 to assist the Poles, but he utterly deserted 
 them in their extremity. | 
 
 The gold of Russia also did its work 
 among the corrupt Polish nobility; and 
 
 Stanislaus Augustus, still the slave of Cathe- 
 rine, was induced by her to make a public 
 declaration, that it was necessary to yield 
 to the superiority of the Russian arms. In 
 1793, the confederation of the partisans of 
 Russia assembled at Grodno, where the 
 Russian general seated himself under the 
 canopy of the throne he was about to 
 overthrow. Sievers, the Russian minister, 
 also published a manifesto, in which he de- 
 clared that his sovereign intended to in- 
 corporate with her domains all the territory 
 of Poland which her arms had conquered*. 
 The Russian troops, by their ravages and 
 depredations, struck terror into the Poles, 
 and the defenders of the nation were com- 
 pelled to disperse. The result was a second 
 partition of Poland in 1793, by which Prus- 
 sia took 22,500, Russia 83,000, and Poland 
 retained 85,000 square miles. 
 
 For a short time this unhappy country 
 was breathless and silent ; but, maddened by 
 so many calamities, the Poles resolved on a 
 great effort to free themselves from Russian 
 oppression. An extensive conspiracy was 
 organised, and the revolution broke out 
 in the spring of 1794, on the arrival of 
 Kosciusko from Italy, where he had retired. 
 Such was the confidence placed in him, that 
 all ranks of the people hurried to join him, 
 and ladies sold their jewels to furnish 
 him with the means of sustaining the 
 struggle. Oaths of obedience were taken 
 to him, and he was invested with the full 
 and absolute powers of a dictator. In con- 
 junction with the national council, he issued 
 proclamations enfranchising all the peasants, 
 who had hitherto been serfs quite as much 
 as their own class in Russia, aud calling 
 upon them to arm themselves as best they 
 could, and to be ready to attack the enemies 
 of their country, and of all national aud 
 personal liberty. The measure would have 
 been a wise one, had it been adopted a 
 century before. This had been prevented 
 by the selfishness of the nobles ; and now 
 Poland was doomed because she had no 
 PEOPLE — superstitious serfs denationalised 
 by generations of bondage, and even 
 ignorant of liberty; but no people in the 
 sense in which that word is understood in 
 free states. It was impossible at once to 
 elevate the serfs of Poland to the dignity 
 of citizens, or convert them into enthusiastic 
 patriots. Many scarcely understood the 
 advantages offered them; others truly 
 thought that the benefit had been withheld 
 until the hour when the noble and wealthy 
 
 327 
 
REVOLT OF THE POLES.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1794. 
 
 A.D. 1794—1795.] 
 
 classes found they could not do without 
 them; and they doubted that the promises 
 given in a season of danger, would be kept 
 when the peril was past. For these reasons, 
 the proclamation of enfranchisement pro- 
 duced but a very partial effect. Many of the 
 serfs did indeed fight bravely in the conflict 
 which succeeded, but these were mostly 
 followers of the few patriot nobles. Many 
 of the nobles, even in this hour of darkness, 
 when the smitten nationality of Poland was 
 staggering towards that steep precipice over 
 which it was so soon to be hurled, were 
 alarmed and irritated at the proclamation ; for 
 they had ever bitterly opposed even a gradual 
 emancipation, and still looked upon their 
 serfs in the same light in which the owners 
 of plantations regard their negro slaves. 
 With a haughty, grasping, and worthless 
 nobility, a bitterly intolerant priesthood, a 
 brutalised sea of serf-life in lieu of a people, 
 and scarcely any middle class, Poland had 
 not in it the elements of national life. It 
 was in a state to invite aggression and 
 spoliation, and it fell in accordance with 
 inevitable natural laws ; laws which must 
 eventually produce the annihilation even of 
 British njitionalitv, if the same fatal causes 
 were at work in this empire. 
 
 At first success smiled upon Kosciusko, 
 and he obtained a victory at Raslowice with 
 4,000 Poles (two-thirds of whom were armed 
 only with scythes), over an equal number of 
 efficiently-armed and disciplined Russian 
 troops. The battle lasted for five hours ; 
 3,000 of the Russian troops were killed, 
 and eleven of their cannon taken. The 
 revolt of Warsaw followed; and the troops 
 of Russia and Prussia, after two days and 
 nights of murderous street-fighting, were ex- 
 pelled from that city. The struggle lasted 
 for several months, and the whole country 
 was one vast arena of butchery and blood- 
 shed. The troops of Russia and Prussia 
 were assisted by those of Austria, the em- 
 peror of which power had at first held 
 aloof; yet, notwithstanding the terrible 
 inequality of the contest, they appeared 
 unable to crush the patriots, who fought with 
 the fury of enthusiasm for their national 
 independence. In September, the savage 
 dwarf, Suwarrow, arrived with another Rus- 
 sian army, resolved on terminating the 
 struggle by striking some appalling blow. 
 
 Kosciusko, on receiving intelligence of 
 the approach of Suwarrow, resolved, if pos- 
 sible, to prevent his junction with the other | 
 Russian forces under General Fersen. With 
 328 
 
 this object the patriot marched ag^ainst the 
 latter, and gave him battle, on the 10th of 
 October, at Maciejovice. Kosciusko had 
 about 21,000 men, undisciplined and half- 
 armed. The Russians had about thrice that 
 number of regular and practised troops, and 
 a large park of artillery. The Poles, never- 
 theless, fought with great bravery, and the 
 struggle was maintained for more than five 
 hours; then their ammunition was exhausted, 
 and the battle became a massacre. Nearly 
 the whole of the Polish army was cut to 
 pieces, or compelled to surrender. Kosciusko 
 himself, after receiving three sabre wounds, 
 and a thrust from a spear, dropped exhausted 
 from his horse, exclaiming, **Finis Poionice !'* 
 For some time he lay in a state of insensibility 
 amongst the dead. On his being recognised, 
 some Cossacks, who had approached with 
 the intention of plundering and stripping 
 him, testified a rude respect and a generous 
 feeling towards the fallen hero. Making a 
 rude brancard with their lances, they placed 
 him upon it, and carried him to General 
 Fersen, who ordered his wounds to be at- 
 tended to, and treated him and his comrades 
 in misfortune with kindness. The empress 
 Catherine acted less generously. As soon 
 as Kosciusko was able to walk, he was 
 removed to St. Petersburg, and there con- 
 demned, as a Lithuanian, and, consequently, 
 presumed subject of Russia, to imprison- 
 ment for life — a harsh sentence, which was 
 revoked on the death of the empress. 
 
 All who escaped from the battle-field, 
 shut themselves, together with the remnant 
 of the patriot forces, up in Praga, the eastern 
 suburb of Warsaw — separated from that city 
 by the Vistula, as the boroujjh of South wark 
 is separated from the city of London by the 
 Thames. Their numbers have been variously 
 estimated from 15,000 to 26,000 men, and 
 they had 104 pieces of heavy cannon, with 
 which to defend the bridges of the Vistula 
 and the approaches to the capital. The latter 
 were not calculated to sustain a vigrorous 
 assault ; and Suwarrow, on his arrival, sur- 
 veyed them with a grim smile of anticipated 
 triumph. His force consisted of 22,000 
 men and eighty-six field-pieces; but, as 
 might have been anticipated from a general 
 of so much decision, who held human life so 
 cheaply, he resolved to assault at once, and 
 carry the Polish lines at the point of tlic 
 bayonet. "Let my children know," said 
 Suwarrow to his officers (for " children" was 
 the affectionate term which this strange man 
 applied to his semi-savage troops), *' that 1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [extinction of poland. 
 
 intend repeating Ismail here, and that with- 
 out delay." The words were echoed from 
 mouth to mouth, with ferocious glee, by the 
 Russian soldiers, who understood the implied 
 permission that, Praga once taken, they 
 might give themselves up to a hideous revel 
 of murder, lust, and plunder. 
 
 After cannonading the defences of Praga 
 for two days, Suwarrow gave directions for 
 the assault to take place at daybreak on the 
 3rd of November. As at Ismail, the signal 
 was to be three cock-crows, given by the 
 general himself, on which the attack was to 
 commence, and no prisoners were to be 
 made until all resistance had ceased. Not- 
 withstanding the badly-armed state of the 
 Polish troops, and their deficiency of ammu- 
 nition, their trenches were not carried until 
 after a desperate struggle of five hours' dura- 
 tion. Then the Russian infantry pressed 
 forward, delivering close volleys of musketry, 
 and sending an incessant storm of grape- 
 shot from their cannon into the crowded 
 suburb. Thus a road, running with blood, 
 and strewed with mangled bodies, was made 
 into its centre, towards which the attacking 
 columns all converged. Suwarrow, impa- 
 tient at the opposition, heightened the horror 
 of the scene by ordering the wooden houses, 
 of which Praga was for the most part built, 
 to be set on fire. The result of these varied 
 means of destruction was terrible indeed. 
 It is estimated that 10,000 Polish soldiers, 
 and no less than 12,000 citizens, of every 
 age and sex, were shot, bayoneted, sabred, 
 burnt or suffocated in the flames, or driven 
 into, and drowned in, the Vistula. Happily, 
 the end of the bridge over that river, which 
 abutted upon Warsaw, broke down, and 
 saved the city from the fate of Praga. But 
 its unconditional surrender was inevitable, 
 and followed in a few days. Suwarrow, on 
 receiving the keys of the city from the prin- 
 cipal magistrate, pressed them to his lips, 
 and, with a glance towards that heaven whose 
 edicts of mercy he had recently so terribly 
 outraged, exclaimed, " I render thee thanks. 
 Almighty God, that thou hast not exacted 
 the same price for these keys as for the 
 possession of Praga." The empress Cathe- 
 rine was so gratified with the successes of 
 Suwarrow, that she made him a field-mar- 
 shal, and gave him a staff of command, made 
 of gold, with a wreath of jewels in the form 
 of oak-leaves, the diamonds alone of which 
 were valued at 60,000 roubles. To this she 
 added the present of a large and valuable 
 estate. 
 
 VOL. I. 2 u 
 
 The following year (1795) witnessed the 
 division of the remainder of Poland, between 
 Russia, Prussia, and Austria; the last parti- 
 tion treaty being finally settled in October. 
 By It Austria had Cracow, with the country 
 between the Pilitza, the Vistula, and the 
 Bug. Prussia had Warsaw, and the territory 
 to the banks of the Niemen. All the rest 
 —the lion's share— fell to Russia. Thus was 
 Poland erased from the map of Europe, 
 while England and France were passive 
 spectators of a spoliation which, unjust as 
 it was, affords room for many arguments of 
 extenuation. The fate of the dismembered 
 provinces differed according to the govern- 
 ments under which they fell. The Austrian 
 yoke was the harshest ; 'that of Prussia some- 
 what less so; but the advantages which the 
 Polish subjects of this state enjoyed, were 
 counterbalanced by a decided tendency to 
 establish Germanism on the ruin of every- 
 thing that was national. Russia's share of 
 Poland was the best treated of the three : in 
 It the national language was preserved in 
 all official transactions, and an excellent 
 system of public education introduced into 
 the university of Vilna. Stanislaus Au- 
 gustus, who had never been a king but in 
 name, retired to the town of Grodno in 
 Lithuania : he signed a formal abdication of 
 a throne which really no longer existed. 
 The three partitioning powers bestowed 
 upon him a pension of 200,000 ducats, and 
 also undertook to pay his debts. He after- 
 wards removed to St. Petersburg, where he 
 died in the month of February, 1798, about 
 fifteen months after the death of the em- 
 press, of whom he had been the lover, the 
 dupe, and the tool. 
 
 Catherine's treasury was too much ex- 
 hausted by her war with the Ottomans to 
 enable her to join in that for the suppression 
 of the French revolution. She, however, 
 induced her late enemy, Gustavus III. of 
 Sweden, to do so, and subsidised him for 
 that purpose. But the assassination of that 
 monarch, on the 16th of March, 1792, ar- 
 rested his project. French emigrants of 
 distinction were now continually arriving 
 at the court of St. Petersburg, where they 
 applied for military aid, which, though the 
 empress did not refuse, she considered it 
 imprudent to grant. Indeed, though she 
 gave a welcome reception to all the French 
 who protested their attachment to their old 
 form of government, she severely proscribed 
 the rest, from an apprehension that the prin- 
 ciples on which the r^olution was effected 
 
 329 
 
m 
 
 AlfNEXATlON OF COURLAND.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1790. 
 
 I I 
 
 Hi 
 
 might find their way into Russia, and there 
 occasion some combustion subversive of the 
 throne. She even compelled all the French 
 in her dominions to take an oath of allegiance 
 to the Bourbon claimant of the cro\yn of 
 France, and to swear an eternal hatred to the 
 republic. Those who refused to do so were 
 expelled from the empire. But Catherine 
 was far from being the only sovereign whom 
 terror and astonishment at the execution 
 of the unhappy Louis XVI., in 1793, drove to 
 acts of intolerance and ungenerous severitv. 
 
 Turning again towards England as she 
 receded from France, Catherine, in the 
 March of 1793, concluded a new treaty of 
 commerce with this country ; that which 
 had expired in 1786 not having been re- 
 newed. At the same time she published a 
 foolish edict, prohibiting the introduction of 
 French merchandise into her dominions. 
 Giving rein to her increasing animosity of 
 revolutionary principles, she even promised 
 to send a Russian squadron to co-operate 
 with the English fleet, and she gave com- 
 mands for the acceleration of the armament 
 at Cronstadt. The progress of the repub- 
 lican armies of France, and the meteor-like 
 successes of Napoleon, gave Catherine con- 
 siderable anxiety, and Suwarrow constantly 
 entreated her to send him against "the 
 French atheists," as the merciless little 
 monster called them. " That yoimgster 
 goes too fast," he frequently observed, " and 
 should be stopped at once. That would not 
 be difficult for me and my children, if our 
 lady-mother would give us leave." 
 
 On the death of Gustavus, he was suc- 
 ceeded by his eccentric and weak-minded 
 son, then but in his fourteenth year. The 
 youth of this arrogant boy, whose capricious 
 humour eventually cost him his crown, ren- 
 dered a regency necessary, and the affairs 
 of government were placed in the hands of 
 his uncle, the Duke of Sudermania. The 
 latter arranged a marriage between the 
 young king of Sweden and a princess of the 
 house of Mecklenburg, apparently with the 
 motive of avoiding an alliance with the im- 
 perial family of Russia. At this, Catherine 
 expressed displeasure, and stated, that the 
 ^ate monarch had promised her the hand of 
 his son for one of her grandchildren, the 
 grand-duchesses. Some negotiations and 
 intrigues were terminated by the acceptance 
 
 • Courland, situated between the 56th and 58th 
 
 degree of north latitude, is divided into three parts — 
 
 Courland Proper, Semi^allia, and the circle of Pil- 
 
 len. It is bounded by Livonia, Lithuania, Samogitia, 
 
 330 
 
 of an invitation by the young king and the 
 regent to St. Petersburg. They arrived in 
 the August of 1796. Catherine received 
 them with great magnificence ; and Gustavus 
 Adolphus, captivated by the charms of the 
 Grand-duchess Alexandra, consented to 
 abandon his engagement with the Princess 
 of Mecklenburg. Proposals were made and 
 accepted, and the day was fixed for the 
 ceremony of the espousals. But, on the 
 contract being presented to the king for his 
 signature, he refused to put his name to it, 
 unless the princess previously changed her 
 religion — a circumstance which, he said, the 
 fundamental laws of Sweden obliged him to 
 require. Neither solicitation nor flattery 
 could induce him to forego a demand which, 
 urged at such a moment, had the appearance 
 of a studied insult. The empress then rose 
 with dignity, and retired from the apart- 
 ment, followed by Paul, the grand-duchess, 
 and their children. So great was the im- 
 pression made upon her by this indignity, 
 that, on reaching her own apartment, it is 
 said, she had a slight fit, the precursor of that 
 which, so short a time afterwards, termi- 
 nated fatally. The following day, Gustavus 
 Adolphus and his retinue quitted St. Peters- 
 burg. 
 
 Even to the close of her life, Catherine 
 continued to enlarge her dominions. In 
 this year (1796) she contrived, by political 
 intrigues, to annex the duchy of Courland 
 to the Russian empire.* Courland, like 
 Poland, may be said to have had no people : 
 they were no better than serfs ; and the 
 land was all in the possession of a selfish, 
 petty, and domineering nobility. Their 
 sovereign was Duke Peter Biren, son of 
 the infamous man who, as the favourite of 
 the weak empress Anna, so long tyrannised 
 over Russia. Peter Biren was avaricious, 
 litigious, and much disliked ; and his people, 
 availing themselves of his absence, made a 
 formal surrender of their allegiance to the 
 empress of Russia. This was accepted; 
 and certainly the Courlanders lost nothing 
 except a worthless prince. The acquisition 
 of Courland was of great importance to 
 Russia. It produces both corn and timber 
 in abundance, and has several ports advan- 
 tageously situated on the Baltic. That of 
 Vindau, which is never obstructed by 
 ice, might, by a little improvement, be 
 
 and the Baltic. The Dwina parts it from Livonia on 
 the north, and waters its frontiers for a space of more 
 than sixty leagues. A glance at a map of Russia will 
 show its immense importance to that empire. 
 
 A.D. 
 
 1796.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [death of THIf EMPRESS. 
 
 rendered capable of containing a hundred 
 ships of the line. 
 
 Age did not deprive the empress of her 
 almost ceaseless activity. She now resolved 
 to turn her arms against Persia, and, 
 under pretence of defending Lolf-Ali-Khan, 
 gain possession of those provinces of Persia 
 which border on the Caspian. She endea- 
 voured to draw in the Turkish government 
 to second her design ; but the divan wisely 
 remained immovable. A Russian army, 
 under the command of Valerian Zuboff (a 
 brother of the favourite), advanced into 
 Daghestan, and captured Derbent, but after- 
 wards experienced a check at the hands of 
 the Persians. Catherine sent reinforce- 
 ments to Zubofi^, and felt her usual confi- 
 dence that success would soon attend him. 
 Catherine, indeed, looked forward to a still 
 greater triumph than any success over a 
 crumbling state like Persia could afi*ord. 
 She had just concluded a treaty with Eng- 
 land and with Austria, which was to secure 
 to her the assistance of those two powers 
 against Turkey; while she undertook to 
 furnish them with an army of 65,000 men 
 to act against the French republic. Thus 
 she trusted that the last great act of her 
 life would be the most gigantic and bril- 
 liant ; no less, indeed, than the accomplish- 
 ment of her cherished scheme of driving 
 the Ottomans out of Europe, and placing 
 one of the imperial family on the throne of 
 Constantinople. But to have realised all 
 her ambitious projects, this extraordinary 
 woman must have been immortal ; for she 
 had also addressed herself to humble the 
 power and haughty conduct of the French 
 republic* Death, however, is a revolutionist 
 that has no respect even for the most power- 
 ful and illustrious of monarchs. 
 
 The empress had been unwell for several 
 days ; but, on the evening of the 15th of 
 November, she was in unusual spirits, amused 
 
 * It was the policy of the empress, who detested 
 the French republic without loving the Austrians, 
 to let both parties exhaust themselves ; determined, 
 however, whatever might be the fate of their arms, 
 to prevent either from acquiring an uncontrolled 
 sway in Germany. Orders were issued for a levy of 
 150,000 troops, destined to act, in some shape or 
 other, for the relief of the emperor of Germany. It 
 has been questioned, whether it would not have been 
 wiser policy in Catherine to have moved for the as- 
 sistance of the confederates sooner ? She, perhaps, 
 entertained a persuasion, that the allies would stand 
 firm together, and make a more successful opposi- 
 tion to the republic. She was, no doubt, well 
 enough pleased to see almost all the other powers of 
 Europe weaken themselves by war ; whilst, at the 
 
 herself with her buffoon, and rallied him 
 upon the dread he was known to entertain 
 of death. However, she retired to her 
 chamber rather earlier than usual, saying, 
 that too much laughing had given her 
 slight symptoms of colic. The following 
 morning she rose in good spirits, and took 
 her usual breakfast. Afterwards she went 
 to her closet, where she staid an unusual 
 time. The women who waited upon her at 
 length became alarmed, and, opening the 
 door, they found their mistress in a state of 
 insensibility. Medical aid was immediately 
 sent for, but three-quarters of an hour 
 elapsed before the arrival of her chief physi- 
 cian, Dr. Robertson. That gentleman, con- 
 sidering her to be suffering from the effect 
 of a fit of apoplexy, caused her to be twice 
 bled. The operation restored her to partial 
 consciousness, but she never spoke again. 
 In this state of torpor she remained until 
 the following evening, when, between nine 
 and ten o'clock, she expired so gently, that 
 the physicians were not aware of the mo- 
 ment of her death. Paul, who was absent 
 from St. Petersburg, did not arrive until 
 the evening when she died; the empress 
 still breathed, but she did not appear con- 
 scious of his presence. It has been sur- 
 mised — but, we think, without sufficient 
 authority — that, had she been conscious in 
 her last moments, she would have disin- 
 herited Paul, and bequeathed the throne to 
 one of her grandchildren. The empress 
 died in the sixty-seventh year of her age, 
 and the thirty-fourth of her reign. 
 
 Catherine had been handsome in her 
 youth, but she got corpulent as she ad- 
 vanced in years, though she preserved an 
 air of gracefulness, mingled with dignity, to 
 the latest period of her life. In person she 
 was not above the middle size ; but as she 
 was well-proportioned, and carried her head 
 high, she had the appearance of being tall. 
 
 same time, it must have been her intention, as has 
 since appeared, to interfere more and more in the 
 general conflict, in proportion as the party she de- 
 tested gained ground on a sovereign prince; who, 
 though a neighbour and an ancient enemy, yet pos- 
 sessed an hereditary throne, and had ceased to be a 
 formidable rival. It is to be considered farther, 
 that had she moved sooner, the Turks, on the other 
 side, instigated by French intrigues, might have 
 moved also. The empress waited, too, until she 
 should secure peace, on the most formidable frontier, 
 by a marriage between her grand-daughter and the 
 young king of Sweden ; an object which she had much 
 at heart, though it was found impossible to accom- 
 plish it without a concession to that headstrong boy, 
 inconsistent with the dignity of the Russian empire. 
 
 331 
 
 J/ 
 
 ir 
 
 4 
 

 CHAJIACTER OP CATHERINE.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1796. 
 
 A.D. 1796.] 
 
 I 
 
 She had a bold, expansive forehead, an 
 aquiline nose, an agreeably-shaped mouth, 
 and a chin which, though too long for 
 beauty, was not displeasing. She had a 
 profusion of auburn hair, in which she took 
 great delight ; and her eye-brows were dark 
 and thick. Her eyes were generally said to 
 be blue, though some observers have affirmed 
 them to be brown, and others gray. They 
 sometimes expressed a feeling of gentle- 
 ness, though that was frequently displaced 
 by one of pride and haughtiness. Though 
 her face was by no means deficient in ex- 
 pression, yet she had such a command over 
 her features, that no one could discover, 
 from gazing upon them, what was passing 
 in her mind. 
 
 The empress, on all public occasions, 
 dressed with great magnificence, and wore a 
 profusion of jewellery, especially diamonds, of 
 which gems she was particularly fond, and 
 possessed a prodigious number. In general, 
 she usually dressed after the ancient Russian 
 fashion, for the most part wearing green, 
 out of compliment to the nation. Her hair, 
 slightly powdered, flowed down upon her 
 shoulders, and was topped with a small cap, 
 covered with diamonds. She wore rouge, 
 after the fashion of the ladies of the French 
 court ; and in the latter part of her life she 
 put on a great deal, in order to prevent the 
 ravages of time from being visible on her 
 face. She was always strictly temperate 
 with respect to the pleasures of the table, 
 and that at a court where a little deviation 
 would not have given occasion to much 
 scandal. A slight breakfast, a moderate 
 i'mner, and two or three glasses of wine, 
 constituted her usual diet. Supper she 
 never indulged in. 
 
 The personal vices of Catherine have not 
 been able to obscure her glory as a ruler, or 
 do more than faintly sully her greatness. 
 A modern historian, who certainly will not 
 be suspected of any undue lenity towards 
 crime or immorality, has observed of her, 
 that " few sovereigns will occupy a more 
 conspicuous place in the page of history, or 
 have left in their conduct on the throne a 
 more exalted reputation."* After the death 
 of Frederic the Great, Catherine remained 
 the most illustrious among the crowned 
 heads of Europe, and even towered amongst 
 them as an empress among petty princes. 
 She had the ambition to aim at any object, 
 however lofty; the courage to attempt its 
 accomplishment, however difficult or dan- 
 • Alison. — History of Europe. 
 332 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [character of catoerixe. 
 
 gerous ; and the perseverance and genius 
 usually to succeed in it. She devoted her- 
 self to the civilisation of her subjects, by 
 means more gentle and gradual than those 
 employed by Peter the Great, and, conse- 
 quently, more effectual. It has been said 
 that she effiected much real, and more 
 seeming good; and, doubtless, many of her 
 actions had a meretricious glare about them, 
 which, when it had attracted popularity, or 
 created a sensation, proved of no further 
 value. Catherine loved to dazzle her people 
 with the gorgeous display of that vast power 
 which she knew so well how to grasp and 
 direct. But she was not content to stay at 
 this point; and her mind was frequently 
 directed to raising her subjects in the social 
 scale, and to conferring upon them sub- 
 stantial benefits. She did much for educa- 
 tion, much towards a better administration 
 of the law, and much for the advancement 
 of art and science. She even attempted to 
 emancipate the serfs of the empire; and 
 though prevented, by the interests or pre- 
 judices of her nobles, from accomplishing 
 this great measure, she succeeded in ame- 
 liorating their condition. She has been 
 rightly called the great regenerator of Rus- 
 sia after Peter the Great, and she had the 
 good fortune to labour under more favour- 
 able circumstances. 
 
 Attached to literature, Catherine was 
 herself an authoress. It has been urged, 
 that her works could scarcely be of much 
 value, or they would be more generally 
 sought for than is now the case. The 
 argument is a fallacious one ; for distinction 
 is not always the reward of merit ; and in 
 the great arena of letters and of genius, 
 both prince and peasant stand almost upon 
 level ground. We have had many royal 
 authors in England; but their works are 
 seldom read now, except L'^ curious scholars 
 and antiquarians. Every person in this 
 country, of any pretension to education, is 
 more or less familiar with the writings of 
 Shakspere; but the pedantic bombast of 
 James I. appeals to posterity in vain. The 
 works of Catherine, moreover, with the ex- 
 ception of the famous Instructions^ were of 
 an unambitious kind. They chiefly consisted 
 of dramatic pieces, written in the Russian 
 language ; and tales, penned with the object 
 of instilling moral principles into her grand- 
 children. Her published letters to Voltaire 
 are considered to exhibit more grace and 
 playfulness of style than those which that 
 distinguished pliilosopher addressed to her. 
 
 We do not infer that her ability in this 
 direction was great, but we conclude that it 
 was more than respectable. Had she been 
 less illustrious as an empress, she might 
 have been more regarded as an authoress. 
 As it was, the gorgeous and glowing bril- 
 liance of her jewelled sceptre eclipsed the 
 feeble radiance of her pen. Her detractors 
 have affirmed, that she merely coquetted 
 with literature, and that it made no ad- 
 vances during her reign. That she gathered 
 a reflected glory from the association of her 
 name with those of the gifted amongst men, 
 and that to do so constituted one of the 
 motives which induced her to shower gifts 
 and smiles upon them, is no dishonour to 
 her. We are scarcely justified in expecting 
 a higher or more critical motive than this 
 from any monarch whose time was largely 
 occupied with the highly responsible duties 
 inseparable from the active administration 
 of the aff'airs of an extensive empire. The 
 remainder of the sneer is a falsehood, de- 
 signed to utter that bitterness which some 
 writers lose no opportunity of expressing 
 towards Catherine personally, and towards 
 the Russian policy and people generally. 
 Russian literature scarcely existed prior to 
 her time, during which it made as much 
 progress as could reasonably be anticipated 
 in a nation not of a studious or literary 
 tone of mind, and in the higher ranks of 
 which, military accomplishments were those 
 mostly, if not almost entirely, regarded. 
 
 • " Both Anna and Elizabeth prosecuted expensive 
 -wars, and executed many costly public works, with- 
 out bequeathing to their successors any national 
 debt. The outlay of Catherine on wars, colonies, 
 charitable, industrial and educational foundations, 
 besides the lavish pomp and extravagant splendour 
 of her court, could not have been sustained without 
 a still greater levy on the country It is true that 
 she remitted many duties and taxes ; that she 
 abolished some of the ancient farms, and even a few 
 of the rich monopolies that had been enjoyed by the 
 crown ; but, on the other hand, her empire obtained 
 vast accessions of wealth during her reign. The 
 channels through which they were procured may be 
 thus enumerated : annexations by conquest ; the ex- 
 tension and encouragement of commerce ; the reduc- 
 tion of the property of the church, the bishops, and 
 the monasteries, by which the crown obtained a 
 great number of boors, large tracts of forests and 
 productive lands, and several valuable mines and 
 works, that had previously been rendered lucrative 
 by the enterprise of the clergy ; by the introduction 
 of the ohrok; by bestowing greater care and more 
 vigilant superintendence upon the mines; the estab- 
 lishment of new duties ; the diffusion of the poll-tax 
 over provinces that had hitherto been exempt from 
 Its operation ; and by a variety of reforms in the col- 
 iecUon of the revenue. In this respect, Catherine 
 
 Of Catherine's generosity to literary men, 
 we have recorded several' instances. She 
 was a great promoter of the arts, both 
 useful and elegant ; even of music, which, 
 personally, she almost disliked, being some- 
 times unable to bear the noise of a large 
 orchestra. Great numbers of valuable pic- 
 tures were purchased by her, including the 
 Houghton collection from England— a cir- 
 cumstance which, while it added to her 
 glory, disgraced this nation in the estima- 
 tion of foreigners. She was, indeed, in 
 every respect generous, even to a lavish 
 prodigality— at once a grace and a fault; 
 l)ut of which all that is reprehensible may 
 be easily forgiven in a great potentate ; the 
 more so in her case, as she doubled, if she 
 did not even treble, the revenues of the 
 empire.* Nor, while speaking of her virtues, 
 must we forget that she was magnanimous, 
 and could readily forgive. During a por- 
 tion of her reign, Russia was the only coun- 
 try in Europe in which French newspapers 
 were not prohibited; but the Moniteur 
 having taken great liberties with her name, 
 and spoken with unflattering plainness of 
 the Grand-duke Paul, she desired it should 
 not be circulated in future until it had been 
 submitted to her inspection. Shortly after- 
 wards, she found a paragraph in it, which de- 
 scribed her as the Messalina of the North ; 
 yet, instead of being off'ended, she remarked, 
 that as it concerned only herself, it might 
 be distributed. Certainly this magnanimity 
 
 may be regarded as the first sovereign of Russia who 
 brought to the fiscal department the advantages of 
 decision, system, and activity. The Gotha calendar 
 of 1790, estimates the annual revenue at £35,000,000; 
 an amount that has been adopted, from that work, in 
 several subsequent statistical publications. Mr. Coxe, 
 whose general accuracy entitles his opinions to be re- 
 ceived with respect, calculates the net income at nearly 
 £42,000,000. At the same time, he expresses some 
 surprise how the empress could have maintained, by 
 resources comparatively so limited, the munificence 
 and pageantries of her court. In the last edition of 
 Levesques history, the annual revenue is estimated 
 at £47,114,084, by the continuators of that work. 
 Tooke exhibits an elaborate view of the various 
 items of finance, and sums up the whole at upwards 
 of £46,000,000; expressing, at the same time, his 
 belief that it amounted to still more; and stating 
 Chat, by another calculation which he had made, he 
 brought the total to £48,000,000. From these 
 contradictory speculations, it will be evident that the 
 means of furnishing an authentic table of the re- 
 venues of Russia do not exist."— Lardner's Cyclo- 
 pcBdia. We have no recent return of the revenue of 
 Russia, but it is now estimated at about 400,000,000 
 silver roubles ; 45,300,097 of which are derived from 
 the domains of the crown. The debt was, in 1853 
 788,573,112 silver roubles. 
 
 333 
 
' CHARACTER OF CATHERINE.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1796. 
 
 was not invariable : she was at times guilty 
 of acts of tyranny ; and, on one occasion, 
 banished an accomplished Russian gentle- 
 man to Siberia, because he had written a 
 pamphlet against despotism. This, how- 
 ever, was a matter which excited but little 
 surprise in Russia, and was not considered 
 a stretch of imperial power. Catherine's 
 motive was, doubtless, entirely passionless 
 and political, for she was above most of the 
 prejudices of her time and nation. She 
 always encouraged liberal institutions, until 
 the wild extravagances and revolting mur- 
 ders of the revolutionists in Paris, created 
 in her that natural alarm which was felt, 
 more or less, by all the princes and nobles 
 of Europe. Of Catherine's comprehensive 
 toleration in matters of religion we have 
 already spoken. 
 
 The vices of the empress Catherine were 
 many. Though far from being cruel (for she 
 was, in most respects, a mild and forgiving 
 sovereign), yet she was resolute to crush her 
 enemies, or those who might become so. All 
 who had the misfortune to stand between 
 her and the imperial sceptre, perished. 
 The shades of Peter and of Ivan will ever 
 rest like dark and accusing visions over her 
 tomb. In neither case can the act of mur- 
 der be traced to her command; but she 
 alone profited by their deaths. It has been 
 urged, in extenuation (though, in this in- 
 stance, the plea is not a very potent one), 
 that she consented to the assassination of 
 her husband on the principle of self-defence. 
 However it may be viewed, the deed was a 
 shocking, and, if performed at her command, 
 an infamous one. A profound dissimula- 
 tion must be ranked among her vices, 
 though she used it rather in political trans- 
 actions than in social intercourse ; indeed, 
 in the latter, she was often most open, un- 
 restrained, and genial. Yet she was a per- 
 fect mistress of artifice when she desired to 
 employ it. 
 
 Catlierine's licentiousness was gigantic 
 and unbounded ; and were we writing 
 merely as moralists, could not be too 
 strongly condemned. But on the broader 
 and more worldly view the historian is 
 compelled to take, it must be remembered, 
 that her vices in this respect were personal, 
 and did not necessarily affect the condition 
 or morals of her subjects. Whether they 
 actually did so or not, has been both 
 
 • Annual Register for 1796. 
 
 f JEncyclopeedia Britannica. By the present age 
 the writer means the early part of this century, when 
 334 
 
 affirmed and denied. Some writers have 
 accused her of setting an example of de- 
 bauchery which was almost universally fol- 
 lowed. This is scarcely true. The Russian 
 court was extremely dissolute when Cathe- 
 rine ascended the throne; and though some 
 ladies of rank probably imitated the em- 
 press in keeping favourites and lovers, yet, 
 as we have shown, Catherine was offended 
 by any display of immorality, or even want 
 of decorous reserve in matters of gallantry, 
 and appeared desirous, by an external 
 austerity of manners, to make up, in some 
 degree, for the depravity of her private 
 actions. Many scandalous stories are cir- 
 culated respecting her and her confidants, 
 but these are unquestionably gross exag- 
 gerations in some cases, and impure inven- 
 tions in others. It has been well observed 
 on this point, that "it is an invidious thing 
 to pry, with too much curiosity, into the 
 frailties of such a character. The severest 
 critic has not been able to charge her with 
 anything unnatural, or, in her predicament 
 and situation, not easily to be forgiven."* 
 
 We will conclude this estimate of an ex- 
 traordinary character with a few lines, 
 which are not only happily expressed, but 
 probably possess more of authority than 
 our own words. " No personage in our 
 own times has attracted a greater share 
 of censure and eulogium than Catherine; 
 and no woman, in any age, ever exhibited 
 more of the masculine greatness of one sex, 
 and the feminine weakness of another. As 
 a woman, she appears, at times, the slave of 
 passions, and the puppet of her courtiers ; 
 but while we behold her diminishing, in this 
 point of view, into insignificance, we look 
 again, and contemplate the sovereign, tower- 
 ing like an immense colossus ; and with 
 one foot placed on Cherson, and another 
 at Karatschatka, waving her iron sceptre 
 over the subject nations, and regulating the 
 destiny of a large portion of mankind. 
 
 " The frailties, however, of the woman 
 will soon be forgotten, while the glory that 
 encircles the brows of the legislatrix and 
 conqueror, will long continue to dazzle the 
 eyes of an admiring world. The present 
 age, however, shudders at the untimely fate 
 of Peter and Ivan ; and posterity will not 
 easily pardon the degradation of Stanislaus, 
 the partition of Poland, and the massacres 
 of Ismail and of Praga.^f 
 
 the remembrance of the events to which he alludes 
 was still strong in the public mind of Europe. More 
 gigantic incidents have since rather obscured them. 
 
 A.D. 1796.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [doubtful birth of patjl. 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 DOUBTFUL PARENTAGE OF PAUL; HIS PERSONAL APPEARANCE; HIS ACCESSION ; HE INSULTS THE MEMORY 
 OF CATHERINE, AND CAUSES THE COFFIN OF PETER III. TO BE EXHUMED AND CROWNED- PAUL AN 
 NOUNCES HIS INTHNTION OF PURSUING A PACIFIC POLICY; HE HELEASKS KOSCIUSKO AND OTHER POIIsn 
 PATRIOTS FROM CONFINEMENT; HE RESTRAINS THE DANGEROUS POWER OF THE GUARDS • HIS DESPOTIC 
 CONDUCT TOWARDS THE OFFICERS WHO RETIRE ; HIS ECCENTRICITIES AND PETTY CRUELTY ' HE DISMISSES 
 THE FAVOURITES OF THE LATE EMPRESS ; PROHIBITS THE USE OF ROUND HATS, AND PUNISHES TIIK 
 WEARERS OF THEM; FORBIDS THE HARNESSING OF HORSES IN THE RUSSIAN FASHION- RKVIVES THE 
 BARBAROUS CUSTOM OF PROSTRATION BEFORE THE EMPEROR; PAUL's IRRITATING INTERFERENCE WITH 
 THE ARMY AND WITH THE TRIBUNALS OF THE EMPIRE; HIS CENSORSHIP OF THE PRESS AND FINANCIAI 
 EXPERIMENTS. ' 
 
 t 
 
 Paul, when he ascended the throne, was 
 forty-two years of age. Catherine, who 
 never exhibited towards him the affection 
 of a parent, kept him during her life under 
 restraint, and in comparative retirement. 
 This, doubtless, arose chiefly from a feeling 
 of jealousy on her part towards one who 
 was to succeed, and who might, by the dis- 
 affected, be made an instrument to dethrone 
 her. Such an emotion is common amongst 
 raonarchs, and was entertained by each of 
 the first three of our four Georges. But 
 this was not the only cause of Catherine's 
 dislike for Paul. That he was the son of 
 Peter III. is highly questionable ; and some 
 doubt exists as to whether he was even the 
 son of Catherine. We have alluded to the 
 natural disqualification under which Peter 
 suffered ; and this, joined to the facts that 
 Paul was not born until between eight and 
 nine years after the marriage of his pre- 
 sumed parents, nor until after it was noto- 
 rious that Catherine had violated the fidelity 
 of the marriage vow; also that Peter, 
 though he indulged in many amours, had 
 no son by any other woman — gives rise to 
 more than a suspicion (indeed, a strong 
 probability), that Paul was not, on his 
 father's side, a scion of the imperial family. 
 The supposition that Paul was not the 
 son of Catherine, though not without an 
 appearance of probability, rests on a more 
 unsure ground ; upon conjectures, and not 
 upon evidence. It was suspected by many 
 persons, that he was one of the children of the 
 empress Elizabeth, and of her secret hus- 
 band Rasumoffski, or some other favourite 
 less known to the world. This belief re- 
 ceived some colouring from the mean ap- 
 pearance and' Tartar cast of the features 
 and figure of Paul. Others, again, have 
 represented him as a Finnish foundling, 
 adopted by Catherine from political motives, 
 and, therefore, in no way connected by 
 blood with the imperial family : we are not. 
 
 however, aware that this suggestion rests 
 upon any authority of a kind to entitle it to 
 credence. Neither can we place much re- 
 liance upon the general law of the heredi- 
 tary transmission of appearance or character 
 from parent to child, simply because it is 
 general and not universal, but admits, in- 
 deed, of constant exceptions. If we could, 
 Paul's claim to be the son of Catherine 
 must not be admitted. Diminutive in his 
 figure, extremely ugly in his features, 
 haying a pug or turned-up nose, and a 
 smirking air which struggled strongly with 
 an expression of a sense of self-importance 
 and arrogance, so great as to amount to 
 disease— narrow in his capacity, and petty in 
 his views and habits, he was aa wide a con- 
 trast to the handsome, strong-minded, and 
 commanding Catherine, as it was possible 
 to conceive. But as this matter is rather 
 speculative than historical, we will not 
 pursue it further than to add, that the em- 
 press's strong dislike of Paul, has been re- 
 garded by some as tending to prove that 
 he was her child by her husband Peter, and 
 that the natural repugnance she bore to the 
 father, descended to his offspring. For 
 reasons above stated, we place no depen- 
 dence on this conjecture. 
 
 Catherine had frequently expressed an 
 unfavourable opinion of Paul's judgment 
 and disposition ; and, indeed (as the reader 
 will presently see), she must have been 
 strangely partial had this not been the case. 
 We have already referred to the common 
 belief, that she would have disinherited him 
 had she been able to do so. Certainly, her 
 conduct towards him had made his temper 
 even more sour and splenetic than it was 
 by nature. Though the empress was pro- 
 digally liberal to all her favourites, ana to 
 those who deserved reward at the handa of 
 the state, yet she restrained Paul to an 
 allowance less than the income of many an 
 untitled English gentleman. She also ex- 
 
 335 
 
acx;kssion of paul.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1796. 
 
 eluded the grand-duke from all participa- 
 tion in public affairs, kept him at a dis- 
 tance from the court, and surrounded him 
 with spies. She even took away his chil- 
 dren from the time of their birth, and had 
 them brought up beneath her care, as if she 
 considered it improper to trust th^ir educa- 
 tion to a person of such mean capacities as 
 their father. Sometimes the grand-duke 
 and the grand-duchess were not permitted 
 to see their children for months ; and it 
 appeared as if the empress desired to 
 alienate their affections from their parents. 
 We cannot be surprised that such conduct, 
 prolonged over a period of years, made 
 Paul reciprocate the dislike with which he 
 was regarded by his mother. Hints were 
 several times given to him, that a strong 
 party only wanted his sanction to bring 
 about a revolution which should dethrone 
 the empress, and place the imperial sceptre 
 in his hand. Paul did not encourage them ; 
 but it is presumed (and we think justly so), 
 not from a respect for the empress, but 
 from a dread of the danger of failure. 
 
 Immediately upon the death of Cathe- 
 rine, Paul was recognised as emperor. 
 With a politic and dramatic flattery, his 
 wife was the first who paid him homage as 
 sovereign, though he had never treated her 
 with that affection which a woman naturally 
 expects at the hands of her husband. She 
 and her children knelt at his feet and 
 saluted him as their emperor directly it was 
 known that the great Catherine had breathed 
 her last. Paul raised and embraced them. 
 On the partner of his comparative obscurity 
 he shortly afterwards bestowed a princely 
 revenue ; while to each of his sons he gave 
 the command of a regiment of the guards, 
 and appointed the eldest to the important 
 post of military governor of St. Petersburg. 
 Less than a century before, Peter the Great 
 denounced the practice of conferring high 
 places upon inexperienced individuals, and 
 set the example, in his own person, of ren- 
 dering service and merits the only passports 
 to offices of responsibility ; but Paul fell at 
 once into those vices of old governments 
 from which Peter sternly held aloof, and 
 Catherine but seldom committed. 
 
 Paul experienced no opposition in ascend- 
 ing the throne. After his wife had rendered 
 him homage, the chief officers of the dif- 
 ferent departments, and of the army, did 
 the same, and took the customary oath of 
 allegiance. This example was followed by 
 the soldierv ; and the next day Paul was 
 336 
 
 everywhere proclaimed emperor, and his 
 eldest son (Alexander) czarevitch, or heir- 
 presumptive to the throne. 
 
 For a short time, the new monarch sup- 
 pressed the cynical and capricious bitterness 
 which years of restraint, acting upon a 
 mean nature, had engendered. He be- 
 haved with apparent cordiality to Plato 
 Zuboff, the lover and one of the chief 
 ministers of the late empress. He retained 
 the favourite in his offices, and even thanked 
 him for the attachment he had shown to 
 his mother. The other ministers, and the 
 heads of the different departments, were 
 also confirmed in their posts, and some of 
 them were even promoted. This was done 
 to secure them to his interests; but he 
 acted in a very different manner as soon as 
 he knew himself strong enough to do with- 
 out them. For some years he had drawn 
 up a number of regulations with respect to 
 the future direction of the succession to 
 the crown. These he now produced, and 
 caused to be invested with the power of 
 law. 
 
 PauFs next step was one which appears 
 to have given to his perverse and splenetic 
 nature a feeling of intense satisfaction. He 
 resorted to every means possible, without 
 doing violence to public decorum, of casting 
 contempt upon the grave of Catherine, and 
 of bringing to remembrance the darkest 
 blot upon her character. Every circum- 
 stance connected with her funeral he took 
 under his own immediate direction. The 
 bones of his assumed father he caused to be 
 removed from the obscure grave in the con- 
 vent of Alexander Nevski, where they had 
 lain for nearly five-and-thirty years. When 
 the coffin was opened, Paul wept over the 
 remains of the murdered emperor ; and, 
 perhaps, on this solemn occasion, there 
 might have been something of sincerity in 
 the tears he shed over the bones of one 
 whom he, at least, doubtless believed to be 
 the immediate author of his being. After 
 this display of emotion, he caused the coffin 
 to be conveyed to the palace with extraordi- 
 nary pomp, and placed in a temple con- 
 structed for the purpose, side by side with 
 the corpse of Catherine, which was then 
 lying in state. Then the coffin containing 
 the dust of Peter was solemnly crowned ; 
 for the living emperor had been hurled 
 from the throne before he had undergone 
 that ceremony. As if in sardonic mockery 
 of the terms on which Catherine and Peter 
 had lived together during the period of 
 
 A.D. 1796.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [fuxeral of Catherine. 
 
 
 their unhappy marriage, their coffins were 
 linked together with a kind of true-love 
 knot, bearing, in the Russian language, the 
 inscription— '' Divided in life; imited in 
 death.'' Enormous crowds of people were 
 admitted to behold this grand and semi- 
 theatrical scene, and to kiss the coffin of 
 Peter and the cold hand of Catherine. She 
 had been badly embalmed; it has even 
 been said purposely so, by order of Paul. 
 Certainly, the result was such as might have 
 gratified a petty malignity. The empress 
 was so disfigured, as not only to be scarcely 
 recognised by those who had only seen her 
 in public, but her remains had become so 
 far subject to corruption, as to inspire dis- 
 gust, if not horror, in those who approached 
 them. Her face was swelled, much dis- 
 coloured, and not in a state fit for public 
 exhibition, while her hands were blue and 
 yellow. 
 
 Paul thus punished the dead empress for 
 any share she might have had in his reputed 
 'father's death. The revenge he took upon 
 the actual murderers was remarkablv eccen- 
 tric. Count Alexis Orloff and Prince Bara- 
 tinski were immediately, on the death of 
 Catherine, commanded to repair to St. Pe- 
 tersburg, and assist in the funeral by bear- 
 ing the pall which covered the remains of 
 the emperor Peter. For three hours they 
 were compelled to remain, one on each side 
 of the coffin, in the presence of the assembled 
 court. During this period the countenance 
 of the iron-nerved Orloff exhibited signs 
 of the mental agony he endured ; but it is 
 probable that this arose as much from fear 
 as from remorse, as the regicide doubtless 
 anticipated that this would be but the be- 
 ginning of his punishment. He, however, 
 bore up during the ceremonj^, and was then 
 dismissed with ?i permission to travel abroad. 
 Tliis he immediately availed himself of, and 
 left St. Petersburg for Germany, from which 
 he did not return until after the death of 
 Paul. Prince Baratinski, whose nerves were 
 not so strong, nor his sensibility so blunt, 
 as that of the coarse, large-limlied Orloff, 
 suffered intensely during the funeral cere- 
 mony of the unfortunate monarch whom, 
 five-and-thirty years ago, he had assisted to 
 murder '^ There must, indeed, have been 
 something strangely terrible to a guilty con- 
 science, in the scene in which he was com- 
 pelled to be a principal actor. The black 
 hangings, the sombre plumes, the subdued 
 and spectrai-looknig light of the tapers ; the 
 almost pamful silence, broken only occa 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 2 X 
 
 sionally by the wailing chant of a dirge for 
 the dead; the oppressiveness of the air 
 which such grim, charnel-house pageantry 
 seems to produce on the awed spectator ; and, 
 above all, the presence of the mouldering 
 bones of the wretched victim, who seemed as 
 if he had risen from his obscure grave to point 
 out his murderers to public execration- 
 must have fallen, cold and sickening, almost 
 like a sentence of death, upon those scared 
 assassins. Baratinski fainted under the in- 
 fliction of this wild punishment, and was 
 only enabled to remain in his position 
 during the ceremony, by the frequent appli- 
 cation of volatile salts and other stimulants. 
 He was not subjected to any other punish- 
 ment further than what was contained in 
 the information that his presence at court 
 was no longer necessary. 
 
 The Princess Daschkaw was not forgotten 
 by the Emperor Paul. She was commanded 
 to retire to her estate at Novgorod, "and 
 reflect on the events of 1762." As the vil- 
 lage which was assigned her for a residence 
 in her exile, was only a collection of cabins, 
 she suffered considerable hardship until her 
 friends procured her partial pardon, and 
 permission to live at Serpukh, in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Moscow, where she resided till 
 her death on the 4th of Januarv, 1810. It 
 would have been more politic had Paul 
 appeared to have forgotten the past; for 
 these proceedings excited more surprise than 
 sympathy at St. Petersburg. It was be- 
 lieved that his conduct was less a tribute of 
 love to the memory of his father, than a 
 reproach to the memory of his mother. He, 
 however, sought out and loaded with favours 
 several old officers who, in 1762, had opposed 
 
 the revolution, and retained their allegiance to 
 the unhappy Peter. One of them, the aged 
 Baron Sternberg, who had long renounced 
 all interest in the affairs of state, was made 
 geueral-in-chief, and invested by the emperor 
 with the riband of St. Alexander. " See,'-' 
 said he to the veteran, as he directed the at- 
 tention of the latter to a picture of Peter III., 
 which had been placed in the chamber, "I 
 will have him to witness my gratitude to- 
 wards his faithful friend." 
 
 An unfavourable opinion had been gene- 
 rally entertained of the character of the new 
 emperor; but he at first adopted several 
 measures which raised him in the popular 
 estimation, and excited hopes that his mind 
 was not so narrow, and his nature so morose, 
 as had been commonly supposed. He issued 
 a ukase, announcing "^a pacific policy — a cir- 
 
 337' 
 
 .1* 
 
RELEASE OF KOSCIUSKO.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1796. 
 
 A.D. 1796.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [eccentricities of PAUL. 
 
 cumstance which created great joy amongst 
 the people ; for the interests of Russia re- 
 quired repose after the great mihtary dis- 
 bursements of the preceding reign. This 
 ukase also annulled a command given by 
 Catherine, shortly before her death, to raise 
 a body of recruits, in the proportion of one 
 peasant in every hundred. Such an escape 
 from the severities of military service, which 
 is regarded with detestation by the great 
 mass of the Russian peasants, was hailed by 
 them with delight. It was also extremely 
 acceptable to the nobility, whose interests 
 would have suffered by the intended con- 
 scription. 
 
 Paul also went in person to release the 
 unfortunate Polish patriot Kosciusko, who 
 was in confinement at St. Petersburg, still 
 suffering severely from the effect of his 
 wounds, and the despondency resulting, in 
 his imaginative nature, from the ruin of his 
 country. Respect for his high personal cha- 
 racter had caused the rigours of imprison- 
 ment to be dispensed with in his case. Thus, 
 while his fellow-prisoners were closely con- 
 fined in the dismal castle of Schlusselburg, 
 or in the fortress of the capital, he was per- 
 mitted to live at the house of Count Anhalt, 
 in which tapartments were assigned to him, 
 together with an , officer who acted as his 
 guard. Paul appears to have been moved by 
 the appearance of the unfortunate patriot, 
 who, pale and attenuated, and with his 
 head still wrapped in bandages, presented a 
 pitiable appearance. He treated him kindly, 
 and offered him an estate in Russia, with 
 a number of peasants upon it. This was 
 declined by Kosciusko, who accepted, in- 
 stead, a sufficient sura of money to carry 
 him to America, and make a provision there 
 for the remainder of his life. All the com- 
 panions of Kosciusko were likewise set at 
 liberty. These generous acts made a great 
 impression upon the people, who regarded 
 them as evidences of a noble nature, which 
 had previously been restrained from fol- 
 lowing out its natural bias. They were 
 deceived ; Paul was magnanimous for the 
 moment, either from caprice, or a desire to 
 act in all things contrary to the will of his 
 illustrious predecessor. 
 
 For the first few days of his reign, Paul 
 almost hourly announced some beneficial 
 change, decreed some just punishment, or 
 awarded some merited favour. The guards, 
 who for several reigns had been the acting 
 power in every revolution, and had bestowed 
 the sceptre on those whom they pleased to 
 338 
 
 favour, he resolved to place under strono 
 restraint. They had been the military 
 despots of the court ; and it was through 
 their influence that Peter III. was hurled 
 from the throne. In fact, they had long 
 held a position in the capital which kept 
 the sovereign in a state of comparative fear 
 Paul was well aware of the power they pos- 
 sessed, and of the difficulty of openly dis- 
 banding them. He therefore incorporated 
 into the different regiments of guards the 
 battalions that had served under him at 
 Gatshina, promoting the officers two or 
 three steps, and dispersing them so freely 
 through the corps of St. Petersburg, as, by 
 the force of numbers, to absorb the in- 
 fluence of the old companies. By this 
 means the guards were unable to combine 
 for the purpose of conspiracy ; and many of 
 their regiments were under the command of 
 men who owed their appointment to the 
 emperor. Another result followed. The 
 old officers of the guard — most of whom 
 were connected with the first families ol 
 the empire— were incensed at finding 
 juniors of plebeian extraction, who, in some 
 cases, had but a short time before served in 
 the ranks, suddenly promoted over their 
 heads. Irritated, also, by the novel and 
 harassing discipline to which they were 
 subjected, the wealthy threw up their com- 
 missions, and the remainder sullenly sub- 
 mitted to what thev could not resist. 
 
 The emperor was annoyed at the with- 
 drawal of several hundred officers into 
 private life ; and probably felt some alarm 
 at the extent of the disaffection. His 
 despotic character instantly showed itself. 
 He went in person to the barracks, and, 
 after making many encouraging promises to 
 those who remained at their posts, he ex- 
 pressed his determination to exclude from 
 all civil or military employment every officer 
 who had retired, or who should do so. Not 
 satisfied with this severity, he commanded 
 all officers or subalterns who had left the 
 guards, or might subsequently do so, to 
 quit St. Petersburg at once. In the execu- 
 tion of this tyrannical decree, many persons 
 were taken from their beds, and at once 
 expelled from the city ; some nearly desti- 
 tute of clothing, and all of them without 
 any provision for the future. Several of 
 these unfortunate men perished from expo- 
 sure to cold and want. 
 
 Paul speedily cast away the little popu- 
 larity which he had gained by the early acts 
 of his reign. He had no talent for deccp- 
 
 1/ 
 
 tion, and apparently but little desire to 
 practise it. He soon trampled beneath his 
 feet the mask of generosity and a mild rule 
 which, at his accession, he seemed disposed 
 to wear. Irritable, peevish, and arrogant, 
 he was restless and miserable himself, and 
 therefore resolved that all around him 
 should be so likewise. He has been fre- 
 quently pronounced insane ; and though we 
 do not rest absolutely in that conclusion 
 (for he appears to have understood the 
 nature of his conduct sufficiently for him 
 to be held accountable for it), yet it is 
 difficult to consider him as the possessor 
 of a brain untouched by disease. Masson* 
 thus attempts to depict, or rather illustrate, 
 his character : — " The sovereign whom Paul 
 appears to have chosen for his model is 
 Frederic William, father of the great king 
 of Prussia. The same austerity of manners, 
 and the sa'.ne passion for soldiers, are found 
 in the Russian autocrat. For the rest, I 
 have drawn, I conceive, the character of 
 Paul in relating his actions ; if not, the 
 task, I confess, is above my powers. It is 
 well known, that nothing is so difficult to 
 paint as an infant, whose physiognomy is as 
 yet unsettled ; and it is the same with the 
 character of an eccentric man. The most 
 favourable plea we can make for him is, 
 that the light of the French revolution had 
 touched his brain and disordered his intel- 
 lect. It had already disturbed the much 
 stronger head of his mother. It is said, 
 that the people of Paris, crowding to see 
 Paul (then a youth), cried, *My God, how 
 ugly he is !' and that he had the good sense 
 to laugh at it. He has not improved since 
 he has grown old, bald, and wrinkled. The 
 empress appears, by his side, like one of those 
 beautiful women who are painted with a 
 little deformed blackamoor near them, as a 
 contrast to their dignity and grace. The 
 singularity which he affects in his dress, 
 and the severity of his manners, add greatly 
 to his deformity. Without excepting even 
 the Calmucks and the Kirghises, Paul is 
 the ugliest man in his extensive dominions; 
 and he himself considers his countenance as 
 so shocking, that he dares not impress it 
 upon his coin. 
 
 " I shall here subjoin some traits, which 
 will serve to describe Paul by his own 
 actions; and will prove, that when grand- 
 
 • Memoires Secretes, &c. It will be observed, 
 that tills sketch was penned durino^ the life of the 
 emperor, and by one who had ample opportunities 
 of observing him. 
 
 duke, he announced what we have seen of 
 him since his accession. 
 
 " Near his castle of Pavlofski he had a 
 terrace, from which he could see all the 
 sentinels, whom he delighted to station 
 about him wherever there was room for a 
 sentry-box. On this covered terrace he 
 spent a part of each day, and observed, with 
 a spy-glass, all that was passing about him. 
 Often he sent a servant to a sentinel, to 
 order him to button or unbutton a little 
 more of his coat, to keep his musket higher 
 or lower, to walk at a greater or less dis- 
 tance from his sentry-box. Sometimes he 
 would go himself nearly half a mile to give 
 these important orders, and would cane the 
 soldier, or put a rouble into his pocket, ac- 
 cording as he was angry or pleased with him. 
 " Pavlofski was an open village ; yet 
 guards were appointed, who wrote down the 
 names of all who entered or went out of it ; 
 and who were obliged to tell whence they 
 came, whither they were going, or what 
 they wanted. Every evening each house 
 was visited, to learn if there were any 
 strangers there. Every man who wore a 
 round hat, or had a dog with him, was 
 arrested. The village, which had been 
 much frequented because of its beautiful 
 situation, soon became . a desert ; many 
 persons turned out of their way to avoid it : 
 and when Paul was perceived at a distance, 
 he was carefully shunned. These circum- 
 stances increased his displeasure and suspi- 
 cions, and he often caused the persons who 
 thus sought to avoid him to be pursued and 
 questioned. 
 
 " One day he put all the officers of his 
 battalion under arrest, because they had 
 saluted him awkwardly in filing off after 
 their drill; and he ordered them to be 
 called out, for eight days successively, to 
 file off and salute before him, sending them 
 regularly back to the guard-house till they 
 were able to perform according to his fancy. 
 " As he was one day exercising his regi- 
 ment of cuirassiers, the horse of an officer 
 threw him. Paul ran furiously towards 
 him, crying, ' Get up, rascal ! ' ' Your high- 
 ness, I cannot, I have broken my leg.' 
 Paul spat upon him, and retired swearing. 
 
 " Passing, at another time, unexpectedly 
 and secretly by one of his guard-houses, 
 the officer, not knowing him, did not 
 order out his men ; upon which he in- 
 stantly turned back, boxed the ears of the 
 officer, and ordered him to be disarmed and 
 put under arrest. 
 
 339 
 
 
PROHIBITTOX OF ROUND HATS.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1796. 
 
 ft 
 
 One day, travelling from Tzarsko-selo 
 to Gatshina, the road to which was in the 
 middle of a marshy forest, he suddenly 
 recollected something, and ordered the 
 coachman to return. * Presently, your 
 highness,' said the coachman ; ' the road is 
 here too narrow.' * How, rascal !' cried 
 Paul, ' won't you turn immediately ?' The 
 coachman, instead of answering, hastened 
 to a spot where it was possible to comply. 
 Paul, liowever, called to his equerry, and 
 ordered him to arrest and punish the rebel- 
 lious coachman. The equerry assured him 
 that he would turn in a moment. Paul 
 Hew into a passion with the equerry also. 
 
 * You are a pitiful scoundrel like himself,' 
 said he. 'Let him overturn the carriage; 
 ^.et him break my neck; but let him obey 
 me, and turn tl«e instant I command him.' 
 During this dispute the coachman suc- 
 ceeded in turning; but Paul had him chas- 
 tised on the spot. 
 
 " Since his accession, one of his horses 
 stumbled with him in one of the streets of 
 St. Petersburg. He alighted immediately, 
 held a sort of council with his attendants, 
 and the horse w^as condemned to receive 
 fifty lashes with a whip. Paul caused them 
 to be given on the spot, before the populace, 
 and himself counted the strokes, saying, 
 
 * There, sir, that is for having stumbled 
 w ith the emperor.' " 
 
 The new czar had, immediately upon his 
 accession, behaved with kindness to Plato 
 Zuboff, and confirmed him in the various 
 offices he held. Shortly afterwards Paul 
 sealed up his papers, and dismissed him from 
 the court with contemptuous abruptness. 
 The corrupt conduct of the favourite de- 
 served punishment; but the emperor, by 
 his previous cordiality, had expressed an 
 implied forgiveness of all that was past. 
 For some time the springs of the Russian 
 government had been chiefly in the hands 
 of Zuboflf, who perverted them for the pur- 
 poses of self-interest. He promoted the 
 war in Persia, with the double object of en- 
 riching himself by plundering the army, 
 and conferring a lucrative command upon 
 his brother. All offices of state he con- 
 ferred upon his parasites, his favourites, or 
 his family. His father he elevated to the 
 office of a judge ; and had the shameless 
 audacity to turn the appointment to account 
 by buying up all the old causes in the court, 
 and then obtaining decisions in his own 
 favour. In addition to this, he had exer- 
 cised the most arrogant tyranny over the 
 310 
 
 ' oldest generals and counsellors of the em- 
 pire. Such a man deserved degradation 
 and punishment ; but PauPs conduct had, 
 in fact, exonerated him. The dread of 
 being charged with inconsistency, never 
 curbed the acts or eccentricities of the em- 
 peror. ZubofF's secretaries were banished, 
 the officers of his suite dispersed in dififerent 
 corps throughout the empire, and he liim- 
 self commanded to quit Russia. This 
 severity towards the favourite was not 
 attributed to any desire on the part of the 
 emperor to punish corruption, but to the 
 implacable resentment with which he re- 
 garded every person who had been attached 
 to his mother. Several other cases are 
 recorded in which Paul flattered and 
 caressed, on the first day of his reign, those 
 w hom, within a few weeks afterwards, he de- 
 graded or punished. 
 
 That, however, of the early acts of Paul's 
 reign which most attracted attention, was 
 the minute details of police and military 
 discipline which he commanded to be ob- 
 served, and devoted the greatest portion 
 of his time to seeing carried out, even to 
 the smallest particulars. With an unac- 
 countable singularity, he prohibited the 
 wearing of round hats in the streets of St. 
 Petersburg, and directed the soldiers and 
 the police to take them away from those 
 who appeareil in them, and to tear them in 
 pieces in case of resistance being offered. 
 Many tumultuous scenes followed this petty 
 and irritating edict, especially before it was 
 generally known. An English merchant 
 travelling in a sledge was stopped, and his 
 hat snatched off" by a soldier. Imagining 
 himself to be assailed by a robber, he leapt 
 from his sledge, knocked the man down, 
 and called the guard. They soon arrived 
 on the spot — not to assist, but to overpower 
 and bind him. As the merchant was being 
 carried off* to answer before the police for 
 his assumed offence, he was fortunate 
 enough to meet the carriage of the English 
 minister; and he instantly claimed the 
 protection of that gentleman. Sir Charles 
 Whitworth complained to the emperor, and 
 remonstrated in a very spirited manner. In 
 consequence of this the merchant was set 
 at liberty ; and Paul modified his mandate, 
 by publishing that strangers who were not 
 in the emperor's service^ or naturalised, 
 were exempt from the prohibition. Persons 
 who wore round hats were no longer sub- 
 jected to the indignity of having them torn 
 from their heads but thev were taken be- 
 
 A.D. 1796.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [irritating regulations. 
 
 fore the police, that their country might be 
 ascertained. If found to be Russians, they 
 were compelled to enter the ranks as soldiers; 
 and if Frenchmen, they were expelled from 
 the empire as Jacobins. This might lead 
 to the supposition that round hats were 
 regarded as the badge of some political 
 society, or as expressive of some off*ensive 
 sentiment on the part of the wearer. Such 
 was not the case. The prohibition arose 
 solely from the fact, that Paul had for some 
 years entertained a peculiar aversion to 
 round hats, in the same way that certain 
 individuals entertain unaccountable anti- 
 pathies to some common or harmless object. 
 This would have been a sufficient reason 
 for his setting another fashion in the matter 
 of hats, or prohibiting any one from ap- 
 pearing before him in one of the objection- 
 able shape. But it in no way excused the 
 peevish and petty tyranny — trivial as the 
 whim of some ill-tempered school-boy — to 
 which he gave way. There are few who 
 will not sympathise with another English- 
 man in St. Petersburg; who, on his hat 
 being taken from him by an officer of the 
 police, folded his arms, and, surveying the 
 official with a look of compassion, exclaimed, 
 " Ah, friend ! how I pity thee for being a 
 Russian !" So earnest was Paul in this 
 absurd matter, that he commanded the 
 charge d'affaires of the king of Sardinia 
 to quit St. Petersburg within twenty-four 
 hours, because he had ventured to indulge 
 in some raillery about the proscription of 
 round hats, and to say that such trifles had 
 often been on the point of occasioning 
 seditions in Italy. 
 
 Another of Paul's petty, silly, and vexa- 
 tious regulations, was that ^vhich prohibited 
 the harnessing of horses after the Russian 
 mode, and commanded the German fashion 
 to be adopted instead. With strange pe- 
 remptoriuess, only a fortnight was allowed 
 for those who kept carriages or other 
 vehicles, to provide themselves with the new 
 harness that was requisite to enable them 
 to comply with the imperial ipandate. The 
 police were ordered, on the expiration of 
 that time, to cut the traces of every carriage 
 they happened to find harnessed in the old 
 fashion. As may be presumed, the harness- 
 makers availed themselves of the occasion 
 to charge enormous prices for their labour 
 and their commodities. But the new regu- 
 lations extended from the harness to the 
 coachman, who were commanded to adopt 
 the German style of dress, which was 
 
 neither more convenient nor more elegant. 
 Indeed, those of the ishvoshlohki, or coach- 
 men, who could be induced to part with 
 their beards* and their kaftans, and tie a 
 false tail to their hair, cut an extremely 
 ridiculous figure. The majority, however, 
 of these poor people obstinately adhered 
 to their old costume. That commanded to 
 be worn was assailed with ridicule; and 
 Paul was at length compelled to soften his 
 mandate into a request, that the people, if 
 they desired to merit his favour, would dress 
 in the German fashion. 
 
 In the more barbarous times of the em- 
 pire, a slavish custom prevailed, according 
 to which, every person, whether noble or 
 serf, male or female, used, on the appear- 
 ance of the czar, to alight from their coach 
 or horse, and prostrate themselves in the 
 snow or the mud before him. This base 
 custom was abolished by Peter the Great, 
 in whom it excited so much manly indig- 
 nation, that he ordered every person to be 
 caned who practised it, and not unfre- 
 quently administered the punishment him- 
 self. Paul, who had not the sense to see 
 that such a humiliating and semi-idolatrous 
 salutation, on the part of the ruled towards 
 the ruler, was a dead, rotten vestige of the 
 past, which could not be permanently re- 
 vived, resolved to re-establish it in all its 
 rigour. It is a strange reflection, that this 
 miserable despot, deficient both in the in- 
 tellect and fair personal proportions usually 
 falling to the lot of the human race — seem- 
 ^^Sy by his dwarfish and disgusting appear- 
 ance, and his malignant tricks, to bear a 
 closer affinity to the monkey than the man, 
 should yet be so strangely anxious to com- 
 pel God's creatures to bow perpetually into 
 the dust before him. Perhaps this morbid 
 desire, that men should observe towards 
 him the most humiliating external forms of 
 reverence, arose from a strong conscious- 
 ness of his own natural meanness and in- 
 ability to command the respect of his fellow- 
 men. The etiquette observed within the 
 palace was rendered more servile than it 
 had ever been before. Those who were 
 permitted or required to kiss his hand were 
 compelled to make the floor resound with the 
 stroke of their knee as they knelt, and to let 
 the sound of the kiss be plainly heard as au 
 evidence of its genuineness. Foreigners, on 
 visiting any of the palaces or imperial gar- 
 dens during the absence of the emperor, 
 were compelled to remain uncovered the 
 same as if he was present. Paul thus arro- 
 
 341 
 
 1 *'. 
 
 1 ■ 
 
 '•Nl- 
 
Paul's military meddling.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 179(5. 
 
 A.D. 1796.] 
 
 gated, even to his residences, the ceremonials 
 that are commonly observed only in the 
 temples of religion. Any neglect of these 
 trivial and offensive regulations was punished 
 as if it had been a serious crime. A general 
 officer, who passed on without his coach- 
 man's observing the emperor riding by on 
 horseback, was immediately stopped and 
 arrested. Prince Galitzin was also put 
 under arrest by Paul himself, on account 
 of his having kissed the hand of the impe- 
 rial idiot in too negligent a manner. 
 
 Another of these early and contemptible 
 regulations of Paul, was a command to all 
 tradesmen to obliterate from the front of 
 their shops the French word magasirij and 
 substitute the Russian word lavka, or shop. 
 The reason assigned for this frivolity was, 
 that only the emperor could have maga- 
 zines, and that it was the duty of tradesmen 
 not to make use of lofty terms, but to make 
 known their occupations in the plainest 
 language. The real cause of this alteration 
 was PauFs dread of French revolutionary 
 principles, and his consequent aversion to 
 everything derived from France. This 
 feeling caused him to descend so far into 
 absurdity, as to issue one ukase forbidding 
 the academy from employing the word revo- 
 lution when speaking of the course of the 
 stars ; and another, commanding the actors 
 to use the word pe7^mission, instead of liberty, 
 in the bills of the theatres. Many other 
 new regulations were made, many of which 
 contradicted or frustrated one another : 
 thus, what was ordained one dav, was often 
 obliged to be modified or annulled the next. 
 
 These changes, with respect to civil aflfairs, 
 were outdone by those which Paul intro- 
 duced into the army. He had almost a 
 mania for military meddling, and the as- 
 sumption of the duties of the corporal and 
 the army-tailor. It is generally admitted 
 that many reforms were required in this 
 direction ; but, assuredly, Paul was not the 
 man to effect them. He was altogether 
 devoid of military talents, and merely loved 
 to play with soldiers, and dress and drill 
 them as children do dolls. The changes 
 Paul effected were not improvements, and 
 in uo way promoted the efficiency of the 
 troops. The dress of the Russian soldier 
 was simple, convenient, and adapted to the 
 severity of the climate. It consisted of two 
 garments only; a red and green jacket, 
 which was fastened by a girdle within the 
 folds of the loose chavari, or red pantaloons, 
 terminating in boots which were not onlv 
 342 
 
 put on with tease, but, from their size, ad, 
 mitted of such additions underneath as pro- 
 tected the wearer from the inclemency of 
 the atmosphere. Yet it was with the dress 
 of the soldiers that Paul most delighted to 
 interfere. He compelled them to adopt the 
 military costume of Prussia, which was not 
 only detested by the men as graceless and 
 anti-national, but regarded as unsuited for 
 them. The costume we have briefly de- 
 scribed was thrown aside, and the whimsical, 
 lacquey-like dress of the Prussian troops 
 given to the soldiers instead. The men had 
 to spend an hour every morning in plaster- 
 ing down their hair with powder and poma- 
 tum, or rather with grease and flour, which 
 Paul ordered to be used instead as more 
 economical; and in buttoning their tight 
 black spatterdashes. The annoyance of the 
 men amounted to irritation, the more so as 
 these alterations were discountenanced by 
 the most distinguished of their generals. 
 When the brave and eccentric Suwarrow 
 received orders to establish these novelties, 
 toj^ether with little sticks as models for the 
 soldiers' pigtails and side-curls, he expressed 
 his contemptuous feelings in some doggerel 
 lines, which are not destitute of wit. " Hair- 
 powder," said the blunt soldier, "is not 
 gunpowder ; curls are not cannon ; and tails 
 are not bayonets." The sarcasm was re- 
 peated through the whole army, and reached 
 the ears of Paul, who was so incensed that 
 he dismissed Suwarrow from his command, 
 and exiled him to his estates, where the 
 eccentric veteran chiefly occupied himself in 
 practising bell-ringing, hopping a long dis- 
 tance upon one leg, and similar odd pas- 
 times, until the exigencies of the empire 
 compelled Paul to restore to him his mili- 
 tarv honours. 
 
 The emperor commenced his new regula- 
 tions from the very morning that he first 
 grasped the imperial sceptre. The palace 
 and its courtyards were at once thrown 
 into the utmost confusion. It is said they 
 had the appearance of having been taken by 
 assault by foreign troops, as the men who 
 mounted guard there, differed so much, in 
 dress and st\ le, from those who had done so 
 the day before. Every morning the new 
 emperor, before he would attend to any 
 other business, devoted three or four hours 
 to manoeuvring his soldiers, and teaching 
 them to mount guard after a fashion of his 
 own, which, according to military authority, 
 was as original as it was singular. His 
 xvacht-parade (guard-parade) he regarded as 
 
 a most important institution, and the central 
 point of his military system. This he had 
 tried, with what he believed to be success, 
 when he was grand-duke, when he had no 
 authority to consult but his own will, and 
 no opinion to regard beyond the limited 
 circle of his own staff. He believed that it 
 would apply, with equal certainty in its 
 results, to the imperial army ; and that idea 
 so engrossed his attention, that he almost 
 abandoned all other objects in order to 
 dedicate himself assiduously to this strange 
 and fruitless design. So intent was he 
 upon the morning exercise, that he would 
 not permit any one to approach upon other 
 business, of whatever importance, while he 
 was thus engaged. In order to take away 
 all excuse for disturbing him at this time, 
 he established a sort of ofllce on the stairs 
 of the palace, in which all letters were de- 
 posited ; Paul promising to read them in due 
 time, and furnish the necessary answers. 
 Every morning, no matter how intense the 
 cold might be, he was to be seen in the 
 courtyard of the palace. There, in a plain 
 dark-green uniform, jack-boots, and a large 
 hat, he exercised his guards, gave his orders, 
 received reports, published his favours, re- 
 wards, and punishments; and there every 
 officer had to be presented to him, as he 
 stood, surrounded by his sons and aides-de- 
 camp, stamping his heels on the pavement 
 to keep himself warm, his bald head bare, 
 his nose cocked up, one hand behind his 
 back, and with the other raising and sink- 
 ing his cane in due time, and crying " Raz, 
 dva; raz dva" (one, two; one, two.) He 
 prided himself in braving a cold of fifteen or 
 twenty degrees of Reaumur without furs. 
 After this, none of the officers dared any 
 longer appear in pelisses; and the old 
 generals, tormented with coughs, gout, and 
 rheumatism, were obliged to form a circle 
 round Paul, dressed like himself. 
 
 Though an advocate of the most servile, 
 passive obedience, and regarding himself as 
 the chief emblem in Europe of the autocratic 
 principle, Paul delighted in constant and 
 rapid changes in every department of the 
 state. So frivolous were his motives in 
 many instances, that it has been observed, 
 for anything to have subsisted under the 
 reign of his mother, was a sufficient reason 
 why it should cease to exist under him. 
 The changes which he commanded to be 
 observed in the civil departments of the 
 
 This Plate of things was materially strengthened 
 by the absolute Paul during his brief reign, and 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [changes in the executive. 
 
 state, were even more capricious and unrea- 
 sonable than those he had accomplished in 
 social and military circles. The emperor 
 was, in fact, influenced by a rage for altera- 
 tion, which extended itself over every branch 
 of the public service. All the provincial 
 tribunals of the empire were remodelled, 
 and their seats changed. These sudden 
 movements produced great confusion and 
 misery, for upwards of 20,000 persons, hold- 
 mg responsible appointments, were thrown 
 out of employment. 
 
 The population of Russia had been divided 
 into two classes — the nobles and the pea- 
 santry. The middle class was so incon- 
 siderable, that it can scarcely be said to have 
 existed. The reader will have seen that 
 rank in that empire was rather a personal 
 than an hereditary affair. The will of the 
 sovereign could raise persons of.the lowest 
 origin to the dignity of nobility, as Peter 
 the Great converted a peasant girl into an 
 empress, and an itinerant pie-boy into a 
 prince; and as Catherine II. had raised ob- 
 scure ofiicers to the highest rank which a 
 subject, not of the imperial blood, could 
 attain to. The path to nobility lay through 
 a variety of channels. It was sometimes 
 attained through military talents or civil 
 service, but more frequently by corruption 
 and favouritism. Paul abolished the former 
 dignities, probably with a view to conciliate 
 the old nobility. The result, however, was 
 the creation of a middle order of society, 
 possessed of wealth and the advantages of 
 education. These were repulsed from the 
 exclusive circle of the aristocracy, and thrown 
 back upon the community below them. It 
 has been well observed, that "if ever a 
 revolution of a popular character were to 
 take place in Russia, it would spring from 
 the sympathies which were by this means 
 generated between the middle class and the 
 serfs ; the former, in a spirit of retaliation, 
 endeavouring to elevate the latter, and botli 
 combining against the nobility. But the 
 overawing power of the throne, embodied in 
 the absolute authority of the emperor, who 
 may at any moment revoke or reconstruct, 
 give or take away the rights of his subjects, 
 renders the prospect of such a struggle ex- 
 tremely doubtful. Russia is, in fact, gov- 
 erned by ukases; and all orders in the 
 country, as well as all its laws and institutes, 
 exist solely by the breath of the supreme 
 and irresponsible monarch.* The whole 
 
 was rigidly maintained by his sons Alexander and 
 Nicholas. There was more freedom in Russia under 
 
 343 
 
,..; 't 
 
 CENSORSHIP OF THE PRESS.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1796. 
 
 empire, throughout its most minute ramifi- 
 cations, may be regarded as the most perfect 
 example of arbitrary government that has 
 ever subsisted in the work). So compre- 
 hensive and searching has been its despotism, 
 that even if political freedom were granted 
 to the people, they would be incapable of 
 turning it to advantage. They have been 
 kept in such a state of vassalage that they 
 are literally ignorant of the full meaning of 
 liberty. They understand it to mean nothing 
 more than exemption from labour, and per- 
 mission to leave the glebe to which they are 
 confined, and wander vagrantly, like loosened 
 cattle, into other pastures. Domestic ser- 
 vitude has become second nature to them, 
 and their notions of a happier mode of exist- 
 ence do not extend beyond a release from 
 immediate oppression." 
 
 An instrument so dangerous to despotic 
 governments as the press, was not likely to 
 escape the restrictive and rigorous hand of 
 Paul. He established a censorship of so 
 inquisitorial and severe a kind, that it 
 amounted almost to a prohibition of the 
 printing-press. Only three were allowed to 
 be used, and they were to be confined to 
 printing the numerous ukases of the em- 
 peror, books for the church, and such works 
 as should be approved of by the government 
 and the chief ecclesiastical dignitaries. The 
 importation of foreign catalogues was for- 
 bidden, that the people might not be made 
 acquainted with the progress of literature 
 and philosophy in other countries. Even 
 the insipid and emasculate volumes that 
 were permitted to be published, were obliged 
 to have stamped on their title-page the fact 
 that they had passed the censorship, and 
 obtained the imperial permission to be cir- 
 culated. Any person, also, who received a 
 book or newspaper of any kind from abroad, 
 was compelled to carry it immediately to the 
 committee appointed to control the press. 
 In almost any other country in Europe, such 
 a tyrannous edict would have produced a 
 revolution : but books are not even yet a 
 national want in Russia; even the higher 
 classes are not much given to literature, and 
 the intellect of the people is slow and slug- 
 gish — indeed, almost latent, as far as thought- 
 fulness and intellectual culture is concerned. 
 
 the sway of Catherine II. than there has ever been 
 since. Under that enlightened ruler, the Russian 
 empire bid fair to reach a degree of civilisation and 
 popular culture which it is now vain to expect, un- 
 less another sovereign of her intellectual calibre and 
 liberal sentiments succeeds to the sceptre of the 
 344 
 
 Thus the severity of Paul's despotic mea- 
 sures with reg&rd to the press, was not so 
 severely felt as it is natural for Englishmen 
 to suppose. The suffering and feeble negro 
 does not feel, as a heavy burden, the chain 
 to which long use has accustomed him. 
 The Russian peasant who could not read, 
 and the Russian gentleman who seldom 
 cared to do so, did not feel very bitterly an 
 oppression which would be so intolerable to 
 Englishmen, that, amongst them, it could 
 not be maintained a day. 
 
 The new emperor extended his oppressive 
 regulations from books to education. He 
 forbade all his subjects to send their children 
 into Germany to be educated, assigning as 
 a reason, that dangerous principles were 
 inculcated in that country. All Russians 
 studying at foreign universities were com- 
 manded to return home, on penalty of con- 
 fiscation. At the same time, the appointment 
 of all foreigners to judicial or ecclesias- 
 tical positions in Russia, was declared null 
 and void. 
 
 But perhaps the most inquisitorial and 
 off*ensive of all these despotic whims, was a 
 command that all strangers in Russia should 
 regularly attend at their respective places of 
 worship, and rigidly perform all the rites 
 of their religion. Roman catholics were 
 required to attend the confessional, to take 
 the sacrament of penance, and to pre- 
 pare themselves for receiving the host at 
 Easter. Any neglect in these matters 
 rendered them liable to be punished as 
 rebels ; yet, at the same time, the priests 
 were ordered only to give absolution to 
 such as should merit it — a regulation which 
 made the good-will of the priest necessary 
 for the safety of the individual. The catholic 
 church, which had been almost deserted, 
 was now crowded. The priests belonging 
 to it — French, Germans, Italians, and Poles 
 — took their seats in the confessionals, 
 box was placed before every confessional, 
 and into it the presumed penitent was com- 
 pelled to drop a card, containing his name, 
 occupation, and address. Every evening 
 these cards were taken to the emperor, who 
 forgot the dignity of his exalted station in 
 performing the petty and obnoxious duties 
 of an agent of police. Every person, after 
 
 north. In reflecting upon Russia as it was under 
 the reign of Paul, and comparing it with the empire 
 as ruled by Catherine, we seem to have relapsed into 
 the barbaric past, rather than have gone forward into 
 the future. Catherine was an absolute monarch 
 her successors have been despots. 
 
 A.D. 1796.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [financial difficulties. 
 
 confession, received a card of absolution, 
 which admitted him to the communion- 
 table, and exempted him from further per- 
 secution. The priests soon carried on a 
 profitable trade in these cards, which they 
 readily sold to those who desired the pro- 
 tection conferred by them, yet objected to 
 attending the confessional. With an osten- 
 tatious parade of charitable consideration, 
 the sick were informed that they might 
 require the confessor to attend them at 
 home; and the poor, that the host should 
 be carried to them gratis. It can scarcely 
 excite surprise, that after such despotic and 
 eccentric regulations as these, Paul should 
 prohibit the wearing of pantaloons and la- 
 pelled waistcoats. These articles of raiment 
 were placed in the same category with round 
 hats, and equally excited the irritability of 
 the moon-struck emperor. To such an ex- 
 tent did he carry his petty persecutions, 
 that hotel-keepers and those who let lodg- 
 ings were imperatively required to inform 
 against every person entering their houses 
 who wore the condemned pantaloons, hats, 
 and waistcoats, or who did not attend 
 church. 
 
 The long wars in which Russia was en- 
 gaged during the reign of Catherine, to- 
 gether with the great improvements she 
 effected, and her personal extravagance, had, 
 notwithstanding the great increase of the 
 revenue, produced certain pecuniary diffi- 
 culties which exerted a very injurious in- 
 fluence on the circulation. To meet the 
 heavy demands upon her, required greater 
 means than could be safely obtained by 
 taxation, in the existing state of the em- 
 pire. Catherine, therefore, adopted the ex- 
 pedient of introducing paper money into 
 circulation, and the Russian assignat came 
 into existence. In Russia a singular cause 
 operated in producing a diminution in the 
 circulation of the precious metals. The 
 serfs are not the legal possessors of their 
 own persons, much less of any property 
 they may be fortunate enough to accumu- 
 late. If they were known to possess pro- 
 perty, they would in most cases soon 
 be deprived of it by the cupidity of their 
 lords,* or the unblushing extortion of some 
 
 • The proprietor of the soil seldom hesitates to 
 seize, by some fraudulent pretext, the savings of the 
 peasant, when he discovers them. The following 
 painful example of this kind of oppression is related 
 in Clarke's Travels in Russia :—'' A peasant, in the 
 village of Selo Molodi, near Moscow, who had been 
 fortunate enough to scrape together a little wealth, 
 w»hed to marry his daughter to a tradesman of the 
 VOL. I. 2 Y ' 
 
 government official. The peasant, there- 
 fore, who had saved a little money, com- 
 monly buried it in some secret place, 
 frequently concealing the circumstance even 
 from his wife or children, lest thev might 
 betray or plunder him. Thus, wheii a serf 
 was drawn for a soldier, sold by his master, 
 or removed to some other localitv, it fre- 
 quently happened that the buried* treasure 
 was never heard of again. Even in Moscow 
 and the large towns of the empire, the same 
 custom was observed ; and in this manner 
 large sums were constantly withdrawn from 
 the circulation. Gold was also sent out of 
 Russia, in large quantities, during this reign, 
 for the purpose of purchasing the services 
 of spies in other countries, and to prosecute 
 secret designs for objects of ulterior aggran- 
 disement. Thus, in Poland, immense sums 
 were lavished on the traitors who facilitated 
 the slavery of their native land ; in Moldavia, 
 to win over the nobihty; in Constanti- 
 nople, to keep up a system of espionage ; 
 and in the Archipelago and other places, to 
 promote an insurrection among the Greeks, 
 and the subjects of the sultan in the Adriatic 
 gulf. 
 
 When Catherine had recourse to assignats, 
 she promised that she would not permit the 
 issue of these notes to exceed in value the 
 sum of 100,000,000 roubles, for which a 
 bank, established for that purpose, was 
 rendered responsible. For some time the 
 empress kept her word, and the issue of 
 assignats was in due proportion to the 
 amount of specie in reserve. The con- 
 venience of the new paper money, and the 
 confidence reposed in the empress, ren- 
 dered it so popular, that the course of 
 exchange rose, in time, to between two and 
 five per cent, in its favour. Catherine, 
 ignorant of the science of finance, supposed 
 that this favourable state of affairs might 
 be maintained, though the quantity of 
 assignats in circulation was materially in- 
 creased. Yielding to the temptation, she 
 therefore violated the promise she had 
 given, and issued assignats to the amount of 
 600,000,000 roubles, instead of 100,000,000, 
 to which she had promised to limit herself. 
 The result was, that the assignats fell 
 
 city ; and for that purpose, that she should be free, 
 he offered 15,000 roubles for her liberty; a most 
 unusual price of freedom, and a much greater sura 
 than persons of his class will be found to possess. 
 The tyrant took the ransom, and then told the father 
 that both the girl and the money belonged to him ; 
 and, therefore, she must still continue among the 
 number of his slaves." 
 
 345 
 
Paul's financial experiments.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1796. 
 
 gradually in value, were at last altogether 
 rejected, and a calamitous panic ensued in 
 commercial circles. Not understandins 
 the cause of this, the empress continued to 
 multiply the quantity of assignats, and thus 
 increased the evil. She even issued a new 
 kind of paper money, called cabinet notes, 
 which partook something of the nature of 
 exchequer bills, and were put into circula- 
 tion for the purpose of discharginjj her own 
 private debts. They were payable at the 
 end of a year, and bore interest at the rate 
 of six per cent. ; but, in the event of the 
 interest not being claimed immediately 
 after the expiration of the year, it was 
 refused to be paid, nor would the treasury 
 reimburse the holders of the notes until they 
 had exacted a bonus from them. The con- 
 sequence of this was the ruin of thousands. 
 Tradesmen, into whose hands these notes 
 happened to fall, or who were obliged to 
 accept them in cases of necessity, were glad 
 to negotiate them at a loss of forty per 
 cent. ; and at last it became impossible to 
 negotiate them upon any terms. The re- 
 sult of this breach of good faith was the 
 withdrawal of public confidence from the 
 empress, and the rapid disappearance of gold 
 and silver from circulation. 
 
 Still in ignorance of the cause of these 
 disasters, the empress persevered in a course 
 of error, by causing the coin of the empire 
 to be progressively adulterated, with the 
 object of diffusing a smaller intrinsic value 
 over a larger space. The inevitable result 
 followed ; credit fell rapidly, and the rouble 
 in specie sank below its intrinsic value ac- 
 cording to the rate of exchange in London 
 and Amsterdam. Many persons speculated 
 upon this disastrous state of things, by buy- 
 ing up the roubles, and reselling them in 
 Prussia and Austria, where they were melted 
 down, and reissued at a considerable advan- 
 tage. Gold and silver at length disappeared 
 from circulation, and nothing was left of the 
 metallic currency, except copper. Even 
 this was sent out of the country in large 
 quantities, in consequence of the dishonesty 
 of the ministers, who farmed out the mines 
 'to their favourites, and participated in the 
 "profits arising from a corrupt system, by 
 which the state was defrauded. By the 
 commencement of the year 1796, the bank, 
 unable to change the assignats, was on the 
 point of bankruptcy ; a calamity which the 
 
 • The absurdity and injustice of this order will 
 be better understood if the reader will bear in 
 mind that the value of the silver rouble is about 
 316 
 
 mpress endeavoured to avert by giving 
 orders for an adulteration of the coin to 
 such an extent, as to recast them at double 
 their former value ; thus, the silver pieces 
 of ten kopecks were to pass for twenty, 
 and those of twenty for thirty. The death 
 of the empress prevented the issue of this 
 fraudulent coin, and the financial difficulties 
 of the state were left to be adjusted by her 
 successor. 
 
 Paul, on his accession, immediately sus- 
 pended the fabrication of this base coin, 
 and did not permit the quantity that had 
 been prepared to find its way into circula- 
 tion. With more wisdom than might have 
 been expected from him, he strove to restore 
 credit to the assignats ; and began by 
 diminishing their quantity. His earnestness 
 in the business, and the punishments he 
 threatened to inflict on any person in 
 authority who should be detected in cor- 
 rupt conduct with respect to the finances, 
 produced a feeling of confidence, and 
 brought about some beneficial results. The 
 assignats rose in value from ten to fifteen 
 per cent. Paul, however, soon showed that 
 he understood no more of the doctrines of 
 finance and currency than Catherine did. 
 Influenced alike by ignorance and despot- 
 ism, he issued an order, that the paper 
 rouble should pass at the same value as the 
 silver rouble.* He even emploj^ed his son, 
 the Grand-duke Constantine, to perform 
 the dishonourable task of visiting in dis- 
 guise the shops of tradesmen, for the pur- 
 pose of entrapping them into a violation ot 
 the imperial order. Every one thus con- 
 victed of jobbing in money was severely 
 punished. 
 
 Of course, this arbitrary and ridiculous 
 expedient soon made matters worse than it 
 found them ; for the natural tendency of 
 such regulations is towards the entire ex- 
 tinction of commerce, or the reduction of it 
 to the primitive and inconvenient form of 
 barter. Paul then announced that he in- 
 tended to raise the assignat in estimation, 
 by publicly burning a number to the value 
 of 6,000,000 roubles. This ceremony was 
 accordingly performed with great gravity, 
 in the presence of the emperor, to whom 
 the ashes of the notes were solemnly pre- 
 sented. The assembled people raised shouts 
 of joy; but it was soon known that the 
 affair was a paltry and dishonest trick, from 
 
 four francs in French, or 35. 4d. in English money 
 while the proper rouble is worth only about oii 
 franc, or tenpence. 
 
 il 
 
 A.D. 1796.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [financial experiments. 
 
 which no good could result, as the assignats 
 which were destroyed did not form any part 
 of the quantity that had been sent into cir- 
 culation, but were a remnant of the stock 
 prepared by the empress Catherine, to be 
 used as her necessities might dictate. The 
 detection of this miserable subterferge ex- 
 posed Paul to the charges of insincerity, 
 and of trifling with the public disaster. 
 
 The next step of the imperial meddler 
 was to submit the matter to a committee of 
 finance; a thing which he ought to have 
 done at first. Thev were instructed to take 
 the subject into consideration, and then 
 make such proposals as appeared most likely 
 to efi'ect the object in view. After some 
 deliberation, the committee concluded that 
 the best plan would be to put an increased 
 amount of the precious metals into circu- 
 lation. This was indisputable; but the 
 question was, how could it be done ? Where 
 was the gold, silver, and copper to come 
 from ? The mines were so badly managed, as 
 to be comparatively unproductive. Another 
 injurious and oppressive expedient was 
 therefore resorted to. A heavy duty was 
 laid upon all merchandise, whether imported 
 or exported ; and this duty was required to 
 be paid in foreign money, which it was in- 
 tended to recoin into imperials and roubles, 
 and put into circulation in Russia. The 
 result of this regulation was to inflict 
 another serious check on commerce. To 
 pay the duty on his goods, the merchant 
 was compelled to purchase dollars and 
 ducats, which necessarily rose in price as 
 the demand for them increased; so much 
 so, that he was compelled to pay them to 
 the government at a loss of about one-third 
 upon what they had cost him. He there- 
 fore placed an exorbitant price upon his 
 goods, besides resorting to smuggling ; for 
 which the extent of the frontiers and the 
 dishonesty of the officers afforded great op- 
 portunities. Thus, the advantages gained 
 by the new duties were lost by this means ; 
 and while these foolish experiments were in 
 progress, the credit of the assignats went 
 down again to the same ruinous point at 
 which Paul found it on his accession. 
 
 The finance committee being as ignorant, 
 and, consequently, as unlucky as their master, 
 the emperor devised a new scheme of his 
 own. This was to collect all the precious 
 metals to which the government could lay 
 claim in any part of the empire. Catherine 
 loved to shower gifts upon all who served 
 her, and to shed a splendour over everything 
 
 connected with her government. In the 
 exercise of this temper, she had caused 
 magnificent hotels to be erected in all the 
 chief towns, for the residence of the heads 
 of the several departments of the local 
 government. She also presented each 
 governor with a costly service of plate, to 
 be used on festivals and other public oc- 
 casions. There were twenty-three govern- 
 ments possessing services of this kind, the 
 least valuable of which had cost no less 
 than 50,000 roubles. Paul calculated that 
 much relief would be afforded by their con- 
 version into money; and the governors 
 were commanded to deliver them up to the 
 mint. When this order was complied with, 
 it was found that the intrinsic value of the 
 plate was comparatively so small, that it 
 would be of no avail in remedying the 
 scarcity of money. Paul had forgotten to 
 make allowance for the heavy charges of the 
 goldsmiths in fashioning the plate, or for 
 the expense of conveying it to the several 
 provinces. Vexed at this disappointment, 
 the foolish and irritable monarch ordered 
 the plate to be broken up and formed into 
 helmets, cuirasses, and other pieces of 
 armour, to be used at his approaching 
 coronation. This was done, and the silver 
 armour then given to the goldsmiths, as 
 payment for their labour in making it. 
 Such were the financial operations of the 
 emperor Paul ! 
 
 Notwithstanding the embarrassed state 
 of the national affairs, and the economical 
 pretensions of the new monarch, he soon 
 gave way to an extravagance as unmeaning 
 and frivolous as it was enormous. In his 
 coronation, he attempted to outvie even the 
 sumptuousness of Catherine. The costly 
 crown which had adorned her brow he re- 
 fused to wear, and ordered another to be 
 made of such magnificence, that its value 
 was estimated at several millions of roubles. 
 Catherine had given extravagant sums to 
 her favourites ; but Paul was still more 
 lavish and reckless in his gifts. These were 
 bestowed only on persons already so wealthy^ 
 that the increase merely served to pamper 
 their pride and power into demonstrations 
 of arrogance, dangerous both to the safety 
 of the throne and the interests of the 
 people. " Sycophants gorged by frauds,'' 
 observes an energetic writer, " received 
 presents from Paul that, had they been 
 more judiciously distributed, would have 
 maintained hundreds of families, and re- 
 wjirded the deserts of thousands who served 
 
 347 
 
 
 ..I 
 
 
 i |'« 
 
 t 
 
 '•■J 9 
 
 Q 
 
TYRANNY OF PAUL.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1796. 
 
 l! 
 
 the state with zeal, in indigence and ob- 
 scurity. But it is one of the repulsive 
 characteristics of a pure despotism, that the 
 rich alone accumulate riches, while the poor 
 not only remain poor, but are oppressed in 
 proportion as the higher classes are raised 
 more and more above the reach of the 
 social sympathies. The impolicy of such 
 proceedings is apparent, not only in the 
 criminahty of wasting the public 'resources 
 upon improper objects, but in the creation 
 of a craving and powerful body, whose 
 attachment to the throne being purchased 
 by expensive favours, is liable to be loosened 
 from it whenever the means of buying up 
 their support shall have become exhausted. 
 In this mainly consists the difference be- 
 tween a sovereignty based upon the willing 
 allegiance, the reasoning affections, and the 
 consistent gratitude of a nation; and an 
 authority looking out upon its possessions 
 from behind a barrier of mercenaries, and 
 perpetually coerced into fresh acts of tyranny 
 by the very fears that arise from the con- 
 sciousness of insecurity." 
 
 Not only did the emperor soon lose the 
 popularity that seemed inclined to attach to 
 him, in consequence of the first acts he per- 
 formed after his accession, but he incurred 
 general dislike. At court, a system of 
 espionage and humiliating etiquette created 
 a constant uneasiness and sense of fear. 
 The people were harassed with petty and 
 degrading regulations. A secret police paid 
 inquisitorial visits, at all hours, to the houses 
 of those who had excited the displeasure or 
 suspicion of the emperor. Midnight arrests 
 took place; citizens suddenly disappeared 
 frona their accustomed haunts; eccentric 
 punishments were constantly inflicted ; and 
 a general panic prevailed. In the army, 
 the caprice and despotism of the emperor 
 spread terror amongst the officers. Any 
 breach of PauPs minute regulations fre- 
 quently elicited the severest punishments; 
 and the officers went to the parade pale and 
 fear-stricken. Even civilians, who, attracted 
 by curiosity, had come to witness the exer- 
 cise of the troops, were placed under arrest 
 by the emperor, if their costume or their 
 looks chanced to displease him. St. Peters- 
 burg became a gloomy residence, where all 
 lived in a state of fear. No security re- 
 mained for life or liberty, and all who could 
 leave the city, did so. ' Every one dreaded 
 348 
 
 to meet the emperor ; and he, aware of the 
 sentiments of fear and aversion which he 
 inspired, lived in a state of constant appre- 
 hension. He frequently reflected on the 
 fate of his presumed father, and dreaded 
 the dark designs of the assas.vin. As his 
 fears increased, his despotism became more 
 intolerable. Suspecting every one, he dis- 
 trusted even the empress. If she spoke in 
 a low voice, he immediately supposed that 
 some conspiracy against him was in pro- 
 gress. On one occasion, when she was en- 
 gaged in conversation with a foreign am- 
 bassador, he suddenly interrupted her by 
 saying, " You are preparing, perhaps, ma- 
 dam, to act the part of Catherine; but 
 know, that you will not find in me a 
 Peter III." 
 
 Amidst PauFs tyrannies, he performed a 
 few charitable actions; these were, however, 
 of so confined and petty a character, as to 
 be almost contemptible. At Moscow, he 
 converted an old building into a hospital, 
 where fifty patients were supported at his 
 expense. Sometimes he caused food to be 
 distributed to poor officers; a mode of bounty 
 which must have created a sense of degrada- 
 tion in those who received it. At other 
 periods, small sums of money were given to 
 certain distressed persons. But it has been 
 truly observed, that his charities, like 
 his military regulations, were essentially 
 microscopic. What good he did proceeded 
 from caprice, and not from benevolence; 
 and when contrasted with the sums he 
 wasted in needless expenditure, became 
 altogether insignificant. 
 
 The law promulgated by Paul, regulating 
 the succession to the throne, is regarded as 
 the wisest and most useful act performed 
 by him. This law corresponded with the 
 system generally adopted in the oldest 
 European states. By it the crown was to 
 descend to the eldest son and his male 
 issue; and in default of the latter, the 
 second son and his male issue were to 
 inherit; but in default of males, the chil- 
 dren of the female descendants were to 
 succeed, always observing the same order 
 of proximity. When the successor was 
 under age, the reigning sovereign was to 
 appoint a regent; and in the event of his 
 falling to do so, the regency was to be con- 
 fided to the mother of the minor, or to the 
 nearest relative. 
 
 A.D. 1796.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the PERSIAN INVASION. 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 PAUL RECALLS THE RUSSIAN TROOPS FROM THE PERSIAN TERRITORIES ; HIS HATRED OF THE FRENCH, AND 
 OF RKVOLUTIONARY PRINCIPLES ; HE ENTERS WITH ACTIVITY INTO THE ALLIANCE FORMED BY CATHERINE 
 WITH AUSTRIA AND ENGLAND, FOR THE PURPOSE OF CRUSHING THE REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT OF 
 FRANCE, AND RESTORING MONARCHY IN THAT COUNTRY ; PAUL CAUSES HIMSELF TO BE ELECTED GRAND- 
 MASTER OF THE KNIGHTS OF ST. JOHN OF MALTA ; SUWARROW APPOINTED TO THE COMMAND OF THE 
 RUSSIAN AND AUSTRIAN ARMIES IN ITALY ; VICTORIES OF SUWARROW j ILL-FEELING BETWEEN THE RUS- 
 SIAN AND AUSTRIAN TROOPS. 
 
 •li 
 
 We have related that Catherine coveted 
 that portion of the Persian empire which 
 extended along the shores of the Caspian, 
 and sought to annex it to her own do- 
 minions. The expedition which she had 
 sent there, under General Zuboff, brother 
 to the favourite, had received a severe 
 check, and the result was rather matter 
 of disappointment than of congratulation 
 to Russia. Paul, on his accession, resolved 
 on the recall of an expedition which had 
 been neither wisely undertaken nor suc- 
 cessfullv conducted. His attention was re- 
 quired in other directions ; but even if such 
 had not been the case, he would probably 
 have taken the same course in his eager 
 desire to reverse, wherever it was prac- 
 ticable, the policy of his predecessor. 
 
 A war with Persia seemed little more 
 than a mere wantonness and an idle parade 
 of power on the part of the empress. Such 
 was not, however, altogether the case. Her 
 motives have been thus ably analysed by a 
 writer to whom we have before been in- 
 debted : — " Catherine had accustomed her 
 subjects to such warlike habits, and had 
 been so incessantly engaged in projects of 
 aggrandisement, that the peace she entered 
 upon with Sweden and Turkey plunged her 
 into a state of inactivity, which presented 
 too sudden a transition to be of long con- 
 tinuance. While she was thus releasing 
 herself from expensive and protracted wars, 
 the whole of the rest of Europe was in- 
 volved in contention. She had, therefore, 
 hardly closed the Turkish campaign, when 
 her restless spirit, repenting of that hasty 
 measure, longed for new fields of conquest, 
 and discovered, in the unsettled state of 
 Persia, a tempting region, not only for the 
 employment of her armies, but for enabling 
 her, indirectly, to resume that scheme of 
 ambition, in reference to the East, \^hich 
 her treaty with Turkey had inopportunely 
 suspended. Inveterate as were her pre- 
 judices towards France, and anxious as she 
 was to embark in hostilities against that 
 
 power, she was not yet prepared to assist 
 Austria in its calamitous struggles, or to 
 venture upon the succour of Italy, Egypt, 
 and Malta. She perceived, in the spreading 
 acquisitions of France, the seeds of future 
 convulsions and the germ of an European 
 war, and craftily postponed the period of 
 her interference until the belligerent powers 
 should have become so exhausted bv their 
 efforts that she could dictate her own terms. 
 England was engaged in a sanguinary war 
 with France, and Prussia was occupied with 
 her new acquisitions in Poland. The dis- 
 turbed state of Europe was in the highest 
 degree favourable to her plans; and she 
 saw, when it was too late, that, had she 
 not concluded a peace with Turkey, the 
 time was arrived when she might have 
 marched, almost certain of victory, into 
 the dominions of the Porte, and planted 
 her standard on the walls of Constantinople. 
 The only available movement, therefore, 
 which remained opened to her, and which 
 presented the probable means of ultimately 
 extending her territories to the south ol 
 Europe and Asia, was an invasion of Persia. 
 The internal troubles which agitated that 
 country assisted her materially in the pro- 
 secution of her designs." 
 
 Great natural obstacles lie in the way ot 
 the advance of an array from Russia into 
 Persia. The stupendous chain of the Cau- 
 casus mountains, extending from the shores 
 of the Caspian to those of ^the Black Sea, 
 seem as if designed by nature as a limit 
 to the nations on either side, and as a 
 barrier against their encroachments upon 
 each other. Yet Peter the Great had en- 
 deavoured to extend the power of Russia 
 beyond this gigantic barrier; and, notwith- 
 standing the failure of his effort, Catherine 
 made the same attempt. We have related 
 that General Zuboff and his forces captured 
 the town and fortress of Derbend, the capi- 
 tal of Daghestan; that the Russian army 
 suffered severely from contagion, followed 
 bv a great mortality — was exposed to haras&- 
 
 349 
 
 f 
 
 t1 
 11 
 
 ■M 
 
 1 ':i 
 
 f 
 ' 'I 
 
 i ■ 
 
 
 
 : 
 
RETUKN OF THE EXPEDITION.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 lA.d. 1797. 
 
 ing: attacks from the fierce mountain tribes, 
 which, thouo^h successfully repulsed by the 
 Russians, inflicted on them such losses as 
 seriously reduced their ranks, and made 
 large reinforcements necessary. In addition 
 to these difficulties and misfortunes, the 
 Russians received a severe check in a battle 
 with the Persians and the Lesghians, in 
 which, after a desperate conflict of several 
 liours' duration, neither side were in a con- 
 dition to claim a victory. Zuboff" had put 
 his troops into winter quarters, and was 
 waiting for further reinforcements, when 
 the death of the empress Catherine took 
 place. 
 
 Zuboff received, together with the news 
 of this event, an order from Paul to suspend 
 all operations, remain in his present quar- 
 ters, and make the army swear allegiance to 
 the new sovereign. The latter had resolved 
 on the abandonment of the expedition ; but, 
 with his usual eccentricity and want of 
 thought, he recalled the army in a manner 
 which exposed it to be cut to pieces on its 
 return to Russia: this, too, only for the 
 purpose of insulting a general who owed his 
 appointment solely to the favour of Cathe- 
 rine. A^ter the lapse of a few weeks, a courier 
 arrived from St. Petersburg with a large 
 packet from the emperor, for General Zuboff". 
 The latter, upon opening it, was mortified 
 to find that it contained nothing more than 
 a number of sealed despatches directed to 
 the several commanding officers of the 
 various regiments, but not a word addressed 
 to himself. The indignity to which he was 
 thus subjected, was augmented by the dis- 
 covery that the despatches contained pe- 
 remptory orders to each officer to return 
 immediately to Russia by the shortest route. 
 
 On receiving these commands, the officers 
 represented to Zuboff', that it was not pos- 
 sible for them to march at such an incle- 
 ment season, especially as they were desti- 
 tute of forage for the horses, without the 
 requisite provisions for the troops, and when 
 the mountain passes, through which it was 
 necessary to pursue their way, were choked 
 up with snow. The general could only 
 reply, that he had no longer the authority 
 to interfere, and that he durst not tamper 
 with the orders of the emperor. He then 
 dismissed the officers by saying, that how- 
 ever reasonable their statements were, they 
 must, at all hazards, comply with the em- 
 peror's injunctions. Broken up into sepa- 
 rate detachments, without a leader, or being 
 able to make the ncccssarv preparation for 
 350 
 
 its perilous journey, the army began its 
 march. Each regiment took the route that 
 seemed best to its colonel. Concerted action 
 was therefore impossible, and the troops 
 fell into the utmost disorder on the road. 
 Their ignorance of the country, and the 
 confusion that pervaded their ranks, en- 
 tailed greater losses upon them than they 
 had suff*ered at the hands of their enemies. 
 After a miserable march of six weeks, the 
 straggling remnant of the Russian army 
 reached Kislar in the spring of 1797, re- 
 sembling a ^military mob rather than an 
 army. Zuboff* himself, having received no 
 orders, remained behind with two battalions 
 of chasseurs. His situation was one of ex- 
 treme peril. In a hostile country, 400 
 miles from the Russian frontiers, and with 
 a mere handful of troops, he daily expected 
 to be surrounded and cut off" by the Persians 
 or Lesghians. As he received no orders to 
 retreat, he at length resolved to do so with- 
 out orders, though at the risk of incurring 
 the displeasure of the emperor. On arriving 
 at St. Petersburg he resigned his com- 
 mission ; an example which was followed 
 by many of the officers who served uuder 
 him. This miserable termination of what 
 was intended to be a great invasion of Persia, 
 resulting in the conquest of that country, 
 may be usefully reflected on by those who 
 entertain fears that Russian troops could 
 ever proceed to India, and there contend 
 with the English for the sovereignty of that 
 vast peninsula. 
 
 With respect to European politics, Paul 
 seemed at first disposed to adopt a system 
 of neutrality in the great war between repub- 
 lican France and the allied powers. It was, 
 however, difficult for Russia long to remain 
 passive. The triumph of the democratic 
 principles in France, and the brilliant suc- 
 cesses of the armies of that nation ; its inva- 
 sion of Switzerland, of Rome, Naples, Malta, 
 and Egypt, added to the hatred which Paul 
 bore towards everything French, induced him 
 to alter his determination. The National 
 Convention of France had now, for several 
 years, assumed a hostile attitude towards 
 all the ancient aristocratic governments of 
 Europe, and not only threatened them with 
 a sweeping democratic propaganda, but also 
 promised that France would grant frater- 
 nity and assistance to all people who wished 
 to recover their liberty. This was a fatal 
 position to take up, and necessarily pro- 
 duced retaliation. Austria, Prussia, and 
 England endeavoured to avenge and rein- 
 
 -«TS 
 
 iL.D. 1798.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [alliance against franck. 
 
 state the Bourbons; and the wars of the 
 Revolution were the result. 
 
 Catherine, though prepared to interfere, 
 had held aloof from the struggle, with the 
 intention of deciding it in favour of Russia 
 when the mutual exhaustion of the conflict- 
 ing parties became apparent. Prior to the 
 revolution she had liked the French ; but 
 that great convulsion, which tore up mon- 
 archy by the roots, and, for a while, tram- 
 pled order into the dust, had excited in her 
 a feeling of dread and hatred, on account of 
 its being the birthplace of those principles 
 which threatened to destroy every European 
 despotism. This was the only point on 
 which Paul sympathised with the late em- 
 press, and on this he went beyond it. Not 
 only did he bitterly detest the republican 
 and anti-religious opinions so prevalent 
 in France, but he disliked the French 
 people themselves. Their natural gaiety 
 was offensive to the sullen austerity of his 
 nature, while their repugnance to dead for- 
 malisms seemed to censure a man whose 
 life was devoted to the establishment and 
 elaborate performance of minute, and, com- 
 monly, senseless and frivolous formalities. 
 Paul insisted on the most rigid observance 
 of the externals of religion, because they 
 formed the bulwark of his government ; and 
 though he kept an ugly and diminutive 
 mistress, he professed a great admiration 
 for morality. Never does it seem to have 
 occurred to this strange creature, that his 
 whole life, passed in selfishness, caprice, 
 violence, and cruelty, was one of prolonged 
 outrage upon both religion and morality. 
 He condemned the French for their want 
 of religion and morality. He sincerely be- 
 lieved them to be the most immoral people 
 in the world ; and, as it has been happily 
 expressed, " he, with his usual inconsistency 
 and extravagance, hated them less for the 
 faults which he found in them, than for the 
 faults which his implacable prejudices as- 
 signed to them. Catherine liked the 
 French, until the revolution inspired her 
 with vengeance against a country which 
 had shown an example so fraught with 
 perils to the old despotisms : Paul hated 
 the French long before the revolution had 
 furnished him with a feasible excuse for 
 hostilities. This was precisely the diff'er- 
 ence between them : that Catherine acted 
 in a spirit of watchful policy; and Paul took 
 the current of his passions, which hap- 
 pened in this instance to run in the same 
 channels." 
 
 Before the accession of Paul, he is re- 
 ported to have made this memorable obser- 
 vation — " In whatever light, and in what- 
 ever circumstances I wish to view an 
 emperor of Russia, his noblest part will 
 always be that of a pacificator.'' The new 
 emperor was, however, influenced by no prin- 
 ciples ; and if, as is most probable* he made 
 this remark, he never retained it in mind as 
 a guide of his conduct. In the February of 
 1795, an alliance, off'ensive and defensive, 
 was formed between Russia, Englaud, and 
 Austria, with the object of acting against 
 the republican government of France, the 
 extinction of the revolution, and the restora- 
 tion of monarchy in that country. This 
 alliance was not, as we have shown, pro- 
 ductive of any great results at the time. 
 Catherine desired to husband her strength, 
 and to hold the balance between the great 
 contending powers ; she aimed, in fact, at 
 being the arbitress of the aff'airs of Europe. 
 Prussia held aloof from this triple alliance, 
 and, in the April of the same year, made 
 peace with the republic, to which Spain had 
 already submitted. 
 
 ft- 
 
 Catherine, at the time of her death, had 
 an army of from 10,000 to 50,000 men, 
 under General Suwarrow, assembled iu 
 Galicia, with the object of joining the 
 troops of her allies against France. Paul, 
 who disliked Suwarrow, and feared a general 
 who was so popular with the soldiery, grasped, 
 as we have seen, at a petty opportunity of 
 depriving him of his command. But the 
 solicitations of Austria and the subsidies of 
 England, now induced Paul to enter into 
 active hostilities against France. He agreed 
 to assist Austria with 60,000 Russians ; and 
 in the December of 1798 he entered into 
 an engagement with England, by which he 
 bound himself to furnish an auxiliary force 
 of 45,000 men, to act with the British troops 
 in the north of Germany; in return for 
 which, England was to provide a monthly 
 subsidy of £75,000, and an immediate ad- 
 vance of £225,000. 
 
 In entering actively upon the war, Paul 
 was, however, influenced by another and 
 more personal consideration. The island 
 of Malta was granted by the emperor 
 Charles V., in 1530, to the grand-master 
 and religious fraternity of St. John of Jeru- 
 salem, who had recently been expelled from 
 Rhodes by the Turks. The knights of St. 
 John thus became sovereigns of Malta, and 
 were independent, with the exception of a 
 trifling aiicual feudal acknowledgment oi 
 
 351 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 k\ 
 
 \i 
 
 ; 
 
 '! 
 
 li r 
 
l!lt 
 
 QUARREL CONCERNING MALTA.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1798. 
 
 tenure to the king of Sicily. To protect 
 the island against the Turks and the pirates 
 of the Mediterranean, they commenced 
 those famous fortifications which remain to 
 the present day. The knights were divided 
 amongst themselves by dissensions, and a 
 few of their number offered to surrender, 
 or rather to sell, the island to Russia. 
 They had applied to Catherine upon the sub- 
 ject, but she declined to avail herself of 
 their proffered treachery. On the offer 
 being made to Paul, he accepted it ; but he 
 was so long in arranging the details of the 
 bargain, that it slipped from his grasp. In 
 1798, the French expedition which was con- 
 veying Napoleon to Egypt, made its ap- 
 pearance before Malta; and the fortress, 
 which was held to be impregnable, capitu- 
 lated without firing a shot. The cause of 
 this was, that while one section of the 
 knights were engaged in selling the island 
 to Paul, anothor section, including Baron 
 liomspesch, the grand-master, concluded 
 arrangements for the same purpose with 
 Napoleon. The grand-master was to re- 
 ceive 600,000 francs, a principality in Ger- 
 many, or a pension for life of 300,000 
 francs ; while to each of the French cheva- 
 liers was awarded a pension of 700 francs 
 per annum. The successful conspirators 
 had taken their measures with so much 
 precaution, that when the French fleet ar- 
 rived, the batteries were unarmed, the gar- 
 rison was scattered in disadvantageous situa- 
 tions, besides being almost destitute of 
 stores and ammunition. It was fortunate 
 for the captors that such was the case, for 
 the fortifications of La Valette were so 
 strong, that they might have baffled the 
 whole power of the French fleet and army, 
 even supposing that Napoleon cuuld have 
 spared time for the siege. As he and his 
 staff passed through the triple line of for- 
 tifications. General Caffarelli observed to 
 him, that " it was lucky there was some one 
 within to open the massive gates to them ; 
 for had the place been altogether empty, 
 they would have found it rather difficult to 
 get into it." Thus fell one of the most 
 renowned fortresses in the world ; the mag- 
 nificent plate, and other treasures of the 
 order, were taken on board the French 
 fleet ; and Napoleon, leaving a garrison be- 
 hind him, departed for Egypt. 
 
 This disappointment greatly irritated 
 
 Paul, who had made so sure of possessing 
 
 Malta, that he had already appointed a 
 
 governor of it. The power of 'France seemed 
 
 352 
 
 to be taking that aggressive course which, 
 in Paul's estimation, was only to be fol- 
 lowed by Russia. He was also encouraged 
 by the subsequent destruction of the French 
 fleet by Nelson, at the battle of the Nile— 
 a circumstance which broke the charm of 
 republican invincibility. Now he believed 
 was the time when the arms of France 
 might be effectually resisted ; and he pub- 
 lished a declaration, announcing that he 
 was ready, with all the force of his arms and 
 the resources of his empire, to assist in 
 restoring the old relations among the Euro- 
 pean states, and to arrest the progress of 
 anarchy and democratic principles. As to 
 Malta, though it was then in the possession 
 of the French, he became grand-master, in 
 name, of the really now extinct order of 
 the Knights of St. John. Those who re- 
 sided within the Russian empire, declared 
 the Baron Von Homspesch and his com- 
 panions to be traitors, and they appealed to 
 the protection of the emperor. Paul gave 
 a gracious response, and caused them, in 
 their names, and in those of their absent 
 brethren, to elect him as grand-master. 
 It was a strange anomaly, to see the head of 
 the Greek church in Russia assume the 
 office of grand-master of the catholic order 
 of St. John of Malta. At the same time, 
 the invasion of Egypt by Napoleon had 
 drawn the Porte into the league against 
 France. A curious and confused spectacle 
 was thus presented. The union with the 
 Turks of the grand-master of Malta, whose 
 first vow was the extermination of the Mus- 
 sulmans ; the advance of the battalions of 
 Russia, decorated with the catholic cross of 
 St. John of Jerusalem, the schismatic cross 
 of St. Andrew of Russia, and the protectant 
 cross of St. Anne of Ilolstein, fisrhtinff be- 
 side the standard of the prophet, to re- 
 establish the pope in Rome, Catholicism in 
 France, and Islamism in Egypt, was a sight 
 at once strange and perplexing. 
 
 The Russian army commenced its march 
 under General Rosamberg, and proceeded 
 to cross the south of Germany. Tlie inso- 
 lence of some of the Russian officers towards 
 the Austrians, and the misconduct of the 
 Russian troops, who not unfrequently ap- 
 propriated whatever they could put their 
 hands on, and ill-treated those who com- 
 plained, caused the emperor, Francis II., to 
 represent to Paul the absolute necessity of 
 recalling Suwarrow, whose influence over 
 the soldiers was absolute, and whose fame 
 would be a prestige of victory. For thia 
 
 
 AD. 1799.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [war with FRANCE. 
 
 there was also a further reason. The Rus- 
 sian officers affected to despise the Aus- 
 trians, while the latter were too proud to 
 submit to the command of Russian generals 
 who had not acquired a distinguished mili- 
 tary reputation. Paul hesitated to appoint 
 Suwarrow, for his ill-feeling towards that 
 remarkable man had not subsided. He 
 was, however, induced, by repeated remon- 
 strances, to sacrifice his personal feelings to 
 what was regarded as the interest of the 
 common cause of the allies. 
 
 Suwarrow, on being dismissed from his 
 command, retired, in the first instance, to 
 Moscow. There the stories in circulation 
 concerning his exploits rendered him an 
 object of universal interest. The vindictive 
 Paul, therefore, issued an order requiring 
 the old general to leave the city, and take 
 up his residence in a remote village. When 
 this order was presented to the eccentric 
 soldier, he inquired what time was allowed 
 him for settling his affairs ? *' Four hours,'' 
 was the reply of the police officer. " Oh !" 
 exclaimed the veteran, in a sarcastic tone, 
 " this is too kind I an hour is sufficient for 
 Suwarrow." At the end of that time he had 
 packed up his gold and jewels in a case, 
 and was ready to depart. A travelling car- 
 riage was placed at his disposal ; but re- 
 garding it contemptuously, he exclaimed, 
 " Suwarrow has no need of a coach to go 
 into exile ; he can go there in the same 
 equipage which he made use of to repair to 
 the court of Catherine, or to the head of 
 the armies. Bring me a cart V* A cart 
 was provided accordingly; and in this un- 
 comfortable vehicle did the general, accom- 
 panied by the police officer, perform a dreary 
 journey of 500 versts. On arriving at his 
 destination, he took up his residence in a 
 wooden hut, where he remained under the 
 surveillance of some subaltern officers of the 
 police. There his solitude was made more 
 oppressive by his not being permitted either 
 to write or to receive visitors. On one 
 occasion, Paul, either from caprice or from 
 some better feeling towards the veteran, 
 sent a courier to him with a letter, ad- 
 dressed, *' To Field-marshal Suwarrow.'^ 
 " Tliis is not for me !" exclaimed the old 
 soldier; "if Suwarrow were field-marshal, 
 he would not be banished to a village ; he 
 would be seen at the head of the army.'' 
 So saying, he returned the letter unopened, 
 nor could any representations induce him 
 to receive it. Paul was irritated that he 
 could not subdue the spirit of the warrior, | 
 
 VOL. I. 2 z 
 
 and caused the guard about him to be 
 made more strict than before. Shortly 
 after this, Paul was compelled, by his own 
 interests and the representations of the 
 Austrian emperor, to reinstate the field- 
 marshal, which he did with more grace 
 than might have been expected from him. 
 " I have resolved," he wrote, *' to send you 
 into Italy, to the assistance of his majesty 
 the king and emperor, my brother and 
 ally. Suwarrow has no need of triumphs 
 or laurels, but my country has need of 
 him ; and mv wishes aorree with those of 
 Francis II., who, having conferred on you 
 the supreme command of his Italian army, 
 begs you to accept that dignity." On re- 
 ceiving this epistle, Suwarrow forgot his in- 
 juries, and joyfully accepted the command. 
 The whole of Russia also looked forward, 
 with expectant pride and elated enthusiasm, 
 to the honours which the conqueror of 
 Ismail was to win for the empire. 
 
 Suwarrrow and his battalions arrived, in 
 the April of 1799, on the banks of the 
 Mincio, and took the command of the allied 
 Russian and Austrian troops in Italy. The 
 extravagant flatteries recently lavished upon 
 him, had naturally fostered the high opinion 
 he entertained of his own genius as a general, 
 and the superiority of his troops over those 
 of other countries. The jealousy of the 
 Austrian officers was revived by the arro- 
 gance of his speech and bearing. He already 
 talked of the capture of Paris, the restora- 
 tion of the government of the Bourbons, 
 and the punishment of all revolutionary 
 atheists. The Austrian generals called a 
 council of war, for the purpose of hearing his 
 plans, and taking them into consideration. 
 Councils of this kind were held in contempt 
 by Suwarrow, and that not without reason. 
 A perfect army acts like a vast living ma- 
 chine, pervaded by one undivided and abso- 
 lute will. Question that will, and its unity 
 is destroyed; destroy the unity of an army, 
 and its efficiency is gone. The members of 
 the council, beginning at the younjjest, pro- 
 posed their several schemes. Suwarrow 
 listened in silence ; and, when all had spoken, 
 he took a slate, drew two lines on it, and 
 said, " Here, gentlemen, are the French, 
 and here the Russians ; the latter will march 
 against the former and beat them." Then 
 he rubbed out the French line, and added, 
 "This is all my plan; the council is con- 
 cluded." 
 
 Just before the arrival of the Russians, the 
 French armv in Italy had suffered a defeat 
 
 353 
 
 v| 
 
 
 i 
 
 n 
 
 1 
 
 
 ;' 
 
 uz. 
 
'J 
 
 ti 
 
 SUWARROW IN ITALY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1799. 
 
 nt the hands of the Austrians at Mapjnano. 
 In consequence of this, Severer, the general 
 in command, had been superseded by the 
 able Moreau, who had recently attained 
 great distinction in the field against the 
 Austrians. Moreau found the French troops 
 reduced to the number of 28,000, and so 
 much wasted by sickness and slaughter, that 
 it was impossible for them to maintain 
 tlieir position. He therefore retired towards 
 Milan, leaving immense military stores, 
 parks of artillery, and a bridge equipnge in 
 the hands of the enemy. This movement 
 favoured the operations of the latter; for the 
 Archduke Charles (who commanded the 
 Austrian forces) and General Suwarrow had 
 adopted the plan of making such a diversion 
 of the French armies in Switzerland and 
 Italy, as would enable the allies ultimately 
 to prevent all communication between them ; 
 and, forming a junction of their own troops, 
 to penetrate into France by the defiles of 
 the Jura and the defenceless Vosges — the 
 same quarter on which the great invasion of 
 1814 was afterwards effected. 
 
 Moreau had deemed it prudent to take up 
 a position on the right bank of the Adda, 
 where he posted his forces in three divisions. 
 Suwarrow, who had lost none of the energy 
 of his earlier days, was speedily upon them, 
 and, before the French had time to concen- 
 trate their strength, he forced the passage of 
 the river in two places, thus dividing the 
 enemy's battalions into three parts, which 
 enabled him to beat them in detail. One 
 division was driven back towards Milan with 
 a loss of 2,400 men, of which 1,100 were 
 taken prisoners ; another, after a brave 
 resistance, threw down their arms ; while the 
 third was thrown into such confusion that 
 they fled at the first shock. It is estimated 
 that, in this opening engHgement, the French 
 lost 11,000 men, besides being driven from 
 their most formidable positions. Suwarrow 
 and the allies pushed on for Milan, which 
 city they entered in triumph on the 29th 
 of April. Suwarrow received the captive 
 French officers with an ironical ceremony, 
 which, though very humiliating, was better 
 treatment than they had expected, as the 
 barbarity of the Kussian soldiers had be- 
 come proverbial among the other nations of 
 Europe. Indeed, it has been asserted, that 
 the Austrians found it necessary to escort 
 the captured French sohliers through the 
 ranks of the ferocious Russians, who would 
 otherwise have massacred them without hesi- 
 tation. 
 
 354 
 
 Suwarrow should have instantly pursued 
 the discomfited French; but he remained 
 for more than a week at Milan, absorbed by 
 the festivities with which he was congratu- 
 lated in that city. During that time the 
 shattered remains of the French army 
 effected their retreat, after securing the 
 communications with the adjacent passes of 
 the Alps; the one towards Alexandria, with 
 a view txt occupy the defiles of Bocchetta 
 and the approaches to Genoa; and the 
 other, commanded by Moreau, to the plain 
 between the Po and the Fanaro, at the foot 
 of the northern slope of the Apennines. 
 The commander of the allied imperial forces 
 at length left Milan, and pushed forward 
 with the design of forcing the Po, turning 
 the left of the French, and drawing them 
 into a general and conclusive action. 
 
 Moreau poured down upon the allies with 
 such resistless force, that Suwarrow deemed 
 it prudent to retire from the opposite bank 
 of the Po, and to march upon Turin, then 
 the chief depot of the French magazines. 
 After this he designed to cut off the commu- 
 nication of Moreau with France. Turin 
 was captured by the allies, and the French 
 garrisou forced to take refuge in the citadel, 
 and to leave in the hands of the enemy 
 nearly 300 pieces of artillery, 60,000 mus- 
 kets, and an enormous quantity of ammuni- 
 tion and military stores. This heavy loss 
 deprived Moreau of all his resources, and 
 threatened his army with destruction. But 
 his high spirit triumphed over his apparently 
 desperate circumstances. Invincible to the 
 last, he strove to form a junction with the 
 army at Naples, under the command of 
 Macdonald, and endeavoured to regain his 
 position on the west of the Apennines, so 
 as to cover the avenues to Genoa. With 
 Suwarrow close upon his rear, he succeeded, 
 by indefatigable labour, iu making a rugged 
 mountain path across the Apennines, prac- 
 ticable for artillery and waggons, in four 
 days; and over this precipitous track he 
 defiled in excellent order, and reached the 
 southern side of the mountains without in- 
 terruption. The French army was saved; 
 but the Italian conquests of Napoleon had, 
 with the exception of a few fortresses, been 
 wrested from the grasp of his countrymen. 
 The French standards, which had recently 
 floated on the towers of the principal cities 
 of Lombardy, were now shivering iu the 
 desolate snows of the Alps. 
 
 Macdonald and Moreau made arrange* 
 ments for a junction of their forces, with the 
 
 A.D. 1799.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [batti.e of the trebbia. 
 
 hope of dislodging the allies from their con- 
 quests. The former, in his progress, with an 
 army of 37,000 men, obtained a victory over 
 Prince HohenzoUern, who lost 1,500 men 
 in the engagement. This success was fol- 
 lowed by others ; and Macdonald became 
 master of Parma, Placentia, and the whole 
 of the country in that direction. He also 
 compelled Field-marshal Ott to retire be- 
 hind the Tidone, in preference to risking a 
 pitched battle in the open plains. 
 
 Suwarrow was soon on the alert ; and on 
 the 17th of June he arrived within sight of 
 Macdonald's forces, which he resolved to 
 attack the following day. The energy of 
 Macdonald, however, led to an almost im- 
 mediate engagement, which took place on 
 the banks of the Trebbia, The Austrians 
 were at first driven back in great disorder 
 by I lie impetuous attack of the French; but 
 Suwarrow succeeded in turning the fortune 
 of the day. The French retired in excellent 
 order, until a wild charge of Cossacks on 
 their flank threw them into confusion. The 
 latter, pursuing with too much temerity, 
 received a check in their turn, and great 
 numbers of them were mowed down by the 
 grapeshot of their opponents. 
 
 Each army made preparations during the 
 night for a general engagement on the fol- 
 lowing day. It was, however, noon before 
 the Russians and Austrians were ready, and 
 Suwarrow then led them against the French, 
 who were drawn up in order of battle on 
 the banks of the river. The latter crossed 
 the river and charged the allies; but they 
 met with a repulse. The conflict lasted 
 until night, and was carried on with great 
 fury. When twilight and exhaustion closed 
 this second day's struggle, the French had 
 been driven back across the stream, after 
 suffering a severe loss. The hostile armies 
 lay during the night with their arms by 
 their sides, and the soldiers resting upon 
 their guns. At midnight an alarm took 
 place, and the French rushed into the river 
 and fired upon the Russian videttes. Both 
 armies were aroused, and the firing was con- 
 tinued for some time upon each side. 
 
 At ten o'clock the next morning the battle 
 was renewed for the third time. Again the 
 French were the assailants, and plunging 
 into the river, they pushed on vigorously, 
 and outflanked the Russian right. The 
 latter suffered considerably, but fought with 
 great firmness. They were at length driven 
 back ; but being reinforced by several batta- 
 lions, the French were repulsed in their 
 
 turn, and compelled to recross the river. 
 They also crossed the stream at anotheJ 
 point under a shower of grapeshot, and, 
 making a successful bayonet charge on the 
 centre of the allies, succeeded in carrying all 
 the batteries of the Austrians under Melas, 
 and in throwing the whole line into confu- 
 sion. But their good fortune did not con- 
 tinue ; they soon became the assailed instead 
 of the assailants : the battle raged with fury 
 along the entire line, and Suwarrow at length 
 became master of the whole left bank of the 
 river. But his attempts to pass to the op- 
 posite side were repulsed by the closeness and 
 rapidity of the French fire. Night again sepa- 
 rated the combatants and ended this severe 
 conflict, prolonged over a period of three days. 
 
 Each side had suffered heavy losses. 
 That of the French, in killed and wounded, 
 was estimated at 12,000 men ; while that of 
 the allies was not much less. Macdonald, 
 exhausted by so severe a conflict, feared to 
 risk a renewal of the engagement. Aban- 
 doning his wounded, he retreated during 
 the night, and directed his course towards 
 the Apennines. Unhappily for him, a des- 
 patch which he forwarded to Moreau, de- 
 scribing the forlorn state of his army and 
 the line of his retreat, fell into the hands of 
 Suwarrow, who, acting instantly upon this 
 information, commenced a vigorous pursuit. 
 The French were overtaken, and attacked 
 both in front and flank. Immense num- 
 bers were taken prisoners, and the rest 
 driven to seek refuge in the mountains. 
 Amongst the captives were four generals 
 and 506 officers. When Macdonald could 
 safely pause to review his broken battalions, 
 he discovered that, in this unfortunate cam- 
 paign, he had lost no less than 1.3,000 men. 
 In this famous battle the advantages lay 
 with the allies; but it is only just to admit, 
 that the honours of the day were divided. 
 The French historians are naturally un- 
 willing to admit that Macdonald was de- 
 feated. They say that the French could 
 not conquer, but that they were not con- 
 quered. 
 
 In the meantime, Moreau had met with 
 a better fortune than his brother in arms. 
 While the Russians were pursuing Mac- 
 donald, he had thrown four battalions of 
 the Austrians, under Bellegarde, into con- 
 fusion, and raised the siege of Tortona. 
 Suwarrow, therefore, abandoned the further 
 pursuit of Macdonald, and marched against 
 Moreau. 
 
 The latter retreated before the advance 
 
 355 
 
 V4 
 
 >• 
 
 */ 1 
 
 'I 
 
 . !| 
 
 H 
 
 !, 
 
 ...H\ 
 
 .i. :ll 
 
•4 
 
 BATTLE OF NOVI.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1799. ' 
 
 of the Russian general, and, on finding; 
 himself hard pressed, retired to his former 
 defensive y30siti()n in the mountains. It 
 has been asserted, and with much proba- 
 bility, that if Suwarrovv had been allowed 
 to have followed up his advantages, he 
 wouhl, in this campaign, have completed 
 the conquest of Italy, and penetrated into 
 the south of France. But the Aulic Coun- 
 cil, which governed the great movements of 
 the war, had issued positive orders not to 
 extend the operations of the army beyond 
 the Apennines, until all the fortified places 
 in Lombardy had been reduced. The siege 
 of these fortresses had been interrupted by 
 the other operations of the campaign ; and, 
 with the exception of the citadel of Turin, 
 all these strongholds were garrisoned by 
 French troops. Suwarrow, therefore, was 
 restrained from pressing forward at a mo- 
 ment favourable to victory. The truth 
 was, that the cabinet of Vienna was jealous 
 of the successes of the Rnssians, and by no 
 means pleased to see Suwarrow play the 
 master in Italy. Francis II. desired to 
 check the French, but not to give too great 
 a preponderance to the increasing power of 
 Russia. Francis and his ministers were de- 
 sirous to get into their own hands the whole 
 of the Italian conquests. Now, therefore, 
 that the republican forces had been shat- 
 tered by a series of disasters, and that 
 nothing remained to secure the possession of 
 Italy but the subjugation of the fortresses, 
 they wished to relieve themselves from the 
 presence of their formidable ally, whose in- 
 terference on the shores of the Mediterra- 
 nean, except under such an emergency as 
 had originally called him tjiere, was not 
 regarded without some vague apprehensions 
 both by Austria and England. An expla- 
 nation took place between the allied powers, 
 and it was agreed that the whole of the 
 Russian troops, after the fall of Alexandria 
 and Mantua, should be directed by Suwar- 
 row against Switzerland, while the Austrians 
 should be left to prosecute the war in Italy. 
 Indeed, so much ill-feeling existed between 
 the Russian and Austrian troops, that it 
 -would have been difficult, under any circum- 
 stances, to have held them together much 
 longer. Yet their separation was productive 
 of calamitous consequences, for neither 
 Austria nor Russia alone were a match for 
 the brave and enthusiastic troops of France. 
 Some time was lost in comparative inac- 
 tivity by the allies. This the French used 
 to great advantage. The two divisions of 
 356 
 
 their army in Italy were reunited, Mac- 
 donald was recalled, large reinforcements 
 arrived from France, and the youthful but 
 brave and gifted hero, Joubert, was ap- 
 pointed to the command. Moreau, superior 
 to any feeling of jealousy, accompanied the 
 army, and, while he served under Joubert, 
 gave him the benefit of his experience. 
 Suwarrow, who, in obedience to his orders, 
 had been watching over the progress of the 
 sieges, on receiving information of the ap- 
 proach of the republican army, immediately 
 made preparations to meet and encounter 
 it. The desperate battle of Novi, which 
 was fought on the 15th of August, followed. 
 Joubert, whose army amounted to 43,000 
 men, rashly advanced from a secure posi- 
 tion into the presence of a far superior 
 force. Suwarrow immediately took advan- 
 tage of this error, and fell upon the French 
 while unprepared. Early in the day, Jou- 
 bert was shot while in the act of waving 
 his hat and exclaiming — ''Forward, grena- 
 diers ! let us throw ourselves upon the 
 tirailleurs I" He expired almost imme- 
 diately; his last words being — "Advance, 
 my friends, advance V Great disorder fol- 
 lowed his death, but this was retiieved by 
 Moreau, who then assumed the command. 
 The contest was resumed, and the Austrians 
 were driven back, and would have been 
 compelled to retreat, had not the Russians 
 pressed forward to their assistance, at the 
 price of a terrible carnage amongst them- 
 selves. The grapeshot of the flying artil- 
 lery and masked batteries, and the destruc- 
 tive discharge of the musketry of the French, 
 swept down whole companies of those fear- 
 less men. Yet as fast as their ranks were 
 destroyed they were replaced by fresh bat- 
 talions, who were sacrificed in the same 
 way by the steady and effective fire of 
 tlie French. Yet these courageous troops, 
 closing their ranks as rapidly as they were 
 thinned, still pressed onwards, to the cry of 
 "Perod! perod!"*and"Nieboss! nieboss!"t 
 and, with bayonets charged, advanced, in a 
 spirit of invincible obstinacy, to receive 
 their deaths by the side of their expiring 
 comrades. The conduct of the Russians on 
 this, as well as on every other occasion 
 throughout the war, justifies the remark of 
 Frederic the Great, that " it was less diffi- 
 cult to kill them than to conquer them.'' 
 This attempt to force the French lines 
 
 * Forward ! forward ! 
 
 t Never fear ! never fear ! War-cries of the Rus- 
 sians in battle. 
 
 A.D. 1799.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the battle of novi. 
 
 utterly failed, and Suwarrow, therefore, re- 
 solved' to concentrate his forces for a gene- 
 ral and decisive attack. This also was 
 withstood by the firm array and masterly 
 organisation of the French, who hurled 
 back their assailants with a storm of fire. 
 The energetic Austrian general, Kray, re- 
 turned ten times to the charge, and on each 
 occasion was driven back with great loss. 
 A frightful slaughter was continued for four 
 hours, and then, both sides exhausted by 
 fatigue, and perhaps appalled by the sangui- 
 nary nature of the battle, lapsed into a sus- 
 pension of hostilities. The arrival of Melas, 
 with the left wing of the allied army, in- 
 duced Suwarrow to return to the attack. 
 He himself led the main body of the allied 
 army, like a torrent, against the centre of 
 the French, while Kray and Melas fell upon 
 the right and left wing. The French at 
 length gave way ; and Moreau, seeing that 
 the day was hopeless, prepared for retreat. 
 But his troops were so completely sur- 
 rounded, that it was found impossible to 
 eff'ect this in good order. Whichever way 
 they turned, the bayonets of their antago- 
 nists gleamed upon them, and they fled in 
 disorder across the broken grounds in tlieir 
 rear. The allies were too much exhausted 
 to pursue them, and were so crippled by 
 their own losses, that they had little more 
 than the name of a victory. The loss of 
 the allies was estimated at 1,800 killed, 
 5,200 wounded, and 1,200 prisoners ; that of 
 the French at 1,500 killed, 5,500 wounded, 
 and 3,000 prisoners. In addition to this, 
 they lost thirty-seven cannon, twenty-eight 
 caissons, and four standards. Still the 
 battle of Novi led to no material advantage 
 on the part of the allies. Nothing was de- 
 cided by it : both armies fought with courage 
 and brilliancy ; both experienced enormous 
 losses; and the French were al}le, after its 
 conclusion, to return to their former posi- 
 tion. This engagement closed the campaign 
 of the Russians in Italy; "a campaign,'' 
 it has been well observed, " signalised by 
 that extiaordinary resignation to death for 
 which the Rus>ians have since become cele- 
 brated, and which, even more than their 
 valour, rendered them so formidable to 
 their opponents.'' 
 
 National honours were bestowed upon 
 Suwarrow by his countrymen. Even the 
 emperor Paul seems to have shared the 
 common enthusiasm, for he conferred upon 
 the successful veteran the title of Prince 
 Italinski ; and also issued an ukase, in which, 
 
 with his usual eccentricity, he ordained that 
 Suwarrow should be considered as the 
 greatest general of ancient or modern times. 
 The latter, in return, promised the emperor 
 that the next campaign should see him 
 enter France in triumph, after he had 
 driven the French out of Switzerland. A 
 careful writer, reflecting upon these events, 
 observes — " To Russia it was of importance 
 to make this, her first essay in the great 
 European war, appear to the world in its 
 most imposing shape ; and certainly she was 
 largely indebted to the skill, as well as to 
 the courage, of her renowned general for the 
 triumphs achieved by her arms. Previously 
 to the Italian campaign the Russians were 
 regarded as undisciplined savages, who were 
 completely ignorant of the art of war, and 
 who were indebted for their victories to 
 their fierceness and physical strength, rather 
 than to their power of combination and 
 knowledge of the use of arms. This mis- 
 apprehension of their qualities operated 
 both advantageously and disadvantageously. 
 It spread at first a species of terror amongst 
 the French, who were led to expect an array 
 of monsters, ogres, or giants, wielding strange 
 and unaccustomed weapons, and enacting 
 superhuman wonders on the field ; but it 
 had the ultimate eff'ect, when the preposter- 
 ous and indefinite notion of their powers was 
 dispelled by actual collision, of inducing the 
 French to treat them with contempt, be- 
 cause they found them nothing more than 
 a race of hardy and obstinate soldiers. 
 Thus, a French soldier, marching to the 
 first rencontre with them, is said to have 
 exclaimed, *We shall see whether they 
 have four arms !' and, upon his return, to 
 have duly observed, ' Well ! they have but 
 two, and know not how to make use of 
 them.' 
 
 " There is no doubt that the brilliant 
 tactics of Suwarrow in Italy, his per- 
 severance, celerity, and forethought, drew 
 the Russians more rapidly into the theatre 
 of European warfare than the mere tempta- 
 tion of their position could have done. Had 
 Suwarrow failed, it is probable that, instead 
 of pressing with such force upon the south, 
 they would have retired to their own incle- 
 ment regions, and concentrated their opera- 
 tions towards the east. But so completely 
 did his successes engross the public mind 
 and inflame the vanity of the empire, that 
 it was confidently anticipated he would, in 
 a few weeks, make a triumphant entry into 
 Paris, as he had previously done at Warsaw ; 
 
 357 
 
 
 
 ■ i 
 
 . '' 
 
 » 
 
 ! 
 
 \i 
 
THE RUSSIANS IN SWITZERLAND.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1709. 
 
 A.D. 1799.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [campaign in Switzerland. 
 
 nor were there wanting sagacious people to 
 predict that the Russians and Tartars would 
 once more make the conquest of the entire 
 of Europe. What might have hefalleu had 
 Suwarrow been permitted to prosecute tlie 
 war upon the point which he had already 
 
 shaken, it is difficult to calculate; but the 
 jealousy of Austria prevented that consum- 
 mation of his plans, and consigned him to 
 another quarter, where an enemy more for- 
 midable than any he had yet encountered, 
 awaited his approach.*' 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN SWITZERLAND; DEFEAT OF THE RUSSIANS UNDER KORZAKOFF AT ZURICH, BY 
 MASSENA; SUWARROW ENTERS SWITZERLAND BY THE ST. GOTHARD ; HIS TROOPS MURMUR AT THE 
 SEVERITY OF THE PROGRESS; HE REANIMATES THEM, AND DRIVES AN ADVANCED BODY OF THK FRKNCH 
 BEFORE HIM; KORZAKOFF SUSTAINS A SECOND DEFEAT; SUWARROW IS COMPELLED TO RETREAT; THE 
 REMNANT OF HIS TROOPS REACH RUSSIA IN A MISERABLE CONDITION ; DEATH OF SUWARROW ; ILL- 
 SUCCESS OF THE UNITED ENGLISH AND RUSSIAN ARMS AGAINST THE FRENCH IN HOLLAND; PAUL WITH- 
 DRAWS FROM THE COALITION AGAINST FRANCE. 
 
 Napoleon (then General Buonaparte) had, 
 in 1797, seized upon a considerable portion 
 of Switzerland, and annexed it to the Cisal- 
 pine Republic, which was the name given by 
 France to the new government it conferred, 
 or imposed, on the Milanese and Mantuan 
 states. In the following year the French 
 spread over the greater part of Switzerland. 
 The design of the emperor Paul in join- 
 ing the war against France, partook of the 
 extravagance which characterised all his 
 other notions. Not content with issuing 
 a manifesto, stating that he and his allies 
 had resolved to destroy the impious govern- 
 ment that ruled that nation, he even con- 
 templated the accomplishment of a complete 
 and permanent league amongst all the sove- 
 reigns of Europe, to arrest the progress of 
 democratic principles, to restore the interests 
 that had been swept away by the French 
 arms, and to combine all denominations of 
 Christians in an universal semi-political 
 church, which should limit education to 
 
 • The writer of the " Historv of Russia," in Lard- 
 ner's Ci/clopcedia, observes, with an amusing gravity, 
 that " the military system of Paul must not be con- 
 founded with that of Frederic the Great, or of Mar- 
 shal Saxe, or that which was proposed by Griebert." 
 We certainly should not have dreamed, even in the 
 most disturbed and imaginative sleep, of there being 
 any chance of so remarkable a mistake. The writer 
 then proceeds to describe the " thing of shreds and 
 patches," dignified, by an excess of courtesy, with the 
 title of the '* military system of Paul." " It was," he 
 says, " wholly made up of a minute pedantry in re- 
 gulations for the handling of arms, for the position 
 of the fingers, the curve of the body on parade, the 
 number of buttons on the coat and gaiters, the shape 
 of the hat, the colour of the cockade, and such in- 
 ^58 
 
 the point it considered safe and prudent, 
 and constantly teach the doctrines of the 
 duty of passive obedience on the part of 
 subjects, and the divine and unlimited right 
 of monarchs to govern them in what manner 
 and with what severity they pleased. 
 
 While Suwarrow had, in the early part of 
 the campaign of 1798, been fighting side by 
 side with the Austrians against the French in 
 Italy, a Russian army, consisting of upwards 
 of 40,000 men, had entered Switzerland, 
 with the object of expelling the French 
 from that locality. It was placed under 
 the command of Rimski Korzakoff, one 
 of the favoured lovers of the late empress 
 Catherine. Like all who had shared her 
 smiles, Korzakoff soon found himself dis- 
 graced by the emperor Paul; but the wily 
 soldier regained the good opinion of the 
 capricious monarch by pretending an in- 
 tense admiration of the changes which the 
 latter introduced into the discipline of the 
 army,* and by calumniating the French 
 
 significant matters. These were the points that 
 absorbed his attention ; while more serious conside- 
 rations—the tactics and evolutions of the troops — 
 were left in a great measure to the genius of the 
 commander, who usually acted on the impulse of the 
 occasion, without being much indebted to any pre- 
 vious method or rules of art. It was on this ac- 
 count that Frederic the Great regarded the Russian 
 general, Butterlin, as one of the most dangerous of 
 his enemies. * One cannot,' he said, 'make any plan 
 of defence against that man ; he always acts in a 
 manner directly contrary to every rational supposi- 
 tion.' Perhaps, observes a contemporary writer, 
 Butterlin might have reasoned in reply, that if he 
 had« attacked that great master according to the 
 rules with which he was so well acquainted, be 
 
 soldiers, whom he arrogantly affected to 
 despise. Korzakoff's instructions were to 
 act in concert with the Archduke Charles, 
 then in Switzerland, for the general plan 
 of the CJimpaign, but to maintain the Rus- 
 sian army separately, that the fame of its 
 exploits should not be shared with the 
 Austrians, as it had been in Italy. The 
 national vanity and insolence of Korzakoff 
 will be at once estimated by the following 
 incident. In a conference held with the 
 archduke (who had proved himself an able 
 general), relative to the positions the allied 
 armies were to assume, the latter, placing 
 his finger upon a spot of the map, said — 
 " Here you must place a battalion." " A 
 company, you mean,'' responded the Rus- 
 sian. "No; a battalion." '* I understand," 
 rejoined Korzakoff, "an Austrian battalion, 
 or a Russian company." The vulgar infla- 
 tion which dictated this speech was soon to 
 receive a seasonable check. 
 
 The campaign had been opened in Swit- 
 zerland before the arrival of the Russians, 
 who were anxiously expected by the arch- 
 duke. The French army was under the 
 command of the calm and gifted Massena, 
 the brilliancy of whose military conceptions 
 was so highly appreciated by Napoleon, 
 that he gave him the flattering surname of 
 the "favoured child of victory."* Massena 
 had taken up a powerful position, from 
 which the Austrians had vainly attempted 
 to dislodge him ; and on the arrival of the 
 Russians, Korzakoff exhibited so much arro- 
 gance, that the archduke determined to 
 leave the field open to him. He accord- 
 ingly drew off the great body of his troops 
 for the Upper Rhine, leaving the limited 
 force of Korzakoff and Hotze, amounting to 
 50,000 men, to occupy a line forty miles in 
 length. The French and the Russians were 
 encamped on the opposite banks of the river 
 Limmat, from which they gazed at each 
 other with emotions of curiosity and wonder. 
 The feelings excited in the minds of the 
 French by the sight of their semi-savage 
 adversaries, may be understood by the fol- 
 lowing observations of a French general 
 who served in this famous campaign. He 
 observed — " I have seen on the right bank 
 
 would have been beaten ; and that, therefore, he in- 
 curred less risk by infringing them all. Even Suwar- 
 row frequently reversed the usual modes of proceed- 
 ing ; choosing the most difficult routes, assailing the 
 strongest points, and abandoning the happiest posi- 
 tions, for movements which other generals would 
 not have adopted except in cases of extreme neces- 
 sity." 
 
 of the Limmat, while our army kept the 
 left, posts of Cossacks squatted together in 
 the most grotesque manner. They were 
 seen to eat raw the aliments which are 
 very carefully dressed in all civilised coun- 
 tries, such as meat, pumpkins, cucumbers, &c. 
 The French music came occasionally, and 
 played warlike airs on the banks — not long 
 since so happy — of the beautiful Limmat. 
 At such times, these Cossacks would rise 
 spontaneously to dance in a ring, while the 
 sentinel that they had in front stood leaning 
 on his lance, motionless as a statue. On 
 seeing, for the first time, these strange 
 soldiers, 1 recalled to mind the travels and 
 the Hottentots of Le Vaillant, or of Abys- 
 sinian Bruce. These troops are ill-attended 
 to, badly clothed, and appear more des- 
 picable than they really are. There is a 
 marked difference between the Cossacks 
 and regular regiments; and it is diflBcult 
 to be conceived, on seeing them in the 
 same camp, that they were calculated for 
 understanding each other and serving to- 
 gether. But there exists a difference still 
 more striking between one officer and 
 another of the same regiment. As much 
 education, elegance, and politeness as you 
 will perceive in a certain class of Russian 
 officers, so much will you be surprised at 
 the contrary in another class. Those of 
 the latter are only distinguished from the 
 simple Cossack by the distinctive mark of 
 their rank." 
 
 A modern writer, commenting upon these 
 remarks, observes, that the author of them 
 " evidently underrated the military quali- 
 fications of the uncivilised Cossacks, whom 
 he seems to have regarded more with the 
 eve of an artist than a soldier: but his 
 remarks serve to show the opinions of the 
 French concerning their uncouth adver- 
 saries. Their position, and the hopes by 
 which thev were severally animated at this 
 moment, cannot be contemplated without 
 feelings of the deepest interest. The Rus- 
 sians, for nearly a century past, had been 
 accustomed to success. Alternately tri- 
 umphant in the north and in the east, they 
 now found themselves encamped in the 
 south, elated with a blind confidence that 
 
 • Disraeli, in his novel of Coningshy, observes, that 
 " several of the French marshals, and the most famous 
 — Massena for example — was a Hebrew; his real name 
 was Manasseh." Unfortunately for the reputation 
 of his race, Massena acquired great odium by the 
 constant exhibition of that insatiable avarice which 
 is attributed to the Jews as the great vice of their 
 character. 
 
 359 
 
 i' 
 
 n ' 
 
 ■ I 
 
 f'\ 
 
 . 11 
 
 t 
 
TIIE RUSSIANS AT ZURICH.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1799. 
 
 A.D. 1799.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [defeat of the Russians. 
 
 here also their progress must be a succes- 
 sion of victories; an anticipation which 
 was doubly strengthened by their religious 
 fanaticism and their hatred of republican 
 France. The French, on the other hand, 
 were excited by the proud recollections of 
 those splendid acquisitions which they had 
 won during the war; of their grand do- 
 mestic assertion of popular theories over 
 the monarchical principle ; and, above all, 
 by the wonderful resistance they had main- 
 tained against a formidable union of powers, 
 each of which was, singly, an antagonist 
 more than equal to themselves in territorial 
 strength and fiscal resources. That the 
 course of their bold campaigns was darkened 
 by occasional disasters, and sometimes even 
 clouded by the darkest reverses of fortune, 
 had no other effect than to render them more 
 circumspect, to give them a more combined 
 system of action, and to draw into play 
 more vividly that energetic spirit of personal 
 courage and national honour which, on their 
 side, counterbalanced the ferocity and reck- 
 lessness of their opponents. They possessed, 
 besides, this signal advantage— that they 
 were headed by a celebrated general, the 
 companion-in-arms of Buonaparte, upon 
 whose crest victory had frequently alighted ; 
 while the Russians were commanded by an 
 officer who had never distinguished himself 
 in the field, and who was known even to 
 his own troops only by his punctuality upon 
 parade.^' 
 
 These brief reflections have led us, for a 
 few moments, from our narrative, in which 
 we left the French and the Russians en- 
 camped on opposite sides of the clear and 
 rapid river Limmat. Suwarrow had aban- 
 doned the plains of Piedmont, and arranged 
 to join his countryman Korzakoff, and the 
 Austrian general, Hotze, at Zurich. For 
 this purpose he crossed the Alps and Mount 
 St. Gothard, intending to dash, with his 
 usual impetuosity, on the flanks of the 
 enemy. This movement was anticipated 
 by Massena, who resolved to strike a de- 
 cisive blow before the intended junction 
 could be effected. 
 
 Massena's plan was to make a false 
 attack upon the town of Zurich, and then, 
 by crossing further down the river, to attack 
 Korzakoff at the same time both in front 
 and rear. By this movement the garrison 
 at Zurich would be cut off from its right 
 wing down the river, while it was alreadv 
 separated^ from its left by the lake. On the 
 15th of September, the French crossed the 
 360 
 
 river in pontoons, under cover of their 
 masked batteries, which played with great 
 effect upon the Russian troops, who were 
 drawn up on the other side of the stream. 
 The latter were driven from their position ; 
 and although they twice rallied, were at 
 length shot or bayoneted in heaps. 
 
 A body of 15,000 French were thus estab- 
 lished on the right bank of the river. At 
 the same time, a feigned attack on the left 
 created a diversion of the Russian forces on 
 the lower Limmat, while a dashing demon- 
 stration against Zurich drew the bulk of the 
 Russian centre to that point. The French, 
 who had crossed the river, carried Hurg 
 and the heights on the north-west of Zurich ; 
 and Korzakoff then discerned that he was 
 placed in a position of imminent peril, both 
 in rear and front. A desperate sally, which 
 he made at the head of 5,000 men,* had no 
 effect in improving his situation. Retreat 
 appeared imperative; yet the only road by 
 which it could be effected was in possession 
 of the French troops. Within the walls of 
 Zurich the allies were thrown into the 
 utmost confusion. As night approached, 
 the numerous watchfires on the adjacent 
 hills discovered to the besieged the increas- 
 ing lines of the enemy drawing closer every 
 hour around them; while the bombs, falling 
 fast in the crowded streets, choked up with 
 waggons and horsemen, the dead and the 
 dying, with the cavalry trampling over the 
 bodies of the wounded in their despairitig 
 efforts to force their way outwards, in the 
 vain chance of making head aga^ist the 
 enemy, whose victorious shouts were ringing 
 in their ears— formed, altogether, a scene of 
 horror such as was not witnessed before 
 throughout the whole of this devastating 
 war. 
 
 In this state of things, the French gen- 
 eral summoned the garrison to surrender ; 
 but Korzakoff made no reply. The French, 
 therefore, passed the night in preparing for 
 an assault on the following morning ; and 
 the Russians in making arrangements for 
 a last and terrible effort to effect a passage 
 through the French lines, and gain the 
 road to Winthenthur, the only practicable 
 line of retreat. In the course of the 
 night, the Russians were somewhat cheered 
 by the arrival of two strong Austrian 
 battalions, and of the whole right wing 
 of the army, hitherto detained by the 
 feigned attack of the French ; but which, 
 on learning the real siate of affairs in 
 Zurich, had, by a long circuit, evaded the 
 
 outposts of the enemy, and succeeded in 
 reaching head-quarters. 
 
 At break of day the Russians formed 
 into order of battle, and dashed with im- 
 petuosity against the French division sta- 
 tioned on the German road. A furious 
 contest followed, in which the Russians suc- 
 ceeded in cutting a passage before them. 
 They then made arrangements for a retreat, 
 leaving only a small rear-guard to defend 
 the ramparts until the mass of the troops 
 should have passed out of the city. Though 
 the French were at first compelled to retire 
 before the dense ranks of the Russians, 
 which advanced with mechanical regularity, 
 yet the sharpshooters of Massena, alternately 
 discharging and retreating, together with 
 the showers of grapeshot poured against 
 the solid square of the Russians by the 
 flying artillery of their enemy (which gal- 
 loped up in the intervals of the Russian 
 fire, and then returned to reload in a safe 
 position), committed terrible havoc. Re- 
 iterated charges of this kind at length 
 threw the Russians into confusion, which 
 was contributed to by the inexperience of 
 the arrogant Korzakoff, who utterly lost his 
 presence of mind in conflict with an army 
 which he had affected to despise. Un- 
 accustomed to the skilful manoeuvres of the 
 French, he soon became bewildered bv the 
 rapidity and multiplicity of their move- 
 ments; and his irresolution produced first 
 uncertainty, and then panic. Consterna- 
 tion spread from the front to the rear 
 of the Russian army, which abandoned 
 its ammunition-waggons and bajj:gage, 100 
 pieces of cannon, and the military chest, 
 containin«( 60,000 Dutch ducats in specie, 
 and 300,000 florins in silver. 
 
 The battle was, in fact, decided, and the 
 Russians were defeated ; but the French 
 rushed into the town, and the conflict was 
 prolonged in the streets and in the ap- 
 proaches to the ramparts. At length, the 
 few troops which remained in the garrison 
 laid down their arms, but not before the 
 ingenious and benevolent physiognomist, 
 Lavater, was shot, while animating the sol- 
 diery and aiding the sufferers.* The Rus- 
 sian army might have been annihilated, but 
 that some information which Massena pos- 
 sessed withheld him from pursuit. The 
 dispirited Korzakoff therefore effected his 
 
 • The death of Lavater is commonly attributed to 
 
 a French grenadier; but it is also said that this 
 
 man was not one of the enemy, and that the act was 
 
 that of an assassin. It is further supposed that 
 
 VOL. I. 3 A 
 
 retreat, but not without a loss of 8,000 
 men in killed and wounded, besides 5,000 
 in prisoners, and all his baggage and am- 
 munition. It is considered that this memo- 
 rable battle of Zurich saved France from 
 invasion by the allied powers, and con- 
 tributed to the subsequent dissolution of 
 the coalition which had been formed be- 
 tween the Russians and the Austrians. 
 The victory of the French was followed by 
 another triumph. The Austrian force, en- 
 camped higher up on the Linth, was taken 
 by surprise by Marshal Soult, and com- 
 pelled to retreat beyond the Rhine, leaving 
 Hotze (its general) and many dead on the 
 field, 3,000 of its number prisoners in the 
 hands of the enemy, together with the 
 whole of its baggage, and twenty pieces of 
 cannon. 
 
 Massena now prepared to deal with Su- 
 warrow, who, while these misfortunes were 
 falling upon his lieutenants, was toiling 
 through the acclivities and gorges of the 
 Swiss Alps, every step of his way purchased 
 by the lives of his vainly-sacrificed soldiers. 
 Massena had detached Lecourbe, with about 
 4,000 light troops, to harass and impede 
 the advance of the Russian fiehl-marshal. 
 This task they performed in a remarkably 
 efficient manner. Posted in detached par- 
 ties behind jutting rocks and scattered trees, 
 they poured down a murderous fire upon 
 the advancing foe. The winding and pre- 
 cipitous paths of the St. Gothard were diflS- 
 cult of ascent under any circumstances; and 
 now, when covered by platoons of musketry, 
 the Russians believed them to be impreg- 
 nable. Exhausted by privation and fatigue, 
 they began to murmur; some refused to 
 advance any further ; while others turned 
 and fied before the shower of bullets which 
 was directed against them. On this occa- 
 sion, Suwarrow, amazed and angry, ex- 
 hibited an instance both of the wild energy 
 which ever characterised him, and of the 
 extraordinary influence which he exercised 
 over the minds of his troops. Having 
 caused a grave to be dug in the road, at the 
 foot of the ascent, he threw himself into it, 
 exclaiming — " Cover me with earth, and 
 here leave your general. You are no 
 longer my children ; I am no longer your 
 father. I have nothing more to do than 
 to die V' The soldiers were deeply affected 
 
 Lavater knew the man, but, from a Christian spirit 
 of forgiveness, never betrayed him. Lavater lin- 
 gered a long time under the effects of his wound, 
 and did not die until the beginning of 180L 
 
 361 
 
 
 t f\ 
 
 ] » 
 
 I' " 
 
 'i 
 
 , \\ 
 
REVERSES OF SUWARROW.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [ad. 1799. 
 
 by this dramatic scene, and, crowding 
 round the veteran, entreated to be led up 
 the mountain. At the word, Suwarrovv 
 put himself at their head, and impetuously 
 dashed up the path. The small body of 
 French slowly yielded way, and were driven 
 across the summit of the St. Gothard. 
 Throwing their artillery into the river 
 Reuss, they retired down the valley of 
 Schollonen, and caused another obstruction 
 to the progress of the Russians by destroy- 
 ing the Devil's Bridge. 
 
 So impetuous was the advance of the 
 Russians, and so unskilfully was it con- 
 ducted, that when they arrived the next 
 morning at the broken bridge, hundreds of 
 the leading files were forced over the edge 
 of the abyss into the Reuss, by the pressure 
 of the rear, which continued its mechanical 
 march, unaware of the impediment which 
 retarded the advance of the front. The 
 difficulty caused by the broken bridge 
 being surmounted, the Russians at lengtli 
 emerged from the Alps at Altorf, only, 
 however, to find their progress arrested by 
 the wide expanse of the Lake of Lucerne, 
 where neither the Austrians nor the pro- 
 mised transport boats (which had been 
 seized and destroyed by the French) awaited 
 them. Suwarrovv, almost mad with passion 
 at what he regarded as the neglect of his 
 subordinates, was compelled to lead his 
 troops through the ditlicult defile of the 
 Shachenthal, which rendered it necessary to 
 abandon the artillery and stores. Two 
 days of great fatigue and suffering brought 
 his worn and dispirited troops to the fer- 
 tile valley of the Mutten. There he re- 
 ceived intelligence of the defeat of Korza- 
 koff and the death of Hotze. Suwarrovv, 
 burning with rage and mortification, sent a 
 messenger to Korzakoff, informing him of 
 the arrival of his superior, directing him to 
 march forward, and declaring that he would 
 hold him responsible with his head for any 
 further retrograde movement. 
 
 Korzakoff, stung by this imperious com- 
 mand, and, perhaps, alarmed by the threat 
 of the general, reorganised his broken 
 forces, and turning almost despairingly 
 upon the advancing French, gave them 
 battle near Constance. The Russians were 
 again worsted, though their cavalry behaved 
 with great spirit; and, after being thrice 
 broken in furious charges against a dense 
 body of infantry, they rallied under a de- 
 structive fire of grapeshot aud musketry. 
 But for the Archduke Charles, who hastened 
 
 to the assistance of Korzakoff's army, it 
 miglit have been annihilated. 
 
 Suwarrovv, after a terrible march, in 
 which he lost numbers of his men, who 
 dropped from exhaustion, or lost their foot- 
 ing on the slippery ridges aud fell into the 
 ravines below, found that the Austrians 
 whom he had expected had suffered too 
 much to be able to join him. The glory of 
 the famous Russian general was on the 
 wane, and he was entangled in difficulties 
 which his wild energy was impotent to 
 overcome. It seemed as if not merely the 
 French, but nature itself, was in arms 
 against him; that the silent mountains 
 became conscious and grimly mocked his 
 efforts. In their sublime presence an armv 
 sunk into strangely small and insignificant 
 dimensions, and a raging general was almost 
 as helpless as a famishing wolf 
 
 Suwarrow now found himself in the 
 heart of the Muttenthal, where the French 
 were rapidly drawing their lines around 
 him, and enclosing him within a circle 
 from which escape seemed impossible. His 
 troops were ragged and barefoot from much 
 marching, disheartened by the mass of 
 difficulties which weighed upon them, 
 and almost without provisions. Suwarrovv 
 trusted to receive reinforcements from the 
 emperor Paul, but none were sent. Having 
 waited for some time in sullen inactivity^ 
 varied by fierce imprecations upon his foes, 
 Suwarrow called a council of war, and pro- 
 posed to force his way towards Schwytz, in 
 the rear of the French position. His offi- 
 cers expostulated against a step which he 
 himself felt to be dangerous even beyond 
 rashness, and advised that he should adopt 
 the more prudent course of retreating into 
 the Glarus and the Orisons. The veteran 
 at length yielded to what he felt to be a 
 painful necessity, and, for the first time in 
 his life, gave an order to retreat. So 
 deeply was he wounded at this conclusion 
 of his exploits, that he burst into tears after 
 he had done so. His reputation for invinci- 
 bility was extinguished. Yet, his resolu- 
 tion once taken, he actea upon it with his 
 usual energy. Massena vainly endeavoured 
 to draw him out of the defiles, in the hope 
 of bringing his dispirited forces to an en- 
 gagement, and of taking him prisoner. 
 His retreat was conducted with consum- 
 mate skill; keeping his enemies at bay 
 like a lion, and compelling them to m:in- 
 tain a respectful distance by the fiercei ess 
 of his attitude. On one occasion, when the 
 
 A.D. 
 
 1799.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [death or SUWARROW. 
 
 French assailed the rear-guard of the 
 Russians, the latter turned upon them with 
 such desperate fury, that they were repelled 
 with the loss of 1,000 men killed, as many 
 more in prisoners, and five pieces of cannon. 
 Suwarrow permitted his men a brief 
 repose at Glarus, and then resumed his 
 retreat over the rugged summits of the 
 Alps. As he advanced the difficulties in- 
 creased. The paths were choked with snow, 
 and the men destitute of stores to sustain 
 their strength. No covering could be ob- 
 tained to shelter them from the inclemency 
 of the wintry tempests, or trees to make 
 fires to cheer their dreary bivouacs. Num- 
 bers perished from cold and famine ; but 
 the rest, impelled by an inexorable neces- 
 sity, yet pushed on. On attaining the sum- 
 mit of the ridge, a prospect still more dis- 
 heartening revealed itself to them. Every- 
 where mountains covered to their pinnacles 
 with snow appeared to rise around them. 
 The heavy clouds that floated over the 
 peaks of the Tyrolese Alps, revealed by 
 glimpses, as they rolled off at intervals, 
 the seemingly interminable extent of these 
 mighty mountains; and there was not a 
 single sign of life or vegetation, not a 
 wreath of smoke, nor a trackway visible, 
 to afford them a direction out of this hope- 
 less situation. During the night, most of 
 the unfortunate soldiers had to sleep un- 
 covered in the snow ; and it was by a 
 succession of fatigues and miseries which 
 exceed description, that they gained the 
 valley of the Rhine, from whence the 
 remnant of that once fine army limped 
 back to Russia, half-clothed, without bag- 
 gage or artillery, and presenting in their 
 wretchedness a most humiliating spectacle 
 
 Suwarrow, in the natural pride of a 
 career that had never known defeat, had 
 talked of conquering France, and promised 
 to enter Paris at the head of his triumphant 
 troops. He returned a baffled, though not 
 conquered, fugitive. Of a fine army nothing 
 remained but a ragged and famishing troop, 
 and a stain had passed over the military 
 glory of the empire. His successes in Italy 
 could not console him for this lamentable 
 termination of the campaign. He became 
 morose and sullen, and accused the Aus- 
 trians, and even the archduke, of treachery. 
 Paul had given orders for the reception of 
 the veteran general at St. Petersburg, with 
 the intention that he should make a tri- 
 umphal entry into the capital. Apartments 
 were even prepared for him in the imperial 
 
 palace. But when the capricious emperor 
 learnt the result of the campaign in Swit- 
 zerland, his complacency was succeeded by 
 extreme irritation. By the time Suwarrow 
 arrived at Riga, on his road to St. Peters- 
 burg, he was informed that he had fiillen 
 into disgrace. Paul attributed to him a 
 great part of the reverses which had taken 
 place in Switzerland, rejected his represen- 
 tations, and refused to give him a fresh 
 command. 
 
 This last blow proved fatal to Suwarrow; 
 the veteran was crushed beneath a load of 
 humiliation too great for him to bear. He 
 proceeded to St. Petersburg, and entered 
 the city furtively in the dusk of evening; 
 no longer the idol of the populace and the 
 pride of his country, but a disgraced and 
 unregarded man. He was supported from 
 his carriage to his bed, which he never left 
 again. Those whom he had recently re- 
 garded as his friends held aloof from him 
 and such was the dread entertained of in- 
 curring the anger of the emperor, that 
 even the Countess Zuboff, the favourite 
 daughter of Suwarrow, towards whom he 
 had ever shown the strongest affection, 
 suffered an unworthv fear to withhold her 
 from the presence of her miserable and 
 dying father. Paul afterwards softened to- 
 wards the dying veteran, and permitted the 
 grand-dukes to visit him. He was, how- 
 ever, far past that point at which the 
 smiles of princes could have acted as a 
 restorative. His jnind frequently wandered, 
 and after lingering until the 10th of May, 
 1800, he died at the age of seventy, after 
 expressing a wish that a portrait of the 
 empress Catherine, which he had worn con- 
 stantly about his person, might still rest 
 on his bosom in the grave. The greatest 
 blemish of his character was his utter dis- 
 regard of life in the execution of his duty; 
 while his merits may be expressed in the 
 sentence, that he is one of the few generals 
 who never lost a battle. His funeral was 
 conducted with great solemnity, and 15,000 
 of his soldiers accompanied his body to its 
 last resting-place. 
 
 PauPs anger was not appeased by the 
 disgrace of Suwarrow. The contemptible 
 monarch, with that absence of generous or 
 enlarged feeling which characterised almost 
 every act of his life, poured out his wrath 
 upon the suffering troops who had so faith- 
 fully served him, and whose bravery and 
 endurance had extorted admiration even 
 from their foes. With an ungrateful and 
 
 363 
 
 I;. I 
 
 II 
 
 S 
 
EXPEDITION TO HOLLAND.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1799. 
 
 insolent forgetfulness of their services, Paul 
 endeavoured, by an imperial order, to dis- 
 grace the memory of the officers wlio had 
 perished in that fatal campaign. All, too, 
 who were missing — that is, who were pri- 
 soners in France; a list which included some 
 of the bravest men in the service — he caifsed 
 to be broken as deserters. As to the cap- 
 tive soldiers, he abandoned them to their 
 fate, and refused to adopt any means of 
 promoting an exchange, or otherwise to 
 alleviate the misery of their situation. One 
 consolation only remained to him in the 
 matter, and that arose from the belief that 
 the reverses of Russia were solely brought 
 about by the jealousy and treachery of the 
 Austrians. 
 
 The disappointments of the emperor Paul, 
 in connection with this campaign, did not 
 end with the defeats and disasters expe- 
 rienced by his armies in Switzerland. He 
 had recently concluded a treaty with Eng- 
 land, by which he agreed to send a Russian 
 force to co-operate with the British in an 
 attack on the French in Holland. This 
 country was selected for attack because, of 
 all those in possession of republican France, 
 it lay nearest to the shores of England, and 
 also because its means of defence were in- 
 considerable. It was arranged that England 
 should furnish 13,000, and Russia 17,000, 
 men. Besides furnishing her complement 
 of troops, England was to pay .€44,000 per 
 month for the expenses of the Russians, 
 and to employ her whole naval force to 
 support the operations. On the 13th of 
 August, Sir Ralph Abercrombie, who was 
 entrusted with the chief command, sailed 
 with the first division, consisting of 12,000 
 British troops embarked in transports, to 
 join Lord Duncan, who was then cruising 
 in the North Seas. The fort of the Helder 
 was immediately abandoned by its garrison, 
 and taken possession of by Abercrombie. 
 The Dutch fleet also surrendered, and hoisted 
 the Orange flag. General Brune, the French 
 commander, with a force of 25,000 men, 
 attacked the English, with the hope of dis- 
 lodging them before the arrival of the Rus- 
 sians, but was repulsed with a loss of 2,000 
 men. Abercrombie was, nevertheless, left 
 for a whole month in a very critical situa- 
 tion, but his inferior force resolutely stood 
 its ground. In September the Russian 
 army arrived, under General Hermann, and 
 the remainder of the English force, accom- 
 panied by the Duke of York. From this 
 time nothing went well; and every difficulty 
 364 
 
 which befel the English appeared in some 
 stranjje way to arise from the shortcomings 
 of the Russians. In the first battle that 
 was fought after the junction of these ill- 
 sorted allies, the English succeeded in driv- 
 ing back the French, and in taking all the 
 villages that lay before them. This partial 
 success was, however, neutralised by the 
 reverses of the Russians. Generar Her- 
 mann's troops fell, after a short time, into 
 confusion. The French, encouraj^ed at the 
 si^ht, assailed them furiously both in front 
 and flank, and drove them, at the point of 
 the bayonet, behind the allied intrench- 
 ments. The Russian general was taken 
 prisoner; 3,500 of his men were killed or 
 wounded, and twenty-six pieces of cannon 
 and seven standards captured. 
 
 When this news reached the Duke of 
 York, he withdrew his men from the pur- 
 suit of the enemy, and attempted to retrieve 
 the misfortune of his allies. It was in vain ; 
 and after a sharp struggle, he was compelled 
 to retire within the fortified lines. 
 
 Other engagements followed, not dis- 
 honourable to our troops, but disastrous 
 in their results, and rather disgraceful in 
 point of generalship. Every day the pros- 
 pects of the allies became more hopeless ; 
 and the approach of the autumnal rains 
 in a country so exposed to inundations that, 
 in ancient times, it was doubted whether 
 the inhabitants belonged to the land or to 
 the sea, raised up new obstacles to the 
 allies. By the 17th of October, the Duke 
 of York, baffled in an attempt upon Haar- 
 lem, was induced to conclude a convention, 
 by which it was agreed that the English 
 and Russians should be allowed to embark 
 without molestation, on condition that 8,000 
 prisoners of war, French and Batavians, 
 taken before that campaign, and then pri- 
 soners of war, should he set at liherty. 
 
 Ihe ffiilure of this expedition under such 
 ignoble circumstances, especially as regarded 
 the Russians, and the scattering of the latter 
 by their allies over Guernsey and Jersey, 
 the inhabitants of which continually re- 
 minded them of their reverses, excited the 
 irritable Paul almost to frenzy. He applied 
 the most opprobrious terms to the coalition, 
 of which he had been the most active 
 member, and rudely treated the English 
 and Austrian ambassadors at his court, 
 refusing to confer with them, and express- 
 ing a desire that they should leave St. 
 Petersburg. He even attributed the dis- 
 asters in Holland to the English, as he 
 
 A.D. 1800.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [paul's change of policy. 
 
 had before accused the Austrians of the 
 unfortunate results of the campaign in 
 Switzerland. Not satisfied with treating 
 his allies with an insulting contempt, he 
 even tacitly withdrew from the coalition 
 without publishing his reasons for doing 
 so. The sudden withdrawal of his troops 
 from Italv — where Suwarrow, shortly before 
 his death, had proposed to attempt, with 
 the Austrians, a desperate scheme, with 
 the ol)ject of repairing the calamities that 
 had befallen him — happily broke up the 
 alliance between Austria and Russia. Paul, 
 in fact, saw, for the first time, that he 
 had committea an error in assistinj; the 
 
 Austrians in Italy against the French. 
 What he proposed to himself in this alli- 
 ance was, the extinction of revolutionary 
 and republican principles, What he actu- 
 ally, though, of course, unconsciously and 
 unintentionally did, was to promote the 
 interests of Austria in Italv, and thus dis- 
 turb the balance of power on the very side 
 on which he had interfered to correct it. 
 Paul, therefore, when he perceived this, 
 broke up the alliance abruptly, and, in the 
 fury arising from a consciousness of error, 
 extended his anger to every person in con- 
 nection with it, against whom any excuse for 
 contempt or punishment could be devised. 
 
 :;,ri 
 
 II 
 
 t 'I 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV 
 
 PAUL, HAVING ABANDONED HIS ALLIES, CONCEIVES AN ADMIRATION FOR NAPOLEON; MALTA SURRENDERED 
 TO THE ENGLISH; PAUL SEIZES THE BRITISH TRADING VESSELS IN THE RUSSIAN HARBOURS; MARITIME 
 COALITION OF THE NORTHERN POWERS AGAINST ENGLAND; BATTLE OF COPENHAGEN; TERROR CAUSED 
 BY THE TYRANNY OF PAUL; FORMATION OF A CONSPIRACY TO DEPOSE HIM; THE GRAND-DUKKS ALEXAN- 
 DER AND CONSTANTINE ARE ADMITTED TO IT; MURDER OF THE EMPEROR; ESTIMATE OF HIS CHARACTER ; 
 DISSOLUTION OF THE NORTHERN COALITION; REFLECTIONS UPON THE DESIGN OF PAUL AND NAPOLEON 
 ON THE BRITISH EMPIRE IN INDIA. 
 
 M 
 
 Another change had taken place in the 
 government of France. Napoleon, on his 
 return from Egypt in October, 1799, had 
 overthrown the Directory, and attained the 
 dignity of First Consul, or chief magistrate 
 of Fratjce. He also aimed at the recon- 
 struction of a monarchy ; and, towards the 
 end of January, 1800, removed from the 
 palace of the Luxembourg to that of the 
 Tuileries, into which royal residence he 
 made his public entrance amidst the accla- 
 mations of the multitude. 
 
 Probably the emperor Paul divined the 
 intentions of Napoleon, and saw that the 
 great soldier would endeavour to raise, in 
 his own person, a new monarchical dynasty 
 upon the ruins of the ancient royalty of 
 France. Doubtless Paul would have pre- 
 ferred that the sceptre should have remained 
 in the hands of the Bourbons, than that it 
 should pass into those of a military adven- 
 turer. Yet, to the mind of Paul, anv form 
 of government was better than a republic; 
 any principles preferable to those of the 
 revolution. 
 
 No sooner had Paul violated the compact 
 into which he had entered with Austria 
 
 and with England, than a remarkable 
 change took place in his feelings towards 
 France. He appeared impressed with a 
 sense of respect, if not of admiration, for 
 Napoleon, and by no means indisposed to 
 enter into a treaty of peace with France. 
 This conduct was perfectly in accordance 
 with the passionate and fickle nature of the 
 northern autocrat. Napoleon was not slow 
 to perceive and to profit by this change of 
 sentiment on the part of Paul ; for he was 
 well aware of the immense importance of 
 neutralising^ the hostilitv of Russia. An 
 opportunity at once offered which enabled 
 Napoleon to make a graceful advance to- 
 wards conciliation. The Enj^lish had re- 
 fused to redeem the Russian soldiers, 
 amounting to about six or seven thousand, 
 who had been made prisoners in their ser- 
 vice, and were then in captivity in France. 
 Napoleon, therefore, set them free, without 
 either exchange or ransom. He even went 
 so far as to restore to them their arms and 
 standards, and provide them with new 
 clothing in the uniform of their respective 
 regiments. In sending them back to their 
 own country, he also forwarded a letter to 
 
 365 
 
 n 
 
 Hi 
 
 i 
 f 1 
 
 i 
 
 r 
 
SEIZURE OF BRITISH VESSELS.] HISTORY OF TPIE 
 
 [a.d. 1800. 
 
 the Russian minister, saving:, "that he was 
 urnvilling to suffer such brave soldiers as 
 these Russians were, to remain longer away 
 from their native land on account of the 
 Enp^lish." Such an act of courtesy neces- 
 sarily led to expressions of warm acknow- 
 ledgment on the part of the emperor, and to 
 an interchange of friendly offices. Shortly 
 afterwards the emperor addressed a letter 
 to the illustrious Corsican, in which he 
 wrote :—'' Citizen, Chief Consul,— I do not 
 write to you to discuss the rights of men or 
 citizens ; every country governs itself as it 
 pleases. Whenever I see at the head of a 
 nation a man who knows liow to rule and 
 liow to fight, my heart is attracted towards 
 him. I write to acquaint you of my dis- 
 satisfaction with England, who violates 
 every article of the law of nations, and has 
 no guide but her egotism and her interest. 
 I wish to unite with you to put an end to 
 the unjust proceedingsof that government." 
 This flattering letter led to a regular corres- 
 pondence between the emperor and the 
 chief consul; and the latter took advantage 
 of it to nurse into being the naval, conven- 
 tion which subsequently took place among 
 the northern powers. 
 
 The recent allies of Paul were astonished 
 at his caprice ; but he was far too irritated 
 against them to attach any importance to 
 their opinions on such a point. Napoleon, 
 now at liberty to direct his arms chiefly 
 against the Austrians, inflicted a severe 
 defeat upon them at the battle of Marengo 
 (14th June, 1800) ; an event which wonder- 
 fully consolidated his power, and increased 
 his influence over the minds of the people of 
 France. The government of Naples was in 
 imminent danger from the victorious troops 
 of the republic ; and the queen of that city 
 went in person to St. Petersburg, and im- 
 plored the intercession of the emperor with 
 Napoleon on behalf of her little kingdom. 
 Paul felt flattered by the application, and 
 promised to use all his influence with the 
 first consul for the attainment of her wislies. 
 To give additional weight to his mediation, 
 he sent Lowescheff*, an officer of his house- 
 hold, to the court of the Tuileries. The 
 envoy was received with extraordinary dis- 
 tinction ; and, in reply to his application. 
 Napoleon consented to spare Naples, and 
 undertook alone to regulate the destinies of 
 that kingdom. His first step with respect 
 to it, was to close the ports of Naples and 
 Sicily against English merchant vessels as 
 well as ships of war. 
 366 
 
 While incidents like these created a good 
 understanding between the first consul and 
 the emperor, the breach between the latter 
 and the English government was consider- 
 ably widened. In the September of 1800, 
 the French, who had been c.osely blockaded 
 within the fortifications of Malta for two 
 years, surrendered the island to the English, 
 in whose possession it has since remained. 
 Paul had caused himself o be elected 
 grand-master of the almost extinct order of 
 St. John, by the knights resident in Russia. 
 He therefore put forth a claim to the 
 sovereignty of the island, and asserted that 
 the conquest of it by the English was an 
 infringement of the*^ convention of 1798; 
 which, he said, contained a stipulation that 
 the island should be given up to the order 
 of St. John of Jerusalem. As no such 
 stipulation was contained in the treaty, the 
 demand that the island should be surren- 
 dered to Russia was refused. 
 
 Paul was furious, and at once proceeded 
 to an act of most unwarrantable violence. 
 He seized all the British vessels in the 
 Russian harbours, amounting to nearly three 
 hundred, together with their valuable car- 
 goes. As to the crews, they were sent into 
 the interior of Russia, and allowed only a 
 few copecks* each a day for their support. 
 All the English property on shore, also, the 
 emperor put under sequestration ; and a 
 hw vessels at Narva having weighed 
 anchor and escaped, he was so incensed, 
 that he burnt the remainder. Not only 
 were these outrages contrary to the usages 
 of all civilised states, but they were in direct 
 violation of an article in an existing treaty 
 between Russia and England ; by which it 
 was expressly stipulated that, in the event 
 of a rupture between the two powers, no 
 embargo should be laid on the vessels of 
 either, but that the merchants, on both 
 sides, should be allowed a year to take away 
 or dispose of their goods. 
 
 This flagrant proceeding on the part of 
 Paul, was the first outbreak of that spirit of 
 combination against England which was 
 resolving itself into the shape of a maritime 
 coalition of the northern powers. In the 
 December of 1800, a maritime convention 
 was completed, and signed by Russia, 
 Sweden, and Denmark, and, subsequently, 
 by Prussia. By this, the right of search of 
 neutral vessels, claimed and exercised by 
 England, was declared to be an attempt 
 
 • A copeck is something less in value than an 
 English halfpenny. 
 
 A.D. 1801.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [naval coalttion. 
 
 against the sovereign rights of the several 
 powers forming the confederacy; which 
 promised to assemble a squadron of the 
 four Baltic powers, to protect their mer- 
 chant vessels, and resist any attempt at 
 searching them.* 
 
 The British government regarded this 
 proceeding with jealousy and indignation. 
 When George III. met the recently opened 
 parliament, on the 2nd of February, 1801, 
 he adverted, in his speech from the throne, 
 to the Uihappy course of events on the 
 continent, and anno'inced that a fresh storm 
 was gathering in the north; that the court 
 of St. Petersburg had already proceeded to 
 commit outrages against the ships, property, 
 and persons of his subjects; and that a con- 
 vention had been concluded bv that court 
 with those of Copenhagen and Stockholm, 
 the object of which was to renew their 
 former engagement for re-establishing, by 
 force of arms, a new code of maritime laws, 
 inconsistent with the rights, and hostile to 
 the best interests, of this countrv. He 
 added, that he had taken the earliest mea- 
 sures to repel the aggressions of this hostile 
 confederacy, and expressed his confidence 
 that both houses of parliament would aff'ord 
 him eff*ectual support in his firm determi- 
 nation to maintain to the utmost, against 
 every attack, the naval rights and interests 
 of his empire. Some members of the oppo- 
 sition recommended conciliatorv measures, 
 and even the suspension of the right of 
 search, or a tacit assent to the principles of 
 the armed neutrality, which the empress 
 Catherine had first raised against us during 
 the American war, and which the northern 
 powers were now about to revive — hinting at 
 the terrible consequences w^hich might arise 
 from the closing of the corn ports on the 
 Baltic. Pitt expressed a regret that mem- 
 bers of the legislature should increase the 
 difficulties of the nation by starting doubts 
 on the question of its right of search ; ob- 
 serving, that it was singularly unfortunate 
 that these gentlemen should first have began 
 to doubt when the enemy began to arm. 
 
 • This coalition was mainly promoted by Napo- 
 leon, who, aiming at the destruction of the naval 
 supremacy of England, contended for the maritime 
 rit^hts of the neutral powers of Europe, which he 
 rested on the following principles : — 1. The sea is 
 the dominion of all nations. 2. The flag covers the 
 merchandise. 3. A neutral ship may be visited by 
 a belligerent vessel, to ascertain its flag and cargo, so 
 far as to be satisfied that it carries no contraband 
 goods. 4. Contraband goods are considered to be 
 military stores only. 5. Neutral ships may be pre- 
 vented from entering a place that is besieged, if the 
 
 Preparations were immediately made for 
 sending the British fieet into the Baltic; 
 and an order was issued for a general em- 
 bargo on all vessels belonging to the con- 
 federation. Letters of marque were also 
 issued ; and so vigorously were they acted 
 upon, that nearly one-half of the merchant- 
 men of the northern powers were soon to 
 be found in the British harbours. The 
 English ministry perceived that our naval 
 supremacy depended upon striking some 
 decisive blow before the naval forces of the 
 confederacy should be united. The Danes 
 had distinguished themselves, ever since the 
 beginning of the war with France, in 
 carrying French goods and articles contra- 
 band, and had resisted or eluded the search 
 whenever they were able to do so. The 
 Danes, therefore, were selected as an ex- 
 ample of the naval power of England, in 
 the event of their refusing to accede to the 
 terms it should dictate with respect to the 
 northern coalition. 
 
 On the 12th of March, a fleet, consisting 
 of eighteen sail-of-the-hne and a number of 
 frigates and smaller vessels, under the com- 
 mand of Admiral Sir Hvde Parker and Vice- 
 admiral Lord Nelson, who acted in subordi- 
 nation to him, proceeded to the Baltic. As 
 negotiation was preferred to war, Mr. Vau- 
 sittart accompanied the squadron as pleni- 
 potentiary, with full powers to treat. He 
 left the fleet in the Scaw, and proceeded in 
 a frigate with a flag of truce to Copenhagen ; 
 but returned without success from his mis- 
 sion, which only served to stimulate the 
 Danes, and give them time to augment their 
 means of defence. Nelson disapproved of 
 distant negotiation. He remarked, " The 
 Dane should see our flag every moment he 
 lifts up his head." Notwithstanding his 
 representations, several days were dissipated 
 in inactivity. On the 30th, however, the 
 British fleet passed the Sound ; and despite 
 the batteries of Cronenberg Castle, anchored 
 near Copenhagen. The naval battle which 
 takes it name from that city, was fought on 
 the 2nd of April, and declared by Nelson 
 
 blockade be real, and the entrance be evidently dan 
 gerous. — On the other hand, the English government 
 peremptorily contended — 1. That materials adapted"" 
 for building ships, such as timber, hemp, tar, &c., 
 were contraband goods. 2. That although a neutral 
 ship had a right to go from a friendly port to an 
 enemy's port, it could not traffic between one hostile 
 port and another. 3. That neutral ships could not 
 sail from the enemy's colony to the mother country. 
 4. That neutral powers had no right to have their 
 merchant ships convoyed by ships of war ; and that, if 
 they did so, this would not exempt them from search. 
 
 367 
 
 !|l 
 
 .■I 
 
 i> I 
 
PAUl/s FRIENDSHIP FOR NAPOLEON.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1800. 
 
 to be the most dreadful affair, and the 
 hardest fought battle he had ever witnessed. 
 The victory of the British was purchased with 
 the loss of 1,200 men ; that of the Danes was 
 estimated at 1,700 or 1,800, besides about 
 4,000 prisoners. Six line-of-battle ships 
 and eight praams were taken ; but all, ex- 
 cept one of the former, were burnt. This 
 success, together with an incident we shall 
 shortly relate, broke up the northern 
 coalition. 
 
 We have gone rather in advance of those 
 events which are exclusively Russian, and 
 must take a retrospective step in our nar- 
 ration. The alliance between Paul and 
 Napoleon had warmed into something ap- 
 proaching to friendship. The English and 
 Austrian ambassadors were dismissed from 
 St. Petersburg ; and Count KalitschefT went 
 to Paris as the ambassador of Russia, and 
 was received with distinction. " France," 
 said Napoleon, publicly, " can ally itself 
 only with Russia, for Russia is mistress of 
 the Baltic and Black Seas, and she holds 
 the keys of India in her hands; the em- 
 peror of such a country is truly a great 
 prince. Paul is eccentric, but he has at 
 least a will of his own." 
 
 The emperor had, indeed, gone far beyond 
 eccentricitv ; and his conduct towards those 
 around him, and to all who had the mis- 
 fortune to be subject to his authority, 
 was daily assuming a more arbitrary and 
 irrational aspect. Changeable in his moods, 
 shifting constantly from one mad whim to 
 another, he remained only resolute in vin- 
 dictive severity, which increased as his 
 growing fears magnified the natural hatred 
 which surrounded him. So variable were 
 his humours, that he sometimes encouraged 
 one day the very actions for which he would 
 inflict punishment the next. At length, 
 not only his family, but the whole empire 
 became aware that he had lost all command 
 over his passions ; and many persons chari- 
 tably attributed liis extravagant behaviour 
 to insanity. At one period he conceived 
 the project of taking the institution of Free- 
 masonry under his special protection, and 
 of placing himself at its head. He even 
 proceeded so far in this matter, as to estab- 
 lish a committee to examine the acts and 
 statutes of the Freemasons, with a view to 
 revise their organisation. He, however, soon 
 abandoned this scheme, for the purpose of 
 connecting himself with the ancient and 
 romantic order of the Knights of St. John of 
 Malta. Then, completely reversing his in- 
 3G8 
 
 tentions, he prohibited all secret assemblies, 
 and compelled the presidents of the lodges 
 of the Masons to promise that they would 
 not hold any meetings without his consent ; 
 in this manner, his promised protection was 
 converted into oppression. 
 
 A state of things resembling a reign of 
 terror prevailed at St. Petersburg, and 
 arrests and banishments took place every 
 day on the slightest pretences. Carts filled 
 with prisoners constantly took the road to 
 Siberia ; and the unfortunate victims were 
 seldom allowed time to settle their affairs, 
 or even to provide the clothing necessary to 
 guard against the rigours of the inclement 
 region to which they were expelled. Not 
 only banishment, but the fearful punish- 
 ment of the knout, was decreed for the 
 slightest faults, and sometimes inflicted 
 where no fault whatever had been com- 
 mitted. No one, either man or woman, was 
 safe for an hour; for the fury of the em- 
 peror was poured out indiscriminately on 
 all classes and ranks of society. His hours 
 of calmness became progressively rarer, and 
 it is certain that he laboured under a mental 
 irritability which narrowly bordered upon 
 insanity. Napoleon afterwards declared, 
 that he thought, *^ latterly, Paul was mad." 
 Great probability was given to this suppo- 
 sition by the state papers and articles 
 written by the despot, and published in the 
 67. Petersburg Gazette. On one occasion 
 he issued, through the medium of that 
 journal, an invitation to the sovereigns of 
 Europe to come to St. Petersburg and 
 settle their disputes by a combat, with their 
 ministers — Pitt, Thugut, Bernsdorf, and 
 Talleyrand — as esquires. This strange whim 
 was the result of the irritation produced in 
 his mind by some English caricatures repre- 
 senting him as an idiot, which had been 
 artfully sent him by Napoleon. Paul was, 
 indeed, embittered against this country. 
 Whenever despatches were presented to 
 him from England, proposing terms of 
 reconciliation, he contemptuously thrust 
 them through with his penknife, and then 
 returned them unopened. 
 
 Paul's own family were not exempt from 
 the effects of his furious and ungovernable 
 temper. The empress submitted patiently 
 to all his caprices, though her place, as his 
 wife, was supplied by the ugly and diminu- 
 tive Mademoiselle Nelidof. Yet neither 
 the empress nor her sous were able to avoid 
 incurring the morbid suspicions of Paul. 
 It was rumoured by persons of influence at 
 
 m 
 
 A.D. 1800.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 fcONSPIRACY AGAINST PAUL, 
 
 court, that he had said he would send the 
 empress to Kalamagan in the government of 
 Astracati, Alexander to the dismal fortress 
 of Schlusselburg, and Constantine to the 
 citadel of St. Petersburg. Whether or not 
 Paul threatened this proceeding, it was felt 
 by the distinguished persons alluded to, 
 that he might at any time put it into prac- 
 tice, and that no carefulness to avoid offence 
 would be a security against unmerited but 
 severe punishment. This induced even the 
 family of the emperor to share the growing 
 feeling, that it was necessary to remove him 
 from the exalted position he was so utterly 
 unfit to fill. 
 
 It was conjectured by some persons, that 
 the mental derangement of Paul was caused 
 by the disappointment of an illicit passion 
 which he entertained for the Countess 
 Lapoukhin, a lady of the court, who wisely 
 preferred an honourable marriage with a 
 subject to the invidious distinction proposed 
 to her by the emperor. The refusal of the 
 lady threw him into such fits of rage, as 
 were calculated to produce serious results 
 even to himself, and rendered him danger- 
 ous to every person whose unpleasant duty 
 it was to approach him. Many of his frantic 
 acts were attributed to the su":o:estions of 
 the Count Koutaisof, who, from his barber, 
 had become his favourite and minister.* The 
 latter denied the imputation, and perhaps 
 with truth, for court favouiites are always 
 exposed to accusations of that kind. More- 
 over, the elevation of this man, who was a 
 Turk by biith, had given great offence to 
 the nobility, and assisted in promoting 
 the discontent which had become general 
 amongst them. The caprices of Paul, how- 
 ever, wounded not only their pride, but 
 their interests. As landed proprietors, they 
 suffered greatly by the suspension of com- 
 mercial intercourse with England. This 
 consideration also pressed heavily upon the 
 
 • Koutaisof was a Turk of low origin, who had 
 been originally valet-de-chamhre to Paul, and who 
 so far won his favour, that he rose, at last, to 
 be his confidant and minister. Such was the 
 power which this man obtained over the emperor, 
 that even the nobility, who detested him. bowed 
 before his authority. Suwarrow alone, unaccus- 
 tomed to the servility of courts, did not hesitate 
 to humiliate him by the expression of his contempt. 
 Paul had occasion one day to communicate with 
 Suwarrow, and sent this favourite to the veteran to 
 convey his commands. "When the name of Count 
 Koutaisof was announced, Suwarrow exc.aimed, 
 " Koutaisof! I do not know a Russian family of that 
 name." Koutaisof replied, " that he was a Turk, 
 and that the favour of the emperor had elevated 
 
 VOL. I. 3 B 
 
 mercantile classes, who feared to enter into 
 any extensive speculations under a govern- 
 ment at once so variable and insecure. 
 
 All these circumstances led to a result 
 which it is not diflScult to anticipate. A 
 conspiracy was entered into amongst a 
 number of officers and others, most of 
 whom held important and confidential 
 situations near the person of the emperor. 
 Amongst them were Plato Zuboff, and his 
 brothers. Valerian and Nicholas, who had 
 all suffered loss and insult at the hands of 
 Paul, but were then restored to favour; 
 Generals Benningsen, Ouvaroff, and Jasch- 
 wel; and Colonels Tatarmofl* and Jesse- 
 lowitz. But the director and master-mind 
 of the conspiracy was Count Pahlen, the 
 military governor of St. Petersburg. He 
 was an Esthonian by birth, and a man of a 
 cold, crafty, and faithless nature. He had, 
 to some extent, been the instrument of the 
 severities of the emperor; but he hated a 
 master whom he could not serve either with 
 respect or safety to himself. The high cha- 
 racter of Pahlen was such as to neutralise 
 the suspicion of the emperor, should it 
 be excited; while the suavity of his manners 
 and the readiness of his speech were also 
 calculated to disarm it. It is said that he 
 had long entertained a wish to depose the 
 despotic Paul, and to place the Grand-duke 
 Alexander on the throne, in the hope of 
 rising to the first place in the councils of 
 the inexperienced monarch, or even to reign 
 over the empire in his name. This is by no 
 means improbable; but that which appears 
 to have been the direct inducement for 
 him to join the conspiracy, was his discovery 
 that Paul intended to dismiss and disgrace 
 him. 
 
 Count Pahlen proceeded with consum- 
 mate art to provide for the success of the 
 dangerous scheme in M'hich he had em- 
 barked. It is presumed that the intention 
 
 him to the dignity with which he was invested." 
 " You have, without doubt," responded Suwarrow, 
 " distinguished yourself in arms ?" " I have never 
 served in the field," answered Koutaisof. " Or in 
 the ministry ?" inquired Suwarrow. •' I have not 
 been charged with civil affairs," said Koutaisof, " I 
 have always been placed near the person of the em- 
 peror." " Well, well," persevered the old general, 
 " and in what capacity ? Koutaisof wished to turn 
 the conversation, but the pitiless warrior pursued his 
 questions, until he forced him to avow that he had 
 been valet-de-chanihre. Suwarrow then turned to 
 his own servant, and said, " See, Ivan, what it is to 
 conduct oneself well; this lord was once what thou 
 art — behold him now decorated with a blue riband." 
 — Levesque, 
 
 369 
 
 I 
 11 
 
 r1 
 
HIS SONS IMPLICATED IN IT.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1801. 
 
 A.D. 1801.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [murder of PAUL. 
 
 of those who were admitted to the secret, 
 was to compel Paul to sign a deed of abdi- 
 cation, and that they had not any intention 
 of murdering: him. However that may be, 
 Pahlen contrived to collect in St. Peters- 
 burg, and implicate in the plot, a number of 
 persons who had sustained injuries from 
 the emperor, and who were not likely to 
 recoil from bloodshed. Pahlen also had the 
 address to alienate from the favour of the 
 doomed emperor all those courtiers whom 
 he feared would be adverse to his design. 
 
 The masterpiece of Pahlen, however, 
 consisted in implicating the Grand-dukes 
 Alexander and Constautine in the con- 
 spiracy against their father. This was 
 necessary for his safety; for if the plot 
 failed, Pahlen's life would be sacrificed to 
 the rage of Paul ; and if it succeeded, he 
 might yet fall a victim to the vengeance of 
 Alexander. The latter danger would pro- 
 bably be removed if the future monarch 
 shared the crime which was to place him 
 on the throne. Pahlen, therefore, secretly 
 excited the father against the sons, and 
 then worked upon their fears to excite them 
 against their father. He represented to the 
 grand-dukes that he was labouring for their 
 welfare, and urged that their safety and 
 that of the empire required that the in- 
 sanity of the emperor should be restrained 
 from producing any further injury to the 
 public interests. He spoke no word which 
 implied that any violence was intended to- 
 wards Paul, and dwelt upon the emperor's 
 assumed intention of placing his sons in 
 confinement. The princes both recoiled 
 from any active participation in the con- 
 spiracy ; but they felt the cogency of 
 Pablen's arguments, and consented that 
 their father should be compelled to abdi- 
 cate. Alexander concurred so far, that he 
 signed the proclamation announcing his 
 own assunjption of the reins of govern- 
 ment two hours before the consummation of 
 the conspiracy. 
 
 When so many persons were admitted to 
 the plot, it is not surprising that some 
 rumours of it reached the ears of the empe- 
 ror, whose miserable fears made him suspect 
 every one who approached him to be an 
 assassin. Sending for Pahlen, Paul ac- 
 quainted him with his apprehensions, and 
 desired him to spare no means of informing 
 himself of all the facts of the case. The 
 astute minister replied calmly, " Sire, I 
 know it all ; and, in order to assure myself 
 of the guilty, I am mvself a conspirator.'' 
 370 
 
 The apparent openness of this answer paci- 
 fied the emperor, and induced him to con- 
 fide in the presumed integrity and vigilance 
 of his minister. It was not* long, however 
 before he received more explicit informa- 
 tion, and he then suspected that Pahlen had 
 taken a real and not a feigned part in the 
 conspiracy. Under this impression, he 
 wrote to Araktcheief, the former governor 
 of St. Petersburg, then commanding some 
 trusty troops at a distance of forty versts 
 from the capital, desiring his immediate 
 presence, and expressing a belief that he 
 had been betrayed by Pahlen. The latter, 
 aware of every movement that took place at 
 the palace, arrested the courier, and, open- 
 ing his despatches, saw that his only chance 
 of escaping destruction, lay in carrying the 
 design against Paul into immediate opera- 
 tion. The next day was accordingly fixed 
 for its accomplishment. 
 
 The time thus necessarily adopted was a 
 favourable one, for it was the period of the 
 Maslanitza, or Russian carnival, when the 
 whole population surrender themselves to 
 festivity. An hour before midnight, about 
 twenty of the conspirators presented them- 
 selves at the side door of the palace which 
 opened on the gardens. They were at first 
 refused admission by the sentry; but on 
 representing to the man that they had been 
 sent for by the emperor, who intended that 
 night to hold a council of war, and know- 
 ing most of them to be officers of rank, he 
 allowed them to pass. Silently ascending 
 the staircase, they advanced cautiously to 
 the antechamber. Then Argamakoff, the 
 aide-de-camp in waiting, who had entered 
 into the design, went forward alone. The 
 Cossack on guard he deceived by saying 
 that there was a fire in the city, and that 
 he came to awaken the emperor.* The Cos- 
 sack permitted him to pass, and Argamakoff 
 knocked at the door of the royal apartment, 
 and announced his name. Paul was in 
 bed; but, knowing the voice, he opened the 
 door by means of a cord attached to it for 
 that purpose. No sooner had he done so, 
 than the other conspirators crowded into 
 the antechamber. A conviction of their 
 intended purpose flashed across the mind of 
 the guard, who shouted, " Treason !" He 
 had no time to give the alarm further ; for 
 the confederated officers instantly cut him 
 down, and then rushed into the chamber of 
 the emperor. They found the bed empty, 
 and some exclaimed that the despot had 
 escaped. " That is impossible/' said Gene- 
 
 ral Benningsen, who feared that at this 
 critical moment the irresolution of some of 
 his associates might lead to their common 
 destruction. Turning to them, he ex- 
 claimed threateningly, " No weakness, or I 
 will put you all to death.'* Then, putting 
 his hand on the bedclothes, and feeling 
 them warm, he added, that the emperor 
 could not be far off. Almost immediately 
 afterwards, Paul was perceived crouching 
 behind a screen, from which ineffectual 
 hiding-place he was dragged by the resolute 
 general. Just before the entrance of the 
 conspirators, the trembling despot had 
 seized a sword, and attempted, in his night- 
 dress, to gain a private staircase, from 
 which he could have effected his escape. 
 It was too late ; but now, though detected, 
 and brought face to face with those whom 
 he must have regarded as his intended 
 assassins, he confronted -them in a bold and 
 manly manner. Passion and excitement 
 gave him for the time a courage which he 
 did not ordinarily possess. Turning on 
 some of those present, on whom he had 
 conferred his capricious favours, he re- 
 proached them bitterly as traitors and in- 
 grates. Heedless of his anger, Plato Zuboff 
 read to him the act of abdication that had 
 been prepared, and required him to sign it 
 instantly. Paul refused, saying, that " he 
 was emperor, and would remain emperor;" 
 and then burst into a torrent of invectives 
 against Zuboff in particular. The latter 
 coolly informed him that he was no longer 
 emperor, and called upon him to surrender 
 in the name of the czar Alexander. Paul, 
 bursting with passion, struck at Zuboff; and 
 the conspirators, dismayed by this boldness 
 drew back and hesitated. 
 
 It was a critical moment ; for the life of 
 the despot trembled in one scale, that of the 
 
 • Considerable differences exist amongst the vari- 
 ous narrations concerning the details of the death of 
 Paul ; but where all the witnesses had an interest in 
 concealing the particulars, it can scarcely be expected 
 that every account should coincide. One account 
 was given by the soldier who guarded the ante- 
 room to the bedchamber of Paul ; for the man, 
 though cut down, was not killed by the conspirators, 
 and was afterwards taken by the empress into her 
 protection. It is not, however, likely thai this man, 
 faint from the loss of blood, and fearing for his own 
 Hfe, was in a condition to be very accurately ac- 
 quainted with proceedings which took place in the 
 next apartment. All accounts, however, though 
 differing in detail, agree as to the main facts ; and 
 we have endeavoured to attain as much correctness 
 in the relation of these as the evidence of the best 
 accessible authorities would enable us. It is stated 
 by some writers, that Paul, from the moment he 
 
 conspirators in the other. Their veneration 
 of the imperial authority, and the habit of 
 passive submission to it, was regaining its 
 influence over most of them. The arrival 
 of a few persons faithful to the czar would 
 have struck paiiic into these lawless aven- 
 gers of the sufferings of an empire; even 
 the merest accident might have effectually 
 awed the conspirators, and saved the miser- 
 able autocrat, who, with his hideous face 
 distorted with excitement, and livid from 
 the conflicting emotions of rage and terror, 
 {glared at them like a wild beast at bay. A 
 distant shout, or the sound of approaching 
 footsteps towards that fatal chamber where 
 stood the living emperor whose moments 
 were numbered, might have rescued him. 
 It was not to be; there was at least, among 
 the conspirators, one whose resolution was 
 undaunted; and his spirit reanimated the 
 rest. This was General Benningsen, who 
 reminded them that, if Paul escaped, an 
 inevitable death upon the scaffold awaited 
 them. 
 
 This observation roused the confederates 
 to a sense of their position, and awakened 
 in them that resolution which commonly 
 springs from a sense of danger. Nicholas 
 Zuboff instantly rushed upon the emperor, 
 and, by a single blow, broke his right arm. 
 His example was immediately followed, and 
 the other conspirators threw themselves 
 upon Paul. Excited to frenzy, he fought 
 with them furiously; but such an unequal 
 struggle was necessarily of brief duration. 
 Overpowered, exhausted, and covered with 
 blood, he fell to the ground. In this posi- 
 tion a sash was hurriedly passed round his 
 neck, and his agony terminated by strangula- 
 tion. His last words were, " And you, too, 
 my Constautine !''* The wretched tyrant 
 fancied that his own son was among his 
 
 saw the conspirators until they broke out into 
 violence, did not utter a single word, but fell into a 
 sort of stupor, from whence he was awakened by 
 Prince Tatchwill, the major-general of artillery, who, 
 inflamed with wine, came in with several of his com- 
 panions; and, finding Benningsen and seven or 
 eight of his friends standing motionless in the room, 
 furiously attacked the emperor, and, overturning the 
 lamp, involved the apartment in darkness. In the 
 struggle that followed, Benningsen, according to this 
 authority, is said to have repeatedly urged Paul not 
 to attempt to escape or to defend himself, as he 
 feared his life would be the penalty ; and, through- 
 out the whole scene, Benningsen did not take any 
 more active part. Having left the room to procure 
 a light, he found Paul, on his return, lying on the 
 ground strangled. The only resistance which Paul 
 is said, by this account, to have made, was putting 
 his hand between his neck and the sash, and ex- 
 
 371 
 
 <: 1 
 
 1^ 
 
 
ALEXANDER HAILED AS CZAR.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 m 
 
 murderers. It has been denied that the 
 grand-duke was present, or even aware tliat 
 the project in which he was implicated 
 wouhl have so tragical a termination. For 
 the honour of human nature we trust that 
 such was the case. It is difficult to enter- 
 tain a spark of pity for the despot, whr)se 
 cruelties had rendered him unfit to live, and 
 whose violent death we regard with no more 
 emotion than we should that of a wolf, or 
 other beast of prey. But that his own son 
 should have been present amongst the 
 assassins, and assisted to extinguish that 
 life from which he derived his own, would 
 have been a circumstance both unnatural 
 and appalling. The incident has been 
 explained, and we are willing to believe 
 truthfully so, by the statement that the 
 bewildered emperor took one of the con- 
 spirators for the grand-duke on account of 
 a similarity in their dress. 
 
 Thus perished Paul, on the night of the 
 23rd of March, 1801,* at the age of forty- 
 seven, after a brief reign of four years and 
 nearly five months, f 
 
 The subtle and unprincipled Count Pahlen, 
 who had been the animating principle of the 
 conspiracy, was not present during the 
 murder of the emperor. With a prudent 
 but profound and dishonourable duplicity, 
 he had placed himself at the head of a regi- 
 ment of guards, prepared either to congratu- 
 late his accomplices on their good fortune 
 in the event of their snccess, or to represent 
 himself as the deliverer of Paul should the 
 autocrat have escaped. 
 
 While the conspirators were engaged 
 with Paul, his eldest son, the Grand-duke 
 Alexander, remained in a room below, ex- 
 pecting to receive the news of his father's 
 arrest and deposition. Whether he antici- 
 pated, as he reasonably might have done, 
 the dark result of the design, or had heard 
 
 claiming in French, "Gentlemen, for heaven's sake, 
 spare rne ! leave me time to pray to God !" which 
 were his last words. There are many reasons for 
 questioning the truth of this account. It is incon- 
 sistent with the violent character of Paul, who 
 might reasonahly be supposed to reproach his assas- 
 sins with the favours he had bestowed upon them ; 
 and it is equally inconsistent with the part which 
 General Benningsen took in the affair, having that 
 night supped at General Taiizin's with Pahlen and 
 the other leaders, and undertaken, with the energy 
 which is known to have distinguished him, the bold 
 office of heading the party at the palace. 
 
 • Some accounts say, that Paul was murdered 
 
 on the 24th of March, not the 23rd. As it was 
 
 about midnight when the event took place, it has 
 
 been referred by some narrators to the following day. 
 
 o72i 
 
 [a.d. 1801. 
 
 the noise arising from the strucrgle, and thus 
 guessed that his pjirent had been assassi- 
 nated, we are unable to say. But on the 
 return of the conspirators, he engeriv de- 
 manded of them, whether the life of his 
 father had been spared? On receiving a 
 reply in the negative, he tore his hair, and, 
 uttering passionate expressions of sorrow, 
 refused, for a short time, to allow himself to 
 be nominated to the succession. This emo- 
 tion might have been sincere ; but we must 
 confess to a suspicio!) of its hollowness. The 
 admirers or adulators of Alexander have 
 given him the credit of being both humane 
 and affectionate. Emperors, however, are 
 never in want of flatterers, who are ready to 
 argue even their weaknesses or crimes into 
 virtues; and a profound judge of human 
 character, who afterwards knew Alexander 
 well, pronounced him to be both false and 
 cunning, t 
 
 The news of the sudden death of the 
 emperor, whom a complaisant court phj^- 
 sician pronounced to have died of apoplexy, 
 soon spread through the city, and was 
 received with acclamations and expressions 
 of unbounded joy. So intolerable had the 
 tyranny of Paul become, that his death was 
 everywhere felt as a relief, find the people, 
 army and nobles, were unanimous in their 
 congratulations and rejoicings. To such 
 an extent was this carried, that a stranger 
 might have supposed some great festival to 
 be in course of celebration. Assembling 
 beneath the windows of the palace, the 
 populace rent the air with shouts, mingled 
 with the name of Alexander. These de- 
 monstrations induced him to abandon all 
 idea of refusing to accept the title of em- 
 peror; if, indeed, he seriously entertained it. 
 It was evident that an attempt to revenge 
 the death of his father might have resulted 
 in a revolution ; for so great was the joy of 
 
 t Paul left ten children, all the offspring of his 
 second wife, the Princess of Wurtemherg. Their 
 names and the dates of their births are as follows :— 
 Alexander, born 23rd December, 1777 ; Constantine, 
 born 1779; Alexandrina, born 1783, married to 
 Joseph, palatine of Hungary; Helena, ?)orn 1781, 
 married to Frnderic, prince of Mecklenburg-Strelitz; 
 Maria, born 1786, married to Charles, grand duke of 
 Saxe- Weimar; Catherine, born 1788, married first 
 to Prince George of Holstein Oldenburg, secondly 
 to William I., king of Wurtemherg; Olga, born 
 1792; Anne, born 1795, married to William XL, 
 king of Holland; Nicholas, born 1796; Michael, 
 born 1798. 
 
 I The emperor Napoleon I. Indeed, even the 
 panegyrists of Alexander admit that he was a pro- 
 found dissembler 
 
 A.D. 1801.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [character of PAUL. 
 
 affected the interests of the empire. As 
 Napoleon observed, he had a will of his 
 own, and a resolute one; but it must be 
 added, that he was utterlv destitute of the 
 ju<igraent requisite to direct it. To his 
 Ciipricious and petty crnelty, he added a 
 treachery which he commonly visited upon 
 those whom he led to believe he had re- 
 garded as friends. No one could trust him ; 
 no one could depend npon his humour even 
 from one hour to another. His activity was 
 remarkable, especially in mischief; and, in- 
 deed, he was employed in little else. His 
 motives were little, and his actions mean 
 and unkingly. His nature was a mixture of 
 the military martinet and the inquisitorial 
 police-officer. His oppression was of a 
 puerile character, and might have been 
 regarded as ridiculous, but for the serious 
 consequences resulting from it. A furious 
 war against round hats, lapelled waistct>ats, 
 or Russian harness, might seem, though irri- 
 tating, to be absurd ; but these proceedings 
 take a very different complexion when we 
 tatious gift of food! which the management learn that people were punished with merci- 
 of the army ought never to have permitted less severity, even to the extent of being 
 them to want. This was eccentricity, not exiled for life to the wilds of Siberia, for 
 humanity ; for Paul abundantly proved that even accidentally infringing the whimsical 
 he was destitute of all gentle and kindly edicts of the emperor on these points. Paul 
 emotions. His tyranny was intolerable, and had a passion for remodelling everything; 
 his cruelty petty, harassing, and incessant. | yet it may be safely said that he improved 
 He did not resemble the lion who rends nothing. Everything he did was of a petty 
 
 the people, that they were with difficulty 
 restrained from hailing the regicides as the 
 saviours of the empire. Shortly afterwards, 
 a deputation of the nol)ility, the officials 
 and the magistrates of the city, waited on 
 Alexander, and tendered him their alle- 
 giance. At the same time. Count Pahlen, 
 who headed the deputation, read an address, 
 representing the indispensable necessity of 
 a total change of policy on the part of the 
 new emperor. 
 
 Little need be said respecting the cha- 
 racter of Paul, which has, perhaps, been suffi- 
 ciently revealed by our narrative. It is, 
 moreover, not agreeal)le to dwell on a pic- 
 ture which is all storm and shadows. He 
 has been said to have occasionally exhibited 
 traits of humanity ; but we are, after patient 
 reflection, at a loss to discover them. He 
 visited and pardoned Koscuisko for a whim, 
 and because the patriot had been condemned 
 to imprisonment by the empress Catherine, 
 whose commands Paul ever loved to reverse. 
 He also degraded poor officers by an osten 
 
 and slays, but the reptile which stings and 
 poisons. He delighted to terrify his sub- 
 jects, and to make them feel the weight of 
 his authority. Sometimes a touch of grim 
 humour was mingled with his caprice or 
 anger. On one occasion, while engaged in 
 private conversation with a nobleman of his 
 court, the emperor, without any provocation, 
 gave him a sound box on the ea?', saying at 
 the same time, "This salutation with mv 
 hand Paul," in punning allusion to one of 
 the epistles of his namesake the apostle. 
 The vanity of the emperor was gigantic, his 
 arrogance utibounded. In that direction 
 the irritability of his mind appears to have 
 passed the bounds of disorder, and become 
 disease. The reverence which he com- 
 manded to be observed towards him, was 
 such as it is only becoming in men to pay 
 to the Deity. Capricious in all things, he 
 never adhered to any principle of policy, or 
 to any purpose. Narrow in his intellect, he 
 viewed every subject through the medium of 
 personal feelings. He even considered an 
 event or alliance as acceptable, or othei wise, 
 according as it pleased him, and not as it 
 
 and pragmatical kind; the people, the army, 
 the legislature, the press, all bitterly felt the 
 pressure of his innovating hand. Indeed, 
 his reforms, or rather changes, alwaj's pro- 
 duced more evil than that which they were 
 occasionally intended to effect. We say 
 occasionally, because he often commanded 
 extensive alterations to be made in the 
 machinery of the state, without condescend- 
 ing to assign any reason whatever; if, in 
 fact, he possessed any. It was his will, and 
 he expected and enforced an unquestioning 
 obedience. In brief, if the emperor Paul is 
 to be regarded as accountable for his actions, 
 he must be pronounced as the worst and 
 meanest despot of modern times; insignifi- 
 cant but for his despotic fury, and never 
 even great in crime. If, on the other hand, 
 we acquit him of his crimes against society 
 on the plea of insanity, we must deplore 
 that fatal form of government which is ever 
 liable to invest a maniac with absolute and 
 uncontrollable power over the largest empire 
 in the world. 
 
 To these remarks of our own, we will 
 append the following observations from the 
 
 373 
 
 "s 
 
 is 
 
Ui 
 
 TSSTIMONY OF COUXT SEGUR.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1801, 
 
 pen of Count Segur, the French ambassador 
 at St. Petersburg during a portion of the 
 latter part of the reign of the empress 
 Catherine. The count, possessing the suavity 
 of a courtier who had frequently seen and 
 conversed with the autocrat, was evidently 
 influenced by a desire to render his sketch 
 as devoid of repulsive features as a strict 
 regard for truth would permit. He says* — 
 "With much wit and information, the 
 Grand-duke Paul possessed the most rest- 
 less and suspicious temper, the most change- 
 able character. He was often affable to the 
 extreme of familiarity; oftener harsh, des- 
 potic, and haughty. Never, perhaps, did 
 there exist a man more uncertain, timid, 
 or capricious; less calculated, in short, for 
 imparting happiness to others or to himself. 
 *' His reign bore evidence of this. Ihe 
 many acts of injustice which he committed, 
 the disgrace or banishment of so many per- 
 sons, are not to be ascribed to a wicked dis- 
 position (?) but to a kind of mental malady. 
 He was the torment of all who approached 
 him, because he was his own torment. He 
 always fancied that the throne was encom- 
 passed with precipices. Fear disturbed his 
 judgment: through his constant apprehen- 
 sion of imaginary evils, he gave rise to real 
 ones ; for, sooner or later, a monarch never 
 fails to communicate to others the terror to 
 which he is a prey, and the mistrust which 
 he harbours in his heart. 
 
 " At a later period, one of my colleagues 
 in the chamber of peers, who was at St. 
 Petersburg during the reign of Paul, quoted 
 to me some of his expressions, that bore 
 the deepest stamp of his despotic character. 
 Having allowed General Duraouriez to call 
 frequently to see him, and the general 
 having one day omitted to appear at the 
 palace, the emperor asked him, the next 
 time he presented himself, whether he had 
 been unwell. 'No, sire,' replied Dumou- 
 riez ; • but having been invited to dine by 
 one of the most important personages of 
 your court, I could not excuse myself from 
 accepting the invitation.' 'I would have 
 you to know, sir,' rejoined the emperor, in 
 a severe tone of voice, ' that there is not any 
 person of importance here except the one I 
 may be addressing, and so long as I am ad- 
 dressmg him.' Is it possible for the pride 
 of power and the contempt of mankind to 
 be carried to greater lengths ! 
 
 " In the early days of my arrival in 
 Russia, this prince had shown such a warm 
 
 • Memoirs and Recollections, 
 374 
 
 attachment to me, that it bore the appear- 
 ance of infatuation. This fancy did not 
 last long; it turned to indifference, when 
 he found that the empress, his mother, 
 honoured me with marks of kindness, and 
 admitted me into her intimacy. For a long 
 time past he had ceased to express any wish 
 for a renewal of my intercourse with him; 
 but at the moment of my departure, a fresh 
 caprice of his mind procured me a return 
 of confidence. He conversed with me for 
 several hours, and to the exclusion of 
 almost every other subject, respecting his 
 pretended causes of complaint against the 
 empress and the Prince Poterakin, the un- 
 pleasantness of his situation, the dread in 
 which he was held, and the melancholy fate 
 he had to expect from a court accustomed 
 to suffer and allow no other reign but that 
 of women : he was intimidated by the re- 
 flection of his father's deplorable end; it 
 was constantly in his thoughts, and was the 
 settled idea of his mind. 
 
 " In vain I urged that his prejudices de- 
 ceived him ; that, so far from fearing him, 
 his mother always left him at liberty to 
 hold his court without any interference on 
 her part, and even to retain near him, at a 
 short distance from Czarskozelo, two bat- 
 talions, the officers of which were of his 
 own nominating, which he trained, armed, 
 and clothed at will ; whilst his mother, 
 banishing all apprehension, only kept one 
 company of her guard near her person. 
 ' If this princess, monseigneur,' I said, 
 ' does not call you to her councils, and 
 gives you no share in public affairs, allow 
 me to observe, that it would be very difficult 
 for her to act otherwise ; aware, as she is, 
 that you find fault with her inclinations, 
 her connections, her system of administra- 
 tion, and her political conduct. As to the 
 evils which you dread by anticipation, rest 
 assured that your fears contribute to raise 
 them ; show yourself superior to them, and 
 they will infallibly disappear.' I did not 
 succeed in persuading him; and, by inces- 
 santly recriminating against the ministers 
 and all who were honoured with the con- 
 fidence of the empress, he was endeavouring 
 to prove to me, that, notwithstanc ing my 
 five years' residence in Russia, I was very 
 imperfectly acquainted with his character. 
 ' Explain, in short,' said the prince to me on 
 one occasion, 'why, in the European mon- 
 archies, sovereigns quietly reign and succeed 
 each other, whilst the throne of Russia is 
 so often stained with blood V 
 
 A.D. 1801.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [regret of napoleon. 
 
 " ' I see no difficulty, monseigneur,' I 
 replied, ' in tracing the cause of all those 
 catastrophes; and, no doubt, it has not 
 escaped your observation. Everywhere else 
 the peace of nations and the tranquillity of 
 kinsrs is secured bv the inheritance to the 
 throne in the male line. This is the im- 
 portant difference existing between the 
 ancient Asiatic, Roman, Greek, and bar- 
 barian monarchies, and the modern ones; 
 the progress of civilisation may, perhaps, 
 be ascribed to this stability. Here, on the 
 contrary, there is nothing fixed on the sub- 
 ject; everything is open to doubt; and the 
 sovereign selects any successor he pleases. 
 Hence you have a perpetual source of am- 
 bitious hopes, of intrigues and conspiracies.' 
 
 "'I acknowledge it,' he rejoined, 'but 
 where is the remedv to be found? With us, 
 the habit is of long standing, a sanctioned 
 custom ; and an alteration in so important 
 a point could never be effected without 
 danger to the innovator; for, I repeat it, 
 the Russians prefer seeing a gown rather 
 than an uniform upon the throne.' — ' Never- 
 theless, I am of opinion, monseigneur,' I 
 continued, * that this happy revolution might 
 be brought about at some signal epoch of a 
 new reign, such as a solemn entry, a coro- 
 nation, when the people's minds are open to 
 confidence, to pleasure, and to hope.' 
 
 " ' I cau well conceive it,' he said, em- 
 bracing me; 'this might be attempted; I 
 must reflect upon it.' 
 
 " I thought no more of the subject ; and 
 he, perhaps, equally forgot it. When, how- 
 ever, on his ascending the throne a few 
 years afterwards, Paul established, as a fun- 
 damental law, the hereditary succession to 
 the throne in the male line and in the 
 order of primogeniture, it occurred to me 
 that our conversation might have contri- 
 buted in operating this memorable change 
 in Russian legislation." 
 
 The assassination of Paul, and the subse- 
 quent triumph of the British fleet at the 
 
 • Alison observes — " In truth, there was a con- 
 nection, and an intimate one, between them, though 
 not ol" the kind insinuated by the first consul. The 
 connection was that between flagrant mis^^overnment 
 and Oriental revolution. In every country, how 
 despotic soever, there is some restraint on the 
 power of government. When oppression or tyranny 
 has reached a certain height, a spirit of resistance is 
 inevitably generated, which leads to convulsions ; 
 and this is the case in Oriental as in European mon- 
 archies ; in the age of Nero as in that of James II. 
 It is the highest glory of representative governments, 
 to have given a constitutional direction to this neces- 
 sary element in the social system; to have con- 
 
 battle of Copenhagen, dissolved that for- 
 midable coaliti(m of the northern powers 
 which was entered into to destroy the mari- 
 time supremacy of this country. Napoleon 
 was greatly irritated at the unexpected death 
 of Paul, and the events wliich so rapidly 
 followed it. So much so, that he publicly 
 implied, and probably himself believed, that 
 the murder of the emperor w^as brought about 
 by the influence of England. " Paul I.," 
 said Napoleon, in announcing the event to 
 the French people, "died on the night of 
 the 23rd of March. The English fleet passed 
 the Sound ou the 30th. History will unveil 
 the connection which may have existed be- 
 tween these events." * The French papers 
 followed the example of the emperor, and 
 contended that the English ministry was 
 privy to the conspiracy ; the success of 
 which, and the murder of the emperor, was, 
 they said (though we certainly do not see 
 by what means), necessary to the success of 
 the English expedition against Denmark. 
 It is now generally admitted that these 
 assertions were merely idle calumnies. 
 Assuredly, a British fleet, with the illustrious 
 Nelson on board of it, did not stand in 
 need of Russian conspirators to enal)le it to 
 procure a victory over an inferior power. 
 Paul's death was the natural result of his 
 tyranny ; and it is only to be wondered at 
 that his capricious despotism was borne so 
 long as it was by a nobility to whom the 
 assassination of an emperor was no novelty. 
 Napoleon's acute minister, Talleyrand, en- 
 deavoured to pacify him, by observing, that 
 " this was the customary mode of abdication 
 in Russia." 
 
 Napoleon's regret for the death of Paul 
 arose from the partiality which the latter 
 had recently shown towards him, and the 
 desire he had evinced to promote the in- 
 terests of France. But the first consul was 
 further irritated by the consequent aban- 
 donment of the northern alliance against the 
 maritime supremacy of England, and also 
 
 verted a casual and transitory burst of vengeance 
 into a regular and pacific organ of improvement ; to 
 have substituted a hostile vote in the national as 
 sembly for the dagger or the bowstring ; and, instead 
 of the revolution of the seraglio, introduced the 
 steady opposition of the British parliament. In 
 Russia, this important element was unknown. No 
 regular or useful check upon the authority of gov- 
 ernment existed ; the will of the czar was omnipo- 
 tent. Measures the most hurtful might emanate 
 from the palace without any constitutional means of 
 redress existing ; and if the conduct of the emperor 
 had risen to a certain degree of extravagance, no 
 means of arresting it existed but his destruction." 
 
 375 
 
 ^\ 
 
PROJECT TO INVADE INDIA.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1801. 
 
 of a wild scheme which he liaH formed in 
 conjunction with Paul, of marching a com- 
 bined French and Russian armv to India, 
 with the object of overthrowing the dominion 
 of Britain in that vast and wealthy penin- 
 sula. We entirely concur in the opinion 
 that the abandonment of this project was 
 far more fortunate for France and Russia 
 than it was for England. We believe that, 
 in consequence of the tremendous natural 
 obstacles to be overcome, the successful 
 accomplishment of sucli a scheme is utterly 
 impracticable. Nor do we attribute much 
 weight to the fact, that so great a general as 
 Napoleon thought otherwiNC. We think 
 that, intoxicated by a career of brilliant 
 successes, he had come to believe that it 
 was almost impossible that he could fail in 
 any enterprise to the accomplishment of 
 whicli he devoted himself. His faith in the 
 resources of France, in the spirit and military 
 genius of the French people, and in the 
 paramount ascendancy of " his star" or 
 destiny, was unbounded. Yet, in his subse- 
 quent invasion of Russia, these failed him in 
 the most tragical manner ; and we regard 
 that project as one of far less danger and 
 difficulty than his contemplated march to 
 India, where, if the French and Russian 
 troops ever arrived at all, it would be to 
 encounter, in a state of exhaustion and 
 miserv, a succession of British armies well 
 supplied with every requisite for field service, 
 and fresh for conflict. If the reader will 
 refer to an atlas, and trace in the maps of 
 Europe and Asia the proposed line of pro- 
 gress of the allied armies to India, we think 
 that he will agree with us, that the enter[)rise 
 would have proved fatal to all who embarked 
 in it. Fears have even recently been enter- 
 tained of Russian ambition in that direction ; 
 but it requires not the mantle of a prophet 
 to predict, that should so wild a project ever 
 be attempted, India Would prove the grave 
 — and one from which resurrection would be 
 more than doubtful — of the prestige of Rus- 
 sian statesmanship and military distinction. 
 
 This was the plan which received the 
 sanction of the great Napoleon ; but which, 
 from the gigantic — we believe insurmount- 
 able — difficulties surrounding it, has more 
 the appearance of having been concocted 
 by the driveller Paul : — 
 
 " A French army, 35,000 strong, with 
 light artillery, under the command of Mas- 
 sena, shall be moved from France to Ulm, 
 whence, with the consent of Austria, it 
 shall descend the Danube to the Black Sea. 
 376 
 
 "Arrived there, a Russian fleet will trans- 
 port it to Taganrog; thence it shall move 
 to Tzaritzin on the Volga, where it will find 
 boats to convey it to Astracan. 
 
 "There it will find a Russian army of 
 35,000 men, composed of 15,000 infantry, 
 10,000 cavalry, and 10,000 Cossacks, amply 
 provided with artillery, and the horses ne- 
 cessary for its conveyance. 
 
 "The combined army shall be transported 
 by the Caspian Sea, from Astracan to 
 Astral)ad, where magazines of all sorts shall 
 be established for its use. 
 
 "The march from the frontiers of France 
 to Astrabad will be made in eisrhtv davs ; 
 fifty more will be requisite to bring the 
 army to the banks of the Indus, by the 
 route of Herat, Felah, and Candahar." 
 
 The most remarkable feature of this 
 strange project is, the perfect complacency 
 with which it utterly ignores difficulties of 
 a more gigantic and threatening character 
 than have ever been surmounted, or even 
 attempted, by any modern military power. 
 The intended allied army of 70,000 men 
 would be strangely inefficient for the accom- 
 plishment of so vast an end as that pro- 
 posed ; even supposing it to be practicable. 
 It is more than probable that 70,000 men 
 would be utterly consumed in the sickness, 
 sufferings, and privations of this compli- 
 cated progress. To supply such a force 
 with provisions, even to Astrabad, would 
 be a work of transcendant difficulty; but 
 the maintenance of it from that point to 
 the banks of the Indus, through Persia and 
 Affg'hanistan, where it would constantly be 
 assailed by fierce and hostile forces, would 
 be scarcely short of miraculous. Should 
 this have been overcome by any wonder- 
 fully arranged commissariat, the troops, 
 especially the Russians, would have perished 
 in swarms from the eflects of a climate 
 which is terribly fatal to men who iiave 
 been cradled in the snows of the north. 
 It was the climate which defeated Peter 
 the Great when he penetrated into Persia; 
 and a terrible sickness devastated and para- 
 lysed the army sent there by Catherine. 
 
 Even the very first steps of the French 
 army, before it joined that of Russia, would 
 be beset with difficulties. It was to descend 
 the Danube, " with the consent of Austria," 
 though it wjis, undoubtedly, the interest of 
 Austria to withhold that consent. The em- 
 [)eror, who was an ally of England, might 
 liave withheld his consent; but supposing 
 him to have given it^ it must be remem- 
 
 P 
 
 I III 
 
 A.D. 1801.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [natural obstacles to it. 
 
 bered, that the greatest portion of the 
 Danube runs through the dominions of the 
 sultan. His consent, therefore, must have 
 been obtained also : and as the invasion of 
 India was to be conducted in defiance of 
 Turkey, there is little doubt that, in the 
 progress down the Danube to the Black 
 Sea, considerable opposition would have to 
 be encountered. During this time, it is 
 scarcely possible that England would remain 
 in inaction, and passively behold the prepa- 
 rations that were being made to wrest from 
 her a vast territory, the loss of which, espe- 
 cially if taken from her by France and 
 Russia, would have materiallv lowered her 
 reputation as a first-rate European power. 
 Presuming, as we think under the <;ircum- 
 stances we are warranted in doing, that the 
 Porte admitted a British fleet into the Black 
 Sea for the purpose of intercepting that of 
 Russia, encumbered with 70,000 troops, 
 and heavily laden with artillery, horses, 
 and stores — the result of such a conflict 
 as would certainly follow, could scarcely be 
 doubtful, even if Nelson had not been ap- 
 pointed to command the British men-of- 
 war. At the time of which we are writing 
 the spirit of England was unbounded, its 
 resources seemingly inexhaustible, the ex- 
 tent of its influence almost miraculous, and 
 its wrath terrible. Its resources, and con- 
 sequently its influence, are now far greater; 
 and if the indomitable spirit of its people 
 seems to have deteriorated, we suspect that 
 is because prolonged wars have not aroused 
 in them that strong sense of nationality and 
 military ardour which existed in times of 
 difficulty and danger. It is scarcely a 
 metaphor to say, that England has held 
 her own against a world in arms; nor too 
 much to predict, that the power of Russia, 
 even with that of France at its back, could 
 never wrest India from her iron grasp. If 
 that vast and grand peninsula, extending 
 from the luxuriant and verdant plains of 
 Cape Comorin to the snow-clad mountains 
 of the Himalaya and the savage wilds of 
 Tartary, and blessed by nature with all the 
 treasures of the roseate East, be ever lost 
 to England, it will not be in consequence of 
 foreign interpolation — not from the bayonets 
 and cannon of Russia and France; but 
 from English mismanagement, false secu- 
 rity, and wilful misunderstanding of the 
 native character — from an unjust inter- 
 ference with ancient usages, and an un- 
 generous and insane attempt insidiously to 
 force upon the Hindoos and Mohammedans 
 VOL. I. 3 c 
 
 of that burning clime, a religion to which 
 they entertain not only a repugnance, but 
 a hatred. England might, though we do 
 not believe she ever will, lose India iu 
 consequence of a succession of well-or- 
 ganised rebellions against her authority — 
 rebellions provoked by her own dogmatic 
 intolerance and want of faith towards her 
 swarthy subjects ; but we are satisfied that 
 it can never be torn from her by any Euro- 
 pean power or confederacy. 
 
 In the above remarks we have referred 
 only to the difficulties which, iu the plan 
 proposed by Paul and Napoleon, would 
 beset the allied Russian and French armies 
 in their progress to the banks of the great 
 river Indus. Assuming the journey had 
 been made, at this point the toils and 
 dangers of the expedition would appear to 
 begin ajjain. In Soinde or the Punjaub, 
 the i-nvaders, if they had survived the 
 sufferings of the progress, would have to 
 meet the armies of Britain. Let us admit 
 that it is even possible that they might gain 
 a battle, yet it is certain that it would be 
 purchased at a cost scarcely less disastrous 
 than that of a defeat. This would be a 
 position in which even the victories of the 
 invaders would destroy them piecemeal. 
 Certaiidy, much would depend upon the 
 natives ; if favourable to the invaders, it 
 would be a great assistance to them ; but if 
 these races, the most warlike in all India, 
 were ill-disposed towards the new-comers, 
 it would probably lead eventually to the 
 destruction of the latter. But there is 
 little reason to suppose that the native popu- 
 lation would regard the advance of a Euro- 
 pean army with emotions of satisfaction. 
 The progress of great bodies of troops 
 through the towns and villages of a country 
 not their own, is seldom regarded other- 
 wise than with aversion by the inhabitants. 
 Cases of spoliation are sure to occur, more 
 especially so with an army in the gaunt 
 arms of famine. Provisions are purchased 
 at any price the strongest please to pay for 
 them ; robberies ensue ; and women are 
 insulted, or worse. The inevitable result is 
 a hostile and even vindictive population; 
 the removal of provisions to secret places; 
 the desertion of villages ; and the murder 
 of all stragglers from the ranks of the 
 troops. All these things considered, we 
 are disposed to conclude that the successful 
 invasion of India, from the side of Russia, 
 would be an impossibility ; and it is gen- 
 erally admitted that it could not be assailed 
 
 377 
 
 1 
 
 Jm' 
 
 ' ti 
 
 i 
 
RUSSIA AND INDIA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1801. 
 
 by a European power in any other direc- 
 tion. 
 
 Even those wlio contend for the practica- 
 mlity of a Russian invasion of India, admit 
 that the probabiHty of achieving such a con- 
 quest must not be confounded with its like- 
 lihood. They acknowledge that it would 
 take Russia so long a period to mature her 
 plans, that they could not escape detection ; 
 and the interval would be employed in 
 strengthening the frontiers of India. They 
 add, however, that the wiser and easier 
 course would be, to prevent the presumed 
 invasion by securing the independence of 
 those Asiatic nations that lie between the 
 Russian possessions and the Indus. Other 
 writers consider, that the advance of Russia 
 to India would present no insuperable diffi- 
 culties, if she could but obtain possession of 
 Constantinople. We do not coincide in 
 that opinion ; and there is, moreover, so 
 significant a meaning in that little word /// 
 The Turks are by no means so powerless a 
 people as many political writers are in the 
 habit of representing them ; and though 
 history shows them to be unequal to sustain 
 singly, without heavy disadvantages, a pro- 
 longed contest with Russia, yet recent events 
 have shown that the great powers of Europe 
 are now fairly aroused to the necessity of 
 checking any further encroachment by 
 Russia on the Turkish territory. The inde- 
 pendence of theOttoman empire is now recog- 
 nised as a European necessity, nor could a 
 balance of power be maintained without it. 
 If" Constantinople was in the possession of 
 Russia, a vital injury would be inflicted upon 
 the commerce of England, which would thus 
 have a private as well as a public and general 
 interest m preventing such a result. The in- 
 terest of France in rescuing the city of the 
 sultan from the hostile advances of Russia, is 
 not so immediately apparent; yet that power 
 cannot be unconcerned at any event that 
 
 * Napoleon, in his exile, frequently referred to 
 this subject. In O'Meara's work {Napoleon m 
 Exile), he is represented as saying — '* Alexander's 
 Ihoughts are directed to the conquest of Turkey. 
 We have had many discussions about it. At first, 1 
 was pleased with his proposals ; because I thought it 
 would enlighten the world to drive those brutes, the 
 Turks, out of Europe. But when I reflected upon 
 the consequences, and saw what a tremendous 
 weight of power it would give to Russia, in conse- 
 quence of the number of Greeks in the Turkish 
 dominions who would naturally join the Russians, I 
 refused to consent to it, especially as Alexander 
 ■wanted to get Constantinople, which I would not 
 allow, as it M'ould have destroyed the equilibrium of 
 power in Europe. I reflected that France would 
 gain Egypt, Syria, and the islands, which would 
 378 
 
 would disturb the balance of power. A 
 French writer observes — ' The hero of Aus- 
 terlitz, at the head of France — of the em- 
 pire — did not dare to abandon Constanti- 
 nople to the pacific Alexander.^'* 
 
 A modern tourist, who has written a 
 pleasant and useful book on the capital 
 of Russia and its inhabitants,t observes — 
 " There is one subject which, from time to 
 time, is repeated in England as an alarm- 
 bell to rouse the nation against the power 
 of Russia, which is the apprehension of an 
 attack from that quarter upon our Indian 
 possessions ; but I hear nothing from the 
 most sanguine advocates of Russian aggran- 
 disement, which would make me think that 
 sensible men ever seriouslv entertained the 
 idea of such an impracticable project. I 
 have seen Russian officers who have lately 
 travelled into the country which separates 
 their farthest provinces from our Indian 
 frontier, and all agree in their description 
 of the dangers and difficulties attendant on 
 such a journey, even for a private individual, 
 much more for a numerous army. Some 
 reasoners go farther, and pretend to wish 
 that we should even advance our Indian 
 outposts towards their province of Cabool, in 
 order that we might meet amicably at that 
 distant point, and co-operate mutually in 
 promoting an overland communication from 
 thence with Europe, which would ensure 
 to them the benefits of carrying a trade 
 through Russia, and would be of great ad- 
 vantage to those English who are estab- 
 lished on that boundary of our Indian 
 empire. I listen, however, with caution to 
 any expression from that quarter, of a wish 
 that we should extend our influence and 
 power in any shape. On the other hand, 
 if war should ever be declared between the 
 two coucJries, there is hardly a doubt that 
 the scene of action will be in the East, 
 though not in the direction of India.'' 
 
 have been nothing in comparison with what Russia 
 would have obtained. I considered that the bar- 
 barians of the North were already too powerful ; and 
 probably, in course of time, would overwhelm all 
 Europe, as I now think they will. Austria already 
 trembles ; Russia and Prussia united, Austria falls, 
 and England cannot prevent it. France, under the 
 present family {i.e., the Bourbons), is nothing; Austria 
 can ofler but little resistance to the Russians, who are 
 brave and potent Russia is the more formidable 
 because she can never disarm : in Russia, once a 
 soldier always a soldier — barbarians who, one may 
 say, have no country, and to whom every country is 
 better than the one that gave them birth." Such were 
 the latest opinions of the great political seer. 
 
 t A Visit to St. Petersburg in the Winter of 
 1829-'30; by Thomas Raikes, Esq. 
 
 .1 i 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 M 
 
 I. 
 
 ..« 
 
\ 
 
 A.D. 1801.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [accession of Alexander. 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 ACCESSION OF ALEXANDER I. ; HE INCLINES TO LIBERAL MEASURES, AND PROMISES TO GOVERN ON THE 
 PRINCirLES OF CATHKRINE II. ; ADOPTS A PACIFIC POLICY TOWARDS ENGLAND, AND ADMITS THE RIGHT 
 OF SKARCH UNDER CERTAIN LIMITATIONS ; CONSKQUENT ABANDONMENT OF THE NORTHERN COALITION* 
 TEMPORARY PEACE BETWEEN FRANCE AND ENGLAND ; REFORMS BY ALEXANDER; GEORGIA Is ANNEXED 
 TO RUSSIA; ALEXANDER INTERFERES IN THE AFFAIRS OF GERMANY ; RUPTURE OF THE PEACE OF AMIENS • 
 ARREST AND EXECUTION OF THE DUKE D'eNGHIEN; ALEXANDER REMONSTRATES WITH NAPOLEON CON- 
 CERNING IT; NAPOLEON ASSUMES THE TITLE OF EMPEROR; THIRD COALITION AGAINST FRANCE • THE 
 BATTLE OF AUSTERLITZ, AND DEFEAT OF THE EMPERORS FRANCIS AND ALEXANDER. ' 
 
 The concurrence of the guards had been 
 secured by Pahlen and Benningsen ; and 
 on the morning following the murder of 
 Paul — who, it was reported, had died during 
 the night in a fit of apoplexy — Alexander 
 Paulovitch (i.e., son of Paul) was proclaimed 
 emperor. The chief offices of state neces- 
 sarily fell to the lot of the principal con- 
 spirators, and the new monarch was com- 
 pelled to take counsel with those whose 
 hands had recently been stained with his 
 father's blood. To such an extent was this 
 the case, that a lady of rank and wit wrote 
 to Fouche, on the occasion of a public 
 ceremony at which Alexander was present, 
 soon after his accession — *' The young em- 
 peror walked, preceded by the assassins of 
 his grandfather, followed by those of his 
 father, and surrounded by his own.'' 
 
 Notwithstanding this ominous epigram, 
 indicative of a dangerous state of things in 
 Russia, Alexander was hailed with joy by 
 the people. He was young, being only in 
 his twenty-fourth year, and possessed of a 
 majestic figure, and a cast of countenance 
 regarded as benevolent. He had been 
 educated by the celebrated Colonel La 
 
 * Alexander's manners were highly polished, and 
 expressed great amiability. In a biography of him 
 by H. E. Lloyd, many anecdotes are related illus- 
 trative of this quality. Amongst them are the fol- 
 lowing respecting his conduct to his instructor : — 
 " His attachment to La Harpe was rather filial than 
 that of a pupil ; his greatest delight was in his 
 society, and he would cling round his neck in the 
 most affectionate embraces, by which frequently his 
 clothes were covered with powder. * See, my dear 
 prince,' La Harpe would say, * what a figure you 
 have made yourself!' 'Oh! never mind it,' Alex- 
 ander replied ; ' no one will blame me for carrying 
 away all I can from my dear preceptor.' One day 
 he went to visit La Harpe, as was his custom, alone; 
 the porter was a new servant, and did not know 
 him ; he asked his name, and was answered, Alex- 
 ander. The porter then led him into the servant's 
 hall, told him his master was at his studies, and 
 could not be disturbed for an hour. The servant's 
 homely meal was prepared, and the prince was 
 
 Harpe,* who is said — though we doubt the 
 assertion — to have imbued his mind with 
 liberal principles ; indeed, La Harpe's own 
 principles were unsettled, and his liberalism 
 eventually doubtful. Alexander had been 
 married, at the early age of sixteen, to the 
 Princess Louisa Maria Augusta of Baden ; 
 on which occasion that princess adopted the 
 Greek form of Christianity, and took the 
 name of Elizabeth Alexiewna. 
 
 The first acts of the reign of the new- 
 emperor were both pacific and popular. 
 He issued a ukase, in which, after ex- 
 pressing his intention of governing the 
 empire according to the maxims and plans 
 of his august grandmother, Catherine II., 
 he restored to the nobility all the privileges 
 they had enjoyed in that reign; re-estab- 
 lished the rights of municipalities ; abolished 
 secret proceedings in criminal cases ; granted 
 a general amnesty, and terminated all state 
 prosecutions then in progress. At the same 
 time certain benefits were conferred upon 
 the clergy, by which their personal dignity 
 was enhanced; and many indications were 
 given that the recent reign of terror was to be 
 succeeded by a mild and conciliatory sway. 
 
 invited to partake of it, which he did without affec- 
 tation. When the hour was expired, the porter in- 
 formed La Harpe that a young man of the name of 
 Alexander had been waiting some time, and wanted 
 to see him. * Show him in.' But what w^as La 
 Harpe's surprise to see his pupil ! He wished to 
 apologise ; but Alexander, placing his finger on his 
 lips, said, * My dear tutor, do not mention it ; an 
 hour to you is worth a day to me ; and, besides, I 
 have had a hearty breakfast with your servant, 
 which I should have lost had I been admitted when 
 I came.' The poor porter's feelings may be better 
 imagined than described ; but Alexander, laughing, 
 said, ' I like you the better for it; you are an honest 
 servant, and there are a hundred roubles to convince 
 you that I think so.'" The same author observes — 
 "La Harpe was, in some respects, the same to 
 Alexander that Le Fort had been to Peter the 
 Great, a hundred years before. He brought him 
 up, without political or religious prejudices in the 
 wiser principles of an enlightened age." 
 
 879 
 
 
 ■t. 
 
 " « 'i 
 
PACIFIC TREATY WITH ENGLAND.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1801. 
 
 Paul had left Russia on the verge of ac- 
 tive hostilities with England. Sir Hvde 
 Parker, after the destruction of the Danish 
 'fleet at Copenhagen, had gone in pursuit of 
 a portion of the Russian fleet, which fled 
 from the encounter, and was fortunate 
 enough to shelter itself beneath the batteries 
 of Cronstadt. Alexander wrote to that 
 admiral, informing him that he had set the 
 crews of the British ships at liberty; that 
 he was willing to close with the amicable 
 propositions made by the government of 
 this country to his predecessor; and adding, 
 that lie should hold the admiral responsible 
 for any act of hostility that might take place 
 after this notice. At the same time, Alex- 
 ander wrote, with his own hand, a letter to 
 George III., expressing his anxiety to 
 arrange the existing differences in a friendly 
 manner. Besides liberating the English 
 mariners who had been imprisoned by 
 Paul, and conveying them to the ports from 
 wherjce they had been taken, the new czar 
 revoked the prohibition that had been laid 
 upon the exportation of corn. This latter 
 measure gave great satisfaction both in 
 England and Russia. In this country it 
 relieved the distress of the people during a 
 period of severe scarcity ; and in Russia it 
 exchanged the accumulated stores of grain, 
 that was in danger of rotting in warehouses, 
 into the manufactures and gold of England. 
 
 This pacific spirit was readily met by the 
 English government. Lord St. Helens was 
 sent to St. Petersburg, where a treaty was 
 speedily concluded between the two powers, 
 which admitted and defined the right of 
 search claimed by this country, and, conse- 
 quently, abandoned the principles of the 
 armed neutrality. By this treaty, it was 
 provided, "That the right of searching 
 merchant ships belonging to the subjects of 
 one of the contracting powers, and navi- 
 gating under a ship of war of the same 
 power, shall only be exercised by ships of 
 war of the belligerent party, and shall 
 never extend to the fitters-out of privateers, 
 or other vessels which do not belong to the 
 imperial or royal fleet of their majesties, but 
 which their subjects shall have fitted out for 
 war ; that the efl'ects on board neutral ships 
 shall be free, with the exception of contra- 
 band of war and of enemy's property ; and 
 it is agreed not to comprise in the number 
 of the latter the merchandise of the pro- 
 duce, growth, or manufacture of the coun- 
 tries at war, which should have been ac- 
 quired by the subjects of the neutral power, 
 380 
 
 and should be transported for their ac- 
 count.^' Contraband articles, between the 
 two powers, were defined as ''cannons, mor- 
 tars, fire-arms, pistols, bombs, grenades, 
 balls, bullets, firelocks, flints, matches, sul- 
 phur, helmets, pikes, swords, sword-belts, 
 pouches, saddles and bridles; excepting 
 such quantity of the said articles as may be 
 necessary for the defence of the ship and 
 crew." By this treaty, the right of search, 
 though admitted in principle, was placed 
 upon a more equitable footing, and divested 
 of its most galling features. 
 
 This treaty created great irritation in the 
 mind of Napoleon, whom Alexander in vain 
 endeavoured to pacify in a letter couched in 
 the most pacific terms. The First Consul 
 o))served — "Europe beheld with astonish- 
 ment this ignominious treaty signed by 
 Russia, and which, by consequence, Den- 
 mark and Sweden were compelled to adopt. 
 It was equivalent to an admission of the 
 sovereignty of the seas in the British parlia- 
 ment, and the slaverv of all other states. 
 This treaty was such, that England could 
 have desired nothing more; and a power of 
 the third order would have been ashamed to 
 have signed it.'' Napoleon sent general 
 Doroc to St. Petersburg, to counterbalance 
 English influence at that court; but, though 
 that officer was received with marked dis- 
 tinction, he was unable to accomplish the 
 object of his journey. Yet Alexander 
 secretly assured him that he entertained a 
 feeling of admiration for the first consul, 
 and an anxiety to maintain friendly rela- 
 tions with France. 
 
 Sweden and Denmark, though not in- 
 cluded in the convention between this 
 country and Russia, were obliged to follow 
 the example of that state. The embargo 
 which had been laid on English ships and 
 property, was raised on the 19th of May, in 
 Russia, Sweden, and Denmark; and cor- 
 responding steps were taken on the part of 
 the English government. Prussia, which 
 had been unwillingly drawn into the quar- 
 rel, also took the first opportunity of es- 
 caping from its efl'ects. " Thus," observes 
 Alison, "was dissolved, in less than six 
 months after it had been formed, the most 
 formidable confederacy ever arrayed against 
 the English maritime power. Professedly 
 contracted in order so secure the libertv of 
 the seas, it was really directed against the 
 grandeur and prosperity of Great Britain ; 
 breathing only the sentiments of freedom 
 and justice, it was, in truth, intended to 
 
 A.D. 1801.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [a general peace. 
 
 divide, among the coalesced states, the power 
 and the ascendancv of a more fortunate 
 rival. The rapidity with which this power- 
 ful alliance was broken up by England, to- 
 wards the conclusion of a long and burden- 
 some war, and when her people were labour- 
 ing under the combined pressure of severe 
 want and diminished employment, is one of 
 the most remarkable features of this memor- 
 able contest ; and, perhaps more than any 
 otiier, characteristic of the vast ascendancy, 
 moral as well as political, which she has 
 acquired among the other nations of the 
 world." 
 
 The convention between England and 
 Russia, signed at St. Petersburg on the 
 17th of June, 1801, was followed, on the 
 1st of October, by the signature of prelimi- 
 naries of peace between France and Eng- 
 land, or, in other words, by the temporary 
 pacification of Europe. The peace itself 
 was concluded at Amiens on the 27th of 
 March in th'e following year. Temporary 
 as the peace was, it was yet a necessity. 
 The two great belligerent powers had 
 scarcely the means of carrying on an active 
 warfare against each other. Without allies ' 
 or auxiliaries on the continent, England 
 could not hope to touch France by land ; 
 while, on the other hand, with fleets ruined 
 or blockaded, and a navy completely dis- 
 heartened, France could not expect to touch 
 England by sea. Both nations, also, were 
 comparatively exhausted, and needed rest ; 
 the war, like a vast fire, had, at least for a 
 time, burnt itself out for mere want of 
 something to consume. The French nation 
 obtained the gratification of having the 
 republic recognised by England : this coun- 
 try had fought obstinately, and in some 
 respects brilliantly, with steel and gold, in a 
 quarrel where it should have stood aloof as 
 arbiter, instead of rashly mixing itself up as 
 a principal ; and by so doing, it had drained 
 the best blood of England, and swelled the 
 national debt from about £24^,000,000 to 
 above .£520,000.000. Sheridan quaintly 
 characteiised the peace by saying, *' it was 
 such as all men were glad of, but of which 
 no man could be proud." Napoleon pri- 
 vately observed — "It was but a truce; his 
 government stood in need of fresh victories 
 to consolidate itself; it must either be the 
 first government in Europe, or it must fall." 
 
 As soon as Alexander had established his 
 foreign relations upon a pacific basis, he 
 directed his attention towards those internal 
 reforms which Russia required. He at 
 
 first showed a submission to Count Pahleu 
 and to some other of the conspirators ; but 
 he soon found means to get rid of men 
 whose presence must ever have reminded 
 him of the frightful catastrophe which led 
 him to the throne. The empress-mother, 
 who assumed a dramatic grief at the death 
 of the husband whom she had long known 
 only to dread, caused a picture to be 
 painted, representing Paul at the feet of the 
 Virgin, imploring the vengeance of Heaven 
 upon his assassins. Count Pahlen, alarmed 
 at the crowds attracted by this startling ex- 
 hibition, caused it to be removed. The 
 princess, irritated against the minister, said 
 to Alexander, " My son, you must clioose 
 between Pahlen and me." The emperor, 
 not sorry to be furnished with an excuse 
 for the dismissal of a person whose presence 
 was painful to him, caused it to be intimated 
 to Pahlen, that he must privately retire 
 from St. Petersburg. The ambitious states- 
 man felt that he had failed in his design to 
 rule through the instrumentalitv of a vouth- 
 ful sovereign — that he had lost his hold on 
 the mind of the emperor; and he therefore 
 sought his safety by resigning all his offices 
 and proceeding to Riga. The empress- 
 mother herself had the ambition to lay 
 claim, after the murder of her husband, to 
 the vacant throne. Some altercation took 
 place between her and her son on this sub- 
 ject ; but she was soon prevailed upon to 
 relinquish her pretensioiis. This collision 
 did not appear to leave any unpleasant 
 traces on the mind either of Alexander or 
 his mother, to whom, during his life, he 
 always continued to show respect and at- 
 tachment. 
 
 Pahlen banished, Alexander shared the 
 reins of government with some of the com- 
 panions of his early days. These were 
 Messrs. de Strogonofl^, Nowosiltzoflf, atid 
 the Polish prince, Czartoryski, and a more 
 mature friend, M. de Kotschubey. The 
 imperial clique entertained notions which, 
 with something of truth and liberality, were 
 characterised by more of extrava^'ance. 
 Paul I., and even the illustrious Catherine, 
 they considered as barbarous and unen- 
 lightened sovereigns. The partition of 
 Poland they regarded as an outrage ; the 
 war against the French revolution as the 
 result of blind prejudices. Russia was, for 
 the futuie, to undertake a totally different 
 mission ; she was to protect the weak — to 
 curb the strong — to oblige France and Eng- 
 land to confine themselves within the limits 
 
 381 
 
 v* 
 
 'A 
 
 \ 
 
 •f 
 
 w 
 
INTERNAL REFORMS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1801. 
 
 of justice — to force both of them to respect, 
 in their struj^gle, the interests of nations. 
 " Happy pretensions," remarks the French 
 historian Thiers, " noble ideas, if tJu^y had 
 been serious; if tJiey had not resembled 
 those liberal impulses of the French no- 
 blesse, brought up in the school of Voltaire 
 and Rousseau, talking of humanity and 
 liberty, till the day when the French revo- 
 lution came to require them to conform 
 their acts with their theories. Then those 
 titled philosophers became the emigrants of 
 Cobhmtz." 
 
 Alexander, influenced by the doubtful 
 liberalism which he was soon to discard, 
 and, under the influence of his young ad- 
 visers, having restored to the nobility the 
 prerogatives which had been wrested from 
 them by Paul, then extended the right of 
 possessing landed property to all the sub- 
 jects of the empire. The measure appeared 
 to indicate a desire to abolish the vassalage 
 of the peasants; but in that direction the 
 emperor never proceeded any farther, but 
 appeared rather to recede from such prin- 
 ciples year after year, than to make any 
 advances towards carrying them into eff'ect. 
 The natural warmth of youth, and perhaps 
 the influence of his early training bv La 
 Harpe, induced him to regard all questions 
 aff'ecting popular rights with more liberality, 
 at this period, than he ever afterwards di's- 
 played. By nature, Alexander was a mild 
 yet artful despot; and it was but for a 
 brief space that education, and other in- 
 fluences, placed him in the light of an 
 admirer of progressive and liberal princi- 
 ples. He had no real confidence in a 
 career founded on such tenets, and soon 
 learned to fear their results. It would, in- 
 deed, be difficult for an irresponsible auto- 
 crat to become a reformer in the interests 
 of the people. The emperor soon acquired 
 the notion that the Russians were not pre- 
 pared for liberty, and he based this assump- 
 tion upon the facts of their frequent revolu- 
 tions against despotism, and the vices which 
 slavery had engendered amongst them. 
 He did not reflect that slaves are never 
 prepared for liberty ; that it is necessary to 
 take ort' their cliains before they can be 
 made to understand and appreciate those 
 riglits which belong to the condition of 
 freemen. He found the people serfs, and 
 such he left them. 
 
 Alexander also set an example of judi- 
 cious economy in his own household ; he 
 abolished some useless offices, and en- 
 382 
 
 couraged the establishment of canals, roads, 
 and bridges. This was to improve the 
 country; but we do not find that he did 
 much towards improving the people. We 
 do not lay any great weight on the feet of 
 his abandoning the idea of the emancipa- 
 tion of the serfs, because the system, with 
 all its evils, has some counteracting bene- 
 fits ; and even many Englishmen have con- 
 tended, that the lot of the Russian serf is 
 happier than that of the British peasant. 
 The first, when past labour, is maintained 
 by those of his own class, and passes the 
 evening of his life in as much comfort as he 
 has known during any other period of it : 
 if the last outlives his ability to earn his 
 bread, he has no alternative but the union 
 workhouse; and a life hitherto passed in 
 independence, is ch)sed in the serfdom of 
 pauperism. In these remarks we pass no 
 censure upon the English system ; it is the 
 result of a stern necessity. The circum- 
 stances are widely diff'erent in the British 
 and Russian empires. In this country, the 
 limited extent of its territory, and the 
 wealth of a considerable portion of its in- 
 habitants, make the price of land exorbi- 
 tantly high : in Russia, these circumstances 
 are reversed, and land is readily parted 
 with for an almost nominal consideration. 
 To such an extent is this the case, that if 
 the serfs of the Northern empire possessed 
 the personal independence of British agri- 
 cultural labourers, and had their property 
 as eff'ectually secured to them, all the sober 
 and industrious among them would become 
 small landed proprietors in their old age. 
 Surrounded by their circumstances, the 
 English labourers of one generation would, 
 in the next, become farmers, cultivating 
 their own land.' But the serf has but little 
 interest in his labour, the result of a con- 
 siderable portion of which goes to enrich 
 his lord. Nor has he any strong induce- 
 ment to accumulate property; for he is 
 always liable to be despoiled of it. It will 
 be seen, therefore, that it is manifestly in- 
 correct to conclude that serfdom is scarcely 
 an evil because the Russian serf is, under 
 certain circumstances, better off" than the 
 British peasant. To establish this argu- 
 ment, it should be shown, that the slave- 
 peasant of Russia is as well off" in his age 
 as the free peasant of Britain would be 
 under the same circumstances. In each 
 case the conditions must be equal, or the 
 analogy is deficient, and the result at- 
 tempted to be drawn from it inaccurate. 
 
 A.D. 1801.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the serf Q'JESTIOX. 
 
 Some writers infer, that the emperor 
 Alexander grew wiser as he grew older, and 
 that the abandonment of a subject involving 
 the dearest interests of the millicms of his 
 empire, was the natural result of this in- 
 creased worldly wisdom. We cannot re- 
 cognise any connection whatever between 
 this assumed cause and the result, and dis- 
 card it as altogether illogical. It would be 
 more correct to say, that Alexander grew in 
 selfishness and a distaste for experimental 
 and difficult reforms as he advanced in life, 
 rather than that he grew wiser. We ques- 
 tion if selfishness is wisdom, even in the 
 lowest conceival)le worldly sense ; it looks 
 too much to immediate results, and is 
 seldom capable of taking a comprehensive 
 view of any subject. Alexander, doubtless, 
 soon saw, that to give liberty to the serfs, 
 would be to create a great number of small 
 owners of land, who would become sturdv 
 and independent as they attained a know- 
 ledge of their own strength and impor- 
 tance in the state. It would be, in fact, to 
 create a People ; and an independent people 
 mijiht dethrone a despot who seriously 
 abused his power. Alexander does not 
 appear to have recognised the fact, that a 
 throne based upon the aff'ections of a well- 
 treated and independent people, would be 
 far more secure and durable than one 
 erected upon the bayonets of a fickle army, 
 and the servile tenets of a superstitious, ig- 
 norant, and materialistic priesthood. Revo- 
 lutions in Russia are conducted by the 
 nobles, or those about the person of the 
 sovereign ; and the people have usually 
 regarded the murder of a czar with indif- 
 ference. To them it merely brought a 
 change of masters, the difference in whose 
 rule did not extend so low in the empire as 
 to aff'ect their interests. But a free people 
 become attached to the sovereign under 
 whom they enjoy their freedom, and this 
 attachment is his safeguard against a dis- 
 contented and turbulent nobility. Peter 
 the Great found it so; and when his sub- 
 jects had learned rightly to understand 
 him, he was, in eff'ect, the most absolute 
 monarch that ever swayed the sceptre of 
 the North. But the selfishness whicli Alex- 
 ander acquired, or rather gave a freer rein 
 to, as he grew easy in his imperial robes, 
 prevented him from seeing, or at least 
 trusting to, those distant results to which 
 we have alluded, arising from the emanci- 
 pation of the millions whom he ruled. To 
 him the commonalty of Russia were- --to 
 
 use the language of a benevolent and ac- 
 complished English judge, who graced the 
 judicial seat with the elegancies of poetry — 
 
 " The common herd, 
 
 The vassals of our ancient house, the mass 
 Of bones and muscles framed to till the soil 
 A few brief years, then rot unnamed beneath it ; 
 Or, deck'd for slaut,'hter, at their master's call 
 To smite and to be smitten, and lie crush'd 
 In heaps to swell his glory or his shame.''* 
 
 Such Alexander found the serfs of Russia, 
 and such his prudent wisdom left them. 
 That it would have been dangerous in a 
 young monarch to have at once emanci- 
 pated them, we readily conceive; but the 
 danger would chiefly have arisen from the 
 irritation of his nobility, who would thus 
 have been deprived of a source of revenue 
 which they acquired by accident, and ought 
 never to have possessed.f 
 
 Yet Alexander might have attempted, 
 and we believe accomplished, this emanci- 
 pation in the height of his power, when his 
 nobles dared not have made head against 
 him. It might have been preceded by 
 many preparatory measures, and eff*ected so 
 gradually, that the presumed loss to his 
 nobility would have been but lightly felt. 
 That they would eventually have expe- 
 rienced any loss at all, we are by no means 
 convinced ; for their uncultivated estates 
 would soon have acquired a marketable 
 value, and found purchasers or tenants in a 
 newly-created class of society. Russia, at 
 the same time, would be placed in a posi- 
 tion from which she would make rapid 
 advances in wealth, power, and population ; 
 and, in fact, become in reality the greatest 
 of European powers. But Alexander was 
 too prudent to attempt a change which 
 would have made his memory cherished 
 by his people, admired by Europe, and 
 honoured by the world. As he grew more 
 secure in power, he became more and more 
 indiff*erent to the giant social problem of 
 the empire ; and the dread of serf outbreak, 
 and a sanguinary serf retaliation on their 
 oppressors, haunts, to this hour, the higher 
 circles of Russia, and creates apprehensions 
 which, though seldom spoken of, are deeply 
 felt. If those brutalised and contemned 
 millions should ever rise in wrath, and with 
 mad impatience proceed to retaliate for 
 
 • Talfourd's Ion. 
 
 t See ante, p. 85, how serfdom accidentally arose 
 from an edict of Boris Godunof, forbidding the 
 peasantry to remove from the estates on which they 
 were born. 
 
 383 
 
 H 
 
 'h- 
 
 H\ 
 
 I 
 
ANNEX.\TION OF GEORGIA.] 
 
 HISTORY OP THE 
 
 [a.d. 1801. 
 
 a^es of oppression, awful indeed would be 
 the result. The revolting scenes which 
 must inevitably take place in such a Jac- 
 querie, we trust it may never be the lot of 
 any future historian to describe. 
 
 Let us return from this brief dijrression. 
 The sickly nature of Alexander's liberalism 
 was evidenced by his conduct with respect 
 to the press. This had been, in effect, anni- 
 hilated by the unequivocal tyranny of his 
 father. The new emperor, though seeking 
 for confidence and popularity, only modified 
 the rigour of that censorship which had 
 paralysed the press, and arrested the young 
 but expanding literature of the empire. A 
 freer importation of books, also, was allowed ; 
 but this concession was so vigilantly watched 
 by the Russian police, that it scarcely pro- 
 duced any perceptible influence. 
 
 In the early part of his reign, Alexander 
 proved himself an energetic ruler ; and he 
 lal)Oured with almost as much diligence in 
 public affairs as his illustrious grandmother, 
 Catherine, had done. Among the benefits 
 ■which, soon after his accession, he conferred 
 upon the empire, were a reduction of the 
 taxes, and a remission of the odious con- 
 scription for the army, which was as hateful 
 to the peasant as it was injurious to the 
 interests of his owner. Schools were in- 
 stituted for general education ; but they 
 were subjected to the rigorous control of 
 the government ; and we may not unfairly 
 assume that little more was taught than a 
 slight knowledge of the religious tenets 
 considered vital by the Greek church, and 
 the doctrine of the duty of passive ol)e- 
 dience to the emperor and all constituted 
 authorities. Yet much importance was at- 
 tached to education of the kind the emperor 
 thought' fit to permit; and a new branch of 
 administration — that of public instruction 
 — was created. 
 
 Perhaps the most important of the reforms 
 which distinguished the first year of the 
 reign of Alexander, was the abolition of the 
 secret department, which, under another 
 name, carried on the despotic and myste- 
 rious measures which, in former times, had 
 been performed by the dreaded chancery of 
 the secret Inquisition. This court — irre- 
 sponsible for the conduct of its proceedings, 
 the motives of its members, or the iniquity 
 of its decisions — had inflicted an incalcu- 
 lable amount of misery upon the country. 
 Any person who provoked the vengeance of 
 a superior, was in danger of being cited 
 before this terrible tribunal, which not un- 
 384 
 
 A.D. 1802—1803.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [russian jealousy of France. 
 
 frequently condemned him to perpetual 
 imprisonment, or even caused him to be 
 secretly executed. No les«» than twenty-six 
 persons of rank, at St. Petersburg, ' had 
 disappeared in this manner within a few 
 months of the death of Paul ; and it is 
 probable that the horror and indignation 
 excited by these events, aided considerably 
 in bringing about the murder of the despot. 
 Other improvements were eflTected by the 
 emperor Alexander in the administration 
 of public affairs : a permanent council was 
 established to examine, previously to publi- 
 cation, all ordinances that were to be issued 
 on the affairs of the empire ; and every 
 minister was lield responsible for the pro- 
 ceedings of his department, and compelled 
 to render an annual account of them to the 
 senate. 
 
 Before the close of 1801, Alexander 
 showed that he was as eager as his pre- 
 decessors had been to extend the dominions 
 of the empire in the direction of the East. 
 In the autumn of that year the emperor 
 issued a manifesto proclaiming the annexa- 
 tion of Georgia to the Russian empire ; 
 that country having previously been under 
 the nominal protection of Persia and Turkev. 
 With habitual insincerity, he assigned hu- 
 manity, and not ambition, as his motive. 
 The people of Georgia, though personally 
 brave, had suffered severely from the at- 
 tacks of the Lesghians and the Tartars ; to 
 which was added the calamity of dissensions 
 amongst themselves. During the reign of 
 Paul, Georgia had been occupied by Rus- 
 sian troops sent there ostensibly for the 
 purpose of assisting the inhabitants against 
 their enemies. The aid they rendered was 
 not suflficient to expel the latter, but yet 
 enough to show that the country would be 
 safe if under the dominion of the Russian 
 sceptre. When Alexander can}e to the 
 throne, he turned his attention to the affairs 
 of Georgia, with the avowed object of ascer- 
 taining if she could subsist, with her former 
 government, under the protection of Russia. 
 His preformed conclusion was soon ex- 
 pressed in a declaration, tliat the best way 
 to terminate the troubles of Georgia would 
 be, to unite it at once to the Russian do- 
 minions. An imperial ukase was accord- 
 ingly issued to that efl'ect, and the Russian 
 eagle was planted on a portion of the ro- 
 mantic soil of the Caucasus. 
 
 Alexander also, during this period, showed 
 a disposition to extend the influence of Rus- 
 sia in another direction, by entering into a 
 
 
 negotiation with France respecting the com- 
 pensation, for the entire or partial loss of 
 their dominions, to be granted to certain of 
 the minor powers of Germany, with which 
 country he was connected, both through his 
 mother and through his father, who was 
 born head of the house of Holstein-Gottorp. 
 It was in the course of these negotiations 
 that he had his first interview with the 
 prevaricating Frederic William III., king of 
 Prussia — an interview which is understood 
 to have laid the foundation of an intimate 
 friendship between the two sovereigns, and 
 to have established a concurrence of views 
 which powerfully influenced the future 
 policy of each. Alexander, though secretly 
 dissatisfied with the unimportant part which 
 Napoleon allowed him to play in these 
 transactions, yet contented himself with a 
 show of outward respect, and a precedent 
 which went far to establish the right of Rus- 
 sia to interfere in the affairs of Germany. 
 
 The tranquillity which Russia now en- 
 joyed, gave Alexander full scope for the 
 improvement of the empire, and the exten- 
 sion of its commerce and manufactures. 
 He encouraged the English system of agri- 
 culture, and allotted a tract of land to be 
 cultivated in that manner. The brief re- 
 pose of Europe from the fierce wars which 
 had so devastated a great portion of it, gave 
 an impetus to commerce ; and the ports 
 both of the Baltic and the Euxine were 
 visited by immense numbers of ships, and 
 exhibited a great degree of prosperity. The 
 trade with Cliina also shared the general 
 improvement; and a herring-fishery was 
 established on the White Sea, under the 
 immediate protection of the emperor. A 
 voyage round the world was also projected, 
 with the object of endeavouring to establish 
 the commerce of the Russian American 
 Company with Eastern Asia, and also for 
 the purpose of opening a more extensive 
 intercourse with Japan and China. Several 
 German professors accompanied the expedi- 
 tion, with the view of making discoveries in 
 geography and natural history. It also 
 carried an ambassador accredited to Japan; 
 but the government of that nation refused 
 to receive him. 
 
 Even at this early period of his reign, 
 Alexander showed that he was bent on 
 rigidly maintaining everything that the 
 Russian government regarded as its right. 
 
 * By the peace of Amiens, England had under- 
 taken to restore Malta to the knights of St, John; 
 that it should be a free port, garrisoned by the 
 VOL. I. 3d 
 
 Sweden had, in a most trifling matter, in- 
 fringed the frontier of Finland ; and a dis- 
 pute accordingly arose between the courts 
 of Stockholm and St. Petersburg, which 
 would have led to a war, had not hostili- 
 ties been averted by the concession of the 
 Swedish monarch. 'The military prepara- 
 tions of Russia were very extensive, and 
 the emperor took advantage of the oppor- 
 tunity thus afforded him by reorganising 
 the fleet and the army, and strengthening 
 his means of defence or aggression. Alex- 
 ander, however, had another motive in thus 
 augmenting the military force of the em- 
 pire. He had become jealous of the colossal 
 and devouring power of Napoleon, who had 
 not acted with good faith towards him in 
 the settlement of the affairs of the minor 
 princes of Germany. 
 
 Alexander was doubtless encouraged in 
 the hostile feelings towards France, which 
 the conduct of the first consul had excited 
 in him, by the rupture of the brief peace 
 between that country and England. The 
 annexation, in 1802, of Piedmont to the 
 French republic, irritated both England 
 and Russia, as Alexander had personally 
 interested himself for the king of Sardinia. 
 On the other hand. Napoleon took offence 
 at the refusal of England to deliver up 
 Malta, on the plea that a Neapolitan gar- 
 rison would have been but a poor security 
 against a hostile visitation of the French.'* 
 Lord Whitworth, the English ambassador, 
 had a long and stormy conference on this 
 subject with Napoleon at the Tuileries. 
 The English minister having represented to 
 him that the state of things which the 
 treaty of Amiens had contemplated was 
 completely altered by his enormous acces- 
 sion of power in Italy, he peremptorily re- 
 jected the claim of England to interfere 
 in his arrangements concerning other states, 
 and insisted on Malta being delivered up to 
 some neutral power. Turning to Count 
 Markoff, the Russian ambassador, and to 
 the Chevalier Azara, who were standing at 
 a little distance. Napoleon said to them — 
 " The Enghsh wish for war ; but if they be 
 the first to draw the sword, I shall be the 
 last to sheathe it. They have no regard for 
 treaties. We must henceforth cover tliem 
 with shame." Shortly afterwards he re- 
 sumed his conversation with Lord Whit* 
 worth, by observing — '' For what reason are 
 
 troops oi a neutral power, and that neither this 
 country nor France should have any representative 
 in the order, 
 
 385 
 
 I' i 
 
 I- «1 
 1 
 
 ii '1 
 
 ! 
 
 if 
 
 u 
 
\ 
 
 EXECUTION OF THE DUKE d'enghien.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ir 
 
 those armaments ? against whom are these 
 measures of precaution ? I have not a single 
 ship of the line in the ports of France ; but 
 if you will arm, I shall arm likewise; if you 
 go to war, I shall go to war also. You 
 may, perhaps, be able to destroy France, 
 but never to intimidate her." "We do 
 not desire," responded Lord Wliitworth, 
 '\ either the one or the other ; we wish to 
 live in a good understanding with her." 
 "It is necessary, then," continued Napo- 
 leon with much excitement, '' to pay reo-ard 
 to treaties; those who pay no regard to 
 treaties will be responsible for it to all 
 Europe." The hostile feelings of the two 
 governments did not admit of longer re- 
 pression ; and England again declared war 
 against France, on the J8th of May, 1803. 
 
 Though irritated against France, Alex- 
 ander, who, at the commencement of his 
 reign, had assumed to himself the character 
 of pacificator amongst the European powers, 
 did not as yet feel called upon to enter into 
 hostilities against the republic. He desired 
 rather to terminate the quarrel which had 
 so long distracted Europe; and the Rus- 
 sian chancellor observed, " that if the war 
 were to be prolonged between France and 
 England, Russia would be compelled finally 
 to take part in it." A hollow peace yet 
 prevailed ; but trifling and undignified dis- 
 putes took place between Napoleon and the 
 Russian ambassador Markoff, who actually 
 assumed the extraordinary position of a 
 foreign minister intriguing at Paris in 
 favour of the Bourbons. This induced 
 Napoleon openly to insult him, to order the 
 arrest of his secretary, and, in a fit of tem- 
 per, to defy the Russian government. Alex- 
 ander, feeling that his ambassador had 
 acted in a manner inconsistent with his 
 station, gratified the first consul by recalling 
 him ; but at the same time conferred upon 
 him a special decoration as a mark of his 
 continued favour. 
 
 Such was the state of affairs when, in 
 1804, Napoleon, irritated by conspiracies to 
 assassinate him, ordered the illegal arrest 
 and judicial murder of the young Bourbon 
 prince, the Duke d'Enghien. On the re- 
 newal of the war, the Enghsh government 
 took the French emigrants again into its 
 pay, and they were directed to go to the 
 German side of the Rhine, to act when 
 required. The duke, unfortunately for 
 himself, was regarded as their head. Mean- 
 time, the conspiracy of Georges and Piche- 
 gru was discovered at Paris. It has never 
 386 
 
 [a.d. 1804. 
 
 been proved that the duke was privy to 
 that conspiracy ; but it appears that he was 
 led to expect an insurrectionary movement 
 in France in favour of the Bourbons, of 
 which he intended to avail himself, by 
 entering that country at the head of the 
 emigrants. Napoleon, alarmed at the con- 
 spiracy, and at the avowed intention of 
 Georges to assassinate him, seems to have 
 persuaded himself that the duke was con- 
 nected with the Paris conspirators, and 
 that the whole was a plan directed by the 
 Bourbons in England, and by the English 
 government; and he determined upon get- 
 ting rid of his enemies by summary means. 
 He accordingly dispatched a party of gen^ 
 darmes, who crossed the Rhine, entered 
 without ceremony the neutral territory of 
 Baden, surrounded the chateau of Etten- 
 heim, and, on the 15th of March, seized 
 the person of the duke. The arrest was 
 immediately followed by a trial before a 
 secret court, and the duke was found guilty 
 of all the charges preferred against him, 
 though the worst of them was never proved. 
 They were, that he had borne arms against 
 the French republic ; that he had offered his 
 services to the English government ; that he 
 was at the head of a party of emigrants assem- 
 bled near the frontiers of France, and had 
 treasonable correspondence with the neigh- 
 bouring departments; and, lastly, that he 
 was an accomplice in the conspiracy formed 
 at Paris against the life of the first consul. 
 The last accusation he indignantly denied, 
 but admitted the others. Sentence of 
 death was pronounced, and carried into 
 execution with a rapidity which was re- 
 garded as both harsh and indecent. The 
 trial took place on the 20th; and that very 
 night, or rather before daybreak the follow- 
 ing morning, he was roused from sleep, led 
 into the ditch of the castle of Viucennes, 
 where he was confined, and shot by torch- 
 light. The body was instantly buried, 
 without any funeral ceremony, in a grave 
 which had just previously been dug on the 
 spot. A great sensation'was produced by 
 this act, and much indignation expressed; 
 but we think the apology which Napoleon 
 afterwards made at St. Helena concerning 
 it, not without weight. It was, that he 
 believed that the duke was implicated in 
 the conspiracy against his life, and that he 
 was obliged to strike terror among the royal- 
 ists, and put an end to their plots, by show- 
 ing that he was not a man to be trifled 
 with. Still it must be admitted, that tha 
 
 A.D. i804.] 
 
 RUSSIAN E:\IPIRE. [expostulation of Alexander. 
 
 arrest was in violation of the law of nations, 
 and that the trial was an informal one. 
 
 The fate of the Duke d'Enghien excited 
 interest and commiseration throughout Eu- 
 rope. He was young, and reputed to be 
 brave, amiable, and one of the most pro- 
 mising of the Bourbon princes. The sove- 
 reigns of Europe were especially touched 
 and offended ; but the emperor Alexander 
 made the greatest exhibition of his feeling. 
 The sufferer was of royal blood, and Alex- 
 ander felt indignant that one of such rank 
 should have been shot like a common of- 
 fender; his emotion was elicited less for the 
 man than for the distinguished position he 
 occupied. The autocrat at once addressed 
 a remonstrance to the French minister, 
 representing the alarm that conduct so un- 
 justifiable was calculated to spread through- 
 out Europe, and concluding with a hope 
 that the first consul would see the necessity 
 of putting an end to such a state of things. 
 Not satisfied with an interference which 
 Napoleon must have regarded as dictatorial, 
 if not uncalled for, Alexander also addressed 
 a note to the diet at Ratisbon, calling upon 
 the princes of the empire to demand satis- 
 faction for the violation of the neutrahty of 
 Germany. He also went into mourning for 
 the unfortunate Bourbon, and commanded 
 the court at St. Petersburg, and all his 
 ministers at foreign courts, to do the same. 
 Napoleon was necessarily irritated at these 
 proceedings, and a sharp correspondence 
 took place between the French and Russian 
 ministers. As might have been expected, 
 the first consul repudiated altogether the 
 right of Alexander to interfere in the con- 
 cerns of France ; and, after alluding to the 
 influence which its enemies were allowed to 
 exercise at St. Petersburg, sarcastically de- 
 sired the emperor to act openly, if it was his 
 intention to form a new coalition. Recrimi- 
 nations followed, and it became highly pro- 
 bable that hostilities might ensue between 
 the two nations; for affairs were in tliat 
 condition, that any further disagreement 
 would almost inevitably lead to an open 
 rupture. 
 
 Further offence soon followed. On the 
 18th of May, 1804, Napoleon assumed the 
 title of emperor, and was solemnly crowned 
 as such in the ancient cathedral of Notre- 
 Dame, by Pope Pius Vll., on the 2nd of 
 December following. Prior to the cere- 
 mony, Alexander made a strong remon- 
 strance against the assumption of the impe- 
 rial sceptre on the part of the great soldier, 
 
 'J 
 
 and afterwards refused to acknowledge the 
 new sovereign. The ambassadors of the 
 two monarchs were respectively recalled. 
 The despotic king of Sweden followed Alex- 
 ander in his refusal to acknowledge the 
 imperial title assumed by Napoleon. Prus- 
 sia coldly acquiesced, and Austria assented 
 to the starthng proceeding of the new 
 military emperor. Alexander therefore felt 
 himself placed in a position which demanded 
 circumspection, unless he felt inchned to 
 enter on a war with France without any ally 
 but England. This difficulty was increased 
 by the aggressive attitude which Alexander 
 had assumed towards Turkey; an attitude 
 justifying the insinuation of France, that 
 the northern autocrat had adopted one 
 course of policy in Europe, and another in 
 Asia. It is certain that his movements in 
 the latter direction were inconsistent with 
 his professions in the former ; that while he 
 was endeavouring to restore the old divisions 
 of the European kingdoms, he was laying 
 snares for the extension of his territory in 
 the east, and the subversion of the states of 
 Turkey and Persia. 
 
 Though Alexander acted with caution, he 
 prepared to take advantage of any favour- 
 able opportunity that might offer for acting 
 against France, and curbing the ambition 
 of its newly-made emperor. Great activity 
 prevailed in all the arsenals of Russia ; re- 
 cruits for the navy were raised throughout 
 the provinces ; the since famous Sebastopol, 
 on the Black Sea, was declared the first 
 naval seaport, and merchant vessels were 
 excluded from the harbour. The military 
 force, also, was augmented to half a million 
 of men, and large bodies of troops were 
 assembled on the western frontiers. At, the 
 same time, an attempt was made to remove 
 the distaste of the Russians for a new war, 
 by declarations that the commerce of the 
 empire was in a highly prosperous condition, 
 and by the reduction of duties in all the 
 ports of the Euxine. Yet, as if fearing any 
 expression of popular opinion, the censorship 
 of the press was rendered still more rigo- 
 rous — a measure which some hollow com- 
 mon-places about liberty and the '' advance- 
 ment of real knowledge," failed to render 
 the less odious. 
 
 The emperor Napoleon, finding that his 
 assumption of imperial state was received by 
 the other powers of Europe with less op- 
 position than he had anticipated, converted 
 the Italian republics into a kingdom, and on 
 the 26th of May, 1805, caused himself to 
 
 387 
 
 
 ■l 
 
COALITION AGAINST FRANCE.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1805, 
 
 A.T). 
 
 1805.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [war WITH FRAN(TK. 
 
 
 *. ; 
 
 be crowned with extraordinary pomp, in the 
 cathedral of Milan, as king of Italy. Na- 
 poleon seized the iron crown of the old 
 Lombard kings, and, placing it on his brow, 
 exclaimed, "God has given it to me; woe 
 to him who shall attempt to lay hands on 
 it.'' He appointed his step-son, Eugene 
 Beauharnais, to be his viceroy of the king- 
 dom of Italy, and on the 7th of June opened 
 in person the session of the Italian legisla- 
 tive body. The republic of Genoa was, in 
 the same month, united to the French em- 
 j)ire, at the request of its doge and people. 
 The Italian republic of Lucca also was 
 transformed into a principality, and given 
 to one of Napoleon's family, to be held as a 
 fief of the newly-created empire, to the gov- 
 ernment of which the whole of Savoy, Pied- 
 mont, and Genoa was now subjected. With 
 one exception—that of San Marino — the 
 Italian republics were extinguished. 
 
 Austria remonstrated in vain against the 
 never-ending encroachments of Napoleon in 
 Italy ; and the views of that power under- 
 went a change in consequence of his usur- 
 pations in that direction. The representa- 
 tions of Russia alike remained unheeded. 
 A treaty had already been entered into be- 
 tween Russia and England, which, after 
 stating that the situation of Europe de- 
 manded a speedy remedy, bound the con- 
 tracting parties to consult respecting the 
 means of redress, without waiting for fur- 
 ther encroachments on the part of the 
 French government. This led to a conclu- 
 sion that the most effectual course would be 
 to form a league of the states of Europe, 
 and to collect a force which, independently 
 of the succours furnished by England, 
 should amount to 500,000 men, in order 
 either to persuade or compel, according to 
 circumstances, the French government to 
 the re-establishment of peace, and the res- 
 toration of the balance of power. The 
 objects to be attained were— I. The re- 
 vival of the independence of Switzerland 
 and Holland. 2. The compulsion of the 
 French government to withdraw its troops 
 from the north of Germany. 3. The ob- 
 taining the restoration of Piedmont to the 
 king of Sardinia. 4. To obtain the future 
 security of Naples, and compel Napoleon to 
 evacuate Italy. England agreed to contri- 
 bute forces by sea and land, and also such 
 subsidies as might be deemed requisite. It 
 was further agreed that, in the event of the 
 formation of the league, peace should not 
 be made with France without the consent 
 388 ^ 
 
 of all the powers who should become parties 
 to it. Yet actual hostilities were not to be 
 entered upon until the attempt to obtain 
 the objects of the proposed alliance by nego- 
 tiation should have proved a failure. 
 
 The engulphment of Italy by the ambi- 
 tion of Napoleon, induced Austria to be- 
 come a member of the proposed league; and, 
 in the summer of 1805, a new coalition 
 against France was formed between England, 
 Russia, Austria, and Sweden. Prjissia was 
 urged to join it; but the wily Frederic 
 William hesitated, increased h'is armies, 
 and remained neutral. His aid seemed to 
 promise victory to the side to which he 
 should attach himself, and a large party in 
 Prussia were anxious to draw the sword 
 against Napoleon. But Frederic William 
 still professed a friendship for the warlike 
 emperor, and he assembled a strong army on 
 the frontiers of Austria, to which the French 
 troops had been advanced by rapid marches ; 
 but whom that army was to oppose was a 
 secret. When Alexander demanded a free 
 passage through Silesia for a Russian army, 
 he met with a refusal. On repeating his 
 demand in an imperious tone, the king of 
 Prussia answered, that his generals had 
 received orders to treat any Russian who 
 set his foot on the Prussian soil as an 
 enemy. There was little doubt that Frederic 
 William would either remain neutral, or 
 wait till one of the belligerent parties should 
 have been weakened by defeats, and then 
 join the victor, and take his share in the 
 spoliation either of Austria or France. 
 
 Napoleon afforded the powers arrayed 
 against him little opportunity for aggressive 
 movements, and but scanty time for further 
 preparations. He resolved at once to con- 
 centrate his whole military force, for the pur- 
 pose of destroying the combination against 
 hini before the Russian troops had passed 
 their own frontier. Austria was the first in 
 the field, and she marched an army, confided 
 to the command of the incapable General 
 Mack, into the electorate of Bavaria. Na- 
 poleon led the army which he had formed 
 at Boulogne for the invasion of England, 
 towards the Rhine; and other troops from 
 Holland, Hanover, and the interior of France 
 were marched to the same quarter. Regard- 
 less of the neutrality of Prussia, he not only 
 marched his troops through Anspach and 
 Bareuth, but even occupied those districts 
 —a bold step, which gave him incalculable 
 advantages over the enemy in point of time, 
 as the Ri.3sians were obliged to reach tho 
 
 theatre of the contest by circuitous routes. 
 Napoleon then opened one of those dazzling 
 campaigns which, for the rapidity of the 
 movements and the great talent displayed 
 in them, have never been surpassed in the 
 annals of history. During the month of 
 October he almost annihilated the Austrian 
 armv bv a succession of victories. Several 
 divisions laid down their arms to the French. 
 General Mack threw himself into Ulm, 
 where he allowed himself to be surrounded ; 
 and then surrendered, on the 17th of Oc- 
 tober, without fighting, with more than 
 20,000 men, and all his staff, artillery, and 
 stores. Napoleon dismissed no less than 
 eighteen Austrian generals on their parole, 
 and sent a waggon loaded with imperial 
 standards to Paris. The other Austrian 
 divisions scattered about were unal)le to 
 make any efiectual resistance ; and the vic- 
 torious French army marched on Vienna, 
 and entered that ca[)ital in triumph ! 
 
 Alexander was startled, and hurried to 
 Berlin to exert his personal influence on the 
 Prussian monarch, and induce him to join 
 the coalition against Napoleon. The war 
 party in Prussia was roused into great ac- 
 tivity by the recent violation of the Prussian 
 territory by the French army, and Frederic 
 William, sharing in that feeling, or carried 
 away by the tide of circumstances, not only 
 consented to an interview with Alexander, 
 but concluded a secret convention with him, 
 by which he bound himself to join the coali- 
 tion, unless Na[)ole()n withdrew from Ger- 
 many before the 15th of December. The 
 Russian emperor attracted much popularity 
 at Berlin by the 'gracefulness and suavity of 
 his manner, and he paid so much attention 
 to all the relations of the great Frederic, 
 that a sort of fascination existed in his 
 favour. A curious scene also took place 
 at Potsdam during Alexander's visit. In 
 company with the king and queen, he visited 
 at midnight, by torchlight, the vault in 
 which lav the coffin of Frederic the Great. 
 They knelt before it, and kissed the coffin. 
 Alexander then grasped the hand of his 
 brother sovereign, and solemnly pledged 
 himself that nothing should ever break their 
 friendship. He then hastened, by way of 
 Leipzig and Weimar, to Dresden, from 
 whence he proceeded to Olmutz ; and there, 
 on the 18th of November, joined the em- 
 peror Francis of Austria. A Russian army 
 that had previously arrived to assist the 
 Austrians, had suflfered a disastrous defeat; 
 a second one arrived on the same day as the 
 
 emperor did, and the allied armv amounted 
 to about 80,000 men. That of *the French 
 is usually estimated at about 75,000; but it 
 was composed of troops flushed with victorj', 
 and immeasurably superior to their anta- 
 gonists in skill, ardour, and discipline. 
 
 Napoleon, on hearing that the emperor 
 Alexander had joined the army, sent General 
 Savary (afterwards Duke of Rivigo) to him 
 with a complimentary letter, in which he 
 expressed an earnest desire to cultivate the 
 friendship of the czar. The real object, 
 however, of Savarv was to make himself 
 acquainted, during the three days which his 
 visit lasted, with the leading characters of 
 the emperor's camp, and the opinions tliat 
 prevailed amongst them. Alexander re- 
 ceived this messenger with great courtesy. 
 The interview which took place between 
 them is thus described by Savarv himself: — 
 '' When I arrived at the Russian head- 
 quarters, I found the officers and staff de- 
 claiming against the ambition of the French 
 government, and full of confidence in the 
 success of their arms. The emperor received 
 me in the most gracious manner, and made 
 a sign for his attendants to retire. I could 
 not avoid a feeling of timidity and awe when 
 I found mvself alone with that monarch. 
 Nature had done much for him ; it would 
 be difficult to find a model so perfect and 
 gracious; he was then twenty-six years of 
 age. He spoke French in its native purity, 
 without the slightest tinge of foreign accent, 
 and made use on all occasions of our most 
 classical ex{)ressions. As there was not the 
 least affectation in his manner, it was easy 
 to see that this was the result of a finished 
 education. The emperor said, when I put 
 the letter into his hand, ' I am grateful for 
 this step on your master's side; it is with 
 regret that I have taken up arms against 
 him, and I seize with pleasure the first op- 
 portunity of testifying that feeling towards 
 him. He has long been the object of my 
 admiration; I have no wish to be his enemy, 
 any more than that of France. He should 
 recollect that, in the time of the late em- 
 peror Paul, though then only grand-duke, 
 when France was overwhelmed bv disasters, 
 and met with nothing but obloquy from the 
 other cabinets, I contributed much, by di- 
 recting the Russian cabinet to take the lead, 
 to induce the other powers of Europe to 
 recognise the new order of things in your 
 country. If now I entertain different senti- 
 ments, it is because France has adopted 
 difi'erent principles, which have given the 
 
 389 
 
 i 
 
NAPOLEON AND ALEXANDER.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 European powers just cause of disquietude 
 for their independence. I have been called 
 on by them to concur in establishing an 
 order of things which may tranquillise all 
 parties ; and it is to accomplish that purpose 
 that I have come hither. You have been 
 admirably served by fortune, it must be ad- 
 mitted ; but I will never desert an ally in 
 distress, or separate my cause from that of 
 the emperor of Germany. He is in a critical 
 situation, but one not beyond the reach of 
 remedy. I lead brave soldiers; and if your 
 master drives me to it, I will command them 
 to do their duty. You are already great 
 and powerful, and by your uniformity of 
 language, feelings, and laws, as well as phy- 
 sical situation, must always be formidable to 
 your neighbours. What need have you of 
 continual aggrandisement ? Since the peace 
 of Luneville, you have acquired first Genoa, 
 and then Italy, which you have subjected to 
 a government which places it entirely at 
 vour disposal.' " 
 
 At the close of the conversation, the 
 emperor presented General Savary with a 
 reply to Napoleon's letter, addressed, "To 
 the chief of the French governmeut/' ob- 
 serving at the same time, " Here is my 
 answer; the address does not express the 
 title he has of late assumed. I attach no 
 importance to such trifles." Savary found 
 the Russian generals eager for the contest, 
 and inflated with a vain-glorious sense of 
 their own prowess and military skill. This 
 impression Napoleon desired to strengthen, 
 and thus induce the impetuosity of the 
 Russians to lead them into a snare which 
 he had laid for them. He therefore sent 
 Savary again to the camp of the enemy, to 
 propose an interview between the French 
 and Russian emperors. Alexander declined 
 the interview ; but sent Prince Dolgoruki to 
 propose conditions to Napoleon. The Rus- 
 sian was received at the outposts of the 
 French camp by the emperor, when the 
 latter, having just finished the inspection of 
 his advanced posts, had nothing about him 
 to strike a vulgar mind. Dolgoruki be- 
 liaved with an arrogance which showed the 
 delusion of his countrymen, and terminated 
 the negotiation. The emperor dismissed 
 him with the observation, that they would 
 settle elsewhere than in diplomatic con- 
 ferences the quarrel which divided the policy 
 of the two empires. Napoleon, however, 
 appears to have respected the military 
 character of the Russians. He told his 
 soldiers that they were going to meet a 
 890 
 
 [a.d. 1805 
 
 new enemy, " who had been brought from 
 the ends of the world by the gold of Eo"-- 
 land." Then, in allusion to the high cha- 
 racter borne by the Russian infantry, he 
 added—" This contest is of much importance 
 to the honour of the French infantry. The 
 question must be now finally settled, whether 
 the French infantry be the first or the' 
 second in Europe.'' The Russians, deceived 
 by the artifice of Napoleon, were eager for 
 battle. " He is falling back," said the staff 
 of officers who surrounded Alexander; " he is 
 in full retreat ; we must rush upon him and 
 overwhelm him." 
 
 Notwithstanding this enthusiasm, the allies 
 advanced but slowly; and Napoleon re- 
 mained during the whole of two days on 
 horseback, at the advanced posts, watching 
 their movements. After surveying the 
 heights of Pratzen, he said to his' generals, 
 "If I wished to prevent the enemy from 
 passing, it is here that I should station 
 myself; but that would only lead to an 
 ordinary battle, and I desire decisive suc- 
 cess. If, on the other hand, I draw back 
 my right towards Briinn, and the Russians 
 pass these heights, they are irretrievably 
 ruined." Acting upon this principle, he 
 drew back the French right, as if it was 
 fearful of encountering the enemy. On the 
 morning of the 1st of December, Napoleon 
 beheld the columns of the enemy moving 
 across his position, and saw that it was 
 evident the resolution to turn the right 
 flank of his army had been decidedly taken. 
 Then, with the prophetic anticipation of 
 military genius, he exclaimed, " To-morrow, 
 before nightfall, that army is my own." 
 
 The Russian power was commanded by 
 Generals Kutusoff and Buxhovden, and the 
 reserve was under the orders of the Grand- 
 duke Constantine. The Austrians were led 
 by Prince John of Lichtenstein. Their 
 allied forces amounted to about 80,000 
 men, of whom 15,000 were cavalry. Napo- 
 leon was on horseback by four o'clock in 
 the morning of the day of battle— the 2nd 
 of December. His soldiers were buried in 
 sleep, unconscious of the dangers they were 
 about to undergo, or of the triumph they 
 were to achieve. A bright winter's sun at 
 length revealed the position of the enemy ; 
 and he saw his expectations concerning 
 their movements confirmed. Having given 
 directions to his marshals for the attack, he 
 rode through the foremost ranks of the 
 army, and exclaimed, "Soldiers ! the enemy 
 has imprudently exposed himself to your 
 
 A.D. 1805.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [battle op austerlttz. 
 
 blows ; we shall finish the war with a clap 
 of thunder." 
 
 The left wing of the Russian army at 
 first assailed the French with such violence, 
 that the latter were driven back ; and be- 
 fore Marshal Davoust could arrive on the 
 spot to succour them, the right wing of the 
 French army appeared completely turned. 
 When he did so, he attacked the Russians 
 while disordered by success, and not only 
 arrested their advance, but took from them 
 six pieces of cannon. The Russians, how- 
 ever, returned in greater force ; and the 
 conflict was maintained on both sides with 
 much bloodshed and obstinacy. 
 
 While this furious combat was proceed- 
 ing on the right of the French army, Mar- 
 shal Soult had attacked the position on 
 which depended the issue of the battle. At 
 a signal given by Napoleon, the powerful 
 corps of Soult was suddenly thrown on the 
 Russian centre while it was in open 
 columns of march, just beginning to ascend 
 the slopes of the Pratzen. Kutusoff then 
 saw his danger, and did everything that 
 was possible to repair the error which 
 had been committed. The emperors Alex- 
 ander and Francis were both with the 
 centre column. Prince Czartoryski, who 
 stood between them, remarked to the 
 former the nimble and decided step with 
 which the French were ascending the pla- 
 teau, without returning the fire of the 
 Russians. At this sight, Alexander is said 
 to have lost all the confidence he had until 
 then possessed, and to have conceived a 
 sinister presentiment which never left him 
 during the engagement. Before the hasty 
 preparations of the allies could be com- 
 plete, the first line of Soult had ascended the 
 heights, and attacked the Russian front 
 with so much impetuosity, that its first line 
 was at once broken and driven back upon 
 the second ; and after two hours of desperate 
 fighting, the heights of Pratzen were car- 
 ried, six battalions were cut to pieces, and 
 the French were pursuing the Russians and 
 Austrians, who were hurled in confusion 
 down the declivities of that plateau. 
 
 At the same time, a desperate and almost 
 separate battle was fought between the 
 French left and the right of the allies. The 
 French, under Lannes and Murat, in this 
 direction also surprised the combined forces 
 in their line of march. The Russian right 
 were astonished at finding themselves sud- 
 denly assailed by French columns emerging, 
 in battle array, out of the mist. The sur- 
 
 prise was so complete, that the reserve, 
 under the Grand-duke Constantine, was one 
 of the first divisions to find itself engaged. 
 Though surprised, the Russians were un- 
 daunted, and, under cover of the fire of their 
 artillery, which was rapidly brought for- 
 ward, their columns wheeled into line. A 
 fierce conflict followed, in which the splen- 
 did Russian cavalry— the Hulans of the 
 guard— charged that of the French, and, 
 having broken it, dashed through the first 
 line of the French, and swept through the 
 openings between the second. There they 
 were in their turn charged by Murat, and 
 driven back in such disorder, that, what 
 with the sabres of the cavalry of the latter, 
 and the flanking fire of the infantry through 
 which they were driven, nearly half their 
 number were left dead or wounded on the 
 ground. 
 
 The struggle was resumed in the centre, 
 where the Russian imperial guard, led by the 
 Grand-duke Constantine, charged the French 
 in flank, and broke them by the force of the 
 shock. Napoleon sent General Rapp with 
 the cavalry of the guard to their relief. 
 The Russians were then hurled back with 
 the loss of their artillery. They rallied, and 
 on being reinforced by the regiment of the 
 chevalier guards (a corps in which all the 
 privates were gentlemen), returned to the 
 charge. Both imperial guards met in full 
 career; the shock was terrible; and the 
 most desperate cavalry action that had 
 taken place during the war ensued, and 
 lasted for above five minutes. The French 
 horse were driven back, and the Russians 
 pursued them with loud shouts and in some 
 disorder. While doing so, they were as- 
 sailed in flank by a powerful reserve of the 
 French army, composed of the very flower 
 of the guards, mounted on spirited chargers. 
 A furious contest ensued betwixt them and 
 Constantine's chevalier guards. The reso- 
 lution and vigour of the combatants were 
 equal; squadron to squadron, man to man, 
 they fought with invincible firmness, and 
 soon the ground was strewed with the dead 
 and the dying. The Russians were at 
 length compelled to yield to the enthusi- 
 astic valour of the French. The cavalry 
 and infantry of their guard gave way ; and, 
 after losing their artillery and standards, 
 were driven back in confusion almost to the 
 walls of Austerlitz. 
 
 The allied armies no longer fought for 
 victory, but for existence. Napoleon brought 
 forward his reserves, and rapidly followed 
 
 391 
 
 ' * it 
 
 «/. 
 
 \^ 
 
THE PEACE OF PRESBURG.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1805. 
 
 A.D. 1805.] 
 
 up his success. The allied centre had been 
 driven back above a mile from the field of 
 battle, and tlie left winj^ was expriscd to 
 the most imminent danj^er. Assailed on 
 all sides, the remnant of tlie Russian and 
 Austrian army was at length overwhelmed. 
 Great numbers souj^ht to save themselves 
 by crossing;, with their artillery and cavalry, 
 the frozen lake of Satschan. The ice, 
 weakened by the warmth of a fine dav, gave 
 way in some places beneath the weight of 
 the men, horses, and cannon; and in those 
 spots the retreating Russians were en- 
 gulphed beneath it. Napoleon, perceiving 
 this, ordered a battery of the guard to fire 
 on those parts of the ice which still held 
 firm. The execution of this command was 
 followed by a frightfid yell which arose from 
 nearly 2,000 drowning men, who sunk and 
 perished beneath the shattered ice. One 
 unfortunate column of the Russians yet 
 remained upon the field, and, under General 
 Doctorow, behaved in the most courageous 
 manner, and endeavoured to cut a path for 
 its retreat. A last and severe combat en- 
 sued ; and part succeeded in escaping, but 
 the rest were sabred by Murat's dragoons. 
 Thedisorder wasfrightful; the rout complete. 
 The sovereigns of Russia and Prussia fled 
 from the field on which the victorious French 
 were shouting ''Five VEmpereurr' Alexan- 
 der was deeply dejected. Francis, more 
 tranquil, bore the disaster with great com- 
 posure. He had at least one consolation; 
 the Russians could no longer assert that 
 the cowardice of the Austrians constituted 
 all the glory of Napcdeon. The two princes 
 retreated precipitately over the plains of 
 Moravia, amidst profound darkness, sepa- 
 rated from their households, and liable to 
 be insulted through the barbarity of their 
 own soldiers. 
 
 The battle of Austerlitz, or of the "three 
 emperors," as the French term it, is regarded 
 as the most brilliant of all the victories of 
 Napoleon, and the one in which he most 
 exhibited his astounding military genius. 
 He had re-established his superiority in 
 Europe, and inflicted a terrible blow upon 
 his enemies. The loss of the allies 
 amounted to no less than 30,000 men in 
 killed, wounded, and prisoners. The victors 
 also retained, as trophies, 180 pieces of 
 cannon, 400 caissons, and 45 standards. 
 The loss of the French, in killed and 
 wounded, has been difi'erently estimated at 
 from 7,000 to 12,000. 
 
 The day after the battle, the emperor 
 392 ^ 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [retreat op Alexander. 
 
 Francis dispatched Prince John of Lichten- 
 j stein to demand an interview with Napcdeon. 
 "You want a suspension of arms," said the 
 latter to him; "but before I grant you an 
 armistice, you must break with the Russians. 
 They must retire; we will treat separately.' 
 I wdl afterwards make a separate peace with 
 the en)peror Alexander, or, if not, I will beat 
 hira again. As for the house of Austria, I 
 must have guarantees that she will not again 
 take up arms against me. It was not 1 that 
 l)egan this war. But, first of all, no more 
 Russians ! no more of your levies en masse 
 in Hungary and Bohemia!" The French 
 emperor then consented to an interview 
 with the Austrian monarch, which took 
 place the following day in the open air, near 
 a mill, within three leagues of Austerlitz. 
 Tlie two emperors embraced when they met, 
 and Francis addressed his conqueror as " Sir' 
 my brother." It is said that he meanly 
 threw the whole blame of the war upon the 
 English; adding, that thev were a set of 
 selfish traffickers, who would set the con- 
 tinent on fire in order to secure to them- 
 selves the commerce of the world. The 
 conference lasted upwards of an hour, and 
 terminated with an agreement upon'con- 
 ditions dictated by Napoleon. "Take my 
 advice," said the latter to Francis, "do not 
 mix up your cause with that of the emperor 
 Alexander. Russia, alone, can now only 
 wage a fancy war in Europe. Vanquished, 
 she retires to her deserts, and you— you pay 
 with your provinces the costs of the war." 
 By the conditions to which the humbled 
 Francis submitted, the French were to keep 
 possession of all their conquests in Moravia 
 and Hungary, Upper and Lower Austria 
 the Tyrol, Venice, Carinthia, Styria, Car- 
 niola, Goritz, Istria, Bohemia, and the circle 
 of Montabar. The Russians were to be 
 compelled to evacuate the Austrian states 
 within fifteen days; nor was anv foreign 
 army whatever to be admitted 'into the 
 latter— a condition which doubtless referred 
 to the Prussians. Napoleon perfectly un- 
 derstood the duplicity of the king of Prussia ; 
 and when he was congratulated, after the 
 battle, upon his victory, observed with a 
 sneer, that the Prussian compliments had 
 been intended for others, but that fortune 
 had transferred them to him. 
 
 When the terms agreed to between the 
 emperors of France and Austria were com- 
 municated to Alexander by General Savary, 
 the humbled autocrat observed— " Your 
 master has shown himself very great. I 
 
 acknowledge all the power of his genius ; 
 and, as for myself, I shall retire, since my 
 ally is satisfied." He then ordered a retreat, 
 and, on the 6th of December, was on his way 
 back to St. Petersburg. Some French 
 writers assert, that Alexander and the Rus- 
 sian army was surrounded, and that they 
 owed their escape to the magnanimity of 
 Napoleon. By others, the Russian autocrat 
 is described as saving himself and army by 
 an exercise of duplieity. They say that he 
 deceived General Davoust, who followed 
 closely on his rear, by sending word to him 
 that an armistice was concluded — a state- 
 ment from which it would be supposed that 
 he was included in it; such not being the 
 fact, the armistice existing only between the 
 French and the Austrians. It is probable 
 that Napoleon did not greatly desire to in- 
 tercept the retreat of the humiliated Rus- 
 sians, and thus renew the struggle. He was 
 aware that his own position in the heart of 
 Moravia, far from the frontiers of France 
 and from his reinforcements, after the 
 winter had set in, would have become a 
 critical one had he chosen to prolong the 
 war. Besides, he had done enough for one 
 campaign, in which Austria had been laid 
 prostrate for a time, and Russia had suffered 
 severely both in her resources and her 
 reputation ; while th3 power and military 
 glory of France had been increased to an 
 extent not readily to be estimated. 
 
 It is true that Austria might possibly 
 have been dismembered by Napoleon ; but 
 policy dictated its preservation. The acute 
 Talleyrand, the day after the battle, urged 
 on the conqueror the necessity of treating 
 Austria with moderation, and even gene- 
 rosity. That power, observed the minister, 
 had been considerably diminished during 
 the last two centuries, and ought, therefore, 
 to be much less an object of jealousy than 
 formerly. A new power had arisen which 
 should take its place in this respect; that 
 was Russia; and against this latter, Austria, 
 so far from being a danger, was a useful 
 barrier. Austria, a vast aggregation of 
 nations foreign to each other — as Austrians, 
 Slavonians, Hungarians, Bohemians, Italians 
 — might easily fall to pieces, if the bond, 
 already feeble, that held together the hetero- 
 geneous elements of which it was composed, 
 were to be further weakened; and its 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 3b 
 
 wrecks would have more tendency to attach 
 themselves to Russia than to France. They 
 ought, therefore, he contended, to desist 
 frorn inflicting blows upon Austria, and even 
 to indemnify her for the losses she was 
 about to sustain. The indemnification that 
 Talleyrand proposed was, to confer the pro- 
 vinces of Wallachia and Moldavia upon 
 Austria ; which, he said, would be worth more 
 than Italy itself; that they would console 
 Austria for her losses — alienate her from 
 Russia; render her, in regard to the latter, 
 the bulwark of the Ottoman empire, as she 
 was already that of Europe. These pro- 
 vinces, he added, after embroiling her with 
 Russia, would embroil her with England, 
 and thus compel her to become the ally of 
 France. 
 
 When Napoleon returned to Paris, he 
 was received with the wildest enthusiasm, 
 which was much enhanced by the rapidity 
 with which he had concluded the brilliant 
 campaign from which he had just returned. 
 The municipality voted a monument to the 
 emperor and to the army. The cannon 
 which had been captured from the enemy, 
 to the number of 500 pieces, was melted 
 down and converted into a triumphal 
 column, surround:'d by a statue, in brouze, 
 of the victor who had triumphed over such 
 powerful combinations against France. In 
 an exposition which Napoleon caused to be 
 drawn up, of the state of the empire, the 
 advantages which France had derived from 
 the successive coalitions which had been 
 formed agflinst it, were thus alluded to : — 
 " The first coalition, concluded by the treaty 
 of Campo Formio, gave the republic the 
 frontier of the line, and the states which 
 now form the kingdom of Italy ; the second 
 invested it with Piedmont ; the third united 
 to its federal system Venice and Naples. 
 Let England be now convinced of its im- 
 potence, and not attempt a fourth coali- 
 tion, even if subsequent events should ren- 
 der such a measure practicable. The house 
 of Naples has irrevocably lost its dominions ; 
 Russia owes the escape of its army solely to 
 the capitulation which our generosity 
 awarded ; the Italian peninsula, as a whole, 
 forms a part of the great empire ; the em- 
 peror has guaranteed, as chief supreme, the 
 sovereigns and constitutions which compose 
 its several parts,'" 
 
 3) 
 
 393 
 
 •A I 
 
 \; 
 
 \\ 
 
PERFIDY OF PRUSSIA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1806. 
 
 ^ 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI. 
 
 A Rl'SSIAN minister signs a treaty of peace with FRANCE, BUT ALEXANDER REFUSES TO RATIFY IT ; 
 PRUSSIA DECLARES WAR AGAINST FRANCE ; PROSTRATION OF PRUSSIA BY NAPOLEON ; THE RUSSIAN ARMY 
 ADVANCES TO THE VISTULA ; NAPOLEON TALKS OF THE RECONSTITUTION OF POLAND ; HE ENTERS WARSAW ; 
 THE RUSSIANS RETREAT BEFORE HIM; BATTLES OF PULTUSK AND OF EYLAU ; NAPOLEON RETIRES TO THE 
 VISTULA, AND PROPOSES PEACE TO PRUSSIA ; NAPOLEON TAKES DANTZIC ; BATTLE OF HEILSBURG ; MUR- 
 DEROUS DEFEAT OF THE RUSSIANS AT THE GREAT BATTLE OF FRIEDLAND; ALEXANDER DESIRES PEACE; 
 HIS ADVANCES ARE READILY MET BY NAPOLEON ; ARMISTICE, AND AMICABLE INTERCOURSE BETWEEN THE 
 FRENCH AND RUSSIAN OFFICERS ; INTERVIEW OF THE TWO EMPEROES ON THE NIEMEN ; TREATY OF TILSIT ; 
 BASE CONDUCT OF ALEXANDER TOWARDS THE KING OF PRUSSIA ; SECRET ARTICLES OF THE TREATY BY 
 WHICH NAPOLEON AND ALEXANDER AGREE TO DIVIDE THE DOMINION OF THE WORLD BETWEEN THEM : 
 REMARKS ON THE ALLIANCE OF THE TWO EMPERORS. 
 
 Peace between Austria and France was 
 signed at Presburg, in Hungary, on the 
 26th of December, 1805. Austria gave up 
 the Venetian provinces and Dalmatia to the 
 kingdom of Italy; Tyrol to the elector of 
 Bavaria, and other districts; besides a tribute 
 to France of 100,000,000 of francs. Thus 
 a war which was to have checked the pre- 
 ponderance of Napoleon in Italy, left that 
 country entirely at his disposal, and estab- 
 lished his influence over a great part of 
 Germany, where, having raised the electors 
 of Bavaria and Wurtemberg to the rank of 
 kings, he placed himself at the head of all 
 the smaller states, which he formed into a 
 league, under his protection, with the title 
 of the Confederation of the Rhine. 
 The old German empire was thus dissolved ; 
 and Francis, renouncing his title of empe- 
 ror of Germany, assumed, in lieu of it, that 
 of emperor of Austria. 
 
 Alexander was no party to the peace of 
 Presburg; and, according to the terms of 
 the coalition, he had no right to enter on a 
 peace with France without consulting and 
 obtaining the consent of England. The 
 latter country acted strictly up to these 
 conditions; and Mr. Fox, then prime minis- 
 ter, refused to entertain overtures of peace 
 from France, unless they were acceded to 
 by Russia. "Do you wish us to treat,'' 
 said he to Talleyrand, "conjointly with 
 Russia? We answer — Yes. Do you wish 
 us to enter into a separate treaty indepen- 
 dent of that power ? — No !'' Scruples of this 
 kind were not entertained by Alexander, 
 and M. D'Oubril, the Russian plenipoten- 
 tiary at Paris, signed a treaty of peace with 
 France, on behalf of Russia, on the 20th of 
 July, 1806. This treaty Alexander after- 
 wards refused to ratify, on the pretence that 
 his minister had exceeded the instructions 
 given to him. D'Oubril was accordingly 
 disgraced; but the deception practised by 
 394 
 
 Alexander was too transparent to escape 
 ultimate detection. Some months had been 
 occupied in the negotiations between the 
 two courts; and during this period, arrange- 
 ments were being made for a fourth coali- 
 tion against France. The negotiations 
 which led to the signature of the treaty, had 
 been carried on for the purpose of gaining 
 the requisite time for this proceeding. 
 
 The Prussian minister congratulated 
 Napoleon on his victory at Austerlitz, 
 though he had recently made a secret treaty 
 with Alexander to take up arms, under cer- 
 tain conditions, against the French empe- 
 ror. The latter was aware of this perfidy ; 
 and when Count Haugwitz, the Prussian 
 envoy, said to him, after the battle, " Thank 
 God, you have conquered,'' observed sarcas- 
 tically, " If I had lost, he would have said 
 the same to the emperors of Austria and 
 Russia." Still Napoleon considered it ad- 
 visable to bribe Prussia into a continuance 
 of neutrality; and Frederic William re- 
 ceived the electorate of Hanover as the 
 reward of his duplicity. George III. was 
 elector of Hanover; and at the period of 
 receiving this gift, Prussia enjoyed the full 
 confidence of England, whose rights in that 
 province were thus ceded away by an enemy 
 and accepted by an ally. Prussia adopted 
 the treaty conferring on her this dangerous 
 gift, but resolved to defer the completion 
 of it until a general peace should be agreed 
 to, and the consent of the king of England 
 obtained. This insidious condition was in- 
 dignantly rejected by Napoleon, and a 
 second convention was concluded at Paris, 
 on the 15th of February, 1806, by which 
 Frederic William declared that he received 
 Hanover as a lawful conquest of Napoleon ! 
 England retaliated by a declaration of 
 war against Prussia; and in a few months 
 several hundred Prussian vessels were 
 seized by the English cruisers. Sweden, 
 
 If - 
 
 A.D. 1806.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [prussia declares against francb. 
 
 the ally of England, also threatened to in- 
 vade Prussia. In the meantime. Napoleon, 
 who hated Prussia and despised her trea- 
 cherous monarch, altered his tone towards 
 the latter. The Moniteur began to talk of 
 Prussia as a secondary power, which as- 
 sumed a tone which its extent and position 
 did not warrant. This was one cause of 
 offence to the weak Frederic William. 
 Another was, that in some fruitless negotia- 
 tions for peace which Napoleon carried on 
 with England, he had offered to restore 
 Hanover to that power. A third was, that 
 the confederation of the Rhine extended 
 round a great part of the Prussian frontiers, 
 and created a feeling of jealousy and un- 
 easiness on the part of the Prussian king. 
 The foundation of the Rhenish Confedera- 
 tion, which, as Napoleon openly said, would 
 be as useful to him against Prussia as 
 against Austria, was only notified by him to 
 the Prussian cabinet after it was completely 
 established ; though such an union of most 
 of the members of the German empire 
 would not have been proposed to any of 
 them without previously consulting Prussia, 
 if Frederic William had been regarded by 
 Napoleon with the respect due to the head 
 of one of the great European kingdoms. 
 On the 1st of October, 1806, the Prussian 
 minister at Paris presented a note to M. 
 Talleyrand, in which, after remarking, " that 
 the king, his master, saw around his terri- 
 tories none but French soldiers or vassals of 
 France, ready to march at her beck," a de- 
 mand was made that the French troops 
 should evacuate the German territory. 
 Napoleon, in a defiant tone, replied, that 
 "to provoke the enmity of France was as 
 senseless a course as to pretend to withstand 
 the waves of the ocean." These circum- 
 stances had induced the king of Prussia to 
 accede to the proposal of the emperor Alex- 
 ander, who promised to assist him with a 
 powerful army if he would declare war 
 against France. 
 
 England suspended her hostile intentions 
 against Prussia, that she might act against 
 France without embarrassment ; and Frede- 
 ric WilJiam presented an ultimatum to 
 Napoleon, and, on its rejection, issued a 
 
 • By it the British islands were to be considered 
 as in a state of blockade by all the continent. All 
 correspondence or trade with England was forbidden 
 under most severe penalties. All articles of English 
 ' manufacture, or produce of the British colonies, were 
 considered contraband. Property of every kind be- 
 longing to British subjects, wherever found, was de- 
 clared lawful prize. All letters to and from England 
 
 manifesto, which was equivalent to a decla- 
 ration of war. Thus Prussia was, by the 
 inexorable tide of events, drawn, in spite of 
 the evasions of its king, into active hostili- 
 ties against France, and an alliance with 
 Russia against that power. 
 
 The Prussian army was composed of 
 troops who, down to the very drummers, 
 thought themselves equal to the soldiers 
 with whom Frederic the Great had, for 
 seven years, resisted nearly the whole of 
 Europe. It was also increased by the nu- 
 merous and well-disciplined contingents of 
 the elector and dukes of Saxony, the elector 
 of Hesse-Cassel, the Duke of Brunswick, 
 and several other princes, who had con- 
 cluded an offensive and defensive alliance 
 with the king of Prussia. But Frederic 
 William was no match for the antagonist 
 whose wrath he had provoked, and he had 
 taken a step which he was bitterly to 
 repent. Napoleon crossed the Rhine with 
 an immense array, and soon attacked the 
 Prussians. Marshal Davoust arrested Frede- 
 ric Wilham, and the division under his com- 
 mand, at the village of Auerstadt, in Upper 
 Saxony. A severe and sanguinary battle 
 followed on the 14th of October, in which 
 the Prussian monarch sustained a severe 
 defeat, and was compelled to retreat. On 
 the same day the other division of the 
 Prussian army, commanded by the Duke of 
 Brunswick, was encountered by the French 
 under Napoleon on the fatal field of Jena, 
 where, after a long and violently-contested 
 struggle, the Prussians were driven in dis- 
 order from the field. Their loss, in the 
 two battles, is estimated at about 20,000 
 men in killed, wounded, and prisoners. 
 The results were most disastrous. Most of 
 the Prussian divisions were surrounded and 
 obliged to lay down their arms. Almost all 
 their strong fortresses — Magdeburg, Span- 
 dau, Kustrin, Stettin, Hameln — surrendered 
 without firing a shot. The work of the 
 Great Frederic's whole life crumbled to 
 pieces in a few weeks. About a fortnight 
 after the double victory of the French, 
 Napoleon entered Berlin in triumph, and 
 from that capital he issued his well-known 
 decree against British commerce.* Frede- 
 
 were to be detained and opened at the post-office. 
 This decree eventually exercised a powerful influence 
 on the interests of Kussia and the conduct of the 
 emperor Alexander. It was even one of the remote 
 causes of the ruin of Napoleon himself. M. Thiers 
 ( Consulate and the Empire) observes — " The effect of 
 this decree on the opinions of Europe was immense. 
 Some regarded it as a revolting excess of despotism ; 
 
 395 
 
 c 
 
 \'\ 
 
 \ 
 
ALEXANDER RENEWS THE WAR.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1806. 
 
 ric Wiiiiam had fled a fugitive to Kouigs- 
 berg, and Prussia lay prostrate at the feet of 
 its conqueror. So rapid were all their pro- 
 ceedings, that Napoleon, in an address to 
 his army, observed — "Our entrance into 
 Potsdam and Berlin has preceded the fame 
 of our victories.'' He added—" We have 
 made 60,000 prisoners, taken 65 standards 
 (among which are the colours of the king of 
 Prussia's guards), 600 pieces of cannon, and 
 three fortresses ; among the prisoners there 
 are twenty generals. But notwithstanding 
 all this, more than half our troops regret 
 not having fired a single musket.'' 
 
 This terrible calamity fell upon Prussia 
 before the emperor Alexander had time to 
 reach the theatre of war. He had been 
 actively employed in repairing the losses 
 which his array had sustained in the cam- 
 paign of Austerlitz. Tliirty fresh squadrons 
 and fifty-one battalions had been added to 
 its amount; all the chasms occasioned by 
 the casualties of war supplied, and the new 
 French organisation into divisions univer- 
 sally adopted. An attempt was also made, 
 in a proclamation which excited the merited 
 ridicule and condemnation of a great part of 
 Europe, to give a religious character to the 
 war, and to excite the debased superstitions 
 of the Russian soldiers against their foe. 
 "Buonaparte," said this arrogant, and in 
 sonie respects blasphemous, proclamation, 
 which was nevertheless read in all the 
 Russian churches — " after having, by open 
 force or secret intrigue, extended his power 
 over the countries which he oppresses, me- 
 naces Russia, which Heaven protects. It is 
 for you to prevent the destroyer of peace, of 
 the faith, and of the happiness of mankind, 
 from seducing the orthodox Christians. He 
 has trampled under foot every principle of 
 truth ; in Egypt he preached the Koran of 
 Mohammed ; in France manifested his con- 
 tempt for the religion of Jesus Christ by 
 convoking Jewish synagogues. Do you love 
 your fellow-creatures? Fly the persecutor 
 of Christians. Do you desire to be saved ? 
 Pppose an invincible barrier to his ad- 
 vances. He has dared to the combat God 
 and Russia : prove that you are the defenders 
 of the Most Highy and of your country. 
 Chase far from your frontiers that monster ; 
 
 others as a stroke of profound policy ; all as an extra- 
 ordinary act, proportioned to the conflict of giants 
 maintained hy England and France against each 
 other, the one daring to seize the dominion of the 
 •ea, hitherto the common route of nations, and to 
 Interdict all commerce to her enemies: the other 
 396 
 
 punish his barbarity to so many innocent 
 persons, whose blood cries aloud to Heaven 
 for vengeance. God will hear the prayer of 
 the faithful ; he will shield you with his 
 power ; he will cover you with his grace. 
 Your exploits will be celebrated by the church 
 and by your country ; immortal crowns or 
 abodes of eternal felicitv await vou." 
 
 Alexander and his troops had scarcely 
 reached the frontiers of Germany, when 
 they received information of the defeat of 
 the Prussians at Auerstadt and at Jena. 
 Surprised and alarmed, Alexander imme- 
 diately retreated across the Vistula. The 
 Russian troops consisted of a body of 50,000 
 men, under General Benningsen'; a second 
 force, of the same power, under General 
 Buxhovden; and a reserve was organised 
 under the Swedish general Essen; while 
 bodies of Cossacks preceded the regular 
 troops. Part of General Michelson's troops 
 were ascending the Dniester, and hastening 
 to Poland. Such were the then disposable 
 forces of the great Russian empire, which 
 showed, for the second time, that its re- 
 sources were not equal to its pretensions. 
 Joined to the Prussians, and while awaiting 
 the reserve of General Essen, the Russians 
 could not bring to the Vistula a force 
 reaching 120,000 men. This would have 
 been very insufficient to resist the progress 
 of Napoleon, if the climate had not been a 
 powerful auxiliary to the soldiers of the 
 North. By the climate we mean, not 
 merely the cold, but the soil ; the difficulty 
 of marching and subsisting in the immense 
 plains of Poland, alternately muddy and 
 sandy, and where the woods exceed in ex- 
 tent the part under cultivation. 
 
 Both Alexander and the miserable Frede- 
 ric William flattered themselves, that if a 
 single success crowned their efforts, Austria 
 would violate the neutrality to which she 
 had so recently pledged herself, and declare 
 in their favour ; but Austria was yet suffer- 
 ing too severely from the chastisement she 
 had received, to suffer her to act so per- 
 fidious a part for the present. Napoleon 
 seems to have been aware of this ; for he 
 was full of confidence. " Your majesty," he 
 wrote to the king of Prussia, " has sent me 
 word that you have thrown yourself into 
 
 aiming at the entire occupation of the continent by 
 force of arms, to reply to the closing of the sea by 
 the closing of the land. Unheard-of spectacle, with- 
 out example in the past and probably in the future, 
 exhibited at this moment by the unchained passion* 
 of the two greatest nations of the earth !'* 
 
 i 
 
 ■ 
 
 i 
 
 i! 
 
 ■HK I.ONl)ON PUINTINO AND Pnm.lSHlNG COMl'ANY 
 
A.D 
 
 1806.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [battle of rULTUSK. 
 
 the arms of Russia. Time will show whether 
 you have chosen the better and more effica- 
 cious part. You have taken up the dice- 
 box to play ; the dice will decide.^' 
 
 Napoleon, to increase the perplexity of 
 the northern autocrat, talked of the recon- 
 stitution of Poland as a kingdom — a measure 
 he never intended to effect. Yet, willing to 
 augment his own strength and to weaken 
 his enemy by turning to account the well- 
 known disaffection of the Poles towards 
 their Russian rulers, he introduced the fol- 
 lowing questions in one of his proclama- 
 tions : — " The love which the Poles enter- 
 tain for their country, and the sentiment of 
 nationality, is not only preserved entire in 
 the heart of the people, but it has become 
 more profound from misfortune. Their first 
 passion — the universal wish — is to become 
 again a nation. The rich issue from their 
 chateaus to demand, w^ith loud cries, the re- 
 establishment of the nation, and to offer 
 their children, their fortune, their influence, 
 in the cause. That spectacle is truly touch- 
 ing. Already they have everywhere re- 
 sumed their ancient costumes, their ancient 
 customs. Shall the Polish throne be re- 
 established ? Shall the 'great nation' secure 
 for it respect and independence? Sliall she 
 recall it to life from the grave? God only, 
 who directs all human affairs, can solve this 
 great mystery.'' These observations, with- 
 out binding the emperor to the performance 
 of any act in favour of the Poles, yet won 
 for him the attachment of that people, and 
 threatened Alexander with an insurrection 
 in the Polish dominions. " I love the 
 Poles,'' said Napoleon to General Rapp, 
 after receiving a deputation from that na- 
 tion ; " their ardour pleases me. I could 
 wish to render them an independent people, 
 but it is no easy undertaking. Too many 
 nations are interested in their spoils — Aus- 
 tria, Russia, Prussia. If the match is once 
 lighted, there is no saying where it would 
 stop. My first duty is towards France ; 
 and it is no part of it to sacrifice its in- 
 terests to Poland; that would lead us too 
 far. We must leave its destinies in the 
 hands of the supreme disposer of all things 
 — to Time. It will possibly teach us, here- 
 after, what course we ought to pursue." 
 
 Napoleon was so successful in this move- 
 ment, that the Russian government, in alarm, 
 sent General Benningsen to Warsaw to quell 
 the rising storm, and overawe the disaffec- 
 tion evinced by the people. Napoleon at 
 once saw the difficulties in which he would 
 
 involve the Russian general by attacking him 
 when surrounded by an infuriated popula- 
 tion, ready on the first favourable opportu- 
 nity to join the invader. The emperor, 
 therefore, led his army into Poland, where 
 the people received him with enthusiasm, 
 while great numbers organised themselves 
 into a military force with amazing rapidity, 
 and followed his standard. 
 
 The van of the French array, under Murat, 
 moved forward to attack Benningsen in his 
 quarters at Warsaw. After several unsuc- 
 cessful rencontres on the part of the latter, he 
 effected his retreat from Warsaw, which the 
 French commander entered triumphantly on 
 the 28th of November. Benningsen had 
 taken up a position behind the Vistula, but 
 the impetuous Murat soon compelled him 
 to make another retrograde movement, and 
 to shelter himself behind the stream of the 
 Bug. From this spot he felt it prudent to 
 shift his quarters still further rearward, 
 placing between himself and the pursuing 
 French general the river Ukra, where the 
 Russian generalissimo, Field-marshal Ka- 
 minskoi, with three other divisions of the 
 autocrat's army, had arrived and pitched 
 their tents. Napoleon in person reached 
 the Ukra on the 23rd of December, and 
 made the passage of that river. Kaminskoi 
 then ordered the whole of his army to fall 
 back, and take up a position on the line of 
 the river Niemen, in Lithuania. General 
 Benningsen suffered severely, being closely 
 followed by the enemy, who harassed him 
 by hanging on his rear, and made a great 
 number of prisoners, besides capturing up- 
 wards of thirty pieces of cannon, in the 
 various skirmishes which occurred, on pass- 
 ing the Vistula and elsewhere, between the 
 pursuers and the pursued. Benningsen at 
 length ventured to make a stand at Pultusk, 
 notwithstanding the imperative orders of 
 the commander-in-chief, Kaminskoi, to re- 
 treat at all hazards. At this place a long- 
 contested and murderous battle took place 
 on the 26th of December. The slaughter 
 on each side was enormous, and both French 
 and Russians claimed the victory. Some 
 accounts represent the latter as having lost 
 12,000 men in killed, wounded, and pri- 
 soners ; while they deny that their loss 
 exceeded 5,000, and represent that of the 
 French as amounting to upwards of 10,000. 
 The French, on their side, contended that 
 their loss did not exceed 7,000. So con- 
 flicting are the accounts, that it is difficult to 
 say to which side the advantage attached ; 
 
 397 
 
PROGRESS OF HOSTILITIES.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 180A 
 
 but it is probable that both parties suffered 
 very severely, and that neither could claim 
 a victory in the usual acceptation of that 
 word. The French, however, remained 
 masters of the ground on which they had 
 fought, and from whence they retired the 
 next day into winter quarters in the city of 
 Warsaw. 
 
 Alexander was too anxious for his own 
 safety and the preservation of the military 
 glory of his empire, to allow his troops to 
 remain idle, notwithstanding the inclemency 
 of the season, and the almost impracticable 
 state of the roads. He superseded Kamin- 
 skoi as commander-in-chief, that general's 
 mind having given way under the difficulties 
 of his position, and appointed Benningsen in 
 liis place ; and the French were continually 
 harassed by the Russians, in their winter 
 quarters. The emperor also endeavoured to 
 relieve his ally the king of Prussia, who was 
 still shut up in Konigsberg, together with 
 such troops as he had been able to collect 
 around him, where they were already suffer- 
 ing from want of provisions. To accomplish 
 the latter object Alexander proceeded to 
 Mohringen — a Russian town, fifty-six miles 
 south-south-west from Konigsberg. Here 
 he was opposed by a French army under 
 Marshal Bernadotte ; for the activity of the 
 Russians had compelled Napoleon in some 
 measure to alter his plan with respect to 
 remaining in winter quarters. A sharp en- 
 gagement followed on the 25th of January, 
 1807. At first victory seemed to incline to 
 the Russians; but the French afterwards 
 precipitated themselves with such fury upon 
 their opponents, that the Russian forces were 
 completely flanked and driven from the 
 field. Still the French obtained no decisive 
 advantage, and were not in a condition to 
 claim a victory. 
 
 By the end of January, surprised at the 
 tenacity with which the Russians kept the 
 field. Napoleon broke up his quarters, and, 
 concentrating his forces, resumed the offen- 
 sive. He designed to get to the rear of the 
 Russian camp, and thus to cut off the 
 enemy's communication with his resources. 
 General Benningsen became aware of this 
 design by means of an intercepted despatch, 
 and countermarched with a skill which en- 
 tirely frustrated the tactics of his opponent, 
 who was, consequently, under the necessity 
 of executing a long series of manoeuvres, 
 which, at that dreary season, involved the 
 extremity of hardship. 
 
 Even the Russian troops, accustomed as 
 398 
 
 they were to the rigours of a northern 
 climate, suffered severely from the length- 
 ened marches they were compelled to make 
 at that inclement period, the miseries of 
 which were enhanced by the pangs of 
 hunger. In fact, the Russian army was in 
 want of almost everything except weapons 
 a,nd ammunition. The Poles were all hos- 
 tile ; the Russian treasury was exhausted ; 
 and the commander-in-chief unable to cope 
 in the market, which was monopolised 
 by Jews, with the golden pieces of the 
 French. The half-starved Russians had no 
 resource but to prowl about and dig in the 
 earth for the corn and provisions the Polish 
 peasantry concealed. This labour, added to 
 their military duties, left them scarcely any 
 time for repose ; and when these unfortu- 
 nate men lay down to sleep, they had no 
 bed but the snow, no shelter but the sky, 
 no covering but rags. Under such painful 
 circumstances, they felt it was better to 
 fight than to starve ; better to die quickly 
 on the bayonets and beneath the grapeshot 
 of the French, than to perish slowly from 
 starvation. They therefore became clamo- 
 rous for action, and loudly demanded to be 
 led to battle, instead of traversing to and 
 fro on the almost impassable roads. 
 
 Benningsen, consequently, resolved to 
 make a stand at the town of Eylau, about 
 twenty-four miles south-east of Konigsberg, 
 where he encamped with his whole army, 
 consisting of about 90,000 men. The day 
 before the battle Napoleon attacked the 
 town, or rather village, which was several 
 times taken and retaken with horrible 
 carnage ; but towards evening it remained 
 in the hands of the French. The French 
 emperor, who commanded in person, spent 
 the whole night in making the requisite 
 preparations for the approaching struggle. 
 It commenced at dawn on the following 
 day, the 8th of February. The Russians 
 were the assailants, and began by opening a 
 cannonade upon the village. Napoleon 
 responded by ordering a cannonade against 
 an eminence in possession of the Russians, 
 which commanded the entrance to the plain, 
 and was essential to the offensive operations 
 of his army. As the opposing forces were 
 within half gun-shot of each other, nearly 
 every shot took effect, and the slaughter 
 that ensued was terrific. During these 
 operations a sudden and dense fall of 
 snow, accompanied by a mist that continued 
 for half-an-hour, involved both armies in 
 comparative darkness. This had nearly 
 

 A.D. 1807.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [battle of eyi.au. 
 
 proved fatal to the Freuch ; for some of 
 their columns, inclining too much to the 
 left, became completely separated from each 
 other. This error was retrieved bv the 
 masterly manoeuvres of the cavalry under 
 Murat, and the impetuosity with which 
 Davoust, falling upon the rear of the Rus- 
 sians, dislodged them from the eminence 
 they had so obstinately retained. During 
 fourteen hours the battle raged with un- 
 abated fury, and the chances of victory 
 continually changed sides. The French 
 made repeated and furious attacks on the 
 Russian infantry, which stood like walls of 
 brass, and never yielded to these terrible 
 onslaughts. The battle lasted until ten 
 o'clock at night, when the Russians retired 
 to the position they occupied in the morn- 
 ing. Half-starved and half-naked as they 
 were, they had displayed a heroism on the 
 field which .astonished their enemies. Some 
 Prussian columns, under General Lestocq, 
 also behaved with great intrepidity. Again 
 both Russians and French claimed the vic- 
 tory, which it is difficult to assign to either. 
 Napoleon had received the severest check 
 he had experienced since the commence- 
 ment of his military career ; and if it is 
 conceded that he gained a victory, it was 
 one whose results were equivalent, in all but 
 the name, to a defeat. 
 
 During this battle the emperor Napoleon 
 himself narrowly escaped death or captivity. 
 On one occasion the French were swept 
 before a charge of Russian cavalry and 
 Cossacks. The fugitives rushed into Eylau, 
 where Napoleon had stationed himself in 
 the churchyard, on its eastern side. A 
 snow-storm had veiled the advance of the 
 Russians ; and clearing away, it now showed 
 their light troops almost at the edge of the 
 town. The serried masses of the old guard 
 stood firm in and around the cemetery; 
 while the branches of the trees above their 
 heads were constantly rent, or falling from 
 the enemy's cannon-balls. Presently a 
 Russian division, following the fugitive 
 French, entered Eylau by the eastern street, 
 and charged, with loud hurrahs, to the foot 
 of the mount, where the emperor was placed 
 with a battery of the imperial guard and 
 his personal escort of a hundred men. Na- 
 poleon's presence of mind did not forsake 
 him, and he ordered his little body-guard to 
 form line, in order to check the enemy's 
 advance, and dispatched orders to the old 
 guard to attack the column on one flank, 
 while a brigade of Murat's horse charged it 
 
 on the other. The Russians, ignorant of 
 the inestimable prize almost within their 
 grasp, were arrested by the firm attitude of 
 the little band of heroes who formed Na- 
 poleon's last resource; and before they 
 could re-form their ranks for a regular con- 
 flict, the enemy was upon them on either 
 flank, and almost the whole division was 
 cut to pieces on the spot. " I was never so 
 much struck with anything in my life," 
 said General Bertrand on a subsequent occa- 
 sion, " as by the emperor at Eylau, at the 
 moment when, alone with some officers of 
 his staffs, he was almost trodden under foot 
 by a column of four or five thousand Rus- 
 sians. The emperor was on foot, and Ber- 
 thier gave orders instantly for the horses to 
 be brought forward ; the emperor gave him 
 a reproachful look ; and instead, ordered a 
 battalion of his guard, which was at a little 
 distance, to advance. He himself kept his 
 ground as the Russians approached, repeat- 
 ing frequently the words — ' What boldness ! 
 what boldness !' At the sight of the grena- 
 diers of his guard, the Russians made a 
 dead pause ; the emperor did not stir, but 
 all around him trembled." 
 
 The loss on both sides had been terrific, 
 and it is affirmed that about 50,000 killed 
 and wounded were left upon the field; of 
 these, at least half were French. The latter 
 remained for eight days at Eylau, engaged 
 in the burial of their dead. The trophies of 
 victory were nearly equally balanced. The 
 Russians had to boast of the unusual spec- 
 tacle of twelve eagles taken from their 
 antagonists ; while the French had cap- 
 tured sixteen of the Russian guns and four- 
 teen standards. " Never," observes Alison, 
 " was spectacle so dreadful as that field pre- 
 sented on the following morning. Above 
 50,000 men lay, in the space of two leagues, 
 weltering in blood. The wounds were, for 
 the most part, of the severest kind, from 
 the extraordinary quantity of cannon-balls 
 which had been discharged during the action, 
 and the close proximity of the contending 
 masses to the deadly batteries, which spread 
 grape at half musket-shot through their 
 ranks. Though stretched on the cold snow, 
 and exposed to the severity of an Arctic 
 winter, the sufferers were burning with 
 thirst, and piteous cries were heard on all 
 sides for water, or assistance to extricate^ 
 the wounded men from beneath the heaps 
 of slain or load of horses, by which they 
 were crushed. Six thousand of these noble 
 animals encumbered the field, or, maddened 
 
 399 
 
NAPOLEON DESIRES PEACE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1807. 
 
 with pain, were shrieking aloud amidst the 
 stifled groans of the wounded. Broken 
 gun-carriages, dismounted cannon, frag- 
 ments of blown-up caissons, scattered balls, 
 lay in wild confusion amidst casques, cui- 
 rasses, and burning hamlets, casting a livid 
 light over a field of snow. Subdued by loss 
 of blood, tamed by cold, exhausted by 
 hunger, the foemen lay side by side amidst 
 the general wreck. The Cossack was to be 
 seen beside the Italian ; the gay vine- 
 dresser, from the banks of the Garonne, lay 
 athwart the stern peasant from the plains of 
 the Ukraine. The extremity of suffering 
 had extinguished alike the fiercest and the 
 most generous passions. According to his 
 usual custom, Napoleon, in the afternoon, 
 rode over this dreadful field, accompanied 
 by his generals and staff', while the still 
 burning piles of Serpalten and Sausgarten 
 sent volumes of black smoke over the scene 
 of death. But the men exhibited none of 
 their wonted enthusiasm ; no cries of * Vive 
 r Empereur /' were heard ; the bloody sur- 
 face echoed only with the cries of suffering 
 or the groans of woe. ' The spectacle,' said 
 Napoleon in his bulletin, ' was fitted to 
 inspire princes with the love of peace and 
 a horror of war !' '' 
 
 The confidence of Napoleon was shaken 
 by the result of the battle of Eylau, and he 
 made overtures of peace to General Ben- 
 ningsen, who sternly replied, " that his 
 master had sent him to fight, and not to 
 negotiate.'^ At midnight the latter held 
 a council of war by a bivouac fire, at which 
 it was deemed expedient to retreat upon 
 Konigsberg. The march was commenced 
 almost immediately, though some of the 
 troops did not move until the next morning, 
 when they traversed the field in front of 
 the French, who did not attempt to inter- 
 cept them. Napoleon withdrew again to 
 the line of the Vistula ; and a iewv days after 
 the battle, he sent General Bertrand with a 
 courteous message to the king of Prussia, 
 who was then at Memel, and offered to 
 restore to that monarch a very large portion 
 of his dominions, on condition that he 
 should consent to a separate peace. Frede- 
 ric William had been so severely punished 
 for duplicity, that, bitterly remembering 
 the lesson, he acted on this occasion in an 
 honourable manner, and replied that, cir- 
 cumstanced as he was, it was impossible for 
 him to enter into any treaty in which the 
 emperor of Russia did not participate. 
 Napoleon wished to be able to deal with 
 400 
 
 Russia singly, who, in the former campaign, 
 had been assisted by the Austrians, and in 
 this by the troops of Prussia and the promises 
 of England. The subsidies of this country 
 had previously been advanced with a nig- 
 gardly hand, and were in this emergency 
 denied altogether. Alexander applied to 
 his ally, the British government, to nego- 
 tiate for him a loan of ^6,000,000 sterling, 
 and make an immediate advance on account. 
 The security offered is said not to have been 
 a bad one, but it was deemed insufficient, 
 and the English ministry declined the trans- 
 action. This gave great offence to Alex- 
 ander, and seriously crippled his exertions 
 against France. From this time he seems 
 to have doubted both the sincerity and 
 generosity of England, and to have begun 
 to consider how he should get out of the 
 coalition with the least possible loss, and 
 derive benefit and aggrandisement from a 
 treaty with Napoleon. Subsequently the 
 English ministry remitted the sura of 
 ^6500,000 to the court of St. Petersburg j 
 but this subsidy was far from being suffi- 
 cient for the exigencies of the case, espe- 
 cially as they declined the assistance of a 
 British auxiliary force. 
 
 As the Prussian king declined Napoleon's 
 overtures for a separate peace, the latter 
 resolved to punish him by seizing upon 
 Dantzic, and on the few fortresses which 
 vet remained in the hands of the Prussians. 
 Dantzic, though defended with great skill 
 and the most undaunted courage, was forced 
 to yield to the superior tactics of the be- 
 siegers, and surrendered on the 7th of May, 
 1807. The attempts of the Russians to 
 raise the siege only drew further suffering 
 and failures upon themselves; detachments 
 from their army experiencing severe defeats 
 at Braunsburg and Peterswalde. They 
 were also beaten back at other points and 
 a number of rafts, which had occupied them 
 six weeks to construct, on the Bug, were 
 burnt by the French in two hours. 
 
 When Dantzic had fallen, the beleaguring 
 troops, amounting to 25,000 men, rejoined 
 the main army of France ; and this, to- 
 gether with new levies, enabled Napoleon 
 to resume offensive operations against 
 General Benningsen, at the head of 180,000 
 men; while the latter, notwithstanding 
 every exertion to increase his force, could 
 scarcely raise his army to its original 
 number of 90,000. This is to be accounted 
 for by the fact, that it has always been ex- 
 tremely difficult in Russia to raise levies 
 
 A.D. 1807.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 
 
 with promptitude, in consequence of the 
 vast extent of territory over which the 
 troops are scattered, the want of means of 
 transport on so large a scale, and the dan- 
 ger which is incurred by moving masses of 
 soldiers out of those remote territories, 
 which, acquired by fraud or violence, can 
 only be maintained by the constant pre- 
 sence of a military force. In addition to 
 these general causes, recent wars had 
 pressed hard upon the serviceable classes of 
 the population, and left but scanty re- 
 sources to draw upon. As for the allies of 
 Russia, Prussia alreadv had almost ex- 
 hausted her strength in her own defence; 
 Sweden was unable to render substantial 
 assistance ; and applications for troops were 
 made to England with even less success 
 than had attended that for monetary assist- 
 ance. The fact was, that England, threat- 
 ened with an invasion of its own shores by 
 Napoleon, had enough to do at home, and 
 felt that she had contributed sufficiently to 
 the assistance of the continental powers, 
 ^loreover, she did not care to assist Alex- 
 ander to rescue the king of Prussia from a 
 fate which she felt he deserved. She had 
 set aside her own cause of quarrel ; yet, 
 though she did not strike, she would 
 not benefit the treacherous power which, 
 while in alliance with her, had accepted 
 Hanover from the hands of the French 
 emperor. 
 
 Notwithstanding the enormous prepara- 
 tions of Napoleon for war, he was desirous 
 of peace. The levies which he had made in 
 France had almost exhausted that country, 
 and general murmurs prevailed amongst 
 the people : it was, indeed, physically im- 
 possible that France could for many years 
 stand such terrible drains upon the flower 
 of her population. Many expedients were 
 resorted to for stimulating the martial en- 
 thusiasm of the people, and numerous mili- 
 tary fetes were given to dazzle the imagina- 
 tion of the multitude. Yet the popular 
 ardour languished ; painful blanks had 
 been occasioned in thousands of families ; 
 the flower of the population of France was 
 perishing in its continuous battles; and a 
 sense of desolation fell upon the minds of 
 the people. Napoleon knew these things ; 
 and, conscious of the military difficulties he 
 had to encounter, especially with so power- 
 ful and obstinate a foe as Russia, he was, 
 doubtless, sincerely desirous of terminating 
 hostilities. To this Alexander, disgusted 
 with the indifference of England, and 
 
 TOL. I. 3 P 
 
 alarmed at the power of the adversary with 
 whom he found himself engaged, was by 
 no means averse. After the fall of Dantzic, 
 Napoleon made that city his head-quarters, 
 and negotiations were secretly carried on 
 between him and the Russian emperor. 
 The nature of them did not transpire ; but 
 it appears the emperors were unable to 
 come to terms, and that the negotiations 
 were broken off. 
 
 The French soldiers constructed comfort- 
 able huts, in which they spent the winter ; 
 and all the admirable arrangements of the 
 camp of Boulogne, were again put in force 
 amidst the severity of a Polish winter. The 
 huts were arranged in streets, which re- 
 sembled, in regularity and cleanliness, those 
 of a city. The minds of the soldiers were 
 diverted by constant exercises, warlike 
 games, and reviews ; while the agricul- 
 tural riches of Old Prussia kept them 
 amply supplied with provisions. The Rus- 
 sian army was not so fortunately situated, 
 and was far from being fed and sheltered so 
 well as the French. It was situated around 
 Heilsburg, where a formidable intrenched 
 camp had been constructed. The only con- 
 test of any moment which took place while 
 the army occupied this position, was on the 
 3rd of March, at Guttstadt, which was 
 attacked and carried by Marshal Ney, to- 
 gether with the magazines which it con- 
 tained. The French, however, having im- 
 prudently advanced into the plain beyond 
 that town, several regiments were sur- 
 rounded by the Cossacks, pierced through, 
 and broken ; so that both parties were glad 
 to resume their quarters without having 
 much reason to boast of any considerable 
 advantage. General Benningsen, notwith- 
 standing the disparity of his forces, which 
 had been reinforced to the number of 
 120,000, was the first to recommence hos- 
 tilities. The emperor Alexander had ar- 
 rived at the head-quarters of his army on the 
 28th of March, and had resided since that 
 time at Bartenstein, a little in the rear of 
 the cantonments of the soldiers. On the 
 5th of June, the Russians commenced an 
 attack on a strong French division under 
 the command of Marshal Ney. The French 
 hnes were attacked at three different points; 
 and although the Russians suffered severely, 
 yet the French were compelled to fall back 
 upon Ackendorf. The following day the 
 Russians renewed the attack, with a serious 
 loss to themselves, and but a slight one to 
 the foe. Still Napoleon deemed it expe- 
 
 V N 
 
 s| 
 
NAPOLEON ADVANCES TO FRIEDLAND.] lilSTOKY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1807. 
 
 A.r. 1807.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [battle of FRIEDIAin). ' 
 
 dient to leave Lis camp at Finkinstein, join 
 Marshal Ney at the village of Deppen, to 
 which he had retreated, and take the com- 
 mand of the army in person. A sharp 
 engagement then took place on the 8th of 
 June, in which both sides suffered severely. 
 The French now assumed the offensive, 
 seized several of the enemy's camps, and 
 attacked, on the 10th, a division of the 
 Russian forces, consisting of about 17,000 
 cavalry and several lines of infantry, who, 
 however, repeatedly repulsed them. Yet 
 Benningsen was compelled eventually to 
 give way ; but, rallying his troops, he halted 
 at Heilsburg, a Prussian town in the pro- 
 vince of Ermeland, seated on the current of 
 the Alle. Here the Russians occupied a 
 very strong position, and the main army 
 lay surrounded by fortifications. Another 
 sanguinary engagement ensued, and the Rus- 
 sians maintained their ground for a whole 
 day, in the face of an enemy far superior to 
 themselves, both with respect to numbers 
 and discipline. The carnage was dreadful ; 
 the French suffered severelv: but the Rus- 
 sian army was ultimately driven from its 
 position, and compelled to continue its re- 
 treat, which it did in so precipitate a man- 
 ner, as to excite some suspicions that the 
 emperor Alexander was no longer in ear- 
 nest in the contest, and had allowed his 
 troops to be beaten in consequence of some 
 secret understanding to that effect between 
 liimself and the emperor Napoleon. 
 
 Early on the morning of the 12th, the 
 French entered Heilsburg in triumph, and 
 took possession of the provisions, maga- 
 zines, and munitions which the Russians 
 had abandoned. On the afternoon of the 
 same day. Napoleon fixed his head-quarters 
 at Eylau, which had been the scene of so 
 terrible a battle in the preceding February. 
 A great change had taken place in this 
 region since the French had last encamped 
 on its broad fields. Instead of a dreary 
 waste of ice and snow, over which the fires 
 of their melancholy bivouac gleamed with a 
 lurid light that gave increased horrors to 
 the scene, the reviving summer had spread 
 an exquisite picture of fertility But the 
 clustering woods, the tranquil pastures, and 
 orderly villages that animated the scene, 
 were destined to be despoiled by the crush- 
 ing footsteps of legions, who, spreading 
 ruin on their track, looked upon such sights 
 with admiration only as they presented the 
 means for sustentation and a favourable 
 ground for military operations. 
 402 
 
 The Russians retreated across the Alle 
 and thus placed that stream between them- 
 selves and their pursuers. They then took 
 up their position opposite the town of 
 Friedland. In the meantime Napoleor 
 dispatched a division of the army, under 
 Marshal Soult, to manoeurre before Kiinigs. 
 berg, where the Russian magazines were 
 placed, while he himself marched with the 
 grand army upon Friedland to attack the 
 Russians. General Benningsen and his 
 army occupied a highly advantageous posi- 
 tion; a fact which was instantly perceived 
 by Napoleon. He therefore left no strata- 
 gem unattempted to induce his opponent to 
 recross the river to its western bank, where 
 he possessed decided advantages for the 
 disposition of his troops, and where the 
 Russians, in the event of defeat, would be 
 under the necessity of defiling through the 
 town and over the narrow bridge, which 
 would render retreat almost impracticable. 
 To deceive the enemy, he allowed only 
 a small part of his force to be seen; and 
 General Benningsen supposed that the 
 French troops he beheld consisted chiefly of 
 a division which had suffered severely at 
 Heilsberg. Under these circumstances, he 
 entertained a hope that, by a sudden attack, 
 it might be destroyed before the main body 
 of Napoleon's forces could advance to its 
 relief. He therefore ordered one corps to 
 cross the bridge; and finding no serious 
 opposition, he gradually transported the 
 whole of his army over the river, by means 
 of the bridge and three pontoons. The 
 Russian general was completely outwitted ; 
 and no sooner had he accomplished this 
 movement, than he discovered his mistake. 
 Heavy columns of French began to emerge 
 from a thick wood in which they had been 
 concealed ; their cannon was rapidly ad- 
 vanced into position, and Benningsen found 
 himself unexpectedly in the presence of the 
 great bulk of the grand army. Retreat was 
 impossible; and no alternative remained but 
 to encounter the enemv at a manifest disad- 
 vantage. The broken and wooded country 
 which the French occupied, greatly faciU- 
 tated their operations ; while the Russians 
 were so limited in space, and so exposed by 
 their situation, that they had nothing to 
 rely upon but their indomitable courage. 
 
 The advanced body of the French, who 
 were under the command of Marshal 
 Lannes, received the approaching Russians 
 with a sharp fire of musketry, mingled witk 
 discharges of cannon, and retired skirmiih- 
 
 ing. It was the 14th of June. " The an- 
 niversary of Marengo," observed Napoleon; 
 " it is a lucky day for us." As it would yet 
 take some time to collect all the French 
 troops, some of his lieutenants were of 
 opinion that they ought to defer fighting a 
 decisive battle until the morrow. "No, 
 no," replied the emperor, "one does not 
 catch an enemy twice in such a scrape." 
 
 The Russian army had a superior enemy 
 in front, and a deep river, traversed only by 
 four bridges, in its rear. The object of 
 Napoleon was to drive the Russians into 
 the Alle; he therefore directed his atten- 
 tion towards occupying the town of Fried- 
 laud, and seizing the bridges by which the 
 Russians could effect a retreat. For this 
 dangerous task he selected the corps of Mar- 
 shal Ney. The emperor, grasping his arm, 
 and pointing to Friedland, the bridges, and 
 the Russians crowded together in front, 
 observed— " Yonder is the goal; march to 
 it without looking about you; break into 
 that thick mass, whatever it costs you; 
 enter Friedland, take the bridges, and give 
 yourself no concern about what may happen 
 on your right, on your left, or in your rear. 
 The army and I shall be there to attend to 
 that." Proud of his commission, Ney de- 
 parted with so much ardour to execute it, 
 that Napoleon, struck with his martial atti- 
 tude, exclaimed, " That man is a lion !" 
 
 The general engagement between the 
 two armies did not commence until five in 
 the afternoon, and Benningsen entertained 
 the hope that the approach of night would 
 give him the means of retrieving his error 
 by enabling him to regain the right bank 
 of the river. In this he was mistaken ; for 
 at that hour the signal for Ney's attack was 
 given by the discharge of twenty pieces of 
 cannon from the French centre. Ney and 
 his corps then marched resolutely direct 
 upon Friedland. On they came (said an 
 elegant writer) with the fury of a tempest, 
 driving before them, like foam before the 
 waves, the Russian chasseurs of the guard, 
 and several regiments of cavalry and Cos- 
 sacks who were placed in advance, and had 
 endeavoured to check their progress. Some 
 Russian regiments broke and fled towards 
 the river, into which great numbers of the 
 men were precipitated and drowned. But 
 the advancing French were terribly exposed 
 to the enemy's artillery, which played upon 
 them with fearful efl*ect. They had to sus- 
 tain not only the fire of the batteries before 
 them, but also the fire of those on the right 
 
 bank of the Alle, which it was impossible to 
 take, as they were separated from them by 
 the deep bed of the river. Wliole files o'f 
 the French were swept away; and the fire 
 became so severe, that the' very bravest of 
 the troops could no longer endure it. At 
 this point the cavalry of the Russian im- 
 perial guard charged Ney's column with 
 such impetuosity, that several battalions 
 were thrown into disorder, and driven to 
 the rear, where they stood in groups around 
 their officers. Victory appeared to favour 
 the Russians, who, in their turn, became 
 the assailants. But the Russian guards 
 were not supported, and they were soon 
 encountered by General Dupout, who had 
 liastened to the relief of Ney. The Russian 
 cavalry had scattered in pursuit of the 
 French infantry, and in this state it was 
 fiercely charged in flank bv Dupont, and 
 driven back to the edge of the town. The 
 presence of this reinforcement restored the 
 confidence of Ney's soldiers. The latter 
 formed anew, and resumed their march for- 
 ward. It was necessary to counteract the 
 formidable artillery of the Russians; and 
 Napoleon, therefore, ordered General Victor 
 to collect all the guns of his division, and 
 to range them in mass in front of Ney's 
 troops. This order was executed by the 
 skilful and intrepid General Senarmont, 
 who commanded that artillery. Taking it 
 some hundred paces ahead of the infantry, 
 he daringly placed himself in front of the 
 Russians, and opened upon them a fire, 
 which, from the number of pieces employed 
 and the accuracy of aim with which they 
 were directed, produced terrible effects on 
 the enemy. Directing one of his batteries 
 against the right bank, he soon silenced 
 those erected by the Russians on that side 
 of the river. Then, pushing forward his 
 line of artillery, he gradually approached 
 to within grapeshot range, and firing upon 
 the deep masses crowded together as they 
 fell back into the elbow of the Alle, he 
 made terrible havoc among them. The 
 French infantry continued their advance 
 under cover of the artillery, and the Rus- 
 sians made a despairing effort to extricate 
 themselves from the crowded mass into 
 which they were being driven. Their im- 
 perial guard marched, with bayonets fixed, 
 upon Dupont's division, who, in turn, 
 charged them with the bayonet, and hurled 
 them back in confusion. The French then 
 assaulted the town of Friedland, pursued 
 the Russians through the streets, and drove 
 
 403 
 
 m 
 
 \ 
 
BATTLE OF FRIEDLAND.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1807. 
 
 A.D. 1807.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 them upon the bridges of the Alle, which 
 Seuarmout's artillery, from without, enfi- 
 laded with its shot. The fugitive Russians, 
 in their confusion, themselves actually set 
 fire to the bridges, and thus cut off their 
 own means of retreat. Some of the princi- 
 pal buildings of the town also took fire, and 
 Ney and Dupont met in the burning streets, 
 and congratulated one another on the suc- 
 cess of the task which had been assigned to 
 them.* 
 
 The centre and right wing of the Russian 
 army still kept its ground, though subjected 
 to an incessant cannonade which told with 
 terrible effect upon them, on account of the 
 dense masses into which the limited extent 
 of the ground compelled them to form. 
 They had, however, fought with some pros- 
 pect of success, or at least with undaunted 
 spirit, until the flames arising from Friedland 
 and the bridges, and the vast clouds of 
 smoke which darkened the atmosphere, re- 
 vealed the sad truth that their retreat was 
 cut off*, and filled all hearts with despair. 
 At this point. Napoleon, anxious to take 
 advantage of the brief remainder of the day, 
 carried forward his whole line. Though 
 thus pressed. General Gortschakoff dis- 
 patched a column of infantry to the gates of 
 the town, in the hope of retaking it. These 
 at first drove back the soldiers of Ney and 
 Dupont, but were then themselves repulsed. 
 A new combat raged within the unfortunate 
 town, and the possession of it was disputed 
 by the light of the flames by which it was 
 being consumed. The French finally re- 
 mained masters, and the Russians were 
 driven back into the confined plain from 
 which there was no escape but through the 
 waters of the Alle. 
 
 The main body of the Russians, subjected 
 to the onslaught of the masses which Napo- 
 leon directed against it, still fought with a 
 wild and despairing bravery. It is difficult 
 to do justice to the obstinate and unyielding 
 courage which influenced these inflexible 
 soldiers. Though raked by the French ar- 
 tillery, which played upon them from half 
 cannon-shot distance, and subjected to a 
 rolling and destructive fire from the French 
 infantry, they were driven back slowly and 
 without disorder. Then, sooner than sur- 
 
 • " Napoleon, placed in the centre of the divisions 
 which he kept in reserve, had never ceased to watch 
 this grand sight. While he was contemplating it 
 attentively, a ball passed at the height of the bayonets, 
 and a soldier, from an instinctive movement, stooped 
 hiB head. ' If that ball were destined for you,' said 
 Napoleon, smiling, 'though you were to burrow a 
 404 
 
 [RUSSIA DESIRES PEACK. 
 
 render, they crossed the river by fords 
 which, earlier in the day, had been pointed 
 out to them by some peasants^ Across these 
 did Benningsen convey the greater part of 
 his artillery; and by them immense numbers 
 of the Russians effected their escape ; though 
 great numbers of these unhappy men were 
 washed away and drowned — a fate which 
 their savage and determined energy led 
 them to submit to rather than be made 
 prisoners. 
 
 The battle was not concluded until past 
 ten at night ; but on this occasion, though 
 the Russians had sustained their defeat with 
 honour, yet the French had an unequivocal' 
 victory. The loss of the Russians has been 
 variously estimated at between 17,000 and 
 25,000 in killed, drowned, wounded, and 
 prisoners. Most of the latter were wounded ; 
 not more than 500 of them being unhurt. 
 The French say that they captured eighty 
 pieces of cannon ; but other authorities deny 
 that more than a fourth part of that number 
 fell into their hands. The French had lost 
 about 10,000 men in killed and wounded, 
 and two eagles were taken from them. 
 Napoleon slept on the field of battle, sur- 
 rounded by his soldiers, who, though they 
 had nothing to eat but the bread they 
 brought in their knapsacks, shouted enthu- 
 siastically *' rive VEmpereur!" Not more 
 than half of Napoleon's cavalry was upon 
 the field ; and this circumstance favoured the 
 escape of the Russian army. The night was 
 clear ; and, descending the banks of the Alle, 
 the great body of the Russians crossed that 
 river at the bridge of Allenburg. So rapid 
 was their march that, on the following day, 
 they were at Wehlau, on the other side of 
 the Pregel. Though they had nobly sus- 
 tained their courage in the hour of battle, 
 yet such was the confusion into which they 
 had fallen, and the apprehensions they en- 
 tertained lest their rear-guard should be 
 attacked, that a general panic took place in 
 consequence of the accidental discharge of a 
 few muskets ; and horse, foot, and artillery 
 rushed towards the bridge, tramphng each 
 other under foot, and, breaking into the 
 town, spread there the wildest disorder, It 
 is generally admitted, that had Napoleon 
 followed up his success with his usual energy, 
 
 hundred feet under ground, it would be sure to 
 find you there.' Thus he wished to give currency 
 to that useful belief, that Fate strikes the brave 
 and the coward without distinction, and that the 
 coward who seeks a hiding-place disgraces him- 
 self to no purpose." — Thiers: Cotisulate uTid ths 
 Empire. 
 
 the Russian host must have been anni- 
 hilated. When, on the following day, the 
 French started in pursuit of their enemy, 
 and arrived at the Pregel, they found that 
 all the bridges had been broken down by 
 the retreating Russians. 
 
 We mentioned that, before the battle. 
 Napoleon had dispatched Marshal Soult 
 with a body of French troops to the city of 
 Konigsberg. It was vigorously defended 
 by the Prussian and Russian troops within, 
 until they learned the result of the battle 
 of Friedland. It was then no longer tenable ; 
 therefore. Generals Lestocq and Kamenskoi 
 abandoned it, leaving the immense stores, as 
 well as the sick and the wounded, to the 
 French, to whom the place was immediately 
 afterwards surrendered. Amongst the stores 
 were found quantities of corn and wine ; and 
 (so say the French) 100,000 muskets, sent by 
 England, and still on board the vessels which 
 had brought them. Sir Robert Wilson, who 
 was with the Russian army, denies this state- 
 ment, and affirms it to be " a falsehood of 
 the most extravagant character." England, 
 he says, had sent arms and ammunition, but 
 they did not arrive until they were too late 
 to be of any service. 
 
 Lestocq and Kamenskoi, with the allied 
 forces which they led from Konigsberg, suc- 
 ceeded in joining the main Russian army on 
 the 18th of June, which crossed the river 
 Niemen by the town of Tilsit, and, after 
 burning the bridge, encamped beyond it. 
 
 The emperor Alexander was dispirited, and 
 felt that he was no longer able to continue 
 the war without hazarding the entire ruin 
 of his empire. Disgust at the conduct of 
 England had a considerable share in making 
 him resolve upon seeking a peace with 
 France. His army also cried out loudly for 
 peace ; as, though not dissatisfied with its 
 own conduct, it regarded itself as incapable 
 of coping successfully with the superior 
 forces of Napoleon. Russian officers asked, 
 for whom the war was carried on ? Was it 
 for the Prussians, who could not defend their 
 own country ? or for the English, who, after 
 so frequently announcing succours, sent 
 none, and thought only of conquering colo- 
 nies ? They added, that it was through the 
 paltry ambition of England that brave men 
 were set together by the ears: they had 
 no reason for hate, or even jealousy, as 
 France and Russia had no cause to 
 envy each other. The humiliated king of 
 Prussia suggested to his imperial ally the 
 necessity of making proposals of peace 
 
 to Napoleon, and expressed a hope that his 
 friend, who alone had insisted on the pro- 
 longation of the war, would defend him in the 
 negotiations better than in the field of battle. 
 On the 18th, General Benningsen, at the 
 command of Alexander, transmitted to 
 Napoleon a letter, deploring the miseries 
 occasioned by the war, and desiring an 
 armistice as a means of putting an end to 
 them. This letter Napoleon received very 
 favourably, for he was fully aware of the 
 difficulties of his position at such a distance 
 from his capital, from which he had been 
 absent nearly a year. Moreover, he could 
 not depend on the uneasy neutrality of 
 Austria, or the continued "indiff'erence of 
 England. Napoleon also fancied he could 
 detect, on the part of Alexander, a disposi- 
 tion which might induce Russia to become 
 his ally against England. He therefore 
 returned an amicable answer, saying, that 
 after so many efforts, fatigues, and victories, 
 he desired nothing but a safe and honour- 
 able peace, and that he was ready to consent 
 to an armistice as a means of bringing it 
 about. At the same period, on the 22nd of 
 June, he issued to his victorious soldiers the 
 following proclamation :— Soldiers ! on the 
 5th of June we were attacked in our canton- 
 ments by the Russian army. The enemy 
 had mistaken the cause of our inactivity. 
 He perceived, too late, that our repose was 
 that of the lion: he repents of having dis- 
 turbed it. In the battles of Guttstadt and 
 Heilsburg, and in that ever-memorable one 
 of Friedland — in a campaign of ten days in 
 short, we have taken 120 pieces of cannon, 
 seven colours; killed, wounded, oi- made 
 prisoners 60,000 Russians ; taken from the 
 enemy's army all its magazines, its hos- 
 pitals, its ambulances, the fortress of Ko- 
 nigsberg, the 300 vessels which were in that 
 port, laden with all kinds of military stores ; 
 160,000 muskets which England was sending 
 to arm our enemies. From the banks of the 
 Vistula we have come, with the speed of the 
 eagle, to those of the Niemen. You cele- 
 brated at Austerlitz the anniversary of the 
 coronation; this year, you have worthily 
 celebrated that of the battle of Marensro, 
 which put an end to the war of the second 
 coalition. Frenchmen, you have been worthy 
 of yourselves and of me. You will return 
 to France covered with laurels, and after 
 obtaining a glorious peace, which carries 
 with it the guarantee of its duration. It is 
 high time for our country to live in quiet, 
 screened from the malignant influence of 
 
 405 
 
 I \ 
 
 A\ 
 
INTERVIEW ON THE NIEMEN.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 I i 
 
 if 
 1 1 
 
 I! 
 
 England. My bounties shall prove to you 
 my gratitude, and the full extent of the love 
 that I feel for you/* 
 
 A friendly intercourse was soon established 
 between the officers and men of the French 
 and Russian armies; the former being en- 
 camped on the left bank of the Niemcn ; 
 those of the latter about a mile distant from 
 the right bank. They had too vivid an ex- 
 perience of each other's valour not to be 
 inspired with sentiments of mutual respect. 
 Alexander also dispatched Prince LabanofF 
 to the French camp, to desire a personal 
 interview with Napoleon. The Russian 
 noble expressed the strong desire felt by his 
 master to put an end to the war, his excessive 
 disgust for the English alliance, and his 
 extreme impatience to see the great man of 
 the age, and to come to a frank and cordial 
 explanation with him. Napoleon, who was 
 dexterous in the use of an adroit and delicate 
 flattery, replied, that he desired nothing 
 better than to meet the young sovereign of 
 whom he had heard so much, and whose 
 understanding, grace, and fascinating quali- 
 ties were so highly extolled. He therefore 
 appointed the following day, the 25th, for 
 the interview. 
 
 The meeting of the two emperors took 
 place on a large raft moored in the middle 
 of the Niemen, equidistant from, and within 
 sight of, both banks of the river. On the 
 raft a wooden pavilion was erected, sur- 
 mounted by the eagles of France and Russia, 
 and decorated with as much magnificence 
 as time and circumstances would permit. 
 This was for the reception of the emperors 
 alone; and, at a little distance, another raft, 
 with a building of less sumptuous construc- 
 tion, was stationed for their respective suites. 
 Each bank of the river was covered with the 
 imperial guard of the two monarchs, drawn 
 up in single lines. At one o'clock the 
 thunder of artillery made known that the 
 emperors had entered their respective boats 
 to proceed to the raft. Alexander was ac- 
 companied by the Grand-duke Constantine, 
 General Benningsen, Prince Labanoff, Gen- 
 eral OuvarofF, and Count Lieveii ; Napoleon 
 by Murat, then Grand-duke of Berg; Mar- 
 shals Berthier, Bessieres, and Duroc; and 
 Caulamcourt, the grand-equerry. The boat 
 of Napoleon cleared the distance first ; and 
 the emperor, stepping on the raft, passed 
 over and received Alexander on the opposite 
 side. The monarchs instantly embraced 
 each other, amidst the shouts of the soldiers, 
 many of whom, especially the simple Rus- 
 406 ^ 
 
 [a.d. 1807. 
 
 sians, seeing this act of courtesy between 
 their masters, at once imagined that peace 
 was concluded. 
 
 " Why are we at war?" mutually inquired 
 the emperors. In fact. Napoleon' was con- 
 tending with Russia chiefly as an ally of 
 England; and Russia though naturally*^ un- 
 easy about the domination of France]! was 
 serving the interests of England much more 
 than her own, in persevering in the struggle 
 with such animosity. Alexander then re- 
 vealed how deeply he had been wounded by 
 the conduct and parsimony of the British 
 government. "I hate the English," said 
 he, "as much as you do; and am ready to 
 second you in whatever you take in hand 
 against them." "In that case" answered 
 Napoleon, "everything can be easily settled, 
 and peace is already made." The interview 
 lasted two hours ; but it is necessarily very 
 difficult to ascertain precisely what passed 
 between the two potentates during that 
 period. Many conversations have been in- 
 vented and imposed upon Europe as au- 
 thentic history; but they obtained but a 
 passing credit, and need not be referred to 
 here. M. Thiers had peculiar means of 
 ascertaining the substance of this important 
 conversation: we shall . therefore quote his 
 generalisation of it.* " Napoleon, seeking 
 to discover what were the sentiments of the 
 speaker which he ought to flatter, soon 
 perceived that two were then predominant. 
 In the first place, deep spleen against allies — 
 burdensome like Prussia, or selfish like Eng- 
 land; and in the next, a very sensitive and 
 deeply-mortified pride. He took pains, 
 therefore, to prove to Alexander, that he had 
 been duped by his allies; that, moreover, he 
 had conducted himself with nobleness and 
 courage. He strove to persuade him that 
 Russia was wrong to persist in patronising 
 ungrateful and jealous neighbours like the 
 Germans, or in serving the interests of 
 greedy traders like the English. He attri- 
 buted this mistake to generous sentiments 
 carried to excess — to misconceptions to which 
 ministers, incompetent or bribed, had given 
 rise. He extolled the bravery of the Russian 
 soldiers, and told the emperor Alexander 
 that, if they were to unite the two armies 
 which had fought so valiantly against one 
 another at Austerlitz, at Eylau, at Friedland, 
 Imt which in those battles had both behaved 
 like real giants fighting bUndfold, they might 
 divide the world between them, for its oion 
 peace and welfare. He then insinuated, but 
 • Consulate and the Empire. 
 
 A.D. 1807.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [interview ox the niemkn. 
 
 very cautiously, that, by waging war with 
 France, Russia was spending her strength 
 without any possible compensation ; whereas, 
 if she would unite with France in subjecting 
 the west and east, on land and on sea, she 
 would gain as much glory, and certainly 
 more profit. Without explaining himself 
 further, he seemed to take it upon him to 
 make the fortune of his young antagonist 
 much more satisfactorily than they who had 
 led him into a career in which he had 
 hitherto met with nothing but defeats. 
 Alexander, it is true, was under engage- 
 ments to Prussia ; and it was requisite that 
 his honour should get out of that situation 
 unstained. The emperor, therefore, gave 
 him to understand that he would restore to 
 him so much of the Prussian states as would 
 be required to release him honourably from 
 his engagements to his allies, after which 
 the Russian cabinet would be at liberty to 
 follow a new policy — the only true, the only 
 profitable policy, resembling in all respects 
 that of the great Catherine. 
 
 " This conversation, which had touched 
 upon all questions without investigating 
 them thoroughly, had deeply moved Alex- 
 ander. Napoleon had opened to him new 
 prospects, which is always a pleasing thing 
 to a fickle, and especially to a discontented, 
 mind. Besides, more than once, Alexander, 
 amidst his defeats, feeling keenly the incon- 
 veniences of that furious war into which he 
 had been led against France, and the ad- 
 vantages of a system of union with her, 
 had said to himself something like what 
 Napoleon had just been saying to him, but 
 not with that clearness, that force, and 
 above all, that seduction of a conqueror 
 who presents himself to the conquered with 
 hands full of presents, with mouth full of 
 caressing words. Alexander was fascinated ; 
 Napoleon clearly perceived it, and pro- 
 mised himself soon to render the seduction 
 complete. 
 
 " After flattering the monarch, he re- 
 solved to flatter the man. 'You and I,^ 
 said he, ' shall understand each other better, 
 if we treat directly, than by employing our 
 ministers, who frequently deceive or mis- 
 understand us, and we shall advance busi- 
 ness more in an hour than our negotiators 
 in several days. Between you and me,^ he ^ 
 added, ' there must be no third person.^ 
 It was impossible to flatter Alexander in a 
 more sensible manner, than by attributing 
 to him a superiority over those around him, 
 similar to that which Napoleon had a right 
 
 to attribute to himself over all his servants. 
 In consequence, Napoleon proposed to him 
 to leave the hamlet where he was living, 
 and establish himself in the little town of 
 Tilsit, which should be neutralised to receive 
 him, and where they might treat of business 
 themselves, in person, at any hour. This 
 proposal was eagerly accepted ; and it was 
 agreed that M. de LabanofF should go that 
 day to Tilsit to make the necessary arrange- 
 ments. They had still to talk of that un- 
 fortunate king of Prussia, who was at Alex- 
 ander's head-quarters, awaiting what should 
 be done with him and his kingdom. Alex- 
 ander offered to bring him to that same 
 raft on the Niemen to introduce him to 
 Napoleon, who should address a {^^ sooth- 
 ing words to him. It was necessary, in 
 fact, that Alexander, before he passed from 
 one system of politics to another, should, if 
 he meant not to dishonour himself, have 
 saved some portion of the crown of his 
 ally. Napoleon, who had already taken his 
 determination upon this point, and who was 
 well aware that he must grant certain con- 
 cessions to save the honour of Alexander, 
 consented to receive the king of Prussia on 
 the following day. The two sovereigns then 
 left the pavilion, and, passing from serious 
 aff'airs to testimonies of courtesy, compli- 
 mented the persons of their respective suites. 
 Napoleon treated the Grand-duke Constan- 
 tine and General Benningsen in a flattering 
 manner. Alexander congratulated Murat 
 and Berthier on being the worthy lieu- 
 tenants of the greatest captain of modern 
 times. Parting with fresh demonstrations 
 of friendship, the two emperors again em- 
 barked, amidst the applause of the numer- 
 ous spectators assembled on the banks of 
 the Niemen." 
 
 In accordance with the proposal of Na- 
 poleon, Alexander and his suite took up 
 their abode in the town of Tilsit. Every 
 possible attention was paid to the czar. 
 The furniture in his rooms was all sent 
 from the French head-quarters; and a 
 sumptuous train of cooks and other attend- 
 ants was in readiness to make him forget 
 the luxuries of St. Petersburg. Not having 
 his household with him, it was settled that 
 he should take all his meals with the em- 
 peror Napoleon. They passed the evening 
 together, and conversed for a long time in a 
 confidential manner, with a familiarity at 
 once dignified and graceful. On the next 
 day, Alexander brought the humihated king 
 of Prussia into the presence of Napoleon. 
 
 407 
 
THE TREATY OF TILSIT.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1807. 
 
 A.D. 1807.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 ■t.. 
 
 The latter treated Frederic William with 
 coldness, and the Prussian was reserved, 
 stiff, and melancholy. The interview was 
 short ; and at its conclusion, it was decided 
 that the latter should come also to Tilsit to 
 reside with his ally Alexander. On the 
 27th, the two emperors reviewed the French 
 imperial guard. These old soldiers, suc- 
 cessively of the Revolution, the Republic, 
 and the Empire, showed themselves with 
 pride to the sovereign whom they had de- 
 feated.*^ They did not display the lofty 
 stature, the regular and measured march of 
 the soldiers of the north ; but they exhibited 
 that freedom of movement, that assurance 
 of attitude, and that intelligence of look, 
 which accounted for their victories and their 
 superiority over all the armies of Europe. 
 Alexander complimented them highly. They 
 responded with repeated shouts of '' Vive 
 Alexandre! Vive Napoleon !" Napoleon also 
 was much struck with the military aspect of 
 the Russian guard. The docility with which 
 the men submitted to their orders, impressed 
 him as being particularly admirable. " My 
 soldiers,^' he remarked, '' are as brave as it 
 is possible to be, but they are too much 
 addicted to reasoning on their position. 
 If they had the impassible firmness and 
 docility of the Russians, the world would 
 be too small for their exploits. The French 
 soldiers are too much attached to their 
 country to play the part of the Mace- 
 donians .'' 
 
 The ascendancy which the French en., 
 peror acquired over the mind of his late 
 antagonist, was, especially when the subtle 
 character of the latter is considered, a re- 
 markable triumph of intellect. Alexander 
 eagerly embraced the general views of Na- 
 poleon, and never left him without express- 
 ing his unbounded admiration. " What a 
 great man \" he said incessantly to those 
 who approached him ; " what a genius — 
 what extensive views — what a captain — 
 what a statesman ! Had I but known him 
 sooner, how many faults he might have 
 spared me ! What great things we might 
 have accomplished together \" As might be 
 supposed, the miserable Frederic William 
 was excluded from all this familiarity and 
 confidence. Napoleon treated him with de- 
 served neglect, while he showered the most 
 delicate attentions upon Alexander. A 
 superb dressing-case of gold, used by Na- 
 poleon, having appeared to please him, was 
 instantly offered and accepted. 
 
 , The two armies shared the familiaritv of 
 408 
 
 [treaty of TILSIT. 
 
 the emperors. The Russians did not re- 
 gard themselves as vanquished; and, not- 
 withstanding their misfortunes, even felt 
 much of the exultation of victory. Proud, 
 it has been observed, of having so long 
 arrested the progress of the conqueror of 
 the world, glorying even in the amount of 
 their losses and the chasms in their ranks, 
 which told the desperate strife in which 
 they had been engaged, they mingled with 
 their recent enemies with feelings unlace- 
 rated by the humiliations of defeat. Great 
 cordiality, therefore, soon prevailed, and 
 hospitalities were frequently exchanged. 
 The officers of the two imperial guards, and 
 especially Prince Murat and the Grand- 
 duke Constantine, were remarkably cordial 
 and complimentary to each other. '' On 
 one of these occasions, to such a length did 
 the effusions of mutual respect and regard 
 proceed, that the officers of the two guards, 
 amidst the fumes of wine, and the enthu. 
 siasm of the moment, mutually exchanged 
 their uniforms; French hearts beat under 
 the decorations won amidst the snows of 
 Eylau, and Russian bosoms warmed be- 
 neath the orders bestowed on the field of 
 Austerlitz. Last and most singular effect 
 of civilised life and military discipline, to 
 strengthen at once the fierceness of national 
 passions, and the bonds by which they are 
 to be restrained, and join in fraternal bro- 
 therhood, one day, those hands which, on 
 another, had been dyed by mutual slaughter, 
 or lifted up in relentless hostility against 
 each other."* 
 
 The conferences between the two em- 
 perors extended over a period of twenty 
 days ; and after a fortnight spent in con- 
 ference, the treaty of Tilsit was formally 
 signed and made public. The treaty be- 
 tween France and Russia was signed on the 
 7th of July; and a separate one between 
 France and Prussia on the 9th. Alexander, 
 in the November of 1806, had written to 
 Frederic William — *' I will do my utmost to 
 prevent the Prussian dominions from losing 
 even a village." Even during the time 
 spent at Tilsit, the czar had represented to 
 his brother monarch, that his intimacy with 
 Napoleon would be the means of obtaining 
 larger restitutions in favour of Prussia. Yet 
 this imperial actor, who used a pretended 
 benevolence as an instrument to deceive his 
 people and his friends, shutting out a recol- 
 lection of the oath he had sworn at mid- 
 night over the tomb of Frederic the Great, 
 • Alison's History of Extrope. 
 
 not only consented that Prussia should be 
 deprived of about half its territory and 
 population by France, but actually, to the 
 astonishment of the world, himself took 
 possession of Bialystock, one of its ill-gained 
 Polish provinces.* 
 
 Alexander would probably have assisted 
 Frederic William if the effort had cost him 
 nothing ; but for a useless ally, he would 
 not cross the decisions of Napoleon. Prus- 
 sia was stripped of all those provinces 
 which, prior to the first partition in 1772, 
 liad formed part of the kingdom of Poland. 
 These were to be erected into a separate 
 principality, to be called the Grand Duchy 
 «jf Warsaw; and, except Bialystock, to be 
 bestowed on the king of Saxony ; to whom, 
 also, was granted a right to a free military 
 road across the Prussian states, to connect 
 his German with his Polish dominions. 
 For the rest, Prussia was so dismembered 
 and curtailed, that its population was re- 
 duced from nine millions and a-half of in- 
 habitants to five millions; and its revenue 
 frona 120 millions of francs to sixty-nine 
 millions. At one blow, it was cast down , 
 from the rank of one of the great monarchies i 
 of Europe, to that of a third power ; even 
 the territory that was left to it was com- 
 pletely exhausted. Such a sudden downfall 
 taught Frederic William that he had la- 
 boured under a fatal mistake ; that his glory 
 was that of his ancestors, and his power a 
 phantom. Dantzic was declared an indepen- 
 dent city, under the protection of the kings of 
 Prussia and Saxony; which, in effect, ren- 
 dered it a frontier town of France. Prussia 
 and Russia recognised the confederation of 
 the Rhine ; and a new kingdom, to be called 
 the kingdom of Westphalia, was erected in 
 favour of Jerome Buonaparte, the emperor^s 
 brother; composed of the provinces ceded 
 by Prussia on the left bank of the Elbe. 
 Napoleon's other brothers, Joseph and 
 Louis, were also recognised as kings of 
 Naples and Holland. France and Russia 
 guaranteed the integrity of each other's 
 dominions, and mutually restored all pri- 
 soners. Russia undertook to mediate with 
 
 * Alison, who endeavours, with a perverse inge- 
 nuity, to represent Alexander as both a great alid 
 good man, thus mildly refers to this treachery on 
 the part of the czar :— " The province of Bialystock, 
 containing 200,000 souls, was ceded to Russia, 
 which thus participated, in the hour of misfortune, 
 in a share, small indeed, but still a share, of the spoils 
 of its ally." Surely Sir Archibald must perceive, 
 that it was not the amount of this political theft J 
 that made Europe cry out shame on Alexander, but I 
 VOL. I. 3 G 
 
 England for a peace with France; and 
 France with Turkey, for a peace with Rus- 
 sia;t and each power undertook, in case 
 its mediation was refused, to make common 
 cause with the other. Russia engaged to 
 assist France against England with all its 
 forces, both by sea and land, if the latter 
 refused her mediation; or, "if having ac- 
 cepted it, peace was not concluded by the 
 1st of November, on terms stipulating that 
 the flags of every power should enjov a per- 
 fect and entire equality on everv sea, and 
 that all the conquests made of French pos- 
 sessions since 1805, should be restored ; in 
 that case, also, Russia shall demand a cate- 
 gorical answer by the 1st of December, and 
 the Russian ambassador -shall receive a con- 
 ditional order to quit London.'' Then, in 
 the event of the English government not 
 making a satisfactory answer to the Rus- 
 sian requisitions, " France and Russia shall 
 jointly summon the three courts of Copen- 
 hagen, Stockholm, and Lisbon, to close 
 their harbours against English vessels, re- 
 call their ambassadors from London, and 
 declare war against Great Britain.'' The 
 king of Prussia also consented to close all 
 his harbours to the ships and commerce of 
 England, and to permit the fortresses left 
 him to remain in the hands of France, as a 
 security for the payment of the war con- 
 tributions to be levied on the unfortunate 
 inhabitants. 
 
 Another and a secret treaty was entered 
 into at Tilsit by the two emperors ; and in 
 this an attempt was made to carry out the 
 idea of Napoleon, and divide the civilised 
 world between them. This topic was the 
 one discussed in the long conversations 
 which had taken place between the two 
 monarchs. Fortunately, there was one point 
 on which harmony did not exist between 
 them. This was the probable partition of 
 the Turkish empire in the event of its dis- 
 solution—an event then speedily expected 
 by the generality of politicians. In the dis- 
 cussion of the emperors on the subject, it 
 was arranged that Russia was to have the 
 banks of the Danube as far as the Balkan 
 
 the peculiar circumstances of duplicity and treachery 
 with which it was associated. The ' wavering kino- 
 of Prussia had been lured into the war by the czar, 
 who, after promising that he would exert himself 
 to the utmost in his favour to prevent his losing 
 even a village, then concludes by robbing him of a 
 province I 
 
 t The particulars of the war which Russia had 
 been carrying on against Turkey, will be narrated in 
 the next chapter. 
 
 409 
 
 V 
 
 f 
 
THE SECRET ARTICLES.] 
 
 HISTORY OP THE 
 
 [a.d. 1807. 
 
 'f' 
 
 mountains; Napoleon the maritime pro- 
 vinces, such as Albania and the Morea; 
 while Bosnia, Servia, and the inland pro- 
 vinces were allotted to Austria. The sultan 
 WHS to be permitted to retain the country 
 south of the Balkans; that is, Constanti- 
 nople, Asia Minor, and Egypt. Alexander 
 objected to an arrangement by which Con- 
 stantinople was to be left in the possession 
 of the barbarians of Asia, and suggested a 
 <lifferent partition, by which Russia was to 
 have that city, universally regarded as the 
 real capital of the East ; while France seized 
 the islands of the Archipelago, Candia, 
 Syria, and Egypt. To this Napoleon would 
 not consent: to give up Constantinople, 
 and thus let Russia make the most brilliant 
 acquisition it was possible to imagine, would 
 not suit his views. He could permit the 
 torrent of Russian ambition to dash itself 
 against the foot of the Balkans; but he 
 wonld not permit it to pass those tutelary 
 mountains. He would not suffer the most 
 striking achievement of modern times to be 
 accomplished by any one but himself. He 
 was too jealous of the greatness of France, 
 and too desirous of alone filling the imagi- 
 nation of mankind, to consent to such an 
 encraachment on his own glory. Oue day 
 the two emperors, on returning from a long 
 ride, shut themselves up in the writing 
 cabinet, where numerous maps were spread 
 out. Napoleon, apparently continuing a 
 conversation briskly begun with Alexander, 
 desired M. de Meneval to bring him the 
 map of Turkey; then, unfolding it, he 
 resumed the conversation, and suddenly 
 clapping his finger on Constantinople, ex- 
 claimed several times, regardless of being 
 lieard by his secretary, in whom he had 
 absolute confidence— "Constantinople! Con- 
 stantinople ! never ! ^tis the empire of the 
 world !" Alexander, however, was mollified 
 by the concession of Finland ; as, if he was 
 able to obtain this extensive territory, the 
 acquisition would add a lustre to his reign. 
 "You will take Finland," said Napoleon 
 to him, " as a compensation for the expenses 
 of the war. The king of Sweden, it is true, 
 is your brother-in-law and your ally; but 
 that is only an additional reason why he 
 
 * But with the exceptions already referred to. 
 The clause on this subject was in the following 
 terms :— " In like manner, if in consequence of the 
 changes which have recently taken place in the 
 government of Constantinople, the Porte shall decline 
 the intervention of France; or in case, having accepted 
 It, the negotiations shall not have led to a satisfactory 
 410 
 
 should conform to your policy : if he does 
 not, let him take the consequences of his 
 ill-will. Sweden may be a relation, an ally 
 of the moment ; but, geographically, she is 
 your enemy. St. Petersburg is too near 
 the frontiers of Finland. It will not do to 
 let your fair Russian beauties again hear 
 from their palaces the cannon of the 
 Swedes." > 
 
 When the two potentates had agreed as 
 to the substance of the secret treaty, it 
 was drawn up by Napoleon with his 'own 
 hand. The articles which composed it, 
 though strongly conjectured from various 
 subsequent events, and even partially dis- 
 closed, were not fully known until *1834, 
 when they were published in the Biographic 
 Universelle; the high character of which 
 guarantees the authenticity of the informa- 
 tion. The articles were, in substance, as 
 follows: — 1. Russia was to take possession 
 of European Turkey, and to extend its con- 
 quests in Asia to what extent it thought 
 proper.-^ 2. The house of Bourbon in 
 Spain, and the house of Braganza in Por- 
 tugal, were to cease to reign, and a prince 
 of the house of Napoleon was to succeed to 
 each. 3. The temporal authority of the 
 pope was to cease, and Rome and its depen 
 dencies to be united to the kingdom of 
 Italy. 4. Russia was to assist France with 
 her navy for the conquest of Gibraltar. 
 5. The French were to take possession of 
 Algiers, Tunis, and other towns in Africa; 
 and, at a general peace, these conquests were 
 to be given as an indemnity to the kings 
 of Sicily and Sardinia. 6. Malta was to 
 belong to the French, and no peace w as to 
 be made with England before its cession. 
 
 7. The French were to occupy Egypt. 
 
 8. The navigation of the Mediterranean was 
 to be permitted to French, Russian, Italian, 
 and Spanish vessels only; all other nations 
 were to be rigidly excluded. 9. Denmark 
 was to be indemnified in the north of Ger- 
 many with the Hanseatic towns, but only on 
 condition of placing its navy in the hands of 
 France. 10. Their majesties, the emperors 
 of Russia and of the French, were to settle 
 an agreement by which no power should be 
 allowed to send merchant ships to sea, un- 
 
 adjustment in the space of three months, France will 
 make common cause with Russia against the Ottoman 
 Porte, and the two high contracting parties will 
 unite their efforts to wrest from the vexatious and 
 oppressive government of the Turks all its provinces 
 in E -^ne; Roumelia and Constantinople axone 
 excepted." 
 
 A.D. 1807.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [results of tiie treaty. 
 
 less it possessed a certain number of vessels 
 of war. 
 
 The day after the signature of the treaties, 
 the two emperors parted with much cere- 
 mony and appearance of friendship. Na- 
 poleon, wearing the grand cordon of St. 
 Andrew, went to the house occupied by 
 Alexander, who received him decorated 
 with the grand cordon of the Legion of 
 Honour. Having exchanged the ratifica- 
 tions, the two monarchs mounted their 
 horses and showed themselves to their 
 troops. Napoleon desired, that the soldier 
 reputed to be the bravest of the Russian 
 imperial guard should be ordered to step 
 out of the ranks ; and on his doing so, con- 
 ferred on him the cross of the Legion of 
 Honour. The French emperor then ac- 
 companied his august friend to the bank 
 of the Niemen, where, after embracing 
 amidst the applause of the spectators, they 
 separated. 
 
 There is perhaps no instance in history 
 of such a sudden change in the councils, 
 and apparently even in the personal senti- 
 ments of a great sovereign, as took place in 
 those of Alexander at Tilsit. The me- 
 morable treaty made at that town, is an 
 era not only in Russian, but also in Euro- 
 pean history. It has been quaintly ob- 
 served, that it converted Alexander into 
 the enemy of all his allies, and the ally of 
 his enemies. It was, in fact, fraught with 
 evil consequences to both the potentates 
 whose ambition had prompted them to a 
 dark and wicked league against the liberties 
 of the world. Happily for mankind, there 
 
 • Sir A. Alison has some strikingly judicious 
 remarks on the subject, which we shall take the 
 liberty of quoting. He says — " The perfidious con- 
 duct of Napoleon towards Turkey has been almost 
 overlooked by the liberal writers of Europe, in the 
 vehemence of their indignation at him for not re- 
 establishing the kingdom of Poland. Without 
 doubt, if that great act of injustice could have been 
 repaired by his victorious arm, and a compact, 
 ])owerful empire of sixteen millions of persons re- 
 established on the banks of the Vistula, it would 
 have been alike grateful to every lover of freedom, 
 and important as forming a barrier against Muscovite 
 aggrandisement in Europe. But was it possible to 
 construct such an empire, to form such a barrier, out 
 of the disjointed elements of Polish anarchy ? That 
 is the point for consideration ; and if it was not, then 
 the French emperor would have thrown away all the 
 advantages of victory, if, for a visionary and im- 
 practicable scheme of this description, he had incurred 
 the lasting and indelible animosity of the partitioning 
 powers. With the aid of 200,000 brave men, indeed, 
 which Poland could with ease have sent into the 
 field, he might, for a season, have withstood the 
 united armies of Russia, Austria, and Prussia; but 
 
 are certain unalterable principles ever in 
 action throughout nature, which are not to 
 be influenced by human might, or dazzled 
 by its magnificence. Like the tides of the 
 ocean, they roll on for ever, unconscious or 
 regardless of the leagues of monarchs and 
 the decrees of despots : this fact both Na- 
 poleon and Alexander lost sight of, but 
 each of them had it subsequently painfully 
 forced upon his unwilling recognition. The 
 treaty of Tilsit, advantfigeous and honour- 
 able to Napoleon as it appeared to be, has 
 been considered by many distinguished 
 politicians as the first cause of his ruin. 
 He had made irreconcilable enemies, in- 
 congruous and doubtful friends, and raised 
 an immense political edifice, in w hich every- 
 thing was new, and which was run up so 
 rapidly, that the foundation had not time to 
 settle, or the mortar to harden. The entire 
 alienation of Prussia, which it accomplished, 
 is regarded as one of the greatest errors 
 ever committed by Napoleon. Poland also 
 was disappointed and deeply aggrieved, and 
 the hopes its people entertained of the 
 restoration of their nationality by the 
 French emperor, cruelly blighted. Towards 
 Turkey also. Napoleon, in consenting to her 
 dismemberment, had behaved with a most 
 unblushing perfidy, as we shall show in our 
 narrative of the recent aff*airs of that countrv 
 in connection with Russia.* The militarv 
 transactions which preceded the peace of 
 Tilsit, gained France unbounded glory by 
 their brilliancy; but the political arrange- 
 ments made by it have been universally 
 condemned. " In war,^' observes M. Thiers, 
 
 could he rely on their tumultuous assemblies sus- 
 taining the steady and durable efforts requisite for 
 permanent success? What made Poland originally 
 fall a victim to the coalesced powers, once little more 
 than provinces of its mighty dominions ? * The 
 insane ambition,' as John Sobieski said, * of a plebeian 
 noblesse;' the jealousy of a hundred thousand electors, 
 incapable alike of governing themselves or of per- 
 mitting the steady national government of others. 
 AVas this fatal element of discord eradicated from 
 the Polish heart? Is it yet eradicated? Was it 
 possible, by re-establishing Poland in 1807, to have 
 done anything but, as Talleyrand well expressed it, 
 * organised anarchy ?' These are the considerations 
 which then presented, and still present, an invincible 
 obstacle to a measure, in other points of view recom- 
 mended by so many considerations of justice and 
 expedience. It is evident that the passions of the 
 people, their insane desire for democratic equality, 
 were so powerful, that, if re-established in its full 
 original extent, Poland would speedily have again 
 fallen under the dominion of its former conquerors ; 
 the same causes which formerly proved fatal to its 
 independence, would, without doubt, again have had 
 the same effect." 
 
 411 
 
THE SECRET ARTICLES.] 
 
 HISTORY OP THE 
 
 [a.d. 1807. 
 
 >'V 
 
 mountains; Napoleon the maritime pro- 
 vinces, such as Albania and the Morea; 
 while Bosnia, Servia, and the inland pro- 
 vinces were allotted to Austria. The sultan 
 was to be permitted to retain the country 
 south of the Balkans; that is, Constanti- 
 nople, Asia Minor, and Egypt. Alexander 
 objected to an arrangement by which Con- 
 stantinople was to be left in the possession 
 of the barbarians of Asia, and suggested a 
 different partition, by which Russia was to 
 liave that city, universally regarded as the 
 real capital of the East ; while France seized 
 the islands of the Archipelago, Candia, 
 Syria, and Egypt. To this Napoleon would 
 not consent: to give up Constantinople, 
 and thus let Russia make the most brilliant 
 acquisition it was possible to imagine, would 
 not suit his views. He could permit the 
 torrent of Russian ambition to dash itself 
 against the foot of the Balkans; but he 
 would not permit it to pass those tutelary 
 mountains. He would not suffer the mos't 
 striking achievement of modern times to be 
 accomplished by any one but himself. He 
 was too jealous of the greatness of France, 
 and too desirous of alone filling the ima^-i- 
 nation of mankind, to consent to such an 
 cnci-oachment on his own glory. One day 
 the two emperors, on returning from a long 
 ride, shut themselves up in the writincr 
 cabinet, where numerous maps were spread 
 out. Napoleon, apparently continuing a 
 conversation briskly begun with Alexander, 
 desired M. de Meneval to bring him the 
 map of Turkey; then, unfolding it, he 
 resumed the conversation, and suddenly 
 clapping his finger on Constantinople, ex- 
 claimed several times, regardless of being 
 lieard by his secretary, in whom he had 
 absolute confidence— ^'Constantinople ! Con- 
 stantinople ! never ! ^tis the empire of the 
 world V Alexander, however, was mollified 
 by the concession of Finland; as, if he was 
 able to obtain this extensive territory, the 
 acquisition would add a lustre to his reign. 
 "You will take Finland,'' said Napoleon 
 to him, " as a compensation for the expenses 
 of the war. The king of Sweden, it is true, 
 is your brother-in-law and your ally; but 
 ttat is only an additional reason why he 
 
 But with the exceptions already referred to. 
 The clause on this subject was in the following 
 terms :— *' In like manner, if in consequence of the 
 changes which have recently taken place in the 
 government of Constantinople, the Porte shall decline 
 the intervention of France; or in case, having accepted 
 It, the negotiations shall not have led to a satisfactory 
 410 
 
 should conform to your policy : if he does 
 not, let him take the consequences of his 
 ill-will. Sweden may be a relation, an ally 
 of the moment ; but, geographically, she is 
 your enemy. St. Petersburg is too near 
 the frontiers of Finland. It will not do to 
 let your fair Russian beauties again hear 
 from their palaces the cannon of the 
 Swedes.^' > 
 
 When the two potentates had agreed as 
 to the substance of the secret treaty, it 
 was drawn up by Napoleon with his own 
 hand. The articles which composed it, 
 though strongly conjectured from various 
 subsequent events, and even partially dis- 
 closed, were not fully known until *1834, 
 when they were published in the Biographie 
 Universelle; the high character of which 
 guarantees the authenticity of the informa- 
 tion. The articles were, in substance, as 
 follows:—!. Russia was to take possession 
 of European Turkey, and to extend its con- 
 quests in Asia to what extent it thought 
 proper.^ 2. The house of Bourbon in 
 Spain, and the house of Braganza in Por- 
 tugal, were to cease to reign, and a prince 
 of the house of Napoleon was to succeed to 
 each. 3. The temporal authority of the 
 pope was to cease, and Rome and its depen 
 dencies to be united to the kingdom of 
 Italy. 4. Russia was to assist France with 
 her navy for the conquest of Gibraltar. 
 5. The French were to take possession of 
 Algiers, Tunis, and other towns in Africa; 
 and, at a general peace, these conquests were 
 to be given as an indemnity to the kino-s 
 of Sicily and Sardinia. 6. Malta was to 
 belong to the French, and no peace was to 
 be made with England before its cession. 
 
 7. The French were to occupy Egypt. 
 
 8. The navigation of the Mediterranean was 
 to be permitted to French, Russian, Italian, 
 and Spanish vessels only; all other nations 
 were to be rigidly excluded. 9. Denmark 
 was to be indemnified in the north of Ger- 
 many with the Hanseatic towns, but only on 
 condition of placing its navy in the hands of 
 France, 10. Their majesties, the emperors 
 of Russia and of the French, were to settle 
 an agreement by which no power should be 
 allowed to send merchant ships to sea, un- 
 
 adjustment in the space of three months, France will 
 make common cause with Russia against the Ottomar 
 lorte, and the two high contracting parties will 
 unite their efforts to wrest from the vexatious and 
 oppressive government of the Turks all its provinces 
 in Europe; Rouraelia and Constantinople aione 
 excepted. 
 
 A.D. 1807.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [results of the treaty. 
 
 less it possessed a certain number of vessels 
 of war. 
 
 The day after the signature of the treaties, 
 the two emperors parted with much cere- 
 mony and appearance of friendship. Na- 
 poleon, wearing the grand cordon of St. 
 Andrew, went to the house occupied by 
 Alexander, who received him decorated 
 with the grand cordon of the Legion of 
 Honour. Having exchanged the ratifica- 
 tions, the two monarchs mounted their 
 horses and showed themselves to their 
 troops. Napoleon desired, that the soldier 
 reputed to be the bravest of the Russian 
 imperial guard should be ordered to step 
 out of the ranks ; and on his doing so, con- 
 ferred on him the cross of the Legion of 
 Honour. The French emperor then ac- 
 companied his august friend to the bank 
 of the Niemen, where, after embracing 
 amidst the applause of the spectators, they 
 separated. 
 
 There is perhaps no instance in history 
 of such a sudden change in the councils, 
 and apparently even in the personal senti- 
 ments of a great sovereign, as took place in 
 those of Alexander at Tilsit. The me- 
 morable treaty made at that town, is an 
 era not only in Russian, but also in Euro- 
 pean history. It has been quaintly ob- 
 served, that it converted Alexander into 
 the enemy of all his allies, and the ally of 
 his enemies. It was, in fact, fraught with 
 evil consequences to both the potentates 
 whose ambition had prompted them to a 
 dark and wicked league against the liberties 
 of the world. Happily for mankind, there 
 
 * Sir A. Alison has some strikingly judicious 
 remarks on the subject, which we shall take the 
 liberty of quoting. He says — " The perfidious con- 
 duct of Napoleon towards Turkey has been almost 
 overlooked by the liberal writers of Europe, in the 
 vehemence of their indignation at him for not re- 
 establishing the kingdom of Poland. Without 
 doubt, if that great act of injustice could have been 
 repaired by his victorious arm, and a compact, 
 powerful empire of sixteen millions of persons re- 
 established on the banks of the Vistula, it would 
 have been alike grateful to every lover of freedom, 
 and important as forming a barrier against Muscovite 
 aggrandisement in Europe. But was it possible to 
 construct such an empire, to form such a barrier, out 
 of the disjointed elements of Polish anarchy ? That 
 is the point for consideration ; and if it was not, then 
 the French emperor would have thrown away all the 
 advantages of victory, if, for a visionary and im- 
 practicable scheme of this description, he had incurred 
 the lasting and indelible animosity of the partitioning 
 powers. With the aid of 200,000 brave men, indeed, 
 which Poland could with ease have sent into the 
 field, he might, for a season, have withstood the 
 united armies of Russia, Austria, and Prussia ; but 
 
 are certain unalterable principles ever in 
 action throughout nature, which are not to 
 be influenced by human might, or dazzled 
 by its magnificence. Like the tides of the 
 ocean, they roll on for ever, unconscious or 
 regardless of the leagues of monarchs and 
 the decrees of despots : this fact both Na- 
 poleon and Alexander lost sight of, but 
 each of them had it subsequently painfully 
 forced upon his unwilling recognition. The 
 treaty of Tilsit, advantsigeons and honour- 
 able to Napoleon as it appeared to be, has 
 been considered by many distinguished 
 politicians as the first cause of his ruin. 
 He had made irreconcilable enemies, in- 
 congruous and doubtful friends, and raised 
 an immense political edifice, in which every- 
 thing was new, and which was run up so 
 rapidly, that the foundation had not time to 
 settle, or the mortar to harden. The entire 
 alienation of Prussia, which it accomplished, 
 is regarded as one of the greatest errors 
 ever committed by Napoleon. Poland also 
 was disappointed and deeply aggrieved, and 
 the hopes its people entertained of the 
 restoration of their nationality by the 
 French emperor, cruelly blighted. Towards 
 Turkey also. Napoleon, in consenting to her 
 dismemberment, had behaved with a most 
 unblushing perfidy, as we shall show in our 
 narrative of the recent afl^airs of that country 
 in connection with Russia.* The military 
 
 • 
 
 transactions which preceded the peace of 
 Tilsit, gained France unbounded glory by 
 their brilliancy; but the political arrange- 
 ments made by it have been universally 
 condemned. " In war," observes M. Thiers, 
 
 could he rely on their tumultuous assemblies sus- 
 taining the steady and durable efforts requisite for 
 permanent success? What made Poland originally 
 fall a victim to the coalesced powers, once little more 
 than provinces of its mighty dominions ? * The 
 insane ambition,' as John Sobieski said, * of a plebeian 
 noblesse;' the jealousy of a hundred thousand electors, 
 incapable alike of governing themselves or of per- 
 mitting the steady national government of others. 
 Was this fatal element of discord eradicated from 
 the Polish heart ? Is it yet eradicated ? Was it 
 possible, by re-establishing Poland in 1807, to have 
 done anything but, as Talleyrand well expressed it, 
 * organised anarchy ?' Tkese are the considerations 
 which then presented, and still present, an invincible 
 obstacle to a measure, in other points of view recom- 
 mended by so many considerations of justice and 
 expedience. It is evident that the passions of the 
 people, their insane desire for democratic equality, 
 were so powerful, that, if re-established in its full 
 original extent, Poland would speedily have again 
 fallen under the dominion of its former conquerors ; 
 the same causes which formerly proved fatal to its 
 independence, would, without doubt, again have had 
 the same effect." 
 
 411 
 
AFFAIR OF TURKEY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Napoleon was guided by his genius; in 
 politics by his passions/' He desired, bv 
 the aid of Russia, to conquer England*- 
 satisfied of his power of eventually over- 
 throwing the government of the northern 
 empire, if its too active ambition interfered 
 with his own projects. As to Alexander, 
 he was lured forward, fascinated, and awed 
 by the commanding genius of his late 
 antagonist ; and influenced also by the am- 
 bitious and dishonest desire of extending his 
 sceptre over Finland and the greater part, 
 
 [a.d. 1805. 
 
 I'X-iTi! 9^^ '""^''i^^' ""^ £urop^n~TJiri^ 
 Mill he felt much uneasiness at the strand- 
 alliance he had made, the projects to the 
 execution of which he had bound himself 
 and the yet hidden results to which thev 
 might lead. - Sire,- said one of his coun- 
 sellors to him at Tilsit, « I take the liberty 
 of reminding you of the fate of your father 
 as the consequence of the French alliance '' 
 "Oh God!'' replied Alexander, "I know 
 It ; I see it ; but how can I withstand the 
 destiny which directs me." 
 
 CHAPTER XLVIL 
 
 
 "^^^''o.^^i^^^:^^^ TO R.CEIVK AX .MB.SS.BOK PKO. 
 
 MOLDAVIA AXD WALLACIIlA, X0TWITn7T!xD^ wJL'Xt?.''/'''-^'^ ^^^ "^^^^^^"^^^ ^' 
 
 DO SO WITHOUT THE CONSENT OF THAT row;R EXPO^TrVvrrnv n. t. '^ BlSDISG THE SULTAX XOT TO 
 RATIOX OF THE HOSPODARS ; A RUSSIAnTmY ENTERS m^^^ T''^ AXD ENGLAXD. AND KESTO- 
 
 KUSSIA; THE RUSSIAX TROOPS TAKE POSSESSIOV OF WAT^^rS'^ '/ ^'''^^'^' DECLARES WAR AGAIXST 
 ARMS OF FRAXCE, APPLIES TO EXGLANdTor LsIstIC^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^' ^HE 
 
 THREATEXS COXSTAXTIXOPLE, BUT IS COMPELLED tTrAh^!^^^^^ ^''''''' ' ^^' ^^'^^^^^H FLEET 
 
 ENGLAXD; XAVAL DEFEAT O^ THE TURKrBY THF^.r^^^^^ ^''^ ''^^'''^ DECLARES WAR AGAINST 
 
 BETWEEN ALEXANDER AXD THE SuIt^x' tIeIcHF^V n. v;.^"" ARMISTICE IS ARRANGED AT TILSIT 
 PERSIA. JSLLT.^N, TREACHERl OF xXAPOLEOX TOWARDS TURKEY; WAR M'lTH 
 
 While Eussia was vainly employed in 
 attempting to overthrow the poWer of 
 JNapoleon, she was also carrying on a con- 
 test with Persia and with Turkey. In 
 comparison with the great events iA which 
 Kussia was engaged in the west of Europe 
 these wars sink into comparative insignifi' 
 cance, and a narrative of them appears to 
 lack the vital interest attaching to the 
 former. Yet they are links in the great 
 chain of historical sequence ; and the war 
 with Turkey by no means an unimpor- 
 tant one. ^ 
 
 By a convention between Russia and 
 Turkey, in 1802, it was arranged, that the 
 hospodars of .Aloldavia and Wallachia, when 
 once appointed by the Porte, should remain 
 ni office for seven years, and should not, on 
 any account, be removed from their govern- 
 ments before the expiration of that term, 
 without the concurrence of the Russian 
 minister at Constantinople. That such a 
 stipulation was derogatory from the sove- 
 reignty claimed and exercised for ages by 
 the sultan in these provinces, cannot be 
 denied. But the terms of the convention 
 ▼ere clear and precise; and when con- 
 412 
 
 eluded and ratified, any contravention of 
 Its articles by one of the contracting par- 
 ties, without the consent of the other, could 
 not but be regarded as a breach of treaty 
 affording to the other party a just grouiid 
 of complamt, and, on refusal of redress, a 
 justifiable cause of war. The convention 
 might have been originally improvident on 
 the part of the Turks, as being incompatible 
 with the dignity, and inconsistent with the 
 interests of their empire ; but when con- 
 cluded, they were bound to abide by it, and 
 had no right to abrogate or set \t aside 
 without the consent of Russia. 
 
 Such was the state of aff'airs when the 
 Ottoman government, alarmed at the pro- 
 gross of the French power, deemed it pru- 
 dent to send a special embassy to Paris to 
 congratulate Napoleon on his assumpt'ion 
 ot the imperial dignity; and, contrary to 
 Its former determination, consented to re- 
 ceive an ambassador from France. General 
 Sebastiani, a military officer, whose subtle 
 mmd had been nurtured in a cloister and 
 matured in a camp, was selected by Napo- 
 leon to proceed to Constantinople in that 
 capacity. As the emperor was 'aware that 
 
 ^ MUf ' tt pmi i nm»M iii — i HI I -* 
 
 A.D. 1806.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [invasion of Moldavia. 
 
 war was impending between Russia and 
 France, he directed Sebastiani to do all in 
 his power to persuade Turkey to break her 
 alliance with Russia and England, to pro- 
 duce hostilities between hsr and her north- 
 ern neighbour, and to induce her to revert 
 to her ancient connection with France. 
 
 On the arrival of General Sebastiani at 
 Constantinople, he laid before the divan the 
 treaty between France and Russia, recently 
 signed at Paris by M. D'Oubril ; and con- 
 tending that an article of that treaty, which 
 guaranteed, in general terms, the integrity 
 and independence of the Turkish empire, 
 amounted to a virtual repeal of the conven- 
 tion concerning the hospodars, succeeded in 
 persuading the Porte to recall them, and 
 appoint others in their places, without con- 
 sulting the Russian ambassador, or regard- 
 ing his formal protest against the measure. 
 Having carried this point against the Rus- 
 sians, while it was still uncertain whether 
 D'Oubril's treaty would be ratified by the 
 court of St. Petersburg, the French ambas- 
 sador, as soon as he understood that the 
 ratification of that treaty had been with- 
 held, presented a note to the Ottoman gov- 
 ernment, in which he demanded that the 
 passage of the Bosphorus should be shut 
 against all Russian ships of war, as well as 
 against every other vessel of that nation 
 bringing troops, ammunition, or provisions ; 
 though he knew, that by treaty between 
 Russia and the Porte, that passage was 
 open to the vessels of the former with- 
 out limitation. Yet Sebastiani not only 
 assured the Turks of the friendship and 
 protection of his master in case of their 
 compliance, but threatened them with a 
 declaration of war on the part of the French 
 emperor if they did not accede to his de- 
 mands. 
 
 The Porte, instead of resenting these in- 
 solent proposals, evinced a disposition to 
 comply with them. It, however, first com- 
 municated them to the English and Rus- 
 sian ambassadors at Constantinople, to ob- 
 tain their advice in so critical an aspect of 
 affairs. Both of them remonstrated in the 
 strongest manner against the conduct of 
 the Porte. M. Italinski, the Russian am- 
 bassador, threatened instantly to leave Con- 
 stantinople, unless the dismissed hospodars 
 were reinstated in their dignities. The 
 English ambassador also peremptorily an- 
 nounced to the divan, that if the demands 
 of Russia were not instantly acceded to, a 
 British fleet would enter the Dardanelles 
 
 and lay the capital in ashes. Sensible of 
 his weakness, and of the exposed position 
 of Constantinople, the sultan complied with 
 the demands of the allied powers, and 
 caused the hospodars to be reinstated in 
 their governments. At the same time, 
 Selim secretly informed the French ambas- 
 sador that he liad only yielded to the storm 
 until he was in a condition to brave it, and 
 that both his policy and inclination united 
 him with the emperor Napoleon. 
 
 The cause of war between Russia and 
 Turkey appeared now to be removed, when, 
 on the 23rd of November, 1806, a Russian 
 army, amounting to 50,000 men, under the 
 command of General Nicholson, entered 
 Moldavia, drove the Turks before them, 
 and took possession of Chotzim, Bender, 
 and Jassy. It is asserted, that the orders 
 for this proceeding were given before the 
 submission of the sultan, and that the 
 latter was not known at St. Petersburg 
 until it was too late to prevent the invasiou 
 of his dominions. There is no reason to 
 believe this statement; as the Russians 
 contim'.ed their occupation, notwithstand- 
 ing the restoration of the hospodars. We 
 accept the explanation of the conduct of 
 the Russians, given by M. Thiers, who 
 observes — " That invincible attraction which 
 draws them to Constantinople, had silenced 
 in them all the considerations of prudence. 
 It was, in truth, f<n egregious blunder, 
 when they had the French army upon their 
 hands, and scarcely 200,000 men to oppose 
 to it, to employ 50,000 of that number 
 against the Turks. But amidst the con- 
 vulsions of this age, the idea of seizing any 
 occasion to take what they pleased, was 
 then the predominant idea of all govern- 
 ments. The Russians, therefore, said to 
 themselves, that the time was perhaps come 
 for them to take possession of Moldavia 
 and Wallachia." 
 
 When information of the invasion of 
 Moldavia reached Constantinople, that city 
 was filled with indignation and surprise. 
 A cry for war was loud and universal, espe- 
 cially among the ulemahs and the Janissaries, 
 whose religious fanaticism, and general 
 hatred of Europeans, were stung into fury 
 by the perfidy of the Russians ; the objects 
 alike of their superstitious dread and their 
 deeply-rooted aversion. The Russian am- 
 bassador narrowly escaped the fury of the 
 mob, and also of being immured in the for- 
 tress of the Seven Towers ; but the sultan 
 permitted him to leave Constantinople in 
 
 413 
 
-If 
 
 TURKEY DECLARES WAR.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 II 
 
 I 
 
 the English frigate Campus. The follow- 
 ing day, December 30th, 1806, the Porte 
 published a formal declaration of war 
 against Russia; and great preparations 
 were made, both by sea and land, to carry 
 it out with vigour. r 
 
 In the meantime, the Russians having 
 completed the conquest of Moldavia, entered 
 Wallachia; and, after defeating a body of 
 Turkish troops, took possession, without 
 resistance, of Bucharest, the capital of that 
 province, from whence tliey sent detach- 
 ments in all directions. At\he close of the 
 year they were masters of the three pro- 
 vinces of Bessarabia, Moldavia, and Wal- 
 lachia, and threatened to cross the Danube 
 and assist the Sei-vians, then in revolt 
 against the Porte. The very rapidity of 
 these successes, however, perplexed the em- 
 peror Alexander and his ministers. Russia 
 was in serious danger from the arms of 
 Prance on the banks of the Vistula. There 
 it was, in fact, that the fate of Turkey was 
 to be decided; for had the Russians 
 triumphed over the French, it is more 
 than probable that the Ottoman empire in 
 Europe would have been seized upon by 
 the czar. Alexander, anxious to draw off 
 the Turks, whom he had prematurely 
 aroused, applied to England to permit a 
 naval force, then cruising in the ^gean 
 Sea, to make a demonstration against Con- 
 stantinople, with the object of intimidating 
 the Porte into an abandonment of hostili- 
 ties with Russia, and the acceptance of 
 terms of peace. The English ministry con- 
 sented ; and Sir Thomas Duckworth was 
 sent, with a fleet of seven ships of the line, 
 besides frigates and bomb-ships, to force the 
 passage of the Dardanelles, and, if certain 
 terms should not be acceded to by the 
 Porte, to bombard Constantinople. ' 
 
 When Mr. Arbuthnot, the English am- 
 bassador at Constantinople, learned that 
 Sir John Duckworth had arrived off" Tenedos, 
 he delivered the English ultimatum to the 
 divan ; which was, the immediate dismissal of 
 the French ambassador, the accession of 
 Turkey to the alliance of Russia and Eng- 
 land, and the opening of the Dardanelles 
 to the vessels of Russia. These demands 
 were peremptorily refused, and Mr. Arbuth- 
 not considered it prudent to withdraw from 
 Constantinople, and take refuge in the 
 Endymion frigate, then lying off* Seraglio 
 Point. The Porte resented the insulting 
 interference of England by immediately 
 declaring war against it. 
 414 
 
 [a.d. 1806. 
 
 A.D. 1807.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [RUSSIA AND TURKEY. 
 
 The British fleet, therefore, passed the 
 Dardanelles on the morning of the 19th of 
 February, 1807. The batteries had been 
 suff'ered to fall into a state of comparative 
 decay: the Turks were taken by surprise, 
 and little resistance was made, with the 
 excef)tion of a tremendous cannonade from 
 the batteries of the castles of Europe and 
 Asia. After a time this was silenced by the 
 rapid and well-directed fire of the British 
 vessels, and a small Turkish squadron burnt 
 or dispersed. Great alarm prevailed at 
 Constantinople when the English squadron 
 anchored at no great distance from the 
 city. The divan at first resolved on sub- 
 mission ; but in consequence of the spirited 
 representations of General Sebastiani, the 
 French ambassador, they resolved to gain 
 time by negotiation, and prepare for a 
 vigorous defence. The English admiral 
 allowed himself to be deceived into suff^er- 
 nig time to be consumed in the exchange of 
 notes and diplomatic communications, during 
 which almost the entire population of Con- 
 stantinople laboured day and night at the 
 fortifications, under the able direction of 
 Sebastiani, and assisted by a body of French 
 engineers. At the expiration of a week, 
 more than a thousand pieces of cannon were 
 mounted on the batteries, the naval arsenal 
 was furnished with immense resources, the 
 defences of the harbour were strengthened, 
 and the whole line of coast presented a 
 formidable aspect. A hundred gun-boats 
 were drawn across the mouth of the Golden 
 Horn; while twelve Turkish line-of-battle 
 ships, and nine frigates, lay in the canal 
 with their sails bent, and ready for action. 
 Great quantities of fire-ships were prepared 
 to act against the fleet of the invaders ; red- 
 hot shot was kept constantly heated, in case 
 of the approach of the British ships ; and 
 200,000 men, destined to march against the 
 Russians, were said to be in the citv and 
 suburbs, prepared to repel the English if 
 they were enabled to eff'ect a landing. 
 
 When the English admiral had suffered a 
 week to elapse, Constantinople and the 
 neighbouring coasts were so efficiently 
 armed, that the contemplated attack upon 
 it became entirely hopeless. Some doubts 
 were even entertained, in consequence oi 
 the prevalence of an adverse wind, whether 
 the English fleet would be able to retire 
 and repass the Dardanelles at all ; in which 
 case, capture or total destruction were the 
 only alternatives open to it. Sir John 
 Duckworth, therefore, renounced the peri- 
 
 lous enterprise which had been so rashly and 
 unjustlyundertaken; and on the 1st of March 
 the British fleet repassed the straits of the 
 Dardanelles in a very crest-fallen condition, 
 and through a succession of firing from the 
 batteries on either side. Such was the calibre 
 of the Turkish guns, that balls or blocks of 
 marble, of immense weight and size, were 
 fired at our ships, which they threatened to 
 sink with a single blow. One of these 
 projectiles, weighing 800 pounds, cut the 
 mainmast of the Windsor man-of-war in 
 two, and it was not without much trouble 
 and difficulty that the ship was saved. An- 
 other gigantic ball penetrated the poop of 
 the Standard, and killed or wounded sixty 
 men. At length the British fleet cleared 
 the straits, and regained their old station at 
 Tenedos, after having sustained a loss of 
 250 men. — Thus terminated this much- 
 talked-of expedition to the Hellespont and 
 the Bosphorus. It had broken the spell by 
 which, for many ages, the passage of the 
 Dardanelles had been guarded: still, the 
 result of the whole was little more than a 
 brilliant bravado, followed by a series of 
 blunders terminating in disgrace. Some 
 eff'orts were made, in the House of Com- 
 mons, towards calling Sir John Duckworth 
 to account; but he was protected by the 
 nwnistrv, and the aff'air passed off" without 
 investigation. 
 
 This unfortunate demonstration against 
 Constantinople produced an effect exactly 
 the reverse of what was intended. It co- 
 operated with the address of Sebastiani, to 
 bring the Turkish government, for a time, 
 wholly under the influence of France, and 
 eventually, under that influence, to make 
 peace with Russia when Russia had declared 
 herself against England. 
 
 The English fleet was joined at Tenedos 
 by a Russian squadron of ten sail-of-the-line 
 and a number of frigates, under the com- 
 mand of Admiral Siniavin. The allied naval 
 forces, after taking possession of Lemnos 
 and Tenedos, for the service of their fleets, 
 established a blockade of the entrance to 
 the straits; but the English fleet soon 
 departed for Egypt, and left the blockade 
 to be maintained by the Russians. As a 
 similar manoeuvre was adopted at the mouth 
 of the Bosphorus, by a Russian squadron 
 which came down from the Black Sea, Con- 
 stantinople was cut off from some of its 
 usual and most productive sources of sup- 
 plies, and in a short time a great dearth of 
 provisions was experienced. Seid Ali, the 
 
 Turkish grand-admiral, was therefore dis- 
 patched with a fleet to disperse the Rus- 
 sians and break up the blockade. Though 
 the Turks had a far inferior force to that 
 opposed to them, yet they gave battle to 
 the Russians on the 1st of July, 1807, near 
 the isle of Tenedos. The contest was pro- 
 longed for seven hours, and carried on with 
 great obstinacy on both sides. Four of the 
 Turkish ships were carried by the wind 
 out of the line of battle, and the unskilful 
 crews were unable, or unwilling, to bring 
 them again under fire. Seid Ali, who at 
 one period of the action was surrounded by 
 five Russian vessels, fought his ship with 
 admirable bravery and skill ; and, though 
 wounded in the action, made his way 
 through them. But the contest, after the 
 accidental separation of the four ships, was 
 altogether unequal. Four ships of the line 
 were taken ; three others were burned, and 
 the rest driven for shelter under the cannon 
 of the Dardanelles : above 1,000 Turks also 
 perished during the battle — a great number 
 in comparison with what usually takes place 
 in engagements at sea. Intoxicated by this 
 victory, the Russians became very over- 
 bearing in their attitude at sea towards the 
 Turks. The land campaign on the banks 
 of the Danube, though not productive of 
 any decisive results, was yet in some degree 
 favourable to the Russians, who held their 
 position in the principalities. On the 
 Asiatic frontiers of the two empires the 
 Russians were more successful ; and during 
 the month of June, the seraskier of Erzeroum 
 suffered a total defeat at the hands of Gen- 
 eral Gudovitch. This victory was the more 
 important from the fact, that it prevented 
 the Persians from making a bold diversion 
 in favour of the Turks. The latter were 
 somewhat relieved from the pressure of 
 these hostile proceedings by the treaty of 
 Tilsit, which led to an armistice between 
 Russia and the Porte. This was concluded 
 at Slobosia on the 24th of August, and was 
 to continue until the 3rd of April in the 
 following year. As the base of the truce, it 
 was agreed that the Russian troops should 
 retire from Moldavia and Wallachia, but 
 that these provinces should not be occupied 
 by the troops of the sultan until ratifica- 
 tions were exchanged of a definitive treaty 
 of peace between Russia and the Ottoman 
 Porte, which was to be concluded, under 
 the mediation of the emperor Napoleon, on 
 terms honourable to both empires. 
 
 Before the conclusion of the treaty of 
 
 415 
 
 ^•■VMMHPM 
 
 mm 
 
 '^td^ 
 
ARMISTICE WITH TURKEY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1807. 
 
 'r\ 
 
 
 Tilsit a revolution had taken place at Con- 
 stantinople, and been followed by the de- 
 thronement of Sultan Selim and the succes- 
 sion of Mustapha IV. Napoleon basely 
 pretended that this circumstance released 
 him from the engagements he had made 
 to the Turkish government, under the pre- 
 text that they had been made with Selim 
 personally, and not with his successor. 
 Therefore, though he had made repeated 
 promises of assistance and friendship to the 
 Ottoman government, which he declared to 
 be the faithful ally of France, yet he entered 
 into an engagement with Alexander for the 
 ruin and partition of the Turkish empire. 
 The policy of Napoleon, in this respect, was 
 as erroneous as it was dishonest. After the 
 peace of Tilsit, Alexander was enabled to 
 pursue his aggressive measures with regard 
 to Turkey; but Napoleon, engrossed with 
 his ambitious scheme with regard to the 
 Spanish peninsula, was unable to appro- 
 priate his share of the calculated spoils of 
 the Ottoman empire. He therefore re- 
 pented of the ready consent he had given to 
 the aggressive movements of Russia in that 
 direction, and became desirous of throwing 
 every obstacle in the way of their further 
 prosecution. ;, 
 
 Napoleon preferred seeing Alexander 
 waste his strength on the banks of the 
 Danube. No sooner, therefore, was he 
 engaged in his projects with respect to 
 Spain, than he wrote to the Russian auto- 
 crat, saying that the armistice on the 
 Danube had been concluded without his 
 authority; that it did not meet his appro- 
 val, and that the Russian troops might 
 remain in the principalities ; but that, as to 
 the final partition of the Ottoman empire, 
 that was so grave a question, that it required 
 mature consideration. This was not the 
 only incident adverse to the interests of 
 Napoleon, arising from his treachery to- 
 wards the Turks at Tilsit. Though the 
 latter gladly availed themselves of the 
 French mediation with Russia, it was in the 
 belief that they were to obtain through it 
 the evacuation of Moldavia and Wallachia. 
 When they found that this was not the 
 case, they scorned a peace under such cir- 
 cumstances, and expressed their resolution 
 to continue the contest. "In 'what worse 
 situation,^' said they, " could we be if the 
 416 
 
 French, instead of being victorious, had 
 been beaten in Poland? Is this the em- 
 peror^s care for his allies, whom he has 
 drawn into the conflict, to leave their richest 
 provinces in the hands of their enemies?" 
 Some rumours of the nature of the secret 
 articles of the treaty of Tilsit soon after- 
 wards reached the Turks, and, finding that 
 they had been betrayed by Napoleon, they 
 resolved on fighting out their quarrel with 
 Russia alone, and declining any further in- 
 tervention on the part of the French. 
 
 Simultaneously with the aggressive war 
 on Turkey, Alexander was engaged in an- 
 other unprincipled war on the shores of the 
 Caspian, in making acquisitions at the ex- 
 pense of his feeble neighbours the Persians. 
 IJnable to contend successfully against her 
 vast military power, and hopeless of as- 
 sistance or relief from England (whose good 
 offices for the restoration of peace with 
 Russia they had vainly solicited during the 
 last administration of Pitt), they, in 1806, 
 sent an embassy to Paris to request the aid 
 of the emperor Napoleon.' That wonderful 
 man, whose ambition was boundless, and 
 whose views were still turned towards the 
 East, had already dispatched a member of 
 the French senate on a secret mission to 
 Persia, to promote his schemes and advance 
 his interests in that quarter. He did not, 
 however, lend assistance to the Persians in 
 the struggle with Russia, and was, probably, 
 too much occupied with his aff'airs in 
 Europe to be able to do so. ■»• 
 
 It is scarcely possible, and certainly un- 
 necessary, to give an accurate account of 
 the predatory Avarfare which followed be- 
 tween the troops of Persia and Russia. 
 Though the Russians were generally suc- 
 cessful, in consequence of their superior 
 discipline and experience, yet they were 
 unable to compel the warlike tribes and 
 their chiefs to bow to the Russian sceptre. 
 The war was not terminated until 1813. 
 The principal events of it were — the defeat 
 of the Persians at Etchmiazin, by Prince 
 Zitzianofi*, in the year 1804; the conquest of 
 the province of Shirvan, by the same com- 
 mander, in 1806; and the taking of Der- 
 bent by the Russians, and the defeat of 
 the Persians by Paulucci, at Alkolwalaki, 
 in 1810. 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
 
 It 
 
 ^umimm 
 
%\ 
 
 SSmnflllttF.^S'TY LIBRARIES ^ 
 
 1010651713 
 
 1 
 
 ^4-T 
 
 V1 
 
 < 
 
 ,-*■ 
 
 vj 
 
 " ■ WtM^HHi 
 
 JUL z 1946 
 
VOLUME 2 
 
i: 
 
 Columbia ©nitJerirt'tp 
 
 intljfCitpofJlrttilork 
 
 THE LIBRARIES 
 
 « 
 
 F'l 
 
i.ni 
 
 t'i 
 
 -' • m minmmm'm m^^^0immm>^ ■ 
 
mmmmmm 
 
 \^ ~ 
 
 THE 
 
 HISTORY OF RUSSIA 
 
 ' 
 
 •<] 
 
 i 
 
 FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE EMPIRE 
 
 I 
 
 TO THE 
 
 WAR WITH TURKEY IN 1877-'7a 
 
 BY 
 
 H. TYRRELL, 
 
 AND 
 
 HENRY .A. HAUKEIJL, 
 
 Late Press Correspondent in the East. 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 THE LONDON PRINTING AND PUBLISHING COMPANY, LIMITED, 
 
 LONDON AND NEW YORK. 
 
HISTORY OF THE 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 
 C^"* 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 DISCONTENT OF THE RUSSIAN NOBLES AND MERCHANTS AT THE FRENCH ALLIANCE, AND CONSEQUENT StTP 
 PRESSION OF TRADE WITH ENGLAND ; TREATMENT OF GENERAL SAVARY AT ST. PETERSBURG ; ALEXANDER 
 OFFERS HIS MEDIATION TO THE ENGLISH MINISTRY ; IN REPLY, IT DESIRES A COMMUNICATION OF THE 
 SECRET ARTICLES OF THE TREATY OF TILSIT; BOMBARDMENT OF COPENHAGEN, AND SEIZURE OF THE 
 DANISH FLEET BY THE ENGLISH ; ALEXANDER DECLARES WAR AGAINST ENGLAND ; ALSO AGAINST SAVE- 
 DEN, AND POURS HIS TROOPS INTO FINLAND ; FINLAND CEDED TO RUSSIA ; A RUSSIAN FLEET AT LISBON 
 SURRENDERS TO THE ENGLISH ; NAPOLEON INVITES ALEXANDER TO A PERSONAL INTERVIEW ; OBJECTIONS 
 OF THE RUSSIAN PARTY AND OF THE EMPRESS-MOTHER ; MEETING OF THE TWO EMPERORS AT ERFURTH. 
 
 *<■ 
 
 Russia had extricated herself from the war 
 with France comparatively unscathed, and 
 with her military renown untarnished. 
 Though repulsed and defeated by the 
 French, she had sustained reverses with a 
 heroism that proclaimed the valour of her 
 soldiers, who had only failed before the 
 troops of the most military people in the 
 world, led by its most gifted general. 
 Alexander, therefore, was received, on his 
 return to St. Petersburg, with public accla- 
 mations ; but much discontent and sullen- 
 ness prevailed in private, especially among 
 the nobility and the merchants of the 
 capitail. The French alliance was un- 
 popular; for the power of France had 
 shown that the pretensions of Russia were 
 greater than her means to support them, 
 and the nobles and merchants were enriched 
 by their trade with England, which the 
 arrangements Alexander had acceded to 
 were to repress. The balance of trade with 
 that country was wholly in favour of Russia; 
 yet the differences existing with it threat- 
 ened to result in war, which must neces- 
 sarily be accompanied with immense losses. 
 The nobles of Russia were aware, that 
 whatever advantages the czar might derive 
 from the treaty into which he had just 
 entered with France, that he had purchased 
 them by acceding to Napoleon's "conti- 
 nental system,^' and the consequent closing 
 of the ports of the empire to the ships of 
 Great Britain. "Assuredly,'' observed a 
 continental writer, "Alexander bought the 
 peace of Tilsit at a price much more heavy 
 than would have been paid by a disastrous 
 campaign. Nothing could be more men- 
 acing and serious to Russia than a rupture 
 with England. That manufacturing country 
 is the chief market for her raw materials. 
 The Russian proprietors, kept continually 
 poor by their habits of pomp and ostenta- 
 tion, are always eager to sell, and cannot at 
 
 VOL. II. B 
 
 186199 
 
 best find sufficient market for their produce ; 
 accordingly, the two countries are neces- 
 sary the one to the other The commerce 
 established by the ordinance of nature is 
 advantageous to England, but it is indis- 
 pensable to the Russians; and the czar 
 should have had very weighty reasons for 
 putting a stop to it." 
 
 Napoleon, desirous of retaining the in- 
 fluence he had obtained over Alexander, 
 sent General Savary to St. Petersburg, as 
 the ambassador of France, with directions 
 to apply ail the resources of his mind to 
 cultivate and give stability to the alliance 
 concluded at Tilsit. On arriving at the 
 Russian capital, Savary was received with 
 extreme coldness by the court, with the ex- 
 ception of the emperor and two or three 
 families composing his intimate society. 
 The execution of the Duke d'Enghien, which 
 was performed under the immediate direc- 
 tion of Savary, contributed to this result; 
 the chief cause of which, however, was the 
 remembrance of recent hostilities and de- 
 feats, and the aversion to the French alli- 
 ance. Alexander endeavoured to persuade 
 every one, that in the termination of the 
 recent war by a reconciliation with France, 
 events had taken the most favourable turn 
 possible : that his late ministers, in em- 
 broiling him with that power, had led him 
 into a fatal track, from which he had extri- 
 cated himself with equal good fortune and 
 skill: that he had committed but one 
 error — that of having believed in the valour 
 of the Prussian army, and in the integrity 
 of England. But these illusions, he said, 
 were now dispelled; and by the union of 
 the two great armies of Europe — those of 
 France and Russia — the peace and greatness 
 of both empires would follow. Peace, if 
 
 England would at length desist from its 
 maritime pretensions ; and greatness, if she 
 did not oblige Europe to lead with her a 
 
SAVARY AT ST. PETERSBURG.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1807. 
 
 life of torment and sacrifices ; in which case 
 every one must take care of himself and his 
 own interests, and that it was time for 
 Russia to think of her's. Having arrived 
 at this point of his explanations, Alexander 
 — not daring to reveal all the hopes which 
 Napoleon had permitted him to conceive, 
 nor, above all, to avow the occult treatv 
 which they had promised themselves to 
 keep profoundly secret — assumed an air of 
 mystery, but of satisfaction; leaving all to 
 be guessed that he durst not venture to 
 tell, though strongly tempted to do so. 
 Thus, speaking of Turkey, he said openly 
 that he was about to sign an armistice with 
 her, but should take care not to evacuate 
 the provinces of the Danube, where his 
 troops would remain for a long time ; and 
 that no difficultv would be raised at Paris 
 on the subject of this prolonged occupation. 
 Alexander was warmly seconded by M. de 
 Romanzoff, who, besides being acquainted 
 with everything, had served the empress 
 Catherine, and inherited her oriental ambi- 
 tion. The minister, like the monarch, re- 
 peated that his listeners must have patience, 
 and that they would soon have a satis- 
 factory explanation to give of the change of 
 politics effected at Tilsit. 
 
 But the words of the emperor fell on 
 incredulous and unwilling ears. He could 
 not induce his nobility to extend their hos- 
 pitality to the French ambassador, or treat 
 him otherwise than with a cutting coldness. 
 The example of Alexander, who lavished 
 every attention upon General Savary, and 
 invited him frequently to his table, prevailed 
 to open some of the great houses in St. 
 Petersburg to him. Still he was excluded 
 by most of the distinguished families; for 
 Alexander, though master of power, was, 
 nevertheless, not master of high society ; 
 which was ruled by a loyalty and code of its 
 own. The emperor having anticipated his 
 possession of the sceptre by a tragic catas- 
 trophe, strove to compensate his mother 
 (who had descended before her time to the 
 station of dowager), by leaving to her the 
 exterior of supreme power. This princess, 
 who mingled a stiff conventional virtue with 
 a selfish nature and a haugrhtv manner, con- 
 soled herself for her apparent loss with Paul 
 of half of the empire, by the ostentatious 
 display of imperial splendour. The court 
 assembled at her residence, and not at 
 Alexander's. His life was generally de- 
 void of state. Entertaining a dislike to the 
 empress his wife (who was a cold and grave 
 
 beauty), he hastened, after his repasts, to 
 leave the palace, to employ himself in busi- 
 ness with the statesmen who were his confi- 
 dants, or to devote his hours to pleasure in 
 the society of a Russian lady to whom he 
 was much attached. As to the courtiers, 
 or those who had favours to obtain, they 
 thronged around the empress-mother as if 
 she were the sole author of the acts of the 
 imperial power. Even Alexander made his 
 appearance there with the assiduity of a 
 submissive son who had not yet inherited 
 the paternal sceptre. Though the empress- 
 mother would neither use or permit any 
 language calculated to displease her son, 
 she took no pains to disguise her evident 
 aversion to the French. General Savary 
 she had treated with rudeness, actually 
 turning her back upon him before the 
 assembled court. The French ambassador 
 received the insult without emotion ; but he 
 adroitly hinted to the son, that he was not 
 unobservant of the slights put upon him by 
 the empress-dowager. Alexander was an- 
 noyed, and apprehensive lest, under his 
 affected respect for his mother, a foreigner 
 might not recognise the real master of the 
 empire. Grasping the generaPs hand, he 
 said — "There is no sovereign here but 
 myself; I respect my mother, but every- 
 body shall obey, be assured of it. At all 
 events, whoever needs it, shall be reminded 
 of the nature and the extent of my au- 
 thority .'' Savary was satisfied with having 
 brought the emperor to such a confideuti^ 
 communication by piquing the imperial 
 pride. The result appeared in some show 
 of cordiality on the part of the empress- 
 mother. "Let us wait," said Alexander 
 frequently to the ambassador, "and see 
 what England will do. Let us know what 
 course she will pursue; I will then break 
 out : and when I have declared myself, no- 
 body shall resist.^' 
 
 The result of the peace of Tilsit in Eng- 
 land was to produce despondency, and to 
 remove the hope that the war with France 
 could be brought to a satisfactory conclu- 
 sion. Accordmg to his agreement with 
 Napoleon, Alexander, on his arrival at St. 
 Petersburg, had addressed a note to the 
 British cabinet, expressing a wish for the 
 restoration of a general peace, and offering 
 his mediation to bring about a state of 
 amity^ between France and England. Mr. 
 Canning answered — that England was per- 
 fectly willing to treat, on equitable terms, 
 for so desirable an object ; but she required 
 
 A.D. 1807.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [seizure of the Danish fleet. 
 
 a frank communication of the secret articles 
 of the treaty of Tilsit, as a pledge of the 
 pacific intentions of the emperor Alexander. 
 This demand was eluded ; and, in reply, 
 Baron Budberg entered into a statement of 
 grievances said to have been sustained by 
 Russia at the hands of this country. 
 
 The king of Sweden was the only conti- 
 nental sovereign who refused to submit to 
 the domination of Napoleon. Before the 
 conclusion of peace between France and 
 Russia, Gustavus IV. denounced the armistice 
 existing between them. Napoleon instantly 
 dispatched 30,000 men, under Marshal 
 Brune, to Sweden ; and the Swedish forces, 
 numbering but 15,000, were compelled to 
 take refuge within the fortifications of Stral- 
 sund. For a short time they were sup- 
 ported by 10,000 English troops ; but these 
 were soon withdrawn, to assist in an expe- 
 dition against Copenhagen, to which we 
 shall presently refer ; and the Swedes were 
 left to their fate. Finding the fall of the 
 city certain, Gustavus, at the earnest re- 
 quest of the citizens, abandoned it with his 
 troops, after the latter had destroyed their 
 magazines, spiked their cannon, smashed 
 their carriages, and thrown them into the 
 ditches. Stralsund itself, on the 20th of 
 August, with 400 pieces of cannon and 
 immense military magazines, fell into the 
 hands of the French. After some further 
 struggles the Swedes submitted ; a conven- 
 tion was concluded, and the French troops 
 withdrawn. 
 
 All the precautions of Napoleon and 
 Alexander had been unable to preserve in 
 secrecy their private treaty of Tilsit. By 
 means of bribery the English government 
 obtained a knowledge of the fact, that the 
 fleets of Denmark and Portugal were to be 
 placed at the disposal of France, and, con- 
 sequently, to be employed against this 
 country. Denmark was in an unfortunate 
 position, for she dared not resist the de- 
 mands of France, sanctioned by the power 
 (rf Russia; and to consent to them was to 
 place herself in a dangerous attitude of hos- 
 tility towards England. The ministry of 
 this country were aware, that if Napoleon 
 could carry out his projects, they would be 
 subjected to an attack from the combined 
 navies of Europe. They therefore resolved 
 to anticipate the efforts of the enemy. A 
 powerful naval force, consisting of twenty- 
 seven sail-of-the-line and numerous other 
 vessels, having on board a body of 20,000 
 troops, was hurriedly prepared and sent to 
 
 the Danish coast, where it arrived on th 
 3rd of August, 1807. Immediately, a de- 
 mand was made that the Danish, fleet 
 should be deposited with the Britisli gov- 
 ernment in pledge, and under an obligation 
 of restitution, until the conclusion of a gen- 
 eral peace. This demand was indignantly 
 refused. The English troops were there- 
 fore disembarked, and the city of Copen- 
 hagen invested. So rapid and unexpected 
 had been the proceedings of the English, 
 that the Danes were quite unprepared to 
 resist the formidable forces bv sea and land 
 which threatened them. Still thej'' perse- 
 vered in their rejection of the offers of the 
 invaders,* and the unfortunate city was 
 bombarded for three days and nights, during 
 which period 1,800 houses were destroyed 
 by fire, and 1,500 of the inhabitants 
 perished. The Danes then hung out a flag 
 of truce ; but the English would not agree to 
 any terms except on the unconditional sur- 
 render of the fleet, together with all the 
 artillery and naval stores which the place 
 contained. The Danes were compelled to 
 accept these severe terms, and the invading 
 fleet and army returned to England, bring- 
 ing with them the prize they had captured, 
 consisting of eighteen ships of the line, 
 fifteen frigates, six brigs, and twenty-five 
 gun-boats ! 
 
 An extraordinary sensation was produced 
 throughout Europe by this apparently wan- 
 ton outrage against a neutral nation, with- 
 out any previous declaration of war, or 
 known ground of hostility. This feeling 
 was shared by the English people, who, not 
 understanding the motive of the govern- 
 ment, were astonished at its conduct. Na- 
 poleon was incensed, and assumed to be 
 deeply affected by the catastrophe, while 
 Alexander characterised the proceeding as 
 " a piratical expedition,'^ and condemned it 
 as an uncalled-for violation of the law of 
 nations. The English cabinet, desirous of 
 justifying itself with the principal courts of 
 Europe, sent Lord Pembroke to Vienna, 
 and General Wilson to St. Petersburg, for 
 that purpose. ' The English ambassador 
 also stated that his cabinet had received 
 information of the secret articles of the 
 treaty of Tilsit, and the intended co-opera- 
 tion of the Danish fleet in a descent on the 
 
 * The crown prince is said to have exclaimed — 
 " You offer your alliance ; but we know what it is 
 worth ! Your allies, who have been vainly expect- 
 ing your succours for a whole year, have taught us 
 what is the value of English friendship." 
 
CONDUCT OF ALEXANDER.J 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1807. 
 
 British shores, and called upon the Russian 
 minister to disprove the assertion by an 
 unreserved communication of these hidden 
 stipulations. The demand was refused, and 
 Alexander signified his intention to General 
 Savary immediately to declare vrar against 
 England, if the emperor Napoleon insisted 
 on it.* " Tell your master," said the em- 
 peror, " that as soon as my means are pre- 
 pared, I will crush Sweden; but, as for the 
 English, I am ready to declare myself im- 
 mediately." 
 
 If Alexander was already playing false 
 with France (which we doubt), he must have 
 been the most abandoned of hypocrites. 
 His language to Savary expressed the most 
 ^rdent attachment to the French emperor. 
 " I shall be told," said he to that general, 
 "that Napoleon is insatiable; that he 
 wants all for himself, nothing for others; 
 that he is equally crafty and violent; that 
 he promises me much, but will give me no- 
 thing; that he spares me just now, but 
 when he has got out of me all that he 
 wishes, he will fall upon me in my turn; 
 and that, separated from my allies, whom I 
 shall have suflcred to be destroyed, I must 
 make up my mind to endure the same fate. 
 I believe it not. I have seen Napoleon ; I 
 flatter myself that I have inspired him with 
 a portion of the sentiments with which he 
 has inspired me; and I am certain that he 
 is sincere. On the first doubt, on the first 
 unpleasant impression, let him write to me, 
 or send me word, and all shall be explained. 
 For my part, I promise him entire frank- 
 ness, and I expect the like from him. Oh 
 that I could see him, as at Tilsit, every dav, 
 every hour! — what talent for conversation !-^ 
 what an understanding ! — what a genius ! — 
 what a gainer I should be by living fre- 
 quently near him !— how many things he has 
 
 * The great power of dissimulation possessed and 
 constantly exercised by Alexander, has perplexed 
 many writers, and makes it sometimes difficult to 
 ascertain what were his real sentiments. From the 
 following passage in Sir Walter Scott's Life of 
 :Sapoleon, presumed to be founded on official infor- 
 mation, it is made to appear that the cabinet of St. 
 Petersburg, though obliged to yield to circumstances, 
 was secretly gratified at the vigorous and decisive 
 blow struck at the Danish fleet :—" An English 
 officer of literary celebrity was employed by Alex- 
 ander, or those who were supposed to share his 
 most secret councils, to convey to the British min- 
 istry the emperor's expression of the secret satisfac- 
 tion which his imperial majesty felt at the skill and 
 dexterity which Britain had displayed in anticipating 
 and preventing the purposes of France by her attack 
 upon Copenhagen. Her ministers were invited to 
 communicate freely with the czar, as with a prince 
 
 4 
 
 taught me in a few days ! I am doing all 
 I can to render mutual confidence as com- 
 plete as possible, but I do not exercise that 
 ascendancy here which Napoleon has at- 
 tained at Paris. This country, you perceive, 
 has been surprised at the rather too abrupt 
 change which has taken place. It is appre- 
 hensive of the injuries which the English 
 can inflict on its commerce ; it is angry at 
 your victories. These are interests which 
 must be gratified; sentiments which must 
 be soothed. Send French merchants hither ;•. 
 buy our naval stores and our productions ;/ 
 we, in return, will buy your Paris com-' 
 modities ; the re-establishment of commerce 
 will put an end to all the anxieties which 
 the upper classes entertain on account of 
 their revenues. Assist me, above all, to do 
 something for the just ambition of Russia." 
 The latter remark referred to the emperor's 
 designs on Turkey, and especially on Con- 
 stantinople. This last Napoleon avoided 
 expressing an opinion on to Alexander, 
 whom he desired to be content with the 
 acquisition of Finland. Compliments and 
 presents passed between the two potentates, 
 and Napoleon sent word to the emperor, 
 that the minister Decres was about to pur- 
 chase twenty million worth of naval stores 
 in the ports of Russia; and, in answer to an 
 application to that effect, that the French 
 navy would receive all the Russian cadets 
 who should be sent to it for instruction, and 
 that 50,000 muskets, after the best model, 
 were at the disposal of the imperial gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 The influence of Napoleon over Alex- 
 ander induced the latter to make the bom- 
 bardment of Copenhagen, and the seizure 
 of the Danish fleet, a pretext for break- 
 ing off all relations with England, and 
 proclaiming anew the principles of the 
 
 who, though obliged to yield to chcumstances, was, 
 nevertheless, as much as ever attached to the cause 
 of European independence." The first communica- 
 tions the British ministers made in accordance with 
 this invitation, however, were received with such 
 coldness, as to show that either the agent had over- 
 stepped his instructions, or that the emperor had 
 changed his mind. Count Hardenberg, the dis- 
 tinguished Prussian minister, said— "The capture 
 of the Danish fleet was not the cause, but the 
 pretext of the rupture of Russia with England. 
 The cabinet of St. Petersburg was not sorry at so 
 fair an opportunity for getting quit of all restraints 
 upon Its meditated hostilities in the north ; and, not- 
 withstanding all its loud declamations against the 
 Copenhagen expedition, it beheld with more satis- 
 faction the success of England in that quarter, than 
 It would have done the junction of the Danish fleet 
 with the nary of the French emperor." 
 
 l.D. 1807—1808.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [annexation of FINLAND. 
 
 armed neutrality. The imperial declaration 
 to this effect, issued on the 16th of October, 
 
 1807, reproached the English cabinet with 
 withholding assistance from Russia and 
 Prussia when they were engaged in a war 
 which it had kindled — with having acted in 
 a hostile manner to the commercial vessels 
 of Russia at the very time when the blood 
 of its people flowed for the interest of Eng- 
 land in the struggle against France — with 
 rejecting the mediation of Russia to effect a 
 general pacification — and with sending her 
 fleets and armies to the coasts of Denmark, 
 '' to execute there an act of violence of 
 which history, so fertile in wickedness, does 
 not afford a parallel example.^' "Mr. Can- 
 ning, in an able reply, observed — " The 
 vindication of the Copenhagen expedition 
 is already before the world, and Russia has 
 it in her power at once to disprove the basis 
 on which it is erected, by producing the 
 secret articles of the treaty of Tilsit. These 
 secret articles were not communicated to 
 his majesty — they are not yet communi- 
 cated — not eyen that which prescribed a 
 time for the acceptance, by Great Britain, 
 of the proffered mediation of Russia. Even 
 after this unworthy concealment, however, 
 so unsuitable to the dignity of an inde- 
 pendent sovereign, the mediation was not 
 refused : it was conditionally accepted, and 
 the conditions were a communication of the 
 basis on which the proposed treaty was to 
 be founded, and of the secret articles of 
 Tilsit. * * -s?- Instead of granting either of 
 these demands, Russia declares war.^' 
 
 Alexander followed his hostile declaration 
 against England by summoning the king of 
 Sweden to join in the league against it, by 
 accedino: to the continental system of ex- 
 eluding English commerce and manufac- 
 tures. Gustavus, relying on the support of 
 England, resolutely declined, and thus bade 
 defiance to the united power of Russia and 
 of France. War was therefore declared 
 against him by Russia, and Count Buxhov- 
 den entered Finland at the head of a Rus- 
 sian army of 25,000, in the February of 
 
 1808. There he issued a proclamation, 
 which contained the following passage : — 
 " Good neighbours, — It is with the greatest 
 regret that my most gracious master, the 
 emperor of all the Russias, sees himself 
 forced to send into your country the troops 
 under my orders. But his majesty the 
 king of Sweden, whilst withdrawing more 
 and more from the happy alliance of the 
 two greatest empires in the world, draws 
 
 closer his connections with the coramoD 
 enemy, whose oppressive system and un- 
 paralleled conduct towards the most inti- 
 mate allies of Russia and of Sweden herself 
 cannot be coolly endured by his imperial 
 majesty. These motives, as well as the re- 
 gard which his imperial majesty owes to the 
 safety of his own states, oblige hbn to place, 
 your country under his protection, and to 
 take possession of it in order to procure by 
 these means a sufficient guarantee in case 
 his Swedish majesty should persevere in the 
 resolution not to accept the equitable con- 
 ditions of peace that have been proposed to 
 him.'^ 
 
 Gustavus, naturally irritated at a war 
 being commenced by an invitation to his 
 subjects to break their allegiance, issued a 
 declaration, in which he personally re- 
 proached the Russian emperor with perfidy 
 and meanness, and declared that the Avar, 
 " based on the avowed design of Russia to 
 dictate all their foreign connections to the 
 northern powers, was undertaken for no 
 other object than to add Finland to the 
 Russian dominions, and compel Sweden to 
 sacrifice her fleet and commerce as a security 
 for Cronstadt and Revel." But the struggle 
 was an unequal one ; and, after much fight- 
 ing, in a series of petty but brilliant actions, 
 which proved the bravery of the troops of 
 both nations, Finland was, partly by bribery 
 and partly by the bravery of the Russian 
 troops, annexed to the Russian empire. 
 By an imperial ukase, issued on the 28th of 
 March, Alexander declared — " We unite 
 Finland, conquered by our arms, for ever to 
 our empire, and command its inhabitants 
 forthwith to take the oath of allegiance to 
 our throne." This declaration was, how- 
 ever, somewhat premature, for the struggle 
 was prolonged after this period ; but the 
 Russian forces were largely reinforced ; ac- 
 cumulated misfortunes fell upon the Swedes; 
 and they were driven to sign a convention 
 in November, 1808, by which the whole of 
 Finland, to the east of the Gulf of Bothnia, 
 was ceded to Russia. In the following 
 year Gustavus, whose despotic conduct had 
 rendered him hateful to his subjects, was 
 dethroned by them ; and the first care of his 
 successor was to conclude a peace with 
 Russia. 
 
 The acquisition of Finland was of great 
 importance to Russia, as it secured its as- 
 cendancy in the Baltic. It is regarded as a 
 great political fault, on the part of Na*poleon 
 that he suffered Russia to make itself master 
 
< : 
 
 SURRENDER OF A RUSSIAN FLEET.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 of this formidable bulwark of the north ; 
 but that was the price he paid for the 
 neutrality o"* Alexander with respect to 
 Spain. ''France and Russia," observes a 
 modern historian, " relying on each other's 
 support, now laid aside all moderation, and 
 even the semblance of justice, in their 
 proceedings; and, strong in their mutual 
 forbearance, instantly proceeded to appro- 
 priate, without scruple, the possessions of all 
 other states — even unoftending neutrals, or 
 faithful allies— which lay on their own side 
 of the line of demarcation. It was easy to 
 see that the present concord which subsisted 
 between them could not last. The world 
 was not wide enough for two such great 
 and ambitious powers, any more than it 
 Lad been for Alexander and Darius, Home 
 and Carthage. Universal empire, to one or 
 other, would, it was likely, be the result of 
 a desperate strife between them; and in 
 that case it would be hard to say wliether 
 the independence of Great Britain had 
 most to fear from the Scythian or the 
 Gallic liosts." 
 
 At this period, however, Russia received 
 a considerable check at sea from the hands 
 of England. A Russian fleet, consisting of 
 ten ships of war, under the command of 
 Admiral Siniavin, was dispatched to Lisbon 
 for the purpose of compelling the Portu- 
 guese to declare against England, and to 
 adopt the continental system. The fleet 
 imi)rudently remained at Lisbon in fan- 
 cied security, as tlie French w^ere in pos- 
 Kcssion of that city. During this period 
 t-he convention of Cintra was signed, and 
 the French abandoned Portuirai. A few 
 days afterwards the Russian fleet surren- 
 dered to Admiral Cotton, without flring a 
 shot, on the condition that the vess^els 
 should be restored when peace was con- 
 cluded. Ellwand acted with peculiar mo- 
 deration ; and instead of makinj,' the officers 
 and crews prisoners of war, sent them back 
 to Russia at her own expense. Some French 
 writers have made the (to us improbable) 
 conjecture, that this bloodless capture had 
 been previously arranged between the two 
 powers, and thus furnished another instance ! 
 of the dissatisfaction of Alexander at the 
 conditions he had entered into at Tilsit, 
 and his readiness to employ duplicity to 
 evade them. Certain!}-, heavy reasons existed 
 to account for any dissatisfaction, if it had 
 yet begun to be entertained. From the 
 official accounts of the Russian trade up to 
 the treaty of Tilsit, it appeared to have been 
 6 
 
 [a.d. 1808. 
 
 continually increasing; and nearly 4 000 
 merchant ships, of which a fourth part were 
 English, annually entered the ports of the 
 empire; but in 1808, the number that 
 arrived in the eighteen most considerable 
 ports, was less than 1,000; of which only 
 300 visited the ports of the Baltic. The 
 [Soundest policy for Russia was peace; for 
 in the war with France, Alexander had been 
 compelled to call upon the rich for extra- 
 ordinary contributions, which they readily 
 furnished in great abundance. ' Further 
 wars necessarily led to new sacrifices ; but, 
 as matters stood, this great empire occupied 
 the undignified position of being no lon"-er 
 at liberty to follo\r its own policy, but was 
 compelled to make war according to the 
 arrangements of Napoleon. Some little 
 misunderstanding had certainly commenced 
 between Alexander and Napoleon ; and the 
 former expostulated earnestly with M. de 
 Caulaincourt (who had succeeded General 
 Savary as ambassador at St. Petersburg), on 
 the prolonged occupation of Prussia by the 
 troops of Napoleon. Alexander also desired 
 to be permitted to annex the provinces of 
 Moldavia and Wallachia to the Russian 
 empire, to which Napoleon now made some 
 objection, as it w^as not agreeable to him to 
 have to lead the Russians by the hand to 
 Constantinople, or bring them nearer to 
 that object of their ambition. 
 
 Since the peace of Presburg, Austria 
 had remained neutral in the struggle which 
 had been carried on against the ambition of 
 France. She was now, however, despite 
 her earnest protestations to the French 
 emperor to the contrary, preparing to renew 
 the war. The cabinet of Vienna deemed 
 the opportunity favourable, on account of 
 the occupation of the French armies in 
 Spam; and it was evident that they were 
 ready to declare against Napoleon on the 
 first opportunity. To overawe Austria was 
 one of the reasons which made Napoleon 
 write to the emperor Alexander, desiring a 
 personal interview. The former believed 
 that the Austrian government would scarcely 
 dare to recommence hostilities with France, 
 when in a close friendly alliance with the 
 next most powerful militarv state in Europe 
 Another reason was, tha't Napoleon was 
 exasperated against the Turks, who, assert- 
 mg that France aimed at sacrificing them 
 to Russian ambition, behaved with a defiant 
 ferocity towards the French at Constanti- 
 nople. Napoleon, therefore, in inviting 
 Alexander to personal conference with him] 
 
 A.D. 1808.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [iN'S^TATION TO KRFURTH. 
 
 - 
 
 held out to that ambitious potentate a lure 
 which to him was irresistible — that is, the 
 complete partition of the Ottoman empire ; 
 and, consequently, the probable permission 
 to proceed undisturbed against the Turks 
 until he had obtained possession of Con- 
 stantinople. In his letter to Alexander, 
 Napoleon announced his intention of dis- 
 cussing the question of the empire of the 
 East, of considering it under all its aspects, 
 and of solving it definitely. He also ex- 
 pressed a desire to admit Austria as a sharer 
 in the spoliation of Turkey ; and, returning 
 to the wild scheme which he had enter- 
 tained in concert with the late emperor 
 Paul, specified as an essential condition of 
 this partition, a gigantic expedition to India, 
 across the continent of Asia, executed by a 
 French, Russian, and Austriau army. 
 
 Alexander received the invitation of his 
 ally with transports of joy, and read it 
 instantly in the presence of the French 
 ambassador. "Ah, the great man !'^ he 
 frequently exclaimed while doing so ; '' the 
 gjreat man ! There, he has come back to 
 tlie ideas of Tilsit V Then, addressing M. 
 de Caulaincourt (the ambassador), the em- 
 peror said, in reference to Napoleon — " Tell 
 him that I am devoted to him for life; 
 that my empire, my armies, and all, are at 
 his disposal. Your master," he added, 
 "purposes to interest Austria in the dis- 
 memberment of the Turkish empire ; he is 
 in the right. It is a wdse conception; I 
 cordially join in it. He designs an expedi- 
 tion to India ; I consent to that too : I 
 have already made him acquainted, in our 
 long conversations at Tilsit, with the diffi- 
 culties attending it. He is accustomed to 
 take no account of obstacles; nevertheless, 
 the climate and distances here present such 
 as surpass all that he can imagine. But 
 let him be easy; the preparations on my 
 part shall be proportioned to the difficulties. 
 Now we must come to an understanding 
 about the distribution of the territories 
 which we are going to wrest from Turkish 
 barbarism. Discuss this subject thoroughly 
 with M. de Romanzoff". Still we must bear 
 in mind, that all this cannot be discussed 
 usefully and definitively but in an interview 
 between me and Napoleon." 
 
 On the proposal of Alexander, Erfuxth (a 
 town of Upper Saxony) was selected as the 
 place of meeting between him and Napo- 
 leon ; and September was the time named. 
 The latter caused every preparation to be 
 made, for the purpose of giving dignity and 
 
 brilliancy to the meeting of two such power- 
 ful potentates. Four fine regiments were 
 ordered to march to Erfurth, where they 
 were to act as a guard of honour to the 
 sovereigns present at the interview. Officers 
 of his household were sent with the richest 
 portions of the crown furniture, in order 
 that the largest houses in the town might 
 be arranged to suit the wants of the dis- 
 tinguished persons about to be collected 
 there ; consisting of emperors, kings, princes, 
 ministers, and generals. Che tragedian 
 Talma, and the first French actors, were 
 also commanded to repair to Erfurth, in 
 order that the dramatic literature of France 
 should contribute to distinguish so remark- 
 able an incident. Finally, Napoleon gave 
 orders for the display of an extravagant 
 sumptuousness ; for he desired that France 
 should command respect by her elegance 
 and civilisation as much as by her arms. 
 The large party at St. Petersburg who 
 were hostile to the French alliance bitterly 
 censured the proposed meeting. The free 
 speech of the court of the empress-mother, 
 on this subject, was w4th difficulty restrained 
 by the express command of Alexander. She 
 herself broke out into violent reproaches 
 against Romanzoff*, telling him that he was 
 leading her son to destruction, and that 
 perhaps at Erfurth a fate awaited him. 
 similar to what had befallen the unhappy 
 sovereigns of Spain at Bayonne.* Finally, 
 she expressed her apprehensions to Alex- 
 ander himself, who did his best to assure 
 her that her fears were without foundation. 
 The Russian emperor arrived at Erfurth 
 on the 27th of September, 1808, accom- 
 panied by his brother the Grand-duke 
 Constantine ; the minister Romanzoff", the 
 French ambassador, and a few aides-de- 
 camp, having travelled in a plain caltche 
 more rapidly than the most hurried couriers. 
 Napoleon had arrived on the morning of 
 the same day ; and, on the approach of 
 Alexander, rode out, surrounded by an im- 
 mense staff, to meet him. On alighting 
 they embraced each other cordially, with 
 every sign of extreme pleasure. A great 
 number of sovereigns, generals, and diplo- 
 matists had been invited, and were present 
 to give dignity to the occasion: amongst 
 them were Prince William of Prussia and 
 the king of Saxony. Germany w^as repre- 
 
 * At Bayonne, Charles IV. and his son Ferdi- 
 nand — to which place they had been invited by Na- 
 poleon — were intimidated into a renunciation of the 
 Spanish crown. ^ 
 
 r«-««apiwaw*r! 
 
THE EMPERORS AT ERFURTH.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 -sented by a crowd of crown princes, as 
 well as by many of its men of genius, 
 deluding Goethe and Wieland; and the 
 old and quiet town assumed a most ani- 
 mated and brilliant appearance. The place 
 -vas thronged with soldiers, officers, equi- 
 pages, and servants in livery ; while princes 
 and distinguished statesmen met in the 
 street as simple pedestrians. The kin^s and 
 princes invited were to dine every day at 
 Napoleon's table, as he was the host,\ind 
 the sovereign of the north was his guest. 
 In the evening of the 27th the town was 
 illuminated ; and, after the crowd of impe- 
 rial, royal, and titled persons had par- 
 taken of a splendid banquet, tiie tra^redy of 
 China was performed before them by the 
 most accomplished actors France ever pos- 
 sessed. 
 
 Between the numerous entertainments 
 which took place. Napoleon and Alexander 
 found time to confer together alone on the 
 important matters they had to arrange. The ' 
 former had reconsidered the Eastern question, | 
 and renounced the idea of the partition of 
 Turkey; for he saw that it was imjiossible 
 to agree with Alexander on that subject 
 unless he surrendered Constantinople, wliich 
 he was resolved not to do. As a compensa- 
 tion, however, he agreed to concede Wal- 
 lachia and Moldavia to Russia, in return for 
 which he required a close alliance for peace 
 and war, and an absolute union of efforts 
 against England and Austria, in the event 
 of the latter power resuming hostilities. 
 Alexander assented; for though somewhat 
 disappointed respecting Constantinople, he 
 was gratified by the cession of Moldavia 
 and Wallachia, which formed a stepping- 
 stone to its acquisition. He renewed his 
 protestations of attachment to Napoleon 
 and of adherence to his policy, to which 
 Iriendly statements the latter replied in 
 terms of reciprocity. To bring over Alex- 
 ander to his views respecting the present 
 partition of Turkey, Napoleon examined in 
 detail with him the various plans that had 
 been proposed for its accomplishment. For 
 himself, he peremptorily withheld his con- 
 sent that Russia should, if she could, take 
 Constantinople. Then he pointed out the 
 dilhculties which Russia would encounter 
 in the execution of such a project. Austria, 
 he said, would certainly not accede to it, 
 whatever offers might be made to her; and 
 she would prefer a desperate conflict to a 
 partition of the Turkish empire. England, 
 Austria, Turkey, Spain, and part of Ger- 
 8 
 
 [a.d. 1808. 
 
 many, would join in a last effort to resist 
 this unsettlement of the world. Was the 
 present moment, he urged, such as the two 
 empires ought to choose for so gigantic a 
 work ? Would not the attainment of Fin- 
 land, Moldavia, and Wallachia make the 
 reign of Alexander equally distinguished 
 with those of his predecessors which were 
 the most productive of territorial aggran- 
 disement? Besides, he added, they (the 
 two emperors) were both young; they could 
 afford to wait, and postpone their vast pro- 
 jects respecting the East. Alexander, though 
 not convinced, was satisfied ; but he stipu- 
 lated for the immediate possession of the 
 two Danubian provinces. 
 
 The first eight or ten days of the period 
 over which the interview was prolonged, was 
 devoted to the consideration of this subject; 
 and great as had been the previous courtesy 
 ot the two emperors towards each other, it 
 I was Irom that time expressive of more good- 
 will than ever. M. Thiers observes— "Alex- 
 ander especially seemed to blend affection 
 u'lth politics; in the promenade, at table, 
 at the theatre, his demeanour towards his 
 illustrious ally was familiar, deferential, and 
 enthusiastic. When he spoke of him, it was 
 in a tone of admiration, with which no one 
 could fail to be struck.^' One evening, at 
 the theatre, Alexander paid Napoleon a 
 compliment remarkable for its elegance and 
 aptness. The play was Voltaire's tragedy 
 ot (Edipus ; and when the representative of 
 Fhiloctetes uttered the well-known line— 
 
 "L'amitie d'un grand homme est un bienfait des 
 dieux;'* 
 
 Alexander grasped Napoleon's hand, and, 
 with a profound bow, exclaimed — " That I 
 have never more truly felt than at the 
 present moment !'' 
 
 The most important part of the compact 
 entered into between the two emperors, was 
 that by which Alexander engaged to support 
 Napoleon in the war which was foreseen to 
 be approaching with Austria. Napoleon 
 felt convinced, that if the union between 
 France and Russia was sincere and manifest, 
 that Austria would be forced to remain 
 quiescent, for she would be crushed between 
 the two empires if she attempted to stir; 
 and that the submission of Austria would 
 compel England also to yield and agree to a 
 naval peace. The two emperors also re- 
 newed their alliance, and engaged to make 
 peace or war in common. They resolved to 
 
 • " The friendship of a great man is a blessinir 
 ironi the gods." * 
 
 A.D. 1808.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [interview at ERFURTH. 
 
 make a formal proposal of peace to England, 
 in so public and conspicuous a manner, as 
 to render refusal the more difficult on the 
 part of the British cabinet. France, how- 
 ever, was only to consent to such a peace as 
 should insure to Russia, Finland, Moldavia, 
 and Wallachia ; while Russia was to consent 
 to such a peace only as should secure to 
 France, independently of her other posses- 
 sions, the crown of Spain. Immediately 
 after the signing of the convention, Russia 
 might take such steps with respect to the 
 Porte as were necessary to obtain, by peace 
 or war, the two provinces of the Danube ; 
 but the language held by Russia to Turkey 
 was to be such as would not compromise 
 the alliance of France with the latter power. 
 At the urgent intercession of Alexander, 
 some modification of the severity of French 
 supremacy was obtained for Prussia. Finally, 
 it was agreed that if the conference did not 
 lead to peace on the continent, the two em- 
 perors should meet each other again within 
 a year. Before parting, they wrote a joint 
 letter to the king of England, in which 
 they invited him to conclude a peace on the 
 basis of sacrificing his Spanish allies.* 
 
 Another subject, of a domestic nature, 
 yet fraught with much political significance, 
 was talked of by the two emperors before 
 their separation.*^ It related to a marriage 
 between Napoleon and a sister of Alexander. 
 The former had for some time thought of 
 divorcing Josephine, that he might marry 
 a princess who could give him an heir ; but 
 the affection which bound him to the wife of 
 his youth, and the difficulty of fixing his 
 choice, had hitherto proved obstacles to his 
 design. But now an opportunity presented 
 itself, as it was generally reported that Alex- 
 
 * This letter, dated Erfurth, 12th October, 1808, 
 "was as follows :— " Sire, — The present circumstances 
 of Europe have brought us together at Erfurth. 
 Our first thought is to yield to the wishes and wants 
 of every people, and to seek, in a speedy pacification 
 •with your majesty, the most efficacious remedy for 
 the miseries which oppress all nations. We make 
 known to your majesty our sincere desire in this 
 respect by the present letter. The long and bloody 
 ■war which has torn the continent is at an end, with- 
 out the possibility of being renewed. Many changes 
 have taken place in Europe ; many states have been 
 overthrown. The cause is to be found in the state 
 of agitation and misery in which the stagnation of 
 
 VOL. II. C 
 
 ander's marriageable sisters were ladies ex- 
 cellently endowed, both with respect to 
 appearance and accomplishments. The pride 
 of Napoleon, however, made him averse to 
 make any proposal, and Alexander never 
 alluded to the subject — a circumstance that 
 almost displeased his imperial friend. On 
 Talleyrand reporting to Napoleon some 
 complimentary observations of the czar, the 
 emperor exclaimed — " If he likes me, let 
 him give me proof of the fact, by uniting 
 himself with me more closely, and bestowing 
 on me one of his sisters. Why has he never 
 said a word to me of this in our daily confi- 
 dential intercourse? Why does he affect 
 thus to avoid the subject?" The acute 
 minister understood the hint, and brought 
 the subject before Alexander, who received 
 the overture with the most flattering ex- 
 pressions of regard for Napoleon; but he 
 feared that his mother, who exercised an 
 absolute control over her daughters, would 
 not give her consent. The czar added, that 
 he should, doubtless, succeed in favourably 
 disposing his sister the Grand-duchess 
 Catherine, but that he could not flatter 
 himself with the hope of subduing his mo- 
 ther's prejudices, and that he could not 
 bring himself to restrain her by an exertion 
 of his imperial authority. He would, how- 
 ever, make the attempt, but without answer- 
 ing for its success. 
 
 The interview terminated on the 14th of 
 October, each emperor lavishing presents 
 and decorations on the suite of the other. 
 They parted with an exhibition of emotion 
 that was probably sincere. "They were 
 never to meet more," observe^ M. Thiers ; 
 " and of their projects of that hour not one 
 was destined to be accomplished !" 
 
 maritime commerce has placed the greatest nations. 
 Still greater changes may yet take place, and all of 
 them contrary to the policy of the English nation. 
 Peace, then, is at once the interest of the people of 
 the continent, as it is the interest of the people of 
 Great Britain. We unite in entreating your ma- 
 jesty to listen to the voice of humanity, silencing 
 that of the passions ; to seek, with the intention of 
 arriving at that object, to conciliate all interests, and 
 by that means to preserve all the powers which exist, 
 and to insure the happiness of Europe, and of the gen- 
 eration at the head of which Providence has placed us. 
 
 "Alexander. 
 
 " Napoleon." 
 
 9 
 
AFFAIRS OF AUSTRIA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1809. 
 
 A.D. 1810.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [marriage of napoleow. 
 
 * 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 AUSTRIA BEGINS A NEW WAR WITH NAPOLEON, BUT IS REDUCED, AFTER A SHORT CAMPAIGN, TO PURCHASE 
 PEACE BY THE CESSION OF TERRITORY ; ALEXANDER, WHO HAD COLDLY SECONDED NAPOLEON, SHARES 
 THE SPOIL ; ABANDONING THE IDEA OF A DOMESTIC ALLIANCE WITH ALEXANDER, NAPOLEON MARRIES 
 MARIA LOUISA, DAUGHTER OF THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA; ALEXANDER FEELS SLIGHTED; REPLY OF 
 ENGLAND TO THE PACIFIC PROPOSALS OF FRANCE AND RUSSIA ; ALEXANDER CAUSES THE WAR WITH 
 TURKEY TO BE RENEWED ; HE ISSUES AN UKASE, ANNOUNCING THAT MOLDAVIA AND WALLACHIA AUB 
 ANNEXED TO THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE ; AFTER THREE CHEQUERED CAMPAIGNS, ALEXANDER DEEMS IT PRU- 
 DENT TO CONCLUDE PEACE WITH TURKEY, BY WHICH HE ABANDONS MOLDAVIA AND WALLACHIA, BUT 
 RETAINS BESSARABIA. ^^,ovi. 
 
 The Austrian government was deeply 
 wounded in consequence of no representa- 
 tive of it being invited to the conferences at 
 Erfurth; and it naturally anticipated evil 
 to itself from the ominous conjunction of 
 two such powers as France and Russia. 
 Austria had made its preparations, and 
 entered into a secret alliance with England, 
 which, however, wisely advised the govern- 
 ment of that empire, not to take any hos- 
 tile steps against France, unless its re- 
 sources were clearly equal to the inevitable 
 struggle which such a proceeding would 
 provoke. The Austrian cabinet, notwith- 
 standing the amicable relations which ex- 
 isted between Alexander and Napoleon, 
 actually sent Prince Schwartzeuberg to St. 
 Petersburg, with directions to use every 
 effort to obtain the concession of Russia to 
 a new confederacy against France. The 
 Austrian ministry was aware that Alex- 
 ander was capable of acting with the un- 
 blushing treachery towards his friend and 
 ally which their application implied, and 
 they knew that, though fascinated by the 
 manners and the vast schemes of Napoleon, 
 he yet had a lingering belief in the assumed 
 necessity of ultimately joining in a con- 
 federacy for the deliverance of Europe from 
 the aggressive ambition of France. "In 
 truth,'' observes Alison of his imperial 
 idol, "the emperor Alexander was much 
 perplexed how to act ; the obvious interests 
 of his empire impelling him one way, and 
 his secret engagements with Napoleon, 
 another. After a short struggle, however, 
 the latter prevailed. Alexander had given 
 his word to the French emperor; and 
 though capable of the utmost dissimulation. 
 
 There is a moral contradiction in this senti- 
 ™^vr*i ^^ ^^ "°^ permitted to a gentleman to be 
 publiciy false and privately true ; treacherous with 
 respect to duties, yet sincere with regard to his 
 friendships : indeed, it is not, strictly speaking, pos- 
 ■ible. In such cases the truth and sincerity are 
 10 
 
 so far as the mere obligations of cabinets 
 were concerned, the czar was scrupulously 
 faithful to any personal engagements which 
 he had undertaken.* He was occupied, 
 moreover, with those great schemes of am- 
 bition, both on his northern and southern 
 frontier, which had formed the bait by 
 which Napoleon had lured him into the 
 French alliance, and little inclined to forego 
 present and certain conquests in Finland 
 and Moldavia, for the problematical advan- 
 tages of a contest in the heart of Germany. 
 All attempts to engage Russia in the con- 
 federacy, therefore, proved abortive; and 
 the utmost which the Austrian envoy could' 
 obtain from the imperial cabinet," was a 
 secret assurance that Russia, if compelled 
 to take a part in the strife, would not, at 
 least, bring forward any formidable force 
 against the Austrian legions.'^ 
 
 Austria commenced the war on the 8th 
 of April, 1809, and at first achieved some 
 successes ; but the campaign, during which 
 Vienna was taken by the French, concluded 
 in the July following with the bloody battle 
 of Wagram, in which 24,000 Austrians 
 were killed or wounded. So obstinate was 
 the conflict, that the loss of the French 
 nearly equalled that of their vanquished 
 foes. The emperor Francis desired au 
 armistice, which was followed by a peace 
 signed at Vienna on the 14th of October. 
 Austria purchased this peace by large ter- 
 ritorial concessions to the French ; and Alex- 
 ander, who had assisted Napoleon with an 
 army of 30,000 men, received for his share 
 of the spoils of Austria, the eastern part o£ 
 Galicia in ancient Poland ; a territory con- 
 taining a population of 420,000 persons. 
 
 semblances, not realities. Alexander showed, in the 
 sequel, that though fascinated by Napoleon, he had 
 never entertained any really earnest friendship for 
 him; both^of them, in fact, were much too selfish 
 to be deeply influenced by an emotion the essence of 
 ' which is self-denial. 
 
 On the I5tli of December, 1809, the 
 marriage of Napoleon with the empress 
 Josephine was dissolved by an act of the 
 senate, and a jointure of 2,000,000 francs, 
 or £80,000 a-year, settled upon the un- 
 happy lady. Napoleon, anxious for an heir, 
 and feeling the want of historical descent, 
 now hesitated whether he should ally him- 
 self with the imperial family of Russia, oi^* 
 with that of Austria. He desired that his 
 contemplated marriage should not only, by 
 giving him a son, make him the founder of 
 a new dynasty, but that it should serve his 
 foreign policy by consolidating his system 
 of alliances. The recent policy of Napo- 
 leon pointed to a Russian alliance ; but 
 since the interview at Erfurth, some cool- 
 ness had arisen between him and Alex- 
 ander, whom, he complained, had but ill 
 seconded him in the war with Austria. 
 The mother of Alexander, filled with the 
 haughty prejudices of the high aristocracy 
 of Europe, had hurriedly married her 
 daughter, the Grand-duchess Catherine, to 
 the Duke of Oldenburg, in order to avoid a 
 domestic alliance with Napoleon. The latter, 
 however, was not yet diverted from his pur- 
 pose ; and he directed his ambassador at 
 St. Petersburg to propose to Alexander for 
 tlie hand of his younger sister, the Grand- 
 duchess Anne. Alexander replied, that he 
 would consult his mother, without compro- 
 mising the French emperor on the subject. 
 Anxious at the same time to take advan- 
 tage of the wishes of his imperial ally, he 
 bargained, as the price of his sister's per- 
 son, that a convention should be entered 
 into, binding Napoleon never ^o reconstruct 
 the kingdom of Poland. 
 
 The French emperor, impatient of the 
 delays created by Alexander, demanded, on 
 the 10th of January, 1810, a categorical 
 answer in the space of ten days. This 
 period was consumed in discussions with 
 the empress-mother, who spoke of the ex- 
 treme youth of the grand-duchess, who was 
 only sixteen, and of the difference in their 
 religion. In conclusion, she demanded a 
 Russian chapel and priests in the Tuileries, 
 and the delay of a few months, to prepare 
 the young princess for so important a 
 change in her condition. Napoleon was 
 annoyed. " To adjourn,^' said he, '^ is to 
 refuse ; besides, I do not choose to have 
 foreign priests in my palace, between my 
 wife and myself." Before the negotiations 
 with Russia were concluded, he proposed 
 for the hand of the Archduchess Maria 
 
 Louisa, the daughter of the emperor of 
 Austria. Francis instantly assented to the 
 proposal, in which he thought he saw the 
 security of his own empire, and the break- 
 ing up of the union between France and 
 Russia. The young lady also accepted the 
 brilliant proposal with becoming reserve, but 
 with real delight. She was eighteen, of 
 a good figure, and a fair German com- 
 plexion. " She is not beautiful,^' said Na- 
 poleon on a subsequent occasion, " but she 
 is the daughter of the Caesars.^' The mar- 
 riage was celebrated with extraordinary 
 pomp at St. Cloud, on the 1st of April; 
 and the following day the emperor and 
 empress made their entrance into Paris 
 amidst the roar of artillery, the clang of 
 bells, and the excited acclamations of the 
 people. 
 
 Alexander, though he had shown no par- 
 ticular solicitude for the connection of Na- 
 poleon with his sister, experienced a sense 
 of slight and mortification at seeing him 
 married to the scion of a rival imperial 
 family. This feeling was apparent even in 
 the congratulations he caused to be con- 
 veyed to Napoleon on the occasion ; indeed, 
 he could not but feel that the hand of his 
 sister was, to some extent, discarded, even 
 while the proposal for it was under con- 
 sideration at St. Petersburg. " Personally, 
 I may have some reason to complain," said 
 he to the French ambassador, *'but I do 
 not do so; I rejoice at whatever is for the 
 good of France." Alexander deceived^him- 
 self ; and so strong was the sense of irrita- 
 tion which he felt on this point, that it 
 materially contributed to the coldness whicli 
 soon afterwards sprung up between the two 
 courts. * 
 
 England did not shrink from the pros- 
 pect of having nearly the whole continent 
 arrayed against her, in the event of her 
 refusing to come to terms with Napoleon 
 and Alexander. She had braved this po- 
 sition before, and found the result not so 
 serious as would reasonably be supposed. 
 Still mistress of the seas, she was com- 
 paratively secure against the efforts of her 
 adversaries. It had been found impossible 
 effectually to close the continent against 
 her from one end to the other; and the 
 attempt, therefore, to annihilate her com- 
 merce was a failure. At this period also, 
 great enthusiasm existed in England on 
 behalf of the Spaniards ; and the nation 
 was not so desirous of peace as to wish to 
 obtain it on the condition of sacrificing an 
 
 11 
 
I 
 
 WAR WITH TURKEY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1809—1810. 
 
 ally. Mr. Canning, therefore, replied to the 
 overtures of France and Russia-— that Eng- 
 land, though she had often received pro- 
 posals for peace which she had strong reasons 
 for not believing to be sincere, would never 
 Refuse to listen to overtures of that kind, so 
 long as they were honourable to her. She 
 accordingly insisted that all her allies, the 
 Spanish insurgents as well as the others, 
 should be included in the negotiations. 
 On this condition, Mr. Canning affirmed 
 himself ready to name plenipotentiaries, and 
 to send them wherever their presence might 
 be desired. Napoleon would not consent to 
 the admission of the Spanish insurgents; 
 and England declared the pacific proposals 
 addressed to her to be illusory; that the 
 negotiations were, therefore, to be con- 
 sidered as broken off ; and that war would 
 be continued with all the energy called for 
 by the ciicurastances. 
 
 Alexander, feeling that a quarrel with 
 Napoleon was by no means improbable, 
 availed himself of the advantages of his 
 friendship, while it lasted, to crush the power 
 of Turkey, and possess himself of the Danu- 
 bian principalities. By the treaty of Tilsit, 
 an armistice was arranged between Russia 
 and Turkey; but the Russian troops had, 
 since that period, retained possession of 
 Moldavia and Wallachia. Active hostilities 
 had not, however, been renewed ; for Russia 
 had been occupied with the conquest of 
 Finland, and Turkey distracted by a series 
 of tumults and revolutions which terminated 
 in the exaltation of the able and inflex- 
 ible Mahmoud to the throne of the sul- 
 tans. :But, on the termination of the war 
 with Finland, Napoleon abandoned the prin- 
 cipalities to Russia, and Alexander caused 
 his array on the banks of the Danube to be 
 reinforced, until it amounted to 80,000 in- 
 fantry and 25,000 cavalry ; and gave direc- 
 tions to Prince Prosorowski, its commander, 
 to cross that river and carry the war into 
 the heart of the Turkish territories. 
 
 Notwithstanding the powerful force of the 
 Russians, which was far superior to that 
 brought into the field by the Turks, the 
 former experienced many' reverses, besides 
 suflering severely from the unhealthiness of 
 the climate. The campaign of 1809, how- 
 ever, tenninated somewhat successfully for 
 the Russians, who resolved to carry on their 
 operations with increased vigour during the 
 following year. On the 21st of January, 
 1810, Alexander issued an imperial ukase, 
 announcing that Moldavia and Wallachia, 
 12 
 
 which, for three years, had been occupied by 
 his troops, were annexed to the Russian 
 empire ; the southern boundary of which, it 
 said, was now the course of the Danube 
 from the frontiers of Austria to the Black 
 Sea. 
 
 During the campaign of 1810, Silistria, 
 one of the strongest places on the Danube, 
 was taken by the Russians, while Tourtoukai 
 and Rasgrad yielded soon after to the terrors 
 of a bombardment. The Russians were, 
 however, repulsed from the famous strong- 
 hold of Shumla, after several weeks spent in 
 fruitless efforts before it. They then under- 
 took the siege of the Turkish town of 
 Roudschouck, which was defended by Hassan 
 Pasha, a man of cool judgment and consid- 
 erable military skill. Acting upon the 
 peculiar tactics of his country, he did not 
 return the fire of the besiegers until the day 
 of the assault, the 3rd of August. The 
 Russians were then received with a mur- 
 derous fire from every roof, window, and 
 loophole from which a 'gun or musket could 
 be brought to bear upon them. Two columns 
 of troops were permitted to enter the town, 
 where they were at once cut to pieces by the 
 furious Janissaries. The assault had been 
 made at daybreak, and the struggle was 
 maintained until six in the evening, when 
 the Russians were compelled to retreat, 
 lea\dng 8,000 of their number, in killed and 
 wounded, in the ditch and around the walls. 
 Of the latter, 4,000 were at once decapitated 
 by the victorious Turks. 
 
 The Moslems failed to follow up their 
 advantage, and the Russian general was 
 thus allowed time to repair his disasters, 
 and enable him to retain his position. Ka- 
 menskoi, who now commanded the Russians, 
 made a grand attack on the Turkish camp 
 on the 7th of September. The battle of 
 Battin followed, during the first day of 
 which the Russians suffered severely, and 
 narrowly escaped a defeat. The Turks, 
 intoxicated with their partial success, gave 
 way to every demonstration of joy, and, in 
 the sight of their foes, beheaded the wounded 
 who had been left on the field. The follow- 
 ing day the contest was renewed at dawn, 
 the whole of the Russian artillery brought 
 to bear upon the Turkish intrenched 
 camp, and the victory finally remained with 
 the Russians, who, 'in retaliation for the 
 cruelty practised by the Turks, put all the 
 wounded and prisoners to death. This suc- 
 cess was followed by the capture of Sistowa, 
 a fortified place in the neighbourhood; 
 
 A.D. 1811.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the war '^^T^H turket. 
 
 together with the whole Turkish flotilla, 
 which had taken refuge under its walls. 
 Roudschouck, also, which had been so 
 bravely defended, was now compelled to 
 capitulate; the pasha, his troops, and the 
 inhabitants being allowed to retire, while 
 the town, cannon, standards, and military 
 stores fell to the victors. The campaign 
 was concluded by the siege of Nicopolis, 
 which capitulated to the Russians, who then, 
 in consequence of the rainy season having 
 set in, recrossed the Danube (with the ex- 
 ception of those left to garrison the towns 
 -hey had captured), and took up their winter 
 quarters in Wallachia and Moldavia. 
 
 During the early part of the winter, the 
 Russian army was again reinforced ; and, in 
 consequence of the death of Kameuskoi, 
 General Kutusoff was appointed to the chief 
 command. However, the pacific connec- 
 tion between the emperors Napoleon and 
 Alexander was in so precarious a state, that 
 in the February of 1811, the latter gave 
 orders for five divisions of the army to leave 
 their winter-quarters on the Danube, and 
 direct their march towards the Vistula, in 
 Poland. The Russian army on the Danube, 
 thus reduced to one-half of its former 
 amount, was no longer able to carry on 
 offensive operations. The Turks, en- 
 couraged by this reduction in the strength 
 of their enemies, and roused by the dangers 
 they had incurred in the preceding cam- 
 paign, made the most vigorous efforts for 
 the prosecution of the war, and trusted to 
 regain all the strongholds they had lost on 
 the right bank of the Danube. In this they 
 were deceived ; for the spirit of the Rus- 
 sians had not diminished, and they were now 
 led by a general of great military talents. 
 
 To'svards the end of June, Achmet Pasha 
 advanced with 60,000 men, and seventy- 
 eight pieces of artillery, against the Rus- 
 sians. General Kutusoff concentrated his 
 troops, and took up his position in front of 
 Roudschouck. There he was attacked by 
 the Moslems on the 2nd of July, who, with 
 wild shouts and eager fury, charged the 
 Russian squares on three sides at once, at 
 the same time that they were played upon 
 by the Turkish batteries. This concen- 
 trated mode of attack had nearly secured 
 the victory ; for though the squares on the 
 right withstood the shock, the centre suf- 
 fered severely, while the third was nearly 
 swept away by the torrent of Turkish cavalry 
 which burst upon it. Four regiments of 
 dragoons and Cossacks were charged in 
 
 flank by the Moslem cavalry, pierced 
 through,' and almost destroyed. Had tho 
 Moslem horse been supported by a com- 
 petent body of infantry, they must have 
 obtained a victory. Such was not the case 
 and these brave' Asiatics were driven back 
 by the deadly volleys of grapeshot from 
 the batteries 'of the 'town. The Tm'ks re- 
 tired sullenly from the field after about 
 3,000 men had been killed or wounded on 
 each side, and the Russians also withdrew 
 within the walls of Roudschouck, which 
 they shortly afterwards burnt and aban- 
 doned. Neither side obtained any advan- 
 tage in this sanguinary battle, nor could 
 either of them lay claim to a victory. 
 
 The Turks now crossed the Danube, and 
 became the assailants. At first, success 
 attended their efforts, and the Russians 
 were so severely pressed, that it seemed 
 probable they would be driven out of the 
 Danubian provinces. In this state of affairs 
 they were reinforced by a large body of 
 Cossacks. General Kutusoff then, by some 
 very able manoeuvres, contrived to surround 
 the* Turkish army, and attack it in the rear. 
 The Moslems were taken by surprise, and 
 thrown into disorder. Their own cannon 
 turned against them, and used with 
 
 was 
 
 terrible effect; and so desperate was their 
 situation, that had the Russian general 
 been less cautious, the whole Turkish army 
 might have been destroyed. Its position, 
 entirely surrounded, and subjected to an 
 incessant cannonade, was perfectly des- 
 perate. Yet the Turkish general, with un- 
 shaken courage, refused the most advan- 
 tageous offers of capitulation, and formed 
 the audacious design of cutting his way, by 
 a sudden irruption, through the Russian 
 left, and intrenching himself under the 
 shelter of the guns of Roudschouck. For- 
 tunately for the Turks, Alexander, fearing 
 the enmity of his recent friend Napoleon, 
 was anxious for a peace. A convention, 
 therefore, between the Russian cabinet and 
 the Porte, with the object of adjusting their 
 cause of quarrel, was concluded at Giur- 
 gevo at the end of October ; and thus the 
 misery of the Turkish army was terminated, 
 and its honour saved. They capitulated on 
 the 4th of December, on condition of aban- 
 doning their intrenched camp without their 
 arms or cannon, which were to be restored 
 to them if peace were concluded. This 
 ended the campaign of 1811, in which both 
 parties had made prodigious efforts, and 
 neither had gained decisive success. 
 
 13 
 
■V - ^ 
 
 PEACE WITH TTRKEY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1812. 
 
 • 
 
 The negotiations which followed were 
 earnestly pressed by Russia; for Alexander 
 was, by this time, well aware of the for- 
 midable contest with Napoleon which was 
 impending over him. This circumstance 
 might have made the Turks less inclined 
 to conclude a peace, especially as the 
 French ambassadbr used every effort to in- 
 duce them to continue the war. 'But they 
 were made acquainted, by England, with the 
 secret articles of the treaty of Tilsit, in 
 which Napoleon had rewarded their friend- 
 ship to him by not only aj^reeing to the 
 partition of their European dominions, but 
 had himself stipulated for the possession 
 of Greece, the islands of the Archipelago, 
 Albania, and Macedonia. Concurrent tes- 
 timony of the treachery of Napoleon con- 
 vinced the Porte of the imminent danger to 
 which they would be exposed, if he obtained 
 a similar supremacy in'the east of Europe 
 to that which he had so long exercised in 
 the west. 
 
 The Turkish government, therefore, for- 
 bore to make the utmost of the necessity 
 under which Russia lay of concluding the 
 war. The Ottoman ministry saw, that if 
 Napoleon subdued Russia, he would turn 
 the forces of both empires against them, and 
 that his possession of Moscow would be but 
 a preliminary to the subjugation of Con- 
 stantinople. They therefore consented to 
 abandon the provinces conquered by Russia, 
 in the beginning of the war, to the north of 
 the Danube, and agreed that the river 
 Pruth should form the boundary of the 
 two empires. Thus, though Russia lost 
 Moldavia and Wallachia, which Alexander, 
 in the insolence of anticipated triumph, had 
 declared annexed to the empire, she gained 
 Eessarabia, a province which conferred on 
 its holders the immense advantage of com- 
 manding the mouths of the Danube. The 
 treaty was signed at Bucharest on the 28th 
 of May, 1812, and was followed, on the 
 18tli of July, by another, concluding peace 
 with England. Sultan Mahmoud was, how- 
 ever, highly dissatisfied with this peace, 
 which he regarded as disgraceful : so strong 
 was his feeling on this point, that he even 
 put a Turkish officer of distinction, who had 
 been engaged in its negotiation, to death 
 for having concealed certain facts which 
 would have warranted the Porte in holdin«^ 
 out for better terms. England made an 
 
 A.D. 1810.] 
 
 ungenerous use of Turkey, upon whom she 
 brought all her influence 'to bear in favour 
 of Russia, and thus enabled that power to 
 withdraw advantageously from the war, in 
 order that she might direct the whole of her 
 energies against France. Had Russia been 
 at war with Turkey on one side, and France 
 on the other (especially if consideration be 
 had to the state of those powers at the 
 period), her position would have been one 
 of no common danger. 
 
 "The vigorous and unlooked-for resist- 
 ance," observes Alison, " which Turkev at 
 this period opposed to all the efforts of that 
 Russians, sufficiently illustrates the elements 
 of strength which at that period lay dormant, 
 till roused to present danger, in the Otto- 
 man empire; and may perhaps sugcrest 
 the necessity of modifying some of those 
 opinions as to the declining condition of the 
 power of the grand seignior, which have 
 been so long received as political maxims in 
 Europe. When it is recollected that Rus- 
 sia for three years directed her whole force 
 against the Turks ; that in the vear 1810 «he 
 had a hundred thousand men upon the 
 Danube; and that this array was composed 
 of the conquerors of Eylau— it certainly 
 appears not a little surprising, that the Otto- 
 man empire was not altogether overthrown 
 in the shock. Nevertheless, the contest 
 was extremely equal ; and though the forces 
 with which the Ottomans had to contend 
 on the Danube fully equalled those uhich 
 fronted Napoleon on the Vistula, vet thev 
 opposed nearly as effectual resistance to the 
 Muscovite arms, as did the conqueror of 
 ^^ estern Europe. The contest began on 
 the Danube, and it terminated, after three 
 years bloodshed, on the same river with 
 the loss of only one or two frontier towns 
 to the Ottomans. This broad and decisive 
 fact proves that although the political 
 power of Turkey has unquestionably de- 
 clined for the last century and a-half, and 
 the enormous abuses of its civil government 
 have occasioned, during that period, a con- 
 stant diminution in its inhabitants and 
 strength, yet it still possesses great resources 
 wlien they are fairly drawn forth bv im- 
 pending danger; and that in the Lative 
 bravery of its inhabitants is often to be 
 found, as in the British soldiers, more than 
 a compensation for all the errors of their 
 direction or government.^^ 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [altercations with napoleon. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 KAPOLEON ANNEXES THE DOMINIONS OF THE DUKE OF OLDENBURG TO THE FRENCH EMPIRE • DISSENSTOV*? 
 BETWEEN THE FRENCH AND RUSSIAN EMPERORS; IN CONSEQUENCE OF tL HOST^LrATmUD^^^^ 
 LEON, ALEXANDER PLACES HIS DOMINIONS IN A STATE OF DEFENCE, AND RELAXES THE «C0^ 
 SYSTEM" WITH RESPECT TO ENGLISH COMMERCE; NAPOLEON INSULTS THE RUSSIAN fMB!s^!nOR 
 
 AT'L^TR^ECTED^tvA^^^^^^^^^^^ MODERATION OF ALExInd'eI; ^^.n^S.J^^^ATci 
 
 AT THE PROJECTED INVASION OF RUSSIA; POWERFUL NATIONALITY OF THE LATTER STATE AND TT^ 
 PREPARATIONS FOR DEFENCE; NAPOLEON AT DRESDEN; HIS ADVANCE IN^O POLAND- THE i^^^^^ 
 ARMY CROSS THE NIEMEN ; PROCLAMATION OF ALEXANDER TO THE RUSSIArEMPIRE I^^VADING 
 
 14 
 
 In the last chapter we advanced somewhat 
 beyond our main narrative, in order to 
 bring the events of the war with Turkey 
 under one head. The friendship of Napo- 
 leon and Alexander endured for nearly five 
 years, and no rupture of it had yet taken 
 place. We have shown that a coldness had, 
 nevertheless, arisen between these high- 
 placed potentates ; but the chief canker to 
 Alexander, was his enforced adherence to 
 the principle of excluding English com- 
 merce and manufactures from the conti- 
 nent. This had been productive of the 
 most ruinous consequences to the trade of 
 Russia, and had caused great dissatisfaction 
 in that country. A system of connivance 
 to evade the prohibition had naturally 
 arisen; but this was merely an alleviation of 
 the evil, which seriously oppressed the pros- 
 perity of the empire. 
 
 Such was the state of things when, in the 
 December of 1810, Napoleon annexed to 
 the French empire the dominions of the 
 Duke of Oldenburg, who was related to 
 Alexander by having married his sister 
 Catherine. This unjust act of spoliation 
 excited a feeling of irritability not only in 
 the mind of the emperor, but in those of 
 the inhabitants of St. Petersburg. Alex- 
 ander, also, still felt an uneasiness respect- 
 ing the grand-duchy of Warsaw, from which 
 he feared that Napoleon might reconstruct 
 the overthrown kingdom of Poland. The 
 graud-duchy had been largely augmented 
 with territory surrendered by Austria at 
 the treaty of Vienna, in 1809; and the 
 anxiety of Alexander induced him to open 
 a negotiation on that subject with the 
 French emperor. Napoleon at first con- 
 sented to gratify his cooling friend on this 
 point ; and, early in 1810, he authorised the 
 French ambassador at St. Petersburg to 
 draw up a convention, in which it was ex- 
 pressly stipulated that the kingdom of Po- 
 land shouid never be re-established, and 
 
 that even the name of Poland should be 
 effaced for ever from every public and 
 official document. Alexander was gratified, 
 and again expressed himself in the language 
 of friendship towards the towering rival 
 whom he secretly dreaded. Napoleon sub- 
 sequently refused to ratify this convention, 
 and proposed a suspicious alteration of its 
 ternis. Alexander felt such conduct to be 
 a slight, and, in a conversation with the 
 French ambassador, he remarked, "If 
 affairs change, it is not my fault : I shall 
 not be the first to disturb the peace of 
 Europe. I will attack no one ; but if they 
 come to seek me, I shall defend myself.'^' 
 Napoleon, when pressed on this subject, 
 answered in warm language ; and the Rus- 
 sian cabinet conceived an apprehension that 
 he meditated an attack on their Polish pos- 
 sessions. A new military levy was there- 
 fore ordered, of one man*^in every hundred 
 throughout the Russian empire, and the 
 Russian forces in Poland considerably in- 
 creased. 
 
 Napoleon, tlirough the medium of his 
 ambassador, demanded an explanation of 
 these preparations. Alexander responded 
 with a dignified firmness. « You assert that 
 I am arming,^^ said he to M. de Caulain- 
 court ; " and I am far from denying it. I 
 am effectually armed; I am ready, quite 
 ready; and you will find me prepared to 
 defend myself to the utmost. What would 
 you have thought of me if I had acted 
 otherwise— if I had been so forgetful of my 
 duty as to leave my country exposed to the 
 prompt, exacting, and terrible will of your 
 master? But I have only armed after re- 
 ceiving certain information that Dantzic is 
 being placed in a state of defence; that its 
 garrison is being augmented; that the 
 troops of Marshal Davoust are being rein- 
 forced and concentrated ; that the Poles and 
 Saxons have been ordered to hold themselves 
 in readiness ; that Modlin and Thorn have 
 
 15 
 
i 
 
 ! 
 
 THE COMING STRUGGLE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1811. 
 
 A.D. 1812.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [preparations of n.\poleox. 
 
 been repaired, and all the fortificatious pro- 
 visioned/' Then, leading Caulaincourt into 
 a cabinet, in which were spread open his 
 maps, the emperor added — " On receivings 
 this information, see what I have done. I 
 have ordered defensive works, not in ad- 
 vance of, but behind my frontier; on the 
 Dwina and the Dnieper, at Riga, at Duna- 
 burg, at Balernisk ; that is to say, at a dis- 
 tance from the Niemen almost as great as 
 that which separates Strasburg from Paris. 
 If your master should fortify Paris, should 
 I complain of it ? And when he carries his 
 preparations so far in advance of his fron- 
 tiers, should I be accused of provoking war 
 because I arm mvself behind mine ? I 
 have not such good generals as yours; 
 I am not myself so good a soldier or ad- 
 ministrator as Napoleon ; but I have good 
 soldiers and a devoted people; and ^ve will 
 perish sword in hand, rather than permit 
 ourselves to be treated like the Dutch, or 
 the people of Hamburg. At the same time, 
 I declare to yon, upon my honour, that I 
 will not strike the fii'^ blow. I will let you 
 pass the Niemen before I pass it myself. 
 Believe me, when I say that I do not desire 
 war; and that my nation, although hurt 
 and terrified at your proceedings, does not 
 desire it ; but, if attacked, she will not 
 recede.'^ 
 
 Though Alexander was not disposed to 
 make the seizure of the duchy of Olden- 
 burg a cause of war with France, yet he 
 thought it necessary in some way to resent 
 what could not but be regarded as a slight 
 to him as well as the spoliation of his rela- 
 tion. On the 31st of December, 1810, 
 therefore, he issued an ukase, which pro- 
 hibited the importation of various articles 
 of French manufacture, and allowed that of 
 colonial produce. This, in effect, was a 
 material relaxation of the svstem of exclu- 
 sion which had been carried on with respect 
 to English commerce ; as, under the pretence 
 of carrying on a trade in the colonial pro- 
 duce of Russia, English merchants were 
 able to effect extensive dealings with that 
 country. A coast-guard of 80,000 men was 
 established, under pretext of enforcing obe- 
 dience to this edict; but, in reality, as a 
 covert means of augmenting the regular 
 army. Napoleon understood all this, and 
 made constant preparations for the war 
 which his own proceedings were rendering 
 inevitable. He had aimed at isolating 
 Russia from all other states, and making 
 any other alliance than with France impos- 
 16 
 
 sible to her. On the loth of August, 1811, 
 he bantered Prince Kourakin, the Russian 
 ambassador, for some time in the presence 
 of several of his diplomatic compeers. 
 Speaking of the recent war of Russia with 
 Turkey, he said, with a provoking and in- 
 sulting sarcasm, the more bitter on ac- 
 count of its truth — '' If we are now dictating 
 despatches, or writing for the journals, I 
 will at once admit that your generals have 
 been constantlv victorious, and that it was 
 the state of your finances which compelled 
 you to withdraw a portion of your troops 
 from living at the expense of the Turks, to 
 make them live at the cost of the Russian 
 treasury. But if we are speaking frankly 
 before three or four of your colleagues, who 
 know the real state of affairs, I will plainly 
 tell you that you have been beaten; that 
 vour errors have caused vou to lose the line 
 of the Danube, and that its loss resulted 
 less from the ill-advised manoeuvres of your 
 generals, than from the mistake of your 
 government in depriving them of the neces- 
 sary forces, by withdrawing five divisions 
 from the Danube to the Dnieper. And 
 why was this done? To make a demon- 
 stration against me, whom you call your 
 ally ! You have committed faults upon 
 faults ! If you have any cause of anger 
 against me, you should openly declare it. 
 In any case, instead of scattering your 
 forces, you should have concentrated them 
 against Turkey, so as to have overwhelmed 
 it, and compelled it to a peace which should 
 have been as advantageous as that of Fin- 
 laud, and then you would have been in a 
 position to have taken precautionary mea- 
 sures against me. . But in policy, finance, 
 and war, you have committed a thousand 
 errors ; and for wliom ? For the Prince of 
 Oldenburg and some contrabandists. For 
 the sake of such persons it is that you have 
 exposed yourselves to the risk of a war with 
 me, whose resources vou well know !" The 
 emperor added — " I suppose you reckon 
 upon having allies. Where are they? Is 
 Austria one of them — Austria, with whom 
 vou were at war in 1809, and from whom 
 you have taken a province at the conclusion 
 of peace ? Is Sweden one of them — Sweden, 
 from whom you have taken Finland? Is 
 Prussia one of them — Prussia, whose spoils 
 you accepted at the peace of Tilsit, after 
 having been her ally? You deceive your- 
 selves ; vou w ill have no allies. Come to an 
 understanding then with me, and let us 
 have no war/' This conversation, in which 
 
 
 Napoleon overwhelmed and greatly embar- 
 rassed the Russian ambassador, was much 
 talked about, and formed a topic of con- 
 versation in all the saloons of Paris and 
 St. Petersburg. " This new circumstance,^' 
 said the emperor Alexander, with an air of 
 sadness, "has but confirmed my nation in 
 its resolution to defend its dignity and inde- 
 pendence to the death. Napoleon would 
 not have spoken thus, if he were not resolved 
 upon war.'' 
 
 The French emperor had acted with great 
 subtlety towards Russia, yet his own 
 violence and domineering ambition threw 
 an ally into her arras. This was Sweden, 
 which Napoleon placed in the painful posi- 
 tion of declaring war against England, or 
 against himself. Bernadotte,* who in 
 accepting the dignity of crown prince of 
 Sweden, had attached himself earnestlv to 
 its interests, protested and entreated, but 
 was compelled to assent to this tyrannical 
 dictation. In the November of 1810, Swe- 
 den declared war against England, which 
 seeing its position, treated it with a gen- 
 erous forbearance. Napoleon was not yet 
 satisfied; he made other demands upon the 
 Swedish government, and acted in a manner 
 so offensively overbearing, that it refused 
 compliance. To punish it. Napoleon, in 
 January, 1812, poured his troops into Pome- 
 rania, seized the fortress of Stralsund, con- 
 fiscated the Swedish ships which he found 
 in the harbour, and committed other un- 
 justifiable acts of hostility. The limits of 
 passive endurance were past: Sweden entered 
 into an alliance with Russia, and concluded 
 a peace with England. 
 
 Napoleon and Alexander each remained 
 for a time in an attitude of defence, and 
 occupied in preparing for that outbreak on 
 w hich the former had determined ; and the 
 latter, though he desired to avoid, would 
 not descend to avert by any undignified 
 concession. The dangers to which Alex- 
 ander was exposed, appear to have strength- 
 ened and purified his character, and he acted 
 as a patriotic monarch should have done. 
 Extremely averse to entering upon the war, 
 be desired that the whole of Europe should 
 see that he was not the aggressor. "The 
 joy of England must be great," said he, " to 
 see two such powers going to war." Even 
 so late as the early part of the year 1812, 
 
 • Bernadotte, though a Frenchman, and one of 
 Napoleon's marshals, had been elected by the Swe- 
 dish Diet as the successor of Charles XIII., the 
 reigning sovereign, y\o was without natural heirs. 
 VOL. II. D 
 
 he made proposals to Napoleon, with the 
 object of bringing about an accommodation ; 
 but the latter left thom unanswered. He 
 had resolved to make a grand display of his 
 military power on the banks of the Vistula, 
 and, if prevented by submission from con- 
 quering Russia, to show at least that he 
 could overawe it. 
 
 The attention of the whole of Europe 
 was fixed in suspense upon the approaching 
 conflict between its two greatest powers, 
 and most politicians anticipated that it 
 would result in the final prostration of Rus- 
 sia. That empire was, indeed, seriously 
 endangered; and it is not impossible that 
 it might have been conquered and dismem- 
 bered by the swords of France, had not 
 Napoleon, intoxicated by long prosperity, 
 attempted to finish in one campaign that 
 which it must have taken several successful 
 ones to accomplish. The expedition which 
 Napoleon proposed for the conquest of Rus- 
 sia, was regarded with enthusiasm through- 
 out France ; and during the spring of 
 1812, the roads of that country and of Ger- 
 many were thronged by cavalry, infantry, 
 and artillery, hastening to the scene of the 
 approaching conflict. "Young men," ob- 
 serves Alison, " of the richest and noblest 
 families solicited employment in an expedi- 
 tion w^here success appeared certain, resist- 
 ance impossible, and danger unlikely. All 
 heads were swept away by the torrent ; 
 ambition, in every age and rank, was daz- 
 zled by the apparent brilliancy of the pros- 
 pect. The expedition, said they, which is 
 preparing, will throw that of Egypt into the 
 shade. Never had the instinct of war, the 
 passion for military glory, more strongly 
 seconded the ambition of the chief of an 
 empire. * We are setting out for Moscow, 
 but we shall soon return,' were the words with 
 which the joyous youth everywhere took 
 leave of their parents, their relations, their 
 friends. The march to St. Petersburg or 
 Moscow, seemed only a military promenade 
 — a hunting party of six months' duration, 
 in which little danger was to be met, but 
 ample excitement experienced ; a last effort, 
 which would place the empire of Napoleon 
 and the glory of France beyond the reach 
 of danger. The magnificence of the spec- 
 tacle, and the brilliancy of the prospect, 
 spread these feelings even amongst the 
 
 Bernadotte was much respected by the Swedes, who, 
 moreover, thought that by selecting him as their 
 future sovereign, they would secure the friendship 
 and protection of the French emperor. 
 
 17 
 
M 
 
 ATTITUDE OF RUSSIA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1812. 
 
 1 
 
 people of the vanquished states . the ex- 
 pected restoration of Poland^ and humilia- 
 tion of Russia, gave an air of romance to 
 the approaching expedition ; and thousands 
 breathed wishes for its success/' 
 
 In Russia, the intense nationality of its 
 nobles and its people was aroused, and they 
 rallied loyally around their emperor. He 
 and his counsellors were at times elated 
 with the hope, that the apparently irresis- 
 tible foe, who had gathered for their 
 destruction such a power as Europe had 
 never before seen, might be baffled by the 
 difficulties of carrying out an offensive war 
 into the heart of Russia; at others, they 
 cherished the mournful resolution of perish- 
 ing in the defence of their country, rather 
 than any confident hope of being able to 
 achieve its deliverance. 
 
 But the chief hope of the Russians lay in 
 the vast extent of their empire, which it was 
 impossible to overrun; and the severity of 
 its climate, which rendered it inaccessible to 
 invaders, except for a comparatively brief 
 period of the year. The plan devised by 
 the Russians was, therefore, to lay waste 
 their country in the path of the enemy, and 
 then, retiring into the farthest part of the 
 empire, see how the dreaded Napoleon 
 would be able to maintain an enormous 
 army in the midst of desolated plains, 
 equally deficient in food for his soldiers, and 
 forage for his horses. They conceived the 
 hope, that, like another Pharaoh, he would 
 perish in the vast less of the desert, as did 
 the Egyptians in the vastness of the deep. 
 Clouds of light horse were to harass the 
 flanks of the enemy, and cut oft* its foraging 
 parties ; the forces of Russia were to decline 
 battles, and to retreat into the interior of 
 the empire to avoid them, only pausing to 
 fight when the French should be exhausted 
 with hunger and fatigue. By this means it 
 was hoped that the vast armies of Napoleon 
 would be gradually wasted away. Some of 
 Alexander's officers even advised that the 
 desert should be carried forward, and that 
 for this purpose, they should invade Poland 
 and Old Prussia, and then retreat after 
 having destroyed their rich granaries and 
 laid the country desolate; but to this pro- 
 position he would not consent. 
 
 The forces collected by the emperor 
 
 • Barclay de Tolly was descended from a Scotch 
 family, a youneer branch of which had migrated to 
 Livonia. He had entered the Russian army at the 
 almost infantine age of twelve, and had risen by his 
 military' merits to the highest rank in the service. 
 Hh admirers estimate him as the greatest general 
 18 
 
 Alexander, to oppose those of Napoleon, 
 consisted of 260,000 men, divided into two 
 armies ; one under the command of General 
 Barclay de Tolly,* and the other under that 
 of Prince Bagration. These were, as the 
 war proceeded, swelled by the addition of 
 the army from the Danube, and by other 
 reinforcements. 
 
 The force Napoleon had collected for the 
 invasion of Russia, was the most tremendous 
 accumulation of armed men, that had been 
 formed in modern times, or, probably, since 
 the beginning of the world. It amounted to 
 587,000 men: of whom 270,000 were French; 
 80,000 Germans of the confederation of the 
 Rhine; 30,000 Poles; 30,000 Austrians; 
 20,000 Prussians ; and the remainder 
 chiefly natives of the various Italian states. 
 The emperor of Austria, though now the 
 father-in-law of Napoleon, contributed his 
 contingent with an unwillingness he did not 
 deem it prudent to show ; while the ruined 
 monarch of Prussia, who bitterly hated his 
 oppressor, had no choice in the matter, but 
 was compelled to send his troops into the 
 field, to fight against the side to which he 
 wished success. Indeed, Frederic William 
 was aware, that if Napoleon subdued Russia, 
 Prussia, as a state, would disappear from 
 the map of Europe; but he was now as 
 powerless to resist the will of his conqueror, 
 as is the straw or bubble to contend against 
 the current of the stream on whose bosom it 
 is swept rapidly onward. 
 
 Despite the general enthusiasm which 
 prevailed in France respecting this expedi- 
 tion, it was viewed with alarm by some of 
 its profoundest statesmen, and also by many 
 of its chief military men. Talleyrand ex- 
 hausted his utmost efforts to dissuade his 
 imperious master from it ; but in vain. It 
 is said that he even predicted the overthrow 
 of the French empire as its result. The 
 astute Fouche also presented a memorial to 
 Napoleon, with the desire of inducing him 
 to forego a design which he felt would lead 
 to ruin. The emperor received it with a 
 haughty coldness. " War with Russia,^' he 
 remarked, "it would seem, pleases you as 
 little as that in Spain.'' Fouche replied, 
 that he hoped to be pardoned for having 
 thrown together some reflections upon so 
 important a crisis. "It is no crisis at all, 
 of Russia after Suwarrow. Prince Bag^ration was 
 descended from the ancient princes of Georgia, and 
 was a brave, impetuous soldier, who loved the ex- 
 citement of danger. To the Kussian minister Bala- 
 choff. Napoleon obserred, "Bagration is your only 
 general." 
 
 \.D. 1812.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [napoleon at DRESDEN. 
 
 V 
 
 4 
 
 j 
 
 i 
 
 fj 
 
 fiir," resumed the emperor, " but a mere 
 war of politics. Spain falls whenever I have 
 destroyed English influence at St. Peters- 
 burg. I have 800,000 soldiers in readi- 
 ness ; with such an army, I consider Europe 
 as an old prostitute who must obey my 
 pleasure. Did not you yourself once tell 
 me that the w^ord impossible is not French? 
 You grandees are now grow^n too rich ; and 
 though you pretend to be anxious about mj^ 
 interests, you are only thinking of what 
 might happen to yourselves, in the event of 
 my death, and the dismemberment of my 
 empire. I regulate my conduct much more 
 by the sentiments of my army, than by 
 yours. Is it my fault that the height of 
 power which I have attained, compels me to 
 ascend to the dictatorship of the world? 
 My destiny is not yet accomplished. The 
 picture exists hitherto only in outline. 
 There must be one code, one court of appeal, 
 and one coinage, for all Europe. The 
 European states must be melted into one 
 nation, and Paris be its capital. I will 
 destroy all Russian influence, as well as all 
 English influence in Europe. Two battles 
 will do the business; the emperor Alex- 
 ander will come to me on his knees, and 
 Russia shall be disarmed. Spain costs me 
 very dear : without that, I should have been 
 master of the world by this time ; but when 
 I shall become such, by finishing with Rus- 
 sia, my son will have nothing to do but 
 quietly to retain my place.^' 
 
 On the 9th of May, 1812, Napoleon 
 quitted Paris and proceeded to Dresden, to 
 which city his progress was one prolonged 
 festivity, or triumphal march. He had ex- 
 pressed a wish that the emperor of Austria, 
 and the minor kings and princes of Germany, 
 should meet him there. He imagined that 
 so brilliant an assemblage of sovereigns, 
 would contrast with the insulated state of 
 the Russian monarch, and produce in him 
 an alarming sense of being generally de- 
 serted. Either from motives of interest or 
 fear, his desire was obeyed, and Dresden 
 became the scene of a gorgeous munificence, 
 the description of which reads like some 
 creation of a warm imagination. As at 
 Erfurth, the most gifted actors of Paris 
 combined their talents, and plays were per- 
 formed, of which the passages descriptive of 
 heroes and illustrious princes, were all 
 applied to the soldier-monarch. Maria 
 
 • Hi&tory of the Expedition to Russia; by General 
 Count Philip de Segur, son of the French ambas- 
 sador, at the court of Catherine II. ; to whose writings 
 
 . 
 
 Louisa had accompanied her imperial part- 
 ner to Dresden. Around her was cast the 
 whole gorgeousness of rank and wealth, in 
 their greatest distinction and most wild 
 profusion. A modern historian observes — 
 " During the magnificent series of pageants 
 which followed her arrival, flattery exhausted 
 its talent, and luxury its magnificence; and 
 the pride of the Caesars was forgotten in 
 the glory of one who had risen upon the 
 ruins of their antiquated splendour.^' But 
 it was the great soldier himself who was 
 the chief attraction of these brilliant scenes. 
 General Count Segur* says — "Whole na- 
 tions had quitted their homes to throng his 
 path; rich and poor, nobles and plebeians, 
 friends and enemies, all hurried to the scene. 
 Their curious and anxious groups were seen 
 crowding together in the streets, the roads, 
 and the public places; they passed whole 
 days and nights with their eyes fixed on the 
 gate and windows of his palace. It was not 
 his crown, his rank, the splendour of his 
 court, but him only, on whom they desired 
 to feast their eyes. It was a memento of 
 his features which they were anxious to 
 obtain ; thev wished to be able to tell their 
 less fortunate countrymen and posterity, 
 that they had seen Napoleon/' 
 
 The emperor remained at Dresden until 
 the 29th of May, living in a style of the 
 most gorgeous pomp, and distributing, with 
 more than Eastern munificence, diamonds, 
 snuff-boxes and crosses, among the crowd 
 of princes, ministers, dukes, and courtiers 
 who thronged around his steps. He then 
 led his enormous host into Poland, where 
 he was soon assailed by the piteous com- 
 plaints of the peasantry, whom his soldiers 
 pillaged without mercy. The cavalry cut 
 down the green rye, and even stripped the 
 houses of their thatch, in order to find 
 provender for their horses. Napoleon 
 expressed himself hurt by these proceedings, 
 and addressed severe reproaches to those 
 princes or generals who sanctioned them. 
 But the depredations continued, for they 
 soon became necessary. The means of pro- 
 viding such a multitude with food, had been 
 considered as far as was possible. An army 
 of pro vision- waggons was to be loaded from 
 the magazines established on the Vistula: 
 but partly because the vehicles were too 
 heavy for the soil they were intended to 
 traverse, and partly from an inefficient organ- 
 
 we hare previously referred. The son was one of 
 Napoleon's favourite generals, and accompanied him 
 in the fatal invasion of Russia. 
 
 19 
 
 Mf'', 
 
 ; (J 
 
 1 .f' 
 
INVASION OF RUSSIA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1812. 
 
 isation on this point, most of them were 
 left behind before reaciiing that river. 
 Contributions were, therefore, made on the 
 peasantry, who were speedily ruined by the 
 extent of these exactions, enforced by troops 
 from whom they expected deliverance from 
 their bondage to Russia. 
 
 Before daybreak on the 23rd of June, 
 the invading army approached the river 
 Niemen. Leaving his carriage, Napoleon 
 mounted his horse, and reconnoitred the 
 Russian river. As he came up to the bank, 
 his horse suddenly fell and threw him on 
 the sand. Some one observed, "This is a 
 bad omen ; a Roman would recoil V But 
 the emperor, rising unconcerned, gave or- 
 ders for the construction of three bridges, 
 and retired to his quarters humming a tune. 
 The next morning, the emperor issued the 
 following address to his army, by whom it 
 was received with the most ardent enthu- 
 siasm : — " Soldiers ! the second Polish war 
 has commenced. The first ended at Fried- 
 hmd and at Tilsit. At Tilsit, Russia swore 
 an eternal alliance with Prance, and war 
 with England. She now violates her oaths. 
 She will give no explanation of her capri- 
 cious conduct until the French eagles 
 have repassed the Rhine ; by that means 
 leaving our allies at her mercy. Russia is 
 hurried away by fatality ; her destiny must 
 be accomplished. Does she imagine us 
 to be degenerated? Are we not still the 
 soldiers of Austerlitz? She places us 
 between war and dishonour; the choice 
 cannot be doubtful. Let us advance then — 
 let us cross the Niemen, and carry the war 
 into her own territory. The second Polish 
 war will be as glorious for the French arms 
 as the first; but the peace we shall this 
 time conclude, will carry with it its own 
 guarantee, and put an end to the fatal 
 influence which, for fifty years, Russia has 
 exercised in the aff'airs of Europe.^' ) 
 
 After this address had been read to the 
 soldiers, the signal to advance was given. 
 The vast columns of the imperial army 
 defiled out of the forests and hollows on the 
 banks of the river, and commenced their 
 passage over to the Russian side; which 
 continued incessantly during the 24th and 
 the 25th. They met with no opposition; 
 and, indeed, not a foe was to be seen. Some 
 of the officers fancied that they heard the 
 distant report of cannon, and listened atten- 
 tively to ascertain from what direction it 
 came. But this was but the work of imagi- 
 nation : scarcely, however, had Napoleon 
 20 
 
 himself crossed the river, than the day, 
 which had been brilliant, became overcast ; 
 a wind arose, and a thunder-storm burst 
 and rolled over the army. Black and heavy 
 masses of clouds poured out their contents 
 for several hours, and the roads and fields 
 were inundated. Manv there were, even 
 amongst the most enthusiastic, who felt 
 terrified at what they conceived to be a 
 fatal presage. 
 
 Alexander had left St. Petersburg on the 
 21st of April, and joined his army. When 
 intelligence of the passage of the Niemen 
 bv the French reached him, he was at a 
 ball at the countrv-house of General Ben- 
 ningsen, in the neighbourhood of Wilna. 
 For some time he remained with the com- 
 pany without exhibiting any change of 
 manner, or communicating the intelligence 
 he had received. He then wrote and 
 issued the following proclamation to the 
 empire : — " For long we have observed the 
 hostile proceedings of the French emperor 
 towards Russia, but we always entertained 
 the hope of avoiding hostilities by measures 
 of conciliation; but, seeing all our efibrts 
 without success, we have been constrained 
 to assemble our armies. Still we hoped to 
 maintain peace by resting on our frontiers 
 in a defensive attitude, without committing 
 any act of aggression. All these conciliatory 
 measures have failed ; the emperor Napo- 
 leon, by a sudden attack on our troops at 
 Kowno, has declared war. Seeing, there- 
 fore, that nothing can induce him to remain 
 at peace, all that remains for us is to invoke 
 the succour of the Most High, and oppose 
 our forces to the enemy. I need not 
 remind the officers and soldiers of their 
 duty, to excite their valour; the blood of 
 the brave Slavonians flows in their veins. 
 Soldiers ! you will defend your religion, your 
 country, and your liberty. I am with you. 
 God is against the aggressor.^' The em- 
 peror also announced the invasion of the 
 country to the governor of St. Petersburg, 
 in a letter which concluded with these 
 patriotic and resolute observations : — " I 
 liave the fullest confidence in the zeal of my 
 people and the bravery of my soldiers. 
 Menaced in their homes, they will defend 
 them with their wonted firmness and intre- 
 pidity. Providence will bless our just cause. 
 The defence of our country, of our indepen- 
 dence and national honour, have forced me 
 to unsheathe the sword. I will not return 
 it to the scabbard so long as a single enemy 
 remains on the Russian territory.^ 
 
 <» 
 
 AD. 1812.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [napoleon at wilna. 
 
 The nationality and patriotism of the 
 Russian people and soldiers needed not 
 these addresses to excite them. The latter 
 even received with regret the command to 
 retire ])efore the enemy, who was advancing 
 with rapid strides upon Wilna, the capital 
 of Lithuania. But the policy of the Rus- 
 sians in retiring and leaving the country 
 waste behind them, was indisputably a wise 
 one. To have immediately encountered the 
 invaders, would have been to be over- 
 whelmed beneath their immense numerical 
 superiority. The obstacles which nature 
 had placed in the country against invasion, 
 were silently yet terribly telling in favour of 
 the Russians. The waste of active warfare 
 had already commenced its work upon the 
 French army. In consequence of incessant 
 rains and fatigues, and unwholesome pro- 
 vender, 10,000 horses dropt and died on the 
 road from the Niemen to Wilna; while 
 shortlv after the arrival of the invaders at 
 that city, and even before a shot was fired. 
 
 25,000 sick and dying men filled its hos- 
 pitals, and the surrounding villages. 
 
 At Wilna Napoleon received a letter from 
 Alexander, in which the latter, animated by 
 a spirit of forbearance which was scarcely to 
 be expected, wrote, " that it was not yet too 
 late to negotiate; that a war was begun 
 which the soil, the climate, and the character 
 of Russia rendered interminable, but that all 
 accommodation had not become impossible ; 
 and that from opposite banks of the Niemen 
 they might yet come to an understanding." 
 It was already impossible for Napoleon to 
 retire to the other side of the Niemen, 
 without utterly losing the prestige that 
 attached to him as a great general. There- 
 fore he felt irritated at the proposal, and 
 replied — "I will treat of peace at Wilna, 
 and retire behind the Niemen when it is 
 concluded." The time of negotiation was, 
 in fact, long gone by ; and the quarrel be- 
 tween these two powerful potentates, could 
 only be settled by an appeal to the sword. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 FNGAGEMENTS BETWEEN THE BETIRING RUSSIANS AND THE ADVANCED GUARD OF THE FRENCH ; 
 ALEXANDER APPEALS TO THE NOBLES AND PEOPLE OF MOSCOW; THEIR ENTHUSIASTIC PATRIOTISM; 
 ASSAULT ON SMOLENSK, AND DESPERATE DEFENCE OF THAT CITY ; THE RUSSIANS CONTINUE THEIR 
 RETREAT; CLAMOURS OF THE PEOPLE AGAINST THE POLICY OF A CONSTANT FLIGHT FROM THE 
 ENEMY ; BATTLE OF VALTELINA ; FRIGHTFUL CONDITION OF THE FRENCH ARMY ; GENERAL KUTUSOFF 
 APPOINTED TO THE CHIEF COMMAND OF THE RUSSIANS ; THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE BATTLE OF 
 BORODINO ; THE RUSSIANS CONTINUE THEIR RETREAT J THE FRENCH ENTER MOSCOW, AND FIND IT 
 DESERTED. 
 
 }i 
 
 Napoleon committed the serious error of 
 remaining for seventeen days at Wilna; a 
 circumstance which permitted the Russians 
 to retire in excellent order. The officers 
 nearest to the person of the emperor re- 
 marked to each other, that a genius so vast 
 as his, and always increasing in activity and 
 audacity, was no longer seconded by a vigo- 
 rous constitution. They were surprised at 
 finding him aff'ected by the heat of a burn- 
 ing atmosphere ; and they remarked to each 
 othej", with melancholy forebodings, the 
 tendency to corpulence which his frame 
 had acquired, and which they regarded as 
 the forerunner of premature decay. 
 
 The division of the Russian armv, under 
 the command of Prince Bagration, was 
 fiharply followed by that of the French, 
 
 under Jerome Buonaparte and Marshal Da- 
 voust; and on the 9th and 10th of July, 
 engagements took place between the ad- 
 vanced guard and cavalry of each. These 
 terminated rather in favour of the Russians ; 
 but the latter wisely continued their retreat. 
 On the 23rd of July, an obstinate conflict 
 between the same forces took place at Mo- 
 hilow, on the Dnieper, in which each side 
 lost about 3,000 men ; after which Bagration 
 again retired in excellent order, and joined 
 the main army under Barclay de Tolly, at 
 Smolensk, on the 3rd of August. 
 
 The emperor Alexander had left the army 
 on the 16th of July, and hastened to !Mos- 
 cow; to which city the efforts of the enemy 
 were evidently directed. His object was to 
 stimulate by his presence the patriotic ex- 
 
 21 
 
 ■ 
 
EFFORTS OF AXEXANDER.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Fa.d. 1812. 
 
 ertions of its inhabitants. He was received 
 by all classes with a frenzy of enthusiasm ; 
 and having caused the chief nobles and 
 merchants to be summoned to meet him 
 within the ancient walls of the Kremlin, he 
 promised to have recourse to the extremest 
 measures, rather than lay down his arms. 
 "Never/* said he, ''was danger more 
 urgent. The national religion, the throne, 
 the state, can be preserved only by the 
 greatest sacrifices. May the destruction 
 with which we are threatened recoil upon 
 the head of the invader, and may Europe, 
 freed from the yoke of servitude, have cause 
 to bless the name of Russia V* The empe- 
 ror also issued an earnest proclamation to 
 the people, in which he said — "We invite 
 all classes to a general armament, in order 
 to co-operate with ourselves against the 
 designs of the enemy. Let him find at 
 every step the faithful sons of Russia ready 
 to combat all his forces, and deaf to all his 
 seductions; despising his fraud, trampling 
 under foot his gold ; paralysing, by the hero- 
 ism of true valour, all the efforts of his 
 legions of slaves. Illustrious nobles ! in 
 every age you have been the saviours of 
 your country : holy clergy! by your prayers 
 you have always invoked the divine blessing 
 on the arms of Russia : people ! worthy de- 
 scendants of the brave Slavonians, often 
 have you broken the jaws of the lions which 
 were open to devour you ! Unite, then, 
 with the cross in your hearts and the sword 
 in your hands, and no human power shall 
 prevail against you.'' The people of Mos- 
 cow enthusiastically responded by raising a 
 levy of ten out of every hundred males, and 
 promising to clothe and arm them at their 
 own expense. The merchants also made an 
 enormous contribution in money to promote 
 the national defences — an example which 
 was followed by many other cities and pro- 
 vinces in the empire. 
 
 Napoleon and the centre of the French 
 army advanced from Wilna on the 16th of 
 July, with the intention of turning a for- 
 tified camp the Russians had erected at 
 Drissa. The emperor, however, soon learned, 
 that discovering it to be untenable, they 
 had abandoned it, and were marching to- 
 wards Witepsk, which they reached on the 
 25th. Thither Barclay de Tolly was fol- 
 lowed by Napoleon ; and on the evening of 
 the 27th, the soldiers on both sides antici- 
 pated a mortal struggle on the following 
 day. ^ But General Barclay had not yet 
 been joined by Prince Bagration ; who, he 
 22 
 
 learnt, was directing his march towards 
 Smolensk. Barclay, therefore, silently de- 
 camped during the night ; and on the fol- 
 low^ing morning the French were surprised 
 to find the camp of the enemy so utterly 
 deserted, that not even a baggage- waggoi 
 or a straggler, with the exception of a 
 single Rusian soldier found asleep under 
 a bush, had been left behind. The invaders 
 were so exhausted with the rapidity of 
 their progress, under a burning summer's 
 sun, that it was found imperative to pause 
 at this point. "Here I stop,'' exclaimed 
 Napoleon: "here I must look around me; 
 rally, refresh my army, and organise Po- 
 land. The campaign of 1812 is finished; 
 that of 1813 will do the rest." 
 
 He was, however, too restless to adhere 
 to this resolution, especially as he fre- 
 quently received intelligence concerning 
 the prodigious preparations of Alexander 
 in the interior of the empire. Napoleon, 
 therefore, held a military council, to con- 
 sider the expediency of a further advance. 
 Several of his generals were extremely ad- 
 verse to this, as fraught with great hazard. 
 Berthier dissuaded him even with tears. 
 The emperor overruled their objections. 
 "Why," he exclaimed, "should we remain 
 at Witepsk? The vicinity of the rivers, 
 indeed, makes it a defensible position iu 
 summer; but in winter what would avail 
 their frozen streams? If they remained 
 there, it would be requisite to construct 
 towns and fortresses capable of defying the 
 elements; while at Moscow all would be 
 ready-made to their hands." He added, 
 that he perceived that their thoughts were 
 dwelling on Charles XII. ; but that if the 
 expedition to Moscow wanted a fortunate 
 precedent, it was because it had wanted a 
 man capable of undertaking it ; that in war, 
 fortune went for one-half in everything; 
 and that if people always waited for a com- 
 plete assemblage of favourable circum- 
 stances, nothing would ever be undertaken. 
 " No blood has yet been shed," he observed ; 
 " and Russia is too powerful to yield without 
 fighting. Alexander can only negotiate 
 after a great battle. If it is necessary, I 
 will even proceed to the holy city in search 
 of that battle ; and I will gain it. Peace 
 waits for me at the gates of Moscow." 
 
 Notwithstanding the sufferings of his 
 troops, who were perishing by thousands 
 from disease and hunger, Napoleon resolved 
 to continue his march. He abandoned 
 Witepsk on the 13th of August, and on the 
 
 A.D. 1812.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [the French at Smolensk. 
 
 ^> 
 
 6 
 
 16th came in sight of Smolensk and the 
 united Russian armies, under Barclay de 
 Tolly and Prince Bagration. At this sight. 
 Napoleon, transported with joy, exclaimed — 
 "At length I have them!" He was again 
 deceived. Barclay de Tolly, instead of 
 risking a battle to save Smolensk, thought 
 it sufficient to protect the flight of the in- 
 habitants, and to empty the magazines. 
 Having done this, the Russian army con- 
 tinued its retreat. General Newcrosskoi, 
 and a body of Russian troops, amounting 
 to 30,000 men, which had already fought 
 an heroic action with the French cavalry 
 near Krasnoi, remained in the town and 
 covered the retreat of the main army. Na- 
 poleon, irritated that his foes had again 
 escaped him, ordered an assault on the city. 
 It was defended by 200 pieces of heavy 
 cannon, which kept up such a storm of fire 
 against the assailants, that, unable to breach 
 its massy walls, they were compelled even- 
 tually to retire. The Russians then set fire 
 to Smolensk, and secured their retreat 
 under cover of the dark columns of smoke 
 which rose from the burning city. The 
 loss on both sides was very heavy. It is 
 variously estimated; but French and Rus- 
 sians probably had each of them, in killed 
 and wounded, no less than 10,000 men. 
 
 In the meantime, Alexander, leaving 
 Moscow, hurried to St. Petersburg, and 
 thence to Orebro, in Sweden, where he con- 
 cluded a treaty of alliance with England ; hy 
 which the latter agreed to furnish a subsidy 
 of £800,000, and stipulated, that if the Rus- 
 sian fleet was endangered by the French 
 invasion, it should be removed, as a measure 
 of security, to the British shores. On the 
 20th of June, Alexander also contracted an 
 offensive and defensive alliance with the 
 supreme junta of Spain. On the 21st, he 
 had an interview at Abo with Bernadotte, 
 the crown prince of Sweden. By an alli- 
 ance concluded with him, it was arranged, 
 that the Russian armv which had been 
 kept on the frontiers of Finland to guard 
 against an outbreak from the Swedes, 
 should be at liberty to be used against the 
 French. As a return, Alexander, untaught 
 by the tribulation suspended over his own 
 head, promised, as a compensation for the 
 loss of Fmland, to join Sweden in wresting 
 Norway from Denmark. During the in- 
 terview of Alexander with Bernadotte, the 
 news arrived of Napoleon's entry into Smo- 
 lensk. "Should St. Petersburg itself be 
 taken," exclaimed the emperor, "I will 
 
 retire into Siberia; I will there resume our 
 ancient customs, and, like our long-bearded 
 ancestors, will return anew to coiiquer the. 
 empire." "This resolution," exclaimed 
 Bernadotte, with more enthusiasm than 
 reason, "will liberate Europe." 
 
 The abandonment of Smolensk was re- 
 garded by the Russian soldiers and people 
 rather as an act of pusillanimity than of 
 prudence ; and a violent clamour was raised 
 against Barclay de Tolly, whose foreign 
 extraction was not forgotten. They de- 
 clared him to be a traitor, who permitted 
 all their divisions to be destroyed piece- 
 meal, and dishonoured the army by an in- 
 terminable flight. "Why employ this 
 stranger ?" said the people ; " was not Ku- 
 tusoff, the comrade and rival of Suwarrow, 
 yet living ? A Russian was wanted to save 
 Russia." 
 
 The Russian army was again divided ; and 
 the troops under Barclay had, from motives 
 of an erroneous policy, taken the road to 
 St. Petersburg ; while that under Bagration 
 was retreating by the Moscow-road. Napo- 
 leon sent his pursuing columns in both of 
 these directions. On the 19th of August, 
 Marshal Ney, with three divisions of the 
 French army, attacked the Russian rear- 
 guard at Valtelina, which Barclay had sta- 
 tioned there to cover a cross-movement 
 from the St. Petersburg to the Moscow- 
 road ; Avhich he saw to be imperative, unless 
 he would allow the French to cut the Rus- 
 sian forces in two, and beat them in detail. 
 The troops engaged were at first incon- 
 siderable in number; but they were gra- 
 dually strengthened on both sides, until 
 the engagement swelled into an extensi/e 
 battle, in which, altogether, 30,000 men 
 were engaged. This was carried on with 
 obstinate bravery; for the Russians fought 
 to defend their cannon, wounded, and bag- 
 gage ; and the French with the hope of 
 taking them. The French made repeated 
 charges with the bayonet ; but were as con- 
 stantly driven back by the stolid bravery of 
 the Russians. The contest was continued 
 until night, and then ceased, from the ex- 
 haustion of the assailants. Neither side 
 obtained any advantage ; but the Russians 
 retained their position ; and victory may be 
 regarded as rather favouring them than 
 their adversaries, though both sides laid 
 claim to it. The French lost about 8,000 
 men, amongst whom was that distinguished 
 soldier General Gudin; and the Russians 
 6,000. The result might have been far 
 
 23 
 
 I )>y2 
 

 SUFFERINGS OF THE FRENCH.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1812. 
 
 A.D. 1812.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the halt at BORODINO. 
 
 more favourable to the French, but for the 
 indecision of General Junot; who, alarmed 
 by an overwhelming sense of responsi- 
 bility, remained in inaction. Napoleon was 
 so irritated in consequence, that he threat- 
 ened to dismiss him from the army. At 
 the dawn of the following day. Napoleon 
 visited the battle-field ; and was astonished 
 at the energy with which his troops must 
 have fought, judging from the number and 
 attitudes of the dead. They lay mingled with 
 the Russians, amidst the stumps of broken 
 trees, on ground trampled by the feet of 
 the combatants, furrowed with balls, strewed 
 with the fragments of weapons, tattered 
 garments, scattered limbs, dead or wounded 
 horses, and carriages overthrown. The em- 
 peror was compelled to pass over or tread 
 upon carcasses, broken weapons, and bayo- 
 nets twisted by the violence of the shock. 
 The battalions of General Gudin were 
 melted down to platoons; their clothes yet 
 smelt of burnt cartridges and powder, and 
 their faces were begrimed with smoke. 
 Napoleon experienced a sense of grateful 
 admiration for these brave men, who had 
 fought their last battle. "With such 
 troops,^' he exclaimed, " you might conquer 
 the world. Tliis is the most glorious of our 
 fields ; the dead have won immortal glory !" 
 Notwithstanding his apparent cheerful- 
 ness, which sustained the spirits of his 
 troops, the emperor was occasionally op- 
 pressed with forebodings of evil. The 
 enemy fled before him, and could not be 
 brought to a decisive engagement. He was 
 pushing forward over desolate tracts, laid 
 waste by the retiring Russians ; or through 
 dark forests intersected by swampy streams 
 or rocky dells. The spirits of the troops 
 were oppressed by the solitude around them, 
 and the sufferings they had to endure. The 
 losses already sustained by hunger, fatigue, 
 and sickness, had been tremendous. Typhus 
 fever and dysentery had swept off thousands ; 
 and what remained of Smolensk was but 
 one vast hospital. Provisions were scarce, 
 and many soldiers suffered severely from 
 the intemperate use of a spirit distilled 
 from grain, and mingled with the juice of 
 narcotic plants. Numbers of those who, 
 debilitated by fatigue and want of proper 
 food, had indulged in it, were seized with 
 dizziness, stupefaction, and torpor. In this 
 state they sat or lay down in the ditches or on 
 the roads, their half-open, watery, and lack- 
 lustre eyes fixed on vacancy, until their ex- 
 hausted frames succumbed, and they expired 
 24 
 
 sullenly and without a groan. The convents 
 of Smolensk which had escaped the flames, 
 had been converted into hospitals, and were 
 the scene of frightful horrors ; while around 
 the ramparts of the city was such an accu- 
 mulation of corpses, that they infected the 
 air, and increased the sickness which was 
 devastating the invading army. Napo- 
 leon's generals took care that he should be 
 well acquainted with these matters; for 
 most of them dreaded this advance into so 
 vast and sterile a territory. The emperor, 
 however, decided on advancing, in the hope 
 of eclipsing the sufferings of his troops by 
 the brilliancy of a great battle. " The con- 
 dition of the army,'' said he, " is frightful ; 
 I know it. At Wilna one-half were strag- 
 glers ; now they amount to two-thirds. 
 There is not a moment to lose ; we must 
 grasp at peace, and it can be only found at 
 Moscow. Besides, the state of the army is 
 such, as to render a halt impossible : con- 
 stant advance alone keeps it together : you 
 may lead it forward, but you cannot arrest 
 its movement. We have advanced too far 
 to retreat. If I sought but for military 
 glory, I should have nothing to do but to 
 return to Smolensk, and extend my wings 
 on either side, so as to crush Wittgenstein 
 and Formasoff. These operations would be 
 brilliant ; they would form a glorious ter- 
 mination to the campaign ; but they would 
 not conclude the war. Peace is before us. 
 We have only to march eight days to ob- 
 tain it. So near is our object, it is impossi- 
 ble to deliberate: let us advance to Moscow." 
 The emperor continued to advance upon 
 that city; and the Russians, under Barclay 
 de Tolly, to fall back in good order before 
 him. That general, stung by the re- 
 proaches of the Russians, had at length 
 resolved on giving battle to the French, 
 when the emperor Alexander, yielding to 
 the outcry against him, deprived him of the 
 command, and gave it to General Kutusoff 
 who, as the pupil of Suwarrow, was pointed 
 out by the army and the people as the per- 
 son most fit to hold it. This man, who had 
 restored the fortunes of Russia in the last 
 campaign against the Turks, is thus de- 
 scribed by M. Thiers : — " Although seventy 
 years of age, so perfectly worn out by war 
 and pleasure as to be scarcely capable of 
 holding himself on his horse, thoroughly 
 corrupt, false, perfidious, and a liar, he was 
 possessed of consummate prudence, and 
 had the art to make himself the idol of the 
 party whidi was ardent for the plan of 
 
 <V^ 
 
 
 \ 
 
 engao"ing, whilst he was himself the decided 
 partisan of the system of retreat. And no 
 man could be more capable than he was of 
 gaining the mastery over men's minds, of 
 directing them as he chose, of ruling them 
 by affecting passions which he had not, and 
 of opposing Napoleon by patience — the only 
 arm with which he could be successfully 
 fought." 
 
 Kutusoff was, however, compelled to assent 
 to give battle to the French, on account of 
 the near approach of the latter towards Mos- 
 cow. He therefore halted on the plain of 
 Borodino, which had been selected as offer- 
 ing many advantages to an army acting on 
 the defensive. Napoleon announced to his 
 troops that they were on the eve of a great 
 battle, and allowed two days for rest and 
 for the collection of provisions. He knew 
 the necessity of terminating, if possible, this 
 wearisome struggle by a decisive contest; 
 for every day told upon his jaded troops, 
 who now suffered so much from want of 
 water, that the men sometimes dropped 
 dead while in search of it, from the effects 
 of exhaustion and thirst. 
 
 On the 5th of September, the French 
 army came in sight of the Russians, drawn 
 up in order of battle at Borodino, and de- 
 fended by some hastily-erected intrench- 
 ments and redoubts; one of the latter, of 
 great size, standing on a height which com- 
 manded the whole plain in front of the 
 army. It was defended by 10,000 Rus- 
 sians, and supported by twelve pieces of 
 heavy artillery. Napoleon gave orders for 
 the attack of this redoubt, as he well knew 
 its immense importance in the coming en- 
 counter. The task of taking it was assigned 
 to the fiery Murat; and after a frightful 
 and most sanguinary struggle it was cap- 
 tured. The Russians returning to the 
 attack, cut down the troops who had en- 
 tered it; and the redoubt was three times 
 taken and retaken in the course of the 
 evening; but at night it remained in the 
 hands of the French. 
 
 The next day was occupied in prepara- 
 tions ; and, by a kind of mutual consent, it 
 had been allowed to pass by without even 
 the discharge of a musket. Over each 
 army reigned a portentous calm, like that 
 which precedes great tempests. The French 
 passed the day in repose, and indulged in 
 cheerful discourse. Sustained by the love 
 of military glory, they felt no doubt but 
 that they were going to obtain a great 
 victory, and to enter Moscow with their 
 
 VOL. II. B 
 
 invincible leader. Feelings of a far dif- 
 ferent kind prevailed in the Russian camp. 
 Gloomy, exasperated, resolved to fight to 
 the death, having no hope but in the 
 assistance of heaven and the saints, the 
 troops were on their knees in the midst of 
 a thousand flambeaux, before a miraculous 
 image of the Madonna of Smolensk — saved, 
 it was said, on the wings of angels from the 
 conflao^ration of that unfortunate city, and 
 now carried in procession by the Greek 
 priests through the bivouacs of the camp ot 
 Borodino. At the same time. General 
 Kutusoff — who, so far from believing in the 
 miraculous image, scarcely believed in the 
 existence of the Deity — accompanied the 
 procession with his head uncovered, his 
 eyes fixed on the ground, and surrounded 
 by his staff. He afterwards issued a pro- 
 clamation to the soldiers, appealing to their 
 fanaticism, and abusing the French em- 
 peror, whom he called a reptile, and an 
 arch-rebel against all laws, both human and 
 divine. 
 
 Napoleon passed the night in a state of 
 sleepless anxiety, for he entertained appre- 
 hensions that his weak and famished sol- 
 diers might be physically unequal to sus- 
 tain the shock of encounter with their 
 furious enemies. He contemplated a fear- 
 ful struggle; and observed, that a great 
 day was at hand, and that the battle would 
 be a terrible one. During the whole night 
 he suffered much from illness. Fatigue, 
 care, and anxious expectation, had worn 
 him out. The chilliness of the atmosphere 
 had struck to him; while fever, a dry cough, 
 and excessive thirst, distressed him. He 
 also laboured under an attack of an old and 
 painful disorder, of a kind very depressing 
 to the spirits. At five in the morning he 
 mounted his horse, and advancing towards 
 the group of officers who waited his ap- 
 proach, took a survey of the Russian 
 position. 
 
 The French army then wiih the emperor 
 consisted of 133,000 men, who brought into 
 the field 590 pieces of cannon. The Rus- 
 sian force was estimated at 132,000 men, 
 assisted by 640 pieces of artillery. Thus 
 the forces on each side were nearly equal ; 
 for although the French were superior in 
 discipline to the Russians, they were in a 
 far inferior phj^sical condition. At six in 
 the morning the battle commenced by the 
 advance of the French columns, under Da- 
 voust, against the Russian left wing. They 
 were received with so severe a fire, that 
 
 25 
 
 r 
 
 I: 
 
BATTLE OF BORODINO.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1812. 
 
 several of the French generals were killed, 
 and others wounded — a circumstance which 
 created some hesitation in their ranks. 
 They shortly rallied; and Kutusoff, seeing 
 that the left wing was in danger of giving 
 way before them, ordered up considerable 
 reinforcements to its support. 
 
 Marshal Ney then received orders to 
 support the left of Davoust, by attacking 
 the redans in that part of the enemy's line. 
 Ney's three divisions advanced to the charge, 
 preceded by 70 pieces of cannon, and en- 
 deavoured to take the heights of Semenow- 
 skoi, which became the principal object of 
 contention. After four houis passed in 
 sanguinary fighting, in which success had 
 favoured first one side and then the other, 
 Ney sent to the emperor and desired assist- 
 ance. Napoleon, perceiving that the Rus- 
 sians still retained the heights, resolved on 
 a grand attack. He therefore sent the 
 young guards together with Murat and a 
 large body of his cavalry, to the support of 
 Davoust and Ney ; while 400 pieces of can- 
 non were brought to bear upon the redoubts. 
 Under cover of a tremendous fire from the 
 latter, immense columns of infantry and 
 cavalry advanced to the assault. A terrible 
 carnage took place, and continued for about 
 aa hour, when the Russians were compelled 
 to retire from the contested heights ; which, 
 however, they did in good order. 
 
 During this time an obstinate conflict 
 was carried on in the centre, where the 
 Russians were driven from the village of 
 Borodino; but General Barclay de Tolly 
 and Prince Bagration succeeded in retaking 
 the great redoubt, which, on the evening of 
 the 5th, had fallen into the hands of the 
 French. Yet, after a murderous struggle, it 
 was again recaptured by the latter. During 
 the contest for this position, many distin- 
 guished French officers perished. As iVlurat 
 was speaking to General Galichet, a bullet 
 whistled between them. " Not a very safe 
 position this,^' said the fearless king, with a 
 smile. "But we will remain in it, never- 
 theless,'^ was the intrepid reply. At the 
 same moment the Russian cuirassiers poured 
 down en massey and the French division 
 had scarcely time to form into two squares, 
 connected by a line of artillery. Murat 
 took the command of one of them, and 
 Galichet of the other ; and during a quarter 
 of an hour they received, with the most 
 imperturbable coolness, the furious charges 
 of the Russian cavalry. 
 
 The Russian soldiers who had been 
 26 
 
 charged with the defence of the redoubt, 
 desperately refused quarter at the hands ot 
 their assailants, and nearly all perished in 
 the assault. Trusting to profit by this 
 success, General Grouchy led his cavalry 
 agaiust the chasseurs of the Russian guard, 
 who drove them back with severe loss! 
 This encouraged General Kutusoff to make 
 a forward movement, with the hope of re- 
 occupying the ground on which his army 
 had stood, in the centre, at the beginning of 
 the action. Large bodies of Russian ^in- 
 fantry and cavalry advanced on this errand 
 under a fearful fire, which the French 
 directed upon them from the batteries they 
 had erected on the captured heights. By 
 several gallant charges, the Russians even 
 recaptured some of the redoubts from which 
 they had been driven ; but they were speedily 
 retaken ; and Kutusoff, wearied of exposing 
 his troops to a profitless butchery, at length 
 recalled them. 
 
 Still this terrible battle lasted until night, 
 by which time the Russians were everywhere 
 driven from their original position, but were 
 ranged in unbroken ranks in another to 
 the rear of it. During the day. Napoleon 
 showed an irresolution, which many of his 
 officers believed deprived him of the advan- 
 tages of a decided victory. Several portions 
 of the French reserve had been brought into 
 action; but the imperial guard, amounting 
 to 20,000 men, remained in the rear. The 
 position of the Russians was such, that it 
 was presumed a final shock, directed agaiust 
 them obliquely, might have thrown them 
 into disorder. But the French were ex- 
 hausted by the fatigue and carnage of the 
 day: the men could • scarcely handle their 
 arms, or the cavalry remain upon their 
 horses; even the sabres were bent and 
 blunted by repeated strokes. Napoleon 
 saw that the contest could not be carried on 
 with men so unlike their usual selves ; and 
 he would not endanger his guard. " At a 
 distance of 800 leagues from France,^' said 
 he, "it would scarcely be wise to risk our 
 last remaining reserve." The French fell 
 back to the ground they had occupied before 
 the battle, and the sun sunk upon this 
 terrible scene of slaughter. 
 
 This fearful 7th of September is now 
 memorable as the date of the most gigantic 
 and sanguinary battle recorded in the annals 
 of modern history. The loss on each side 
 was frightful. Of the Russians, 15,000 
 were killed, and 30,000 wounded : amongst 
 the former was the brave soldier, Prince 
 
 ■^' 
 
 %,* 
 
 
 
 
 ■iv: 
 
 H 
 
 I 
 
 It-H 
 
 , 
 
 *1 
 
 i i 
 
 « f 
 
 • * 
 
 ; n 
 »i 
 
 if 
 
t 
 
 A.D. 1812.] 
 
 RUSSIAN E^rPIRE. [the Russians again retreat. 
 
 ? 
 
 5 
 
 s 
 
 c 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 2 
 o 
 
 Baojration ; while the latter included thirty- 
 generals of distinction. Very few were 
 taken prisoners ; and it was by the number 
 of these that the French had been ac- 
 customed to judge of the extent of a victory. 
 They knew that a multitude of dead was 
 rather a proof of the courage of the enemy, 
 than an evidence of decided success. The 
 loss of the French can scarcely be regarded 
 as inferior to that of the foe whom they 
 claimed to have beaten. No less than 
 forty-three French generals were killed or 
 wounded ; while the total loss was 12,000 
 in killed and 38,000 wounded ! An awful 
 result; the more so as the battle was not a 
 decisive one. The trophies of victory were 
 also nearly equal ; the French took thirteen 
 pieces of cannon from their enemies, who 
 also captured ten from them. 
 
 Murat exclaimed, '' That in this great day 
 he had not recognised the genius of Na- 
 poleon !" Such was the common feeling 
 among the French generals; and at night 
 there were no matiifestations of joy or 
 of enthusiasm. Throughout the day the 
 emperor had exhibited an unaccustomed 
 apathy, and remained so far from the 
 theatre of action, as to make the com- 
 munication of his orders tardy, and correct 
 observation difficult, if not impossible. 
 Illness, doubtless, had some share in pro- 
 ducing this result ; but Napoleon, knowing 
 by painful experience the obstinate valour 
 of the enemy, anticipated another great 
 battle before the walls of Moscow, and 
 would not, therefore, expose his troops to 
 further loss in this. " It was my duty,'' 
 said he, " to think of the general result of 
 the campaign ; and it was for that I spared 
 my reserves.'' 
 
 General Kutusoff did not, however, ven- 
 ture another battle for the sake of saving 
 Moscow. On the dav after the battle, the 
 Russians retired in good order to within 
 half a league of Moscow, and there held a 
 council of war. Some of the Russian gen- 
 erals were for risking another conflict for 
 the sake of saving the capital, the loss of 
 which, they contended, would spread con- 
 sternation throughout the empire. Kutusoff 
 and Barclay urged that the retreat should 
 be continued. The former observed — " Not- 
 withstanding the valour which my army 
 displayed at Borodino, I was obliged to 
 yield to numbers, and commence my retreat. 
 Since then the enemy has received numer- 
 ous reinforcements ; and at present I have 
 fewer chances of success than I had then. 
 
 Our dangers are increased by the proximity 
 of Moscow, where I should lose half my 
 army, if it was necessary, after a reverse, to 
 traverse the capital. On the other hand, 
 if we retire without combating, w^e must 
 abandon it ; a cruel sacrifice, it is true, but 
 not one which draws after it the destruction 
 of the empire. On the contrary, the enemy, 
 far removed from his resources, possessing 
 as his only communication the road from 
 Smolensk to Moscow; on the eve of ex- 
 periencing reverses on the Dwina by the 
 arrival of the armies of Moldavia and Fin- 
 land, will find himself in the most critical 
 position. The army is in a bad position, 
 and is inferior in numbers to the enemy. 
 Such were the losses which it sustained at 
 Borodino, that entire brigades are now com- 
 manded by field-officers, and regiments by 
 captains ; consequently, the same precision 
 as heretofore in its movements is scarcely 
 to be expected. Everything, therefore, con- 
 spires to prove that we should be beat if we 
 fought a battle. The safety of the country 
 depends on the preservation of the army ; a 
 victory would not rid us of the enemy ; while 
 a disaster so near Moscow would occasion 
 its entire destruction." This reasoning pre- 
 vailed, and on the 14th of September the 
 Russian army continued its retreat, mourn- 
 fully defiling through the streets of " the 
 sacred city." 
 
 It has been conjectured that the Russian 
 general might have arrived at a different 
 conclusion, had he known the exhausted 
 and impoverished condition of the French, 
 deficient alike both in provisions and in 
 ammunition. On the morning of the 14th, 
 the advanced guard of the French army 
 came in sight of the domes and towers of 
 Moscow. Filled with hope, they shouted 
 with delight at the prospect of a termina- 
 tion of the sufferings they had undergone. 
 The sounds reached the ears of the em- 
 peror, who, hastening forward, exclaimed, 
 '* Behold at last that famous city ! It was 
 full time." 
 
 Napoleon was, however, doomed to ex- 
 perience a bitter disappointment. Moscow 
 was found to be deserted. Murat and his 
 cavalry preceded the French army into 
 the city, as yet untouched, but inanimate. 
 '' Struck with profound astonishment," ob- 
 serves Segur, " at the sight of this complete 
 solitude, they replied to the taciturnity of 
 this modern Thebes by a silence equally 
 solemn. These warriors listened, with a 
 secret shuddering, to the steps of their 
 
 27 
 
 ■A 
 
 t 
 
 k 
 
 't^. 
 
 4 
 
 « 1 
 
THE FRENCH ENTER MOSCOW.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1812. , 
 
 horses rebounding alone amid these deserted 
 palaces. They were astonished to hear 
 nothing but themselves amid such numer- 
 ous habitations.'^ On learning the news, 
 the emperor was incredulous, and he waited 
 in expectation of receiving a deputation 
 from the magistrates or chief nobles of the 
 cit}'. . At length he became convinced of 
 thetiuth; and on the 15th of September he 
 entered the city, and at first took up his 
 residence in a suburban palace. The silence 
 that reigned throughout the city was painful 
 to the French troops, who, however, took 
 possession of the houses, which they found 
 full of excellent provisions. The superior 
 officers were received at the gates of palaces 
 by servants in livery, eager to offer a bril- 
 liant hospitahty. The owners of these man- 
 sions, unaware of the fate which awaited 
 the city, had taken great pains to procure 
 protectors for their rich dwellings, by re- 
 ceiving French officers into them. The 
 latter, after the privations they had so re- 
 cently experienced, welcomed with pleasure 
 the luxury, fraught with all those signs of 
 sensuousness which form so strange but fre- 
 quent a contrast with ardent, popular de- 
 votion, and savage military energy. 
 
 The emperor Alexander behaved with a 
 dignified patriotism on this occasion. After 
 the entrance of the enemy into the capital,, 
 the czar issued an address to the empire, 
 
 which concluded with these spirited words : 
 " Let there be no pusillanimous depression ; 
 let us swear to redouble our courage and 
 perseverance. The enemy has entered de- 
 serted Moscow as into a tomb, without the 
 means either of ruling or subsistence. He 
 invaded Russia at the head of 300,000 men ; 
 half have perished from the sword, famine, 
 or desertion ; the other half are shut up in 
 the capital, bereft of everything. He is 
 in the centre of Russia, and not a Russian 
 has yielded to his power. Meanwhile our 
 forces increase, and surround him. He is 
 in the midst of a warlike people, whoso 
 armies envelop him on every side : soon, to 
 escape from famine, he will be compelled to 
 cut his way through our brave battalions. 
 Shall we, then, yield, when Europe is in 
 admiration at our exertions? Let us show 
 ourselves worthy of giving her an example, 
 and bless the hand which has chosen us to 
 be the first of nations in the cause of free- 
 dom.* In the present miserable state of 
 the human race, what glory awaits the na- 
 tion which, after having patiently endured 
 all the evils of war, shall succeed, by the 
 force of courage and virtue, not only in re- 
 conquering its own rights, but in extending 
 the blessings of freedom to other states; 
 and even to those who have been made the 
 unwilling instruments of attempting its 
 subjugation !' 
 
 \3> 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CONFLAGRATION OF MOSCOW; NARROW ESCAPE OF NAPOLEON FROM THE KREMLIN; HE REMAINS AT 
 MOSCOW WITH THE EXPECTATION OF RECEIVING PROPOSALS OF PEACE FROM ALEXANDER; TALKS OF 
 MARCHING ON TO ST. PETERSBURG; ALEXANDER REFUSES ALL NEGOTIATION; NAPOLKOX ABANDONS 
 MOSCOW; BATTLES BETWEEN THE FRENCH AND RUSSIANS; RETREAT OF THE FRENCH BKFORE THE 
 ADVANCING ENEMY; THE WINTER SETS IN SUDDENLY; DREADFUL SUFFERINGS OF THE FRENCH ; THEIR 
 DEFEAT AT KRASNOI ; FEARFUL PASSAGE OF THE BEREZINA ; NAPOLEON ABANDONS THE ARMY AND 
 RETURNS TO PARIS ; THE REMAINS OF THE GRAND ARMY REACH THE PRUSSIAN TERRITORY, AND ARE 
 TREATED WITH COMPASSION. 
 
 The French army at Moscow anticipated 
 either a speedy peace, as a result of its oc- 
 cupation of the capital of the enemy, or 
 good winter cantonments in case the war 
 should be prolonged. These hopes were 
 
 * This is unfamiliar language when uttered by a 
 Russian czar ; but Alexander really meant the free- 
 dom of princes, not the freedom of peoples. Napoleon 
 was the oppressor of monarchs ; and the latter rising 
 
 28 
 
 doomed to be extinguished beneath a tragic 
 accumulation of disappointment and distress. 
 On the very day that the French entered 
 the city, a fire broke out in a building con- 
 taining vast quantities of spirits ; and before 
 
 against him, uttered gracious language to the sub- 
 jects on whose resources and energies they so 
 depended, and whom it was, therefore, necessary to 
 conciliate. 
 
 •' n 
 
 4 
 
 
 P 
 
 
 {•J 
 
 
 t- 
 
 
 ^~* 
 
 >,' 
 
 2 
 
 C^' 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 >■ 
 
 
 
 z 
 
 r-^ ^« 
 
 <; 
 
 - 't. 
 
 ii. 
 
 
 s 
 
 : — 1 
 
 
 ''5^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 w" 
 
 
 fc 
 
 !-''■ 
 
 c 
 
 
 2 
 
^-<:* 
 
 X 
 
 <^. 
 
 
 
 J 
 
 *\^ 
 
A.D. 1812. 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [conflagration of moscxd^v. 
 
 ^ 
 
 it was effectually extinguished, another con- 
 flagration burst forth in a collection of 
 buildings called the Bazaar, situated at no 
 great distance from the Kremlin. The sol- 
 diers were unable to prevent the destruction 
 of the Bazaar; but although a violent wind 
 prevailed, the fire did not extend further. 
 During the night, the Exchanjije was dis- 
 covered to be in flames, which the wind 
 carried to many neighbouring buildings. 
 It is said, that rockets were also seen in the 
 air, and some wretches seized in the act 
 of spreading the conflagration. Napoleon 
 ordered that military commissions should 
 be formed in each quarter of the city, for 
 the purpose of trying and executing all in- 
 cendiaries, and that all the available troops 
 should be employed in extinguishing the 
 flames. The "foflowing day the emperor 
 hastened to the spot ; and Marshal Mortier, 
 whom he had appointed governor of the 
 city, pointed out to him some houses closely 
 shut up, and uninjured from without, yet 
 from which a black smoke was already 
 issuing. Napoleon left the spot in a pensive 
 "^ unour, and proceeded to the vast palace 
 of the Kremlin, to which he now removed 
 his head-quarters. 
 
 On the 16th, the emperor Avrote a letter 
 containing proposals of peace to Alexander, 
 and dispatched it by a Russian officer who 
 was found in the great hospital. It re- 
 mained unanswered. Alexander had taken 
 his course, and resolved to defeat the enemy 
 bv a kind of passive resistance. This night, 
 also, fires raged in different parts of Moscow, 
 and the city appeared to be in flames in 
 every direction. Napoleon was greatly 
 agitated. He rose frequently, paced to and 
 fro, and a^ain sat down abruptly. Then 
 hastening to the window, he watched the 
 progress of the conflaj^ration, at the same 
 time uttering such exclamations as, *' What 
 a tremendous spectacle 1 — It is their own 
 work ! -So many palaces ! — What extraor- 
 dinarv resolution ! — W^hat men 1 — These are 
 indeed Scythians !" 
 
 Though the fire was still a considerable 
 distance from the emperor, as the river 
 Moskwa and an extensive vacant space was 
 between them, yet the panes of the windows 
 against which he leaned, already felt hot to 
 the touch. At this moment, it was reported 
 that the Kremlin was undermined, and some 
 of the attendants of the emperor we-re beside 
 themselves with fear ; but he received the 
 information with a smile of incredulity. 
 The atmosphere, at length, became oppres- 
 
 sive from the thick smoke which filled it ; 
 and several of his generals, including even 
 the fiery and fearless Murat, implored him 
 to remove from this scene of danger. It 
 was not until a shout arose that the Krem- 
 lin Avas on fire, that Napoleon yielded to 
 their entreaties. The tower of the arsenal 
 was in flames, and a Russian soldier of the 
 police had been found in it. The incendi- 
 ary was interrogated in the presence of the 
 emperor, and afterwards dispatched by the 
 enraged grenadiers with their bayonets. 
 
 Napoleon then yielded to necessity, and 
 abandoned the Kremlin, though not without 
 great danger of perishing in the flames by 
 which that vast collection of buildings was 
 besieged in every direction. B}^ a narrow 
 passage the emperor, his officers, and his 
 guards made their escape. General Segur, 
 who was of the party, thus narrates the 
 incident : — " But what had they gained by 
 this movement? They had approached 
 nearer to the fire, and could neither retreat 
 nor remain where they were ; and how were 
 they to advance ? how force a passage 
 through the billows of this sea of flame? 
 Those who had traversed the city, stunned 
 by the tempest and Winded by the ashes, 
 could not find their way, since the streets 
 themselves were no longer distinguishable 
 amidst smoke and ruins. 
 
 " There was no time to be lost. The 
 roaring of the flames around us became 
 every moment more violent. A single, 
 narrow, winding street, completely on fire, 
 appeared to be rather the entrance than the 
 outlet to this hell. The emperor rushed 
 on foot, and without hesitation, into this 
 narrow passage. He advanced amid the 
 crackling of the flames, the crash of floors, 
 the fall of burning timbers, and of the red- 
 hot iron roofs which tumbled around him. 
 These ruins impeded his progress. The 
 flames, which, with impetuous roar, con- 
 sumed the edifices between which we were 
 proceeding, spreading beyond the walls, 
 were blown out by the wind, and formed an 
 arch over our heads. We walked on a 
 ground of fire, beneath a fiery sky, and 
 between two walls of fire. The intense 
 heat burned our eyes, which we were never- 
 theless obliged to keep open and fixed on 
 the danger. A consuming atmosphere, 
 glowing ashes, detached flames, parched 
 our throats, rendering our respiration short 
 and dry ; and we were already almost suf- 
 focated by the smoke. Our hands were 
 burnt, either in endeavouring to protect 
 
 29 
 
 ■ y 
 
 •a 
 
 d 
 I 
 
 
 . t 
 
EXTINCTION OF THE FIRE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1812. 
 
 our faces from the insupportable heat, or in 
 brushing off the sparks which every mo- 
 ment covered and penetrated our garments. 
 " In this inexpressible distress, and when 
 a rapid advance seemed to be our only 
 means of safety, our guide stopped in 
 uncertainty and agitation. Here would 
 probably have terminated our adventurous 
 career, had not some pillagers of the first 
 corps, recognising the emperor amidst the 
 whirling flames, ran up and guided him 
 towards the smoking ruins of a quarter 
 which had been reduced to ashes in the 
 morning." 
 
 From this spot Napoleon arrived at Pe- 
 trowsky, where he passed the night in rumi- 
 nating on the terrible stateof danger to which 
 his troo[)s were exposed. The next morn- 
 ing (the 1 7th) he cast his first looks towards 
 Moscow, in the hope that the conflagration 
 had subsided. The whole city appeared 
 like a vast furnace, from which columns of 
 fire rose in whirling eddies to the sky. 
 For some time he observed a painful silence, 
 and then exclaimed — " This forebodes great 
 misfortunes to us y Moscow had been the 
 aim of all his hopes, and now it was no 
 more. Napoleon hesitated, and was unable 
 to decide what course was the best to pursue. 
 To preserve appearances he talked of march- 
 ing on to St. Petersburg ; but he well knew 
 that his troops were destitute of all the 
 requisites for so extensive an excursion. 
 
 The fire ceased on the 20th of September. 
 About two-thirds of the city had been con- 
 sumed ; but the Kremlin had escaped the 
 flames, and the emperor resolved on return- 
 ing to it. " The camps which he traversed 
 on his way thither presented an extraor- 
 dinary sight. In the fields, amidst thick 
 and cold mud, large fires were kept up with 
 mahogany furniture, windows, and gilded 
 doors. Around these fires, on a litter of 
 damp straw, imperfectly sheltered by a few 
 boards, were seen the soldiers and their 
 officers, splashed all over with mud, and 
 blackened with smoke, seated in arm-chairs, 
 or reclined on silken couches. At their 
 feet were spread or heaped. Cashmere shawls, 
 the rarest furs of Siberia, the gold stuff's of 
 Persia, and silver dishes, off" which they had 
 nothing to eat but a black dough, baked 
 in the ashes, and half-broiled and bloody 
 horseflesh. Singular assemblage of abun- 
 dance and want, of riches and filth, of 
 luxury and wretchedness! Between the 
 camp and the city were met troops of sol- 
 diers dragging along their booty, or driving 
 30 
 
 A.D. 1812.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [napoleon abandons moscow. 
 
 before them, like beasts of burden, Musco- 
 vites bending under the weight of the 
 pillage of their capital ; for the fire brought 
 to view nearly 20,000 inhabitants, pre- 
 viously unobserved in that immense city. 
 Some of these Muscovites, of both sexes, 
 were well dressed ; they were tradespeople. 
 They came with the wreck of their property 
 to seek refuge at our fires. They lived 
 pell-mell with our soldiers, protected hy 
 some, and tolerated, or rather scarcely re- 
 marked, by others.* 
 
 What remained of Moscow was aban- 
 doned to pillage; for recent events had so 
 disorganised the French soldiers, that it was 
 found impossible to restrain them. They 
 were frequently seen seated on bales of 
 merchandise, or heaps of sugar and coff'ee ; 
 amidst wines and the most exquisite 
 liqueurs, which they were off'ering in ex- 
 change for a morsel of bread. Such was 
 the state of things when the emperor re- 
 entered Moscow and returned to the Krem- 
 lin. He issued strict orders with the object 
 of restoring order, but he was unable to 
 eff'ectually accomplish so desirable a result. 
 The destruction of Moscow was publicly 
 attributed, by the Russian authorities, to 
 the French, and used as a fresh means of 
 exciting hatred against them. It is, how- 
 ever, and without doubt correctly, attri- 
 buted to Count Rostopchin, the governor of 
 the city. He was denounced in Napoleon's 
 bulletins as having kindled the conflagra- 
 tion by means of 300 incendiaries, who set 
 fire to the city in as many places simulta- 
 neously. Rostopchin never acknowledged 
 the act; and in the year 1823, published a 
 pamphlet on the subject, altogether denying 
 that he was the author of it; but without 
 altering the decided conviction of Europe 
 upon the subject. General Buturlin, the 
 Russian historian of the campaign, in a 
 
 subsequent edition of his work, remarks 
 
 " It is ungenerous to disbelieve a man who 
 would thus voluntarily despoil himself of 
 the glory of a civic crown ; but, on the other 
 hand, information the most positive leaves 
 no room in the author's mind to doubt that 
 the fire of Moscow was prepared and ex- 
 ecuted by the Russian authorities;'' i.e., by 
 the governor of the city. 
 
 Several days passed on, and Napoleon 
 waited in expectation of proposals of peace 
 and submission from Alexander. The latter 
 did not make any reply to the letter sent to 
 him; and the French emperor at length 
 • General Count Segur 
 
 became exasperated. On the 3rd of Octo- 
 ber, he summoned his marshals, and pro- 
 posed to them to burn the remainder of 
 Moscow, and then to march on to St. Peters- 
 burg ; but their expostulations induced him 
 to forego so desperate an enterprise. It is 
 probable that he did not himself seriously 
 contemplate it; for he sent his aide-de- 
 camp, Count Lauriston, to the Russian 
 camp, to propose an armistice and obtain a 
 safe-conduct to St. Petersburg. " I want 
 peace," said the emperor to the count ; " I 
 must have peace; I absolutely will have 
 peace ; only save my honour !" 
 
 General Kutusoflf informed Lauriston, 
 that to grant him a safe-conduct to St. Pe- 
 tersburg exceeded his powers ; but he sent 
 the letter from Napoleon to Alexander, and 
 off'ered an armistice until the return of the 
 messenger. During the continuance of the 
 truce, some of the Cossack chiefs asked the 
 French officers, "If they had not, in their 
 own country, corn enough, air enough, 
 graves enough; in short, room enough to 
 live and die ? Wiiy, then, did the/ come so 
 far from home to throw away their lives, 
 and to fatten a foreign soil with their 
 blood ?" The armistice was badly observed 
 by the Russians ; and Kutusofl's only object 
 in granting it was to gain time till the 
 winter set in, and the retreat of the French 
 became impossible, or utterly ruinous. 
 Some weeks elapsed before an answer came 
 from the emperor Alexander. It was ad- 
 dressed to Kutusoff*, and contained an abso- 
 lute command to " admit of no negotiation 
 whatever, or relation tending toward peace 
 with the enem3\" 
 
 The weather had been remarkably fine; 
 but, on the 13th of October, a fall of snow 
 gave the first indication of winter. On the 
 17th the Russians assumed off'ensive opera- 
 tions. The advanced guard of the French 
 army — consisting of 30,000 men, commanded 
 by Murat, and posted in the neighbourhood of 
 Winkoroo — was attacked by a Russian force 
 under General Renningsen. The French 
 were taken by surprise, and sustained a de- 
 feat. Murat was wounded; two generals 
 killed ; besides the loss of three or four thou- 
 sand men. They also lost thirty-eight pieces 
 of cannon, and all their ammunition and 
 baggage-waggons. In fact, it was with great 
 difficulty that they were able to eff'ect their 
 retreat, which they did in much disorder. 
 This incident aroused Napoleon from his 
 apathy, and he resolved on the abandon- 
 ment of Moscow. " Let us march upon 
 
 Kaluga," said he, "and woe be to those 
 whom I meet with by the way !" 
 
 The emperor commenced his march from 
 Moscow on the 19th of October, at the head 
 of more than 100,000 soldiers : only 12,000 
 sick were left behind; for the rest, at Moscow, 
 had promoted the recovery of the remainder. 
 Yet Napoleon perceived with pain that his 
 cavalry and artillery might be said rather to 
 crawl than to march. The army was fol- 
 lowed bv a train of carriages and vehicles of 
 every kind, loaded with trophies and the 
 plunder which the soldiers had accumulated. 
 Some Russian girls also voluntarily accom- 
 panied their seducers ; and many of the pea- 
 sants, who had been taken prisoners, were 
 compelled to carry or drive the booty of their 
 captors. Some of the host of camp-followers 
 were even wheeling along barrows filled with 
 whatever they could remove, unconscious, in 
 their greediness, that they must necessarily 
 abandon them in the course of the march. 
 
 General Kutusoff^, on hearing of the re- 
 treat of the French from Moscow, marched 
 towards Malo-Jaroslawitz, with the hope of 
 being able to intercept their passage. On 
 the 24th, a battle took place at this .town, 
 between the advanced guards of the two 
 armies. Each side desired to gain possession 
 of the town, which had been set on fire, and 
 was, while burning, taken and retaken no 
 less than seven times. The French at 
 length remained in possession of it; but 
 their victory was purchased with the loss of 
 3,000 men in killed and wounded. That 
 of the Russians amounted to about 8,000. 
 During the action, Kutusoff had established 
 himself in such a position as to preclude 
 the possibility of a farther advance towards 
 Kaluga without a general battle. 
 
 Such was the strength of the Russian 
 position, that Marshal Bessieres, who had 
 been sent by the emperor to reconnoitre, 
 pronounced it to be unassailable. No alter- 
 native, therefore, remained but to fall back 
 on the road to Smolensk — a movement which 
 so much resembled retreat in the face of an 
 enemy, that the contemplation of it plunged 
 Napoleon into a state of irritable melancholy. 
 On the morning of the 25th, he sat up him- 
 self to examine the ground, and narrowly 
 escaped being taken prisojjer by a body of 
 Cossacks. The emperor agreed with Bes- 
 sieres, that an attempt to force the Russian 
 position would be too hazardous ; and, on 
 his return, he held a council as to the course 
 to be pursued. Murat recommended an 
 attack ; and said, that with the remnant of 
 
 31 
 
 
 H 
 
 t ! 
 
HE RETIRES BEFORE THE FOE.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1812. 
 
 * 
 
 I 
 
 [i 
 
 i 
 
 his cavalry, and that of the guard, he 
 would reopen the road to Kaluga at the 
 point of the sword. Bessieres urged, that a 
 retreat had become unavoidably necessary. 
 Napoleon sadly and unwillingly acquiesced. 
 ''Hardihood has had its day,^' said he; 
 "we have already done too much for glory; 
 nothing remains to be thought of but the 
 safety of the army.'' Segur relates, that tins 
 decision cost the emperor so much pain, that, 
 in the inward struggle which it occasioned, 
 he lost the use of his senses. 
 
 Orders were, issued for the retreat of the 
 army to Smolensk, by Borowsk and Mojaisk ; 
 and, at dawn of the 26th of October, Napo- 
 leon, for the first time in his life, retired in 
 the open field from his enemies. At the 
 same time Kutnsoff, dismayed by the first 
 movement of the French, and fearing to 
 risk a battle, abandoned Kaluga. These 
 well-matched combatants retired from each 
 other out of mutual awe. Before the entire 
 evacuation of Moscow by the French, Napo- 
 leon ordered the Krem'lin to be blown up. 
 General Mortier, to whom this task was 
 committed, caused barrels of gunpowder to 
 be placed in all the halls of the palace of 
 the czars, and 183,000 pounds under the 
 vaults which supported them. The explosion 
 was tremendous, and much of that mighty 
 pile of buildings was shattered into ruinous 
 heaps. 
 
 Dejection prevailed throughout the French 
 army. After some days' marching they 
 came in sight of a devastated plain, on which 
 30,000 half-devoured corpses, and a number 
 of skeletons, were mingled with fragments 
 of helmets and cuirasses, broken drums, 
 gun-stocks, tatters of uniforms, and blood- 
 stained standards. A sense of horror ran 
 through the spectators as they murmured, 
 " It is the field of the great battle !" It was, 
 indeed, the terrible plain of Borodino ; and 
 there, furrowed by cannon-balls, stood the 
 great redoubt, looking like an extinguished 
 and destroyed volcano. The troops hurried 
 on, merely turning their faces to take a last 
 melancholy look at the hideous golgotha, 
 where so many of their companions had been 
 so uselessly sacrificed. Napoleon, harassed 
 by the number of unnecessary persons who 
 accompanied his retreating troops, caused 
 2,000 Russian prisoners to be marched on 
 before, and then massacred. His troops 
 were astonished ; and some of his generals 
 murmured at this atrocity; the rest of 
 the unfortunates were abandoned, and left 
 to perish. This barbarity resulted from the 
 32 
 
 indiff*erence exhibited by the Russian autho- 
 rities for the lives of their soldiers, in reject- 
 ing all proposals of an exchange of prisoners. 
 General Kutnsoff, on being informed of 
 the retreat of the enemy, moved in pursuit 
 on a line parallel to the' road they occupied. 
 The French were at first allowed to retire 
 without molestation ; and Napoleon trusted 
 that he had got so far in advance of Ku- 
 tusoff, as to secure an uninterrupted retreat. 
 By the 2nd of November, the emperor had 
 reached Wiazma. But the rear-guard of 
 the French, under Davoust, on approaching 
 that town on the 3rd, found the road occu- 
 pied by the advanced guard of the Russians, 
 under General Milaradowitch ;* while Count 
 Platoff and a large body of Cossacks pressed 
 upon their rear. A furious engagement 
 took place, and lasted nearly the whole day. 
 It terminated with the retre'at of the French 
 in disorder, after a loss of 6,000 men; 
 2,000 of whom were made prisoners. The 
 baggage of the French, and several pieces of 
 artillery, also fell into the hands of the 
 enemy. 
 
 The weather, though cold at night, had 
 been generally very favourable by day. 
 On the 6th of November, the terrible Rus- 
 sian winter set in. The army marched 
 through semi-darkness, occasioned by cold 
 and penetrating fog. Then came a snow- 
 storm, so heavy that it seemed as if the very 
 sky was falling; and a tempest of wind, which 
 howled through the forests and over the 
 plains with resistless fury. The snow drifted 
 into every hollow and ditch ; and the deceit- 
 ful surface, yielding to the tread of the 
 straggling soldiers, engulphed those who 
 fell ; and, from their debility, generally soon 
 found a winding-sheet and a grave in this 
 snowy wilderness. "Those who followed, 
 turned aside; but the storm driving into 
 their faces the snow that was descending 
 from the sky and that which it raised from 
 the ground, seemed bent on opposing their 
 progress. It penetrated through their gar- 
 ments, and soddened their torn shoes and 
 boots. Their wet clothes froze upon their 
 bodies ; an icy envelope encased them, and 
 stiffened all their limbs. A keen and vio- 
 lent wind interrupted respiration ; it seized 
 their breath at the moment when they ex- 
 haled it, and converted it into icicles, which 
 hung from their beards all round their 
 mouths. The unfortunate creatures still 
 
 • Milaradowitch, from his impetuosity and his 
 ove of fighting, was denominated by the French, 
 the Kussian Murat. 
 
 A.D. 1812.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [horrors of the retreat. 
 
 crawled on, shivering, till the snow, gather- 
 ing like balls under their feet, or the frag- 
 ment of some broken article, a branch of a 
 tree, or the body of one of their comrades, 
 caused them to stumble and to fall. There 
 they groaned in vain ; the snow soon 
 covered them ; slight hillocks marked the 
 spot where they lay: such was their only 
 grave ! The road was studded with these 
 undulations, like a cemetery. The most in- 
 trepid and the most indifferent were af- 
 fected ; they passed on quickly with averted 
 looks. But before them, around them, 
 there was nothing but snow. This immense 
 and dreary uniformity extended further 
 than the eye could reach ; the imagination 
 was astounded ; it was like a vast winding- 
 sheet, which nature had thrown over the 
 army. The only objects not enveloped by 
 it were some gloomy pines — trees of the 
 tombs, with their funereal verdure, the mo- 
 tionless aspect of their gigantic, black 
 trunks, and their dismal look, which com- 
 pleted the doleful appearance of a general 
 mourning, and of an army dying amidst a 
 nature already dead.'^* 
 
 Many of the soldiers dropped, or threw 
 away their arms ; while the fingers of others 
 were frozen to the muskets they still held. 
 Numbers left their ranks and wandered over 
 the country in hope of finning shelter for the 
 coming night ; but they either fell into the 
 hands of the Cossacks or were massacred by 
 the peasantry, who, in some cases, strip t 
 them naked, and left them to expire in the 
 snow. The night, of sixteen hours' dura- 
 tion, was passed by the army in misery 
 which baffles description. The pine-branches, 
 laden with frost, could scarcely be kindled ; 
 and the fires, when lighted, were not unfre- 
 quently extinguished by the snow. The 
 repasts of the soldiers consisted of the half- 
 cooked flesh of lean horses, killed in conse- 
 quence of exhaustion, and a few spoonfuls of 
 rye-flour mixed with water. The next 
 morning, the bivouacs were marked by cir- 
 cular ranges of soldiers lying dead on the 
 frozen ground, while around lay the bodies 
 of several thousand horses. The effect of 
 these horrors on the minds of the army 
 was terrible ; a gloomy despondency fell on 
 the men, and neglect of discipline spread 
 rapidly. A dreadful selfishness entered into 
 almost every bosom, and the men snatched 
 the cloaks from their fallen comrades, to 
 warm their own shivering limbs. Those 
 who first got round the fires at night fiercely 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 • Segur. 
 F 
 
 repelled their less fortunate comrades, who 
 strove to share in the warmth; and saw 
 them sink down and die with indifference. 
 Nearly every one seemed engrossed in pro- 
 viding for his own safety ; and in this gen- 
 eral extinction of sympathy, the fate of 
 others remained unheeded. / Some brave 
 and firm men there were, however, who still 
 bore up with heroic endurance, and strove 
 to preserve their customary serenity amidst 
 the fearful scenes which surrounded them. 
 
 The horrors of famine were soon added to 
 the sufferings of the retreating French. 
 Horseflesh became the sole means of sub- 
 sistence to the great body of the troops; 
 and when one of these wretched creatures 
 fell by the wayside, a group of starving men 
 seized upon it and shared its remains amongst 
 them. By degrees the army assumed the 
 appearance of a hideous mass of stragglers, 
 arrayed in fur cloaks or finery found at 
 Moscow, or stript from the dead who had 
 perished by the way. As to the emperor, 
 he, throughout the retreat, remained grave, 
 silent, and resigned, concealing his mental 
 suffering, and presenting the appearance of 
 a great mind struggling with adversity. At 
 this period it was that he received intelli- 
 gence of General Malet's conspiracy against 
 him at Paris, and his whole thoughts were 
 bent on reaching the French capital. 
 
 The army arrived at Smolensk between 
 the 9th and the 13th of November, strag- 
 gling into the town in a wretched manner. 
 Such was the rush for food, that it required 
 the most strenuous efforts of the troops who 
 had been left there, to prevent the new- 
 comers from murdering one another at the 
 doors of the magazines. Napoleon had 
 made great exertions to provide supplies of 
 provisions along his line of retreat ; but a 
 series of calamities had prevented his efforts 
 from being adequate to the immense de- 
 mand upon them. On the 14th, the empe- 
 ror and the French array quitted Smolensk, 
 marching in gloomy silence. Napoleon had 
 hastened his departure, in consequence of 
 the reverses experienced by detachments of 
 the French army, under Murat and Marshal 
 St. Cyr, in engagements with the Russians. 
 At the same time, the Russian general, 
 Kutnsoff, with the object of arresting the 
 further retreat of the French, and compel- 
 ling them to surrender, directed his march 
 upon the village of Krasnoi. On the 16th, 
 17th, and 18th, engagements took place on 
 this spot and in the neighbourhood. The 
 Russians were^ in all, both the assailants and 
 
 33 
 
 
 J] 
 
 HI 
 
 ■I] 
 
PASSAGE OF THE BEREZINA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1812. 
 
 A.D. 1812.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [result of the invasion. 
 
 J 
 
 il 
 
 the victors. The result of these battles was 
 a loss to the French of 10,000 men killed 
 or drowned, and 26,000 taken prisoners ; 
 amon«5st whom were 300 officers ; 116 pieces 
 of cannon were also captured. This terrible 
 blow was inflicted by the Russians with the 
 loss of only 2,000 men to themselves. Na- 
 poleon and a part of his army escaped ; but 
 the troops who followed hirn were reduced 
 to 10,000 weakened combatants, and twice 
 that number of stragglers. But for the 
 caution of the Russian commander, it is 
 probable that the French army might have 
 been utterly annihilated. 
 
 The latter continued their dismal retreat, 
 but in a state of terrible disorganisation. 
 Napoleon, surrounded by a body of officers, 
 who still preserved some appearance of 
 regularity, marched on foot, with a birch 
 staff in his hand, to avoid falling on the ice- 
 bound roads. He would, doubtless, have 
 perished amidst the appalling confusion by 
 which he was surrounded, but for the 
 incessant devotion of the officers near his 
 person. His rear divisions had to sustain 
 repeated attacks from the Russians, espe- 
 cially from the flying bodies of Cossacks; 
 but the frost and the snow, and the fierce 
 blasts of night which swept over those vast 
 open plains, killed more than either sword or 
 spear, bullets or bayonets. The wretched 
 soldiers perished like rotten sheep; and when 
 Napoleon arrived at Oresa, in Lithuania, he 
 liad only 12,000 men with arms in their 
 hands, and his 40,000 horses had dwindled 
 down to 3,000 starved and miserable animals. 
 He was atfected by the painful condition of 
 his troops. " These poor soldiers rend ray 
 lieart,^' said he ; "I cannot, however, give 
 them relief.'' 
 
 In this state the emperor and his skeleton 
 armv reached the banks of the Berezina, 
 where he was joined by a corps of reserve 
 of nearly 50,000 men, under Marshals Victor 
 and Oudinot, who had been left behind in 
 his advance upon Moscow. This seasonable 
 relief saved Napoleon from destruction, and 
 he once more found himself at the head of 
 a tolerably numerous force. But fortune 
 no longer smiled upon him with any con- 
 stanev, and these reinforcements were soon 
 terribly thinned by the enemy. On reach- 
 ing Borrisow, a town on the banks of the 
 Berezina, the French found every passage 
 occupied by the Russians, whose main army, 
 under Kutusoff, was also approaching. The 
 brave Marshal Ney observed to his brother- 
 officers — " Our situation is unparalleled. If 
 34 
 
 Napoleon extricate himself to day, he must 
 have the devil in him." ]Murat proposed 
 to the emperor to save himself and cross 
 the river at some leagues' distance; adding, 
 that he had some Poles who would answer 
 for his safetv, and conduct him to Wilna. 
 To this proposal Napoleon would not listen ; 
 and though fully aware of his dangerous 
 position, he resolved to make an cftbrt to 
 delude the enemy. After gazing upon the 
 thickening clouds of Russians who covered 
 the opposite bank of the river and filled the 
 neighbouring woods and marshes, he gave 
 orders to make a false attack further down 
 the stream. 
 
 This stratagem succeeded. The Russians 
 filed off in pursuit, and their columns were 
 lost in the woods. Napoleon instantly 
 ordered bridges to be constructed, and 
 defended with cannon. His orders were 
 obeyed ; but the Russians, discovering their 
 mistake, speedily returned and opened a 
 destructive cannonade, which swept the 
 French lines, and did terrible execution 
 upon them. Galled by this murderous fire, 
 the troops, in their eagerness to gain the 
 opposite shore, lost all consideration for the 
 condition of their comrades. The feeble 
 and the wounded were overthrown, and 
 ruthlessly trampled to death. There had 
 been time only to erect two narrow bridges 
 across the river ; the widest of which would 
 scarcely admit of the passage of a gun- 
 carriage. This frail structure, crowded to 
 excess with fugitives pushing madly forward 
 to escape from the fire of the Russian artil- 
 lery, and heavily laden with ordnance and 
 ammunition-waggons, at length gave way, 
 and sank with a tremendous crash. The 
 air was rent with the hideous yells of those 
 crushed by the falling cannon, with the 
 piercing shrieks of women, and the dismal 
 groans of the wounded, as they were pre- 
 cipitated into the half-frozen current, where 
 they met an untimely grave. So loud were 
 the distracted cries of these miserable 
 victims, that the thunder of the artillery 
 was almost drowned by their frantic impor- 
 tunity for that help which it was impossible 
 for them to obtain. The remaining bridge 
 presented a scene of horror scarcely less 
 terrible. In the struggle to obtain a footing 
 on this, now the only path, thousands were 
 thrust into the stream, as well as mowed 
 down by the incessant showers of grapeshot 
 directed against them by the Russians. 
 Amidst all this carnage, the divisions of 
 Marshals Ney and Victor, stationed to pro- 
 
 ' 
 
 tect the passage of the troops, fought bravely 
 against a much superior force, and steadily 
 maintained their ground until late in the 
 evening. Then, after having sufi'ered a 
 severe loss, they made good their retreat 
 over the bridge, and set it on fire in order to 
 cut off pursuit. The measure was, doubtless, 
 a necessary one, but it involved the aban- 
 donment of a great number of w^ounded 
 soldiers and camp attendants, who were left 
 to their fate; together with a quantity of 
 Ijaggage and cannon. This fatal passage 
 had cost Napoleon about one- half of his 
 reinforced army. According to the Russian 
 accounts, when the river was cleared from 
 the ice in the following spring, not less 
 than 36,000 dead bodies were taken from 
 its bed. 
 
 Napoleon and the skeleton of the " grand 
 army," contrived to evade their Russian 
 pursuers. Continually harassed by bodies 
 of Cossacks, who hung on his rear and 
 hovered on both his flanks, the emperor ran 
 imminent hazard of capture. On the 3rd 
 of December he arrived at Malodezno, from 
 whence he issued the famous twenty-ninth 
 bulletin, which agitated or astounded the 
 whole of Europe. The emperor felt that 
 fiction was no longer available, and he told 
 the whole truth in all its sternness; frankly 
 confessing that, except the guards, he had 
 no longer an army. On the 5th he arrived 
 at Smorgoni, where he took leave of his 
 generals, left the command of the army, 
 such as it was, to Murat, and set off in a 
 sledge to Paris, accompanied by Marshal 
 Caulaincourt, whose name he assumed 
 during the journey. After pausing at 
 Warsaw and at Dresden, he reached the 
 palace of the Tuileries on the night of the 
 18th of December. Notwithstanding the 
 fearful calamities of which his ambition had 
 been the cause, he was received by the 
 people with enthusiasm. The disastrous 
 results of the campaign, and the sacrifice of 
 so manv thousand Frenchmen, seemed 
 forgotten in the reflection that the emperor 
 was safe. 
 
 The army left under the command of 
 Murat after the flight of Napoleon, mustered, 
 including the garrison of Wilna and the 
 division by which it was joined after the 
 passage of the Berezina, about 80,000 men. 
 The sufferings endured by these wretched 
 creatures were of the most harrowing 
 
 • In all, 450,000 men. Alison estimates the loss 
 of the French at 550,000 men : he says, that out of 
 the 600,000 French soldiers who entered Russia, not 
 
 description. They perished by thousands, 
 from want and the extreme severity of the 
 weather. So destitute w^as their condition, 
 that at Wilna, when rations were distributed 
 from the magazines there, veteran soldiers 
 were seen to shed tears of joy at the sight 
 of a loaf of bread. After eagerly devouring 
 it, many fell asleep, and died during their 
 slumbers, from the effects of cold. 
 
 The French were attacked at Wilna, and, 
 after a vain attempt at defence, compelled 
 to continue their retreat, leaving in the 
 hospitals there about 17,000 dead and dying 
 men. The miserable remains of the French 
 army, once more dragging their weary limbs 
 along the interminable roads, were literally 
 hunted by Platoff and his Cossacks, whose 
 spears dispatched all poor wretches who 
 lagged behind from exhaustion. Many of 
 the unhappy soldiers lost their senses, from 
 the effect of the horrors of their situation. 
 At length the Russians gave up the pursuit, 
 and the ghastly fragments of the "grand 
 army" entered the Prussian territory, and 
 took up their quarters at Konigsberg, where 
 they were received wdth feelings of compas- 
 sion by the inhabitants. The loss of the 
 French and their auxiliaries in this awful 
 campaign, is estimated by Boutourlin at 
 125,000 killed, 132,000 dead of fatigue, 
 hunger, disease, and cold, and 193,000 
 prisoners, including 3,000 officers and 48 
 generals.* They also left behind 900 pieces 
 of cannon, and 25,000 waggons. The Rus- 
 sians state their own loss to have amounted 
 to 230,000 men ; comprising 130,000 soldiers 
 killed in battle, and 100,000 persons who 
 perished in the woods, in consequence of the 
 burning of Moscow and other places. This 
 is supposed to be below the truth. Remark- 
 able as it may appear, the Russians suffered 
 more from the cold than the French; 
 amongst the ranks of the latter, the survivors 
 were chiefly Italians, or Frenchmen of the 
 provinces to the south of the Loire. 
 
 The Austrian and Prussian contingents 
 had rendered but little assistance to Napo- 
 leon; and, during the retreat, they took the 
 first opportunity to desert him. The Prus- 
 sian general York, whose duty it was to have 
 covered the retreat of the French army, on 
 being closely pressed by his pursuers, 
 suddenly made a truce with his Russian 
 opponent, General Diebitsch ; and a few days 
 afterwards they concluded the convention of 
 
 more than 32,000 escaped from it. The remainder 
 of the survivors, amounting, in all, to 85,000 men, 
 were Austrians and Prussians. 
 
 35 
 
 .1 
 
'.i 
 
 f 
 
 4! I 
 
 ■41 
 
 RETALIATION OF EXJSSIA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1813. 
 
 Posarura, by which all hostilities between 
 the Russians and the Prussians ceased ; and 
 
 also, were permitted to retire unassailed, 
 and immediately afterwards resumed a 
 
 the latter continued their retreat to their j questionable neutrality, which leant more 
 own country unmolested. The Austrians, I towards Russia than to France. 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 
 RUSSIA AND PRUSSIA TAKE THE FIELD AGAINST NAPOLEON; PROFITLESS VICTORIES OF THE LATTER; AUS- 
 TRIA JOINS THE ALLIES; CAMPAIGN OF 1813; THE ALLIES INVADE FRANCE; REVERSES OF NAPOLEON; 
 HIS MISTAKEN MARCH TOWARDS THE RHINE ; ADVANCE OF THE ALLIES ON PARIS ; BATTLE BEFORE THE 
 CITY • CAPITULATION OF PARIS, AND ITS OCCUPATION BY THE ALLIES ; GENEROUS BEARING OF THE EM- 
 PEROR ALEXANDER; A PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT DECLARE NAPOLEON DETHRONED; RESTORATION OF 
 THE BOURBONS, AND DEPARTURE OF NAPOLEON FOR ELBA ; PEACE BETWEEN FRANCE AND THE ALLIES ; 
 ALEXANDER VISITS ENGLAND, AND IS RECEIVED WITH ENTHUSIASM. 
 
 Russia now prepared to retaliate on the foe 
 who had inflicted upon her so much calamity. 
 On the 22nd of February, 1813, Alexander 
 issued a proclamation, in which he endea- 
 voured to excite the whole of Europe against 
 Napoleon. This document observed — " We 
 take advantage of our victories to extend 
 the hand of succour to the oppressed 
 nations. The moment is come : never was 
 a more glorious opportunity presented to 
 unfortunate Germany — the enemy flies, 
 without courage and without hope. He 
 astonishes, by his terror, the nations that 
 were wont to be astonished by his pride and 
 his barbarity. We speak with the frankness 
 which is suitable to strength. Russia, and 
 England her intrepid ally, who for twenty 
 years has continued shaking that colossus 
 of crime which threatens the universe, have 
 no thought of their own aggrandisement. 
 It is our benefits, and not the limits of our 
 empire, that we wish to extend to the 
 remotest nations. The destinies of Vesu- 
 vius and of Guadiana, have been determined 
 on the banks of the Borysthenes; it is 
 thence that Spain will recover the liberty 
 that she has defended with heroism and 
 energy in an age of feebleness and baseness.^' 
 Prussia had not only deserted Napolevm 
 in the campaign, but she had thrown off* the 
 mask — entered into an alliance with Russia, 
 and declared herself hostile towards her 
 former oppressor. The French emperor 
 prepared for the approaching contest with 
 his customary self-reliance. He appealed 
 to the senate, who voted a conscription of 
 350,000 men ; and such was the enthusiasm 
 of the principal cities of France, that in 
 addition to these immense levies, they voted 
 36 
 
 regiments of volunteers, to be raised and 
 equipped at their own expense. 
 
 Alexander endeavoured to induce Austria 
 to enter with him into a European alliance 
 against France ; but Austria held aloof from 
 this extremity, and off'ered her mediation, 
 with a view of putting an end to the calami- 
 ties which were desolating Europe. Shortly 
 afterwards, however, the Austrian cabinet 
 made a secret convention with Russia, which 
 evinced its inclination in favour of that 
 power. 
 
 Towards the end of March, an allied army, 
 consisting of 80,000 Russians and (30,000 
 Prussians, crossed the Elbe, near Witten- 
 burg and Dresden. General Kutusoff*, worn 
 out by the fatigues of the last campaign, was 
 no more ; and the emperor Alexander himself 
 assumed the chief command of his army. 
 To oppose them. Napoleon led an army of 
 250,000 men to Saxony: of these troops, 
 however, nearly a fourth part were Germans 
 of Saxony, Westphalia, or Bavaria, whose 
 fidelity was at the least doubtful; while 
 those who came from France were young 
 and inexperienced, for the veteran soldiers 
 had mostly perished. On the 2nd of May, 
 the battle of Liitzen took place ; in which, 
 after a furious contest, the allies were de- 
 feated with a loss of 15,000 men. The 
 victory of the French was, however, by no 
 means a decisive one, and was purchased at 
 a loss equal to that of their enemies. The 
 latter retreated on the following morning to 
 Dresden, from whence they proceeded to a 
 strongly-intrenched position which had been 
 prepared at Bautzen. There they were 
 followed by Napoleon ; and a second battle 
 took place, extending over the 20th and 
 
 ' 
 
 - 
 
 A.D. 1813.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [EUROPE IN ARMS. 
 
 21st of May. After an obstinately-disputed 
 conflict, the allies again retreated. They 
 had now adopted the policy of not placing 
 themselves in danger of undergoing a total 
 defeat, but of retiring whenever the issue of 
 an action seemed doubtful, and taking 
 advantage of their numerous cavalry to 
 cover their retreat, trusting that, in the end, 
 the superiority of their physical resources 
 would obtain for them the advantage. In 
 consequence of the carnage occasioned by 
 the Prussian artillery, the loss of the victors 
 exceeded that of the allies: that of the 
 latter, in killed and wounded, is estimated at 
 16,000 men ; that of the French at 19,000. 
 Alexander, though unfortunate in his as- 
 sumption of the duties of a general, yet 
 performed them with a courage and coolness 
 which elicited admiration. 
 
 The allies were driven again to retreat 
 before the French. Diffident of their power 
 to contend successfully with Napoleon, 
 unless assisted by Austria, they grasped at 
 the off*er of an armistice which the French 
 emperor proposed, with the hope of regaining 
 his influence over Alexander. It was con- 
 cluded at Plesswitz, in Silesia, on the 4th of 
 June. This was an error on the part of 
 Napoleon, and eventually proved of more 
 advantage to Alexander than a victory ; for 
 during the continuance of it, Austria, pro- 
 voked by the undiminished obstinacy and 
 haughtiness of Napoleon (who peremptorily 
 rejected the main condition of definitive 
 peace),* was prevailed on to join the alliance 
 against him; and when, on the 17th of Au- 
 gust, the armistice expired, the forces of the 
 allies, swelled also by the adhesion of Bava- 
 ria and Wirtemburg, amounted to more 
 than half a million of men. Of this enor- 
 mous host, Alexander was ambitious to take 
 the chief command ; but finding that Austria 
 was unwilling to consent, from distrust of 
 his military talents, he surrendered his claim 
 in favour of the Austrian prince, Schwart- 
 zenberg. 
 
 Russia, Austria, Prussia, and Sweden, had 
 entered into a league against Napoleon; 
 while England was carrying on the war 
 against him in Spain, and subsidizing Rus- 
 sia, Prussia, and Sweden. In fact, Europe 
 was in arms against France ; Denmark only 
 declared in his favour. The resources of 
 France were now inadequate to the tremen- 
 dous struggle which such an accumulation of 
 power threatened. To narrate the particu- 
 
 • Namely, to give up all his conquests in Germany, 
 and to withdraw with h's troops beyond the Rhine. 
 
 lars of this campaign would lead us far 
 beyond our limits ; we can only refer to its 
 chief incidents and its result. On the 26th 
 and 27th of August, Napoleon gained a 
 great victory over the allies at Dresden, in 
 which the latter lost 40,000 meu in killed, 
 wounded, and prisoners ; 40 pair of colours, 
 and 60 pieces of cannon. This good fortune 
 did not continue; and the French army 
 having advanced upon Bohemia, was de- 
 feated at Kulra by the Russians, and at 
 Mullendorf by the Prussian general, Kleist. 
 Upon this the hopes of Napoleon were 
 blighted by one defeat after another; and 
 in the battles of Grossbeeren, Dennewitz, 
 Katzbach, Gbrde, and many others, the 
 Prussians, under the brave Blucher, restored 
 the honour of their arms, and reduced Na- 
 poleon to a most critical position in the 
 neighbourhood of Leipzig. Such was the 
 activity of Blucher, that he obtained the 
 name of ''Marshal Forwards;" as he was 
 constantly advancing, and almost as con- 
 stantly fighting. Napoleon's armies lost 
 strength and ground on every side, and his 
 German allies began to forsake him. He, 
 however, determined to make a final stand 
 at Leipzig. There he fought three succes- 
 sive battles, on the 16th, I8th, and 19th of 
 October, against an immensely superior 
 force. During the first two days of action, 
 the French fought gallantly, but lost ground 
 before their assailants. On the 18th, a body 
 of 10,000 Saxons, raising the patriotic shout 
 for Germany, deserted the French and went 
 over to the allies. This defection induced 
 Napoleon to resolve on effecting a retreat 
 towards the Rhine. He made his arrange- 
 ments during the night. On the morning 
 of the 19th, his army filed out of Leipzig by 
 a long narrow bridge. During this operation 
 they were attacked by the allies, who, after 
 a desperate struggle, burst into the town. 
 As the French blew up the bridge to prevent 
 the allies from pursuing, 25,000 Frenchmen, 
 who remained in the town, were compelled 
 to surrender as prisoners of war. Napoleon 
 himself narrowly escaped a similar fate. 
 The horrors of the passage of the Berezina, 
 though on a smaller scale, were renewed. 
 Multitudes, in their attempt to cross the 
 deep but rapid stream, were drowned, or 
 perished beneath the fire of the enemy. 
 The remnant of the French army fled 
 towards the Rhine, and was compelled to 
 fight its way, at Hanau, through the Bava- 
 rians, its late allies. The passage of the 
 Rhine was effected by Napoleon ou the 2nd 
 
 37 
 
HIE ALLIES INVADE FRANCE.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1814. 
 
 J 
 
 N 
 
 of November ; but such had been the 
 disasters of the campaign and the retreat, 
 that out of an array of 250,000 men, which 
 he led into the field in the month of May, 
 only seventy or eighty thousand recrossed 
 that river. Leaving this force on the left 
 bank, the emperor hastened to Paris. About 
 80,000 men, whom he bad left to hold the 
 Prussian fortresses, eventually surrendered 
 to the allies. 
 
 Frederic William advised his allies to 
 carry out their retaliation on Napoleon by 
 an invasion of France ; but, for some time, 
 a contrary opinion prevailed at head-quar- 
 ters, and nearly two months were passed 
 in inactivity. The emperor of Austria, 
 naturally solicitous that the sceptre of 
 France should remain in the hands of his 
 daughter and her descendants, was averse 
 to the adoption of extreme measures against 
 Napoleon, and desired only to humble him 
 sufficiently as to render him no longer for- 
 midable to his neighbours. At length it was 
 resolved that no lasting peace could be ex- 
 pected in Europe until the entire dethrone- 
 ment of Napoleon, and the restoration of 
 the ancient territorial limits of France and 
 its ancient race of monarchs. The Russian 
 troops were delighted at tbe idea of pro- 
 ceeding to Paris ; and they resolved to give 
 that city to the flames, in revenge for the 
 destruction of Moscow. Alexander, to his 
 honour, restrained this savage spirit. On 
 the eve of crossing the Rhine, he issued an 
 address to his troops, in which he said — 
 " Our enemies, by piercing to the heart of 
 our dominions, wrought us much evil; but 
 dreadful was the retribution : the Divine 
 wrath crushed them. Let us not take 
 example from them ; inhumanity and fero- 
 city cannot be pleasing in the eyes of a 
 merciful God. Let us forget what they 
 have done against us. Instead of animosity 
 and revenge, let us approach them with the 
 words of kindness, with the outstretched 
 hand of reconciliation. Such is the lesson 
 taught by our holy faith. Divine lips have 
 pronounced the command — ' Love your 
 enemies ; do good to them that hate you.' 
 Warriors ! I trust that, by your modera- 
 tion in the enemy's country, you will 
 conquer as much by generosity as by arms ; 
 and that, uniting the valour of the soldier 
 against the armed, with the charity of the 
 Christian towards the unarmed, you will 
 crown your exploits by keeping stainless 
 vour well-earned reputation of a brave and 
 moral people. 
 38 
 
 )i 
 
 On the 31st of December, 1813, the allied 
 army of Russia, Prussia, and Austria, crossed 
 the Rhine. Napoleon, with undiminished 
 spirit, instantly prepared to meet the in- 
 vaders. On the 25th of January, 1814, he 
 embraced his wife and son, whom he never 
 saw again, and left the palace of the Tuile- 
 ries for the army, the head -quarters of 
 which were established at Chalons. His 
 presence imparted both confidence and 
 enthusiasm to his troops, amounting, not- 
 withstanding his activity, to no more than 
 70,000 men, who had been dismayed at 
 the approach of the enemy, and the re- 
 treat to which they had been driven. He 
 now commenced the campaign which 
 has been considered by tacticians as that 
 in which he most strikingly displayed his 
 astonishing genius for military combina- 
 tions, fertility of resources, and quickness 
 of movement. During it, a conference of 
 the representatives of France and the allies 
 was held at Chatillon, with the ol)ject of 
 arranging a peace ; but hostilities were 
 actively carried on pending its ielibera- 
 tions. The offers of the allies 'vere not 
 unreasonable ; but Napoleon abated no- 
 thing of his haughty bearing, and broke up 
 the congress, rather than surrender Antwerp 
 and Mantua. 
 
 The events of the campaign were at first 
 favourable to Napoleon, and he inflicted 
 many severe checks on the allies. For 
 more than two months he held at bay the 
 various armies of the allies — now defeating 
 one, then flying to attack another, at times 
 suffering severe reverses himself, yet almost 
 instantly recovering his strength. The 
 courage and genius of the emperor appeared 
 as if capable of effecting miracles. The 
 chances of war were, however, fearfully 
 against him, and the numerical superiority 
 of his enemies overwhelming. At the battle 
 of Craone he experienced a tremendous 
 loss ; while at Laon he suft'ered a severe 
 defeat. Paris was in an alarming situa- 
 tion ; for, in consequence of a diversion 
 produced by Blucher, the road to it was 
 left open to Schwartzenberg. Napoleon, 
 self-possessed among the many dangers that 
 environed him, marched against the army 
 of the Austrian general, which he encoun- 
 tered at Arcis-sur-Aube. The battle was 
 an indecisive one, and Napoleon retreated 
 towards the Rhine ; thus abandoning the 
 defence of Paris. His object was to threaten 
 the communications of the enemv, and to 
 draw near to the garrisons of the frontier. 
 
 A.D. 1814.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the ADVANCE ON PARIS. 
 
 from which those supplies of veteran troops 
 could be obtained which were no longer to 
 be found in the heart of France. He 
 trusted, by this means, to threaten the com- 
 munications of the allies in such a manner 
 as would deter them from advancing further 
 in the direction of the capital. The French 
 troops were greatly discouraged at this 
 retrograde step : murmurs arose ; and many 
 of the officers questioned even the sanity 
 of their leader. They were plunging into 
 an endless warfare, and directing their 
 steps towards Germany ; while the capital of 
 their country, containing all that was dear 
 to them, was in danger of becoming the 
 prey of the enemy. ^^t 
 
 The allies, also, were astonished at this 
 movement ; and no sooner had it taken place, 
 than, by a junction of part of Blucher's army 
 with that of Schwartzenberg, no less than 
 180,000 armed men stood between Napo- 
 leon and Paris. At the same time the allied 
 generals received intelligence of the occupa- 
 tion of Bordeaux by the British troops, and 
 the proclamation of Louis XVIII. with the 
 general concurrence of the inhabitants. 
 Alexander called a council of war, in which 
 the prevalent opinion leaned towards pur- 
 suing the French emperor, and attacking 
 him wherever they should find him. This 
 was, however, abandoned in favour of a 
 proposition to march on to Paris, of which, 
 it was presumed, they could take possession, 
 and destroy Napoleon's power there before 
 he could get back to its relief— a decision 
 which excited an extraordinary enthusiasm 
 throughout the allied army, and elicited the 
 unbounded exultation of the Russians. 
 
 As the allies advanced, they were encoun- 
 tered by the French forces under Marshals 
 Marmont and Mortier, whom they defeated 
 at the battle of Fere-Cham penoise. In 
 this and some other combats the French 
 lost half their artillery, and nearly 11,000 
 men. Marmont and Mortier immediately 
 retreated towards Paris, the defence of 
 which now devolved on them alone. The 
 allied army continued its advance. ''My 
 children,'' said Alexander to his soldiers, 
 "it is now but a step to Paris." With 
 enthusiastic cheers they responded, ''We 
 will take it, father; we remember Moscow." 
 Contrary to what might have been expected, 
 the Russian emperor exerted himself to the 
 utmost to preserve a strict disciphne 
 amongst his troops; and with so much 
 success, that the terrified French peasantry 
 were protected from outrage and plunder. 
 
 As the allied army approached Paris, the 
 greatest agitation prevailed within that city. 
 Crowds of trembling peasants beset the bar- 
 riers ; the banks were closed, business sus- 
 pended, and the inhabitants hastened to 
 bury their plate and other valuables. In 
 compliance with a conditional order from 
 Napoleon, the empress and her son left 
 the capital, and proceeded to Blois, a city 
 seated on the waters of the Loire. Maria 
 Louisa was calm, though pale; but the 
 little king of Rome resisted violently, and 
 exclaimed, with tears, that they were be- 
 traying his papa. The hearts of the people 
 sunk at their departure ; and notwithstand- 
 ing the preparations for defence, the general 
 conviction was, that nothing remained but 
 to make the best terms that could be ob- 
 tained from the enemy. 
 
 Before the allies could enter Paris, they 
 had again to encounter the French troop's 
 under Marshals Marmont and Mortier. 
 These occupied the front of the army 
 gathered for the defence of the city, and 
 were backed by such battalions of the 
 national guards as could be spared from 
 the internal defences of the city. The 
 scholars of the Polytechnic school also 
 came forward as volunteers, to serve the 
 artillery. In all, not more than 35,000 men 
 took part in the defence; but they were 
 supported by 153 pieces of cannon. The 
 veteran soldiers, though firm, and prepared 
 to lay down their lives for their country, 
 were yet sad; for they knew the enemy 
 they had to encounter, and felt that the 
 coming struggle would be in vain. Of the 
 allied troops, 100,000 were ready for the 
 attack ; the remainder being left behind, at 
 the Marne and at other places, to keep an 
 eye on the movements of Napoleon. The 
 battle took place on the 30th of March, 
 and the resistance of the French was an 
 intrepid one. The struggle commenced soon 
 after five in the morning ; and, for a time, 
 the Russians were repulsed, and their cuiras- 
 siers routed. /At eight, the emperor Alex- 
 ander arrived on the field, and ordered up 
 three divisions of the guards, who restored 
 the battle, and drove back the French. At 
 eleven the Prussian army approached, and 
 a vigorous attack was made by the allies, 
 who were received at the point of the 
 bayonet ; while the Russian guards were 
 mowed down by the French artillery. The 
 carnage was terrible; and persons unused 
 to war w^ere seen contending with the 
 veterans of Russia. For four hours the 
 
 39 
 
 I a 
 
 h»l 
 
 rl 
 .4 
 
 ;j il 
 
 • -if. 
 
THE ALLIES ENTER PARIS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 La.d. 1814. 
 
 French maintained their position against 
 the constantly-increasing masses and reite- 
 rated attacks of the Prussians. The heights 
 which command Paris were then stormed, 
 and at length taken ; when Joseph Buona- 
 parte, to save the inhabitants from the 
 horrors of a bombardment, entered into a 
 capitulation with the allies. The latter 
 assented to the demands of the French 
 marshals — that Paris should be protected, 
 its monuments intrusted to the care of the 
 national guard, and private property re- 
 spected. It was proposed that the French 
 generals and the regular troops should 
 surrender as prisoners of war ; but this 
 they resolutely refused, declaring that they 
 would sooner renew the struggle, and perish 
 in the streets. It was therefore finally 
 arranged that they should evacuate Paris; 
 that the public arsenals and magazines 
 should be surrendered ; that the national 
 guard should be either disbanded or em- 
 ployed, under the direction of the allies, in 
 the service of the city ; which was recom- 
 mended to the generosity of the victors. 
 In the battle, the allies lost upwards of 
 9,000 men, of whom 7,100 were Russians. 
 The loss of the French did not exceed 
 4,500 : they had surrendered their capital, 
 it is true ; but only to the forces of banded 
 Europe. 
 
 A deputation, consisting of the mayor 
 and principal magistrates of Paris, waited 
 on the emperor Alexander, and were re- 
 ceived by him with great courtesy. " Gentle- 
 men,^' said he, " I am not the enemy of the 
 French nation : I am so only of a single 
 man, whom I once admired, and long loved ; 
 but who, devoured bv ambition and filled 
 with bad faith, came into the heart of my 
 dominions, and left me no alternative but 
 to seek security for my future safety in the 
 liberation of Europe. The allied sovereigns 
 have come here, neither to conquer nor to 
 rule France, but to learn and support what 
 France itself deems most suitable for its 
 own welfare; and they only await, before 
 undertaking the task, to ascertain, in the 
 declared wish of Paris, the probable desire 
 of France." 
 
 The day after the battle, the allied sove- 
 reigns, preceded by a great military force, 
 entered Paris. The spectacle was a grand 
 one; and the terror of the Parisians gave 
 way to admiration. Alexander and Fred- 
 eric William had issued a pacific proclama- 
 tion; and the former was received with a 
 gratitude which amounted to enthusiasm. 
 40 
 
 t» 
 
 Cries of *' Vive VEmpereur Alexandre !' 
 " Vive le Roi de Prusse f" burst from the 
 crowd. " We have been long expecting 
 you,'' said one unpatriotic sycophant to 
 the czar ; who generously answered — " We 
 should have been here sooner, but for the 
 bravery of your troops." Subsequently, 
 Alexander gave an order for the release ot 
 all the French prisoners of war confined in 
 Russia. 
 
 When Napoleon heard of the attack on 
 Paris, he hurriedly fell back to its relief; 
 but it was too late. Near Fontainebleau he 
 met the columns of the garrison, which 
 were evacuating the city. He had learned 
 the news with rage and incredulity. " It is 
 too dreadful !" he exclaimed : " that comes 
 of trusting cowards and fools ! When I 
 am not there, they do nothing but heap up 
 blunder on blunder." At Paris, a provi- 
 sional government, which had been estab- 
 lished, with Talleyrand at its head, passed a 
 decree dethroning the emperor, and ab- 
 solving the army and people from their 
 oaths of allegiance to him. Then arose 
 the question, Who should rule France ? 
 " Sire," said Talleyrand to the emperor 
 Alexander, " there are but two courses open 
 to us : Buonaparte, or Louis XVIII." Na- 
 poleon at first refused to abdicate ; but at 
 length consented to do so in favour of his 
 son. The generals by whom he was sur- 
 rounded at Fontainebleau, had assured him 
 that he ought to do so, having previously re- 
 fused to join him in a last desperate attempt 
 upon Paris. The work of defection had com- 
 menced, and Marmont joined the allies with 
 the French troops who had so bravely de- 
 fended Paris. Other desertions followed; 
 and even the brave Marshal Ney abandoned 
 his master, and gave in his adhesion to the 
 party of Talleyrand. It did not escape 
 the observation of the autocrats who now 
 held the fate of France in their hands, that 
 the recognition of Maria Louisa as regent, 
 and the infant Napoleon as heir, would be a 
 continuation of the revolutionary rtgime, 
 and they therefore decided in favour of the 
 Bourbons. Indeed, so great a reaction had 
 been produced by the sufferings to which 
 the reckless ambition of Napoleon exposed 
 the nation, that the proposed restoration of 
 the Bourbons to the throne actually became 
 popular. After a violent explosion of pas- 
 sion, the emperor signed an absolute and 
 unqualified resignation of the throne. This 
 document was signed on the 11th of April. 
 It was arranged, that Napoleon was to 
 
 
 1^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 o 
 
 k> 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 ^-^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 I 
 
 S' 
 
 \-^ 
 
 ;N 
 
 X 
 
 Si 
 
 *•. % 
 
 
A.D. 1814.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [restoration of the bourbons. 
 
 
 retain the barren title of emperor. The 
 island of Elba was assigned him as a place 
 of residence ; and a sum of 2,500,000 francs 
 a-year provided for his support. Before 
 the conclusion of this treaty, he was de- 
 serted by nearly all the persons of dis- 
 tinction who had formerly thronged around 
 him, and made to feel the bitterness of 
 ingratitude, and the littleness of human 
 nature. He took an affectionate leave of 
 the few generals who remained faithful to 
 him, and of liis old guard. "I bid you 
 farewell,'^ said he; "I am satisfied with 
 you ; for twenty years I have always found 
 you in the path of glory. All Europe has 
 armed against me ; part of the troops have 
 betrayed their duty; France herself has 
 deserted me, by choosing another dynasty ; 
 with my soldiers I might have maintained 
 a servile war for years ; that, however, 
 would have rendered France unhappy. Be 
 faithful to the new sovereign whom vour 
 country has chosen ; do not lament* my 
 fate; I shall always be happy with the 
 knowledge that you are so. I might have 
 died — nothing was more easy — but I shall 
 always follow the path of honour ; with my 
 pen will I record the exploits we have 
 achieved together. Farewell my brave 
 companions — surround me once more — 
 adieu, my children, farewell.'^ He then 
 departed for Elba, where he arrived on the 
 4th of May. During the voyage he re- 
 covered his spirits, and observed — " The 
 Bourbons will be turned off in six months." 
 Before the end of Mav, his first wife, Jose- 
 phine, breathed her last. Maria Louisa 
 had been persuaded to abandon him, and 
 place herself and her son under the protec- 
 tion of her father, the emperor of Austria. 
 
 On the 7th of April the Comte d'Artois 
 was called to the throne of France, with the 
 title of Louis XVIII. " Nothing is changed ; 
 there is only one Frenchman the more in 
 Paris," he observed, as he entered that 
 city on the 3rd of May, where he was 
 received rather with apathy and a sense of 
 humiliation, than with any ardent demon- 
 strations of loyalty. '^ A treaty of peace was 
 signed on the 30th, by the plenipotentiaries 
 of France on one hand, and those of Russia, 
 Prussia, and England on the other. This, 
 at one blow, swept away all the conquests of 
 the Revolution, and reduced France to its 
 
 yOL. II. G 
 
 original limits as they stood on the 1st of 
 January, 1792. 
 
 The emperor Alexander and the king of 
 Prussia left Paris on the 5th of June, and 
 proceeded to England, which they had 
 been invited to visit by the prince-regent. 
 They were conveyed from Boulogne to 
 Dover in an English ship of war, com- 
 manded by the Duke of Clarence; and 
 remained for about three weeks in this 
 country, where they met with an enthu- 
 siastic reception from all classes. Amongst 
 the great number of princes and generals 
 by whom they were attended, the most 
 popular with the English people was the 
 brave old Marshal Blucher, and Count 
 Platoff, the hetman of the Cossacks. The 
 emperor and king were entertained with 
 unexampled magnificence by the citizens of 
 London, at Guildhall; and Alexander was 
 invested, at Carlton House, with the order 
 of the Garter. At Oxford, academical 
 honours were bestowed on the allied sove- 
 reigns ; while at Portsmouth, a splendid 
 naval review was got up for their entertain- 
 ment. On visiting the arsenal at Wool- 
 wich, Alexander was so impressed by the 
 enormous amount of stores in that military 
 emporium, that he exclaimed — " Why, this 
 resembles rather the preparation of a great 
 nation for the commencement of a war, 
 than the stores still remaining to it at its 
 termination.'' From England Alexander 
 proceeded to Holland, where he visited the 
 cottage which Peter the Great had Hved 
 in while working as a ship's carpenter at 
 Saardam.^ Thence, after a short stay, 
 Alexander proceeded to Carlsruhe. On the 
 25th of July he arrived at St. Petersburg, 
 where his appearance was greeted by illumi- 
 nations and other testimonies of national 
 joy. The synod and the senate decreed 
 him the title of '' Blagoslovennuiy," or 
 " Blessed," which, however, he declined to 
 accept; while to a proposal for erecting a 
 monument to commemorate his exploits, he 
 replied— "I beg the public bodies of the 
 empire to abandon all such designs. May 
 a monument be erected to me in your 
 hearts, as it is to you in mine [ ^ May my 
 people bless me in their hearts, as in mine I 
 bless them ! May Russia be happy, and 
 may the Divine blessing watch over her and 
 over me!" 
 
 41 
 
 I 
 
 I: 
 
 Hi 
 
CONGRESS OF VIENNA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1814. 
 
 CHAPTER vn. 
 
 CONGRESS OF THE SOVEREIGNS OF EUROPE AT VIENNA; NAPOLEON LEAVES ELBA, AND THE BOURBON 
 SOVEREIGN TAKES TO FLIGHT; THE ALLIES PROSCRIBE HIM AS A GENERAL ENEMY; ENGLAND AND 
 PRUSSIA TAKE THE FIELD AGAINST HIM; WATERLOO, AND THE FINAL OVERTHROW OF NAPOLEON; 
 PARIS AGAIN CAPITULATES, AND LOUIS XVIII. IS A SECOND TIME RESTORED ; THE SECOND TREATY OP 
 PARIS; ALEXANDER FOUNDS THE " HOLY ALLIANCE ;" HE ESTABLISHES A CONSTITUTION FOR POLAND; 
 HE REFUSES TO ASSIST THE GREEKS IN THEIR STRUGGLE AGAINST THE OPPRESSION OF TURKEY ; DES- 
 POTIC CONDUCT OF ALEXANDER DURING THE LATTKR YKARS OF HIS LIFE; HIS INQUISITORIAL SEVERITY 
 WITH RESPECT TO EDUCATION; HIS DREAD OF CONSPIRACY AND ASSASSINATION; HIS DEATH; ESTIMATE 
 OF HIS CHARACTER. 
 
 A CONGRESS of the sovereigns of Europe 
 commenced its deliberations at Vienna, at 
 the close of the year 1814. The emperor 
 Alexander and the king of Prussia attended 
 in person, as did also a number of lesser 
 princes. France was represented by M. Tal- 
 leyrand, and England at first by Lord Castle- 
 reagh, and subsequently by the Duke of 
 Wellington. The principal business to be 
 transacted by the congress, was the redistri- 
 bution of the numerous provinces surren- 
 dered by France at the peace of Paris. So 
 extensive had been the conquests of France, 
 that territories inhabited by no less than 
 31,691,000 persons, were at the disposal of 
 the allies. The greatest difficulty was with 
 respect to Poland; for Alexander insisted 
 that the whole grand-duchy of Warsaw 
 should be ceded to Russia, as an indemnity 
 for the sacrifices she had made, and the 
 losses she had sustained during the war. 
 He asserted, that if he returned to St. Peters- 
 burg without obtaining some adequate com- 
 pensation for the sacrifices his nation had 
 undergone, he would jeopardise the safety 
 of his crown ; alluded to the circumstance 
 that Poland was already, in fact, occupied by 
 the Russian troops ; and hinted that he had 
 not less than 300,000 troops ready to march 
 at a moment's notice. It was thus seen, 
 that his scrupulous regard to justice, existed 
 only when his own empire was threatened. 
 Now that the danger was past, he was quite 
 ready to seize the territory of his neighbours 
 with as much greediness, though with more 
 caution, as had ever been displayed by Na- 
 poleon. 
 
 Prussia, bribed by a hope tliat her domin- 
 ions should be restored to her as they stood 
 at the commencement of the war of 1806, 
 together "with such additions as might be 
 deemed practicable/' supported the claim of 
 Alexander, which was opposed by France, 
 Austria, and England. On behalf of the 
 latter power. Lord Castlereagh energetically 
 42 
 
 opposed the union of the crowns of Poland 
 and Russia on the same head, or the pro- 
 posed annexation of Saxony to Prussia, as 
 contrary to the principles on which the war 
 a<;ainst Napoleon had been maintained. 
 The arguments of the British plenipoten- 
 tiary were strenuously supported by those of 
 Tallevrand and Metternich. Alexander 
 was irritated at this opposition, and dissen- 
 sions arose to such a height, that another 
 appeal to arms became probable, in which 
 France and Austria, sanctioned by England, 
 would have entered into an alliance against 
 Russia and Prussia. Alexander suspended 
 the return of his troops to Russia, and kept 
 them in Poland ready for the resumption Oi 
 hostilities. His brother, the Grand-duke 
 Constantine, also issued an address to the 
 Poles, announcing the intention of the czar 
 to restore to them their lost nationality, 
 and calling upon them to rally round his 
 standard as the only means of efi'ecting it. 
 
 The ambition of Alexander raised up a 
 counteracting influence. Austria, France, 
 and England, entered into a secret treaty ot 
 alliance, ofifensive and defensive, binding 
 themselves to act together, honourably to 
 carry into eflfect the stipulations of the 
 treaty of Paris. Alexander and Frederic 
 William did not long remain in ignorance 
 of this proceeding, which induced them to 
 lower the high tone they had assumed, and 
 consent to an abatement of their preten- 
 sions. Prussia was compelled to content 
 herself with but a portion of the territory of 
 Saxony, which she acquired in addition to a 
 part of the grand-duchy of Warsaw, and the 
 whole of her territory as it stood prior to 
 the battle of Jena. 
 
 Before the allies had settled their disputes, 
 they were startled by the intelligence that 
 Napoleon had left Elba. The restored 
 Bourbon sovereign had disgusted the people 
 of France ; a conspiracy was formed against 
 the impotent Louis XYIII. ; and the exiled 
 
 A.D. 1815.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [return of n.u»oleon. 
 
 
 emperor secretly invited to return. After 
 an absence of about ten months, he left 
 Elba, and landed at Cannes on the 1st of 
 March, 1815, with about 1,000 men of his 
 old guard, who had followed him into 
 banishment. Wherever he appeared the 
 army declared in his favour, and his march 
 to Paris was a triumphal progress. The 
 allies immediately signed a proclamation, 
 which proscribed Napoleon as a public 
 enemy, with whom neither peace nor truce 
 could be concluded; and expressed their 
 determination to employ the whole forces at 
 their disposal, to prevent Europe from being 
 again plunged into the abyss of revolution. 
 The alarm thus excited by the common 
 enemy, led to a settlement of the disputes 
 between the allies themselves. Alexander 
 agreed to accept of the grand-duchy of 
 Warsaw, without the fortress of Thorn and 
 its dependent territory, and with the excep- 
 tion of that portion ceded to Prussia. He 
 also consented that Poland should not be 
 incorporated with Russia, but should form a 
 separate kingdom, preserving its own laws, 
 institutions, language, and religion. 
 
 Louis XVIIl. abandoned Paris at mid- 
 night on the 19th of March, and retired 
 again into exile. On the evening of the 
 20th Napoleon arrived at the Tuileries, 
 where he was received by a great number 
 of his supporters with extraordinary enthu- 
 siasm. Still the great body of the citizens 
 looked on with silent astonishment, and 
 it soon became apparent that the emperor 
 was recalled by a party and not by a nation. 
 The people, longing for repose, feared the 
 return of the hordes of Russia to ravage 
 their fields and reoccupy their capital. The 
 royalists of the south even took to arms in 
 defence of the Bourbon cause; but this 
 attempt to light up the flames of servile war 
 happily proved abortive. The authority of the 
 emperor would soon have been re-established 
 in France, but for the overwhelming external 
 opposition which was gathering its forces 
 against him. Russia, Prussia, Austria, and 
 England, each agreed to furnish 180,000 
 men to efi'ect his overthrow. During this 
 eventful year. Great Britain paid subsidies 
 to her almost bankrupt allies, amounting to 
 no less than £11,000,000. 
 
 Napoleon endeavoured, but in vain, to 
 open a diplomatic intercourse with the allies. 
 The emperor Alexander, who had hitherto 
 been influenced by the remains of a kindly 
 feeling towards him, was now the most 
 decided of his opponents. ''We can have 
 
 no peace,^' said he to a secret agent of Na- 
 poleon ; " it is a mortal duel betwixt us ; he 
 has broken his word. I am freed from my 
 engagement ; Europe requires an example.*' 
 Napoleon had probably expected this result, 
 and he taxed the resources of his almost 
 exhausted empire to the uttermost to prepare 
 for war. At a great fete held in the Champ 
 de Mai, he addressed to the people one of 
 his spirit-stirring orations, in which he said — 
 '' Frenchmen ! in traversing, amid the public 
 joy, the diff'erent provinces of my empire 
 to arrive in my capital, I trusted I coud 
 reckon on a long peace ; nations are bound 
 by treaties concluded by their governments, 
 whatever they may be. My whole thoughts 
 were then turned to the means of foundins: 
 our liberty on a constitution resting on the 
 wishes and interests of the people. There- 
 fore it is that I have convoked the assembly 
 of the Champ de Mai. I soon learned, 
 however, that the princes who resist all 
 popular rights, and disregard the wishes and 
 interests of so many nations, were resolved 
 on war.^' 
 
 On the 12th of June, Napoleon left Paris 
 to assume the command of the army, which 
 consisted of 122,000 men. Wellington with 
 80,000 men, and Blucher with 110,000, were 
 in the field against him. Napoleon's de- 
 sign was to prevent the junction of these 
 forces, and defeat them singly. While 
 Wellington and Blucher were dreaming of 
 an off'ensive campaign against him, they 
 were suddenly called upon to defend thena- 
 selves against the vigorous movements of 
 Napoleon. On the 15th of June, he ad- 
 vanced upon Charleroi, which the Prussian 
 troops, taken by surprise, abandoned at his 
 approach. Marshal Ney, with 50,000 men, 
 was dispatched by the emperor to Quatre 
 Bras, the possession of which by the French 
 would have probably cut off the communi- 
 cation between the British ajjd Prussian 
 armies. Napoleon himself followed the 
 Prussian army, which was falling back to- 
 wards Ligny. On the 16th, Napoleon 
 attacked Blucher there, defeated him with 
 a loss of 12,000 men, and drove him to 
 retreat in great confusion towards Wavres. 
 On the same day a severe encounter, 
 though on a less extensive scale, took place 
 between Wellington and Ney at Quatre 
 Bras, the combatants numbering about 
 20,000 on each side. The misconduct of 
 the Belgian troops had nearly led to a 
 defeat of the allies; but the day was, to 
 some extent, retrieved bv the valour of the 
 
 43 
 
 v' 
 
 t 
 
 * 
 
 .•^ 
 
 it- 
 
WATERLOO AND ITS RESULTS.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1815. 
 
 British troops ; and the forces, at this point, 
 under the command of Wellington, after 
 suffering a severe loss, retained possession 
 of the field. 
 
 Wellington, however, deemed it expe- 
 dient to retreat to Waterloo, where he 
 trusted to be so near Blucher, that they 
 might be able to assist each other in case of 
 attack. As yet, the results of the campaign 
 had been eminently favourable to Napo- 
 leon, who followed closely on the heels of 
 Wellington; while 30,000 French, under 
 Grouchy, pursued the Prussians. On the 
 18th, however, the great contest was 
 brought to a final issue on the plains of 
 Waterloo. This great battle has been 
 often and most vividly described ; its result 
 is all that concerns us here, as the troops of 
 Russia had no part in it. On witnessing 
 the final overthrow of the old guard, 
 Napoleon became pale as death, and, with 
 an exclamation of despair, retreated from 
 the field, in order to save himself from 
 capture. The day terminated with the 
 total rout of the French and their wild 
 retreat, with the Prussian cavalry thunder- 
 ing at their heels. The French army was, 
 in effect, destroyed; and few of the soldiers 
 who fled from the fatal field of Waterloo, 
 ever appeared in arms again. Thus was 
 closed a war, or rather a succession of wars, 
 which, commencing in 1792, had lasted, 
 with but little interruption, for three-and- 
 twenty years. 
 
 At the demand of the house of repre- 
 sentatives. Napoleon again signed his abdi- 
 cation, and the former trusted that they 
 would be able to restore a republic in 
 France. It was not to be; Wellington 
 and Blucher, at the head of their respective 
 armies, were advancing rapidly upon Paris, 
 which city was not in a condition to hold 
 out against them. On the 3rd of July the 
 city again ijapitulated, on the conditions 
 that the French army should evacuate it, 
 and that private property should be re- 
 spected. On the 7tli, the English and 
 Prussian armies made their entrance into 
 the French capital. There was no exulta- 
 tion as when Alexander and his ally occu- 
 pied Paris so recently; the people looked 
 on sadly and anxiously, for they felt humilia- 
 tion for the present, and gloomy doubts as 
 to the future. In the rear of foreign bayo- 
 nets came Louis XVIII., a second time 
 restored to a sullied throne by the enemies 
 of his country. Even the royalist party 
 was aowucasi; its blind devotion to a selfish 
 44 
 
 and incompetent family was overborne by 
 its sense of national defeat and degradation. 
 Napoleon, unable to eft'ect his escape to 
 America, resolved to throw himself on the 
 generosity of the English government, and 
 surrendered to Captain Maitland, of the 
 Bellerophon. It would have been noble in 
 England to have respected the wish of the 
 ruined emperor, now so helpless and de- 
 serted. But this country was acting in 
 concert with Russia and Prussia, the sove- 
 reigns of which had resolved no longer to 
 brook his presence in Europe; and it was 
 therefore irrevocably decided that he should 
 be removed to St. Helena, to fret out his 
 heart, and die on a sea-girt rock, twelve 
 hundred miles from any continent. He 
 reached St. Helena on the 16th of October, 
 where he remained until his death, which 
 took place during a tremendous storm on 
 the 4th of May, 1821. 
 
 Early in July, the emperors of Russia and 
 Austria, and the king of Prussia, arrived at 
 Paris, which they subjected to the just but 
 melancholy humiliation of restoring the, 
 various objects of art in the museum of the 
 Louvre, which had been pillaged by Napo- \ 
 leon from the various states that had falleu 
 beneath his power. Then was seen the 
 force which would, doubtless, have been 
 brought against Napoleon, in the event of a 
 prolongation of the struggle; no less than 
 800,000 armed men — Russians, Prussians, 
 Austrians, English, Italians, and Spaniards 
 — occupied the French soil. The power of 
 the allies was irresistible, and their eager- 
 ness for spoil excessive. Such were the 
 territorial demands of the conquerors, that 
 the dominions of the newly-made sovereign 
 teemed on the eve of dissolution. France 
 was only saved by the mutual jealousies of 
 the allies themselves. At length conflicting 
 claims were arranged, and the second treaty 
 of Paris was concluded in November, 1815. 
 By it the French frontier was restored to 
 the state in which it stood in 1790; and it 
 was stipulated that 700,000,000 of francs 
 (£28,000,000 sterling) were to be paid to 
 the allied powers for the expenses of the 
 war, Other heavy penalties were to be 
 paid by the French; but these it is not 
 within our province to relate. A display of 
 Russian power was exhibited on the plains 
 of Vertus, on the 10th of September. This 
 was a great review of 160,000 Russian 
 troops, 28,000 of which were cavalry. \ The 
 Duke of Wellington did not, however, appear 
 strikingly impressed with the military eflS.- 
 
 A.D. 1815.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the holy alliance, 
 
 ciency of the Russians. "Well, Charles," 
 said he to Sir Charles Stewart, afterwards 
 Marquis of Londonderry, "you and I never 
 saw such a sight before, and never shall 
 again. The precision of the movements of 
 these troops was more like the arrangements 
 of a theatre than those of such an army ; 
 but still I think my little army would move 
 round them in any direction while they 
 were effecting a single charge." 
 
 The emperors of Russia and Austria, and 
 the king of Prussia, before leaving Paris, 
 signed an agreement or bond of union, to 
 which, with much presumption, if not im- 
 piety, they gave the name of the " Holy 
 Alliance." It was established at the sugges- 
 tion of Alexander, ostensibly for the pre- 
 servation of universal peace, on the prin- 
 ciples of Christianity, but, in reality, for the 
 extinction of all revolutionary principles, 
 and the government of Europe on those of 
 despotism. Alexander had carried his as- 
 sumption of piety so far, that he may have 
 succeeded in at last deceiving himself; yet 
 this alliance had really no other object 
 than to use religion as an instrument by 
 which to crush the liberties of Europe, and 
 establish the thrones of monarchs on the 
 basis of a passive superstition. On the 
 Christmas-day of 1815 Alexander issued a 
 manifesto, in the names of Russia, Prussia, 
 and Austria, solemnly declaring their " Hxed 
 resolution, both in the administration of 
 their respective states, and in their political 
 relations with every other government, to 
 take for their guide the precepts of the holy 
 religion of our Saviour — the precepts of jus- 
 tice. Christian charity, and peace ; which, far 
 from being applicable only to private con- 
 cerns, must have an immediate influence on 
 the councils of princes, and guide all their 
 steps, as being the only means of con- 
 solidating human institutions, and remedy- 
 ing their imperfections." ' Alexander was 
 induced to form this sinistei league by the 
 exhortations of the Baroness Krudener, a 
 lady whom religious excitement had brought 
 to, if not within, the verge of insanity. She 
 had assumed the character of a prophetess, 
 and contended that she had a mission to 
 establish the reign of Christ upon earth. 
 Having followed Alexander to Paris, she de- 
 clared that he was appointed regenerator of 
 the world, and succeeded in establishing 
 some degree of influence over him ; so mucli 
 so, indeed, that at this period the emperor 
 passed whole days at Paris in a mystical 
 communication of sentiments with her. 
 
 The " Holy Alliance" was soon acceded 
 to by all the principal powers of Europe, 
 with the exception of England, the govern- 
 ment of which refused to debase religion 
 into a mere instrument of state-craft. Little 
 credit was, however, due to the prince-re- 
 gent or his ministers on that account ; for 
 when, on the 26th of September, 1815, 
 Mr. (since Lord) Brougham moved for a 
 copy of the terms of the alliance (which he 
 stigmatised as nothing but a convention for 
 the enslaving of mankind, under the mask 
 of piety and religion). Lord Castlereagh re- 
 plied, that a copy of the treaty had been 
 communicated to the prince-regent, who 
 entirely approved of its principles, but had 
 refrained from giving in his adhesion, be- 
 cause "the forms of the British constitution 
 prevented him from acceding to it." Hap- 
 pily the " Holy Alliance" was not of per- 
 manent duration. The congress of Aix-la- 
 Chapelle, which met in 1818, and the con- 
 gresses at Troppau and Laybach, respectively 
 held in 1820 and 1821, were conducted on 
 its principles; but it was everywhere the 
 subject of execration; and eventually ex- 
 pired amidst the hatred and scorn of 
 Europe. 
 
 On leaving Paris, Alexander proceeded to 
 Warsaw, where he established a constitution 
 for Poland ; which, with an apparent policy, 
 granted to its people more freedom than the 
 Russians themselves enjoyed. Catholicism 
 was recognised as the religion of the state ; 
 but all Dissidents were placed on an equality 
 with Romanists as to civil rights : the liberty 
 of the press was permitted; the legislative 
 authority was vested in the king and two 
 chambers ; and judges were to be elected, 
 partly by the king, and partly by the Pala- 
 tinates. On a subsequent occasion he thus 
 addressed the chambers : — " Prove to your 
 contemporaries that liberal institutions, the 
 principles of which are confounded by some 
 with those disastrous doctrines wliich, in our 
 days, have threatened the social system with 
 a frightful catastrophe — prove that they are 
 not delusions ; but that, put in practice with 
 good faith, and directed by pure intentions 
 towards a useful and conservative object, 
 they are perfectly in accordance with order, 
 and insure the prosperity of nations." The 
 Poles were, however, not to be lured by this 
 language into a behaviour sufficiently sub- 
 missive for the taste of Alexander; there- 
 fore, in the year 1820, he abruptly closed 
 the chambers, and no new diet was sum- 
 moned till 1825. Indeed, it must be ad- 
 
 45 
 
 m 
 
 ' w 
 
1/ 
 
 DESPOTISM OF ALEXANDER.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1820—1824. 
 
 mitted, that the Poles left their ruler little 
 choice between governing despotically or 
 not governing at all. 
 
 The insurrection of the Greeks in 1820, 
 against the tyranny of the sultan, though 
 publicly condemned by Alexander, was 
 attributed by Turkey to the secret encou- 
 ragement of Russia, and threatened a re- 
 newal of hostilities between those countries. 
 Alexander was, however, indisposed for war, 
 and resolved to adhere, at least until a more 
 promising opportunity, to the principles of 
 the ''Holy Alliance." "Would you have 
 believed," said he to the eccentric French 
 writer, Chateaubriand, *' as our enemies are 
 so fond of asserting, that the alliance is 
 only a word, intended to cover ambition? 
 That might have received a colour of truth 
 under the old order of things ; but now all 
 private interests disappear when the civilisa- 
 tion of the world is endangered. Hence- 
 forward there can be no English, French, 
 Russian, Prussian, or Austrian policy ; there 
 can only be a general policy, involving the 
 salvation of all, admitted in common by 
 kings and people.* It is for me, the first of 
 all, to declare my appreciation of the prin- 
 ciples on which I founded the 'Holy Al- 
 liance.' An opportunity presents ; it is the 
 Greek insurrection. Certainly no event 
 appeared more adapted to my personal in- 
 terests, to those of my subjects, and to the 
 feelings and prejudices of the Russians, than 
 a religious war against Turkey ; but in the 
 troubles of the Peloponnesus / saw revolu- 
 tionary symptoms J and from that moment I 
 held aloof .'^ 
 
 The latter years of the life of Alexander 
 were passed in an attempt at repose, after 
 the wild turmoil arising from the wars he 
 had been engaged in with Napoleon, and in 
 promoting the internal advancement of the 
 empire. Moscow rose from amidst its ashes, 
 and was built in a more commodious and 
 splendid manner. The emperor also gave 
 much attention to the promotion of a kind 
 of guarded education, in which the principles 
 of devotion to the church, and passive obe- 
 dience to the monarch, were carefully in- 
 stilled, and from which everything foreign 
 was rejected as dangerous. The emperor 
 also caused extraordinary precautions to be 
 taken against revolutionary intrigues ; and, 
 by an ukase of the 12th of August, 1822, he 
 
 * This is terrible rhodomontade. Alexander either 
 talked nonsense, out of a sinister policy, or he was 
 strangely ignorant of the opinions and principles 
 prevalent throughout the greatest part of Europe. 
 46 
 
 prohibited all secret societies, and closed all 
 the lodges of Freemasons throughout the 
 empire. For the same reason, the missionary 
 societies in the German provinces of the 
 empire were abohshed; and a report that 
 dangerous intrigues had taken place in some 
 of the corps of the army, was positively con- 
 tradicted by authority. Great rigour was 
 exercised by the police, especially subse- 
 quently to 1823, towards everything sus- 
 pected of an irreligious or revolutionary 
 tendency. An ukase, dated November, 
 1824, even directed Admiral Schisclikoflf to 
 be especially vigilant with regard to religious 
 writings! What the state of the country 
 must have been, in which almost irresponsible 
 power in such a direction was given to a 
 naval officer, we may well conceive. The 
 censorship of the press was exercised with 
 great rigour, and the academies placed under 
 very strict superintendence. In 1821, four 
 professors of the university of St. Peters- 
 burg were called to account for the contents 
 of their lectures. Regulations for the im- 
 portation of foreign books were rendered so 
 strict and onerous as to be almost prohibitory. 
 Under the pretence of excluding incompe- 
 tent persons and adventurers from being 
 employed as teachers in families, notice w^as 
 given, that such persons who could not pro- 
 duce a certificate of their qualifications — in 
 other words, of their political and theological 
 orthodoxy — should be immediately dis- 
 charged; and that any families who re- 
 tained them should be punished by the 
 infliction of a fine of a hundred roubles. 
 These oppressive measures were chiefly car- 
 ried into execution by General Araktcheieff, 
 a Russian officer, whose narrow mind and 
 arbitrary temper fitted him to become an 
 oppressive instrument of despotism. During 
 the latter years of the reign of the emperor, 
 his duties were mostly delegated to this 
 man, whose name became a word of terror 
 throughout the empire. 
 
 Alexander was, in fact, absolutely haunted 
 by the ghost of the revolution he had done 
 so much to crush in France. The entrance 
 of his army into Paris was eventually fatal 
 to his peace of mind. There the officers of 
 his army were inoculated with the republican 
 notions of the French, and became dissatis- 
 fied with a government the extent of whose 
 despotism they had not till then understood. 
 Alexander lived in constant dread of con- 
 spiracy, and of sharing the fate of his father. 
 Spies were set everywhere; and they were 
 frequently persons of such a rank in life, as 
 
 A.D. 1825.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [death of ALEXANDER. 
 
 to disarm the suspicion that it was possible 
 they could descend to such detestable em- 
 ployment. 
 
 The health of the emperor gave way 
 under this constant excitement, and he 
 spent much of the latter part of his reign in 
 travelling. He was also much afi*ected by 
 the death of an illegitimate daughter, to 
 whom he was most aff'ectionately attached. 
 On the 13th of September, 1825, he left 
 St. Petersburg on an excursion to the south 
 of Russia, ostensibly to visit the empress, 
 who was then residing at Taganrog for the 
 benefit of her health. He was observed to 
 look frequently back at the capital with a 
 melancholy air, and to seem altogether out 
 of spirits. There existed sufficient cause 
 for this depression ; for he had received 
 information of the existence of an exten- 
 sive conspiracy for the purpose of over- 
 throwing the imperial form of government, 
 and putting him and his family to death. 
 During the journey he suff*ered much from 
 depression and superstitious fears. These 
 were increased by the sight of a comet. 
 " Ilga,'' he inquired of an old and faithful 
 servant, " have you seen the new star ? Do 
 you know that a comet always presages 
 misfortune ? But God's will be done.'' 
 
 Shortly after his arrival at Taganrog, 
 Alexander proceeded to the Crimea. During 
 this journey he paused at a picturesque 
 spot named Orianda ; and observed, that if 
 lie retired from the affairs of government, it 
 was there he would wish to live; thus 
 seeming to derive a secret pleasure in the 
 thought of abdication. In the preceding 
 year he had been attacked with erysipelas, 
 which began in the leg, and, spreading up- 
 wards, was attended with occasional fever 
 and delirium. From this he had to some 
 extent recovered, when, while at Taganrog, 
 he was attacked with the intermittent fever 
 common to the Crimea. Trusting to the 
 natural strength of his constitution, he ob- 
 stinately refused to submit to the remedies 
 which his physicians prescribed. It is said, 
 that this conduct arose partly from a dis- 
 gust for life, induced by further particulars 
 which he received concerning the con- 
 spiracy, and the presumed design to assassi- 
 nate him. On one occasion, when Sir 
 James Wylie urged him to take some medi- 
 cine, he remarked, " My friend, it is the 
 state of my nerves to which you must attend; 
 they are in frightful disorder." — " Alas V 
 responded the physician, "that happens 
 more frequently to kings than to ordinary 
 
 men." — " Yes," assented the emperor, '' but 
 with me, in particular, there are many 
 special reasons, and, at the present hour, 
 more so than ever." Some davs afterwards, 
 while suffering much from pain, he gazed 
 intently on Sir James, and exclaimed, in an 
 excited manner, " Oh, my friend, what an 
 act — what a horrible act ! The monsters ! — 
 the ungrateful monsters ! I designed nothing 
 but their happiness." 
 
 When at length the emperor, overcome 
 by entreaties, yielded to the treatment of 
 his physicians, and allowed leeches to be 
 applied, it was too late. During the last 
 iew davs that he continued to breathe, he 
 was insensible ; and on the morning of the 
 1st of December, 1825, he expired. He 
 had almost reached his forty-eighth year, 
 and had occupied the imperial throne for a 
 quarter of a century. For some time, a 
 rumour prevailed in foreign countries, that 
 his death had been caused by poison; but 
 it has been well ascertained, that there was 
 no ground whatever for this suspicion. 
 
 The character of Alexander is not an 
 easy one to trace correctly, for it was a 
 union of apparent contradictions : in it a 
 meretricious, and for the most part assumed, 
 liberalism vainly struggled for freedom of 
 action in the presence of a real and active 
 despotism. The pretensions of Alexander, 
 and his flatterers, have deceived many 
 writers, who, unaccustomed to the neces- 
 sary habit of psychological analysis, have 
 fallen into the error of representing him as 
 he seemed to be, rather than as he was. 
 That he possessed the manners of a gentle- 
 man, and was highly polished in this re- 
 spect, is undeniable. His manners were 
 graceful, courteous, and condescending, 
 without any of that frigid, palpable assump- 
 tion of superiority, which is not pleasing 
 even in princes. With the manners of a 
 gentleman, he possessed also the accom- 
 plishments of one ; but in no respect was 
 he either solid or profound. The chief 
 feature of his character was his dupHcity; 
 which is seldom a quality of an enlarged 
 mind or a noble nature. An external libe- 
 rality was mingled with a deep and ineradi- 
 cable selfishness. Even his ambition was 
 of a mean and acquisitive kind, and directed 
 always towards the extension of territory, 
 than to that glory which great men toil for. 
 His admirers have spoken much of what 
 they call his benevolence ; but it consisted 
 rather of the absence of cruelty, and of the 
 occasional exhibition of a popularity-seeking 
 
 47 
 
 • if 
 
 • \ 
 
CHARACTER OF ALEXANDER.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1825. • 
 
 amiability. That he could be resolutely | 
 vindictive, is evinced by the unbending 
 temper in which he carried on the war 
 against his former friend Napoleon, and 
 the obduracy with which he refused all 
 terms of peace, and left the invading army 
 to perish in its retreat from a fearful accu- 
 mulation of horrors. He was, in fact, an 
 amiable despot; but one whose whole 
 reign was devoted to building up despotism 
 on a surer and more enduring basis. 
 
 Alexander was enthusiastic, imaginative, 
 superstitious, and, probably at times, really 
 pious ; but yet singularly given to that in- 
 sincerity in this direction which has ob- 
 tained the obnoxious but expressive name 
 of " cant." The institution of that solemn, if 
 not even blasphemous, mockery of real reli- 
 gion, the " Holy Alliance," was a most of- 
 fensive instance of this. There is not only 
 a wickedness, but a danger, in converting 
 religion into a mere bulwark of the state, 
 and an instrument of tyranny. A reaction 
 invariably follows, earlier or later, against 
 conventional piety, when it is used as a 
 means of oppressive coercion. The present 
 state of the educated classes in Russia, indi- 
 cates that they are proceeding to the other 
 extreme, and that a contempt for palpable 
 superstition, in connection with state-craft, 
 is leading them to trample upon and discard 
 religion altogether. The Russian peasantry 
 have a boundless credulity with respect to 
 superstition ; but the gentry and nobles, 
 though they like the display of the external 
 pomp of their gaudy religion, are fast be- 
 coming freethinkers. 
 
 Alexander did something for education; 
 but it was for education as he pleased to 
 have it. He founded or reorganised seven 
 universities, and established 204 gymnasia, 
 and above 2,000 schools of an inferior order; 
 but nothing was taught in them of which 
 he did not approve, or suspected of a liberal 
 tendency. This was an attempt to dwarf 
 down the intellect of the empire to a very 
 narrow standard — to force it into an ortho- 
 dox yet questionable channel, and to check 
 its expansion. The severity of his censor- 
 ship of the press, and his inquisitorial jea- 
 lousy of foreign books, we have already 
 spoken of. This arose from a morbid dread 
 of revolutionary principles, which was per- 
 haps natural enough in an absolute monarch 
 at that time ; but was still a weakness and 
 a cause of tyranny. It is therefore highly 
 objectionable to find writers of this age 
 applaud such conduct, and bestow on it the 
 48 
 
 titles of" virtue'^ and " greatness." The word 
 " great" could not be applied to Alexander 
 with respect to any one quality he possessed. 
 His mind was scarcely advanced beyond 
 mediocrity ; and he was utterly destitute of 
 that political prescience Which great states- 
 men so frequently possess, and of which he 
 had so brilliant an example in the emperor 
 Napoleon. The Russian monarch died 
 while still in the autumn of life ; yet, as a 
 ruler, he had lived too long. He had de- 
 serted the liberal principles which he pro- 
 fessed rather than acted upon in his younger 
 days ; and the system which he laboured to 
 create, of despotism founded upon super- 
 stition and the personal abasement of his 
 subjects, gave symptoms of decay even 
 during his own life. Where no constitu- 
 tional means of remedying abuses exist, 
 revolution is the natural resort of an op- 
 pressed people. It is idle to talk of the 
 horrors which commonly accompany it ; that 
 perversion of power which brought about 
 the revolution is responsible for them. Had 
 Alexander lived another ten years, or even 
 five, he would probably have shared the fate 
 of his father Paul. Yet he might have been 
 more popular, and personally loved, than 
 any sovereign who ever occupied the impe- 
 rial throne of Russia, had he but known 
 how to have trusted his subjects, and to 
 have progressed with the spirit of the times. 
 That must advance; its onward movement 
 is inevitable ; and woe to the monarch who 
 blindly devotes all his energies to drive it 
 back! 
 
 Alexander had commenced this fatal and 
 foredoomed struggle. He had placed the 
 imperial will in obstinate yet trembling op- 
 position to the natural laws which regulate 
 the development of nations and the ex- 
 pansion of the human mind ! What was 
 the result? A blighted hfe, a constant 
 dread of assassination, shattered nerves, a 
 ceaseless gnawing at the heart, and a pre- 
 mature death. His vain attempts to crush 
 liberalism — to drill the minds of his people 
 as he did the movements of his soldiers — to 
 stifle thought — to keep Russia always a child, 
 when it was apparent that its growth to 
 manhood was inevitable — to surround the 
 press with multipUed and galling restric- 
 tions, enforced by bayonets and prison cells, 
 and to chain up education like some wild 
 thing, to be petted in bondage and dreaded 
 when at liberty — caused him to leave the 
 empire he desired to consolidate and render 
 more united and passively obedient than 
 
A.D. 1825.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [character of Alexander. 
 
 any other in the world, on the eve of a 
 revolution which threatened to overthrow a 
 despotic government altogether. 
 
 The czar has been spoken of as the high- 
 principled, pure-minded advocate of order, 
 and the magnanimous hero who arrested 
 and crushed the devouring ambition of 
 Napoleon. No merit is due to Alexander 
 for his efforts in this direction ; for, with 
 respect to it, he was, at best, but " the acci- 
 dent of an accident.'^ The attentive reader 
 of the foregoing narrative will recognise the 
 truth of the statement, that his motives were 
 merely those of selfishness and fear. It was 
 not until the emperor began to dread revo- 
 lution at home, that he assumed to become 
 an apostle of order abroad. Not until he 
 had unjustly seized Finland, without a 
 cause and without a blush, and failed in an 
 unjust attempt to seize a great part of 
 Turkey, that he became shocked at the 
 aggressive spirit of Napoleon. But a very 
 few years before, he had eagerly grasped at 
 the offer to unite the brute energies of 
 Russia to the military prowess of France, 
 and to share with its great soldier the spoils 
 of the world ! The names of Tilsit and 
 Erfurth cannot be erased from the pages of 
 history. Alexander, during his friendly 
 connection with Napoleon, acted with a 
 perfidy, and a grasping, dishonest acquisi- 
 tiveness utterly iticonsistent with an honour- 
 able nature. He was ready to play the 
 robber's part towards all his neighbours ; and 
 he despoiled his brother-in-law, the king of 
 Sweden, of Finland with as much indif- 
 ference as he received a Polish province 
 plundered from his friend Frederic William 
 of Prussia, and with as much readiness as 
 he issued an edict prematurely annexing 
 Moldavia and Wallachia to the Russian 
 empire ! Alexander, like a repentant rob- 
 ber, who finds the law cannot be defied with 
 impunity, only turned politically honest 
 when he found that dishonesty was danger- 
 ous, and that his accomplice in guilt was 
 far his superior in dexterity, and not dis- 
 posed to spare even him. To talk sounding 
 nonsense about the honour and virtue of 
 such a potentate as this, is an insult to the 
 sacred name of truth and to the judgment 
 of mankind ! 
 
 The moderation of Alexander on the 
 occasion of the entrance of the allies into 
 Paris, has been much commended, and in 
 some respects deservedly so. He acted with 
 humanity, and bore in mind that his quarrel 
 was not with the French people, but with 
 
 VOL. II. H 
 
 their ruler. But this moderation, however 
 estimable and apparently generous, was 
 chiefly the result of policy. He did not 
 desire to annihilate France, or to see it 
 other than one of the great powers of 
 Europe; it was not his interest to enrich 
 Austria and Prussia with its spoils. But 
 the cupidity of the Russian emperor was 
 sufficiently active even at this period. He 
 did not exhibit any moderation towards 
 Poland, the sovereignty of which was ceded 
 to him by his allies only because they were 
 well aware that sooner than abandon his 
 claim to it, he was ready to plunge Europe 
 again into war. The political moderation 
 of Alexander was, in fact, for the most part 
 a delusion, and a mask beneath which he 
 endeavoured to hide his aggressive inten- 
 tions. Whenever this imperial Tartuffe 
 desired to despoil his neighbours, he always 
 assumed a more than ordinary amount of 
 moderation and forbearance, and uttered 
 the fulsome language of an obtrusive and 
 pretentious piety. 
 
 Russia progressed during the reign of 
 Alexander; and it must have been a 
 strangely obtuse nation indeed, not to have 
 progressed during five-and-twenty year.*- of 
 such intellectual activity and excitement as 
 then prevailed throughout Europe. But 
 this national advancement is to be attributed 
 rather to the inevitable course of events, than 
 to any exertions of the czar. It would have 
 taken place to a much larger extent had the 
 great Catherine still swayed the imperial 
 sceptre; and to as great a one if any prince 
 not deficient in the ordinary intelligence 
 and firmness of a man, had held the place 
 of Alexander. In matters of education, 
 and political and social amelioration, his in- 
 fluence was rather that of a dragwheel than 
 a spur. Certainly, he patronised science so 
 long as it merely gathered facts, and did 
 not make any speculative application of 
 them — science, in a word, dissevered from 
 its companion, thought ; he patronised 
 painting and the arts, and promoted agri- 
 culture, commerce, and manufactures. Such 
 a course, however, is both the interest and 
 the duty of a monarch ; a small, and feeble 
 return to his people for the vast distinction 
 and power he receives from them. The 
 performance of such a duty does not give 
 him a right to become a stumbling-block in 
 the path of his people towards a rational 
 civilisation and a moderate freedom, or to 
 sit like a nightmare upon the bosom of the 
 young intellect of the empire, while it 
 
 4y 
 
THE GRAND-DUKE OONSTANTINE.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1825. 
 
 gasped and struggled to release itself from 
 the terrible oppression, and to develop its 
 energies unchecked by the iron hand of 
 ignorant and trembling power. Alexander 
 was a huge political pretence, a i^^oral and 
 pious sham, and a despot all the more 
 dangerous because he always strove to hide 
 the cloven hoof of tyranny beneath the 
 gown and cowl of a pretended sanctimony. 
 For awhile this assumption deceived his 
 people; but when the excitement of the 
 great war with France had cooled down- 
 when judgment was partially dissevered from 
 passion, they found out the hollowness of his 
 pretensions ; and Alexander, who had ever 
 sought to win the applause of his people 
 with as much assiduity as an actor upon 
 
 the stage does that of his audience, died 
 unraourned and even imregretted. The 
 world has no sympathy with an unmasked 
 hypocrite; and the educated classes of 
 Russia had found out their emperor. Yet 
 such is the influence of pretentious and 
 hollow piety, and so difficult is it to destroy 
 the false claims to respect of insincerity of 
 this nature, that we believe the character of 
 Alexander has not been drawn with un- 
 sparing truth until the appearance of this 
 summary of it. It is a sad quality of 
 common minds, that they ever busy them- 
 selves with composing elaborate adulation 
 of those who occupy the high places of 
 society, and of meanly refraining from all 
 mention of their vices. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE GRAND-DUKE CONSTANTINE; HIS SECOND MARRIAGE, AND RENUNCIATION OF HIS RIGHT TO THE 
 ^ThZe f NICHOLrVAINLY URGES HIS BROTHER TO RESUME HIS RIGHT ; ^^^ll"^;^'"^^''^^^^^ 
 
 EMPEROA, BUT CONFIRMS HIS RENUNCIATION ; AFTER AN INTERREGNUM ^.^^^^^ .Juo.A^ Yl^^^^^ 
 CONSENTS TO ASCEND THE THRONE; OUTBREAK OF THE CONSPIRACY; ^^^^^^^^^^^^^/^^"^^^^ ' '^^ 
 CONFLICT IN THE PLACE OF THE SENATE; SUPPRESSION OF THE INSURRECTION; ^^^^UTION Ot THE 
 PRINCIPAL CONSPIRATORS ; EXPIATORY CEREMONIAL ON THE THEATRE OF ''^\f;'^^'^ll'l\f''''^^^ 
 ATTEMPTS TO PURIFY THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE; HIS CORONATION ; HIS PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 
 
 As the emperor Alexander left no children, 
 his brother, the Grand-duke Constantine, 
 was the legitimate heir to the throne. 
 The second son of Paul, and the grandson 
 of the illustrious Catherine, Constantine 
 was born at St. Petersburg on the 8th of 
 May, 1779. Catherine had bestowed upon 
 him the baptismal name of Constantine, 
 which was generally considered as an indi- 
 cation of her wish that in his person should 
 be fulfilled a prophecy current among the 
 Greeks, that a Constantine should once 
 more reign at Constantinople. Every eftbrt 
 of policy with respect to the East was 
 directed to efl'ect a restoration of the 
 Byzantine empire, as an appendage of the 
 imperial house of Russia. Greek children 
 were placed around the grand-duke even 
 from his cradle, for the purpose of in- 
 teresting him in their native language ; but 
 he never evinced any other feeling than 
 that of dislike to it. As he grew up, his 
 favourite study was military exercises. At 
 the age of seventeen he was united to a 
 60 
 
 lady of fifteen, the Princess Juliana of 
 Saxe-Coburg. The manners of Constan- 
 tino were savage, and his inclinations 
 fiercely despotic. He possessed scarcely 
 less excitability and eccentricity than his 
 father Paul, whom he resembled in person, 
 and almost surpassed in ugliness. His 
 features had the Tartar cast, and were 
 deeply scarred by the small-pox. Yet, 
 though occasionally brutal in his manners, 
 it is said he sometimes exhibited an air of 
 extreme polish, combined with a winning 
 and attractive manner. This, however, was 
 seldom ; for he had nothing mild or gentle 
 in his nature. A distinguished living writer 
 observes — '' He rivalled Richard Coeur-de- 
 Lion in his valour in the field; but he 
 surpassed him, also, in the vehemence with 
 which he ruled the cabinet, and the acts of 
 tyranny by which both his public admin- 
 istration and private life were character- 
 ised. Violent, capricious, and irritable, he 
 could never brook contradiction ; and when 
 inflamed by passion, indulged his vehement 
 
 A.D. 1825.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [memoik of oonstantine. 
 
 disposition by frightful and disgraceful acts 
 of cruelty. He was an untamed savage, 
 armed with the power, and animated by 
 the imperious disposition of an Eastern 
 sultan, imperfectly veiled over by the 
 chivalrous manners of modern Europe. 
 Yet was the savage not destitute of gen- 
 erous sentiments ; he could occasionally do 
 noble things ; and though the discipline he 
 maintained among his troops was extremely 
 severe, yet it was redeemed, and their 
 aff*ections won, by frequent acts of kind- 
 ness.^' 
 
 The manners of Constantine disgusted 
 the lady to whom he had been united ; and, 
 four years after their union, they separated 
 by mutual consent. The grand-duke was 
 much attached to, and greatly under the 
 influence of, his brother, the emperor 
 Alexander; during whose reign he won 
 great distinction by his bravery and mili- 
 tary qualities, especially at the battle of 
 Austerlitz and on the sanguinary field of 
 Eylau ; he was also present in the cam- 
 paigns of 1812, 1813, and 1814, and accom- 
 panied the victorious march of his country- 
 men from Moscow to Paris. 
 
 In the year 1820, the charms of a Polish 
 ' lady led Constantine to a step which at 
 once changed both his destiny and that of 
 the Russian empire. The Countess Joanna 
 Grudzynska was a fragile beauty, in deli- 
 cate health, and apparently but little likely 
 to win the regard of a rough and boisterous 
 soldier. Yet the grand-duke became so 
 fascinated with her, that he determined to 
 overcome every obstacle that lay in the 
 way of making her his wife. After some 
 difficulty, he procured a decree of the synod 
 of the Russian church, confirmed by an 
 imperial ukase, by which he was divorced 
 from the Princess of Saxe-Coburg, with 
 liberty to marry again. He immediately 
 afterwards married the Countess Grud- 
 zynska, though with the left hand — a cere- 
 mony by which, though she became his 
 legal wife, she did not become a grand- 
 duchess; and it was understood that her 
 children could not succeed to the throne. 
 In fact, Constantine had only obtained his 
 brother Alexander's consent to the divorce, 
 by entering into a solemn engagement with 
 him to renounce his right of succession to 
 the crown in favour of his younger brother, 
 Nicholas, as the only means of preventing 
 ultimate confusion and doubt as to the 
 right of succession. 
 
 The agreement was, however, a secret 
 
 one ; and some affirm, that even Nicholas 
 himself was ignorant of it. Certainly, 
 the general supposition was, that though 
 Constantino's children by the Polish countess 
 were set aside, the rights of the grand-duke 
 remained intact ; and he was always re- 
 garded as heir-presumptive to the czar. 
 He had, however, left a written renuncia- 
 tion of his right of succession, which had 
 been deposited by Alexander in a sealed 
 packet, and confided to the care of the 
 president of the imperial council. Ac- 
 cording to the command of the emperor, 
 this packet was opened immediately after 
 his death, in the presence of the council. 
 Within was found a letter from Constantine 
 to his brother, dated January, 1822. It 
 contained the following strange and humi- 
 liating words : — " Conscious that I do not 
 possess either the genius, the talents, or 
 the strength necessary to fit me for the 
 dignity of sovereign, to which my birth 
 would give me a right, I entreat your im- 
 perial majesty to transfer that right to him 
 to whom it belongs after me, and thus 
 insure for ever the stability of the empire. 
 As for myself, I shall add, by this renuncia- 
 tion, a new guarantee and a new force to 
 the engagement which I spontaneously and 
 solemnly contracted on the occasion of my 
 divorce from my first wife. All the circum- 
 stances in which I find myself, strengthen 
 my determination to adhere to this resolu- 
 tion, which will prove to the empire, and to 
 the whole world, the sincerity of my senti- 
 ments." There was a reply by Alexander 
 to this communication, simply without a 
 word of comment, accepting the offer it 
 conveyed ; and also a declaration, that, in 
 pursuance of it, the Grand-duke Nicholas 
 was to ascend the throne of Russia. 
 
 The council accordingly declared the 
 latter to be emperor, and invited him to 
 attend to receive their homage. This he 
 refused. " I am not emperor," he ob- 
 served, " and will not become so at my 
 brother's expense. If, maintaining his re- 
 nunciation, the Grand-duke Constantine 
 persists in the sacrifice of his rights, in 
 that case, but in that only, will I exercise 
 mine by accepting the throne." As the 
 entreaties of the council were unable to 
 move Nicholas from this determination, 
 they obeyed him, saying, with a very equivo- 
 cal kind of loyalty — '^ You are our em- 
 peror ; we owe you an absolute obedience. 
 Since, then, you command us to recognise 
 the Grand-duke Constantino as our legiti- 
 
 51 
 
 ' ( 
 
 
AN INTERREGNUM.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1825. 
 
 mate sovereign, we have no alternative but 
 to obey your command/' Constantine was 
 therefore proclaimed emperor at St. Peters- 
 burg, and the usual oath of fidelity to him 
 administered to the guards in the space in 
 front of the Winter Palace. 
 
 The news of Alexander's death reached 
 Warsaw some time before it arrived at 
 St. Petersburg. On the receipt of it, Con- 
 stantine sent his younger brother, the 
 Grand-duke Michael, to the capital, to 
 confirm his previous renunciation of the 
 crown. Still Nicholas hesitated ; for he 
 knew himself to be less popular than his 
 elder brother; and was aware, that in the 
 event of a struggle taking place, Constan- 
 tine would be almost certain to prevail. 
 He desired, therefore, to have the most 
 convincing proofs of his brother's voluntary 
 renunciation of the imperial sceptre, before 
 he ventured to accept it. He accordingly 
 prevailed on Michael to return to Warsaw, 
 with the intelligence that Constantine had 
 already been proclaimed emperor. Michael, 
 on his journey back, was met by a courier 
 from Constantine, with the answer of the 
 latter to the despatches he liad received 
 from St. Petersburg; and an intimation, 
 that the resolution of the grand-duke was 
 iutiexible. 
 
 It was not, however, until the 24th of 
 December, after an interregnum of three 
 weeks' duration, that Nicholas consented to 
 ascend the throne which was the inheri- 
 tance of his elder brother. It was time he 
 did so ; for the conspiracy, the discovery of 
 which had shortened the life of Alexander, 
 was on the point of breaking out. Since 
 1817, secret political societies had existed 
 in Russia, with the object of subverting 
 the government, and establishing repre- 
 sentative institutions and a constitutional 
 monarchy in its stead. The directing com- 
 mittee of the conspirators was held at St. 
 Petersburg, and presided over by Prince 
 Trouhetzkoi. Ryleif, Prince Obolouski, 
 Colonel Pestel, and the brothers Moura- 
 \ieff, were the most distinguished leaders; 
 while the ordinary members comprised a 
 great number of military officers. The 
 chief conspirators are admitted, by those 
 not favourable to their conduct or prin- 
 ciples, to have been amongst the most 
 highly educated and patriotic men in 
 Russia. 
 
 The death of Alexander, at the time 
 when the enterprise was about to be put 
 into action, disconcerted the conspirators. 
 52 
 
 The prolongation of the interregnum re- 
 vived their hopes, and they resolved to 
 take advantage of the strange dispute be- 
 tween the two brothers. They therefore 
 resolved to advocate the cause of Constan- 
 tine, to win the common soldiers in his 
 name, and, when they had placed him on 
 the throne, to demand an entire change of 
 government, on the representative principle, 
 as their reward. The final refusal of Con- 
 stantine to accept the throne, and the 
 betrayal of their scheme to Nicholas, de- 
 cided the conspirators on an instant revolt ; 
 and Prince Trouhetzkoi was named dic- 
 tator. "You see," said Ryleif, "we are 
 betrayed ; the court is partly aware of our 
 designs, but they do not know the whole. 
 Our forces are sufficient; our scabbards 
 are broken; we can no longer hide our 
 sabres." 
 
 The 26th of December had been ap- 
 pointed as the day on which the oath of 
 allegiance to the emperor Nicholas should 
 be administered to the troops. Several 
 regiments took it with the customary 
 docility of Russian soldiers; but this was 
 not the case with the few devoted to the 
 conspirators. The troops comprising them 
 were falsely informed that Constantine 
 had not resigned, but had been placed in 
 irons ; that he was their rightful czar, and, 
 if reinstated by their means, would double 
 their pay. To these assurances they re- 
 sponded with loud shouts of " Constantine 
 for ever !" The number of these men, 
 however, was but small; and those who 
 assembled, armed, behind the statue of 
 Peter the Great, in the Place of the Senate, 
 to assert the rights of Constantine, did 
 not exceed 1,800 men; though they were 
 surrounded by a great crowd of armed 
 civilians, who shared their enthusiasm and 
 joined in their shouts. 
 
 Nicholas, on receiving information of 
 these proceedings, acted with a courage 
 which probably saved not only his crown 
 but his life. Placing himself at the head 
 of a regiment of the guards, he proceeded 
 towards the scene of insurrection. On his 
 way, he met a column marching to join 
 the rebels. " Good-day, my children," said 
 he to them, using the parental form of 
 address customary with the czars when ad- 
 dressing their troops. "Hurrah! Constan- 
 tine !" was the answer he received. Though 
 pale as marble, Nicholas exhibited no indi- 
 cation of fear, but addressed the same salute 
 to another detachment of troops which waa 
 
 A.D. 1825.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the ixsuRRBcnoir. 
 
 following their companions. These men 
 remained silent; and the emperor, with 
 great presence of mind, in a loud voice, 
 gave the command, "Wheel to the right — 
 march !" The instinct of discipline pre- 
 vailed ; and the men turned about, and 
 retraced their steps, as if they had not 
 deviated from their allegiance to him whose 
 voice they now obeyed. 
 
 Tie military insurgents at length num- 
 bere.. upwards of 3,000 men, and continued 
 to fill the air with shouts of " Long live the 
 emperor Constantine !" But at this critical 
 moment the leaders were wanting, and 
 Prince Trouhetzkoi had abandoned his 
 post and fled, even leaving his papers un- 
 destroyed. Ryleif was there ; but he was a 
 civilian, and could not take the command 
 of the troops, and he lost time for action in 
 seeking Trouhetzkoi. The emperor had 
 with him no less than 13,000 troops ; but 
 he hesitated to command them to act 
 against the rebels. The brave General 
 Milaradovitch, " the Murat of Russia," ad- 
 vanced alone amongst them, in the hope of 
 being able by his personal influence to 
 subdue the mutiny. One of the conspira- 
 tors immediately fired at him, and he fell 
 mortally wounded from his horse. Nicho- 
 las yet hesitated to shed the blood of 
 Russian soldiers by Russian hands ; and he 
 sent forward the Archbishop of St. Peters- 
 burg, bearing the cross, and followed by a 
 great body of the clergy, to produce sub- 
 mission by working upon the religious 
 emotions of the insurgents. The attempt 
 failed ; the voice of the aged prelate was 
 rendered inaudible by the rolling of drums 
 and the shouts of the soldiers. The leaders 
 now set up a cry of " Constantine and the 
 constitution !" The last word, which was 
 a foreign one in Russia, greatly perplexed 
 the ignorant soldiers, who, in fact, had no 
 conception whatever of its real meaning. 
 " What is that ?" said the men to each 
 other. "Do you not know?" said one; 
 " it is the empress !" The word has a 
 feminine termination, and was supposed, by 
 the speaker and many of his comrades, to 
 refer to Constantine's Polish wife. Others 
 among these poor men entertained a dif- 
 ferent opinion, and said, " It is the carriage 
 in which the emperor is to drive at his 
 coronation." 
 
 The short winter day was drawing to a 
 close ; and Nicholas, having exhausted all 
 pacific means of terminating the revolt, 
 ordered his troops to act against the insur- 
 
 gents. The latter were assailed both in 
 front and flank by cavalry and infantry. 
 They fought with a desperate bravery ; and 
 the struggle was prolonged for a consider- 
 able period. The cavalry were repulsed; 
 the Grand-duke Michael narrowly escaped 
 being cut down by one of the conspirators; 
 while another eagerly sought out Nicholas, 
 for the purpose of dispatching him, though 
 without effect. As time wore on, and the 
 rebels still remained in possession of their 
 strong position, the emperor ordered the 
 cannon, hitherto concealed by a body of 
 cavalry, to be unmasked. The threatening 
 mouths of the guns were pointed directly 
 against the insurgent square, who were 
 again summoned to surrender. They re- 
 fused, and the artillery was discharged over 
 their heads, for the purpose of intimidating 
 them. As none of these fearless men were 
 injured, they raised a cheer, and mocked 
 their assailants. Nicholas then ordered a 
 point-blank discharge. The cannoniers 
 hesitated to inflict this butchery upon their 
 comrades; and it was not until the Grand- 
 duke Michael with his own hand discharged 
 the first gun, that they performed their 
 painful duty. The effect was terrible; and 
 the grapeshot did fearful execution on the 
 compact living square through which it 
 ploughed. Yet these unhappy men, with a 
 heroism which deserved success, still bore 
 up bravely, and it was not until the tenth 
 volley that they broke and fled. They 
 were pursued by the cavalry, whose sabres 
 reeked with the blood of their own country- 
 men. By six o'clock 700 were made pri- 
 soners, and the rest slain or dispersed. 
 "What a beginning of a reign !" exclaimed 
 Nicholas, as he returned sadly towards the 
 palace. On his arrival, the empress fell 
 fainting into his arms, and, from that hour, 
 she was afflicted with a nervous disorder 
 which medical art has been uuable to 
 subdue. 
 
 The regiments implicated in the revolt 
 were politically pardoned by Nicholas, with 
 the exception of the men whom he consid- 
 ered most guilty; these being sent to the 
 Caucasus to combat with the fierce moun- 
 taineers of that locality. Towards the 
 leaders of the conspiracy he adopted a very 
 different course. The most active of them 
 were immediately arrested, and a comrais- 
 sion of inquiry appointed to investigate the 
 extent and nature of the disaffection. It is 
 generally admitted that this investigation 
 was conducted in a vindictive and minutely 
 
 63 
 
 .;j 
 
INSURRECTION SUPPRESSED.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1826. 
 
 inquisitorial manner. In some instances, 
 persuasion was employed, and in others 
 intimidation, for the purpose of extorting 
 statements which might criminate others. 
 The proceedings of the commissioners were 
 conducted in private, and continued through 
 a period of several months. They resulted 
 in a report, that a conspiracy existed of a 
 far more dangerous and extensive kind than 
 had been supposed. 
 
 It is highly probable that such was the 
 case as regards the educated classes of 
 society in Russia, and especially amongst 
 the military. These had returned from 
 their campaigns in France and Germany, 
 for the most part enchanted with the liberal 
 ideas they heard there for the first time. 
 " They had,'' observes Alison, " stood side 
 by side with the ardent youth of the Teu- 
 tonic universities, whose feelings had been 
 "warmed by the fervour of the Tugenbund,* 
 whose imaginations had been kindled by 
 the poetry of Koruer: at the capture of 
 Paris they had seen the world in transports 
 at the magnanimous words of the czar in 
 praise of liberal institutions ; many of them 
 had shared in his reception in London, and 
 witnessed the marvellous spectacle of a free 
 people emerging unscathed from a contest 
 from which they themselves had been extri- 
 cated only by committing their capital to 
 the flames. Immense was the influence 
 which these circumstances came ere long 
 to exercise on the highly educated youth of 
 Russia, speaking French and English as 
 well as natives, associating with the very 
 highest society of these nations, and con- 
 trasting the varied excitements and intellec- 
 tual pleasures at their command, with the 
 stillness and monotony, save from physical 
 sensations, of their own fettered land. 
 They saw civilisation on its bright side 
 only ; they had basked in its sunshine ; 
 they had not felt its shade. They had re- 
 turned home, as so many travellers do, to 
 the cold regions of the north, discontented 
 with their own country, and passionately 
 desirous of a change. These sentiments 
 were dangerous; their expression might 
 consign the utterer at once to Siberia: 
 they were shrouded in silence, like a secret 
 passion in the female heart from a jealous 
 husband ; but like all other emotions, they 
 only became the more violent from the 
 necessity of being concealed, and came in 
 
 • That is, the *' League of Virtue ;" a name given 
 to a secret society, or rather a number of affiliated 
 aocieties which spreud thioughout Germany. 
 
 54 
 
 many noble breasts entirely to absorb the 
 mind, to the exclusion of all objects of 
 pacific interest or ambition.'' 
 
 Such sentiments, stifled beneath a des- 
 potic government which had emasculated 
 and neutralised the press, placed education 
 in fetters whose iron was ill-concealed by 
 the thin gilding which they bore, and 
 watched every utterance of original thought 
 with the savage glare of a tiger regarding its 
 destined prey; — the entertainment of such 
 sentiments, under such conditions, could 
 scarcely produce any other result than in- 
 surrection or revolution. Had the Russian 
 people, or the masses which in that vast 
 empire stand for a people, been as well 
 prepared as the educated classes, the latter 
 must have taken place. But the peasantry 
 and soldiery were not awakened : it was 
 therefore but an insurrection ; and this 
 seldom, if ever, succeeds in the face of a 
 powerful government. 
 
 Immediately after the suppression of the 
 insurrection at St. Petersburg, an outbreak 
 took place in the army of the south, and in 
 that stationed on the Polish frontier. Co- 
 lonel Pestel and the two Mouravieffs, who 
 had adopted the principles of republicanism, 
 were the respective leaders. But the com- 
 mon soldiers, though attached to their 
 officers, had no desire for change, and no 
 idea of eff'ecting a revolution. Sergius Mou- 
 ravieff" succeeded in causing his regiment to 
 revolt, by persuading the men to take up 
 arms for Constantino ; but he and other of 
 the leaders made an attempt to introduce 
 the shout of "Long live the Slavonic re- 
 public !" The ignorant soldiery had no 
 idea of the meaning of the words. "We 
 are quite willing," remarked an old grena- 
 dier, " to call out ' Long live the Slavonic 
 republic !' but who is to be our emperor?" 
 It was in vain that the officers spoke to 
 them of liberty, and that some priests read 
 passages from the Old Testament, to show 
 that democracy was the form of government 
 most agreeable to the Deity. The soldiers 
 only recurred to the question, " Who is to 
 be the emperor? Constantino or Nicholas 
 Paulovitch?" 
 
 The result of an insurrection in which 
 the convictions of the mass were adverse to 
 the principles they were presumed to con- 
 tend for, could not long be doubted. It 
 was suppressed with but little bloodshed, 
 and the leading conspirators were arrested. 
 They were all placed on their trial before 
 the commissioners appointed to examine 
 
 A.D. 1826.J 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [pitnishment op the conspirators. 
 
 into the details of the aff'air, and thirty-six 
 of them sentenced to death, and 130 others 
 to imprisonment and lesser penalties. Of 
 these, five only were executed ; the punish- 
 ment of the rest being commuted to exile, 
 accompanied with hard labour, in Siberia. 
 The five victims were Pestel, Ryleif, Sergius 
 Mouravieff", Bestoujif-Rumine, and Ka- 
 khofski. These unhappy persons — all men 
 of education, great talents, and benevolent, 
 though perhaps extravagant, views — were 
 condemned to the revolting death of being 
 broken on the wheel. The actual execution 
 of such a sentence was felt to be a bar- 
 barity inconsistent with the civilisation and 
 feelings of the age; and Nicholas, pru- 
 dently bowing to this general impression, 
 changed their doom into that of death by 
 banging. Even in this, however, there was 
 a refined cruelty, as it was an unusual 
 mode of execution in Russia, and regarded 
 as peculiarly degrading; the more so by 
 men of cultivated minds, who had expected 
 to meet the fate of soldiers. Prior to their 
 execution they were examined by Nicholas 
 in person. " What had your emperor done 
 to you ?" said he to one of them. " We 
 had not an emperor," was the reply ; " we 
 have had two. One was your brother, and 
 the other Aratcheieff." Proceeding in a 
 similar strain, he was interrupted by the 
 Grand-duke Michael, who brutally ex- 
 claimed, " That man should have his mouth 
 stopped with a bayonet." " You asked 
 just now," continued the prisoner, " why we 
 wanted a constitution ? It was, that such 
 things might not be said." Nicholas then 
 questioned Bestoujif, who replied, "I re- 
 pent of nothing I have done; I die satis- 
 fied, and soon to be avenged." Struck 
 with the courage of his answers, the em- 
 peror said, " I have the power to pardon 
 you ; and if I felt assured you would be a 
 faithful subject, I would gladly do so." 
 " Why, sire," responded Bestoujif, " that is 
 precisely what we complain of; the em- 
 peror can do anything, and is bound by no 
 law. In the name of God, allow justice to 
 have free course, and let the fate of your 
 subjects no longer depend on your caprice 
 or your impressions for a moment." 
 
 The executions took place on the 25th of 
 July, and created a great and painful sensa- 
 tion at St. Petersburg, where no capital 
 punishment had been inflicted for a period 
 of eighty years. The gallows was erected 
 on the edge of the rampart of the citadel ; 
 and it was deemed necessary to have a 
 
 large body of troops on the spot. Great 
 sympathy existed for the victims, and there 
 were few spectators besides the soldiers. 
 With a revolting cruelty, the suff'erers were 
 compelled to look on for a whole hour 
 while the preparations were being com- 
 pleted for the execution. The thirty-one 
 conspirators wliose sentence of death had 
 been commuted to that of exile to Siberia, 
 were marched round the scaflfold, after 
 which their epaulets were torn off", their 
 uniforms taken from them, their swords 
 broken over their heads, and they were 
 dressed in the coarse garb of convicts. The 
 five who were to suff'er then ascended the 
 scaff'old with firm steps and an undaunted 
 air. The signal was given, and Pestel and 
 Kakhofski died almost immediately. The 
 suff'erings of the other three were painfully- 
 prolonged; the ropes broke, and they fell 
 into the ditch beneath. Though severely in- 
 jured, these unhappy gentlemen reascended 
 the scaff'old with a calm and composed 
 air. " Nothing succeeds in this country," 
 said Ryleif; "not even death." "Woe 
 to the country," said Sergius Mouravieff", 
 "where they can neither conspire, nor judge, 
 nor hang !" This time the dismal ceremony- 
 was effectually performed; and in a few 
 minutes the roll of drums announced that 
 the victims had ceased to exist. 
 
 The conspirators who were sent to 
 Siberia included many persons of high 
 rank, and amongst them Prince Trou- 
 betzkoi. All who were married were ac- 
 companied by their wives : these high- 
 minded women, who had moved in the first 
 circles of society, voluntarily going with 
 their husbands into exile, in spite of the 
 off'ered protection of the emperor if they 
 would remain at St. Petersburg. Towards 
 these noble and self-denying women, Nicho- 
 las then exhibited a resentment as unmanly 
 as it was ungenerous. Regarding the act 
 of following their husbands into exile as an 
 adoption of the principles of the latter, he 
 behaved towards them with an inexorable 
 severity ; and even after the lapse of fifteen 
 years, sternly refused a petition addressed 
 to him by the Princess Troubetzkoi, im- 
 ploring permission to remove to some place 
 where the climate was milder, and where 
 she might obtain the rudiments of educa- 
 tion for her children. 
 
 On the morning after the execution of 
 the conspirators, Nicholas caused the Place 
 of the Senate, which had been the theatre 
 of the insurrection, to be subjected to a 
 
 55 
 
BXPIAJORY CEREMONIAL.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.i>. 1826. 
 
 ceremony which was presumed to act as a 
 purification. " On the spot/' said he in a 
 proclamation to the people and the army, 
 " where, seven months a^'O, the explosion of 
 a sudden revolt revealed the existence of a 
 vast conspiracy which had been going on 
 for ten years, it is meet that a last act of 
 commemoration— an expiatory sacrifice — 
 should consecrate on the same spot the 
 memory of the Russian blood shed for re- 
 ligion, the throne, and the country. We 
 have recognised the hand of the Almighty, 
 when He tore aside the veil which concealed 
 that horrible mystery : it permitted crime to 
 arm itself in order to assure its fall. Like 
 a momentary storm, the revolt only broke 
 forth to annihilate the conspiracy of which 
 it was the consummation.'' The ceremony 
 was attended by the whole garrison of St. 
 Petersburg, amounting to 60,000 men. An 
 altar was erected in the great square, and a 
 service of thanksgiving performed at it by 
 the metropolitan archbishop. The priests 
 then scattered holy water over the soldiers, 
 the people, and the pavement ; after which 
 the bands of all the regiments struck up a 
 hallelujah ! and the ceremony concluded 
 with the discharge of a hundred guns. 
 
 The strict investigation which had been 
 made into all the details of the conspiracy, 
 brought to light much of the shameless 
 corruption which impeded the course of 
 justice and impaired the service of the 
 state. Nicholas resolved on an attempt to 
 eradicate this wholesale dishonesty; but 
 his success was but slight and partial, be- 
 cause he did not adopt the plan of paying 
 the various officers of the state, either in 
 civil or military departments, sums adequate 
 to the responsibilities they had to discharge, 
 and sufficient to raise them beyond those 
 temptations which beset the needy. He 
 appealed not to the interest, but to the 
 honour and sense of duty of the servants of 
 the state; and to this they were, for the 
 most part, insensible. He caused circulars 
 to be sent to all the judges and governors 
 of the empire, urging them to a faithful 
 discharge of their duties, and threatening 
 the severest penalties in the event of their 
 not doing so. To assist the judges in their 
 labours, and to make the course of the law 
 intelligible to the people, he also ordered 
 the imperial ukases to be collected, printed, 
 and codified; and also caused a uniform 
 code, forming a complete system of law, to 
 be constructed out of these enormous, and 
 frequently heterogeneous, materials. 
 
 56 
 
 By a ukase of the 5th of March, Nicholas 
 also abolished a cruel mode of torture which 
 had been long in use among the Cossacks 
 of the Don, and consisted in attaching the 
 feet of a victim to great blocks of stone in 
 a room, while his hands were fastened at 
 extreme tension to the ceiling, and leaving 
 him in that position until death released 
 him from his si fferings. Yet, though put- 
 ting down cruelty in others, he conducted 
 his own government with great severity. 
 The number of persons exiled to Siberia in 
 1826 amounted to 12,000, and exceeded, by 
 3,000, the number banished to that frozen 
 region in the preceding year; a period 
 which the gloomy suspicions of Alexander 
 had caused to be' more than usually full of 
 arrests and expatriations for real or sus- 
 pected political oft'ei ces. 
 
 The coronation of the emperor followed ; 
 but, before we speak of this event, it is ne- 
 cessary to mention a few brief biographical 
 facts concerning his career before he came 
 to the throne. Nicholas, the third son of 
 the emperor Paul, was born at St. Peters- 
 burg on the 7th of July, 1796. On the 
 assassination of that eccentric tyrant, the 
 young grand-duke was left entirely to the 
 care of his mother. This lady appointed 
 General Lamsdorf to be his governor, and 
 selected tlie Countess Lieven, and the Ger- 
 man philologist, Adelung, as his principal 
 teachers in languages and literature, and 
 counsellor Storch as his instructor in 
 general politics, and in the other sciences 
 and arts regarded as suitable to his rank 
 and station. Nicholas acquired the power 
 of speaking the French and German lan- 
 guages with as much facility as the Russian, 
 and early manifested that attachment for 
 military display and the art of fortification 
 which distinguished him through life. 
 
 On the termination, in 1814, of the great 
 European war, Nicholas was sent on his 
 travels, and visited some of the principal 
 battle-fields. In 1816 he came to England, 
 and was received with much cordiality. He 
 afterwards made a tour of the chief pro- 
 vinces of the Russian empire. On the 13th 
 of July, 1817, he was united to Frederica 
 Louisa Charlotte Wilhelmina, the eldest 
 daughter of Frederic William III., the king 
 of Prussia. The lady, born on the 13th of 
 July, 1798, entered the Greek church on 
 the occasion of her marriage, and, according 
 to Russian custom, assumed the names of 
 Alexandra Feodorowna. 
 
 The coronation of the emperor and em- 
 
 A.D. 1826.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [coronation of Nicholas. 
 
 press took place at Moscow on the 3rd of 
 September, 1826, and was conducted with 
 extraordinary pomp ; so much so, as to elicit 
 from a lady of rank the thoughtless expres- 
 sion of " How vexatious it is that such fetes 
 are so rare!" Their imperial majesties 
 were received at Moscow with an enthu- 
 siasm which was scarcely to have been 
 expected after the recent insurrection, and 
 its tragical and unpopular results. That 
 ancient city exhibited a splendid spectacle ; 
 for those portions of it which had been 
 destroyed by the conflagration of 1812, had 
 been rebuilt in a more elegant and durable 
 manner; noble stone structures having, in 
 many instances, taken the place of wooden 
 palaces and other buildings. One incident, 
 on this occasion, produced a great and joyful 
 sensation amongst the crowds which filled 
 the city. On the evening before the corona- 
 tion, the Grand-duke Constantine came 
 spontaneously and unexpectedly from War- 
 saw, to assist in the ceremony, and do 
 honour to his younger brother. When 
 Nicholas and Constantine appeared hand- 
 in-hand on the day of the coronation, the 
 enthusiasm of the people knew no bounds ; 
 and the tremendous shouts of "Hurrah! 
 Constantine \" which rent the air, at first 
 startled the emperor, as they recalled a 
 painful recollection of the events of the 
 insurrection at St. Petersburg. It was but 
 for a moment ; Nicholas then saw that the 
 shouts were a tribute of admiration to the 
 generous self-denial of Constantine; and 
 the brothers publicly embraced. Constan- 
 tine, though seventeen years older than 
 Nicholas, had not only surrendered his 
 crown, but was the first to do homage to 
 the new sovereign. 
 
 Nicholas was in some respects favoured 
 by nature, and had many qualities which 
 fitted him for the exalted position in which 
 he was placed. His stature was remarkably 
 lofty; his features handsome, though their 
 customary expression was cold and severe ; 
 and his demeanour majestic. He united 
 considerable mental powers with an in- 
 flexible will, and that subtlety of intellect 
 which is characteristic of educated Russians. 
 
 • That is to say, that the improvements and 
 triumphs of Nicholas have been accomplished by a 
 retrograde motion, in opposition to the enlighten- 
 ment and progressive spirit of the most civilised 
 nations of Europe ! This going back into the past, 
 or, at the best, standing still with barbarism, may 
 have been a triumph to the emperor Nicholas; for 
 it ctrtainly appears to have been one of the chief , 
 aims of his rule j but how it could be ao improve- 1 
 VOL. II. I 
 
 He has been praised as patriotic; but it 
 would be more correct to say that he loved 
 Russia, and laboured incessantly to exalt it, 
 because he identified its greatness with his 
 own. Like Louis XIV., he also might 
 have said what indeed he ever felt—" The 
 state ? I am the state.'^ Alison, the wor- 
 shipper of everything Russian, and, not 
 least, of Russian despotism, writing, during 
 the life of Nicholas, said of him:— "He 
 wishes to improve and elevate his country, 
 and he has done much to eff'ect that noble 
 object ; but he desires to do so by developing, 
 not changing, the national spirit; by making 
 it become a first Russia, not a second 
 France or England. He has adopted the 
 maxim of Montesquieu — that no nation ever 
 attained to real greatness but by institu- 
 tions in conformity with its spirit. He is 
 neither led away by the thirst for sudden 
 mechanical improvement, like Peter, nor 
 the praises of philosophers, like Catherine, 
 nor the visions of inexperienced philan- 
 thropy, like Alexander. He has not at- 
 tempted to erect a capital in a pestilential 
 marsh, and done so at the expense of a 
 hundred thousand lives ; nor has he dreamt 
 of mystical regeneration with a visionary 
 sybil, and made sovereigns put their hands 
 to a holy alliance from her influence. He 
 neither corresponds with French atheists 
 nor English democrats; he despises the 
 praises of the first, he braves the hostility 
 of the last. His maxim is to take men as 
 they are, and neither suppose them better 
 nor worse. He is content to let Russia 
 grow up in a Russian garb, animated with a 
 Russian spirit, and moulded by Russian in- 
 stitutions, without the aid either of Parisian 
 communism or British liberalism. The im- 
 provements he has efi'ected in the govern- 
 ment of his dominions have been vast ; the 
 triumphs with which his external policy 
 have been attended, unbounded ; but they 
 have all been achieved, not in imitation of, 
 but in opposition to, the ideas of western 
 Europe.* They bespeak, not less than his 
 internal government, the national character 
 of his policy .'' 
 
 While speaking personally of the em- 
 
 ment we are at a loss to perceive. As we have 
 stated in a previous note (see ante, p. 348), there was 
 more freedom in Russia, and more promise of & 
 better state of society, under the sway of Catherine 
 II., than there has ever been since. Had the em- 
 pire been governed, since her time, by a succession 
 of monarchs of her intellectual power, its moral and 
 social development, and national progress towards 
 that rational freedom, personal polish, and generai 
 
 57 
 
 -f. 
 {:fl 
 
DESCRIPTION OF THE EMPEROR.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1826. 
 
 peror Nicholas, it will be well to introduce 
 the following portraiture of him by the 
 French traveller, the Marquis de Custine, 
 who had frequent opportunities of observing 
 him. The description refers to a later 
 period of the hfe of the emperor; but it 
 is probable that it applies almost equally 
 as well to the one of which we are now 
 
 writing:— , . ' . n .- 
 
 "The predominant expression ot his 
 countenance is tliat of a restless severity, 
 which strikes a beholder at the first glance, 
 and, in spite of the regularity of his features, 
 conveys by no means a pleasant impression. 
 Physiognomists pretend, with much reason, 
 that the hardness of the heart injures the 
 beauty of the countenance. Nevertheless, 
 this expression in the emperor Nicholas 
 appears to be the result of experience rather 
 than the work of nature. By what long 
 and cruel sufferings must not a man have 
 been tortured, when his countenance ex- 
 cites fear, notwithstanding the voluntary 
 confidence that noble features inspire ! 
 
 " A man charged with the management 
 and direction, in its most minute details, of 
 some immense machine, incessantly fears 
 the derangement of one or other of its 
 various parts. He who obeys, suffers only 
 according to the precise measure of the 
 evil inflicted; he who commands, suffers 
 first as other men suffer, and afterwards, 
 that common measure of evil is multiplied 
 a hundred-fold for him by the workings of 
 imagination and self-love. Responsibility 
 is tlic punishment of absolute power. If 
 he be the primum mobile of all minds, he 
 becomes the centre also of all griefs; the 
 more he is dreaded, the more is he to be 
 pitied.* 
 
 " He to whom is accorded unlimited 
 rule, sees, even in the common occurrences 
 of life, the spectre of revolt. Persuaded 
 that his rights are sacred, he recognises no 
 bounds to them but those of his own intel- 
 ligence and will, and he is, therefore, sub- 
 ject to constant annoyance. An unlucky 
 fly, buzzing in the imperial palace during a 
 ceremony, mortifies the emperor ; the inde- 
 pendence of nature appears to him a bad 
 example ; everything which he cannot sub- 
 ject to his arbitrary laws, becomes, in his 
 
 education by which serfs and mobs are converted 
 into a people, would have been far more rapid. 
 The eventual attainment of these things by Russia 
 is only a work of time : government cannot always 
 be carried on by repressive means ; for progression 
 is a law of nature, whether applied to a tree, a man, 
 or an empire. Men cannot for ever be ruled by a 
 
 58 
 
 eyes, as a soldier who, in the heat of battle, 
 revolts against his officer. The emperor of 
 Russia is a military chief, and every day 
 with him is a day of battle. 
 
 " Nevertheless, at times some gleams of 
 softness temper the imperious looks of this 
 monarch ; and then, the expression of affa- 
 bility reveals all the native beauty of his 
 classic features. In the heart of the hus- 
 band and the father, humanity triuniphs 
 for a moment over the policy of the prince. 
 When the sovereign rests from his task of 
 imposing the yoke upon his subjects, he 
 appears happy. This combat between the 
 primitive dignity of the man and the affected 
 gravity of the sovereign, appears to me 
 worthy the attention of an observer; it 
 occupied mine the greater part of the time 
 I passed in the chapel. 
 
 " The emperor is above the usual height 
 by half a head ; his figure is noble, although 
 a little stiff; he has practised from his 
 youth the Russian custom of girding the 
 body above the loins, to such a degree as 
 to push up the stomach into the chest, 
 which produces an unnatural swelling or 
 extension about the ribs that is as injurious 
 to health as it is ungraceful in appearance. 
 This voluntary deformity destroys all free- 
 dom of movement, impairs the elegance of 
 the shape, and imparts an air of constraint 
 to the whole person. They say that when 
 the emperor loosens his dress, the viscera, 
 suddenly giving way, are disturbed for a 
 moment in their equilibrium, which pro- 
 duces an extraordinary prostration of 
 
 strength. 
 
 " The emperor has a Grecian profile, the 
 forehead high, but receding; the nose 
 straight and perfectly formed; the mouth 
 very finely cut ; the face, which in shape is 
 rather a long oval, is noble ; the whole air 
 military, and rather German than Slavonic. 
 His carriage and his attitudes are naturally 
 imposing. He expects always to be gazed 
 at, and never for a moment forgets that he 
 is so. It may even be said, that he likes 
 this homage of the eyes. 
 
 " He passes the greater part of his exis- 
 tence in the open air, at reviews, or in rapid 
 journeys. During summer, the shade of 
 his military hat draws across his forehead 
 
 dread of banishment, the knout, the axe, or the 
 
 bayonet. 
 
 * Perhaps so : but the doctrine is a fanciful one. 
 The marquis, in the work from which we quote 
 (l)e Custine's llussia), utters many very question- 
 able opinions, and some rather puerile ones. We 
 prefer his narrative to his reflections. 
 
 A.D. 1826.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [war with PERSIA. 
 
 an oblique line, which marks the action of 
 the sun upon the skin. It produces a 
 singular effect, but is not disagreeable, as 
 the cause is at once perceived. 
 
 " In examining attentively the fine person 
 of this individual, on whose will hangs the 
 fate of so many others, I have remarked, 
 with involuntary pity, that he cannot smile 
 at the same time with the eyes and the 
 mouth ; a want of harmony which denotes 
 perpetual constraint, and which makes one 
 remember, with regret, that easy natural 
 grace so conspicuous in the less regular 
 but more agreeable countenance of his 
 
 brotl 
 
 ler, the emperor Alexander. The 
 
 latter, always pleasing, had yet, at times, 
 an assumed manner. The emperor Nicho- 
 las is more sincere; but he has an habitual 
 expression of severity, which sometimes 
 gives the idea of harshness and inflexibility. 
 If, however, he is less fascinating, he is 
 more firm than his late brother ; but then, 
 it must be added, that he has also a propor- 
 tionately greater need of firmness. Grace- 
 ful courtesy insures authority by removing 
 the desire of resistance. The judicious 
 economy in the exercise of power is a secret 
 of which the emperor Nicholas is ignorant ; 
 he is one who desires to be obeyed where 
 others desire to be loved.'' 
 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 WAR WITH PERSIA; DEFEAT AND SUBMISSION OF THAT STATE; THE GREEK INSURRECTION AND WAR OF 
 INDEPENDENCE ; RUSSIA AT FIRST DECLINES INTERFERENCE ; SUBSEQUENT INTERVENTION OF ENGLAND 
 FRANCE, AND RUSSIA; DESTRUCTION OF THE TURKISH FLEET AT NAVARINO ; EMANCIPATION OF GREECE 
 FROM THE OTTOMAN YOKE; WAR WITH TURKEY; CAMPAIGNS OF 1828 AND 1829 J INTERFERENCE OF 
 ENGLAND AND AUSTRIA ; PEACE OF ADRIANOPLE ; REFLECTIONS UPON THAT EVENT. 
 
 The emperor Nicholas, the very month of 
 his coronation, declared war against Persia; 
 an imperial manifesto to that eff*ect appear- 
 ing on the 28th of September, 1826. The 
 region of the Caucasus was the cause of the 
 quarrel. The Russian government, ever 
 pursuing its policy of intervention in the 
 aff'airs of weak or divided nations, had, in 
 the year 1801, taken the Georgians into 
 its protection, and annexed their country to 
 the Russian empire.^ Even long before 
 that time, the mountains of the Caucasus 
 were the scene of almost incessant contests 
 between the Russians, Turks, and Persians, 
 who contended with each other for the 
 possession of the soil. The various native 
 tribes, or petty nations, also repelled their 
 invaders with great bravery, and made it 
 extremely dangerous for any of them to 
 advance beyond the fortified posts they 
 occupied. The recent wars with Persia 
 and with Turkey had left Russia the pre- 
 dominant power in this locality. Yet her 
 mode of government was not suited to the 
 hardy and independent mountaineers, who 
 soon broke out into hostility against its 
 oppressiveness. This irritation was fomented 
 
 • See antCf p. 384. 
 
 by the Turkish and Persian courts ; and the 
 war which Nicholas now declared against 
 Persia was intended to decide the question, 
 as to which was to become master of the 
 Caucasus. 
 
 Persia soon felt her inability to contend 
 against the overshadowing might of Russia. 
 Her troops were utterly defeated by the 
 Russians, under General Paskiewitch, on 
 the 8th of August, at the battle of Eliza- 
 bethpol. In the campaign of the following 
 year the Persians were equally unfortunate. 
 Several towns were taken; and the shah, 
 threatened with destruction, had no re- 
 source but in submission. Peace was con- 
 cluded between the two courts on the 28th 
 of February, 1828. By this treaty, that of 
 Turkmantchai, Russia (though she dis- 
 claimed all desire of conquest, and repelled 
 as injurious every imputation of an ambi- 
 tious desire to aggrandise her territory) 
 declared, that her anxiety to prevent any 
 future collision with Persia, compelled her 
 to establish a frontier line, so well defined 
 as to leave no room for doubt or discussion. 
 The river Araxes was therefore adopted as 
 this boundary — an arrangement by which 
 the Russian dominions in Asia were con- 
 
 59 
 
 

 THB (IREEK TWSTTRIIECTION.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1821. 
 
 A.D. 1827.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [interference oe the allies. 
 
 siderably increased. The Khanat of Talish, 
 the province and fortress of Erivan, were 
 thus ceded to Russia; together with the 
 important harbour of Anapa, on the Black 
 Sea. The sacrifices made by Persia were 
 immense ; for, in addition to the territorial 
 concessions, she was compelled to pay the 
 vhole expenses of the war. She had, how- 
 ever, no alternative, not being in a condition 
 to renew the struggle. 
 
 It is necessary to say a few words with 
 respect to the Greek insurrection against 
 the power of Sultan Mahmoud — a struggle 
 which, at this period, occupied the atten- 
 tion of nearly the whole of Europe. Four 
 centuries of national subjection beneath 
 the barbarous government of the Turks, 
 had uot extinguished in the Greeks their 
 ancient love of liberty, or bowed their spirit 
 to their abject condition. 
 
 Debased as the national character was 
 by ages of a grinding political servitude, 
 although the Greeks mostly retained only 
 the vices of their brave and beauty-loving 
 ancestors, yet were there many of them 
 who remembered that they were the de- 
 scendants of a noble race — 
 
 " Whose land, from plain to mountain cave, 
 Was Freedom's home or Glory's grave !" 
 
 and, in their enthusiastic bosoms, the spark 
 of liberty, once implanted, was soon fanned 
 into a quenchless flame. 
 
 The numerous troubles in which the 
 Ottoman empire was involved, had encou- 
 raged in the Greeks a hope of throwing off 
 its oppressive yoke. A powerful secret 
 society was formed, with a well-organised 
 agency, which extended throughout the 
 whole of European Turkey. It was ru- 
 moured, in whispers, that some of the most 
 distinguished persons in Europe were mem- 
 bers of the society of the Hetairists. Count 
 Capo d'Istria, a Greek by birth, but a 
 Russian by adoption, who held the impor- 
 tant situation of private secretary to the 
 emperor Alexander, was known to be one — 
 an incident which gave rise to the rumour, 
 that even the czar himself was amongst the 
 number. This circumstance, combined 
 with the fact of identity in religion, and 
 the well-known desires of the Russian gov- 
 ernment, caused all the Greeks to cast their 
 eyes towards that country, with not only 
 the hope, but the almost confident expecta- 
 tion of assistance. 
 
 In the war between the Porte and Ali 
 Pasha (the powerful ruler of Janina), the 
 60 
 
 Greeks thought they saw the long-desired 
 opportunity. A general rising was there- 
 fore proclaimed on the 6th of April, 1821, 
 by the Archbishop of Patros, and univer- 
 sally responded to. The Greeks were at 
 first successful ; but Mahmoud, having ob- 
 tained the assistance of Mehemet Ali, the 
 pasha of Egypt, and his warlike son, Ibra- 
 him, made such fierce efforts to crush the 
 insurrection, that it seemed that submis- 
 sion must be eventually inevitable. The 
 struggle was, however, continued with 
 great heroism and endurance on the part 
 of the Greeks, and with a revolting bar- 
 barity on that of the Turks. The Greeks 
 confidently expected assistance from Russia ; 
 but, as we have shown in a preceding chapter, 
 the emperor Alexander held aloof, from a 
 morbid fear of all revolutionary proceedings. 
 Notwithstanding the brilliant opportunity 
 thus offered him of reconstituting a Greek 
 empire which should ultimately reconquer 
 Constantinople, his dread of revolutionary 
 measures and doctrines induced him to 
 proclaim a strict neutrality in the war be- 
 tween the Turks and the Greek subjects. 
 The last check to the Ottoman fury was 
 thus removed : a religious enthusiasm 
 seized the Turks, who demanded to be led 
 against the infidels, whom they declared 
 they would exterminate to the last man. 
 Such was the fury of the Turkish govern- 
 ment and people, that the whole of the 
 Greeks in Constantinople were only saved 
 from massacre in consequence of the earnest 
 remonstrance of the Russian, French, and 
 English ambassadors. The Greek patriarch 
 and many of the Christian dignitaries were, 
 however, ruthlessly murdered, and the 
 churches broken into, plundered, and pro- 
 faned. 
 
 Such were the atrocities and massacres 
 committed by the Turks, and so unyield- 
 ing was the attitude of the Greeks, that the 
 Russian government expostulated with the 
 sultan, and demanded reparation for the 
 insults offered to the Greek religion, and 
 the adoption of a more humane system of 
 warfare in the contest with its Christian 
 subjects. The divan deigned no answer to 
 an expostulation which was accompanied 
 with a threat of hostile proceedings in the 
 event of refusal; and the Russian ambas- 
 sador left Constantinople, having narrowly 
 escaped being sent to the Seven Towers, 
 The sultan then sent a message to St. 
 Petersburg, justifying his own conduct, and 
 stating, that the Christian churches which 
 
 had been destroyed by the Turkish popu- 
 lace should be rebuilt. 
 
 In the year 1822, the Greeks proclaimed 
 their independence of the sultan, and 
 achieved several heroic successes, which 
 only drove their enemies to fresh barbari- 
 ties. The vindictive struggle was pro- 
 longed over several years. The awful mas- 
 sacre in the island of Chios, created a thrill 
 of horror throughout Europe. The feel- 
 ing of the Christian nations was at length 
 fairly aroused; and England, France, and 
 Russia resolved to put a stop to this san- 
 guinary war of extermination. Mahmoud, 
 however, bent upon crushing all rebellion 
 within his dominions, and making himself 
 obeyed both by his Mohammedan and Chris- 
 tian subjects, declined any interference. 
 The three powers, therefore, entered into an 
 alliance on the 7th of July, 1827, for the 
 protection of the Greeks. Alexander had 
 been succeeded by his brother Nicholas, 
 who was more disposed to turn the Greek 
 revolution to political account than his 
 cautious predecessor had been. 
 
 In consequence of this celebrated treaty, 
 which has been aptly called "the corner- 
 stone of Greek independence,^' the united 
 powers proposed to the sultan that Greece 
 should be a vassal state of Turkey, and 
 acknowledge his suzerainty by paying an 
 annual tribute. The Greeks, on their part, 
 promised to submit to these conditions ; 
 but Mahmoud rejected them with disdain, 
 and declared his fixed determination to 
 persevere to the last in his endeavours to 
 reduce his rebellious subjects to submis- 
 sion. In a manifesto issued upon the oc- 
 casion, he said — " The Sublime Porte being 
 engaged in punishing, and, in conformity 
 with its sacred law, such of its turbulent 
 subjects as have revolted, can never admit 
 the right of any other power to interfere 
 with it. The Ottoman government must 
 consider those who address such proposals 
 to it as intending to give consequence to a 
 troop of brigands. A Greek government 
 is spoken of, which is to be recognised in 
 case the Sublime Porte does not consent to 
 some arrangement ; and it has even been j 
 proposed to conclude a treaty with the 
 rebels. Has not the Sublime Porte great 
 reason to be struck with astonishment 
 at hearing such language from friendly 
 powers? for history offers no example of 
 conduct in all respects so opposite to the 
 principles and duties of government. The 
 Sublime Porte, therefore, can never listen 
 
 to such propositions, which it will neither 
 hear nor understand, so long as the coun- 
 try inhabited by Greeks forms part of the 
 Ottoman dominions ; and they are tribu- 
 tary subjects to the Porte, which will never 
 renounce its rights. If, with the aid of the 
 Almighty, the Sublime Porte resumes full 
 possession of that country, it will then act, 
 as well for the present as the future, in 
 conformity with the ordinances which its 
 holy law prescribes with respect to its 
 subjects." 
 
 This haughty answer provoked the allied 
 powers to have recourse to menace in 
 another form than words. They sent a 
 fleet consisting of four English men-of-war, 
 together with the same number of French 
 and Russian ships of the line. A final 
 note was then addressed to the sultan, who 
 again decidedly refused to admit of any 
 foreign interference in the contest pending 
 between him and his Greek subjects. He 
 was then informed, that the allied sove- 
 reigns would take such steps as they con- 
 sidered necessary to put an end to the 
 struggle, though without interrupting the 
 amity existing between them and the Porte. 
 The persevering atrocities of Ibrahim Pasha 
 hurried on the collision which such a state 
 of affairs threatened ; and on the 20th of 
 October, 1827, the Turko-Egyptian fleet 
 was, after a furious battle, which lasted for 
 four hours, almost annihilated at Navarino. 
 No less than fifty-two vessels, including 
 four line-of-battle ships, nineteen frigates, 
 and twenty-nine corvettes, were destroyed, 
 together with their crews, amounting to 
 about 7,000 men. Of the allies, the se- 
 verest loss was sustained by the British, 
 upon whom the brunt of the action fell ; it 
 amounted to 75 killed, and 197 wounded. 
 The loss of the French was 43 killed, and 
 117 wounded; while that of the Russians 
 was very trivial; for though that power 
 had the greatest interest in the quarrel, yet 
 it contrived to let its allies fight the battle. 
 Sultan Mahmoud bore this calamity with 
 more calmness than was expected. He 
 replied to a communication from the allied 
 ministers — " My positive, absolute, defini- 
 tive, unchangeable, eternal answer is, that 
 the Sublime Porte does not accept any 
 proposition regarding the Greeks, and wiU 
 persist in its own will regarding them, even 
 to the day of the last judgment." The 
 sultan also demanded compensation for the 
 destruction of his fleet, and declared that, 
 until he received it, he would bold no inter- 
 
 61 
 
 
y 
 
 WAR WITH TURKEY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1828. 
 
 ;f 
 
 course with the ambassadors of the three 
 powers; who accordingly found it neces- 
 sary to withdraw from Constantinople, 
 which they did on the 8th of December, 
 1827. The withdrawal of the Ottoman 
 forces, and the emancipation of Greece 
 from the Turkish yoke, was the immediate 
 consequence of the battle of Navarino ; the 
 promotion of the designs of Russia upon 
 the territory of the sultan the remote re- 
 sult. Some grave fears were at the time 
 entertained, in this country, respecting the 
 increase which it gave to the preponder- 
 ance of Russia in the East. 
 
 It has been correctly observed, that peace 
 between Russia and Turkey is never any- 
 thing more than a truce. To the ceaseless 
 aggression of the first power must be added 
 a fierce national antipathy between the 
 Russians and the Turks, arising from dif- 
 ference of race and religion. These motives 
 produce incessant animosity of so malignant 
 a kind, that its fever is only to be cooled by 
 frequent bloodshed. Prior to the battle of 
 Navarino, Nicholas had been preparing for 
 a renewal of war with Turkey, and, in the 
 September of 1827, had ordered a military 
 levy of two males in every 500 throughout 
 the empire. At the same time an imperial 
 ukase subjected the Jews resident in Russia 
 to the military conscription. It may be 
 presumed that the angry feeling existing 
 between the Porte and the court of St. 
 Petersburg was greatly aggravated by the 
 catastrophe of Navarino; the more so, as the 
 Turks, perhaps incorrectly, attributed the 
 insurrection in Greece in a great measure 
 to the secret machinations of the czar. 
 Violent recriminations accordingly took 
 place, and it soon appeared that both na- 
 tions had resolved on war. The sultan 
 accused the Russians of secretly encouraging 
 the insurgent Greeks ; with having assisted 
 in the destruction of his fleet at Navarino, 
 and violated the treaty of Bucharest. 
 Nicholas replied by a manifesto, accusing 
 the Porte of having excited the Circassians 
 to revolt, and invited them to adopt Mo- 
 hammedanism; with the violation of all 
 treaties made in favour of its Christian sub- 
 jects; with having arbitrarily fettered the 
 commerce of the Black Sea, violated the 
 amnesty granted to the Servians, and sup- 
 ported the Persians in their recent war with 
 Russia. 
 
 For some months each empire was occu- 
 pied with extensive military preparations. 
 HostDities commenced iu May, 1828^ when 
 62 
 
 General Wittgenstein crossed the Pruth at 
 the head of 150,000 men, and in a short 
 time took possession of Jassy and Bucharest, 
 the capitals of Moldavia and Wallachia. 
 Turkey was fearfully weakened, in a military 
 point of view, by the breaking-up and de- 
 struction of the Janissaries — an act which 
 Mahmoud had considered as inevitable, 
 en account of their insolent and mutinous 
 behaviour. The energetic sultan believed 
 that his new troops, organised after the 
 European system, would at once behave as 
 well as European armies, and make up their 
 numerical loss by their superior efficiency 
 in the field. In this, however, he was mis- 
 taken ; in exterminating the Janissaries he 
 had crushed the military strength of his 
 empire : his military reforms were extremely 
 unpopular; and the fanatical Mussulmau 
 held aloof from the service of the state 
 rather than adopt the costume and military 
 tactics of the hated Christians. 
 
 Still the sultan proclaimed a holy war in 
 defence of the religion of the prophet, and 
 thus succeeded in collecting a very formi- 
 dable force, amounting to scarcely less than 
 100,000 men, on the banks of the Danube, 
 and as many more in Asia Minor, where 
 General Paskiewitch was in the command of 
 a Russian army. 
 
 The Russians forced the passage of the 
 Danube in the month of June ; and, on the 
 20th of that month, took the fortress of 
 Kustendji, by which means they acquired a 
 fortified harbour on the Black Sea, from 
 which they could obtain supplies for their 
 troops. They, however, suffered great loss 
 while prosecuting the siege of Brahilov. 
 On the first assault the Russians were re- 
 pulsed with great slaughter, no less than 
 3,000 of them being killed or wounded 
 around the breach. The following day, the 
 18th of June, the Turkish governor capitu- 
 lated, and the Turks were allowed to retire 
 from the town with the honours of war. 
 The captors found 270 guns on the ramparts, 
 and 17,000 pounds of powder in the maga- 
 zines, together with immense stores of wood 
 and provisions. The Russians also ob- 
 tained further successes; and several for- 
 tresses, in the neighbourhood of the Danube, 
 surrendered to them with a rapidity which 
 engendered a suspicion of treachery on the 
 part of thope entrusted with the defence of 
 them. 
 
 The sultan was, nevertheless, indefatigable 
 in his efforts to defend his empire, and occu- 
 pied himself constantly in organisiDg troops, 
 
 A.D. 1828.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [war with turkey. 
 
 and sending reinforcements to the theatre 
 of war. A reserve was formed at Adrianople 
 to relieve any point that might be threatened 
 in the line of defence, and orders were issued 
 to harass the enemy in every way, and at 
 the same time to avoid general actions. Yet 
 success favoured the Russians, who, in con- 
 sequence of the result of the battle of Nava- 
 rino, had acquired the superiority at sea. 
 To this they owed the capture, on the 11th 
 of June, of Anapa — a fortress on the Asiatic 
 shore of the Black Sea, and regarded as 
 valuable as being a safe and convenient 
 harbour on that dangerous coast. On the 
 8th of July the first engagement of the 
 campaign in the open field took place at 
 Bazardjik, where the Russians experienced 
 a defeat, and sustained a loss of 1,200 men. 
 This check induced the emperor Nicholas, 
 who had accompanied his troops, to wait 
 for reinforcements before he resumed the 
 struggle. 
 
 The Russians resumed their march on 
 the 15th of July, and their advanced guard 
 w^as again engaged and worsted by the 
 Turkish cavalry. In another cavalry action, 
 which took place before Shumla, the Turks, 
 after effecting several brilliant charges, were 
 compelled to retire before the Russian ar- 
 tillery. Nicholas intended to attack Shumla, 
 which is a place of great strength, and re- 
 garded as the key to the Balkan; but a 
 nearer acquaintance with the difficulties 
 inseparable from such an attempt, induced 
 liim to abandon the design. Leaving, there- 
 fore, a corps of 30,000 men to watch Shumla, 
 lie directed his efforts to the reduction of 
 Varna, in which proceeding he could be 
 assisted by his fleet. It was necessary to 
 accomplish some success to sustain the 
 prestige of the Russian arms; for the result 
 of the campaign had not been very favour- 
 able to them. Its issue was doubtful ; pes- 
 tilential fevers had made their appearance 
 amongst the troops; the hospitals were 
 crowded with sick, and cases of the plague 
 had occurred. The invading army had lost 
 about half its number; for sickness had, as 
 is always the case in campaigns conducted 
 in an enemy's country, proved far more 
 fatal than the sword. The siege of Varna 
 proceeded slowly, for the Turkish garrison 
 made constant sallies, and fought with an 
 intrepidity that cost the Russians a vast 
 number of men. A Turkish detachment 
 from the reserve at Adrianople, also at- 
 tempted to relieve the town; and though 
 they did not succeed in doing so, they yet 
 
 inflicted some severe reverses on the Rus- 
 sians. The siege was still pressed forward ; 
 and although the defence was heroically 
 mairitained, the governor became at length 
 sensible that eventual surrender was inevit- 
 able. It capitulated on the 11th of Octo- 
 ber, the garrison, amounting to 6,800 men, 
 becoming prisoners of war. No less than 
 162 pieces of cannon were taken by the 
 victors, besides great stores of ammunition 
 and provisions. The capitulation was con- 
 ducted by Jussuf Pasha, the second in com- 
 mand, without the consent of his superior. 
 The rumours of treachery which this man's 
 conduct occasioned, were soon confirmed by 
 the fact of his sailing away in a Russian 
 frigate to Odessa, where he shortly after- 
 wards received a grant of lands in the 
 Crimea from the emperor Nicholas, on the 
 pretence of compensating him for the loss of 
 his Turkish estates, which had been confis- 
 cated at the command of the sultan. 
 
 Varna had fallen; but the important 
 fortress of Sili stria, which had been for 
 some time blockaded by the Russians, suc- 
 cessfully defied its enemies. An attempt to 
 invest it, in the hope of compelling it to 
 surrender before the coming on of winter, 
 was frustrated by the autumnal storms. 
 The Russians then found it necessary to 
 raise the blockade, and to retreat behind 
 the Danube. This chequered campaign, in 
 fact, terminated with the capitulation of 
 Varna, and the emperor Nicholas em- 
 barked, on the 14th of October, on board 
 a vessel named the Empress-mother, for 
 Odessa. During the voyage the ship was 
 overtaken by a tempest ; and the peril was 
 so great, that all on board gave themselves 
 up for lost. Nicholas alone, it is said, 
 preserved a dignified demeanour; and on 
 the captain proposing to run the vessel 
 ashore, declared, that he would sooner die 
 than fall into the hands of the sultan. A 
 change in the wind saved him from either 
 fate; and the vessel at length reached 
 Odessa, after the crew hat! sustained great 
 toil and sufferings. The retreat of the 
 main Russian army towards the Danube 
 was, in consequence of the severity of the 
 weather, the bad roads, and the harassing 
 attacks of the fierce Turkish cavalry, at- 
 tended with so many disasters, and so great 
 a loss of life, that eye-witnesses of both 
 instituted comparisons between it and the 
 terrible retreat of the French from Moscow 
 in 1812. After suffering fearful hardships, 
 the miserable Russian columns reached the 
 
 63 
 
 ^ 
 
 . t 
 
WAR WITH TURKEY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1829. 
 
 Danube, which they crossed, and took up 
 their winter quarters in Wallachia. 
 
 In Asia the Russians, under the able 
 General Paskiewitch, were more successful, 
 though their force did not exceed 26,000 
 men. Paskiewitch laid siege to the strongly- 
 fortified town of Kars, and captured it, 
 despite its reputation for impregnability. 
 The garrison, numbering 7,000 men, were 
 made prisoners ; while 129 pieces of cannon, 
 22 mortars, 33 standards, and immense 
 stores of ammunition, became the spoil of 
 the victors. Akhalzikh, a strong fortress 
 between Kars and the Black Sea, next 
 succumbed to the Russians; and during 
 the progress of the siege, a severe conflict, 
 or rather battle, took place, in which the 
 Turks suffered a decided defeat. The 
 forts Alskhur and Ardagan were also 
 reduced, and preparations made for an 
 advance on Erzeroum, the capital of Asia 
 Minor, in the next campaign ; the present 
 one terminating with some comparatively 
 unimportant though successful operations. 
 
 Before the resumption of hostilities in 
 the following year, the Russian ambassador 
 to Persia was assassinated at Teheran — a 
 circumstance which created great excite- 
 ment, and seemed to promise a renewal 
 of war with that country. Reports were 
 circulated, that an offensive and defensive 
 alliance had been made between Turkey 
 and Persia. The Asiatic provinces, which, 
 from prudential motives, had courted the 
 alliance of the Russian general, now ex- 
 hibited signs of hostility ; and the Turks 
 were encouraged to make an attempt to 
 recover the town and fortress of Akhalzikh. 
 In the spring of 1829 the Russians were 
 besieged there by the Turks. The garrison 
 suffered severely from the fire of their 
 assailants, and was reduced to a state of 
 extreme peril. They, however, rejected 
 every summons to surrender, and were 
 saved by the arrival of a relieving force, 
 which succeeded in compelling the Turks to 
 raise the siege. This event induced the 
 Persian government to change its policy. 
 Abandoning its threatening attitude, and 
 disbanding its armaments, it sought and 
 obtained the restoration of amicable rela- 
 tions with Russia. 
 
 We must now turn from the hostilities 
 between the Turks and Russians in Asia, to 
 those which took place between them in 
 Europe, during the memorable campaign of 
 1829. Each side had made great efforts, 
 during the winter, to recruit its forces ; but 
 64 
 
 a spirit of disaffection prevailed amongst the 
 Turks, who soon suffered severely for this 
 want of loyalty towards their sultan, and 
 of union among themselves. Not more 
 than 100,000 Ottomans could be collected 
 to defend the line of the Balkan, and of 
 these about half were required to garrison 
 the various fortresses on the Danube. On 
 the other hand, the Russians commenced 
 the campaign with an army which rein- 
 forcements had restored to its original 
 strength of 150,000 men, who had with 
 them 540 guns, and enormous stores of 
 every requisite. The command was now 
 given to General Diebitch, who had long 
 acquired a great reputation for military 
 talent. The Russians had a far greater 
 superiority at sea ; and while with one fleet 
 they blockaded the Bosphorus, with another 
 they shut in the Dardanelles. Constanti- 
 nople itself was thus threatened with famine, 
 from the loss of great part of its supplies ; 
 and as the Turks had no maritime power of 
 sufficient strength to meet their foes, the 
 latter had the entire command of the sea 
 during the whole of the war. 
 
 The plan of the Russians was, to besiege 
 Silistria, Roudschuck, and Shumla; and, 
 after taking those places, to cross the range 
 of the Balkans, and direct their march 
 towards Constantinople. After some fierce 
 but undecisive actions had taken place 
 between detachments of the contending 
 armies, Silistria was again invested with 
 a force of 35,000 men ; while its garrison 
 consisted of less than 10,000. To relate 
 the particulars of the siege, is neither pos- 
 sible nor necessary in a work of this limit. 
 During its continuance, the battle of Kou- 
 leftscha was fought, on the 11th of June. 
 Victory, which at first favoured the Turks, 
 finally remained with the Russians, who 
 slew 5,000 of the Moslems, and captured 
 1,500, though at a great cost of hfe to 
 themselves. By the 30th of the same 
 month, the ramparts of Silistria were 
 breached; and, as further resistance was 
 regarded as hopeless, the pashas who com- 
 manded surrendered the town to the 
 enemy, and the garrison as prisoners of 
 war. 
 
 Possessed of Silistria, Diebitch made in- 
 stant preparations for passing the Balkan ; 
 at the same time diverting the attention 
 of the Turks by apparent preparations for 
 an attack on Shumla. The Aides Pass, 
 through the chain of the Balkans, is re- 
 garded as the easiest, as a chasm at that 
 
 A.D. 1829.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [treaty of adrianople. 
 
 spot renders the ascent but slight : yet the 
 Porte had been so negligent as to leave 
 tliis pass comparatively undefended. The 
 Turks were compelled to retire after some 
 slight encounters ; and the famous moun- 
 tain barrier, which defends Constantinople 
 from its European foes, was passed in 
 triumph. The grand vizier, on learning 
 what was going forward, detached 10,000 
 men from Shumla, to oppose the passage of 
 the Russians; but they arrived too late, 
 and returned with the exaggerated intelli- 
 gence, that the Russian force which had 
 entered Roumelia was more numerous than 
 the leaves of the forest and the sand of the 
 sea. In point of fact, Diebitch and the 
 Russians who had penetrated so far into 
 Turkey, were in great danger; and had 
 the Turks shown the energy which they 
 occasionally displayed, they might have cut 
 their adventurous foes to pieces. Diebitch, 
 however, concealed his weakness by ad- 
 hering to offensive measures; and, on the 
 11th of August, he attacked a body of 
 Turks at Sliwno, and put them to flight. 
 The Ottoman array retired before the in- 
 vaders, who succeeded in reaching Adri- 
 anople, the ancient capital of the empire, 
 which at once surrendered to them. 
 
 Great was the consternation, not only at 
 Constantinople, but at the capitals of all the 
 great powers of Europe, where statesmen 
 were both astonished and alarmed at the 
 progress of the Russian arms. England 
 and Austria especially interfered to bring 
 about an accommodation between the bel- 
 ligerents, and to prevent that destruction 
 of the balance of power which must have 
 resulted from the conquest of Turkey. 
 They even entered into a secret convention 
 to prevent such a catastrophe by the power 
 of the sword ; and the English admiral in 
 the Mediterranean was ordered, in the 
 event of the Russians proving obdurate, to 
 attack their fleet in the Greek waters, and 
 carry it as a security to Malta. The 
 efforts of European diplomatists, combined 
 with exaggerated accounts of the force of 
 Diebitch at Adrianople, together with the 
 Turkish reverses in Asia, induced Sultan 
 Mahmoud to consent to the treaty of peace, 
 which was signed on the 14th of S'eptember, 
 1829. This peace— one of the most disas- 
 trous recorded in Turkish history— is known 
 as the " Treaty of Adrianople." 
 
 The emperor Nicholas, in deference to 
 the opinion of Europe, publicly disclaimed 
 all intention to aggrandise his dominions ; 
 
 VOL. II, 
 
 K 
 
 and he restored to the sultan the principali- 
 ties of Wallachia and Moldavia, together 
 with all his conquests in Bulgaria and 
 Roumelia, with the exception of the islands 
 at the mouth of the Danube. Many of the 
 conquests in Asia Minor were likewise 
 restored to Turkey; but Russia retained 
 the fortresses of Anapa. Poli, Akhalzikh, 
 Alzkow, and Akhalkalski. The territorial 
 losses of Turkey were thus far smaller than 
 might have been anticipated under the cir- 
 curastances; but Russia obtained many 
 advantages at the expense of her recent 
 foe. Amongst these, were liberty to trade 
 in all parts of the Turkish empire; a free 
 passage of the Dardanelles for all Russian 
 merchant vessels ; and the undisturbed navi- 
 gation of the Black Sea. Turkey was also 
 to pay the sura of upwards of ig5,000,000 
 for the expenses of the war; nor were the 
 Turkish territories to be abandoned by the 
 Russian troops until the debt was fully dis- 
 charged. Arrangements were also made 
 with respect to Wallachia and Moldavia, 
 which abrogated the sovereignty of the 
 Porte with respect to these principalities, 
 and gave to Russia a protectorate power 
 over them. The hospodars were in future 
 to be elected for life, and not, as hitherto, 
 for seven years only ; and no Turkish pasha 
 or officer was to be allowed to interfere, in 
 any respect, in their affairs. " The better 
 to secure"— so ran the terms of the treaty — 
 "the future inviolability of Moldavia and 
 Wallachia, the Sublime Porte engaged not 
 to maintain any fortified post, or any Mus- 
 sulman establishment, on the north bank of 
 the Danube; that the towns situated on the 
 left bank, including Giurgevo, should be 
 restored to Wallachia, and their fortifica- 
 tions never restored; and all Mussulmans 
 holding possessions on the left bank, were 
 to be bound to sell them to the natives in 
 the space of eighteen months. The govern- 
 ment of the hospodars was to be entirely 
 independent of Turkey ; and they were to 
 be liberated from the quota of provisions 
 they had hitherto been bound to furnish to 
 Constantinople and the fortresses on the 
 Danube. They were to be occupied by the 
 Russian troops till the indemnity was fully 
 paid up, for which ten years were allowed ; 
 and to be relieved of all tribute to the 
 Porte during their occupation, and for two 
 years after it had ceased/^ 
 
 This treaty, which stabbed the pride of 
 Turkey, saved Diebitch and the Russian 
 forces at Adrianople from destruction. 
 
 65 
 
 V 
 
 
 'W -■ 
 
\ 
 
 DISSATISFACTION OF ENGLAND.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1829. 
 
 Emaciated by sickness, dwiiulled in num- 
 bers, they might have been destroyed to a 
 man, and doubtless would have been so, had 
 the Turks but known their condition. By 
 the treaty of Adrianople, Greece was defi- 
 nitively separated from Turkey, and the 
 Porte induced to acknowledge its indepen- 
 dence. Russia, witU that subtle policy 
 which ever characterises its proceedings, 
 also obtained by this treaty a right of inter- 
 ference on behalf of the Christian subjects 
 of Turkey, which was utterly inconsistent 
 with the dignity of a proud and indepen- 
 dent state. 
 
 Lord Aberdeen, then secretary of foreign 
 affairs in the British ministry, expostulated 
 on its behalf with the Russian government 
 respecting the treaty of Adrianople, which 
 was viewed in this country and elsewhere 
 with feelings of dissatisfaction and suspicion. 
 "His imperial majesty/' said Lord Aber- 
 deen in a communication to Lord Heytes- 
 bury, British ambassador at Russia, *'in 
 carrying into execution his threatened in- 
 vasion of the Ottoman dominions, declared 
 his adherence to that disinterested principle 
 which had characterised the protocol of St. 
 Petersburg and the treaty of London. He 
 renounced all projects of conquest and am- 
 bition. His imperial majesty frequently 
 repeated that, so far from desiring the 
 destruction of the Turkish empire, he was 
 most anxious for its preservation. He pro- 
 mised that no amount of indemnity should 
 be exacted which could aflfect its political 
 existence ; and he declared that this policy 
 was not the result of romantic notions of 
 generosity, or of the vain desire of glory, 
 but that it originated in the true interests 
 of the Russian empire, iu which interests, 
 well understood, and in his own solemn 
 promises, would be found the best pledges 
 of his moderation. 
 
 " His imperial majesty added, that his 
 thoughts would undergo no change, even if, 
 contrary to his intentions and his endea- 
 vours, Divine Providence had decreed that 
 we should now behold the termination of 
 the Ottoman power. His imperial majesty 
 was still determined not to extend the limits 
 of his own dominions; and he only de- 
 manded from his allies the same absence of 
 all selfish and ambitious views, of which he 
 would himself give the first example. Does 
 
 the treaty of AdriRUople place the Porte in 
 a situation corresponding with the expec- 
 tations raised by these assurances? The 
 answer must be left to the judgment of 
 Europe : it might be left to the dispassion- 
 ate judgment of the cabinet of St. Peters- 
 burg. Undoubtedly, if we look only at the 
 relative position of the two belligerents, the 
 fortune of the war might have enabled the 
 emperor to exact still harder terms. The 
 sultan, threatened by a formidable insur- 
 rection in Constantinople, having lost his 
 army, and having ordered the remaining 
 Asiatic troops to retire to their homes, was 
 unable to offer any effectual opposition, and 
 threw himself under the mercy of the Rus- 
 sian commander. It may not be easy to 
 accuse of want of generosity the conqueror 
 who checks the unresisted progress of suc- 
 cess,* and who spares the defenceless capital 
 of his enemy. Nevertheless, the treaty in 
 question, certainly not in conformity with 
 the expectations held out by preceding 
 declarations and assurances, appears vitally 
 to affect the interests, the strength, the 
 dignity, the present safety, and future iude- 
 pendence of the Ottoman empire.'^ 
 
 Reflecting on the chequered events which 
 led to the disastrous treaty of Adrianople, 
 the historian Alison, taking a more favour- 
 able and, we believe, more accurate view 
 of the past than had been done by Lord 
 Aberdeen, as well as a better hope for the 
 future than had been expressed by that 
 statesman, observes— " The campaigns of 
 1828 and 1829, though they terminated to 
 the disadvantage of Turkey, are yet emi- 
 nently calculated to modify the ideas gen- 
 erally entertained as to the great power of 
 Russia in aggressive warfare, as well as to 
 evince the means of defence, in a military 
 point of view, which the Ottoman dominions 
 possess. The Turks began the war under 
 the greatest possible disadvantages. Their 
 land forces had been exhausted by seven 
 bloody campaigns with the Greeks; their 
 marine ruined in the battle of Navarino; 
 their enemies had the command of the 
 Euxine and the iEgean, the interior lines of 
 communication in their empire ; the Janis- 
 saries, the military strength of the state, 
 had been in part destroyed, in part alien- 
 ated ; and only 20,000 of the regular troops, 
 intended to replace them, were as yet 
 
 • This is the language of diplomacy, not of 
 historic truth. The reader of the preceding pages 
 will have seen, that the progress of the Russian 
 arms was not only resisted, but frequently arrested 
 
 66 
 
 with a sanguinary severity which, had the Turks 
 conducted the war with more judgment, and a more 
 uniform and sustained energy, might, and indeed 
 must, have led to very different resuiu. 
 
 A.D. 1829.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [affairs of POLAND. 
 
 clustered round the standards of the pro- 
 phet. On the other hand, the Russians 
 had been making their preparations for six 
 years; they had enjoyed fourteen years of 
 European peace; and 120,000 armed men 
 awaited on the Prutli the signal to march to 
 Constantinople. Yet with all these disad- 
 vantages, the scales hung all but even 
 between the contending parties. Varna 
 was only taken in the first campaign in 
 consequence of the Russians having the 
 command of the sea ; the Balkan passed in 
 the second, from the grand vizier having 
 been out-generaled by the superior skill of 
 Diebitch. Even as it was, it was owing to 
 treachery and disaffection that the daring 
 march to Adrianople did not terminate in a 
 disaster second only to the Moscow retreat. 
 * * * It is not to be supposed, how- 
 ever, that these startling results are to be 
 ascribed to any weakness, in a military 
 point, on the part of Russia, or any extraor- 
 dinary warlike resources which the Turks 
 possess, independent of their geographical 
 position. The strength which Russia put 
 forth in the war was immense. A hundred 
 and sixty thousand men crossed the Danube 
 in the course of the first campaign ; 140,000 
 were brought up to reinforce them in the 
 course of the second. Yet, with all this, 
 they could only produce 31,000 men at 
 
 the battle of Kouleftscha; and when their 
 victorious march was stopped, only 15,000 
 were assembled at Adrianople. At least 
 150,000 men had perished in the two cam- 
 paigns ; and that, accordingly, is the esti- 
 mate formed by the ablest military historian 
 of the war. A very small part of this 
 immense fo^'ce perished by the sword; 
 fatigue, sickness, desertion, produced the 
 greatest part of the dreadful chasm. The 
 long march of 1,200 miles from Moscow to 
 Poland, the pestilential plains of Wallachia, 
 the hardships of two campaigns in the 
 inhospitable hills or valleys of Bulgaria, did 
 the rest. As Turkey is the portion of Eu- 
 rope most exposed to the incursions of the 
 Asiatics, so is it the one to which Providence 
 has given the most ample means of defence; 
 for the plains of Wallachia and Moldavia 
 present a perilous glacis, which must be 
 passed before the body of the fortress is 
 reached ; the Danube is a vast and wet 
 ditch, which covers the interior defences; 
 the Balkan, a rampart impassable when 
 defended hy gallant and faithful soldiers. 
 Sterihty and desolation, the work of human 
 tyranny, add to the defences of nature. Of 
 no country may it be so truly said, in the 
 words of Henry IV., ' If you make war with 
 a small army you are beaten, if with a large 
 one, starved.' 
 
 
 >f 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 NICHOLAS IS CROWNED KING OP POLAND; THE VICEROY CONSTANTINE ; HIS DESPOTIC AND IRRITABLE 
 TEMPER; THE OPPRESSIVE CONDUCT OF THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT PREPARES POLAND FOR REVOLT; 
 INSURRECTION AT WARSAW, AND FLIGHT OF CONSTANTINE; APPOINTMENT OF A PROVISIONAL GOVERN- 
 MENT ; GKNERAL CHLOPICKI ; DEPUTATION FROM THE POLES TO THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS ; HE REFUSES 
 CONCESSION ; CONDUCT OF AUSTRIA AND PRUSSIA ; POLISH MANIFESTO TO THE NATIONS OF EUROPE ; 
 THE POLES PASS A RESOLUTION OF DETHRONEMENT AGAINST NICHOLAS; THE APPEAL TO THE SWORD; 
 BATTLES OF GROCHOW AND PRAGA ; SURPRISE AND DEFEAT OF THE RUSSIANS NEAR WARSAW, AND AGAIN 
 AT IGANIE; THE CHOLERA APPEARS IN THE POLISH ARMY; TERRIBLE BATTLE OF OSTROLENKA ; 
 DEATHS OF GENERAL DIEBITCH AND OF THE GRAND-DUKE CONSTANTINE ; PASKIEWITCH APPOINTED TO 
 THE COMMAND OF THE RUSSIAN ARMY IN POLAND; REVERSES AND DESPERATE CONDITION OF THE 
 POLES ; SURRENDER OF WARSAW, AND SUBMISSION OF THE POLES ; IMPLACABLE SEVERITY OF NICHOLAS j 
 POLAND IS DECLARED AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE ; REFLECTIONS ON THIS SUBJECT. 
 
 The emperor Nicholas also succeeded his 
 brother Alexander as king of Poland, and was 
 crowned as such at Warsaw on the 24th of 
 May, 1829. Animated by the policy which 
 influenced his predecessor — naniely, that of 
 attempting to hide the spirit of despotism 
 beneath the garb of rehgion — he, on that 
 
 occasion, pronounced a prayer containing 
 these words : — " O, my Lord and my God, 
 may my heart be always in Thy hand; and 
 may I reign for the happiness of my people, 
 and to the glory of Thy holy name, according 
 to the charter granted by my august prede- 
 cessor, and already sworn to bv me; in 
 
 
OONSTANTINE IN POLAND.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1829. 
 
 order that I may not dread to appear 
 before Thee on the day of the last judg- 
 ment." We shall speedily see how Ni- 
 cholas endeavoured to conform to this false 
 prayer, in which he promised to govern 
 according to the constitutional charter 
 granted to Poland. 
 
 Since the settlement of Europe, in 1815, 
 Poland, though it had lost its independence, 
 had experienced a period of repose, and 
 enjoyed an approach to prosperity. The 
 emperor Alexander had endeavoured to 
 conciliate the Poles; and it would have 
 been well if the Grand-duke Constantino — 
 who, during his reign, and also since the 
 accession of Nicholas to the imperial throne 
 of Russia, had held the dignity of viceroy 
 of Poland — had followed his example. Con- 
 stantine, however, was irritable, capricious, 
 passionate, and despotic. Both in features 
 and in mind he bore a considerable resem- 
 blance to his father Paul; and even his 
 sanity has been questioned. After his 
 marriage with the beautiful Polish countess, 
 Joanna Grudzynski (afterwards known as 
 the Princess Lowicz), his savage nature ap- 
 peared to be somewhat softened ; but his 
 good temper could not be counted on for a 
 moment. Often, while reviewing hia troops, 
 he would fly into a fit of furious passion at 
 any trifling matter which was not exactly 
 to his mind ; and, for the venial off'ence of 
 an individual, inflict some annoying punish- 
 ment on a body of 40,000 men. Thoroughly 
 penetrated with the precepts of the despotic 
 school in which he had been reared, he had 
 no feelings of mercy towards those who 
 forgot what he regarded as the duty of 
 unconditional obedience to the sovereign. 
 He was sometimes deliberately cruel him- 
 self; and he suff'ered deliberate cruelty in 
 others, to those who had thus put them- 
 selves, as he considered, beyond the 
 bounds of pardon. The proud and spirited 
 Poles, who, in their own opinion, owed no 
 allegiance at all to the Russian emperor, 
 endured all this with far more patience 
 than might have been expected from them ; 
 but, at the same time, the whole of Poland 
 wa.s ready for some violent outbreak at the 
 first opportunity that appeared to promise 
 even a remote chance of a favourable result. 
 This feeling was the more powerful in con- 
 sequence of the romantic and passionate 
 love which the upper and educated classes 
 in Poland entertained for the principles of 
 democracy, and their thirst for national 
 independence. Secret societies, for the 
 68 
 
 promotion of the latter object, had existed 
 for several years in Poland ; and so exten- 
 sive was their organisation, that they em- 
 braced in their numbers the most enlight- 
 ened and patriotic men of the country. 
 
 " If," it has been observed by a writer 
 on Polish history, "men have no oppor- 
 tunity of expressing their opinions publicly, 
 they will do so privately. When the jour- 
 nals — the legitimate outlets of popular feel- 
 ing — were thus arbitrarily and impoliticly 
 closed, secret societies began to multiply. 
 A sort of political freemasonry connected 
 the leaders of the meditated movement; 
 and its ramifications extended as far as 
 Wilna. Their avowed object was not merely 
 to free their country and the grand-duchy 
 from the Russian yoke, but to invoke their 
 brethren of Galicia and Posen in one com- 
 mon cause, and thus openly to strike a 
 blow for their dearest rights. But, however 
 secret their meetings and purposes, neither 
 could long escape the vigilance of the 
 police, which, since the arrival of Constan- 
 tine as commander-in-chief of the Polish 
 army, had acquired alarming activity. Why 
 this personage should have interfered in a 
 branch of administration beyond his pro- 
 vince—why he should have stepped out of 
 his own peculiar sphere to hire spies, to 
 collect information, and to influence the 
 proceedings of the tribunals against the 
 suspected or the accused — has been matter 
 of much conjecture. Perhaps he proposed 
 to render himself necessary to his imperial 
 brother; perhaps he could not live without 
 some bustle to excite him; perhaps his 
 mind was congenially occupied in the dis- 
 covery and punishment of treason. How- 
 ever this be, he acted with amazing im- 
 policy. His wisest course — and the Poles 
 themselves once hoped that he would adopt 
 it — was to cultivate the attachment of the 
 people among whom he resided, and thereby 
 prepare their minds for one day seconding 
 his views on the crown.* Instead of this, 
 he conducted himself towards all whom he 
 suspected of liberal opinions (and few there 
 were who did not entertain them), with 
 violence — often with brutality. At his in- 
 stigation, the secret police pursued its 
 fatal career; arbitrary arrests, hidden con- 
 demnations, the banishment of many, the 
 imprisonment of more, signalised his bane- 
 
 • Constantine does not appear to have entertained 
 any such views ; we have shown that he certainly 
 had no ambition in the direction of the Russian 
 sceptre. 
 
 A.D. 1829.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [misgovernmext or polaxd. 
 
 ful activity. That amidst so many sen- 
 tences, some should be passed on indi- 
 viduals wholly innocent, need not surprise 
 us. Where spies are hired to mix with 
 society for the purpose of detecting the 
 disaff'ected, if they do not find treason, 
 they will make it; private malignity and a 
 desire of being thought useful, if not in- 
 dispensable, to their employers, and of 
 enjoying the rewards due to success in 
 procuring information, would make them 
 vigilant enough. As this is a profession 
 which none hut the basest and most un- 
 principled of men would follow, we cannot 
 expect that they would always exercise it 
 with much regard to justice. In such 
 men, revenge or avarice would be all- 
 powerful. 
 
 "The university of Wilna was visited 
 with some severity by the agents of this 
 dreaded institution. Twenty of its stu- 
 dents were seized, and sentenced to dif- 
 ferent punishments; none, however, very 
 rigorous. Those of Warsaw were not used 
 more indulgently. A state prison was 
 erected in the capital, and its dungeons 
 were soon crowded with inmates ; many, 
 no doubt, not undeserving their fate, but 
 not a few the victims of an execrable 
 system. The proceedings, however, which 
 are dark, must always be suspected : of 
 the hundreds who were dragged from the 
 bosom of their families, and consigned to 
 various fortresses, all would be thought in- 
 nocent, since none had been legally con- 
 victed. 
 
 "By Article 10 of the constitutional 
 charter, the Russian troops, when required 
 to pass through Poland, were to be at the 
 entire charge of the treasury of the czar: 
 for years, however, they were stationed at 
 Warsaw — evidently to overawe the popu- 
 lation — at the expense of the inhabitants. 
 Then the violation of individual liberty ; 
 the difficulty of procuring passports ; the 
 misapplication of the revenue to objects 
 other than those for which it was raised 
 (to the reimbursement of the secret police, 
 for instance) ; the nomination of men as 
 senators without the necessary quahfica- 
 tions, and who had no other merit than 
 that of being creatures of the govern- 
 ment — were infractions of the charter, as 
 wanton as they were intended to be humi- 
 liating. 
 
 " The army was as much dissatisfied as 
 the nation. The ungovernable temper, and 
 the consequent excesses of Constantine; 
 
 the vexatious manoeuvres which he intro- 
 duced ; his rigorous mode of exercise, fitted 
 for no other than frames of adamant; and, 
 above all, his overbearing manner towards 
 the best and highest officers in the service, 
 raised him enemies on every side. His 
 good qualities — and he had many — were 
 wholly overlooked amidst his ebullitions of 
 fury, and the unjustifiable, often cruel, acts 
 he committed while under their influence. 
 On ordinary occasions, when his temper 
 was not ruffled, no man could make himself 
 more agreeable; no man could exhibit 
 more — not of courtesy, for he was too 
 rough for it — but of warm-heartedness; 
 and his generosity in pecuniary matters 
 was almost boundless. 
 
 " But the worst yet remains to be told. 
 Russian money and influence were un- 
 blushingly employed in the dietines, and to 
 procure the return to the diet of such 
 members only as were known to care less 
 for their country than for their own for- 
 tunes. Then, instead of a diet being held 
 every two years (in accordance with Art. 87), 
 none was convoked from 1820 to 1825, 
 and only one after the accession of Ni- 
 cholas. Finally, an ordinance (issued in 
 1825) abolished the publicity of the debates 
 in the two chambers ; and the most dis- 
 tinguished members of opposition were 
 forcibly removed from Warsaw the night 
 preceding the opening of the diet.^'* 
 
 The revolution which, in 1830, drove the 
 weak and despotic Charles X. from the 
 throne of France, excited the enthusiasm of 
 the Poles, and appeared, to their ardent 
 hopes, to form the desired opportunity to 
 strike the blow which they trusted would 
 free them from the yoke of Russia. Ni- 
 cholas, regarding himself as the champion 
 of legitimacy, was furious at an event so 
 subversive of its principles ; and he even 
 contemplated a war with France, which 
 was suspected of inciting the Poles to re- 
 sistance against him, when his attention 
 was arrested by insurrectionary proceedings 
 in Poland itself. Meetings were held at 
 Warsaw, and the patriots, or conspirators, 
 as they were called (according to the bias of 
 the narrator), resolved upon proceeding at 
 once to extremities. It was at first pro- 
 posed to include the whole extent of ancient 
 Poland in the insurrection ; but this scheme 
 was abandoned, because it would elicit the 
 hostility not only of Russia, but also of 
 Austria and Prussia. The outbreak, there- 
 * Dunham's History of Poland, 
 
 69 
 
 * • . f 
 
 ■ U 
 
OCTBBEAK OF THE INSTJKRECTION.] HISTORY OP THE 
 
 [a.d. 1830. 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 fore, wa8 to be coufined to Poland Proper, 
 with which Russia only was concerned. 
 
 A scheme for the assassination of Con- 
 stantine, and the proclamation of a provin- 
 cial government, was disconcerted in con- 
 sequence of some suspicions of the police, 
 and the consequent arrest of some of the 
 conspirators. The viceroy was incredulous, 
 and disregarded the warnings conveyed to 
 him. He relied on his supposed popularity 
 with the troops, and persisted in declaring 
 that there was no danger. 
 
 The activity of the police, and the nume- 
 rous arrests they made, precipitated the 
 outbreak of the insurrection, which took 
 place at Warsaw on the 29th of November, 
 1830, a day when the Polish guards were 
 to be on service at the palace and in the 
 city. At seven in the evening, a man made 
 his appearance at the gate of the barrack of 
 the military school, and proclaimed that 
 the "hour of liberty had struck."" The 
 guard instantly turned out, and, together 
 with the scholars, marched in silence to the 
 Belvidere palace, the residence of the vice- 
 roy. They experienced but little difficulty 
 in entering it ; for many of the soldiers on 
 duty there were aware of their object, and 
 favourable to it ; while those who opposed 
 them were instantly sabred. The chief of 
 the police, and the aide-de-camp on service, 
 then fell victims to the wrath of the con- 
 spirators as they pressed forward to the 
 chamber of Constantine, who with difficulty 
 made his escape, together with his wife, by 
 a private staircase. 
 
 A call " to arms" resounded through the 
 city, and the insurgents were speedily 
 joined by other regiments ; while the arse- 
 nal was seized, and 40,000 muskets in store 
 there, distributed among the people. All 
 the Russian troops remained faithful to 
 Constantine, and so did a portion of the 
 Polish soldiers. Several nocturnal combats 
 took place ; but morning displayed the in- 
 equality of the struggle ; and Constantine 
 retired in despair with the troops who ad- 
 hered to him, amounting to about 9,000 
 men, to the village of Wirzba, about a mile 
 and a-balf from Warsaw. The conspirators 
 thus remained in possession of the capital, 
 and, to check the rising disorder, appomted 
 a provisional government, which numbered 
 amongst its members Prince Adam Czar- 
 toryski. Prince Michael Radzitvil, the sena- 
 tor' Kochanowski, General Lewis Pac, M. 
 Julian Niemcewicz, and General Chlopicki. 
 The high character which these natriotic 
 70 
 
 men bore amongst the people, enabled them 
 to preserve a degree of order, and to pre- 
 vent revolution from degenerating into 
 
 anarchy. 
 
 The provisional government appears to 
 have been undecided as to how it should 
 proceed. This might well be, as it included 
 amongst its numbers the members of a 
 council which, in the absence of the vice- 
 rov, had been intrusted with the executive 
 power; and its opinions were therefore 
 necessarily divided. Its first act was to 
 issue a proclamation, counselling order and 
 abstinence from bloodshed, and it then sent 
 messengers to Constantine, with proposals 
 for an accommodation. General Chlopicki, 
 though a man of undoubted patriotism and 
 personal courage, was in favour of this 
 course, from a fear that the attempt to cast 
 off the Russian yoke by force must cer- 
 tainly fail. At the outbreak of the insur- 
 rection, it is said that he took his com- 
 passes, and, measuring the extent of the 
 Russian empire, shook his head, observing, 
 " If Poland dares to resist, she is lost.'' 
 
 The deputation sent to arrange matters 
 with the Grand-duke Constantine, desired 
 to obtain a just observance of the constitu- 
 tion established on the settlement of Europe 
 in 1815, and the fulfilment of a promise 
 made by the emperor Alexander, that Li- 
 thuania, Volhynia, and Podolia should be 
 incorporated with the kingdom of Poland, 
 and detached from the Russian empire. 
 Constantine, though unable to conclude 
 terms with the insurgents (a matter which 
 rested with the emperor), received the de- 
 putation with a courtesy which, it is pre- 
 sumed, was dictated by apprehensions as to 
 his personal safety. In fact, he found the 
 Polish troops who remained with him were 
 rapidly catching the revolutionary enthu- 
 siasm ; and he issued a proclamation, per- 
 mitting those who desired it, to retire and 
 join their comrades in Warsaw. This act 
 was as prudent as it appeared generous; 
 for it enabled the viceroy to ascertain who 
 were really his friends, and saved him from 
 the chance of being made a prisoner by his 
 own troops. All the Poles availed them- 
 selves of this permission ; and Constantine, 
 with his Russians, was permitted to leave 
 Poland unmolested and retire towards the 
 frontier of Volhynia. This was an error on 
 the part of the provisional government, who 
 should have retained the grand-duke as a 
 hostage. 
 
 At Warsaw, the people were in a state of 
 
 A.D. 1830.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [the polish iwsurrectioit. 
 
 the wildest enthusiasm, which was increased 
 by the arrival of additional Polish troops 
 from other quarters. Soldiers and citizens 
 embraced each other in the streets, ele- 
 gantly dressed women waved their hand- 
 kerchiefs from their open windows to the 
 troops, and the church bells rang forth in 
 joyous peals. Steps were taken for the 
 formation of a powerful national army ; the 
 provisional government resigned, and Gen- 
 eral Chlopicki assumed the command of the 
 array, and the title of dictator, which latter 
 he promised readily to relinquish on the 
 meeting of the diet. Chlopicki was not 
 fitted by nature and education for the 
 position into which circumstances had 
 thrust him, though great reliance was 
 placed upon his military talents, which 
 were considered of a high order; yet he was 
 deficient in that audacity and enthusiasm 
 which alone can carry men successfully 
 through great revolutions, and would pro- 
 bably i»ave been better fitted to assist in 
 crushing than, creating one. "Accustomed 
 to military rules and subordination,^^ says a 
 living writer, who has ably sketched his 
 character, " Chlopicki had a perfect horror 
 for conspiracies and the domination of 
 clubs. Accordingly he kept himself clear 
 of the great conspiracies of 1825 and 1826 
 (connected with the insurrection in Russia 
 in those years), and lived in retirement 
 down to 1830. He was inspired with a 
 thorough contempt for levies en masse, and 
 all those devices by which the ardent but 
 inexperienced in all ages endeavour to 
 supply the want of regular soldiers. He 
 dreaded the clubs of Warsaw even more 
 than the Muscovite bayonets. It was his 
 great object to achieve the liberation of his 
 country, and the establishment of its rights, 
 by other means than democratic fervour, 
 which he considered as alike short-lived 
 and perilous. Thus he was the man of all 
 others least calculated to retain the sufi'rages 
 of the clubs of Warsaw, which early ac- 
 quired so great a weight in the revolution ; 
 and one of his first steps, after he became 
 dictator, was to close them by a general 
 military order. But he possessed an im- 
 mense military reputation, and was known 
 to have military talents of the very highest 
 order, which rendered his sway over the 
 soldiers unbounded; and as his patriotism 
 was undoubted, and his character elevated 
 and disinterested, his rule was for some 
 time unresisted even by the burning demo- 
 crats of the capital. He despised and de- 
 
 tested them as much as Napoleon did the 
 ' avocats et ideologues* of Paris ; and it was 
 his great object, without their aid, and 
 while retaining the direction of their move- 
 ments, to work out the independence of 
 Poland by negotiation with the czar, and 
 without coming to open rupture with his 
 authority. But to achieve this object, he 
 was well aware that military preparations 
 were indispensable; and his measures to 
 attain this end, though not of the sweeping 
 kind which the clubs demanded^ were 
 energetic and successful." 
 
 From this sketch it will be seen, that 
 General Chlopicki was strangely misplaced 
 as the leader of a revolution ; for notwith- 
 standing his patriotism, it is clear that his 
 nature was aristocratic and conservative, 
 and that his lot should have been cast in 
 other places. Indeed, to his repression of 
 the republican spirit at the outset of the 
 insurrection, are attributed many of the 
 misfortunes which subsequently befel his 
 compeers. Clinging to the hope of an ac- 
 commodation, he sent a body of 800 Rus- 
 sian soldiers, who had been seized near 
 Warsaw by the Poles, back to Constantine 
 without exchange, and the grand-duke re- 
 ciprocated these civilities. But it was to 
 the emperor Nicholas that Chlopicki was 
 compelled to address himself, if he would 
 terminate the revolution by the pen instead 
 of the sword ; and Nicholas possessed far 
 more decision than Constantine, who, in- 
 deed, had just shown himself very deficient 
 in that quality so essential to a ruler over a 
 turbulent or discontented people. 
 
 Chlopicki, accordingly, sent a deputation 
 to the emperor Nicholas at St. Petersburg, 
 to explain the concessions required by the 
 Poles. The envoys (Prince Lubecki and 
 Count Jezierski) were received by him with 
 great sternness. After reproaches for their 
 treasonable conduct, and what he was 
 pleased to term their ungrateful forgetful- , 
 ness of all his benefits, he warned them 
 that the first cannon-shot fired by the in- 
 surgents would be the signal of the ruin of 
 Poland. He, however, offered an uncon- 
 ditional amnesty to all except the leaders 
 of the revolt ; but he would make no fur- 
 ther concession. This, in effect, amounted 
 to a refusal of all accommodation ; and on 
 the return of the envoys to Warsaw, all 
 parties prepared for an appeal to the power 
 of the sword. Nicholas inquired of the 
 courts of Austria and Prussia what part 
 they designed to take in the event of the 
 
 i 
 
 II' 
 
 
EFFORTS OF NICHOLAS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 183i. 
 
 I,' ' 
 
 I! 
 
 Polish revolution leading to a war; and 
 received answers from each expressive of 
 sympathy with him as a sovereign, and pro- 
 mising to give no assistance to the insur- 
 gents ; to permit no correspondence to pass 
 from Poland through their dominions ; and 
 to keep the harbours of Dantzic and Ko- 
 nigsberg closed against all convoys of am- 
 munition or provisions, even though they 
 should come from England or France. In 
 addition to this, Prussia dishonestly con- 
 sented to sequestrate the funds belonging 
 to the kingdom of Poland in the bank of 
 Berlin, and to place them at the disposal 
 of the emperor Nicholas. At the same 
 time, however, that the court of Vienna 
 was making assurances of assistance to 
 Russia, it — animated by a jealousy of that 
 power — made a secret communication to 
 the Poles, that it would not offer any im- 
 pediment to the restoration of their na- 
 tionality, providing they would accept as 
 king a prince of the house of Austria, and 
 that the consent of England and France 
 could be obtained to this sinister transac- 
 tion. A Polish envoy was even sent to 
 Paris and to London upon the subject; but 
 France would do nothing without England; 
 
 and the English cabinet, with Lord Pal- 
 
 merston as minister for foreign affairs, de- 
 clined to interfere on behalf of Poland. 
 
 France afterwards sent M. de Mortemart 
 
 to St. Petersburg, to see if favourable 
 
 terms could not be obtained for the Poles ; 
 
 but that envoy found Nicholas altogether 
 
 inexorable. 
 
 As might have been anticipated, the 
 
 Russian emperor was making immense 
 
 efforts to crush the insurrection. On the 
 
 24th of December, 1830, he issued a procla- 
 mation to the Russian people, in which he 
 
 endeavoured to excite them against the 
 
 Poles, whom he described as their ancient 
 
 enemies, who had returned kindness with 
 
 treachery and treason. At the same time, 
 
 he collected an army of 110,000 men, 
 
 under the command of General Diebitch, 
 
 and stationed them along the road from St. 
 
 Petersburg to Warsaw. In reply to Nicho- 
 las, the Polish diet (which had now assem- 
 bled) addressed, on the 10th of January, 
 
 1831, a manifesto to the nations of Europe. 
 
 In it the enthusiastic Poles thus poured 
 
 forth their wrongs and their hopes, in the 
 
 hearing of the continent : — " The world 
 
 knows too well the infamous machinations, 
 
 the vile calumnies, the open violence, and 
 
 secret treasons, which have accompanied ' ful to his promises. 
 72 
 
 the three dismemberments of ancient Po 
 land. History, of which they have become 
 the property, has stigmatised them as 
 political crimes of the deepest dye. The 
 solemn grief which that violence has spread 
 through the whole country, has caused the 
 feelings of nationality to be preserved with- 
 out interruption. The Polish standard has 
 never ceased to wave at the head of the 
 Polish legions; and in their military emi- 
 gration, the Poles, transporting from coun- 
 try to country their household gods, have 
 never ceased to cry aloud against this vio- 
 lation ; and yielding to the noble illusion, 
 which, like every noble thought, has not 
 been deceived, they trusted that, in com- 
 bating for the cause of liberty, they were 
 combating also for their own country. 
 
 *' That country has risen from its ashes ; 
 and though restrained within narrow limits, 
 Poland has received from the hero of the 
 last age, its language, its rights, its liber- 
 ties — gifts in themselves precious, but ren- 
 dered doubly so by the hope with which they 
 were accompanied. From that moment 
 his cause has become ours, our blood be- 
 come his inheritance ; and when our allies, 
 and Heaven itself, seemed to have aban- 
 doned him, the Poles shared the disasters 
 of the hero ; and the fall together of a 
 great man and an unfortunate nation, ex- 
 torted the involuntarv esteem of the con- 
 querors themselves. That sentiment pro- 
 duced a deep impression ; the sovereigns of 
 Europe, in a moment of danger, promised 
 to the world a durable peace ; and the 
 congress of Vienna in some sort softened 
 the evils of our unhappy country. A 
 nationality, and entire freedom of internal 
 commerce, were guaranteed to all parts of 
 ancient Poland ; and that portion of it 
 which the strife of Europe had left inde- 
 pendent, though mutilated on three sides, 
 received the name of a kingdom, and was 
 put under the guardianship of the emperor 
 Alexander, with a constitutional charter, 
 and the hope of future extension. In per- 
 formance of these stipulations he gave a 
 liberal constitution to the kingdom, and 
 held out to the Poles under his incimediate 
 government the hope of being, ere long, 
 reunited to their severed brethren. These 
 were not gratuitous promises ; he had con- 
 tracted anterior obligations to us ; and we, 
 on our side, had made corresponding sacri- 
 fices. In proclaiming himself king of Po- 
 land, the emperor of Russia was only faith- 
 
 A.D. 1831.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [manifesto of the poles. 
 
 ct 
 
 But the hopes implied by these cir- 
 cumstances proved as short-lived as they 
 were fallacious. The Poles were ere long 
 convinced, by dearly-bought experience, 
 that the vain title of Poland, given to the 
 kingdom by the emperor of Russia, was 
 nothing but a lure thrown out to their 
 brothers, and an offensive arm against the 
 other states. They saw that, under cover 
 of the sacred names of liberty and inde- 
 pendence, he was resolved to reduce the 
 nation to the lowest point of degradation 
 and servitude. The measure pursued in 
 regard to the army first revealed this in- 
 famous design. Punishments the most ex- 
 cruciating, pains the most degrading, were, 
 under pretence of keeping up mihtary dis- 
 cipline, inflicted — not for faults of commis- 
 sion, but mere omission. The arbitrary 
 disposition of the commander-in-chief, his 
 absolute control over the courts-martial, 
 soou rendered him the absolute master of 
 the life and honour of every soldier. Num- 
 bers in every grade have sent in their 
 resignations, and committed suicide in des- 
 pair at the degrading punishments to 
 which they had been subjected. The de- 
 liberative assembly, from which so much 
 was expected, has remedied none of these 
 evils ; it has rather aggravated them ; for 
 it has brought, in a sensible form, the 
 reahty of servitude home to the nation. 
 The liberty of the press, the publication of 
 debates, was tolerated only so long as they 
 resounded with strains of adulation ; but 
 the moment that the real discussion of 
 affairs commenced, the most rigid censor- 
 ship of the press was introduced ; and after 
 the sittings of the diet closed, they pro- 
 secuted the members of it for the opinions 
 they had expressed in it. 
 
 " The union, on one head, of the crown 
 of the autocrat and of the constitutional 
 king of Poland, is one of those political 
 monstrosities which could not by possibility 
 long endure. Every one foresaw that the 
 kingdom of Poland must be to Russia the 
 germ of liberal institutions, or itself perish 
 under the iron hand of its despot. That 
 question was soon resolved. If Alexander 
 ever entertained the idea of reconcihng the 
 extent of his despotic power with the popu- 
 larity of liberal institutions amongst us, it 
 was but for a moment. He soon showed 
 by his acts, that the moment he discovered 
 that liberty would not become the blind 
 instrument of slavery, he was to be its 
 most violent persecutor. That system was 
 
 VOL. II. L 
 
 soon put in execution. Public instruction 
 was first corrupted ; it was made the mere 
 instrument of despotism. An entire pala- 
 tinate was next deprived of its representa- 
 tives in the council; the chambers of the 
 power of voting on the budget ; new taxes 
 were imposed without their authority; 
 monopolies destructive of industry were 
 created; and the treasury became a mere 
 fountain of corruption, from whence, in lieu 
 of the retrenchment which the nation had 
 so often solicited, pensions and gratuities 
 were distributed with the most scandalous 
 profusion amongst the supporters of gov- 
 ernment. Calumny and espionage soon 
 invaded the privacy, and destroyed the 
 happiness, of domestic life; the* ancient 
 hospitality of the Poles was converted into 
 a snare for innocence. Individual liberty, 
 so solemnly guaranteed, was every day vio- 
 lated; the prisons were filled; and courts- 
 martial, proceeding to take cognizance of 
 civil offences, inflicted infamous and de- 
 grading punishments on citizens whose 
 only fault was to have endeavoured to stem 
 the torrent of corruption which overspread 
 the country. 
 
 "In the ancient provinces of Poland, 
 now incorporated with Russia, matters have 
 been still worse. Not only have they not 
 been incorporated with Poland, in violation 
 of the promise to that effect made by the 
 emperor Alexander to the congress of 
 Vienna, but, on the contrary, everything 
 has been systematically done which could 
 eradicate iu them any sentiment or recol- 
 lection of nationality. The youths at 
 school have been, in an especial manner, 
 the object of persecution. All who were 
 suspected of a leaning towards liberal or 
 patriotic sentiments, were torn from their 
 mothers' arms, and sent off to Siberia, or 
 compelled to enter the army as private 
 soldiers, though belonging to the first fami- 
 lies in the country. In all administrative 
 or public acts, the Polish language was 
 suppressed, as well as in the common 
 schools ; imperial ukases annihilated alike 
 the Polish rights and tribunals ; the abuses 
 of administration reduced the landed pro- 
 prietors to despair. Since the accession of 
 the emperor Nicholas, all these evils have 
 rapidly increased; and intolerance, coming 
 to the aid of despotism, has left nothing 
 undone to extirpate the catholic worship, 
 and force the Greek ritual in its stead." 
 
 We have quoted this manifesto thus fully, 
 in order to present the reader with a Polish 
 
 73 
 
 
NICHOLAS DECTAUED DETHRONED.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1831. 
 
 view of the wrongs of that country. They 
 were indeed heavy ones, and such as were 
 highly calculated to excite desperation and 
 resistance in a spirited and liberty-loving 
 people. Unhappily, also, the character of 
 the Russian government gives but little 
 ground for the hope, that this recital of 
 oppression was darkened in colour by a 
 spirit of exaggeration. It is, in fact, 
 generally admitted, that the Polish insur- 
 rection was the natural and inevitable 
 result of the unjust and irritating pro- 
 ceedings of the Russian government. 
 
 Notwithstanding the issue of this mani- 
 festo, General Chlopicki still strove to 
 bring about an accommodation with the 
 czar, and sent the most earnest addresses 
 to Nicholas, in the hope of obtaining from 
 his moderation or compassion, that which 
 he feared could not be extorted from him 
 by force. When we regard the nature of 
 the Russian government, we must at once 
 perceive, that hopes of this kind were mere 
 infatuation. It is not to be supposed, that 
 it could be moved by entreaties to surrender 
 a large and valuable territory, or to modify 
 its course of action so largely, that the real, 
 if not nominal, emancipation of Poland 
 from its control would be the result. 
 "When, in addition, we contemplate the 
 despotic and unbending character of the 
 emperor Nicholas, the hopes of Chlopicki 
 assume an air of baseless romance utterly 
 inconsistent with the sober and practical 
 views of a statesman and a soldier. Ni- 
 cholas was not only inflexible, but irri- 
 tated ; and, in this instance, he was backed 
 by the public feeling of the whole Russian 
 people, who regarded the Poles with emo- 
 tions of jealousy and enmity. The czar 
 insisted on an unconditional surrender. 
 "I am king of Poland, and I will drive 
 her," said he; and this galling observation 
 is an index to his entire bearing towards 
 the patriots whom, disregarding the bitter 
 provocations they had received, and the 
 peculiar position they occupied, he never 
 stooped to regard otherwise than as revolted 
 subjects. 
 
 The Polish diet would not listen to the 
 arrogant terms of Nicholas ; and they held 
 themselves in readiness for the inevitable 
 war. The irresolute Chlopicki then resigned 
 his dictatorship, which he ought never to 
 have been permitted to occupy ; his delays 
 and frequent communications with the au- 
 tocrat had given the latter the requisite 
 tame to assemble a force which would 
 74 
 
 eventuallv overwhelm the resources of the 
 Poles ; while the only chance of a favour- 
 able result on the part of the latter, lay in 
 some rapid and immediate success before 
 the czar could concentrate his scattered 
 forces. 
 
 Disembarrassed of the influence of Chlo- 
 picki, the diet assembled on the 19th of 
 January, 1831, to decide upon what step 
 was to be taken by the nation. " Poles," 
 said the president. Prince Adam Czar- 
 toryski, " our cause is sacred ; our fate 
 depends on the Most High ; but we owe it 
 to ourselves to transmit intact to posterity 
 the honour of the nation enshrined in our 
 hearts. * Concord, courage, perseverance !' 
 such is the sacred motto which can alone 
 insure the glory of our country. Let us 
 put forth all our strength, in order to found 
 for ever our liberty and national indepen- 
 dence." He was responded to by a shout 
 of " There is no longer a Nicholas ;" and 
 then, amidst enthusiastic cheers and a 
 frenzy of patriotic excitement, the diet 
 voted the dethronement of the czar, and 
 absolved the Polish nation from its oath of 
 fidelity to him. A national government 
 was then organised, under the presidency 
 of Prince Czartoryski ; a vigorous defence 
 was resolved on, and General Chlopicki 
 again accepted the command of the army ; 
 saying, with a modesty which betrayed an 
 inward sense of his incompetence for such a 
 post at such a time, " I only accept the 
 command in order to hold it till the war 
 has raised one of those great men who save 
 nations." Alas for Poland ! it had no man 
 of towering genius to help it in its ex- 
 tremity ; no Cromwell, Washington, or 
 Napoleon arose at the eleventh hour to 
 save it from the crushing despotism of its 
 oppressor; the hour, indeed, had struck; 
 but the man who should have been equal to 
 the terrible emergency was not to be found. 
 Nature is often a niggard of genius, espe- 
 cially of that genius which fits men for 
 great deeds on the battle-field, and profound 
 thoughts in the cabinets of statesmen. 
 
 The Polish army consisted altogether of 
 58,000 men, independent of the expected 
 reserve which it was presumed that national 
 enthusiasm would supply. About 14,000 
 of the regular army, however, was occupied 
 as garrisons in fortresses, and were there- 
 fore unavailable for active service in the 
 field. On the other hand, the Russian 
 army, collected on the frontiers under the 
 command of Marshal Diebitch, consisted 
 
 A.D. 1831.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [grochow and praga. 
 
 of 110,000 men, and had with it 39G pieces 
 of artillery. 
 
 The campaign was opened, on the 5th of 
 February, by the march of Diebitch to- 
 wards Warsaw. The Polish army retreated 
 before him to the village of Grochow, within 
 a league of the capital, which it now became 
 necessary to defend. On the 19th of Feb- 
 ruary a battle took place at Grochow, which 
 lasted the whole day; and, though it in- 
 flicted great loss on both sides, did not 
 confer victory on either. Though the 
 Poles were driven back some few hundred 
 yards from the position they held in the 
 morning, yet they felt that they had gained 
 something of reputation by sustaining so 
 desperate an engagement with the Russian 
 forces, and coming out of the struggle un- 
 vanquished. The Grand-duke Constantine 
 was present in the battle, though not in 
 command ; and it is said, that he could not 
 avoid expressing some satisfaction at the 
 conduct of the Polish army, which, under 
 his severe training, had become one of the 
 best discipHned in Europe. 
 
 A truce of three hours, entered into by 
 the opposing forces for the purpose of bury- 
 ing their dead, was prolonged for a period 
 of three days. On the 25th, both armies 
 were again arrayed before each other, in 
 order of battle, and 45,000 Poles were 
 confronted by more than 100,000 Rus- 
 sians. Chlopicki betrayed his weakness 
 by shedding tears of passionate grief, in 
 despair of the salvation of his country. 
 Happily, the army had other leaders, who 
 knew the worthlessness of tears on such 
 an occasion, and the value of resolution. 
 The Polish spirit was high; and notwith- 
 standing the great disparity of forces, the 
 patriots were resolved on braving the 
 struggle. At daybreak the battle of Praga 
 commenced, and again the conflict was 
 prolonged with great fury, and with various 
 success, throughout the whole day. The 
 object of the Russians was to take posses- 
 sion of the Alder wood, the retention of 
 which conferred immense advantages, in a 
 military point, upon the holders of it. 
 Diebitch was successful ; and, after a san- 
 guinary struggle, drove out the Poles with 
 his artillery; but they retired in good 
 order, and the Russian cavalry sufl'ered 
 terribly in an attempt to throw 'them into 
 confusion. During the night the Poles 
 retired from Praga into Warsaw, so that 
 the advantages of this action remained with 
 the Russians ; though the latter were still 
 
 unable to claim a victory. In fact, they 
 had lost 10,000 men in these two battles— a 
 greater number than the loss experienced 
 by the Poles ; but this mattered little, as 
 they were so much better able to bear it, on 
 account of their great numerical superiority. 
 While these proceedings were taking place 
 between the main armies of the contendino- 
 nations, a body of Russian cavalry, amount^ 
 ing to nearly 10,000 men, was defeated 
 and put to flight at Sieroczyn bv a body of 
 2,800 Polish horse and foot. This circum- 
 stance, however, though it necessarily elated 
 the victors, added Httle or nothing to their 
 slender chance of ultimate success. Some 
 further triumphs were obtained by this 
 small division of the Polish forces; but it is 
 needless here to chronicle petty engage- 
 ments which could not lead to decisive 
 results. 
 
 The Poles were, in fact, much alarmed at 
 the dangerous proximity of the Russian 
 army, under Diebitch, to their capital. 
 That unfortunate nation saw that it was 
 beset with dangers of the most menacing 
 character ; and the command of the army, 
 which had recently been entrusted to 
 Prince Radzitvil, was conferred upon Gen- 
 eral Skrzynecki, whose military talents 
 were regarded as of a higher order. As to 
 Chlopicki, he was rendered incapable of 
 active service by a severe wound, which 
 confined him to his bed. Skrzynecki was 
 in the prime of hfe— an important, if not 
 essential, qualification in one who would 
 lead a revolutionary army. Having been 
 personally ill-treated by the Gcand-duke 
 Constantine, he had long acquired a popu- 
 larity in the army, which his energy, and 
 the courage and military capacity exhibited 
 by him at the battles of Grochow and 
 Praga, had much increased. 
 
 Skrzynecki has been described as "a 
 pertinacious negotiator;" and his first 
 exercise of power was an endeavour to ne- 
 gotiate a peace with Marshal Diebitch; 
 but this he soon discovered to be a very 
 useless proceeding. Diebitch had no power 
 to do otherwise than execute the commands 
 of the emperor, and persevere in hostilities 
 until the Poles purchased a cessation of 
 bloodshed by the acceptance of the galling 
 terms of unconditional surrender. Pre- 
 parations were then made for a renewal of 
 active warfare : the Russians spread over a 
 great extent of ground, in order that they 
 might procure supplies of provisions with 
 greater facility ; while the Poles were eu- 
 
 75 
 
BUCXJESSES OF THE POLES.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1831. 
 
 gaged in throwing up fresh intrenchments 
 around Warsaw, at which the inhabitants, 
 both male and female, laboured heroically 
 both night and day. The Polish forces 
 were also reinforced by ardent recruits ; 
 and the activity of the new commander 
 kept up the spirits and enthusiasm of his 
 troops. 
 
 Hostilities were first resumed by the 
 Polish general. Having assembled his 
 troops in silence, he left Warsaw at mid- 
 night on the 30th of March, having pre- 
 viously had the Praga bridge over the Vis- 
 tula, and the road in the vicinity, covered 
 with straw, to prevent the enemy from 
 hearing his approach. His operations were 
 favoured by a thick fog ; and the Russians, 
 not suspecting an attack, were for the most 
 part sound asleep. So ably was the expe- 
 dition conducted, that the surprise was 
 complete, and the startled Russians were 
 roused from their slumbers by the mus- 
 ketry of the foe. Their advanced posts, 
 under Geismar, were assailed both in front 
 and flank, thrown into confusion, and 
 slaughtered in heaps. As they fled, they 
 were attacked by another body of Poles, 
 who charged the fugitives with the bayonet, 
 and killed and captured great numbers of 
 them. Those who escaped fled through 
 a wood to Dembewilkie, where General 
 Rosen was posted with 15,000 of their 
 countrymen, in a position of great advan- 
 tage, as the soft nature of the ground ren- 
 dered it impracticable for cavalry or ar- 
 tillery. 
 
 These advantages, however, did not save 
 the Russians from defeat, though they 
 fought with great perseverance, and pro- 
 longed the battle during the whole day — 
 the 31st of March. By the evening, how- 
 ever, the Poles obtained a decided victory ; 
 and the Russians fled in a state of panic, 
 leaving 2,000 men dead upon the field, 
 together with 6,000 prisoners, and nine 
 pieces of cannon, in the hands of the 
 enemy. The following day, the Russian 
 force, which resembled rather a military 
 mob than an army, was pursued by Lu- 
 bienski, with his brigade of cavalry, for the 
 space of twenty miles. Whole battalions 
 of the terror-stricken Russians threw down 
 their arms at his approach; and during 
 the day he captured upwards of 5,000 more 
 prisoners, many of whom, being Lithua- 
 nians, gladly entered the Polish ranks. 
 
 Fortune seemed disposed to smile upon 
 the cause of the patriots ; but Skrzynecki 
 76 
 
 wanted either the skill or the audacity to 
 turn his advantages to account. He was 
 urged to advance and attack the rear of the 
 troops commanded by Diebitch in person ; 
 but he replied — " The roads are impractica- 
 ble for artillery ; I am chained to the great 
 road of Siedlece, and I cannot profit by 
 my victory." All movements calculated 
 (in the event of their being successful) to 
 lead to decisive results, were attended with 
 great hazards, and these he feared to en- 
 counter, because he had no reserve ; and, 
 therefore, if his army was destroyed, the 
 Polish cause was lost. For some days he 
 remained in a state of inactivity, after 
 which he assumed the off'ensive, and 
 marched against Rosen, who was posted 
 with 25,000 men on the Kostrzyn, covering 
 the approaches to Siedlece. Again the 
 Poles obtained a victory, on the 10th of 
 April, at Iganie ; and the Russians, dis- 
 heartened by their previous defeats, fled 
 tumultuouslv, and left half their cannon in 
 the hands of the enemy. The troops de- 
 feated on this occasion were the Russian 
 veterans on whom, since the recent Turkish 
 war, the emperor Nicholas had bestowed 
 the vain-glorious title of " the Lions of 
 Varna." But a sad calamity awaited the 
 victors ; the terrible cholera had been ad- 
 vancing from India into Europe; it had 
 already infected the Russian army, and the 
 Poles took it from the prisoners whom they 
 captured on that occasion. This circum- 
 stance prevented the Poles from following 
 up their successes, and the Russian army 
 was thus saved from destruction. 
 
 Yet the Poles were not uniformly suc- 
 cessful. Their right wing, under Sierawiki 
 and Pac, amounting to 15,000 men, which 
 had advanced against the Russians at Lub- 
 lin, experienced a reverse, and were driven 
 back with the loss of 1,500 men. The 
 brave and gifted Dwernecki, after achieving 
 many triumphs, was defeated in Volhynia, 
 and compelled to take refuge within the 
 Austrian frontier, where he and his men 
 were immediately disarmed and made pri- 
 soners. But Austria was not anxious for 
 any overwhelming success on the part of 
 Russia ; and the Poles were mostly per- 
 mitted to escape and return to the patriotic 
 army. A partial rising in favour of the 
 Poles, in Podolia and the Ukraine, was also 
 crushed by the Russian forces ; and, by its 
 misfortune, helped to bind the chains it 
 had striven to break. 
 
 While these operations were proceeding, 
 
 V V 
 
 A.D. 1831.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 the main Polish army, under Skrzynecki, 
 remained in inaction ;' while Diebitch, from 
 whose military talents the emperor Nicholas 
 had expected a speedy termination of the 
 war, was waiting for reinforcements to fill 
 the gaps which had been made in his ranks 
 by Polish sabres. He had not fulfilled the 
 expectations formed of him in consequence 
 of his previous exploits, and especially his 
 passage of the Balkan, in the recent war 
 with the Turks; and it became evident that 
 his powers were failing. The irresolution 
 of the Polish general at this period has 
 been both regretted and condemned, for a 
 vigorous blow struck at this moment might 
 have annihilated the Russian army, and 
 inclined the emperor to grant the 'terms 
 demanded by the Poles. 
 
 This time Diebitch, having received the 
 reinforcements he had been waiting for, 
 commenced offensive operations. Towards 
 the end of April he advanced with 40,000 
 men to Jerusalem, while 15,000 more 
 marched on Kaluckzyn; but he was soon 
 compelled to retire, on account of the wasted 
 state of the country, which precluded the 
 possibility of obtaining supplies. Skrzynecki 
 then conceived the plan of attacking the 
 Russian head-quarters at Ostrolenka, and, 
 by forcing back the Russian army, open a 
 communication with Litbuauia, where an 
 insurrection in favour of the Poles was 
 making considerable progress. This move- 
 ment he succeeded in effecting, at the same 
 time attacking and defeating the Russian 
 rear-guard at Tykoczyn. Skrzynecki, how- 
 ever, m accomplishing it, laid himself open 
 to attack— a circumstance of which Diebitch 
 was not slow to take advantage. The result 
 was a general battle, which took place at 
 Ostrolenka on the 26th of May. Tlie con- 
 flict was a furious and terrible one; both 
 sides exhibited the most obstinate courage, 
 and victory appeared to hang undecided 
 between them. In many cases the com- 
 batants fought man to man and foot to foot ; 
 while Polish officers were seen, sword in 
 hand, rushing to the front, singing the 
 Warsaw hymn. At nightfall the fury of 
 the fight slackened, and the Russians, re- 
 tiring from the field, withdrew to the oppo- 
 site side of the river Narew, leaving 10,000 
 dead or wounded men upon the ensanguined 
 field. The Poles had gained an equivocal 
 victory; but it was of a kind so fatal as to 
 carry ^ith it nearly all the consequences of 
 defeat. They had lost no less than 7,000 
 men, including 270 officers — a much heavier 
 
 [battle of ostrolenka. 
 
 calamity to them than the loss of 10,000 
 men was to their foes. A detachment of 
 8,000 men, also, had been separated from 
 the main army of the Poles, and left in a dan- 
 gerous position in the forests of Lithuania. 
 Skrzynecki summoned a council of war, and 
 
 his officers strenuously advised a retreat 
 
 a decision which he unwillingly adopted. 
 The Polish army, therefore, retired leisurely 
 towards Warsaw, and gloomy forebodings 
 filled the minds of many of the patriot 
 leaders. 
 
 The sanguinary battle of Ostrolenka was 
 the last fought by Diebitch. Knowing that 
 he had incurred the serious displeasure of 
 the emperor, and mentally pained bv his 
 own want of success, he sought reliefVrom 
 the melancholy which oppressed him in an 
 immoderate use of the bottle. This probably 
 subjected him to an attack of the cholera, 
 which was then raging in the Russian army. 
 He sunk rapidly beneath the disorder, and 
 died at Pultusk, on the 10th of June. 
 Nicholas, who had resolved to dismiss the 
 living general, looked with a softened glance 
 on the dead one, and the corpse of the once 
 famous soldier was conveyed to St. Peters- 
 burg, where it was interred with much 
 pomp. On the 27th of the same month in 
 which Diebitch breathed his last, the Grand- 
 duke Constantine died at Witepsk, in the 
 arms of the much-loved wife for whom he 
 had sacrificed the throne of Russia. Sus- 
 picions of poison were at first entertained, 
 but it appears groundlessly, and his death is 
 now generally attributed to cholera. Dr. 
 Granville, an English physician of distinc- 
 tion, attributed the deat^h of the grand- 
 duke to the result of mental irritability, 
 which terminated in apoplexy. " Constan- 
 tine,^' observed that gentleman, "eccentric 
 always, tyrannical, cruel, died at Warsaw, 
 suddenly, in July, 1831, aged fifty-two 
 years, after having caused rebellion in the 
 country by his harsh treatment of the cadet 
 officers. I saw and conversed with him on 
 the parade and in his palace at Warsaw in 
 December, 1828. His looks and demeanour 
 sufficiently denoted to a medical man what 
 he was, and what his fate would be. It 
 has been said that he died of cholera; again, 
 that he had been dispatched like his father. 
 The physician-in-chief of the Polish military 
 hospitals assured me, some years after, that 
 he died apoplectic and in a rage."* 
 
 ♦ For a remarkable letter by Dr. Granville, pub- 
 lished on the occasion of the death of the emperor 
 Nicholas, in which the severities and eccentricities 
 
 77 
 
DEPRESSED STATE OF THE POLES.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1831. 
 
 General Paskiewitch succeeded Diebitch 
 in the command of the Russian army in 
 Poland ; but the combatants on both sides 
 had suffered too much by the battle of 
 Ostrolenka, to permit the immediate renewal 
 of hostilities. Nearly a month was suffered 
 to pass in inaction, during which the Polish 
 general busied himself in recruiting his 
 shattered ranks and preparing for a renewal 
 of the struggle. Gloom, fear, and dis- 
 content prevailed in Warsaw, and the re- 
 publicans of that city lost all their confi- 
 dence in Skrzynecki, whom they suspected 
 either of incompetence, or of treason to the 
 national cause. 
 
 The resumption of hostilities led to re- 
 sults unfavourable to the Poles. The divi- 
 sion which had been separated from their 
 army after the battle of Ostrolenka, had 
 thrown itself into Lithuania, where it met 
 with considerable success in promoting the 
 insurrection there ; so much so, that it was 
 joined by some thousand volunteers, in- 
 cluding 340 young men from the university 
 of Wiltia. But there was no time to or- 
 ganise these recruits, and not even arms for 
 them all ; therefore, though this division of 
 the Polish army proved successful in an 
 engagement with a small body of Russian 
 troops which endeavoured to arrest its pro- 
 gress, it suffered a defeat at the battle of 
 Wilna of so serious a kind as to prove fatal 
 to the Polish cause in Lithuania. The de- 
 feat was followed by another disaster ; for 
 most of the troops who retreated from the 
 field of battle, were compelled to take refuge 
 in the Prussian territory, where they were 
 arrested and disarmed. 
 
 As the Poles were constantly weakened, 
 the Russians were as constantly reinforced, 
 and their relative strength became more 
 disproportionate. The state of the Poles, 
 which had never been too promising, became 
 desperate; and eventual submission, with 
 its accompanying degradation and severi- 
 ties, stared them in the face. Paskiewitch 
 adopted a different plan to the one which 
 had been pursued with so little advantage 
 by his predecessor. It was to renounce the 
 idea of attacking Warsaw on the right bank 
 of the Vistula, where it was defended by 
 the fortifications of Praga, and, instead, to 
 march towards the Prussian frontier, where 
 additional succours of every description 
 
 of the various members of the imperial family of 
 Russia are attributed to the action of hereditary 
 insanity, see Tyrrell's History of the recent War 
 with Mussia, vol. ii., p. 85. 
 
 78 
 
 awaited him, to cross the Vistula at Oziek, 
 and to return and attack Warsaw on the 
 left bank. This plan was favoured by the 
 dishonourable and mean attitude of Prussia, 
 which, sinking the dignity of an independent 
 state into the insignificance of a crinpng 
 vassal of Russia, openly assisted the latter 
 power, and permitted provisions and muni- 
 tions of war to be forwarded across its ter- 
 ritory to the Russian head-quarters. " Time 
 will show," observes a political writer, " whe- 
 ther, in so doing, Prussia has not put the 
 seal to her own ultimate subjugation." In 
 reply to repeated expostulations both from 
 Poland and France, the Prussian cabinet 
 answered, with a despicable quibble, that it 
 had never professed to be neutral, but only 
 inactive. 
 
 General Paskiewitch had 60,000 men 
 and 300 pieces of cannon with him at 
 Pultusk, and a reserve of 23,000 behind 
 the Bug and the Wieprz. To oppose this 
 force Skrzynecki had not 25,000 men. The 
 Polish government made an eloquent appeal 
 to the people for assistance, commencing — 
 " In the name of God ; in the name of the 
 liberty of the nation, now placed between 
 life and death ; in the name of the kings 
 and heroes who have combated in former 
 days for its religion and independence; in 
 the name of justice and of the deliverance 
 of Europe ; in the name of future genera- 
 tions who will else demand a terrible ac- 
 count of your abashed shades for their 
 servitude, we call on all classes to come 
 forward to defend their country." This 
 appeal was generously responded to; but 
 the hopeful enthusiasm which animated the 
 people at the outbreak of the insurrection, 
 now scarcely existed : it had sunk into a 
 state not far removed from despair, in the 
 presence of obstacles which proved insur- 
 mountable, and of difficulties which ap- 
 peared endless. 
 
 The crossing of the Vistula by Paskie- 
 witch, and the approach of the Russian 
 army upon Warsaw, on its comparatively 
 undefended side, created both consterna- 
 tion and fury in that city. Such was the 
 outcry against Skrzynecki, that he was 
 deprived of the command of the army, 
 which was given to Dembinski, who had 
 the courage to undertake it under circum- 
 stances which held out a promise of little 
 else than martyrdom. But popular discon- 
 tent was not alleviated by the removal of 
 Skrzynecki, whose inactivity had led to 
 suspicions of his fidelity. Furious riots 
 
 A.D. 1831.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [surrender of wahsaw. 
 
 broke out in Warsaw, and armed and ex- 
 cited mobs paraded the streets, rending the 
 air with shouts of treason. Breaking into 
 the prisons, they murdered the state pri- 
 soners, together with several Russians -who 
 were confined there. They also forced 
 their way into the palace ; and the following 
 day the government, finding themselves 
 unable to restrain the fury of a people by 
 whom they were not respected, resigned. 
 One of a more republican character suc- 
 ceeded, and General Krukowiecki, a man 
 of considerable energy and talent, was ap- 
 pointed dictator. 
 
 It became evident, that the termination 
 of this sad struggle could not long be 
 averted. With the hope of avoiding the 
 terrible loss of life which must necessarily 
 ensue from the assault of Warsaw, Paskie- 
 witch gave the Polish government till tlie 
 5th of September to surrender at discre- 
 tion, assuring it that these were the only 
 terms he was authorised to make. His 
 offer was still indignantly rejected, and the 
 Poles, in reply, dispatched 20,000 men to 
 threaten the Russian communications, and 
 to collect provisions in the surrounding 
 provinces. This was an error, which left 
 only 34,000 men to guard the intrenched 
 camp at Warsaw. The city was defended 
 on the left bank by three semicircular 
 lines of vallations, the most extended of 
 which did not embrace less than five leagues. 
 The principal sallies were Wola, Pariz, and 
 Marymont, connected together by lunettes. 
 This immense development, to be adequately 
 maintained, required an army three times 
 as large as that of the Poles. Certain 
 points, of necessity insufficiently manned, 
 must, as a matter of course, fall into the 
 hands of Paskiewitch; so that they had 
 built forts for the enemy; and the very 
 works which were intended to stop the 
 besieger, became to him an additional 
 element of success. To complete this mis- 
 fortune, the points then best fortified were 
 precisely those which the Russians could 
 not attack. 
 
 At daybreak on the 6th of September, 
 the Russians commenced their assault on 
 the intrenched camp of the Poles at 
 Warsaw, Paskiewitch having previously 
 ordered large rations of brandy to be dis- 
 tributed to his troops. The attack began 
 with a fire from 200 cannons, and the storm 
 of destructive missiles was continued all 
 day, and responded to by the Polish artil- 
 lery. The fighting also was carried on with 
 
 the most determined fury, and on each side 
 the slaughter was terrible. But the force 
 of the Russians was overwhelming, and 
 Krukowiecki lost courage, and informed the 
 council of government that all was lost, and 
 that nothing remained but to surrender. 
 During the night he attempted to open 
 a negotiation with Paskiewitch; but the 
 Poles could not be induced to purchase a 
 cessation of the horrors of a sanguinary and 
 hopeless struggle at the price of an uncon- 
 ditional surrender. The next day, there- 
 fore, the battle was resumed, and the Poles 
 fought with the fury of despair; but their 
 bravery was unavailing against the crushing 
 fire of the Russian guns, which established 
 such a superiority over that of the Poles, 
 as to induce Paskiewitch to order the as- 
 sault. Again the Russians were indebted 
 to the immense superiority of their artil- 
 lery for their success. After a bloody 
 resistance, several of the intrenchments 
 were taken, and Krukowiecki agreed to a 
 surrender, on condition that the Polish 
 army was allowed to retire to Plock. Tliis 
 was granted, and Krukowiecki addressed the 
 following communication to the emperor 
 Nicholas .—" Sire,--Commissioned at this 
 moment to speak to your imperial and 
 royal majesty in the name of the Polish 
 nation, I address myself, through his excel- 
 lency Count Paskiewitch d'Erivan, to your 
 paternal heart. In submitting uncondi- 
 tionally to your majesty our king, the 
 Polish nation knows that your majesty 
 alone is competent to make the past for- 
 gotten, and to heal the deep wounds that 
 have rent my country." 
 
 The following day the Russian troops 
 marched triumphantly into Warsaw by the 
 northern gates, and the Polish soldiers left 
 it by the southern. They were followed 
 by the members of the diet, and by many 
 persons who had distinguished themselves 
 during the insurrectionary war, and who 
 chose a voluntary banishment rather than 
 a dependence on the hoped-for mercy of 
 the emperor. During this last struggle, in 
 a noble but most unhappy cause, in which 
 the natural rights of humanity were arrayed 
 against the overwhelming legions of a cruel 
 and unyielding despotism, 5,000 Poles had 
 perished, and 4,000 more were taken pri- 
 soners. The Russians did not purchase 
 their tarnished triumph except at a fearful 
 price of blood : their loss, during these two 
 days of terror, was admitted by their gen- 
 eral to have amounted to 5,378 in killed 
 
 79 
 
 m ii 
 
SEVERITY OF NICHOLAS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1831. 
 
 and wounded ; while it is asserted by other 
 authorities to have reached the startling 
 number of 20,000 men ! 
 
 The Polish army, which had retired from 
 Warsaw, was followed by the Russians, and 
 summoned to surrender, which it indig- 
 nantly refused to do. The struggle was 
 resumed for a (ew days; but the Poles were 
 almost without ammunition, and in a 
 miserable and almost destitute state. Thev 
 were soon compelled to cross the Prussian 
 frontier, and lay down their arms; and 
 thus the struggle terminated, after having 
 lasted nearly eight months, and cost Russia 
 the astounding loss of 180,000 men. The 
 Poles had displayed a patriotism and courage 
 which elicited the admiration of Europe; 
 and the failure of their cause produced 
 sorrow in many of the capitals of the conti- 
 nent, and passionate excitement in others. 
 In Paris the public grief was so intense, 
 that for some days the city remained in a 
 state of stupor, and the theatres were all 
 closed. 
 
 The emperor Nicholas was unmoved 
 either by the prostrate and unhappy condi- 
 tion of the Poles, or by the sympathy mani- 
 fested for them, and the execration poured 
 out against Russia in the most free and 
 enlightened states of the continent. He 
 exhibited the most imphicable resentment 
 and relentless severity against the unfor- 
 tunate people whom the harshness of his 
 government had driven into insurrection. 
 Many members of the noblest families in 
 Warsaw were seized, and sent to labour for 
 life in the mines of Siberia, or drag out a 
 wretched existence in its miserable deserts. 
 More were sent to serve as common soldiers 
 
 * Ivan Golovin, a Russian exile who has written 
 much concerning his country, observes — '* If the 
 Kusso-Greek church was tolerant under Catherine 
 II., it has ceased to he so under Nicholas. He has 
 forced the united Greeks to separate themselves 
 from the pope, and to re-enter the bosom of the 
 Kussian church. In Poland he has erected a Jias- 
 sian altar by the side of every catholic altar. The 
 Armenians of the Grejjorian sect are under process 
 of conversion. The patriarch of Echmiadzin, by 
 way of paying court to the czar, has gradually 
 obliterated, one after another, the differences that 
 used to exist between the Greco-Russian form of 
 worship and the Armenian. There is not a single 
 sect, down even to the Lutheran peasants of Es- 
 thonia, that has not been tried to be converted 
 to the Greek faith by the bait of grants of land and 
 enlarged privileges. This bait has led to some ridi- 
 culous results in the Caucasus among the Osseti- 
 nians, who, receiving a shirt and a silver rouble for 
 each conversion, have managed to get the reward 
 three or four times over, by being converted over 
 and over again, in different local'Ues. The conse- 
 
 80 
 
 in the Caucasus and other Asiatic provinces, 
 and thus became instrumental in inflicting 
 upon others that loss of liberty and na- 
 tionality, for the assertion of which they 
 themselves were paying so terrible a penalty. 
 As to the Polish soldiers, the oath of alle- 
 giance to the emperor was forced upon them 
 by threats of death beneath the agony of the 
 knout. No gleam of generosity, no touch 
 of mercy, irradiated or softened the harsh 
 nature of the czar; the victim was at his 
 feet, and he resolved that it should rise no 
 more. He determined on the utter extinc- 
 tion of that feeling of nationality in the 
 Polish breast, which, from its intensity, 
 seems destined to survive all misfortunes. 
 To effect this purpose, the constitution 
 granted to Poland was formally abrogated, 
 and another form of government, called the 
 " Organic Statute," introduced. The uni- 
 versities of Wilna and Warsaw, as well as 
 many minor schools, were abolished, and 
 the public libraries and museums carried 
 away to St. Petersburg and other parts of 
 Russia. Various other measures were 
 taken to destroy the nationality of Poland, 
 to abolish its language, and to overthrow 
 its religion* — measures which have evei 
 since been steadily persisted in. A great 
 number of the patriots left their fatherland, 
 and emigrated to foreign countries. But 
 the seal was yet to be placed to the mis- 
 fortunes of Poland, the stone yet to be 
 laid on the grave of its nationality. This 
 was done in 1832, when it was declared an 
 integral part of the Russian empire. 
 
 From this state of national and political 
 death, we fear that there is no resurrection 
 for the Poles.f Sad as their fate is, they 
 
 quence is, that the official list of baptisms is greater 
 than the whole number of inhabitants, which does 
 not, however, prevent them from still belonging to 
 their old faith. Not a single Ossetinian has ever 
 been seen in the Christian church of Kasbek !" 
 
 t '* Is there a Poland or is there none ?" inquires 
 Golovin; who thus replies : — **That is the question 
 tirst put when one treats of that country. Fitiis 
 PolonisD ! exclaimed Kosciusko on the field of 
 battle, throwing away his sword, on being made 
 prisoner by the Russians ; since which time those 
 words have been repeated by less distinguished 
 generals or patriots ; and so it is not lost, but still 
 lives, or if politically lost, it lives in the hearts of 
 millions ; and there is indeed something very noble 
 in the feeling of those Poles who, notwithstanding all 
 their sufferings and their privations, believe in the 
 rising again of their country. ' A nation,' say 
 they, * which has a literature and a history, does 
 not perish.' But the history of a nation closes with 
 it, and the Iloman empire also has its literature, 
 and that of no mean kind. Nations die like indi- 
 viduals ; and the absorption of smaller nationalities 
 
 A.D. 1831.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [reflections on POLAND. 
 
 have suffered extinction as a separate na- 
 tion in Europe in consequence of their own 
 errors. Poland had a selfish, turbulent, 
 and proud nobility; a superstitious and 
 domineering priesthood, and a serf popula- 
 tion. These were its faults, or rather its 
 crimes; and for national crimes there is, 
 in the inexorable march of events, no 
 forgiveness. Thus it fell at last to' be 
 absorbed into the gigantic territories of a 
 neighbour to whom, at one period, it was 
 an object of dread. Let us trust that the 
 other nations of Europe may profit by 
 the tragic lesson ; that nobles may remem- 
 ber, that a too selfish adlierence to their 
 own interests may eventually cause the 
 destruction of their order; that priesthoods 
 may understand, that a rigid enforcement 
 of the practices of a blind and decrepid 
 superstition crushes out the spirit of a 
 people;* and that the latter may compre- 
 hend, that those who are content to live in 
 a state of serfdom under a native gov- 
 ernment, deserve their fate, and have no 
 security that they may not become serfs 
 under a foreign yoke. On the tomb of 
 Polish nationality might justly be inscribed 
 the words— "Slain by the vices of the 
 Polish nobles and priesthood, and by the 
 apathy of a people who knew not liberty.'' 
 
 Poland perished by its crimes; and the 
 western nations of Europe have been pun- 
 ished ever since, for their connivance at its 
 spoliation, by their dread of Russian pre- 
 ponderance. Had they firmly resisted the 
 first partition of Poland in 1772,f the 
 second and the third partition would never 
 have taken place. These reduced Poland 
 to the state of weakness which eventuallv 
 caused her to fall prostrate and helples's 
 ben^th the iron foot of Russia. In 1772, 
 England did not even utter a word of ex- 
 postulation when Catherine II. and Frederic 
 the Great bribed Austria to assist them in 
 the first partition of Poland, by which it 
 lost more than one-third of its whole ex- 
 tent. England and France stood aloof, and 
 beheld, with apparent indifference, this 
 inexcusable breach of those laws which 
 are presumed to regulate the intercourse 
 between civilised nations : they suffered the 
 balance of power not only to be disturbed, 
 but to be rudely overthrown. It is true 
 that the time of the imperial and royal 
 
 by larger is doubtless the goal to which mankind 
 are irremediably advancing." 
 
 • A fact of which Spain is a prominent and most 
 
 extraordinary instance. The priesthood of Poland 
 
 VOL. II. M ^ 
 
 bandits had been well chosen. England 
 was tired of its long contests with France ; 
 it was already engaged in that quarrel 
 with America which led to the great war 
 of independence; and the attention of the 
 English people was engaged in political 
 struggles at home, where they feared that 
 the bigotry and despotic character of an 
 ignorant and obstinate young king, assisted 
 by a tory ministry, would, if not resisted, 
 force on them that political servitude to 
 which so many of the continental nations 
 were the prey. On the other hand, France, 
 exhausted by the wars into which it had 
 been plunged by the restless ambition of 
 Louis XIV., and its people irritated and 
 nearly maddened by an accumulation of 
 misery, and by the corruption and heart- 
 lessness of the mass of the privileged orders 
 both in church and state, was hurryin"- 
 onward to that terrible revolution, when 
 the sins of a blind aristocracy, and the 
 selfishness of a corrupt priesthood, were, 
 together with the wrongs of an outraged 
 and despairing people, to be washed out in 
 a deluge of blood ! 
 
 Oh ! the time was well chosen : France 
 was half mad with her own miseries, and 
 the hands of England were filled with her 
 own immediate affairs. There never was a 
 period when our exercise of the doctrine 
 of non-intervention in the proceedings of 
 other countries, seemed to be more profit- 
 able. What, it might be urged, could 
 these two countries do, when Russia, Prus- 
 sia, and Austria, each armed to the teeth, 
 were leagued together for a deed of wrong? 
 Assuredly the question constitutes a diffi- 
 culty: to this the western powers closed 
 their eyes; but that is not the manner in 
 which difficulties are overcome. They ^ 
 must be met, and met with daring and 
 resolution; and it is better when they are 
 met at once. They are commonly in- 
 creased by delay, as this has been. If 
 Poland had not fallen, Turkey would not 
 be in danger from the overshadowing 
 might of Russia; nor would Prussia be her 
 vassal, or the Baltic states look towards her 
 with furtive and uneasy glances. The diffi- 
 culties of the Eastern question, as well as 
 others in connection with the pretensions 
 of Russia, may almost be said to have 
 arisen out of the fall of Poland: the 
 
 were bitterly fanatical in their adherence to the 
 tenets and forms of Catholicism ; that of Spaia 
 was superstitiously and savagely mad. v 
 
 t See ante, pp. 288, 289. 
 
 81 
 
REFLECTIONS ON POLAND.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1833. 
 
 strength she lost, Russia gained; and the 
 acquisition of that territory opened to her 
 a highway^ into the heart of Euroj)e, and 
 made her influence predominant tlirough- 
 out a great part of Germany. Starting 
 from Warsaw, the battalions of Russia 
 could soon thunder at the gates of Berlin ; 
 and in that circumstance lies the clue to 
 the Prussian subservience to Russian 
 claims, and Prussian complicity with Rus- 
 sian guilt. Since Poland has been ab- 
 sorbed by Russia, Prussia has ceased to be 
 one of the great powers of Europe, and has, 
 we repeat, become merely a vassal of the 
 czar; a fact which time will make increas- 
 ingly evident. Austria cannot maintain 
 herself against Russia, for her vast stand- 
 ing army is required to play the part of 
 police at home, and to force upon disaf- 
 fected nations the hateful yoke of a cruel, 
 intolerant, and despotic government. Rus- 
 sia well knows that now she has but little 
 to fear from either of her great German 
 neighbours. What power, then, remains to 
 check those aggressions which she has from 
 time to time perpetrated in the east, north, 
 and west of Europe? That of France and 
 England, whose arms would, in such con- 
 tests, ever have been aided by the dauntless 
 battalions of Poland, had thev interfered 
 to save her from partition in the hour of 
 her trial and desolation. Now the sabres 
 and bayonets of Poland follow the imperial 
 standard of the czar, and the revenues of 
 Poland assist in filling his treasury : but 
 yet it is France and England who have to 
 resist the encroachments of Russia; alone 
 they have to oppose the hydra which the 
 might of Poland would have enabled them 
 to smite. 
 
 " The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices 
 Make instruments to scourge us." 
 
 England and France were deedless, and 
 even silent, in 1772, and passive during the 
 subsequent partitions of Poland in 1793 
 and 1795. The punishment of this apathetic 
 complicity was remote, certainly, but it was 
 inevitable. For more than half a century 
 the "Eastern difficulty^' has been the 
 spectre which disturbs the tranquillity of 
 their statesmen ; and in 1853 and 1854 both 
 countries were compelled to tax their re- 
 sources to the utmost — to pour out their 
 troops incessantly upon the shores of Rus- 
 sia — to keep mighty fleets in the Baltic and 
 the Euxine — to add millions upon millions 
 to their national debt — to bedew the soil of 
 82 
 
 Russia with the blood of their best and 
 bravest troops; and all merely with the 
 result of administering a temporary check 
 to the designs of Russia. Surely, whatever 
 the condition of England and France in 
 1772, they gained nothing by their con- 
 nivance in the first deep gash inflicted 
 upon Poland, and their silence respecting 
 it. Certainly the western nations were not 
 then what they are now, neither was Rus- 
 sia; in fact, had her internal, social, and 
 political development been progressively 
 equal to theirs, she would now be irre- 
 sistible. Happily, despotism in some mea- 
 sure disarms itself, for it emasculates its 
 subjects. 
 
 In closing this chapter, we may return to 
 our narrative to mention that, in 1833, the 
 liberal and gifted English statesman. Lord 
 Durham, was dispatched from this country 
 on a special mission to Russia, principally 
 with the object of inducing the emperor 
 to soften the severity of his proceedings 
 towards the unhappy persons who had been 
 engaged in the recent Polish insurrection. 
 The eflbrt was altogether without success. 
 Nicholas was not to be moved ; and observed, 
 that all Poland was not worth the Russian 
 officers killed at Warsaw. In fact, the 
 statesman found that the language which our 
 national poet has used respecting one of the 
 most haughty heroes of republican Rome, 
 was also true of the czar — that " there was 
 no more mercy in him than there is milk 
 in a male tiger.'' Regarding the stern, 
 pitiless haughtiness of the unforgiving au- 
 tocrat, and his domineering pride, we may 
 continue the quotation, and add — " He 
 wanted nothing of a god but eternity, and 
 a heaven to throne in." 
 
 The emperor Nicholas has, however, had 
 his apologists for his conduct with regard 
 to the Poles : they affirm, that his vindic- 
 tiveness arose rather from policy than from 
 cruelty of disposition. A Russian noble- 
 man, while conversing with the Marquis 
 Custine, observed — "You can have no 
 adequate idea of the intense intolerance 
 of the Russians; those whose minds are 
 cultivated, and whom business brings into 
 intercourse with western Europe, take the 
 utmost pains to conceal the predominant 
 national sentiment, which is the triumph of 
 the Greek orthodoxy"^ — with them syno- 
 
 * Ivan Golovin, while admitting the intolerance 
 of his countrymen, yet is not disposed to believe 
 them fanatical. He observes — " As regards the 
 fanaticism of the Hussion, I do not believe in it. 
 
 A.D. 1831.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [turkey and EGYPT. 
 
 nymous with the policy of Russia. With- 
 out keeping this io view, nothing can be 
 explained either \kl our manners or our 
 politics. You must not believe, for example, 
 that the persecutions m Poland were the 
 oflect of the personal resentment of the 
 emperor: they were the result of a pro- 
 found and deliberate calculation. These 
 acts of cruelty are meritorious in the eyes 
 of true believers; it is the Holy Spirit who 
 so enlightens the sovereign, as to elevate 
 him above all human feelings ; and it is God 
 who blesses him, as the executor of his high 
 designs. By this manner of viewing things, 
 judges and executioners become so much 
 the greater saints in proportion as they 
 are greater barbarians. Your legitimate 
 journals little know what they are doing 
 when they seek for allies among schisma^ 
 tics. Depend upon it, we shall see a Euro- 
 
 pean revolution before we shall see the 
 emperor of Russia acting in good faith with 
 a catholic power; the protestants are at 
 least open adversaries; besides, they will 
 more readily reunite with the pope than 
 with the chief of the Russian autocracy; 
 for the protestants, having beheld all their 
 creeds degenerate into systems, and their 
 religious faith transformed into philosophic 
 doubt, have nothing left but their sectarian 
 pride to sacrifice to Rome; (?) whereas the 
 emperor possesses a real and positive spiri- 
 tual power, which assuredly he will never 
 voluntarily relinquish. Rome, and all that 
 can be connected with the Romish church, 
 has no more dangerous enemy than the au- 
 tocrat of Moscow, visible head of his own 
 church; and I am astonished that Italian 
 penetration has not discovered the danger 
 that threatens from that quarter." 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 WAR BETWEEN MEREMET ALT AND THE SULTAN ; PROSTRATION OF THE POWER OF THE LATTER • MAHMOUD 
 APPLIRS TO ENGLAND FOR ASSISTANCE, AND IS REFUSED ; HE SOLICITS HELP FROM THE EMPEROR 
 NICHOLAS, WHO EAGERLY EMBRACES THE OPPORTUNITY THUS GIVEN HIM OF INTERVENTION IN THE 
 AFFAIRS OF THE PORTE; RUSSIA SENDS A FLKKT TO THE BOSPHORUS, AND LANDS AN ARMY WITHIN 
 SIGHT OF CONSTANTINOPLE; SETTLEMENT OF THE QUARREL BETWEEN MEHEMET ALI AND THE SULTAN • 
 
 IIJ^!^^''^ ^''^■'^''^ ^^'''' '''"' ^''''''^ ''"^^ ^^^^'^'^^ 0^ UNKIAR-SKELESSI, AS A RECOMPENSE FOR HIS 
 SERVICES ; CONSEQUENT CLOSING OF THE DARDANELLES TO ALL FOREIGN SHIPS OF WAR, EXCEPT THOSE 
 OF RUSSIA ; HOSTILITIES ARE RECOMMENCED BETWEEN THE SULTAN AND THE PASHA OF EGYPT • DEATH 
 OF SULTAN MAHMOUD, AND INTERFERENCE OF AUSTRIA, FRANCE, AND ENGLAND ; BOMBARDMENT OF BEY- 
 KOUT, AND CAPTURE OF SIDON AND ACRE ; SUBMISSION OF MEHEMET ALI ; MODIFICATION OF THE TREATY 
 OF UNKIAR-SKELESSI ; THE CAUCASUS ; RUSSIA, BY VIRTUE OF THE TREATY OF ADRIANOPLE, ASSUMES TO 
 REGARD IT AS A PROVINCE OF THE EMPIRE ; NICHOLAS IS UNABLE TO INDUCE THE MOUNTAINEERS TO 
 SUBMIT TO HIS RULE; BLOCKADE OF THE CIRCASSIAN COAST; SEIZURE OF THE ENGLISH MERCHANT- 
 MAN, VIXEN ; NICHOLAS VISITS THE CAUCASUS ; FORMAL DECLARATION OF WAR BY RUSSIA : SERIOUS 
 REVERSES OF THAT POWER, AND ITS FAILURE TO SUBDUE THE MOUNTAINEERS. 
 
 Turkey had been much weakened by the 
 war that terminated with the treaty of 
 Adrianople, and its progress towards pro- 
 bable dismemberment seemed to be greatly 
 accelerated. Sultan Mahmoud, with un- 
 abated perseverance, was actively employed 
 in endeavouring to create a new army and 
 a new navy, and in improving his ruined 
 finances. Yet powerful and distant pashas 
 speculated on the ruin of the Ottoman em- 
 He observes fast days; he goes to church, where he 
 hears mass ; but he does not believe in the priest, 
 whose hand he finds so often in his pocket. The 
 noble himself is a Voltairian, and an unbeliever. 
 As to the Russian soldier, he dies pressing the cross, 
 which is suspended from his neck, to his expiring 
 lips J but he fights only because he has a taste for a ' 
 
 pire, and debated with themselves whe- 
 ther they were able to set the sultan at 
 defiance, and to make themselves indepen- 
 dent rulers. 
 
 For some time Mehemet Ali — an extra- 
 ordinary man, who had raised himself from 
 the position of a small shopkeeper — had 
 been pasha of Egypt. Not satisfied with 
 this amount of power and distinction, he, 
 in 1831, obtained possession of the island 
 
 military life, and therefore does not much care, 
 when once in for it, how or when it ends ; and to 
 the priest who says to him, * My children, you suffer 
 here, but in another world the nobles will burn on 
 a huge pile of fire, and you will have to throw on 
 the fagrgots :' he replies, * We shall be sent a long 
 way, then, to fetch the wood.' " 
 
 83 
 
TTJUKEY APPLIES TO ENGLAND.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1832. 
 
 of Candia, and then aimed at acquiring 
 Syria. Pleadino^, as an excuse, his desire 
 to recover some Egyptians who, being dis- 
 contented with the exactions of his govern- 
 ment, had settled in that country, he sent 
 his son, Ibrahim Pasha, against it with a 
 large army. Syria, as well as Egypt, was 
 an integral part of the Ottoman empire ; a 
 firman was therefore issued by the sultan, 
 declaring IMehemet a traitor, and a con- 
 siderable Turkish force was sent against 
 him. An active campaign followed, and 
 terminated in favour of Ibrahim Pasha, 
 who obtained several victories over the 
 Turks, gained the command of the whole 
 sea-coast of Syria, captured the fortresses 
 of Acre, Tripoli, and Aleppo, and took 
 great numbers of prisoners, and many tro- 
 phies of war. So remarkable were the 
 successes of Ibrahim, who possessed great 
 military genius, and was well versed in the 
 strategy of modern Europe, that to his 
 Egyptian and Arab followers (who recog- 
 nise a fatality in all things), he appeared an 
 instrument in the hand of God, to reinstate 
 the true faith, and punish the degenerate 
 Turks who had strayed from the precepts 
 of the prophet. A similar feeling prevailed 
 among the forces of the sultan, who, in the 
 December of 1832, were utterly overthrown 
 at the decisive battle of Konieh. The 
 strength of the Porte, exhausted by pre- 
 vious efforts, was almost annihilated. 
 Even Constantinople was in danger from 
 the ambition of INIehemet and the valour 
 of Ibrahim. Such was the fame of the 
 latter throughout the East, that all the 
 warlike tribes in Asia Minor regarded him 
 as the Man of Destiny, who was to restore 
 the faith of the prophet in its purity — were 
 prepared to join his standard, and endea- 
 
 ♦ The apathy and perplexing policy of England 
 has alienated Turkey from it, and caused it to lose 
 its character for integrity and impartiality with that 
 state. Miss Pardoe, in her interesting book on I'he 
 City of the Sultim, remarks: — "A Turk of high 
 rank and considerable abilities, who had an under- 
 standing to observe, and a heart to feel the position 
 of his country, was one day conversing with me on 
 her foreign political relations, when he exclaimed, 
 with a sudden burst of unaffected energy—' France 
 has beguiled us, it is true ; but France has been at 
 least comparatively honest in her supineness. She 
 has never affected a wish to become the foster- 
 mother of the world ; but England— England, ma- 
 dam, which has boasted of her universal philan- 
 thropy — which has knocked away the fetters of mil- 
 lions of the blacks — England, not contented while 
 among her nobles, in her House of Commons, and 
 even at the very meetings of her lower classes, she 
 was making a vaunt of her all-embracing love, and 
 84 
 
 vour to establish a new dynasty on the 
 throne of Constantinople. 
 
 In this hour of peril the Porte applied 
 for assistance to England ; but that power 
 answered, that however much inclined they 
 were to assist Turkey, they had not at tliat 
 moment the means of affording the required 
 assistance.* The foreign policy of this 
 country is a strange enigma, or a series of 
 almost unpardonable errors. Had Ibrahim 
 Pasha crushed the might of the sultan, 
 how long would it have been before the 
 two-headed eagle of Russia had waved over 
 the palaces of the Ottoman and the mosque 
 of St. Sophia? Could the resources of 
 such a petty state as Egypt long have con- 
 tended with the countless battalions and 
 the subtle arts of the autocrat of the north ? 
 The apathy of England might have proved 
 the easy triumph of Russia. , " Never," 
 observes Alison, with zealous truth, *' was 
 such an opportunity afforded for the estab- 
 lishment of a powerful and efficacious 
 barrier against Russia in the East ; imagi- 
 nation itself could not have conceived any- 
 thing more favourable. The British gov- 
 ernment was applied to by an ancient ally 
 for succour against a rebellious vassal, and 
 an opportuuity was afforded of rendering a 
 service to the Ottoman rulers of so essential 
 a kind as to insure future gratitude and 
 dependence, and counteract, in a great de- 
 gree, the growing influence of the Musco- 
 vites at the court of Constantinople. Incal- 
 culable would have been the effects of such 
 aid, if promptly rendered; it would pro- 
 bably have restored the balance of power in 
 the East, and averted, if not altogether 
 prevented, the terrible war of 1854 in the 
 Black Sea. Unhappily, England was not 
 at this period in a condition to take advan- 
 
 of her sympathy with the oppressed— not contented 
 with seeing Poland weep tears of blood, and only 
 cease to exist when the last nerves of her heart had 
 been wrung asunder — your own happy England, 
 secure in her prosperity and her power, is now 
 standing tamely by, while the vast Ottoman em- 
 pire — the gorgeous East, which seems to have been 
 made for glory and for greatness — is trampled by a 
 power like Russia ! She might have saved us — she 
 might save us yet. "Where is her gallant navy ? 
 Where are her floating fortresses? But above all, 
 where is the heart which has so many hands to work 
 its will ? Is it the expense of a war from which she 
 shrinks ? Surely her policy is not so shallow, for 
 she cannot require to be told how deeply her com- 
 mercial interests must be compromised by the suc- 
 cess of Russia. But I will not pursue so painful a 
 subject. As individuals we respect the English ; 
 but their political character is lost in the East. We 
 have no longer faith in England.' 
 
 \h 
 
 A.D. 1833.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 tage of the extraordinary good fortune thus 
 thrown in her way. So great had been the 
 reduction of her land and sea forces, in 
 consequence of the growing passion' for 
 economy which had prevailed ever since 
 the peace, and which the contraction of the 
 currency had now rendered a matter of 
 necessity, that Great Britain had no forces 
 at her disposal adeqnate for an Eastern war; 
 and the iQ\Y which she had were absorbed 
 in propping up a rickety and unpopular 
 government against the feelings of the Por- 
 tuguese at Lisbon." 
 
 The power of France, at this period, to 
 assist the sultan was scarcely greater than 
 that of England; and had it" been applied 
 to, a response of regretful denial would 
 probably have been sustained in that quar- 
 ter also. But assistance was not applied 
 for, as the conduct of Napoleon, and of the 
 French government since his fall, had been 
 Buch as to create in the Porte a jealousy and 
 distrust of it. 
 
 Wliere was Turkey to turn for help? 
 The mediation of the European powers 
 had effected a truce; but, in spite of it, 
 Ibrahim pushed on and occupied Brousa, 
 the ancient Asiatic capital of the Ottoman 
 empire. The ruin of the sultan appeared to 
 be inevitable; and in this almost hopeless 
 condition, he resolved to appeal for assistance 
 to his natural enemy, and to throw himself 
 into the arms of Russia. Mahmoud, there- 
 fore, addressed an autograph letter to the 
 emperor Nicholas, soliciting help against 
 his rebellious vassal, whose conduct he 
 represented as a part of the general system 
 of revolution which had recentlv been so 
 prominent in Europe, and which all its 
 monarchs were interested in subduing. 
 Nicholas saw the latent advantages of the 
 opportunity thus afforded him of estab- 
 lishing an exclusive protectorate over the 
 sultan and his dominions. The autocrat 
 gave an immediate and favourable response, 
 and tendered the assistance of a Russian 
 fleet under Admiral Greig, and a body of 
 25,000 men, to act on the banks of the 
 Danube. By the 20th of January, 1833, a 
 Russian squadron of four sail-of-the-line 
 and six frigates, with 6,000 troops on board, 
 took up its station in the Bay of Bourgas,' 
 near the mouth of the Bosphorus. In the 
 meantime, the interference of France had 
 produced a settlement of the quarrel, and 
 the sultan had consented to the cession of 
 Syria and Egypt, in perpetuity, to Me- 
 hemet Ali. 
 
 [RUSSIA ASSISTS TURKEY. 
 
 The sultan, who dreaded his new Russian 
 tnends, hastened to inform them that their 
 assistance was no longer needed, and that 
 their force might be recalled. This was not 
 what the latter desired, and they hesitated. 
 At this point, a renewal of hostilities was 
 threatened, by the refusal of Meliemet All 
 to ratify the proposed treaty. The Russian 
 government no sooner received this intel- 
 ligence than they hurried a fresh squadron 
 laden with troops from Odessa, which, 
 effecting a junction w^ith the former one in 
 the Bay of Bourgas, they both immediately 
 sailed for the Bosphorus. Arriving on the 
 5th of June, they passed the Straits, and 
 landed their troops on the Asiatic shore, 
 within sight of Constantinople. 
 
 Startled at this new phase of the ''Eastern 
 difficulty," the English government sent 
 Lord Durham to St. Petersburg, partly, as 
 we have already related, to induce the 
 emperor Nicholas to temper his severity 
 against the Poles, but also to bring about 
 a pacification of the quarrel between the 
 sultan and Mehemet Ali, and thus render 
 the prolonged interference of Russia un- 
 necessary. The English diplomatist was 
 received with great distinction, but he was 
 unable to affect the conduct of the czar 
 either with regard to Poland or Turkey. 
 Nicholas had no intention of withdrawing 
 his troops from the Turkish soil, or recallincr 
 his armed ships from the waters of the Bos*! 
 phorus, until he had obtained a contem- 
 plated advantage at the expense of the 
 sultan, which, it will be seen, could scarcely 
 have been extorted from the latter even 
 after an unsuccessful campaign. 
 
 The adherence of Russia to the cause of 
 Turkey, induced Mehemet Ali to change 
 his mmd, and a treaty was therefore con- " 
 eluded between him and the sultan, on the 
 6th of May, 1833, by which Ali was recog- 
 nised as an independent sovereign, and 
 received the governments of Jerusalem, 
 Tripoli, Aleppo, Damascus, and Adana, in 
 addition to that of Egypt. Delivered from 
 the danger which threatened his destruction, 
 the sultan now addressed himself to the 
 onerous task of getting rid of his officious 
 friends the Russians, whose friendship, he 
 began to fear, might be as dangerous as 
 their enmity. Before the czar consented 
 to withdraw his forces from the Turkish 
 territory, he obtained from the Porte, in 
 presumed recompense of his services, 'the 
 since much-talked-of treaty of Unkiar-Ske- 
 lessi, which was signed on the 8th of July, 
 
 85 
 
 iN! , 
 
 A 
 
TREATY OF UNKIAR-SKELESSI.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1833—1839. 
 
 
 ! 
 
 t 1 
 
 and provided, that during a period of eight 
 years, there should be an oflfensive and de- 
 fensive alliance between the two powers, by 
 virtue of which, Russia consented to place 
 her whole fleets and armies at the disposal 
 of the Porte. For this wonderful gene- 
 rosity, the Porte was of course to make 
 some acknowledgment and return. This 
 was the insertion of a secret article in the 
 treaty, to the eflfect that "the Ottoman 
 Porte should be bound, in virtue of its 
 oblijrations towards Russia, to close the 
 Straits of the Dardanelles; that is to say, 
 not to permit any ship of war of a foreign 
 poiver, to enter those straits under any 
 pretence whatever. This separate and secret 
 article shall have the same force and effect 
 as if it had been inserted, word for word, 
 in the public and patent treaty." 
 
 An agreement of this nature could not 
 possibly long remain a secret, and must, 
 necessarily, have become known as soon as 
 it was reduced to practice. The closing of 
 the Dardanelles to all foreign vessels of 
 war, except those of Russia, was a measure 
 affecting every European nation possessed 
 of a naval power. A French vessel was 
 the first refused a passage. England and 
 France took the alarm, and explanations 
 were demanded. The Turkish cabinet was 
 embarrassed, and denied the existence of 
 the secret article. It produced the public 
 treaty, and added, that as an independent 
 state, it was at liberty to contract alliances 
 with any power that it might deem proper, 
 and was under no obligation to justify its 
 conduct to any foreign government. Eng- 
 land and France were neither inclined 
 nor prepared to proceed to extremities, and 
 therefore the Dardanelles remained closed 
 to all ships of war except those of Turkey 
 and Russia. This circumstance greatly 
 complicated the difficulties of the Eastern 
 question, which, it became evident, must 
 one day — and that, probably, no very distant 
 one — be brought to a violent settlement of 
 such a kind as no one could foretel its 
 termination. The closing of the Dardanelles 
 to all European ships of war save those of 
 the czar, in fact went far to convert the 
 Black Sea into a Russian lake. The em- 
 peror Nicholas had triumphed completely 
 for the time, but, happily, the end was 
 not yet. 
 
 The peace concluded between Mehemet 
 Ali and the sultan was soon to be inter- 
 rupted. Jealousies had long existed between 
 England and France respecting Egypt. 
 
 Since the time of Napoleon, the French 
 had endeavoured to establish their influence 
 on the shores of the Nile; while the impor- 
 tance of Egypt to England, as a rapid 
 means of communication with India, had 
 rendered it necessary that she should have 
 such a preponderance in that country, 
 as would lead at least to a secure tran- 
 sit through it. On this point a cold- 
 ness arose between the governments of 
 France and England, and led to a divergence 
 of policy. France adopted the cause of 
 Mehemet Ali, and obtained a considerable 
 ascendancy at Cairo ; while England strove 
 to regain her influence with the Porte by 
 supporting it against the Egyptians. The 
 British cabinet, also, were desirous of neu- 
 tralising the preponderating influence which 
 Russia, by her offers of assistance to the 
 Porte, had acquired over it ; and success so 
 far attended its efforts, that it obtained a 
 commercial treaty from the sultan, by 
 which the Dardanelles was open to English 
 merchant ships. 
 
 Mutual recriminations passed between 
 the sultan and Mehemet Ali, who aimed 
 at the subjection of all Arabia to his autho- 
 rity, and, counting upon the support of 
 France, adopted a very haughty tone. 
 Each side again prepared for war ; and in 
 the June of 1839 hostilities were recom- 
 menced by the sultan. England and France 
 both took the alarm, and united their efforts 
 to promote peace, as they feared to give 
 the Russians a pretext for making another 
 military excursion to the neighbourhood of 
 Constantinople, and of further increasing 
 their sinister influence over the Porte. The 
 efforts of the French and English cabinets 
 were unable to prevent the outbreak of war; 
 and, on the 24th of June, the power of the 
 sultan was laid prostrate by the battle of 
 Nezib. The victory of Ibrahim and his 
 Egyptians was decisive ; and a Turkish fleet, 
 which had been sent to Alexandria to act 
 against that of Mehemet, treacherously 
 joined the foe which it was to have en- 
 gaged. Turkey was exhausted; she had 
 not another fleet or army ready, and must 
 have fallen before the sword of the power- 
 ful Mehemet and his gifted son but for the 
 intervention of the European powers. The 
 impetuous Sultan Mahmoud was spared 
 from the pain of hearing of this defeat. 
 For some time his health had been failing, 
 and he expired a few days before the news 
 of the battle reached Constantinople, and 
 threw both the seraglio and capital into 
 
 I;- 
 
 A.D. 1840.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [eastern difficulties. 
 
 consternation. Notwithstanding his great 
 talents and energy, the Turkish empire de- 
 clined rapidly during the latter years of his 
 reign, partly from having been subjected 
 to a series of severe trials, and partly in 
 consequence of his own irascible and im- 
 prudent conduct. Under his reforming 
 system the Turks had ceased to be exclu- 
 sively Asiatic, and had failed in becoming 
 European. He was succeeded by his son 
 Abdul-Medjid, the present sultan, then but 
 a youth of sixteen. 
 
 On the death of Mahmoud, the Porte 
 made proposals of peace to Mehemet Ali, 
 offering him the hereditary government of 
 Egypt, and the government, during his 
 life, of that portion of Syria which extended 
 from the Red Sea to the Sea of Tiberias, 
 together with the fortress of St. Jean 
 d'Acre. Mehemet, in reply, demanded the 
 absolute and hereditary possession of all 
 these territories. Austria, France, and 
 England again interfered; for they all 
 dreaded that Russia should again interpose 
 alone in the affairs of Turkey, and take 
 military possession of Constantinople, under 
 pretence of defending it against the Egyp- 
 tians. 
 
 After much diplomacy, a treaty was 
 signed between Turkey, ^England, Russia, 
 Austria, and Prussia, with the object of 
 bringing the Eastern troubles to a termina- 
 tion. France, unfortunately, instigated by 
 a jealousy of England, stood aloof, and 
 countenanced the victorious pasha of Egypt. 
 This, however, did not prevent the other 
 powers from presenting terms for the ac- 
 ceptance of Mehemet, which, if he rejected, 
 it was arranged that ulterior measures 
 should be resorted to. The adoption of 
 this proceeding without the concurrence of 
 France, so irritated the government and 
 people of that country, that the most 
 intemperate invectives were uttered against 
 the allied powers, and more particularly 
 against England. So great, indeed, was 
 the anger exhibited towards this country, 
 that serious apprehensions were entertained 
 of the outbreak of war between it and 
 France. As Mehemet Ali remained in- 
 flexible, the allies resolved to strike a deci- 
 sive blow in the Levant, before any steps 
 could be taken by the French fleet, then 
 lying in the Bay of Besika, to prevent it. 
 An English fleet, under Admirals Stopford 
 and Napier, was sent to the coast of Syria, 
 where it was to be joined by a few Austrian 
 ships of war. The Egyptian generals were 
 
 summoned, in the name of the allied 
 powers, to evacuate Syria ; and on their dis- 
 regard of this intimation, Beyrout was 
 bombarded (August 20th, 1840) for nine 
 successive days, and, after a gallant resis- 
 tance, reduced to ashes, and abandoned by 
 the troops of Mehemet. The British fleet 
 then sailed for Acre. Sidon was first 
 stormed, and taken; and Tripoli, Tortosa, 
 and Latakia, dissatisfied with the Egyptian 
 government, opened their gates. Then the 
 famous fortress of Acre, which had resisted 
 the arms of Napoleon, and was deemed im- 
 pregnable throughout the East, was bom- 
 barded and taken. This was decisive; the 
 Syrian tribes declared in favour of the 
 sultan ; the forces of Ibrahim were deprived 
 of resources, cut off from Egypt, and sur- 
 rounded by enemies. Mehemet Ali, seeing 
 that further resistance would be ruinous, if 
 not impossible, wisely submitted (Decem- 
 ber, 1840) to the terms of the allies. To 
 save Alexandria from bombardment, he 
 also restored the Turkish fleet, which had 
 been treacherously surrendered to him, and 
 withdrew his troops from Syria and Candia, 
 remaining content with the*^ hereditary pos- 
 session of Egypt. Thus Turkey was saved 
 from destruction by the arms of one who 
 had been a vassal of the sultan, and deli- 
 vered from the treacherous kindness of the 
 czar. These facts, which we have run very 
 hastily over, though no part of the internal 
 history of Russia, are yet indispensable to 
 the understanding of the relative position 
 of that empire to the other great powers of 
 Europe, and especially to the comprehension 
 of the causes of the great war of 1853-'4. 
 
 Happily, the hostile feeling of France to- 
 wards the allies, and this country in parti- 
 cular, had yielded to the representations of 
 the British cabinet; and a uniformity of 
 opinion and action on the question of 
 Eastern affairs was restored. To compli- 
 ment France, the allies left to its govern- 
 ment the proposal of the terms of pacifica- 
 tion to be agreed to by them all. These 
 were— 1. That the Straits of the Bosphorus 
 and the Dardanelles should be closed against 
 ships of war of all nations, without distinc- 
 tion. 2. That the pashalic of Egypt, in 
 hereditary right, should be secured to Me- 
 hemet Ali and his descendants. 3. That 
 guarantees should be given for ameliorat- 
 ing the condition of the Christian inhabit- 
 ants of Svria. 
 
 An additional and highly important 
 treaty, regarding the vital subject of the 
 
 87 
 
 m 
 
 ^■•s 
 
 M\ 
 
 ■f 
 
 ;4 
 
THE CAUCASUS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1837. 
 
 If 
 \i 
 
 Y 
 
 i; 
 
 iiaviji;ation of the Dardanelles and the Bos- 
 phoriiH, was entered into between Turkey 
 and the whole of the five great Euro- 
 pean powers, on the 13th of March, 1841. 
 By this convention, which regulated the 
 affairs of European nations in connection 
 with the East, until the breaking out of 
 the war of 1853-^4, it was stipulated — 
 " 1. That the Straits of the Bosphorus and 
 the Dardanelles, in conformity with the 
 ancient usage of the Ottoman empire, shall 
 remain permanently closed against all 
 foreign vessels of war, as long as the Otto- 
 man Porte shalj enjoy peace. 2. The 
 sultan declares, on his side, that he is firmly 
 resolved to maintain immovably the ancient 
 rule of the empire, in virtue of which, it is 
 forbidden to vessels of war of all nations to 
 enter the Dardanelles or the Bosphorus ; 
 and in virtue of which these Straits remain 
 for ever closed, as long as the Ottoman 
 Porte shall be at peace. 3. His majesty 
 the emperor of Austria, and their majesties 
 the king of the French, the queen of Great 
 Britain, the king of Prussia, and the emperor 
 of Russia, on their part, engage to respect 
 that resolution of the sultan, and to act in 
 conformity with the principle there ex- 
 pressed. 4. The ancient rule of the Otto- 
 man empire being thus established and re- 
 cognised, the sultan reserves to himself the 
 right to grant firmans of passage to small 
 vessels of war, whicb, in conformity with 
 usage, are employed in the service of am- 
 bassadors of friendly powers. 5. The sul- 
 tan reserves to himself the right to notify 
 the terms of this treaty to all the powers 
 with which he is on terms of amity, and to 
 invite their accession to it." 
 
 We must glance backward for a few 
 years, and take a rapid glance at the 
 historical conduct of Russia with respect 
 to the Caucasus. This extensive mountain 
 chain extends between the Black and Cas- 
 pian seas, and forms part of the boundary 
 between Asia and Europe. Tlie name 
 " Caucasus," is said to be derived from a 
 Scythian word, signifying whitened by the 
 snow. The length of the range is about 
 700 miles; the width varies from 60 to 150 
 miles ; and the area covered by it, is about 
 ' 56,000 square miles, or nearly the surffice 
 of England and Wales taken together. 
 Some of the mountains rise to a greater 
 height than the Alps, while the extremities 
 of the range subside into mere hills. The 
 highest summit is formed by the rocky 
 88 
 
 masses of the cloven-peaked Mount Elbruz, 
 on which a tradition says that Noah's 
 ark stopped before reaching Ararat. The 
 mountain has a mystic, or sacred character, 
 according to the various faiths of the neigh- 
 bouring inhabitants : some tribes give it the 
 name of Dshin-Padischah ; that is, " King of 
 the Spirits." It rises to about 17,000 feet 
 above the sea, and stands quite isolated. 
 Kasbek is the mountain which ranks next 
 in height; and here again superstition has 
 stepped in, to cast around it something of a 
 mysterious character. The mountaineers 
 relate, that the cradle of Christ is found on 
 the Kasbek, standing above the tent of 
 Abraham, which is itself suspended in the 
 air. The same tradition relates, that there 
 is a treasure which has tempted several 
 persons, whose curiosity and avarice have 
 always been punished by the loss of their 
 sight. Some of the tribes regard all the 
 mountains as deities, and pay them divine 
 honours. 
 
 " The Caucasus," observes a Russian 
 writer,* "is, in general, one of the finest 
 countries in the world. It vies with Swit- 
 zerland for the imposing majesty of its 
 sites, and with Italy for the beauty of its 
 climate. It no doubt will attract as many 
 tourists as those two countries do, when 
 war has ceased to devastate it, and safety 
 has succeeded the alarm from which even 
 bathers are not free, and which imposes on 
 travellers the necessity of having an escort 
 on the most-frequented roads. 
 
 "The emperor Nicholas, on visiting that 
 countrv in 1837, exclaimed — *I now un- 
 derstand better than ever the words in 
 Genesis — ' God said, Let there be light, and 
 there was light.' In fact, the sun shines 
 on the Caucasus more splendidly than it 
 does in any other part of the Russian 
 empire. If there be a country where men 
 may be seized with an enthusiastic adora- 
 tion of the Creator, it is undoubtedlv the 
 Caucasus ; yet the indigenous worship 
 mountains, and do not open their minds to 
 the light of true religion. Vegetation dis- 
 plays there extraordinary richness and 
 beauty. Antediluvian woods inspire you 
 with a profound respect for the greatness of 
 that nature. There are, in Daghestan, 
 walnut-trees under the foliage of which 
 two companies of soldiers may encamp ; 
 and there stands near Erivan, a plane-tree, 
 hollow inside, offering a room, the dimen- 
 sions of which is seven feet and a-half. 
 * 2'he Caucasus ; by Ivan Golovin, 
 
 A.D. 1837.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the CAUCASUS. 
 
 m\ 
 
 People go there to play at cards, or to take 
 tea. The most beautiful and rare flowers 
 enamel the meadows, and the most esteemed 
 plants grow along the rivers. Wines and 
 silk are the two productions of the Cau- 
 casus, which are destined to acquire the 
 greatest importance. 
 
 "Heaths, underwoods, and plains, are 
 filled with exquisite game, such as pheasants 
 and red partridges. The mountaineers, 
 who are not acquainted with small shot, 
 and make use only of balls, are necessarily 
 bad huntsmen, and often wonder at the 
 nicety with which the Russians hit the 
 game. So the vultures and eagles, that 
 find on those high mountains a dwelling 
 worthy of them, are, in consequence of the 
 mountaineers being bad shots, left with 
 ample prey. Black swans, which are erro- 
 neously believed to be found but in Aus- 
 tralia, exist also in the Caucasus. Car- 
 nivorous beasts are there likewise rather 
 plentiful, especially jackals and wolves. 
 Bears are often found eating the grapes of 
 the inhabitants, and the Cossacks cut off 
 their paws, with which they make an ex- 
 cellent dish. Hyenas are met in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Persia; and even tigers advance 
 from India as far as that region. The Cas- 
 pian Sea is rich in fish, especially in stur- 
 geons and caviar. But the Kuban is the 
 most plentiful of all rivers. Salmon trout, 
 and ordinary trout, abound in the torrents 
 of the mountains. 
 
 '*The Caucasus offers very opposite cli- 
 mates. A winter of Sweden prevails on 
 the summits, while a summer of Naples is 
 enjoyed at Bakou. The spring is very 
 short in Georgia, and the climate of Min- 
 grelia is pernicious to the indigenous. 
 While travelling, you meet, on the same 
 day, both the beginning of vegetation on 
 the top of the mountains, and the harvest 
 in the valleys. The Georgians manufacture 
 silk stuffs, which, under the name of Tar- 
 malama, are highly valued, and are em- 
 ployed to make morning gowns for ladies, 
 and dressing-gowns for rich men. The 
 carpets, after the Oriental taste, increase 
 also in sale in proportion as they are made 
 of a superior quality. The richest and best- 
 tempered arms are manufactured amongst 
 the Circassians, and their daggers are held 
 in high estimi^tion.^^ 
 
 In additioj to the natural advantages 
 thus described, the Caucasus is rich in 
 mineral wealth. Traces of gold are found, 
 and silver and copper mines exist near 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 N 
 
 Tiflis. Iron abounds in many places, and 
 is worked by the natives in a rude manner. 
 There is, probably, no country in the world" 
 of so small an extent, which' contains such 
 a number of different nations, as the valleys 
 of this chain of mountains. The natives 
 speak at least seven different languages: 
 but the Tartar is understood by most of the 
 tribes, except the Lesghis. Strabo states, 
 that in his time, at least seventy languages 
 were spoken in the Caucasus. The Abha- 
 sians, who, with their numerous tribes, are 
 in possession of the southern declivity of 
 the range between the Black Sea and 
 Mount Elbruz, differ from the other tribes 
 of the Caucasus in features, and in their 
 peaceful disposition, which has made them 
 willingly submit to the Russians, with the 
 exception of two tribes— the Oubikhs and 
 the Tchigates— who form the confederation 
 of the Chapsouks. The Abhasians were 
 partially converted to Christianity in the 
 time of Justinian; they are now chiefly 
 pagans, and pay particular veneration to 
 the oak. They are the most ancient in- 
 habitants of the Caucasus. The northern 
 side of the range, with its numerous valleys, 
 is occupied by the Circassians, or Tcher- 
 kesses, among whom the tribe of Adighe 
 holds the first rank, as being the purest 
 in race. The Adighe are pagans, with 
 the exception of the chiefs, who profess 
 Islamism. Anapa is their chief town. 
 Blood-feuds are indulged in among all the 
 Circassian tribes, to an extent, and with a 
 ferocity, unknown even in Corsica ; families 
 exist who have been at feud from time 
 immemorial. The Circassians are estimated 
 at 700,000 persons, but no certainty exists 
 on this point. The centre of the range, on 
 both sides of the Pass of Dariel,^ is in 
 possession of the Ossetes, who are said to 
 be the descendants of the Alani. The 
 Lesghians, or Lesghis, the most powerful of 
 the Caucasian mountaineers, occupy the 
 greatest portion of the range east of the 
 Pass of Dariel, and approach the peninsula 
 of Apsheron. They are a warlike people, 
 the terror of all their neighbours, and the 
 most determined enemies of Russia. Their 
 number is about 400,000. The Tchechenes 
 inhabit the country between the lower 
 Terek and the Kuma. They number only 
 about 25,000, but are in a state of almost 
 constant revolt against Russia. The ex- 
 tensive mountain tract bordering on the 
 
 ♦ A pass or road between the mountains, which 
 takes Its name from the fortress of Dariel. 
 
 89 
 
RUSSIA AND THE CAUCASUS.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1830 
 
 north of Mount Tersh, is inhabited by the 
 numerous tribes of the Kisti, or Misheghes. 
 The country about the sources of the Terek, 
 to the east of Mount Elbruz, is called Ka- 
 bardah, and is subject to Russia. In the 
 plains south of the Caucasus, live the Min- 
 grelians, Imeritians, and Georgians. All 
 these nations differ in their language. As 
 great perfection of form, and an ancient 
 origin, have been attributed to the inhab- 
 itants of this region, the highest rank in 
 ethnological classification has been termed 
 '' the Caucasian race." Besides these abori- 
 ginal tribes, many others of foreign origin 
 are met with in the valleys of the range. 
 The most numerous are the Tartars. There 
 are also Cossacks and Magyars ; and on the 
 south of the Caucasus, about Tiflis, there 
 are several German colonies. 
 
 The range of the Caucasus forms the 
 natural boundary, in this direction, of the 
 vast empire of Russia. Nature herself 
 seems here to have established a barrier 
 against Russian acquisitiveness, and to have 
 forbidden its advance. The Caucasus ap- 
 pears almost designed as a wall to arrest 
 the advance of the hordes of the north 
 upon Turkey and Persia, and in like 
 manner to protect them against invasion. 
 But the policy of the Russian cabinet takes 
 no account of the presumed designs of Pro- 
 vidence. It has resolved on conquest and 
 annexation, so far as it can march its 
 battalions and enforce its edicts. The 
 Caucasus subdued and rendered obedient 
 to its iron sceptre, and then Persia would 
 lie at its feet, and Asiatic Turkey exist 
 independently only by its forbearance. It 
 is only by such a gradual extension of the 
 Russian empire, that India could — if it ever 
 could — be reached by the Russian armies; 
 and even in that case, we more than doubt 
 that the troops brought such distances over 
 tracts abounding in natural obstacles, could 
 ever be collected in such numbers as to be 
 formidable to the British power on that 
 vast peninsula. Moreover, no sooner would 
 the designs of Russia in such a direction 
 be perceived in Europe, than her trade 
 "would be arrested and her coasts insulted 
 by a blockade of the Baltic by a British 
 fleet. Russia is formidable to the weak; 
 but the equivocating genius of her empire 
 stands rebuked in the presence of the 
 strong. The warhke Swede, and the gifted 
 imperial general who threatened to control 
 Europe, dashed themselves in vain into the 
 sterile regions of Russia, and met merely 
 90 
 
 their own ruin : yet the aggressive force of 
 that empire has been overrated. She was 
 powerful against divided and distracted 
 Poland; she filched Finland from Sweden 
 in the days of its decadence; she robbed 
 Persia of provinces too remote for it to 
 protect; she annexed the vast and forlorn 
 territories of Siberia, because no one dis- 
 puted a prize considered worthless ; and she 
 planted her flag on a portion of the extreme 
 north of America without opposition; but 
 she was unable to take the Danubian pro- 
 vinces from the Porte, though she had 
 arrogantly proclaimed them to be annexed 
 to her dominions. In all aggressive mea- 
 sures against great powers, Russia has 
 shown herself to be unequal to her preten- 
 sions. 
 
 This has been the case even with respect 
 to the Caucasus, which, after many years of 
 almost incessant warfare, she has failed to 
 subdue. Even prior to the time of Peter 
 the Great, Russia had intervened in the 
 affairs of some of the nations of the Cau- 
 casus. That monarch marched against the 
 Lesghians, and defeated them in his un- 
 satisfactory crusade against Persia. Since 
 that period, other Russian monarchs have 
 taken possession of portions of the isthmus ; 
 and, as we have related, Georgia, by the 
 consent of the people, was annexed to Rus- 
 sia in the early part of the reign of Alex- 
 ander. At length, the treaty of Adrianople, 
 in 1829, gave Russia a pretext for regarding 
 the whole of the Caucasus as a province of 
 its empire, as soon as it should be able to 
 take possession of it. The mountaineers, 
 animated by a passionate love of liberty, 
 and neither understanding, nor caring to 
 understand, how a piece of sealed parchment 
 could make them subject to any monarch 
 without their consent, rejected all the ad- 
 vances of Russia, and sternly repudiated 
 the clauses of the convention of Adrianople. 
 They would not surrender the political in- 
 dependence of their country, or enter into 
 any treaty in which that was not regarded 
 as a sacred and unalterable principle. On 
 the other hand, the emperor Nicholas would 
 not brook any opposition to his designs, 
 and he resolved on the settlement of the 
 question by bayonets and grapeshot. 
 
 Accordingly, in 1830, he sent General 
 Paskiewitch — who had, in 1828, so distin- 
 guished himself in the Asiatic campaign 
 against the Turks — to the Caucasus, and 
 appointed him governor-general of it. He 
 found the "pacification'^ of his province a 
 
 A.D. 1831.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [russia and the Caucasus. 
 
 matter of extraordinary difficulty. A moun- 
 tainous country scarcely admits of military 
 operations, and races of hardy and well- 
 armed mountaineers are proverbially diffi- 
 cult to subdue. An expedition, which Pas- 
 kiewitch undertook to Abhasia, was sterile 
 in results, but fertile in loss of men. After 
 a rough experience of Caucasian warfare, he 
 submitted a plan of operations to the im- 
 perial government. It revealed the only 
 way which, in his opinion, and in that of 
 his most distinguished officers, promised 
 ultimately, though at a great expense of 
 blood and treasure, to bring about the tran- 
 quillisation of the Caucasus. It consisted 
 in confining the refractory mountaineers 
 within an encircling and intersecting chain of 
 forts, which would require to be garrisoned 
 by not less than 80,000 men. The chief 
 points of this plan, as adopted by the mili- 
 tary council of St. Petersburg, were as fol- 
 lows : — First, premising that forts were to be 
 erected along the Black Sea line of coast to 
 complete the encircling chain of Russian 
 posts, the marshal proposed that four new 
 military routes across the mountains should 
 be constructed, and planted throughout 
 with fortresses. One road was to run from 
 Gelendshik on the Black Sea, south of 
 Anapa, through the mountains to the lower 
 Kuban; one from a still more southerly 
 point on the Black Sea shore, through and 
 over the mountain range to the Russian 
 forts on the north, in the vicinity of Elbruz ; 
 another from Nucha to the east of Georgia, 
 over the Lesghian chain, to the country of 
 the Tchetchentzes; and the fourth and last, 
 from a point eastward of Nucha, over the 
 same Lesghian chain, to the fortress of Der- 
 bend on the Caspian. Other details referred 
 to the securing and facilitating the inter- 
 communication of the Russian lines and 
 fortresses. 
 
 Marshal Paskiewitch did not remain to 
 carry his elaborate scheme into execution, 
 as, in 1831, he was recalled to take the 
 command in the war against the Poles, as 
 we have already related. General Wil- 
 liaminofi" succeeded Paskiewitch as governor 
 in the Caucasus. In a proclamation ad- 
 dressed to the Circassians, inviting them to 
 submit, he, in order to give that people an 
 idea of the power of the czar, arrogantly 
 observed — " If heaven were to fall, it would 
 be supported by Russian bayonets.^' He 
 soon, however, experienced the effects of 
 the bravery and wild independence of the 
 mountaineers. In his advance with 20,000 
 
 men from the Kuban, across the mountains 
 towards Gelendshik, on the coast of the 
 Black Sea, to carry out the first of the 
 routes proposed by Paskiewitch, his troops 
 fell into an ambush of the Circassians, and 
 were subjected to such a tempest of rifle-fire 
 from every ledge of rock or other point that 
 commanded the line of march, that the 
 attempt was not only baffled, but cost him 
 between three aud four thousand men in 
 killed, wounded, and prisoners. 
 
 This was but a small matter to the Rus- 
 sian government, which continually sent 
 reinforcements to the Caucasus, with the 
 hope of overawing the mountaineers into 
 submission. Three of the contemplated 
 forts were erected on the route from the 
 Kuban to Gelendshik, and others were 
 erected on the western shore of the Cau- 
 casus, with the object of increasing the 
 efficiency of a blockade established there. 
 This blockade, though but imperfectly pre- 
 served, was more oppressive to the Circas- 
 sians than the presence of large bodies of 
 Russian troops. It rendered it difficult for 
 the mountaineers to obtain supplies of gun- 
 powder, aud threatened to ruin the trade 
 they carried on in their daughters by send- 
 ing them for sale to Constantinople. With 
 respect to this practice the Circassians are 
 little better than savages ; but as it is the 
 custom amongst them for fathers to sell 
 their daughters for the purposes of prostitu- 
 tion, they appear to be unconscious of the 
 shame and heartlessness of such proceed- 
 ings. Russia is indifferent on this point; 
 and perhaps she does wisely in not inter- 
 fering with the social practices, or misprac- 
 tices, of a people whom she desires to win 
 to submission to her sway. "The slave- 
 trade," observes Golovin, in allusion to the 
 poor girls who are converted into articles 
 of commerce, " was sanctioned by a treaty of 
 1847, between the Russians and the Circas- 
 sians. During part of the year it is carried 
 on openly on the Black Sea. Every year 
 more than 1,000 young girls are carried 
 from Circassia to Turkey ; and the obstacles 
 opposed to that trade have had no other 
 result than to quadruple the price of slaves. 
 Even Austrian steam-boats are employed 
 for carrying Circassian girls ; and whenever 
 the Russians capture any of these slave- 
 boats, they either give the girls in marriage 
 to the Cossacks, or they allow them to be 
 violated by the soldiers of the regiments 
 garrisoned in the neighbouring forts.^' 
 The Circassian chiefs, oppressed by the 
 
 91 
 
M 
 
 I! 
 
 SEIZURE OF THE VrXEN.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1837. 
 
 |i 'H> 
 
 Russian blockade of their coast, and startled 
 by the reports in circulation as to the 
 enormous forces Russia was about to pour 
 out for their subjugation, looked for assis- 
 tance to the other European states, and 
 especially to England, of whose power and 
 supposed sympathy with the oppressed, 
 they entertained rather extravagant no- 
 tions. These impressions were strength- 
 ened by the language of several enthu- 
 siastic English travellers, whom the simple 
 mountaineers regarded as ambassadors from 
 this country. A curious circumstance also 
 occurred at this time (in 1837), by which 
 the English government ran some risk of 
 taking the cause of the Circassians upon its 
 shoulders, without exactly intending to do 
 so. An impression prevailed in this country, 
 and was actively disseminated by a portion 
 of the press, that neither the treaty of 
 Adrianople, nor any other treaty, gave 
 Russia the right of establishing a blockade 
 of the Circassian coast. This view of the 
 matter was so confidently held by a Mr. 
 James Stanislaus Bell, that he resolved on 
 putting it to a public test by a deliberate 
 and ostentatious defiance of the Russian 
 blockade. He proceeded to the Caucasus 
 in the Viicen, an English merchant vessel, 
 which he had loaded with munitions of 
 war for disposal among the mountaineers. 
 Before the vessel sailed, Mr. Bell addressed 
 a letter to Viscount Palmerston, then foreign 
 secretary, to inquire whether the Russian 
 blockade in the Black Sea was recognised 
 by the English government. In reply, he 
 was informed that " no blockade was recog- 
 nised by Great Britain, a notification of 
 which had not been published in the London 
 Gazette.'^ As no such notification had been 
 given, Mr. Bell set sail in the Vixen, and 
 trusted that either one of two supposed 
 results must follow from the execution of 
 his daring scheme. He trusted that the 
 blockading force would seize the Vixen, and 
 thus induce the British government to send 
 a fleet to the Black Sea to avenge the out- 
 rage by destroying the Russian armament 
 and arsenals there ; or that if his vessel suc- 
 cessfully set the blockade at defiance, its 
 illegality or its impotence would become 
 notorious, and the Circassians be well sup- 
 plied for the future with powder and weapons. 
 Neither of these results occurred; for, 
 though the Vixen was seized while attempt- 
 ing to land her contraband cargo, the 
 British fleet in the Mediterranean did not 
 take any notice of a proceeding concerning 
 92 
 
 which it was both ignorant and unautho- 
 rised to act in the event of its being in- 
 formed. News of the seizure first reached 
 this country through the medium of the 
 St. Petersburg Gazette, in which the narra- 
 tive was accompanied by an anxious vindi- 
 cation of the legality of the act, and a 
 statement, that in consequence of the em- 
 peror's high respect for the flag (the privi- 
 leges of which the captain of the Vixen had 
 so grossly attempted to abuse), the officers 
 and crew, and the ship herself, had been 
 liberated, and only the war material she 
 contained confiscated. A considerable sen- 
 sation was produced in this country, and 
 warm discussions took place in parliament. 
 In answer to a question from Sir Robert 
 Peel, Lord Palmerston went so far as to 
 declare, that the question of peace or war 
 with Russia entirely depended upon the 
 opinion that might be given by the law- 
 officers of the crown, to whom the whole 
 case had been formally submitted, as to the 
 right of Russia to institute the blockade. 
 Their decision was in favour of the Russian 
 government, and the aff'air blew over ; but 
 not without the expenditure of a great deal 
 of abuse against Lord Palmerston for what 
 was termed "base truckling" to the czar; 
 a reproach which, in this instance at least, 
 we cannot conceive he merited. 
 
 In the course of the same year (1837), 
 the emperor Nicholas paid a visit to the 
 Caucasus ; but he quite failed in producing 
 that impression on the Circassian chiefs 
 which he trusted his presence would eff'ect. 
 He travelled with great rapidity, but re- 
 mained at Tiflis, the capital of Georgia, 
 from the 20th to the 24th of October; 
 during which time he reviewed the Russian 
 troops, gave dinners and a grand ball, and 
 invited the chiefs of the country to various 
 conferences, to which they repaired on the 
 faith of the Russian parole. This language, 
 instead of conciliating these proud moun- 
 taineers, only had the eff'ect of irritating 
 them. He was at that time disfigured by 
 an eruption in the face, which took much 
 from the majesty of his personal appearance; 
 and when, to give them a rude conception 
 of his power, he told them that he had 
 sufficient powder to blow up all their moun- 
 tains, they did not form a high opinion of 
 his intellect. 
 
 Hitherto a series of desultory conflicts 
 only had taken place between the Cir- 
 cassians and the Russians; but in 1839, 
 the latter made a formal declaration of war^ 
 
 A.D. 1840.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [war in the CAtJCAStTS. 
 
 and hostilities have continued, with but 
 little intermission, ever since. During that 
 year, three Russian armies were landed on 
 the Circassian shore, and an active cam- 
 paign followed. It was, for the most part, 
 a disastrous one for the Russians, who, 
 during it, had seventeen ships of war driven 
 on shore or foundered in the Black Sea. 
 So resolute, also, was the conduct of the 
 Circassians, and so fatal were the eff*ects of 
 their constant ambushes and unexpected 
 attacks, that General Golovin, who had 
 succeeded to the command, attempted to 
 win by negotiation what he was unable to 
 obtain by arms. In an address to the moun- 
 taineers, he told them — " The most mighty 
 of all earthly potentates and great mon- 
 archs, the emperor, condescended to visit 
 the Caucasus ; and in his unbounded cle- 
 mency, his imperial majesty deigned per- 
 sonally to inform himself, from the deputies 
 of the diff*erent nations, of circumstances 
 respecting the position and the wants of 
 the tribes which they represented ; and in 
 this manner, having learned that the pre- 
 vious conditions were too onerous, the mag:- 
 nanimous monarch has changed them for the 
 gracious conditions upon which, in future, 
 the submission of the mountaineers will be 
 accepted — namely, ' Cease from all hostilities 
 against us ; give the hostages we shall name ; 
 and surrender all the deserters and all the 
 prisoners you have taken.'" The address 
 also contained some bitter remarks upon 
 the English, from whom the Circassians yet 
 confidently expected assistance. The Cir- 
 cassians were not more readily ensnared by 
 Russian promises, than they were to be de- 
 feated by Russian arms ; and they replied — 
 '* We know you well ; you are men without 
 faith, without honour, without religion ; 
 and we would as soon place confidence in 
 the pigs which roam our forests, and which 
 we esteem just as much as we do so many 
 Muscovites. Thank God, we know our 
 friends from our enemies, and are not to be 
 so grossly imposed upon as you imagine. 
 You will next assert, that the steamers and 
 other ships, whose wrecks bestrew our 
 coast, were not Russian. Spare us your 
 assurances ; proceed with your war, and do 
 your worst !" 
 
 The war was accordingly renewed in 
 1840; but the Russians experienced even 
 still more serious reverses. Most of the 
 new forts they had erected on the coast 
 were taken and demolished by the Cir- 
 cassians. The line of forts, from the Kuban 
 
 ti 
 
 to Gelendshik, was swept away, and the 
 garrisons dispersed or massacred. A great 
 prophet-leader, a devout Mussulman, also 
 arose on the eastern side of the mountains ; 
 and the Russians were fain to conclude a 
 truce with the Circassians, that they might 
 recover from their losses, and prepare to 
 turn their arms against this new foe. 
 
 Schamyl, the pupil and successor of Kasi 
 Mullah, was the patriot and presumed pro- 
 phet who had arisen on the eastern side of 
 the Caucasus. Brave, eloquent, devout, 
 enthusiastic, and convinced that his actions 
 were the result of direct inspirations from 
 God, Schamyl was just the chieftain re- 
 quired for so hardy and bold a race as the 
 inhabitants of this wild region. He would 
 not permit any of the neighbouring tribes 
 to submit to the Russians ; but compelled 
 those who were inclined to do so, to take up 
 their rifles in defence of their fatherland. 
 " If,'' said he to some who hesitated, " ye 
 continue to give more belief to the deceitful 
 words of the infidels than ye do to my 
 speech, I will do that which Kasi Mullah 
 formerly had it in his mind to do. My 
 bands will overwhelm your villages like a 
 storm-cloud, to compel that which you deny 
 to my friendly assurances. I will come 
 with bloody footsteps; desolation and fear 
 shall follow and precede my hosts; for what 
 the might of eloquence may not do, shall be 
 effected with the edge of the sword." His 
 words produced this response : — " Moham- 
 med was Allah's first prophet ; Schamyl is 
 his second 1" But the inhabitants of Ka- 
 bardah fearing Russia more than the war- 
 rior-prophet, he kept his word, and burnt 
 more than sixty of their villages. 
 
 General Grabbe was sent with 12,000 
 veteran troops against Akhoulgo, the strong- 
 hold of Schamyl— a kind of castle, shut up 
 on every side by masses of rock, and for- 
 tified with the resources of modern art ; a 
 labour in which he had been assisted by 
 foreigners. Akhoulgo was taken by Grabbe 
 at a terrible cost of life ; a murderous 
 battle, of a desultory kind, being fought, 
 which extended over five days. Schamyl 
 escaped with his life only by a stratagem ; 
 and so imminent was his danger, that the 
 mountaineers more than ever believed him 
 to be under the especial protection of 
 heaven. His fame was undiminished ; and 
 for three or four years he carried on an 
 incessant and merciless guerilla warfare 
 against the Russian forces. Such was the 
 rapidity of his movements, and so uaex- 
 
 93 
 
 'S' 
 
 r 
 
 ^1 
 
 f 
 
THE CAUCASUS UNSUBDUED.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 f A.D. 1845. 
 
 pectedly did he and his fierce followers 
 burst upon their foes, that the latter feared 
 that he possessed the power of ubiquity. 
 At length General Grabbe, at the head of a 
 body of 20,000 men, pursued him to a re- 
 treat in the mountains called Dargo, with 
 the hope of capturing or destroying so 
 dangerous a chief. The mountaineers re- 
 tired before their foes, and lured them on 
 through deserted valleys and rugged moun- 
 tain-passes, until they were completely ex- 
 hausted through fatigue and hardship. 
 Nothing was left for them but to retrace 
 their weary steps; which they no sooner 
 did, than the followers of Schamyl rushed 
 upon them with tremendous impetuosity, 
 and assailed them at every difficult spot on 
 their march. Having captured a Russian 
 drummer, the troops of Schamyl compelled 
 him to beat the drum; and many Russian 
 soldiers, attracted by the sound, fell into 
 the snare. Discipline was forgotten during 
 the retreat ; and more than half the offi- 
 cers were killed. When General Grabbe 
 regained the encampment, he had lost a 
 fourth part of his army, several cannon, a 
 quantity of baggage, and other material of 
 war. The emperor, vexed at this result, 
 recalled him ; at the same time acknow- 
 ledging that the rout was more attributable 
 to the country and the elements than to 
 the commanding officer. He was replaced 
 by General Neidhart who, not proving 
 more fortunate than his predecessor, and 
 being unable to arrest the ravages of 
 Schamyl, was also recalled ; and, unable to 
 bear his disgrace, died of grief. 
 
 Count Woronzofi* was then sent from St. 
 Petersburg to assume the chief command 
 in the Caucasus, and the troops there were 
 raised to the number of 150,000 men. 
 The emperor reserved to himself the right 
 of giving orders, and commanded every- 
 thing to be sacrificed for the purpose of 
 taking Dargo. Woronzoff undertook an 
 expedition against it; and Schamyl, un- 
 able to defend a place of no strategical 
 importance, allowed it to be taken ; but 
 ■while the army was retiring, he attacked it 
 so successfully in the forest of Itcherki, 
 that the Russian force was nearly de- 
 stroyed. It would have been totally so, 
 but that two Circassian prisoners, who 
 turned traitors to their country, succeeded 
 in carrying to General Freytag an order to 
 
 • For the conclusive reason, that it has shown 
 itself unable to put it into execution ; besides, the 
 Russians do not want a desert which they have not 
 
 94 
 
 come to the help of his chief. The moun- 
 taineers, perched on fragments of inacces- 
 sible rocks, shot down the Russian officers 
 almost with impunity, and every step of 
 the retreat was disputed with a ferocious 
 obstinacy. Barricades, formed of trunks 
 of trees, fragments of rock, and double 
 rows of strong stakes, had been thrown 
 across the narrow passes; and at each of 
 these positions, which were commanded by 
 SchamyFs marksmen, the carnage was ter- 
 rible. Such was the terror created by 
 these incessant assaults, that a panic arose 
 in the Russian ranks ; and when the foe 
 burst upon them, they offered but little 
 resistance, but, falling into disorder, broke 
 and fled, and were pursued and cut down 
 for miles. In this terrible rout the Rus- 
 sians lost 4,000 men ; and more than 200 
 officers, including three generals, were 
 among the slain. Russia has since chiefly 
 occupied herself with retaining her position 
 in the Caucasus, and acting on the defen- 
 sive. Schamyl has not ceased to be a 
 terror to the invaders ; and it is supposed 
 that he has recently devoted himself towards 
 bringing about a federal defensive union 
 between all the tribes of the Caucasus ; an 
 event which, if effected, would render Rus- 
 sian conquest very remote, if not altogether 
 impossible. Hitherto, it is certain that 
 Russia has sustained a defeat, or rather 
 series of defeats, though she will not 
 acknowledge that such is the fact. 
 
 The spirit of the mountaineers was re- 
 animated by the war of 1854-'5 ; and Sul- 
 tan Abdul-Medjid, perceiving the fault of 
 his predecessors (who had determined the 
 fate of the Circassians by ceding to the 
 Russians the coast of the Black Sea with- 
 out the consent of the former), concluded 
 an offensive and defensive alliance with 
 Schamyl ; which, however, did not lead to 
 any important result. 
 
 ** When is, then, an end to be put to the 
 war? The aouls (villages) just subdued 
 rebel as soon as the Russians have with- 
 drawn, or the Murids come there. Peace, 
 say the Russian military men, cannot be 
 obtained unless all the inhabitants are slaugh- 
 tered. That measure has always been re- 
 jected by the Russian government,"^ which 
 plumes itself on its humanity, but which 
 shows so little concern for the chronic 
 effusion of blood caused by this protracted 
 
 the means of populating : they desire to make the 
 Caucasus a Russian province, and the Caucasians 
 Russian serfs. 
 
 r 
 
 .#; 
 
 A.D. 1840.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [expedition to KHIVA. 
 
 war. There might be colonisation, it is 
 true ; but the population of Russia is not 
 sufficiently numerous to colonise the Cau- 
 casus ; besides, the inhabitants of the plain 
 are not willing to leave their fertile fields 
 to go and cultivate rocks in the mountains. 
 The Russian forts are too isolated to afford 
 timely assistance to one which is threatened; 
 while the Circassians, by uniting forces 
 superior to those of the garrisons, will have 
 more chance of attacking them successively 
 in detail, when they have improved in the 
 art of carrying on a siege, or have artillery 
 at their service. In the meantime, they 
 
 undertake sanguinary irruptions among the 
 Russian colonists, execute razzias, carry 
 away the cattle, and sometimes the wives, 
 of the Cossacks— a thing which does not 
 occur in the war of Algiers. Moreover, 
 the Russian forts, though very numerous, 
 have been found to be insufficient. The 
 system of forts was abandoned in Africa 
 by General Bugeau, and replaced with ad- 
 vantage by mobile columns. It is true, 
 that movements are more difficult in the 
 Caucasus than in Africa ; and the Russians 
 have still a great deal to learn from the 
 French in the art of war."* 
 
 I 
 
 CHAPTER XIL 
 
 FAILURE OF A RUSSIAN EXPEDITION AGAINST KHIVA ; THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS VISITS ENGLAND AND 
 BECOMES THE GUEST OF QUEEN VICTORIA; HE TRANSMITS A MEMORANDUM ON THE AFFAIRS OF TURKEY 
 TO THE ENGLISH CABINET; OPINION OF NICHOLAS ON THE ENGLISH FORM OF GOVERNMENT • SUPPRES- 
 SION OF THE REPUBLIC OF CRACOW ; FUTILE EXPOSTULATIONS OF THE CABINETS OF LONDON AND PARIS • 
 DICTATORIAL ATTITUDE OF AUSTRIA AND RUSSIA TOWARDS SWITZERLAND; THE HUNGARIAN REVOLU- 
 TION ; MILITARY INTERVENTION OF RUSSIA, AND SUPPRESSION OF THE REVOLUTION ; TRIUMPHANT 
 MANIFESTO OF THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS, WHO ASSUMES TO BE THE PROTECTOR OF THE CONTINENTAI 
 DESPOTISMS AGAINST ANY INSURRECTIONARY MOVEMENTS OF THEIR SUBJECTS. 
 
 The irritation which existed in this country 
 against Russia, on account of the seizure of 
 the British merchantman, the Vixen, on 
 the Circassian shore of the Black Sea, was 
 much increased by the march, in 1838,. of a 
 Persian army, directed by Russian officers, 
 against Herat. This proceeding was re- 
 garded, both by the government and people 
 of this country, as a preliminary to the in- 
 vasion of the Anglo-Indian empire ; and a 
 rupture of amicable relations between Great 
 Britain and Russia appeared extremely pro- 
 bable. Fortunately the apprehensions of the 
 English cabinet were tranquillised by the re- 
 pulse of the Persians, and the subsequent con- 
 quest of Affghanistan by an army from India. 
 Russian acquisitiveness in this direction 
 received a further check from the failure 
 of a formidable expedition sent by the czar, 
 in 1840, against the predatory state of 
 Khiva — an Asiatic country, forming a part 
 of that natural division which goes by the 
 name of Turan, or Turkestan. The inhab- 
 itants of Khiva consist of the Uzbecks and 
 the Sartes ; the former being a branch of the 
 • The Caucasus ; by Ivan Golovin. 
 
 Turks, and the latter Persians. The au- 
 thority of the khan of Khiva is supposed 
 to extend over a country containing about 
 150,000 square miles. Russia has fre- 
 quently been accused of attempting to ex- 
 tend her frontier in this direction; but 
 apparently insurmountable obstacles stand 
 in the way of the accomplishment of her 
 desire. Between the Russian town of 
 Orenburg and the territory of Khiva, he 
 400 miles of salt desert. The Russian 
 general, though provided with 10,000 bag- 
 gage camels^ was unable even to reach 
 Khiva. So terrible were the hardships 
 encountered by his troops, that on reaching 
 the last Russian outpost, they were com- 
 pelled to retrace their steps. The expedi- 
 tion had been undertaken during the win- 
 ter, merely that the troops might be en- 
 abled to obtain fresh water, which is dried 
 up by the parching heats of the summer. 
 The consequence was, the men suffered 
 terribly from the cold, which was 40° below 
 zero of the centigrade thermometer. Thus 
 it will be seen, that from whatever point 
 Russia endeavours to advance upon India, 
 
 95 
 

 ;J 
 
 li > 
 
 
 1"^ 
 
 NICHOIJVS VISITS ENGLAND.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1844. 
 
 Bhe will meet the stern, unbending oppo- 
 sition of nature. 
 
 These matters passed over without dis- 
 turbing the peaceful relations between Russia 
 and England, which it was the interest of 
 both countries to maintain. In the June of 
 the year 1844, the emperor Nicholas visited 
 England. He arrived off Woolwich on the 
 1st of June, in the Cyclops, a Dutch gov- 
 ernment steamer, attended by Count Orloff, 
 General d^Adlerberg, Prince Wassiltschikoff, 
 and Prince Radzitvil. On landing, the dis- 
 tinguished visitors at once proceeded to the 
 Russian embassy, where they took up their 
 abode. On the following day, Prince 
 Albert arrived, and escorted the emperor 
 and the principal persons of his suite to 
 Buckingham Palace. The emperor was 
 received by her majesty in the grand hall, 
 where a splendid dejeuner was served. 
 Nicholas afterwards visited the Queen- 
 dowager, the Duke and Duchess of Cam- 
 bridge, the Duchess of Gloucester, the 
 Princess Sophia, and the Duke of Welling- 
 ton. The second day of his stay he visited 
 Sir Robert Peel, and purchased ^5,000 
 worth of jewellery at Messrs. Mortimer's 
 and Hunt's. Her majesty and her dis- 
 tinguished visitors, including the king of 
 Saxony, then proceeded to Windsor by the 
 Great Western railway. For eight days 
 Nicholas was entertained by her majesty, 
 during which period he went to Ascot races; 
 was present at a grand review in the Great 
 Park at Windsor ; inspected Prince Albert's 
 farm ; went to see the Virginia Water; re- 
 turned to town, and paid an almost innu- 
 merable amount of visits to distinguished 
 people ; besides inspecting the United Ser- 
 vice Club, the new houses of parliament, 
 and attending a fete given by the Duke of 
 Devonshire at Chiswick, at which seven or 
 eight hundred distinguished noblemen and 
 gentlemen were present. On returning to 
 Woolwich, he visited the dockyard and the 
 works, and then embarked on board the 
 Black Eagle steamer on his return home. 
 
 During the stay of the czar, he had some 
 interviews with the ministers of her ma- 
 jesty on the vexed subject of the Eastern 
 question. The observations of Nicholas on 
 this topic were embodied, by his direction, 
 in a memorandum, which was forwarded to 
 the English cabinet by Count Nesselrode, 
 and confided to Lord Aberdeen, then minis- 
 ter for foreign affairs. That memorandum 
 throws some light upon the events which 
 led to the great war of 1854-'5, and shows 
 
 both how the mind of the emperor dwelt 
 constantly on the enfeebled state of Turkey, 
 and the profound duplicity with which he 
 masked his views. Read by the light 
 afforded by later events, it will be seen 
 that Nicholas desired to establish a close 
 relationship with England, and then to use 
 her naval power to assist in his sinister 
 designs on the Ottoman territory. As he 
 observed upon another occasion — " All I 
 want is a good understanding with Eng- 
 land. This point arrived at, the English 
 government and I — I and the English gov- 
 ernment — having entire confidence in one 
 another's views, I care nothing about the 
 rest." We append the imperial memoran- 
 dum, as a valuable historical document. 
 
 " Russia and England are mutually pene- 
 trated with the conviction that it is for 
 their common interest that the Ottoman 
 Porte should maintain itself in the state of 
 independence and of territorial possession 
 which at present constitute that empire, as 
 that political combination is the one which 
 is most compatible with the general in- 
 terest of the maintenance of peace. Being 
 agreed on this principle, Russia and Eng- 
 land have an equal interest in uniting their 
 efforts in order to keep up the existence of 
 the Ottoman empire, and to avert all the 
 dangers which can place in jeopardy its 
 safety. With this object, the essential 
 point is to suffer the Porte to live in re- 
 pose, without needlessly disturbing it by 
 diplomatic bickerings, and without inter- 
 fering, unless with absolute necessity, in its 
 internal affairs. In order to carry out 
 skilfully this system of forbearance, with a 
 view to the well-understood interest of the 
 Porte, two things must not be lost sight of. 
 They are these : — 
 
 " In the first place, the Porte has a con- 
 stant tendency to extricate itself from the en- 
 gagements imposed upon it by the treaties 
 which it has concluded with other powers. 
 It hopes to do so with impunity, because it 
 reckons on the mutual jealousy of the cabi- 
 nets. It thinks that if it fails in its en- 
 gagements towards one of them, the rest 
 will espouse its quarrel^ and will screen it 
 from all responsibility. It is essential not 
 to confirm the Porte in this delusion. 
 Every time that it fails in its obligations 
 towards one of the great powers, it is the 
 interest of all the rest to make it sensible 
 of its error, and seriously to exhort it to 
 act rightly towards the cabinet which de- 
 mands just reparation. As soon as the 
 
 4 
 
 r 
 
 II 
 
 
 A.D. 1844.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [MEMORANDmi concerning turkey. 
 
 Porte shall perceive that it is not supported 
 by the other cabinets, it will give way, and 
 the differences which have arisen will be 
 arranged in a conciliatory manner, without 
 any conflict resulting from thera. 
 
 " There is a second cause of compUcation 
 which is inherent in the situation of the 
 Porte; it is the difficulty which exists in 
 reconcihng the respect due to the sovereign 
 authority of the sultan, founded on the 
 Mussulman law, with the forbearance re- 
 quired by the interests of the Christian 
 population of that empire. This difficulty 
 is real. In the present state of feeling in 
 Europe, the cabinets cannot see with in- 
 difference the Christian populations in Tur- 
 key exposed to flagrant acts of oppression 
 and intolerance. It is necessary constantly 
 to make the Ottoman ministers sensible of 
 this truth, and to persuade them that they 
 can only reckon on the friendship and on 
 the support of the great powers on the con- 
 dition that they treat the Christian subjects 
 of the Porte with toleration and with mild- 
 ness. While insisting on this truth, it will 
 be the duty of the foreign representatives, 
 on the other hand, to exert all their influ- 
 ence to maintain the Christian subjects of 
 the Porte in submission to the sovereign 
 authority. It will be the duty of the 
 foreign representatives, guided by these 
 principles, to act among themselves in a 
 perfect spirit of agreement. If they ad- 
 dress remonstrances to the Porte, those 
 remonstrances must bear a real character 
 of unanimity, though divested of one of 
 exclusive dictation. By persevering in this 
 system with calmness and moderation, the 
 representatives of the great cabinets of 
 Europe will have the best chance of suc- 
 ceeding in the steps which they may take, 
 without giving occasion for complications 
 which might affect the tranquillity of the 
 Ottoman empire. If all the great powers 
 frankly adopt this line of conduct, they will 
 have a well-founded, expectation of pre- 
 serving the existence of Turkey. How- 
 ever, they must not conceal from them- 
 selves how many elements of dissolution 
 that empire contains within itself. Un- 
 foreseen circumstances may hasten its fall, 
 without its being in the power of the 
 friendly cabinets to prevent it. As it is 
 not given to human foresight to settle be- 
 forehand a plan of action for such or such 
 unlooked-for case, it would be premature ' 
 to discuss eventualities which may never be 
 realised. In the uncertainty which hovers 
 VOL. II o 
 
 over the future, a single fundamental idea 
 seems to admit of a really practicHl applica- 
 tion ; it is that the danger which ma^ 
 result from a catastrophe in Turkey, will be 
 much diminished if, in the event of its 
 occurring, Russia and England have come 
 to an understanding as to the course to b^ 
 taken by them in common. 
 
 "That understanding will be the more 
 beneficial, inasmuch as it will have the full . 
 assent of Austria. Between her and Rus- 
 sia there exists already an entire conformity 
 of principles in regard to the affairs df 
 Turkey, in a common interest of conserva- 
 tism and of jjcace. In order to render 
 their union more efficacious, there would 
 remain nothing to be desired but that 
 England should be seen to associate herself 
 thereto with the same view. The reason 
 which recommends the establishment of 
 this agreement is very simple. On land 
 Russia exercises in regard to Turkey a pre- 
 ponderant action. On sea England occu- 
 pies the same position. Isolated, the action 
 of these two powers might do much mis- 
 chief. United, it can produce a real bene- 
 fit ; thence the advantage of coming to a 
 previous understanding before having re- 
 course to action. 
 
 " This notion was in principle agreed 
 upon during the emperor's last residence in 
 London. The result was the eventual 
 engagement, that if anything unforeseen 
 occurred in Turkey, Russia and England 
 should previously concert together as to 
 the course which they should pursue in 
 common. The object for which Russia and 
 England will have to come to an under- 
 standing 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 re- 
 place that which now exists, and, in con- 
 junction 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 states and the rights which the 
 treaties assure to them respectively, or the 
 maintenance of the balance of power iu 
 Europe. 
 
 For the purpose thus stated, the policy 
 
 97 
 
 (( 
 
i 
 
 '■4 
 
 ^'J 
 
 OPINIONS OP NICHOLAS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1844. 
 
 of Russia and of Austria, as we have already 
 said, is closely united by the principle of 
 perfect identity. If England, as the prin- 
 cipal 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. Con- 
 flict 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 minis- 
 ters during his residence in England, the 
 previous understanding which Russia and 
 England shall establish between themselves 
 must be directed." 
 
 However amicable might be the feelings 
 of the emperor Nicholas towards England 
 and its fair sovereign, it is certain that he 
 viewed the form of government existing in 
 this country with extreme aversion. The 
 Marquis Custine records an interesting 
 conversation he had with the emperor, in 
 which the latter expressed his opinion con- 
 cerning the English and other forms of 
 government. We quote it as throwing 
 some lisrht on the intellectual character of 
 Nicholas, 
 
 " * I can truly say, sire, that one of the 
 chief motives of my curiosity in visiting 
 Russia, was the desire of approaching a 
 prince who exercises such power over men.^ 
 — * The Russians are amiable, but he must 
 render himself worthy who would govern 
 Buch a people.' — ' Your majesty has better 
 appreciated the wants and the position of 
 this country than any of your predeces- 
 sors.' — * Despotism still exists in Russia : 
 it is the essence of my government ; but it 
 accords with the genius of the nation.' — 
 ' Sire, by stopping Russia on the road of 
 imitation, you are restoring her to herself.' 
 — ' I love my country, and I believe I un- 
 derstand it. I assure you, that when I 
 feel heartily weary of all the miseries of the 
 times, I endeavour to forget the rest of 
 Europe by retiring towards the interior of 
 Russia.' — ' In order to refresh yourself at 
 your fountain-head.' — 'Precisely so. No 
 one is more from his heart a Russian than 
 I am. I am going to say to you what I 
 would not sav to another : but I feel that 
 you will comprehend me.' 
 
 " Here the emperor interrupted himself, 
 and looked at me attentively. I continued 
 98 
 
 to listen without replying, and he pro- 
 ceeded — * I can understand republicanism ; 
 it is a plain and straightforward form of 
 government, or, at least, it might be so ; I 
 can understand absolute monarchy, for I 
 am myself the head of such an order of 
 things; but I cannot understand a represen- 
 tative monarchy : it is the government of ties, 
 fraud, and corruption; and I would rather 
 fall back even upon China than ever adopt 
 it.' — * Sire, I have always regarded repre- 
 sentative government as a compact inev- 
 itable in certain communities at certain 
 epochs; but, like all other compacts, it 
 does not solve questions— it only adjourns 
 difficulties.' 
 
 " The emperor seemed to say, * Go on.' I 
 continued — * It is a truce signed between 
 democracy and monarchy, under the aus- 
 pices of two very mean tyrants, fear and 
 interest ; and it is prolonged by that pride 
 of intellect which takes pleasure in talking, 
 and that popular vanity which satisfies 
 itself on words. In short, it is the aris- 
 tocracy of oratory, substituted for the aris- 
 tocracy of birth ; it is the government of the 
 lawyer.' — * Sir, you speak the truth,' said the 
 emperor, pressing my hand; *I have been 
 a representative sovereign,* and the world 
 knows what it has cost me to have been 
 unwilling to submit to the exigencies of this 
 infamous government. To buy votes, to 
 corrupt consciences, to seduce some in 
 order to deceive others ; all these means I 
 disdained, as degrading those who oljey as 
 much as those who command, and I have 
 dearly paid the penalty of my straightfor- 
 wardness; but, God be praised, I have done 
 for ever with this detestable political ma- 
 chine. I shall never more be a constitu- 
 tional king. I have too much need of 
 saying all that I think ever to consent to 
 reign over any people by means of strata- 
 gem and intrigue.' " 
 
 Russia never lost sight of her policy 
 to extend her influence both throughout 
 Europe and Asia. At this period she was 
 actively but secretly employed in consoli- 
 dating her power, fortifying her ports, and 
 strengthening her frontier fortresses. She 
 also assumed to be the protectress of the 
 continental monarchies against any efl'ort 
 for constitutional government made by their 
 subjects. Alexander had dreaded revolu- 
 tionary principles; but Nicholas made it 
 the labour of his life to crush and utterly 
 extirpate them. He converted St. Peters- 
 
 • In Poland. 
 
 \\ : 
 
 A.D. 1846— 18^r.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [revolution at cracow. 
 
 burg into the head-quarters of despotism, 
 and endeavoured to propagandise in its 
 behalf by means of intimidation. 
 
 The little state of Cracow had been formed, 
 by the treaties of 1815, into a free republic, 
 under the sanction of all the allied powers. 
 In the February of 1846, a feeble and foolish 
 attempt at revolution, for the purpose of 
 establishing a kind of socialistic communism 
 in conjunction with Polish independence, 
 broke out at Cracow. A provisional gov- 
 ernment was formed, and a manifesto of its 
 principles published. "Let us endeavour,'' 
 said this document, " to establish a com- 
 munity in which every man will enjoy the 
 fruits of the earth according to his deserts 
 and capacity; let all privileges cease; let 
 those who are inferior in birth, intelligence, 
 or physical strength, obtain, without humi- 
 liation, the unfailing assistance of commu- 
 nism, which will divide among all the 
 absolute proprietorship of the soil, now 
 enjoyed by a small minority. Let all im- 
 posts, whether paid in labour or in money, 
 cease; and let all who have fought for their 
 country have an indemnity in land taken 
 from the national property." 
 
 This imprudent language was not unna- 
 turally regarded as a proclamation of war 
 against property, and the peasants of Ga- 
 licia proceeded to outrages against the 
 neighbouring nobility, whom they had long 
 detested. The troops of Austria, Russia, 
 and Prussia successively entered Cracow, 
 And the revolutionary movement was spee- 
 dily suppressed. In the following Novem. 
 ber, a joint decree of Russia, Austria, and 
 Prussia revoked and annulled the arti- 
 cles of the treaty, and Cracow was made 
 over to Austria ! This arbitrary conduct 
 elicited expostulations from the cabinets of 
 London and Paris, both of which, as parties 
 to the treaty of 1815, had guaranteed the 
 independence of the little republic. Lord 
 Palmerston observed — " I have too high an 
 opinion of the sentiments which must 
 animate the three powers, to doubt of their 
 acting towards Cracow in any other spirit 
 than that of the treaty of Vienna. Those 
 governments are too intelligent not to per- 
 ceive that the treaty of Vienna must be 
 considered in its integrity, and that no 
 government is permitted to make a choice 
 of those articles which it may wish to pre- 
 serve or violate. I must add, that if there 
 are any powers who have signed the treaty 
 of Vienna who are specially interested in 
 its faithful execution, they are the German 
 
 powers ; and I am sure that it cannot have 
 escaped the perspicacity of those powers, 
 that if the treaty of Vienna is not good on 
 the Vistula, it must be equallv bad on the 
 Rhine and the Po." M. Guizot also, in 
 the name of France, forwarded his protest 
 to Vienna against the incorporation of 
 Cracow with the Austrian empire. " No- 
 thing," he observed, '' more compromises a 
 government than an avowal of its inability 
 to fulfil, even slowly, its own promises, and 
 the hopes which it has excited. The 
 destruction of the small state of Cracow 
 may deprive Polish conspirators and insur- 
 gents of some means of action, but it must 
 also foster and irritate the feelings in which 
 these deplorable enterprises have so fre- 
 quently and so obstinately originated, and, 
 moreover, weaken the influences by which 
 they might be prevented. It enfeebles, 
 throughout Europe, the principles of order 
 and conservatism, and strengthens blind 
 passions and violent designs." These ex- 
 postulations were unavailing, for Austria 
 defended its seizure of Cracow by the asser- 
 tion that that state had, by its conduct 
 since 1815, and especially in the recent 
 outbreak, itself violated the conditions on 
 which its independence was promised. The 
 formal annexation of Cracow to Austria 
 extinguished the last spark of Polish inde- 
 pendence. 
 
 In the following year (1847), another in- 
 stance occurred of the dictatorial attitude 
 which Russia had assumed with regard to 
 the lesser powers of Europe. Russia, in 
 conjunction with the governments of Austria 
 and Prussia, addressed a note to Switzer- 
 land, stating that they abstained from in- 
 tervention only on condition of the Swiss 
 adhering to the compact of 1815 (which the 
 three despotic powers had themselves just 
 violated with respect to Cracow), and not 
 altering, or in any way liberalising, their 
 domestic institutions. The Swiss govern- 
 ment, animated by a noble spirit of inde- 
 pendence, protested against any foreign 
 interference, and proceeded in its own 
 course. The three repressive governments 
 appear to have thought better of the matter ; 
 for the only measures taken were by Austria, 
 which imposed some vexatious restrictions 
 on the commerce and intercourse of the 
 Swiss. 
 
 The year 1848 was a memorable one in 
 Europe; it was a year of fierce political 
 excitement — a year of revolutions ; and the 
 ancient despotisms of the continent seemed 
 
 99 
 
 ! 
 
 i 
 
AUSTRIA AND HUNGARY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1848. 
 
 about to crumble into ruin. The Russian 
 government, however, stood firm ; for, not- 
 withstanding the severe despotism which 
 constitutes its vital principle, its people, or 
 /ather sul)jects, remained passive from their 
 ignorance and apathetic habits of submis- 
 sion. The flight of Louis Philippe, the 
 overturning of the throne of France, and 
 the establishment of a republic in that 
 country, led other nations to an attempt to 
 shake off their political servitude, and in- 
 augurated a series of insurrections. 
 
 Austria was the most severely shaken of 
 the contmental powers, and brought, in- 
 deed, almost to the verge of dissolution as 
 an empire. Soon after the expulsion of 
 Louis Philippe from Paris, revolutionary 
 movements hroke out in Lombardy and 
 Venice, in Hungary, and even in Austria 
 Proper. In the March of 1848, Vienna, 
 excited by a (ew students and Poles, had 
 risen in insurrection ; Prince Metternich 
 fled, and a free constitution was prepared 
 and accepted by the emperor Ferdinand, 
 who shortly afterwards withdrew from the 
 capital, and retired to Innsprlick. 
 
 But the most formidable movement 
 against the Austrian government was that 
 which took place in Hungary. To escape 
 the tyranny of the Turks, the Hungarians 
 submitted to the domination of Austria, the 
 emperor of which (Ferdinand I.) became 
 their king, his claim to that dignity being 
 based on the fact of his having married, in 
 1521, Anna, daughter of Ladislaus VI., 
 king of Bohemia and Hungary, and sister 
 of Louis, who, having succeeded his father 
 in the crown of those realms, was killed in 
 the disastrous battle of Mohaz by the 
 Turks, in 1526, and left no issue. A 
 native historian of the Hungarian "War of 
 Liberation'^* (as the revolution of 1848 was 
 called), observes — *' Ferdinand I. was most 
 unmindful of his promises. So uncon- 
 scientiously did he neglect the administra- 
 tion of Hungary, that nine years after his 
 coronation, the estates of the nation, as- 
 sembled in parliament at Presburg, found 
 it necessary to draw up a long list of their 
 grievances. This remonstrance sets forth 
 that the kinj^'s absence from the country is 
 the prime cause of all the evils they complain 
 of. Hence the irruptions of the Turks; 
 hence the atrocious cruelties practised by 
 petty tyrants within the confines of the 
 country. Hence, too, the insufierable ex- 
 
 * Memoirs of the War of Indepeiidence in Hun- 
 gary : by General Klapka. 
 
 100 
 
 tortions of all the king's foreipjn captains, 
 who, instead of protecting the country, 
 drained it to ruin, and betrayed it to the 
 hands of its enemies. 
 
 " For three hundred years this Austrian 
 system remained faithful to its original evil 
 principles. And though at intervals — for 
 such there were, though iew and far be- 
 tween — a more legal and enlightened ad- 
 ministration seemed to prevail, still the 
 cabinet of Vienna returned to its fatal en- 
 deavours to oppress and colonise Hungary. 
 
 "The kings of the time, before the ad- 
 vent of the Hapsburg race, had for two 
 centuries battled against the Turks, gal- 
 lantly and often victoriously; and though 
 under the reign of the last two kings of this 
 period the power of Hungary seemed to 
 decline, and though various provinces se- 
 ceded from the kingdom, still the great 
 territories of Hungary, Croatia, and Tran- 
 sylvania remained intact ; and the house of 
 Hapsburg, upon its advent, obtained a free 
 and uncurtailed possession of a great and 
 beautiful empire. 
 
 " But scarcely had Ferdinand I. received 
 the crown of Hungary for himself and his 
 family, when he, and his descendants after 
 him, neglected the country and the sacred 
 duties of their office. They all pledged 
 their words to reside in Hungary for a part 
 of the year; but not one of them remained 
 true to his word. Whenever the Hun- 
 garian nation expressed their wishes in this 
 respect, they received evasive answers, based 
 on the most futile pretences. The com- 
 mand of the Hungarian troops was given to 
 foreigners, to the signal detriment of the 
 native generals, who were better versed in 
 the ways and means of warfare against the 
 Turks than the Austrian officers could be. 
 When the house of Austria was a suitor for 
 the Hungarian crown, great stress was laid 
 on its hereditary power and the imperial 
 dignity of its members, as giving a promise 
 of an efficient protection against the Turks. 
 But their reign in Hungary was a direct 
 contradiction of their promises. Large 
 provinces were left to the Turks. For one 
 hundred and forty-five years did the Cres- 
 cent rule over more than one-half of the 
 country. The chiefs of the malcontents, in 
 1667, were fully justified in protesting, that 
 ' It was an open question : which was worse 
 — Turkish or Austrian sovereignty? The 
 Black Sea and the Adriatic were at one 
 time the confines of the kingdom of Hun- 
 gary. Ever since the advent of the first 
 
 >^"( 
 
 A.D. 1848.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [tiie Hungarian REVOLITT^o^^ 
 
 Hapsburg our power has decreased, and 
 our frontiers receded; one hundred and 
 forty years have sufficed to make Hungary 
 a narrow strip of land, near the Carpathian 
 and the Styrian mountains. The Danube, 
 the Theiss, the Drave, and the Save, flow 
 for the benefit of the Turks; three-fourths 
 of Hungary, viz., the provinces of Tran- 
 sylvania, Croatia, Slavonia, Dalmatia, Servia, 
 and Bosnia, are tributaries to them, if not 
 subjects. It is better to make a voluntary 
 surrender to the Porte, and to have liberty 
 of conscience, such as Transylvania enjoys? 
 "The successful encroachments of the 
 Turks were chiefly owing to the want of 
 skill of the foreign generals, to the venality 
 of the foreign commanders in our fortresses, 
 to the cowardice of foreign hirelings, to 
 the dilatory measures of the Vienna Hof 
 Kriegsrath, and to treaties of peace which 
 were concluded without the advice and con- 
 sent of the Hungarian parliaments. When 
 the country was reconquered, the Hun- 
 garians took the post of danger in all battles 
 and assaults. They monopolised the danger 
 and the victory. The estates of the country 
 were lavish in their votes of money (large 
 though the king's income was) ; and no less 
 than 100,000,000 of florins were granted as 
 'special subsidies' in the period from 1683 
 to 1706. Still, when in 1699 the peace of 
 Karlowitz was concluded, no reference was 
 made to the palatine or the estates of the 
 country. In that treaty of peace. King 
 Leopold is spoken of as 'his imperial ma- 
 jesty,' and any allusion to his royal dignity 
 carefully avoided. This is but one trait 
 among a hundred." 
 
 This extract will tend to show the feel- 
 ing existing among the Hungarians towards 
 their Austrian rulers : but the great source 
 of irritation lay in the fact, that the Aus- 
 trian government endeavoured to extin- 
 guish the Hungarian nationality; to make 
 that country merely an Austriaia province ; 
 to rule it as though it had been a con- 
 quered territory ; and gradually to supplant 
 and extirpate the ancient Magyar race. 
 Such a mode of government, or rather mis- 
 government, almost invariably leads to in- 
 surrectionary reaction, and may be termed 
 the nurse of revolution. With so spirited 
 and intensely national a people as the 
 Hungarians, such a result was inevitable. 
 For some years, a powerful national party 
 had been organised, and an active opposi'- 
 tion maintained in the Diet; while patriotic 
 feelings had, by every possible means, been 
 
 excited throughout the country. The Aus- 
 trian government had in vain' endeavoured 
 to repress the movement; and the Diet of 
 1817-'8 opened with more than the usual 
 hope and energy. Louis Kossuth, the re- 
 cognised leader of the more advanced 
 Hberals, had been returned as representa- 
 tive of the county of Pesth. On the 3rd 
 of March, 1848, the Diet adopted a pro- 
 position made by him to send a deputation 
 to their king (the emperor), for the purpose 
 of requiring the formation of a new min- 
 istry, essentially Hungarian, as Avell as 
 certain constitutional reforms. On the 
 15th of the same month, Kossuth entered 
 Vienna — then in a state of insurrection — 
 with the deputation, and was welcomed by 
 the people with the most enthusiastic de- 
 monstrations of applause and sympathv. 
 The deputation was received by the em- 
 peror, who yielded to most of its require- 
 ments. An Hungarian ministry was formed, 
 of which Count Louis Batthyany became 
 the president, and Kossuth the minister of 
 finance. Various liberal measures passed 
 the Diet, and received the royal assent. 
 They formed Hungary and Transylvania 
 into one kingdom; established an annual 
 Diet, indissoluble by the king; largely ex- 
 tended the suff'rage; created a national 
 guard; abohshed all feudal privileges; and 
 made other concessions to the popular 
 feeling. 
 
 The Hungarian Diet soon thought pro- 
 per to extend these benefits to the Servians 
 and Croatians ; and though they at first 
 rejoiced, in common with the Hungarians, 
 in consequence of their having been raised 
 to the rank of freemen, they were in a 
 short time persuaded by Austrian agents— 
 
 amongst whom was their own archbishop 
 
 that the Hungarians intended to subjugate 
 them, and to destroy their religion and 
 nationality. An insurrectionary movement 
 against Hungary was soon organised, and 
 the first outbreak occurred in June, 1848. 
 Arms, ammunition, and stores were secretly 
 furnished by Austria; and Austrian oflicers, 
 in disguise, led the Servians to battle. 
 Thousands were slain on both sides ; towns 
 and villages were burnt, and the frontier 
 districts laid waste. Most of the Hun- 
 garian troops were at this period fighting 
 the battles of Austria in Italy; and Kos- 
 suth displayed extraordinary energy in 
 raising means and recruits, and in a short 
 time enabled the Hungarian ministry to 
 organise ten battahons of volunteers, who 
 
 101 
 
 ■\1*. [; 
 
 ffil 
 
I 
 
 t I 
 
 ITS SUPPRESSION BY RUSSIA.] HISTORY OF TPIE 
 
 [a.d. 1849. 
 
 were called Honveds, or "Defenders of 
 Home." 
 
 In the September of 1848, the Croatians 
 crossed the Drave, and invaded Hungary 
 with a force of 30,000 men. The emperor 
 of Austria issued a proclamation, ordering 
 them to retire to their own country ; but 
 their leader had good reason to question 
 the sincerity of the command, and did not 
 hesitate to disobey it. In fact, the policy 
 of the emperor was to play off the races 
 against each other ; and, dreading their 
 strength, he wished to weaken both. As 
 soon as he felt himself strong enough, he 
 threw off the mask. With this object he 
 sent Count Lemburg, as royal commis- 
 sioner, with orders to dissolve the Hun- 
 garian Diet, and assume the direction of 
 affairs. As the count was entering Pesth 
 for this purpose, he was set upon by the 
 populace, dragged from his carriage, and 
 assassinated. From this period all hope of 
 reconciliation was at an end. The Hun- 
 garian ministry resigned its functions; and 
 a committee of defence was established to 
 carry on the government, with Kossuth as 
 its president. 
 
 Success for a wliile attended the military 
 efforts of the Hungarians against their op- 
 pressors ; and it is more than probable 
 that they would have thrown off the Aus- 
 trian yoke, but for the intervention of 
 Russia. The incapable Ferdinand had ab- 
 dicated in favour of his nephew Francis 
 Joseph (the present emperor), who applied 
 for assistance to the czar Nicholas. This 
 the latter readily granted ; for not only do 
 the continental despotisms seem to regard 
 it as a sacred obligation to assist each 
 other in repressing all popular and revo- 
 lutionary excitement, but Nicholas well 
 knew, that by helping Austria in the time 
 of her trial, he prevented her from acting 
 against him m the event of his getting in- 
 volved in a qaarrel with the great powers 
 of Europe concerning Constantinople, or 
 any other Turkish possession. Nicholas, 
 in fact, was amply repaid for the assistance 
 he now extended to the emperor of Aus- 
 tria; for in the war of 1854-^5, Francis 
 Joseph trimmed between the belligerent 
 parties; and while calling himself an ally 
 of France and England, protected, as far 
 as he was able, the interests of Russia. 
 But Nicholas had yet another motive for 
 assisting the shaken despotism of Austria : 
 the Poles had flocked eagerly to serve 
 beneath the Hungarian banners, and he 
 102 
 
 dreaded that, if their arms were successful, 
 he would have another revolution in Po- 
 land to suppress. '* The insurrection," he 
 observed, in one of those manifestoes which 
 he availed himself of every opportunity to 
 publish, "supported by the' influence of our 
 traitors in Poland, of the year 1831, and 
 by reinforcements of refugees and vaga- 
 bonds from other countries, has given this 
 revolt a most menacing character. In the 
 midst of these disastrous events, his majesty 
 the emperor of Austria has invited us to 
 assist him against the common enemy. 
 We cannot refuse that service. Aftet 
 having invoked the God of battles and the 
 Master of victories to protect the just cause, 
 we have ordered our army to march to 
 stifle revolt, and annihilate audacious anar- 
 chists who threaten the tranquillity of 
 our provinces. Let God be with us, and 
 none can resist us; of which we are con- 
 vinced. Such are the sentiments of all our 
 subjects. Every Russian shares in this hope, 
 and Russia will fulfil her holy mission." 
 
 Early in 1849, a Russian army of 90,000 
 men was marched into Hungary, and 
 another of 60,000 into Transylvania ; and 
 these, added to the Austrian and Croatian 
 armies, made a force of upwards of 300,000 
 armed men to crush the revolutionists. 
 The Hungarians made a brilliant resis- 
 tance ; but their resources were insufficient 
 to contend with so vast a power. They 
 were defeated in several battles by the 
 Russians; and the government, in despair, 
 sought to open separate negotiations with 
 the Russian commander. These proved 
 unavailing ; and they then offered to invest 
 General Gorgei, the commander of their 
 forces, with full powers to treat for peace. 
 These he refused to accept; and they 
 eventually resolved to appoint him dictator. 
 On this, Kossuth issued a proclamation 
 (August 11th, 1849), announcing his resig- 
 nation of power into the hands of Gorgei, 
 and the investiture of the latter with dic- 
 tatorial authority. Having solemnly, " be- 
 fore God and the people," charged Gorgei 
 to do his best to save the national exis- 
 tence, Kossuth fled into Turkey. Gorgei, 
 against whom heavy suspicions of treachery 
 are entertained, immediately concluded a 
 negotiation he had commenced with the 
 Russian general, by agreeing, as governor 
 and dictator, to surrender unconditionally. 
 Accordingly, on the 17th of August, his 
 army of 24,000 men, with 150 guns, laid 
 down their arms to the Russians. At th« 
 
 A.D. I84y.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 same time, Gorgei directed the officers of 
 the various garrisons and detachments scat- 
 tered throughout the country, to follow his 
 example. A few only refused; the resis- 
 tance of the rest was unavailing ; and the 
 war was virtually at an end. A large 
 number of the officers and soldiers, as well 
 as civilians, succeeded in escaping into 
 Turkey, where they were hospitably re- 
 ceived. Austria and Russia made a united 
 demand that the refugees should be given 
 up to the former power, or at least expelled 
 from Turkey. The Porte noblv refused to 
 do either, notwithstanding threats of force 
 were made use of to intidimate it into com- 
 pliance. Russia would possibly have put 
 these threats into execution ; but as Eng- 
 land and France announced their deter- 
 mination of supporting the sultan's deci- 
 sion by the presence of their fleets, if 
 necessary, the refugees were permitted to 
 remain without further molestation. 
 
 In Hungary, the suppression of the revo- 
 lution was followed by a series of trials and 
 executions, attended by circumstances of 
 extreme cruelty. The fate of Count Louis 
 Batthyany, the president of the revolu- 
 tionary ministry, elicited great sympathy. 
 He was condemned by a council of war to 
 be hanged, an ignominy which he en- 
 deavoured to escape by unsuccessfully at- 
 tempting suicide. He was afterwards shot, 
 his estates confiscated, and his wife and 
 children exiled. The country has since, 
 nntil quite recently, been subjected to mili- 
 tary rule. All the national privileges have 
 been abrogated, and the people subjected 
 to a succession of severe coercive measures. 
 Almost the only permanent benefit which 
 has been secured by the revolution, appears 
 to be the abolition of the feudal privi- 
 leges and distinctions, which have not been 
 reimposed, and are not likely to be, as it 
 is not the policy of the government to re- 
 store the power of the nobles. 
 
 Shortly after the surrender of the Hun- 
 garian army, and the consequent annihila- 
 tion of the revolutionary cause, the emperor 
 Nicholas published the subjoined mani- 
 festo^:— "' Russia will fulfil her holy mis- 
 sion.' Such were the words that we ad- 
 dressed to our well-beloved subjects when 
 we announced to them, according to the 
 desire of our ally the emperor of Austria, 
 that we had commanded our armies to 
 stifle the war in Hungary, and there estab- 
 lish the legitimate authoritv of the emperor. 
 Under the protection of God, that object is 
 
 [russiax domination. 
 
 accomplished. In less than two months, 
 our brave troops, after numerous and bril- 
 liant victories in Transylvania and under 
 the walls of Debreczin, have marched from 
 victory to victory— from Galicia to Pesth, 
 from Pesth to Arad, from the Buckovina 
 and Moldavia to the Banat. Finallv, the 
 bands of insurgents, hurled back in 'every 
 direction— from north to east by ourselves, 
 from the west and south by the Austriaii 
 army— have laid down their arms before 
 the Russian army, appealing to our media- 
 tion to solicit a magnanimous pardon from 
 their legitimate sovereign. After having 
 holily performed our promise, we have 
 ordered our victorious troops to return 
 within the limits of the empire. With a 
 heart penetrated with gratitude to the Dis- 
 penser of all blessings, we cry out, from the 
 innermost recesses of our soul, ' Nobiscum 
 Deus! audite populi et vincemini, quia no- 
 biscum Deus!^ " 
 
 Such language, on such an occasion, is 
 both startling and painful. It is an im- 
 pious arrogance for a despotic ruler, or 
 indeed for any sovereign whatever, to 
 assume that his cause is that of heaven ; his 
 will identical with that of the Deity ! But 
 what must we think of such efi'usions, 
 when employed in vain self-glorifications 
 over successful butchery ? It might be a 
 painful necessity on the' part of Austria— 
 a necessity arising out of her own misdeeds 
 and evil government— to shed the blood of 
 Hungarian patriots. But the iirtervention 
 of Russia was not called for by any state 
 necessity on her part. The emperor Nicho- 
 las poured out his battalions against the 
 unhappy Hungarians from sinister motives 
 towards the sovereign whom he interposed 
 to protect ; from a morbid and bitter hatred 
 of liberty; from a hope that he would 
 make absolutism universal and supreme 
 over Europe ; and a desire to extinguish in 
 blood, on the battle-field and the scaff'old, 
 every efi*ort of the oppressed nations to 
 relieve themselves from the dread incubus 
 of military tyranny that oppiessed them. 
 In the execution of such work, the emperor 
 Nicholas certainly performed the mission 
 which he and his predecessor, Alexander, 
 had forced upon Russia ; but to apply the 
 term " holy" to the work of tyranny, to the 
 making nations obey the arbitrary whims 
 of one man intoxicated with excess of 
 power, is at once a falsehood and a pro- 
 fanity. It is difficult to say whether these 
 high-placed despots are secretly atheists, 
 
 103 
 
 
 -1. 
 
ORIGIN OF CRIMEAN WAR.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1850. 
 
 who use religion as an instrument of co- 
 ercive government — a state property to 
 work out their own selfish ends — or whether, 
 from a long use of insincere language with 
 
 respect to the will of the Deity, they have 
 really come to believe that their own blind 
 and evil actions are the result of divine 
 inspiration I 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 I 
 t 
 I 
 .11. 
 
 *. 
 
 DISPUTES BETWEEN THE ORTHODOX AND CATHOLIC MONKS AT JERUSALEM; ESPOUSAL OF THEIR 
 CLAIMS BY TIIK CZAR AND THE EMPEROU NAPOLEON III. ; ULTIMATUM OF THE CZAR TO THE PORTE; 
 INVASION BY THE RUSSIANS OF MOLDO-WALLACHIA ; ULTIMATUM OF THE PORTE, AND DECLARATION 
 OF WAR AGAINST RUSSIA; BATTLES OF OLTENITZA AND MATCIIIN ; DESTRUCTION OF THE TURKISH 
 FLEET AT SINOPE ; OPERATIONS IN ASIA J BATTLE OF AKHALJIK. 
 
 There can be no doubt that the chief 
 reason which induced the emperor Nicholas 
 to assist in quelling the Hungarian revolu- 
 tion, was the certainty that, by so doing, he 
 would acquire an immense influence over 
 the Slav population, not only of the Aus- 
 trian empire, but also of the Turkish pro- 
 vinces. These races, Croats, Czechs, Serbs, 
 Slovaks, and Bosnaks, have always identified 
 the Turks and Magyars, or Hungarians, as 
 their natural enemies ; and by thus using 
 his armies against them, Nicholas was 
 simply carrying out the principle that the 
 Czar of Russia is the natural protector and 
 ally of all the Slav races against their foes, 
 be these foes Turks, Hungarians, or Ger- 
 mans. This principle is based not only on 
 kindred of race and speech, but on the fact 
 that the Czar of Russia is also the head of 
 the Grreek church, and, therefore, in duty 
 bound to protect and support his co-reli- 
 gionists in all countries, and to identify 
 their interests with those of Russia. Prac- 
 tically, therefore, Russia aims at the estab- 
 lishment of an orthodox papacy, in which 
 the temporal power predominates to an 
 extent not even dreamt of at the Vatican. 
 It was in this light that the Slavonic popu- 
 lation of the Danubian and Adriatic pro- 
 vinces regarded the action of Russia in 
 1848-49, and thus the czar succeeded in 
 increasing his influence in Austria, and in 
 assuring himself of an ally, or of rendering 
 Austria powerless in case of an attack upon 
 Turkey. At the same time he seized the 
 opportunity to force upon Turkey the con- 
 vention of Balta-Lima, whereby the elec- 
 tion of the hospodars was conducted on a 
 new system favourable to Russia, and a 
 104 
 
 joint right accorded to Russia of occupying 
 the Moldo-Wallachian provinces in case of 
 disturbances. 
 
 Having thus prepared the ground to 
 render Austria at least harmless, if not of 
 actual service in an eventual war upon 
 Turkey, the emperor only waited for an 
 opportunity to bring about this result. As 
 a temporal and spiritual sovereign, an 
 opportunity could not fail soon to present 
 itself. This opportunity was at last fur- 
 nished by a monkifch dispute at Jerusalem, 
 which was at once taken up by the czar as 
 protector of the orthodox church, and by 
 the emperor Napoleon as protector of the 
 Catholic church. The history of this dis- 
 pute is not generally known, and it may be 
 as well to explain all the circumstances, as 
 similar disputes will no doubt continue to 
 rise as long as the conditions remain the 
 same. 
 
 The Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem is now, 
 as it was then, unequally distributed amongst 
 the various Christian churches. A portion 
 here and a portion there belongs absolutely 
 to the Catholic or orthodox church ; whilst 
 other portions are common property, but in 
 unequal, or may be, in equal shares. Thus 
 on entering the church, the first object of 
 importance is the slab whereon Christ is 
 said to have been anointed after death. 
 This slab is broken through diagonally ; 
 one half belongs to the orthodox, the other 
 to the Catholic church. And so on ad in- 
 finitum. The Copts have a bit here, the 
 Armenians a bit somewhere else ; but add- 
 ing these shares up, the Greek chu-'^'i 
 possesses by far the larger share. The same 
 is the case at Bethlehem ; and, as may be 
 
 A.D. 1851.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 supposed, there are continued disputes 
 going on between the rival sections. Thus, 
 at the church of the Nativity in Bethlehem 
 the spot is shown where Christ was born, 
 and marked by an altar and special chapel, 
 to which both Greek and Catholic had a 
 common right of entrance and equal shares 
 in it. This spot the Catholics determined 
 still fiirther to beautify by the insertion in 
 the pavement, before the shrine, of a silver 
 star with the inscription—" Hie de Virgine 
 Maria Jesus natus est " — (Here Jesus was 
 born of the Virgin Maria.) But this gave 
 great offence to the Greeks. First of all 
 because the inscription was in Latin only ; 
 and, secondly, because they not having 
 contributed anything towards the expense 
 of the star, it increased the share of the 
 Catholics in the shrine by the amount of 
 its value. The upshot of the affair was 
 that the star was stolen, the Catholics 
 naturally accusing the Greeks of the theft. 
 Whilst this dispute was being waged with 
 all bitterness at Bethlehem, another broke 
 out at Jerusalem regarding the key to the 
 gate of the sepulchre, and the repairing of 
 the roof of the church. The key had been 
 held by the Turks, who furnished a guard 
 of some half-dozen men to keep order in 
 the church, and to whose custody the key 
 was entrusted, they being obliged to open 
 the church, and mount guard inside the 
 porch on the occasion of any celebration of 
 masses or festivals. This key the Greeks 
 managed by intrigues and bribes to gain 
 possession of; so that one evening when 
 the Catholics wanted to celebrate some 
 special mass, and called upon the guard to 
 open the church, they were referred to the 
 Greek patriarch for permission to do so. 
 Of course the Catholics denied the right of 
 the Greek patriarch to exercise this pri- 
 vilege, and thus the quarrel grew in inten- 
 sity. At the same time, the question as to 
 who should repair the roof, or in what pro- 
 portion each section should contribute 
 towards the expense, was just as hotly 
 debated. Contrary to what is usually the 
 case, the point was, not as to who should 
 contribute the smallest sum, but as to who 
 should pay the largest; for the larger the 
 sum paid, the greater the right implied 
 and acquired. The disputes at last waxed 
 so hot, that each party applied to its self- 
 appointed protectors for assistance; the 
 orthodox church to the emperor Nicholas, 
 the Catholics to the emperor Napoleon. 
 The latter, whose coup-d'etat had been 
 VOL. II. p 
 
 [RUSSIAN ULTIMATUM. 
 
 made at the expense of the legitimate sup- 
 porters of the papacy, the Bourbons and 
 the Orleanists, and who was in consequence 
 not favourably regarded at the Vatican, 
 determined to take up the cause of the 
 Catholic monks, and thus place himself on 
 a better footing with the papal govern- 
 ment; in fact, to inaugurate with this act 
 his policy as champion of the Roman 
 Catholic church. He, therefore, instructed 
 M. Lavalette, in 1851, to demand from the 
 Porte the re-establishment of the former 
 regulations regarding the custody of the 
 key, and that the Ottoman officials should 
 force the Greeks to restore the stolen star, 
 whilst the question of repairing the roof 
 should be settled by the Porte undertaking 
 the work, and distributing the shares of the 
 expense equally amongst the various sec- 
 tions. Lavalette insisted on these terms 
 so energetically, threatening to enforce them 
 by the despatch of the French fleet to the 
 Dardanelles, that the sultan yielded. This 
 furnished the czar with the pretext he 
 wished for; and sending Prince Ments- 
 chikoff to Constantinople, instructed him in 
 turn to demand that the key should be 
 restored to the custody of the Greeks, and 
 the recognition by the Porte of the Russian 
 protectorate over the Christian subjects of 
 the Porte. These demands were presented 
 m the form of an ultimatum on the 21st of 
 May, 1851, which, if declined by the Porte 
 would entail the departure of the Russian 
 ambassador within eight days of its 
 receipt. 
 
 This ultimatum, after having consulted 
 with the British and French ambassadors, 
 the I orte refused to sign, and, accordingly. 
 Prince MentschikofiP took his departure 
 trom Constantinople. Meanwhile, in spite 
 ot ail kinds of pacific assurances on the 
 part of the czar, the Russian armies were 
 being concentrated on the Bessarabian 
 frontier and in the Caucasus, ready to cross 
 over into Turkish territory at any given 
 moment. At the same time the czar en- 
 deavoured, by all the means in his power 
 to isolate Turkey, and proposed a partition 
 ot the empire between such states as chose 
 to share in the spoil. Thus he proposed 
 that England should take Egypt and the 
 island of Candia ; that the French should 
 extend their African possessions; that 
 Austria should annex Bosnia and the Herze- 
 govina ; and that Bulgaria and Moldo- 
 Wallachia and Servia should be "inde- 
 1 pendent " states under his protection. Ail 
 
 105 
 
 m 
 
i/ 
 
 OCCUPATION OF WALLAC^IA.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1853. 
 
 these proposals were rejected for various 
 reasons, Austria unwillingly refusing them 
 from fear of complications in Italy, which 
 were pretty plainly indicated by the French 
 emperor as possible. Under these circum- 
 stances, the Russian preparations having 
 Bufficiently progressed, the czar issued a 
 manifesto, and gave the order for his troops, 
 under the command of Prince Grortchakoff, 
 to cross the Pruth, and, without any decla- 
 ration of war, to occupy the Moldo-Wal- 
 lachian provinces. This was done on the 
 25th of June, 1853. 
 
 The closing paragraphs of the imperial 
 manifesto are worthy of record, as showing 
 how little the pleas then put forward differ 
 from those advanced in 1877 by the em- 
 peroi" Alexander II. : — 
 
 " Having exhausted all the means of 
 persuasion, and of obtaining, in a friendly 
 manner, the satisfaction due to our righteous 
 demands, we have considered it necessary to 
 order our army to enter the principalities, 
 in order to show to the Porte to what con- 
 sequences its resistance may lead. Still we 
 do not intend to commence war. The oc- 
 cupation of the principalities is simply 
 designed to give us a pledge whereby we 
 may enforce the recognition of our rights. 
 
 " We do not seek conquests. Russia 
 does not need them. We only demand 
 satisfaction for the disregard of our rights. 
 We are ready, even at this moment, to stay 
 the progress of our troops if the Porte 
 engages to observe the privileges of the 
 orthodox church. But if wilfulness anxi 
 blindness obstinately insist upon the con- 
 trary, then, invoking the assistance of the 
 Almighty, we will leave the decision of our 
 difiference to His care ; and placing our full 
 hope in His all-powerful hand, we will 
 march to the assistance of the orthodox 
 church. — Given at Petersburg, the 26th of 
 June, 1853. — NICHOLAS." 
 
 Whilst this manifesto and other circulars 
 were being addressed to the various Euro- 
 pean courts, and precious time was diploma- 
 tically squandered instead of being actively 
 employed in preparations for the worst, the 
 Russian troops had penetrated to the 
 Danube, under the command of Prince 
 Gortchakoff and Generals Luders and Dan- 
 nenberg, the head-quarters being established 
 at Bucharest. Every strategical position 
 of importance was occupied and fortified 
 by earthworks armed with heavy artillery, 
 and the Wallachian provinces were regarded 
 absolutely as Russian territory, the hos- 
 106 
 
 podars dismissed, and the taxes and cus- 
 toms levied by Russian officials. The whole 
 army, in fact, lived on the province ; whilst 
 General Osten-Sacken remained in Bessa- 
 rabia, organising a reserve army, and collect- 
 ing vast amount of stores at Ackerman, 
 Odessa, and Sebastopol. At the same time 
 a third army was formed to operate in Asia 
 Minor, whilst the Russian fleet cruised 
 about in the Black Sea. 
 
 In spite of these ominous preparations, 
 the two powers most interested in Eastern 
 affairs, England and France, were still 
 wavering between belief and disbelief of the 
 Russian assurances of disinterestedness, and 
 strove to counterbalance the Russian mili- 
 tary movements by diplomatic endeavours 
 to induce Prussia and Austria to form an 
 alliance with them, which would deter 
 Russia from proceeding to extremities. 
 The Turks, however, knew enough about 
 the state of popular feeling in Austria to 
 feel sure that the most that could be gained 
 would be her neutrality, and that Prussia 
 would not be disposed to act in any opposi- 
 tion to Austria on the question for a multi- 
 plicity of reasons. They therefore lost no 
 time in preparing for the worst, and sent an 
 army into Bulgaria, under the command of 
 Omar Pasha, and organised a second in 
 Anatolia, under the command of Selim 
 Pasha. 
 
 Thus the two enemies stood face to face, 
 both armed to the teeth, each waiting for 
 the other to incur the opprobrium of declar- 
 ing war. The Russians were especially 
 anxious not to incur the responsibility, so 
 as not to detract from the " holiness " of 
 their intentions ; and in accordance with 
 this policy a conference was held in Vienna, 
 where a note was drawn up, which was 
 signed by the various representatives of the 
 powers, approved of by the czar, and sub- 
 mitted to the sultan for his signature. 
 Now the gist of this note was : — 
 
 1st. That former treaties had conferred 
 upon the Czar of Russia a certain pro- 
 tectorate over the orthodox Christians of 
 the Porte. 
 
 2ndly. That the sultan should undertake 
 to concede to the orthodox church all the 
 privileges accorded to the members of all 
 other Christians in the Ottoman empire, 
 whether acquired by liberty or otherwise. 
 
 To these articles the sultan objected, on 
 the grounds that no treaties had ever con- 
 ferred such a protectorate upon the czar ; 
 but, on the contrary, that those treaties in 
 
 A.D. 1853.T 
 
 question— such as the treaty of Kainardji 
 
 simply stipulated that the sultan— not the 
 czar — was bound to protect the Christians ; 
 whilst as to the other point, the sultan 
 proposed the alteration of the words " Chris- 
 tians in the Ottoman empire," to " Ottoman 
 subjects," for otherwise the sultan would 
 have had to concede to members of the 
 Greek church all the privileges and im- 
 munities accorded to all foreigners living in 
 the Ottoman empire under the special pro- 
 tection and jurisdiction of their embassies 
 and consulates. It is no small reproach to 
 the European diplomatists that two points 
 of such vital importance should have been 
 left to the Turks to detect, and to have laid 
 themselves open to the rejoinder of Count 
 Nesselrode— that the note was of their own 
 framing and proposal, and that they must 
 adhere to it, and enforce it upon the Turks 
 collectively, or leave Russia to do it. Thus 
 the czar refusing to accept the Turkish 
 emendations, matters still remained the 
 same, the western powers also refusing to 
 enforce the note upon the Porte. Thus 
 ended the fruit of the Vienna conference. 
 Time was then again spun out in order to 
 allow the Russians to complete their pre- 
 parations, by the conferences at Olmutz 
 between the czar and the Emperor of 
 Austria, the upshot of which was the de- 
 parture of the czar in assumed displeasure, 
 but in reality assured of the neutrality of 
 Austria. 
 
 By this time it had become evident to the 
 Porte that Russia intended war under all 
 circumstances, and determined to take time 
 by the forelock, and declare war themselves 
 against Russia. On what grounds their 
 decision was taken it is difficult to see, and 
 it cannot but be regarded as an error. By 
 so doing, though the Porte may have had 
 international law on its side, and have been 
 acting strictly within its rights, still it pro- 
 duced that feeling in Russia which the czar 
 wished for more than anyone else. The 
 excitement produced throughout Russia was 
 intense when it became known that the 
 Porte had declared war on the 26th of Sep- 
 tember, 1853, and that Omar Pasha had 
 summoned Prince Gortchakoff to withdraw 
 from the principalities within fifteen days 
 of receiving his ^despatch. To this sum- 
 mons Prince Gortchakoff replied by stating 
 that he should not leave his post till the 
 czar had obtained the moral satisfaction he 
 required; but that at the same time, he 
 should confine himself to entirely defensive 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [battle of oltenitza. 
 
 operations. To such an extent was this 
 tarce of being animated by the most pacific 
 and forbearing principles carried on, that 
 not only did Count Nesselrode actually take 
 the trouble to write a circular, stating that 
 Russia would only act on the defensive, even 
 if attacked by the Turks, but the powers 
 actually believed it, and refused to send 
 their fleets into the Black Sea on the 
 grounds that they were not at war with 
 Russia; and that Russia having declared 
 she would not take the offensive, there was 
 no necessity for them to enter the forbidden 
 waters, which, moreover, would be regarded 
 by the Russians as an open declaration of 
 hostihties; and the war, which the czar 
 repeatedly asserted he intended to keep 
 localised, would thus take unforeseen dimen- 
 sions. 
 
 Such confiding simplicity, if it can be 
 equalled, can certainly not be surpassed; 
 and it goes far towards proving that diplo- 
 mats are not so black as they are painted. 
 Ihe simphcity of the matter is only ex- 
 ceeded by the absurdity of trying to make 
 out the subsequent breach of the promise a 
 great moral crime on the part of the 
 Russians ; for who shall decide, when two 
 combatants are fighting, where defence 
 kaves off and offence begins ? However, as 
 a matter of fact, the Turks commenced 
 hostilities on the expiration of the fifteen 
 days granted by Omar Pasha to Prince 
 Gortchakoff, by throwing bodies of troops 
 across the Danube at Kalafat, Giurgevo, and 
 Oltenitza ; at each place about 3,000 men. 
 
 At Oltenitza this movement was accom- 
 plished on Nov. 2nd, 1853, the Turks suc- 
 ceeding m crossing, establishing a battery 
 on the island between Oltenitza and Tur- 
 tukai, and entrenching themselves on 
 Wallachian soil within two hours after 
 daybreak. The Russian commander, whose 
 head-quarters were at Slatina, on the river 
 Olt, regarded these movements simply as 
 diversions, and attached no great impor- 
 tance to them. A body of 8,000 to 9,000 
 men was sent to drive the Turks from their 
 position at Oltenitza; but after repeated 
 assaults they were effectually repulsed, and 
 retired on the approach of evening. During 
 the night both sides received reinforce- 
 ments, and on the following day the contest 
 was renewed with the same results, the 
 Russians suffering great loss from the 
 accurate and sustained fire of the Turkish 
 artillery. On the third day the Russian 
 forces were brought up to 28,000 men, and 
 
 107 
 
 m 
 
 '\l\ 
 

 *1 
 
 MASSACRE AT SINOPE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1853. 
 
 the Turkish to some 20,000. The battle 
 began by an attack upon the Turkish right, 
 the Russians advancing in close columns, 
 which received the full fire of the batteries 
 on the island, and at Turtukai, till they 
 were nearly decimated by the fusillade from 
 the trenches, whence the Turks succeeded 
 in repulsing them with great loss — over 
 1,000 men— and putting them to precipi- 
 tate flight. On the nth of November a 
 fourth attack was made, the Russians having 
 received reinforcements under General 
 Engelhardt ; but again they were repulsed 
 with much loss. This success highly de- 
 lighted the Turks, and reflected no small 
 credit upon Omar Pasha and General Prim 
 — who subsequently became Dictator in 
 Spain, and was assassinated in Madrid 
 during the reign of King Amadeus. 
 
 Whilst this was going on at Oltenitza, 
 Ismail Pasha, an energetic and dashing 
 leader, had occupied Kalafat obliquely 
 opposite Widdin, and strengthened it by 
 earthworks and trenches; whilst on the 
 26th of November another signal success 
 was gained by the Turks, between Braila 
 and Matchin in the Dobrudscha. 
 
 The news of these victories produced as 
 great consternation at St. Petersburg, as 
 it did satisfaction in England and France, 
 and it already began to be said that the 
 Turks were fully a match for the Russians ; 
 whilst the diplomatists congratulated each 
 other on having done nothing, and incurred 
 no expense or loss to their respective 
 countries. Four days later, however, an 
 event occurred that considerably modified 
 this complacent self-satisfaction. They 
 were destined to be enlightened as to the 
 different constructions to be placed upon 
 the words " offence " and " defence." On 
 November the 30th, Admiral Nakhimoff, 
 the commander of the Russian fleet, con- 
 sisting of six first-rate men-of-war, four 
 steamers, and two frigates, discovered the 
 Turkish squadron, under the orders of 
 Osman Pasha, lying in the harbour of 
 Sinope, both town and fleet being quite 
 unprepared for action — the excuse being 
 that they relied on the non-offensive decla- 
 rations of the czar. Both facts were 
 blunders ; they should have been prepared, 
 and they should not have relied upon any 
 such absurd promise ; and had the Russian 
 admiral, with his overwhelming force, first 
 summoned the Turkish commander to sur- 
 render before proceeding to action, no one 
 would have dreamt of blaming the Russians 
 108 
 
 for breach of promise. But, unfortunately, 
 Admiral NakhimoflT did nothing of the kind. 
 Favoured by a dense fog, he at once closed 
 with the Turkish squadron, and blew it all 
 to pieces, mercilessly slaughtering oyer 
 4,000 of the crew, and then bombarding 
 and utterly destroying the defenceless town. 
 It was a perfect naval massacre ; and the 
 atrocities accompanying it did more to 
 arouse the popular feeling in the West 
 against Russia than anything else, though, 
 as a matter of fact, the Russian navy had 
 already commenced offensive operations by 
 the Vladimir cruising off the Bulgarian 
 coast, attacking the shore batteries, and 
 capturing a Turkish steamer of ten guns, as 
 early as November the 20th. However, 
 when the news became known on the 12th 
 of December in London, Lord Clarendon 
 despatched a note to St. Petersburg, stat- 
 ing, in substance, that the attack on Sinope 
 was a breach of faith towards England and 
 France, and was as much an attack on them 
 as on the Turk; and that to prevent the 
 recurrence of such disasters, the combined 
 French and English fleets had orders to 
 require, and, if necessary, to compel the 
 Russian fleet to retire forthwith to Sebas- 
 topol, or the nearest port. This despatch 
 was signed on the 27th of December ; and 
 about the same time a refusal was given by 
 the Porte to the proposals contained in 
 another Vienna note, of the 15th of Decem- 
 ber, which contained, in different language, 
 very much the same propositions that had 
 already been refused. The fact is, that the 
 powers wished to construct a golden bridge 
 for the Russians to retreat from their posi- 
 tion at the expense of the Porte, and the 
 Porte, very naturally, refused to pay the 
 cost. 
 
 Thus the year 1853 came to a close. In 
 the Caucasus and Asia Minor the hostilities 
 were not much above the character of 
 sudden raids and skirmishes, in which 
 Schamyl, the great Circassian leader, 
 played the chief part. The Russian forces 
 were commanded by Prince Woronzoff and 
 Generals Bebutoff and Dolgorouki. The 
 most important affair, after several minor 
 engagements mostly favourable to the 
 Turks, was the battle of Akhaljik, on the 
 22nd of November, 1853, in which the 
 Turks lost over 4,000 men killed and 
 wounded, 170 prisoners, 10 field-pieces, 
 and stores and ammunition. Finally, they 
 were defeated by General Bebutoff at On- 
 guzli, and driven, utterly routed, into Kars. 
 
 A.D. 1854.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [the danubian provinces. 
 
 By the end of the year, when both armies 
 went into winter quarters, the Russian 
 operating forces amounted to some 50,000 
 
 General Strin, before Alexandropol, 20,000 
 under Selim Pasha, occupying Russian 
 Georgia, and 30,000 under General Guyon, 
 
 men ; whilst the Turks had 25,000, under | an Irish officer in the Turkish service. 
 
 CHAPTER XIT. 
 
 THE DANUBIAN PROVINCES ; POSITION OF TURKISH AND RUSSIAN TROOPS ; BATTLE OF CITATE ; 
 NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN RUSSIA, FRANCE, AND ENGLAND ; ENGLISH ULTIMATUM ; REFUSAL BY THE 
 CZAR; DECLARATION OF WAR; ENGLISH AND RUSSIAN JUSTIFICATIONS; CONVENTION BETWEEN 
 AUSTRIA, PRUSSIA, ENGLAND, AND FRANCE. 
 
 Before proceeding with an account of the 
 military operations in ' 1854, it will be as 
 well to cast a glance at the nature of the 
 barriers opposed to the progress of the 
 Russian troops. 
 
 From Galatz, the Danube flows east- 
 wards, in a single body, for about forty 
 miles, splitting up near Tultcha into three 
 arms that form a delta, of which the north- 
 ern is the Kilia, the central the Sulina, 
 and the southern the George's arm. The 
 Delta itself, and all the land both to the 
 north and south of it, is very swampy and 
 malarious, with low ranges of hills, or 
 rather elevations that tend to keep the 
 inundation water of the Danube back for 
 a longer or shorter period, according to the 
 hei<^ht the overflow attained. Between 
 Galatz and Silistria, the river flows north- 
 wards, the ground on the Turkish side 
 risinof above that on the Wallachian side 
 to an average height of 600 to 800 feet. 
 The tract thus enclosed, between this angle 
 of the Danube and the Black Sea, is called 
 the Dobrudscha, and is largely inhabited 
 by Tartars and Circassians, who have fled 
 or been expelled from Russia. Stratageti- 
 cally this district is closed by Silistria, 
 Shumla, and Varna ; so that any army en- 
 tering the Dobrudscha, would either have 
 to take or mask these three places before 
 proceeding any further. 
 
 From Silistria to Widdin, the course of 
 the river is generally eastwards, the 
 ground along the whole of the way being 
 hiarber on the Turkish than on the Walla- 
 chian or Roumanian side, except opposite 
 Widdin, where Kalafat dominates it by 
 some 600 feet. Widdin itself is a strong 
 fortress ; but its strength would be ren- 
 
 dered almost nil for any length of time by 
 the artillery of the present day if Kalafat 
 were in the enemy's hands. Kalafat is 
 the key to Widdin. Thence to Silistria, 
 the only fortress worthy the name is the 
 castle and works of Rustchuk. But as the 
 ground is invariably higher on the Turkish 
 than the Roumanian side, any point can be 
 made of considerable strength by the con- 
 struction of earthworks and batteries. 
 
 A few miles west of Widdin, the ground 
 rises on both sides of the Danube from 
 Orsova to Basiash — i.e., between Servia 
 and Hungary. 
 
 The Danube thus forms the first line 
 of defence, the left wing being protected 
 by Widdin, the right by Silistria and the 
 centre, but unequally by Shumla and Rust- 
 chuk. The centre is thus the weakest 
 portion of the first line ; but, on the other 
 ! hand, the centre is the strongest portion 
 I of the second line, the Balkan. It will 
 ! thus be seen, that it would be necessary 
 to turn one of the two flanks before an 
 advance could be possible, and the Balkans 
 forced. Thus the chief efforts would 
 have to be made at the extreme west and 
 east of the first line, which, of course, might 
 be materially supported by a rear attack 
 on the Black Sea coast at Varna or Kus- 
 tendji, if the attacking power had the 
 command of the sea. 
 
 Such was the plan of the Russians ; and 
 corresponding to it were the measures 
 taken by Omar Pasha. He at once seized Ka- 
 lafat, as we have already seen, provided Si- 
 listria and Varna with sufficient forces, and 
 made Shumla his head-quarters ; the rest 
 of the line being more or less left to take 
 care of itself ; whilst small but active bodies 
 
 109 
 
BATTLE OP CITATE.} 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1854. 
 
 1 
 
 f 
 
 of men harassed the Russians by their 
 quick movements. 
 
 With the beginning of the year, there 
 were indications that the Russians intended 
 to concentrate large forces upon Kalafat ; 
 and a large corps,under the command, of Ge- 
 nerals Aurep and Fischbach, advancing to- 
 wards Kalafat, swept round it to the village 
 of Citate, some ten miles up the river from 
 Kalafat. Citate is a long, straggling, over- 
 stretched village at some little distance 
 from the Danube, and backed by a range 
 of hills, on which the Russians erected a 
 few batteries, and constructed a series of 
 roughly-thrown-up trenches behind the 
 village, in the centre of which, where the 
 chief street is intersected by a lane, 
 stands a church, which is shown in our en- 
 graving. 
 
 Here the Russians waited for further 
 reinforcements, and until the movements 
 for the concentration upon Kalafat had 
 sufficiently advanced. The Turkish com- 
 manders at Kalafat, however, Achmed and 
 Ismail Pashas, resolved to attack the 
 Citate corps before the concentration could 
 be accomplished, fearing that otherwise, 
 whilst engaged at Kalafat, the Russians 
 might cross the Danube, and march on 
 Widdin from the west. Thus, on January 
 the 6th, the Russian Christmas-day, the 
 Turkish corps, 15,000 men strong, left Kala- 
 fat at dawn, and arrived at Citate by 
 9 A.M. The Turks attacked the village 
 at both ends and the centre, and gradually 
 drove the Russians down the street from 
 , both sides towards the church, the Russians 
 fighting desperately from house to house, 
 from corner to corner. Thus the combat 
 dragged on in an hand-to-hand fight, in 
 which no quarter was given on either side, 
 till 12 o'clock, by which time the village 
 was cleared of the Russians, who then 
 sought shelter in the trenches on the slope 
 behind the place. As soon as they had 
 abandoned the village to the Turks, the 
 artillery on the hills opened upon it, and 
 began to play upon the Turks, who now 
 advanced to the attack on the entrench- 
 ments. These were well armed, and with 
 a far greater number of guns than the 
 Turks possessed, and thus the loss of the 
 Mussulmans, who stormed the works three 
 times, began to be very sensible. In spite 
 of the utmost endeavours and reckless 
 bravery of the Turks, they could not suc- 
 ceed in driving the Russians out of their 
 works. Matters had come to a regular 
 110 
 
 dead-lock, the Turks holding the village, 
 the Russians their entrenchments, neither 
 side possessing the force to oust the other 
 from its position. .General Aurep, how- 
 ever, had at the beginning of the contest 
 sent a messenger to Koraula for reinforce- 
 ments, which, to the number of 9,000, now 
 appeared on the scene, advancing on the 
 village by the road leading from Risi- 
 pieitch, and attacking the Turks on the 
 right flank in the rear. The position was 
 for them a very critical one, being thus 
 taken between two fires ; but Ismail Pasha, 
 with admirable presence of mind, sent 
 Achmed Pasha with half a brigade of in- 
 fantry to meet the Russians, whilst 
 leaving one portion of the remainder to 
 engage the trenches, and forming front 
 with the other portion in their rear, trust- 
 ing to the reserve which he had left at 
 Moglavita and had ordered to come on 
 when the Russian reinforcements had been 
 discovered, to come up in time to turn the 
 scale. The Russians at once advanced in 
 dense columns, into which the thin ex- 
 tended line of the Turks concentrated all 
 their fire with disastrous effect. But still 
 the Russians pressed on, and were already 
 in the streets of the village, when the 
 Turks, after a volley of grape and musketry, 
 rushed to the charge and broke up the first 
 Russian column. This charge had, however, 
 almost exhausted them, when, fortunately 
 for them, the reserve from Moglavita ap- 
 peared, and falling upon the Russians on 
 the flank and rear, soon forced them into 
 a retreat, which finally became a rout. 
 The entrenchments were then attacked 
 with redoubled vigour, and carried at the 
 point of the bayonet. Attempts were 
 made, on the 7 th and 8th of January, by 
 the Russians, to regain their position, 
 but on each occasion they were repulsed, 
 and ultimately withdrew to Krajova. 
 Their loss has been variously estimated at 
 between 3,000 and 6,000, killed and 
 wounded. The Turks, on their part, lost 
 about 1,500 ; and having obtained their 
 object of preventing a flank movement on 
 Widdin, returned to Kalafat, where they con- 
 tinued the work of strengthening the place, 
 the severity of the season preventing any 
 serious operation on either side. 
 
 The news of the disasters at Citate, and 
 the reports of further losses by disease, 
 greatly incensed the czar, and orders were 
 sent to Prince Gortchakoff to prepare to 
 cross the Danube, at any price, as soon as 
 
 ^*«^^ 
 
 
 -..■.%o 
 
 vJ.V 
 
 
 .t_ 
 
 /■ .* ^ ^^\ \ ■ • <~ — - 
 
 
 -v^> 
 
 .ij^: ■', 
 
 
 '^WV 
 
 
 
 
 ./ 
 
 .-^-y-- (-<;\ Vn 
 
 v-,. 
 
 - -^' < 
 
 '^*^- cj ^?' '^ 
 
 '<^. 
 
 
 K -: 
 
4 ! t 
 
 4 
 
 t 
 1 
 
 f I 
 
 f.« - 
 
 
 I 
 I 
 
 A.D. 1854.] 
 
 \ 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [BRITISH ULTIMATUM. 
 
 the weather would allow. Reinforcements 
 were sent, and on the 13th of February they 
 recommenced operations by an attack upon 
 Giurgevo, in such numbers that, after a few 
 days' resistance, the Turks were obliged to 
 abandon the place and cross over to Rust- 
 chuk, upon which the Russians then di- 
 rected an incessant cannonade. Nothing 
 else was, however, done by either side, with 
 the exception of isolated skirmishes, until, 
 on the 5th of March, Prince Grortchakoff 
 was ordered to cross the Danube. An at- 
 tempt to do this was made on the 11th of 
 March at Kalafat ; but the Turks made a 
 sally in sucb force, that after a fierce and 
 protracted series of combats, the Russians 
 retired. On the same day, Greneral Luders 
 succeeded in crossing the Danube at Gralatz 
 with sixty-four guns, twenty-four battalions 
 of infantry, eight squadrons of cavalry, and 
 six sotnias of Cossacks. The news of his 
 successful passage reached Prince Grortcha- 
 koff on the 15th of March, after he had en- 
 deavoured in vain to force a passage at 
 Rustchuk and Oltenitza. He at once 
 decided to hasten to the support of Greneral 
 Luders ; and about a week later also crossed 
 the Danube at Tultcha, with fourteen bat- 
 talions of infantry, forty-four guns, six- 
 teen squadrons of cavalry, and eight sotnias 
 of Cossacks. These operations were not 
 impeded by Omar Pasha, because he knew 
 very well that the forces at the disposal of 
 the Russian commanders were large enough 
 to ensure their passage of the Danube some- 
 where, and that by allowing them to enter 
 the Dobrudscha he had succeeded in luring 
 them into a trap, out of which they would 
 find it very difficult to escape for the rea- 
 sons we have already mentioned. They 
 were locked up in a poor unhealthy country, 
 out of which they could not extricate them- 
 selves before taking or masking Silistria, 
 Rustchuk, and Shumla. This the Rus- 
 sians proceeded to do after the arrival of 
 Prince Paskievitch, who ordered General 
 Luders to take up a position between 
 Shumla and Varna, whilst the troops were 
 withdrawn from Western Wallachia, and, 
 with all the others available, were poured 
 into the Dobrudscha, where one after the 
 other of the river fortresses, from Hirsova 
 to Tultcha, fell into their hands. 
 
 Such was the position of affairs on the 
 Danube when war was declared by France 
 and England against Russia. The diplo- 
 matic year had ended, as will be remem- 
 bered, with the despatch of Lord Claren- 
 
 don's note relative to the massacre at 
 Sinope, whilst the French and English 
 fleets were at last oidered to enter the 
 Black Sea. 
 
 This was accomplished on January 
 4th, the Retribution being sent to Se- 
 bastopol to demand the release of some 
 British subjects — engineers — who had been 
 captured at Sinope. This, and the receipt 
 of Lord Clarendon's despatch, highly en- 
 raged the czar, who at once directed his 
 ambassadors at London and Paris to demand 
 explanations from the respective govern- 
 ments, and an assurance of strict neutrality. 
 In case these demands were not complied 
 with, they were at once to demand their 
 passports. At the same time Count Orloff 
 was despatched to Vienna and Berlin, to 
 make sure at least of the neutrality of 
 Austria and Prussia. In the latter the czar 
 was successful ; but in his demands for the 
 neutrality of France and England he met a 
 flat refusal; and in consequence Baron 
 Hrunow left London, and M. Kisseleff 
 Paris, on the 6th and 7th of November. 
 As soon as the result was known at St. 
 Petersburg, the czar at once sent the 
 English ambassador. Sir Gr. H. Seymour, 
 his passports, intimating to him that the 
 sooner he went the better, and that he would 
 excuse him from taking leave. The French 
 ambassador, on the other hand, was treated 
 with more consideration. This action was 
 met by an ultimatum of the allies, to the 
 effect that the czar was required to with- 
 draw his armies from the principalities 
 before the end of April ; and that he should 
 signify his acceptance of these terms within 
 six days after the receipt of the demand. 
 
 This ultimatum was taken to St. Peters- 
 burg by Captain Blackwood, one of the 
 Queen's messengers, via Berlin and Vienna, 
 the courts of which were informed of the 
 contents of the document. The way in 
 which it was received at the Russian capital 
 was well described in one of the papers laid 
 before the House by Consul Michell, who 
 wrote as follows to Lord Clarendon, under 
 date March 19, 1854:— 
 
 " I beg to acknowledge the receipt of the 
 despatch which your lordship did me the 
 honour to address to me on the 27th of 
 February ultimo. This despatch, together 
 with its enclosure, from your lordship to 
 Count Nesselrode, was delivered to me by 
 the Queen's messenger. Captain Blackwood, 
 at a few minutes after eleven o'clock, on 
 the morning of the 13th inst., and I lost 
 
 III 
 
 111 
 
 P- 
 
 {i 
 
PRESENTATION OF ULTIMATU^f.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1854. 
 
 not a moment in endeavouring to give 
 effect to your lordship's instructions. 
 
 « Within an hour after the arrival of the 
 messenger, the despatch forwarded to me 
 by his excellency Lord Cowley (enclosing 
 a communication from the French govern- 
 ment to their consul here), was placed by 
 me in the hands of M. de Castillon ; and 
 before the expiration of another hour, M. de 
 Castillon and myself had presented our- 
 selves at the Imperial Ministry for Foreign 
 Affairs, and solicited the honour of an inter- 
 view with the chancellor of the empire, for 
 the purpose of simultaneously presenting 
 the notes of the English and French cabi- 
 nets. Count Nesselrode, through the direc- 
 tor of his chancellerie, expressed his inabil- 
 ity to see us at that moment, but appointed 
 twelve o'clock on the following day to 
 receive the communications of which we 
 were respectively the bearers. When I 
 parted from M. de Castillon, about two 
 o'clock, it was arranged that I should call 
 for him the following morning at half-past 
 eleven, in order that we might proceed 
 together to the chancellor. 
 
 "By two o'clock on the 13th I had placed 
 in the hands of his excellency Count 
 Valentin Esterhazy, the Austrian minister 
 at this court, the packet of despatches 
 brought to me by Captain Blackwood from 
 his excellency the Earl of Westmoreland, at 
 Vienna; and, by a little after two, I had 
 commimicated to his excellency General 
 Eochow, the Prussian minister here, the 
 purport of Lord Bloomfield's despatch, 
 dated Berlin, 2nd March instant— viz., 
 'that no packet had been received by his 
 lordship from the Minister for Foreign 
 Affairs for transmission to St. Petersburg ; 
 but that despatches from the Prussian 
 government would be forwarded to the 
 Prussian representative by their own sepa- 
 rate courier.' 
 
 "A few minutes before the appointed hour 
 (twelve o'clock on Tuesday, the 14th March 
 instant), M. de Castillon and I arrived at 
 the Imperial Ministry for Foreign Affairs, 
 and, after waiting a few minutes, it was 
 intimated to me by the director of the 
 chancellerie, ' that Count Nesselrode would 
 receive the English consul alone,' and I 
 was ushered into his room. 
 
 " Count Nesselrode received me with his 
 usual courtesy. I handed to his excellency 
 vour lordship's letter, and stated, from a 
 memorandum which I had drawn up, the 
 precise terms of your lordship's instructions 
 112 
 
 with reference to the return to England of 
 the Queen's messenger. 
 
 " Count Nesselrode requested permission 
 to peruse this memorandum, and I handed 
 it to him. He then informed me, ' that the 
 emperor was not at that moment in St. 
 Petersburg; that on his majesty's return — 
 which would probably be on Friday, the 5th 
 (17th) inst. — your lordship's communica- 
 tions should be laid before his majesty, 
 and his majesty's commands taken thereon, 
 when a reply to your lordship's letter 
 should be forwarded to me.' 
 
 " The chancellor then remarked upon the 
 length of time that had elapsed since the 
 date of your lordship's despatch to me, 
 viz., Feb. 27th, and asked me what had de- 
 tained the messenger so long on the road ? 
 " I explained that the Queen's messenger 
 had not come direct from London to St. 
 Petersburg, but had been the bearer of 
 despatches for the British ministers at 
 Paris, Berlin, and Vienna, which latter 
 capital Captain Blackwood left only on the 
 7th inst., and had arrived at St. Petersburg 
 on the morning of the 13th, thus making a 
 rapid journey, considering the very bad 
 state of the roads. 
 
 "On quitting Count Nesselrode, I was 
 about to take with me the memorandum I 
 had, at his desire, handed to his excellency 
 for his perusal, when he requested, ' that I 
 might be kind enough to leave it with him.' 
 I said that I had merely transcribed your 
 lordship's instructions for my own guidance, 
 and to prevent any misapprehension of your 
 lordship's intentions with reference to the 
 time fixed for the return of the Queen's 
 messenger to England ; that I had no in- 
 structions to make any written communi- 
 cation in presenting your lordship's note; 
 but since his excellency desired to retain 
 this paper (which was only a transcript of 
 your lordship's instructions to me relative 
 to the precise moment for despatching the 
 messenger to England), I felt that I should 
 not be acting otherwise than in accordance 
 with your lordship's wishes by rendering 
 any misunderstanding on this head impos- 
 sible ; and accordingly I allowed the chan- 
 cellor to retain this memorandum, a copy of 
 which I have the honour to send herewith. 
 " The emperor returned to St. Petersburg 
 early on the morning of the 5th (17th) 
 inst. from Finland, whither he had pro- 
 ceeded on Sunday evening (the 12th), in 
 company with three of his sons, the Grrand- 
 dukes Alexander, Nicholas, aud Michael, to 
 
 A.D. 1854.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [England declares war. 
 
 inspect the fortifications at Wyborg, Hel- 
 singfors, and Sweaborg; the Grrand-duke 
 Constantine having gone to Finland some 
 days previously. - ■ 
 
 " At ten o'clock last night, I received a 
 note from the chancellor of the empire, in- 
 viting me to call upon him at one o'clock 
 P.M. this day. I was punctual in my at- 
 tendance ; and on sending up my name to 
 the chancellor, I was informed that the 
 French consul was with his excellency. 
 
 " After waiting a short time, I was told 
 Count Nesselrode would receive me. On 
 entering the room, his excellency's greeting 
 was of the most friendly description. He 
 said, ' I have taken his majesty's commands 
 with reference to Lord Clarendon's note, 
 and the emperor does not think it becoming 
 to make any reply to it.' I replied, ' M. le 
 Comte, in a matter of such importance, I 
 am sure I shall be excused for desiring to 
 convey to my government the exact words 
 employed by your excellency.' The count 
 at first used the words, 'His majesty does 
 not think it becoming in him to give any 
 reply to Lord Clarendon's letter (ne le croit 
 pas convenable de donner aucune reponse a 
 la lettre de Lord Clarendon).' 
 
 " Upon my repeating this phrase after 
 Count Nesselrode, his excellency said, 
 * L'Empereur ne juge pas convenable,' &c. ; 
 and I again repeated after him the entire 
 sentence. After I had done so, the count 
 said, ' Yes, that is the answer I wish you to 
 convey to your government ; — L'Empereur 
 ne juge pas convenable de donner aucune 
 reponse a la lettre de Lord Clarendon.' 
 
 "Having delivered to me this ofi&cial 
 message. Count Nesselrode begged me to be 
 seated, and explained to me that he had 
 only waited the return of the emperor to 
 submit your lordship's letter to his majesty. 
 His excellency then asked me, when I 
 proposed to ' despatch the Queen's messen- 
 ger?' I told him, 'This afternoon, pro- 
 vided his passport, &c., could be got ready 
 in time.' Count Nesselrode informed me 
 he had already sent a courier's pass for 
 Captain Blackwood to the Baron de Plesson, 
 and then asked me, whether ' to-day' was 
 not 'the sixth day?. I said, 'From his 
 arrival at St. Petersburg it is ; but had I 
 been left without any reply, or without 
 such an intimation as I have to-day re- 
 ceived from your excellency, I should not 
 have despatched the messenger until to- 
 morrow, the 20th inst., at twelve o'clock, 
 when six entire days would have elapsed 
 
 VOL. II. Q 
 
 since I placed Lord Clarendon's despatch 
 in your excellency's hands.' 
 
 " In the course of our subsequent conver- 
 sation, I asked Count Nesselrode what the 
 intentions of his government were with 
 reference to the consular arrangements be- 
 tween the two countries, in the event of a 
 declaration of war ? His excellency replied, 
 ' That will entirely depend upon the course 
 her Britannic majesty's government may 
 adopt ; we shall not declare war.' " 
 
 On the receipt of this despatch from 
 Consul Michell, war was of course deter- 
 mined on at London and Paris, and the 
 declaration publicly made in the London 
 Gazette on the 28th of March, 1854. To 
 this declaration the czar replied by the 
 following manifesto on the 11th of April, 
 1854:— 
 
 " Since the commencement of our differ- 
 ence with the Turkish government, we have 
 solemnly announced to our faithful subjects 
 that a sentiment of justice had alone in- 
 duced us to re-establish the violated rights of 
 the orthodox Christians, subjects of the 
 Ottoman Porte. 
 
 " We have not sought, nor do we seek, to 
 make conquests, nor to exercise in Turkey 
 any supremacy whatever that might be 
 likely to exceed that influence which belongs 
 to Russia by virtue of existing treaties. 
 
 " At that period we already encountered 
 distrust; then soon a covert hostility on 
 the part of the governments of France and 
 England, who endeavoured to lead the Porte 
 astray by misrepresenting our intention. 
 Lastly, at this moment, England and France 
 throw off the mask, regard our difference 
 with Turkey as a mere secondary question, 
 and no longer dissemble that their joint 
 object is to weaken Russia, to tear from her 
 a part of her possessions, and to bring down 
 our country from the powerful position to 
 which the hand of the Supreme Being has 
 exalted it. 
 
 " Is it for orthodox Russia to fear such 
 threats ? Ready to confound the audacity 
 of the enemy, shall she swerve from the 
 sacred purpose that has been assigned to her 
 by Divine Providence ? No ! Russia has not 
 forgotten Grod I It is not for worldly 
 interests that she has taken up arms. She 
 combats for the Christian faith, for the 
 defence of her co-religionists oppressed by 
 implacable enemies. 
 
 " Let all Christendom know, then, that 
 the thought of the sovereign of Russia is 
 also the thought that animates and inspires 
 
 113 
 
RUSSIAN MANIFESTO.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1854. 
 
 all the great family of the Russian people 
 — this orthodox people, faithful to God, and 
 to His only Son, Jesus Christ, our Re- 
 deemer 
 
 " It IS for the faith and for Christendom 
 
 that we combat ! 
 
 " ' God with us — who against us ? ' 
 
 " Nicholas." 
 
 This manifesto had been preceded, on 
 the 30th of March, by a declaration of the 
 czar's, which presents his view of the case in 
 so clear a light, that it is worthy of great 
 attention, especially as those views still 
 generally prevail throughout the Russian 
 empire, heightened, if anything, by the 
 desire of revenge for the disasters to Rus- 
 sia that ultimately ensued. 
 
 He said — "France and Great Britain 
 have at last openly left the system of dis- 
 guised hostility which they had adopted 
 towards Russia, especially by the entrance 
 of their fleets into the Black Sea. 
 
 "The result of the explanations which 
 they have given of that measure was of a 
 nature to lead to a rupture of reciprocal 
 relations between them and the imperial 
 cabinet. 
 
 " This last fact was shortly followed by a 
 communication, in which the two cabinets, 
 through their respective consuls, invited 
 the imperial government to evacuate the 
 Danubian principalities within a given 
 term, which England fixed at the 30th 
 April, and France, still more peremptorily, 
 at the 15th of the same month. 
 
 " With what right did the two powers 
 thus pretend to exact everything from one 
 of the two belligerent parties, without 
 demanding anything from the other ? This 
 is what they have not thought fit to explain 
 to the imperial cabinet. To evacuate the 
 principalities without even the shadow of 
 a fulfilment, by the Ottoman government, 
 of the conditions to which the emperor 
 made the cessation of that temporary occu- 
 pation subordinate — to evacuate them in 
 the brunt of war, which the latter was the 
 first to declare, whilst it is actively carrying 
 on offensive operations, when its own 
 troops occupy a fortified point of Rus- 
 sian territory — was already a condition in- 
 admissible in substance. The two powers 
 wished that, in form, it should become 
 still more unacceptable. They fixed a 
 term of six days for the adhesion of the 
 imperial cabinet; at the expiration of 
 which, a refusal, or the absence of any reply 
 114 
 
 whatever, was to be by them regarded as 
 equivalent to a declaration of war. 
 
 " To a summons so partial in its tenour, 
 as practically inexcusable as it was insult- 
 ing in its terms, silence was the only reply 
 compatible with the dignity of the em- 
 peror. 
 
 " Consequently, the two goveraments havo 
 just publicly made known, that Russia, by 
 her refusal to accede to their demand, has 
 constituted herself towards them in a state 
 of war, the entire responsibility of which 
 will rest upon her. 
 
 " In the presence of such declarations, it 
 only remains for the emperor to accept the 
 situation which has been made him, re- 
 serving to himself to employ all the 
 means which Providence has put into his 
 hands, to defend, with energy and constancy, 
 the honour, independence, and safety of his 
 empire. 
 
 "The occupation of the principalities, 
 which is taken now, apres coup, as a pre- 
 text for this war, did not prevent the open- 
 ing of negotiations. It would not have 
 any more prevented their continuation, or 
 rather these negotiations would have led to 
 something long since, if the powers had 
 not suddenly, without any good reason, 
 completely changed the bases which they 
 themselves had laid down in the first noto 
 concerted at Vienna. The objections made 
 by the Porte to certain passages of that 
 note were not sufficient, either, to nullify 
 the rest. The essential substance remained 
 intact, and the imperial government had 
 the right to regard all the points which 
 the Ottoman Porte had not contested as 
 acquired for any ulterior proposition. 
 Such was not done. An attempt was made 
 to impose entirely new conditions upon 
 us ; what had hitherto been admitted was 
 declared inadmissible; the complaints of 
 Russia were ignored, as also any claim on 
 its part to an equitable separation, and all 
 its counter-propositions rejected without 
 discussion. At the same time, measures 
 contrary to its rights as a belligerent 
 power coincident in the Black Sea with the 
 conditions transmitted from Vienna, were 
 adopted, as if to impress a character of 
 compulsion to any adhesion on its part. 
 Finally, all honourable retreat was cleverly 
 cut off from it by an imperious summons, 
 such as Russia never before received within 
 the whole period of its history, even at a 
 time when a conqueror, at the head of 
 armed Europe, invaded its territory. 
 
 A.D. 1854.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [RUSSIAN MANIFESTO. 
 
 " Not being able to close their eyes upon 
 the insufficiency of the motives for a dis- 
 astrous war, and upon the want of propor- 
 tion which exists between its effects and 
 its cause, the two powers are obliged to 
 exaggerate its object by bringing the most 
 vague accusations against Russia. 
 
 " They allege that their honour and ma- 
 terial interests have been' hurt — projects on 
 our side of aggrandisement and conquest in 
 Turkey — the independence of the Porte, and 
 even that of other states ; finally, the 
 balance of power in Europe, which, accord- 
 ing to them, is threatened by our excessive 
 preponderance. 
 
 " All these general imputations rest upon 
 no foundation whatever. 
 
 " We have never attacked the honour of 
 the two courts. If that honour has been 
 placed in jeopardy, it has been done by 
 themselves. From the very onset they have 
 adopted a system of iDtimidatioii,'which natu- 
 rally would fail. They made it a point of 
 amour propre to oblige Russia to bend to 
 them ; and because Russia would not con- 
 sent to her own humiliation, they say that 
 they are hurt in their moral dignity. 
 
 " Materially, their interests have not been 
 hurt by us either. They can only be so by 
 the war they wish to wage gratuitously 
 against us. On the contrary, it is they 
 who hurt our interests much more seriously 
 by attacking us in the north and in the 
 south, in our ports, and on different points 
 of our coasts. 
 
 " The policy of aggrandisement and con- 
 quest, which they attribute to Russia, has 
 been refuted by all her acts since 1815. 
 Of her neighbours in Germany and in the 
 north, is there one which, during the last 
 forty years, have had to complain of an 
 attack, or even of an attempt of an attack, 
 upon the integrity of his possession ? 
 
 " As regards Turkey, although we have 
 been at war with her, the peace of Adri- 
 anople exists to attest the moderate use we 
 have made of our success ; and since then, 
 at two intervals, the Ottoman empire has 
 been saved by us from imminent ruin. 
 
 "The desire of possessing Constanti- 
 nople, if that empire should fall — an inten- 
 tion of forming a permanent establish- 
 ment there — have been too publicly, too 
 solemnly disavowed, for any doubts to be 
 entertained on that subject that do not 
 originate in distrust which nothing can 
 cure. 
 
 Events will shortly show whether the 
 
 (( 
 
 powers or Russia have struck the most fatal 
 blow, not only against the independence, 
 but against the very existence of Turkey. 
 As a price for the interested services given 
 to her, she has already renounced by treaty 
 the distinguishing privilege of every inde- 
 pendent power — that of making peace, or 
 declaring war, at its own free will, at the 
 moment, and on the conditions it may 
 itself deem most advisable. She will be 
 forced to subscribe to an engagement which 
 will give equality of civil and religious rights 
 to all her subjects. Russia will sincerely 
 applaud so important a guarantee, obtained 
 in favour of all the Christians in Turkey, 
 if it succeed in assuring it to them in a 
 really efficacious manner. But in presence 
 of a resolution which would so profoundly 
 alter all the constituent bases of the Otto- 
 man government, Russia has the right to 
 be surprised that an engagement by which 
 the sultan confined himself to confirm re- 
 ligious privileges already existing, and 
 emanating from our treaties with him, 
 should have been declared an attempt 
 against his sovereignty and his indepen- 
 dence. 
 
 " It is for Europe — not for the two powers 
 — to decide if the general equilibrium 
 really runs the risks which are attributed 
 to it from the supposed excessive prepon- 
 derance of Russia. It is for it to examine 
 which weighs heaviest to-day upon the 
 freedom of action of states — Russia left to 
 herself, or a formidable alliance, tha pres- 
 sure of which alarms every neutrality, and 
 uses, by turns, caresses or threats to compel 
 them to follow in its wake. Europe will 
 also decide if, during the last year, it is 
 from Russia that have come pretensions the 
 most hostile to the rights of sovereignty and 
 to the independence of feeble states ; if in 
 Greece, in Sicily, in Naples, in Tuscany, it 
 is for or against those rights that she has 
 declared; whether in Germany, between 
 the great governments, she has sought to 
 sow discord, or to re-establish union ; 
 whether, morally in Lombardy, and mate- 
 rially in Hungary, her efforts have not been 
 consecrated to the maintenance of equi- 
 librium; and whether the blows that are 
 preparing against her, the isolation in which 
 it is hoped to place her, by handing over 
 the political world to a far different sort of 
 preponderance, will not rather be the anni- 
 hilation of that equilibrium. 
 
 "We thus see to what the vague generali- 
 ties urged against Russia are reduced. But 
 
 115 
 
 i 
 
THE FRENCH REPLY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1854. 
 
 the last especially of these grounds of accu- 
 sation suffices to understand the true 
 motive of war, for which, judged by its 
 apparert grounds, there is no reason ; and 
 it is so contrary to the moral, industrial, 
 and commercial interests of the entire 
 world, that it will really accelerate the ruin 
 of the very empire which it made the pre- 
 text to save from an imaginary peril. The 
 true motive was publicly proclaimed by the 
 English ministers, when they asserted, be- 
 fore parliament, that the moment had 
 arrived, at last, when it was necessary to 
 abate the influence of Russia. 
 
 "It is to defend that influence, not less 
 necessary to the Russian nation than it is 
 essential to the maintenance of the order 
 and the security of other states — it is to 
 sustain the independence and territorial in- 
 tegrity which are the bases of it—that the 
 emperor, obliged, in spite of himself, to 
 embark in this contest, is about to devote 
 all the means of resistance which are fur- 
 nished by the devotion and patriotism of 
 his people. He trusts that God, who has 
 so often protected Russia in the day of trial, 
 will assist him once more in this formidable 
 struggle. He sincerely laments the infinite 
 evils which are about to fall on humanity ; 
 but at the same time he feels it to be his 
 duty to protest, solemnly, against the arbi- 
 trary pretensions laid down by the two 
 powers, which throw upon him alone all 
 the responsibility of them. They are free, 
 without doubt, to adopt against Russia such 
 measures as are convenient to them ; but it 
 does not belong to them to lay the conse- 
 quences to his charge. The responsibilities 
 of the calamities of a war belong to the 
 power which declares it, not to that which 
 is bound to accept it. 
 
 "St. Petersburg, March 30, 1854." 
 Such was the czar's case as described by 
 himself. That of the allies was well put 
 by a reply of the French government, 
 which was written by the emperor himself. 
 It was as follows : — 
 
 " The Russian government has just pub- 
 lished a declaration in answer to the sum- 
 ' mons addressed to it, for the last time, by 
 France and England, and to which it has 
 not consented to subscribe. We have not 
 the intention to enter once more into an 
 examination of the arguments refuted to 
 satiety; w^e will limit ourselves to some 
 observations on the new errors which that 
 declaration is endeavouring to get ac- 
 credited. 
 
 116 
 
 " In the first place, the Russian govern- 
 ment demands by what title England and 
 France pretend to exact the evacuation of 
 the principalities of the Danube. There is 
 no one so ignorant as not to be aware how 
 much their summons is founded upon right. 
 The powers who signed the acts of Vienna 
 have themselves recognised them as such. 
 The cabinets of Paris and London acted on 
 this occasion in virtue of treaties, and their 
 conduct had the approbation of other 
 governments. 
 
 "How, says the declaration of the Russian 
 cabinet, could we evacuate the principali- 
 ties, without even the shadow of the con- 
 ditions to which the emperor had made 
 subordinate the cessation of that occupation 
 being fulfilled by the Ottoman government? 
 But these conditions which Russia required 
 were manifestly unjust, and the conference 
 of Vienna had formally confirmed on that 
 point the judgment of Europe. 
 
 " The declaration adds, that the Russian 
 armies could net evacuate the principalities 
 in the midst of a war which the Ottoman 
 government had been the first to declare. 
 The parts cannot be more strangely inter- 
 verted. The invasion of the two provinces 
 of the Turkish empire was, in the eyes of 
 the whole world, an act of war. If the 
 Porte has been recommended not to make 
 it a case of war, it was because, in spite 
 of the aggressive character of the acts of 
 Russia, it was still hoped that there would 
 be, on the part of that power, a return to 
 moderation and equity. 
 
 "Russia has no better foundation for 
 casting back, on the two maritime powers, 
 the initiative of the provocations. It is an 
 affair already judged ; and since the cabinet 
 of St. Petersburg brings to our mind, on 
 this subject, its memorandum of the 18th 
 of last February, we can, in our turn, send 
 it back to the whole of the documents, 
 which, in England and in France, have so 
 completely placed the question beyond a 
 doubt, that neither of the two governments 
 have thought it worth their while to occupy 
 themselves for one moment with this 
 memorandum, which has frequently been 
 refuted beforehand. The initiative of the 
 acts of war, as far as regards the Porte, as 
 well as the provocations in matters touching 
 the maritime powers, belongs exclusively to 
 the power which invaded the principalities 
 of the Danube ; and such is the opinion of 
 all Europe. 
 
 " The declaration of the Russian cabinet 
 
 A.D. 1854.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the FRENCH REPLY. 
 
 remarks that the occupation had not pre- 
 vented the negotiations from being opened, 
 and that they would not have stopped their 
 being followed out, if the powers had not 
 suddenly, and without valid reasons, changed 
 the bases wliich they had themselves given 
 in the first note drawn up at Vienna. The 
 powers had, in fact, laid down principles 
 which, loyally admitted, might then have 
 solved the diff'erence ; but the commentary 
 which the note in question received from 
 the Count de Nesselrode, attested that the 
 Russian cabinet did not accept them, ex- 
 cept by attaching to them a signification 
 very different from the idea of the con- 
 ference of Vienna, as was admitted by all 
 the governments represented in that con- 
 ference. It is, therefore, Russia herself 
 which changed the bases of the negotiation, 
 and compelled the great powers to seek for 
 others. The Russian government bitterly 
 complains of the demand which the cabi- 
 nets of Paris and of London addressed to 
 the commander-in-chief of its naval forces 
 at Sebastopol, in consequence of the aggres- 
 sion of Sinope. We admit that that de- 
 mand was unusual, but it was called for by 
 a state of things not less so ; and it was not 
 until after every means of conciliation, 
 which patience, moderation, and a sincere 
 desire can suggest, had been exhausted, that 
 France and Great Britain had recourse to 
 that extreme measure. It is true that the 
 Russian government attempts to lessen the 
 proportion which ' exists between the effects 
 and the cause ;' adding, ' that the two 
 powers are compelled to exaggerate the ob- 
 ject of it by putting forth the most vague 
 accusations against Russia.' In order to 
 prove the gravity of the cause, it is only 
 necessary for us to call to mind the decla- 
 rations made at Vienna in the documents of 
 the conference ; and as to the object, the 
 revelations contained in the English docu- 
 ments sufficiently prove that the accusations 
 of France and Great Britain are far from 
 being exaggerated. According to the de- 
 claration of the Russian cabinet, we have 
 less respect for the independence of the 
 Porte than it has ; and one of the proofs it 
 adduces for this is, that the Ottoman gov- 
 ernment has renounced, by treaty, the 
 power of making peace without its allies. 
 In entering into that engagement, the Porte 
 only contracts a reciprocal obligation, on 
 the footing of a perfect equality, and, more- 
 over, in strict conformity to constant and 
 general usage and the law of nations, when 
 
 several unite together to pursue by arms a 
 common object. 
 
 " The Porte (adds the Russian cabinet) 
 is about to be forced to subscribe to an 
 engagement which would extend to all its 
 subjects — equality of civil and political 
 rights. That assertion, far from being 
 well founded, gives us an occasion of show- 
 ing, in a striking manner, what is the 
 difference of acting between Russia and the 
 western powers in their relations with the 
 Ottoman empire. Russia has insisted on 
 stipulating with the Porte, either in a 
 treaty or by means of a note, for the main- 
 tenance of the liberties of the sultan's 
 subjects. The other powers have not, for a 
 single moment, thought of requiring from 
 the Porte any such engagement, either in 
 the form of a treaty or note. They have 
 not, it is true, neglected any occasion to 
 suggest to the Porte such measures as ap- 
 peared to them best calculated to ameliorate 
 the condition of the Christians in the 
 Turkish empire ; but they never could 
 have thought of restricting the sovereignty 
 of the sultan, when, on the contrary, they 
 were taking up arms to defend it against 
 the pretensions which were menacing it. 
 'It is for Europe, and not for the two 
 powers (continues the Russian government), 
 to decide if the balance of power in Europe 
 really runs any of the dangers which, it is 
 pretended, arise from the excessive pre- 
 ponderance of Russia.' On that point the 
 wish of the Russian cabinet is already 
 realised. It is the great powers of Europe, 
 and not France and England alone, who 
 have signed the acts of Vienna ; and these 
 acts declare loudly that the position taken 
 by Russia on the Danube, places the general 
 equilibrium in danger. According to the 
 cabinet of St. Petersburg, it is, on the con- 
 trary, France and England who are exercis- 
 ing, at present, on Europe a pressure of a 
 nature to disquiet all the neutral powers. 
 Every one, however, knows that, far from 
 manifesting any disquietude, the neutral 
 powers, on the contrary, applaud the atti- 
 tude assumed by the two maritime powers, 
 and that, at the present moment, from every 
 part of the world, they send to thank the 
 two powers for the recent declaration which 
 has just confirmed the ensemble of the 
 principles under which they had in vain 
 endeavoured hitherto to shelter their liberty 
 in time of war. Finally, the Russian 
 government thinks that the isolation, into 
 which it declares it is about to be thrown, 
 
 117 
 
 ?: H 
 
 }i 
 
 
AUSTRIA AND PRUSSIA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1854. 
 
 will only deliver the world up to a more 
 dangerous preponderance than its own could 
 possibly be. That government forgets that 
 not one of the great powers aims like it at 
 exclusive advantages, or wants to act by 
 itself alone. Far from permitting a pre- 
 ponderance of any kind to be established, a 
 common action exercised by the four powers 
 is, for all the other states, a pledge of secu- 
 rity and impartiality. The influences which 
 co-operate for the object in view constitute 
 a just counterpoise of one to the other, and 
 guarantee, in advance to Europe, that the 
 general interest, which has drawn the four 
 powers together, will not cease a single 
 moment to guide their resolutions, and will 
 be alone listened to to the end. The ob- 
 servations which precede will enable every 
 one to judge of the new document pub- 
 lished by the Russian government." 
 
 Whilst such were the relations between 
 the Russian emperor and the governments of 
 the two allies, no precautions were omitted 
 to obtain the declared neutrality of Austria 
 and Prussia. This was accomplished by a 
 protocol, which was signed on the 9th of 
 April by the respective plenipotentia- 
 ries — MM. Buol-Schauenstein, Bourqueney, 
 Westmoreland, and Arnim. Herein they 
 " declared that their governments remain 
 united in the double object of maintaining 
 the territorial integrity of the Ottoman 
 empire, of which the fact of the evacuation 
 of the Danubian principalities is, and will, 
 remain one of the essential conditions ; and 
 of consolidating in an interest so much in 
 conformity with the sentiments of the 
 saltan, and by every means compatible 
 with his independence and sovereignty, the 
 civil and religious rights of the Christian 
 subjects of the Porte. 
 
 "The territorial integrity of the Ottoman 
 empire is, and remains, the sine qua non 
 condition of every transaction, having for 
 its object the re-establishment of peace 
 between the two belligerent powers; and 
 the governments above represented engage 
 to endeavour in common to discover the 
 guarantees most likely to attach the exist- 
 ence of that empire to the general equili- 
 brium of Europe; as they also declare 
 themselves ready to deliberate and to come 
 to an understanding as to the employment 
 of the means calculated to accomplish the 
 object of their agreement. 
 
 " Whatever event may arise in consequence 
 of this agreement, founded solely upon the 
 general interests of Europe, and of which 
 118 
 
 the object can only be obtained by the 
 return of a firm and lasting peace, the 
 governments represented above, reciprocally 
 engage not to enter into any definite ar- 
 rangement with the imperial court of 
 Russia, or with any other power, which 
 would be at variance with the principles 
 above enunciated, without previously deli- 
 berating thereon in common." 
 
 This was very satisfactory as far as it 
 went ; but suspicions arose that Prussia 
 and Austria were not acting quite above- 
 board in the matter. Both countries were 
 afraid that a decisive victory of the allies 
 or the Russians would give the conqueror 
 such predominance as might possibly be 
 injuriously exercised as regards themselves. 
 Austria's position was very shakey ; the 
 Hungarians were highly discontented ; so 
 were the Italians; whilst Prussia was 
 alarmed lest, if the allies won. Napoleon 
 might be inclined to follow out his uncle's 
 policy towards Germany. Therefore, as 
 soon as they had signed their declaration of 
 neutrality, they at once entered upon an 
 alliance, offensive and defensive, between 
 themselves, which was concluded on April 
 20th, 1854, and of which the following are 
 the most important articles : — 
 
 "Art I. — His imperial apostolic majesty, 
 and his majesty the King of Prussia, 
 guarantee to each other reciprocally the 
 possession of their Grerman and non- 
 German possessions, so that an attack 
 made on the territory of the one, from 
 whatever quarter, will be regarded by the 
 other as an act of hostility against his own 
 territory. 
 
 " Art. II. — In the same manner, the high 
 contracting parties hold themselves en- 
 gaged to defend the rights and interests 
 of Germany against all and every injury, 
 and consider themselves bound accordingly 
 for the mutual repulse of every attack on 
 any part whatsoever of their territories; 
 likewise, also, in the case where one of the 
 two may find himself, in understanding with 
 the other, obliged to advance actively for the 
 defence of German interests. The agree- 
 ment relating to the latter-named event- 
 uality, as likewise the extent of the 
 assistance then to be given, will form a 
 special as also integral part of the present 
 convention. 
 
 "Art. III. — In order also to give due 
 security and force to the conditions of the 
 offensive and defensive alliance now con- 
 cluded, the two great German powers bind 
 
 A.D. 1854.] 
 
 RUSSfAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the VIENNA PROTOCOL. 
 
 ' m 
 
 themselves, in case of need, to hold in per- 
 fect readiness for war a part of their forces, 
 at periods to be determined between them, 
 and in positions to be fixed. With respect 
 to the time, the extent, and the nature of 
 the placing of those troops, a special stipu- 
 lation will likewise be determined. 
 
 ^'Additional Art. — Their majesties have 
 not been able to divest themselves of the 
 consideration, that the indefinite continu- 
 ance of the occupation of the territories on 
 the Lower Danube, under the sovereignty 
 of the Ottoman Porte, by imperial Russian 
 troops, would endanger the political, moral, 
 and material interests of the whole German 
 confederation, as also of their own states, 
 and the more so in proportion as Russia 
 extends her warlike operations on Turkish 
 territory." 
 
 The conclusion of this treaty naturally 
 led to inquiries on the part of the allies, 
 and the assembling of a conference at 
 Vienna on the 23rd of May, 1854, the re- 
 sult of which was a protocol confirming both 
 the first protocol and the subsequent treaty 
 between Austria and Prussia. 
 
 Thus all attempts to preserve the peace 
 of Europe had utterly failed. No one 
 wanted war. The Quakers themselves were 
 not more opposed to war than the rest of 
 Europe. The czar himself did not desire 
 war. He would have avoided it if he could 
 have done so. Why, then, was it declared ? 
 War is only waged for the defence of ma- 
 
 terial interests, or for the extension thereof. 
 ^^ ho was, therefore, the mysterious, in- 
 visible assailant ? 
 
 The reply is— the Greek church. Or the 
 reply may also be— the Roman Catholic 
 church. These two churches, represented 
 by the czar and the emperor of the French, 
 set Europe in a blaze because they con- 
 sidered their interests endangered. The 
 temporal power of the papacy was taken as 
 a model by the czar, and its principles, as 
 lar as the East was concerned, bv the em- 
 peror Napoleon. This is the great factor 
 m the Eastern question. As long as that 
 remains unchanged, there can be no endur- 
 ing peace in the East, the Greek orthodox 
 church forming so concentrated a phalanx, 
 that the temptation to convert it into a 
 political and temporal power n.ust always 
 be irresistible to the ruler of a nation like 
 Russia. 
 
 Hence the attempts that have been made, 
 and ever will be made, to restrain the ad- 
 vance of Russia, who, with her millions 
 and millions of souls, would otherwise be 
 as actual a danger to European liberty as 
 she menaces to be. 
 
 Europe was thus ranged into hostile and 
 neutral camps— the latter anxiously watch- 
 ing the course of events, prepared to 
 benefit by the contest if possible ; but, at 
 any rate, to resist any injury that might be 
 done to themselves by either of the victori- 
 ous parties. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE WAR ON THE DANUBE; THE SIEGE OF SILTSTRIA ; RETREAT OF THE RUSSIA vs Arr>n^o ^„ 
 DANUBE; CONVENTION BETWEEN AUSTRIA AND TURKEY; EVACUATION BY THF^n^.x^vl ^"^ 
 OCCUPATION BY THE AUSTRIANS, OF THE PRINCIPALITIES; BOMBARDMENT OF ODESSA «T ^S 
 ALLIED FLEET; BLOCKADE OF THE DANUBE. ^^Anumt^^i OF ODESSA BY THE 
 
 The war now threatening to take un- 
 foreseen dimensions, the czar pressed all his 
 preparations forward with the greatest 
 activity, and bade his generals spare neither 
 man nor money to push forward over the 
 Balkan. Had this been done, as the czar 
 confidently expected it would, the whole 
 aspect of the war would have been changed. 
 The error had, however, already been com- 
 mitted of entering the Dobrudscha, and 
 
 nothing now remained to be done but to 
 proceed to the reduction of the fortresses 
 that barred the way. Had the czar 
 possessed sufficient troops to threaten a 
 second point on the Danube as effectually 
 as Prince Paskievitch and Prince Gortcha- 
 koff threatened the Dobrudscha, there would 
 have been no harm done. But in spite of 
 the number of men over whom the czar 
 ruled, the advantage was out-balanced bv 
 
 119 ^ 
 
 ■•n 
 
 \i: 
 
 hI,| 
 
 :i 
 
SIEGE OF SILISTRIA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Fa.d. 1854. 
 
 A.D. 1854.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [relief of SILISTRIA. 
 
 the difficulties of transport, the bad state 
 of the commissariat, and the general cor- 
 ruption prevailing in the administration. 
 Stores were found empty that figured as 
 full on paper; ammunition was wanting; 
 much of that existing, especially that pro- 
 ceeding from foreign countries, was found 
 inferior; and, in fact, all supplies had 
 more ; or less deteriorated. Indeed, the 
 dark blots that sullied the British adminis- 
 tration during the war were fully as dark 
 in Russia. The Russian system of cen- 
 tralisation was wholly inadequate to re- 
 spond to the requirements of so vast an 
 
 empire. 
 
 Under these circumstances the Russian 
 commanders pushed forward their prepara- 
 tions for the siege of Silistria, and on the 
 14th of April fire was opened upon the 
 town from the batteries established on the 
 other side of the Danube, and the full in- 
 vestment proceeded with. 
 
 The defences of Silistria consisted of the 
 fortifications of the town itself— five bas- 
 tions river-wards, and seven land-wards, 
 with a number of detached forts and earth- 
 works thrown up since the outbreak of the 
 war. Of the detached forts, the chief was 
 Fort Abdul-Medjid, situated on a hill 
 behind the town, and supported by their 
 minor forts, also built on eminences, but 
 commanded by Fort Abdul-Medjid. The 
 western approach to the town was barred by 
 Forts Tchair and Diman, and on the east 
 by Fort Dairmem, all three in the plain. 
 Fort Abdul-Medjid was, in addition, still 
 further protected by the two powerful 
 earthworks — Illanli and Arab Tabia. The 
 difficulties presented by these earthworks 
 go far towards proving the theory, that 
 mud and watling are far more efficacious 
 defences than solid masonry. 
 
 These walls were now approached by the 
 Russian trenches and batteries constructed 
 by General Schilders, who had already won 
 his laurels before Silistria twenty-five years 
 before, and who seemed determined to 
 burrow under all the fortifications and un- 
 dermine them. On the 11th of May, the 
 Russian preparations were so far completed 
 as to permit of an effectual bombardment 
 of the town. Shot and shell were poured 
 into it without interruption for four hours, 
 and set it on fire in numerous places. The 
 batteries, however, sufi'ered very little. 
 This first bombardment was intended rather 
 as a " moral persuasion ;" but it lost much 
 of its efi'ect from the fact that the in- 
 120 
 
 habitants had already taken precautions to 
 provide themselves with subterranean re- 
 fuges, so that neither the loss of life or 
 alarm was very great. The cannonade 
 continued, with longer or shorter intervals 
 of rest, till the 15th of May, when the 
 garrison made a sortie and attacked a body of 
 reinforcements ; but without any important 
 result. The same occurred on the 16th, 
 when the cannonade was furiously carried 
 on from 5 A.M. till dusk, the impression in 
 the town being that the Russians were pre- 
 paring for an assault. This impression was 
 strengthened by the Russians sending in an 
 officer under a "flag of truce, to offer to the 
 commander, Musa Pasha, terms of capitu- 
 lation. He was strongly advised by the 
 Russian envoy to submit, "because the 
 czar had commanded Prince Paskievitch to 
 take the place, and that of course it must 
 be taken." To this Musa Pasha laconically 
 replied, that " the sultan had commanded 
 him to keep this place, and that of course 
 it must be kept." An attempt was then 
 made to bribe the pasha, but without suc- 
 cess; and for the next four days such an 
 incessant hail of shot and shell was poured 
 into the town, forts, and earthworks, that 
 the garrison began to lose heart — especially 
 as there seemed to be no signs of any 
 attempt on the part of the allies, or of 
 Omar Pasha, to raise the siege. But they 
 were greatly encouraged by Captain Butler 
 and Lieutenant Nasmyth, who had volun- 
 teered their services at the outset, and to 
 whose energy, cheerfulness, and valour, the 
 successful defence of the place was, in a 
 great measure, due. On the other hand, 
 the Russian system of advance in dense 
 columns contributed in a very large degree 
 towards the failure of the repeated attempts 
 to force the Turkish outworks. Still, in 
 spite of all these advantages, the garrison 
 were hardly pressed; their numbers had 
 already fallen from 12,000 to 10,000, and 
 reinforcements at least were anxiously 
 looked for. But the fact is that the allies 
 had not yet definitely formed their plans. 
 They had landed at Gallipoli, but the 
 future seat of war was not yet determined 
 upon. They were waiting to see on what 
 portion of the line, extending from the 
 Hungarian frontier to the Caspian, the czar 
 intended to concentrate his chief attack; 
 whilst the czar himself was also waiting to 
 see what steps the allies were going to take. 
 For this reason Omar Pasha was prevented 
 from marching to the relief of Silistria. 
 
 This is the explanation of the inactivity of 
 the allies, that gave such umbrage to the 
 Turks, and caused so many malevolent 
 criticisms at home and abroad. Then there 
 arose another element, also, which induced 
 the allies to leave Silistria and the Danube 
 to take care of themselves; and that was, 
 the conviction that Austria would not be 
 able to keep out of the fray if the Russians 
 gained any signal advantages in this direc- 
 tion. As long as the allies took care that 
 Constantinople was safe, they felt quite 
 easy as to the development of affairs on the 
 Danube. 
 
 But however satisfactory all this may 
 have been from a broad political point of 
 view, the garrison of Silistria were not at 
 all disposed to regard it in such light ; and 
 on the 28 th of May their courage and 
 endurance were put to severer test than 
 any they had yet had to submit to. The 
 bombardment began with terrific fury at 
 break of day, and continued until nightfall. 
 Shortly after midnight the Russians pro- 
 ceeded to the assault of the Arab Tabia, 
 and advanced with such caution, that the 
 officer on duty in the redoubt was actually 
 cut down by the leader of the storming 
 party before the Turks were aware of their 
 danofer. A fierce combat then ensued 
 within the Turkish works ; but the leader 
 of the Russians had entered the redoubt 
 too soon, and before his men had been 
 properly disposed to support him. The 
 consequence was, that the Russians were 
 driven out of the works and hurled into the 
 ditch, where volley upon volley of grape, 
 canister, and musketry were poured in 
 upon them before they could extricate 
 themselves. Fresh columns were then sent 
 forward to the right, left, and centre, with 
 senseless precision and clockwork volleys, 
 like a machine set to do one particular 
 kind of work, but utterly unable to change 
 or adapt itself to circumstances. The con- 
 fusion at last became so great in the Rus- 
 sian ranks, that the vigorous onslaughts of 
 the Turks and Albanians with bayonet and 
 scimitar, forced them to retreat in disorder; 
 the stifi", agricultural Russ being utterly 
 unable to compete in agility with the 
 supple and lissom Turks of the Balkan 
 and Pindus, whose limbs had never been 
 stiffened by hard work. 
 
 The other works were also assaulted at 
 the same time, but with similar results, the 
 energy of the Turks having been redoubled 
 by the fact that this day, the 29th of May, 
 
 VOL. IL 
 
 R 
 
 was the anniversary of the conquest of 
 Constantinople. 
 
 The following day, the 30th of May, the 
 sultan was the unwitting and unwilling 
 cause of Musa Pasha's death. He sent the 
 brave commander the order of the Med- 
 jidie, who, after receiving it from the 
 hands of the messenger, went to prayer 
 and to offer up thanks for the distinction 
 ofi'ered him, and was struck on the back by 
 a shell splinter, and killed on the spot. 
 
 As soon as the result of the great assault 
 of the Russians became known at Con- 
 stantinople, it was decided to follow up the 
 successes, and send reinforcements, so as 
 to enable the garrison to operate more 
 systematically in the open field against the 
 Russians. Thus, on the 4th of June, 
 30,000 men was sent by Omar Pasha from 
 Shumla, and, marching with great ra- 
 pidity, threw in a thousand men on the 
 night of the 5th. At the same time the 
 garrison of Rustchuk made a sortie to dis- 
 tract the attention of the Russians, and in 
 order to make them think that a flank 
 movement was intended, whilst the British 
 fleet blockaded the mouth of the Danube 
 and destroyed the Russian batteries at the 
 Sulina mouth of the river on June the 
 8th. 
 
 The same day, the garrison at Silistria, 
 now commanded by Hussein Bey, made a 
 sortie, under cover of which another thou- 
 sand men entered the town. Two days later, 
 the left face of the Arab Tabia was blown 
 down by the explosion of a Russian mine, 
 and for a short space the Russians gained 
 a footing in the works. But the Turks 
 fought so desperately, and were aided, 
 moreover, so effectually by another sally 
 of Hussein Bey, that they were again 
 forced to retreat. On the 13th more ex- 
 tensive operations were undertaken. Selim 
 Pasha made a feint upon Oltenitza. Said 
 Pasha crossed the Danube at Giurgevo, 
 drove the Russians out of their works for 
 a time, and then drew back ; whilst Hus- 
 sein Bey led a fresh sortie, attacking the 
 Russians in their own lines until the re- 
 lieving force had entered the place. The 
 carnage on that day was frightful ; in some 
 places the dead literally blocked up the 
 trenches. Captain Butler was grazed on the 
 forehead by a ball ; but though the wound 
 seemed to be of no importance, the strain 
 upon the constitution had been so great, 
 that he died from the effects nine days 
 
 later. 
 
 121 
 
 t 
 
 y \ 
 
 ill 
 
 
SIEGE OF STLTSTKIA RAISED.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 18r)4. 
 
 A.D. 1854.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [RUSSIAN DIFFICTLTIVS. 
 
 The Russian commanders now resolved 
 to make a supreme effort ; but their men 
 were worn out, disheartened, and demora- 
 lised ; and on the day of the last assault, 
 June the 22nd, the utmost endeavours 
 of the officers were necessary to bring their 
 men up. This explains the great number 
 of officers killed and wounded on that day. 
 In spite of the greatest bravery, they were 
 repulsed at every single point. Count 
 Orloff, the son of the diplomatist, and nearly 
 all the staff officers, were killed. General 
 Liiders had his jaw shattered ; General 
 Schilders, both his thighs carried away; 
 Prince Gortchakoff was severely wounded, 
 and Prince Paskievitch almost mortally 
 struck. Under such circumstances, all 
 hopes of forcing the lines of Silistria and 
 Shumla were quite out of the question, 
 and under cover of a bombardment at mid- 
 night on the 22nd, the Russians crossed 
 the Danube, and raised the siege, leaving 
 behind them the bones of some 20,000 
 men. The Turkish losses exceeded 4,000. 
 
 On the retreat of the Russians, who had 
 gradually been drawing in their forces from 
 Western Wallachia, Omar Pasha established 
 his head-quarters at Rustchuk ; Prince 
 Gortchakoff taking up his at Bucharest. 
 But during the siege of Silistria, two con- 
 victions had forced themselves upon the 
 czar's mind. He saw that the military cam- 
 paign had commenced with an error it was 
 now too late to retrieve, and that the allies 
 intended to concentrate their operations 
 elsewhere than on the Danube. His armies 
 were, therefore, useless in Wallachia ; the 
 only thing to be considered was a decent 
 pretext for evacuating them. He there- 
 fore caused Austria to propose an occu- 
 pation of the provinces, well knowing that 
 t-uch a measure would not seriously affect 
 his ultimate aims in case of his eventual 
 success, nor render his position any worse in 
 case of defeat. This measure was carried 
 out in the form of a convention between 
 the Porte and Austria, signed on the 14th 
 of June, 1854, and ratified on the 30th with 
 the consent of the western powers. The 
 terms of the convention were so worded as 
 to leave the czar time to adapt his pre- 
 parations according to the turn of events, 
 it being provided that Austria should under- 
 take to — 
 
 1. Exhaust all means of negotiation to 
 obtain the evacuation of the Danubian 
 principalities. 
 
 2. Engage to enter into no convention 
 
 122 
 
 with the czar on any other basis than the 
 integrity of the Ottoman empire. 
 
 3. Occupy the provinces with the re- 
 quisite number of forces : and, 
 
 4. To evacuate them forthwith on the 
 conclusion of peace. 
 
 The first article was introduced to allo^f 
 the czar time for his generals to try and re- 
 trieve their position, and Generals Dannen- 
 ben^ and Bebutoff, whohad been so successful 
 in Asia, were sent with reinforcements from 
 Bessarabia, to try to infuse new life into 
 the demoralised troops. But the campaign 
 had been irretrievably muddled, and the 
 Russians were successively defeated at 
 Nicopoli, Giurgevo, and Frasketi, and 
 General Bebutoff himself severely wounded. 
 The game had been played and lost, and 
 on the 2nd of August, Prince Gortcha- 
 koff led his army, shattered and demo- 
 ralised, back again across the Pruth ; whilst 
 three weeks later the Austrians had en- 
 tered upon their inheritance of occupation. 
 Thus disastrously ended the campaign 
 on the Danube. But the argument that 
 the Turks proved themselves a match 
 for the Russians without any assistance 
 from the allies, is as fallacious as mischiev- 
 That an equal number of Turks is 
 
 ous. 
 
 fully equal to a corresponding number of 
 Russians, may be at once conceded. We 
 may go even still further, and acknowledge 
 that the physique of the Turks is superior 
 to the Russians, and that the Turks would 
 hold their own on their own ground 
 against three to one. But the resources 
 of Russia far exceed those of Turkey ; and 
 unassisted, the latter power would, even- 
 tually, most certainly succumb. It must 
 also be remembered, that, though the 
 allies were not actually on the spot, still 
 the prospect of their interference, and 
 their subsequent presence at Gallipoli and 
 the Black Sea, had virtually out-flanked 
 Prince Gortchakoff's armies, and thus ma- 
 terially influenced the course of events ; so 
 that any argument based on the fact that 
 the Russians were matched by the Turks 
 unaided is very fallacious. .Russia has 
 always beaten the Turks eventually, and, 
 probably, always would do so. 
 
 As may be imagined, the result of the 
 Danubian campaign cut the czar to the 
 quick. Especially humiliating were the 
 repeated defeats of the Russian armies in 
 the open field in Western Wallachia. That 
 they should have been beaten back from 
 Silistria was not so disgraceful, when regard 
 
 was had to the difficulties they had to con- 
 tend with, and the error in concentrating 
 the chief attack in the Dobrudscha was 
 taken into consideration. .'But that, as the 
 czar himself said, the flower of the Rus- 
 sian army should have been vanquished by 
 raw levies of half-civilised Turks, was too 
 humiliating, and, to him, inexplicable. He 
 did not see then, as every one else saw, that 
 his system of attacking in dense columns, 
 rigid in their massive formation, was of no 
 avail against the scattered and meagre ranks 
 of the enemy, who buzzed and hovered 
 round his concentrated ma.sses like a swarm 
 of mosquitoes round an ox. Consequently, 
 whilst condoling with Princes Paskievitch 
 and Gortchakoff on account of their 
 wounds, he, at the same time, made the 
 most bitter remarks, and deplored the 
 faithlessness of his servants, contending that 
 he had been deceived and betrayed at every 
 step and turn, finally despatching the min- 
 ister of war to the head-quarters of the 
 army to ascertain the causes of its defeat ; 
 at the same time he ordered a levy of re- 
 cruits, to the number of 9 per 1,000 of the 
 population, whilst an extraordinary contri- 
 bution of one-fourth of the annual revenue 
 was exacted from the provinces. Unfortu- 
 nately for the Russians, the means of com- 
 munication were so few and so bad, that the 
 task of mobilising the various regiments, 
 and bringing them to the scene of action, 
 was a most difficult one.' As an instance, 
 may be mentioned the fact, that after the war 
 had been concluded, large bodies of men still 
 continued to arrive at their various depots, 
 and men who were never placed in line 
 were more than a year absent from their 
 homes; and, when collected, the work of 
 drilling had to be executed. This was appa- 
 rently an easy task. The Russian is accus- 
 tomed, as all agriculturists are, to methodic 
 and precise movements ; and thus nothing 
 can excel the precision of a Russian parade. 
 But it was just this precision and mechani- 
 cal movement that so greatly contributed to 
 the defeat of the Russian battalions. Pre- 
 cision was their only art. 
 
 The same observations apply to the con- 
 veyance of stores and ammunition. It is 
 quite true that, practically, London and 
 Paris were much nearer to the seat of war 
 than St. Petersburg. Finally, the com- 
 mand of the Black Sea having been lost by 
 the Russians, and their Baltic ports block- 
 aded, they were practically out-flanked on 
 both sides. Thus having lost the power of 
 
 aiding his armies, except by their rear, the 
 czar could not help seeing that any further 
 attempts to force the Balkans would be 
 futile, menaced, as he was, by the possibility 
 of Austria forsaking him and turning her 
 benevolent neutrality into active opposition. 
 Besides which, he began to be convinced 
 that the object of the allies had gradually 
 taken shape, and that they would confine 
 themselves to the destruction of his mari- 
 time supremacy in the Black Sea by the 
 destruction of the great fortress and mili- 
 tary harbour, with which he dominated the 
 sea up to the entrance of the Bosphorus. 
 Thus the war, henceforth, was resolved into 
 an attack upon Sebastopol. The fall of 
 that town, the emperor foresaw, would be 
 the end of the war, as far as the allies were 
 concerned. That they would follow up 
 their success, and expose themselves to the 
 risks of an invasion of Russia, was not to be 
 thought of for a moment. It would have 
 been far too good for the Russians to have 
 expected it ; so that, on the whole, the czar 
 awaited the issue of the struggle with com- 
 parative equanimity. The most unfavour- 
 able result would not be so very bad, whilst 
 it was quite within the range of possibilities 
 that Sebastopol might defy the allies as 
 successfully as Silistria had defied the 
 Russians, and at the same time there was 
 still a chance of successful advance in Asia 
 Minor, though, of course, that chance was 
 also much diminished by the control of the 
 Black Sea having slipped from his hands. 
 His armies here were also impeded by the 
 lawless tribes to whom any government is 
 an incubus; whose notion of liberty is 
 only the liberty to act as they please with- 
 out acknowledging any authority, whether 
 Russian, Turkish, or British. . 
 
 It is easy to understand, therefore, the 
 anxiety of Russia to assure herself of the 
 control of the Black Sea. The case is well 
 put by a Russian statesman, who wrote on 
 a recent occasion as follows : — 
 
 "There are such things as national 
 nio-htmares. Every nation has its favourite 
 one in some form or the other. Russia's 
 nightmare is the knowledge that the coali- 
 tion of two powers is sufticient to entirely 
 isolate Russia, and to destroy her commerce 
 as long as they choose. The Baltic can be 
 closed on the north, and the Black Sea 
 on the south. It is this knowledge that 
 weighs upon us without cessation ; is always 
 present to our mind; is called up by a 
 thousand circumstances every day. The fact 
 
 123 
 
 ijil! 
 
 n 
 
 it-' 
 
RUSSIAN AMBITION. J 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1854. 
 
 A.D. 1854.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [ODESSA BOMBARDED. 
 
 is aggravated by the key of the Black Sea 
 l)eing held by an uncivilised barbarian, who 
 is our natural enemy, and who flaunts his 
 power day after day in our face. A still 
 further aggravation is caused by the fact 
 that this barbarian infidel is the remorse- 
 less oppressor of millions of our race, and 
 kith and kin and co-religionists. 
 
 " Let me put the case in a light that 
 may specially interest the British states- 
 man. Suppose the Channel contracted at 
 both ends, so that Dover and Calais, and 
 Brest and Plymouth, were within easy fire 
 of each other. And now imagine Brest 
 and Calais to belong to an infidel race, 
 oppressing millions of Protestants of your 
 own English race ; and suppose, still further, 
 that the infidels in question were your 
 bitterest enemies, and claimed the right of 
 closing both gates of your Channel when- 
 ever they chose, and refused to allow your 
 war-ships ingress and egress ; and then, 
 finally, imagine that every time you try to 
 put an end to such a state of things, or to 
 ameliorate the position of your suffering 
 kindred, you are at once attacked by four 
 or five other powers, and hindered and 
 tiiwarted in all your attempts, or war de- 
 clared against you. Imagine all this, and 
 imagine that it has been going on for cen- 
 turies, and tell me whether such a condition 
 of things would not be a national night- 
 mare, a horrible incubus, that duty, interest, 
 sentiment, honour, and pride all united to 
 demand the suppression of. 
 
 " That is the case with Russia. The 
 feeling is universal, and it stifles our 
 national existence. The incubus must be 
 removed by fair means or foul — to-day or 
 to-morrow. But till it is removed there 
 can be no lasting peace between Russia and 
 the Ottoman empire ; no lasting confidence 
 between Russia and Europe. We Russians 
 may be but semi-civilised as a nation — I 
 quite acknowledge the fact ; but no one 
 can deny that we do not progress ; that we 
 have the will and wish to extend civilisa- 
 tion, and that we are capable of it. No one 
 will deny that Russia, backward as she may 
 be, is at least as far in advance of Turkey 
 as Great Britain may be in advance of 
 Russia. 
 
 It is therefore unreasonable, unstates- 
 manlike, and impolitic to expect Russia 
 to yield to Turkey, and submit to her 
 tutelage in the matter of the Black 
 Sea, with the assistance of a number of 
 European monitors, who would like to 
 124 
 
 keep their pupil from growing, lest he one 
 day be too big for them to manage." 
 
 As soon as war had been formally de- 
 clared, the fleets of the allies, which, since 
 the massacre at Sinope had been cruising 
 about the Black Sea without any particu- 
 lar object in view, proceeded to play their 
 part in the first act of the drama, which 
 had been dragging on its weary and san- 
 guinary length along the banks of the 
 Danube, One of the first acts of hostility 
 was the bombardment of Odessa, which 
 arose out of one of those unfortunate 
 events that do so much to embitter rival 
 armies, and that never fail to occur in any 
 war. The Furious had gone, on the 6th 
 of April, to Odessa in order to claim and 
 take on board the consuls and French and 
 English subjects who might prefer quit- 
 ting the city before the outbreak of hostili- 
 ties. On arriving off the port, the Furious 
 was brought-to by two blank shots from 
 the batteries, whereupon she hove-to out 
 of range, and lowered a boat which hoisted 
 a white flag and proceeded to the quay, 
 when the officer in charge was informed * 
 that the British consul had already left 
 Odessa. Hereupon, the boat pushed off, and 
 was returning to the Furious, when the 
 latter, from some reason or other that has 
 not been explained, put the engines into 
 motion, and, according to the Russian ac- 
 counts, steered towards the batteries and 
 got within range. Hereupon the Russian bat- 
 teries opened fire and fired seven shots, 
 which, however, did no damage. As soon as 
 the incident was reported to head- 
 quarters Admirals Hamelin and Dundas 
 conferred together, and despatched one 
 French and two English steamers to de- 
 mand an apology from Baron Osten-Sacken, 
 the Russian governor of Odessa. The 
 baron refused an apology, stating, in effect, 
 that the Furious having disregarded the 
 summons conveyed by the two blank cannon- 
 shot, had unnecessarily come within range 
 of the Russian guns, and that the com- 
 mander of the battery had done no more 
 than his duty in firing upon her. Strictly 
 and literally, no doubt, the Russian 
 governor was justified in taking this view ; 
 but, morally, taking into consideration the 
 fact, that one frigate would scarcely 
 attempt to tackle the whole batteries of 
 Odessa, and that, practically, she was as 
 much covered by the white flag as the boat 
 itself, there can be no doubt that the 
 baron's explanation was insufficient, and 
 
 that an apology war the least that could 
 be expected from him. But the Russians, 
 in their state of mind at that time, 
 were not at all inclined to apologise, and 
 preferred indulging in the luxury of re- 
 fusing to do so. For this luxury the 
 admirals decided they should pay dearly, 
 and followed up their demand for an 
 apology, by a further demand that all 
 British, French, and Russian vessels at 
 anchor, under cover of the batteries, should 
 at once be given up to the combined fleet. 
 To this demand the baron made no reply 
 whatever ; and on the 22nd of April, the 
 allied fleet, consisting of twelve steamers 
 and a number of rocket-boat.«, proceeded 
 to inflict summary chastisement on the 
 refractory town. 
 
 Thouirh not a regular fortress, Odessa was 
 well protected by batteries and a citadel 
 commanding the port, which is divided into 
 four portions by the Quarantine Mole and 
 the Imperial Mole, both of which are de- 
 fended by embrasured parapets. The former 
 contained the foreign mercantile vessels ; 
 the latter, the Russian and the men-of-war. 
 Between these two moles lies the chief quay 
 and boulevard, to which two flights of steps 
 led from the plateau on which the town is 
 built. Two batteries were constructed to 
 the right and left of these steps, and there 
 was a third battery opposite the Quarantine 
 Port. Altogether there were seven bat- 
 teries, exclusive of mole batteries and those 
 of the citadel. 
 
 When the fleet approached, the rocket- 
 boats were sent well in, and poured a con- 
 tinual stream of 24-pound shot upon the 
 principal mole and the Russian shipping, 
 whilst the steamers, moving on in single 
 file, described a continual circle, each one 
 delivering its fire as it passed the mole. 
 The Russian batteries answered with ra- 
 pidity, but their aim was bad, whilst almost 
 every shot of the allies told well; and 
 the Terrible eventually standing in closer 
 and using red-hot shot and rockets, suc- 
 ceeded in exploding the imperial powder 
 magazine, the mole itself being so shattered 
 by the explosion, that its batteries were 
 silenced. The allies then stood still closer 
 in and concentrated their fire upon the 
 Russian shipping, and the naval and mili- 
 tary stores. . These were well defended 
 by the Russians, who succeeded in inflict- 
 ing considerable damage on the Retri- 
 bution, and set the French frigate Vauhan 
 on fire by red-hot shot; but fortunately for 
 
 the crew, the fire was extinguished by the 
 help of the sailors sent to their assist- 
 ance before it spread to the magazine. 
 The upshot of the action was the destruc- 
 tion of the Russian shipping, the official 
 buildings, and a considerable portion of the 
 town, thirteen vessels laden with naval 
 stores and ammunition being cut out, and 
 some fifty men taken prisoners. The loss 
 of the Russians was 800 killed and 
 wounded ; whilst that of the allied fleet 
 did not amount to more than twenty- four 
 killed and wounded. 
 
 This successful bombardment of Odessa, 
 which was simply undertaken to avenge 
 the outrage committed by firing upon a 
 flag of truce, was represented by the Rus- 
 sian government as a successful repulse of 
 the allied fleet : in fact, to read the em- 
 peror's proclamation on the subject one 
 would be inclined to imagine that Baron 
 Osten-Sacken had placed himself at the 
 head of his regiments, charged the whole 
 fleet at the point of the bayonet, and 
 utterly dispersed it, for which exploit 
 the gallant baron was rewarded with the 
 order of St. Andrew, with the accompany- 
 ing decree published in the Invalide Russe. 
 " On the day when the inhabitants of 
 Odessa, united in their orthodox temples, 
 were celebrating the death of the Son of 
 God, crucified for the redemption of man- 
 kind, the allies of the enemy of His holy 
 name attempted a crime against that city 
 of peace and commerce — against that city 
 where all Europe, in her years of dearth, has 
 always found open granaries. The fleets 
 of France and England bombarded for 
 twelve hours our batteries, and the habi- 
 tations of our peaceful citizens, as well as 
 the merchant shipping in the harbour. 
 But our brave troops, led by you in person, 
 and penetrated by a profound faith in the 
 Supreme Protector of justice, gloriously 
 repelled the attack of the enemy against 
 the soil, which, in apostolic times, received 
 the precursor of the Christian religion in 
 our holy country. The heroic firmness 
 of our- troops, inspired by your example, 
 has been crowned with complete success; 
 the city has been saved from destruction, 
 and the enemy's fleets have disappeared. 
 As a worthy recompense of so grand an 
 action, we grant you the order of St. Andrew. 
 
 " Nicholas." 
 Apart from the mere punishment for 
 the outrage committed on a flag of truce, 
 the bombardment of Odessa, and destruction 
 
 125 
 
 ^ fe 
 
 ii 
 
LANDING OF THE ALLIES.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1854. 
 
 1)1 
 
 i 
 
 of the shipping, was also a measure of 
 expediency, in order to increase the diffi- 
 culties in the supply of provisions for the 
 Russian army in the Dobrudscha ; but it 
 was also judged necessary to blockade the 
 mouths of the Danube, and destroy the 
 batteries constructed by the Russians. The 
 blockade was declared on the 1st of June, 
 and on the 8th the batteries on the 
 Sulina mouth were attacked and destroyed, 
 with the exception of a smull portion 
 wliich was taken possession of and 
 manned by marines. Towards the end 
 of the month, the stockades erected around 
 the village of Sulina were attacked by the 
 firebrand and Vesuvius, under the com- 
 mand of Captains Parker and Powell, who 
 conducted the expedition in a reckless 
 fashion, which led to the death of Captain 
 Parker. Captain Parker apparently took 
 for granted that the stockades were de- 
 serted, and approached them without any 
 precautions, until a volley of musketry 
 
 riddled the boat and wounded several of 
 the men. Withdrawing down the river, 
 he waited for the other boats to come up, 
 and landing his men, led them to storm 
 the stockades, when he was shot through 
 the heart — a fate that also befel the two 
 Russian officers in command. 
 
 With the exception of the bombard- 
 ment of Odessa, and blockade of the 
 Danube, there was but little for the 
 fleets to do. The Russian fleet would 
 not leave the shelter of Sebastopol, and 
 the fortifications of that place were far 
 too powerful to be attacked with any 
 chance of success. Altogether, throughout 
 the war, the fleets, both from the Baltic and 
 the Black Sea, played a very subordinatci 
 part, as far as active operations were con- 
 cerned. But still, the services they ren- 
 dered as transports and blockaders, cutting 
 off the supplies of the Russians, and out- 
 flanking them as it were in the Dobrudscha 
 and in the Caucasus, were very valuable. 
 
 CHAPTER XVr. 
 
 LANDING OF THE ATLTTS AT GALLIPOLI; FURTUKK ADVANCE TO SCUTATIT AND VARNA ; WRETCUED 
 STATE OF THE ARMIES AT VARNA ; DEPARTURE OF THE ALLIES FOR THE CRIMEA ; LANDING AT 
 EUPATORIA; battle of the alma J ADVANCE ON SEBASTOPOL J OCCUPATION OF BALAKLAVA AND 
 KAMIESH BAY. 
 
 As soon as it had become evident that war 
 was unavoidable, the despatch of French 
 and British troops to the East commenced ; 
 but owinof to the undecided state of the 
 political atmosphere, and the general igno- 
 rance prevailing as to the military disposi- 
 tions of the Russians, combined with doubts 
 as to the success of Omar Pasha in keeping 
 the Russian army on the Danube in check, 
 no definite plan of operations was decided 
 on ; and, practically, it was determined to 
 be guided by the course of events. For 
 these reasons the allied troops were first 
 disembarked at Grallipoli. It was thought 
 that the progress of the Russians through 
 the Dobrudscha and the Balkan provinces 
 would be so rapid, that Constantinople itself 
 might be attacked before the allies could 
 oppose a sufficient force to resist the 
 Russian advance ; and serious alarms were 
 even felt for the safety of the fleets anchored 
 in the Bosphorus. It was thus held to be 
 necessary to create a basis of operations for 
 126 
 
 defence as well as offence. This basis was 
 discovered in the isthmus of Gallipoli, 
 which was defended towards the land side 
 by a fosse of several yards in depth, running 
 from sea to sea. In case therefore of a 
 rapid advance of the Russians both by sea 
 and land, Gallipoli seemed to the allies a 
 strong and safe position both in case of 
 offence and defence. ^lore precautions 
 were deemed necessary at the outset than 
 subsequent events justified. In fact, it was 
 determined at first to push on very gra- 
 dually. Under favourable circumstances, 
 the next step in advance was to have been 
 the peninsula of Erdek, opposite the island 
 of Marmora, to which the land approaches 
 were capable of defences of the same cha- 
 racter as at Gallipoli. There was thus a 
 considerable doubt as to the extent of the 
 powers of the allied forces. In fact, it may 
 be said that, for a considerable period, the 
 allies and the Russians were equally afraid 
 of each other, and neither side had sufficient 
 
 A.D. 1854.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. Llandix\g of the allies. 
 
 confidence in its own powers ; so that an 
 advance depended rather upon which side 
 turned tail first than upon a bold initiative. 
 The French troops arrived first on the 
 spot, and, like all first comers, they were 
 the best served. The first vessel that 
 arrived was the Golden Fleece. She made 
 Gallipoli on Wednesday night, with 1,000 
 men on board ; but there was no pilot to 
 show her where to anchor, and ultimately 
 she had to run out her cable in 19 fathoms 
 water. The reception the first British 
 army met with that ever landed on the 
 shores of the Dardanelles, is well related by 
 the limes correspondent. When morning 
 approached, it was seen how well the French 
 had employed their time. — " The tricolour 
 was floating right and left, and the blue 
 coats of the French were well marked on 
 shore, the long line of bullock-carts stealing 
 along the strand towards their camp making 
 it evident that they were taking care of 
 themselves. As it happened, the consul 
 had gone to the tower of the Dardanelles, 
 to look for the Golden Fleece; but it had 
 escaped him in the dark. The first thing 
 that happened after the visit of the com- 
 missaries was characteristic. The general 
 desired to send for the consul ; but the only 
 way of doing so was by water, and the only 
 vessel available for the purpose was a small 
 Turkish imperial steamer near the Golden 
 Fleece, The consul's dragoman, a grand- 
 looking Israelite, prepared to go on the ex- 
 pedition ; but the engineer on board had 
 just managed to break his leg. He there- 
 fore requested the loan of an engineer, as 
 no one could be found to undertake the 
 care of the steamer's engines ; and, after a 
 successful cruise, he returned in the even- 
 ing with the consul, Mr. Calvert, on 
 board. Mr. Calvert went to the Turkish 
 council, reminded them that there were 
 British troops yet to come, and succeeded 
 in having half of the quarters of the town 
 reserved to him for their use. Next day 
 he visited and marked off the houses ; but 
 on his return the French authorities said 
 they had made a mistake as to the portions 
 of the town they handed over to him, and 
 he of course had to yield and give them up. 
 They had the Turkish part of the town, 
 close to the water, with an honest and 
 favourable population ; the English had the 
 Greek quarter apportioned them, further 
 up the hill, and perhaps the healthier, 
 with 'dextrous' tradesmen and a popula- 
 tion which hated them bitterly, and re- 
 
 garded them as foes quartered on them by 
 force of arms. 
 
 " As we have seen, the troops arrived on 
 Wednesday night (Thursday morning), but 
 it was mid-day on Saturday ere the troops 
 were landed and sent to their quarters. 
 Nothing was ready for them. The force 
 consisted of only some thousand and odd 
 men; and, small as it was, owing to the 
 fault of ' somebody or other,' it had to lie 
 idle for two days and a-half, watching the 
 sea-gulls, or with half-averted eye regard- 
 ing the ceaseless activity of the French, 
 the daily arrival of their steamers, the 
 rapid transmission of their men by the 
 paddle-box boats of their vessels to shore, 
 and the admirable completeness of all their 
 arrangements in every detail ; hospitals for 
 the sick, bread and biscuit bakeries, wag- 
 gon-trains for carrying store and baggage ; 
 every necessary and every comfort, indeed, 
 to be had the moment their ships came in. 
 Not a British pendant was afloat in the 
 harbour ! The great naval state was repre- 
 sented by a single steamer belonging to 
 a private company. Well might a Turkish 
 boatman ask — ' Oh, why is this ? Oh, why 
 is this, young man ? By the beard of the 
 Prophet, for the sake of your father's 
 father, tell me, oh, English lord, how is 
 it ? The French infidels have got one, two, 
 three, four, five, six, seven ships, with 
 fierce little soldiers ; the English infidels, 
 who say they can defile the graves of 
 these French (may Heaven avert it), and 
 who are big as the giants of Asli, have 
 only one big ship. Do they tell lies ? ' (Such 
 was the translation of an interestinsr 
 waterman's address.) 
 
 " On Thursday there was a general hunt 
 for quarters through the town. The con- 
 sul, attended by dragoman and interpreter, 
 and a train of lodging-seekers, went from 
 house to house; but it was not till 
 the eye had got accustomed to the gene- 
 ral style of the buildings and fittings, that 
 any of them seemed willing to accept the 
 places offered to them. The general got 
 a very fine place in a beau quartier, with 
 a view of an old Turk on a counter 
 looking at his toes in perpetual perspec- 
 tive. 
 
 " The tall door, which was an antiquated 
 concern — not affording any particular re- 
 sistance to the air to speak of — opened 
 on an apartment with clay walls of about 
 10 feet high, and of the length and breadth 
 of the whole house. It was garnished 
 
 127 
 
 »•■»■ 
 
 ;: 
 
 :!i' 
 
 m 
 
 
 h 
 
 Itiiil 
 
 ';t. 
 
 I 
 
ADVANCE TO SCUTARI.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1854. 
 
 n 
 
 I 
 
 with the odds and ends of donp.estic deity— 
 with empty barrels, with casks of home- 
 made wine, buckets, baskets, &c. At one 
 side a rough staircase, creaking at every 
 step, led the way to a saloon on the first 
 floor. This was of the plainest possible 
 appearance. On the sides were stuck 
 prints of the czar, and of the Virgin and 
 child (after the Greek school), with won- 
 derful engravings from Jerusalem. There 
 was no other furniture. It may be ob- 
 served, that as a schism between the Greek 
 Catholic and the Roman Catholic churches 
 arose out of the discussion of an intricate 
 question on the subtlest point of theology, 
 tliey fight bitterly on matters of very fine 
 distinction yet. Thus the Greeks are 
 iconoclasts, and hate images, but adore 
 pictures. A yellow Jonah, in a crimson 
 whale with fiery entrails, is a favourite 
 subject for these artists, and doubtless 
 bears some allegorical meaning.— From this 
 saloon opened the two or three rooms 
 of the house— the kitchen, . the divan, 
 and the principal bedroom. The floors 
 were covered with matting ; but with the 
 exception of the cushion on the raised 
 platform round the wall of the room 
 (about 18 inches from the floor), there was 
 nothing else in the room offered for 
 general competition to the public. Above 
 were dark attics — voila tout These apart- 
 ments would form a study for philosophers. 
 If they want to understand the true 
 principle of keeping up a current of fresh 
 air everywhere, let them go out to Gallipoli 
 and take possession of one of these re- 
 markable chambers. True, the walls are 
 of mud and straw, and the staircase has 
 been devised expressly for the purpose of 
 entrapping the first heavy Turk who may 
 happen to stride up. It is the thinnest 
 wood-work possible. Water is some way 
 off ; and the philosophers, if not provided 
 with servants who can speak the language, 
 and an allowance of rations from her 
 majesty's stores, may be seen soon after 
 stalking up the street with as much dig- 
 nity as is compatible with the circumstance 
 of their carrying a sheep's liver on a 
 stick in one hand, some lard in the other, 
 and a loaf of black bread under their arms 
 [at least the Times correspondent had 
 to adopt that course or die of hunger]. 
 There was not such a thing as a pound 
 of butter in the whole country ; meat was 
 very scarce, fowls impossible, but the 
 country wine was fair enough ; eggs were 
 1-28 
 
 not so rare as might have been imagined 
 
 from the want of poultry.' 
 
 The Turks themselves were by no 
 means pleased at the disembarkation of 
 the troops at Gallipoli, so far away from 
 the actual seat of war. Nor did it con- 
 duce to the health, comfort, or spirits of 
 the army. But as we have shown, the 
 movement was owing to the general in- 
 decision arising from inaccurate know- 
 ledge as to the forces at the disposal of 
 the czar. Instead of deciding at once 
 upon their own course of action, the allies 
 preferred waiting to see what the Russians 
 intended. The delay, however, in the 
 advance of Prince Gortchahoff, gave them a 
 little more courage, and they determined 
 to advance another step ; so that when the 
 Himalaya arrived with fresh troops on the 
 13th of April, 1854, she was sent on to 
 Constantinople, and the men quartered 
 at Scutari. But during the whole of April 
 and JNIay, the operations were entirely of 
 a precautionary and defensive character; 
 but early in June, when it became appa- 
 rent that the Russians would be forced to 
 raise the siege of Silistria, and that 
 Austria was about to sign the convention 
 already mentioned with Turkey, it was 
 decided to advance another short and safe 
 step to Varna, all fears of a flank attack 
 by the Russians in the Dobrudscha having 
 been dispelled. Besides this, the plans of 
 the allies had gradually been gaining con- 
 sistency, and it began to become a con- 
 viction, that any number of defeats of the 
 Russian armies in the open field, or cur- 
 tailments of Russian territory on the 
 Danube, would be unavailing for the preser- 
 vation of a durable peace as long as Se- 
 bastopol remained a standing menace to 
 Turkey, and as long as Russia possessed 
 a powerful fleet that dominated the Black 
 Sea, and could always retreat under cover 
 of the vast amount of metal that defended 
 the Crimea from Odessa to Kertch. Un- 
 fortunately no one knew anything reliable 
 about the Crimea or its resources. No one 
 knew whether the rivers Katalia, Alma, and 
 Bulganatch, were full, or dried-up torrent- 
 beds in summer. But anyhow, whilst re- 
 connaissances were being made by the 
 fleets along the northern shores of the 
 Euxine, it was decided to raise the camps 
 of Gallipoli and Scutari, and proceed to 
 Varna, trusting to Providence and the Rus- 
 sians to decide on the next step. It was 
 a wretched slate of childish indecision, 
 
 A.D. 1854.'| 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [advance to VARNA. 
 
 due to ignorance and want of preparation, 
 assisted by divided counsels at home. 
 There were, in fact, more cooks to make 
 the soup than there was soup for the cooks ; 
 and it may well be imagined that the 
 Turks were by no means delighted with 
 their allies, who were fiddling and faddling 
 about whilst their own men were bear- 
 ing the brunt of the war, unaided, on the 
 
 Danube. 
 
 Thus the 1st division of British troops, 
 under Sir George Brown, and the French 
 forces under General Canrobert, landed 
 early in June at Varna, followed, on the 
 14th of the same month, by the guards 
 and highlanders and the British commander- 
 in-chief, the Duke of Cambridge. The 
 1st division pushed on to Aladyn, and 
 subsequently to Devno, under Sir George 
 Brown ; whilst it was followed up to Aladyn 
 by Sir R. England, the Earl of Cardigan 
 with his light cavalry pushing on towards 
 the Dobrudscha, and joining hands with 
 Omar Pasha. There was then a gradual 
 advance of the British lines, whilst the 
 French troops remained in Varna and 
 Baltschik, during which the Russians were 
 often sighted, but without any engagment 
 taking place. Truth was, that even yet 
 no plan was formed; but even if it had 
 been decided to advance, there w^as no ma- 
 terial to do so. Means of transport there 
 were none; everything was wanting ; and in 
 addition, disease' broke out in conse- 
 quence of the malarious climate of Varna, 
 which rapidly progressed into virulent 
 cholera.. The very simplest precautions 
 had been neglected; and instead of the 
 camps being pitched on the highlands 
 north of Varna, they were located at their 
 foot, on the banks of a notoriously un- 
 healthy swamp, dignified by people of ro- 
 mantic tendencies, or who never saw it, 
 with the name of a lake. For, notwith- 
 standing the beauty of the country about 
 Aladyn and Devno, it is a renowned 
 hot-bed of fever and dysentery. The 
 valley of Devno is even called, by the Turks 
 themselves, the Valley of Death ; and had 
 the natives been consulted, or any proper 
 medical examination been made, neither 
 Aladyn or Devno would have been chosen 
 as the grave for thousands before they had 
 ever set eyes upon the enemy. Beautiful 
 as it might be to the eye, the long expanse of 
 rich meadow land, the luxuriant vegetation, 
 and sparkling waters of stream and lake, 
 
 these meadows nurtured fever, ague, 
 
 VOL. II. S 
 
 <c 
 
 dysentery, and pestilence in their bosom ; 
 lake and stream exhaled death, and at 
 night fat unctuous vapours rose up, fold 
 after fold, from the valleys, and crept 
 up in the dark, stealing into the tent of the 
 sleeper, and folding him in their deadly em- 
 brace. So completely exhausted, on the 19th 
 August, 1854, was the brigade of guards — 
 these 3,000 of the flower of England — that 
 they had to make two marches in order to 
 get over the distance from Aladyn to 
 Varna, not more than ten miles. But this 
 was not all ; their packs were carried for 
 them. The highland brigade was in 
 better condition; but even these fine 
 regiments were far from beinof in the 
 health and spirits they were in when they 
 set out from Varna. The French had 
 their cholera camp about two miles from 
 the town ; it was only too extensive and too 
 well filled. Horrors occurred here every 
 day, shocking to think of. Walking by 
 the beach, one might see straw sticking up 
 through the sand ; and scraping it away 
 with a stick, be horrified at brinofino- to 
 light the face of a corpse, having been de- 
 posited there with a wisp of straw around 
 it, a prey to dogs and vultures. Dead 
 bodies rose up from the bottom in the 
 harbour, bobbing grimly around in the 
 water, or drove in from sea, drifting by the 
 sickened gazers on board the ships, buoy- 
 ant, upright, and hideous, in the sun. 
 A boat's crew went on shore to put a few 
 stones together to form a sort of landing- 
 place on the sand ; they moved a stone — 
 discovering underneath a festering corpse. 
 On one occasion a Frenchman of herculean 
 size, who had been buried at sea with a 
 shot at his feet, rose up after an interval, 
 and seemed to have special mission to hang 
 about the landing-ladders of the trans- 
 ports. Ineffectual attempts were made to 
 sink the corpse ; but, like the old man of 
 the sea, he could not be got rid of until 
 it was determined to bring a gun to bear 
 upon him, so bad was the effect it pro- 
 duced." 
 
 The consequence of this state of affairs 
 was, that a large number of men and 
 ofiicers were invalided, and the discontent 
 became very great. Nor was the position 
 of the allies rendered any better by a vast 
 conflagration that broke out at Varna on 
 the 10th of August, and destroyed over 200 
 houses, 19,000 pairs of boots, and large 
 quantities of stores and provisions. It 
 was only by dint of the most strenuous 
 
 129 
 
 »! 
 
 HI 
 
 •M 
 
 1 ! ' 
 
 IH 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 ^^i 
 
DEPARTUKE OF THE ALLIK.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1854. 
 
 I*,' 
 
 exertions that the powder magazine was 
 saved. Well, it was some consolation to 
 know, that whilst the army was ^hus slowly 
 -even rapidly rotting away, the -lartial 
 appearance of "the men" was well loo.red 
 after, and the sepulchre duly whitened, 
 the Earl of Lucan complainmg, in a 
 formal order of the day, of the dirty 
 appearance of the men, and msistmg on 
 the more assiduous application of pipe- 
 clay and ochre for the proper dressmg ot 
 belts and facings. 
 
 At last, the rumour ran that a move had 
 been decided on. The reconnoitrmg 
 gquadrons had returned from their expe- 
 dition to Baltchik and Varna, and coun- 
 cils of war were repeatedly held as to the 
 most advisable spot for the disembarkation 
 of the troops on the Crimea. -finally, 
 it was decided that the armies should be 
 disembarked at the mouth of the Katscha; 
 and this decision was at once trumpeted 
 forth by the correspondent of the limes. 
 Fortunately, the Russians did not believe 
 in this intention, and regarded it as a ruse 
 They were convinced that the allies would 
 attack them on the Danube, a:nd that 
 Bessarabia would be the seat of war. ihis 
 opinion was certainly strengthened by 
 the disembarkation of the allies at Varna; 
 but Prince Mentschikoff, who commanded 
 in the Crimea with 23,000 men, saw from 
 the first that no such plan was intended, 
 and wrote despatch after despatch, stating 
 his conviction that the ultimate destina- 
 tion of the allies was the Crimea, and 
 that they would attempt a landing 
 between Eupatoria and Sebastopol. It was 
 in vain that he asked for reinforcements. 
 To the last moment it was believed that 
 the real destination of the allies was 
 Odessa, and not Sebastopol. 
 
 At last, after much trouble, and loss, 
 and anxiety, the fleets and transports 
 started from Baltchik on the 7th of 
 September, for the Isle of Serpents, off the 
 mouth of the Danube, as a preliminary 
 rendezvous. Here met together an armada 
 - of the combined British, French, and 
 Turkish fleets, numbering in all over 700 
 ships; and on the lUh of September, 
 the whole set sail f^r the second rendezvous 
 off Cape Tarkan. iVnd still the exact spot 
 for disembarkation had not yet been de- 
 cided on. Opinions were divided m both 
 camps, and each disagreed with the other 
 as to the most eligible spot. At last, after 
 mutual concessions, it was decided that the | 
 130 
 
 beach at Old Fort, four days' march from 
 Sabastopol, presented the most advantages, 
 and on the 14th of September, the disem- 
 barkation of the troops commenced, Eupa- 
 toria itself being taken possession of by 
 Lord Raglan, and the British flag hoisted 
 over +he town without any opposition, 
 except from a small squadron of Cossacks 
 who were speedily routed by a detachment 
 
 of dragoons. , 
 
 The place selected for the landing of the 
 troops was a low strip of beach and shingle 
 cast up by the violence of the surt, and 
 forming a sort of causeway between the 
 sea and a stagnant salt-water lake— one 
 of those remarkable deposits of brackish 
 water so frequent along this shore of 
 the Crimea. The lake was about one 
 mile long and half a mile broad; its 
 surface and borders frequented by vast 
 flocks of wild fowl. There was another 
 sheet to the south, and another to the 
 north, between the camp and Eupatoria. 
 The causeway was not more than two hun- 
 dred yards broad, and led to the right, or 
 southern extremity of the lake by a gen- 
 tle ascent, to an irregular table-land, or 
 plateau, of trifling elevation, dotted with 
 tumuli or barrows, such as are seen in 
 several parts of England, and extending 
 to the base of the very remarkable chain 
 called, from their shape, the Tent Moun- 
 tains. Towards the sea the plateau 
 presents a precipitous face of red clay 
 and sandstone, varying in height from 100 
 to 150 feet, terminating by a descent 
 almost to the sea-level, at the distance of 
 nearly two miles from the shores of the 
 lake. Thence, towards the south, was a 
 low sandy beach, with a fringe of shingle 
 raised by the action of the waves above 
 the level of the land, saving it from inun- 
 dation. This low coast extended as far as 
 the eye could reach, till lost beneath the 
 base of the mountain ranges over Sebas- 
 topol. The country inland, visible from 
 the decks of the ships, was covered with 
 cattle, with grain in stack, with farm- 
 houses, seeming capable of producing 
 enormous quantities of live stock and 
 fodder. The stubble fields were covered 
 with wild lavender, southern-wood, and 
 other fragrant shrubs, which the troops 
 were busily collecting for fuel, and which 
 filled the air with perfume. 
 
 The French wej'e the first to land, and 
 effected the operation in admirable order 
 and with great celerity. The only witness 
 
 !'. i 
 
 lii 
 
 ill 
 
W^M^sM^. 
 
 t' '•- 
 
 ■lif^' 
 
 
 '^.^^M^iMf^^-kM, 
 
 _ .''IHlJt j^i[iy( KA . ,;% 
 
 M 
 
 r-;^; 
 
 "Sl6 
 
 ^-. 
 
 
 '/•*>!''< 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 iihtifti-ft .A.//?*//. 
 
 
 ' fi^rig^ / 
 
 
 ^^ 
 
 «;// /;.../,//•' 
 
 16 
 
 
 /■:a 
 
 '■'"•"'""/,. v^^./w j^e-"-' """■'' •""' "/w/,../, '\ I ^y-^^f^//" \ y'"Y'" V /f„.^j - ^.»f.„i re,,,,. '^«v/ , ,. v^,^ 
 
 o 
 
 F 
 
 -V 
 
 >^ 
 
 O 
 
 ;v/ iruuUi^. 
 
 
 5^.7fr<, 'o'"" 
 
 
 
 
 Vf'9f\^il'* 
 
 k^bl 
 
 7c, / ^J\^ 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^< 
 
 f 
 
 \ 
 
 
 A>^ '.',7- 
 
 ■s; •■ »« • • 'f>>/i if* 
 
 
 .# 
 
 >*> ■ I: ■ '' • 
 
 *1 
 
 
 vtWv':'-'V' 
 
 
 
 !a;'^>: 
 
 t5!& 
 
 
 
 
 \ til K/tiHttjU 
 
 ■# 
 
 ^'■"''%, 
 
 7««r- 
 
 Htitt^n: 
 
 UANKo or I- M ft ALMA 
 
 
 ou:;. Di-3v.':j J^ KT;'Ji-;iri\l 'pv H I^'imWc ; 
 
 
 BETORE 
 
 ITS INYKSLMjvNl liY THK AUJES. 
 
 I : 
 
 THE io^TDOjK pnrsTijja a-nt t-^^ushxng' foj)!7^/»i;j-r. 
 
 XIM-ITED.. 
 
 Th- Map T)j-a»n! ^ iLiigl-avwl Ijy JBrqilnii 
 
 ill 
 
 111. 
 
 I 
 
 
 :!!!i 
 
 sm 
 
 III 
 
 .1 \ 
 
-^-^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 \ 
 
 A.D. 1854.] 
 
 of their operations, on the part of the 
 enemy, was Lieutenant Stetenkoe with a 
 few Cossacks, who had been sent by Prince 
 Mentschikoff to follow the movements of 
 the fleets as far as he possibly could. He 
 very coolly remained as long as possible 
 without being molested in his occupation 
 of taking notes, till one of the Cossacks 
 suddenly crouched down and pointed 
 with his lance to the ascent of the cliff. 
 Then ensued rather a comical scene, as 
 observed from on board the fleet. The 
 officer turned and looked in the direction 
 the Cossack had pointed to, when suddenly 
 a cocked hat rose above the horizon. 
 " Another figure with a similar head-dress 
 came also in view. The first was Sir 
 George Brown, on foot; the second, 
 Quartermaster-Greneral Airy. -The scene 
 was exciting. It was evident the Kussian 
 and the Cossack had seen Sir Greorfre, but 
 that he did not see them. A picquet of 
 Fusileers and riflemen followed the gene- 
 ral at a considerable interval. The Rus- 
 sian got on his horse, the Cossack followed 
 his example, and one of them cantered to 
 the left to see that the P'rench were not 
 cutting off their retreat, while the others 
 stooped down over their saddle-bows, and 
 rode stealthily, with lowered lances, 
 towards the Englishmen. Sir Greorge 
 was in danger, but he did not know it. 
 Neither did the Russians see the picquet 
 advancing towards the brow of the hill. 
 Sir George was busy scanning the country, 
 pointing out various spots to the quarter- 
 master-general. Suddenly they turned 
 and slowly descended the hill — the gold 
 sash disappeared — the cocked hat was 
 eclipsed — Cossacks and officers dismounted 
 and stole along by the side of their horses. 
 They too were hidden from sight in a 
 short time, and on the brow of the cliff 
 appeared a string of native carts. In 
 about five minutes two or three tiny 
 puffs of smoke rose over the cliff, and 
 then the faint cracks of a rifle were audible 
 to the men in the nearest ships. In a 
 few minutes more the Cossacks were 
 visible, flying like the wind on the road 
 to Sebastopol, and crossed close to the left 
 of the French lines of skirmishers. Sir 
 George had a narrow escape of being taken 
 prisoner. He was the first to land, and 
 pushed on without sending videttes or 
 men in front, though he took the precau- 
 tion, very fortunately, to bring up a few 
 soldiers with him. The Cossacks who had 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [landing in the ceimea. 
 
 been dodging him made a dash when they 
 were within less than a hundred yards. 
 The general had to run, and was"^ only 
 saved from capture by the fire of the 
 Fusileers. The Cossacks bolted. The 
 first blood spilt in the campaign was that 
 of a poor boy, an arabjee, who was wounded 
 in the foot by the volley which dislodf^ed 
 them." "^ 
 
 The greater part of the army had landed 
 by nightfall ; and, as usual, the French 
 and Turks got comfortably under canvas 
 before it was dark, and were able to pass 
 in tolerable ease the terribly stormy night 
 that ensued. Torrents upon torrents of 
 rain drenched the British troops to the 
 skin, for of course all their camp was in 
 confusion, Sir George Brown lying under 
 a waggon, and the Duke of Cambridge 
 under a gun-carriage. A few more died 
 in consequence of that niglit's exposure. 
 The next morning the rest of the men were 
 landed; the sum total of tlie forces being, 
 26,000 English, 24,000 French, and 4,500 
 Turks, and 124 guns. 
 
 At midnight of the 18th, the order was 
 given to be prepared to advance at break 
 of dawn. When dawn broke, the following 
 was the picture that presented itself to 
 the eye of an officer who thus describes 
 it:— 
 
 " We now marched into camp; and when 
 we arrived we found all hurry, bustle, and 
 confusion. Uncooked rations were served 
 out to the men, which some were un- 
 willing to carry; while others, in the hurry 
 to stand to their arms, were unable to 
 obtain their portion. This was a great 
 pity ; for I believe half the men of our 
 regiment started without water in their 
 kegs, to which in a great measure must 
 be attributed the numbers who fell out 
 during the march. The well was too far 
 from the camp to allow them to fetch it 
 that morning before they commenced their 
 march; and considering the total absence 
 of water in our line of march, it should 
 have been 'provided, and boats sent ashore 
 with it from the si dps, a very few ofivhich 
 would have been sufficient for their wants. 
 Our men thus started uncomfortably and 
 without their breakfasts, Jor which no 
 time was allowed them, I fortunately- 
 had a small piece of boiled pork and 
 biscuit in my haversack ; this, and a pull 
 at my water-barrel, composed my dejeuner. 
 On arriving at head-quarters, we found 
 our general, Sir George Cathcart, waiting 
 
 131 
 
;■ 
 
 BATTLE OF THE ALMA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1854. 
 
 A.D. 1854.J 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 for us, and were all much inspirited by 
 his active and soldier-like appearance. 
 As soon as the waggon-train and commis- 
 sariat carts arrived, and had passed on to 
 some little distance, we marched. It was 
 a very hot sultry morning, and the sun 
 struck down on our poor heads with un- 
 usual violence. Our pace in marching 
 was obliged to be regulated with great 
 judgment, as we were on a vast plain, 
 without even a drop of water, or shade of 
 any kind. A more monotonous country 
 I never beheld, and we had fifteen miles of 
 it. It was 9 o'clock before the whole of 
 the army was prepared to march, being 
 delayed by the inadequate transport pro- 
 vided for the stores, baggage, &c. Many 
 of our men fell down in the ranks, attacked 
 by cholera, or from becoming faint and 
 exhausted for want of water. If they 
 recovered shortly, they followed us with 
 the rear-guard ; but if not they were left 
 to the tender mercy of any passer-by. 
 It was certainly much to be lamented that 
 we had no ambulance waggons for these 
 poor sick fellows who fell out on the 
 march ; for had they been carried a mile 
 or two, or had a drink of water, I have 
 no doubt half of them would have rejoined 
 their companies. Ambulance carts ought 
 surely to have attended each brigade, and 
 each should have carried some medicine, 
 particularly when the cholera was likely 
 to affect the army. The medical officers 
 in general carried a small bottle of brandy 
 and flask of water, which they gave the 
 men, and thus did much good. Some of 
 our poor fellows actually came to me, and 
 on their knees besought me for a drink 
 out of my flask ; and I am happy to say 
 that I managed to relieve a few of them. 
 I found in our brigade that the men of 
 the other regiments fell out almost ten to 
 
 our one." 
 
 In the advance that now ensued, the 
 French formed the right wing, and the 
 British troops the left wing, the fleet 
 following their movements to give them its 
 support when necessary. The English troops 
 were commanded by Lord Raglan, sup- 
 ported by Sir George Brown command- 
 ing the light division, the Duke of Cam- 
 bridge commanding the 1st division; 
 Sir De Lacy Evans, with the 2nd di- 
 vision ; Sir Richard England with the 
 3rd division; Sir George Cathcart with 
 the 4th ; and Lord Lucan with the 
 cavalry divisions. The French were under 
 132 
 
 the command - in - chief of Marshal St. 
 Arnaud, supported by Generals Canrobert, 
 Forey, Bosquet (Zouaves), and Prince 
 Napoleon. The fleet was commanded by 
 Admirals Dundas and Hamelin, on board 
 their flag-ships Britannia and Ville-de- 
 
 Paris. 
 
 The march forward led over a dried-up 
 hillocky steppe, without water or shade, 
 no signs of the enemy bring visible until the 
 river Bulganak was reached, on the other 
 side of which the ground rose to a slightly 
 elevated ridge, shutting off the horizon. 
 The Hussars led the way, galloping up 
 to the top of the ridge, when the enemy 
 put in appearance in the shape of a body 
 of Cossacks, some two thousand strong, 
 well supplied with horse artillery. They 
 at once opened fire on the British cavalry, 
 which was responded to by the few pieces 
 that had unlimbered ; but after some slight 
 skirmishing, resulting in a loss of seven 
 or eight men wounded, the enemy retired 
 towards another ridge, on which the Rus- 
 sians appeared in force, and extended 
 themselves so as to overlap the left wing 
 of the British forces, which, therefore, 
 fell back upon the Bulganak, and in that 
 position camped for the night — if lying 
 on the ground without rugs, blankets, 
 or tents, on a cold dewy September night, 
 can be called "camping." At dawn on 
 the 20th the troops rose, chilled with wet, 
 and shivering, sopped through and through 
 by the heavy dews, and formed front whilst 
 the sappers were levelling the banks of the 
 river to get the artillery over. The march 
 forward was over a series of rolling ridges, 
 the French following a good road near the 
 sea-shore, and supported by the fleet. At 
 last the final ridge was topped, and the 
 river Alma, with its range of terraced hills 
 on the other side, crowned by the Russian 
 troops and batteries, broke into view. . 
 
 The Russian right wing was more strongly 
 fortified with batteries and redoubts than the 
 left wing and centre, as the ascent of the 
 heights there was not so steep, but cut up 
 into terraces. The centre and right wing, on 
 the other hand, was protected by the ex- 
 tremely steep character of the ascent ; and 
 thus the French would have had a far 
 harder task than the British wing to accom- 
 plish had they not been supported by the 
 fleet. From these heights and terraces the 
 Russian artillery swept the approaches to 
 and from the Alma, which, though generally 
 fordable, was rendered difficult of passage 
 
 [battle of the alma. 
 
 by its steep and rugged banks, the willows 
 aloniifside which had been cut down so as to 
 deprive the allies of any shelter from the 
 fire that swept the plain. At the extreme 
 right of the Russian army, where the ascent 
 was more gradual, and was the key of the 
 position, there were two strong redoubts 
 and a series of trenches. This strong posi- 
 tion was held by 45,000 to 50,000 men, ex- 
 tending along a line of some two miles in 
 length. 
 
 The action was commenced by a move- 
 ment of General Bosquet's Zouaves, who 
 gradually crept up the crags and rocks 
 bordering the mouth of the Alma and the 
 sea-shore, in which operation they were 
 supported by the fleet, which opened fire on 
 the Russians with good efl'ect, and by a 
 movement of General Canrobert at the 
 critical moment when the French troops 
 had gained the summit, and were struggling 
 for their foothold on the precipitous ac- 
 clivities. The fire of the Russians was 
 tremendous; but the Zouaves, taking ad- 
 vantage of every rock and stone, swarmed 
 up the heiglits in loose order, and gradu- 
 ally gained on the enemy. At this mo- 
 ment — about half-past twelve — the order 
 was given for the whole line to advance. 
 As preconcerted, the French engaged the 
 enemy's centre, whilst the British troops 
 proceeded to do their share of the day's 
 work, which, it had been intended, was to 
 turn the Russian right as the French had 
 turned the left wing. Both forces advanced 
 at the double-quick, under cover of the 
 artillery fire, but sorely galled by the 
 enemy's fire, which swept through their 
 ranks like hail, and rendered any species of 
 formation almost an impossibility. The 
 French troops, however, succeeded in gain- 
 ing possession of the first lines of the 
 Russians, who had established themselves 
 in the gardens and vineyards between the 
 river and the hills, and soon succeeded in 
 pushing them over the slopes of the hills, 
 and driving them on to the plateaus above ; 
 General Bosquet's Zouaves, at the same 
 time, pressing on their left wing and 
 doubling them up. They did not make a 
 long stand on the plateau; and when 
 Marshal St. Arnaud sent his second line 
 forward to the assistance of the first, the 
 Russians fell back in disorder. 
 
 In the meantime the British forces had 
 crossed the river, in the face of a tremen- 
 dous fire, in front of the village of Bouliak ; 
 but the Russians being in such force at this 
 
 point, and having so arranged their fire as 
 to make a flank movement an operation of 
 time and extreme danger. Lord Raglan de- 
 cided upon a bold attack straight upon the 
 works which the Russians had so carefully 
 fortified their position with against any 
 front attack. This was the hottest part of 
 the battle, but it was conducted with the 
 same success as the French movements ; so 
 that, by half-past three, the Russian army 
 was cut in two and thrown back upon 
 Baghtcho-Serai and Belbek. The whole 
 battle therefore lasted only three hours : in 
 three hours the allied forces had taken the 
 position the Russians had spent three weeks 
 in fortifying. The loss of the British troops 
 was about 2,000 killed and wounded, and 
 that of the French 1,500; whilst the Rus- 
 sian losses amounted to about 6,000 killed, 
 wounded, and prisoners, among whom were 
 Major-Generals Karganoff and Shokanoff. 
 The Russian losses would have been much 
 greater had the allies possessed more and 
 better-mounted cavalry. As it was, how- 
 ever, by 6 P.M. they encamped on the 
 very ground the Russians bivouacked on. 
 
 The consternation that reigned in Sebas- 
 topol when the news of Prince Mentschi- 
 koff's defeat arrived there, and the mea- 
 sures taken to resist the invaders, will be 
 described hereafter. The immediate result 
 was the sinking of a number of ships across 
 the mouth of the port, in a line from Fort 
 Constantine to Fort Alexander; two power- 
 ful booms, in addition, having been thrown 
 across from Fort Catherine to Fort Ments- 
 chikoff ; whilst within this second line of 
 defence, seven or eight sail-of-the-line had 
 been keeled over so as to let the guns 
 sweep the land approaches north of the 
 harbour, that being the side which the 
 Russians expected to be attacked, and on 
 the defence of which they at first concen- 
 trated all their energies, Prince Mentschi- 
 koff" having abandoned all idea of defending 
 the second line of defence he had at first 
 chosen, that of the river Katcha, which 
 presented even better means of resistance 
 than the Alma. 
 
 The road to Sebastopol was then quite 
 open to the allies; Prince Mentschikoff 
 having retreated with the utmost precipi- 
 tation, and encamped his troops in the 
 plains of Balaklava, on the south side of 
 Sebastopol. He confidently expected that 
 the allies would commence their operations 
 on the north side of the town, for it was in 
 reality the weakest part. Such, also, had 
 
 133 
 
 • \^. 
 
1^ • 
 
 ilH 
 
 MARCH ON SEBASTOPOL,] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1854. 
 
 been the intention of the allies on quitting 
 Varna; but it was found that the enemy's 
 cannon from the outworks, protecting the 
 citadel of Sievernaia, commanded the tract 
 between the fortress and the river Belbek, 
 which would have necessitated commencing 
 operations with this river between the 
 camp and the point of final assault. The 
 plan was, therefore, discarded ; for it was 
 not known, at the time, that the northern 
 defences were by far the weakest, and that 
 the citadel, though capable of holding 
 10,000 men, was in a very dilapidated 
 state. There is little doubt but that, if 
 the allies had had the information they 
 ought to have had, the north side of 
 Sebastopol might have been carried by 
 assault within a week of the battle of the 
 
 Alma. 
 
 As it was, for want of this information, 
 it was decided to make the attack on the 
 south side of the town; and the armies 
 having received four days' provisions, the 
 orders were given on the 25th of September 
 for the advance; Marshal St. Arnaud 
 having on that day resigned his command 
 to General Canrobert, he being in a dying 
 state, and subjected to acute sufferings, 
 from which death released him four days 
 later, on September the 29th. 
 
 The plan was to circumvent Sebastopol 
 so as to gain the harbour of Balaklava, to 
 which the fleets had also been ordered; 
 Prince Mentschikoff would, in consequence, 
 have been taken between the fires of the 
 army and the fleet— a contingency which 
 he foresaw, and decided to guard against 
 by withdrawing such of his forces as were 
 not required in Sebastopol, to Baghtche- 
 Serai. Both armies, the French and 
 Russian, were thus advancing on each other 
 and flanking each other without knowing 
 it. The whole movement, on both sides, 
 was a disgraceful one, from a military point 
 of view. Each commander was cautious to 
 timidity, and the allies at least badly 
 served in respect of information. As might 
 be imagined, the two armies crossed each 
 other's ° path ; whilst the British army. 
 Lord Raglan himself really doing eclaireur 
 134 
 
 work, was steering in a hap-hazard sort of 
 fashion through the forests, north-west of 
 iNIackenzie's Farm. Fortunately for the 
 British troops, the dilatoriness of the 
 artillery, who were disinclined to advance 
 without being covered by cavalry, delayed 
 the progress of the troops, who had not yet 
 emerged from the forest when the Russians, 
 some 15,000 strong, were perceived cross- 
 ing a small plain, surrounded by forests. 
 Had the British column been the first to 
 debouch upon tliis plain, its inferiority 
 would at once have been perceived by the 
 Russians, and probably have been cut to 
 pieces. But as they did not know the 
 strength of the column, they at once 
 jumped to the conclusion that the whole of 
 the allied forces was upon them, when 
 Lord Raglan gave the order for the attack ; 
 and after but a show of resistance they fled, 
 cut in two by the British column, one por- 
 tion falling back upon Sebastopol, and the 
 other conUnuing its way northwards, at a 
 precipitate pace, towards Simpheropol and 
 Baghtche-Serai, and ultimately to the banks 
 of the Belbek. 
 
 Thus, after a series of fortuitous chances, 
 in which scarcely any part of the pro- 
 gramme first decided on had been carried 
 out, the two armies had, in their mutual 
 bewilderment, executed a pas cle deux, ter- 
 minating in a chasse croisee, each one 
 takint^ up the position intended for the 
 
 other.* 
 
 In the meantime, the British fleet, under 
 Admiral Lyons, had occupied Balaklava as 
 a base of operations for the English army, 
 leaving the bay of Kamiesh for the French 
 base. ''The positions of the allied forces 
 were thus reversed, the French forming the 
 left, and the British the right wing. For 
 the ultimate disposition of the forces, and 
 for a description of the works and the 
 ground round Sebastopol, we refer to our 
 plan of Sebastopol, which conveys a much 
 better idea of the place than any words can 
 do. Thus, by the 27th of September, 1854, 
 Sebastopol was invested by the allies— if 
 leaving one side of the place open can be 
 called an investment. 
 
 ■ h} 
 
A.D. 1854.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [siege of sebastopol. 
 
 ■',1 
 
 t 
 
 i i 
 
 CHAPTER XVIL 
 
 FIRST BOMBARDMENT OF SEBASTOPOL ; FAILURE OF THE ATTACK ; BATTLE OF BALAKLAVA ; BATTLE OP 
 IXKERMANN ; GREAT STORM IN THE BLACK SEA; WRETCHED CONDITION OF THE BRITISH AND 
 TURKISH FOKCES. 
 
 DESIO'NEP OF THE DKPENCES OF SEBA?TOPO' 
 
 By the 28th of September, 1854, sixty 
 siege guns had been landed at Balaklava, 
 and on the 3rd of October the first sod 
 of the trenches was turned. The allies 
 had thus practically sat down before Se- 
 bastopol. 
 
 Now Sebastopol had been fortified with 
 a special view to an attack by sea. It 
 was intended as an immense harbour of 
 refuge for the protection of the Russian 
 navies, and whilst the fortifications on 
 the land side had not been entirely neg- 
 lected, still the chief exertions had been 
 concentrated upon the forts and batteries 
 commanding the harbour and its ap- 
 proaches. The consequence was, that when 
 the allies began their operations, the town 
 was practically open on the southern side, 
 upon which the attack was to be concen- 
 trated. In fact, when Prince Mentschi- 
 koff, after his defeat on the Alma, asked 
 the engineers how soon they could con- 
 struct the necessary defences, he was told 
 not before two months. The prinoe then 
 began to consider whether it would be 
 worth while attempting to defend the 
 southern side at all, and whether it might 
 not be better to retire at once to the north 
 side, which commanded the southern. But 
 on hearing the decision of the engineers, 
 a young officer, Lieutenant Todleben, 
 stepped forward, and offered to construct 
 the necessary works within two weeks, 
 if a sufficient number of men were placed 
 at his disposal. His offer was accepted, 
 and the works commenced with immense 
 energy along the whole line, and, be it 
 remembered, under the very noses of the 
 allies. The existing protection on the 
 southern side of the town consisted only 
 of a loopholed wall running from Fort 
 Mentschikoff to the central bastion towers, 
 and protecting the Quarantine Battery. 
 Thence, all round the town, there were no 
 other permanent fortifications except the 
 Malakoff. Todleben at once proceeded 
 to rectify the weakness of this position. 
 The head of the inner harbour was pro- 
 tected by immense earthworks, and two 
 
 tremendous batteries, called the Garden 
 Battery and the Flagstaff Bastion ; further 
 batteries protecting the barracks and 
 central bastion. This line was continued 
 from the head of the inner harbour by 
 a series of earthworks called the Barrack 
 Battery and the Redan, extending to the 
 Malakoff, which was also protected by the 
 Korniloff Bastion and the Mamelon Re- 
 doubt; whence a further series of works 
 extended to an inlet out of the harbour, 
 called Careening Bay, 
 
 All these works — a new Sebastopol, in 
 fact — were being constructed at the same 
 time that the allies were digging their 
 own trenches, without any molestation 
 whatever at the hands of the Anglo-French 
 forces ; who, on the other hand, were sub- 
 jected, during the whole of their operations, 
 to the galling fire of the besieged. There 
 was a great deal of grumbling at this 
 inaction, that the commanders wished to 
 do everything according to " system," and 
 objected to the fire being returned until 
 all the batteries could be unmasked. It 
 was evidently intended on both sides that 
 the struggle should be an artillery duel, 
 in which the advantage, as far as weight 
 of metal was concerned, was decidedly on 
 the Russian side, with the exception of 
 the British batteries of Lancaster guns. 
 
 Thus the works were pushed on with 
 much energy by both parties, in spite of 
 the great difficulties attending the trans- 
 port of stores and material from Balak- 
 lava, where everything was in the greatest 
 confusion ; forming a remarkable contrast 
 to the systematic order prevailing in the 
 French depot in the Kamiesh bay, which, 
 besides, was much better protected against 
 wind and waves than Balaklava bay. As 
 a specimen of the disorder pervading 
 the British administration, may be men- 
 tioned the fact, that the knapsacks of 
 the men, which had been sent on board 
 for carriage to Balaklava when the army 
 made its inland march, were for the most 
 part forgotten, and went sailing about 
 to Constantinople or Marseilles, as the 
 
 135 
 
 'uMiA: 
 
Ili 
 
 111 
 
 h '^ 
 
 I* 
 
 BOMBARDMENT OF SEBASTOPOL.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 various vessels were despatched on fresh 
 duties. Still, in spite of these and similar 
 drawbacks, the works were well pushed 
 forward, not only those of offence, but 
 also of defence, along the heights from 
 Balaklava to the mouth of the Inker- 
 mann valley, north of which the field 
 army of the Russians was encamped, and 
 reinforced on the 3rd of October by Gene- 
 ral Luders and 16,000 men. At last, 
 by the 16th, the works had so far pro- 
 gressed that it was determined to open 
 fire along the whole line on the following 
 day, immediately after daybreak; whilst 
 Admirals Dundas and Hamelin were to 
 co-operate with the fleet, and attack the 
 Russian batteries at the mouth of the 
 
 harbour. - 
 
 At dawn, on the I7th of October, the 
 batteries were unmasked, and the signal to 
 commence given by the discharge of three 
 shells from the centre of the French woiks. 
 The sailors' battery was the first to obey, and 
 soon the whole of the sixty-eight guns were 
 disgorging their fiery contents upon the 
 enemy's works ; the roar of the Lancaster 
 gun, and the rush of its conical shot, being, 
 as an Irishman observed, "like the noise 
 of an express-train that stopped at no 
 intermadiate stations." The nature of the 
 struggle was well described by Lord Raglan, 
 who observed that the character of the 
 position which the enemy occupied was not 
 that of a fortress, but rather of an army in 
 an entrenched camp on very strong ground, 
 with an unlimited number of heavy guns, 
 amply provided with gunners and ammuni- 
 tion. 
 
 The firing was continued, on both sides, 
 with great energy ; but it soon became ap- 
 parent that the French works were too 
 lightly armed to be able to withstand the 
 heavy metal the Russians brought to bear 
 upon them, and, at about ten o'clock, the 
 powder magazine in the French battery, on 
 the extreme right, was exploded, and com- 
 pletely paralysed the efforts of the French 
 for the day. This explosion was succeeded 
 by another, at two o'clock, of twenty 
 tons of powder. This quite stopped tlie 
 French fire, and allowed the Russians to 
 concentrate their fire upon the British 
 works, where they also succeeded in ex- 
 ploding an ammunition-waggon, heavily 
 laden with powder. The British sailors', 
 however, stood well to their guns, in spite 
 of the storm of metal poured upon them, 
 which dismounted many of their guns, in- 
 136 
 
 [A.D. 1854. 
 
 eluding one of the Lancasters. The re- 
 maining one went on working, and suc- 
 ceeded in exploding a Russian magazine in 
 the rear of the Redan, the greater part of 
 the wall of which was entirely demolished. 
 The contest was continued far into the 
 night, without any decisive result being 
 gained^beyond gauging the powers of offence 
 and defence of both parties. Whilst the 
 land forces were being thus engaged, 
 the fleets — numbering fourteen French, ten 
 English, and two Turkish vessels — formed 
 a double crescent,' extending from P'ort 
 Constantino to the Quarantine Battery; 
 but instead of opening fire simultaneously 
 with the land batteries, they did not enter 
 into action until half-past one, instead of 
 at dawn, as ought to have been the case if 
 tlie diversion was meant to assist the land 
 batteries. This is, of course, all that was 
 intended, no idea of forcing the harbour 
 having been entertained for a moment. 
 The excuse for the dilatoriness was that it 
 was a calm, and that the time was lost in 
 towing the ships into position ; but, inas- 
 much as a calm had prevailed since the 
 15th, it ought not to have required any 
 very great mental exertion to provide 
 against the probable contingency of its 
 being a calm on the 17th also, and getting 
 the ships in position during the night. As 
 it was, the whole demonstration resulted in 
 very little damage to the Russians, but 
 considerable confusion and loss of life on 
 the part of the vessels. The attack was 
 conducted, so to say, by instalments ; thus 
 leaving the Russians time to work their 
 guns with ease. The great fault committed 
 by the admirals consisted in their placing 
 their vessels too far away ; the result being, 
 that whilst they themselves were unable to 
 do much damage to the Russians, they were 
 well within range of the enemy's guns; 
 whereas, had they steamed-in closer, the 
 Russian shot would have passed over the 
 ships, or, at any rate, not have done more 
 damage than they did. The only ships 
 that got into' close quarters were the 
 Agamemnon, with Admiral Lyons on board, 
 and the Sanspareil, which tackled Fort 
 Constantino ; whilst they were supported 
 by the Terrible and Sampson, which en- 
 gaged the Wasp and Telegraph batteries. 
 But all the ships engaged suffered more or 
 less severely, the English losses amounting 
 to forty-four killed and 266 wounded, and 
 those of the French to thirty-four killed 
 and 200 wounded. The Russian losses. 
 
 flil 
 
I ill 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 ( 
 
 II 
 
 ( 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 Q. 
 
 ('] 
 
 .p<c^ 
 
 U 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^» A*jJ. '*i|i . !tf.«B Wai'<B ilil im!it) KiiqBI I W i.'lMW « M MMmt 
 
 A.D. 1854.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [battle of balaklava. 
 
 during the naval engagement, amounted to 
 500 killed and wounded, Admiral Korniloff 
 being amongst the former, and Admiral 
 Nakhimotf amongst the latter. 
 ' Thus, whatever, may have been the 
 courage and individual bravery of the men 
 and officers, the 17th of October resulted 
 practically in a repulse all round. It 
 became quite evident that the allies' 
 weight and quantity of metal would have 
 to be largely increased, and that the cliances 
 of a successful assault had been reduced 
 to a minimum by the energy with which 
 the Russians had strengthened their 
 lines. 
 
 " This repulse had a great effect upon 
 the garrison and forces of Sebastopol ; 
 and when the fire was recommenced on 
 the 18th, they showed that the lesson of 
 the previous day had not been thrown 
 away by the increased accuracy of their 
 fire, tlie range having been efficiently 
 ascertained. The cannonade was, however, 
 less effective than it might have been, in 
 consequence of the French not yet having 
 repaired their batteries, and of a want of 
 ammunition. The Russians, however, con- 
 tinued, with undiminished energy, to pour 
 their fire upon the works of the allies, 
 and began seriously to reconnoitre the port 
 of I3alaklava and the state of the lines 
 around it. Thus, on the 20th of October, 
 General Semiakin advanced along the 
 right bank of the Tchernaya to the vil- 
 lage of Kamara ; but withdrew on the ap- 
 proach of the English troops. The same 
 night a successful sortie upon the French ' 
 trenches was executed, and eight mortars 
 and eleven guns spiked ; whilst on the next 
 night an English patrol was attacked in 
 front of the trenches, and its commander. 
 Lord Dunkellin, made prisoner. Greneral 
 Semiakin's report was considered satis- 
 factory; and between the 23rd and 24th, 
 over 10,000 Russians, under General 
 Liprandi, crossed the Tchernaya, and grad- 
 ually approached the Turkish redoubts 
 on the heights protecting Balaklava on 
 the north-east." — A glance at our plan 
 of Sebastopol and Balaklava, will show at 
 once, and plainly, that the line of the allies 
 in this direction was too extended, too 
 weakly held, and insufficiently supported, 
 the real defences not commencing before 
 the French lines on the plateau dominating 
 the valley of the Tchernaya and the north- 
 western portion of the Balaklava plain. 
 The position was thus peculiarly open to a 
 
 VOL. II. T 
 
 flank attack from the villaofe of Kamara 
 and it was here that General Liprandi de- 
 termined to try to break through the line 
 of Tunisian redoubts, and swoop down upon 
 Balaklava, along the Baidar road, with one 
 portion of his forces — his left wing — whilst 
 engaging the centre with his right wing. 
 On the night from the 24th to the 25th ot 
 October Liprandi made all his necessar}^ 
 dispositions, and before dawn crept up, 
 under cover of a dense mist, from Tcher- 
 goum to Kamara. Here there was a delay 
 in the Russian advance, caused by a diver- 
 sity of opinion amongst the Russian com- 
 manders — one party advocating a movement 
 forward, in force, upon the British position, 
 and simply masking the Tunisian batteries : 
 the other insisting that these batteries must 
 first be taken. The latter counsel prevailed, 
 and, at half-past six, the attack commenced. 
 Advice of the appearance of the Russians 
 was sent off to Lords Lucan and Raglan and 
 Sir Colin Campbell, who at once set about 
 making the necessary arrangements to de- 
 fend the position; and two batteries of 
 artillery, under Captains Barker and Maude, 
 with a detachment of Scot's Greys, were 
 sent forward towards tlie redoubts 2, 3, and 
 4. By this time the Russians were swarm- 
 ing over the plain, and brought their 12- 
 pounders speedily to bear on Maude and 
 Barker's batteries with such effect, that 
 the British artillery — Captain Maude being 
 dangerously wounded by a shell — was 
 obliged to fall back, the Scot's Greys ac- 
 companying them. The Russians then, 
 disregarding the fire from the French 
 mortar-battery, on the edge of the plateau 
 south-east of the English head-quarters, 
 advanced in five close columns, preceded 
 and flanked by swarms of Cossacks, upon 
 the Tunisian redoubts. The garrisons of 
 these redoubts were formed exclusively of 
 Tunisians, with one or two English gunners, 
 and were quite panic-stricken when they 
 saw the overwhelming forces marshalled 
 against them. After one or two harmless 
 volleys, the men in the redoubt No. 1 
 scrarabled out of the battery as fast as they 
 could, whilst the Russians scrambled in, 
 and turned the guns — six 12-pounders, 
 which the panic-stricken Africans forgot 
 to spike in their hurry to escape — upon 
 redoubt No. 2. Here the garrison did not 
 wait for an attack; but abandoned their 
 o-uns before the Russians entered the works. 
 They were followed by the men of No. 3, 
 and, after a somewhat better resistance, by 
 
 137 
 
 
V 
 
 CHARGE OF LIGHT :BllIGADE.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1854. 
 
 those of No. 4. The guns in these last 
 three batteries had been spiked, however; 
 whilst Barker's battery, which had again 
 been pushed forward, was replying to the 
 Russian fire from No. 1. Such of the 
 garri.son as escaped then re-formed to the 
 right and left of the 93rd Highlanders, 
 posted in front of No. 4 battery, before the 
 village of Kadikoi. 
 
 The position at this juncture was 
 as follows : the Russian cavalry and artil- 
 lery, backed by the redoubts, and a large 
 body of infantry occupying the Kamara 
 gorge, were holding the Tchernaya and side 
 of the Balaklava plain, ready to swoop 
 down, with a flank movement, upon the 
 port of Balaklava. To counteract this 
 movement, the British and French forces 
 at the immediate disposal of the allies, con- 
 sisted only of the 93rd Highlanders, and 
 the heavy cavalry and the light brigade, 
 under the command of Earls Lucan, Cardi- 
 gan, and Brigadier-General Scarlett. 
 
 The position was thus highly critical; 
 the batteries of Sebastopol were pounding 
 away with redoubled vigour; the extreme 
 right of the defence line was seriously 
 threatened ; and there were, besides, reasons 
 for the belief that an attack might also be 
 made on the left wing, at the mouth of the 
 Tchernaya. Orders were therefore sent to 
 Captain Tatham, of the Simoom, who com- 
 manded the port of Balaklava, to get the 
 transports ready for sea, and make ready to 
 defend the head of the harbour with the 
 frigates Wasp and Diamond, Nor even 
 after the battle was over was it considered 
 that the danger had passed away; and 
 during the whole night preparations were 
 made to evacuate the place. The commis- 
 sariat shipped its cash, and much of the 
 stores and ammunition was re-embarked. 
 
 Things were looking thus serious when 
 the Russian cavalry advanced, supported by 
 their artillery in very great strength, and, 
 dividing into two columns as they crossed 
 the plain, attacked the 93rd Highlanders, 
 front and flank, with the one, and the 
 heavy cavalry, under the Earl of Lucan 
 and Brigadier-G-eneral Scarlett, with the 
 other. The attack on the 93rd was frus- 
 trated by a judicious withdrawal behind 
 the crest of the hill, out of range of the 
 enemy's artillery, until the charge of the 
 Russian cavalry was made upon the right 
 flank, where the Tunisian troops had fallen 
 back before the artillery fire of the Russians. 
 Then, however, the grenadiers of the 93rd, 
 138 
 
 imder Captain Ross, wheeled upon them, 
 and, well supported by the fire of the; 
 marine artillery battery, forced them to 
 retire. Meanwhile, the bulk of the Russian 
 cavalry, two regiments of Hussars, ad- 
 vanced steadily in two lines, four deep, and 
 mounted the ridge of the hill that kept 
 them concealed from Scarlett's heavy 
 brigade. On gaining the crest, they closed 
 up, and swept down on the British lines in 
 a semicircle, with the intention of folding 
 up the British cavalry in its embrace ; but 
 they were met with such impetuosity, that, 
 after a short struggle, their first line was 
 broken through by the Scot's Greys and 
 the Enniskillen dragoons, who then swept 
 on, and also penetrated the second lino. 
 But the number of the Russians was too 
 great, and they were being rapidly out- 
 flanked, when the second British line, com- 
 posed of the 1st Royal Dragoons, the 4th 
 Irish Dragoons, and the 5th Dragoon 
 Guards, was launched against them with 
 complete success. The Russian lines broke 
 and dispersed precipitately across the hills 
 and the high-road, till they gained the 
 shelter of their batteries, the fire of which 
 prevented any further pursuit on the part 
 of the British cavalry. 
 
 The Russian attack had thus been re- 
 pulsed at all points ; and they now doubled 
 back on their own lines, still keeping re- 
 doubts 1 and 2 in great force. Meantime, 
 the Duke of Cambridge and Sir George 
 Cathcart had descended into the plain with 
 two divisions of infantry, supported by the 
 French division and the Chasseurs d'Afrique. 
 No movement was, however, made on 
 either side, each expecting the other, ap- 
 parently, to attack, and contenting them- 
 selves with a desultory cannonade. At labt 
 the Russians advanced from Kamara upon 
 the British right, which gave the signal for 
 the commencement of those remarkable 
 orders which seemed to show that the head- 
 quarters had completely lost their senses; 
 for, whilst the Russians were steadily ad- 
 vancing, the field battery posted on the 
 right flank of the 93rd was ordered to 
 withdraw, and take up a position to the 
 extreme left. Incomprehensible as the 
 order was, they were preparing to obey, 
 when Sir Colin Campbell rode up to enquire 
 what they were doing. The officer told 
 him of the orders he had received, but at 
 once off'ered to disregard head-quarters if 
 Sir Colin Campbell would undertake the 
 responsibility. This Sir Colin at once did, 
 
 
 I 
 
 
■ ■\-\ 
 
 c} x ty^ 1.:^ 
 
 A.D. 1854.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [charge of light brigade. 
 
 1.) \ 
 
 'cykj 
 
 
 iL. x. 
 
 2: 
 < 
 
 > -- 
 
 and the battery continued to render etfec- 
 tive service until the position was still 
 further strengthened by the advance of the 
 Duke of Cambridge, Sir George Cathcart, 
 and Greneral Canrobert, with theip divisions. 
 
 On this demonstration taking place, the 
 Russians retired, and re-formed at the en- 
 trance of the gorges leading into the Tcher- 
 na3^a valley, and under cover of redoubts 1 
 and 2, forming a treble line of artillery, 
 cavalry, and infantry. Lord Raglan, on 
 seeing this, and imagining that the Rus- 
 sians were about to retreat and take the 
 captured guns with them, sent the follow- 
 ing order by Captain Nolan to the Earl of 
 Lucan : 
 
 *' Lord Raglan wishes the cavalry to ad- 
 vance rapidly to the front, to follow the 
 enemy, and try to prevent the enemy 
 carrying away the guns. A troop of horse 
 artillery may follow ; French cavalry is on 
 your right. — Immediate. 
 
 " Richard Airy." 
 
 When Lord Lucan received this order he 
 was quite bewildered, and observed that 
 there must be an error somewhere. To 
 which Captain Nolan retorted, that they 
 were Lord Raglan's orders, and that the 
 cavalry was to attack immediately. Here- 
 upon Lord Lucan plaintively enquired 
 where they were to go, and what guns they 
 were to take ? Captain Nolan replying con- 
 temptuously, as he pointed towards the 
 concentrated enemy, " There, my lord, is 
 your enemy, and there are our guns." 
 Lord Lucan made no reply, but communi- 
 cated the order to the Earl of Cardigan, 
 commanding the light brigade. Lord 
 Cardigan remonstrated ; but Lord Lucan, 
 saying that he agreed with him, replied 
 that the order must be obeyed. Lord Car- 
 digan then formed his men into four squad- 
 rons, composed of the 13th Light Dragoons, 
 17th Lancers, 4th Light Dragoons, and 
 nth Hussars, with the 8th Hussars form- 
 in<y a support. They advanced slowly 
 across the Woronzoff road, till the bugles 
 sounded the charge, and, in the face of an 
 overwhelming fire, dashed on to the 
 enemy's guns, and sabring the artillery- 
 men till they were driven back by the 
 plunging fire of the infantry in the rear, 
 whilst both flanks were cut up by the cross- 
 fire of the batteries on either side. With 
 great difficulty they at last managed to ex- 
 tricate themselves by twos and threes, still 
 harassed by the enemy's fire, and pursued 
 
 by the cavalry. Not one would have es- 
 caped had not the 8th Hussars and the 
 Chasseurs d'Afrique fallen upon the Rus- 
 sian Lancers and checked the pursuit, until 
 they were still further supported in their 
 retreat by the heavy cavalry brigade, des- 
 patched by Lord Lucan for the purpose. 
 
 Thus began and ended the celebrated 
 charge of the light brigade at Balaklava, 
 which, not lasting more than half an hour, 
 entailed a loss of 300 men and officers 
 (among whom was Captain Nolan), out of a 
 total of 680 who went into action. In 
 spite of all that has been written and said 
 regarding this action, the responsibility for 
 it has never yet been satisfactorily settled 
 upon any one — one of the chief actors, 
 Captain Nolan, having been killed at the 
 outset. It must, however, be remembered, 
 that there was a bitter feud between Lords 
 Cardigan and Lucan, and that the latter 
 publicly stated that he never, on any one 
 occasion, allowed himself, directly or in- 
 directly, to remark upon any act of Lord 
 Cardigan, so as to avoid, as he succeeded 
 in doing during the whole time he was 
 under his command, all altercation with 
 him. There is no doubt but that the 
 terms on which Lord Cardigan, Lord 
 Lucan, and Captain Nolan were with each 
 other, were such as to prevent either from 
 taking any course of action which might 
 lay him open to a reproach of cowardice 
 from the other. Thus, to satisfy a personal 
 point of honour and pride between them- 
 selves, all three contributed to the massacre 
 of 300 men, by the literal obedience to an 
 order which admitted of a discretionary 
 interpretation ; for it must be remembered, 
 whilst Lord Raglan's order was to try to 
 prevent the enemy carrying away the guns, 
 at the time it was received they were 
 already practically carried away, and in 
 possession of the whole Russian arm}'. 
 
 The result of the whole action was, that 
 the Russians obtained possession of re- 
 doubts 1 and 2 and the heights com- 
 manding Balaklava plain, thus forcing 
 the allies to draw in their lines to the 
 precipitous heights immediately confining 
 the harbour. This, however, entailed the 
 loss of the road leading from Balaklava 
 to the trenches, and rendered the position 
 generally so insecure, that Lord Raglan 
 would not risk leaving the ships, or more 
 of the stores than necessary for immediate 
 use, within the port, but ordered them 
 to anchor outside — an arrangement which 
 
 139 
 
BATTLE OF INKERMANN.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1854. 
 
 led to the imTDonse destruction of stores 
 and sliippinj:^ on the 14th November. 
 
 The attack on P>alaklava, and the suc- 
 cess gained by the Russians in keepino; tlieir 
 ground, capturing some of tlie artillery, 
 and forcing the allies to draw in their 
 lines, encouraged them to renew tlieir 
 offensive operations. They had discovered 
 the weak points in the position of the 
 allied forces, and determined to take ad- 
 vantage of it to the best of their power; 
 and, on the morning following the battle 
 of Balaklava, the fire from the town was 
 conducted with redoubled energy, ex- 
 ploding the magazine in the chief French 
 battery, and silencing several gims on the 
 British right. As soon as this was ac- 
 complished, a strong force was seen issuing 
 from the works near the Malakoff, strongly 
 supported by cavalry and artillery, whilst 
 a second body was forming at the head 
 of the harbour, the object of these move- 
 ments evidently being an attack upon 
 General De Lacy Evans's division. They 
 came on preceded by a cloud of skir- 
 mishers, and brought their artillery to bear 
 upon Evans's riglit flank; but the British 
 division rapidly forming front, and being 
 protected on their right by a movement 
 of General Bosquet and the Duke of 
 Cambridge, whilst their left was supported 
 by a regiment of rifles from Sir George 
 Cathcart's division, and a couple of guns 
 from Sir George Brown's, their artillery 
 was forced to withdraw by the eighteen 
 pieces brought to bear upon them, and 
 which, then opening fire on the columns 
 of infantry, forced them to retreat in the 
 utmost disorder, being pursued by the 
 30th and 95th regiments almost to the 
 very head of the harbour. The whole 
 action did not last much more than an 
 bour, entailing a loss of about 100 killed 
 and wounded on the British side, whilst 
 the Russians left 130 dead alone on the 
 field. Their loss in wounded would, 
 therefore, have been some 400 or 500 men, 
 besides 80 prisoners, amongst whom, curi- 
 ously enough, was the officer who had 
 captured Lord Dunkellin. 
 
 This sortie of the garrison, combined 
 with the attack the day before on Balak- 
 lava, though successfully repulsed, did not 
 tend to reassure Lord Raglan and his statf 
 as to the safety of the British landing- 
 place, as the vessels were still obliged 
 to anchor outside the harbour, involving 
 much loss and suffering both to those 
 140 
 
 on board and to the invalids on shore, 
 who could not be got off. Meanwhile 
 the Russian commanders had gradually 
 matured their plans, which comprehended 
 for their object an investment of th(i 
 investors. General Liprandi was busily 
 entrenching himself with his troops on 
 the heights of Kamara, and completely 
 commanded the Balaklava plain and the 
 lower road from the port to the trenches, 
 pushing their lines up to the sea-shore, 
 and establishing heavy batteries there, 
 which seriously threatened the extreme 
 right of the British line of defence. 
 
 "^Whilst Liprandi was thus strengthening 
 the Russian left, reinforcements arrived 
 on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd of November from 
 Bessarabia, under Generals Dannenberg 
 and Soimonoff, and were poured into the 
 Russian camp on the heights north-east 
 of the mouth of the Tchernaya, and north 
 of the head of the harbour. These move- 
 ments were conducted on a scale that 
 enabled the allies to form a strong idea 
 that a fresh attack in force was contem- 
 plated, but no extra precautions were 
 taken. Not even the pickets were 
 strengthened, nor any order issued en- 
 joining greater attention. 
 
 At eleven o'clock on the night of the 4th 
 to the 5th of November, the bells of Sebas- 
 topol all began ringing, and tlie chants of 
 the men gathered together for divine service 
 could be distinctly heard in the allied lines. 
 These unusual sounds ceased a little before 
 2 A.M., and were succeeded in about an 
 hour by the rumbling of wheels, and other 
 signs indicative of the movement of largo 
 bodies of troops. The men on guard in 
 tlie various pickets reported these events to 
 their officers ; but no notice w^as taken of 
 them, the repulse which the Russians had 
 suffered a few days back precluding, in 
 their opinion, any likelihood of an attack 
 in this direction. iJefore dawn, however, 
 under cover of a thick fog, strong columns 
 of infantry came upon the advanced pickets 
 on the right of the position, and slowly 
 drove them in, every foot of ground being 
 tenaciously disputed. The alarm soon 
 spread throughout the camp that the Rus- 
 sians were attacking in force, and the 
 2nd division, under General Pennefather, 
 and the light division, under Lieutenant- 
 General Sir George Brown, were sent to 
 the front of the attacked position as soon 
 as possible, whilst Sir George Cathcart, 
 with the 4th division, was brought to bear 
 
 
 
 
 
A.D. 1854/ 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [tkrrible storm. 
 
 upon the front and right of the attack, 
 and generally supported by the rest of the 
 divisions as they could be brouglit up. 
 Tlie Russians, however, poured on in over- 
 whelming numbers, supported by a fierce 
 fire from their own works and the ships in 
 the harbour, which had been brought up 
 for the purpose. They gradually gained 
 ground, and made a determined assault 
 upon the extreme left, and succeeded in 
 taking four guns, which they were, how- 
 ever, forced to relinquish upon an attack of 
 the 88th and 77th regiments. At all points 
 of the attack the contending forces swayed 
 backwards and forwards, Avhilst Liprandi 
 and Prince Gortchakoff made a diversion 
 towards Balaklava, and 5,000 of the garri- 
 son of Sebastopol made a sortie, and fell 
 upon two of the French batteries near the 
 Flagstaif Bastion. For a long time the 
 vict'ory was doubtful. Sir Greorge Cathcart, 
 with a few companies of the 66th, descended 
 into the valley, and charged the full force of 
 the Russians in a narrow ravine, the heights 
 of which were literally lined with Russian 
 troops; but, whilst trying to disentangle 
 his men, was shot dead through the heart. 
 At last, all fears of a serious flank attack by 
 Liprandi having been dispelled, the French 
 troops, brought up by Generals Bosquet and 
 Canrobert, fell upon the Russian left, and, 
 attacking it with an irresistible energy at 
 the poinl of the bayonet, succeeded in turn- 
 ing the fortunes of the day, and at last 
 forced the Russians to retreat, leaving 
 close upon 5,000 dead on the field, out of a 
 force of at least 45,000 men, who had been 
 thus signally repulsed by 14,500 of the 
 allied troops, 6,000 of which were French. 
 The losses of the British troops amounted 
 to 2,400, killed and wounded, among the 
 
 dwindled down to about 14,000 men; 
 and it became clear that they alone could 
 not hope to hold the positions at the head 
 of the harbour, and the mouth of the 
 Tchernayii, against another such attack as 
 that of the 5th of November ; and, con- 
 sequently, the care of the position was 
 handed over to the French, who had re- 
 ceived reinforcements, and at once pro- 
 ceeded to construct those defences which 
 the English had neglected either from 
 want of men or want of will at head- 
 quarters. At the same time, it was agreed 
 that the Flagstaff Bastion, which had 
 hitherto been regarded as the key of 
 the town, w^as nothing of the sort, but tha* 
 the Malakoff was the true key ; and that 
 it was from that side that an assault would 
 have to be made upon the town. It was 
 also universally acknowledged that the ar- 
 tillery at the disposal of the allies was 
 insufficient in quantity and w^eight, and 
 that the w^orks would have to be pushed 
 much further forward before a successful 
 attack could be carried out. 
 
 Meantime a worse enemy than the 
 Russians was approaching — winter, with its 
 storms, tempests, and snows, against which 
 the British troops, at least, were quite 
 unprovided, owing to bad management 
 on all sides. During the whole of the 
 siege, for instance, green coffee-berries 
 were served out to the men in the 
 trenches. Cases of lemons, sent out for 
 scurvy cases, were left unpacked in the 
 stores to rot aw^ay ; and, in short, all the sani- 
 tary and commissariat arrangements were 
 so execrable and thoroughly disgraceful, 
 that during the whole war, whilst only 
 40,000 were killed in battle or died 
 of their wounds, 120,000 were killed by 
 
 former beino- Generals Cathcart, Goldie, and | disease, starvation, and neglect. The 
 
 Strangways; the French losses were 1,726, 
 killed'' and wounded. General de Lourmel 
 being amongst the dead, and General 
 Canrobert himself slightly wounded. The 
 Russians lost General Soimonoff, who was 
 shot through the body, and died soon after. 
 
 Thus ended the great battle of Inker- 
 mann, disastrous to both sides alike. The 
 Russians, as well as the allies, were equally 
 disheartened, and both sides feared a 
 renewal of the struggle. Another such 
 attack, conducted by fresh men, before the 
 allies could have recovered from the blow 
 dealt on the 5th of November, would most 
 likely have resulted in the siege being raised. 
 
 By this time the British forces had 
 
 misery occasioned by this neglect was 
 
 greatly increased by the terrific storm that 
 
 broke over the shores of the Black Sea nine 
 
 days after the battle of Inkermann, the 
 
 losses from which were increased by the 
 
 orders forbidding a large portion of the 
 
 fleet to enter the port of Falaklava; in 
 
 consequence of which, the Prince, with 
 
 a cargo of stores for the troops, worth 
 
 £185,000, w^as dashed to pieces on the 
 
 rocks, and only six saved out of a 
 
 crew of 150 men. Altogether, more than 
 
 twenty vessels were lost with 2,000 hands, 
 
 and cargoes amounting to nearly £2,000,000. 
 
 The gale rose towards daylight on the 
 
 Mth, and by 7 A.M. bad increased in force 
 
 141 
 
THE GREAT STORM.] 
 
 HISTOKY OP^ THE 
 
 [a.D. 1854. 
 
 A.D. 1854.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the great storm. 
 
 to a hurricane. The wind had a harsh 
 screaming sound, increasing in vehemence 
 as it approached, and striking everyone 
 with horror "On it came, a mighty 
 and strong wind ; tlie pole broke off 
 short in the middle, as if it were glass, 
 and in an instant we were pressed down 
 and half stifled by the heavy folds of the 
 wet canvas, which beat us about the head 
 with the greatest fury. Half breathless 
 and blind I struggled for the door. Such 
 a sight as met the eye ! The whole head- 
 quarters' camp was beaten flat to the 
 earth, and the unhappy occupants were 
 rushing through the mud in all directions 
 in chase of their effects and clothes, or 
 holding on by the walls of the enclosure, 
 as they strove to make their way to the 
 roofless and windowless barns and stables 
 for shelter. Three marquees alone had 
 stood against the blast — General Estcourt's, 
 Sir .Tohn Burgoyne's, and Major Paken- 
 ham's. The general had built a cunning 
 wall of stones around his marquee, but ere 
 noon it had fallen before the wind, and the 
 major's shared the same fate much earlier 
 in the day. Next to our tent had been 
 the marquee of Captain de Morel, aide-de- 
 camp to the Adjutant-General Est court. 
 It lay fluttering on the ground, and as I 
 looked, the canvas seemed animated by 
 some great internal convulsion — a mimic 
 volcano appeared to be opening beneath it, 
 and its folds assumed the most fantastic 
 shapes, tossing wildly about in the storm. 
 The phenomenon was speedily accounted 
 for by the apparition of the gallant owner 
 fighting his way out desperately against 
 the wind, which was bent on tearing his 
 very scanty covering from his person ; and 
 at last he succeeded in making a bolt of 
 it, and scampered through the mud to the 
 hutSo * * * Right before us the camp of 
 the Chasseurs d'Afrique presented an 
 appearance of equal desolation and misery. 
 Their little tentes d'abri stood for a few 
 minutes, but at last the poles snapped, 
 and they were involved in the common 
 ruin. 
 
 " Woe betide the Russians had they 
 come on that day, for, fiercer than the 
 storm, and stronger than all its rage, 
 the British soldier would have met and 
 beaten their teeming battalions. The cry 
 was, all throughout this dreadful day, 
 ' Let us get at the town ; better far that 
 we should have a rush ac the batteries, and 
 be done with it, than stand here to be 
 142 
 
 beaten by the storm.' Scenes of wretched- 
 ness met the eye. The guard tents were 
 down ; the late occupants huddled together 
 under the side of a barn, their arms 
 covered with mud, lying where they had 
 been thrown down from the 'pile' by 
 the wind. The officers of the guard had 
 fled to the commissariat stores near Lord 
 Raglan's, and found there partial shelter. 
 Inside the commissariat yard, overturned 
 carts, dead horses, and groups of shivering 
 men, were seen — not a tent standing. 
 Mr. Cooksley had to take refuge amongst 
 his stores, and was no doubt glad to find 
 it, even amid salt pork and rum pun- 
 cheons. Nearer to us Hussar horses were 
 dead and dying with cold. 
 
 " With chattering teeth and shivering 
 limbs, each man looked at his neighbour. 
 Lord Raglan's house, with the smoke of 
 its fires steaming away from the chimneys, 
 and its white walls standing out freshly 
 against the black sky, was, indeed, * the 
 cynosure of neighbouring eyes.' Our gene- 
 rals' marquees were as incapable of resisting 
 the hurricane as the bell-tents of the com- 
 mon soldiers. Lord Lucan was seen, for 
 hours, sitting up to his knees in sludge, 
 amid the wreck of his establishment^ medi- 
 tative as Marius amid the ruins of Carthage. 
 Lord Cardigan was sick on board his yacht, 
 in the harbour of Balaklava. Sir Greorge 
 Brown was lying, wounded, on board the 
 Agamemnon, off Kamiesch Bay. General 
 Evans, sick and shaken, was on board the 
 Sanspareil, off Balaklava. General Ben- 
 tinck, wounded, was on board the Caradoc 
 at Constantinople, on his way to England. 
 The Duke of Cambridge, sick and depressed, 
 was passing an anxious time of it in 
 the Retribution, off Balaklava, in all the 
 horrors of that dreadful scene at sea. But 
 General Pennefather, Sir R. England, Sir 
 J. Campbell, Brigadier Adams, Brigadier 
 Buller — in fact, all the generals and 
 colonels and officers in the field — were just 
 as badly off as the meanest private. The 
 only persons whose tents weathered the 
 gale, as far as I could hear, were Mr. 
 Romaine, deputy judge-advocate-general; 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Dickson, Royal Artillery, 
 and Captain Woodford. The first had, how- 
 ever, pitched his tent cunningly within the 
 four walls of an outhouse, and secured it 
 by guys and subtle devices of stone-work. 
 They were hospitable spots, those tents — 
 oases in the desert of wretchedness ; many 
 a poor half-frozen wanderer was indebted. 
 
 almost for life, to the shelter he there re- 
 ceived. Now and then a cruel gleam of 
 sunshine absolutely shot out of a rift in the 
 walls of clouds, and rendered the misery of 
 the scene more striking. Gathered up, as 
 we were, under the old wall, we could not 
 but think, with anxious hearts, of our fleet 
 at sea — of our transports — of Balaklava and 
 the Katcha — of the men in the trenches 
 and on picket. Alas! we had too much 
 reason for our anxiety. Towards ten o'clock 
 matters were looking more hopeless and 
 cheerless than ever, when a welcome in- 
 vitation came through the storm for us to 
 go over to the shelter of a well-protected 
 tent. Our first duty was to aid the owner 
 in securing the pole w4th a 'fish' of stout 
 spars. Then we aided in passing out a 
 stay from the top of the pole to the wall in 
 front, and, in a short time afterwards, a cup 
 of warm tea was set before each of us, pro- 
 vided by some inscrutable chemistry ; and, 
 with excellent ration-biscuit and some 
 butter, a delicious meal — as much needed 
 as it was quite unexpected — was made by 
 my friends and myself, embittered only by 
 the ever-recurring reflection, ' God help us : 
 what will become of the poor fellows in the 
 trenches and on the hill !' And there we 
 sat, thinking and talking of the soldiers and 
 of the fleet, for hour after hour, while the 
 wind and rain blew and fell, and gradually 
 awakening to the full sense of the calamity 
 with which Providence was pleased to visit 
 us. Towards twelve o'clock the wind, which 
 had been blowing from the south-west, 
 chopped round more to the west, and be- 
 came much colder. Sleet fell first, and 
 then came a snow-storm, which clothed the 
 desolate landscape in white, till the tramp 
 of men seamed it with trails of black mud. 
 The mountain ranges assumed their winter 
 garb. French soldiers, in great depression 
 of spirit, flocked about our head-quarters, 
 and displayed their stock of sorrow to us. 
 Their tents were all down, and blown away 
 — no chance of recovering them; their 
 bread was tout inouille et gate ; their 
 rations gone to the dogs. The African 
 soldiers seemed particularly miserable. Poor 
 fellows I several of them we found dead next 
 morning, outside the lines of our cavalry 
 camp. We lost several men also. In the 
 light division, four men were ' starved to 
 death' by the cold; two men in the 7th 
 Fusileers, one man in the 23rd, and one 
 man of the 2nd battalion Rifle Brigade, were 
 found dead. About forty of the horses, also, 
 
 died from the cold and wet. But the day 
 was going by, and there was no prospect 
 of any abatement of the storm. At two 
 o'clock, however, the wind went down a 
 little, and the intervals between the blast 
 of the gale became more frequent and 
 longer. " We took advantage of one of these 
 halcyon moments to trudge away to the 
 wreck of the tent, and, having borrowed 
 another pole, with the aid of a few men we 
 got it up, all muddy and filthy, and secured 
 it, as far as possible, for the night ; but it 
 was evident that no dependence could be 
 placed on its protection, and the floor was 
 a mass of dirt and puddle, and the bed and 
 clothes dripping wet. I mention my own 
 tent only, because what was done in one 
 case was done in others ; and, towards even- 
 ing, there were many tents re-pitched along 
 the lines of our camps, though they were 
 but sorry resting-places. Although the 
 tents stood, they flapped about so much, 
 and admitted such quantities of snow, rain, 
 and filth from outside, that it was quite 
 out of the question to sleep in them. What 
 was to be done ? Suddenly it occurred to 
 us that there might be room in the barn, 
 used as a stable for the horses of Lord 
 Ra«-lan's escort of the 8th Hussars : and we 
 at once waded across the sea of nastiness 
 which lay between us and it, tacked against 
 several gusts, fouled one or two soldiers in 
 a different course, grappled with walls and 
 angles of outhouses, nearly foundered in 
 big horse-holes, bore sharp up round a 
 corner, and anchored at once in the stable. 
 What a scene it was ! The officers of the 
 escort were crouching over some embers of 
 a wood-fire; along the walls were packed 
 some thirty or forty horses and ponies, 
 shivering with cold, and kicking and biting 
 with spite and bad humour. The Hussars, 
 in their long cloaks, stood looking gloomily 
 on the flakes of snow which drifted in at 
 the doorway or through the extensive aper- 
 tures in the shingle roof. Soldiers of dif- 
 ferent regiments crowded about the warm 
 corners, and Frenchmen of all arms, and a 
 few Turks, joined in the brotherhood of 
 misery, lighted their pipes at the scanty 
 fire, and sat close for mutual comfort. The 
 wind blew savagely through the roof, and 
 through chinks in the mud walls and 
 window-holes. The building was a mere 
 shell, as dark as pitch, and smelt, as it 
 ouo^ht to, an honest, unmistakable stable — 
 improved by a dense pack of moist and 
 mouldy soldiers. And yet it seemed to us 
 
 143 
 
EFFECTS OF THE STORM.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 18j4. 
 
 a palace ! Life and joy were inside, thoun^h 
 melancholy Frenchmen would insist on 
 being pathetic over their own miseries — 
 and,°indeed, they were many and great— 
 and, after a time, the eye made out the 
 figures of men, huddled up in blankets, 
 lying along the w;dl. They were the sick, 
 who had been in the hospital marquee, and 
 who now lay, moaning and sighing, in the 
 cold ; but our men were kind to them, as 
 they always are to the distressed, and not 
 a pang of pain did they feel which care 
 and consideration could dissipate. A staff- 
 officer, dripping with rain, came in to see if 
 he could get any shelter for draughts of the 
 r)3rd and 41st regiments, which had just 
 been landed at Kamiesch ; but he soon 
 ascertained the hopelessness of his mission, 
 so far as our quarters were concerned. Tlie 
 men were packed into another shed, ^ like 
 herrings in a barrel.' 
 
 " Having told us, 'There is terrible news 
 from Balaklava ; seven vessels lost, and a 
 number on shore at the Katcha,' and thus 
 made us more gloomy than ever, the officer 
 went on his way, as well as he could, to 
 look after his draughts. In the course of 
 an hour an orderly was sent off to Balaklava 
 with despatches from head-quarters; but, 
 after being absent three-quarters of an hour, 
 the man returned, fatigued and beaten, to 
 say he could not get his horse to face the 
 storm. In fact, it would have been all but 
 impossible for man or beast to make head- 
 way through the hurricane. We sat in the 
 dark till night set in — not a soul could stir 
 out. Nothing could be heard but the howl- 
 ing of the wind, the yelp of wild dogs driven 
 into the enclosures, and the shrill neighing 
 of terrified horses. At length a candle-end 
 was stuck into a horn lantern, to keep it 
 from the wind : a bit of ration pork, and 
 some rashers of ham, done over the wood- 
 fire, furnished an excellent dinner, which 
 was followed by a glass or horn of hot 
 water and rum; then a pipe; and, as it was 
 cold and comfortless, we got to bed — a 
 heap of hay on the stable floor, covered 
 with our clothes, and thrown close to the 
 heels of a playful grey mare, who had strong 
 antipathy to her neighbours, a mule and 
 an Arab horse, and spent the night in at- 
 tempting to kick in their ribs. Amid 
 smells, and with incidents impossible to 
 describe, or to allude to more nearly, we 
 went to sleep, in spite of a dispute between 
 an Irish sergeant of hussars, and a York- 
 shire corporal of dragoons, as to the com- 
 144 
 
 parative merits of light and heavy cavalry, 
 with digressions respecting the capacity ( f 
 English and Irish horseflesh, which, by the 
 last we heard of them, seemed likely to bo 
 decided by a trial of physical strength on 
 the part of the disputants.'' Throughout 
 the day there had been very little firing 
 from the Russian batteries. Towards even- 
 ing, all was silent except the storm. In 
 the middle of the night, however, we were 
 all awoke by one of the most tremendous 
 cannonades we had ever heard, and, after a 
 time, the report of a rolling fire of musketry 
 came down on the wind. Looking eagerly 
 in the direction of the sound, we saw the 
 flashes of the cannon through the chinks in 
 the roof, each flash distinct by itself, just 
 as a flash of lightning is seen in all its 
 i length and breadth through a crevice in a 
 I wimlow-shutter. It was evident there was 
 j a sortie on the French lines. The can- 
 : nonade lasted for half-an-hour, and gradu- 
 ally waxed fainter. In the morning, we 
 heard the Russians had sallied out, from 
 their comfortable warm barracks, on the 
 French in the trenches, but that they had 
 been received with an energy which quickly 
 made them fly back again to the cover of 
 their guns. It is said that the French 
 actually got into a part of the Russian 
 lines in chafing their troops back, and 
 spiked some of the guns within an earth- 
 work battery. In Balaklava, the harbour 
 was lined with the debris from the wrecks 
 outside; trusses of compressed hay, pieces 
 of timber, large beams of wood, masts and. 
 spars of all sizes, formed large natural rafts, 
 which lay stranded by the beach, or floated 
 about among the shipping. The old tree 
 which stood at the guard-house, at the 
 entrance to the town, was torn up, and in 
 its fall it had crushed the house, so as to 
 make it a mass of ruins. The soldiers of 
 the guard were doing their best to make 
 themselves comfortable within the walls. 
 The fall of this tree, which had seen many 
 winters, coupled with the fact that the 
 verandahs and balconies of the houses, and 
 a row of very fine acacia trees on the beach, 
 were blown down, corroborates the state- 
 ment so generally made by the inhabitants, 
 that they had never seen or heard of such a 
 hurricane in their lifetime, although there 
 is a tradition among some, that once in 
 thirty or forty years such visitations occur 
 along this coast." 
 
 Henceforward, to the close of the year 
 1854, the war in the Crimea, on both sides, 
 

 P V 
 
A.D. 1854.] 
 
 EUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [state of the army. 
 
 m 
 
 was a war against the elements, want, and 
 disease ; the Russians themselves being but 
 little better off than the allies. Worst off 
 of all, however, was the Turkish contingent ; 
 and the following picture of the sufferings 
 of these poor fellows, shows, better than 
 anything else, to what dire straits the allies 
 had been brought through undertaking 
 such an enterprise as the reduction of 
 Sebastopol, without sufficient forces or ma- 
 terial of war. 
 
 " The men were without clothes, without 
 food, and without shelter — literally left 
 to die. The surgeon said, the 110 drachms 
 of biscuit granted by our commissariat 
 was utterly insufficient to support the men 
 mder the duties they were expected to 
 perform. They were brought in to him 
 all day, and day after day, dying from 
 exhaustion, and he had nothing to give 
 them — not even a refuge where they could 
 pass away quietly. We descended the 
 hill towards a good sized building — a new 
 Greek church — the roof of which had not 
 been quite finished, and which, with 
 many houses, had been given up to the 
 Turks for the use of their sick. As we 
 came near it, two or three men were being 
 carried in. The surgeon pointing to them, 
 said solemnly, ' None of those poor fellows 
 will come out alive. I have not saved a 
 single man who has once entered that 
 fatal building.' I asked him, had he any 
 medicines ? and he replied, pointing to 
 two large tents covering trunks and boxes, 
 that he had a considerable store of them. 
 'But they are useless,' he added; 'the 
 men are dying of hunger, and medicine 
 is of no avail.' His patients, when admitted, 
 were too weak to masticate their small 
 ration of bread, and they soon ceased to 
 require bis care. An acute kind of 
 diarrhoea, somewhat similar to cholera, 
 always terminated their sufferings. He 
 said he had many times entreated our 
 commissariat authorities to spare him a 
 little meat of any kind, salt or fresh, with 
 a little rum, for the use of the hospital, 
 but in vain, so he thought they had none 
 to give. I asked to be allowed to see his 
 hospital ; but he advised me strongly not to 
 go inside, as the atmosphere of the place 
 was almost poisonous. However, I pressed 
 my request, and, with some reluctance, he 
 advanced towards the door of the build- 
 ing, across which, as in Turkish houses, 
 hung a piece of matting. He pulled 
 this aside, and the sight that met my 
 VOL. II. \j 
 
 gaze rooted me to the ground, and made my 
 heart sink within me. The building in- 
 side formed a square of about 100 feet, 
 and every inch of the space was covered 
 with Turks. Not a soul was in the place 
 but the dead and dying. The deadly 
 foetid air which issued from this charnel- 
 house, made me involuntarily shrink back 
 from the door with loathing, and I already 
 repented my rash wish to enter. But 
 the surgeon had gone in, and I followed. 
 The sickening horrors that I saw would 
 be repulsive to dwell upon ; but the princi- 
 pal features, which surpassed all the ima- 
 ginations of Defoe or Boccaccio ever con- 
 ceived, may be soon told. The building 
 had once been used as a cholera hospital ; 
 and, before the Turks, the Russian .wounded 
 had been put there, and all died. Since 
 the allies first took the place, the floor 
 had never been cleaned, and it was now 
 ankle-deep in filth of the most abominable 
 description. The Turks lay in this with- 
 out blankets, covering, bed or bedding. 
 The latest comers — those nearest the door 
 — had a wan, pinched, mournful look, in 
 which death was plainly written. They 
 did not speak, but raised their eyes in 
 mute appeal as we passed. Those further 
 in, who had been inmates of the place some 
 three or four days, were dying fast ; many 
 were dead, and lay rigid and almost un- 
 noticed amongst the rest. Beyond small 
 jars of rice-water here and there, there 
 was no food or medicine of any description 
 in the place. At the upper end of all, my 
 blood crept to perceive, that both the Turks 
 that lay there, and the walls of the build- 
 ing, were completely covered with mag- 
 gots, which crawled in all directions. While 
 I was there, four men of the burying 
 party entered, and began looking carefully 
 amongst the prostrate forms. They had 
 not long to search. Five corpses were 
 carried out by the arms and legs, and laid 
 upon the stones in front of the place, from 
 whence another party bore them to their 
 last home. Other incidents occurred, but 
 of so harrowing and dreadful a nature 
 that it would be impossible to mention 
 them here. Dizzy and sick with what I 
 had seen, I hurried into the open air. The 
 surgeon followed me, and, in reply to 
 some of my exclamations of horror, said 
 the place would yet, he feared, be worse 
 before the winter was over. I promised 
 to see him again, and obtain a detailed 
 account of all the sufferings of his unfor- 
 
 145 
 
 i 
 
 || 
 
 !: 
 
/ f' 
 
 ■y.) 
 
 •j'l 
 
 OPERATIONS IN THE BALTIC.] HISTORY 
 
 most anxious to give me. But on the fol- 
 lowing day he was sent to Eupatoria, and I 
 saw hL no more, and literally had not the 
 courage to visit the 'hospital again. 
 
 During the rest of the months of No- 
 vember Ld December, the "^ge pro- 
 gressed without any special events of im- 
 portance. The Russians continued strength- 
 en ng their works, the allies advancing 
 their^ parallels amidst a serie^"^, 7,^^ 
 and surprises that cost a good deal of life. 
 Several changes took place m the various 
 
 OF THE [A.D. 1 854. 
 
 ^^^^^ Directly after the battle of 
 Inkermann, the Duke of Cambridge re- 
 turned home, and, soon after. Sir De Lacy 
 Evans and Lord Cardigan resigned their 
 commands ; whilst, in the fleet, Admirals 
 Lvons and Bruat succeeded Dundas and 
 Hamelin. The Turkish troops, too, which 
 had been disengaged from service in the 
 Danubian provinces by the action of Aus- 
 tria began to arrive in the Crimea at 
 Eu^atork, the importance of which was 
 beginning to be recognised both by the 
 czar and the allies. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Whilst Russia was thus being attacked in 
 the south, a strong fleet, under Admirals Sir 
 Charles Napier and Parseval-Deschenes 
 sailed for the Baltic, 'representing a force o 
 44 vessels, 2,200 guns, and 22,000 sailors 
 and marines. Great things were expected 
 from this imposing force, and almost stil 
 greater things from Sir Charles himself, 
 fut t was soon discovered that the nature 
 of the Gulf of Finland, with its shoals 
 
 shallows, and int""'^*^ P^T"'\nd Kron- 
 bv such fortresses as Sweaborg and Kron- 
 
 stadt, presented insuperable >i«PefXt' 
 to any effectual ofi'ensive measures by a fleet, 
 however strong, without the Bupport and 
 co-operation of a large army to reduce tl e 
 garrisons of the strong places, and oppose 
 the numerous forces that the czar had called 
 up to protect the Baltic provinces. 
 
 All this had been overlooked by the AO- 
 miralty, as well as by the public. 
 
 Both seemed to think that the allied fleet^ 
 • would only have to ste.m up the gul , 
 Thatter the forts of Sweaborg and Kronstadt, 
 utterly destroy the Russian navy, and com- 
 Bletely cripple the commerce of the country 
 Kast, ev?n :f the fleets did not actually 
 bombard and take St. Petersburg itself. 
 
 AH these extravagant expectations were 
 doomed to disappointment: it was found 
 that Sweaborg and Kronstadt were unap- 
 proachable, and far too .trong to be success- 
 fully tackled without very heavy artillery, so 
 140 
 
 thattheoperationsofthefleetwerepractically 
 confined to a blockade of the various ports 
 or the capture of Russian merchantmen. 
 Hostilities commenced with the notification 
 of the blockade of all Russian ports, and 
 the despatch of an expedition up the Gulf 
 of Bothnia, destroying all the shipping, 
 stores, and dockyards at Brahestad and Ulea- 
 bor<T. At Gamla Karleby, however, the 
 offiwr in command, assisted by the inhabi- 
 tants and 400 men, successfully repulsed 
 the expedition, consisting, by the way, ot 
 the leoparc?, Y'uXture, and Od%n; losing 
 fifty-four men killed, 148 wounded, and 
 twenty-two prisoners, besides a gun and a 
 flac'. P«»' contra, the loss inflicted on the 
 Russians amounted, in the Gulf of Bothnia, 
 to forty-six vessels afloat or on the stocks, 
 and pitch and timber to the value ot 
 £400,000, most of it private property, and 
 undefended ; so that the Russians had some 
 cause for triumph at the squadron being 
 signally defeated at the only place on the 
 gulf where a defence was made. 
 
 Meanwhile, reconnaissances were being 
 made at the entrance of the Gulf of Fin- 
 land ; and Bomarsund, on the island ot 
 Aland, was bombarded from a distance ot a 
 mile and a-half, almost beyond range of the 
 batteries, for seven hours. The fire was 
 renewed on the 25th and 26th of June ; but 
 without any important results. At Hango 
 an attack was also repulsed by the Russians, 
 
 
 
 
 "<^>-^ 
 
 
 i< 
 
 "^iV 
 
 
 ■x 
 
 
 /. 
 
 ') 
 
 ^X 
 
 ..v 
 
 \ 
 
 -^i:-- ^^:\( ,) \ 
 
 
 
 
 V.J 
 
 
 lit 
 
 I' 
 
 I*' 
 
 1 :. 
 
r 
 
 \\ 
 

 1 
 

 ^3 \N.. , 
 
 ; V.'. 
 
 U ' 
 
 A.D. 1854.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [bomarsund bombarded. 
 
 
 
 
 
 , »'T.' 
 
 
 
 r 
 
 ..^^'^ 
 
 X f- 
 
 V. 
 
 
 
 who inflicted considerable loss on the squad- 
 ron. Whilst these operations were going on 
 at the entrance of the Gulfs of Bothnia and 
 Finland, the fleet had steamed up to Kron- 
 stadt. The result of this visit is well 
 described by Dr. Cottman, an American re- 
 siding in St. Petersburg, and whose words 
 will reflect the state of the Russian mind 
 at this time. He says — 
 
 " Old Admiral Napier came up last Sun- 
 day-week, and took a look at Kronstadt, 
 where I have been waiting a month to see a 
 great combat, and have been disappointed, 
 for the fleet all disappeared on Monday. I 
 have found out there is to be no show. I 
 paid my money at the gate,got admission, but 
 found the principal actor sick — 'Can't come 
 to the scratch,' and the play ' is given up.' 
 The finest fleet that ever floated passes by 
 Riga, Revel. Sweaborg, and Kronstadt, and 
 contents itself with a look. The days of 
 chivalry are gone ; and I must be satisfied 
 with cheerful, happy faces, and hospitable 
 hearths, in lieu of great battles in Russia. 
 British valour has eked out in gasconade, 
 detraction, and defamation of private cha- 
 racter, and destruction of private property. 
 The idea of terminating a war by discord in 
 the imperial household, and jealousy be- 
 tweeen the elder brothers of the imperial 
 family ! There never existed a more united 
 or harmonious family. The Grand Duke 
 Alexander is, according to the journals of 
 the day, dying of hectic fever and night- 
 sweats, when in reality he would pass freely 
 for a beer-drinking, athletic Englishman, 
 and, I might almost say, with an exuberance 
 of health; and, instead of jealousy and dis- 
 trust, the most cordial sympathy and devo- 
 tion to each other prevail. Brothers more 
 devoted to each other cannot be found any- 
 where in the private walks of life. Michael, 
 the chief of artillery, and Nicholas, of in- 
 fantry, are both very intelligent ; and the 
 devotion to their father, and the desire to 
 execute his will, equal anything that the 
 most exalted imagination could picture. 
 The emperor's health and spirits have been 
 very good for the last two months; but 
 they both appeared to advantage the two 
 days that the allied fleet lay off Kronstadt. 
 The fleet lay between the imperial pavilion 
 on the premises of the Grand Duchess 
 Helen, at Oranienbaum, and the fortifica- 
 tions at Kronstadt. Thousands of persons 
 collected on the heights of Knausa G-orkoe, 
 and about Oranienbaum, as they said, to 
 see Old Charley cut capers when the ball 
 
 opened; but they were disappointed: this 
 magnificently attired company declined to 
 face the music, and left the saloon ; conse- 
 quently, the ball was closed before the 
 dancing commenced, as it is rather awkward 
 to dance without a vis-a-vis,^^ 
 
 Meanwhile, summer was rapidly slipping 
 away ; and both the crews of the fleet, and 
 the public at home, began to grumble at 
 the "inaction" of the fleets. Something 
 had to be done ; Sweaborg and Kronstadt 
 were, or were considered to be, unassailable ; 
 so it was determined to make another at- 
 tempt on Bomarsund, which had so success- 
 fully resisted the bombardment of the 21st, 
 25th, and 26th of June. 
 
 The fortifications of this place were not 
 very formidable. They consisted of a main 
 work, faced with granite, and flanked by 
 two towers of the same material. These 
 works were swept by forts Nortike and Tsee, 
 and were further supported by two or three 
 towers built on a rocky ridge, almost sur- 
 rounding the enceinte. The armament 
 was 190 guns, and a garrison of 3,000 men. 
 It would be thought that the most power- 
 ful fleet the French and English were able 
 to put upon the Baltic would be amply 
 sufficient to reduce this place : but it was 
 not thought so; and 11,000 French and 
 1,500 British land troops were despatched 
 to assist the fleet in its operations. These 
 commenced on the 7th of August, with the 
 disembarkation of the troops and the guns 
 for the batteries, to be erected against the 
 round towers ; the French receiving Fort 
 Tsee for their share, whilst the English laid 
 themselves against Fort Nortike; the 
 batteries, however, being so placed as to be 
 able to concentrate iheir tire en either. 
 On the 13th of August, fire was opened by 
 the French battery at daybreak, but little 
 impression was made upon the works ; still, 
 the commanding oflScer in the fort plainly 
 saw that he would eventually be forced to 
 give up the fort, and, desirous to save life, 
 off'ered to capitulate. His terms, however, 
 were not accepted ; and, next day, the fort 
 was stormed by the French, access being 
 obtained by the lower embrasures, which" 
 were unarmed, only boarded up, and not 
 more than six feet high above the ground. 
 The greater part of the garrison, however, 
 escaped to the chief fort, leaving thirty-two 
 prisoners in the hands of the French, who 
 had a narrow escape from being blown up, 
 the fort having been undermined for the 
 purpose. Fortunately for them, the fact 
 
 147 
 
I 
 
 BOMARSUND CAPITULATES.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1854. 
 
 A.D. 1854.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [ANATOLIAN CAMPAIGN. 
 
 leaked out, and they had just time to leave 
 it, when the mine suddenly exploded, and 
 entirely shattered the whole building, 
 burying a few French and native stragglers, 
 who had delayed their departure too long, 
 beneath its ruins. 
 
 During the night, the British forces had 
 succeeded in establishing a battery of 
 three 32-pounders and four howitzers 
 within 750 yards of Fort Nortike, on which 
 they opened fire at daybreak on the 15th. 
 The garrison replied with great energy, 
 but the battery continued pounding away 
 at the tower till a breach was made, and 
 preparations commenced for the assault, 
 when the white flag was hoisted, and the 
 garrison — 120 men — surrendered. Mean- 
 while, the fleet was bombarding the rest 
 of the works at a distance of 3,000 yards, 
 and, on tlie 16th, the two forts having fallen, 
 General Bodisco, the governor, was con- 
 vinced that further resistance would only 
 entail unnecessary and a fruitless loss of life, 
 and surrendered with his garrison, 2,3U0 
 men, wiio were made prisoners of war. 
 The fortifications were ultimately blown 
 up on the 30th of August, and the fleets 
 proceeded to Hango, where there were 
 some small works which the Russians 
 destroyed themselves, the garrison retiring 
 to Abo, whither they were followed by 
 a squadron under Captain Scott, who, 
 however, contented himself with firing an 
 occasional shot at the gun-boats and bat- 
 teries protecting the place, which, more- 
 over, was defended by a body of some 
 18,000 men. In the meantime, Admiral 
 Napier had effected a reconnaissance off 
 Sweaborg, but came to the conclusion, that 
 whatever might be effected in that direction 
 could not be accomplished that year at 
 any rate; and thus, towards the end of Oc- 
 tober, the allied fleet steered homewards, 
 to the intense discontent of the public in 
 England and France ; and, it may be added, 
 to that of the crews also. The Russians 
 and other continental nations were, of 
 course, in high glee ; Danes, Swedes and 
 Dutchmen grinned complacently, and opined 
 that Great Britain's naval supremacy had 
 gone for ever; and that walls of oak 
 were no match for walls of stone. There 
 was much quarrelling, both in France and 
 England, as to what might have been done ; 
 and the British government and Sir Charles 
 Napier got so at loggerheads on the subject, 
 that the admiral was placed on half-pay. 
 Sir Charles defended himself against the 
 148 
 
 charge of neglecting his duty, and not at- 
 tacking Sweaborg, in terms anything but 
 complimentary. His defence is contained 
 in a letter he wrote to the Times; and with 
 this letter, premising that he was succeeded 
 in the command of the Baltic fleet by 
 Admiral Dundas, the account of the opera- 
 tions in this quarter, for 1854, may be 
 closed. Sir Charles wrote — "I send you 
 a chart of Sweaborg and Helsingfors, and a 
 plan of their fortifications, showing the ad- 
 jacent islands and sunken rocks. Show 
 them to any naval officer, young or old 
 (and you must know many), and ask him if 
 it is possible, in winter, to place buoys and 
 beacons on those rocks and shoals ; to con- 
 duct a fleet alongside the batteries of 
 Sweaborg, having neither gun-boats nor 
 mortar-boats to cover the approach of the 
 vessels and boats; to place the buoys on 
 the sunken rocks, all of which are within 
 range of the enemy's batteries. It will 
 require several days for this operation, and 
 they will be under fire night and day. 
 The Russians themselves could not navi- 
 gate these seas without beacons, and they 
 are all removed. During the time the pro- 
 cess of buoying is going on, the fleet must 
 be at anchor among the outer rocks. Ima- 
 gine to yourself, sir, a south-west gale 
 coming on (and in the winter, without 
 warning), and judge what would become of 
 your fleet and gun and mortar-boats. A 
 great number of the former would be 
 driven on the rocks, and the latter would 
 either be swamped or obliged to take 
 refuge in the enemy's harbour." 
 
 Nor were the British and French fleets 
 more successful in any other quarter. In 
 the White Sea they were repulsed at the 
 few points they did attack ; and suffered 
 great losses at Petropaulowski, on the 
 shores of Kamschatka, where the Russian 
 commander, with 144 guns, signally re- 
 pulsed the attack made upon the place by 
 Captain Nicholson— Admiral Price having 
 shot himself on the eve of the attack — in- 
 flicting great loss upon the allied squadron, 
 composed of eight vessels, with 250 guns. 
 
 After the departure of the fleet from the 
 Baltic, Bomarsund was reoccupied by the 
 Russians, and trade carried on vigorously 
 during the time that the ports were still free 
 free from ice. The defences of Riga, Revel, 
 Helsingfors, and Sweaborg, were strength- 
 ened; heavier guns despatched to protect 
 the more accessible points, and torpedoes 
 prepared for the coming spring campaign. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THK CAMPAIGN IN ANATOLIA; OPERATIONS IN THE CAUCASUS; DEFENCE OF KAHS ; REPULSE OF' THE 
 RUSSIANS; SUFFERINGS OF THE GARRISON; SURRENDER OF GENERAL WILLIAMS J CLOSE OF THE 
 CAMPAIGN. 
 
 In Asia IMinor, the exertions of the Turks 
 and Circassians in revolt, under Schamyl, 
 received such assistance as the squadron 
 under Admiral Lyons could afford. Some 
 20,000 cartridges were given to Schamyl, 
 and Suchoum Kaleh and Redout Kaleh, 
 which were abandoned by the Russians 
 as soon as the squadron put in an ap- 
 pearance, were strengthened and garrisoned 
 by a force of 2,000 Turks each ; the other 
 points on the Russian coast, up to Gagri, 
 also being held by Turks or Circassians. 
 
 In the interior, operations consisted, 
 more or less, of a series of raids, conducted 
 by Schamyl and his followers, whilst the 
 bulk of the Turkish army remained camped 
 before Kars, and echeloned in isolated posts 
 of greater or lesser strength along the fron- 
 tier. The army was now under the com- 
 mand of a series of incapable pashas, not 
 devoid of courage and peisonal valour, but 
 utterly and totally wanting in any powers 
 of organisation and enduring enterprise. 
 Forethought and calculation were not 
 within the range of their mental endow- 
 ments, and thus, in almost every single 
 action, they were defeated by the Russians, 
 who, had they had sufficient men, might 
 have swept through Asia Minor like a tem- 
 pest. As it was, they steadily gained 
 ground, and, on the 29th of July, attacked 
 the Turkish camp, 10,000 strong, at Kara- 
 boulah, some twenty miles from Bazejet, 
 and utterly routed them with an immense 
 loss. This laid the way open to Erzeroum, 
 which the Russians occupied two days 
 later ; the garrison and most of the Moslem 
 inhabitants flying to Trebizonde for pro- 
 tection. The news of this disaster induced 
 the Turkish army before Kars to arouse 
 itself from inaction, and advance to attack 
 the Russians in a strong and well held 
 position at Kuyakdere. The Turks were 
 commanded by Mustafa Pasha, who had 
 fought so successfully at Oltenitza, and at- 
 tacked the Russian right wing with such 
 impetuosity that, for a moment, the victory 
 trembled in the balance. But the Russian 
 cavalry executed a brillitnt charo^e just at 
 
 the right moment, which utterly crushed 
 the Turks, and completely routed them. 
 Over 3,000 were left dead on the field, and 
 nearly the same number taken prisoners. 
 
 These disasters produced a profound 
 impression upon the Turks, and reinforce- 
 ments pouring in on all sides, whilst 
 Schamyl invaded Georgia at the head of 
 20,000 men, they exhibited so much energy, 
 and so decided a front, that General Be- 
 butoff gave orders for his division to fall 
 back upon Alexandropol and Tiflis, closely 
 followed by the Turks, who were, however, 
 too incapable to take any advantage of 
 the Russian retreat. Disgusted with such 
 dilatory, hap-hazard operations, Schamyl 
 gave up all idea of co-operating with the 
 Turks, and confined himself to consulting 
 his own and his followers' immediate in- 
 terests by the acquisition of as much booty 
 as he could lay hold of; whilst the Russians 
 continued consolidating their forces, and 
 preparing for a thorough offensive or de- 
 fensive campaign, as events might decide. 
 Meantime, the Turkish forces were rapidly 
 falling to pieces, and becoming more and 
 more demoralised, till they were more of a 
 danger and a nuisance to the country than 
 a protection. 
 
 Matters were in this unsatisfactory state 
 when tidings reached London of endeavours 
 being made by the Russians to conclude an 
 alliance with Persia, and of active negotia- 
 tions with the Khans of Khiva and Bok- 
 hara. To counteract these intrigues, and 
 stimulate the Turks to a better resistance 
 on the Asiatic frontier of Turkey, Colonel 
 Williams, who had been formerly (1840) 
 engaged on the Turco-Persian Boundary 
 Commission, and was then in Bulgaria, re- 
 ceived orders from the Earl of Clarendon to 
 act as commissioner for the British govern- 
 ment in Kars, with the object of reporting 
 on the state of the army and advising the 
 Turkish commanders. He was accompanied 
 by Lieutenant Teesdale and Dr. Sand with; 
 and ultimately received the further assist- 
 ance of Mr. Churchill. After passing a 
 couple of guns, standing in solitary glory 
 
 149 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
.iw«i^,i^im»iM»»ep^ ■ 
 
 mmm 
 
 COLONEL WILLIAMS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1854. 
 
 in the middle of the road, and a load of 
 rammers and sponges pell-mell on the top 
 of a waggon, abandoned by the officer who 
 -►ught to have taken them on to Kars, 
 Colonel Williams arrived at Erzeroum in 
 the middle of September, 1854. Here the 
 commissioners had a foretaste of what was 
 awaiting them at Kars. ^ There were about 
 600 men in garrison, whose pay was from 
 fifteen to nineteen months in arrear ; the 
 staff itself four months in arrear; whilst 
 in the hospital there were 1,200, chiefly 
 wounded, and generally in a wretched state, 
 from the want of cleanliness, proper food, 
 and medicines. The pharmacy was lament- 
 ably deficient in drugs of any value ; decoc- 
 tions of various herbs forming the chief 
 supply; and it appeared that what there 
 was to be had was administered indiscrimi- 
 nately. Thus, if carbonate of iron was re- 
 quired in any case, some other carbonate 
 that happened to be handy, such as carbon- 
 ate of ammonia or soda, was used instead ; 
 whilst, as regarded surgical instruments, the 
 chief supply consisted of such as are gene- 
 rally used when people are ushered into the 
 world, and not when they are in danger of 
 leaving it. But then the Turks object 
 to serious operations, as there is an idea 
 amongst them that a mutilated man is 
 debarred, by the loss of his limbs, from 
 entering Paradise ; so that the patient gene- 
 rally prefers risking his worldly life to en- 
 dangering his future bliss, a theory which 
 the laziness of the Turkish doctors rather 
 encourages than otherwise. 
 
 When Colonel Williams arrived at Kars, 
 he found not only that the men's pay was 
 from fifteen to twenty-two months in 
 arrear, but that the army, which figured 
 on paper as 40,000 strong, and for which 
 number supplies were drawn, did not 
 amount to more than 22,000 all told; that 
 the commissariat had been charging for 
 four okkas of barley a day for the horses, 
 but had only given them two ; that there 
 was not more than a month's provisions or 
 provender in store, no fuel, no money; and, 
 finally, that the army was in debt at Kars 
 and Erzeroum to the amount of 10,000 
 purses— £100,000. For all this, the 
 Turkish governor, Zarif Mustafa Pasha, was 
 called to account by Colonel Williams, who 
 also reported the state of affairs to Lord 
 Clarendon, and to the British ambassador 
 at Constantinople, Sir Stratford de Red- 
 cliffe. But neither Zarif Mustafa nor Sir 
 Stratford liked this inquisitive colonel, who 
 150 
 
 insisted on poking his nose into all the 
 dark corners and tortuous passages of Turk- 
 ish malversation, mal-administration, and 
 mal-everything. , Zarif Mustafa objected 
 because such conduct interfered with the 
 interests of his pocket and the pockets of 
 his other friends, the pashas ; Sir Stratford 
 objected because, being naturally '^f a pasha- 
 logical disposition, which was intensified by 
 his long residence amongst the original 
 tribe, he wished to reign absolute in all 
 matters appertaining to Turkey, and 
 claimed a sort of monopoly in the initiation 
 of all reforms, &c., in Turkey: in short. 
 Sir Stratford regarded himself as the real 
 Sultan of Turkey, and, as such, entitled to 
 make complaints himself, and to insist on 
 this, that, and the other, but certainly not 
 called upon to act upon the complaints of 
 others. In fact, such complaints as those of 
 Colonel Williams, with his insisting, first 
 one thing, then on the other, were 
 
 on 
 
 regarded by him almost as complaints made 
 against himself; and hence Colonel Wil- 
 liams never received one single answer 
 from Sir Stratford in reply to no less than 
 fifty-four separate despatches and letters, 
 on matters of great importance. The con- 
 sequence was that Colonel Williams was 
 forced to make a formal complaint regard- 
 ing Sir Stratford's inactivity and neglect to 
 Lord Clarendon, who at once wrote in a 
 tone to the ambassador that at last induced 
 him to attend to Colonel Williams's desires, 
 and obtain from the Porte the dismissal ot* 
 Zarif Mustafa, and his successor, Shukrii 
 Pasha. Colonel Williams then, by indefati-* 
 gable exertions, succeeded in provisioning.! 
 Kars, improving the defences, and greatly 
 ameliorating the sanitary condition of the 
 town. He was considerably assisted in alH 
 this by the rank of Ferik, which had at 
 last been conferred upon him by the Porte5 
 and placed him on a footing of equality with 
 the pashas, many of whom, at Kars and 
 Erzeroum, became deeply attached to him 
 andyoungTeesdale — especially Vassif Pasha, 
 the new mutessarif, and Kerim and Tabia 
 Pashas. 
 
 The doings of the English commissioners 
 at Kars and Erzeroum soon became known 
 at Russian head-quarters, and produced 
 considerable uneasiness there, though it 
 was not expected that the Turks would 
 take the offensive. Still, it was evident 
 that the presence of the English commis- 
 sioners was exercising a great influence 
 amongst the Turks ; and that any advance 
 
\ 
 
 V - 
 
 
 A.D. 1855.] 
 
 KUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [attack on kaus. 
 
 of the Russian army would be met far more 
 energetically and intelligently than during 
 the last campaign. It was, therefore, de- 
 cided to replace General Bebutoff by General 
 Mouravieff, an officer who had greatly dis- 
 tinguished himself by his tactical qualities 
 during the war in the Caucasus, under 
 Prince WoronzofF. His appearance in the 
 Caucasus was the signal for renewed 
 activity on the part of the Russians, as far 
 as the severity of the Caucasian winter 
 would allow. Instead of relying only on 
 their forts, columns and troops perpetually 
 traversed the country in preconcerted move- 
 ments; and with such success were these 
 operations conducted, that Schamyl and his 
 followers were more or less confined to their 
 mountain fastnesses. 
 
 This renewed activity on the part of the 
 Russians decided the British government 
 to reinforce Colonel — or rather, as he now 
 had become — General Williams's staff, with 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Lake, Major Olpherts, 
 and Captain Thompson. Between them 
 they put both Kars and Erzeroum in an 
 efficient state of defence, the Turks having 
 been judiciously frightened into hard work 
 by accounts of General Mouravieff's inten- 
 tions to attack them with all the forces at 
 his command. By the beginning of June, 
 they succeeded in raising a force of 
 17,000 men ; whilst Mouravieff, who had 
 most judiciously employed his time in 
 assuring the safety of his men, had brought 
 tip lis offensive force to 28,000 infantry 
 and 10,000 cavalry, with the proportionate 
 amount of field-artillery, besides a siege 
 train of heavy guns. With this force he 
 advanced upon Kars, which the Turkish 
 pashas wanted to abandon, or, at any rate, 
 not to limit their whole endeavours to the 
 defence of the place. They argued that 
 it would ultimately be obliged to suc- 
 cumb, and looked upon Williams's decision 
 to hold it as bad strategy, they preferring 
 to let the Russians advance till they should 
 be obliged to split up their forces, and thus 
 present an easy prey to the attacks of the 
 Turkish columns. The Turks, in fact, 
 wanted to lead the Russians away from 
 their basis of operations, and entangle 
 them in the interior, feeling sure that 
 Mouravieff would not receive sufficient 
 reinforcements to cover any extended ad- 
 vance. "Whether this view was right or 
 wrong has been and is a disputed question. 
 If the Turks could have been depended 
 upon for a long and enduring resistance. 
 
 the pashas were right, and General Williams 
 wrong. But that is a very big " if ;'* 
 though, at the same time, it may be laid 
 down as an axiom, that no commander of a 
 field army can be justified in shutting him- 
 self up in a fortress unless he is quite sure 
 of being speedily relieved, especially when, 
 as in the case of Kars, there is an in- 
 sufficiency of provisions and ammunition. 
 On the whole, the defence of Kars, brave 
 as it was, can scarcely be regarded other- 
 wise than as an error, both from a military 
 as well as a political point of view. 
 
 On the 7th of June, Mouravieff having 
 broken up his camp at Gumri, General 
 Williams transferred his head -quarters from 
 Erzeroum to Kars. This place is situated, 
 as our engraving very well shows, at the 
 foot of a precipitous range of rocky hills, 
 and stretches across the gorge which cuts 
 this range into two portions. In front of, 
 or to the south of the town, lies a plain, in 
 which, as our engraving shows, the Rus- 
 sians dug their trenches. This plain is 
 bounded on the other side by hills, com- 
 manding the town, on which Colonel Lake 
 erected several outworks; whilst the hills 
 behind the town were protected by two 
 works on each side of the gorge, called 
 Arab Tabia and Teesdale Redoubt, the 
 western extremity being defended by Vali 
 Pasha Tabia. All these works were con- 
 nected with the fortifications in the plain 
 by a series of breastworks. On June the 
 16th, 1855, the Russians advanced, and 
 driving in the Turkish pickets, advanced 
 in three columns of infantry, preceded by 
 three regiments of Cossacks, and flanked by 
 three of dragoons, with six batteries of 
 eight guns each. The Turkish cavalry 
 retired till within a thousand yards of their 
 own lines, when the Russian cavalry made 
 a desperate rush upon them, and completely 
 routed them, very nearly succeeding in 
 entering the town with the fugitives, when 
 they were checked by the artillery fire from 
 the hill forts, and forced to fall back upon 
 the main body, which then retired across 
 the plain, and disappeared over the brow of 
 the southern hills. 
 
 The Turks were highly elated with this 
 success, which, however, was nothing more 
 than a reconnaissance in force, to support, 
 if events should turn out propitious, a 
 sudden coup de main. In this they were 
 disappointed, owing to the precautions 
 taken by the defenders. The Russians 
 therefore proceeded to invest the place; 
 
 151 
 
 
 1 
 
IHESH ATTACK ON KARS.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 A.D. 1855. 
 
 A.D. 1855.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [assault on kabs. 
 
 and, having large sums of money at his 
 commanrl, Mouravieff was able to secure 
 the service of an admirable corps of spies. 
 On the 29th of June, they succeeded in 
 seizing Yenikoi, where there were large 
 stores of corn, intended for the Kars garri- 
 son, and which ought to have been within 
 its walls instead of outside. All attempts 
 of the Kars garrison to provide food were 
 defeated by the Russians, who easily threw 
 back the bodies of Bashi-Bazouks in their 
 flash-in-the-pan sorties, and succeeded in 
 lifting all the cattle and stores in the 
 neighbourhood. 
 
 Meanwhile, leaving a force of eighteen 
 battalions of infantry, three regiments of 
 cavalry, and fifty-four guns to mask Kars, 
 Mouraviefif advanced upon Erzemum, where 
 he, however, speedily saw that the defences 
 of that place were secure against a cowp de 
 main, and that, before advancing upon it 
 he would be obliged to disengage his 
 troops before Kars, which could not be done 
 until that place had fallen. The officers, 
 however, who were left in charge of the 
 blockading army, thought that it would 
 succumb to a grand assault, and advanced 
 in dense columns soon after dawn on the 
 7th of August ; they were allowed to ap- 
 proach within easy range of the guns of 
 the Karli Tabia and Kanadagh works, 
 when fire was opened upon them so briskly 
 and continuously that their ranks were 
 literally ploughed through by round shot 
 and shell, and forced them to abandon the 
 attack; for which, by the way, the com- 
 mander was severely censured by Moura- 
 vieff when he returned from his reconnais- 
 sance of Erzeroum three days later, in con- 
 sequence, partly, of the firm front there 
 opposed to him, and partly on account of 
 the news of the unsuccessful attack on 
 the 7th. 
 
 During the month of August, the Rus- 
 sians did nothing but harass the garrison 
 with alertes and skirmishes whilst drawing 
 their lines closer and closer round the place, 
 and cutting off all supplies, besides getting 
 a train of battering guns into position to 
 the north-west of the town, so that it was 
 with great difficulty that General Williams 
 could even send a messenger to Erzeroum. 
 This he did on the 1st of September, send- 
 ing a despatch to Consul Brant, which he 
 received five days later, and wherein it was 
 stated that the soldiers were reduced to 
 half allowances of bread and meat, and 
 that the population itself was on the verge 
 152 
 
 of starvation ; and that under no circum- 
 stances whatever would they be able to 
 hold out for more than two months longer. 
 This and other unceasing representations 
 by General Williams, regarding the state 
 of Kars, and the threatening aspect of 
 Mouravieff 's forces and resources, began to 
 work upon the fears of the Porte and the 
 British government as to the possibility 
 of an advance by the Russians through 
 Asia Minor upon Constantinople ; and 
 much disputation took place between the 
 Foreign Offices at Paris and London, the 
 Porte at Constantinople, and the generals 
 in the Crimea ; which dragged on its weary 
 length from June to September, as each 
 party had very different views upon the 
 subject. The Porte wished for a demon- 
 stration in Asia Minor, and wanted its 
 troops reinforced there; but also wanted 
 to conduct the campaign on its own system, 
 of which the unconditional holding did not 
 form a part. They wanted, in short, to 
 carry the war into the enemy's country, 
 and operate in the rear of Mouravieff's 
 army — a plan which they thought would 
 inflict considerable damage on the Russians, 
 whilst, at the same time, forcing Mouravieff 
 to withdraw his forces from Asia Minor, 
 and retire within his own borders. This 
 Omar Pasha wished to accomplish by with- 
 drawing 20,000 or 30,000 of the Turks 
 before Sebastopol and Eupatoria, and, land- 
 ing with them at Souchum Kaleh or Re- 
 doubt Kaleh, march upon Tiflis, which he 
 expected would fall into his hands without 
 difficulty. Having accomplished this, he 
 would then fall upon Gumri and Alexan- 
 dropol, and cut off Mouravieff's retreat, 
 takins: him between his own forces and 
 those of Kars, Erzeroum, and Batoum. 
 The plan was a genial one, and would 
 probably have succeeded. But whilst the 
 London Foreign Office and War Office 
 thouf^ht it would be much safer for Omar 
 Pasha to advance in the rear of the Turkish 
 forces at Erzeroum by way of Trebizonde, 
 and face Mouravieff in front, instead of on 
 his flank and rear, the generals in the 
 Crimea were dead against any diminution 
 of the forces before Sebastopol and at Eupa- 
 toria. In this they were strongly supported 
 by Napoleon, who saw that the end was 
 approaching with the final fall of Sebasto- 
 pol ; and, wearied with this particular war, 
 did not wish to risk having it prolonged by 
 any weakening of the forces which his 
 generals protested against. Thus matters 
 
 dragged on and on, till Omar Pasha, pro- 
 ceeding to Constantinople, after having 
 had anything but an amicable interview 
 with the allied generals, obtained the con- 
 sent of the Porte and the other powers to 
 carry his plan into execution ; but it was 
 not until the middle of September that he 
 landed at Batoum, and began organising 
 the forces there under Mustafa Pasha ; and 
 the 3rd of October before he reached 
 Suchoum Kaleh, when of course it was too 
 late to save Kars. 
 
 Meanwhile, Mouravieff, who was kept 
 well informed of all that was going on, con- 
 tinued to blockade Kars most vigorously, 
 whilst General Williams was greatly ha- 
 rassed and worried by the dissatisfaction of 
 the redif, or militia, and by their constant 
 desertions to the enemy, who not only paid 
 them well, but allowed them to return to 
 their homes, whence they had been taken. 
 In the face of all this treachery within and 
 without the walls, famine staring them in 
 the face, and the enemy quietly waiting 
 his opportunity, whilst his cavalry scoured 
 the plains under their very noses, the 
 defenders of Kars could do nothing but 
 strengthen their defences. This they did 
 very effectively, converting their chief open 
 works into closed works, and protecting 
 them still further with trous de loup — 
 horse-holes — against any cavalry attacks. 
 September thus gradually wore on amidst 
 vain hopes of relief, raised by rumours and 
 assurances of speedy relief from Omar 
 Pasha; all these hopes being greatly in- 
 tensified when, on the 23rd of September, 
 a Georgian, Aislen Aga, deserted from the 
 Russians, and brought in the news of the 
 fall of Sebastopol. There was great joy at 
 this news in Kars, and a salute was ordered 
 to be fired from the castle ; but as soon as 
 the first shot had been discharged, a Rus- 
 sian regiment and a couple of batteries at 
 once opened fire on Hafiz Pasha Tabia, in 
 order to drown the salute, and prevent its 
 being heard by the Russian army. 
 
 Mouravieff very craftily took advantage 
 of this news. He rightly calculated that 
 what with the news of the fall of Sebas- 
 topol, and that Omar Pasha was trying to 
 come to the relief of Kars, the opinion 
 would be formed within the town, that he, 
 Mouravieff, would probably raise the siege. 
 This idea he did his best to foster by 
 resorting to a favourite Russian stratagem — 
 that of packing up his baggage and sending 
 it off, apparently to Gumri. " Even by the 
 VOL. II. X 
 
 light of lanterns the arabas moved on that 
 road all last 'night" (27th September), 
 as General Williams wrote. Armies are 
 not in the habit of conducting their opera- 
 tions, whether for an attack or a retreat, by 
 the light of lanterns within view of an 
 enemy: and that General Williams' san- 
 guine expectations and hopes did not allow 
 him to relax for one moment his extreme 
 vigilance, speaks more for his military 
 qualities than anything else ; and when 
 Mouravieff commenced his grand attack, he 
 found the Turks well prepared to receive 
 him, owing considerably to the precautions 
 taken by Ismail Pasha (General Kmety) 
 who never believed for one moment that 
 Mouravieff would raise the siege before 
 assaulting the place. ^ 
 
 About three o'clock on the morning of 
 the 29th of September, 1855, the outposts 
 heard the rumbling of artillery — a sound 
 unmistakable by those who have once 
 heard it — and reported the fact to Kmety, 
 who at once marshalled his men, passed on 
 the alarm, and sent out some riflemen to 
 obtain information, the utter darkness of 
 the morning preventing the garrison from 
 seeing beyond a few yards. About four 
 o'clock the scouts returned, and reported 
 that the enemy was advancing. At this 
 juncture, one of the men, Hussein by name, 
 a Kurd, remarkable for his powers of vision 
 in the dark, perceived the head of the 
 advancing column, upon which a gun was at 
 once brought to bear, and a plunging 
 volley of grape poured into the ranks of 
 the astonished Russians, who, coming to 
 surprise, were thus grievously caught in 
 their own trap. They, however, rushed 
 forward without delay, and soon the attack 
 extended all along the line ; but, when day- 
 break permitted it, the defenders saw that 
 the chief attack was being made on the 
 Tamasp lines and Fort Lake. The resist- 
 ance was most determined, and cannonade 
 and fusil ade resounded in an unbroken 
 roar. The Russians, still advancing in dense 
 columns, of which the heads were succes- 
 sively swept away, but without deterring 
 them from advancing and overlapping both ' 
 the right and the left of the Tamasp lines, 
 succeeded in getting to the rear, which they 
 had hoped to find open, and in this hope 
 liad spent so much blood. "^ When they 
 found that such was not the case, they 
 formed on the plateau, and poured volley 
 upon volley of musketry upon the rear of 
 the works they had turned, but could not 
 
 153 
 
 ,'i 
 
 « 
 
 4 ; 
 
 ,r 
 
 J 
 
 4' 
 
REPUT^E OF THE RUSSIANS.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1855. 
 
 enter, the horse-holes also greatly impeding 
 their movements. Before they could get 
 their artillery into position, they were 
 raked "fore and aft " by no less than three 
 forts or batteries; all these outworks having 
 been so constructed as to command each 
 
 other in turn. 
 
 Meanwhile the attack had been more 
 successful on the north side, where the 
 Kussians had stormed and taken the 
 English batteries, which, however, being 
 commanded by Fort Lake, soon becanae 
 untenable, and was evacuated by their 
 temporary occupants. Thus the battle 
 rao-ed on; a plunging fire of grape, canister, 
 shell, and rifles met the enemy at every 
 point, the guns being served with the 
 utmost coolness, composure, and dexterity. 
 At last the Russians opened a battery upon 
 the Tamasp and Yuksek redoubts, whilst 
 the infantry pushed still further on in the 
 rear of the entrenchments. At this mo- 
 ment Colonel Lake sent forward three 
 battalions to stop their advance, which 
 being concealed from the enemy by the 
 nature of the ground, confronted him at a 
 most opportune moment. They deployed, 
 opened their fire, which at once checked 
 the advance, and then charged with the 
 bayonet, driving them steadily back, when 
 Teesdale and Kmety led their men out of 
 the redoubts, and charged them in the 
 flank. This took place at half-past eleven 
 A.M., and within ten minutes the whole 
 force was in full retreat, raked on every 
 side by a plunging cross-fire that laid 
 them low by the hundred. Thus, after 
 seven hours' determined fighting, at what 
 may be called closest quarters, the Russians 
 were signally repulsed. They left 6,000 
 dead on the field — of which 363 were within 
 the English batteries— and 160 prisoners 
 and wounded in the hands of the victors, 
 whose losses were very small, considering 
 the sanguinary nature of the struggle. 
 They amounted to 362 killed and 631 
 wounded ; the townspeople, who joined in 
 the defence, losing 101. 
 
 In spite of this crushing repulse, how- 
 ever, Mouravieff did not abandon the siege. 
 On the contrary, he conducted the blockade 
 with more stringency than ever, and proved 
 his intention of not moving till Kars had 
 fallen by hutting his soldiers, who were then 
 well cared for and well fed, whilst the gar- 
 rison was rapidly starving and freezing to 
 death, and hoping in vain for succour from 
 Omar Pasha, via Georgia, or from Selim 
 154 
 
 Pasha at Erzeroum. But Omar Pasha, as 
 we have seen, was not able to obtain the 
 men and supplies he required, or even to 
 efl'ect a footing at Suchoum Kaleh before 
 October ; and further delays of one sort or 
 the other interposed, so that he was not 
 prepared to advance till the beginning of 
 November, and certainly had no earthly 
 prospect of being able to reach Kars 
 within twenty days, as he wrote to Greneral 
 Williams. Selim Pasha, who might have 
 advanced, also sent a series of lying 
 despatches to Williams, which encouraged 
 him to hold on; and the only man who 
 seems to have told him the truth was Consul 
 Brant, of Erzeroum, who wrote as follows 
 to the British ambassador at Constantinople 
 on the 18th of November: — 
 
 " I have the honour to inform your 
 excellency that a peasant from Kars brought 
 me, to-day, a few lines from Greneral Wil- 
 liams, of the 12th. The general evidently 
 seems to be in the belief that Selim Pasha 
 has received the troops promised, of whose 
 arrival at Trebizonde, however, we have 
 heard nothing, and his excellency has re- 
 quested both Major Stewart and myself to 
 entreat your excellency to hasten their ex- 
 pedition. A colonel arrived with a long 
 letter from his excellency Vassif Pasha to 
 Selim Pasha. The precise contents of this 
 letter I do not know, but the object was to 
 urge on his excellency to the relief of 
 the garrison. Selim Pasha inspected his 
 troops yesterday, and they mustered between 
 5,000 and 6,000 infantry; most of the 
 cavalry were on duty at the outposts; they 
 will amount to almost 2,000, chiefly regu- 
 lars ; and besides these they could collect 
 1,500 or 2,000 Bashi-Bazouks, if not more. 
 The troops are in good health, well armed 
 and clothed, and have lately received four 
 months* pay; and I have no hesitation in 
 saying, that such a force, under an active 
 and brave general, could relieve Kars ; but 
 I have seen enough of Selim Pasha to have 
 discovered that he is neither active, nor 
 energetic, nor brave, and I have long 
 feared that he would not advance. He has 
 a new excuse for delay every day ; to-day it 
 was that he must wait a change of weather. 
 It is much finer than we had any reason 
 to expect at this season ; beautifully clear, 
 though a little cold at night ; and I can 
 only say, that as finer weather cannot be ex- 
 pected before next summer, it is evident his 
 excellency will not leave Erzeroum. * * * 
 The Russians cannot have many troops be- 
 
 \ 
 
. T 
 I' ) 
 
 I 
 
 3 
 
 i 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 A.D. 1855.] 
 
 fore Kars ; I should think not more than 
 22,000, and tliey are discouraged, and have 
 no heart to fight ; but in the camp, it is 
 said that General Mouravieff is of so 
 obstinate a character that he will never 
 abandon the siege, even though he shovild 
 risk his own life and the destruction of his 
 whole army by a desperate assault, or by 
 frost or famine. He has put his troops 
 into huts, which are well constructed, and, 
 having plenty of firewood, they can stand 
 the frost for some time yet— and too long, 
 alas! for the safety of the garrison at 
 Kars, which in the last extremity can do 
 nothing but surrender ; for, without cavalry, 
 and without horses for their guns, they 
 could never, I imagine, cut their way 
 through the enemy, who is still superior in 
 numbers, taking into account his numerous 
 cavalry and artillery. Omar Pasha is too 
 slow in his movements to hope anything 
 from him. About twelve days ago his ex- 
 cellency was still on the coast, and, although 
 he had gained a victory, I suppose he will 
 require time before he can resume his ad- 
 vance." . J 
 Consul Brant's prognostications turned 
 
 out quite correct ; and on the foUowmg 
 day he received a letter from \Villiams 
 showincr that he too had abandoned all 
 hope, and that he would try to retreat over 
 the mountains, via Olti, when he could no 
 longer hold out, which could not fail to be 
 very soon ; for, by that time, there had 
 been no animal food except horse-flesh, 
 which the Moslems would not eat, for more 
 than seven weeks. A faint hope was raised, 
 on the 12th of November, by the arrival ot 
 a despatch from Selim Pasha, stating that 
 he had defeated the Russians near Bazajet, 
 and was advancing on Kars; and, lour 
 days later, cannon having been heard in 
 the direction of Ardahan, the garrison 
 fondly believed succour was nigh, and 
 actually proposed a sortie to assist the ap- 
 proaching army, which, however, never ap- 
 proached. On the 20th, Williams debated 
 in council as to the practicability of a 
 retreat over the mountains ; but it was 
 a<^reed that, in their weak state, and unpro- 
 vided with cavalry, or horses for their 
 artillery, the attempt would be disastrous 
 in the tace of 12,000 Russian cavalry. On 
 the 23rd, the Russians threw a few shells 
 into the camp at Karli Tabia, and an 
 attack being considered imminent, the 
 troops were called under arms, but only a 
 few dozen responded to the call. Snow 
 
 [SURTIENDER OF HAllS. 
 
 had already fallen, and the men lay all 
 ' about the ground, dead, dying, or numbed 
 and motionless from the effects of cold and 
 hunger conjoined. A few battalions of 
 Russians might, on that day, have taken 
 the place. Finally, the same morning a 
 despatch arrived from Selim Pasha, saying 
 that he would have left Erzeroum on the 
 16th, and would speedily be under the 
 walls of Kars; but this atrocious lie was 
 counter-balanced by a note of Consul 
 Brant's, in cipher, stating—" Selim Pasha 
 will not advance, though Major Stuart is 
 doing his best to make him. Omar Pasha 
 has "scarcely advanced beyond Suchoum 
 Kaleh. I fear you have no hope but in 
 yourselves; you can depend on no help 
 from this quarter." 
 
 This despatch was clear and decided. 
 Williams quickly made up his mind what 
 to do ; called a council of war, and laid the 
 facts before the pashas and the rest of the 
 British officers. They all agreed that 
 further resistance was useless ; and that, as 
 a retreat had already been pronounced 
 impossible, nothing remained but a sur- 
 render. The soldiers were dying at the 
 rate of 100 a-day of starvation alone. 
 They were mere skeletons, incapable of 
 fighting or flying. The women brought 
 their children to the general's barn for 
 food, and there they left them; and 
 the city was strewed with the dead and 
 
 dying. 
 
 Thus, on the 24th, Major Teesdale was 
 [sent, under a flag of truce, to General 
 Mouravieff, to arrange for a meeting be- 
 tween him and Greneral Williams to settle 
 upon the terms of surrender. The inter- 
 view was agreed to, and the following day 
 the two generals met, and the capitulation 
 signed; the garrison marching out with 
 the honours of war, and becoming prison- 
 ers ; the officers retaining their swords. 
 On 'the 28th the garrison marched out; 
 8,000 becoming prisoners of war, and 6,000 
 irregular troops allowed to depart. 
 
 Thus ended the siege of Kars, Nov. 28th, 
 1855 ; and, with this episode, the interest 
 of the war in Asia Minor came to an end. 
 Of Omar Pasha's expedition into the Cau- 
 casus, which could have no importance 
 except as a diversion for the relief of 
 Kars, it is not necessary to say more than 
 that it was a complete failure, and forced 
 to retreat back to the sea-coast. As to the 
 influence of this movement of Omar Pasha 
 on afl'airs before Kars, the following words 
 
 155 
 
 \^>-< 
 
CONTINENTAL POLITICS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1855. 
 
 of General Mouravieff himself will best 
 show. He said:— "As soon as I found 
 Omar Pasha at Suchoum Kaleh, I had no 
 
 doubt of the result of the campaign. I 
 was much obliged to Omar Pasha for going 
 in that direction." 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 rONTiyPNTVL POLICY IN THE SPRING OF 1855; PROFFERED MEDIATION OF AUSTRIA; FURTHER 
 TREATrBETW^^^^^ AND THE ALLIES; TREATY BETWEEN SARDINIA AND THE ALLIES; 
 
 DEpIrTURE of SARDINIAN TROOPS FOR THE CRIMEA; ANOTHER CONFERENCE AT VIENNA, MARCH 
 TO APRIL, 1855. 
 
 As it became evident that the reduction of 
 Sebastopol and humiliation of Russia was a 
 more difficult task than was imagined, and 
 as the easy success of the Turkish army on 
 the Danube had seemed to foreshadow, the 
 allies left no stone unturned to secure the 
 more effectual co-operation of Austria. 
 They were able to work upon the Austrians 
 by the fact of the real intentions of Russia 
 having at last been demonstrated to have 
 been the annexation of the Danubian prin- 
 cipalities, Moldavia and Wallachia. The 
 possession, however, of these provinces 
 would have been a standing menace against 
 the Austrian empire ; and thus the Aus- 
 trian government were far more inclined to 
 co-operate with the allies, than would have 
 been the case had there not been this 
 danger. At the same time, however, Aus- 
 tria was very much disinclined to risk turn- 
 in (^ Russia from a lukewarm and interested 
 fri'end into a declared enemy. As usual, 
 she endeavoured to play the dangerous 
 o-ame of serving two masters. 
 ^ At this stage of indecision, the balance 
 was turned in favour of the allies, partly 
 from a jealousy of Germany— Prussia— the 
 court and nobility of which were in favour 
 of Russia; and partly on account of the 
 urgent remonstrances of the Vatican, the 
 pope feeling bound to support Napoleon 
 III., as he had ostensibly taken up arnas 
 for the protection, and to insist on the pri- 
 vileges, of the Catholics in the East, whose 
 liberties the Russian emperor and church 
 had assailed. As far as Austria was con- 
 cerned, the war had now become a religious 
 war, in which the Catholic and Romanic 
 races were ranged on the one side, in the 
 persons and armies of Napoleon III. and 
 the Emperor Franz Joseph, against Ortho- 
 156 
 
 dox Russia and Protestant Prussia on the 
 other, in the persons of the Czar and King 
 Frederick William. The fruits of the seed 
 then sown have since become apparent in 
 the Austro-Prussian war, the unification of 
 Italy, and the Franco-German war. AH these 
 events have sprung from the principles 
 formed during the Crimean war. Could 
 Austria have seen into the future, she would 
 probably have been as decidedly in favour 
 of Russia, as she ultimately was against her. 
 But the future was then hidden ; and, owing 
 to the influences we have pointed out, she 
 drew more towards the allies in proportion 
 as she became convinced of the true inten- 
 tions of Russia in reference to Roumania ; 
 and as Frederick William and the Prus- 
 sian "Junkers" — nobility — drew closer to 
 
 Russia. 
 
 It is advisable here to point out the 
 nature of the relations between Prussia and 
 Russia. History is made up of a succession 
 of dramas; and the Germano-Muscovite 
 drama not being played out yet, a know- 
 ledge of the foregoing acts is necessary for 
 the proper comprehension of the final act 
 that is now (1877) being played by Prince 
 Bismarck and Prince Gortchakoff— by uncle 
 and nephew, the German emperor, William 
 III., and the Russian czar, Alexander 11. 
 
 The great idea of the Germans has been 
 national unity. This idea they have carried 
 with them, and carried out in all countries 
 of an inferior civilisation to their own. 
 Where the civilisation has been of a higher 
 political character, they have assimilated 
 themselves easily with the population of 
 the country of their adoption, and merged 
 their own interests, hopes, and fears with 
 those of this population. Such has been 
 the case in America and England. In 
 
 m\. 
 
 A.D. 1855."'t 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [Austria and Prussia. 
 
 countries of a lower civilisation, they have 
 formed isolated groups, hanging closely to- 
 gether, and strictly observing their national 
 habits and customs. Such has been the 
 case in Hungary and Russia, where the pro- 
 vinces of Sibenbiirgen and Kurland have 
 remained essentially German, without any, 
 or scarcely any, admixture with the sur- 
 rounding elements. But when the Ger- 
 mans came in contact with races possessing 
 a state-constitution, as powerful as their 
 own, and in as high a state of civilisation, 
 but both animated by principles opposed 
 to their own, endless conflicts arose ; as, for 
 instance, in Italy and France. In the latter 
 country a curious compromise was effected, 
 and German and Frenchman united in 
 forming the Alsatian, a people combining 
 some of the qualities of both races, yet not 
 to be identified with either. The process, 
 in fact, resulted in the production of a dis- 
 tinct family, both process and result re- 
 sembling very much the fusion and unifica- 
 tion of the various races that produced the 
 Englishman. In Italy, on the other hand, 
 the^opposing elements were so anti-pathetic 
 to each other that no fusion whatever took 
 place. There was an endless conflict be- 
 tween them for centuries, that did not cease 
 till 1866, when the Germans finally gave 
 up the struggle, and retired before the great 
 majority of the Italian people. So strong 
 is this reciprocal feeling still, that where 
 the forces are equal, yet there is no fusion ; 
 and the Italian populations of Switzerland 
 are as far from amalgamation with the Ger- 
 man inhabitants of the same state as they 
 were centuries ago. 
 
 Thus has arisen the great Romano-Teu- 
 tonic conflict ; the war between the Latin 
 and Teutonic races and principles that has 
 closed one of its epochs with the bloody 
 struggle of 1870. 
 
 This conflict, however, does not further 
 concern us ; but a similar drama is being 
 performed on the western confines of Rus- 
 sia, the nature of which must be explained 
 in order to comprehend many events that 
 have materially affected the policy of Rus- 
 sia, and will affect it still more powerfully 
 as the struggle increases in intensity. 
 
 In addition to the Baltic provinces, Kur- 
 land, Livonia, and Esthonia, in which the 
 dominating population is German, there 
 are thousands upon thousands scattered 
 through the Russian empire, who took up 
 their abocie in the country in a very great 
 measure on the strength of such invitations 
 
 and privileges as have been recorded on a 
 former page.* Always an object of envy, 
 frequently of hatred, these Germans have 
 succeeded in obtaining and wielding an im- 
 mense influence on Russian affairs, both 
 home and foreign, and also in preserving 
 friendly relations with Germany. These 
 relations were still further cemented by the 
 intermarriage of members of the royal fami- 
 lies of Russia and Germany ; and as long as 
 the governments of both countries were of 
 a despotic nature, they mutually assisted 
 each other in the suppression of any insur- 
 rectionary movements. Such was the case 
 when events led to the partition of Poland ; 
 and when Nicholas I. helped to put down 
 the Hungarian rebellion, though other rea- 
 sons may also have co-operated in deciding 
 him to that course of action. All these 
 considerations powerfully affected the con- 
 duct of Prussia during the Crimean war. 
 She could not break with Russia, because 
 she was still, in many respects, suffering 
 from the effects of the exaltation of the 
 popular mind produced by the events of 
 1848, and of which she intended to make 
 use as soon as the opportune moment 
 arrived. The leading Prussian statesman— 
 of course always excepting the ultra-con- 
 servative, the younker, with his feudal ideas 
 and pretensions— plainly saw what an im- 
 mense force was surging and seething be- 
 neath the crust that had partially been 
 broken through in isolated spots, even as 
 the minor craters of a volcano spout forth 
 their fiery contents before the great erup- 
 tion belches out its irresistible masses. They 
 foresaw all this, and, with great sagacity, 
 determined not to try to attempt to stem 
 the torrent, but to lead it, and place them- 
 selves at the head of the movement. 
 
 But they perceived just as plainly that 
 this procrramme would have to be carried 
 out in the face of Austrian opposition. As 
 an intensely Catholic power, Austria could 
 not but be a bitter enemy to Prussian 
 nolicy in this respect ; and as Austria might 
 carry Bavaria and other Catholic portions 
 of Germany with it, Prussia was, perforce, 
 constrained to keep on good terms with 
 Russia, whilst doing all she could to weaken 
 Austria. In point of fact, owing to Austria s 
 intimate relations with the Vatican, Prussia 
 
 was obliged, much ^g^j^^^.^^^^ ^^^^'.^^^^^^ 
 in many respects, to identify her with the 
 Romanic races and principles with which 
 
 Page 257, Vol. L 
 
 157 
 
AUSTRIAN MEDIATION.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1855. ' 
 
 A.D. 1855.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the VIENNA NOTE. 
 
 she was at bitter war. Hence, to isolate 
 Austria, to entangle her in difficulties, and 
 to preserve intimate relations with Russia, 
 was for Prussia an imperative necessity: 
 was, in fact, a vital necessity not only for 
 Prussia, but for the whole of the liberal 
 world, and for the emancipation of Europe 
 from the domination of the Vatican and its 
 principles. The fruit of the Reforma- 
 tion was at stake : threatened and menaced 
 by the domineering pride that culminated 
 centuries ago at Canossa, there was no help 
 anywhero but in the sturdy, unflinching 
 spirit of Germany, backed, strangely enough, 
 by as despotic and hierarchical a state as ever 
 existed since history began to chronicle the 
 deeds of man. 
 
 This digression shows, plainly and truth- 
 fully, wha't were the motives that actuated 
 Austria and Prussia in their conduct during 
 the Crimean war; and may prevent some 
 of our readers from being led astray by in- 
 terested invectives against either. It also 
 explains the reasons that induced Austria, 
 after the occupation of the Moldavian pro- 
 vinces, to offer her mediation to Russia on 
 the following basis : — 
 
 " 1. That the protectorate exercised 
 hitherto by Russia, over the principalities 
 of Wallachia, Moldavia, and Servia, be ab- 
 roo-ated, and transferred to the great powers 
 
 collectively. 
 
 " 2. That the navigation of the Danube 
 be freed from all obstacles. 
 
 " 3. That the treaty of the 13th of July, 
 1841, be revised by the contracting powers 
 
 in concert. 
 
 "4. That Russia abstain from claiming 
 an official protectorate over the subjects of 
 the Sublime Porte; and that the great 
 powers shall obtain from the Ottoman gov- 
 ernment the confirmation of the privileges 
 accorded to its Christian subjects, without 
 any prejudice to the independence of the 
 
 Porte." 
 
 This note was accompanied by another, 
 reserving the right of the allies to make 
 other conditions, which had the effect, as 
 might have been supposed, of rendering the 
 first perfectly nugatory, as the Austrian 
 government intended it should, they having 
 decided to make such a show of force as to 
 impress Europe with the idea that Vienna 
 was mistress of the situation, and, in fact, 
 the arbiter of Europe. And, in truth, she 
 made a most imposing display. More than 
 400,000 men were called under arms, and 
 placed in various portions of the empire 
 158 
 
 and the federal fortresse^of Germany. The 
 czar at once made use of this display to 
 excite still more the fears of Prussia, and 
 addressed a note to the Prussian cabinet, 
 stating, that, as the Eastern question might 
 occasion a rupture between the two great 
 German states, and the preservation of 
 peace was the czar's most heartfelt desire, 
 Russia was willing to negotiate on the basis 
 of the note presented to her by Austria. 
 The only difference between the Russian 
 articles and those of the allies was contained 
 in the 2nd article. It proposed — 
 
 " A protectorate of the principalities 
 exercised in common by the five powers, 
 on the same conditions as our (Russian) 
 treaties with the Porte have stipulated in 
 their favour,^' 
 
 The words which we have underlined at 
 once condemned the whole note. Russia, 
 had it been accepted, would thus have ob-^ 
 tained, by a side wind, all that she went' 
 to war for, which was the recognition of 
 certain treaties, notably that of Kutschuk- 
 Kainerdji. 
 
 As soon as it became evident that the 
 
 Russian government had not yet been 
 
 brought to the proper point of humility, 
 
 the allies redoubled their endeavours to 
 
 secure the greater co-operation of Austria. 
 
 They did not succeed, however, in obtaining 
 
 more than the acceptation of precautionary 
 
 measures, to which Austria at last agreed, 
 
 in the conviction that the occasion for 
 
 carrying them out would never arise ; after 
 
 which "slie could take credit to herself 
 
 towards Russia for her moderation. A 
 
 treaty was therefore signed on the 2nd of 
 
 December, of which we give the following 
 
 articles, as they are so very characteristic 
 
 of Austrian diplomacy. There is every 
 
 reason to believe that the substance of 
 
 this treaty was communicated to Prince 
 
 Gortchakoff before Austria agreed to sign 
 
 it, with an assurance that care would be 
 
 taken that no eventuality should arise to 
 
 obliire its bein^: carried out by Austria. It 
 
 ran as follows : — 
 
 *' Art. I. — The high contracting parties 
 engage, mutually and reciprocally, not to 
 enter into any arrangement with the im- 
 perial court of Russia without having first 
 deliberated thereupon in common. 
 
 " Art. II. — His majesty, the Emperor of 
 Austria, having, in virtue of the treaty con- 
 cluded on the 14th of June last with the 
 Sublime Porte, caused the principalities of 
 Moldavia and- Wallachia to be occupied by 
 
 his troops, he engages to defend the frontier 
 of the said principalities against any return 
 of the Russian forces ; the Austrian troops 
 shall, for this purpose, occupy the positions 
 necessary for guaranteeing those principali- 
 ties against any attack. Her majesty, the 
 Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, and 
 ,his majesty, the Emperor of the French, 
 having likewise concluded with the Sublime 
 Porte, on the 12th of March, a treaty, 
 which authorises them to direct their forces 
 upon every part of the Ottoman empire, the 
 above-mentioned occupation shall not inter- 
 fere with the free movement of the Anglo- 
 French or Ottoman troops upon the same 
 territories against the military forces or the 
 territory of Russia. There shall be formed 
 at Vienna, between the plenipotentiaries of 
 Austria, France, and Great Britain, a com- 
 mission, to which Turkey shall be invited 
 to send a plenipotentiary, and which shall 
 be charged with examining and regulating 
 every question relating either to the excep- 
 tional and provisional state in which the 
 said principalities are now placed, or to the 
 free passage of the different armies across 
 
 their territory. 
 
 "Art. III. — In case hostilities break out 
 between Austria and Russia, her majesty, 
 the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, 
 his majesty, the Emperor of Austria, and 
 his majesty, the Emperor of the French, 
 mutually promise to each other their offen- 
 sive and defensive alliance in the present 
 war, and will, for that purpose, employ, 
 according to the requirements of the war, 
 military and naval forces, the number, de- 
 scription, and destination whereof shall, if 
 occasion should arise, be determined by sub- 
 sequent arrangements. 
 
 " Art. IV.— In the case contemplated by 
 the preceding article, the high contracting 
 parties reciprocally engage not to entertain 
 any overture or proposition, on the part ot 
 the imperial court of Russia, having lor its 
 object the cessation of hostilities, without 
 having come to an understanding there- 
 upon between themselves. 
 
 " Art. V. — In case the re-establishment 
 of general peace, upon the basis indicated 
 in Article I., should not be assured in the 
 course of the present year, her majesty, the 
 Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, his 
 majesty, the Emperor of Austria, and his 
 majesty, the Emperor of the French, wil 
 deliberate, without delay, upon effectual 
 means for obtaining the object of their 
 alliance. 
 
 " Art. VI. — Great Britain, Austria, and 
 France will jointly communicate the present 
 treaty to the court of Prussia, and will, with 
 satisfaction, receive its accession thereto, in 
 case it should promise its co-operation for 
 the accomplishment of the common object." 
 The presentation of this note by the 
 Austrian government to Prince Gortcha- 
 koff, the Russian ambassador at Vienna, 
 on the 28th of December, 1854, naturally 
 threw Prussia still more into the arms of 
 Russia; the more so as the German mer- 
 chants were reaping a rich harvest from 
 the lucrative trade that they were carrying 
 on with Russia, and which led to some 
 remonstrances on the part of the allied 
 o-overnments; but with no greater effect than 
 an increase of caution in the transactions in 
 contraband of war. 
 
 Whilst these were the relations between 
 the great continental powers, the same 
 principles to which we have alluded as agi- 
 tating Europe were also acknowledged, and 
 their importance recognised, by one of the 
 most successful statesmen of modern times. 
 Cavour, the minister of Victor Emanuel, 
 the King of Sardinia, felt that the situation 
 of Italy* was precisely similar to that of 
 Germany. The year '48 had also left its 
 mark in Italy; and like the Prussian 
 statesman, he,' too, resolved not to oppose 
 the gathering forces, but to lead them, to 
 organise them, and use them for the unifi- 
 cation of Italy. The papal government 
 and its allies were, to the House of Savoy 
 and liberal principles, what Austria and the 
 House of Hapsburg were to Prussia and the 
 House of Hohenzollern ; whilst Austria was 
 to Italy — as a possible enemy — what Rus- 
 sia was to Prussia. But there was a differ- 
 ence in the relations between Austria and 
 Italy, as regarded the matter in question, 
 which Cavour at once appreciated with 
 rare tact. Had Austria, then in pos- 
 session of a large part of Italy, been able to 
 preserve a strict neutrality, or had abstained 
 from entering into an alliance, however 
 equivocal, with the allies, she would have 
 been easily able to prevent Sardinia from 
 takincr any prominent part in the war, or 
 the necrotiations accompanying and arising 
 out of ''it. But as she had already so far 
 compromised herself with France and 
 England, she could not, by any possible 
 means, exclude Sardinia from the alliance 
 she herself had joined in, although she 
 knew perfectly well that the principles 
 animating Cavour and his sovereign were 
 "^ 159 
 
 , A 
 
 ^^^--^ a; 
 
RUSSIAN NOTE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1855. 
 
 diametrically opposed to the interests of 
 Austria and the principles of the Austrian 
 government as then understood. This 
 dilemma was eagerly made use of by Ca- 
 vour as the first step towards the reali- 
 sation of his long-cherished plans in re- 
 gard to the unification of Italy ; and on 
 the 26th of January, 1855, a treaty was 
 signed, admitting the King of Sardinia into 
 the alliance formed by England and 
 France; which was ratified fully on the 
 4th of March following. '^ 
 
 The Russian government had been ac- 
 quainted with the negotiations carried on 
 previous to the ratification of the treaty, 
 and endeavoured to weaken the blows 
 about to be dealt against it by declaring 
 war itself against Sardinia, which was done 
 in a note addressed by Count Nesselrode 
 to the various European courts, and which 
 contains some special pleading that is 
 interesting, as showing how very much 
 diplomatists are frequently like schoolboys 
 wrangling over a sugar-stick, fighting for 
 it, and then quarrelling again as to who 
 hit the other one first. Yet this is the way 
 in which the business of nations is con- 
 ducted. The document in question, dated 
 February 17th, 1855, runs: — 
 
 " The court of will, we doubt not. 
 
 share the opinion of the emperor upon 
 the policy of his majesty, the King of 
 Sardinia, at a moment when that sove- 
 reign, without any ostensible motive, with- 
 out any legitimate cause of complaint, and 
 without even the shadow of the smallest 
 infringement upon the direct interest of 
 his country, has placed at the disposal of 
 England a coi'ps d'armee of 15,000 inen 
 for the invasion of the Crimea. In taking 
 this step the Sardinian government ap- 
 pears to have left it to the care of the 
 public journals to warn us of an aggression 
 which it has not thought fit to justify by 
 a declaration of war. We understand the 
 motive of this silence. 
 
 " The court of Turin, we admit it, would 
 have had some difficulty in conciliating 
 its policy with the natural sentiment of 
 its country; it would have experienced 
 equal difficulty in making its present 
 conduct harmonise with the ancient sou- 
 venirs of the House of Savoy. In con- 
 sulting the annals of its history, it might 
 cite the incident of a Russian army cross- 
 ing the Alps ; but, it is true, it was to 
 defend Piedmont, and not to invade it. In 
 the councils of the cabinets of Europe, in 
 160 
 
 the reign of the Emperor Alexander, ot 
 glorious memory, it was Russia again who 
 lent her faithful support to the independ- 
 ence of Sardinia when the House of Savoy 
 was again reinstated on the throne of its 
 ancestors. Must we finally recall to mind - 
 that, at the same period, if Grenoa ^ was 
 reunited to the kingdom of Sardinia, it 
 was because the imperial cabinet recog- 
 nised the necessity of assuring, at the same 
 time, both the commercial prosperity and 
 the greatness of the country which the 
 arms of Russia had helped to deliver from 
 a foreign yoke? But now, sinking in 
 oblivion the lessons of the past, the court 
 of Turin is about to direct against us, from 
 the selfsame port of Genoa, a hostile en- 
 terprise which Russia has the conscien- 
 tious satisfaction of knowing was not pro- 
 voked by her. 
 
 " The attitude thus assumed by Sardinia, 
 without a formal declaration of war, as we 
 have stated, would make us doubt what 
 name we ought to give to the auxiliary 
 troops destined to invade our frontiers 
 under the flag of a country with which 
 we have hitherto been living at peace. 
 However, if the court of Turin loses sight 
 of the principles and customs consecrated 
 by the law of nations, the emperor, for 
 his part, is resolved to observe them. With 
 this intA\ntion, his imperial majesty feels 
 it incumbent upon him to declare that 
 peace is, de facto and dejure, broken by this 
 flagrant act of hostility, the whole blame of 
 which recoils on the Sardinian government. 
 We leave it to bear the entire responsibility 
 thereof, in the face of the opinions of its 
 subjects and the rest of Europe." 
 
 To this document Count Cavour replied 
 with a circular, in which he repudiates 
 any charge of a breach of international law 
 or etiquette. It must, however, be remem- 
 bered that, at the moment when Sardinia 
 accepted the invitation of the allies to 
 join them, war was virtually if not practi- 
 cally declared: and that acceptation took 
 place on the 12th of January, though not 
 ratified till the 26th. However, the fol- 
 lowing is the case, as stated by Count 
 Cavour. He wrote on the 4th of March : — 
 " I have the honour to transmit herewith 
 some copies of the manifesto by which the 
 government of his majesty, the King of 
 Sardinia, declares war to his majesty, the 
 Emperor of Russia. [Here follow the rea- 
 sons for this action.] These considerations 
 determined his majesty to accede to the 
 
 A.D. 1855.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [SARDINIAN REPLY. 
 
 treaty of the 10th of April, 1854. The 
 act of accession, as well as the two conven- 
 tions referring to it, having been signed on 
 the 26th of January last, and ratified this 
 day (March 4th). his majesty, now declares 
 
 war to Russia. 
 
 *' His majesty has not seen, without pain- 
 ful surprise, that, while the act of accession, 
 unratified, had not yet any absolute legal 
 value, and was in no ways executory, the 
 Emperor Nicholas, by a note of Count 
 Nesselrode's, and in language full of bitter- 
 ness, taking the initiative in hostilities, 
 has accused him of violating the rights of 
 nations, by sending an expedition to the 
 Crimea without a previous declaration of 
 war, and reproached him with forgetfulness 
 of the marks of friendship shown in past 
 times by Russia to Sardinia. 
 
 « Concerning the pretended violation of 
 the rights of nations, it is sufficient to com- 
 pare the date of Count Nesselrode's circular 
 (5th of January last) with that of the rati- 
 fication of the act of accession (4th of 
 March), to be convinced of the astonishing 
 flippancy with which the chancellor of the 
 Russian empire has advanced so grave an 
 accusation, and which is so inappropriate 
 to the princes of Savoy, and, above all, to a 
 monarch to whom the voice of the whole 
 people has accorded the title of loyal. 
 
 " As to the reproach of ingratitude, the 
 Emperor Nicholas, instead of recalling the 
 marks of friendship which two of his pre- 
 decessors formerly showed towards Sardinia, 
 ouo^ht to have recollected, that, in 1848, 
 without any personal motive, he withdrew 
 his minister from the court of Turin, and 
 hastily sent the Sardinian representative at 
 St. Petersburg his passports ; that, in 1849, 
 he refused to receive the letter of notifica- 
 tion of the accession to the throne of King 
 Victor Emanuel II., a refusal highly in- 
 jurious, which finds few precedents m the 
 history of diplomacy, and which appears to 
 indicate, on the part of the czar, the strange 
 pretension to interfere in our interior affairs, 
 affecting not to recognise the transforma- 
 tion, not revolutionary, but legal, which had 
 been made in our political institutions. 
 
 " After having added these short explana- 
 tions, in order to place the conduct of the 
 king, our august sovereign, in its true light, 
 and on referring to the motives exhibited 
 in the accompanying manifesto, I beg you 
 to transmit a copy of the present despatch 
 to the minister of foreign affairs of the 
 government to which you are accredited; 
 VOL. II. Y 
 
 and I beg you to receive, sir, the renewed 
 assurances of my very distinguished con- 
 sideration. 
 
 "C. Cavour." 
 
 Herewith Sardinia crossed the Rubicon, 
 and entered upon the path that, a few years 
 later, led het to that place to which 
 all roads lead — even via Sebastopol— to 
 Rome ; and, on the 23rd of April, 1855, the 
 first division of the Sardinian expedition, 
 amounting to 7,000 men, under the com- 
 mand of General La Marmora, embarked 
 for Constantinople and Balaklava. 
 
 After the Russo-Sardinian declaration of 
 war, another attempt at arranging for peace 
 was made at the instance of Austria, which 
 had become seriously disquieted by the firm 
 attitude of Prussia, the uncompromising 
 nature of her representations at the diet, 
 Herr von Bismarck, and the boldness of 
 Sardinia. She was resolved that either 
 peace should be concluded, or that any 
 danger to herself should be averted, by 
 giving it to be clearly understood, that in 
 no case did she intend to take offensive 
 action against Russia. Thus the Vienna 
 conference was brought about, and which 
 assembled in Vienna on the 15th of March, 
 1855. The Austrian plenipotentiaries were 
 Count Buol-Schauenstein and Baron Pro- 
 kesch-Osten ; the English, Lord John Rus- 
 sell and the Earl of Westmoreland; the 
 French, Count Drouyn de Lluys and Baron 
 Bourqueney; the Turkish, Aarif Pasha; 
 and the Russian, Prince Gortchakoff. The 
 subjects for discussion were arranged as 
 
 follows: — 
 
 " 1. The Danubian principalities. 
 
 " 2. The navigation of the Danube. 
 
 " 3*. The limitation of Russian power in 
 
 the Black Sea. . . 
 
 « 4. The condition of the Christian sub- 
 jects of the Porte." . . , ^ j 
 The wrangling over these points lasted 
 from the 15th of March to the 26th of 
 April, without any result, in consequence 
 of the delays occasioned by constant refer- 
 ences to St. Petersburg and Constantinople, 
 and by the great divergence of interests in 
 all concerned. The point that occasioned the 
 greatest opposition, on the part of Russia, 
 was the 3rd, limiting her naval power m 
 the Black Sea. Anyhow, the conterence 
 broke up, formally, on the 26th of April; 
 but the various plenipotentiaries still re- 
 mained in Vienna, at the instigation of the 
 Austrian ministers, who were understood to 
 
 161 
 
 V 
 
SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1855. 
 
 A.D. 1855.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the rifle-pits. 
 
 \> 
 
 
 be engaged in tlic drawing up of a pro- 
 posal which should secure the ends in view. 
 This wonderful proposition turned out to 
 be a proposal that matters should be 
 compromised by Russia's being allowed to 
 restore the strength of her Black Sea fleet 
 to what it had been before the outbreak of 
 tlie war; hut that, on the otlier hand, tlie 
 Turks, Frencli, and English should also be 
 permitted to keep an ecpial fleet in the 
 same sea. On these conditions Russia 
 was prepared to join in the guarantee 
 for the integrity of the Porte. To this 
 proposal Lord John Russell and the French 
 plenipotentiary allowed themselves to be 
 persuaded to agree. The governments of 
 France and England, however, at once 
 refused to ratify the agreement; and, as it 
 was evident that the negotiations were only 
 protracted for private purposes, on the part 
 of one or more of the powers concerned, at 
 once broke off all further treaty, and recalled 
 
 their representatives, the feeling against 
 whom was so strong for entertaining for 
 a moment so preposterous a proposal, 
 that both Lord John Russell and Drouyu 
 do Lhuys found it convenient to resign 
 
 office. 
 
 The private motives were soon discovered 
 to be Austrian; for that government, on 
 the formal rejection of its proposal, at 
 once declared that, the allies having first 
 accepted the proposal through their pleni- 
 potentiaries, and then rejected it, Austria 
 could not undertake to assume the offensive 
 against Russia. The diplomatic campaign 
 of 1S55 had thus opened with a victory for 
 the latter power, which had so well worked 
 upon the fears of her neighbour in reference 
 to the designs attributed to Napoleon and 
 Cavour in regard to Italy. Tlie only won- 
 der is that Austria did not pursue a bolder 
 policy, and cast her fate in entirely with 
 that of Russia. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 CONTINUATION OF THE SIEGE OF SEBASTOrOL ; CUARACTER OF THE ATTACK AND DEFENCE J 
 
 THE SECOND BOMBARDMENT J ITS FAILURE. 
 
 In January, 1855, the second British 
 parallel was opened at a distance of 1,200 
 yards from the Redan, whilst the French 
 engineers busily advanced their mining 
 operations against the Flagstaff Bastion. 
 But in spite of the batteries in the first 
 parallel, which enabled the men to proceed 
 with the construction of the second in the 
 face of the musketry-fire by day, and end- 
 less sorties by night, it was quite impossi- 
 ble to silence the enemy's batteries beyond 
 this, so overwhelming was the mass of 
 metal over which he disposed. More than 
 ever the struggle partook of the nature of 
 a campaign of two field-armies, one against 
 the other, of which one was in the possession 
 of a strong fortified position, and the other 
 in an entrenched camp. It was no wonder, 
 under such circumstances, that the allies 
 were unable to reach the edge of the 
 enemy's entrenchments in order to proceed 
 to the assault, or that the Russians were 
 able to repair their damaged works as fast 
 as they were destroyed; to displace their 
 162 
 
 dismounted guns by fresh ones, and flank 
 the approaches of the French and Britisl) 
 eno-ineers by fresh batteries, and counter- 
 approaches and mines. This, coupled with 
 the rocky, stony nature of the soil, forced 
 the allies to abandon the Vauban system of 
 approach in its entirety, and to fortify their 
 advances, not simply with open batteries, 
 but with closed works, with a surrounding 
 ditch, glacis, and flank works, in order to 
 protect the heavy guns against sorties and 
 attacks in force. Nor, according to Vau- 
 ban's system, could the parallels be con- 
 structed continuously, but had to be 
 furnished with wide openings from point 
 to point, in order to allow of the advance 
 of large bodies of troops to repel any 
 attack in force. The want of sufficient 
 heavy artillery also necessitated what there 
 was to be concentrated in groups ; so that 
 i there really remained nothing left but a 
 ! system of undermining, or an assault, pure 
 land simple; and that this last measure 
 ! would finally have to be adopted, whatever 
 
 it might cost, gradually began to dawn upon 
 all the commanders without exception. 
 
 Preparatory to this step. Marshal Niol 
 proposed to centre the chief attack on the 
 Karabelnaia suburb, but without abandon - 
 in*' the attack on the west. The line of 
 approach w^as a long one — more than 
 12,000 yards, or six miles. The English 
 works were in the centre ; the French con- 
 tinuing them right and left, and lengthen- 
 ing the second British parallel towards the 
 right, thus drawing closer to the Korniloff 
 Bastion (Malakoff). But, as though by 
 magic, the Russians constructed two re- 
 doubts, Selenginski and Wolinski, on 
 Mount Sapoun, at the head of Careening 
 Bay, which flanked the approach to the 
 Malakoff ; whilst right before the Malakoff, 
 at a distance of HOO yards, they built 
 up the lunette, Mamelon Vert, right be- 
 fore the eyes of the astonished French- 
 men, and full in front of their works. Of 
 course, this was not accomplished without 
 a fierce resistance and opposition on both 
 sides; but ultimately the works were not 
 only armed with heavy guns, but also pro- 
 tected by trenches and rifle-pits to within 
 500 yards of the French lines. The failure 
 of the French to prevent the establishment 
 of these works and rifle-pits was un- 
 doubtedly due to their desire to accom- 
 plish the task unaided, as sufficiently 
 appears from Mr. Russell's account of the 
 action of March 17, 1855, when they tried, 
 too late, to drive the Russians out. 
 
 Mr. Russell says— "On looking at any 
 plans of the position, an elevated mound 
 will be observed to our right of Malakoff 
 Tower — the Round Tower, as it was called, 
 but which was, in reality, of horse-shoe 
 form, and open at the back— but consider- 
 ably in advance of it. This is now called 
 the Mamelon, and the Russians occupy it 
 every night, and throw up works upon it, 
 intended for a large redoubt, which would 
 be able to annoy us very materially. The 
 left front of this they have covered with 
 rifle-pits. To the right of this Mamelon 
 from our position, and somewdiat in ad- 
 vance of it again, is the square redoubt, 
 which the Russians have thrown up on the 
 mound they seized by the bold movement 
 of which you received information some 
 time ago. As the possession of the rifle- 
 pits near these works is of great import- 
 ance, and would assist the allies materially 
 in checking the fire of the guns which the 
 enemy may mount in their batteries, the 
 
 French (to whose extreme right front, over- 
 lapping our right, these pits are opposite) 
 made an attempt, which was unsuccessful, 
 on Friday night, to drive out the Russians. 
 Again they vigorously attacked the place in 
 force; and it is with deep regret that I 
 have to state that they met with the same 
 result. The shot of our batteries generally 
 drove out the Russians during the day, but 
 at night they came back and reoccupied 
 them, supported by large bodies of infantry. 
 In these encounters the enemy must have 
 I had many men killed and wounded. 
 
 " These rifle-pits, which have cost both 
 armies such a quantity of ammunition, and 
 have led to so considerable a sacrifice on 
 the part of our allies, are placed in front 
 and to the right and left of the Tower of 
 Malakoff, about 600 yards from our works. 
 They are simple excavations in the ground, 
 faced round with sand-bags, which are loop- 
 holed for rifles, and banked round with the 
 earth which has been thrown up from the 
 pit. Each of these pits contains about ten 
 men. They are, in fact, little forts or 
 redoubts for offensive proceedings against 
 the besiegers, armed with rifles instead of 
 cannon. Practice has made the men placed 
 in them expert ; and it is likely they are 
 picked shots, for their fire is exceedingly 
 good ; and if a man shows for a moment 
 above the works in front of these pits, he 
 has a small swarm of leaden hornets buzzing 
 round his ears. At first there were only 
 two of these pits in the particular spot of 
 which I am speaking. After the enemy 
 recovered possession of them the first time, 
 they dug two more, and now they have 
 increased the number to six, so that the 
 force of riflemen which they hold is about 
 sixty men. After the French were obliged 
 to retire on Saturday morning, the Russians 
 reoccupied these pits, and kept up a con- 
 tinual fusillade against every object which 
 appeared to have life in it towards the 
 French right. They were so well covered, 
 and so admirably protected by the nature 
 of the ground, that our riflemen could do 
 nothing with them, and the French sharp- 
 shooters were equally unsuccessful. It was 
 determined to try a round shot or two at 
 them from one of the English batteries. 
 The first shot struck down a portion 
 of the bank of one of the pits ; the second 
 went slap into the sand-bags, right through 
 the parapet, and out at the other side ; and 
 the riflemen, ignorant of Sir John Bur- 
 irovne's advice to men similarly situate — to 
 ^ -^ 163 
 

 
 ATTACK ON THE RIFLE-PITS.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1855. 
 
 A.D. 1855.] 
 
 EUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [second BOMBARDMENT. 
 
 ! 
 
 ',} 
 
 il 
 
 ;,* 
 
 n 
 
 adhere the more obstinately to their work 
 the more they are fired at by big guns — 
 * bolted,* and ran across the space to their 
 works. The French sharpshooters, who 
 were in readiness to take advantage of 
 this moment, at once fired on the fugitives, 
 but did not hit one of them. All the rifle- 
 men left the pits, and they were deserted 
 for the rest of the day, as the allies could 
 not approach them under the guns of the 
 works till dark. It was probable that, 
 silent as the enemy had been, he would 
 have opened on them at once with case and 
 grape had they attempted to occupy them. 
 As it was made a point of honour by 
 General Bosquet that our allies should take 
 these pits, a strong force of about 5,000 
 men at least were marched up to the base 
 of the hills in front of our position, close to 
 the second and light divisions, before 
 dusk on Saturday evening, and shortly after- 
 wards they were sent down to the advanced 
 trenches on our right, occupied by the 
 French. At half-past six o'clock their 
 skirmishers and riflemen were ordered out 
 to occupy the pits. The Zouaves advanced 
 with their usual dash and intrepidity, but 
 they found the Russians had anticipated 
 them, and that the enemy were already in 
 possession of the pits. A fierce conflict 
 immediately commenced, but it was evident 
 that the Russians were in great strength. 
 The French could not drive them back 
 from their position, notwithstanding their 
 repeated attempts to do so. It is stated 
 that some misapprehension led the men in 
 the trenches to tire two heavy volleys of 
 musketry before their comrades reached the 
 pits, and that the enemy at once despatched 
 a large force to the assistance of the troops 
 already engaged with the French, so that 
 the latter were at last forced back by the 
 weight of fire. The contest was carried on 
 by musketry, and the volume of the volleys 
 which rang out incessantly for four hours 
 and a-half, roused up the whole camp. 
 From the almost ceaseless roll and flashinir 
 lines of light in front, one would have 
 imagined that a general action between 
 considerable armies was going on ; and the 
 character of the fight had something 
 unusual about it, owing to the absence of 
 any fire of artillery. About half-past seven 
 o'clock the fourth division was turned out 
 by the general. Sir John Campbell, and 
 took up its position on the hill nearly in 
 front of its tents, and Sir George Brown at 
 the same time marched the light division 
 164 
 
 a few hundred yards forward to the left and 
 front of their encampment. Tliese divisions 
 remained under arms for nearly four hours, 
 and were marched back when the French 
 finally desisted from their assault on the 
 pits. The second and third divisions were 
 also in readiness for immediate action. 
 Had our allies required our assistance they 
 would have received it ; but they are deter- 
 mined on taking and holding these pits, 
 which, in fact, are in front of their works, 
 without any aid. I hear that the reserve, 
 owing to some mistake, did not come into 
 action, and was not where the advanced 
 troops expected to have found it at the 
 most critical moment. The Zouaves bore 
 the brunt of the fitJ^ht. Througrh the nifjht 
 air, in the lulls of the musketr}^, the voices 
 of the officers could be distinctly heard 
 cheering on the men, and encouraging 
 them — ' En avant. Tries enfants /' ' En 
 avantj Zouaves /' — and the tramp of feet 
 and the rush of men generally followed; 
 then a roll of musketry was heard, diminish- 
 ing in volume to rapid file-firing — then a 
 Russian cheer — then more musketry — a few 
 dropping shots — and the voices of the 
 officers once more. This work went on for 
 about four hours, and the French, unassisted 
 by their reserve, at length retired, with the 
 loss, they say, of about 150 men killed and 
 wounded, and a few taken prisoners. 
 
 " The French having thus failed in wrest- 
 ing their positions from the Russians, the 
 latter decided to try whether they could not 
 be more successful and drive the former out 
 of their advanced trenches; and between 
 11 and 12 o'clock in the night from the 
 22nd to the 23rd of March, columns of 
 Russian infantry came suddenly upon tho 
 men in the British advanced trenches, and 
 rushed in upon them on the right with the 
 bayonet before they were quite prepared to 
 receive them. When they were first 
 discerned they were close at hand, and, on 
 being challenged, they replied with the 
 universal shibboleth, ' Bono Franciz.' In 
 another moment they were bayoneting the 
 British troops, who had barely time to 
 snatch their arms and defend themselves. 
 Taken at a great disadvantage, and pressed 
 by superior numbers, the assault was met 
 with undaunted courage, the Russians being 
 driven out at the point of the bayonet after 
 a smart fire, and forced to retire under 
 cover of their batteries. 
 
 " The attack seems to have been general 
 along the line. At half- past eight P.M. 
 
 (March 23rd), the French batteries began to 
 shell the town, while their rockets were 
 poured every five minutes in streams into 
 the place. At ten o'clock, the sentries in 
 advance of Chapman's attack gave notice 
 that the Russians were assembling in force 
 in front of the works. The 20th, 21st, and 
 the 57th regiments were in the trenches on 
 the left attack, and they were, to a certain 
 extent, prepared for the assault of the 
 enemy. About the same time the French 
 on the right of the British right attack, 
 which is separated from the left attack by a 
 deep ravine, were assailed by masses of the 
 enemy. As they were hardly pressed, orders 
 were given to advance the troops in a por- 
 tion of the trenches, consisting of a part of 
 the light division, to their support. On 
 the left attack, the Russians, advancing 
 with impetuosity through a weak part of 
 the defence, turned the third parallel, and 
 took it in reverse. They killed and 
 wounded some of the men, and had ad- 
 vanced to the second parallel, when the 
 covering party and the men in the trenches 
 of the batteries came down upon them and 
 drove them over the works after a sharp 
 conflict. On the right the attack was more 
 serious and sudden. The men had been 
 ordered out to the support of the French 
 from one part of their lines; and while 
 they were away, the Russians came up to 
 the flank of the works, and took them in 
 reverse, so that they had to fight their way 
 back to get to their position. The gallant 
 old 7th Fusileers had to run the gauntlet of 
 a large body of the enemy, whom they 
 drove back a la fourckette. The 34th 
 regiment had an enormous force to contend 
 against ; and as their brave colonel, Kelly, 
 was leading them on, he was shot down, 
 and carried off by the enemy. In the 
 midst of the fight. Major Gordon, of the 
 royal engineers, displayed that cool courage 
 and presence of mind which never forsook 
 him. With a little switch in his hand he 
 encouraged the men to defend the trenches, 
 and, standing up on the top of the parapet, 
 all unarmed as he was, he hurled down 
 stones on the Russians. He was struck by a 
 ball, which passed through the lower part of 
 his arm, and at the same time he received 
 a bullet through the shoulder. After an 
 hour's fight the enemy were driven back. 
 
 " On the British side there were seven 
 officers killed, wounded, and taken pri- 
 soners, and about 100 men put hors de 
 combat, or carried into Sebastopol. The 
 
 French lost between 300 and 400 men, and 
 fifteen officers killed, wounded, and missing. 
 On the other hand, the enemy suffered a 
 loss of 600 or 700 men, although they 
 succeeded in concealing the severity of their 
 loss by carrying off their dead and wounded, 
 as usual. Still, the number of dead bodies 
 lying along the front of our trenches proved 
 that they received a heavy loss. The 
 bodies of twelve men and of one officer 
 remained in the trenches of the British left 
 attack. The hill-sides below the Round 
 Tower and the Mamelon were covered with 
 Russian dead, mingled with the bodies of 
 the French, and lying about among the 
 gabions which had been knocked down in 
 front of the P'rench sap towards the rifle- 
 pits in great numbers. The rifle-pits, which 
 had been so hardly contested, were in front 
 of the Mamelon ; three of them being still 
 occupied by the Russians, and three of them 
 by the French ; but the latter were oblii^ed 
 to abandon them for a time during the first 
 rush of the enemy. The enemy opened guns 
 from the Mamelon against the French ap- 
 proaches towards the pits, its fire enfilading 
 a portion of the British lines. The Russian 
 engineers displayed consummate ability in 
 their works; and it was well for the allies that 
 their artillerymen were not as expert as 
 those who placed them in the batteries." 
 
 After this ineffectual attempt of the 
 Russians to stop the approach of the 
 French towards the Malakoff and the 
 Korniloff Bastion, the works were pushed 
 on with redoubled vigour ; and on April 
 2nd, 1855, the British engineers had com- 
 pleted their third parallel, 600 yards in 
 front from the Redan ; whilst as early on 
 the 14th and 16th of March, in the French 
 advance on the left towards the Central Bas- 
 tion, the second parallel had been length- 
 ened to the head of the Quarantine Bay, and 
 the batteries in it, and the third parallel, 
 considerably strengthened. By the 8th of 
 April, 1855, the fourth parallel in front of 
 the Redan was completed on either side of 
 the valley, separating Chapman's battery 
 from Gordon's battery, at a distance of sixty 
 yards from the Russian rifle-pits, and armed 
 with cohorns, by means of which it was in- 
 tended to drive the Russians out of the pits. 
 
 At daybreak on the 9th of April — 
 Easter Monday — the allied batteries simul- 
 taneously opened fire on the defences, in 
 obedience to an order from the Emperor of 
 the French, who was just preparing for his 
 journey to London, and wished to make that 
 
 165 
 
I 
 
 ! ■ 
 
 FAILURE OF BOMBARDMENT.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1855.' 
 
 event coincide with a notable success of his 
 arms in the (Mmea. — Thus the second 
 bombardment of Sebastopol commenced 
 with the fire of 508 pieces of the heaviest 
 metal, each of which was supplied with 
 700 missiles, 355,600 shot and shell thus 
 being destined to be cast into the be- 
 leaguered town. But in spite of the damage 
 inflicted on the Russian works, the solid 
 masonry being pounded to dust, the earth- 
 works remained still practically intact, and 
 all the Russian guns replaced from the 
 fleet as soon as dismounted ; whilst the losses 
 in men daily (amounting to about 400 men, 
 including officers), were supplied from the 
 ranks of the 3rd Corps d'Armee Ceight in- 
 fantry divisions), who were fresh in the 
 held, and sent the wounded and weakened 
 forces to the rear on the north side of the 
 harbour. The revetted bastions and case- 
 mates of the Korniloff' Bastion, and other 
 portions of the works, protected the men, 
 to a great degree, from the peril of shell, 
 shot, and rifle-balls poured upon them by 
 the allies, whilst the reserves found a shelter 
 in the town and suburbs, which almost pro- 
 cured them perfect immunity from the 
 iron and leaden storms busting over their 
 heads. Thus the second bombardment, 
 undertaken more for the purpose of pleas- 
 ing the French emperor and to satisfy 
 European opinion than anything else, was 
 a failure, as the generals in council were 
 convinced it would be. They would not 
 have sanctioned it at all, were it not at the 
 same time a means of supporting the works 
 of the engineers, and enabling them to 
 push forward under cover of the lire, and 
 open a fourth parallel in front of the Flag- 
 staff" Bastion at no less than 100 yards from 
 the works. In the centre the British troops 
 fought bravely in front of the Redan, and 
 round the quarries before it, but were 
 unable to effect a permanent lodgment; 
 the French endeavouring at the same time to 
 drive in the works on the hill at the head of 
 Careening Bay — the redoubts Wolinski and 
 Selenginski ; and in front of the Malakoff, 
 the Mamelon Vert, or Kamschatka Lunette, 
 as the Russians called it. By the 6th of May, 
 the bombardment had, as such, completely 
 ceased. For the second time it had been 
 proved that Sebastopol was not destined to 
 fall without a general assault, cost what it 
 might. That this was becoming clear, even 
 to non-military men, may be gathered from 
 the following letter of Mr. Russell's, on the 
 fifth day of the bombardment : — 
 166 
 
 (C 
 
 up to the present moment our batte- 
 ries have succeeded in establishing a supe- 
 riority of fire over the Russians ; but it is 
 not very decided, and the silence of the 
 enemy's guns may arise, in some measure, 
 from want of ammunition, or from confi- 
 dence in the strength of their earthworks. 
 It would seem, indeed, as if our fire was 
 almost thrown away on the enormous 
 mounds of earth cast up at the Redan and 
 before the Round Tower and western bat- 
 teries. The whole of the parapets of the 
 Redan and Round Tower are jagged and 
 pitted with holes several feet deep, where 
 the shot have sunk ; the sharp angles of the 
 embrasures are knocked away, and the 
 ahattis in front is considerably damaged 
 here and there ; but the real strenorth of the 
 place is imimpaired ; and, as long as the 
 Russians can find new guns, fresh supplies 
 of ammunition, and men to fight the bat- 
 teries, we are not one inch nearer to the 
 town than we were in last October, so lon<r 
 as we rely alone on the fire of our artillery 
 to make us masters of it. There are great 
 differences of opinion among those officers 
 to whom I have spoken respecting tho 
 chances of an assault ; but there can be 
 little doubt but that an attack on the 
 Round Tower, the Mamelon, and the two 
 earthworks on the south side of Inkermann, 
 which are called by the French the batte- 
 ries 1 Avril and 2 Avril, would be attended 
 with success, if made with sufficient force, 
 although the loss of life would be very 
 considerable until guns could be got up to 
 reply to the fire of the north forts, the 
 shipping, and the bastion face of tho 
 Redan. 
 
 " Far be it from me to arrosfate to 
 myself the smallest military knowledge, or 
 to pretend to criticise the operations of our 
 generals ; but I use the words of many 
 officers when I say that these places are not 
 invulnerable, and that the possession of 
 them would most materially conduce to a 
 successful termination of all our labours. 
 It may be that our generals see some surer 
 and less bloody path into Sebastopol. 
 They may well hesitate to sacrifice the gal- 
 lant fellows who must fall in such an 
 arduous and terrible undertakinc: as the 
 storming of these positions; but if Great 
 Britain has set her heart on the reduction 
 of the stronghold which has already cost 
 her so much precious blood and treasure, 
 she must be content to pay the price to tho 
 last farthing." 
 

 >K:v 
 
 n ( 
 
 (■ 
 
 \ 
 
 i 
 
 '^ <.^ 
 
 «D 
 
 ■-^-.c. 
 
 ^ ="\/ 
 
 "^ 
 
 y 
 
 %^ 
 
 A.D. 1855.] 
 
 EUSSTAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [death of the czar. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 BATTLE OF EUPATORIA ; DEATH OF NICHOLAS T. ; CAUSES OF HIS DEATH ; STRANGE STORY ; ACCESSION 
 9 OF ALEXANDER II. ; CONTINUATION OF THE WAR DECIDED ON. 
 
 Whilst the two chief armies were con- 
 tending for the possession of Sebastopol, 
 Greneral Ostensacken, at the head of about 
 40,000 men, with some sixty pieces of 
 artillery, attacked the Turkish and allied 
 troops at Eupatoria, who were supported 
 by the gun-boats, (7u7'apoa, Valorous, Viper, 
 and Furious, the Turkish steamer Scheh- 
 faer, and the French steamer Veloce, The 
 troops in possession of Eupatoria consisted 
 of about 30,000 men, of whom 25,000 
 were Turks, and the rest French and 
 English, chiefly belonging to the crews of 
 the above-named vessels ; the whole force 
 being under the command of Omar Pasha, 
 whose report of the battle, forwarded to 
 Lord Raglan, is perhaps the most accurate 
 there is. He states — " The enemy at- 
 tacked Eupatoria on the morning of 
 February 17th. The troops intended for 
 this attack had left the camp before Se- 
 bastopol six days ago, and other troops 
 from Perekop and Simpheropol had joined 
 them in the night of the 16th, and the 
 morning of the 17th, in the flat ground 
 that lies behind the heights that are before 
 Eupatoria, As far as one could guess, and 
 according to the information furnished by 
 prisoners, the enemy mustered thirty-six 
 battalions of infantry, six regiments of 
 cavalry, 400 Cossacks, eighty pieces of 
 artillery in position, and some troops of 
 horse artillery, which were in reserve. The 
 attack commenced at daylight by a strong 
 cannonade, during which the enemy used 
 even 32-pounders. At first the Russians 
 showed themselves in great force along our 
 whole position; but seeing that our left 
 was protected by men-of-war, which went 
 there when the first shot was fired, thev 
 concentrated against our centre and right. 
 I then requested the senior officer of the 
 English royal navy to send the gun-boat 
 Viper to the right, and to take up a posi- 
 tion near the French steamer Veloce, and 
 the Turkish steamer Schehfaer, on board 
 of which was the Vice-admiral, Ahmed 
 Pasha. At the same time I reinforced the 
 right with some battalions of infantry and 
 some pieces of artillery, which I withdrew 
 
 from the left. The enemy continued his 
 fire, without ceasing, from the position 
 held by his artillery, supported by a power- 
 ful fire of skirmishers ; and then his in- 
 fantry, carrying planks and ladders, three 
 times tried to storm the works. Each 
 time it was repulsed, and obliged to retire 
 under our fire ; but it was enabled to effect 
 this retrograde movement under cover of 
 its artillery, and of heavy masses of cavalry. 
 Our cavalry, which at the present moment 
 only musters about 200 or 300 horses, and 
 which charged the Russian infantry at the 
 commencement of its retreat, did not dare 
 to pursue it in the face of such heavy 
 masses. The superiority in artillery and 
 cavalry prevented our disturbing the Rus- 
 sians on their retreat. After four hours 
 and a-half s fighting, they commenced re- 
 tiring in three difl'erent directions — towards 
 the bridge of Lake Sasik, towards Top 
 Mamai, and towards the Perekop road. I 
 have every reason to be satisfied with the 
 conduct of my troops during the day. 
 Although behind works only half finished, 
 and not fully armed, they showed a bold 
 front, and were very steady. Our losses 
 are not very numerous, but they are to be 
 deplored. We regret the death of Selim 
 Pasha, lieutenant-general, commanding the 
 Egyptian troops. We had, moreover, 
 eighty-seven killed and 277 wounded; 
 seventy-nine horses killed and eighteen 
 wounded. Amongst the killed there are 
 seven officers, and ten are wounded, amongst 
 them Suleiman Pasha ; thirteen inhabit- 
 ants of the town have been killed, and 
 eleven wounded. I consider it my duty 
 to make honourable mention of the French 
 detachment that is here, and of the English 
 men-of-war, Curagoa, Furious, Valorous, 
 Viper, of the Turkish steamer Schehfaer, 
 and of the energetic co-operation of the 
 French steamer Veloce, all which con- 
 tributed greatly towards frustrating the 
 efforts of the enemy. The French detach- 
 ment had four men killed, and nine wounded 
 — amongst the latter is a naval officer. The 
 Russians must have suffered a heavy loss. 
 According to the report of the civil authori- 
 
 167 
 
A STRANGE STORY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1855. 
 
 ties of the town, who had to bury the dead, 
 their number of killed amounts to 453 : 
 their artillery lost 300 horses. They car- 
 ried away a great many of their dead, and 
 almost all their wounded. We have taken 
 geven prisoners." 
 
 The failure of the Russians to expel the 
 invaders from Eupatoria, besides its mili- 
 tary interest, is also noteworthy for the 
 curious effect it is alleged to have had on 
 the mind of Nicholas I., whose death took 
 place, about a fortnight afterwards, from 
 pulmonic paralysis, according to official 
 statements there seems to be no reason to 
 doubt; but, according to Dr. Granville, 
 from cerebral disease. Dr. Grranville's 
 reasons, on which he based this opinion, 
 were contained in the following letters, 
 published by the Times on March 3rd, 
 and which we give in extenso, as, to say 
 the least, a remarkable coincidence : — 
 
 « To the Editor of the ' Times: 
 
 " 1, Curzon Street, May Fair, March 3. 
 
 "Sir, — I commit into your hands the 
 following letter and memorandum for pub- 
 lication. It is fit that the people of this 
 country should know that, at the com- 
 mencement of the diplomatic dispute with 
 Russia, ministers were made aware of the 
 state of mind and prospect of life of its 
 mighty ruler. The discussions carried on 
 with him were shaped on the usual meta- 
 physical grounds. They should have been 
 guided instead by a knowledge of the phy- 
 sical condition of the disputant. 
 
 " At every confidential interview with the 
 British representative, up started the mono- 
 maniacal idea of ' Vhomifne malade — grave- 
 Tiient malade,'' which was often repeated, 
 * not without excitement,' added Sir George 
 H. Seymour. If this fact did not of itself 
 open the eyes of ministers in January and 
 February of 1853, the timely professional 
 warning conveyed to them in the annexed 
 letter not long after, might, one would 
 think, put ministers on their guard, albeit 
 the warning came from an humble indi- 
 vidual.; Who knows how many thousand 
 lives since sacrificed, and millions of money 
 squandered, might not have been saved if, 
 on the conviction of the truth of the warn- 
 ing received, instead of continuing for 
 months together all sorts of unprofitable 
 arguments, peremptory language and per- 
 emptory action had been employed, leaving 
 no time to the imperial and really ' sick 
 man' for the infliction on his own devoted 
 168 
 
 people, and those of the three nations allied 
 against him, of that irreparable mischief 
 which he has been siiffered to perpetrate ? 
 It was thus that Pitt dealt with Paul : but, 
 alas ! there is no Pitt now. 
 
 " For regularity's sake I mention that 
 three passages in the following letter, which 
 was strictly confidential, are omitted. The 
 first was the expression of a purely reli- 
 gious opinion, which, though awfully ap- 
 propriate at this moment, might be con- 
 sidered presumptuous. The second de- 
 tailed the grounds on which, during my 
 residence of several weeks in St. Peters- 
 burg in 1849, in attendance on a high 
 personage at the imperial court, I formed 
 the medical opinion which I deemed it my 
 duty to convey to the government at home : 
 their publication at this moment would be 
 injudicious. The third passage was an 
 allusion to my ill-requited service in the 
 navy, which cannot interest your readers. 
 
 " I have the honour to be your obedient 
 servant, 
 
 " A. B. Granville, M.D." 
 
 Confidential Letter to Viscount 
 Palmerston. 
 
 66 
 
 Kissingen, Bavaria, July 6, 1853. 
 " My Lord, — Failing in my endeavours to 
 meet with your lordship at the appointed 
 interview at the House of Commons on the 
 22nd ult., at which I proposed to make a 
 viva voce communication of some impor- 
 tance to the government, as I thought, 
 concerning the present political discussions 
 with Russia, I stated, in a second note 
 written at the moment of my departure 
 from England for this place, that I re- 
 gretted the disappointment, inasmuch as 
 the subject of the intended communication, 
 from its delicate nature, did not admit of 
 being committed to paper. I think so 
 still. But, on the other hand, the neces- 
 sity of the government being put in pos- 
 session of the communication appears to 
 me to become every day so much more 
 urgent, that if it is to be of any use it 
 must be made at once, or it will fail to 
 direct ministers in time, as I think the 
 communication is capable of doing, in their 
 negotiations with Russia, and in their esti- 
 mation of the one particular element 
 which, I apprehend, has first provoked, 
 and is since pushing on, the emperor in his 
 present reckless course. Mine is not a 
 
 S'JlCM(O^L.^..i K . 
 
 r ^^ T' F i".' T^ n Y R IT R r T A 
 
 OB: 185Z. 
 
 "'NDOT! J-R'NIIIIG AND PUHUSHIMG COMT'ANY 1 Mi;! '.: 
 
A.D. 1855.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [a strange story. 
 
 
 political, but a professional communica- 
 tion, therefore strictly confidential. It is 
 not conjectural, but positive, largely based 
 on personal knowledge, and partly on im- 
 parted information accidentally obtained — 
 it is not essential that I should say from 
 whom, for I take the responsibility of the 
 whole on myself, inasmuch as the whole 
 but confirms what I have myself observed, 
 studied, or heard on the spot. 
 
 " The Western cabinets find the conduct 
 of the Emperor Nicholas strange, prepos- 
 terous, inconsistent, unexpected. They 
 wonder at his demands ; they are startled 
 at his state papers ; they cannot compre- 
 hend their context ; they recognise not in 
 them the clear and close reasoning of the 
 Nestor of Russian diplomacy, but rather 
 the dictates of an iron will to which he has 
 been made to affix his name ; they view 
 the emperor's new international principles 
 as extravagant ; they doubt if he be under 
 the guidance of wise counsels. Yet they 
 proceed to treat, negotiate, and speak as if 
 none of these perplexing novelties in diplo- 
 macy existed on the part of a power 
 hitherto considered as the model of politi- 
 cal loyalty. The Western cabinets are in 
 error. The health of the czar is shaken. 
 He has been irritable, passionate, fanciful, 
 more than usually superstitious, capricious, 
 hasty, precipitate, and obstinate withal — 
 all from ill-health, unskilfully treated ; and 
 of late deteriorating into a degree of cere- 
 bral excitement, which, while it takes from 
 bim the power of steady reasoning, impels 
 him to every extravagance, in the same 
 manner as with his father in 1800; as with 
 Alexander, in Poland, in 1820; as with 
 Constantine, at Warsaw, in 1830 ; as with 
 Michael, at St. Petersburg, in 1848-'9. 
 Like them, his nature feels the fatal trans- 
 mission of hereditary insanity, the natural 
 consequence of an overlooked and pro- 
 gressive congestion of the brain. Like 
 them, he is hurrying to his fate, sudden 
 death, from congestive disease. The same 
 period of life, between forty-five and sixty 
 years of age, sees the career of this fated 
 family cut short. Paul, at first violent 
 and fanatical, a perfect lunatic at forty- 
 five years of age, is despatched at forty- 
 seven, in 180b Alexander dies at Tagan- 
 rog in December, 1825, aged forty-eight. 
 For five years previously his temper and 
 his mind had at times exhibited the 
 parental malady by his capricious and way- 
 ward manner of treating the Polish pro- 
 
 VOL. II. z 
 
 vinces. He died of congestive fever of the 
 brain, during which he knocked down his 
 favourite physician — Sir James Wylie, 
 who assured me of the fact at St. Peters- 
 burg, in 1828 — because he wished to apply 
 leeches to his temples. Constantine, 
 eccentric always, tyrannical, cruel, dies at 
 Warsaw suddenly in July, 1831, aged fifty- 
 two years, after having caused rebellion in 
 the country by his harsh treatment of the 
 cadet officers. I saw and conversed with 
 him on the parade, and in its palace at 
 Warsaw, in December, 1828. His looks 
 and demeanour sufficiently denoted to a 
 medical man what he was, and what his 
 fate would be. It has been said that he 
 died of cholera ; again, that he had been 
 despatched like his father. The physician 
 in chief of the Polish military hospitals 
 assured me, some years after, that he had 
 died apoplectic and in a rage. Michael, 
 after many years of suffering from the 
 same complaints which afflict his only 
 surviving brother — enlarged liver, de- 
 ranged digestion, and fulness of blood in 
 the head — became, in 1848-'9, intolerably 
 irritable, violent, and tyrannical to his 
 own officers of the artillery and engineer 
 service, of which he was the supreme chief. 
 In July, 1849, he consulted me at St. 
 Petersburg. It was after he had passed 
 in review the whole train of artillery which 
 was leaving the capital for Hungary, at 
 which review I was present and near him, 
 and witnessed scenes of violent temper 
 towards generals and aides-de-camp hardly 
 equalled in a lunatic asylum. I found him 
 as described above. I advised cupping, 
 diet, non-exposure to the sun and to 
 fatigue, the administration of suitable 
 medicines, and the cessation from drinking 
 steel mineral waters, of which he was fond 
 ever since he had been at Kissingen. His 
 physician, the younger Sir James Wylie 
 (himself since suddenly dead), assented 
 reluctantly, but did not carry my advice 
 into execution. The grand-duke, in the 
 state he was, unrelieved by any medical 
 measure or proper treatment, joined the 
 army, rode out in the sun, and fell from 
 his horse apoplectic in September, 1849, 
 aged forty-eight. To complete the dis- 
 astrous picture of the grand-children of 
 Catharine, their mother, Maria of Wiirtem- 
 berg, a most exemplary princess, died 
 apoplectic in November, 1829, scarcely 
 more than sixty-five years of age. The 
 attack, mistaken for weakness, was treated 
 
 169 
 
CONTINUANCE OF THE WAR.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1855. 
 
 with stimulants and bark by her physician, 
 Ruhl, and bleedinpj was only had recourse 
 to when the mistake was discovered — but 
 too late to save. The meek and mild 
 Elizabeth had, but a short time before, 
 followed her imperial partner, Alexander, 
 to the grave, in the still fresh years of 
 womanhood, fifty years of age. 
 
 "During my second sojourn in St. 
 Petersburg, in 1849, for a period of ten 
 weeks * * * * What the opinion was 
 of the emperor's health — what acts of his 
 came to my knowledge, which bespoke 
 eccentricity — what were the sentiments of 
 his physician. Dr. Mandt, who, homcB- 
 opathist as he is, and exercising a most 
 peremptory influence over his master, 
 leaves him, nevertheless, unrelieved, ex- 
 cept by mystical drops and globules — what 
 transpired of political doctrines and 
 opinions, or, in fine, what I gathered after- 
 wards at Moscow on all co-equal points, 
 must be left to your lordship's conjecture, — 
 not difficult after all I have divulged. To 
 go further would be like a breach of trust, 
 and of that I shall never be guilty. In all 
 I have related there is nothing that had 
 been committed to me as a privileged com- 
 munication ; while the imperative require- 
 ments of the moment calling for its im- 
 mediate divulgement, I hesitate not to 
 make it, under the firmest conviction that 
 my fears and anticipations will be surely 
 realised. If so, then the method of dealing 
 with an all-powerful sovereign so visited 
 must differ from the more regular mode of 
 transacting business between government 
 and government. For this purpose it is— 
 to put her majesty's ministers on their 
 guard accordingly, that I have determined 
 to place in your lordship's hands the pre- 
 sent professional information, which must 
 be considered as so strictly confidential 
 that I shall not sign it with my name. 
 
 " That I have selected your lordship as 
 the channel of my communication, rather 
 than the Minister of Foreign Affairs, to 
 whom more properly it should have been 
 addressed, will at once appear natural to 
 170 
 
 your lordship. In my capacity of once, 
 and for some years, your lordship's physi- 
 cian (though not now honoured with that 
 title), your lordship has known me per- 
 sonally, and is convinced that what my 
 pen commits to paper, may be taken as 
 coming from an honourable man and your 
 obedient servant. 
 
 "N.B. — An acknowledgment of the re- 
 ceipt of this letter came by return of post 
 in Lord Palmerston's handwriting. 
 
 " Memorandum, — At an interview with 
 Lord Palmerston, February 23, 1854, on 
 matters of a private nature, his lordship 
 was pleased to ask me, before we separated, 
 whether I still adhered to my opinion and 
 prediction. I replied, that before July 
 1855 (the emperor would then be fifty- 
 nine years old), what I had anticipated 
 would happen. ' Let but a few reverses 
 overtake the emperor,' I added, *and his 
 death, like that of all his brothers, will be 
 sudden.' It has proved so. Alma, Inker- 
 mann, Balaklava, shook the mighty brain : 
 Eupatoria completed the stroke, which 
 has anticipated my prognosis only by a 
 few weeks. 
 
 « A. B. G." 
 
 It was hoped that the death of the czar 
 would entail the speedy conclusion of peace ; 
 but the only effect it had on the Russian 
 garrison at Sebastopol, was to open a very 
 brisk cannonade on the day when the news 
 was received; whilst Alexander II. fully 
 determined to carry on the war to the 
 bitter encj. The hopes, therefore, based on 
 the death of Nicholas, of a speedy peace, 
 were not fulfilled ; and both sides applied 
 themselves with redoubled energy to their 
 respective tasks. The immediate result of 
 Alexander's accession was the recall of 
 Prince Mentschikoff, and the appointment 
 of Prince Gortchakoff to the command of 
 the troops in the eastern Crimea; whilst 
 very strict inquiries were held as to the 
 abuses and corruptions prevailing, both in 
 the civil and military branches of the 
 administration. 
 
 ^ 
 
 73 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 t=. 
 
 
 
 [^ 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 - 
 
 ^^ 
 
 
 
 f 
 
 
 S 
 
 e^ 
 
 
 - 
 
 u — <■ 
 
 
 
 Q 
 
 
 >- 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 2 
 < 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 >- 
 
 
 
 r* 
 
 
 
 v 
 
 >5 
 
 
 /J 
 
 ^T-ii 
 
 
 z 
 
 ■ k 
 
 CD 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 to 
 
 Zi 
 
 ■ -t 
 
 CD 
 
 (T 
 
 ■^~n 
 
 r- - 
 
 -^ 
 
 " -1 
 
 6 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 TjjV 
 
 £ 
 
 "^ 
 
 '^ 
 
 
 
 . —I 
 
 t^' 
 
 z 
 
 fe 
 
 
 < 
 
 ^ 
 « 
 
 •yj 
 
 
 K^-^ 
 
 
 ■~ 
 
 . -% 
 
 
 
 - 3 
 
 
 X 
 
 <^ 
 
 
 V 
 
 fe 
 
 
 X 
 
 9 
 
 
 O 
 
 I -■ 
 
 
 £, 
 
 k- 
 
 
 c " 
 
 
 
 
 
 t i 
 
 
 
 D 
 
 
 
 cj^ 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 q 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 y 
 
 
 
A.D. 1855.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [third bombardment. 
 
 t 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THIRD BOMBARDMENT OF SEBASTOPOL ; CAPTURE OP THE MAMELON ; UNSUCCESSFUL ASSAULT ; BATTLB 
 OF THE TCHERNAIA ; FINAL BOMBARDMENT AND ASSAULT ; FALL OF SEBASTOPOL. 
 
 The failure of the second bombardment 
 encouraged the Russians as much as it dis- 
 heartened the allies, and they pushed on 
 their defensive works with such energy, 
 that General Pelissier insisted on the ne- 
 cessity of quitting the semi-defensive atti- 
 tude the allies had been following, and 
 energetically taking the offensive. He was 
 convinced that strong and determined 
 assaults would be much more calculated 
 to result in success far more speedily, and 
 at no greater loss, than the investing and 
 bombarding policy hitherto adopted. This 
 opinion was shared by many of the officers, 
 but discountenanced by Marshal Canrobert, 
 who WHS, as it were, placed between three 
 cross-fires — the urgent expostulations of 
 the assaulting theorists, the more careful 
 policy of Lord Raglan, and the instructions 
 received from Paris ; especially from Napo- 
 leon, who but imperfectly understood the 
 situation. Canrobert, however, so far ac- 
 ceded to Pelissier's designs as to permit 
 him to assault the outworks of the centre 
 bastion, regarding which Pelissier had 
 written to him as follows: — "This work 
 has been greatly enlarged, and soon it will 
 be united with, and form a part of, the 
 body of the place, and require a siege like 
 the rest — a veritable siege, involving sacri- 
 fices really greater than the coup de main 
 that I have proposed to you, and which 
 our officers consider necessary for the secu- 
 rity of our trenches and of our batteries. 
 If it rested with me to decide, I should 
 not hesitate. The ardour of the Russians 
 in thus pushing forward to create this 
 obstacle, and in working even when under 
 a hot fire of artillery and musketry, shows 
 what importance they attach to this new 
 work. It forewarns us of the attention 
 that we ought to pay to the matter : and the 
 Russians thus extending themselves towards 
 the Quarantine, it is not to be doubted 
 that it is an advanced line of defence which 
 they are establishing, with most daring 
 activity. Day and night they are to be 
 seen working unceasingly. If we do not 
 march upon them, the enemy, emboldened 
 thereby, will be able to march upon us." 
 
 The result of the attack, which took 
 place on May 1st, was the occupation of 
 the work after a most determined assault, 
 the Russians endeavouring next day to 
 regain possession of the lost ground, but 
 unsuccessfully, all their efforts wrecking on 
 the determined resistance of the Foreign 
 Legion, which had relieved the storming 
 party. 
 
 On May 19th, Pelissier succeeded to the 
 command-in-chief (Canrobert having re- 
 signed it) over the French forces, and thus 
 was inaugurated the new policy, according 
 to which, under a fierce cannonade, the 
 southern side of Sebastopol was to be 
 stormed in force along the whole of the 
 line. To this end, all preparations, with 
 the exception of an expedition to the east- 
 ern shores of the Crimea, now tended, and 
 at half-past two o'clock, on June 6th, 1855, 
 a tremendous cannonade was opened along 
 the whole line from 457 pieces of artillery. 
 The numbers of the allies, including the 
 Sardinian contingent, which did good work, 
 and reanimated the flagging spirit of the 
 invaders, now amounted to no less than 
 175,000 men; the Russian troops not quite 
 so many, but not far off that number. The 
 cannonade lasted for twenty-seven hours 
 without interruption; and on the 7th of 
 June, 40,000 men proceeded to the attack 
 of the Mamelon Vert, the redoubts Selen- 
 ginski and Wolinski — the works on the 
 Karabelnaia — whilst the British troops 
 attacked the quarries in front of the Redan. 
 Russell thus tells the tale of the assault : — 
 
 "An immense concourse of officers and 
 men were gathered all the afternoon round 
 the flagstaff on Cathcart's Hill, and streamed 
 along the spines of the three heights which 
 wind towards Sebastopol from the English 
 encampment. The fire on our side, which 
 had continued since daybreak quietly and 
 soberly, assumed a sudden fury about three 
 o'clock, and was kept up from that hour to 
 the critical moment with great activity. 
 The affair itself came off but little after 
 the anticipated time. Between five and 
 six Lord Raglan and his staff took up a 
 conspicuous position on the edge of the 
 
 171 
 
 I"' 
 
CAPTURE OF THE MAMELON.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 hill below the Limekiln, where it com- 
 mands very plainly our four-gun battery, 
 and looks straight into the teeth of the 
 Kedan. A flagstaff was erected with 
 threatening ostentation shortly before he 
 came down, and a little angle of rude wall 
 was as hastily thrown up as a breastwork. 
 The man with the signal-rockets was in 
 attendance ; but there was a pause yet for a 
 while. Sir Colin Campbell was observed to 
 place himself on the next summit, still 
 nearer to the enemy, 'commonly called,' 
 to use a legal phrase, the Green-hill. His 
 appearance drew some fire, and the shells 
 dropped and flashed close by, but without 
 disconcerting his purpose of having a 
 thorough good look-out place. It was 
 about half-past six when the head of the 
 French attacking column came into view 
 from these two spots, as it climbed its 
 arduous road to the Mamelon. A rocket 
 was instantly thrown up as the signal of 
 our diversion, and as instantly the small 
 force of our men detached for the post of 
 honour made a rush at the quarries. After 
 one slight check they drove out the Kus- 
 sians, and, turning round the gabions, com- 
 menced making themselves snug ; but the 
 interest was so entirely concentrated upon 
 the more exciting scene, full in view upon 
 the right, that they had to wait a good 
 while before attention was directed to their 
 conflict. 
 
 " The French went up the steep to the 
 Mamelon in most beautiful style and in 
 loose order, and every straining eye was 
 upon their movements, which the declining 
 daylight did not throw out into bold relief. 
 Still their figures, like light shadows flit- 
 ting across the dun barrier of earthworks, 
 were seen to mount up unfailingly — were 
 seen running, climbing, scrambling like 
 skirmishers up the slopes on to the body of 
 the work, amid a plunging fire from the 
 guns, which, owing to their loose forma- 
 tion, did them as yet little damage. As an 
 officer, who saw Bosquet wave them on, 
 said at the moment, ' They went in like a 
 clever pack of hounds.' In a moment some 
 of these dim wraiths shone out clear 
 against the sky. The Zouaves were upon 
 the parapet firing down into the place from 
 above ; the next moment a flag was up as a 
 rallying-point and defiance, and was seen 
 to sway hither and thither, now up, now 
 down, as the tide of battle raged round it ; 
 and now like a swarm they were in the 
 heart of the Mamelon, and a fierce hand- 
 172 
 
 [a.d. 1855. 
 
 to-hand encounter, here with the musket, 
 there with the bayonet, was evident. It 
 was seven minutes and a-half from the 
 commencement of the enterprise. Then 
 there came a rush through the angle where 
 they had entered, and there was a momen- 
 tary confusion outside. Groups, some idle, 
 some busy, some wounded, were collected 
 on the hither side, standing in shelter, and 
 now and then to the far corner a shell flew 
 from the English battery facing it. But 
 hardly had the need of support become 
 manifest, and a gun or two again flashed 
 from the embrasure against them, than 
 there was another run in, another sharp 
 bayonet fight inside ; and this time the 
 Russians went out, spiking their guns. 
 Twice the Russians made head against the 
 current, for they had a large mass of troops 
 in reserve, covered by the guns of the 
 Round Tower. Twice they were forced 
 back by the onsweeping flood of French, 
 who fought as if they had eyes upon them 
 to sketch the swift event in detail. P^or 
 ten minutes or so the quick flash and roll 
 of small arms had declared that the uncer- 
 tain fight waxed and waned inside the en- 
 closure. Then the back door, if one may 
 use a humble metaphor, was burst open. 
 The noise of the conflict went away down 
 the descent on the side towards the town, 
 and the arena grew larger. It was ap- 
 parent, by the space over which the battle 
 spread, that the Russians had been rein- 
 forced. When the higher ground again 
 became the seat of action— when there 
 came the second rush of the French back 
 upon their supports, for the former one was 
 a mere reflux or eddy of the stream— when 
 rocket after rocket went up ominously from 
 the French general's position, and seemed 
 to emphasise by their repetition some very 
 plain command, we began to get nervous. 
 It was growing darker and darker, too, so 
 that with our glasses we could with diffi- 
 culty distinguish the actual state of affairs. 
 There was even a dispute for some time as 
 to whether our allies were going in or out 
 of the work, and the staff themselves were 
 by no means clear as to what was going on. 
 At last, through the twilight, we discerned 
 that the French were pouring in. After 
 the interval of doubt, our ears could gather 
 that the swell and babble of the fight was 
 once more rolling down the inner face of 
 the hill, and that the Russians were conclu- 
 sively beaten. ' They are well into it this 
 time,' says one to another, handing over 
 
 'A 
 
 - m 
 
^S5?^-^ 
 

 < &^ 
 
 m mm- 
 
 ^^^'^^^ \ 
 
 ti 
 
 A.D. 1855.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [fall of sebastopol. 
 
 the glass. The musket-flashes were no 
 more to be seen within it. There was no 
 more lightning of the heavy guns from the 
 embrasures. A shapeless hump upon a hill, 
 the Mamelon, was an extinct volcano, until 
 such time as it should please us to call it 
 again into action. Then, at last, the more 
 hidden struggle of our own men in the 
 hollow on the left came uppermost. ' How 
 are our fellows getting on ?' says one. ' Oh ! 
 take my word for it, they're all right,' says 
 another. And they were, so far as the oc- 
 cupation and retention of the quarries was 
 concerned, but had nevertheless to fight all 
 night, and repel six successive attacks of 
 the Russians, who displayed the most singu- 
 lar pertinacity and recklessness of life." 
 
 The assault having been so far a complete 
 success, it is to be deplored that the orders 
 which came from Paris to storm the chief 
 works on the 18 th of June, in order to 
 celebrate the anniversary of Waterloo, were 
 obeyed before Pelissier had properly seized 
 the Russian left. The orders were, how- 
 ever, peremptory ; and, much against their 
 will, the allies proceeded to carry them out, 
 and alter in a hurry the dispositions which 
 had been formed. The consequence was, 
 that Q^eneral Mayran, who was to turn 
 and distract the fire of the Careening 
 Bay works and ships, was discovered by the 
 Russians, and obliged to commence his 
 share of the assault fully half-an-hour 
 before the time resolved upon — a fact that 
 has been made use of to imply that Lord 
 Raglan gave the orders to advance half-an- 
 hour after the signal appointed. The con- 
 sequence was, that though the French 
 actually entered the MalakofF, they were 
 unable to retain possession of it, and were 
 driven out again ; whilst Brigadier-General 
 Eyre, who had succeeded in occupying the 
 houses in front of the Gordon battery, was 
 also forced to retreat after having held the 
 position from 4 A.M. to 9 P.M. In short, 
 the result was a decided and disastrous 
 repulse; and ten days later (June 28th), 
 Lord Raglan succumbed to an attack of 
 cholera, brought on by the exposure and 
 anxiety he had been subjected to. He was 
 succeeded in the command by Sir James 
 Simpson. 
 
 All efforts, throughout the rest of June 
 and July, were now concentrated on the 
 works against the Malakoff and Redan ; and 
 so deliberate was the approach, that the 
 Russians decided to make one more supreme 
 effort to raise the siege; and on August 16th, 
 
 made an attack, under General Liprandi, 
 on the allied position along the river 
 Tchernaia; but Prince Gortchakoff, instead 
 of employing the whole of his forces, or at 
 least three-quarters, only sent about one- 
 quarter into action — the result being a 
 decided repulse, attended with great loss ; 
 amongst the killed being the author of 
 the plan of attack. General Read, and 
 Major-General de Weimarn. 
 
 By this time the contending forcep, 
 within and without the walls of Sebastopol, 
 were so close to each other, that the 
 average loss of the allies was between 300 
 and 350 killed and wounded every day; 
 whilst the Russians generally lost twice, 
 and on some days, more than three times 
 the number. At the beginning of Sep- 
 tember, the French were within thirty-five 
 to fifty-five yards of the Russian works in 
 frdnt of the Flagstaff and Central Bastions ; 
 whilst the English approaches reached to 
 within 270 yards of the Redan. 
 
 By September 8th everything was in 
 readiness to commence the great assault. 
 On both sides there were about 700 
 heavy guns in play since the 5th ; and at 
 mid-day on the 8th, the signal was given 
 for the assault on the MalakofF and the 
 Little Redan by the French. They were 
 both carried at the first attack; but the 
 latter lost again soon ; the former alter- 
 nately falling into the hands of the French 
 and Russians till about three o'clock, when 
 it was definitely in the hands of the 
 French. At half-past twelve the British 
 forces advanced on the Redan, carried it, 
 tut lost it again in consequence of in- 
 sufficient support, and were obliged to 
 content themselves with directing a con- 
 centrated fire upon it from all possible 
 points. This failure of the British com- 
 mander to carry the Redan, enabled the 
 garrison to assist their comrades against the 
 5>ench in the Little Redan. In con- 
 sequence, General Pelissier sent to inquire 
 of General Simpson whether he intended to 
 renew the attack. The reply was, that he 
 was too exhausted, but would do so the 
 first thing the next day. But when day 
 dawned, it was discovered, by an engineer 
 who crept up to the Redan, that it was 
 abandoned; and so, in fact, was the whole 
 southern side of Sebastopol, the Russians 
 havir 4' retreated during the night. 
 
 With the fall of the southern side of 
 Sebastopol, the war was practically at an 
 end, and the treaty of peace concluded at 
 
 173 
 
BUSSUN TACriCS.J 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1856. 
 
 Paris on March 30th, 1856. So far we 
 have dealt simply with the operations of 
 the allies before Sebastopol ; which, though 
 not belonging especially to the history of 
 Russia, have, however, had such an influence 
 on the future relations between Russia and 
 the Webtern powers, that a short descrip- 
 
 tion of them was necessary, and justified by 
 the importance of the issues raised and 
 terminated by the war. We now propose 
 giving an account of the life at Sebastopol 
 during the siege, drawn from Russian 
 sources, but which we have every reason to 
 believe faithful, and not exaggerated. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 THE INTERIOR OF SEBASTOPOL DURING THE SIEGE; BRAVERY OF THE TROOPS; ANECDOTES 
 
 OF THE DEFENCE. 
 
 The characteristic features of Russian his- 
 tory during the two decades that have 
 elapsed since the Crimean war was brought 
 to a close, may fitly be designated as three- 
 fold : — The internal development of the 
 nation, its successful progress in Central 
 Asia, and its gradual emancipation from the 
 bonds imposed upon it by the treaty of 
 Paris, signed on the 30th of March, 185G. 
 At the same time the whole period has been 
 one of regeneration, in which the emanci- 
 pation of the serfs stands forth so boldly 
 as to furnish an indelible landmark in the 
 history of the empire; whence dates the 
 death of the old feudal system, and the 
 birth of a truly national life, struggling 
 into existence through the tangled masses 
 of traditions and superstitions that have 
 been weighing upon it for ages. On this 
 regeneration, the Crimean war, or rather, 
 speaking from a Russian point of view, the 
 defence of Sebastopol, has had an immense 
 influence. The one idea that has pervaded 
 Russia since then, has been the fixed deter- 
 mination to regain the ground she then 
 lost, and shake off the shackels of what she 
 considered as derogatory a tutelage as any 
 ever imposed upon her enemies, the Turks. 
 For this purpose the Russian statesmen re- 
 solved to prepare the coming generation by 
 all the means in their power; by the deve- 
 lopment of industry, the organisation of 
 the army and navy, and the emancipation 
 and education of the masses, whose birth 
 was ushered in by the roar of the cannon 
 thundering from the walls of the beleaguered 
 city. The legend of the nation's future life 
 was revenge for Sebastopol; and towards 
 174 
 
 this end everything tended, even as, at the 
 present day, revenge for Alsace is the great 
 motive power in the life of the French na- 
 tion, which patiently and perseveringly sub- 
 mits to the greatest burdens for the ultimate 
 attainment of its ends. And, curiously 
 enough, whilst the fall of Sebastopol was 
 hailed, on the one hand, as the dawn of an 
 epoch of peace that would allow Turkey to 
 develop her resources, and led to the Invest- 
 ment of some two hundred millions sterling 
 in Turkish securities, the same confidence 
 was manifested in Russia, and another two 
 hundred millions sterling invested there also. 
 Thus conqueror and conquered were equally 
 benefited by the fall of the Russian fortress; 
 for at that time the sensible principle of 
 making the aggressor pay the damages of war 
 had not yet been adopted, and Europe was 
 still unaware of the absurdity she was com- 
 mitting in supplying two inveterate enemies 
 with unlimited funds in consequence of one 
 and the same event. Or, to put the matter 
 in another way, whilst the Western nations 
 incurred a vast expense to put a stop to 
 Russia's plans for aggrandisement in the 
 East, they not only bore the whole expenses 
 of the war, but actually, within the course of 
 a very few years, advanced, in about equal 
 portions to the two combatants, a sum ex- 
 ceeding the French indemnity in amount. 
 
 If the fall of Sebastopol thus exercised so 
 vast an influence abroad, it may be imagined 
 how important a part it mu t have played in 
 the subsequent development of the empire. 
 It will therefore be highly interesting to 
 know how the defence of Sebastopol has been 
 regarded by the Russians tliemselves, and 
 
 A.D. 1856.] 
 
 has come to be one of the chief levers in the 
 regeneration of their country: and, fortu- 
 nately, we are enabled to form an excellent 
 idea of the spirit in which it has been, and 
 still is, regarded, by the publication, in 1872 
 and 1873, under the auspices of the Grand 
 Duke, of the " Sevastopolskii Sbornik,"* a 
 collection of narratives emanating from the 
 defenders themselves. Circulars were ad- 
 dressed to the officers, and advertisements 
 made public, begging everyone who had any- 
 thing to communicate, in the shape of docu- 
 ments, letters, or personal observations, to 
 send them to the committee charged with the 
 duty of selection, verificatioD, and publica- 
 tion of the matter thus collected. They 
 were told not to mind the style or form, 
 but simply to adhere to the truth, and 
 state their views with the fullest frank- 
 ness. This appeal was responded to with 
 the greatest enthusiasm. Communications 
 poured in upon the committee from all 
 corners of the empire : letters written on 
 the bastions, under fire of the enemies' 
 guns, and by the light of lurid conflagra- 
 tions; anecdotes, complaints, accusations; 
 defences of this, that, and the other general ; 
 scientific accounts and adventures, nearly 
 overwhelmed the committee, which spent 
 over six months merely in arranging this 
 heterogeneous mass of correspondence. The 
 result was thus eminently satisfactory, as 
 showing in what spirit the defence of Sebas- 
 topol was conducted at the time, and in what 
 spirit it was still regarded by the public at 
 large; for in such patriarchal society as 
 that of Russia, the views of the fathers are 
 still those of the children — in all, at least, 
 that touches the honour of the nation. 
 And what is especially noteworthy, is the 
 fact, that in all tliese recitals, the dominant 
 idea is, that the Western nations were the 
 aggrcosors, waging a wanton war upon holy 
 Russia ; whilst the Russians appear as the 
 patriotic heroes, resisting this attack to the 
 last drop of their blood ; for when Mentschi- 
 koff 's troops entered Sebastopol, after the 
 battle of the Alma, the Russians saw them- 
 selves invaded for the first time since 1812, 
 and regarded this second invasion as similar 
 in character to that of Napoleon I. The 
 inhabitants were stupefied at the double 
 news of the disembarkment of the allies 
 
 * " Sevastopolskii Sbornik : Sbornik roiikopisei 
 predstavlennykh ego imperatorskomou vysotchest- 
 vou, gosoudariou nasliednikou Tsezarevitchou o 
 Sevastopolskoi oboronie Sevastopoltsami." St. 
 Petersburg, 1872-73, 3 vols, in 8vo. 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [Russians in sebastopol. 
 
 and the defeat of the army ; for the Crimea, 
 protected by a powerful fleet and one of the 
 strongest fortresses in the world, was held 
 to be better protected against invasion than 
 any other province of the empire ; and now 
 the enemy, who was thought to be so far 
 away, was not only actually at the very 
 gates of the town, but had defeated the 
 flower of the Russian army in what was con- 
 sidered an impregnable position. No wonder 
 that the usual cry of " Treason" was raised. 
 Every unknown face was regarded with sus- 
 picion — every stranger taken for a spy. An 
 adjutant of the commander-in-chief, who 
 had gone to see a friend in rather an out- 
 of-the-way quarter, was at once arrested, 
 and narrowly escaped being lynched by the 
 infuriated mob. It was seriously stated in Se- 
 bastopol, that Mentschikoff had been heard 
 to say — " I meant to sell Sebastopol ; but 
 the English would not pay me enough." 
 This absurd accusation was repeatedly made 
 in St. Petersburg, not only by the inhabit- 
 ants of Sebastopol, but also by military 
 men of some rank. Still, after the first 
 moments of panic and confusion had given 
 way to better sense, the interval between 
 the battle of the Alma and the arrival of 
 the advance posts of the allies was ener- 
 getically employed in throwing up earth- 
 works, constructing bastions and re- 
 doubts, and connecting the Redan and 
 Malakoflf with the other works by covered 
 ways and trenches. For, in truth, the 
 fortress had been neglected for many years ; 
 and, had the allies been able to attack it 
 at once, there is no doubt, as Marshal Niel 
 has affirmed, that it would have succumbed. 
 But thousands and thousands of willing 
 hands repaired in a few days the neglect 
 of years ; and, as a sample of the enthusiasm 
 and energy with which the work was prose- 
 cuted, it may be mentioned, that one of the 
 batteries was entirely constructed by the 
 prostitutes of the town, and was called, to 
 the end of the siege, Batterie des Demoi- 
 selles. 
 
 As is well known, a portion of the fleet 
 was sunk at the mouth of the harbour, 
 after the armament had been withdrawn to 
 be mounted on the ramparts. By this 
 means 15,000 sailors were added to the 
 defensive forces of the place, and, under 
 their commanders, Korniloff, Istomine, 
 Nakhimoff, and Pamphiloff, became the 
 soul of the defence. A curious incident 
 connected with the sinking of the fleet, 
 shows the depth of superstition, degenerated 
 
 ■if 
 
 
HISTORY OF THE 
 
 INSIDE SEBASTOPOL.] 
 
 into a habit, of the Russian people. The 
 largest of the vessels sunk, the Tiuelve 
 Apostles, obstinately refused to go to the 
 bottom in spite of tlie holes that had been 
 knocked in her, and, in consequence, a shot 
 was fired at her between wind and water. 
 But still she would not sink, and kept on 
 raising her bows and stern alternately like 
 a restive horse. Then it was suddenly 
 remembered that an image of St. Peter, 
 which was highly venerated by the crew, 
 had been left behind in one of the cabins, 
 and a boat was at once manned, and the 
 forsaken image brought triumphantly to 
 shore. Thereupon the pious vessel settled 
 down resignedly to its duty, and was seen no 
 more. 
 
 Whilst these preparations were going on, 
 the majority of the population who could 
 afford it, sought refuge in Simpheropol and 
 Odessa ; whilst the remainder awaited the 
 appearance of the enemy with undisguised 
 anxiety — a prey to the wildest rumours and 
 superstitious fears. Thus the story ran, one 
 day, that the sentinel at the Quarantine had 
 been surprised by a woman suddenly rush- 
 ing up to him, begging him to conceal her, 
 and deny that he had seen her if anyone 
 should ask after her. Scarcely had the 
 sentinel complied with her request, when a 
 horseman, mounted on a black horse, came 
 galloping up, followed by another clad in a 
 red cloak, and a third dressed in white, and 
 armed with a variety of weapons. They all 
 three asked the soldier if he had seen the 
 woman. On his replying in the negative, 
 they all disappeared as rapidly as they had 
 come. The fugitive then, coming out of 
 her hiding-place, informed the sentinel, that 
 the black horseman signified that not one 
 stone would remain on the other in 
 Sebastopol; the red one, that the town 
 would be visited by fire and blood ; and the 
 white one, that Sebastopol would arise from 
 its ashes more beautiful and stronger than 
 ever. This story created an immense 
 excitement, and for several days crowds of 
 people went down to the Quarantine to hear 
 the tale from the sentinel's own lips; but, as 
 is usually the case in such matters, the 
 sentinel could not be found; and after 
 awhile, more material visitors came in the 
 shape of a hail of shot and shell from the 
 126 pieces which opened fire upon the town 
 on the 17th of October, from the batteries 
 erected by the allies since their appearance 
 on the 27th of September, 1854. Thus 
 commenced that strange series of combats, 
 176 
 
 [A.D. i854-'56. 
 
 A.D. 1854-'56.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [inside sebastopol. 
 
 unprecedented in the annals of modern 
 warfare, that are commonly called the Siege 
 of Sebastopol. But inasmuch as the very 
 first condition of a siege consists in the 
 surrounding of the place, and Sebastopol 
 was not invested for much more than a 
 third of its circumference, the struggle 
 must be regarded as less of a siege than that 
 of two rival armies for the possession of the 
 towns they were respectively occupying and 
 watching over. "We have now," wrote 
 Captain Lesli to his wife, "got two 
 Sebastopols defying each other; our own, 
 and that of the enemy with their countless 
 huts, barracks, and trenches, and even their 
 own railway." Thus the besiegers were 
 met in their trenches and mines by the 
 besieged in their coimter-mines ; now it was 
 the besieged who attacked, now it was the 
 besiegers. Whilst the allies were hundreds 
 of miles distant from their native shores, 
 yet they were, in point of fact, virtually 
 nearer to their homes than the Russians 
 were to Russia ; for, being masters of the 
 seas, their steamers supplied them much 
 more rapidly with reinforcements and war- 
 material than could the lumbering waggons 
 of the Russians, which had to traverse 
 nearly as many hundreds of miles by 
 wretched and often impassable roads. 
 Thus, in reality, the allies might almost be 
 said to have been fighting on their own 
 soil, and that nothing but an insufficiency 
 of men prevented them from terminating 
 the war in less than half the time that was 
 eventually requisite. Under these circum- 
 stances the defence of the Russians was 
 really excellent. It was offensive as much 
 as it was defensive ; whilst the manner in 
 which the Russian wielded his pickaxe and 
 spade was simply admirable. It requires 
 no slight amount of moral courage, or 
 unexampled discipline, to work day and 
 night under a hail of whizzing projectiles 
 without being sustained by the excitement 
 of returning the fire, which was so effective, 
 that by the end of the siege, there were 
 only fourteen houses left standing in 
 Sebastopol, out of a total of 2,247. 
 
 At the same time, however, the besiegers 
 were hard pushed; and even during the 
 calmest days of the siege, never lost less 
 than forty a day. The bombardments in 
 May and June cost, daily, 300 to 400 men. 
 That of the 17th of August, 1,500; and 
 during the five following days, over 5,000; 
 the same number falling on the day of the 
 final assault: whilst, from the 17th of 
 
 August to the 8th of September, the 
 Russian fire put, by artillery only, over 
 18,000 men hors de comhaL Each bom- 
 bardment was as murderous as a battle. In 
 some of the batteries, the company in 
 charge had to be relieved several times a 
 day. As many as eight and ten shots fell 
 round one piece at a time ; and one day 
 as many as 70,000 shells and bombs were 
 sent into the town ; and the explosions of 
 magazines, ammunition carts, &c., were so 
 incessant, that old soldiers like Semiakin 
 declared the fire made their heads swim ; 
 whilst Grortchakoff described it, in his 
 official report, simply as " hell-fire." The 
 21st regiment, as appears from the Russian 
 official report, lost 43 officers out of 50, 
 and 2,000 men out of 3,000. The Olonetz 
 regiment was reduced to less than half its 
 effective force. One day. Prince Sviatopolk- 
 Mirski, on leaving the hospital, met a 
 trumpeter of his regiment. " Well," said 
 he, " and how is the battalion getting on ?" 
 At first the man would not reply : at last 
 he said, "What can you expect. One 
 saucepan is big enough to cook the dinner 
 for the lot of us. There are not fifty of us 
 left." 
 
 The difficulty of filling up these gaps 
 was very great. In the summer and 
 autumn days the steppes were burnt up by 
 the heat, and men and cattle half choked 
 with clouds of dust and fine sand, that 
 would lie, on windless days, two to three 
 inches thick on such roads as were then 
 practicable. In the winter all this dust 
 was transformed into bottomless mire, and 
 the roads cut up into ruts as deep, in many 
 places, as two feet ; frequently, in fact, 
 above the axle ; so that it generally took 
 thirteen or fourteen horses to accomplish a 
 distance of eight miles. Nor did things 
 improve much when the frost set in, and 
 the ruts were transformed into rigid grooves, 
 out of which the arabas, or waggons, could 
 not be extricated without unloading. The 
 consequence was, that, as long as possible, 
 the trains of carts had to be driven along- 
 side the road till the earth was again cut 
 up ; so that, for miles and miles, the tracks 
 had a breadth of cut-up rutty soil of 300 
 and 400 yards. The villages for a hundred 
 miles around were deserted, not so much 
 from fear of the allies as of the pillaging 
 bands of Tartars, who were by no means 
 reconciled to Russian rule. Yet, in spite of 
 all these drawbacks, the spirit of the 
 population was excellent; for, although 
 VOL. II. 2 A 
 
 the Russian peasant is, on the whole, a 
 peaceful, home-loving individual, and 
 averse from over-exertion, the will of the 
 czar and the church are two forces he 
 implicitly obeys; and in this war, which 
 was purely a political war, and not a war of 
 races, no means were spared to impress 
 upon the peasant the fact, that the country 
 was being wantonly attacked, as in 1812, 
 and to represent it as a holy crusade 
 against the Turk and his heretical and 
 schismatical allies, the English and French. 
 In countless appeals, the emperor and the 
 bishops called upon their flocks to rise and 
 defend " the holy land, where flows the river 
 in which St. Vladimir was baptised, with 
 sword in hand and the cross on their 
 hearts." * The miracle-working image of 
 St. Sergius, of which countless copies were 
 despatched from the monastery of Tvoitra, 
 was said to have undertaken the protection 
 of its worshippers "from steel, fire, and 
 lead;" and so many were the bands of 
 volunteers, that, had the means of com- 
 munication been better, the government 
 could have placed twice as many men on 
 the field of battle, and have overwhelmed 
 the allies by sheer force of numbers. This 
 must be remembered when estimating the 
 powers of the Russians at the present day. 
 Then it took as much as three months to 
 transport a regiment from a spot whence 
 they can now be brought into action in six 
 days. 
 
 Meanwhile, whilst the allies were con- 
 tinually throwing up fresh works, the 
 Russians kept up with them till the out- 
 works formed an intricate maze of trenches, 
 batteries, and bastions, which was peculiarly 
 fatal to the fresh troops, who were unac- 
 quainted with the localities both of their 
 own defences and those of the enemy. As 
 is the custom during a siege, a man is told- 
 off" in every battery to watch the enemy's 
 fire, and give notice to his comrades of the 
 coming shell. Thus, on all sides, were 
 heard the cries : " A shell for the battery 
 St. Sergius !"— " A shot for the Fourth !" 
 — " For us ! look out !" These warnings 
 were well understood by the old hands of 
 the batteries, who at once took the 
 necessary precautions. But the fresh 
 hands were quite at sea. One of the 
 officers thus gives his experience of his 
 first shell : — 
 
 " Do you know what to do in case a 
 shell comes for us?" asked his major. 
 " Oh yes," was the reply, " I must throw 
 
 177 
 
INSIDE SEBASTOPOL.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1854-'56. 
 
 ii' 
 
 myself flat down on the ground as soon 
 as possible." At that moment the look- 
 out cried, " A shell for us !" " Yes," said 
 the major, " she is coming straight upon 
 us." So saying, he seized the new arrival 
 by the arm", and began dodging about till 
 he suddenly threw him down to the right; 
 whilst the shell, after striking the ground, 
 and tearing up a couple of planks of the 
 platform two or three steps to the left, went 
 on hissing and whizzing a second or two 
 till it exploded with a tremendous report, 
 but fortunately without killing any of the 
 men. They were all old hands, and knew 
 Jiow to shelter themselves. The fresh 
 arrivals, on the contrary, who had no 
 friendly major at hand, suffered terribly. 
 
 As the enemy's lines advanced more and 
 more towards the Russian works, the fire 
 became ^'U1 more deadly and continuous. 
 There was no rest, day "or night, for the 
 defenders. The air was thick with smoke 
 and the dust raised by the shells, which, 
 often burying themselves in the earth- 
 works, blew out showers of stones, dust, 
 and gravel all round, and greatly added to 
 the danger and confusion. At night, when 
 the fire had ceased, there were the damaged 
 works to be repaired, the embrasures freed 
 from debris, and fresh earth to be thrown 
 on the armoured roofs of the powder maga- 
 zines ; there were fires to be extinguished, 
 ammunition brought to the front, disabled 
 pieces to be removed, and fresh ones sub- 
 stituted : all which operations, as the lines 
 came closer to each other, became more 
 and more dangerous, on account of the 
 noise arousing the enemy's attention. Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel Rosine relates, that bring- 
 ing one single fresh piece into position, 
 mfght cost him no less than forty men. 
 The men got tired of the cries, " Look out ! 
 a shell for us !" Indifference to the danger 
 grew with their familiarity with it. They 
 would fall asleep standing, in spite of the 
 cannonade; and, on being expostulated 
 with, replied, " If we are to die, well and 
 good; but let us sleep." The cannonade 
 was becoming monotonous, and death, more 
 or less, as a matter of course. Breakfast 
 was served in the batteries at 10 A.M. ; but 
 as often as not, the bearer was killed on 
 the way, and the viands strewn about the 
 streets, which bore such reassuring names 
 as the Valley of Death ; the Street of the 
 Wounded; Hell's Gate; and the Devil's 
 Lane. Whenever an officer invited his 
 comrades to dinner on some festive occa- 
 178 
 
 sion — such as a birthday, or the arrival of 
 a chest of provisions from home — it was 
 very seldom that one or more of the invited 
 did not fail to put in an appearance ; and 
 sometimes even the host himself was killed 
 before the soup was placed on the table. 
 The sight of the mangled corpses produced 
 one strange effect, which is frequently 
 noticed in the pages of the " Sevastopolskii 
 Sbornik ;" it produced an aversion to meat. 
 Nothing can be more significant of the 
 terrible carnage than this fact: and it is 
 within our personal knowledge, that many 
 officers became, and still are, vegetarians to 
 the present day in consequence. On one of 
 these *' festive" occasions, the host was 
 killed by a fragment of shell just as he 
 was drinking to the emperor's health ; and 
 almost at the same moment another shot 
 passed through the room, taking off his 
 brother's head. "But what were we to 
 do?" wrote one of the guests; "we had 
 no food all day ; and had we not taken what 
 was before us, we should have had to fast 
 till next day. We could not indulge in the 
 luxury of sorrow under such circumstances. 
 So we removed the two bodies and resumed 
 our meal, which, of course, had all grown 
 cold in the meantime,^^ 
 
 That the wounded should, under such 
 circumstances, receive but scant sympathy, 
 might be expected. Everything was done 
 to prevent them from crying out when they 
 were hit. Poor mutilated wretches were 
 roughly told to hold their tongues. Of 
 course, this was done to prevent the bad 
 impression their shrieks produced on their 
 comrades. Thus, when one of the officers 
 had his collar-bone and jaw smashed by a 
 piece of shell, and involuntarily gave a cry 
 of agony, one of his comrades exclaimed : 
 " What are you making that noise for ? " — 
 whilst Lieutenant Sabourof, picking up a 
 piece of straw, held it before the wounded 
 man's nose, and said, " That's all you re- 
 ceived, and you dare to make a row like 
 that!" A general laugh followed this 
 sally, in which the victim himself joined at 
 last. 
 
 If the batteries presented such a scene of 
 incessant carnage, it may be imagined what 
 the hospitals were like, in spite of such in- 
 stitutions as " Gonchine's," a house devoted 
 to incurables. Thus, when the surgeons 
 exclaimed, after a cursory inspection of the 
 victim, "Take him to Gonchine's," the 
 sufferer knew that that was the last stage 
 to the cemetery. The hospitals were under 
 
 A.D. 1854-'56.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [inside SEBASTOPOL. 
 
 the direction of the celebrated Pirogof, 
 who, however much he might have been 
 admired by his scientific colleagues, was 
 universally dreaded by the patients. His 
 appearance in any of the wards was known 
 to be the signal of some painful and dan- 
 gerous operation, and was in itself sufficient 
 to cause a relapse. Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Rosine gives an account of the fears of his 
 friend Stankievich, who was laid up with a 
 fractured leg. One day Pirogof appeared 
 with all his assistants, and approached his 
 bed. " How's this leg getting on ? " he 
 asked curtly. "Excellently," replied the 
 patient, and with an herculean effort he 
 raised his injured limb — thus, as he subse- 
 quently remarked, saving his leg. On one 
 occasion, when the fire of the allies was at 
 its height, and litter upon litter was 
 brought in with mutilated victims, one of 
 the officers in charge was told by Pirogof 
 to come with him. All his other assistants 
 were fully occupied. One of the patients 
 had had two fingers shot off; and without 
 chloroform, or any other preparation, Piro- 
 gof at once commenced the amputation of 
 the mangled stumps. The patient shrieked 
 with agony. "If you don't hold your 
 tongue," cried Pirogof with an oath, " I'll 
 take the whole arm off." That day several 
 barrows full of amputated members were 
 taken out of the hospital. 
 
 The dead were collected every morning, 
 and taken down to the port, to be buried on 
 the other side of the harbour. The officer 
 who was charged with the duty of seeing 
 them ferried across, received the appropriate 
 name of Charon. The bodies, during the 
 nightly bombardments, were placed in an 
 angle of the bastion, beneath a lamp and 
 the image of some saint. A lighted taper 
 was placed in their hands, and there they 
 remained for collection in the morning; 
 though sometimes, such was the pressure 
 of the work, they were left till they were 
 lying three deep. 
 
 But, in spite of all these horrors, the 
 Russians kept up their spirits well ; and, all 
 things considered, there was a surprising 
 absence of grumbling. The example of 
 their officers contributed in no small degree 
 to this desirable frame of mind. One of 
 them was especially notorious for his 
 daring and reckless love of fun. One day, 
 in the midst of a heavy fire, he climbed up 
 on to the parapet, and lying on his back, 
 stretched both his legs into the air above 
 his head, and cried, " Here goes for a full 
 
 pension ! " After numberless exploits of 
 this kind, he was one of the very few who 
 did not get a scratch during the whole 
 siege. The sailors and their leaders, above 
 all, were indefatigable and incorrigible in 
 their reckless bravery. Four admirals — 
 Korniloff, Istomine, Nakhimoff, and Paul 
 Stepanovich — were killed one after the 
 other. Of these Nakhimoff was the most 
 noted. In 1822, he had circumnavigated 
 the globe with Lazaref ; in 1828, he took a 
 share in the battle of Navarino ; and finally, 
 it was he who destroyed the Turkish fleet 
 at Sinope in 1853. It was with great diffi- 
 culty that he was persuaded not to attack 
 the allied fleet before sinking his own at 
 the entrance to the port. Wherever he 
 went he aroused the greatest enthusiasm ; 
 and when implored not to expose himself 
 so much to the enemy's fire, he told his ad- 
 visers not to talk nonsense, as though the 
 allies had nothing better to do than bring 
 their cannon to bear upon him. Colonel 
 Bulmerincq relates of him : — " One day the 
 admiral asked me to take him to the 
 Schwartz battery, and to take him by the 
 shortest way. Leaving by the right flank of 
 the bastion instead of going by the outer 
 wall, which was not more than four feet 
 high, and commanded by the French 
 tirailleurs, I conducted him and his nume- 
 rous suite behind the batteries. Suddenly 
 he turned round and exclaimed, ' Where 
 are you taking me to ? I don't intend to 
 hide about in holes and corners. Kindly 
 lead us by the shortest way along the outer 
 wall.' I told him my reasons, but he re- 
 fused to listen to them. 'My name is 
 Nakhimof,' he simply replied ; ' I always go 
 the shortest way.' So we went the shortest 
 way, and lost three men before we had got 
 to the end of it." Paul Stepanovich was 
 killed in a similar manner, after having re- 
 sisted all entreaties to retire from a place 
 where he was needlessly exposing himself. 
 
 Prisoners were not often made. To the 
 Turks quarter was never given ; as a gene- 
 ral rule, " there was no time to look after 
 the enemy's wounded"— a mild way of say- 
 ing that they were left to die, or put out of 
 their misery. In no case did the Flastouns 
 ever make a prisoner, or succour a wounded 
 man, or leave a man to take his chance of 
 living, if they had a chance of despatching 
 him. These Flastouns were a sort of free 
 corps — the franctireurs of the Crimea. 
 They were mostly Cossacks of the Don, and 
 had learned their trade of nocturnal ex- 
 
 179 
 
 .--. 
 
INSIDE SEBASTOPOL.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1854-'56. 
 
 A.D. 18o4-'56.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [inside SEBASTOPOL. 
 
 ploits and cold-blooded butchery in tlie 
 Caucasian war. Plastoun means, to lie 
 down. In America they would doubtless be 
 called " Lie-downs," their method of proce- 
 dure being to sally out at dusk, and bur- 
 rowing in the abandoned pits and holes 
 formed by explosions, to pick off any out- 
 posts, and procure all the information pos- 
 sible. Being thoroughly acquainted with 
 the locality, they generally escaped scot- 
 free, whilst inflicting a vast amount of loss 
 on the enemy. Thus one of them asserts, 
 and it is believed, without exasfoferation, 
 that he alone killed fifty-six men during the 
 siege. By day they slept, or related their 
 adventures, until, with approaching night, 
 they sallied out again on their murderous 
 work. 
 
 Whilst the soldiers were thus battling 
 night and day, the civil population, though 
 small, bravely bore its share of the dangers 
 and privations. The women used to come, 
 day after day, to bring their husbands what 
 food they could, especially the sailors' wives; 
 whilst the higher classes employed their 
 time in nursing the wounded ; one of them, 
 Prascovia Ivanovna, rivalling Florence 
 Nightingale in devotion and disregard of 
 danger. Less fortunate than her English 
 colleague, she was killed by a shell at the 
 foot of the Malakoff, whilst tending one of 
 the wounded, who were lying in heaps 
 around her. The Russian ladies, according 
 to unanimous testimony, exhibited rare 
 courage during the whole of this trying 
 period. They never omitted their afternoon 
 promenade ; the sentinels posted about the 
 streets giving them the direction of the 
 shells, and telling them how to avoid being 
 struck. Every evening the band played 
 opposite the Karovski monument ; and the 
 only thing that disturbed their equanimity 
 were the English Congreve rockets, which, 
 however, were more noisy and alarming 
 than dangerous. But perhaps nothing was 
 more striking than the spirit in which the 
 very children regarded the infernal scene 
 around them.. Their favourite amusement 
 was the construction of ramparts of snow, 
 bastions with mimic embrasures, which 
 were defended by our party and attacked 
 by the other — one representing the allies, 
 the other the Russians. Their projectiles 
 were hollow bones filled with the powder, 
 and furnished with the bits of slow matches, 
 that were but too abundant j and great was 
 the delight when one of the assailants was 
 wounded by one of those improvised shells, 
 180 
 
 and the blood flowed from the wound. He 
 would then be taken to the ambulance, 
 where the girls would carefully wrap up 
 his finger with rags ; whilst another youth 
 would lead him to the prison, and hand him 
 over to the gaoler. These combats were 
 sometimes so fiercely waged, that, on more 
 than one occasion, the wounds inflicted were 
 beyond the skill of the youthful surgeons, 
 and the victims had to be taken to the 
 hospital in all earnest. 
 
 Thus months and months passed away: yet, 
 in spite of all the carnage and bloodshed, in 
 spite of the herculean efforts made on both 
 sides, no prospect of a termination of the 
 struggle, one vvay or the other, was to be 
 discerned. Besiegers and besieged were 
 tired of the vain efforts they were both 
 making to escape from the tangle they were 
 in. Grradually, the Russians became con- 
 vinced, that unless they were relieved they 
 must succumb in the end, as one fortifica- 
 tion after the other was pounded to dust ; 
 whilst the allies, on the other hand, could 
 not but look with dismay on the prospect 
 of continuing the war after they should 
 have succeeded in gaining possession of the 
 fortress that had withstood them so long. 
 The men and officers of the allies were 
 beginning to lose their interest in the 
 strife ; whilst the Russians were becoming 
 more and more fanatical and savage. The 
 allied troops were spending their blood for 
 a political principle, in which, as individuals, 
 they had no interest ; but the Russian felt 
 that he was fighting for his home and 
 family. The last blow was the successful 
 assault of the Malakoff, the tower in which 
 sixty Russians had so bravely withstood the 
 incessant attacks of overwhelming forces. 
 In the latter days of the siege the sufferings 
 increased tenfold, and despair began to be 
 felt, especially when the news arrived of 
 the defeat of the Russians on the Tchernaia, 
 by the combined forces of the French and 
 Sardinians, on the 16th of August, 1856. 
 At last, the redoubled efforts of the allies 
 began to convince General Todleben, that 
 unless the siege was raised, the fall of the 
 town would be inevitable. It was not ; and 
 on the 8tli of September, 1856, the city 
 and south side of the fortifications were 
 taken, the Russian forces achieving a 
 brilliant retreat, and uniting with the field 
 forces. 4 
 
 Now, from these recitals by Russians 
 themselves, several things are apparent. 
 They show the unquestioning discipline of 
 
 the men, and a hardness of character, com- 
 bined with a callous indifference to suffer- 
 ing in others, that seems to be a pecu- 
 liarity of the Slav races. But, at the 
 same time, the siege had a powerful effect 
 in diminishing the gulf that separated the 
 serf from his owner. When man and 
 master had so long shared the same priva- 
 tions, the same coarse food — when the 
 " noble " appeared divested of all the usual 
 paraphernalia of rank in his naked humanity, 
 it was inevitable that he should lose some 
 of the 'prestige that made him a superior 
 being in the eyes of his servant. On the 
 other hand, many of the " nobles *' came to 
 regard their serfs as something better than 
 beasts of burden, and to treat them as 
 fellow-creatures in spite of their inferiority. 
 Thus Captain Lesli, a naval officer, wrote to 
 his sister during the siege : — " There is one 
 tiling you must do, my dear Nadia, and I 
 hope it will give you pleasure to do it, as it 
 will be coupling the name of our dear 
 brother Eugene (killed at Sebastopol) with 
 an act of eternal gratitude. You must 
 induce our father to give Fetis his freedom 
 for his long and devoted service to my 
 brother. One soul less is of no account ; 
 and in exchange, Eugene's memory will be 
 preserved and honoured for ever in Fetis's 
 family. I have already written to papa, to 
 tell him that, if I die here, my last prayer 
 will be — Grive my Ivan his freedom." — 
 Nothing can show more forcibly than this 
 letter in what light the owners of the soil 
 regarded their serfs. Body and soul, they 
 were theirs. And that the enormity of the 
 wrong done to them was felt in a hazy sort 
 of way by the captain, is proved by his 
 making his slave's liberation the last and 
 dearest wish of his life. Not only that ; but 
 those who plausibly argue that the serf was 
 better off as a a serf, and had no wish for 
 his freedom, are crushingly refuted when 
 the captain assures his sister that his 
 brother's name will be honoured for ever in 
 the liberated serf's household. Evidently 
 Captain Lesli and his brother were good 
 and kind masters, and loved by their serfs ; 
 yet no greater reward could he devise for 
 them than their liberation from serfdom. 
 Nor was this an isolated instance. <^ Many 
 and many a serf gained his liberty from 
 similar causes ; and there is no doubt but 
 that the fraternisation compelled by the 
 bombs and shells of the allies, was a power- 
 ful agent in promoting the emancipation of 
 the serfs by the emperor. 
 
 From a military point of view, both 
 the attack and defence of Sebastopol were 
 failures : the former from causes this is no 
 place to enter upon ; the latter from want 
 of means of rapid communication, and in- 
 feriority of armament both as regards small 
 arms and artillery ; though it is true that, 
 considering the vast amount of metal flung 
 into the town by the allies, either their 
 pieces were highly inaccurate, the ammuni- 
 tion bad, or the cannon badly worked ; for, 
 according to reliable statistics on the sub- 
 ject, it appears that it took 83 J heavy shot 
 or shell to kill one man. The Minie rifle, 
 however, was infinitely superior to the 
 Russian musket ; and it was, no doubt, due 
 to this circumstance that the allies were 
 able to counterbalance the disadvantage 
 they laboured under from inferiority of 
 numbers. But want of means of locomo- 
 tion was the one glaring defect that im- 
 pressed itself on the Russian mind. There 
 was plenty of material, animate and inani- 
 mate, to be had, but it was mostly in the 
 wrong place and unavailable for use. It 
 was clear that this defect must be remedied 
 before Russia could throw down the gaunt- 
 let to any power commanding the sea ; and 
 thus, as we shall see, one of the first cares 
 of the Russian government was to improve 
 and extend its net-work of railways, and 
 devote more attention than hitherto to the 
 high-roads. 
 
 Furthermore, it was proved, by the course 
 the war took, that Sebastopol was really of 
 little use as a protection as long as the 
 Black Sea was open to all comers. As long 
 as the Dardanelles were in the hands of 
 another power, Russia would always be 
 open to attack, and liable to invasion, by 
 any power holding the seas. This is the real 
 meaning of the phrase about Constantinople 
 being the high-road to India. If Russia 
 was in possession of the Dardanelles, she 
 would be absolutely secure against any 
 attack, except through Austria and Prussia. 
 If proof of this assertion is needed, atten- 
 tion need only be directed to the operations 
 of the British fleet in the Baltic, which was 
 absolutely unable to accomplish anything. 
 Supposing the Dardanelles in the hands 
 of Russia, and she declares war against 
 England, or moves upon India, unless 
 England secured the active alliance of 
 Austria or Prussia, she would be utterly 
 unable to inflict a single blow on Russia, 
 except by disembarking an army in Turkey 
 — if Turkey allowed it — and attacking that 
 
 181 
 
 V 
 '> ' 
 
PROGRESS OF EDUCATION.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1856-77. 
 
 ! f 
 
 i i 
 
 small strip of Kussian territory that follows, 
 for a short distance, the lower course of 
 the Danube, and its myriad of channels and 
 swamps. Practically, the thing would be 
 impossible without an army of 800,000 
 men, and corresponding stores. This con- 
 viction, which must be palpable to the 
 meanest understanding, was forced upon 
 Eussia at an immense cost of blood and 
 treasure; and it is no wonder that the 
 Emperor Nicholas endeavoured, by the 
 treaty of Unkiar-Skelessi, to protect this 
 vulnerable spot in the Russian heel. Thus 
 the possession of the Dardanelles has be- 
 come an article of political faith in Russia, 
 and all the military and naval authorities 
 combine in demanding it, as the only means 
 of rendering Russia absolutely invulnerable 
 by her sea-coasts. Why she should be 
 invulnerable, and whether she should be 
 allowed to become so, is another question, 
 which most other nations are inclined to 
 answer in the negative. But, from the 
 Russian point of view, the possession or 
 control of the Straits is, undoubtedly, a 
 necessity — is recognised as such throughout 
 Russia, and will be strained after on every 
 occasion, and until she has obtained it, or 
 lost all hopes of ever succeeding. That 
 she, therefore, eagerly seized the first op- 
 portunity of repudiating the treaty that 
 kept her out of •the Black Sea, was natural 
 and inevitable; but because the state of 
 Western Europe then prevented any power 
 to interfere with reasonable hopes of success, 
 that is scarcely a reason why Russia should 
 be allowed to advance, unimpeded, on the 
 path she has marked out for herself, as 
 leading to invulnerability and a boundless 
 field for the exercise of boundless ambition 
 in Europe as well as in Asia. 
 
 Thus the Emperor Alexander entered 
 upon his inheritance with a Past to undo, 
 and a Future to unravel. ^ Whilst the task 
 his father undertook had still further in- 
 creased its gigantic proportions, the means 
 at his disposal had dwindled down to 
 nothing, and years and years of labour and 
 expense would be necessary before he could 
 hope to gain the power to cut the Gordian 
 knot, if haply it could not be solved by 
 diplomatic means; though there can scarcely 
 be a score of men within the limits of the 
 Russian empire who would entertain such 
 hopes, knowing, as they do, that were the 
 Turks to vanish from the face of the earth, 
 they would be no nearer the accomplish- 
 ment of their desires than before, inasmuch 
 as it is with the whole of Europe they 
 would eventually, directly or indirectly, 
 have to contend. It is true, the emperor 
 might have entered upon another course. 
 He might have abandoned the tradition of 
 the invulnerability of Russia, and have 
 been content to leave the dangerous spot 
 unprotected, relying on the justice of 
 nations not to take advantage of it whilst 
 developing the immense resources the 
 empire already contained. This would 
 certainly have been the wisest course. No 
 nation in Europe has the slightest interest 
 in waging war upon Russia, or molesting 
 her in any way ; and consequently, every 
 attack she makes or threatens, however 
 it may be cloaked with high-sounding 
 sentiment, is regarded as an act of wanton 
 aggression, which immediately unites those 
 nations which consider their interests in 
 the East endangered by any advance of 
 Russia southwards, with a more or less 
 openly or secretly hostile league against 
 her. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 PROGRESS OF EDUCATION SINCE 185G. 
 
 (UEMSITZM^ (0)IF ITiiiE ^ilL^JLSMSIKCD) CH^mom 
 
 Oir TEE VASILJ OSTBOFr 1n'£AH. PZ TETLSIiU5.G 
 
 Among the many unexpected results arising 
 from the siege of Sebastopol, not the least 
 important was the interchange of thoughts, 
 views, and opinions, between the inhabitants 
 of widely differing and remote portions of 
 the empire. Denizens of the northern and 
 182 
 
 eastern provinces compared notes, for the 
 first time, with those of the more favoured 
 districts in the south and west ; whilst 
 comparison could not fail to be made of 
 the condition of the people of the Western 
 nations and their own by the prisoners 
 
 .ui ^u^: i'ltiNiitiG AML I'Liiii.ijiiiNG C(;yi'/-j;Y. i^mited 
 
A.D. 1856-77.] 
 
 EUSSIAN EMPIRE. [progress of education. 
 
 whom the fortune of war led into other 
 countries. That these comparisons were 
 highly unfavourable to Russia was to be 
 expected, the result being a very wide- 
 spread dissatisfaction throughout all classes 
 of the empire ; though, of course, this 
 dissatisfaction varied greatly as to its 
 causes. The officers were highly dissatis- 
 fied with both their social and pecuniary 
 position. It could not well be otherwise 
 when, for instance, promotion to a general- 
 ship from a colonelcy was regarded as a 
 serious pecuniary loss, inasmuch as the 
 colonel, having the control of the supply 
 of certain stores, was able to considerably 
 augment his income by what must probably 
 now be called " commissions." From this 
 source of pecuniary benefit the general was 
 excluded. On the other hand, the men 
 began to ask themselves why the rest of 
 the civilised world should be free and inde- 
 pendent, and they alone not be able to 
 come and go at will, or even call their 
 souls their own. But when they returned 
 to their remote homesteads, the old routine 
 was too strong for them; and, falling un- 
 consciously into their old habits and cus- 
 toms, they might long have waited for their 
 emancipation from serfdom had it depended 
 on their unity and agitation. 
 
 But, fortunately for them, the chief 
 reason for their emancipation lay in quite 
 another direction. The complaints and 
 suggestions made after the close of the 
 war, combined with the difficulties they 
 had experienced during its progress, in- 
 duced the government to inquire into the 
 causes of one and the other; and in the 
 main they arrived at the conclusion, that 
 the possession of vast estates owned by few, 
 whilst producing sufficient to enable them 
 to live in luxury, was the cause of their 
 being but half-worked, in consequence of 
 no one having an interest in developing 
 them to their full extent. The landowner, 
 in short, looked less to the state of his 
 lands, than to the serf, to supply him with 
 his needs ; and as these were generally suffi- 
 ciently supplied, it was inditferent to him 
 that the same result might have been ob- 
 tained from the produce of one quarter of 
 his estate, under his personal supervision 
 and direction. He left all that to his 
 steward ; the steward procured the necessary 
 income ; the serfs produced it ; and, beyond 
 that, not a soul cared whether one acre 
 could be made to do the work of two or 
 not. The consequence was, that the serf 
 
 managed to clothe and feed himself, and be 
 his own tailor, shoemaker, builder, carriage 
 and harness-maker, splitting his energies 
 up into a multitude of objects, and remain- 
 ing in a state of utter stagnation, feeling 
 no requirements, and creating no demand 
 for the products of combined and or- 
 ganised labour; whilst the landowner, the 
 "noble," either spent the whole of his 
 time and income in the capitals of Europe, 
 or wasted the produce of a year in a visit 
 of three or four months to St. Petersburg 
 or Paris; after which he would hibernate 
 on his domains, in a state of semi-intoxi- 
 cation, for the rest of the year, or amuse 
 himself with hunting, and the introduction 
 amongst his peasantry of the pursuits he 
 had learned in the green-rooms and equivo- 
 cal quarters of Paris and Vienna. 
 
 The government could, therefore, no 
 longer resist the conclusion, that the soil 
 was only worked to a fraction of its capa- 
 bilities, in consequence of the workers 
 having no interest in it; and that, as a 
 further consequence, there were no demands 
 to stimulate trade and industry, and no 
 money to pay for these demands even if 
 they existed. These were the true causes 
 that led to the promulgation of the laws 
 of emancipation in 1861; laws which, de- 
 nounced by those whose interests were 
 attacked as certain to lead to revolu- 
 tion, were proved, by the absence of all 
 serious opposition, to have been impera- 
 tively needed. 
 
 By these laws, every community received 
 the right of local self-government almost to 
 the same extent as that accorded to the 
 American township. The inhabitants elect 
 their own council and their own Staroshte 
 (Elder, or Mayor), who, with the council, not 
 only exercises the local administration, but 
 also judicial powers in the first instance. 
 Local disputes as to boundaries, rights of 
 pasture, wages, &c., are all settled by the 
 Staroshte and the council. In fact, as liberal 
 an autonomy was granted to the community 
 as that enjoyed in Switzerland. But so 
 immense a stride from absolute and the 
 most servile dependence to absolute inde- 
 pendence could not be expected to bear 
 fruit immediately, nor to work quite satis- 
 factorily for at least a couple of generations. 
 The most extraordinary decisions were pro- 
 nounced, which graphically exemplify the 
 utter state of barbarism in which the lower 
 classes of the empire were plunged. For 
 instance, an inhabitant of Elisavetgrad 
 
 183 
 
 . .5 
 
 >J 
 
 4 
 
 i a 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 i:V ' 
 
 f 
 
 
 
/ 
 
 PROGRESS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1856-77. 
 
 A.D. 1856-'77.] 
 
 EUSSIAN EMPIRE. [progress of education. 
 
 accused a certain Euphrosine M, of having 
 failed in her conjugal duties towards her 
 husband, who, though no proof was brought 
 to substantiate the charge, believed in its 
 truth... , The council was convoked under the 
 presidency of the Staroshte, and induced 
 by the husband to pronounce sentence with- 
 out the wife being allowed to defend her- 
 self. The sentence was, that she should be 
 walked naked through the village, and in 
 that state receive fifteen strokes with a 
 stick. The sentence was executed to the 
 letter one severe frosty day in October. This 
 is not one of the hearsay tales about Rus- 
 sians knouting their wives to make them 
 *' love their spouses the more," but a case 
 authenticated by the British consul at 
 St. Petersburg, and cited by him in his 
 report in the Blue Book of 1870, entitled, 
 " Reports from her majesty's representatives 
 respecting the tenure of land in the several 
 countries of Europe." On another occa- 
 sion, there was a violent dispute between 
 two of the inhabitants regarding the loss 
 of a pig that had tumbled down a pit in 
 one of the disputant's yards. The decision 
 was, that as the pig was still eatable, and 
 would have been eaten at some time or the 
 other, his owner could not claim any com- 
 pensation ; whilst the other one was enjoined 
 to fill his pit up, lest any of the inhabitants 
 fall into it. The objection of the one, that 
 the pig would have increased in weight and 
 value, was met by the reply, that the cost of 
 feeding and keeping would have counter- 
 balanced that advantage ; whilst the com- 
 plaint of the other, that the pig had no 
 business in his yard, was summarily disposed 
 of by the indignant observation, that he 
 ought to be thankful it was only a pig that 
 had fallen into the hole, and not one of his 
 own children. 
 
 Still more extraordinary were the pro- 
 ceedings recently taken in regard to the 
 Moslem Tartars inhabiting one of the vil- 
 lages near the Caucasian frontier. It ap- 
 pears that one or two of these Moslems had 
 adopted the Grreek religion, but had abjured 
 it, and returned to their old faith. The 
 clergy, however, would not permit this re- 
 cantation, and, treating them still as Chris- 
 tians, invoked the assistance of the authori- 
 ties in virtue of the law, that every Russian 
 subject must attend divine service, and 
 communicate a certain number of times in 
 the year. And not only were the two or 
 three renegades proceeded against, but the 
 whole of the Moslem inhabitants of the I 
 184 
 
 place. In vain they protested that they 
 never had abjured their religion; and that 
 even if they had done so at one time, they 
 were Moslems now. It was all of no avail ; 
 they were told they must submit. Here- 
 upon they appealed to the next municipal 
 council. This body, after due examination, 
 came to the conclusion that, though they 
 had not yet been converted to the Greek 
 ritual, still they ought to be, and a com- 
 mission of clergy was nominated to under- 
 take their conversion ; whilst the appellants 
 were ordered forthwith to hearken to the 
 persuasion of the said commission, and to 
 obey them under pain of confiscation of 
 their property. The Moslems, however, 
 would not yield ; the consequence being that 
 they were forbidden to leave the village, 
 and their property placed under public 
 administration. But perhaps the most 
 original decision was that touching the 
 paternity of a child. The mother acknow- 
 ledged that she had yielded to several of 
 the inhabitants, or at any rate, asserted that 
 she had; whereupon the Staroshte decided 
 that all of them should contribute a certain 
 sum towards the maintenance of the infant 
 who was thus endowed by this Solomonic 
 decision with several legal fathers. 
 
 Instances might be multiplied, to an in- 
 definite extent, of the strange results pro- 
 duced by this sudden leap from irresponsible 
 serfdom to responsible citizenship. They 
 were inevitable until the people had received 
 some education ; and it was naturally one of 
 the first cares of the government to estab- 
 lish a system which should at once provide 
 the masses with elementary instruction. 
 
 The first efforts of any Russian govern- 
 ment to instruct the masses, only date from 
 the days of Peter the Great, who en- 
 deavoured to introduce the system he had 
 seen pursued with such advantage in Hol- 
 land. In 1714, he created a number of 
 schools for arithmetic, obligatory for persons 
 belonging to the higher classes ; and in 1715 
 and 1719, made them obligatory for all 
 classes, excepting the nobility. These mea- 
 sures, however, excited the most vehement 
 opposition. The councils of the various 
 towns overwhelmed him with petitions, 
 asking for the suppression of these schools 
 as dangerous to the State. In 1744, there 
 was not a single pupil of the middle classes 
 to be found in them ; and none at all when, 
 some time afterwards, establishments had 
 been specially endowed for the clergy and 
 nobility. 
 
 In 1775, Catharine II. ordered the estab- 
 lishment of schools in every town and 
 village. The contributions to be paid by 
 the parents was fixed at a minimum, in 
 order that the instruction should be within 
 the reach of the poorest ; but, unfortunately, 
 the ukase remained a dead letter. Every- 
 thing was wanting: buildings, masters, 
 books, and money. Since then, the govern- 
 ment has made spasmodic efforts, from time 
 to time, to introduce now one system, now 
 another, but always with results that may 
 be described as practically niL* In 1782, a 
 committee, under the presidency of M. Za- 
 vadovski, proposed the institution of two 
 classes of schools — one with a course of four 
 years for the more well-to-do classes, and 
 another with a course of two years' instruc- 
 tion for the masses. In 1786, a law was 
 passed, requiring everyone who wished to 
 establish a school in any town, to pass an 
 examination as to his qualifications. In 
 1803, the higher-class schools were trans- 
 formed into gymnasia, on the model of the 
 German establishments; and whilst the 
 primary schools, in the days of Catharine, 
 received their instruction on the basis of a 
 book, called the Book of the Duties of Men 
 and Citizens, they were now furnished with 
 a work containing reading-lessons on the 
 subjects of agriculture, physics, and hy- 
 giene. In 1804, fresh efforts were made to 
 establish schools on lands belonging to the 
 State and the nobility ; but there were no 
 means forthcoming, and again the project 
 came to nought. At last, the clergy, stung 
 by the reproaches made against them for 
 their neglect of their flocks, made a sudden 
 effort in 1806, with such success, that in the 
 province of Novgorod alone, 106 schools 
 were established and ministered to by the 
 clergy. Unfortunately, two years later, 
 there was not one left. 
 
 At last, it began to be understood, that if 
 the serfs were not allowed to think for 
 themselves on any other subject, it was 
 scarcely likely that they would take the 
 initiative, or any interest, in the establish- 
 ment of schools; and that if the govern- 
 ment took everything else into its hands, it 
 must take the schools too, and not expect 
 the people to educate themselves for other 
 persons' benefit. Thus, in 1835, a law 
 subjected all existing schools to the inspec- 
 tion of specially appointed officers, to whom 
 a school district was awarded, which fre- 
 quently comprised several boroughs. A 
 model school was established by the State 
 
 in some of these districts, as an example foi 
 the others and the parishes to follow ; but 
 the result was still highly unsatisfactory. 
 
 After the emancipation of the serfs in 
 1860, an imperial commission was ap- 
 pointed, under the presidency of M. Taneef, 
 to elaborate a scheme of primary instruc- 
 tion ; and in 1862, M. Taneef submitted to 
 the emperor a " Plan for the Organisation 
 of Popular Instruction." This plan, on the 
 face of it, was very plausible, and certainly 
 seemed calculated to meet the requirements 
 of the case ; but still it was asking far too 
 much from a people just emerged from the 
 depths of serfdom. The report estimated 
 the expenses as follows : — 
 
 Town?. Villages. 
 
 Master's salary 250 roubles. 150 roubles. 
 
 Salary for religious ) on * 60 
 
 instructor ) '* " 
 
 Books and stationery . . 70 ,, 
 
 60 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 2b 
 
 Total 400 roubles. 250 roubles. 
 
 To this had to be added, for the village 
 schools, a certain sum for firing, and a 
 grant to the teacher for lodging, which 
 brought up the amount to £40. It was 
 estimated that this outlay would be 
 defrayed by 200 families contributing 4s. 
 each per annum; or reckoning it by 
 individuals, by 800 persons paying Is. a 
 head. But though this sum, and even more, 
 is willingly paid by such liberal populations 
 as those of America, Switzerland, and 
 Denmark, for the education of their chil- 
 dren, it is considerable compared to the 
 sums demanded by other nations of Europe. 
 Thus the sum paid per head in Norway is 
 Is. 2\d.', Sweden. Is.; France, Is. 0\d.% 
 Spain, M. ; Greece, 9cZ. ; Italy, 6d. ; Por- 
 tugal, 2JcZ. 
 
 But it must be remembered, that in 
 Russia, 800 people, on an average, would 
 occupy eight small hamlets in a circum- 
 ference of some twenty square versts. The 
 density of the population is so low, that 
 there are only about sixteen inhabitants to 
 the square mile. Under these circumstances, 
 the children, especially during the winter 
 and spring months, when the snows begin 
 to melt, would only be able to attend 
 school regularly from the hamlets in the 
 immediate vicinity of the school. The 
 others would thus be paying without 
 deriving any advantage from the outlay, 
 which would naturally be unjust and 
 provoke great dissatisfaction. In con- 
 sequence, it was found impossible to estab- 
 
 185 
 
 ..•• 
 'i' 
 
 t 
 
PROGRESS OF EDUCATION.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1856-77. 
 
 lish a system of primary or parochial 
 schools, as in Germany and France, and 
 thus the matter again drifted into a «eries 
 of convulsive and spasmodic efforts. 
 
 No greater proof of the debasing effects 
 of serfdom could be afforded, than this 
 impossibility of establi.-liing the simplest 
 system of primary education. Russian 
 apologists, of course, at once point to the 
 difficulties cited above, arising from the 
 dissemination of the people over large 
 tracts of ground, to the climate, and other 
 natural impediments. But there is a 
 country where the natural obstacles, if 
 anything, were still greater, and yet did not 
 prevent the nation from learning to read, 
 write, and cipher— Norway. In Norway 
 the population is still sparser than in 
 Russia, there being no more than six in- 
 habitants to the square mile; whilst the 
 soil, cut up by high mountains, deep 
 valleys, fiords, and plateaux, offers still 
 greater impediments to regular school 
 attendance than in Russia, whilst the 
 climate is to the full quite as severe. Two 
 or three farms are here hidden away in a 
 wilderness of stone, and no other habita- 
 tion near them for miles and miles. Still 
 there is not a single Norwegian who cannot 
 read and write at least ; whilst, generally 
 speaking, the peasantry have a very fair 
 education indeed, and certainly know more 
 of the rest of the world than the rest of the 
 world knows about them. 
 
 This desirable result was obtained by the 
 institution of the Flyttante Skola — the 
 flitting or ambulatory school. Several 
 villages or hamlets unite, and subscribe a 
 certain sum each to pay the teacher, who 
 then makes his round through the district, 
 spending a certain time in each hamlet. 
 Each farm in each separate hamlet lodges 
 and feeds him in turn, the pupils from the 
 other houses assembling under the one roof 
 for instruction. Not being over-many— 
 often not more than five or six — the teacher 
 has them better in hand, and can pay more 
 regard to their individual capacities than 
 if he had them all together. His visit to 
 .one hamlet ended, the children have to 
 prepare their tasks against his return ; and 
 thus the year's instruction is dealt out in 
 doses at certain intervals, with a suitable 
 period for digestion between each. By this 
 device alone, popular instruction was first 
 introduced in Norway. In 1840, there 
 were 7,133 ambulatory schools, and only 
 200 fixed schools. The benefits derived 
 186 
 
 from this education were so manifest to the 
 peasantry, that they determined to make 
 fresh sacrifices; and thus, in 1866, there 
 were only 2,345 ambulatory, but no less 
 than 4,000 fixed schools. 
 
 Such was the encouraging results obtained 
 by an independent peasantry ; and there is 
 no doubt but that the same system whereby 
 they were achieved in Norway, would work 
 equally satisfactorily in Russia. 
 
 But the proposition to introduce this 
 system, placed the Russian government in 
 a cruel difficulty. The system was admirable; 
 the results were admirable ; but unfortu- 
 nately they were too admirable. How was 
 the ambulatory schoolmaster to be placed 
 under proper inspection and due super- 
 vision? To nominate an ambulatory 
 inspector to accompany each ambulatory 
 teacher on his scholastic rounds, would be 
 far too expensive. And if that was not 
 done, what guarantee was there that the 
 ambulatory Dominie might not become an 
 ambulatory revolutionist, and disseminate 
 the wildest and most pernicious heresies 
 and doctrines amongst the untutored 
 peasantry. The thing could not be dreamt 
 of. The peasant must undoubtedly be 
 educated up to that point when his educa- 
 tion would benefit the State in its peculiar 
 plans ; but beyond that it must not go. 
 
 In fact, by the end of 1873, the Russian 
 government — or the emperor, or the 
 nobility — had become alarmed at even the 
 small strides that education was then 
 making; for the Emperor Alexander ad- 
 dressed a rescript to Count Dmitri Tol- 
 stoi, the Minister of Public Instruction; 
 in which, after rapidly sketching the pro- 
 gress education had been making of late 
 years, he insisted on the urgency of pro- 
 viding a vigilant control over the schools 
 established, in order to ensure the proper 
 teaching of the principles of faith, morals, 
 and civic duties towards the State. Then, 
 continuing, he says — " That which, accord- 
 ing to my views, ought to advance the 
 healthy education of the young generation, 
 must not be allowed to become the engine 
 of a demoralisation of the people, of which 
 some symptoms may already be discovered. 
 To maintain popular education in a truly 
 religious and moral spirit, is the duty, not 
 only of the clergy, but of all enlightened 
 men, and particularly of the Russian 
 nobility, whom I call upon to act as 
 guardians of our public schools, and to 
 preserve them from dangerous and corrupt- 
 
 A.D. 1856-77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [progress of education. 
 
 ing influences. Special rights will thus be 
 conferred upon the nobility in their quality 
 of patrons of the primary schools of their 
 districts ; and the Minister of Public In- 
 struction, in concert with the Minister of 
 the Interior, is invited to come to an under- 
 standing with them, in order to profit by 
 the active part they are destined to take in 
 this great and holy work." 
 
 This rescript was addressed by the em- 
 peror to Count Tolstoi on December 15th, 
 1873, in consequence of the endless repre- 
 sentations made to him, that Socialism, 
 Radicalism, and all kinds of atheistical doc- 
 trines, were being disseminated. But if, as 
 there is sufficient reason for believing, this 
 rescript, addressed to the nobility, was the 
 work of the nobility itself, there is not 
 much doubt but that it has been obeyed to 
 the best of its power. Anyhow, but little 
 has been done in spite of the large results 
 figuring in imperial ukases ; for in Russia, 
 as in the neighbouring State (Turkey), an 
 imperial ukase is of about equal value 
 with an imperial Hatt in matters of liberal 
 reform. Thus, in 1870, Count Tolstoi 
 demanded an augmentation of the educa- 
 tional fund, amounting to 200,000 roubles ; 
 but he only obtained half the sum. The 
 sum total expended on primary schools 
 throughout the empire, in 1871, amounted 
 to a sum, in round figures, of £400,000 ; of 
 which £180,000 were provided by the 
 parishes and municipalities; £120,000 by 
 the provincial treasuries, and £100,000 by 
 the State. Besides these sums for the pri- 
 mary schools, the State has contributed 
 £30,000 out of £50,000 to defray the ex- 
 penses of the normal schools. 
 
 That these insignificant sums were 
 wholly inadequate to leaven the concen- 
 trated ignorance of 65,000,000 souls, is 
 self-evident. Thus the general report, 
 issued in 1871 by the Minister of Public 
 Instruction, shows that only fourteen out of 
 the thirty-four provinces, where the 
 Zemstvos (provincial councils) have been 
 established, sent in very incomplete reports. 
 In these fourteen provinces, the most 
 civilised, and the most densely inhabited 
 of Slavonic Russia — to wit : St. Petersburg, 
 Moscow, Poltava, Tver, Kostroma, Kherson, 
 Jaroslav, Ekaterinoslav, Charkof, Tambof, 
 Orel, Kasan, Symbirsk, and Penza — with 
 20,425,294 inhabitants — there were only, in 
 January, 1870, 4,247 schools with 4,982 
 teachers, of whom 3,516 were priests, and 
 143,385 pupils ; that is to say, one pupil to 
 
 142 inhabitants ! In Denmark, Sweden, 
 Norway, Saxony, and Switzerland, there is 
 one pupil to every six inhabitants. In the 
 country districts, the few schools that do 
 exist, are held in buildings quite unfit for 
 the purpose ; even in the vestibules of the 
 prisons they are often located. Thus, in 
 1871, there was not a single school in the 
 whole district of Tsaritsins (Sdratof gov- 
 ernment), because all the buildings in 
 which they had been located had been con- 
 demned by the authorities as dangerous, and 
 sold for demolition. In addition, the State 
 grants, small as they are, are distributed 
 in the most extraordinarily unequal manner. 
 Thus, whilst some enjoy a subsidy varying 
 from 600 to 1,200 roubles, there are some, 
 as in the district of Grdovsk, St. Peters- 
 burg, that only receive fifty, twenty-five, 
 or even ten roubles a-year; whilst the 
 average total amount received by all the 
 primary schools from all sources, does not 
 exceed 142 roubles, or say £20 per annum. 
 
 The total number of primary schools 
 throughout European Russia, in 1872, was, 
 in round figures, 24,000, with 875,000 
 pupils. Thus, with a population of 
 65,000,000 souls, there is only one pupil to 
 every seventy-five of the inhabitants ; the 
 proportion in Upper Canada and America 
 being 1.4; in Denmark and Saxony, 1.6; 
 in Italy, 1.19; in Greece, 1.20; in Por- 
 tugal, 1.40; and even in Servia, 1.48. 
 
 On the other hand, the government has 
 been devoting more attention to the estab- 
 lishment of normal or training schools for 
 teachers. The object hereof is evident. 
 It is to assure a supply of thoroughly 
 orthodox and loyal preceptors, whom the 
 State can always keep well in hand, and 
 not risk the propagation of principles it 
 disapproves of. Thus the State pays 
 14,810 roubles per annum to the normal 
 school at Kieff, besides a grant of 63,000 
 for the construction of a suitable building. 
 That at Kasan has already cost 89,433 
 roubles ; and it cannot be denied, that as 
 far as materials and school appliances go, 
 they cannot be surpassed by those of any 
 other country. The only question is, as to 
 their application; and up till now, the 
 reply is very doubtful and equivocal ; for 
 according to the most recent official re- 
 ports, not more than 9 per 100 of the 
 rural classes have any knowledge of read- 
 ing and writing. 
 
 But it must not be forgotten that 
 Russia is still suffering from the Tartar 
 
 187 
 
 !'J 
 
 it 
 
 t 
 
 ^•i 
 
 i !f 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
PROGRESS OF EDUCATION.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Ta.d. 1856-77. 
 
 ♦ I 
 
 invasion : not only that, but she has also 
 a considerable Tartar population, mixed 
 with Bashkirs and Kirghiz, for the benefit 
 of whom the training-schools of Kasan 
 and Irkutsk have been established. In ad- 
 dition, a man of considerable talent and 
 energy, M. Raddof, has been appointed 
 special inspector of the Tartar and kin- 
 dred schools, for the use of which he has 
 published a series of manuals for the study 
 of Russian and arithmetic; whilst in the 
 higher branches, must be noted the Aca- 
 demy of Oriental Languages, or Institute 
 Lazaref, which is provided with nine chairs 
 for the study of the Armenian, Arabic, 
 Georgian, Persian, Turkish, Turco-Tartar, 
 and Tartar languages. Oriental history, and 
 calligraphy. The benefits resulting from 
 this institution was highly appreciated 
 during the campaign in Khiva, two officers 
 of the expedition having, from their know- 
 ledge of the language and history of the 
 country, succeeded in penetrating into the 
 town, and procuring the plans of the forti- 
 fications, and other information that largely 
 contributed to the success of the invading 
 army. 
 
 Middle-c/ass instruction in Russia has 
 been introduced on the German model, and 
 is provided by the gymnasia and the pro- 
 fessional, or, as we should say, classical and 
 commercial schools. 
 
 The former include in their curriculum 
 the study of Greek, Latin, French, German, 
 and the higher mathematics ; the latter, 
 discarding the ancient languages, concen- 
 trate their efforts on pure and applied 
 mathematics, [drawing, chemistry, theoreti- 
 cal and practical, and on modern languages. 
 As soon as the government had published 
 its programme, the number of applications 
 for the establishment of these schools, and 
 offers to assist in their formation, was very 
 satisfactory. More than forty of the pro- 
 vincial governments and municipalities 
 applied, twenty-four of them furnishing 
 cash to the amount of 290,000 roubles, and 
 twelve offering suitable localities of con- 
 siderable value. Thus Kieff offered a build- 
 ing of the value of £10,000 ; Krasnovfimsk, 
 one of £2,500; and Borissoglebsk, one 
 representing a value of £16,000. Sora- 
 poul offered an annual subsidy of £2,000 ; 
 Kramevtabug, £2,400; Rossievi, £1,800. 
 But, unhappily, the readiness thus ex- 
 hibited by even the most distant provinces 
 of the empire to assist in the work of edu- 
 cation, was annulled and counterbalanced 
 188 
 
 by the inertia, or financial incapacity of the 
 government to take advantage of the spirit 
 thus evoked; and at the end of 1871, there 
 were no more than thirty-seven commercial 
 schools throughout the whole empire, 
 with 128 gymnasia and thirty-nine pro- 
 gymnasia. 
 
 Naturally, the promotion of education 
 was availed of for the further Russification 
 of Poland. In 1871, there was only one 
 gymnasium in Poland where instruction 
 was not given in Russian ; and since then, we 
 believe that this establishment has been 
 abolished. No provision at all is thus 
 made for teaching the children their own 
 mother tongue. In the Baltic provinces, 
 of which Dorpat is the scholastic and intel- 
 lectual centre, German is the language of 
 instruction, the Russian tongue being 
 taught by Germans. But on the pretext 
 that these Germans are not sufficiently 
 masters of Russian to teach it, the govern- 
 ment has created six scholarships to pre- 
 pare Russian masters for the Dorpat 
 district, and has opened two gymnasia, 
 called the Alexander Gymnasia, at Riga 
 and Revel, where the instructional tongue 
 is Russian. 
 
 Since 1871, the progress has been slow as 
 far as the government is concerned, in spite 
 of the decree issued shortly after the insti- 
 tution of universal military service, making 
 primary instruction compulsory, and order- 
 ing the establishment of some 24,000 
 primary schools on the Prussian system. 
 The decree has remained, more or less, a 
 dead letter, as the same difficulty — a 
 scattered population over a vast expanse of 
 territory — still impedes the successful exe- 
 cution of the scheme. ' 
 
 The most remarkable and noteworthy 
 feature in all these attempts to provide 
 Russia with a thorough educational system, 
 is the eager readiness of the people — a 
 readiness that amounts to a formal thirst 
 for instruction — to do all in their power to 
 promote the cause ; and still more remark- 
 able is the care devoted to the education of 
 the girls belonging to the well-to-do classes. 
 The government has rightly appreciated 
 the dangers that must inevitably result if 
 the future mothers of the nation are brought 
 up in ignorance, or left, as in France and 
 other Catholic countries, to the care of nuns, 
 and to spend their youth in the convents, 
 where they become so impregnated with 
 ultramontane ideas, that they either lead a 
 life of opposition more or less overt to their 
 
 A.D. 1856-77.] 
 
 husbands, or subject them to the clerical 
 influence, directly or indirectly, that they 
 otherwise would recoil from and repel. 
 Thus gymnasia for girls have been founded by 
 the municipalities, or by private individuals, 
 under State inspection, to which govern- 
 ment has made a grant, which rose from 
 50,000 roubles in 1870, to 150,000 in 1874, 
 which is divided amongst 226 schools, cost- 
 ing a sum total of £100,000, and furnishing 
 a thorough education to 23,469 pupils. 
 
 For the highest branches of education, 
 Russia has eight universities on the Prussian 
 model: St. Petersburg, Moscow, Dorpat, 
 Warsaw, Kieff, Odessa, Charkof, and Karow, 
 with (in 1874) 512 professors and 6,779 
 students, of whom 1,430 were assisted by a 
 full scholarship, 2,208 with half-scholar- 
 ship, and 1,732 with temporary funds. 
 Thus 5,370, out of 6,799 students, belonged 
 to the lower classes, who were imable to 
 defray the expenses of their education. 
 This is highly significant of the state of 
 Russian society. It is the reverse of what 
 is the case in England. Here it is the 
 aristocracy who are the first to appreciate 
 the benefits of the knowledge and thorough 
 education that enables them to play such a 
 prominent part in their country's history ; 
 there it is the democracy that is eager to 
 profit by the advantages placed at its dis- 
 posal. This explains the fears entertained 
 by the Russian government and nobility of 
 revolutionary ideas becoming popular in 
 Russia, and the outcry that has recently 
 been raised of the spread of Socialistic ideas 
 throughout the empire; the plain truth 
 being, that the lower and middle classes are 
 rapidly progressing, whilst the nobility — or 
 rather the large estate-owners, the Boyards, 
 for nobility, in cur sense of the word, cannot 
 be said to exist in Russia— is remaining 
 stationary, which, m an age like the pre- 
 sent, is equivalent to retrogression. 
 
 The question is of the highest import- 
 ance, not only for Russia, but for the whole 
 of Europe, and a considerable portion of 
 Asia. The Slav institutions are by nature 
 democratic— one might almost say republi- 
 can—and eminently fitted for the estab- 
 lishment of a constitutional monarchy, 
 republicanism in a monarchical frame, or 
 republicanism pure and simple. Conse- 
 quently, a despotic government like that of 
 St. Petersburg, finds itself in a most awk- 
 ward predicament when it sees, on the one 
 hand, that universal compulsory education 
 is an unavoidable complement to universal 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [progress of education. 
 
 compulsory military service ; whilst, on the 
 other hand, it plays into the hands of the 
 democratic and anti-military party, and 
 furnishes that party with the means it most 
 desires for its eventual emancipation, -'^ 
 
 The question is of importance for Europe, 
 inasmuch as it cannot be immaterial to 
 Western civilisation, whether a population 
 of some 80,000,000 of souls become the 
 unquestioning engine of an irresponsible 
 despotic power, or an enlightened and sufii- 
 ciently peaceable community, that will turn 
 out a benefit rather than a danger for 
 Europe. For it must be remembered that, 
 according to the military system now intro- 
 duced into Russia, the ruler of the country 
 will be able, when the system is once fully 
 developed, to dispose of an assemblage of 
 armies, numbering between three and four 
 millions of men, who will become easier 
 and easier to manipulate and concentrate, 
 as the railway system becomes more and 
 more extended. Consequently, as long as 
 there is any doubt as to the immediate 
 use to which the results of general education 
 in Russia may be put, Europe is bound to ' 
 view with distrust any attempts, either at 
 an extension of the frontiers, or a protective 
 system, that would close the empire to the 
 introduction of those principles of free-trade 
 and international duties which Western 
 Europe is in the main agreed upon. 
 
 This is as true a picture as can be pro- 
 cured of the state of popular education in 
 Russia since the Crimean war ; but the pic- 
 ture would be imperfect without some ac- 
 count of the manner in which the nobility 
 is brought up, and, above all, the women. 
 
 In the imperial Chancellery there is a 
 department called the Department of the 
 Empress Marie, which is charged with the 
 administration of the immense funds be- 
 queathed by various empresses — notably 
 Catharine the Great and Marie Fedorovna 
 (Princess Sophie of Wurtemberg)— to the 
 establishments founded for the education of 
 the higher classes. In a despotic State of 
 such utter artificiality as Russia, it is not 
 sufficient to train the people — the canaille 
 — into systematised and unquestioning sub- 
 mission to the imperial will, but the nobi- 
 lity also must be fashioned after a certain 
 model, in order to prevent certain menabers 
 from following out their personal ambition 
 by training a portion of the lower classes to 
 their own purposes, and opening a way to 
 that abhorrence of despotic governments, 
 an Opposition. An Opposition there must 
 
 189 
 
 .;.. 1 
 
 *!' 
 
PROGRESS OF EDUCATION.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1856-77. 
 
 A.D. 1856-'77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [progress of education. 
 
 not be; consequently, there must be no 
 opening left for the formation of teachers 
 who might be tempted to organise one. 
 As the emperor is the theoretical source of 
 all that is bad, so, on the other hand, must 
 he be the theoretical source of all that is 
 good. Thus the Russian government, fully 
 recognising the great influence exercised by 
 •women on politics in every country, decided 
 still further to increase this influence, and 
 hold it for its own purposes, by giving the 
 women a thorough education suitable for 
 the purpose, and practically to make them 
 superior, in pliancy of intellect and political 
 knowledge, to their future husbands. The 
 part played by Russian ladies in Europe 
 alone demonstrates this principle. Some 
 of the most frequented " salons" in London, 
 Paris, Vienna, Florence, Rome, Berlin, are 
 those of Russian ladies: the traditional 
 Russian "spy" is more frequently a lady 
 tlian a man. In such troublous times as 
 those of the Polish rebellion in 1863-'64, 
 the Russian ladies rendered the government 
 more services almost than did the army, by 
 their euergy, foresight, and indefatigable 
 collection of information. To achieve these 
 results, there are a number of institutions, 
 of which the principal are those of Paul, 
 Nicholas, and the order of St. Catharine ; 
 the society for the education of girls of the 
 nobility (Alexander), at the convent of 
 Smolna ; the Patriotic Academy, and Eliza- 
 beth School, at St. Petersburg. At Moscow 
 there are four such establishments in the 
 House of Education (Vospitalnyidome), the 
 largest and finest building in the town ; and 
 in the rest of the empire there are about 
 twenty other such institutions, including 
 one at Svkutsk in Siberia. 
 
 All these establishments and boarding- 
 schools are conducted on a strict system of 
 supervision, under which the girls grow up, 
 until they are turned out, duly fashioned 
 and sliaped to order, at the age of nineteen 
 or twenty. Twelve years of such discipline, 
 getting up, eating, drinking, walking, learn- 
 ing, and going to bed again at fixed hours, 
 for the sixth part of one's life, cannot but 
 have a lasting influence in the events of the 
 other five parts. The object, however, of 
 the system is accomplished. The ladies it 
 produces are perfect in the arts of society. 
 One cannot have a more agreeable drawing- 
 room or ball-room companion than a Rus- 
 sian lady. She is well-versed in German 
 and French literature, and speaks both 
 languages perfectly. She can talk upon 
 190 
 
 music or upon art, and the hours pass away 
 rapidly. But when one analyses afterwards 
 the cause of the charm afforded by this 
 intercourse, it becomes apparent that the 
 results are of a very paltry nature, and that 
 the secret of her influence consists in the 
 art she has acquired of making everything 
 she speaks about assume a personal tinge. 
 The conversation that began about the ex- 
 cellences of a Beethoven's sonata has rapidly 
 degenerated into a desultory talk about 
 Chopin's or Schulhoff's mazurkas, and the 
 peculiarities, scandals, and anecdotes about 
 the musician, the vagaries of Wagner, the 
 foibles of Liszt for the Princess Wittgen- 
 stein, &c. Beginning a conversation with 
 a dissertation on some new or ancient work 
 of literature, one always ends with tales of 
 authorial wickednesses and peccadilloes. 
 The private life of Greorge Elliot, Miss 
 Braddon, George Sand, Balzac, or Spiel- 
 hagen, has infinitely more charm for the 
 Russian " salon " than their works. When 
 this principle is extended to the diplomatic 
 world, it may easily be imagined what 
 charm the subject possesses for every one. 
 Prince this and that. Count So-and-so, Earl 
 this, and Duke the other, are handled quite 
 irrespective of their public merits or 
 demerits, and solely according to their 
 foibles and weaknesses, or worse. Such 
 confidences beget confidence ; and thus the 
 Russian lady becomes the repository of a 
 mass of details relating to the private life 
 of notable personages, that are frequently 
 of the greatest service to the government, 
 and furnish the basis for those intrigues for 
 which Russians are so noted. 
 
 A few instances may be instructive. A 
 matter of some importance required elucida- 
 tion a few years ago — during the Car list 
 war, in fact. The Russian government 
 wished to know what course a certain powei 
 was takinor in France with reference to 
 the Carlist movement. This power had 
 two highly-accomplished agents in France — 
 one in Paris, the other in the south of 
 France — who were entirely in the con- 
 fidence of the power in question as to 
 their policy on the subject, and thus atten- 
 tion was bestowed on these two gentlemen 
 to such an extent, that within a few weeks 
 the Russian Foreign Office was fully sup- 
 plied with all the information it desired. 
 And this is how it was accomplished. 
 Both the agents in question were highly 
 susceptible to female charms, and each 
 had formed a liaison with a married lady, 
 
 
 the more so as both were enabled to 
 
 extract much information regarding French 
 
 policy from their charmers. This fact was 
 
 soon discovered by the Russian ladies who 
 
 had taken the matter in hand ; and thus, 
 
 on a fitting opportunity, the French 
 
 baroness and the French marquise were 
 
 given to understand, by their Russian friends, 
 
 that their little "distractions "were known to 
 
 them, and that they would do well to take 
 
 them into their confidence ; — all this done, 
 
 of course, in a sympathetic way, and with 
 
 much praise of the talented object of the 
 
 marquise's admiration. And, confidence 
 
 begetting confidence, the news required 
 
 passed from baroness and marquise to St. 
 
 Petersburg, and was the cause of the czar's 
 
 refusal to recognise the Spanish republic. 
 
 On another occasion, when similar in- 
 formation was required, the subject for 
 operation was on intimate terms with two 
 ladies, to whom, however, he was wise 
 enough to make no confidences whatever. 
 But our Russian lady managed matters by 
 informing one of the gentleman's intrigue 
 with her rival, and by this means succeeded 
 in obtaining the key to the cypher used by 
 the official in question to communicate 
 with his government. 
 
 Such cases are, of course, but the extreme 
 of the system; but they would not be 
 possible without the system which enables 
 a government to make the lowest offices 
 of the detective compatible with the 
 dignity of the aristocrat. 
 
 Thus highly talented and accomplished, 
 well versed in the art of making " society " 
 a field for diplomatic endeavours, the 
 Russian ladies fully equalled the demands 
 made upon them by the system of educa- 
 tion in vogue. As a natural consequence 
 of this system, the establishments in 
 question are highly exclusive. No girl 
 is admitted to them who is not the 
 daughter of a colonel or a Councillor of 
 Stat°e at least. At the St. Elizabeth 
 Academy, even those who pay the full 
 price must be the daughters of the 
 hereditary nobility; the scholarships are 
 reserved for the daughters of ladies of the 
 Order of St. Elizabeth and captains of the 
 staff. The only academy which is not so 
 strict in the admission of pupils is that 
 of St. Paul, where girls of all ranks are 
 admitted whose fathers sre not subject to 
 the poll-tax. A bourgeois (meckt- 
 chanine) or citizen whose citizenship is 
 well established, or a merchant belonging 
 
 to a guild, is allowed to send his daughter 
 to the establishment; but its doors are 
 inexorably closed to the daughter of a 
 peasant or a farmer, of no matter what 
 wealth or standing. 
 
 At the same time, it must not be for- 
 gotten, that the Russian "nobility" who 
 frequent these establishments, belong to 
 that impecunious aristocracy that gains its 
 livelihood in the lower branches of the 
 military and civil service. It includes the 
 by far greater part of the bureaucracy 
 which, in spite of the bribery and corrup- 
 tion still prevailing, would otherwise be 
 quite unable to live at all. Their daughters, 
 educated in these establishments, have 
 frequently — a very large per-centage in fact 
 — to take situations as governesses, 
 chaperones, housekeepers, companions, &c. ; 
 and in this respect are of service to the 
 government also, as a means of propagating 
 the principles they have been taught. 
 They generally take away with them a 
 great respect for the imperial Court, and 
 look upon themselves, in a great measure, as 
 belonging to that Court. For on leaving 
 school, they are received in the imperial 
 palaces at Tsarskoe-Selo or Peterhof, to 
 receive their prizes or diplomas, and to 
 offer up their thanks to their imperial 
 patrons and patronesses. Thus, in many of 
 the imperial apartments, the walls are hung 
 with the portraits, single or in groups, of 
 the pupils that have left the schools under 
 the imperial protection ; and thus they all 
 feel, that though not the vase itself, at any 
 rate they have dwelt with it, and under the 
 shadow of the czar and czarina. 
 
 Such was the state of female education in 
 the higher classes up to 1855. Then, how- 
 ever, the present empress, Maximilienne of 
 Hesse-Darmstadt— or, by her Russian name, 
 Maria Alexandrowna— imbued with the 
 German traditions in regard to education, 
 endeavoured to extend the field for female 
 instruction in Russia, and proceeded to the 
 establishment of the gymnasia, of which 
 mention has been already made. A sketch 
 of the organisation of these schools may be 
 interesting : it is, at any rate, instructive. 
 
 At the head of the whole system stands 
 Prince Alexander Peter of Oldenburg, the 
 husband of one of the emperor's nieces, and 
 who pursues his avocation with such devo- 
 tion, that he may frequently be seen study- 
 ing the details and working of some gym- 
 nasium on the spot. The smallest matters 
 are not beneath his consideration. Thus he 
 
 191 
 
 
 ■I 
 
PROGRESS OF EDUCATION.] HISTOKY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1856-17. 
 
 \ 
 
 published lately a circular, in which he 
 complained that the scholars were not suffi- 
 ciently acquainted with the metre of the 
 verses and poetry they had to recite. At 
 the head of each gymnasium there is an in- 
 spectrice (Nadziratelnitza) and a male offi- 
 cial, with the title of Superior (Natch- 
 alnik), except at St. Petersburg, where the 
 eight gymnasia are under the supreme 
 supervision of one especial official, and the 
 " Superior " of each establishment is simply 
 a class inspector. At Moscow the four 
 gymnasia are placed also under the super- 
 vision of one " Superior." The duties of 
 the Natchalnik, or Superior, consist in the 
 choice of masters and mistresses for the 
 different classes, their dismissal, and seeing 
 that the rules and regulations are properly 
 carried out. The Nadziratelnitza has to 
 see to the health of the pupils, their good 
 conduct, morals, and manners. They are 
 generally of good family — some even prin- 
 cesses — and have been chosen less for their 
 pedagogical attainments than for their 
 social position and accomplishments, in 
 furtherance of the principle already men- 
 tioned, of making the Russian lady par 
 excellence an ornament of society, and a 
 help to the Court and government. Superi- 
 ors and inspectrices are nominated by the 
 curators, and approved of by the empress 
 through the Prince of Oldenburg. The 
 curators, in turn, are nominated by the 
 emperor or empress personally, and are 
 chosen on account of their wealth and posi- 
 tion. Thus Prince Troubetzkoi is the 
 curator (Papetchitel) of the Moscow gym- 
 nasia. The curators also nominate another 
 class of officials to what is more or less an 
 honorary position — surveillants or nabliou- 
 ditel. They are persons who devote either a 
 portion of their wealth or their time to the 
 benefit of the establishment. 
 
 Under the inspectrice there is also a sub- 
 inspectrice, or dame de classe, for each class, 
 whose duty it is to keep the pupils in due 
 discipline towards their mistresses, and to be 
 present during all the lessons given by the 
 male teachers. Her functions, in fact, cor- 
 respond to those of the Spanish duenna, or 
 the British " watch-dog." The masters are 
 generally the professors of the boys' gym- 
 nasia, and are remunerated at the rate of 
 fifty roubles per lesson per week for the 
 year. Thus, a master who gives eight 
 lessons a-week, would receive 400 roubles 
 per annum. The remuneration of the mis- 
 tresses of the lower classes is just half — 
 192 
 
 twenty-five roubles per lesson per week for 
 the year ; so that to gain 400 roubles she 
 would have to give sixteen lessons a-week, 
 instead of only eight. When, however, 
 their capabilities are equal to the task, they 
 are allowed to give instruction to the upper 
 classes, and then they receive the full fifty 
 roubles. Unfortunately for the ladies, there 
 are but few places where they are able to 
 attain the higher position, in consequence 
 of the great competition, one vacancy often 
 bringing forward over a hundred candi- 
 dates. 
 
 The Natch alniks receive a salary varying 
 between 2,668 roubles and 900 roubles a 
 year; the Nadziratelnitzas, or inspectrices, 
 receive from 750 to 1,180 roubles per 
 annum; an inspector, 1,000 to 1,350; and 
 the duennas, 400 to 700. Thus, whilst the 
 superior officials and the masters are well 
 paid, the mistresses are far from being so. 
 It is a pedagogical axiom that no master 
 is able to give more than twenty lessons a 
 week : that represents, in Russia, a salary of 
 1,000 roubles, say £350 per annum. But 
 for a woman to gain this sum, she would 
 have to give forty lessons a-week ; which 
 is impossible, or, if possible, not worth any- 
 thing at all. No lady can live on 500 
 roubles (£175) a-year in St. Petersburg, 
 where living is dearer even than in Paris, 
 and keep up the position she is expected to. 
 But this sum is quite sufficient in the 
 country towns ; and as a matter of fact, no 
 master or mistress is allowed to give more 
 than twenty lessons a-week ; so that the 
 maximum salary for masters and mistresses 
 of the higher classes is 1,000 roubles a-year, 
 and that of the mistresses of the lower 
 classes, 500. 
 
 Such are the elements of which the 
 administration of the female gymnasia is 
 composed. Now as to the pupils them- 
 selves and their curricula. 
 
 Each gymnasium is composed of a 
 preparatory school and seven classes. A 
 girl of eight years of age — which is the 
 average age for entering the seventh class 
 — must pass an examination in arithmetic, 
 and must be able to read and write, not 
 only Russian, but French and German. 
 Under such a system, it is not surprising 
 that the Russians should be such excellent 
 linguists. Of these seven classes, none 
 may contain more than forty pupils; if 
 there are more, the class is divided into 
 parallels, each, of course, following the 
 same course of instruction. The hours of 
 
 A.D. 1856-77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [progress of education. 
 
 attendance are from 9 A.M. to 2.30 P.M. ; i. e., 
 five and a-half hours. Each lesson lasts 
 about fifty minutes, with half-an-hour for 
 lunch at twelve o'clock. The three first 
 hours are devoted to French, Grerman, 
 history, arithmetic, geography, physics, 
 and religion ; the others in writing, draw- 
 ing, sewing, singing, and dancing. Lunch 
 is brought by the pupils themselves ; and in 
 some of the establishments there is a buffet 
 provided with tea, chocolate, or bouillon. 
 At 2.30 they are sent home, with their tasks 
 set for the following dayc The holidays 
 last during the hottest months of the year ; 
 i,e,, from the 16th of June to the 7th of 
 August. Promotion from one class to 
 another depends upon the pupils passing a 
 strict examination. If they do not pass it, 
 they have to remain in the class year after 
 year. If, after three years, they are still in 
 the same class, they are dismissed, and sent 
 to their parents to do what they can with 
 them. On the other hand, those who have 
 passed satisfactorily all classes, receive a 
 certificate giving them the right to act as 
 teachers without any further examination 
 in public or private schools. 
 
 Much attention is justly bestowed on the 
 accommodation and cleanliness of the school 
 localities and their appurtenances. Espe- 
 cially noteworthy are the play-rooms, which, 
 in a severe climate like Russia, take the 
 place of our play-grounds. They are large, 
 airy rooms, with waxed parquet floors, white 
 varnished walls of spotless purity, and one 
 or two large white porcelain stoves, the 
 never-failing portraits of the czar, czarina, 
 and Prince Oldenburg adorning the walls. 
 In the class-rooms — the pupils sitting dur- 
 ing the whole lesson, and only rising when 
 answering questions, reciting, &c. — the 
 tables are of white varnished wood, the 
 absence of blots, smears, or "carvings" 
 giving one a very favourable idea of Rus- 
 sian school-manners. Each establishment 
 has its collections of natural objects, physi- 
 cal instruments, drawing models and copies, 
 and its library. Maps are hung in every 
 class-room, and the inevitable black-board 
 is kept scrupulously black, and not in an 
 everlasting whity-grey smear, as in British 
 establishments. 
 
 It will be seen that the imperial family 
 is directly connected with these establish- 
 ments, and devote much personal care to 
 them ; and being thus an imperial institu- 
 tion, there is always a career open to the 
 teachers and professors. They enjoy all the 
 VOL, II. 2 C 
 
 privileges of State servants, such as pen- 
 sions and elevations of rank, and are consi- 
 dered as specially worthy recipients of 
 orders and titles. Scarcely a month passers 
 without some professor being made an 
 Aulic Councillor ; and, in short, education 
 is not looked upon by any class as an 
 unremunerative or paltry occupation, but, 
 on the contrary, as a profession in itself 
 leadinof to considerable emoluments and 
 honours. 
 
 Perhaps nothing can give a better idea 
 of the progress the cause of education and 
 liberal ideas has made in Russia, than 
 the following extract from the official 
 pedagogical journal, the Pedagoshitc/ieskii 
 Listok, in 1873 — a journal, be it remem- 
 bered, that is under government control, 
 and is, in fact, a government organ. It 
 says — 
 
 " As to those people who object to com- 
 promising their aristocratic dignity by 
 allowing their children to consort at school 
 with the daughters of bakers, tailors, and 
 shopkeepers, they are not in a fit condition 
 to give us any valid reason for their con- 
 duct. They can only make use of hack- 
 neyed phrases that are out of date. They 
 refuse to see that, in opposing equality be- 
 fore the law, universal military service, and 
 the abolition of class privileges, they are 
 swimming against the stream ; and that, to 
 influence the country, they must live with 
 the country, and gain its confidence. 
 
 " As for us, we must confess that the 
 danger from the mixing of the upper and 
 lower classes is not to the former, but to the 
 latter. The poor children who see their 
 richer companions dressed with extravagant 
 luxury, accompanied by footmen to carry 
 their books and slates, or who are brought 
 to the school-doors in sumptuous carriages, 
 whose conversation is of balls, parties, 
 theatres, dress, &c., place much more temp- 
 tation and danger in the path of the poor, 
 than an occasional coarse word or awkward 
 gesture of some cobbler's daughter. From 
 such things the rich are safe ; the poor, on 
 the other hand, have a hard battle to over- 
 come, and to become convinced that merit 
 does not consist in the possession of a velvet 
 dress or a golden watch, but in those per- 
 sonal qualities resulting from a cultivated 
 intellect and a high code of morals." 
 
 With this extract we may fitly close our 
 
 review of the progress education is making 
 
 in Russia, and has made since the close of 
 
 I the Crimean war. A conflict is being waged, 
 
 193 
 
 ■i 
 
 ' 
 
 
 ■11'^ 
 
ii 
 
 LIBEKATION OF THE SERFS.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 18o6-'77. 
 
 of which the issue cannot be doubtful; 
 though how long it will be before the move- 
 ment has borne lasting fruit is, of course, 
 
 a question that does not wholly depend 
 either on the Kussian people or the Kussian 
 Court. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 LIBEBATION OF THE SERFS ; OPPOSITION TO REFORM ; ITS SUCCESSFUL ACCOMPLISHMENT. 
 
 The Emperor Nicholas may be said to 
 have been the last Khan of Tartary. He 
 and his traditional enemy, the Sultan of 
 Turkey, were the only two Asiatic sove- 
 reigns left in Europe. Nicholas did all he 
 could to surround his empire with a 
 Chinese wall, not built of stones or bricks, 
 but of protective duties and fiscal measures, 
 and guarded it with a chain of unquestion- 
 ing, narrow-minded bureaucrats. He hated 
 railways, he had a horror of the press, he 
 put the nation into uniform, ticketed and 
 numbered the individuals as so many parts 
 of a machine — a cog-wheel here, a lever 
 there — and sat on the safety-valve till the 
 boilers were on the point of bursting, and 
 death took the control of the engine out of 
 his hands, and handed it over to the czare- 
 witch, Alexander II., who mounted the 
 throne on the 2nd of March, 1855. 
 
 Education, travel, and last, but by no 
 means least, the infusion of German blood 
 in his veins, had made Alexander II. a 
 very different being to his father. He was 
 intelligent, imbued with Western ideas, 
 industrious, even-tempered, and yet firm 
 and energetic — dogged almost in the pur- 
 suit of what he had once fixed on and 
 determined to achieve. There was every 
 necessity for t>.ese qualities at the time of 
 his accession. The country was groaning 
 under the taxes levied upon it; the de- 
 mands of the army for reinforcements were 
 draining the rural districts of their culti- 
 vators, commerce was nearly destroyed, 
 Sebastopol fallen, and, practically, Russia 
 was lying at the feet of Europe, unless she 
 was prepared for a war a Voutrance, in 
 which, though she would no doubt have 
 been ultimately successful — for the allies 
 were in almost as bad a plight as herself — 
 the internal ruin of the country would 
 have been far more disastrous than an 
 194 
 
 apparently humiliating peace, though in- 
 volving the loss of her prestige, the supre- 
 macy of the Black Sea, of part of Bes- 
 sarabia, and the abandonment of her plans 
 on Constantinople. 
 
 No slight moral courage was requisite to 
 face such an alternative, and to yield in a 
 day what it would take a generation to 
 regain. The temptation to continue the 
 struggle was very great ; but Alexander, by 
 the advice of his Prussian relatives, which 
 powerfully backed his own inclination, and 
 with the conviction that if the war lasted 
 much longer, though it were to terminate 
 in his favour, would render the accomplish- 
 ment of his desires impossible, only waited 
 for a favourable opportunity to commence 
 negotiations for peace. This opportunity 
 was offered when the Russian arms were 
 successful at Kars, and Austria offered her 
 mediation. He accepted the treaty of 
 Paris, concluded March 30th, 1856, and 
 thereby gave a rare proof of moderation 
 and of consideration for the welfare of his 
 people. It is quite certain that none of his 
 predecessors would have yielded in conse- 
 quence of what, after all, was but a small 
 loss to the ruler of 80,000,000 of souls; 
 and which, besides, had only been accom- 
 plished with great difficulty by the two 
 strongest and richest nations ' of Europe, 
 assisted by two others directly, and indi- 
 rectly by a third — Austria. And also, 
 apart from the humiliation involved in 
 yielding, and the opprobrium attaching to a 
 surrender before all resources were ex- 
 hausted, the operations Alexander had in 
 view were far greater, and presented far 
 more obstacles than a continuation of the 
 war to the knife presented. Exhausted as 
 the country would have been, it might have 
 been still more firmly bound by the fetters 
 of an absolute despotism for at least the 
 
 /■ 
 
 A.D. 1856-77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [liberation of the serfs. 
 
 next fifty years, whilst Russian military 
 prestige would have been saved. But, as 
 we have said, the temptation was resisted ; 
 and, immediately after the conclusion of 
 peace, Alexander took in hand the work of 
 reform, whence dates a new era in Russian 
 history and the history of civilisation. 
 
 Among the first acts following his acces- 
 sion, were — the amnesty accorded to the 
 Poles; a thorough reorganisation of the 
 army and commissariat departments, with 
 the appointment of responsible officers, and 
 the establishment of checks on the corrup- 
 tion, bribery, and peculation that were 
 rampant throughout all branches of the 
 State service ; and, finally, the abrogation 
 of the law compelling the public instructors 
 and masters to clothe themselves in uni- 
 form. In fact, he put an end to the mili- 
 tary despotism of which Nicholas was the 
 incarnation, only reserving to himself the 
 supreme and absolute control of the church 
 and public instruction. These were but 
 the preliminaries to the most ample re- 
 forms he contemplated after his coronation, 
 which was delayed till September 7 th, 
 185(5 — a delay in a great measure owing to 
 his desire to become thoroughly acquainted 
 with the best means of commemorating the 
 day. Thus, in his ukase announcing his 
 coronation, he decreed the rewards and 
 medals for the army; suspended the con- 
 scription for four years; diminished the 
 taxes in proportion to the diminution of 
 the population ; released the debtors to the 
 excise, and other tax-officers of the State, 
 from all their debtsand arrears up to January 
 1st, 1856; granted free pardons for lesser 
 nfringements of the law; and either 
 sensibly commuted the sentences of the 
 Siberian exiles, or gave them theirfull liberty, 
 subject to certain conditions. He also 
 turned his immediate attention to the im- 
 provement of the roads; abolished the 
 heavy taxes on travellers, and projected a 
 number of railways; whilst guaranteeing 
 5 per cent, to the shareholders of the com- 
 panies who constructed them. The only 
 line working, on his accession, was the St. 
 Petersburg-Moscow railway. 
 
 Having seen to these immediate wants, 
 he made a journey through the empire, to 
 see with his own eyes what could be done 
 to achieve his great intention — the libera- 
 tion of the serfs. He consulted the chief 
 men of the country on the spot, took note 
 of their objections or suggestions, and, on 
 his return, appointed a committee to 
 
 furnish a plan by which his object would be 
 best attained. In November, 1857, this 
 plan was published in the shape of an 
 imperial rescript, calling upon the gover- 
 nors of the provinces to convoke the 
 nobility, and to arrange with them for the 
 affranchisement of the serfs within six 
 months. 
 
 The publication of this order, and the 
 convocation of the nobility, produced a 
 violent agitation throughout the empire, 
 and the project was as much endangered 
 by the ignorance of the serfs as by the op- 
 position of the clergy and a large section 
 of the nobility; for, anticipating their 
 freedom as it were, and forming extrava- 
 gant ideas as to the benefits that were 
 awaiting them, the peasantry broke out 
 into all kinds of excesses, and wanted to 
 break down all the old laws and barriers 
 before the new ones had been framed or 
 created. There was, consequently, a great 
 outcry ; but being supported by the more 
 enlightened portion of the populace, by the 
 universities, schools, and, above all, by the 
 white clergy,* the commotion gradually 
 subsided, and the refractory nobility began 
 to make concessions. Of course, as soon as 
 this was done, their opposition was broken, 
 and the truth proved once more of the old 
 French proverb, Femme qui e'coute et 
 forteresse qui parlement sont perdues. 
 (The woman who listens and the fortress 
 that treats are lost.) They were willing to 
 agree to the personal enfranchisement of 
 the serf, but would hear nothing of any 
 territorial concessions. But the emperor 
 was inflexible ; he recognised the nobility's 
 proprietary rights in the soil, but insisted 
 on the peasantry obtaining a residence, and 
 sufficient land to subsist on. This decision 
 led to the institution of a committee 
 charged with the duty of forming a report 
 on the projects and proposals emanating 
 from the provincial assemblies convoked by 
 the imperial rescript. There were 301 of 
 these projects, filling eighteen large 
 volumes, which, in turn, were condensed 
 by a second committee, and the result 
 taken as the basis for the definitive dis- 
 cussions. Finally, in the face of the most 
 strenuous opposition on the part of the 
 higher nobility, Alexander succeeded in 
 carrying the measure, opposing every 
 objection by the remark, that the enfran- 
 
 ♦ The white and black clergy will be treated of 
 hereafter, in our account of the constitution of the 
 I Russian church. 
 
 ii 
 
 
LIBERATION OF THE SERFS.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1856-77. 
 
 r 
 
 r' 
 
 i 
 
 chisement of the serf, without giving him 
 his house and enough land to live on, would 
 be creating a dangerous proletariat, besides 
 being in itself a crying injustice, which 
 would avenge itself a hundred-fold. Thus, 
 on the lat of March, 1861, the ukase was 
 published, granting every serf his freedom, 
 a house to dwell in, and fields of varying 
 extent to cultivate, which he had to pay 
 for on a certain scale, and for which the 
 government opened him a credit, of which 
 he availed himself to a very large extent. 
 The debt of the serfs to the government now 
 amounts to an enormous sum. Nor is it 
 very likely that it will ever be paid off. 
 
 By this measure, 22,000,000 of ordinary 
 serfs, 3,000,000 belonging to various ap- 
 panages, and 23,000,000 to the crown, were 
 freed on one day, and supplied with the 
 means of existence. In point of fact, the 
 greatest despot of modern times, the tyrant 
 of the 19th century, had done that of his 
 own free-will what the Communists and 
 Socialists of less favoured Western nations 
 are vainly striving to obtain — a division of 
 the soil. That the nobility in Russia still 
 have much more than the emancipated serf, 
 does not affect the argument at all; as 
 were the soil of England, France, or any of 
 the Western nations — except, perhaps, 
 Spain — to be divided amongst their popu- 
 lations, the individual would have no more 
 than the serf at present possesses : in some 
 cases he would have less. So remarkable a 
 consummation requires some examination, 
 and the working of the measure some 
 study, as showing to what results it has 
 already led, or is likely to lead. At the 
 same time, all the conditions must be fairly 
 stated, and the restraints be mentioned 
 that are still imposed upon the liberty of 
 the serf — restraints that have their origin 
 chiefly in the nomadic propensities of the 
 Russian, and which are very strongly 
 developed ; and, secondly, in the exigencies 
 of the system of universal military service. 
 These restraints are contained in the follow- 
 ing nine articles : — 
 
 " Art. 1. No peasant is allowed to re- 
 move from his native village, except on 
 condition of abandoning for ever his landed 
 property to the community. 
 
 "Art. 2. If the community refuses to 
 accept it, he must give it up to the lord of 
 the manor. 
 
 " Art. 3. He must have fulfilled his 
 military duties. 
 
 " Art. 4. He must have paid all bis 
 196 
 
 taxes, even the total amount of the current 
 year, no matter at what period of the year 
 he wishes to leave. 
 
 "Art. 5. He must satisfy the communal 
 administration that he has fulfilled all his 
 legal obligations. 
 
 " Art. 6. He must be free from all 
 magisterial or judicial prosecution. 
 
 " Art. 7. He must have provided for the 
 wants of any members of his family he 
 leaves behind him. 
 
 " Art. 8. — He must have paid all the 
 arrears due to the lord of the manor on the 
 ground that has been allotted to him. 
 
 " Art. 9. — Finally, he must produce a 
 certificate from the authorities of the com- 
 mune to which he is about to remove, 
 proving that he has acquired a plot of 
 ground not further away than ten miles 
 from the village, and of double the extent 
 of that which he formerly possessed." 
 
 It is evident that these regulations 
 detract very considerably from the advan- 
 tages accorded by the emancipation ukase. 
 They fix the peasant to his original plot, 
 and root him there in an almost ineradi- 
 cable manner. They reduce the benefits 
 accruing from the measure very nearly to 
 the level of a simple moral advantage, the 
 profitable and material development of 
 which depends entirely on the capacity of 
 the peasant to work it out. To form an 
 idea of the probabilities or improbabilities 
 of his success, a few words must be devoted 
 to the communal system in Russia, the 
 backbone of whatever national life exists 
 in the country. 
 
 The whole of Great Russia — i.e., Slavic 
 Russia — is divided into communes, cantons, 
 and districts. The commune is really an 
 association, somewhat resembling a monastic 
 community as far as the ownership of the 
 soil is concerned. Individual property 
 cannot be said to exist — i.e, landed pro- 
 perty. The soil is divided into as many 
 lots as there are households ; and as these 
 households are constantly varying in num- 
 ber with the decease and marriage of the 
 individuals, the lots are re-distributed every 
 three years, when every household receives 
 its re-adjusted share of arable land, of 
 garden land, pasture, and forest land, and 
 is valued according to its quality and dis- 
 tance from the centre of the village. The 
 re-distribution is conducted by the village 
 council, composed of the heads of the 
 families, presided over by the mayor, whom 
 they elect for a term of three years, with 
 
 A.D. 1856-77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [liberation of the serfs. 
 
 the title of Staroshte, or Elder. During his 
 term of office, the Staroshte wields an al- 
 most unlimited power ; but still the office 
 is not in much request, as the ignorance of 
 the peasantry saddles him with endless 
 responsibilities, and exposes him to the 
 most absurd charges. If it rains too much 
 or too little — if an epidemic breaks out, or 
 a murrain amongst the cattle — the Staroshte 
 has generally to bear the blame. Thus 
 there is frequently a good deal of bribery, 
 on the part of the richer inhabitants, not 
 to be elected. But once chosen, as we have 
 said, his power is great. He is judge and 
 jury combined ; he can have offenders 
 knouted ; for although flogging is generally 
 abolished, the privilege has been left un- 
 touched in the hands of the Staroshte, ex- 
 cept in the case of a woman ; though even 
 in that case the general law is not always 
 observed, as we have seen was reported 
 by Consul Michell. With the approba- 
 tion of the council, he is empowered to 
 expel any member of the community, or 
 call upon the police to imprison him. And 
 even if the man be innocent of the charges 
 laid against him, the government cannot 
 force his own commune to take him back, 
 nor any other commune or municipality to 
 receive him. He becomes a pariah, and 
 must seek a livelihood in the army or the 
 mines. Even the verdict of a superior 
 tribunal may be quashed by the Staroshte ; 
 and though the accused have been acquitted 
 as innocent of the crimes laid to his charge, 
 yet his goods, his house, and his laud may 
 be confiscated if the Staroshte, or a re- 
 vision of the evidence and the verdict, 
 should see fit to reverse the sentence. Thus 
 the Staroshte for the time being is a 
 greater autocrat than the czar himself, and 
 in his way wields more power. He and his 
 communes are beyond the reach of the 
 State, except as regards the military service 
 and the taxes, regarding which all questions 
 are settled by the ministries of war and 
 finance communicating direct with the 
 Staroshte. The Minister of War demands 
 so-and-so many recruits, according to the 
 returns of the village in question, and the 
 Minister of Finance such-and-such a sum ; 
 and the Staroshte, aided by the council, 
 complies with the order after deciding 
 upon the share each household has to con- 
 tribute. Thus the fiscal system of the 
 empire is extremely simple — so simple, that 
 it amounts, in reality, to a poll-tax — so 
 simple, that it is quite Asiatic; and, 
 
 stranger still, quite Turkish ; for that is the 
 system pursued by the Porte — the only 
 difference being, that there is not so much 
 local extortion and official peculation now 
 as there used to be in Russia. Yet still in- 
 justice enough is done. The richer pea- 
 sants manage to gain all sorts of advantages 
 with impunity ; on the other hand, a richer 
 peasant, who may have excited the hatred 
 or jealousy of a section of his neighbours, 
 or of the Staroshte himself, will be bur- 
 dened with more land than he can 
 work on account of scarcity of labour, 
 and for which he is obliged to pay rent. 
 His onlv chance is to sub-let to his poorest 
 neighbours, and risk getting any rent from 
 them or not. Thus what interest has the 
 peasant in developing and improving the 
 land he cultivates, when he knows that 
 every three years it may be taken from 
 him, and other land, in quite a different 
 situation, be substituted ? It is impossible 
 for him to conceive any affection for his 
 temporary property, and thus the peasant's 
 agriculture remains on the very lowest foot- 
 ing. Practically bound to the soil, he has 
 no interest in it ; theoretically free, he is 
 practically a prisoner, subject to denuncia- 
 tion by his enemies, to punishment by the 
 Staroshte, without any appeal or any refuge 
 but the army, which he hates, or a living 
 death in the mines of the Ural or Siberia. 
 Thus, in its present form, and under exist- 
 ing conditions, the commune is nothing 
 but a hydra-headed autocracy, at the mercy 
 of the head autocrat, be that autocrat the 
 czar or an impersonal government. 
 
 Still, in spite of all these drawbacks, it 
 cannot be said that even yet the peasant is 
 conscious of them. His devotion to old 
 habits and customs, his superstitious rever- 
 ence for "authority," produce the same 
 results as the kismet — it is ordained — of 
 the Turks. In this sense, the Russian is 
 quite as much of a fatalist as his Mussul- 
 man enemies. A command has but to be 
 uttered in the tone of authority, to ensure 
 unquestioning obedience. Of this peculi- 
 arity, and as an instance of their bottom- 
 less superstition, Mr. Wallace relates the 
 following story : — 
 
 " One winter evening there appeared in 
 a peasant's cottage a female figure draped 
 in white robes, as St. Barbara is generally 
 represented. Introducing herself as the 
 saint, she sat down and commenced an edify- 
 ing discourse. Before long the cottage was 
 besieged by an inquisitive but reverential 
 
 ('J 
 I 
 
EUSSIAN SUPERSTITION.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1856-77. 
 
 M 
 
 [ 
 
 throng, from which not one soul in tliat 
 village stayed away. About midnight she 
 arose, announcing that she was gomg to 
 fetch St. Nicholas, but said that no one was 
 to leave the place till she returned. So the 
 pious and awe-struck villagers remained 
 rooted to the spot, expecting the saint's 
 return. They went on expecting till sun- 
 rise, when they discovered that she must 
 have gone a very long journey, as she had 
 taken a number of their horses with her." 
 
 Superstition and drunkenness are the 
 two great faults of Russian peasants, with 
 the concomitant results in the indulofence 
 of them — indifference and laziness. 
 
 Now, whilst the peasant of to-day, or the 
 serf of yesterday, enjoys, as we have seen, 
 an absolute freedom from State inter- 
 ference beyond the matters of military 
 services, and taxes, whilst his commune 
 almost amounts to a free state within its 
 boundaries, the municipalities can scarcely 
 be said to have any independent existence 
 at all. They are subjected to all the im- 
 perial laws, and to the meddling and 
 tyrannical authority of an irresponsible 
 secret police. It is not difficult to see the 
 reason of this. There is always a certain 
 amount of independent thought and activity 
 going on amongst educated citizens and 
 townsfolk, which, on the theory of des- 
 potism, has to be kept in bounds by such 
 measures as private denunciation, palace 
 decrees, and a secret police executive. In 
 the villages and communes, these bonds are 
 so effectually kept by their constitution 
 and the fathomless ignorance of the inhabit- 
 ants, that the State has no reason for 
 interference. The only privilege that is 
 scantily recognised by the imperial gov- 
 ernment, is that of citizenship — bourgeoisie. 
 But although the citizen may buy, sell, 
 pursue any profession or trade, and be 
 a member of any corporation, when bis 
 choice is once made, he is bound to it as 
 firmly as the peasant is to the soil. There 
 are endless difficulties to be overcome 
 before he can leave one guild or enter 
 another. Having once decided upon his 
 trade or occupation, he is ticketed and 
 labelled as such in the civil and municipal 
 reofister to the end of his davs. 
 
 Thus the population of every town is 
 divided officially into three classes — the 
 Tsak, the Guild, and the Tchin. The first 
 includes all the artisans and workmen. 
 They pay a certain sum annually — not a 
 large one — to the corporation, elect their 
 198 
 
 administrator, and settle their affairs 
 amonofst themselves. The members of the 
 guilds pay a tax to the State for the licence 
 to buy and sell, and, till recently, for 
 exemption from military service. The 
 Tchin, finally, is a rank of fourteen de- 
 grees, commencing with the student, and 
 endinir with that of Councillor of State. It 
 would be much the same if in England we 
 were to make the titles of mister, esquire, 
 reverend, doctor, professor, head master, 
 R.A., so-and-so many legal degrees of 
 social rank, none of which could be 
 assumed without legal municipal and State 
 authority. 
 
 Now presuming that a peasant, after hav- 
 ing complied with the regulations we have 
 already described, and having all his papers 
 in order, wishes to establish himself — say, in 
 Kieff — for the purpose of selling the pro- 
 duce he has arranged to buy from the friends 
 of his native village, he finds, on his arrival, 
 that the cost and difficulty in entering 
 a guild is far beyond his means. His plan 
 has therefore failed. He cannot return to 
 his village, for he has surrendered all his 
 property and rights there. Thus, unless he 
 intends to run the risk of being arrested 
 by the first policeman who chooses to do 
 so, as a vagabond, and be packed off to the 
 army or to the mines, or government dock- 
 yards, he must try to obtain admission 
 into the Tsak ; and, once there, it is as 
 difficult to get out of it as it was to get 
 into it, or get out of the commune. How- 
 ever, presuming that he has succeeded in 
 being admitted into the Tsakj he then tries 
 for admission into an Artel. 
 
 The principles on which the communes 
 are based in rural districts, applied to town 
 life, produced this Artel. Like the com- 
 mune, it was originally intended for the 
 common protection of its members against 
 the encroachments and oppressions of a 
 despotic power ; and, like the commune, it 
 is now used by a despotic government to 
 further its own despotic ends. The insti- 
 tution dates back to a very remote period, 
 and is one that was generally adopted by 
 brigands, banditti, and highway robbers. 
 It also exists, in a modified form, at Cairo, 
 Alexandria, and other Egyptian cities, 
 where it has been adopted by the Berbers 
 or Berberines. The principle of the Artel 
 is, that all its members give up the whole 
 of their earnings, from whatever source, 
 even to the extent of presents and legacies, 
 to the common fund. All the members are 
 
 A.D. 1856-'77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [tchin, tsak, and artel. 
 
 collectively responsible for each individual ; 
 every member is bound to obey the presi- 
 dent, who is elected by the members them- 
 selves ; and each member must accept the 
 employment for which he is designated by 
 the president. The rules absolutely pro- 
 hibit all drinking, swearing, and gambling. 
 Each member must regard the other as his 
 brother, and no member can give up his 
 place to another except by general consent. 
 The funds thus provided by the members 
 are divided in equal parts, and handed 
 over to the members after the deductions 
 for working expenses, which are very 
 small. 
 
 The fee for entering the Artel is con- 
 siderable, amounting on an average to 1,000 
 roubles, or about £350, which may, how- 
 ever, under certain conditions, be paid by 
 instalments. Thus, having once entered 
 the Artel, the member has lost all right 
 to choose his own occupation : a situation 
 is found for him, and his earnings go to the 
 common fund. The guarantees afforded by 
 this institution are highly appreciated by 
 the community at large. The wealthy 
 classes get all their servants from the 
 Artel. If a banker or merchant is in want 
 of a clerk, he sends for the president, and 
 selects any name from his list, for the whole 
 society being collectively responsible for 
 each individual member, the banker has no 
 hesitation whatever in confiding the cash- 
 box to his care. If, as very rarely happens, 
 the clerk should abscond, the banker gives 
 notice of his loss, which is at once made 
 good, and another clerk supplied. The 
 other members, of course, do all their best 
 to discover the culprit. If captured, as is 
 generally the case, he is delivered to the 
 police, and packed off, without more ado, 
 to the mines or Siberia. 
 
 Now, however admirable this institution 
 of the Artel may be under certain conditions, 
 and to a certain extent — say, in the shape of 
 a voluntary mutual guaranteeing society — it 
 is difficult to conceive anything more arbi- 
 trary and tyrannical, or more calculated to 
 stifle individual energy, capabilities, and 
 ambition, than this form of democratic 
 despotism. It is not a voluntary associ- 
 ation. Every citizen must belong to one 
 of the three grades — the Tsak, the Guild, or 
 Tchin; and, practically, every beginner in 
 town life must enter the Artel. Thus the 
 clerk who earns 500 roubles a year, must 
 share his gains with the servant who only 
 earns 50, or with the man who earns no- 
 
 thing at all. There is thus absolutely no 
 scope for independent action or progress. 
 All that the clerk can do to better his con- 
 dition is to spend less of his share, until he 
 has saved up sufficient to enable him to 
 enter a guild, and start in business on his 
 own account — a case that but very rarely 
 happens: If he has succeeded in attaining 
 this desirable consummation, he is compara- 
 tively no freeer than he was before. He 
 cannot remove from one street to another 
 without the permission of the police, and 
 personally attending at the address bureau 
 to rectify the change. All the members of 
 the guild watch over him, especially his 
 enemies. The president of the guild 
 watches over the whole community, and the 
 police watches over the president. Now 
 supposing one member to be obnoxious to 
 another one, and the president happen to 
 agree with the latter, the discontented 
 member denounces his enemy to the police, 
 who inquire of the president as to the truth 
 of the charges, and if they are confirmed, 
 arrest the accused, and send him off to 
 prison, or the mines, with a trial or with- 
 out a trial, according to the nature of the 
 accusation, without any further ceremony. 
 
 Thus, in point of fact, the citizen is abso- 
 lutely at the mercy of the secret police. A 
 notorious case occurred about a year ago in 
 Odessa, one of the principal merchants there 
 having been spirited ofi* in the night with- 
 out even the formality of a trial, or a state- 
 ment to his family of the nature of the 
 accusation brought against him. The chief 
 man in the empire, after the emperor, is the 
 head of the secret police. This post, until 
 recently, was in the hands of Count Schouva- 
 lofif, the present ambassador of Russia in 
 London. This official has the right of 
 access to the emperor at any hour ; whilst 
 this privilege, being extremely limited in 
 other cases, indicates the esteem in which 
 the individual is held, and his importance. 
 The right of audience with the emperor, in 
 the case of other officials, is determined 
 beforehand. Thus the Ministers of the 
 Interior, of Public Instruction and Finance, 
 are only allowed one audience a week : 
 the Ministers of War and Foreign Affairs 
 have one audience a-day, at a fixed 
 hour ; but the Minister of Police mav 
 enter the czar's apartments at any hour of 
 the day, and his bedroom at any hour of 
 the night. The power of this official has 
 been modified in some degree by the estab- 
 lishment of tribunals and law courts which 
 
 199 
 
 • I 
 
 \4 
 
I! 
 
 RIVAL RACES.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1856-77. 
 
 
 % 
 
 ■•■J 
 
 i 
 
 are independent of the police ; but he still 
 has the power to quash a verdict, and exile 
 the man who has been acquitted by these 
 tribunals as an administrative measure; In 
 short, a simple suspicion is still sufficient to 
 send the suspected person to Siberia ; and in 
 such a case, there is not a tribunal or a judge 
 who would dare to raise his voice against 
 BO arbitrary an act, in defence of the victim. 
 This sketch sufficiently shows what has 
 been the nature of the reforms instituted 
 by the emperor since the Crimean war. 
 He may have been animated by the most 
 laudable desires to ameliorate the condi- 
 tion of his people ; or he may have pro- 
 mulgated them knowing that they would 
 remain more or less abortive. It may, of 
 course, be said that he has sown the seed, 
 and cannot be held responsible for the 
 
 nature of the ground he has had to cast it 
 upon. That is very true ; but when a man 
 sows a crop of corn on barren rock, he must 
 claim the admiration of the world, or 
 assume the credit of having done his best 
 to produce a harvest where he knew, or 
 ought to have known, that there was no 
 chance of its ever taking root. " Therein 
 lies the whole gist of the question as regards 
 the future of Russia. To impartial ob- 
 servers, it seems that the first thing to be 
 done would have been the breaking up of 
 the soil before sowing the seed. All these 
 institutions should have been deprived of 
 government recognition, and not continue 
 to be localised as they still are, but be left 
 to stand on their own merits as voluntary 
 associations formed to meet the exigencies 
 of the case. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 THE RIVAL RACES OF RUSSIA; FINNS, SLAVS, AND TARTARS ; THEIR COMPARATIVE MERITS. 
 
 The foregoing account of the social state of 
 Russia, as regards education and local ad- 
 ministration, since the Crimean war, has to 
 be supplemented by an account of the reli- 
 gious and political forces that are now 
 agitating the empire. But before proceed- 
 ing to this subject, it will be profitable to 
 glance at the elements of which the Russian 
 empire is composed — a subject that has but 
 recently received some of the attention it 
 merits, and which is still imperfectly under- 
 stood. Neither the real significance of the 
 influence of the clergy, or the Panslavonic 
 movement^ can be properly appreciated until 
 the elements they have to deal with are 
 fully known and comprehended. 
 
 The immense empire of the Russias — 
 both European and Asiatic— is specially 
 adapted by nature for the establishment of 
 an homogeneous nation, and is most pecu- 
 liarly fitted for that process of assimilation 
 which is a characteristic of all great nations. 
 This may sound rather paradoxical when 
 the great number of different races and 
 tongues prevalent in the Russian empire 
 is taken into consideration. It might be 
 objected that similar circumstances, in the 
 200 
 
 case of the Austrian empire, are rapidly 
 tending to its disintegration ; as is also the 
 case in Turkey, the chaotic state of which, 
 owing to its rival races, must, in course of 
 time, lead to the complete decomposition of 
 the empire. The reply to this apparent 
 paradox is, that, in common parlance, one 
 man's meat is another man's poison ; or 
 that it does not follow, because a certain 
 state of affairs in one country leads to its 
 national destruction, that a similar state in 
 another country should lead to the same 
 results. 
 
 The key to the enigma lies in the con- 
 figuration of the country. The whole of 
 European Russia, with which alone we are 
 now dealing, occupies a vast but slightly 
 elevated plateau, stretching from the 
 White Sea to the Black Sea and the Cau- 
 casus, and from the Ural in the east, to the 
 Carpathian and mountains of Siebenbiirgen 
 in the west. Practically, the whole of this 
 vast extent of country is one plain, the 
 elevation of the various water-sheds being 
 so slight, that many rivers run, as it were, in 
 couples for long distances before they 
 minjrle their waters. Within the limits 
 
A.D. 1856-77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [rival races. 
 
 f 
 J"' 
 
 f 
 
 I 
 
 thus defined by nature there are vast re- 
 sources ; but these resources, both vegetable 
 and mineral, are spread over a very large 
 extent of territory, and present the aspect 
 of patches scattered over the whole expanse, 
 at varying distances from each other. Thus 
 one district may be very rich in agricultural 
 produce, but be utterly destitute of mine- 
 rals ; another may be rich in minerals, but 
 scantily furnished with agricultural pro- 
 duce, and both districts be separated by a 
 wide expanse of pasture and grass-land. 
 The consequences of these natural features 
 to the various races that peopled the 
 country at various periods were two-fold. 
 First of all, the resources of one district 
 alone did not suffice for the requirements of 
 its population, who were then obliged to 
 depund on those of another district. The 
 nomadic tribes depended on the population 
 of the agricultural districts for their corn, 
 and on the inhabitants of the mineral and 
 the industrial districts for their implements; 
 whilst both the latter depended on the first 
 for their supply of cattle. The satisfaction 
 of these requirements could only be at- 
 tained either by the rival communities or 
 races agreeing to live in harmony together, 
 or by one race wielding rule over all the 
 others ; for the second consequence of the 
 configuration of the country to the inhabi- 
 tants, was the impossibility of concentrating 
 the various races or sections in defensible 
 positions, owing to the entire absence of 
 natural boundaries to mark off one from 
 the other. The district of each section was 
 open on all sides to all the others ; and thus 
 all the various races were forced, of neces- 
 sity, to combine under one rule, and to 
 submit to one government, whilst retaining 
 their local peculiarities under pain of 
 falling an easy prey to foreign aggressors, 
 until, at any rate, the day should dawn 
 when the millennium would enable them all 
 to live in peace and good-will with one 
 another, without the aid of such Old-Adam 
 contrivances as despotic constitutions or 
 republican governments. 
 
 It was thus that the absence of those 
 geographical features which enable a nation 
 or race to keep itself together, precluded 
 all possibility of the establishment of a 
 number of independent States. Unity, 
 despotic, monarchical, or republican, was 
 imperatively prescribed ; and as was in the 
 nature of things, the most concentrated 
 and energetic sections, the Tartar and the 
 Slavic, having measured their strength, 
 
 VOL. II. 2 D 
 
 divided the hegemony between them, till 
 the Tartar succumbed to the Slav, and 
 henceforth yielded to the slow but effectual 
 process of assimilation. Thus Russia must 
 inevitably always be a united nation, no 
 matter who may wield the sceptre — Slav, 
 Finn, German, or Tartar. Rule once es- 
 tablished, the whole empire must acquiesce 
 in that rule. Russia, vast as her terri- 
 torial limits are, can never be divided into 
 a number of States, as the configuration of 
 the rest of Europe, with its many sharply- 
 defined boundaries, not only allows, but 
 demands. The correctness of this view is 
 proved by the contrary that has taken place 
 in the case of various sections of the 
 Russian races, that have established them- 
 selves in other parts of Europe. Thus 
 whilst the Finns inhabiting Russia have 
 become, politically, completely merged in 
 the empire, owing to the absence of natural 
 fortifications ; their kindred, the Magyars, 
 occupying a well-defined centre, have pre- 
 served their independence with an energy 
 that has been the admiration of the world. 
 Those of the Turk race whose territory 
 insensibly merges in that of Russia, have 
 equally succumbed to the general law, 
 except where the well-defined barriers, fur- 
 nished by the Balkans, the Bosphorus, and 
 the Caucasus, have enabled them to defy 
 all attacks. Finally, the Slav race itself — 
 the dominant race in Russia, which has 
 there almost lost its identity to such an 
 extent, that one section, the Poles, will not 
 recognise them as Slavs, but designate 
 them as Tartars — have managed to preserve 
 their independence wherever they were 
 assisted by the natural features of the dis- 
 trict they occupy ; as, for instance, Monte- 
 negro, Servia, and, to a very great extent, 
 Bohemia. It is thus irrefutable, that the 
 various races of Russia, however much they 
 may be rivals amongst themselves, are 
 irresistibly compelled, not only to preserve 
 unity of government, but also to extend 
 themselves and their territory till they 
 have reached those geographical limits 
 that, so to say, are indispensable for holding 
 them together — just as the iron hoop holds 
 the staves of the barrel together. Until 
 these natural limits are reached, it is idle 
 to suppose that Russia either can or will 
 stop in her annexing course of conquest. 
 She must advance till she has gained those 
 limits. But when they are gained, when 
 her natural boundaries form such a line of 
 defence as the Pyrenees, the Alps, the 
 
 201 
 
(C: 
 
 '* 
 it" 
 
 THE FINNS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1856-77. 
 
 -.1! 
 
 
 ■:i 
 
 i 
 
 Balkans, or the " silver streak" in other 
 countries, what then ? Will the millennium 
 have set in by then, or will she yield to the 
 temptations — which will be great for a 
 nation of some 100,000,000 souls— offered 
 by such luxuriantly wealthy countries as 
 Asia Minor, Persia, India, and such a pearl 
 of strategic or commercial pearls as Con- 
 stantinople? That is the great political 
 question of the day ; and to answer it, we 
 must ask what are the limits fixed on by 
 the Russians themselves as indispensable ? 
 And we must also ask, in case of a diverg- 
 ence of Russian opinion, what section of 
 the nation is most likely to carry the other 
 sections with it? By this means we shall 
 arrive at a correct appreciation of the 
 question. We know how far Russia must 
 still extend her frontiers; but it is also 
 necessary to know how far they wish to 
 extend it themselves. We must know at 
 what line defence will cease, and aggression 
 commence. Therefore, let us examine the 
 various sections, their ambitions, their 
 powers and prospects, as they exist at the 
 present day. 
 
 The chief races that now occupy the 
 whole extent of the Russian empire, from the 
 Baltic to Beh ring's Straits, from the fron- 
 tiers of Prussia to the frontiers of Canada, 
 are the Finns, the Tartars, the Slavs, and 
 the Germans. All the other tribes and 
 families, more or less differing from each 
 other in habits, language, and features, are 
 members of one of these races, with the 
 exception of the Armenians, Circassians, and 
 Georgians. These latter, however, have no 
 special political importance as yet. The 
 others, on the contrary, form very im- 
 portant elements in the constitution of the 
 empire, which demand far more attention 
 now that Western progress is making an 
 advance in the empire, than was requisite 
 before it had been opened to Western ideas 
 by the abolishment of serfdom, and the 
 levelling influences of the railways. 
 
 Of the four races just mentioned, the 
 Finns are at the same time the most back- 
 ward and the most forward of the rural 
 population of Russia. The race is at its 
 lowest in Western Siberia, where it is 
 represented by the Ostiaks; and in the 
 Northern Ural, by the Vogules; whilst it 
 is at its highest in Finland proper, as 
 represented by the Suomi ; and in Hungary, 
 by the Magyars. The whole race in Russia 
 is divided into about a dozen different 
 tribes, which may be classified into three 
 202 
 
 or four families; of which the above- 
 mentioned Vogules, Ostiaks, and the Samo- 
 yedes form one. Then comes the Peruvian 
 branch in the north-east of Russia — say 
 some 500,000 souls — the Votiaks, on the 
 Viatka; and the Zyriaines, in the deserts 
 of the Petchora. A third group is com- 
 posed of the Volga tribes — to which the 
 Bulgarians belong — consisting of the 
 Tcheremisses, Tchouvaches, and the Mord- 
 vines, about 1,000,000 souls ; and finally 
 comes the stock family, the Finns of Fin- 
 land, or, as they call themselves, Suomi. 
 
 Of all these branches of the family, the 
 last is the oijly one that has preserved its 
 national character, habits, and language in 
 any degree. The rest have either been 
 completely Russified, or are rapidly becom- 
 ing so. We need therefore take no further 
 account of the eastern branches ; they have 
 no political, but only an ethnological in- 
 terest. The Suomi, however, present cer- 
 tain features that may possibly still affect 
 their future, especially if the German 
 population of Russia ever succeed in their 
 ambitious plans for the incorporation of 
 the Baltic provinces — the " Ostsee Pro- 
 vinzen" — with the rest of Germany. 
 
 The Suomi, then — the Finns proper — 
 inhabit the Grand Duchy of Finland to the 
 amount of some 1,600,000 souls, with 
 another 200,000 in the neighbouring dis- 
 tricts, including that in which St. Peters- 
 burg itself is built; and about 1,200,000 
 of Esthonians and Livonians in the north 
 of Courland. There are thus nearly 
 3,000,000 of Finns tolerably concentrated, 
 who have a language, a history, and a 
 national feeling of their own ; and thus it 
 is not surprising that, until recently, the 
 Grand Duchy of Finland should have been 
 subjected to the rule of a military governor, 
 with a sort of special administration, that 
 has only been very recently abolished, and 
 the whole of Finland absolutely incorpo- 
 rated with the rest of the empire. In 
 many respects the Finn is superior to the 
 Russian — i.e., that product of Finnish, 
 Tartar, Mongolian, and Slavish mixture 
 of blood , that forms the Russian proper — 
 even as the Norman, Celtic, and Anglo- 
 Saxon mixture has produced the English- 
 man. The pure Finn, unadulterated by 
 any of these foreign elements, is highly 
 industrious, economical, honest, and tena- 
 cious. His common sense is also highly 
 developed ; and thus it is not surprising 
 that Protestantism should have made far 
 
 A.D. 1856-77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the tartars. 
 
 more progress amongst the Finns, than 
 amongst any of the other races of Russia. 
 His person is more carefully attended to ; 
 his villages and towns cleaner ; his houses 
 better built than the majority of the Rus- 
 sian peasants; and there is a certain 
 steadiness and consciousness of self-dignity 
 about him, that produces a very favourable 
 impression. He is, in short, more worthy 
 of a political position — like that of the 
 Swedes and Norwegians, for instance — than 
 the majority of the other tribes constitut- 
 ing the empire. 
 
 The Finns thus possess qualities that 
 would repay development; and when we 
 consider what Prussia has done for kindred 
 races in its north-eastern provinces, when 
 it is remembered that the Germans claim 
 a goodly portion of the Baltic territory, 
 now under Russian dominion, it is quite 
 within the range of "practical politics," 
 that, at no very distant period, there may 
 be a Finnish question, even as there has 
 been a Polish and an Hungarian question. 
 Finnish blood may be useful for regenerat- 
 ing " Russian" blood : but families prefer 
 receiving regenerating blood to expending 
 it; and thus the Finns would prefer an 
 alliance with German blood, to a subjection 
 to Russian blood. 
 
 The second predominating race of Russia 
 is the one that is the standing reproach to 
 the empire, and the one the Russians them- 
 selves are ashamed of. There is not an 
 individual Russian that will acknowledge 
 to having any of the blood in his veins ; 
 yet Napoleon I. was not far wrong when 
 he said — ''Grattez le Russe et vous y 
 trouverai le Tartar" (Scrape the Russian 
 and you will find the Tartar.) The Tartar 
 is of the same stock as the Turk, and speaks 
 a dialect of the Turkish language. At the 
 period of their irruption from their Asiatic 
 wilds into Europe, they were still more 
 barbarous and uncivilised than the Turks, 
 inasmuch as they did not embrace Islam 
 until after their invasion ; and had no code 
 of morals, duties, or honour whatever. Nor 
 is it too much to say, that the Tartar, 
 where he has preserved his race from ad- 
 mixture with the Slavic or Finnish races, 
 is still just as barbarous, on the whole, as 
 he was in the 13th century. The only 
 difference is, that from various causes he 
 has not the power of evil that his instincts 
 and energies would lead him to exercise. 
 The chief of these reasons is, that the 
 Russian emperors never interfered with 
 
 his religion. They let him follow his own 
 rites, build his own mosques, and, to a 
 great extent, indulge in his monastic pro- 
 pensities, whereby he became more and 
 more isolated in the course of centuries, 
 and lost, more and more, his individuality 
 by admixture with Finn and Slav. It was 
 never a question of Crescent and Cross be- 
 tween the Moslems of Russia and the 
 Christian population. The czar was prac- 
 tically the head of the Moslem Church, as 
 well as of the Orthodox Church, and thus 
 no such conflict was possible between the 
 votaries of the two religions, as created 
 such a gulf as that between the Turks and 
 Christians on the Balkan peninsula, and 
 between the Moors and Roman Catholics 
 of Spain. 
 
 Thus the Tartar race merged into the 
 Russian; or disappearing rapidly, or at best 
 but leading an insignificant existence in 
 isolated patches, has at present no political 
 standing whatever. It has played its part ; 
 it has been absorbed by the Russians ; and 
 now it appears that the czar thinks it time 
 for the process to be applied to the Turk, 
 his brother race. The process in this direc- 
 tion would, however, not be quite so easy ; 
 for uncivilised and savage as the Tartar may 
 be, even he was not so convinced of the 
 beneficial nature of Russian rule, as to re- 
 gard it as an unmixed advantage ; and at 
 various periods he has preferred emigration 
 to the lands of the Crescent, rather than to 
 remain beneath the Russian Cross. Thus 
 there was an emigration, on a very large 
 scale, after the conquest of the Caucasus, 
 when the majority of the Moslem Circassians 
 fled to Turkey : and again, in the years 1860 
 to 1863, when the process of Russification 
 was being peculiarly and actively carried on, 
 more than 260,000 Tartars left the province 
 of Tauris, leaving behind them nearly 800 
 desolate and abandoned villages, and took 
 up their abode in Turkey; especially in 
 Eastern Bulgaria, where they had been pre- 
 ceded by the Circassian refugees. These 
 are the men, exiled Tartars and Circassians, 
 who have been the most active perpetrators 
 of the recent massacres in Bulgaria, and 
 who, in committing them, had a vague 
 idea, not quite unfounded, that they were 
 avenging their wrongs on their former 
 oppressors and enemies. 
 
 There is no more to be said of the Tartar 
 as a race in Russia, distinct from the Rus- 
 sians. But as an objection to the argument 
 that the Russian is a Slav, and pre-eminently 
 
 203 
 
 
THE SLAVS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 LA.D. 1856-'77. 
 
 
 a Slav, we will simply state the fact, that 
 of all the descendants of Genghis Khan and 
 the Golden Horde, of the myriads that 
 poured in from Asia, there are now no more 
 than 1,467,000 who do not object to the 
 appellation of Tartar. It would seem thus 
 tolerably clear that the Russian is by this 
 time pretty well half Tartar and half Slav ; 
 and that it entirely depends upon circum- 
 stances which half is outside or inside. 
 
 The third race — the dominant race, ac- 
 cording to the Russians — is the Slav race ; 
 but we shall be more in accordance with 
 facts in simply regarding the Slav as one of 
 the races that has largely contributed to the 
 formation of the Russian people. In fact, 
 we may regard Russia as an immense field 
 surrounded by various communities and 
 races, which, distinct from each other, and 
 railed off, as it were, from each other by 
 natural divisions, poured a certain number 
 of their members into this open and un- 
 divided space, there to follow out a process 
 of " natural selection," which has resulted 
 in the development of the Russian. That 
 one of these outer races should claim the 
 pre-eminence, is an accident that might 
 have occurred to any of the others ; and that 
 the mixture thus produced should claim its 
 descent from, and identify itself with, the 
 most intellectual and civilised of its ances- 
 tors, is perfectly natural. When, in course 
 of time, the negro in America will have be- 
 come considerably bleached by admixture 
 with the Saxon and Celt, it is not very pro- 
 bable that he will regard his black fore- 
 fathers with that filial respect which ought 
 to be their due ; and, on the other hand, it 
 is not to be expected that the pure-blooded 
 Saxon of those future days, will regard him 
 as a full-blooded white brother, especially 
 if he has had to submit to him, and see the 
 Western States invaded and oppressed by the 
 mongrel mixture. This is the position and 
 the relations of the pure Slavs to the Rus- 
 sians — the relations of Poles and Czechs to 
 the Slavonicised Finns or the Tartarised 
 Slavs. The Pole repudiates the Russian 
 tainted with Tartar or Finnish blood, and 
 ignores the Slav blood flowing in his veins ; 
 whilst in virtue of this Slav blood, the Rus- 
 sian claims brotherhood, not only with the 
 Pole, but with the Czechs or Bohemians, 
 the Croats, the Serbs, the Bulgarians, and 
 the Montenegrins. And not only do they 
 claim brotherhood with them, but also claim 
 to be the eldest of the family, its head, lord, 
 and master. This claim, as has but too 
 204 
 
 often been shown, has been energetically 
 resisted by the Poles even under Alexander's 
 reign, in 18G3-'64, and is what is known as 
 the Panslavonic theory, which attained the 
 height of its development at the Pansla- 
 vonic congress in Moscow, in 1867. 
 
 As may be supposed, from what we have 
 already said on the subject, that section of 
 the Russians who have the least Slavic 
 blood in their veins, and the most Tartar and 
 Finnish elements, are also the most clam- 
 orous in asserting their Slavdom. They 
 form the section known as Great Russians, 
 numbering some 36,000,000 souls, and oc- 
 cupying Moscow, and the central and north- 
 eastern portion of the empire. A second 
 section, with more Slavic than Tartar or 
 Finnish blood, is formed by the Little Rus- 
 sians, occupying the basins of the Dniester, 
 Dnieper, and Bug, and numbering some 
 14,000,000 of souls ; wliilst a third section 
 is composed of White Russians, who occupy 
 the provinces of Vitebsk, Grodno, Mohilef, 
 and Minsk, who number some 6,000,000 of 
 souls, are comparatively full-blooded Slavs, 
 and were always an object of dispute be- 
 tween the Great Russians, or Muscovites, 
 and the Polish kings. So different are they 
 in their degree of Slavic descent from the 
 Great Russian, or Muscovite, that their lan- 
 guage is, at least, as different from Russian 
 as Dutch is from German, and that they are 
 generally regarded as a distinct family, by 
 the name of Russenes, or Russniaks. 
 
 Such is the composition of the Russian 
 people, and such are the facts upon which 
 the Great Russians — the Muscovites, who 
 make up in number what they want in 
 quality of Slavic blood — base their claims 
 to unite and lead the rest of the Slavic 
 races of Europe, and who have invented 
 the Panslavonic question. They might just 
 as well raise a Panmongolian question, and 
 claim the rule and hegemony over the 
 whole of China, Persia, Asia Minor, and a 
 few more places. Great Britain might just 
 as well raise a Pangermanic question, and 
 lay claim to Denmark, Norway, Prussia, 
 Germany, and America, in virtue of her 
 Saxon and Norse blood ; and to France and 
 Italy, in virtue of her Norman and Roman 
 descent. Absurdity can go no further; and, 
 as an absurdity, it is highly amusing : but, 
 when it is carried to the pitch of war, it 
 becomes a criminal hobby, which Europe 
 must not suffer to ride other people to 
 death, instead of being ridden to death 
 itself. 
 
 A.D. 1856-'77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [rural RUSSIA. 
 
 There is, however, a small weight hang- | 
 ing at the end of the lever of self-interest, 
 which is a pretty long lever, that, like the 
 weight on the safety-valve lever of a steam- 
 engine, will probably suffice to prevent the 
 Panslavonic boiler from blowing itself and 
 its neighbours up, to the great distress of 
 Europe. That weight is provided by the 
 presence of a small, but highly influential 
 body of Germans in the Baltic provinces, 
 in the chief towns, in the capital, in the 
 chief branches of the administration, and 
 in the presence of a considerable amount of 
 German blood in the veins of the Romanoffs. 
 These Germans do not become Russianised ; 
 on the contrary, they Germanise the Rus- 
 sians, even as they Germanise the Poles, 
 the Lithuanians, the Bohemians, and the 
 Croats. No better proof of the inferiority— 
 politically speaking— of the Slavs can be 
 adduced than this. In other countries of 
 higher political rank, as England and 
 America, the German becomes Anglicised 
 or Americanised : he is assimilated to the 
 politically higher-developed races; in the 
 case of the Slav he assimilates them. 
 
 In this fact lies the great guarantee for 
 
 the future. We know that the Russian 
 colonies of Germans will never become 
 Russianiscd; that they will be protected 
 by Germany if their liberties are threatened, 
 or they themselves were to be oppressed as 
 were the Poles ; and we know that Panger- 
 manism — i.e., an alliance of the Anglo- 
 Saxon races — would not only be all-sufficient 
 to stay any westward progress of the Rus- 
 sians, but that it would be set in motion at 
 once if there were any signs of a serious 
 attempt to impose Panmongolianism or 
 Panslavism on the rest, or any considerable 
 portion, of Europe. But though the ulti- 
 mate result of such a conflict cannot be 
 doubtful, it is no less certain that it requires 
 much firmness and watchfulness to prevent 
 the Russians from attempting to try the 
 issue by an appeal to arms, at the cost of an 
 expensive and bloody war. Nor must it be 
 forgotten, that in spite of all the drawbacks 
 
 and disadvantagfes 
 
 arising 
 
 from the pecu- 
 
 liar constitution of the Russian government, 
 the germs of more liberal ideas have been 
 ! sown, and are slowly taking root, and deve- 
 loping themselves, as the relations between 
 Russia and Europe become more intimate. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 RURAL RUSSIA; INFLUENCE OF THE CLIMATE ON THE RUSSIAN J THE NATIONAL FOOD; RUSSIAN 
 
 ENDURANCE. 
 
 We have seen that the Russian people owe 
 their distinctive features, in a very great 
 measure, to the mixture of three chief races ; 
 but there also remains to be considered, the 
 influence exercised upon them by the 
 climate and the nature of the country. In 
 fact, climate and natural features exercise 
 even a greater influence on the formation 
 of their character, their habits, and their 
 peculiarities, than the infusion of the blood 
 of different races into their veins ; for 
 whilst the latter is temporary, and decreases 
 in intensity as time rolls on, the climate 
 and the country around exercise a perma- 
 nent influence upon them, and never 
 diminishes in force. In spite of his English 
 origin, the American has developed physi- 
 cally into a very different being — a change 
 that is solely owing to the change of 
 
 climate ; whilst, mentally, the change has 
 been of corresponding importance. 
 
 The severe climate is undoubtedly one 
 of the chief influences that determine the 
 character, mind, and body of the Russian. 
 It does not influence him in the same 
 way as it does the Russian bear, and send 
 him to sleep for a considerable portion of 
 the year, but exercises an influence that 
 produces quite as marked results ; and, in 
 many respects, very remarkable results. 
 Thus, of all countries where reliable sta- 
 tistics are collected, Russia is the one 
 country where the mortality is greatest, the 
 average duration of life is the shortest, and 
 yet where the maximum duration is greatest. 
 Thus the number of centenarians who died 
 in one year, out of 1,000,000 inhabitants, 
 was no less than thirty-four ; and it may be 
 
 205 
 
 Y' 
 
If- I 
 
 THE NATIONAL FOOD.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1856-77. 
 
 assumed that there were as many still 
 living. On the other hand, there are not 
 more than forty-five sexagenarians per 1,000 
 inhabitants ; whilst the average in England 
 is over 100. Eut, at the same time, the 
 average increases in the North, where it 
 reaches sixty-six per 1,000; whilst in the 
 South it diminishes again to thirty per 
 1,000. As may be supposed, the mortality 
 amongst infants is very great ; year by year 
 they are thinned off to an alarming extent, 
 by exposure and by want of sufficiently 
 nourishing food, so that it is only the most 
 robust that survive. 
 
 But it is not only the direct action 
 of the cold that exercises so fatal an in- 
 fluence on the people ; it also exercises 
 an indirect influence throujrh the charac- 
 ter of the food they eat, and the very 
 precautions they have to take against the 
 severity of the weather. Thus the long 
 winter, when the pastures are covered with 
 snow, greatly hinders the growth of cattle, 
 and renders meat extremely scarce. The 
 peasant is too poor to be able to feed them 
 through the long winter months; he has 
 neither stabling nor fodder for them. Con- 
 sequently his meat diet is very scanty ; and 
 even now, since the emancipation of the 
 serfs and the introduction of pigs, the 
 peasant never tastes meat except on 
 Sundays and a few holidays. And even 
 then, the method they have of storing their 
 meat appears to detract considerably from 
 its nutritive powers ; the custom being for 
 every family to kill as much meat and fish 
 as they will require for the winter, and to 
 freeze it, thawing it piece by piece as it is 
 required. The food, generally speaking, is 
 quite vegetable, the chief article being rye, 
 bread, porridge, and stchtchi — a soup made 
 of fermented cabbage, and quite as nasty as 
 it is unpronounceable. Mushrooms of various 
 kinds, dried and fresh, and dried and salted 
 fish, of which immense quantities are con- 
 sumed, form the national diet. The 
 luxuries are quass — a liquor made of water 
 and fermented bread ; tea, and vutki. The 
 samovar, or copper tea-urn, is an indispen- 
 sable utensil in every household, from the 
 richest to the poorest, and is ready day and 
 night. Vutki, a spirit made from grains, 
 potatoes, &c., is, however, as national a 
 beverage, and is, perhaps, as indispensable 
 as long as the diet is so poor. The peasant 
 does not drink it — he gulps it, one might 
 almost say, by the pint ; and as a natural 
 consequence, the drunkenness, with all its 
 206 
 
 sanitary and economic drawbacks, is enor- 
 mous throughout the empire. 
 
 Then the precautions the Russian has to 
 take to keep the cold out, make the cure 
 almost as bad as the disease. When winter 
 is about to set in, the first thing the peasant 
 does is to pile up the manure all round his 
 cottage, up to the windows. These are then 
 hermetically sealed with a solution of 
 mastic; an immense porcelain stove, pro- 
 jecting into the room, and lighted from the 
 outside, is then heated, and the temperature 
 of the room kept up to a tropical heat day 
 and night, without any ventilation being pro- 
 vided for, or the window ever being opened. 
 The state of this atmosphere, mixed with 
 the exhalations of perhaps a dozen or more 
 people, the fumes of cooking, in which 
 garlic and onions play a great part, may be 
 imagined ; but when the thaw sets in, 
 succeeded by another frost, and so on 
 alternately, and the manure and the winter's 
 refuse that has been added to it, slops, 
 scraps, and other things, begin to thaw and 
 penetrate the mansion, imagination is quite 
 powerless to realise the effect. 
 
 Not less injurious to health is the habit 
 of the Russian peasant to sleep in his 
 clothes, consisting of wraps of coarse linen 
 round his feet and legs, waistcoat and 
 pantaloons of coarse cloth, or furs and a 
 Bheeipskin (Touloup),the wool turned inside. 
 The entomological population of these gar- 
 ments is as varied as it is large ; and it may 
 be doubted whether Keating's whole stock 
 of insect powder would be sufficient to 
 cleanse more than two Russian peasants' 
 households. He changes his linen — when 
 he has got any — not more than once a week 
 or fortnight, when he takes his Russian 
 vapour-bath, each village possessing its 
 establishment for the purpose. The 
 arrangements are of a very primitive 
 nature. The bather reclines on a slanting 
 board, and procures the steam by pouring 
 water on a sort of furnace of red-hot 
 stones, rubbing himself with a handful 
 of rough rags, or shreds of beech and birch 
 bark. This process is generally followed 
 by a snow-bath, or a plunge into iced 
 water, and is as drastic a stimulant as can 
 well be imagined. 
 
 Under these circumstances, it is not sur- 
 prising that the vital energy of the average 
 Russian is very low ; and though they may 
 be apparently strong, and are tall and well- 
 built, still their actual strength is by no 
 means proportionate to their apparent 
 
 A.D. 1856-77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [RUSSIAN ENDDRANCE. 
 
 vigour. On the other hand, their powers 
 of endurance, in a mild, easy-going way, 
 are very considerable. Scrofula is very 
 prevalent: they are peculiarly liable to 
 contagious diseases, which are very difficult 
 to get rid of, in consequence of the low 
 degree of vitality. Lung disease — con- 
 sumption — is not so frequent as might be 
 supposed, owing to the dryness of the atmo- 
 sphere ; but, on the other hand, small-pox, 
 typhus, typhoid, and angina-pectoris cause 
 a great mortality. 
 
 The same influences produce the same 
 results, in a very considerable degree, even 
 upon the upper classes. The close atmo- 
 sphere of the apartments, however much it 
 may be alleviated by the height of the 
 rooms, and their opening into one another, 
 and the Russian habit of continually chang- 
 ing night into day and day into night, 
 produce the listlessness and pasty com- 
 plexion, which they endeavour to counteract 
 by a course of European baths — all of 
 which are a regular rendezvous of the 
 Russian nobility year after year. In short, 
 Russian life, for a considerable portion of 
 the year, is a hothouse life, and is not at all 
 conducive to morality, which may be said 
 to be lower in Russia than in any other 
 European country, not even excepting 
 Roumania. Amongst the peasantry alone, 
 sometimes, as in the case of some of the 
 communia, as many as twenty to thirty 
 people are crammed promiscuously into a 
 couple of rooms — old and young, married 
 and single, all together. There is scarcely 
 any sense of modesty or decency ; and it is 
 by no means an uncommon sight in summer, 
 to see the girls and women disporting 
 themselves in all their native simplicity on 
 the banks of the river, in full public view. 
 Nature thus weighs upon the peasant in 
 Russia with a very heavy hand ; and, as a 
 natural consequence, endurance, patience, 
 and a certain indifference are the results. 
 All his energies are reduced to a power of 
 resistance — the quality that makes them 
 such good soldiers for defence, but such 
 bad ones where assault and dash are re- 
 quired. This is strikingly exemplified by 
 one of their national games, of which we 
 once happened to be the astonished wit- 
 nesses. A stalwart Russ, some six feet 
 high, was being "punished" by an adversary 
 fully six inches shorter than himself, in a 
 most atrocious fashion. The blows fell 
 upon his head and face one after the other, 
 being dealt with a slow swinging delibera- 
 
 tion, and received with much apparent 
 thankfulness. But for some moments our 
 astonishment was too great to inquire of 
 the admiring spectators around what it all 
 meant. We were told, to our no less sur- 
 prise, that this was a Russian boxing-match 
 — the object being, not for the adversaries 
 to inflict the greatest amount of punishment 
 on each other, but to see which one received 
 the greater number of blows before calling 
 for quarter. 
 
 On another occasion we also witnessed a 
 similar affair, the actors being a stalwart 
 Boyard and a still more stalwart serf. The 
 contest took place in the village inn, on a 
 challenge from the Boyard. The trial was 
 to be proceeded with by turns of three 
 blows each, the Boyard commencing. He 
 dealt the serf a tremendous blow full in the 
 mouth, cutting his lips, and bruising them 
 almost to a pulp; the second blow was 
 dealt on his nose, which forthwith dis- 
 appeared; the third closed up one of his 
 eyes — but not a sound did the victim utter, 
 nor did a muscle twitch in his mangled 
 face. The Boyard now put himself in 
 position to pass his examination; but 
 whether he was simply acting as one of 
 those choice dessert fruits that are put on 
 the table on the tacit understanding that 
 they are not to be touched, or whether the 
 serf was too conscious of his power, we are 
 unable satisfactorily to determine; but 
 anyhow, the serf, having raised his fist with 
 an ominous swing, brought it with a tre- 
 mendous sweep against the edge of the 
 massive porcelain-stove, and knocked a 
 piece out of it the size of a man's head, 
 observing, at the same time, that he did not 
 wish to mess the room with the " master's " 
 brains. 
 
 On a third occasion, whilst accompany- 
 ing the Russian troops into Warsaw, after 
 their rout of the Polish insurgent forces at 
 Batorsch, in August, 1864, an officer was 
 loud in his praises of the unquestioning 
 discipline of the Russian soldier. As a 
 proof of the truth of his assertion, he called 
 one of the men out of the ranks, and say- 
 ing, "Ivan, it is my pleasure to punish 
 thee," dealt him a sounding box on the ear, 
 and sent him back again. The man simply 
 saluted, and obeyed. We remarked that 
 we should not be surprised if the officer 
 were to be shot in the back at the first 
 engagement. He laughed, and called Ivan 
 forth again, and said to him, " Ivan, why 
 did I punish thee just now?" — "I don't 
 
 207 
 
 t 
 
 fr" 
 
V 
 
 RUSSIAN SUPERSTITION.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1856-77. 
 
 - [ 
 i ' 
 
 « 
 
 h r 
 
 w 
 
 M' 
 
 ', 'I 
 
 know," was the reply. "But you know 
 I must have had a reason for it ? " " Of 
 course," the man answered ; " you had an 
 excellent reason for it." '* Yes," observed 
 the officer, " I did it to prove to this gentle- 
 man here, our old enemies of Sebastopol, 
 that the Russian soldier is unapproachable 
 for discipline by any other nation. Was 
 I not right ? " " By God ! master, you 
 were," replied the man, with a broad grin 
 of triumph at us. 
 
 There is no exaggeration in these inci- 
 dents. The endurance — a sort of submis- 
 sive fatalism — of the common Russian is 
 most remarkable. It is, in fact, more or 
 less a special feature of Tartar and Slav ; 
 and being thus indifferent to suffering 
 themselves, they are indifferent to it in 
 others. They have no sympathy with 
 themselves or with others. For the same 
 reason, they are not actively cruel ; it is 
 too much trouble; it is not worth it. If 
 told to give no quarter, they give none ; 
 but as far as they are personally concerned, 
 they would not go three yards out of tbeir 
 way to give a victim the coup de grace. 
 This applies, however, only to the Great 
 Russian, the pure Muscovite. His more 
 southern brethren are as pillaging, rapa- 
 cious, and bloodthirsty a horde as ever 
 existed, whenever they have the chance to 
 exercise their peculiar talents in this line. 
 
 The climate and its consequences thus 
 producing these results, it might be ex- 
 pected that they would be increased by the 
 monotony of the natural features of the 
 country. Broad plains, broad sluggishly- 
 flowing rivers, long-stretching expanses of 
 dense forest, with nothing to relieve the 
 dreary flatness, whilst producing the oppres- 
 Five melancholy that characterises the Rus- 
 sian peasant, at the same time forces him 
 to seek some relief by an unrestrained in- 
 dulgence in imagination. His mind sup- 
 plies the heights, gulfs, and abysses, the 
 fantastic shapes and forms which the scene 
 refuses him. Thus left to revel, uncon- 
 trolled bv ideas or communications with 
 the rest of the world, his fancy takes the 
 most grotesque form, and luxuriates in the 
 wildest and weirdest growths of supersti- 
 tion and religious fervour ; which, on the 
 other hand, is also apt to degenerate into 
 the most material Nihilism. There is no 
 object in anything but the present. No- 
 thing went before him, and nothing will 
 come after him. The only thing to be 
 considered is the satisfaction of present 
 208 
 
 wants, and their enjoyment. It is the re- 
 action of boundless ignorance and super- 
 stition. One of the avowed disciples ot 
 this " creed " — which was even represented, 
 a few years ago, by a newspaper published 
 abroad, under the title, "7 spit at every- 
 body " — on being asked what the principles 
 of his doctrines were, replied — " Take 
 heaven and earth, take life and death, take 
 God and the soul, and spit upon them." 
 Spitting, it must be observed, plays a great 
 part in the daily life of a Russian peasant. 
 He spits as a sign of astonishment; he 
 spits as a sign of defiance ; he spits to avert 
 an evil omen ; he spits for a fine day, and 
 he spits against bad weather — in short, he 
 spits for everything. The fear of the evil 
 eye is universal ; the Russian peasant at- 
 tributes all his diseases to it, and generally 
 expects the doctor to cure them by counter- 
 incantations and magic rites, and frequently 
 visits upon him the anger he feels for his 
 unknown enemy, accusing the doctor of 
 joining in the conspiracy to bewitch him. 
 Vaccination is abhorred — the scar it leaves 
 being regarded as the seal of Antichrist, or 
 Satan himself, whereby the victims are to 
 be known on the day of judgment. Under 
 such circumstances, it is not surprising that 
 medical men feel no special desire to settle 
 in Russia, the general rule being that there 
 are two in every rural district, who are sup- 
 posed to visit the various villages once a 
 year — the patients being left in the mean- 
 time to the care of the local overseer, or 
 the image of the local saint. But, alto- 
 gether, a serious illness is regarded as a 
 divine visitation ; it is the peasant's duty 
 humbly to submit ; though, for all that, the 
 plague, cholera, and famine fill the peasant's 
 soul with unbounded terror. But still 
 greater than the fear of these visitations 
 is his terror of the Red Cock, as he calls 
 fires, which are of alarming frequency 
 throughout the empire. They are caused 
 by the ramshackle construction of the 
 wooden houses, and the length of the 
 winter, which demands so much more 
 firing; whilst in the summer the heat is 
 so great, that houses, forests, and meadows 
 become as dry as tinder, and the simplest 
 spark is sufficient to cause immense con- 
 flagrations, which at times assume the 
 features of regular epidemics. In fact, it 
 may be said, that every house in the 
 country districts is sure to be burnt down, 
 sooner or later, either by accident or by the 
 hands of an incendiary, as an easy and 
 
 ?! 
 
 t 
 
 il 
 
A . G ' ' I dec r 
 
 f . Kcrr^c 
 
 raiE f(']::':'Jvw''i\. (m yi3'!^:m BiLA#j^?^H(a>S- wM'^(n.((mr 
 
 A.D. 1856-77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [clerical RUSSIA. 
 
 satisfactory way of avenging himself upon 
 his enemy. His terror of fire is so great, 
 that, like the lightning, it is often con- 
 sidered as a visitation of God, against 
 which it would be impious to contend; 
 and thus, when a fire breaks out in a village, 
 the peasants will very often hastily collect 
 their household goods, their saints, unhinge 
 the doors and windows of their houses, and 
 abandon them to the mercy of the flames. 
 Insurance companies are quite unable to 
 extend their operations to the Russian 
 villages, the peasant considering it nothing 
 less than blasphemy to try to buy im- 
 munity from the decrees of Providence. 
 
 This superstition of the Russian peasant 
 is, however, considerably modified by his 
 sound common sense. When he has once 
 discovered an error, he never falls into it, 
 or submits to its teaching again. This 
 peculiarity saves him from becoming an 
 unquestioning tool in the hands of the 
 clergy. He respects the clergy no further 
 than their personal qualities may demand, 
 or the authority they wield from the czar 
 enforces. "We were much struck with this 
 feature during the visit of the Russian pil- 
 grims to the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. 
 On the Russian Easter, the church is 
 thronged with devotees to witness the 
 miracle of the Holy Fire, when each one, 
 provided with a consecrated candle, awaits 
 the moment when the officiating minister 
 projects from a grating the taper which has 
 been mysteriously kindled by fire from 
 heaven. One of these pilgrims, after the 
 ceremony was over, was heard ridiculing 
 the pretensions of one of the Russian 
 priests, and making some very unflattering 
 comments on his greed and morals. A 
 missionary, wishing to improve the occa- 
 sion, seized the opportunity to inveigh 
 against the priesthood, and called upon the 
 Russian to abjure a faith professed by such 
 unworthy leaders. But the shrewd peasant 
 
 had his answer ready, and replied without 
 hesitation — " Now that is how a head with- 
 out brains would reason. For if I purchase 
 a samovar which serves its purpose truly, 
 and discover afterwards that the man who 
 sold it to me was a scoundrel and a thief, 
 is that any reason why I should throw my 
 good samovar away ? Your samovars may 
 be very good, my friend; but as long as 
 my old one satisfies my wants, I don't 
 want to buy a new one. Sell your wares to 
 people who have none." 
 
 Thus the Russian peasant has unbounded 
 faith in his icons, or images, and will im- 
 plore their assistance on every occasion, no 
 matter what may be the immorality of the 
 act for which he requires their aid. But 
 if his icon has once disappointed him, or 
 he discovers — to continue the old pilgrim's 
 simile — that there is a hole in his samovar, 
 he casts them aside, and calls in a new 
 form of superstition and mysticism to take 
 their places, and increase the number of 
 the Raskol, or dissenting sects. Thus the 
 Russian's mysticism, superstition, and reli- 
 gion, take a very material form, and the 
 observance of the Obriad, or ritual, becomes 
 the sole object of his religious life. Morals 
 do not enter into the question ; they, being 
 of the law, are within the law, and thus a 
 mundane institution, of the efficacy of 
 which he is quite as well able to judge as 
 any priest, be he black or white. He im- 
 plicitly believes all he cannot understand, 
 if uttered with authority; but as to that 
 which is within the range of his knowledge, 
 he allows no one to dictate to him — least of 
 all, the priest, for whom, on the whole, he 
 has but a very scant respect, regarding him, 
 in some measure, as the servant of the 
 icon and the czar; but otherwise, simply 
 as one of the communal members, subject 
 to the decisions of the majority, and obliged 
 to submit unconditionally, as any other 
 member would be. 
 
 ii 
 
 
 \ * 
 
 ''\ 
 
 
 r 
 
 : f 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 TfTK LONDOJJ WarVTiKO ACSi-D VITBinSllLNG COWPAtJ y-_ ilTktlTED 
 
 CLERICAL RUSSIA. 
 
 It is related that the czar, on one of his went to meet him at the threshold was 
 iournevs, went to attend divine service in a hesitating whether he should hold out his 
 villacre church. The priest, or jjope, who 1 hand for the obligatory and customary kiss 
 VOL. II. 2 E 209 
 
THE HOLY SYNOD.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1856-77. 
 
 A.D. 1856-77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [RUSSIAN DISSENT. 
 
 to his imperial visitor, when the czar im- 
 patiently decided him, by exclaiming, 
 " Hold out your paw, you idiot ! " 
 
 This anecdote proves two things : first, 
 that the czar is not the spiritual head of 
 the Orthodox Church, or else it would have 
 been the priest's duty to kiss his hand, as 
 his superior; and, secondly,it proves the sort 
 of estimation in which the common pope, 
 or the White Clergy, are generally held. 
 
 The fact is, that the spiritual as well as 
 the temporal affairs of the Orthodox Church 
 are arranged by a synod — the most holy 
 directing synod — which is nominated by 
 the emperor, whose decisions are framed 
 under the supervision of lay officials, ap- 
 pointed equally by the emperor, and 
 approved of by him, with the imperial 
 exequatur or placet. 
 
 This synod sits permanently at St. Peters- 
 burg, with local branches at Moscow, Kieff, 
 and Novgorod, &c. The number of its mem- 
 bers is not fixed, either by custom or law ; 
 but the three metropolitans of St. Peters- 
 burg, Moscow, and Kieff — and, generally 
 speaking, the metropolitan of Novgorod — 
 are permanent and immovable members. 
 The Exarch of Georgia also occupies a seat 
 by long usage and tradition. The other 
 members are all chosen by the emperor, 
 who nominates them for a certain period, 
 and are four or five archbishops, bishops, or 
 archimandrites, belonging to the Black 
 Clergy, and two members of the White 
 Clergy, and two arch-priests, of whom one is 
 usually the confessor or almoner of the 
 emperor, and the other the grand almoner 
 of the army. Attached to the synod, there 
 is also an official, called the procurator, 
 who is always a layman, and is also ap- 
 pointed by the emporor, and who is, practi- 
 cally, the president, and responsible to the 
 czar. In the days of the Emperor Nicholas 
 this official was a cavalry officer. Count 
 Pretassof ; but since the present emperor's 
 accession, the post is no longer so striking 
 an example of the "church militant." All 
 business between the emperor and the 
 synod is conducted through this func- 
 tionary. He submits the government de- 
 crees and projects to the synod, and the 
 decrees of the synod to the emperor for his 
 sanction. Nothing can be done, not the 
 ino>t trivial detail executed, before it has 
 received his confirmation, if it in any way 
 refers to the administration. In purely 
 ecclesiastical matters, the members of the 
 synod have, apparently, more liberty; but 
 210 
 
 it is frequently only apparent, as current 
 matters are disposed of by the various 
 '''bureaux,''^ and the members are only called 
 upon to sign the various documents that 
 have been proposed; and as the press of 
 business — that of the whole empire — is far 
 too great to be disposed of by the synod in 
 banco, the documents are taken from house 
 to house for signature. The abuses that 
 occur from this system are evident, and 
 have given currency to many an anecdote. 
 Thus, when one of the members, fresh to 
 the business, actually began to examine the 
 report prepared for him to sign, he was 
 bluffly interrupted by one of his colleagues 
 saying, " We are not here to read reports, 
 but to sign them ; " whilst on another occa- 
 sion, the metropolitan of Moscow actually 
 signed a decree it was in his interest and 
 intention to refuse. Besides its purely 
 ecclesiastical duties, the synod also exercises 
 the "spiritual" censorship over all books 
 and journals treating of religious matters, 
 whether of the nation or of the foreign press. 
 It has the control of the religious educational 
 establishments, the choice of the manuals 
 to be used, and finally decides upon the 
 canonisation of saints. Thus the whole of 
 the ecclesiastical affairs of the empire centre 
 in the synod, subject to the approval of the 
 czar and his procurator. In matters of 
 dispute and cases of disagreement in purely 
 ecclesiastical matters, the emperor nomi- 
 nates a commission, which makes its report, 
 to be either approved of by the czar, or re- 
 jected. In point of fact, therefore, whilst 
 the czar leaves the settlement of purely 
 religious questions to the synod, he is the 
 absolute head of the executive of the church ; 
 and, though not invested with any spiritual 
 authority, yet, in virtue of his right to 
 nominate commissions and to reject their 
 proposals, if he thinks proper, regarding 
 any subject, is thus the ultimate authority 
 in anything that concerns the Orthodox 
 Russian Church. 
 
 In exactly the same fashion, the czar is 
 the head of all the other churches within 
 the empire, with, of course, some few modi- 
 fications as regards the more purely spiri- 
 tual functions. Thus, the Armenian church, 
 whilst preserving its patriarch, under the 
 title of Catholicos, elected by the bishops, is 
 placed under a synod, constituted after the 
 model of the Orthodox Synod. Equally so 
 the Lutherans are governed by provincial 
 consistories, and a head consistory at St. 
 Petersburg, controlled by an imperial procu- 
 
 rator. The Catholic Church is supervised, 
 in the same way, by the Roman Catholic 
 College at St. Petersburg, under the presi- 
 « dency of the Archbishop of Mohilef, who is 
 the primate of the Russian Roman Catholic 
 Church, and is independent of the Vatican, 
 as president of the college. Each Roman 
 Catholic diocese is placed under a branch 
 college or consistory, which is not allowed 
 to exercise its functions without the permis- 
 sion and control of the government. 
 
 But, though these various foreign 
 churches are nominally on the same footing 
 as the Orthodox Church, they are not so in 
 reality; or, rather, the Orthodox Church 
 has privileges, of the greatest importance, 
 which they do not enjoy. Thus, though 
 each church possesses full liberty of private 
 and public worship, they are not allowed to 
 make proselytes ; that is the sole privilege 
 of the Orthodox Church; and once an 
 Orthodox Christian, always an Orthodox 
 Christian. Every child born of Orthodox 
 parents is, ipso facto, bound to the Orthodox 
 Church for ever. Such is also the case with 
 children of mixed marriages. The code 
 forbids, by divers penalties, any member of 
 the Orthodox Church to change his religion. 
 If a person expresses his desire to leave the 
 church, he is first admonished and exhorted 
 by the parochial clergy ; then brought be- 
 fore the consistory; then before the synod, 
 and condemned to penitence in a monastery. 
 If he still perseveres in his intended apostasy, 
 he is liable to the loss of all his civil rights, 
 and exile to Siberia, till he comes back to 
 bis senses. 
 
 But not only does the Orthodox Church 
 possess this privilege of prohibiting its 
 members to embrace any other faith, but it 
 also forbids any foreign church from 
 making proselytes of the menbers of an- 
 other foreign church. Thus, if a Polish 
 Jew, living in the midst of a community 
 of Catholics, wishes to embrace the Catholic 
 faith, he is not allowed to do so. If he 
 wants to change his religion, he must go to 
 the Orthodox Church. If a Mussulman 
 wish to enter the Armenian Church in 
 Trans-Caucasia, he cannot do so ; he must 
 apply to the Orthodox Church, which thus 
 enjoys the sole and undisputed monopoly 
 of sending people to heaven. They may 
 stay outside — if originally outside — if they 
 like. But they cannot enter paradise except 
 through the gates of the Holy Orthodox 
 Church. A slight relaxation of the rule 
 is nominally made in the case of infidels ; 
 
 but even then a Catholic or Protestant 
 missionary must first have the permission 
 of the government before the conversion 
 can be commenced ; and generally, the Or- 
 thodox Church manages, somehow or other, 
 to gain possession of the new soul. In 
 the Caucasus, however, the Armenians are 
 allowed to baptize Mussulmans lying at the 
 point of death ; but even then the conver- 
 sion must be submitted to the imperial 
 governor for confirmation, although the 
 man may have died since the notification 
 of the ceremony. If the confirmation is 
 not granted, the conversion is null and 
 void, and the defunct balked, after all, in 
 his attempt to get to heaven. How he is 
 to be made aware of this fact after his 
 decease, the imperial confessional code 
 does not say. Doubtless the czar has his 
 procurator — a cavalry officer probably — at 
 the gates of heaven to deal with such post- 
 humous cases. 
 
 The result of these ridiculous, blasphe- 
 mous, and degrading laws can be imagined. 
 There is no moral or spiritual life in the 
 Orthodox Church whatever; and those 
 Anglican ministers who talk of intercom- 
 munion with the Orthodox Church, are 
 utterly ignorant of what they are talking 
 about. They might as well propose inter- 
 communion with Islam, because this, that, 
 or the other tenet of the Moslems happens 
 to coincide with some Anglican tenet. 
 
 The Orthodox Church in Russia is no- 
 thing more than a code of ecclesiastical 
 and national etiquette laws, to which 
 everybody is obliged to conform to, accord- 
 ing to his station. In the case of the lower 
 classes it degenerates into a simple observ- 
 ance of a ritual, which must be submitted 
 to as any other temporal law, and which, 
 not satisfying the innate religious senti- 
 ment of mankind, drives its members into 
 the arms of mysticism and superstition, and 
 gives rise to the endless sects known in 
 Russia by the name of Raskol. 
 
 We must now shortly examine the ma- 
 chinery by which this system is carried out, 
 under the direction of the czar and synod. 
 
 The clergy is divided into two branches ; 
 of which one, like the Roman Catholic 
 clergy, takes the vows of celibacy, and the 
 other enters into matrimony — is practically 
 forced to marry. The former branch is 
 popularly called the Black Clergy, on ac- 
 count of the long black veil that hangs over 
 their backs ; whilst the other branch is 
 called the White Clergy, not because they 
 
 211 
 
THE BTACK PRIESTS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1856-77. 
 
 are dressed in white garments, but because 
 black is mixed with other colours, brown or 
 darJi blue, and in order to distinguish them 
 from the Black Clergy. 
 
 These two divisions represent the two 
 ranks which the clergy occupy in the 
 social scale. The Black Clergy fill all the 
 important posts, the White Clergy dis- 
 charging the duties of simple parish priests. 
 There is thus an inevitable and ceaseless 
 opposition between the two, and a diver- 
 gence of interests, which it is one of the 
 chief objects of the State to reconcile and 
 work upon. 
 
 Thus the Black Clergy is actually a 
 monastic body — educated in monasteries, 
 governing these monasteries, recruiting 
 the ranks of the higher dignitaries, and 
 generally playing that part which is 
 played by monastic institutions all the 
 world over ; they are, in fact, the Jesuits of 
 Eussia : but then their general is no less a 
 personage than the czar himself. They all 
 belong to the order of St. Basil, and their 
 establishments, owing to the system of 
 artificial nationality prevalent in Russia, 
 are the chief centre for the preservation 
 and propagation of the national principles — 
 national principles determined by the czar, 
 either original ly framed by him, or approved 
 of by him. Of these establishments, those 
 of Troitza, Petchevski, Simonoff, Donskoi, 
 Solovetsk, St. George of Novgorod, the 
 Assumption of Tver and New Jeru.<alem, 
 some leagues from Moscow, are the most 
 important. Some of these establishments 
 are regular towns, with numerous chapels 
 and churches, inns, and other establish- 
 ments for the accommodation of pilgrims. 
 Thus Troitza possesses fourteen cliurches 
 and chapels; Solovetsk, seven; Simonoff and 
 Donskoi, six each. Like most of the 
 monasteries of the Orthodox Ritual, these 
 establishments are most massively built, 
 were formerly fortified, and were often able 
 to play a part in the military history of the 
 empire ; as, for instance, Troitza in the case 
 of the Polish invasion, and when Peter the 
 Great found an effective shelter, behind its 
 massive walls,* from the attack of the 
 Strelitz. Even now, the positions of the 
 Polish camp and cannon are pointed out 
 through the embrasures from which the 
 Russian guns answered those of their foes. 
 The wealth of some of these monasteries, in 
 gold, silver, and jewels, is sometimes almost 
 fabulous. Thus the sacristy and cellars of 
 
 * See p. 131. 
 212 
 
 Troitza contain an amount of vases, jew- 
 elled crosses, strings of pearls, jewelled im- 
 ages, and vestments embroidered with gold, 
 silver, and jewels, that is unequalled except 
 by the patriarchal treasury at Moscow. 
 It may be said that there are quarts upon 
 quarts of unmounted gems in these 
 establishments. After Troitza, the most 
 important of the monasteries is that of 
 Petchevski, situated on a hill on the right 
 bank of the Dnieper, near Kieff. The 
 plain at the foot of the hill is literally 
 honeycombed in all directions by subterra- 
 nean galleries, and the cells in which the 
 ancient anchorites and hermits lived and 
 died — their cell in life becoming their tomb 
 in death after they had been desiccated. 
 These galleries are a favourite resort of the 
 pilgrims, who are conducted through them 
 by the monks in long file, each one with 
 a taper in his hand, and kissing the 
 skeleton fingers, shrivelled up like parch- 
 ment, which are stretched out for the 
 purpose, as it were, by the ghastly remains 
 of the ascetics, each one seated in his par- 
 ticular niche, like the desiccated corpses, 
 each bearing a tablet with the date of his 
 decease, which travellers to Malta will re- 
 member having seen in the Capuchin con- 
 vent. 
 
 These monasteries are respected accord- 
 ing to the estimation in which their various 
 saints and relics are held for their learnino- 
 and artistic merits. Thus St. Sergius o*f 
 Strelna enjoys a high respect for its sacred 
 music and chants, which are, so to say, 
 quite a speciality, like the famous liqueur 
 of the monks of La Chartreuse. The 
 printing-presses of Petchevski supply the 
 greater number of devotional books in use 
 throughout the empire ; whilst other estab- 
 lishments are famed for their studious or 
 more prosaic occupations, like Solovetsk, 
 situated on an island in the White Sea, 
 and which might almost be described as a 
 monastic Steam Navigation Company, its 
 members owning, manning, and w^oiking a 
 line of steamers, chiefly, it is true, for the 
 service of pilgrims. The other establish- 
 ments are devoted to the education of the 
 men who will hereafter be called to fulfil 
 their duties as heads and dignij:aries of the 
 church. ' 
 
 The total number of these monasteries, 
 in 1872, was 383, with 5,810 monks and 
 5,617 brethren. At present, there are, as 
 nearly as possible, about 500 throughout 
 the empire, or belonging to it in various 
 
 -*»i»£_i. .. 
 
ii 
 
 3 
 
 9 
 
..i.,^ 
 
 :'<'*#4', 
 
 A.D. 1856-77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 couDtries; as, for instance, the monastery at 
 Jerusalem, and the Rusbian establishments 
 on Mount Athos. 
 
 The sources whence these monasteries 
 
 the Black Clergy, in short— derive their 
 
 income, may be classed under three heads : 
 
 the State, estates, and offerings. The 
 
 domains and estates, forest land, pasturage, 
 
 arable lands, and fisheries, even after all 
 
 the deductions that have been made from 
 
 their property under various rulers, are 
 
 still immense and unequally divided ; the 
 
 revenue of the higher functionaries being 
 
 especially disproportionate, some of the 
 
 archimandrites, of the more important 
 
 houses, receiving as much as 30,000 roubles 
 
 a-year. 
 
 But the income derived from their landed 
 property, large as it is, cannot be compared 
 with the revenue derived from the ofifer- 
 ings presented by the pilgrims to the 
 various images and relics, which are so 
 highly venerated throughout Russia. In 
 no country, not even in Spain or France, 
 are pilgrimages conducted on so large a 
 scale as in Russia. The chief season for 
 these pilgrimages is Easter ; and then the 
 roads to Troitza and Petchevski, and the 
 other shrines, are literally swarmed with 
 troops of men and women, young and old, 
 travelling on foot from the outermost con- 
 fines of the empire: from Siberia, from the 
 Black Sea, and the coasts of the White Sea 
 and Caspian. They come, not by thousands 
 nor by tens of thousands, but by hundreds 
 of thousands; and not one comes empty- 
 handed ; and each one burns his candle, so 
 that the trade in candles alone amounts 
 annually to a very large sum. Before 
 Eastertide, steamer on steamer arrives at 
 Joppa, laden with scores of pilgrims for 
 Jerusalem ; or at Salonica for the monas- 
 teries and shrines of Mount Athos; and it 
 may truly be said, that there is not a single 
 Russian, man or woman, of mature age, 
 that has not, at one time or the other' 
 made his or her pilgrimage to some shrine 
 or other; and, in very many cases, several 
 pilgrimages. The revenue thus produced, 
 great as it is, is still further increased by 
 taking the shrine to those who cannot or 
 will not go to it. At various periods of 
 the year, the monks will start in procession 
 with the figure of the saint, or the relic for 
 which their establishment is famous, and 
 make a tour throughout the neighbouring 
 districts, during which they are received 
 with open arms, are hospitably entertained. 
 
 [the black PRIESIS. 
 
 and net a large sum from the Hfts 
 showered upon them, or rather upon the 
 image. Some of these images alone suffice 
 to procure an ample fortune. There is a 
 little chapel in the Nevski Perspective at 
 fet. Petersburg, that produces 400,000 
 roubles a-year. At Moscow there is another 
 against the gates of the Red Square, which 
 separates the Kremlin from the Bazaar, 
 which contains an image of Our Lady of 
 Iberia, the gifts to which bring in some 
 200,000 roubles a-year. The image pos- 
 sesses a carriage and horses, in which it is 
 driven to the houses of the rich who are 
 too ill to go themselves to the shrine. In 
 short, « iconolatry"--if we mav be allowed 
 to coin the word—is, in Russia, scarcely 
 less than a form of gross idolatry, and all 
 the more indefensible as it is carried on 
 under the direct auspices of the govern- 
 ment. Another source of income is also 
 furnished by the passion of the Russians to 
 be buried near the tomb or shrine of their 
 favourite saint; and thus many of the 
 richer classes, towards the presumable end 
 of their lives, adopt the monastic gown, to 
 be buried within the sacred precinct— a 
 privilege for which they pay enormous 
 sums, in the shape of entrance fees and 
 bequests. Thus the noblesse of St. Peters- 
 burg make it a point of being interred in 
 the cemetery of St. Alexander Nevski, whose 
 relics and remains were brought from 
 Vladimir to St. Petersburg by Peter the 
 Great, or in the burial-grounds of the 
 monastery of St. Sergius, at Strelna, on , 
 the shores of the Gulf of Finland. The 
 price paid for a tomb in these places would 
 almost coyer the ground necessary with gold. 
 The third source of revenue, the amount 
 granted by the State, proceeds from the 
 estates that have been sequestrated — or 
 rather withdrawn from the private adminis- 
 tration of the monasteries themselves — and 
 are now administered, and the proceeds 
 distributed, according to the decision of the 
 synodal and imperial authorities. 
 
 As has already been said, the members of 
 these monasteries furnish the material 
 whence the heads of the Orthodox Church 
 are chosen. Each establishment contains 
 a certain number of members who have 
 entered it to end their days in peace; 
 another proportion forming the standard 
 administrative personnel of the house ; and 
 a third section consisting of the youncr 
 men who have finished their theological 
 education at the seminaries, have taken the 
 
 213 
 
THE WHITE CLERGY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1856-77. 
 
 vows of celibacy, and there await their 
 nomination to the more important posts at 
 the disposal of czar and synod. For whilst 
 the monasteries of other countries are 
 purely voluntary and ecclesiastical associa- 
 tions, the Kussian monasteries are under 
 the absolute control of the State. They 
 cannot even elect their own superiors ; that 
 is a privilege of the Holy Synod— which is 
 the czar. A fresh monastery cannot be 
 founded, not a single novice admitted to 
 take the vows, without the imperial per- 
 mission. The posts of Hegoumevos, or 
 archimandrite, are also at the disposal of 
 the synod ; and the monasteries themselves 
 often given to bishops or candidates for the 
 episcopacy. In short, the monastic institu- 
 tions are as subject to the emperor and the 
 imperial bureaucracy as the railways, or any 
 other department of the State. They are 
 divided into three classes— Laures, Staovo- 
 pigies, and monasteries of the first and 
 second classes. There are four of the 
 Laures: to wit, Troitza, near Moscow; 
 Petchevski, at Kieff ; St. Alexander Nevski, 
 at St. Petersburg; and PotdraiefF, in 
 Volhynia. 
 
 So much for the Black Clergy, the cream 
 of the Orthodox Church. Their humble 
 rivals and jealous brethren, the White 
 Clergy, have their lives cast in much less 
 pleasant places. Until recently they were 
 not much better than sacerdotal serfs, and 
 formed a close and hereditary corporation : 
 hence the Russian proverb, " Son of a priest, 
 always a priest." They were the Levites of 
 Christianity. The serf could not enter the 
 corporation without the permission of his 
 lord; the noble not without renouncing 
 his serfs, estates, and privileges. Thus the 
 clergy of one generation had to furnish the 
 clergy of the next out of its own ranks ; 
 the daughter of a 'po'pe had to marry the 
 son of a ^ope, and vice versa. Special per- 
 mission was necessary to enable a pope's 
 son or daughter to marry "out of the 
 tribe." This caste was broken up by Alex- 
 ander II., in 1864, three years after the 
 emancipation of the serfs. But in this 
 respect also, as in so many others touching 
 the reforms that have been made by Alex- 
 ander, the benefits arising from the change 
 are still, for the most part, illusory, in con- 
 sequence of the passive opposition on the 
 part of the nobles, and the inveterate ad- 
 mirers of the old habits and institutions. 
 Thus, in a very great measure, the old 
 customs still obtain, and are practically 
 214 
 
 carried out throughout the empire ; and 
 will so continue till the seed has been per- 
 mitted, and had time, to grow. 
 
 Thus, in the ordinary course, the pope 
 who is blessed with a daughter and no son, 
 retires, or leaves his cure to his son-in-law ; 
 and, in all cases, it is endeavoured to keep 
 the cure in the family by handing it down 
 from father to son; and so universal and 
 unquestioned had the custom become, that, 
 at one time, the expediency of making the 
 curacies hereditary was seriously considered. 
 As it is, in case of the pope's death, either 
 one of his sons or his son-in-law succeeds 
 him. If the latter, an arrangement was 
 made whereby the new-comer took over his 
 predecessor's house at a valuation, and paid 
 a pension to his widow, and a certain sum 
 to the other children, in lieu of their in- 
 terest in the property, the widow of a pope 
 being forbidden to re-marry, and the popes 
 themselves prohibited to marry a widow. 
 This custom had become so universally a 
 matter of course, that it was necessary to 
 pass a law, in 1867, to make the enforce- 
 ment of it illegal. Still, as long as the 
 clergy are forced to subsist on so meagre a 
 pittance as that on which they now eke out 
 their existence, a custom that provides for 
 widows and orphans will not be speedily 
 abrogated. 
 
 These customs obtain, not only in the 
 case of the simple village priest, but are 
 adhered to by all the ecclesiastical and 
 sacerdotal functionaries of all degrees and 
 any connexion with the church, from the 
 priest down through the various ranks of 
 deacons, minors, sacristans, and beadles, to 
 the very bell-ringers. The posts of all are 
 practically hereditary ; and the occupants of 
 each try to keep them in the family, and 
 distinct from the others. There are thus 
 quite distinct classes above and beyond 
 the social distinctions that prevail in every 
 country. A poor curate is not particu- 
 larly esteemed anywhere ; nor does he often 
 succeed in marrying the bishop's daughter ; 
 but in Russia it is very seldom that the 
 pope marries into the ranks above him, or 
 that a village priest can ally himself with a 
 town priest's daughter. 
 
 Of the education of the clergy, as a 
 whole, the less said the better, since their 
 salaries correspond. The great majority of 
 parochial priests receive no more than 100 
 roubles a-year (i. e., £33). In the western 
 provinces, where civilisation and the clergy 
 of rival churches are more advanced, he 
 
 • .'■*iwu ITU .i„ u iirjuTj; 
 
A.D. 1856-77.] 
 
 KUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [pope and moujik. 
 
 receives 200 to 300 roubles (£60 to £100); 
 but these cases are rare.^ 
 
 Thus the village priest has to depend on 
 the fees for various religious ceremonies to 
 gain a livelihood; and with the superstitious 
 reverence of the Russian moujik (or peasant) 
 for ritual observances, he might secure an 
 ample income from this source did the synod 
 not claim the lion's share, and take to itself 
 the most lucrative sources of revenue. Thus 
 the Holy Synod possesses the monopoly of 
 selling the wax-candles, which every Russian 
 buys at the doors of the church, and lights 
 before the image of his special saint. On 
 the other hand, every ecclesiastical ceremony 
 has to be paid for. Confession, baptism, 
 confirmation, communion, marriage, and 
 burial, costs as much as the pope can get, or 
 the celebrant is willing to pay. A regular 
 course of bargaining has to be gone through 
 before the amount to be paid is settled. 
 The moujik tries to beat down the pope by 
 all the means in his power ; and, if he can, 
 will bury his father clandestinely, to save 
 the burial-fee. Wedding processions some- 
 times turn back from the church door be- 
 cause the pope demands a higher fee than 
 the bridegroom is willing to pay. 
 
 Under the circumstances, no wonder 
 that the wretched pope should try to extort 
 as much from the peasant as he possibly 
 can, and thus he resorts to all sorts of 
 possible and impossible benedictions, for 
 which he receives a few copecks. Take the 
 building of a house. The foundations have 
 to be blessed ; the material blessed ; blessed 
 when the roof is on, and blessed when it is 
 finished. All these blessings may bring 
 him in half a rouble — say eighteen-pence. 
 If a family removes, or any one is about to 
 commence, or has concluded, an important 
 undertaking; is going to set out on a 
 journey, or has safely returned, the village 
 priest is sent for to pronounce a benedic- 
 tion, or chant a Te Deum,. The seed is 
 blessed, and the crop is blessed ; the doors 
 of houses, barns, and stables are blessed ; 
 and at Christmas, Easter, and Epiphany 
 the pope does not wait to be called, but 
 proceeds, with his clerk, to every house, 
 and pronounces a special blessing. In 
 the richer houses, he just enters the ante- 
 chamber, mumbles his prayers, and swings 
 his pot of incense, and goes off with the 
 donation that is sent out to him by the 
 servant. The moujik, however, whilst eager 
 to secure the services of the pope at as low 
 a price as possible when he is in want of 
 
 them, strenuously objects to their being 
 forced upon him when he does not require 
 them, and shuts up his cottage and runs 
 away when he sees the pope coming, so as 
 not to be "at home" when he arrives. The 
 pope, however, could not afford thus to be 
 balked of his fee, and so he used to take 
 his wife and children, and his clerk's wife 
 and children, and his sexton and bell- 
 ringer's wife and children, with him on his 
 rounds to look out for runaways, and give 
 chase and bring them back. To such an 
 extent did this nuisance prevail, that the 
 synod found it necessary to issue a law for- 
 bidding the popes to raise these feminine 
 and infantile regiments any more. Now he 
 is therefore obliged to have recourse to 
 other stratagems to recover his dues ; such, 
 for instance, as giving his benediction, and 
 then, if payment is refused, to threaten to 
 turn the blessing into a curse ; and so works 
 on the superstitious fears of the moujik^ 
 that he at once pays the sum demanded. 
 
 But however chary the moujik may be 
 with his pecuniary gifts, he cannot be re- 
 proached with want of hospitality. Thus 
 the pope, on his parochial rounds, is plenti- 
 fully plied with vutki; so that, before 
 the day is done, the most important ques- 
 tion for him is, how to get home again; 
 and habitual drunkenness is thus laid to 
 his charge. The truth is, however, that to 
 refuse a glass of spirits is regarded in 
 Russia almost as an insult, and the pope is, 
 morally and practically, obliged to conform 
 to the common usage, on pain of being 
 scouted as proud, and haughty, and un- 
 sociable. The consequence is, that the 
 ability to absorb an unlimited amount of 
 spirits, is almost of more importance to the 
 village pope than any amount of theological 
 learning, which is not wanted by the Qnoujik^ 
 who is quite satisfied with his icons, to 
 whom he confides his spiritual welfare, with 
 every conviction of that being quite suffi- 
 cient for this life and the next. 
 
 Such bt-ing the case, it is not sur- 
 prising to find that the clergy in general do 
 not enjoy any very great esteem amongst 
 the population at large. They rank simply 
 as would the servants of any other depart- 
 ment of State, and are made use of, or 
 obeyed, in the same way as any other offi- 
 cials are. Thus the law commands every 
 Orthodox Christian to communicate once 
 a-year — to "Take the Easter," as the ex- 
 pression goes, and to confess. Having 
 acquitted themselves of these duties, the 
 
 215 
 
THE DISSENTERS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1856-'77. 
 
 lower class of officials, and the soldiers, re- 
 ceive a certificate from the priest that they 
 have complied with the law; whilst, as re- 
 gards the congregation at large, the priest 
 is obliged to enter their names in a register, 
 and furnish a list of those who have "com- 
 municated and confessed," and a black list 
 of those who have not, to the bishops and 
 to the Holy Synod, v Thus the libts for 1873 
 show that 47,000,000 duly performed their 
 religious duties. But, as a matter of fact, 
 a very large proportion of this number 
 never set foot inside the church at all; a 
 small payment — or a large one — to the 
 'po'pe suffices to procure the insertion of a 
 name in the list of the pious, and thus this 
 ecclesiastical police regulation is evaded. 
 Still these evasions are such as lie in the 
 nature of the case, and are mostly practised 
 by the dissenters. Otherwise, the due ob- 
 servance of the religious duties are as much 
 a matter of etiquette amongst the official 
 or higher classes, as the wearing of a dress- 
 coat in the dress-circle at the opera. The 
 communion, for instance, has none of that 
 solemnity of preparation that is demanded 
 and complied with in other countries. The 
 sacrament is administered to infants in the 
 shape of a teaspoonful of diluted wine ; and 
 as it was begun, so it is continued, as a 
 mere matter of ritual and formality; and at 
 Lenten time, the noblesse intimate to their 
 various friends that they will not be " at 
 home" for so-and-so many days, as they are 
 about to " prepare" for the ceremony ; after 
 which they are complimented on the occa- 
 sion of a birthday or marriage. The em- 
 peror and empress lead the way in this direc- 
 tion by their "communion" being specially 
 announced in the official journal, and pub- 
 lished by the whole press. In the same 
 way, baptism is made a special feature of, 
 and its anniversary celebrated instead of 
 the birthday itself; each child having, at 
 the same time, some patron saint awarded 
 to him, whose shrine he is bound to honour, 
 on the recurring anniversary, by a greater 
 or smaller gift. 
 
 One of the results of this stiff and formal 
 ecclesiastical system of Russia has been the 
 production of the Rashol^ or dissent. But 
 it is not only one specified sect ; it is rather 
 an agglomeration of sects, and may be com- 
 pared, to a certain extent, to Protestantism 
 as distinguished from Roman Catholicism, 
 and after taking into consideration the far 
 greater ignorance of most of its members, 
 compared even to the crudest and most ab- 
 216 
 
 surd denominations that have sprung from 
 the lap of the Reformation. But whilst 
 Protestantism sprang from the true spirit 
 of religion, and to free that spirit from the 
 dead and artificial forms and fetters which 
 an innate and mystical ritual imposed upon 
 it, Raskol has rather been a multiplication 
 of these forms, and its protests levelled 
 rather against the form of these "forms," 
 than against the forms themselves. All the 
 sects of Raskol originate in different read- 
 ings, corrections, and alterations of the 
 Orthodox Liturgy. Thus, perhaps, the first 
 serious schism was commenced in the 15th 
 century, when, as a Novgorodian chronicler 
 states, "Certain philosophers began to chant, 
 ' Lord, have pity upon us !' whilst the 
 others sang, 'Lord, have pity upon us!'" 
 This may seem, to the Western mind, quite 
 insufficient to cause a serious schism ; but 
 it must be remembered that the Russian is, 
 to a great extent, an Oriental mind, and 
 regards every sentence in the liturgy as a 
 magic or cabalistic formula, to alter one 
 word of which would be to destroy its 
 whole value and efficacy. Every gesture, 
 every position, every word sanctioned by 
 long usage and tradition in the ritual, has, 
 for the Russian, the same importance as the 
 minute observance of all the rules and de- 
 tails of an incantation has for the Pagan ; 
 or, to use an example in our own country, 
 for the modern ritualist. The Obriad 
 (Ritual) is, as we have already said, the 
 essence of Russian religious life; and the 
 word Ritualism will therefore perhaps 
 more correctly represent the word Raskol, 
 though that ritualism be not of one and 
 the same character as the ritualism of the 
 present day in England. 
 
 The dissensions had already become so 
 great in the 16th century, that Vassili 
 IV. commissioned a Greek monk, Maximus 
 the Greek, to revise the various liturgies, 
 and correct them ; but the opposition, on 
 the part of the clergy, was too great, and 
 he was condemned by a council, and impri- 
 soned for life as a heretic in a distant 
 monastery. When, however, the invention 
 of printing made these divergences in the 
 manuscript liturgies still more glaringly 
 apparent, the patriarch Nicon, a man of 
 stern energy and inflexible will, determined 
 to institute a reform, and had the chief 
 Slav and Greek liturgies collected from all 
 parts, from the chief churches of Russia, 
 from Byzance and Mount Athos, and ap- 
 pointed a committee to revise them, ex- 
 
 A.D. 1856-77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the dissenters. 
 
 elude the interpolations, and frame a 
 standard which he had adopted, by a council 
 convoked for the purpose, as the only legal 
 liturgy throughout the empire. c 
 
 This action of the patriarch Nicon 
 caused great agitation ; and many people, 
 monasteries, and priests, refused to adopt the 
 new liturgy, and insisted on adhering to 
 the version of their old manuscripts, and 
 kept to their own readings in spite of 
 Nicon, council, czar, and synod. Thus one 
 sect differs from the other in the shape of 
 the cross it uses, or the way they make the 
 sign of the cross. One differs in the ortho- 
 graphy of the name of Jesus; another in 
 that of the inscription at the head of the 
 cross; a third repeats the Hallelujah twice; 
 another three times. Some sign themselves 
 with two fingers ; others with three fingers. 
 Some insist that the resurrection of Lazarus 
 was not a fact, but a parable. According 
 to them, Lazarus represented the human 
 soul ; his death represented sin ; his sisters, 
 Martha and Mary, represent the body and 
 soul ; the tomb is the troubles of life, the 
 resurrection conversion. Similarly, the 
 entry of Christ into Jerusalem on an ass is 
 also to be regarded, not as a fact, but as a 
 parable. These, and similar differences, are 
 adhered to with such tenacity, that it has 
 been quite impossible to break up the sects 
 who have made them part and parcel of 
 their dogmas. Thus, even as a number of 
 peasants said to the late emperor, and as 
 they lately declared before the judges when 
 prosecuted for celebrating clandestine rites, 
 they will uot yield up the worship handed 
 down to them by their fathers. "Do what 
 you like with us, transport us, imprison us; 
 but do not ask us to abandon our faith." 
 Thus adhering doggedly to their tenets, 
 and quite as obstinately as the Orthodox 
 Church to theirs, both parties are firmly 
 convinced that they are in possession of the 
 only true faith, and regard all foreign 
 creeds as rank heresies, and Russia as 
 the favoured land of God, signalled out 
 beyond all others, and justly meriting the 
 title of Holy Russia. To such an extent 
 does this prejudice go, that using the Latin 
 words -Deus and Pater for God, even in 
 Latin works, instead of the Slav Bog, is by 
 some regarded as rank blasphemy, it being 
 impossible, according to them, for the 
 Deity to have any other name than the 
 Slav word. 
 
 Thus the opposition which Nicon's re- 
 vision of the liturgy evoked, continued 
 VOL. u. 2 F 
 
 unabated; but the consternation amongst 
 the old believers — the Starovery — increased 
 still more when, after deposing Nicon, 
 the council confirmed the revision ; and 
 Peter the Great also began to tamper with 
 the church, changing one thing, introduc- 
 ing another, and eliminating a third. 
 Altogether, Peter the Great was, in the 
 eyes of the Starovery, nothing less than a 
 heretic; and when he even dared to alter 
 the course of the sun by changing the 
 calendar, and even attacked the age of the 
 world itself by dating from the birth of 
 Christ, instead of from the creation, the 
 indignation knew no bounds, and all Peter 
 the Great's reforms were opposed on re- 
 ligious grounds. The census, the registra- 
 tion of births and deaths, were declared to 
 be impious and blasphemous regulations; 
 God alone having the right to count his 
 flock — witness the sin and punishment of 
 David. Still more horrifying to the Staro- 
 very was the capitation-tax, or soul-tax 
 (podouchenoi oklad), which was regarded 
 as an actual tax on the actual soul, inas- 
 much as, in the interval between the days 
 for raising the tax, a certain number of 
 those who were taxed had died, and Peter 
 was thus regarded as disputing with God 
 the possession of the departed soul. Thus 
 arose the sect of the Stranniki, whose par- 
 ticular creed was opposition to all govern- 
 ment authority, and made defiance of the 
 imperial law — no matter what the law 
 might be — a religious duty, inasmuch as 
 the emperor was the Antichrist of the 
 Apocalypse. This view speedily gained 
 over a number of fresh adherents, and a 
 whole series of legends regarding Peter the 
 Great were invented to support the accu- 
 sation. Some contended that he was the 
 bastard son of Nicon, the sacrilegious, and 
 a female devil. According to others, the 
 czar, Peter Alexievitch, had been a pious, 
 true-believing prince; but that he had 
 been drowned, and his shape assumed by a 
 Jew of the race of Danof — i.e., of the 
 devil; that this impostor, after having 
 seized the throne, had imprisoned the 
 czarina, married a German adventuress of 
 equally doubtful origin, and had filled 
 Russia with a host of blasphemous foreigners, 
 who had sold their souls to Satan for the 
 honours showered upon them in the land of 
 true believers. The simple contact with 
 these functionaries was dangerous to the 
 soul. 
 Having, then, discovered that Antichrist 
 
 217 
 
 i 
 
1 
 
 THE SECTS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 fA.D. 1856-77. 
 
 had appeared, all the prophecies of tlie 
 Apocalypse were hunted up, and made to 
 apply to Russia and her czar. They dis- 
 covered the number of the Beast in the 
 name of Peter and his successors, each 
 letter in the Slav alphabet possessing, as 
 in the Greek alphabet, a numerical value, 
 (h^ letters in the name of Peter the Great 
 amounting to 666. Then, by certain altera- 
 tions, mystical divisions, multiplications, 
 or additions, they discovered the same 
 number in the names of all the succeeding 
 rulers. Thus, by a strange chance, the 
 letters in the word "Imperator," after 
 eliminating the second letter, also pro- 
 duces the fatal 666 — which is not the case 
 with the word "Czar" — and thus, it was 
 said, the letter "M" was the sign under 
 "which the Beast concealed himself: con- 
 sequently, the Russian emperors since 
 Peter the Great, are known to these sects 
 by the letter or letters under which the 
 Beast strove to hide his identity. Accord- 
 ing to them, Russia has been governed, 
 since the date of the Council of Moscow 
 (which upheld Nicon's revision, and excom- 
 municated the true believers), by a series 
 of Apocalyptical Beasts, each with the mys- 
 tical number 666 ; and, strangely enough, 
 this number also appears in the year of the 
 council, 1666 A.D. And, not even content 
 with all these proofs, the old true-believing 
 Muscovites have discovered, that the very 
 name of their country, Roussa, is simply 
 the Assour or Assyria of the Bible 
 spelt backwards, and thus the subject of 
 the anathemas hurled against the cities of 
 Babylon and Nineveh. 
 
 Thus the very head and fountain of the 
 government being Satanic, everything that 
 proceeded from it was diabolical, and Russia 
 itself under diabolical rule. Everything 
 that the government introduced was re- 
 garded as something Satanic; tobacco, tea, 
 coffee, sugar, all colonial produce, was 
 heretical and diabolical. One sect forbade 
 ,the use of potatoes, having discovered that 
 that was the fruit with which Satan 
 tempted Eve. Tobacco was equally con- 
 demned on the basis of the words of the 
 evangelist, that it is not that which enters 
 the mouth of a man which defiles him, but 
 that which goes out of him (Mark vii. 15). 
 Another sect forbade the use of sugar, be- 
 cause blood was used in its manufacture, 
 and the Scriptures prohibit the use of blood 
 as food. Some of these true believers re- 
 fused even to make use of paved roads, be- 
 21d 
 
 cause they were an invention of the Anti- 
 christ. In short, the whole country was 
 under the rule of Veelzevoulovitch — 
 Beelzebub — and the end of the world was 
 approaching. But though this end has 
 been approaching ever since the days of 
 Peter the Great, without ever appearing, 
 the Stranniki are always able to explain 
 the delay, and assert that its non-appear- 
 ance in no way disproves the reign of the 
 Antichrist, which may last for centuries, or 
 come to an end to-morrow. But that it 
 does exist, none of the Stranniki have any 
 manner of doubt ; they only disagree as to 
 its manifestations, and the probable length 
 and character of its reign. All this led to a 
 broad division amongst the Raskolniks on 
 the occasion of the imprisonment and proba- 
 ble murder of the only Orthodox bishop who 
 stood up for the old liturgies — Bishop Paul, 
 of Kolomma. Through this event the 
 Raskolniks were deprived of any spiritual 
 head, and found themselves unable to 
 accept any other ; for the spiritual powers 
 havinof been handed down from Christ to 
 the present time by the uninterrupted con- 
 secration of bishops, and the only truly 
 consecrated bishops being no more, there 
 was an end to the chain. They themselves 
 could not consecrate a bishop ; and the 
 bishops of the Orthodox Church having 
 irretrievably sinned by their acceptance of 
 the new liturgy, and connivance in the reign 
 of the Antichrist, were still less able to 
 supply the broken link, even had they been 
 willing. Still it was held by some that the 
 Orthodox Church, bonded as it was to 
 Satan, had not lost the apostolic powers of 
 chirotony — the consecration of bishops, 
 priests, and deacons by the laying on of 
 hands — and entered into some sort of com- 
 promise with the Orthodox Church ; the 
 others, however, remained firm, and refused 
 absolutely to yield. Thus the Raskolniks 
 were divided into two sections — the 
 popovtski, who possess priests, and the 
 ber popovtski, who do without. 
 
 The latter soon lost themselves in all 
 sorts of vagaries in their search for spiritual 
 rest and comfort. Some instituted con- 
 fession to each other, each one absolving 
 his neighbour, and being in turn absolved 
 by him, on the principle of one hand wash- 
 ing the other. In lieu of the sacramental 
 bread and wine administered by a properly 
 ordained priest, they "took the Easter" 
 in the shape of raisins from the hand of a 
 young girl. Others went even still further 
 
 A.D. 1856-'77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 in their mysticism, and pretended to obtain 
 the Eucharist from the breast of a young 
 virgin. Another sect spent Good Friday 
 in absolute silence, with their mouths wide 
 open, waiting for invisible angels to ad- 
 minister invisible wine out of an invisible 
 chalice. Still wilder even were the doc- 
 trines based on the approaching end of the 
 world. The Dietoubitski, or killers of in- 
 fants, held it to be their duty to murder 
 the innocent babe rather than let him grow 
 up to be exposed to the temptations of the 
 cursed and infernal government. Others, 
 the Suffocators (Douchiltstchiki), and the 
 Assassins (Tioukalstchiki), considered it a 
 religious duty to prevent their friends, 
 parents, and children from dying a natural 
 death, and murdered them when they were 
 dangerously ill, or at the point of death, on 
 the pretext that the kingdom of God must 
 be taken by force (Matt. xi. 12;. 
 
 But the most universal belief amongst 
 all the vaiious Raskolniks is, that man, 
 haying been created in the image of God, 
 it is nothing less than rank blasphemy to 
 shave or cut one's beard. So strong is this 
 belief, that in 1874, even some of the navy 
 recruits absolutely refused to be shaved, 
 and preferred to incur several years' punish- 
 ment for insubordination rather than sub- 
 mit. In consequence, the government has 
 been forced to allow certain corps in the 
 army, which are chiefly composed of old 
 
 [the sects. 
 
 believers, to retain their beard and mous- 
 tache. Thus the faith of the true old be- 
 lieving Cossack of the Ural was stronger 
 than the will of the Autorcat of all the 
 Russias. 
 
 This sketch of the social condition of 
 the Russian people, and their religious views, 
 amply demonstrates how, in spite of the 
 most liberal reforms, the government can 
 still preserve its despotic character, on 
 account of the means offered l»v which 
 each reform can be made a dead letter of. 
 The elements of which the bulk of the 
 nation is composed are so divergent in their 
 individuality, that many years must elapse 
 before the reforms instituted can bear any 
 fruit. The "secret societies," of which so 
 much has recently been said, do not possess 
 any danger for the government, insomuch as 
 each follows a different object, and none of 
 these objects tend towards a common point 
 of action ; although it is no doubt true that 
 the various sections of the Raskol keep up 
 a certain connexion with each other. Still 
 this connexion is preserved less for the pur- 
 pose of attack than for the defence of prin- 
 ciples each particular section professes. It 
 results in a kind of Freemasonry between 
 them ; so that if a member of one of these 
 sects is persecuted by the government, he 
 receives every assistance from the members 
 of another sect, though the two may profess 
 distmctly opposite and opposed principles. 
 
 ^ 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 nUSSIAN ROADS AND RAILWAYS. 
 
 For about six months in the year, Russia 
 has the finest roads in the world. For 
 three months they are the worst; and for 
 the remaining three she may be said to 
 have none at all. The means of intercom- 
 munication in summer are, as often as not, 
 the dry bed of a river; and where there is 
 what may, by courtesy, be called a road, it 
 is so thickly laid with dust, and worn into 
 deep ruts, that traffic along it is as laborious 
 as it is slow. In the rainy and thawing 
 seasons, the mud is so bottomless that, 
 practically, traffie is impossible. But 
 
 during the winter, the snow— the first ap- 
 pearance of which is hailed with thankful 
 delight by all classes, from the richest to 
 the poorest — covers the whole country with 
 a mantle that transforms the whole expanse 
 of soil into one magnificent road, along 
 which the sledges dart in all directions in 
 pursuit of business or pleasure. 
 
 Still sledges are not exactly adapted for 
 heavy traffic ; nor can they be said to be a 
 cheap means of locomotion ; so that, whilst 
 sufficing for immediate local or postal traf- ' 
 fie, they are quite inadequate for the inter- 
 
 219 
 
!' 
 
 EOADS AND RAILWAYS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1856-77. 
 
 change of commodities, of which the pro- 
 ducing centres are at such a distance from 
 each other, as in Russia. Thus, though 
 there are mineral deposits of great ricliness 
 in various parts of Russia, they cannot be 
 worked at a profit, in consequence of the 
 absence of roads. The iron-works of Nevi- 
 ansk, for instance, near Ekaterinenburg, in 
 the Ural, produce excell<^it steel ; but it has 
 to traverse hundreds of miles of wretched 
 roads before it reaches the navigable Kama, 
 and is eighteen months on the road before 
 it reaches St. Petersburg or Moscow. 
 
 These works were founded by Peter the 
 Great, who, whilst visiting the foundries and 
 small-arms factories at Toula, was much 
 struck by the figure of a gigantic smith, 
 named Demidoff. The czar wanted to make 
 a soldier of him ; but being impressed by 
 his intelligence and skill, he sent him to 
 examine the metalliferous districts of the 
 Ural, and subsequently leased and sold to 
 him the works just mentioned at Neviansk. 
 Since that time to the present they have 
 been worked by the descendants of the 
 blacksmith Demidotf, who are now one of 
 the richest families in the empire. The 
 mines, however, from the want of communi- 
 cation with the rest of the country, are 
 quite unable to compete with foreign pro- 
 duce. 
 
 The same drawbacks prevent the develop- 
 ment of the vast coal-beds that exist in 
 various parts of the country, notably round 
 Moscow, and in the basin of the Donetz ; 
 the only mines that return a fair profit 
 being the mines of graphite, in Siberia; a 
 large proportion of which is worked up into 
 pencils, and other articles, by the celebrated 
 German manufacturers, Faljer and Handt- 
 muth. 
 
 The rivers of Russia, however, and the 
 very slight differences in the level of the 
 country, were highly favourable to the con- 
 struction of canals; and now the Caspian, 
 Black Sea, and Baltic are all united by a 
 system of water-ways, that successfully 
 compete still with the railways, and land, 
 transport, and bring some 25,000 vessels a 
 year into the capital. In the matter of 
 railways, scarcely anything had been done 
 at the time of the American war. There 
 was only one line from St. Petersburg to 
 Tsarskoe-Selo, about twenty miles long ; the 
 line joining Moscow to St. Petersburg, a 
 distance of about 380 miles, and which was 
 begun in 1842, not having been completed 
 until 1861. 
 
 220 
 
 But after the close of the American war, 
 the government at once proceeded to the 
 development of its railway system, acting 
 on the principle of combining strategic with 
 commercial advantages, if possible; but, 
 above all, to look to the strategic side first, 
 and afterwards to the commercial side. In 
 accordance with this principle, it was de- 
 cided that the Russian lines should be nine 
 centimetres wider than the German lines, so 
 as to prevent their being worked by the 
 German en<rines and rollingj-stock, in case 
 of war. The impediments placed in the 
 way of commerce by this system, through 
 necessitating the unloading and reloading 
 of the cars, was quite ignored in favour of 
 the supposed strategic advantages, which 
 are more apparent than real ; for, first of all, 
 the system cuts both ways ; as, though the 
 Germans may not be able to use their roll- 
 ing-stock on Russian lines, still, neither can 
 the Russians use their engines on the Prus- 
 sian lines. Besides which, there is no great 
 difficulty in adapting the lines to the en- 
 gines, or rolling-stock to the lines ; so that 
 important commercial requirements have 
 been sacrificed to strategical crotchets. In 
 the same way, the line from Moscow to 
 Theodosia in the Crimea, via Kursk and 
 the Lower Dineper^ left Odessa on one side; 
 which is much the same thing as if a line 
 were constructed from Birmingham to 
 Woolwich or Chatham without touching 
 London. 
 
 However, the gauge having thus been de- 
 cided on in spite of all the representations 
 madebythe mercantileclasses, a ukase was is- 
 sued on February 7th, 1857, authorising the 
 formation of the Russian Railway Company, 
 for the construction of a network of lines 
 joining St. Petersburg to Warsaw, with a 
 junction at Wilna for Konigsberg and the 
 Prussian frontier ; from Moscow to Nijni- 
 Novgorod; from Moscow to Theodosia 
 in the Crimea, via Kursk, with a trans- 
 verse branch to Libau on the Baltic. " By 
 this means," said the ukase, "a railway 
 will traverse twenty-six governments, con- 
 necting three capitals, our principal rivers, 
 the centres of agricultural produce, and two 
 ports, one on the Baltic, and one on the 
 Black Sea, which are open nearly all the 
 year round." This network, representing 
 a total length of about 4,000 versts, the 
 company engaged to construct in ten years, 
 under a government guarantee of 5 per 
 cent., and the monopoly of the lines for 
 eighty-five years. The company at once 
 
 ' 
 
 A.D. 1856-77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [roads and railways. 
 
 set to work, employing, in 1859, over 60,000 
 men on the works; and in 1861, the St. 
 Petersburg- Warsaw, and in 1862, the Mos- 
 cow-Novgorod lines were completed and 
 working. Disputes, however, arose between 
 the government and the company. The ca- 
 pital had been fixed at 275,000,000 roubles, 
 which it was proposed should be raised by 
 loan. The first issue for 75,000,000 was 
 fully subscribed, in 1857, in Russia and 
 Holland ; but in London it was a complete 
 failure. The following year another issue 
 of 35,000,000 was made ; but, owing to the 
 high price of money, and the government 
 also entering the market with a government 
 loan, the operation was conducted at a loss, 
 and recriminations arising between the 
 company and the government, the former 
 was placed under government administra- 
 tion, and the construction of the other lines 
 taken out of its hands. Still the work was 
 rapidly proceeded with ; and in quick suc- 
 cession followed the construction of the 
 lines Riga-Dunaberg-Revel ; Odessa-Tsor- 
 itsin ; from Warsaw to Moscow, via Minsk 
 and Smolensk ; from Moscow to Tsaritsin, 
 and Moscow-Odessa, with branches to Ta- 
 ganrog on the Sea of Azoff, and to Jassy via 
 Balta. A line was also constructed from 
 Poli to Tiflis, and which it is intended to 
 continue, via Elisabethpol, to the Caspian 
 at Baku. 
 
 Altogether, it may be said that, in the 
 twenty years that have now elapsed since 
 the Crimean war, the requirements of 
 what may be called " railway strategy " have 
 been fully satisfied in Russia. The great 
 strategic centres have all been connected 
 with the capitals, and with each other; 
 Kertch, Theodosia, and Kiefif in the south ; 
 Sweaborg and Cronstadt in the north ; and 
 in the west, the formidable quadrilateral 
 of Warsaw, Zamose, Svangorod, Brzesc- 
 Rilewski, and, above all, Modlin. The 
 latter fortress, situated at the junction of 
 the Bug and the Vistula, without any civil 
 population beyond that necessary for the 
 garrison, is the very model of a stronghold. 
 Immense, gloomy, and silent, equally 
 powerful for attack or defence, it is a 
 standing menace to Europe: it is the 
 Metz of Russia ; and, like Metz, it will one 
 day be the scene of sanguinary combats 
 between Muscovite and Teuton. It may 
 
 be regarded as the strategic terminus of 
 the Russian system in the west ; whilst the 
 Black Sea and Baltic fortresses efi'ectually 
 protect its flanks. * 
 
 But whilst the strategic necessities of 
 the empire have been thus provided for, 
 the commercial requirements still demand 
 rnuch attention. Above all, must be men- 
 tioned the want of cross-roads and properly 
 macadamised high-roads. The two great 
 obstacles to the achievement of this object 
 are— first of all, the scarcity of sufficiently 
 hard stone in Great Russia ; and, secondly, 
 the commercial system, which prevents 
 anything like popular action in the matter. 
 Want of funds greatly hampers the govern- 
 ment ; and the sums that are voted are but 
 too frequently misapplied, embezzled in 
 one way or the other, and generally insuffi- 
 cient, very large amounts being necessary 
 for the construction and repair of bridges, 
 which are very numerous, and seriously 
 damaged every year by the ice. The cost 
 of material is great; and though the 
 engineering difficulties are unimportant, 
 still there is more work to be done in the 
 matter of deep foundations than there 
 would be in more temperate climates, where 
 the frost does not penetrate so deeply into 
 the earth. The iron-work also has to be 
 of a superior quality, as the inferior 
 sorts become quite brittle under the intense 
 frost. Unfortunately, the contractors of 
 the various works have taken advantage of 
 this circumstance with a keen eye to future 
 "repairing" contracts. In fact, the Rus- 
 sian lines have cost more, in spite of their 
 easy construction, than have even the most 
 expensive Indian lines. Tales are told of 
 cargoes of rails being unshipped at Odessa, 
 paid for there, re-shipped at Kertch, and 
 unshipped again and paid twice over at 
 Odessa. Roads that were given by con- 
 tract to be macadamised with granite, have 
 been treated with soft limestone that a 
 dog-cart would grind to powder. Such, in 
 fact, is the state of the roads and of the ad- 
 ministration, that, when the emperor goes 
 on one of his journeys of inspection, the 
 roads he has to travel by are specially 
 prepared by the crown peasants, and all 
 circulation forbidden upon them for weeks 
 before he starts : and very good care is 
 taken not to let the czar know it. 
 
 221 
 
I 1 
 
 THE RUSSIAN FAIRS.] 
 
 HISTOKY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1856-7^. 
 
 ^ 
 
 f i 
 
 CHAPTER XXXL 
 
 RUSSIAN COMMERCE; THE GREAT FAIR OF NIJNI-NOVGOROD ; MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE FAIR; 
 
 THE SUGAR TRADE. 
 
 The international fairs and markets in 
 "Western Europe by no means possess the 
 importance attached to them in former 
 times. Modern economical development 
 has superseded them. Their rise, in the 
 middle ages, was favoured by the staple 
 law enjoyed by some privileged towns. 
 The great uncertainty of the laws, diffi- 
 culty of transport, small credit — all this 
 caused and furthered the practice of sending 
 goods in large quantities to certain places at 
 certain times. In the selection of places, 
 besides the most favourable situation, the 
 period of the church festivals, when large 
 multitudes of people were assembled, was of 
 great influence. In Western Europe, the de- 
 velopment of the towns has kept pace with 
 the development of industry and intercourse; 
 but in the eastern part of continental 
 Europe, in Russia, the economical condi- 
 tions of the country, affected by natural 
 and political influences, have taken another 
 course. That immense plain, extending 
 over 17 degrees of latitude, varying from 
 the most luxuriant fertility to the desert 
 Tundras, was not equally favourable for the 
 formation of towns. Under Peter the Great, 
 Russia first pushed forward as far as the sea. 
 Moscow was, and still is, the real capital 
 of the great empire : the ancient Hanseatic 
 town, Novgorod, never recovered. 
 
 In the middle of the 14th century, 
 during the rule of the klians of Kasan, in 
 Tartary, we observe, in the summer-time, 
 north of the many-towered, picturesquely- 
 situated capital of Tartary, the growth of 
 a large fair, where merchants, coming from 
 the north and from the south, from the 
 east and from the west, exchanged the pro- 
 ducts of Central Asia for those of Europe. 
 The Russian princes, however, wished to 
 bring the new Slavonian rule into repute 
 with reofard to trade and commerce also. 
 Vasili Iwanowitsch instituted a fair in his 
 dominions, on the right bank of the Volga, 
 at the mouth of the Szora; at the same 
 time forbidding the Russian merchants to 
 attend the Kasan fair. Later, when the 
 rule of the Crescent had been forced to yield 
 to the Greek Cross in Kasan also, the fair 
 222 
 
 was transferred to the neighbourhood of the 
 cloisterdedicated to the great Russian patron 
 saint, Makarieff; and, to this day, they 
 point out to the traveller on the Volga, twelve 
 miles below Nijni, or Nischnei, on the left 
 bank of the river, the spot where the Maka- 
 rieff fair was held. Although the fair was 
 then held in the dry season, at Midsummer, 
 it was still too much exposed here to the 
 inundations of the Volga. When, therefore, 
 in 1816, the fair- booths were destroyed by 
 fire, the government resolved to transfer 
 the fair — or, as it is called in Russian, the 
 yearly market (a word probably derived 
 from the Hanseatic times) — to its present 
 situation. Scarcely could a more favour- 
 able position be found for a fair, where the 
 exchange of merchandise from European 
 Russia, and the products of Western 
 Europe, are to be effected with the North 
 and Central Asia. It lies at the confluence 
 of the Aka, or Oka, and the Volga — that 
 great artery of commerce, which, together 
 with its tributary rivers, represents a 
 navigable watercourse of about 8,000 miles, 
 and which is itself navigable for steamers 
 for a distance of 1,000 miles, from Nischow 
 to Astrachan. Nischnei is nearly the 
 mathematical centre of Russia in Europe. 
 It also lies half-way between two of the 
 most important towns of Middle Russia, 
 Moscow, and Kasan. But, most important 
 of all, it is the centre of the greatest river- 
 system of European Russia — the Don and 
 the Dnieper in the south, the Duna in the 
 middle parts of the empire, and the Neva 
 and Dwina in the north. Throuofh the 
 lakes, which abound in the interior of Rus- 
 sia, and, in the last ten years, through the 
 railways, the transport of goods is still 
 further facilitited alongr these different 
 rivers. Besides this, Nischnei lies in the 
 midst of the most industrial and populous 
 governments — Moscow, Smolensk, Koslow, 
 Tula, Twer, Yaraslow, Kostroma, and Nis- 
 chegovrod. Here the cotton and iron trades 
 have developed themselves on a great scale ; 
 to which may be added the active home- 
 industry which occupies the population 
 during the long winter. For fifteen years 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 > 
 
 ^ a1 
 
A.D. 1856-77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [ntjni-novgorod. 
 
 / 
 
 1 I 
 
 : 
 
 Nischnei has been united with Moscow by a 
 railway; but the transport by water still 
 remains the most considerable. Even in 
 winter, the endless trains of sledges going 
 to Yebit, the great winter fair beyond the 
 Ural, when possible, choose the ice-track 
 of the river as the most convenient. 
 
 Late in the spring, when the melting 
 snow, flowing eastward from the Ural, 
 swells the numerous rivers, the traders set 
 out, on rude conveyances, for the Volga, 
 where the tugs await them, to carry them 
 and their goods up the river. From seven 
 to eight hundred steamers navigate the 
 Volga^; and, when we consider that the 
 barges drawn by them may contain from 
 eighty to a hundred thousand or more 
 puds (the pud = lOf kilogrammes), we 
 may form an estimate of the amount of 
 merchandise moving on the great streams 
 of Russia. On the Caspian Sea, also, we 
 find the steamers of the great Russian 
 companies, conveying the imports from 
 Trans-Caucasia and Persia, by way of Baku 
 and Asterabad. The only favourable sea- 
 son for holding the fair is at Midsummer. 
 The commencement of this fair, and of 
 the church services on the 17th of July, is 
 officially announced by the hoisting of a 
 flag; it ends after pay-day, two months 
 later, on the 16th of September. 
 
 The aspect of the fair has often been 
 described ; but, as we have found by per- 
 sonal observation, not always correctly. 
 The market-town is not exactly in the 
 town of Nischnei, but on the opposite bank, 
 on a point of land called the Strejelka, 
 formed by the confluence of the river Aka 
 with the Volga. A pleasing and charming 
 picture presents itself on arriving, by rail- 
 way, on the left bank of the Aka. From 
 the mountains on the opposite shore, the 
 green towers, with their cupolas and glitter- 
 ing crosses, meet the eye, rising above the 
 white w^alls of the town of Nischnei, lying 
 beyond in the plain, whilst the industrial 
 and commercial suburbs stretch along the 
 river. As, on the one side, the town and 
 the mountain-ridge form a picturesque 
 background for the fair, so, on the other, 
 the best view of it is obtained in the 
 upper town, from the height of Grebes- 
 chock, or from the tower raised to the 
 memory of a former governor, Mouraview. 
 Both streams, of a considerable width, are 
 covered with numerous vessels, and several 
 steamers. Among the confusion of roofs, 
 towers, and gables below, the eye is first 
 
 struck by a bridge of boats, nearly 900 yards 
 long, leading across the Aka from Nischnei 
 to the market-town. It is constructed of 
 beams resting on pontoons. From the 
 other side of the river the tumult of the 
 fair is faintly heard; the churches and 
 the mosque rise above the scarcely distin- 
 guishable mass of stone and wooden build- 
 ings. In the river there is a long sandy 
 island, on which, as in the fair, the life and 
 motion are like that of an ant-hill. Passing 
 through the Atkoss, a declivitous gorge, 
 the road leads down to the suburb, which 
 truly deserves the name of Nischnei-Nov- 
 gorod, "Lower New-town;" for it has 
 been built much later than the upper 
 town, which hac grown up under the pro- 
 tection of the Kremlin, 
 
 The fair-town is divided into the inner 
 and the outer. The inner town consists of 
 rows of buildings of one and two storeys, 
 erected in streets crossing each other at 
 right angles, and surrounded by a canal. 
 There are twelve running straight to the 
 river, and six rows parallel with it. The 
 central one, wide and embellished by an 
 avenue of willows, extends from the town- 
 hall on the river side, to the Savor, the 
 Greek church, at the other end. These 
 long rows of buildings are marked with the 
 letters of the alphabet, besides large halls, 
 bearing different names according to the 
 goods offered for sale in them : for instance. 
 The Armenian, the Yaroslavan, the Tva- 
 nogoer — the Leather, Linen, Cloth, Gold- 
 smiths', Needle, Shoe Halls, &c. These 
 names are, however, no longer always ap- 
 plicable. The cross-rows, or bazaars, are 
 not named ; some of them, as the Kitaistic 
 Pojadni (the Chinese Bazaars) are distin- 
 guished by little Chinese towers on the 
 roofs ; but at the present time the Chinese 
 attend the market but little, and the name 
 is appropriate only in so far as the Russian 
 tea-dealers have their stalls there. In 
 walking through the rows of this inner 
 market, we miss the noisy activity usual at 
 fairs and markets ; the shops — before which 
 there is a paved and covered path — are in- 
 significant ; and the whole is, outwardly, in 
 no way distinguishable from the Gostinoi- 
 Dwore, which we see in Petersburg and 
 Moscow, and are far surpassed, in splendour 
 and brilliancy of display, by the modern 
 bazaars of Berlin, Vienna, and Paris. It 
 is true we receive another impression on 
 entering one or other of these shops, and 
 convince ourselves of the mass of mer- 
 
 223 
 
 h 
 
 i '■ 
 
RUSSIAN FAIRS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1856-'77. 
 
 chandise brought here for sale. Exact and 
 complete statistics of the fairs, embracing 
 every point relating to them, do not exist ; 
 but the committee appointed for the sur- 
 veyance of business at the fairs, endeavours 
 to establish the approximate value and 
 quantity of goods brought annually to the 
 market. In the very detailed statistics of 
 the fairs for 1876, the goods are not strictly 
 classed according to their similarity, but 
 oftener divided according to the places they j 
 come from, and exact information respect- j 
 ing the sales effected is wanting. Without i 
 wearying the reader with figures, it should, 
 at all events, be mentioned, that in these 
 statistics the total value of goods brought to 
 the fairs in 1876, is given at 165 millions 
 of roubles ; whilst it is proved that, in the 
 period of ten years — from 1817 to 1826 — 
 the average yearly amount was 32 millions. 
 In looking over the statistics, we find some 
 thirty items, of the value of one to several 
 millions. Unfortunately, also, the Russian 
 and foreign manufactures are only in a few 
 cases distinguished from one another. In 
 a very minute consular report of the fairs, 
 published a few years ago in the Prussian 
 Handelsarchiv, it is said, that the supply 
 and sale of Russian goods may be taken 
 at five times as great as that of other 
 countries — a proportion that may be con- 
 sidered as about correct at the present day. ; 
 Under "Foreign," the valuable Asiatic' 
 goods are understood. West European 
 and colonial wares form a very small por- 
 tion. Only some articles appear open to 
 the eye in large masses, such as tea, iron, 
 fish, raw cotton and wool, the salt-depot 
 on the Aka, wood-work, some of which, 
 such as cart-wheels, sledge-runners, and 
 all sorts of household utensils, lie on the 
 conveyances in which they have been 
 brought to the fair. If we wish to see 
 more, we must penetrate into the interior 
 of the shops and warehouses, accompanied 
 by an interpreter, or Artelschick. The 
 stone warehouses of the inner town, the 
 Ambars, are the property of the Crown, 
 which, indeed, has furnished, at no small 
 cost, all the arrangements for holding 
 the fairs: these include the network of 
 walled subterranean canals which intersect 
 the whole inner town. The access to the 
 "catacombs" (or fair-vaults) is by steps, 
 surmounted by little low towers. These 
 catacombs are washed out every night, by 
 means of a steam-engine, which draws up 
 the river-water into the reservoir of a 
 224 
 
 tower, where it is stored up in case of fire. 
 This washing out is a most wholesome 
 arrangement for the sanitary condition of 
 the place, where, at times, 100,00i) to 
 150,000 strangers are assembled. There is 
 also an excellent fire-brigade now organised. 
 The " little market" of the fair is on an 
 open space before the town-hall. Cha- 
 racteristic are the numerous stalls with 
 malachite articles, the mead-sellers, the 
 Orenburg lace-traders, the pedlars with 
 fruits, shoes, and needles. In the lower 
 hall of the bazaar we find also French 
 jewelry, and Caucasian baubles of fine wood 
 inlaid with silver. The stalls of the inner 
 fair, the shops, warehouses, and lofts of the 
 Ambars are let on hire by the government, 
 and bring in 300,000 roubles annually. 
 On the other hand, the cost of repairs must 
 be considered; for at the time of the floods 
 of the Aka and the Volga, the whole 
 market-place is inundated, and thus the 
 government contemplates disposing of their 
 property for the sum of three and a-half 
 millions of roubles. Altogether, the num- 
 ber of stalls and shops amounts to 5,000. 
 The wooden edifices are mostly erected 
 specially for every fair, because they are too 
 much damaged by the water in winter and 
 in spring. 
 
 The most interesting part of the fair lies 
 in the outer town. In the imposing mass 
 of goods in the great store-houses, piled up 
 towards the Volga, the peculiarity of the 
 fair strikes one more especially ; the goods 
 are actually there, and can be viewed in 
 every department. On the Siberian land- 
 ing-place is the tea-store. Tea is the 
 daily beverage of the Russians, and is 
 an important article at the fair; indeed, 
 formerly, the tea-trade determined the 
 course of the market, which may be herein 
 explained by the greater number of the 
 sellers being buyers also: especially the 
 Siberians, the Bokharians, Armenians, and 
 Persians. 
 
 In the Persian bazaar we find the pro- 
 ducts of the rich provinces of that 
 country : raisins and almonds, pistachio- 
 nuts and walnuts, dates and currants, and 
 — which is especially relished by the Rus- 
 sians — schabdalla (dried peaches). Here 
 the Persian trader, dressed in his long 
 kaftan, pointed cap, and bright-coloured 
 slippers, constantly chatteriug, and with 
 animated gestures, carries on his traffic. 
 Besides these fruits, he has quantities of 
 very durable woven carpets packed iu 
 
 ft 
 
 i 
 
^>1 
 
 A.D. 1856-'77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the tea-markeki. 
 
 k'- 
 
 matting, shawls, and embroidery. In re- 
 turn, and to a much more considerable 
 amount, the Persian buys especially red 
 cotton goods, linen, cloth, copper, drugs, 
 gold-thread and fringes, and sugar. 
 
 On, past transport establishments, in- 
 surance agencies, agencies of every kind, 
 notaries' offices — where there is a great deal 
 to do, particularly with protested bills, on 
 pay-day — past Russian, German, and even 
 Persian inns, through a hot cloud of dust, 
 or, in wet weather, through a bottomless 
 sea of mud, we reach an open space, which 
 stretches past a long row of low wooden 
 buildings, and the comptoir of the Steam 
 Navigation Company. On the right we see 
 a little town, consisting of neat wooden 
 houses, covered inside and outside with 
 matting of lime-tree bast (Tinofka). These 
 lime-tree bast mats, the finer as well as the 
 coarser kinds, form an important article at 
 the fairs as packing material. "Accom- 
 panied by a Russian, who could speak 
 German, we entered one of these mat- 
 covered houses, called Balagem, and made 
 the acquaintance of the owner, an Irkutsk 
 tea-dealer, named Alexander Gerasimowitsh 
 Malich. With true Russian hospitality he 
 invited us into his prettily-decorated room. 
 A glass of the best Kiachta tea, with lemon- 
 peel in, was immediately presented to us. 
 Pan Malich, a very talkative, lively man, 
 with intelligent face, then conducted us to 
 the tea-store, and, with an iron gauge, 
 something like our cheese-tasters, he pro- 
 duced, out of one of the thousand chests 
 which lay in the open air, covered with 
 matting and guarded by Tartars, a sample 
 of tea. The tea mostly consumed in 
 Russia is black tea. For the true tea- 
 connoisseur, it suffices for him to rub the 
 sample between his fingers and smell it. 
 He can then at once determine the quality." 
 
 Up to the year 1856, Chinese tea was 
 transported for Russia entirely by land 
 from China to Nischnei. In that year the 
 importation of tea was permitted at a lower 
 rate of duty; and since then. Canton tea — 
 this collective name comprehending all teas 
 imported by sea — has gained the upper- 
 hand more and more over that coming by 
 land. Still the Kiachta tea is a valuable 
 and important article at the fairs ; and the 
 assertion that tea, even when specially dried 
 and treated, loses its flavour through the 
 sea-transport, seems not without founda- 
 tion. Han-Khan, on the Yants^-Kiang, , 
 has now attained great importance as the [ 
 
 VOL. n. 2 G 
 
 Russian depot of tea coming by sea via 
 Shanghai, and as a tea-market generally in 
 China. We obtained some interesting in- 
 formation from a merchant who is well 
 acquainted with the Kiachta tea-trade, and 
 has more than once attended the Han- 
 Khan tea-market. A chest of Kiachta tea 
 contains 90 to 92 lbs. (the Russian pound 
 has 409 grammes.) The tea is packed in silk- 
 paper and lead. The chest is covered on 
 the outside with reed matting. At the 
 tea-market of Han-Kiang, which takes 
 place from the 8th to the 12th of Mai, the 
 first tea-harvest coming to market amounts 
 to about 400,000 packages; these arrive 
 from the tea-districts in conveyances, in 
 which they remain until sold. The pro- 
 prietors lodge in the tea-houses, where 
 the jobbers wait upon them. These dis- 
 tribute the samples obtained among the 
 twenty or twenty-five representants of 
 Shanghai firms attending the market, the 
 greater part Russians ; the smaller, English. 
 After this, the conclusion of business is 
 quickly accomplished through the jobbers. 
 These keep a market journal, in which the 
 quantity and quality of the purchases, the 
 prices given, and the name of the pur- 
 chaser, are entered. The tea conveyed by 
 land from Han-Kiang to Russia is called 
 Chankowiki, to distinguish it from the 
 Cantonski. One single Russian house has 
 as good as the monopoly of export. The 
 export of tea from Han-Kiang and Shanghai 
 by sea for Europe, is carried on by steamers 
 through the Suez canal to England, the 
 Russian ports, particularly Revel and 
 Odessa, and to the Netherlands. Germany 
 imports only a few cargoes from Futschew 
 to Hamburg. 
 
 The tea destined for land-transport is 
 first brought by sea from Shanghai to 
 Tien-Tsin ; also partly by land. From here 
 the land-transport proper commences, first 
 to Kalgan, an important commercial town 
 near the Chinese wall, and on the frontiers 
 of Mongolia. Our informant gave us the 
 import of Kiachta tea into Russia at about 
 45,000 chests, which nearly agrees with the 
 market reports of the Petersburg Russian 
 Exchange Journal. 
 
 The tea-caravans, as the Russian traveller 
 Przelwalski relates, form a characteristic 
 aspect of Eastern Mongolia. A camel can 
 carry four chests = 216 kilogrammes, of tea 
 through the desert. Mongols accompany 
 this transport as far as Maimatchin, the 
 Chinese town near Kaschta : here the tea- 
 
 225 
 
 ^1.1 
 
 M 
 
 i . 
 
 f || 
 
 / 
 
RUSSIAN TEA-TRADE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1856-77. 
 
 A.D. 1856-77.] 
 
 chests are sewn up in damp skins for 
 further transport. A particular sort of tea 
 coming to Rusi^ia is the brick tea. The 
 preparation of this common tea, an im- 
 portant article of daily consumption in 
 Mongolia, Siberia, and particularly for the 
 Steppe populations of European and Asiatic 
 Russia, and even used in Central Asia as a 
 medium of exchange, is carried on by the 
 Russian dealers in Han-Riang. These 
 bricks are of different sizes; of the smaller 
 kind, some sixty fit in a chest. 
 
 The value of all the sorts of tea brought 
 to the fair of 1876, is given by the official 
 statement at eight and a-half million of 
 roubles. All these estimates are given by 
 the proprietors themselves to the market 
 committee : there is no higher control exer- 
 cised. The commonest sort of brick-tea, 
 or, in Russian, Kirpitschui, is composed of 
 the refuse of the tea-shrub, and is drunk 
 by the nomad tribes, boiled with mutton- 
 fat and milk. It may be observed that 
 the tea business was very bad at the last 
 market. As an example of the consump- 
 tion of tea in Russia, we may say that the 
 value of the corn-export about covers the 
 
 import of tea. 
 
 We will now cast a glance on the Pisli, 
 the sandy island lying in the Aka, near the 
 shore. Several bridges lead to it, and also 
 rails, as indeed is the case from the station 
 through the chief streets of the fair. Two 
 important articles are stored on the Pisli — 
 iron and dried salt-fish. In extensive 
 booths also, erected fresh for every fair, we 
 find immense quantities of the various pro- 
 ductions of the Ural mines and foundries ; 
 among others, from the celebrated Demidoff 
 works of Nischnei Tagilsk. On the way 
 to Pisli we see another speciality of the 
 market — the church-bell store. Metal bells, 
 of the most various sizes, hang here sus- 
 pended from large beams. Our road leads 
 us also past the place of sale for the 
 ' samovars, the Russian tea- machines, heated 
 by charcoal, and the people's kitchen, under 
 the protection of the empress. If the 
 wages of the fair-labourer be low (about 
 eighty kopecks), he can, on the other hand, 
 procure the necessaries of life at a small 
 expense. At the people's kitchen, which is 
 very clean and well managed, he can, for 
 four kopecks, get a portion of tea with sugar ; 
 and, for eight kopecks, as much as he can 
 eat of Schtschi (cabbage-soup), bread, and 
 boiled grits, with oil. In the warehouses 
 are the productions of the foundries—iron 
 226 
 
 bars, wire, copper bars, horse-shoes, nails, 
 iron' stoves, cooking vessels of iron, and 
 tinned iron. Altogether, at last year's fair, 
 twenty-two private iron-foundries sent in 
 hardware to the amount of five and one- 
 third million puds, representing a value 
 of nearly ten million roubles. 
 
 The productions of the crown foundries, 
 compared with those of the private foun- 
 dries, are, in value and weight, scarcely 
 worth mentioning. Perm and Ufa are the 
 chief places where the Ural iron is em- 
 barked, on tributary streams, for the Volga. 
 Tartar workmen transport the bars of iron, 
 on each wheelbarrow about 7 pud weight, 
 from the boats to the store; and for this 
 hard work they get five roubles per 1,000 
 pud. The treasures of the Ural mines, in 
 coal, iron, copper, &c., will not attain their 
 full importance until the railway to the 
 Ural is finished. The expected speedy 
 completion of the Perm-Yekatharinenburg 
 railway will exercise great influence; for 
 in Perm the Kama steam-navigation com- 
 mences. The cost of water-transport is now 
 only one-fifth of that by land. The boats, 
 which lie in great numbers alongside each 
 other, are heavily laden with fish, which, in 
 a country like Russia, where more than half 
 the days of the year are fast-days, inde- 
 pendently of its low price, plays a great 
 part as an article of food. 
 
 The Volga, and its tributary streams, 
 particularly its many-armed Delta and the 
 Caspian Sea, are inexhaustibly rich in fish. 
 It is brought, salted or dried, to the fair ; 
 and, in 1876, to the estimated value of four 
 and a-half million of roubles. The dried 
 fish, packed in matting, is laid in layers on 
 the deck; and the salted, in barrels, is stored 
 in the hold. The most important kinds are 
 the sudal, sandart, sassan, carp, lesehtsch, 
 brachse, and the sevringa ; but, above all, 
 the king of the Volga fi^h, the asjote; not 
 forgetting sturgeon, which, like the Volga 
 herring, is brought salted, whilst the others 
 
 are dried. 
 
 The fish-boats are towed by steamers 
 from Astrachan, up the Volga, to the fair ; 
 and there are some fishmongers who possess 
 a dozen and more of these boats. The 
 caviare of the sturgeon is a great delicacy 
 in Russia, and is brought to the market 
 partly pressed and partly in a fluid state : 
 the working classes content themselves 
 with the red caviare produced from the 
 "whiting" (Bjeliega). 
 
 Other important articles of the fair are 
 
 , 
 
 the furs and skins. Russia requires more 
 of these than the extensive Russian terri- 
 tory, so rich in fur animals, can furnish, 
 and is therefore an eager purchaser at 
 foreign fur-markets, especially at Leipsic. 
 It would, unfortunately, demand too much 
 space were we to expand upon this subject 
 as it deserves. One of the most interesting 
 articles, on account of its manifold prepara- 
 tion and application, is the merluschki — 
 the skin of lambs, one or two days old. 
 The finest and dearest, the karakuldschi (in 
 trade, at a later period, called Persian), take 
 their name from the little river Karakol, in 
 . Bokhara, on whose banks these valuable 
 flocks of sheep pasture. The Bokharians 
 tan these little skins by a peculiar process, 
 sort them according to colour and age, and 
 bring them, picked in bales, to the fair. 
 " We went, with the owner of a large fur 
 business, to one of the Bokbarian dealers, 
 who keeps this branch of trade chiefly in 
 his own hands. The old gentleman, with 
 a cunning face, dressed in a dark-blue 
 kaftan, and a blue velvet embroidered cap 
 on his shaven head, received us very kindly 
 in his shop, where thousands of the little 
 skins lay stored up, and conducted us to a 
 room in the upper storey, where servants 
 presented us with confectionery, and invited 
 us to sit in the divan. Some other Bokba- 
 rian merchants, dressed more gaily than our 
 host, were already making themselves com- 
 fortable here in Eastern fashion." 
 
 There are many sorts of these skins 
 known, from the karakuldschi, which are 
 sold by tens, and cost three or four rou- 
 bles a-piece, down to the common kirgise- 
 merluschken. The value of the karakuld- 
 schi, in 1876, was estimated at one and 
 a-half million roubles. The Leipsic furriers 
 make caps of them for Hungary, Russia, 
 and Persia ; collars for Germany, &c. The 
 Astrachan merluschki, which is dried and 
 prepared in Russian fur establishments at 
 Kasimoco and Kasan for the fair, is of less 
 commercial value, although it has under- 
 gone a thirty-fold preparation. The Astra- 
 chan skins are also an important article at 
 Leipsic; a single fur business there, in a 
 middling year, working up 250,000 lots. 
 We will describe, in a few words, how 
 this kind of fur business is carried on at 
 Nischnei. The seller opens any one of the 
 bales, takes a sample from it, and 
 this is a guarantee for the quality of the 
 whole lot. Together with the naming of 
 the price, which is half as much again 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [Russian sugar-trade. 
 
 Ma 
 
 as that really paid, appears the calculating 
 machine, which is set in active motion 
 during the whole transaction, which, when 
 necessary, is carried on by an interpreter 
 and in the presence of the friends of 
 the seller, with remonstrances and loud 
 expressions of honour, &c. At last they 
 are agreed. The purchaser pays the seller 
 a deposit of from two to 100 roubles; 
 the seller takes this money in his hand,' 
 and swears upon it that the bargain 
 is concluded. Then follows the reception 
 of the whole lot, comparing it with the 
 sample-bale. If no objection is made, the 
 business is ended, and the payment is im- 
 mediately made ; whilst otherwise, and for 
 other articles, a very long credit is given 
 from fair to fair. 
 
 We cannot, unfortunately, enter further 
 upon other turs, such as "squirrel, martin 
 (whose tails are used for the finest paint- 
 brushes), sable, wolf, badger, white hare, 
 &c. ; but will, in conclusion, turn to a 
 Russian branch of industry — the manufac- 
 ture of cotton, and the Russian beetroot 
 sugar trade. 
 
 We mention first the red cotton stuff 
 for the Russian peasants' shirts, called 
 Kumasch ; stuff for covering furniture ; 
 women's petticoats or mantles, for the 
 Tartar women, who appear in the streets 
 only thickly enveloped and veiled in their 
 garments ; the most various kinds of stuff 
 for the peasant, the Steppe populations, the 
 Grerman colonists on the Volga, &c. There 
 are in Russia a number of very large estab- 
 lishments for cotton-spinning and weaving ; 
 among them Krahnholm, near Narwase| 
 mostly the property of a Bremen merchant! 
 The value of the manufactured cotton 
 goods at the fair of 1876, was reckoned at 
 23,000,000 roubles. In addition to the 
 raw cotton coming to Russia from America 
 and East India, there is a considerable 
 quantity from Persia, Bokhara, and Tur- 
 kestan, which comes by camels, and then 
 by water to the fairs. The cost of trans- 
 port on a camel from Khiwa, or Tashkend, 
 to Orenburg, is from five to seven roubles 
 for every two bales. 
 
 Now a few words as to the Russian beet- 
 root sugar. The old town of Kiew is the 
 great market for this extensive industry. 
 In the season of 1876, 254 beetroot sugar 
 factories were in motion, chiefly in Kiew, 
 Podolia, and the south-western governments. 
 The largest of the sixteen to eighteen re- 
 fineries of Kiew can produce a million 
 
 227 
 
 \i 
 
 A\ 
 
 • I 
 
THE COSSACKS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1856-77. 
 
 A.D. 1856-77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the COSSACKS. 
 
 puds of moist sugar. It is a company. 
 The Kiew moist sugar is of a very good 
 quality, as it contains 99 per cent, saccha- 
 rine. The greatest export from Russia, m 
 the winter of 1876, was sugar; but this ex- 
 port had not a healthy basis : it was caused 
 by a great fall in price, the consequence of 
 over-production and speculation. On the 
 whole, the export from Russia is latterly 
 below the import, in spite of high pro- 
 tective duties. 
 
 The knowledge of Russian commercial 
 relations, and particularly of the Nischnei 
 fair-trade, is not unimportant for the Ger- 
 man merchant, Russia's nearest neighbour. 
 It is true that high duties hinder the free 
 
 intercourse between both countries; and the 
 late decree, demanding the duty to be paid 
 in gold, still further increases this artificial 
 barrier. But we must remember that the 
 present protective policy was not always 
 the measure for regulating Russian inter- 
 course with foreign countries: the duties, 
 on the whole, were much lower fifty years 
 ago. And who would assert, that a govern- 
 ment which carried out the great interior 
 reform of the abolition of serfdom, may not, 
 at a future time, recognise, in the diminution 
 of the duties,a powerful lever for the material 
 well-being of the Russian people, and decide 
 upon an action more in consonance with 
 the acknowledged principles of commerce. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 THE COSSACKS. 
 
 The history of no other country in the 
 world affords a second instance of such a 
 corporation as that of the Cossacks in 
 Poland and the empire of the czars. The 
 rapid development of their power, resting 
 on the broad bases of personal freedom, 
 equality, and despotism at one and the 
 same time, may, perhaps, have been fa- 
 voured by the natural features of those 
 extensive, almost unknown, and almost un- 
 peopled steppes lying between the Dnieper, 
 the Don, and the Volga, as far south as the 
 Black Sea and the Sea of Azoff. That the 
 associations and fraternities such as those 
 out of what we may call Cossackdom pro- 
 ceeded, should have been able to exercise 
 such power, casts a strong light upon the 
 sad condition formerly prevailing in the 
 two neighbouring countries, in Great Rus- 
 sia and party-torn Poland. Such conditions 
 explain how the freebooting Cossack be- 
 came a power, which, for a century, carried 
 on a desperate struggle with Poland— a 
 power before which the Khan of Tartary, 
 and even the padishah in Tzargrad, trembled 
 when the enterprising Cossacks of the 
 Ukraine and the Don appeared in their 
 large flat Tchaiks (boats), in the waters of 
 the Black Sea and Sea of Azoff, plundering 
 flourishing towns like Trebizonde, Sinope, 
 and others ; ravaging the coasts, and return- 
 228 
 
 ing to their homes laden with booty, to 
 enjoy a short repose in voluptuous ease, 
 like the hardy pirates of the North. 
 
 It has been attempted to surround the 
 Cossacks with a romantic nimbus, and to 
 describe them as an heroic chivalry, com- 
 bating against Islam on the one hand ; on 
 the o'ther, as protectors of the Orthodox 
 Church against the encroachments of the 
 Roman Church. Such a conception, how- 
 ever, is erroneous. Although some indi- 
 vidual chivalrous figures may now and then 
 appear in the chaos — and we acknowledge 
 their bravery, valour, and contempt of life, 
 as characteristic traits and brilliant quali- 
 ties of the Cossacks — they were, in fact, 
 nothing more than wild freebooters, to 
 whom nothing was more foreign than the 
 principles of the chivalric knighthood of the 
 mediaeval ages, except in their combats, free- 
 booting and plundering expeditions against 
 defenceless towns. The thorough savage- 
 ness and inhumanity of these barbarous 
 times was reflected in a much higher de- 
 gree amongst them than among the Tartars 
 and Turks. In the heroic traditions and 
 songs of what some people call the romantic 
 Cossack period, things are sung which never 
 existed, and were drawn by later poets from 
 their own imaginations. The rude Cossack 
 nature had nothing of the tender love for 
 
 women which the songs express ; the fate of 
 women, on the contrary, even among the 
 rich Cossacks who lived upon their estates 
 in the steppes, was anything but enviable. 
 
 That the Cossacks could have so long 
 existed as a powerful and independent body, 
 proves, as we have said, the impotency of the 
 neighbouring countries. Thus a Cossack 
 of the Don, Stenno Rasin, in the latter years 
 of the 7th century, conducted ravaging ex- 
 peditions along the Lower Volga ; collected 
 a considenjble force, consisting of Cossacks 
 from the Don and Jaik (Ural); besieged 
 and plundered towns, such as Simhirsk, 
 Ssumara, Ssaratow, and Astrachan ; laid 
 castles and cloisters in ashes; and even 
 concluded an alliance with Persia; whilst 
 Pugatchew — likewise a fugitive Cossack 
 from the Don — raised the banner of insur- 
 rection in the Ural, against the government, 
 for the freedom of the peasants, and caused 
 an insurrection in which the whole peasant 
 class and the sectarians took part, and 
 which the generals of the great Catharine 
 opposed, for a long time, in vain. All this 
 proves upon what a feeble basis the famed 
 brilliancy of Russia at that time rested, in 
 spite of many an easily-gained success over 
 Poland and Turkey. 
 
 But the splendour of Cossack life is now 
 extinguished. It had arisen like one of 
 those brilliant meteors on the horizon of 
 history, to vanish again and leave no trace 
 of its existence behind. The story of the 
 Ukraine Cossacks lives onlv in the remem- 
 brance of the inhabitants of Little Russia; 
 and the Cossack settlements on the Don, 
 Ural, Kuban, and on the Black Sea, are at 
 present under the common law of the 
 country, although they are privileged 
 military settlements, and furnishing an 
 important contingent to the army. 
 
 The Cossacks in Little Russia, however, 
 although closely connected with the Cos- 
 sacks of the Don, are distinguished from 
 them by some peculiarities, and have risen 
 to political importance as a corporation. 
 
 In the second half of the 12th century 
 South Russia was already separated from 
 North and East Russia, divided into differ- 
 ent principalities, and governed partly by 
 the decisions of popular assemblies, partly 
 l)y princes, whose hereditary succession 
 was by no means secured. The invasion of 
 the Mongols depopulated the south ; and 
 that part of the country which, at that 
 time, already bore the name of " Ukraine," 
 was completely devastated. In 1476, the 
 
 King of Poland, Kasimir, succeeded in 
 uniting the principality with Poland ; tho 
 self-government of Ukraine ceased, and the 
 Polish element predominated. 
 
 The word Cossack is of Tartar origin, 
 and in the Tartar tongue means wanderer, 
 "free warrior." The Russians, who had 
 repeatedly to suffer from the invasions of 
 the Tartars, insensibly adopted the manner 
 of warfare of their enemies, and thus the 
 same class of men arose among the 
 Russians as among the Tartars. At the 
 commencement of the Uth century the 
 word Cossack had a general signification, 
 and did not indicate a " free warrior " 
 exclusively; and the villagers free from 
 tithes in the north of Grreat Russia, as well 
 as the free sailors on the banks of the 
 Lower Volga, likewise received the name of 
 Cossacks : indeed, this word, at the present 
 day, still signifies, among the people, a 
 workman, and such as have no land of their 
 own. 
 
 Self-defence against the Tartars made a 
 Cossack of the peasant. The free, un- 
 fettered life, the alluring prospect of rich 
 booty brought home by the Cossack from 
 his expeditions, attracted a number of 
 volunteers from Great Russia, Lithuania, 
 and Poland, to the Ukraine. In Great 
 Russia the peasant lived under the in- 
 expressible oppression of the nobleman — 
 still worse in Poland, where the indebted 
 noble let his lands to Jews, and even gave 
 up the Orthodox Churches on his estates to 
 them. The Jew closed the churches, and 
 the parish was forced to pay him for every 
 divine service, and for every office per- 
 formed by their pastor. All those who 
 were not inclined to bear such oppression 
 fled, and found protection and good recep- 
 tion from the Cossacks of the Don and the 
 Ukraine, who thus increased greatly in 
 numbers in a very short time ; and the 
 tales told them by the fugitives, called 
 forth an additional hatred of the Poles, of 
 the Roman church, the nobles, and the 
 Jews. At the time of Ivan the Terrible, 
 the Cossacks had spread over the whole 
 Ukraine, the present government of Pol- 
 tawa and Kiew, and nearly as far as the 
 Black Sea. They divided themselves into 
 Cossacks of the towns, or " Ukrainers," and 
 Cossacks of the lowland, or " Saparogers.*' 
 The Saparogers lived on the islands of 
 the Dnieper, below the rapids ; their largest 
 station, the " Setscha," was on the island 
 Chartitzn, on which Prince Wischnewetzli 
 
 229 
 
 I 
 
 £'•■ 
 
 
 r I 
 
THE SAPAROQERS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1856-77. 
 
 (1560) established a fortified camp for 
 their protection. At a later period the 
 Saparogers had another fortress on the 
 island Tomatowka, which was their chief 
 station after the Setscha. The situation of 
 these islands was most favourable for the 
 Saparogers, and contributed no little to 
 attract adventurers who had nothing to 
 lose but their lives. The great commercial 
 road from Turkey to Great Russia passed 
 by Ortschakow: the caravans generally 
 took this road ; the Saparogers attacked 
 and plundered them, and carried their 
 booty in safety to their islands. 
 
 Glancing at the customs of the first 
 Saparogers, and their severe rules of life, 
 these remarkable communities, apart from 
 their profession of arms, assume almost 
 the character of a monastic guild, for they 
 were forced to observe all their religious 
 rites most strictly. But at the same time, 
 the circumstance must not be lost sight of, 
 that the Saparoger in the Setscha, in 
 his " Kur " (dwelling), and the Saparo- 
 ger on a freebooting expedition, were two 
 different men. Simplicity of life, abste- 
 miousness, chastity, perfect good-fellowship 
 among themselves, and strict obedience to 
 their authorities, were the moral laws of 
 the Saparogers. 
 
 A popular assembly, such as the Wetscha 
 in ancient times, existed among the Sa- 
 parogers, under the name of " Rada," 
 where an " Ataman," or chief, was chosen 
 for every place, and for the whole com- 
 munity a superior Ataman. This Ata- 
 man, or " Kohschewor," had, it is true, 
 unlimited power, but was obliged, at the 
 end of a year, to give an account, and, 
 in case of abuse of his power, might be pun- 
 ished with death. Inhuman and cruel in 
 war, the Saparoger punished robbery, 
 plunder, and theft with death in time of 
 peace. Celibacy was not a binding law ; 
 but the unmarried only were allowed to 
 live in the Setscha, and whoever intro- 
 duced a woman was punished with death. 
 Everyone could be admitted into the 
 Setscha ; there was no inquiry made about 
 name, descent, or the past; Catholics and 
 Jews alone were excluded. 
 
 The time came, however, when the 
 kings of Poland, fearing the power of the 
 Cossacks, on the occasion of their expression 
 of sympathy for Great Russia, attacked the 
 rights of the Saparogers, gave lands in 
 the Ukraine to Polish noblemen, and 
 finally contemplated their union with the 
 230 
 
 rest of the kingdom. The whole of the 
 Ukraine, the Saparogers at the head, 
 rose against such violence, and a bloody 
 war ensued, which, with some interrup- 
 tions and changing fortune, lasted many 
 years. No war of the 17th century was 
 carried on with such inhumanity and 
 cruelty as this struggle between the 
 Poles and Cossacks. The latter, it is true, 
 fought for their independence and the 
 Orthodox faith, but at the same time turned 
 this struggle into a war of revenge and 
 annihilation against the Polish nobility, 
 the Jews, and the Latin church. The 
 most brilliant period for the Saparogers 
 in this war, was when Bogdon Chemel- 
 nitzki stood at their head as Ataman. 
 It was, however, but for a short time ; and 
 even this gifted, energetic, and politically 
 clever man was unable to contend success- 
 fully against the numbers and resources of 
 the Poles. After the suppression of the 
 rebellion in the Ural by Pugatchew, an 
 end was also put to the Saparoger- 
 Setscha, and Catharine dissolved the 
 confederations of the Ukraine Cossacks and 
 the Saparogers as separate communi- 
 ties. The last Hetman of Little Russia 
 was Raswonowski, a favourite of the 
 empress. A portion of the Saparogers 
 resisted the order of the government to 
 lay down arms, and fled to Turkey, where 
 they were gladly received by the sultan ; 
 they settled in the Dobrudscha, where 
 their descendants still live. The greater 
 number of Cossacks, however, submitted, 
 settled in the neighbouring provinces, 
 and took to peaceful pursuits. 
 
 When, soon after, the war against Turkey 
 broke out, the Saparogers were recalled 
 to take up arms, with the promise that 
 their former rights should be restored : 
 they obeyed the call, and formed a corps 
 of 12,000 men ; and as a reward for the 
 services rendered by them to Russia 
 during this war, the government granted 
 them fresh privileges and considerable 
 lands on the Kuban. About 20,000 estab- 
 lished themselves here in the endless steppes 
 on both sides of the river, down to its 
 mouth in the Black Sea. The Cossacks on 
 the Black Sea itself were originally descend- 
 ants of the Saparogers ; but their number 
 has been tenfold increased by continual 
 emigrations from the Don and the 
 Ural. These Cossacks, generally called 
 Tchernomorzen, were destined to guard the 
 frontiers towards the Caucasus ; but through 
 
 
 A.D. 1856-77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [russia in central asia. 
 
 the subjection of the mountain populations 
 this line has lost its significance. 
 
 Nothing more dreary can be imagined 
 than this wide treeless plain of 2,000 square 
 miles, covered with prickly grass, reed, and 
 flags ; but the isolation, the difficulties, and 
 dangers of outpost duty, have not been 
 without influence on the character of the 
 Tchernomorza ; he is gloomy, unsocial, and 
 has something awkward and apathetic in 
 his appearance. The " Plasterni " stand in 
 high repute with the Tchernomorza. These 
 are the intrepid Cossacks, whose task it is 
 to find out new paths through the marshes 
 and impenetrable fields of reeds by the 
 Kuban, to rove about the frontiers for 
 whole days and nights, or to lie in 
 ambush. Besides this frontier service, the 
 Tchernomorza are obliged to serve in the 
 army in special Cossack regiments. 
 
 The government has allotted certain 
 regions to the Cossacks, granted them 
 privileges and land, in return for which 
 they are bound to serve in the army. Of 
 any independence, special laws, or self- 
 administration, there is no question. The 
 
 present Don Cossacks, who had an organi- 
 sation very similar to that of the Saparo- 
 gers, and were formerly the same free- 
 booters, now inhabit the extraordinarily 
 fertile region of the Don down to the Sea of 
 Azof. The former freebooters are now a 
 thrifty, industrious population on their 
 own lands, but in their military organisa- 
 tion still remain Cossacks. 
 
 In 1570, the Don Cossacks acknowledged 
 the rule of Russia, but still continued 
 their piratical expeditions to the Crimea. 
 Under Peter the Great their organisation 
 was completely altered, and at present the 
 Ataman is appointed by the crown ; the 
 chief Ataman of all the Cossacks beinsr 
 always the Russian hereditary grand-duke. 
 Every Cossack has thirty hectares of land 
 at his disposal ; higher officials 100 to 1,000 ; 
 which, since 1870, have become their here- 
 ditary property. The number of Cossacks 
 on the Don is, at present, about 700,000 ; 
 and the contingents of troops they have to 
 furnish, consist of special regiments, which 
 are allotted to dififerent corps of the army 
 as light cavalry. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 RUSSIA IN CENTRAL ASIA. 
 
 According to the manner in which the 
 history of Europe in the middle ages is 
 generally written, it would seem as if the 
 Western nations had lived isolated from 
 the rest of the world, self-sufficing, and 
 scarcely sensible of the shocks of the great 
 events occurring: in Central Asia. It is not 
 80, however. The Crusades were not 
 merely a passing fit of religious fervour, 
 nor were all relations broken off between 
 Europe and Central Asia, since the days of 
 St. Louis. Although France, Italy, Spain, 
 and England may, from that time forward, 
 have transferred all their activity to the 
 countries just then discovered beyond the 
 ocean, the Slav States, on the contrary, 
 continued in uninterrupted relations with 
 the populations of the East, and, above all, 
 Russia. At the end of the 14th century, 
 already we find a Muscovite State ; but its 
 princes were vassals of the Khan of the 
 
 Kipchaks, descendants of the Djozdi, one of 
 the three heirs of Gengis Khan. The Kip- 
 chaks composing the Golden Horde were 
 the least civilised of the Mongols. They 
 remained more faithful than their brothers 
 on the other side of the Oxus to the 
 nomadic habits of the Touranian race, 
 preserving the rudeness of their primitive 
 character ; and although nominally con- 
 verted to Mohammedanism, were still 
 addicted to gross superstitions. 
 
 Some large cities on the confines of the 
 territories inhabited by these wandering 
 tribes — Kief, Kazan, Novgorod especially, 
 which remained in commercial connection 
 with the southern Hanseatic towns — became 
 the refuge of rising civilisation. The con- 
 quest of Constantinople by the Ottomans 
 brought numerous emigrants, attracted 
 also by the community of religion. To- 
 wards 1550, the Russian czar was already 
 
 2:1 
 
 I 
 
 
THE STEPPES.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1856-77. 
 
 
 an independent sovereign, possessing Astra- 
 chan. He had a large corps of Cossacks in 
 his army, of Mongolian origin, whom he 
 first employed against his neighbours, and 
 then sent them forth to the conquest of 
 Siberia. This is the moment when Russia, 
 an Asiatic power, became a European 
 power. In the remote provinces of the 
 Volga and the Ural, that Europe thinks 
 so little about, the Slav population de- 
 cidedly predominates over the Turks and 
 Mongols. What a change since the time 
 when the generals of Timour (two centuries 
 before) entered Moscow as victors, and 
 reduced it to ashes I 
 
 These events in the middle ages formed 
 the prelude to the modern conquests of 
 Russia on the banks of the Oxus and the 
 Yaxartes, and distinguish the Russians 
 from the other Europeans who have gained 
 a footing on the continent of Asia. The 
 English, French, and Portuguese colonies 
 in India have originated in some adven- 
 turous commercial enterprise; Hong-Kong 
 and Saigon are modern creations for ex- 
 pressly political and commercial interests ; 
 whilst the entrance of the czar's troops into 
 Samarcand is the most recent act in the 
 struggle of races pursuing each other for 
 centuries without interruption. 
 
 In order to appreciate the obstacles en- 
 countered by the Russians in their pro- 
 gressive march to the countries of the 
 East, it is necessary to call to mind the 
 nature of the soil and the climate. From 
 the Caspian to the Pacific, between the 
 35th and 50th degrees of latitude, there 
 extend vast deserts, the monotony of which 
 is interrupted at intervals only by some 
 water-courses and several chains of moun- 
 tains. For the traveller coming from 
 Russia, the steppe commences almost at the 
 gates of Orenburg ; but as far as the river 
 Emba there is nothing formidable about it. 
 One still meets with rivers and lakes, the 
 waters of which are sweet ; on the banks 
 there are meadows, and here and there 
 trees. But on approaching the south the 
 soil becomes more sterile, the water of the 
 brooks and the wells is brackish, and here 
 and there a thick layer of salt reveals the 
 sites of dried-up lakes. Vegetation dis- 
 appears ; the sand-hills change their slopes 
 according to the wind. Nothing can sur- 
 pass the desolation of these immense bare 
 and arid plains, called the Oust-Oust, 
 between the Caspian and the Aral — the 
 Kizii-Koum (red sands), between the Oxus 
 232 
 
 and the Yaxartes — the Kara-Koum (black 
 sands), to the north of the latter river. 
 The steppe preserves the same aspect be- 
 tween the Kharizm, the Caspian, and the 
 frontiers of Persia. There is neither food, 
 nor forage, nor fuel to be found. The tem- 
 perature is icy in winter, burning in 
 summer. During the cold season the wind 
 raises the snow in columns, and buries 
 everything beneath it. It is reported that, 
 in 1827, the Kirghiz of the Middle Horde 
 lost more than 1,000,000 of sheep in a 
 whirlwind. 
 
 The steppe, however, is inhabited in spite 
 of the inclemency of its climate and the 
 barrenness of its soil. To the south of 
 Khiva there are the Turcomans; to the 
 north, the Kirghiz; more to the east, in 
 the heart of the desert of Gobi, live the 
 Mongol tribes; at the extremity of the 
 continent, in the little-known regions 
 separating the river Amour from the wall 
 of China, are the Mandchous. All these 
 people, Turcomans, Kirghiz, Mongols, 
 Mandchous, are different varieties of the 
 Tartar race. They are all nomads; the 
 country admits of no other mode of living. 
 Yet, at the period of their splendour, the 
 Mongols had, it is said, a capital of the 
 name of Karaporum. Here was the throne 
 of Generis Khan and his sons. Modern 
 travellers have been unable to discover its 
 ruins, so slight had been its construction. 
 It is astonishing that, from these inhospit- 
 able regions, there should have proceeded 
 those successive invasions which, although 
 ephemeral, have shaken Asia — more than 
 once brought bloodshed on Europe. We 
 must, however, observe that these invading 
 hordes always yielded to the ascendancy of 
 the people they had conquered, without 
 ever bringing back their civilisation to the 
 country from which they issued. Khiva, 
 Bokhara, Kashgar, Pekin, have not ceased 
 being wonders of civilisation in comparison 
 to the barren plains whence their conquerors 
 came from. 
 
 Under Peter the Great the Russians were 
 masters of Siberia, which was of no great 
 advantage to them ; they extended to the 
 Caspian and to the foot of the Cau- 
 casus; some Kirghiz tribes around Oren- 
 burg acknowledged their supremacy ; — in 
 fact, they were already in a position to 
 exercise a certain influence in Central Asia. 
 At this period, Khiva was in continual 
 warfare with Bokhara. At about 1700 
 A.D., the people of Khiva sent an embassy 
 
 A.D. 1856-77.] 
 
 to St. Petersburg, to offer the homage of 
 the Khan Mohamed to the Russian czar — 
 so say the Russian historians — and to claim 
 the help of European troops against their 
 enemies of Bokhara ; or, perhaps, simply — 
 as their own historians relate — to conclude 
 a commercial treaty. Peter the Great per- 
 ceived that the possession of Khiva would 
 give him the preponderance over many 
 other States : he even tliought, it appears, of 
 opening a road for his subjects to the rich 
 lands of Hindostan ; and, accordingly, re- 
 solved to send a military expedition to the 
 valley of the Oxus. The avowed pro- 
 gramme of this enterprise was to conciliate 
 the sovereigns of Khiva and Bokhara; to 
 search for the auriforous sands which were 
 supposed to be in the Amou-Daria ; to find 
 the ancient bed through which this river 
 flowed into the Caspian, and to explore the 
 road to India. All this was pacific ! — then 
 wherefore give his ambassador an entire 
 army as escort? Peter the Great had 
 reason to believe that the khans and begs 
 had some disputes with their own subjects, 
 and wanted to make them the generous 
 offer of installing a Russian garrison in 
 their capital. 
 
 The chief of this expedition was Prince 
 Bekovitch Cherkaski, of Kirghiz origin, 
 and one of the most important personages 
 of these nomad tribes. The governments 
 of Kazan and Astrachan furnished him with 
 4,000 infantry and 2,000 Cossack cavalry. 
 The first campaign was devoted to the 
 construction of a fort at Krasnovodsk, on a 
 promontory of the eastern coast of the 
 Caspian, which the Russians occupy to this 
 d.iy. The next year, in the month of June, 
 1717, he marched across the desert of Oust- 
 Oust, beat the Khivan troops at Karagach, 
 and finally concluded a treaty of peace with 
 the khan, who then offered him hospitality 
 in his palace at Khiva. But, as the 
 country afforded few resources, he was 
 made to believe that it was indispensable 
 he should divide his troops into small de- 
 tachments. No sooner were the Russian 
 soldiers dispersed than the enemy attacked 
 them singly and destroyed them. Beko- 
 vitch was one of the first victims ; it is said 
 he was flayed alive, and that a drum was 
 made of his skin. This act of cruelty is, 
 however, by no means proved ; but if it is 
 true that Bekovitch was of Mongol race, it 
 may be conceived that his compatriots were 
 greatly irritated against him. The dis- 
 aster of 1717 had grave consequences for 
 VOL. II. 2 H 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [repulse of the Russians. 
 
 the Russians. The Turcomans between 
 the Caspian and the Oxus had prudently 
 refrained from declaring for either of the 
 belligerents; but on learning the defeat of 
 the invaders, they attacked the forts built 
 by the Russians. The garrisons, isolated 
 and without provisions, resolved to retire 
 on Astrachan ; but navigation was danger- 
 ous on this sea, the coast being but Uttle 
 known, and a few individuals escaped. On 
 the whole, the issue of this unfortunate 
 enterprise was such that the czar abstained 
 from renewing it. 
 
 It is a singular circumstance, that these 
 nomad Mongols, after having conquered 
 Asia under Gengis Khan, and maintained 
 their position under his successors, should 
 end by allowing themselves to be effaced 
 from history, and accepting the supremacy 
 of the peoples whom they had formerly 
 subjugated. The Kirghiz of the Little 
 Horde, the nearest to the Ural, who were 
 gradually emerging from barbarism 
 through contact with a civilised nation, 
 posses.sed great influence in the steppe. 
 Five-and-twenty years after Bekovitch's 
 unfortunate expedition. Nadir Shah, the 
 sovereign of Persia, took possession of 
 Khiva, and dethroned the reigning family. 
 Being desirous of conciliating the Russians, 
 he willingly consented to leave the power 
 in the hands of Nour-ali, Sultan of the 
 Little Horde, who acknowledged himself 
 subject of the czar. This is an important 
 fact, for on this ground the Russians pre- 
 tend that Khiva belongs to them from its 
 having been for a century the appanage of 
 one of their vassals. But the truth is that, 
 posterior to Nour-ali, the Khivans had a 
 khan of another family who submitted to 
 the Kirghiz, or, at all events, disputed 
 with the Russians for the rule over the 
 tribes nearest their territory. 
 
 Repulsed from the borders of the Caspian 
 by the Turcomans, and from the basin of 
 the Aral by the rebel Kirghiz, the Russians 
 made no considerable progress up to our 
 day. Siberia, used as a penal colony, in 
 spite of the 10,000 exiles sent annually 
 beyond the Ural, remained uncultivated, 
 without commerce or industry. The gov- 
 ernment seemed unable to find clever and 
 upright administrators for this immense 
 territory. In that more fertile region, 
 which might have attracted emigrants, 
 they could obtain no protection from the 
 nomads, and retired or led a life of rapine. 
 The province of Orenburg — at the com- 
 
 233 
 
 
 I'i' 
 
 
 I 
 
 •1 
 
 i; 
 
 i 
 
 (' 
 
 »• 
 
 I. i 
 
 ''M 
 
 . r 
 
 (I 
 

 NEGOTIATIONS WITH KHIVA.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1856-77. 
 
 mencement of tbe 19th century the pro- 
 vince nearest the interior of Asia — contained 
 a population of the most various elements, 
 presenting an image of complete disorder. 
 Here were Baskirs, Kalmouks, Cossacks, 
 Kirghiz, every variety of the Turco-Mon- 
 golian race — some Christians, the greatest 
 part Mohammedans, some simply idolaters. 
 Revolts broke out from time to time among 
 these nomads, support-cd by the Khans of 
 Khiva and Bokhara. The governor-gene- 
 ral of Orenburg then sent flying columns, 
 which had great difficulty in reaching the 
 insurgents, and suffered more from the 
 climate than from the fire of the enemy. 
 
 The steppe, with its intractable tribes, 
 and, beyond the steppe, the fanatic inhab- 
 itants of Kharizm, following, like their 
 brothers of Bokhara, the most savage 
 Mussulman doctrines, were sufficient to 
 arrest the Russians for a long time. Al- 
 though there was always a lively caravan 
 commerce, yet Khiva refused to enter into 
 diplomatic relations with Europeans. In 
 1793, the czar, at the request of the khan, 
 sent him a physician — Dr. Blankenagel ; 
 but the Khivans refused to allow him to 
 depart, and, after having exhausted every 
 pretext, they formed a conspiracy to assas- 
 sinate him on the road, to prevent his re- 
 vealing anything he had seen. The doctor 
 contrived to escape to the Turcomans, 
 whence he was able to reach Astrachan. In 
 1819, Captain Mouravieff, after having ex- 
 plored the eastern coast of the Caspian, and 
 meeting with a good reception among the 
 Zamouds, ventured to go to Khiva, under 
 an escort of these Turcomans. Here he 
 was detained prisoner for six weeks, during 
 which time the Khivans indulged in all 
 kinds of rapine. Their capital was an open 
 market, to which the nomads brought the 
 Russian fishermen they had carried off from 
 the Caspian to sell them as slaves, as well 
 as the Kirghiz, subject to Russia, whom they 
 made prisoners. The caravans coming from 
 Bokhara were vexatiously taxed, and, in 
 case of resistance, plundered. The authori- 
 ties on the frontiers kept open credit for 
 tbe repurchase of captives; the sums ob- 
 tained in this manner exceeded, in a single 
 year, 20,000 roubles. 
 
 About the end of the year 1836, the 
 Russian government, seeing that the tribes 
 escaped them — thanks to their agility — and 
 fearing to make an unsuccessful expedition 
 against the Khan of Khiva (the real insti- 
 gator of all the troubles), resolved to mani- 
 234 
 
 fest their displeasure by a purely defensive 
 measure. They seized all the Khivau 
 traders returning from the fair of Nijni- 
 Novgorod, by way of Orenburg or Astrachan, 
 and then informed the khan that they 
 would be detained as hostages until he 
 should release the Russian subjects kept in 
 slavery. The immediate consequences of 
 this rigorous act showed that Khiva was, in 
 some degree, commercially dependent upon 
 its north-western neighbours. The price of 
 European goods rose in an extraordinary 
 degree, whilst the value of their native pro- 
 ductions was lowered by one-half. Never- 
 theless, the Khan Allah-Kouli was in no 
 haste to satisfy the demands of Russia, 
 always hoping he should be able to extricate 
 himself by cunning. He permitted some 
 of his subjects noisily to protest to the 
 governor-general of Orenburg that the two 
 States should in future live in peace ; but 
 these deputies had no mandate, and could 
 not pledge their master's word. Perceiving, 
 however, that this did not succeed, he sent 
 back twenty-five prisoners, with some pre- 
 sents : these were old men, incapable of 
 labour ; and the whole thing was a farce ; for 
 the same year the pirates of the Caspian 
 carried off hundreds of Russian fishermen. 
 In the meanwhile, the invasion of Afghanis- 
 tan, by the English, took place. The con- 
 viction was at once formed, in St. Peters- 
 burg, that the British army was imme- 
 diately going to conquer all the States of 
 Central Asia, and that not a day was to be 
 lost if they were to have any share in the 
 spoil. Perofski, the governor-general of 
 Orenburg, was, no doubt, glad of an oppor- 
 tunity of distinguishing himself by a bril- 
 liant campaign in the valley of the Oxus. 
 Some deserters, pretending to be well in- 
 formed, assured him that the khan, ruined 
 by the decrease of revenues arising from 
 the suppression of foreign commerce, had 
 imposed oppressive taxes on the Turcomans 
 and the Kirghiz ; that these threatened to 
 pillage the town ; that the inhabitants had 
 no wish to defend it, and that the golden 
 keys destined for the victorious Russian 
 general had been already manufactured. 
 
 Perofski had experience enough of the 
 affairs of Central Asia to be aware, that in 
 a war of this kind, the real enemy was the 
 desert to be crossed, and not the army of 
 the khan. He considered that it would 
 suffice for him to arrive under the walls of 
 Khiva with 3,000 infantry and twelve can- 
 nons, but that he would require far more con- 
 
 A.D. 1856-77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [failure of the attack. 
 
 '' '*•] 
 
 
 siderable forces to secure his line of march, 
 and especially a number of sumpter 
 animals for the provisioning of his troops. 
 The expedition having been decided on, it 
 was settled that it should consist of 4,400 
 men, 2,000 horses, and twenty-two pieces of 
 cannon, with a train of 10,000 or 12,000 
 camels; for in the steppe the camel is far 
 preferable to the horse, because it can 
 endure thirst, lives upon almost nothing, 
 and can bear a heavier load. At this 
 period the route to be followed was self- 
 evident ; Orenburg was the only base of 
 operations where men and provisions could 
 be gathered : it was, it is true, 1,300 kilo- 
 metres from Khiva, entailing at least fifty 
 stations, a good third of them in the desert 
 of Oust-Oust; but it was intended to 
 establish a depot for provisions in the 
 neighbourhood of the river Emba, about 
 half-way, and to supply it through Astrachan 
 and Gonrieff, or the little Russian post of 
 Mangichlak, on the shores of the Caspian. 
 The plan of the expedition had indeed been 
 well studied in all its details, and the 
 deposition of Allah-Kouli was already settled 
 on in favour of one of the Kirghiz sultans 
 faithful to Russia. This resolution had 
 been the more readily adopted, as it was 
 wished to avoid giving umbrage to Great 
 Britain, and was a solution exactly similar 
 to that projected by the English in Afgha- 
 nistan, where they intended substituting 
 Shah-Soujah for the reigning emir, Dost 
 Mohamed. 
 
 General Perofski left Orenburg on the 
 14th of November, 1829. Althouirh the 
 weather was still mild, the season was 
 certainly ill-chosen, for the corps would 
 have to cross the steppes during the snows 
 and severe cold : in fact, on the last days of 
 November the thermometer was below zero. 
 The country was quite devoid of fuel ; the 
 little wood the soldiers dragged with them 
 was reserved for cooking, and therefore 
 there were no bivouac fires even on the cold 
 nights, with twenty or even thirty degrees 
 of cold. The men became exhausted from 
 walking on the snow ; the camels fell from 
 fatigue. On approaching the Emba, the 
 commander-in-chief learned that the pro- 
 visions sent from Astrachan had not yet 
 arrived ; the ships laden with them had 
 been surrounded by the ice : some of them 
 were attacked by the Kirghiz and burned, 
 together with their cargoes, and others had 
 discharged theirs at Fort Alexandrofsk. 
 By the end of December, Perofski found 
 
 himself with but half his stores, ex- 
 hausted men, and an insufficient train. 
 He hoped that beyond the Emba the snow 
 would be less thick, and the cold somewhat 
 less severe ; for it was there that the nomads 
 ^ took refuge when the winter was too severe 
 I for them to remain in their usual encamp- 
 I ments. These hopes were, however, not 
 realised. The cold did not diminish, and 
 the conductors of the train revolted: 
 hitherto they had borne the fatigues and 
 sufferings of the march with patience, but 
 they declared they would go no further, 
 and that the season was not fit for travel- 
 ling. Perofski had some of the most 
 rebellious shot, which quieted the others, 
 and he succeeded in continuing his march as 
 far as Ak-Boulak, 160 verstes from the 
 river Emba. After a journey of two 
 months and a-half they were scarcely half- 
 way to Khiva. Of 10,400 camels which he 
 had at his departure, there remained hardly 
 more than 5,000 ; the rest had perished from 
 fatigue, cold, and privation. Abstemious 
 as this poor animal is, yet he requires 
 something to eat. The question then arose 
 as to whether they should continue the ex- 
 pedition. The train could not convey more 
 than a month's provisions, and this time 
 would not suffice to reach the valley of the 
 Oxus, where they would, besides, be in a 
 hostile country. The general was forced to 
 retreat, and entered Orenburg only. on the • 
 8th of June, having lost a fourth part of his 
 men in the unfortunate campaign. 
 
 In spite of the failure of this expedition, 
 the Khan of Khiva perceived that it was 
 imprudent to brave an adversary such as 
 the czar, and was wise enough to restore the 
 Russian slaves, and forbid his subjects every 
 act of hostility against Russia. Perofski 
 now sent an ambassador to him. Captain 
 Nikiphorof, with a mission to conclude a 
 treaty, which, however, failed. " Tbe khan 
 and his ministers," wrote Nikiphorof, " have 
 no idea of what a political treaty is." The 
 next year, in 1842, another ambassador, 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Danilefski, was more 
 successful. The Khan Allah-Kouli had 
 just died ; his successor, Rahim-Kouli, 
 more conciliating, at last concluded a 
 treaty of peace and alliance, by which the 
 khan engaged that Russian subjects should 
 no longer be molested. It is remarkable 
 that, in this document, no frontiers are fixed 
 between the two countries. It was, per- 
 haps, advisable not to be too exacting with 
 I a potentate so ignorant of the usages of 
 
 235 
 
 •« 
 
 4 4 
 
MISSION TO BOKHARA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1856-77. 
 
 A.D. 1856-77.] 
 
 civilised nations. The most valuable re- 
 sult of these negotiations was the informa- 
 tion respecting the States of Central Asia, 
 and the roads leading to them. The suc- 
 cessors of Rahim-Kouli, however, felt them- 
 selves by no means bound by the treaty to 
 which he had fixed his seal, and the tribes 
 continued their depredations. Seventeen 
 years later, when Colonel Ignatietf went to 
 Khiva to demand the execution of the 
 treaty of Danilefski, they calmly replied 
 that they had lost the document, that there 
 were no traces of it in the archives. Durins: 
 this time both Russians and Khivans endea- 
 voured to secure to themselves the rule over 
 the nomads, who, on their part, would 
 acknowledge no ruler. The little influence 
 gained at that time by the Europeans in 
 these regions, is attributed to the tyranny 
 and corruption of the Russian officers, and 
 also to the vexatious mode of administration, 
 which pretended to organise these tribes, to 
 create a hierarchy of native chiefs, and to 
 double the capitation — all innovations re- 
 pugnant to the Kirghiz. The region 
 between Orenburg, Khiva, and the Caspian 
 was, in truth, rather neglected. Having 
 nothing to gain by a direct attack on 
 Kharizm, the Russians made a circuit by 
 way of Samarcand and Bokhara, having 
 become convinced that they had taken the 
 wrong road in trying to penetrate into 
 Central Asia by the valley of the Oxus. 
 Whatever Peter the Great may have said 
 about it, they at least discovered that 
 Khiva is no thoroughfare — it leads to no- 
 thing, and is not easy to get at. On the 
 other hand, their progress was made more 
 rapid as soon as they entered the more 
 fertile valleys of the Yaxartes and the Hi, 
 which were, perhaps, also not so well 
 defended. 
 
 It has been seen what was the power of 
 the emir, and the wealth of the town of 
 Bokhara, in past centuries. The annual 
 commerce of this capital, the chief entrepot 
 of Central Asia and the Russian territory, 
 amounted to eight millions of francs. The 
 caravans, besides being often black-mailed 
 by the nomads, were subjected to heav}^ cus- 
 tom dues, the emir having no other means 
 of enriching himself but at the expense of 
 the Russian traders. From time to time, 
 too, he sent embassies, and they returned 
 laden with presents from St. Petersburg, a 
 good numl-er of which fell to his share. 
 But the first official mission sent by Russia 
 to Bokhara was in 1820. M. de Negri, the 
 236 
 
 chief of the embassy, was accompanied by 
 Baron Meyendorf, who has given an account 
 of the journey. 
 
 This diplomatist had received instruc- 
 tions that he was to demand the protection 
 of the caravans against the undisciplined 
 nomads, and that merchandise should not 
 be retaxed as soon as it had. once crossed 
 the frontier. The reigning emir, the 
 terrible Nasroulat, replied that it was for 
 the Emperor Alexander himself to protect 
 his own subjects; he would scarcely receive 
 M. de Negri, and refused to release the 
 Russian slaves, to the number of 600 or 700, 
 who were living in bondage in the khanate. 
 The ambassador was allowed to bring back 
 to Russia those only whose ransom he paid. 
 At a later period other envoys of the czar 
 received no better reception. In 1840, 
 however, Nasroulat, being afraid of the 
 English, who were the masters of Afghan- 
 istan, received Major Bonteinef in a 
 friendly manner ; he had come, like his 
 predecessors, to negotiate a treaty of com- 
 merce, and to claim the Russian subjects 
 held in slavery ; but he could not succeed 
 in obtaining any serious discussion of his 
 demands ; and, when the news arrived of 
 the disasters of the English army at Caboul, 
 he was bluntly dismissed. 
 
 After these repeated attempts, it was 
 clear that the potentates of Central Asia 
 would make no concessions to the Euro- 
 peans, and that it was by force only that they 
 would ever obtain guarantees. The ordi- 
 nary caravan road between Orenburg and 
 Bokhara circumscribes the Sea of Aral on the 
 east. About half-way, towards the mouth 
 of the Yaxartes, was the theoretical boun- 
 dary between the tribes subject to Russia 
 and those acknowledging themselves vassals 
 of the khans of Bokhara, Khiva, and Kho- 
 kand. Here and there, on the banks of the 
 river, there were some fortresses, whence 
 some indigenous chiefs, more or less sub- 
 jected to their masters, ransomed the 
 caravans, and plundered the nomads. Thus, 
 in 1850, the commander of Ak-Mesdjid, 
 who was no other than Yacoub-Beof, the 
 Sultan of Kashgar, carried off* 26,000 head 
 of cattle in a razzia, and another time 
 30,000. In order to protect his vassals 
 against these exactions, the czar at last 
 determined to place permanent garrisons 
 at some points in this district. In 1847, 
 the fort of Aralsk was erected at the 
 mouth of the Syr-Daria ; it was a base of 
 operations for new enterprises. The Sea of 
 
 Aral was explored at the same time by the 
 Russians. The country furnished no wood ; 
 small vessels were, therefore, constructed in 
 Sweden, taken to pieces, and transported 
 bit by bit along the rivers and canals from 
 St. Petersburg to Samara, and thence on 
 the backs of camels to the shores of the Aral. 
 Lieutenant Boutakof thoroughly explored 
 this little-known midland sea, and dis- 
 covered that the Yaxartes was navigable to 
 a great distance from its mouth. It is 
 worthy of remark, that these outposts of 
 Turkestan, restricted as thev were, cost the 
 imperial government dear, as the country 
 produced scarcely anything, and all provi- 
 sions for the troops had to be brought from 
 Orenburg. 
 
 From the commencement of their 
 establishment at Fort Aralsk, the Russians 
 found that the Khivans and the Bok- 
 harians were not their most troublesome 
 neighbours. It was of Khokand that the 
 Kirghiz had most to complain. This 
 country, after having long been subject to 
 Bokhara, had recovered its independence 
 under the sceptre of a direct descendant of 
 Baber and of Timour. Circumstances were 
 then favourable to its development ; and 
 about the beginning of the century it ex- 
 tended along the whole length of the Yax- 
 artes. Tashkend and Chemkend, the two 
 principal towns in this region, belonged to 
 it, and Ak-Mesdjid was its most advanced 
 fortress to the north. The neighbourhood 
 of this nest of pirates was intolerable ; but it 
 seemed a hazardous enterprise to get pos- 
 session of it, for there was a desert of 500 
 kilometres to cross before reaching it. 
 Nevertlieless, General Perofski, who at this 
 time was still governor-general of Oren- 
 burg, took the field in the spring of 1853, 
 with 1,700 men. One of the steamers of 
 the flotilla ascended the river at the same 
 time. The place was well fortified, and 
 was taken by storm after a siege of five 
 weeks, during which the garrison behaved 
 most valiantly. This was the first serious 
 affair between the Russians and the in- 
 habitants of Turkestan; and this first 
 encounter was also the most lively. The 
 Russians had more dead and wounded than 
 in any of their later encounters against the 
 whole army of Bokhara ; but they had got 
 possession of Ak-Mesdjid, and were resolved 
 to remain there, and all the attempts made 
 by the Khokandians to retake it were fruit- 
 less. It was a serious loss for them ; for 
 this important fortress, reputed impreg- 
 
 RUSSTAN EMPIRE, [progress of the Russians. 
 
 nable, was their strongest resort in the 
 valley of the Syr-Daria. 
 
 At the same time the Russians threat- 
 ened Khokand from Siberia. From Semi- 
 polatinsk there is a caravan road taking 
 the direction from north to south, and 
 leading to Kashgar and Yarkand, across 
 the territory occupied by the Great Horde. 
 The forts of Kopal and Yernoe, erected to 
 guard this road, became centres of com- 
 merce for the surrounding tribes. Thus 
 two fortified lines stretched towards Central 
 Asia, separated by an interval of about 
 1,000 kilometres; it was therefore but 
 natural to unite them by a third transverse 
 line, so that this series of forts should 
 encompass all the nomads, and isolate 
 them in some sort from the States of 
 Central Asia, which so often plundered 
 them. The project was adopted by the 
 czar, but was deferred on account of the 
 Crimean war. It was a fine occasion for 
 the emirs of Khiva, Khokand, and Bok- 
 hara to drive back the Russians to their 
 northern solitudes. The Porte, who had 
 diplomatic relations with them, urged 
 them strongly to it ; but absorbed as they 
 were with their intestine quarrels, they had 
 no inclination to do it. And, as soon as 
 peace was re-<tored in Europe, the Russians 
 recommenced their march forward. From 
 year to year they constructed new forts, 
 secured the possession of a valley, and pro- 
 gressed slowly but prudently, so as never to 
 have to retreat. The confidence they in- 
 spired in the Kirghiz was of great assist- 
 ance to them. These nomads made no 
 resistance ; they probably eagerly accepted 
 the protection of a powerful neighbour. 
 Thus the czar extended his frontier, at a 
 period unknown to us (probably towards 
 1860), as far as the mounts Thian-Shan. 
 Between the lake Issi-Koul and this chain 
 of mountains, to the east of Khokand, is 
 the source of the Yaxartes. The population is 
 exclusively pastoral ; and here the Russians 
 erected Fort Narim, and thus became 
 neighbours of Kashgar. No attention was 
 paid to this, for at that time there was no 
 country less known than that corner of the 
 earth, supposed to be the cradle of man- 
 kind. 
 
 Still the Russians occupied only barren 
 and almost desert provinces. The valley 
 of the Syr-Daria is salubrious ; but from 
 the Sea of Aral to Ak-Mesdjid agriculture is 
 almost unknown. The nomads produce, at 
 the utmost, sufficient only for their own 
 
 237 
 
 
4 
 
 CAPTURE OF TASHKEND.J 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1856-77. 
 
 ''a.d. 1856-77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [disputes with Bokhara. 
 
 subsistence, and have nothing to sell. 
 All supplies for the small garrisons on 
 the frontier had to be brought across the 
 desert. There was a total want of wood ; 
 the steamers of Aral had no fuel excepting 
 very scanty supplies of brambles. But 
 beyond the outposts the plains were well 
 irrigated, and it was known that veins of 
 coal existed in the mountains. Tashkend, 
 one of the trading centres of Central Asia, 
 was some days' march distant. After 
 having traversed the desert, the Russians 
 halted at the entrance to the promised 
 land ; but this position could not be per- 
 manently retained, nor was it held for 
 long. 
 
 It must be observed that there was no 
 unity of command at this distant frontier 
 of the empire. The line of Fort Vernoe re- 
 ceived its orders from Western Siberia ; that 
 of Syr-Daria from the government of 
 Orenburg. The difficulty of establishing 
 an understanding between two generals so 
 distant from one another, no doubt caused 
 much uncertainty ; for we are informed by 
 Russian documents that these expeditions 
 were not made at hap-hazard. The plans 
 of the campaigns were drawn up at St. 
 Petersburg, under the eyes of the emperor 
 himself. At length, in the spring of 1864, 
 the order was giv^en to advance. The 
 Siberian troops, under General Tchernaief, 
 who has since become so notorious throuo:h 
 his campaign in Servia, took possession of 
 Auli-Ala, and the forces of Orenburg 
 entered Hazret-Sultan, one of the holy 
 cities of Turkestan, and then the two 
 columns, combined under Tchernaief, took 
 Chemkend,and some weeks afterwards Tash- 
 kend, a town of 80,000 inhabitants, the 
 garrisons of both places offering but a 
 feeble resistance. These conquests cost but 
 very few killed and wounded : for instance, 
 Tashkend surrendered to a detachment of 
 1,500 men, an evident proof that the popu- 
 lation was not hostile to Europeans. 
 
 Having penetrated into the heart of 
 Khokand, the Russian government was con- 
 strained to justify its action. This was par- 
 ticularly necessary with reference to Great 
 Britain, the only power, indeed, that ex- 
 hibited any alarm at the progress Russia 
 had been making in Central Asia, This 
 Prince Gortchakoff did by a circular of 
 the 21st of November, 1864. _ This docu- 
 ment deserves attention, for it contains 
 political theories respecting the inter- 
 national relations between civilised States 
 238 
 
 and barbarous nations, with an attempt to 
 confirm these theories by general history, 
 but which no government, not even those 
 who had adopted them, had yet established 
 in principle. His note ran generally as 
 follows : — " Every civilised nation is bound 
 to protect its subjects, to repress slavery, 
 to punish the turbulent tribes in its 
 vicinity ; and it is also forced to extend it- 
 self from time to time. This has been the 
 case in the United States of America, 
 France in Algeria, Holland in the Sund 
 islands, and England in India. They can 
 stop only when they come to non-nomadic 
 populations, who comprehend the advan- 
 ta<^es of commerce and a reofular mode of 
 existence. It was thus inevitable for 
 Russia to advance as far as the boundaries 
 of the States of Bokhara and Khokand ; the 
 line of fortified posts for the protection 
 and defence of the frontier, and through 
 which she keeps the pillaging tribes in 
 order, could exist only in a fertile country 
 capable of maintaining the garrisons. 
 Russia has at last acquired a definite 
 frontier by her last conquests ; she has a 
 more compact and better organised social 
 centre. She has reached the geographical 
 limits where interest and reason bid her 
 halt. And, indeed, what motive could she 
 have for extending her territory ? Besides 
 that, she already possesses more provinces 
 than she wants ; she knows that commerce is 
 the essential element of civilisation. She 
 wishes, therefore, to live at peace with her 
 new neighbours, and to employ force only 
 where justice demands it." 
 
 Unfortunately, these fine theories were 
 contradicted by facts at the very moment 
 Gortchakoff uttered them, so powerful was 
 the attraction exercised by the spirit of 
 conquest on a victorious general. What 
 need had the Russians to occupy Tashkend? 
 But then Tchernaief had already entered 
 it, and the government took good care not 
 to make him quit it, although he had, no 
 doubt, exceeded his instructions in this 
 instance. In the month of January, 1865, 
 an imperial ukase instituted the province 
 of Turkestan, bounded on the one side by 
 part of Western Siberia, the district of 
 Vernoe, and the Kirghiz Steppes, as far as 
 the snowy mountains of Thian-Chan ; on 
 the other by part of the province of Oren- 
 burg, and the lower valley of the Yaxartes. 
 Tchernaief was appointed commander-in- 
 chief, with most extensive civil and military 
 powers, for he was made responsible for the 
 
 \ 
 
 defence of a country almost entirely un- 
 known. Hazret-Sultan was the capital of 
 this new province, of which the boundaries 
 on all sides, except, perhaps, towards the 
 soutli, were determined by an ukase. Was 
 it from ignorance of geography, or the 
 hope of soon making further conquests, that 
 Tashkend was not included in Turkestan ? 
 It was said it was to be made a free town, 
 with its own government, under the pro- 
 tectorate of Russia. This sham, however, 
 did not last long. The inhabitants were 
 soon induced to petition the czar for their 
 annexation to the empire ; they feared, 
 they said, that the removal of the Russian 
 garrison would expose them to reprisals 
 from the sovereigns of Khokand and Bok- 
 hara. Finally, Tashkend was reunited to 
 Turkestan, and became its capital. 
 
 Let us now consider how this extension 
 of the Russian empire was looked upon by 
 the other powers. In Europe one nation 
 alone had any cause of uneasiness — Great 
 Britain. But, being unable to prevent it, 
 she tried to convince herself that it was 
 rather advantageous than otherwise. The 
 Ousbegs, said the press, are a bloodthirsty, 
 depraved race. The state of barbarism in 
 which they live renders Central Asia inac- 
 cessible. The Russians will open routes, 
 introduce the germs of civilisation, suppress 
 slavery, and destroy the barriers that have 
 impeded commerce up to the present day. 
 A little more and they would have hailed 
 the submission of all Central Asia to the 
 generals of the czar as a happy event. But 
 however distant the chances of a conflict 
 between the Russians and the English on 
 the frontiers of India, all this language 
 was nothinsf else but resifjnation. It is 
 known how timid the foreign policy of the 
 viceroy was at that period ; and yet if he 
 had wished to interfere, he would have 
 found races enough disposed to resist the 
 Russians on the banks of the Oxus and the 
 Yaxartes, for their religious fanaticism had 
 been over-excited by the loss of Hazret- 
 Sultan, to which the pilgrims who were 
 unable to make the journey to Mecca re- 
 paired, and which now belonged to the 
 infidels : it was a profanation that must be 
 revenored. 
 
 But the well-known ambition of Mozaffer- 
 Eddin, Khan of Bokhara, would not allow 
 him to remain inactive, although his pos- 
 sessions were still intact. Khokand alone 
 had as yet been subjected. After many 
 revolutions this State had fallen to a child. 
 
 the sixteenth descendant of Baber, under 
 the regency of Alim-Koul, the energetic 
 chief of the Kipchaks, the most warlike 
 tribe of this region. Alim-Koul valiantly 
 resisted the Russians, and perished at the 
 taking of Tashkend. A month after this 
 event, MozafFer wrote an arrogant letter to 
 Tchernaief, summoning him to evacuate 
 Tashkend, and threatening him, in case 
 he did not yield, to rouse all the true 
 believers of Central Asia against him. At 
 the same time he sent one of his armies to 
 Khokand, banished from it the partisans of 
 the Kipchaks, and set a certain Khonda- 
 Yar-Khan on the throne. Tchernaief had 
 no objection to this new sovereign, who, 
 from his weakness of character, was not 
 likely to become a disagreeable neighbour ; 
 but resolved, above all things, not to be 
 disturbed in the enjoyment of the newly- 
 acquired territory, he would not allow the 
 Emir of Bokhara to appropriate to himself 
 the south-western part of the Kharak, 
 comprising the important town of Khod- 
 jend. In order to testify his displeasure, 
 the Russian general caused a Bokhara 
 caravan that was at Orenburg to be 
 stopped. In revenge, the emir stopped a 
 Russian caravan at Bokhara ; then he des- 
 patched a khodja to St. Petersburg, in 
 order to come to an understanding with 
 the czar himself, after having demanded of 
 the commanders on the frontier that they 
 should only await the return of this mes- 
 senger. Tchernaief, and his immediate 
 chief, Krijanofski, governor-general of 
 Orenburg, discerned the true motive of 
 these steps. The emir wanted to gain 
 time, collect his troops, and fall upon the 
 Russians as soon as he should have concen- 
 trated all the forces at his disposal. The 
 khodja was imprisoned as soon as he set 
 foot on Russian territory, and Tchernaief 
 hastened to occupy the valley of the Syr- 
 Daria, as far as Chinaz, under the pretext 
 that there were fertile plains there whose 
 crops were necessary for the provisioning of 
 the garrisons. Khonda-Yar-Khan, to whom 
 the territory belonged, oflfered no opposi- 
 tion. Knowing his position with the 
 Russians, he made great protestations of 
 friendship, and, thanks to his prudent be- 
 haviour, remained in possession of what was 
 left of the State of Khokand. 
 
 The afifair between MozafTer and the 
 Russians had been so vigorously com- 
 menced, that it could not terminate with- 
 out war. It is possible that the govt^rn- 
 
 239 
 
 i M 
 
 ; I 
 
 r if j 
 
 \»-Q 
 
RETREAT FROM BOKHARA.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1856-'77. 
 
 ment of St. Petersburg was uneasy about 
 this fresh struggle in perspective, for in 
 attacking the P^mir of Bokhara, the 
 spiritual chief of Central Asia, they were 
 entering on a religious war, the issue of 
 which was uncertain. It was therefore 
 decided that a last attempt should be made 
 at cunciliation. Towards the end of the 
 year 1865, Tchernaief sent an embassy to 
 Bokhara, under Councillor Struve, son of 
 the astronomer, and three officers. This 
 was indeed an imprudent measure, when it 
 is remembered what regard Asiatic poten- 
 tates entertain for diplomatic privileges, 
 especially when they can render tit-for-tat. 
 And, in fact, the four members of the 
 Russian mission were imprisoned immedi- 
 ately on their arrival at Bokhara ; Mozaffer 
 declaring he would not release them until 
 his own messenger returned from St. 
 Petersburg. Thereupon, Tchernaief set 
 out in February, 18(>6, with fourteen com- 
 panies of infantry, 600 Cossacks, and six- 
 teen cannons ; in all, about 1,700 men, and 
 a train of 1,200 camels. They intended to 
 occupy P^ort Djizak, which commands the 
 dehles through which the road passes from 
 Khokand into Bokhara. The country was 
 devoid of wood, forage, and victuals. The 
 general had badly calculated his provision- 
 ing, and Djizak was better defended than 
 he thought, and he therefore found himself 
 com pel led to retreat ; this was accom- 
 plished without any serious losses. It 
 was, however, a great success for Mozaffer- 
 Eddin, who more than ever believed him- 
 self in a condition to resist the Europeans. 
 
 In consequence of tliis check, Tchernaief 
 fell into disgrace. His successor, Roman- 
 ofski, arrived in Turkestan in the spring of 
 1866. The condition of the province was, 
 it seems, rather critical. There were, in 
 all, scarcely 13,000 troops, of which a 
 quarter, at most, were in the outposts 
 around Tashkend, to receive the first shock 
 of the Bokharian armies. The treasury 
 was empty ; the civil administration of the 
 recently-conquered districts scarcely existed. 
 The flying columns of the emir harassed 
 the small frontier garrisons. However, in 
 the month of May, Romanofski advanced 
 against Mozaffer- Eddin with some thou- 
 sand soldiers. The encounter which ttiok 
 place at Irdjar, on the banks of the Yax- 
 artes, a little above Chinaz, was decisive. 
 In less than an hour the emir's 40,000 men 
 disbanded, leaving the artillery on the field 
 of battle. The losses of the Russians were 
 240 
 
 \ 
 
 A.D. 1856-77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [advance on KHIVA. 
 
 twelve wounded. There never was, in an^ 
 country, a victory more complete and less 
 honourable. Romanofski at once advanced 
 as far as Khodjend, which offered no resist- \ 
 
 ance. Mozaffer then pleaded for pardon. 
 The ambassadors whom he had detained in 
 his capital were released. The conditions 
 imposed upon him were not onerous ; he 
 had to acknowledge the conquests of 
 Russia, to reduce the customs duties on 
 Russian merchandise, and to pay 1,000,000 
 francs, war indemnity. Peace now seemed 
 restored ; for Russia had so much to do in 
 her newly-conquered possessions, that a 
 long period of tranquillity seemed indis- 
 pensable for her. The organisation of 
 these territories had, first of all, to be 
 provided for. Municipalities already 
 existed in every town of any importance ; 
 these Romanofski preserved, placing them 
 under the surveillance of a Russian officer : 
 he even invested these municipalities with 
 very extensive powers, such as the collec- 
 tion of taxes and the administration of 
 justice. Thus a great responsibility was 
 vested in the commander of this distant 
 province ; for it was so difficult for him to 
 consult his hierarchical superiors when any- 
 thing unforeseen occurred, that it was abso- 
 lutely necessary to allow him a great deal of 
 independent action. For this same reason 
 the czar instituted, by a ukase on the 23rd 
 of July, 1867, the governor-general of 
 Turkestan, the seat of which is the town ot 
 Tashkend, and definitively united it with the 
 empire. As for Romanofski, whether he 
 was too insignificant a personage for such 
 a command, or whether he had failed in 
 anything, is not known ; but he retired into 
 private life. The new governor-general 
 was Greneral Kautfmann, wlio had already 
 acquired the reputation of a clever ad- 
 ministrator in the Baltic provinces. 
 
 At this period, Khonda-Yar, Khan of 
 Khokand, had resigned himself to the in- 
 ferior role imposed upon him by circum- 
 stances. Under the semblance of a treaty 
 of commerce, he had, de facto, accepted 
 the protectorate of Russia. The attitude 
 of Bokhara was far from being so satis- 
 factory. Not that Mozaffer-Eddin had any 
 serious desire to recommence the war, for 
 the affair at Irdjar had taught him the 
 respective value of his soldiers and the 
 European troops ; but his subjects, especi- 
 ally the sacerdotal caste — always influential 
 in the Trans-Oxus — were not so submissive. 
 The emir had sent ambassadors to the 
 
 \ 
 
 ^ 
 
 sultan and the viceroy of India, to claim 
 assistance against the Russians. From 
 Constantinople and from Calcutta he re- 
 ceived the answer that he must make the 
 necessary sacrifices to obtain peace. The 
 people, however, excited by the mollahs, 
 refused to allow holy Bokhara to humble 
 herself before the infidels; and Mozaffer- 
 Eddin, in spite of everything, was forced to 
 prepare for war. Kauffmann, however, 
 instead of waiting for the enemy, took the 
 field in the month of May, 1868 ; he met 
 the army of Bokhara at Serpoul, in the 
 valley of the Terefchan, routed it, and the 
 next day entered Samarcand, that had shut 
 its gates against the defeated troops of the 
 emir. He then proceeded further to take 
 the fortresses in the neighbourhood, leaving 
 only a feeble garrison behind. The Beg of 
 Sheri-Sebz then retook the town, and the 
 Russian garrison was saved only by the 
 speedy return of the commander-in-chief. 
 In fact, the war was terminated. The 
 ancient capital of Timour, one of the 
 centres of the Moslem faith, was now in the 
 hands of the Russians. 
 
 The fate of this ancient city, however, 
 was not immediately sealed. The treaty of 
 peace granted the Russian traders full 
 liberty of communication in Bokhara ; it 
 reduced the duty on imported Russian 
 goods to 2J per cent., and fixed a war con- 
 tribution of 1,000,000 francs. At first it 
 seemed as if the Russians kept possession 
 of Samarcand as a guarantee for the pay- 
 ment of the indemnity; but two years 
 passed away, and it was then pretended 
 that Europeans had settled there, and that 
 their interests would be in danger if the 
 imperial troops were to leave. At length, 
 in the autumn of 1870, Greneral Kauffmann 
 declared that Samarcand was incorporated 
 with Russian Turkestan. Besides this 
 town being important from the number of 
 its inhabitants and its history, it occupies 
 a topographical situation which its con- 
 querors could not lose sight of. The 
 scanty waters ^ of the Terefchan are 
 absorbed by the irrigation canals during 
 the hot season; then, if the cultivators 
 about Samarcand abuse their rights, those 
 of Bokhara suffer; the meadows dry up, 
 and the swampy gardens become sterile. 
 In a word, Bokhara can only subsist by the 
 consideration of the government to whom 
 the head of the valley belongs. Such 
 being the case, the Russians would not 
 abandon a conquest that no one, indeed, 
 
 VOL. n. 2 I 
 
 was in a position to dispute with them, 
 Mozaffer-Eddin less than any other. 
 
 This unfortunate sovereign, the victim of 
 the faults of his father, Nasroulat, more 
 than his own, had to contend against a 
 civil war after the foreign war was over. 
 The old Mussulman party, exasperated by 
 the defeats which it attributed to treason, 
 accused the emir of weakness in treating 
 with the infidels. The heir-presumptive 
 took up arms against his father at the same 
 time as the Begs of Sheri-Sebz and of 
 Karchi. As it did not suit the Russians 
 that the khanate should become a prey to 
 fresh revolutions, General Kauffmann sent 
 his troops to the aid of the legitimate 
 monarch, and soon succeeded in quelling 
 the disturbance. 
 
 In the meanwhile Khiva alone had 
 managed to preserve its independence. 
 But were this khanate and the Turco- 
 man steppes once to be subjected, the 
 Caspian and the Aral would become' 
 Russian lakes. The commerce of Central 
 Asia had become more active since the 
 Europeans had had access to the valleys of 
 the Yaxartes and the Terefchan, and they 
 complained of the long circuits they were 
 compelled to make in consequence of the 
 hostility of the Khivans. The caravans 
 coming from Tashkend and Fort Vernoe 
 could enter Russia only by Orenburg, or, 
 still farther north, by the circuitous routes 
 of Petropaulovsk or 'Semipolatinsk. The 
 czar already had a fleet on the Caspian; 
 Astrachan and Growrief to the north, and 
 Baku on the coast of Georgia, were the 
 principal ports. In the place of an estab- 
 lishment on terra fiima, on the south- 
 eastern coast, which the Shah of Persia, to 
 whom the territory belongs, would not 
 have allowed, the Russians were forced to 
 be contented with a naval station on the 
 island of Achourada, where they kept a 
 strict watch on the Turcoman pirates. On 
 the high sea, navigators had nothing to 
 fear from these savages ; but every merchant 
 vessel approaching the coast was exposed to 
 their attacks, their cargoes were plundered, 
 the sailors carried into the interior, and 
 sold as slaves in the markets of Khiva. 
 Employing force ostensibly in the interests 
 of humanity, the Russians arrogated to 
 themselves the right of searching all Turco- 
 man vessels, to see that they carried 
 neither prisoners nor munitions, or contra- 
 band of war. In the north they also 
 possessed Fort Alexander, on tlie peninsula 
 
 241 
 
 
 I, 
 
 : i 
 t 
 
 » 
 
t 
 
 DEFIANCE OF THE KHAN.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 fA.D. 1856-77. 
 
 A.D. 1856-77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [attack on khhta. 
 
 of Mangichlak, which they had not ceased 
 occupying since the time of Bekovitch ; but 
 the garrison was a prey to the continual 
 attacks of tlie Kirghiz, and the country 
 around being so barren that they could 
 derive nothing from it. The tribes, too, of 
 the Oust-Ourt, who acknowledged the 
 supremacy of the czar, remained turbulent 
 because they felt themselves supported by 
 the Khan of Khiva. In 1869, the governor- 
 general of Orenburg obtained permission to 
 found a colony more to the south, on the 
 bay of Krasnovodsk, which is not far from 
 the spot where the Oxus formerly fell into 
 the Caspian. Apparently it was particularly 
 a commercial station, founded at the request 
 of some Russian traders, to serve as a depot 
 for goods coming from, or destined for, the 
 valley of the Oxus. There is excellent 
 anchorage there for vessels of deen draught, 
 although this coast is in general flat. This 
 new establishment could not fail to alarm 
 Persia, which, at the instigation of En'j:land, 
 then desired tli:it the boundaries should be 
 iixed between its territory and the Russian 
 possessions. Tiie two powers agreed upon 
 the course of the Attrek for the frontier, 
 and Russia, determining to profit at once 
 by the advantages offered by the treaty, 
 erected another fort at Chigichlar, on the 
 right bank of the river. Therewith there 
 was not a c:ipe from Gowrief to Achourada 
 on which tlie imperial flag did not float. 
 
 The Russians were, however, not much 
 more advanced ; for the numerous columns 
 sent by the commanders from Krasnovodsk 
 and Chigichlar to explore the steppe, found 
 nothing but desert, without water or 
 forage ; and if they chanced to meet any 
 Turcomans, there was at once an exchange 
 of shots. The complicity of the Klian of 
 Khiva with tlie indigenous tribes was 
 evident. General Kautfman wrote to him, 
 therefore, demanding the release of the 
 Russian prisoners, the protection of the 
 caravans, and that he should no longer 
 encourage the depredations committed by 
 Lis nomad subjects on Russian territory. 
 The khan gave no answer to this letter. 
 The same demand was made the next 
 year : this time he replied, in a haughty 
 tone, that the czar was at liberty to act 
 as he pleased. This took place in 1871. 
 Kauffmann would have s> immediately 
 inarched against Khiva; but he was pre- 
 vented by his government, who were still 
 uneasy at the attitude of the Bokharians ; 
 it was feared that the fanatics of the 
 
 24;2 
 
 Terefchan would profit by the circumstance 
 to take their revenge. Mohammed-Rachim- 
 Khan had already perceived that the desert 
 was not impracticable for his enemies ; he 
 heard, from time to time, that the flying 
 columns of Krasnovodsk had advanced as 
 far as the confines of his territory, and with 
 the astuteness of some of his predecessors 
 on similar occasions, he tried to obtain 
 peace at no other sacrifices but vain pro- 
 mises. He therefore despatched a mission 
 to the Grand Duke Michael, governor- 
 creneral of the Caucasus, and a second to 
 St. Petersburg : they were botli sent back 
 with the simple advice to address them- 
 selves to the governor-general of Turkestan, 
 through whose intermediation the negotia- 
 tions must take place. The khan was in- 
 formed, also, that no preliminaries could be 
 settled before he had delivered up the 
 prisoners. Mohammed-Rachim then be- 
 thought himself of claiming the assistance 
 of the Afghan Emir and the viceroy of 
 India. Both advised him to accept the 
 conditions offered to him. Unfortunately 
 for him, one of the flying columns sent by 
 the Russian generals into the desert suffered 
 a slight check. The commander, too con- 
 fident in his strength, was not sufficiently 
 precautious, and let himself be surprised by a 
 band of Khivans, and lost nearly all his train, 
 which obliged him to retire in all haste to- 
 wards the Caspian. Emboldened by this 
 slight success, the nomads of the Kharism 
 broke into the province of Orenburg, 
 assaulted the isolated posts, and seized a 
 great quantity of cattle belonging to the 
 faithful Kirghiz. 
 
 The expedition was now resolved on. 
 The Russian government was not deceived 
 as to the difficulties of the enterprise. Sur- 
 rounded on three sides by deserts of sand ; 
 offering no resource to an army on the 
 march ; guarded on the north by the Sea of 
 Aral, whose shores are so sandy that they 
 can be reached only by flat-bottomed boats, 
 the territory of the khan had also other 
 obstacles to offer as soon as the troops ad- 
 vanced into the cultivated zone. The oasis 
 constituting the inhabited part of the 
 khanate is nothing but a vast marsh, inter- 
 sected with innumerable irrigation canals ; 
 and the expedition would be stopped by 
 each of these water-courses, unless they 
 carried pontoons with them. The resist- 
 ance the khan was in a position to make 
 was not much dreaded ; he had scarcely any 
 regular army ; he had no infantry, and the 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 troops were badly armed. Supposing the 
 Ousbegs and Turcomans to be able, unitedly, 
 to form a troop of 30,000 cavalry, a few 
 thousand Europeans would suffice to put 
 them all to flight. It was also known that 
 Khiva was surrounded by several earth- 
 walls, and every village protected by an 
 encircling wall ; but these fortifications 
 were worth nothing against modern artil- 
 lery. In reality, the true defence of the 
 Kharism lies in the deserts which surround 
 it — deserts w^hich must not only be crossed, 
 but where it was necessary to maintain 
 lines of communication from post to post. 
 Finally, although the Emir of Bokhara had 
 not stirred for the last five years, the 
 Russians had to guard against an offensive 
 movement on his part, and of the fanatics 
 surrounding him. 
 
 The conduct of the operations was con- 
 fided to General Kauffmann ; but, as the 
 government of Turkestan could not have 
 furnished the 14,000 men that must take 
 the field, and as, besides, it was considered 
 best to disperse the troops along different 
 routes, it was decided at St. Petersburg 
 that the expedition should be divided into 
 four columns. The first was to set out 
 from Djizak and Kazalinsk, at the mouth 
 of the Syr-Daria, with twenty companies of 
 infantry, thirty cannon, seven sotnias of 
 Cossacks, and 9,500 camels, under the im- 
 mediate command of General Kauffmann. 
 A second column, organised by the Grand 
 Duke Michael, governor-general of the 
 Caucasus, was collected at Krasnovodsk and 
 Chigichlar, under the orders of Colonel 
 Markosof : it was composed of eight com- 
 panies of infantry, with proportionate ca- 
 valry and artillery, and 3,000 camels. The 
 third column, about as strong as the pre- 
 ceding, had the shortest line of march. 
 Leaving Kinderli, at the south of the 
 peninsula of Mangichlak, under the orders 
 of Colonel Lamakine, it was to organise 
 and establish stations on the route, in order 
 to maintain quick and easy communication 
 between Khiva and the Caspian during the 
 whole course of the campaign. Finally, 
 Lieutenant-General Verofkine left Oren- 
 burg with 900 infantry, twelve cannons, 400 
 Cossacks, and 5,000 camels. The longest 
 passage of the desert fell to his lot. It was 
 arranged that all these troops should set 
 out so as to arrive at the same time before 
 the walls of Khiva, and that Kauffmann 
 should then take the supreme command. 
 This general also caused the mouths of the 
 
 Amou-Daria to be explored by the flotilla 
 of the Aral, consisting of gun-boats and 
 sailing-boats, with a dozen cannons and 260 
 marines. This little squadrun, though too 
 feeble to effect a landing, might, at least, 
 frighten the enemy and divide his forces. 
 
 About the 15 th of May, after a march of 
 three months, the column of Orenburg 
 arrived at Konngrad, on the western arm of 
 the delta of the Oxus, where it was joined 
 by Lamakine's column, which had left 
 Kinderli on the 15th of April. Although 
 he had received no news of the other 
 detachments. General Verofkine did not 
 hesitate to advance. The Khivans made a 
 show of resistance before Khodchaili; but 
 a few cannon-shot quickly dispersed them, 
 and the town was occupied without any 
 loss beyond two wounded. Some days 
 later, the enemy again gave battle at 
 Manghitj their numerous cannon seemed 
 to envelop the Russians, who, however, 
 remained masters of the ground with a loss 
 of nine killed, and about twenty wounded. 
 The inhabitants having taken part in the 
 struggle, the town was burnt by way of 
 reprisal. After these two engagements the 
 Khivans did not'venture to offer any further 
 resistance in the open field; they skir- 
 mished around the expedition, attacked the 
 train, cut the bridges, and fled like the 
 wind when they were pursued. At last, 
 Verofkine received a message from Kaufl"- 
 mann, who appointed a rendezvous under 
 the walls of Khiva for the 23rd or •24th of 
 May. As to Markosof s column, of which 
 nothing was heard, we may as well at once 
 say that it turned back after having crossed 
 half the desert. Although this officer had 
 had much experience in travelling across 
 the steppe, he could not find sufficient wells 
 to supply his men; and for fear of their 
 dying of thirst, he could not do otherwise 
 than retreat. His movement had, at all 
 events, the good result of keeping the tribes 
 of the Tekkes in awe, who otherwise would 
 probably have gone to the aid of the Khan 
 of Khiva. 
 
 The 22nd of May, Verofkine received an 
 embassy from Mohammed-Rachim ; the 
 imminent danger having induced him to 
 try the stratagem which had succeeded with 
 Bekovitch. He begged the general kindly 
 to accept hospitality in his capital ; he 
 would be but too happy to receive him. 
 He required two or three days at most to 
 complete his preparations and chastise the 
 plundering Turcomans, who had had the 
 
 243 
 
 
 i 
 
TREATY WITH KHIVA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1873. 
 
 audacity to oppose the Russian march. 
 Veroikine could not have been entrapped 
 by a more clever ruse even : he had received 
 formal orders to refuse all negotiations. 
 He therefore continued to advance, so that 
 on the evening of the 27th of May he was 
 before Khiva. According to his instruc- 
 tions he was to await the commander-in- 
 chief; but was there not danger in delaying 
 the attack ? He willingly persuaded him- 
 self there was. On the 28th the Russian 
 artillery bombarded the town at the same 
 time as the infantry ventured rather too 
 boldly to the walls, and the losses were 
 greater than in the preceding battles. On 
 the whole, the result of the day was satisfac- 
 tory ; for in the evening a messenger arrived 
 from the khan, with the information that 
 lie was disposed to conclude a treaty. The 
 next morning General Kauffmann arrived, 
 and the united army entered the town, and 
 occupied the citadel and the chief strategic 
 points. The khan had fled, but the popu- 
 lation was peaceable; the bazaar was re- 
 opened, and the inhabitants gave the 
 Russians a friendly reception. If the troops 
 had suffered much, during the crossing of 
 the steppes, from the want of water and 
 provisions, the fire of the enemy had done 
 them little harm. The Khan of Khiva, 
 like those of Khokand and Bokhara, was 
 forced to acknowledge the immense supe- 
 riority of the European armies. 
 
 The khan had fled before the taking of 
 his capital ; it showed little prudence on 
 his part, for he must have known of the 
 claims of certain Kirghiz sultans to the 
 throne of Khiva. He returned after a few 
 days, ready to subscribe to whatever condi- 
 tions the conqueror should think fit to 
 impose. What General Kauffmann made 
 him subscribe was indeed less a treaty of 
 peace than a declaration of vassalage. The 
 khan proclaimed himself the obedient 
 servant of the Emperor of all the Russias ; 
 he renounced the right of entertaining 
 direct relations with the neighbouring 
 sovereigns ; he yielded all territory on the 
 right bank of the Amou-Daria, with the 
 inhabitants, settled or nomad, upon it. All 
 the khanate was to be open to the Russian 
 traders and their goods, freed from all 
 duties, either of customs or transit. Finally, 
 slavery was to be abolished, and the war 
 contribution fixed at the enormous sum of 
 2,200,000 roubles. 
 
 This treaty, which was signed August 
 24tb, 1873, is of such importance as evi- 
 244 
 
 dence of the true intentions of Russia, that 
 our readers will be glad to read it in eX' 
 tenso, and see for themselves how well- 
 founded were the motives which impelled 
 her majesty's government to exact an ex- 
 planation from the Russian emperor, early 
 in the year 1873, regarding his intentions 
 as to Khiva. The explanation will be 
 given further on, as well as the terms of 
 the promise, which, proceeding from the 
 czar himself, induced the British cabinet 
 to place the fullest confidence in the im- 
 perial word. 
 
 Treaty of Peace between Russia and 
 Khiva; prepared by General Aide-de- 
 camp Kauffmann, commanding the 
 Forces acting against Khiva, and ac- 
 cepted by the Khan of Khiva, Seid- 
 Mohammed-Rachim-Bahadur-Khan. 
 
 " 1. Seid-Mohammed-Rachim-Bahadur- 
 Khan acknowledges himself to be the obe- 
 dient servant of the Emperor of all the 
 Russias. He renounces the right of main- 
 taining any direct and friendly relations 
 with neighbouring rulers and khans, and 
 of concludinof with them commercial or 
 other treaties of any kind soever ; and shall 
 not, without the knowledge and permission 
 of the superior Russian authorities in 
 Central Asia, undertake any military 
 operations against such neighbouring 
 countries. 
 
 " 2. The boundary between the Russian 
 and Khivan territories shall be the Amou- 
 Daria from Kukertli, down the river as far 
 as the point at which the most westerly 
 branch of the Amou-Daria leaves the main 
 stream ; and from that point the frontier 
 shall pass along such branch as far as its 
 mouth in the Aral Sea. Further, the 
 frontier shall extend along the sea-coast to 
 Cape Urgu, and from thence along the 
 base of the chink (escarpment) of the Oust- 
 Ourt, following the so-called ancient bed 
 of the Amou-Daria. 
 
 "3. The whole of the right bank of 
 the Amou-Daria, and the lands adjoining 
 thereunto, which have hitherto been con- 
 sidered as belonging to Khiva, shall pass 
 over from the khan into the possession of 
 Russia, together with the people dwelling 
 and camping thereon. Those parcels of 
 land which are at present the property of 
 the khan, and of which the usufruct has 
 been given by him to Khivan officers of 
 State, become likewise the property of the 
 Russian government, free of all claims on 
 
 A.D. 1873.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [treaty with KHIVA. 
 
 I 
 
 ^ 
 
 the part of the previous owners. The khan 
 may indemnify them by grants of land on 
 the left bank. 
 
 "4. In the event of a portion of such 
 right bank being transferred to the posses- 
 sion of the Ameer of Bokhara, by the will 
 of his majesty the emperor, the Khan of 
 Khiva shall recognise the latter as the 
 lawful possessor of such portion of his 
 former dominions, and engages to renounce 
 all intention of re-establishing his authority 
 therein. 
 
 " 5. Russian steamers and other Russian 
 vessels, whether belonging to the govern- 
 ment or to private individuals, shall have 
 the free and exclusive right of navigating 
 the Amou-Daria river. Khivan and Bok- 
 harian vessels may enjoy the same right not 
 otherwise than by special permission from 
 the Russian authority in Central Asia. 
 
 "6. Russians shall have the right to 
 construct wharves (landing-places) on the 
 left bank, wheresoever the same shall be 
 found necessary and convenient. The 
 government of the khan shall be respon- 
 sible for the safety and security of such 
 "wharves. The approval of the localities 
 selected for wharves shall rest with the 
 superior Russian ofiicers in Central Asia. 
 
 " 7. Independently of such wharves, 
 Russians shall have the right to establish 
 factories on the left bank of the Amou- 
 Daria, for the purpose of storing and safe- 
 keeping of their merchandise. For the pur- 
 poses of such factories, the government of 
 the khan shall allot, in the localities which 
 shall have been indicated by the superior 
 Russian authorities in Central Asia, a 
 sufficient quantity of unoccupied land for 
 wharves and the construction of store- 
 houses, of buildings for the accommodation 
 of servants of the factories, and of persons 
 transacting business with the factories, and 
 of merchants' offices, as well as for the 
 establishment of domestic farms. Such 
 factories, together with all persons residing 
 tliereat, and with all goods placed therein, 
 shall be under the immediate protection of 
 the government of the khan, which shall 
 be responsible for the safety and security of 
 the same. 
 
 " 8. All the towns and villages, without 
 exception, within the khanate of Khiva, 
 shall henceforward be open to Russian 
 trade. Russian merchants and Russian 
 caravans may freely travel throughout the 
 entire khanate, and shall enjoy the special 
 protection of the local authorities. The 
 
 government of the khan shall be responsi- 
 ble for the safety of the caravans and 
 stores. 
 
 "9. Russian merchants trading in the 
 khanate shall be free from the payment of 
 customs' duties (ziaket), and of all kinds 
 of dues on trade, in the same manner as 
 the merchants of Khiva have long enjoyed 
 immunity from ziaket on the route through 
 Kazalinsk, at Orenburg, and at the stations 
 (landing-places) on the Caspian Sea. 
 
 "10. Russian merchants shall have the 
 right of carrying their goods through the 
 Khivan territory to all neighbouring 
 countries, free of customs' duties (free tran- 
 sit trade). 
 
 "11. Russian merchants shall, if they 
 desire it, have the right to establish agents 
 (caravan bashis) in Khiva and other towns 
 within the khanate, for the purpose of 
 maintaining communication with the 
 authorities, and superintending the regu- 
 larity of their trade., 
 
 " 12. Russian subjects shall have the 
 right to hold immovable property in Khiva, 
 A land-tax shall be leviable on the same 
 by agreement with the superior Russian 
 authority in Central Asia. 
 
 " 13. Commercial engagements between 
 Russians and Khivans shall be fulfilled in- 
 violably on both sides. 
 
 '• 14. The government of the khan 
 engages to examine, without delay, the 
 complaints and claims of Russian sub- 
 jects against Khivans; and, in case such 
 complaints and claims shall have been 
 proved to be well founded, to give imme- 
 diate satisfaction in respect of the same. 
 In the examinations of disputes (claims) 
 between Russian subjects and Khivans, 
 preference shall be given to the Russians 
 in respect to the payment of debts by the 
 Khivans. 
 
 " 15. Complaints and claims of Khivans 
 against Russian subjects shall be referred 
 to the nearest Russian authorities for ex- 
 amination and ratification, even in the 
 event of such complaints and claims being 
 raised by Russian subjects within the con- 
 fines of the khanate. 
 
 " 16. The government of the khan shall 
 in no case give refuge to emigrants (run- 
 aways) from Russia, having no permit from 
 Russian authorities, without regard to the 
 nationality of such individuals. Should 
 any Russian subjects, being criminals, seek 
 concealment within the boundaries of 
 Khiva in order to avoid judicial pursuit, 
 
 245 
 
 
 k' "i 
 
 \f.. 
 
TREATT WITH KHIVA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1873. 
 
 the government of the khan engages to 
 capture such persons, and to surrender 
 them to the nearest Russian authorities. 
 
 " 17. The proclamation made by Seid- 
 Mohamraed-Rachim-Babadur-Khan on the 
 12th (24th) of July last, respecting the 
 liberation of all slaves in the khanate, and 
 the abolition in perpetuity of slavery and 
 of trade in men, shall remain in full force, 
 and the government of the khan engages 
 to employ all the moans in its power in 
 order to watch over the strict and conscien- 
 tious prosecution of this matter. 
 
 "18. A fine is inflicted on the khanate 
 of Khiva to the extent of 2,200,000 roubles, 
 in order to cover the expenses incurred by 
 the Russian exchequer in the prosecution 
 of the late war, which was provoked by the 
 government of the khan and by the Khivan 
 people. Since, owing to the insufficiency 
 of money in the country, and particularly 
 in the hands of the government, the Khivan 
 government is unable to pay the above sum 
 within a short time, the Khivan govern- 
 ment shall, in consideration of such diffi- 
 culty, have the right of paying the said 
 fine bv instalments, with the addition of 
 interest thereon at the rate of 5 per cent. 
 per annum, on condition that, during the 
 first two years, 100,000 roubles shall be 
 annually paid into the Russian exchequer, 
 125,000 roubles per annum during the two 
 ensuing years, and, after that, 175,000 
 roubles per annum during the succeeding 
 two years ; and in the year 1881 — that is to 
 say, after the expiration of eight years — the 
 sum of 200,000 roubles shall be paid ; and 
 lastly, a sum of not less than 200,000 
 roubles per annum shall be paid, until the 
 final settlement of the claim. The instal- 
 ments may be paid both in Russian bank- 
 notes and in the current coin of Khiva, at 
 the pleasure of the government of the khan. 
 
 " The first instalment shall be paid on 
 the 1st (13th) of December, 1873. On 
 account of this instalment the khan shall 
 have the right to a tax for the current 
 year from the population on the right bank, 
 according to the assessment hitherto in 
 force. This collection shall be terminated 
 by the 1st (13th) of December, by agree- 
 ment between the khan's collectors and the 
 local Russian authorities. 
 
 "Subsequent instalments shall be paid 
 in by the 1st (13th) of November of each 
 year, until the entire fine, with interest 
 thereon, shall have been paid off. 
 
 " After the expiration of nineteen years — 
 246 
 
 that is to say, by the 1st (13th) of Novem- 
 ber, 1892— after the payment of 200,000 
 roubles for the year 1892, the sum of 
 70,054 roubles will still be due by the 
 government of the khan ; and by the 1st 
 (13th) of November, 1893, the last instal- 
 ment of 73,557 roubles shall be paid. 
 Should the government of the khan desire 
 to shorten the term of payment, and thus 
 to reduce the amount of accruing interest, 
 it shall have the right to pay larger annual 
 instalments. 
 
 " These conditions have been fixed and 
 accepted for exact execution and constant 
 guidance on the one part by General Aide- 
 de-camp Kauffmann, governor-general of 
 Turkistan, and on the other part by Seid- 
 Mohammed-Rachim-Bahadur-Khan, ruler 
 of Khiva, in the garden of Hendemian (the 
 camp of the Russian troops at the city of 
 Khiva), on the 12th (24th) day of August, 
 1873 (on the first day of the month of 
 Radjab, in the year 1290). 
 
 "The original treaty was signed and sealed 
 by General Aide-de-camp Kauffmann, gov- 
 ernor-general of Turkistan, and by Seid- 
 Mohammed-Rachim-Bahadur-Khan." 
 
 The very first sentence of this treaty 
 characterises the whole production. In it 
 the Khan of Khiva acknowledges himself a 
 servant of the Emperor of Russia, and 
 renounces all those privileges the posses- 
 sion of which distinguishes a State from 
 an individual. In paragraphs 2 and 3, 
 a large portion of Khivan territory is 
 forthwith annexed to Russia ; and, finally, 
 a fine of 2,200,000 roubles— a fine, be it 
 noticed, not a war indemnity — is inflicted 
 on the khan, to be paid in instalments. 
 Now, though the sum of 2,200,000 roubles — 
 £250,000 — is not a large amount for the 
 government of a civilised State to pay, it is 
 a very different thing when it has to be 
 collected from a wandering race of shep- 
 herds and nomads, who hate nothing more 
 than paying in any shape. Nor is this all. 
 In Khiva cash is very rare. Outside the 
 towns the trade is simply one of barter. 
 This forces the government to have recourse 
 to money-lenders, to whom they farm the 
 taxes. The money-lenders appoint their 
 collectors, who seize the tax-payer's pro- 
 perty if he will not pay, and in every case 
 receive the value of the sum demanded in 
 kind, and at their own price, according to 
 the article they and their employers can 
 make the most profit out of. The sum, 
 therefore, which was demanded, was, in 
 
 A.D. 1873.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [treaty with BOKHARA. 
 
 ' 
 
 
 reality, exceptionally high, and the collec- 
 tion of it gave rise to disturbances, which 
 afforded the Russians a pretext for still 
 further curtailing the powers of the khan. 
 
 The true significance of the Khivan treaty 
 became still more apparent when read by 
 the light of the treaty concluded a month 
 afterwards with the Khan of Bokhara, by 
 General Kauffmann. This treaty runs : — 
 
 Treaty concluded behueen General Aide- 
 de camp Kauffmann, Governor-General 
 of Turkistan, and Seid Muzafer, Ameer 
 of Bokhara. 
 
 "Art. 1. The line of frontier between 
 the dominions of his imperial majesty, the 
 Emperor of all the Russias, and of those of 
 his eminence the Ameer of Bokhara, re- 
 mains unaltered. 
 
 "All the Khivan territory on the right 
 bank of the Amou-Daria being now an- 
 nexed to the Russian dominions, the for- 
 mer frontier separating the possessions of 
 the Ameer of Bokhara from the khanate of 
 Khiva, and stretching on the west from the 
 locality called Khalata towards Gugertli, 
 *Togai,' on the right bank of Amou, is 
 abolished. The territory situated between 
 the former Bokharo-Khivan frontier, the 
 right bank of the Amou-Daria, from 
 Gugertli to Meschekly, ' Togai ' inclusive, 
 and the line passing from Meschekly to the 
 point of junction of the former Bokharo- 
 Khivan frontier, with the frontier of the 
 Russian empire, are annexed to the 
 dominions of the Ameer of Bokhara. 
 
 " Art. 2. The right bank of the Amou- 
 Daria being detached from the khanate of 
 Khiva, all the caravan routes leading from 
 Bokhara to the north into the Russian 
 dominions, traverse henceforth exclusively 
 lands belonsrino: to Bokhara and Russia. 
 The governments of Russia and Bokhara, 
 each within its own limits, shall both watch 
 over the security of the march of caravans, 
 and of the transit trade. 
 
 "Art. 3. Russian steamers and other 
 Russian government vessels, as well as ves- 
 sels belonging to private individuals, shall 
 have the right of free navigation on that 
 portion of the Amou-Daria which belongs 
 to the Ameer of Bokhara. 
 
 " Art. 4. Russians shall have the right 
 to establish wharves (landing-places) and 
 storehouses for merchandise in such places 
 on the Bokharian banks of the Amou- 
 Daria as may be judged necessary and con- 
 venient for that purpose. The government 
 
 of Bokhara shall undertake to watch over 
 the safety and security of the said wharves 
 and storehouses. The ratification of the 
 selection of localities for the establishment 
 of wharves shall rest with the superior Rus- 
 sian authorities in Central Asia. 
 
 " Art. 5. All the towns and villages in 
 the khanate of Bokhara shall be open to 
 Russian trade. Russian traders and Rus- 
 sian caravans shall freely pass through all 
 parts of the khanate, and shall enjoy the 
 special protection of the local authorities. 
 The Bokharian government shall be respon- 
 sible for the securitv of Russian caravans 
 within the confines of the khanate of 
 Bokhara. 
 
 "Art. 6. All merchandise belonorinof to 
 Russian traders, whether transported from 
 the Russian possessions into Bokhara, or 
 from Bokhara to Russia, shall, without ex- 
 ception, be liable to a tax of two and a-half 
 per cent., ad valorem, in the same way as 
 a duty of one-fortieth is charged on mer- 
 chandise in the Turkistan province. Besides 
 this ziaket no other supplementary tax 
 shall be imposed. 
 
 " Art. 7. Russian traders shall have the 
 right to transport their merchandise through 
 Bokhara to all neighbouring towns free of 
 duty. 
 
 " Art. 8. Russian traders shall be al- 
 lowed to establish caravanserais for the 
 storasfe of their merchandise in all Bokha- 
 rian towns in which they may consider it 
 necessary to do so. Bokharian traders shall 
 enjoy the same privilege in the towns of 
 the Turkistan province. 
 
 " Art. 9. Russian traders shall have the 
 riofht to have commercial agents in all the 
 towns of Bokhara, whose business it shall 
 be to watch over the regular course of 
 trade, and over the legal imposition of cus- 
 toms' dues, and who shall also be authorised 
 to enter into communication with the local 
 authorities. Bokharian traders shall enjoy 
 the same privilege in the towns of the 
 Turkistan province. 
 
 " Art. 10. Engagements of trade be- 
 tween Russians and Bokharians shall be 
 held sacred and inviolable on both sides. 
 The Bokharian government shall promise 
 to keep watch over the honest fulfilment of 
 all trading engagements, as also over the 
 conscientious conduct of trading affairs 
 generally. 
 
 "Art. 11. Russian subjects shall, equally 
 with the subjects of Bokhara, have the 
 right to occupy themselves in the Bokha- 
 
 247 
 
 ■ ''I 
 
 ■»«■ 
 
 m 
 
p * 
 
 ■ i - * 
 
 TREATY WITH BOKHARA.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1873. 
 
 rian dominions with the various trades and 
 crafts which are allowed under the shahri- 
 gate, in exactly the same way as Bokharian 
 subjects are permitted, in the Russian 
 dominions, to follow those occupations 
 which are sanctioned by the laws of Russia. 
 
 "Art. 12. Russian subjects shall have the 
 right to possess immovable property in the 
 khanate ; ^. e., to acquire by purchase gar- 
 dens and cultivable lands. Such property 
 shall be liable to a land-tax on an equality 
 with the properties of Bokharian subjects. 
 The same right shall be enjoyed by Bokha- 
 rian subjects within the limits of the Rus- 
 sian empire. 
 
 "Art. 13. Russian subjects shall enter 
 the Bokharian dominions with permits, 
 issued by the Russian authorities, for 
 crossing the frontier ; they shall have the 
 right of free passage throughout the entire 
 khanate, and they shall enjoy the special 
 protection of the Bokharian authorities. 
 
 "Art. 14. The government of Bokhara 
 shall in no case admit into its country any 
 emigrants from Russia, whatever may he 
 their nationality, who are not provided 
 with permits from Russian authorities. If 
 a criminal, being a Russian subject, seeks 
 refuge within the confines of Bokhara from 
 the pursuit of the law, the same shall be 
 arrested and delivered over to the nearest 
 Russian authorities. 
 
 " Art. 15. In order to hold direct and 
 uninterrupted relations with the superior 
 Russian authorities in Central Asia, the 
 Ameer of Bokhara shall select from among 
 those around him a person of confidence, 
 whom he shall establish at Tashkent as his 
 envoy-plenipotentiary. Such envoy shall 
 reside at Tashkent, in a house belonging to 
 the Ameer, and at the expense of the latter. 
 
 " Art. 16. The Russian government 
 may, in like manner, have a permanent 
 representative in Bokhara, who shall be 
 near the person of his Eminence the Ameer. 
 The Russian plenipotentiary in Bokhara, 
 as in the case of the Ameer's plenipoten- 
 tiary in Tashkent, shall reside in a house 
 belonging to the Russian government, and 
 at the expense of the latter. 
 
 "Art. 17. In deference to the Emperor 
 of all the Russias, and for the greater glory 
 of his imperial majesty, his Eminence the 
 Ameer Seid Muzafer has resolved that 
 henceforth and for ever the shameful trade 
 in men, which is so contrary to the laws of 
 humanity, shall be abolished within the 
 limits of Bokhara. In conformity with 
 248 
 
 this resolution, Seid Muzafer shall imme- 
 diately send to all his Beks the strictest 
 orders to that effect. Besides the order 
 abolishing the slave-trade, commands shall 
 be sent to all the frontier towns of Bokhara 
 to which slaves are brought for sale from 
 neighbouring countries, to the efi'ect that 
 in case slaves should be brought to such 
 places, notwithstanding the orders of the 
 Ameer, the same should be taken from their 
 owners, and immediately liberated. 
 
 "Art. 18. His Eminence Seid Muzafer, 
 being sincerely desirous of developing and 
 strengthening the friendly and neighbourly 
 relations which have subsisted for five years 
 to the benefit of Bokhara, shall be guided 
 by the seventeen articles composing the 
 treaty of friendship between Russia and 
 Bokhara. This treaty shall be written in 
 duplicate, each copy being written in the 
 two languages — one in the Russian, and the 
 other in the Turkish language. 
 
 " In token of the confirmation of treaty, 
 and of its acceptance as a guide to himself 
 and to his successors, the Ameer Seid 
 Muzafer has attached his seal. In Shaar, 
 the 28th day of September (O.S.), 1873, in 
 the month of Shaghan, 19th day, 1290." 
 
 These stipulations afi'ord the Russian 
 government so many pretexts for inter- 
 ference in the affairs of Bokhara, that the 
 independence of the State exists merely in 
 name. It would be waste of time to point 
 out the various modes in which Bokhara is 
 by this treaty made entirely dependent on 
 Russia. Suffice it to say, that it was by such 
 treaties that the Russians extended their 
 position ten degrees southwards in forty 
 years — by one degree, or sixty-nine miles, 
 every four years. At this rate of advance 
 they will extend their possessions to the 
 Indian frontier and Afghanistan in another 
 twenty years. This rate seems to be kept 
 up now ; for every mail from Tashkent to 
 St. Petersburg brings the news of some 
 further advance, for one reason or the other. 
 
 However, when the news of the two 
 above treaties arrived in England, the in- 
 dignation was universal.. N It is beyond our 
 province, and does not fall within the scope 
 of the present work, to show why the Rus- 
 sian advance should be a menace to British 
 rule in India. Still, at certain periods the 
 history of one country becomes so inter- 
 woven with that of another, that it is neces- 
 sary to take some account of the relations 
 existing between them, especially when, as 
 in the present case, a subject is under con- 
 
 
 A.D. 1873.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [GRANVILLE'S DESPATCH. 
 
 sideration that may possibly make the his- 
 tory of both countries identical — that is, 
 in case of a bitter war between the two. 
 
 Rightly or wrongly, the British govern- 
 ment judged it expedient to demand of the 
 czar some explanation regarding the expe- 
 dition to Khiva. 
 
 Mr. Grladstone and Lord Granville were 
 then in office. These gentlemen considered 
 then — also rightly or wrongly — that Khiva 
 was a country whose fate could not be a 
 matter of indifference to the British govern- 
 ment. Being then in office, the fate of 
 even so small and unimportant a country as 
 that of Khiva was not indifferent to these 
 statesmen. They held it to be their duty, 
 being in office, to uphold the interests and 
 honour of the nation. They therefore, not 
 being hampered by the interests which 
 animate an opposition, demanded expla- 
 nations as to the object of the expedition to 
 Khiva. A matrimonial alliance — which, it 
 is true, was not to the taste of the people, 
 nor, there is reason to believe, to the other 
 members of the royal family — had ren- 
 dered the demand for such explanations 
 comparatively easy. The British states- 
 men approached the czar somewhat in the 
 spirit of the head of a family who makes 
 the occasion of his son's marriage a reason 
 for settling old disputes and sore points. 
 The czar at once entered into the spirit of 
 the thing ; and announcing his intention of 
 soon coming to England and paying a visit 
 to his daughter, replied with the greatest 
 frankness ; and as an autocrat, without 
 whose sanction not a sword can be sheathed 
 or drawn, at once made the promises which 
 set the minds of the British cabinet at rest, 
 and amply satisfied the majority of parlia- 
 ment. He sent Count Schouvaloff, hitherto 
 minister of police, a man in whom he had 
 unbounded confidence, to England, to assure 
 the British ministers personally of the good 
 wishes the czar entertained for Entjland, 
 and as to the objects of the Khivan expe- 
 dition. Count Schouvaloff acquitted him- 
 self creditably and completely of his task. 
 He quite allayed Lord Granville's fears 
 in a conversation which was communi- 
 cated to Lord Loftus, the British ambas- 
 sador at St. Petersburg, in the following 
 despatch : — v 
 
 "Foreign Office, Jan. 8th, 1873. 
 
 " My Lord, — Having received informa- 
 tion from your excellency and from Count 
 Brunnow, that Count Schouvaloff, a states- 
 
 VOL. II. 2 K 
 
 man enjoying the full confidence of the 
 Emperor of Russia, had left St. Petersburg 
 for London, at the desire of his imperial 
 majesty, I had the pleasure of receiving his 
 excellency on the 8th instant. 
 
 " He confirmed the fact that it was by 
 the emperor's desire that he sought a per- 
 sonal interview with me. It had caused 
 great surprise to his imperial majesty to 
 learn, from various sources, that a certain 
 amount of excitement and susceptibility 
 had been caused in the public mind of this 
 country, on account of questions connected 
 with Central Asia. 
 
 " The emperor knew of no questions in 
 Central Asia which could affect the good 
 understanding between the two countries. 
 It was true that no agreement had been 
 come to as to some ot the details of the 
 arrangement concluded by Lord Clarendon 
 and Prince Gortchakoff, on the basis of 
 Mr. Forsyth's recommendations as to the 
 boundaries of Afghanistan ; but the ques- 
 tion ought not to be a cause to ruffle the 
 good relations between the two countries. 
 His imperial majesty had agreed to almost 
 everything that we had asked. There re- 
 mained only the point regarding the pro- 
 vinces of Badakshan and Wakhan. There 
 might be arguments used respectively by 
 the departments of each government ; but 
 the emperor was of opinion that such a 
 question should not be a cause of difference 
 between the two countries ; and his imperial 
 majesty was determined that it should not 
 be so. He was the more inclined to carry 
 out this determination in consequence of 
 his majesty's belief in the conciliatory 
 policy of her majesty's government. 
 
 " Count Schouvaloff added, on his own 
 part, that he had every reason to believe, if 
 it were desired by her majesty's government, 
 the agreement might be arrived at at a 
 very early period. 
 
 " With regard to the expedition to 
 Khiva, it was true that it was decided upon 
 for next spring. To give an idea of its 
 character, it was sufficient to say that it 
 would consist of four and a-half battalions. 
 Its object was, to punish acts of brigandage, 
 to recover fifty Russian prisoners, and to 
 teach the khan that such conduct on his 
 part could not be continued with the impu- 
 nity in which the moderation of Russia had 
 led him to believe. Not only was it far 
 from the intention of the emperor to take 
 possession of Khiva, but positive orders 
 had been prepared to prevent it, and direc- 
 
 249 
 
 'Ml 
 
i 
 
 THE czar's promises.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1873. 
 
 A.D. 1873.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [Schuyler's report. 
 
 i 
 
 
 tions given that the conditions imposed 
 should be such as could not in any way 
 lead to a prolonged occupancy of Khiva. 
 
 "Count Schouvaloff repeated the sur- 
 prise which the emperor, entertaining such 
 sentiments, felt at the uneasiness which it 
 was said existed in England on the subject, 
 and he gave me most decided assurance 
 that I might give positive assurances to 
 parliament on this matter. 
 
 "With regard to the uneasiness which 
 might exist in England on the subject of 
 Central Asia, I could not deny the fact to 
 Count Schouvaloff. The people of this 
 country were decidedly in favour of peace ; 
 but a great jealousy existed as to anything 
 which really affected our honour and in- 
 terest ; that they were particularly alive to 
 anything affecting India; that the pro- 
 gress of Russia in Asia had been con- 
 siderable, and sometimes, as it would 
 appear, like England in India, and France 
 in Algeria, more so than was desired by the 
 central governments; that the Clarendon 
 and Gortchakoff arrangement, apparently 
 agreeable to both governments, had met 
 with great delay as to its final settlement ; 
 that it was with the object of coming to a 
 settlement satisfactory to both countries, 
 and in a friendly and conciliatory spirit, 
 thad I had addressed to your excellency the 
 despatch of the 17th October. 
 
 " The only point of difference which now 
 remained, as Count Schouvaloff had pointed 
 out, concerned Badakshan and Wakhan. 
 In our opinion, historical facts proved that 
 these countries were under the domination 
 of the sovereign of Cabul ; and we have 
 acknowledged as much in public docu- 
 ments : that, with regard to the expedition 
 to Khiva, Count Schouvaloff was aware 
 that Lord Northbroke had given the 
 strongest advice to the khan to comply 
 with the reasonable demands of the em- 
 peror ; and if the expedition were under- 
 taken and carried out with the object and 
 within the limits described by Count 
 Schouvaloff, it would meet with no remon- 
 strance from her majesty's government; 
 but it would undoubtedly excite public 
 attention, and make the settlement of the 
 boundary of Afghanistan more important 
 for the object w..ich both governments had 
 in view — viz., peace in Central Asia, and 
 good relations between the two countries. 
 
 *' As to coming to a decision at an early 
 date, it appeared to me desirable, inasmuch 
 as it would bear a different aspect if arrived 
 250 
 
 at in the spirit with which both govern- 
 ments were actuated, and not complicated 
 by possible discussions raised in the British 
 parliament. 
 
 "I concluded by telling Count Schou- 
 valoff that I knew the confidence which 
 was placed in him by the emperor, and that 
 I felt sure that my colleagues would agree 
 with me in appreciating his visit to Eng- 
 land, as a gratifying proof of the eminently 
 conciliatory and friendly spirit with which 
 the emperor desired to settle without delay 
 the question at issue. — I am, &C.5 
 
 (Signed) " Granville.'* 
 
 Now, when the positive assurances given 
 to the British cabinet by the czar, as re- 
 lated in the above despatch, were commu- 
 nicated to parliament, great satisfaction 
 generally was exhibited, although there 
 were many who knew that the czar was 
 acting contrary to the advice of the men 
 who were conducting the expedition, and 
 contrary to that of his own foreign minis- 
 ter. Consequently, men like Sir Henry 
 Rawlinson placed no value at all upon the 
 czar's word of honour. In a former page 
 we pointed out that the emperor — autocrat 
 though he be — is actually very far from 
 all-powerful, and but little more than a 
 puppet in irresponsible hands, who persuade 
 and force him to adopt steps, and take 
 measures, for which he alone bears the 
 responsibility. But though we may know 
 that such a man means what he says, and 
 is a man of personal honour, as far as he 
 possesses any personality at all, we must 
 hold him responsible for the acts of his 
 servants ; and no considerations of his 
 personal worth must be allowed to affect 
 the relations between the two countries. 
 The czar's word, as a man to a man, may 
 be unimpeachable ; but his word as the 
 head of the State, as a government, is not 
 worth the fag-end of a rushlight. This 
 was made amply apparent when the result 
 of the Khivan expedition and the two treaties 
 with the Khan of Khiva and the Khan of 
 Bokhara became known. The imperial 
 promises were scattered to the winds, and 
 the seeds sown to a distrust of Russia that 
 have been steadily growing, and which, in 
 no slight measure, contributed to the fate 
 of the Grladstone ministry, and to the dis- 
 content with which the members of the 
 Gladstone cabinet were regarded when 
 they were found pleading the cause of the 
 very man who had so egregiously deceived 
 
 
 them, and then offered to the British cabi- 
 net a bushelful of excuses to take their 
 choice of. 
 
 These excuses were based on the unfore- 
 seen difficulties which dictated the annexa- 
 tion of Khiva, and upon the "fact" that 
 the czar hud commanded General Kauff- 
 mann not to annex any portion of Khivan 
 territory to Russia. But General Kauff- 
 mann did not agree with this command, 
 and refused to obey it. Not only that, but 
 he apparently requested the czar to approve 
 of this disobedience, and to sanction its 
 continuance, and notify and confirm the 
 results. The czar, recognising the virtues 
 of obedience better than his subject, obeyed 
 this request. It is, therefore, a question 
 as to who really is the Emperor of Russia. 
 Lord Granville did not care to solve the 
 question ; and in reply to the excuses made, 
 observed, that " her majesty's government 
 saw no practical advantage in examining 
 too minutely how far the Khivan arrange- 
 ments were in strict accordance with the 
 assurances given by Count Schouvaloff." 
 
 At this stage we, too, may leave the 
 question. Public attention, however, was 
 drawn more closely to Central Asia, not 
 only in England, but also in America and 
 Germany. The country and its products, 
 the life and habits of the Central Asian 
 States, and the nature of Russian progress, 
 were more closely examined from a political 
 point of view, and the world enriched by 
 such works as those of Mr. Schuyler, the 
 American ambassador at St. Petersburg; 
 by Mr. MacGahan and Captain Burnaby. 
 
 Mr. Schuyler, especially, wrote a report 
 concerning the bad administration of Cen- 
 tral Asia ; which was so carefully written, 
 and with such detail, that its publication 
 came like a blow upon the Russian govern- 
 ment, who made such strong representations 
 to the United States government, that Mr. 
 Schuyler was recalled. The salient pas- 
 sages in his report run as follows : — 
 
 " The faults of the Russian administra- 
 tion seem to be, however, in some measure 
 due to the personal character and conduct 
 of the governor-general. General Kauff- 
 mann is, unfortunately, a very weak as 
 well as a very vain man, and has always 
 been surrounded, wherever he was, by 
 persons who use these qualities to serve 
 their own purpose. He came to Central 
 Asia with no knowledge of the country, 
 and, by holding himself in a very lofty 
 position, has acquired very little knowledge 
 
 of it during his stay. He has considered 
 it necessary to keep up an appearance of 
 state, and to have little communication 
 with the natives, having been in the Asiatic 
 part of Tashkent only once or twice during 
 the seven years of his administration. He 
 never rides through the streets without a 
 body-guard of 100 Cossacks, and main- 
 tains himself at a distance of the Russians 
 also. 
 
 " At his balls, it is forbidden to a gentle- 
 man to be seated — a more strict etiquette 
 than prevails at the balls of the emperor at 
 St. Petersburg. The Central Asiatics are 
 accustomed to a very simple, and, in some 
 respects, democratic kind of life ; and, in- 
 stead of standing in awe of the governor- 
 general, they turn his actions, to some 
 extent, to ridicule. At the same time, 
 these restrictions, in their intercourse with 
 him, prevent their reaching him with com- 
 plaints or suggestions; and, therefore, so 
 far as he knows the natives, he knows only 
 such as by their wealth and cunning are 
 able to get round him. In this respect he 
 is the exact opposite of General Tchernaieff, 
 who, by his simplicity, bravery, and almost 
 intuitive knowledge of the country and 
 people, made himself very popular, and is 
 very greatly regretted by the natives, who 
 long for his return. It is natural, of 
 course, that General Kauffmann should 
 have his favourites among the Russian 
 officers, and should be disposed to uphold 
 them in spite of all charges of maladmin- 
 istration. Although the most glaring acts 
 of maladministration have been committed 
 by the district prefects or commanders, the 
 general tone set by the governor-general 
 is such as to naturally lead to this result, 
 and to render it almost hopeless to expect 
 anything better. The prefects, being re- 
 moved, to a certain extent, from the obser- 
 vation and control of the centre of obser- 
 vation, and falling soon into the ways and 
 methods of former Central Asiatic govern- 
 ments, abuse their powers, and consider 
 themselves almost irresponsible. A strik- 
 ing example of this was in the management 
 of the Karminski district, one of the most 
 fertile and thickly settled in the whole pro- 
 vince, and surrounding, not including, the 
 city of Tashkent. The prefect of this dis- 
 trict in one year levied 90,000 roubles of 
 illegal taxes, all of which he spent, besides 
 other government money, and yet he resided 
 within five miles of the house of the 
 governor-general, and was known to be 
 
 251 
 
 \ )■ 
 
 rj. 
 
RUSSIAN CORRUPTION.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1873. 
 
 living in a style, with frequent dinners, 
 suppers, and ganibling parties, entirely im- 
 possible on his salary of 2,400 roubles a 
 year. Among other things, savings' funds 
 had been instituted for the benefit of the 
 population; but by a subsequent regula- 
 tion, approved by the governor-general, it 
 had been allowed to spend them on admin- 
 istrative needs of the district. This money, 
 some 22,000 roubles, entirely disappeared, 
 and no account of its expenditure could be 
 found, except that it was said it had 
 been used in fitting up the house of the 
 prefect. Money was taken from the natives 
 at all times, and under all pretences ; and a 
 grossly illegal order was issued, forbidding 
 all persons to cross the river Syr Daria 
 at any other place than the places specified 
 in the order, threatening persons who did 
 so with being sent to Siberia. The points 
 specified were places belonging to friends 
 of the prefect. 
 
 " When, at last, matters became too scan- 
 dalous, the governor-general felt obliged to 
 take some notice, and removed the prefect 
 from the district ; but, instead of punishing 
 him, he appointed him to another locality, 
 stating that he considered bim a 'most 
 useful officer.' 
 
 " The prefect of the district of Perofski 
 was investigated and removed for extortion 
 and bribery. He was then appointed to 
 Auli-ata, and has lately been investigated, 
 and removed for demanding an illegal con- 
 tribution from the natives on the occasion 
 of the demand for camels for the Khivan 
 expedition. Other persons have, in like 
 way, been removed from one post for mal- 
 administration, and immediately given an- 
 \)ther. 
 
 On the other hand, many persons who 
 endeavoured to enlighten the public as to 
 the state of affairs, were immediately pun- 
 ished ; and the commandant of the district 
 
 of was removed, and sent out of the 
 
 province, for having written a letter to St. 
 Petersburg for publication, though not at 
 the time actually published, stating the 
 truth about the disaffection and riots at 
 Khodjend, alleging that they were caused 
 by the excessive taxation, which was not 
 •what the Russians had at first promised, 
 and not by the vaccination measures, as had 
 been given out. Similar instances are 
 numerous. When the papers showing t,he 
 guilt of one employe were presented to the 
 governor-general, he tore them up without 
 reading them ; saying, ' I know this person 
 252 
 
 so well, and I believe him to be such an 
 honest man, that I cannot think such things 
 to be possible.' 
 
 " In some cases, acts not only wrong in 
 themselves, but bringing with them very 
 important consequences, have been com- 
 mitted, not from a desire of personal gain, 
 but from a wish to appear zealous in the 
 performance of duties, or from motives of 
 intrigue. A case which happened last year 
 is especially noticeable.. 
 
 " An officer named Emmonds, in posses- 
 sion of a considerable amount of government 
 funds, gave information that he had been 
 robbed by Kirghiz. The chief Kirghiz 
 living in the neighbourhood of the alleged 
 occurrence were arrested, and, after a long 
 examination, several of them confessed their 
 guilt, though the money could not be found. 
 While the trial was going on Emmonds 
 committed suicide, leaving a letter, in 
 which he stated that he was not the honest 
 man that had been supposed, as he had 
 himself spent the money, and made that 
 excuse to clear himself. The Kirghiz were 
 then, of course, released ; but the question 
 arose — why had they confessed ? And, on 
 investigation, it was found that the judicial 
 officer. Baron Grevenitz of Kerney, had ex- 
 torted a confession from them by means of 
 torture — a practice wholly at variance with 
 Russian law, and certainly most disastrous 
 for Russian influence amongst the Kirghiz. 
 
 "There was another case in the same 
 neighbourhood, at Kopol, where a district 
 prefect had been robbed, beaten, and severely 
 wounded. As he was most deservedlv un- 
 popular for the extortions he practised on 
 the natives, his was not to be wondered at. 
 Over sixty Kirghiz were accused of partici- 
 pating in this act, the chief of them being 
 the Sultan Veizak, holding the rank of 
 major in the Russian service, the most aris- 
 tocratic and respected amongst the Kirghiz 
 chiefs, and a well-known and life-long friend 
 to Russia. The chief evidence against him 
 was, that some of the property stolen from 
 the prefect was found in his tent. One in- 
 vestigation succeeded another, until a Cos- 
 sack finally confessed that he had placed 
 these articles in the tent of Veizak at the 
 instigation of the judge himself. It is said 
 that this was done because the judge wished 
 to please one high official by convicting of 
 robbery and sedition another, of whom he 
 was jealous. Among the papers of the in- 
 vestigating commission is a letter from the 
 prefect to the judge, with regard to the 
 
 M '( ■ 
 
 
 ■ < 
 
 A.D. 1873.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 Prussian extortion. 
 
 means of obtaining this evidence. For 
 various reasons it has never been possible 
 to finish this investigation ; but it was 
 thought necessary to remove the judge, and 
 to bestow upon him a similar post in the 
 city of Khodjend, where he is now the chief 
 administrator of justice. The effect of 
 such a proceeding is, of course, to make the 
 natives thoroughly displeased with the 
 working of the Russian courts. 
 
 " Another case of the ill-advised action of 
 the authorities, regardless of the effect pro- 
 duced upon the natives, occurred last sum- 
 mer. 
 
 " When the Khivan expedition began, it 
 was found necessary to obtain 14,000 
 camels, exactly 14 per cent, of the whole 
 number of camels in the provinces ; and it 
 was agreed, that in case these camels died, a 
 sum of fifty roubles would be paid for each. 
 They had to be furnished in proper propor- 
 tions by the different districts. In conse- 
 quence of the hardships of the expedition 
 nearly all the camels perished, and it be- 
 came, therefore, necessary to pay a sum of 
 700,000 roubles. One of the prefects, 
 thinking that he had found a good oppor- 
 tunity to show his zeal for the administra- 
 tion and the good feeling of the district, 
 told the population over whom he ruled, 
 that the government would never pay for 
 these camels, and that it would be much 
 better for them to make a present to the 
 administration ; and, by the use of proper 
 persuasion, succeeded in accomplishing this. 
 The example was followed in most of the 
 other districts ; and the result is, that the 
 inhabitants feel that they have been abso- 
 lutely robbed by the government of these 
 camels ; and, to speak of nothing else, if it 
 were necessary again to furnish camels for 
 some expedition, the discontent would be 
 very great." 
 
 As was foreseen at the time, the expedition 
 to Khiva soon furnished the Russian com- 
 manders with further pretexts to exercise 
 their arms; and difficulty being experi- 
 enced in the collection of the contributions 
 laid upon the Turcomans, General Kauff- 
 mann decided to enforce a fine of 300,000 
 roubles upon them ; and instructed his 
 officials to begin with the collection at once, 
 and commence with the Bairam-Shali 
 branch of the Yomud tribe, the most turbu- 
 lent and numerous Turcoman family. At 
 the same time the elders of the tribe; were 
 summoned to Greneral Kaufifmann's head- 
 quarters. They promised to pay the fine ; 
 
 whilst twelve of their number remained as 
 hostages, and the other five were allowed to 
 depart. 
 
 But long before the time agreed upon for 
 the payment, Greneral Kautfmann ordered 
 an expedition against them. On July 19th 
 (thus after the capture of Khiva, and after 
 the treaty had been settled, though not 
 ratified), a force under Major-General Golo- 
 vatcbefF, composed of eight companies, eight 
 sotnias, ten guns (including two mitrail- 
 leuses), and a rocket battery, was advanced 
 from Khiva to Hazarat, where the settle- 
 ments of the Bairam-Shali Yomuds com- 
 mence. Encountering only small parties of 
 Turcomans, who followed its movements, 
 this detachment at once commenced opera- 
 tions on the 21st of July, by seizing a 
 caravan and firing some shells into the 
 running Turcomans. It is, therefore, evi- 
 dent that, from the very beginning, it was 
 not expected that the payment would be 
 made, notwithstanding that five of the 
 elders were suffered to return to their tribe 
 to collect the money. 
 
 The military operations commenced on 
 the fourth day after the appearance of the 
 elders, in compliance with General Kauff- 
 mann's order. The commander of the de- 
 tachment sent out against the Turcomans 
 did, indeed, learn that the Yomuds had not 
 alonenot begun to collect the money, but that 
 they had struck their tents with the inten- 
 tion of decamping and of offering armed 
 resistance. What credit attached to this 
 intelligence it is impossible to say : at any 
 rate, only three days had elapsed from the 
 time of the first announcement to the elders 
 of the imposition of the contribution. This 
 is " explained " by the Russian papers say- 
 ing, that "although the initiative of the 
 campaign against the Yomud Turcomans 
 was not provoked by any acts on their part, 
 but was solely taken by the local military 
 authorities, it is a universally acknowledged 
 fact, confirmed by foreign writers, that the 
 Turcomans are marauders. Whether they 
 anticipated us, and attacked us first, or we 
 them, is a matter of little consequence. 
 The material point is, that having concluded 
 a treaty with Khiva,* Russia could not 
 allow any element of the population to re- 
 main free from her influence, which would 
 most certainly interfere with the fulfilment 
 of the terms of the treaty — a circumstance 
 which might possibly necessitate a renewal 
 
 * The treaty was signed on the 24th of August, 
 1873, having been ratified by the emperor. 
 
 253 
 
I- i, 
 
 \ 
 
 li 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 4 
 
 RAID ON THE TURCOMANS.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1873, 
 
 of Russian military operations in the khan- 
 ate of Khiva." 
 
 On the 25th of July, Gfeneral Grolovatcheff 
 encamped his force at the Chandyr village, 
 and was at once surrounded by large masses 
 of Turcomans. The enemy here made their 
 first display of energy, attacking the force 
 on different sides, until the infantry fire, 
 the artillery, and rockets finally forced them 
 to turn and fly, the troops following in pur- 
 suit for a distance of three and a-half versts. 
 During this action. Lieutenant Kamenetzki, 
 with a few Cossacks forming an outpost, 
 pursued a party of Turcomans, and fell into 
 an ambush, where they were all killed. The 
 enemy suffered a great loss. The affair of 
 the 27th July was, however, still more 
 grave. The Turcomans, as it was stated in 
 the official report, " fought with a furious 
 determination : pushing their caps over 
 their eyes, they rushed upon our bayonets 
 with sabres and halberts." There was in this 
 action even a " critical moment," according 
 to the official report — not, of course, in the 
 sense of a possibility of their losing the 
 day ; that they could not have lost ; for in 
 the report there is nothing to show that the 
 enemy's fire occasioned any harm to the 
 soldiers. The Turcomans fought princi- 
 pally with cold steel, and it was for this 
 reason that they rushed upon the Russian 
 front ranks. The "critical moment" oc- 
 curred when one of the Cossack sotnias 
 which was sent forward, being obliged to 
 draw back before superior forces, losing its 
 officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Esipaf; the 
 Turcomans broke through the front troops, 
 following upon the heels of the Cossacks. 
 Both mounted and on foot they rushed to 
 this attack, armed exclusively with sabres 
 and halberts. Those amongst them who 
 had no horses galloped to the front, mounted 
 behind the horsemen, and, jumping down, 
 joined in the attack. Barefooted, and 
 clothed only in shirts and loose trousers, 
 with* their sleeves tucked up and screening 
 their eyes with their left arms, they broke, 
 with shrieks and shouts, through an opening 
 between the 2nd Rifle Battalion and the 
 8th Orenburg sotnia, falling on the suite of 
 Major-General Golovatcheff, and on his 
 escort. Golovatcheff was himself wounded, 
 receiving a sabre-cut on his right wrist. 
 
 The chief of the staff of the detachment 
 also received a sabre-cut. His highness. 
 Prince Eugene Maximilianovitch (of Leuch- 
 tenburg) himself shot, with a revolver, a 
 Turcoman who attacked him. These im- 
 254 
 
 mounted Turcomans had evidently de- 
 voted themselves to death, because they 
 could not have hoped to escape with the 
 horsemen who brought them up to the 
 Russian front. The enemy was beaten 
 back at all points, and, in retreating, over- 
 taken by shells. 
 
 The Russian detachment then advanced 
 through the town of Ilyaly, along the road 
 to Kyzyl-Takyr, without at first meeting 
 with any opposition ; but^ encountering the 
 enemy again further on, it had to push its 
 way for eight versts through masses of 
 Turcomans. On reaching the Ana-Murat 
 canal, it was discovered that the detach- 
 ment had been proceeding in a wrong direc- 
 tion, owing to its having lost its guides. 
 It should not have marched to Kyzyl- 
 Takyr, but to the lower extremity of the 
 Ana-Murat- Bai canal, where the enemy was 
 concentrated. Having, therefore, passed 
 the night by the Ana-Murat-Bai, the 
 detachment advanced, on the next day, to 
 the lower part of that canal. 
 
 The Russian losses on the 27th of July, 
 consisted of — killed, one staff-officer and 
 three privates ; and wounded, one general, 
 four officers, and thirty-two privates. Ac- 
 cording to native accounts, the enemy lost 
 only 800 men. The Turcomans engaged 
 in the action are said to have numbered 
 4,0U0 foot and 6,000 horse. 
 
 On reaching the Niaz-Sheikh canal, 
 General Golovatcheff received intelligence 
 concerning the whereabouts of the Turco- 
 mans, which compelled him to resume his 
 former direction. On the 29th of July the 
 detachment had another enofagfement, which 
 was remarkable only for the fact that the 
 Russian soldiers captured a large transport 
 escorted by the Turcomans ; on which occa- 
 sion the detachment captured over 5,000 
 head of cattle, 119 camels, and about 
 3,000 arabas (three-wheeled carts) laden 
 with various articles of property. The 
 Turcomans fled in great haste, leaving be- 
 hind them not alone their property, but 
 also their wives and children ; and the 
 official report in reference to this, making 
 no allusion to any loss on the Russian side, 
 speaks only of slaughtered Turcomans. 
 
 On the following day, the 30th of July, 
 General Golovatcheff, returning to his 
 previous halting-place by the Niaz-Sheikh 
 canal, where his (Turkistan) detachment 
 was joined by the Orenburg detachment, 
 and by the main body of the Russian troops 
 under General Kauffmann, who, receiving 
 
 A.D. 1873.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [raid on the Turcomans. 
 
 no intelligence from General GolovatchefTs 
 detachment, owing to the interception of 
 the communication by the enemy, bad him- 
 self advanced from Khiva on the 27th with 
 ten companies, eight guns, and one sotnia, 
 leaving in Khiva only six companies with 
 two guns. The Orenburg detachment liad 
 left still earlier, and in the wake of the 
 Turkistan detachment, reaching Kyzyl- 
 Takyr on the 27th of July, and proceeding 
 from that place to Hyaly, where General 
 Golovatcheff arrived later. General Kauff- 
 mann marched first to Hazarat, and then 
 to Zmukshir; that is, he took the same 
 direction as that followed by General 
 Golovatcheff, but proceeded along the 
 other side of the canal. 
 
 On the 31st of July all the detachments 
 were assembled at Ilyaly. The rout of 
 the Turcomans, when the Russian troops 
 came suddenly upon them, was complete. 
 A considerable number of them were killed 
 and wounded ; 9,000 head of cattle were 
 captured; and the dwellings, crops, and 
 various stores of the Turcomans along 
 General GolovatchefTs line of march, from 
 Hazarat to Zmukshir, were devoted to the 
 flames : altogether, about 3,000 laden arabas 
 were destroyed and burnt by the Russian 
 troops. Materially weakened, and morally 
 beaten, the Yomuds were dispersed on all 
 sides. 
 
 After the 20th July (O.S.), deputations of 
 Yomud Turcomans came to General Kauff- 
 mann, appealing for mercy. The com- 
 mander of the forces, nevertheless, proposed 
 to exact some portion of the fine from the 
 Yomuds, which should be in proportion to 
 the means which, on inquiry, they should 
 still be known to possess. From the other 
 tribes General Kauffmann demanded a pay- 
 ment of 310,000 roubles within a twelve 
 days' term, allowing them to make up half 
 of that sum in camels. 
 
 The three Asiatic khanates of Khokand, 
 Bokhara, and Khiva, preserving only an 
 appearance of independence, and having 
 lost some portions of their territories, have 
 fallen under the actual influence of Russia. 
 Khokand is isolated from the two other 
 khanates. Khiva is now separated from 
 Bokhara ; and Bokhara and Khiva are now 
 entirely open to Russian troops, who, at 
 the same time, command the irrigation 
 sources of those khanates, and by that 
 means alone hold the population of those 
 countries entirely at their mercy. 
 
 Although, by the treaty with Khiva, our 
 
 frontier on the western side is defined by 
 the old bed of the Oxus, yet it exists, of 
 course, only as far as those extreme points 
 where the Khivan territories merge west- 
 wards into the steppes. ^ The points already 
 occupied by Russian troops on the south- 
 eastern coast of the Caspian lie considerably 
 to the south of the Uzbri (the so-called 
 ancient bed of the Oxus); so that here the 
 line of frontier must necessarily be formed 
 by the Attrek. It has already been 
 officially declared to be the boundary by 
 the Russian authorities, and has been 
 practically recognised as such by Persia, 
 our immediate neighbour in that quarter. 
 
 This expedition against the Turcomans 
 was quickly followed up in January, 1874, 
 on the faith of a rumour for which there 
 appears to have been no foundation, that 
 the Turcomans " intended " to ravage the 
 country annexed by the Russians in the 
 Delta of the Oxus, as soon as the ice became 
 strong enough to allow them to pass over 
 it to the Russian side. The only evidence 
 for the existence of such an intention, 
 rested on the confession of Russians them- 
 selves — upon nothing more than the gossip 
 of the bazaar in Khiva. But even if it had 
 had a more tangible basis, regarding an 
 " intention " on the part of a people but 
 just subjected to severe treatment as 
 equivalent to the act, is a piece of hypo- 
 critical cant and cruelty which has found 
 indignant critics even in Russia. But hav- 
 ing been decided on, the expedition was 
 rapidly organised. 
 
 On January 4th, 1874, Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Dreschen marched from Petro- 
 Alexandrovsk with four companies of 
 infantry and fifty Cossacks, taking with him 
 two field-guns and two howitzers. Three 
 days later, Colonel Ivanoff followed with a 
 sotnia of Cossacks and a rocket company, 
 leaving instructions for two companies of 
 infantry, with a troop of field artillery, and 
 fifty Cossacks, to be in readiness as a reserve 
 force in the event of its being required. 
 
 The troops thus left in garrison were 
 three companies of infantry in full comple- 
 ment, and a troop of Cossacks, with the 
 garrison artillery, and a troop of mountain 
 artillery ; or a total of something more than 
 1,000 men. 
 
 The troops forming the expeditionary 
 force were supplied with fur- coats, felt- 
 blankets, and felt-boots. 
 
 Arrangements were made for the erection 
 of tents by the local inhabitants at the 
 
 255 
 
 ', k 
 
 Vsl 
 
 ,i..i 
 
|V ti I 
 
 il 
 
 ATTACK ON TURCOMANS.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1870-77. 
 
 ^ ?' 
 
 various places where the troops were ap- 
 pointed to bivouac. 
 
 The average temperature was 5° below 
 freezing-point (Reaumur^; during the 
 Dight it fell to ir and 12°. It was daily 
 expected that the river would be blocked 
 
 with the ice. 
 
 The official reports state, that the 
 rumours concerning the hostile intentions 
 of the Turcomans having increased. Colonel 
 IvanofF ordered the reserve force to quit 
 the fort, which he accordingly did on the 
 15th January, under the command of 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Aderkas, provided with 
 every winter requirement, with provisions 
 for nineteen days, and accompanied by a 
 transport of seventy camels, laden with sacks 
 of biscuits, buckwheat, and conserved meats. 
 
 The first intimation of the crossing of a 
 body of Turcomans to the right bank of the 
 Oxus was received on the 15th January, i. e., 
 on the same day on which the reserve issued 
 from Petro-Alexandrovsk. It was then 
 said that the Turcomans had made their 
 appearance at Khodja-Kul (lake), at Kip- 
 chak ; and at the same time it was rumoured 
 among the Kirghiz that they intended to 
 break past the Russian column to the en- 
 campments of the nomads of the Daii-Kara, 
 a lake situated about seventy miles to the 
 north-east of Nukus. 
 
 Subsequently to this it was learned that 
 a body of about 300 Turcomans had at- 
 tacked the fortified post of Mahmut-Kul, 
 but that, failing in their attempt to seize 
 it, they had proceeded to Kipchak, destroy- 
 ing all the tents and stores of clover pre- 
 pared for the Russian troops. 
 
 At Nukus Colonel Ivanofi" found no signs 
 of the Turcomans ; but his spies brought 
 him the intelligence that some 6,000 Turco- 
 mans, mounted and on foot, were assembled 
 in the vicinity of the Laudan, and all along 
 the course of that canal, up to Kipchak. It 
 was further stated that these Turcomans 
 were under the leadership of Kazy-Murad 
 (one of the deputation of elders unwarrant- 
 ably kept as a hostage during the Khivan 
 expedition, but who succeeded in making 
 his escape), and of a Kirghiz named Dosau. 
 The spies reported that none of the other 
 elders of the tribes joined in the movement, 
 although they suffered their people to take 
 part in it. 
 
 On the 17th of January, it was ascer- 
 tained that about 1,000 Turcomans had 
 crossed the Oxus near Kipchak, and had 
 taken the direct road to the Daii-Kara. 
 256 
 
 Colonel Ivanoff, being at this time 
 left with only fifty mounted Cossacks 
 (having previously detached one sotnia, 
 with a rocket company, to escort back 
 to Petrovsk the officer who had brought 
 the reinforcements to the Oxus), mounted 
 a hundred riflemen upon cart-horses, 
 and sent them, under Lieutenant-Colo- 
 nel Dreschern, in the direction of the Dau- 
 Kara, to the encounter of the returning 
 escort. This improvised cavalry, without 
 saddles or bridles, performed a journey of 
 thirty miles, and meeting the escort, rode 
 back again. 
 
 On the 20th of January, Colonel Ivanoff, 
 leaving the greater portion of his baggage 
 at Nukus, marched from that place to 
 Nazar-Khan (up stream, one march dis- 
 tance from Nukus), at which place Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel Aderkas, coming down fron^ 
 Petro-Alexandrovsk with the reserve forces, 
 was ordered to await him, being instructed 
 in the meanwhile to send patrols up the 
 river in order to ascertain the strength of 
 the enemy, and to prevent him from cross- 
 ing. At this time the river was only par- 
 tially frozen over, but it was found that 
 the Turcomans were passing over, in sepa- 
 rate detachments, at Kipchak, where the 
 ice was strongest. 
 
 On the 21st and 22nd of January, the 
 outposts of the united forces of Colonel 
 Ivanoff and Lieutenant-Colonel Dreschern, 
 which were encamped at Nazar-Khan, were 
 harassed by small parties of Turcomans, 
 but these were fired upon and kept at a 
 distance. On the 23rd the forces advanced 
 up the river, provided with felts, furs, and 
 ten days' rations, leaving the impedimenta 
 at Nazar-Khan under the charge of the 
 Kirghiz elders. On the same day the force 
 encamped at Kipcliak, where the ice was 
 traversable from three points, taking up a 
 position immediately in front of the cen- 
 tral crossing. 
 
 The left bank of the river was densely 
 lined with Turcomans, who, while the 
 Russian detachment was advancing towards 
 Kipchak, likewise pushed on in the same 
 direction. The Russians had barely formed 
 their camp when the Turcomans opened 
 fire upon them, but without any 
 effect, to which the Russians did not 
 respond. In the meanwhile the Cossack 
 patrols kept the Turcomans from crossing 
 above and below the Russian camp. 
 
 Having determined to pass over to the 
 left bank, Colonel Ivanoff sent a cavalry 
 
 
 A.D. 1870-77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [repulse of Turcomans. 
 
 force to reconnoitre all the three crossings, 
 and while in this manner leaving the 
 Turcomans in ignorance regarding the one 
 he would select for passing the troops over, 
 he despatched Lieutenant-Colonel Aderkas 
 with two sotnias of Cossacks and a com- 
 pany of mounted rifles, to drive back a 
 strong body of Turcomans which had mus- 
 tered at the lower crossing, about three 
 miles lower down the river, and to examine 
 the condition of the ice in that direction. 
 This operation was speedily performed, with 
 very little firing, and the ice was reported 
 to be of a good thickness. 
 
 On the night of the 23rd of January the 
 Turcomans kept up a sharp fire upon the 
 Russian camp, and made some bold attacks 
 upon the chain of pickets and on a patrol, 
 but were repulsed with heavy losses. 
 
 The Turcomans were chiefly massed on 
 the left bank, opposite the Russian camp, 
 believing that the Russians intended to 
 cross the river at that point. In order, 
 therefore, to keep them in their delusion, 
 the Russian commanding officer sent Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel Dreschern, with two com- 
 panies of infantry and a troop of mountain 
 artillery, to occupy the right bank of the 
 lower crossing, Lieutenant-Colonel Aderkas 
 being at the same time ordered to proceed 
 with the sotnias, one company of rifles, and 
 a troop of field-artillery, to make a demon- 
 stration in the direction of the higher cross- 
 ing leading to Kipchak, while Colonel 
 Ivanoff, with the main body and the train, 
 remained temporarily in camp. 
 
 The detachment under Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Aderkas was soon engaged in a sharp fusi- 
 lade with the Turcomans, of whom 1,500, 
 scattering themselves over the ice, and 
 screening themselves behind boats and carts 
 brought down by the drifting ice, kept up 
 a continuous fire, accompanied by a practice 
 with their falconettes from the left bank. 
 The field-artillery being brought into play, 
 the Turcomans were driven back from off 
 the ice. Ordering Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Aderkas to remain where he was for about 
 an hour. Colonel Ivanoff hastily broke up 
 his camp, and moved quickly with all the 
 rest of his force, and with the train to the 
 lower crossing, where Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Dreschern had located a company of infan- 
 try on the ice, midway between the two 
 banks. 
 
 On being informed that the ice was suffi- 
 ciently strong for the passage of the troops. 
 Colonel Ivanoff organised a special column 
 
 VOL. II. 2 L 
 
 for the occupation of a position on the left 
 bank. Taking with them a troop of moun- 
 tain artillery, the men ran across the river 
 (850 fathoms wide), and firing a volley at 
 the Turcomans massed on the bank, estab- 
 ♦ :shed themselves in a position. Prepara- 
 tions were next made for the passage of the 
 remainder of the force, which was effected 
 with complete success. The guns were 
 drawn over by the men, the wheels being 
 bound round with felt, and the ends of the 
 carriages placed on wooden slides, in order 
 to lessen the friction. 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Aderkas had joined 
 the main force before the passage was 
 effected. Abandoning his position at the 
 higher crossing, he was followed by great 
 numbers of Turcomans. On joining 
 Ivanoff 's detachment, however, two sotnias 
 were told off to go up the right bank in 
 order to protect the transports. Seeing 
 that the Russian troops had already es- 
 tablished a footing on the left bank, and 
 that the rest of the force could not be pre- 
 vented from crossing, the Turcomans 
 offered no farther resistance, but gradually 
 dispersed. 
 
 From the position on the left bank 
 Colonel Ivanoff sent a letter to the Khan 
 of Khiva, acquainting him with the fact of 
 his having traversed the river, and request- 
 ing him to pacify the Uzbegs, and not to 
 interfere in the affairs of the Russians with 
 the Turcomans. He also requested the 
 khan to attach an agent to the Russian 
 detachment so long as it remained on the 
 left bank of the Oxus. On the 25th of 
 January the Russian detachment marched 
 to Kazy-Murad, an encampment of Turco- 
 mans. Leaving Kipchak on its left, the 
 Cossack cavalry sent in advance demolished 
 all before them so effectually, that when 
 the main force came up there was not a 
 living creature to be seen, fire and sword 
 having laid waste the country. 
 
 Wishing to avoid the permanent dwell- 
 ings of the people of Kipchak and Mangyt, 
 Colonel Ivanoff proceeded towards the 
 Kuba-laii hills, but found to his astonish- 
 ment that the country was flooded. This 
 was a surprise even to the local guides, who 
 knew that the canals were always dry in 
 the winter, and were not aware of the fact 
 that the Turcomans had destroyed the dam 
 of the Arna canal. 
 
 As the water was rising rapidly over the 
 low marshy lands. Colonel Ivanoff recalled 
 the Cossacks, who were continuing their 
 
 257 
 
 
 )y 
 
 i^v; 
 
'^*' 
 
 i? 
 
 I 
 
 ENTRY INTO KIPCHAK.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1870-77. 
 
 A.D. 1870-77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [captain burnaby. 
 
 I' V 
 
 III 'f 
 
 i 
 
 II 
 
 •jl 
 
 work of destruction in all directions, and 
 fell bad: upon the desolated Kazy-Murad 
 encampment, > where the Russian force 
 halted on the night of the 25th January. 
 
 On the morning of the 26th the Russian 
 detachment marched through Mangyt, the 
 commanding officers assuring the inhabit- 
 ants that they had nothing to fear, and 
 crossing in that town the only existing 
 bridge over the Arna canal, proceeded four 
 miles beyond Mangyt, coming upon the 
 winter encampments of the Kulchar Turko- 
 mans, which were at once demolished ; the 
 Cossacks performing the work of destruc- 
 tion at distances, while the infantry did it 
 as effectively along the line of march. 
 
 At Mangyt Colonel Ivanoff had received 
 a notification from the Khan of Khiva, to 
 the effect that the Yomud Turcomans of 
 Hazarat had given in their allegiance. To 
 this Colonel Ivanoff replied that, although 
 he did not fully believe in the sincerity of 
 the Yomuds, he would not pass through 
 their lands, but would proceed by way of 
 the encampments of the Chaudurs, and so 
 back again to the right bank of the river. 
 Taking warning by tbe fate of the Kulchars, 
 the Chaudur elders presented themselves, 
 on the 26th January, in the Russian camp 
 at Lake Chagat, on the north-west side of 
 the Kuba-lau hills, with a moiety of the con- 
 tribution demanded of them, on the condi- 
 tion that they should not be molested. 
 They entreated Colonel Ivanoff not to pro- 
 ceed through their lands ; but to this he 
 would not accede, assuring them, however, 
 that he would do the people no injury if 
 they complied with his demands. On the 
 27th the Russian detachment bivouacked 
 at the Ikdyr wells, where another moiety 
 of the contribution was paid by the Chau- 
 durs. On the 28th the detachment reached 
 Porsu (about thirty-three miles west of 
 Kipchak), and halted at Lake Lar. Here 
 the elders of the Imraly, Kara-Dashly, and 
 Kara-Ilyaly Turcomans presented them- 
 selves with tenders of submission, and with 
 some of the contributions exacted from 
 
 them. 
 
 On the 29th of January, Colonel Ivanoff, 
 with a portion of his detachment, visited 
 the site of Old Porsu, where Prince Cher- 
 kaski and his suite were murdered in 1717. 
 The place is now a scene of utter ruin, 
 having been abandoned by the inhabitants 
 thirty years ago, on account of a deficiency 
 of water. Here a triple volley was fired in 
 honour of Bekovitch and his followers ; and 
 258 
 
 after a night's halt. Colonel Ivanoff rejoined 
 the rest of his force. On the 30th January 
 he camped again at Lake Chagat. 
 
 On the 31st, the force entered Kipchak, 
 where it was obliged to wait for the open- 
 ing of the river, the ice having been weak- 
 ened by warm weather. On the 4th of 
 February the river was clear of ice, and on 
 the 5th, the Russian detachment crossed 
 over in boats to the right bank. 
 
 During the stay of the Russian force in 
 Kipchak, Colonel Ivanoff sent three sotnias 
 of Cossacks down the river to the Laudan 
 canal, to survey the left bank in that direc- 
 tion, a work which had not been done 
 during the expedition to Khiva in the 
 summer. These sotnias performed the 
 journey (fifty-three miles there and back) in 
 a single day. 
 
 Judging from these operations, the Tur- 
 comans will soon be under the same rule 
 as that which Khiva has fallen under. What 
 the character of that rule is, can scarcely be 
 better shown than by alluding to the case 
 of Captain Burnaby, who rode to Khiva as 
 a private individual in time of peace, but 
 who was recalled by the Duke of Cambridge 
 because the czar commanded it. 
 
 Captain Burnaby describes his recall, and 
 the incidents concerning it, in a most inimit- 
 able manner. Having got to Khiva, in 
 spite of all attempts to detain him, by the 
 exercise of no small amount of mother wit 
 and more determination, he intended to go 
 on to Bokhara. "However," he says, 
 ^' Vkotnme propose TYiais Dieu dispose; and 
 the truth of this celebrated old French say- 
 ing was prominently brought before me the 
 next morning ; for, on returning from an 
 early ride through the market, where a 
 great sale of camels and horses was taking 
 place, I found two strangers in my apart- 
 ment. One of them, producing a letter, 
 handed it to me, saying that he had been 
 sent to Khiva by order of the commandant 
 at Petro-Alexandrovsk. 
 
 "On opening the enclosure I found a 
 letter written in Russian on one side of the 
 paper, and in French on the other. 
 
 " Its contents were to the following 
 effect — that the commandant had received 
 a telegram via Tashkend, and that I must 
 go to the fort to receive the communication. 
 " I was greatly surprised to find that any 
 one took so much interest in me as to des- 
 patch a telegram so many thousand miles, 
 and put himself to the expense of having 
 the message forwarded from Tashkend, where 
 
 
 
 the telegraph ends, to Khiva, a distance of 
 900 miles, by couriers with relays of horses. 
 It must have cost a large sum of money 
 sending that telegram ; and I began to be a 
 little alarmed, thinking that perhaps I 
 should be asked to pay for it. 
 
 " Again, what could have occurred of such 
 great importance as to induce any one to 
 telegraph ? Could it be that Greueral Mi- 
 lutin, the Russian Minister of War, had just 
 remembered that I had called four times at 
 his house, and that he had not been able to 
 give me an interview, but that he was now 
 prepared to grant one ? 
 
 " There was another solution, which 
 might also have been correct; and the 
 thought suddenly occurred that perhaps 
 Count Schouvaloffs brother, to whom the 
 thoughtful ambassador in London had so 
 kindly given me a letter of introduction, 
 had by this time arrived at St. Petersburg, 
 and wished to show me some hospitality. 
 
 " Anyhow, there was the letter, and I 
 must go to Petro-Alexandrovsk to receive 
 the telegram. It was not a pleasant thought, 
 after having gone so far, to have possibly to 
 return to European Russia over tlie snow- 
 covered steppes. It is a hard journey, even 
 for the Tartars, this fourteen days' march, 
 with the cold at 20'' and 30° below zero, and 
 no shelter to be met with on the road. The 
 Tartar and Khivan merchants occasionally, 
 it is true, make the journey in mid-winter, 
 but invariably wait till the spring for their 
 return to Orenburg. 
 
 " I had accomplished the really hard part 
 of my journey, and every degree marched in 
 the direction of Meroe would have led me 
 to a warmer climate. However, there was 
 nothing to be done save to go to Petro- 
 Alexandrovsk, and then, if the despatch were 
 of such a nature as to oblige me to return, 
 to retrace my steps. 
 
 "The messenger who had brought the 
 letter was eager tor my immediate return to 
 the fort. This, I said, was out of tlie ques- 
 tion till the next day, as I wished to make 
 some purchases in the town, and must also 
 pay a farewell visit to the khan previous to 
 my departure. - 
 
 " A little later I rode to the bazaar, accom- 
 panied by Nazar and the guide, the latter 
 not being at all pleased at our having to 
 go to Petro-Alexandrovsk. He was very 
 uneasy in his own mind about the conse- 
 quences which might occur to him for 
 having brought me to Khiva. 
 
 " One of the men sent with the command- 
 
 ant's letter was now continually in our 
 wake; and I subsequently learned that a 
 strict order had been sent to the khan to 
 have our party followed and taken to the 
 fort, in the event of my having left the 
 city. We started early the next morning, 
 and rode across the Amou-Daria at a spot 
 about thirteen miles from Anca, and where 
 the stream was nearly two versts wide ; the 
 ice being in some places more than a foot 
 thick. Presently we passed by a Cossack 
 cavalry station, called Lager. Here, in 
 spite of the inclemency of the season, three 
 squadrons were picketed out in the open, 
 the horses having coats like bears, and 
 looking exceedingly well, in spite of their 
 exposure to the extreme cold. 
 
 " We were now approaching Petro-Alex- 
 androvsk, and a few dark spots on the differ- 
 ent horizon were pointed out to us as the 
 recently-erected fort. The emissary who 
 had brought me the commandant's letter, 
 spurred his horse forward, leaving his com- 
 panion with my party and self. ' He has 
 only gone on to say that you are coming,' 
 was the reply to my enquiry, and in a few 
 minutes more we rode into Petro-Alexan- 
 drovsk. It has been built upon the site of 
 a house and garden, which formerly be- 
 longed to the uncle of the Khan of Khiva, 
 the materials of his house having been used 
 in constructing the wall which has been 
 erected round the fort. 
 
 A clean-looking, well-built house stood in 
 a small open space in the centre of the en- 
 closure. A flagstaff at one end of the 
 dwelling, and two sentries walking up and 
 down in front of the doors, made me think 
 that this was probably the house of the 
 chief of the Amou-Daria district. My 
 guide, who was each moment more alarmed 
 at the possible consequences to himself for 
 his having taken us to Khiva, now informed 
 us that here lived the celebrated Colonel 
 Ivanoff. 
 
 " The commandant was out hunting — so a 
 servant informed me. At that moment a 
 young officer coming up, accosted me by 
 my name, and said, ' We expected you be- 
 fore this. Come with me. There is a 
 room prepared ; ' and he led the way to a 
 small building inhabited by some of the 
 officers in the garrison. Here I found seve- 
 ral of them congregated in a small room, 
 and was introduced in due form by my 
 newly-made acquaintance. I then heard 
 that the telegram which had arrived for me 
 was from H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge, 
 
 259 
 
 If 
 
 .fc ■;>; 
 
N 
 
 1^ 
 
 CAPTAIN BURNABY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1870-77. 
 
 
 h 
 
 I? ■' 
 
 , \ 
 
 4 
 
 
 i; 
 
 the field-marshal commandiug-in-chief, and 
 that he required my immediate return to 
 European Russia. The document had been 
 waiting for me several days at the fort; and 
 in the event of my having gone first to 
 Petro-Alexandrovsk, I should never have 
 seen Khiva. 
 
 " A little later an officer brought a mes- 
 sage from Colonel Ivanoff, to say that he 
 had returned from shooting, and was wait- 
 ing to see me. He is a tall man, consider- 
 ably over six feet in height, but very tbin, 
 and of a German type, his whiskers having 
 a decided Teutonic appearance. I was re- 
 ceived by him at first a little stiffly, but his 
 demeanour soon changed, and he began to 
 laugh about my journey. 
 
 « ' Too bad,' he said, ' letting you get so 
 far, and not allowing you to carry out your 
 undertaking.' 
 
 " ' It was lucky,' I remarked, ' that I did 
 not come here first.' 
 
 "'Yes,' said Ivanoff; 'when I received 
 the despatch, and found that you did not 
 arrive, I sent back a special Tartar courier 
 to Fort Number One, to say that you had 
 probably gone on to Bokhara, and had thus 
 given us the slip; but we should have 
 caught you there,' he continued. 
 
 "'It is the fortune of war,' I said. 
 * Anyhow, I have seen Khiva.' 
 
 " The colonel here winced a little. 
 
 "'Khiva; that is nothing,' he said. 
 'Why, Major Wood, one of your compa- 
 triots, an officer in the Engineers, was here 
 last summer ; he could have gone to Khiva 
 any day if he liked ; indeed, I was a little 
 surprised that he never asked me to let him 
 go there.'* 
 
 " ' Well,' I remarked, ' as I have to re- 
 turn to European Russia, there can be no 
 objection to my going to St. Petersburg via 
 Tashkend and Western Siberia, or by Kras- 
 novodsk and the Caspian.' 
 
 " ' My orders are very strict about this,' 
 said the colonel. ' You must go back the 
 shortest way through Kasala. But you can 
 write, if you like, to General Kolpakovsky, 
 the officer commanding our troops in Tur- 
 kistan. I will send on the letter with the 
 same courier who leaves this afternoon to 
 
 ♦ "Apparently there was a alight misunderstand- 
 ing between Major Wood and Colonel IvanoflF on 
 this point ; or, possibly, the atmosphere of Central 
 Asia has somewhat aflfected the colonel's memory. 
 After my return to London from Khiva, I dined 
 one evening with Major Wood, and asked him 
 why he had not gone to Khiva. His reply was, 
 260 
 
 announce your capture ; and then, if you 
 return to Kasala in tlie course of three or 
 four days, you will there receive the gene- 
 ral's answer.' " 
 
 The answer, of course, was tliat Captain 
 Burnaby was to be sent back to Europe by 
 the shortest route. In fact, he was a pri- 
 soner in time of peace, and subjected to this 
 treatment in consequence of the jealousy of 
 the Russians, who did not wish that anyone 
 should see with his own eyes what they 
 were doing in these parts, and what means 
 they had at their disposal for extending 
 their position still further south, towards the 
 frontier of India. But the most remarkable 
 thing about this proceeding is, that it was 
 sanctioned by an Englishman — not quite a 
 full-blooded Englishman, it is true — by the 
 Duke of Cambridge. 
 
 The three most important strategic points 
 which must be gained before the Russian 
 frontier can be extended to that of India, 
 are Merve, Balkh, Kashgar, and Yarkand. 
 Towards all these points the Russian lines 
 are rapidly approaching. It is said, by those 
 who desire to excuse the Russian plans for 
 extension, that they can have no object in 
 annexing the vast tract of country that lies 
 between Khiva and Merve, and which is no 
 more than a desert with a few oases here and 
 there. These people say that it would be 
 impossible for the Russians to move an army 
 across these wastes. But a report has been 
 made by Captain Potto, of the Russian ser- 
 vice, for the guidance of the Russian War- 
 Office, which places things in a very differ- 
 ent light. In this report we find that the 
 distance from Khiva to Merve is about. 930 
 miles, and the time occupied by a caravan 
 in performing this journey is seventeen 
 days. According to all reports, troops, if 
 supplied with a camel train, can easily ac- 
 complish this march. The only part of the 
 road trying to man and beast, is the 170 
 miles' desert which lies between the Moor- 
 ghauband the Oxus; but even here wells are 
 to be found ; and the longest interval tra- 
 versed without water is fifty-six miles. A 
 force despatched from Khiva to Merve 
 would not have to undergo half the hardship 
 experienced in the route from Kasala to 
 
 * I wanted to go there very much ; I frequently 
 asked Ivanoff to let me, saying that it was a great 
 nuisance to have come so far and not be allowed to 
 enter the town.' However, Ivanolf replied that 
 he was very sorry, but he could not allow me to do 
 so, as he had received a strict order from Geueral 
 Kauffmann on that subject." 
 
 A.D. 1870-77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [steppe campaigning. 
 
 
 Khiva. Indeed, the Khivans, under Mo- 
 hammed Rabiss Khan, were able to take 
 Merve ; thus showing that even a badly 
 organised Asiatic force can perform the 
 journey. Besides the two caravan roads 
 that lead from Khiva to the capital of the 
 Turcomans, there is a direct caravan track 
 from Bokhara to Merve, by Chardjui, the 
 distance being about 230 miles. This is by 
 far the easiest route. Two days is the 
 longest time that troops would be on the 
 road without finding wells, whilst caravans 
 go from Bokhara to Merve in thirteen days. 
 A Bokharian army, under Shah Murad, 
 captured this stronghold of the Turcomans, 
 and destroyed the dam or bend of the river 
 Moorghaub, in order to impoverish the 
 country. Where Bokharian troops can go, 
 Russian soldiers would have no difficulty in 
 following; and the same force which has 
 captured Samarcand would find little diffi- 
 culty in overcoming any resistance the badly 
 armed but brave Turcoman hordes might 
 be able to oppose. There is a short route 
 to Merve, which would perhaps be the 
 easiest of all, in the event of an advance in 
 that direction. This would be along the 
 line of the Turcoman forts, under the slopes 
 of the Attrek outside Khorassan. This road 
 leads through a fertile and well-watered 
 country, and where some Turcoman tribes 
 have already been gained over to the Rus- 
 sian interests. A Russian line ci military 
 operations along the Kurren Dagh would 
 flank Persia in the north, and turn her from 
 the east at Mested. 
 
 The same officer has published a work, 
 in a limited number of copies, for the use of 
 his comrades, entitled Steppe Campaigning, 
 in which he describes the method pursued 
 by the Cossacks on the march out in 
 bivouac, which is well worthy of peru- 
 sal : — 
 
 " In the presence of the enemy a detach- 
 ment ordinarily bivouacs behind a waggon 
 barricade; but if the transport be small, 
 and the place selected for the bivouac 
 oflfers one of its sides to a river, ravine, or 
 other obstacle which is secure from an un- 
 expected attack, the waggon barricade 
 may, in order to gain internal space, be 
 arranged in the shape of a lunette, with its 
 open side toward the natural obstacle. On 
 the other hand, if the train be large, it is 
 preferable to form a square, the carts being 
 in several rows, and sufficient room being 
 given for the reception of the horses, not 
 losing sight of the possibility of bringing 
 
 a fire to bear upon the enemy from behind 
 the carts. The length of each face of the 
 square should be in proportion to the 
 number of men defending it. The angular 
 places are filled with bales, or occupied 
 with guns. The troops are ordinarily dis- 
 tributed parallel to the faces of the 
 waggon barricade, and at such distances 
 apart, that between them and the inner 
 row of carts in rear, there may be sufficient 
 space, in the event of attack, for bringing 
 up artillery and reserves. The men's kits 
 are heaped up in rear of their own parti- 
 cular section, and behind them are piled 
 their rifles. The Cossack horse-lines are in 
 rear of the line of the bivouac ; and behind 
 them, in the centre of the barricade, are 
 the staff, the artillery park, the engineer 
 and hospital trains, the sutlers, and, lastly, 
 if there is room, the drivers with their 
 horses and camels in a separate square. 
 By day it is necessary to take advantage of 
 any opportunity of sending out the animals 
 to pasture ; but they should be again 
 brought into camp at twilight, and, if 
 possible, placed within the barricade — the 
 camels near one of the faces most removed 
 from attack, and the horses in the horse- 
 lines and hobbled. For the defence of a 
 camp, both by day and night, it is necessary 
 to throw out a chain of dismounted posts. 
 These posts, furnished from the Cossacks, 
 are called mayaks (signalling stations). 
 Each mayak consists of three men ; one of 
 them always remains mounted, while the 
 other two rest. They go separately to 
 water, to get grass, &c. At night the 
 camp should be surrounded with a chain of 
 sentries, and the detachment should be on 
 the qui vive, as the robbers often make a 
 dash at the camp, and, taking advantage 
 of the commotion which ensues, endeavour 
 to carry off the camels and horses, or to 
 seize anything they can. In former times, 
 the detached Cossack posts, pickets, and 
 small forts along the Siberian line, pro- 
 tected themselves by throwing out sentries 
 on commanding eminences, and at night by 
 patrols ; but owing to the small number of 
 men, and the frequent alarms, the outpost 
 service was so fatiguing, that the Cossacks 
 had recourse to the use of dogs. These 
 dogs were exceedingly watchful, and, at the 
 smallest noise, barked and roused the 
 Cossacks. This custom was probably 
 brought from the Caucasus — in fact, from 
 the shores of the Black Sea, where the em- 
 ployment of dogs was in general use, and 
 
 261 
 
 •I." ,1 
 
 
 ■:i 
 
i 
 
 [>■ 6 
 
 II J, 
 
 W: 
 
 .i' 
 
 I 
 
 STEPPE CAMPAIGNING.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1870-77. 
 
 where these animals were regularly rationed 
 and trained. 
 
 " The amount of train in a steppe cam- 
 paign depends on the quantity of provi- 
 sions and other requisities which have to be 
 carried by the expeditionary force. The 
 following are the chief articles to be 
 carried : food, forage, horse equipment, 
 officers' and soldiers' baggage, medicines 
 and hospital stores, felt tents, and camp 
 equipage. The proportion of this equipage, 
 for a company of 170 men, is as follows : — 
 Six cast-iron boilers with lids, two white- 
 metal dram-cups, seven water-vessels, seven 
 poimds of pepper, four pounds and a-half 
 of laurel-leaves, 100 pounds of leaf tobacco, 
 nine bottles essence of vinegar, 100 pounds 
 of onions, ten pounds of garlic, ten pounds 
 of horseradish, ten pounds of soap, 200 
 pounds of salt, three wooden troughs, five 
 scythes, 120 mats, 300 fathoms rope, three 
 hatchets, three spade?, three picks, seven 
 shovels, two white-metal mugs, one eight- 
 gallon cask, three wooden shovels, one net, 
 one iron pail, and 170 wooden tea-cups. 
 The weight of this is from 1,200 to 1,600 
 pounds. Sometimes we have had to carry 
 with us such things as wood field forges, 
 bridging material, portable wells, guns on 
 pack-animals; and finally, a number of 
 spare horses or camels, in case of forming 
 sick convoys, flying detachments, or for 
 carrying convalescents, &c. From this list 
 of necessaries, it is plain that a train of a 
 steppe detachment must be very numerous. 
 In European warfare, one cart ordinarily 
 suffices for forty or fifty men ; in steppe 
 campaign it is otherwise ; every two or three 
 men must have an animal, and sometimes 
 more. If we suppose, for example, a Cos- 
 sack sotnia (150 men) taking the field with 
 a month's supplies, then, according to cal- 
 culation, it will require about eighty 
 camels, without counting officers' baggage, 
 carts for the transport of military stores, 
 the sick, &c. This is the reason that mili- 
 tary detachments, marching in the steppe, 
 are nothing more than an escort to their 
 own numerous trains. Napoleon's campaign 
 in Egypt, where the transport organised by 
 him was on so reduced a scale, that every- 
 thing could be placed within a small in- 
 fantry square, cannot serve us as a prece- 
 dent, because the French were able to 
 transport their food and other stores by the 
 Nile. The same must be remarked respect- 
 ing the later expeditions in Algeria, where 
 the French had seldom to proceed more 
 262 
 
 than two or three marches from their store 
 depots ; but even in this case, according to 
 the observations of Marshal Bugeaud, there 
 were often more than 1,000 different sorts 
 of animals with a column consisting of 
 5,000 men under arms. In the steppes, the 
 smallest train, as we know, was that at the 
 time of the Khivan campaign of Prince 
 Bekovitch Toherkassky, when there was a 
 camel to every two men. The greatest was 
 in the winter of 1839, in General Perovsky's 
 expedition, when every man had two 
 camels, and every two men approximately 
 had a three-horse cart. The English train 
 in the East Indies and in Afghanistan was 
 still more numerous. Suffice it to say, that, 
 according to the returns, the train of each 
 battalion of infantry is fixed, in time of 
 peace, at 1,200 mules, and 600 mule-drivers. 
 In the field, these numbers are still further 
 increased. The why such vast crowds of 
 servants and immense trains follow in the 
 wake of a detachment, where every elephant, 
 every horse, every camel, and every bullock 
 has his attendant, is partly due to the 
 climate, so baneful for Europeans, and still 
 more to the Oriental habits, which effeminate 
 the troops. Even the common soldiers had 
 their servants ; and thus, in the words of an 
 Englishman, the military camp was turned 
 into a motley show. Similar license led to 
 pernicious consequences for the English 
 during their second expedition to Afghanis- 
 tan in the winter of 1841, when the de- 
 tachment of 4,000 men, under General 
 Elphin stone, was forced to retreat ; the 
 train, following in rear, numbered 12,000 
 men. This unarmed, dissolute, and most 
 demoralised mob quickly fell into complete 
 disorder, enabling Afghans to surround the 
 English detachment and destroy it, so that, 
 of the 16,000 or 17,000 men, only one 
 Englishman — thanks to the rapidity of his 
 horse — succeeded in reaching the fortress of 
 Jelalabad. Consequently, in the Abyssinian 
 campaign in 1867, the English deemed it 
 necessary to limit the baggage of each 
 officer to eighty pounds, and that of each 
 soldier to twenty pounds, including bedding. 
 The result was to reduce the ordinary num- 
 ber of mules per battalion from 1,200 to 
 187, and 100 drivers. But with all, the 
 train of the expeditionary force numbered 
 20,000 various animals. For carrying the 
 baggage in steppe campaigns, we use pack- 
 animals, two-horse or one-horse carts, 
 and lastly, bullock transport. The baggage 
 is so arranged, that each pair-horse or pair- 
 
 i 
 
 A.D. 1870-'77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [DEBATABLE GROUND. 
 
 bullock cart has not more than 1,400 
 pounds ; each one-horse, 700 pounds ; each 
 camel-load, 680 pounds. The quantity of 
 carts or camels, and, consequently, the size 
 of the train, is calculated for each unit. 
 Assuming the company of infantry at 200 
 men, inclusive of servants, non-combatants 
 and officers, it requires, for one month, 
 12,480 pounds of biscuit (net weight), 
 2,080 pounds of groats (net) in lieu of five- 
 sixths of the monthly allowance of spirits, 
 sixty pounds of tea, and 180 pounds of 
 sugar ; five gallons and a-half of spirits, 
 weighing eighty pounds ; oats for the 
 draught-horses, 600 pounds; fifteen ki- 
 bitkas, being ten per company, two for 
 sick, three for officers, each weighing 260 
 pounds, equal to 3,900 pounds; felts for 
 bedding (ten pounds to twelve pounds), 
 camp equipage, and anti-scorbutic stores, 
 1,200 pounds to 2,000 pounds; men's kits 
 at sixty pounds, 12,000 pounds; ammuni- 
 tion, 2,000 pounds ; in all, about sixteen 
 tons. If this amount of baggage be placed 
 in one-horse carts, 1,000 pounds in each, 
 thirty-six carts will be required. Of this 
 number, for food alone (six tons and a-half), 
 fifteen carts ; and as the detachments are 
 never sent for less than two months, fifty 
 carts will be required. To this number we 
 
 must add two or three additional carts for 
 the apothecaries' medicines and sick on the 
 march ; in all, say fifty-six carts. For this 
 load there ought to be sixty-five camels 
 (each at 560 pounds), allowing one spare 
 camel for every seven or ten camels. The 
 sotnias of Cossacks have no special carts for 
 their baggage, but carry it with the forage. 
 The number of carts which they require is 
 much greater than for a company. For a 
 Cossack sotnia, consisting of 145 men and 
 three officers, 148 riding and fourteen pack- 
 horses, much more transport is required 
 than for a company. The food for the men, 
 and barley or oats (eight quarts and a-half 
 daily) for the horses, amount in two 
 months to 120,000 pounds without the 
 sacks. The other baggage is not great, 
 ten or eleven kibitkas, seven for the Cos- 
 sacks, three for officers, and one for sick, 
 equal to 2,600 pounds, and two or three 
 carts for the apothecary, medicine and sick. 
 On this computation, the number of carts 
 necessary for a sotnia for two months, in- 
 cluding sacks and coverings, will amount to 
 130 or 135. Of camels, for same period, 
 leaving five carts, there would be required 
 about 200 (each carrying 640 pounds). If 
 hay has to be carried, a considerable addi- 
 tion must be made to the transport." 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 THE DEBATABLE GROUND IN CENTRAL ASIA. 
 
 An examination of the map will show that 
 the basin containing the Caspian Sea, Lake 
 Aral, and Lake Balkash, presents some very 
 remarkable features. A high rugged mass 
 of mountains dips down precipitously into 
 the Caspian in the west and south — is sud- 
 denly cut off as it were by that shallow in- 
 land sea, which receives the waters of the 
 Volga and the Ural. This mountain range, 
 the Caucasus sweeping toward the southern 
 shores of the sea, stretches almost due east 
 till it becomes merged in the Hindu Kush 
 and the plateau of Pamir, which forms the 
 water-shed between the Amou-Daria and 
 the Nuclus in the south, and the Syr-Daria 
 in the north. Both these rivers, the Amou- 
 Daria and the Syr-Daria, flow into Lake 
 
 Aral, which, like its sister-sea, has no out- 
 let north of Lake Aral : the ground, in a 
 hydrographical sense, seems to be in a state 
 of the greatest indecision. The rivers there 
 scarcely know where to flow to. They start 
 from opposite directions, and flow on till 
 they meet either straight opposite to each 
 other, or at right angles, and their waters 
 mingling, form lakes of larger or smaller 
 dimensions, morasses and swamps, or, tired 
 of seeking a career, abandon themselves 
 to the inevitable, and terminate an inglori- 
 ous existence in the sands of the desert ; so 
 that, except for the flow, it would be diffi- 
 cult to tell, from the size of either, which 
 was the source or which was the end. This 
 state of things continues up to the ^Oth 
 
 263 
 
 'i i "4 
 
 ■■»» 
 
I 
 
 THE ARAL BASIN.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1870-77. 
 
 I 
 
 i: 
 
 1* 
 
 r i 
 
 I 
 
 I" H 
 
 I' '' 
 pi I 
 
 I 
 
 « 
 
 i 
 
 ■I 
 
 degree of latitude, where arise tlie low 
 hills north of Lake Balkash, which are the 
 homes of the Great Horde of Kirghiz and 
 the Middle Horde, and separate the Caspian 
 and Aral systems of rivers from those wliich 
 flow into the Polar Seas. In this vast basin 
 — at some remote period, most probably, a 
 vast sea — the chief rivers are the Amou- 
 Daria, the Syr-Daria, the Tchuy, and the 
 Sary-Su. Of these, the Amou-Daria is the 
 most important. It rises in Lake Victoria, 
 on the plateau of Pamir, about fifty miles 
 from the frontier of India, and flows west- 
 wards for about 200 miles, through the 
 valleys of Wokhan, till it sweeps, with a 
 gradual curve, north-westwards for about 
 250 miles, skirting Badakshan. In this por- 
 tion of its mountainous course it is joined 
 by several tributaries descending from the 
 Pamir and the southern slopes of the Ka- 
 ralas mountains which bound the Narafshan 
 valley on the south, and receiving consider- 
 able drainage on both sides, still flows west- 
 ward for a distance of some 300 miles, after 
 which it turns more and more to the north, 
 and enters Lake Aral about 1,500 miles 
 from its source in Lake Victoria. A country 
 is often spoken of as being watered by a river, 
 but usually the expression is not very 
 accurate, rivers chiefly carrying down the 
 superfluous waters and drainage to the sea. 
 But in the almost rainless regions lying to 
 the east of the Caspian, we find that they 
 are rendered habitable and fertile solely by 
 the employment of the waters of the Amou- 
 Daria, and then the force of the current ex- 
 pression becomes very appropriate. The 
 country on either side of the river has 
 generally been described as a desert; but 
 there are many reasons for believing that, 
 in ancient times, it was the home of early 
 Aryan peoples, and in as flourishing a 
 condition as that of the oasis of Khiva at 
 the present day. The explanation of this 
 phenomenon is, that changes in the main 
 course of the river crossing the desert lying 
 between the Hindu Kush and Caspian, 
 have been brought about by the diversion 
 of water for the fertilisation of the country 
 upon its banks, and go far to show that 
 the first change in the course of the Oxus 
 was due to similar causes that were called 
 into action in ancient times. And, as will 
 be seen, the proofs of this are actually to 
 be found in that very sterility which has 
 characterised these localities during the 
 past twenty-three centuries. 
 
 The Amou-Daria, in the last 300 miles of 
 264 
 
 its course, is employed in fertilising the 
 oasis of Khiva, by means of a number of 
 large canals diverting the waters over the 
 surface of the land. The cultivating season 
 begins in early spring, when the snows and 
 glaciers round the higher sources of the 
 river and its affluents commence to melt 
 and swell the volume of water flowing in 
 the channel. This flood increases in a vari- 
 able manner to a maximum, which, in 1874, 
 was attained at Khodjeili on August 3rd; 
 and it may therefore be inferred that the 
 epoch of greatest summer heat on the 
 Pamir plateau, occurred some ten days pre- 
 viously. On the above day of extreme 
 flood, the discharge of the Amou amounted 
 approximately to 143,000 cubic feet per 
 second, a quantity which is almost twenty 
 times as large as the flood volume of the 
 river Thames at Staines. The lowest level 
 subsequently reached by the Amou was on 
 March 22nd, 1875, when the volume was 
 approximately^ 35,000 cubic feet per second. 
 As far as could be judged, the year 1874 
 was one of average discharge. While Egypt 
 owes her fertility to the waters of the Nile, 
 the very existence of the khanate of Khiva 
 depends upon the floods of the Amou-Daria. 
 It is, however, to be remarked, that the 
 fertilising principle which is contained in 
 the waters of the Nile, and which is due to 
 vegetable matter carried down from its 
 upper courses, is absent in those of the 
 Amou. The river, in fact, brings down 
 nothing but finely triturated sand, the 
 debris of that extensive destruction which 
 Wood has described as caused by frost on 
 the steep flanks of the mountains of the 
 Upper Oxus. It may consequently be in- 
 ferred that the fertility of the Khivan oasis 
 is due to the stimulation by water of the 
 chemical properties of the clay, which 
 chiefly forms the great Khwarezni desert. 
 
 Of the whole volume of water passing 
 down the Amou in the cultivating season, 
 about one-half is diverted by the irrigation 
 canals watering the territory of Khiva, 
 leaving the other half to flow down into 
 Lake Aral, from which it is lost in evapora- 
 tion. Nearly all these canals are situated 
 on the left bank, from which the country 
 slopes downwards, in a westerly direction, 
 to the valley that follows the foot of the 
 Ust-Urt plateau, and formerly received the 
 southerly overflow of Lake Aral by the 
 head of the Abougir Gulf. 
 
 As it is impossible to foresee whether the 
 annual flood of the Amou will be a higrh or a 
 
 Tr 
 
 A.D. 1870-77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [changes of the amou. 
 
 low, or merely an ordinary one, and as a 
 certain minimum quantity of water is re- 
 quired for the cultivation of the crops, 
 without which, the Khivan population, iso- 
 lated by surrounding deserts, would in- 
 falliby starve, the beds of the irrigation 
 canals at their heads must be adjusted on 
 such a level as will ensure the necessary 
 quantity of water entering them, even in a 
 year of lowest flood. It consequently re- 
 sults, that in all other years, the volume of 
 water diverted by the canals for the irriga- 
 tion of the oasis is larger than what is 
 actually required ; and this surplus, which 
 would be as great an evil as a deficiency of 
 water, must be got rid of as speedily as 
 possible, in order to save the growing crops 
 from destruction. 
 
 From what has been said of the general 
 slope of the country towards the west, it 
 will be seen that there is every facility for 
 the cultivated tract being inundated by the 
 Amou,and escape-channels are therefore dug 
 to carry off surplus water into all adjacent 
 low lands, and thus a number of swamps 
 and lakes are formed over the surface of the 
 country. The canals are also lined with 
 protecting embankments, and the whole 
 energies of the agricultural population, who 
 live in homesteads scattered along the 
 various watercourses, are devoted to the 
 repair and maintenance of the works which 
 guarantee the safety of the irrigated and 
 cultivated tracts from inundation. The 
 entire mode of life of the people may, in- 
 deed, be said to be influenced by the floods, 
 or want thereof, of the Amou-Daria ; for at 
 the end of the cultivating season, and at 
 the approach of winter, after the crops have 
 been reaped and garnered, and when the 
 volume of water flowing in the river is 
 greatly diminished, dams are built across 
 the heads of the canals to prevent the 
 further entry of water. After having in 
 this manner been run dry, the earthy matter, 
 amounting to a depth of more than two 
 feet, which has been deposited during the 
 year by the streams flowing in the canals, is 
 excavated from their beds by a levy of the 
 population. Through these precautionary 
 measures the dimensions of the irrigation 
 canals are restored, and the entry is ensured 
 of that minimum volume of water which is 
 required at the advent of the next year's 
 flood for the cultivation of the oasis. 
 
 The enormous mass of earthy matter 
 which the Amou carries down in its descent 
 from the high plateaux of Central Asia, 
 
 VOL. II. 2 M 
 
 would, in a state of natural flow, have been 
 conveyed to a permanent outlet ; but since 
 the transporting power possessed by the 
 river is diminished by its division into irri- 
 gation canals, a large portion is deposited 
 in the several canals, which divert one-half 
 of the waters, as well as in the main 
 channel, which carries the other half to an 
 outlet. It has been said that the canals 
 are cleaned out yearly, and are thus freed 
 from these deposits ; but those in the lower 
 portion of the river are, year after year, 
 continually added to ; and as this increase of 
 earthy matter takes place, and the main 
 channel is gradually choked, a tendency 
 must also be gradually and continually 
 growing for more and more water to enter 
 the irrigation canals. The cultivators have 
 to combat the results of this evil, by which 
 their fields would be inundated, by extend- 
 ing the courses of the canals year after 
 year, and getting rid of the water by a 
 large number of suitable escapes ; and since 
 opportunities for efl'ecting this would occur 
 in greater numbers along some one parti- 
 cular canal, this one would offer greater 
 facilities for the entry of water from the 
 Amou, and would become the chief channel 
 by which the increased flow from the river 
 would eventually declare itself. Thus this 
 channel would be continually enlarged, 
 until its dimensions first gradually reached, 
 and then surpassed, those of the main course 
 of the river, and the day arrived when the 
 whole stream would inevitably change its 
 flow into the enlarged canal, which would 
 then become the new lower course of the 
 Amou. The country watered by the canals 
 which left the river in its old course below 
 the enlarged one, would, consequently, be 
 deprived of the water necessary for its fer- 
 tilisation ; and the population so afi'ected 
 would have to change their habitations to 
 some more suitable ground along the new 
 course. 
 
 This is quite a sufficient explanation of 
 the changes which the course of the Oxus 
 has undergone since time immemorial ; and 
 its application to the other rivers of Western 
 Turkistan, afi*ords a key to the disappear- 
 ance of much water which formerly entered 
 the basin of Lake Aral, and caused its junc- 
 tion to overflow with the Caspian towards 
 the Kara Bugas Grulf, or through the series 
 of lakes still existing in the same sands. 
 The clay soil of Khiva, more particularly 
 in the southern parts, produces, under irri- 
 gation, cotton of an excellent quality. On 
 
 265 
 
 >;■ 
 
 '"■i ' 
 
r 
 
 KHIVAN AGRTCULTURE.J 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1870-'77. 
 
 s 
 
 .1 
 
 i \ 
 
 I,(, 
 
 the other hand, the silk of Khiva is not so 
 good as that either of Bokhara or of Kho- 
 kand. The other crops grown on the Amou 
 are wheat, maize, rice, lucerne, sesamum, 
 hemp, and the madder plant, besides tobacco, 
 tumbak, and the poppy, on the growth of 
 which narcotics exceptionally high rates of 
 land-tax are levied. Free culture is largely 
 practised, and the irrigated tracts are 
 covered with groves of mulberry and fruit 
 orchards, as well as with poplars, elms, 
 willows, planes, and other useful trees, which 
 are planted along the banks of the canals 
 and the network of minor watercourses. 
 
 The area of sandy desert which has thus 
 been more or less reclaimed by the waters 
 of the Amou, is about one and a-half million 
 of acres, for the cultivation of which, pro- 
 bably one-half of the volume of water that 
 is now diverted from the river in the flood 
 season would suffice. The Khivan landlord 
 receives one-fifth of the produce as rent ; 
 but where irrigating water has to be lifted, 
 the proportion is reduced to one-seventh. 
 Of the whole oasis, perhaps one-quarter 
 pays a land-tax of about Is. an acre to the 
 khan, the remainder being the property of 
 religious or charitable corporations, or other- 
 wise, free from charges. In addition to this 
 source of income, an ad valorem duty of 
 2J per cent, is levied on all imports, and 
 the tributary Turcomans are supposed to 
 pay M. yearly for each camel and bullock, 
 and 4cZ. for each sheep they possess. The 
 receipts from this tax must have been pre- 
 carious previous to 1874, when the khan's 
 authority was scarcely recognised by the 
 Turcomans ; but the presence of the Rus- 
 sian battalions in the Amou-Daria territory 
 now probably acts as a pressure on these 
 tribes, and allows of the indemnity being 
 collected which was levied on Khiva at the 
 close of the campaign of 1873. 
 
 The country's wealth has never recovered 
 the blows it received at the hands of the 
 plundering hordes of Djengiz Khan and of 
 Timour. At present, the usual revenue of 
 the khan is stated to amount to about 
 £30,000 a-year, a sum far short of that in 
 the olden days, when, escorted by 5,000 
 horse, he went on his annual hawking tour, 
 and collected tribute from the south-east 
 coast of the Caspian to the courses of the 
 Lower Syr, and from the environs of Balkh 
 to the Emba steppe, on the north of the 
 Ust-Urt plateau. Besides such more or 
 less legitimate sources of revenue to the 
 Khan of Khiva, belonged, by right, a share 
 266 
 
 of the booty taken in the yearly alamans, 
 or plundering and slaving expeditions, for- 
 merly made upon Persia and the Kirghiz 
 aonls north of the Syr-Daria, and on the 
 country watered by the Tchuy, the Sary-Su, 
 and the Talass. 
 
 The population is estimated at 300,000 
 souls, of which two-thirds consist of Uzbeks 
 and of Jajik?, who are the descendants of 
 the ancient population of the country. 
 Liberated Persian and other slaves make 
 up another 50,000 ; while the remainder is 
 composed of semi-sedentary Turcomans, 
 who occupy cultivated lands in the khanate, 
 or who wander about its western limits. 
 
 As for the 300,000 or 400,000 Turcomans 
 who occupy the Khwarezmian deserts up to 
 the Persian and Afghan frontiers, it is evi- 
 dent that there is not only the land, but 
 also the water available which could render 
 that land fertile, and afford these nomads 
 the means of becoming a sedentary popula- 
 tion. At the present moment, Russia is 
 probably spending as much money in mili- 
 tary establishments for overawing the 
 wandering tribes, and for preventing their 
 taking to their former pursuits of man- 
 stealing, as would suffice to found well- 
 organised settlements of Turcomans in the 
 Khwarezmian wildernesses. In all history, 
 what these sterile regions have denied to 
 their wandering populations, has been taken 
 by force from adjacent and fertile countries ; 
 but, if humanity and civilisation be not 
 empty words, Russia would prefer to reclaim 
 these deserts, rather than seek for fresh 
 acquisitions. 
 
 Just above where the Kuwan-jerma arm 
 leaves the Amou-Daria, is situated the small 
 and mud-walled village of Nukus, on the 
 right bank of the river, which is here 
 crossed by a ferry, made much use of by 
 the scattered population, converging upon 
 Khodjeili, on market-days. A mile or two 
 north of Nukus is the new Russian fort — 
 a small square, enclosed with pise walls, 
 and flanked by two circular bastions at 
 opposite angles. It contains barracks for 
 its garrison of two companies of infantry, 
 who will, with the armament of four field 
 guns, be more than a match for any number 
 of thousands of possible attacking Turco- 
 mans or Uzbeks. 
 
 The surrounding flat country is slightly 
 cultivated, but is, for the most part, covered 
 with a tamarisk and oleagnus jungle,* which 
 is thick and rather large along the dry 
 course of Karanzak. Hereabouts, in 1873, 
 
 A.D. 1870-77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [life on the amou. 
 
 after the close of the Khivan campaign, a 
 Russian camp was established on the banks 
 of a stream flowing from the Amou into 
 Kuwan-jerma, and the troops were em- 
 ployed in the construction of the fort. This 
 military post forms a link between the 
 base of Lake Aral and the advanced posi- 
 tion of Petro-Alexandrovsk, which is situ- 
 ated some 200 miles further up the river 
 on the same bank. 
 
 Petro-Alexandrovsk is the chief Russian 
 post in the Amou-Daria district ; and its 
 garrison of some 2,000 men is lodged in a 
 large fortified garden, which was the pro- 
 perty of a Khivan magnate. It is two or 
 three miles from the right bank of the 
 Amou, in about the same latitude as Khiva, 
 from which it is about thirty miles east- 
 ward. A small town, of the usual Central 
 Asian steppe-pattern, is springing up at a 
 little distance from the encircling wall and 
 parapet of the garden, which has been won 
 by irrigation from the adjacent desert. The 
 verdure and foliage, as well as the varied 
 life of the place, form a pleasing contrast 
 to the sterility and desolation of the sands 
 which lie at its very postern gates. 
 
 Notwithstanding their constant drill and 
 rifle practice, the Russian officers on the 
 Amou would find life dreary were it not for 
 the occasional brush with the Turcoman 
 tribes, which promises to become a periodi- 
 cal institution. Cut off as they are by 
 eight days' post from Cazalinsk, which, in 
 its turn, is separated by three weeks' post 
 from Moscow, the Europeans in this part 
 of Turkestan are placed in a disadvantage- 
 ous position as regards a regular supply of 
 European literature and news. Except a 
 little tiger-hunting or pheasant and snipe- 
 shooting, there are no means of recreation ; 
 and such an isolated position, besides tend- 
 ing to a considerable laxity of morals, is in 
 itself an incentive to that military restless- 
 ness and yearning for decorations, which is 
 taken as a sign of the aggressive policy of 
 Russia in Central Asia. 
 
 Though the hospitality met with in 
 Russia by a stranger is proverbial, the great 
 cities of most countries are not very differ- 
 ent from one another in this respect. It 
 is in the standing camps of Turkestan, or 
 still more, perhaps, in the desert bivouacs, 
 that the geniality of the Russian officers 
 impresses one as being not the least of their 
 military virtues. The anniversary fete of a 
 regiment is a good opportunity for observ- 
 ing this quality ; and churlish indeed must 
 
 that guest be who is inaccessible to the 
 kindly, if somewhat boisterous, attentions 
 of which he is the object. 
 
 The boundary of the territory of the 
 Russians on the Amou is the main course of 
 the river, from Taldyk mouth in Aral to 
 Meshekli on the new Bokharian frontier, a 
 distance of about 200 miles above Khodjeili. 
 At the southern end of this line the eastern 
 desert extends up to the low hills which 
 skirt the river for a distance of thirty miles 
 downwards ; but in the next eighty miles 
 below, a strip of country, about five miles 
 in breadth, has been reclaimed by irrigation 
 from the surrounding sands on the right 
 bank. Excepting the half-drowned land of 
 the Karakalpaks, this area of, perhaps 400 
 square miles, is the only productive part of 
 the Russian possessions. Though it has 
 been stated at a higher figure, the popula- 
 tion of the Amou-Daria district, including 
 Karakalpaks, Kirghiz, Uzbeks, and Tajiks, 
 does not amount to more than 60,000 
 souls. 
 
 The revenue collected in 1874, the first 
 year of the Russian occupation, amounted, 
 as far as can be ascertained, to some 12,000 
 roubles (say £1,850), a sum which was 
 about one-eighth of the expenditure. The 
 assessment of the land has been reduced to 
 less than that demanded in Khiva, with the 
 view of attracting an influx of settlers; 
 though it is doubtful whether the physical 
 features of the ground will allow of any 
 appreciable addition to the irrigated area 
 on the Russian side of the stream. It is, 
 however, evident that the diversion of 
 water for the cultivation of the desert, and 
 the consequent relief of the lands along the 
 Lower Amou from inundation, would at least 
 double the revenue, and enable the Rus- 
 sians to save large sums in their expendi- 
 ture for raw cotton, for which they pay 
 over £1,600,000 annually. The cultivation 
 of cotton especially would be of benefit in 
 attracting commerce and increasing the 
 trade, which is even now carried on to a 
 considerable extent with Indian teas, which 
 fetch as much as four shillings per pound 
 on the Amou. Trade would also receive a 
 considerable impetus could means be devised 
 to render the Amou navigable, whether by 
 a system of locks or ''regulation," which 
 would enable the steamers to stem the 
 current at less expense than at a cost of 
 about £2 55. a mile for firinor, which was 
 the sum paid for the fuel used on board the 
 Samarcand and Per off ski. But even as it 
 
 267 
 
 M-- 
 
' 'It 
 
 TOWNS ON THE AMOU.] 
 
 HISTOKY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1870-77. 
 
 A.D. 1870-77.] 
 
 EUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the karakalpaks. 
 
 I 
 
 ! 
 
 V ■*, 
 
 
 u 
 
 is, a considerable traffic — taking the thin 
 population into account — is conducted 
 along the Amou and Syr-Daria by means 
 of caiques and barges, which are towed 
 laboriously up the river and float down to 
 the lake, after the fashion of the barges on 
 the Thames, or the rafts upon the Khine. 
 The absence of coal and timber adapted 
 for fuel, however, will, for some time to 
 come, prove a great obstacle to the develop- 
 ment of trade in these regions ; though, at 
 the same time, there appears to be reason 
 to believe that naphtha and petroleum exist 
 in the neighbourhood of the rivers, which 
 miirht be used instead of wood and coal, or 
 in conjunction with them. 
 
 Meanwhile, however, the navigation of 
 the river is tedious and costly in the ex- 
 treme. The steamers are always bumping 
 on the ever-shifting shoals, and not a day 
 passes but that some more or less extensive 
 repairs have to be made. 
 
 The Amou enters the lake by three chief 
 arms, the Taldyk, the Ukun-Daria, and the 
 Yeni-Su. Each of these arms has its delta ; 
 but practically the delta commences some 
 eighty miles south of the lake, near Khod- 
 jeili, though the ground lying between the 
 three brandies is not a delta proper, inas- 
 much as it does not consist of soil carried 
 down by the river, but has simply been 'cut 
 through by the river, which has washed its 
 tortuous course aw^ay through the soft clay 
 and swamps. The banks are lined with 
 dense rushes, beyond which appear fine rich 
 pastures, whereon browse the cattle and 
 herds of the Karakalpaks — a tribe some 
 40,000 to 50,000 strong, and which are 
 still considerably astonished at the sight of 
 a steamer, some of them plunging into the 
 river and swimming after the snorting 
 monster, whilst the others scamper away 
 till lost to sight. The first place after 
 entering the central arm — the Ukun-Daria 
 — is Ak-Kala, or the White Castle, with 
 crenelated mud walls, 300 feet square, with 
 four circular towers ; the walls being about 
 20 feet high. Here the Khivans attacked 
 the Samarcand in 1873; but were soon 
 forced to evacuate the fort, which with tlie 
 adjacent village is now one mass of unin- 
 habited ruins. Almost in an equally ruined 
 condition is the town of Kungrad, with its 
 population dwindled down from 6,000 to 
 barely 2,000, in consequence of the war with 
 the Russians. The place has been described 
 by Vdmbery and others as one of the few 
 towns where the women of Central Asia can 
 268 
 
 boast of decidedly good looks and of corres- 
 pondingly loose morals, though the presence 
 of a Russian army there may have possibly 
 conduced far more to the latter than the 
 former has done. According to Major 
 Wood, the propensities of the Russian 
 officers and men thus far away from the 
 voice of public opinion, are of such a nature 
 that he was obliged to write his account of 
 them in Latin. Close to Kungrad the river 
 cuts throuirh a bed of soft sandstone, in 
 which masses of oyster-shells and sharks' 
 teeth are conglomerated together with iron 
 oxides, of which all along the lower course 
 of the river there are numerous deposits. On 
 the hills around the burying- places have 
 been established, in order to prevent the 
 remains from being washed out of their 
 graves by the inundations. It is at Kun- 
 grad that tlie characteristic scenes of life in 
 the oases of Central Asia are seen to their 
 best advantage. The water is raised by 
 Persian wheels worked by horse-power, 
 to irrigate the surrounding fields of rice, 
 melons, cereals, sesamum, which stud the 
 green pasturage around, with its patches of 
 jungle, &c., dense growth of tamarisk, pop- 
 lar, elm, and willow swarming with bird- 
 life, especially pheasants, gazelles, and hares 
 by the herd. 
 
 On the eastern arm of the Amou there *is 
 no town ; but between the Ukun-Daria and 
 the Yeni-Su there is the Kigali ee canal, on 
 which the town of Ainbye is situated, re- 
 joicing in a bazaar, which, poor as it is in 
 comparison with those of larger towns, 
 suffices for the wants of the inhabitants, 
 and proves a great attraction to them when 
 they come to exchange their produce for 
 the manufactures of the far-west and the 
 far-east. Round about, stretching on either 
 side of the canal, lies the fort-like farm- 
 houses embowered in orchards in quad- 
 rangles of 250 to 300 feet square, formed by 
 smooth thick mud-walls some 15 to 20 feet 
 high, with circular buttresses at the corners 
 like towers; the interior divided off into 
 courts containing the rooms, offices, and 
 stables. The entrance is usually in the 
 western wall, and is formed by heavy fold- 
 ing gates, bound with iron, and flanked 
 and surmounted by loopholes to admit of 
 musketry-fire being poured against ma- 
 rauders attacking the homestead. Nothing 
 is more characteristic of the insecurity of 
 life and property than these farms, all of 
 which, unless within a town (which is 
 usually also walled), are built in the above 
 
 fashion, recalling vividly to mind the 
 granges and castles of mediaeval times. And 
 even now, as then, may be found in some of 
 these habitations old suits or portions of 
 scale and chain armour, mementoes of the 
 days of the Crusaders and the fights of the 
 Moslems against the Mongol tribes. The 
 savagery of those days continued sporadi- 
 cally down to comparatively recent times. 
 It was on the banks of the Oguz channel, 
 joining the Taldyk and the Ukun-Daria, 
 that Prince Bekovitch, an officer of the 
 imperial guard, met with his death. He 
 had been sent by Peter the Great to the 
 Khan of Khiva with presents, in order to 
 induce him to conclude treaties of commerce 
 with Russia ; but the khan, having got all 
 the presents intended for him, wanted 
 more, and on Bekovitch refusing, had him 
 flayed alive and then murdered, together 
 with his two brothers. 
 
 But the life of the inhabitants of these 
 regions is dreary, rough, and rude enough 
 to crush most of the higher sentiments in 
 the struggle for existence. The lakes and 
 channels are literally walled in with ram- 
 parts of gigantic reeds, "which might almost 
 be called trees, and which afford the chief 
 fuel of the Karakalpak fishermen, who are 
 almost as nomadic as their cattle-breeding 
 fellow-men further off in the deserts, and 
 take up their abode for a time on the float- 
 ingf and half-floatino^ islands of arundoa.Tid 
 tipho. Here they catch the fish which 
 swarm in these waters, especially in the 
 cave-like hollows formed bv ancient mud 
 volcanoes, in which the river eddies and 
 foams with irresistible force, and over 
 which hover the winged fishers, the gulls 
 and sea-eagles, who dispute their prey with 
 the Karakalpaks, or Black Hats, a tribe of 
 Mongol Turks, numbering, as has already 
 been said, about 50,000 souls, and who 
 reach up the Lower Amou as far as 
 Khodjeili. It is the poorest tribe of all in 
 these regions, having had much to suffer 
 from their enemies, the Uzbeks and Khi- 
 vese, who inundated their pasturages by 
 blocking up the mouths of the canals, 
 whilst what their human enemies left them 
 was periodically eaten up by the locusts, 
 which came down in dense swarms of 
 enormous extent. One of these clouds was 
 estimated at fifteen miles long, two miles 
 broad, and half a mile deep, so that, allow- 
 ing only two locusts to every cubic yard, 
 there were no less than 38,000,000,000 of 
 them. In addition to these insects, which 
 
 eat up the produce of the Karakalpaks, 
 must be mentioned the mosquitoes, which 
 almost eat him up himself. According to 
 all accounts, the Amou mosquito is the most 
 voracious and tormenting of his race; so 
 much so, in fact, that the Russian soldiers,, 
 who are pretty well used to all varieties of 
 entomological companions, are furnished 
 with mosquito curtains; but, like the sailors 
 on the Rangoon, they should jump into the 
 river, and prefer drowning to being stung 
 to death. 
 
 Yet in spite of all these drawbacks, or 
 perhaps in consequence of them, the Kara- 
 kalpak preserves his character of inde- 
 pendence and pride. Major Wood relates 
 how, whilst sketching the aoul, or farm- 
 house of one of the tribe, he offered a 
 twenty-copeck piece to a boy standing by 
 with a hawk upon his naked shoulder. 
 The coin was refused with a flashing eye. 
 Major Wood being unable to decide which 
 was the more un tameable of the two, the 
 hawk or the boy. As may be imagined, 
 the Karakalpaks are very superstitious. 
 They have an especial horror of leprosy ; 
 and if any of their number is seized with 
 the disease, he or she is expelled from the 
 aoul, and turned out into the jungle to 
 die. On the whole they live well. They 
 have an abundance of mutton, much game, 
 sturgeon and other fish, and an unlimited 
 amount of melons and other fruits ; whilst 
 koumiss (fermented mare's milk) exhila- 
 rates them into horrible song in the midst 
 of their swamps, like whiskey the Irishman 
 in the midst of his bogs. 
 
 At Khodjeili the Amou proper com- 
 mences. It is here about 1,500 feet broad ; 
 but between this point and Toyonboyin, 
 where it rushes through a narrow passage 
 in a dyke of chalk and limestone, which 
 stretches across its course, it attains a 
 breadth of as much as 10,000 feet, the 
 diminution being due to the countless 
 number of canals and channels which help 
 it to irrigate the country around. Oppo- 
 site Khodjeili lies the village of Nukus, 
 near which commences the barren Bish- 
 tabye range of hills, on which, at the 
 northern extremity, stands a mausoleum in 
 the midst of a cemetery, by the side of the 
 graves of which the stretchers are placed 
 in the ground used to carry the corpses up 
 and down. There are numbers of caves in 
 the steep slopes of these hills, inhabited 
 by owls of such large dimensions that they 
 are capable of knocking a man down, as 
 
 269 
 
1 1 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 i ' 
 
 
 u 
 
 CENTRAL ASIAN TRADE.! 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1750-70. 
 
 they suddenly fly out of their haunts when 
 they are disturbed. 
 
 Such are the general characteristics of 
 the country through which the Russians 
 are extending their frontiers towards those 
 of India. But it must not be imagined 
 that the picture thus drawn is in every way 
 complete. There is still much to learn, 
 and that much is not easy to learn, although 
 many attempts have been made to pene- 
 trate into the interior and explore it. 
 
 It was not until nearl}^ the end of the 
 15th century that a systematic attempt was 
 made to develop trade between Russia and 
 the Central Asian khanates. After this, 
 Englishmen took up the project by sending 
 over commercial agents, one of the princi- 
 pal ones being at that time Anthony Jen- 
 kinson. Later on. Captain Elton went to 
 reconnoitre Lake Aral, intending to estab- 
 lish a naval flotilla there. Still later on 
 we hear of an English merchant, Djake 
 (Jacky), busy in commercial transactions 
 with the Kirghiz ; and in 1745, Jonas Han- 
 way, the so-called "Handsome English- 
 man," traded here before settling down in 
 England. This shows plainly that English- 
 men had not a little to do with spreading 
 trade over Central Asia. There certainly 
 was a sliofht kind of commercial relation- 
 ship between Russia and the khanates ; but 
 not until after the Siberian conquest was 
 there anything like dir^ect communication 
 between the two countries. The first pro- 
 position for the Kirghiz to become subject 
 to Russian rule was made at the close of 
 the 16th century; but this was not carried 
 out until 1730, under the reign of the 
 Empress Anne. Some few years after this 
 a commercial caravan was sent from Russia 
 to Tashkend, but was plundered by the 
 Kirghiz of the " Middle Horde," two days 
 before reaching the town.; and after this, a 
 Khivan caravan, returning from Russia, 
 was plundered by the same tribe. These 
 acts of brigandage continuing, of course 
 made it impossible for the trade between 
 Russia and the Central Asian khanates to 
 lead to any satisfactory results. 
 
 Russia now had a difficult task before 
 her — to put down brigandage in the 
 Kirghiz steppes ; for though, of course, the 
 Kirghiz could be driven eastward, this 
 would not have insured the safety of the 
 caravans, and therefore not have furthered 
 trade between the two countries. For this 
 reason it was necessary for Russia to en- 
 deavour to entirely subject the Kirghiz 
 270 
 
 under her rule, which she succeeded in 
 doing, as is shown by the flight of the 
 Volga Calmuks to their previous home in 
 the west of China in 1770, whence they 
 had been driven by the oppression of the 
 Zungars. They settled on both banks of 
 the Lower Volga (about the middle of the 
 17th century), where the czar granted 
 them pasturage. 
 
 After the Chinese (1756) had destroyed 
 the power of the Zungars, the small num- 
 ber of Calmuks which had remained in 
 their country joined their compatriots in 
 Russia, who had been domiciled there for 
 more than a century. These new arrivals 
 soon succeeded in stirring up, in the breasts 
 of their countrymen, an unconquerable de- 
 sire to return to their forsaken home and 
 old nomadic life. Preparations for leaving 
 their adopted country were accordingly 
 made, the time fixed for departure depend- 
 ing upon the freezing of the Volga, as a 
 great number of the Calmuks had their 
 home on the right bank of the river. The 
 river, however, this year (1769-70) did not 
 freeze ; and this is the reason that about 
 100,000 Calmuks are, at the present time, 
 still found in the government of Astrakhan. 
 However, 150,000 of them started on their 
 journey to China on the 5th January, 1770. 
 As soon as the governor of Orenburg and 
 the Siberian government found this out, 
 they informed all the Kirghiz, telling them 
 that the Calmuks were about to attack 
 them. All the Kirghiz tribes consequently 
 assembled, and, being helped by the Cos- 
 sacks, succeeded in ultimately reducing the 
 number of the fugitives to only 70,000 who 
 reached their old country. 
 
 As before remarked, Russia's aim now 
 was to keep all the Asiatic tribes within 
 her reach in subjection, for she was begin- 
 ning to fear the invasion of the Asiatic 
 barbarians. She therefore peopled her 
 frontiers as thickly as possible, intending 
 the possible invaders to expend the greater 
 part of their force upon these outlying 
 populations. The principal tribes who had 
 been settled here were the Calmuks, the 
 Kirghiz, the Bashkirs, and the Nogai Tar- 
 tars, all of which Russia held under her 
 rule and complete domination by skilfully 
 creating and keeping up mutual jealousy, 
 even hatred amongst them, and altogether 
 alienating one tribe from the other as much 
 as possible. This she did in order to pre- 
 vent the different tribes from uniting 
 against her. The wisdom of this policy 
 
 A.D. 1631.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [Russian conquest in asia. 
 
 became very apparent when, in 1741, all 
 the tribes might have been roused to action 
 against Russia in consequence of a mar- 
 riage between two members of the chief 
 tribes. This danger, however, and many 
 similar ones, were prevented by the exer- 
 cise of that quality the Russians excel in — 
 the art of setting one tribe against the 
 other on the faith of promises, which were 
 rashly made, but never rashly kept ; 
 although, from time to time, the infuriated 
 Turcomans and Kirghiz would rise and 
 massacre their aggressors in periodical re- 
 bellions, called forth by the fanatical 
 preaching of the niollahs. Sometimes the 
 thin line of Cossack outposts was menaced 
 back and front by hostile tribes, as was the 
 case with the Bathkirs in the north and 
 the Kirghiz in the south. Thus, when the 
 Bashkirs rebelled, the governor of Oren- 
 burg issued a proclamation to the Kirghiz, 
 stating that though nothing could be said 
 against the religious objects of the Bashkirs, 
 still, if they succeeded in gaining their in- 
 dependence, they would probably follow it 
 up by subjugating the Kirghiz themselves. 
 He therefore, in order to annihilate the 
 tribe, made over to the Kirghiz, in advance, 
 all the women and children they might be 
 able to capture, and thus secured the sen- 
 sual riomads to give them their assistance 
 by falling upon the rebels. The Kirghiz 
 at once set forth on their expedition, the 
 result being that the Bashkirs were forced 
 to submit after having suffered great 
 losses, and some numbers of their wives and 
 children carried off. Naturally, the Bash- 
 kirs vowed revenge ; and as soon as they 
 could collect a sufficient number of men, 
 they burst across the frontier with the 
 connivance of the Russians, and commenced 
 a general massacre, and pillaged and fired 
 till the Russian governor thought his object 
 was thoroughly gained, and Bashkirs and 
 Kirghiz embroiled for ever in a bitter 
 feud. 
 
 This policy is so traditional, so well cha- 
 racterises the Russians of the present day 
 in their dealings with the natives of Central 
 Asia — it has been so closely followed out in 
 regard to the jealousies sown between the 
 Khans of Khiva and Bokhara, that an ac- 
 count of the conquest of the Buriats — a 
 tribe inhabiting the regions round Lake 
 Baikal and the banks of the Yenisei, Oka, 
 and Angara — will be of interest. 
 
 They are first named, as far as it is 
 known, in the Russian annals in 1612, 
 
 when we read that the Siberian tribe of 
 the Arini submitted to the Russians,; %nd 
 that a short time before, the same Arini 
 had been attacked by the Buriats. They 
 are next mentioned in 1622, when we are 
 told that they appeared on the Yenisei 
 with a body of 3,000 men ; but they seem 
 to have retired again. It was not till 1627 
 that they came into actual contact with the 
 Russians. In that year Maxim Perfirief, 
 with forty Cossacks, was sent along the river 
 Tunguska, and reached the so-called Buriat 
 waterfalls or rapids, made tributary the 
 Tunguses on its banks, and then went over- 
 land to the settlements of the Buriats, 
 who refused submission. He returned to 
 Yeniseisk in 1628. The same year the 
 Cossack sotnik or captain, Peter Beketof, 
 with a party of Cossacks, built the fort or 
 settlement of Kibenskoi, whence he navi- 
 gated the Tunguska in canoes, passed 
 the waterfalls, and took tribute from the 
 Buriats on the Oka. He also carried off a 
 number of Buriats as slaves, but some were 
 returned. The Cossack explorers of Siberia 
 had a good deal of the buccaneer about 
 them, and their brave and dangerous jour- 
 neys were made in search of plunder, furs, 
 &c., which were easily forced from the weak 
 tribes. It would seem that rumours had 
 reached the Russians that there was a good 
 deal of silver among the Buriats. This 
 came to them from China by way of the 
 Mongols ; and it was this which apparently 
 induced the Vaivode of Yeniseisk, Yakof 
 Khripunof, to make an expedition into their 
 country. He set out from Tobolsk in the 
 spring of 1628, and a year later reached 
 the mouth of the Him, a tributary of the 
 Tunguska. Leaving a small body of Cos- 
 sacks there in charge of some guns he had 
 taken with him, and sending thirty others 
 towards the Lena, he marched with the re- 
 mainder to the Angara. He met with the 
 Buriats on the Oka, where we are told he 
 was victorious; but his victory bore no 
 fruits, for he returned and almost imme- 
 diately died. This expedition also carried 
 off twenty-one Buriats as slaves, but they 
 were sent home again. The Russians now 
 attempted to approach the Buriats in a 
 more diplomatic fashion, sent them back 
 some prisoners they had captured, and sent 
 two Cossacks to them as envoys ; but they 
 were not well received, and one of them 
 was killed. 
 
 In 1631, the Russians built a fort near 
 the mouth of the Oka, which was given the 
 
 271 
 
 ^ill 
 
 I 
 
 M 
 
DEFEAT OF BXIRIATS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1640. 
 
 A.D. 1654.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [rebellion of the buriats. 
 
 name of Bratzkoi, from the Buriats, in 
 whose country it was built. After the 
 murder of the Cossack above-named, the 
 Ataman Maxim Perfirief, with fifteen Cos- 
 sacks, had made an expedition to the 
 Buriats. Each of them was presented with 
 a sable skin by the latter, in gratitude for 
 the release of their friends above-named. 
 This present was construed by the Russians 
 into a payment of tribute ; but the construc- 
 tion was resented by the Buriats, who also 
 persuaded the Tunguses to cease paying 
 yassak. * 
 
 In 1635 the Buriats killed Dunaief and 
 fifty-two Cossacks who formed the garrison 
 of the Bratzkoi ostrog, and carried otT 
 their guns and ammunition. A force was 
 now sent from Yeniseisk to punish them. 
 They were speedily reduced, and the Rus- 
 sians extended their authority so much 
 among them that, in 1689, the district 
 subject to the Ostrogat Bratzkoi extended 
 from the Wichoreika, a tributary of the 
 Angara, as far as the Oka. 
 
 Meanwhile the Cossacks were also ad- 
 vancinsr on the side of the Lena. The 
 Tunguses there were tributaries of the 
 Buriats, and were forbidden by the latter 
 to pay the Russians tribute. The sotnik 
 Beketof accordingly set out to punish them. 
 He had thirty men only with him, of whom 
 he left ten at list Kut. With the rest he 
 advanced to the river Kulenga, where the 
 Buriat steppe commenced. This was in 
 1631. After a march of five days he came 
 upon a body of 200 Buriats, who fled. The 
 Cossacks having intrenched themselves, 
 sent to demand that they should become 
 Russian subjects. They promised to send 
 them some furs in two days as a tribute. 
 Two of their chiefs accordingly went with 
 sixty followers. They were allowed to 
 enter the stockade after depositing their 
 bows and arrows outside, and they then 
 offered five wretched summer sable-skins, 
 and a rotten fur-skin, almost denuded of 
 hair. The Russian commander was indig- 
 nant, and saw that a trick was being played 
 upon him; while the Buriats, who seem 
 to have had no intention of becoming tribu- 
 taries, pulled out the knives and daggers 
 they had hidden in their clothes : but the 
 Russians were prepared, and laid forty of 
 them on the ground, and wounded many of 
 the rest, while they only succeeded in 
 killing three Tunguses ( who were 'proteges 
 of the Russians, among them being the 
 Tungus cheif Lipka), and wounding one 
 272 
 
 Cossack. Meanwhile the Buriats assembled 
 outside to revenge their dead countrymen. 
 Beketof thought it prudent to retire, and 
 having mounted his men on Buriat horses, 
 made a hasty retreat, riding in one march 
 twenty-four hours together, and at length 
 reached the mouth of the Tutur, where his 
 allies the Tunguses lived, and where he 
 determined to build an ostrog, or settle- 
 ment. 
 
 A few years later, in 1640, Wasilei Wite* 
 sef was sent at the head of the Cossacks 
 from Kimsk, along the Lena. He brought 
 many of the Tunguses into subjection, and 
 then went to the Buriats at the mouth of 
 the Onga, a tributary of the Lena, from 
 whom he demanded tribute. Some ex- 
 cused themselves on the ground that they 
 had already to pay tribute to the Mongols 
 on the other side of Lake Baikal, while 
 others asked time for consultation with 
 their friends. Wasilei having returned to 
 Kimsk, it was determined to prosecute a 
 campaign against the Buriats. One hundred 
 men, under his command, were accordingly 
 sent in the early spring of 1641. They 
 marched on mud-shoes, and w^-e guided by 
 the Tunguses, and so surprised the Buriats, 
 that in three weeks they were made to sub- 
 mit. Their chief, Chepchugai, kept up the 
 struggle, however, and we are told he de- 
 fended his post bravely, and wounded many 
 of the Russians with the arrows he shot 
 from it. He was only subdued when his 
 tent was set on fire by the Russians, and he 
 had perished in it. Having recovered from 
 their panic, the Buriats afterwards recom- 
 menced the struggle ; and we are told that 
 Kurshum, Chepchuga's brother, collected a 
 body of 2,000 of them, and made an attack, 
 in the hope of releasing his countrymen 
 who had been taken prisoners, among whom 
 his son Cheidakum was the most distin- 
 guished. A bloody struggle ensued, which 
 lasted from dawn till nightfall, in which 
 the Buriats were at length beaten off, 
 although not until the Russians had suffered 
 severely. This struggle seems to have 
 cowed the Buriats ; and the Russians having 
 offered to release their prisoners, who were 
 chiefly women, if they would go to them 
 and do homage, and agree to pay tribute, 
 Kurshum, who was now their head chief, 
 went to their camp. The prisoners were 
 set free, except Cheidakum, Kurshum's son, 
 whom the Russians wished to retain as a 
 hostage, and whose freedom was only pur- 
 chased by his father agreeing to become a 
 
 hostage in his place. Later in the year an 
 ostrog was built on the Lena to control 
 these Buriats. This was called Werk- 
 holensk. In 1644, a sub-chief of Cossacks, 
 named Kurbat Iwanof, who commanded at 
 Werkholensk, made an apparently unpro- 
 voked attack on the Buriats in the steppes 
 of the Angara, and returned with much 
 booty. This caused an alliance between 
 the Angara Buriats and those of the Lena, 
 who determined upon a joint expedition 
 against Werkholensk. They accordingly 
 carried off the Russian cattle there, and 
 beleaguered the fort. They were 2,000 
 strong ; were all mounted, armed with bows 
 and arrows, with swords and lances, and 
 many of them wore coats of mail ; but they 
 did not take the fort, although its garrison 
 was only fifty strong: nor did they pay 
 tribute that year ; and they so frightened 
 the Tunguses, that they also stayed away 
 with their yassak. The following year, 
 Alexei Bedaref, with 130 Cossacks, was 
 sent from Ilimsk to relieve the fort. On 
 the way he defeated a body of 300 Buriats ; 
 and when he came near Werkholensk the 
 besiegers withdrew. He turned aside to 
 attack one of the Buriat camps, which he 
 surprised in the absence of the warriors, 
 and took some prisoners. He then went on 
 to Werkholensk, where he was followed by 
 the Buriats. They prayed him to release 
 their people, which he did, on condition 
 that they became tributary. The following 
 year, i.e., in 1646, he marched against 
 another of their tribes, but it showed a bold 
 front. Notwithstanding this, the Russians 
 overcame them, and also succeeded in sub- 
 duing a third tribe. But meanwhile the 
 Buriats began to collect together in large 
 numbers from the neighbourhood round, 
 and Bedaref deemed it prudent to retire to 
 Werkholensk, which he had some difficulty 
 in reaching. The same year Bedaref had a 
 campaign with the Buriats beyond the 
 Angara. In this he was at first successful ; 
 but as he returned, his retreat was cut off 
 by 2,000 of the enemy, and he lost many of 
 bis men in a struggle with them. The 
 Buriats, however, lost heart in turn, and 
 retired, and he reached Werkholensk in 
 safety. Emboldened by their success, they 
 seem, in 1648, to have beleaguered Werk- 
 holensk, list Kut, and even Ilimsk ; but 
 the Russian fire-arms and their vigorous 
 policy was an overmatch for the poorly- 
 armed Buriats, and in the campaign which 
 followed they lost many horses, cattle, and 
 VOL. IL 2 N 
 
 other booty. A portion of it was carried 
 off by the Buriats in a subsequent engage- 
 ment, but the Russians managed to secure 
 their prisoners. In the following year the 
 campaign was urged vigorously against 
 them in the district of the Lena; their 
 tribes were subdued one after another, their 
 confederacy was broken up, and many of 
 them fled beyond the Baikal to their 
 countrymen the Mongols; but they were 
 no better off there, and returned again. 
 At length, after a devastating and bloody 
 struggle, which lasted over many years, 
 they were, about 1655, cowed and sub- 
 jected. And after this the Lena Buriats 
 may be looked upon as Russian subjects, 
 and as following the fortunes of the Russians 
 in Siberia. Let us now turn once more to 
 their brethren on the Angara and its tribu- 
 taries. 
 
 In 1647, the Buriats on the Uda, who 
 were apparently threatened by Mongols, 
 sent an envoy to Krasnoyarsk to make a 
 treaty of peace with the Russians. Their 
 chief, who was called Ilanko, went shortly 
 after in person with his son, and a small 
 party, to ask that the Russians would build 
 an ostrog in his country, partly to protect 
 them against the Mongols, and also as a 
 place where they might receive their 
 tribute. This request was acceded to, and 
 a small fort was built on the eastern bank 
 of the Uda, which was called Udinskoi. 
 Their fidelity was not very firm, for, on the 
 disappearance of the Mongol danger, they 
 seem to have fallen upon the Cossacks who 
 were sent to them to collect tribute, and to 
 have killed them. This was in 1649. In 
 1650, they were once more brought to sub- 
 mission by a Russian force commanded by 
 Kirilla Banakof. In 1648, the post of 
 Bratzkoi was removed from its old situation 
 at the mouth of the Oka on to the other 
 bank of the Angara. Its new site was a 
 very fruitful one, and the ground was 
 especially productive in grain, and returned 
 tenfold of what was sown. This removal 
 seems to have excited the jealousy of the 
 Buriats in the neighbourhood, who rebelled, 
 and in 1650 paid no yassak or tribute, 
 and were only restored to obedience by the 
 practised and skilful hand of Maxim Per- 
 firief, the former governor of Bratzkoi, who 
 had gained considerable influence there. 
 After this, Bratzkoi was once more removed 
 to its old site on the Oka. This was in 
 1654 ; and the removal was superintended 
 by Dimitri Firsof, who was ordered to build 
 
 273 
 
 V 
 
BURIATS SUBJUGATED.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1661. 
 
 A.D. 1856-78.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the syr-daru. 
 
 another outpost on the Angara. This 
 second post was called Balaganskoi, and 
 was situated about six versts above the out- 
 flow of the Unga, and opposite the island of 
 Osinkoi. It was so named after a tribe of 
 Buriats called Bologat, who lived on the 
 rivers 'Jnga and Ossa. Before the ostrog 
 was built, the Bologats had been plundered 
 by the Russians under the pretence of col- 
 lecting tribute from them, and directly 
 after it was completed, 1,700 of them be- 
 came Russian subjects, and the Angara 
 became a Russian river as far as the great 
 sea of Baikal. They founded a colony at 
 Balaganskoi, and proceeded to work the 
 iron-mines in the neighbourhood, which had 
 long been known to the inhabitants. The 
 Bologats desired the Russians to send to 
 their brethren on the rivers Biela, Kitoi, 
 and Irkut, three feeders of the Angara 
 which flow into it from the west, to reduce 
 them also ; but, as the sententious Fischer 
 says, it is often easier to conquer than to 
 retain. In 1668, the heavy hand of Ivan 
 Pokhabof, the governor of Balaganskoi, 
 caused an outbreak among the Bologats, 
 who killed the Russians who w^ere sent to 
 them and fled. The Russians pursued them 
 to the rivers Biela, Kitoi, and Irkut, but 
 they fled southwards to the Mongols. So 
 great was the migration that, in 1659, hardly 
 any tribute was taken to Balaganskoi. 
 The following year the Mongols carried off 
 the few remaining Buriats that remained in 
 this part of the country. 
 
 The Russians now came close to the 
 sacred lake of the Buriats, the great Baikal 
 Sea. The first Russian who navigated it 
 was Kurbat Ivanof, who had marched from 
 Yakutsk in 1643, with not more than 
 seventy-five men. With these he made a 
 landing on the isle of Olkhon, and defeated 
 the Buriats who lived there, and who were 
 1,000 strong. In 1646, another Cossack, 
 named Kolesnikof, set out from Yeniseisk 
 and skirted the northern shores of the 
 Baikal with a body of men, and went as far 
 as the Upper Angara, which flows into the 
 Baikal, and built an ostrog there, which he 
 called Werkhanganskoi. This was in 1647. 
 While wintering there, he heard that some 
 Mongols, who encamped on Lake Verafna 
 (between the rivers Barguzin and Selinga), 
 were rich in silver. This excited his cupi- 
 dity, as it did that of Khripannof, already 
 mentioned. He accordingly sent four Cos- 
 sacks with a chief of the Tunguses to 
 explore. They proceeded along the river 
 274 
 
 Barguzin as far as the Lake Verafna ; and as 
 they met with no Mongols they continued 
 on as far as the Selinga. They there met 
 with a powerful Mongol chief named Turu- 
 kai-Tabun, who received them well, and 
 gave them some gold and two silver bowls. 
 He also told them that these precious 
 metals were not found in his country, but 
 that they were obtained from the Chinese. 
 He also sent a body of Mongols to escort 
 them back to the Barguzin. Kolesnikof 
 now returned to Yeniseisk, and thence to 
 Moscow. This was in 1647. Meanwhile 
 another expedition had set out, in 1646, 
 from Yeniseisk to explore the Baikal. This 
 consisted of eighty-four men, and was com- 
 manded by Ivan Pokhabof. He made 
 tributary the Buriats who lived on the 
 river Ossa, and built a fort on an island 
 opposite, where that river falls into the 
 Angara. He also imposed a tribute on the 
 Buriats who lived on the Irkut, and the 
 following year set out for the southern 
 shores of the Baikal. He attacked the 
 Mongols who lived there, and took some of 
 them prisoners. They turned out to be 
 subjects of Turukai, who had behaved so 
 well to the Russians the year before, and 
 with whom were then staying four Cos- 
 sacks, who had been sent to him by Koles- 
 nikof. One of them was sent to ask for 
 the release of the captured Mongols. 
 Mutual explanations followed, and peace 
 was once more restored. Pokhabof had 
 heard, from the Buriats on the Angara, that 
 they obtained their silver from a Mongol 
 khan {i.e., the Setzen Khan of the Khal- 
 kas, who has been previously described), 
 who was father-in-law to Turukai, and 
 lived not far from the Selinga. Pokha- 
 bof asked Turukai to supply him with 
 some guides to his father-in-law's urga, or 
 camp. Turukai, who suspected the object 
 of his visit, and knew how hopeless it was 
 to seek for silver in Mongolia, nevertheless 
 distrusted the policy of admitting such 
 powerful neighbours into the heart of his 
 country. He therefore adopted the plan 
 of conducting them by such a circuitous 
 route, that it took them two months to 
 traverse what ought to have been gone 
 over in a fortnight. The Russians learned 
 from the Setzen Khan, that any gold and 
 silver he had, he obtained by trade with 
 the Chinese. Pokhabof returned to Yeni- 
 seisk in 1648. On his return the inhabit- 
 ants of Yeniseisk sent Galkin, with sixty 
 Cossacks, to subject the tribes about 
 
 the Baikal. When he arrived on the 
 Barguzin he built an ostrog, which be- 
 came the nucleus of the Russian posses- 
 sions beyond the great sea. It was given 
 the name of Barguzinskoi. In 1650, an 
 envoy from the Setzen Klian of the Khal- 
 kas, who had been to Moscow, was return- 
 ing home with some Russians, when several 
 of the latter were murdered by the Buriats 
 on the Baikal, at a place called Pasolskoi 
 jVIuis — i,e., Cape of the Envoys — and a mon- 
 astery was afterwards erected on the spot. 
 
 The Buriats on the Irkut were made 
 tributary, as already described, by Pokha- 
 bof, in 1646. It was not, however, till 
 
 1661 that an ostrog was built on that 
 river, which became the nucleus of the 
 now famous city of Irkutsk. 
 
 Now, seeing how this policy has resulted 
 in the acquisition by the Russians of all 
 the land north of China to the ocean, the 
 process may well be compared to the 
 spring forward and the recoil backward 
 upon itself of an enormous snake. The 
 tide of invasion first rolled westwards, then 
 it rolled backwards; and now it is irre- 
 sistibly moving southwards to the gardens 
 of Asia, till it will be checked by the 
 Afghans and the British troops of India in 
 the shock of war. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 RUSSIA ON THE SYR-DARIA. 
 
 It will have become abundantly evident, 
 from the last chapter, that the Amou-Daria 
 region is scarcely of a nature, from an 
 economic point of view, to have warranted 
 its annexation by Russia, and that the 
 motives dictating the continued advance of 
 the Russians southwards and eastwards, 
 have arisen from an intense desire to secure 
 what, in former ages, was an eminently 
 rich and fertile country, the wealth of 
 which varied in proportion to the energies 
 spent upon it, and according to the 
 changes in the beds of the rivers, induced 
 by the different systems of irrigation, which 
 again depended on the greater or lesser 
 power of the potentates ruling the terri- 
 tories along their courses. Turning the 
 river into a new bed, used to enrich the 
 one and ruin the other ; whilst there seems 
 to be but little doubt, that if a central ad- 
 ministration could be established, the 
 waters which now run to waste when they 
 approach Lake Aral, would be sufficient to 
 irrigate a very large portion of the deserts 
 lying on either side of the Amou — the 
 Khwarazin in the west, and the Kizil-Kum 
 in the east. 
 
 As it is, however, it is only at the mouth 
 of the two great rivers, the Amou and the 
 Syr, and at their sources, that fertility ob- 
 tains, and the remains of ancient civilisa- 
 tion and art, such as the manufacture of 
 brocades and carpets, can be found in a 
 
 high degree of perfection. The inter- 
 mediate space is barren and inhospitable ; 
 here and there an oasis breaks the mono- 
 tony of the scene, where the kibitkas and 
 aouls of the Kirghiz and Turcomans show 
 that the sterile soil has become capable of 
 sustaining vegetable and animal life. 
 
 Now the Russians having occupied the 
 deltas and lower courses of the Amou and 
 Syr-Daria (which, after the steppes, sands, 
 and deserts north of Aral, appeared to them 
 like the entrance to Paradise), naturally 
 wished to annihilate the intervening space 
 of arid, saltish desert that interposes a 
 rude barrier to the fertile plains and valleys 
 along the sources of the Amou and the Syr, 
 and nestling under the snow-capped ranges 
 of the Hindu Kush and Thian Shan moun- 
 tains. On the Amou, their rule extends 
 over the khanate of Khiva up to the limits 
 of the tract adopted for sedentary life, 
 whether pastoral or agricultural. Putting 
 these limits at Meshekli, a stretch of about 
 100 miles runs between the desert of 
 Khwarazin, west, and the desert of Kha- 
 latta, east of the Amou. Here the western 
 spurs of the Pamir plateau stretch out 
 between the Amou and the Syr, and form 
 the water-shed between the two rivers. 
 Round the spurs of this plateau, which juts 
 out into the deserts in the shape of a tri- 
 angle, lies Bokhara at the apex ; Balkh 
 and Kunduz at the southern, and Khokand 
 
 275 
 
 ■;i!' 
 
THE SYR-DARIA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1856-77. 
 
 A.D. 1856-'77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [SYR NAVIGATION. 
 
 at tlie northern angle. The possession of 
 Bokhara would thus be a strategic as well 
 as a commercial necessity for any power 
 wishing to push forward to the Indian 
 frontier. It is, therefore, not surprising 
 that the Russians should have seized their 
 opportunity, and having pushed forward 
 along the Amou, set themselves fast in 
 Kliiva, and practically, in virtue of their 
 treaty with the Ameer, in Bokhara itself. 
 
 But this movement along the Amou- 
 Daria has been but a flank movement, so 
 to speak, to clear the ground for the 
 central advance southwards — i.e., across the 
 Pamir plateau, which alone separates 
 them from India and Kashgar. 
 
 This central advance lay along the banks 
 of the Syr-Daria, and resulted, as we have 
 already shown, in the occupation of Tash- 
 kend, Chemkend, and the khanate of 
 Khokand. In possession of Tashkend on 
 the right of the Syr-Daria, and of Samar- 
 cand on the left, the Russians are able at 
 any moment to close up the throat of the 
 valley which leads into the fertile basin of 
 Khokand. The same motives which im- 
 pelled them to occupy and annex Tashkend 
 also impelled them to annex Khokand. 
 Their excuse for annexing Tashkend and 
 Chemkend, as made for them bv Prince 
 Gortchakoff in the circular of 1864, to 
 which we have already alluded,* applied 
 also to their position north of the khanate, 
 and led to its annexation. It was the 
 richness of the khanate which attracted 
 them ; and as soon as they annexed 
 this state, the whole of the Syr-Daria 
 flowed in Russian territory. Thus, when 
 properly regulated, and its waters pre- 
 vented from running to waste, the Syr- 
 Daria will become the chief artery of a 
 country in which there is boundless hidden 
 wealth, and only requires proper attention 
 for it to rival the glories of its ancient his- 
 tory. 
 
 The Syr-Dyria, or Yaxartes, rises in 
 Russian territory, and the northern valleys 
 of the Thian Shan, south of Lake Issyk- 
 kul, which again is about fifty miles south 
 of Fort Vernoe, one of the fortified points 
 situated in the inhospitable regions which 
 the Russians were so eager to leave for the 
 more genial climes in the south. Four 
 hundred miles from its source it unites the 
 khanate of Khokand, which it traverses for 
 about 300 miles, and passing the old Russian 
 
 276 
 
 ♦ AntCf page 238. 
 
 frontier again near Khodjend, flows north- 
 wards for another 400 miles, after which 
 it meanders off to the north-west for about 
 450 miles, till it falls into Lake Aral, pour- 
 ing into it about half of the water it brings 
 down from the mountains, the other half 
 running to waste in the sands and marshes, 
 or being used in the khanate and Turkes, 
 tan for irrigation purposes. The want of 
 proper regulation along the last 400 miles 
 of its course, has rendered the Syr-Daria 
 not only of no benefit to the country along 
 its banks, but, on the contrary, has even 
 made it a cause of destruction. The same 
 considerations apply also to the rivers 
 Tchuy and Sary-Su, which were formerly 
 tributaries of the Syr, but are now lost in 
 the lake they have formed in the marshes 
 about sixty miles from the Syr, at Fort 
 Perofsky. The same want of regulation, 
 and the action of rival tribes and States, 
 have also contributed towards the Syr's 
 splitting up into various channels along its 
 lower course, and converting the country 
 around into vast swampy tracts, bearing 
 nothing but reeds and rushes. Formerly, 
 the Syr-Daria, instead of entering Lake 
 Aral at the northern extremity, branched 
 off at Fort Perofsky, and flowed south-west 
 till it mingled a portion of its waters with 
 those of the Amou. This was the case as 
 recently as 1816, when the Kirghiz dammed 
 up the head of this branch, which since 
 then has remained but a dry bed. But in 
 the 14th century this was the chief chan- 
 nel ; and the historian Shum-Suddin Di- 
 mashki relates that no less than 12,000 
 canals were fed by the Syr — a sufficient proof 
 of the industry and wealth that must have 
 prevailed in those days. On this point 
 Major Wood makes some very appropriate 
 remarks. He says — 
 
 " Grenerally speaking, it may be said that 
 the flow, or the cessation of flow, of the 
 waters of the Syr-Daria, by its different 
 branches, are under the control of artificial 
 means, and that the intelligent application 
 of a very moderate amount of labour would 
 turn the river into any direction across the 
 Kizil-Kum desert, short of one actually 
 running up-hill. The operation is facili- 
 tated by the circumstance, that during 
 more than one-half of the year, the volume 
 of water flowing in the channel is, at least, 
 from three to four times greater than that 
 of the remainder of the year. At the 
 epoch of minimum flow the Syr-Daria is 
 therefore a shallow stream, with a low 
 
 velocity, and a canal can then be excavated 
 in such a position as would ensure a larger 
 body of water passing into it on the advent 
 of the succeeding floods. The set of the 
 river having thus been influenced, no long 
 time would elapse before the whole volume 
 of the stream would change its direction 
 into the artificial course, and flow to a new 
 outlet. 
 
 "The frequent dry beds of irrigation 
 canals, the numbers of ruined fortresses of 
 mausolea, and of tombs, which cover the 
 country on the banks of the Syr-Daria, 
 show that in former times the population 
 was more numerous and more sedentary 
 than at the present day. Such remains and 
 antiquities as have been examined do not 
 apparently belong to epochs more distant 
 than those of the Arab and Mongol denomi- 
 nations. Some are Mohammedan, while 
 others are Buddhistic ; but relics of ancient 
 Greek and Persian origin remain still to be 
 disinterred from the sands of the great un- 
 explored Kizil-Kum desert, where they are 
 probably buried. From these it may be 
 hoped that some day the historian and the 
 archaeologist will extract revelations of the 
 deepest interest. 
 
 " Nor are the traces of ancient peoples, 
 and of past principalities alone, perhaps, to 
 be recovered from these all-devouring 
 deserts ; for should the studies of physical 
 geographers resolve the problems which are 
 involved in the changes in the course of the 
 Syr, the disappearance of its historical 
 affluents, and the present condition of 
 the Tchuy, the Sary-Su, and the Talass, a 
 ray of light may be thrown on the obscurer 
 and earlier days of the human race. The 
 chaos of dried-up river beds, of salt marshes, 
 and of far-stretching sand-wastes may be 
 found to be but an antitype of the catas- 
 trophe which overtook European civilisa- 
 tion in the 5th century, and of the destruc- 
 tion which swept over Roman society on 
 the descent of Attila and his Huns. The 
 Asiatic wastes remain unreclaimed, while 
 the Europe of the Huns has been renewed 
 and restored, and thus the wreck and ruin 
 of nature, the dry bones of a more fecund 
 earth, which strew the deserts of the Kizil- 
 Kum, may perhaps be due to a want of 
 brain-power, and to an incapacity for scien- 
 tific observation, that rendered the Turanian 
 hordes powerless to appropriate and con- 
 tinue the civilisation which was current 
 among the Arigan races, whom they swept 
 away. But, on the other hand, it may be 
 
 that the desolation of these deserts is a relic 
 of the infant human intellect, with the as 
 yet uncomprehended phenomena of nature — 
 of a struggle, which has indeed left ruin 
 behind it, but in which were, nevertheless, 
 gleaned the first rudiments of that know- 
 ledge which has produced the modern art 
 of irrigation, and which may once more 
 restore culture and productiveness to the 
 wastes of Turkestan. 
 
 " In any case, we have here a wide field 
 for the observation of that power which is 
 exercised by man upon the earth, and which 
 an eminent Italian geologist treats as a 
 new physical force, wholly unknown to 
 earlier geological epochs, and not unworthy 
 to be compared, in its energy and univer- 
 sality, to the most appalling effects of the 
 volcano and the earthquake upon the sur- 
 face of terrestrial nature," 
 
 As a means of communication, the Syr- 
 Daria, although navigable by steamers for a 
 distance of over 700 miles from its mouth 
 to Chinaz, still presents so many difficulties 
 through its varying depth, the velocity of 
 its current, and being ice-bound for three 
 months in the year, that it is a question 
 whether it would not be advisable to 
 abandon all idea of rendering it more suit- 
 able for navigation, and employ it simply 
 for irrigation. This is, however, a questioa 
 which is far more likely to be determined 
 by military rather than by industrial con- 
 siderations. That this is the case now, 
 appears from a report which has been made 
 to the Russian War-Office, pointing out the 
 disadvantages expected to arise from the 
 opening of two canals in the khanate of 
 Khokand, which will draw off a large body 
 of water from the river, and render it still 
 more difficult of navigation, whilst pro- 
 bably furnishing, at the same time, a pre- 
 text for further interference by Russia in 
 the domestic affairs of the much-harassed 
 tribes dwelling along its course. Regarding 
 the naval establishment of the Russians on 
 Lake Aral, and the navigation of the river, 
 Major Wood gives some interesting infor- 
 mation in his work on Lake Aral. Writing 
 in 1876, he says — 
 
 " The Aral flotilla comprises some half-a- 
 dozen paddle-wheel steamers, varying from 
 70 to 180 tons burden, and furnished with 
 engines of from twenty to seventy horse- 
 power ; and, besides these vessels, there are 
 a few steam-launches, and a dozen heavy 
 transport barges for the accommodation of 
 I troops. At Cazalinsk there is a floating 
 
 277 
 
 :H 
 
SYR NAVIGATION.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1856-77. 
 
 A.D. 1856-77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 FtRADE on the SYR. 
 
 iron caisson dock, in which repairs can be 
 executed, under the supervision of an Ame- 
 rican engineer and his staff of workmen. 
 
 " Owing to the Syr being ice-bound for at 
 least three months in the year, and to the 
 high gales which prevail during autumn 
 and winter, the Russian vessels are on ser- 
 vice between May and October only. Dur- 
 ing these months the summer floods provide 
 in general a sufficient depth of water for 
 the navigation of the river, though the 
 current at the same time is increased to 
 such a degree, that more than three weeks 
 are spent in ascending to Chinaz, a distance 
 of about 700 miles from Cazalinsk. Even 
 with the increasing yearly diminution in 
 the volume and velocity of the river, a 
 current of from four to five miles an hour 
 is experienced during the flood season, and 
 the vessels scarcely possess sufficient engine- 
 power to permit of much way being made 
 against the stream, especially when they 
 have heavy transport barges in tow. 
 
 " The fuel used consists of the gnarled 
 roots and stems of the shrubby tree, known 
 as saksaoul (haloxylon ammodendron), 
 which grows, though it can be scarcely said 
 to flourish at the present day, on the steppes 
 east of Aral. It is somewhat plentiful near 
 Fort Perofsky, where it costs about 10s. a 
 ton; at Cazalinsk it is 125., and on the 
 Amou-Daria, where it is scarce, the value 
 rises to 25s., and even to 30s. a ton. Its 
 heating properties are equal to one-half 
 only of those of Tashkend coal, whose prime 
 cost, with good management, would not be 
 much in excess of that of saksaoul, and the 
 use of the mineral fuel promised therefore 
 to result in considerable economy. The 
 promise, however, has remained unfulfilled ; 
 for the working of the coal-mines has, for 
 some mysterious reason, hitherto resulted 
 in failure, though a handsome fortune pro- 
 bably awaits any one with the energy, the 
 capital, and, above all, the talent for busi- 
 ness matters, which are required to develop 
 the mineral capabilities of Turkestan. 
 
 "As a mere financial enterprise, the 
 working the Aral flotilla can scarcely be 
 considered a success, for figures show the 
 cost of such transport operations, as its 
 effects, to be 8s. per ton a mile ; while 
 private merchants actually pay about 7cZ. 
 per ton a mile, and the army Intendence 
 perhaps 50 per cent, more than this last 
 rate. These circumstances have suggested 
 the abolition of the Aral flotilla, since the 
 demands made upon it for merely military 
 278 
 
 services upon the Syr-Baria, at the present 
 day, are very few, and since the peculiar 
 conditions of the Amou-Daria require a 
 special naval establishment, whose founda- 
 tion has already been laid. 
 
 "The Syr-Daria at Cazalinsk has a 
 breadth of less than 1,000 feet, with a 
 maximum depth of 12 feet; but these di- 
 mensions decrease considerably as it is de- 
 scended to its mouths in Lake Aral. 
 
 "In June, 1874, the river appeared to be 
 in moderate flood, though so much of its 
 volume is lost in the Karansak marshes, 
 and is diverted by many small irrigation 
 cuts, that it was only six feet deep, at the 
 most, in the largest one of the three mouths 
 by which it enters the lake. The navigable 
 channel becomes more and more tortuous 
 as it is descended ; and the Samarcand, in 
 which I made the passage, frequently 
 touched the ground at the bends, though 
 without doing herself any damage, as the 
 bottom was tolerably soft. The country 
 along the lower courses of the Syr has little 
 elevation above the stream, which is bor- 
 dered on both sides by rushes, and which 
 wanders through pasturages, where the 
 number of cattle of every kind struck me 
 as being large, when it was considered that 
 the majority of Kirghiz had already gone 
 north with their flocks and herds for the 
 summer. As the steamer passed down, 
 groups of horses and cows assembled on the 
 banks at short distances, to look, with 
 affrighted eye and distended nostril, at the 
 smoking 'devil-ship,' as these vessels are 
 called by the population of Turkestan. 
 
 " The cultivation practised hereabouts by 
 the Kirghiz is of a primitive and limited 
 nature ; and all details of agricultural 
 labour fall to the lot of the poorest indi- 
 viduals, who look after melon-beds or small 
 plots of cereals, which are watered by 
 means of a large wooden scoop suspended 
 from a triangular gyn, erected upon the 
 banks of the river, and having a long 
 handle that is worked by two men. Near 
 the mouth of the Syr are larger areas of 
 ground, which are ploughed by means of 
 bullocks, and are fertilised by canals con- 
 veying streams to these low levels from the 
 river. 
 
 " P^rom Cazalinsk, for fifty miles down- 
 wards, there are only a few clumps of trees, 
 chiefly of a kind of willow. This timber 
 ceases entirely about the low sandstone 
 ridges lining both banks at a mile or two 
 of distance, down to Lake Aral, whose 
 
 shores they certainly formed at a previous 
 epoch, when its water-spread had a higher 
 level than now. Excepting an occasional 
 mud mosque, and the deserted and ruinous 
 barracks of Fort Aralsk, there are no 
 buildings to be seen along the lower hun- 
 dred miles of the Syr; but the frequent 
 small ferry-boats and the wary aouls which 
 are dotted over the country, show that the 
 locality is a favourite one with the Kirghiz. 
 The actual numbers seen from the deck of 
 the Samarcand were indeed large, and the 
 rags and the dirt of both sexes showed that 
 they were among the poorest of the tribe, 
 and that the richer families were absent 
 on their summer wanderings." 
 
 When, however, the elite of the Kirghiz 
 tribes — the cream of Tartar, so to say — 
 come " to town," their appearance is indi- 
 cative of considerable comfort, not to say 
 wealth. Cazalinsk, on the Syr-Daria, and 
 the head-quarters of the district, is the 
 rendezvous in these regions for the Kirghiz 
 and their families. It is a small town of 
 1,800 to 2,000 souls, exclusive of the mili- 
 tary population, which, of course, is con- 
 tinually varying ; for though the standing 
 garrison is 500 men, there is accommodation 
 for 2,000. It is built of raw brick; the 
 houses with flat roofs, made of rushes 
 covered with mud, and the streets adorned 
 here and there with the Central Asia tree 
 far excellence^ the poplar. It also has a 
 square, with a public garden in the centre, 
 fronting which there is a gostonitza, or 
 hotel, of which perhaps the less said the 
 better, except in winter, when the rude 
 climate and piercing winds make almost 
 any shelter as welcome as that of a palace. 
 Small as the town is, it is the chief entre- 
 pot for European goods, which, as might 
 be supposed, are as dear as they are inferior 
 in quality, the chief staple being iron and 
 gaudy chintzes. Iron has to be brought all 
 the way from Orenburg, at a cost of about 
 £15 per ton for carriage ; so that it is not 
 surprising to hear that every rouod shot 
 fired in Central Asia costs about £2. Of 
 native produce, the chief articles are raw 
 silk — a product which is steadily increasing 
 — raw cotton, dried fruits, apricots, and 
 hides; whilst the industrial products are 
 chiefly brocades, and the fantastically 
 patterned silks of Khokand and Bokhara. 
 In addition must be mentioned the cattle 
 supplied by the Kirghiz for the army, the 
 troops here being allowed much more 
 liberal meat-rations than in other parts of 
 
 the empire, in consequence of the severity 
 and peculiarity of the climate. Cazalinsk 
 and Fort Perofsky are thus of considerable 
 importance to the nomad population of the 
 Syr-Daria, which is estimated at about 
 400,000 along the lower course of the 
 river, with about 100,000 camels, 200,000 
 horses, and some 2,000,000 sheep. " They 
 drive a brisk trade with the Russians, who 
 com© yearly to Perofsky to buy the skins 
 of the sheep and bullocks ; and they find 
 profitable employment for their camels in 
 the transport of merchandise between 
 Europe, Central Asia, Siberia, and China. 
 Their financial position being thus easy, 
 their kibitkas, furs, and clothing generally, 
 are of a better stamp than usually met 
 with among other nomads ; the silks of 
 Khokand and Bokhara, the gay chintzes 
 and woollen cloths of Europe, are worn by 
 men and women, while gold coins are in 
 great demand as ornaments. These Kirghiz 
 are well-fed and good-looking, and the 
 primitive ruggedness of their manners is 
 evidently yielding to the softening influ- 
 ences of comparative luxury and wealth. 
 Some few individuals among them have 
 been advanced to the rank of local, civil, 
 or military officers, and wear uniforms, and 
 reside in houses at Cazalinsk and Perofbky. 
 The carpeted rooms, and the number of 
 brass-bound boxes to be seen in their resi- 
 dences, attest the comfortable circum- 
 stances of such families, whose relations 
 frequently come in from an aoul in the 
 country, and are entertained with tea for 
 the females, and bottled English stout and 
 vodka, to which they are too much at- 
 tached, for the males. The nomadic habits 
 of the masses of the Kirghiz must, if 
 slowly, yet surely, be in process of modifi- 
 cation by the material advantages they 
 derive from the domination of the Russians, 
 and the change is making itself evident by 
 the increasing area of land which, year by 
 year, is being brought under cultivation 
 upon the banks of the river Syr. On such 
 lands a small assessment is levied ; but the 
 chief item of the government revenue is a 
 charge of three and a-half roubles — say ten 
 shillings — annually, upon every inhabited 
 kibitka containing about five souls. In 
 1873, the Kirghiz of the Lower Syr made a 
 voluntary contribution of 100,000 roubles 
 in cattle, both of carriage and commis- 
 sariat, for the use of the troops during the 
 Khivan campaign; and the circumstance 
 I grave rise to some hostile criticism and con- 
 ^ 279 
 
 I 
 
LIFE ON THE SYR.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1856-78. 
 
 troversy. But without entering upon this, 
 or without attaching any very exceptional 
 importance to the not unnatural assistance 
 so rendered by the Kirghiz towards the dis- 
 comfiture of their former Uzbek oppressors, 
 it is beyond question that, at the present 
 day, the relations subsisting between the 
 Eussians and their subjects on the Syr- 
 Daria, are on tlie most friendly footing. 
 
 " The terms of familiarity which exist be- 
 tween the Russians and the tribes of West 
 Turkestan are somewhat striking to an 
 Anglo-Indian observer; and however cre- 
 ditable such a state of things may be to the 
 ruling race, it seems to imply that the 
 Russian prestige in Central Asia is less than 
 it might be. Though the manners of Tu- 
 ranian peoples are certainly rough, if not 
 indeed ill-bred, as compared with those of 
 Aryan races, there would appear to be some- 
 thing more than mere roughness observable 
 in their demeanour. For example, I noticed 
 a sailor on board the Perofsky steamer, on 
 the Amou-Daria, 'fend off' a native's boat 
 from the paddle-wheel, upon which the 
 Uzbek boatman immediately threatened the 
 Russian (who was doing no more than his 
 duty) with the pole he was using as an oar. 
 This circumstance, it is to be noted, took 
 place during the first year of the occupation 
 of the Amou-Daria district, after the cam- 
 paign of Khiva ; and perhaps its explana- 
 tion may be found in the personal pride of 
 ancestral descent, which is one of the chief 
 characteristics of these Mongol-Turk tribes 
 when brought into relations with a race 
 among whom this distinctive trait is 
 wanting. 
 
 " As for the Kirghiz, I have seen one of 
 these people sitting in the kibitka of a 
 Russian district chief, eating melons, and 
 throwing their rind and seeds, quite un- 
 noticed, all about the tent, though its open 
 doorway close beside him invited the dis- 
 charge of this residue into the open air. 
 There has been some misplaced touchiness 
 displayed in Russia (chiefly by the apostles 
 of what is called the liberation of Slav 
 populations of the east of Europe), regard- 
 ing the existence of the Turco-Muscovite 
 race. This is supposed to be a myth ex- 
 pressly invented by the detractors of the 
 subjects of the czar ; but it is beginning to 
 be acknowledged pretty generally, that it is 
 impossible to understand the country with- 
 out admitting the great influence which 
 Tartardom has had upon it in the past. 
 Whether the development of the empire in 
 280 
 
 Asia is not likely to exert a similar and 
 very marked influence upon that section of 
 Russians who are withdrawn from the reach 
 of European culture, is a question which is 
 strongly suggested in observing their inter- 
 course with the races of Turkestan, and in 
 noting the comparatively small interval 
 which divides them, as far as the small 
 delicacies and conventionalities of civilisa- 
 tion are concerned, Russians meet the 
 Kirghiz more than half-way in these 
 matters, and are acted upon rather than the 
 opposite. That the punctilious and polished 
 Mongol of Hindostan should have so re- 
 cently come from the same blood as that of 
 the uncouth barbarians of the Central Asian 
 steppes, is a wonderful tribute to the as- 
 similating powers which have been exercised 
 by the fastidious and mild Hindoos." 
 
 Such V, re the features of the Lower Syr. 
 The fate of the lands along its course de- 
 pends almost entirely upon the measures 
 carried out along its upper course, within 
 the khanate of Khokand. It is, therefore, 
 highly interesting to know what are the 
 views entertained by the Russians as to the 
 future of the khanate^ and what are the 
 inducements which led them to extend 
 their actual rules to this part of the Syr's 
 course. It is very difficult to obtain accu- 
 rate information regarding the khanate, 
 because, as we have pointed out, the Rus- 
 sians do not allow any travellers of other 
 nations to visit the khanate through their 
 own territory, and always find means of 
 impeding the movements of those who may 
 have entered the khanate from the Indian 
 side. Fortunately, not even the Russians 
 are able to keep all that is known quite 
 secret, and are perforce obliged to allow the 
 experiences of their own officers and travel- 
 lers to be published, whilst trusting to the 
 prevailing ignorance of the Russian lan- 
 guage to keep these experiences more or 
 less within their own control. Thus M. L. 
 Kostenko published a valuable account of 
 his journey through the khanate in the 
 Russian Invalide, which, up to the present 
 moment, is acknowledged to be the best 
 and fullest report on the condition of the 
 upper valley of the Syr that has yet ap- 
 peared. In the basin formed by tlie 
 northern slopes of the Pamir plateau and 
 the southern declivities of Aksa Dagh, 
 closed up at the eastern end by the abrupt 
 steeps of the Thian Shan, whose peaks 
 tower up some 10,000 to 11,000 feet ab^ve 
 the sea, lies the fertile portion of the khan- 
 
 A.B. 1856-78.J 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the FERGHANA. 
 
 ate, with its capital Khokand, on a tribu- 
 tary of the Syr, and the towns of Marghi- 
 lan, Andijan, Namagan, and others, in the 
 midft of what is called the P'erghana. 
 
 After Khokand, Marghilan is the most 
 important town of the P^erghana, as regards 
 size, population, and commerce. Although 
 nearly in the same degree of latitude as 
 Khokand, and only sixty-five versts to the 
 east of it, the climate of Marghilan is much 
 more severe than that of Khokand, in con- 
 sequence of its higher position ; all fruits 
 and crops requiring a week to a fortnight 
 more to ripen than in Khokand. On the 
 other hand, the health of the population is 
 much better than in Khokand. The goitres, 
 which are so frequent in Khokand, are quite 
 unknown in Marghilan ; and if here and 
 there a case occurs, the sufferers are sure to 
 be natives of Khokand. The town is six 
 versts broad, and is surrounded by a wall 
 eighteen versts long, which, in turn, is sur- 
 rounded by gardens and houses, forming an 
 external suburb all round, in intimate con- 
 nection with the town. 
 
 The place is furnished with water by 
 two canals. The one receives its supply 
 from the river Isfairan-Ssaja, the other 
 from the river Schachimardan. The first 
 river furnishes the town with water for ten 
 days, the second for eight days. Whilst 
 the Isfairan-Ssaja gives its waters for the 
 domestic consumption of the town, the 
 Schachimardan is used for the surrounding 
 villages and the irrigation of the fields. 
 When the town consumes the waters of the 
 Schachimardan, the Isfairan-Ssaja supplies 
 the villages and fields. There are no wells 
 in the town, as the canals are amply sup- 
 plied with water of a pure, clear, and whole- 
 some nature. 
 
 The town contains 10,000 houses, and 
 about 50,000 inhabitants, chiefly Uzbeks, 
 who are called here, as in other parts of 
 Central Asia, Ssartes. Amongst them there 
 is a considerable sprinkling of Tadjiks, an 
 Iranian race, remarkable for its beauty. 
 Then there are also several hundred Jewish 
 families who inhabit a special quarter ; and 
 finally, Afghans and Indians, who dwell in 
 their own caravanserais. 
 
 Although the town is very old, there 
 are no ancient monuments nor modern 
 buildings of any importance. The mosques 
 and medresschs are of the usual character. 
 The chief ornaments of the best mosques 
 are the ceilings, with their fantastic pat- 
 terns and gaudy colours. The finest mosque 
 
 VOL. II. 2 0- 
 
 is that of Iskander-Sulkarnain — that is, 
 Alexander of Macedon, and so called after 
 the tomb of this conqueror, who has been 
 included amongst the Mussulman saints. 
 The tomb in question lies in a small en- 
 closed cemetery, and is only remarkable for 
 its size. The chief industry of Marghilan 
 is silk-weaving. The warp is laid in the 
 open street by means of pegs knocked into 
 the house-wall. The weaving itself is ac- 
 complished inside on ordinary looms. At 
 the same time, Marghilan is also an im- 
 portant centre of commerce. The bazaars 
 are well supplied with quantities of the 
 most varied Chinese products, which are 
 imported by way of Kashgar, and consist of 
 silks, carpets, Kashgar felt, vases, cups, 
 flacons for snuff, and, above all, tea. A 
 speciality in the bazaars of Marghilan 
 is the manufacture of the little caps, called 
 Tjubeteika, Whole rows of booths are used 
 for this manufacture. The proprietor sits 
 here, impressing the most varied patterns 
 on pieces of calico, silk, or velvet, which 
 are then given out to the embroiderers, and 
 made up by him after they have been em- 
 broidered into the little caps which play so 
 prominent a part in the Central Asiatic 
 costume, and are sold at the price of sixty 
 copecks to one rouble. The Marghilan caps 
 are in especial request, owing to the artistic 
 manner in which the most intricate ara- 
 besques are executed upon them. 
 
 The third largest town of the Ferghana 
 is Andijan, and lies seventy versts east of 
 Marghilan, at the foot of the northern 
 slopes of the Kashgar Dagh. To the north 
 of the road, between the two towns, the 
 country is full of settlements ; but south of 
 it, the barren steppe merges into the no 
 less barren slopes of the mountains which 
 close in the valley. Generally speaking, 
 these settlements partake of the same cha- 
 racter as the rest of the settlements through- 
 out Central Asia. The same picture pre- 
 sents itself to the traveller here as along 
 the larger canals in Khiva, or in the oases 
 along the rivers in Bokhara. But on 
 closer inspection, a considerable difference 
 will be found to obtain between the settle- 
 ments of Khiva and those of Khokand. 
 In Khiva they are more isolated. There, 
 every possession, every farm, forms a sepa- 
 rate and isolated settlement, consisting of 
 its mud castle, surrounded by gardens and 
 fields. But in Khokand the dwelling- 
 places are much closer together, and form 
 regular towns, villages, and hamlets, which, 
 
THE FERGHANA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1876-78. 
 
 though separated from each other by gar- 
 dens and fields, are not characterised by 
 the occurrence of such semi-fortified habi- 
 tations as those prevailing in Khiva. 
 
 The road leading through the district 
 of Marghilan is furnished with verst-posts, 
 painted with the Russian national colours ; 
 whilst the cross-roads are supplied with 
 sign-posts with Russian inscriptions. The 
 name of every village, the number of 
 houses it contains, as well as the distance 
 to the next place, are marked up on the 
 last house at each end of the village ; this 
 information being also conveyed in the 
 Russian tongue. Between Marghilan and 
 Andijan, the only place of importance is 
 the little town of Assake, lying on the 
 right bank of an insignificant stream flow- 
 ing into the Syr. The town, which is cele- 
 brated for the beauty of its position on the 
 slope of one of the spurs of the Thian Shan, 
 is tolerably clean — the chief building the 
 summer residence of the Khan of Khokand. 
 It lies upon one of the terraces which cut 
 up the mountain slope. Part of it lies in 
 ruin ; but what remains intact is still well 
 preserved. It is two storeys high, with a 
 gallery round the second storey, and differs 
 from the usual Asiatic buildings in the 
 number and height of the windows. The 
 chief ornament of the rooms is the ceiling, 
 surrounded with an edge of gilt and gaudy 
 colours ; the beams running across it 
 painted green, and the intermediate spaces 
 red. As it is always cooler in Assake than 
 in the valley of Ferghana, the khan has 
 always resided here during the hot 
 season, and enjoyed the beautiful view, to 
 be obtained from the windows, of the town 
 and the surrounding gardens. Now, how- 
 ever, as Kostenko relates, the broken win- 
 dows give entrance to the winds and 
 myriads of flies and mosquitoes, which effec- 
 tually prevented his obtaining any rest 
 when he was quartered in the palace. 
 
 Andijan, which was assaulted twice by 
 the Russians (1st October, 1875, and 8th 
 January, 1876), is one of the oldest and 
 most celebrated towns of Ferghana. Up 
 to the 16th century it was the residence of 
 the khans — amongst them the celebrated 
 Baber. At present, as in Marghilan, there 
 are neither monuments of ancient times, 
 nor any modern buildings worthy of men- 
 tion. The whole of Andijan is nothing 
 more than a mud town, inhabited by 
 Ssartes. The only thing worthy of note is 
 the bazaar, built by the Russians directly 
 282 
 
 after their capture of the town. After the 
 old one had been pulled down, this one was 
 built, and laid out at right-angles. Each 
 booth is roomy, well-lighted, neatly fitted 
 up, and protected by a far-projecting ve- 
 randah against the sun and the rain. 
 Usually the Asiatic bazaar is covered in by 
 a hap-hazard roofing of branches, twigs, 
 and mud, lying on the poles thrown across 
 the street from one house to the other. By 
 this means the sun was kept out, but so 
 was the fresh air, whilst the rain met with 
 no impediment. Still, the commerce of 
 Andijan has not yet recovered from the 
 blow it received from the invasion of the 
 Russians. The trade of the place is merely 
 local, and consists chiefly in melons, cups, 
 and rude pottery, &c. There is, however, 
 but little doubt that commerce will 
 speedily revive. The new bazaar lies be- 
 tween the Gul-Tjube, a hill in the centre 
 of the town, and the Urda, the residence of 
 the former ruler of Andijan. 
 
 On this hill, which commands the town, 
 the Russians have built a small fortress, 
 with an esplanade along the foot. A part 
 of the garrison is quartered in the buildings 
 formerly used for magazines. This hill, 
 Gul-Tjube, like most of the hills in the 
 Central Asiatic towns, is artificial, con- 
 structed in order to dominate the place, 
 and [ keep the unruly citizens in order. 
 The rest of the Russian garrison is quar- 
 tered in the old and new Urdas, or palaces 
 of the khans, the latter being an especially 
 roomy building, and furnished with a 
 spacious and beautifully laid-out garden, 
 where the Russian military bands discourse 
 sweet music to the astonished Ssartes and 
 Kirghiz. 
 
 From Andijan to Namangan, the road 
 follows the left bank of the Kara-Daria, 
 which is crossed, fifty-five versts from Na- 
 mangan, by a wooden bridge lying on 
 piles, five versts before it is joined by the 
 Narym-Su. The accompanying sketch 
 gives a full idea of the whole of the Fer- 
 ghana district. 
 
 Tashkend. 
 o 
 
 Thian Shan. 
 
 Aksa Dagh, 
 
 V — 
 
 /■ 
 
 R. Syr. o Namangan. 
 
 o o 
 
 Khojend. Khokand. 
 
 Narj'm K. 
 
 < 
 
 .>^ 
 
 Marghilan. 
 
 o Andijan. 
 
 cr; 
 
 ^ /^Kashgar. 
 
 .>V- 
 
 A.D 1876-78.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the FERGHANA. 
 
 i 
 
 Pamir Plateau. 
 
 The Narym is crossed a little above its 
 junction with the Kara-Daria by a ferry, 
 the two rivers flowing henceforth together 
 under the name of the Syr-Daria. When 
 it enters the Kara-Daria, or Blackwater, the 
 Narym is split up into five channels, over 
 the broadest of which, seventy-five fathoms 
 wide, the above-mentioned ferry is worked. 
 The other channels are also crossed by 
 ferries, the boats being drawn by two 
 horses, assisted by oarsmen. This is, how- 
 ever, in the eyes of the Ssartes or Uzbeks, 
 a degenerate way of crossing the river. 
 They prefer swimming it, in spite of the 
 prohibition by the Russian government. 
 Not only do they still insist on swimming 
 across with their horses, but also with their 
 waggons — their two-wheeled arhas — even 
 when they are loaded. An empty arba may 
 be got across without much risk ; but a 
 loaded one is not easy to manage, as may 
 be supposed. Kostenko himself saw the 
 attempt made with an arba loaded with 
 wood, and drawn by two horses. The two 
 drivers who accompanied it, supported 
 themselves, one on the pole, and the other 
 on the arba itself, to guide the horses. The 
 current was strong, and before the adven- 
 turous party could reach the other bank, 
 one of the horses was drowned, and the 
 other, as well as the man, only just rescued 
 in time by the assistance which was called 
 to their aid. Many and many a life is lost 
 in this manner ; but the Ssartes will sooner 
 risk losing their lives than pay the sum — 
 thirty copecks — for the ferry. Besides 
 this, as there is but' one boat, the passage 
 is only made every three or four hours, and 
 the impatient horseman of the steppe does 
 not care about waiting so long. From 
 Kafra, where the ferry is situated, the road 
 leads along the right bank of the river, 
 through a well-cultivated district, the chief 
 crop being rice. 
 
 Namangan, the fourth city of the khan- 
 ate, has no walls, and verges imperceptibly 
 into the gardens and fields around it. It 
 contained formerly some 5,600 houses, and 
 50,000 inhabitants. The bazaar was more 
 important than that of Andijan, and the 
 town boasted of 210 mosques, and over 100 
 schools. Half the place is, however, in 
 ruins, owing to the attacks of the Russians 
 in the campaign of 1875 — 1876, and the 
 population reduced by at least one-fourth 
 in consequence of the massacres and emi- 
 gration which took place on the arrival of 
 the Russian troops. The citadel is an im- 
 
 posing J"edifice, and comparatively strong 
 for an Asiatic town. It contains part of 
 the Russian garrison, the remainder lying 
 in camp, and in complete readiness, about 
 a verst distant from it. 
 
 The chief pursuit of the Namanganese 
 is the traffic in timber and fuel. They fell 
 the trees in their gardens, chiefly poplars 
 and willows, and, tying them together, 
 make rafts upon which they load more 
 valuable timber, dried fruits, skins and 
 felts, and float them down the Syr as far 
 as Fort Peroftky, supplying Khokand, 
 Tchinas, and Turkestan on their way. The 
 mountains around Namangan are rich in 
 ferriferous ores and coal ; and about fifty 
 versts east of the town, there are a number 
 of naphtha springs which have been worked 
 by the Russians as far back as 1868, but 
 which are now left unexplored owing to 
 the unwillincjness of the Khokandese to 
 work under their conquerors. 
 
 After Namangan, Tchust, or Tus, is one 
 of the most important towns of the khan- 
 ate, and is the capital of one of the seven 
 districts with which the Ferghana has been 
 divided. It is composed of three distinct 
 parts ; the lower town, embowered in 
 gardens ; the upper town, or grad, with its 
 citadel situated on the customary eminence ; 
 and a second citadel, also situated on a 
 height, in which the Russian garrison and 
 the civil authorities are quartered. 
 
 The word "Tchust" means "sudden," 
 "unforeseen." This name was given to the 
 place in consequence of the sudden flight of 
 one of its ancient rulers, 360 years ago — the 
 saintly khan, Chasret-Iman Mauljana, who 
 was so grieved at the vice and dishonesty of 
 his subjects, that he jumped' up one night 
 out of his bed and took to flight. He was, 
 however, caught before he got further than 
 about six versts, and brought back to his 
 palace by the populace, Nvho insisted upon 
 having at least one honest man amongst 
 them. His tomb, in the cemetery of the 
 Djuma Mosque, near which the rest of his 
 relations are also buried, is still held in 
 high esteem by the natives. The other 
 name, " Tus," is of a more practical origin, 
 it being derived from the salt-springs not 
 far from the town, which, in former times, 
 was the chief entrepot for this material in 
 the khanate. The town and the fields 
 around are supplied with water in the same 
 way as Marghilan, by a system of canals 
 alternating their supply every twenty days. 
 There are also a number of springs in the 
 
 283 
 
i f 
 
 KHOKAND.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1876-78. 
 
 A.D. 1876-78.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [CHUDOJAR KHAN. 
 
 vicinity ; and in the citadel the Russians 
 have (1876-77) taken good care to dig two 
 deep wells, whence an inexhaustible supply 
 can be obtained. 
 
 Kostenko mentions another well, or 
 rather a spring, towards the northern end 
 of the town. It is about one fathom square, 
 with a soft, semi-sandy, semi-muddy bottom, 
 through which a pole can be thrust for a con- 
 siderable depth without touching any hard 
 bottom. This spring is surrounded by three 
 or four willow-trees, and is highly venerated 
 by the population on account of its sup- 
 posed healing qualities in cases of consump- 
 tion ; but still more because of its power in 
 disclosing the future to those who come 
 to consult it. The oracle is read by the 
 Mollahs who dwell by it, and who decipher, 
 in the shape of the mud when disturbed by 
 some substance being thrown into it, the 
 fate of the inquirer. Two days a week are 
 set apart for consulting the oracle ; one day 
 for the men, the other for the women. The 
 Russian medical men, however, who have 
 analysed the water, find nothing in it to 
 distinguish it from less celebrated waters. 
 
 The climate of Tchust is very healthy, 
 though somewhat dry; and all the vege- 
 table products which flourish in the east 
 of the Ferghana, flourish here also. The 
 town contains some 1,500 houses, with 
 about 7,500 inhabitants, all belonging to 
 the Uzbeks. The district around is rich 
 in mineral products ; but they are not ex- 
 ported, with the exception of salt ; the chief 
 springs lying about eighty versts from the 
 town. The only mineral besides exported 
 is chalk. 
 
 Khokand, the capital, is one of the finest 
 towns of Central Asia. In size it comes 
 after Bokhara and Tashkend. The town 
 contains 12,000 houses, and about 60,000 
 inhabitants. The wall surrounding it is 
 eighteen versts long, and has eighteen gates, 
 called Darwasa, which, as the inhabitants 
 say, lead to all ends of the world. Each 
 gate is named after the town to which the 
 road through the gate leads. Khokand lies 
 on two branches of the river Soch, the Katy- 
 sai and Kitschik-sai. Numbers of canals 
 lead from these rivers, which partly furnish 
 the town with water, and partly irrigate 
 the surrounding fields. The water is clear, 
 but is said to exercise an evil influence 
 upon the health of the inhabitants. In 
 fact, the opinion prevails that the goitres, 
 80 frequent in the towns and villages around, 
 is owing alone to the use of the water. 
 284 
 
 There are certain quarters in the town 
 where every one out of tliree inhabitants 
 certainly has a goitre. These quarters are 
 in the southern part of the town, where 
 there is a little lake near the gate Mui- 
 Mubarek. In the majority of cases the 
 goitres are not large; but in some they 
 attain an enormous size. The chemists of 
 the laboratory at Tashkend have, however, 
 not been able to discover any difference in 
 this water from any other. The chemical 
 constituents of the water differ in nothing 
 from the constituents of any other normal 
 water. The cause of the disease must, 
 therefore, be looked for elsewhere. Besides 
 the goitres, life in Khokand is rendered 
 still more disagreeable by the continual 
 west winds which come from the desert, to 
 which the valley of Khokand lies open in the 
 west, and whence, in summer, the Garm-sal 
 (poison- wind) blows with as disagreeable 
 consequences as the Hamseen in Egypt. 
 It exercises no evil influence upon human 
 beings or animals, but it is very destructive 
 to the silkworm. The natives assert that 
 it always blows twice a week, and strongest 
 on Fridays or Saturdays. 
 
 Another drawback in Khokand is the 
 ground-water, which is met with at a depth 
 of about three feet, and renders it impos- 
 sible for the inhabitants to get rid of the 
 sewage and other organic remains. But, 
 as for that, the natives do not trouble them- 
 selves much about it, and leave their refuse 
 to lie wherever it may happen to fall, 
 although the Russians are trying, in a mild 
 sort of way, to remedy this state of affairs. 
 
 Khokand lies 1,540 feet above the sea; 
 and as it is surrounded on all sides by 
 mountains, the climate is very warm, the 
 temperature rising to a very high degree in 
 summer. 
 
 The Russians have quartered themselves 
 chiefly in the Urda, the palace of the for- 
 mer ruler of Khokand, Khudojarkhan. The 
 general staff, the civil administration, 
 the post-office, and several companies of 
 infantry, are quartered in it ; the castle has 
 also been fortified. Besides this, the Rus- 
 sians have fortified themselves upon the 
 other side, in an open space opposite the 
 castle. They still form but a small colony, 
 lying under the protection of the guns of 
 the citadel. The houses belong chiefly to 
 married members of the garrison. Along 
 the square, and along the chief street lead- 
 ing from the citadel to the bazaar, there are 
 several Russian shops. Finally, individual 
 
 Russians, chiefly belonging to the adminis- 
 tration, have settled in the Asiatic part of 
 the town, where they live isolated amongst 
 the natives, who seem, on the whole, to 
 agree well with their conquerors. Although 
 the town has received the title Chukandi- 
 Lgatif (Pleasant Khokand), there is really 
 but little difference between it and the 
 other towns occupied by the Russians, such 
 as Tashkend and Samarcand. In fact, in 
 point of situation, Khokand does not enjoy 
 so many advantages as Tashkend. The only 
 thing to be said in favour of Khokand is, 
 that it has larger and broader streets, and 
 more of them than Tashkend and Samar- 
 cand. The bazaar, too, is much larger. It 
 was built after the great fire in the year 
 1870, which consumed more than 800 shops. 
 The greater part of the booths and shops 
 belong to the khan, who was thus chiefly 
 interested in rebuilding them; and the 
 popular voice and public opinion accuses 
 him of having taken advantage of the fire 
 to extend the limits of his property. The 
 advantages of this bazaar, compared to 
 others, consist in its being carefully roofed 
 over, and provided with openings for ven- 
 tilation. Besides the shops, which are in 
 the chief bazaar, and the two other smaller 
 bazaars which are in the town, there are a 
 number of booths along the bridges over 
 
 the river. 
 
 In Khokand, as in all Asiatic towns, the 
 chief traffic is conducted on certain market- 
 days, which are held twice a-week, on Wed- 
 nesdays and Sundays. The number of 
 booths in Khokand is over 2,000. The 
 chief industry of the town is the manu- 
 facture of calicoes and silks ; the latter, how- 
 ever, is in a less degree of perfection than 
 at Bokhara. 
 
 The most important building of the town 
 is indisputably the palace of the former 
 khan, Chudojar. The inscription on the 
 gable states that it was built in the year 
 1870, by Said-Muhammed-Chudojar-Khan. 
 It differs from the usual local kind of 
 architecture, in consequence of the number 
 of square courts successively enclosing each 
 other— representing, in fact, the storeys of 
 our houses. The two first external courts 
 contained the dwellings of the servants, 
 and the tailors who made up the uniforms 
 of the army. At present, these two courts 
 are used to quarter the Russian garrison m. 
 The third and following courts belong to 
 the palace proper, and lie upon an artificial 
 hill, as in Bokhara. The gable of the palace 
 
 I does not become visible until the second 
 court is passed. It is approached by a long 
 passage, paved with wooden poles, along 
 which the khan could ride right into his 
 rooms. The wall of the castle is faced with 
 yellow tiles, and adorned with inscriptions 
 from the Koran. The chief gate is situated 
 in the middle, and is an excellent specimen 
 of the pointed arch. The first courts were 
 always used by the khan to receive petitions, 
 to pronounce sentence, and give audience 
 to foreign ambassadors. The courts at the 
 back were reserved for the harem. 
 
 The dwellings around the neatly-tiled 
 courts are mostly furnished with galleries, 
 supported by wooden pillars, and the ceil- 
 ings decorated with gaudy and intricate 
 patterns. The rooms obtain their light and 
 air chiefly through the doors which lead 
 out upon "these galleries. The doors them- 
 selves are richly ornamented and gilt. ^ The 
 khan also possessed several rooms furnished 
 in European fashion ; of which one, looking 
 out upon the second and third courts, was very 
 richly decorated ; the chief ornament being 
 a chandelier, which almost touched the 
 ground, and filled up the whole room. This 
 chamber is now being altered into a Rus- 
 sian chapel, and will soon be finished. The 
 back courts, as we have already said, were 
 intended for the harem, in consequence of 
 which the galleries looked out upon the 
 gardens, and not upon the court. The 
 garden is separated from the outside world 
 by a very high wall, along which there used 
 to be a number of guard-houses, used by the 
 eunuchs, who kept the khan's wives under 
 their surveillance. Their number amounted 
 to several hundreds. The khan's method 
 of obtaining his wives was a very simple one. 
 As soon as he heard that any one of his sub- 
 jects was in possession of an especially 
 pretty daughter, he ordered her to be 
 brought to his palace. Here the Mollah 
 said a short prayer, gave the girl his bless- 
 ing, and the marriage was completed. At 
 a certain hour every day all his wives had 
 to assemble to greet the khan. They all 
 filed before him, bowed, and said, " Salaam 
 Aleikum : " afterwards they were graciously 
 
 dismissed. , * • i.- 
 
 As is the case with most Central Asiatic 
 rulers, the life of Chudojar Khan has not 
 been an easy one. He experienced many 
 troubles before he succeeded in establishing 
 himself upon the throne of Khokand. For 
 twenty years he was alternately khan and 
 fugitive, until,in 1864, he succeeded m gain- 
 
 28o 
 
CHUDOJAR KHAN.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1876-'78. 
 
 A.D. 1876-78.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [GRUSIA, or GEORGIA. 
 
 inor the crown through the help of his heroic 
 friend, Alim-Kul. But all the experiences 
 and misfortunes he had suffered had not 
 taught him wisdom. Throughout the whole 
 of his reign he had to contend against the 
 intrigues concocted against him ; but he 
 never discovered his real enemies, for they 
 were there, where he never expected to find 
 them — that is to say, in his immediate 
 vicinity. They were Abderachman Awto- 
 batschi, a son of Mussulman-Kul, who had 
 been murdered by Chudojar. Abderachman 
 did not fill any special position, but was 
 regarded as one of the nearest friends and 
 counsellors of the khan. Secondly, Issa- 
 Aulju, a person who was held in much re- 
 pute by the people, on account of his 
 wisdom and sanctity. He was a sort of 
 first minister to the khan, and possessed 
 almost unlimited power. Finally, at the 
 head of the secret opposition, were the 
 brother of the khan, Murad Beg, the 
 ruler of Marghilan, and his son Nasr- 
 Eddin-Khan, ruler of Andidham. All 
 these personages had been overwhelmed 
 with benefits by the khan, who never 
 thought that they were his greatest danger. 
 "Whilst he annihilated all his small enemies, 
 they prepared the way for a revolution ; and 
 when everything was ripe for it, overthrew 
 the khan, who was forced to fly to Russian 
 territory. 
 
 The general opinion prevails that Chudo- 
 jar Khan was deposed by the people on ac- 
 count of the oppressive taxation. That is 
 not the case; the taxation played no part in 
 the affair at all. The indignation against 
 the khan must be attributed to his injustice 
 in matters of inheritance. If the heirs, in 
 certain cases, wished to evade the law, they 
 only had to make the khan a present in 
 order to obtain the decision they wanted. 
 In addition, the army was very much dis- 
 satisfied with him, as the soldiers were 
 scarcely ever paid. 
 
 The conspirators, however, did not gain 
 anything by the fall of the khan. A few 
 months after the first revolution, which cost 
 Chudojar his throne, a second broke out, 
 which ended most unfavourably for the heir 
 to the throne and all his companions. 
 Nasr-Eddin-Khan was obliged to follow in 
 the footsteps of his father Issa-Aulju and 
 Abderachman Awtobatschi were imprisoned 
 by the Russians, and, with the two khans, 
 father and son, are still interned in different 
 towns of European Russia. Murad Beg 
 was murdered during the riots at Marghi- 
 lan, in 1875 and 1876, by Pulat-Khan.° 
 
 The inhabitants of Khokand are almost 
 entirely Uzbeks, or, as they are generally 
 called throughout Central Asia, Ssartes ; 
 and do not differ in any material points 
 from the inhabitants of Tashkend. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 RUSSIA IN THE CAUCASUS. 
 
 In the same way that Russia has been ex- 
 tending her empire in the far-east of Central 
 Asia, she has also been extending herself in 
 what, if not Europe, geographically speak- 
 ing, is at any rate the cradle of the Euro- 
 pean races, and is as distinct from Asia as 
 Africa is from Lapland. 
 
 She has proceeded in this direction much 
 in the same way as she has in Asia. She 
 has sent out her agents by the score to spy 
 out the country, to acquire information, for 
 which no detail was too trivial, and to sow 
 dissensions amongst races naturally inclined 
 to dissension, owing to the configuration 
 of the country. When it is remembered 
 how long Scotland and Wales were divided 
 286 
 
 amongst their clans and families, and dis- 
 tricts and interests, separated by hills 
 averaging not more than 3,000 feet in height, 
 it may be imagined how the communities 
 of the Caucasus and its outspurs, which are 
 cut up in all directions by ranges of 6,000 
 to 8,000 feet in height, have also been 
 divided in interests, and unable to secure one 
 united administration for any length of 
 time. If one race, such as the Armenian, did 
 succeed for a few generations in uniting 
 these different tribes and communities 
 under one banner, the work was soon de- 
 stroyed by the invasion of the Mussulmans 
 and the intrigues of the Russians. 
 
 But whilst the Russians, owing, in the 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 first place, to their communications with the 
 highly civilised states of Europe, and the 
 intermarriages of the imperial family with 
 the royal families of Europe, advanced in 
 that sort of civilisation which results in the 
 establishment of a despotic power, the 
 Turks, part and parcel of Europe, yet with- 
 out its pale, and isolated from social inter- 
 course with the rest of Europe by their 
 religion and habits, have not only not suc- 
 ceeded in consolidating their power, but 
 have failed to keep it up to the pitch it 
 once possessed. Bit by bit they have had 
 to yield up some portion of their empire. 
 But it speaks volumes for them, and it is 
 a most eloquent argument against the ad- 
 vocates of Russia's " mission" in the East, 
 that no other State has felt it its duty or 
 interest to annex any portion of the 
 Turkish empire except Russia, and to no 
 other State has any portion of Turkey been 
 yielded or given. 
 
 The only explanation of this fact is, 
 either that Russia is really ahead of the 
 rest of the world in the conception of moral 
 duties, and is justified in assuming the lead 
 in civilisation, or that she has determined 
 to gain a firm footing in what is, in all 
 respects, the richest country west of the 
 Caucasus. 
 
 If the former is the case, it is high time 
 that Europe should awaken to a sense of 
 its duties, and take that share in the civili- 
 satory process which she has so long 
 neglected. If the second, then there ap- 
 pears to be no reason why more civilised 
 States than Russia— States which show, by 
 their action, that they are striving after 
 liberty and the welfare of the human race 
 generally, should not step in and claim the 
 property, or claim a voice in its administra- 
 tion, which has been abandoned or is 
 abused by the Turks. In the meanwhile, 
 the following account of the districts bor- 
 dering the Russian frontier on the Cau- 
 casus, will be found highly interesting, 
 not only on account of its intrinsic value, 
 but also because of the point of view from 
 which it has been written. It is the sum- 
 mary of a work* by Colonel Kasbek, of the 
 Russian army, who was sent by the govern- 
 ment, in 1874, to explore the country. 
 The published work contains only 150 pages 
 8vo. ; but the mass of information it gives, 
 also conveys an idea of the minuteness with 
 
 * *' Three Months in Turkish Grusia." By 
 G. Kasbek. Tiflis: 1877. 
 
 which every detail of any importance was 
 described in his official report. It is, of 
 course, scarcely necessary to say, that the 
 report contained all those matters of mili- 
 tary, strategic, and political importance, 
 which are conspicuous by their absence in 
 the published work. But even as it is, 
 this work cannot be too highly recom- 
 mended for the perusal and study of those 
 who wish to see with what anxious care the 
 Russians had been preparing their cam- 
 paign in 1877. 
 
 Turkish Grrusia includes the sources of 
 the Kara and the whole of the basins of 
 the Tschoroch and Lasistan. The whole of 
 this district, together with the department 
 of Akhaltzik, has borne, in the course of 
 centuries very different names, such as 
 Upper Kartalinia, Ssanzche-Ssatabago ; but 
 for the last two centuries, before its incor- 
 poration with the Russian empire, it was 
 known as the Pashalik of Akhaltzik. It is 
 characterised by the rich and varied vegeta- 
 tion peculiar to a northern and southern 
 climate. The upper course of the Kara and 
 the Tschoroch has always been colonised by 
 Grusiansor Georgians, whilst the north-west- 
 ern slope was peopled by Lases and Tschanes. 
 It was nearer to Byzance than the rest of 
 Grusia, and was thus more under its influ- 
 ence. It was owing to this influence that 
 Upper Kartalinia became the cradle of the 
 dynasty of the Grusian Bagratides in the 
 8th century, and became the centre which 
 gave its unity and greatness to Grusia, 
 under the Abchasian and Grusinian kings. 
 It was here that the chief historians were 
 born in the 10th and 15th centuries, and 
 the greater part of the translators of the 
 Old and New Testaments. Upper Karta- 
 linia became studded with a number of 
 ecclesiastical monuments, which served as a 
 model for the rest of Grusia ; and no doubt 
 an energetic explorer would be well re- 
 warded for his trouble in examining this 
 district. 
 
 As it is, the information regarding it, in 
 modern times, is of a most scanty nature. 
 In 1843, the geologist, Karl Koch, travelled 
 throuofb the whole recrion ; but the result of 
 his travels were only a few geographical 
 and ethnological notices. In 1844, Profes- 
 sor Rosen, who subsequently became 
 Prussian consul in Jerusalem, and wrote a 
 history of the Turkish empire, travelled 
 through Lasistan in company with the 
 German poet, Friedrich Bodenstedt; but 
 his inquiries were chiefly limited to the 
 
 287 
 
 '4 
 
THROUGH GEORGIA.] 
 
 HISTOKY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1870-'77. 
 
 language of the Lases. On this subject he 
 published a book, showing the relation- 
 ship between the Lasian and Grusinian 
 languages. 
 
 All this was, doubtless, highly interesting 
 to philologists and scholars ; but it was 
 scarcely the kind of information the Rus- 
 sian government required ; and so Colonel 
 Kasbek was sent to supply the want in 
 the spring of 1874. 
 
 " At this ,date," Colonel Kasbek writes, 
 "a journey through Asiatic Turkey is 
 fraught with danger to Russians. Our 
 neighbour," he says, referring to Turkey, 
 " is always afraid that we are planning some 
 attempt against his life, and places all the 
 impediments possible in the way of obtain- 
 ing accurate information. Neither govern- 
 ment or people have any idea of scientific 
 exploration." This suspicion, on the part 
 of the Turks, can scarcely be said to be 
 unfounded when regarded in the light of 
 subsequent events. Colonel Kasbek made 
 his journey in the summer of 1874, accom- 
 panied by ten mounted men, and seven 
 men on foot, with three baggage-horses, 
 with whom he left Abbas-Tuman on the 
 22nd May. 
 
 After leaving Abbas-Tuman, a watering- 
 place in the district of Akhaltzik, the tra- 
 vellers proceeded along a very bad road up 
 the Arsian mountains, which form the 
 water-shed between the Kwabliani and the 
 Adtscharis-skali. The Arsian range was 
 held in antiquity to be the frontier of the 
 Greek domination. The highest peak is 
 the Chirchati ; this is 8,534 feet above the 
 level of the sea. On these mountains, or 
 at least upon their northern slopes, the 
 forest comes to an end at the height of 
 6,900 feet, where it is replaced by a rich 
 and luxuriant Alpine vegetation, which 
 serves as a rich pasturage for the cattle, 
 which is driven up into the heights during 
 the summer months. At this period the 
 whole of the Arsian range becomes ani- 
 mated, and is covered with yaitas, or 
 summer camps. On one of the highest 
 points a magnificent view spread itself out 
 before the caravanserai. The peaks of the 
 mountains were covered with snow. The 
 whole of the Arsian range presented the 
 appearance of a serrated range, in which 
 there was no especially prominent peak. 
 At the foot of the range lay the dark val- 
 ley of the Kwabliani. 
 
 After passing the frontier posts between 
 Russia and Turkey, on a height of 7,450 
 288 
 
 feet above the level of the sea, the road 
 winds along the mountains between masses 
 of rhododendrons and pine-woods, the dark- 
 green of which is frequently relieved by 
 numbers of weeping birches, with their 
 light-green foliage. In the first Ardscha- 
 rian village, called Gordshomi, there is a 
 sulphur spring of 20^ Reaumur, and the 
 remains of two walls of a church, which 
 bear the Grusinian name of Nassakdrali, 
 which means the place of a former church. 
 The fields and meadows of Gordshomi are 
 all surrounded with wooden palisades, and 
 are carefully cultivated. 
 
 The chief occupation of the inhabitants 
 is cattle-breeding; the more wealthy of them 
 owning as many as three and four dozen 
 milch-cows, and twenty to sixty sheep. The 
 village contains 300 farms, in isolated 
 groups, each one having its own name. All 
 these groups are under one common ad- 
 ministration, and united very closely, 
 through their attendance at one mosque. 
 
 The road from Gordshomi leads along a 
 foaming torrent, and in many places is cut 
 in the living rock, impeded by masses of 
 stone, over which the horses have carefully 
 to pick their way in a manner that is 
 highly suggestive. 
 
 Fifteen versts from Gordshomi, the tra- 
 vellers arrived at Chula, on the right bank 
 of the river Did-Adtscharis-skali, spread 
 about a wide uneven space, and con- 
 taining about 100 farms, built of wood on 
 a stone foundation, grouped around the 
 residence of the most influential man in 
 the whole of Adtschara, the Shereef Bey, 
 Chimschia-Schwili. His house is large, 
 well-built, and covered with tiles, after the 
 fashion of most of the houses in Chula. 
 There is also a mosque erected on the 
 foundations of a Christian church, a foun- 
 tain and large water-basin, a medresseh, or 
 mosque school, and, close to it, the tombs 
 of the Bey's ancestors, executed in stone. 
 The " bazaar " consists of a row of booths 
 contained in a long wooden building ; and, 
 above all, south of the village, rise the 
 views of the Bey's castle, which was de- 
 stroyed by General Ostensacken in the 
 campaign of 1829, without any further 
 rhyme or reason than because a group of 
 Mussulmans resisted his troops here for a 
 short time, till they were all massacred, and 
 the castle razed, to remain a proof of the 
 power of the white czar. 
 
 Major Kasbek's party was heartily wel- 
 comed by the son of the Bey. The young 
 
 
 
 A.D. 1870-77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [shereef bey. 
 
 Mustasa Bey, who had been governor of 
 the Adtschara district in 1873, and after 
 enjoying his hospitality for two days at 
 Chula, went with him to Ischalta, a village 
 celebrated as possessing the only church in 
 the whole of Adtschara. Here the party 
 was welcomed by the Bey himself in his 
 new house, built in semi-European fashion. 
 Shereef Bey belongs to one of the younger, 
 but most powerful families of Adtschara. 
 His great-grandfather was a simple pea- 
 sant ; but his grandfather soon acquired 
 such influence by his rectitude and energy, 
 that he defied the tyrannical Pasha of 
 Akhaltzik, and, at the head of an armed 
 body of Adtscharians, drove him away 
 from Akhaltzik, and " reigned in his stead." 
 Subsequently he incurred the wrath of the 
 sultan, and fled to Adtschara in 1805; but 
 in 1815 was captured, and decapitated in 
 the fortress of Chirchatis-ziche. His son, 
 Achmed Bey, however, soon attained the 
 same power as his father ; and in conse- 
 quence of his blockade of Akhaltzik, which 
 had been captured by the Russians, was 
 made pasha by the sultan. Prince Bebu- 
 toff, who commanded the Russian garrison 
 in Akhaltzik, opened up negotiations with 
 Achmed, who expressed his readiness, under 
 certain conditions, to become a Russian 
 subject. The Emperor Nicholas presented 
 him with his brevet as a major in the Rus- 
 sian army, and he was invited to come to 
 Akhaltzik. But before the visit could be 
 arranged. Prince Bebutoff, whom Achmed 
 was personally acquainted with, was re- 
 called, and succeeded by General Osten- 
 sacken, in whom Achmed Pasha had no 
 coafidence. He therefore refused to ap- 
 pear, and General Ostensacken, at the head 
 of his forces, marched against him. The 
 Russians arrived at Chula, where, after a 
 long resistance by some of Achmed Pasha's 
 men, they succeeded in obtaining possession 
 of the castle, as already related. But on 
 their way back they were attacked by 
 Achmed and his men, and forced to retreat 
 precipitately to Akhaltzik. Peace was 
 soon afterwards concluded, and Achmed 
 Pasha, in return for his services, was nomi- 
 nated governor of Kars, and died with the 
 rank of Seraskier in Erzeroum. 
 
 After the war of 1829, the whole of 
 Grusia was only no'iiinally under the sultan. 
 Like the Basques, they only paid the 
 tribute of blood ; that is, they supplied so- 
 and-so many men to the sultan in his war. 
 
 The present Bey produced a very pleasing 
 
 VOL. II. 2 p 
 
 impression upon M. Kasbek. He is forty- 
 five years old, above the average height, well 
 built, clever, animated, witty, and, for a 
 Grusian, even learned; but, above all, an 
 adept at almost everything. He showed his 
 guests a schaselika (sword) made by his 
 own hands, a cannon which he had founded 
 himself, and a number of walnut-wood 
 chairs and divans, of excellent workmanship, 
 which he had made during his leisuie 
 hours. He is, besides, a painter of con- 
 siderable power, specimens of his art hang- 
 ing on all the walls of his house. In the 
 summer he live^ in Chula, but in the winter 
 goes down to the warmer climate of 
 Ss-chalta, with his three wives and thirteen 
 children, whom he educates himself in the 
 Koran, in Persian, in tiie Grusinian tongue, 
 in Russian, and music. His library con- 
 sists of a few Turkish works and one Rus- 
 sian book. He has none in the Grusian 
 tongue, nor do his children speak the lan- 
 guage. " Strange as it may appear," said 
 the Bey, "that my children do" not know 
 the language of their fathers ; but the fact 
 is, that they were educated in the house of 
 their mother at Ardahan." He is very 
 proud of a mighty box filled with firmans 
 and patents which had been given to his 
 father by different sultans. Amongst th(5 
 documents there is a parchment rolled upon 
 a staff, as was the custom in the time of the 
 Grusinian princes. It was torn and yellow, 
 and the date was wanting ; but the signa- 
 ture showed that it had been written in the 
 name of the Atabeg John, by the patriarch 
 Gerassim Dshaketi, to the villagers of Chuhi 
 and Alme, which puts the date at som<^ 
 time before 1444, when the patriarch died. 
 The village of Ss-clialta lies at a height 
 of 2,274 feet above the sea ; more than 
 1,117 feet lower than Chula, and is cha- 
 racterised by its ^.uxuriant southern vegeta- 
 tion. Shereef Bey's garden contains walnut- 
 trees, vines, cypresses, olive-trees, and speci- 
 mens of the ziziphus. Ss-chalta itself is 
 rather noted for its malaria. The church, 
 which M. Kasbek erroneously calls a ruin, 
 is much damaged, it is true, but it is very 
 far from being what is usually meant by a 
 ruin, and will stand the onslaught of wind 
 and weather for many a day yet. It is 
 faced with masonry, and the interior 
 adorned with frescoes of considerable power 
 and some traces of art. They represent the 
 Saviour, the Virgin Mary, and John the 
 Baptist, with other New Testamentary per- 
 sonages, and are furnished with inscriptions 
 
 289 
 
 ! 
 
 1 
 
 
THE ADTSCHARIANS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1870-77. 
 
 A.D. 1870-77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 il 
 
 I', 
 
 in Gieek. Id the apse behind the altar 
 there is a colossal figure of Christ, holding 
 a book in liis hand with the old Grusinian 
 character. Standing around him are the 
 figures of various saints, each having a 
 Grusinian inscription. During their stay 
 witli the Bey, M. Kasbek's party were 
 accompanied by him on their excursions 
 through the district, when they saw that 
 he had caused a road to be laid out, which 
 permitted waggons to be used on it. The 
 Bey, however, had been obliged to abandon 
 its further consideration on account of the 
 opposition he met with from his superiors, 
 who did not approve of the intercommuni- 
 cation becoming so easy between the vil- 
 lagers whom they oppressed. The country 
 all around Chula is described, by M. Kasbek, 
 as highly picturesque, and abounding in 
 luxuriant vegetation, the woods composed 
 of mighty oaks, interspersed with nut, pear, 
 and chestnut trees. He, however, makes 
 no mention of the mineral riches of the 
 country, which are very great, and consist 
 in an abundance of excellent lead, iron, and 
 copper ores; and, in many places, nickel 
 and cobalt. The whole character of the 
 country reminds one forcibly of the beauti- 
 fiil terraces, valleys, and heights of Lebanon 
 and Anti- Lebanon — especially of that por- 
 tion east of Tripoli which includes the 
 valley of Eden. 
 
 The most picturesque point in the whole 
 region is the castled fortress of Chirchati, 
 where the grandfather of the present Shereef 
 Bey (Selim Pasha) was beheaded, as we have 
 already mentioned, in 1815, and his head 
 sent to Stamboul. It lies at the limits of 
 the forest, 6,500 feet above the level of the 
 sea, with a lake some 200 yards wide at its 
 base. The fortress itself consists of four 
 towers, literally hanging to the precipices 
 which tower over the village of Ballo, 
 whence a narrow, steep, and winding path 
 leads to the only accessible portion of the 
 stronghold, which is said to have been built 
 by Queen Tamara. 
 
 The whole district of the Adtschara,from 
 its sources to its junction with the river 
 Tschoroch, or Tschorok, some fifteen miles 
 south of Batoum, is excessively rich in its 
 flora and fauna, from its deepest valleys to 
 a height of 6,500 feet above the level of the 
 sea, where the Scotch fir begins to show 
 itself. The woods consist of oak, beech, 
 elm, birch, ash, larch, and pine ; apple and 
 pear-trees abound, as well as cherry-trees, 
 plum-trees, and vines. Tobacco is also 
 290 
 
 cultivated, and equals the commoner Sam- 
 sun kinds. Maize produces, on an average, 
 thirty to fifty-fold ; wheat, ten-fold. Cattle- 
 rearing is conducted on an extensive scale, 
 chiefly oxen. Sheep are not much culti- 
 vated. One Bey alone has a flock of 800 ; 
 otherwise the flocks can only be counted hy 
 a few dozen heads each. Horses are tho 
 only beasts of burden ; and it is estimated 
 that each household possesses one. Roads, 
 in the Alpine region, there are none ; and 
 those in the vallej^s are very bad, and in 
 the rarest of cases are they available for 
 conveyances. 
 
 The predominant characteristics of the 
 Adtscharian are, the respect foraged people, 
 domestic afl'ection, and the most profuse 
 hospitality. The reception accorded to M. 
 Kasbek and his party of seventeen men and 
 thirteen horses, by Shereef Bey, who enter- 
 tained them from May 24th to June 9th, 
 sufficiently shows to what an extent hospi- 
 tality is carried out in these regions ; and 
 it is within our own experience in Lasistan, 
 that it has been impossible to spend one 
 single farthing during a tour of seven weeks' 
 duration. The Adtscharians make excel- 
 lent soldiers ; they are brave, indomitable 
 pedestrians, and cool and collected in 
 danger. Commerce and manufactures are 
 not to their taste ; they are an essentially 
 agricultural people, and excellent cattle- 
 breeders. 
 
 The language of the people is either the 
 Grusinian tongue or Turkish. In the ma- 
 jority of cases, and in every-day public life, 
 it is invariably Turkish. No greater proof 
 than this fact can be adduced to show that 
 there is nothing in the Turkish tongue, or 
 in the teachings of Islam, that is unsuited 
 to the character of this people, for it is 
 scarcely 250 years since they were first 
 subjected to Turkish rule. And it must be 
 remembered that the Turks do not make 
 propaganda, but leave every one to follow 
 his own convictions in religious matters: 
 only, as is but just in such a state of affairs 
 as prevails in these districts so close to 
 Russia, they give the preference to those of 
 their own creed in appointments to the ser- 
 vice of the State. But it is very amusing 
 to hear M. Kasbek complain that the 
 mosque schools are thronged with boys 
 learning Turkish and the Koran ; " so that," 
 as he says, "the brave Grusinian race is 
 rapidly becoming Turkish." M. Kasbek 
 here finds it convenient to ignore the fact 
 that, in Russia, dissenters from the Greek 
 
 church are flogged into compliance with 
 its creed and dogmas, whilst the Turks, at 
 any rate, allow their subjects to choose for 
 themselves. 
 
 Having sufficiently explored the Upper 
 Adtt^chara regions. Colonel Kasbek next 
 turned his attention to the Schawschethi, 
 that is, the district clpsed in on the east by 
 the Arsian mountains, on the south by the 
 Yolanustschami, by the Kartschchali and 
 Schawschethi mountains in the north, and 
 bounded on the west by the Ardanudsh 
 Tchai, This district, which is almost en- 
 tirely unknown to the rest of Europe, is 
 the richest in minerals of all parts ad- 
 joining the Russian frontier, and especially 
 in sulphur-springs. Agriculturally, it is 
 also richer than the Adtschara : the Schaw- 
 schethi wheat is preferred at Batoum to 
 that of Kars ; and at the same time there 
 is much room for the development of the 
 resources of the whole district. 
 
 The population, which is composed of 
 Grusinians and Armenians, is divided 
 amongst some fifty-eight villages, contain- 
 ing altogether about 2,000 chimneys, ac- 
 cording to which the taxes are levied. 
 The population, taking on an average 
 seven souls to each household, would num- 
 ber about 14,000 of both sexes. In the 
 upper part of the valley they all speak the 
 Grusinian tongue, with the exception of 
 about 1,000 Armenians, who are scattered 
 amongst them. "But as we approached 
 Ardanudsh," says Colonel Kasbek, " we 
 found that Grusinian gave way to Turkish, 
 and that the constant contact with the 
 Turks had had a very evil eff'ect upon the 
 morality of the people. This race, which, 
 under the kings Bagrat IIL and IV. (in 
 the 10th and llth centuries), was noted 
 for its courage, has so degenerated that its 
 cowardice has become a proverb amongst 
 the more valorous races around. The in- 
 habitants of the Imerchawi valley produce 
 a more disagreeable impression than those 
 of Schawschethi proper. They are gloomy, 
 deceitful, rancorous, and treacherous ; but, 
 on the other hand, are also more manly 
 and determined. The peaceable character 
 of the Schawschethians was remarkably 
 demonstrated about twelve years ago, when 
 the sultan issued an irade, calling upon 
 all the frontier tribes to disarm. The 
 Schawschethians were the only tribe which 
 obeyed this order, in consequence whereof 
 they are quite at the mercy of their more 
 warlike neighbours." 
 
 [the schawschetht. 
 
 From Bako Colonel Kasbek proceeded to 
 cross the ridge leading into the Schaw- 
 schethi ; but before he and his party had 
 attained the summit, their further pro- 
 gress was impeded by the thick mists and 
 rains which came on, and forced them to 
 seek refuge in the house of a Russian 
 deserter. This fact led Colonel Kasbek to 
 mdulge in wandering speculations as to the 
 reasons why Russians should prefer the 
 rule of the sultan to that of the czar ; for 
 it appears, at this part of his account, that 
 he had already met with several Russian 
 families in the Adtschara, who, he at last 
 discovers, had fled to Turkey to escape from 
 the rigours of Russian military discipline. 
 The lot of these families, if the Russians 
 should annex this portion of the Turkish 
 frontier, will not be enviable. In all pro- 
 bability they will emigrate further west. 
 
 After leaving Tichi-Dsiri, where the 
 Mudir of Schawschethi resides. Colonel 
 Kasbek saw the "celebrated" church of 
 Tbeti, which formerly belonged to the 
 Bishop Mtbewari, under whose jurisdiction 
 the whole of Schawschethi formerly (in the 
 10th century) lay. "This church, alas !" 
 says Colonel Kasbek, " is now turned into 
 a mosque." He then gives a minute de- 
 scription of the building in a tone which 
 implies that it is the duty of Russia to restore 
 this building to the descendants of the 
 Bishop Mtbewari, who owned it in the 
 10th century. Every detail which can be 
 traced to former ages, when the Byzantine 
 church and the Byzantine empire ruled 
 over those districts, is given as a reason 
 why Russia should annex these regions. 
 Colonel Kasbek may not say so in so many 
 words, but that is the tendency of all he 
 does say ; and the care with which he notes 
 down every fact that might be turned to 
 advantage later, points clearly, when the 
 official nature of his mission is taken into 
 consideration, to an intention on the part 
 of the Russian government to put forth 
 claims to these regions at the first oppor- 
 tunity. 
 
 From Schawschethi, Colonel Kasbek pro- 
 ceeded into the district along the right 
 bank of the middle Tschorok, which is 
 called the Livana, and in which lies the 
 fortress of Ardanudsh. Here he directed 
 especial attention to the new high-road 
 from Kars, via Ardanudsh and Artvin, to 
 Batoum, which was being constructed by 
 the Turkish government, but which, owing 
 to the difficulties — not great for scientific 
 
 29i 
 
 ! 
 
THE LIVANA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1870-77. 
 
 
 I: 
 
 !; 
 
 engineers, bub. far beyond the control of 
 the Livanian population — had to be aban- 
 doned in its original conception, and 
 dwindled down, in many places, to the 
 modest dimensions of a mule-path. 
 
 The soil of the Livana, favoured by a 
 splendid climate, is richer than any of 
 the adjacent parts. Wherever there was a 
 handful of earth amidst the depths of the 
 rocks, it was covered with vines, pome- 
 granate, almond, lotos, olive, and mulberry- 
 trees. In the early days of June the har- 
 vest had been gathered in, the wheat and 
 barley all garnered, and the fields being sown 
 with maize, which would afford a fresh and 
 luxuriant crop by the end of August. 
 
 In this district there are a number of 
 monasteries and villages which are not set 
 down in any published map, and the very 
 existence of which is only known to the 
 inhabitants and the Eussian government. 
 All these monasteries were visited by 
 Colonel Kasbek, who evinced the greatest 
 interest in their circumstances and history ; 
 and, when he arrived at Artvin, tried very 
 liard to secure a copy of the New Testa- 
 ment, written in the Grusinian tongue, to 
 which a silver cross was attached by a silver 
 chain. " But," says the colonel, " the 
 Mollah would not allow me to take it from 
 the church because I ivanted to buy iV^ 
 This is a fine specimen of the way in which 
 official Russia writes the riddles which are 
 to be read between the lines. 
 
 From Artvin the party proceeded on its 
 way through Lasistan to Batoum, after 
 liaving explored all the chief passes, and col- 
 lected a vast amount of information regard- 
 ing the roads and other subjects, which 
 might be of use at a future date. 
 
 The result of this expedition was a com- 
 plete picture of a series of districts which 
 are unknown entirely to the rest of the 
 world, and unknown one to the other. The 
 value of the information thus gained has, no 
 doubt, been amply demonstrated by the as- 
 i^istance which the commanders of the 
 Ivussian army, especially General Heimann, 
 derived from it in their campaign in the 
 summer and autumn of 1877. 
 
 It is as difficult to give a picture of the 
 scenic beauty of these regions, as it is to 
 Convey a full idea of their wonderful fertility 
 —to say nothing of their mineral riches. 
 Perhaps the attractions which here enchant 
 the traveller would best be described by 
 comparing them to the most beautiful por- 
 tion of the Alps and the Pyrenees, if they I 
 292 
 
 were transported to Southern Italy. And 
 it should be remembered that these regions 
 are not only the cradle of European races, 
 but also the cradle of most of the vegetable 
 products which we count amongst the 
 choicest of their kind. In fact, it is 
 scarcely too much to say, that one-fifth of 
 the land around the southern shores of the 
 Black Sea, is richer, and more accessible to 
 development, than the whole of Rus.^ia from 
 the Vistula to Behring's Straits. 
 
 Some of the most recent information re- 
 garding the Russians in the Caucasus has 
 been given by Mr. Bryce, who might have 
 made his work as valuable as that by Colonel 
 Kasheki, had he not been too much influ- 
 enced by his Rusi^ian friends and surround- 
 ings. As it is, he has written the most 
 perplexing book it is well possible for a man 
 to write who has the power to treat his 
 subject from various points of view, and in 
 a style that would not only perplex but at- 
 tract the reader and sustain his interest in 
 the subject. As long as he recounts what 
 he saw, and relates his own and his friend's 
 experiences during his tour through the 
 Caucasus, we read on, well satisfied with 
 descriptions which ^faithfully recall these 
 regions to the memory of those who have 
 visited them, and furnish a vivid idea of 
 the scene to those who have not. But wlien 
 he quotes Strabo and Herodotus, and enters 
 into an academical disquisition on the geo- 
 graphy and ethnology of the regions lying 
 between the Caspian and the Black Sea, the 
 interest inspired by the narrative of the 
 traveller quite vanishes. A writer cannot 
 proceed with much spirit when he knows 
 he is simply interpolating encyclopaedical 
 information that is not sufficient for the 
 scientific world, and too much for the gene- 
 ral public. His desire to plead for the 
 Russians often leads him into strange con- 
 tradictions. On one page he says that " the 
 saying about scratching Russians and find- 
 ing Tartars is pretty well exploded ; " yet 
 on another, after saying that the Russians 
 are not thoroughly civilised themselves, and 
 cannot impart what they have not got, he 
 says, " Civilisation in Russia is like a coat 
 of paint over unseasoned wood — you may 
 not at first detect the unsoundness of the 
 material, but test it, and it fails." If this 
 is not precisely the sense of the exploded 
 saying — expressed, it may be, in a para- 
 phrase more adapted to the understanding 
 of the general public unversed in the nice- 
 ties of ethnological distinctions— it is diffi- 
 
 A.D. 1870-77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [ARMENIA. 
 
 cult to discover what can have been in Mr. 
 Bryce's mind. Still stranger are the con- 
 tradictions Mr. Bryce falls into when speak- 
 inof of the Armenians and other races in- 
 habiting Transcaucasia. " There is no 
 unity amongst them," he says, " no common 
 national feeling to appeal to, nothing on 
 which a national kingdom could be based. 
 Nothing, in fact, keeps them together but the 
 Russian army and administration ; and the 
 loyalty of both these to the czar is that 
 wliich keeps Russia together, rising as it 
 does almost to the dignity of a national 
 worship." These views, expressed in the 
 very home of the only race inhabiting these 
 regions who ever formed an empire there, 
 who have a rich literature, who are com- 
 mercially and industrially above the Greeks 
 of the empire, seemed very strange indeed ; 
 and still more inexplicable is the contradic- 
 tion when he says that they are only kept 
 together by the sword and the bureaux, 
 which alone keep Russia together. Had 
 Mr. Bryce continued his journey further 
 south, he would have found Armenian colo- 
 nies as flourishing as the best of those the 
 German settlers so favourably impressed 
 him with ; for instance, the Armenian 
 colony on the slopes of Mount Kesab — the 
 Monte Cassius of Pliny — at the mouth of 
 the Orontes. And in addition to historical 
 facts, traditions, language, and literature, 
 there is the religion of the Armenians, an 
 item which goes far towards making up the 
 basis for a national kingdom. On this I 
 point, Mr. Bryce himself says — " Amongst 
 the Christians themselves, the separate ex- ' 
 istence and strongly national character of j 
 the Armenian church keep its children 
 apart, not only from Protestant Germans, but 
 from those who own the orthodox Eastern 
 faith. And it is only where such a religious 
 repulsion does not exist, as, for instance, 
 between Russians and Georgians, that any 
 social amalgamation goes on." These words 
 show that Mr. Bryce would not ignore the 
 fact that there are important elements ex- 
 isting to frame the basis for an Armenian 
 State. Probably he yielded up his own 
 judgment to the representations of his Rus- 
 sian friends; for when he arrives at Tiflis, 
 and writes under the influence of immediate 
 impressions, he estimates the Armenians at 
 their true worth. Here he says of them — 
 " They are the most vigorous and pushing 
 men in the country, and have got most of 
 its trade into their hands, not only the 
 bhopkeeping, but the larger mercantile 
 
 concerns. A good many, too, are in the 
 Russian service, and have thriven in it ; 
 in fact, more than half the employes in 
 Transcaucasia are said to be Armenians. 
 * * * Among them there are several 
 people of learning and ability ; and as their 
 education improves and their wealth in- 
 creases, the number of such persons is likely 
 to grow ; so that altogether one seems to 
 see a considerable future before them." 
 Then Mr. Bryce repeats what he has already 
 said, and states once more that they do not 
 mix or intermarry with the Russians or the 
 Germans, but have a society of their own 
 which is quite self-sufficing. 
 
 From these contradictory views it would 
 seem as though Mr. Bryce had given him- 
 self a brief to plead for the Russians, and 
 determined to regard everything through 
 Muscovite spectacles, but could not resist the 
 temptation to peep over the rims, and <le- 
 precatingly say what he saw with his own 
 eyes. For, in his very spirited account of 
 Tiflis, amidst whose vines Bodenstedt com- 
 posed his Mirza Schaffy, after describing the 
 picturesqueness of the motley crowd, the 
 quaint head-gear of the German women, 
 which makes them wonderful ornaments of 
 the streets, the huge cylindrical hats, veils of 
 black crape and serge robes of the clerics, 
 and the pointed hats and yellow robes of 
 the Persians, he deplores his meagre ac- 
 count of the place, whose " picturesque side 
 even suffers in the hands of a traveller, who 
 must own that he has no eye for costume." 
 The same repugnance to relating what he 
 saw, Mr. Bryce also feels to recounting 
 what he heard from the Grand Duke 
 Michael's adjutant-general, to whom he 
 mysteriously alludes as one of the ablest men 
 in the Russian service, now (1878), as he be- 
 lieves, commanding one of the divisions of 
 the Russian army in Bulgaria. There can 
 be no reason why this gentleman should 
 not have been named. It was Prince Imeri- 
 tinski with whom Mr. Bryce had a long 
 conversation both before and after dinner, 
 " in which the prince showed a mastery, 
 not only of European politics generally, but 
 even of English party politics, and the 
 views and sympathies of our leading states- 
 men, which few of our own soldiers or diplo- 
 matists could have equalled. Remember- 
 ing that conversation, I can understand the 
 temptation which an 'interviewer' has to 
 report what an eminent person says to him, 
 that I will resist." How Mr. Bryce can 
 that an interviewer's duty is a 
 
 293 
 
 imagme 
 
 4 . 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 f] 
 
 \: 
 
:.'i 
 
 i 
 
 !1| 
 
 MOUNT ARARAT.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1870-77. 
 
 temptation it is not easy to understand ; 
 and, in all probability, Prince Imeritin^ki 
 ■will scarcely feel grateful to Mr. Bryce for 
 withholding from the public the proofs of 
 that mastery of European and English 
 politics *' which few of our own diplomatists 
 could have equalled." 
 
 However, having bid farewell to Prince 
 Imeritinski, Mr. Bryce and his companion 
 set out on their journey from Tiflis towards 
 Ararat, and Mr. Bryce the advocate, gives 
 place to Mr. Bryce the traveller, a change 
 •which is so agreeable that few persons will 
 care about renewing the former gentleman's 
 acquaintance outside of any court of which 
 lie may choose to be an ornament. Hence- 
 forth he recounts his experiences and im- 
 pressions with vivacity and a true feeling 
 for colour and the thousand-and-one beau- 
 ties of picturesque detail which fill up the 
 requisite pictures of harmony Nature is 
 never weary of presenting, or surrounding 
 the varied works of her children with. Thus 
 his description of Erivan, with its little bit 
 of Russian varnish here and there in the 
 streets, is an excellent photograph coloured 
 by a master-hand ; and the " busy parti- 
 coloured crowd," vibrating in and out of the 
 mouths of the dark arcades of the bazaars, 
 clustering like bees round the stalls where 
 heaps of liuge green and golden melons, 
 plums, apples, and, above all, grapes of the 
 richest hue and flavour lie piled up, con- 
 veys a most accurate idea of Eastern life. 
 Still Mr. Bryce manages to spoil even this 
 picture when he finishes it with the words 
 — " It is a perfectly Eastern scene, just such 
 as any city beyond the frontiers would pre- 
 sent, save that in Persia one would see men 
 crucified along the wall, and both there and 
 in Turkey might hear the shrieks of 
 wretches writhing under the bastinado." 
 No doubt this is literally correct ; but to 
 make the meaning of the sentence plain to 
 the ordinary reader, the hiatus at the end 
 ought to be filled up by the necessary "if," 
 which the conditional mood requires for its 
 amplification. The crucifixions would be 
 seen, and the shrieks of the bastinadoed 
 wretches might be heard, if there were any, 
 and if anybody were there to chronicle 
 them. But naturally Mr. Bryce does not 
 seriously mean to say that these are the or- 
 dinary sights and sounds greeting the 
 traveller " beyond the frontier." If he did 
 say so, his assertion would have precisely 
 the same value as the harassing stories re- 
 counted on hearsay by Captain Burnaby 
 204 
 
 regarding Russian barbarity, and would 
 merit grave reproof when proceeding from 
 men of such culture and penetration as 
 Mr. Bryce. 
 
 At Erivan, Mount Ararat was in sight, 
 and Mr. Bryce was naturally eager to press 
 forward and stand upon the snowy cones 
 that glittered down upon the sunny scene 
 below. Engaging a tarantass, the two 
 I travellers jolted over the rocks embedded 
 , in fine dust, termed by courtesy a road, 
 and drove past the cotton-fields, bright with 
 yellow blossoms and snowy puffs of down, 
 and the vineyards "loaded with purple 
 fruit," which were surrounded by high mud 
 walls, and guarded by peasants to warn off 
 travellers who might be inclined to counter- 
 act the effects of the dust with the luscious 
 fruit. Thus they arrived at Aralykh, the 
 Russian frontier station at the foot of Ara- 
 rat, where they were received by a Moslem 
 noble, Colonel Shipshof, whose culture and 
 education, comprising a full knowledge of 
 such works as those by Mr. Buckle and 
 Mr.IIerbert Spencer, show that Islam does 
 not in itself prevent the adoption of Western 
 ideas and habits. The only drawback to 
 his enjoyment of his host's hospitality was 
 Mr. Bryce's inability to cope with the mos- 
 quitoes, which he endeavoured to combat 
 with carbolic acid with no more success 
 than burning a hole in his forehead, and 
 counteracting one pain by another and a 
 greater. Had he tried ammonia he would 
 have been less tormented, and perhaps have 
 foregone his revenge, which he inflicts on 
 his readers, and not on the mosquitoes, in 
 the shape of a physiographical and historical 
 account of Mount Ararat, occupying forty- 
 five pages, and which form as tiresome a 
 prelude to his account of the ascent of the 
 mountain as the wranglings and ditficulties 
 of procuring guides and the rest of the 
 paraphernalia which preceded his attack on 
 the snowy giant. At last he succeeded in 
 starting, with his companion and escort of 
 Kurds and Cossacks, whose energy, how- 
 ever, was not equal to his own, for they 
 gave in when the ice-axe had to be used, 
 and left Mr. Bryce to attain the summit 
 alone, and gaze alone on the vague, misty 
 scene below, dim and indistinct as the tra- 
 ditions which arise from it, and envelop the 
 vanerable peak with a cloud of mystery 
 impenetrable to the faithful. But though 
 he found a piece of hewn timber high up 
 the slope beyond the tree-line, which might 
 be a piece of gopher-wood and a remnant of 
 
 t.i' 
 
 I 
 
 A.D. 1870-77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [RUSSIAN ANNEXATION. 
 
 the ark, though he has his own private 
 theory about the relic, which he does not 
 communicate to his readers, Mr. Bryce was 
 not believed by the Archimandrite of Etch- 
 miadzin when he told him he had ascended 
 the mountain. " No," the venerable man 
 smiled sweetly; "no, that cannot be. No 
 one has ever been there. It is impossi- 
 ble." 
 
 The foregoing descriptions, it will have 
 been seen, apply to the country south of 
 the main range of the Caucasus. Colonel 
 Kasbek describes territories which, at the 
 time he wrote, were still under Turkish 
 rule. Mr. Bryce, on the other hand, describes 
 regions which have for some time been 
 under Russian rule. In Colonel Kasbek's 
 work, it will also have been observed, the 
 liistory of the races inhabiting these parts 
 is treated as though the Russians had some 
 sort of historical claim to them, and the 
 names given to them such as are unintel- 
 ligible to a larjje number of readers. It 
 will have surprised a good many people to 
 hear that the race which the Russians call 
 Grusinians, or Grusians, are our old friends 
 the Georgians. This family, split up into a 
 number of more or less closely-related 
 branches, Mingrelians, Imeritians, &c., is 
 scattered about as far as the river Tschorok, 
 where they become merged with Kurds, 
 Armenians, and Turks. 
 
 Now, after Georgia had been handed over 
 to Alexander I. in 1799, and the country 
 was fully taken possession of by the Russian 
 troops, the government at once proceeded 
 to annex the history of the Georgians even 
 as they annexed the land. That has been 
 the principle on which the Russian govern- 
 ment has proceeded from time immemo- 
 rial. As soon as they acquired a fresh 
 territory, they at once adopted its history 
 and its claims. Beginning by overthrowing 
 these claims in one direction, it ended by 
 enforcing them in others. Thus the Tartar, 
 having overthrown one section of the Slavs, 
 
 at once decked himself in the stolen plumes, 
 and made his new position the basis for 
 attacking the other sections, acquiring thera 
 by diplomatic means if possible, but other- 
 wise by completely crushing them, as in the 
 case of Poland. From such beginnings has 
 arisen the claim of the Russian government 
 to be the protector of all the Slavs. 
 
 The same process is now in course of 
 execution in the Caucasus. Having sub- 
 jugated the Circassians, the Georgians, and 
 the Armenians, they have also taken posses- 
 sion of their history ; and now, in endless 
 works of larger or smaller dimensions, 
 brochures and newspaper articles, they lay 
 claim, in their character of Circassians, 
 Georgians, and Armenians, to the history, 
 traditions, and former possessions of these 
 races. Amongst each section they stir up 
 the ambition to regain what once they lost. 
 Russia is thus the Revolution incarnate and 
 personified. This mode of action is just the 
 sahae as if England, in virtue of her once hav- 
 ing been conquered by the Saxons and Nor- 
 mans, were now to claim, and make war upon, 
 Germany and France ; or as if Prussia were 
 to consider herself justified in claiming the 
 whole of France in consequence of her pos- 
 session of Alsace and Lorraine. 
 
 Thus, having assumed the championship 
 of the Slav races in Europe, of the Georgian 
 and Caucasian races in Turkey, we may 
 now be prepared to find Russia assume the 
 protectorate of all the Mongolian races, and 
 so on, till she is stopped when she comes 
 into contact with other European powers, 
 if it be not too late then. It is also quite 
 within the range of probabilities that she 
 will one day lay claim to Germany, in virtue 
 of her possessing the German provinces on 
 the Baltic. 
 
 This is one of the phases of the Eastern 
 question it is well to bear constantly in 
 mind. It must be regarded from a broad 
 point of view, and not from one of petty 
 details, which can always be explained away. 
 
 295 
 
 
i ' 
 
 
 I, /■. 
 
 ,, * 
 
 r 
 
 
 PANSLAVISM.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1860-78. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 PANSLAVISM AND THE RUSSIAN PRESS. 
 
 The procedure of the Russians in annex- 
 ing the history and traditions of the people 
 whose territory they seize, was never more 
 strongly exemplified than in the case of 
 Poland, especially during the period imme- 
 diately preceding the Polish rebellion of 
 1863-'64. Of this rebellion it is here scarcely 
 necessary to say more than that it was a 
 final effort of the Polish nobility to re- 
 cover their heritage, which was frustrated 
 partly by the apathy of the peasantry, 
 partly by the hostile attitude of Russia 
 and Austria, but chiefly through the excep- 
 tionally severe measures — exceptional even 
 for Russia, which is saying all that can be 
 Baid — adopted by the Russian commanders, 
 both military and civil, to crush the move- 
 ment. 
 
 The rebellion broke out in 1863 ; and, 
 led by Langievicz, who was named 
 " Dictator," dragged on, without any hope 
 of success, until the autumn of 1864, when 
 the last bands, under the leadership of 
 Lelewel, a pumpmaker of Warsaw, were 
 finally routed at the battles of Batorsch 
 and Panisoufka. Lelewel himself was 
 killed ; the leaders of the enterprise abroad, 
 such as Czartoryski, threw up the sponge; 
 the secret committees dissolved, and the 
 Polish rebellion of 1863 became a matter 
 of history — added a fresh blood-stained 
 page to the bloody annals of the Muscovite 
 empire. 
 
 But though a military defeat, though the 
 crushing nature of the blow was for the 
 moment complete, the Polish rebellion had 
 consequences which are being felt to the 
 present day; for it was this rebellion which 
 set the Panslavonic party mto practical 
 action, and brought Panslavism forward | 
 from the region of philosophical theories I 
 into the domain of what Lord Derby called 
 practical politics. 
 
 We have already alluded to the fermen- 
 tation preceding and following the Cri- 
 mean war. Liberal ideas, democratic am- 
 bitions, socialist plans, were all mixed up 
 together, and prosecuted for this, that, and ; 
 the other. Meetings were held demanding 
 a constitution ; journals attacking the I 
 government were eagerly read, and none 
 296 
 
 more than the Kolkol, or "Bell," which 
 was published by Hertzen during his exile. 
 
 All this agitation soon produced a con- 
 siderable effect. The students at Moscow 
 and St. Petersburg entered into and formed 
 a number of secret societies ; in the 
 country, the " Red Cock" — as the Russians 
 call incendiary fires, and to which we have 
 already alluded — spread terror all around. 
 The government at once proceeded to act 
 in its customary manner ; and, instead of 
 listening to the complaints of the people, 
 and furnishing redress where it was neces- 
 sary, commenced a series of those persecu- 
 tions which have excited the indignation of 
 all civilised communities in all atres. 
 
 The poet Michailof was exiled to Siberia, 
 where he was soon killed by the hardships 
 he had to undergo. The journalist Tcher- 
 nychewski was condemned to two years' 
 solitary confinement, and then to perpetual 
 exile and hard labour in the mines. Mar- 
 tianoff, an ex-serf, whose only crime was 
 his advocacy of a constitution, and tho 
 substitution of a constitutional monarchy 
 in lieu of a despotic rule, was shot, with a 
 number of others for the same reasons. 
 And worst and most contemptible of all, 
 the government carried on its crusade 
 against the advocates for a constitution by 
 causing a proclamation to be issued, com- 
 mencing with the words — 
 
 "People I You wish for a descrip- 
 tion OF THE INCENDIARIES WHO DESOLATE 
 YOUR HOMES AND LAY YOUR VILLAGES IN 
 RUINS. Here is their description : — They 
 are the people who do not believe in Q-od ; 
 who do not confess regularly ; who do not 
 go to church assiduously ; who do not re- 
 spect the authorities, and who preach the 
 revolutionary doctrines of the West. Those 
 are the incendiaries who deliver your 
 homes up to the flames I Whenever you 
 meet them, stamp them out like weeds and 
 vermin." 
 
 It is scarcely credible that any govern- 
 ment laying claim to civilisation should 
 act in this manner. But ^ so it was; and, 
 as might be supposed, the general discon- 
 tent soon spread to Poland, where the 
 excitement became intense, and resulted 
 
 JUR 1860-78.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [PANSLAVISM. 
 
 in the outbreak of open rebellion. It 
 Inight have been thought that, with the 
 agitation in Russia itself, the Poles would 
 have received assistance from the discon- 
 tented and oppressed within the empire. 
 The government itself was afraid that such 
 might be the case, and that the discon- 
 tented might take advantajje of the troubles 
 in Poland to try to enforce their own 
 wishes. Thus the czar addressed the im- 
 perial guard in tones which showed plainly 
 bow great his anxiety on the subject had 
 become. But, at the same time, the gov- 
 ernment was not sorry to see the rebellion 
 in Poland break out. It was held that it 
 would serve, first of all as a diversion, and, 
 secondly, it was determined that such an 
 example should be made of the rebels as 
 would effectually deter the disaffected Rus- 
 sians from assisting them or forwarding 
 their constitutional projects. In accordance 
 with this decision, the wretched prisoners 
 taken in Poland were marched to their 
 destination in Siberia by the most cir- 
 cuitous routes, as a warning to those who 
 might be inclined to follow their example. 
 
 But it was just at this critical moment 
 that the government received an ally in a 
 quarter where it was least expected. Pan- 
 slavism came to the rescue. What Pan- 
 slavism is, we will endeavour to make clear 
 to our readers. 
 
 The Urst features which most strike the 
 inquirer into this subject, are the simi- 
 larities and dissimilarities of the various 
 Slav dialects to and from each other, which 
 are very puzzling to the foreigner who has 
 made himself passably acquainted with one 
 of them, and trusts to this knowledire to 
 carry him through the various countries 
 where the rest are spoken. He then finds, 
 if he is trusting to Polish, that his know- 
 ledge is of very little use in Russia or in 
 the Servian and Bulgarian provinces ; and 
 by the time that he has acquired a know- 
 ledge of Servian, he finds that, though 
 Russian is not quite so strange a tongue, 
 still he is unable to carry on a conversation 
 with a Czech. The contention of the Pan- 
 slavonians, therefore, that tlu^re is no 
 greater ditference between the Slav dialects 
 than there is between the dialects of France 
 or Germany, is apt to strike one as con- 
 siderably exaggerated. The enthusiastic 
 Pauslavist, however, at once replies that 
 this is an entirely erroneous impression, 
 due to the foreiofner's not havintr studied 
 the various dialects, and being consequently 
 VOL. 11. 2 Q 
 
 unable to perceive their identity. The 
 objection that the very necessity of a study 
 of these dialects proves their non-identity 
 does not weigh in the least with the Pan- 
 slavist. Such study, he asserts, should 
 form an integral portion of every Slav's 
 education; but he will not acknowledge 
 that this is still only a desideratum until 
 he has been quite driven into a corner, and 
 forced to confess that the difference be- 
 tween a dialect and a language is, that 
 whilst the dialect-speaker is always able to 
 speak the standard language of his country, 
 there is no obligation for the speaker of 
 one language to be able to speak another. 
 Thus the Catalan, who habitually prefers 
 speaking his own favourite patok, is always 
 able to speak Spanish ; but there is many 
 a Basque who cannot speak a word of 
 Spanish or French. Plattdeutsch is very 
 similar to Dutch ; but though the Platt- 
 deutscher is always able to speak German, 
 he is not able to speak Dutch. Spanish 
 and Basque, Dutch and German, are dis- 
 tinct languages; but Catalan and Low 
 German — Plattdeutsch — are dialects; and 
 the Panslavist's contention is, that all the 
 Slav languages are equally dialects. But 
 when he is asked what the standard lan- 
 guage is, the reply varies with his nation- 
 ality. M. Aksakoff would at once answer, 
 Russian. Prince Czartoryski or Prince 
 Lubomirski would reply, Polish. Herr 
 Skrejschowski would say, Czech. ]M. Mija- 
 tovich would stoutly insist upon Servian, 
 and Cardinal Mihailovich claim Croatian 
 for the standard tongue. Others, like 
 Bishop Strossmayer, would still deny any 
 fundamental differences, and assert that all 
 that is required to furnish the Slav races 
 with one common tongue, is a judicious 
 arrangement of the grammar and the 
 choice of a common alphabet. Nothing 
 could be droller than to compare Bishop 
 Strossmayer's statement that there is really 
 no difference in the various dialects beyond 
 j the alphabet, with the fact that he is 
 j obliged to talk French, German, or Italian 
 I with Count Drohojowski, his secretary, a 
 i Polish nobleman, who miofht be seen work- 
 I ing hard to master the mysteries of the 
 I Servian tongue, in order to prepare himself 
 I for his cure at Belgrade. And not only 
 was he unable to talk Servian, but he was 
 equally unable to converse in Croat, and 
 had to speak German with his colleague, 
 Canon Vorsak, and others. 
 
 But there are other facts of historical 
 
 297 
 
THE SLAV TONGUES.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. I8G0-78. 
 
 Dotoriety which prove that there must be a 
 very fundamental difference between many 
 of the Slav languajjjes. For instance, the 
 rigour with which tlie Russian government 
 excludes Polish from the national schools, 
 and makes the secret teaching of the lan- 
 guage an offence against the law. No less 
 great is the rivalry between the academies 
 at Agram and Belgrade. And, finally, 
 there is the evidence of the czar and czarina 
 themselves, who, in reply to a deputation 
 in 1867, expressed their sorrow that the 
 Slav races were not in possession of a com- 
 mon alphabet and a common orthography. 
 In addition, the czar said to this depu- 
 tation — " We have always regarded the 
 Serbs as our brethren, and I hope your 
 affairs will soon take a more favourable 
 turn. Meanwhile, I welcome you all, my 
 beloved Slavonic brethren, on this our com- 
 mon Slavonic soil, and hope you will be 
 satisfied with your reception in Moscow 
 and St. Petersburg." The deputation, be 
 it remembered, to which these words were 
 spoken, consisted of Austrian, Seivian, and 
 Turkish Slavs. 
 
 Now, taking the imperial words literally, 
 the mere fact of these Slav races being lin- 
 guistically divided by different alphabets 
 and orthographies alone shows a consider- 
 able difference between them ; and this 
 difference becomes still more glaring when 
 we consider the possibility of the imperial 
 wish being fulfilled. There are three 
 alphabets in use amongst the Slavs. The 
 Russians, Ruthenes, Montenegrins, and 
 Serbs employ the same Cyrillian character. 
 The Bulgarians make use of an ancient 
 form of this alphabet; whilst the rest of the 
 Slavs, both north and south of the Danube, 
 have adopted the Roman letters, with the 
 addition of various accents — the acute, 
 grave, inverted circumflex, and others — in 
 order to represent the combinations of 
 letters which correspond to the number of 
 sounds used by the Slavs, for which the 
 Roman alphabet possesses no single equiva- 
 lents. This modified Roman alphabet is 
 thus a bastard product, for which there is 
 really no excuse except in so far as it may 
 save time. But it is very questionable 
 whether it is easier to write "Cernavoda " 
 than it is to write " Tchernavoda " or 
 *' Chernavoda ;" it would be much the 
 same as if we were to write muc instead of 
 "much," or sail instead of "shall," whilst 
 still keeping the characters c, s, and A, for 
 other combinations. In short, all these 
 298 
 
 signs and accents with which the Poles, 
 Czechs, Croats, and Slovaks have burdened 
 the Roman alphabet, are scarcely more 
 than national vanities, which could only be 
 justified by the national importance of the 
 races indulging in them; and it can scarcely 
 be expected that the vast Slavic majority 
 of Russians, Serbs, Montenegrins, and Bul- 
 garians, should give up one of their great 
 national characteristics — the Cyrillian al- 
 phabet — in exchange for a bastard Roman 
 alphabet. Whether the world would not 
 be a gainer by their doing »o, and whether 
 the Roman alphabet would not be made to 
 represent Slavic sound without an encum- 
 bering mass of accentual excrescences, is of 
 course another question, to which there 
 would be different replies. But there is no 
 doubt that, from a national and Slavic 
 point of view, the Russian alphabet would 
 afford by far the best medium for Slavic 
 intercourse. As Dr. Carl Abel says, in an 
 article on the subject in the AllgeTneine 
 Zeiturifj, the Czechs and Poles would gain 
 as much by using the Cyrillian letters as 
 the Russian and Serbs would lose by 
 adopting the Czech-Polish alphabet. 
 
 But whilst there would be no difficulty 
 in adapting the various Slavic languages 
 to the Cyrillian character, the introduction 
 of a common orthography presents far 
 more difficulties. It is true that the Slavic 
 idioms are closely related, and have many 
 roots in common ; but, in very many cases, 
 not only are the roots very different, but 
 also the endings, prefixes, and other in- 
 flexions. Generally speaking, the roots, 
 even when they are identical, possess differ- 
 ent endings in the different idioms. Thus 
 we find that the Russian for "to smoke" 
 is Kur-iti, the Polish, Kur-zlc, so that 
 whilst the root Kur might be subjected to 
 one common orthography, a choice between 
 Russian and Polish would have to be made 
 for the ending. Still less possible would 
 it be to find one common form for the 
 Russian tem-ny, the Polish ciem-ny, and 
 the Serb czer-ny^ " dark ;" or for the Rus- 
 sian 8ve-ti, the Serb sev-ati, " to gleam," 
 the Russian zec-i, and the Slovak Kuh-atif 
 " to burn, glow, roast." 
 
 But the difficulties presented by thpso 
 more or less awkward forms are small in 
 comparison to those which arise when the 
 word not only differs in form but also in 
 meaning. The reduction of the Sloven© 
 kutati and the Russian zigati to one com- 
 mon form would be useless as long as the 
 
 A.D. 1860-'78.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the SLAV TONGUES. 
 
 former signified " to cook " and the latter 
 " to burn," The Russian cook would have 
 to be pitied if, in obedience to her Slovene 
 master's orders to cook the fowl, she were 
 to burn it instead ! What would be the 
 use, again, of reducing the Serb disati and 
 the Slovene zdUtati to one common spell- 
 ing as long as one word means " to 
 breathe " and the other " to sigh ?" But 
 so it is throughout. Words which average 
 the same signification are just as rare as 
 the words averaging the same form. And 
 not only this, but the development of one 
 root assumes widely different proportions 
 amongst the various families, and to .a 
 much greater extent than is the case in 
 other European languages. 
 
 For instance, whilst such words as voda, 
 " water ; " kraj, " edge ; " koza, " goat ; " 
 dati, " to give," &c., are the same in Rus- 
 sian and Servian, the roots of other words 
 have received a different development. Thus 
 the Russian udariti, " to push, knock," be- 
 comes turiti in Servian ; polk^ " a com- 
 pany," becomes puk; zli, "wicked," be- 
 comes zao ; boloto, " swamp," becomes blato 
 — with the additional equivalent of mlaka ; 
 eeci, " to break," becomes tuci^ and so on 
 ad injinititm. 
 
 The establishment, therefore, of one com- 
 mon standard for all the Slav tonfjues 
 would be no easy undertaking. The diffi- 
 culties will be best realised by supposing a 
 plan set on foot for a Pan-Teutonic lan- 
 guage, comprising German, English, Dutch, 
 and the Scandinavian tongues. It would 
 be found that the first difficulty would be 
 to induce the Germans to abandon their 
 peculiar alphabet, or the English and Dutch 
 to abandon the Roman alphabet, whilst the 
 Swedes and Norwegians agreed to give up 
 their peculiar accentuation and compound 
 letters. This having been accomplished, 
 say, in favour of the English alphabet, the 
 next step would be to introduce a common 
 orthography. The simple words would first 
 be disposed of by groups, varying according 
 to their differences. The be<jinninor would 
 be made with those words identical in 
 sound and meaning, but differ^'ng in spell- 
 ing, such as — fish, Fwch; stool, Stuhl; 
 mouse, Maus ; house, Haus : sour, Sauer ; 
 beer. Bier, &c. In these words it is clear 
 that one nation must yield to the other, or 
 compromise — say, "sour" become sauer, 
 and " stuhl " become stul — the h being 
 superfluous even according to German views, 
 wohl frequently being written woL The 
 
 next step would be to take the words iden- 
 tical in spelling and meaning, but differing 
 in pronunciation, such as — land. Land; 
 hand, hand ; band. Band ; brand. Brand ; 
 stand, Stand; all. All; ball. Ball; fall. 
 Fall ; stall, Stall^ &c. To harmonise the 
 difference of pronunciation it would be 
 necessary to determine the quantity of the 
 letter a. Then it would be necessary to 
 determine the quantity of the other vowels, 
 and to decide whether the English i should 
 represent the German ei, or vice versa — 
 whether " fine " should not be written Fein, 
 or Schein be expressed by " shine," and so 
 on with the rest of the vowels and diph- 
 thongs. After this had been settled, the 
 consonants would have their turn, and the 
 interchanges of d, t, v,f,p, b, have to be 
 fixed. Thus, whether Garden or Garten; 
 hard or hai^t ; before or bevor, should be 
 the standard. And when all this, and much 
 more which is very simple, is satisfactorily 
 settled, there would be the question of the 
 development of the various roots. In such 
 a series as — 
 
 English— to flee to fly fledgling flutter 
 German— ^ie/i€n fliegen Vogel Jlattern 
 
 the question would arise as to which devel- 
 opment would have to be the standard, and 
 also as to what is to become of the English 
 word "bird." Would that disappear in 
 favour of Vogel or vice versa, or would they 
 both have to be adopted ? Or, for instance, 
 in a series like — 
 
 English — to flow float 
 Getm&u—Jliessen Floss 
 
 flood flush 
 Fluth — 
 
 what part would these words play in the 
 standard tongue ? Would " float " take the 
 form oijioss with its signification of " raft," 
 or the verb " to float" be retained, as it has 
 no equivalent in German beyond schwim" 
 men, "to swim?" And, finally, would 
 " flush " (in the sense of sousing), for which 
 there is no similarly sounding expression in 
 German, also become one of the standard 
 words ? 
 
 The difficulties in the way of establishing 
 a standard Panslavonian tongue will now 
 be evident from this comparison ; but, on 
 the other hand, it must not be considered 
 as an impossibility. It is a question of 
 power. It is a question as to which lan- 
 guage is entitled by its development and 
 literature to form the standard, and then, 
 as to whether the race speaking this lan- 
 guage possesses the power to force the 
 
 299 
 
i I 
 
 SERGEI AKSAKOFF.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1860-78. 
 
 I 
 
 I! . 
 
 others to accept it. There can be do doubt 
 that the Russian tongue fulfils the first 
 conditions. It is well developed; it is a 
 rich and a powerful language, and it pos- 
 sesses a noteworthy literature — a literature 
 which, though young, has already taken no 
 mean place amongst the literatures of the 
 world. The Poles and Czechs, it is true, 
 possess tolerably developed languages and a 
 certain literature, but they cannot be com- 
 pared to the Russian ; whilst the Croats, 
 Herbs, Bulgarians, Slovaks, and Slovenes 
 have neither a grammatically fixed lan- 
 guage nor any literatures. They could 
 1 lierefore only gain by being grafted on to 
 the Russian tongue and literature. The 
 Poles and Czechs, it is true, might also ad- 
 vance a claim to establish the standard ; but 
 liere the second consideration comes into 
 play. Have they the political power? 
 Clearly not. But assuming that Servia, Bul- 
 garia, Croatia, and Bohemia were incorpo- 
 rated with Russia, there can scarcely be any 
 doubt that their own linguistic differences 
 would speedily disappear in the Russian 
 tougue, a process that would be forwarded 
 ill no small degree by the wonderful facility 
 tiie Slavic races possess in acquiring other 
 tongues. The difficulties, which would be 
 almost insuperable, in the way of amalga- 
 mating English and German would scarcely 
 be felt by the Slavs. Giving up ciem-ny 
 or czer-ny for tem-ny would not incommode 
 them in the least if they once sacrificed 
 their little national vanities in the distinc- 
 tion of their languages, or if they were 
 forced to abandon them by the strong hand 
 Russia has made felt in Poland, in Lithu- 
 ania, and in Finland. If by such means the 
 Germans in Alsatia were turned into 
 Frenchmen ; if bv such means these French- 
 men are to be turned again into Germans ; 
 if similar processes were and are carried out 
 in Schleswig-Holstein, what is there to pre- 
 vent the Russians from achieving the same 
 success, especially when the differences in 
 the lanoruaofes are so much slighter? There 
 is nothing to prevent it. On the contrary, 
 granted the power, it would be the most 
 natural process. The only thing which 
 could prevent it would be the national 
 jealousies of the various families. Hence 
 the great error of the Austrians in trying to 
 stifle the national tongue and literature of 
 their Slavonic subjects instead of forward- 
 ing them, and thus make Czech, Pole, and 
 Croat less willing to merge their own na- 
 tional languages in another, though a kin- 
 300 
 
 dred one. This also explains bow political 
 Panslavism and literary Panslavism act and 
 re-act on each other ; how one is impossible 
 without the other ; and, the chances of suc- 
 cess being so much in its favour, why the 
 Germans regard Panslavism with such 
 horror. Hence the German's fear of Russia 
 as the one power which might make Pan- 
 slavism a reality, and which advocates the 
 establishment of minor Slavonic States 
 alonfjf the Danube, with Austria's becomins: 
 a Slavonic power, as the best means of 
 erectinof a charmed barrier between them 
 and the Panslavonic spectre, behind which 
 lurks Russia with her vast military organi- 
 sation. 
 
 But, apart from these philological diffi- 
 culties, the existence of so many rival nation- 
 alities and churches within the Russian 
 empire ; the disorders and disturbances aris- 
 ing therefrom ; the close relations of these 
 nationalities to each other and those of 
 kindred race in other countries, also caused 
 the want to be felt of a unifying element. 
 Unity was desired, and various measures 
 were adopted to attain it, into which we 
 need not now enter. Suffice it to say that 
 they were not successful. The " great idea " 
 was still wanting in a clear, definite shape, 
 though it had presented itself more or less 
 vaguely and dimly to many enlightened 
 men. The first who began to see his way 
 more clearly was the author of the welf- 
 known " Chronicles of a Russian Family," 
 Sergei Timofeyevitch Aksakoff. The ideas 
 he gradually formed on the subject were 
 eagerly imbibed and developed by his two 
 sons, the elder of whom (bom 1817, in 
 Moscow, and died in the island of Zante, 
 1860) was in fact the practical founder of 
 the Slavophil party, and the author of the 
 theory according to which Russia, as the 
 most powerful of the Slav families, is to re- 
 generate the Pagan West in the future, but 
 for the present to break with it entirely, and 
 confine herself to the development of a 
 purely national life, and restore the power 
 and unity of the Eastern Orthodox Church. 
 This idea soon found many advocates and 
 disciples ; amongjst them were the elder 
 AksdkotTs intimate friend, Khomiakoff, the 
 late Samarin, and the brothers Kireyeffski, 
 wiio were the first to seriously study the 
 national life of the Russians, their peculiari- 
 ties, their resemblances, their dissimilari- 
 ties ; to seek for common ground on which 
 all could meet, and to give Panslavism a 
 scientific basis in the history of Russia. 
 
 if 
 
»-} 
 
 tll 
 
 I? 
 
 /A.D. 1860-78.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the "dyen." 
 
 How successful this little band of enthusi- 
 asts was, the progress of Panslavism suffi- 
 ciently shows. Still, though an ever-growing 
 idea, it remained an idea until the events of 
 1854-'56 greatly increased the more or less 
 latent repugnance to Western nations and 
 habits, and changed it into a bitter ani- 
 mosity that has been growing stronger and 
 stronger for the last twenty years, and fur- 
 nished the younger brother, Ivan AksakofF, 
 "with a basis to put his ideas into practical 
 execution. Unanimously he was accepted 
 as the chief apostle of the doctrine founded 
 by his brother. Excluded under the old 
 regime from all public activity, his labours 
 had been confined to occasional works on 
 the national industries of Russia ; but in 
 1861, after the reforms of 1860 had granted 
 to the Russian press considerable liberties, 
 he established a weekly journal, the Dyen 
 (The Day), which was speedily recognised as 
 the chief organ of the national party. The 
 object of this party, in the first instance, 
 was to gain the old, orthodox Conservative 
 Russians — the Muscovites proper — over to 
 the doctrines of Panslavism. Regeneration 
 was to proceed from Moscow, and Panslav- 
 ism was to be its cheval de bataille. That 
 being the case, it was of course necessary, 
 first of all, to enforce these doctrines at 
 home before propagating them practically 
 abroad. Hence the chief objects of the 
 Dyen's attacks were the nobility, the bu- 
 reaucracy, and the higher clergy, a bitter 
 article against the latter causing its suspen- 
 sion in 1862. Old-fashioned Conservative 
 Moscow was, in fact, attacking innovating 
 St. Petersburg with its varnish of Western 
 civilisation and employmentof foreigners in 
 various branches of the service. It never 
 wearied in its attacks, bitter garcasm and 
 fiery invective being freely and undis- 
 guisedly applied, so that the friends it had 
 gained in the immediate vicinity of the 
 czar could not prevent its suspension. But 
 in that short year the Dyen had already be- 
 come a power. It had focussed into its 
 pages, as it were, the desires and demands 
 that had been growing louder and louder 
 throughout the empire since the Crimean 
 war, and presented them with a concen- 
 trated intensity that showed there was here 
 an immense force for good or for evil, and 
 an engine the government would do well 
 not to destroy, but keep under control for 
 its own use in case of necessity. We are 
 able to state, on the best of authority, that at 
 this period the czar was much harassed in 
 
 reference to the Dyen and its principles. 
 The Court party of St. Petersburg nobility, 
 as well as the higher clergy, and all the 
 Grerman party with one or two exceptions, 
 insisted on the total suppression of the ob- 
 noxious paper, and advocated strict mea- 
 sures against the apostles of its doctrines. 
 One person, however, pointed out to the . 
 czar that this phenomenon was in a great 
 measure the result of his reforms, and an 
 inevitable stage in the development of the 
 national life, to suppress which would be 
 practically to suppress the reforms just 
 granted. It was but the natural fermenta- 
 tion the reforms had given rise to, and was 
 simply carrying out their further work by 
 ejecting the dross and scum, to eliminate 
 which the czar had initiated these reforms 
 that had so much redounded to his credit. 
 The czar fully perceived the truth of these 
 observations, and the Dyen was, as we have 
 said, only temporarily suspended. AksakofF 
 was made aware of the opinion the czar 
 entertained of the movement, and, relying 
 on this bulwark, redoubled his attacks. A 
 special opportunity for the exercise of his 
 talents was offered by the Polish rebellion 
 in 1863-'64. The Dyen, seconded by the 
 Moscow Gazette and M. Katkoff — of whom 
 more hereafter — was the most violent of all 
 the journals which waged a bitter war 
 against those degenerate Slavs, the Poles, 
 who had been corrupted by the evil ways 
 and habits of the West, who had forsaken 
 the Holy Orthodox Church, and fallen a 
 victim to the snares of Romanism. It de- 
 manded the sternest measures — the aboli- 
 tion of Roman Catholicism, the complete 
 Russification of Lithuania, the liberation 
 not only of the Polish provinces under 
 Austrian and Prussian rule, but also of the 
 Ruthenians, the Zechs, and the Croats, &c. 
 This language of the Dyen led to such re- 
 monstrances from the Prussian and Austrian 
 embassies and parties, that the government 
 was at last forced to proceed against it. But 
 as neither warnings nor suspensions suc- 
 ceeded in forcing Aksdkoff to moderate the 
 tone of the paper, it was finally suppressed. 
 Aksakoff, however, knew the power of the 
 force at his back, and he knew also that the 
 czar still favoured his views. Thus the 
 Dyen reappearei in the form of a large 
 daily paper, which, under the titles of 
 Moskwd and Moshwitydnin, according as 
 it was suppressed or suspended, still carried 
 on a bitter war against the foreign elements 
 in the government and the empire. Foreign 
 
 301 
 
i. ^' i 
 
 AKSAKOFF AND THE COURT.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1860-78. 
 
 affairs, however, especially since the aban- 
 donment of the Cretans, and the relations 
 of Russia to Germany — or, rather, Prussia 
 — were in a condition that made this atti- 
 tude very awkward for the government ; 
 and, finally, the czar was obliged to withdraw 
 from the protection of M. Aks^koff, though 
 he did not withdraw his favour. 
 
 These things, coupled with his endless 
 quarrels with the Bureau de Presse, caused 
 Aksakoff to retire for a while from public 
 life, again confining his labours to scientific 
 studies, and presiding at the sittings of the 
 Slav committee he had established, or 
 helped to establish. In truth, however, the 
 Court party had become too strong for him ; 
 and for a time he was in dangfer of becominor 
 a torgotten man, as far as the czar was con- 
 cerned, when an event occurred that not 
 only brought him to the front again, but 
 was also the means of his acquiring influ- 
 ence in another and probably more powerful 
 quarter — at least for the future. This event 
 was the famine of 1867-'68. As president 
 of one of the committees formed for the 
 relief of the sufferers, he entered into cor- 
 respondence with the hereditary grand duke, 
 and was afforded the opportunity, besides, 
 of giving his imperial highness some very 
 valuable information and counsel touching 
 home and foreign affairs. Several highly 
 interesting documents of this correspon- 
 dence fell into the hands of the Chancellerie, 
 which resulted in a very lively exchange of 
 letters between the grand duke and the 
 guardians of public security, resulting in 
 the victory of the latter for the time being. 
 The influence, however, which M. Aksakoff 
 thus gained over the grand duke — or, to 
 speak more correctly, the influence M. 
 Ak>dkotrs theories had gained — was not 
 shaken by this victory of the police, and 
 the grand duke is believed to be the most 
 dangerous enemy the foreign, and especially 
 the German, party can have in Russia. 
 The relations of some of the members of 
 the imperial family to each other and to 
 the State authorities would form an inter- 
 esting chapter, not without importance for 
 our own relations with Russia ; but these 
 things are not cognate with the present 
 subject, which is an account of the character 
 and objects of Panslavism and its chief 
 leaders, whose triumph in influencing the 
 policy of the empire is becoming more 
 manifest day by day, and, as far as can now be 
 seen, will continue for some years to come. 
 Panslavism has thus two objects in view 
 302 
 
 —the extension of its doctrines beyond the 
 limits, and their development within the 
 limits, of the empire. To this fact are due 
 the alternate favoi'r and disfavour with 
 which it is regarded by the authorities. At 
 times like those of the Polish rebellion, or 
 the present, its assistance is invaluable ; and 
 as an engine for the Minister of Foreign 
 Affairs it is unrivalled. But in quieter 
 times the home minister looks very much 
 askance at the movement, for he has to 
 reap the whirlwind his colleague has sown, 
 and to try to prevent its growing into the 
 tornado it threatens to become. In fact, 
 the spirit has been raised, and no counter- 
 spell is able to lay him again. 
 
 Such is Panslavism in Russia. In other 
 countries, in Austria and Turkey, it natu- 
 rally assumes another form, and more ap- 
 proaches the character of a secret society 
 than in Russia. But even here it is very 
 far from being a secret society in the com- 
 mon sense of the phrase ; and it resembles 
 the Russian movement also in having a pro- 
 tector at Court, if not in the person of the 
 emperor himself, at any rate amongst his 
 surrounders ; although it must not be for- 
 gotten that this Slavophile party at the 
 Court of Vienna do not endorse the whole of 
 the Panslavonic theory. But this party — 
 of which the Archduke Albrecht is "the 
 reputed chief — is just in the same predica- 
 ment as the Russian government. They 
 have raised the storm and cannot control it. 
 They raised it in 1848, when they appealed 
 to the loyalty and national feeling of the 
 Slavs to support them against the Hun- 
 garian revolt. Till then, Panslavism had 
 made scarcely any progress in Austria. But 
 the moment that the Vienna government 
 invoked one nationality against the other, 
 and made a distinction between the two 
 within the empire, they also taught them 
 that they had distinct interests. Thus arose 
 that consciousness of the possession of a 
 distinct nationality of which the Slavs, and 
 especially the Croats, Slavonians, and Dal- 
 matians, had almost forgotten, or at any 
 rate ignored, the existence. But this con- 
 sciousness once aroused, old privileges that 
 had been disregarded, old customs which 
 had fallen into desuetude, and old traditions, 
 claims, and pretensions and rights that had 
 long remained dormant, were recovered one 
 by one from the dSbris of the past, and re- 
 suscitated into fresh and vigorous life. 
 There was, in consequence, a complete Slav 
 revival ; and after the brilliant campaign of 
 
 A.D. 1860-78.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the crroNiscA. 
 
 the Ban Jellacich with his Croatians, and 
 Stratimirovich with the Hungarian Serbs 
 in 1848, nothing would content the newly 
 awakened sense of nationality evinced by 
 the Diet at Agram but the creation of a 
 triune kingdom composed of Croatia, Dal- 
 matia, and Slavonia. To strengthen the 
 movement which was to attain this object, 
 the Citonisca was founded in 1849 at Cat- 
 taro. This Citonisca was a society formed 
 for the propagation of Slav ideas, the union 
 of the various Slav races and families 
 throughout the Adriatic, Istrian, and Slav 
 districts, and to pave the way to an auto- 
 nomy within the empire. Branches of the 
 Citonisca rapidly multiplied. One was 
 founded at Ragusa, and another at Spalato 
 in 18^3; these were followed by others at 
 Sebenico in 1866; at Trau in 1867; at 
 Zengg, Macarsca, Imoschi, and Gelsa in 
 1870; and at present there is not a town 
 from Cattaro to Agram, from Agram to 
 Essegg, that has not its branch society, or 
 a village where there is not an agent. 
 Owinof to the exertions of the Citonisca, the 
 Slav tongue has been introduced into the 
 schools where hitherto only Italian and 
 German had been taught. It has been in- 
 troduced into the law-courts, and forms a 
 portion of the examination of the candi- 
 dates for the public service, who were for- 
 merly only examined in German and Italian. 
 A Slav library has been founded at Zara 
 under the title of Bibliotheca Patria, a 
 museum at Agram, as well as an academy, 
 both of which have been richly endowed 
 and assisted by Bishops Strossmayer and 
 Mihailovich, by MM. Gliubich, CuUsch, 
 Miklosich, and others; in short, Slav his- 
 tory, language, and art, received an amount 
 of attention that has richly borne its fruits, 
 so that in all parts of the provinces the 
 Slavs have a majority over the Italians and 
 Germans — just the opposite to what was 
 the case even as recently as 1861. The 
 Citonisca has thus been eminently suc- 
 cessful, and has completely gained the vic- 
 tory over the Italian party, especially since 
 the events of 1866, before which the Aus- 
 trian government had more interest in secur- 
 ing the favour of its Italian subjects than it 
 has now that Lombardy and Venice are lost 
 to it. There is, therefore, no secrecy about 
 the Citonisca, in which the Court party at 
 Vienna does not participate. Its object, 
 the autonomy of the Slav provinces in one 
 or more groups, is avowed ; and it is allowed 
 to advocate this object in the Diet, in its 
 
 ' periodicals and daily journals, without let 
 or hindrance. As M. Aksdkoff and the 
 Moscow committees thundered against the 
 Poles and the foreign elements at St. Pe- 
 tersburg, so does the Diet at Agram, so do 
 Bishop Strossmayer, Canon Vorsak, and 
 others thunder against the Magyars, the 
 Jews, and Germans who support the Beust 
 abortion of 1866. In a certain sense it is 
 true that the Citonisca is a secret society — 
 it is so in all that concerns the Hungfarian 
 government, and its organisation is so com- 
 plete that nothing short of the sword could 
 break it up. It entertains intimate rela- 
 tions with the Omladina, with the Moscow 
 committee and the Czech Club. It has 
 special agents at the Vatican ; it is in con- 
 nection with the various branches of the 
 International, and certainly neglects no 
 opportunity of striking a blow at its deadly 
 enemies, the Magyars. Though the Hun- 
 garians have the control of the post and 
 telegraph oflices, the Citonisca has its own 
 system, which ensures the safety of its cor- 
 respondence ; if arms, ammunition, <S:c., are 
 required for a rising, the Citonisca purchases 
 them, and provides for their introduction 
 into, and transmission through, the country, 
 in spite of the government at Pesth, for it 
 knows that its accomplices at the Court of 
 Vienna, if not powerful enough just yet to 
 procure the object in view, is at any rate 
 strong enough to prevent its persecution. 
 Thus we have here the sinfjular exhibition 
 of a government being practically a member 
 of a society directed against itself, and see- 
 ing the time approach when, like the 
 government of St. Petersburg, it will have 
 to break with its accomplices, or adopt their 
 views entirely, and carry them into execu- 
 tion. And the government at Vienna is, in 
 our opinion, much nearer to this decisive 
 point than is that at St. Petersburg. An 
 amusing instance of this strange state of 
 affairs occurred in 1866, during the Austro- 
 Prussian war. An English gentleman was 
 arrested at Dalmatia, on a charge of espion-' 
 nage, by the Austro-Italian authorities. He 
 was handed over to the care of two Hun- 
 garian Hussars, who had orders not to let 
 him out of sight. The Hungarians were 
 greatly disgusted at having to do police 
 duty for the " Slovaks," and advised their 
 prisoner to apply to the Hungarian com- 
 mander-in-chief. This lie did, and an order 
 came speedily for his release. But mean- 
 while the Vienna authorities had ordered 
 him still to be kept in durance vile, and 
 
 303 
 
 ■{< 
 
i" I 
 
 THE OMLADINA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1860-79. 
 
 sent on to Vienna. But the Hungarian 
 officer who had charge of him, and possession 
 of his body, put him on board one of the 
 Lloyd steamers bound for Corfu. The matter 
 ■was subsequently quite satisfactorily settled 
 at Vienna. But in 1876, the same indi- 
 vidual, on landing in Dalmatia, happened 
 to meet the same officer, who, remembering 
 the circumstances, conceived a suspicion 
 that perhaps after all he was a spy, and had 
 him arrested for some irregularity in his 
 passport, and ordered not to leave his hotel. 
 Within half an hour, several members of 
 the local Citonisca had called upon the 
 "prisoner," and before the day was out he 
 was released — this time by an order from 
 Vienna, in spite of counter-orders from 
 Pesth. 
 
 The Omladina, with which the Citonisca 
 co-operates for the time being, differs con- 
 siderably in its objects from the Citonisca. 
 Its organisation is, however, precisely tlie 
 same, though not publicly so developed as 
 the Citonisca, as it is of more modern 
 origin in its practical form, and the Hun- 
 garians have, not quite unsuccessfully, op- 
 posed it from the first, having taken warn- 
 ing by the progress of the Citonisca. 
 Though more frequently mentioned, it has 
 nothing like the power of the Citonisca as 
 an independent body ; but, co-operating 
 with the Citonisca, the Moscow com- 
 mittees, and the Czech Club, it is so far of 
 great importance, and able to create a 
 diversion that might seriously embarrass 
 the Hungarian government. Besides the 
 general objects of Panslavism, the Omla- 
 dina pursues a separate object, that object 
 being to unite the Serbs as distinguished 
 from the Croats, and to procure not only 
 an autonomy within the limits of the 
 Austrian empire, but the absolute inde- 
 pendence of a Serb State, under the rule of 
 Prince Milan, Prince Karageorgevitch, or 
 any other Serb. The person of the future 
 ruler is a matter of secondary importance. 
 The distinction between Serb and Croat is 
 the same as that between Muscovite and 
 Pole; the Serbs belong to the Orthodox 
 church, and the Croats to the Roman 
 Catholic church, so that there is, ab initio, 
 a cause for opposition between them, and 
 the co-operation of the two more or less of 
 a temporary and artificial character. 
 
 The cause for the existence of the Omla- 
 dina within the bounds of the Austrian 
 empire, is furnished by the presence of the 
 Serb colonies in Southern Hungary, rang- 
 304 
 
 ing, roughly speaking, from Sissek on the 
 Save, and Vukova on the Danube, down to 
 Orsova, the chief centres being Neusatz, 
 Carlovitz, the seat of the Serb patriarchate, 
 and Panscova. These colonies were founded 
 at different epochs, on the invitation of the 
 Austrian government, under the guarantee 
 of certain rights and privileges, which, 
 however, had become gradually disregarded 
 and merged in the interests of the empire. 
 But having, on the whole, little to com- 
 plain of, the Serbs of Hungary did not 
 insist on the observation of their privi- 
 leges. They got on well enough with the 
 German administration, though they did 
 not escape the influence of the general Slav 
 revival ; and in 1848, following the example 
 of the Croats, they began to clamour for 
 the restitution of their rights, and all the 
 more so when they were placed under Hun- 
 garian rule. Thus arose the Omladina, or 
 Young Servia, the chief leaders of which 
 are the well-known agitators Miletics and 
 Dr. Michael Polit, both members of the 
 Hungarian Diet for Neusatz and Panscova. 
 Miletics is by far the most powerful of the 
 Omladina leaders; is of untiring energy, 
 rancorous and persistent in his hatred of 
 the Hungarians, against whom he never 
 ceased his attacks in his journal, the Zas- 
 tava, published at Neusatz. He is, in fact, 
 the Aksakoff, and his paper the Dyen of 
 South Hungary. Dr. Michael Polit, a 
 native of Neusatz — where his brother 
 carries on the business of a linendraper — 
 was brought up to the bar, and is more a 
 man of the world, more ready to give and 
 take, especially the latter, than his friend 
 Miletics. While Miletics would be content 
 with nothing less than a great Servia, 
 Polit would be satisfied with an autonomi- 
 cal compromise ; but the Omladina sup- 
 ports Miletics, and Moscow supports the 
 Omladina, which, therefore, as far as Hun- 
 gary is concerned, is a secret society in the 
 fullest sense of the phrase, and a treason- 
 able society in so far as it demands the in- 
 corporation with Servia of the Serb dis- 
 tricts of Hungary, or, vice versa, the in- 
 corporation of Servia with the Serb por- 
 tions of Hungary under an independent 
 regirno* It is, therefore, not surprising 
 that the Hungarians should have arrested 
 Miletics on a charge of treason, and have 
 prohibited Omladinist meetings. At the 
 same time, they have not molested Polit, 
 as being tlie man of compromise through 
 whom they can preserve direct relations 
 
 A.D. 1860-^78.J 
 
 with the malcontents. What the Omladina 
 wants in numbers and means, it amply re- 
 places by redoubled energy and agitation, 
 for which the proximity to Servia offers 
 favourable opportunities. The organisa- 
 tion is very complete. A general letter of 
 introduction from any of the leaders of the 
 party ensures the owner the welcome and 
 assistance of all the members, every town 
 and every village having its committees 
 and agents, who are ready for anything, 
 from procuring an oka of Turkish tobacco 
 duty-free from the other side, to sending 
 over a cargo of arms and gunpowder. Yet, 
 notwithstanding the difference between the 
 objects of the Omladina and the Citonisca, 
 the Austrian government makes use of it 
 as a means of playing off the Serbs and 
 Slavs against the Magyars, and is thus as 
 much a member of the Omladina as it is of 
 the Citonisca. Through it the government 
 is made aware of all that passes in Bel- 
 grade, and of much that passes even in 
 Moscow and Cettinje, It is chiefly owing 
 to this knowledge, and keeping up rela- 
 tions with the party, that has enabled the 
 Austrian government to keep its way open, 
 and reserve to itself the leadership of the 
 Slav party against the Hungarians, as soon 
 as the forces become too strong to be con- 
 trolled in any other way. As for the 
 Polish societies, such as the Sila and Ogynsko 
 ("Strength" and " Hearth "), as well as 
 the Czech clubs and associations, Mercury 
 and so on, both Poles and Czechs are such 
 good Catholics, that the government can 
 well afford to ignore the frantic attempts to 
 frighten it by a pretended or real under- 
 standing with the Orthodox committees of 
 Russia. The attacks of Skrejschowski, the 
 proprietor and editor of the Folitik, pub- 
 lished at Prague, have not much more 
 than a local interest, except in so far as 
 they are made on behalf of a section of 
 financiers and capitalists who are waging 
 war against the Jew interest, as represented 
 by the Kene Freie Fresse of Vienna. 
 
 Such is the general aspect of Panslavism. 
 It was this force which came to the assist- 
 ance of the Russian government in 1863. 
 It was led by a triumvirate — by Prince 
 Gortchakoff, General Mouravietf, and a 
 more powerful leader still — by M. Katkoff, 
 who did practically for Panslavism what 
 M. Aksakotf did theoretically and philo- 
 sophically. 
 
 M. Katkoff is the editor of the Moscow 
 Gazette, of whom Mr. Mackenzie Wallace 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [the "Moscow gazette." 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 2r 
 
 gave a 8hoi:t account recently. Mr. Wallace 
 says — 
 
 "M. Katkoff is the son of a parish 
 priest, and was formerly professor of philo- 
 sophy in the University of Moscow. He 
 first came prominently before the public 
 during the first years of the present reign. 
 At that time the stern repressive system of 
 administration practised by the Emperor 
 Nicholas, in imitation of Metternich, was 
 abolished, and a considerable liberty of 
 opinion was allowed by the Russian govern- 
 ment. Taking advantage of that new free- 
 dom, M. Katkoff founded a fortnightly 
 review, called the Eusski Vyestnik, and soon 
 afterwards became editor of the Moscow 
 Gazette, which was then an insignificant 
 organ belonging to the Moscow University. 
 Very soon circumstances brought M. Kat- 
 koff to the front. When, in 1863, the out- 
 burst of Liberalism which followed the 
 Crimean war was at its height, the Polish 
 insurrection broke out, and there was natu- 
 rally a moment of hesitation. Those who 
 had been talking of liberty, equality, and 
 fraternity could not consistently blame the 
 Poles for attempting to cast off a foreign 
 yoke, and at the same time they could not, 
 as Russian patriots, sympathise with the 
 insurgents. What was to be done ? Some 
 oracles gave forth an uncertain sound, but 
 M. Katkoff did not follow their example. 
 He declared boldly that much of the pre- 
 vailing Liberalism was absurd sentiment- 
 ality, which, if indulged in, must lead to 
 the dismemberment of the empire ; and he 
 preached that doctrine with such energy 
 and eloquence that he rapidly acquired 
 enormous influence. Since that time he 
 has always advocated the consolidation of 
 the empire by the abolition of such local 
 privileges as exist in Finland and the Baltic 
 provinces, and the suppression of what a 
 German would call Particularismus, 
 wherever it appeared. When, for exam- 
 ple, an attempt was made to revive the 
 peculiar dialect of Little Russia— differing 
 from Great Russian pretty much as Low- 
 land Scotch differs from English— he thun- 
 dered against the movement as a symptom 
 of this so-called Particularismus. In 
 foreign affairs he always recommends to the 
 government a ' spirited foreign policy ; ' and 
 when complications arise with foreign 
 powers, he generally waxes bellicose, and 
 uses strong language regarding those whom 
 he regards as the enemies or rivals of his 
 country. Though an admirer of English 
 
 305 
 
 II 
 
 1 1 
 
 I ■ 
 
 ,1 
 
 I.I 
 
 nn 
 
 I I 
 
 a' 
 
 i 
 
/ 
 
 N 
 
 KATKOFF AND HERTZEN.j 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1860-78. 
 
 A.D. 1860-78.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the CEN'SORS. 
 
 institutions — to such an extent that he was 
 at one time often called, jocularly, ' Lord 
 Katkoff ' — he commonly speaks of England 
 in the most hostile and uDflattering terms 
 when he discusses the Eastern question." 
 
 We have quoted this passage by Mr. 
 Wallace just to show how party history is 
 made. He slurred over the Polish rebel- 
 lion of 1863, because the deeds then done 
 by the Russians were scarcely of a nature 
 to recommend them even to the most opti- 
 mistic persons, who refused to see any evil 
 in Russia. 
 
 We will supplement Mr. Wallace's 
 meagre information regarding M. Katkoff. 
 He received his education at the German 
 universities of Konigsberg and of Berlin, 
 where he was a pupil of the philosopher 
 Schelling. It was to this connexion with 
 Schelling that M. Katkoff owed his apti- 
 tude for philosophical problems, which his 
 ambition led him to turn into practical 
 measures, whereby he climbed the ladder 
 which he placed on the foundation of blood 
 and misery, in Poland, he was the chief ad- 
 vocate of. Up to the year 18G2 he had 
 been professor of philosophy at Moscow; 
 then he became editor of the Moscoiv 
 Gazette^ which is the property of the uni- 
 versity ; but resigned his position, as the 
 authorities were then still unprepared to go 
 the length he wished. At the commence- 
 ment of Alexander II.'s reign he established 
 a paper called the Russian Messenger, 
 which soon became more notorious than 
 popular. In this paper he advocated 
 liberal measures ; and it was owing to his 
 articles on the British constitution that 
 he gained the name of " Lord Kat- 
 koff," to which Mr. Wallace alluded. The 
 government, as may be imagined, did not 
 regard M. Katkoff with favour. He was 
 excluded from society, but at the same time 
 bitterly attacked by the Conte'^nporai^, a 
 Liberal and Socialihtic journal, which seemed 
 instinctively to know the character of the 
 man. 
 
 Suddenly, when the Polish troubles com- 
 menced, and the government was sore 
 pressed with anxiety, M. Katkoff turned 
 completely round, and commenced a series 
 of the fiercest attacks upon Hertzen and 
 all the Liberals of any denomination. He 
 proclaimed the bitterest war against the 
 Poles, insisted on crushing all rebels who 
 endeavoured to sow dissension amongst the 
 Slav races, and called upon the govern- 
 ment to adopt the strongest measures in 
 306 
 
 its power. He exhorted all true Panslavists 
 to support the government in its holy work 
 of re-uniting all the Slav races, and annihi- 
 lating the enemies of Slavonic unity. 
 
 Of course, M. Katkoff was energetically 
 supported by the government authorities 
 and papers ; and his success soon became so 
 great, that for the time he was the most 
 popular man in Russia — a fact rather signi- 
 ficant for the Russian character. But bold 
 as were all his propositions, none was bolder 
 than the one advocating the appointment 
 of Mouravieff to the military governorship 
 of Poland. How Mouravien accomplished 
 his mission, how the atrocities of Wilna 
 caused his name to be execrated as intensely 
 as that of Haynau, the woman-flogger, is 
 too well known to need recapitulation. 
 Yet this was the man whom Katkoff ele- 
 vated on a pedestal, and called upon the 
 Russian people to worship. 
 
 And they did worship him. He was 
 presented with a golden image of the Arch- 
 angel Michael, to whom he was compared 
 in a most fulsome address, which was signed 
 by a number of the most influential per- 
 sons, especially women, such as the Blon- 
 doff, Mestcherskoi, Strogonoff, Dolgorou- 
 koff, Karamsin, Bouterlin, &c. Prince 
 Suwaroff, however, refused to sign this 
 address, saying that Mouravieff^s apotheosis 
 was of far too bloody a nature for him to 
 soil his hands with. For this refusal 
 Prince Suwaroff was fiercely attacked by 
 M. Tuschef, whom the Russians at this 
 time honoured with the title of the Rus- 
 sian Juvenal. Tuschef wrote a number of 
 verses addressed to the prince, in which he 
 reminded him of the sacking of Warsaw by 
 his grandfather. 
 
 "Sensitive plant," he said, "tender 
 grandson of a warlike grandfather, pardon 
 us, sympathetic prince, pardon us 
 Russians for honouring the great Russian 
 Anthropophagus — the Russian cannibal — 
 without consulting Europe. If we are to 
 be dishonoured for writing him our address, 
 so be it, prince ; but — your valiant grand- 
 father would have signed it ! " 
 
 Having once started on the path of incit- 
 ing the government to crush any attempt 
 at liberty, and all endeavours of the races 
 subjugated by Russia to regain their free- 
 dom, M. Katkoff had the satisfaction of 
 knowing that he would never be at a loss 
 for material to fill his paper with. He had 
 only to look round him. When the Arme- 
 nians revolted in Tiflis in 1865, M. Katkoflf 
 
 at once came to the front, and demanded 
 Polish measures. When disturbances 
 broke out in Georgia, M. Katkoff at once 
 bade the government quell them with the 
 bayonet, and bring out its chains to lead 
 the rebels captive to Siberia — those who 
 might happen to be left, as the energetic 
 editor euphoniously expressed himself. And 
 if by chance there did not happen to be a 
 rebellion anywhere, M. Katkoff protested 
 against the continued oppression of the 
 Lettes by the Germans, and shrieked out 
 for the complete Russification of the Baltic 
 provinces, with their German populations. 
 In short, his anthropophagism (to use 
 Tuschef s expression) was so great, that even 
 his own countrymen could not abstain from 
 ridiculing him. A satirical paper, the 
 Iskra — the Spark — represented him in the 
 guise of a monster half-human, half-bred, 
 intently studying two turtle-doves, and 
 trying to discover whether they had any 
 separatist tendencies, or were contemplat- 
 ing a rebellion against each other. 
 
 Such is M. Katkoff. His relations to 
 the Russian government, and the way in 
 which he is regarded at the Russian Court, 
 are best described when we mention that, 
 in 1877, he was highly honoured by the 
 czar, and Madame Katkoff appointed maid 
 of honour to the Russian empress. 
 
 At the same time, the relations of the 
 Russian press to the government, are best 
 exemplified by a description of the censor- 
 ship. 
 
 A number of censors are employed at the 
 post-office, whose duty consists in marking 
 the objectionable passages in the foreign 
 journals, which are then stamped out with 
 a layer of printer's ink, so that when the 
 subscriber gets his paper it presents very 
 chequered reading indeed. Means were, 
 however, discovered of removing this veil 
 without obliterating the incriminated 
 passage, and the authorities were forced to 
 employ a fresh mixture of colour, which 
 defied all attempts to remove it. It is, 
 however, the censorship as applied to books 
 and home journals that most tries the 
 patience of author and reader. Thus the 
 Dorpat censor, De la Croix, took great 
 umbrage at a passage in a statistical work, 
 which stated that "the Cossacks ride on 
 little, insignificant horses." " Little " and 
 " insignificant " were words he considered 
 derogatory to the dignity of anything 
 belonging to the Russian empire, so he 
 struck them out, leaving the astonishing 
 
 news that "the Cossacks ride on horses." 
 In an article on "Learned Women," the 
 Polish journalist Liebalt began with the 
 sentence — " There are some things which, 
 like a couple of rough-hewn blocks, do not 
 fit together. To such things we must add 
 Woman and Learning." The censor, Herr 
 von Peucker, struck out the whole of this 
 sentence because Catherine II., having been 
 a learned woman, the author thus indirectly 
 asserted that her majesty of blessed memory 
 was a rough-hewn block also. Durin<r the 
 Crimean war an account was given of the 
 famine in some Swedish provinces. The 
 censor allowed this article to pass with the 
 exception of one word— Swedish— which 
 was altered into "French," inasmuch as 
 the Russians were then at war with France, 
 but at peace with Sweden, In an article 
 on Italy, the words " sanctissima dulcis 
 virgo Maria," were struck out, with the 
 observation that the censor was not supposed 
 to censorise Italian ! On another occasion 
 Herr von Peucker struck out the whole of 
 an article from the hivalide Russe, reply- 
 ing to the editorial remonstrances by writ- 
 ing on the proof-sheet the words, naprass- 
 noye mnogosslowiye (unprofitable gabble !) 
 
 In the first volume of Mr. Wallace's "Rus- 
 sia," the only chapter upon which the censor 
 has put his black finger is that dealing with 
 the imperial administration and the officials. 
 Thus, at p. 313, Mr. Wallace has been 
 allowed to tell some very plain truths about 
 the corruption of officials ; but the following 
 sentence has been deleted : — 
 
 " The czar, indeed, might do much to- 
 wards exposing and punishing offenders, if 
 he could venture to call in public opinion 
 to his assistance ; but in reality he is very 
 apt to become a party to the system of 
 hushing-up official delinquencies." 
 
 No censor could expect to retain his post 
 who allowed such an accusation against the 
 government to pass his office ! At p. 314, 
 Mr. Wallace is permitted to say, that " no 
 individual, even though he should be the 
 Autocrat of all the Russias, can so case 
 himself in the armour of official dignity as 
 to be completely proof against personal in- 
 fluences." But the patience of the censor 
 stops there, and he deletes the two sentences 
 which follow: — 
 
 "The severity of autocrats is reserved 
 for political offenders, against whom they 
 naturally harbour a feeling of personal 
 resentment. It is so much easier for us to 
 be lenient and charitable towards a man 
 
 307 
 
 % 
 
 % 
 
 t%' *. 
 
 
/ 
 
 THE CENSORS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1860-7g, 
 
 A.D. 1860-78.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 rRIJSSIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 •who sins against public morality, than to- 
 •wards one who sins against our own in- 
 terests ! " 
 
 In Mr. Wallace's second volume, the 
 chief excisions are made from the chapter 
 ou " The Crimean War and its Conse- 
 «|uences," in which he gives an account of 
 the dissatisfaction felt throughout the 
 country at the defeat of the Russian 
 armies. Mr. Wallace speaks very frankly 
 of tlie absolutism which was the cause of 
 this disaster; and a very stringent censor- 
 i«liip, such as existed under Nicholas, would 
 have taken out the whole chapter, but now 
 all but a few passages have been allowed to 
 stand. Some of the historian's remarks 
 upon the late czar have apparently been 
 considered too free. Thus, at page 201, 
 the censor has taken exception to the fol- 
 lowing passage : — 
 
 "Nicholas has been called the Don 
 Quixote of autocracy, and the comparison 
 which the term implies is true in many 
 points. Ey character and aims he belonged 
 to a time that had long passed away ; but 
 failure and mishap could not shake his 
 faith in his ideal, and made no change in 
 his honest, stubborn nature, which was as 
 loyal and chivalresque as that of the ill- 
 fated knight of La Mancha. In spite of 
 all evidence to the contrary, he believed in 
 the practical omnipotence of autocracy. 
 He imagined that, as his authority was 
 theoretically unlimited, so his power could 
 "work miracles. By nature and training a 
 soldier, he considered government a slightly 
 modified form of military discipline, and 
 looked on the nation as an army which 
 might be made to perform any intellectual 
 or economic evolutions that he miarht see 
 fit to command. All social ills seemed to 
 him the consequence of disobedience to his 
 orders, and he knew only one remedy — 
 more discipline. Any expression of doubt 
 as to the wisdom of his policy, or any 
 criticism of existing regulations, he treated 
 as an act of insubordination which a wise 
 sovereign ought not to tolerate." 
 
 All this is forbidden reading to the loyal 
 Russian subject! At page 210, again, it 
 hcems to have been thought that Mr. 
 Wallace's description of the prevailing dis- 
 .<!atisfaction in 1856, was too dangerous a 
 re-awakening of old memories : — 
 
 " This deep and wide-spread dissatisfac- 
 tion was not allowed to appear in the 
 press, but it found very free expression in 
 the manuscript literature and in conversa- 
 308 
 
 tion. In almost every house — I mean, of 
 course, among the educated classes — words 
 were spoken which a few months before 
 would have seemed treasonable, if not blas- 
 phemous. Philippics and satires in prose 
 and verse were written by the dozen, and 
 circulated in hundreds of copies. A 
 pasquil on the commander-in-chief, or a 
 tirade against the government, was sure to 
 be eagerly read and warmly approved of." 
 
 lu this chapter Mr. Wallace gives a 
 translation of a tirade against the govern- 
 ment (circulated soon after the Crimeaa 
 war, but never printed), as an illustration 
 of the public opinion of the time. Most of 
 it has been authorised, but the following 
 impassioned appeal to the czar has been 
 struck out: — 
 
 "Awake, Russia I Devoured by 
 foreign enemies, crushed by slavery, shame- 
 fully oppressed by stupid authorities and 
 spies, awaken from your long sleep of ig- 
 norance and apathy ! You have been long 
 enough held in bondage by the successors 
 of the Tartar khan. Stand forward calmly 
 before the throne of the despot, and de- 
 mand from iiim an account of the national 
 disaster. Say to him boldly that his 
 throne is not the altar of God, and that 
 God did not condemn us to be slaves, 
 Russia entrusted to you, Czar, tlie su- 
 preme power, and you were as a god upon 
 earth. And what have you done ? Blinded 
 by ignorance and passion, you have lusted 
 after power and have forgotten Russia. 
 You have spent your life in reviewing 
 troops, in modifying uniforms, and in ap- 
 pending your signature to the legislative 
 projects of ignorant charlatans. You 
 created the despicable race of press-censors, 
 in order to sleep in peace — in order not to 
 know the wants and not to hear the groans 
 of the people — in order not to listen to 
 Truth. You buried Truth, and rolled a 
 great stone at the door of the sepulchre, 
 placed a strong guard over it, and said in 
 the pride of your heart : For her there is 
 no resurrection ! But the third day has 
 dawned, and Truth has arisen from the 
 dead. 
 
 " Stand forward, Czar, before the 
 judgment-seat of history and of God ! 
 You have mercilessly trampled Truth 
 under foot ; you have denied Freedom ; 
 you have been the slave of your own pas- 
 sions. By your pride and obstinacy you 
 have exhausted Russia and raised the world 
 in arms against us. Bow down before your 
 
 brethren and humble yourself in the dust ! 
 Crave pardon and ask advice! Throw 
 yourself into the arms of the people I 
 There is now no other salvation I " 
 
 The censor has evidently all a courtier's 
 care not to let anything pass that would 
 wound the feelings, even where it could 
 hardly be expected to shake the authority 
 of the czar. Thus, at page 309, where Mr. 
 Wallace is attributing the credit of the 
 emancipation of the serfs to the personal 
 influence of the czar, he remarks, that " had 
 the czar not shown a decision and energy 
 of which no one believed him to be capable, 
 the solution would have been indefinitely 
 postponed." The censor has intimated his 
 belief in the emperor's decision and energy 
 by obliterating these words. 
 
 Next to the emperor's dignity, nothing 
 can be dearer to a censorship than its own. 
 No one will, therefore, be surprised that 
 the following exclamations in the transla- 
 tion to which we have referred should be 
 sternly excised. 
 
 "A stable-boy became press-censor! an 
 imperial fool became admiral ! ! Klein- 
 michel became a count ! ! ! In a word, the 
 country was handed over to the tender 
 mercies of a band of robbers." 
 
 A short passage reflecting on the gen- 
 darmerie has shared the same fate. It is 
 a curious fact, too, that while these pas- 
 sages have been expunged from the Eng- 
 lish version of the book, it is allowed to 
 circulate intact in a French version. This 
 is simply owing to a desire not to annoy the 
 French, whom the Russians hope some 
 day to secure for their crusade against 
 Germany, when M. Katkofif gives the sign. 
 
 The declaration of war against Turkey, 
 in 1877, produced, in the educated classes, 
 a certain intellectual fermentation, which 
 may, perhaps, like the intellectual fermen- 
 tation during the Crimean war, generate 
 important results. It is quite possible, 
 therefore, that the future historian may 
 devote special attention to the year 1877 
 as the beginning of a new epoch in the 
 history of Russian literature. As yet, 
 however, this is apparent only to the pro- 
 phetic eye. To ordinary eyes the year 
 1877 was in no way remarkable so far as 
 literary activity is concerned. All classes 
 in Russia were so engrossed with current 
 military and political events, that they had 
 little time or inclination to think of 
 science or art. As a compensation for this 
 there ought to have been a rich harvest of 
 
 works relating to the Slav races and the 
 Eastern question; but, in reality, there 
 was little or nothing of the kind — certainly 
 nothing destined to have more than a very 
 short-lived reputation ; nor could the 
 press-censors have allowed anything to 
 pass their hands which would have been a 
 contribution of real value to their litera- 
 ture. For any increase in their knowledge 
 of the southern Slavs, they were indebted 
 almost exclusively to the newspaper corres- 
 pondents. The professors and literary men 
 among the Slavophils have always been 
 philosophers rather than historians, poli- 
 tical economists, or travellers, and conse- 
 quently, instead of studying carefully the 
 past and present, have dreamed about the 
 future of the Slavonic world. Hilferding 
 may be cited as an exception to this rule ; 
 but he is dead, and has had no worthy suc- 
 cessor. On the whole, however, the world 
 will not be sorry that the Slavophils did 
 not publish much, except in the domain of 
 poetry and rhetoric. Strong confirmation 
 of this opinion is afforded by Orest Miiller, 
 who published, to the detriment of his 
 literary reputation, a volume of collected 
 articles ; and by Mr. Kotchubinski, who, in 
 a work on the phonology of the Slavonic 
 dialects, comes to the conclusion that 
 philology confirms Russia's right to the 
 holy mission which she took upon herself 
 to fulfil in Bulgaria. The method of 
 solving political problems by philology is 
 still better illustrated by Mr. Lukashevitch, 
 in a brochure on the " Cause of the English 
 Hatred against the Slavonic Peoples," 
 which deserves to be mentioned, not 
 exactly as a specimen of Russian philo- 
 logical literature, but as a literary curiosity. 
 In reply to the question, "What is an 
 Englishman?" the learned author says, 
 that in Mongolian, the root eng-ong means 
 a wild beast ; and that in Chinese, Tneng^ 
 mong means a man, or people. From this 
 it is evident that Englishmen are descend- 
 ants of Mongol hunters, who, in ancient 
 times, conquered the British Isles and sub- 
 jugated the Slavonic aborigines, commonly 
 called Britons. That the Britons were 
 Slavs is proved by the fact that Britz, in 
 Russian, means " shaven." To the Slavs, 
 therefore, the English are indebted for 
 their knowledge of agriculture and politi- 
 cal institutions, and for those physiognomi- 
 cal traits which distinguish them from the 
 inhabitants of Northern China. But the 
 modern Englishman has still Mongol 
 
 309 
 
 K: 
 
 f*\i 
 
 :|l 
 
RUSSIAN LITERATURE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1878. 
 
 customs, such as the habit of eating raw 
 meat and destroying human beings, and he 
 has still in his veins Mongol blood, which 
 makes him sympathise with the Turks, 
 and delight in Bulgarian atrocities I 
 
 Authors with such a wild, luxuriant 
 imagination might naturally be expected 
 to write in verse rather than in prose ; but 
 versification has of late fallen into dis- 
 repute in Kussia. Time was, and not so 
 very long ago, when the Russians delighted 
 in poetry; and many middle-aged men 
 amongst them can still repeat from 
 memory whole pages of Pushkin and Ler- 
 montoff. But with the accession of Alex- 
 ander II., the public taste completely 
 changed. " Questions *' of every conceiv- 
 able kind — social, political, scientific, philo- 
 sophical, and economic — so monopolised 
 public attention, that the poet feels himself 
 " out of his element," much as a resusci- 
 tated alchemist or astrologer might feel at 
 a meeting of the Royal Society. Those 
 who are conscious of being no longer chil- 
 dren, naturally put away childish things. 
 Even patriotic entlmsiasm, which generally 
 encourages poetic aspirations, expresses 
 itself now in rhetorical prose rather than 
 in melodious verse. There remains, how- 
 ever, one poet of the former generation, 
 Nekrassof, who is still listened to with 
 respect and admiration, because he has 
 contrived, while retaining the metrical 
 form, to imbibe the spirit and adopt the 
 tone of the new epoch. For thirty years 
 he depicted the dark sides of Russian life, 
 and gave expression to the sorrows of the 
 people, but is never maudlin or lachrymose. 
 In all his writings there is a ring of ener- 
 getic protest, which has sometimes brought 
 him into contact with the Press Censure. 
 In his "Last Songs" he is still true to 
 himself and to his past. A melancholy in- 
 terest attaches to this volume, for its title 
 must be taken in the literal sense of the 
 words. Struck down by a gainful disease, 
 and with no hope of recovery, the author 
 is in a condition analogous to that of 
 Heine in the last years of his life; and 
 his words thus acquire additional pathos. 
 
 Though very litde poetry is written, there 
 is no lack of imagination and literary 
 talent, much of which finds expression in 
 tales and novels. The Russian writers of 
 fiction have been much influenced by the 
 contemporary literature of England and 
 France ; yet it must be said, to their credit, 
 that they have followed the quiet realistic, 
 310 
 
 but not the sensational school. Aiming at 
 photographic accuracy rather than strong 
 artistic effects, they generally content them° 
 selves with making careful studies from the 
 social groups with which they are best ac- 
 quainted, and use the plot simply as a 
 means of stringing together their studies 
 from nature. In their works, therefore, we 
 have a mirror of contemporary Russian 
 society, with its numerous lights and 
 shadows. As most of these authors, like 
 nine-tenths of their educated fellow-coun- 
 trymen, are dissatisfied with the existing 
 order of things, the shadows in the pictures 
 are very prominent. We constantly meet 
 with the poor over-taxed peasant, the igno- 
 rant, money-loving parish priest, the cor- 
 rupt official, the commercial swindler, and 
 other types of a similar kind. A few 
 writers, such as Prince Mestcherski, show 
 us the grand monde of the capital, but the 
 great majority choose their subjects from 
 the lower classes. Among the delineators 
 of the peasantry, the most remarkable is 
 Mr. Melnikoff, better known under his 
 pseudonym, « Andrei Petcherski," who con- 
 tinues his sketches, " On the Hills," descrip- 
 tive of the Raskolniks, and in general the 
 peasants and traders of the Volga region. 
 If we regard this work, not as a novel, but 
 as a series of descriptive sketches, we may 
 place beside it Maximof s " Nomadic Rus- 
 sia," a spirited description of the homeless 
 people who, from various motives, wander 
 about the country and live by charity. In 
 this category, too, may be put " The Land 
 of Ice," a description of the far north, by 
 Nemirovitch-Dantchenko. 
 
 Of the numerous works of fiction in the 
 higher sense, the only novels likely to have 
 more than an ephemeral reputation, are 
 " Anna Karenina," by Count Tolstoi, and 
 "Nov" ("Virgin Soil"), by Tourguenief. 
 Count Tolstoi's work will certainly be a 
 lasting monument for the author's reputa- 
 tion. It displays a wonderful power of de- 
 picting human characters and analysing 
 complex human motives. Some of the de- 
 scriptions are tediously minute, but they 
 have considerable artistic merit, and, as a 
 whole, the work is much less tedious than 
 the author's previous novel, "War and 
 Peace." Count Tolstoi is a man who is not 
 in harmony with " the spirit of the age," 
 as that phrase is commonly understood by 
 his countrymen ; and as he does not desire 
 to conceal the fact, he is often led into 
 philosophical discussions, which are out of 
 
 A»D. 1878.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [count TOLSTOI. 
 
 place in a work of fiction. In " War and 
 Peace," this discursive element was pain- 
 fully obtrusive ; in " Anna Karenina," on 
 the contrary, it is scarcely felt. In the 
 construction of the plot there are serious 
 defects, which may, perhaps, be explained 
 by the fact that the first chapters had been 
 already published when the later chapters 
 were being written. Of Tourgueniefs 
 "Nov" it is scarcely possible to speak 
 without assuming at once a polemical 
 attitude, and taking part in the discussions 
 which it has raised. As a work of art, it 
 is generally considered inferior to the 
 author's earlier efforts; but it is seldom 
 judged from a purely aesthetic point of 
 view. To understand the reason of this, 
 the reader must know something of a curi- 
 ous episode of Russian literary history, 
 which cannot be more than briefly referred 
 to here. Twenty years ago Tourguenief 
 was one of the idols of the young genera- 
 tion. He had written his " Memoirs of a 
 Sportsman," in which he bad shown warm 
 sympathy with the oppressed serfs, and he 
 had been subjected to administrative an- 
 noyance in consequence of his Liberal 
 opinions. During the first years of the 
 present reign (1856-'60), he wrote several 
 works which were thoroughly in harmony 
 with the prevailing spirit, and his popu- 
 larity consequently increased. But, in 
 1861, he published his famous "Fathers 
 and Children" (translated into English 
 some years ago by Mr. Schuyler), and was at 
 once condemned by the young generation 
 as a man behind the age. In vain he de- 
 clared that his aims and intentions had 
 been misunderstood and misinterpreted. 
 Young Russia continued to hold that he 
 was an antiquated, aristocratic, dilettante 
 Liberal, of the years 1840-'50, incapable of 
 understanding the new, serious, practical, 
 genuinely democratic Liberalism. It was, 
 apparently, in order to disprove this accu- 
 sation that he wrote "Virgin Soil," in 
 which he has represented a little group of 
 revolutionary Liberals at work. 
 
 Turning from fiction to fact, we meet 
 with several important historical works. 
 First comes Solovieff"s yearly volume, 
 which appears as regularly as the alma- 
 nacks. In 1851, Mr. Solovieff began his 
 gigantic " History of Russia," by a sketch 
 of the geographical and ethnographical 
 conditions of north-eastern Europe in the 
 9th century. During the last twenty-six 
 years he has laboriously and conscientiously 
 
 traced the geographical, political, and in- 
 telligent growth of the nation; and now, 
 in his twenty-seventh volume, he relates 
 the history of the years 1766-'68. Nine- 
 tenths of that enormous mass of printed 
 matter is little more than a collection of 
 Valuable historical data, loosely strung to- 
 gether ; but, here and there, when the 
 author stops for a moment, and looks back 
 on the ground over which he has been 
 travelling, he displays a certain power of 
 description, analysis, and generalisation. 
 The most interesting part of this last 
 volume is the account of a famous com- 
 mission for preparing a new code of laws, 
 created by Catherine II. in 1766. The 
 so-called commission was a kind of tempo- 
 rary National Assembly, composed of depu- 
 ties from various parts of the empiie, and 
 from all classes of ihe people. Catherine 
 supplied them with " instructions," taken 
 from the works of her friends, the French 
 philosophers of the time, and watched, With 
 great interest, the effect which these 
 "principles elaborated by contemporary 
 science" would have on her unphilosophical 
 subjects. Those who are curious to know 
 the result, may find much information, 
 though by no means all that could be de- 
 sired, in Mr. Solovieff's pages. More 
 likely to attract attention is the " History 
 of the Crimean War," by Bogdano witch, 
 who has had access to many valuable 
 sources unknown to his predecessors. 
 From Mr. Tratchevski we have a history of 
 the famous Furstenburid, In the form of 
 raw material, but none the less interesting 
 on that account, appears a new instalment 
 of the Woronzoff archives, being the 
 twelfth volume of the collection. It con- 
 tains a long series of interesting letters, 
 written by Count Zavadovski to the 
 brothers Woronzoff, from 1770 to 1807. 
 For the publication of historical material 
 of this kind, there are two special periodi- 
 cals, the Russki Archio (Russian Archives) 
 and RussJcaya Starind (Russian Anti- 
 quity), both of which, strange to say, have 
 a large circulation. From this we may 
 conclude that a considerable section of the 
 reading public like to get history in the 
 raw state. Of works on the history of 
 literature, two deserve mention — Dash- 
 kevitch on the " Legend of the Holy Grail," 
 and Vesselovski's "Investigations in the 
 Poetry of the Middle Ages." Messrs. 
 Py'pin and Spassevitch are preparing a 
 new and enlarged edition of their "History 
 
 311 
 
 1 -ILL i\ 
 
 ! t 
 
MODERN AUTHORS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1878. 
 
 of Slavonic Literature," a work of great 
 merit. 
 
 Among juridico-historical works, may be 
 mentioned the first volume of Azarevitch's 
 " History of Byzantine Law ;" the first 
 volume of Zagoskin's " History of Musco- 
 vite Law ;" the second volume of Dityatin's 
 ** History of Municipal Self-Government 
 in Russia," containing an account of Rus- 
 sian municipal institutions, from the be- 
 ginning of the eighteenth century to the 
 year 1870 ; the second volume of Gra- 
 dovski's " Course of Russian Public Law ;" 
 and the ninth volume of " Historico-juri- 
 dical Materials relating to the Province of 
 Vitebsk." Special attention is being paid 
 to custom law, which is, in Rusjsia, a very 
 important subject, because the peasants 
 have their own courts ( Volostniye Sudy), in 
 which all cases are decided according: to 
 traditional conceptions of right, irrespec- 
 tive of ukases and the code. In 1872, an 
 imperial commission examined the condi- 
 tion of these courts, and afterwards pub- 
 lished a large quantity of interesting mate- 
 rials. Private investigators have also been 
 at work. In 1877, appeared the first 
 volume of Pachman's " Customary Civil 
 Law in Russia, relating to Procedure and 
 the Right of Property," and KostrotTs 
 work on the "Juridical Customs of the 
 Province of Temsk " (in Siberia). For 
 those who wish to prosecute this study, 
 Matveef has published a " Programme for 
 the Collection of Popular Juridical Cus- 
 toms." It is worthy of remark, as a sign 
 of intellectual decentralisation, that some 
 of these works have been published in pro- 
 vincial towns. Azarevitch and Dityatin 
 hail from Yaroslaf, where there is a school 
 of law; and Zagoskin from Kazan, where 
 there is a university. There are several 
 books on land tenure, a subject which has 
 special interest for Russians. The eman- 
 cipation law of 1861 gave to the village 
 communes the perpetual usufruct of the 
 land which they* possessed, and thereby 
 transformed the serfs into communal land- 
 holders. The preservation of the com- 
 munal tenure is a curious experiment, on 
 the success of which depends, to a great 
 extent, the future prosperity of the 
 country. Most Russians believe that it 
 will succeed, and will enable Russia to 
 avoid many of those social and political 
 evils from which Western Europe is suffer- 
 ing, in consequence of ^having expropriated 
 the peasantry. But, to escape these evils, 
 312 
 
 Russia ought to profit by the experience 
 of older countries. It is in this spirit that 
 Prince Wassiltchikoff has written a larofe 
 work on "Land Tenure and Agriculture," 
 in which he compares the history of landed 
 property in England, France, and Germany 
 with the history of landed property in 
 Russia. He explains how, in the countries 
 of the West, the majority of the peasantry 
 have been, during the course of centuries, 
 legally and illegally deprived of the land 
 which their forefathers possessed ; and he 
 endeavours to prove that this gradual ex- 
 propriation has been the chief cause of 
 revolutions and social disorders. In Rus- 
 sia, where the land still belongs to the 
 peasantry, measures ought to be taken, he 
 thinks, to prevent its passing out of their 
 hands ; and " these measures must be taken 
 at once ; otherwise Russia will fall into the 
 same mistake as other nations, who took to 
 thinking and writing about agrarian matters 
 when all the land was already allotted, and 
 social relations had lost their primitive 
 elasticity." It is the old story which we 
 have heard again and again since 1857, 
 that Russia may be for ever saved from 
 pauperism, the proletariat, and revolution, 
 by the rural commune. It is not, however, 
 at all necessary to adopt this view in order 
 to read Prince Wassiltchikoflfs work with 
 interest. The historical part will be wel- 
 come to many who do not accept the dog- 
 matic conclusions. Written in the same 
 spirit is the "Historical Sketch of the 
 Rural Commune in tlie North of Russia," 
 by Sokolovr^ki, who thinks that " the 
 Western nations, in the person of their best 
 scientific representatives, regret the prema- 
 ture annihilation of this institution among 
 themselves." The book does not contain 
 much new material ; but it presents, in a 
 connected, readable form, a good deal of 
 matter which was formerly scattered about 
 in books, newspapers, and magazines. 
 New data for the history of the rural com- 
 mune may be confidently expected in the 
 " Pistooviya Knigi" (Old Land-registers), 
 which are being published by Mr. Kalat- 
 choff. The big volume of 1,560 pages, 
 recently published, refers to the north- 
 eastern provinces. 
 
 Above the " Mir," or rural commune, 
 stands the " Zemstvo," that organ of local 
 self-government resembling, in some res- 
 pects, our coimty administration, which 
 we have already described. Unlike the 
 " Mir," it is a direct product of imperial 
 
 A.l>. 1878.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE* 
 
 [russun reviews. 
 
 legislation, and has been in existence only 
 ten years. Its activity during that period 
 is described and criticised by Mr. Mor- 
 dovtsef in his " Ten Years of the Russian 
 Zemstvo." 
 
 The educated classes are so occupied 
 with these and other mundane concerns, 
 that they pay very little attention to the 
 Bupernatural ; and one might live amongst 
 them for years without ever suspecting 
 that they possess a theological literature. 
 As a rule, the educated Russian has no 
 taste for theological speculation or reli- 
 gious discussions. He may be a very good 
 Christian so far as rites and ceremonies are 
 concerned, and may be warmly attached to 
 the church as a national institution, but 
 his intellectual interests lie elsewhere. In 
 the theological academies, however, there 
 is a certain amount of intellectual activity. 
 They are four in number ; and each of 
 them has its special organ, with a certain 
 distinctive character. The Academy of St. 
 Petersburg, being nearest to the Protes- 
 tant West, pays special attention to Ger- 
 man theology j Kazan, possessing the valu- 
 able library of the Solovetsk monastery, 
 which was formerly a "nest of heresy," 
 occupies itself with the Dissenters and 
 their doctrines; Kief, situated on the fron- 
 tier of the Greek Orthodox and Roman 
 Catholic worlds, studies the historic influ- 
 ences and dogmatic peculiarities which 
 distinguish Roman Catholicism from Or- 
 thodoxy ; and Moscow, round which the 
 empire has been gradually formed, seeks to 
 embrace all these subjects. Of the theo- 
 logical books recently published, may be 
 mentioned, the "Scripture Commentary," 
 by the Archimandrite Michael, and " The 
 Sacred Chronicle of Primitive Times," by 
 Mr. Vlastof. This latter work is character- 
 istic and important, as showing that some 
 Russian theologians are leaving the field of 
 ecclesiastical history and religious ceremo- 
 nial, and entering the wider region opened 
 up by English apologists and German 
 critics. Mr. Vlastof treats of the spiritual 
 principle in man, of natural religion, and 
 the necessity of revelation ; of the creation 
 and the fall ; of the flood and the confusion 
 of tongues. " All these questions," in the 
 opinion of a committee appointed by the 
 Holy Synod, " have been solved according 
 to the principles of sound philosophy, in 
 harmony with the true indications of his- 
 tory, and of natural and social science, and 
 in Complete accordance with the doctrines 
 
 VOL. II. 2 s 
 
 of Divine Revelation." In the accomplish- 
 ment of this herculean task, in which so 
 many of his predecessors have failed, Mr. 
 Vlastof has been assisted, not only by 
 native authorities, but also by foreigners, 
 such as Lenormant, Inatrefuges, Gerlach, 
 George Smith, Rawlinson, Ferguson, Max 
 Miiller, Franck, Kuenen, and others. In- 
 dependent critics of a sceptical turn of 
 mind may, possibly, have some doubts as 
 to whether all the " questions " raised have 
 been solved as completely and satisfactorily 
 as the learned committee of the Holy 
 Synod believes ; but all who desire to see a 
 little more intellectual vitality in the Rus- 
 sian church, will hail with pleasure the ap- 
 pearance of such works. 
 
 Those who prefer science without any 
 theological alloy, have their wants plenti- 
 fully supplied by native savants and by 
 translations from the works of foreign 
 authors. The names of Darwin, Tyndall, 
 Huxley, and Herbert Spencer, are as well 
 known in St. Petersburg as in London ; and 
 some of the native investigators are making 
 for themselves a European reputation. 
 Natural science is, in fact, one of the most 
 popular subjects of study in Russia, and the 
 number of scientific works published is, 
 consequently, very great. 
 
 The magazines have long played an im- 
 portant part in Russian literature, and con- 
 tinue to flourish as before. There are four 
 large monthlies, about the size of the 
 Quarterly Review, and they have all a re- 
 spectable number of subscribers. The 
 articles are of the most varied character, 
 including tales, novels, essays, historical 
 treatises, literary criticism, popular science, 
 philosophy, social questions, and current 
 political affairs. Whilst these periodicals 
 have all much in common, each of them 
 has a special character of its own. The 
 most serious and weighty is the Vestnik 
 Evropy (European Messenger), representing 
 what in Russia is considered moderate Libe- 
 ralism. The Otetchestvenniya Zapiski 
 (Memoirs of the Fatherland) is of a more 
 " advanced " hue ; but often refrains from 
 discussing important political and social 
 questions in consequence of the regulations, 
 or rather the unregulated action of the Press 
 Censure. Dyelo takes as its speciality, soci- 
 ology, and natural science in the popular 
 form. In opposition to these, the Rwsski 
 Vestnik (Russian Messenger), published by 
 M. Katkoff in Moscow, is regarded as the 
 organ of the Conservative or Retrograde 
 
 313 
 
 
 ^■' 
 
 
 I 
 
THE POLISH REBELLION.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 18f)3. 
 
 party. To these must be added the Sbor- 
 nik Gosudarstvennihh Znanii (Collected 
 Essays in Political Science), published at 
 irregular intervals by Mr. Bezebrazof, and 
 containing most valuable papers intended 
 for the more serious part of the reading 
 public ; and Die Rus^ische Revue, pub- 
 lished in Grerman. 
 
 Of the regular writers in the monthlies, 
 the most prominent and influential is Mr. 
 Soltykoff, hetter known under the assumed 
 name of Shtchedrin. He is generally re- 
 garded by his countrymen as one of the 
 greatest satirists, if not the greatest of the 
 age ; but he is very far from being a per- 
 fect master of the art. Certainly he pos- 
 sesses enormous satirical talent, and makes 
 his readers laugh heartily; but he almost 
 always allows his humour to run wild, 
 and in that way his satire loses its point. I 
 As a caricaturist he very often leaps far 
 beyond the limits of reality, so that his 
 writinofs resemble broad farce rather than 
 legitimate comedy. Involuntarily the i 
 reader asks himself — What does the author 
 mean by all this comical mystification ? 
 Has he any serious purpose, or is he simply i 
 
 indulging in boisterous fun ? In answer to 
 this, Mr. Soltykoff might point to Rabelais 
 and other great humourists who have sinned 
 in the same way Besides this, he might 
 justly remark, that the present system of 
 Press Censure compels him to hide the keen 
 edge of his satire under a broad humour, 
 occasionally approaching to buffoonery. An 
 amusing hint to this effect appears in his 
 last article. He is describingr commercial 
 swindlers connected with the army, and 
 brings forward a trader in secrets, who opens 
 negotiations with Osman Pasha, and de- 
 livers to him important State documents. 
 Among these is a project for introducing 
 order into the Russian empire by means of 
 destroying the printing-presses, and reduc- 
 ing the number of types to the quantity re- 
 quired for advertisements and official circu- 
 lars ! The Press Censure has certainly not 
 gone quite so far as that ; but it exercises 
 an influence on literary composition so 
 great, that it should always be borne in 
 mind when judging the writings of Russian 
 authors, as the examples we have already 
 given of the way in which it is carried out, 
 sufficiently show. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 THE POLISH REBELLION OF 1863. 
 
 In January, 1878, two events occurred, in- 
 siofnificant in themselves it is true, that 
 brought back to the mind the occurrence of 
 1863-1864 in Poland, which at one time 
 threatened to produce a European conflict, 
 and in any case first brought Prince Bis- 
 marck into prominence as a European 
 statesman, and laid the foundation to that 
 alliance between the Russian and Prussian 
 Courts, the results of which have been seen 
 in all their momentous significance in the 
 wars of 1866, 1870, and 1877-78. 
 
 The first and least important of these 
 events was the announcement by the Nord- 
 deutsche Allgemelne Zeitunrf, couched in a 
 tone of petty triumph singularly out of 
 proportion to the matter, that Madlle. 
 Pustowojtoff, the lady-adjutant of the 
 ex-Dictator Langiewicz, had been sen- 
 tenced to a term of imprisonment at 
 314 
 
 Rothenburg in Silesia, and to a lonof period 
 of subsequent confinement in the House of 
 Correction at Schweidnitz. The lady's 
 crime was " vagrancy " — that is to say, 
 being without means. She was directed to 
 Dresden, where she was domiciled, by a 
 certain route. From this route she devi- 
 ated, owing to the offer of a gentleman to 
 pay her fare to a station on her way, by 
 which she would have been spared half her 
 weary journey on foot. " Such," exclaimed 
 the Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, "is 
 the end of a rebel adventuress. May she 
 serve as a warning ! " 
 
 Unfortunately for the German paper, 
 but fortunately for Madlle. Pustowojtoff, 
 the person arrested at Rothenburg was not 
 the former adjutant of Langiewicz; for a 
 letter appeared in a Swiss paper, stating 
 that the Prussian authorities had been pre- 
 
 ». - i 
 
 A.D. 1863.J 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [WIELOPOLSKI. 
 
 mature in their triumph, and that Madlle. 
 Pustowojtoff had been married for five 
 years to a Dr. Lowenhardt in Paris, where 
 she was now living with her husband and 
 daughter, who, she hoped, would live to 
 fight the Russians as she herself had done. 
 The second event was the death of the 
 Marquis Wielopolski, whose disappear- 
 ance caused scarcely more than an obituary 
 notice of a few lines in the daily press. 
 There was a time, however, between the 
 years 1861 and 1863, when " the Marquis," 
 as he was called — he was the only person 
 bearing that title in Poland — held a pro- 
 minent position among the political men of 
 Europe. He had undertaken to grapple 
 with the Polish question, which destroyed 
 him, as he, in the opinion of many of his 
 countrymen, destroyed, or helped to destroy, 
 what still remained of Poland. Throufifh- 
 out the insurrection of 1863, as during the 
 two years of open agitation and secret pre- 
 paration by which the actual rising was 
 preceded, Wielopolski was dttested by all 
 Poles except a few among the high aris- 
 tocracy, who, while approving his policy, 
 had not the heart, in the face of the strong 
 popular feeling which had set in against 
 him, to give him their active support. He 
 had no following in Poland, and thus the 
 task he had undertaken of bringing about 
 a reconciliation between Poles and Russians 
 was an impossible one. Very decided in 
 his opinions, he was, unfortunately, of a 
 reserved and haughty disposition ; so that 
 if he was free from some of the defects of 
 the Poles, he was also wanting in many of 
 their amiable qualities. Not only his policy, 
 but he himself was unpopular. It used to 
 be said of him that he had "the English 
 manner," which would not, in most conti- 
 nental countries, be considered a high com- 
 pliment, as it is there synonymous with a 
 cold, haughty, and exclusive bearing of 
 self-conscious superiority. He was con- 
 sistent enough ; but his consistency was 
 that of a man of one idea, who is determined 
 to carry out that idea without regard to 
 circumstances. It must be admitted, how- 
 ever, that circumstances in 1862 were 
 terribly against him ; and it may be doubted 
 whether any other Pole, if such confidence 
 had been placed in him as the Emperor 
 Alexander placed in the Marquis Wielo- 
 polski, would have succeeded any more 
 than did the Marquis Wielopolski in 
 averting the threatened insurrection. 
 
 If Wielopolbki's unpopularity told heavily 
 
 against him in his endeavours to gain ac- 
 ceptance by his own countrymen of the 
 concessions granted by Russia, the fact that 
 he was far from being regarded in Poland 
 as a Polish patriot may have helped him in 
 his negotiations with St. Petersburg. Like 
 most mediators, he was looked upon with 
 suspicion by both sides. The Poles, when 
 Wielopolski desired them to make peace 
 with Russia, on condition of receiving the 
 completest possible system of what would 
 now be called " administrative autonomy," 
 regarded him as a sort of Russian agent, 
 and accused him of wishing to sacrifice his 
 country's hopes of independence for a few 
 trifling reforms. The Russians, when he 
 went so far in his demands for Polish self- 
 government as to require that all Russians, 
 without exception, should be excluded from 
 the Polish administration, saw in this stipu- 
 lation, to which the emperor consented, a 
 first menace to their dominion in the con 
 quered country. Yet it was not until after 
 the insurrection of 1863 had actually 
 broken out, that the system introduced into 
 Poland by the Marquis Wielopolski met 
 with any serious opposition on the part of 
 the Russians. When the Poles took up 
 arms, the Russians declared that the insur- 
 rection had been carefully prepared by the 
 Marquis Wielopolski with his perfect 
 system of administrative autonomy. The 
 Polish functionaries recognised the autho- 
 rity, and worked as the willing agents of the 
 insurrectionary government ; and it might, 
 of course, be said that but for the Marquis 
 Wielopolski and his pretended measures of 
 conciliation, all the public offices in Poland 
 would not have been filled with Poles. The 
 case against the marquis, from a Russian 
 point of view, was clear enough ; and when 
 the national feelings of the Russians had 
 become excited to fanaticism bv the con- 
 tinned resistance of the Poles, supported as 
 they were by the diplomacy of France, 
 England, and Austria, it was whispered 
 about that Wielopolski, a traitor from 
 patriotism, had found a fellow-conspirator 
 in the Grand Duke Constantine, a traitor 
 from ambition. The grand duke, as lieu- 
 tenant of the kingdom, had indeed ac- 
 cepted all the Marquis Wielopolski's 
 suggestions. Fired at and wounded im- 
 mediately after his arrival in Poland on 
 what was known to be a mission of 
 pacification, he had abstained from taking 
 any repressive measures in consequence of 
 this act, and but for the protests of the 
 
 315 
 
 J 
 
 'i> 
 
 I 
 
 I, 
 
 1. 
 
WIELOPOLSKI.^ 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1863. 
 
 more resolute Wielopolski, would have j 
 commuted the capital sentence passed upon 
 the assassin. The intended reforms were 
 all introduced; and personally the grand 
 duke and, in at least an equal degree, the 
 grand duchess, strove to gain the good-will 
 of the inhabitants of Warsaw. All this 
 was afterwards interpreted in Russia as 
 proving the complicity of the grand duke 
 in the designs entertained by Wielopolski, j 
 who was accused of aiming at the complete 
 severance of Poland from the Russian 
 empire, and its erection into an indepen- 
 dent kingdom under the Grand Duke 
 Constantine's rule. 
 
 If the Poles, instead of giving them- 
 selves up to their own impulses, and to the 
 hopes excited in their breasts by the suc- 
 cessful intervention of the Emperor Napoleon 
 on behalf of the Italians, could have looked 
 coolly around them, they might have 
 learned, from the view taken of the Wie-r 
 lopolski reforms by tlie Russians, Austrians, 
 and Prussians, that they possessed far more 
 value than was generally accorded to them 
 in Poland, when even those who approved 
 of them were afraid to say so. There were 
 some Poles, however, who believed that, by 
 keeping up a vague agitation on behalf of 
 Polish independence as an idea, they could 
 prevail upon the Russians to grant much 
 more important reforms than those already 
 conceded ; whilst there were others, of the 
 extreme party, who held that Poland must 
 form no compact of any kind with Russia, 
 and that the aim of Polish patriots should 
 be, not good government under the Russian 
 sceptre, but absolute independence. To 
 render the position of the Poles in the 
 kingdom of Poland tolerable, and even in 
 the eyes of the Austrian and Prussian 
 Poles enviable, was to run directly counter 
 to the views of this party ; and while no 
 one seemed willing to receive the good 
 things brought by the Grand Duke Con-v 
 stantine and the Marquis Wielopolski with 
 the least degree of favour, the sworn revo- 
 lutionists looked upon them with undis- 
 guised aversion. If the political caricatures 
 of this period were referred to, it would be 
 found that the Marquis Wielopolski was 
 regarded, by the least intelligent of his 
 countrymen, not only as a would-be tyrant, 
 but also as an idiot and a buffoon. One of 
 the public monuments of Warsaw repre- 
 sents John Sobieski on horseback, riding 
 over the Turks ; and it was thought hu- 
 morous, in 18G2, to depict Wielopolski as 
 316 
 
 a sort of bourgeois Sobieski, trampling on 
 the Turks of the Revolution. When a crisis 
 was approaching, the marquis did indeed 
 take a severe and culpable measure against 
 the men who had resolved that Poland 
 should not be pacified, and that, whatever 
 endeavours might be made to bring about 
 that result, the experiment of an armed 
 rising should be resorted to. He decided to 
 seize the irreconcilable enemies of his gov- 
 ernment, who were on the point of taking 
 up arms. But he did not seize them by 
 legal means to bring them before legal 
 tribunals. . He executed a sort of coup de 
 police ; and reviving, for this particular oc- 
 casion, a form of conscription which had 
 just been abolished, ordered that the most 
 notorious of the revolutionists should be 
 arrested and carried off to serve in the 
 Russian army. It was generally believed 
 in Europe, that this peculiar kind of con- 
 scription, which was described at the time 
 as "proscription," had been invented by 
 the Marquis Wielopolski. It had been the 
 customary method, however, of recruiting 
 the Russian army in Poland, till it was 
 abolished in 1859 by an imperial ukase. 
 Inconsistent for once, the Marquis Wielo- 
 polski spoiled the efifect of his flagrantly 
 illegal measure by seeking to give it a legal 
 form. He announced beforehand, in the 
 official journal, that the new mode of con- 
 scription on the French model, which he 
 had himself introduced, would not, for the 
 present, come into force. This could only 
 mean that the conscription about to take 
 place would be executed in the old style, 
 as under the Emperor Nicholas, and the 
 announcement had the natural effect of 
 making numbers of those against whom 
 that measure was directed, take flight, and 
 prepare for the appeal to arms, by which 
 the execution of the conscription was im- 
 mediately followed, and proceeded to set in 
 force the barbarous system of recruitment 
 by designation in Poland, in lieu of the 
 humaner plan of conscription by lot, which 
 had been prescribed by the above-men- 
 tioned law of the year 1859, but which 
 had never been exercised, as no levy had 
 been made since tliat date. Nor was a re- 
 currence to the former scheme by wliicb 
 the Emperor Nicholas exhausted and sub- 
 dued the energies of the Polish people the 
 only bad feature in the enactment : the 
 scheme was partially applied ; it was to be 
 put in force in the towns, but not in the 
 country, the government having a double 
 
 
 fC 
 
 7^/: 
 
 j 
 
 
 VV i-L^ 
 
 < 
 
 BROTHER OF THE CZAR 
 
 TUF 'NDON PRXN''T^rG AND i^UBl.i GHIU& COMl^ANY _ LIMITED 
 
 I? 
 
I 
 
 w 
 
 i'. 
 
 < : 
 
 << 
 
 A.D. 1863.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [outbreak of the rebellion.' 
 
 object in view — on one side to conciliate 
 the landed proprietors and peasantry, and 
 on the other side, to seize upon the most 
 obnoxious persons in the urban population, 
 and carry them off as soldiers. About 
 8,000 recruits were to be levied in the 
 Polish towns by mixed commissions com- 
 posed of military officers and civil func- 
 tionaries, who had an absolute power of 
 selection. Witliout affirming that, in all 
 cases, this faculty was a])usively exercised 
 without regard to the numbers or resources 
 of families, or to the station and avocations 
 of the parties liable to service, it is certain 
 that the selection of the authorities was 
 frequently prompted by considerations of a 
 political character, and the instruments of 
 government were frequently animated by 
 motives of a corrupt nature. In fact, it 
 was a design to make a clean sweep of the 
 revolutionary youth of Poland, to shut up 
 the most energetic and cl. ngerous spirits in 
 the restraints of the Russian army. It was 
 simply a plan to kidnap the opposition, 
 and carry it off to Siberia or the Caucasus. 
 This proposal, so totally out of keeping 
 with the humane and intelligent order of 
 things recently inaugurated in Poland, 
 created great surprise even among many 
 persons well affected to the Russian govern- 
 ment ; for it was rightly apprehended, that 
 even if the government should succeed in 
 disposing of a number of dangerous anta- 
 gonists, yet the moral obloquy attending 
 this act would greatly outweigh the ma- 
 terial advantages to be gained. It seemed 
 to be the single considerable error com- 
 mitted in Poland since the nomination of 
 Marquis Wielopolski ; yet, as we have seen, 
 it had his approval, was suggested by him, 
 and had the sanction of the Grrand Duke 
 Constantine. How far the revolt was the 
 work of men driven to desperation by the 
 prospect of being caught up and made 
 Russian soldiers, or how far it was the 
 work of revolutionary incendiaries availing 
 themselves of this opportunity, was a ques- 
 tion which could not be answered clearly at 
 the time ; but the arbitrary recruitment 
 greatly excused the resistance and acts of 
 the revolutionary party in the eyes of 
 Europe. They had, if not a justification, 
 at least an extenuation, which nothing but 
 some great act of injustice on the part of 
 Russia could have afforded them. At the 
 same time, however, it was obvious, to all 
 acquainted with the facts, that, under 
 every provocation, insurrection in Poland, 
 
 under any circumstances, was a senseless 
 proceeding; for it had not the least chance 
 of success, and only terminated in increased 
 seveirties and aggravated hatred. 
 
 Among reflecting Russians, the only de- 
 fence ever given for the suspension of the 
 law of 1859, and the return to the old sys- 
 tem, was, that the regular military con- 
 scription was not introduced in Russia 
 itself, and that if the levy had been taken 
 in Poland on the modern European plan, 
 Poland would have been better treated 
 than the empire; that it was most equita- 
 ble to continue the arbitrary method in 
 both countries until a good law could be 
 contrived for both. But as the institu- 
 tions of Poland were in many respects 
 more advanced than those of Russia, this 
 was but an additional reason for improving 
 the Russian laws, and not for debasingr 
 those of Poland. 
 
 Referring to this matter. Lord Napier 
 wrote to Lord John Russell — "There is 
 no reason why the French law of conscrip- 
 tion should not have been matured for 
 application in Russia Proper during the 
 last six years, in which there has been no 
 levy of soldiers in the empire. The mea- 
 sure complained of is, in my humble opin- 
 ion, simply a malignant, and, I hope, ex- 
 piring effort of the old system of despotic 
 violence. The result is deplorable, but it 
 is natural. We can only hope that the 
 emperor will not allow himself to be drawn 
 into a reactionary course in other respects 
 by an incident which has been, in part at 
 least, provoked by the imprudence of his 
 representatives and advisers." 
 
 That Lord Napier's hopes were scarcely 
 justified, the whole course of events, up to 
 the declaration of war in 1877 against 
 Turkey, has sufficiently shown. Then, as 
 in 1860, the czar was too weak to resist the 
 counsels and demands of the purely Mus- 
 covite party — of the Katkoffs, the Aksakoffs, 
 and the rest of the Panslavonic section. 
 
 In the beginning of January, 1863, cer- 
 tain discoveries were made by the police at 
 Warsaw, to which very great importance 
 was at first attached by the highest autho- 
 rities in the country. But their value was 
 considerably diminished by the • activity of 
 the revolutionary faction remaining un- 
 abated, notwithstanding the arrest of these 
 individuals whom the police supposed to 
 be the chief leaders of the conspiracy. 
 
 These arrests comprised several railway 
 officials, one of whom, of the name of 
 
 317 
 
 ^ 
 
 ' I 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 ft 
 
 4. 
 
.'I 
 
 1 
 
 in. 
 
 THE CONSCRIPTION.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1863 
 
 Kowalewski, was spoken of as the head of 
 the police department of the revolutionary 
 committee ; another person, of the name of 
 Epstein, the son of a wealthy Jewish 
 banker, was supposed also to have taken an 
 active part in seditious measures, and great 
 joy was manifested in official circles at his 
 apprehension. 
 
 A few days later the police seized several 
 persons in the very act of printing a revo- 
 lutionary newspaper, and the letterpress 
 was also taken upon that occasion. The 
 house where these were found was taken pos- 
 session of by the police ; and in the course of 
 the following day, a man of the name of 
 Schwartz was arrested wlien comins to that 
 very house, probably with a view to get 
 some copies of the paper. He attempted 
 to make his escape on seeing the police, 
 but he was followed and taken after some 
 attempt at resistance. Several important 
 papers were found in his possession; among 
 them his commission appointing him an 
 agent to the revolutionary committee. 
 Schwartz was a French subject, but the 
 son of Polish parents; he appeared to have 
 received a good education as civil engineer 
 in Paris. 
 
 About the same time the French govern- 
 ment arrested three Polish refugees in 
 Paris, whose papers were searched, and 
 whose connection with Mazzini, and with 
 the revolutionary committee at Warsaw, 
 appeared to have been beyond a doubt. 
 
 All these discoveries were made at a time ! 
 when numerous agents of the revolutionary ; 
 committee were driving about the country, 
 both in the kingdom and in Lithuania, en- 
 rolling members for the secret society, 
 threatening the government officials with 
 their vengeance, and spreading alarm 
 among all peaceably-disposed inhabitants. 
 
 It was hoped at first by those persons in 
 the government who were more sanguine, 
 that they were on the eve of very great dis- 
 coveries on the subject of the revolutionary 
 organisation ; but these hopes were not 
 realised. 
 
 One of the most important persons 
 seized was a man of the name of Abicht, a 
 native of Lithuania, who was taken quite 
 by accident in the small town of Garwolin, 
 about fifty miles from Warsaw, by the legal 
 authorities, who suspected him of belong- 
 ing to a party of highwaymen who had 
 robbed the post in that locality. This sus- 
 picion arose from the circumstance of the 
 Jewish waiter in the inn where Abicht and ' 
 318 
 
 his companions were staying, having dis- 
 covered pistols in his portmanteau, which 
 made the Jew give information of this to 
 the local mayor, or Biirgermeister, who ar- 
 rested them at once. 
 
 As the execution of the measure of forced 
 enlistment drew near, the revolutionary 
 faction continued to deceive the masses by 
 a bold attitude, pretending all along that 
 it possessed the power of resisting the 
 orders of the government, and that the car- 
 rying out, in a peaceable manner, of this ex- 
 ceptional measure would be attended with 
 insurmountable difficulties. 
 
 A few days after the seizure of the types 
 of the insurgent paper, 7he Euch, a fresh 
 number of that newspaper was published, 
 denying the fact of the discovery of their 
 printing-press, with a view to prevent the 
 discouragement which this might produce 
 among their partisans. 
 
 Immediately afterwards the revolution- 
 ary committee issued a circular, which was 
 sent to various local authorities throuo^h- 
 out the country, threatening with ven- 
 geance and summary punishment any per- 
 son in the employment of the government, 
 or any magistrate, aiding or assisting in 
 any way to carry out the recruitment. 
 
 A few days after that, the Jewish waiter, 
 whose information had led to the apprehen- 
 sion of Abicht, who had come to Poland 
 from England with a British passport, 
 came to Warsaw to receive a pecuniary 
 reward, of the amount of 200 roubles, be- 
 stowed upon him by the grand duke for 
 having given that information. The Jew 
 applied for three days at the Treasury for 
 payment, but the third day he was stabbed 
 at the gate with a dagger on coming out of 
 the paymaster-general's office, evidently 
 with the intention of intimidating inform- 
 ers and the provincial authorities during 
 the approaching conscription. The Jew 
 was not mortally wounded it appears ; he 
 was even able to follow his murderer 
 through the streets, when he fell : a man 
 was taken by the police, a locksmith by 
 profession, who was supposed to be the 
 guilty party, but his identity was not estab* 
 lished. 
 
 The lists of persons destined to be taken 
 as recruits were made out, and the conscrip- 
 tion was to begin in the course of a few 
 days in Warsaw, and to follow in the pro- 
 vinces and the other towns of the kingdom. 
 No effort was spared to include in it all 
 able-bodied men suspected of revolutionary 
 
 i. f 
 
 A.D. 1863.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the first attacks. 
 
 tendencies, and who were marked out as 
 such by the police during the last two years ; 
 but, owing to the inefficiency of that depart- 
 ment of the government, it may be easily 
 supposed that this sort of information could 
 not always be relied on. 
 
 Tlie number of recruits to be raised from 
 the kingdom was kept strictly secret ; but 
 it was intended to get at the rate of 5 per 
 1,000 of the population; and asthis amounted 
 in the towns to about 1,200,000, the num- 
 ber would have been 6,000 men. As the 
 rural population was exempted, the villages 
 had only 2,000 men to supply ; thus making 
 a total of 8,000 men. 
 
 The exact number, however, was not defi- 
 nitely settled, and the grand duke was 
 allowed a certain margin as to the number 
 of recruits to be supplied this time by the 
 kinordom. 
 
 The result of this measure was looked 
 forward to with intense interest both by the 
 rulers and by the governed ; and if the ex- 
 pectations of the former had been attended 
 with success, the conscription would have 
 been over in a month's time ; and it was said 
 that the grand duke would have proceeded 
 to St. Petersburg for a few weeks, to submit 
 to the czar projects for the further pacifica- 
 tion of his Polish subjects. 
 
 Thus the measure was carried into effect 
 in Warsaw on the night of the 14th, when 
 about 2,000 men were taken for service. 
 
 The members of the government were 
 under considerable apprehension that carry- 
 ing this resolution into effect would produce 
 disturbances throughout the country, as the 
 agitators of the revolutionary party had used 
 their utmost endeavours to incite the people 
 to resist the levy, and, if necessary, even to 
 appeal to arms. The date on which the 
 levy was to be made was kept a secret, and 
 steps were taken by the authorities to re- 
 press any hostile movement should such 
 take place ; but notwithstanding the 
 threatening attitude of the ultra party, the 
 measure was carried out without any dis- 
 turbance, as far as the town was concerned, 
 for it was executed suddenly in the night. 
 
 The effect produced by the sudden and 
 complete success of the government in this 
 matter was most marked ; the revolutionary 
 party appeared to be paralysed, and the 
 working classes commenced to open their 
 eyes to the folly of further resistance, and 
 to the importance of the ultra party to offer 
 any effectual opposition to the government. 
 But a number of working-men and others 
 
 belonging to the secret societies, had been 
 induced to assemble not far from Warsaw, 
 in obedience to the orders given them by 
 the chiefs of the movement ; their numbers 
 were, however, not more than 500 or 600, 
 the greater portion unarmed. Troops were 
 despatched to disperse and capture these 
 insurgents; but it was thought that the 
 weakness of the ultra party, and the im- 
 possibility of their resisting the government, 
 would at least be clearly demonstrated by 
 this foolish attempt, and therefore it might 
 be anticipated that the Polish movement 
 would shortly be brought to an end, and 
 the country assume, if not a peaceful at- 
 titude, at least one of comparative quiet 
 and freedom from revolutionary attempts. 
 
 But the conscription had still to be 
 carried out in the country districts ; and the 
 date on which this was to be carried out was 
 still kept a secret ; but after the success of 
 the measure in Warsaw, no serious opposi- 
 tion was feared in the provinces : no doubt 
 numbers of persons liable to be taken would 
 endeavour to leave the country ; and it was 
 highly probable that the forests of the 
 kingdom would for some time be used as 
 places of refuge, and the roads of the king- 
 dom be rendered unsafe for travellers by 
 the presence of these persons, who would 
 be reduced to brigandage to obtain means 
 of support. 
 
 But in the meantime the insurgents as- 
 sembled near Warsaw ; and two other bands, 
 500 strong, who had gathered together at 
 Blonic, managed to elude the troops sent 
 against them, and crossed the Vistula into 
 the forests of Nasielsk, where they were 
 joined by another band — the united forces 
 amounting to about 1,000 men. Other 
 isolated parties joined them, and assembled 
 in various parts of the country ; and whilst 
 the government troops were seizing the 
 "prescripts" in their beds at Warsaw in 
 the night, from the 10th to the 11 th of 
 January, attacks were directed almost 
 everywhere in the provinces against the 
 troops in separate cantonments. The in- 
 surgents penetrated into the houses, and 
 killed the soldiers one by one, until troops 
 came up, and drove their enemies into the 
 woods. Amongst the losses incurred on 
 the 10th and 11th, were Colonel Kozli- 
 aninoff, who was killed whilst reconnoitring 
 the woods; whilst General Kanabich was 
 seriously wounded. Encounters took place 
 at Plock, Plonsk, Radzit, and Siedlce ; and 
 a telegram was sent off from Warsaw to 
 
 319 
 
 ^ 
 
 IS 
 
w 
 
 MASSACRES AT SIEDLCE.J 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A."n. 18G3, 
 
 St. Petersburg, to the effect that the revo- 
 lutionary party had decided to make a 
 St. Bartholomew's night in the night of the 
 22nd to the 23rd January. "At mid- 
 night," says the telegram, " there occurred, 
 simultaneously in all the provinces, attacks 
 upon different towns and upon detachments 
 of troops cantoned in the towns and the 
 villages. Surprising the soldiers in their 
 sleep, the insurgents slaughtered them in 
 their beds. In a village in the neighbour- 
 hood of Siedlce, where some soldiers were 
 defending themselves vigorously in the 
 house which they occupied, the insurgents 
 set the house on fire, and burnt alive the 
 brave men who were in it. Everywhere 
 these atrocities were immediately checked 
 by the troops, who made the insurgents 
 experience very great losses, being driven 
 back at all points. Martial law has now 
 been proclaimed throughout the kingdom." 
 This news, as well as the intelligence 
 coming from Wilna and other parts of the 
 empire, created a deep impression in St. 
 Petersburg, and led the czar to make the 
 address to the guard to which allusion has 
 already been made.* The address was 
 delivered on the occasion of a review of the 
 Ismailoff regiment in the Grand Manege, 
 near the palace. 
 
 At the conclusion of the parade, the 
 emperor, who was on horseback, having 
 assembled around him the officers of the 
 regiment, as well as the general officers of his 
 suite, among whom were the Grand Dukes 
 I^Jicholas and Michael, proceeded to inform 
 them of the news that had reached him, 
 the day before, of the disturbances in 
 Poland. One of the emperor's aides-de- 
 camp, who was present, stated that the 
 emperor, who spoke in a tone of great sad- 
 ness, but at the same time with much 
 firmness, related the circumstances of the 
 outbreak in almost the same terms as those 
 in which they were given in the above- 
 mentioned telegram. He described the for- 
 mation of bands of insurgents on both banks 
 of the Vistula, and the atrocities said to 
 have been committed by them; of their 
 Jiaving fallen upon small detachments of 
 soldiers and murdered them in cold blood ; 
 and, in one instance, when they were 
 unable to drive a small number of soldiers 
 out of a house in which they were defend- 
 ing themselves, of their having set fire to 
 it and burnt the soldiers alive. Besides the 
 
 320 
 
 ♦ AntCf page 277. 
 
 death of these unoffending men, the 
 emperor said he had to lament the loss of 
 a comrade who once served in this regiment, 
 Colonel Kozlianinoff, who was killed in a 
 reconnaissance near Warsaw. After ex- 
 pressing the grief and indignation with 
 which he had heard of these events, the 
 emperor said, "You must not suppose, 
 however, that I consider these atrocious 
 deeds are to be laid to the account of the 
 Polish nation ; they are the work of agents 
 of a revolutionary party who are employed 
 in creating disturbances in various parts 
 of Europe, and who will stop at no crime in 
 the accomplishment of their designs." 
 
 In conclusion, the emperor made the re- 
 markable admission referringr to disaffection 
 existing in the Kussian army. That in- 
 stances of such a feeling existed, he said, 
 cannot unfortunately be denied ; but, he 
 added, he felt convinced that if he should 
 be obliged to call upon his troops to assist 
 their comrades in Poland, he could rely on 
 their unshaken fidelity. He himaelf had 
 commanded the Ismailoffski regiment dur- 
 ing the lifetime of his father, and he knew 
 he could implicitly depend upon them ; but 
 it was not only in the guards that he had 
 this confidence, he was convinced the same 
 loyal feeling existed throughout the Rus- 
 sian army. This address, which was re- 
 ceived with enthusiastic acclamation, was 
 pronounced in such an earnest and impres- 
 sive manner, that many of the officers were 
 moved to tears, and the Grand Duke 
 Michael is said to have sobbed aloud. 
 
 Sobbing, however, is a peculiar charac- 
 teristic of the Slav races. They are always 
 crying. Tchenaieff wept when he related 
 his story of the Servian campaign to the 
 czar. The grand duke also wept ; and on 
 numerous other occasions the august eyes 
 were filled with tears. However, the im- 
 perial sobbing had no effect upon the insur- 
 gent chiefs, who issued the two proclama- 
 tions to the country, one on January 16th, 
 1863, and one on January 22nd. Both of 
 these documents were forwarded by the 
 French, Austrian, and English consuls and 
 ambassadors to tiieir respective govern- 
 ments. The first ran as follows : — 
 
 " The recruitment has partially com- 
 menced in Warsaw. Our enemy, like an 
 assassin and vile criminal, has conre to 
 attack people asleep, and to carry off the 
 fathers of numerous families, and the 
 younger children in place of the elder. In 
 a word, it has seized all whom it has found 
 
 A.D. 1863.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [polish manifestoes. 
 
 to take the places of those who were ab- 
 sent. A system of recruiting like this has 
 never yet been seen. It is worthy of its 
 author, of that great and vile criminal, that 
 traitor to his country, Wielopolski* 
 
 "The Central National Committee had 
 made every preparation to prevent the re- 
 cruitment; but it has encountered obstacles 
 which it was impossible to foresee, espe- 
 .cially on the part of tlie French government, 
 which condemns our movement, and op- 
 poses to it ohstacles similar to those with 
 which the Russian police strive to oppose 
 it. It has hindered the importation of 
 arms into Poland in numbers sufficient for 
 a simultaneous uprising. The committee, 
 not suffering itself to be baffled by such 
 measures, was occupying itself in the dis- 
 covery of other means to this end, when 
 the recruiting suddenly took place in the 
 middle of the ni<j:ht. 
 
 " Poles I must we succumb to the diffi- 
 culties which are before us ? Shall we give 
 up our brothers to a degrading service? 
 No ! Let us march on with faith and 
 courage, with God, and with confidence in 
 the sanctity of our cause. The Central 
 National Committee comes forward with a 
 vigour and energy proportioned to the diffi- 
 culty of the circumstances. Our standard 
 has not fallen, and never will fall! Gather 
 around it, brothers; and with the more 
 vigour and ardour as our enemy oppresses 
 and persecutes us. Do not give way ; but, 
 on the contrary, strengthen yourselves. 
 You should be heroes ; and you will be- 
 come so. Our enemy will meet with a de- 
 termined resistance in the prosecution of 
 his criminal projects. 
 
 " Poles ! help us with your valour, with 
 your devotion ; let us persevere to the end, 
 and God will give us the victory. 
 
 " The Central National Committee pro- 
 claims the whole country to be in an ex- 
 ceptional state, and commands all worthy 
 sons of their country to defend themselves 
 to the death, even if alone, from the re- 
 cruitment, and to deliver those who may 
 find themselves in the hands of the Musco- 
 vite, and to give help and protection to all 
 who may be in concealment. 
 
 "The Wielopolskis, the father, and his 
 son Sigi>mund, and all the criminal band 
 who have taken part in the recruitment at 
 Warsaw, together with all those who have 
 up to the present time assisted, or who are 
 about to assist these wicked attempts at 
 usurpatior, shall be outlawed ; and it is 
 
 VOL. II. 2t 
 
 permitted to every one to judge and to 
 execute them without incurring any sort of 
 responsibility, either before God or before 
 his country. 
 
 "Warsaw, January, 16th, 1863.— The 
 Central National Committee." 
 
 The second proclamation was couched in 
 even still stronger terms. It said — 
 
 " The contemptible government of the 
 invaders, rendered furious by the resistance 
 of the victim it tortures, has determined to 
 strike a decisive blow by carrying away 
 many thousands of its bravest and most 
 strenuous defenders, dressing them in the 
 hated Muscovite uniform, and driving them 
 thousands of miles to suffer eternal misery 
 and destruction. 
 
 " Poland will not, cannot, submit to this 
 violence and degradation without an attempt 
 at resistance. It would be a disgrace to 
 our posterity were she to submit to it with- 
 out an energetic effort. Legions of young 
 men, brave and devoted to the cause of 
 their country, have sworn to cast away the 
 abhorred yoke or to die, and they place 
 their reliance in the just assistance of the 
 Almighty. Follow these, Polish nation ! 
 
 "The Central National Committee, the 
 only legal government of your country, 
 bids you all appear on the last battle-field, 
 the field of glory and victory, where it 
 pledges itself to give you success before 
 God and heaven ; for the committee knows 
 that, as you have been heretofore penitents 
 or avengers, so you are ready to become to- 
 morrow heroes and giants of strength. It 
 knows well that you are ready to give all 
 your blood, your lives and your freedom, 
 without regret, hesitation, or weakness, as 
 an offering to your rising country. 
 
 " In return, the Central Committee pro- 
 mise to wield the sceptre of authority with 
 an unflinching hand, so that your strength 
 will not be wasted. Your sacrifices will not 
 be in vain. It will know how to overcome 
 all difficulties, to break through all impedi- 
 ments ; it will pursue and punish every 
 disinclination, nay, even every case of want 
 of sujfficient zeal in our holy cause, with 
 the utmost severity required from a tribu- 
 nal which metes out justice in the name of 
 an offended country. 
 
 " This being the first day of open resist- 
 ance, the commencement of the sacred 
 combat, the committee proclaim all the sons 
 of Poland free and equal, without distinc- 
 tion of creed and condition. It proclaims 
 
 321 
 
 \ 
 
 
 I 'I 
 
 i' 
 
 
 i ■>! 
 
MORE MASSACRES.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 18fi3, 
 
 I 
 
 I T 
 
 further, that the land held heretofore by 
 the agricultural population in fee, for 
 forced labour or for rent, becornes hence- 
 forth their freehold property, without any 
 restriction whatsoever. The proprietors 
 will receive compensation from the pub- 
 lic treasury. All cottagers and labourers 
 who shall serve the families of those who 
 may die in the service of their country, will 
 receive allotments from the national pro- 
 perty in land regained from the enemy. 
 
 To arms, therefore, ye Polos, ye Lithua- 
 nians and ye Kuthenians ! The liour of our 
 common deliverance has struck ; the an- 
 cient sword is drawn from the scabbard ; 
 the sacred flag of our common country is 
 unfurled. 
 
 " And now we appeal to you, Muscovite 
 nation, miserable and tormented, sad and 
 afflicted with ourselves. Thy sons have also 
 been dangling on gibbets, or have found a 
 frosty death like our own people in the 
 snows of Siberia ; therefore we forgive you 
 the murder of our country, the blood of 
 Praofa aud Oszmiana, the violence in the 
 streets of Warsaw, the tortures in the dun- 
 geons of the citadel. But woe to ye, if in 
 this solemn hour ye give assistance to the 
 tyrant who crushes you whilst he murders 
 us ! If, instead of regret for the past and 
 hopes for the future, you do this, you shall 
 be accursed and condemned to a shameful 
 and perpetual slavery, and then we must 
 light you to extermination in the last battle 
 of European civilisation with Asiatic bar- 
 barity. 
 
 "Warsaw, January 22, 1863.— The Central 
 National Committee." 
 
 The preparations to which the revolu- 
 tionary committee alluded in these procla- 
 mations, resulted in the outbreaks we have 
 already mentioned in Plock, Siedlce, &c. 
 But attacks were also made in many other 
 places. Thus, in the village of Jedlno, 
 near Radom, a company of sappers was 
 attacked at 2 A.M. The rebels, 140 strong, 
 entered the houses where the soldiers slept, 
 and by surprise and intimidation took 
 possession of their arms and ammunition ; 
 whilst, at about the same time, in the small 
 town of Bodzentyn, in the neighbourhood 
 of the ancient convent of St. Croix, the 
 church bell gave the signal for a number of 
 rebels to attack the troops in their sleep ; 
 and the soldiers mounting guard, or on 
 duty, and one officer, were either killed or 
 severely wounded. 
 322 
 
 At Szydlowitz, Major Riidiger, command- 
 ing the troops there, received, about mid- 
 night, the intelligence of the approach of 
 armed bands. About 2 A.M. he ordered the 
 assembly ; but the rebels having commenced 
 firing, and the night being very dark, and 
 it beinof difficult to manoeuvre in the 
 narrow streets, he was forced back about 
 half a verot on the road to Radom : at 7 
 A.M. the troops reoccupied the town, the 
 rebels moving away on the high road to- 
 wards Kielce, in the direction of the fores-, 
 after they had secured a considerable 
 quantity of arms and ammunition. 
 
 Similar attacks were made in the Lublin 
 district, but no important success was 
 gained by either side. The insurgents 
 were too weak to deal a decided blow, and 
 too scattered over a large expanse of coun- 
 try to be subjected to any decisive stroke 
 on the part of the troops. But though the 
 insurijents were not able to face their 
 enemies in the field, the authorities expe- 
 rienced considerable inconvenience by the 
 facility with which the rebels cut the lines 
 of communication of the government, as 
 well as the telegraphs of the kingdom, the 
 difficulty of maintaining them in working 
 order having been great so long as the 
 rebels were able to keep even a few men 
 together in the vicinity of these lines. The 
 railroad between Warsaw and St. Peters- 
 burg was seriously injured, some bridges 
 on the line having been partially destroyed, 
 and other lines rendered useless by the re- 
 moval of the rails. 
 
 So far the movement at present was con- 
 fined to the working classes of the towns, 
 with a few small proprietors and some lower 
 government officials, as well as many of 
 the country clergy ; the larger landed pro- 
 prietors and peasants, as well as the Jews, 
 keeping aloof from it. The students of the 
 various colleges or schools also kept quiet, 
 generally speaking ; but great pressure was 
 applied by the National Committee and its 
 agents, to force both the proprietors and 
 students to join the insurrection. 
 
 At the commencement of the movement 
 a large number of proprietors arrived at 
 Warsaw, where they held meetings to deter- 
 mine the course of action to be pursued by 
 them, and it was hoped that the govern- 
 ment would avail itself of this opportunity 
 of gaining them to its side by some well- 
 timed concession ; but in the meantime tiie 
 old reactionary party in the government 
 took advantage of the outbreak to prevent 
 
 A.D. 1863.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [tee polish forces. 
 
 any concession being offered, and pressed 
 the necessity of having none but Russians 
 in the government; and it was owing to 
 their influence that the grand duke ordered 
 the most stringent and bloody measures of 
 repression to be taken against the insur- 
 gents, not perceiving that such a course 
 would only strengthen the discontent in 
 the country, as well as excite the indig- 
 nation of other countries against their 
 cause. 
 
 The position of the Marquis Wielopolski 
 in the government became impossible in 
 consequence of the outbreak. The Russian 
 party, who had always been opposed to him, 
 represented him, as we have already said, 
 as the immediate cause of the insurrection, 
 by having insisted on the conscription 
 being carried out ; at the same time he 
 received little or no support from the 
 Polish members of the government; and, 
 though countenanced by the grand duke, 
 was clearly at the end of any power he may 
 once have possessed. 
 
 Encouraged by the evident incapability 
 of Wielopolski to make head against the 
 storm they had raised, the insurgents and 
 their committees redoubled their efforts, 
 and began to assemble in larger bodies — a 
 strategy which, in case of an insurrection, 
 is always an unpardonable error until the 
 forces are thoroughly organised, and in 
 sufficient numbers to meet the enemy on 
 equal terms. The chief bands were three 
 in number. The first and most important 
 was concentrated near the town of 
 Wachock, in the government of Radom. 
 It numbered some 8,000 men, under the 
 command of an ex-officer in Graribaldi's 
 army, and professor in the Polish military 
 school in Italy, of the name of Langiewicz, 
 who, accompanied by Mademoiselle Pusto- 
 wojtoff, the daughter of a Russian general, 
 and twenty of his pupils, had entered 
 Poland in disguise from the Austrian fron- 
 tier. 
 
 The country held by this band was 
 more undulating and broken than the 
 other districts of the kinordora, and was 
 thickly wooded ; the band was largely re- 
 inforced from the mining population of the 
 locality ; and having the government forges 
 in their possession, employed them in the 
 preparation of scythes, knives, and other 
 rough arms of this description ; whilst the 
 vicinity of the Grallician frontier of Austria 
 enabled them to procure more easily gun- 
 powder and fire-arms than was the case 
 
 elsewhere, at the same time affording a se- 
 cure retreat in case of serious defeat. 
 
 The second band was concentrated in the 
 district of Siedlce, having its head-quarters 
 at the town of Wengrow, towards the 
 Lithuanian frontier ; it consisted of about 
 2,000 men, amongst whom were many 
 fugitives from Warsaw, and a number of 
 small freeholders, who are very numerous 
 in this locality, and was commanded by 
 Lewandowski. 
 
 The third concentration of insurgents 
 was in the forest of Bolimow, near the 
 town of Lovicz ; this band, numbering about 
 2,000, operated against the line of railway 
 from Warsaw to Vienna, and, without 
 doing any serious mischief, constantly in- 
 terrupted the communications by that line. 
 
 Other bands existed in the districts of 
 Augustow and Lublin, and notably in the 
 forests round Zamosk and Janow, near the 
 Grallician frontier, in the neighbourhood of 
 the estates of Prince Lubominski, in Aus- 
 trian Poland ; but the three above-named 
 were the most formidable at first. 
 
 The rebellion having thus assumed con- 
 siderable proportions, the authorities began 
 concentrating their troops in the larger 
 towns, abandoning all outposts to prevent 
 these being surprised, and prepared to 
 enter on a regular campaign against the 
 disaffected districts ; and this accounts for 
 the facility with which the insurgents were 
 able to assemble in such force : but the re- 
 sult of such a campaign could hardly bo 
 doubtful when the comparative forces of 
 the two parties were considered. The 
 imperial troops in the kingdom were esti- 
 mated at over 100,000 men, well armed 
 and equipped, with abundant stores of war 
 material of all sorts ; whilst the insurgents 
 were only partially armed, unprovided with 
 artillery or any stores of ammunition, and 
 utterly untrained. 
 
 On February 3rd, an engagement took 
 place at Wengrow, in which the insurgents 
 were defeated with a loss of 200 men killed. 
 There were no wounded and no prisoners 
 — a fact that sufficiently characterises the 
 spirit in which the military had been 
 ordered to crush the rebellion. 
 
 On the following day an encounter oc- 
 curred at Wachock, between the troops and 
 Langiewicz, in which the superiority of the 
 Russian arms, and their possession of 
 artillery, gave the troops the victory after a 
 severe fight, resulting in a loss of sixty men 
 on the side of the insurgents, and from 
 
 323 
 
 ' 11 
 
 i 
 
 M 
 
 ft 
 
LANDOWNERS' TROUBLES.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1863. 
 
 twenty to thirty Russian dragoons. The 
 town of Wachock was set on fire, and 
 burned to the ground, as well as several of 
 the neighbouring villages, by the victorious 
 troops. Langiewicz himself was slightly 
 wounded, and retreated to the south- 
 eastern portion of the kingdom, where he 
 found a refuge in the forests. 
 
 Whilst these and similar engagements 
 occurred in various parts of the country, 
 the civil promoters of the rebellion were 
 not idle. In Warsaw itself, the Central 
 National Committee issued its orders and 
 proclamations under the very cannon of the 
 citadel, signed by the insurgent military 
 chief of Warsaw. One of these proclama- 
 tions was directed against those landed 
 proprietors who had arrived in Warsaw, and 
 had held meetings to decide on their course 
 of action during the movement. But being 
 unable to arrive at any decision, it was 
 agreed, at their last meeting, that no general 
 determination being possible, each pro- 
 prietor should act on his own view of the 
 case. Consequently, the pressure of the 
 revolutionary chiefs, which might without 
 difficulty have been resisted by them as a 
 body, became much more difficult ; and 
 many of the large proprietors were induced 
 to join the movement, notwithstanding the 
 small prospect of any good to their cause 
 resulting from so doing. But it must be 
 admitted that the position of the Polish 
 nobility was most difficult. Distrusted by a 
 government that could not protect their 
 estates from pillage or their persons from 
 insult, they were also proclaimed traitors 
 to their country by the revolutionary 
 leaders because they would not join the 
 insurrection, and at the same time they 
 were exposed to the vengeance of the 
 peasant class, who had always been taught 
 to consider them as their oppressors, and as 
 standing in the way of any definite settle- 
 ment of their rights. Thus, when the 
 National Central Committee called upon 
 these proprietors to return to their estates, 
 and there fulfil the duties they might be 
 called upon to exercise, many of them fled 
 to foreign countries, leaving their estates in 
 the care of stewards, who generally managed 
 to make a good thing out of their charges, 
 or abandoning them altogether. But even 
 this did not save them. Those who thus 
 had voluntarily exiled themselves were 
 then called upon by the Russian govern- 
 ment to return under pain of having their 
 estates sequestrated. In this way they were 
 324 
 
 taken between two fires, and ruin or death 
 stared them in the face. If they returned 
 and refused to aid the insurgents, death 
 was their fate. If they helped them, then 
 the Russian government seized them, and 
 confiscated their goods. All who could, 
 therefore, left the counntry, after selling 
 their estates and property for what the 
 Jews were prepared to give them on their 
 own speculation, or as agents for some 
 Russians, In this way the Russians at- 
 tained their object, as the sequel proved, 
 and Poland was annihilated. In this 
 sense the rebellion was a godsend to the 
 Russians ; and they took good care to ex- 
 ploit it to its fullest extent. 
 
 Meantime, the proclamation of the insur- 
 gent military chief of Warsaw caused great 
 excitement in the town. It called upon 
 the youths under eighteen years of age to 
 attend diligently to their studies, as the only 
 means of preparing themselves to render 
 good service to the country ; warned the 
 workmen not to allow themselves to be en- 
 rolled except by persons acting under the 
 orders of, and with a proper commission 
 from, the national authorities ; ordered them 
 not to leave town on any pretext except 
 under the orders of the enrolling officer, as 
 otherwise they were liable to become the 
 victims of spies ; and concluded with the 
 following paragraph : — 
 
 " As the sudden flight of many officials 
 of the conqueror to the citadel, and the 
 continuance of oppressive regulations, 
 might induce the Muscovite agents to avail 
 themselves of the natural disposition of the 
 inhabitants to make demonstrations, espe- 
 cially under the prevailing opinion that 
 their city is likely to be exposed to the 
 same fate that has befallen our towns which 
 have been pillaged, the inhabitants are 
 particularly desired to avoid any kind of 
 demonstration, as it would only serve as an 
 excuse to the oppressors, and to the traitor 
 Wielopolski, for fresh rigours. The in- 
 habitants will be informed by proclamation 
 whenever their services are required ; but at 
 present the cause of their country can be 
 best served by the most peaceable demea- 
 nour. This must not, however, prevent 
 them from preparing arms and ammunition, 
 which may be necessary alike to defend, the 
 independence of their country or their own 
 homes, should they be assailed by the 
 enemy." 
 
 To this proclamation the government 
 military commander of Warsaw replied 
 
 A.D. 1863.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [count polbtylo. 
 
 with a decree prohibiting the possession of 
 any kind of arms or powder by persons not 
 liaving permission to carry arms ; and 
 ordering them to be given up to the proper 
 police authorities within forty-eight hours ; 
 after which, persons having any arms, war- 
 like instruments, or powder in their pos- 
 session, would be punishable by martial 
 law, as guilty of acts of rebellion. 
 
 Holders or distributors of seditious 
 placards or printed matter were likewise to 
 be punished by courts-martial as rebels; 
 and all persons were forbidden, without 
 special permission, to be in the streets 
 after 10 o'clock at night, or to appear in 
 the streets without a lantern after 7 P.M. ; 
 whilst in cases of alarm in town, all per- 
 sons were to retire from the streets, the 
 doors and gates of the houses to be properly 
 closed, as all persons remaining in the 
 streets would be exposed to the dangers 
 attending military operations. In cases 
 where a house might be occupied by insur- 
 gents, or shots fired from its windows, that 
 house was to be forthwith destroyed by 
 artillery. 
 
 These two proclamations were issued by 
 the two parties under a mutual fear; and 
 as it was a fact that many Russian officers 
 had removed their families into the citadel, 
 the report was more readily credited that, 
 in case of disturbance, the town would be 
 pillaged, than might otherwise have been 
 the case ; moreover, an outbreak in War- 
 saw itself had been announced as probable 
 towards the end of February, which tended 
 to keep up a state of anxious expectation 
 amongst all parties. 
 
 Fortunately no such demonstration took 
 place in the town. If it had, the strongest 
 measures would have been taken to put it 
 down, and much blood shed. 
 
 It is undeniable, that at this period the 
 panic in Warsaw was terrible. To an out- 
 sider it appeared ludicrous. It extended 
 to all classes, even to the British consul, 
 Mr. White, subsequently appointed to the 
 consulate in Belgrade in 1876. This gen- 
 tleman kept in an inner room, access to 
 which led through three or four others, of 
 which the doors were kept zealously bolted 
 and barred, so that getting one's passport 
 vised was quite an alarming undertaking. 
 The only persons who exhibited no fear 
 were the Polish ladies. Proudly they 
 walked along the streets, clad in deep 
 black, in national mourning, and refused 
 all invitations to houses where there was 
 
 any chance of meeting a Russian. Under 
 these circumstances, as may be imagined, 
 political animosity speedily degenerated 
 into personal animosity and intense hatred. 
 The soldiers began to act in a barbarous 
 fashion, not only in obedience to the orders 
 they received from their immediate superi- 
 ors, but on their own account. It must, 
 however, be confessed, to the credit of the 
 Grand Duke Constantino, that he did what 
 was in his power to prevent excesses ; and 
 on February 16th he issued the following 
 Older : — 
 
 " I desire all the chiefs of military de- 
 tachments to preserve the strictest disci- 
 pline in the ranks, and to be careful of 
 their conduct. Soldiers guilty of pillaging 
 or of committing acts of violence towards 
 peaceable inhabitants who have not par- 
 ticipated in the rebellion, shall be punished 
 with the utmost severity of the military 
 criminal laws.'' 
 
 This laudable order of the day had, how- 
 ever, but little effect in the outlying dis- 
 tricts ; and day by day there arrived reports 
 from all quarters of the excesses committed 
 by the troops, not only under the auspices 
 of their officers, but at their instigation. 
 The estates of Count Zamoyski were 
 ravaged, his mansion gutted, and the 
 family archives burnt, without any provo- 
 cation whatever, and without there having 
 been any insurgents at the place at the * 
 time or previously. The most wanton 
 attack was, however, made upon the house 
 and person of Count Leopold Poletylo, a 
 member of the council of state in the king- 
 dom of Poland, who, after taking his wife 
 back to Nice, where she liad gone on ac- 
 count of her health, had returned and 
 established himself at the estate of 
 Woyslawice, in the government of Lublin, 
 with his two infant sons, in the firm inten- 
 tion to await forthcoming events. 
 
 The insurrection broke out, and he per- 
 sisted in the opinion he had always frankly 
 avowed, that this movement could have 
 no other result than to bring repression 
 and calamities upon the country. Not one 
 of his employes or servants joined the in- 
 surrection, and there was no conflict, nor 
 even assemblage, on his estate. 
 
 On the 12th February, his brother-in- 
 law, M. Titus Woyciechowski, with his son, 
 Joseph Woyciechowski, Dunin, formerly 
 colonel of grenadiers of the Polish guard, 
 and Kuhn, formerly major in the Polish 
 army, met together at his house to celebrate 
 
 325 
 
 I 
 
 f !l 
 
 n 
 
ATTACK ON POLETYLO.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1863. 
 
 ; u 
 ■1 
 
 the birthday of his eldest son, aged five 
 years. 
 
 Tfiese gentlemen, pleased with each 
 other's society, were conversing, while 
 drinking their coffee and smoking cigars, 
 upon the events of the day, when, at half- 
 past three in the afternoon, the bailiff of 
 the Salkowrfki estate came to announce 
 that a detachment of troops, composed of 
 three companies of infantry, a squadron of 
 Lancers, two cannons, and a number of Cos- 
 sacks, had paid a domiciliary visit to the 
 house of Rakolupy, belonging to Count 
 Aurele Poletylo, that they were marching 
 upon Woyslawice, and would arrive in half- 
 an-hour. 
 
 These gentlemen consulted as to what 
 steps to take. It would have been easy to 
 avoid the arrival of the troops, the time 
 being more than sufficient ; but the two old 
 soldiers decided that they might calmly 
 await them, seeing that they were not a 
 horde of Tartars, but regular troops, com- 
 manded by civilised officers and men of 
 honour, who would make the domiciliary 
 visit, and, finding nothing, would quit the 
 pLice. 
 
 They were still discussing the subject, 
 when they heard in the distance the report 
 of fire-arms, and two cannons were fired off 
 in the little town of Woyslawice, killing 
 four inoffensive men, and wounding several 
 others. They then saw, from the windows 
 of the chateau^ some Cossacks galloping 
 along the road in the direction of Uhair ; 
 and some time afterwards some riflemen 
 came in sight and marched upon the 
 chateau, which the balls already reached, 
 and broke the windows. Then followed the 
 mass of infantry, which surrounded the 
 chateau. The cannon were placed in posi- 
 tion at 150 feet, at which distance the 
 officers also remained, while the infantry 
 came near the chateau and broke the win- 
 dows with the butt-ends of their muskets. 
 Count Poletylo wished three times to go 
 towards the troops to treat with the officer 
 in command of the expedition, and to pre- 
 serve the inmates of the chateau and his 
 guests from imminent danger ; but he was 
 prevented by his brother-in-law, Woycie- 
 chowski, who pointed out to him that 
 there was no one for him to address him- 
 self to, seeing that no officer, or even su- 
 baltern, appeared. Then commenced a 
 frightful carnage, which cannot be de- 
 scribed without horror. 
 
 The soldiers, having broken the windows, 
 326 
 
 began to fire point-blank, without as yet 
 having wounded any one ; but when they 
 entered the hall and began to massacre 
 the servants with their bayonets and the 
 butt-ends of their muskets. Count Poletylo, 
 feeling convinced that his days were num- 
 bered, took leave of his brother-in-law, 
 Woyciechowski, and of his guests, saying 
 that his duty was to die with his children. 
 He found his two sons, with Madame 
 Dunin, his aunt,»and three women-servants, 
 on their knees. He followed their example, 
 and during the hour and e-half that the 
 carnage lasted he passed the time in prayer, 
 awaiting death. 
 
 The count, his children, and the women 
 who surrounded them, were saved almost by 
 a miracle, for the door in the room in which 
 they were was only ajar, and close by the 
 soldiers had fired in every direction and 
 broken all the doors. 
 
 Towards six o'clock in the evening the 
 firing ceased, and the count, leaving his 
 retreat, learnt that M. Woyciechowski and 
 his son Joseph had retired to the count's 
 study, and when the attack on the chateau 
 began, the musketeers who crossed before tlie 
 windows fired upon Joseph Woyciechow*ki, 
 a promising young man of twenty-four, 
 and wounded his father. Major Kuhn and 
 Colonel Dunin had awaited the assassins in 
 separate rooms. Major Kuhn was a^sailod 
 by a number of bayonets, which he pushed 
 aside with his hands, when two balls took 
 off two fingers from each hand ; he after- 
 wards received several bayonet-wounds in 
 the breast, and numerous strokes of the butt- 
 ends of muskets all over his body. The 
 soldiers carried off this prisoner and brought 
 him before an officer, whom he requested to 
 allow his wounds to be dressed, as he was 
 losing much blood ; but the Kussian officer 
 replied that there were doctors, surgeons, 
 and bandages, but that they were to dress 
 the wounds of soldiers, and not those of 
 enemies of the Eussian nation ; and he 
 ended by giving him a sabre-cut in the 
 face. 
 
 Colonel Dunin, who was seventy years of 
 age, sat calmly on a drawing-room sofa 
 with his arms crossed, awaiting the attack, 
 when the door opened, and five soldiers fired 
 simultaneously upon him. He had five 
 wounds ; one ball grazed his skull and in- 
 jured it; two balls went through his neck; 
 two slugs lodged themselves in his jaw. The 
 soldiers then rushed upon him, and he was 
 wounded in the hand in pushing away the 
 
 AvD. 1863.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [FOREiaX INTERESTS.- 
 
 bayonets. He tried to arrest the fury of 
 these assassins, and pointed out that they 
 ought to treat him as an old man and an old 
 soldier. They only replied by blows and 
 insults. Then the soldiers, who had to sup- 
 port him, as he was getting weak from the 
 loss of blood, brought him to the major in 
 command of the detachment, who re- 
 mained passive near the cannon, in the 
 midst ot this scene of carnage. Colonel 
 Dunin addressed the major in these terms: 
 '* You are a soldier, and yet you are not 
 ashamed to exterminate people who are 
 unarmed, and who cannot defend them- 
 selves." 
 
 The major answered that 100 shots had 
 been fired from the house, and that he had 
 afterwards caused an attack to be made. 
 (Jolonel Dunin answered, " It is an infamous 
 falsehood. I am an ancient colonel of the 
 guard of Grenadiers, aide-de-camp of the 
 general of the Ziminski division. I can 
 wear decorations. Well ! I swear to you, 
 upon my grey hairs — I give you my honour 
 as a soldier, that since the commencement 
 of the insurrection, there has not been a 
 single insurgent or arm in the house ; there 
 is not a gun, revolver, or a sword — in a word, 
 nothing. For the rest, I am in your hands ; 
 cause a domiciliary visit to be made, and if 
 you find anything but penknives and table- 
 knives you may shoot me." The major 
 said, "\Vhat are you talking of, when I saw 
 a man in the court-yard fire upon me at 
 twenty paces ? " 
 
 Colonel Dunin answered, " How can you 
 tell such a falsehood ! What a commander 
 are you, not to have seized this man in a 
 court-yard filled with soldiers ? " 
 
 The Russian officer saw that he had made 
 a mistake, and was silent, and, at an order 
 given, the firing ceased ; at a second order 
 they formed rank. Now this crime was 
 committed, not by insubordinate soldiers, 
 but at the command of their officers. 
 
 The major then had the mayor of the 
 village sent for, and placed the wounded 
 under his charge ; after which he told the 
 soldiers that they had behaved very 
 bravely, and like heroes ; he then went and 
 dined at a place distant a quarter of a 
 league, and the following day he returned, 
 after this glorious undertaking, to Krasny- 
 staw. 
 
 Six persons were killed, four at the 
 village of Woyslawice, and two at the 
 mansion — M. Joseph Woyciechowski, and 
 a servant : in addition to this, there were 
 
 nine wounded and bruised with the butt- 
 end of muskets, who were eleven hours 
 without having their wounds dressed, as 
 there were no doctors or other assistance 
 for them on the spot. 
 
 The sack of the house was complete. On 
 the ground-floor, everything, furniture, 
 china, and mirrors, was broken to pieces. The 
 linen was torn to shreds. The jewels of 
 the countess were carried off; 12,000 florins 
 were taken from the pocket of Colonel 
 Dunin ; 3,000 were taken from a maid-ser- 
 vant — all her savings, in " lettres de gafjes ;'* 
 12,000, in the same kind of paper, from the 
 steward Grorchowski, his whole property, 
 the result of saving for a long course of 
 years. 
 
 The news of this outrage, which we have 
 given in the words of a witness — the steward 
 Grorchowski — and which was corroborated 
 in every particular by Major Kuhn, created 
 universal indignation, especially in Eng- 
 land, where the affair was made public 
 by Admiral Napier, the British ambassador 
 at St. Petersburg, and gave a considerable 
 spur to the negotiations between the great 
 powers in reference to Poland. 
 
 There were several reasons why these 
 great powers could not afford to treat the 
 Polish rebellion as lying beyond their 
 interests. They were bound, in various 
 degrees, not only by the stipulations of the 
 treaties of 1815, but also by dictates of their 
 own interests, both in regard to Russia and 
 towards each other. 
 
 The powers, however, immediately con- 
 cerned in the state of affairs in Poland, 
 were those on its borders — Prussia and 
 Austria. The interests of the Courts of 
 these two countries were, to a certain ex- 
 tent, identical with those of the Court of 
 St. Petersburg — that is to say, in so far as 
 they were all three the strongholds of aristo- 
 cracy. But the interests of the people were 
 by no means identical. Added to this, there 
 was the jealousy existing between Prussia 
 and Austria, which prevented them from 
 working together ; in consequence of which 
 Prussia preferred relying on Russia. Or 
 rather. Prince Bismarck — then a simple 
 baron — preferred it, because he was aware 
 that his great idea, the unification of Grer- 
 many, would have to be carried out in the 
 face of Austrian opposition. 
 
 Thus, when the troubles in Poland broke 
 out, negotiations were instituted between 
 the two countries, which resulted in the 
 draft of a convention between Russia and 
 
 327 
 
 ■* 
 
PRUSSIAN CONVENTION.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1SG3. 
 
 •A.D. 1863.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 r i 
 
 wi 
 
 m 
 
 r . 
 
 Prussia, which afforded the Russian troops 
 considerable facilities in crushing the re*- 
 bellion. Information of this convention 
 reached Count Rechberf^j, the Austrian 
 minister, unofficially, and he communicated 
 its nature to the British ambassador ; but 
 at the same time, as he had heard it was 
 intended to ask Austria to join in it, he 
 telegraphed to Count Thun, the Austrian 
 ambassador at St. Petersburg, to discourage 
 any communication on the subject to the 
 Austrian Court, as Gallicia was compara- 
 tively quiet, and the Austrian government 
 desired to maintain a strictly neutral and 
 independent attitude. 
 
 A few days later, the same information 
 was acquired by the British ambassador at 
 Berlin, where the proportions of the revolt 
 were immensely and intentionallv exafj-f^e- 
 rated. The chief point of the projected con- 
 vention was the permission to be accorded 
 to the Russian troops to follow the Polish 
 insurgents across the Prussian frontier, and 
 claim the assistance of the Prussian troops. 
 
 As soon as the draft of this convention 
 became known, there was considerable 
 indignation throughout Prussia, as it was 
 perfectly well known that there was no 
 disaflfection in the Polish provinces of 
 Prussia, and no danger to them from the 
 revolt. Equally great was the displeasure 
 evinced by the British government at this 
 step ; but it did not suit Prince Bismarck's 
 policy to modify the measures he had 
 agreed to take at the instance of the 
 Russian government. 
 
 This was especially obnoxious to Austria, 
 and Count Rechberg succeeded in inducing 
 Earl Russell to assume a very decided at- 
 titude on the question. Sir A. Buchanan, 
 the ambassador of England at Berlin, 
 was instructed to ask for a copy of the 
 convention. Sir Andrew did not succeed 
 at first in his object, but was promised a 
 copy as soon as the Russian government 
 gave its consent. In the interview, how- 
 ever, which Sir A. Buchanan had with Herr 
 voa Bismarck, that statesman expressed his 
 views with the careless, inconsiderate bluff- 
 ness that has since become one of his chief 
 characteristics. Sir Andrew observed that, 
 with a view to the interest of Prussia, the 
 least possible delay should take place in 
 the publication of the convention, if it only 
 contained the provisions which he repre- 
 sented it to do ; for it was generally be- 
 lieved that Prussia had entered into 
 arrangements with Russia for mutually 
 328 
 
 assisting each other in repressing all popular 
 movements within their respective terri- 
 tories, and that this suspicion had created a 
 most unfavourable feeling towards Prussia 
 throughout Western Europe. To this Herr 
 von Bismarck replied, that a portion of the 
 English and French press, hostile to Prus- 
 sia, and the whole press of Denmark and 
 Austria, had seized upon the convention to 
 calumniate Prussia ; but whoever would 
 consider the circumstances dispassionately 
 and impartially, would easily satisfy himself 
 that the Prussian government had done no 
 more than was necessary for the mainte- 
 nance of tranquillity, and the protection of 
 the population on a frontier which was 
 1,500 miles in length. To this Sir Andrew 
 replied, that if he would look back into the 
 files of the Times, he would find that there 
 was no feeling of hostility to Prussia in 
 En<jland, and that if the lano:uaij:e of the 
 press had within a late period ceased to be 
 that of sympathy and approval, he must 
 seek some other cause for the chan<j:e than 
 unfriendly feelings in England towards the 
 Prussian nation. 
 
 Herr von Bismarck then went on to ex- 
 plain that the insurrection in Russian 
 Poland had been principally promoted by 
 the smaller gentry, who all had dependents 
 attached to their houses and farms, whom 
 they easily induced to take part in enter- 
 prises against the government ; and who, 
 when they had thus raised a small band of 
 armed men, forced the peasantry to join 
 them ; and it was to prevent the proceed- 
 ings of these persons being extended into 
 the Polish provinces of Prussia, or a simi- 
 lar course being followed by the small 
 landed proprietors and gentry of these 
 provinces, that the convention had been 
 entered into, while it was hoped, that by 
 energetic action on the part of the autho- 
 rities, the commerce of Prussia with the 
 interior of Poland might be protected from 
 the depredations of Russian-Polish insur- 
 gents hovering on the frontier. In fact, he 
 asserted that the government had, in the 
 first place, entered into the convention as 
 a necessary measure of defence, but that 
 they also saw in it a legitimate means of 
 protecting the interests of Prussian traders 
 witii Poland. To this Sir Andrew replied, 
 that those were the commonplace argu- 
 ments used by all governments intervening 
 in the affairs of other States, and they 
 would have been equally applicable if her 
 majesty's government had interfered in the 
 
 I ^ 
 
 \ 
 
 [PRUSSIAN CONVENTIOlt. 
 
 Amerixian civil war on the pretence that it 
 was necessary to secure Canada against 
 future aggression, and to protect British 
 commerce and industry against the evils to 
 which the war was certain to subject them; 
 but it would be difficult for liis excellency 
 to prove that what was unnecessary in 
 Galicia was unavoidable in Prussia. 
 
 To tliis Herr von Bismarck objected, that 
 the massacre of 1,000 of the gentry by the 
 peasantry in Galicia in 1848, had greatly 
 diminished the probability of any insur- 
 rectionary movements there, as the dan- 
 gerous class of the population had been 
 nearly exterminated, and neither the great 
 nobles nor the peasantry were disposed to 
 incur risks and make sacrifices for the 
 restoration of Polish nationality. At the 
 same time he said that the number of 
 troops concentrated on the frontier had 
 been greatly exaggerated ; for, though some 
 of the reserves had been called out, none 
 of the corps had been placed on a war 
 footing, either with respect to men, horses, 
 or guns ; and, after providing garrisons for 
 the towns and fortresses, the troops at the 
 disposal of Greneral Werder could only 
 enable him to station 12,000 men on the 
 Northern, and 8,000 on the Silesian 
 frontier, for service in the field, which was 
 a very moderate force for the duty to be 
 performed. He said also that the Prussian 
 commanding officers had orders not to act 
 on Russian territory beyond a day^s march 
 fromi tJie frontier, and that Russian 
 troops would only cross the frontier while 
 in actual conflict with armed insurgents. 
 
 He explained further, that the principal 
 advantage which Prussia gained from the 
 convention was, that bands could not be 
 collected on the frontier for the invasion of 
 the Prussian territories ; or if insurgents in 
 these territories were driven across the 
 frontier, they could not be rallied or rein- 
 forced in the kinj^dom {jr a renewed 
 attack on the Prussian troops ; and in 
 answer to an inquiry which Sir Andrew 
 made of him with respect to Russian in- 
 surgents who might be captured in Prussia, 
 he said they would be given up to the 
 llussian authorities, in conformity with the 
 stipulations of conventions of long stand- 
 ing, which had been renewed in 1857. He 
 said these conventions had been suspended 
 in 1853, but that the number of Russian 
 deserters and other persons crossing the 
 frontier illegally, from criminal or other 
 causes, became so great an inconvenience, 
 
 VOL. II. 2 u 
 
 that it had been found necessary to renew 
 the conventions in the interests of public 
 order in the frontier distticts* 
 
 Finally, he professed to be gi*eatly an-' 
 noyed at the reprobation with which the 
 convention had been received in Prussia 
 and in Europe, and with the distrust of the 
 Prussian government to which it had 
 given rise ; and though on previous occa* 
 sions he had always spoken of the proba- 
 bility of the Russian army in Poland 
 proving too Weak to suppress the insurrec- 
 tion, he represented the principal forces of 
 the insurgents as having been already de- 
 feated and dispersed, and those remaining 
 in arms as consisting merely of small scat- 
 tered bands of men who were afraid to 
 return to their homes, but who, though 
 unable to offer any serious resistance to 
 regular troops, miglit keep up for some 
 time a state of brigandage in Poland, 
 similar to that prevailing in the Nea- 
 politan provinces of the kingdom of Italy. 
 
 These arguments of Herr von Bismarck, 
 as can be seen, had not much value. His 
 citing the state of affairs in Italy Was not 
 in any way applicable to the case. No in- 
 convenience arose from Italian brigandage 
 in the neighbouring States ; and these 
 States did not consider it either their duty 
 or their interest to furnish the Italian 
 government with police to do the work of 
 Italian gendarmes. 
 
 This is the view that was taken of the 
 matter in Prussia ; and, on February 18th, 
 the following interpellation was addressed 
 to the government in the Lower House of 
 Parliament : — " Has a convention been 
 concluded between the king's government 
 and the imperial cabinet of Russia for the 
 suppression of the Polish rebellion ? And,' 
 if so, what are its conditions ?" 
 
 The president of the chamber having 
 called upon the president of the ministry 
 to answer this question — 
 
 Herr Von Bismarck rose and said, that 
 the government did not intend to reply to 
 it. Whereupon M. de Unruh observed, 
 that notwithstanding the refusal of the 
 government to answer the interpellation, 
 he would move that a debate be opened on 
 the subject, as it was one of such import- 
 ance that the opinion of the House in 
 reference to it ought to be placed ott 
 record. According to the trustworthy in- 
 formation of the local papers, and to the 
 reports given by members of that House, 
 
 the districts con- 
 329 
 
 living 
 
 contiguous to 
 
u 
 
 ■'" «■ 
 
 1 
 
 THE CONVENTION.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 18n3. 
 
 cerned, it appeared that no movement of 
 any sort of consequence had manifested 
 itself in any portion of the Polish posses- 
 sions of Prussia ; notwithstanding which, 
 two entire army corps had called in their 
 reserves, which, according to the new 
 organisation of the army, was equivalent to 
 being put on a war footing, and it was 
 rumoured that two more would follow their 
 example. This would be equivalent to the 
 mobilisation of half the military forces of 
 Prussia ; and he would ask the House what 
 possible purpose such armaments could 
 serve. Was t'he step taken because of the 
 imminent danger of the Polish provinces of 
 Kussia setting up their independence, and 
 takin**" a threatening: attitude towards 
 Prussia ? It was clear that, at present at 
 least, there was no probability of such an 
 issue. Or was it an act of political friend- 
 ship towards Russia? The speaker then 
 went on to review the relations that had 
 existed betv/een Russia and Prussia since 
 the wars of the empire ; and enumerated 
 the various unfriendly acts of wliich the 
 latter had to complain, deducing therefrom 
 that it had never been the policy of Russia 
 to see a strong and great Prussia grow up 
 by her side ; and that a subserviency of 
 Prussian interests to those of her imperial 
 neighbour was, from every point of view, 
 the most fatal error that a Prussian states- 
 man could commit. He then adverted to 
 the special dangers attaching to a policy of 
 this kind, in connection with the Polish 
 question, as involving the hostility of 
 France and England; and concluded by 
 saying that he could not bring himself to 
 believe that it was the intention of the 
 government to take their proposed measures 
 .on the ground of the so-called " solidarity 
 of Conservative interests," which was nothing 
 but a league of absolute governments 
 against the liberties of their peoples ; nor 
 would he believe that the government were 
 looking out for foreign broils to get out of 
 their home difficulties.. If, however, an 
 aggressive policy of any of the kinds de- 
 scribed were to actuate the government, he 
 had the full confidence that the chamber 
 would not vote one thaler in support of it. 
 Thereupon Herr von Bismarck replied, 
 saying that he would be delighted to take 
 lessons in Prussian policy from the wider 
 experience and deeper knowledge of the 
 gentleman who had just sat down, but he 
 would be obliged to him to afford him the 
 opportunity of taking them in private, or, 
 330 
 
 at least, in some less public place than in 
 the chamber. It was easy to bandy about 
 strong expressions respecting the foreign 
 policy of the government ; but he thouglit 
 that publicity and the effect produced in 
 foreign countries should prescribe limits to 
 the abuse lavished upon one's own minis- 
 ters. As re<i:arded the armaments to which 
 allusion had been made, he denied that 
 any portion of the army liad been mobi- 
 lised. Not a single extra horse had been 
 bought for the artillery and cavalry. All 
 that had been done was to call in the 
 reserves of the infantry. It was no busi- 
 ness of his to enter into an academic dis- 
 sertation on the foreign policy of Prussia; 
 and his position as foreign minister pre- 
 vented him from expressing sympathies or 
 antipathies for any foreign cabinet. He 
 could not, therefore, follow M. de Unruh in 
 his retrospective review of the relations be- 
 tween Russia and Prussia ; but he could 
 tell the House that the government were 
 not carrying out a Russian, but a Prussian 
 policy, and that its object was to protect 
 the king's subjects against the danger of 
 insurrection. It had been hinted by the 
 last speaker that threats had been made, 
 or advice offered, to the government in 
 reference to their attitude in regard to the 
 insurrection. The government had re- 
 ceived nothing of the sort, and did not 
 intend to receive anything of the sort. 
 
 To which M. Waldeck's answer was — 
 " The minister-president has vouchsafed to 
 give us a few particulars about the military 
 preparations actually made ; but he has 
 remained silent as to whether a convention 
 has been concluded with Russia. This 
 silence can only mean that such a conven- 
 tion has been concluded, for otherwise he 
 would, if not out of respect for us, at least 
 out of respect to the country and to 
 Europe, have answered our interpellation 
 with the simple ' No,' which alone would 
 be compatible with the honour and dignity 
 of Prussia. A convention to assist such a 
 State as Russia in putting down her dis- 
 affected subjects was a something so mon- 
 strous, that it was difficult to find a proper 
 category amongst public acts wherein to 
 range it. It could not for one moment be 
 classed with a treaty for assisting an allied 
 State in defending itself against foreign 
 foes. It was nothing more nor less than 
 the sending over of gendarmes and armed 
 police to a country whose existence had 
 hitherto depended alone on police and 
 
 A.D. 1863.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE 
 
 [the convention. 
 
 gendarmes. And this was a part to be 
 undertaken by a State that pretended to be 
 at the head of German civilisation ! The 
 man whose face did not flush with shame 
 at such a thought, was not worthy to be a 
 Prussian or a German. The party to 
 which the minister-president belongs, is 
 that which, in opposition to the votes of 
 the chamber in 1854, endeavoured to force 
 the country into active co-operation with 
 Russia during the Crimean war. This, at 
 least, was a policy that could be defended 
 on political grounds : but in what political 
 dictionary could the right term be found 
 for a police intervention in behalf of a 
 foreign State ? The character of the pre- 
 sent insurrection had been correctly de- 
 scribed by the first speaker : it was not an 
 organised revolt for political purposes, but 
 a cry of anguish raised from an oppressed 
 country. Could it for one moment be sup- 
 posed that the unhappy creatures who fled 
 to the woods and the desert places for 
 refuge against a brutal tyranny, were 
 likely to make an aggressive movement 
 against the Prussian frontier. Our safety 
 against such dangers must be sought in the 
 contrast afforded by our own administra- 
 tion of our Polish provinces as compared 
 with Russian rule, and not in aiding and 
 abetting that system of government." 
 
 The speaker then turned to the positiop 
 assumed by the government in reference to 
 the interpellation. "The government treats 
 us," he said, " in regard to foreign matters, 
 as it did in reference to internal concerns. 
 When we refused certain items of the bud- 
 get, the ministry told us, ' We will incur 
 the expenditure all the same.' When, in 
 reference to our foreign policy, we ask 
 whether a convention, which may lead 
 forth our children to an unjust war, and 
 take our earnings from our pockets, has 
 been concluded, we are told, 'This is no 
 concern of yours ; we will not show you the 
 convention.' Is it, then, so insignificant a 
 thing that our children should be sent forth 
 to do hangman duties to an absolute gov- 
 ernment ? Not in the interest of Prussia, 
 let it be clearly understood, is this work to 
 be done, but in the interest of absolutism, 
 as such. The only parallel for it is to be 
 found in the sale, during the last century, 
 by the Elector of Hes^e, of his troops to the 
 British government, for putting down the 
 revolted American States. But the day for 
 policy of this kind is passed, and kings can 
 no longer treat the lives of their subjects 
 
 as private property to be employed no mat- 
 ter on what frivolous and Quixotic adven- 
 tures. An intervention on our part — let us 
 not disguise the fact from ourselves — would 
 be damned by the whole civilised world. 
 Austria condemns it ; England openly con- 
 demns it; France rejoices at the opportunity 
 afforded her of making herself popular at 
 our expense. Even in Russia the principles 
 upon which such an intervention would be 
 based have of late come into discredit, and 
 the Emperor Alexander has himself endea- 
 voured to adopt a more liberal policy. It is 
 true that, in so doing, he has incurred the 
 heavy displeasure of those Prussian ad- 
 mirers of Russia to whom the minister- 
 president belongs. Who knows ? It is, per- 
 haps, to bribe Russia back to her old faith 
 that the present assistance is offered to 
 her. There was a policy that Prussia 
 might have followed; she might, in a 
 friendly manner, have offered her advice to 
 Russia, and warned her of the dangers she 
 incurred by abandoning the road of legality, 
 and ordering the barbarous conscription 
 which has called forth the present rebellion; 
 and more than any other State, Prussiamight 
 have expected that from her such a warn- 
 ing would not ,have been in vain. But 
 a sound foreign policy of this sort is as 
 little to be expected from the present min- 
 istry as a sound internal policy. The min- 
 istex-president has protested against heap- 
 ing abuse upon the government in the face 
 of Europe. But I deny that this is what 
 we are doing. To point out • the faults 
 committed by the government is not to 
 heap abuse upon it, and the course we are 
 pursuing will strengthen but not weaken 
 the State. What we do, is to show to 
 Europe, that if the Prussian government is 
 on the wrong path, the Prussian people at 
 least will not encourage it along its path. 
 This is our business here this day ; and if 
 the minister-president will not lay the con- 
 vention before us, and if its contents are 
 such as the papers describe them, we shall, 
 at least, by what we have said to-day, have 
 protested by anticipation against it as 
 against the interests of Prussia, as opposed 
 to the principles of international relations, 
 and as unparalleled in the annals of history." 
 Herr von Bismarck, in reply, said, that 
 the speaker who had just sat down, had 
 declared that a simple " No " was the only 
 reply to the interpellation that would have 
 been compatible with the honour of Prussia. 
 He (Herr von Bismarck) thought he knew 
 
 331 
 
 
THE OPPOSITION.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 fA.D. 1863. 
 
 ■F; 
 
 quite as well as M. Waldeck what was due 
 to the honour of Prussia, and would take 
 the opportunity of recalling the opinion of 
 a great English statesman, to the effect, that 
 the worst of all monopolies was the pretended 
 exclusive possession of political insight and 
 virtue. In conclusion, he denied the au- 
 thenticity of a letter that had appeared in 
 the Czas newspaper, purporting to be ad- 
 dressed by a person in the Chancery of the 
 Grand Duke Constantino to the Russian 
 legation here, and in which the offers of 
 Prussian assistance were treated very cava- 
 lierly, and described as forced upon the 
 Russian government. 
 
 Stung to the quick by the contemptuous 
 tone adopted towards them by Kerr von 
 Bismarck, the House determined to return 
 to the charge ; and on February 2r)th, the 
 House declared, that " the interest of Prussia 
 required, that in face of the revolt that 
 had broken out in the kingdom of Poland, 
 the government should not afford assistance 
 or favour either to the Russian government 
 or to tlie insurgents ; and, consequently, 
 that it should allow neither of the contend- 
 ing parties to come upon Prussian soil 
 without at the same time being disarmed." 
 
 As an amendment to the above, the fol- 
 lowing resolution was proposed by M. Benin 
 in the name of the minority of the com- 
 mittee : — 
 
 " The interest of Prussia required that, 
 in face of the insurrection that had broken 
 out in the kingdom of Poland, the govern- 
 ment should confine itself to such measures 
 only as were required for the defence of the 
 frontier, and should avoid any interference 
 beyond that point; and, consequently, that 
 it should not allow of any armed persons 
 coming upon Prussian soil without at the 
 game time disarming them." 
 
 As sub-amendment to the above, Baron 
 Vincke proposed the following : — 
 
 " That the interests of Prussia, in the 
 face of the insurrection which had broken 
 out in the kingdom of Poland, required 
 that the government should not allow 
 Russian troops to come upon Prussian soil 
 in pursuit of Polish insurgents." — Herr von 
 Sybel, in moving the resolution, referred 
 briefly to the circumstances under which 
 Prussia had become possessed of portions of 
 Poland. Her present title was a valid one, 
 de jure and de facto. She had made it 
 good by the improvement and civilisation 
 of the country, through German industry 
 «kQd German capital. What, therefore, he 
 
 added, " we desire for our Polish fellow-citi- 
 zens, is a humane and just government; 
 but, at the same time, we desire that the 
 German inhabitants of what was formerly 
 Poland, should know that, for their protec- 
 tion and for their maintenance, as belong- 
 ing to the Prussian State, the entire Prus- 
 sian people is ready to stand good. With 
 consciences so clear, with a position so well 
 defined, and differing so essentially from 
 that occupied by Russia, it is evidently our 
 business to protest against a policy which, 
 without any natural necessity, runs coimter 
 to our most important interest — namely, 
 that of preserving peace for our Prussian 
 territory." 
 
 The speaker then went on to show how, 
 without any necessity, the government had 
 delivered over a large portion of the father- 
 land to all the horrors of a barbarous war ; 
 had undertaken a joint responsibility for 
 Russian misdeeds, and changed the Polish 
 into an European question. Further, how 
 this policy had been followed up without 
 any prospect of compensation, and at the 
 expense of hundreds of thousands, without 
 the consent of the chamber. In doing so, 
 the government had once more given proofs 
 of that which was the essence of its being — 
 viz., contempt for rights ; and had shown 
 that it could neither live nor die without 
 breaking the laws of the country. 
 
 M.de Gottberg defended the government ; 
 MM. von Roune and Roessel attacked it. 
 
 Count Eulenburg, in the absence of M. 
 de Bismarck, defended the government, and 
 said, in reply to one of the former speakers, 
 that it was no unusual thing for the govern- 
 ment to show, confidentially to a foreign 
 government, a convention which they had 
 not laid before the House. With reference 
 to the Poles who were arrested at Thorn, he 
 would give the following explanations: — 
 They had not been delivered up in the 
 sense of the extradition treaties ; but having 
 been arrested at the station at Thorn on 
 their way from the West, and having been 
 found possessed of no other legitimations 
 than old Russian passports, no longer avail- 
 able, they had been expelled across the 
 Russian frontier, according to existing 
 cartel provisions. " Well, gentlemen," con- 
 tinued Count Eulenburg, " I can only refer 
 you to Article XXIII. of the Cartel Con* 
 vention, according to which you will see, 
 that every individual belonging to the Rus- 
 sian empire, not provided with proper 
 papers, can be expelled by us, and must he- 
 
 A.D. 1863.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [bismarck's defiancf. 
 
 received by Russia. In virtue of the above 
 paragraph, the four individuals in question 
 have now been expelled." 
 
 Dr. Becker argued, in a long speech, that 
 an independent Polish kingdom would be a 
 better neighbour for Germany than Russia, 
 though he would not give up to such a 
 kingdom the ports of Danzig and Elbing, 
 or a single acre that had been fairly re- 
 claimed by Prussian industry. He spoke 
 strongly and indignantly against the former 
 partitions of Poland. 
 
 Count Eulenburg, with reference to the 
 supposed entrance of Russian troops into 
 Poland, read a telegram from the Landrath 
 of Strasburg in West Prussia, to the effect 
 that some outposts had been pushed on in 
 the night of the 18th July, upon the bridge 
 of Drewentz, which belongs to Gollub (a 
 Prussian town), and joins that place with 
 Dobrzyn a Russian town, because both 
 towns were threatened with a band of in- 
 surgents, which expected reinforcements 
 from Gollub. The town Dobrzyn had never 
 been occupied by Russian troops ; the push- 
 ing forward of outposts had been rendered 
 necessary by local circumstances which 
 strongly favoured an attack of the town, 
 denuded as it was of Russian military. 
 
 Herr von Bismarck then recapitulated 
 the course taken, in the various debates held 
 in the House, respecting the Polish question, 
 from the first interpellation of MM. Han- 
 tall, Kantak and Co., to the present resolu- 
 tion, in order to prove a revolutionary 
 tendency to sympathise with the Polish in- 
 surrection. The interests of the country 
 had thereby been sacrificed to party inter- 
 ests; and German speakers had expressed 
 themselves in an unheard-of manner. M. 
 Waldeck had compared the calling-in of 
 Prussian reserves to the sale of Hessian 
 troops to the British government. M. de 
 Unruh, amidst the applause of the House, 
 had declared that if, from the present acts 
 of the government, foreign complications 
 arose, the chamber would refuse to the king 
 the means necessary for the defence of the 
 country. Now, was not this equivalent to 
 saying to foreign countries — "Now is 
 your opportunity ; come on ! for Prussia is 
 defenceless ? " This caused great excitement 
 in the House, which evinced strong marks of 
 dissent. Whereupon, M. de Bismarck, quite 
 unmoved, continued — " I am glad to see, 
 gentlemen, that you are still capable of in- 
 dignation on such a subject." Here greater 
 excitement ensued amidst loud cries of 
 
 " Order ;" but the Vice-President Behrend 
 requested the House to be quiet, saying, 
 " The minister-president has the right to ex- 
 press his pleasure at what the House may 
 think or do. A call for order is here out of 
 place." 
 
 Herr von Bismarck then rose and said, 
 " I will not touch upon the question of 
 whether the ministers can be called to 
 order ; but if the question is again mooted, 
 I shall reserve to myself to speak upon it. 
 Gentlemen, the threat to make Prussia de- 
 fenceless was expressed by that same M. de 
 Unruh, whose name is associated with the 
 refusal to pay taxes in 1848." A violent 
 scene here ensued in the House ; cries of 
 order were heard from all parts of it ; mem- 
 bers rose from their seats and groaned. 
 
 The president, having rung his bell and 
 restored partial order, said — " I must here 
 observe to the minister-president, that the 
 last statement made by him stands in no 
 sort of relation to the subject under dis- 
 cussion." 
 
 M. de Bismarck replying, said — " I can- 
 not admit the right of the president to call 
 me to order. I have not the honour to 
 belong to this assembly. I have had 
 nothing to do with making the rules of 
 this House ; I have not assisted in electing 
 the president. The disciplinary power of 
 the president is limited by these boards " 
 [at which words he struck the front of the 
 ministerial tribune]. " My superior is alone 
 his majesty the king; I do not speak in 
 virtue of the rules of your House, but in 
 virtue of the authority given to me by his 
 majesty. You have not got the right to 
 interrupt me." 
 
 Vice-President Behrend answered — "I 
 had not disputed the minister-president's 
 right to speak, nor, according to the con- 
 stitution, can I dispute this right. But, 
 according to the rules of the House, the 
 disciplinary power of the president is 
 limited only by^the four walls of the House, 
 and this power I shall most undoubtedly 
 use." Here loud cheers arose, but Herr 
 von Bismarck contemptuously replied — 
 " This is a view which, on the part of the 
 ministry, I must repudiate. To resume 
 then. M. de Unruh, whose name is associ- 
 ated with the refusal to pay taxes in 1848 " 
 [here M. de Bismarck was interrupted by 
 renewed disturbance and cries of "Ad- 
 journ ! " and Vice-President Behrend re- 
 marked, "If the minister-president re- 
 peats observations which I have declared 
 
 333 
 
 \ 
 
 4 I 
 
 ^ |l 
 
 t 1 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
Bismarck's defeat.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1863. ' 
 
 I 
 
 not to belong to the subject, I shall most 
 certainly use my right to adjourn the 
 House."] 
 
 M. de Bismarck answered — " I cannot 
 prevent the president adjourniug the House, 
 and as I have twice repeated wliat I meant 
 to say, I am satisfied ! " More disorder en- 
 sued here, and the president again rang his 
 bell. Herr von Bismarck continued — 
 *' This threat to lay Prussia defenceless is 
 an unfortunate one; all the more so that 
 with this tendency the names connected 
 with 1848 again become prominent. You 
 are asked by your resolution to express 
 your sympathy with the insurrection under 
 Mierolawski. I have nothinof to do with 
 the iatentions of the persons who have 
 brought forward this resolution ; but the 
 practical result of it will undoubtedly be 
 to identify tlie House with the Polish insur- 
 rection. The report of the committee is 
 based upon a set of proofs in reference to 
 the contents of the convention, derived 
 from lies and misstatements taken from 
 the newspapers, and the reporter has con- 
 jured up from these an imaginary belt of 
 500 square miles of Prussian territory 
 given up to Russian occupation. This is 
 simply silly fancy. On the contrary, 
 the convention secures Prussia against a 
 danger of this sort. By it, Russian military 
 are not allowed to cross the Prussian fron- 
 tier without our sanction. From the ex- 
 aggerations, the lies, the misrepresenta- 
 tions of the press, has arisen the bad im- 
 pression made by the convention abroad, 
 and these misrepresentations form the ma- 
 terial of the present debate. But this 
 debate, I can tell you, will have no practi- 
 cal result, not even that of causing an 
 embarrassment to the ministry, unless it be 
 the convenience of a waste of their time, 
 which, by the way, is the country's time, of 
 which you have no right to rob it ! If the 
 object of the resolution, therefore, has been 
 to shake the position of the government, it 
 will fail in its object, and all that will be 
 obtained will be to prove, before the whole 
 country, that you take part with the Polish 
 insurrection." 
 
 With this arrogant speech of Herr von 
 Bismarck's the debate was concluded, and 
 adjourned till the next day, when Herr 
 Bockum-Dolfifs moved an amendment, to 
 the effect that the government should not 
 allow any armed persons to touch Prussian 
 soil without disarming them. 
 
 This amendment was curried by a large 
 334 
 
 majority — by 246 against 57 ; but as it 
 was known tliat Herr von Bismarck would 
 not at all consult the wishes of the majority 
 if they ran counter to his own, foreign 
 governments, especially that of Great 
 Britain, were not inclined to leave the 
 question in the stage to which it had beea 
 brought or reduced by the Prussian cham- 
 ber. 
 
 There thus arose a passage of arms be- 
 tween Lord John Russell and Herr voa 
 Bismarck, sufficiently interesting in itself, 
 but still more of importance in its after- 
 results, as it inspired Herr von Bismarck 
 with feelings of the greatest animosity to- 
 wards the earl, and contributed in no small 
 degree towards the intricacy of the allianca 
 between the two northern powers. 
 
 Earl Russell addressed a despatch to Sir 
 Andrew Buchanan, in which, after stating 
 that he had been informed by Lord Napier 
 of the permission to be accorded to Russian 
 troops to continue their pursuit of Polish 
 insurgents on Prussian soil, he said that 
 Count Bernstorff had defended the conven- 
 tion, which, he said, did not in any way 
 amount to an interference in the contest 
 between Russians and Poles. Earl Ruasell 
 then continued : — 
 
 "But it is clear that if Ru=5sian troops 
 are to be at liberty to follow and attack 
 the Polish insurgents in Prussian territory, 
 the Prussian government makes itself a 
 party to the war now raging in Poland. 
 
 "If Grreat Britain were to allow a federal 
 ship of war to attack a confederate ship in 
 British waters, Grreat Britain would become 
 a party to the war between the federal 
 government of the United States and the 
 confederates. 
 
 " It is obvious that by this convention 
 Prussia engages to become a party in the 
 war against the Poles without any apparent 
 necessity for so doing. For her majesty's 
 government have not heard that any dis- 
 affection prevails in the Polish provinces 
 of Prussia. 
 
 " It is but too probable that this conven- 
 tion will irritate the Polish subjects of 
 Prussia, tend to excite disaffection where it 
 has not hitherto existed, and thus extend 
 the insurrection. 
 
 " Upon viewing this convention in all its 
 aspects, therefore, her majesty's govern- 
 ment are forced to arrive at the conclusion 
 that it is an act of intervention which is 
 not justified by necessity ; which will tend 
 to alienate the affections of the Polish sub- 
 
 A.D. 1863.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [British remonstrances. 
 
 jects of the King of Prussia; and which, 
 indirectly, gives support and countenance 
 to the arbitrary conscription of Warsaw. 
 
 '• You will read this despatch to M. Bis- 
 marck, and you will ask for a copy of the 
 convention between Prussia and Russia." 
 
 The sting in this communication was 
 twofold. As Herr von Bismarck remarked at 
 the time, the passage relating to the contest 
 in America, not only showed the stand-point 
 of the government sympathies touching 
 the civil war, but was also meant as a hit 
 at the sympathy evinced by Grermany for 
 the federal cause. For, as Herr von Bis- 
 marck said, had not Earl Russell's sympa- 
 thies been with the confederates, he would 
 have reversed the comparison and said — 
 " If Grreat Britain were to allow a confede- 
 rate ship to attack a federal ship in British 
 waters. Great Britain would become a 
 party to the war." The second sting lay 
 in the earl's discourteous mention of Baron 
 Bismarck as plain " M." Bismarck. This 
 was a disregard of etiquette which the 
 French government, addressing itself on 
 the same subject, and in the same sense, to 
 Herr von Bismarck, was not guilty of, and 
 awarded him, in the despatch, his full 
 title, addressing him as His Excellency M. 
 de Bismarck-Schonhausen. Ministers are 
 as human as other people, and quite as 
 tenacious of their dignity — perhaps more so, 
 the higher their station ; and Herr von 
 Bismarck never forgave this slight ; and 
 when Sir Andrew Buchanan read the des- 
 patch to him, he did not fail to pick the 
 noble earl's words to pieces. He said that 
 the earl spoke, in one place, of the events 
 occurring in Poland as a contest between 
 the Russian government and Polish insur- 
 gents ; and in another, as a war against the 
 Poles, in which he accused Prussia of hav- 
 ing engaged to take a part ; but that, in 
 his opinion, the measures which the Rus- 
 sian government were employing to sup- 
 press the insurrection, could be described as 
 a war in wnich two nations are engaged ; 
 an^ Prussia could not therefore have been 
 said to have become a party to a war be- 
 tween Russia and Poland, if her troops had 
 been ordered to act in concert with those 
 of Russia on the frontier in the event of an 
 insurrection breaking out in her own terri- 
 tory. 
 
 To this Sir Andrew replied by remarking, 
 that whatever name might be given to the 
 conflict, that did not affect the responsi- 
 bility of Prussia in the matter. Herr von 
 
 Bismarck then sought to put an end to the 
 discussion by denying that there was any 
 agreement in the convention that Russian 
 troops should be allowed to retain their 
 arms on Prussian soil. But when Sir 
 Andrew pointed out that this was included 
 in the stipulation which the convention 
 did contain— namely, that Russian troops 
 should be permitted to pursue and capture 
 Polish insurgents in Prussian territory — 
 Herr von Bismarck admitted that the inter- 
 pretation of that stipulation had been under 
 negotiation ; and it was to have been re- 
 stricted and defined by instructions to be 
 given CO the military frontier authorities, 
 when it was decided that it would not be 
 necessary for the troops of either govern- 
 ment to cross the frontier at all, and that 
 no instructions on the subject should be 
 prepared. The convention might therefore, 
 he said, be looked upon as a dead letter, as 
 the instructions necessary for carrying it 
 into effect had never been drawn up. 
 
 To the observation that if Russian troops 
 were to be at liberty to follow and attack 
 Polish insurgents in Prussia, the Prussian 
 government would make itself a party to the 
 war now raofino: in Poland, Herr von Bis- 
 marck opposed a denial that Russian troops 
 had ever been allowed to do so ; but he said, 
 nevertheless, considering the reasons which 
 the Prussian government had at one time 
 for fearing that the Prussian territory 
 would be violated by the insurgents, and that 
 Prussian subjects would be incited to revolt, 
 he could not admit that the case of Russian 
 troops acting in the manner contemplated 
 by the convention against insurgents in the 
 Prussian frontier districts, could be looked 
 upon in the same light as a federal ship of 
 war attacking a confederate ship in British 
 waters; for any permission granted to 
 Russian troops to cross the frontier into 
 Prussia, or for Prussian troops to cross into 
 Russia, would have been given solely for 
 the protection of Prussian territory and of 
 Prussian property, and for a purely defen- 
 sive purpose, in the event of an insurrection 
 existing on both sides of the frontier, as 
 there was every reason to apprehend would 
 have been the case before Prussian troops 
 could have reached the frontier districts 
 in sufficient number to provide for their 
 security. Sir Andrew would not admit the 
 distinction which Herr von Bismarck wished 
 thus to establish, as the motive for permit- 
 ting an act could not affect the character 
 of its consequences ; but Herr von Bismarck 
 
 335 
 
 fi 
 
/ 
 
 PROPOSALS REJECTED.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 {a.d. 1863. 
 
 I ^ 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 maintained that, considering the position 
 of the Prussian government, it could not 
 fairly be said that they would have given, 
 by carrying out the stipulations of the 
 convention, indirect support and counte- 
 nance, as alleged by Earl Russell, to the 
 arbitrary conscription of Warsaw, for they 
 could not have neglected to take such 
 measures as they might have considered 
 necessary, under the circumstances, for the 
 safety and protection of their own territory. 
 As to the request which Sir Andrew had 
 been instructed to make to him for a copy 
 of the convention, Herr von Bismarck ob- 
 served that he could not understand upon 
 what grounds her majesty's government 
 could consider themselves justified in ex- 
 pecting the Prussian government to com- 
 municate to them a copy of an incomplete 
 document, which only formed, as he had 
 already explained, the first step in a nego- 
 tiation which was then suspended, and 
 wliich would remain entirely inoperative 
 unless it were rendered effective by instruc- 
 tions which had to be agreed upon, and 
 which would not now be drawn up, as cir- 
 cumstances had rendered them unnecessary. 
 It was, therefore, a convention of which no 
 ratifications had been exchanged, and it 
 was not intended that it should be ratified. 
 Herr von Bismarck then repeated what 
 he had formerly said — viz., that the conven- 
 tion merely stated, that as the insurrection 
 which had broken out in the kingdom of 
 Poland threatened public and private pro- 
 perty, and the peace of the neighbouring 
 provinces of Prussia, it had been agreed 
 between the two governments that assist- 
 ance might be afforded to each other, and 
 their troops be authorised to cross the 
 frontier on the demand of either govern- 
 ment, and in cases of necessity, and that 
 this agreement should only last while both 
 governments should deem it expedient. 
 He also said that the proposal to enter into 
 the convention was forwarded by telegraph 
 from St. Petersburg by Greneral Alvens- 
 leben, who received authority in the same 
 manner to sign it. That the king had at 
 first hesitated to authorise its signature, as 
 his majesty considered the agreement of 
 too elastic a nature, until it was suggested 
 to him that the character of the engage- 
 ment would entirely depend upon the in- 
 structions to the frontier and military 
 authorities, which would have to be ao^reed 
 upon with the Russian government before 
 the convention could be carried into effect, 
 336 
 
 as to the circumstances in which, and tlie 
 distance to which, the frontier could be 
 crossed by the troops of either party. 
 
 But even this restricted authority, Herr 
 von Bismarck said, had never been formally 
 conceded, and no action by Russian troops 
 on Prussian territory, as far as he was 
 aware, had ever taken place, although 
 accidental cases may have occurred ; but, if 
 so, this may have happened in Austrian as 
 well as in Prussian Poland ; nor had any 
 occupation of Russian territory by Prussian 
 troops ever taken place, although it had 
 been attempted to represent as such the 
 occupation of the bridge belonging to 
 Prussia which connects the Prussian town 
 of Gollub, near Kulm, with a Russian town 
 on the opposite side of the river Drewentz, 
 when it was believed that insurirents in 
 possession of the Russian town were about 
 to make an irruption into Prussia. There 
 had, however, been several cases in which 
 Russian custom-house guards, when as- 
 sailed by the insurgents, had crossed with 
 the custom-house chest into Prussia, and 
 had been allowed to return without being 
 deprived of their arms, not, however, in 
 virtue of the convention, but as a mere act 
 of courtesy on the part of the king. 
 
 With this reply Sir A. Buchanan had 
 to be satisfied for the moment. But the 
 same day, Herr von Bismarck received a 
 similar communication from the French 
 government ; and after taking counsel with 
 Baron Brunnow, the Russian ambassador, 
 it was agreed, that in order to avoid further 
 complications, the convention should be 
 communicated verbally to the French and 
 English ambassadors. This was done, and 
 Sir Andrew saw that it contained nothing 
 but what Herr von Bismarck had already 
 told him. But it did not escape his notice 
 that the document contained no clause, as 
 all such documents do, regarding its ratifi- 
 cation. Consequently, Sir Andrew saw 
 that it was never intended that it should be 
 ratified, but that it should be left in its 
 present condition, so as to meet any inter- 
 pellations with the reply that no such con- 
 vention existed. At the same time, there 
 was no doubt but that both governments 
 intended to act upon it, and dispense, as 
 friends who could trust each other, with the 
 formalities of signatures and ratifications. 
 
 And such turned out to be actually the 
 case. The writer of these lines followed the 
 course of the Polish rebellion, as special 
 correspondent, from its commencement to 
 
 A.t>. 1863.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [slays and GERMANS. 
 
 its end in 1864, and speaks from personal 
 knowledge, in addition to the large amount 
 of information he was able to acquire. 
 
 It was perfectly impossible to elude the 
 Prussian outposts on the Prusso-Polish 
 frontier. Not a man, not a musket, not 
 an ounce of lead or powder ever found their 
 way across the frontier. If the insurgents 
 trespassed on Prussian soil, they were at 
 once seized and handed back to the Russian 
 authorities. On the Austrian frontier, as 
 will be seen later, matters were very differ- 
 ent. Therein the Austrian government 
 was vigilant only in one sense. They 
 allowed anybody and anything to pass into 
 Russian Poland, but they took good care to 
 let nothing and nobody pass out again 
 without arresting them. They, however, 
 did not hand them back to the Russian 
 authorities, but simply interned them till 
 the war was over. By this means they suc- 
 ceeded, not only in getting rid of the 
 dangerous elements in Austrian Poland — 
 especially in Galicia — but they also gained 
 much credit for leniency from their own Po- 
 lish subjects, and from foreign governments. 
 
 That Prince Bismarck did not adopt a 
 similar policy was because it clashed with 
 the intentions he had then — and since 
 1848 — already formed regarding the unifi- 
 cation of Germany, and the hegemony of 
 Prussia, to the exclusion of Austria. 
 
 He foresaw, as is proved by many of his 
 utterances about this period, that the 
 Slavonic question would soon assume im- 
 portant dimensions ; and this, coupled with 
 the religious questions, led to his forming 
 the closest intimacy with Russia, and to 
 weigh with a heavy hand upon the Polish 
 subjects of Prussia, who were pre-eminently 
 identified with ultramontanism. In fact, 
 he foresaw and fully appreciated the im- 
 portance of the Teutonic question, as against 
 the Slavonic question, for eastern and south- 
 eastern Europe, and was resolved to break 
 up the Slavonic coalition — or the possi- 
 bilities of such a coalition — by all the 
 means in his power. This was best done by 
 sowing dissensions amongst the Slav 
 families, and by inciting them to such 
 action as would entail and necessitate the 
 employment of violent measures against 
 them by those against whom their attempts 
 were directed. At the same time he was 
 equally resolved to put down any such 
 attempts within the kingdom of Prussia 
 with an iron hand, and, from the commence- 
 ment, to crush any such movement. 
 
 VOL. II. 2 X 
 
 We have already shown what Panslavism 
 is, and what are the forces at its disposal 
 in Russia and kindred countries "But it is 
 also necessary to regard the matter from 
 the German point of view, and take into 
 consideration the Teutonic question in its 
 relations to the Slavonic question ; for both 
 act and re-act so much upon each other, 
 that a consideration of the one is not com- 
 plete without a consideration of the other. 
 
 One of our prominent historians, Mr. 
 Freeman, has stated in effect, that the 
 world's history is so extensive, that only its 
 broadest features can be properly grasped 
 by one mind for all practical purposes. In 
 other words, that, like a rare and choice 
 fruit-tree, all encumbering twigs, ofifshoots, 
 and branches, interesting as they may be in 
 their details, and necessary to the develop- 
 ment of the parent stem, must be pruned 
 and cut down if the tree itself is to bear 
 that fruit it is capable of bearing. It is 
 not meant by this that history should be 
 cut down to the collection of competitive 
 examination questions and answers, now so 
 much in vogue. That is simply reducing 
 history to the same level as mankind is 
 reduced in those glass cases at the South 
 Kensington Museum, where so many ounces 
 of lime, phosphorus, fat, water, &c., are made 
 to represent man in all his pride of animal 
 existence. There is only the one thing 
 wanting that Schleiden's lunatic vainly 
 endeavoured to discover. This gentleman's 
 favourite occupation consisted in searching 
 for the proper degree of temperature at which 
 to warm a saucepan full of hog's bristles, 
 bacon, lard, &c. — all the component parts, 
 in short, of a duly constituted pig, which, 
 when stewed to the vivifying degree of heat 
 requisite, he expected to sally forth with a 
 squeak in the full-blown enjoyment of por- 
 cine existence. History, regarded in this 
 light, is nothing more than what may be 
 termed laboratory or cabinet history — 
 highly interesting, no doubt ; but not the 
 inspiring element, not the principle that 
 vivifies a nation and endows it with exist- 
 ence. The history that constitutes a nation 
 — for there can be no nation where there 
 is no history — is not a history of petty 
 details, dates, and isolated laws, but 
 history such as it exists in the minds of 
 the people, and is represented by their 
 ballads, legends, and traditions. Whether 
 those ballads and traditions are literally 
 true or not is quite immaterial ; it is sufli- 
 cient if they eidst in such force as to con- 
 
 337 
 
 
 I 
 
 
*J 
 
 SLAV LEGENDS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1863. 
 
 Btitute a conviction. That is the essential 
 condition ; and if such conviction exists, no 
 power on earth can stop its development. 
 In this sense the Slav legend of the fair 
 Illyria is as potent a factor in determining 
 the destinies of the Slavs, as the Norman 
 Conquest, Magna Charta, or the Reform 
 Bill have been in shaping the destiny of 
 the British people. This legend strikes the 
 key-note to the dominant idea of the Slav 
 races — an idea, be it remarked, that has 
 never yet been followed out with such per- 
 severance as of late years. It is, in fact, an 
 idea that has never even been conceived, 
 except in an Utopian sense. It runs as 
 follows : — 
 
 In the days of Nimrod, there lived a 
 mighty huntress, named Illyria, whose 
 name was as renowned in Asia as that of 
 her rival. One day, when Nimrod was on 
 the chase, he saw a magnificent white stag 
 standing in a gap of the forest. He at 
 once set off in pursuit of it, and after some 
 time succeeded in transfixing it with an 
 arrow. Advancing to secure his prize, he 
 was surprised to see a fair damsel, armed 
 with bow and quiver, appear from the 
 opposite direction with the same intention. 
 *' This is my quarry," said Nimrod ; " be- 
 hold my arrow!" "Not so," was the reply; 
 " it is as much mine as yours, for behold my 
 arrow also !" So saying, the damsel pointed 
 to an arrow that had also pierced the ani- 
 mal's heart, Nimrod was vexed, and point- 
 
 * This legend is the subject of a song, which 
 is met with throughout the Slavonic countries, 
 where it is generally sung by the gipsy-bards, 
 mostly blind men, and never fails in enthral- 
 ling the audiences. 
 
 ** The horns rang through the forest glen 
 
 At break of dewy dawn, 
 For Nimrod and his merry men 
 
 To chase the snow-white fawn ; 
 The snow-white fawn of nimble foot 
 
 Through thicket, brush, and thorn, 
 That Nimrod and his hunters put 
 
 Day after day to scorn. 
 
 And Nimrod swore upon his head 
 
 Nor arrow should be drawn. 
 Nor hound be loosed, nor spear be sped 
 
 But on the snow-white fawn. 
 
 And off they set, the echoes woke 
 
 The stillness of the glade, 
 Until the fawn her cover broke 
 
 Like sunlight through the shade. 
 338 
 
 ino" to an eagle soaring above them, he 
 proposed they should both draw upon it, 
 and the victor be the owner of the stag. 
 Illyria consented ; both let fly, and again 
 both arrows sped equally true, the bird 
 being transfixed from botli sides. Nimrod 
 was now furious, and declared that Asia 
 was not large enough to hold the two, and 
 bade his antagonist defend herself. She 
 did; each drew on the other, but both 
 arrows met midway, and glanced off right 
 and left. Unable to contain himself any 
 longer, Nimrod vowed that his enemy should 
 succumb, and blew his horn to summon 
 assistance. But Illyria was too quick for 
 him, and darted away, crying as she went : 
 " Thou art too strong for me now, and hast 
 driven me forth to the setting sun; but 
 with the rising sun I shall come again with 
 hosts like the sands of the sea-shore, and 
 utterly cast thee out." With this threat 
 Illyria disappeared, and after many wander- 
 ings, settled down in the forests of the 
 Danubian basin, where her manifold charms 
 attracted an angel from heaven, whom she 
 presented with three sons, Rouss, Czech, 
 and Lech. Rouss, the eldest, founded the 
 empire of Russia ; Czech, that of Bohemia ; 
 and Lech, that of Poland ; whilst her later 
 offspring were the ancestors of the present 
 Serbs, and the founders of the great Servian 
 empire.* Such is the popular tradition; 
 and so deeply rooted is it in its principles, 
 that it is, to all intents and purposes, as good 
 
 And speeding on, with many a turn, 
 
 King Nimrod chased the hind 
 Through tangled brake and feath'ry iem^ 
 
 And left his men behind. 
 
 At last a break, an open space 
 
 (And one that barred the way) ; 
 The snow-white fawn had run her race — 
 
 The hunter gained the day ! 
 Short stopped she with a sudden start, 
 
 The bow was quickly drawn, 
 On sped the dart straight to her heart, 
 
 And fell the snow-white fawn ! 
 
 The king a peal of triumph rang 
 
 To see the red blood flow — 
 When from the other side there sprang 
 
 A maiden with her bow. 
 
 And both advanced as each one glanced 
 
 At each across the dell, 
 And both stood for awhile entranced, 
 I And neither broke the spell. 
 
 A.D 1863.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [poles and RUSSIANS. 
 
 as the history authenticated by the docu- 
 ments in the archives of the Public Record 
 Office. 
 
 Tlie vitality of the relationship thus em- 
 bodied in this legend has, with one excep- 
 tion, been continuous. It may have been 
 stronger or weaker at various periods — even 
 dormant ; but it always existed. The one 
 exception is even more apparent than real. 
 Of course, that exception is Poland, as dis- 
 tinguished from Russia in its present ex- 
 tent and form. But it must not be forgotten 
 that the Poles claim what is now known 
 specifically as Russia, up to Nijni-Novgorod 
 and Charkow, for their own, so that the 
 exception is reduced to a local dispute as 
 
 The maid was dressed in robes of white, 
 
 Of golden-bordered lawn, 
 And haughtily she placed her right 
 
 Upon the snow-white fawn. 
 
 Then red King Nimrod' s regal brow 
 
 Flushed at this haughty sign, 
 And to the daring maid — * I trow,' 
 
 He said, * this quarry's mine 1 
 Por here the arrow that hath flown 
 
 Right truly to her heart, 
 And thus I claim her for mine own — 
 
 Do thou in peace depart ! ' 
 
 But proudly smiled the maid as she 
 
 Replied — * I'm truly sorry 
 That thou should'st disappointed be ; 
 
 But mine's this noble quarry ! 
 Thou knowest well, in full career 
 
 She started, stopped, and fell, 
 For she had felt this arrow here^ 
 
 Ere thine had crossed the dell ! 
 Had felt this arrow that hath flown, 
 
 Winged by a maiden's craft, 
 And made the snow-white fawn my own 
 
 Ere thou hadst loosed the shaft.* 
 
 Then flashed with wrath King Nimrod's eye :• 
 
 * If it be as you say, 
 Behold yon eagle in the sky, 
 
 Let him decide the day ! * 
 
 The maiden bowed, the arrows flew, 
 
 Transfixed the eagle fell, 
 Pierced through by both the arrows true, 
 
 The king's and maid's as well. 
 
 • 
 
 Then cried the king — * The worse for thee, 
 
 For we must try again, 
 Draw thou on me, I'll draw on thee, 
 
 For one must here remain ! * 
 
 Again the maiden bowed, again 
 
 The air the arrows cleft ; 
 But meeting in midway the twain, 
 
 Glanced off to right and left I 
 
 to the limits of Slavdom ; and thou^^h the 
 Poles, as a nation, are at variance wfth the 
 Russians as a nation and a government, 
 they are not so with the Russians as far as 
 they are Slavs. The same holds good with 
 the Czechs, or Bohemians. They still ad- 
 here to their legends and traditions that 
 link them to the rest of their family, and 
 acknowledge Croat, Serb, Slovene, Slovak, 
 and Montenegrin, Bulgarian, Bosnak, and 
 Herzegovinian, as part and parcel of the 
 same family, of which Russia is the head 
 by right of power, and having the same 
 interests, as far as any of the members of a 
 large family have, in promoting the welfare 
 of the whole community. 
 
 * Now rue the day, thou unknown maid 
 
 In golden-bordered lawn. 
 And rue thy deadly shaft that laid 
 
 In death the snow-white fawn ! 
 A hundred men are at my call, 
 
 And thou must captive be ; 
 For all Assyria's too small 
 
 To hold both me and thee ! * 
 
 Then mockingly the maiden laughed :— 
 
 ' chivalrous Assyria, 
 Who can'st not better speed a shaft, 
 
 Than can the maid Illyria ! 
 The king who calls a hundred men 
 
 To seize one maid forlorn. 
 That met him in the forest-glen 
 
 And slew the snow-white fawn ! * 
 
 Thus spake, and like the white fawn sprang 
 
 Along the leafy chase ; 
 Thus spake — and empty echoes rang 
 
 Around an empty space ! 
 
 And now the woods and rocks that bound 
 
 The blue Quarnero's tide, 
 With fair Blyria's horn resound 
 
 Illyria, the bride. 
 For she who killed the snow-white fawn, 
 
 Who Nimrod eke defied, 
 From heights celestial has drawn 
 
 Some angel to her side. 
 
 And all the men of Slavic tongue 
 
 That bid the world defiance. 
 And all their mighty kings have sprung 
 
 From Heav'n and Earth's alliance. 
 Rouss, who killed the Northern Bear, 
 
 Renowned in Slav tradition ; 
 Lech, the knight beyond compare, 
 
 And Czech, the great musician ! " 
 
 339 
 
 t 
 
GERMAN HATRED.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1863. 
 
 
 Now, when we consider that this is the 
 dominant national and political idea, the 
 family principle, as it were, of a commu- 
 nity numbering in round figures some 
 100,000,000 souls, it is self-evident that it 
 is an idea that has to be carefully taken 
 into consideration. It may work immense 
 good; it may do the contrary. Pooh- 
 poohing the idea as Utopian is simply 
 foolish. All great ideas are Utopian in 
 tlieir commencements if they involve great 
 changes. The question is, has the idea a 
 real existence and sufficient vitality to en- 
 sure its realisation ? That it real iy exists 
 in a powerful form, even threatening from 
 pome points of view, is clearly proved by 
 the powerful opposition it meets with from 
 those immediately concerned — from a race 
 that is certainly not given to Quixotic 
 attacks or chimeras. Next to Gallicism — 
 or to make the parellel exact, Latinicism — 
 Panslavism, as headed by Russia, is the 
 Teuton's bugbear. True, the German tries 
 to hide his anxiety and his fears by ridicul- 
 ing Panslavism, and threatens, in a ban- 
 tering sort of way, to meet it by Panteu- 
 tonism. Banter, ridicule, and abuse are 
 liis weapons, because he knows that logic is 
 against him. He knows that while Pan- 
 blavism marshals its hundred millions with a 
 compact front of identity of interests — iden- 
 tical for all practical politics — Panteutonism 
 is an empty phrase, and can never unite 
 buch opposed interests as those of Germany, 
 Holland, England, and America, which 
 alone he can regard as in some measure 
 forming a combination similar to Panslav- 
 ism. Here and there, and now and then, 
 the interests may be identical, and may 
 lead to concerted action by fits and starts; 
 but beyond this, Panteutonism is the merest 
 rag of a scarecrow compared to its lusty 
 antagonist, Panslavism. It might lead to 
 the concerted action of England and Ame- 
 rica to check the advance of Panslavism 
 eastward, or to common action between 
 Germany and England to stop its westward 
 career ; but that is all. It is not, however, 
 the material forces of Panslavism that are 
 ^0 much dreaded by the Germans — or rather 
 by the German States, Austrian or Prus- 
 sian — as a quality the Germans themselves 
 possess in a very high degree — namely, that 
 of assimilation. Not only do they assimi- 
 late themselves easily with more progressive 
 lind independent communities, btit they 
 ftlso assimilate more backward races to 
 tUemselves. This is a very valuable quality 
 340 
 
 indeed, having regard to the benefit ot 
 humanity in general ; but it has its very 
 awkward sides for the governments who 
 regard their subjects as the basis of their 
 existence, and food for crown and sceptre, 
 for church and state For this reason, the 
 German government regards the emigration 
 to America and England, of its subjects, with 
 extreme disfavour. It knows that none of 
 those families or men will ever return. 
 They will become Americans, even as the 
 Anglo-Saxon became an Englishman. The 
 number of Germans employed in Russia 
 become very soon Russians to all intents 
 and purposes, even as the Alsatians and 
 Lothringers became thorough Frenchmen 
 within a very short period. Germans are 
 not like the Swiss with their mal de pays. 
 The German Hmniueh is less practical, 
 and much more sentimental; and if the 
 country that absorbs them affords a fair 
 profit to their industry, they adhere strictly 
 to the motto ubi bene ibi patria, whilst 
 still cherishing the memories of their native 
 home, and living in an ideal " Vaterland," 
 bordered with national songs and melodies, 
 and watered, if possible, with eternally re- 
 juvenescent springs of amber-coloured " La- 
 gerbier." 
 
 It is this assimilating quality of the 
 Germans, and the absorbing power of other 
 nations, that causes the State to regard 
 Panslavism with such aversion. It has 
 been amply proved that Slav and German 
 are able to work together — a. matter that 
 is impossible in the case of German and 
 Gaul, or Italian and Spaniard. Thus the 
 German official world is very apprehensive 
 of an advance of Panslavism westwards. 
 They fear that the immense material forces 
 at the command of the movement will 
 overcome their resistance, and relegate 
 their country to much the same position as 
 a stud, whence neighbouring nations may 
 recruit their strength — in short, as a kind 
 of moral and intellectual reservoir to 
 supply leaven to the dough of other races. 
 However flattering this view may be to the 
 individual, it is highly disagreeable and 
 obnoxious to the statesman who desires to 
 form a model State in every particular, 
 and exhibit it as the acme of morality, 
 science, and intelligence, and keep it for 
 himself and his sovereign. Fortunately, 
 however, for the nations outside this pale 
 of perfection, a monopoly of perfection is 
 impossible, and its apostles will always be 
 drafted otf by all who can aflford to pay 
 
 / 
 
 A.D. 1863.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [SLAV DISSENSIONS. 
 
 a higher price for the commodity than the 
 government which has trained them for its 
 own use. In reality, this has been the 
 position of Germany for ages, and gave 
 rise to the assertion that the Germans 
 were a nation of book-makers, pedants, 
 dreamers, and idealists, whilst, in truth, 
 they are as practical a nation in matters 
 material, as they are philosophical in mat- 
 ters ideal. These are the characteristics of 
 the Germans ; and no great Chancellor, no 
 Deutscher Kaiser, would ever be able per- 
 manently to alter them. If they did, the 
 distinctive feature of the German would 
 disappear. But of that there is no danger ; 
 and, in spite of the vast machine of mili- 
 tarism that is being brought to bear upon 
 them, like an immense hydraulic press, to 
 shape them into a well-rounded State 
 model, the particularism of genius will ever 
 assert its power, and Germany remain, as 
 heretofore, the chief store-house of moral 
 and intellectual progress, though, perhaps, 
 at the expense of her political power. 
 Like that of the ancient Greeks and Ro- 
 mans, the genius of the German races can 
 never be bound down to the clod whence it 
 sprang, though it may always cherish and 
 venerate it. 
 
 It is, therefore, not surprising that the 
 continental dynasties should regard Pan- 
 tslavism with aversion, not unmixed with 
 fear. It is feared as an absorbing power, 
 whose forces, once organised, would be irre- 
 sistible from a politically aggressive point 
 of view, in consequence of the immense 
 military forces at its disposal. The gene- 
 ral public also regard the movement with 
 some uneasiness, because they have caught 
 the catch-word that they will be "swamped" 
 if the advance of Panslavism is not duly 
 checked ; and, finally, the Jewish commu- 
 nities fear it most unafi"ectedly, as the 
 Slavs have ever shown themselves most 
 hostile to them, and intolerant of their re- 
 ligion and financial operations. 
 
 This digression is necessary in order to 
 show broadly what are the relations of the 
 two races to each other, without entering 
 into the justice, or otherwise, of the accu- 
 sations and reproaches made by the one 
 against the other, a full description of 
 "which would require a pretty extensive col- 
 lection of new epithets, for which the 
 English language has no equivalents. The 
 question which now suggests itself is, 
 ■whether there is any ground for the suppo- 
 sition that the causes which have hitherto 
 
 kept Panslavism in check are no longer ex- 
 istent? Has Panslavism already attained 
 such a pitch of organisation that it can 
 now commence the struggle for the realisa- 
 tion of its dreams ? Before this question 
 can be answered, it is necessary to glance 
 at the factors that have, till now, impeded 
 its progress. 
 
 One of these factors, perhaps the chief of 
 all, consisted in the antagonism of Poland 
 to Russia. Without entering into the 
 question of the territorial limits of the 
 Polish section of the Slavs, it is sufficient 
 to establish the fact, that the antagonism of 
 this Polish section to the Russian section 
 of the Slavs greatly impeded the progress 
 of Russia as an empire, and, partaking of 
 the character of an internal dissension, 
 effectually checked the advance of Russia 
 westwards. Thus, Austria and Prussia- 
 Germany, in fact, are now paying for the 
 mistake made in the partition of Poland. 
 In dismembering the weaker of the two 
 rival brothers for some territorial gain, and 
 some strategical advantages, they materially 
 strengthened their far more dangerous 
 neighbour, with his millions of Tartars and 
 other Asiatics to fall back upon. Instead 
 of supporting the Polish nation as a bul- 
 wark between them and the Russians, they 
 overthrew it, and brought Asia to their 
 very doors. Having nothing to fear from 
 Poland, and everything to fear from Rus- 
 sia, they actually played into the hands of 
 their natural foe. This seems so plain, 
 that it is a marvel how the error could 
 have been made. Yet, with its conse- 
 quences so plain before them, both these 
 same powers played the same blind game 
 over again, by refusing to allow Servia to 
 become strong enough for a bulwark 
 against Russia. History repeats itself. In 
 a similar way internal dissensions placed 
 Bohemia at the mercy of the Austrians ; 
 yet, after centuries of their rule, they have 
 not been able to fuse the Czech and Ger- 
 man element, in consequence of the des- 
 potic system of .government, which is not 
 so much a system of government as a sys- 
 tem of police — an obnoxious, meddling, 
 harassing system, that bore its fruit in 
 Lombardy and Venetia, with the deserved 
 loss of these two provinces. Then, again, 
 dissension and rivalry rendered Bulgarian, 
 Serb, and Bosnian, a prey to Hungarian 
 and Turk alternately ; whilst the same 
 petty local jealousies threw Croatia into 
 the hands of Haiducs, pirates, Austrians^ 
 
 341 
 
 .>i*'i 
 
 \ 
 
 ♦ I 
 
THE PRUSSIAN POLES.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1863. 
 
 and Italians. Everywhere we meet with 
 the same disintegrating element — dissen- 
 sion accentuated in its political aspect by 
 religious'i and ecclesiastical differences. 
 Catholic Poland against Orthodox Russia ; 
 Catholic Croats against Orthodox Serbs ; 
 Christian Bosniaks against Moslem rene- 
 gades. P'rom Warsaw down to Cattaro, 
 dit^sension made great gaps in the Slav 
 front, into which the enemies of the Slavs 
 — Germans, Hungarians, and Turks— at 
 once thrust themselves in, like so many 
 "wedges, to keep them asunder. So far this 
 policy has been successful, but at a con- 
 siderable cost. Austria and Turkey have 
 succeeded in obtainini>" a mechanical mix- 
 lure, presenting a certain degree of cohe- 
 sion, but have utterly failed to produce, as 
 it were, an homogeneous chemical mixture. 
 Prussia has been far more successful ; she 
 Las achieved the satisfactory result of 
 Laving completely assimilated her share of 
 the Polish spoil to herself. With the ex- 
 ception of the small impotently turbulent 
 and ultramontane " Polish Fraction," the 
 Slavs of East Prussia and Silesia are as 
 Prussian as the Branden burghers. This 
 eminently satisfactory result is due to the 
 circumspect, just, but strict government 
 emanating from Berlin — a government that 
 knows of no half measures where correct prin- 
 ciples are involved. We need not consider 
 all that might be urged against the Prus- 
 sian policy in regard to Poland — to its 
 share of Poland — all the charges of having 
 ousted the great Polish landowners from 
 their estates by indulging their extravagant 
 propensities. But even if these charges 
 are true, which no doubt they are, it does 
 not appear how the Prussian can be held 
 politically responsible for the wasteful 
 habits of the Pole. That is a question of 
 morality that must be left to the con- 
 science of the individual. 
 
 Very different has been the case in Bo- 
 hemia and the other Slav provinces of 
 Austria. The government there has done 
 its best, by its system of administration and 
 policy, to counteract the work of assimila- 
 tion that has been carried on between 
 Slav and German with a considerable de- 
 gree of success. Things were progressing 
 very satisfactorily, when, in a moment of 
 weakness, the Austrian government yielded 
 to clamour and threats of rebellion, and 
 let loose a flood of jealousy and discontent 
 by giving Hungary an autonomy. That 
 was the result of the mistaken idea that 
 342 
 
 Count Beust was the diplomatic equal of 
 Prince Bismarck. He failed as a minister; 
 and it is very doubtful whether he was a 
 success as an ambassador. But the greatest 
 mistake of all was the concession made to 
 the turbulence of a race in a marked mi- 
 nority amongst a number of other families, 
 who only .require to be united in order to 
 dictate their own terms. It is a great 
 error to look upon Austria as a conglome- 
 ration of various races. There are but 
 three — the German, the Slav, and the 
 Hungarian, of whom the Slav is by far in 
 the majority. What would be thought of 
 a policy yielding to the clamour of the 
 Home Rulers, and creating a dualism 
 which should carry on the British govern- 
 ment, and placing Scotland and Wales 
 under the administration of an Irish par- 
 liament ? That is precisely similar to 
 what the Austrian government have par- 
 tially done. They have placed a large 
 section of the Slav family under Hunga- 
 rian administration, and created a vast 
 amount of discontent amongst the remain- 
 ing sections by favouring Hungary to the 
 extent of virtual independence. Naturally 
 both northern and southern Slavs demand 
 equal privileges with the Hungarians. 
 Thus the broad issue in question is 
 whether, there being three distinct races 
 constituting the empire of Austria, there 
 shall also be three distinct parliaments, 
 three distinct administrations, and three 
 distinct budgets, serving three distinct in- 
 terests having not one single point of com- 
 mon action. Obviously the proposition, 
 under the most , favourable conditions, is 
 open to the gravest objections ; but in the 
 case of Austria it is simply absurd, for the 
 following reasons. First, because the Hun- 
 garians and the Slavs are such bitter 
 enemies, that, if left to their own respec- 
 tive devices, they would never be able to 
 pull together. Either the one or the other 
 would obtain the political supremacy, and 
 oppress and harass the other on every 
 possible occasion. Secondly, it would be 
 next to impossible to draw a line dividing 
 the German from the Slav districts. Bo- 
 hemia, it is true, forms a compact Slav 
 district — au " abgeschlossenes Ganze" — 
 but where can the lines be drawn for dis- 
 tricts of which Cracow, Lemberg, Cerno- 
 witz, Gratz, Laibach, and Klagenfurt are 
 the centres ? The thing is practically im- 
 possible. 
 
 There are thus but two alternatives for 
 
 A.D. 1863.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the AUSTRIAN SLAVS. 
 
 Austria as an empire. Either she must 
 revert to unity of government, abolishment 
 of the various "Landtage," ui- Diets, and 
 institute a central parliament sitting at 
 Vienna, and ignore such infantile preten- 
 sions as the right of the various members 
 to hold forth in their special tongues, or 
 she must continue to administer; the State 
 by help of the fusion, for working purposes, 
 of two of the conflicting races, and hold the 
 third in subjection by what the Slavs de- 
 light in calling "brute majority," If the 
 latter alternative be preferred, it is quite 
 clear that the government will strike either 
 on Charybdis or Scylla. In that case the 
 best to be done is to choose the softer rock 
 of the two. The Austro- Hungarian dual- 
 ism must be retained to the exclusion of 
 the Slavs, or an Austro-Slav combination 
 be arranged to the exclusion of the Mag- 
 yars. Which is the most advisable ? 
 
 Now, to ordinary minds, and in ordinary 
 circumstances, the fact that the Slavs bv 
 far outnumber the Hungarians — say by a 
 majority of five to one — supplies the 
 answer completely. The contrary view 
 could only be supported and justified in 
 case the majority were far inferior in in- 
 tellect and industry to the minority. But 
 of this there is not a shadow of proof. 
 Quite the reverse. Bohemia and the semi- 
 Slav districts between Gratz and Trieste, 
 attained a degree of industry and pros- 
 perity far beyond that of Hungary long 
 ago. There may be a certain friction be- 
 tween the Slav and the German still, 
 which, as already said, the government has 
 done its best to promote ; but not less 
 marked is the friction between Hungarian 
 and German : if anything, it is greater. 
 Tliere is thus no proof at all of an inferi- 
 ority of the Slav to the Hungarian in any 
 respect. As for the vaunted progress of 
 Hungary in recent times — since 1866 — it 
 is nothing but outward veneer and varnish, 
 and a certain amount of glitter and tinsel 
 in Pesth and Presburg, that have been ob- 
 tained from the proceeds of various loans 
 in the continental markets, on security 
 that may turn out very illusory and un- 
 satisfactory when evil days come on. But 
 the money thus obtained, as well as from 
 the rich harvests of recent years, does not 
 seem to have produced any corresponding 
 benefit. 'Twas there, 'tis gone — no one 
 knows where, except those speculators and 
 extravagant nobles who are indebted to the 
 State by millions for arrears of taxes. It 
 
 is by no means intended to disparage the 
 Hungarians; but they are certainly not 
 so superior to the Slavs as to justify the 
 artificial supremacy over them they have 
 been invested with. The result has proved 
 this. Austria is on the verge of anarchy. 
 Austro-Hungarian dualism has not an- 
 swered. Would an Austro-Slav combina- 
 tion be more successful ? It might, after 
 an appeal to arms, and at the expense of 
 the Magyars, which is quite undesirable. 
 There thus remains the first alternative 
 only — a reversion to unity of government. 
 That is the only salvation for Austria as an 
 empire. With Russia to back her own 
 Slav population, with Prussia ready to 
 annex the German provinces, with Italy 
 biding her time till Trieste falls to her 
 share like a ripe apple — like Lombardy 
 and Venetia — the Austro-Hungfarian struc- 
 ture would at once utterly collapse. A 
 fourth alternative has been proposed — i.e., 
 that Austria should gracefully resign her 
 German provinces, and enter upon a fresh 
 career as a purely Slavic State. But apart 
 from the difficulty in yielding up her most 
 civilised provinces with the requisite grace, 
 there would still remain Hungary to be 
 dealt with — a trump-card in Russia's hands 
 whenever she chose to play it. To expect 
 such a consummation as a voluntary act on 
 the part of Austria, would be equivalent to 
 expecting a man to smile a graceful smile 
 with a hedgehog sticking in his throat 
 whilst one of his limbs was being ampu- 
 tated. 
 
 Such are the dangers with which Pan- 
 slavism, headed by Russia, threatens the 
 Austro-Hungarian abortion. It is the 
 moral force permeating millions of souls — 
 backed by a powerful empire — protesting 
 against the continued existence of what all 
 men of common sense must pronounce a 
 political monstrosity. The final issue of 
 the struggle is evident. The Magyar must 
 at least admit the Slav to political equality 
 with himself, and the Austro-Hungarian 
 dualism must yield — the sooner the better 
 — to the Slav coalition preparing against it 
 on all sides. How this is to be brought 
 about, whether by peaceful means, or by 
 revolution, invasion, or anarchy, remains to 
 be seen. But it cannot be too plainly, or 
 too impressively stated, that the danger 
 arising from the Eastern question is not to 
 be looked for at Constantinople and Bel- 
 grade, but at Vienna and Pesth. It is in 
 those centres that the combustibles are 
 
 343 
 
POLISH REBELLION.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1863-'4. 
 
 A.b. 1863-'4.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [progress of revolt* 
 
 accumulating that may bring about the 
 conflagration of a European war. 
 
 This is the great question— the legacy 
 bequeathed by the fair Illyria. But, 
 though the question is a knotty one, and 
 apparently entangled, it is really easy of 
 solution, and will unravel at once if the 
 proper end of the string be seized. That 
 can be accomplished if Austria places her 
 three races on a footing of perfect political 
 equality, by the very simple expedient of 
 favouring none. 
 
 But to return to the events of 1863. 
 After it had become certain that Prussia 
 was adopting all the measures in her power 
 to stifle the insurrection, and that Austria 
 only favoured it as far as her own interests 
 were concerned ; and, moreover, that neither 
 France nor Great Britain intended to in- 
 terfere actively on behalf of Poland, the 
 leaders of the movement should have aban- 
 doned any further attempts, and prevented 
 further loss of life and treasure. 
 
 But they refused to see what was evident 
 to all clear-minded men, and the struggle 
 continued. In the beginning of March, the 
 government of Radom continued to be the 
 scene of the principal operations ; and the 
 insurgents in that district, commanded by 
 Langiewicz, although constantly reported 
 dispersed and destroyed, reappeared in undi- 
 minished numbers at a short distance from 
 the scene of their reported destruction, and 
 by their activity and the ability with which 
 they were handled, harassed the troops sent 
 against them most severely ; and although 
 unable to make any impression against the 
 troops by acting in mass, the insurgents, 
 nevertheless, by continuing this partisan 
 system of warfare, and by avoiding any 
 general engagement, kept the whole Rus- 
 sian army in the kingdom in a constant 
 state of suspense and preparation, and pre- 
 vented anything approaching to a settle- 
 ment of the question. 
 
 On March 11th, the Russian government 
 declared that Langiewicz' band had been 
 routed, and himself wounded in an action 
 near the town of Wlozczowa, situated about 
 midway between the Warsaw and Vienna 
 railway and the old post-road to Cracow, 
 and nearly equi-distant from the towns of 
 Kielce and Chenstochow : it also declared 
 that numbers of prisoners had been brought 
 in by the peasants, and that some parties 
 had even surrendered themselves to the 
 troops. But all this was false ; for a few 
 days later, Langiewicz still occupied the 
 344 
 
 ground in the neighbourhood of Vycow, 
 lately held by the band under Kurowski, 
 which had been severelv handled in the 
 attack on the town of Miechow — a position 
 which, being close to the Austrian frontier, 
 gave him the opportunity of receiving such 
 supplies as could be smuggled across the 
 frontier, as well as allowing him a retreat 
 if pressed. The military authorities ap- 
 peared at last to be fully alive to the im- 
 portance of crushing this band, and a force 
 of from 10,000 to 12,000 was sent to operate 
 against Langiewicz. Meantime, the fact that 
 an army, numbering at the lowest estimate 
 about 80,000 men, well armed and equipped, 
 and composed of old and disciplined troops, 
 was unable to put down an outbreak that 
 commenced with such small means at its 
 disposal, was most remarkable, and proved 
 that, however deficient the insurgents were 
 in warlike stores and materials, they were, 
 at all events, imbued with such a spirit 
 of determination, that the best efforts of a 
 large and well-organised force was required 
 to regain the complete mastery of the 
 country. 
 
 At this period the chief efforts of the 
 insurgents were devoted to interrupting 
 the railway communications of the king- 
 dom, and at the same time, by forming 
 bands in all parts of the country, to force 
 the Russians to concentrate their scattered 
 detachments under the fear of having them 
 destroyed in detail, and so to leave the 
 resources of a large extent of country avail- 
 able for the support of the various bands. 
 This policy succeeded ; and although some 
 severe losses were experienced by them, 
 their numbers became greater than ever, 
 and more men were forthcoming than there 
 were arms to place in their hands. 
 
 The pressure applied by the revolutionary 
 committee on the nobles and others from 
 the moderate party became also so great, 
 that the utmost firmness was required by 
 them to resist the movement openly ; for it 
 is scarcely too much to say that the govern- 
 ment wished to drive this party into active 
 opposition, as no effort was made to gain 
 their support, nor were the slightest over- 
 tures made by the government to any pro- 
 minent member of the party. 
 
 It was hoped and believed by many per- 
 sons, that the anniversary of the accession of 
 the emperor (the 3rd March) would be made 
 the occasion of offering a general amnesty : 
 but no such boon was accorded ; and it is a 
 significant fact, that although the Polish 
 
 members of the council of state, and among 
 them the Count Poletylo, whose mansion 
 was pillaged by the troops as we have de- 
 scribed, attended the levee held by the grand 
 duke on that occasion, notwithstanding the 
 most violent opposition of many even of 
 the moderate party, not the slightest notice 
 was taken of these gentlemen by him. . 
 
 Nor was this all. Instructions were sent 
 at the same time to the military chiefs of 
 the different districts of the kingdom, to 
 form amongst the peasants of the different 
 villages a sort of rural police, with the 
 power of examining any person either re- 
 siding in, or passing through, the villages, 
 as well as of arresting armed men or others 
 belonging to insurgent bands or marauders. 
 
 This ordinance meant much more than 
 was conveyed by the actual wording, and 
 was levelled ajjainst the whole of the land- 
 owners of the kingdom, as the power placed 
 by it in the hands of the peasants, of arrest- 
 ing all whom they suspected, or denounced, 
 as being insurgents, without demanding 
 that any proof should be required to justify 
 the arrest, was a most dangerous weapon in 
 their hands ; for though it is true that the 
 third clause of the ordinance enacted that 
 the communal chiefs, peasants, bailiffs, and 
 elders were to take care that no excesses 
 were committed by the peasants when 
 apprehending insurgents, and that those 
 who infringed this rule were to be severely 
 punished, in many cases it was made the 
 pretext for the gratification of every kind 
 of personal vengeance and spite ; and in 
 many parts of the kingdom, where the no- 
 bility had long been uncontrolled and had 
 abused the power which feudal institutions 
 placed in their hands, scenes similar to 
 those that occurred in Galiciain 1846, were 
 the result of the measure. 
 
 The landowners having been thus crip- 
 pled, the government had but little or 
 nothing to fear from the moderate party, 
 who, though sorely pressed by the importu- 
 nities of the insurgent committees, still had 
 sufficient tact to perceive that, at any 
 rate, the moment to throw themselves into 
 the movement had not yet arrived; and that 
 so long as the insurrection was conducted 
 by secret committees, composed of unknown 
 persons in unknown localities, at home or in 
 the capital, or on the continent, and with- 
 out any regularly organised system or pro- 
 gramme, they would be uselessly sacrificing 
 themselves for an undeveloped object, and 
 would lose whatever hold they still possessed 
 
 vol. II. 
 
 2 Y 
 
 over their countrymen, and thereby become 
 incapable of rendering efficient service, in 
 the event of foreign intervention, in favour 
 of their country, or of liberal institution"' 
 being granted them by the Emperor of 
 Russia. 
 
 In the meantime, however, whilst the 
 progress of the rebellion in its civil aspect 
 was hampered, partly by the action of the 
 government, and partly by internal discus- 
 sions, the movement in the field continued 
 to grow apparently more serious. In 
 Podolia, several thousand men, armed with 
 what the official despatches call "every 
 species of weapon," but who, in point of 
 fact, could not be said to have been armed 
 at all, assembled at Bar, and continually re- 
 ceived fresh reinforcements. This fact, 
 coupled with what occurred in Volhynia, 
 proved that, notwithstanding the great 
 difficulty of communication with Cen- 
 tral Poland ("Kongress Polen"), and the 
 interrupted communication between vil- 
 lage and village, and district and district, 
 the insurrection was ever gaining renewed 
 strength. The Russian authorities ordered 
 the peasants to arm themselves with scythes 
 and guard the high road. In answer to 
 this, the insurgents, in many places, pro- 
 claimed the emancipation of the peasants ; 
 but long habit and the influence of the 
 schismatic Greek priests rendered this class 
 but slightly favourable to the insurrection. 
 The Russian garrisons in the towns of Po- 
 dolia were very weak ; not more than two 
 regiments of infantry, here and there a few 
 detachments of Cossacks, and not much 
 artillery. The government had all the 
 moneys transported from the provincial 
 towns to Kamienico, and issued a procla- 
 mation, in the sense of the above ordinance, 
 among the rural population, drawn up in 
 the dialect of Little Russia, calling upon 
 them, and especially the chief persons 
 among them, to keep an eye upon the 
 officials, the nobility, and the priests, and 
 to report all they might see or hear to the 
 gendarmes. 
 
 As may be imagined, all these measures of 
 the government on the one hand, and the acts 
 of the insurgents on the other, greatly con- 
 tributed to intensify the hatred between the 
 military and the rebels ; and it must be 
 borne in mind that the regular soldiery 
 always regard rebels in the light of mur- 
 derers and assassins — as people, in short, 
 who have not got a licence to kill. Thus, 
 a small division of the Smolenski regiment, 
 
 345 
 
 :\ 
 
 ■;l 
 
 . 
 
 v« 
 
 
 
 r 11 
 
FRESH MASSACRES.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1863.'4. 
 
 A.D. 1863-'4.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [defeat of langiewicz. 
 
 with a troop of Cossacks and dragoons, 
 attacked the village of Giebultow, one 
 German mile distant from Miechow, the 
 property of Ladislaus Bielski. The soldiers 
 took twelve persons from the manor-house 
 ("Edelhof") and massacred them behind 
 the village, under circumstances of great 
 atrocity, because they believed that one of 
 their comrades had been killed by a person 
 belonging to the estate. Three, amongst 
 them Severin Miczkowski, were at once 
 killed ; nine were mortally wounded ; whilst 
 a certain Wiescolowski, who had received 
 several deep bayonet-wounds, was brought 
 to Cracow without his wounds being 
 
 attended to 
 
 After the massacre the soldiers plundered 
 the bodies, and left the wounded to their 
 fate, supposing them to be dead. In the 
 meanwhile another party plundered the 
 manor-house, the owner of which had taken 
 timely to flight. It was not till late that 
 the colonel appeared and put a stop to the 
 pillage. On the appearance of a Polish 
 column the Russians withdrew, and the 
 wounded were then brought to Cracow 
 under the protection of the insurgents. 
 About the same time another frightful 
 scene occurred not far from Giebultow. 
 Louis Finkenstein, a British subject, pro- 
 vided with a passport of Lord Russell's, 
 issued on the 27th of March, 1862, was 
 travelling across the frontier at Baran, on 
 the 14th instant, in order to make a pur- 
 chase of corn at Miechow. At the village 
 of Gorka, not far from Giebultow, he was 
 stopped by soldiers and taken before their 
 commander. No arms being found upon 
 him, the major gave him an escort and sent 
 him on to Szachnewskoj. He had to pass 
 the night in his carriage, and a subaltern 
 ("Junker") was ordered to protect him 
 against the men. During the night several 
 wounded Poles were brought in. On 
 it being known that the Poles were ap- 
 proaching, the soldiers demanded that 
 the prisoners should be killed. The officer 
 resisted, pistol in hand, but it was in vain. 
 With the cry of hurrah ! the soldiers fell 
 upon the unarmed persons and killed 
 several, whilst Finkenstein was dragged 
 from his carriage by the hair, received 
 twenty-six bayonet-wounds, and was robbed 
 of 5,800 silver roubles and whatever else he 
 bad. When the Poles came up, Langiewicz 
 caused Finkenstein, at his own request, 
 to be brought to Cracow, where he was 
 most kindly received, and the particulars 
 346 
 
 of the outrage forwarded to the Foreign 
 Office. 
 
 Such acts naturally caused much indig- 
 nation abroad, and gave rise to remon- 
 strances and diplomatic notes — even from 
 Spain and Portugal — which determined the 
 Russian government to proceed all the 
 more rigorously against the insurgents. 
 The active army was brought up in a very 
 short time to about 95,000 infantry, 12,000 
 regular cavalry, 10,000 Cossacks, and 
 8,000 artillery, with about 200 guns. 
 
 The whole of the troops composing this 
 imposing force were well armed, the infantry 
 having been well supplied with Enfield 
 rifles, and well equipped, and in a high 
 state of discipline — thus showing that there 
 were no grounds for the belief that the 
 officers had, in general, very little control 
 over the soldiers under their command. 
 There is, on the contrary, ample evidence 
 that the excesses of the men were due to 
 the savageness of the ignorant lower offi- 
 cers. But although such large numbers were 
 available, they were split up here and there 
 into small columns which manifested much, 
 or no energy at all, according to the tem- 
 perament of the commanders. Some were 
 fired by ambition, or the wish for promotion, 
 and did not care what measures they took 
 to attain their objects. Others, on the 
 other hand, either from age or other 
 reasons, took no pains at all, but remained 
 in garrison, or made a pic-nic out of their 
 marches from one town to another, from 
 villasre to villasfe, from estate to estate, 
 necessarily eating and drinking at the 
 public expense. Thus there were only about 
 12,000 men allotted to the government of 
 Radom, the chief seat and stronghold of 
 the insurrection ; and out of this force gar- 
 risons had to be supplied for the towns of 
 Radom, Petrikau, Chenstochow, Kielce, 
 Opochno, Miechow, and Olkusz, thus re- 
 ducing the actual force available for the 
 field by about one-half ; and to this may, 
 in a great measure, be attributed the suc- 
 cesses gained by the insurgents under 
 Langiewicz, who without sufficient arms or 
 ammunition for the men under his com- 
 mand, succeeded in evading the columns 
 sent against him, and continued to main- 
 tain himself in the wooded and hilly 
 portions of this district, keeping, at the 
 same time, his communications open with 
 the Austrian frontier of Galicia. 
 
 To the failure of the troops in obtaining 
 any important successes in this district, and 
 
 I 
 
 to the activity and ability shown by Lan- 
 giewicz, the importance of the insurrec- 
 tionary movement was due, so that the 
 whole hope of the outbreak depended 
 on the fate of the force under this chief; 
 for although the insurrection existed, more 
 or less, in all parts of the kingdom, 
 and the troops were constantly harassed by 
 the appearance of small bands where least 
 expected, the force under Langiewicz was 
 the nucleus of the national army, and any 
 serious disaster to this force meant the ulti- 
 mate failure of the movement. 
 
 The largest available force in the field, 
 on the side of the government, was under 
 the command of General Chrustcheff, a 
 septuagenarian, mild, amiable, and ad- 
 dicted to the pleasures of the Court rather 
 than to the delights of the " tented field." 
 He was stationed in Lublin, in the pro- 
 vince of Lublin, where large reinforcements 
 had been received from Volhynia, partly 
 with a view to watch the Austrian frontier, 
 but also to increase the force in the govern- 
 ment of Radom in sufficient numbers to 
 allow of their taking the field in such force 
 as to render the position of Langiewicz 
 most difficult, unless he could succeed in 
 obtaining a supply of arms and ammuni- 
 tion to enable him to increase the numbers 
 under his command in proportion. But 
 though he had no difficulty in procuring 
 men, arms and ammunition were not so 
 easily procured, and the fatal blow was thus 
 closer at hand than most people imagined. 
 It was decided to carry out a series of com- 
 bined movements ; and the Russian troops 
 having advanced in force, Langiewicz re- 
 treated along the line of the Vistula, where 
 it forms the Austrian frontier. The Rus- 
 sians, about 9,000 strong, made an attack, 
 in three columns, on the insurgents, who 
 numbered about 10,000 men. 
 
 Fighting continued during the l7th, 
 18th, and 19th of April, along the bank of 
 the Vistula, between Niepolomice and 
 Tarnow ; but the corps commanded by 
 Langiewicz was early defeated. The 
 latter, seeing the uselessness of further 
 bloodshed, escaped into Austrian territory ; 
 and on the evening of the 19th, arrived at 
 Uscie-Yesnickie. He there represented 
 himself as being called Waligorski, and 
 a>ked the imperial commander, Bassler, 
 whether he would be allowed to continue 
 his journey unmolested. On being told 
 that this request could not be granted 
 without express permission from the higher 
 
 authorities, he finally declared himself, and 
 placed himself under the protection of the 
 Austrian government. 
 
 On the morning of the 20th, Langiewicz 
 was brought to Tarnow in a carriage, es- 
 corted by four Hussars ; and in accordance 
 with telegraphic orders received from Lem- 
 berg, he was to have left for that place at 
 1 P.M. By mid-day he was at the station, 
 and the whole of Tarnow had turned out to 
 see him. 
 
 Langiewicz had his female adjutant, 
 who is the daughter of a Russian general, 
 with him; and he took two first-class 
 tickets for Lemberg, paying for them in 
 Napoleons. Just before the departure of 
 the train, however, a telegram arrived from 
 Lemberg to stop his departure. He was 
 then taken to the Hotel de Cracovie, under 
 a guard, consisting of an officer and four- 
 teen men, which was destined less for the 
 security of his person than for keeping otF 
 the immense crowds of towns-people. The 
 only person who visited him was the 
 colonel of the imperial regiment of dra- 
 goons, and who was requested by him to 
 have other visitors kept at a distance. 
 
 During the day about eighty wounded 
 insurgents, many of them quite boys, were 
 brought in, and placed in the military and 
 civil hospitals. There was no appearance 
 of any uniform, each one being dressed ac- 
 cording to fancy. Those insurgents who 
 came over the frontier, unprovided with 
 papers, were sent to Tglau by the mid-day 
 train. Not one brought any arms with 
 him, unless two cuirasses can be reckoned 
 in this category; but Langiewicz and his 
 " adjutant," Mademoiselle Pustowojtoff, 
 were dressed in the Polish national costume. 
 According to Langiewicz, not a third part 
 of his force had arms. The sympathy 
 evinced for him and Mademoiselle Pusto- 
 wojtoff, who was wounded in the foot, was 
 unbounded. Soon after his arrival, the re- 
 mains of his army were brought into Cra- 
 cow to the number of several hundreds, and 
 confined in the riding-school and other 
 public buildings ; anywhere, in fact, where 
 space could be found for them. Before the 
 expiration of a week they were almost all 
 free again and across the border. Under 
 pretence of visiting their relatives, the 
 female population of the town, each fur- 
 nished with some extra article of female 
 costume, easily obtained access to the 
 prisoners, who shortly afterwards passed 
 the sentries in the slightest of all disguises, 
 
 347 
 
 f 
 
 1 
 
 ■i 
 
 
LANGIEWICZ' INTERNMENT.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1863-'4. 
 
 gome wearing a bonnet, others a shawl, 
 &c., &c. 
 
 Langiewicz and the most dangerous of 
 his companions were, of course, better 
 guarded, and afterwards sent to Bohemia ; 
 but, at the time, the Austrian authorities 
 liardly knew what to do with the large 
 number of fugitives swarming across the 
 frontier. In consequence, more stringent 
 measures were soon adopted by the autho- 
 rities. On arriving by rail the traveller 
 was not allowed to leave his carriage until 
 his passport had been examined. Fre- 
 quent domiciliary visits were made, and a 
 considerable military force echeloned along 
 the frontier. These measures were, how- 
 ever, futile ; it was found quite impossible 
 to prevent any one passing into Poland. 
 The band?, formed in Gralicia, chose some 
 dark night, or located themselves in a 
 wood till dusk, and as soon as the patrol 
 passed, over they went ; or else they passed 
 fcingly and re-united on the Polish side of 
 the° frontier, which was generally un- 
 guarded by Kussian troops ; except when 
 they learned, from the reports of their spies, 
 that a band was to pass at a given point 
 and hour. 
 
 The defeat of Langiewicz, and the com- 
 plete rout of his ill-organised army, might 
 have shown how little chance the move- 
 ment had of success; and people of calm 
 judgment, who had the opportunities for 
 looking below the surface, no doubt were 
 convinced that any further resistance was 
 futile. But the leaders of the rebellion 
 were either incapable of forming a calm 
 judgment, or were following out their own 
 private ends, and serving their own private 
 interests. 
 
 Committees were formed in Cracow, 
 Lemberg, Warsaw, and Vienna, in Paris, 
 London, and Rome, who determined to 
 carry on the struggle as long as possible. 
 These committees were composed partly of 
 Polish nobles, such as Prince Czartoryski 
 and others, partly of professional men, 
 journalists, and other exiles, and partly of 
 members of that floating revolutionary 
 population, which is always ready to join 
 the standard of revolt whenever it may 
 chance to be unfurled, whether in Italy, 
 {Spain, or Poland. 
 
 The troops, or rather bands of insurgents, 
 after the defeat of Langiewicz, were simi- 
 larly composed. Of peasantry, there were 
 very few who joined the insurgent ranks. 
 The rank and file were chiefly composed of 
 348 
 
 artizans and labourers; the officers be- 
 longed to the middle class ; and the only 
 men who had had military experience were 
 those who had served with Garibaldi, or in 
 the Hungarian army, under Kossuth, in 
 1848. Ninety per cent, of the whole num- 
 ber, rank and file, and officers, were m^^n 
 who had nothing to lose, but everything 
 to win — that is, be it borne in mind, after 
 the defeat of Langiewicz and his intern- 
 ment in Austria. IJp till then, there is no 
 doubt but that the majority of the insur- 
 gents were respectable men, who revolted 
 from fear of transportation, under the 
 name of military service, and from truly 
 patriotic principles. But this number, 
 comparatively small, was soon killed ofif, 
 or otherwise disposed of, by sickness, 
 fatigue, despair, and fear. 
 
 For a time, however, there was no lack 
 of volunteers from all quarters of the 
 globe. A considerable contingent was sup- 
 plied by the ultramontane party, and the 
 residue of those choice spirits who had 
 clustered round the ex-king of Naples. 
 The rebellion in Poland was regarded by 
 them and their instigators, the clergy, as 
 a struggle, not only against the Russian 
 government, but also against the Russian 
 church. It must not be forgotten that the 
 Poles are all Catholic, and that as long as 
 they remain Catholic, there must always be 
 a considerable friction between them and 
 the adherents of the Russian church, the 
 orthodox Greeks. 
 
 Hence, as might be supposed, what with 
 really patriotic principles, what with reli- 
 gious sympathy, the bulk of the better 
 class of volunteers for the insurgent ranks 
 came from Austria ; not only from the 
 Polish provinces, from Cracow and Lem- 
 berg, but from other especially Catholic 
 provinces, and notably from Hungary, out 
 of the ranks of those who were implicated 
 in the revolt of 1848. Bohemia and 
 Croatia also furnished a contingent, but 
 not to any very important degree. From 
 Prussian Poland there came very few. 
 Some came from France, some from Eng- 
 land — whence, however, considerable assist- 
 ance was forthcoming in the shape of 
 money ; whilst Belgium supplied any 
 amount of arms from the factories at Li^ge 
 and other places, where a gun and bayonet 
 could be procured for about fifteen francs. 
 These arms, as may be imagined, were 
 worthless against the Russian Enfield rifles. 
 They did not carry more than 600 yards at 
 
 / 
 
 A.D. 1863-'4.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [polish committees. 
 
 the outside, whilst the Russian gun killed 
 its man at 1,000 yards Taking this supe- 
 riority of the Russian armament, and their 
 possession of artillery into account, it be- 
 comes explicable that, in most of their 
 conflicts, the Russians lost no more than 
 two or three men to as many hundreds of 
 poles. It was only when in close combat 
 that the Poles could at all meet the Rus- 
 sians on a tolerably equal footing. Such 
 occasions were, however, very rare, and 
 limited to a successful ambush or surprise 
 ill the dense forests, through which the 
 roads led, followed by the Russian troops. 
 
 The following is the personal experience 
 of the author, and gives a faithful account of 
 the state of atfiiirs in Poland, and of the 
 "operations" after the defeat of Langie- 
 wicz : — 
 
 Partly from sympathy for the Poles, 
 partly from a de.^ire to ste for myself what 
 war was like, I determined to go to the 
 seat of war, and attach myself to one of 
 the commanders. Having communicated 
 my desire to a Polish acquaintance, I was 
 introduced by him to a committee located 
 in the neighbourhood of Leicester Square. 
 The members of this committee did not 
 very favourably impress me. Faithful to 
 Heine's picture of the " Pole," their daily 
 refrain seemed to be — 
 
 ** A mighty bowl of punch we'll brew, 
 Uusweetened, undiluted ; 
 A flood of liquid thought on true 
 Old Polish style computed." 
 
 This, it appeared, however, was only 
 one of the recruiting committees ; and as I 
 had no desire formally to attach myself to 
 the insurgents as so much food for powder, 
 I resolved to enter into no engagement 
 with them, but to enter into relations with 
 one of the higher committees. Meantime, 
 I ascertained the fact, that, say, John 
 Levitzki, was possessed of an extraordinary 
 number of doubles. John Levitzki was 
 enrolled, and received a certain sum, vary- 
 ing from one to five pounds. A consider- 
 able portion of this sum was expended, soon 
 after the ceremony of enrolment, in a neigh- 
 bouring cafey for a general supply of 
 *' liquid thought," of which, the more mud- 
 dled the consumers became during the 
 evening, the more was required, as was but 
 natural. A day or two afterwards, John 
 Levitzki's exact counterpart appeared 
 under the name of Simon Dragowski, and 
 was also enrolled and inscribed in the list 
 of volunteers. This sort of thing went on 
 
 for the fortnight or so, during which I had 
 the equivocal pleasure of these patriots' 
 company. My original mentor, of course, 
 highly disapproved of these proceedings, 
 but excused them as being " necessary for 
 the cause." I could not help feeling a cer- 
 tain doubt as to the value of a cause for 
 which such proceedings were necessary; 
 but resigning myself to the belief that the 
 leaders of the movement knew best what 
 was necessary for their country, I availed 
 myself of an introduction to Prince Czar- 
 toryski, who was then in Paris. To Paris 
 I went. Here things appeared very dif- 
 ferent. In place of low cafes I found ele- 
 gant saloons ; in lieu of undiluted punch I 
 found champagne; instead of bibulatory, 
 unwashed, and unkempt Levitzkis and 
 Dragowski?, I found elegant noblemen, 
 patriarchal aristocrats, charming ladies, 
 and eloquent countesses, marchionesses of 
 an age at which a toilette a la Pompadour 
 is the most attractive. In place of the 
 sordid fogs of Leicester Square and Soho 
 I found an inspiring atmosphere of enthu- 
 siasm. Fair ladies, with a melancholy cast 
 of countenance, dressed in appropriate 
 black, were busy embroidering flags, pick- 
 ing lint, knitting socks, comforters, and 
 mittens ; others went from house to house 
 collecting funds ; here and there a stalwart 
 priest superintended the arrangements. 
 Ambitious young poets and musicians 
 flitted from house to house, from Bel Air 
 to the Rue Blanche, from the Ely see to 
 Montmartre, and enraptured their patrons 
 with marches and war-songs without end. 
 The very organ-grinders had caught the 
 fever, and the strains of Oginski's " Last 
 Polonaise," composed on the walls of his 
 prison-cell the night 'before his execution, 
 were heard at every comer of the city. All 
 this, if not of war itself, was the romance 
 of preparatory war; and as no romance 
 is complete without love or love-making, 
 which, in Paris at least, are not quite the 
 same thing, there was a most remarkable 
 amount of cooing and wooing going on 
 amongst the young enthusiasts. Made- 
 moiselle Marie was continually in animated 
 converse with M. Jules ; and it was quite 
 affecting to note how the masculine mind, 
 which ordinarily so strongly objects to 
 " trying " anything on,* submitted to the 
 measurements, by fair hands, for caps, 
 cloaks, jackets, and the thousand-and-one 
 knick-knacks requisite for a campaign. 
 More men, young and old, were engaged 
 
 349 
 
 ' I 
 
 ii\ 
 
CZARTORYSKI.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 at this period in Paris alone, in holding 
 skeins of wool to be twisted round fair 
 fingers, than at ordinary times throughout 
 the whole civilised world. Mothers, usually 
 so strict as to their daughters* acquaint- 
 ances, closed their eyes when they saw 
 their bonnes enfants engaged in what, at 
 other times, they would have considered 
 highly dangerous and unbecoming flirta- 
 tions. But, as the result generally was the 
 obtainment of a good sum of money, or 
 some equivalent value by Marie from Jules 
 for the good of the cause, the course of 
 events was not interfered with. In short, 
 it was what the Americans would call, "a 
 fine time for lovers." 
 
 Nor was there much difference between 
 the female and the masculine section of 
 patriots. The majority spent their time 
 in meeting here, there, and everywhere, 
 building the most magnificent castles in 
 the air on the basis of choice luncheons, 
 with many oysters and more champagne, and 
 dainty little suppers, at which endless plans 
 of campaigns were conceived, and endless 
 battles fought, and victories won. 
 
 Such was the Parisian surface. It was 
 more agreeable than the London surface ; 
 but still it did not strike me as exemplify- 
 ing the spirit requisite for the success of a 
 great national movement. And I did not 
 conceal my opinion of the matter. But, 
 having written an article to that effect for 
 a London paper, which I communicated to 
 Prince Czartoryski, I was gravely informed 
 by him that I was much mistaken. In 
 almost the same words as those used by my 
 London mentor, he informed me that all 
 this was " necessary for the cause." 
 
 " But," I remarked, " it would surely be 
 wiser to devote the large sums of money 
 spent to embroider flags, and for similar 
 purposes, to more useful things. Nor can 
 I see what benefit to the cause can accrue 
 from these endless suppers, and the enor- 
 mous consumption of champagne and 
 oysters." 
 
 '•' Mon cher ami,''^ replied the prince. 
 " You must remember that this is only one 
 way of advertising. I know one of your 
 compatriots who spends more than £20,000 
 in advertising an utterly worthless article. 
 He is making a large fortune. He spends 
 a pound to get a guinea. But we, who are 
 thus advertising a not unworthy object, do 
 not pay anything. We let our friends 
 spend as much as they like, and as they 
 may please, in order to get a little for our- 
 350 
 
 [a.d. 18G3-'4. 
 
 selves. What a man will not give before 
 he has drunk his bottle of champagne, he 
 will give after he has emptied it. But as 
 we do not pay for the champagne, all we 
 get is clear profit. Instead of publishing 
 our advertisements ourselves, and then 
 asking for the cash to pay for them, which 
 comes up to a large sum, and frightens our 
 friends, we let them pay for them uncon- 
 sciously. It all comes to the same thing." 
 " All that," I replied, " may be as true 
 as it is sarcastical and cynical ; but it does 
 not alter my opinion, nor affect my conclu- 
 sions. Whatever you may say on the 
 point, I contend that the patriotism which 
 insists upon having fifteen francs worth of 
 champagne before it gives five francs away 
 for the " cause," is a mock patriotism, worth 
 less than nothing, and that there is no 
 hope for a cause based on such principles. 
 It was not by such means that Italy re- 
 gained her freedom and liberty." 
 
 '^ Ah, mon ami,'' replied the prince, 
 benignly, *'you are young ; you are enthu- 
 siastic ; you do not know the world yet. 
 Society is a strangely complex machine.'* 
 
 " Exactly so," I answered ; " but that is 
 just what puzzles me. What has 'society* 
 to do with the question ? As far as I am 
 aware, and as far as your own manifestoes 
 go, the present movement is a rising of the 
 people — a democratic movement to over- 
 throw the rule of the czar, and reconstitute 
 Poland on constitutional — if, indeed, not 
 on democratic principles.'* 
 
 " Constitutional principles — constitu- 
 tional liberty — not republican,** corrected 
 the prince. 
 
 « So be it,** I replied. « But then how 
 is it that all your French friends belong to 
 the most pronounced class of absolutism, 
 and conservatism, and ultramontanism ? 
 How is it that there is such a glaring dif- 
 ference between the practice and principles 
 in London and Paris ? In London I heard 
 nothing but of the republic. Here I hear 
 of nothing but the claims of the aristocracy, 
 and speculations as to the future king of 
 Poland." 
 
 " You forget again,** observed the prince, 
 " that we are living under an imperial rule ; 
 and that, at any rate, the greater part of 
 the exiles living here are of the Polish 
 nolility, who have their privileges also as 
 well as their duties." 
 
 " One of those privileges," I curtly 
 remarked, "being that of living in Paris 
 instead of fighting in Poland. In fact. 
 
 A.D. 1863-M.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [M. BONHOlOrE, 
 
 whilst the plehs is fighting, the aristocracy 
 is, let us say, diplomatising.*' 
 
 " Sir," severely interrupted a rather 
 saturnine individual, who had been listen- 
 ing to the conversation — " Sir, you are the 
 most self-sufficient young man I have ever 
 had the pleasure of meeting. You insult 
 his excellency." 
 
 " Sir," I replied coolly, " if your idea of 
 self-sufficiency is the conviction that twice 
 two is four, you may be quite right. If so, 
 I cannot say much for the intellectual ca- 
 pabilities of your acquaintances. As far 
 as I understand his excellency, he does not 
 deny that twice two is four, but is simply 
 explaining to me why it is so. His excel- 
 lency knows perfectly well that I am not 
 referring to such men as himself, but to 
 the jeunesse doree, who would be doing 
 their country more service in the ranks 
 than flirting about in the saloons, or loung- 
 ing on the Boulevards." 
 
 " Monsieur," said my interrupter, sneer- 
 ingly, " had better express that opinion to 
 one of the jeunesse he so much despises." 
 
 " That,*' I replied, " is quite a Corsican 
 method of argument, only adapted for 
 people who have no brains to blow out." 
 
 At this remark, which was certainly not 
 complimentary, the saturnine gentleman 
 arose, and took his leave from the prince 
 without deigning to honour me with any 
 further remarks. After he had left, the 
 prince laughed heartily, and told me that 
 my last words had been too severe: the 
 gentleman was no less a personage than M. 
 Pietri, Napoleon's chief of secret police. 
 The prince, however, assured me that he 
 did not at all feel ofi'ended by what I had 
 said. On the contrary, he was glad to 
 make the acquaintance of a gentleman who 
 was so singularly outspoken. Still I was 
 much mistaken, as I should find out when 
 I had gained a little more experience ; and 
 he, therefore, quite agreed with me that I 
 could not do better than proceed to Poland, 
 and see for myself how matters were pro- 
 gressing. To this I at once agreed; and 
 the prince promising to write the necessary 
 introductions for me, I left him to make 
 my preparation for the journey. 
 
 When I had received my credentials in 
 the shape of several letters and a 'passe 
 partout, I left Paris en route for Cracow. 
 At Brussels I delivered my first introduc- 
 tion, and made the acquaintance of the 
 committee there. Amongst them was a 
 gentleman, whom I will call M. Bonhomme. 
 
 It would be scarcely fair to mention his 
 real name, because since then, whenever 
 there was any occasion for his services, he 
 was always ready to offer them, and employ 
 his valuable talents for the benefit of any- 
 body, or anything — kings, socialists, mon- 
 archies, or republics. He was a speculator 
 in arms of all sorts, sizes, and qualities. 
 If ever there was a government sale of 
 small arms, M. Bonhomme was sure to be 
 the chief buyer, no matter where they were 
 to be sold. He had had no small share in 
 Garibaldi's expedition, for which he fur- 
 nished a large portion of the arms and 
 ammunition. Afterwards, in the Carlist 
 war, it was he who supplied the guns and 
 cartridges ; and still later, I met him on 
 board the Austrian Lloyd's Danube steamer, 
 Elizabeth, plying his old occupation for the 
 benefit of Prince Milan and the oppressed 
 Christians. So it will be with M. Bon- 
 homme till the day of his death. Speak- 
 ing several languages perfectly, and know- 
 ing the geography of all the frontiers of 
 the European States by heart, he is ready 
 at any moment, for the due consideration, 
 to furnish any number of arms, at any place 
 and at any hour, that may be required for 
 any purpose. 
 
 In the year of grace, 1-863, M. Bon- 
 homme was not so well supplied with dis- 
 carded arms as usual. The fact was, that 
 the last supplies for the Garibaldian troops 
 had made a considerable hole in his stock ; 
 and as the Italian government had not yet 
 disposed of them, he found himself obliged 
 to contract for new ones. For this pur- 
 pose he had entered into negotiations with 
 some of the small-arm factories in Liege, 
 and had succeeded in obtaining a contract 
 for 10,000 " rifles,*' at a price of sixteen 
 francs (12s. lOd) each. This price he also 
 generously charged the committee ; but as 
 he had the task of forwarding them to 
 their destination also, the price, by the 
 time they reached the Russian side of the 
 frontier, mounted up to no less than, on an 
 average, £2 15s. eacli ; and it was on this 
 sum, spent by himself, that he charged his 
 commission. The cases, containing the 
 arms and other war material, were forwarded 
 to different agents in Austria "for ship- 
 ment " to China. Once across the German 
 and Austrian frontier, they were safe till 
 they got towards the Russian frontier. 
 
 Having thus seen some earnest of the 
 
 war, I started for Leipsic, where the next 
 
 i committee had its quaiters. It was located 
 
 351 
 
it i 
 
 ON THE FIlONnER.J 
 
 HISTORY OP THE 
 
 [A.D. 1863-'4. 
 
 <i ' 
 
 in the Hotel de Saxe, and consisted chiefly 
 of Poles, usually residing at Dresden, but 
 who had transferred themselves to Leipsic, 
 where, in the busy hum of that active town, 
 their proceedings attracted less attention 
 than they would in Dresden, where the 
 chief amusement of the inhabitants con- 
 sists in trying to find out what each other's 
 business is ; and it must be acknowledged 
 that their endeavours are mostly crowned 
 with success. In Dresden itself, especially 
 in the Court circles, there was considerable 
 sympathy for the Poles, which naturally 
 increased the more the Polish provinces 
 were approached. Here, especially on the 
 Austrian frontier, the sympathy was openly 
 pronounced. In the Prussian provinces, 
 however, all demonstrations were rigorously 
 suppressed, and it was impossible for any- 
 body, not duly provided with passports, to 
 cross the boundary ; and even then, only at 
 certain points. In Austrian Poland, how- 
 ever — that is to say, in Galicia — a very 
 ditferent state of affairs obtained. It was 
 described, in a despatch from the British 
 consul at Cracow, as follows : — 
 
 " Nor do the people of Cracow attempt 
 to conceal their feelings. They show 
 themselves in various ways — by the hospi- 
 tality, care, and attention bestowed upon 
 the wounded ; by the large crowds which 
 follow to the grave the corpses of those 
 who die of the injuries they have received 
 at the hands of the Russian soldiers ; and by 
 the mourning costume worn by the whole 
 population. 
 
 " The active spirits of the place go much 
 beyond such demonstrations. From very 
 good authority, I learnt that an insurrec- 
 tionary committee is permanently estab- 
 lished, and holds nightly sittings in the 
 town. It is intrusted, I was told, with the 
 organisation of bands, the appointment of 
 their commanders, &c., and is inconstant 
 communication with the Warsaw com- 
 mittee, and those said to be in existence at 
 L( mberg and other Galician towns. Its 
 general proceedings were openly talked of 
 to me, and many people seemed to be aware 
 of its existence. There is, further, no 
 doubt that many Cracovians are to be 
 found in the insurgent ranks. The stu- 
 dents at the university supplied a con- 
 siderable quota ; and amongst the wounded 
 lying in the hospitals several natives may 
 be found." 
 
 This account was far below the truth. 
 There was not only one insurrectionary com- 
 
 mittee, but several located in various parts 
 of the town ; whilst every second shopkeeper 
 was an "agent" for something or other. 
 The cafes naturally were the rendezvous of 
 " patriots " of all descriptions ; and, as well 
 as the shops, drove a roaring trade in conse- 
 quence. I have always found that this 
 class is eminently patriotic, no matter of 
 what character the " cause " may be, and 
 that a considerable portion of the funds 
 goes towards the profits of such establish- 
 ments. On inquiry, however, in the 
 rural districts, I found, as I had expected 
 from what I had seen in London and Paris, 
 that the peasantry, to a man, were opposed 
 to the movement as far as their fear of 
 their landlord permitted them ; and also, it 
 must be acknowledged, as far as the clergy 
 allowed. 
 
 Of this feeling I was destined soon to 
 have ample experience. In the beginnino* 
 of June, 1863, thus some time after Lan° 
 giewicz had disappeared from the scene, I 
 started with five or six volunteers and 
 others for the frontier. We soon left the 
 railway, and mounted the carriages and 
 carts provided for us. They had been 
 furnished by a M. Brunitzki, an influential 
 landowner, not far from the frontier. Enter- 
 ing into conversation with the driver, who 
 was a Bohemian, and spoke German, I dis- 
 covered that not a day had passed, since 
 the commencement of the movement, with- 
 out his having been obliged, in common 
 with many of his comrades, to meet two 
 trains a day, and bring either passengers or 
 goods from the station to the house of M. 
 Brunitzki. In reply to my observation 
 that he must have been making a good 
 deal of money by the pourboires he re- 
 ceived, he said that the people who came 
 there did not come to spend money, but to 
 make it. He did not suppose he had made 
 ten florins during the whole year; and, 
 meantime, his own fields were runnino- to 
 ruin, as his horses were constantly em- 
 ployed. " But," I remarked, " do not these 
 horses belong to the baron ? and are you 
 not in his service ? " " God bless your little 
 heart," was the reply, " the baron's horses 
 have other fish to fry. There are Count So- 
 and-so, and Prince So-and-so, and Countess 
 This-and-that, and Princess the Other, who 
 go backwards and forwards day after day. 
 I don't mean to say that the baron— he is a 
 good man so far — is not being ruined too ; 
 but the master's ruin is not often the ser- 
 vant's gain. It will take us many years to 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 A.l>. 1863-'4.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [prince LUBOMIRSKt. 
 
 regain what we have lost, not only in time 
 and produce, but also in hard cash ; for 
 though we cannot earn money, we have to 
 spend it to live," "And when it is all 
 gone ? " I inquired, " Why, then we have 
 to go to service to keep body and soul 
 together." " And do any of you go over 
 there ? " I asked^ pointing in the direction 
 of the Russian frontier. " They say so," 
 was the cautious reply ; " but I do not know 
 of any. I have got some friends on the 
 other side, and they tell me that they have 
 not more to pay there than we have here.'* 
 
 Such I found to be the general feeling 
 amongst the peasantry ; and when I asked 
 them plainly which they preferred, a Rus- 
 sian or a Polish master, they almost in- 
 variably exclaimed, " God deliver us from 
 both." Others preferred the Russians, " be- 
 cause,'* as they said, "they only come now 
 and then ; but the Polish lords are always 
 on our backs." 
 
 After an hour and a-halfs rapid drive — 
 each waggon had three horses— we arrived 
 at Baron Brunitzki's. Scarcely arrived, my 
 friend, the driver, was ordered to go back 
 to the station for some cases which had 
 arrived in the morning. That made nine 
 hours' work, for nothing, he had had that 
 day ; so I was not at all surprised to hear 
 sundry ejaculations the reverse of compli- 
 mentary. 
 
 The baron*s mansion was a large one- 
 storied white-washed edifice, situated on a 
 broad terrace, approached by a flight of 
 wide steps. The terrace was crowded with 
 ladies and gentlemen walking about, smok- 
 ing cigars or cigarettes, or sitting at the 
 little table, on which stood the customary 
 bottles of spirits with which each new- 
 comer was welcomed. The baron, after I 
 had given him my letter of introduction, 
 led me to one of these tables, and pouring 
 out two glasses of liqueur, handed me one. 
 This, in my innocence, I was about to 
 drink, when he stopped me, and making a 
 speech in Polish, which I did not under- 
 stand, emptied his own glass ; then, ad- 
 dressing me in French, told me that the 
 custom in Poland was for the host to drink 
 his guest's health; "and now," he added, 
 "we will drink together." So saying, he 
 poured out another glass, and touching 
 mine with it, tossed it off in company with 
 me. This was a highly ingenious method, 
 it appeared to me, to make the consump- 
 tion of much spirit a duty of hospitality ; 
 and when I saw with what marvellous ra- 
 
 VOL. II. 2 z 
 
 pidity the bottles were replenished, I could 
 not avoid thinking of the precept, that 
 practice makes perfect ; for in spite of the 
 enormous quantities that were consumed, 
 I did not see one of the company any the 
 worse for it» 
 
 In the evening we sat down to dinner : 
 there were, all told, no less than forty- 
 seven persons. For the last six months 
 there had never been less, but frequently 
 many more. At my remark that this must 
 be very expensive, the baron shrugged his 
 shoulders, and said, " Que voulez vous f '* 
 To my inquiry as to who the guests pre- 
 sent were, he replied that some of them 
 were neighbours; others, and the greater 
 part, volunteers " going across," 
 
 We stayed four days at the hospitable 
 baron's; we rode, we hunted, we got up 
 amateur concerts, danced, ate and drank, 
 and read the papers, or listened to the re- 
 citals of the new-comers, or to the progress 
 the cause was making. All this was very 
 pleasant ; still I was glad when, on the 
 fifth day, my companions, the leader of 
 whom was a Major Nyari, told me that we 
 were to continue our journey. In the 
 evening of the same day we arrived at 
 Prince Lubomirski's residence. 
 
 Here the aspect of affairs was very 
 similar to that at Baron Brunitzki's, only 
 it was on a much larger scale, and that 
 there was a greater number of gentlemen 
 in uniform. But it was not the Polish uni- 
 form ; it was the Hungarian. The Aus- 
 trian government had drawn a cordon along 
 the frontier of Hungarian troops," in order," 
 as the official despatches said, " that no op- 
 portunities to cross the frontier should be 
 afforded by the sympathies of the local 
 troops," But, as a matter of fact, the sym- 
 pathies of the Hungarians, if not specially 
 in favour of the Poles — which, however, 
 they were — were not at all in favour of the 
 Russians, as might be supposed, when the 
 occurrences of the Hungarian revolution in 
 1848, and the part played by the Russian 
 government, were taken into account. There 
 was not the least difficulty in passing the 
 Austro -Russian frontier. The volunteers 
 assembled at the mansions of the nobility ; 
 drove in carriages and waggons to the 
 frontier ; and whilst the sentries were look- 
 ing one way, the passengers went another, 
 and drove over the boundary by the dozen 
 and more at a time. 
 
 One evening I was told that there was 
 a band of insurgents about to approach tho 
 
 353 
 
 
 I 
 
n 
 
 ACROSS THE FRONTIER.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 18G3-'4. ' 
 
 frontier in order to receive volunteers. 
 There was much excitement at the news. 
 Thirty volunteers were drummed together 
 out of the surrounding villages, and as- 
 sembled in the court-yard of the prince's 
 farm. Here each man received a gun, 
 sixty rounds of cartridge, a sword — the 
 officers a revolver — and five roubles in 
 silver. Four carts were got ready; three 
 for the volunteers, and one for their bag- 
 gage. In addition, tliree carriages were 
 also drawn up, into which stepped several 
 of the visitors — dainty young Polish nobles, 
 and three or four ladies, who desired to 
 pay a vitiit to the insurgent camp. Another 
 waggon was brought up at the last mo- 
 ment, into which a large stock of provi- 
 sions, wines and spirits, were packed. In 
 fact, any one unacquainted with what was 
 going on, would have imagined that a pic- 
 nic was being organiaed for a day, or a 
 moonlight trip into the neighbouring 
 
 forest. 
 
 At about 11 P.M. the procession started. 
 
 Colonel K , the commander of the 
 
 cordon in this part of the country, was of 
 the company ; so, as was to be expected, we 
 were not stopped at any point of our pro- 
 gress by too anxious sentries. In fact, we 
 saw none at all j and, indeed, if there had 
 been any, it would have been surprising 
 had they regarded our party in any other 
 than the light of a merry-making. We — 
 that is to say they — sang warlike songs, and 
 songs of love, and songs of wine, and many 
 other sorts of songs varying in expression, 
 quality, and intensity, according to the 
 vehicles in which the singers sat. 
 
 Suddenly the first carriage, in which I 
 was seated, was hailed in a stentorian voice, 
 and an individual came forward armed 
 with a gun, bayonet fixed, and accompanied 
 by two other individuals, who might have 
 been peaceful haymakers, had they not had 
 their scythes fixed upright on the shafts 
 instead of at right angles to it. These 
 were the celebrated scythemen, the first 
 insurgent outpost. The word was given, 
 and we passed on, the dense foliage closing 
 ever more densely upon us, till at last we 
 perceived the gleaming of the camp fire 
 through the leaves, and in a few moments 
 more were standing in an open space round 
 an extemporised hut of branches and twigs, 
 at the entrance of which, warming his 
 hands at the fire (for it was chilly), stood the 
 leader of the band, an ex-Garibaldian 
 officer, who had been some years in 
 3j4 
 
 America, and spoke English quite fluently. 
 We shook hands, we talked, we laughed, 
 the insurgents gathering round us at a re- 
 spectful distance, when suddenly one of the 
 ladies gave a pretty little shriek, and 
 pointed to a dark object hanging from a 
 neighbouring tree. " What is that ? " asked 
 the colonel. *' Oh," replied the leader, " only 
 a Jew ! — a spy we hanged this morning." 
 " The wretch ! " exclaimed the fair lady ; 
 " but had you not better bury him before 
 we have our supper ? " '" Certainly I if 
 madame desires it," was the gallant reply ; 
 and thus, at a sign from the leader, the 
 unfortunate Hebrew was cut down and 
 dragged away by the heels out of sight ; but 
 I very much doubted whether he was buried 
 or not, for the man who removed him 
 appeared again on the scene within a few 
 minutes. The work of the night then 
 began. The waggon-load of provision was 
 unpacked, seats, sofas, and arm-chairs of 
 moss improvised for the ladies, and soon 
 the corks flew out of the bottles with a 
 pop-pop-pop, that was the most martial 
 feature about the whole performance. It 
 is unnecessary to say more about the repast, 
 except that the three most prominent dis- 
 pensers of the hospitalities were the three 
 sons of the historian and poet Miezkiewicz, 
 who were faultlessly attired, and wore kid 
 gloves. At about 3 A.M. the ladies and the 
 Hungarian colonel left the camp, and, the 
 moon having risen, no doubt highly 
 enjoyed their ride home. Half-a-dozen of 
 the other guests, including myself, remained 
 to inspect the arrangements of the camp by 
 daylight, and soon afterwards turned in for 
 a couple of hours' sleep. But by or about 
 4 A.M. there was a great stir in the camp. 
 Horsemen galloping backwards and for- 
 wards, sentinels rousing the sleepers ; and 
 before we well knew what it all meant, the 
 sudden boom of a cannon rendered further 
 explanation unnecessary. The Russians 
 were advancing. My companions, taking 
 no notice of myself, hurried off to their 
 waggons and carriages, and in less than tea 
 minutes were galloping as hard as they 
 could make the horses go towards the fron- 
 tier. Another boom followed, then another, 
 accompanied by a short rattle of musketry. 
 This increased the confusion still more ; 
 and seeing that everybody seemed con- 
 cerned only for his own safety, and a gene- 
 ral flight was the order of the day, I elected 
 to look after myself also. A few moments' 
 consideration, however, showed me that 
 
 A.D. 1863-'4.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [a polish CA.MP. 
 
 if I ran away I should just as likely as not 
 run right into the arms of the enemy. So 
 quietly sitting down by one of the fires, 
 with a couple of bottles of wine and some 
 cold turkev, I waited for what was to come. 
 Presently the branches of a cluster of small 
 pines were parted, and a posse of Russian 
 soldiers made their appearance. As soon as 
 they saw me, one or two lifted their guns to 
 take aim ; but, lifting up one of the bottles, 
 I exclaimed, " Wodka, dobra, niet Polski," 
 which was the total amount of Russian at 
 my command, meaning that the brandy 
 was good, and that I was no Pole. Hereat 
 they cautiously advanced, one of them 
 pointing to the hut, and inquiring if any 
 Polshis were there. I shook my head, and, 
 pointing to all the points of the compass, 
 gave them to understand that tliey were 
 " there." I could not help laughing ; and, 
 though rather puzzled, the man himself 
 broke out into a grim smile as I handed 
 him the bottle, and, taking a deep draught, 
 passed it on to his comrades. Meantime, 
 the others had been poking about, and 
 found the dead body of the Jew, which 
 they lugged along the ground towards me, 
 and asked me what that meant. I replied 
 with a gesture of passing a rope round 
 my neck, and said " Polski." This seemed 
 to satisfy them, and tliey continued their 
 search, appropriating the remains of the 
 provisions and sundry articles that had been 
 left behind. 
 
 Gradually the firing ceased, and in 
 about ten minutes the main body came up, 
 headed by their captain. He at once spotted 
 me, and inquired of his men what they 
 knew about me. The reply was given in a 
 good-humoured, laughing manner, and the 
 captain, advancing, asked if I spoke French 
 or German, and who and what I was. I 
 told him that I was staying at Prince 
 Lubomirski's, and had come, with some of 
 his guests, to see the insurgent camp, and 
 how they managed matters. Thus I gave 
 him a full account of the expedition. He 
 laughed heartily, and congratulated me on 
 my escape, saying, that if I had been caught 
 running away I should undoubtedly have 
 been shot. As it had happened, 1 should 
 now be able to see a Russian camp also. 
 He then asked me several questions as to 
 the number of men there had been, &c. ; to 
 which I replied that I absolutely knew no- 
 thing at all about it beyond what I had 
 already told him. He then asked me if I 
 had any papers about me. I told him I 
 
 had my passport, and a letter of introduction 
 to a Polish nobleman in Galicia, from 
 Prince Czartoryski. " Ah ! you must let me 
 see that; they are both two of our chief 
 enemies." Seeing I did not much like the 
 idea of giving up a letter which might 
 compromise the two individuals in ques- 
 tion, he at once said, " Don't I tell you 
 they are both two of our chief enemies ! 
 If I could catch either of them, I should 
 hang them at once. So your letter cannot 
 compromise them much more. It might 
 compromise yourself though ! " " In that 
 case," I replied, " the sooner I get rid of it 
 the better." And so saying, I lianded it to 
 him. When he had read, he burst out 
 laughing. "Here," he said, "take your 
 letter. I suppose you don't know what is 
 in it ? " " No," I replied ; " not the vestige 
 of an idea." " I thought not," said the cap- 
 tain ; " however, I will read it to you." He 
 did so, 'and the following were the contents 
 of it :— " My dear Z.,— The bearer, xMr. X., 
 is a correspondent of some English and 
 German papers. He does not at all seem 
 inclined to take anything for granted, and 
 insists on seeing things for himself. I do 
 not think it would be wise to allow him too 
 much latitude. You had better detain 
 him as long as possible at your house, and 
 induce others to do the same. — Yours, 
 Czartoryski." 
 
 This was — I will not say, surprising — 
 but confirmatory of my first impressions of 
 the revolt. And the more I saw, the more 
 was I convinced that there were two move- 
 ments all through the disturbances. Both 
 the democratic and the aristocratic parties 
 sought to turn the dissatisfaction caused 
 by the Russian measures to their own ac- 
 count. The democrats did the fighting, 
 and hoped to obtain their objects by main 
 force ; but the nobility, whilst assisting the 
 combatants with money and arm*, &c., en- 
 deavoured to secure a successful result for 
 themselves by intriguing and working upon 
 diplomacy to take up their cause. Such 
 too was, in other words, the opinion of my 
 new acquaintance. When, however, he 
 told me I was at liberty to return whence I 
 came, but to be very careful, I doubted his 
 being a Russian ; and found, in point of 
 fact, that he was a German from the Baltic 
 provinces, and disliked the Russians almost 
 as much as he disliked the Polacken, who, 
 he assured me, were "swamped in vice." 
 He also insisted that, badly off as the 
 Polish peasantry were under Russian rule, 
 
 3j5 
 
 41 
 
'|: 
 
 LELEWEL.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 
 they would be no better, if as well off, 
 under Polish rule. With this assurance 
 he bade me farewell, giving me an escort of 
 eix men to take me to the frontier. From 
 these men I learned that the number of 
 men, in Captain J.*s detachment, only 
 amounted to eighty, with two 4 J-pounders ; 
 and, as I afterwards ^ascertained that the 
 Poles in camp had amounted to nearly 
 300, there was not much to be said for 
 their tactics, strategy, or courage. 
 
 I arrived at Prince Lubomirski's at 
 about 8 A.M., and found the whole house- 
 hold in intense excitement. There I heard 
 that a desperate action had been fought; 
 that seventy Eussians had been killed ; 
 that three cannons had been taken, and 
 that the Poles had lost only one man I The 
 people who told me this did not know, 
 however, that I had just come from the 
 scene of action ; and, as a consequence 
 thereof, I could not discover a sinofle one of 
 my informants after it had become known 
 what an adventure, what a miraculous es- 
 cape I had had. 
 
 The views I expressed regarding the 
 whole affair, did not at all enhance the 
 pleasure of my visit. In fact, I could not 
 help seeing that my presence was a con- 
 straint upon my hosts. They could not 
 imagine what business a correspondent had 
 in their circle, unless he was heart and soul 
 in their enterprise, I, therefore, begged 
 the prince to allow me to proceed on my 
 journey. He agreed after I had explained 
 to him my reasons ; but, at the same time, 
 liad the honesty and honour to tell me 
 that, though I should find the fullest hos- 
 pitality wherever I went, I should not be 
 welcome. This was unfortunate ; in other 
 countries, and under other circumstances, 
 a correspondent is able to be independent 
 of hospitality, and can pay his way ; but 
 in war-time that is very difficult, if not 
 impossible, except at a very great ex- 
 pense. 
 
 Whilst we were thus talkins: on the 
 terrace, I noticed a circumstance which 
 threw a strong light on the relations 
 existing between the peasantry and the 
 landowners. It was fully 200 yards from 
 the terrace to the high road ; yet every 
 time a peasant passed, he took off his hat, 
 and bending his body almost double, thus 
 passed before the presence of the prince. 
 fc>till more, whenever a peasant or one of 
 the prince's labourers came to ask him a 
 question, he not only approached him in 
 356 
 
 [A.D. 1864. 
 
 this humiliating position, but also either 
 kissed the prince's foot, or the hem of his 
 coat. This was not the sort of thing to be 
 looked for in a people fighting for '* liberty 
 and freedom ; " but such was the character 
 of the whole movement, as far as my expe- 
 rience went; and trivial as all this may 
 seem, still, were I to write volumes, I could 
 not characterise it any better than I have 
 done. Believing in the good old proverb, 
 " Like master, like man," I entertained no 
 hopes for Poland after the first three 
 weeks. And, as events proved, my impres- 
 sion was correct. 
 
 There can be no doubt that the reasons 
 above given were sufficient to prevent even 
 a military success on the part of the Poles. 
 There were two distinct parties — the demo- 
 crats and the nobility. The democrats 
 might have succeeded had they had the 
 means ; but they had not. They were de- 
 pendent on the nobility ; and amongst the 
 nobility there was none of that nobility of 
 motive and character that could carry the 
 struggle through to a successful termina- 
 tion. They did not take the field them- 
 selves to lead the men, but appointed 
 adventurers, who took care of themselves, 
 and did not care about sacrificing their 
 lives — which was all they possessed— for a 
 cause they regarded as no more than a pro- 
 fession to earn their bread by. The only 
 leaders of any merit, after Langiewicz' de- 
 feat, were Gregorovicz and Lelewel, the 
 latter a pump-maker of Warsaw, who as- 
 sumed the name of the great historian — his 
 own name being Martinovicz — to enhance 
 his importance. But throughout the 
 summer and autumn of 1863, till the 
 autumn of 1864, the insurrection, though 
 ever alive, never accomplished any decided 
 success. Here and there a detachment of 
 troops was surprised and massacred ; but, 
 as a rule, the troops steadily diminished 
 the numbers of their opponents in daily 
 skirmishes, till in August, 1868, the only 
 two leaders of any importance were those 
 of Gregorovicz and Lelewel, numb*jring 
 between them some 3,000 men. 
 
 This body of insurgents, even then only 
 partially, and throughout, badly armed, 
 without any artillery, but with a large 
 train of baggage and ammunition waggons, 
 manoeuvred about in the province of Lublin, 
 in the forests between that town and the 
 fortresses of Janow and Zamosc. Knowing 
 the country by heart, Lelew^el succeeded for 
 several weeks in eluding the troops sent in 
 
 I.D. 1864.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [battle of panisoufka. 
 
 his pursuit ; but at last three columns were 
 Bent against him, each numbering 3,000 
 men, with eighteen pieces of artillery, and 
 ordered to close round him, and give him 
 battle at any risk. 
 
 Still, thanks to the dense forests, and 
 the severity with which Lelewel treated all 
 spies and peasants who gave any informa- 
 tion as to his movements, he managed to 
 keep the Russians ignorant of his where- 
 ab )uts. Thus, on August 27th, he arrived 
 at Panisoufka, an isolated estate, consisting 
 of the mansion, a few out-houses, some 
 barns, and a few scattered houses around. 
 The mansion lay in the midst of an undu- 
 lating country, and was dominated to the 
 north by a long barren series of low hills ; 
 to the east and west were orchards and 
 fields ; to the south a dense forest at the 
 foot of the rising ground, on which stood 
 the mansion. 
 
 The mansion was inhabited by the lady 
 of the house and her two daughters, the 
 steward, the domestics, and farm labourers. 
 The husband was absent. As soon as 
 Lelowel's corps arrived, a halt was called, 
 the men drawn up along and just within 
 the edge of the forest, and ordered to get 
 their dinners. Lelewel and his staff, in the 
 meanwhile, took possession of the mansion, 
 the occupants of which at once set about 
 procuring the dinner for the staff. It was 
 a very merry meeting. The viands and 
 the wines were good ; and after dessert was 
 over, Lelewel invited the ladies to visit the 
 camp, which was a quarter of an hour's 
 walk away. The ladies were delighted, 
 and everybody started. The men were just 
 sitting down to their meal, for which a 
 couple of oxen and several sheep had been 
 provided by the mistress of the estate, 
 when Lelewel, in order to show the disci- 
 pline of his men, ordered the alarm to be 
 sounded. In an instant the men ran to 
 their arms, and each was soon in his ap- 
 pointed place. Lelewel was much pleased 
 with their alacrity ; the men, however, 
 mostly failed to appreciate the joke after 
 having marched for eighteen hours, and 
 throwing down their guns anyhow, as well 
 as their cartridge-belts, resumed their in- 
 terrupted meal. But scarcely had Lelewel 
 and the ladies gone to another and more 
 distant part of the camp, when the boom of 
 a cannon was heard, rapidly followed by 
 two or three more. Hurrying back to the 
 edge of the forest, Lelewel saw that not 
 only were the Russians upon him, but 
 
 were actually surrounding him. Six thou- 
 sand strong, they advanced from the north ; 
 their left advanced, and almost within gun- 
 shot of the mansion. The ladies who 
 were with him were in despair ; a body of 
 men was told off to accompany them to the 
 rear, and a squadron of cavalry ordered to 
 throw themselves into the mansion. Al- 
 most at the same moment a body of Cos- 
 sacks dashed forward with the same object; 
 but owing to the lesser distance, the Poles 
 succeeded in gaining it first. Then the 
 action began. Two guns were brought to 
 bear upon the mansion, whilst twelve 
 played upon the forest as the Russian in- 
 fantry slowly advanced. The grape 
 whistled through the trees ; the branches 
 were splintered right and left; but the 
 only damage done was that done by the 
 noise. The moral effect of the artillery 
 was far greater than its physical effect. 
 After the first twenty minutes, however, 
 the Poles recovered themselves, and crept 
 up the rising ground towards the advancing 
 army. They lay down behind the ridge, 
 and let the Russian bullets (ly over their 
 heads. Still the Russians advanced, when 
 Lelewel gave the order to the cavalry to 
 charge. They were led by Major Nyari, 
 the Hungarian, to whom reference has 
 already been made. With a few fiery 
 words to his men, he rode off, seeking 
 cover, as far as he could, till within 800 
 yards or so of the enemy. Then full gallop 
 he went at them. He broke throuorh the 
 first, second, and third lines ; but here he 
 was brought up by the artillery. The 
 lines closed up, and the brave little hand- 
 ful, 120 in all, had to cut their way out 
 hand-to-hand. Not half of them returned. 
 Nyari himself was shot through the 
 stomach, but brought back to the rear by 
 his trusty men, and died a couple of hours 
 afterwards. After this ineffectual, but 
 dashing charge, the Russians redoubled 
 their fire, and, having at last got the 
 proper range, with considerable effect. 
 After half-an -hour's practice, the move- 
 ments of the Russians made it apparent 
 that they were preparing for a charge with 
 the bayonet. Lelewel, however, with con- 
 siderable acumen, saw that their chief exer- 
 tions would be directed against the man- 
 sion — which by this time was in flames — in 
 order to turn his right flank, his left and 
 rear being protected by the forest. Des- 
 patching a body of men to reinforce the 
 detachment still holding the blazing posi- 
 
 357 
 
 
 fV 
 
 
BATTLE OF BATORSCH.] 
 
 HISTORY OK THE 
 
 [A.D. 1864. 
 
 A.!). 1864.] 
 
 KUSSIAX EMPIRE. [the Vatican and czar. 
 
 I 
 
 tion, he still further withdrew a body of 
 800 from his centre, and posted them in a 
 ^ully on his left stretching towards the 
 Ru-sian position. 
 
 On came the troops; the first contact 
 took place at the mansion. Here, after a 
 furious combat, the troops fell back. 
 Meanwhile, the Polish centre gradually 
 fell back till their left overlapped the Rus- 
 sian line. At this moment Lelewel gave 
 the word, and the men, starting up from 
 the gully, fell upon the Russian flank, whiLt 
 the centre took them in front. The 
 struggle, hand-to-hand, lasted fully twenty 
 minutes, and resulted in the Russians re- 
 treating beyond their original position. 
 With a loud shout the Polish cavalry again 
 advanced, and, after a desperate charge, 
 actually succ.^eded in capturing one of the 
 Russian guns. Almost simultaneously, a 
 couple of the Russian ammunition wajriTons 
 
 1111 oo 
 
 exploded, and caused considerable confu- 
 sion, which resulted in their falling still 
 further back. By this time it was begin- 
 ning to get dark, and the Poles, not strong 
 enough to exploit their success so far, con- 
 tented themselves with holdiuir the around 
 they had acquired. By seven o'clock, the 
 action having lastnjd nearly five hours, the 
 last shot was fired, the moon rose, and the 
 blazing barns and the grlowino: mansion 
 both lent thuir light to the men, who then 
 went out to bring in the dead and wounded. 
 Of the former, there were seventy-five; of 
 the latter, 240. Of Russians, thirteen 
 dead, and forty-seven wounded, were 
 brought in — a proportion altered before 
 morning into sixty dead ! Of the Polish 
 wounded, over fifty were also dead before 
 daylight, in consequence of their wounds 
 not having been attended to. For, as soon 
 as the dead had been buried, and the 
 wounded laid in the waggons, the retreat 
 was announced, and continued all that 
 night, and the whole of the next day, until 
 late in the afternoon. 
 
 During his retreat on the following day, 
 Lelewel was joined by Grregorovicz with 
 about 800 men. He had been in action 
 with the third Russian column, on the same 
 day, and at about the same time as the 
 action Lelewel had just sustained, at about 
 a distance of fifteen miles from Panisoufka. 
 His losses had been, comparatively, still 
 more serious, as he had lost over 200 men 
 out of 1,000, whilst Lelewel had only lost 
 315 out of 2,000. This was a terrible blow 
 to the Poles, especially as they had loat 
 358 
 
 many officers. It was, therefore, not sur- 
 prising that, during the next few days, the 
 number of desertions and sick amounted to 
 about 300, whilst the rest were worn out 
 and disheartened at their ineffectual strug- 
 gle, and by the knowledge that the enemy 
 was closing in upon them on all sides. 
 
 Thus dawned the 23rd of September on 
 the remnants of the "Polish army," en- 
 camped — if a hurried meal can be called a 
 camp — on the heights of Batorsch. It was 
 a sultry morning. The sun glared upon 
 the dispirited band as they toiled up-hill and 
 down along the dusty roads, out of all 
 order, on their way to the dense forests be- 
 yond Zamosc. They knew that the column 
 was not more than ten or twelve miles in 
 their rear, and that two more were some- 
 where on either flank — where, exactly, no 
 one could say. Dispirited, they therefore 
 dragged one weary foot before the other ; 
 and when they suddenly heard the boom of 
 a gun a mile or two off, most of them 
 seemed as though they were glad the end 
 was coming. Victory was out of the ques- 
 tion. A defeat would mean the end of the 
 struggle; for beyond the couple of thousand 
 men here toiling along, there were none to 
 take up the gauntlet. 
 
 Still, with a certain despair, they took up 
 the positions assigned to them on the top 
 of a sparsely-wooded plateau, at the head of 
 a narrow valley, which led to the forest 
 some five miles beyond. The action began 
 with an attack by the enemy's cavalry. 
 They were in force ; and on all sides the 
 Cossacks, on their wiry little steeds, swept 
 down upon the Poles, and drove their out- 
 posts in. In half-a-hour the action was in 
 full swing all along the line, and in another 
 quarter of an hour the Poles were retreating 
 and pouring down the slopes into the valley 
 where the baggage-waggons were drawn up. 
 They were rapidly followed by the Russians, 
 who, besides, occupied the heights on either 
 side of the valley, and poured a storm of 
 shell and bullets upon the fugitives, who 
 were now in the wildest flight, and dropped 
 down by the score. The carnage lasted 
 fully an hour. Lelewel was killed at the 
 commencement ; and by the time the last 
 shot was fired, over 800 strewed the sod of 
 the valley alone. Nearly 200 were taken 
 prisoners; the rest escaped for the moment, 
 but Were, most of them, captured in the 
 next two days by a fourth column which 
 had advanced from Lublin, and had occu- 
 pied the very forest which had appeared 
 
 \ 
 
 the only chance of escape for the unhappy 
 band. With this action the insurrection 
 may be said to have terminated. For the 
 Poles it was disastrous. They may not 
 have been worthy of national independence, 
 but, at the same time, they were worthy of 
 a better fate than was destined for them by 
 the Russians, Now they have not only lost 
 all chance of national independence, but 
 they are in a fair way to lose their nation- 
 ality itself — even their very language is 
 being stamped out, their religion taken 
 away from them, and the Orthodox faith 
 substituted for it. The words Kosciusko 
 denied ever having uttered. Finis PolonicCj 
 may now be pronounced without much chance 
 of contradiction by events. Whatever the 
 fate at a future day of the Russian pro- 
 vinces of Poland, a kingdom of Poland 
 must, for the future, remain a dream, and 
 
 cannot even be made a " question " of by 
 foreign governments, as was done for 
 various reasons by Lord John Russell, 
 Napoleon III., and Count Rechberg. For 
 it is scarcely necessary to say, that beyond 
 encouraging the unfortunate victims to 
 continue their hopeless resistance, no assist- 
 ance whatever was rendered them either by 
 France or England. On the contrary, they 
 were all the more severely treated, and 
 the rebellion utterly crushed by the end of 
 1864. 
 
 We need say no more on the subject, ex- 
 cept, perhaps, that though the judgment 
 above formed of the character of the rebel- 
 lion is not favourable to the Poles, yet the 
 manner in which the insurrection was 
 brought about, and ultimately stamped out, 
 is, and will remain, a lasting disgrace to a 
 government which pretends to civilisation. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 ROME AND RUSSIA. 
 
 The relations between Russia and Rome, 
 which have been of such importance, are 
 still of such a character, that a short 
 sketch of the question will be useful, es- 
 pecially if, by their moderation in other 
 parts of Europe, the papal authorities 
 should succeed in reofaininj; the influence 
 they, have recently lost, and be able to pre- 
 sent a bolder and more determined front 
 au;ainst the agLjression of the Orthodox 
 Church in Russia and other Slav countries. 
 Theoretically, the principle of religious 
 toleration was, and is still supposed to 
 exist in the government traditions, as well 
 as in the social customs of Russia. The 
 ey.ercise of all religions was legally ad- 
 mitted in the empire under the reign of 
 Peter the Great, subject to certain mea- 
 sures more defensive than prohibitive, and 
 analogous with those adopted by most of 
 the Catholic States themselves. Since that 
 time those measures were comprehended in 
 the fundamental laws of the empire, and 
 did not impede in any way the principle of 
 the greatest toleration, as far as principle 
 went, though in practice the case was very 
 different. The government, according to 
 its statesmen, intended solely to place the 
 
 dominant church out of reach of the pro- 
 paganda, and to guarantee the sovereign 
 authority against the encroachments of the 
 Court of Rome, by forbidding Russian sub- 
 jects professing the Roman Catholic reli- 
 gion to entertain direct relations with a 
 pontiff who was at the same time a foreign 
 sovereign. 
 
 These propaganda had been developed 
 rapidly in the provinces of the empire 
 which had been, during more than two 
 centuries, subjected to the domination of 
 the Polish republic. Hundreds of thou- 
 sands of orthodox people were converted to 
 the Latin Church. Compelled frequently 
 by violent means, it must be confessed, to 
 recognise the supremacy of the pope, they 
 had to give in their adhesion to the combi- 
 nation, rather political than religious, known 
 under the name of the Union. When those 
 provinces were subjected by Russia, the 
 Empress Catherine, who brought about this 
 conquest, established Catholic dioceses 
 suitable to local wants, by defraying the 
 expenses of the worship, founding semina- 
 ries, and entrusting the chief administra- 
 tion of the interests of the Roman Catholic 
 Church to an ecclesiastical colleije, presided 
 
 35y 
 
 K' • 
 
' ; 
 
 THE CZAR AND THE POPE.] HISTORY OF THT^ 
 
 [a.T>. 1867-'8. 
 
 A.!X 1867-*8.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 over by a prelate chosen by her3elf. But, 
 meanwhile, the Empress Catherine ex- 
 pressed her determination to Pius VI. not 
 to allow any temporal interference in her 
 dominions, 
 
 «'If, following: the example of my ances- 
 tors," she wrote, " I choose to tolerate in 
 my vast domains all religions without ex- 
 ception, and among their number the 
 Roman Catholic religion, still I will never 
 allow the followers of that faith to depend 
 at all on any foreign power. This is why 
 all the bulls and edicts of the Court of Rome 
 can only be published in Russia with 
 the sovereign's consent." 
 
 Catherine's successors did not depart 
 from these principles ; and Alexander I., as 
 well as the Emperor Nicholas, acted to- 
 wards the Roman Church with still greater 
 severity than ever, and left the Romish 
 clergy scarcely any of the privileges, lands, 
 and influence which they had acquired. It 
 was, therefore, not surprising that the 
 clergy should have taken a prominent part 
 in the insurrection of 1830— a participation 
 which was admitted and justified to a great 
 extent by the Holy See in the encyclical 
 letter of August, 1832— nor that the Rus- 
 sian government should seek to limit the 
 influence which the clergy had exercised. 
 
 The Emperor Nicholas determined, in 
 consequence, to place a check upon the 
 material means of action at the disposal ot 
 the Latin clergy in Russia and Poland ; and 
 to attain that end the greater part of the 
 very large estates accumulated by them 
 were secularised and appropriated to the 
 State; the convents which were not in- 
 habited by the canonical number of monks 
 or nuns were suppressed ; and direct rela- 
 tions with the Holy See and all Latin pro- 
 paganda were stringently prohibited. The 
 Court of Rome naturally protested against 
 these measures, and refused its concurrence 
 or adherence to any laws touching the ad- 
 ministration or property of the church; 
 and when, in 1845, the Emperor Nicholas 
 happened to be at Rome, Gregory XVI. 
 embodied the grievances of the Holy See in 
 a memorandum which he handed himself 
 
 to the emperor. 
 
 Two days after the emperor answered 
 that note, and his letter concludes thus :— 
 
 " The emperor begs the sovereign pontiff 
 to be firmly convinced that no one desires 
 more than his majesty to maintain in 
 Russia, as in Poland, the Roman Church on 
 a tooting at once dignified and respectable. 
 360 
 
 The prayers of the emperor embrace with 
 an equal solicitude, and without any dis- 
 tinction of worship, the spiritual interests 
 of all the peoples whose destinies have 
 been entrusted to him by Providence. All 
 that can be done to realise the intentions 
 of the holy father, without materially 
 clashing with the organic laws of the em- 
 pire, or injuring the rights and canons of 
 the dominant church, shall be done. The 
 emperor's word guarantees it to his holi- 
 ness. But, as has been observed above, 
 there are circumstances and necessities 
 from which it does not depend upon the 
 will of the emperor to free himself." 
 
 The emperor's word was ostensibly ful- 
 filled by the conclusion of the concordat of 
 1847 ; it granted to the Roman Church 
 many of the privileges claimed; but, in 
 point of fact, it remained a dead letter; 
 and in 1858, a score of priests of the 
 diocese of Plock were found guilty of hav- 
 ing" preached disobedience to the authori- 
 ties, and of having provoked religious 
 agitation under the pretext of establishing ' 
 temperance societies, whilst others belong- 
 in(' to the government of Witebsk, wt re 
 convicted of having, in violation of the 
 orf^anic laws, administered the holy sacra- 
 ments to persons of the Orthodox faith. 
 For this grievous conduct, the Russian 
 government decided upon abrogating the 
 concordat of 1847, which was done with a 
 great flourish about the high sentiments of 
 the Emperor Alexander in a letter by Prince 
 Grortschakoff to Pius IX. as follows : — 
 
 "The principle of the liberty of con- 
 science is deeply engraved in the convictions 
 of my august master ; but he understands 
 it in all °its purity, and not in the sense 
 which the Court of Rome has given to it 
 in all times, in claiming for the Catholic 
 faith a freedom without limit, to the detri- 
 ment of the other religions. By its es- 
 sence the Orthodox Church is neither mili- 
 tant nor propagandist, but it claims the 
 right not to be handed over defenceless to 
 a church which is both militant and propa- 
 gandist. We do not and shall not try to 
 carry off the flock of another pastor ; but 
 it is our right and our duty to see that our 
 co-religionists should not be diverted from 
 their own faith. In a word, our church is 
 not oppressive. It would be strange to 
 contend that, in a country where the im- 
 mense majority professes the Orthodox faith, 
 the national church should be placed in an 
 inferior situation." 
 
 [CTONCORDAT ABROGATKD. 
 
 This decision to abrogate the concordat 
 was based upon the participation of the 
 Polish clergy in the rebellion of 1863-'64. 
 There is no doubt that the movement was 
 largel}'^ due to the clergy, and was supported 
 by them in every way ; but the substitu- 
 tion of the tyranny of the Orthodox Church, 
 together with its gross ignorance, is a mea- 
 sure aofainst the interests of civilisation i 
 for in any case the Roman Church is more 
 civilising than the Orthodox. The reasons 
 for abrogating the concordat were published 
 in an official document, in which we find 
 the following justification for the mea- 
 sure :-^ 
 
 "The first demonstration of import- 
 ance," according to this document, " took 
 place on the 11th of June, 18<iO, on the 
 occasion of a funeral. The Franciscan 
 monk, Spleszynski, preached an extremely 
 violent revolutionary sermon. Imme- 
 diately afterwards seditious exhortations 
 resounded from the pulpits ; first at War- 
 saw, then in the provinces. Printed col- 
 lections of revolutionary songs, and por- 
 traits of the coryphei of the revolution, 
 "Were openly sold in almost every church. 
 In the capital, and in several other towns, 
 the monks placed statues of the Virgin and 
 the saints, with lamps and lighted candles, 
 in front of the mona.^teries, and exhorted 
 the idle crowd to sing seditious hymns, 
 
 "This agitation often provoked deplor- 
 able scenes — -as, for instance, at the door of 
 the church of the Sainte Croix, near Ra- 
 dom, after a sermon by the monk, Ber- 
 nardin Casimir, one of the principal pro- 
 moters of religious assemblies, when the 
 mob nearly tore to pieces a man and 
 woman, whom for some reason they sus- 
 pected. 
 
 " In 1861 began a series of processions, 
 which were confessedly political demonstra- 
 tions. .At the same time, as if with the 
 intention of proving that these were not 
 the acts of individuals, but a systematic 
 organised insurrection among the clergy, 
 numerous meetings of the secular priests 
 and monks took place throughout the 
 kincjdom. At one of them, convoked on 
 the 14th of November, at Lysa Gora, more 
 than 300 priests and Monks assembled to 
 give seditious lectures, and make public 
 prayers for the success of the revolution. 
 
 " The most numerous and important of 
 these assemblies was that of the clergy of 
 Podlachie, in November, 1862. There a 
 resolution was unanimously adopted, ratify- 
 
 VOL. II. 3 A 
 
 ing * the intimate and solid unison estab- 
 lished between the clergy and the revolu- 
 tionary party.' 
 
 " The deputies of other dioceses adhered 
 to a programme of strictly revolutionary 
 action, which only made reservations in 
 favour of the rights of the Roman Catholic 
 Church, and which imposed, among others, 
 this obligation on members of the clergy : 
 — ' They must put upon their oath all per- 
 sons charged with any operations by the 
 central committee*' 
 
 "It is unknown that most of these 
 operations had assassination in view ; and it 
 is grievous to record that several priests not 
 only administrated the oath to the opera- 
 tors, but also were themselves their asso- 
 ciates or substitutes. 
 
 " Suffice it to say, in summing up these 
 data, that more than 500 Roman Catholic 
 priests were legally convicted of direct and 
 active participation in the bloody acts of 
 the Polish insurrection." 
 
 Now, as a matter of fact, for which there is 
 ampletestimony, the greater part by far of 
 these convictions were procured by interro- 
 gating the prisoners made as to who their 
 confessor was. These prisoners were forced 
 to acknowledge that they had confessed to 
 their priests; that they were engaged in 
 the insurrection; and ignoring the fact 
 that confession is, by the law of the Roman 
 Church, inviolate, the authorities at once 
 made use of their knowledge by arresting 
 the priests on the charge of complicity. It 
 would be just the same as if, in England, 
 a solicitor were to be imprisoned for con- 
 cealing the fact, that his client had pri- 
 vately confessed his guilt to him. 
 
 All this did not tend to improve the re- 
 lations between the Vatican and the Rus- 
 sian government; the result being that 
 Pius IX. despatched to the Emperor of 
 Russia a letter actuated by " the lively 
 interest manifested on all sides, both by 
 nations and governments, in favour of 
 Poland ; " in which letter, after having enu- 
 merated at length the impediments placed 
 in the way of the exercise of the Roman 
 Catholic religion, his holiness not only 
 claimed for the Romish clergy the prero- 
 gatives accorded by the concordat, but also 
 the right of "directing the people, and 
 exercising their influence on public in- 
 struction '* ("c^e il clero ricuperi la sua 
 influenza net insegnamento ^ direzione 
 religiosa del popolo "). This elicited no 
 reply; and in a secret consistory, held at 
 
 36] 
 
 - H 
 
 i 
 
 •1 
 
PAPAL RirPTURE.] 
 
 HISTOKY OF THE 
 
 Rome on 29th October, 1866, Pius IX. 
 then stated : — 
 
 " Neither the demands addressed to the 
 Russian government by our Cardinal Secre- 
 tary of State, nor the letters addressed by 
 us to the emperor, have had any result. 
 Our letter of the 22nd April, 1863, re- 
 mains unanswered." {^^ Nihil autem va^ 
 luerunt nostrce expostulationes per nos- 
 trum Cardinalem a puhlicis negotiis 
 factce apud ilium Gubemium, nihil 
 nostrce litterce ad ipswin serenissum Prin- 
 clpem scriptce (2'2nd April, 1863) quibus 
 nullum fuit datum responsum") 
 
 This was not strictly true. The em- 
 peror did reply to the pope's letter of 
 April, 1863; but, at the same time, it was 
 nothing but a refusal to accede to the de- 
 mands made by the Vatican, and, in that 
 sense, certainly had no result, and might be 
 construed as " no answer " to the requests 
 Pius IX. had made. The quarrel, however, 
 culminated when Baron Meyendorf, the 
 Russian ambassador to the Vatican, roundly 
 denied that the Polish clergy had any 
 cause for complaint, and made use of such 
 strong language, that the pope demanded 
 his recall ; and, in a note to the foreign 
 governments, stated that Baron Meyendorf, 
 after " some allusions, unseemly in the pre- 
 sence of his holiness, had presumed to say 
 that nothing of this sort would have hap- 
 pened if the Catholics had behaved like 
 the Protestants ; for the latter having sup- 
 ported the government during the insur- 
 rection, had received many favours refused 
 to Catholics on account of their hostile at- 
 titude ; and that he pushed his audacity to 
 the conclusion, that there was nothing sur- 
 prising in the way the Catholics had acted, 
 as Catholicism is identical with revolution." 
 On this reply, the pope, inflamed with in- 
 dignation, and considering that the cause 
 of the faithful was generally insulted, dis- 
 missed him, answering, "I esteem and 
 respect his majesty the emperor ; but I 
 cannot say as much for his charge d'affaires, 
 who, contrary to his sovereign's orders, I 
 am sure, has come and insulted me in my 
 cabinet." 
 
 With this step the rupture between the 
 Vatican and the Russian government be- 
 came final, and the abrogation of the con- 
 cordat was officially notified to the foreign 
 powers on the 19th January, 1867, by a 
 despatch from Prince Gortschakofif. 
 
 Now, in whatever light the Roman 
 
 Catholic Church may be regarded from a 
 
 362 
 
 [A.D. 1867. 
 
 religious, or even a political point of view, 
 we have had proofs enough that, in in- 
 tolerance, at least, it is surpassed by the 
 Orthodox Church of Russia. The Catholic 
 Church has acquired some political wisdom, 
 and so shapes its policy as not to clash too 
 readily with the institutions in such free 
 countries as, for instance. Great Britain 
 and America. But the Orthodox Church 
 oppresses other religions, at the present 
 moment, far more than the Catholic Church 
 does, and quite as much as the Inquisition 
 did in former days. The official revelations 
 concerning the Uniates, form a chapter of 
 history that would apply better to the 
 middle ages than to the 19th century. Nor 
 is it only the Protestants, the Moslems, and 
 the Dissenters, who have to suffer from the 
 oppression of the "White Czar" — the 
 " White Pope," as the head of the Orthodox 
 Church may fitly be called. The Jews are 
 equally oppressed; and this fact alone 
 proves incontestably tliat the oppression ex- 
 ercised by the Orthodox Church is a political 
 more than a religious question ; for, in the 
 case of the Jews, not their bitterest ene- 
 mies can pretend that they are given to 
 proselytising or interference with the creed 
 of the Gentile. But throughout Slavdom, 
 Roumania, in Servia, in Croatia, in Russia, 
 the Jew is regarded as a species of vermiu 
 that must be religiously destroyed — a 
 vermin like the Colorado potato-beetle, 
 against which the State must set all its 
 machinery in motion to prevent its impor- 
 tation. Since Pharaoh ground them down, 
 since John of Gaunt pulled out their teeth, 
 since the Inquisition drove them out of 
 Spain, Israel has been a thing to be stamped 
 out, or, at any rate, driven into its noisome 
 Ghettos, to breed out of sight like silk- 
 worms, on account of the dross they spin. 
 Not until society had attained that alarm- 
 ing point of impecuniosity, which financial 
 jargon calls "credit," did Israel emerge 
 from its dens, and assume a place amongst 
 the Gentile ; not till then did the seed 
 of Joseph multiply, and striking root in 
 Frankfort, Vienna, Paris, London, and 
 Berlin, blossom forth into such full-blown 
 flowers and roses of Sharon, as the Roth- 
 schilds, the Goldschmidts, the Oppenheims, 
 and a host of other minor planets, eacU 
 with its system of satellite impecunious 
 states. Though the corn in Egypt was 
 plentiful as the sands on the sea-shore, 
 and Joseph " could count no more " — a 
 terrible condition for a Hebrew to be in — 
 
 A.D. 1867.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [jews in RUSSIA. 
 
 still it was as nothing compared to the 
 harvests of shekels and monies that Joseph's 
 descendants are now gathering from their 
 judiciously sown crops of bonds, obligations , 
 and sonstiger Fapiere all over the world. 
 When one thinks of the important part 
 played by " paper " and the Jews in mo- 
 dern times, one feels inclined to ask 
 whether the story of the finding of Moses 
 amidst the papyri of the Nile, by Pha- 
 raoh's daughter, is not an allegorical legend, 
 of which we are now witnessing the practi- 
 cal execution. 
 
 Anyhow, the Slavs think so, and strongly 
 object to the stranger in the land thriving 
 on the products of their industry. Hence, 
 " kill the Jew," is a favourite " cry " in the 
 lands east of the Carpathians and theDinaric 
 Alps. In Roumania, where the Wallachs 
 have caught the habit from their neigh- 
 bours, baiting the Jews is a favourite pas- 
 time ; whilst in Servia they are not allowed 
 to settle in the interior of the country, as 
 was also the case in the Slav districts of 
 Croatia, and the military frontier, until 
 Count Molinari procured the abolishment 
 of the clause. But even now a Jew is occa- 
 sionally beaten to death by his debtors, just 
 to keep up the customs, as a sort of periodi- 
 cal Guy Fawkes' day. 
 
 " Senator " Christich, of Beljrrade, a 
 banker, following in a successful manner 
 the eminently Jewish profession of finance, 
 admitted that the Servian government did 
 prohibit Jews to settle in the interior, not 
 on account of their religion, but for other 
 reasons. What these reasons were he did 
 not say. We will state them. Owing to 
 the backward condition of the people, and 
 their crass ignorance and native simplicity; 
 owing also to their want of enterprise 
 and laziness, corn, wheat, barley, maize, 
 vary in price, in one season, in different 
 parts of the principality, to the extent of 
 100 per cent. Thus, whilst the price for 
 wheat or flour has been sixty piastres in 
 Ushitze, it has been 120 in Semendria or 
 Alexinatz. When maize could be bought 
 for fifty piastres in Kragujevatz, it cost 
 100 in Belgrade. It was sold cheap in the 
 first instances, owing to the absence of com- 
 petition amongst the buyers, and dear in 
 the second instances — i. e., on the borders 
 of civilisation, and owing to the presence of 
 competitors, the Jews there keeping up the 
 price to within the lowest margin of profit. 
 The same used to be the case in Croatia and 
 the military frontier. The same is the case 
 
 in the remotest portions of Russia. No 
 wonder, therefore, that M. Philip Christich 
 and the Slavs generally do not desire that 
 so happy a state of affairs for themselves 
 should be put an end to by allowing the 
 presence of Jews at the producing centres, 
 and thus enable them to buy at first hand. 
 This is the real reason ; but Russian, Serb, 
 and Wallach will give another. They say 
 that the government is only anxious to 
 protect their subjects from usury and its 
 consequences. The poor things are not 
 able to take care of themselves, and must 
 be taken care of; and, for this care, the 
 producer receives 100 per cent, less for his 
 goods than he would were he not taken care 
 of. But to be just to the Slavs in general, 
 and Serbs in particular, it must be con- 
 fessed, that the social economy of the Slav 
 peasantry, in one of its features, offers pe- 
 culiar temptations to the sons of Levi — to 
 wit, in the Communia. The Communia is a 
 congregation of the members of one family, 
 who all reside together under one roof, and 
 work the family estates in common, the 
 eldest being the head of the community, 
 the patriarch of the tribe. Thus, when a 
 man marries, instead of establishing an in- 
 dependent home, he brings his wife home 
 to his father's house. The other sons do 
 likewise : if the house is not large enough, 
 a fresh wing is added ; and when the 
 father dies, his eldest son succeeds him as 
 Stareshina, or Elder. There are some of 
 these Communias numbering over 100 mem- 
 bers, and many forty and sixty. 
 
 Now, in the abstract, this arrangement is 
 very touching; it is a social Utopia, and theo- 
 retically deserving of all approbation. But 
 there are some very practical drawbacks 
 which are making sad havoc in the system. 
 For instance, when the house is so small that 
 five or six married couples sleep in one 
 room, with a few children round about. 
 Even in houses where there are several 
 sleeping-rooms, it has frequently happened 
 that some of the occupants have forgotten 
 the number of their particular chamber, 
 and not found out their mistake till dawn. 
 Generally speaking, there is a considerable 
 amount of perplexity as to who is who, and 
 whom he belongs to. Then it is awkward 
 if the Stareshina happen to be a drunkard, 
 or if some of the wives consider the others 
 ill-tempered, and indulge in a free fight 
 after exhausting the dictionary of Slav 
 vituperation — in itself no mean achieve- 
 ment. There are also matters concerning 
 
 363 
 
THE COMMITNIA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 
 
 [A.D. 1867. 
 
 female attire and male propensities, in the 
 shape of liquors and laziness, that open a 
 rich field for speculative talents ; and it is 
 here that the Jew steps in to pursue that 
 course of exploitation the native specula- 
 tors wish to keep for themselves. For, 
 generally speaking, the trade in the interior 
 is simply barter. If a man wants a pair of 
 boots, he gives so much corn, so many 
 bundles of flax, or what not. Thus the 
 Jew opens an attractive shop, where he 
 sells anything and everything. If Nikita 
 requires a new ploughshare, Moses sells 
 him one for so much of the raw produce he 
 happens to have a market for. If Olga 
 wants a new ribbon to cut out her sister- 
 in-law Katinka, it is Moses who satisfies 
 her. But suppose Nikita and Olga clan- 
 destinely and surreptitiously extract the 
 corn, flax, or hemp from the common store, 
 or lets them run into debt, and keeps them 
 there, what becomes of the Communia? 
 Moses knows! Then there is always a 
 certain per-centage of drones in these 
 human hives; and in a dozen other ways 
 these Communia are not only injurious to 
 their members, but also to the community 
 at large. 
 
 It is, however, the barter-system preva- 
 lent in the outlying districts of Russia, in 
 Servia, and the Slav districts on and south 
 of the Danube, that chiefly leads to the 
 evils which the natives wish to debar the 
 Jews from profiting by. Money is so 
 scarce as a currency in these parts, that in 
 some of the out-of-the-way districts, a 
 rouble or florin in silver is regarded with 
 great suspicion, and the spender as a 
 person of a very doubtful character. Con- 
 sequently, all articles of foreign extraction 
 are paid for in native produce, the value of 
 this produce varying with the accessibility 
 of the district, and the number of trades- 
 men in the place, as much as between 200 
 to 300 per cent., whilst the foreign wares 
 always remain at the same figlire. 
 
 The clergy, who receive their stipends 
 364 
 
 chiefly in kind, especially sufifer from this 
 system. 
 
 If maize is plentiful and flax scarce, 
 Moses will not touch maize, but takes 
 all the flax, and the cur6 finds himself 
 over*-stocked with maize that he cannot 
 sell, and with no flax at all to speak of. 
 What with his profit on the original cost 
 of his foreign goods, and the native pro- 
 duce he sells them for, the trader's gain 
 frequently amounts from 500 to 800 per 
 cent., whilst the profit realised on transac- 
 tions when he pays cash, exceeds 1,000 per 
 cent. Several instances are known of Jew 
 traders who, starting with £50 worth of 
 stock, have amassed a considerable fortune, 
 and retired from business ten years after 
 they commenced it. The worst of it is 
 that cash is required by the peasant to pay 
 his taxes with ; and in bad years he gets so 
 irretrievably into debt, that his arrears of 
 taxes frequently exceed the value of his 
 whole property. When things arrive at 
 such a pitch, execution is levied upon 
 him, not for the capital of his arrears, 
 but for the interest thereon ; and there are 
 even whole villages in Russia, and the mili- 
 tary frontier of Slavonia, whose total value 
 is less than that of the sum they owe for 
 arrears. This may seem incredible, but it 
 is quite true. Bad roads, and consequent 
 difficulty of inter-commupication, corrupt 
 officials, party divisions, and differences of 
 race and creed, have all contributed to this 
 sad state of affairs. Frequently there is 
 direct collusion between the trader and the 
 revenue officers. The trader refuses to 
 give cash, beats down the price of produce, 
 but pays the collector well for what he 
 brings. Consequently, the peasant, unable 
 to procure cash, pays a visit to the col- 
 lector, bewails his lot, and makes him a 
 present of so many sacks of wheat, potatoes, 
 maize, or of a pig or two, and persuades 
 the officer to " put down " the sum he owes 
 into h.s book, and becomes thus more and 
 more indebted to the State year after year. 
 
 END OF VOL. II. 
 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 
 
 01067621 
 
 
 
 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 
 
 This book is due on the date indicated below, or at the 
 expiration of a definite period after the date of borrowing, as 
 1 provided by the rules of the Library or by special arrange- 
 ment with the Librarian in charge. 
 
 
 
 DATE BORROWED 
 
 DATE DUE 
 
 DATE BORROWED 
 
 DATE DUE 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 , 
 
 
 •■ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 • •■ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 C28(n4l)M100 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 ^47 
 
 T5& 
 
 ^^ 
 
 wo^ 
 
 miimmmm^mmfim 
 
 fi 
 
 JUL 2 1946 
 
THE LIBRARIES 
 
m 
 
JK 
 
t: 
 
 
 t-v_ ' ■ ,<^'"^"l^ 
 
 . <r^f 
 
 
 s> ^-<>5f ,,;A/^f ^/)Jyf 
 
 RUSSIAN CHANCELLOR 
 
 THK LONIXW PiawriNC; AtfL^ PUHLlSlimC COMPANY 
 
 »* 
 
 mi MIBIBUY 
 
 
 
 C^' 
 
 /'i^ ty :^ .4?/k^;yy/y/A 
 
 ^rn'^t^i-m. o/.t^^^^^i 
 
 / 
 
 TJIK LONDCM PRINriNG AND PUBLlSHiNG COMPANY LIMIT?-". 
 
 \ 
 
THE 
 
 HISTORY OF RUSSIA 
 
 FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE EMPIRE 
 
 TO THE 
 
 WAR WITH TURKEY IN 1877-'78. 
 
 BY 
 
 H. TYRRELL, 
 
 AND 
 
 HENRY A. HAUKEIL, 
 
 LaU Press Corresfondmt in tie East. 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS. 
 
 VOL. III. 
 
 THE LONDON PRINTING AND PUBLISHING COMPANY. LIMITED. 
 
 LONDON AND NEW YORK. 
 

 I 
 

 S 
 
 
 B 
 
 U4 ' 
 
 ic ! 
 
 is 
 
 < 
 
 z 
 
 ft: 
 
 IC 
 
 J i 
 
HISTORY OF THE 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE IMPERIAL ALLIANCE AND THE FOREIGN POLICY OF RUSSIA. 
 
 The Imperial Alliance — as the peculiar re- 
 lationship between Germany and Russia is 
 called — has received such an amount of 
 scathing criticism on the one hand, and hy- 
 perbolical praise on the other, that there is a 
 very wide expanse, indeed, between the two 
 extremes to find the golden middle in. 
 Without going so far as to characterise it 
 as an " unholy alliance " in the Pentateu- 
 chal signification of the word, still, taking 
 into consideration the character of the two 
 nations, it cannot but be regarded as arti- 
 ficial in the extreme. The only point of 
 moral contact to be found in it, lies in the 
 relationship and friendship of the two 
 emperors— in the personal affection of 
 uncle and nephew. Both are firmly con- 
 vinced of the honour, virtue, and honesty 
 of the other, and make the fullest use of 
 whatever power is left them by their minis- 
 ters to promote each other's projects and 
 principles. But all this, however laudable, 
 would be of small value were there not 
 political considerations which rendered it 
 advisable for the two countries to go hand- 
 in-hand. Such considerations existed; 
 and thus the personal relations of the two 
 monarch s were cleverly made use of, by 
 Prince Bismarck and Prince Grortschakoff, 
 to further what they considered the inter- 
 ests of their respective countries. 
 
 Thus it was not difficult to promote still 
 further the intimacy between the two 
 countries which had been so cemented by 
 the line of conduct pursued by Prussia 
 during the Crimean war, and the Polish 
 rebellion of 1863-'64. Gratifying to 
 Russia as this conduct was in itself, it was 
 still more gratifying when contrasted with 
 the action of Austria during both these 
 periods of trial which Russia had had to 
 undergo. Whilst the King of Prussia con- 
 
 VOL. III. B 
 
 sistently repelled all propositions to join 
 the action of the western powers in the 
 Crimean war and the Polish rebellion, 
 Austria interfered in a double-dealing 
 fashion, which was considered in Russia as 
 peculiarly ungrateful after the assistance 
 the Emperor Nicholas had rendered against 
 the leaders of the Hungarian revolution. 
 There was thus a distinct coolness between 
 the Austrian and Russian governments and 
 nations which Prince Bismarck took care 
 not to allay, whilst so shaping his policy as 
 to identify Austria with the policy of the 
 Vatican, against which the Russian govern- 
 ment took such strong measures as the abro- 
 gation of the concordat On this ground — ■ 
 the opposition of the State to the Roman 
 Catholic Church as a foreign and indepen- 
 dent power — both Prussia and Russia acted 
 cordially together to obtain the same end, 
 though for different objects, and with 
 the understanding, tacit or expressed, that 
 each should assist and support each 
 other, especially in the cardinal point 
 of preserving the mastery of the govern- 
 ment and the army over the nation at 
 large. 
 
 Up to 1866, the balance of services ren- 
 dered was largely in favour cf Prussia ; but 
 then the time arrived for Prince Bis- 
 marck to call upon Russia to return those 
 services. It is not quite clear how they 
 were returned ; but there is much reason 
 to believe that, when it became evident 
 that war between Prussia and Austria 
 would ensue, the Russian ambassadors, both 
 in Paris and London, led the cabinets there 
 to believe that Austria would come ofif 
 victorious, and that such was the f]rm con- 
 viction of the Petersburg government. 
 This view tallied with the impressions 
 which Napoleon III. had gained on the 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 yo 
 
 /,. 
 
LITXEMBOURG QUESTION.] HISTORY OP' THE 
 
 [A.D. 1867. 
 
 subject; and it was in this belief that he 
 abstained at the time from renewing his 
 alliance with Italy, in the conviction that, 
 at an opportune moment, he would be able 
 to intervene and make demands, at the cost 
 of Austria and Italy, which would mate- 
 rially strengthen his position. But the 
 Prussian government succeeded in showing 
 Victor Emmanuel that Germany was a far 
 more disinterested ally than France could 
 ever be; whilst, at the same time, Prince 
 Bismarck opened up negotiations with the 
 Hungarians, and caused the Austrian gov- 
 ernm°ent the most lively apprehensions in 
 this quarter also. 
 
 Thus the war broke out, with Italy and 
 Germany united against Austria. In seven 
 days the question was decided. In seven 
 days, before a messenger could get from 
 l*aris to Rome and back, Austria was con- 
 vinced of the futility of further resistance; 
 for though there are no official documents 
 as yet to prove the statement, it is believed 
 that a pretty clear intimation was conveyed 
 from 8t. Petersburg to Vienna, that in 
 case France should come to her assistance, 
 Austria would find herself opposed by 
 Russia, as well as Prussia and Italy. 
 
 Peace was thus concluded, and the unifi- 
 ration of Germany virtually accomplished. 
 This was a fatal blow to Napoleon III. 
 He foresaw that, unless he could undo the 
 work, and wipe out the remembrance of the 
 Mexican expedition, there would be but 
 smnll hope of his dynasty preserving its 
 place. There was, it is true, another alter- 
 native which he might have adopted, and 
 which Lord Clarendon earnestly advised 
 him to adopt — that was the establishment 
 of a constitutional, instead of a personal 
 government. But to a man of Napoleon's 
 temperament and character, nothing short 
 of a miracle would have rendered this pos- 
 sible. He preferred scheming and intrigu- 
 ino", and imagined that, after all, there was 
 not much lost, as he would always be sure 
 of Austria as an ally, together with the 
 rest of the German States which had been 
 annexed by, or brought into military de- 
 pendence on, Prussia, If he could, besides 
 this, induce Russia to join him in destroy- 
 ing German unity, he could not fail to be 
 fciuccessful in a war against the hereditary 
 enemy of his nation. 
 
 He therefore determined to seize the 
 first opportunity to raise a casus belli. 
 This opportunity was offered by the occu- 
 pation of Luxembourg by the Prussians. 
 2 
 
 Against this he protested ; but. Prince Bis- 
 marck replied, that as Prussia had been 
 authorised, in 1815, to hold Luxembourg as 
 part of the German Bund, so in 1867 it was 
 for Europe to determine whether she should 
 continue to occupy it as the successor to 
 the defunct Bund, and not for Louis Napo- 
 leon to decide. 
 
 With this view Napoleon III. professed 
 to agree. He thought his influence, com- 
 bined with the antagonism of Austria and 
 the South German States against Prussia, 
 the jealousy of England at the progress of 
 her commercial rival, and the national an- 
 tipathy between Germany and Russia, 
 would suffice to enable him to carry his 
 point. Thus a conference was held in 
 London, at which the question was settled 
 by the decision that, as everybody wanted 
 Luxembourg, nobody should have it; 
 that the fortress should be razed, and the 
 little State be declared neutral. Still this 
 was not accomplished without a threat 
 from Prince Bismarck, that unless France 
 discontinued her military preparations 
 forthwith, Prussia would present an ulti- 
 onatum, and march 900,000 men across 
 the frontier. 
 
 For this Napoleon was not prepared ; and 
 on the advice of the other powers, notably 
 of Russia, which bade him " bide his time," 
 he yielded with a good grace, especially as 
 he desired the Exhibition to pass off 
 satisfactorily, with the chief potentates 
 visiting Paris, and thus pour some 
 balm into the wounds which French 
 vanity had received, by Germany achieving 
 her unity without French leave or assist- 
 ance. 
 
 But it was not such an easy matter to 
 induce the continental potentates to play 
 the part of ornaments and decorations for 
 his theatrical coup-iVetdL The Emperor 
 of Russia, especially, disliked the idea. 
 The part played by France during the 
 Polish rebellion, and the haughty language 
 then addressed to Russia by the French 
 ministers, still rankled in his heart. But 
 at last he allowed himself to be persuaded, 
 and declared that he would visit Paris with 
 his uncle, the King of Prussia. This, how- 
 ever, did not at all suit Louis Napoleon. 
 First of all, the intimacy between the two 
 northern powers had long been excessively 
 distasteful to France, and the appearance 
 of the two monarchs, side by side, on the 
 Boulevards, was not at all calculated to 
 please the people, or enhance his reputation 
 
 A.D. 1867.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the czar in PARIS. 
 
 as a statesman. He therefore caused it to 
 be notified to the Prussian ambassador that 
 he would prefer, or rather suggest, that the 
 King of Prussia should defer his visit until 
 the Czar had paid his and left Paris, as he 
 desired to pay especial honour to his 
 majesty, which he would be prevented 
 from doing if both the monarchs were pre- 
 sent at the same time, inasmuch as the Czar 
 would naturally be entitled to the prece- 
 dence on all public occasions, in virtue of 
 his higher rank. This extravagant piece of 
 strained politeness and etiquette displeased 
 the Czar more even than it annoyed the 
 King of Prussia. The Emperor Alexander 
 declared curtly, that " if he could not choose 
 his own time, and his own company, he 
 would not go to Paris at all." To this 
 Napoleon replied, that of course he should 
 not dream of dictating to their majesties ; 
 he himself only desired to do them both the 
 greatest honour possible, and would only be 
 too happy if they would but consult their 
 own inclinations and convenience. Finally, 
 the matter was settled by the arrangement 
 that the King of Prussia should arrive in 
 Paris a day or two after his imperial rela- 
 tive, so that both should pass some time in 
 each other's company in Paris. 
 
 Thus the Czar arrived, with his two sons, 
 in Paris on June 1. But immediately on 
 his entry into the city, and subsequently, 
 he was greeted with shouts of " Vive la 
 Pologne ! " (" Long live Poland ! ") These 
 cries were repeated on almost every occasion 
 when he appeared in public, no doubt much 
 to the annoyance of the emperor, who, how- 
 ever, tried to soften the evil impressions 
 produced upon his guest by expressing his 
 willingness to assent to a revision of the 
 treaty of Paris, especially in those points 
 touching the navigation of the Black Sea 
 and the presence of a Russian fleet in those 
 waters. These provisions of the treaty of 
 Paris, though they had been evaded by 
 Russia, were still, theoretically and formally, 
 in force ; and that they should be abrogated 
 quite met the views of the French emperor. 
 At the same time the condition of the 
 Christian subjects of the Porte was mooted, 
 not only in the Danubian provinces, but 
 also in Candia, where the rebellion was then 
 in its last stadium. The gist of Napoleon's 
 proposals was, that the Czar should intervene 
 in the matter, and support Greece and 
 /Ilandia in their struggle against the Porte, 
 and should unite with him in handing over 
 Thessaly, Epirus, and Candia to Greece. 
 
 In return for the consent of France to this 
 operation, Napoleon gave it to be under- 
 stood that Russia should close her alliance 
 with Prussia, and observe neutrality in case 
 of any conflict between Germany and France. 
 
 These proposals came to nothing. It 
 might have been foreseen that such would 
 be the case. In the first place, the Czar 
 could not but regard such conduct as down- 
 right treachery to his uncle ; for whatever 
 may be thought of the character of Russian 
 statesmen and Russian officials, there ap- 
 pears to be no reason to doubt the assertion 
 that the Czar is, personally, a man of the 
 highest integrity and of noble ambitions, 
 as far as his powers of discernment go. 
 
 But besides this personal impediment, 
 Louis Napoleon's project was based on an 
 entire misapprehension of the relations 
 existing between the Greeks and the 
 Russians. He failed to see that the cha- 
 racters of the two are entirely opposed ; 
 that there is not one single point of contact 
 between them ; and that the jealousy of the 
 Greek Church to the Orthodox Church in 
 Russia, was only equalled by the hatred of 
 the Greeks for the Slavs, and their alarm 
 at the growing influence of Servia and 
 Montenegro, and the dimensions which the 
 Slavonic question generally was assuming. 
 In short, Louis Napoleon entirely failed to 
 see that Russian and Greek interests, far 
 from being identical, were, in reality, 
 bitterly opposed, and that Greece, which 
 regarded herself as the legitimate heiress of 
 Constantinople, would sacrifice her last 
 drachma and her best soldiers to prevent 
 Russia from acquiring the Turkish capital, 
 or placing any of the Slav races in possession 
 of the coveted prize, which, under such 
 circumstances, would practically become a 
 Russian possession. 
 
 There was thus a multiplicity of reasons 
 for the Czar's rejection of Louis Napoleon's 
 overtures ; who at last discovered that his 
 attempts to make use of the Czar's presence 
 apart from his uncle were a failure. On 
 June 5, the King of Prussia, accompanied 
 by Count Bismarck and General Moltke, 
 arrived in Paris, and on the following day 
 a grand review was held in the Bois de 
 Boulogne. Everything passed off satisfac- 
 torily ; but as the imperial cortege passed 
 the grand cascade, and was turning down 
 the avenue of Longchamps, several cries of 
 " Vive la Pologne ! " were raised, and im- 
 mediately followed by the report of a pistol. 
 The uniforms of the Emperor Napoleon and 
 
 3 
 
 ,^ 
 
 £ I 
 
 I' 
 
 l! 
 
 
 i 
 
ATTACK ON THE CZAR.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1867. 
 
 i I 
 
 ft 
 
 ,1:- 
 
 the Grand Duke Vladimir were splashed 
 with blood, and for a moment or two it was 
 thought tliat the shot had taken fatal effect. 
 But the two bullets which had been in- 
 tended for the Czar had lodged in the nose 
 of tlie horse which one of the imperial 
 grooms had spurred between the emperor 
 and tlie assassin — a Volhynian Pole, a 
 youth twenty-two years old, who had 
 taken part in the Poli.sh rebellion of 1863- 
 '64. He was with difficulty saved from the 
 hands of the infuriated populace, who were 
 naturally enraged at this breach of national 
 hospitality, and wished to inflict summary 
 justice on the would-be assassin. 
 
 Naturally this incident did not improve 
 the situation, nor conduce to the success of 
 Napoleon's plan; and on June 11, the Czar 
 left Paris, further than ever from agreeing 
 to any solidarity between France and Eussia. 
 After he had departed, another incident 
 occurred which, if not of so tragic a nature, 
 was probably far more irritating to the 
 King of Prussia. Paul Grranier — who sub- 
 sequently assumed the name and title of 
 " De Cassagnac," the townlet in which he 
 was born — published an article in Le Pays^ 
 of which he was the editor and proprietor, 
 in which he andeavoured to prove that the 
 Khine was the proper frontier between 
 France and Germany, and that no Germans 
 ought to be tolerated on the left bank, 
 except such as considered it an honour 
 to be French subjects. This article was 
 regarded throughout Germany as a direct 
 insult to the king; and the Emperor 
 Napoleon, probably with justice, was held 
 to be responsible at least for this attack, if 
 not for the attempt of the Pole, Berezowski. 
 However, on June 14, the King of Prussia 
 also left Paris for Berlin, where, two days 
 later, he had another meeting with the 
 Czar. The two monarchs exchanged the 
 views and impressions which their visit to 
 Paris had produced, with the result that 
 they became more determined than ever to 
 continue their alliance. With this deter- 
 mination the Czar returned to St. Peters- 
 burg, there quietly to await the course of 
 events. 
 
 But whilst kings and emperors were con- 
 cocting plans, and scheming for the exten- 
 sion of their lands, or the welfare of their 
 subjects, the people also were taking their 
 affairs into their own hands in a manner 
 which caused grave anxiety in more quarters 
 than one, and began to initiate movements, 
 the end of which it was dithcult to foresee. 
 
 In the first place the Hungarians had 
 claimed their reward for their conduct 
 during the Seven Days' War; and on 
 February 7, Count von Beust was named 
 president of the Austrian ministry, whilst 
 Count Julius Andrassy was called upon 
 to form an Hungarian ministry. Count 
 Andrassy— upon whose head a reward 
 had been placed in 1848 — consented, 
 and formed a cabinet from the Deak 
 party on March 15, 1867. On June 
 8, whilst the Czar and the King'of Prussia 
 were visiting Louis Napoleon, Francis 
 Joseph, Emperor of Austria, was crowned 
 King of Hungary, amidst the wildest en- 
 thusiasm and a display of almost Asiatic 
 magnificence. The ceremony took place at 
 Pressburg ; and the new king, armed with 
 the sword of St. Stephen, performed the 
 ancient ceremony of waving it towards 
 the four points of the compass on the 
 celebrated Coronation Hill — an artificial 
 mound, constructed with the earth from va- 
 rious places of historic fame. The whole of 
 Hungary was in gala on the occasion ; even 
 the victims of the revolution, the widows 
 and orphans of those who had fallen in 1848 
 and 1849, and the crippled Honveds, joined 
 in the general delight; for the 100,000 
 ducats which the Hungarian Diet had pre- 
 sented to the king on his coronation, were 
 divided amongst them, wliilst, at the same 
 time, the fullest amnesty was proclaimed 
 for all exiles, and their estates restored to 
 them on condition of their rendering 
 homage to the new king. 
 
 Thus Hungary gained, through a united 
 Germany, what she had failed to obtain by 
 force of arms. She had become practically 
 independent, and held the administration 
 of the country in her own hands. In fact, 
 she had obtained home rule. 
 
 But a harsh discord was heard amidst the 
 universal joy. Siebenbiirgen and Croatia — 
 the former inhabited, to a large extent, by 
 Germans and Wallachs ; the latter by 
 Croats ; both sections enjoying certain pri- 
 vileges under the Austrian emperor — were 
 by no means satisfied at being transferred 
 from the government at Vienna to that at 
 Pesth. Equally disappointed was the Serb 
 section in the south of Hungary. They, too, 
 objected to being handed over to the Hun- 
 garian administration. They had had cer- 
 tain privileges accorded to theru by the 
 Austrian government. They had learned 
 the German tongue, the language used in 
 the admiuistratiuu dud the law courts, and 
 
 A.D. 1867.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [SLAV DISCONTEyr. 
 
 now found that they were obliged to learn 
 Hungarian, the tongue of their new mas- 
 ters, who had ever been their enemies, and 
 whose enemies they tliemselves had ever 
 been since the old days of the Turkish wars. 
 
 The consequence was, that Croatia, Sla- 
 vonia, and Dalmatia sent a protest to the 
 emperor, and pointing out that they also 
 formed a triune kingdom, insisted on secur- 
 ing the same privileges as those just ac- 
 corded to Hungary. They pointed out that 
 they had never wavered in their loyalty to 
 the House of Hapsburg ; that they had 
 cheerfully sacrificed blood and gold to 
 crush the Hungarian rebellion in 1848 ; 
 and that surely it would be but the com- 
 monest justice to accord the loyal pro- 
 vinces the same privileges, at least, as those 
 granted to the traitor kingdom, which 
 besides had, so to say, wrung these pri- 
 vileges from Austria at the point of the 
 sword and a fresh act of treachery, by 
 taking advantage of the difficulties of the 
 government in 1866 with Prussia. But it 
 was all of no avail. The Croatian Diet 
 was dissolved, and the same answer given, 
 by the Vienna government, to a petition by 
 the Czechs for the independence of the 
 kingdom of Bohemia on the same basis as 
 that of Hungary. 
 
 This peremptory refusal to consider 
 what the Slavonic sections of the empire 
 considered their just claims, created in- 
 tense dissatisfaction amongst the middle 
 and- professional classes. The peasantry 
 and smaller land proprietors remained 
 more or less indifferent; and in the few 
 cases in which the desire for independence 
 took root within them, it was due rather to 
 the instigation of short-sighted priests and 
 professional agitators. Of course, had their 
 claims been acknowledged, then the Ger- 
 mans would also have demanded their in- 
 dependence; the Italian section would 
 have followed suit ; and even then the 
 Wallachs and gipsies would have considered 
 themselves very badly treated. This is, of 
 course, reducing the question ad abeur- 
 dum ; but it would have been the logical 
 sequence of Count Beust's new institution. 
 As it was, there were no less than three 
 distinct ministries. There was the Hun- 
 garian ministry, entrusted with the admin- 
 istration of Hungary, sitting at Pesth ; 
 there was the Slave- German ministry, en- 
 trusted with the government of the Cis- 
 leithanian provinces, and sitting at Vienna ; 
 and, finally, there was the Imperial minis- 
 
 VOL. III. C 
 
 try, the Reichsministerium, composed of 
 three members, which sat nowhere, but 
 passed its time between Pesth and Vienna. 
 Yet, with all these complicated arrange- 
 ments, the result of weak concessions to 
 rivalries and national jealousies, no one was 
 satisfied. The Germans complained of the 
 obstinacy of the Hungarians ; the Germans 
 complained of the pretensions of the Slavs ; 
 and Slav and Hungarian, whilst complain- 
 ing of each other, joined in complaining of 
 the Germans. A cartoon in Kikeriki, the 
 Vienna " Punch," aptly illustrated the re- 
 lations between Austria and Hungary. A 
 burly Hungarian magnate is seen approach- 
 ing the cashiers of the Hungarian Trea- 
 sury and the Austrian Treasury with a 
 bank-note for 1,000 florins. He presents 
 it to the Hungarian cashier ; but this gen- 
 tleman points to the inscription over his 
 desk — " paying-in cashier," and bids him go 
 over the way to his Austrian colleague, who 
 has charge of the " paying-out department." 
 
 This state of affairs was speedily made 
 use of by the old Russian party in Russia, 
 who, under the innocent name of an 
 "Ethnographical Exhibition," called to- 
 gether the Slavonic congress in Moscow, 
 at which were assembled a number of de- 
 puties from Bohemia, Croatia, Slavonia, 
 Servia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Monte- 
 negro. They were cordially received by 
 the Czar and the Empress, by Prince Gort- 
 schakoff, and all the leading statesmen in 
 Russia.* At the opening ceremony, Herr 
 Rieser, of Prague, the leader of the Czech 
 nationalists, exclaimed — "The Slavs are 
 members of one body ; but, dispersed as 
 they are, have to wage war against their 
 inveterate enemies, against Germans, Mag- 
 yars, Italians, and Tartars. But the sun of 
 Slavonic unity has at last arisen : the 
 Slavs, if they will only combine, will be 
 great, not only in numbers, but also in 
 deeds." 
 
 The result of all this encouragement and 
 official recognition, by the Court and gov- 
 ernment circles, of the ambitions thus fer- 
 mentated by the congress, was the deter- 
 mination to enter upon a course of general 
 agitation in all the Slavonic countries and 
 provinces, whether of Austria or Turkey. 
 The government adopted this policy with a 
 double olject. First of all, by accepting 
 the principles enunciated at the congress, 
 they cut the ground away from the feet of 
 
 * See p. 297, et seq. , vol. ii. 
 
 -' I 
 
 
THE BALTIC PROVINCES.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1867. 
 
 *A.D. 1867.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [swedes and RUSSIANS. 
 
 
 the Poles, who regarded themselves as the 
 only true and genuine Slavs ; and, secondly, 
 they prepared the way towards that dis- 
 memberment of the Turkish empire, which 
 dictated the whole policy of Russia in its 
 relations to Europe. Poland and Turkey 
 had always been the two fields furnishing 
 the point of political contact with the rest 
 of Europe; the Polish question had been 
 settled at last in favour of Russia; the 
 Turkish question was now to be tackled, 
 and the wounds struck by the Crimean war 
 to be gloriously effaced. 
 
 The initiative in this revival of the old 
 policy, re-invigorated by the new dogma of 
 Panslavism, was accorded to Servia and 
 Montenegro, whilst Bulgaria was worked 
 upon and agitated by "Russian agents," as 
 has been generally stated, but not quite 
 correctly, in so far as the term " Russian 
 agent" means a Russian by race. These 
 agents were chiefly Bulgarians who had 
 been educated in Russia, and there imbued 
 with Russian principles, policy, and tradi- 
 tions. Practically and morally, therefore, 
 they were Russians, though not so formally 
 
 or legally. • 
 
 The spirit in which the question was 
 taken up by the Serbs is exemplified in a 
 speech made by one of its members on the 
 meeting of the Servian Skuptchina. He 
 said— "The liberation of Eastern Europe 
 is the great undertaking which Russia im- 
 poses upon herself. An end must at last 
 be put to the domination of one nationality 
 over the other, whether this domination be 
 a Turkish, Hungarian, or Austro-German. 
 The battle of Sadowa has decided the fate 
 of Eastern Europe. The German world 
 has separated itself from the Slavonic 
 world. The fate of the Slavs now lies in 
 our own hands, and must be settled by 
 Slavs alone ; and it is but just, natural, and 
 politic, that Russia should take the lead in 
 the undertaking. Russia is not merely a 
 Russian power, she is a Slavonic power; 
 still more, she is a Panslavonic power. The 
 fraternisation of all the Slavonic races is 
 rapidly approaching; but the first step 
 towards this consummation is the solution 
 of the Eastern question.** 
 
 This was very plain speaking indeed, 
 and it generally found a hearty echo 
 throughout the Slavonic world. The chal- 
 lenge, however, was speedily taken up on 
 the same basis by the Germans and Hun- 
 garians. These races quite agreed with the 
 provisions laid down by the Serb patriots, 
 6 
 
 and duly expressed their determination to 
 carry them out likewise, by refusing to 
 allow the Slavs to dominate over them. 
 
 Thus Professor Wilhelm Miiller stated, in 
 his "Political Review for 1867," an annual ' 
 publication of considerable influence, that 
 this Serb enfant terrible could not have 
 pronounced a clearer or less ambiguous 
 discourse, or have given a more definite 
 programme of the Russian policy. " But," 
 he continues, " much water will flow down 
 the Danube — he might have added, 'and 
 much blood likewise ' — before one-half of 
 these extravagant wishes are realised. Still, 
 the Austrian government ought to have 
 seen that, after settling the Hungarian 
 question, she would also have to face the 
 Slavonic question. Her course of action is 
 clearly defined. She must place herself 
 on the side of Germany, in face of the 
 ajritation in Bohemia, and address the 
 Czechs in the same words Prince Bismarck 
 used — 'You will meet with an energy 
 beyond your strength.' " 
 
 Similar language was held all over 
 Germany, outside of the official circles, 
 which still held to Russia, as indeed they 
 were bound to do ; but none the less the 
 voice of the people spoke out with no 
 uncertain sound. The whole of the press 
 took up the challenge. The two most able 
 correspondents of the Tiines^ Mr. Abel at 
 Berlin, and Mr. Eber of Pesth, demon- 
 strated that,if there was to be a Panslavonic 
 question, there would also be a Panteutonic 
 question, not in the sense to which we have 
 already alluded,* but in a practical form, 
 which would take the shape of a Teuto- 
 Scandinavian action, in favour of one of 
 the "dominated nationalities;" that is, the 
 German race in the Baltic provinces. For, 
 it was alleged, if we are to go back to the 
 origin of all things, and deduce the rights 
 of the present races from the rights of 
 former generations in ancient times, it 
 would be found that the Slavs had usurped 
 the power and possessions of the Teuto- 
 Scandinavian races, and that their present 
 descendants had every moral right to 
 regain their lost privileges, and re-assert 
 their nationality, if they have the power to 
 do so. These views were also propounded 
 I by the professors in the universities, not 
 only of Germany, but also of Scandinavia, 
 and even of Denmark. Dr. Vilhelm Thom- 
 sen, of Copenhagen, one of the first 
 
 1 
 
 * Page 339, et seq.y vol. iL 
 
 Slavonic scholars, delivered a course of 
 lectures, of which the main object was to 
 prove that the race which was first dominant 
 in Russia — the tribe of which Rurik and his 
 brothers were the chiefs — was certainly of 
 Scandinavian, and most probably of Swedish 
 origin. That it was Scandinavian (said the 
 Times\ none but Slavs are likely to doubt. 
 There may be some, indeed, who will think 
 that his learned labours have been devoted 
 to a slaying of the slain. It is well, how- 
 ever, to possess a thoroughly well-conducted 
 examination of the questions at issue 
 between the Scandinavian and Anti-Scandi- 
 navian sections of Russian archaeologists 
 from the point of view of a learned native 
 of Scandinavia itself. 
 
 Beginning with the first references in his- 
 tory to the Slavs, it is explained why their 
 tribes, occupying the lands in the neighbour- 
 hood of the Vistula, and known to their Ger- 
 man neighbours as Wends, wereso little heard 
 of at a distance, until thev micrrated from 
 the districts which had grown too small to 
 hold them, and were converted to Christianity 
 after they had occupied the lands bordering 
 upon the Southern Danube. At this time, 
 the country which we now call Russia, was 
 occupied in its southern portion by semi- 
 nomadic hordes of Tartar or Turkish 
 origin ; whilst the centre, the north, and the 
 east were inhabited by Finnish races, only 
 the west and north-west being tenanted by 
 Slavonic tribes and by their distant rela- 
 tives, the Lithuanians and Letts. It is to 
 this period to which the legend refers, of 
 how the allied Slavs and Finns of the 
 north-west, feeling the want of such a 
 strong government as they themselves 
 could not create, called in Rurik and his 
 brethren, and the rest of those Varangians 
 who were known as the Russ, or members 
 of the tribe of Russ. To this story no great 
 weight can be attached when we consider 
 the fact, that the words in which Nestor's 
 Chronicle expresses the invitation sent by 
 the Slavs to the Russ, are almost identical 
 with those attributed by Wittekind's Saxon 
 Chronicle to the Britons, who are credited 
 with having called in the semi-mythical 
 Hengist and Horsa. Rurik's descendants, 
 for more than three centuries, ruled rather 
 as the semi-independent chiefs of a wide- 
 spread confederacy; then, for more than two 
 centuries longer, held office by the grace of 
 their Tartar lords, gradually consolidating 
 their power the while ; and afterwards, for 
 another century and a-half, ruled supreme | 
 
 at Moscow as Czars of a united Russia, till 
 the last descendant of Rurik's royal line 
 was murdered, and the "Period of 
 Trouble " arose, to which an end was not put 
 till the election to the throne, in 1613, of 
 the first of the Romanoffs. The Anti- 
 Scandinavianists, however, deny the Scandi- 
 navian origin of Rurik and the Russ tribe, 
 and try to prove that Greek documents 
 recognise the existence of the Russ long 
 before A.D. 839, the year in which their 
 Greek name Rhos is for the first time put 
 upon record. Thus a Greek writer, who 
 died in 817, in describing how Constantino 
 Copronymus made war on the Bulgarians 
 in 773, says that the emperor sailed in gal- 
 leys called ret povaia xcXav^ta. Tliese vessels 
 have been claimed as "Russian galleys." But 
 ta rousia chelandia rhosikos, and not ru- 
 sios, was the Greek equivalent for "Russian '* 
 prior to the middle of the 10th century; 
 and, in reality, rusios meant red, the Greek 
 emperors being in the habit of sailing in 
 ships which were painted of that colour. In 
 another of the philological lights thrown 
 on the question at issue the result is 
 equally clear. One of the most familiar of 
 the passages of Byzantine literature which 
 have been employed as evidence in the 
 controversy as to the language spoken by 
 the followers of Rurik, is that in which the 
 Emperor Constantino Porphyrogenitus, 
 writing towards the middle of the 10th 
 century, gives a list of the names of the 
 various rapids of the Dnieper both in Sla- 
 vonic (S(c\a/3ii/toTi) (SJclabinisti), and in 
 Russ (Mhosisti). The Slavonic names are 
 almost identical with the modern Russian 
 designations of the rapids. But what the em- 
 peror calls the Russ names are quite different. 
 For example, the name of the fourth rapid 
 is given as Aeifar in Russ, and in Slavonic 
 as Neasit, by the emperor, who explains 
 that it was so called because pelicans 
 haunted the spot, neyesyf meaning "a 
 pelican " in Old Slavonic. But this ety- 
 mology is probably incorrect. The pelican 
 derived its name from the fact of its being 
 insatiable, a defect expressed in the Sla- 
 vonic languages by words derived from an 
 adjective syt, our "sated," the German 
 satt. And so it is known in Russian by the 
 name of neyasyf (for nenasyf), with which 
 may be compared the German name of Nim- 
 Tnersatt, The modern Russian name of the 
 rapid in question is ^enasytets^ which 
 seems to signify "the insatiable," ne- 
 nasytriy meaning " insatiable " — a goo4 
 
 7 
 
ORIGI?^ OF RUSSIANS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1867. 
 
 desi^ation for the most violent of all the 
 rapids. At the same time there appears to 
 be no doubt that the word aeifar is the 
 same in the old Norse aefar, " never- 
 ceasing." So that the Slavonic word is 
 gimply a translation of the Norse. It is, 
 however, not quite so easy to show from 
 wha^ part of Scandinavia Rurik and his 
 companions came ; and the Slavs make 
 great capital out of the fact that there is 
 no trace or legend of any Scandinavian 
 people calling themselves Kuss. 
 
 But then, as the old inhabitants of Wales 
 never called themselves Welsh, neither do 
 those of Wallachia know themselves under 
 the term of Wallachs, any more than the 
 1 lollanders call themselves Dutch, so that the 
 ancient Kuss may have received their desig- 
 nation only from foreigners. Now the 
 Uijrrian tribes around the Gulf of Bothnia 
 and the Baltic have long known Sweden 
 imder some name similar to the Finnish 
 liuotsL From those Ugrian appellations 
 may have sprung the name of Russ, applied 
 hy the Slavs to their Scandinavian leaders. 
 Therefore, Sweden may have been the ori- 
 ginal home of Kurik. Again, if the Scan- 
 <linavian names which occur in Russian 
 history are tested — such as Olga (Helga), 
 liogvolod (Rognvaldr), Igor (Ingvarr), 
 and many others — it will be found that 
 many of them belong exclusively to Swe- 
 den, and even point to certain parts of it, 
 such as Upland, Sodermanland, and East 
 Gotland, districts which are situated along 
 the Swedish shore just opposite the Gulf of 
 Finland. And therefore those provinces 
 may well be credited with the merit of 
 having been the original homestead of the 
 so-called Russian tribe, the Varangians, 
 who imposed the name they were known 
 by on the people among whom they be- 
 came absorbed, just as the Franks gave 
 their name to the France whose language 
 they accepted. As to the Varanj^jians 
 themselves, they figure in the Old Norse 
 Sagas as the Voerlnfjjar, and in Constanti- 
 nople as the Scandinavian Barar/r/oi, who 
 long formed the imperial guard, one of 
 whose number probably carved on the lion 
 •which has for nearly two centuries adorned 
 the entrance to the arsenal at Venice, but 
 which previously gave to the Piraeus its 
 Italian name of " Porto Leone," the long 
 Runic inscription which has never been 
 completely deciphered, though an eminent 
 Runologist is supposed to have proved, 
 not very long ago, that it must have been 
 8 
 
 cut by a man from Sweden proper (Svea- 
 land), probably from the province of Up- 
 land. Towards the end of the 11th cen- 
 tury, however, the Varangian body seems to 
 have begun to change its character, being 
 recruited, not from Scandinavia, but from 
 England ; Byzantine authors of the end of 
 the 12th century stating that the Varan- 
 gians were Britons or Englishmen {Iggli' 
 noi), who spoke English {Iglinisti), 
 Finally, the defence of the monarch, who 
 ruled at Constantinople, was entirely in- 
 trusted to Englishmen — a fact which seems 
 not to be entirely out of keeping with the 
 ideas of the present day, and which, ac- 
 cording to the Slav principles, is, in itself, 
 reason enough for asserting our right to 
 follow up the privileges of our ancestors. 
 
 Nor must it be forgotten that the num- 
 ber of Rurik's companions does not seem 
 to have been large : their marriages with 
 native women must have led to their 
 children being linked with Slav as well as 
 with Scandinavian associations. And so 
 the descendants of the original settlers can 
 scarcely have preserved their foreign na- 
 tionality for more than three or four gene- 
 rations. Rurik's grandson, Sviatoslaf, bore 
 a purely Slavonic name ; and when Vladi- 
 mir the Great officially introduced Chris- 
 tianity into Russia in 988, and made 
 Slavonic the language of the church, he 
 doubtless considered himself as much a 
 Slav as any of his subjects, or as Richard 
 Lion-heart considered himself an English- 
 man. But though, about the year lOOQ, 
 " the reigning house in Kief may be con- 
 sidered essentially Slavonicised," it does 
 not follow that therefore the Scandinavian 
 element had been eliminated from Russia. 
 Up to the beginning of the 11th century, 
 a constant immigration of Northmen went 
 on. So numerous were they, that Dietmar 
 declared that the population of Kief, in 
 1018, consisted "chiefly of Danes; " that 
 name being a general expression for the 
 men of the north. But, after that time, 
 the stream of settlers ceased to pour in 
 from Scandinavia. Novgorod, however, 
 long continued to keep up its character of 
 " a Varangian town," the Gothlanders hav- 
 ing a guildhall there, and a Varangian 
 church being kept up. But even there, 
 after the 13th or 14th century, the Scandi- 
 navians had to give way to the Germans, 
 whose Hanse towns carried off the lucrative 
 Novgorod trade. 
 
 But their influence still remained a 
 
 A.D. 1867.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [SERVIA AND TURKEY. 
 
 powerful factor in determining the destiny 
 of the country; and the Russkaya Pra- 
 vola, or Russian Right, the collection of 
 laws which Yaroslav gave his subjects, are 
 as thoroughly in keeping with the ideas 
 of the old Norsemen and Anglo-Saxons, as 
 they are opposed to the principles which 
 now animate the rulers of Russia. 
 
 But however much the Germans might 
 deride Panslavonic aspirations, the Rus- 
 sians, countenanced by their government, 
 rapidly put their theories into execution, 
 and inaugurated a feverish agitation 
 throughout all the Slav provinces of the 
 neighbouring States. Russian grammars, 
 Russian histories, Russian songs, and Rus- 
 sian vademecums, of all sorts, poured 
 rapidly from the press, and were *sent by 
 waggon-loads into Bulgaria and Servia. 
 The preparations for the coming struggle 
 were scarcely concealed. Servia spoke 
 openly of her intention to annex Bosnia, 
 Herzegovina, and Old Servia, and form a 
 powerful independent State under Russian 
 protection. For this purpose she began to 
 arm ; Turkey followed her example ; and 
 when the foreign consuls inquired of the 
 Servian ministers what was the meaning of 
 these military preparations, they were 
 answered by complaints of the Turkish 
 preparations, and the concentration of 
 Turkish troops at the strategical points of 
 the Servian frontier. The real object of 
 the preparations, however, soon became 
 apparent. The fortress of Belgrade was 
 still garrisoned by the Turks, and thus held 
 perpetually as a threat over the Serbs, who 
 were resolved to put an end to the occupa- 
 tion. It was for this reason that the mili- 
 tary were called out, ostensibly for the 
 usual manoeuvres — a proceeding which 
 caused the Turks also to concentrate their 
 men on the frontier. Things went on like 
 this for a little while; the consuls, as 
 usual, disagreeing amongst themselves, 
 until encounters took place in the streets 
 between the Moslems and the Serbs, the 
 former threatening to bombard the town. 
 The matter was, however, settled diploma- 
 tically by the Sultan agreeing to the with- 
 drawal of the garrison by a firman, dated 
 March 2nd, 1867, the only stipulation 
 being, on the suggestion of Consul Long- 
 worth, that the Turkish flag should be 
 hoisted on Friday, the Turkish Sabbath, 
 and other Turkish festivals, side by side 
 with the Servian standard, and that the 
 mosques should be respected and kept in 
 
 good condition at the expense of the State, 
 The only place in Servia still occupied by 
 the Turks, was the little fortress of Mali 
 Zwornik, on the Drina ; but as, owing to 
 the changes in the course of this river, the 
 exact frontier was undetermined, the Serbs 
 insisted that Mali Zwornik was in Servia, 
 the Turks asseverating that it was in 
 Bosn ia. 
 
 Thus matters went on ; the political 
 atmosphere became heavy throughout 
 Europe. In the East there was the Slavonic 
 question ; ii^ the West the P'ranco-German 
 dispute, which, though stifled for a time, 
 was still smouldering, ready to break out 
 into flames ; and to crown all, the Russian 
 ambassadors in Constantinople and Paris 
 were called to St. Petersburg, towards the 
 end of the year, for a diplomatic conference 
 with their colleagues, and to receive in- 
 structions as to the course they were to 
 pursue. 
 
 At the same time an attempt was made 
 by the Russian government to strengthen 
 its position and influence at Greece. An 
 occasion to improve the relations between 
 the two countries was afforded by the mar- 
 riage of King George with the Grand 
 Duchess Olga, a niece of the Czar; but 
 without much effect. The Greeks were 
 perfectly convinced that they had nothing 
 to hope for from Russia, especially since 
 the Bulgarians had emancipated themselves 
 from the rule and administration of the 
 Greek patriarch of Constantinople, and 
 were throwing themselves, day by day, 
 more and more into the arms of the Rus- 
 sians. 
 
 In fact, the different parties which consti- 
 tute the Eastern question were gradually re- 
 solving themselves into distinct groups, and 
 acquiring separate shape. As the Slavonic 
 question arose on the Danube, the Hunga- 
 rian question rose to the same height on the 
 Theiss ; on the Pruth arose the Roumanian 
 question; and on the ^gean arose the 
 Greek question. True, each group was 
 divided in itself by parochial questions, as 
 they may be called. It was a matter of 
 interest to those concerned whether Prince 
 Milan should be king of the future king- 
 dom, or whether Prince Nikita should play 
 the part of the Servian Victor Emmanuel. 
 It was also interesting to the Roumanians 
 whether they should acquire any territory 
 south of the Danube, whether they should 
 be satisfied with their independence under 
 Prince Charles, or strive to obtain the 
 
 9 
 
 1 1 { 
 
 ( i 
 
 ♦it • 
 
THE HELLENES. 
 
 HlbiORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1867 
 
 neutralisation of their country under a 
 native prince — Prince Stourdza, or Prince 
 Ghika ; and it was also a matter of interest 
 to the Greeks whether they should be satis- 
 fied with some extension of their frontier 
 and the cession of Candia and the other 
 islands, leaving Constantinople still in the 
 hands of the Turks; or wlietlier they should 
 rise to a man, and claim Constantinople for 
 their just inheritance. All these were 
 questions of local importance ; for the rest 
 of the world it was only important to 
 know that the day was approaching when 
 the rival claims of Greek, Magyar, and 
 Slav would have to be settled. In Greece 
 matters were somewhat peculiar. More 
 sensible, but less patriotic than that of the 
 Slavs, was the policy they adopted. The 
 Greeks of the empire, i.e., the Greek sub- 
 jects of the Porte, would have preferred 
 that the Turks should retain Constanti- 
 nople ; for though nominally their masters, 
 they were practically their slaves and tools. 
 There would naturally be an end to all this 
 if the Slavs were to obtain possession of 
 the capital ; and there would also be an 
 end to very much of it if the kingdom of 
 Greece were to obtain it. Still, of two 
 evils they naturally chose the latter; and 
 whilst energetically combating the Slavs, 
 and supporting the Turks, they at the same 
 time continued their relations, intrigues, 
 and negotiations with the Greeks of the 
 kingdom. What they secretly desired was, 
 that in case of a dismemberment of the 
 Turkish empire in Europe, there sliould be 
 established a Greek confederation — an ex- 
 tended Greece, with Athens for its capital, 
 and another Greece with Constantinople 
 for its metropolis. It was clear to them 
 that both Athens and Constantinople must 
 be capitals of something ; and this was the 
 ideal they vaguely conceived. 
 
 It soon became evident that Russia had 
 nothing to hope for from the Greeks, but 
 everything to fear, as far as their power 
 went. That power, however, chiefly con- 
 sists in whatever sympathy and assistance 
 they may be able to secure from other 
 countries. Their power consists, in short, 
 of the force the idea of a restored Greece 
 still retains in Greece itself and outride of 
 it ; for when we find that the emploijes and 
 their families form no less than one-twelfth 
 of the population of Greece, we can easily 
 understand that the financial and economic 
 condition of the country must be highly 
 uusatibfactorv. Still mure berious does the 
 10 
 
 matter appear when we remember that the 
 country was burdened, at the outset of its 
 career, by a debt it could not pay, by a 
 legacy of passions which formerly found a 
 vent against the Turks, but since then have 
 caused the formation of numberless fac- 
 tions ; and, finally, by being saddled with a 
 king of foreign extraction, whose only 
 chance of founding a dynasty depends 
 upon the force of arms, or the consolidation 
 of a constitutional monarchy. Besides all 
 this, there exists the fact, which it is use- 
 less to ignore, that the people are over- 
 educated for their means, or possess too 
 much mobility of intellect to be willing to 
 devote themselves to manual labour. The 
 mode of life, the climate, permit them to 
 disregard those conditions of existence 
 which the inhabitants of less favoured 
 countries cannot afford to disregard. The 
 consequence is, that though the population 
 has increased from 710,000 in 1832, to 
 1,600,000 in 1876, the resources of the 
 country have not been developed in pro- 
 portion to the powers of this increase. 
 Thus the same cry arose in Greece which 
 arose in Dal mat ia — more territory and a 
 greater working population. At the same 
 time the evil was aggravated by the fact of 
 a number of the Hellenic provinces and 
 islands being under the dominicm of the 
 Turks. No man would be satisfied with a 
 little bit of a garden and a lodge at the 
 gates of a large estate to which he con- 
 siders himself the rightful heir, or devote 
 himself properly to the development of h'S 
 little property; and when to all this we 
 have to add a glowing patriotism, it cannot 
 be supposed that Hellas would quietly sit 
 by and see her inheritance in danger of 
 passing to a fresh master, or let the oppor- 
 tunity go by of acquiring it from the 
 present owner. 
 
 Under such circumstances, Hellas would 
 appear to have offered a peculiarly fruittul 
 field for the development of secret so- 
 cieties; but, as a matter of fact, none 
 such existed beyond such organisations as 
 correspond to the contrabandist as of the 
 Pyrenees and the south of Spain. Asso- 
 ciations of this stamp exist in many parts 
 of Greece, especially in Chios, Samos, 
 Crete, and the Greek provinces of Turkey. 
 Still, even these societies do not possess 
 such an organisation as to justify their 
 being called secret societies in the common 
 sense of the word. They combine com- 
 merce, smuggling, and putriotibm in just 
 
 A.D 1867.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [hellas. 
 
 the same way as the Carlists of the 
 Pyrenees. We find a merchant, or group 
 of merchants, at each end of a chain of 
 contrabandists, the patriotism of whom is 
 beyond a doubt, and who would, when the 
 moment arises, devote all the machinery 
 they have organised for their personal bene- 
 fit to the common welfare, and the 
 common object of liberating their country. 
 There are members of these associations 
 everywhere. In Constantinople, in Mar- 
 seilles, Salonica, Vienna, Trieste, London, 
 Paris, they entertain relations with each 
 other, and even with such fully organised 
 societies as the Mafia. Many a cargo to 
 Smyrna, Constantinople, Palermo, Messina, 
 is landed without ever figuring in the 
 custom-house returns, and there is a com- 
 numity of interests between them and the 
 contrabandistas of Italy and Spain which 
 practically amounts to a secret society. 
 Without them, for instance, the Carlist 
 rebellion would never have succeeded in 
 dragging its weary length along as it did ; 
 and in no slight measure did they con- 
 tribute to the success of the Italian revolu- 
 tion. Knowing the different countries 
 intimately, every nook and corner of the 
 coasts, and having their ramifications 
 everywhere, these contrabandistas have a 
 powerful machinery to place at the disposal 
 of any committee or association which is 
 formed for political purposes, and has the 
 money to engage them. That is a point 
 which must not be forgotten ; for contra- 
 bandistas must live as well as other people. 
 Now this was, and is, the sort of orofani- 
 sation which was at the service of any 
 committees or societies as soon as thev 
 were prepared to provide the money ; and 
 it is but natural, in a country like Greece, 
 where a number of political societies exist, 
 that these societies should, at the given 
 moment, avail themselves of the advantages 
 til us at their disposal. Patriotism has, 
 therefore, but to form its societies in the 
 most innocent fashion for the pursuit of 
 scientific objects, the cultivation of art and 
 literature, or, avowedly, for the develop- 
 ment of the national life. They will col- 
 lect funds, they will increase the numbers 
 of their members generally, extend the 
 sphere of their exertions, and enter into re- 
 lations with the heads of different parties 
 as may best serve the common cause ; and 
 all this without the government being able 
 to interfere, even if it wished to do so, 
 without incurring the charge of tyranny 
 
 and oppression, although it knows quite 
 well that these societies could direct all 
 their forces against it at any given moment 
 by the means we have pointed out. 
 
 An instance of this was afforded in 1864 
 and 1865. The presence and influence of 
 Count Sponneck, the Russian adviser of 
 King George, was highly distasteful to the 
 Hellenes, and the societies and leaders of 
 most parties were unceasing in their attacks 
 upon him. The Ethnophylax printed 
 every day, in large prominent type, without 
 any further comment, the words : — 'O 
 ^irovviK Trpiitei va (^uyr) — " Sponneck must 
 go ; " and the agitation became so great 
 that everything was thrown into anarchy, 
 and the minister, Koumoundouros, forced 
 to resign. Bulgaris was then called upon 
 to form a new cabinet, but would only do 
 so on condition of Count Sponneck being 
 immediately sent out of the country. To 
 this the king refused to accede, and Deli- 
 giorgis consented to form a ministry on 
 condition that Sponneck should quit 
 Greece in the spring. To this the king 
 consented ; but the popular discontent ran 
 so high at this compromise, that a great 
 demonstration took place on November 
 12th, 1865, in the streets of Athens, which 
 led to a conflict between the troops and the 
 populace, and several persons were killed 
 and wounded. The disturbances were re- 
 newed on the following days, and ultimately 
 the king was forced to yield, and Count 
 Sponneck to relieve the Athenians of his 
 presence. All this agitation was increased 
 by the action of the brigands, banditti, 
 Slc, and soi-disant smugglers — the ele- 
 ments to which we have alluded as beiuir 
 at the service of the societies. 
 
 These societies, or rather, clubs — 
 SuXXoyot — had different objects in view. 
 The Cretan clubs, of which there are still 
 two or three in Athens, naturally strove 
 for the liberation of Crete, and to obtain 
 the practical assistance of the mother 
 country ; for if that were once obtained, 
 the great majority of the population in 
 Crete would at once rise in arms. Every 
 Cretan is armed ; in the country not a man 
 stirs from his house without all the guns, 
 pistols, and poniards he can conveniently 
 carry about his person. The signal has 
 but to be given, and he calmly walks from 
 his cottage to the rendezvous in the moun- 
 tains pre-determined upon. So far, the 
 matter is simple ; but it is when the ques- 
 tion arises as to the transmission of sup- 
 
 11 
 
 J! I 
 
COUNT BEUST.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1867. 
 
 plies that the difficulties commence, and 
 the assistance of tlie mother country — the 
 societies — in the shape of money and the 
 active help of the contrahandlsta element 
 becomes necessary. At the commencement 
 of the last rebellion, the Cretan clubs 
 divided in opinion. One section advocated 
 an immediate rising, whilst the other ad- 
 vocated waiting till Greece declared war to 
 Turkey ; but both were unanimous in 
 threatening the monarchy with revolution 
 unless it entered into action immediately. 
 This latter was also the programme of the 
 'bliaKiloviKOQ avWoyoQ — the Macedonian Club 
 — whose members were recruited from the 
 natives of Macedonia, and organised peri- 
 odical raids across the frontier. Equally 
 intent upon action of some kind was the 
 'A^eXipwWc, or Brotherhood — which, with 
 the clubs of Chios and Syra, was the most 
 revolutionary. All these clubs were more 
 or less in favour of action simultaneously 
 with Russia — not under Russian control ; 
 whilst the most powerful club — the SyXXoyoc 
 ii^viKriQ afjLvvr]Q — the National Defence Club 
 — whose members comprised a number 
 of the wealthiest bankers and merchants 
 throughout Hellas, contented itself with 
 the collection of funds, in order, at the 
 given moment, to support, through thick 
 and thin, whichever party had the best 
 chance of success. 
 
 These and other facts, coupled with the 
 conviction that, in any portion of the 
 Turkish empire, Greece would be generally 
 supported by Europe in her demands for a 
 share of the spoil, convinced the Russians 
 that the old cry of community of religion 
 bad lost its force ; and as England and the 
 Western powers generally were disinclined 
 to open the Eastern question, Russia gave 
 no support to Greece nor Candia, and the 
 rebellion was finally crushed by Omar 
 Pasha. But, at the same time, the last 
 faint thread that still bound Greece to 
 Russia was irretrievably snapped. Hence- 
 forth, Russia considered only the Slavonic 
 population in her plans, and classed the 
 Greeks rather with the Turks than with 
 their enemies. 
 
 Now, though the Russian cabinet were 
 perfectly aware of the views entertained by 
 the Prussian ministers regarding Greece, 
 and also that Germany had certain interests 
 on the Danube which she would stand up 
 for if necessary, they were forced to remain 
 satisfied with the Prussian alliance only. 
 A Franco- Russian alliance was an impossi- 
 12 
 
 bility, and must always remain an impossi- 
 bility ; or, at least, would be disastrous in 
 the result for both — because, firstly, of the 
 antagonism between the Roman and the 
 Greek Church ; secondly, because of the 
 antagonism of their interests in the East ; 
 thirdly, on account of the opposition France 
 would meet with from Germany, Austria, 
 and Italy ; and, fourthly, from England 
 also, were she to ally herself with Russia in 
 any reconstruction of the East, which, if 
 satisfactory to Russia, cannot but be inimi- 
 cal to British interests. Austria, as an 
 ally, after the events of 1848 and 1849, was 
 out of the question. Equally averse from 
 any solidarity with Russia were the Baltic 
 States ; so that absolutely there was no 
 help to be expected from any other quarter 
 than Berlin. 
 
 That the Russian ministers had fully ac- 
 cepted these facts, and determined to rely 
 upon Prussia for good or for evil, was 
 proved by the meeting of the Czar and the 
 King of Prussia in the autumn of 1868. 
 This meeting was intended as a reply to the 
 endeavours of Louis Napoleon to detach 
 Italy from the Prussian alliance, and to in- 
 cite Austria, if not to open action, at any 
 rate to secure her neutrality in case of a 
 war between France and Germany. Indeed, 
 for a time there was reason to believe that 
 Austria would side with France ; or, to 
 speak more correctly, tliere was, no doubt, a 
 party in Austria which assured Napoleon 
 that he might rely upon her for an ally. 
 
 The leader and soul of this party was 
 Count Beust. He was animated by the 
 bitterest feelings against the man whom ho 
 regarded as his rival — against Count Bis- 
 marck, though Bismarck himself always 
 smiled at the idea of Count Beust ima^i^in- 
 ing that he could, under any circumstances, 
 be a rival of his. Indeed, the very appear- 
 ance of the two men was enough to pre- 
 clude any comparison between them. The 
 stalwart figure of Count Bismarck, and his 
 scrupulous attention to dress, presented 
 the strongest contrast to the puny appear- 
 ance of the Austrian minister, whose 
 slipshod, tatterdemalion costume, patched 
 here and darned there, his collar and neck- 
 tie always awry, afforded a sufficient index 
 to the dilapidated state of his intellect. 
 Still, as the representative of a great power. 
 Count Beust's intrigues could not be 
 ignored; and thus the German press was 
 instructed to state, during the meeting of 
 the Czar and the King of Prussia at 
 
 A.D. 1868.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [bismaeck and Austria. 
 
 Schwalbach and Berlin, that there was no 
 doubt, that if the Prusso-Russian alliance 
 was not yet an absolute fact, still the first 
 cannon-shot fired in Europe would con- 
 clude it. Nor was it only the German 
 • press which held this language. The 
 official Russian paper, the Journal de St, 
 Petersburg, said on October 28th : — " It 
 cannot be doubted, if France should 
 assemble an army on the Rhine, that the 
 Germans would at once accept the chal- 
 lenge. War would, of course, ensue, and 
 entail many complications. The excite- 
 ment in Posen, the Polish province of 
 Prussia, would at once extend to the king- 
 dom of Poland, to the Russian province 
 of Poland. The Russian army would, in 
 consequence, be obliged to take active 
 measures to preserve peace. It must not 
 be imagined that we in Russia are ani- 
 mated by any great feelings of love for the 
 Germans ; and it is quite possible that 
 there is much more sympathy between two 
 other nations (Austria and France). But 
 should the day arrive when the French 
 Eagle shall advance victoriously into Ger- 
 many, the memory of the First Empire 
 would awake to a still further degree, and 
 would efface all other considerations." 
 
 This article of the Journal de St, Peters- 
 burg was inspired by Prince Gortschakoff 
 himself, and sufficiently proves that, at 
 that early period, the probabilities and 
 eventualities of a Franco-German war 
 had been fully considered by Germany 
 and Russia, and a common plan of 
 action decided on. At the same time, 
 however, it was apparent that the un- 
 derstanding between the two countries 
 was of a tacit, personal nature, and not a 
 formal documentary alliance, which would 
 probably have been objected to by the 
 Russians as well as the Germans. In 
 point of fact, it amounted to an agreement 
 between Count Bismarck and Prince Gorts- 
 chakoff, that documentary treaties and en- 
 gagements required, in Prussia at least, 
 the sanction of the parliament ; and that 
 as any debate on the subject would force the 
 ministers to show too much of their hands, 
 and generally destroy that secrecy with 
 which it was necessary to procee<l, each 
 would rely on the word and honour of the 
 other. 
 
 This arrangement, as a temporary one, 
 was well enough as far as it went; and 
 if the interests of North Germany had 
 only been such as were included within 
 
 VOL. in. D 
 
 the limits of the empire, Germany would 
 have had nothing to fear from Russia. 
 But this was not the case. Germany 
 had interests in Austria which she would 
 not allow to be endangered; and it was 
 just those interests which were threat- 
 ened by the traditional policy of Russia, 
 and by the Panslavonic movement. Hence 
 it was all-important for Germany to be on 
 good terms with Austria. Whatever might 
 be the ultimate plans of Count Bismarck, 
 whether he contemplated an annexation of 
 the Austro-German provinces, and thus 
 accomplish the complete unification of 
 Germany, or whether he intended simply a 
 close alliance, the fact always remained, 
 that Austro-Hungary, whether allied with, 
 or incorporated with Germany, there were 
 certain interests threatened by Russia which 
 Germany would have to defend. 
 
 In any case, therefore. Count Bismarck 
 desired the existence of a strong anti- 
 Russian and anti-Slav party in Austria— a 
 party strong enough to defend German in- 
 terests if Germany herself were prevented 
 doing so, and strong enough to be an ally 
 for Germany, should circumstances lead to 
 a disruption of the Austrian empire. Per 
 contra, the desires of Russia ran in exactly 
 the opposite direction. Hence, whilst 
 Russia applied herself to the Slavs, Ger- 
 many devoted her attention to the Ger- 
 mans, the Italians, and the Hungarians of 
 the empire. 
 
 ^ For this reason Count Bismarck con- 
 tinued the friendly relations he had entered 
 into with Hungary during the Seven Days' 
 War, and strongly supported Count An- 
 drassy. Indeed, he went so far as to say, 
 on a subsequent occasion, that "formerly 
 he had had to transact business with Aus- 
 trian ministers, not a word of whose state- 
 ments he believed, and to whom he had said, 
 ' Whether you talk or not is all the same to 
 me, and creates no further impression than 
 the wind howling down the chimney. I 
 don't believe a single word you say.' But 
 between myself and Count Andrassy 
 matters are very difi*erent indeed. He 
 believes all that I tell him, and I believe 
 all that he tells me; so it is perfectly use- 
 less for any one to^ try to make mischief 
 between us." 
 
 With this programme, virtually a Prnsso- 
 Hungarian understanding — a ministerial 
 alliance against the imperial alliance — the 
 delegations of Austro-Hungary met in 
 1868. The delegations may be reo^arded 
 
 13 
 
 \ 
 
 . « 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
PRINCE MICHAEL.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1868. 
 
 as committees, one appointed by the Hun- 
 garian parliament, the other by the Austrian 
 parliament, to discuss the proposals of the 
 imperial ministry touching the common 
 administration of the empire, such as the 
 budget and the army. Both delegations 
 passed a bill, raising the effective of the 
 army to 800,000 men for ten years ; but it 
 was not accomplished without some very 
 Bevere remarks regarding Count Beust, who 
 was believed to be, and in fact known to 
 be, endeavouring to arrange a Franco- 
 Austrian alliance against Prussia. It was 
 thought that the more troops Austria 
 could place in the field, the greater would 
 be the temptation to enter into such an 
 alliance; but just for this very reason the 
 Poles and the Slavs generally supported 
 the bill, and carried it through in spite of 
 German opposition — that is to say, of the 
 Germans in Austria, who had not the same 
 faith in Count Andrassy as the Prussian 
 minister. The Hungarians supported it in 
 return for fresh concessions, much to the 
 disgust of Prince Gortschakoff and the 
 Slavs. These concessions were the incor- 
 poration of Croatia, Slavonia, and the mili- 
 tary frontier ; so that Hungary had at last 
 re-united, under the Hungarian sceptre, all 
 the former possessions of the Hungarian 
 crown, and re-established to its fullest limits 
 the ancient triune kingdom of Hungary, 
 composed of Hungary, Slavonia, and Croa- 
 tia, and forming a State with a population 
 of 14,830,154 inhabitants. Of these in- 
 habitants, 4,851,564 were Hungarians; 
 1,504,948 Germans; 2,416,824 Rouma- 
 nians, and 4,382,881 Slavs, Croats, Slavo- 
 nians, Czechs and Serbs : a total, therefore, 
 of 13,156,217 souls. The balance was 
 made up of gipsies, Jews, and other races. 
 
 There were elements enough here for 
 complications, the first of which seemed 
 about to come from Servia. This small 
 principality, with its 1,160,000 inhabitants, 
 had, ever since gaining its independence, 
 been the sport of conflicting interests. 
 Above all, the Serbs desired absolute inde- 
 pendence ; but not being strong enough to 
 wrest its liberty from the Porte alone and 
 unaided, was obliged to seek a support- 
 now in Austria, now in Russia, now from the 
 Western powers combined, according to the 
 views of the statesmen who were at the 
 head of the government. The more, how- 
 ever, the ambition to acquire Bulgaria, Old 
 Servia, Bosnia, &c., and to restore the 
 " elories " of the ancient empire of Dushan 
 ^ 14 
 
 the Great, took root — not exactly amongst 
 the people,but amongst the leading classes — 
 the more repugnance was felt by Prince 
 Michael to enter upon an adventurous 
 policy. He had succeeded in procuring the 
 withdrawal of the Turkish garrison in Bel- 
 grade, and felt fully satisfied with himself 
 and the state of practical independence the 
 country enjoyed. He preferred leaving 
 affairs to the gradual but certain develop- 
 ment of events, feeling convinced that, by 
 biding his time, he would acquire all that 
 could be expected. These sentiments, how- 
 ever, and the idea that he was in favour of 
 ceding Servia to Hungary, displeased a cer- 
 tain section of Serb politicians, who were 
 so worked on by Alexander Karageorgevitch, 
 that it was decided to assassinate Prince 
 Michael, and place Karageorgevitch on the 
 throne, although the bulk of the nation 
 was quite satisfied with his rule, and, gene- 
 rally speaking, approved of his policy of 
 trusting to Austria rather than to Russia. 
 
 Alexander Georgevitch was the son of 
 the celebrated Karageorge, who achieved 
 the independence of Servia in 1804 and 
 1805. Karageorge, however, was mur- 
 dered by Milosch Obrenovitch, who was 
 forced to abdicate in 1839, and gave up 
 the throne to his eldest son, Milan. Milan 
 died a few weeks afterwards, and was suc- 
 ceeded by his brother Michael. The son 
 of Karageorge, Alexander Karageorgevitch, 
 succeeded, however, in deposing Michael in 
 1842, but was in turn deposed by the 
 Skuptchina, which recalled old Milosch, 
 who then retained the crown till his death 
 in 1858. He was followed by his son 
 Michael, who thus ascended the throne for 
 the second time. Michael, though married 
 to Countess Julia Hunyady, was childless, 
 and was obliged to adopt an heir. His 
 choice fell upon young Milan, his nearest 
 male relative, and a grand-nephew of Prince 
 Milosch, whose brother Ephraim had had 
 a son named Milosch, who had married a 
 certain Maria Kartatschi, a Moldavian 
 lady. Milan was the only child of this 
 union, and after his father's death, was 
 brought up by relatives of his mother. 
 This lady, Maria Obrenovitch, played a 
 very unequivocal part in connection with 
 Prince Couza, of Roumania ; and was 
 actually found in bed with him when the 
 revolution broke out in Bucharest, and his 
 palace was burned. Milan, however, as the 
 undisputed son of Milosch Obrenovitch, 
 was declared by the Skuptchina to be the 
 
 A.D. 1868.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [murder of MICHAEL. 
 
 next in succession, and sent by Prince 
 Michael to Pari«, to be educated there, 
 under the guidance of M. Ristics, a wily, 
 most ambitious Serb, who subsequently 
 became his pupil's prime minister. 
 
 All this was naturally highly disagreeable 
 to Karageorgevitch, who, living in exile at 
 Vienna, had hoped that on the death of 
 Prince Michael he would have been recalled 
 by the Skuptchina. When, however, it 
 became evident that the dynasty of the 
 Obrenovitch was being consolidated, he, or 
 his party, resolved to strike a blow before 
 Milan was of age to assume the government. 
 Thus, on June 10th, 1868, as Prince 
 Michael, accompanied by his cousin, Anka 
 Constantinovitch, his adjutant Garaschanin, 
 and one of his servants, was taking his 
 daily walk in the park of Topschider, near 
 Belgrade, he was attacked by three men, 
 who suddenly sprang out from the bushes, 
 and repeatedly firing upon him with their 
 revolvers, killed him and his cousin, and 
 wounded the others. Two of the assassins, 
 of the family of Radanovitch, were at once 
 arrested, and several more within the 
 cours3 of the next few days — amongst them 
 two brothers-in-law, and other relations of 
 Karageorgevitch, upon whom the suspicion 
 of being the head of the conspiracy natu- 
 rally at once fell. 
 
 The ministers soon took their precau- 
 tions. The army was called out, the 
 country declared in a state of siege, the 
 Skuptchina convoked for July 2nd, and 
 young Milan brought secretly from Paris 
 to Belgrade. The indignation throughout 
 the country at this dastardly and utterly 
 groundless murder was universal. The 
 whole family of Karageorgevitch, and even 
 his most distant relations, were banished, 
 and their property confiscated. Those 
 more immediately concerned were impri- 
 soned and put upon their trial, after Prince 
 Milan had been proclaimed under the title 
 of Obrenovitch IV., and a regency insti- 
 tuted, of which M. Marino vitch, a persona 
 grata to the Russian government, was the 
 bead. 
 
 In the trial which followed, it was proved 
 that Karageorgevitch and his secretary had 
 been in communication for over a year with 
 the conspirators, fourteen of whom were 
 sentenced to death on July 27th, and shot 
 on the following day. At the same time 
 the Servian government demanded of the 
 Hungarian government the extradition of 
 Karageorgevitch, and called upon him to 
 
 appear before the court. The Hungarian 
 government ordered his arrest, and sent 
 him to Semlin, opposite Belgrade, on the 
 Austrian bank of the river, for identifica- 
 tion by some of the prisoners. The con- 
 frontation took place on a steamer, after 
 which Karageorgevitch was taken back to 
 Pesth, to await the examination by the 
 Hungarian authorities before they delivered 
 him up to the Servian government, which 
 subsequently condemned him, in absentia, 
 to twenty years' hard labour. The result of 
 the examination in Pesth was his acquittal 
 on a verdict of " not proven ; " though, in 
 the public mind, both in Servia and Hun- 
 gary, there was not the least doubt as to 
 his guilt. 
 
 The immediate result of these events was 
 an increased distrust of Austria on the part 
 of Servia. The whole nature of the incident 
 went to prove, that if the Austrian govern- 
 ment had not actually had a hand in the 
 business, it was, at any rate, prepared to 
 support Karageorgevitch; and, generally, 
 the whole was regarded as an outcome, if, 
 indeed, not a consequence, of Count Beust's 
 policy, which was thoroughly opposed to 
 the formation of independent States on the 
 Danube. He was especially active in his 
 attempt to frustrate the development of 
 Roumania, and to raise the jealousy of 
 Hungary by pretending that Roumania was 
 striving to prepare the way for the annexa- 
 tion of the Roumanian frontier of Transyl- 
 vania ; and, at the same time, he endea- 
 voured to show that Roumania was being 
 supported in these projects by the Prussian 
 ministers. He called Prince Charles " the 
 Prussian corporal on the Danube ; " caused 
 his organs to proclaim that 5,000 Prussian 
 non-commissioned officers and sergeants 
 had been incorporated with the Roumanian 
 army, and that Prussia, having one string 
 to her bow in the shape of Hungary, wished 
 for another in the shape of Roumania by 
 the time she might find it expedient to cast 
 the first away. 
 
 But all these endeavours were fruitless, 
 except in so far that Bratiano, the Rou- 
 manian minister, who was acting with 
 Marinovitch in the matter, was obliged to 
 resign in consequence of the pressure 
 brought to bear upon Roumania by the 
 Western powers. They accused Bratiano of 
 agitation in Bulgaria ; but though he re- 
 pelled the charge, it was too well known 
 that he had the chief hand in the expedi- 
 tion of armed men and agents across the 
 
 15 
 
 • I 
 
POLISH INTOLERANCE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1868. 
 
 Danube ; whilst Marinovitch was following 
 the same policy in the west of Bulgaria 
 and the Bosnian and Herzegovinian dis- 
 tricts. Matters, in fact, assumed a very 
 serious aspect; and it looked as if there was 
 some danger of a triple alliance between 
 Austria, France, and England, which, at 
 any rate, was determined to obtain a diplo- 
 matic victory over Russia and Germany. 
 But both Russia and Germany declared 
 that they quite agreed with the views of 
 the Western powers in the question ; the 
 consequence being that Bratiano was suc- 
 ceeded by Cogalnitscheano as prime minis- 
 ter. Bratiano, however, did not lose much 
 by this transfer. He was at once elected 
 into the Chamber of Deputies by a majo- 
 rity of sixty-six to eighteen; and, freed 
 from the trammels of office, was more able to 
 follow out his policy of agitating the 
 Turkish provinces than before. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Russian ministers de- 
 termined to make as much use of the cor- 
 dial relations existing between the Czar and 
 the King of Prussia as they possibly could. 
 On February 29th, an imperial ukase 
 abolished the special commissions which 
 had been established to pacify Poland, 
 and to satisfy the demands of the Western 
 powers. There was no further question of 
 a kingdom of Poland. Most of the Polish 
 officials were dismissed; the Roman Catholic 
 Church was placed under the administration 
 of the Holy Synod ; and when one of the 
 bishops (Bishop Popiel, of Plock) refused to 
 send a delegate, or acknowledge the Synod, 
 he was arrested, and exiled into the interior 
 of the empire. The Russian language was 
 proclaimed as the official and educational 
 language, and also introduced into the 
 churches. All prayer-books and educa- 
 tional books, used in the public schools, were 
 translated into Russian, and submitted to a 
 strict examination by the censors. In 
 Lithuania, the Cossack General, Potapow, 
 issued a proclamation to the following 
 
 tffect : — 
 
 " It is strictly forbidden to make use of 
 the Polish language in any public place. 
 It must not be used in churches, hotels, 
 taverns, comptoirs, confectioners' cafes, 
 wine-shops, public-houses, public prome- 
 nades, gardens, parks, nor any shops, 
 printing-offices, photographer's studios, or 
 in any place to which the general public 
 have access. Nor is it allowed for a meet- 
 ing of more than two persons in a private 
 ' house to speak Polish. It can only be 
 16 
 
 allowed in the intimacy of the family — that 
 is, between man and wife, and children and 
 parents ; and then only within the precincts 
 of their own houses. This order will be 
 strictly enforced ; and all contraventions be 
 followed by a pecuniary fine of such an 
 amount as to be a sensible punishment for 
 the culprits." 
 
 Similar measures, but in a minor degree, 
 were adopted in the Baltic provinces. The 
 German civil governors in Livonia, Estho- 
 nia, and Courland, were dismissed; the 
 official German newspapers were changed 
 into Russian papers ; the official language, 
 in all instances, was ordered to be the Rus- 
 sian ; the rector of the university at Dorpat 
 had an assistant assigned to him who was 
 to introduce the Russian language into all 
 the schools; and the superintendent over 
 the elementary schools, which had hitherto 
 been in the hands of the Lutheran clergy, 
 was transferred to the Russian ministry of 
 public instruction. It was endeavoured, by 
 certain parties, especially by Count Beust 
 and the French government, to rouse Ger- 
 man feeling against the Russian govern- 
 ment on account of these measures. But 
 the attempt was unsuccessful, for the 
 simple reason that neither Prussia nor 
 Russia could yet afford to quarrel with 
 each other. But though the Prussian gov- 
 ernment was silent on the subject, public 
 opinion in Germany condemned these mea- 
 sures very severely. Not only was the daily 
 press loud in its denunciation of the Rus- 
 sian policy, but writers of position, and 
 journals and reviews of great influence, 
 expressed the same views. 
 
 But important as this open expression of 
 opinion was, the silence of the government 
 was far more important and impressive. It 
 would have been easy for Prince Bismarck to 
 have advised the Russian government, in a 
 friendly manner, to abstain from measures 
 which were directed solely against the 
 Germans ; and there is no doubt but that 
 the Russian government would have fol- 
 lowed his advice. But not one word of 
 remonstrance did Bismarck utter; and 
 that proves incontestably that he regards 
 the Baltic provinces as a question it may 
 be necessary one day to raise into the 
 importance of a casus belli. 
 
 As to the opinions on the subject held 
 by the Germans, the following passage in 
 Professor Wilhelm Miiller's Political Re- 
 view generally represents them : — 
 
 " The Kussianising mama of the govern- 
 
 • 1 
 
RUSSIAN DIPLOMATIST 
 
 iH(^ AN' 
 
 A.D. 1870-71.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [treaty of LONDON. 
 
 inent knows no limits, acknowledges no 
 treaties, and oppresses everything that is 
 foreij^n, no matter whether it be of German 
 or Polish origin. The conduct of the 
 government in the Baltic provinces is bar- 
 barous and brutal. By the capitulations 
 of 1710, liberty of conscience, Grerman 
 administration, language, and law were 
 secured to these provinces. Yet even after 
 the ukase of 1868, a fresh decree was 
 issued in 1869, to the effect that persons of 
 all denominations, especially the corpora- 
 tions and nobility, must attend divine ser- 
 vice in the Orthodox Churches, on all 
 State festivals and feasts of the Orthodox 
 Church, to join in the prayers for the Czar. 
 But as long as the Russian government 
 uses canting phrases about the liberty of 
 conscience, whilst ruthlessly stifling it by 
 such decrees — as long as it calls itself liberal, 
 but acts with unheard-of despotism, and as 
 long as it clamours for the rights of 
 nationalities abroad, whilst trampling upon 
 them at home, we must be pardoned if we 
 recall to memory what Napoleon said must 
 be done if we want to find the Tartar in 
 the Russian." 
 
 These views not only represent very 
 fairly what is the general opinion through- 
 out Germany, but the fact is very well 
 known in Russia likewise, and is openly 
 discussed. Thus so eminent an authority 
 
 as General Fadaieff stated : — " As long as 
 the quarrel between France and Prussia 
 continues, Russia will retain her liberty of 
 action in some degree; but when this 
 quarrel has been settled by diplomacy or 
 force of arms, as the case may be, then 
 Russia must take the least difficulty by 
 assault before there is time for an Anglo- 
 Austro-Frussian alliance to develop itself, 
 an alliance far more dangerous for us 
 than any Anglo-French alliance.'''' How 
 accurately General Fadaieff gauged the 
 question subsequent events have amply 
 shown. 
 
 The same policy adopted in Poland and 
 the Baltic provinces was also adopted in 
 Finland, but also more cautiously than in 
 Poland, or even in the Baltic provinces, 
 for it was remembered that the whole of 
 the population — except about 40,000 out 
 of 1,800,000 souls — is staunchly Lutheran, 
 and would certainly seize the first oppor- 
 tunity to rise against Russia if any attempt 
 to crush their religion or their nationality 
 were to be made, and would place them- 
 selves on the side of the Baltic provinces, 
 with their population of 1,500,0U0. Thus 
 when Germany chooses to raise the ques- 
 tion, she will have the suffrages of over 
 3,000,000 people, who would be but too 
 happy to exchange the Russian for the 
 German government. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE ABROGATION OF THE ARTICLES OF THE TREATY OF PARIS RELATING TO THE BLACK SEA, 
 
 THE DARDANELLES, AND THE DANUBE. 
 
 A MORE contemptible diplomatic campaign 
 than that of 1870-'7l, or more degrading 
 to all parties alike, was never undertaken 
 by any statesman worthy of the name. Its 
 history reads more like that of a squabble 
 in a young ladies' boarding-school, or the 
 wordy quarrel of a coterie of old maids, 
 than of the political relations between the 
 great powers of the civilised world. But 
 this is not all. It is equally characterised 
 by a lack of morality entirely out of keep- 
 ing, not only with the tenets of Chris- 
 tianity, but also equally out of accordance 
 with the heathen code of morality, as it 
 existed even long before the Christian era. 
 
 And, worse than all, the precedent for this 
 cynical immorality was furnished by an 
 English statesman ; an English statesman 
 first enunciated the principles which were 
 used a few years later to justify the utter 
 disregard of any international treaty. 
 That statesman was the present Lord 
 Derby, then Lord Stanley. Referring to 
 the duties undertaken by England in 
 regard to the neutrality of Luxembourg, he 
 stated in the House of Commons, on July 
 14th, 1867, "that his idea of a collective 
 guarantee was, that in case of an infringe- 
 ment of the neutrality, all the signataries 
 might be called upon to take collective 
 
 17 
 
 f 
 
DERBY ON TREATIES.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1870-71. 
 
 action, without any one of the contracting 
 powers being obliged to interfere alone. 
 That, in short, each individual power has 
 the right, but not the duty, to insist upon 
 the observance of the stipulations agreed 
 to." And, reversing the old proverb, like 
 . father like son, the Earl of Derby endorsed 
 these views, and declared roundly in the 
 House of Lords, that "if France, in de- 
 fiance of the treaty, should take possession 
 of Luxembourg, England, although called 
 upon by Prussia to assist in enforcing the 
 observance of the treaty, would not be 
 bound to comply with the call." In 
 making this statement the Earl of Derby 
 referred to his son. Lord Stanley, as his 
 *' noble relative." This circuitous mode of 
 referring to his son may have been due to 
 some innate sense of !?hame and humilia- 
 tion on the part of the old earl. If so, it 
 modifies in some small degree, as regards 
 himself, the epithet which posterity will 
 apply to his "noble relative," in exactly 
 the reverse sense. 
 
 For, regarded by the light of ordinary 
 sense, Lord Derby's statement amounts 
 to the legalisation of political klepto- 
 mania, and the repudiation of the 
 duties of any treaty if it is not con- 
 venient to enforce their observance. It 
 either means this, or else it is one of the 
 most childish propositions ever uttered by 
 a man beyond his teens. For, though 
 treaties are signed by the parties who have 
 wished, and probably still wish, to infringe 
 what that treaty is laid down for, yet if 
 those parties choose to ignore their obliga- 
 tions, the rest of the powers are not bound to 
 enforce these obligations because, forsooth, 
 one or more parties having broken the treaty, 
 the collective guarantee no longer exists ! 
 That is to say, to take an illustration from 
 common life, if, of three trustees, one refuses 
 to observe the stipulations of the will, the 
 other two are not bound to enforce them 
 because they are not all agreed. 
 
 Now, such propositions as these — charac- 
 terised by all international lawyers abroad, 
 and many at home, as unique in the history 
 of international law — could not fail to be 
 taken advantage of by the powers lowest 
 in the scale of political morality, when 
 endorsed by the powers claiming to be the 
 highest in that scale. Thus whilst Europe 
 was being shaken to its foundations by the 
 Franco-G-erman war, and all men throuorh- 
 out the civilised world were intent upon 
 the issue of the tremendous stru^^gle, ru- 
 
 mours of complications raised by Russia 
 began to be whispered about, and con- 
 tributed, in no small degree, to the genera 
 consternation. It had long been foreseen 
 by politicians of average intellect and 
 average means of information, that Russia 
 would take the first opportunity to avenge 
 herself for her disasters in 1854-'56. 
 This conviction had grown in intensity 
 since the utterances of Lord Stanley in 
 1867. Still, Lord Stanley had acquired a 
 certain reputation for cautiousness, for 
 prudence, for moderation, and a number of 
 negative virtues, which, summed up to- 
 gether, amounted, in two words, to moral 
 cowardice. The son of a self-willed, de- 
 termined, and passionate man, the present 
 Lord Derby seems to be the outcome of an 
 exhausted nature, of a will exhausted by its 
 own passion; a spent cannon-ball, whose 
 only power lies in its inertness ; a man who 
 mumbles his words with the same indis- 
 tinctness with which he conceives them, 
 and eats them again in spite of their insipi- 
 dity. To parody Schleiermacher's words, he is 
 a " partial negation of the absolute," a rent, 
 a shred, a tatter in the reputation of the old 
 earl, whose shade is more material even now, 
 for good or for evil, than his son's substance. 
 
 At last the blow fell on November 7th, 
 1870. Information was communicated to 
 Sir Andrew Buchanan, the British ambas- 
 sador at St. Petersburg, from a source on 
 which he did not place much reliance at 
 first, that despatches had either been for- 
 warded, or would be immediately for- 
 warded, to the great Courts of Europe, 
 communicating to them that Russia would 
 not acknowledge hereafter the obligations 
 she had contracted under the treaty of 
 1856, and that a declaration to that effect 
 would be published in St. Petersburg a 
 day previously to the delivery of Ihe 
 despatches in question. Sir A. Buchanan 
 immediately sent one of his secretaries to 
 the person from whom he had received this 
 communication. The result of the in- 
 quiries he made tended to increase his 
 doubts of its truth, and he therefore 
 decided that it would be inexpedient to 
 report a sensational rumour, to which he 
 would have been obliged to add an expres- 
 sion of his own belief that it was incorrect. 
 
 But the next day he went to Czarskoe- 
 Seloe to see Prince Gortschakoff ; and as 
 he had deemed it expedient, for some time 
 past, not to give him an opportunity to 
 enter into any discussion respecting the 
 
 .•■ I 
 

 
 Tiie iiiiisU-aUQUs Urarsn <>c Kngvaved b7fl."Wiii 
 
 i^. L;viL.'in ^- ^r,rj^'i.,L'{i oy'v. lliip^i.i 
 
A.b. 1870-71.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [the Russian circular. 
 
 treaty of 1856, he did not mention the 
 matter to him; but at the same time he 
 acquainted several persons with the nature 
 of the communication, and found them 
 disposed to treat the subject as a stock- 
 jobbing story, connected with the presence 
 of General Ignatieff at St. Petersburg. 
 
 Sir Andrew Buchanan's informant, how- 
 ever, insisted on the accuracy of his infor- 
 mation ; and in consequence of this, and 
 subsequent information. Sir Andrew ad- 
 dressed to Prince GrortschakofF a confiden- 
 tial letter, acquainting his excellency with 
 the character of the information which he 
 had received, and stating that he had not 
 communicated it to the British government 
 by telegraph, or spoken of it to his excel- 
 lency, because he could not believe a report 
 that measures were about to be taken which 
 he considered so offensive to the Queen and 
 the dignity of Great Britain, that if it 
 were true, he should expect an order to ask 
 for his passports, and to leave St. Peters- 
 burg immediately ; but as he had unfortu- 
 nately received confirmation of it, he felt 
 it his duty to express to his excellency his 
 belief that, if the course is followed with 
 respect to the treaty of 1856, which had 
 been reported to him, he had the most 
 serious apprehensions as to the light in 
 which it would be considered by the govern- 
 ment of the Queen. To this letter Prince 
 Gortschakoff informed the bearer there was 
 no reply, whereupon Sir Andrew at once 
 telegraphed his information to the British 
 government. But in the morning of the 
 same day on which this telegram reached 
 its destination, Baron Brunnow, the Rust^ian 
 ambassador, had already communicated to 
 Earl Granville the substance of Prince 
 Gortschakoff's circular, and had handed 
 him a copy of it. The following is the 
 text of this remarkable historical docu- 
 ment : — 
 
 "Tzarskoe Selo, October H, 1871. 
 
 "The successive alterations which the 
 transactions considered as the foundation of 
 the European balance of power have un- 
 dergone during late years, have rendered it 
 necessary for the imperial cabinet to in- 
 quire how far their results affect the poli- 
 tical position of Russia. 
 
 " Among these transactions, that which 
 interests Russia most directly is the treaty 
 of March M, 1856. 
 
 "The special convention between the 
 two States bordering on the Black Sea, 
 
 which forms an appendix to this treaty^ 
 contains an engagement on the part of 
 Russia to limit her naval forces to a 
 minimum. 
 
 " In return this treaty established the 
 principle of the neutralisation of that sea. 
 
 " By laying down this principle, the sig- 
 natory powers intended to remove any pos- 
 sibility of a conflict between the powers 
 bordering on the Black Sea, or between 
 them and the maritime powers. It was 
 intended to increase the number of the 
 territories which have been accorded the 
 benefit of neutrality by the unanimous 
 consent of Europe, and thus protect Russia 
 herself from all danger of attack. 
 
 "A fifteen years' experience has proved 
 that this principle, on which the safety of 
 the whole extent of the Russian frontiers 
 in this direction exclusively depends, is no 
 more than a theory. 
 
 " In reality, while Russia was disarming 
 in the Black Sea, and, by a declaration con- 
 tained in the protocols of the conference, 
 likewise loyally deprived herself of the 
 possibility of taking measures for an effec- 
 tual maritime defence in the adjoining seas 
 and ports, Turkey preserved her privilege 
 of maintaining unlimited naval forces in 
 the Archipelago and the Straits; France 
 and England preserved the power of con- 
 centrating their squadrons in the Mediter- 
 ranean. 
 
 "Again, under the treaty in question, 
 the entry of the Black Sea is formally, and 
 in perpetuity, interdicted to the flag of 
 war of either of the powers possessing its 
 coasts or of any other power ; but the so- 
 called Straits treaty closes the Straits only 
 in the time of peace to men-of-war. Owin(y 
 to this contradiction, the shores of the 
 Russian empire are exposed to attack even 
 from less powerful States whenever they 
 have naval forces at their disposal ; while 
 all that Russia could oppose to them would 
 be some ships of small size. 
 
 "The treaty of March M, 1856, has, 
 moreover, not escaped the modifications to 
 which most European transactions have 
 been exposed, and in the face of which it 
 would be difficult to maintain that the 
 written law, founded upon the respect for 
 treaties as the basis of public right, and 
 regulating the relations between States, re- 
 tains the moral validity which it may have 
 possessed at other times. 
 
 " We have witnessed the principalities of 
 Moldavia and Wallachia, whose position 
 
 19 
 
THE RrSSUN CIRCTTLAR.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1870-71. 
 
 s 
 
 had, under the guarantee of the great 
 powers, been defined in the treaty of peace 
 and the subsequent protocols, accomplish a 
 series of revolutions which are equally at 
 variance with the letter and spirit of these 
 transactions, and which first led to the 
 union, and subsequently to the election of 
 a foreign prince. These facts have obtained 
 the sanction of the Porte, and the consent 
 of the great powers — or, at any rate, the 
 latter have not thought it necessary to en- 
 force their decisions. 
 
 " The representative of Russia was the 
 only one who raised his voice to remind 
 the cabinets that by this tolerance they 
 would be departing from the distinct 
 stipulations of the treaty, 
 
 "No doubt, if these concessions to one 
 of the Christian nationalities of the East 
 had proceeded from a general agreement 
 between the cabinets and the Porte, and if 
 they had been based upon a principle alike 
 applicable to all the Christian populations 
 of Turkey, they would have been applauded 
 by the imperial cabinet ; but they were ex- 
 clusive. 
 
 " The imperial cabinet, therefore, could 
 not but be surprised at seeing the treaty of 
 March i§, 1856, violated with impunity in 
 one of its most essential clauses but a few 
 years after its conclusion, and this in face 
 of the great powers assembled in conference 
 at Paris, and representing together the 
 high collective authority on which rested 
 the peace of the East. 
 
 "But this infraction was not the only 
 one. Repeatedly, and under various pre- 
 texts, foreign men-of-ivar have been suf- 
 fered to enter the Straits ; and whole 
 squadrons, ivhose presence was an in- 
 fraction of the character of absolute neu- 
 trality attributed to those waters, admitted 
 to the Black Sea, 
 
 " While the pledges offered by the treaty, 
 and more especially the guarantees for the 
 effective neutralisation of the Black Sea, 
 were thus being weakened, the introduction 
 of iron-clad vessels, unknown and unfore- 
 seen at the conclusion of the treaty of 
 1856, increased the danger for Russia in 
 the event of war, by adding considerably 
 to the already patent inequality of the re- 
 spective naval forces. 
 
 " Under these circumstances his majesty 
 could not but ask himself, what are the 
 rights and duties accruing to Russia from 
 these modifications of the general situation, 
 and the departures from the engagements, 
 20 
 
 which, although conceived in a spirit of 
 distrust towards herself, she has invariably 
 and scrupulously observed. 
 
 "After maturely considering this question, 
 his imperial majesty has arrived at the fol- 
 lowing conclusion, which you are instructed 
 to bring to the knowledge of the govern- 
 ment to which you are accredited : — 
 
 " Our illustrious master cannot admit, 
 de jure, that treaties, violated in several of 
 their essential and general clauses, should 
 remain binding in other clauses directly 
 affecting the interests of his empire. 
 
 " His imperial majesty cannot admit, de 
 facto, that the security of Russia should 
 depend on a fiction which has not stood the 
 test of time, and should be imperilled by 
 her respect for engagements which have not 
 been observed in their integrity. 
 
 "Confiding in the feelings of justice of 
 the powers who have signed the treaty of 
 1856, as well as in their consciousness of 
 their own dignity, the emperor commands 
 you to declare that his imperial majesty 
 cannot any longer hold himself bound by 
 the stipulations of the treaty of March Mf 
 1856, as far as they restrict his sovereign 
 rights in the Black Sea : 
 
 " That his imperial majesty deems him- 
 self both entitled and obliged to denounce 
 to his majesty the Sultan the special and 
 additional convention appended to the said 
 treaty, which fixes the number and size of 
 the vessels of war which the two powers 
 bordering on the Black Sea shall keep in 
 that sea : 
 
 " That his majesty loyally informs of this 
 the powers who have signed and guaranteed 
 the general treaty, of which the convention 
 in question forms an integral part : 
 
 " That his majesty restores to the Sultan 
 the fall exercise of his rights in this respect, 
 reserving the same for himself. 
 
 " In acquitting yourself of this duty, you 
 will take care to point out that our illus- 
 trious master has only the safety and dig- 
 nity of his empire in view. His imperial 
 majesty has no wish to revive the Eastern 
 Question.. On this point, as on all others, 
 he has no wish but the preservation and 
 consolidation of peace. He fully adheres 
 to his consent to the general principles of 
 the treaty of \S56, wfdch have fixed the 
 position of Turkey in the European system. 
 He is ready to enter into an understanding 
 with the powers who have signed that 
 transaction, for the purpose either of con- 
 firming its general stipulations, or of re- 
 
 A.D. 1870-71.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [alleged "infringements.' 
 
 Dewing them, or of replacing them by some 
 other equitable arrangement, which may 
 be considered as calculated to secure the 
 tranquillity of the East, and the balance of 
 power in Europe. 
 
 " His imperial majesty is convinced that 
 that peace, and that balance of power, will 
 receive a fresh guarantee, if they are based 
 upon a more just and solid foundation than 
 one resulting from a state of things which 
 no great power can accept as a normal con- 
 dition of its existence. 
 
 " You are requested to read this despatch 
 to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and 
 leave him a copy. 
 
 " I avail, &c., 
 
 (Signed) " Gortschakoff." 
 
 Now if we analyse the objections taken 
 by Prince Gortschakoff to the articles in the 
 treaty of Paris, of which he complains, we 
 find they are the old objections to a state 
 of things, to establish which, the Crimean 
 "war was chiefly undertaken. The Darda- 
 nelles were closed only in time of peace 
 just because it was requisite, in case of 
 necessity, that Russia should be attacked in 
 the Black Sea ; otherwise she would be in- 
 vulnerable to attack, except under very 
 improbable circumstances. Secondly, Tur- 
 key was allowed to develop her fleet in the 
 Mediterranean, because there was no fear of 
 Turkey entering upon an aggressive war 
 with Russia, or any other nation, and re- 
 quired that fleet, not to protect her Black 
 Sea coasts, but to defend her Mediterranean 
 coasts. The powers decided upon this sti- 
 pulation, not from any distrust of Turkey, 
 but from a distrust of Russia — a distrust so 
 great that they went to war to secure the 
 interests which this distrust taujjht them 
 to defend. An abrogation of the article 
 referred to would, therefore, only be justified 
 on proof that no cause for this distrust any 
 longer existed. That this proof was not 
 forthcoming ; that, on the contrary, there 
 was every reason for increasing the distrust, 
 ought to have been a sufficient answer. 
 
 As to Prince Gortschakoff^s second ob- 
 jection, that the treaty of Paris had been 
 infringed by the powers sanctioning certain 
 measures for the amelioration of the 
 Danubian provinces, with the consent of 
 the Porte, be it remembered, such an ob- 
 jection sounds most strange in the mouth 
 of a power which professes to be animated 
 solely by the desire to ameliorate the con- 
 dition of the Christian subjects of the 
 
 VOL. III. 
 
 E 
 
 Porte. That such measures had not been 
 extended to the other provinces might have 
 been a cause of complaint for Russia, and 
 might have justified her in calling upon 
 the powers to take into consideration the 
 amelioration of the rest of the Christian 
 provinces. But to base her claim to in- 
 creased power in the Black Sea upon the 
 fact that the treaty of Paris had been 
 infringed by a concession which had for- 
 merly been refused to her, and to obtain 
 which was one of the reasons why Russia 
 declared war against Turkey in 1854, was a 
 piece of hypocrisy as audacious as it was 
 insulting, as illogical as it was despicable, 
 and as impertinent as it was untrue. In 
 good old Saxon language, it was a lie. For, 
 in point of fact, as Count Visconti-Venosta 
 pointed out, the following words are con- 
 tained in the despatch of Prince Gorts- 
 chakoff' to General Ignatieff", dated Novem- 
 ber Aj 1866, in which Prince Charles of 
 Hohenzollern is recognised as Prince of the 
 United Principalities : — 
 
 " The imperial cabinet can only applaud 
 a result as fully in harmony with the tra- 
 ditional sympathy which binds Russia to 
 these people — her co-religionists — as with 
 her desire to see the Ottoman empire con- 
 solidated, by the satisfaction of the legiti- 
 mate wishes, 'and the wants of the Christian 
 races which inhabit it." 
 
 Still more ridiculous were Prince Gorts- 
 chakoff^s objections to the " infractions " of 
 the treaty by the passage of vessels of war 
 through the Straits during the fourteen 
 years which had elapsed since the signature 
 of the treaty of Paris. 
 
 Let us see in what these " infractions " 
 consisted : — 
 
 In September, 1866, an American cor- 
 vette, the Ticonderoga, eight guns, but 
 capable of heavier armament, paid a com- 
 plimentary visit to the Sultan : in February, 
 1868, the Austrian frigate, Donau, passed 
 the Straits on a firman granted as an act 
 of courtesy to Prince Adalbert, of Bavaria, 
 but under British protest : in February, 
 1868, the Austrian corvette, Archduke 
 Frederick, in company with the Donau^ 
 also passed the Straits, but under Russian 
 protest — it was, however, explained that 
 the permission had been granted under the 
 impression that she was a sloop for the ser- 
 vice of the Austrian mission : in April, 
 1868, the French ship of war, Christophe 
 Colombe, passed the Dardanelles for the 
 conveyance of the Persian ambassador back 
 
 21 
 
I 
 
 ALLEGED *« INFRINGEMENTS."] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 to his country— this was thus only a di- 
 plomatic mission allowed by international 
 courtesy: in August, 1868, the American 
 flag-ship, Franklin, went to Constanti- 
 nople on occasion of the complimentary 
 visit of Admiral Farragut: in October, 
 
 1868, the American frigate, Wabash, also 
 passed the Straits under the protests of the 
 ambassadors : in October, 1868, the British 
 ship of war, Gannet, 579 tons, was sent for 
 the visit of Sir Henry Bulwer, British 
 ambassador, to Kustendje— this act also 
 evoked a Kussian protest : in November, 
 
 1869, the Prussian ship of war. Bertha, 
 passed in consequence of a misunderstand- 
 ing arising from the supposition that she 
 was the King of Prussia's yacht. 
 
 Thus, in fourteen years, the only "in- 
 fractions " of the treaty were in the above 
 eight cases, all of which consisted in simple 
 acts of international courtesy. No doubt 
 it would have been better, as things turned 
 out, to have adhered strictly to the letter 
 of the treaties, as, indeed, was done in the 
 
 following cases : — 
 
 In January, 1862, three Turkish ships, 
 to complete Black Sea fleet, passed the 
 Bosphorus. The Russian complaint in 
 consequence was, however, afterwards ad- 
 mitted to be unfounded : in July, 1865, 
 the British ship, Racoon, was to have 
 passed under a firman granted for Prince 
 Alfred — the contemplated visit was, how- 
 ever, postponed: in August, 1867, the 
 French ship, Brandon, remained a few 
 days within the outer castles of the Darda- 
 nelles : in September, 1867, six Russian 
 corvettes passed the Straits, which were 
 said to be for the Black Sea fleet : in Au- 
 gust, 1868, Lord Stratford was conveyed in 
 the British steam-frigate, Guragoa, to the 
 Dardanelles ; but was there transferred to 
 the small despatch gun-boat, Caradoc : in 
 January, 1869, the British steam-frigate, 
 Ariadne, with the Prince and Princess of 
 Wales on board, passed the Dardanelles, 
 but not before the armament was removed 
 go as to form a yacht : in November, 1869, 
 the Italian iron-clad, Roma, had a firman 
 for Prince Amadeus — at first refused, but 
 ultimately granted. The prince, however, 
 did not avail himself of the permission, but 
 went up in his yacht. 
 
 As to the vessels which escorted the 
 Emperor Francis Joseph in October, 1869, 
 from Varna to Constantinople, none of 
 them could be called armed vessels of war. 
 The screw corvette, Heligoland, the Ari- 
 22 
 
 [A.D. 1870-71. 
 
 adne, which had left her guns at MalU 
 when the Prince and Princess of Wales 
 paid their visit to the Sultan, had been es- 
 pecially disarmed before entering the Dar- 
 danelles, in order that no question might 
 be raised as to her not coming under the 
 category of permitted vessels ; and though 
 when the Heligoland arrived at Constan- 
 tinople, General Ignatieff remarked to 
 Baron Prokesch as to her size, still on 
 learning that she had but two guns, he 
 made no further observation, and the ques- 
 tion was completely dropped. The vessels 
 in question were the corvette Heligoland, 
 with two guns, and 240 crew ; aviso Eliza- 
 beth, with two guns, and 164 crew ; trans- 
 port, Gargnano, seventy-two crew ; and the 
 paddle-wheel steamer Flume, with two 
 guns, and fifty-four crew, which was on 
 station at the mouth of the Danube. 
 
 It was on such trivial incidents as these 
 that Prince Gortschakoff based his asser- 
 tion that the Black Sea treaties had been 
 constantly infringed. Sir Henry Elliot, 
 however, saw from the first what use the 
 Russian ministers would make of these inci- 
 dents, and always deprecated the exceptional 
 permission which the Turkish government 
 had, as an act of courtesy, occasionally given 
 for the passage of the Straits by ships of 
 war conveying royal or distinguished visi- 
 tors ; and when he was directed to apply 
 for permission for the entrance of her ma- 
 jesty's ship, Ariadne, which was fitted as a 
 yacht for the Prince and Princess of Wales, 
 government scrupulously instructed him, 
 at the same time, to inform the Porte that, 
 in order to prevent there being any infrac- 
 tion of the rule, the whole of the ship's 
 guns had been left at Malta. Still it is to 
 be regretted that this example was not uni- 
 versally followed, and that other govern- 
 ments, by being less scrupulous, and caus- 
 ing armed ships of war to accompany their 
 sovereigns and princes, should have afforded 
 grounds for the pretensions of Russia. 
 But, although an undesirable irregularity, 
 such proceedings could not with any pro- 
 priety be cited as a serious derogation of 
 the principle upon which the rule for the 
 closing of the Straits was based, especially 
 as a heavy Russian frigate, the Alexander 
 Nevsky, had, upon two different occasions, 
 been permitted to enter the Black Sea, ou 
 the plea of the Grand Duke Alexis being 
 desirous of embarking at Odessa. And as 
 application for the permission was made by 
 the Russian ambassador, it is clear that he 
 
 A.D. 1870.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 Frussian objections. 
 
 deliberately put the Porte in the dilemma 
 of having either to appear discourteous by 
 refusing, or of violating the treaty by 
 acceding to his request. 
 
 Still, in spite of the shallowness of 
 Prince Gortschakoff's arguments, he stated, 
 in his letter to Baron Brunnow, accom- 
 panying his circular, "that, though the 
 treaty of Paris had undergone serious mo- 
 difications, still that which most impressed 
 Russia in respect of these modifications, 
 was not the appearance of factitious hos- 
 tility towards her by which they are cha- 
 racterised, nor the consequences which 
 might ensue to a great country from the 
 creation upon its frontiers of a small quasi 
 independent State — that is, Roumania; 
 but," he continued, "it is chiefly the 
 facility with which, scarcely ten years after 
 its conclusion, a solemn arrangement, 
 clothed with a European guarantee, has 
 been infringed both in letter and in spirit, 
 under the very eyes of the powers who 
 should have been its guardians. 
 
 " With such a precedent before us," he 
 added, " what value can Russia attach to 
 the efficacy of that arrangement, and to the 
 pledge of security which she believed she 
 had obtained in the principle of the neu- 
 tralisation of the Black Sea ? The balance 
 of power, established in the East by the 
 treaty of 1856, has, therefore, been dis- 
 turbed to the detriment of Russia. The 
 resolution adopted by our august master 
 has no other object than to restore it. The 
 government of her Britannic Majesty would 
 never consent to leave the security of their 
 shores to the mercy of an arrangement 
 which is no longer respected. They are 
 too equitable not to allow to us the same 
 duties and the same rights. 
 
 " But what we especially desire to es- 
 tablish is, that this decision implies no 
 change in the policy which his majesty the 
 emferor has pursued in the East.^^ 
 
 This was most true. The policy pur- 
 sued by Russia in the East was always one 
 of aggression. Finally, Prince Gortschakoff 
 wrote to Baron Brunnow :— - 
 
 " You have already had, on many occa- 
 sions, opportunities of discussing with the 
 cabinet of London the general views which 
 the two governments hold upon this im- 
 portant question. You have been able to 
 establish a conformity of principles and 
 interests, which we have learnt with great 
 satisfaction. 
 
 " We have drawn from it the conclusion 
 
 that, at present, it is neither from Enc^land 
 nor Russia that can arise the dano^ers wnich 
 may menace the Ottoman empire; that 
 the two cabinets have an equal desire to 
 maintain its existence as long as possible, 
 by allaying and by conciliating the differ- 
 ences between the Porte and the Christian 
 subjects of the Sultan; and that, in the 
 event of a decisive crisis presenting itself, 
 despite these efforts, both are equally re- 
 solved to seek for its solution in a general 
 agreement of the great European powers. 
 
 " We have not ceased to hold these views. 
 We believe that their perfect analogy ren- 
 ders possible a thorough understanding 
 between the government of her Britannic 
 Majesty and ourselves ; we attach the great- 
 est value to it, as the best guarantee for the 
 preservation of peace, and the balance of 
 power in Europe from dangers which may 
 result from complications in the East. 
 
 " By the order of his majesty the em- 
 peror, your excellency is authorised to re- 
 peat this assurance to Lord Granville. We 
 shall sincerely congratulate ourselves if the 
 frankness of these explanations may contri- 
 bute to that end, by removing every possi- 
 bility of misunderstanding between the 
 government of her Britannic Majesty and 
 ourselves. 
 
 " Receive, &c., 
 
 (Signed) " Gortschakoff." 
 
 To this despatch of Prince Gortschakoff's, 
 Lord Granville replied by saying, that the 
 assumption of a right to repudiate certain 
 clauses of a treaty, included the assumption 
 of a right to repudiate the whole treaty. 
 This statement of Lord Granville's was 
 wholly independent of the reasonableness 
 or unreasonableness, on its own merits, of 
 the desire of Russia to be released from the 
 observation of the stipulations of the treaty 
 of 1856 respecting the Black Sea. For the 
 question was, in whose hand lies the power 
 of releasing one or more of the parties from 
 all or any of these stipulations ? — whilst it 
 has always been held that that right belongs 
 only to the governments who have been 
 parties to the original instrument. He then 
 went on to say, that the despatches of 
 Prince Gortschakoff appeared to assume, 
 that any one of the powers who signed the 
 engagement might allege that occurrences 
 had taken place which, in its opinion, were 
 at variance with the provisions of the treaty; 
 and although this view was not shared nor 
 admitted by the co-signatory powers, might 
 
 23 
 
 *■• "j- 
 
Ill 
 
 i; 
 
 
 LOm GRAX^'ILLE'S REPLY.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1870. 
 
 found upon that allegation, not a request 
 to those governments for the consideration 
 of the case, but an announcement to them 
 that it has emancipated itself, or holds 
 itself emancipated, from any stipulations of 
 the treaty which it thinks fit to disapprove. 
 Yet it is quite evident that the effect of 
 Buch doctrine, and of any proceeding which, 
 with or without avowal, is founded upon it, 
 would be to bring the entire authority and 
 efficacy of treaties under the discretionary 
 control of each one of the powers who 
 might have signed them; the result of 
 which would be the entire destruction of 
 treaties in their essence. For whereas their 
 whole object is to bind powers to one 
 another, and for this purpose each one of 
 the parties surrenders a portion of its free 
 agency, yet, according to Prince Gortscha- 
 koff, one of the parties, in its separate and 
 individual capacity, might bring back the 
 entire subj ect into its own control, and remain 
 bound only to itself. This is what Prince 
 Gortschakoff did. He, it is true, announced 
 in his despatches the intention of Russia to 
 continue to observe certain of the provisions 
 of the treaty ; but, however satisfactory this 
 might have been in itself, it was obviously 
 an 'expression of the free will of that power, 
 which it might at any time alter or with- 
 draw ; and was thus open to the same ob- 
 jections as the other portions of the com- 
 munications, because it implied the right 
 of Russia to annul the treaty on the ground 
 of allegations of which she constituted her- 
 self the only judge. 
 
 The question therefore arose. Lord Gran- 
 ville contended, not whether any desire 
 expressed by Russia ought to be carefully 
 examined in a friendly spirit by the co- 
 signatory powers, but whether they were to 
 accept from her the announcement that, 
 by her own act, without any consent from 
 them, she had released herself from a 
 solemn covenant. If, instead of such a 
 declaration, the Russian government had 
 addressed the powers who were parties to 
 the treaty of 1856, and had proposed for 
 consideration with them whether anything 
 had occurred which could be held to amount 
 to an infraction of the treaty, or whether 
 there was anything in the terms which, 
 from altered circumstances, pressed with 
 undue severity upon Russia, or which, in 
 the course of events, had become unneces- 
 sary for the due protection of Turkey, they 
 would not have refused to examine the 
 question in concert with the co-signatories 
 24 
 
 to the treaty. Whatever might have been 
 the result of such communications, a risk 
 of future complications, and a very dan- 
 gerous precedent as to the validity of 
 international obligations, would have been 
 avoided. 
 
 To this reply of Lord Granville's, Prince 
 Gortschakoff answered by a deliberate false- 
 hood, as will appear from the following des- 
 patch, sent by Lord Granville to Sir A. 
 Buchanan : — 
 
 "Foreign Office, November 28, 1870. 
 « Sir, — Baron Brunnow read to me on the 
 25th instant, and gave me a copy of, the in- 
 closed despatch from Prince Gortschakofif, in 
 reply to my despatch to your excellency of 
 the 10th instant, on the subject of the de- 
 nunciation by Russia of the treaty arrange- 
 ments of 1856 for the neutralisation of the 
 
 Black Sea. 
 
 " On receiving it, I stated to bis excel- 
 lency that I could not make any observa- 
 tions on it without consulting my colleagues, 
 but that I should be glad to ask his 
 excellency a question as to a matter of 
 
 fact. 
 
 " In the despatch it was stated that 
 Russia would not have demanded anything 
 better than to arrive at the result by an 
 agreement with the powers who signed the 
 t?eaty of 1856, but that all the attempts 
 which had been made at different tinries to 
 assemble the powers in common delibera- 
 tions, in order to avert the causes of the 
 complications which disturb the general 
 peace, had constantly failed. I asked Baron 
 Brunnow whether he could tell me when 
 Russia had made any propositions to this 
 country for the revision of the treaty of 
 1856. His excellency answered, that Russia 
 had never done so; but that on certain 
 occasions, when certain contingencies were 
 discussed, he himself had stated, both to 
 Lord Malmesbury and to Lord Clarendon, 
 that if they were realised, Russia would 
 reserve to herself the right of calling in 
 question some of the provisions of the 
 treaty of 1856. 
 
 " I asked whether any of the events to 
 which he referred had come to pass. He 
 replied in the negative. He referred also 
 to proposals for congresses on European 
 matters not connected with Turkey. 
 
 "I then observed that this reply was 
 hardly an answer to my question ; upon 
 which his excellency said that he had no 
 authority to discuss the despatch with me ; 
 
 A.D. 1870.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [treaty of PARTSf. 
 
 that if I wanted explanations I should 
 address myself to your excellency. 
 
 " I observed, that surely when in a 
 despatch an appeal was made to my know- 
 ledge of a fact, I did nothing unusual in 
 asking the ambassador who brought me the 
 despatch to tell me what were the facts 
 alluded to. I added, 'Have you any ob- 
 jection to tell me whether, during the last 
 twelve years which yoa ha-ve passed in this 
 country, there has ever been any propo- 
 sition from Russia to Great Britain for 
 the revision of the treaty of 1856 ?' He 
 answered, * No.' I said, ' I may quote 
 this as your answer ?' To which he 
 answered in the affirmative, and added, that 
 if I wanted further explanations I must 
 address myself to your excellency. 
 
 " Granville." 
 
 This was plain, unmistakeable language ; 
 and on this the British government ought 
 to have taken their stand. If not prepared 
 to force Russia to observe the treaty of 
 Paris in its integrity, they ought to have 
 refused to be any party to its destruction, 
 and have allowed Russia to follow her own 
 course, under strong protest, and the reserval 
 of future action. Yet, on the very same 
 day, he sent another despatch to Sir An- 
 drew for communication to Prince Gorts- 
 chakoff; in which he stated, that "her 
 majesty's government had no objection to 
 accept the invitation which had been made 
 by Prussia to a conference, upon the under- 
 standing that it assembled without any fore- 
 gone conclusion as to its results. In such 
 case her majesty's government would be 
 glad to consider with perfect fairness, and 
 the respect due to a great and friendly 
 power, any proposals which Russia might 
 have to make." 
 
 With these words Lord Granville in- 
 scribed his name in the list of autologo- 
 phagi — the people who devour their own 
 words ; so that Prince Gortschakoff natu- 
 rally considered it unnecessary to reply to 
 the first despatch, which Lord Granville 
 swallowed when he wrote the second ; but, 
 having gained his point, set about pre- 
 paring the proposals he intended to submit 
 to the conference — one to set forth the 
 articles contained in the treaty of Paris, 
 which Russia had declared null and void. 
 
 These articles, as well as the stipulations 
 annexed to them, and forming an integral 
 part of them, run as follows : — 
 
 " Art. 1 1. The Black Sea is neutralised ; 
 
 its waters and its ports, thrown open to the 
 mercantile marine of every nation, are form- 
 ally and in perpetuity interdicted to the 
 flag of war, either of the powers possessing 
 its coasts, or of any other power, with the 
 exceptions mentioned in articles 14 and 
 19 of the present treaty. 
 
 "Art. 13. The Black Sea being neutral- 
 ised, according to the terms of Article 11, 
 the maintenance or establishment, upon its 
 coast, of military maritime arsenals becomes 
 alike unnecessary and purposeless ; in con- 
 sequence, his majesty the Emperor of all 
 the Russias, and his imperial majesty the 
 Sultan, engage not to establish or to main- 
 tain upon that coast any military maritime 
 arsenal. 
 
 "Art. 14. Their majesties the Emperor 
 of all the Russias and the Sultan, havinur 
 concluded a convention for the purpose of 
 settling the force and the number of light 
 vessels necessary for the service of their 
 coasts, which thev reserve to themselves to 
 maintain in the Black Sea, that convention 
 is annexed to the present treaty, and shall 
 have the same force and validity as if it 
 formed an integral part thereof. It cannot 
 be either annulled or modified without the 
 assent of the powers signing the present 
 treaty." 
 
 These are the articles of the treaty. The 
 stipulations as between the allies and the 
 Emperor of Russia, are contained in the 
 followingr two articles : — 
 
 " Art 1. The high contracting parties 
 mutually engage not to have in the Black 
 Sea anv other vessels of war than those of 
 which the number, the force, and the 
 dimensions are hereinafter stipulated. 
 
 "Art 2. The high contracting parties 
 reserve to themselves each to maintain in 
 that sea six steam-vessels of fifty metres in 
 length at the time of floatation, of a ton- 
 nage of 800 tons at the maximum, and four 
 light steam or sailing-vessels, of a tonnage 
 which shall not exceed 200 tons each." 
 
 Those between the Sultan and the Czar, 
 limiting their naval force in the Black Sea, 
 are also contained in two articles : — 
 
 " Art 2. The Sultan reserves to himself, 
 as in past times, to deliver firmans of pas- 
 sage for light vessels under flag of war, 
 which shall be employed, as is usual, in 
 the service of the missions of foreign 
 powers. 
 
 " Art 3. The same exception applies to 
 the light vessels under flag of war, which 
 each of the contracting powers is authorij>ed 
 
 25 
 
 \ 
 

 \\ 
 
 ODO ru&sell's despatch.] history OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1870. 
 
 \ 
 
 to station at the mouths of the Danube, 
 in order to secure the execution of the 
 regulations relative to the liberty of that 
 river, and the number of which is not to 
 exceed two for each power." 
 
 Now, it is highly characteristic of the 
 government of that day — Mr. Gladstone's 
 ministry — that instead of forming an in- 
 dependent judgment of their own on the 
 merits of the case, and determining to take 
 a decided line of their own, as became the 
 greatest and wealthiest power in the world, 
 they went pottering about Europe asking 
 other governments what they thought about 
 this terrible conduct of Russia. But what 
 they said to the other powers, and what the 
 other powers said to them, was very much 
 like the conversation between Mary Ann 
 and Betsy Jane, when they give vent to 
 their surprise in the exclamations, "Did 
 you ever ? No, I never ! " To no more 
 than this did the communications from the 
 Courts of Italy and Vienna amount to. 
 They were very sorry, indeed ; the conduct 
 of Russia was quite inexcusable ; but they 
 contented themselves with pointing out 
 how utterly unfounded were the complaints 
 of Russia, and that was all. There remained 
 Prince Bismarck, who was before Paris with 
 the besieging army. To him Mr. Odo Rus- 
 sell, of the embassy at Berlin, was sent with 
 the Russian circular and Lord Granville's 
 reply. He was received by Prince Bis- 
 marck on November 21, 1870; and, during 
 a three hours' conversation, he gathered from 
 the prince, that the Russian circular of 
 the 1 9th October had taken him by sur- 
 prise ; that while he had always held that 
 the treaty of 1856 pressed with undue 
 severity on Russia, he entirely disapproved 
 of the manner adopted, and the time 
 selected, by the Russian government to 
 force on a revision of that treaty; and 
 that, finally, he regretted that he could 
 neither interfere, nor answer the Russian 
 circular officially, in consequence of the 
 war ; but that, anxious as he was to prevent 
 the outbreak of another war, he would 
 strongly recommend conferences at Con- 
 stantinople before hostilities. 
 
 Having telegraphed these first results to 
 Lord Granville, Mr. Russell waited again 
 upon Count Bismarck, at ten o'clock p.m. 
 
 This second conversation lasted till past 
 midnight; and the chancellor, who had 
 meanwhile communicated telegraphically 
 with the Prussian minister at St. Peters- 
 burg, authorised Mr. Russell to telegraph 
 26 
 
 to London, that, if Lord Granville con- 
 sented, he would willingly take the initia- 
 tive of proposing a conference for the pur- 
 pose of endeavouring to find a pacific 
 solution to a question which Mr. Russell 
 frankly stated, was of a nature, in its 
 present state, to compel England, with or 
 without allies, to go to war with Russia. 
 
 At the same time. Count Bismarck, who 
 had ascertained Prince GortschakoflTs readi- 
 ness to receive the representatives of the 
 co-signatory powers, was in favour of hold- 
 ing the conference at St. Petersburg, as the 
 presence of the emperor to give imme- 
 diate sanction to the decisions of his repre- 
 sentatives, might be conducive to a more 
 rapid and satisfactory settlement of the 
 question than could be the case at Con- 
 stantinople, from whence a reference to 
 St. Petersburg would necessarily involve a 
 loss of many days. In case of a conference 
 being agreed on, he also desired Lord 
 Granville to communicate with, and invite 
 the co-operation of, the French govern- 
 ment. 
 
 The arguments used by Mr. Odo Russell, 
 in his interview with Count Bismarck, gave 
 great umbrage to certain parties in Eng- 
 land, find caused a demand for explanations 
 in the Houses of Parliament, which led to Mr. 
 Russell's giving a detailed account of his 
 arguments, and his reasons for using them. 
 His letter on this subject to Lord Granville 
 is so manly, and presents so strong a con- 
 trast to the rest of the diplomatic utter- 
 ances on the subject, that it will be read 
 with pleasure, and a regret that the con- 
 duct of the Foreign Office was not en- 
 trusted to him rather than to his amiable, 
 but timid chief. He wrote : — 
 
 " My Lord, — I see by the parliamentary . 
 reports in the Times of the 17th and 25th 
 instant, that a question has arisen in regard 
 to the argument used by me, and published 
 in the correspondence respecting the treaty 
 of 1856, p. 45, No. 76, of the 22nd No- 
 vember last, to the effect, that the 'ques- 
 tion raised by Prince Gortschakoff was of a 
 nature, in its present state, to compel us, 
 with or without allies, to go to war with 
 Russia.' 
 
 " As it may be convenient that I should 
 place on record, for future reference, the 
 reasons which induced me to use that argu- 
 ment, the responsibility of which must rest 
 on me, and on me alone, I have the honour 
 to state — 
 
 " 1st. That we are tound, bj the tri- 
 
 A.D. 1870.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [fresh disputes. 
 
 partite treaty of the 15th of April, 1856, 
 to consider any infraction of the treaty of 
 the 30th of March, 1856, as a casus bellL 
 
 " 2nd. That Prince GortschakoflTs notes 
 of October ^? and of ^I'^^^^.r ¥, assuming the 
 right to renounce the stipulations of that 
 treaty which directly touched her interests, 
 appeared to me to involve the assumption of 
 a right to renounce the whole of the treaty. 
 
 "3rd. That her majesty's government 
 had declared, on the 10th of November last, 
 that it was impossible, on their part, to give 
 any sanction to the course announced by 
 Prince Gortschakofif. 
 
 " 4th. That this renunciation bv Russia, 
 which her majesty's government could not 
 sanction, of a portion of the treaty of March 
 30th, 1856, opened a discussion which might 
 unsettle the cordial understanding between 
 the two governments, because it was of a 
 nature in its present state, that is, in the 
 state it was in on the 22nd of November 
 last, to compel us to go to war in virtue of 
 the tripartite treaty of the 15th of April, 
 1856, by which we had bound ourselves to 
 consider any infraction of the treaty of the 
 30th of March Russia was then renouncing, 
 as a casus belli. 
 
 " 5th. That France being then otherwise 
 engaged, and Austria unprepared, we might 
 be compelled to go to war with Russia, 
 even without our allies, having bound our- 
 selves, on the 15th of April, 1856, to gua- 
 rantee, jointly and severally, the stipulations 
 recorded in the treaty of the 30th March, 
 1856, threatened by the assumed right of 
 renunciation by Russia, which her ma- 
 jesty's government declined to sanction. 
 
 "6th. That not having been instructed 
 to state that the question I had been sent 
 to submit to the Prussian government was 
 not, in the opinion of her majesty's govern- 
 ment, of a nature to compel us ever to go 
 to war, notwithstanding our treaty engage- 
 ments, I used the arguments which I 
 believed in my conscience to be true. — Odo 
 Russell." 
 
 Lord Granville, however, and the Glad- 
 stone ministry, thought differently. Not 
 only did they refuse to support single- 
 handed the treaty ignored by Russia, but 
 they also refused to adopt even the dig- 
 nified course of abstaining from being any 
 parties to the abrogation of the treaty, and 
 thus retaining their liberty of action at a 
 future and more convenient date. On the 
 contrary, they at once acceded to Count 
 Bismarck's proposal for a conference, only 
 
 stipulating that it should be held in Lon- 
 don, and not in St. Petersburg. Lord 
 Granville, therefore, wrote to Count i^is- 
 marck, thanking him for his oflfer to invite 
 the powers to a conference, and begged 
 him immediately to do so. This Count 
 Bismarck did, with the exception of the 
 French government, the invitation to 
 which, on account of the war, he left to 
 Lord Granville to make. 
 
 This point was reached by December 1, 
 
 1870. From that date to January 17, 
 
 1871, the time was filled up by a series 
 of disputes, misunderstandings, and trivi- 
 alities, which are without a parallel in his- 
 tory. 
 
 When Lord Lyons communicated the 
 invitation to P>ance to take part in the 
 conference, to Count Chaudordy at Tours, 
 M. Chaudordy said that he had received 
 telegrams from various quarters, which left 
 no doubt upon his mind that the proposal 
 was essentially a Prussian proposal, and 
 would be, nay, had been, so presented to 
 Europe, and that he had already tele- 
 graphed to M. Tissot to ask Lord Granville 
 for explanations. The information, he 
 asserted, which he had received, however, 
 was too distinct to leave any doubt upon 
 his mind ; and he must confess that his own 
 view of the matter was entirely changed in 
 consequence. At first he had thought that 
 England had proposed the conference ; 
 and to a proposal emanating from Great 
 Britain, or any other neutral power, France 
 would have been disposed to give a ready 
 assent : but it was a very dififerent thing to 
 acquiesce in a measure brought forward by 
 an enemy, and by an enemy who was 
 waging war in France itself with unprece- 
 dented rigour. He did not see how France 
 could hold any proper position in a con- 
 ference thus held under Prussian auspices. 
 At any rate, he should have been unable to 
 give Lord Lyons the answer of the govern- 
 ment, as two members of it, M. Gambetta 
 and M. Cremieux, had been absent with 
 the army near Orleans, and had only just 
 returned. He would, however, bring the 
 matter before them in the afternoon. 
 
 To this Lord Lyons replied by beseech- 
 ing M. de Chaudordy not to allow his own 
 judgment, or that of the government, to be 
 warped by the connection of Prussia with 
 the proposal they had to consider ; for it 
 was clear that it would be for the advan- 
 tage of France that the conference should 
 meet, and that she should be represented 
 
 27 
 
 ^^ I 
 
 '/I 
 
tfl 
 
 FRENCH OBJECTIONS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1870. 
 
 ■^^■ 
 
 in it; and it would be greatly regretted 
 if the government should be guided by an 
 exaggerated sensitiveness on what was 
 really little more than a matter of punc- 
 tilio. 
 
 Hereupon, M. de Chaudordy said that, if 
 the proposal had originated with England, 
 or with any neutral, he should have felt 
 sure that the government would have un- 
 hesitatingly accepted it. As it was, he 
 could not undertake to give any opinion as 
 to what the answer might be. 
 
 The next day, M. de Chaudordy in- 
 formed Lord Lyons that the government 
 delegation at Tours would have been glad 
 to send a representative to the conference, 
 had it not been so entirely a Prussian pro- 
 posal ; and that it could not be expected 
 that France should agree to any proposal of 
 such a nature from a power which was 
 overwhelming her with war in its severest 
 ehape, and conducted with an unheard-of 
 rigour. To this Lord Lyons replied by 
 pointing out, that the part played by Prus- 
 sia in bringing the conference about, 
 might be held to be of importance enough 
 to*afford France a pretext for hesitating 
 to join the conference, if she desired to 
 find a pretext for hesitation ; but that was 
 a great exaggeration of the real facts of 
 the case to call the proposal an entirely 
 Prussian proposal. It was, he said, on the 
 contrary, in fact, much more an English 
 proposal; and it was from him. Lord 
 Lyons, that he had received the first in- 
 formation of the Russian circular. 
 
 Still further. Lord Lyons also pointed 
 out, that what Prussia had proposed was 
 a conference to be held at St, Petersburg, 
 without any special conditions. This pro- 
 posal her majesty's government had re- 
 jected, and made a proposal of their own, 
 in which it was expressly stated that the 
 conference was not to be held at St. Peters- 
 burg, and in which certain preliminary 
 conditions were laid down as indispensable. 
 It was thus not to the Prussian proposal, 
 but to the English proposal that the French 
 government was asked to consent. 
 
 Count Chaudordy, however, refused to 
 accept this view of the situation, and in- 
 sisted, that, setting all other arguments 
 aside, he would have to refer the question 
 to the government at Paris. He engaged, 
 however, to state the case calmly and fairly 
 to Jules Favre, and to give the proposal 
 his own personal support. 
 
 Count Chaudordy's object was, of course, 
 28 
 
 to induce the Prussian authorities to agree 
 to an armistice, pending the duration of 
 the conference. This would naturally have 
 entailed the permission for the authorities 
 in Paris to obtain provisions — a circum- 
 stance which no military commander could 
 allow as possible; and it might have been 
 plainly foreseen that there was not the re- 
 motest chance of Count Moltke consenting 
 to the proposal. 
 
 Still, in spite of this very self-evident 
 proposition. Count Chaudordy informed 
 Lord Lyons, on December 8th, that he had 
 received a letter from M. Jules Favre, 
 which did not convey the formal answer of 
 the government at Paris to the proposal 
 to France to join in a conference on the 
 Russian question, but which expressed the 
 feelings with which the proposal was re- 
 garded by that government. 
 
 It appeared, M. de Chaudordy said, to 
 be considered sad and incongruous that a 
 French plenipotentiary should be sent to 
 London to talk about the Black Sea, while 
 France itself was suffering the utmost 
 rigour of war at the hands of the Prussians. 
 As England had, at the request of Prussia, 
 invited France to the conference, the 
 government at Paris conceived that her 
 majesty's government had undoubtedly the 
 right to insist upon such concessions being 
 made by Prussia as would render it pos- 
 sible for France to send a plenipotentiary 
 to the conference, and to appear at it with 
 dignity and decorum. For this purpose it 
 would be necessary that the government of 
 national defence should have the means of 
 convoking a national assembly, and of de- 
 liberating with some calmness. They, ac- 
 cordingly, once more earnestly requested 
 her majesty's government to use every 
 effort to obtain for France an armistice 
 on reasonable conditions, which n ust, of 
 course, include the revictualling of Paris 
 for the time the suspension of hostilities 
 continued. These arguments were accom- 
 panied by the naive observation, that it 
 would surely be shocking to all Christian 
 feeling, that the season of Christmas and 
 the new year should be desecrated by the 
 continuance of such hostilities as were then 
 being carried on in France ; that, in fact, 
 the operations of the enemy's armies should 
 be suspended, in order to let the French 
 people in Paris enjoy their Christmas 
 dinners in comfort and security, and un- 
 disturbed by inconsiderate shells and can- 
 non-balls. 
 
 A.D-. 1870.J 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the safe-conduct. 
 
 With these, and similar arguments, much was asked to inform his government that 
 
 time and money, in the shape of lengthy 
 telegrams and wordy despatches, were con- 
 sumed till the 14th December, when Lord 
 Granville telegraphed to Lord Lyons, 
 asking for a definite reply from the French 
 government. Count Chaudordy, however, 
 said, that, as matters stood, it was impos- 
 sible for him to give any definitive answer 
 on the part of the French government. 
 He must, he said, wait for instructions from 
 the government at Paris, to whom the in- 
 vitation had been referred. He expected 
 to receive those instructions by the first 
 opportunity; he thought it, indeed, not 
 improbable that they might be in a balloon 
 which was reported to have come down at 
 Honfleur ; and promised to let Lord Lyons 
 know the instant he received the orders of 
 the Paris government. At the same time, 
 however, he said that he was empowered to 
 gay that, under certain conditions, the dele- 
 gation at Bordeaux would have no hesita- 
 tion in accepting at once, on behalf of the 
 whole government, the invitation to the 
 conference, if her majesty's government 
 would obtain for France an armistice, on 
 the basis of a proportionate revictualling 
 of Paris, and thus facilitate the convoca- 
 tion of a national assembly ; or, if her 
 majesty's government would give the 
 French government an assurance that the 
 questions between France and Prussia 
 should be treated in the conference. On 
 either of these conditions the delegation at 
 Bordeaux would be warranted in declaring 
 immediately the assent of France. In the 
 meantime, however, the long-expected 
 balloon came to earth, and brought with it 
 a reply from the Paris government, signify- 
 ing its readiness to send a representative to 
 the approaching conference. This fact was 
 at once communicated to Earl Granville, 
 who thereupon communicated with Count 
 BernstorfF, the Prussian ambassador, and 
 bagged him to apply to the German head- 
 quarters at Versailles for a safe-conduct 
 for the French envoy to pass through the 
 German lines. Three days later, on Decem- 
 ber 23rd, Earl Granville issued the invita- 
 tions for the conference, fixing January 3rd, 
 1871, for the day of meeting at the 
 Foreign Office. These invitations were ac- 
 cepted, on behalf of their various govern-^, 
 ments, by Baron Brunnow, Musurus Pasha, 
 Count Bernstorfi^, Count Apponyi, and the 
 Chevalier Cadoma. At the same time, the 
 French representative in London, M. Tissot, 
 
 VOL. m. y 
 
 the day had been appointed for the meet- 
 ing, and to ask them to name their deputy 
 as speedily as possible. The reply of the 
 French government was received on De- 
 cember 27th, to the effect that thev ac- 
 cepted the invitation, and that M. Jules 
 Favre would represent France at the con- 
 ference. But, at the same time. Count 
 Chaudordy added, that it would be desir- 
 able, in order to avoid delay, that notice 
 should be given at Paris by the Prussian 
 head-quarters, that the safe-conducts were 
 granted, and a day specified on which they 
 miLrht be used. 
 
 Now, to ordinary minds, there would 
 have appeared to be no difficulties in the 
 way of M. Favre's journey to London. 
 But the diplomatic and military mind 
 differs very essentially from the ordinary 
 mind. There was to be no difficulty about 
 granting the safe-conduct ; but the diffi- 
 culty was as to how Jules Favre should be 
 placed in possession of it ; for Count Bern- 
 stortf informed Earl Granville, that 
 though Count Bismarck was prepared to 
 grant the safe-conduct, and that it was, 
 in fact, already drawn up, and awaiting M. 
 Jules Favre at the German head-quarters, 
 yet M. Favre must send a flag of truce to 
 the commander-in-chief of the besieging 
 army, to apply for it, as the Prussians 
 were determined to send no more flagfs of 
 truce into Paris until they had received 
 satisfaction for the firing on the one last 
 sent. 
 
 This was a terrible contretemps! The 
 Prussians would not send an officer into 
 Paris, and Jules Favre would not send a 
 flaof of truce to Versailles. There was the 
 safe-conduct all right, but nobody to take 
 it or to fetch it. Two mighty nations, like 
 Germany and France, were so intent upon 
 squabbling as to remind one irresistibly of 
 two school-boys, of whom one has knocked 
 off the other's cap into the middle of the 
 street, the owner refusing to pick it up, 
 rather preferring to risk losing it ; whilst 
 the other, equally determined, preferred 
 risking punishment for being the cause of 
 the loss. The apple-woman at the corner, 
 however — in this case Lord Granville — 
 endeavoured to reconcile the squabblers. 
 ^'tHe wrote a despatch to M. Tissot, saying, 
 with reference to the suggestion which M. 
 Tissot had made him privately, to the 
 effect that he should endeavour to obtain 
 permission for the government of the delq- 
 
 29 
 
1 p 
 
 I 
 
 THE SAFE-CONDUCT.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1871. 
 
 gation to send a French offioer through the 
 German lines, to inform M. Favre that he 
 would obUin a safe-conduct at the German 
 head-quarters to come to London, that he 
 had mentioned the suggestion to Count 
 Bernstorif, but that his excellency thought 
 it extremely unlikely that such a permis- 
 sion would be given, and alluded to the 
 public announcement of a postal service 
 to Paris. He then asked Count Bernstortt 
 whether it would not be possible to send a 
 French officer, a prisoner on parole, to give 
 the information to M. Favre, and at the 
 same time inquired of Count Bernstorif, in 
 writing, whether he saw objection to his 
 sending the information in Mr. Morans 
 bag to Mr. Washbume, the American am- 
 bassador at Paris. 
 
 To this Count Bernstorff made no objec- 
 tion, but informed Earl Granville that 
 such had already been done in this way 
 from Versailles. Consequently Earl Gran- 
 ville wrote to M. Favre, through Mr. 
 Washbume, the following letter, which was 
 so explicit as to leave no doubt upon any 
 reasonable mind as to the state of affairs :— 
 
 "Foreign Office, December 29, 1870. 
 « M. le Ministre,— M. Chaudordy having 
 informed Lord Lyons that your excellency 
 proposed to represent France in the con- 
 ference agreed to be held in London 
 respecting the neutralisation of the Black 
 Sea, and having asked me to obtain a safe- 
 conduct for your excellency through the 
 Prussian lines, I lost no time in requesting 
 Count Bernstorff to apply for one, and 
 send it to your excellency by a German 
 officer with a flag of truce. 
 
 " M. de Bernstorff answered me the next 
 day, saying that a safe-conduct would be 
 at your excellency's disposal as soon as it 
 was asked for by an officer sent from Paris 
 to the German, head-quarters, but that it 
 could not be sent by a German officer 
 until satisfaction was given for the officer 
 bearing a flag of truce, who had been fired 
 upon by the French. 
 
 "I have been informed by M. Tissot 
 that great delay may occur before your 
 excellency obtains the information from 
 the delegation at Bordeaux ; and although I 
 have suggested to Count Bernstorff another 
 means of conveying it, I think it well to 
 avail myself of the opportunity which the 
 American chargS d'affaires has been good 
 enough to consent to, in order to tell you 
 what has passed. 
 SO 
 
 " It was intended to hold the conference 
 this week ; but, in order to give time to the 
 French plenipotentiary to arrive, the day 
 of meeting was settled for the 3rd of 
 January. I hope your excellency will 
 authorise M. Tissot to represent you at the 
 first sitting, when I shall propose that 
 nothing but the question of form be con- 
 sidered ; and if, as I much desire, your 
 excellency is able to announce your arrival, 
 I will propose to adjourn the conference 
 for a week in order to obtain the great 
 advantage of your excellency's presence. 
 
 " I trust that your excellency will allow 
 me to take this opportunity of expressing 
 my satisfaction at entering into personal 
 communication with you, and the pleasure 
 I shall feel in seeing you in London. 
 
 « Granville." 
 
 This letter, as well as one written by 
 Count Bismarck, saying that a safe-conduct 
 from the commander-in-chief of the third 
 army was awaiting him, was handed to 
 Jules Favre by Mr. Washbume. But be- 
 fore M. Favre had received Lord Granville's 
 communication, he said to Mr. Washbume, 
 that he knew nothing at all about any 
 conference, and did not intend to leave 
 Paris at all; and certainly not in conse- 
 quence of any communication from or 
 through Count Bismarck, as he could not 
 pretend to fathom Count Bismarck's 
 motive. The consequence of this misun- 
 derstanding — if misunderstanding it was — 
 and the delav in M. Favre's receipt of Earl 
 Granville's letter, was, that Earl Granville 
 postponed the meeting of the conference 
 from January 3 to January 17, in order to 
 afford the French government another 
 opportunity of sending a representative. 
 
 Still, in spite of all this, matters did not 
 progress. Despatch upon despatch was 
 written, but with no further result than 
 that on January 18. Jules Favre wrote to 
 Count Bismarck for a safe-conduct for his 
 familv and relations ; adding, that " he had 
 not the right to ask for one for himself. 
 Under thesecircumstances,and resolved that 
 he would not be played with any longer, 
 nor suffer the conference to be any longer 
 delayed, Count Bismarck refused, on 
 January 19, to grant M. Jules Favre the 
 safe-conduct which had been waiting for 
 him since December 28. 
 
 It was, therefore, useless to waste any 
 
 more time, and on January 17, the confer- 
 
 |ence held its first sitting, the. plenipoten- 
 
 / 
 
 A.D. 1871.] 
 
 EUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the conference. 
 
 tiaries being Lord Granville, Count Ap- 
 ponyi for Austria, Count Bernstoff for 
 North Germany, Chevalier Cadorna for 
 Italy, Baron Brunnow for Kussia, and 
 Musurus Pasha for Turkey. 
 
 The result of this first meeting was the 
 establishment of the principle, that no 
 treaty can be abrogated except with the 
 consent of the contracting parties ; and, 
 on the proposal of Earl Granville, the fol- 
 lowing protocol was signed : — 
 
 "The plenipotentiaries of North Ger- 
 many, of Austria-Hungary, of Great Britain, 
 of Italy, of Russia, and of Turkey, assem- 
 bled to-day in conference, recognise that it 
 is an essential principle of the law of na- 
 tions that no power can liberate itself from 
 the engagements of a treaty, nor modify 
 the stipulations thereof, unless with the 
 consent of the contracting powers, by means 
 of an amicable arrangement. 
 
 "In faith of which the said plenipo- 
 tentiaries have signed the present protocol. 
 "Done at London, the 17th January, 
 1871." Here follow the signatures. 
 
 This principle having thus been sub- 
 scribed to with much solemnity, and placed 
 on record, as it were, as a silent protest 
 against Lord Derby's principles of 1867, 
 Baron Brunnow recapitulated the circum- 
 stances and facts which, since the signature 
 of the treaty concluded at Paris on the ^§th 
 March, 1856, had induced the powers who 
 signed it to give their assent to different 
 modifications which had contributed to 
 alter in part the letter of the original 
 stipulations. He instanced specially the 
 precedent of the conferences held at dif- 
 ferent periods at Paris, and cited the de- 
 cisions adopted by general agreement, with 
 the view of modifying the government of 
 the principalities of Moldavia and Wal- 
 lachia — an alteration which received the 
 sanction of the Sublime Porte, as well as 
 the assent of the other contracting- powers, 
 and affirmed that these deviations from the 
 treaty had exercised no influence on the firm 
 intention of the emperor to maintain intact 
 the general principles of the treaty of 1856, 
 which defined the position of Turkey in the 
 system of Europe. 
 
 After having explained the views of the 
 Czar on this subject, he pointed out how 
 much the situation of Europe then differed 
 from that which existed at the time of the 
 congress of Paris; and taking into con- 
 sideration the changes gradually produced 
 by the course of time, expressed an opinion 
 
 that it would be an act of prudent and wi.«e 
 policy to submit the stipulations of 1856, 
 relative to the navigation of the Black Sea' 
 to a complete revision.; for these stipu- 
 lations, suggested at another period under 
 the influence of conjunctures entirely dif- 
 ferent from the situation under considera- 
 tion, were no longer in harmony with 
 the relations of good neighbourhood which ' 
 still existed between the two riverain 
 powers. 
 
 Hereupon Musurus Pasha made a few 
 observations, accepting, in principle, the 
 proposal to revise the stipulations, and pro- 
 posed the adjournment of the conference, to 
 enable him to have time to consider the 
 proposal of the Russian Court. This was 
 agreed to ; and on January 24, the confer- 
 ence met again, with, however, no further 
 result than that it was agreed that, at the 
 next sitting, Baron Brunnow should submit 
 to the conference a draft of the articles it 
 was proposed should be substituted for 
 those in the treaty of Paris on the same 
 subject. This draft, read in the third 
 sitting on February 3, was conceived as 
 follows : — 
 
 " Art. 1. The principle of the closing of 
 the Straits of the Bosphorus and the Dar- 
 danelles in time of peace, invariably esta- 
 blished as the ancient rule of the Ottoman 
 empire, and confirmed by the treaty of 
 Paris of March 30, 1856, remains in full 
 force. 
 
 " Art. 2. His imperial majesty the Sul- 
 tan, by virtue of the right of sovereignty 
 which he exercises over the Straits of the 
 Bosphorus and the Dardanelles, reserves to 
 himself, in time of peace, the power of open- 
 ing them by way of temporary exception, 
 in case only that the interests of the 
 security of his empire should cause him to 
 recognise the necessity of the presence of 
 the vessels of war of the non-riverain 
 powers. 
 
 " Art. 3. It is agreed that the stipulation 
 contained in the preceding article shall, for 
 the future, replace those of Articles 11, 13, 
 and 14, of the treaty of Paris of March 30, 
 1856, as well as the special convention 
 concluded between the Sublime Porte * 
 and Russia, and annexed to the said Ar- 
 ticle 14. 
 
 " Art. 4. The high contracting parties 
 renew and confirm all the stipulations of 
 the treaty of March 30, 1856, as well as of 
 its annexes which are not annulled or 
 modified by the present treaty.'* 
 
 31 
 
 !•' 
 
TRKATY OF LON'DOX.] 
 
 HISTORY OK THE 
 
 [a.d. 1871. 
 
 Ik 
 
 These articles Musurus Pasha declared 
 himself ready to accept, on condition that 
 the word?, " friendly powers " should^ be 
 substituted for " non-riverain powers " in 
 Article 2. This amendment of Musurus 
 Pasha's was generally objected to, his asser- 
 tion, that it was a diminution of the Sultan's 
 rights, and offensive to Kussia, being dis- 
 posed of by Karl Granville— that in the 
 first instance the contrary was the case, and 
 that in the second, the objection fell to the 
 ground as soon as the Russian government 
 approved of the wording. No agreement 
 was, however, come to until the last sitting, 
 when Chevalier Cadorna proposed that the 
 article should be framed as follows :— 
 
 "The principle of the closing of the 
 Straits of the Dardanelles and the Bos- 
 phorus, such as it has been established by 
 the separate treaty of March 30, 1856, is 
 maintained, with power to his imperial 
 majesty the Sultan to open the said Straits 
 in "time of peace to the fleets of the friendly 
 and allitd powers, in the event that the 
 execution of the stipulations of the treaty 
 of Paris of March 30, 1856, should require 
 
 it." 
 
 This amended form was generally agreed 
 to, and on May 15, 1871, the treaty was 
 duly ratified in the following form :— 
 
 « IN THE NAME OF ALMIGHTY GOD. 
 
 " Her majesty the Queen of Great Britain 
 and Ireland, &c. ; his majesty the Emperor 
 of Germany, &c. ; his majesty the Emperor 
 of Austria, &c. ; the chief of the executive 
 of the French Republic, the Due de Broglie, 
 &c. ;* his majesty the King of Italy, &c. ; 
 his majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, 
 <Scc., and his majesty the Emperor of the Ot- 
 tomans, &c.,have agreed upon the following 
 
 Hrticles « — "■ 
 
 "Art. 1. Articles 11, 13, and 14 of the 
 treaty of Paris of March 30, 1856, as well 
 as the special convention concluded be- 
 tween Russia and the Sublime Porte, and 
 annexed to the said Article 14, are abro- 
 gated, and replaced by the following article. 
 
 " Art. 2. The principle of the closing 
 of the Straits of the Dardanelles and the 
 Bosphorus, such as it has been established 
 by the separate convention of March 30, 
 1856, is maintained, with power to his 
 imperial majesty the Sultan to open the 
 said Straits, in time of peace, to the vessels 
 of war of friendly and allied powers, in case 
 
 ♦ The Duke de Broglie attended the conference 
 after the capitulation of Paris. 
 32 
 
 the Sublime Porte should judge it neces- 
 sary in order to secure the execution of the 
 stipulations of the treaty of Paris of March 
 
 30, 1856. 
 
 " Art. 3. The Black Sea remains open, 
 as heretofore, to the mercantile marine of 
 all nations. 
 
 " Art. 4. The commission established by 
 Article 16 of the treaty of Paris, in which 
 the powers who joined in signing the treaty 
 are each represented by a delegate, and 
 which was charged with the designation and 
 execution of the works necessary below 
 Isaktcha, to clear the mouths of the Danube, 
 as well as the neighbouring parts of the 
 Black Sea, from the sands and other im- 
 pediments which obstruct them, in order to 
 put that part of the river and the said parts 
 of the sea in the best state for navigation, is 
 maintained in its present composition. 
 The duration of that commission is fixed 
 for a further period of twelve years, count- 
 ing from April 24, 1871 ; that is to say, till 
 April 24, 1883, being the term of the re- 
 demption of the loan contracted by that 
 commission, under the guarantee of Great 
 Britain, Germany, Austria-Hungary,France, 
 
 Italy, and Turkey. 
 
 "Art. 5. The conditions of the re-as- 
 sembling of the riverain commission, estab- 
 lished by Articles 17 of the treaty of Paris 
 of March 30th, 1856, shall be fixed by a 
 previous understanding between the river- 
 ain powers, without prejudice to the clause 
 relative to the three Danubian principali- 
 ties ; and in so far as any modification of 
 Article 17 of the said treaty may be involved, 
 this latter shall form the subject of a 
 special convention between the co-signatory 
 powers. 
 
 " Art. 6. As the powers which possess 
 the shores of that part of the Danube 
 where the cataracts and the iron gates offer 
 impediments to navigation, reserve to 
 themselves to come to an understanding 
 with the view of removing those impedi- 
 ments, the high contracting parties recog- 
 nise, from the present moment, their 
 right to levy a provisional tax on vessels 
 of commerce of every flag which may 
 henceforth benefit thereby, until the ex-r 
 tinction of the debt contracted for the ex- 
 ecution of the works ; and they declare 
 Article 16 of the treaty of Paris of 1856, 
 to be inapplicable to that part of the river 
 for a space of time necessary for the repay- 
 ment of the debt in question. 
 
 "Art. 7. All the works and establish-i 
 
 I.D. 1871.] 
 
 ments of every kind created by the Euro- 
 pean commission in execution of the treaty 
 of Paris of 1856, or of the present treaty, 
 siiall continue to enjoy the same neutrality 
 which has hitherto protected them, and 
 w^hich shall be equally respected for the 
 future, under all circumstances, by the 
 high contracting parties. The benefits of 
 the immunities which result therefrom, 
 shall extend to the whole administrative 
 and engineering staff" of the commission. 
 It is, however, well understood, that the 
 provisions of this article shall in no way 
 aff'ect the right of the Sublime Porte to 
 send, as heretofore, its vessels of war into 
 the Danube in its character of territorial 
 power." 
 
 Such were the terms of the treaty of 
 London, which was the first step towards the 
 abandonment of all the results gained by the 
 Crimean war. It was not what was actually 
 ceded to Russia that was of such importance. 
 It was the unworthy concession of prin- 
 ciple involved that was of most import- 
 ance. It was even worse than unworthy ; 
 it was a blunder. It acknowledged the 
 right of one power to claim the privilege of 
 refusing to be bound any longer by the 
 terms of a treaty imposed upon it ; it fol- 
 lowed up the contemptible declaration of 
 Lord Stanley in 1867, and confirmed the 
 new theory, that treaties only confer privi- 
 leges, but do not entail duties ; and, finally, 
 it was as senseless in its provisions as it 
 was opposed to all international law. For 
 the abrogation of the neutralisation of the 
 Black Sea had no value at all for the Rus- 
 sians as long as the Dardanelles and Bos- 
 phorus were not under their control. 
 True, they might build ship upon ship in 
 the Euxine, build fortress upon fortress, 
 and arsenal upon arsenal ; but all that 
 would be useless to them as long as the 
 entrance and egress to and from the sea 
 was barred to them. A desire, therefore, 
 to abolish the neutralisation of the Euxine 
 could only proceed from two motives — a 
 wish to be free to attack Turkey on her 
 sea-coast, and to secure an outlet for her 
 vessels into the Mediterranean. There was 
 no other motive. But both of these desires 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [faults of the treaty. 
 
 were in direct opposition, not only to the 
 letter, but also to the spirit of the treaty 
 of Paris ; and had Earl Granville and the 
 British cabinet been but actuated by the 
 commonest sentiment of national honesty 
 and patriotism, they would have taken 
 their stand upon this view ; and if they 
 could not have obtained the adhesion of the 
 rest of the powers, they would have sum- 
 marily closed the conference, and have re- 
 served their rights, if not prepared to act 
 upon them. As it was, the conference of 
 1871 can only be compared to a penny- 
 gaff meeting of stealers and concealers. 
 
 Under these circumstances it almost 
 looks like triviality to direct attention to 
 the terms of this London treaty of 1871. 
 After the equivocations which had preceded 
 it, what value can be attached to any 
 treaty ? It would be far better, far more 
 practical, and far more honourable, to do 
 away with treaties altogether, and, taking 
 a page out of the history of the middle 
 ages, only enter into truces of a certain 
 duration, as Richard Lion-heart and Sala- 
 din were in the habit of doing. 
 
 Still, as a matter of abstract interest, it 
 may be pointed out that, as the great ar- 
 gument for the revision of the treaty of 
 Paris was based on the length of time 
 which had elapsed ; that, as the treaty of 
 Paris had been re-affirmed in all its pro- 
 visions, except in the articles modified by 
 the conference ; and that, as it was gene- 
 rally agreed that such modifications were 
 
 all that was necessary to secure peace 
 
 having regard to all this, solemnly re- 
 asserted, " in the name of Almighty God" 
 
 it was, at any rate, to be supposed that the 
 question would not be re-opened for some 
 time to come. And, be it noted, the 
 stipulations touching the Danube were 
 altered on this basis, so as to remove all 
 cause of disagreement, and the neutrality 
 of that river solemnly re-guaranteed by all 
 the contracting powers. What the value 
 of this guarantee was, events began rapidly 
 to demonstrate during a course of agita- 
 tion and intrigue, in Turkey in Europe and 
 Asia, that is without a parallel in history, 
 ancient or modern, 
 
 33 
 
 I 
 
 I: 
 
 i- 
 
 \ 
 
:4 
 
 I* 
 
 INTRIOUES IN ASIA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1871. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 TJNDBRMININO THE PORTE. 
 
 Before entering into the relations between 
 Russia and the Porte, it is necessary to state 
 that the governmental and administrative 
 abuses which have characterised the rule of 
 the Turkish empire have been partly grossly 
 exaggerated, partly grossly under-stated ; 
 and have been due, in ninety-seven cases 
 out of a hundred, not to Moslem fanaticism, 
 but to Christian intolerance ; not to Turkish 
 vice, but to Christian viciousness; not to 
 Oriental luxury, but to Christian de- 
 bauchery ; and not to Asiatic extravagance, 
 but to European usury. It is not the 
 Moslem and the Turk who are the curse of 
 one of the fairest countries in the world, but 
 it is the gross Hebrew, the bastard Greek, 
 the corrupt Armenian, and the brutish 
 Circassian, who have been the cause of 
 ninety-seven hundredths of the misery 
 which has turned a garden into a desert. 
 
 This is universally acknowledged by 
 every one at all conversant with the real 
 state of affairs in the East ; by everybody 
 who has had personal experience of these 
 countries, and by every student whose 
 interests, incapacity, or partisanship have 
 not led him into the opposite view. 
 
 In saying this, all is said that can be 
 said against the Turkish government. It 
 is a government of intolerance, viciousness, 
 debauchery, and usury, administered by 
 gross Hebrews, bastard Greeks, corrupt 
 Armenians, and brutish Circassians — the 
 sweepings of the modern world piled up on 
 the garbage of the old. 
 
 This is classical language. It has been 
 adopted in reference to the government of 
 Turkey repeatedly and repeatedly at vari- 
 ous periods, by such literary authorities as 
 Mr. Gladstone, Thomas Carlyle, Mr. Free- 
 man, and other litterateurs ; and as such it 
 is worthy of being focussed into a few lines 
 — all the more so as it is perfectly well 
 founded, and true in all particulars. 
 
 Yet these authorities proposed to remedy 
 this state of affairs by abolishing the Turks ; 
 by taking away the dagger, but leaving the 
 assassin scot-free to choose another weapon. 
 
 But as this retrograde section of the 
 human species are convinced that all men 
 34 
 
 are liars who presume to think the Turk 
 better than Greek, Slav, and Armenian, and 
 hold that the Moslem is more worthy than 
 the Eastern Christian, it may as well be 
 stated at the outset, that it has been en- 
 deavoured, in the following pages, to secure 
 that maximum of accuracy which the 
 amount of veracity still existing amongst 
 the consuls and ambassadors of Great 
 Britain has allowed of. Every fact, there- 
 fore, in thispresent chapter is substantiated 
 on the best authority obtainable ; and it 
 will be most convenient to group these facts 
 according to the districts they refer to. 
 The commencement may be made with 
 Asia Minor. 
 
 Thus, in December, 1870, whilst the 
 negotiations for the conference on the 
 revision of the treaty of Paris were ap- 
 proaching their conclusion, a force of 
 between 30,000 and 40,000 Russians (and 
 according to some accounts 60,000) were 
 being massed at Akhaltzik and Erivan, 
 two points at a short distance only from the 
 Turkish frontier, near Ardahan and Bayazid 
 in Turkey, the least defensible on that line 
 since Kars had been in some degree forti- 
 fied. At the same time the Russians had, 
 by degrees, been drawing large supplies of 
 grain from Shuragel and the rich country 
 about Kars, in such quantities as to raise 
 the price of cereals considerably in those 
 quarters. 
 
 The object of this concentration can 
 scarcely admit of a doubt. It was to be in 
 readiness to commence hostilities in ca^^e 
 the conference should result unfavourably 
 to Russia. But all doubt disappears when 
 it is known that the frontier Kurdish and 
 other tribes, together with the Armenian 
 population, were in a worse state, as retrards 
 Turkey, than they were even in 1869. Their 
 relations towards Russia were more intimate, 
 their discontent to wards thelocal government 
 more intense, from causes arising during the 
 weak, inefficient administration of the 
 then Vali, Mustafa Pai?ha, who, unfor- 
 tunately, was powerfully supported by the 
 Turkish minister of war ; and fanatical, 
 ignorant, and obstinate, united in his per- 
 
 t 
 
 Kl 
 
( 
 
 \ IS 
 
 ) . 
 
 ?l 
 
 ''% 
 
 ."^Sf-" 
 
 ITV; 
 
 '*'^4w»" 
 
 \< 
 
 M 
 
 ^ 
 
 A SI 
 
 \ 
 
 ■^■^^^V*) 
 
 -^^, 
 
 ao 
 
 3r8 
 
 -i2 
 
 ^_ 
 
 ■ ? 
 
 B 
 
 A- 
 
 'I,?"* 
 
 ^ft^rn-. 
 
 }CSutak 
 
 'V 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^.^v 
 
 \ 
 
 
 <$* 
 
 <-,- 
 
 :^" 
 
 Aari« 
 
 .\ 
 
 
 >" 
 
 c^ .<^^.^^ 
 
 Airuula. 
 
 CONS TAW rij» 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 Vi 
 
 O/., 
 
 .^. 
 
 E ^ 
 
 
 Alii 
 
 H'^. 
 
 O^S'e 
 
 J!r<» 
 
 .'-MM 
 
 V'*' 
 
 
 
 Xo'*i 
 
 %^ 
 
 ^. 
 
 
 ^fhu,i,-ii 
 
 ■'^, 
 
 
 "</.*< 
 
 r y. 
 
 •> 
 
 
 
 '■itini 
 
 ''"''/if. 
 
 s^e*^ 
 
 'inuxuijL 
 
 <unl, 
 
 
 ^^M>f< 
 
 'y' 
 
 m^ 
 
 'oil,/, III,/., 
 
 tU 
 
 JO„Ja 
 
 ^.>.. 
 
 ■/- 
 
 Seyie/a/ui, 
 
 
 
 TcihamiD » 
 -C' .va/ / A V^'^'^^*^^ WlPllllip I. It.. 
 
 •u/i. T I fli'iii irt 1. . I _i'i|i." 
 
 /WI^M 
 
 ^-c ^. 
 
 s 
 
 o^/./f;i 
 
 ,;^.>ry 
 
 .^v?^ S;. ^^''^l'^ 
 
 
 k'^y/ 
 
 ?ZeJtim/nul \- 
 
 K-'.^f.-.-. 
 
 iC 
 
 T4n/. 
 
 •;■ f'' 
 
 'Ji 
 
 ^% 
 
 Vi.rt,^h<^ 
 
 Zf6 
 
 'i' TOKift- 
 
 Xu 
 
 
 ^rf^ 
 
 ■' iJPi/ 
 
 ^ 
 
 Ba 
 
 ■lasbert 
 
 VT JV'uJ 
 
 r^jAorda 
 
 ^V' 
 
 ■fr^- 
 
 •/(tie 
 
 •i^c' '/'•"'" 
 
 , -> ^!h<iii 
 
 ^ a 
 
 rSaba 
 
 ^Ararat' 
 
 ^t^, ^.'i 
 
 ^ f/ * 
 
 ^'v,* -;,/v c 
 
 •^^ 
 
 •^^riES OFEHROPI- 
 
 AiSD 
 
 ^^if 
 
 
 
 ^. 
 
 
 ~^. 
 
 Jloofi 
 
 w 
 
 K>«/5a- 
 
 ^IfumJUiat^, 
 
 o tyr-la 
 
 J 
 
 .^7/Hi^<i(. 
 
 S(;aIa;!'nioA "*, 
 
 , Jfutar 
 
 
 44 
 
 YAB BEJ 
 
 
 x.*y 
 
 \ftfi}c]iatrrwm^ 
 
 V)^^ 
 
 73 
 
 U/( 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 
 JOi.iii* 
 
 4 
 
 ■'V'lr,-*^*,-^^- 
 
 :f^'^^^».^'^/^'^jirjS:''o •'^— 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 ' — If'ZI 
 
 Q ■^Jilhak 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 Co 
 
 hj 
 
 Astari*) 
 
 ii^rti 
 
 ^3^t±S7- 
 
 
 .-J- 
 
 i^^i 
 
 . Scajpar 
 
 7«/? 
 
 
 J^ 
 
 
 '^.^.^3^ 
 
 N 
 
 
 '-fi' 
 
 .S.\Jiwii "ALEPPO L, /jb^, i ik 
 
 "liavioJ'st 
 
 Tol 
 
 J>r,xat el. 
 
 
 ^Strdash" 
 
 9^^ 
 
 c^--^ 
 
 OOj^jf) 
 
 ^«H., 
 
 "«■< 
 
 ^ ^'^e>-"'^^::'<w,v,.;rnt^ rto .^^^, 
 
 Web' 
 
 l.,UL 
 
 AvCi-^* 
 
 '=(^ Y T ^^ 
 
 r 
 
 ..hjuu. 
 
 laznsta. -^^ 
 
 ,^, "Shfrv" , ,_ 
 
 
 £»Eiirkisia 
 
 > Sutton- , 
 
 '^ 
 
 Zifirip^ 
 
 ^^^ 
 
 Med I T £ 
 
 ^ R A JSr E A N 
 SEA 
 
 TKU" 
 I Kaii al SLaka 
 
 I)jeb 
 
 I y Ben 
 
 1 JSlMiiMnniii;, 
 
 {lyre, ^/..aJ:^'' 
 
 inrtrveijk 
 
 YjQBt 
 
 .Uid^^^f HassyiDi Wa/^eUar olareoL 
 
 "'^ji'ciiMei yrr V / 
 
 ' TW 7. / n>wbE::ervbe ,--- 
 
 AT 
 
 4fbfid. 
 
 Jhrai 
 
 fM/a 
 
 > 
 
 °na 
 
 '•On aura-/ 
 
 SoI iy n aTii| 
 
 '■f'^ 
 
 -<s^- 
 
 f -J •' 
 
 k'' — t 
 
 •*!js»r' 
 
 
 ziLBoh 
 
 liOintpne DAhara/*^^^,^ 
 J rmJirfU 1,1 7 *0 ^ V 
 
 >Nm 
 
 
 ^^^1 
 
 .^-i 
 
 
 »1 
 
 4 
 
 
 Kpft^ela jf^^iT,^ ja^ 
 
 Y 
 
 tc^^i^'" 
 
 f^r#" 
 
 ■or ^»s 
 
 ^-r* 
 
 y* 
 
 ???2 
 
 'Ddiiii' 
 
 KhmtYini 
 
 "H 
 
 TV ^,^ 
 
 r;/' 
 
 90 
 
 1? 
 
 
 y 
 
 ^ S T li M J/ s 
 OF SUEZ 
 
 
 '^**t>- 
 
 #E. 
 
 Sunumyo^ 
 
 
 G^' 
 
 ^Ltsedea. 
 
 -*> 
 
 
 
 ■'^^ 
 
 
 
 r-r: 
 
 Seme 
 
 
 ..i.. 
 
 Sahah7uiiii.mm\^ifj. 
 
 <5i7^. 
 
 L< 
 
 ■dL 
 
 
 rSaez 
 
 AHA. IB H A 
 :P E T M .€ A 
 
 ^s**., 
 
 f 
 
 r:^*' 
 
 _____ JERUSALEM 
 
 SCALE 
 
 Graur, 
 
 > 
 
 ioo Miles. 
 
 -»r 
 
 W'.M 
 
 \ 
 
 i!, 
 
 J 
 
 file lIlu3traiioas "by H, Wan-en. ifc EiioVa^/vd by J. B.Aileu . 
 
 TB£ LOlTlJON PRINTIKGAIT; PtJBLisaj-fjo COMPANT _ LQ»f ETED 
 
 The Uixp. i j.iawij <Nb iAi^^raved bv J . ii.ai'Ki n 
 
1 
 
 I 
 
 !|t 
 
 A.D. 1870,] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [mar shamun. 
 
 son the chief civil and military authority, 
 without possessing the requisite energy or 
 ability to carry either on properly. 
 
 The military which filled the town exer- 
 cised unbounded license towards civilians : 
 complaints made against them were disre- 
 garded, and consequently they were in a 
 complete state of insubordination and de- 
 moralisation. They did not scruple to 
 declare openly, want of confidence in their 
 officers, and the certainty of defeat in the 
 event of hostilities breaking out between 
 Russia and Turkey. The unfortunate in- 
 fluence France was allowed to gain in these 
 countries, had taught them to believe she 
 alone could aid them in emergency, and 
 thus her collapse induced the idea that there 
 was no other nation capable of resisting 
 Russian aggression. Even Turkish officers 
 were heard repeating such remarks ; while 
 other Moslems said, "Now that France is 
 lost we can do as we like with the Chris- 
 tians ;" and such belief is manifest in the 
 altered state — for the worse — of their de- 
 meanour towards them. All the employes, 
 from the highest to the lowest, military and 
 civil, except the Mektubtchi, a creature of 
 the Vali's, were on bad terms with him ; and 
 each, of course, in his respective depart- 
 ment, tried . to do as little as possible, 
 and to thwart him as far as he might be 
 able. 
 
 This state of things was speedily taken 
 advantage of by the Russians. It was 
 stated in the St. Petersburg papers, that 
 the Christians were leaving Trebizonde by 
 thousands, and immigrating into Russia, 
 in order to escape from the oppression and 
 cruelty of the Turks. 
 
 Now, as a matter of fact, not one single 
 native Christian had emigrated from Trebi- 
 zonde for at least three years previously. 
 But a number of Russian agents succeeded 
 in persuading a number of Greek families 
 to migrate into the Caucasus, where they 
 would be placed in possession of the lands 
 •whence the tribes of the Adijeh and the 
 Abchasians had been expelled in 1864 and 
 1867. One hundred and forty families of 
 these people (about 1,000 souls in all) em- 
 barked at Samsun in November, and were 
 landed at Anopa, Novo-Russiska, and 
 Tuapsee, on the Circassian coast. Their 
 reception, however, by the Russian authori- 
 ties, and the subsequent treatment they 
 were subjected to were such, that within 
 two months 350 perished of sheer misery, 
 and 400 petitioned the Turkish government 
 
 to allow them to return. The permission 
 was given. 
 
 Thus, whatever might be the character of 
 the Turkish administration, that of the 
 Russians was clearly worse, according to 
 these 400 impartial witnesses. 
 
 At the same time Russian agents had 
 been sent, as early as 1868, to agitate 
 amongst the Nestorian Christians. They 
 had considerable success, and the imme- 
 diate result was a letter from the Patriarch 
 Mar Shamun to the Grrand Duke Michael, 
 commander of the armv of the Caucasus. 
 
 To the brother of the mighty Emperor of 
 Russia, the King Michael, of high es- 
 tate, salutations and peace from Mar 
 Shamun, Patriarch of the East, 
 
 " For some time past you have known and 
 heard of the state of the Nestorians, a 
 nation of poor people, numbering more than 
 16,000 families, living in these mountains at 
 Kurdistan. They have no place to sow a 
 sufficiency of grain to provide themselves 
 with bread. The Kurds have forcibly 
 taken possession of several of our churches 
 and convents ; they constantly abduct our 
 virgins, brides, and women, forcing them 
 to turn Moslem. For twenty years and 
 more the Turks have taken possession of 
 the country ; but they are worse than the 
 Kurds, as they do not protect us from them, 
 but demand from us military taxes, poll- 
 tax, and other moneys. At the same time 
 the Kurds demand and take from us, as 
 was their custom of old, pretending the 
 Nestorians are their 'zirr kurr ' (serfs), 
 that is, bought with money by them. The 
 Turks neither protect our persons, property, 
 nor honour from the Kurds, for which 
 reasons it is difficult for us to give them 
 money (namely, to pay the taxes). 
 
 " Now, such being our condition, we be- 
 seech your mightiness, for the sake of 
 Jesus, His Baptism, and Cross, either free 
 us from such a state, or procure us a re- 
 medy. If, at a subsequent period, you 
 think it necessary, we will send you a 
 special agent on our part, who will be able 
 to inform you of all that is requisite ia 
 detail. 
 
 " May the Lord preserve you. Amen. 
 " Given in Kockhannes, from the patri- 
 archal residence. 
 
 (Signed and sealed) « The Petitioner, 
 Patriarch of the East, 
 
 "Mar Shamun. 
 "His Father, Benjamin." ^ 
 
 35 
 
 ■j|. 
 
 
 •Hi IK 
 
 I 
 
 i' 
 
 V» 
 
 I 
 
I 
 
 THE NESTOHTANS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1870. 
 
 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 The complaints of the patriarch, it will 
 be observed, were directed against the 
 Kurds rather than the Turks ; but as was 
 also the case in the vilayet of Diarbekir, 
 the chief instigator of all the mischief was 
 a Christian. At Diarbekir, it was a Chris- 
 tian who, in partnership with Hamed 
 Pasha, shared the plunder which his know- 
 ledge of the affairs of the Christians enabled 
 him and his associates to make. Of this 
 the patriarch made no mention in his com- 
 plaints — complaints which the Eussian 
 authorities afterwards made use of in their 
 sweeping denunciations of the " Turk." 
 But it was to get a goodly array of such 
 complaints that a young Russian was 
 allowed to leave Tiflis, and marry amongst 
 the Nestorians, the business of his life being 
 the formulation of complaints, and narra- 
 tives of the atrocities committed by the 
 Kurds and refuse of the Caucasus, with 
 which the Turkish government was so 
 elated. 
 
 Now, regarding the Patriarch Mar 
 Shamun, the Nestorian consul, Taylor, 
 states, that " although there was much to 
 be said on both sides, it seemed, without 
 doubt, that the Nestorians, notwithstanding 
 the complaints the Turks brought against 
 them, were more sinned against than sin- 
 ning, and, therefore, in some measurejusti- 
 fied in the pleas they constantly put for- 
 ward for not liquidating the arrears due 
 from them. For, since 1843, they had been 
 exposed to the daily and nightly attacks of 
 robbers enjoying, owing to religious fellow- 
 ship, the secret sympathy of government 
 agents. Their churches were ruined or 
 turned into mosques; their virgins and 
 wives ruthlessly torn from their homes, and 
 compelled to abjure their faith ; their 
 winter supplies and provisions violently 
 carried off, without payment, by govern- 
 ment troops purposely stationed there to 
 protect them ; and the original assessment 
 of their taxes so grossly unjust as to be 
 totally out of proportion to their means 
 and numbers, they being assessed for 
 *Aaneh Askraieh' (military tax) three 
 times the amount of their 'vergu' (or- 
 dinary tax), a thing unheard of elsewhere, 
 the one tax being always equal with the 
 other.'' 
 
 This passage shows that Consul Taylor 
 was in nowise favourably disposed towards 
 the Turkish government : no one who 
 knows anything of it is. But the fact is 
 £imply this, that the patriarch, in his own 
 36 
 
 small way, was a sort of infallible pope 
 amongst the mountains in the Van district, 
 and objected to the Turks collecting any 
 revenue from his " subjects " as much as he 
 objected to the Kurds, because he wanted 
 to keep whatever income there was for him- 
 self. Instead, therefore, of organising a 
 body of local gendarmes out of the 70,000 
 inhabitants who acknowledged his authority, 
 to protect themselves against the Kurds, 
 he wrote whining letters to Russia and to 
 the British episcopacy, in the latter of 
 which he was aided, we are sorry to say, by 
 Vice-Consul Rassam, of Mosul, a native of 
 the country, and originally an employe of 
 Mr. Layard's during his explorations at 
 Nineveh — one of that class of foreign indi- 
 viduals whose services are most valuable 
 outside of the British government. Aware 
 of all this, and aware of the machinations 
 of foreign agents, Consul Taylor was anxious 
 that a stop should be put to them by re- 
 moving, if possible, the cause — by pro- 
 viding sufficient remedies for the wrongs 
 complained of. Thus he had a long con- 
 versation with the Vali, Ahmed Pasha, 
 upon all these matters, and as to the course 
 he should pursue with respect to the 
 patriarch and affairs generally in the 
 mountains. The pasha complained, at the 
 outset, that the insubordination existing 
 there was kept up by Russian intrigue, 
 emanating from Georgia and Erzeroum ; 
 adding that, in his opinion, nothing could 
 be effected, either for government interests 
 or the Nestorians, as long as the anomaly 
 of an hereditary chief combining spiritual 
 and temporal powers existed in those parts, 
 as afforded in Mar Shamun's case over the 
 Ashiret. Mr. Taylor told him, if that was the 
 only obstacle to a proper redress of the 
 Nestorian complaints, and if he felt his 
 government was and always would be 
 strong enough to protect the Nestorians, in 
 the absence of their chief, from Kurdish and 
 other depredations, and if he would gua- 
 rantee the condonation by the Porte of all 
 arrears to date, he thought Mar Shamun 
 would readily abdicate his temporal power, 
 which the Porte had allowed him and his 
 predecessors to exercise ; and would even 
 remove the patriarchate to Van, were the 
 government to accord him equal privileges 
 and honours with the other patriarchs, 
 place a suitable residence there at his dis- 
 posal, and guarantee him a yearly pension 
 in conformity with his rank and influence 
 over the 28,000 families who obeyed his 
 
 A.D. 1870-75.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the nestorians. 
 
 orders in Turkey alone. The pasha said he 
 could not answer for the arrears, but 
 thought there would be no difficulty about 
 the Kurds, or the question about the patri- 
 arch's privileges, and that he would sup- 
 port the proposition of a residence and 
 pension if Mar Shamun agreed to the terms 
 Mr. Taylor mentioned. He ended the con- 
 versation by asking the consul to put him- 
 self in communication, on his part, with 
 Mar Shamun on the subject, and begged 
 him, in reporting his (the pasha's) pro- 
 posals, to ask for the British ambassador's 
 support for them at head-quarters. 
 
 In compliance with the pasha's request, 
 Mr. Taylor communicated with Sir Henry 
 Elliot, advising the acceptance of the 
 pasha's proposals ; and also wrote to Mar 
 Shamun, strongly counselling him to close 
 with any offer in the above sense which the 
 Porte mifjht make to him. 
 
 All this occurred in 1868. Yox more 
 than two years the matter remained in 
 abeyance. Ahmed Pasha was succeeded by 
 Ismail Pasha, and Ismail by Mustafa Pasha, 
 both of whom agreed with their predecessor 
 in his views. Still the negotiations did 
 not advance, whether in consequence of 
 Russian intrigue or not. It is, indeed, 
 quite possible that the Russians had no 
 hand in the matter directly. What is of 
 interest and to the point, is the character 
 of the patriarch and his Nestorians. 
 Consul Taylor, indeed, formally acquits the 
 Russians of having any hand in the patri- 
 arch's affairs, and gives a graphic account 
 of the further progress of the dispute. 
 
 It seems that Mar Shamun, to whom the 
 pasha's ideas were communicated, had no 
 objection to the project proposed; for, per- 
 sonally, he would have been an honoured 
 guest, with a handsome salary, free from the 
 cares of his anomalous position as high 
 priest and chief of a brigand horde ; but his 
 father and uncle, who advised him and 
 regulated all his affairs, were totally op- 
 posed, as its adoption would have deprived 
 them of the emoluments and consequence 
 they derived from the position of their 
 relative as a semi-independent chief, with 
 absolute control over the lives and property 
 of the mountain Nestorians. The correct- 
 ness of this statement is substantiated by 
 the fact that Mar Shamun quitted his 
 hitherto absolute seclusion in the moun- 
 tain, for the first time, in 1869, and visited 
 Van, to confer with the Mutessarif, Ali 
 Kemali Pasha, on the plan proposed. He 
 
 VOL. 111. G 
 
 remained some time there ; was treated, 
 seemingly, with all outward respect, and 
 had a pension of 5,000 piastres a month 
 allowed to him and the Tujari chiefs, his 
 pension formerly having only been 500 
 piastres per month. Mar Shamun, on his 
 part, signed an agreement relative to the 
 future payment of the taxes and arrears ; 
 he also engaged, for himself and people, to 
 observe all the rules and regulations pre- 
 scribed by the vilayet system, which had 
 not yet been introduced into the country 
 under his jurisdiction ; and matters having 
 thus been apparently satisfactorily settled, 
 he left for bis abode, accompanied by Khoja 
 Yeremieh Shenier, a native of Mossul, 
 and formerly Mr. Taylor's consular drago- 
 man at Diarbekir, and a perfect Chaldean 
 and Syriac scholar, as government agent, to 
 see that the new rules and regulations were 
 properly circulated among, and observed by, 
 the Nestorians, according to the agreement 
 sicrned bv Mar Shamun at Van. It is need- 
 less to report what occurred during Khoja 
 Yeremieh's detention on this mist«ion with 
 the patriarch ; but the result is that, once 
 again surrounded by his self-interested ad- 
 visers. Mar Shamun, for himself and the 
 Tujari chiefs, in the presence of the Kaima- 
 kam and Medjliss of Julamerk (the district 
 in which the patriarch's residence is situ- 
 ated), deliberately repudiated all he had 
 before agreed to, his uncle finishing the 
 discussion by saying, " Our nation is like a 
 young bride, whom we will never give up 
 to any one." The written report, embody- 
 ing this statement in detail, was received at 
 Erzeroum shortly before Mr. Taylor returned 
 from leave in England. Some days after 
 his arrival, the Vali requesting that he 
 would call upon him, Mr. Taylor waited 
 upon him at his residence, when he in- 
 formed him of Mar Shamun's conduct, and 
 furnished him, at the same time, with 
 Khoja Yeremieh's report. 
 
 Still, in spite of this breach of his agree- 
 ment by Mar Shamun, the governor of 
 Erzeroum still signified his willingness to 
 forgive the Nestorians all their arrears of 
 taxes since 1853 as soon as the patriarch 
 complied with the terms of his engagement. 
 But this was just what the patriarch and 
 his worthy family had no idea of doing ; so 
 that, in the autumn of 1871, they still con- 
 tinued to pay what taxes they chose irregu- 
 larly, and remained as deeply as ever in- 
 debted to government for accumulated 
 arrears of taxes. There were also heavy 
 
 37 
 
 v» 
 
 ,M 
 
THE TCHETCHENS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1870-75. 
 
 complaints against them for frequent rob- 
 beries and cattle-lifting, committed on 
 their neighbours, chance-travellers, and 
 Fheep-dealers who frequented their country 
 in the pursuit of trade. The continued 
 leniency of government towards them in- 
 duced the belief among the chiefs that its 
 conduct was controlled by weakness or defer- 
 ence to the wishes of foreign powers, who 
 would view any coercive measures adopted 
 towards Christians with disapprobation. 
 The ignorant Nestorians were, in some 
 measure, confirmed in these ideas by the 
 misdirected zeal of foreign church propa- 
 gandists, lay and clerical, whom they re- 
 garded as government agents, each to them 
 seeming to set a high value on their friend- 
 ship, and to look upon its acquisition in the 
 light of an important political gain. With- 
 out the slightest intention of entering into 
 communion with any other creed, from the 
 patriarch downwards they trifled with all 
 Fuch agents, encouraged the advances made 
 them, and feigned conviction, backing their 
 hypocrisy with a request for spiritual in- 
 structors, with a view simply of securing 
 the sympathy of each sect, which they be- 
 lieved would assure them active intervention 
 in their affairs in case of need. They looked 
 upon all consuls, therefore, as their natural 
 advocates and protectors, and never hesi- 
 tated to appeal to them on the slightest 
 occasion of real or frivolous complaint. 
 
 Such were the Nestorians, the vaunted 
 Christians, high-church dignitaries in Eng- 
 land invested with a glory of martyrdom, 
 and whose grievances, woes, and anguishes 
 formed part of the Russian stock-in-trade 
 denunciation of Turkish misrule. What 
 the fate of those precious individuals would 
 be under Russian rule it is not difficult to 
 say. Mar Shamun and the whole of his 
 confraternity would be bundled out of the 
 country, part of his subjects driven at the 
 point of the bayonet into the Holy Russian 
 Chur<;h, and the rest hunted across the 
 frontier, where the boundless good-nature 
 of the Turk would allow them to settle 
 down, and his indolence permit them to 
 continue their brigand existence as hitherto. 
 This was the case with the Tchetchen 
 colony at Ras-el-Ain, in the Diarbekir 
 vilayet, which was called into existence in 
 1865-'66, in consequence of the immigration 
 of several hundred families of those unruly 
 fiubjects of Russia in the Caucasus, and ever 
 since its commencement was unadvisedly 
 xieglected. Original bad naanagement ren- 
 38 
 
 dered the colonists from the first careless as 
 to their self-support, for they were main- 
 tained entirely, directly they stepped over 
 the border, by rations 20,000 daily, sup- 
 plied by the authorities through contractors, 
 who, by corrupt connivance with the officers 
 charged with the victualling, occasioned 
 annually an enormous extra outlay to the 
 local treasury, over and beyond the fair 
 market price of the provisions supplied. 
 The indolence induced by gratuitous living 
 and the lax control they were subject to, made 
 the immigrants, never at anytime favourable 
 to agricultural industry, yearly more averse 
 to field labour for employment ; the majority 
 of the males, therefore, resuming their old 
 Caucasian habits, took either to plundering 
 on the neighbouring caravan routes, or to 
 wholesale razzias on the friendly pastoral 
 tribes in their vicinity. Latterly, the Porte, 
 havintr become more alive to the losses 
 and damage occasioned by these so-called 
 colonists, and to the value of the country 
 they were located on, took the matter more 
 vigorously in hand, by gradually forcing 
 upon the Tchetchens the obligation of per- 
 sonal labour for subsistence. With this 
 view, Ras-el-Ain was created, as it ought to 
 have been at first, into a separate muttasur- 
 ruflik, or vice-government, under the 
 Diarbekir Vali, and extensive exceptional 
 powers granted to the governor, Arslan 
 
 Pasha. 
 
 These interesting people, who have never, 
 within the memory of man, gained a living 
 independent of plunder and pillage, consist 
 of the tribes thus classified by Consul 
 Taylor : — 
 
 The Kara Boolak — ^ Families. 
 
 Notorious vagabonds and thieves, well 
 
 armed and mounted . . . . . . 3,500 
 
 Tchetchens — 
 
 A lazy, worthless set, dissolute and 
 idle, selling their children as slaves. 
 They engage a little in agriculture. 4,100 
 Nusran — 
 
 An orderly, induatrioos, agricultural 
 
 tribe . . . . . . . . 400 
 
 Total 8,000 
 
 Or, taking four to a house, 32,000 souls. 
 
 Thus, to 30,400 thieves and vagabonds 
 there were only 1,600 decent people, hunted 
 across the frontier by the Russians, who 
 would have massacred every man of them 
 through sheer inability to civilise them. 
 What right, therefore, had the Russian 
 government to complain of the Porte's 
 inability to do what she herself had beeu 
 
 A.D. 1870-75.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [troubles in erzehoitm. 
 
 unable to accomplish ? But not content 
 even with having inflicted the curse of 
 these people on the inhabitants of Turkey, 
 the Russians, through their agents, inces- 
 santly stirred them up against the Porte, 
 and, emboldened by the impunity with 
 which they carried out their policy, at last 
 adopted the same plan quite openly in 
 regard to the Nestorians. A Russian agent 
 established himself in their mountains, and 
 induced many of the people to emigrate to 
 Russia. These emigrants proved the value 
 of their religious convictions by describing 
 themselves, when they applied for their 
 passports at Van, as of the Grreek Orthodox 
 persuasion. They knew but too well that 
 this was the only faith in virtue of which 
 the holders would be entitled to considera- 
 tion within the limits of the " Holy Em- 
 pire." 
 
 The true character of the Nestorian 
 chiefs way, however, too well known for 
 even the Russians to formulate any distinct 
 and detailed demands on their account ; 
 but in the autumn of 1872 an event oc- 
 curred which they turned to good advan- 
 tage. 
 
 Towards the end of September a cold- 
 blooded murder was perpetrated on the 
 person of a certain Khachatur Effendi, 
 Basturmaji, of Erzeroum. Tlie unfortunate 
 man was sitting between his brother and 
 the director of the telegraph, at the corner 
 of the street forming a portion of his pro- 
 perty, and quietly smoking, when a horse- 
 man rode up and shot him with a pistol 
 through the head. He then turned his 
 horse round and retired as deliberately as 
 he had arrived. The affair occurred in 
 open day (at 4 P.M.), in one of the most 
 frequented parts of the town, at the corner 
 of a large open square (Meidan), surrounded 
 by shops, and hardly a hundred paces 
 from a police-guard of fifty men, who oc- 
 cupied a building in the Meidan. A futile 
 attempt was made by the murdered man's 
 brother to seize the assassin ; but, on his 
 tlireatening him with a carbine, and finding 
 liimself totally unsupported, he desisted. 
 The murderer had, to escape detection, en- 
 veloped his head in a turban and wrapper, 
 but not so carefully as to prevent the tele- 
 graph director, according to his statement, 
 recognising him should he see him again. 
 But notwithstanding the open circumstances 
 of the murder, although some thirty people 
 were thrown into prison on suspicion, the 
 culprit renaained at large. I 
 
 The victim, Khachatur Effendi, com- 
 menced life as a retail butcher and sausage- 
 DQaker. By these trades he obtained a con- 
 siderable competence, and such influence, 
 owing to the latter, with government, that, 
 though an illiterate, coarse man, unable to 
 read or write, he received, most unworthily 
 it must be confessed, the high grade of 
 "Sanieh." With the active countenance 
 of the Minister of War, Mustafa Pasha, he 
 entered largely into government building 
 and victualling contracts, and was fortunate 
 enough to amass thereby a vast capital. 
 The greater part, with a laudable desire of 
 improving his native town, he invested in 
 city property of a mean description, 
 wherever it was offered for sale, and, 
 amongst other lots, some disgraceful hovels 
 and ruins lying on one side of the Meidan, 
 where he was killed, and in its immediate , 
 neighbourhood. These he pulled down, 
 and constructed on their site two really 
 magnificent spacious khans, rows of elegant 
 shops, and a sumptuous bath. A ruined 
 mosque, that stood in the way of his im- 
 provements, was also, to the horror of both 
 Moslems and Christians— so difficult is it 
 to please rival parties — entirely repaired 
 and restored at his sole cost. Properly to 
 utilise the new bath, he further purchased 
 the right to a body of water issuing from a 
 source in the " Sheikler Sugag," a street 
 close by, inhabited by the Mufti and ma- 
 jority of the so-called "holy" Moslem 
 fanatics of Erzeroum, who tried their utmost 
 to prevent the sale, alleging for it a previ- 
 ous Wugguf character. This plea, however, 
 on argument, was not allowed by the tri" 
 bunal before which such cases are tried^ 
 and the property, by its decision, passed 
 legally into the hands of the Christian. 
 But the Moslems soon had their desired 
 revenge r for, on the first night of the day 
 on which the contested water circulated in 
 the bath, all Khachatur Effendi's new and 
 costly buildings, valued, it is said, at 
 £20,000, wore discovered to be on fire, and 
 in a few hours nothing but a heap of 
 crumbling ruins remained. The Moslems, 
 during the disaster, either looked carelessly 
 on or engaged in plunder, no one making a 
 single effort to stay the progress of the 
 flames, although the Vali, Samih Pasha, in 
 person, and his immediate staff, made heroic, 
 long-continued efforts, at the repeated risk 
 of their lives, to stay the conflagration 
 that demolished the handsomest quarter of 
 the town. Bit, in spite of this misfortune, 
 
 39 
 
 
 V« 
 
 '1 
 
CONSUL TAYLOR.l 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1870-75. 
 
 A.b. 1870-75.J 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [KURDS AND KISHLAK* 
 
 '.t. 
 
 Khachatur Effendi, urged by the energy he 
 was remarkable for, and encouraged t)y the 
 material and moral support of the Vali, and 
 deserved sympathy of all lovers of progress 
 and improvement, at once set about re- 
 building his valuable premises. But " Mos- 
 lem " jealousy and hatred could not brook 
 the spectacle of such energy, after such a 
 disaster, on the part of a Griaour, and he 
 was most foully murdered in open day, 
 scarcely a month after the fire, on the 
 scene of his severe losses. 
 
 Touching this affair, Consul Taylor 
 ^rote : — " It is needless to say that public 
 opinion fixed the real guilt of both crimes 
 on the Sheikhs inhabiting the street alluded 
 to before, who, secretly combining for the 
 purpose, bribed some wretched, ignorant, 
 fanatical tools to carry out their cowardly, 
 Thurderous designs. Their object was, of 
 course, to stifie all improvement, all 
 Christian enterprise, with a view of de- 
 terring any but their co-religionists— who 
 are incapable — from developing a laudable 
 ambition in progressively improving as 
 tliey accumulate means and resources due 
 to superior intelligence and activity." 
 
 A week or two later, Mr. Taylor, who, as 
 the above passage amply shows, entertained 
 the most adverse opinion of the Turkish 
 ofiicials, wrote to say that the murderer 
 had not been, and was not likely to be, 
 discovered. At the same time he said 
 that the case had been made use of by the 
 Ilussian consul to aggravate facts, and 
 H'present them in his conversations with 
 the natives, as likely, according to him, to 
 occasion a European intervention. 
 
 " He finds many listeners," wrote Mr. 
 Taylor ; " and, I am afraid, a groat many 
 among them who wish to see his words 
 realis^ed. Nor can this feeling be much 
 wondered at ; for, throughout this province, 
 the Christians as a body have serious cause 
 of complaint for unredressed and frequently 
 recurring injuries, the perpetrators — Mos- 
 lems — being always screened by the chief 
 judge, the Muffetish ul Ihkam, who had 
 the courts of justice completely in his 
 power." 
 
 The Russian consul naturally made a 
 great stir about the matter ; but when it 
 came to be inquired into, it was found that 
 the chief promoter of the gang of Sheikhs 
 above mentioned (without whom, indeed, 
 the murderers would soon have been exposed 
 tu the punishment theymerited), was, unfor- 
 tunately for the administration of impartial 
 40 
 
 justice, the chief justice, or Muffetish ul 
 Ihkam, originally a miserable Greek Chris- 
 tian from the islands. This rascally rene- 
 gade openly declared the assassin to have 
 been a Moslem phantom saint in disguise, 
 Khizr Elias, who killed the victim in 
 revenge for the sacrilege done to a mosque 
 by a Christian repairing it; and in like 
 manner, to please the ready dupes around 
 him, he used to affect incredulity of a wit- 
 ness unless he had certain marks on the 
 palms of his hands, which he always ex- 
 amined for that purpose before taking their 
 evidence. His influence on the bench, or in 
 council, was always directed to destroy o, 
 Christian's case, however just, if against 
 a Moslem ; and in criminal cases affecting 
 the latter, the guilty were, in most cases, 
 suffered to escape. His corrupt avarice ex- 
 ceeded even bis fanatical partiality : both 
 exercised together defeated, of course, all 
 the ends for which justice was supposed to 
 provide. 
 
 And, as in this case, so in almost all 
 others — as has already been said, in ninety- 
 seven cases out of a hundred, there is a 
 Christian, renegade or not, at the bottom of 
 all the mischief. And if such were the ele- 
 ments of which the courts were composed, it 
 may be imagined what was the composition 
 and character of the tithe commissions. On 
 each there were always one or more Cliris- 
 tians, who, to curry favour and fill their 
 pockets at the same time, insisted that 
 their co religionists were deceiving the 
 government, and could pay three times as 
 much as they professed to be unable to pay. 
 The writer has accompanied such tithe 
 commissions on several occasions, and can 
 thorouQfhlv confirm what has been written 
 on the subject in various consular reports; 
 but he will abstain from recounting any of 
 his own experiences from fear of being torn 
 to pieces by infuriated persons and canons 
 for the greater glorification of the " Divine 
 Figure of the North." 
 
 Thus it appears, from the consular re- 
 ports for 1869, that the district of Sileyvan, 
 one of the richest grain-producing districts 
 in the Diarbekir vilayet, or even in Turkey, 
 was suffering, in spite of two abundant har- 
 vests, from the intolerable measures pur- 
 sued by the government to collect the 
 tithes. Each village was oompelled to 
 accept the tithes on grains, fruits, and 
 cotton, at a money value based upon winter 
 and spring prices, although the former 
 amounted to £\ 7s. Sd, a quarter, while the 
 
 season's wheat barely realised 90 piastres, 
 or 16s., for the same measure. Thus the 
 villagers of Aslo, near Farkeyn, had to 
 borrow 30,000 piastres, at 2^ per cent, per 
 month, to make up the deficiency the 
 government agents forced upon them ; the 
 whole of their produce, meanwhile, real- 
 ising only 22,000 piastres ; and Farkeyn, 
 the capital of the district, had to pay 
 24,000 piastres, while they had only 11,000 
 piastres-worth of produce to discharge the 
 govtrnmeut claim for tithes of 20,000 
 piastres. In I860, with wheat at 250 
 piastres (£2 5s. 5d.) per quarter, the whole 
 amount of tithe realised from this district 
 was four lacs (£4,000 Turkish). In 1869, 
 with wheat at 90 piastres (16s.), it 
 amounted, under the extortionate system 
 of collection practised, to seven lacs (£7,000 
 Turkish); during the same period, how- 
 ever, of the 106 villages then existing, 76 
 only remained ; and in each one of the 
 latter, five or six chiflihs, or small farms, 
 were entirely deserted. 
 
 The same conditions obtained in the 
 country round Bitlis, with its rich undu- 
 lating plains, which, however, had become 
 of little value, as they were infested with 
 the common curse of the country, the Kurds. 
 
 These vagabonds pre3^ed upon the un- 
 fortunate agricultural sedentary classes to 
 an extent that greatly facilitated the at- 
 tempts of Russian agents to induce the 
 sufferers to emigrate to Russian territory. 
 There was not one of their numerous chiefs 
 who had not been several times in prison 
 for well-authenticated atrocities ; yet each 
 time they had been in the most unaccount- 
 able manner released, to resume the same 
 practices that first occasioned their im- 
 prisonment. 
 
 Mush itself, the capital of the district, is 
 a mean town, with scarcely 2,000 families 
 there and in its vicinity, none of whom 
 were at all on a par with those of Bitlis, 
 who justly had reason to complain that 
 their more important site had not been 
 made the capital of the district. 
 
 Six years before Consul Taylor visited 
 the Mush district, the fine plain, on one 
 side of which the town is situated, had a 
 thriving aspect. The villages seemed well 
 peopled, and the crops, though damaged by 
 locusts, in far greater variety and profusion 
 than latterly. Several visits he made to 
 different parts of the plain, and a stay of 
 some days in the town, where he had re- 
 peated conversations witii Mohlems and 
 
 Christians on the subject, partly explained 
 the cause. Tlie Armenians formed the prin- 
 cipal portion of the industrious inhabitants 
 in the plain and near the city, supplying 
 all agricultural labour and trade; while the 
 Moslems, mostly pastoral, living on the 
 slopes of the hills bordering the plain, oc- 
 cupied themselves simply with their flocks. 
 The two races lived, on the whole, at peace ; 
 but Reshkotan and Bekran Kurds — intoler- 
 able thieves — roamed with their flocks over 
 the mountain pastures to the south ; 
 Jibrauli and Modikan Kurds inhabited the 
 high hills to the north-west and south-east ; 
 the Hassnanli and Millanli, the northern 
 portions about Bulanik and Malazgerd ; — 
 and all of them lived on the sedentary 
 population; for being under very imperfect 
 subjection, it was only by satisfying all 
 demands, however outrageous, that the 
 Christian aofriculturists and the JNloslem 
 cattle-breeders could maintain their posi- 
 tion. One unbearable custom, Kishlak, 
 had done more than anything else to con- 
 tribute to their poverty and decay. That 
 custom, originating in the weakness of the 
 government and growing power of the 
 Kurds, enabled the latter to exercise the 
 extraordinary right of quartering them- 
 selves upon the inhabitants, entailing large 
 expenses, not only for fodder for their 
 animals, but also food and fuel for them- 
 selves, during at least four months. 
 
 Repeated complaints to government did 
 little to remedy this evil ; and, conse- 
 quently, to escape this intolerable burdt^n, 
 750 families, within the six years ending 
 February, 1869, emigrated to Russia ; while 
 500 more, in the same year, sent repre- 
 sentatives to Erivan to negotiate a similar 
 step. The few peasants still unwilling, 
 from old associations and attachment to 
 the soil, to remove, in order to get rid at 
 least of part of the great expense the Kish- 
 lak entailed upon them, had entirely aban- 
 doned the culture of any other grain than 
 wheat, as all others being, in some form or 
 other, useful as food for cattle, their stocks 
 would certainly have been laid under heavy 
 contributions by the Kurds for that pur- 
 pose. But the Kurds did not confine them- 
 selves simply to plunder. Tiie slightest 
 complaint to government on the ^artof the 
 Christians against them was followed by 
 night attacks, or open assaults in the day, 
 upon them. In this manner, during tlie 
 year 1869, no less than ten had been killed 
 and forty wounded, because they — Liic 
 
 41 
 
 v» 
 
KURDS AND KISHLAK.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1870-75. 
 
 A.D. 1870-75.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the cross in ASIA. 
 
 i 
 
 Christians — had had the temerity to com- 
 plain to the authorities of the oppression 
 they suffered at the hands of the Kurds. 
 Most of these savages, who affected Turk- 
 ish allegiance, resided close to the border, 
 between Ani and Bayazid, none of them 
 being farther than twenty to thirty miles 
 from it. All through this district and 
 Shuragel — the ancient Shiraj, formerly the 
 richest and most populous district in Ar- 
 menia — it was sad to pass so many spots 
 marking the sites of towns and villages, 
 some of them only recently deserted, and 
 encumbered with their ruins, or the mean 
 huts of the indigent population that re- 
 mained. On many of these deserted sites 
 the massive fabrics of early Armenian 
 churclies had successfully resisted the 
 ravages of time, and the efforts of man, 
 urged by an implacable hostility to every- 
 thing Christian, to destroy them. Round 
 several, in spite of decreasing numbers, 
 poverty, and oppression, the Armenian 
 peasantry still clung with affectionate per- 
 tinacity, dragging on an existence, as well 
 as they were able, under the tolerance of 
 the Turkish Aghas, or Beys, who, either as 
 the descendants of the Timariots, or in 
 consequence of the poverty of former 
 owners, had, in the course of time, dis- 
 possessed the Christians of the lands and 
 villages about. But the Aghas, though 
 deriving their income from the industry of 
 the Christian fellahs, not unwilling to de- 
 fend them, were unable to protect them or 
 their crops from the rapacity of the Kurds, 
 the cause of most of the distress the Ar- 
 menians laboured under. It is hardly pos- 
 sible to enumerate the different methods 
 they pursued to satisfy their wants at the 
 expense of the peaceable, sedentary agri- 
 cultural classes. They were, however, 
 without reckoning forced contributions and 
 *' corvee," so various and onerous as to 
 curtail agriculture and stifle industry, re- 
 ducing both to the smallest minimum com- 
 patible with existence. Thus they had 
 been driven from most of their ancestral 
 lands by the increasing numbers and un- 
 punished license of the Kurds; the crops 
 on lands still in their hands were, when 
 yet green, partially grazed by the flocks of 
 the intruders, who, alter what remained 
 was ripened and cut, would not allow the 
 owners to re-sow for autumn crops, as at 
 that time, on their return from the hills, 
 they turned their flocke into the after-grass 
 that then sprang up. 
 42 
 
 An original course a Kurd would adopt 
 to extort money, was to extract one of their 
 teeth, and then purposely engage in a 
 quarrel with a Christian, during which 
 blows were, of course, exchanged. The 
 Kurd then made a complaint to his chief, 
 producing the extracted tooth in evidence, 
 which he swore was knocked out by the 
 Christian during the quarrel. The chief 
 inflicted in every case, unless he was bribed 
 by the Christian, a finein money, varying with 
 the] reputed wealth of the falsely-accused 
 aggressor, who had no remedy whatever 
 against his accuser. The piece de con- 
 viction^ that is, the old tooth, never in any 
 case being impounded, served for many 
 similar charges, and was sometimes lent to 
 a friend for the like purpose. This custom 
 was so common, that a provincial proverb 
 said, " A Kurd carries his teeth in his 
 pocket." 
 
 From the depredations of the Kurds, 
 comparatively little grain was raised in the 
 district of Kaghizman, supplies being 
 brought from Shuragel. The same causes 
 operated against the culture of cotton and 
 tobacco ; while the system prevalent in the 
 Muttasurrflik, of compelling the delivery of 
 tithe-hay in Kars itself, instead of taking 
 it on the spot, pressed particularly heavy 
 upon the fellah. The fruit-gardens in the 
 immediate vicinity of Kaghizman were ex- 
 tensive, yielding £800 annually in tithe, an 
 earnest of what might be expected had 
 labour been free from the trammels already 
 noticed. The town contained 700 Moslem, 
 and 150 Christian houses, who originally, 
 owing to their vicinity to the Russia n 
 frontier, and consequent exposure to tlie 
 attack and requisitions of the enemy in 
 time of war, were exempt from conscrip- 
 tion and poll-tax. They were now, how- 
 ever, in common with all borderers, subject 
 to these impositions, which had created 
 considerable ill-feeling amongst them 
 against the government. 
 
 That these barbarians, the Kurds, are 
 responsible for most of the violence, is 
 proved by the welfare of districts where 
 they are kept in order, as at Van, where, 
 although the country immediately about is 
 not, from the poorness of its soil and want 
 of water, favourable to cereals, most of tlie 
 neighbouring districts are highly productive 
 in all sorts of grain and cattle, which, com- 
 bined with the important manufacturing 
 industry of the town, form lucrative sources 
 of trade. These, and other varied produc- 
 
 \ 
 
 tions and trades of the whole Muttasurrflik, 
 found a ready market at Van, and rendered 
 the city, containing 18,000 souls, of which 
 10,000 are Armenian, a highly important 
 commercial site. Its merchants, nearly all 
 Christians, were numerous and wealthy, re- 
 sorting annually to Constantinople for the 
 furtherance of their operations. Poverty, 
 at the same time, was reduced to a mini- 
 mum, as the surplus population emigrated 
 yearly to the capital, where they were uni- 
 versally employed as porters. 
 
 The inhabitants of the surrounding 
 country, from the richness of the soil, would 
 undoubtedly have made equal strides to 
 prosperity and wealth, had they not been so 
 completely under the absolute power of the 
 Kurds, who here, as elsewhere, either ren- 
 dered every place in their vicinity a desert, 
 or, by their rapacity and requisitions, effec- 
 tually checked all industry. The mischiev- 
 ous plan of employing local Turks, or 
 Kurds, in sub-governments or other district 
 employments, the temporising measures the 
 government had, for the last thirty years, 
 unfortunately pursued with respect to them, 
 had inclined them to believe that no power 
 could reach them, and tended to increase 
 their license, and rendered practices perma- 
 nent that formerly were exercised at rare 
 intervals only. Hence it arose that not 
 only the Haiderauli and Zelali, inhabiting 
 the country about and to the north and 
 north-west of Van, were in a chronic state 
 of turbulence, but the Hakkari also, a 
 mountainous district south of Van, was in 
 absolute insubordination. Grovernment 
 orders remained dead letters there ; it was 
 the Alsatia for all the brigands and mis- 
 creants in the land. Murder, robbery, and 
 brigandage were every-day crimes, and, 
 when practised against the Christians, re- 
 ceived the sanction and support of the so- 
 called holy men, styled Sheikhs, who in- 
 fested that country, and who, in fact, were 
 as forward as the Kurds in every act that 
 fanaticism or avarice could dictate. The 
 principal sufferers, although sedentary agri- 
 cultural Turks must be included in the 
 category, were the Nestorians, Armenians, 
 and Jews. 
 
 Within the two years ending February, 
 1869, several were murdered, others plun- 
 dered of their property, forced to become 
 Moslems, or emigrate for safety to Persia ; 
 while, during the same period, seven Chris- 
 tian churches were destroyed, more than 
 thirty human beings killed, virgins and 
 
 married women abducted, whole villages 
 devastated and plundered, without (in spite 
 of repeated orders from Constantinople) the 
 slightest notice on the part of the Van and 
 subordinate authorities, or an attempt being 
 made by them to check proceedings that 
 promised ultimately to drive all peaceable 
 people over the borders into Persia and 
 Russia. The chief instigators. Sheikh 
 Obeyd Ullah, of Katuna, and his mureeds 
 (disciples), in the meantime enjoyed the 
 favour of the Kaimakams and Mudirs, and 
 the former the adoration of ignorant Kurds 
 (blind instruments of his will), as they 
 regarded him as little short of the Deity. 
 
 Such is a faithful picture of the state of 
 affairs in this part of Asia Minor. It could 
 not be worse. But when we come to analyse 
 it, we find that all the mischief and trouble 
 is due to corrupt Christianity and savage 
 Kurds. These are the active principals of 
 the evil and universal devilry. The Turks, 
 on the other hand — the true Moslem, for 
 the Kurd is nothing at all — are guilty of 
 powerlessness. 
 
 Now, why are the Turks powerless ? The 
 answer is supplied by Consul Gififord Pal- 
 grave, a man who knows Turkey and the 
 Turks as intimately as Lane knows the 
 Egyptians. He says, in a despatch of 
 January 30th, 1868— " As regards judicial 
 injustice, I found that category sub-divided 
 as follows : — 
 
 " 1. Cases in which the instigator and 
 real oppressor was some rival or interested 
 Christian, who had made a tool of the 
 Ottoman administration to injure his bro- 
 ther Christians. Thus, for instance, the 
 Christian villages of Ak-Dagh, in the vilayet 
 of Angora, have been ruined by an infamous 
 usurer, an Armenian Christian of Yuzgat. 
 
 "• 2. Cases in which weakness or malad- 
 ministration in high places, injured Chris- 
 tians and Mahommedans alike, but more 
 frequently the latter than the former : for 
 reasons to be stated further on, religious or 
 fanatical motives had nothing to do with 
 it. 
 
 " Something might here be said regard- 
 ing the only Turkish tribunal in which 
 Christian witness is formally and officially 
 non-admitted when given against Mahom- 
 medans. I mean the 'Mahkemah,' or 
 ecclesiastical court. None complain more 
 bitterly than do the Turkish officials them- 
 selves of the imperiumin imperio exercised 
 over them through this very tribunal by the 
 Sheikh-ul-Islam, and the moUahs and 
 
 43 
 
 /• 
 
THE CROSS IN ASIA.] 
 
 HI.^TOrxY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1870-75. 
 
 I 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 kadees under him. Its inconveniences can, 
 however, in most cases be, in a round- 
 about way, remedied by reference and 
 appeal to tlie civil tribunals ; and it is to 
 be hoped that Turkey will, in time, be able 
 to take, with regard to her ecclesiastical 
 courts, those steps which, even in Europe, 
 have been a matter of time and difficulty : 
 but the proposed reorganisation of the 
 *Mahkemah' belongs to another section 
 of this report. 
 
 " Now let us turn the question, and view 
 it from the other side. 
 
 "1. At the present moment, the whole 
 burden of military service, active and re- 
 serve, falls exclusively on the Mahommedan 
 population. The Christians do, indeed, 
 pay into the public treasury a small — a tri- 
 lling sum, bearing no real proportion what- 
 ever to the advantages it obtains them for 
 their exemption; but, even were the 
 * Bedel-Askeri,' or ransom service tax, 
 weighty enough to balance the effective 
 value of such exemption to the Christians, 
 it could never equipoise the misery which 
 it entails on their Mahommedan fellow-sub- 
 jects by the enormous burden of the con- 
 scription thus thrown on their unassisted 
 shoulders. 
 
 "And this, be it well noticed, not vice 
 nor any other book-fancied cause, is the 
 true reason why the Mahommedan population 
 proportionately decreases, the Christian in- 
 creases. The whole ' unproductive ' ele- 
 ment of the empire is formed out of the 
 former alone. It is a crying injustice, and 
 calls for serious consideration and prompt 
 remedy. 
 
 " 2. The Mahommedan population is ab- 
 solutely ' unrepresented' at the central, irre- 
 sponsible, and dissevered government of 
 Constantinople, where the Mahommedan 
 subjects of the Sultan have really no one to 
 whom they can make known their interests, 
 or expose their wrongs. Meanwhile, the 
 Christians have, at the capital, and through- 
 out the empire, as many courts of appeal 
 and redress-demanding representatives as 
 there are consulates, agencies, and some- 
 times embassies, at hand. Indeed, not 
 only are their complaints listened to when 
 made, but even fabricated for them when 
 not made. 
 
 " Hence, and it is a deadly consequence, 
 the full weight, firstly, of fiscal oppression, 
 t;o natural to a government at once cen- 
 tralised and absolute like the Ottoman ; 
 and, secondlv, the chief weight of local and 
 44* 
 
 individual oppression, unavoidable where a 
 weak, yet unbalanced power resident at the 
 capital neglects, as it is sure to do, the 
 provinces, ifalls on the Mahommedan, and 
 not on the Christian population. For the 
 very reason that the cry of the former is, 
 practically, unheard, the latter have a thou- 
 sand spokesmen. 
 
 " 3. And this is a corollary of the above 
 — open sedition and abominable crimes 
 severely and speedily punished, when per- 
 petrated by Mahommedans, are only half 
 punished, or are even pardoned altogether, 
 when Christians are the culprits ; the hands 
 of justice being for them tied up by consular 
 or analogous intervention. 
 
 " The subject might be still further in- 
 vestigated, and instances given in illustra- 
 tion ; but thus much must suffice for the 
 main. I will only add that a striking and 
 visible confirmation of what has now been 
 stated is afforded, not on the coasts only, 
 but in the centreraost interior, the very 
 supposed focus of Mahommedan fanaticism, 
 by the manner in which the Christians of 
 those districts flaunt their ostentatious 
 wealth in splendid houses, gay dresses, and 
 all the ornaments of prosperity — a manner 
 wholly incompatible with anything of that 
 oppression so much talked of for them at a 
 distance. Among the Mahommedan popu- 
 lation these conditions are sadly reversed. 
 
 "It is a mistake, though not anunfrequent 
 one, to attribute the evident prosperity of 
 the Christians in Turkey, by comparison 
 with the Mahommedans, to some greater 
 energy on their part, industry, and other 
 virtues. Truth is, that in vigour, in probity, 
 and in steady work, the Mahommedans are, 
 as a rule, decidedly a-head of their Grreek 
 and Armenian fellow-countrymen. But the 
 former have been, and are, systematically 
 over-burdened, not to say oppressed; while 
 the latter, under protection of their advan- 
 tageous position in the Ottoman empire, 
 have been enriching themselves for the last 
 half century mainly by questionable specu- 
 lation, or by direct fraud and usury. 
 
 " Nor can the Ottoman empire right 
 itself till its burdens be equally distributed 
 on its two shoulders, the Mahommedan and 
 the Christian, not exclusively heaped up on 
 the former as they now are. Either the 
 Christians must be put on a level with the 
 Mahommedans, by being brought down to 
 them, or, much better, the Mahommedans 
 must be brought up to a level with the 
 Christians by a conscription lightened 
 
 A.D. 1870-75.] 
 
 EUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the gates of EUROPE. 
 
 because shared, and by an equable adminis- 
 tration, combined with some attention to 
 the interests of the provinces, and of a 
 loyal and hard-working, not merely of an 
 intriguing and money-jobbing, population. 
 
 "As matters now stand (1869), the Otto- 
 man government lies under the very serious 
 charge of oppressing its Mahommedan in 
 favour of its Christian subjects. I regret 
 to have to confirm the charge." 
 
 Thus, the testimony of a witness favour- 
 able to the Turks, when compared with the 
 testimony and admissions of Mr. Taylor, 
 who was unfavourable to the Turks, will, 
 probably, suffice to give a tolerably correct 
 idea of the real state of things. Of the two 
 
 witnesses. Consul Palgrave is the more re- 
 liable. 
 
 Finally, it may be asked how it is that 
 the complaints against the Turks are nearly 
 all confined to those districts so close to the 
 Russian frontier? How is it that we do 
 not hear the same accounts further west, 
 until we reach the European frontiers ot 
 Russia ? How is it that the atrocities of 
 the Mussulman only occur in the extreme 
 portions of the empire, just where Russia 
 exercises her influence, and not in the dis- 
 tricts lying in between ? 
 
 An examination into the afi'airs of Bul- 
 garia and Servia will fully supply any 
 further answer that may be required. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE GATES OF EUROPE. 
 
 When a member of parliament, Mr. For- 
 syth, gravely states, in a moment of for- 
 getfulness, without contradiction from any 
 of the six hundred who represent the col- 
 lective wisdom of Great Britain, that the 
 Roumanians, or Wallachs, are a Slav race, 
 there must be something radically wrong 
 in the knowledge of the six hundred re- 
 garding those countries between the Car- 
 pathian and the -^gean Sea, the Adriatic and 
 the Pontus, that may be called, in an ethno- 
 graphical and a political sense, the Grates 
 of Europe. Whatever the theoretical an- 
 cestors of the Wallachs may have been, 
 there is no doubt but that they have become 
 as distinct a race as the English, by a 
 judicious course of natural selection, in 
 which the Hebrew has been an important 
 element, — one might almost say a predomi- 
 nating element, would not such an assertion 
 grievously wound the feelings of the elite of 
 Bucharest and Galatz, who have discarded 
 the appellation of Wallachs for the prouder 
 title of Roumanians, signifying thereby 
 their rooted conviction that they are the 
 descendants of the ancient Romans — scions 
 of the patricians of Rome, in the same way 
 as the present inhabitants of Malta are all 
 descended from the Knights of St. John, 
 Their appearance is Oriental; their language 
 an apparent mixture of Latin, Italian, and 
 Spanish ; and their features about as similar 
 VOL. III. ' H 
 
 to a Slav's as a Chinaman's are to a Red 
 Indian's. Finally, they hate the Slavs with 
 an intensity that is only equalled by the 
 contempt the Slavs evince for them. 
 
 But the ignorance, which is inexcusable 
 in one of the six hundred, may be condoned 
 in the case of the general public. Most of 
 the books concerning these regions have 
 been written for the furtherance of some 
 special object, but none have as yet given 
 an impartial account of the medley of races 
 and creeds which have been making havoc 
 of the country since the days of the Greek 
 emperors. Some few standard works, such 
 as those of Ubicini, Lejean, Kanitz, and 
 Hahn, have appeared in tolerable abun- 
 dance ; a few geographical works, such as 
 those of Barth, Petter, and Roskievicz, 
 have helped to make the foreign public a 
 little better acquainted with the borderland 
 between Europe and Asia ; whilst, per 
 contra, myriads of political and missionary 
 lucubrations have been showered down 
 upon an unoffending public, until the 
 Eastern question, and everything apper- 
 taining to it, has become an enigma, past 
 solution in its present form of propounding. 
 If it be asked, how it happens that these 
 regions are so little known, the reply is to 
 be found in the difficulty of locomotion, 
 the number of languages necessary, and 
 the absence of all accommodation for the 
 
 45 
 
 ^•* 
 
 m 
 
BABEL ON THE ADRIATIC.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1870-75. 
 
 traveller of the day. And, in truth, except 
 for the historian, there is nothing in the 
 country but scenery to attract attention. 
 These races and regions have only a poli- 
 tical interest for the general public ; so that 
 even the coast of Dalmatia, with its chain 
 of fair and historical cities ranging from 
 Zara down to Cattaro, is comparatively un- 
 known, though Sir Gardner Wilkinson 
 long ago directed attention to this beau- 
 tiful strip of mountain land, with its num- 
 berless land-locked bays, meandering in- 
 lets, ancient towns, and picturesque popu- 
 lation revelling in a climate surpassing 
 even the far-famed Riviera. If thus the 
 very entrance, in spite of its beauty and 
 accessibility by the Austrian Lloyd's ex- 
 cellent steamers, is ignored by the ordinary 
 traveller, as well as by author and artist, no 
 wonder that the land beyond is as unknown 
 to the general public as Central Asia. 
 
 But then, how many people are able to 
 converse in Italian, German, Hungarian, 
 Slav, Greek, Turkish, and Rouman ? A 
 knowledge of these tongues is quite neces- 
 sary to travel from the Adriatic to the 
 Pontus, if the wanderer really desires to 
 acquire accurate information, or even to 
 understand what he sees. And not only 
 must he be prepared to rough it from 
 beginning to end, but also to be regarded 
 as an object of suspicion by everybody. By 
 the time he may have succeeded in over- 
 coming the distrust of one section of the 
 various races, he is sure to have roused that 
 of another; for in a country where accom- 
 modation and locomotion depend so much 
 on the good-will of the natives, and the 
 inquisitiveness leaves that of the traditional 
 Yankee far behind, it is quite astonishing 
 how rapidly one's reputation travels in 
 ativance, and fixes one down, as it were, in 
 a certain groove. Besides all this, the un- 
 couth appearance and manners of the 
 people are not calculated to inspire interest. 
 An enthusiastic traveller, who had deter- 
 mined to explore the country thoroughly 
 for a couple of years, abandoned the at- 
 tempt in despair after a two months' trial, 
 alle<>-ing, as a reason, that the different 
 races were like so many date-stones — hard 
 to crack, and when cracked, nothing inside 
 them. But then he only spoke a little 
 Italian, mixed with a smattering of Ger- 
 man. 
 
 In truth, however, apart from the fact of 
 these people belonging to the great human 
 family, and thus, at any rate, containing 
 46 
 
 within them the germs of future develop- 
 ment, they are interesting as being the 
 residue of the various races who have 
 traversed these regions on their way to and 
 from Asia. They occupy, in truth, a " de- 
 batable ground," on which Scythians, Huns, 
 Magyars, Greeks, and Romans, first planted 
 their standards on their way to conquest, 
 and where the Cross first fell a prey in 
 Europe to the Crescent, in the very midst 
 of its temples and priests. Here the Turks 
 met with their first check, in their progress 
 westward, from the Magyars, who, for cen- 
 turies, protected Europe from their in- 
 cursions, and even regained much of the 
 ground that the Moslem had won. It may 
 truly be said that the Danubian and Balkan 
 provinces are the very gates of Europe, 
 which have been fought for, in uninter- 
 rupted succession, by Greek and Roman, 
 Hungarian, Slav, and Turk, and have fur- 
 nished the scenes for an internecine warfare 
 to which every generation has contributed 
 its quota. No wonder, then, that these 
 provinces have no memorials of the past 
 but traditions of blood, fire, and rapine, 
 and no signs in the present but those of 
 hatred, jealousy, and massacre. Here 
 where, south of the Danube, people speak of 
 Europe as though they were beyond it; 
 where the clash of conflicting races and 
 creeds has never ceased ; where every 
 man's hand is armed and raised ready to 
 strike his neighbour ; where continual 
 misery has hardened all sympathy and 
 generosity out of his heart; — here an heri- 
 tage has been left behind of brutality, men- 
 dacity, distrust, and selfishness, that is not 
 to be equalled in the annals of any other 
 nation. 
 
 This is not an inviting picture ; and how- 
 ever interestinnr to the historian as an 
 ethnological riddle — however curious to the 
 student of human nature in its aberrations, 
 it is certainly not calculated to attract the 
 ordinary traveller, or to awaken that interest 
 which generous minds have always felt in 
 races and nations who are able to base their 
 appeals for sympathy not only on wliat 
 they have suffered, but also on what they 
 have already accomplished, and are still 
 willing to do. The Slav races of Turkey 
 have no relics of past grandeur. One of the 
 oldest races in Europe, the Turkish Slav, 
 can produce no proof of former greatness, 
 no architecture, no sculpture, no paintings, 
 no art, no literature. He has no record of 
 the value of his existence in any works even 
 
 A.D. 1870'-75.] 
 
 RUSSIAX EMPIRE. 
 
 [fiuioc. 
 
 of simple utility ; his national history is a 
 melancholy pesma — legendary song — of 
 bloodshed, futile struggles, treacher}^ rene- 
 gadism, and dissension. Under such cir- 
 cumstances, it is not surprising that there 
 should have been a certain admiration for 
 the Turk, who towers above the human 
 debi^ around him. This admiration arose, 
 in a great measure, from the frequent 
 perusal of " Eothen," and Curtis's " Nile 
 Notes of an Howadjah," two of the most 
 brilliant results of an exaggerated imagina- 
 tion that ever ensnared the reader. 
 
 These, and a host of similar works, called 
 up visions of cypress groves and graceful 
 minarets; of luxurious divans swelling 
 round the limbs of fair-skinned and dark- 
 eyed slaves, whose rose-dyed fingers hovered 
 gracefully over the strings of lute and 
 guitar ; of grave turbaned Turks, with their 
 carefully-trimmed beards, who, telling their 
 amber beads, seemed, as described in those 
 romances, to make Haroun-al-Rashid and 
 the "Arabian Nights" realities still exist- 
 ing beyond the seas, behind the golden 
 curtains of the East. In short, Arabs, 
 Moors, Saracens, and Turks ; Bagdad, the 
 Alhambra, and Stamboul, were all mixed up 
 in a heterogeneous jumble, and the impres- 
 sion produced, that the chivalry of Saladin, 
 the Oriental wisdom of Nathan the Wise, 
 and all the other subjects of poems and 
 romances without end, were still flourishing 
 beneath the shadow of the Sultan. Thus 
 Arab, Moor, Saracen, and Turk were con- 
 founded under the one generic term of 
 Moslem — about as rational a proceeding as 
 regarding the different races of Europe as 
 identical because they are Christians. Wise- 
 acres will smile at these delusions. They 
 are to be deplored, and all the more as there 
 seems to be a tendency among the public to 
 entertain similar delusions regarding that 
 unmitigated nuisance to Europe, the Eastern 
 Christian. 
 
 Now, in considering the causes of discon- 
 tent in the western provinces of Turkey 
 and in Bulgaria, there are several complica- 
 tions which must be rigorously borne in 
 mind at every step of the inquiry. It must 
 be remembered that the presence, on the 
 immediate confines of the empire, of such 
 enemies of the Porte as Servia, Roumania, 
 and Montenegro, to say nothing of the 
 Slav provinces of Austria, afforded the 
 Russian government not only the means 
 of keeping up a continual stir and fer- 
 ment, but also with a pretext for accusing 
 
 Austria of agitation in Bosnia and Herze- 
 govina for her own private ends. In short, 
 Russian emissaries, without number, were 
 continually persuading the frontier popula- 
 tion of the Austrian provinces to agitate 
 amongst the Slavs on the Turkish side of 
 the rivers Unna and Save ; and having suc- 
 ceeded in this endeavour, enabled the 
 Russian government to point out to the 
 Turkish authorities, through General Igna- 
 tieff, that the whole of the disturbances in 
 Bosnia and Herzegovina arose from the 
 agitation and intrigues of the Austrian 
 government. 
 
 This was so cleverly carried out, that 
 men like Consul Holmes, of Serajevo, re- 
 garded largely as a government agitation 
 what was peculiarly the contrary. The 
 agitation, carried on in the military frontier, 
 and along the Save, was excessively em- 
 barrassing to the Austrian government; 
 and they took such measures to prevent it 
 as they had at their disposal. Why these 
 measures were, and could not be other- 
 wise than inadequate, requires some ex- 
 planation ; and at the risk of some little 
 digression, it is necessary to know what 
 were the local circumstances so successfully 
 made use of by Russian agitators, from 
 Captain Becker and M. Wesselitzki, up- 
 wards, to Consul Jonine and his master, 
 Prince Gortschakoff. 
 
 The seats or districts of Austrian agita- 
 tion, provoked by Russian intrigue, are, 
 roughly speaking, twofold. One extends 
 from the seaport of Hungary down to the 
 frontiers of Montenegro; the other from 
 Fiume to Belgrade, along the rivers Save 
 and Danube. As regards the first of these 
 districts, it would probably puzzle a good 
 many people very considerably to state on 
 what sea the seaport of Hungary lies. And, 
 in truth, it has changed hands so often that 
 some perplexity on the subject might be 
 excusable. Founded by the Romans, and 
 called by them Liburnia, it fell a prey to 
 the old pre-Bismarckian days of blood and 
 iron, to the tempest of tribes, Sarmatians, 
 Slavs, Goths, Huns, and Vandals, that 
 swept down from the east and made civili- 
 sation groan. They changed its name to 
 Rieka, the Slavic for river or stream ; and 
 Rieka it remained for a goodly space of 
 time, leading a doubtful existence, some- 
 times in collusion with the pirates who 
 infested the Adriatic from Veglia down to 
 the Narenta, and sometimes warring against 
 them. Cut off from the rest of the world 
 
 47 
 
?T. VEIT.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1870-75. 
 
 by a barren, inhospitable karst, the bora 
 liowling around it in winter, the sirocco 
 8corchin(y it in summer, its inliabitants 
 were not remarkable for their intellectual 
 capabilities, and, consequently, offered a 
 rich virgin soil for Jesuit cultivation. The 
 good fathers, therefore, established them- 
 selves in Kieka, and built a church there — 
 a Pantheon-like edifice in Tniniature — 
 which they dedicated to St. Veit, and 
 succeeded in getting the name of the town 
 itself changed to St. Veit am Flaume, in 
 order to distinguish it from the other St. 
 Veits, which are so plentiful in the broad 
 domains of Austria. For a time St. Veit am 
 Flaume flourished. The Counts of Frangi- 
 paui had a castle there, levied black-mail, 
 and generally co-operated with the Jesuits, 
 who had been so successful in schooling the 
 St. Veit am Flaumers, that when the angel 
 which took up the Virgin's house at Naza- 
 reth, to save it from the Turks, stopped at 
 St. Veit am Flaume, it struck him as emi- 
 nently suitable as a final resting-place for 
 the holy mansion, a previous sojourn in the 
 Sabioncello not having turned out satisfac- 
 torily. But, from one cause and another, the 
 St. Veit am Flaumers did not duly appreci- 
 ate the gift, and so the angel disappeared 
 with it again one fine night, and took it to 
 Loreto, to the permanent pecuniary loss of 
 St. Veit am P'laume, which might otherwise 
 have prospered in matters spiritual and 
 temporal, even as Loreto, to the present 
 day, or Lourdes, by the grace of Bernadette. 
 The good Jesuit fathers were sorely exer- 
 cised by this want of confidence, especially 
 as St. Veit (St. Vitus) himself also threat- 
 ened to abandon the town to its fate — 
 whatever that might be— in consequence of 
 being deprived of the saintly edifice. But 
 the Jesuits consoled him by promising him 
 the company of a real saint once a-year — 
 of a virgin of undoubted integrity — to wit, 
 that of St. Ursula, she of the 10,000 virgins, 
 whose bones repose in the odour of sanctity 
 in the church of St. Ursula, at Cologne. 
 Accordingly, on St. Veit's festival, an effigy 
 of the saint, together with her dowry- 
 box ("which, like so many others, had fallen 
 into the hands of the Jesuits), was taken in 
 gorgeous procession to the chapel of St. 
 Vitus, and the two saints left together 
 during the nii^^ht for a friendly chat. Next 
 day she was fetched down again, with her 
 dowry-box plentifully replenished. Thus 
 the ceremony went on for a goodly round of 
 years, till some matter-of-tact statistician I 
 48 i 
 
 made the strange discovery that, in spite of 
 St. Ursula and her 10,000 immaculate 
 maidens, the number of virgins in St. 
 Veit am Flaume decreased alarmingly every 
 year; and as it was found that they gene- 
 rally disappeared on St. Vitus's day, the 
 ceremony was abolished by '* royal decree," 
 and St. Vitus compelled to take his turn in 
 ordinary with the other saints of the calen- 
 dar. St. Veit thus being under a cloud, 
 and the Italian party in strength, the name 
 of the town was once more changed into 
 Fiume, by which appellation it is still 
 known for the moment, though there are 
 several proposals to re-christen it with a 
 true, full-sounding Hungarian name, which, 
 doubtless, would have to give way to 
 another — say Kieka Rediviva — when the 
 great South Slavonic empire enters upon 
 the enjoyment of its scattered estates. 
 However, the Jesuit fathers made one more 
 last and supreme attempt to wean the 
 Fiumaners from their evil ways, and erected 
 a large crucifix outside the cathedral. But 
 one day, when a band of the Fiumaner youth 
 were playing marbles at the foot of this 
 crucifix, one of them, a godless youth who 
 deservedly lost, also lost his temper, and 
 vowed if he lost again that he would throw 
 a stone at the crucifix. He did lose, and he 
 did throw a stone at the figure, which 
 forthwith began to bleed at the place where 
 it was struck. But the wicked youth said 
 he didn't care ; nor did any of the adult 
 Fiumaners seem to care; for, with the 
 exception of a silver plate, "donated" by 
 an old lady of ninety-five to plaster up the 
 wound with, the endeavours of the fathers 
 bore no fruit whatever, and so they took 
 their crucifix into the church itself, and 
 hid it carefully away in the sacristy, where 
 the faithful may still behold it on the 
 payment of a small fee to the sacristan. 
 
 After this, P^iume went on through the 
 world in a meandering, purposeless fashion, 
 as was but to be expected from' a town that 
 refused to appreciate the Virgin's house, 
 St. Vitus, St. Ursula, a Bleeding Crucifix, 
 and the Jesuit Fathers ; so that when it was 
 incorporated with Hungary in 1866, it was 
 but receiving the just measure of its sins. 
 It certainly was hard for Croatian Fiume to 
 be placed under Hungarian rule, just be- 
 cause Hungary, like a self-willed boy, re- 
 fused to play with Austria against the 
 Prussians, unless Croatia and Fiume were 
 given over to her, together with Slavonia 
 and Syrmia. To be handed over to the 
 
 A.i). 1870-'75.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [whitehead's torpedoed. 
 
 traitor, like the silver penny given to 
 Judas Iscariot for his treachery, greatly 
 hurt the Fiumaners. They strove against 
 it energetically, but to no purpose. The 
 Magyar was determined. Fiume was to be 
 an Hungarian port, and Hungarian it be- 
 came. Forthwith, then, works were com- 
 menced to make it a port worthy of the 
 nation it belonged to. The harbour was 
 enlarged, moles and railways constructed at 
 an enormous cost, all of which helped con- 
 siderably to calm the Fiume mind, for it 
 brought money into the town ; so that at 
 present there is not much murmuring 
 against the Magyar. They are biding the 
 day when no more money will be forth- 
 coming ; when the works constructed will 
 be proved to be unremunerative, and the 
 splendid houses building can find no tenants, 
 and rents are nowhere. Then there will be 
 great clamour, and the Fiumaner loudly 
 claim his tiny per-centage on the minute 
 amount of capital he has invested in these 
 works. 
 
 Still, there is no doubt but that Fiume is 
 progressing ; but it owes no little portion 
 of its prosperity to foreign enterprise, be- 
 sides Hungarian enterprise ; for, of course, 
 they, like the Saxons in Ireland, are aliens 
 and foreigners. The largest private estab- 
 lishment in Fiume is that of Messrs. 
 Smith and Meynier, paper manufacturers. 
 Years ago, young Smith, senior, drifted to 
 Fiume, and, after much tribulation, stum- 
 bled upon the idea to invest in the linen 
 rags with which the Croatian peasantry 
 encase their lower members, and became a 
 rag-merchant. Here he was on the high 
 road to fortune, which bubbled up towards 
 him in the shape of a torrent of clear blue 
 water, rising from a rock-bound gorge a few 
 minutes distant from the town. At this 
 spot Smith, after great difficulties, suc- 
 ceeded in establishing a small mill, fed by 
 the stream running down the gorge, the 
 establishment having increased from year 
 to year, till it has become the largest of its 
 kind south of the Alps, and supplying the 
 whole of the Levant with its products, and 
 even the General Post-Office with the paper 
 for the new thick post-cards. Smith, senior, 
 who had entered into partnership with a 
 Frenchman named Meynier, died in har- 
 ness. His son, having married a daughter 
 of the late Charles Lever, has left Fiume, 
 and remains only a sleeping partner in the 
 Anglo-French firm that has done much for 
 Fiume. 
 
 Another establishment of European cele- 
 brity, yet comparatively unknown, leads a 
 busy existence in this Protean town. It is 
 that of Mr. Whitehead, who also, in the 
 teeth of the greatest difficulties, has here 
 perfected and manufactures his celebrated 
 fish-torpedo, the submarine monster that, 
 as its admirers predict, is to revolutionise 
 modern naval warfare. For the benefit of 
 ambitious States that have a little hard 
 cash to spare, it may be said that they 
 can purchase the secret and right to 
 manufacture the torpedo by giving an 
 order for fifty, at a cost of £200 each. 
 They plough through the water, silently 
 and accurately, at the rate of about twenty 
 knots an hour for the first 1,000 yards, and 
 eighteen knots an hour for a mile. On 
 these two establishments, together with the 
 government tobacco factory, employing 
 close upon 1,000 hands, the naval school, 
 and one or two smaller factories, Fiumo 
 rests its claim for respectful consideration. 
 The staple trade of the town consists of 
 timber, grain, and staves for barrels. The 
 great cooperages of Marseilles, Bordeaux, 
 and Trieste, send out gangs of 400 to 800 
 hands into the woods round about, and at 
 some distance from Fiume, where they 
 remain all the summer, bringing down the 
 produce in the ox-carts of the country, or 
 by rail, to the town for shipment. Other- 
 wise there is no speciality in Fiume, unless 
 it be the manufacture, by the jewellers, of 
 little Moor's heads for earrings, pins, &c. 
 They are of gold, with black enamel fea- 
 tures, and white enamel eyes, and turbans 
 adorned with gold stars. This art dates 
 from the time of the Crusades, and is quite 
 peculiar to Fiume. 
 
 The town itself is situated at the head of 
 the Gulf of Quarnero. 
 
 " Ch' Italia chiude ed i suoi termini bajrna.*' 
 
 as Dante sings. It is divided into two 
 parts, the western and the eastern, the 
 latter running along the Rieka, which forms 
 the old port, and reminds one somewhat 
 of San Sebastian ; whilst the former skirts 
 the bay, and contains the residences of the 
 elite of the town. Wedged in between the 
 hills that run across Istria and down the 
 Dalmatian coast, indented by numerous 
 rock-bound inlets, with purple-shadowed 
 Veglia and Cherso in the distance, and the 
 castle of Tersato rising above it behind, it 
 presents a very attractive picture, and 
 would, no doubt, have risen to a proud 
 
 49 
 
 i 
 
 
"OLD CHARLEY."] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1870-75. 
 
 f 
 
 k 
 
 ^ 
 
 ♦ 
 
 position, had not Venice formerly, and 
 Trieste at present, stifled it by their rapid 
 growth. The view over the Adriatic and 
 the adjoining country, from the castle of 
 Tersato, is very beautiful. This castle, 
 formerly belonging to the Counts of Fran- 
 gipaui, is now owned by the son of Colonel 
 jS'ugent, an officer in the Austrian army, to 
 "whom it was given, together with the title 
 ot baron, for his services durinjr the French 
 •war. He had the ruin partially repaired, and 
 uses a portion of it for a collection of anti- 
 quities from Pompeii and Herculaneum — 
 some of them very remarkable — and for some 
 specimens of the old Italian masters and 
 schools.* 
 
 No sketch of Fiume would, however, be 
 complete without " Old Charley," H.B.M.'s 
 consul for P'iume. Not that his name is 
 Charles by any manner of means ; on the 
 contrary, it is James. But the British 
 sailor having nick-named him " Old Char- 
 ley," as Old Charley is he known through- 
 out the Adriatic and Mediterranean. Here 
 he is, a battered old hulk, yet sound in all 
 his timbers, " you-wasy, and they-wasy " in 
 his speech, a credit to himself, but none to 
 the Foreign Office, having sacrificed fifty- 
 five years out of the seventy-nine he num- 
 bers for the average sum of £50 a-year. 
 It is currently reported in the East, that 
 the Foreign Office is in the habit of em- 
 ploying an experienced life-insurance doc- 
 tor, whose sole duty it is to travel about 
 inspecting consuls of mature age, and to 
 report on the expected date of their demise. 
 A few months before this date they are 
 pensioned off, pour encourager les autres, 
 and to keep up appearances. But as six 
 months must elapse before they can touch 
 the first moiety of their well-earned pen- 
 sion, they generally relieve the nation from 
 any further expense by patriotically dying 
 at once, as poor Mr. Longworth, of Bel- 
 grade, recently did, with that rare appre- 
 ciation of what was expected from him that 
 always characterised him. That "Old 
 Charley" has not yet been inspected and 
 reported on, is due either to the fact that 
 Fiume is too much out of the world, or, let 
 us hope, because he has still a goodly score 
 of years in store ; though at seventy-eight 
 that is scarcely to be reckoned on. As a 
 specimen of the Eastern consular service as 
 
 • Noteworthy, also, is the parish church at 
 Tersato, with its hundreds of votive oHerings in 
 the shape of ships and paintiugs of dire escapes 
 from shipwreck. 
 
 50 
 
 conducted by the Foreign Office, and also 
 of what material it is sometimes framed, 
 let the following letter show: — 
 
 " Fiume, Jan'' 20''» 1875. 
 " My Lord— 
 
 " I have the Honour to beg to be per- 
 mitted humbly to sollicit Your Lordship's 
 attention to my recital of long services 
 during which my various Superiors had no 
 cause of complaint having ever, during the 
 long period of my Off. Duties at this Port, 
 given every possible care and attention to 
 every one requiring my Assistance. 
 
 "In the Year 1819 I was appointed V. 
 Consul at Fiume and Dependencies by John 
 Leard, Esq. then H.B.M^'"- Consul & Mr. 
 Consul-Gen'- Hoppner then at Venice gave 
 his approbation thereto, & under date 24'** 
 Nov'- 1819 was confirmed by H.M^'» Sec'' of 
 State Lord Castlereagh. during the Years 
 1819-20 & 21 many B" Vessels were laden 
 at Fiume & Buccari with Oak Timber, 
 Plank & Trenails on the Contract that had 
 been entered into by H.M^'* Navy Board 
 & Messrs. Adamich and Haire to deliver 
 such Cargoes of Timber into H.M^' Dock- 
 yards in England. 
 
 " On the demise of Mr. Leard in 1831 I 
 took charge of the Archives of Office, report- 
 ing the sad event and so patiently awaiting 
 the decision of H.M'''' Sec^ of State ; on the 
 19^" Feb" 1832, the K' H^'« Lord Visc^ Pal- 
 merston was pleased to confirm me grantino' 
 me £50 Stg. in consideration of having re- 
 ceived testimony of my good character and 
 conduct. 
 
 "In the Year 1842 His Lordship was 
 pleased to augment the grant to £75 in 
 consequence of a Report made by Sir Thos. 
 Sorell then Consul Gr' at Trieste to that 
 effect. 
 
 " In the early part of the Year 1844 I 
 was specially sent by Sir Tho*- Sorell Con- 
 sul Gr'- to Spalatro, there to assist and pro- 
 tect the Interests of the Owners of the 
 Brit*' Vessel Chieftain Captain Keay as 
 one of the Crew had been shot by the 
 Master at night and arrested and placed 
 under trial by the Judicial Authorities there. 
 On my arrival I found Captain Reay was 
 sentenced to 6 years confinement and his 
 appeal had been forwarded to the Court at 
 Zara; from that Court in 6 days came 
 the Order ' that the prisoner be handed over 
 to my charge, as the trial had been found 
 defective for want of a competent Inter- 
 preter,' I then put him in charge of his 
 
 a:d. 1870-75.] 
 
 EUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [fTUME and TRIESTE. 
 
 Vessel and cleared her for Malta to be there 
 called to account for his conduct at Spalatro ; 
 the Vessel however did not call there but 
 proceeded on to England and when arrived 
 at Portsmouth, Capt. Reay was arrested 
 and sent to the County Prison to abide his 
 trial; the final issue there was an acquittal 
 of Murder. Sir Tho'- Sorell expressed per- 
 sonally to me his great satisfaction for my 
 services rendered him, as I had so relieved 
 him from a great torment, for had Capt. 
 Reay been imprisoned at Cape d'Istria or 
 Gradisca near to Trieste, he would have 
 been in his OfP- Jurisdiction. 
 
 "In the Year 1854 May 4^ my grant 
 was increased to £100 on my Appeal to 
 Government as being the Sen*" Vice Con- 
 sul in the Adriatic I prayed to be equal- 
 ised with my more fortunate colleagues 
 & accordingly the Rt H^'« Earl of Claren- 
 don was pleased to grant me the difference. 
 " Your Lordship, I trust will be gra- 
 ciously pleased to Observe that I have now 
 served during the full period of 55 Years 
 at the aforesaid Grant of £50, 75 & 
 100 Stg. in addition to which sum for 
 the last 10 Years I am in receipt of £6 per 
 annum as allowed me in compensation of 
 my lost Ionian fees of Office, Your Lordship 
 I hope will now permit me to appeal to 
 Your Lordship's benevolence on the ground 
 of my advanced age 78 my long services, 
 my present honourable position being the 
 Doyen of the Consular Body at Fiume, a 
 position which often places me in embar- 
 rassment from my small means at com- 
 mand, as also to meet living and House 
 Rent vastly augmented during the last 10 
 years so that I do now very humbly Ap- 
 peal to Your Lordship to take into consider- 
 ation all my services stated and to permit 
 me to hope to enjoy a little better comfort 
 these few Years longer I may have to carry 
 on with my family through the good Will of 
 the Almighty & I will ever be grateful 
 and pray 
 
 " Your Lordship's 
 
 " Most humble & Obliged 
 " Servant, 
 
 " Jm*' Tho" Hill. 
 
 " To the Earl of Derby etc. etc." 
 That, as shown by this document, " one 
 of the crew of the Chieftain had been shot 
 by the master at night, and arrested and 
 put on his trial ; that the vessel was cleared 
 for Malta to be called to account for the 
 
 captain's conduct; that the vessel wisely 
 abstained from going to Malta; that the 
 captain was acquitted of murder," are cir- 
 cumstances so remarkable, that it is no 
 wonder Sir Thomas Sorell should be hiirhly 
 delighted at having the case removed from 
 his jurisdiction, and thus being "relieved 
 from a great torment." And having repre- 
 sented the British government for fifty-five 
 years, at an average cost to the nation of 
 about £50 per annum, it is also not sur- 
 prising that Old Charley's " appeal " has 
 been granted, and that he is still permitted 
 " to hope for to enjoy a little better com- 
 fort these few years longer " he may have 
 to carry on with his family. He was still 
 hoping when these lines were penned, and 
 is, probably, doing so yet. Would it not 
 be better to- put an end to this hope de- 
 ferred? Still more, would it not be better 
 if the Foreign Office were to exhibit a little 
 more judgment in the selection of its con- 
 sular representatives? 
 
 The dominating idea of the Fiumaners 
 is a laudable, though apparently hopeless 
 ambition to rival Trieste. This ambition 
 is based on the expectation that, when the 
 Turkish system of railways is extended to 
 Sissek, the traffic will come to P'iume, as 
 being nearer, rather than to Trieste. But, 
 apart from the vested interests of the 
 Siidbahn and Staatsbahn, which top the 
 Slavonian lines at St. Peter, Steinbriick 
 and Kanizsa, political considerations must, 
 for a long time at least, render all such 
 expectations abortive. The great highways 
 of commerce in these ports, the Danube, 
 the Drave, and the Save, are already ex- 
 ploited by the Danube Steamship Com- 
 pany ; whilst the great consuming centres, 
 Vienna, Presburg, and Pesth, are, 4n addi- 
 tion, fed by the two lines afore-mentioned, 
 so that the cross-country line, Fiume- 
 Carlstadt-Agram, a stupendous monument 
 of the engineer's and mason's skill, does not 
 yet pay for its wheel-grease; whilst the 
 harbour-works, an Hungarian undertaking, 
 are consuming vast sums of money without 
 any prospect of an adequate return. The 
 trade up the Adriatic is not large enough 
 to permit a remunerative division of pro- 
 fits between three ports lying so closely 
 together as Venice, Trieste, and Fiume. 
 Venice will always command a large share on 
 account of its being the natural port for the 
 Bremen traffic to and from Southern Ger- 
 many and Upper Italy : Trieste will always 
 be the port, par excellence, for Aubtria, 
 
 51 
 
 •^ 
 
 . ,. ♦•« 
 
Il' 
 
 fiume's future.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 up to the Erz-Gabirge and Saxon frontier; 
 but Fiume can only attain importance in 
 case of the dreams of Slav, Hungarian, and 
 Italian being wholly or partially realised. 
 Thus, if ever Trieste should come to be 
 the coronat opus of Italian unity, the 
 energies of Hungarian or Slav, whichever 
 might have the upper hand, would neces- 
 sarily be directed to the development of 
 the Fiume traffic and communications. 
 Meantime each party is battling for the 
 supremacy over the other. Thus Fiume, 
 as is, indeed, the whole of Croatia and 
 Dalmatia, is divided socially into three 
 parties, with the occasional addition of a 
 fourth. First, there is the dominant party, 
 the Hungarian; secondly, the Croatian 
 autonomist and democratic party, whose 
 democracy, however, is only a pass-word to 
 autonomy ; and, thirdly, the Court Croats, 
 or aristocracy, created in very recent times, 
 and which is foreign to the traditions of 
 the Slavs, who, like the Basques, do not ac- 
 knowledge any distinction of rank amongst 
 themselves, being naturally noblemen all. 
 This party adheres per fas et nefas to the 
 Imperial Court, and strives for the re- 
 establishment of Austrian unity. The 
 fourth party is the Italian, which plays the 
 same part in Austria as the Greeks do in 
 Turkey, by fringing the Slav coasts with a 
 succession of mercantile colonies, ranging 
 from Trieste down to Budua, and which 
 insists, in virtue of the ancient rights of 
 Venice and Eagusa over these countries, 
 that they are really Italian appanages be- 
 longing by rights to Italy. 
 
 This sketch conveys an accurate idea of 
 the state of affairs generally prevailing all 
 through the Adriatic littoral of the Aus- 
 trian provinces. In Croatia, the country 
 between the Save, Drave, and the Quarnero, 
 there is somewhat more cohesion amongst the 
 population ; but the questions agitating 
 this country are just as burning and pro- 
 ductive of discontent as those further 
 south. 
 
 If the reader will take the troulJle to 
 glance at a railway map of South-eastern 
 Europe, he will observe that a line runs 
 direct south-west from Pesth, past Stuhl- 
 weissenburg, the Flatten See, and Gross 
 Kanizsa to Agram, or Zagrab, as the Croats 
 love to call it. From Agram, it will be 
 seen that there are two lines of railway 
 running to Fiume, one as long as the other, 
 and both describing a semicircle. Why \ 
 this should be so, requires some explanation 
 52 
 
 [A.D. 1870-75. *' 
 
 fractionally commercial, chiefly political. 
 The commercial explanation is, that the 
 northern line from Steinbruck to Fiume 
 forms part of the Siidbahn from Vienna to 
 Trieste, and the branch from Steinbruck to 
 Agram, built by the same company, was in- 
 tended to draw off the Agram traffic into 
 the Siidbahn, and thence to Vienna and 
 Trieste, the connecting link, Agram-Kanizsa, 
 not having then been completed. Herein 
 there was a certain amount of sense, though 
 the line might have been laid to a nearer 
 and more profitable point. The southern 
 line, Agram-Karlstadt-Fiume, on the other 
 hand, was simply a political conceit, a freak 
 carried out at the cost of over 80,000,000 
 florins— say £8,000,000. It was part of 
 the scheme that was to make Fiume the 
 seaport of the great Magyar kingdom. 
 " Teremtete ! " swore the great Magyar, " if 
 Vienna has its Trieste, shall not Pesth have 
 its Fiume ? " So the fiat went forth, and 
 the line Fiume-Karlstadt was built at the 
 above-mentioned cost. Immaterial whether 
 vessels would prefer the Hungarian to the 
 Austrian port or not — immaterial whether 
 the line passed through any centres of 
 traffic or not, it was sufficient to possess 
 the toy, and to be able to prove that there 
 is nothing impossible for the Magyar. 
 
 The line itself is a wonderful monument 
 of misapplied engineering and masonry. 
 On leaving Fiume it gradually mounts, 
 skirting the sea-shore at some little dis- 
 tance by an embankment, solidly faced 
 with smoothly-hewn masonry, to Buccari, 
 and then meanders in similar fashion across 
 gullies, hills, and barren Karst to Ogatin. 
 A sea of grey lime^tone, covered with sage, 
 is all that meets the eye between Buccari 
 and Karlstadt. Here and there it seems as 
 though some frantic attempts had been 
 made to coax a little verdure from the 
 waste of barrenness around ; and here and 
 there a solitary mill is seen ; though what it 
 grinds it would be hard to say. Two trains 
 a day traverse this wilderness — one a pas- 
 senger train, the other a goods train ; 
 though it has often been said that the 
 latter is a dummy. That the line does not 
 pay for wheel-grease, much less for its 
 repairs, is a fact no one disputes. The . 
 very officials seem to regard the line as a 
 stupendous joke, or an unsolvable riddle, 
 and drivers, guards, and station-masters are 
 all agreed that their appointment is vir- 
 tually a sentence of solitary confinement. 
 The only break in the monotony of their 
 
 A.D. 1870-75.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [AGROr. 
 
 existence is when a portion of the masonry 
 gives way, or the bora blows the train 
 bodily over the embankment, as, with the 
 exception of the engine, happened a couple 
 of years ago. Collisions never happen ; 
 but it would not matter if they did, for 
 the speed of the train is so deliberately 
 slow, that a collision could scarcely equal 
 the concussion produced by the series of 
 rapid osculatory salutes indulged in by the 
 stalwart males of the country when they 
 meet or take leave of each other. Thus, 
 having spent the greater part of a day — 
 nine hours in accomplishing the journey, 
 remarkable for nothing but the natural and 
 logical absence of refreshments on the way 
 — the tram-car arrives, with a feeling of 
 relief seldom experienced, at Agram, the 
 capital of Croatia, favourably situated at a 
 little distance from the Save, in the midst 
 of a fertile plain, whence rises the " Grad," 
 containing the chief ofiicial and ecclesias- 
 tical buildings. The appearance of the 
 town is agreeable; it has a homely air 
 about it, and is evidently meant for use 
 and not for show, like Buda-Pesth. Alto- 
 gether, after issuing from the wild karst 
 between Agram and Fiume. a certain sur- 
 prise is felt at seeing oneself again in the 
 midst of well-stocked shops, and with a 
 choice of good hotels before one. The mar- 
 ket, in the centre of which stands a statue 
 of the great Ban of Croatia, Jellachich, 
 •which is thronged by a busy, bustling 
 crowd, presents a scene of great anima- 
 tion, especially noticeable being a number 
 of Jew pedlars and traders, who, thanks to 
 Count Molinari, are now free to trade in 
 any part of Croatia and the Militair Greme. 
 
 Being the centre of the South Slavonic 
 movement, the seat of the Croatian Diet, 
 and the residence of a bishop, Agram, of 
 course, represents the intellectual activity 
 of the Croats, who meet in great force, 
 afternoon and evening, in the cafe Hrvat — 
 Hrvat, to pronounce which please put an 
 ear of barley the wrong way down your 
 throat and say " cravat," meaning Croatian. 
 Here, in view of Jellachich's statue, Croatian 
 and South Slav patriotism is rampant, and 
 in vain will you look for a single Magyar 
 amidst the dense crowd thronging the 
 saloons. Here meet the journalists, lawyers, 
 and members of the Landtag^ who are 
 working for the " cause," and discussing the 
 events "over the border." These events 
 were assuming a definite shape as early as 
 the summer of 1873. 
 
 VOL. lu. I 
 
 For a long time past the relations of the 
 Christian merchants of the north of Bosnia in 
 general, and the better class of Mussulmans, 
 had been of a most unsatisfactory nature. 
 These merchants were comparatively rich, 
 and from their vicinity to Austria, had 
 acquired a more independent character than 
 elsewhere, and had thus, in a corresponding 
 degree, awakened the jealousy and animosity 
 of their Mussulman compatriots. There is 
 no doubt, therefore, that they had been 
 subjected to petty annoyances and small 
 persecutions, for which they had been un- 
 able to obtain redress at the hands of the 
 local authorities, and which had irritated 
 them excessively. Still their complaints 
 were exaggerated as to the importance and 
 degree of these vexations, and their own 
 conduct also tended to exasperate the ill- 
 will of the Turks towards them, especially 
 as the enmity of Bosniac Mahommedans is 
 principally directed to the n;ierchant or 
 trading class of Christians, and it is not at 
 all exhibited in the same degree towards the 
 peasant. The former class grows rich, has 
 no interest in common with the Turk, and 
 excites his jealousy ; while the latter works 
 for the Mahommedan landowners, and their 
 interests are bound up together. This ill- 
 feeling between the Christian trading classes 
 in Bosnia and the Mussulman proprietors 
 is excessive, and in a great measure has 
 been caused, and is fomented, by local 
 peculiarities. In other parts of Turkey 
 there were Christian and Mahommedan 
 populations, who lived together in much 
 more tolerable amity, and who, though the 
 Turkish element was in the ascendant, and 
 the Christians suffered a certain amount of 
 oppression in consequence, were not subject 
 to the causes which, in Bosnia, tended to a 
 degree of exasperation which was not to 
 be met elsewhere. These causes were the 
 vicinity of the various Slav populations of 
 Austria, Servia, and Montenegro, who, 
 independent of the Turks themselves, never 
 ceased, by writing in the ^public press, by 
 emissaries, and by facility of personal inter- 
 course, to excite the Christians to dis- 
 content by assuring them of their superior 
 political and social position in comparison 
 with their assumed miserable state, and 
 who exasperated the Turks by exaggeration 
 of every matter that occurred, and by 
 threats, sometimes of annexation to Servia 
 — sometimes of invasion, and by abuse of 
 every possible kind. Now, as both Turks 
 and Christians in Bosnia are equally igno- 
 
 53 
 
 ■•♦ 
 
TROUBLES IN BOSNIA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1870-75. 
 
 if 
 
 I ': 
 
 I 
 
 fl 
 
 ;| i 
 
 rant and fanatical, the result of all this was 
 a state of things which was most deplor- 
 able, but for which it was difficult to find 
 any remedy. The governor-general of 
 Bosnia, in 1873, was an exceptionably good 
 man, and did his utmost to prevent abuses 
 and to administer justice; but when he 
 required information, and demanded the 
 truth from the local authorities, they 
 unanimously replied that the Christians 
 were wholly to blame; that they did all 
 they could to disturb the public tran- 
 quillity, and that the Turks were perfectly 
 innocent, and, in fact, the victims of the 
 animosity and intrigues of the Christians. 
 
 The result of this state of affairs was 
 that 327 merchants of Grradiska fled to 
 Austria for protection in July, 1873, alleging 
 that their lives were in danger ; and, at the 
 same time, it became known that a number 
 of Christians had been cast into prison at 
 Jaitze, because the wife of a Mussulman 
 had been murdered by brigands. An in- 
 quiry into the Grradiska affair was at once 
 demanded by the Austrian consul at Sera- 
 jevo, M. Theodorovich. His demands were 
 acceded to, and on July 6th he proceeded 
 to Grradiska, in company with the governor- 
 general. The result of the inquiry was 
 that the Christians disagreed among them- 
 selves, fully half of them declaring that 
 they had nothing particular to complain of, 
 and accusing those who had crossed the 
 Save of endeavouring, by their intrigues, to 
 embroil the whole Christian community 
 with their Mussulman compatriots. Such 
 being the case, the consuls received a noti- 
 fication from the governor-general, to the 
 effect that thirty-two Christian merchants 
 of Gradiska, whose names were given, 
 having left the Turkish territory, their 
 shops and magazines had been sequestered 
 and sealed up by the authorities, and that 
 the space of a month would be allowed to 
 any foreign or other auditor of these indi- 
 viduals to present their claims. At the 
 same time, with regard to 272 murders, 
 stated in the newspapers to have taken 
 place in the neighbourhood of Gradiska 
 within the space of six weeks, M. Theo- 
 dorovich said there was a rumour of one ; 
 but, though he made inquiries, he could 
 not establish even this one fact. 
 
 This incident gave rise to a number of 
 despatches from the foreign consuls to 
 their various governments, each one repre- 
 senting the affair from his own particular 
 point of view. Raschid Pasha, Consuls 
 54 
 
 Holmes and Longworth, all expressed their 
 opinions that the disturbances were due to 
 the presence and instigation of Austrian 
 agitators. This opinion was correct in so 
 far that these agitators may have been 
 Austrian subjects; but it was incorrect in 
 so far as it conveyed the idea that tbey 
 were government agents. They were sim- 
 ply Slavs, following out their own views, 
 and belonging to that party which advo- 
 cated the extension of Slav influence at the 
 expense of German and Hungarian. 
 
 The Gradiska affair may be taken as a 
 specimen of its class. The Christians of 
 this town, as in all others of sufficient 
 importance, had established an Opechtina, 
 or council, ostensibly, and partly in reality, 
 occupying itself with the administration of 
 the schools and the ecclesiastical revenues, 
 but also acting as a political committee, 
 charged with the propagation of the Slav 
 idea, and, consequently, a focus for foreign 
 agitation. All these Opechtinas were in 
 communication with the revolutionary 
 committee, and the Omladina in Servia, and 
 the Serb districts of Croatia and Hungary ; 
 and when the Opechtina of Gradiska was 
 being worked by the agents despatched by 
 these committees, one of its members, a 
 certain Stovo, for whatever reason, whether 
 from malico, conscientious motives, or to 
 curry favour with the Turks, got up a pro- 
 test ajxainst the machinations of the Serb 
 agitators. This protest was in course of 
 being signed, when one of the agitators 
 surprised him, and snatched the paper out 
 of his hands. Determined to frustrate 
 Stovo in his denunciation, the members of 
 the Opechtina who were implicated, lodged 
 a complaint again5>t him before the kai- 
 makam, a governor of Gradiska; but when 
 they found that the kaimakam knew more 
 than they thought he did, they adopted the 
 more prudent course of fleeing across the 
 frontier. ♦ 
 
 Thus the whole affair resolved itself into 
 the denunciation by an "informer" of a 
 revolutionary committee, which proved its 
 guilt by running away. All this was amply 
 established during the inquiry conducted 
 by M. Theodorovich, the Austrian consul, 
 in spite of the endeavours of the ex-Austrian 
 vice-consul of Banjoluka, M. Draganchich, 
 who was one of the chief agitators acting 
 in favour of the Austrian Slavs. 
 
 The affair at Jaitze was similar in its 
 results. The Turkish authorities had 
 heard that two notorious brigands were 
 
 A.D. 1875.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [BOSNIAN ATROCITTES. 
 
 concealed in the house of a Christian 
 named Alexi Vartellas, and sent the mudir 
 to arrest them. But the mudir and his 
 people were driven off by the wife of Alexi 
 and her neighbours. Four days afterwards 
 the wife of a Mussulman in the nei'j^hbour- 
 hood was murdered; and then, and not till 
 then, were Alexi and bis accomplices 
 arrested, but, with the exception of Alexi 
 and his wife, set at liberty after the first 
 hearing of the case. 
 
 Naturally, the unfavourable report of M. 
 Theodorovich, as to the conduct of the 
 Christians, caused a tempest of indigna- 
 tion in Servia and Croatia. The Croat 
 journal, Obzor, declared that Theodorovich 
 had induced the Christians to revoke their 
 complaints on various pretences, and had 
 then left them to their fate; and openly 
 called upon Russia either to form an inti- 
 mate alliance with Austro-Hungary against 
 Prince Bismarck and a powerful Slav com- 
 bination against Germany, or boldly declare 
 war to Austria, and take the fate of the 
 Slavs into her own hands. At the same 
 time, the committees redoubled their exer- 
 tions to organise a systematic revolt; but 
 as the conduct of the Christians in the 
 Gradiska affair, and the report of M. Theo- 
 dorovich, was fatal, for the moment, to the 
 success of any action on the Austrian fron- 
 tier and the north of Bosnia, it was re- 
 solved, at the instigation of M. Wesselitzki 
 — a Russian agent of Herzegovinian extrac- 
 tion — to address a letter to the Prince of 
 Montenegro, claiming his protection. This 
 letter was signed by a number of Bosniaks 
 and Herzegovinians, and was the commence- 
 ment of an agitation which was energeti- 
 cally carried on throughout the year 1874, 
 and resulted in the flight of a number of 
 the inhabitants in the district of Nevesinje 
 to Montenegro. Having here received their 
 instructions, and being supplied with funds, 
 they applied to the Porte for permission to 
 return to their homes. This permission 
 was granted, in opposition to the wishes of 
 the governor, who was aware of their object; 
 and, in the beginning of July, 1875, they 
 broke out into open revolt, and, forming 
 into separate bands, commenced a series of 
 attacks on the Turks, and either persuaded 
 or forced the Christians to join them. This 
 movement rapidly increased in intensity, 
 and assumed such proportions that the 
 Porte began to be seriously alarmed, and 
 sent two commissioners. Constant Effendi 
 and Hassan Pasha, to try to arrange matters 
 
 with the insurgents, who fixed a day to 
 meet them. At the time appointed, how- 
 ever, they did not put in an appearance; 
 and after waiting some time in vain, the 
 two Turkish officials were informed that 
 they did not intend to come at all, as they 
 had no confidence in them. They would 
 only agree to a meeting in case their safety 
 was guaranteed by the European consuls. 
 The result of this action, combined with 
 the information received as to the activity 
 of the committees, and the intrigues carried 
 on, under the auspices of the Russian gov- 
 ernment, by Prince Milan and Prince 
 Nikita of Montenegro, led to the proposal 
 of a consular commission, which should 
 ascertain the demands of the insurgents, 
 mediate between them and the Turkish 
 authorities, and generally endeavour to ar- 
 range a basis for the friendly action of the 
 powers. 
 
 This proposal was agreed to, and on Sep- 
 tember 12th, the commission arrived at 
 Nevesinje, which had been one of the chief 
 scenes of the revolt. They found all the 
 eastern part of the town, and all the bazaar, 
 burnt and in ruins. Dead bodies were lying 
 in various corners unburied ; and in one of 
 the streets lay the head of a boy, blackening 
 in the sun. A little Turkish girl was 
 brought to Consul Holmes and his col- 
 leagues, the Russian and French consuls, 
 who was suffering from a wound in her 
 throat. One of the insurgents was de- 
 tected in the act of cutting her head off, 
 when she was fortunately snatched from 
 him by another less bloodthirsty one, and 
 allowed to escape. 
 
 On the 15th of September, the first 
 meeting between the insurgents and the 
 consuls took place at the village of Beograd, 
 near Nevesinje. The consuls began by in- 
 forming the insurgent deputies that there 
 was no hope of assistance from any of 
 the European governments, nor from Servia, 
 nor from Montenegro ; and strongly advised 
 them to lay down their arms, and lay their 
 complaints before Server Pasha, who had 
 been delegated by the Porte to inquire into 
 their grievances. 
 
 This was but poor consolation for the 
 insurgents, who, moreover, knew better 
 than the consuls what assistance was to be 
 expected from Servia, Montenegro, and 
 Russia. The rest of the tale may be told 
 by Consul Holmes, as he recounted it in 
 his despatch of September 28 : — 
 
 " In the course of our interviews we were 
 
 55 
 
 1 
 
*! 1 
 
 THE CONSULAR COMMISSION.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1875. 
 
 t 
 
 constantly asked whether the powers would 
 guarantee the execution of justice and 
 reform. We replied that we were merely 
 charged to give them friendly advice as to 
 the best means of relieving themselves from 
 the difficulties in which they were involved, 
 but that they might be sure the Turkish 
 government was sincere in its promises, 
 and that the attention of Europe having 
 been drawn to their atfairs, the government 
 could not deceive them without serious loss 
 of honour, and damage to its own vital 
 interests. They asked why Server Pasha 
 had not come with us, and why the dele- 
 gates of Austria, Germany, and Italy were 
 not with us, if they had the same message 
 to give them. We replied that we had 
 nothinc: to do with Server Pasha ; that we 
 were not acting as Turkish agents, but 
 eimply as friendly messengers from the 
 European governments, who, disapproving 
 the means they were adopting to obtain 
 their desires, had sent us to advise them 
 what course they had best pursue, and that 
 we had not come in one body in order to 
 gave time, as, while we were here with 
 them, the other delegates had gone to the 
 neighbourhood of Trebinje, and along the 
 Dalmatian frontier. 
 
 "They repeatedly declared that they 
 "were, and wished to remain, faithful sub- 
 jects of the Sultan, taking off their caps at 
 the mention of his name, but that his 
 majesty was deceived by his pashas, and 
 could not be aware of their condition. We 
 again pointed to Server Pasha's mission, 
 this time proceeding direct from the Sultan, 
 as a proof to the contrary. 
 
 "In short, the result was, that unless 
 Europe would guarantee their safety from 
 their agas and the authorities, and that the 
 reforms promised should be really carried 
 out, they dared not, and would not, lay 
 down their arms. 
 
 " While we were at Beograd, the insur- 
 gents repeatedly expressed a fear that they 
 would be attacked by the Turks. One 
 night they nearly all left us, fearing an 
 attack from Hojak, a neighbouring Turkish 
 village which they had not been able to 
 destroy. We assured them that, while we 
 were with them, we did not think they 
 would be molested. 
 
 "We had several zaptiehs with us as 
 guides, as well as our cavasses, all of whom 
 were in abject fear the whole time of our 
 stay, as the insurgents, while we were 
 absent, did not hesitate to express their 
 56 
 
 sentiments of hatred and vengeance against 
 all Turks. 
 
 "On the 18th two other chiefs came 
 with a few followers, and our interviews 
 with them were to the same purpose, and 
 with the same results as with the others. 
 We were told that, as their chief leaders 
 were engaged in active operations, they 
 could not probably come to meet us ; but if 
 they could, they would see us the next day 
 at Trussina, on our way to Dabar. We 
 had previously intended to go to Gatzko, 
 but the insurgents assured us that it would 
 be useless, as their people were dispersed in 
 the mountains defending themselves against 
 Selim Pasha. 
 
 "On the 19th we left Beograd, accom- 
 panied by a small band of insurgents; and 
 at Trussina we met with about a hundred 
 and fifty more, but no other leading men 
 beyond those we had already seen. We 
 dismounted near a fountain, and had a last 
 interview, in which the same questions and 
 statements were made as at previous meet- 
 ings — the same replies on our part, and 
 with the same result. At parting, the 
 insurgents said that, if we would go to tlie 
 neighbourhood of Bilek, they would meet 
 us there, and we should, perhaps, be able to 
 see many others, as the chief body of 
 insurgents was between Bilek and Trebinje. 
 They said if we went they should see us 
 and join us ; if not, they would send a final 
 message to us at Stolatz before the 22nd, 
 but still repeated that they would not 
 submit. 
 
 "We left them with the intention of 
 proceeding, if possible, to Bilek. On the 
 way to Stolatz, however, whither we had 
 decided to go first in the hope of receiving 
 some intelliijence of our colleaofues, we met 
 a couple of battalions, with provisions and 
 ammunition, proceeding in the direction 
 from which we had come. I ordered my 
 cavass to inquire of some of the soldiers in 
 charge of the baggage where they were going. 
 They informed him that they were going to 
 attack the insurgents we had just left, next 
 morning before daybreak. I felt very in- 
 dignant, as did my colleagues, at this 
 attempt, as it seemed, to profit by the fact 
 of our having assembled together a certain 
 number of insurgents, to attack them 
 when off their guard. On arriving at 
 Stolatz, the kaimakam also stated that an 
 attack was to be made on the insurgents 
 we had left; and on my expressing my dis- 
 approval of this proceeding, he said that 
 
 A.D. 1875.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [andrassy's note. 
 
 he did not know — that he rather thought 
 the troops were marching to Bilek, with 
 provisions for the garrison there. The 
 governor-general had been at Stolatz, and 
 had only left for Mostar two hours before 
 our arrival. 
 
 "We heard at Stolatz, also, that our 
 colleagues were at Trebinje and Zupci, and 
 would, therefore, meet the chiefs of the 
 rebels, who were all in that direction. We 
 waited till the 22nd, and not having re- 
 ceived any message from the insurgents at 
 Trussina, as promised, we returned to 
 Mostar." 
 
 Thus the famous consular commission 
 came to the end which the Russian 
 consul had determined it should as- 
 sume. 
 
 As for Consul Holmes, who ought to have 
 known better, he fell into the common loose 
 way of speaking of the rival parties, dividing 
 them into " Turks and Christians," which 
 is just the same as saying, "Englishmen 
 and Catholics." He, as well as his col- 
 leagues, never drew the proper distinction, 
 or endeavoured to impress his government 
 that the cause of the differences were 
 religious difficulties between men of the 
 same race, in the vast majority of cases 
 accentuated by the civil and military privi- 
 leges enjoyed by the professors of the one 
 faith over the others. 
 
 However, this consular commission was 
 so far of benefit as it demonstrated 
 the absolute necessity for some speedy 
 remedy. This remedy was easy enough to 
 find ; but it was not so easy to find any 
 power prepared to enforce it. Russia did not 
 desire a peaceable settlement. She was the 
 chief conspirator. Germany and France 
 counterbalanced each other ; Austria was in 
 conflict with herself on the question ; and 
 England, as represented by Lord Derby, 
 was equally undecided. At last, Count 
 Andrassy drew up a memorandum, in which 
 he urged upon the Porte the necessity of 
 granting certain reforms, which he formu- 
 lated as follows : — 
 
 1. Religious liberty, full and entire. 
 
 2. Abolition of the farming of taxes. 
 
 3. A law to guarantee that the product 
 of the direct taxation of Bosnia and Herze- 
 govina should be employed for the imme- 
 diate interests of the provinces. 
 
 4. The institution of a special commis- 
 sion, composed of an equal number of Mus- 
 sulmans and Christians, to carry out these 
 reforms. | 
 
 5. The amelioration of the rural popu- 
 lations. 
 
 To this memorandum the other powers 
 all agreed ; but, instead of presenting it to 
 the Porte with a distinct threat that the 
 reforms in question would be enforced by 
 them if the Sultan did not carry them out, 
 it was presented separately by the respec- 
 tive ambassadors, and did not take the 
 form of a collective note. 
 
 The reason for this procedure on the part 
 of Austria was, that Count Andrassy was 
 afraid of rousing the Slavs against him, 
 and thus losing his position. Lord Derby's 
 reason was of the same nature. He was 
 frightened to death at the bare idea of 
 affording any pretext for another discussion 
 of the treaty of Paris, and yet had not the 
 courage to avail himself of the rights 
 accorded by that treaty to the signatory 
 powers, to insist upon the proper treatment 
 of the Christians. This conduct was all 
 the more inexcusable inasmuch as Count 
 Andrassy had to consider the very strong 
 feeling of the Hungarians against the 
 Slavs, and against any policy which might 
 lead to an annexation of the revolted pro- 
 vinces. 
 
 Thus matters went on. The Slavs of 
 Austria naturally did all they could, in 
 the face of many and great difficulties, 
 to ferment the disturbances, and they 
 made no secret of it. Committees were 
 openly formed all over the country, osten- 
 sibly for the relief of the refugees, of course, 
 who passed over the frontier; but,in fact, the 
 government had quite lost its hand over its 
 subjects, and was powerless to check the 
 most flagrant violations of the frontier. In 
 short. Slavism was rampant throughout the 
 country, and the excitement quite intense. 
 This state of affairs continued through- 
 out 1875, till the beginning of spring, 
 1876, when a certain change took place, 
 due to the action of the Catholic clergy, 
 who were beginning to be alarmed at the 
 dimensions the movement was taking, and 
 the prominent part played by Servia and 
 Russia as champions of the Orthodox Chris- 
 tians. This change manifested itself amongst 
 the Catholic communities of Bosnia, who 
 held more and more aloof from the move- 
 ment. From the first they played a very 
 cautious game. Possessing great privileges, 
 the Catholic Church in Bosnia was always 
 careful to remain on good terms with the 
 Porte — as, indeed, it is the modern policy 
 of Catholicism everywhere to seek its sup- 
 
 57 
 
 
 ^<i| 
 
 ••♦ 
 
 K> 
 
 
SERVTA AND MONTENEGRO.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1S75. 
 
 , J 
 
 port from the government if any way pos- 
 sible. Their action would have been still 
 more decided in favour of the Porte, if 
 hopes had not been entertained that Aus- 
 tria mio^ht, at the last hour, consent to the 
 annexation of Turkish Croatia, and part, at 
 least, of Bosnia and Herzegovina. But 
 when the "atrocity" excitement arose, the 
 Catliolic Church felt itself exactly in the 
 same position in regard to the Grreek 
 Church, as the Church of England felt 
 itself in regard to dissent. For the Daily 
 News, having regained its position as the 
 exponent of the views of the dissenting 
 world, and having called its party to the 
 front on the common ground of humanity 
 • and Christianity, the Church of England 
 had not the courage to refuse its co-opera- 
 tion, trusting to time and events to bring 
 about a reaction. Thus the Catholics again 
 took a more prominent role when they 
 clearly saw that Turkish rule was virtually 
 approaching its end. 
 
 The leading idea — the Grundgedante — of 
 this policy of the more foreseeing section, 
 and the most influential section of the 
 Croatian party and the Vatican, is to 
 cement the good relations existing between 
 them and Prince Nikita, of Montenegro. 
 There must ever be a rivalry between the 
 two reigning houses of Servia and Monte- 
 negro. Both countries claim the mission of 
 re-uniting the Serb provinces of Turkey, 
 and forming out of them an independent 
 kingdom. Both countries may unite for 
 awhile with the object of taking joint 
 action against the common enemy ; but 
 •when success has crowned this action, under 
 which leader, under which house, are the 
 destinies of the Serbs to be shaped ? The 
 Vatican gives the preference to Prince 
 Nikita; Montenegro is to be the Servian 
 Piedmont, and Prince Nikita its Vittorio 
 Emanuale. AH sections of the Serbs and 
 Slavs, Czechs, Croats, and Slovacks, acknow- 
 ledge the disinterested patriotism of Prince 
 Nikita ; all foreign nations bear testimony 
 to his single-mindedness, honesty, and te- 
 nacity of purpose. He possesses personal 
 qualities of the highest order, and there is 
 no flaw in iiis escutcheon. There are no 
 such blots on his shield as those that in- 
 duced the Emperor of Germany to refuse 
 to receive Prince Milan. There are also no 
 rival houses in Montenegro; no Karageorge- 
 vitch, and no Obrenovitch, to disturb the 
 peace by their intrigues. Finally, tliere is 
 in Montenegro a total absence of all the 
 68 
 
 bureaucratic paraphernalia, modelled on the 
 system of a great country, that make the 
 Servian government the prey of endless 
 intrigues and jealousies. There are as 
 many ministers and heads of departments 
 in Servia to 1,200,000, as in Great Britain 
 to 28,000,000 souls ; and the same diversity 
 of personal interests, which, from the ab- 
 sence of broad and general views, degene- 
 rates from large-party action into tea-party 
 squabbles and scandal. Added to this is 
 the fact that the Servian people would not 
 find the least difficulty in transferring their 
 allegiance from Prince Milan to Prince 
 Nikita, especially if he brought to the 
 union between Montenegro and Servia a 
 dowry, in the shape of Bosnia and the 
 Herzegovina, to establish an independent 
 State with. On the other hand, the moun- 
 taineers of Montenegro would never allow 
 their reigning family, which has such just 
 claims to their affection and esteem, to be 
 swallowed up in the vortex produced by the 
 rival houses of the Obrenovitch and Ka- 
 rageorgevitch, or be ousted in favour of 
 either. 
 
 But, in addition to th^se general princi- 
 ples which guided the Vatican, there was 
 another and special idea that led to their 
 adoption. The Catholic Church has already 
 a firm footing in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 
 whilst in Servia it has none; nor is it likely 
 to acquire any as long as St. Petersbu-g 
 rules at Belgrad. It became, therefore, of 
 the highest importance for the Vatican, that 
 Bosnia and Herzegovina should not be 
 merged in Servia; but, on the contrary, 
 Servia merged in Bosnia, Herzegovina, and 
 Montenegro. A glance at the map shows, 
 that, in this case at least, common sense is 
 on the side of the church. From Budua to 
 the junction of the Save and Unna an arbi- 
 trary line has been drawn, cutting a country 
 inhabited by the same races into so unequal 
 a portion, that the western tract is but 
 a mere strip of sea-coast, possessing the 
 largest number of unrivalled ports, for the 
 distance, in any part of the world ; whilst 
 the eastern portion, including Montenegro, 
 is entirely cut off from the sea, or from 
 deriving any advantage offered by the splen- 
 did littoral Dalmatia consists of. In any 
 case, a more dog-in-the-manger policy never 
 existed than that of Austria, which refuses 
 to give up Dalmatia — a tract, be it remem- 
 bered, that does not pay for its administra- 
 tion—to Montenegro and the Turkish Slavs ; 
 and also refuses to annex these provinces, or 
 
 A.T>. 1874-75.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [archduke MAXIMILIAN. 
 
 in any way to assist in their development. 
 Austria has not even the plea of strategic 
 necessity for this policy. There is, first 
 of all, nothing for Cataro, Spalatro or 
 Sebenico to defend ; and, secondly, not any 
 of the fortifications on the whole line could 
 resist fonr-and-twenty hours' bombardment. 
 If ever a coast was marked out for peaceful 
 and commercial purposes, it is that of 
 Dalmatia; and one cannot help a feeling of 
 thorough indignation when one thinks that 
 these fair countries, and a steadfast, loyal 
 people like the Montenegrins, are handed 
 over to misery, simply to satisfy the selfish 
 fears and political conceit of a race who are 
 flaunting their pride in the mediaeval tag- 
 raggery of a by-gone epoch, when brute 
 force was still synonymous with valour and 
 courage, and have nothing to show for their 
 pretensions but a suspension-bridge, built 
 by English engineers ; a gilded post-office, 
 that ignores every language but its own 
 isolated lingo; jobbery canals, to reward 
 patriots of the General Tiirr stamp ; steam- 
 ploughs, and other agricultural machines, 
 that have not yet been paid for — a race, in 
 short, that is strutting the political stage 
 in the costume of the 12th century, and 
 playing a masquerade with the national 
 capital of valour and chivalry their fathers 
 won for them ages ago, but which they have 
 done nothing to deserve, as people will find 
 out when the interest on the Hungarian loan 
 remains in nubibus ; and Baron Roths- 
 child will inform us how much of the last 
 Hungarian loan he succeeded in placing on 
 the market. 
 
 Thus both Dalmatia and the Turkish 
 group of Slav provinces are condemned to 
 stagnation, because a turbulent Magyar 
 race " teremtetes " and blusters the marrow- 
 less, invertebrate assembly, that propagates 
 itself by a process of fission from year to 
 year, under the name of the Vienna 
 cabinet, into acquiescence with its anti- 
 quated and retrogressive views. When one 
 thinks of Magyar and Spaniard, one shud- 
 ders for the peace of eternity; for how 
 these two races mean to settle their claims 
 to the realms of heaven, whence they are 
 descended, and where only their own res- 
 pective languages are to be spoken, surpasses 
 
 the comprehension of mortals this side of the 
 bourne. The only hope is that the ques- 
 tion will be settled mundanely, in a sub- 
 lunary spirit of common sense, by reducing 
 their pretensions to a proper level — a suffi- 
 cient fall, it is certain, for Magyar conceit. 
 Now, the Vatican plainly seeing that 
 their hold upon one section of the Pan- 
 slavistic community would be endangered 
 by the merging of Bosnia, Herzegovina, 
 Montenegro, and, as a necessary corollary, 
 of Dalmatia and Croatia into Servia and a 
 Russian outpost or protectorate, worked 
 hard, and with much hope of success, to 
 attain one of two objects — either to pro- 
 cure the annexation of Bosnia, Herzego- 
 vina, Croatia, and Montenegro to Austrian 
 Croatia and Dalmatia, as the South Slavic 
 confederation, state, or province of the 
 future, and incorporate Servia with it, or 
 to procure the formation of a similar state, 
 under the rule of Prince Nikita — not 
 Milan — for the reasons above stated. In 
 short, the Vatican strives for the union of 
 these provinces, either outside the pale of 
 Austria or within it, but at any rate united 
 and freed from Hungarian domination, as 
 well as from Russian and Orthodox en- 
 croachments via Servia. 
 
 For how long, and with what tenacity, 
 the Vatican and a portion of the Viennese 
 Court has adhered to this policy, may be 
 judged from the fact that the plan was 
 seriously discussed of proclaiming the Arch- 
 duke Maximilian King of Servia. All the 
 essential conditions were agreed upon be- 
 tween the royal family and the Servian 
 representatives ; but the plan was wrecked 
 by the Servians demanding that the arch- 
 duke should abjure the Catholic and 
 assume the Orthodox faith. Neither the 
 Vatican nor the traditions of the Haps- 
 burgers would sanction such a step; and 
 thus the archduke was obliged to renounce 
 the crown offered to him. The second 
 that was proposed to him be accepted, 
 with the title of Emperor of Mexico. 
 Having lost this one with his life, in the 
 service of the interests of the church, the 
 least she can now do for him is to award 
 him the crown of martyrdom, with the title 
 of St. Maximilian. 
 
 59 
 
 im * 
 
 % 
 
 ^ y 
 
 S ► 
 
CANON LIDDON.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1876. 
 
 A.D. 1876.] 
 
 EUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the finanz. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 *TWIXT CRESCENT AND CROSS. 
 
 Meantime, in addition to the insurrection 
 in Herzegovina, the rebellion also broke 
 out in the north of Bosnia, more or less 
 along the confines of the Austrian frontier. 
 The state of these districts during 1876 
 was sad enough, but still nothing like as 
 bad as was commonly reported, chiefly by 
 the correspondents, who were never nearer 
 this part of the country than Ragusa, 
 several hundred miles away. The following 
 account of the condition of this portion of 
 the disturbed regions was written on the 
 spot : — 
 
 A couple of hours' ride by rail, through 
 a fertile district, over the rich black soil that 
 lies between the Save, Drave, and Danube, 
 brings the traveller to Sissek, where the 
 railway comes to an end, and the dominion 
 of the Danube Steam Navigation Company 
 commences. True, some five-and-twenty 
 miles further south there exists a fraction 
 of the projected Turkish lines through 
 Bosnia, running from Novi to Banjaluka ; 
 or rather, it begins a little this side of 
 Novi, at Doberlin ; but from there to Sis- 
 sek, Hungarian " interests " block the way. 
 
 Sissek lies on the Save, close to the 
 junction with this river of the Kulpa, 
 along the valley of which a railway is also 
 projected to Karlstadt, as part of the line 
 it is intended to build from Essciror to 
 Sissek, and thence to Flume. This line, 
 connecting the Save, Drave, and Danube 
 with the Adriatic, and which will also be 
 fed by the Turkish lines, will be a very 
 important one, and especially benefit 
 Sissek, which is already a busy, thriving 
 town on both sides of the Save, and the 
 terminus for steam-traffic. Like Agram, 
 one cannot help constrasting its busy, 
 work-day appearance with the idling, 
 Sunday-afternoon-enjoyment aspect of the 
 Hungarian provincial towns. Four times 
 have I visited Sissek within the last three 
 years, and each time I have observed 
 unmistakable signs of progress ; whilst 
 such towns as Szegeddin and Czegled in 
 Hungary are always the same, and remind 
 one forcibly of the dense duckweed on a 
 stagnant pond unruffled by any breeze. 
 
 Here, so close to the scene of action, 
 60 
 
 we might easily expect to hear some 
 authentic news of the events occurring lower 
 down the river. The expectation was not 
 unfounded as regards news of the most 
 startling description. Bodies were floating 
 in the river, minus the heads, legs, or arms, 
 and tied to stakes in an attitude highly 
 disrespectful to the population on this side 
 of the river. In fact, whilst the heads 
 were looking across into Austria, the bodies 
 turned their backs to it. At some points 
 there were said to be seen some unhappy 
 wretches impaled alive, and who had been 
 known to have been writhing in unspeak- 
 able agony for three days and nights — a 
 story that I see has been endorsed by 
 Canon Liddon and Mr. MacCoU in the 
 Times, from personal observation at some 
 little distance. Now, there is no need to 
 exaggerate the horrors of this Eastern 
 war ; they are quite bad enough ; but I 
 have been up and down the Save three 
 times, not on board a comfortable steamer, 
 but on horseback, zigzagging about on 
 either side the river, and I have not yet 
 been able to see any such horrors as those 
 sworn to by the officials on board the boats, 
 or the atrocity-mongers of Sissek. The 
 mendacity of the Slav in matters political 
 is so stupendous, that to look for the 
 smallest particle of truth, is like pumping 
 tlie four oceans dry to find one certain 
 grain of sand. 
 
 For these reasons, coupled with my 
 own observations, I refuse to believe the 
 tales told about the impalements, &c., 
 along the Save; and were there room for 
 any "belief" at all regarding the state- 
 ments of Turk or Slav, I would just as 
 soon believe the former as the latter. As 
 an instance of how the deeds of one are 
 foisted on the other, let the following story 
 suffice. At Kobass, on the 24th of June of 
 this year (1876), I was shown the body of 
 an alleged Turk, which was fearfully 
 mutilated ; the head was split, cut ofT, 
 minus nose and ears, and the eyes gouged 
 out. This was a sample of Christian 
 atrocity. But it struck me as rather 
 curious that here, in Turkish Kobass, 
 amidst a Turkish population, there should 
 
 be this solitary instance, especially as there 
 had been no fighting in, or reasonably near, 
 Kobass, to bring the body there. I in- 
 quired about it. "Oh, Eff*endum," was 
 the reply, "they did it over on the other 
 side (of the river). The man was a fisher- 
 man, and had unwittingly drifted over to 
 the opposite bank, when he was attacked. 
 We heard his cries for help, and went to 
 his assistance, but were too late." " How 
 did you go to bis assistance ? " I asked, 
 drily. " Five of us jumped into a boat, and 
 fired on the giaours, and then they all ran 
 off" into the thicket." " How many of them 
 were there ? " " V'allah, twenty or thirty ! " 
 "And so," I said, " twenty or thirty men fell 
 upon one man, and ran away when they 
 saw five getting into a boat to cross the 
 river ! That won't do." Having taken 
 them aback in this manner, I quietly went 
 to the body and examined it, and proved to 
 my own satisfaction, and to the complete 
 discomfiture of the Turks, that the man, of 
 whatever other religion he may have been, 
 was most certainly neithi^r a Jew nor a 
 Moslem. I could mention a couple of 
 dozen instances, at least, where I was led 
 into a wild-goose chase through the plausi- 
 ble lies told me. 
 
 The prevailing character of the Save, 
 like the Drave and Lower Danube, is one 
 of loneliness. Arable land and pasture 
 alternate with low and well-timbered hills, 
 the forest oft-times stretching right down 
 to the water's edge. The villages are 
 mostly wooden ; many of the houses built 
 on piles, as at Sviniar, where inundations 
 are frequent, and last sometimes three or 
 four weeks. Altogether, the plains, dark 
 forests, and general mud-and- water aspect 
 of the lower grounds between the Danube, 
 Save, and Drave, present an aspect closely 
 resembling the features we are accustomed 
 to associate with the earlier diluvial 
 periods. At some places I quite imagined 
 I had a lacustrine village before me. I could 
 vividly picture to myself the unwieldy 
 forms of a megatherium or an ichthyosau- 
 rus characterising the landscape, and be- 
 thought me, frequently, of the lines some 
 poet or other attempts to describe the age 
 in: — 
 
 (< 
 
 The ' grey old age ' lacustrine Celt, 
 
 To save him from the wiles 
 Of bears and wolves, and such like, dwelt 
 
 On lake-surrounded piles ; 
 And hugging there a wooden pot, 
 
 He gulped a sorry juice — 
 To cheer his sad rheumatic lot — 
 
 Of juniper and spruce." 
 
 VOL. III. K 
 
 Only in lieu of juniper and spruce, substi- 
 tute " slibovitz," a spirit distilled from the 
 prune, which forms here the national beve- 
 rage, and has quite a Celtic flavour about 
 it. The prune, in fact, is one of the chief 
 staples of trade in Slavonia and Bosnia. 
 Every peasant distils his own liquor, the 
 " Finanz " taking care to get the govern- 
 ment tax upon the quantity produced. 
 
 This "Finance," somewhat resembling 
 our excise, is a peculiar feature of these 
 parts, not only in those bordering the fron- 
 tier, but also far in the interior. Com- 
 bining excise with custom duties, and even 
 the collection of taxes, and possessing a 
 military organisation, they form an in- 
 fluential body of men, in virtue of their 
 oflScial character, their superior education, 
 and the patriotic unity prevailing amongst 
 them. They are all Slavs, necessarily so, 
 in order to carry out their duties, and are 
 thus unadulterated with any Magyar ele- 
 ments. Intensely sympathising with the 
 political objects of the South Slav party, 
 they have done, and are still doing, all they 
 possibly can to promote the success of their 
 brethren across the frontier. I am strictly 
 accurate when I say that, for them, the 
 frontier does not exist when it is unfavour- 
 able for their friends on the other side. 
 This state of things is very irritating for 
 the Hungarians, but they cannot prevent 
 it. The troops they send down to the 
 frontier, but who are always quartered at 
 some distance from the river, are quite 
 powerless to counteract the " Finanz " in- 
 terest ; nor, to tell the truth, do they try 
 to do so ; for the soldier, as I have seen in 
 Poland, Italy, and France, has a strong 
 objection to what he calls " playing the 
 policeman." His business is not preventa- 
 tive, but executive. Thus when Mr. 
 Holmes, British consul at Serajevo, ascribes 
 the Bosnian troubles, in a great measure, 
 to Austrian intrigue, and the facilities 
 atForded to the insurgents in crossing and 
 making use of the frontier, it must be 
 borne in mind that, as I have shown, the 
 frontier does not exist, and that from the 
 very nature of the circumstances, the 
 government has no power in the matter. 
 Being under Hungarian administration, it 
 is quite certain that the Hungarian govern- 
 ment did all in its power to keep these 
 districts well in hand, but quite unsuccess- 
 fully. For instance, the sale of powder 
 being strictly forbidden within so-and-so 
 many miles of the frontier, the " Finanz " 
 
 61 
 
 i 
 
 .•♦ 
 
 :t 
 
 ■1/ 
 
THE BOSNIAN BEGS.J 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1876. 
 
 are the very men who procure it, and facili- 
 tate its transit. One of them told me a 
 very good story. The Turks had been in 
 the habit of coming across the river to buy 
 powder, and, of course, now required large 
 quantities. A trader in Grradiska was 
 applied to by a Turkish merchant to pro- 
 cure him twenty barrels, and was told that, 
 as the sale was forbidden, it could only be 
 procured by dealing in it as black sand — 
 the villanous substitute for blotting-paper, 
 und which bears considerable resemblance 
 to powder. Of course the Turk did not 
 care what it was " declared " as, and thus all 
 the bills of lading, &c., were made out for 
 so-and-so much " Streusand." He re- 
 ceived his twenty barrels, paid for them, 
 pocketed his bills of lading, customs 
 receipts, &c., went home to Grradiska, and 
 found there that his barrels contained just 
 what the bill decbred — sand, and nothing 
 more. Of course he could do nothing; 
 but I would not like to be in that Austrian 
 trader's shoes if his victim should ever get 
 him into his power. 
 
 The Hungarians have thus a hopeless 
 task before them if they desire to cut off 
 communication between the two banks of 
 the river. It is a difficult task to accom- 
 plish between two different races or nations 
 — vide the Franco-Spanish difficulties dur- 
 ing the Carlist war. But to draw an arbi- 
 trary line of that sort between communities 
 of the same race, and having the same 
 sympathies and interests, is absolutely 
 impossible. One might as well try to 
 draw a line from Portsmouth to Leith, and 
 forbid communication between the denizens 
 of the two halves, whilst leaving the 
 guardianship of the line in these denizens' 
 own hands. Even if there were a sufficient 
 number of Hungarians to take the place of 
 the " Finanz," they could not do it, from 
 ignorance of the language. And if the 
 difficulties are so great on what is called 
 the " water frontier," and which is formed 
 by the Save and part of the Unna, what 
 must they be on the "dry frontier " (Troc- 
 kene Grrenze), running in a zigzag fashion, 
 with bends and twists innumerable, through 
 marshes and forests, over mountains and 
 vales, from Budua, on the Adriatic, to 
 Brod on the Unna ? 
 
 Thus, though the minarets and mosques 
 on the right bank of the Save, and the 
 Greek and Latin Cross on the left, show 
 that there is a religious division marked by 
 the waters of the meandering river, there 
 62 
 
 is no difference of race, language, or habits, 
 lay and religious customs, between the 
 population on either side, except as regards 
 their condition. Little as there is to 
 admire on either side, one cannot help 
 being struck by the contrast between the 
 neat-looking villages, with their church 
 steeples and belfries, generally two to each 
 village — a Catholic and a Greek one — and 
 the ramshackle, tumbledown hovels along 
 the opposite bank. And, more significant 
 still, whilst here and there on the Turkish 
 side, a handsome villa in an elevated 
 position, tastefully selected, may be seen 
 gleaming out of the foliage, nothing of 
 that kind is to be observed on the Austrian 
 side. Those houses are the residences of 
 the Beys; they take the place of the 
 baronial strongholds of mediaeval times ; 
 whilst below them, clustering together in 
 human styes, seethes the suffering mass of 
 humanity whose blood and sweat are poured 
 out into the ground in the service of their 
 masters. On the Austrian side, equality 
 seems, on the whole, to characterise the 
 people. Their houses are all, more or less, 
 of equal size, and equally well kept; 
 though, all the way from Sissek down to 
 Semlin, these two are the only places that 
 can fairly claim the title of a town. But, 
 though primitive in appearance to the 
 highest degree, the houses of the peasantry 
 — Austrian side — are comfortable, well 
 suited to the requirements of the people and 
 exigencies of the climate. The better class 
 live very well ; meat, fuel, wine, slibovitz, 
 grain, flax, hemp, &c., are all grown by them- 
 selves; and where one proprietor is in want of 
 one of these commodities, he resorts to a sys- 
 tem of barter with his neighbours. But, like a 
 bugbear, or horrible nightmare, the sha- 
 dow of Turkish rule weighs heavily on this 
 district, which ought to be the centre of 
 one of the busiest highways in Europe. 
 Navigable for a distance, as the crow flies, 
 of 300 kilometres, the Save almost connects 
 the Adriatic with the Black Sea, the source 
 of the Kulpa not being more than twelve 
 miles distant from Fiume. And, as though 
 nature intended it as an outlet for the pro- 
 duce of Bosnia, it is abundantly fed by the 
 waters of the Glina, Unna, Bosnia, Ver- 
 bas, and Drina — all of them rivers that are 
 or might be made navigable for barges and 
 small craft, and running through districts 
 rich in the possession of all kinds of vege- 
 table, animal, and mineral produce. 
 
 So much for the Save. A famous hiirh- 
 
 A.D. 1876.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the bosniaks. 
 
 way to travel comfortably by, from Adria to 
 Hungary and Servia, it is quite certain 
 that the traveller in search of information 
 regarding the war of 1877-'78, must seek it 
 elsewhere than on board the steamers. If 
 the officials are Germans, " Schwaben," or 
 shortaway, " Schwab," they will indulge in 
 wholesale and indiscriminate vituperation 
 of Slav, Magyar, and Turk alike. If Slavs, 
 if Hungarians, then woe-betide the credu- 
 lous ; but if the traveller wishes to know 
 what the real character of the Bosnian 
 revolt was and is, let him visit the villages 
 along the high road that skirts the Save at 
 a distance of some ten miles, say, beginning 
 at Brod and passing, via Oriovatz and New 
 Gradisca, to Pakratz. There he will see 
 the material " foreign intriguers " strive to 
 excite into revolt. Excite I Not all the 
 intriguers of Europe could produce such a 
 feeling in the Bosniak mind as excitement. 
 Not all the heroes of all ages and nations 
 would be able to screw up the Bosniak's 
 courage to fighting-point His spirit is 
 utterly crushed. Even that great attribute 
 of mankind, the consciousness of his misery, 
 is absent in the Bosniak. I can say nothing 
 more expressive than this, nothing that 
 speaks such volumes. If it be doubted 
 that this is true, let me point to facts and 
 figures. The Christian population of Bos- 
 nia amounts to some 500,000 souls ; of these 
 160,000 are refugees on Austrian soil, and 
 some 40,000 in Servia, where they have 
 sought and found a shelter. Nearly half 
 the population has run away; the other 
 half is cowering, in abject terror, at the 
 foot of the Moslem, who holds their lives, 
 and the bodies of themselves, their wives, 
 and daughters, at his disposal. The Moslem 
 population amounts to about 400,000: 
 they are the most fanatical, tyrannical, and 
 brutal element in the Moslem world. But 
 they, too, are Bosniaks, Slavs by race and 
 by language, and have no more connection 
 with the Turk or Osman, than an English- 
 man has with a Caffre. It requires far 
 more love for one's neighbour than, at any 
 rate, I possess, to feel any sympathy with 
 such a race — as a race — of which one-half 
 is composed of brutal renegades, and the 
 other half of abject animals, which have 
 been steadily pursuing a course of retro- 
 grade development for the last 600 years. 
 By all means extend sympathy and charity 
 to the individual — we even do that to the 
 homeless dog and the abandoned cat — but 
 do not let false sentiment plunge Europe 
 
 into a war for the sake of such a race. 
 Keep the causes of this degradation well in 
 view, and insist on the removal of those 
 causes, not so much for their own sakes as 
 for the honour and welfare of the rest of 
 humanity. And in regard to the sympathy 
 that is being lavished on these people — 
 Moslem or Christian — I would just ask, 
 leaving out of the question such amiable 
 souls that would weep over the blighted 
 affections of a youthful frog — how much of 
 this sympathy is less with the people than 
 with the country ? In how far is this sym- 
 pathy provoked by the neglected state of 
 the land, and the non-development of its 
 natural resources. The sight of a fertile 
 estate running to ruin through the in- 
 capacity, from whatever cause, of the owner, 
 causes a feeling of pity, not for the pro- 
 prietor, but for the riches thus running to 
 waste. So with Bosnia. Here is a land 
 running to rack and ruin, that might ma- 
 terially benefit millions of people ; and it 
 certainly claims our sympathy in this 
 sense, and in a practical form. The ques- 
 tion must be approached in a practical, and 
 not in a sentimental frame of mind. 
 
 Thus, to sum up matters under the 
 present circumstances on the Save, I find 
 that there is no question between Turk 
 proper and Slav; but that the existing 
 state of things, atrocious or not, has arisen 
 amidst an homogeneous race, and is due to 
 the jealousies and dissensions of the Slavs 
 themselves. We find that here, in Bosnia, 
 one-half of the race, the landed proprietors, 
 became renegades, and identified themselves 
 with their conquerors. The other half, 
 crushed, humiliated beyond description by 
 their own brethren, had but a fraction of 
 personal freedom left them. And this 
 fraction of liberty only helped to produce 
 another division- in their broken ranks, 
 and to separate them into two sections, the 
 Orthodox and the Catholic, each of which 
 regards the other with intense aversion, 
 even to the extent of one of them pas- 
 sively uniting with the Moslem. 
 
 No sketch of these regions would be 
 complete without a picture of the clerical 
 prince of Croatia. 
 
 Not very long ago two men were waiting in 
 the refreshment-room at Mestre for their re- 
 spective trains. They seemed to know, but 
 took no notice of each other. The one was 
 a tall, gaunt personage, with wiry, grey 
 hair bushing out on either temple, marked 
 features, and small glittering eyes. Ho 
 
 63 
 
 1 
 
 
 •'» 
 
BISHOP STROSSMAYER.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1876. 
 
 A.T). 1876.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [bishop STROSSMAYER. 
 
 walked with an elastic step, and had all the 
 appearance of a man bearing the responsi- 
 bilities of a hif^h position, and quite satis- 
 fied with the way he was discharging its 
 duties. The other was a short, stout in- 
 dividual, with heavy eyelids, aquiline but 
 flabby nose, and careless, not to say 
 slovenly, in his dress. He, on the other 
 hand, did not impress one with the idea of 
 his being a successful man. On the con- 
 trary, he rather conveyed the impression of 
 his being a disappointed man — of what the 
 Germans would call a " Verfehlte Existenz." 
 The former was Joseph George Stross- 
 mayer. Bishop of Bosnia, Djakovo, and Syr- 
 mia ; and the latter was Ernest Renan. 
 The trains came up, and the bishop, the 
 author of Pomponio Leto's "Eight Months 
 in Rome," and the " Letters of Quirinus," 
 went to Rome; whilst the author of the 
 " Life of Jesus " went wandering to Venice. 
 The one had made his peace with the 
 Vatican; the other was still erring out- 
 side the pale of any church — a wander- 
 ingr Jew amongst the Pharisees. The one 
 was still a potent factor in the world's 
 society ; the other but one of the phantas- 
 magoria of Bohemian life. So, at least, 
 saith society. 
 
 As we have said, no picture of South Sla- 
 vonia would be complete without its virtual, 
 if not declared head — the central figure, in 
 short — that represents the aspirations, capa- 
 bilities and intellect, the virtues and the 
 failings, of the Southern Slav. It must be 
 remembered that he also represents the Va- 
 tican and the Roman Catholic Church, in 
 spiteof the views he took, and the line of con- 
 duct he pursued, during the Vatican Council. 
 It is well to direct especial attention to this 
 fact, because Canon Liddon and Mr. Mac- 
 Coll, who recently visited the bishop for 
 two days, have certainly misapprehended 
 his political position, and have ascribed 
 principles and ideas to him he is far from 
 entertaining. It is not easy to say how the 
 misapprehension arose — whether the bishop 
 himself caused it, or whether the episcopal 
 splendours of Djakovo occupied too much 
 of the reverend gentlemen's time to cor- 
 rectly appreciate the bishop's views : pro- 
 bably the latter was the case ; for two days 
 are scarcely sufficient to master a mind of 
 such intricacy, in spite of his apparent 
 frankness, as Bishop Strossmayer's. Whilst 
 Canon Liddon asserted that the bishop 
 wishes Bosnia to be annexed to Servia, it 
 is just exactly the contrary that is the 
 64 
 
 bisliop's desire. In whatever way the 
 error has arisen, it is a fundamental error, 
 and one that nobody could fall into if he 
 had the most elementarv knowledore of the 
 question. A moment's consideration will 
 prove that such is the case. Servia is an 
 Orthodox State ; Bosnia partially Catholic ; 
 and the Vatican opposed jper fas et nefas 
 to the Orthodox Church, or any extension of 
 its jurisdiction. Bishop Strossmayer, repre- 
 senting the Vatican, could, therefore, not 
 possibly counsel the incorporation of Bosnia 
 with Servia — except, perhaps, as a pre- 
 liminary step, and in view to future boule- 
 versements, which it is just in the interest 
 of Europe to prevent. 
 
 With this correction. Canon Liddon's 
 views and opinion that Bishop Stross- 
 mayer "probably holds in his hands the 
 tangled threads of the Eastern Question 
 more perfectly than any other man," are 
 quite correct. Quite true, lie does. But ho 
 pulls them from a specifically Croatian or 
 South Slavonian point of view, and, if he 
 could, would solve the enigma by the light 
 of this view, which just happens to be one 
 of the questions — i.e., whether the disinte- 
 gration of Turkey is to result in a Croat, a 
 Serb, or a Russo-Panslavonian State ? or, 
 whether things are to go on as hitherto 
 after a judicious course of tinkering and 
 re-modelling ? 
 
 Apart from his personal qualities and 
 talents. Bishop Strossmayer owes his suc- 
 cess to accomplishing the most difficult feat 
 of sitting between two stools. Formerly the 
 Court preacher (Hofprediger) of the Biirg- 
 kapelle in Vienna, he made many influential 
 friends at Court, and was appointed to his 
 present post in 1850 ; Croatia, from its mili- 
 tary services and loyalty, having always en- 
 joyed much imperial favour, especially at that 
 time, when Austria owed so much to theCroa- 
 tians in suppressing the Hungarian revolu- 
 tion of 1848. Then, a quarter of a century 
 ago, the Panslavistic hydra had not yet 
 reared its countless heads, and Croatia was 
 regarded as one of the mainstays of Austria, 
 to influence which, Hofprediger Strossmayer 
 was regarded as eminently well fitted. 
 
 But the causes that made him at that 
 period a persona gratessima to the Viennese 
 government, came to an end when Pesth 
 shared with Vienna in the administration of 
 the empire, and shut Croatia out in the cold. 
 The Hungarians would be but too glad 
 could they but get rid of a l)ishop who 
 stigmatises them as Turks, and worse than 
 
 Turks ; but the Court and Slavonic party at 
 Vienna are too well aware of his influence 
 not to keep him in his present post; added 
 to which, his liberal views have gained him 
 the support of the anti-ultramontane and 
 anti-concordat parties. At Rome, again, the 
 Vatican would gladly have excommunicated 
 him, as they proposed doing, had he not 
 been indispensable to them from his ascen- 
 dancy over the Croats. Thus, ecclesiastically 
 obnoxious to the Vatican, politically hated 
 by the Hungarians, he was politically 
 necessary both to the Courts of Rome and 
 Vienna; whilst latterly he has been recon- 
 ciled to the Vatican, and the past dispute 
 allowed to drop, on the part of the Vatican 
 from expediency, and on his part for the 
 national, i. e., Croatian welfare. 
 
 IS'ow Bishop Strossmayer is eminently cal- 
 culated for preparing the great work that 
 must always precede the unification of 
 crude and diverse materials. If Prince 
 Kikita, in whom the bishop has every con- 
 fidence, is to be the Vittorio Emanuele of 
 South Slavdom, Strossmayer will certainly 
 be its Cavour. He has laboured for years 
 in the work, promoting culture, industry, 
 and economy, by every means in his power, 
 throughout Croatia. He has largely con- 
 tributed to an Academy of Art at Agram ; 
 under his fostering care literature — national 
 Croatian literature — is flourishing; no Croa- 
 tian artist applies to him in vain ; all men 
 of culture and intelligence are welcome to 
 him ; and, if possible, he seeks to retain 
 their services. The amelioration of the con- 
 dition of the peasantry is constantly before 
 him. In short, there is no subject concern- 
 ing the progress of the country, from paving 
 a road to founding an academy, to which he 
 does not devote his attention, his influence, 
 and his purse. Add to this his learning ; i 
 his knowledge of Italian, French, and Ger- | 
 man ; his hospitality, and ways of a refined 
 man of the world, and a courtier; his 
 manly instincts and force of character ; his 
 chivalrous enthusiasm for the cause he 
 is engaged in ; his diplomatic acumen 
 and political knowledge. Sum all this up, 
 and the result is a perfect Bayard of the 
 church. It would, under these circum- 
 stances, seem somewhat ungracious to be 
 obliged to demur to some of the opinions 
 ascribed to him by Canon Liddon and Mr. 
 MacColl ; but as these gentlemen have re- 
 presented him as denying Servian intoler- 
 ance in rrorp d to the Jews, it may casually 
 be obs*. rved that, next to the Magyars, the 
 
 objects of his greatest aversion are the Jews, 
 But that is such a minor point that it is 
 not worth consideration when discussing 
 Bishop Strossmayer. Suffice it to say that 
 the Croats, under his leadership, consider 
 themselves entitled to assume the hege- 
 mony in the South Slavonic state of the 
 future, in virtue of their superior qualities 
 and powers, and would certainly never let 
 themselves be swallowed up by the Serbs. 
 
 The daily life of such a man and his 
 surroundings cannot but be interesting, 
 especially when both preserve, in a high 
 degree, the character of ecclesiastical life 
 in the palmy days of its power. We ab- 
 stain purposely from the word mediaeval as 
 used by Canon Liddon, for we quite fail to 
 see what there is peculiarly mediaeval about 
 the bishop, his palace, or his surroundings. 
 Nor, from what we remember of Fulham 
 Palace, do we quite see how that building 
 can be compared, externally or internally, to 
 the episcopal residence of Djakovo. It is 
 built in the form of a quadrangle, is one 
 storey high, and surrounds a large court- 
 yard inhabited by a fox, a couple of eagles, 
 and a youthful stork. The basement is 
 taken up with the household offices, stables, 
 &c., a long gallery running round the 
 upper storey, out upon which open the doors 
 of the saloons and rooms occupied by the 
 various officers of the bishop's household, 
 his secretaries, clerks, &c., the chancellerie 
 being on the ground-floor. There are three 
 separate suites of apartments — the grand 
 saloon, hung with the portraits of the 
 former bishops of Djakovo, a billiard-room, 
 and dining-room, leading lengthways away 
 from the front towards the back of the 
 building. Adjoining this suite follows a 
 series of smaller rooms and cabinets, used 
 chiefly for the bishop's guests, the walls of 
 each hung with paintings of various earlier 
 schools, especially Venetian and Tuscan, 
 and of modern Slav artists, all of which 
 are intended as a gift to the National Aca- 
 demy of Art at Agram. To the right of 
 the grand saloon a door leads to the bish- 
 op's private apartments, the surroundings 
 of which are certainly more in the style of 
 "the grand monarque " than the others, 
 which are but meagrely furnished, and will 
 be empty when the paintings are gone; 
 whilst the rooms occupied by his secreta- 
 ries, Monsignore Vorsak, M. Gamperl, and 
 Count Jules de Drohojowski, are of a truly 
 monastic simplicity. A large garden and 
 well-wooded grounds are attached to the 
 
 65 
 
 I 
 
 I. 
 
 * 
 
 'v. 
 
 ;i»' 
 
 
 
DJAKOVO.J 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1870. 
 
 i.D 1876.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 ["HAREM PASHA." 
 
 palace ; and, in the farther corner of the 
 court-yard, on the right-hand when enter- 
 ing, is the ancient episcopal chapel where 
 the bishop attends mass. Till one o'clock, 
 the episcopal dinner hour, he is engaged in 
 bis study, and does not like to be dis- 
 turbed, no matter by whom, except on 
 business. By that time, however, the 
 guests of the day, and the members of his 
 household, assemble in the grand saloon 
 till he makes his appearance, and leading 
 the way with the chief guest to the place 
 of honour on his right, casts business to 
 the winds, and sets to enjoying himself 
 and delighting the company, which seldom 
 numbers less than a dozen, and generally 
 amounts to twice that number, especially 
 on Sundays and fete days, when his table 
 is more than usually crowded. Amongst 
 the guests are the German and Italian 
 artists who are engaged on the frescoes in 
 the cathedral of St. Peter, which the 
 bishop is building partly from funds pro- 
 vided by his predecessors for the purpose, 
 but chiefly from his own pocket. It is a 
 fine structure of bright-red brick in the 
 Italian Romanesque style, the two western 
 towers, surmounted by finely-tapering 
 steeples, and the cupola, being of the same 
 material, and presenting thus a rather 
 peculiar appearance. The crypt and vaults 
 are roomy, and built of solid masonry ; 
 whilst the interior, when finished and 
 adorned with the frescoes designed and 
 executed by MM. Zeitz, father and son 
 (pupils of Cornelius and Overbeck, but 
 domiciled in Rome), will bear comparison 
 with that of any of the chief churches in 
 Rome. The visitors are from all corners of 
 Europe ; Franciscan friars from Bosnia ; 
 officers from Essegg; clerical dignitaries 
 from Agram and Rome; delegates from 
 Dalmatia ; artists, authors, and stray waifs 
 from London or Paris, who have remem- 
 bered the sensation caused by the " wild 
 Croat," as Pio Nono called him, who tried 
 to devour the infallible dogmatists at the 
 Vatican Council. These are the elements 
 which, presided over by a host who knows 
 how to draw his guests out, easily prolong 
 the dinner, with the aid of an excellent 
 cuisine and irreproachable cellar, to half- 
 past three or four o'clock. But, be it 
 known, a Slav dinner is no small matter. 
 It must be approached in a spirit of mo- 
 desty and doubt as to one's capabilities, 
 but With stem determination withal. Not 
 that the viands are so overwhelming in 
 66 
 
 amount, as a general rule ; though, ob one 
 occasion, no less than forty-seven dishes 
 were served, which took three hours and 
 a-half to work through, being at the rate of 
 one every four minutes and a-half, but on 
 account of the Slav habit of toasting in 
 bumpers of good-sized tumblers. The 
 "Nazdravas" (your health), and the 
 "Zivios" (viva), on such occasions, are 
 something portentous in their frequency. 
 Supposing there are twenty guests at the 
 table, the bishop makes the beginning, and, 
 after a complimentary speech, drinks to 
 your health, to which you bow your ac- 
 knowledgments, but do not drink in re- 
 sponse at once ; at the same time he couples 
 your name with that of some lady, present 
 or not. After an interval you rise, and, 
 thanking his excellency, drink with a 
 *' Nazdrava " to somebody else's very good 
 health ; that person returns the compli- 
 ment ; and thus the toasting goes on and 
 on, till the amount of wine imbibed con- 
 vinces one that purity, at any rate, exists 
 somewhere, and that is in the bishop's wine 
 — most of it grown on his own estates, 
 which produce some 10,000 gallons a-year. 
 After dinner, coffee and cigars ; whilst the 
 bishop, not being a smoker, disappears, 
 and indulges in forty winks, which is rather 
 gratifying as showing, at any rate, one 
 mortal weakness in his armour. But it is 
 not more than forty winks, for he soon re- 
 appears for a drive or ride on horseback to 
 his vineyards, park, or preserves, of which 
 he possesses two, one for large, and the 
 other for small game; besides a tract of 
 forest for wild boars. The chief park is 
 divided into two sections by an ordinary 
 fence, separating the common deer from 
 the white deer (Dammhirsch), of which 
 there is a herd of 400. Here the bishop 
 amuses himself by taking a shot now and 
 then, but misses on purpose, except when 
 there is a grand battue in honour of some 
 high and mighty guest, and proves that he 
 is as keen a sportsman and as good a shot 
 as any Highlander that ever wore a kilt 
 instead of a bishop's apron. Then back to 
 the palace, and supper at 7 P.M. ; after 
 which, a rubber with Canon Vorsak and 
 Count Jules de Drohojowski. This goes 
 on till about ten o'clock, and then to bed, 
 where, in his dreams, the bishop still 
 carries on his implacable war against Turk, 
 Hungarian, and Hebrew, and rises at about 
 5 A.M. in summer, and six in the winter ; so 
 that his life is not all play and pleasure. 
 
 Yet it is this aspect of his existence 
 that most strikes casual visitors, and pro- 
 duces upon them the impression of " me- 
 diaeval splendour ;" which Canon Liddon ran 
 away with, or which ran away with him, and 
 led him into such statements as that the 
 bishop's " head-servant " is called " Harem 
 Pasha," when alluding to the bishop's 
 " Pandour," an official for out-door work 
 that every nobleman possesses, and who is 
 dressed in the regular Pandour costume of 
 red, blue, or other colour, adorned with an in- 
 tricate system of brass- plates and bells, and 
 strings and tassels, and whom it would be the 
 height of presumption to attempt to de- 
 scribe. He is truly an important-looking 
 and imposing personage, and appears to 
 have had the same effect with his " Asiatic 
 splendour" upon the Canon, that the beadle, 
 in his scarlet cloak, is intended to exercise 
 on the infantile mind. So far from the 
 title *' Harem Pasha," which so touches the 
 Canon's sense of humour as applied to a 
 Roman Catholic bishop's "head-servant," 
 being a remnant of Turkish customs, it is 
 nothing else but a nick-name given to him 
 in reference to a little episode, of which, 
 no doubt, his manly or imposing form was 
 the original cause. Finally, he is not the 
 bishop's head-servant at all. That per- 
 sonage is a demure gentleman in black ; 
 and if the Canon gave his parting douceur 
 to the Pandour instead of to him, it is an 
 additional proof of the value of brilliant 
 externals, though it is to be lamented, in 
 this case, for the opinion that will be en- 
 tertained of the Canon in the servant's 
 hall at Djakovo. 
 
 These, it will be said, are very small 
 matters. But if small things are thus 
 misrepresented when it would have been 
 quite as easy to represent them correctly, 
 the other representations must also be 
 taken cum grano magno — maximo, in 
 fact. For it must be remembered that 
 the bishop's table is a peculiar institution 
 — a sort of political alembic — that receives 
 a continual strain of crude materials, and 
 distils them over, chastened and purified, for 
 export all over the country, and beyond it. 
 Thus the Canon and Mr. MacColl were 
 wonderfully well rectified in the episcopal 
 sense, and, like the port-wine fortified with 
 a modicum of alcohol, were sent back to 
 England with a tinge of mediaevalism to 
 suit stronger tastes. Of course, all such 
 free hospitality always has its object when 
 the host is a public character, and pro- 
 
 duces its effect, as Lady Glencora has 
 shown us, especially where society is not so 
 scrupulously conscientious as was the duke 
 and her other critics. A Croat, above all. 
 Catholic in all his instincts by nature, 
 Roman Catholic by his profession, diplo- 
 matist, politician, and courtier by taste and 
 turn of mind, and an eminently practical 
 idealist. Bishop Strossmayer does not enun- 
 ciate a single word that has not its well- 
 defined object. His most sparkling anec- 
 dotes have a hidden moral, an argumentum 
 ad homineni in them ; and it is only by 
 continually bearing this in mind, that one 
 can fully estimate the important object he 
 is playing for— i.e., the elevation of the 
 Slav generally, the Croat in particular, and 
 the reduction of the Hungarian influence 
 to its numerical proportions. 
 
 It cannot be denied that he has a good 
 case. His special complaints are, that the 
 Hungarians swallow up 55 per cent, of the 
 Croatian revenue for imperial purposes, 
 and only leave them 45 per cent, for educa- 
 tional and public works; that the postal 
 service, the telegraphs, and all other 
 important posts are occupied by Hun- 
 garians ; that they are abolishing German 
 in the national schools, and substituting 
 Hungarian; that they have allowed the 
 Jews to settle within the quondam military 
 frontier; in short, that Croatia is to the 
 Hungarian government that which Bosnia 
 is to the Turkish. Emancipation from 
 Hungary is his primary object, as a Croat 
 and Slav; and to obtain this object he would 
 enter into any temporary arrangement 
 with Servia, or the young Servian party, to 
 produce the necessary pressure. Turkish 
 misrule is of secondary importance com- 
 pared to this object. Of course it must go 
 with the rest, but Hungarian misrule must 
 go also, and the Magyars, instead of drain- 
 ing Croatia of its money, pay up their 
 own arrears of taxes, which amount to very 
 many millions, amongst the nobility alone. 
 Still, with all these administrative draw- 
 backs, the lot of the Slav peasant, even in 
 Turkey, under ordinary conditions, is ma- 
 terially far superior to that of the peasant 
 in any other country, no matter where. 
 The real evil in the rural economy of the 
 Slav districts, on either side of the border, 
 is the absence of a rural middle class — a 
 yeomanry. 
 
 But with all its material advantages, 
 rural Slavonia does not present an inviting 
 picture. 
 
 67 
 
 1 
 
 
 1,. # 
 
THE SLAVS AT HOME.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1876. 
 
 A ride from Fiume to Bihach, from 
 Glina to Brod, and a drive from Brod to 
 Essegg, with an occasional detour right and 
 left towards the Save or the Drave, will 
 probably amply satisfy the most ardent 
 investigator in his quest for information. 
 As to the best season for any such expedi- 
 tion, the intending tourist can take his 
 choice of any of the four that constitute 
 the Slavonic calendar. Here they are : — 
 
 Snow, slush, and mud j 
 Rain, mud, and mire ; 
 Wind, dust, and fire ; 
 Malaria, gnats, and fleaa. 
 
 Thei?e, as far as an extensive experience 
 shows, are the twelve signs of the Slavonic 
 zodiac. They are enlivened by a perpetual 
 chorus of frogs, exclaiming, in an everlast- 
 in<r drone, "What the devil! — what the 
 devil ! " — and unable to get on any farther 
 for sheer wonderment as to what the mis- 
 chief any sane man can want to come to 
 Slavonia for. The dark soil of the country, 
 the rank vegetation, the endless stretches 
 of corn and maize, rising out of an under- 
 growth of great gourds, the melancholy, 
 shaggy buffaloes, in a sad, pachyderma- 
 tous enjoyment of their native mud, and 
 the solemn, uncouth peasantry, stalking 
 through their fields like so many grave 
 storks that have lost their beaks, all im- 
 press one with a sense of depression and 
 monotony it is vain to struggle against. 
 There is no cheerfulness either in the land- 
 scape or its inhabitants. Mud is the cha- 
 racteristic feature of the scene for three 
 parts of the year. And even during those 
 months that, in most countries, impart 
 some liii^ht-heartedness and merriment into 
 rural life — during the harvest and the vin- 
 tage — the only approach to blitheness con- 
 sists in the music of a ragged gipsy-band, 
 and the songs and dances of the peasantry, 
 which are all three simply horrible in their 
 Dppressive melancholy. Of course the pea- 
 sant is not remarkable for his cheerfulness 
 in any country ; the plough takes it out of 
 bis back, and swinging the flail is not an 
 intellectual exercise. But he is, at any 
 rate, boisterous at times, and indulges, now 
 and then, in venting his feelings in some 
 strong, hearty fashion ; but the Slavonic 
 peasant takes his woes and pleasures in a 
 caterwauling miaouing fashion, which is the 
 acme of mental stagnation. To hear some 
 Slavonic Corydon serenading his Phillis, is 
 the veriest desolation of sound. It seems to 
 68 
 
 be the lament of a maiden cat bewailing, 
 like Jephtha's daughter, her virginity on the 
 top of a deserted garret in a plague-stricken 
 town. The dance of the Slavonic peasant, 
 instead of warming the blood a little, and 
 causing the performer to indulge in the 
 eccentric steps and bounds the German or 
 French peasants delight in, consists in the 
 dancers forming a ring by laying their 
 hands on each other's shoulders, and jump- 
 ing up about two inches, whilst imparting 
 a tremulous motion to the body by bend- 
 ing the knees on the downward stroke, till 
 they all look like so many animated lumps 
 of quivering jelly. All this is performed to 
 the wail of half-a-dozen violins, each play- 
 ing a different tune on half-a-dozen notes. 
 Take any six notes of the preliminary 
 screech of violins in Waorner's "Tann- 
 hiiuser," transpose them into a minor key, 
 play them over and over again, and the 
 effect of Slavonic national melody will be 
 pretty fairly realised. 
 
 To make up for this burden ot melan- 
 choly, the Slav, generally speaking, sets 
 his stomach upon a pedestal, and then 
 straightway falls down and worships it. 
 He is undoubtedly fond of good and abun- 
 dant food; and, to tell the truth, his 
 cuisine is by no means bad, though, like 
 all primitive people's, rather too rich. It 
 is immensely varied, and thus makes some 
 amends for the monotony of his life and 
 the landscape it is set in. As a natural 
 consequence of this monotony, he is alao 
 fond of bright colours, and exhibits herein 
 almost as bad a taste as we do, which is 
 certainly saying a great deal. Ked, blue, 
 and yellow, in glaring juxtaposition, are, of 
 course, his favourite colours ; and on gala 
 occasions, and on Sundays, when the sheep- 
 skin jacket is new, and the linen trousers 
 so broad that they look just like petticoats, 
 and are clean and white, there is a certain 
 awkward picturesqueness about the Sla- 
 vonic peasant of the Danube that still 
 savours strongly of the East, especially in 
 the Turkey-carpet sort of embroidery with 
 which he and his better-half adorn their 
 festive garments. This sort of embroidery 
 — in coarse worsted — is claimed by Bishop 
 Strossmayer as an original Slavic art. As 
 it is the only one the Slavs lay claim to, 
 they may as well be allowed to enjoy what- 
 ever reputation it affords them. Other- 
 wise, female Slavonic attire is simple 
 in the extreme, consisting of a jacket of 
 sheepskin, the wool turned inside, and a 
 
 A.D. 1876.] 
 
 EUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the SLAVS AT HOME. 
 
 chemise, of which one end is generally 
 looped up, exhibiting an expanse of leg and 
 thigh more like the fairy queens and 
 Dianas of burlesque, than what one would 
 expect the prosaic peasant-woman of Sla- 
 vonia to resemble. And, in fact, there is 
 no romantic foundation for the attire, but, 
 on the contrary, a very material one. The 
 bottomless mud of Slavonia, that forces 
 even the clergy to wear Hessian boots, 
 like so many hussars, would be fatal to 
 shoes, stockings, or petticoats; and thus 
 the bare leg, in its unadorned and natural 
 beauty, is best adapted for progressing 
 through the mire, that curls up, in grace- 
 ful festoons between the Slavonic toes, to 
 the tune of a constant squish. 
 
 This mud has, also, considerably in- 
 fluenced the plan on which the villages are 
 built. The houses, semi-quadrangular, or 
 simply gable-ended towards the street, are 
 built alongside the high-road, forming one 
 long street, so that in populous districts, as 
 between Oriovatz and Brod, one village is 
 scarcely ended before the other one com- 
 mences. Contrary to what one would expect, 
 the village inns, as a rule, are very fair; 
 the beds are clean, and furnished with a 
 most formidable pile of mattresses. Con- 
 veniences, of course, are useless luxuries. 
 The wide expanse of nature is always close 
 at hand. The food, however, is good and 
 cheap. It is not easy to spend more than 
 five shillings a day for board and lodging, 
 including an ample supply of the wine of 
 the country. Especially good and cheap 
 are the poultry, eggs, and milk. Geese 
 and turkeys cost about one florin to a florin 
 and a-half — two to three shillings a-piece ; 
 and, to judge from the abundance of the 
 latter birds, one might be well disposed to 
 credit the explanation of Turkey being so 
 called because of the number of turkeys 
 growing there and thereabouts. The milk, 
 being buffalo milk, is very rich, and costs 
 three-halfpence to twopence a quart. A 
 good cup of cofifee and a plentiful supply of 
 "Obers" (cream), such as one gets in most 
 of the inns, is not to be despised. Butter 
 and cheese, however, are unknown ; whilst, 
 in a country supposed to be devoted to the 
 culture of pigs, it is remarkable how little 
 pork, ham, and bacon are used. Of fruits, 
 the grape, melon, and prune are the chief. 
 Apples and pears are few and bad. Maize 
 takes the place, in the Slavonic kitchen 
 economy, of the potato ; but onions and 
 garlic are worthy of Egypt, as well as are 
 
 VOL. III. L 
 
 the cucumbers. No wonder that the Jews 
 were anxious to settle down in Slavonia, 
 and appreciate its gifts. Not only does it 
 contain the produce of the Promised Land 
 — milk, honey, and wine in abundance, but 
 also that of Egypt in the days of their 
 happiness on the Nile — to wit, the flesh- 
 pots, the onions, the garlics, and the cu- 
 cumbers, which they seemed chiefly to have 
 sighed for during their wanderings, and im- 
 pressed upon Moses the fact that the Jewish 
 stomach is a serious thing, and not to be 
 trifled with. Add to this the fish from the 
 Save, Drave, and Danube, the caviare and 
 stewed carp — of which Israel and the 
 monks are so fond — and it will be acknow- 
 ledged that Slavonia would not be a bad 
 kind of place if the people would but wash 
 themselves sometimes, and comb their hair, 
 say once a month. 
 
 As might be imagined, in a country where 
 the cost of replenishing the larder is so 
 slight, hospitality is indulged in on a large 
 scale, and visitors and strangers entertained 
 with the best beds and the best of every- 
 thing. It is the old story, however — civili- 
 sation and the primitive virtues do not 
 combine. The greater the rascality and 
 the swindling, the more highly civilised is 
 the nation. Hence, peculation, robbery, 
 swindling, &c., are very rare in Slavonia ; 
 love in the month of May, and slibovitz in 
 the month of January, being the chief 
 causes of crime in shape of battery, assault, 
 and homicide. Swindling the government, 
 of course, does not count : that is rather a 
 "popular" virtue. One of the character- 
 istic features of a Slavonic villasre is the 
 wells, with their long dipping-poles stretch- 
 ing athwart the sky ; whilst on the high- 
 roads, the rail-carts, drawn by three horses, 
 generally at a sharp trot or a gallop, at 
 once remind one of the Eussian " Troika." 
 There is also another institution in rural 
 Slavonia, not met with elsewhere — truly 
 and literally, the Wayside Inn. The pro- 
 prietor of the village tavern is entitled by 
 his licence to appropriate a convenient 
 piece of ground alongside the road, and to 
 furnish it with a primitive hearth of two or 
 more conveniently-lying stones. On each 
 side, and about six or eight feet apart, he 
 fixes a forked stick — fork uppermost, and 
 one opposite the other. A whole pig or 
 sheep is transfixed on a wooden spit, which 
 rests on the above-mentioned forks, and is 
 then roasted before the fire, the innkeeper 
 furnishing the wood for a small sum, and 
 
 69 
 
 I 
 
 s 
 
 
 -■^ii 
 
 •• 
 
 i 
 
THE SERVIAN AGITATION.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 187f?. 
 
 A.D. 1875-'76.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the rural SERBS. 
 
 trustinf>" to the consumption of drink for a I his own meat, and retails it to the passers- 
 
 " fair profit." This institution is made use 
 of by the cattle-drivers, waggoners, and 
 gipsies ; the monopoly being sometimes sub- 
 let to the butcher of the place, who roasts 
 
 by, at the rate of about 2d. a pound, 
 cooked. This is tlie only form of impale- 
 ment to be met with in Slavonia, Turkish 
 or otherwise. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE SERVIAN AGITATION. 
 
 The action of the Croats and Slavonians 
 along the confines of Bosnia and the Herze- 
 govina, naturally roused the jealousy of the 
 Serbs, and spurred the Omladina on to re- 
 doubled exertions. They were alarmed at 
 the influence which the Croat and Catholic 
 party were acquiring in these provinces. 
 Even the flight of refugees across the fron- 
 tier into Austria was regarded as most 
 serious, as it gave the Croats an additional 
 claim to consideration in the future. And 
 not only was the alarm felt by the political 
 parties ; it was also largely shared in by the 
 clergy, who justly feared the progress which 
 was being made by the Roman Catholics. 
 The attitude of Montenegro also caused 
 great uneasiness, for it was very generally 
 believed that Prince Nikita wished to take 
 the lead in the consolidation of the Serb 
 provinces belonging to, or under the tute- 
 lage of, the Porte. At the same time the 
 Serbs in Hungary were straining every 
 nerve to precipitate events. Threatened on 
 all sides by the Croats, by the Germans, 
 by the Hungarians, they felt convinced 
 that, unless Prince Milan adopted a bold 
 policy, they would see Bosnia and Herze- 
 govina cut off from Servia for ever, and 
 handed over to the Croats, whose instinct 
 for their own interests would far outweigh 
 any of the historical ties or the racial rela- 
 tion between them and the Serbs. 
 
 Thus, whilst professing the same desires, 
 and asserting their community of interests, 
 there were three distinct parties, each pur- 
 suing the same end with different objects. 
 
 Bosnia and Herzegovina were the prize. 
 To obtain this prize was the object of 
 Croat, Serb, and Montenegrin alike. The 
 Croats, led by General Rodich and Bishop 
 Strossmayer, and supported by a powerful 
 Court party at Vienna, were opposed by the 
 Hungarians openlv and energetically, and 
 70 
 
 intrigued against by Serb and Montenegrin. 
 The Serbs, headed by M. Ristics, and sup- 
 ported by Russia, were equally opposed by 
 the Hungarians, and intrigued against by 
 Croats and Montenegrins. The .Montene- 
 grins, however, owing to their peculiar 
 position and the compactness of their in- 
 terests, enjoyed the most freedom from 
 attack. Supported strongly by Rus^^ia, 
 they were tempori^;cd with by Croat, Serb, 
 and Turk alike. The principality was not 
 large enough to cause any fear of perma- 
 nent conflict with Austria, and could always 
 be played off against Servia, or vice versa. 
 
 The position of Prince Milan, therefore, 
 when the insurrection in Bosnia broke out, 
 was not an enviable one. To the north 
 and the west of Bosnia the Croats were 
 having it all their own way. In the south, 
 the greater proximity of Montenegro, and 
 the more warlike and sturdy character of 
 the people, threw the Herzegovinians into 
 the arms of Prince Nikita. In the east, on 
 the Serbo-Bosnian frontier, the Turks were 
 in considerable force. They held the 
 fortress of Mali Zwornik, with the line of 
 the Drina, and were in strong numbers at 
 Serajevo, the capital of the province, which, 
 besides, had very strong military positions 
 at Trawnik, Fotscha, Vishegrad, &c. Ser- 
 via was thus, more or less, out of the run- 
 ning ; and, besides, she had no money. 
 
 Now, as far as real grievances went, the 
 Serbs had none at all. They paid a very 
 small tribute to the Porte, and were under 
 the protection of the great powers. Be- 
 tween them and the Sultan there were 
 none but the smallest differences. One was 
 the Mali Zwornik question — a frontier 
 dispute chiefly, as with all the rest — en- 
 tailed by the erratic caprices of the river 
 Drina, which insisted every year or two on 
 altering its course, to spite either Turk or 
 
 Serb. Then there was the railway question ; 
 but this was less of a political than of a 
 financial question. 
 
 There was, therefore, no earthly practical 
 reason why Servia should have interfered 
 in the Bosnian question at all. As for the 
 rhodoniontades about sympathy with the 
 oppressed races in Bosnia and Bulgaria, 
 sympathy with the misfortune of others 
 is an unknown quality in Servia. Gra- 
 titude, hospitality, charity, the novel 
 characteristics of semi-savage races, are 
 unheard of. All the talk, therefore, 
 of the wars of the insurgent provinces 
 formed but the stock-in-trade of the jour- 
 nalists of the Ohzor, Vidovdan, Zastava, 
 Serbskl Novine, &c., and furnished but the 
 material for intriguers throughout Slavdom 
 to till their own pockets, and to attain 
 place and position, or to supply the wood 
 for the hobby-horses on which Mr. Free- 
 man and Messrs. Liddon and MacCoU 
 pranced to Exeter Hall and Hyde Park 
 after their more arduous ritualistic labours. 
 
 The Serbs themselves were quite aware 
 that the}^ had nothing to complain of 
 wiiich might not easily be obtained from 
 the Porte with a little frank consideration ; 
 and they knew perfectly well that the 
 possession of a few acres of ground on a 
 disputed frontier border was not worth 
 going to war about, and would not be 
 allowed by the other powers. But when 
 the insurrection in Bosnia arose, the oppor- 
 tunity was eagerly seized by the tuft- 
 hunters and intriguers, and the cry of sym- 
 pathy and patriotism raised to cover per- 
 sonal ambitious avarice, and, it may be 
 baid, the demands of necessity. 
 
 The agitation in Servia arose partly 
 within the principality, and partly with- 
 out. 
 
 Within, it proceeded from the consider- 
 able number of people who had abandoned 
 agricultural pursuits, and migrated to the 
 towns. The Serb, when he has gained a 
 little education, and become acquainted 
 with the ting el-tang els and can-can circles 
 of Vienna and Pesth, conceives a great re- 
 pugnance to a country life. His ambition 
 is to become a merchant or a statesman — 
 the citizen of a town. He will sell his 
 little patrimony and establish a booth, a 
 commission-agency, or anything that does 
 not require much work, but allows of much 
 talk. But he has little aptitude for com- 
 merce, less for industrial pursuits, and is 
 thus left far behind in the race by the iesv 
 
 and the German. Hence his deep hatred 
 of the two races, ^^'ithout brains, without 
 energy for practical affairs, he degenerates 
 into an intriguing idler and habitual con- 
 spirator. Such is the case in all raak.-. 
 To take an instance : Sii Charles Bright 
 purchased a large mining e«^tate at Kuts- 
 chaina. He employed between 400 and oUO 
 men; but the Serbs were almost usele^b, 
 and he was obliged to employ Wallachs, 
 Hungarians, and Bulgarians — the latter 
 proving especially useful, and a peaceable, 
 economical body — whilst the Serbs were 
 cantankerous, disputatious, idle, greedy, 
 drunken, and dishonest. The same was the 
 opinion given by the manager of a neif>-h- 
 bouring estate at Maidanpek, and by every 
 foreign employer of Serb labour. 
 
 There was thus a large number of mal- 
 contents, who concentrated naturally in the 
 capital, at Belgrade, and found that 
 patriotism, if properly worked, was a suffi- 
 ciently remunerative trade. Every oppor- 
 tunity was eagerly seized to stir up the 
 mud and fish in the troubled waters. The 
 railway question furnished these gentlemen 
 with an opportunity. It was generally 
 agreed that this railway was to be built; it 
 was to connect the Hungarian terminus at 
 Basiasch with the Turkish terminus at 
 Mitrovitza ; it was to run along the valley 
 of the Morava, and would, no doubt, prove 
 of great benefit to the country. There were 
 no difficulties at all in the way ; there was 
 plenty of wood, there was plenty of coal, 
 and the mineral and agricultural riches of 
 the adjoining districts were such as to pro- 
 mise a reasonable profit. The only impedi- 
 ment was the capital. Unfortunately, there 
 had been a Servian timber company formed, 
 which had left an exceedingly diagreeable 
 impression regarding Servia in the Western 
 money-markets, where next to nothing was 
 known of Servia ; whilst in the more con- 
 tiguous money-markets at Vienna, Pesth, 
 and Trieste, far too much was known of the 
 interesting country to allow of a single 
 penny being subscribed for any purpose 
 whatsoever. 
 
 Some capitalists, however, such as Messrs. 
 Crawley, Power and Co., and a very large 
 number of invertebrate syndicates, turned 
 their attention to the proposed line, and ne 
 gotiations were opened up, which all led to 
 nothing. Everybody wanted so many com- 
 missions, that the whole of the proposed 
 capital would have been swamped by them 
 alone. Finally, the government itself de- 
 
 71 
 
 
 t/ 
 
 M 
 
 '% 
 
SERVIAN LOANS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1875'-76. 
 
 termined to take up the matter, and try to 
 get a loan for two millions. Agents were, 
 therefore, sent to all the chief capitals — to 
 London, Vienna, Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, 
 and St. Petersburg. They knocked at the 
 doors of the large banking firms, and ba^ed 
 their expectations chiefly on the fact, that 
 Servia had never yet contracted a loan, 
 and was, therefore, unencumbered. These 
 expectations were, however, speedily damped 
 by the very general observation, that Ser- 
 vians immunity from debt arose, not from 
 her flourishing condition, but from the fact 
 that nobody would lend her anything. In 
 vain did she offer lands, timber, taxes, du- 
 ties, as guarantee ; syndicates, agents, and 
 government all met with the same reply 
 and the host of tuft-hunters, and the flocks' 
 of crows ready to pounce upon the golden 
 prey were bitterly disappointed, broke out 
 into loud complaints, and cast about for 
 fresh fields and pastures new. The imme- 
 diate result, of course, was dissatisfaction 
 with the government, and especially with 
 the minister of finance, M. C. Mijatovich, 
 ■who was the chief promoter of the railway 
 scheme. 
 
 M. Mijatovich, a mild, gentlemanly little 
 man, with lustrous, melancholy eyes, and 
 habitually attired in a white hat and sky- 
 blue trousers, was a gentleman of consider- 
 able education, and had married an Ame- 
 rican ladv twice his size. As one of the 
 consular corps used to observe, M. Mijato- 
 vich was thus doubly overweighted — by his 
 foreign connection, and his superior educa- 
 tion, which placed him, at a moderate esti- 
 mation, fully a century in advance of his 
 countrymen. Still, even as the porker of 
 Chicago had ousted the acorn-fed pig of the 
 Servian wilds, and sailed up the Danube in 
 the shape of portly barrels of lard, so M. 
 Mijatovich fancied that he would be able 
 to substitute the ideas of New York and 
 London for those of Belnfrade and Krasfu- 
 jevatz ; and at the same time he fancied, 
 that with Madame Mijatovich's assistance, 
 he would also be able to convince London 
 "what a manjnificent future was awaitinjr 
 Servia. With this intention he cau.-ed 
 Madame Mijatovich to write a book about 
 Seivia and its prospects. It was a very 
 Bober production — so sober, in fact, that it 
 was very appropriately published by the 
 well-known temperance bookseller, Mr. 
 Tweedie ; but as it only gave one side of 
 the question, it did not produce the effect 
 fondly hoped for. This was bad enough j 
 72 
 
 but failing in the railway and loan scheme, 
 M. Mijatovich also managed to displease the 
 very large tribe of " bankers " and money- 
 changers by his manipulation of the old cur- 
 rency when he introduced the new coinage, 
 by preventing the State from incurring a 
 loss for the benefit of these gentlemen. 
 Thus failing in negotiating a loan, failing 
 iu providing pickings for the multitude, 
 and even contemplating the introduction 
 of laws to prevent fraudulent bankruptcy, 
 and a few other cherished institutions, such 
 as the oppression of Jews and foreign 
 traders in the interior, M. Mijatovich only 
 retained his position because there was 
 really not the vestige of a reason to attack 
 him. 
 
 Thus, for a time, M. Mijatovich, who 
 gave the whole tone to the cabinet, went 
 on projecting reforms of various kinds, and 
 spasmodically making another attempt at a 
 little loan, when the disturbances in Bosnia 
 broke out. This was the si^rnal for the 
 tuft-hunters, for the professional patriots, 
 for journalists' editors, to swarm up like a 
 crowd of gnats on a summer's eve, and buzz 
 around M. Mijatovich's ears. His rival, 
 M. Kistich, at once took advantage of the 
 movement, and summoned the unruly 
 spirits, from near and far, to come in their 
 thousands to Belgrade. And they came. 
 They swarmed into the cafes and hotels, 
 into the " Servian Crown," the " King of 
 Servia," the " Hotel de Paris," all in a state 
 of greater or lesser impecuniosity, but with 
 unlimited capacities for the assimilation of 
 solids and the absorption of liquids. There 
 was not room for them all in Belgrade, and 
 many skpt in Si mlin, on Austrian ter- 
 ritory on the other side of the Save, whilst 
 they ate, drank, and conspired in Belgrade. 
 Business of all kind got to a standstill ; 
 the creditors clamoured, the debtors com- 
 plained and cried loudly for the mora- 
 torium. This broke M. Mijatovich's back ; 
 he and the rest of the cabinet resigned, and 
 M. Ribtich succeeded him as the head of 
 the war party. Of course the moratorium 
 — the suspension of payment of bills of 
 exchange — was granted, and patriotism 
 allowed to run rampant at the expense 
 of the foreign merchants in or out 
 of Servia. Not the least unimportant 
 section of agitators was the host of news- 
 paper correspondents located in Belgrade 
 and Semlin. They were divided into two 
 sections, the anti-Servian and the pro- 
 Servian. The latter remained in Belgrade, 
 
 A.D. 1875-76.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [consular jealousifs. 
 
 the former in Semlin. The pro-Servians 
 were the correspondents of the Croat jour- 
 nals, Obsor, &c., of the Hungarian-Serb 
 paper Zastava, of the Bohemian paper 
 Politik, and endless writers for the Russian 
 and French press. The English press was 
 represented only for a short time by a cor- 
 respondent for the Manchester Guardian, 
 The anti-Serbs were the correspondents of 
 the Hungarian and Austrian papers, the 
 Peste Lloyd, Budapesti Kapilap, Ellenor, 
 Neue Freie Presse, &c. All these gentle- 
 men were animated by the fiercest oppo- 
 sition or partizanship, and, as a rule, did 
 nothing but frequent the cafes of Belgrade 
 or Semlin, and take their intelligence from 
 the most untrustworthy sources, without 
 attempting to make any independent in- 
 quiries. A few put themselves in com- 
 munication with the consuls ; some with the 
 ministers, and such as wished to become 
 ministers ; others with the host of adven- 
 turers who had come to fish in the troubled 
 stream. But the majority evolved events 
 out of their inner consciousness, according 
 to their desires. 
 
 The result of all this was a turmoil and a 
 ferment, of which there were no signs a few 
 miles out of the town. In the country 
 people knew absolutely nothing of what 
 was going on. All that gradually filtered 
 through to them, was a report that the 
 Turks' were going to attack Servia, and the 
 government contemplating calling out the 
 militia. The news, however, did not pro- 
 duce much effect, and M. Ristich saw that 
 he would have to adopt other measures to 
 create an excitement. He accomplished 
 this by convoking the Skupt china in Kragu- 
 ievatz, the ancient capital of Servia, osten- 
 sibly to place it beyond the agitating in- 
 fluences in Belgrade, but in reality to trans- 
 fer a portion of that agitation into the 
 interior of the country. In the meantime, 
 wishing to keep on good terms with the 
 moderate and conservative party, he offered 
 no objections to M. Mijatovich's becoming 
 Prince Milan's private secretary. 
 
 Such was the state of affairs in the 
 autumn of 1875. There was an exceed- 
 ingly active and unscrupulous war-party, 
 headed by M. Ristich, which was deter- 
 mined to plunge the country into war. 
 "Action" was their cry; in what that 
 action should consist, on what basis it 
 should be taken, they were not at all clear 
 about. The dominating idea was jealousy 
 of Montenegrin and Croat. But they could 
 
 not determine whether this action should 
 be independent, whether it should be un- 
 dertaken in conjunction with Austria, with 
 Russia, or only with the assistance of the 
 Omladina. Everywhere there were divided 
 counsels, and, as a consequence, they drifted 
 hither and thither, till they became, more or 
 less, the laughing-stock of all Europe. The 
 consuls were equally undecided and divided. 
 There had been a pretty general three-cor- 
 nered duel going on amongst them for some 
 time. Dr. Rosen, the Prussian consul, de- 
 manded precedence of the French consul,who, 
 in virtue of his title as agent diplomatique, 
 would not yield on the point. At the same 
 time Dr. Rosen had growled with the Rus- 
 sian consul, M. Kartzoff, and refused to be 
 conciliated. At last the other consuls pro- 
 posed that M. Kartzoff should call upon Dr. 
 Rosen, and Dr. Rosen then return the visit. 
 But, at the last moment. Dr. Rosen refused 
 to receive M. Kartzoff, and the result was, 
 that the incident which had led to diplo- 
 matic representations by Prince Bismarck 
 and other ministers, terminated by a 
 friendly communication from Prince Gorts- 
 chakoff, that Dr. Rosen was a very trouble- 
 some person, and had better be sent away 
 from Belgrade. This was done, and the 
 question of precedence settled by Mr. 
 White, the British consul, proposing that it 
 should go by seniority of service in Servia, 
 and not by rank ; so that the Greek consul 
 was constituted doyen of the consular 
 
 corps. 
 
 This, however, did not bring any real 
 union into the consular body. The inde- 
 cision of the foreign governments was re- 
 flected in the action of their consuls. The 
 only one who seemed to know what to do, 
 and who did it, was the German consul. 
 Count Bray. But then, as he was formally 
 instructed to do nothing but keep his 
 government au courant of all that oc- 
 curred, his task was not very onerous or 
 
 difficult. 
 
 Consul White, on the other hand, from 
 whatever reason, acted in an official and an 
 unofficial capacity. Whilst officially coun- 
 selling the prince and his ministers to keep 
 the peace and allay the excitement, he at 
 the same time said, that if they followed 
 his advice as a private individual, they 
 would at once take action and declare war. 
 There is no doubt whatever as to this sin- 
 gular action on the part of Consul White. 
 By some it was ascribed to the influence of 
 his wife, a Polish lady. But as the Poles 
 
 73 
 
 I 
 
 
 
M. RISTTCn.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1875-76. 
 
 A.D. 1875-76.1 
 
 by DO means love the Serbs, and still more 
 hate the Russians, whose policy it was to 
 stir up Servia into a declaration of war, 
 this explanation will not hold water. It 
 was probably due to the turn public opinion 
 was takincr in England, and a desire to ap- 
 pear a friend of Servia, which dictated 
 his policy. That it was a fact, appeared not 
 only from the positive statements of Prince 
 Milan and M. Mijatovich, but from his 
 own utterances. 
 
 In fact, M. Mijatovich met his unoffi- 
 cial advice with the argument that Servia 
 did not wish to cut herself off completely 
 from Turkey. " Servia," he said, " is far 
 too weak to stand alone ; she would inevit- 
 ably gravitate towards Austria. It is 
 beyond doubt that, sooner or later, the 
 Serbs on either side of the Save and 
 Danube will become united. But it is not 
 to be supposed for an instant that Servia 
 will ever be powerful enough to wrest the 
 Serb districts of Austro-Hungary from the 
 empire. In all probability it will be 
 Austria which will wrest Servia from 
 Turkey. For that reason, whilst we wish 
 to secure absolute local independence and 
 a complete autonomy, we do not wish to 
 snap the thread which binds us to the 
 Porte, and entitles us to claim the protec- 
 tion of the Turkish government." 
 
 This was a sensible and intellisfent 
 policy. But it did not suit the views of 
 M. Ristich as the apostle of the great idea — 
 of a mighty Servia — of the Omladinist 
 Utopia. Had Mr. White reported in this 
 sense to his government, and had they 
 taken corresponding action, in all proba- 
 bility the whole Servian war would have 
 been avoided, together with the disastrous 
 complications that resulted from it. He 
 may possibly have done so ; but nothing 
 appears in the Blue Books to warrant the 
 supposition. On the contrary, in his des- 
 patch of September 13th, 1875, he simply 
 encloses a translation of the prince's speech 
 at the opening of the Skuptchina, and the 
 reply of the deputies, as they appeared in 
 the official gazette ; whereas it is perfectly 
 well known that M. Ristich induced the 
 deputies to present a secret address to the 
 prince, urging him to take up arms for the 
 prohibition of the Bosnian insurgents. He 
 knew perfectly well that such a document 
 existed, for he was informed of it by M. 
 Mijatovich ; besides which, it was also well 
 known thatM. Ristich odIv succeeded, after 
 enormous pressure, in gaining a small ma- 
 74 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [cx)nsul white's despatches. 
 
 jority for the insertion of the following 
 passages in the reply : — 
 
 " Verily the present condition of Servia 
 is a very complicated one, as your highness 
 has said ; our people are disturbed in their 
 domestic quietness. The large forces col- 
 lected by the Ottoman Porte on our fron- 
 tiers, and the hostile attitude assumed by 
 these towards Servia, has compelled a 
 portion of our countrymen on our eastern 
 and western frontier to leave their fields 
 and their homes for the purpose of watching 
 over the security of our country. 
 
 " The Servian nation, which has redeemed 
 this dear country with its swords and blood, 
 is mindful of the words spoken by your 
 highness in a proclamation in 1872, 'that 
 it would be a sin to lose the smallest por- 
 tion of this heritage of our fathers, and it is 
 little enough to our credit that we add 
 nothing to it.' 
 
 " These words are engraved on our hearts. 
 The times are serious, no doubt ; but no less 
 serious, sire, is the will of the Servian 
 people to rise to the height of the occasion. 
 
 " Wherefore, the Skuptchina declares 
 hereby solemnly, on behalf of the Servian 
 people, their rt^adiness, as a nation, to de- 
 fend their fatherland and its liberties, and 
 to preserve inviolate the inheritance of the 
 great Milosch, and of our fathers : there is 
 no sacrifice which Servia is not ready to 
 make on the altar of the country. At the 
 voice of your higlmess the entire nation is 
 ready, as one man, to present itself to de- 
 fend our native soil. 
 
 " Sire, the secular suflferings of our 
 brethren in Bosnia and in the Herzegovina, 
 have compelled them to rise in arms and 
 fight for theii natural and their national 
 rights. ' 
 
 "The effusion of their blood offends our 
 fraternal feelings. Their cry of despair 
 finds a noble echo in other parts of the 
 civilised world. We cannot, we ought not 
 to remain insensible to their fate. 
 
 "The Skuptchina is penetrated with 
 the deepest gratitude at seeing that your 
 highness' conviction is, that these disturb- 
 ances must be tranquillised by obtaining 
 permanent satisfaction for our oppressed 
 brethren. 
 
 " In this patriotic direction you may 
 rely on the support of the Servian people, 
 who are prepared to place at your highness' 
 disposal all the means required to accom- 
 plish this great task." 
 
 These passages were forwarded by Consul 
 
 White to his government on September 
 23rd, at the same time as he received the 
 ofticial French translation.* But they had 
 been given to him some time before by M. 
 Mijatovich, who translated them for his 
 convenience in the above form, in order 
 that the British government might have 
 early information. At the same time he 
 told Mr. White what pressure it had been 
 necessary to bring to bear upon the assem- 
 ])ly, which, by the way, held its sittings 
 with closed doors. Why did not Consul 
 White avail himself then of this opportu- 
 nity to inform government how matters 
 actually stood ? 
 
 No doubt Mr. White would denv all this ; 
 but it remains a fact all the same. In- 
 ternal evidence also proves that the above 
 passages were not written by an P^nglish- 
 raan. The translation was certainly not 
 made by Mr. Henneage, nor by Mr. 
 Spooner, nor by any Englishman. For in- 
 stance, " secular sulferinjjjs " is scarcelv a 
 translation of siecles de souffrances — cen- 
 turies of suffering — as appears in the official 
 French translation. 
 
 Nor does the passage, "It would be a sin 
 to lose the smallest portion of this heritage 
 of our fathers, and it is little enough to our 
 credit that we add nothing to it," accu- 
 rately represent what was really said — i.e., 
 " It would be a serious responsibility to 
 lose the least of what our fathers acquired, 
 and unworthy to add nothing to it." Equally 
 so, the phrase, "These disturbances must 
 be tranquillised," is scarcely English. 
 
 In short. Consul White did not make 
 such use of the opportunities offered to him 
 as might have placed the government in a 
 position to appreciate the full significance 
 of the movement which was in progress. 
 Or, if he did, government has success- 
 fully kept the secret, and is greatly re- 
 sponsible for what ensued. 
 
 It was not until the spring of 1876 that 
 Mr. White began to inform the govern- 
 ment of the threatening aspect of affairs. 
 On February 5th, he wrote : — 
 
 " Although the echoes which reach this 
 place from Vienna and Berlin, and even 
 from St. Petersburg, are extremely pacific, 
 and would lead one to suppose that political 
 men in the continental- capitals look upon 
 the present disturbances in Turkey as in a 
 fair way of being solved in the sense of 
 Count Andrassy's project, it is my duty to 
 
 * Turkey, No. 2 (1876), C-1475. 
 
 report to your lordship, that there are nu- 
 merous indications in Servia which, unfor- 
 tunately, point to a contrary result, 
 
 " The preparations which have been 
 steadily going on for some months, and 
 which are now prosecuted with renewed 
 vigour ; the extraordinary powers voted by 
 the ' Skuptchina,' and demanded by the 
 Servian administration ; the activity of nu- 
 merous unofficial agents, whose connections 
 are well known — all confirm the supposition 
 that something important is in contem- 
 plation. 
 
 " With the return of spring, a supreme 
 effort will probably be made to enlarge the 
 area of the insurrection, and to delay a 
 pacific solution in the Herzegovina, by im- 
 porting into the shifting sands of Elastern 
 politics a Bosnian and Servian, and, pos- 
 sibly, a Bulgarian, and other questions." 
 
 This despatch was followed up by another 
 on February 1 7th, which, however, con- 
 veyed singularly inaccurate impressions as 
 regards the attitude of Eussia towards 
 Servia. He wrote : — 
 
 " Ever since the commencement of the 
 present disturbances in the Herzegovina, it 
 has been apparent that the conduct of the 
 Prince of Montenegro has been exercising 
 an influence on the attitude of Servia, and 
 his example has been constantly used as a 
 reproach to Prince Milan in the Slav news- 
 papers published in the Hungarian do- 
 minions, and even by violent partisans of, 
 the * Omladina ' in this principality. 
 
 " The connection of that prince with the 
 origin and duration of the present insur- 
 rection is generally believed here, and in- 
 voked as a title to popular favour amongst 
 Slavs. 
 
 " There are some circumstances in which 
 that prince has been particularly fortunate, 
 and which contribute to invest him with a 
 peculiar reputation of success in the na- 
 tional cause. 
 
 " He is said to have secured a loan, 
 whilst Servia, with superior resources, has 
 hitherto failed in contracting one ; he ap- 
 pears to have escaped the admonitions of 
 either Russia or Austria for his conduct, 
 whilst Servia received a solemn warning 
 from the great powers last October ; more 
 than that, the Imperial Court of Russia has 
 given Prince Nicholas several indications 
 of its sympathy, whilst Prince Milan has 
 had none bestowed upon him since Count 
 Soumarokoff s mission here at his marriage ; 
 and even the customary presents granted by 
 
 75 
 
CONSUL WHITE'S DESPATCHES.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1875-76. 
 
 'I 
 
 the Czar on those occasions have been 
 hitherto withheld. 
 
 " Somehow or other an idea has got 
 abroad that, sooner or later, the Prince of 
 Montene<rro would derive actual benefit, in 
 the shape of an accession ot territory, con- 
 currently with the termination of the in- 
 surrection. 
 
 " This supposition, though, as far as I 
 can see, resting upon no basis, acts as a 
 stimulant on the excitable politicians of 
 Belgrade ; and having been recently re- 
 peated, as if approaching realisation, pro- 
 duced an unusual sensation here, by giving 
 the war party a most welcome and conve- 
 nient argument. 
 
 " I felt it my duty to inform your ex- 
 cellency of this mischievous report on the 
 10th instant, at 7 A.M., by telegraph, and 
 received a contradiction of it in reply on 
 the 14th instant. 
 
 " In the meantime, the Prince of Monte- 
 negro considered it his interest to send one 
 likewise to Prince Milan ; and I see from 
 the Tiifnes newspaper of the 12th instant, 
 that he has thought it worth his while to 
 get a similar denial published in a tele- 
 gram, dated Cettigne, February 11th, dis- 
 claiming at the same time 'any discourage- 
 ment by his government of the insur- 
 rection.' 
 
 " The despatch of a new special envoy 
 from here to Cettigne had been intended for 
 some weeks previously, and Colonel Ranko 
 Alimpitch was at once sent off in that 
 capacity, with instructions, at the same 
 time, to transmit here regular information 
 as to the conditions and plans of tiie in- 
 surgent forces, 
 
 " It is evident, therefore, that an ap- 
 proaching pacification is not anticipated 
 here, and that Servia may be induced, in 
 the long run, to paticipate in the struggle, 
 unless the pacification of the Herzegovina 
 is more prompt and easy than people here 
 are disposed or willing to believe." * 
 
 This despatch was followed up by another, 
 of which the following extract is given : — 
 
 " I beg to assure your excellency that I 
 have been assured, from a source which I 
 have hitherto found reliable, that the chief 
 reason which has prompted Prince Milan 
 to assume a bolder and quasi-martial atti- 
 tude, is the growing suspicion in his mind 
 that a bait, in the shape of an accession of 
 territory, was about to be offered by Aus- 
 
 • Turkey, No. 3 (1870), C— 1531. 
 76 
 
 tria, on behalf of the Porte, to the Prince 
 of Montenegro. 
 
 " This opinion is strongly entertained 
 here by persons who are supposed to be well 
 acquainted with the nature of the relations 
 which have existed, during the last two 
 years, between the Court of Vienna and that 
 prince. 
 
 "It is admitted that probably Prince 
 Nicholas would be content with a secret 
 promise to that effect just now, and would 
 be willing to wait for its realisation until 
 such time as the insurrection has been 
 completely subdued." 
 
 Now, the false impression conveyed in 
 these despatches is produced by the state- 
 ment that Russia looked upon Montenegro 
 with more favour than upon Servia, and that 
 there was a jealousy of Montenegro in con- 
 sequence. That is quite incorrect. The 
 jealousy of Montenegro existed long before 
 this period, and was the cause of Russia's 
 displeasure, not vice versa. The Russian 
 agents — who alone were believed, official 
 representations being very properly re- 
 garded as only undertaken to keep up ap- 
 pearances — had incessantly urged Servia to 
 war; and it was the hesitation of Servia, 
 which could not make up its mind between 
 following the Austrian lead or the Russian 
 desires, that led to the disfavour the Czar was 
 induced to regard Servia with. At the same 
 time, however, Russia had no special interest 
 in Servia at all. The Serbs were not a race 
 the Russians c jred about benefiting. They 
 only required somebody to keep the fire 
 going, and made use of Prince Milan simply 
 as a pis aller — a second string to her bow, 
 in case Montenegro should succumb. 
 
 This was perfectly well seen through at 
 Belgrade; and there is no doubt but that if 
 Austria and England had combined, Servia 
 would have followed their counsels instead 
 of those of the unofficial Russian airents. 
 
 But instead of showing how affairs really 
 stood, Mr. White talks about the Omladina 
 as though it had been a potent factor in de- 
 termining the policy of Prince Milan. 
 Instead of endeavouring to effect a rap- 
 prochement between Servia and Austria by 
 showing what influences were at work to 
 estrange the two countries ; instead of 
 showing that Count Andrassy, by pooh- 
 pooidng Servia, whilst allowing the Croats 
 to do what they liked, and by persecuting 
 the Hungarian Serbs to please the Magyars, 
 was really doing his best to urge on the 
 conflict, and inducing the belief at Belgrade 
 
 A.D. 1875-'76.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 Tthe omladina. 
 
 that Austria was thoroughly opposed to 
 Servia, and thinking only of the annexation 
 of Bosnia ; instead of showing all this — for 
 which he had ample materials — Consul 
 White did his best to produce the im- 
 pression that the movement in Servia was 
 a national movement, fostered by jealousy 
 of Prince Nikita of Montenegro. And in 
 conformity with this policy, he repeated 
 the platitudes regarding the doings of the 
 terrible Omladina, which were gravely enu- 
 merated by Count Andrassy and others, 
 with the object of showing that society was 
 dangerously threatened by this and other 
 secret associations, which were solidarily 
 united with the revolution. 
 
 The Austrian State had nothing to fear 
 from the Omladina, any more than Russia 
 had anything to fear from her secret 
 societies. It suited the government, how- 
 ever, to magnify their importance, pretend 
 that it was endangered by them, yet at the 
 same time making what use they could of 
 them both ways. They were allowed to 
 proceed a certain distance in their agitation, 
 in order to afford the government a pretext 
 for asserting the existence of the question. 
 But at no time was the Omladina beyond 
 the control of the government authorities. 
 
 As for the influence of the Omladina on 
 Prince Milan, it was nil ; it was used by 
 him and his advisers as it was by the Aus- 
 trians. But in itself, and as an organisa- 
 tion, it had no power whatever beyond 
 what was publicly known, publicly allowed 
 and sanctioned by the authorities. 
 
 All this was so well known, that it is 
 simply astounding to read such a despatch 
 as the following, which was sent by Consul 
 White to London on April 28th, 1876 :— 
 
 " In the political events which are either 
 going on or preparing in this part of 
 Europe, two distinct Slav bodies are likely 
 to exercise no small influence — viz., the 
 Omladinists in Hungary and the Slavonic 
 committee in Moscow. 
 
 "The Omladinists are the Slav home 
 rulers of Hungary ; as such, they are hated 
 and despised by the governing (Magyar) 
 class in that kingdom; and hitherto they 
 had shown so defective a political organisa- 
 tion, that their importance arose much 
 more from their supposed connection with 
 certain parties at Court at Vienna, and 
 on account of their actual relations with 
 the revolutionary party in the principality 
 of Servia, than on account of any immediate 
 influence as agitators in Croatia, Dalmatia, 
 
 VOL* IIL U 
 
 or Slavonia. Actual events are foreshow- 
 ing a change in this respect. 
 
 "From 1849 to July 1875, these Slavs 
 were chiefly aiming at the attainment of a 
 recognition of certain home-rule preroo^a- 
 tives, by means of their opposition to 
 Magyar or Hungarian supremacy. With 
 that view they took up arms under Jella- 
 chich for the Emperor Francis Joseph in 
 1849, opposed the restitution of the ancient 
 Hungarian constitution till 1867, and have 
 carried on a more or less factious constitu- 
 tional opposition to the dominant party 
 since that year. 
 
 " But the sympathies which the Southern 
 Slavs were able not only to set forth openly, 
 but also to which they could give practical 
 efi'ect during six months, in favour of the 
 insurgent Slavs in the Herzegovina, have 
 modified their position, and the aspirations 
 of that race have acquired fresh vigour 
 from the Adriatic to the Brave, and from 
 the Drave to the Theiss and the Save, by 
 giving them a cohesion and a common bond 
 of hope, by making them view the cause of 
 the Turkish rayahs as their own, and their 
 emancipation from Ottoman rule as an ob- 
 ject of primary importance for Austrian 
 Slavs, by which they can attain an influence 
 which they have not had for centuries, and 
 which they have hitherto sought in vain on 
 the hustings or in parliamentary assemblies. 
 
 " Their proximity to the scene of the in- 
 surrection has enabled the Croats and Dal- 
 matians to give the insurgents far more 
 real assistance than they can have derived 
 from Servia, and the public men of the 
 latter principality have seen themselves 
 gradually ousted by these, and by the Prince 
 of Montenegro, from the leadership of the 
 national cause, which Servia considered 
 hitherto as its peculiar mission and attri- 
 bute. 
 
 " The Slavonic committees in Russia, 
 and especially the central one at Moscow, 
 have contributed a good deal to propagate 
 sympathy for the insurgent cause in the 
 Russian empire, and to collect funds for 
 the support of that cause." 
 
 Consul White here makes the surprising 
 statement that the Omladina and the Croats, 
 and the rest of the Austrian Slavs, were 
 working together for one object, whilst, as 
 we have shown, they simply made use of 
 the same means to attain different objects. 
 
 He ought to have pointed out that the 
 Omladina differed essentially in its objects 
 from the Croat party ; that its importance 
 
 77 
 
 '1 
 
 
 »' 
 
SERVIAN AGITATION.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1875-76. 
 
 only arose from whatever connection it had 
 with Servia ; and that, far from being con- 
 nected with the Court party at Vienna, in 
 the sense of being supported by that party 
 for the attainment of its particular object, 
 it was only used by the Court party in so 
 far as it might assist the Croat and Catholic 
 
 movement. 
 
 Consul White must have known all this ; 
 and certainly he was aware of it the same 
 day he wrote the above despatch ; for there 
 is another despatch from him, dated the 
 same day, April 28th, in which the follow- 
 ing passages occur : — 
 
 "The prince takes no pains to conceal 
 that more than ever he considers a collision 
 with the Porte as within the range of pos- 
 sibilities ; but he continues to disclaim, at 
 the same time, any intention to act as the 
 aggressor. He pointed out to me, the other 
 day, that that portion of Bosnia which is 
 conterminous to Servia has been entirely 
 free from armed bands since last November, 
 when the Papas Zarko was repulsed into 
 Servia, whilst the insurgents, who had 
 within the last few weeks made their 
 appearance on the river Unna, between 
 Bihatch, Novi, and Kostainitza, were all in 
 proximity to the Austrian frontier, and he 
 iiefied ariy one to shoiv that Servia had 
 been instrumental in fostering insurrec- 
 tion in that part of Bosnia, though he 
 added that such an accusation had been 
 made somewhere, evidently alluding to Aus- 
 trian authorities. 
 
 " Indeed, it is generally believed here that 
 this last rising in that part of Bosnia which 
 I have described above, and which is 
 generally known by the name of Turkish 
 Croatia, owed its main support to Austrian 
 
 Slavs. 
 
 "Whilst the above are, no doubt, the 
 views of the most influential persons in this 
 principality, corresponding military pre- 
 parations are carried on unremittingly 
 with immense care and attention; and 
 although the purchases of stores of different 
 kinds are contracted for on a scale corre- 
 sponding to the smallness of the resources 
 of this juvenile State, most of these indicate 
 by their nature the contemplation of a 
 regular warfare at no distant period, and 
 payments for them have well-nigh exhausted 
 the small supplies of cash which either 
 existed in the treasury a few months back, 
 or which have accrued to it since. It does 
 not appear that any means have succeeded, 
 up to this moment, in providing for a 
 78 
 
 mode by which it would be possible 
 to replenish the exchequer before it is 
 thoroughly drained — a moment which can- . 
 not be far off. 
 
 " The delivery of some of the stores will 
 not be supplied by the contractors till 
 May, and to the end of June ; and the in- 
 tended purchase of horses in Bessarabia 
 having turned out a total failure, on ac- 
 count of their high price, these are brought 
 daily across the Danube from the inundated- 
 districts of Hungary by dealers, and those 
 that are approved of are bought by the 
 war department. 
 
 " All these facts would lead one to sup- 
 pose that a regular campaign was in contem- 
 plation ; the militia has been divided in 
 six divisions, and all the arrangements of 
 this new organisation are, I believe, suffi- 
 ciently advanced to enable Servia to enter 
 the field at very short notice, and perhaps 
 even before all the preparations are fully 
 completed, should it be considered advan- 
 tageous to do so. 
 
 " In conversation with the foreign repre- 
 sentatives, persons in authority tell us that 
 all these preparations have a purely de- 
 fensive character, and that the advent of 
 the war party in the councils of the Sultan 
 might, at any moment, expose Servia to an 
 attack, and her prince to the merited re- 
 proach of his people, were he to leave such 
 a danger out of his calculations. 
 
 " Thus much I may say, that I have not 
 met a single politician of any note in Servia 
 who did not contemplate, sooner or later, 
 hostilities with the Porte — not with a view 
 to independence, hut for the purpose of the 
 acquisition of Bosnia, and through the 
 deeply-rooted desire of making the present 
 principality the nucleus of a larger Sla- 
 vonic State under the suzerainty of the 
 Porte, as long as European Turkey forms 
 a ccmipact State. 
 
 " All are unanimous and agreed on this 
 subject without exception. A few entertain 
 a faint hope that the same result might be 
 attained by negotiations with the Porte if 
 any of the great powers could be made fa- 
 vourable to such a project ; but not even 
 these exclude an appeal to arms altogether 
 from their calculations ; so that it may be 
 asserted without hesitation, that the only 
 differences existing amongst Servian public 
 men in this respect are as to time, and ap- 
 preciations of the fittest opportunity." 
 
 This proves amply that it was well known 
 at Belgrade, in all circles having any 
 
 A.D. 1875-76.J 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the omladinists. 
 
 knowledge of the facts, that the two move- 
 ments, the Croat and the Omladina, 
 though moving side by side, were really 
 opposed to each other. In fact, they were 
 rival suitors for the fair lady Bosnia, whom 
 they were equally intent on delivering 
 from the hands of the Turk. Now, why 
 did not Mr. White clearly state the circum- 
 stances long before ? And how is it that 
 be did not state, in 1875, that " not a single 
 politician of any note in Servia wished 
 anything but the development of Servia 
 under the suzerainty of the Porte," but 
 left this important intelligence till 1876, 
 when it was too late? He cannot even 
 plead ignorance ; which, though it would 
 not be to the credit of his employers, would, 
 at any rate, absolve him to a certain degree. 
 He was repeatedly informed of the true 
 state of affairs. In strong contrast to his 
 habits in Warsaw during the Polish insur- 
 rection, when he kept the doors of the 
 consulate double-locked, barred, and 
 chained, in Belgrade he kept open house, 
 and was fully informed, from hour to hour, 
 of all that passed. 
 
 Now, having drawn a line between the 
 Croats and the Omladinists, it will be 
 easier to define the precise relations of this 
 terrible body to Servia, and to appreciate 
 the influence it is said to have exercised on 
 affairs at its true value. 
 
 It was, in fact, a three-headed monster. 
 The one head was Svetovar Milatics; the 
 second was Karageorgevitch ; the third 
 was " General " Strati mirovitch. Each of 
 these three despised the other, and repu- 
 diated all association with each other. 
 
 " General " Stratimirovitch is a descend- 
 ant of the Patriarch Stratimirovitch, 
 under whose auspices, a couple of centuries 
 ago, a large number of Serbs fled from 
 Turkey, and, seeking refuge in Austria, 
 formed a considerable portion of the an- 
 cestors of the Hungarian Serbs. In 1848, 
 Stratimirovitch rendered considerable ser- 
 vice in the campaign under Jellachich 
 against the Hungarians, and was promoted 
 to the rank of general. In reward for this, 
 and for services to the emperor of a more 
 personal nature, he was presented with an 
 estate, and granted a certain sum of money. 
 But estate and money soon disappeared, 
 owing to his intemperate habits and gam- 
 bling propensities. After awhile, circum- 
 stances arose which resulted in his being 
 cashiered; henceforth he was never men- 
 tioned bat with contempt, and with 
 
 shrugging of shoulders, which is more 
 significant than words. For years he 
 dragged on a hang-dog existence, always on 
 the look-out for something to turn up. 
 That " something " appeared, as he fondly 
 thought, in the shape of the Bosnian in- 
 surrection and the imminent action of 
 Servia, as was generally expected. So 
 Stratimirovitch, resuming his title of 
 general, proceeded to Belgrade, and made 
 the most tempting offers to Prince Milan 
 and his ministers. He was accompanied 
 by a consummate rascal and notorious 
 brawler, a man called Rankovics, who was 
 his general factotum, his " gallopin," and 
 called himself the "General's" secretary. 
 Others of a similar stamp followed him to 
 Belgrade, where he established a regular 
 recruiting bureau. The Servian ministers, 
 much as they disliked the personal cha- 
 racter of the man, nevertheless entered 
 into negotiations with him as much to 
 keep him in sight, and prevent his doing 
 any mischief elsewhere, as for any other 
 reason. At the same time they had a sort 
 of idea that his military experience might 
 be useful, as there were no officers in the 
 Servian army, of his rank, who had had any 
 experience of actual warfare. The com- 
 mander-in-chief, General Zach, was, first of 
 all, an aged man, a very amiable man, 
 indeed, but untried in the field; and 
 secondly, he was a Bohemian, and not a 
 Serb. So Stratimirovitch was provisionally 
 accepted for a command, and supplied 
 with a moderate amount of money to en- 
 able him to keep himself and his family of 
 several children, whio had accompanied him 
 to Belgrade, and to gather round him a 
 number of penniless individuals and adven- 
 turers from all the four quarters of the 
 globe. 
 
 The second Omladinist chief was Kara- 
 georgevitch. This person, popularly sup- 
 posed to have caused the assassination of 
 Prince Michael, was protected by the Hun- 
 garians and Austrians as a useful card to 
 play against Prince Milan in case of neces- 
 sity. But when the insurrection broke 
 out, he determined to play a game on his 
 own account, and, recruiting a body of men 
 at his own expense, made periodical expe- 
 ditions across the border whenever an 
 opportunity offered to raise a few head of 
 cattle, when there were no troops in the 
 way. His chief object, however, in these 
 expeditions, was the distribution of a 
 number of medals, on one side of which 
 
 79 
 
 
 \ 
 
 • . '^ '» 
 
THE OMLADINISTS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1875-76. 
 
 >• I 
 
 was his own effigy, and on the other 
 the motto, "Liberty, Fraternity, and 
 Equality." With these medals, and a pro- 
 clamation calling upon all the Slavs to 
 appear at the unfurling of the banner of 
 their emancipation on the plains of Kos- 
 Kovo, where the conquest of Servia by the 
 Turks was accomplished, Karageorgevitch 
 expected to be able to establish a great 
 Servian republic on the ruins of the house 
 of Obrcnovitch. But Kossova was unfor- 
 tunately a long way off, and right in the 
 midst of the Paynim's territory, so that 
 neither medals nor appeal were sufficient to 
 rally the Servian braves round the banner 
 which Karageorgevitch may, or may not, 
 have had ready to unfurl. On the other 
 hand, both medals and proclamation fur- 
 nislied the material for diplomatic repre- 
 sentations, and afforded Count Andrassy 
 an opportunity to direct Sir Andrew Bu- 
 chanan's attention to the difficulties which 
 the imperial government had to contend 
 with. What with the Omladina, what with 
 the refugees, and what with Karageorge- 
 vitch, the poor count really did not know what 
 to do. He was badgered on all sides, and 
 even Prince Milan called him to account 
 for allowing the Pretender to pass and 
 repass the frontier without molestation. 
 And insult was even added to injury; for 
 when Prince Wrede, the Austrian consul 
 in Belgrade, following Count Andrassy's 
 instructions, declared that the Hungarian 
 government would be only too glad to 
 intern Karageorgevitch, as they had Liubi- 
 bratich, if they could only find him, the 
 Servian authorities offered to lend Count 
 Andrassy one of their own detectives, who 
 was able to follow all his movements. 
 However, Karageorgevitch's expeditions 
 had no further result than the above repre- 
 sentations, and a despatch from Sir Andrew 
 to the Earl of Derby, to the effect that 
 4,000 of the medals had been distributed 
 amongst the Serbs in Bosnia and the 
 adjoining districts of Servia. Now to show 
 how small beginnings lead to great ends in 
 the diplomatic world, as elsewhere also, it 
 may here be mentioned that these famous 
 medals were the speculation of a clerk in a 
 mercantile house in Karlova, of the name 
 of Veslin. Following the custom in the 
 Niiremberg and Birmingham trade, of pro- 
 viding buttons, studs, snuff-boxes, &c., 
 with the portraits of celebrated men, he 
 had had a number of these counters made 
 on the chance of selling them amongst the 
 80 
 
 admirers of Karageorgevitch, wlio, unlike 
 the " unfortunate nobleman, had no brains 
 but plenty of money," and was himself 
 Veslin's chief customer. It was a cheap 
 and facile way of attaining notoriety, and 
 of bringing his name before the general 
 public, as well as within the Foreign Offices 
 of the European capitals, and even into the 
 numismatic collections in the museums of 
 Pesth and Vienna. 
 
 This is probably as much as most people 
 will care to know about the proceedings of 
 the Karageorgevitch Omladina. Still, be ifc 
 remembered, it was regarded as one of the 
 questions, and really seriously discussed by 
 statesmen and diplomatists with portentous 
 gravity. 
 
 The third, and chief of the Omladinists, 
 was Svetovar Miletics, one of the Serb 
 deputies in the Hungarian parliament, and 
 proprietor and editor of the Zastava, a 
 Serb paper published in Neusatz. 
 
 Neusatz, it may be mentioned, is a 
 flourishing little town opposite the frown- 
 ing walls and ramparts of the celebrated 
 fortress of Peterwardein, and one of the 
 great centres of the Serb colonies in Hun- 
 gary. It drives a considerable trade in 
 grain, wine, &c., and is altogether a pro- 
 gressive place. A little further down the 
 river we come to Carlovitz — better known 
 to the British public through Max Greger's 
 advertisements of the red wine, grown on 
 the slopes of the hilh which surround it ; 
 but of high importance to the Serb popu- 
 lation as the seat of the Serb patriarch, 
 and as surely also an important centre for 
 Serb agitation. Still further down the 
 river, an hour's distance by steamer, past 
 Belgrade, at a little way up the river 
 Temes, lies Pancsova, also a great centre 
 for the "Omladina," and represented in 
 the Hungarian parliament by D. Michael 
 Polit, an intimate friend of Miletics'. 
 North-west of Pancsova, and on the rail- 
 way from Bosiasch to Pesth, lies Verschetz, 
 the fourth focus of Serb agitation. The 
 country in between these four places is the 
 home and birth-place of the Omladina ; and 
 between these towns and Belgrade and 
 Semlin, there was a constant communica- 
 tion and agitation going on. The agents 
 of the Omladina would start from Neusatz, 
 proceed to Belgrade by steamer, thence 
 continue to Pancsova, on to Verschetz, and 
 then across country back to Neusatz, or to 
 other minor places in the interior. A con- 
 stant ferment was going on. At Neusatz, 
 
 r 
 I ' * 
 
 .'I' 
 
 1^,-- 
 
 •a.d. 187o-'76.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [polit and MILETICS. 
 
 the brother of Dr. Michael Polit, a hosier 
 and linendraper, was one of the chief 
 at'-ents and forwarders of goods, circulars, 
 proclamations, &c. He occupied in Neu- 
 satz just the same position as his fellow- 
 hosier, M. de Soubras, the Carlist agent at 
 Perpignan, and sold patriotism by the 
 piece or the yard, and sedition by the bale, 
 and " Miletics' buttons " by the gross. 
 
 All throuGfh this retjion there was an 
 atmosphere of mystery and conspiracy ; an 
 oppressive sense of something always going 
 to happen. Men gathered into knots, and 
 engaged in eager conversation, which was 
 immediately hushed on the approach of 
 other groups. First-class passengers in the 
 boats conferred mysteriously with steerage 
 and second-class passengers; and mys- 
 terious people always came down to the 
 landing-stage when the boat arrived at any 
 of the stations, and held more mysterious 
 commune with the travellers. In short, it 
 was a perpetual Guy Fawkes' day, and 
 everybody expected, or affected to expect, 
 that there would be a tremendous explosion, 
 which somehow or other would blow up all 
 Hungary, Turkey, and portions of Austria 
 and Roumania, and leave all that was 
 worth leaving in the shape of the mighty 
 Servian empire. 
 
 Of this state of things. Count Andrassy, 
 M. Ti.^za, Count Beust, and the whole host 
 of kindred diplomaticuli made immense 
 capital. " The Omladina ! the Omladina ! " 
 was their perpetual exclamation. The Poli- 
 tische Coi^espondenz was full of its doings ; 
 Lord Beaconsfield even shook his head 
 when it was mentioned; and it was classed 
 with the rest of the secret societies which 
 have played an important part in the 
 world's history. 
 
 Yet there never was such a wind-bag of 
 an association as this same Omladina. As 
 an effective political body it had no more 
 substance than a pastrycook's flour-bag, 
 and could produce no further practical 
 result than one of these same bags when 
 little Tommy puffs it full of wind, and 
 explodes it between his hands, highly 
 delighted with the consequent bang. The 
 slightest puncture was sufficient to make 
 the whole concern collapse. 
 
 Still it was pretended by the heads of 
 the State that it was a most dangerous 
 society ; and this impression, owing to the 
 childish affectation of mystery its members 
 observed, rapidly gained ground, fostered, 
 as it was, by the government authorities 
 
 and the Magyar irreconcilables, until the 
 excitement became so great as to allow ot 
 the arrest of Dr. Svetovar Miletics on a 
 charge of high treason, and his imprison- 
 ment in the fortress of Buda Pesth on 
 July 6, 1876, a few days after the declara- 
 tion of war by Prince Milan against 
 Turkey. Here Miletics remained until 
 January 8, 1878, without being brought to 
 trial. It was universally acknowledged at 
 the time that this measure was one of 
 " precaution." The government had played 
 long enough with the Omladina, and had 
 allowed it to assume the proportions of a 
 " question," convenient to the policy of the 
 government ; but, having accomplished its 
 work in this sense, it was decided to pre- 
 vent any chance of its really becoming, 
 what it pretended to be, an association of 
 practical importance. 
 
 Now, no better picture of the Omladina 
 exists than that presented at the trial of 
 Dr. 3Iiletics on January 8, 1878. Be it 
 noted that the whole power of the Hun- 
 garian government, the whole energy of the 
 police, and the services of a host of spies, 
 had been put into motion to obtain 
 evidence against Dr. Miletics, and that the 
 prosecution had over eighteen months to 
 prepare its case. 
 
 The accusation against Dr. Miletics was 
 that he had excited hatred amongst the 
 Serbs against Hungary, and enmity against 
 the constitution and the integrity of the 
 State. 
 
 The first witness called was Greorge 
 Rankovics, who stated that in June, 1875, 
 he went to Belgrade to take part in the 
 war which the Servian government was 
 contemplating against the Turks. But 
 as the Servian government could not make 
 up their minds as rapidly as the state of 
 Mr. Rankovics' finances rendered desirable, 
 he entered the service of Greneral Strati- 
 mirovitch, as " secretary, and for all other 
 services." 
 
 He declared that, in June, 1876, Dr. 
 Miletics arrived at Belgrade, where he 
 made a speech in the room No. 9 of the 
 hotel. King of Servia, in the presence of a 
 number of Serb patriots. In the course of 
 this speech, Miletics, according to Ran- 
 kovics, declared that there were 20,000 to 
 30,000 volunteers in the Hungarian dis- 
 tricts of Banat, the Bacska, and the 
 Servian military frontier, ready to take up 
 arms and assist Servia in her war against 
 Turkey; that in order to enable these 
 
 81 
 
 w- 
 
HISTORY OF THE 
 
 .Ȥ 
 
 MILETICS' TRIAL.] 
 
 volunteers to pass into Servia, a rebellion 
 in Hungary would have to be arranged, 
 and that for this purpose Servia would 
 have to supply money and arms — though, 
 as for arms, there were, perhaps, enough 
 already in the country. To this purpose 
 Miletics declared that all present would 
 devote their whole energies, and that, if 
 Servia should be victorious, she would 
 wrest the Serb districts from Hungary, 
 and unite the Banat, the Bacska and 
 Syrmia to one great kingdom, under 
 Prince Milan. After having made this 
 speech, Miletics and his friends, Professors 
 Boskovicz, Kassopinovich, &c., went to 
 M. Ristich, and, declared Rankovics, re- 
 mained with liim in conference until 
 3 A.M. 
 
 In reply to the judge, as to whether he 
 himself was present, he answered in the 
 negative; but said,«"he knew it." 
 
 " Aod," asked the judge, " why did you 
 leave Belgrade ? " 
 
 " I had had enough of the beggary and 
 rubbish. I did nothing but indulge in dis- 
 sipation, and I saw no money coming in." 
 He then went on to say that the Servian 
 government had spent 30,000 ducats 
 amongst the Omladinists; and on being 
 asked by the judge whether the Omladlna 
 still existed, he replied that he had doubted 
 it, but that now looking around him, he 
 saw that all the witnesses arrayed against 
 him were Omladinists. " How do you 
 know that?" inquired the judge. "Be- 
 cause I do ! " was the unanswerable reply. 
 On the other hand, when Dr. Polit cross- 
 examined him, and asked whether Strati- 
 mirovitch was a friend or an enemy of Dr. 
 Miletics, he shouted, at the top of his 
 voice, " How do I know ? " and when 
 reproved by the judge for his violence, 
 declared that he could not help it, as he was 
 naturally violent, and not responsible for 
 his nature. All this called forth loud 
 bursts of laughter from the Serbs, so that 
 the judge was obliged to interfere, and 
 threaten to clear the court. 
 
 In reply to this accusation, Miletics 
 categorically denied everything Rankovics 
 had said about the alleged meeting, and 
 that he had never seen the man to his 
 knowledge; and, in reply to the judge, 
 stated that he went to Belgrade to assure 
 the prince that he was not opposed to him, 
 and that the opposition to his government 
 was dictated by conscientious motives, and 
 was by no mtans antagonistic to Prince 
 i52 
 
 [A.D. 1875-76. 
 
 A.D. 1876.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [dr. miletics' trial. 
 
 Milan personally, nor to his dynasty. Aa 
 a matter of fact, his doubts as to his recop- 
 tion were so great that, at first, he intended 
 to sleep in Semlin, but that ultimately he 
 went to Belgrade, and took up his quarters 
 at the Servian Crown, and never put his 
 foot inside the Kin^ of Servia, where he 
 did no more than drink a glass of beer at 
 one of the tables outside the hotel. Both 
 these houses, in fact, are on the promenade, 
 just before the citadel; one is at one end, 
 the second at the other end of the same block 
 of buildings, and both are the resort of the 
 Belirrade beau monde, which assembles at 
 one or the other to drink beer and sup to the 
 strains of the gipsy bands. As for room 
 No. 9, in the King of Servia, at the very 
 time when he was supposed to be holding his 
 seditious speech, it was occupied by Senator 
 Gravitovics. These declarations of Mile- 
 tics were fully confirmed by a host of wit- 
 nesses, who swore that Miletics was never 
 in the hotel, who accounted for all his time 
 during the three days he was in Belgrade, 
 and had never heard of the alleged meeting 
 in the King of Servia. 
 
 Rankovics, however, insisted on the 
 truth of his assertions ; and when several 
 witnesses proved that he had declared in 
 prison, where he was confined after his 
 escape from Belgrade, that he had threat- 
 ened to denounce so many people that the 
 prison would not hold them all, he 
 shouted, " That's a lie ! I was only savage 
 at being arrested for a political crime, and 
 at being shut up in one cell with 1,000 
 bugs and five million fleas ! *' This led the 
 way to some inquiries into Mr. Ranko- 
 vics' antecedents, when it was established 
 that he had been condemned to six months' 
 imprisoment for rape and assault, and had 
 also been accused of forgery : this charge, 
 however, had been dropped by the pro- 
 secution, consisting of his brother and 
 brother-in-law. 
 
 In addition to this, the authorities of his 
 parish stated, officially, that he bore a 
 very bad character, had always lived a dis- 
 sipated and immoral life, and had fre- 
 quently been punished for breaking the 
 public peace. In short, he was an un- 
 mitigated scoundrel. 
 
 So much for George Rankovics and his . 
 testimony. 
 
 The next witness was a certain Kernel 
 Jovanovics. Mr. Jovanovics, a book-keeper 
 at Beckskerek, was so moved in his 
 patriotic soul at the woes of the Chrit»tiaus 
 
 
 :ii ; 
 
 in Turkey, and the refugees in Austria, 
 that when he heard that Miletics had 
 returned from Belgrade, he went to ask his 
 advice as to a project he, the patriotic 
 Jovanovics, had conceived, of collecting 
 funds for the benefit of the wounded and 
 refugees. His examination and cross- 
 examination throws such a vivid light upon 
 the whole affair, that it will be highly in- 
 teresting to read it in extenso. 
 
 President: "What was the object of 
 your journey ?" 
 
 Jovanovics : " The collection of funds for 
 the benefit of the refugees and the Chris- 
 tians in Turkey." 
 
 President : " Not their liberation ? " 
 
 Jovanovics : " No ; only for the refugees 
 and the wounded." 
 
 President: "Why did you go to Neu- 
 
 satz ? " 
 
 Jovanovics : " I had a brother there, 
 Dr. Jovanovics, and I went to him, and 
 other acquaintances, to ask them for 
 advice. I also requested them to get up a 
 subscription to defray the expenses of my 
 journey; and it was by their advice that I 
 appropriated 100 florins out of the sub- 
 scriptions I received for that purpose." 
 
 Dr. Lassky: "In your preliminary ex- 
 amination, you said that Dr. Miletics had 
 recommended you to undertake your sub- 
 scriptionary journey." 
 
 Jovanovics : " During this inquiry I was 
 very ill with the fever, and often signed the 
 protocols without reading or understanding 
 them. They are, consequently, incorrect." 
 
 President : " You also received a visiting 
 card from Dr. Miletics, on which we find 
 your name in Miletics' handwriting. What 
 did he give you that card for ? " 
 
 Jovanovics: "I wanted it as an intro- 
 duction to people I did not know per- 
 sonally. I did not tell Miletics so; but 
 simply asked him to give it to me, and he 
 complied with my request." ^ 
 
 • Judge : " How did you know that Servia 
 was in want of money ? " 
 
 Jovanovics : " I read it in the Serbski 
 Novine'^ 
 
 Judge : " But in your preliminary ex- 
 amination you said that Miletics had told 
 you so, and that he had promised the 
 prince to 'place' 100,000 to 500,000 
 florins of the Servian loan, and that you 
 were going to get it taken up in Hun- 
 gary ? " 
 
 Jovanovics : " I meant to place more 
 than 500,000. But Miletics had nothing 
 
 to do with it, nor did he tell me anything 
 about it." 
 
 In reply to a question by the judge as to 
 the object with which he had written 
 various names down on the card in 
 question, he said that he had written one 
 because the person in question had been 
 killed in the war, and the other because it 
 was such a very funny name. The rest 
 were those of people who had " fled " to 
 the Herzegovina. 
 
 Called upon by the judge to explain his 
 connection with Jovanovics, Miletics said 
 that he did not remember giving him any 
 card ; on the contrary, he was certain he 
 had not done so ; and that it was moro 
 than likely that Jovanovics had procured it 
 from his brother, upon whom he, Miletics, 
 had frequently called. Anyhow, it was 
 publicly notorious what part Jovanovics 
 was playing ; and that his journey was no 
 secret. He had received leave of absence 
 from his chief to collect subscriptions and 
 push the sale of a book he had written, 
 when he was arrested on a charge of 
 agitation. 
 
 Hereupon the examination of Jovanovics 
 was resumed, and Rankovics confronted 
 with him. He denied having told Ranko- 
 vics, with whom he had been imprisoned, 
 that the Omladina still existed. The Om- 
 ladina was dissolved. It was a literary 
 society established in Verschetz, with the 
 sanction of the authorities. 
 
 Dr. ^Miletics : " I beg to observe, that, in 
 his first examination, Rankovics stated that 
 I, and not the Prince of Montenegro, was 
 the head of the Omladina." 
 
 Rankovics : " Bosh ! Jovanovics said that 
 Miletics was the head of the Hungarian 
 Omladina ; but that the Prince of Monte- 
 negro was the head of the whole band." 
 
 Jovanovics : " The Omladina was but one 
 society, and did not have two presidents. 
 Also, I must say that I was shut up with 
 Rankovics in the same cell for six weeks ; 
 and one day, whilst looking at the almanac 
 over his bed, he said to me, 'I'll just tell 
 you something in confidence. I never saw 
 Miletics in Belgrade at all. Why doesn't 
 he get up a revolution amongst the Serbs? 
 Hang him!' — (Turning to Rankovics)— 
 Confess, did you not say that?" 
 
 Rankovics (laughing) : " Yes, I did." 
 
 Jovanovics : " You also said, ' What a 
 
 pity it is that General Stratimirovitch is 
 
 arrested. He could easilv recruit 30,000 to 
 
 40,000 volunteers here. Poor devil ! to be 
 
 83 
 
P'l. MILETICS' TRIAL.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1876. 
 
 >♦ 
 
 
 shut up just now.' — Did you not say 
 that ?" 
 
 Rankovics : " Yes, I said all that." 
 
 Jovanovics : " You also said, ' Now I 
 cannot do anything but betray the whole 
 band, or go into prison.' " 
 
 Rankovics : " Yes, I said that, too." 
 
 This nonchalant attitude of Mr. Ranko- 
 vics put Mr Jovanovics into such a state 
 of excitement, that he could not proceed 
 for a few minutes, and then accused Ranko- 
 vics of being bribed bv the authorities to 
 give false evidence ; stating, amongst other 
 things, that he always had plenty of money, 
 and smoked nothing but " the best cigars 
 and the finest 'Sultan Flor,' which he 
 wasted in a most wicked manner." 
 
 In reply to thit^, Mr. Rankovics declared, 
 *'that it was well known that he always 
 smoked the best tobacco ; and, if he had no 
 money, he would rather smoke none at all 
 , than poison himself with cabbage-stalks : 
 finally, that he had managed to scrape to- 
 gether a sum of 867 florins in Belgrade; 
 and that that was all the good he ever got 
 out of that pigstye of a town." 
 
 And this was all that Mr. Jovanovics 
 could get out of Mr. Rankovics. 
 
 The next witness brought to confront 
 Jovanovics was Pope Peter Pericz, an 
 Orthodox priest in Bassahid. He stated 
 that he had known Jovanovics since his 
 youth, and had met him in June, 1876, 
 when Jovanovics had asked him what 
 chance there was of getting the people in 
 his district to take up the Servian loan. 
 He replied that the harvest had been so 
 ])ad, that there was no chance of their doinjr 
 so to any amount. In reply to the ques- 
 tion whether Jovanovics had told him any- 
 tliing about the interview of Miletics with 
 Prince Milan, he said 'No;' and that he 
 knew all about it before he saw Jovanovics, 
 as he was in the habit of readinof the news- 
 papers. Hereupon Pope Peter Pericz was 
 confronted with a man named Lujanovics, 
 which gave rise to the following delectable 
 episode : — 
 
 Judge: "What did his reverence tell 
 you about Jovanovics ?" 
 
 Lujanovics: "I called him out into the 
 passage, and asked him, in confidence, 
 whether Jovanovics had not been talking 
 of other matters besides the Servian loan. 
 He then said that in case war should break 
 out between Servia and the Porte, a revolu- 
 tion might break out amongst the Hun- 
 garian Serbs." 
 84 
 
 Judge: "Now, Mr. Priest, what have 
 you to say to that?" 
 
 Pericz : " I can state upon my oath that 
 no such conversation took place." 
 
 Judge (to Lujanovics): "Say it to his 
 face. Repeat your statement to his face." 
 
 Lujanovics (turning to the priest): "If 
 you deny that, your reverence, you are a 
 liar I " 
 
 Pericz : " You're another ! " 
 
 This passage of epithets led to some judi- 
 cial remonstrances, with no further result 
 than that both witnesses adhered to their 
 assertions. 
 
 The next witness was a Serb, the mayor 
 of Gross Kikinda. He deposed that he had 
 been invited to supper at M. Majinski's, a 
 solicitor of Gross Kikinda, at which he met 
 Jovanovics, who said that Prince Milan had 
 been told by Miletics that 30,000 to 40,000 
 Serbs in Hungary were ready to join him 
 against Turkey. But at the same time he 
 did not understand Jovanovics to say that 
 Miletics had told him so ; he only related it 
 as a piece of news. Altogether, the supper 
 at Herr Majinski's appears to have been a 
 rather jovial affair. At another supper, one 
 of the " seditious speeches" was made by a 
 certain Markovicz. His niece had just been 
 presented by her father with a fine horse, 
 and Markovicz called upon her to promise 
 this horse to the first Servian warrior who 
 should take a Turkish battery. Mademoi- 
 selle Markovicz, however, replied that she 
 did not mean to give her horse away to any- 
 body — not even to a Servian warrior. 
 
 This exhausted the Jovanovics portion of 
 the inquiry. It resulted, from this in- 
 quiry, that Mr. Jovanovics decided to make 
 a tour to "collect" subscriptions for the 
 relief of the wounded and refugees ; that at 
 the same time he took advantage of the 
 opportunity to push the sale of a book, 
 written by him, on the art of book-keeping; 
 that he appropriated a portion of the sub- 
 scriptions to pay his expenses; that he en- 
 deavoured to place shares of the Servian 
 loan in Hungary ; and that he had, somehow 
 or other, obtained a card from Dr. Miletics. 
 
 The next witness was an old friend, 
 Veslin. He was a counter-jumper in the 
 establishment of John Polit, hosier audi 
 linendraper, and being thus as it were to 
 the manner born, had had a number of 
 buttons, studs, and medals struck, this 
 time with the portrait of Dr. Svetovar 
 Miletics, and the motto, "Czernagora, 
 Bosnia, Herzegovina, Servia, Croatia, Sia- 
 
 lyl 
 
 1:4 
 
 A.D. 1876.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [MILETiCSl SENTENCE. 
 
 vonia, Bacska." The sale of these medals 
 and buttons, said the witness, he had re- 
 garded as a matter of speculation. It was, 
 he declared, just the same thing as the sale 
 of gingerbread cakes with a portrait of 
 Kossuth, at the time when the Hungarians 
 rebelled against Austria, and were put down 
 by the Serbs and Russians. There was no 
 secret at all about the matter. His own 
 initials, J. P. V., were on the medals ; and 
 far from Dr. Miletics, whom he had never 
 spoken to, approving of his speculation, 
 Le was very indignant at it, and sent him 
 back one of these medals made of gold, 
 which he had sent for his acceptance. He 
 only wanted to make money by the trans- 
 action. It was a common "dodge," he 
 said, and numbers of similar medals and 
 counters were about, with effigies of Serbs, 
 Hungarians, Austrians, and Italians of note. 
 Finally, he declared, and his evidence was 
 borne out by the testimony of the director 
 of the museum, that these medals had been 
 struck years ago, and had circulated with- 
 out any opposition on the part of the au- 
 thorities. 
 
 This closed the evidence for the prosecu- 
 tion. The prosecutor, Dr. Bock, summed it 
 up in a long speech, and considering that 
 he had fully proved the guilt of the prisoner, 
 oemanded the full penalty accorded by the 
 law — death, or imprisonment for life. 
 
 He was followed by Dr. Polit, who tore 
 the arguments of the prosecutor to shreds, in 
 a magnificent speech of several hours' dura- 
 tion. At the conclusion. Dr. Miletics rose. 
 This concluding incident in the comedy is 
 tlius related by the Pester Lloyd, a Hun- 
 garian journal, the reputed organ of Count 
 Andrassy, and which, therefore, cannot be 
 suspected of partiality towards the prisoner. 
 " I am glad," he said, " that the light of 
 publicity has been cast upon my conduct. 
 The prosecutor states that I have followed 
 the paths of high treason for years. Since 
 when ? I will not boast of what Francis 
 Deak said to me in 1860, when I was intro- 
 duced to him : 'Vermes szerb, dejo hazafi,' 
 — a sanguine Serb, but a good patriot — 
 but it is due to all whom I have the 
 honour of knowing, and who have honoured 
 me with their friendship, that it should be 
 known what Deak himself said of me. The 
 prosecutor seems to have forgotten every- 
 thing that happened between the years 
 1860 and 1868. 
 
 "They were years of trial and tribulation. 
 We all know how necessary it then was for 
 VOL. m. » 
 
 all nationalities to hold together and com- 
 bine to obtain constitutional rights. Al- 
 though not decisive — for with all the po- 
 litical and material superiority of the Hun- 
 garians, they were unable to secure their - 
 constitution without foreign assistance — 
 the help at that time of the Hungarian 
 Serbs was certainly not unimportant. 
 Then we Serbs, in spite of the reminiscences 
 of 1848, joined in the demand for a 
 constitution for Hungary: then I was a 
 jo hazafi, a good patriot ; but now, eight 
 years later, because I wish that we Slavs 
 should also constitutionally battle for our 
 constitutional rights, I am called hazad- 
 rulo and felsegserto* traitor and betrayer, 
 and placed in the dock as a criminal." 
 
 At these words Miletics was overcome 
 by emotion, and his eyes filled with tears. 
 He then entered into a learned discussion 
 with the prosecutor on intricate points of 
 law, and showed a most wonderful mastery of 
 the laws brought to bear against him. It 
 was truly a strange sight to see this old 
 man, his emaciated features flushed with 
 excitement, and strongly contrasting with 
 his grey beard and long snow-white hair, 
 as he sat before a little table and turned 
 over the pages of the great folios his coun- 
 sel handed to him, criticising the Latin text 
 word by word, and refuting the argument of 
 the prosecution. The whole scene savoured 
 rather of a legal discussion in ancient times 
 by learned scholars, than of a trial in a 
 modern court of law — even of a tiial for 
 high treason. 
 
 But it was all of no avail. The next 
 day, after a six days' trial, Svetovar Mile- 
 tics was found guilty of high treason on 
 the above evidence, and sentenced to five 
 years' imprisonment. 
 
 Comment on this trial is superfluous. 
 No case in the Turkish courts of law, cor- 
 rupt as they may be, could exceed this 
 in point of flagrant injustice and national 
 hatred — contemptible, mean, despicable be- 
 yond expression. On the unsupported tes- 
 timony of a notorious scoundrel, a violator, 
 a forgerer, a pimp, the jackal of a drunken 
 general who had married the cast-off mis- 
 tress of an emperor, Miletics was con- 
 demned to imprisonment for five years in 
 the cells of Buda citadel. After eighteen 
 months' preparation, this was all the evi- 
 dence the State could adduce against him ! 
 This was all they could prove against the 
 
 
 * Zese Majesty. 
 
 85 
 
BERLIN MEMORANDUM.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1876. 
 
 • I 
 
 Omladina. On their own showing, the 
 dreaded society consisted of a Jovanovics, 
 who went about collecting funds, and trying 
 to place shares of a Servian loan ; who ap- 
 propriated part of -the proceeds— perhaps 
 the greater part — and used a card of Mile- 
 tics', which he had stolen from his brother, 
 to give an air of importance to himself; 
 and, finally, of a counter-jumper at a 
 hosier's, who speculated in buttons, and 
 made use of an honest man's trade to put 
 money into a blackguard's pocket. After 
 eighteen months, this was all the Austrian 
 government, police, detectives, and spies 
 could find out against a literary society 
 whose policy was represented by the di- 
 plomatists as subversive of society, and a 
 grave danger to the State. 
 
 At the same time, however, it would not 
 be accurate to say that the Omladina was 
 not a political body also. It was ; but only 
 in the same sense as the Reform Club, or 
 any of the Liberal or Conservative associa- 
 tions in England, without one-tenth of 
 their organisation. But as for the Om- 
 ladina, as a body, having had any practical 
 weight, or having exercised any material 
 influence on the course of events, it is per- 
 fectly absurd to say so. That individuals 
 were found like John Polit, Jovanovics, 
 Rankovics, and Veslin, to embark in specu- 
 lative adventures under the cloak of patriot- 
 ism, was natural, and would have been the 
 case without any Omladina at all; but 
 under no circumstances could the organisa- 
 tion of the Omladina, or its active help to 
 the insurgents, be compared, in the remotest 
 degree, with the activity of the Carlist 
 sympathisers and adventurers on the French 
 frontier. Personal experience, in fact, and 
 the perusal of documents written in 1875 
 by Polit and Miletics, now lying on the 
 table whilst these lines are being penned, 
 assess the influence of the Omladinists still 
 
 lower even than appears from official docu- 
 ments and the great trial of the chief of the 
 " society" himself. Throughout, 90 per 
 cent, of those who took an active part in 
 the agitation were animated by the most 
 sordid motives ; they were the black sheep 
 of a country where the species is peculiarly 
 abundant ; and scarcely one of them was 
 there who might not have been arrested 
 for half-a-dozen misdemeanours. Yet, in 
 spite of all these notorious facts, we find 
 Lord Loftus writing that, " in regard to 
 Servia, Prince Gortschakoff stated that the 
 interest of the Russians was to support 
 Prince Milan against the ' Omladina' and 
 the violent revolutionary party who were 
 plotting his overthrow ; and he had lately 
 drawn the attention of the Austrian 
 cabinet to the secret workings of this 
 party, not only in Servia, but in the ad- 
 joining Austrian provinces, as also to the 
 intrigues of Karageorgevitch and his 
 followers. His highness had recommended 
 that these revolutionary proceedings and 
 elements should be carefully watched, and 
 that they should be put down with a 
 strong hand." 
 
 What Prince Gortschakoff really was - 
 doing was exciting Prince Milan's suspicions 
 against Austria, and preparing the way for 
 that influx of Russians which was soon to 
 give quite a different complexion to 
 affairs. 
 
 With this we may conclude the Omla- 
 dina incident in the affairs of Servia. It 
 is abundantly plain that Servia was in the 
 hands of her ministers — i.e., of Ristich ; and 
 that she hoped, by skilful manoeuvring be- 
 tween Austria and Russia, to be able to 
 secure enough for herself to counterbalance 
 any acquisitions that might be made by 
 Montenegro. The only real influence 
 brought to bear upon her was that exercised 
 by those two countries. 
 
 CHAPTER VIL 
 
 THE BERLIN MEMORAXDUM. 
 
 In considering the part played by Monte- 
 negro in the local scramble, as it may be 
 called^ for the provinces of European Tur- 
 86 
 
 key, the manifesto of Prince Nikita, issued 
 on May 8th, 1876, is worthy of the fullest 
 attention. It is a remarkable document; 
 
 .i 
 
 A.D. 187G.J 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [nikita's despatch. 
 
 and with some exceptions, less in matters of 
 fact than in matters of inference, it is also 
 remarkably accurate, and worthy of being 
 placed on record. It was sent to all the 
 European governments, and contained one 
 noteworthy warning which we have reason to 
 know was due to Russian initiation, but 
 which, if it had been properly appreciated 
 and acted on by the powers, would have 
 probably prevented the war which ensued. 
 
 He wrote :— " For years the province of 
 Herzegovina has been the theatre of con- 
 tinual disorders, and the position of the 
 Christian majority of the population has 
 been rendered intolerable. The reforms 
 and guarantees accorded, time after time, 
 by the government of his majesty the 
 Sultan, with a good faith which we are far 
 from suspecting, have not attained their end, 
 because, in this, as unfortunately in every- 
 thing else, the authorities charged to apply 
 them have set themselves to annul their 
 effect, in which they have been actively 
 aided by the Mahommedan minority. 
 
 " This minority, in concert with the civil 
 and judicial magistrates, as well as with 
 the military leaders, has never failed, after 
 the publication with a great flourish of the 
 decrees of the Porte, to make them a dead 
 letter, even before their application had 
 been attempted. The vexations and re- 
 fusals of justice, in great as in small 
 matters, continued as in the past, and the 
 rayah had, no more than formerly, an hour 
 of security for himself, his family, and his 
 goods. Such a situation would exasperate 
 the most gentle populations; much less, 
 then, could unlimited patience be expected 
 from a people strangers to all civilising 
 influences, and whose masters themselves 
 set the example of contempt of the laws. 
 Life itself had become insupportable; 
 when a people is reduced to this we know 
 
 the result. 
 
 " A striking proof of the despair to which 
 the Herzegovinians were reduced is the 
 perfect brotherhood to which daily suffer- 
 ings have led two hostile religions. To 
 those who know the hatred which every- 
 where in the East divides the Roman 
 Catholics and the Orthodox Greek Church, 
 this fact speaks for itself. At this hour 
 Catholic priests and Greek popes fight to- 
 gether, mixed up in the same ranks." 
 
 (This, as was pointed out in another place, 
 was owing to the peculiar relations existing 
 between Prince Nikita and Bishop Stross- 
 mayer, and other leaders of the Croat 
 
 movement, and not so much from a com- 
 munity of interests or sympathies.) 
 
 " During the year 1874, the misery of the 
 Christians having reached its height, there 
 were, in various parts of the province, move- 
 ments precursory to a rising, to which the 
 authorities responded by doubling their 
 rigour, and by the summary arrest of a 
 certain number of notables. Others, escap- ' 
 ing pursuit, took refuge in Montenegro, 
 asking the prince to give them an asylum, 
 and even to help them to shake off the 
 
 yoke. 
 
 "Prince Nicholas, faithful to international 
 laws, refused to listen to this last request ; 
 but, well knowing the state of things 
 which had necessitated the flight of his 
 guests, he did his utmost to make possible 
 their return in safety to their homes. At 
 the same time he made known to the 
 powers, by a memorial dated April, 1875, 
 the situation in which the neighbouring 
 territories were placed. 
 
 " Then, as ever, when there was question 
 of a good action, he had the good fortune 
 to obtain the powerful assistance of the 
 government of his majesty the Emperor 
 of Austria, which was ready to make itself, 
 at Constantinople, the medium for com- 
 municating his highness's wishes. Thanks 
 to this support, the Porte granted an 
 amnesty for the acts of agitation, and tor 
 the illegal departure of the notables.^ Be- 
 sides this, she instituted a commission of 
 officials, charged to receive and record the 
 claims of the Herzegovinians. As soon as 
 the emigrants had returned and the com- 
 mission was installed, there happened, 
 what always has happened in Turkey since 
 the Sultans have undertaken reforms, the 
 new decrees were left unexecuted like the 
 preceding ones, and the delegates did 
 nothing but commence, formally, the in- 
 quiry with which they were charged. The 
 native Mussulmans, irritated, redoubled 
 their acts of violence and molestation 
 under the eyes of the commission, which 
 was either powerless or their accomplice ; 
 and the Christians, at the end of their 
 patience, listened only to the voice of de- 
 spair. 
 
 " It was thus that the present insurrection 
 broke out, without any preliminary arrange- 
 ment or preparation. 
 
 " It is quite useless to relate the history of 
 this war of detail, of surprises, of small 
 engagements, which has only been sig- 
 r.aUsed by the animosity of the two 
 
 87 
 
 f 
 
NIKITA S DESPATCH.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1876. 
 
 >i 
 
 parties, and by the vengeance exercised, 
 without distinction, on entire districts, by 
 the Turks. 
 
 " Since the commencement of this crisis, 
 the Christian powers, anxious as they 
 should be to circumscribe the incendiary 
 focus, in order to prevent it from becoming 
 by degrees a general conflagration, addressed 
 themselves to the Prince of Montenegro, 
 whose action might decide or arrest the 
 gravest complications. Entering without 
 hesitation into their views, and moved by 
 the same sentiments of order and peace, 
 the prince gave his promise to observe 
 neutrality, and he is happy to be able to 
 Bay that he has kept this engagement. He 
 even wishes it to be remarked, by the way, 
 that he has given a striking proof at the 
 game time of his fidelity to his engage- 
 ments, and of his power over his people, 
 by preventing them from throwing them- 
 selves blindly into the struggle, as they 
 would have done formerly. This fact 
 shows, as it is not useless to observe, what 
 progress the country has made in the path 
 of order and respect for the laws during 
 the last quarter of a century." 
 
 Then recapitulating the endeavours made 
 by the powers to restore peace in the 
 revolted provinces, and detailing the fero- 
 cious measures taken by the Turks to sup- 
 press the rebellion, the prince concludes 
 with the passage to which reference has 
 been made. 
 
 " In the general break-up," he said, 
 "the Turkish nation, in spite of the 
 admirable patience which characterises it, 
 driven to despair, cannot fail to call upon 
 its courage to inflict, to the utmost of its 
 ability, a terrible vengeance upon its rivals, 
 before accepting the ruin of its power. 
 
 " The crisis which is impending, if the 
 last moment for averting it be not seized 
 upon, cannot be circumscribed ; the whole 
 peninsula of the Balkan will be enveloped 
 in it. It is no business of ours to deal 
 with what concerns Bosnia, Servia, and 
 Bulgaria ; but we cannot be blind to the 
 evident connection of all that is going on 
 in European Turkey. The Mussulmans 
 on their side will make no distinctions ; all 
 Christians, whatever their nationality or 
 religion, are fatally included in the number 
 of enemies to be destroyed. We know per- 
 fectly well, and the whole world ought to 
 know with us, that, as the normal centre of 
 independence, our little State is specially 
 designed for implacable vengeance; also, 
 88 
 
 no one will be surprised that, whilst pre- 
 paring to the best of our ability to defend 
 our existence, we should take, in spite of 
 the humble position we occupy on the map, 
 the initiative of an appeal to Europe. 
 
 " We do not pretend to point out what 
 form of negotiations, congresses, confer- 
 ences, or correspondence between the gov- 
 ernments may be best suited to attain the 
 desired object, and still less to bring 
 forward questions which do not affect our 
 country alone, or the provinces that sur- 
 round it. But we earnestly intreat the 
 powers not to lose sight of the fact that 
 the Porte will not, cannot, and, indeed, 
 from the Mussulman point of view, ought 
 not to entertain serious projects of reform 
 and justice towards its Christian subjects; 
 that, had she such projects, she is powerless 
 to execute them; that the supreme and 
 inevitable crisis will burst forth of itself by 
 the force of circumstances, in spite of 
 diplomatic notes and fine promises of the 
 divan. 
 
 " Europe alone, by acting in concert 
 with promptitude and determination, can 
 still, by interposing her will, prevent the 
 horrors of a war of extermination." 
 
 Now, there appears to be scarcely any 
 doubt that this manifesto of Prince 
 Nikita's was dictated partly by his own 
 convictions, and partly in consequence of 
 Russian advice, in view of the conference 
 about to be held at Berlin between Prince 
 Bismarck, Count Andrassy, and Prince 
 Grortschakoff, to concert fresh measures for 
 forcing the Porte to grant substantial 
 reforms. It is, in fact, impossible to resist 
 this conviction, quite apart from any other 
 information, when we compare the follow- 
 ing passage in a despatch from Lord 
 Loftus, relating to a conversation he had 
 with Prince Gortschakoff on April 30, with 
 the passage in the prince's circular which 
 we have italicised. 
 
 "There can be no doubt," said his high- 
 ness, " that, in case a pacification could not 
 be accomplished, the insurrection would 
 assume much larger proportions, and a 
 flame would be kindled in Bulgaria, Epirus, 
 Thessaly, and Albania, which the Porte, 
 with its weakened resources, would be 
 unable to extinguish ; and the Christian 
 powers of Europe, awakened by publio 
 opinion to the call of humanity, will havo 
 to interpose to arrest the effusion of 
 blood." 
 
 Nor is this all. For when, in conse- 
 
 A.D. 1876.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [despatch of fleet. 
 
 quence of Mukhtar Pasha's report, that, 
 when proceeding to the relief of Niksics, 
 he found that the insurgents were largely 
 composed of Montenegrins, the Porte 
 seemed decided to attack Montenegro, but 
 assured the powers that nothing beyond 
 the assembling of some troops at Scutari, 
 for defensive purposes, had been discussed 
 at the council held at the Porte, and Lord 
 Derby presumed that the joint action of 
 the representatives at Constantinople was 
 no longer called for. Prince Grortschakoff 
 still considered that, in the eye of Europe, 
 as well as of the Turks, the non-active par- 
 ticipation of England in the remonstrances 
 made by the five powers at Constantinople, 
 against a reported intention of Turkey to 
 invade Montenegro, might give rise to mis- 
 interpretation and misconstruction, and 
 that a false impression might be deduced, 
 from the apparent silence of England, that 
 she separated herself from the European 
 
 concert. 
 
 The prince, therefore, asked Lord Loftus 
 to express his hopes that, in some form, 
 her majesty's government would convey to 
 the Porte their participation in the opinion 
 of the five powers on the occasion in ques- 
 tion, and their satisfaction on learning that 
 the Porte had no intention of attacking 
 Montenegro. 
 
 But, at the same time. Prince Gortscha- 
 koff observed that the Porte had not aban- 
 doned her intention of concentrating a 
 force at Scutari, and he considered this 
 measure as one of a dangerous nature ; for, 
 said his highness, "c'est une etincelle pres 
 d'une poudri^re." 
 
 In conversing with Lord Loftus on the at- 
 titude of affairs in the Herzegovina, the 
 prince expressed the opinion that the nego- 
 tiations could not be carried on (as Count 
 Andrassy apparently hoped) on the basis or 
 within the scope of the proposals accepted 
 by the Porte, and remarked that the Porte 
 could not carry out the engagements she had 
 taken ; it was impossible for her to do so. 
 
 "But," observed Lord Loftus, "the 
 European powers could not possibly say to 
 the Porte, ' We have asked you to under- 
 take an impossibility.' " 
 
 "That is true," replied the prince, "but 
 at the time those proposals were made, we 
 conceived that the Porte had more re- 
 sources, more vitality ; that she was not so 
 powerless as she has since proved herself to 
 be." 
 
 Now, regarding these utterances, whether 
 
 by the light of subsequent events or not, 
 there was nothing intrinsically objection- 
 able to them in point of fact. They were 
 consistent with the facts of the case, and 
 ought to have furnished a sufficient basis 
 for agreement, no matter whether Russia 
 was animated by ulterior designs or not. 
 The facts being undisputed, no harm could 
 have been done in accepting them, and in- 
 sisting on whatever remedy was to be pro- 
 posed, as long as that remedy did not go 
 beyond the exigencies of the case. 
 
 But the hesitation of the English cabinet 
 (o interfere in the military operations of 
 the Porte, coupled with the outcry in Eng- 
 land against the despatch of the fleet to 
 Besika Bay, which took place a couple of 
 days before the meeting of Prince Bismarck 
 and Count Andrassy with Baron Jomini, 
 produced an impression in Russia as well as 
 in Turkey, that England, as heretofore, in- 
 tended to assist Turkey, and thus make 
 the Porte far more unyielding than wouid 
 otherwise have been the case. 
 
 But, be it well noted, it was not the 
 despatch of the fleet in itself that produced 
 this stubbornness in the Porte. On the con- 
 trary, the Turkish ambassador at Vienna 
 stated plainly, that "the outcry and op- 
 position IN England, left no room for 
 doubt that the government intended to 
 protect Turkey ; for," he added, "there 
 
 CAN BE NO question BUT THAT THE ATTI- 
 TUDE OF THE opposition AFFORDS THE BEST 
 CLUE TO THE REAL INTENTIONS OF THE GOV- 
 ERNMENT. Who is to say what the cabi- 
 net MEANS, IF NOT THE OPPOSITION, WHICH 
 IS MOST NEARLY CONCERNED ? YoU MAY SAY 
 WHAT YOU PLEASE ; Mr. GLADSTONE KNOWS 
 PERFECTLY WELL WHAT THE GOVERNMENT 
 INTENDS TO DO, AND SiR HeNRY ElLIOT 
 MAY SAY WHAT HE PLEASES." 
 
 This was the view generally taken in 
 Turkey, and, it may also be said, Russia 
 likewise. That it was incorrect, is shown by 
 the following series of telegrams. The 
 answer they supply is irrefutable, except on 
 the supposition, which is inadmissible, that 
 Sir H. Elliot was instructed beforehand to 
 act as he did. On May 9, he telegraphed : — 
 
 " Great uneasiness prevails here amongst 
 all classes, and there are grounds for appre- 
 hending serious consequences. Nothing 
 certain is known of the designs that may 
 be entertained, but for some days the 
 Mussulmans have been buying up arms. 
 My colleagues believe that the presence of 
 ships of war at Besika Bay might be a pro- 
 
 IS 
 
 ><•■ 
 
eluot's despatches.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A,D. 1876. 
 
 A.D. 1876.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [BERLIN MEMORANDUM. 
 
 • I- 
 
 tection to the Christians lare, and give 
 them confidence. I entirely agree with 
 them ; and, as our squadron is now at Jaffa, 
 I have telegraphed to Mr. Eldridge as 
 follows : — ' Inform Admiral Drummond 
 that his early presence here might be 
 useful, and that I would be glad if he 
 would bring his squadron to Besika Bay.' " 
 
 The following day. Lord Derby, fright- 
 ened out of equanimity by this telegram, 
 replied by the following one : — 
 
 " Sir, — I have to request that you will 
 explain to her majesty's government more 
 fully your reasons for requiring the pre- 
 sence of the squadron at Besika Bay." 
 
 This query of Lord Derby's provoked a 
 repetition of the first telegram, in so 
 laconic a form as quite to preclude any 
 idea of collusion. 
 
 "My Lord, — I have the honour to explain, 
 in reply to your lordship's telegraphic des- 
 patch, which I received to-day, that I 
 believe that the presence of the squadron 
 at Bcbika Bay would greatly conduce to 
 the security of the Christians here, who 
 are considered to be in much danger at 
 present." 
 
 This "explanation" was followed up the 
 same day by another : — 
 
 " Every day the state of things here 
 becomes more critical. My own impression 
 is that the designs of the Mussulmans are 
 directed more against the government than 
 against the Christians; but still, in case of a 
 disturbance, the latter might be placed in 
 great danger by the spirit of fanaticism 
 which prevails. It is doubtful whether 
 the army could be depended upon to act 
 against the Mussulmans. The presence of 
 a second British vessel here is desirable, 
 and I should add that all my colleagues 
 Lave requested their respective govern- 
 ments to send an armed gun -boat in 
 addition to the ' stationnaires.' " 
 
 This telegram left Constantinople at 
 9.50 P.M. At 10 P.M. the following one 
 was sent off: — 
 
 " Keports received from Salonica are far 
 from satisfactory. It would appear that 
 the Turkish force there is insufficient, 
 either to insure tranquillity at the public 
 funeral of the consuls, or to permit of 
 arrests being made. Both our consul, Mr. 
 Blunt, and the commander of the Bittern, 
 consider that the presence of two iron- 
 clads is much required, and they have tele- 
 graphed to the admiral to that effect." 
 
 Now, when it is considfcred that it was 
 DO 
 
 only the day before the first de&patcU 
 arrived that Lord Derby had heard of the 
 murders of the French and German consuls 
 at Salonica, and yet that his lordship 
 wanted "explanations" before ordering the 
 fleet to Besika, it must either be acknow- 
 ledged that the despatch of the fleet was 
 not due to any preconcerted plan, or that 
 Lord Derby must be credited with an 
 amount of Machiavelianism which there 
 seems to be no grounds for attributing to 
 him. 
 
 The outcry against the despatch of the 
 fleet, excusable as it might have been in ark 
 ignorant mob, was unpardonable in the 
 case of men who had been in office, and 
 not only knew the byeways and crooked 
 paths of diplomacy, but also had the means 
 of acquiring authentic information if so 
 disposed. 
 
 It was under these circumstances that 
 the Austrian and Russian ministers. Count 
 Andrassy and Prince Gortschakoff, met at 
 Prince Bismarck's on May 12, 1876, and 
 drew up the famous document, subsequently 
 known as the Berlin Memorandum. After 
 alluding to the assassinations at Salonica, 
 the memorandum went on to state that, ia 
 virtue of the Andrassy note of December 
 30, 1875, and its acceptance by the Porte, 
 the powers had acquired a moral right — 
 that of watching over the fulfilment of the 
 reforms granted by the Porte ; and an obli- 
 gation — that of insisting that the insurgents 
 should lay down their arms and return to 
 their homes. 
 
 " Nevertheless," it continued, " this pro- 
 gramme of pacification, though it has been 
 adopted in principle by both parties, has 
 encountered a twofold obstacle. 
 
 " The insurgents have declared that past 
 experience forbids them to trust the pro- 
 mises of the Porte without a positive 
 material European guarantee. 
 
 "The Porte, on its side, has declared 
 that, as long as the insurgents were scour- 
 ing the country in arms, and the refugees 
 did not return to their homes, it was 
 materially impossible for it to proceed to 
 the new organisation of the country. 
 
 "In the meantime hostilities have re- 
 sumed their course. The agitation engen- 
 dered by this strife of eight months has 
 extended to other parts of Turkey. Tlie 
 Mussulman populations have been thereby 
 led to conclude that the Porte had only 
 apparently deferred to the diplomatic 
 action of Europe, and that at heart it did 
 
 not intend seriously to apply the promised 
 reforms. Thence arose a revival of religious 
 and political passions, which has contri- 
 buted to cause the deplorable events at 
 Salonica, and the menacing over-excite- 
 ment which manifests itself at other points 
 of European Turkey. 
 
 " Nor is it doubtful that, in its turn, this 
 explosion of fanaticism reacts on men's 
 minds in Bosnia and Herzegovina as in the 
 neighbouring principalities. 
 
 "For the Christians in these countries 
 must have been keenly impressed by the 
 fact of the massacre of the European con- 
 suls in open day, in a peaceful town, under 
 the eyes of powerless authorities ; how, then, 
 can they be induced to trust themselves to 
 the good-will of Turks, irritated by a pro- 
 tracted and sanguinary struggle ? 
 
 "Were this state of affairs to be pro- 
 longed, the risk would thus be incurred of 
 seeing that general conflagration kindled 
 which the mediation of the great powers 
 was precisely intended to avert. 
 
 " It is most essential, therefore, to estab- 
 lish certain guarantees of a nature to 
 insure, beyond doubt, the loyal and full 
 application of the measures agreed upon 
 between the powers and the Porte. It is 
 more than ever urgent to press the govern- 
 ment of the Sultan to decide on setting 
 itself seriously to work to fulfil the engage- 
 ments it has contracted towards Europe. 
 
 "As the first step in this direction, the 
 three Imperial Courts propose to insist 
 with the Porte, with all the energy that 
 the united voice of the three powers should 
 possess, on a suspension of arms being 
 effected for the term of two months. 
 
 " This interval would enable action to be 
 brought to bear simultaneously on the 
 insurgents and the refugees, to inspire 
 them with confidence in the vigilant 
 solicitude of Europe ; on the neighbouring 
 principalities, to exhort them not to hinder 
 this attempt at conciliation ; and finally 
 on the Ottoman government, to place it 
 in a position to carry out its promises. 
 By this means the way might be opened 
 for Qirect negotiations between the Porte 
 and the Bosnian and Herzegovinian de- 
 legates, on the basis of the wishes the 
 latter have formulated, and which have 
 been deemed fit to serve as starting-points 
 for a discussion. 
 
 " These points are as follows : — 
 
 " 1. That materials for the reconstruction 
 of dwelling-houses and churches should be 
 
 furnished to the returning refugees ; that 
 their subsistence should be assured to them 
 till they could support themselves by their 
 own labour. 
 
 " 2. In so far as the distribution of help 
 should appertain to the Turkish commis- 
 sioner, he should consult as to the measures 
 to be taken with the mixed commission, 
 mentioned in the note of the 30th of 
 December, to guarantee the bond fide 
 application of the reforms, and control their 
 execution. This commission should be 
 presided over by a Herzegovinian Christian, 
 and be composed of natives faithfully re- 
 presenting the two religions of the country. 
 They should be elected as soon as the 
 armistice should have suspended hostili- 
 ties. 
 
 " 3. In order to avoid any collision, advice 
 should be given at Constantinople to con- 
 centrate the Turkish troops, at least until 
 excitement has subsided, on some points to 
 be agreed upon. 
 
 "4. Christians, as well as Mussulmans, 
 should retain their arms. 
 
 "5. The consuls or delegates of the 
 powers shall keep a watch over the appli- 
 cation of the reforms in general, and on 
 the steps relative to the repatriation in 
 particular. 
 
 " If, with the friendly and cordial sup- 
 port of the great powers, and by the help 
 of an armistice, an arrangement could be 
 concluded on these bases, and be set in 
 train immediately by the return of the 
 refujrees, and the election of the mixed 
 commission, a considerable step would be 
 made towards pacification. 
 
 " If, however, the armistice were to expire 
 without the efforts of the powers being 
 successful in attaining the end they have 
 in view, the three Imperial Courts are of 
 opinion that it would become necessary to 
 supplement their diplomatic action by 
 the sanction of an agreement with a view 
 to such efficacious measures as might 
 appear to be demanded in the interest of 
 general peace, to check the evil, and pre- 
 vent its development." 
 
 Now there were two items in this docu- 
 ment which were clearly objectionable. 
 The one was Article 3; the other Article 4. 
 " Concentrating the Turkish troops" meant 
 their withdrawal to certain specified points, 
 and thus allowing Article 4 to produce its 
 natural result of fresh outrages on both 
 sides, without any authorities to repress 
 them. On the contrary, it ought to have 
 
 91 
 
 
LORD derby's reply.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1876. 
 
 A.D. 1876.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [ANaENT BULGARIA. 
 
 llJillf 
 
 • I 
 
 s 
 
 .;!.. V 
 
 been proposed that the troops — regular 
 troops of whom no complaint is ever made 
 — should be employed in keeping order, and 
 both Mussulmans and Christians be dis- 
 armed to prevent any conflict. But these 
 objections were not made by any of the 
 powers except England and Turkey; whilst 
 Lord Derby fastened chiefly upon the last 
 sentence, and stated, in reply to Count 
 Eeust, that, in considering the question of 
 an armistice, it was necessary to look at its 
 effect in a military and political point of view. 
 Unless the armistice suggested were accom- 
 panied by proposals that seemed to hold 
 out a reasonable expectation of the re- 
 establishment of peace, he doubted whether 
 the Porte was likely to accept it, for three 
 reasons. 
 
 In the first place, he said, an armed in- 
 surrection always gains strength by the 
 mere fact of continuing to exist. The 
 longer it lasts, the smaller is the chance of 
 its being ultimately put down. In the 
 next place, the cost of maintaining a Turk- 
 ish army of not less than 50,00j men on 
 the frontier could not but press heavily on 
 an exhausted exchequer, while the insur- 
 gents, fighting among their own mountains, 
 incurred but little expense, and it was im- 
 possible that the troops should not become 
 more or less disorganised by being kept 
 inactive in the face of an enemy. Thirdly, 
 what real guarantee could be given for 
 the maintenance of the armistice ? On the 
 Turkish side there was an organised gov- 
 ernment to deal with, and the generals of 
 the Porte would not venture to break en- 
 gagements into which they had been ordered 
 to enter : but could the same thins: be 
 buid of the iusur;4ents ? Had they recog- 
 nised chiefs capable of enforcing obedience 
 along the whole frontier ? And if they had, 
 could those chiefs be relied on ? These 
 were considerations which the govern- 
 ment of the Sultan could not overlook. 
 
 Count Beust then pressed him to say 
 that, if he gave no support to the pro- 
 posal, he would at least abstain from oppos- 
 ing it. 
 
 92 
 
 To this Lord Derby answered, that he 
 was quite aware of the responsibility that 
 would be incurred by any government that 
 should urge, or even encourage, the Porte to 
 reject advice supported by so general an 
 agreement of the continental powers. He 
 should not press his view, nor would he say 
 that the objections which he had suggested 
 might not be got over ; but, if asked, he 
 could only state them for what they might 
 be worth. 
 
 Some further conversation followed, in 
 the course of which he told Count Beust 
 that he had no plan to propose, but that it 
 seemed to him idle to talk of putting an 
 end to the war as long as the prince and 
 people of Montenegro were allowed to give 
 it active support and assistance, as they 
 were then doing, being at the same time 
 guarded by the intervention of the powers 
 from all fear of retribution on the part of 
 Turkey. 
 
 This action of the government is inex- 
 plicable, except on the hypothesis that they 
 wished to precipitate events in Turkey, 
 and see an end put to the Turkish rule 
 without having any hand in it, in order to 
 profit by the inevitable collapse, whilst care- 
 fully avoiding any grounds for suspicion on 
 the part of their Mussulman subjects that 
 they were in any way privy to the dis- 
 memberment of the Sultan's empire. It is, 
 at any rate, certain that all the powers offi- 
 cially expressed their great regret that 
 England refused her co-operation. Still it 
 must not be forgotten that one word spoken 
 often outweighs a dozen despatches, and 
 there may be some other explanation to 
 account for the hostility to the memoran- 
 dum which the cabinet evinced. 
 
 In case, however, that the government 
 were determined to proceed to extremities 
 should Russia do the same, their policy 
 was a wise one. By keeping themselves 
 free from all entangling engagements, they 
 put themselves into a position to inter- 
 fere at the given moment with all the fresh- 
 ness and vigour of a strong and uncompro- 
 mised power. 
 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 THE TERROR IN BULGARIA. 
 
 With Bosnia, the Herzegovina and Mon- 
 tenegro in revolt — with Servia and Rou- 
 mania on the point of declaring war, and 
 teeming with insurrectionary committees, 
 which sent their agents swarming over the 
 country, it was not to be expected that 
 Bulgaria would long remain unaffected by 
 the course of events on her borders. 
 
 Comparatively unknown until recently, the 
 early history of Bulgaria is that of a series of 
 expeditions against Byzance, until the dis- 
 sensions in the House of Comnenus enabled 
 Asan I. to throw off the yoke of the Greek 
 Emperor Isaac, and to establish his rule in 
 the district known as the Silva Bulgaria, with 
 the exception of a few strong places which 
 were still held by the Greek emperor's 
 troops. He was crowned in 1 186 at Tirnova, 
 which became henceforth the capital of the 
 Bulgarian kings, and where, in 1205, 
 Baldwin was barbarously murdered after 
 the defeat of the Crusaders by the allied 
 Greeks and Bulgarians. The rule of the 
 Asanides was, however, of short duration ; 
 and in 1291 Bulgaria fell a prey partly to 
 the contentions of its own rival princes 
 between themselves, and to the intrigues 
 and attacks of the Greek and Latin 
 empires at Constantinople, till it fell more 
 or less under the control of the Servian 
 kings Urosh III. and Dushan. Over this 
 chapter of Bulgaro-Servian history, from 
 the death of Asan I. to the Mussulman 
 conquest, the historians pass very rapidly. 
 In fact, the little they tell us belongs 
 rather to the history of the Greek empire 
 than to that of Bulgaria. It is true that the 
 authorities for this period are of doubtful 
 historical value, and partake largely of the 
 character of tradition and legendary lore ; 
 but in the absence of well-authenticated 
 facts, traditions and legends exercise just 
 as great an influence on later generations 
 as the most accurate chronicle, and bring 
 out the character of the people far more 
 than any scientifically written history. It 
 would certainly scarcely be fair to judge 
 the present Bulgarian by what he was in 
 the 13th and 14th centuries, if the country 
 had been as open to surrounding influences 
 as the nations of Western Europe were to 
 VOL. III. O 
 
 each other during the same period, and 
 since then. But it must be remembered 
 that Bulgaria has been isolated for centu- 
 ries; and events have but too clearly 
 shown that the rude, fierce passions which 
 animated the forefathers have been inherited 
 in nearly all their force by the sons. It is, 
 indeed, a dark chapter of history, a story of 
 rival claimants, supported now by the Ser- 
 vians, now by the Byzantian emperors, and 
 in which treachery and murder succeed each 
 other almost without interruption, and 
 clearly shows what the curse really is that 
 weighs upon the populations of the Balkan 
 peninsula, and what chances the Bulgarians 
 have of being able to bury the past, and in- 
 augurating a fresh history untrammelled by 
 the bloody legacies of former ages. The 
 evil destiny of the Bulgarians does not lie in 
 an inferiority of race, in native barbarity, 
 and inaccessibility to European culture, as 
 their enemies say; nor yet in Iblam and Tur- 
 kish oppression. The evil is more deeply 
 rooted in Bulgaria, as elsewhere throughout 
 Turkey; it is Byzantianism. It arises from 
 the contact of Western with Asiatic ideas, 
 and the endless conflicts that result there- 
 from, not only as between race and race, 
 but also in each individual in whose mind 
 the rival ideas and passions are continually 
 struggling for the supremacy. It lies in 
 the struggle for the posfccssion of the gates 
 of Europe ; for the possession of countries 
 which are not sharply marked off by geo- 
 graphical nor by ethnographical limits, 
 but where there is a mixture of races of 
 various degrees of intelligence and energy, 
 divided from each other by creed, language, 
 and interminable jealousies and hatreds. 
 The Bulgarians succeeded the Greeks ; the 
 Turks succeeded the Bulgarians ; the Rus- , 
 sians have been trying to oust the Turks, and i 
 to remove, at least, one element of discord i 
 from the blood-stained scene. The Russian 
 sees plainly what other nations refuse to 
 see — though he does not seem to know to 
 which category he himself belongs — that 
 the line of contact between Asiatic and 
 European must be moved farther back, and 
 a rigid division made between the two by 
 concentrating the European elements into 
 
 93 
 
 wwtWBBPffi Bj w ua y i'jiJI ^ 
 
MIDHAT PASHA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1876. 
 
 A.D. 1876.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [BULGARIAN CUSTOMS. 
 
 i 
 
 • I 
 
 t 
 
 a strong phalanx. Ilahent sua fata enim 
 regiones ; and the evil fate of the Balkan 
 peninsula lies in the fact that Asia has 
 always had one foot upon Europe from the 
 days of Xerxes, through the various phases 
 of Byzantian empire, to the days of 
 Abdul Hamid. Asia, whether Russian or 
 Turkish, must retire. It then becomes a 
 question as to the division of responsibility 
 for the protection of the gates, and as to 
 Quia custodiet custodes if the keepers of 
 the gates are not strong enough to with- 
 stand the onslaughts of their Asiatic 
 enemies. It also becomes a question as to 
 which race is more impregnated with 
 Asiatic ideas, and which is more likely to 
 be able to emancipate itself from the By- 
 zantianism which has been the ruin of the 
 peninsula. In short, whether the Greek or 
 the Slav contains the more fruitful germs 
 of honest political life — not the more 
 mobile intellect — and whether a preponder- 
 ance can be accorded to either ; or, if not, 
 what are to be the limits dividing the two 
 races. In coming to more modern times, 
 we must bear in mind the difference between 
 Servia and Bulgaria, and how the Turks 
 scattered their colonies throughout the 
 country, and stifled all national feeling 
 amongst the Bulgarians, who were left to 
 themselves without protection ; whilst 
 Servia, regarded as the bulwark of Christi- 
 anity against the Moslem, received the 
 support of Austro-Hungary, and was thus 
 enabled to retain its national pride, and 
 develop the strongest patriotism amongst 
 its sons. The Bulgarians, however, lay 
 too much at the mercy of their conquerors ; 
 they have gradually degenerated into a 
 hopeless state of resignation ; and thus, in 
 1828-'29, it was only the mountain popu- 
 lation that rendered any assistance to the 
 Russians. Still, even this assistance, small 
 though it was, caused much anxiety to the 
 Porte, as well as the subsequent risings in 
 1837-'38 and 1841, and a beginning was 
 made to introduce some few reforms, which 
 were still further extended after the 
 Crimean war. But meagre though these 
 reforms were, the Bulgarians made such 
 good use of them as to prove incontestably 
 that centuries of Asiatic oppression had not 
 converted them into Asiatics; and after 
 the unsuccessful rising in 1862, the Porte 
 was 80 thoroughly awakened to the import- 
 ance of the movement progressing in 
 Buljraria, that Midhat Pasha was sent to 
 pacify the province, and carry out such 
 94 
 
 reforms as were imperatively necessary, as 
 far as consistent with the safety of the 
 Porte. But Midhat soon saw that the 
 slightest reform would be a weapon against 
 the Porte in the hands of the Bulgarians ; 
 and the way in which he put down the in- 
 surrection of 1867, which was instigated by 
 Servia to exercise a pressure upon the 
 Porte in the matter of the Servian for- 
 tresses, clearly shows that the public works 
 he constructed in Bulgaria were but a poor 
 set-off against the reign of terror he in- 
 stituted. Fifty-four of the insurgents were 
 sent in heavv irons to Rustzuk, where ten 
 were executed, and the rest banished to 
 Diarbekir, which, however, was reached by a 
 few of them only, most of them dying by 
 the way, or being hanged. Still even these 
 "reforms" caused much displeasure in Con- 
 stantinople, and Midhat was recalled, to 
 the sorrow and yet to the joy of the Bul- 
 garians. They fully appreciated his strict 
 justice; but, at the same time, they plainly 
 saw that he was only forging stronger 
 fetters for them, and that he was the most 
 dangerous enemy to their political regene- 
 ration and independence. With the de- 
 parture of Midhat, the intrigue of the 
 Servian and Panslavist agitators recom- 
 menced ; but, with the exception of. the 
 revolt at Sophia in 1873, the country re- 
 mained outwardly quiet. The movement, 
 however, silently progressed, till Europe 
 was struck with horror at the atrocities com- 
 mitted in Batak. 
 
 Many travellers in Bulgaria have con- 
 ceived an idea that the Turks are better off 
 and more civilised than the Bulgarians. 
 The Turk does exhibit more taste in his 
 surroundings than the Bulgarian. His 
 house is more prettily situated and more 
 picturesquely built than that of the Bul- 
 garian. But the advantage is only out- 
 wardly in favour of the Turk. Inside the Bul- 
 garian house there is much more neatness, 
 order, and busy life than in the house of the 
 Moslem. There is no family lite in the 
 Turk's house as there is in that of the 
 Bulgarian; there is none of that mixing 
 of the sexes which distinguishes the Bul- 
 garian from the Turk, and, in many in- 
 stances, from the Greek, whose ancient 
 institutions were not so foreign to the idea 
 of the Turkish harem. It is true the social 
 life of the Bulgarian can as yet scarcely 
 be called refined ; but there is a marked 
 difference between the tastes of the Bul- 
 garian and the Serb as compared to those 
 
 of the Roumanian or Wallach. The latter 
 tend more to the French, the former more 
 to the Saxon modes of thought. But many 
 and many a year will pass away before the 
 Bulgarian will be able to hold his own 
 amidst European nations, unless stringent 
 measures are adopted to free him from the 
 trammels which superstition, assisted by 
 the monks, has imposed upon his mind. 
 The name of the monks in Bulgaria is 
 lef^ion ; they are infinitely more numerous 
 and ignorant than in Servia ; but what was 
 done in Servia, by the help of elenaentary 
 schools, could also be accomplished in Bul- 
 garia. Perhaps more easily; for, on the 
 whole, the Bulgarian is far more agricul- 
 turally inclined than the Servian, and is 
 not so much attracted by the intriguing 
 town life of his neighbours in Belgrade. 
 On the whole, the Bulgarian is essentially 
 material by nature, as is amply evidenced 
 by the numerous superstitious observances 
 and habits to which he is addicted; 
 though, at the same time, it may be 
 doubted whether these superstitions have 
 more influence over him in his acts and 
 daily life than similar customs in other 
 countries. In short, it is a question 
 whether the Bulgarian attaches more im- 
 portance to his customs than we do to 
 Guy Fawkes' Day, to the Christmas waits, 
 or the pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. On 
 the whole, it would seem that the Bul- 
 garian observances are practised to give 
 Vent to the pent-up animal feelings of the 
 people, who have no other outlet for their 
 superabundant spirits. January 6 seems to 
 be an especially exciting day for the ma- 
 jority, though it must be rather the reverse 
 for the minority. The rites are commenced 
 at dawn of day, by the mothers suddenly 
 rubbing their children all over with snow- 
 balls ; whilst the adults throughout the 
 village lie in ambush, to souse each other 
 with buckets of cold water. The young 
 men who have been married during the 
 year, are led in procession to the river or 
 well, and are there similarly treated; 
 whilst the wife is led by her step-father to 
 the water, and obliged to get into it, and 
 kiss his hand thrice. Having thus satis- 
 factorily soused each other, they take their 
 revenge on January 8, by disguising them- 
 selves in fantastic costumes, and, seizing the 
 first best old woman they come across, 
 either plunge her into the river, or souse 
 her also with divers buckets of water. Lent 
 is ushered in with a variety of ceremonies, 
 
 such as a universal cleaning of pots and 
 pans ; but, strangely enough, the dead are 
 exempted from observing the fast ; for, on 
 the second Sunday in Lent, food and drink 
 are placed upon the graves of the deceased, 
 and a procession formed by the women, 
 who go from house to house with lighted 
 tapers in their hands, to give their de- 
 parted relations a good appetite. Alto- 
 gether, the twenty-two weeks of Lent, the 
 other thirty Fridays, and even the Wednes- 
 days on which the peasantry also fast, re- 
 present an amount of corporal castigation 
 unknown in any other country. 
 
 It is no wonder, then, that the Bulgarian 
 tries to make up for his enforced digestive 
 idleness during these days by a consider- 
 able indulgence on the others. The cere- 
 monies and observances, however, which 
 must be practised by those of both sexes 
 who aspire to matrimony are peculiarly 
 trying, and shows, in a striking manner, 
 what human nature is prepared to go 
 through in order to get married. The pre- 
 liminaries are most complicated, and when 
 at last the two are safely married, they 
 silently quit the festive board, accompanied 
 by the midwife of the village, who waits 
 outside the nuptial chamber till she is able 
 to return to the assembled guests and an- 
 nounce that the bride has given undoubted 
 proof of her honour. The happy couple 
 remain invisible in their house for several 
 days, after which the bride's first walk is 
 to the well, where she is soused with water 
 by the married women, into whose ranks 
 she is then worthy to enter. Should she 
 not rejoice the soul of her husband with a 
 son and heir, or at least a daughter, she 
 has to be exorcised, and submit to endless 
 incantation ; and, if that is all of no avail, 
 she sallies forth on the 1st of May, at early 
 dawn, and rolls herself naked in the dewy 
 grass. If these are some of the difficulties 
 in getting married — and they are only some 
 of them — it may be imagined what are the 
 difficulties in getting born and dying in 
 Bulgaria. When the father of the family 
 feels his end approaching, he sends for the 
 priest and begins to bargain with him 
 about his funeral, and settles the details of 
 his " wake." Having arranged all this and 
 his other worldly affairs, he feels comfort- 
 ably prepared to leave the world, and, when 
 his agony commences, to have a lighted 
 taper placed in his hand, his jaws bound 
 up with a cloth, and his eyelids closed. 
 The moment his pulse has stopped, all thd 
 
 95 
 
 H- 
 
 if ■' 
 
EYZANTIANISM.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1876. 
 
 A.D. 1876.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the fanar* 
 
 • * 
 
 pots, pans, jars, kettles, &c., in the house 
 are turned upside down to prevent his soul 
 from taking refuf^e in one of them, and great 
 care taken to prevent either man or animal 
 — especially a cat or dog — from stepping 
 across his body, as otlierwise he would turn 
 into a vampyre, and be a continual nuisance 
 and a danger to his family and the whole 
 community. A few hours after death the 
 body is buried without any coffin, in a 
 shallow grave, eighteen to twenty-four 
 inches deep, and left there for three years, 
 during which time many offerings of food 
 and wine are placed upon it. At the end 
 of the third year, the bones of the dead 
 man are dug up, carefully washed, put into 
 a linen bag, laid before the episcopal throne, 
 of which there is one in every village, 
 blessed by the pope, and then finally buried 
 for good. Thus the Bulgarian is well taken 
 care of after his death, unless, indeed, there 
 is any reason to believe that he has become 
 a vampyre. In that case the grave is opened 
 and the body transfixed by a stake, or a 
 nail is driven into his breast. If the body 
 is very well preserved, then it is riddled 
 with pistol-shots, and the earth stamped 
 down firmly upon it, or sometimes it is 
 burnt to ashes by a fire made of thorn. 
 
 These customs, and a hundred others, are 
 naturally fostered by the ignorant monk- 
 hood as a source of revenue, which they 
 share with the old women who play the part 
 of doctors and exercisers. But it must not 
 be imagined for a moment that the Bul- 
 garian allows these superstitions to inter- 
 fere with his daily work, or that they lead 
 him to indulge in laziness, as would be, and 
 is, the case in southern climes. On the 
 contrary, when it is remembered what a 
 drain upon his resources the claims of the 
 priesthood, the monkhood, and the Turks 
 exercise, it is wonderful that he has so much 
 left for himself as he has, and that he 
 is able to live in comparative affluence. 
 Nothing short of the most unflagging 
 labour would enable him to do so ; and 
 that he does work with extreme energy and 
 perseverance we have the word of such 
 men as Kanitz, one of the contractors for 
 various works alongf the Danube. 
 
 Now with these people the Turks were 
 incapable of amalgamating like, for in- 
 stance, the Normans with the Saxons, on 
 account of the great barrier interposed by 
 the fundamental differences of the faiths of 
 ]\loslem and Christian. So great is this 
 ditterence in its political aspect, that those 
 96 
 
 Bulgarians, as in Bosnia, who became 
 Mussulmans, grew more fanatical than the 
 original Moslem. An immense gulf thus 
 separated the ruler from the ruled, and, in 
 a similar way, the Stamboul Court from 
 those of Western Europe. This gulf was 
 bridged over by the descendants of the 
 Byzantians, and they — Greeks, Armenians, 
 and Jews — rapidly acquired that power, 
 and instituted that organisation of corrup- 
 tion, and all the vices that is known as the 
 Sublime Porte. The strength of the Turk 
 thus lies in the fact that he is sitting 
 between two stools — between Slav and 
 Greek. Both parties contended for his 
 favour, and strove to acquire the ascendancy 
 over him. In the struggle that ensued, 
 Byzantianism gained the day over Slavism, 
 and identified itself with the military caste 
 in order to keep a firm hold on the whole 
 country. Clearly, then, if peace is to be 
 restored to the Balkan peninsula, the ques- 
 tion must be resolved into its true elements, 
 and the fact be boldly faced, that the two 
 great factors opposing each other are By- 
 zantianism and Slavism. The rest is but 
 incidental. The Turk at Stamboul, and 
 the Greek at Athens, are but corollaries. 
 Abolishing the Turk, and replacing him by 
 the Athenian, would leave matters exactly 
 where they are now, if Byzantianism were 
 not abolished with him. The great diffi- 
 culty in solving this question is, where to 
 find the necessary administrative powers 
 outside the ranks of Byzantianism, and to 
 draw the limits separating Greek from 
 Slav; and how to deal with Constantinople. 
 Herr Kanitz, speaking, in his work 
 "Bulgaria," on the connection between 
 Bulgaria and Byzantianism, or the Fanar, 
 has but one opinion on the subject. He 
 insists on the independence of Bulgaria, in 
 the widest sense of the word, as the first 
 step to a happier state of things. He gives 
 a short but graphic description of the 
 events which, after alternating successes, at 
 last laid the Bulgarians pro>trate under the 
 Emperor Basilius Bulgaroctonus — *' The 
 Slayer of the Bulgarians." Henceforth, 
 till the Mussulman invasion, and with the 
 exception of the short rule of the Latir* 
 empire at Constantinople, the Bulgarians ' 
 were politically and ecclesiastically subject 
 to the Greeks of the empire. And when 
 the Ottoman forces overran the country, 
 after a short injjlorious stru;2f<J:le, which hHs 
 been invested by poets and romancists wiiii 
 a certain nimbus, the Byzantians espoused 
 
 the cause of the invader, and retained the 
 power they possessed over the Bulgarians, 
 who now had, in reality, two masters to 
 support — the Sultan in all his luxury, and 
 the Fanar in all its greed. This is what 
 Herr Kanitz says of the Fanar : — " The 
 ecclesiastical traffickers who haggled and 
 bar<>-ained for the episcopal posts in Bul- 
 garia, proceeded from the ' Fanar ' (fena- 
 yer), the Greek quarter of Constantinople, 
 in whicli the rotten remains of Byzantian 
 corruption blended with Turkish and Asiatic 
 elements. The bishoprics of Bulgaria were 
 awarded to the highest bidder, and not ac- 
 cording to the intelligence, piety, or per- 
 sonal qualities requisite in an ecclesiastical 
 ruler." Such vvas the community at whose 
 mercy the Bidgarians lay, not only eccle- 
 siastically but also fiscally, and who, after 
 satisfying their own greed, screwed down 
 the unhappy peasantry to the last turn to 
 • meet the demands of the Porte. But, as 
 Herr Kanitz continues, " even the greatest 
 •wealth has its limits. Such was also the 
 experience of the descendants of the Pro- 
 phet; for the luxury of the Sultans and the 
 Pashas soon swallowed up the tribute and 
 the accumulated riches of the country. In 
 such frequent moments of financial exhaus- 
 tion the Sultans sought help from that 
 quarter of Constantinople, in whose filth the 
 loathsome remains of Byzance's former 
 pride had found a refuge. In the Fanar 
 they were always able to count, not only 
 upon the rich treasures of commerce, but 
 also upon the enormous wealth sucked by 
 the Greek patriarchs out of the marrow of 
 their flocks ; in the Fanar the most usurious 
 traffic in ecclesiastical benefices was estab- 
 lished, and the treasurers of the Porte can 
 scarcely be blamed if, in their moments of 
 necessity, they derived a profit out of the 
 depravity of the Fanariote beneficemonger. 
 In the first year of the Mussulman conquest, 
 the price paid for the patriarchate, by 
 Simeon, was 1,000 ducats. In the second 
 year it was doubled; and in 1573 it had 
 risen to 6,000 ; and by 1864 to 25,000." 
 But an equal sum almost had to be paid 
 away in bribery, in order to get this bid 
 accepted, so many w^ere the applications 
 even at such a price, which restricted the 
 competition to a few of the richest Fana- 
 riote families, who regarded the matter 
 simply as a business affair, and a specula- 
 tion, to carry out which the necessary sums 
 "were borrowed from members of the family 
 and money-lenders at usurious interest. 
 
 The profit had been derived from the salo 
 of the bishoprics, which brought in, on an 
 average, about 4,000 ducats a-3'ear. The 
 bishops, on their part, sold the various 
 cures in their dioceses to the popes, some of 
 the richest of whom would sometimes buy 
 twenty or thirty, and resell them again at a 
 profit. These popes, without education, 
 ground down by the price they had to pay 
 for their cures, were capable of performing 
 nothinof more than the barest ceremonies 
 of the church. Marriages, christenings, 
 and deaths were frequently registered on a 
 stick with the time-honoured notches, in- 
 stead of in a book. The re?t of their time 
 was fully occupied in following the plough 
 and feeding their pigs. All this led to a 
 state of affairs which even the Turkish 
 authorities considered too disgraceful to 
 last, and thev insisted that the Christian as 
 well as the Mussulman communities must 
 pay more attention to education, and erect 
 the necessary schools. A beginning was 
 made, but all progress was prevented by the 
 Fanar. " What do you want with schools ? " 
 asked the Archbishop of Nisch; "do you 
 want your children to become unbelieving 
 heretics ? Better by far devote the money 
 to the building of churches. Great roomy 
 temples to the honour of God are the best 
 schools." Thus, instead of schools, great 
 rambling churches were built, and the 
 prices of the sinecures proportionately 
 raised. Herr Kanitz relates how the new 
 church at Nisch swallowed up all the funds 
 of the community, and that when the new 
 archbishop from the Fanar opened the 
 church, it was found that he could not 
 speak a word of Bulgarian ; and when he 
 received the notables of the congregation, 
 he reprimanded them in Greek and Turkish 
 for the address they intended sending to 
 the grand vizier. " Not with complaints,'' 
 he said, "but with thanksgivings for the 
 unmerited benefits of Turkish rule, the 
 rayah ought to approach the representative 
 of the Sultan." This astounding piece of 
 advice was heard by Herr Kanitz himself, 
 and is in itself sufficient to characterise the 
 system under which Bulgaria suffered for 
 so long, till, owing in a great measure to 
 the exertions of Hilarion, Paisija, and As- 
 entije, Bulgaria was freed from the yoke of 
 the Fanariote vampyre, and a commence- 
 ment made to inaugurate a fresh epoch of 
 struggling for independence and national 
 life. 
 
 It was on such fruitful soil as this that 
 
 97 
 
THE panic] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1876. 
 
 A.D. 1876.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the massacres. 
 
 t ' 
 
 ^•l! 
 
 the seeds of rebellion were sown broadcast 
 by Russian, Serb, and Montenegrin agents. 
 Under these circumstances the irritation of 
 the Turkish populations reached a pitch at 
 which little was required to place the Chris- 
 tians in many parts of the empire in a posi- 
 tion of the greatest jeopardy, whilst the un- 
 popularity of the Sultan and of Mahmoud 
 Pasha, coupled with the universal distress 
 arising from the financial state of the 
 country, gave rise to deep-seated and 
 general discontent throughout the country. 
 Tlie effect of the long-continued insur- 
 rection in Bosnia was felt by every class of 
 tlie community, whether Christian or Mus- 
 sulman ; but the latter regarded them- 
 selves as sufferers from a Christian move- 
 ment for supremacy countenanced by the 
 Christian powers, which allowed every kind 
 of assistance to be given to the insurgents, 
 while the Porte was prevented from adopt- 
 ing the measures considered necessary to 
 put it down by attacking it at its source. 
 At the same time, the Salonica castastrophe 
 increased the prevailing uneasiness; and 
 throughout the country the tension was so 
 great, that the least spark was sufficient to 
 explode the pent-up panic of the Moslems 
 and cause a massacre. An Englishman, 
 employed by the Turks in one of the in- 
 land Bulgarian towns, stated that the fright 
 was so great that the Christians were for- 
 bidden to walk in the streets, two or more 
 together, under pain of imprisonment ; and 
 that before this edict was promulgated, a 
 solitary Turk seeing three Bulgarians ad- 
 vancing towards him down the street, and 
 none of his co-religionists near, without 
 more ado shot one of them dead, and seri- 
 ously wounded another. The third man- 
 aged to escape. Now the curious part of this 
 business is that the Turk in question was 
 highly esteemed by the Bulgarian popula- 
 tion of the place, so that our informant felt 
 no hesitation in asking him why he had 
 attacked the unfortunate men. The reply 
 exactly represents the state of mind the 
 Turks were in. "My God Almighty," he 
 said, " I don't know. But when I saw them 
 coming towards me, and there was no other 
 in the street, a great lump stuck in my 
 throat and stopped my breath, and I pulled 
 out my pistol and fired at them in a frenzy. 
 God is very great I " And such was the 
 feeling throughout the land. Both parties, 
 it may be said, were bursting with that sort 
 of apprehension or fear that is as powerful 
 as the most determined courage. Those 
 98 
 
 who lived through the Indian mutiny will 
 well be able to realise the feeling, ulti- 
 mately resulting in the grim ferocity of 
 despair. It was put in another shape by a 
 Bulgarian correspondent — a timber mer- 
 chant — who is well known in one of the 
 continental towns. He wrote : — " We do 
 not fear the Bashi-Bazouks and Circassians 
 so much. Tliey are a rough, brutal set, 
 but on the whole they can be managed by 
 humouring them and treating them well. 
 They are, of course, a great plague ; but the 
 Moslem landowners dislike them just as 
 much as we do, and would be glad to get 
 rid of them, for a Tcherkess does not stop 
 to ask if the turkey-cock he steals is a 
 Christian or a Turk. But what we are 
 afraid of more than anything else is the 
 fear the Moslems have of our rising en 
 masse^ and massacring them all at some 
 given signal. They are convinced that 
 such is our intention, and never know when 
 the sun rises whether they will see it set. 
 The suspense is killing us both Ua crainte 
 nous assomme tons les deuxy^ 
 
 This accurately describes the condition of 
 affairs in Bulgaria towards the end of April, 
 1876, when isolated cases of revolt con- 
 vinced the Moslems that the moment for 
 their massacre had arrived, and caused an 
 excitement all through the country, that 
 spread from day to day. 
 
 These revolts were treated as in 1867, 
 when there was a strange invasion of 
 Bulgaria that created immense local excite- 
 ment, and no small alarm at Constantinople. 
 A countless Russian host, not of soldiers, 
 but of rats, generally supposed to have 
 migrated from the Ural, swept over the 
 province up to the Balkan. Day by day 
 their movements were reported by telegraph 
 to Constantinople, whence the most strin- 
 gent orders were sent to the Vali of Rust- 
 chuk to exterminate the vermin forthwith. 
 The Vali at once published a decree, ad hoc, 
 calling upon the people to carry out this 
 order, which, however, remained as usual a 
 dead letter. PVesh and peremptory com- 
 mands were again despatched from Stam- 
 boul ; whereupon the Vali armed himself 
 with a stick, armed his generals, Muftis, 
 Mollahs, and Cadis with sticks, and, sally- 
 ing forth from village to village, summoned 
 the people to arm themselves likewise with 
 sticks, and then proceed, viHhiis unitis, to 
 prod the vermin out of their holes. Such 
 an impulse did this example impart to the 
 energy of the people, that within a few 
 
 days the luckless invaders were all irretriev- 
 ably massacred. 
 
 This is no parable, but a sober fact, and 
 exactly illustrates not only the method by 
 which the Bulgarian revolt was stifled, but 
 also that by which the Turkish forces were 
 mobilised. " The rank and file formed ex- 
 cellent material, and some of the superior 
 officers were very good ; but of the inferior 
 officers and the administration at Stamboul 
 it is hard to say which was the worst. The 
 War-Office sent its orders to the Valis of the 
 Asiatic and European provinces to collect 
 as many men as they could, no matter 
 from what source, and to unfurl the green 
 flag. An immense multitude of rabble was 
 thus assembled at various points in the em- 
 pire. The scum of the towns, the dregs of 
 the prisons (even those of Egypt, Tripoli, 
 and Tunis were impressed), the poorer pea- 
 santry — in short, all who had nothing to 
 lose and everything to gain, were distri- 
 buted amongst the towns and through the 
 districts denuded of regular troops. Here 
 they were the terror of the population, and 
 about as much under the control of the 
 Valis and Mutesarifs as a wild elephant in 
 the hands of a child. 
 
 Under such conditions it is not surprising, 
 as Consul Dupuis states, that disturbances 
 occurred at Karabounar, between Yamboli 
 and Eski-sagra ; at Kouleli Bourgas, and at 
 Tatar-Bazardjik, where a complete panic 
 seized the place, and the fears of a general 
 massacre were so great that the whole of 
 the Christian population betook themselves 
 to their churches, where they passed the 
 night, while the Turks were parading the 
 streets fully armed. At Tatar-Bazardjik, 
 an eye-witness, a Polish gentleman in the 
 service of the Porte, said that, on reaching 
 that place, he found it completely aban- 
 doned, all the shops and houses shut up, 
 the inhabitants fled or hid away, and com- 
 plete disorganisation among the railway 
 servants, in consequence of the reprisals 
 threatened for the massacre at Otloukeui 
 of five zaptiehs and an employe of the konak 
 by insurgents; for the local authorities, 
 fearing an attack on Tatar-Bazardjik, col- 
 lected together an armed force of the Mus- 
 sulman inhabitants, and started in pursuit 
 of the murderers, who immediately fled to 
 the mountains. 
 
 But though the murderers had fled, 
 the troops which had been gathered to- 
 gether in the manner already described — 
 Circassians, Bashi-Bazouks, and general 
 
 riffraff — were not to be balked of their 
 revenge on the inhabitants of the village 
 of Otloukeui, who, refusing to surrender, 
 and taking refuge in a church or monastery, 
 were bombarded \>y them under Hafous 
 Pasha, and upwards of 300 men, women, 
 and children slaughtered. 
 
 This was the signal for that series of 
 massacres by Moslems and Christians of 
 each other (in which it is true that the 
 Christians were worsted), which created 
 such intense excitement in England, where 
 it was at once seized upon for a party cry, 
 and gave rise to that agitation which has 
 become so notorious as to need no further 
 allusion to it. 
 
 But, for future guidance, it may be well 
 to show on what the whole^le denuncia- 
 tion of the Turks was based, and who were 
 the immediate perpetrators of the sickening 
 outrages which thrilled all Europe. 
 
 We will take the reports of the journal 
 which was so fortunate as to find a way, not 
 only for purely political purposes, but to 
 regain the 'vantage ground it had lost as 
 the organ of dissent. Here we find Mr. 
 MacGahan writing : — 
 
 " When the insurrection broke out, 
 regular soldiers were at first sent to put 
 it down. Turkish soldiers are always a 
 rough, undisciplined lot ; but they had to 
 deal with men who were not very much 
 better, and who were in rebellion. Leaving 
 out of consideration the provocation and 
 justification which the insurgents had for 
 rebellion, the systematic oppression of years, 
 the numerous cases of individual cruelties 
 and hardships, the long imprisonment in 
 the foul dungeons, which, out of the capital, 
 serve as prisons of men unconvicted and 
 untried, but suspected — it may be admitted 
 that in any country a rebel takes his life in 
 his hands, and has no great reason to com- 
 plain if, when he fails, he has to pay the 
 penalty of death. Mercy towards bellige- 
 rents was never expected, and has certainly 
 never been shown in Turkish warfare. But 
 the atrocities complained of are not the 
 work of soldiers, but of Bashi-Bazouks, 
 It will be remembered that, in the Crimean 
 war, the reputation of more than one Indian 
 officer was destroyed, because it was found 
 impossible by men even with Indian expe- 
 rience to keep order among these irregular 
 troops. Military organisation or discipline 
 they can scarcely be said to^have. Com- 
 posed of the dregs of the Turkish and 
 Circassian population, with Gipsies and 
 
 99 
 
 •<mRi 
 
MR. MACGAHAN.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.b. 187G* 
 
 I 
 
 gaol-birds let out for the purpose, and 
 under no responsible command, they have 
 been let loose upon a large portion of cen- 
 tral Bulgaria to put down the insurrection 
 in their own fashion. The result is what 
 everybody acquainted with the materials 
 composing such a force might expect — the 
 plundering of all moveable property, the 
 burning of the houses and villages of the 
 peasantry, without the slightest regard to 
 the question whether the occupants have 
 taken part in the insurrection or not, and 
 the almost indiscriminate slaughter of old 
 men, women, and cliildren." 
 
 In another report we read the following 
 graphic description. Novo Selo, however, 
 it must be remembered, is the name of 
 every third village in the country, so that 
 it is rather a vague description : — 
 
 " The village of Novo Selo was attacked 
 by Bashi-Bazouks and Circassians. More 
 tlian 400 women and children took to 
 flight, and, worn out with fatigue, huddled 
 themselves together in the open fields near 
 Kalofer. They sent to the head men of the 
 latter village for food. After some nego- 
 tiations to obtain the permission of the 
 neighbouring Mussulmans, they received 
 permission to take refuge in the convent of 
 the Holy Trinity. During the negotiations 
 a band of 200 men burst in upon the poor 
 wretches, took from them everything of 
 value which the Circassian troops had left 
 them, and carried off forty of the young 
 women. These men, returning to their 
 villiige with their captives, were met by the 
 Turkish women, who objected to receive 
 any giaours. They were thereupon driven 
 to a neighbouring farm, and, after a scene 
 which the Courrier describes, but an 
 English paper dare not, they were shut up 
 in a straw-loft and burnt. Other particu- 
 lars are given by the CoiirHer; but these 
 are enough. This horrible statement, I 
 repeat, was not contradicted here by the 
 government, nor was the newspaper sup- 
 pressed professedly because of its publica- 
 tion. Had it been, and the accuracy of the 
 statements challenged, the truth would have 
 been made manifest." 
 
 This reasoning is classic. Because the 
 paper was not suppressed by a govern- 
 ment which habitually suppressed the truth, 
 therefore the charge was true. 
 
 Again, a letter from Sliven, May 29th, 
 states : — * 
 
 " In the market the soldiers attacked 
 Detcho, the tailor, while the Redifs fired 
 100 
 
 upon him and killed him. The same band' 
 of soldiers killed, with their daggers, a boy 
 sixteen years old, and mortally wounded 
 Thodoraki Ahmakoff. Four men are lying 
 in bed badly wounded ; but those who are 
 slightly wounded are without number. The 
 governor^ in this case, shoived a great deal 
 of prudence and energy. The moment he 
 was informed of these troubles he hastened 
 to the place, ordered that the corpses of the 
 two killed should be taken away, pacified 
 the people, accompanied himself some of 
 the wealthier people to their houses, while 
 others he sent accompanied by his men, 
 and commanded the Bashi-Bazouks to lay 
 down their arms. In spite of all these 
 orders, howewer, the Bashi-Bazouks did not 
 lay down their arms, and continued to 
 walk about armed, so that the people, fear- 
 ing lest their property should be sacked, 
 did not open their shops. The governor, 
 observing this, ordered, on the 13th (25th), 
 the public criers to announce to the people 
 to open their shops ; but they opened only 
 one door of their shops, being still afraid 
 of the lawlessness of the Bashi-Bazouks. 
 A short time after, the Bashi-Bazouks 
 and the troops attacked the butchers' and 
 bakers' shops, plundering all the meat, 
 bread, and money they found, so that the 
 shops were again closed. The governor 
 again ordered the Bashi-Bazouks to lay 
 down theii arms, and the Turkish Muhtars 
 and Imams to tell the Turks to attend 
 to their business. Moreover, he appointed 
 guards of soldiers to go round the city; 
 and by these precautions tranquillity was 
 established again. In the villages, however, 
 the Bashi-Bazouks go about freely with 
 their arms, and commit various outraij^es, so 
 that no one dares to go out of the city." 
 
 In the same letter it is also stated — 
 " Great numbers of Bulgarian children 
 have been captured by the Circassians, 
 and have been sold, or are now on s<ale as 
 slaves. So large is the stock on hand, tliat 
 I am informed, from a good source, that 
 young girls may be bought for three or 
 four liras each at Philippopolis. I have 
 seen an official report from a consular 
 agent in the district, who has apparently no 
 sympatliy whatever with the insurgents, in 
 which the estimate of those killed — non- 
 combatants, that is — is fixed at 12,000, in- 
 cluding men, women, and children. He adds, 
 that the country is full of armed marauders, 
 who compel all the wealthy Christians to 
 pay heavy penalties, under the threat of 
 
i.D. 1876.] 
 
 EUSSTAN EMPIRE. [specul correspondents. 
 
 being denounced as insurgents." It is 
 worthy of note, that even at this early 
 period it was acknowledged that some 
 Christians, at least, were wealthy and able 
 to pay heavy penalties. 
 
 Then we read again: — "Complete an- 
 archy reigns throughout the towns and 
 villages of this province (Philippopolis). 
 The governor seems to he the only one who 
 has at heart the true interest of the 
 government, and he is unable to restrain 
 the fanaticism of the Turks. The idea is 
 current here among the Turks, either to 
 annihilate or to materially weaken the 
 Bulgarian element, so that they may rid 
 themselves of every fear of European 
 intervention. In the space of twenty days 
 more than 100 villages have been burned 
 in the province of Philippopolis and of 
 Tatar-Bazardj ik." 
 
 " Bashi-Bazouks, and Circassians and 
 Gipsies : " such is the constant refrain. It 
 was not the regular troops, nor even the 
 Moslems as a class, who were guilty of the 
 excesses ; but only the scoundrels, for the 
 most part, bounded into Turkey by 
 Kussia. 
 
 It was, of course, highly reprehensible 
 to make use of these ruffians; but when 
 a man thinks his neighbours are about to 
 fall upon him, and massacre him and all 
 his belongings, he does not inquire too 
 nicely into the character of his instruments 
 to defend himself. Besides this, the 
 Moslems were better aware of the nature 
 of the Bulgarian than were correspondents, 
 whose only preparation for their task was 
 the study of a cheap Turkish grammar, 
 purchased at one of the second-hand book- 
 stalls along the Seine during their journey 
 down the Danube. What the Bulgarians 
 would have done, had they not been 
 forestalled, has been amply proved by 
 subsequent events. That they had cause 
 for fear is now but too plain. But it was 
 well known even then what was preparing. 
 It was known as far south as Salonica. 
 Here we find Consul Blunt writing : — 
 
 "Some Servian emissaries, with about 
 thirty insurgents, made an irruption into 
 the mountainous district of Malish, burnt 
 some Bulgarian houses, hoping thus to 
 force the Bulgarians to rise, and massacred 
 some Mahommedans ; but they were dis- 
 persed, and I now hear that several of 
 them have been apprehended. 
 
 "The governor-general of Salonica in- 
 forms me that he continues to receive 
 
 VOL. III. p 
 
 satisfactory accounts of the quiet dis- 
 position of the Bulgarian peasants in his 
 province. 
 
 "I am also informed that the secret 
 agents of the authorities have discovered 
 traces of a * Bulgarian Comite' in this 
 town, under the direction of foreign in- 
 fluence, who employed emissaries to foment 
 disturbances in the interior." 
 
 It was equally known in Rustchuk ; and 
 Consul Eeade lost no opportunities of 
 impressing the fact upon his superiors, 
 but with little eflfect. He wrote on May 
 20th :— ^ 
 
 "The state of things here has improved 
 since my last report, and the emissaries 
 who have entered the vilayet from abroad 
 find it daily more difficult <o stir up the 
 Bulgarians of the province. 
 
 " The insurgents from the Balkans having 
 faiUd in getting the Bulgarians of Selm 
 to join them, threatened to come down and 
 punish them. Accordingly, the day before 
 yesterday, I believe about 1,000 were 
 collected at Ducheva, a spot about two 
 hours from Selvi. The Selvi people im- 
 mediately sent off to Tirnova and Plevna 
 for assistance, and Nedjib Aga, governor 
 of the latter place, at once hurried off with 
 about 5Q0 men of the reserve. 
 
 " On their arrival where the insurgents 
 were, they attacked them so vi<rorously 
 that they completely routed them in a verV 
 short time. The killed and wounded were 
 about 200. Nedjib Aga lost two killed and 
 nine wounded. 
 
 "I saw the governor-general yesterday 
 just as he had received this intelligence. 
 His excellency was in high spirits, and 
 hoped that the disturbances here would soon 
 cease, as the insurgents must now be con- 
 vinced that they cannot do anything of im- 
 portance. Indeed, I have myself heard, from 
 other quarters, that the Bulgarians them- 
 selves say, that not having taken advanta<^e 
 of the moment when the Turks were taken 
 up with the Herzegovina, it is now too late 
 to hope for any success here. 
 
 "The so-called Bulgarian Committee of 
 Bucharest, as I said before, are moving 
 but, as the people here, I am told, say, too' 
 late. A number of them (from 100 to 120) 
 are on the opposite coast, between this and 
 Widdin, waiting for opportunities to cross ; 
 but the Turks are so much on the alert 
 night and day, that as yet none have been 
 able to come over. 
 
 " In this town several have been arreste4 
 
 101 
 
READERS OPINIONS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1876. 
 
 A.D. 1876.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [general TCHERNAIEFF. 
 
 for going about endeavouring to stir up 
 the Bulgarians to rise ; but they have not 
 succeeded in one single instance. The 
 affair altogether is contemptible, and I 
 think we shall shortly hear the end of it,'' 
 
 This may not appear to have been a very 
 fortunate prophecy ; but it must be remem- 
 bered that Consul Reade was speaking of 
 the country north of the Balkans, where, as 
 a matter of fact, scarcely any excesses took 
 place. At the same time, he writes on the 
 following day : — 
 
 " Many of the revolutionary Bulgarians 
 in Wallachia are said to be entering this 
 vilayet, and some have already been dis- 
 covered and arrested. 
 
 " From all I see and hear, I am persuaded 
 that there is nothing serious to fear for the 
 moment, nor will there be if the government 
 acts with promptitude on the occurrence of 
 any disorder. The Porte, however, I think, 
 would do well were it to grant the pasha 
 more power, so as to enable him to make 
 examples of some of the chiefs of the in- 
 surgents ; for I am persuaded if this is not 
 done the natives will think that the govern- 
 ment is weak, and the disturbances, which 
 at present are comparatively insignificant, 
 are sure to increase ; whereas, if a few ex- 
 amples were made of the chiefs, they would 
 serve as salutary, and, I think, successful 
 lessons to the rest." 
 
 It was thus clearly Mr. Reade's opinion 
 that the disturbances were chiefly due to 
 foreign agents; and in advising the adop- 
 tion of severe measures, he had only these 
 people in view, and not the Bulgarian popu- 
 lation ; for Mr. Reade is one of those men 
 who refuse to see good in a Turk, as his 
 subsequent despatches amply prove — espe- 
 cially the one that aroused Lord Beacons- 
 field's ire when he retorted upon Mr. Glad- 
 stone's "bag and baggage" with a con- 
 temptuous "coffee-house babble." Both 
 phrases were equally unfortunate — the one 
 because it conveyed a wrong impression, 
 the other because it was true. The " bab- 
 ble" was a report from a Mussulman, who 
 was sent by Mr. Reade to acquire informa- 
 tion, and ran as follows : — 
 
 " This morning I went to a cafe, where 
 a Mussulman was sitting, in company with 
 several Mussulmans of Rustchuk. He was 
 one of those sent against the insurgents, 
 and this is what I heard him say : — 
 
 " When asked whether he could be called 
 a Ghazi (champion of the Faith), he 
 answered, ' I will not speak of what I have 
 102 
 
 done; but when I tell you that even our 
 schoolboys killed their five or six Bulga- 
 rians, what can you imagine that I did ? ' 
 
 " He praised the Circassians as having 
 done great things, having as their motto, 
 ' Giaur eulsun, vurunuz eulsun' (' Let the 
 Giaour die — strike him, let him perish'). 
 
 "A Bimbashi (major) present asked him 
 if they had taken rifles from those that 
 were killed. He replied, that 'they had 
 not even a hoe with them, much less rifles.' 
 "The Bimbashi then said that they 
 must have killed innocent people. He re- 
 plied, ' Yes, very few had arms.' 
 
 " Another present remarked that 5,000 
 or 6,000 must have perished innocently. 
 He answered, 'If you had said 25,000 or 
 26,000 you, would have been more correct.' 
 He added, ' It is a great loss to the country, 
 as most of them were tax-paying people.' 
 
 " He also said that at Plevna no Christian 
 could go to his field or vineyard for fear of 
 being robbed or maltreated ; and that the 
 people of Nicopoli and Shumla were pre- 
 paring letters of thanks to their Kaimacams 
 for not having armed the Circassians in 
 their districts." 
 
 Similar information poured in from all 
 quarters, and it was all to the same efifect. 
 The burden of the song was ever that emis- 
 saries were forcing the people into revolt, 
 and that Circassians and Bashi-Bazouks 
 were employed against them. Yet, at this 
 very period. General Ignatieff was the very 
 man who pooh-poohed the movement, and 
 stated that, according to his information, 
 the disturbances arose simply from the tur- 
 bulent behaviour of the Italian navvies on 
 the railway- works, who were discontented 
 because they had not received their pay. 
 Naturally the wily general did not wish it 
 to become known what dimensions the agita- 
 tion and massacre were taking. All he 
 cared was that the Bulgarian "question" 
 should arise in addition to the Bosnian, 
 Herzegovinian, and Montenegrin questions. 
 The summary measures, however, which 
 the Moslems were obliged to adopt, would 
 speedily have resulted in the suppression of 
 the revolt. It had, in fact, been already 
 quelled when, chiefly through IgnatiefiTs in- 
 strumentality, the massacres of Perustitza, 
 Aorat, Alan, and Batak were made known 
 to the world through Mr. MacGahan and 
 Mr. Schuyler. He saw that the time had 
 come for adding fresh fuel to the smoulder- 
 ing flame, and found the above gentlemen 
 [willing tools in his hands for the purpose 
 
 of creating an intense excitement through- 
 out Europe ; whilst, on the other hand, he 
 proceeded to stir up the rebellion afresh: 
 this time, by openly-avowed emissaries and 
 foreigners— that is, by inciting the Serbs 
 to declare war, and carry their arms, not 
 into the districts for which alone they had 
 hitherto expressed their sympathy— that is 
 to say, into Bosnia and the Herzegovina, 
 where the Christians had been battling 
 
 for the last eighteen months, and were. 
 
 as likely, from information probably volun- 
 teered by General TchernaiefiF, to prove a 
 favourable spot for the preparation of a 
 fresh atrocity report. Be this as it may. 
 General Tchernaieff and Mr. Schuyler 
 were fast friends in Russia ; Tchernaiefi" was 
 in disgrace in Court circles ; Schuyler went 
 to Constantinople, became an intimate 
 acquaintance of General IgnatiefiTs; and 
 shortly afterwards, almost simultaneously 
 
 undoubtedly, suffering— but into Bulgaria, 
 where the most diabolical intrigues and 
 devilish means had been adopted to force 
 the people into rebellion. 
 
 A personal friend of Mr. Schuyler's was 
 chosen to carry this plan out— a man who 
 had enabled Mr. Schuyler to make his 
 debut as a sensation-reporter and atrocity- 
 monger. This man was General Tcher- 
 naieff. 
 
 Tchernaieff was one of those restless 
 spirits who are consumed by ambition and 
 eaten up by vanity. He had commanded a 
 Russian detachment in the first Central 
 Asian expedition, under General Kaufif- 
 mann, and had conquered Tashkend. This 
 turned his brain. Henceforth he was known 
 amongst his friends as the Mogul of Tash- 
 kend. General Kauffmann, however, did 
 not attach the same importance to his 
 subordinate, who thoroughly believed that 
 to him, and him alone, the success of the 
 whole expedition was due. This led to dis- 
 putes between the two commanders; and 
 General Kauffmann — who, some people say, 
 is the Czar of Asiatic Russia, which includes 
 the greater portion of the empire — suc- 
 ceeded in inducing the authorities at St. 
 Petersburg to intimate to General Tcher- 
 naieff that it would be advisable for him to 
 
 resign. 
 
 The whole affair is wrapped up in some 
 mystery. Whether General Tchernaiefifs 
 dismissal was due to his having furnished 
 Mr. Schuyler with the information regard- 
 ing the atrocities committed by General 
 Kauffmann and the Russian Bashi-Bazouks, 
 or whether it was in consequence of his 
 dismissal that he favoured Mr. Schuyler, is 
 not quite clear. Certain it is that the publi- 
 cation of Mr. Schuyler's report on the 
 Asian atrocities led to such strong re- 
 presentations on the part of the Russian 
 government, that he was recalled from his 
 post at the United States embassy, and 
 ordered to Constantinople. Probably Mr. 
 Schuyler suggested Constantinople himself. 
 
 with the publication of the Bulgarian 
 
 horrors. General Tchernaieff arrived in 
 Belgrade. 
 
 This may all be a fortuitous concatena- 
 tion of events. It is quite possible that for 
 once fiction has been stranger than truth ; 
 but it will, at any rate, always remain a very 
 remarkable concatenation, and psychologi- 
 cally enigmatical. What the general went 
 to Servia for appears from a letter which 
 he wrote to the Russki Mir, the journal of 
 which he had become the proprietor since 
 he had exchanged the sword for the pen : — 
 " I proceeded to Servia with the object 
 of making myself acquainted with the real 
 state of affairs in the Turkish territories, in 
 order that, in communicating information 
 to my own newspaper, I might be enabled 
 to appreciate correctly the intelligence 
 which is transmitted to Russia chiefly 
 through the Austrian press, which is hostile 
 to all Slavism generally. I chose the route 
 by way of Kisheneff and the Danube, along 
 the whole course of which, commencing 
 from the Russian frontier to the Servian 
 boundary, committees were formed, towards 
 the end of last year, for organising the 
 plans of the Bulgarians in their approach- 
 ing struggle for independence. 
 
 " Commencing from Bolgrad (a Bul- 
 garian colony which fell away from Russia 
 and became incorporated with Roumania 
 by virtue of the treaty of Paris), I every- 
 where heard the same thing, which was to 
 the effect that all had been done that was 
 possible by the people for the impending 
 struggle. All the arms that could be found 
 in Roumania had been bought up ; many 
 rifles, which had been distributed by the 
 Turkish government among the Mussul- 
 man population, had been obtained by the 
 Bulgarians, and that powder was being 
 manufactured in many places by the people 
 themselves. Considerable stores of provi- 
 sions had been removed to the Balkans, and 
 property secreted under ground. 
 
 " ' We only expect,' I was told, * a general 
 signal for attacking the Turks, after first 
 
 103 
 
 
 \ 
 
 ■* i 
 

 tchernaieff's crusade.] history OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 187G. 
 
 A.T>. 1876.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the *'agence russe.'* 
 
 removino^ our families and cattle to the 
 mountaius ; we still, however, require 
 leaders and unanimity. We are keeping 
 tlie people back ho as to avoid useless sacri- 
 fices by a premature rising ! ' 
 
 "I doubted the correctness of this in- 
 formation, and particularly as regards the 
 enthusiasm of the committees being shared 
 by the Bulgarian people across the Danube. 
 The subsequent outbreak, however, con- 
 firmed the statements made to me. At the 
 present moment, and now that a fortnight 
 has elapsed since the first commencement 
 of hostilities, the insurgent Bulgarians may, 
 acconliug to information possessed here, be 
 numbered by thousands. Their movements 
 are regulated by a fixed programme. The 
 Bulgarian military organisation is based on 
 a gradual scale, commencing from a de- 
 siatka (ten men); ten desiatkas form a 
 cheta, ten chetas a voevodstvo ; ten voe- 
 vodstvos a head voevodstvo, the command 
 over which will be intrusted to a com- 
 mander-in-chief. Seniority among the 
 commanders will be reckoned from the day 
 of their taking part in the insurrection. 
 Until the people are seasoned under fire, all 
 the military movements will be confined to 
 partisan attacks on the communications; 
 consisting chiefly in the destruction of 
 railways, telegraphs, interception of 
 couriers, posts, tfcc* An attack of TurJcisk 
 detachments will only he alloived under 
 sjDecialli/ favourable circumstances^ and 
 U)uler a considerable superiority of 
 strength over the enemy. The first acts of 
 the insurgents have been in strict accord- 
 ance ivith this p7'ogramme. 
 
 " After quitting Bucharest I reached Bel- 
 grade, where I found that preparations for 
 war were being pushed forward. As is 
 known, the military force of the princi- 
 palities consists of militiamen (of regular 
 troops there are only 4,000 or 5,000), who 
 can be all mustered in fourteen days. The 
 Servians, relying on Russia, remained 
 quiet for eleven months, enabling the 
 Turks to concentrate along their extended 
 frontier about 60,000 men, a considerable 
 quantity of Krupp artillery, and to form 
 several fortified camps. The justice of 
 their complaints against diplomacy can 
 thus be understood. You will readily per- 
 ceive why my arrival excited such sym- 
 pathy. Not only at Belgrade, but also 
 during my excursion into the interior 
 
 • The etc. probably means "casual massacres. 
 104 
 
 »» 
 
 (which I undertook, with the sanction of 
 Prince Milan, for the purpose of examining, 
 amongst other things, the state of the for- 
 tresses), did I hear of the strong hopes 
 which the Bulgarians placed in their Rus- 
 sian brethren. This feeling of sympathy, 
 expressed, may be, with greater strength at 
 the present critical moment, always exists 
 in the hearts of the Servian people, as is 
 proved by the presence, in every peasant's 
 hut and wayside station, of the portraits of 
 our emperors side by side with those of 
 their esteemed princes of the House of 
 Obronovitch. Wherever I passed the peo- 
 ple shouted, 'Long life to our Russian 
 brethren ! Long life to our Orthodox Rus- 
 sian Tsar ! ' 
 
 " On my return to Belgrade a proposal 
 was made that I should enter the ranks of 
 the Servian army. All vacillation on my 
 part would, of course, have been misplaced; 
 a refusal would have been tantamount to a 
 desire to avoid the danger which threat- 
 ened a kindred country from all sides. 
 After the survey made by me of the 
 advanced positions, my departure from 
 Servia would have been interpreted by the 
 enemies of the Slavs, who are very nu- 
 merous, in the sense that I had become 
 convinced of the impossibility of the con- 
 templated struggle. My examination, how- 
 ever, of the real state of matters, assured 
 me of the contrary. Servia can muster 
 125,000 well-armed troops, with 200 rifled 
 guns, and 24,000 horsemen for scout and 
 outpost duties. In addition to this the 
 country is able to command 100,000 armed 
 men for the protection and defence of their 
 families and dwellings. 
 
 "It may generally be said that Servia pos- 
 sesses many natural advantages for a suc- 
 cessful struggle against the Turks. Vic- 
 tory, however, is in the hand of God. The 
 nation is fervidly devoted to the Obrono- 
 vitch dynasty, and to its present represen- 
 tative. Prince Milan. Everything that we 
 hear in Russia about the Karageorgevitch 
 party, which is secretly supported by 
 Austria, proceeds from the Austrian press; 
 and every true Servian regards the few par- 
 tisans of that party, who are in the pay of 
 Austria, with the greatest contempt. 
 
 "The communistic outbreak at Kragn- 
 jevatz, which has been purposely magnified 
 by the Austrian press, was a childish bid for 
 notoriety by a few hair-brained young men 
 thirsting for notoriety. I conclude this 
 letter by expressing the hope that my 
 
 countrymen will not condemn my deter- 
 mination to place myself in the ranks of 
 the Servians in the impending struggle for 
 the emancipation of the Balkan Christians 
 from the degrading and insupportable 
 Turkish yoke." — These last words, the 
 ** Balkan Christians," left no doubt as to 
 the general's intentions. Yet the very 
 next day we find Consul White writing a 
 pottering despatch, to the efifect that, " after 
 hearing most conflicting accounts during 
 the day, it has hitherto been always possi- 
 ble, in the end, to ascertain that these 
 reports are, at any rate, premature." Then 
 follow a number of " probables " and " pos- 
 sibles," " likelys " and " unlikelys," varied 
 with a few " said to be's," and winding up 
 with the statement, " that an attempt will 
 not improbably be made to open new centres 
 of insurrection in Bosnia." Again, on June 
 12, he writes as though Bosnia were to be the 
 scene of offensive operations, whilst every 
 stable-boy in Belgrade knew perfectly well 
 that Bulgaria was to be the scene of opera- 
 tions, and every cobbler that it was impos- 
 sible for Servia to take any action in 
 Bosnia for fear of Austrian intervention, 
 which had been plainly threatened. 
 
 However, on Tchernaieff^s return from 
 Alexinatz, he accepted a commission in the 
 Servian army without giving, as Mr. White 
 wrote, time to the imperial government to 
 raise any formal objection to this act on 
 his part. Still Mr. White did express a 
 " belief "that General Tchernaieff" had been 
 in negotiation with some parties in Bel- 
 grade with that view for some months, and 
 that his opinion of the attitude that Russia 
 would ultimately take in the question, had 
 more to do with this bold act on his part 
 than any excessive confidence in the mili- 
 tary resources of the principality. 
 
 One of the parties here alluded to was 
 M. Kartzoff", the Russian consul, who as- 
 sured Mr. White " that this act of General 
 Tchernaieff^s took him quite by surprise, 
 and that he considered this step on the 
 part of the Servian government as wanting 
 in proper deference to his own govern- 
 ment." 
 
 But whatever M. Kartzoff may have con- 
 'Jidered, his government showed no signs of 
 displeasure worthy of any attention, and 
 simply couLerterl itself with a formal denial 
 that General Tchernaieff' had received any 
 military command in Servia. It was left 
 to the A gence Eusse to make this denial. 
 This Agence Russe is a news and telegraph 
 
 agency, supported by the government, in 
 order to supply the foreign press with 
 " authentic and reliable information on 
 Russian affairs." What reliance is to be 
 placed on the utterances of this agency ap- 
 pears very plainly in this matter of General 
 Tchernaieff. The Agence Russe said (and 
 its sayings were reported by Lord Loftus 
 to his government with all the weight of 
 authority), that they were " in a position to 
 affirm that M. Tchernaieff", who was a re- 
 tired general, had not received any kind of 
 military command in Servia, and that he 
 was only there in his character of news- 
 paper correspondent, as was proved by the 
 telegram from Belgrade, signed by himself, 
 and which was copied from the Monde 
 Russe, which is his paper. But what is 
 true was, that this general and other re- 
 tired Russian officers, influenced by their 
 sympathies and by the prospect of impend- 
 ing conflagrations in Turkey, had left for 
 Servia or Montenegro, and that probably 
 they were not the only ones who had done 
 so. These," the Agence Russe continued, 
 "were all symptoms of very imminent 
 danger, and which proved that not a 
 moment must be lost if it was to be 
 averted." 
 
 It was, however, never intended that the 
 danger should be averted ; and thus the 
 Servian ministers and their newly-made 
 friends went on with their military prepa- 
 rations with as much energy as ever. 
 
 Meantime events had been rapidly cul- 
 minating in Constantinople to a crisis. For 
 some time those who were behind the 
 scenes had been aware that some movement 
 was in progress which, from its depth and 
 extent, was calculated to lead to important 
 results. For some time the discontent felt 
 by the subjects of the Sultan at the way in 
 which they were misgoverned had been 
 increasing in intensity, and was no longer 
 confined to the Christians, but had extended 
 to the Mussulmans themselves, until the 
 matter was taken up most seriously by the 
 Softas, who may best be described as the 
 educated youths and the students belong- 
 ing to the upper ranks of Moslem society, 
 and may be regarded as, to a very great 
 degree, representing the intelligent public 
 opinion of the capital, if not of the empire. 
 These Softas were animated b"^ a determi- 
 nation to obtain the entire reform of the 
 administration, which alone coa .1 save the 
 empire from the total and speedy ruin 
 with which it was threatened, especially in 
 
 105 
 
 M' 
 
 
 £ 
 
 •J 
 
 
 
 .1 
 
 ' *.'■ 
 
 
 I » ' 
 
 
 ■■ il 
 
THE SOFT! OONSPIBACY.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1876. 
 
 A.D. 1876.J 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [the sultan deposed. 
 
 consequence of the conduct of Mahmoud 
 Pasha, who was looked upon as directly 
 responsible for a large share in the despe- 
 rate state of affairs. It was he, they said, 
 who during his first administration en- 
 couraged the Sultan in all his caprices, 
 being only anxious to retain his majesty's 
 favour, and totally indifferent to the wel- 
 fare of his country. Mahmoud, they said, 
 must be removed ; for the Sultan having 
 once been taught to consult nothing but 
 his own humour, no subsequent minister 
 was able to restrain him ; those who at- 
 tempted it being invariably dismissed 
 within a few weeks. Their first object, 
 therefore, was to procure the dismissal of 
 the obnoxious vizier, and the nomination 
 of Midhat Pasha, who, as the champion 
 of the reforming party, was the only 
 man in whom much confidence was 
 placed. The Old Turk party, however, pre- 
 ferred Mehemet Rushdi Pasha, who though 
 enjoying general respect as an incorruptible 
 and patriotic statesman, was not supposed 
 to have the power to obtain from the Sul- 
 tan the concessions and limitations of his 
 authority that were considered necessary, 
 and which might possibly still preserve his 
 throne, if, indeed, this was not too late. 
 With this idea, the word " Constitution " 
 was in every mouth, without there being 
 any well-defined understanding what it 
 meant, except that it signified the estab- 
 lishment of some popular or national con- 
 trol over the purely arbitrary will of the 
 
 sovereign. 
 
 The Softas, knowing themselves to be 
 supported by the bulk of the nation. Chris- 
 tian as well as Mussulman, in calling for 
 this control, determined not to desist in 
 their efforts till they had obtained it, and 
 texts from the Koran were circulated with 
 a view of proving to the faithful that the 
 form of government sanctioned by it is 
 properly democratic, and that the absolute 
 authority wielded by the sovereign was a 
 usurpation of the rights of the people, and 
 a contravention of the holy law. At the 
 same time, both texts and precedents were 
 appealed to, to show that allegiance is not 
 due to the sovereign who neglects the in- 
 terests of the State. These views met with 
 general approbation ; disaffection ran 
 through every class, and no one thought of 
 trying to conceal his opinion. Even among 
 the porters in the streets, the boatmen on 
 the Bosphorus, and pashas who had filled 
 or were then filling the very highest posts, 
 106 
 
 civil or military, the same language was 
 held, and not a single quarter could be 
 named in which the Sultan could with any 
 confidence have looked for support against 
 a well-organised attempt to depose him. 
 So universal was the feeling against the 
 government, as carried on by the Sultan 
 and his favourites, that the highest oflScers 
 in the army publicly declared that neither 
 they nor their men would oppose the 
 Softas in any movement they might make. 
 And more significant than all was the un- 
 derstanding that existed between the 
 Softas and the Christians; for when it 
 became known that a vast conspiracy was 
 being organised, the first thought of the 
 Christians naturally was that it was to be 
 directed against them : but the Softas at 
 once declared that there was not the least 
 intention to interfere with the Christians. 
 On the contrary, they would only be too 
 glad if the Christians would assist them in 
 their plans, at least by not opposing them. 
 
 A painful period of suspense followed 
 upon this action of the Softas, and the air, 
 so to speak, was big with portentous events. 
 At last the first blow was dealt. On May 
 10th a large assemblage of Softas met Prince 
 Izeddin when on his way to the Seraskeriat 
 in Stamboul, and stopping him, bade him 
 return and inform the Sultan of their 
 demands — viz., the dismissal of the Sheikh- 
 ul-Islam and the Grand Vizier. His ma- 
 jesty, on receiving the message, at once sent 
 his secretary to the mosque, where upwards 
 of 2,000 were assembled, in order to ascer- 
 tain more precisely what it was they wanted, 
 and by the next day at noon both their 
 wishes had been complied with, so great 
 was the terror at the palace. But this was 
 not all that the Softas required. They 
 intended to require the Sultan to modify 
 his prerogative altogether, and to grant a 
 representative and constitutional form of 
 government, so as to ensure an efficient 
 control over the finances of the State ; and at 
 the same time, although Mehemet Rushdi 
 Pasha, the new Grand Vizier, was univer- 
 sally respected, the appointment of Midhat 
 Pasha was still to be insisted upon. 
 
 Had the Sultan known, or been able to 
 gauge the character of the movement, he 
 might have avoided what was to follow by 
 complying with the plainly-expressed desires 
 of the Softas, and appointing Midhat Pasha 
 Grand Vizier, and calling upon him to 
 frame a constitution in the sense demanded 
 by all his subjects alike. But either, as is 
 
 most probable, he knew nothmg at all 
 about the matter, or, knowing it, he felt 
 strong enough, in the possession of his 
 ironclads and the army he had organised, 
 to be able to defy his rebellious subjects. 
 He did not know that neither his army nor 
 his navy would fire a shot to save him. 
 
 Thus the catastrophe came. The Softas, 
 led by Midhat Pasha, had learned their 
 own strength. They had succeeded in in- 
 timidating their sovereign, and they had 
 learned that their object was approved of by 
 the nation at large ; and now, seeing that 
 the Sultan still refused to comply with 
 their wishes, they determined to strike the 
 
 final blow. 
 
 The arrangements for ensuring success, 
 and for preventing the probability of dis- 
 turbance, were made with consummate skill 
 and foresight ; but it is still a matter of 
 wonder that a plot, of which so many were 
 in the secret, and the existence of which 
 was indeed generally, although vaguely, 
 known to the public, should not have 
 reached the Sultan or his immediate favour- 
 ites. It can only be explained by the fact 
 that in the capital there was hardly a man 
 who did not desire his overthrow, nor a 
 friend disposed to warn him of the dangers 
 —not even Sir Henry Elliot, who was ex- 
 cellently informed upon the subject. But 
 be this as it may, the Sheikh-ul-Islam, the 
 highest authority that Mahommedans can 
 appeal to, declared the lawfulness of deposing 
 the sovereign. The two following questions 
 were submitted to him by the Ulema :-- 
 
 « If the first of the true believers gives 
 signs of madness and of an ignorance of 
 political matters ; if he spends the public 
 money on himself in excess of what the 
 State or the nation can grant him, will he 
 not thus become the cause of troubles and 
 of the public ruin ? Ought he not to be de- 
 throned ? " 
 
 To this the Sheikh-ul-Islam answered by 
 a simple " Yes," and, signed by his name, 
 "Hassan Hairoullah," the questions and 
 the answer became a "fetva," of which the 
 authority would be admitted by all true 
 
 Mussulmans. ., a r^. 
 
 Having obtained this fetva, the Softas 
 then proceeded to lay it before the Minister 
 of War, Hussein Avni Pasha, and the 
 Grand Vizier, Mehemet Rushdi Pasha, who 
 at last gave his consent to the execution of 
 the project, which it was immediately re- 
 solved to carry out at once. 
 
 By this decision Mehemet saved the 
 
 country from the most imminent danger; 
 for the public exasperation had arrived at 
 such a height, that the Softas and the 
 people would undoubtedly have attempted 
 a revolution, which, in their hands, would 
 have been attended by all the evils and 
 dangers of a popular movement, but which, 
 conducted by those in authority, might 
 pass without disturbance or even uneasi- 
 ness. 
 
 It is true that, when those who are en- 
 trusted by their sovereign with power, turn 
 that power against him, there is in such 
 conduct an appearance of treachery that 
 must create a painful impression; but in 
 the case of Mehemet Rushdi Pasha, his 
 conduct was guided by no considerations 
 but those of the purest patriotism, for there 
 was not another Turkish pasha so univer- 
 sally regarded as incorruptible, and at the 
 same time so free of all suspicion of being 
 actuated by motives of personal ambition. 
 Though he had long been convinced that 
 the personal character of the Sultan ren- 
 dered the utter ruin of the country inevit- 
 able, still he shrank from the act of violence 
 to which he was at last driven, when, against 
 his own wishes, he was placed in the high 
 position which enabled him to secure the 
 success of the plot. The Minister of War 
 and Marine also acknowledged the authority 
 of the fetva, and thus we have the singular 
 spectacle of a despotic government over- 
 thrown by the law in accordance with the 
 will of the people— by the people in ac- 
 cordance with the law. 
 
 Thus the consent of those having been 
 gained who could have predicted the suc- 
 cess of the plot, all possibility of resist- 
 ance and risk of disturbance were prevented 
 by precautions taken by the Porte. On 
 May 30th, the palace was surrounded, on 
 the land side, by troops before daybreak, 
 and by boats from ships of war on the 
 other. At the same time, the heir to the 
 throne, Murad Effendi, was taken by some 
 of the ministers to the War Office, and there 
 proclaimed Sultan, whilst the announce- 
 ment of his dethronement was made to 
 Abdul Aziz by a pasha, who convinced him 
 that resistance was useless ; and in spite of 
 his fury and despair, the Sultan was taken 
 in a boat with his family to the old palace, 
 which he was to leave no more alive. 
 
 At break of day. May 31st, the ac- 
 cession of Sultan Murad V. was joyously 
 proclaimed amidst salvoes of artillery 
 from the land batteries and the ships 
 
 107 
 
 ■ * 
 
 ''41 
 
 r-; 
 
 ( i 
 
 .^1 
 
 ji 
 i ■ 
 
^l1 
 
 DEATH OF ABDFL AZTZ.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 of war. Throughout the empire the re- 
 joiciDg was universal. The new Sultan 
 was hailed as a model of perfection, and, 
 assisted by Midhat Pasha and the good-will 
 of the foreign powers, there is reason to be- 
 lieve that a real reform might have been 
 brought about. But absolute tranquillity 
 would have been necessary for this as well 
 as a reorganisation of the finances, which 
 • some sanguine people imagined would have 
 been considerably assisted by the money it 
 was hoped would be found in the late Sul- 
 tan's private coffers. Jiut all that was 
 found amounted to no more than about 
 £100,000 in cash, £1,000,000 in jewelry 
 and £8,000,000 of Turkish bonds, repre-' 
 senting a market value of about £320,000. 
 As for Sultan Abdul Aziz, although the 
 most explicit assurances were given as to 
 his safety, and the Queen herself tele- 
 graphed to express her hopes that no vio- 
 lence would be done to him, there were few 
 people who did not believe that his days 
 were numbered. Wlien, therefore, his de- 
 cease was announced about a week after 
 bis deposition, but little surprise was ex- 
 pressed, except at the manner of his death 
 — suicide. The news was received with in- 
 credulity, cases of suicide amongst Moslems 
 being extremely rare. But an inquest was 
 held by nineteen medical men, amon^^ 
 whom were Dr. Dickson, physician to her 
 majesty's embassy, the doctors of the Aus- 
 trian and French embassy, and others of 
 high standing, Turkisli, Greek, and Ar- 
 menian, who all certified unanimously tliat 
 the death was the result of suicido, and 
 that the deceased Sultan had opened the 
 veins of his arms with a pair of pointed 
 scissors. Dr. Dickson told Sir Henry Elliot 
 that neither he nor any of his collea.rues 
 entertained a doubt that the act was voTun- 
 tary. It was also proved that, since the 
 bultan s deposition, all arms and cuttinor 
 instruments had been kept out of his reaclf 
 but that on June 4th he asked for a pair of 
 scissors to cut off his beard. A small pair 
 was given him, and he then turnod his at- 
 tendants out of the room and locked the 
 door, which was broken open by his ser- 
 vants when his mother heard her son's 
 groans, and he was found on the point of 
 death. The next day he was buried in the 
 mausoleum of his father. Sultan Mahmoud 
 with every mark of respect. ' 
 
 These startling events were very differ- 
 ently interpreted in various quarters. In 
 England it was hoped that a new era had 
 
 lOo 
 
 [a.d. 1876. 
 
 A.D. 1876.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [SERVIA DECLARES WAR. 
 
 dawned for Turkey, and that Midhat Pasha 
 would institute a series of reforms, and see 
 that they were carried out with all the 
 energy of which he was capable. On the 
 other hand, the Russians were exasperated 
 by what they considered a British intri^juo 
 and followed out their plans with more 
 energy than ever. In Constantinople itself 
 the ferment was kept up, so that serious 
 reforms were almost impossible. The ter- 
 rible state of suspense in which the capital 
 was held, was considerably increased by the 
 assassination, a fortnight later, of Hussein 
 Avni Pasha and Raschid Pasha. 
 
 A certain Hassan, a Circassian by birth 
 and who some years ago had left the mili- 
 , tary school with the rank of lieutenant, was 
 appointed captain, to be sent to the armv 
 of Bagdad. For certain reasons I,e was 
 retained at Constantinople, and employed 
 m various posts; but when he was ap- 
 pomted to the rank of adjutant- major, and 
 to a post m the said army, he advanced 
 various excuses for deferring his departure : 
 finally, he bluntly refused to obey, and was 
 therefore imprisoned. Being released, with 
 a view to his departure for his post, and 
 having promised to set out for Bagdad the 
 next day, he proceeded in the evening to 
 the house of the Seraskier. Here he was 
 informed that the latter was at a meeting 
 of his colleagues at the residence of hil 
 highness Midhat Paslia, to which he at 
 once proceeded. The sentries, believing, 
 him to be still an aide-de-camp, did not 
 prevent his entrance into the council-cham- 
 ber, where he fired point-blank at Hussein 
 Avni Pasha with the revolver wliich he had 
 in his pocket, and killed him on the spot. 
 p u-A^ 'f ^ endeavoured to seize him, 
 Raschid Pasha Ahmed Agha, a servant of 
 his highness Midhat Pasha, and a soldier, 
 shared the same fate, whilst the Minister of 
 Marine, as well as another soldier, were 
 wounded so desperate was the resistance of 
 the murderer. 
 
 The terror in Constantinople at this san- 
 guinary drama was intense; for that one 
 man should have penetrated into a council 
 of ministers and killed seven persons and 
 wounded eight others before he could be 
 secured is an act for which scarcely a 
 parallel could be found. Everything 
 proved that the intention of the assassiS 
 was to kill the Minister of War, and then to 
 hght his way out and effect his escape, for 
 winch he had prepared the means by havin<r 
 a horse at hand to take him to the landing- 
 
 place, where he had left a boat. But find- 
 ing, upon going to the Seraskier's house, 
 that his highness had gone to the council, 
 and as he was himself to be sent to join his 
 corps at Bagdad the next day, his only 
 chance of being able to carry out his design, 
 was by endeavouring to force an entrance 
 there, which he succeeded in doing. As 
 for the unfortunate Raschid Pasha, he was 
 present at the council by what may be 
 called an accident or a fatality; for the 
 ministers invited to attend this night coun- 
 cil had been confined to those whose 
 country-houses were in the neighbourhood, 
 while his was at some distance. Hearing, 
 however, that the Grand Vizier proposed to 
 hold a council, and a part of his family 
 being still in town, he determined to re- 
 main after office hours for the purpose of 
 attending it ; and by another fatality he 
 took the seat immediately next to the 
 Seraskier Pasha, Hussein Avni ; and so sud- 
 den was the onslaught, so great the con- 
 fusion, that the Grand Vizier could not say 
 for certain whether he was shot imme- 
 diately after his colleague, or whether it 
 was after the Minister of Marine, who, dis- 
 playing remarkable courage and energy for 
 so old a man, had seized the assassin from 
 behind, round the waist, and prevented his 
 escape ; for from that moment there was a 
 scene of indescribable confusion. At first 
 the ministers were under the impression 
 that they were attacked by a band of con- 
 spirators, and tried to escape to the adjoin- 
 ing apartments, while the murderer, in a 
 state of frenzy — and, as is thought, partial 
 intoxication — was using the four revolvers 
 with which he was armed, and his sword or 
 yatagan, upon all who were within his 
 reach. The Minister of Marine, who dis- 
 played such courage and energy, only re- 
 ceived severe but not dangerous flesh- 
 wounds from the assassin's dagger ; but an 
 aide-de-camp and an attendant who went 
 to his assistance were shot dead ; and when 
 the soldiers, who arrived from a neighbour- 
 ing guard-house, broke open the door of 
 the room in which he had locked himself, 
 they found he had set fire to the room, and 
 before they could run him through with 
 their bayonets, he had killed and wounded 
 several of their number. The next day he 
 VOL. m. Q 
 
 was degraded, and hanged early in the 
 morning in an open space near the Seras- 
 keriat. 
 
 In the midst of these disturbances, the 
 Prince of Servia, following the counsels 
 given to him by his foreign advisers, 
 addressed to the Grand Vizier a lengthy 
 letter, dated June 22, in which, after 
 having mentioned some unfounded com- 
 plaints, and spoken of the concentration of 
 troops on the frontier, he finished by 
 declaring his resolution to co-operate, by 
 the employment of the military forces of 
 Servia, in the establishment of a state of 
 things favourable to the common interests 
 of the empire and the principality. At 
 the same time he had the audacity to beg 
 the Sublime Porte to facilitate his missiou 
 by giving to the imperial authorities the 
 order to send home what he called bands of 
 robbers (alluding to the irregulars), and to 
 enjoin on the imperial troops not to oppose 
 his efi'orts, so that he might proclaim loudly 
 the principle of the integrity of the 
 empire I Simultaneously, in a despatch 
 addressed to the agent of the principality, 
 M. Ristich invited him to propose to the 
 Sublime Porte to confide to the government 
 of the prince the administration of Bosnia 
 in return for the annual payment of a fixed 
 and invariable sum, in proportion to Bosnia's 
 share of the public debt. 
 
 This cool proposal did not quite recom- 
 mend itself to the Porte, which, however, 
 proposed to reply to this letter of Prince 
 Milan by refuting, one by one, the accusa- 
 tions which he had brought against them, 
 when the news was received from the civil 
 and military authorities of the vilayets of 
 Bosnia and the Danube of the entry of 
 Servian troops, with their artillery, on 
 the 1st and 2nd of July, upon Ottoman ter- 
 ritory at three different points, which causet' 
 the immediate advance against them of the 
 imperial troops. 
 
 On the other hand, the Prince of Monte- 
 negro also addressed a long telegram to the 
 Grand Vizier, and declared, for his part, that 
 the equivocal situation must now yield to 
 the more clearly defined position of de- 
 clared hostilities. Thus the two princi- 
 palities put an end to their equivocations, 
 and openly declared war to the Porte. 
 
 109 
 
 
 
 t I 
 
THE SERVIAN CAMPAIGN.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1876. 
 
 A.D. 1876.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [alexinatz and deligrad. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE SERVIAN WAR OF 1876. 
 
 The primary object of the war, as declared 
 by Prince Milan, was to have been the 
 emancipation of the Christian Serbs in 
 Bosnia, and the establishment in that pro- 
 vince of a new state of things, by means of 
 mi armed occupation. Following this 
 plan, the Serb forces were to have entered 
 Bosnia, and concentrated all their energies 
 on this special object. But as soon as 
 General Tchernaieff had acquired a footing 
 in Belgrade, this plan was greatly modified 
 — in fact abandoned — and the chief energies 
 of the Servian commanders were directed 
 against Bulgaria. The troops entered 
 Turkish territory at three points; in 
 the south under Tchernaieff himself, in 
 the east under Leschyanin, and in the west 
 under Alimpich. In the south, G-eneral 
 Tchernaieflf concentrated his principal 
 forces about Nisch, where he kept them in 
 comparative inactivity for nearly three 
 weeks, with a great show of mystery ; whilst 
 the troops sent into Bosnia did not act 
 anywhere in a sufficiently large body ; they 
 were scattered and disseminated from the 
 commencement, and failed in penetrating 
 in any direction so as to produce any 
 encouragement on the unarmed rayahs, or 
 any impression on the native Mahommedan 
 population. No greater success attended 
 the offensive movement on the eastern 
 frontier, which soon had to be abandoned, 
 a strong Turkish force having succeeded 
 in pushing its way to Kujarevatz, when, 
 after some hard fighting, the line of the 
 Timok was given ^p, and Saitschar was 
 evacuated by the Servian troops, by an 
 ©rder of the general, without any serious 
 attempt to retain possession of that im- 
 portant line some days longer, which was 
 thus left to the mercy of Osman Pasha, 
 vho, however, did not consider it worth 
 ^hile to occupy the place, or seize upon 
 the abandoned line. 
 
 In the rear of this line, and between it 
 and the Morava, the Servians continued in 
 the possession of another and a much 
 stronger mode of defence, in the shape of 
 natural mountains, and of a few passes or 
 defiles, which, if occupied by really good 
 troops, might have rendered acceso to the 
 110 
 
 Morava, to a hostile army and to its artil- 
 lery, almost impossible. But within the 
 short space of six weeks there was sufficient 
 evidence, however, that the untrained 
 ploughmen of Servia, although in appear- 
 ance presenting an excellent material for 
 forming soldiers, had not acquired hitherto 
 the qualities indispensable to fight the 
 battles of their country, and that in the 
 field they thought much more of their 
 homes and farms than of the glory to be 
 achieved by prowess. Cases of self- 
 mutilation were very frequent, and the 
 novel effect of artillery upon them was 
 greater than is known to have been exer- 
 cised upon any other soldiery. 
 
 Thus, beyond having burned a few 
 villages, such as Florentin on the Danube, 
 and the occupation of the Babinaglava chain 
 of mountains, on the road to Pirot and 
 Sofia, the wonderful plans of General 
 Tchernaieff came to nought. He could 
 neither advance nor hold the positions he 
 had occupied for want of an enemy to 
 defend them, and as soon as the Turks 
 advanced, though slowly — yavash, yavash 
 — according to their phlegmatic habits, the 
 Serbs fell back, beaten at all points from 
 the positions they had occupied within 
 Turkish territory, and took up defensive 
 positions. Instead of invading Turkey, 
 their great anxiety was, by the middle of 
 August, to save their own country from 
 invasion. The valour and genius of their 
 soldiers and officers did not at all seem 
 sufficient for the purpose to the prince's 
 government, and they forthwith centred all 
 their hopes upon foreign mediation, for 
 which they abjectly clamoured, and en- 
 treated the powers to save them from the 
 "unspeakable Turk," whose just wrath 
 they had provoked. Shelled out of Saits- 
 char by Osman Pasha, Leschyanin barred 
 the road to Banya, which threatened the 
 positions at Alexinatz in flank and rear; 
 whilst Generals Zach and Tchernaieff held 
 the heights of Alexinatz, where they made 
 their first stand before falling back upon 
 their second line at Djunis and Deligrad. 
 
 Alexinatz is a small town close to the 
 frontier, some little distance from the right 
 
 bank of the river Morava, and is on the 
 junction of two high-roads, one running 
 from Nisch to Belgrade northwards, and 
 the other eastwards to Kujarevatz and 
 Saitschar. The following sketch clearly 
 shows the position of these places : — 
 
 The opposition of the Servians to the ad- 
 vance of Ali Saib Pasha down the left 
 bank of the Morava was very slight. Their 
 intrenchments were insignificant, and their 
 resistance apparently directed to ascertain 
 the strength of the Turkish force in their 
 front ; the main expeditionary corps under 
 Ahmed Eyoub Pasha being at hand on their 
 flank. This corps having retraced its steps 
 from Kujarevatz to Derbend, Osman Pasha 
 keeping the forces at Saitschar well em- 
 ployed, had thence marched, halting two 
 days on the way, across very difficult 
 country, via Nisevatz, along the skirts of 
 the frontier to Alexinatz, where it effected 
 its junction with Ali Saib Pasha on Mon- 
 day, the 21st August. 
 
 The strength of the united Turkish ex- 
 peditionary force was 38,500 regular troops 
 of all arms, with 188 field guns (including 
 two mountain batteries of four guns each). 
 That of the Servian army was estimated at 
 from 30,000 to 50,000 men, who were distri- 
 buted in a line reaching from Alexinatz to 
 Deligrad, across the heights on the left 
 bank of the Morava. 
 
 Though of course expecting the enemy 
 
 to make a stand here, the Turkish com- 
 manders were hardly prepared for the 
 formidable character of the fortifications 
 they had in view, and which were only the 
 outer defences on the southern face of a 
 large intrenched camp, extending to a dis- 
 tance of six miles as far as Deligrad. Far 
 worse troops than the Servians, and less 
 ably commanded, should have been able to 
 hold indefinitely such a position against 
 any odds whatever ; much more so against 
 the Turkish army, unprovided, as it was, 
 with engineer department, siege-train, 
 bridge equipments, or other means and 
 material generally requisite for conducting 
 effectively the attack. The engineering 
 was done by artillery officers, and was re- 
 stricted to the construction of simple in- 
 trenchments with sunken batteries for 
 field guns. Against a position naturally so 
 strong and bristling with works, scientifi- 
 cally planned for mutual defence, a coup de 
 main could hardly be successful without 
 the intervention of accidents and contin- 
 gencies of rare and exceptional occurrence 
 in modern warfare. The greatest difficulty 
 of the situation, and one with which the 
 Turkish commanders were fully impressed, 
 consisted, therefore, in the loss of time 
 involved in regular approaches. 
 
 Thus, finding that the Servian works 
 covering Alexinatz were unassailable by 
 direct attack, Ahmed Eyoub Pasha deter- 
 mined to cross the Morava and unite his 
 force with that of Ali Saib Pasha on the 
 heights bordering the plain on the left 
 bank of the river. The valley here is three 
 miles wide, narrowing in a north-westerly 
 direction to two miles opposite to Alexi- 
 natz. Thence it appears again to open out 
 in the direction of Deligrad, and the course 
 of the river throughout to approach the 
 base of the heights on the right side of the 
 
 valley. 
 
 The passage of the river occupied Tues- 
 day and Wednesday, and was effected by 
 means of a trestle-bridge, and a bridge of 
 open wooden pontoons, with a deepish 
 ford between them, without the slightest 
 interruption from the enemy. Two days 
 were occupied in re-examining the position 
 of a Servian division strongly intrenched 
 on heights parallel to those occupied by Ali 
 Saib Pasha's corps, which corps the divi- 
 sion in question had repeatedly assailed 
 with sufficient effect to necessitate its 
 being reinforced by seven battalions from 
 Ahmed Eyoub Pasha's army. 
 
 Ill 
 
BATTLE OF ALEXINATZ.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1876. 
 
 A.D. 1876.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [appeal of THE SERR?. 
 
 * 
 
 The first important action consisted in 
 turning the right flank of the Servian posi- 
 tion, and involved a considerable detour 
 round the head of the ravine (opening on 
 the plain of the Morava Valley) wliich 
 separated the combatants. It commenced 
 at 8.30 a.m., and for four hours was re- 
 stricted to an artillery engagement between 
 the batteries, at a distance varying from 
 3,500 to 4,500 metres, the preponderance 
 of metal being on the side of the Servians, 
 and of number of pieces, three to one, on 
 the side of the Turks. At a little after 
 noon the infantry came into action ; their 
 assault was spirited and well sustained ; but 
 the resistance of the enemy, availing him- 
 self of the woods, and fighting behind in- 
 trenchments, or cover commanding open 
 spaces, was sufficiently steady and persistent 
 to protract the engagement until dark. It 
 was 9 P.M. before firing ceased. The re- 
 treat of the enemy within the lines of 
 Alexinatz was not molested. He lost one 
 gun and three prisoners only. As to the 
 artillery fire, though the Servian batteries 
 appeared often to be temporarily silenced, 
 one of their guns only was dismounted, 
 while in the Turkish batteries hardly a man 
 was wounded. The little effect produced 
 by what, to observers, appeared to be ex- 
 cellent practice, more especially on the 
 part of the Turks, is to be only accounted 
 for by the fact that the fire being direct 
 from batteries crowning heights, and the 
 soil being black loam, the shells, armed 
 with percussion, and not with time fuzes, 
 instead of grazing, invariably imbedded 
 themselves and burst innocuously. 
 
 The Turks commenced the action four 
 hours too late. They made no effort to 
 throw up batteries in advance as the day 
 progressed. They omitted, as was perfectly 
 practicable, to send forward guns with the 
 infantry, operating to turn the right flank 
 of the enemy's position, and no steps what- 
 ever were taken with their large available 
 reserves to engage the enemy's supports in 
 the plain, and cut off his line of retreat. 
 Yet all these oversights had been antici- 
 pated in the plan of attack, proposed by 
 the chief of the staff, which, had it been fol- 
 lowed, must have compelled the enemy to 
 retire by the upper road to Deligrad, and 
 Lave isaued probably in the loss of all his 
 guns. As it was, the victory was barren of 
 decisive results. The enemy was safely en- 
 sconced behind the lines of Alexinatz-Deli- 
 grad, with the Morava winding near the 
 112 
 
 base of his position, and the Turkish army 
 on the heights which bound the plain form- 
 ing the valley of the Morava, on the left 
 bank of the river, passed four days idly 
 observing him. 
 
 Thus, after six weeks' hostilities, the two 
 chief armies had been brought face to face, 
 and each was apparently waiting for " some- 
 thing to turn up," which would give one 
 an advantage over the other. Both were 
 bivouacked in their respective lines, and 
 while fine weather lasted they operated on 
 equal terms ; but if the defence were to be 
 protracted, when the autumnal rains set in, 
 the Servians would possess this advantage 
 over the Turks — that while for the former 
 shelter would be provided on the spot for 
 their ambulances, ordinance stores, and 
 provisions, &c., the latter would be de- 
 pendent for hospital accommodation and 
 commissariat of all kinds upon their depot 
 at Nisch, distant sixteen to eighteen miles, 
 with no better means of transport than the 
 bullock-carts of the country, ill suited for 
 heavy traffic. Thus far the standing crops 
 afforded an ample supply of forage for the 
 whole army ; but as the season advanced 
 this supply failed, and the intervening 
 country, not here only, but along the whole 
 line of frontier, from six to eight miles on 
 either side, so far as villages were con- 
 cerned, may be described as a desert. This 
 was owing to the Servians, who began the 
 work of desolation on Turkish soil for the 
 purpose as well of harrying the Mahom- 
 medan inhabitants, as of compelling the 
 Christians to quit their fields and join the 
 insurrection, whilst the Turks fully imi- 
 tated the example with like effect on Ser- 
 vian territory. 
 
 During the latter part of August several 
 minor engagements were fought, resulting 
 in the gradual advance of the Turks to 
 some two miles on the heiglits bordering 
 the valley of the Morava to the west, thus 
 bringing its left front opposite to the 
 centre of the Servian position on the 
 heights bordering the valley to the east. 
 The intervening plain, well cultivated with 
 grain and studded with oak plantations 
 and copse, varied in width from three 
 miles at Alexinatz, to five miles or more at 
 Deligrad. The river, after leaving Alexi- 
 natz, approaches, in a very tortuous course, 
 with short reaches and deep bends, the 
 base of the Turkish heights, until, beyond 
 the latitude of Deligrad, it turns westward 
 to enter a defile of the mountains. Tbo 
 
 Turkish heights partake of the character 
 of parallel spurs, separated by deep ravines, 
 which open into the valley of the Morava, 
 whilst the Servian heights consist of a 
 lower continuous range, extending in one 
 uninterrupted line, like a huge glacis, 
 sloping gently to the plain from Alexinatz 
 to Deligrad. 
 
 Alexinatz itself lies in a hollow at the 
 southern extremity of this range, and is 
 covered southwards by a spur from the 
 mountains in the rear, which gradually 
 decreases in height until it abuts upon the 
 river. This spur, strongly fortified and 
 intrenched, formed the southern part of 
 the Servian position, before which Ahmed 
 Eyoub Pasha's force was bivouacked some 
 days, but which was found to be unassail- 
 able. Deligrad is a mere hamlet, situated 
 at the base of the range in question, at its 
 northern extremity, where its crest becomes 
 more elevated, and unites itself with the 
 mountains beyond. The Turkish heights 
 northward, in like manner, gradually rise 
 into the mountains, which, at this 
 point, appear to close the valley of the 
 Morava. 
 
 The Servian heights on the right side of 
 the valley, more especially towards and 
 beyond Deligrad, were fortified with bat- 
 teries and intrenchments. On the left side 
 of the valley, too, a strong Servian divi- 
 sion daily engaged the Turkish flank from 
 batteries of position, constructed on a paral- 
 lel and more commanding range of heights 
 to cover the defile of the Morava as well 
 as the road to Krusevatz. During the 
 day these batteries were, here and there, 
 supplemented by field-pieces pushed for- 
 ward on prominent slopes and peaks in 
 advance. The range across the ravine 
 being, however, extreme, the Servian fire 
 was not sufficiently effective to dislodge 
 the Turkish brigade there posted, or to 
 inflict upon it serious loss. 
 
 The Turkish plan of operation was to 
 pierce the centre of the Alexinatz-Deligrad 
 position. For this purpose they con- 
 structed a trestle-bridge, put together by 
 Bulgarian carpenters, over a bend of the 
 river, out of range of the enemy's guns, 
 which thus enabled them to threaten either 
 flank of the Servian position. The Ser- 
 vians soon became aware of what was 
 intended, and made several fierce attacks, 
 during which the Russian officers greatly 
 distinguished themselves. They led tlieir 
 men to within 300 yards of the Turkish 
 
 batteries ; but here they were received by 
 so fierce a fire, that they had to fall back 
 with great loss. 
 
 The result of the war so boastfully begun 
 was thus, so far, highly discouraging to the 
 Serbs; and diplomacy was called in to 
 save the prince's government from what 
 his own men and his Russian friends could 
 not save him by force of arms. The old 
 plea was put forward — the barbarity of the 
 Turk, and the disgrace to Christianity, if 
 Servia should be left to be devastated by the 
 inhuman enemy against whom she had 
 undertaken her " holy mission." 
 
 Thus M. Ristich, on August 24th, ap- 
 pealed to the powers to mediate between 
 Servia and Montenegro and the Porte, 
 Prince Nikita joining in the appeal with 
 him. He supported this appeal with sun- 
 dry documents relating to the barbarities 
 of the Turks, and forwarded a report from 
 Colonel Horvatovich, giving an account of 
 what he saw at Kujarevatz after the Turks 
 had withdrawn to concentrate their opera- 
 tions in the valley of the Morava. Colonel 
 Horvatovich wrote — 
 
 " On my return to the town of Kujare- 
 vatz, I have the honour to inform you of 
 the following: — 
 
 " The whole town is burnt ; hardly one 
 house in fifty has escaped the flames ; and 
 amongst those which are still standing, it 
 would be difficult to find one that has not 
 been sacked in such a way as to have lost 
 at least the half of its value. 
 
 "All Kujarevatz presents the most 
 melancholy example of what vandal hands 
 can do. A few chimneys and some 
 blackened walls are left standing, but all 
 the lightly-built houses have been com- 
 pletely destroyed. 
 
 " The enemy was not content with burning 
 the church and the cabinet containing the 
 imaofes of the saints, but has broken the 
 bells in pieces, some of which have been 
 found at the other end of the town ; carried 
 the clock away, and fired shots through the 
 roof and at the sacred pictures. Many of 
 the latter have been found in the streets 
 torn and soiled with filth. The flags which 
 were in the church lie scattered in pieces in 
 the streets. In a word, they have profaned 
 God's sanctuary in a manner more horrible 
 than it is possible to conceive. 
 
 " Everything that the hand of man could 
 destroy during these few days has been 
 destroyed with an energy and activity 
 which must astonish every one. 
 
 113 
 
 ' \ 
 
I 
 
 M. ristich's despatch.] history OF THE 
 
 "Bodies have been thrown into the 
 wells, and wherever there was drinking- 
 water. 
 
 "Every ten steps one comes across the 
 remains of a dead pig in a state of decom- 
 position, and half consumed by worms 
 and flies. Close to the magazine, the burnt 
 body of one of our captains, or of an aide- 
 de-camp, known by the distinctive marks 
 of his rank, which had remained intact, 
 was discovered tied to a tree. 
 
 "In the ttraet of Djonitch a body was 
 found, recognised by his clothes as that of 
 a citizen of the town. His legs were 
 entirely flayed from the thighs to the 
 feet. 
 
 "The body of a man, in like manner 
 recognisable from his clothes as an inhabi- 
 tant of the town, was found with a piece 
 of iron in his body in the cafe of Mita 
 Yanochevitch. An examination of the 
 body, pierced in many places, shows that 
 the Turks had tortured him, and killed 
 bim with a red-hot iron. 
 
 "Petko Vesselin )vitch, of Kujarevatz, 
 whose leg was broken before we left Ku- 
 jarevatz, had remained at home. We found 
 him killed. Grovko Kaissio, also of Ku- 
 jarevatz, was tortured and killed in his 
 house by a red-hot iron. In the bakery of 
 Ivrenka Constantivovitch was found the 
 body of one of our soldiers, who must also 
 have been tortured, for some iron spits 
 were found near the corpse. 
 
 "In addition to the numerous bodies 
 found in the town, some have been found 
 in the maize fields : I am going, therefore, 
 to have these traversed by skirmishers, who 
 will bury the bodies. 
 
 "The smell of all these corpses is so 
 great that, from fear of disease, I have not 
 ventured to let my troops halt for a 
 moment at Kujarevatz. What I have just 
 related can only give you a faint idea of 
 the reality. It is what I noticed at the first 
 glance. 
 
 " I have taken measures that the citizens 
 who have returned shall, with the help of a 
 battalion, search through the town and 
 neighbourhood, under the direction of a 
 trustworthy person, Milan Atjimdvitch, 
 bury the bodies, and draw up a proces- 
 verbal, which will be sent to me. 
 
 "To judge from the stench, which has 
 spread as far as half a league from the 
 town, and the myriads of flies which fill the 
 air in the neighbourhood of Kujarevatz, 
 there must still remain a great number of 
 
 [A.D. 1876. 
 
 human bodies, the identity of which cannot 
 be determined. 
 
 "The state of decomposition of the 
 bodies is already so advanced, that even 
 when the head remains it is impossible to 
 distinguish the features. 
 
 "All the houses in the neighbourhood, 
 and especially the little houses built in the 
 vineyards, have been burnt ; and as the>e 
 houses were generally surrounded by fruit- 
 trees, or other kinds of trees, the flames 
 have scorched them, and the surroundin<r 
 country presents a most wretched appear- 
 ance. 
 
 " In short, I am unable to give a true 
 description of this afflicting sight; I can 
 find no words to describe it. 
 
 "I will forward to you immediately the 
 further information which may hereafter 
 reach me." 
 
 These complaints came with an ill-grace 
 from a government whose habits in peace 
 were about the same as those of the Turks 
 in war. When M. Ristich speaks about the 
 "profanation of God's sanctuarv," he 
 should have remembered, first of all, that 
 no more blame is to be attached to the 
 Turks for despoiling a Servian church, than 
 to Christian troops who loot a pao-an 
 temple, and sell its idols to the curiosi'ty- 
 dealers. Secondly, he should have remem- 
 bered that the Servian government also 
 "profanes God's sanctuary" for theatrical 
 purposes, in direct contravention of the 
 treaty concluded between it and the Porte. 
 According to this treaty, when the Turks 
 evacuated Belgrade, the mosques were to be 
 respected, and kept in repair. But not 
 only has this not been done, but one of the 
 mosques has been turned into a gas-factory, 
 to supply the theatre with gas. As for 
 "the dead pigs half consumed by worms 
 and flies," it speaks rather highly for the 
 Turks, that, in spite of the meagreness of 
 their rations, they should not have eaten 
 them themselves, and preferred adhering 
 to the tenets of their religion, which for- 
 bids them to eat the unclean animal— 
 doubly unclean in Slavonic countries south 
 of the Danube, where their styes are built 
 under the closets — whenever such an insti- 
 tution exists, which, however, is the excep- 
 tion in Servia. 
 
 As for the charges of torture, &c., they 
 were denied in toto by Sir Arnold Kemball, 
 who testified repeatedly to the good dis- 
 cipline and good-nature of the Turkish 
 troops. During the whole of his stay with 
 
 A.D. 1876.J 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [Russian reinforcemenis. 
 
 the army he saw no cases of cruelty, except 
 on one occasion, when he found that some 
 of the dead had been decapitated by Bashi- 
 
 Bazouks. 
 
 However, the Servians having discovered 
 that, instead of massacring the Turks, the 
 Turks were in a fair way to massacre them, 
 the application for mediation was made 
 and acceded to by the powers, the result 
 being a suspension of hostilities until Sep- 
 tember 25 th. 
 
 This suspension of hostilities, granted in 
 hopes of a peace, or, at least, a longer 
 armistice being arranged, was used by the 
 two principalities, at the instigation of 
 Russia, as a sort of political and military 
 see-saw. As soon as Servia had agreed to 
 one thing, Montenegro objected; and when 
 Montenegro accepted any condition, Servia 
 refused. Meanwhile, Russian officers and 
 men flocked to Servia by the hundred. 
 Committees were formed in Moscow and 
 other cities, and recruiting carried on 
 openly, the Russian government professing 
 to be unable to restrain the warlike ardour 
 and the just anger and indignation of its 
 
 subjects. 
 
 Thus Colonel Mansfield, the British con- 
 sul at Bucharest, wrote, on September 
 8th, that the number of Russian volunteers 
 passing through Roumania to the seat of 
 war was daily on the increase; and that 
 the movement was organised by committees 
 in Russia, who had permanent agents at 
 Bucharest, Galatz, and elsewhere, to receive 
 the volunteers on their arrival, supply their 
 wants, and forward them to their destina- 
 tion. Twice a day they arrived in batches 
 varying from twenty to sixty — sometimes 
 more, sometimes less ; they appeared to be 
 drawn from all classes, and very many, from 
 their gait and appearance, had evidently 
 passed through the ranks of the regular 
 army, while some were clearly either retired 
 officers or officers on leave. To proniote 
 this movement, the railway authorities 
 in Roumania were asked by persons at 
 Odessa, whether the railway would convey 
 300 Russian workmen to Servia at reduced 
 fares — a device of which the object was 
 thoroughly transparent. Yet Consul Mans- 
 field wrote, that though it was reported to 
 bim that some of these volunteers crossed 
 the frontier with Bulgarian Turkish pass- 
 ports, which had been taken from Bulga- 
 rian peasants, who flock to Southern Rus- 
 sia at this season as agricultural labourers, 
 he was disinclined to believe that the Rus- 
 
 sian government authorities would relax 
 the very strict system of passports and 
 visas; and that, as there could be no ob- 
 jection to Russians entering this country 
 when properly provided with passports, 
 there would be no particular reason for 
 such a device, except, indeed, for those who 
 repair at once to Bulgaria. But as there 
 was no insurrectionary movement to speak 
 of in the latter (Bulgaria), he was disposed 
 to look upon the story as a sensational 
 
 rumour I 
 
 The extraordinary character of this opi- 
 nion, however, is quite cast into the shade 
 by the following remarkable despatch, ad- 
 dressed by Colonel Mansfield to Lord Derby 
 on September 26th : — 
 
 " I have, early this morning, transmitted 
 to your lordship a telegram as follows: — 
 ' Special train with 300 Russian volunteers 
 passed yesterday ; arms scarcely concealed ; 
 disorders at railway stations ; Roumanian 
 government much embarrassed. M. Bra- 
 tiano asked my advice. I recommended 
 prudence, and, if possible, to avoid collision.' 
 And now I shall have the honour to relate 
 the details to your lordship. 
 
 " Last night I was spending the evening 
 with M. Debains, my French colleague, 
 when, about half-past ten, M. Bratiano, 
 President of the Council of Ministers, was 
 announced. 
 
 " M. Bratiano told me that he had just 
 been to my house, and expressed his plea- 
 sure in being able at the same time to con- 
 sult both the French and English agents 
 on a matter of no small importance. 
 
 " It appears that a special train, convey- 
 ing 300 volunteers, arrived at the Rou- 
 manian frontier from Russia on the 18th 
 instant. Many were in the possession of 
 swords, and others did not conceal that 
 they had revolvers in their pockets. One 
 individual was spoken of as General Vasi- 
 liefi", or some similar name; and others, 
 although all in plain clothes, seemed to be 
 recognised as officers. That there had been 
 disorders at various stations, and notably 
 that the train left Roman, where there had 
 been a dispute with the station-master 
 respecting the composition of the train, 
 amidst the howls and hisses of the by- 
 standers. 
 
 " M. Bratiano was extremely anxious re- 
 specting the incident, and appeared to be 
 inclined to telegraph to the frontier at 
 Turno-Severin and stop the exit of the 
 whole party from Roumanian territory. 
 
 115 
 
 m 
 
 ■■;< 
 '111 
 
 -I' 
 
 
BRATIANO AND MANSFIELD.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1876. 
 
 " After carefully examining every point, 
 I indicated to M. Bratiano that, although, 
 of course, the destination and object of the 
 excursionists was, as it were, openly avowed, 
 it was necessary to review the details calmly 
 and on technical grounds^ so as to give 
 little cause for remonstrances on the part 
 of the Russian consul-general, should 
 the matter arrive at that stage, 
 
 " I pointed out that excursionists in all 
 countries employ special trains, and that 
 they even cross the frontiers of foreign 
 countries; that excursionists are frequently 
 under the direction of one or more indivi- 
 duals ; that, although for the moment 
 munitions of war cannot be imported, there 
 is, according to the Roumanian regula- 
 tions, nothing to prevent travellers being 
 ia possession of a pistol or a gun; while a 
 sword is looked upon as part of a uniform, 
 with which many persons are in the habit 
 of travelling ; that the baggage of these ex- 
 cursionists must have been examined at the 
 frontier, and munitions of war would doubt- 
 less have been seized; that it would be 
 competent to the government to issue an 
 immediate order to prohibit travellers from 
 introducing any arms, but that to telegraph 
 that very evening to have these gentlemen 
 etarched, and their arms, if found on their 
 persons, taken from them, would be a retro- 
 spective act, and likely to cause inconveni- 
 ence ; that, according to his own showing, 
 the Roumanian force at Turno-Severin con- 
 sists of a couple of companies of the regular 
 army, a battalion of militia, and the custom- 
 house officers, and tliat perhaps the officer 
 commanding might be wanting in tact or 
 judgment; that an attempt to prevent 
 tiiese volunteers leaving the frontier mi >ht 
 cause a collision, in which the Roumanian 
 force might be overpowered ; that regret- 
 table incidents and perhaps bloodshed must 
 ensue. 
 
 "The next result would be, that there 
 would be renewed disorders at the passage 
 of Russians through this country, and there 
 would spring up mutual bad feeling between 
 the volunteers and the Roumanians at the 
 different towns and stations. 
 
 "It was true that there had been dis- 
 turbances at Roman, but at other stations 
 there had been cheers for Roumania and 
 the cause of the Eastern Christians. 
 
 " To save appearances, it would be well 
 if these volunteers could leave Severin in 
 small detachments, and not in a collective 
 body. 
 
 116 
 
 "That I seriously deprecated any 
 measures which might lead to collision 
 and inevitable consequences of a deplorable 
 character; adding, that it appeared to me 
 most desirable at the present time, when 
 the other powers were anxious for the 
 cordial co-operation of Russia in restoring 
 peace, and also at a moment of delicate 
 negotiations, to aviod any cause of irritation 
 or even comment. 
 
 " M. Bratiano urged that the Porte might 
 possibly remonstrate ; to which I answered 
 that, if the matter was properly laid before 
 the latter, the representations of the govern- 
 ment of Prince Charles would doubtless be 
 accepted in a dispassionate sense. 
 
 "He then expressed apprehension lest 
 the guaranteeing powers, and especially 
 her majesty's government, would be of 
 opinion that this government had not been 
 consistent in its professions of neutrality. 
 
 "31. Debains reassured him, as far as the 
 Due Decazes was concerned; and I' replied 
 that his (M. Bratiano's) evident anxiety on 
 the subject, and tlie circumstance that he 
 had come to consult M. Debains and my- 
 self, was no small earnest of the sincerity 
 of the professions of the Roumanian govern- 
 ment, adding that I ventured to think that 
 your^ lordship would be disposed to make 
 all just allowance for the position of 
 extreme difficulty in which this government 
 is placed. 
 
 " Before coming to see me, M. Bratiano 
 called at the Russian agency ; but Baron 
 Stuart was absent, and the vice-consul in 
 charge had expressed a hope that the 
 volunteers would he allowed to continue 
 unmolested, and tried to explain that they 
 differed in no other way from the other 
 volunteers, except in respect of the special 
 train, 
 
 " M. Bratiano had also seen Count Alvens- 
 leben, the German consul-general, but 
 could get no expression of opinion from 
 him. 
 
 " The minister also informed me that, on 
 the passports of the Russian volunteers in 
 general, it is stated that they are Russians 
 who have ceased to belong to the Russian 
 nationality, but that he did not know 
 whether the last batch had similar pass- 
 ports. 
 
 " I beg to direct your lordship's attention 
 to the circumstance that, in ordinary times, 
 no Russian is allowed to change his 
 nationality without immediately passing to 
 another nationality, and having the whole 
 
 A.D. 1876.] 
 
 transaction arranged with the greatest strict- 
 ness ; these volunteers would, therefore, ap- 
 pear to have no nationality, and the whole 
 system is evidently conceived with a view 
 to their disavowal "by the Russian govern- 
 ment if convenient. 
 
 "M. Bratiano left us at half-past 11, 
 in order to telegraph to Severin that cir- 
 cumspection was to be observed on the 
 arrival of the special train, which would 
 be due at the latter place shortly after 
 midnight. 
 
 " M. Bratiano also spoke at great length 
 on the embarrassment of this country; on 
 its position between great and powerful 
 States; its weakness; the maintenance of 
 neutrality; and the conscientious discharge 
 of their duties to the suzerain power ; but 
 I hesitate to take up more of your lord- 
 ship's time with these subjects. 
 
 " It was not without some anxiety that I 
 felt myself called upon to offer counsel on 
 so delicate a subject as the above: and I 
 trust that your lordship will believe that, 
 in the suggestions which I put before 
 M. Bratiano, I have not spoken without the 
 maturest reflection, and have been guided 
 by the earnest wish to recommend what 
 appeared to me to be most prudent und^r 
 the circumstances." 
 
 Thus Colonel Mansfield's only care was 
 lest the Russians should be offended. He 
 seems to have been animated by a perfect 
 terror on this head ; unless, indeed, it was 
 in consequence of orders from London, or 
 from an idea of what was desired in 
 London— i6., to precipitate the catastrophe. 
 This is the more likely solution when we 
 consider that it was the same line adopted 
 by Consul White in Belgrade. Anyhow, 
 this despatch fully shows that the Rouma- 
 nians were abandoned to Russia by all the 
 powers; and it seems, therefore, tolerably 
 certain that none of the powers really 
 desired to prevent the dispute from being 
 worked out to the bitter end. 
 
 It was therefore evident that the appeal 
 for mediation and the suspension of hos- 
 tilities had been made only to acquire fresh 
 assistance from Russia. From all sides the 
 proofs that this was the case came pouring 
 in, whilst the Russian committees con- 
 tinued to pay their attention to the relief 
 of the military wants of Servia. The 
 deficiency in the number of officers was 
 entirely remedied after the 1st of Sep- 
 tember, at which date there were already 
 479 Russian officers in the Servian army. 
 VOL. UL H 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [renewal of the war. 
 
 TchernaiefF then turned the attention of 
 the committees to the fact that they were 
 in urgent want of educated non-com- 
 missioned officers ; and by the first week in 
 September, the number of Russian non- 
 commissioned officers in the Morava army 
 alone amounted to 592, half of whom 
 received the medal for " bravery." 
 
 The next gap to be filled up was in the 
 cavalry. Accordingly, 1,800 Cossacks ar- 
 rived within the same period, some of themi 
 splendidly mounted, and quite equal to the 
 Turkish cavalry, even to the notorious 
 Circassians. 
 
 Lastly, the artillery was taken into con- 
 sideration ; for, though it was well worked 
 during the war, the Servian guns were 
 found to be too small to be of much use. 
 This deficiency was also partially remedied. 
 Two batteries of mitrailleuses and two 
 batteries of heavy guns arrived from Mos- 
 cow, and were despatched to Deligrad, 
 where they were worked by Russian artil- 
 lerymen. A heavy battery was also sent 
 off to the Ibar army, in charge of two 
 Russian officers. 
 
 The Russian Lieutenant Mussin Pusch- 
 kin, a relation of the celebrated Russian 
 poet Puschkin, who had greatly distin- 
 guished himself by blowing up a bridge 
 which had been thrown over the Morava by 
 the Turks, received his appointment as a 
 captain in reward for his services, and was 
 also appointed commandant of the sotnia 
 of Cossacks, who formed the prince's body- 
 guard at head-quarters. At the same time. 
 Count Lewackoff received the command of 
 the cavalry in the Drina army. Very large 
 quantities of ammunition were sent through 
 Roumania. Even during the formal sus- 
 pension of hostilities, twelve cases of swords 
 and 22,000 muskets were sent in the same 
 
 way. 
 
 Thus reinforced, the Russo-Servian 
 leaders thought themselves sufficiently pre- 
 pared to renew the conflict ; and when the 
 first week of the suspension of hostilities had 
 terminated (on the 25th of September), hos- 
 tilities recommenced on the Morava Valley 
 on the next day, by a general attack on the 
 part of General Tchernaiefi's army. There 
 was considerable slaughtf^r; but on the 
 29th the Turks resumed the offensive, and 
 there was heavy fighting on both occasions; 
 but both parties retained all their fortified 
 positions, so that the only result of these 
 consecutive engagements was a large and 
 wanton loss of life on both sides. 
 
 
 f 
 
 ;- 
 
 I 
 
 h 
 
 117 
 
ALEXINATZ AND DJrNIS.J 
 
 ITISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1876. 
 
 The attacks, on the 28th, of the Servians 
 and their Kussian allies were prosecuted 
 "with unusual resolution, Horvatovich 
 commanded the Servian forces. His right 
 wing, which was opposed to the Turkish 
 right rear, defended by the division of 
 Adyl Pasha, was led by Tcholak Antich ; 
 and his left wing, opposed to the division 
 of Suleyman Pasha, and more directly to 
 the brigade of Hafiz Pasha, was led by 
 Strikovich. General Tchernaieff himself 
 visited the ground the previous day on each 
 occasion, but returned to Deligrad before 
 the advance commenced. 
 
 The ground over which the Servians 
 made their attack was the same precisely 
 (distant four miles from the original 
 Turkish position on the heights) as that 
 on which they had themselves made their 
 last stand in the battle of the 1st of Sep- 
 tember. Then the combatants on both 
 sides had ceased to be supported by their 
 artillery respectively ; now the superior 
 elan of the Turks was effectually seconded 
 by the well-sustained fire of their batteries 
 on commanding positions ; whilst a counter- 
 demonstration made by tlie Turks in the 
 plain between Alexinatz and the trestle- 
 bridge, more than answered its purpose in 
 recall inof to their lines the four Servian 
 battalions, with twelve guns, which had 
 been pushed forward on the high road. 
 The Turkish force, consisting of three bat- 
 talions, six guns, and 1,000 horse, had 
 reached the river, and were on the point of 
 crossing it, with the certain prospect of 
 seizing the Servian batteries in the plain, 
 as well as the batteries covering Alexinatz, 
 which were almost denuded of their gar- 
 risons, when Ahmed Eyoub Pasha stopped 
 the movement. 
 
 His motive for forenfoinor his advanta^re 
 was the same as that alleged by him for 
 abandoning the crest which had been 
 wrested from the enemy once before — viz., 
 deference to the orders of the Porte against 
 assuming the offensive ; though by his 
 generals it was attributed to the want of 
 enterprise and excess of caution, which 
 had already deprived him of the fruits 
 of his victories. 
 
 In a false attack along: the ri^ht bank of 
 the Morava during the battle, some Ser- 
 vian troops, having incautiously passed over 
 the stream, were very severely handled by 
 the Turkish detachments, consisting largely 
 of cavalry, which had been posted under 
 cover to watch them ; the number of Ser- 
 118 
 
 vians killed and abandoned on the ground 
 exceeding 300 men. 
 
 Thus, in spite of all that Tchernaieff and 
 his colleagues could do, the Servians steadily 
 lost ground ; and at last the Turkish com- 
 mander decided to pay no more attention 
 to politics, but to endeavour to seize the 
 Servian stronghold. Broadly speaking, the 
 Servian lines still reached from Alexinatz 
 to Deligrad, with strong works and outposts 
 in front of Djunis. Alexinatz, as already 
 said, could not be taken from the east, 
 west, or south, without extensive mining 
 and siege operations. The position at Deli- 
 grad could, however, be turned by the 
 capture of Djunis and the repulse of the 
 Servians across the Morava. This done, 
 Deligrad could be taken in the rear. To 
 obtain this object, Ahmed Kyoub Pasha 
 gave the order to advance. 
 
 The attack commenced at daylight on 
 the morning of the 19th instant, by a gen- 
 eral advance of the Turkish briirades which 
 had hitherto faced the Servian position in 
 the Turkish rear, when considering the 
 Turkish army as facing Alexinatz, but 
 which, from the change of the point of 
 attack from Alexinatz to Djunis, really 
 formed the Turkish front line; and so 
 completely was the enemy taken by sur- 
 prise, that his advanced defences, consist- 
 ing of numerous well-constructed batteries 
 and redoubts, which constituted the main 
 strength of his position, were successively 
 abandoned after a feeble struggle. So per- 
 sistent was the assault of the Turkish forces, 
 that before 3 P.M. they had carried the 
 whole range of heights opposed to them, 
 except only the crest of a long spur on the 
 right, running down towards the river, 
 where the Servians maintained their de- 
 fence until night put an end to offensive 
 operations. The occupation of this crest, 
 defended as it was by a redoubt, and com- 
 manded by a battery on the adjoining 
 range, being essential to a further advance, 
 the whole of the following day (20th) was 
 spent by the right brigade in the attempt 
 to carry it ; but by this time, the Servians 
 having obtained reinforcements, the re- 
 peated efforts of the Turkish troops were 
 unavailing. Nevertheless, the progress 
 made by them both along the ridge and on 
 its southern slope having rendered it un- 
 tenable against a further attack in the 
 morning, and the Turks continuing to hold 
 the ground they had gained, it was aban- 
 doned by the Servians during the night. 
 
 A.D. 1876.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [cAPTruE of alexinatz. 
 
 ■w 
 
 On the 21st, the general attack was re- 
 sumed with scarcely more opposition than 
 on the 19th. The Servians were supported 
 only during the later part of the day by 
 the artillery of the distant batteries on 
 their last line of heights on the northern 
 side of the valley of the Djuniska, and the 
 Turks only by the mountain guns attached 
 to their several brigades. The result was, 
 that the Servians were completely driven 
 off the intermediate spurs and crests up to 
 the base of the said line, and left the large 
 villacres of Kavnik and Yeliki Siljegovatz, 
 besid'e other minor villages, at the mercy 
 
 of the Turks. ^ ^ , 
 
 Owing to the character of the country, 
 winch consisted of successive ranges ot 
 heights, varying from 300 to 500 feet, 
 covered with forest trees, the inferior Ser- 
 vian troops were enabled to offer a more 
 protracted resistance than without such 
 shelter could certainly have been expected 
 of them ; for wherever open spaces attorded 
 a dimpse of the combat, their retirement 
 before the Turks bore rather the appearance 
 of a stampede than a regular retreat. As 
 usual, the Servians succeeded, by their rapid 
 movements, in carrying off all their guns, 
 which, after these had been withdrawn from 
 the shelter of the batteries, were not again 
 employed; nor, indeed, did the nature of 
 the ground admit of their being easily 
 brought into action. The advanced re- 
 doubts were protected by mines at a dis- 
 tance of about 200 yards on the line of 
 approach, which was here further defended 
 hy chevaux de frise ^xiA felled trees. The 
 road also was mined between Kavnik and 
 Siljegovatz ; but, owing to want of time or 
 to miscalculation, these mines were not 
 sprung at all, or exploded inopportunely, 
 the wires connecting them with the electric 
 batteries, in the former case, being after- 
 wards discovered and cut by the lurks. 
 
 The principal feature of the battle un- 
 doubtedly consisted in the advance of the 
 ri >ht and centre divisions of the Turkish 
 line of attack, along the two crests leading 
 to the superior heights, which formed the 
 main and last position of the Servians on the 
 left side of the valley of the Morava, over- 
 hanging Deligrad. These crests were for- 
 tihed by three batteries and numerous in- 
 trenchments, and might be regarded as the 
 outworks of the enciente behind. On the 
 crest to the right, while the Turks were 
 employed in climbing the slopes,^ the Ser- , 
 vians were enabled to deliver their hre almost . 
 
 unmolested ; but no sooner had the former 
 approached within a distance of 200 yards, 
 than the latter abandoned their intrench- 
 ments with the utmost precipitation, and, 
 in lieu of retiring to their main works, they 
 fled down the opposite slopes, and across 
 the plain, on their way to the bridges over 
 the Morava. For once, Nedjib Pasha^, 
 chief of the Turkish staff, who commanded • 
 this division (for the day), brought up his 
 guns to support the attack of his infantry, 
 and so materially contributed to the result 
 above described. The further advance of 
 the two right divisions was characterised 
 throughout by the same cowardice of the 
 Servians. Their retreat was a stampede, and, 
 before 2 P.M., they had abandoned the whole 
 of their works, with eleven guns (seven field 
 and four mountain guns) into the hands of 
 the Turks. The left and left-centre divi- 
 sions having to recover the ground froni 
 which they had withdrawn on the night of 
 the 21st instant, and also to traverse a con- 
 siderable tract of wooded country to the 
 left of the valley of the Djuni?ka before 
 thev could gain the base of the Servians' 
 position, had scarcely reached the parallel 
 of Djunis on the heights beyond, when the 
 success of the right division put an end to 
 the contest, and, by cutting off the retreat ot 
 the Servian right towards Deligrad, neces- 
 sarilv compelled it to fall back precipitately 
 upon Krusevatz by the only road left open 
 to it. The Servian loss was chiefly inflicted 
 by the fire to which they were exposed 
 during their retreat from post to post. A 
 very considerable number also fell under 
 the sabres of cavalry posted in the valley of 
 the Djuniska to intercept their flight. The 
 loss of the Turks was estimated at between 
 30 and 40 killed, and 300 wounded only. 
 The attacking force was between 15,000 
 and 18,000 strong, including the reserves. 
 The Serbs had the same number of men, 
 but lost four times as many as the 
 
 Turks. 
 
 Thus, by October 30th, the Turks had 
 succeeded, with immense dash and valour, 
 in carrying the strongest positions, and 
 held all the country between the valleys of 
 the Morava and the Djuniska, as well as 
 the heights commanding the high road to 
 Krusevatz. Of course, the line having 
 been turned, Alexinatz was abandoned by 
 the Servians, and occupied the same day by 
 the Turks. Tchernaieff fell back with all 
 his troops upon Deligrad— the last strong- 
 hold—and, from a military point of view, 
 
 119 
 
 't 
 
 
 I 
 
LIVADIA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1876. 
 
 there was nothinor to prevent the Turks 
 from marching to Belgrade. 
 
 But at this moment the Czar stepped in. 
 Official Russia came to support unofficial 
 Russia when it found unofficial Russia 
 getting the worst of it. The " Divine 
 Figure of the North," though absorbed in the 
 contemplation of the evanescence of even 
 imperial flesh, judged it opportune to throw 
 off at least part of his mask. On October 
 30th, Lord Loftus received a note from 
 Prince Grortschakoff, to inform him that 
 the emperor was unable to receive him 
 that day, in consequence of its being the 
 anniversary of the death of the late 
 empress. 
 
 Lord Loftus had met Prince Gortscha- 
 koff the same day, and inquired whether 
 his highness had received any satisfactory 
 intelligence from Constantinople. His high- 
 ness replied that he had intelligence to com- 
 municate, but he preferred that the em- 
 peror should communicate it to him at an 
 audience, which was then fixed for the 
 30th. However, Lord Loftus received later 
 from St. Petersburg the official declaration 
 published in the Journal de SL Peter sbourg, 
 
 announcing that General Ignatieff had 
 been instructed to declare to the Sublime 
 Porte, that if, within a delay of two days, 
 it did not accept an armistice of six weeks 
 or two months, and if it did not give im- 
 mediate orders to arrest military operations, 
 the ambassador would leave Constantinople 
 with all the members of the embassy, and 
 that diplomatic relations would be broken 
 off. This was the intelligence which Prince 
 Gortschakoff preferred should be communi- 
 cated to Lord Loftus directly by the em- 
 peror I 
 
 The Sultan, Abdul Hamid, who had 
 succeeded his brother Murad, deposed on 
 account of his "madness," acceded to 
 General IgnatiefiPs demands without more 
 ado, and agreed to a five months' armis- 
 tice. 
 
 Thus, for the second time, the Turks 
 were balked of the fruits of their victory 
 by Muscovite diplomacy. The Servian 
 war was thus at an end. Beaten at all 
 points, Tchernaieflf, Russians, and Servians 
 were obliged to abandon force and arms, and 
 resort to their more accustomed weapons — 
 the pen and falsehood. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 LIVADIA. 
 
 Good faith, truth and honesty, as has been 
 seen, have not characterised Russian di- 
 plomacy since — let us say — 1870. There 
 was, however, a popular idea that there was 
 one man in Russia whose word was as good 
 as his bond, whose honour was untarnished, 
 •who was the essence of integrity, nobility, 
 generosity, and all the other virtues com- 
 bined. His only fault was, that he was the 
 Czar of all the Russias, and even that 
 was His misfortune rather than his 
 fault. It was with this model of all 
 the virtues, that one bleak, cold day in 
 November, on the 2nd, Lord Loftus had a 
 special interview at Livadia, when his ma- 
 jesty was pleased to receive the British 
 ambassador " with his customary kindness 
 and cordiality." After some gracious in- 
 quiries after his lordship's family, the 
 Czar at once opened on the Eastern ques- 
 tion, and stated that be had that morning 
 ' 120 
 
 received a telegram from Constantinople, 
 announcing the probable acceptance of the 
 armistice, and another telegram reporting 
 that orders had already been sent by the 
 Porte to their commanders to suspend mili- 
 tary operations. This, the Czar observed, 
 was very satisfactory. 
 
 On Lord Loftus observing on the sudden * 
 change which had taken place between the 
 Sunday, when he had seen the chancellor, 
 and the following day, when the ultimatum 
 was despatclied to General Ignatieff, the 
 Czar said that this had been caused by the 
 intelligence he had received of the com- 
 plete discomfiture of the Servian army, 
 and his fear that it might be followed by 
 similar atrocities as those which had re- 
 curred in Bulgaria. He had, therefore, 
 decided on addressing an ultimatum in 
 order to prevent a further unnecessary 
 effusion of blood; and he observed that 
 
 A.D. 1876.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [the czar's assurances. 
 
 no one was more astonished to receive this 
 instruction than General Ignatieff himself. 
 
 This is worthy of especial note. By the 
 word of the Czar himself, those are convicted 
 of falsehood or culpable ignorance, who 
 contend that General Ignatieff had over- 
 stepped his instructions, and was respon- 
 sible for the subsequent complications. 
 
 The bare idea, however, of any Russian 
 statesman or general overstepping his 
 orders, or acting in any way on his own 
 unsupported responsibility, whether an 
 Ignatieff, or a Kauffman, or a Schouvaloff, 
 is too ridiculous to be entertained for one 
 moment. Serfage, amongst the nobility 
 or peasantry, may have been theoretically 
 abolished ; practically, it flourishes as much 
 
 as ever. 
 
 The emperor then expressed very ear- 
 nestly his wish that a conference should 
 meet with the least delay, and that in- 
 structions should be immediately sent by 
 the several governments to enable the 
 ambassadors at Constantinople to deliberate 
 at once on the necessary preliminaries of | 
 peace between Servia and Turkey, taking 
 as the basis the proposals which had been 
 submitted by Lord Derby. Continuing in 
 thi- strain, the emperor entered on a 
 retrospective view of the past negotiations. 
 He stated that he had given every proof of 
 his desire for peace, and that he had done 
 everything in his power to aid in arriving 
 at a pacific solution of the existing compli- 
 cations. He even pretended that he had 
 supported Lord Derby's previous demand 
 lor an armistice of six weeks, which was 
 refused by the Porte, and was followed by a 
 mere suspension of hostilities for ten days, 
 which proved wholly illusory. This was 
 true ; but the emperor did not state that 
 it was illusory on account of the bad faith 
 of the Servians and their Russian accom- 
 plices ! On the contrary, his majesty con- 
 sidered that this refusal of the Porte to a 
 collective appeal of Europe was a " slap in 
 the face" given to the powers. He had 
 patiently submitted from a wish not to 
 separate from the European concert, and had 
 assented to the proposals to serve as a basis 
 for peace proposed by Lord Derby, and 
 which had been equally agreed to by the 
 other powers. 
 
 To these proposals, however, the Porte 
 had replied evasively, declining to convey 
 its acceptance in the form of a protocol, 
 and notifying that a wholesale measure of 
 reform was under consideration, which 
 
 would be applied indiscriminately to the 
 empire at large, and which even went 
 beyond the demands of the powers. The 
 Czar then observed that, on this refusal. Lord 
 Derby had, simultaneously with a similar 
 proposal from himself, addressed to the 
 Porte a demand for an armistice of not less 
 than a month, for the purpose of enabling 
 the powers to deliberate on the conditions 
 of peace. He had supported this demand 
 in conjunction with the other powers ; and 
 to this the Porte had replied by a counter- 
 proposal, offering an armistice of five 
 months, which, under the circumstances, 
 and for the reasons given by his govern- 
 ment, could not be supported or recom- 
 mended to the belligerent parties. 
 
 " Thus," said the Czar, " the Porte, by a 
 series of manoeuvres, had rendered in- 
 effectual all the attempts of collective 
 Europe for arresting the war, and for 
 securmg a general pacification ; and that if 
 Europe was willing to receive these re- 
 peated rebuffs from the Porte, he could no 
 longer consider it as consistent either with 
 the^'honour, the dignity, or the interests of 
 Russia." 
 
 At the same time, the Czar pretended to 
 be anxious not to separate from the Euro- 
 pean concert; but the present state of 
 things was intolerable, and could no longer 
 be allowed to continue ; and unless Europe 
 was prepared to act with firmness and 
 energy, he should be obliged to act alone. 
 
 At this point the Czar referred more 
 especially to his relations with England. 
 He said he regretted to see that there still 
 existed in England an "inveterate" sus- 
 picion of Russian policy, and a continual 
 fear of Russian aggression and conquest. 
 He had on several occasions given the most 
 solemn assurances that he desired no con- 
 quest; that he aimed at no aggrandise- 
 ment, and that he had not the smallest 
 wish or intention to be possessed of Con- 
 stantinople. All that had been said or 
 written about a will of Peter the Great and 
 the aims of Catherine the Second were 
 illusions and phantoms ; they never existed 
 in reality, and he considered that the 
 acquisition of Constantinople would be a 
 misfortune for Russia. There was no ques- 
 tion of it, nor had it ever been entertained 
 by his late father, who had given a proof of 
 it in 1828, when his victorious army was 
 within four days' march of the Turkish 
 capital. But he carefully abstained from 
 saying that the fctaLe of the Russian aimy 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 It: 
 
 1 ' 
 
 
I 1:1 
 
 THE czar's promises.] 
 
 HISTOEY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1870. 
 
 A.D. 1876-'77.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [the Russian conditions. 
 
 -V 
 
 at that time was such that Constantinople 
 was very much to them what the sour 
 grapes were to the fox. 
 
 However, to avoid all further misappre- 
 hension, the Czar "pledged his sacred word 
 of honour, in the most earnest and solemn 
 manner, that he had no intention of ac- 
 quiring Constantinople, and that if neces- 
 sity should oblige him to occupy a portion 
 of Bulgaria, it would only be provisionally, 
 and until peace and the safety of the 
 Christian population were secured." 
 
 Continuing the line of argument, the 
 emperor then reverted to the pro- 
 posal addressed to her majesty's govern- 
 ment for the occupation of Bosnia by 
 Austria, of Bulgaria by Russia, and of a 
 naval demonstration at Constantinople, 
 where, he said, her majesty's fleet would 
 have been the dominant power. This, the 
 emperor thought, ought to be a sufficient 
 proof that Russia entertained no intention 
 of occupying that capital. True it might 
 have been, had it been understood where 
 Bulgaria began, and where it left ofif. But, 
 as subsequent events proved, Russia looked 
 upon Turkey as nearly all of it Bulgarian ! 
 However, the Czar said that he could not 
 understand, when both countries had a 
 common object — namely, the maintenance 
 of peace and the amelioration of the con- 
 dition of the Christians, and when he had 
 given every proof that he had no desire for 
 conquest or aggrandisement — why there 
 should not be a perfect understanding be- 
 tween England and Russia — an understand- 
 ing based on a policy of peace, which would 
 be equally beneficial to their mutual in- 
 terests, and to those of Europe at large. 
 
 " Intentions," he said, " are attributed 
 to Russia of a future conquest of India and 
 of the possession of Constantinople. Can 
 anything be more absurd ? With regard 
 to the former it is a perfect impossibility ; 
 and, as regards the latter, I repeat again the 
 most solemn assurances that I entertain 
 neither the wish nor the intention." He 
 might have added, " nor the power." 
 
 Then, reverting to his relations with 
 England, he deeply deplored the distrust of 
 his policy which was manifested in England, 
 and the evil effects it produced ; and he 
 earnestly requested Lord Loftus to do his 
 utmost to dispel this cloud of suspicion 
 and distrust of Russia, and charged him to 
 convey to her majesty's government the 
 solemn asjsurances he had repeated to him. 
 Lord Loftus abbured the einpcror that 
 122 
 
 her majesty's government were perfectly 
 cognizant of, and fully appreciated, the 
 Czar's pacific intentions. He observed that 
 the proposed occupation of the Turkish 
 territory had worked a change in the public 
 opinion of England, and had produced alarm. 
 Lord Loftus then expressed a hope that 
 the acceptance of the armistice would enable 
 the powers to bring about a satisfactory 
 pacification, and that it was of essential 
 importance that the European concert 
 should be maintained. At the same time, 
 he remarked that the question of autonomy 
 appeared to him as likely to offer the chief 
 difficulty; and that as it more directly 
 affected Austrian interests, care should be 
 taken not to exceed those limits which 
 could be accepted by Austria. Continuing 
 in this strain, Lord Loftus then referred to 
 the reported pretensions of Servia and 
 Roumania to be erected into independent 
 kingdoms. Such a measure. Lord Loftus 
 remarked, would be the first step towards 
 a dissolution of the Turkish empire in 
 Europe. History, he somewhat maliciously 
 remarked, recorded the existence, in former 
 times, of a kingdom of Bohemia, a king- 
 dom of Servia, and a kingdom of Poland : 
 they had all disappeared, and their dissolu- 
 tion had been chiefly caused by internal 
 dissensions. If the pretensions of Servia 
 and Roumania should be now admitted, it 
 would be the creation of so many small 
 Polands, which very probably would drift 
 into republics— a state of affairs which 
 would not conduce either to the peace or 
 security of the neighbouring States. 
 
 Hereupon the emperor said that there 
 was no question of establishing kingdoms 
 of Servia and Roumania, and that it would 
 be a folly to do so. As for the proclama- 
 tion of Prince Milan, as King of Servia, by 
 the Servian army, at the instigation of 
 General Tchernaieff, the emperor tho- 
 roughly disapproved of it, and that, in 
 consequence, he had advised the prince not 
 to visit the head-quarters. 
 
 Lord Loftus, however, was not surprised 
 to hear that the Czar had received a tele- 
 gram from the prince, excusing himself for 
 not obeying his majesty's advice, on the 
 grounds that " duty to his country obliged 
 him to go to his army under the present 
 adverse circumstances.'* 
 
 The Czar then made a passing allusion 
 to the exaggerated reports as to the num- 
 ber of Russian volunteers in the Servian 
 ranks; to which Lord Loftus replied bj 
 
 observing that the presence of these men 
 Itad been very instrumental in producing 
 the feverish excitement in Russia. 
 
 To this the Czar replied that he had 
 permitted the officers to go, provided they 
 left the Russian semce, " and that he had 
 looped by so doing to calm the agitation 
 {de Jeter de Veau froide):' But, continued 
 his majesty, a great many Russian officers 
 had fallen, and the enthusiasm for the 
 Servians had also very much calmed down. 
 
 The emperor then summed up his 
 observations under three heads ; — 
 
 1. The armistice. 
 
 2. The immediate meeting of a con- 
 ference to decide upon the reforms to be 
 introduced into Turkey. 
 
 3. That the Porte should give effective 
 guarantees for the execution of these 
 
 reforms. 
 
 These personal expressions of opinions, 
 views, intentions, and principles were fol- 
 lowed up by a despatch from Prince Gorts- 
 chakoff to Count Schouvaloff ; in which, to 
 save time — for every minute is wasted that 
 is spent upon the document — we interpolate 
 our glosses in parentheses. He wrote : — 
 
 " I see with profound surprise, by your 
 last letter, that ideas of our coveting Con- 
 stantinople and of the will of Peter the 
 Great continue to haunt the minds of some 
 people in England. I confess I thought 
 these absurdities were out of date, and had 
 been dismissed, together with the conquest 
 of India by Russia, to the domain of poli- 
 tical mythology." (Unfortunately, these 
 absurdities are nowhere more believed in 
 than in Russia.) 
 
 " How often have not the Russian em- 
 perors publicly asserted that no territorial 
 annexation enters into their policy (quite 
 true— hundreds of times; and they kept their 
 word by annexing Poland, the Caucasus, 
 Khiva, Khokand, and parts of Persia) ; that 
 they would be much embarrassed by it (also 
 true; for instance, in Poland in 1832 and-'63; 
 in the Caucasus and in Georgia) ; and that 
 the maintenance of the status quo of the 
 East was the best combination (against 
 Russia). In our form of government, the 
 word of the sovereign is not, like a parlia- 
 mentary declaration, revocable at the will 
 of a majority (which is to be deeply de- 
 plored). Their personal loyalty (which 
 is worth nothing) is at stake. How many 
 times, moreover, have not facts confirmed 
 this ! (Innumerable times, as above.) If 
 Russia had these desires she would do what 
 
 annexing powers do. She would quietly 
 make her preparations, and act on the first 
 favourable occasion. (Yes ; but other powers 
 do not hypocritically proclaim to the world 
 that they have "no intentions," and "pledge 
 sacred words of honour" they have not I) 
 Had she not such an opportunity in 1829, 
 in 1848, and 1870, when the attention and 
 the forces of Europe were engaged else- 
 where ? (No; she had not. In 1829, it 
 was a case of sour grapes ; in 1848 she had 
 enough to do at home ; in 1870 she entered 
 into a bargain with Prussia, and took what 
 she could get— i.e., the abrogation of the 
 Black Sea treaty. She could do no more, 
 for she had Austria, and would have had 
 England and Turkey against her.) What 
 proofs, then, is it necessary to give English 
 ministers of a disinterestedness, founded, 
 not on political virtue (of course not!), but 
 on reason and good sense. If they would 
 just forget for one moment that they are 
 English (which they certainly will not do), 
 and place themselves at a Russian point of 
 view (which is impossible), we would ask 
 them whether, conscientiously, they would 
 advise the imperial government to seek the 
 possession of Constantinople. (Decidedly 
 they would if the Russian government 
 could get it and keep it ! It is notorious 
 that Constantinople is coveted by all who 
 have interests in the East. Its possession 
 would be invaluable to Russia.) There can 
 be no doubt as to the reply. Why deny us 
 the practical good sense they themselves 
 have ? (As we have shown, they do not.) 
 
 " The only rational combination for Rus- 
 sian interests is to leave the keys of the 
 Black Sea in hands feeble enough not to 
 close to Russia that commercial outlet, nor 
 to menace her security. The Turkish rule 
 fulfilled this programme. Is it our fault 
 if the Turks have taken advantage of it to 
 render their sway intolerable to their Chris- 
 tian subjects? (Yes, decidedly.) Has not 
 the EngiiEh policy contributed to the abuse 
 by exciting the suspicions of the Porte 
 against Russia through her own rivalry, and 
 in assisting her to make force the sole basis 
 of her power? (No; it is false.) 
 
 "It is really painful to see two great 
 States, which to-ether (if their principles 
 were at all similar !) might regulate Euro- 
 pean questions for their mutual advantage 
 and the benefit of all, excite themselves and 
 the world by an antagonism founded 
 on prejudices or misunderstanding. (Say, 
 
 justified distrust.) 
 
 ^ 123 
 
 I 
 4, 
 
 ! i 
 I 
 
 1. i 
 
 I?- 
 
 I 
 
 i| 
 
RUSSIA MOBILISES.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1876. 
 
 " The results are obvious. English pub- 
 lic opinion itself has been aroused fit 
 always is against tyranny and barbarity); 
 and much more so, and more naturally, the 
 national and Christian sentiment of Russia 
 (as exemplified by the persecution of the 
 IJvicts!); for we are too near to these 
 countries, and have too many relations with 
 them, to confine ourselves to merely theore- 
 tical sympathies. (Very true; Tcher- 
 naieff.) 
 
 "This imposes on the emperor duties 
 from which his majesty cannot shrink. (On 
 the contrary!) But these duties are shared 
 by all civilised Europe. What prevents Eng- 
 land from fulfilling her part by joining with 
 us for the protection of the Christians, and 
 sharing with us their gratitude and sym- 
 pathy ? (Because England does not believe 
 in Russian civilisation or good faith.) 
 The Eastern question is not only a Russian 
 question : it involves the repose of Europe, 
 peace and general prosperity, humanity 
 and Christian civilisation. (Just for that 
 
 reason England refuses to leave it to 
 
 Russia.) 
 
 "Surely the space is large enough for 
 England to place herself side by side with 
 Russia ? (It is not ; not as long as Russia 
 is what she is.) Have we not invited 
 her there (where?) by inviting in the 
 Straits the presence of her squadrons? 
 ( By what right does Russia invite England 
 into Turkey? One man does not invite 
 his friend to another man's house without 
 his permission.) What further pledge are 
 we to give of our having no pretension to 
 the exclusive possession of Constantinople ? 
 { By not going there !) 
 
 " The emperor has just expressed himself 
 in this sense to Lord A. Loftus with the 
 precision and loyalty of his sovereign 
 words. (Pie-crust to wise men ; and caviare 
 to the multitude!) The English ambas- 
 sador will most certainly report them. 
 
 "If this assurance requires to be re- 
 peated, do so, my dear count, in the most 
 emphatic terms. You will be certain to in- 
 terpret faithfully the intentions of our 
 august master." (That is much to be 
 doubted. ) 
 
 These assurances made by the Czar at 
 Livadia, and repeated to Count SchouvalofF 
 in London by Prince Gortschakoff, were of 
 course hailed by the peace-at-any-price 
 party as eminently satisfactory; and, 
 owing to diplomatic usage, they had to be 
 accepted — at least for what they were worth. 
 124 
 
 But the Russian after-thought was not 
 
 long in making its appearance. The 
 
 I British government made the following 
 
 proposals for the basis on which to call a 
 
 conference at Constantinople : — 
 
 " 1. The independence and territorial in- 
 tegrity of the Ottoman empire. 
 
 " 2. A declaration that the powers do not 
 seek for territorial advantages, exclusive in- 
 fluence, or commercial concessions, as in the 
 protocols of Sept. 17, 1840, and of August, 
 I860. 
 
 " 3. The terms proposed to the Porte by 
 Sir Henry Elliot in accordance with the 
 Earl of Derby's instructions of September 
 21st, 1876." 
 
 Prince Gortschakoff at once objected to 
 the words "territorial integrity." He 
 stated that the imperial government could 
 not accept that term, as it would exclude 
 the possibility of a provisional occupation, 
 which, in the interest of the Ottoman em- 
 pire itself, he considered would still be 
 necessary for the security of the Christian 
 population, and for the maintenance of 
 peace and order during the introduction 
 of the administrative reforms. He added, 
 that there was still great agitation in Bul- 
 garia as well as in Bosnia, and tliat 
 excesses, with loss of life, were still being 
 perpetrated, and that nothing but material 
 force would restore peace and tranquillity. 
 But, he repeated, there was no question 
 of disturbing the integrity of the empire. 
 He stated most positively that Russia did 
 not covet an inch of Turkish territory. If 
 an occupation became necessary, it would 
 be provisional, and would only continue 
 until the administration was placed on a 
 regular and peaceable footing. Ultimately, 
 however, and on considering that one 
 quibble more or less was of no importance, 
 he yielded, and accepted the invitation. 
 
 A few days later, on Nov. 15, the em- 
 peror held a review of the imperial guards 
 and of the adjacent garrisons in the Champ 
 de Mars. On the termination of it, his 
 majesty addressed the Grand Duke Nicholas 
 Nicolaievich, his staff, and the oflScer of his 
 guard, and referring to the mobilisation of 
 a portion of his army, expressed a hope that 
 it would not be necessary to mobilise his 
 guards. He expressed his thanks to the 
 Grand Duke Nicholas for the efficient state 
 of the guards, and announced the appoint- 
 ment of his imperial highness to command 
 the active army ; adding, that his imperial 
 highness carried with him the best wishes 
 
 H 
 
 A.D. 1876.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the conference* 
 
 of all for his success. This speech was re- 
 ceived by the troops, and a vast concourse 
 of eager spectators who were present at 
 the review, with the greatest enthusiasm 
 and delight. 
 
 Two days later, the Czar gave orders tor 
 the immediate mobilisation of 160,000 men 
 
 and 648 guns. Thus, whatever the peace- 
 at-any-price party may think of Lord 
 Beaconsfield mobilising one army corps to 
 go into congress with, the world in general 
 will remember that Russia set the example 
 when she mobilised six to go into con- 
 ference with I 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE CONSTANTINOPLE CONFEEENCB. 
 
 Never was a conference intended to lead 
 to peace — at least ostensibly intended to 
 restore peace — ushered in with such re- 
 markable demonstrations as the Constanti- 
 nople conference of 1876-'77. The Rus- 
 sians, as we have seen, prepared for peace 
 by arming to the teeth ; Servia was in a 
 state between peace and war ; Montenegro 
 was in a state of inactive but open 
 hostility against the Porte; and the 
 Turks themselves were quietly but steadily 
 preparing for what every one, who had any 
 intimate acquaintance with the question, 
 knew would be the result. 
 
 But to this political chaos the powers 
 sent their representatives.— Turkey was 
 represented by Safvet Pasha and Edhem 
 Pasha, the former of whom occupied the 
 position of president, the conference being 
 held in the Turkish capital. The French 
 delegates were Comte Francois de Bour- 
 going, the resident ambassador, and the 
 Comte de Chaudordy. Germany had but 
 one representative, Baron Werther. Aus- 
 tria sent Count Z.chy, the resident ambas- 
 sador, and Baron Calice, consul-general in 
 Roumania -, Count Corti represented Italy, 
 and General Ignatieff was deputed by 
 Russia ; whilst the representatives of Great 
 Britain were Lord Salisbury and Sir Henry 
 
 Elliot. . 
 
 These gentlemen were accompanied by a 
 numerous suite of attaches and secretaries, 
 amongst whom, as is the custom of the 
 species, there was much delight at the pros- 
 pect of a visit to Constantinople. Mr. 
 Philip Currie was appointed secretary to 
 Lord Salisbury's "Special Embassy," al- 
 though he was already Lord Salisbury's 
 secretary, and, as such, in receipt of a hand- 
 
 VOL. III. 
 
 S 
 
 some salary. Besides Mr. Currie, Mr* 
 Henry S. Northcote, a pleasant-faced, good- 
 natured boy, Mr. H. A. Lee, and Mr. J. H. 
 C. Hozier, were also appointed to assist in 
 settling the ever-momentous Eastern ques- 
 tion, and to look after the luggage— of 
 course by proxy. 
 
 This was very satisfactory indeed to all 
 these gentlemen, when it suddenly struck 
 somebody that a journey zig-zag through 
 Europe, from London to Constantinople, 
 would probably cost a good deal of money. 
 The young gentlemen drew rather long 
 faces at this, and hints were made to their 
 "chiefs" that a holiday without pocket- 
 money could scarcely be regarded as an un- 
 mixed pleasure. The scion of the House of 
 Cecil and the daughter of the Aldersons 
 agreed with this view ; but they also agreed 
 that the House of Cecil could not be ex- 
 pected to furnish this necessary pocket- 
 money ; and as the voyage was to be under- 
 taken for the nation's weal, it was but just 
 that the nation should pay for it. Even 
 Lord Derby saw the force of this argument, 
 and on November 20th, after he had made 
 the appointment of these gentlemen in a 
 letter to the Marquis of Salisbury, he in- 
 dited a second, to the effect that all the 
 "travelling and other expenses" of the 
 journey and stay in Constantinople should 
 be paid by the public. This was eminently 
 satisfactory, and the young gentlemen were 
 highly delighted, and set about arranging 
 their outfit. Their colleagues greatly 
 envied them, and one of them — Mr. Mar- 
 wood Tucker — gave expression to his dis- 
 content, and lamented that he, too, had 
 not been included in the holiday party; 
 and as Mr. Marwood Tucker was much 
 
 125 
 
 m 
 
 
 I 
 
 r 
 
 I 
 
THE SPECIAL EMBASSY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1876. 
 
 liked by his friends, pressure was brought 
 to bear upon the Marquis of Salisbury, to 
 whom it was represented that too much 
 work would seriously diminish the pleasure 
 of a holiday trip, even with unlimited 
 pocket-money, and that Mr. Marwood 
 Tucker, mindful of his friends' comfort, 
 would be very glad to assist in the work 
 to be done. The soft-hearted marquis 
 agreed, and proposed Mr. Marwood Tucker 
 as an additional private secretary. To this 
 Lord Derby assented ; but the value of his 
 consent was much diminished by his state- 
 ment that Mr. Marwood Tucker, though he 
 would be considered as attached to the 
 embassy, would receive no remuneration, 
 and that his expenses would not be borne 
 by the public. This was not satisfactory to 
 the noble marquis at all ; still less satisfac- 
 tion was there at the receipt of a reminder 
 from Lord Derby, that, as there was such a 
 large staff, it was but fair that some work 
 should be done, and that they should ad- 
 dress to him (Lord Derby) a series of 
 despatches, properly numbered and dock- 
 eted, during the course of the mission. 
 Mr. Marwood Tucker, however, had gained 
 his point. It is true, some bilious critics 
 aver that Mr. Marwood Tucker was ap- 
 pointed to do all the work, and take it off 
 his colleagues' hands, and that it was on 
 that understanding that he was allowed to 
 form one of the party. But that may be 
 as it may ; we have only to deal with facts ; 
 and these facts, as they appear in the Blue- 
 Book in their native simplicity, will be 
 found to run as follows : — 
 
 No. 3. 
 
 The Earl of Derby to the Marquis of 
 
 Salisbury, 
 
 " Foreign Ofiice, November 20, 1876. 
 
 deem most beneficial for her majesty's 
 service. 
 
 " I am, &c., 
 
 (Signed; « Derby." 
 
 A.D. 1876.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [lord Salisbury at parts. 
 
 No. 4. 
 
 The Earl of Derby to the Marquis of 
 
 Salisbury. 
 
 " Foreign Office, November 20, 1876. 
 
 "My Lord, — I have to inform your 
 Excellency that the travelling and other 
 expenses of your Excellency's embassy will 
 be paid by the public, and that Mr. Currie 
 has been instructed to keep and render the 
 accounts in accordance with the usual 
 forms. 
 
 " I am, &c., 
 
 (Signed) "Derby." 
 
 No. 5. 
 
 The Earl of Derby to the Marquis of 
 
 Salisbury. 
 
 " Foreign Office, November 20, 1876. 
 
 "My Lord, — I have to inform your 
 Excellency that Mr. Marwood Tucker has 
 been appointed additional private secretary 
 to your Excellency in your character of 
 special ambassador about to proceed to 
 Constantinople. Mr. Tucker will be con- 
 sidered as attached to the embassy, but he 
 will receive no remuneration, and his ex- 
 penses will not be borne by the public. 
 
 (C 
 
 "My Lord, — I have to inform your 
 Excellency that the Queen has been pleased 
 to signify her commands that Mr. Philip 
 Currie, of this Office, should be appointed 
 secretary to your Excellency's special em- 
 bassy, and that Mr. H. S. Northcote, Mr. 
 H. A. Lee, and Mr. J. H. C. Hozier, of this 
 Office, should be officially attached to your 
 Excellency in your character of special 
 ambassador. Your Excellency will accord- 
 ingly consider these gentlemen as forming 
 part of your diplomatic establishment, and 
 you will employ them in the business of 
 the embassy in whatever way you may 
 126 
 
 I am, &c., 
 (Signed) « Derby." 
 
 No. 6. 
 
 The Earl of Derby to the Marquis of 
 
 Salisbury, 
 
 "Foreign Office, November 20, 1876. 
 
 "My Lord, — I have to request your 
 Excellency to correspond with this Office, 
 while employed on the service of your 
 special embassy, in a series of despatches, 
 numbered and docketed, and addressed to 
 her majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign 
 Affairs. 
 
 " I am, &c., 
 
 (Signed) " Derby." 
 
 Everything being thus satisfactorily set- 
 tled, and a proposal by Mr. Thomas Cook 
 to "personally conduct" the party declined 
 with thanks, the excursion left England on 
 November 20th, after Lord Salisbury had 
 received his instructions in a lengthy docu- 
 ment, of which the following was the 
 
 ^ « 1 The independence and the terri- 
 torial* integrity of the Ottoman empire. 
 
 "2 A declaration that the powers do 
 not intend to seek for, and will not seek 
 for any territorial advantage, any exclusive 
 influence, or any concession with regard to 
 the commerce of their subjects which those 
 of every other nation may not equally 
 
 obtain. ,, 
 
 " Such a declaration was made on the 
 17th of September, 1840, in the protocol 
 for the pacification of the Levant; and 
 again on the 3rd of August, 1860, in re- 
 trard to the pacification of Syria. 
 
 "3 The basis of pacification proposed 
 to the Porte on the 25th of September, 
 
 "(a.) The status quo, speaking roughly, 
 both as regards Servia and Montenegro. 
 
 "(6) That the Porte should simul- 
 taneously undertake, in a protocol to be 
 signed at Constantinople with the represen- 
 tatives of the mediating powers, to grant to 
 Bosnia and Herzegovina a system of local 
 or administrative autonomy, by which is 
 to be understood a system of local institu- 
 tions which shall give the population some 
 control over their own local affairs, and 
 guarantees against the exercise of arbitrary 
 authority. There is to be no quebtion ot 
 
 a tributary State. , • ^ x^ -u^ 
 
 "Guarantees of a similar kind to be 
 
 also provided against maladministration m 
 
 Bulgaria." , _ ,, 
 
 Admirable as were these demands, they 
 lost much of their value from the absence 
 of any provision to enforce their execution 
 upon the Porte, which had promised to 
 fulfil such and similar demands time alter 
 time. But no material guarantees were to 
 be exacted from the Porte ; and thus the 
 whole document, as set up by Lord Derby, 
 could not be seriously considered as more 
 than a comedy, except under one condition. 
 That condition was the supposition that 
 the government intended, and determined 
 to insist on the independence and territo- 
 rial integrity of the Turkish empire. That 
 was a policy intelligible to all. It does 
 not signify what the value of that policy 
 
 was, nor how it would be regarded by a 
 portion of the public. It was at any rate 
 a clear and definite programme ; and 
 coming from a Conservative ministry, 
 whose "platform" was the sanctity of 
 treaties and the re-establishment of British 
 influence abroad, it was but natural to be- 
 lieve that it was a programme which would ^ 
 be carried out to the letter, as far as lay in 
 the country's power. 
 
 Lord Derby, however, as well, it must 
 be presumed, as the rest of the cabinet, 
 judged it advisable that the Marquis of 
 Salisbury should take the sense of the 
 great powers on this programme before en- 
 tering the conference. Thus it was de- 
 cided that he should call, on his way to 
 Constantinople, on the French, German, 
 and Austrian ministers and their masters. 
 Thus there ensued that remarkable journey 
 which created so much hilarity on the con- 
 tinent. The spectacle of a British minis- 
 ter knocking at the doors of all the chief 
 cabinets in order to ascertain the opinion 
 entertained of the British programme was 
 unprecedented. And it was as senseless as 
 it was undignified. For, supposing that 
 the governments, especially those belonging 
 to the Triple Alliance, should demur to 
 the policy advocated by the British govern- 
 ment, there would have been but little use 
 in proposing the conference. 
 
 However, Lord Salisbury arrived safely 
 in Paris on the 20th of November, and had 
 an interview with the Due Decazes and 
 Marshal MacMahon on the following day. 
 At this interview the British programme 
 was generally approved of; but stipulations 
 were made, that, at the conference, no 
 mention should be made of Egypt or Syria, 
 and that no proposals touching these 
 countries should be discussed. At the same 
 time, the Due Decazes asked the marquis 
 what course the British government wou d 
 adopt in case the Porte refused to comply 
 with the demands which the conference 
 might judge fit to make. 
 
 To this question, as we are able to state 
 on special information. Lord Salisbury re- 
 plied, that the British government would 
 not be prepared to adopt any coercive mea- 
 sures whatever towards the Porte, and 
 would confine itself to a declaration that 
 the Porte, in such case, could not expect 
 any assistance whatever from Great Britain. 
 " Bon ; je comprends r replied the duke. 
 
 ,« I understand!" . i r. t> • 
 
 I The same night, the marquis left Pans 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 » 
 J,, 
 
 t! 
 
MELEGARI'S OBJECTIONS.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 en route for Berlin ; and on November 
 23rd, he had an audience of the Emperor 
 William, after he had several interviews 
 with Prince Bismarck and other persons 
 of note. The emperor expressed earnest 
 hopes for the preservation of peace, and 
 said that he had^used, and would continue 
 to use, his utmost personal influence with 
 the Emperor of Eussia for that purpose ; 
 but he could not but acknowledge that the 
 course taken by the Emperor Alexander 
 was imposed upon him hy circumstances, 
 and by the oppression to which those of his 
 own religion had been subjected under 
 Turkish rule. He trusted, however, that 
 by the concession of reasonable reforms in 
 the administration of the Turkish pro- 
 vinces, combined ivith guarantees for their 
 execution, the necessity for an occupation 
 of Turkish territory might be avoided. At 
 the same time, however, the emperor con- 
 sidered that it was impossible for Europe 
 any longer to accept the mere promises of 
 the Porte, and that it was indispensable 
 that satisfactory guarantees against the 
 continuance of the evils under which the 
 Christians in Turkey were suffering should 
 be arranged. 
 
 In reply. Lord Salisbury stated that it 
 was the full intention of the British gov- 
 ernment to insist on the provision of ade- 
 quate guarantees ; but, at the same time, 
 he said he feared that an occupation of 
 Turkish territory would lead to war, and 
 that the limits of such a war could not be 
 foreseen. 
 
 Thus the marquis received a plain check 
 from the old emperor. Unlike the Due 
 Decazes, he refused to " understand " that 
 the conference should be allowed to end in 
 a farce, and gave the marquis plainly to 
 understand that he, for one, did not intend 
 to support the British policy against his 
 nephew's. , 
 
 At Vienna the marquis was scarcely less 
 unsuccessful, though, owing to the very 
 nature of the case, he met with no such 
 decided repulse as at Berlin. He found 
 both the emperor and Count Andrassy on 
 the horns of a dilemma, and unable to choose 
 between them. In fact, they were neither 
 of them clear in their own minds as to what 
 they did want; all that they positively 
 knew was that matters looked very gloomy ; 
 but, at the same time, it was sufficiently 
 evident that Austria would have no objec- 
 tion to changes in the Turkish empire as 
 long as those changes did not threaten 
 128 
 
 [a.d. 1876. 
 
 Austria, and she were allowed to take com- 
 pensation for them, thou^^h they might not 
 prejudice her. At this Lord Salisbury be- 
 came slightly uneasy, and, in reply to the 
 emperor's remarks, that the difficulties in 
 the way of a settlement were almost in- 
 superable, he could only repeat the old 
 stock-in-trade assurance, that peace could 
 only be seriously menaced if an occupation 
 ot lurkish territory were insisted on. 
 
 What claim to statesmanship has an 
 individual of the House of Cecil, or any 
 other house, who could make such a state- 
 ment as that at the end of the year 1876 ? 
 
 These were terrible blows to the noble 
 marquis ; but the most cruel blow of all 
 awaited him in Rome. Here, although 
 Signer Melegari objected to a Russian oc- 
 cupation of any portion of the Ottoman 
 empire, he insisted that the action of the 
 powers ought not to be derived from, or 
 limited by the treaty of Paris, but that 
 their functions were rather those of medi- 
 ators, deriving their title simply from the 
 events of the war and the acceptance of the 
 conference by the Porte. They ought, he 
 considered, to be unrestricted in'' their 
 search for a solution of the questions to be 
 submitted to the conference by any obliga- 
 tions imposed by that treaty, and he was 
 not prepared to admit that the Porte 
 would be at liberty to reject any decision 
 to which the conference might come. 
 
 That is to say, even Signor Melegari was 
 also of opinion that eftective guarantees 
 should be demanded from the Porte, and 
 the decisions of the conference be en- 
 forced by the powers, should the Porte re- 
 fuse to obey. Thus in Berlin, Vienna, and 
 Rome, Lord Salisbury met with the same 
 reply—that the British proposals were ad- 
 mirable in their way, but that no means 
 had been provided to enforce their exe- 
 cution. 
 
 In short, the negotiations from which 
 Lord Salisbury, and those who did not 
 know the limited scope of his mind, ex- 
 pected so much, resulted in nothing.' He 
 was rebuffed on all sides, except in Paris, 
 where, however, assistance of a practical 
 nature could not be expected. And no- 
 where was the amusement at the noble 
 lord's political peregrinations greater than 
 at St. Petersburg and Constantinople, 
 where he arrived with his suite on board 
 the Austrian and Lloyd's steamer Aurora 
 on December 5th. 
 
 Negotiations were first commenced in a 
 
 A.D. 1876.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the preliminaries. 
 
 series of preliminary meetings, when, as was 
 to be foreseen, the chief difficulty was the 
 question of guarantee for the execution 
 of the decisions which the conference 
 might arrive at. 
 
 Two methods to achieve this end were 
 proposed. The first was a combined naval 
 demonstration by all the signatory powers 
 before Constantinople ; the second was the 
 occupation of the revolted provinces by a 
 foreign force belonging to some minor 
 State. On this head. General Ignatiefif, 
 unconditionally dwelling upon the pre- 
 valence of insecurity and danger of mas- 
 sacre, stated that it was the immovable 
 determination of his government to have 
 some sufficient material force as security 
 for the Christians during the introduction 
 of the reforms, and for the commission 
 which would have to be appointed to watch 
 over the execution of the reforms. Russia 
 would furnish this force if no other was 
 forthcoming, but did not desire to do so. 
 Thereupon Lord Salisbury stated that the 
 British consuls did not believe in the 
 danger; whereupon the ambassadors of 
 each of the four other powers stated that 
 the reports from their consuls were in the 
 opposite sense. Beaten on this point, 
 Lord Salisbury then urged upon the ambas- 
 sadors tliat Turkish regular troops would 
 be sufficient, and Sir H. Elliot pressed the 
 point upon them. They objected, how- 
 ever, that the regulars took part in the 
 masj^acres, and could not be trusted. The 
 question of employing Roumanian troops 
 was raised ; but it was thought that this 
 would be intolerable to the Porte, and 
 their efficiency was doubtful. Besides that. 
 Lord Salisbury stated that his instructions 
 formally forbade him to accept any 
 military occupation ; that any employment 
 of Russian soldiers was so likely to lead to 
 bloodshed that it was absolutely out of 
 the question; but that if the conference 
 would accept English soldiers, he would 
 recommend that solution. 
 
 To this the Russian ambassador took 
 strong objection ; and the German ambas- 
 sador said that no troops belonging to 
 guaranteeing powers could be accepted. 
 At the same time all protested against the 
 idea of occupation ; but said that an escort 
 of 3,000 to 5,000 men, as a nucleus for a 
 gendarmerie, could not be considered an 
 occupation. 
 
 A Belgian force of this size was then 
 proposed, and it was stated that the pro- 
 
 posal had the assent of the Belgian govern- 
 ment ; but to this solution Lord Salisbury 
 objected, that he could give no opinion on 
 the part of England, as such a suggestion 
 had not been contemplated in his instruc- 
 tions. He, however, accepted it adreferen- 
 dum, and recommended its adoption earn- 
 estly, because he did not believe that the 
 conference would give way on this, and 
 because no possible political danger could 
 result from it, although the Turks would 
 probably oppose ; but as this objection would 
 apply to all suggestions of reform, he craved 
 a speedy answer from the government at 
 home, as the further continuance of nego- 
 tiations depended upon this point. In 
 reply to Lord Salisbury's inquiries on the 
 subject. Lord Derby informed him that the 
 government were ready to assent in prin- 
 ciple to the plan proposed by the prelimi- 
 nary conference — viz., local reforms, with 
 a commission of supervision for one year, 
 and such commission to be supported by 
 an escort not exceeding 6,000 men at the 
 utmost, to be drawn from some minor 
 State, such as Belgium. But, at the same 
 time, he said that the government would 
 reserve absolutely the question of steps to 
 be taken in the event of refusal by the 
 Porte; and furthermore, he said, that it 
 would be advisable to present the proposal as 
 emanating from the Porte itself; and, also, 
 that it should be accompanied by a with- 
 drawal of the Russian forces concentrated 
 on the frontier. 
 
 Interrogated the next day (Dec. 22), as 
 to what measures were to be taken in case 
 the Porte refused to comply with this 
 demand, or the other decisions of the 
 conference. Lord Derby roundly declared 
 that the government would not assist in 
 coercive measures, military or naval, against 
 the Porte ; and that, in case of the Porte's 
 refusal, Lord Salisbury was simply to leave 
 Constantinople, as well as Sir Henry Elliot, 
 and inform the Porte that it could expect 
 no assistance from Great Britain whatever. 
 From this declaration the Turks argued 
 that England was resolved not to act 
 against them ; it would only be necessary 
 for them to let things come to the worst, 
 and a declaration of war, in order to secure 
 the alliance of Great Britain as heretofore. 
 Possibly, this assistance would not be given 
 at once, but that it would be ultimately 
 forthcoming they entertained no doubt 
 whatever. 
 
 To nobody was this more evident than 
 
 \2\i 
 
 < ■ 
 
 
THE EUSSIAN PROTOCOL.] HISTOEY OF TIFE 
 
 to General Ignatieff. He was convinced 
 that the Porte would refuse any series of 
 concessions imposed upon them by the con- 
 ference ; and he knew that war would ensue 
 in consequence. He also knew that the 
 conditions to be imposed upon the Porte, 
 after a successful war, would exceed in 
 severity those proposed by the conference 
 by a hundred-fold; and, consequently, 
 knowing all this, he felt perfectly safe in 
 making any concessions, on the part of 
 Eussia, which might be demanded by the 
 conference. 
 
 He therefore yielded one point after 
 another. So great were his concessions as 
 to cause universal surprise. He even aban- 
 doned the idea of an occupation by Belgian 
 or other troops to look after the execution 
 of the reforms. But all was in vain. The 
 Porte, strong in its conviction that it 
 would not be abandoned by England, took 
 little heed of the negotiations during the 
 preliminary meetings, and, under Midhat 
 Pasha, calmly set about framing a consti- 
 tution after its own fashion. 
 
 This constitution, Midhat Paska's pet 
 project, was announced in a most dramatic 
 manner. At the very first sitting of the 
 conference, under the presidency of Safvet 
 Pasha, the plenipotentiaries assembled were 
 suddenly startled by repeated salvoes of 
 artillery. Some of the plenipotentiaries 
 turned pale ; all looked inquiringly at each 
 other, and then at Safvet Pasha, who, 
 evidently enjoying the discomposure of the 
 ambassadors, kept silence for a moment, 
 and then declared that these salvoes an- 
 nounced the promulgation of the Ottoman 
 constitution. 
 
 "A great act," he said, "which is at 
 this moment being accomplished, has just 
 changed a form of government which has 
 lasted 600 years. The constitution with 
 which his majesty the Sultan has endowed 
 his empire is promulgated. It inaugurates 
 a new era for the happiness and prosperity 
 of his people.'* 
 
 Having somewhat recovered their com- 
 posure, the ambassadors gave expression 
 to their opinion on the matter, and Count 
 Chaudordy pointed out that peace was 
 absolutely necessary, in order that the 
 constitution might produce the results 
 expected of it, and that the agreement of 
 all the powers in the conference was the 
 essential condition for the efficacy of this : 
 solemn act. The Marquis of Salisbury was 
 equally glad to record that the conference 
 130 
 
 [A.D. 1876. 
 
 had met to secure peace, which Safvet Pasha 
 declared was ardently desired by Turkey, 
 with the object of realising as soon as 
 possible the benefits of the constitution. 
 To this General Ignatieflf drily replied that 
 the manner of application of the new in- 
 stitutions would be the real test of their 
 value, and that, moreover, peace must be 
 secured before they could be put into exe- 
 cution. 
 
 In order to attain tliis much-desired 
 object, as he declared, General Ignatieflf 
 continued to make one concession after 
 another until the proposals had reached a 
 minimum, and were embodied in a protocol 
 which was handed to the Porte for accept- 
 ance. It was divided into four heads, and 
 contained the irreducible ultimatum of the 
 six powers assembled in conference. It 
 
 ran; — 
 
 Montenegro^ 
 
 "The rectification of the frontiers of 
 Montenegro, together with the annexation 
 of the Baniani, Piva with Nichsich, Drob- 
 niak, a part of Goranzi, the district of 
 Kolachin, the Kutchi-Drekalovitchi, the 
 Kutchi-Kraini, the Vassoievitchi from the 
 Zievna to the Lim, the Mali and Veli-Brdo, 
 Spouz, and Jabliak. 
 
 "An international commission of de- 
 limitation ad hoc, 
 
 "Freedom of navigation, and the neu- 
 tralisation of the forts on the Boyana." 
 
 Sema, 
 
 C( 
 
 Status quo ante helium for Servia, to- 
 gether with the settlement of the diflScul- 
 ties concerning the boundaries on the Bos- 
 nian side by a commission of arbitration 
 in conformity with the Hatti-Cherif of 
 1833. 
 
 " P^or the two principalities : Evacua- 
 tion by the Ottoman troops and the troops 
 of the principalities of the territories be- 
 yond certain fixed boundaries, exchange of 
 prisoners of war, and amnesty to subjects in 
 the service of the enemy." 
 
 Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Bulgaria. 
 
 "The governors - general of the pro- 
 vinces to be appointed for the first five 
 years by the Porte, with the previous 
 agreement (' agrement prealable *) of the 
 powers. 
 
 " The sub-division of the provinces into 
 sandjaks, with Mutessarifs appointed by 
 the Porte, on the nomination of the Valis, 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the POWERS DISAGREE. 
 
 for a fixed period, and into cantons 
 (^nahies, mudirliks) of 5,000 to 10,000 in- 
 liabitants, with the cantonal authorities 
 freely elected by the population in each 
 commune, and competent to deal with all 
 questions aflfecting the interests of the can- 
 ton. 
 
 "Provincial assemblies, elected for a 
 period of four years by the cantonal coun- 
 cils, in accordance with the system notified. 
 They are to fix the budget and appoint the 
 provincial administrative councils, which 
 the Valis should consult in cases exceed- 
 ing the pure and simple execution of the 
 legal and administrative arrangements, and 
 on which they may report to the Sublime 
 Porte. 
 
 "Improvement in as^sessment of taxes: 
 The provincial assemblies and the can- 
 tonal councils to have the apportionment 
 and collection of the taxes, with the ex- 
 ception of the customs, the posts and tele- 
 graphs, the taxes on tobacco and spirits, 
 and the 'regie.' The complete abolition 
 of the system of tax-farming. Remission 
 of arrears in taxes. The drawing up, every 
 five years, of the budget of the provinces 
 according to the average revenue. A part 
 to be applied to paying off the public debt 
 and to the requirements of the central 
 government, and the remainder to those of 
 the provinces. 
 
 "Readjustment of justice with a view to 
 the greater independence of the magistracy ; 
 the appointment of judges of the civil and 
 criminal courts by the Valis, with the 
 consent of the administrative council, and 
 of the members of the Court of Appeal by 
 the Porte, upon the recommendation of the 
 Valis. Sittings and judicial inquiries to be 
 public. Exclusive jurisdiction for ecclesi- 
 astical authorities over special cases of dif- 
 ferent creeds. 
 
 " Entire religious liberty. Maintenance 
 by the communities of the clergy and of 
 public religious and educational establish- 
 ments. Guarantees against forced conver- 
 sions. 
 
 "The language of the country to be 
 used on an equal footing with Turkish in 
 the courts and administration. 
 
 " Complete prohibition of the employ- 
 ment of irregular troops. Formation of a 
 Christian and Mussulman militia and police 
 in proportion to the population, the sub- 
 altern officers to be appointed by the gov- 
 ernors-general. 
 
 " Interdiction of colonisation by Circas- 
 
 sians. A general amnesty to Christians sen- 
 tenced for political offences. 
 
 "Improvement of the condition of the 
 husbandmen and farmers • in Bosnia and 
 Herzegovina. Facilities for the acquisition 
 of State land, and for the repatriation of 
 emigrants. 
 
 "These regulations to come into force 
 within a fixed period of three months." 
 
 Commissions of Control. 
 
 "Two commissions of control shall be 
 named by the powers to watch over the 
 execution of the regulations, and to aid the 
 local authorities in diflferent measures 
 affecting order and public security, and 
 they shall receive special instructions." 
 
 Now here was a fine opportunity for the 
 Western powers to gain a signal diplomatic 
 victory over the Russian government, by 
 uniting to coerce the Porte into accepting 
 these conditions, which represented the 
 minimum which Europe demanded, and 
 which, in themselves, were the least that 
 the justice of the case demanded, and were, 
 moreover, the least that could be expected 
 from Turkey, even had Great Britain 
 agreed to assist her in any war against 
 Russia. 
 
 But the powers could not agree, and thus 
 the opportunity to take Russia at her word 
 when she proposed these minimised condi- 
 tions passed away for ever. The Turks 
 made a counter-proposal scarcely differing 
 from one which had already been declared 
 unacceptable by the powers, and this pro- 
 posal was equally declined. The ambassa- 
 dors decided to sign the above protocol, 
 and fixed January 21st for the ceremony. 
 On that day all the plenipotentiaries as- 
 sembled at the Austrian embassy, except 
 the Turkish delegates. They had promised 
 to come, but did not, and did not even 
 send an excuse for not keeping their pro- 
 mise. 
 
 In this contemptuous manner the Porte 
 practically dismissed the conference ; and 
 on the following day. Lord Salisbury em- 
 barked in the Austrian Lloyd's steamer 
 Ceres, to return to London via Athens and 
 Brindisi. 
 
 The other ambassadors also left Constan- 
 tinople ; the embassies being left in charge 
 of a secretary only; and thus diplomatic 
 relations with the Porte were broken off as 
 far as the representation of the powers at 
 Constantinople was concerned. 
 
 131 
 
if 
 
 OORTSCHAKOFF'S CIRCULAR.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1877. 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. ["golden bridge" period. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE PROTOCOL AND THE MANIFESTO. 
 
 The Porte, having now got rid of the 
 • troublesome ambassadors, began to be 
 anxious to conclude peace with Servia and 
 Montenegro. Exhausted as Servia was by 
 the recent war, and more or less in disgrace 
 at St. Petersburg in consequence of her 
 failure to obtain any successes against the 
 Turks, there were no great obstacles in the 
 way of coming to an arrangement, the 
 more so as the terms accorded by the Porte 
 were generous in the extreme, when all the 
 facts of the case are taken into considera- 
 tion. Peace was, therefore, concluded on 
 the basis of the status quo ante ; that is to 
 say, of the relations between the Porte and 
 the principality before the outbreak of the 
 war which ended so disastrously for Servia. 
 With Montenegro, however, the case was 
 different. Though the Turkish armies had 
 traversed the country north and south, they 
 had not been able to seize the capital, oV 
 to capture the Montenegrin armies; and, 
 practically, the country was as unsubdued 
 as ever. A tremendously mountainous 
 country, a revolt there could only be sup- 
 pressed by the occupation-force of the 
 chief cities for an indefinite period, thus 
 forcing the Montenegrin bands to keep to 
 the mountain-passes and fastnesses ; but 
 to accomplish this, more troops were neces- 
 sary than the object to be gained was worth. 
 Advice was, of course, freely tendered to tlie 
 prince by the powers ; but Russia favoured 
 his policy of procrastination and evasion, 
 and supported him in his demands for inde- 
 pendence to be formally recognised by the 
 Porte. In fact. Prince Nikita was charged 
 with the task of keeping the question open. 
 Under these circumstances, and the con- 
 ference having come to nothing. Prince 
 Gortschakoff addressed a circular to the 
 powers, in which he stated, that, though the 
 refusal opposed by the Porte to the wishes 
 of Europe having involved the Eastern 
 crisis in a new phase, he still considered 
 the question as an European one, which 
 should not and could not be solved but 
 by the unanimous agreement of the great 
 powers. As a matter of fact, all exclusive 
 and personal considerations were disclaimed 
 132 
 
 by all the cabinets, and the difficulty re- 
 solved itself into inducing the government 
 of Turkey to goveim the Christian subjects 
 of the Sultan in a just and humane manner, 
 so as not to expose Europe to permanent 
 crises which were revolting to its con- 
 science, and endangered its tranquillity. 
 
 It was, therefore,* a question of common 
 unanimity and interest, which the imperial 
 cabinet was accordingly endeavouring to 
 solve by bringing about an European con- 
 cert. With this object Russia had come to 
 an agreement with the Austro-Hungarian 
 government, as the one most immediately 
 interested, in order to submit to the Euro- 
 pean cabinets propositions which might 
 serve as a basis for a general understanding 
 and common action, and which, set forth 
 in Count Andrassy's despatch of the ^§th 
 December, 1875, had obtained the adhesion 
 of all the great powers, and also of the 
 Porte. The want of executive sanction 
 having, however, rendered this agreement 
 abortive, the cabinets, with the exception 
 of the British cabinet, were placed, by the 
 Berlin memorandum, in a position to pro- 
 nounce on the principle of an eventual 
 concert, having in view more effectual 
 measures for realising their mutual aim. 
 This agreement, however, not having proved 
 unanimous, and diplomatic action being 
 thus interrupted, the cabinets recommended 
 negotiations in consequence of the aggrava- 
 tion of the crisis by the massacres in Bul- 
 garia, the revolution in Constantinople, 
 and the war with Servia and Montenegro. 
 Thereupon, through the initiative of th© 
 English government a basis was agreed 
 upon, and guarantees of pacification were 
 proposed to be discussed at a conference 
 to be held at Constantinople. This con- 
 ference arrived, during its preliminary 
 meetings, at a complete understanding, both 
 as to the conditions of peace and as to the 
 reforms to be introduced. The result was 
 communicated to the Porte as the fixed and 
 unanimous wish of Europe, and met with 
 an obstinate refusal. 
 
 "Thus," continued the prince, "after 
 more than a year of diplomatic efforts at- 
 
 testing the importance attached by the 
 great powers to the pacification of the East, 
 the right which they had, in view of the 
 common welfare, to assure that pacification, 
 and their firm determination to bring it 
 about, the cabinets again found themselves 
 in the same position as at the commence- 
 ment of the crisis, wliich had been more- 
 over aggravated by bloodshed, heated pas- 
 sions, accumulated ruin, and the prospect 
 of an indefinite prolongation of the de- 
 plorable state of things which hung over 
 Europe, and justly preoccupied the atten- 
 tion of both peoples and governments. 
 Still, in spite of all this, the Porte made 
 light of her former engagements, of her 
 duty as a member of the European system, 
 and of the unanimous wishes of the great 
 powers. Far from having advanced one 
 step towards a satisfactory solution, the 
 Eastern question had become aggravated, 
 and was at that moment a standing menace 
 to the peace of Europe, the sentiments of 
 humanity, and the conscience of Christian 
 nations." 
 
 Under these circumstances, and before 
 determining on the steps which he might 
 think proper to take, the Emperor of 
 Russia was desirous of knowing the limits 
 within which the cabinets with whom he 
 had till then endeavoured, and still desired 
 60 far as might be possible to proceed in 
 common, were willing to act. He pointed 
 out that the object held in view by the 
 great powers was clearly defined by the 
 proceedings of the conference, and that the 
 refusal of the Turkish government threat- 
 ened both the dignity and the tranquillity of 
 Europe. It was thus absolutely necessary for 
 Russia to know what the cabinets proposed 
 to do with a view of meeting this refusal, 
 and insuring the execution of their wishes. 
 With this object in view. Count 
 Schouvaloff had an interview with Lord 
 Derby on Feb. 21. He said that the 
 Russian government were in a position of 
 considerable difficulty; and that the ex- 
 pense and inconvenience of keeping up 
 their armaments on a war footing was very 
 great, and could not be continued inde- 
 finitely. On the other hand, unless public 
 opinion could be satisfied by the announce- 
 ment of some specific advantage that had 
 been gained by the armament, it would be 
 difficult, if not impossible, to proceed to 
 demobilise the forces which had been 
 placed on a war footing ; and even the 
 Minister of Finance, who was necessarily 
 
 VOL. III. T 
 
 most alive to the disadvantages of the 
 situation, would prefer a speedy campaign 
 to the alternative of disarmament, with the 
 possible necessity of a fresh mobilisation 
 next year. 
 
 Count Schouvaloff then spoke of the 
 proposal made by Midbat Pasha to Sir 
 H. Elliot, that a fixed time — say a year — 
 should be granted to the Porte for carrying 
 out the reforms, and that if at the end of 
 that period it were found that fair progress 
 had not been made, the Turkish govern- 
 ment would be ready to submit to the 
 appointment of an international commis- 
 sion, or such other form of control as might 
 be held desirable. Of this idea, Count 
 Schouvaloff seemed to think favourably, 
 and to believe that in some arrangement of 
 this kind the groundwork for a settle- 
 ment might be found, and even added that 
 he did not consider it necessary that in the 
 reply to be given to the circular of Prince 
 Gortschakoff there should be any indica- 
 tion of an intention to resort eventually to 
 united measures of coercion against the 
 Porte. It would, in his opinion, he said, 
 be sufficient that the reply should be so 
 conceived as not to imply that Russia was 
 to be left to herself to secure what advan- 
 tages she deemed necessary for the Christian 
 populations of Turkey. 
 
 This expression of opinion on the part 
 of Count Schouvaloff, inaugurated what 
 may be called the " Golden Bridge" period 
 in the Anglo-Russian negotiations. It was 
 assumed — most erroneously assumed — that 
 Russia did not mean to go to war, but had 
 determined simply to make a great military 
 demonstration for the purpose of intimi- 
 dating the Turks. This view, contrary to 
 the opinion of those competent to judge, 
 was industriously propagated ; and the idea 
 was also much encouraged by the Russian 
 government as calculated to increase the 
 disinclination of the Porte to yield, anc 
 thus offered the Russian government an 
 additional excuse to proceed to extremi- 
 ties. 
 
 At the same time, however. Prince Gorts- 
 chakoff pressed the British government 
 for a reply to his circular and a declaration 
 of their policy. He declared to Lord Lof- 
 tus that the position of affairs was ex- 
 tremely prejudicial to Russia; that the 
 mobilisation of the army cost 13,000,000 
 roubles monthly; and that a prolonged 
 delay in ascertaining the decision of the 
 European powers imposed on Russia a 
 
 133 
 
 
THE RUSSIAN PROTOCOL.] 
 
 HISTOKY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 costly sacrifice. Lord Loftus replied, that 
 he must admit that any precipitate action 
 on the part of Europe would be most un- 
 wise and ill-judged at that moment ; for if 
 peace were happily concluded between the 
 Porte, Servia, and Montenegro, one of the 
 objects of the European conference would 
 be attained. In regard to the question of 
 reforms, it could not be expected that the 
 Porte could put them into execution in 
 twenty-four hours. The greater portion of 
 the reforms recommended by the conference 
 had been accepted by the Porte, and har- 
 monised with the constitution which had 
 been proclaimed, and it was but reasonable, 
 therefore, for Europe to grant a certain 
 respite to the Porte to enable it to prove 
 its sincerity in the assurances given. A 
 period of twelve months would enable the 
 Porte to give evidence of its determination 
 to carry out the proposed reforms. Prince 
 GortschakotF, however, replied that Kussia 
 could not wait for twelve, or even six 
 months, with the military cost she was 
 now incurring. The reforms, he observed, 
 could be perfectly inaugurated within two 
 months ; and, on March 11, he instructed 
 Count Schouvaloff to present to the British 
 government the draft of a protocol pro- 
 posed by the Kussian government for the 
 signature of the six powers. 
 
 This draft was brought to Paris by Gene- 
 ral Ignatieff, who liad been making a tour 
 through Europe " to obtain medical advice 
 for an affection which he was suffering 
 from," and which was popularly supposed 
 to be "Constantinople in his eye." But 
 the diplomatic nature of his journey was 
 avowed by Count Schouvaloff, who stated 
 that the object of the general's journey had 
 been to furnish explanations as to the real 
 views of the cabinet of St. Petersburg, and 
 to facilitate a pacific solution. He said, 
 that after the sacrifices which Russia had 
 imposed upon herself, the stagnation of her 
 industry and of her commerce, and the 
 enormous expenditure incurred by the 
 mobilisation of 500,000 men, she could not 
 retire nor send back her troops without 
 having obtained some tangible result as 
 regards the improvement of the condition 
 of the Christian populations of Turkey. 
 The emperor was sincerely desirous of 
 peace, but not of peace at any price, and 
 anxiously awaited the replies of the other 
 powers to the Russian circular. The Rus- 
 sian government would not express any 
 opinion by anticipation on these replies, but 
 134 
 
 I they foresaw in them the possibility of a 
 great danger. For if the replies were not 
 identical, what would be the position of the 
 imperial cabinet? The agreement of the 
 powers, so fortunately established at the 
 conference, might be broken up in conse- 
 quence of the shades of opinion manifested 
 in the replies of the several cabinets : would 
 not that be a determining cause to induce 
 her to seek for a solution, either by means 
 of a direct understanding with the Porte, 
 or by force of arms ? 
 
 Under these circumstances, the count de- 
 clared, it seemed to the Russian government 
 that the most practical solution, and the 
 one best fitted to secure the maintenance 
 of general peace, would be the signature by 
 the powers of a protocol which should, so 
 to speak, terminate the incident, and which 
 might be signed in London by the repre- 
 sentatives of the great powers, and under 
 the direct inspiration of the cabinet of 
 St. James's. It need contain no more than 
 the principles upon which the several 
 governments would have based their reply 
 to the Russian circular. It would be de- 
 sirable that it should affirm that the pre- 
 sent state of affairs was one which con- 
 cerned the whole of Europe, and should 
 place on record that the improvement of 
 tlie condition of the Christian population of 
 Turkey would continue to be an object of 
 interest to all the powers, whilst the Porte 
 having repeatedly declared that it engaged 
 to introduce reforms, it would be desirable 
 to enumerate them on the basis of Safvet 
 Pasha's circular. In this way there could 
 be no subsequent misunderstanding as to 
 the promises made by Turkey. 
 
 As a period of some months would not 
 be sufficient to accomplish these reforms, it 
 would be preferable not to fix any precise 
 limit of time. It would rest with all the 
 powers to determine, by general agreement, 
 whether Turkey was progressing in a satis- 
 factory manner in her work of regenera- 
 tion ; but, at the same time, the protocol 
 should mention that Europe would continue 
 to watch the progressive execution of the 
 reforms by means of their diplomatic repre- 
 sentatives. 
 
 If the hopes of the powers should once 
 more be disappointed, and the condition of 
 the Christian subjects of the Sultan should 
 not be improved, the powers would reserve 
 to themselves to consider in common the 
 action which they would deem indispensable 
 to secure the well-being of the Chriatiaa 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [RUSSIAN ABGOrENT. 
 
 w. 
 
 population of Turkey, and the interests of 
 the general peace. 
 
 In reply to this proposal. Lord Derby re- 
 quested Count Schouvaloff" to mention to 
 his government the three following pro- 
 visos, to which the assent of her majesty's 
 government to the protocol must be held to 
 be subject : — 
 
 1. That some formal pledge must be 
 given of the intention of Russia to disarm 
 if this protocol were signed. 
 
 2. That it be understood that the Porte 
 would not be asked to sign the protocol : 
 
 and, 
 
 3. That the agreement of the other 
 powers would of course be necessary before 
 the terms of the document could be con- 
 sidered as settled. 
 
 To these conditions Count Schouvaloff 
 agreed, and matters for the moment ap- 
 peared to be taking a favourable turn. 
 
 But in the meantime a cabinet council 
 was held, and at this council it was 
 evidently determined to make a cardinal 
 question of the first condition, and to refuse 
 to sign the protocol until Russia had given 
 a formal assurance to demobilise : for, three 
 days later, on March 17th, Lord Derby 
 wrote to Lord Lyons, saying that he had 
 communicated privately to the French am- 
 bassador a copy of the draft protocol on 
 the affairs of Turkey, as settled between 
 Count Schouvaloff and himself, and ac- 
 cepted by the count ad referendum to his 
 government. 
 
 He also stated in the private note for- 
 warding the draft, that it was understood 
 that the Turkish government would not be 
 asked to sign the protocol ; that its accept- 
 ance by her majesty's government was 
 subject to the assent of the other four 
 powers; and further, that her majesty's 
 government could only agree to become 
 parties to it on the condition of receiving a 
 formal assurance in writing from the Rus- 
 sian government that they would demobilise 
 their forces. 
 
 Meantime, General Ignatieff came to 
 London, and, with Count Schouvaloff, con- 
 tended in the first place that the bargain 
 as offered by Lord Derby was not a fair 
 . one. Turkey, not being required to sign 
 the protocol, was in no way pledged to 
 disarm; the recommendation to do so, 
 addressed to her by the powers, being 
 merely in the nature of advice. It was 
 unreasonable, they argued, that Russia 
 should bind herself to disarm as a condition 
 
 of the British government signing a docu- 
 ment which left Turkey free on that point. 
 They objected, secondly, that the state of 
 war still continued between Turkey and 
 Montenegro ; that if the Montenegrin State 
 were to be attacked and invaded, Russia 
 would be bound in honour to interfere for 
 its protection, the fulfilment of which duty 
 would be rendered impossible to her by a 
 promise of demobilisation. Thirdly, they 
 argued, that as a question of dignity it was 
 unsuitable that Russia should be called 
 upon to disarm before any similar appeal 
 was addressed to Turkey. 
 
 Thus it was the Porte, they said, which 
 ought to take the initiative, inasmuch as it 
 was not before Russia alone, but before all 
 Europe, that she was called upon to lay 
 down her arms. They observed, further, 
 that the condition of the two armies was 
 essentially different — the Russian army 
 being composed of regular troops, subject 
 to strict military discipline; whereas the 
 Turkish forces were to a large extent com- 
 posed of irregulars, whose remaining under 
 arms was a perpetual source of danger to 
 the surrounding population. 
 
 In continuation of this argument, they 
 pointed out that the demobilisation of the 
 Russian forces could be accomplished in 
 eight days; that the Turkish troops, on 
 the other hand, could not be sent back to 
 their homes under a period of many weeks, 
 or perhaps months ; and it was only reason- 
 able, therefore, that the latter should be 
 the first to begin the process. In connec- 
 tion with this subject. General Ignatieff 
 observed, that so large a part of the male 
 population of Asiatic Turkey had been with- 
 drawn from the cultivation of the soil for 
 the purpose of being placed under arms, 
 that unless they were speedily sent home, 
 famine would be the inevitable result. 
 Lord Derby then asked whether they could 
 give him any statement as to the condi- 
 tions under which the Russian government 
 would undertake to demobilise, supposing 
 always that they were ready to give such 
 assurances on any conditions and in any 
 form. In reply, Count Schouvaloff said 
 that he was not authorised to speak offici- 
 ally on the subject ; but he expressed it as 
 his opinion, in which General Ignatieff also 
 concurred, that the emperor would be will- 
 ing to disarm on three conditions ; — 
 
 1. That the Porte should take the initia- 
 tive. 
 
 2. That peace should be concluded 
 
 135 
 
TERMS OF THE PROTOCOL.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 with Montenegro as it had been with ' 
 Servia. 
 
 3. That the Turkish reforms should be 
 seriously taken in hand. 
 
 And he added a further proviso, that it 
 must be understood that demobilisation 
 would be stopped at once in the event of 
 fresh massacres being perpetrated on the 
 Christian populations. 
 
 Lord Derby, however, remained firm 
 until Count SchouvalofF, on behalf of his 
 government, proposed that if the Porte 
 should accept the advice of the powers as 
 contained in the protocol, the Sultan should 
 send a special envoy to St. Petersburg to 
 treat on the question of mutual disarma- 
 ment, to which the emperor, on his part, 
 would consent. 
 
 On this condition Lord Derby consented 
 to sign the protocol in the amended form 
 agreed to by the various powers as fol- 
 lows: — 
 
 "The powers who have undertaken in 
 common the pacification of the East, and 
 have with that view taken part in the con- 
 ference of Constantinople, recognise that 
 the surest means of attaining the object 
 which they have proposed to themselves, is 
 before all to maintain the agreement so 
 happily established between them, and 
 jointly to affirm afresh the common interest 
 which they take in the improvement of the 
 condition of the Christian populations of 
 Turkey, and in the reforms to be introduced 
 in Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Bulgaria, 
 which the Porte has accepted on condition 
 of itself carrying them into execution. 
 
 " They take cognizance of the conclusion 
 of peace with Servia, 
 
 " As regards Montenegro, the powers con- 
 sider the rectification of the frontiers and 
 the free navigation of the Boiana to be 
 desirable in the interest of a solid and dur- 
 able arrangement. 
 
 " The powers consider the arrangements 
 concluded, or to be concluded, between the 
 Porte and the two principalities, as a 
 step accomplished towards the pacification 
 which is the object of their common 
 wishes. 
 
 " They invite the Porte to consolidate it 
 by replacing its armies on a peace footing, 
 excepting the number of troops indispen- 
 sable for the maintenance of order, and by 
 putting in hand, with the least possible 
 delay, the reforms necessary for the tran- 
 quillity and well-being of the provinces, the 
 condition of which was discussed at the 
 136 
 
 [a.d. 1877. 
 
 conference. They recognise that the Porte 
 has declared itself ready to realise an im- 
 portant portion of them.' 
 
 "They take cognizance speciallv of the 
 circular of the Porte of the 13th "of Feb- 
 ruary, 1876, and of the declarations made 
 by the Ottoman government during the 
 conference and since, through its repre- 
 sentatives. 
 
 "In view of these good intentions on 
 the part of the Porte, and of its evident 
 interest to carry them immediately into 
 effect, the powers believe that they have 
 grounds for hoping that the Porte will 
 profit by the present lull to apply ener- 
 getically such measures as will cause that 
 efi'ective improvement in the condition of 
 the Christian populations which is unani- 
 mously called for as indispensable to the 
 tranquillity of Europe, and that having 
 once entered on this path, it will under- 
 stand that it concerns its honour as well 
 as its interests to persevere in it loyally and 
 efficaciously. 
 
 " The powers propose to watch carefully, 
 by means of their representatives at Con- 
 stantinople and their local agents, the 
 manner in which the promises of the Otto- 
 man government are carried into effect. 
 
 "If their hopes should once more be dis- 
 appointed, and if the condition of the 
 Christian subjects of the Sultan should not 
 be improved in a manner to prevent the 
 return of the complications which periodi- 
 cally disturb the peace of the East, they 
 think it right to declare that such a state 
 of affairs would be incompatible with their 
 interests and those of Europe in general. 
 In such case they reserve to themselves to 
 consider, in common, as to the means which 
 they may deem best fitted to secure the 
 well-being of the Christian populations, 
 and the interests of the general peace." 
 
 This protocol was signed, on March 31, 
 by the representatives of the six powers, 
 and was accompanied by an annexe, to the 
 effect that if the disarmament should not 
 take place, the instrument was to be consi- 
 dered null and void. This declaration, 
 which was supposed to be kept secret, was 
 communicated to the Porte together with 
 the protocol, to which they were requested 
 to give immediate attention. It soon be- 
 came evident that the Porte was disinclined 
 to yield an inch ; and Prince Gortschakotf 
 informed Lord Loftus, on April 6, that, in 
 regard to the intentions of the Porte, the 
 intelligence received from the Russian 
 
 
 
 
 ,* I'l 
 
 I ' : 
 
-O- 
 
 A 
 
 13 
 
 1^. 
 
 ri 
 
 .^ 
 
 
 ^fe^i 
 
 '±^ / 
 
 5^ 
 
 i\ 
 
 IB 
 
 iS 
 
 20 
 
 2 a 
 
 24 
 
 ■m_ 
 
 f%^f^ 
 
 /W 
 
 Chemovitf • Lir 
 
 , Mtli'anha. _ 
 
 J*d 
 
 ■— V 
 
 it.A 
 
 Jii^:^^' 
 
 X 
 
 14.-^:^^^ 
 
 ly^^r. 
 
 k. 
 
 ~^^trirt?hfi^i\ 
 
 \\ 
 
 iiirmff^iurvk' 
 
 SiHsc 
 
 rJArti 
 
 =Ji»»> 
 
 
 M 
 
 43**»'. 
 
 SWfiSSS'iflL*? 
 
 k:^-, 
 
 \ ' 
 
 w.^/ii-p 
 
 -AEte-iJ 
 
 
 .'V. 
 
 1 
 
 A 
 
 V/Tn«*) 
 
 >i, 
 
 doleni 
 
 L^ 
 
 — — ."■'T-"-'^^'°'"^^y^ 
 
 «?) 
 
 i»/to\ 
 
 \ 
 
 -s^'- 
 
 ^. 
 
 ALI 
 
 tSHA 
 
 U.J 
 
 
 4 
 
 THE BOGPHORLTS f-; 
 
 A^l IJ 
 
 ?r 
 
 1 1 
 
 ^ 
 
 '^- 
 
 :!? 
 
 r 
 
 xf,'". I • MiilC-oiM IhitHtza •^'It-^^Sfc ^- 
 / c j ^*VA^ Kojiar atz jjf ''^ ^ 
 
 T 
 
 )tjra<fariiat / 
 
 IV-liii 
 
 _^:iii,. 
 
 iMt/^ 
 
 1 : N £ T AN T 1 N or T.E 
 
 TK- 
 
 »♦- ^t 
 
 H<Tmansta«lt 
 
 ~K 
 
 'kZm^'^ 
 
 
 J 
 
 Tuftar 
 
 ■h 
 
 ■^ 
 
 r*<iiii*tin . 
 
 s7>«ra V/\s/ »/^a^ [»- ^^ __ 
 
 ,X 1 } JiairihisJi") j 
 J'ertfshyJ ... ^ [, ijr^ 
 
 Tdklchadf — ""^^ 4'"**^ ^ -'' 
 
 ■«i^, 
 
 ^>^ 
 
 /h.<-<! 
 
 ■itxnn 
 
 Kbsiao> 
 
 Ik<^tadt j*^^Jfr 
 
 Wlia 
 
 
 Iriuai 
 
 «ln;5^- 
 
 I-' 
 
 i. 
 
 J.cf Serpax-^- 
 
 Biuvfi(s 
 
 .Vtl 
 
 
 da FiVrfrul 
 
 
 ^- f'liniribarlnr 
 .. JSaratat''p 
 
 73. 
 
 f%)r:'^,~ — 
 
 ,„t 
 
 oKiNkiu^ J /'molar ^ Kara ^^j^Tx^aHa. 
 
 \C-mablar 
 
 
 4- 
 
 isvrs 
 
 >^> 
 
 >1'. 
 
 a^O^i T^a?' 
 
 V 9 
 
 fin-BaJmi'J^- 
 
 Lagosta 
 
 y^ 
 
 4' 
 
 ^iksi 
 
 m 
 
 %^^^'~t.^W^.-^-fi^r ,^^ -^M.^M^ A Ifcfc g^'^&t. V*^^ 
 
 
 1^ - "^„Binnft 
 
 / diii|i|ii ■ I ipmiiaiii ••• •"•ir""*'" v^''"' ^jSKskri 
 
 / 
 
 Cvrf Bnimia> "x^ ls 
 
 o\a^>^ 
 
 / ' ItttxiUitl 
 r . . t'tUdiJtio ^ 
 
 ,:^' c) -r A R ^ 
 
 iKtma 
 
 
 
 > 
 
 ^ 
 
 *Garga3iolV. 
 
 craiir OF MAyFRBiioyiA 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 £f> 
 
 ./T&J^"' 
 
 Aiiti 
 
 tiiiiiiihiiiih ' 
 
 
 ). 
 
 o/}^>(rt^ 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 .— , .....^u , ''1'' ''*> 
 
 IVA, 
 
 "JiaitMi \ «^. 
 
 
 Jar. 
 
 «i 
 
 ^■x\ 
 
 
 'iWfcOS'^a;?^ 
 
 rvJC^V 
 
 ramjJ.<M#" 
 
 "Chashoi, 
 
 ^"Demirtuss 
 
 ^v o.'' TIT ^ftx/tt* c /*D/ui^v 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 .agos 
 
 VL — 
 
 G A 1. 
 
 JrtitfuTvA 
 
 '^'''MflW^^'^ 
 
 
 Kualln 
 
 ■Or. 
 
 'Uiatia 
 
 SfplaCy, 
 
 o^a»rt.nia ^^„ 
 
 
 "^^^l 
 
 
 *i^^ 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 r^^ 
 
 
 ^^2-L^ 
 
 CSK £ 
 
 -5^ 
 
 %<. 
 
 «^. 
 
 -^ 
 
 
 i«^ ^^ ^ 
 
 
 ila 
 
 ,/aiata) -^^^iCc^. 
 
 :>*■ 
 
 
 
 «mp88a 
 
 '' Santo 1. 
 
 hnos^ 
 
 ^r> 
 
 b^ %urtiaki 
 
 -^ ^ I"' 
 
 ^ r 
 
 o 
 
 
 '-ii 
 
 TT 
 
 '^^> 
 
 CORt'T 
 
 i THf^s^JT-'f" l^^lhl..^ k^Tri^ala 'i^^-av*^ >^ 
 
 (Ufom 
 
 
 '.nt_ ^J 
 
 GREEK a\1.0Y£R 
 
 ^JTan 
 
 reltuffmifit\ "Ji'mniM rl^ljS^inili 
 
 J^^^^ 
 
 ^/ 
 
 Xj^ 
 
 
 O ID JO 
 
 l>lfil»S 
 
 l« 
 
 1« 
 
 
 'n 
 
 y 
 
 5^' jC 
 
 j^U 
 
 
 alt> 
 
 3'0 
 
A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [RUSSIA DECLARES WAR* 
 
 charge d'affaires was not satisfactory. The 
 Porte had received information of the pro- 
 tocol, as also of the declarations annexed to 
 it. He regretted that Lord Derby's decla- 
 ration should have been known to the 
 Porte, as he feared that it might encourage 
 its resistance to the protocol, and thus neu- 
 tralise the good effect which it might other- 
 wise have produced. He then added, in an 
 earnest and decided tone, that if the Porte 
 should reply verbally or in unsatisfactory or 
 evasive language, the imperial government 
 would consider the period of negotiations 
 as closed, and the time for military action 
 arrived. It was impossible, said the prince, 
 for Kussia to incur any longer the heavy 
 pecuniary sacrifices which she was now bear- 
 ing. The mobilisation cost her 750,000 
 roubles daily, and it had continued for 
 several months. Russia would not, there- 
 fore, consent to renew the thread of nego- 
 tiations, which might be dragged on for 
 months, to end only in a profitless result. 
 Finally, he concluded, they had arrived at 
 the eleventh hour, that it was a question of 
 days, and that a decision one way or the 
 other must be taken by the 13th of April. 
 He stated that the emperor could make no 
 further concessions, and that his majesty 
 would not recede from the position he had 
 taken. The answer, therefore, of the Porte 
 was of the most vital importance, as on it 
 would depend the question of peace or war. 
 
 This answer came on April 9th, in the 
 shape of a long despatch, which was summed 
 up as follows : — 
 
 "Strong in the justice of her cause, and 
 with confidence in God, Turkey declares 
 that she ignores what may have been 
 decided without her and against her. Deter- 
 mined to keep the place which Providence 
 has destined her for, she will not cease to 
 oppose to the attacks which are directed 
 against her, the general principles of inter- 
 national right, and the authority of a great 
 European compact which binds the honour 
 of the signatory powers of the protocol of 
 the 31st of March, which last document has 
 no legal validity in her eyes. She appeals 
 to the conscience of the cabinets, which she 
 is justified in considering as animated to- 
 wards her with the same sentiments of equity 
 and friendship as in the past." 
 
 All hopes of peace disappeared with this 
 reply, and, on April 23rd, the Czar, after 
 reviewing his troops at Kishineff, addressed 
 to them the following words : — 
 
 " I have done everything in my power to 
 
 avoid war and bloodshed. Nobody can say 
 
 that we have not been patient, or that the 
 
 ! war is of our seeking. We have practised 
 
 I patience to the last degree ; but there comes 
 
 a time when even patience must end." 
 
 I On the next day, April 24th, a manifesto 
 
 was published, of which the following is a 
 
 reproduction : — 
 
 " Our faithful and beloved subjects know 
 the strong interest which we have constantly 
 felt in the destinies of the oppressed Chris- 
 tian population of Turkey. Our desire to 
 ameliorate and assure their lot has been 
 shared by the whole Russian nation, which 
 now shows itself ready to bear fresh sacri- 
 fices to alleviate the position of the Chris- 
 tians of the Balkan Peninsula. The blood 
 and the property of our faithful subjects 
 have always been dear to us, and our whole 
 reign attests our constant solicitude to pre- 
 serve to Russia the benefits of peace. Tiiis 
 solicitude never failed to actuate us during*- 
 the deplorable events which occurred in 
 Herzegovina, Bosnia, and Bulgaria. Our 
 object before all was to effect an ameliora- 
 tion in the position of the Christians in the 
 East ; but having now exhausted our pacific 
 efforts, we are compelled, by the haughty 
 obstinacy of the Porte, to proceed to more 
 decisive acts. A feeling of equity and of 
 our own dignity enjoins it. By her refusal 
 Turkey places us under the necessity of 
 having recourse to arms. Profoundly con 
 vinced of the justice of our cause, and 
 humbly committing ourselves to the grace 
 and help of the Most High, we make known 
 to our faithful subjects that the moment 
 foreseen, when we pronounced words to 
 which all Russia responded with such com- 
 plete unanimity, has now arrived. We ex- 
 pressed the intention to act independently 
 when we should deem it necessary, and 
 when Russia's honour should demand it. 
 In now invoking the blessing of God upon 
 our valiant armies, we give the order to 
 cross the Turkish frontier." 
 
 War was thus declared, and with that 
 step the treaty of Paris and the result of 
 the Crimean war openly overthrown by 
 Russia. Such was the end of the Constan- 
 tinople conference ; such the result of the 
 vacillating, invertebrate policy of the Bri- 
 tish cabinet. They would neither actively 
 intervene to insist upon peace being pre- 
 served, neither would they engage in war 
 to enforce the observance of a treaty which 
 had been imposed upon Russia twenty years 
 before. 
 
 
 ft 
 
ROUMANUN CONVENTION.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1877. 
 
 A.D. IS77,] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 THE RUSSIAN GENERALS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE MARCH ON THE DANUBE, 
 
 Almost until the Russian troops had crossed 
 the frontier, there was a very prevalent 
 opinion that the Czar had no intention of 
 really proceeding to extremities. It was 
 thought in many circles that the Russian 
 commanders merely intended to make a de- 
 monstration, and to endeavour to overawe 
 the Turks into compliance with the demjinds 
 made at the Constantinople conference. 
 
 But military men, and above all those 
 who had been at Kishinetf, and had an 
 opportunity of seeing to what an extent 
 the Russian preparations had been carried 
 out, were fully convinced that Russia, from 
 the very first, fully intended to carry out 
 her programme by force of arms. 
 
 Least of all taken by surprise was Rou- 
 mania. This country certainly was in a 
 peculiar position. Lying between the two 
 hostile armies, it had the choice of remain- 
 ing neutral or of joining the ranks of one 
 of the two combatants. As to tlie inter- 
 national duty of the country, it was per- 
 fectly plain. By the convention of August 
 19th, 1858, at the conference of Paris, 
 wiiich had clearly defined the position of 
 Moldavia and Wallachia, Roumania was 
 placed under the supremacy of the Porte, 
 and formed a portion of the Turkish em- 
 pire. But the Turkish government had 
 completely alienated the Roumanians in 
 consequence of the impediments which had 
 been always opposed to the free develop- 
 ment of the country, by the refusal to 
 allow Roumania to conclude commercial 
 treaties, and by vexatious frontier legisla- 
 tion for the benefit of the Turkish pashas 
 in Bulgaria, who managed to get the laws 
 passed by their friends in Constantinople 
 in order to gain bakshish by allowing them 
 to be evaded by those who paid for the 
 privilege. There was thus no love for the 
 Turks; and, besides, if they allied them- 
 selves with the Porte, they would have 
 Russia for an enemy, Roumania would be- 
 come the battle-field for the hostile armies, 
 and, whether Turkey won or lost, there 
 would have been nothing for Roumania to 
 gain. On the other hand, by allying them- 
 selves with Russia, the battle-field would 
 be transferred into Bulgaria — in itself no i 
 138 
 
 small advantage — and there was no doubt 
 that, at the least, their independence would 
 be the smallest reward for their help. 
 Neutrality would probably have been t he- 
 best course to adopt ; for, in case of any 
 territorial changes on the Danube, it was 
 certain that Roumania would not be for- 
 gotten by the powers at the conclusion of 
 peace ; and the country would have been 
 spared much odium by refusing to join in 
 the bull-baiting to which Turkey was beinc 
 subjected on all sides. 
 
 It soon became clear, however, that Rou- 
 mania did not intend to observe any r^al 
 neutrality. Opportunity was at once takm 
 to protest against Roumania being sub- 
 jected to the new constitution which had 
 been promulgated in Turkey, and according 
 to which all the subjects of the Porte were 
 to be henceforth known as "Ottomans." 
 After much deliberation and negotiation, 
 the Porte at last declared that the new 
 constitution did not apply to Roumania, 
 the relations of which to the Porte remained 
 the same as heretofore. 
 
 Under these circumstances there was no 
 valid reason for Roumania openly to de- 
 clare war against Turkey by an offensive and 
 defensive alliance with Russia ; and thus, 
 on April 16th, 1877, the Roumanian minis- 
 ter, Cogalniceanu, addressed a circular to 
 the powers, in which he asserted the inten- 
 tion of Roumania to observe strict neu- 
 trality, to preserve peace, and injure no 
 national interest whatever. 
 
 On the same day, however, the Russo- 
 Roumanian convention was concluded. The 
 Russian armies were to be allowed free 
 transit through the country; the railways, 
 rivers, roads, post, telegraph, and all the 
 material resources of the country to be 
 placed at the disposal of the Russian com- 
 manders, who were also to have the right 
 to establish reserves at any point, except 
 Bucharest, in the rear of the active army ; 
 and to take all necessary measures to en- 
 sure their communications with their basis 
 of operations east of the Pruth, 
 
 This convention, though scarcely amount- 
 ing technically to an alliance, would cer- 
 tainly be regarded as such by the Turks; 
 
 and measures had therefore to be taken to 
 provide against a coup-de-main on the 
 part of the Turkish commanders on the 
 Danube. Consequently, two days later, 
 on April 18th, 10,000 men were called out 
 to concentrate at Bucharest, which is only 
 a few miles from the Danube ; and on April 
 20th, Prince Charles issued a decree for the 
 immediate mobilisation of the standing 
 army, the militia, and the/eserves. At the 
 same time a considerable portion of the 
 army and eighty cannon were sent to Kala- 
 fat, opposite Widdin, where the Russians 
 had received so disastrous a check during 
 the Crimean war. 
 
 These military preparations, of course, 
 led to inquiries by the Porte as to their 
 object ; and at the same time Safvet Pasha 
 called upon Prince Charles to take up arms 
 and concert measures with the Turkish 
 commanders to repel the impending inva- 
 sion of the Russians. To this Cogalni- 
 ceanu replied, that the decision of the 
 question, whether Roumania should take 
 part in the war or remain neutral, was for 
 the chamber to pronounce; but that, in 
 any case, the entry of Turkish troops 
 would be opposed. 
 
 On April 26th, Prince Charles opened 
 the chamber, and said that, as all his endea- 
 vours to induce the powers to acknowledge 
 the right of Roumania to remain neutral 
 had been fruitless, all that he could now do 
 was to prevent Roumania from becoming 
 the seat of war. The powers had not pro- 
 tested against the entry of the Russian 
 troops, and thus Roumania had to look 
 after her own interests. Hereupon the 
 convention with Russia was ratified by the 
 chamber with seventy-nine votes against 
 twenty-five, and in the senate with forty- 
 one against ten. 
 
 Roumania thus practically declared war 
 to Turkey, and Prince Charles himself took 
 the command-in-chief of the army, which 
 consisted of 38,000 infantry, 8,200 cavalry, 
 and 120 cannon. The condition of the 
 army was excellent ; the infantry was well 
 armed, and the artillery consisted entirely 
 of Krupp guns. The army was divided into 
 two army corps, each consisting of two divi- 
 sions. The chief of the general staff was 
 General Slaniceanu ; the commander of the 
 first corps. General Lupu, and of the second. 
 General Radovici. Abandoning the eastern 
 portion of the country to the Russian army, 
 the Roumanian troops occupied the western 
 portion between Krajova and Kalafat, where 
 
 thev remained on the defensive until the 
 beginning of September. 
 
 Sleantime, on April 24th, the same day 
 that war was declared, the Russian army 
 crossed the frontier. Six corps d'armee, 
 the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th, 
 had been collected on the Pruth under 
 Generals Prince Barclay de Tolly, Ra- 
 detzki, Kriidener, Prince Woronzoff, 
 Prince Schahkoffskoi, and Wanoffski. 
 Commander-in-chief was the Grand Duke 
 Nicholas, who had chosen General Nie- 
 pokoitschitzki for his chief of the staflf, 
 assisted by General Levitzki. 
 
 General Niepokoitschitzki was a short, 
 square-set, but active-looking man, hale 
 and hearty, and, in spite of his seventy 
 years, looked as fit to make a campaign as 
 if he were twenty years younger. Of Ger- 
 man extraction, his original name, Unruh, 
 was translated into its Polish equivalent, 
 signifying " restlessness " — a name, by the 
 way, singularly inappropriate, for General 
 Niepokoitschitzski was a man of the most 
 placid manner, and the equanimity of his 
 temper proverbial among the officers who 
 had served under him. A classical captain 
 asserted that he very felicitously combined 
 the suaviter in modo with the fortiter in 
 re. His hair, whiskers, and moustache 
 were snow-white ; but there was a flush of 
 hale colour on his cheek ; his eye was not 
 dim, neither was his natural force abated. 
 He wore a simple undress uniform, with 
 the aiguillettes which distinguish the staff 
 officer, and his only decoration was the cross 
 of St. George. 
 
 The general had seen more service than 
 most of the Russian leaders, and his expe- 
 rience of staff duty in particular had been 
 long and continuous. He joined the army 
 as an infantry officer, and first saw active 
 service in the Caucasus, where his merit 
 was so conspicuous that he speedily re- 
 ceived a staff appointment. He held an 
 important and responsible office on the 
 general staff in the army which Russia sent 
 to co-operate with Austria in quelling the 
 Austrian insurrection of 1849; and in the 
 Crimean war, or rather in the war which we 
 know conventionally by that name, he was 
 chief of staff to one of the corps composing 
 the army with which Gortschakoff occupied 
 the principalities, and took part, under 
 Paskiewitch, in the memorable siege of 
 Silistria. Since 1855 he had seen no active 
 service, but had been continually in mili- 
 tary employment of one sort or other, 
 
 139 
 
CENERAL SKOBELOFF.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1877. 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the TURKISH FLOTILLA. 
 
 and was chosen chief of the staflfof the army 
 of the south, because of his acquaintance 
 with the region of the Danubian valley, 
 derived from his experience in the campaign 
 of 1854. 
 
 General Levitzki had seen no active ser- 
 vice, and was a professor at the military 
 academy ; so that both lie and his superior 
 were but little more than theorists as far as 
 the science of war since 1856 — '5S was con- 
 cerned — a drawback which was destined to 
 make itself most conspicuous. 
 
 Of the men who had seen active service 
 in all its phases, there were few who had had 
 the experience of General Skobeloff, a tall, 
 handsome man, with a lithe, slender, active 
 figure, a clear blue eye, and a large, pro- 
 minent, but straight, well-shaped nose, the 
 kind of nose it is said Napoleon used to 
 look for among his officers when he wished 
 to find a general, and a face young enough 
 for a second lieutenant althoudi he was a 
 general — the youngest in the Russian army. 
 He made his name famous in Khiva, under 
 General Kauffmann, when he was only a 
 colonel. It will be remembered that, of the 
 five columns which marched on Khiva, only 
 four arrived, and that one (that of Colonel 
 Markosoff) was obliged to turn back in the 
 middle of the desert for want of water. 
 Kauffmann wished to know whether it would 
 be possible for Markosoff to reach Khiva by 
 that route; but the Turkomans with whom 
 he had been fighting had all fled in that 
 direction, and to have explored the route in 
 question with safety, it would have been 
 necessary to employ a strong column, which 
 Kaufifmann did not think the matter justi- 
 fied. The only other alternative was for a 
 small party to make the attempt at the 
 risk of falling into the hands of the 
 Turkomans. This Colonel Skobeloff volun- 
 teered to do. Taking three friendly 
 Turkomans with him, and disguising him- 
 self also as a Turkoman, he started on his 
 perilous journey. He did not return for 
 ten days, when he suddenly turned up at 
 Khiva the day before Kauffmann evacuated 
 the town, after having explored the way to 
 the point at which Markosoff had turned 
 back, measured the depth of the wells, 
 ascertained the amount of water they could 
 supply, and proved that the route was prac- 
 ticable. But SkobelofiTs most daring feat 
 was his attack upon the Khokandians, some 
 7,000 to 8,000 strong, when they were 
 following the Russians, after they had 
 evacuated Namagaa. The Russian column 
 140 
 
 numbered only 800 men, with about 400 
 Cossacks; they had still three days' march 
 to the frontier, and had only fifteen car- 
 tridges per man for the infantry, and three 
 cartridges a head for the Cossacks. Under 
 these circumstances General Trotski de- 
 cided to venture a night attack, and con- 
 fided his plan to Skobeloff, who was his 
 chief of the staff. Skobeloff at once caught 
 eagerly at the idea, and offered to lead the 
 attack himself ; but going on the principle 
 that a night attack should rather be in- 
 tended to terrify the enemy than to inflict 
 much material harm, he decided to take 
 only 150 Cossacks for the attack. Skobeloff 
 having reconnoitred the ground, perceived 
 that the Khokandians had encamped within 
 a mile and a-half of the Russians, in an 
 open plain, which gave every facility for 
 the manoeuvring of cavalry. At midnight 
 he took his 150 Cossacks, divided them into 
 three parties, and cautiously surrounded 
 the enemy's camp. The party led by Sko- 
 beloff himself managed to pass the enemy's 
 outposts, who were sound asleep. Then he 
 gave the signal for the attack by firing his 
 pistol, and, followed by his 150 Cossacks, 
 he rode headlong into the enemy's camp of 
 six or seven thousand men, shouting and 
 yelling like fiends, and cutting down every- 
 thing in their passage. 
 
 The effect was tremendous. For a 
 quarter of an hour the plain resounded with 
 shrieks and yells, shots, the trampling of 
 horses, shouts, and groans, and all the 
 uproar of battle. Then all was silence. 
 Skobeloff assembled his Cossacks, and when 
 morning came he found that the whole 
 army of the enemy had disappeared, leav- 
 ing on the field about 40 dead, 37 standards, 
 2,000 turbans, 2,000 or 3,000 muskets and 
 sabres, all their camp material and baggage. 
 But what was his astonishment, on calling 
 the roll, to discover that he had not lost a 
 man either killed or wounded. For a small 
 affair it was one of the most brilliant feats 
 ever recorded, for it inflicted a most disas- 
 trous defeat on the enemy, saved the Rus- 
 sian detachment, and enabled it to reach 
 the frontier and its base in safety. These 
 kinds of exploits obtained for Skobeloff the 
 reputation, even among the Russians, of 
 being a kind of madman, who would fling 
 away his own life, and those of his troops, 
 without the slightest regard to conse- 
 quences. General Skobeloff felt rather in- 
 dignant at this view of his character, and 
 it did him a great injustice, for there was 
 
 / 
 
 method in his madness, or rather what at 
 first appeared madness. For instance, attack- 
 ing 7,000 men with 150 was, as he said, 
 not only not madness, but a reasonable, 
 well-conceived plan, with the requisite 
 number of chances on the side of the at- 
 tacking party, and one that must have had 
 the approval of all military men. His ex- 
 planation was as follows : — Irregular troops, 
 even of the very bravest and best, are pe- 
 culiarly subject to panics when attacked 
 unexpectedly or from an unlooked-for quar- 
 ter. Now, anybody who has experienced it 
 knows that a night attack is a most terrible 
 and nerve-shaking thing for the army at- 
 tacked, even when composed of regular 
 troops. For irregular troops it is certain 
 destruction and defeat, if the attacking 
 party can penetrate their lines before they 
 have time to get fairly awake, as in the 
 present case. As to the small number of 
 troops taken by Skobeloff for this attack, 
 he says that the object of his attack was 
 not so much the hope of cutting the enemy 
 to pieces, as to strike terror among them 
 and create a panic; and for this purpose 
 150 Cossacks in the night, when their num- 
 ber could not be seen, were quite sufficient, 
 as they could make as much noise and pro- 
 duce as great an effect as ten times their 
 number ; while a small party was less liable 
 to confusion, and to the danger of killing 
 each other — the great danger of a night 
 attack for the attacking party ; and finally, 
 if they did not succeed, and should all be 
 killed, an eventualitv also to be taken into 
 account, the loss would be small, and such 
 as not to seriously weaken the detachment. 
 It will be seen, therefore, it was not such a 
 mad business after all ; and the result 
 proved Skobeloff had really calculated the 
 chances as any prudent general would do, 
 and simply found that they were on his 
 side. Although the new Khan of Khokand, 
 after this campaign, agreed to sign a new 
 treaty of peace, the Russians had no sooner 
 withdrawn from the country than he again 
 opened hostilities, and Kauffmann found 
 himself under the necessity of obtaining 
 permission to conquer and annex the 
 country ; and this task he entrusted to 
 Colonel Skobeloff, who, as commander of 
 an independent army, was promoted to the 
 rank of general. The task was accom- 
 plished with rapidity and skill, as may be 
 readily understood when it is stated that 
 when the khan surrendered to General 
 Skobeloff, after a three months' campaign, 
 VOL. III. U 
 
 nearly his first words were, "Before we 
 begin to talk, let me sleep, for I have not 
 had a night's rest nor a sound sleep for 
 more than a month." 
 
 Of the other generals on the Danube, 
 Dragomiroff, an accomplished strategist 
 and tactician, and General Gourko, a dash- 
 ing cavalry officer, were the only men who 
 enjoyed a modern reputation. The order 
 to cross the frontier having been given, it 
 was carried out with apparent celerity at 
 first. The various corps had been in posi- 
 tion for weeks, and had only to lay their 
 hands on the points in the immediate 
 vicinity where all had been well prepared 
 and there was no enemy to encounter. But 
 the march on the Danube was executed with 
 a delay and dilatoriness which soon can- 
 celled the favourable impression caused by 
 the promptitude with which the first move- 
 ments were executed. 
 
 From Bessarabia there was but one single 
 line of railway between Ungheni to Jassy, 
 whence it turns southwards to Bucharest, 
 via Barboschi, where it crosses the Sereth* 
 In consequence of the rains, this railway, 
 constructed originally in a very flimsy 
 fashion, was not safe at many points, and 
 the roads were also in a very bad state. 
 These impediments might have been con- 
 siderably increased by the Turks had they 
 destroyed the bridge over the Sereth at 
 Barbohchi before the arrival of the Russian 
 troops. The despatch of a few of the 
 monitors of the Turkish Danube flotilla 
 would have amply sufficed to overpower 
 the Roumanian garrison at Galatz, and to 
 have completely destroyed the bridge, which 
 was only thirty kilometres distant from 
 Mat chin, where the Turkish flotilla was 
 stationed. The Turks, however, acting 
 upon their old traditions, and refusing to 
 believe that they had in a very large measure 
 forfeited the sympathies of Europe, still 
 reckoned upon these sympathies, and im- 
 agined that by strictly confining themselves 
 to defensive measures, they would still 
 further secure these sympathies and cast 
 still more odium upon the aggressive policy 
 of Russia. Acting on this principle through- 
 out, and feeling certain that, sooner or 
 later, they would succeed in gaining the 
 assistance of one or more of the Western 
 powers, they neglected, on hundreds of 
 occasions, to make use of the opportunities 
 literallv thrown at their feet. 
 
 The Russians, however, were unfettered 
 by any such considerations, and let no scru* 
 
 141 
 
 
 
THE **LUTFI DJELIL."] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1877. 
 
 pies stand in their way. Thus General 
 Skobeloff, with his cavalry, accomplished 
 the march in one day from the frontier to 
 Barboschi, where he immediately seized the 
 bridge, and held it until the infantry and 
 artillery came up, and definitely secured 
 this most important point. This being ac- 
 complished, the Russian troops slowly, but 
 deliberately, began to spread themselves 
 out along the Danube without any hurry 
 or confusion, without any molestation from 
 the Turks. This behaviour of the Turkish 
 commanders is below criticism. They had 
 a powerful fleet in the Black Sea, and a 
 strong flotilla on the Danube ; whilst the 
 Russian naval force in the Black Sea was 
 still in embryo, and the Baltic fleet was 
 useless, as it could not force the Dardanelles. 
 Yet, in spite of all this, the Turkish fleet 
 accomplished nothing, and did little more 
 than common transport service, which could 
 bave been done cheaper and quicker by or- 
 dinary merchant vessels. As for the Danube 
 flotilla, the men and officers seemed panic- 
 stricken by the energy with which the 
 Russian commanders erected batteries and 
 laid torpedoes in the river, at Reni, below 
 Galatz, and at the entrance of the arm of 
 the Danube, between Braila and Matchin, 
 where the Turkish fleet rode at anchor, 
 and, by this operation, was literally caught 
 in a trap. On May 11th, one of these ves- 
 sels, the Lutji Djelil, an ironclad monitor 
 with five guns, steamed out from Matchin, 
 followed by two gun-boats, and at half- past 
 three was stationary under cover of the 
 wooded end of the island, with its three 
 masts visible above the trees. The Russian 
 gunners from the batteries close to Braila, 
 below the Roumanian barracks, opened fire 
 from their light guns, the range being 
 about four kilometres, but without effect. 
 The general officer present then gave direc- 
 tions for two eight-inch guns of position, 
 mounted in the battery, to come into action. 
 The first shot had no eff'ect. The second 
 shot, fired at a high elevation with a low 
 charge, dropped on the deck of the turret- 
 ship, and crushed down into the powder 
 magazine. Immediately a tremendous flash 
 and glare shot up from the interior of the 
 doomed craft, followed by a heavy white 
 smoke which hung like a pall. Through 
 this white cloud there shot up to a great 
 height a spurt of black fragments of all 
 shapes and sizes. When the smoke drifted 
 away, all that was visible of the turret-ship 
 was her stem, with the mizen-mast stand- 
 142 
 
 ing, whence still fluttered the Turkish flag. 
 The ship had gone down by the head in 
 shallow water. The fore and main masts 
 were blown out at once. Two Russian 
 steam-launches put off* from Braila, boarded 
 the wreck, gained the flag, gathered some 
 of the debris, and picked up only two men, 
 the fireman and the engineer, both severely 
 injured, out of a crew of 200 men, under 
 the command of Kezim Bey. Fragments 
 of the wreckage were picked up down tho 
 stream at Galatz. The Russian enthusiasm 
 in the battery was intense, and the officers 
 embraced each other, whilst the Turkish 
 gun-boats hurried away abruptly on the ex- 
 plosion of the turret-ship; but returned 
 an hour later, and fired on the Russian 
 launches engaged in looting the ship as 
 much as possible. 
 
 This was a severe blow to the efficiency of 
 the Turkish fleet ; but the Turks and their 
 friends consoled themselves with the asser- 
 tion, or belief, that the destruction of so 
 powerful a vessel was due to accident. But 
 a fortnight later they experienced a second 
 disaster. The naval officers and sailors who 
 had been sent down to the Danube from 
 the Baltic were fired by the ambition to 
 outdo their comrades of the line, and make 
 an attack on the Turkish vessels with their 
 torpedoes. With this object an expedition 
 was arranged, consisting of four small steam- 
 launches, two of which were to make the 
 attack, and the two others to hold them- 
 selves in readiness to render assistance in 
 case, as was probable, of an accident to 
 either of the attacking ones. The two 
 launches which were to make the attack 
 were commanded by Lieutenants Dubasotf 
 and Shestakoff", and manned, one by four- 
 teen, the other by nine men. The crews 
 were protected by an iron screen or awning, 
 which covered the boat completely over 
 from stem to stern, and which was suffi- 
 ciently thick to stop a bullet. This screen, 
 as well as the boat, was painted black, so 
 as to be scarcely distinguishable at night, 
 and the crew were thus protected against 
 the fire of small arms, exceot the man at 
 the wheel, who directed the movements of 
 the boat, and who was necessarily exposed. 
 The crews embarked in the boats a little 
 after twelve o'clock on Friday night. May 
 2oth, at a distance of about seven miles 
 from where the Turkish monitors were 
 lying. The night was dark and rainy, and 
 the clouds completely obscured the moon, 
 which nevertheless prevented the night 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [torpedo attack. 
 
 from being one of complete pitchy dark- j 
 ness. There was just enough light to en- • 
 able them to distinguish the dark masses of 
 the Turkish gun-boats without themselves 
 being easily seen. After an hours steaming 
 they came within the immediate neighbour- 
 hood of the enemy's flotilla. The engines 
 of the launches were so constructed as to 
 make very little noise, and when they were 
 glowed down all the sound they made was a 
 low dull kind of throbbing noise that was 
 almost drowned by the continual croaking 
 of the frogs, which are very large and very 
 numerous along the marshes of the Danube. 
 Nevertheless, the quick ear of a Turkish 
 sentinel caught the unusual sound, and he 
 cried out, " Who goes there?" in Turkish. 
 The boats advanced without replying The 
 sentinel again called out, and again re- 
 mained without an answer. He called out 
 the third time, and as it was becoming 
 evident that the ship would be alarmed. 
 Lieutenant Dubasoff replied, in Turkish, 
 "Friends!" and continued to advance. 
 The sentinel, however, was by no means 
 satisfied, and after calling out again two or 
 three times, he finally fired. Then the 
 Russians, who were by that time very near 
 the doomed monitor, heard a noise in the 
 ship. There was a scuffling of feet, the 
 rushing about of sailors, cries and shouts, 
 and the voice of an officer commanding 
 them to prepare the guns for action. They 
 heard the order given for the gun in the 
 bow to be fired. They heard it given three 
 times, and three times they heard the click 
 of the hammer, showing that an attempt 
 had been made to fire, and that the gun 
 had refused to go off". Finally, the third 
 time the order was given, a globe of flame 
 leaped over the side of the gun-boat, and a 
 shell went whistling over their heads. 
 They were evidently seen by the Turks. 
 One of the boats, that of Shestakoff", then 
 drew off", while that of Dubasoff" continued 
 to advance. Each boat was armed with 
 two torpedoes, attached to the end of a 
 long spar that projected from the bow. 
 These spars were arranged to move on 
 pivots, and could be swung round so as to 
 describe a half-circle. The torpedoes were 
 so placed that they could be detached from 
 the spars at any moment ; and, in addition 
 to this, long light chains were attached to 
 them by which they were to be tied on any 
 projecting part of the attacked ship, and 
 they were connected with the boat by a 
 tine flexible wire about 100 yards long. 
 
 The officer in command manipulated a small 
 electric battery, carried in the boat. A lively 
 fusilade had by this time been opened 
 upon the boat by the Turks ; but in spite 
 of this, the launch of Dubasoff shot under 
 the bow of the monitor, the chain which 
 was fastened to the torpedo was flung round 
 a chain or rope that was hanging from the 
 bow of the ship, the torpedo was dropped 
 from the spar, and the current of the river 
 carried it against the bottom of the ship. 
 The launch then shot away again until the 
 full length of the electric wire had been 
 reached. The officer applied it to the 
 battery in the boat, and at the same 
 instant a huge volume of water rose up 
 into the air, which half filled and nearly 
 swamped Dubasoff's launch, and a fearful 
 explosion was heard, which completely 
 drowned the shouts and cries and firing of 
 the Turks. In the meantime the other 
 monitors became alarmed, and, without 
 knowing the cause, fired at random, and a 
 fearful scene of terror and confusion ensued. 
 They not only fired on the Russian 
 launches, that still kept dodging about like 
 mosquitoes, but in their panic and confusion 
 fired into each other. The bullets rattled 
 over the iron awnings of the launches, but 
 did them no harm. They were not once 
 \ struck, although the bow of one was pierced 
 by a piece of a shell that exploded near it. 
 The two launches were now on opposite sides 
 of the doomed ship. Dubasoff perceived that 
 the monitor was sinking down by the head, 
 but very slowly ; while the Turks continued 
 to fire away blindly, but incessantly, both 
 with small arms and cannon. Dubasoff 
 cried out to Shestakoff to try and place 
 another torpedo in order to make sure of 
 the ship, and the latter slipped in under 
 the stern and put down another torpedo in 
 the same manner as the previous one. He 
 then shot off until he was at a safe distance, 
 applied the electric battery in the same 
 manner, and a still more terrible explosion 
 followed. Parts of the ship were blown 
 into the air, as was very soon perceived 
 when a large plank a few seconds later 
 came down endways, driving its way through 
 the iron screen into the boat, between two 
 of the sailors who were back to back close 
 to each other, without injuring either of 
 them. Then the monitor sank rapidly, and 
 after a few moments nothing but her masts 
 were visible above' water. The crew had all 
 either been drowned or had escaped by 
 swimming. Day now began to break, and 
 
 143 
 
THE RUSSIAN PLANS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 Ill 
 
 the position of the two little launches 
 within the near range of two other Turkish 
 monitors became very critical. To add to 
 the dan<i;er of the situation, the screw of 
 one of them got fouled, and the boat be- 
 came unmanageable ; wliile they perceived 
 a Turkish launch from one of the other 
 monitors bearing down on them. They 
 opened a fire of small arms on the Turkish 
 launch, which veered off and showed no 
 disposition to come any closer. One of the 
 sailors got out into the water, and after 
 several minutes' exertion succeeded in clear- 
 ing the screw, and the two launches, having 
 accomplished their mission of destruction, 
 darted off, passed under the fire of the two 
 other Turkish gun -boats, escaped unharmed, 
 and, rejoining their two consorts, returned 
 in triumph to their place of starting. The 
 grand duke received the news within two 
 or three hours after, and the rejoicing 
 among the Russians was very great ; the 
 two officers and the crews of the two boats 
 all receiving the Cross of St. George in 
 reward for their daring exploit. 
 
 Within a month, therefore, the Russians 
 had accomplished all that it was possible to 
 do. They had seized the Lower Danube, 
 and imprisoned and partially destroyed 
 the Turkish flotilla in the river, which was 
 still sixteen feet above its normal height, 
 and prevented the construction of bridges 
 between the two banks. This is a fact 
 which must be well borne in mind when 
 judging the campaign. It was generally 
 lost sight of during the commencement of 
 hostilities — an error which gave rise to the 
 unfounded belief that the Russians were 
 unprepared, and had neglected many im- 
 portant precautions. Anybody who knows 
 the course of the Lower Danube, with its 
 stretches of muddy, swampy banks, espe- 
 cially on the Roumanian side, will not be 
 surprised that the unusual height of the 
 river, and its long duration, materially im- 
 peded operations. 
 
 In the meantime the Russian troops were 
 being placed in position, and on June 6th, 
 when everything was reported to be in 
 readiness for the passage of the river, the 
 Czar, accompanied by Prince Grortschakoff 
 and a numerous suite, arrived at Ploesti, 
 north of Bucharest, where the Orand Duke 
 Nicholas had taken up his quarters, where, 
 on May 8th, he issued orders for the mobili- 
 sation of three more army corps, thus bring- 
 ing up the total in Europe to nine corps. 
 Of these nine corps, seven were set up on the 
 144 
 
 Danube; whilst two, the 7th and 10th, 
 occupied the coast between Odessa and 
 the Crimea. By the middle of June, the 
 disposition of the troops was as follows : — 
 The 14th corps occupied the line between 
 Galatz and Braila; the 11th was concen- 
 trated at Oltenitza and Giurgevo ; the 
 8th at Zimnitza; the 9th at Turn-Ma- 
 gurelli; whilst the 12th, 13th, and 14th 
 formed the second line at Saleasa, Alexan- 
 dria, and Bucharest. 
 
 This disposition of the troops, which was 
 quite well known to the Turks, pointed to 
 an intention to effect the passage of the river 
 between Zimnitza and Turn-Magurelli ; 
 and that being the case, the general plan of 
 the Russian advance was easily foreseen, 
 especially when the position of the Rou- 
 manian troops was also taken into account. 
 
 It was clear that the invading armies had 
 been so disposed that Prince Charles and 
 the Roumanians were to form the rio-ht 
 wing of the advance ; that the 8th corps, 
 under General Radetzki, and the 9th, under 
 General Kriidener, were to form the centre ; 
 and the 14th corps, imder General Zimmer- 
 mann, formed the left wing. 
 
 The object of this disposition was to 
 allow the two wings to engage the enemy 
 so as to leave the passage free for tho 
 centre to push on to the Balkans, spreading 
 out right and left till it was able to take 
 the Turks between it and the two wings. 
 
 The 8th and 9th corps were to lead the 
 attack; the 12th was to protect the right 
 flank of the advance, in conjunction with 
 the Roumanians, against Osman Pasha at 
 Widdin ; and the 4th, acting with the 12tl), 
 was to protect the left flank of the advance, 
 whilst the 14th harassed the rear of the 
 Turkish positions in the Quadrilateral — at 
 Rustzuk, Schumla, Silistria, and Varna. 
 Strictly carried out, and barring any great 
 mistakes, this plan had everything to re- 
 commend it, and most military men pre- 
 dicted for it a complete success, unless the 
 Turks should take a vigorous offensive. 
 Had the Turkish commanders been able to 
 do this — had they thrown their armies 
 across the Danube on either flank of tho 
 Russian armies, the course of the war 
 might have been materially altered. Such 
 action might have afforded them some 
 chances of success ; and, at any rate, they 
 would have gained an additional line of 
 defence — the Danube — which, as matters 
 stood, was really no line of defence at all, 
 butji on the contrary, a source of weakness. 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 But Abdul Kerim Pasha, who was en- 
 trusted with the command-in-chief of the 
 armies in Bulgaria, distinguished himself 
 only by endless faults of omission rather 
 than commission, but which, in the face of 
 an enemy like the Russians, could not but | 
 end disastrously ; for though he might en- ' 
 tail serious losses upon them, still, as they 
 had practically an inexhaustible supply to 
 draw from, the loss of a few thousand men, 
 more or less, could have no lasting influence 
 on the course of the campaign. 
 
 His mistake in allowing the Russians 
 to seize the Barboschi bridge we have 
 already alluded to. From Hirsova, or 
 JNIatchin, he could easily have so destroyed 
 the railway, and harassed the Russian 
 communications with Kishineff, as to have 
 materially hindered their operations. Ope- 
 rating from Widdin, he could easily have 
 taken Kalafat, and left to Osman Pasha the 
 task of advancing to the Aluta, as Omar 
 Pasha did in 1853. Servia was then not in a 
 state to take any decisive action, and might 
 well have been disregarded. But for all 
 this Abdul Kerim did nothing, though 
 he was repeatedly warned by Blum Pasha, 
 a Prussian engineer in the service of the 
 Porte. To all counsellors he replied that 
 he had a " secret plan," an infallible plan, 
 and that if the Russians should attempt to 
 cross the Danube, they would be ecrases — 
 crushed. 
 
 Doubtless, Abdul Kerim's wonderful plan 
 was simply to allow the Russian centre to 
 cross the Danube, and, trusting to Widdin 
 and the Quadrilateral to cover the rear of his 
 own and Osman Pasha's armies, to fold up 
 the Russians with them, and drive them 
 back across the river. Had the Turkish 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [passage of the danubr 
 
 armies possessed any mobility worth speak- 
 ing of, this plan might have succeeded ; but 
 without any of the appliances necessary for 
 the rapid movements of an army, it was 
 predoomed to failure. As it was, the 
 Turks were concentrated in three centres — 
 at Schumla and in the Quadrilateral with 
 about 80,000 men ; at Widdin with about 
 40,000; and south of the Balkans with 
 about 30,000 men. These were regulars. 
 In addition there were a number of ir- 
 regulars attached to the regulars, of whom 
 there are not even now any reliable figures 
 to be had. But the total of men which the 
 Turks had to oppose to the Russians may 
 be put down in round figures at about 
 160,000. Thev were all well-armed and 
 well supplied with ammunition. 
 
 Everything was ready, on the Russian 
 side, for the advance by June 6th ; and so 
 confident were the Russian leaders of gain- 
 ino' a speedy victory, that on the 8th Count 
 Schouvaloff had an interview with Lord 
 Derby to arrange matters in case the Rus- 
 sians should force their way across the Bal- 
 kans, and to provide, in that case, for a 
 basis of peace. The answer to this was 
 that England would be obliged to consult 
 her own interests should Constantinople be 
 threatened by the Russian armies ; and he 
 also refused to tender any advice to the 
 Porte to the efi'ect that they should yield at 
 the last moment to the demands of the 
 Constantinople conference, as about to be 
 enforced by Russia, and under pressure of 
 the Russian armies. 
 
 All hopes of a peaceful solution were 
 herewith destroyed. Diplomacy had arrived 
 at the end of its task, and the future was 
 left to the decision of arms. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE FIRST PASSAGE OF THE DANUBE. 
 
 As soon as the Danube had sufficiently 
 fallen. General Zimmermann received orders 
 to cross the river. The gros of his troops 
 lay between Braila and the mouth of the 
 river Sereth, where a bridge had been con- 
 structed across the river, with the exception 
 of the finishing trestle portion across the 
 muddy flats lett bare by the receding 
 waters. This bridge had been constructed , 
 
 in full view of the Turkish garrison and 
 troops at Matchin without any serioua 
 molestation, and it was universally assumed 
 — and with reason — that by this bridge the 
 Russians would pass over into the Do- 
 brudja. 
 
 On June 20th, however. General Zimmer- 
 mann proceeded to Galatz, and brought 
 down two regiments to a point between 
 
 145 
 
II 
 
 Hi 
 
 n 
 
 I 
 
 BATTLE OF MATCHIN.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 Galatz and the mouth of the Sereth, oppo- 
 site the Turkish village of Budjak, where, 
 on the neighbouring heights, the Turks had 
 taken up a position in small numbers. 
 
 The position on June 20th was as is 
 shown in the annexed sketch A. 
 
 A — Position on June 20. 
 
 Braila. 
 
 o 
 
 BridRre. 
 
 Galatz. 
 
 Danube. 
 
 the firing. The scene was a most interesting 
 and animated one. The left bank of the 
 Danube, at Braila, is thirty or forty feet 
 high. Below lay the river gleaming brightly 
 in the sunshine, covered with boats, ships, 
 steamers, and barges, which were unable to 
 
 B — Position on June 28, 
 
 Braila. 
 
 o 
 
 Diinube. 
 
 ryn o Budjak. 
 
 Zizila. 
 
 Matchin. 
 
 Russians. 
 
 Turks, 
 
 Bridjre. 
 
 =)(= 
 
 Galatz. 
 
 Danube. 
 
 o Budjak. 
 
 Zizila. 
 
 I 
 
 Danube. 
 
 o Matchin. 
 
 The gros of the 14th corps was concen- 
 trated near Braila, at the head of the bridf>'e : 
 two regiments were between Gralatz and the 
 Sereth ; whilst the Turks had taken up a 
 position in force and in ambush near the 
 Turkish head of the bridge, on the road 
 leading to Matchin ; and a small force 
 occupied the heights of Budjak. 
 
 During the night of June 21st to June 
 22nd, General Zimmermann ordered the 
 Kjasan regiment (Count Moltke's regi- 
 ment) to cross the river in open boats. This 
 was done, and, after several hours' fighting, 
 the Turks were obliged to evacuate the 
 heights and fall back upon Matchin. The 
 next day, June 22nd, the second regiment 
 crossed the river, whereby the Turkish 
 position at Matchin was turned, and oc- 
 cupied on June 23rd by General Zimmer- 
 mann, who then had the bridge completed, 
 and brought the rest of his troops across 
 without further opposition. By June 
 28th the position was as is shown in the 
 annexed sketch B. 
 
 With these sketches before him, the 
 reader will be able fully to understand the 
 detailed account of the passages. 
 
 The news that the Russians had already 
 crossed the river arrived at Braila at 5 a.m., 
 when the inhabitants were already on the 
 alert, gathering in crowds on the river bank, 
 to watch the fight that was going on at the 
 other side of the valley, which could be 
 followed very dibtinctly by the smoke and 
 14tJ 
 
 ■■ Russians. 
 
 escape during the time of grace that was 
 allowed to them after the declaration of 
 war, and which the Russians seized and 
 turned to account for military operations. 
 Further down was the bridge, lying low 
 upon the water, stretching far across the 
 wide, swiftly rolling stream, and losing it- 
 self apparently among the marshes and 
 reeds on the other side ; beyond were 
 marshes, trees, brushwood, tall grass, wav- 
 ing reeds, and rushes, through which could 
 be seen everywhere the gleam of water, 
 showing that the whole valley was still sub- 
 merged ; still further in the distance, and 
 nearly ten miles away, was the town of 
 Matchin, lying at the foot of a mountain 
 slope, with a confused mass of houses, and 
 two tall white minarets risinof from 
 amongst them, and clearly defined against 
 the low range of mountains beyond. Down 
 the river, the water, growing broader and 
 wider and deeper, spread over the entire val- 
 ley, until it seemed to take the dimensions of 
 a lake, where, in the far-otf distance, lay 
 Galatz, dim aad indistinct in a luminous 
 haze, looking like a mirage city in a mirage 
 ocean. On that range of mountains run- 
 ning down from Matchin, in the direction 
 of Galatz, puffs and long lines of white 
 smoke rose up from the mountain side, 
 and were borne away on the air in thin 
 fleecy clouds. The dull, booming, heavy 
 sound of cannon, a distant roar of artillery, 
 and the continued and rattlin<r crash of bmali 
 
 ■ Hi 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [battle of matchin. 
 
 arms were borne towards Braila in a softened 
 kind of roll on the still, sunny air. It was 
 there that the battle was going on ; the Rus- 
 sians were already on the other side, and 
 were attacking the Turks. 
 
 General Zimmermann, as we have already 
 said, had gone to Galatz, where he had col- 
 lected a sufficient number of boats to carry 
 over about 1,800 men at a time, and at 
 daybreak on Friday, June 21st, that number 
 of troops was embarked and started across 
 on the perilous adventure. The distance 
 to be traversed in boats was nearly three 
 miles, and when land was finally reached it 
 was not terra-firma at all, for the ground 
 on the edge of the water was a mere marsh 
 overgrown with reeds and rushes, with the 
 water all over it, too shallow for boats, but 
 deep enough to make the further progress 
 most difficult on foot. It had been hoped 
 that the boats might manage to cross two 
 or three times before the Turks received 
 warning ; but the latter apparently had re- 
 ceived correct information of the projected 
 movement, and when the first boat-load of 
 Russians arrived they met with a warm re- 
 ception. 
 
 A glance at the sketches will show the 
 Danube running in two separate channels 
 from Hirsova to Braila. The old channel, 
 the one on the right, makes a sharp turn 
 just opposite Braila at Matchin, and runs 
 at right angles with its former course, until 
 it rejoins what is now the main stream, 
 three or four hundred yards below Braila. 
 It was just below the point where the two 
 streams unite that the bridge had been con- 
 structed ; the road from Matchin, running 
 along the lower banks of the old channel, 
 reaches the river at this point ; and, in fact, 
 the bridge had been built on the spot where 
 the crossing is usually effected by means of 
 a ferry. The whole valley of the Danube 
 here, as well as this road, was still for the 
 most part under water. Behind Matchin, 
 supposing the observer to be standing at 
 Braila, will be seen the range of moun- 
 tains or hills extending from Matchin in 
 the direction of Galatz, opposite which place 
 they diminish to a low narrow point, or pro- 
 montory, which, rising out of the water, 
 appears to be considerably higher than it 
 really is. It was just opposite this point that 
 the Russians landed; and here the Turks 
 were posted on the narrow range of hills, in 
 front of the very spot which the Russians had 
 chosen, and as soon as they came within range 
 the Turks opened upon them a well-directed 
 
 fire. They had only two pieces of artillery, 
 however, and the Russians were sufficiently 
 well protected by thick plank bulwarks that 
 had been constructed on the side of the 
 boats ; and it was not until they began to 
 disembark, and wade through the water knee- 
 deep, that the fire of the Turks commenced 
 to tell. Then the fight became a close and 
 desperate one. The first 1,800 Russians 
 who arrived were obliged to maintain them- 
 selves against a very superior number of 
 Turks until the return of the boats with a 
 second lot, by taking shelter wherever they 
 could find it, by advancing part of the way 
 up the heights and taking cover behind 
 rocks, and otherwise availing themselves of 
 every advantage which the ground offered. 
 It is difficult to account for the fact that 
 this inferior force of Russians was not over- 
 powered and driven back into the water by 
 the superior numbers of the Turks ; but the 
 fact is that they managed to hold their 
 ground until they were reinforced by the 
 return of the boats. 
 
 The hardest part of the fighting, and the 
 greatest loss of the Russians, occurred at 
 this time, and their position was a most 
 critical and trying one, as they had abso- 
 lutely no means of retreat ; they had either 
 to fight or to surrender. The Turks charged 
 them with the bayonet, and the fight became 
 a close and a hot one, though the small 
 number engaged on both sides accounts for 
 the small loss suffered by the Russians. 
 Several Russians were killed and wounded 
 by bayonets, and even the two or three 
 hundred Turkish cavalry charged, or at- 
 tempted to charge them, and some of the 
 wounded had sabre-cuts, to show how close 
 had been the contact with the daring 
 Turkish horsemen. These latter were Cir- 
 cassians, and fought like tigers. They 
 succeeded in isolating and surrounding an 
 advanced detachment of some fifteen or 
 twenty Russians, and cutting them off to 
 the last man ; and in spite of a fire that was 
 poured in upon them, and which caused 
 them very severe losses, they got down from 
 their horses, the better to follow the enemy 
 in the marshy ground. Even the Russians 
 said that the Turks behaved with the utmost 
 bravery and resolution ; but as soon as the 
 boats arrived with a second lot the tide of 
 battle began to turn, and the Turks, from 
 acting upon the offensive, were soon obliged 
 to defend themselves. Altogether, two 
 regiments, or about 6,000 Russians, crossed 
 over in the morning with four pieces of 
 
 147 
 
 • SI 
 
 4A 
 
PEFEAT OF THE TURKS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1877. 
 
 11 I 
 
 r 
 
 I - 
 
 artille'-y, and the Turks began soon to give 
 way. The Russian artillery, however, 
 proved to be useless, owing to the nature of 
 the ground, which was so marshy that it was 
 impossible to bring the cannon into action 
 until it was no longer needed. As soon as 
 the two regiments had landed they began to 
 push the Turks hard, and, climbing up the 
 heights on both sides, soon succeeded in 
 carrying them. But the Turks only re- 
 treated to the next hill, and again made 
 a stand till tliey were pursued by the 
 Russians, who, after driving them from hill 
 to hill, at last gained the heights above 
 Zizila, where the combat ceased, the Rus- 
 sians having lost 200 men in killed and 
 wounded. 
 
 Tlie Turks had only 3,000 men, with half 
 a battery of artillery, and about 300 cavalry. 
 The Russians advanced no further than 
 Zizila on Friday ; but it soon became 
 evident that as soon as they wished to 
 advance to Matchin they would meet with 
 little or no resistance. About three o'clock 
 ^the Turkish cavalry and artillery fell back 
 from the last position, opposite the heiglits 
 of Zizila,downthe hill-side towards Matchin, 
 at full gallop, and in the night, people 
 coming over from that town informed the 
 Russians that the Turks had abandoned the 
 place, and during the night the Cossacks 
 entered and took possession. Matchin was 
 in the hands of the Russians, and the pas- 
 sage of the two army corps stationed about 
 Braila was thus secured. Nothing further 
 of any interest occurred during the night 
 at Braila. The cafes and the restaurants, 
 and the cafe concerts — for there is a cafe 
 concert in every hotel — were full of people, 
 Russian officers and inhabitants of the 
 town, all discussing the events of the day. 
 The streets were alive with people, the 
 tread of troops marching through the town, 
 on their way to the bridge, to begin the 
 crossing as soon as the bridge was ready 
 for the operation. There was, however, a 
 good deal to be done before it could be 
 made safe for the passage of large bodies 
 of men or of heavy war materials ; and 
 in the meantime General Zimmerman n, 
 on his return from Galatz, took with him 
 three steamers from Braila loaded with 
 men, each steamer towing two barges, 
 which were lashed one on each side of 
 it. These barges were protected on the 
 side opposite the steamer by huge 
 wooden bulwarks, built up to the 
 height of a man, with loopholes through 
 148 ^ 
 
 them, quite thick and strong enough for 
 protection against a bullet. But a shell 
 striking them would have made sorry 
 havoc among the men on board. Besides 
 these three steamers and six barges, there 
 were any number of small rowing-boats 
 which had started some hours before. In 
 all. General Zimmermann took over on this 
 expedition about 2,000 men, with four 
 pieces of artillery. No caution was used 
 in coming up to the place, as Matchin was 
 already full of Russian troops, and Russian 
 sentinels were overlooking the town and 
 the river, where only twenty hours before 
 had been seen the Turks. As soon as the 
 inhabitants saw the boats coming they 
 formed into a procession, and came down 
 to the shore to meet them with banners, 
 holy pictures taken from the churches, and 
 various other religious emblems. They 
 were led by three priests and some other 
 church dignitaries in full canonical robes, 
 and chanting a hymn. General Zimmer- 
 mann took otr his cap and kissed the little 
 wooden cross that was presented to him, 
 while with a bunch of green leaves they 
 splashed any amount of holy water over 
 his head, and in fact almost drenched him. 
 Each of those who followed were treated 
 with the same copious shower-bath ; and as 
 the day was hot, and all were in a terrible 
 perspiration, the ordeal was by no means 
 an unpleasant one. The people then 
 greeted their new friends with loud 
 hurrahs, and marched after them, mani- 
 festing the most extravagant joy, especially 
 the boys, whose delight was as unbounded 
 as it was troublesome. Nevertheless, in 
 spite of something that was grotesque 
 about it, all this reception of the con- 
 querors by the conquered, of the invaders 
 by the invaded, had a profound political 
 significance. These people, instead of look- 
 ing upon the Russians as enemies, and 
 conquerors, and invaders, and oppressors, 
 hailed them with delight and satisfaction 
 as their deliverers from a degrading and 
 terrible bondage, which Europe had con- 
 doned and sustained too long. These same 
 people would have hailed Englishmen with 
 the same delight as the Russians, had 
 English help but come in time. 
 
 The inhabitants remaining in Matchin 
 were all Christians; the Turkish popu- 
 lation, who were in a small minority, fled 
 soon after the declaration of war, carrying 
 away all their worldly goods. A great 
 part of the inhabitants, too, were Rubsians, 
 
A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 FeNTRY into MATCHINi 
 
 of the sect known as the Old Believers, 
 who emigrated from their own country, 
 and settled here on the banks of the Danube 
 more than a hundred years ago. They 
 still speak Russian, and wear the costume 
 of the Russian peasant ; but they were by 
 no means delighted at the arrival of their 
 countrymen. The rest of the inhabitants 
 were Bulgarians and Wallachians. The 
 town had a strange, lonely, deserted, dilapi- 
 dated look, partly owing to the fact that 
 the houses formerly occupied by the 
 Turkish population were quite untenanted, 
 that the shops had not yet been opened 
 after the previous day's scare, and partly 
 because a Turkish town always has this 
 dreary, tumble-down, unkempt appearance. 
 Looking into the windows of many of the 
 Turkish houses, one saw the empty, aban- 
 doned rooms which had so lately been in- 
 habited, and which looked all the sadder 
 and more melancholy because of the thought 
 that came unconsciously into one's mind, 
 that their owners would never come back 
 again. The doors of the mosque were 
 wide open as usual ; but the floors, strewn 
 with dirty matting, dust, and litter, showed 
 that it had not been used for many 
 weeks. The verses of the Koran were still 
 written on bits of board or paper, and hung 
 round the walls as though they were ex- 
 pecting the Mussulman worshippers of 
 Allah back again; but high up in the 
 minaret beside it, whence the mullah was 
 wont to call all good Mohammedans to 
 prayer, stood a Russian sentinel. 
 
 TheKonak,the residence of the Kaimakan 
 of Matchin, was rather a large, fine, well- 
 looking house ; but not a stick of furniture 
 of any kind had been left; all had been 
 carried off in the hurried fliijht of the 
 Turks. The floor of nearly every room was 
 almost a foot deep with papers written in 
 Turkish, torn to pieces and trampled about 
 on the floor. They were the archives of 
 Matchin, the records of titles and deeds of 
 probably all the property in the district. 
 The Turks, it is well known^ keep their 
 archives and records on scraps of paper in 
 bags that are hung on nails around the 
 walls, and these papers bad been emptied 
 out here on the floor and destroyed for the 
 sake of getting the bags in which they 
 wexe contained. Everything, in factj about 
 the place looked as though the Turks 
 themselves had gone away never expecting 
 to come back again. 
 
 The Russian goldiers, however, found 
 
 VOL. IIL X 
 
 something which pleased them mightily. 
 This was a room filled half-way up to the 
 ceiling with tobacco, old, musty, and partly 
 rotten> which they carried off in armfuls, 
 like hay, with the greatest glee and satis- 
 faction. 
 
 By June 26th, the bridge was com- 
 pleted. It was a fine piece of workj 
 strong enough to carry over the heaviest 
 artillery, and was evidently made to last a 
 long time. The first 1,600 feet from the 
 Roumanian shore was trestle-work, built 
 along over the railway, which before the 
 inundation ran down to the edge of the 
 river, where it was met by the ferry-boat* 
 Part of the railway had been swept away^ 
 and even that which remained was still 
 under water, and the bridge some five feet 
 higher than the railway track under it. The 
 bridge was made of immense wooden trestles 
 on benches, exceedingly strong and solid^ 
 put down on sleepers which lay along on the 
 'ground. Over this was laid a roadway of 
 planks wide enough for one waggon or 
 cannon to pass. At the end of this trestle- 
 work came the bridge proper, not constructed 
 on pontoons, but on immense rafts. The 
 length of this part of the bridge was 1,750 
 feet, and there were fifty rafts in all. These 
 rafts were composed of long pieces of beau- 
 tiful timber, whole trunks of trees from 60 
 to 80 feet long and from 15 to 20 inches in 
 diameter at the large end. Each raft was 
 composed of eight to ten pieces solidly 
 bolted and fastened together, and anchored 
 with strong hemp cables to heavy iron 
 anchors dropped in the bottom of the river. 
 The roadway was laid over this, as over the 
 trestles. At the Turkish end was formerly 
 the village of Getchet, which is a village no 
 more. It was a place of twenty-five or fifty 
 houses, not one of which is left standing. 
 It was first demolished by the Russian 
 batteries to drive away the Turkish out- 
 post that was stationed there; and when 
 Captain Klemenka, the builder of the 
 bridge, began his work, he found it neces- 
 sary to continue the roadway to the other 
 end, which was for the most part under 
 waterj in the best way he could. He 
 simply used the debris and rubbish of 
 these houses and walls to make a road, 
 which was built right over the foundation 
 of the houses. In no other way could he 
 get a sufficiently solid foundation on which 
 to build. The road, therefore, went zig- 
 zagging about from house to house, with a 
 piece of bridge here and a piece of trestle- 
 
 149 
 
PASSAGE OF THE DANUBE.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 work there, pieced into the chaussee in the 
 most curious manner. Altogether it was 
 a most creditable piece of work so far, and 
 did Captain Klemenka great honour. 
 Across this bridge, then, Greneral Zimmer- 
 mann led the 14th corps into the Do- 
 brudja, the Turks falling back as the Rus- 
 sians advanced without offering any serious 
 resistance, and abandoning to them the 
 towns of Isaktcha, Tuldscha, Babadagh, 
 and Hirsova, until they had gained the 
 line of Czernavoda-Kustendji and Trajan's 
 Wall, which, however, they also surrendered 
 after a short resistance, and abandoned it 
 to General Zimmermann. 
 
 By this operation nearly the whole of the 
 Dobrudja was in the hands of the Russians 
 by July 19th, and the Turks effectually pre- 
 vented from pouring in troops or ammuni- 
 tion by way of the Danube or Kustendji, 
 had they even tried to do so ; which, however, 
 they did not, preferring to follow the 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 example of Omar Pasha during the Crimean 
 war, and endeavour to effect a diversion in 
 the rear of the Russian army in the Caucasus 
 and Asia Minor. This endeavour was as 
 abortive as that of Omar Pasha's, and from 
 similar causes. A reference to the following 
 sketch C shows the position of the 14th 
 corps under General Zimmermann on July 
 19. Trajan's Wall, Czernavoda, and Medji- 
 dieh, were in his hands, and Kustendji was 
 effectually blockaded. Not only that, but 
 the troops in the Quadrilateral were also 
 prevented from advancing against the Rus- 
 sians before Rustzuk and on the Lom ; 
 so that although General Zimmermann was 
 unable to acquire much glory on the field, 
 he contributed in no small degree to the 
 success of the Russian arms further west. 
 To the operations in this direction we must 
 now turn our attention, and show how the 
 second and most important passage of the 
 Danube was effected. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE SECOND PASSAGE OP THE DANUBE. 
 
 Whilst General Zimmermann was success- 
 fully carrying out the plan of campaign in 
 the extreme eastern portion of the field of 
 war, the arrival of the Czar in Roumania, 
 and the increased stir and bustle amongst 
 the troops echelonned along the line of the 
 Danube, showed that an attempt to effect 
 the passage of the river by the gros of the 
 army might be expected at any moment. 
 The question was, where ? At a distance 
 from the spot, and taking into consideration 
 the length of the line occupied, it might 
 at first sight appear almost impossible to 
 have fixed upon the spots at which the at- 
 tempt would perforce have to be made. But 
 on the spot, and knowing the peculiarities 
 of the river ; and, besides this, knowing at 
 which points the Russians had collected 
 their pontooning material, it was not diffi- 
 cult to say with absolute certainty that the 
 passage would have to be effected at one or 
 two of half-a-dozen points. Still, though 
 this was known, though everybody who had 
 followed the setting up of the Russian troops 
 knew that the passage would have to be 
 effected within a certain distance of Rahova, 
 150 
 
 Nicopoli, or Sistova, it was yet impossible 
 to say .at which of these three points the 
 real passage would be undertaken. Owing 
 to the way in which the Russian and Rou- 
 manian troops were distributed, and owing, 
 also, to the large numbers of men at the 
 disposal of the Russian generals, an imposing 
 feint might be made at one or two of the 
 above-named points, whilst the real passage 
 was effected at the third. Herein lay the 
 source of weakness in so long a line of de- 
 fence as the Danube — a weakness which 
 could not be remedied except by the employ- 
 ment of as large a number of men as pos- 
 sessed by the enemy, or the possession of a 
 series of fortresses commanding the inter- 
 vening spaces — as, for instance along the 
 line from Varna to Rustzuk, with its strong 
 positions at Schumla, Rasgrad,and Silistria. 
 But none of these advantages were enjoyed 
 by the Turks. They neither had the men, 
 nor had they the strong places. The for- 
 tresses which they did possess, Widdin and 
 Belgradjik in thewest, and the Quadrilateral 
 strongholds in the east, were separated from 
 I each other by a wide expanse of difficult 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [zimmermann's positions. 
 
 C — Position on July 19. 
 
 Kilia. 
 o 
 
 Galatz. o 
 
 Kilia Arm. 
 
 Sulina Arm. 
 
 I L- 
 
 o 
 
 Isaktcha. 
 
 o 
 
 Tuldsha. 
 
 o 
 
 Sulina. 
 
 St. George's Arm. 
 
 Braila. o 
 
 < Bridge. 
 I o Matchm. 
 
 a 
 o 
 
 3 
 
 r- 
 
 o 
 OQ 
 
 o 
 
 9^ 
 
 o Uirsova. 
 
 Czernavoda. 
 
 o 
 
 08 
 O 
 
 M 
 o 
 
 03 
 
 I 
 
 o 
 
 Medjidieh. 
 
 I 
 
 Kustendji. 
 
 7\)rpedoes* 
 
 Russiant, 
 
 151 
 
 •* m 
 
PLANS OF THE TURKS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1S77. 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 TZIMNITZA, 
 
 and practically roadless territory, liable to 
 be broken into at any of the points already 
 mentioned. Yet had there but been any 
 tolerable means of communication between 
 these two groups of fortresses, had the Turk- 
 ish army possessed any degree of mobility, 
 and had there been a sufficient number of 
 men — say 120,000 good troops, besides the 
 garrisons — the Russians might safely have 
 been left to cross at any of the points be- 
 tween Rustzuk and Widdin, whilst the Turk- 
 ish field army held a central position midway 
 between the two points of support at Widdin 
 and in the Quadrilateral. Or, premising 
 the degree of mobility necessary, Abdul 
 Kerim Pasha's plan of concentrating his 
 army partly in the Quadrilateral and partly 
 at Widdin, in order to march on either flank 
 of the invading army, was not badly con- 
 ceived. In fact, it was the natural defence ; 
 but without sufficient material, no commis- 
 sariat worthy of the name, scarcely any 
 means of transport beyond bullock-carts, the 
 ultimate result was but too evident, however 
 much, in isolated and unforeseen cases, the 
 onward march of the Russians might be 
 impeded. 
 
 Theoretically, Abdul Kerim Pasha's plan 
 was as excellent as it was transparent. It 
 was too simple to bear out the " mystery " 
 with which he enveloped it. His centre 
 was south of the Balkans. Here the Balkan 
 army was supposed to be lying in wait for 
 the Russian army, which, as soon as it was 
 engaged in the mountains,was to be attacked 
 by it in front, whilst Osman Pasha fell 
 upon the Russian right and the Quadri- 
 lateral forces upon the Russian left. 
 
 Against so transparent a plan it was easy 
 for the Russians to make their dispositions. 
 All they had to do was to protect their right 
 and left with sufficient forces, and send for- 
 ward their offensive army across the Balkans 
 in sufficient strength to overpower the 
 resistance of the Balkan army. 
 
 This resistance might have been rendered 
 most formidable, and could have been ef- 
 fected in one of two ways, Which would have 
 been the better, depended upon the number 
 of men and the material at the disposal of 
 the Turks. What this was, is not even yet 
 known, and in all probability never will be. 
 But the alternatives remain the same ; and 
 the blame for not adopting one of these two 
 alternative modes of defence — without which 
 Abdul Kerim Pasha's plan had no sense — 
 ^Iso remains the same, no matter on whom 
 ^he blame may rest. 
 \52 
 
 The one mode was to occupy the passes 
 of the Balkans at all the chief points where 
 the passage of an army with its baggage 
 was possible, and to fortify each one, from 
 the entrance of the pass to its debouchment 
 in the plains beyond, with a series of earth- 
 works, trenches, and redoubts in successive 
 lines, upon which the defending force could 
 fall back, step by step, as the invading 
 tide rolled on. By this means a compara- 
 tively small number of men might hold a far 
 greater number at bay for a long time, and 
 inflict tremendous losses on the enemy, who 
 would gradually become entangled in the 
 mountains, and run considerable danger 
 from attacks on either flank; and, if these 
 flank attacks were successful, from an at- 
 tack in his rear. 
 
 This plan would in any case recommend 
 itself, unless, indeed, the defending army 
 were to be in such force, and so well pro- 
 vided, that it would be no risk to stake the 
 fortunes of the campaign on a single battle. 
 
 In this case the other alternative might 
 have been adopted. This was, to allow the 
 enemy to traverse the passes, virtually un- 
 molested, until he began to debouch with 
 his van-guard into tlie plains, and then 
 attack in force whilst his rear-guard was 
 still entangled in the mountains. This is 
 certainly the most eff'ective way of de- 
 fending the barrier formed by a chain of 
 mountains, if the defending force is large 
 enoufjh and warlike enou*j:h to en<j:a2:e lar^re 
 bodies of men. The defenders enjoy all the 
 advantage offered by a position in the plain, 
 whilst the enemy is still struggling with the 
 difficulties of the ground he is traversing. 
 Whilst laboriously descending from the 
 heights, and forced more or less to confine 
 himself to one detinite road, the defenders 
 can concentrate their forces on any point, 
 and throw them upon the more or less 
 confused mass of infantry, provided the 
 cavalry forming the advanced guard has 
 been effectually thrown back or cut off. 
 But if the defending force is not present in 
 sufficient numbers, and properly handled, 
 then, of course, the disaster is complete, and 
 a strong line of defence lost for ever. 
 
 With a small body of men such as the 
 Turks possessed, they should have adopted 
 the first plan of defence, and have contested 
 the passage of the Balkans at every step. 
 Even then they would not have been in a 
 much worse plight than they found them- 
 selves after the Russians had gained the 
 Qrest of the mountains^ and they would 
 
 have inflicted far greater losses on the 
 enemy. 
 
 And, even with a far larger body of 
 troops, they would have done better to adopt 
 this step-by-step line of defence. There 
 would always have been time afterwards to 
 strike a decisive blow if the opportunity 
 offered, and to have routed the wearied 
 enemy in the plains of Roumelia. 
 
 Such, in a few words, is what the Turks 
 might have done. We will now let the 
 facts speak for themselves, always keeping 
 in mind the fact, that the attacking army 
 had to penetrate the Balkans and secure 
 either flank from attack ; whilst, on the 
 other hand — having lost the opportunity of 
 attacking the Russians in Roumania — the 
 Turks had to drive in both flanks of the 
 Russian army and force back its centre. 
 Unless this could be done, the campaign, 
 north of the Balkans at least, was irretriev- 
 ably lost. A reference to the following 
 sketch D, shows the main positions of the 
 Turkish and Russian forces on June 26, 27. 
 The advanced posts and isolated detach- 
 ments of the Turks are not given. They 
 existed in greater or lesser strength at 
 Sistova, Nicopoli, Rahova, Nikub, Biela, 
 and Tirnova, at Osman Bazar and Eski 
 Djuma in the east, and at Plevna, Lovatz, 
 and Selvi in the west. At Rustzuk there 
 were also several gun-boats of the Danube 
 flotilla. To provide against these vessels 
 interferinor with the brid<i:es which had to 
 be constructed west of Rustzuk, it was 
 necessary to lay a line of torpedoes in the 
 river. The place selected for this operation 
 was Parapan, a Roumanian village some ten 
 miles west of Rustzuk. The indefatigable 
 Skobeloif was selected for this exploit, which 
 he proceeded to carry out on the night of 
 June 20. The better part of the night was 
 spent in getting down through the marshes 
 and bulrushes to the water's edge, and the 
 real work of laying the torpedoes did not 
 begin until daylight. It was a tedious 
 process, for several islands at this point 
 encumber the bed of the stream ; but it was 
 successfully carried out, and for a time 
 Skobeloff and his little party stood on the 
 Turkish bank. The work was interfered 
 with by the lurkish batteries and gun-boats 
 which had steamed up from Rustzuk, and 
 it was in dealing with one of them that 
 Lieutenant Stridlin, in a tiny steam-launch, 
 displayed conspicuous gallantry in driving 
 tliem off". After his dashing attempt the 
 two gun-boats sheered off for reinforcements, 
 
 and the work was completed. But after it 
 had been done, and when as yet Skobelofi^s 
 men had not got out of range on the island 
 of Crura Kame, a couple of Turkish field 
 batteries arrived at a trot from Rustzuk 
 and opened fire on them from the opposite 
 bank. Their tardy arrival did not indicate 
 much alertness : at the latest the alarm 
 must have been given by daybreak, and 
 they did not fire their first shot until after 
 two. Owing to the presence of the gun- 
 boats on the watch lower down stream, it 
 was thought well to get the little steam- 
 launch through the bulrushes to the bank, 
 and to bring it away on an ox-cart. This 
 operation had to be carried out under the 
 fire of the Turkish field-guns, and the ca- 
 sualties were one officer killed and seven 
 men wounded : in return for which, the river 
 was blocked most effectually and the way 
 barred from Rustzuk westwards, as will be 
 seen on referring to sketch D. The Turks, 
 however, imagined that the Russians had 
 intended to seize the island of Gura Kame, 
 and were not a little elated at their sup- 
 posed victory when they saw the Russians 
 fall back and retreat to the opposite bank. 
 
 These precautions having been taken, a 
 general cannonade was commenced all along 
 the river by the Russian and Roumanian 
 batteries, in order to conceal the real ad- 
 vance, which it had been decided should 
 take place at Zimnitza, opposite Sistova, 
 lying in and among the cliffs which here 
 border the Danube on the south. Below 
 Sistova, for a distance of two miles, the 
 bank remains steep, the heights partially 
 well wooded along their lower slopes, whilst 
 the crest is bare and denuded of vegetation- 
 But at the distance of two miles below 
 Sistova there is a creek in the line of cliff 
 formed by the mouth of a small stream 
 which here falls into the Danube. 
 
 Above, and to the right of this creek, was 
 a small camp of Turkish soldiers, fixed 
 there, doubtless, in consciousness of the 
 weakness of the point; and above the camp 
 on the sky-line was a battery of heavy guns. 
 Between the creek and Sistova several can- 
 non were disposed under cover of the trees, 
 and immediately on the proper right of the 
 town was a small open earthwork, armed 
 with a few field-guns. Sistova was an open 
 town, and not garrisoned by more than a 
 brigade of Turkish troops ; but then it was 
 not distant more than a long day's march 
 from either Rustzuk or Nicopoli. So much 
 for the Turkish side. About Zimnitza the / 
 
 153 
 
 P 
 
 i 
 
 i.t-i 
 
 I 
 
POSITIONS ON JUNE 27.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 J 
 
 • 
 
 0«8 
 
 a 
 
 CO 
 
 ta 
 
 I 
 
 .)(: 
 
 00 
 
 Black Sea. 
 
 t 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 pa 
 
 I 
 
 o 
 > 
 
 e 
 
 n 
 
 s 
 
 n 
 
 es 
 
 o o 
 
 o 
 
 S 
 
 I 
 I 
 
 I 
 I 
 
 ♦ 
 
 es 
 
 CO 
 
 oo 
 o 
 
 s 
 
 N 
 
 I 
 
 u 
 DO 
 
 O 
 
 e 
 
 09 
 QQ 
 
 it 
 
 o 
 
 (33 
 
 
 c3 
 
 8 
 
 o 
 
 CO 
 
 o 
 
 a 
 
 N 
 
 a 
 
 PQ 
 § 
 
 ■D 
 
 . 3 , 
 
 o.S 
 
 <s 
 
 ♦ 
 
 PQ 
 
 o 
 
 c 
 
 S 
 
 es 
 
 o 
 
 o p 
 
 o 
 
 R 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 II 
 
 8 
 
 
 00 
 
 60 
 el 
 
 a 
 
 .i3 
 
 S 
 
 B 
 
 C8 
 
 CD 
 
 (B 
 CI] 
 PN 
 
 e8 
 u 
 
 3 
 
 e« 
 
 CO 
 
 B 
 
 03 
 
 O 
 C3 
 
 .0 
 
 00 
 
 as 
 
 
 M 
 u 
 
 O 
 
 B 
 
 p. 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 p- 
 
 o 
 p. 
 p. 
 
 p4 
 
 to 
 Q 
 
 •** *«i. 5» 
 
 '^ ^ ^ 
 
 .S 
 
 •0 
 
 •2 
 
 
 Si 
 o 
 
 ft; 
 
 09 
 
 >ie 
 
 154 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [passage at zimnitza. 
 
 Roumanian bank is high ; but between it 
 and the Danube proper, which flows to the 
 Turkish bank, was a broad tract, partly of 
 green meadow, partly of sand, partly of 
 tenacious mud, the whole just emerging 
 from inundation. This flat was cut off from 
 Zimnitza by a narrow arm of the Danube, 
 so that it was really an island. A raised 
 road and bridge leading from the town 
 across the flats, to the landing-place on the 
 Danube, had been wrecked by the floods. 
 It was necessary, therefore, for the Russians 
 to gain access to the flats by a short pontoon 
 bridge. These flats were still in many 
 places imder water, or scored by intersecting 
 streams, and studded with impracticable 
 swamps, so that the road through them was 
 difficult and tortuous. They were quite 
 bare, except that at the lower end, exactly 
 opposite the creek on the Turkish side, there 
 was a wood of willows and alders of consi- 
 derable extent, and capable of aff'ording a 
 good deal of cover. The Danube all along 
 the Sistova position is about sixteen hundred 
 paces wide, and flows very rapidly. The 
 ground on the Roumanian side shows a 
 sloping face to the higher Turkish bank, 
 so that it was impossible to bring troops 
 into Zimnitza unobserved. Hence, pro- 
 bably, the Turkish readiness, such as it 
 was. The attempt was, as far as possible, to 
 be of the nature of a surprise, and it was 
 necessary, therefore, to postpone the disposi- 
 tions till after nightfall. The Dragomiroff 
 division had the post of honour, and was 
 expected to make a footing on the Turkish 
 side by early morning. The Mirski divi- 
 sion, in support, was to make a night march 
 from Lissa, half-way between Zimnitza and 
 Turn-Magurelli, and be in position at 
 Zimnitza at 7 A.M., to follow the 1st 
 division across in the event of its success. 
 In the event of failure, it was to take up 
 the fighting, and force a passage at all 
 sacrifices ; for the Archduke Nicholas had 
 announced that the river should be crossed 
 at Zimnitza, cost what it might. 
 
 With the darkness General Dragomiroff" 
 had begun his dispositions. The first work 
 was to plant a row of field-guns all along 
 the edge of the flats, to sweep the opposite 
 banks. This was done while his infantry 
 was being marched over the flats down into 
 the cover of the willow wood. The darkness 
 and the obstructions were both so great that 
 all was not ready till the first glimmer of 
 grey dawn. There was no bridge, but a 
 number of pontoon boats, capable of hold- 
 
 ing from fifteen to forty men each. These 
 were dragged on carriages through the mud, 
 and launched in the darkness from under 
 the spreading boughs of the willow-trees. 
 The troops embarked, and pushed across as 
 the craft arrived, under the command of 
 Major-General Yolchine, whose brigade 
 consisted of the regiments of Valnisk and 
 Minsk, the 53rd and 54th of the line. The 
 boats put off" singly, rowing across for the 
 little creek ; and later on the little steam-tug 
 Annette was brought into requisition. But 
 the Turks were prepared as much as lay in 
 their power. Their few cannon at once 
 opened fire on the boats, on the hidden 
 masses among the willows, and on the co- 
 lumns marching across the flat. Nor was 
 this all. From the slopes above the creek 
 there came at the boats a smart infantry 
 tire, whilst the Turkish riflemen were hold- 
 ing the landing-place. Yolchine, however, 
 succeeded in landing his men, and bade them 
 lie down in the mud. Several were down 
 previously with Turkish bullets. He then 
 opened a skirmishing fire to cover the land- 
 ing of the boats that followed. One by one 
 these landed their men, who followed the 
 example of the first boat-load. At length 
 enough had accumulated ; and when Sko- 
 beloff arrived, Yolchine bade his men fix 
 bayonets, stand up, and follow their officers. 
 There was a rush and a cheer that rang 
 louder in the grey dawn than the Turkish 
 volley that answered. But that volley was 
 not fired in vain ; for though Yolchine's 
 skirmishers followed them doggedly some 
 distance up the slope, they were unable for 
 some time to make any way. Incessantly, 
 however, the craft moved to and fro from 
 shore to shore. The Russian guns had at 
 once opened when the Turkish fire showed 
 that there was no surprise ; but they could 
 not silence the Turkish guns, whose shells 
 kept falling in the water, whistling through 
 the willows,and bursting amongthe columns 
 on the flat. One shell from a mountain gun 
 fell into a boat containing two guns, their 
 gunners, and the commandant of the bat- 
 tery. The boat was swamped at once, and 
 all on board perished. This was the only 
 serious casualty ; but numerous Russian 
 soldiers were falling on both sides of the 
 river. Nevertheless, the work was going 
 steadily on, and soon after seven, the whole 
 brigade of Yolchine had reached the other 
 side, and Dragomiroff" himself had crossed. 
 The Turks, however, would not give in; 
 and in spite of the artillery and musketry 
 
 155 
 
*rHE FEINT AT NICOPOU.] ' HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1877. 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 PFIGHT WITH A MONITOR. 
 
 fire poured in upon them, they clung to 
 their posts and their guns with wonderful 
 staunchness, amidst clouds of dust thrown 
 up by the shells which burst around them. 
 !Nor were their single pieces among the trees 
 wholly quiet. Shells dropped fast among 
 the Russian troops on the flat, and made 
 the ambulance-men hurry about with bran- 
 cards, or plod towards the ambulances with 
 their heavy blood-sodden burdens. 
 
 But the weight of metal commanded by 
 the Russians, and the great superiority of 
 numbers, soon began to tell against the 
 handful of Turkish troops; and whilst Ge- 
 neral Yolchine gradually pressed them back, 
 Prince Mirski began the passage with his 
 division, consisting of the 33rd, 34th, 35th, 
 and 36th regiments, and soon after three 
 P.M. on June 27th, the Russian troops 
 crowned the lower crest of the hills south 
 of Sistova, and occupied the town itself; 
 the Turks falling back partly to Nicopoli, 
 and partly to Tirnova. The losses of the 
 Russians amounted, according to the official 
 returns, to 240 killed and 410 wounded. 
 
 Now, although the garrison of Sistova had 
 not been surprised by the sudden attack of 
 the Russians, it is certain that the Turkish 
 commanders-in-chief had been deceived. 
 Whether Abdul Kerim or Osman Pasha is 
 to blame for having been thus misled, there 
 are as yet no data to show. But it remains 
 a fact that the Turks expected the real pas- 
 sage to be effected at Turn-Magurelli, 
 opposite Nicopoli ; and it was in the neigh- 
 bourhood of this place, between it and 
 Rahova, that Osman Pasha was lying in 
 wait with the gros of his army. 
 
 The report that the passage would be 
 pflfccted at Nicopoli had been so persistently 
 t^pread that it could not but have come to the 
 knowledge of the Turks, who, as we have 
 said, concentrated a large number of troops 
 at this point. The Russians, learning this, 
 still further kept up the deception by 
 making a serious demonstration against 
 Nicopoli, which they would have changed 
 into a real attack had a fair chance of suc- 
 cess offered ; so that up to the last moment 
 it was uncertain which point would be the 
 real crossing — Zimnitza or Nicopoli. The 
 emperor and his staff, and the grand duke 
 and his staff, went ostentatiously to Magu- 
 relli — a fact which soon became known to 
 the Turks, who took it, together with other 
 indications — the building of a bridge, col- 
 lecting a large number of boats, &c. — as 
 evidence that this would be the real point ; 
 156 
 
 but the Russian forces had been so placed 
 in the villages in the neighbourhood, that 
 they could with equal ease fall upon Sistova 
 or Nicopoli ; and they had besides collected 
 a large number of boats at the mouth of 
 the Aluta, a little way above Magurelli; 
 and as there was a spot very favourable for 
 passing by boats, the feint would have been 
 turned into a real attempt had it not been 
 discovered that the Turks had already con- 
 centrated 30,000 men at this point under 
 Osman Pasha, thereby necessarily weaken- 
 ing Sistova. 
 
 That the Russians meant to cross at Ni- 
 copoli had they been able, and had not the 
 passage at Sistova been successful, was also 
 evident from their havin^: commenced the 
 construction of a bridge of very much the 
 same kind of work as at Braila, with the 
 exception that the trestle-work and road 
 were constructed on the Roumanian side 
 instead of on the Turkish. The materials 
 for the bridge were collected^ and on 
 Wednesday night, at the same time as the 
 passage at Simnitza, a demonstration was 
 made which turned out to be only a demon- 
 stration, but which had all the appearance 
 of a real attack. A fierce cannonade was 
 begun in the afternoon, which lasted till 
 nightfall, when there was a slight pause j 
 after which the firing was recommenced with 
 redoubled fury. Soon the darkness was 
 lit up by the red flames of burning houses 
 on the opposite shore of Nicopoli, of which 
 there were several standing in a row, each 
 looking in the distance like an angry burn- 
 ing coal ; while there hung over the town ot 
 Turn-Magurelli, what first appeared to be a 
 monster comet with its head on the horizon, 
 and its tail reaching to the zenith, extending 
 across the sky in a broad flashy white light. 
 It was an electric light employed by the 
 Russians to light the other shore, show the 
 position of the Turks, and thus enable the 
 Russian fire protecting the passage to be 
 properly directed. Its pure white light 
 formed a strange contrast with the red 
 glare of the burning houses. 
 
 As the night wore on, the roar of artillery 
 and the boom of guns became louder and 
 louder, until the whole valley of the Danube 
 rang and echoed with the contending fire 
 of the Russians and Turks, the Russians 
 firing from three batteries above the town, 
 composed, two of mortars, and one uf heavy 
 breech-loading 24-pounders, whilst the 
 Turks answered with might and main, sup- 
 posing they were preventing the passage. 
 
 while this passage was being quietly effected 
 at Zimnitza with scarcely more difficulty 
 than at Braila. Still some attempt was 
 made to throw across a bridge to the right 
 in front of Nicopoli, which bridge the 
 Turks promptly destroyed ; and, at the same 
 time, a move also was made above the town, 
 as if to cross in force in the boats collected 
 there. The corps marched down to the river- 
 side, and at twelve o'clock four batteries drove 
 down to the road opposite Nicopoli, a con- 
 siderable amount of infantry having pre- 
 ceded them earlier in the evening. But all 
 resulted in nothing. The Turks showed in 
 such force on the opposite side, and were 
 evidently so well prepared there, that the 
 risk was deemed too great, too serious a 
 sacrifice of life being required to effect a 
 passage. It was thus decided to wait the 
 result of the affair at Simnitza. That 
 having proved successful, the 9th corps re- 
 ceived orders to march from Turn-Magurelli 
 to Zimnitza, only a few troops remaining 
 behind to protect the positions and batteries. 
 A footing on the Turkisii bank having thus 
 been gained at a remarkably small expendi- 
 ture of life, the construction of a bridge at 
 Sistova and Zimnitza was at once proceeded 
 with. This operation was not disturbed in 
 any way by the Turks, except by the com- 
 mander of one of the Turkish gun-boats 
 which had succeeded in making its way up 
 the river, and gave the Russians a good deal 
 of trouble, showing an amount of activity 
 and energy very unusual with the Turks, 
 continually shelling the Russian batteries, 
 and destroying the boats. The Russians 
 .accordingly determined to destroy it. 
 
 Four torpedo boats were prepared, and 
 sent against the gun-boat. Hiding behind 
 an island, they laid in wait, and when the 
 vessel was steaming past they suddenly 
 darted out from their hiding-place, and bore 
 down on her in broad daylight. This vessel, 
 it soon became evident, was handled and 
 commanded in a very different manner from 
 others with which the Russians had had to 
 deal. With wonderful quickness and skill 
 she was prepared for action, and, nothing 
 daunted by the fate of others, made a suc- 
 cessful defence against her four terrible ene- 
 mies, a defence of which the Russians spoke 
 with the greatest admiration. Her com- 
 mander began by likewise thrusting out 
 torpedoes on the end of long spars, thus 
 threatening the boats with the danger of 
 being blown into the air first, at the same 
 time opening a terrible fire on them with 
 
 VOL. III. X 
 
 small arms and mitrailleuse. He besides 
 manoeuvred his boat in a most skilful man- 
 ner, with a dexterity and address which, 
 with the torpedoes protecting, made it 
 impossible for the Russian boats to approach 
 sufficiently near. He besides tried to run 
 them down, and very nearly succeeded in 
 doing so. The reason soon became evident. 
 The commander was a European, and, as the 
 Russians believed, an Englishman, who 
 directed the movements from the deck. He 
 was plainly visible all the time, and was a 
 tall man, with a long fair beard parted in 
 the middle. He stood with his hands in 
 his pockets, giving orders in the calmest 
 manner possible. 
 
 The torpedo boats continued their at- 
 tempts for more than an hour, flitting round 
 the gun-boat and seeking the opportunity to 
 get at her, but without success. The gun- 
 boat was equally active in trying to run 
 them down, avoiding a collision by quick 
 and skilful movements, backing and ad- 
 vancing, turning, and ploughing the water 
 into foam as she pursued or avoided her 
 tiny but dangerous adversaries — a lion at- 
 tacked by rats. At one moment one launch, 
 in rapid manoeuvres, found itself between 
 the gun- boat and the shore, with no great 
 distance between them. The gun-boat's head 
 was in the other direction, but her com- 
 mander instantly began backing her down 
 on the torpedo boat, with the intention of 
 crushing it against the bank. Just at this 
 moment the engineer of the launch was 
 wounded. There was some confusion and 
 delay in starting the engines, while the 
 current carried her head aground in such a 
 position as to render escape impossible. One 
 of the crew sprang out into the water and 
 pushed from the ground, while another 
 started the engines just in time for her to 
 escape ; but the shave was very close. One 
 Russian officer sprang ashore, and seeing 
 the captain of the gun-boat coolly standing 
 on the deck with his hands in his pockets, 
 emptied his revolver at him, three shots, 
 at a distance of not more than forty feet. 
 The captain of the gun-boat, in answer, took 
 off his hat and bowed, not having received 
 even a scratch. Later, however, the gallant 
 fellow seems to have been killed or wounded, 
 for he suddenly disappeared from the deck. 
 The gun-boat immediately afterwards re- 
 tired precipitately from the scene of action. 
 
 Since that time she kept out of the way 
 like the others. The Russians supposed 
 that she was no longer commanded by the 
 
 157 
 
 ■}5i 
 
RUSSIAN NEGLIGENCE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 same man. The fight was conducted with 
 wonderful skill on both sides. The Russian 
 boats were commanded by Lieutenant 
 Niloff, and the attack was a most daring 
 and tenacious one. His loss was only four 
 or five wounded, in spite of the incessant 
 fire of the small arms and mitrailleuse which 
 poured into them. This shows how well- 
 handled the boats were. They were, how- 
 ever, considerably damaged by the mitrail- 
 leuse fire. No attempt was made by the 
 commander to use his guns, he evidently 
 believing it impossible to hit such a small 
 and rapidly moving object as a steam- 
 launch. That the boats should have suf- 
 fered so little loss in one hour's fight shows 
 how difficult it is to hit these launches. 
 They were fitted out in the same manner 
 as those which blew up the monitor at 
 Braila ; but this attempt, as well as the one 
 at Giurgevo, was made in broad daylight, 
 neither of which succeeded. This vessel 
 was soon afterwards surrounded by torpe- 
 does, as well as all the others on the Danube. 
 The crossing having been successfully 
 effected, the Russians seemed to think that 
 the best part of their work was already 
 done, and exhibited a carelessness and 7ion- 
 chalance that eventually cost them dearly. 
 Having driven the Turks from their first 
 position, it was an imperative duty, at all 
 cost, to keep sight of the retreating enemy, 
 to ascertain their line of retreat, to learn 
 whether they were receiving reinforcements, 
 and what were the indications of their line 
 of action, This course was not pursued, 
 and it was not before June 30th that young 
 Skobeloff, with a sotnia of Cossacks, went 
 on a scouting expedition to gather intel- 
 ligence of the whereabouts of the Turks. 
 This tardiness was all the more injudicious 
 when it is remembered that the force across 
 the river had opposition on either flank, 
 Rustzuk andNicopoli. An advance was 
 rendered precarious by the consequent 
 threatening of communications, and in the 
 absence of a completed bridge there was no 
 line of retreat except by the hazardous re- 
 course to boats. It is possible to despise 
 an enemy too much. The minor arrange- 
 ments, too, of the Russians were somewhat 
 faulty. Access from Zimnitza to the place of 
 embarkation was by a difficult track, which 
 was not a road, down the bluff, over a single 
 pontoon bridge, and by a tortuous sandy path 
 through swamps and shallow patches of in- i 
 undatTon on the flats. No attempt was 
 ' made to better these imperfect communi- ^ 
 158 
 
 cations. The Grermans would not have 
 occupied a similar position for twenty-four 
 hours without cutting half-a-dozen prac- 
 ticable roads down the face of the bluff, 
 throwing at least two bridges over the 
 branch of the stream, and making a good, 
 straight, and firm track across the flats. 
 They would have thrown up and fortified a 
 bridge-head on the farther side. Their 
 Uhlans would be in view of Rustzuk on 
 the one side and Nicopoli on the other ; 
 their mass would have been on its march 
 toward whatever objective points might 
 have been decided, instead of coquetting 
 with time at a season of the year when every 
 hour was valuable, if the campaign was to 
 be triumphantly ended before the winter. 
 The Germans would not have taken three 
 days to build a bridge, the appliances for 
 which were all prepared and at hand. 
 Their troops on the other side would not 
 have been living from hand to mouth, so 
 that a general's dinner had to be sent to 
 him from his baggage waggon on the other 
 side, but they would have accumulated in 
 Sistova a depot of provisions and ammuni- 
 tion, and surrounded this virtual base with 
 a cordon of fortified redoubts. 
 
 But most culpable of all was the neglect 
 to ascertain the movements of Osman Pasha 
 and his 30,000 to 40,000 troops. It was 
 assumed— why, it is impossible to say- 
 that having heard of the successful passage 
 of the river at Sistova, Osman Pasha was 
 making his waybya circuitous route through 
 the interior towards the Quadrilateral. 
 
 Far from doing this, Osman Pasha, leav- 
 ing a strong garrison in Nicopoli, called up 
 the rest of his forces and fell back upon 
 Plevna, where he at once commenced to 
 entrench himself, whilst the Russians at 
 once pushed headlong forwards as soon a3 
 sufficient men had crossed the river. Owing 
 to a storm, which sunk many of the pon- 
 toons, the free-boards of which were too 
 low, the bridge was not completed till July 
 2nd' ; but by Ihe end of the second week in 
 July, the 8th, 9th, 12th, and 13th corps had 
 all effected their passage across the river, 
 the nth and 4th still remaining on the 
 Roumanian shore, as well as the Roumanian 
 corps at Kalafat and opposite Nicopoli. 
 
 On July 1st, the Russians occupied the 
 town of Biela, on the Yantra, and on the 
 high-road to Rustzuk. On the 7th of July, 
 they drove the Turks out of Tirnova, and, 
 stili pushing forward into the Balkans, oc- 
 cupied the villages of Drenova and Gabrova 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [COURKO'S ADVANCK. 
 
 on July 10th. On the 12th of July, the Grand 
 Duke Nicholas took up his head-quarters at 
 Tirnova, and was followed by the greater 
 portion of the 8th corps; whilst Prince 
 Tcherkasski, who was entrusted with the 
 administration of Bulgaria, also accom- 
 panied the grand duke to Tirnova. 
 
 These movements had been prepared by 
 General Gourko, who had been entrusted 
 with the advance guard of the 8th corps, 
 consisting of six battalions of riflemen, the 
 Bulgarian legion— for local purposes— and 
 eight regiments of cavalry with about forty 
 guns. With these forces General Gourko 
 cleared the way to Tirnova and Gabrova, 
 which they held till relieved by other 
 detachments of the 8th corps, who also 
 extended their outposts on the right, and 
 occupied Selvi and Lovatz. 
 
 From Tirnova General Gourko turned 
 south-east, crossed the Hankoi Pass, made 
 a raid upon Yeni Sagra, scoured up the 
 Tundja valley, occupied Kezanlik on July 
 17, pushed northwards over the Schipka 
 Pass, and joined hands with Prince Mirski 
 on July 1*9 ; the Turks holding the pass 
 having escaped during the night, when they 
 found themselves taken between two fires. 
 
 Meantime the 12th and 13th, and, later 
 on, part of the 4th corps, were taking up 
 their positions on the Yantra, and between 
 the Yantra and the Lom, towards Rustzuk 
 and Rasgrad, under the command of the 
 Czarevitch and his brother Vladimir. 
 
 On the other side, to the west, it was 
 deemed necessary to seize Nicopoli. This 
 task was entrusted to General Kriidener, 
 who commanded the attack on July 13, and 
 forced Hassan Pasha to capitulate on July 
 16, after a most obstinate resistance. Six 
 thousand prisoners, two pashas, forty guns, 
 and two gun-boats fell into the hands of 
 the Russians. Elated with this success, and 
 hearing that large bodies of Turkish troops 
 were marching on and into Plevna, General 
 Kriidener sent General Schilder-Schuldner 
 to take the town. Schilder-Schuldner ar- 
 rived before Plevna on July 19, on the 
 same dav that General Gourko had joined 
 hands with Prince IMirski in the Schipka 
 Pass, and whilst Russian cavalry were scour- 
 incr the country between Adrianople and 
 Philippopoli. On the same day thearniy of 
 the liom advanced to Pirgo« a^Td Kndikoi, 
 close to Rustzuk, the Grand Duke Vladimir 
 even pushing on to the railway from Rust- 
 zuk to Varna, and blowing up a bridge and 
 part of the line. And on July 19, also, 
 
 General Zimmermann drove the Turks back 
 across the line Czernavoda-Kustendji, where 
 he took up his position along Trajan's Wall, 
 and swept the country from the Danube to 
 the Black Sea. 
 
 In truth, therefore, the 19th of July 
 was a memorable day for the Russian 
 armies. By that day — say within three 
 weeks— they had effected three passages 
 of the Danube— at Braila, Zimnitza, and 
 Turn-Magurelli ; they had crossed and re- 
 crossed the Balkans, and planted their 
 standards in the plains of Roumelia ; they 
 had taken Nicopoli ; they had pushed their 
 advance eastwards almost under the very 
 walls of Rustzuk ; the Dobrudja was at their 
 mercy; and they had hemmed in Abdul 
 Kerim and his armies, east and west, in the 
 Quadrilateral. 
 
 A comparison of the following sketch E 
 with sketch D, shows in a striking manner 
 the impetuous advance of the Russian forces. 
 They carried out the first part of their cam- 
 paign to the letter. They had elbowed 
 their way east and west admirably, and had 
 left a broad lane north and south for their 
 choicest troops to penetrate through the 
 open gates of the Balkans into Roumelia. 
 All they now had to do was to defeat the 
 forces in the Quadrilateral, to annihilate 
 Osman Pasha, and push forward in triumph 
 to Constantinople. 
 
 But before proceeding to the second act 
 of the great drama, we will fill-in the gene- 
 ral picture we have given with the details, 
 to show how so much was accomplished in 
 so short a time. 
 
 It is true much was accomplished, but it 
 was against very little. The tempest was 
 very violent, but it only swept over frail, 
 bending reeds. A bright swelling bubble 
 was blown at Sistova, which expanded and 
 expanded across the Balkans, across the 
 Lom, and across the Vid, till it grew thin- 
 ner and thinner, and suddenly burst at 
 Plevna — burst and vanished into thin air 
 like a glorious dream. 
 
 Four distinct operations had to be carried 
 out for the Russians to gain the position set 
 forth in sketch E. 
 
 1. The Dobrudja had to be occupied to 
 secure the ports on the Black Sea and the 
 mouth of the Danube, in order to prevent 
 the Turks from using them, and also in 
 order to turn the Turkish position in the 
 Quadrilateral. 
 
 This first operation, as we have seen, was 
 successfully carried out by General Zimmer- 
 
 159 
 
 #1 
 
 ■J' 
 
 
GENERAL POSITIONS, JULY 19.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 I 
 
 ♦ 
 
 o« 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 OD 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 08 
 
 
 ■3 
 
 •§ 
 
 
 ■4^ 
 
 > 
 
 
 ClJ 
 
 oi 
 
 
 s 
 
 E 
 
 I 
 
 Black Sea. 
 
 E 
 
 o 
 
 10 
 
 o 
 
 •c 
 
 5 
 
 .)(. 
 
 I 
 
 ^ O 
 
 I 
 I 
 
 B 
 
 n 
 
 e 
 
 a 
 
 • o 
 
 'S? "3.0 « 
 
 - - CO 
 
 o o 
 
 oo 
 
 ■3 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 si 
 
 «5 
 
 I 
 
 5 
 
 be 
 
 
 P9 
 
 ■5 
 
 I 
 
 •c 
 
 CO 
 
 CO 
 
 o 
 
 A4 
 
 3 
 N 
 
 00 
 
 3 
 
 I 
 
 3 
 
 <( 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 
 08 
 
 02 
 
 (O 
 
 si 
 
 S 
 
 3 
 
 CO >. 
 
 00 f 
 
 Ch 
 O 
 
 a 
 
 > 
 
 C£ 
 
 O 
 
 3 
 
 > 
 
 (d 
 
 K 
 
 a 
 
 CO 
 
 c 
 
 
 ♦ 
 
 s 
 
 03 
 
 ea 
 
 n 
 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 O 3 
 
 I 
 
 >■ 
 
 --S.2 
 
 CO 
 
 > 
 
 O <u 
 
 CO 
 
 eil 
 
 
 » 
 
 I 
 
 <d 
 
 I 
 I 
 
 
 W 
 
 8 
 
 1 
 
 -a 
 
 B 
 
 -H!- 
 
 o 
 o. 
 
 o 
 
 J2 
 55 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 ca 
 
 
 > 
 
 o 
 
 CO 
 
 en 
 
 
 
 00" 
 
 
 
 
 53 
 
 ^ 
 
 fU 
 
 4) 
 
 ja 
 
 1^ 
 
 0) 
 
 11 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 •2 
 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 <o 
 
 •o 
 
 ct 
 
 •e 
 § 8 
 
 CO O 
 
 Si ^ •• 
 
 •*s a. s 
 
 fi: rO r<* 
 
 R5 En Bm 
 
 i 
 
 Q 
 
 ♦ 
 
 
 
 5 R 
 
 •» 5 *» 
 
 ins 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 Tadvance on the lom. 
 
 mann, because he met with no serious 
 opposition. 
 
 2. The left flank of the advance had to 
 be protected. 
 
 3. The right flank of the advance had 
 also to be protected. 
 
 4. The advance southwards had to be 
 conducted rapidly, and in force, whilst the 
 right and left wings fully engaged the 
 Turkish field armies north of the Balkans, 
 and prevented them from going to the as- 
 sistance of the Roumelian troops against 
 the advance, whose objectives were Adri- 
 anople and Constantinople. 
 
 All this, down to Kezanlik,was apparently 
 accomplished on July 19. 
 
 The Grand Duke Nicholas had success- 
 
 fully followed the road cleared for him by 
 General Gourko up to the foot of the 
 Balkans, and the advance guards were 
 eagerly awaiting his appearance in the 
 Roumelian plains. 
 
 The Czarevitch had set up his barrier 
 against the Turks in the east, and was 
 eagerly awaiting the signal to advance and 
 invest the fortresses and capture all the 
 Turkish armies in a trap. 
 
 General Kriidener had seized Nicopoli, 
 and had bidden General Schilder-Schuldner 
 to go up and take Plevna. 
 
 Such was the state of the bubble on July 
 19th. We will now show how it was blown, 
 and who blew it, and what disastrous con- 
 sequences resulted from it. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE ON THE LOM AND OSMA. 
 
 The Czar having taken up his head-quarters 
 at Zimnitza, General Arnoldi was sent for- 
 ward with his cavalry to prepare the way 
 for the advance of the 12th corps in the 
 direction of the Yantra, Lorn, and Rustzuk. 
 An idea of the scene of operations may be 
 gathered from the following sketch F, which 
 covers the field between Sistova, Tirnova, 
 Rasgrad, and Rustzuk. 
 
 The force commanded by General Arnoldi 
 consisted of the Oldenburg regiment of 
 Dragoons (the finest dragoon regiment in 
 the Russian service), and the regiment of 
 Belgarski Uhlans : he had with him only 
 the dragoon regiment, the Uhlans being a 
 short distance behind. With the dragoons 
 he had the divisional artillery, consisting 
 of two horse batteries. The colonel of the 
 dragoons, who rode with the general, was a 
 very young man, barely thirty. Colonel 
 Bilderling, who owed his early promotion 
 entirely to merit. General Arnoldi had 
 served many years, and had retired from 
 active military employ, but came back in 
 answer to the summons of the war. 
 
 The brigade rode away up the green slope 
 and over the breezy uplands, where the yel- 
 low barley waved in the wind. The general's 
 commission was to occupy the town of Biela, 
 where it was believed there still remained 
 some Turkish soldiers. The Hussar regiment 
 
 was still in front, but it was to halt in sup- 
 port at Kosua, while the dragoons and 
 artillery went on against Biela. The time 
 passed swiftly, although the pace was slow 
 and the route circuitous, for the force had 
 to follow two sides of a triangle, through 
 Sarejar and Pavlo, in order to strike as 
 early as possible the chaussee between 
 Rustzuk and Tirnova, on which Biela 
 stands. The relative position of these 
 places will be seen on referring to sketch F ; 
 the high-road from Rustzuk to Tirnova 
 running by way of Biela and Nikub, past 
 the villages set down in the sketch. On the 
 way they passed the beautifully situated vil- 
 lage of Burunli, lying in a deep grassy 
 hollow, where the Bulgarian inhabitants 
 crowded out with joy in their faces and 
 words of welcome on their lips, carrying 
 brimming pitchers of clear cold spring- 
 water, which in the boiling heat was pre- 
 ferable to nectar. Here in a camp, knee- 
 deep in natural grass, two squadrons of the 
 hussars were left behind, and in half-an- 
 hour more the main force was on the 
 chaussee and in sight of the swift-flowing 
 stream of the Yantra, overhung by dark 
 umbrage. A patrol galloped out, and cut 
 the wires of the telegraph line running along 
 the chaussee, thereby interrupting tele- 
 sranhic communication between Rustzuk 
 ^ ^ 161 
 
 1«0 
 
 
POSITIONS ON THE LOM.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 White Lom R. 
 
 bo 
 
 CO 
 
 o 
 <u 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 I 
 
 05 
 r-l 
 
 to 
 
 •s 
 
 •<* 
 
 V. 
 
 ♦ 
 
 Rail to Varna. 
 
 I ac O 
 
 CS 
 O 
 
 .o 
 o 
 
 OQ 
 
 ♦ 
 
 CO 
 
 P4 
 
 Solenik Lom R. 
 
 s 
 
 N o 
 
 9 
 
 o 
 
 £ 
 
 Black Lom R. 
 
 OS 
 
 •So 
 
 4-* 
 
 cS 
 
 a. 
 O 
 
 I 
 
 A 
 o 
 
 b 
 
 OS 
 
 I 
 
 o 
 
 
 O 
 
 M 
 
 o 
 
 1^ 
 °1 
 
 s 
 
 tA 
 
 (.4 
 
 I 
 
 o 
 
 
 00 
 
 I 
 
 )( 
 
 i 
 
 o2 
 
 R. Y a n t r a. 
 
 I 
 
 > 
 
 OS 
 
 .a 
 
 OQ 
 
 SI 
 
 5? 
 
 •s 
 
 •6 
 CO 
 
 a; 
 
 «0 
 
 
 ■§-» 
 
 !» 
 
 162 
 
 II 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [advance on biela. 
 
 and Tirnova, Nicopoli, Widdin, and indeed 
 the whole north-western section of Bulgaria. 
 If General Arnoldi had served in the 
 American war, he might have learned to 
 tap the wires instead of cutting them, 
 and then perchance he might have gained 
 some intelligence, which was wanted badly- 
 enough. But in all probahility the Turks 
 bad abandoned the use of the line before 
 the patrol cut the wires. At the junction 
 with the chaussee, between Pavlo and Biela, 
 all the hussars, except the advance guard, 
 which still continued in front, were left 
 behind, and the way then lay up the steep 
 slope of a ridge which shut out the view 
 beyond. As they topped it, the rich valley 
 of the Yantra, waving with golden barley, 
 lay at their feet, intersected by the spark- 
 ling river; and in the mouth of a little cross- 
 valley on the other side of the Yantra, were 
 the red-tiled roofs of Biela half hidden in fo- 
 liage. Beyond the river, flanking Biela, on 
 its'proper right, rose the steep marl heights, 
 with abrupt grass-grown slopes beyond, of 
 a position which at once arrested the eye of 
 every trained soldier in the little band. If 
 it were defended the carrying of it would 
 cost dear. On the Russian side, on the gen- 
 tle slope, there was no greater cover than 
 that afforded by a casual stook of barley. 
 Then the river would have to be crossed — 
 it would be necessary to search for a ford — 
 and then the marl heights would have to 
 be stormed, for there was no way of turning 
 the position. It was a sight to stir the 
 deepest interest — the loveliness of the scene, 
 the gleaming river with the overshadowing 
 masses of dark verdure above Biela, the 
 dusky red roofs recessed in the little valley, 
 the golden slopes, the country village of 
 Stirmana across the river on the left, where 
 the marl steeps softened into green slopes 
 —all this delighted the eye of him who 
 looked at it in the spirit of the love of a 
 sweet scene. And then how different the 
 feelino- of him who looked at it with a 
 soldier's eye ! If there were Turks on that 
 crest opposite, ere it be taken the barley 
 would wave over many a corpse ; the silvery 
 sheen of the Yantra be dulled with blood ; 
 and the dazzling white marl be dabbled 
 with many a red stain. The umbrage might 
 hold sharpshooters; the pretty Stirmana 
 might be a network of barricades; the bridge 
 down there might be mined , among the 
 red-roofed houses might be masses of in- 
 fantrymen ; and behind these dark objects 
 • on the slopes might be Krupp cannon. 
 
 But all these fears, so poetically described 
 by the correspondents, were groundless. , 
 For a while General Arnoldi and his staff 
 took a long steady look at it, all standing 
 there on the little conical knoll on the 
 ridge — a knoll on which a battery had begun 
 to be built evidently not a week before, and 
 a flanking shelter-trench dug. General 
 Stahl von Holstein had come on thus far 
 with General Arnoldi, and the two held 
 some talk apart, and then the former went 
 ofif to have his hussars at hand for support 
 if need should be. And so Arnoldi, taking 
 his place at the head of the column, gave 
 the word to march, and the dragoons began 
 to descend the straight road leading through 
 the barley-fields to the bridge. Till then 
 it seemed that the duty of scouting had 
 been very much neglected, looking at the 
 fact that the men were marching through a 
 country presumably hostile, and with an 
 enemy known to be close. Till then Arnoldi 
 and his staff had constituted the advance 
 guard ; there were no flankers, and patrols 
 were not thought of. But now the old 
 soldier pulled himself together ; out on the 
 slopes, to right and to left, galloped flankers 
 to peer down into the side valleys. A patrol 
 trotted along the road in front. There was 
 a cloud of dust, and three Cossacks came 
 galloping up from the right front. They 
 had poked their way across the river, but 
 neither into the town nor on to the heights. 
 The only information they brought was 
 that some Turks were reported near Biela ; 
 and their only capture was a Turkish pony. 
 Suddenly a wild scared Bulgarian, galloping 
 ventre, a terre, with a gun carried by the 
 muzzle across his shoulder, came with the 
 intelligence that there were some Turks 
 plundering in Stirmana, whence he had 
 come; he could tell nothing about the 
 heights or about Biela. Half-a-dozen Cos- 
 sacks were sent scouting away to the left 
 towards Stirmana, led by the wild Bulgarian 
 with the gun over his shoulder. He shouted 
 and gesticulated with the maddest energy ; 
 he was in a paroxysm of furious rage and 
 crazy terror, and yet he rode straight enough 
 on Ins rat of a pony. Sweeping down at a 
 hand gallop, riding straight through the 
 standing barley, and taking the banks and 
 ditches at a stride, still the Cossacks were 
 not quick enough for the light-heeled ras- 
 cals of Bashi-Bazouks ; and as they dashed 
 into the stream, all they caught sight of 
 was a very voluminous pair of blue unmen- 
 tionables vanishing round the corner of a 
 
 163 
 
 %i 
 
 3r 
 
 I 
 
CAPTURE OF BIELA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1877. 
 
 house. The river turned out too deep 
 to ford, and only one Cossack swam it; 
 the others respectfully declined. So they 
 went about ; but as they were cantering 
 back, one single gun-shot sounded from 
 above the village, as if in mockery. 
 
 Still it was reported that some Turks 
 were prowling about the heights, but not 
 in force, and the informants could not tell 
 precisely of their whereabouts. Colonel 
 Bilderling then rode forward to the bridge, 
 but only found by the wayside there a 
 company of Bulgarian people who had come 
 out to welcome their deliverers. At their 
 head stood their venerable priest, and then 
 commenced the obligate performance of 
 sobbing and tears and kissing of hands, 
 peculiar to the tender-hearted Kussian and 
 the meek Bulgarian. 
 
 Ascertaining from the people that the 
 Turks had abandoned the town, Greneral 
 Arnoldi sent forward a detacliment of dis- 
 mounted dragoons across the bridge, to scour 
 the opposite heights, where a few shots were 
 fired to keep up the idea of war, and a skulk- 
 ing Turkish peasant taken prisoner. Out- 
 posts were then set up round and in part 
 of the town, whicli was occupied in the early 
 dawn, when the rest of the force swarmed 
 into the place in the persistent search for 
 schnapps. They further diverted them- 
 selves by hunting for hiding Turks, breaking 
 open the shutters of suspected houses in 
 these endeavours. Some four or five were 
 thus captured, and conveyed as prisoners to 
 the Konak. In Biela the Sistova example 
 liad been little followed. Few Turkish 
 houses had been wrecked or plundered. 
 There were comparatively few Turks in the 
 place : the great mass of the population 
 was pure Bulgarian, and painfully eager to 
 display the utmost hospitality towards their 
 new friends. 
 
 All this took place on July oth ; but for 
 two days General Arnoldi was left without 
 any infantry to support him. He was not 
 a little troubled in consequence. He had 
 expected infantry to have arrived for his 
 support long betore this time; the infantry 
 had not come, and in his front the Turks 
 were showing in very formidable force, and 
 threatening an immediate attack. This, 
 with a handful of cavalry, and his flank 
 uncovered, he could not sustain, and he had 
 withdrawn his camp and baggage and the 
 mass of his brigade behind the Yantra 
 River, which he had crossed the day before, 
 and there awaited the arrival of the infantry, 
 164 
 
 maintaining a sort of attitude of defence on 
 the heights, with a chain of pickets and 
 vedettes, but having no other intention or 
 alternative but to fall back immediately he 
 should be attacked. He had definitely 
 resolved, with perhaps an excess of caution, 
 to withdraw altogether behind the Yantra 
 for the night, if the supporting infantry 
 should not have arrived by five in the after- 
 noon, when indeed some of the 33rd division 
 arrived on the heights, and somewhat re- 
 lieved his mind. 
 
 Comment on this cavalry advance on to 
 the heights above Biela cannot be of a 
 favourable character. The advance of 
 Arnoldi's brigade, unsupported by infantry, 
 could etfect no good purpose that was not 
 open to half-a-dozen scouting parties, each 
 consisting of an officer and a few men ; and 
 it might have been followed by very unplea- 
 sant consequences. The advance of Arnoldi, 
 while his dispositions by no means included 
 the protection of the town of Biela, even 
 while he camped on the heights close to it, 
 compromised that place in a manner which 
 its inhabitants would have had occasion 
 bitterly to realise, if the retreat, which he 
 regarded as almost inevitable, had actually 
 been carried out. The Turks had quitted 
 Biela without working there any injury; 
 but had they come back — and if their pres- 
 sure had led Arnoldi to retire, they would 
 of course have come back — they would 
 hardly have practised the same moderation 
 as before. They would have found some 
 Turkish houses wrecked ; they would have 
 found the mosque not quite in the state in 
 which they had left it ; they would have 
 learned that the Bulgarian inhabitants had 
 hailed the Russian troops with enthusiasm, 
 and guided Russian soldiers in their hunt 
 after Turks who had remained behind. 
 Turks are certainly human, and it would 
 have demanded more than human self- 
 restraint on their part if, under the circum- 
 stances, Biela should not have had reason 
 to mourn the hour that Arnoldi's cavalry 
 rode over the bridge, without first making 
 sure that infantry supports were within 
 easy distance. Thus their advance compro- 
 mised unjustifiably the safety, if not the 
 existence, of a friendly town. 
 
 But Biela later had occasion to realise 
 that in war-time friends are often nearly as 
 cruel as foes. Indeed, a cynical inhabitant 
 of Biela might say that he had found 
 friends more cruel than foes, for the Turks 
 had left the place without doing any mis- 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RtrSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [outrages in biela. 
 
 chief. At five o'clock on July 7th, when the 
 infantry of the 33rd division arrived on the 
 heights, Arnoldi^ leaving his forepost line 
 standing, withdrew to his camp on the 
 Yantra, and the infantry and artillery took 
 up the position on the heights he had 
 occupied, and also on others covering the 
 town. Biela was thus safe from the Turks ; 
 but there was nobody to defend them from 
 the Russians except the special correspon- 
 dent of the Illustrated London News, Mr. 
 Villiers, who had taken up his quarters in 
 
 the town. 
 
 About eight o'clock in the evening a 
 number of infantry stragglers were buying 
 bread outside a shop near Mr. Villiers' 
 quarters. They were not supplied with the 
 quickness thev desired, so they broke into 
 and plundered the shop. This was witnessed 
 by Villiers and a Russian cavalry officer who 
 was sitting conversing with him at the 
 window of his room. The officer at once 
 went and drove away the plunderers, thrash- 
 ing them soundly with the flat of his 
 scabbard. Another cavalry officer joined 
 the first; and the two, with Mr. Villiers, 
 walked down the street. A Bulgarian came 
 up to them, wringing his hands, and com- 
 plaining that his house was being robbed. 
 They heard a tumult near, and shrieks of 
 women, and as they approached a number 
 of soldiers jumped out from windows, and 
 through doors, laden with portable loot. 
 The officers at once chastised these fellows 
 with all imaginable vigour, and each took 
 two soldiers prisoners ; of the onlooking 
 soldiers they organised an informal police 
 patrol, and all plunderers subsequently 
 caught they handed over to this body, after 
 having previously thrashed them soundly. 
 The officers took their prisoners, who were 
 infantrymen, to the cavalry camp, whence 
 they were forwarded to their regiment 
 The officers in the cavalry camp, who were 
 made aware of the circumstances, expressed 
 great anger at the conduct of the soldiers ; 
 but the precaution was strangely neglected 
 of sending protecting patrols into the town, 
 probably because no cavalry soldiers were 
 concerned in the mischief. 
 
 About one o'clock, Villiers, sleeping in 
 his room, was roused by the noise of wood- 
 work being smashed in the street outside. 
 Looking out, he saw by the light of the 
 broken pieces of blazing wood carried torch - 
 wise by the soldiers, that the work of 
 plundering was going on apace to right and 
 to left. Women were shrieking, not so 
 
 VOL. Ill, 
 
 2 
 
 much because of any violence offered to 
 them, but because of the ruin to their pro- 
 perty. Men were revelling in a liquor-shop 
 whieh had been broken open, and wine was 
 running from the casks. On the other side 
 of the way a butcher's shop was being 
 oleared out, fellows tearing at the meat to 
 make it part. The women of the house 
 came into the room occupied by Villiers, 
 and with tears besought his protection. 
 But what could he do ? There was no au- 
 thority in the place— no man to whom 
 appeal could be made. All was license, and 
 Villiers sat at the window, for a long time 
 expectant of an attempt to break into the 
 house. At length came the challenge, " Is 
 that a Turkish or a Christian house ? " The 
 servant replied in Russian that it was a 
 Christian house, and occupied by gentlemen 
 accompanying the army. The soldiers no 
 further attempted to gain an entrance, and 
 apparently went away. But presently a 
 knocking was heard below, and the people 
 of the house said they were breaking into 
 the cellar, which, as in most Bulgarian 
 houses, had its opening directly into the 
 street. Presently there was a wild tumult 
 about the door and a hammering for admit- 
 tance, which quickly brought Villiers down 
 to the door. Then came the comic element 
 in a scene that was surely grim and lurid 
 enough. The proverb that ill-gotten goods 
 never prosper had come home to the Russian 
 soldiers with more than ordinary swiftness. 
 As Villiers opened the door, there stood 
 four of them in the torchlight, clamouring 
 wildly, with bottles in their hands, a strange 
 blackness about their lips, and a curious 
 smell pervading the group, which was cer* 
 tainly not the bouquet of any potable fluid 
 
 known. 
 
 The owner of the house had in his cellar 
 a number of bottles full of vitriol, used for 
 the purification of wool in the manufacture 
 and dyeing of woollen stuff's, which was 
 the man's business. These the Russian 
 soldiers, who, although they did not invade 
 the house, took the liberty of breaking 
 into the cellar, promptly annexed, and 
 having extracted the corks, began to drink. 
 The drink did not exactly meet their views ; 
 on the contrary, they must have had cast- 
 iron mouths and throats, and the vitriol 
 must have been greatly diluted, or they 
 would have paid with their lives the penalty 
 of their lawless conduct. As it was they 
 had fared pretty badly. Their lips and 
 mouths were burnt black; their clothe^ 
 
 16^ 
 
OTRANOE DRINK IN BIELA.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1877. 
 
 ; ♦ 
 
 I „ 1 
 
 1-^ 
 
 i 
 
 liands, and boots were burnt, and they were 
 half mad with rage and pain. They had 
 rushed to the conclusion that the house 
 must be a Turkish house, and the cellar a 
 Turkish cellar ; that the proprietor had pur- 
 posely stored a quantity of devil's drink in 
 wine-bottles, wherewithal to poison his 
 Russian enemies, and that they were the 
 victims. They insisted on regarding the 
 servant as the Turkish proprietor, and 
 strove to revenge themselves by forcing him 
 to drink as they believed he had brewed. 
 With wild cries and threats they forced 
 bottles into his hands, and swore that ho 
 should drink. But he objected to the bev- 
 erage in the most emphatic manner. He 
 imitated the unwilling horse in that they 
 could not make him drink; but in the 
 struggle he got his hands and clothes very 
 much burnt with the vitriol. Villiers in- 
 terfered, and for the second time in this 
 singular night he was in the hands of the 
 Philistines. Still they had some sense of 
 discipline and order left. They would not 
 deal condignly with Villiers, although they 
 professed to believe him a Turk and a spy. 
 They whirled him up to a solitary under- 
 officer who was addressed as the "patrol," and 
 who appeared to be serenely superintending 
 the operations of his comrades. The patrol 
 recognised the correspondent badge on 
 Villiers' arm, and ordered the soldiers to 
 unhand him, whereupon the victims of 
 vitriol retired, probably in search of a less 
 fiery fluid as an alterative. 
 
 After break of day the work of plunder- 
 ing flourished with greater vivacity than 
 ever. But now that there was daylight, 
 and that he could see whither he was going, 
 Villiers determined no longer to let the 
 mischief continue without an elfort to stop 
 it. So he walked up to the infantry camp on 
 the heights, found the colonel in command 
 of the regiment, reported the proceedings to 
 him, and asked for a guard to prevent fur- 
 ther outrages. The colonel at once granted 
 the request. He said he had already 
 heard of the disgraceful conduct of the 
 soldiery in the town, and was taking mea- 
 sures to stop it when Villiers came with 
 confirmation of the discreditable fact. All 
 his officers professed much disgust and 
 regret. In a few minutes a strong guard 
 was marching down to the little place with 
 Villiers as guide. The officers CDinmanding 
 it at all events did their duty thoroughly. 
 Every marauder met on his way to the camp 
 fiom the town was searched. If his panni- 
 166 
 
 kin contained wine it was spilled upon the 
 ground. The officer thrashed him, and 
 then made him a prisoner. In the town a 
 strategic mov^ement bagged the plunderers 
 of a whole street, some thirtv-five in num- 
 ber, who were duly searched, thrashed, and 
 made prisoners. This guard then remained 
 permanently on duty, a police officer was 
 appointed, as also a commandant de place. 
 But the evil had been wrought; the scandal 
 stuck like a blister. It is true there was 
 an intention to give compensation for the 
 damage done, but the entente cordiale 
 between the Bulgarians and the Russians 
 had greatly suffered. To descend to parti- 
 culars, the Russian soldier may take credit 
 for being quite as expeditious and sweeping, 
 if not so quiet and methodical, a plunderer 
 as the French " forager," as he modestly 
 prefers to be termed. When the Russians 
 arrived there was in the place an abundance 
 of bread, meat, coffee, sugar, tobacco, cigar- 
 ette-paper, writing-paper, under-clothing, 
 boots, &c. But within two days there re- 
 mained but the memory of these products 
 of nature and art. 
 
 Confidence was, however, restored when 
 compensation was made and the rest of the 
 infantry followed, whilst the Czarevitch and 
 his brother, the Grand Duke Vladimir, took 
 up their head-quarters at Pavlo. By this 
 time the forces on this line had received their 
 title as the army of Rustzuk; but the com- 
 mander-in-chief was certainly in no hurry to 
 get there. Biela was first reached by the 
 cavalry advanced division on the 5th July,' 
 and by the 11th there had reached there, 
 thus far on the road, but one infantry 
 division, the 33rd, belonging to the 12th 
 corps. The 12th division, belonging to the 
 same corps, was behind a few versts at 
 Pavlo with the Czarevitch. Of the 13th 
 corps, which with the 12th made up the 
 army of Rustzuk, one division, the 35th, 
 which was among the earliest troops to 
 cross the river, was in the ilrst instance 
 sent on to Ovca Mojila, a village in a south- 
 westerly direction from Sistova, had to 
 march across country, and reached Kosna, 
 which is close to Biela, on the 11th. The 
 1st division, the other division of the 13th 
 corps, was in a valley to the south of Pavlo, 
 so that the whole infantry of the army of 
 Rustzuk was then within a few hours' march 
 of Biela. Biela is two days' march from 
 Rustzuk, but many days elapsed before the 
 infantry pushed onwards. As for the cav- 
 alry division, the head-quarters of the 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [positions on the lom. 
 
 division general. Baron Driezen, were at 
 Monastir, about eight miles in advance of 
 Biela, on the road to Rustzuk, while the 
 brigades Arnoldi and Stahl von Holstein 
 were more forward, and spread out over a 
 considerable extent of country. Cossacks 
 were also forward to the east and north-east 
 of the Biela position, sweeping the country, 
 and driving in the scattered handfuls of 
 Turks who had been lurking in the woods. 
 
 1'he delay may be attributed to several 
 causes, but the principal reason was the 
 necessity which was believed to exist for 
 accumulating supplies to feed the troops 
 before the advance began in earnest. Pre- 
 caution in this respect was wise, but it was 
 carried to an undue extent; and to cart 
 supplies all the way round from Zimnitza 
 for an army supposed to attack Rustzuk, 
 was a needlessly roundabout process, when 
 they might have been ferried over the river 
 in the rear of the batteries at Slobosia, the 
 railway station at Frateshti offering for this 
 purpose a convenient basis for the operation. 
 
 At last the infantry gradually dribbled 
 into its positions along the Yantra, but still 
 no move forwards was undertaken. This 
 inactivity naturally created great dissa- 
 tisfaction among the officers eager for an 
 opportunity to distinguish themselves. 
 Earnest entreaties were persistently sent to 
 the head-quarters begging for a relaxation 
 of the strict injunction that the infantry 
 mass of the army was not to cross the Yan- 
 tra for a long time, but without efif'ect. 
 Yet, though the Czarevitch and his brother 
 Vladimir were among the supplicants. Gene- 
 ral Niepokoitschitzki was obdurate in the 
 maintenance of the prohibition against 
 anything save a defensive and preventive 
 attitude. The policy of this attitude was 
 obvious. While two corps stood lining 
 the road of advance onTirnova, no attempt 
 by the Turks to intercept that advance, or 
 to disturb its communications, was likelv 
 to be made, as the Turkish field army, 
 reported to extend from Rasgrad to Osman 
 Bazar, could not change its front and, 
 marching to its left, move off into the 
 Balkans to interfere with the passage of the 
 Russians through the defiles without show- 
 ing a flank, and, indeed, its rear, to this 
 threatening mass of men, purposely motion- 
 less for the time, but ready to march quickly 
 and far when the opportunity for doing 
 good by so doing should offer. The policy 
 was obvious, but it was cautious. It was 
 not in accord with Prince Frederick Ciiarles's 
 
 standing orders — " Find your enemy, and 
 fight him whenever and wherever you find 
 him." 
 
 The restriction against crossing the Yan- 
 tra was at last removed, head-quarters were 
 transferred to Biela, and the whole army 
 sent well forward toward Rustzuk, beyond 
 Obertenik. On the heights above Domo- 
 gila, a villaQ:e to the north-east of Obertenik, 
 lay the white tents of the 35th division. 
 At Trstenik, a village close to the chaussee, 
 about six kilometres beyond Obertenik, 
 were the head-quarters of the Archduke 
 Vladimir, commanding the 12th army 
 corps. The infantry had pushed on the 
 cavalry a few versts, and Greneral Driezen's 
 head-quarters were moved onward to the 
 heights within four miles of the Danube, at 
 Pirgos, due north ; and just over the crest 
 of the slope, on the reverse side of which 
 he had pitched his camp, was the valley of 
 the Lom. The forces were considerably 
 crowded down in this corner between the 
 Danube and the Lom, and cavalry and in- 
 fantry camps were mixed up anyhow. A 
 glance at the map will show that the main 
 river Lom, the Cerni or Black Lom, enter- 
 ing the Danube at Rustzuk, flows down 
 through Bulgaria in a direction nearly due 
 north, bending to the north-east as it 
 approaches the Danube. Along its western 
 bank was the position of the Russian army 
 of Rustzuk. It covered a broad front, 
 although the principal concentration was 
 near the Danube. The right flank of its 
 cavalry was at Polomarcha, a village about 
 forty miles south of the Danube, in the 
 direction of Osman Bazar, and regiments 
 were studded among: the villages on the 
 western bank of the Cerni Lom, all the way 
 to Pirgos. The Beli, or White Lom, with 
 a north-wester! v course, flows into the Cerni 
 Lom at the village of Kirsova, and the tri- 
 angular interval between the two rivers was 
 occupied by detachments of cavalry belong- 
 ing to the 12th and 8th cavalry divisions. 
 In all, about 40,000 men were now on the 
 Lom by July 19. This position was gained 
 witliout any fighting to speak of. Thero 
 was a trivial cavalry skirmish on the height, 
 and a few dragoons fell in clearing the crest 
 of the Turkish troops. Two d.iys before 
 there was a more serious skirmisn down in 
 the Lom Valley, at a village called Kadikoi, 
 about midwav between the Lom and the 
 road between Rustzuk and Schumla. Th'^ra 
 was reason to believe that Turkish troops 
 were there iu some force, and from the 
 
 1G7 
 
 • J 
 
 ¥-«■ 
 
ADVANCE ON NICOPOLI.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE^ 
 
 [a.d. 1877. 
 
 fil 
 
 f1 
 
 (i 1 
 
 11! I 
 
 heights on the western side the Lorn, the 
 Russians opened fire with one gun, with 
 intent to provoke reprisals from the enemy, 
 and so gain some idea of his strength. But 
 tlie Turks were wise, or at least wily in 
 tlieir generation. They replied with one 
 gun. If the Russians had brought two into 
 action, no doubt they would have followed 
 suit ; but in the meantime a fair exchange 
 was enough for them. 
 
 Emboldened by this seeming weakness, 
 a couple of squadrons of Bilderling's dra- 
 goons were pushed across the Lorn in the 
 direction of Kadikoi. They advanced some 
 distance, but not to glory. They had 
 passed through a swarm of Circassians 
 lying in ambush, and suddenly the two 
 squadrons were beset, surrounded, and as- 
 sailed with great fury. It remained for 
 them but to fight their way back, which 
 they did with a hard hand-to-hand struggle, 
 losing some nine men killed and twenty-one 
 wounded. The killed were brought into 
 camp across their horses. The Circassians 
 followed the dragoons across the Lom, 
 hanging on their rear, and trying to cut 
 off detached parties; but they came a little 
 too far. A battalion of infantry had accom- 
 panied the cavalry as far as the Lom. So 
 when the cavalry came back thus sore beset, 
 the infantry were ready to cover them, and 
 the Circassians found themselves exposed to 
 the withering rifle-fire which it has since 
 been ascertained caused them a loss of 
 twenty men killed and fifty wounded. 
 Subsequently, appearances indicated that 
 Kadikoi'and its vicinity had been evacuated 
 by the Turks ; and to make this certain, a 
 reconnalssance'was conducted in that direc- 
 tion bv the Archduke Vladimir himself, at 
 the head of a squadron of dragoons, a 
 squadron of Cossacks, and a battalion of 
 infantry. He penetrated to Kadikoi with- 
 out opposition, and found it empty and 
 deserted; so he determined to take the 
 opportunity that offered, and make a bold 
 dash at the railway between Rustzuk and 
 Schumla. His Cossacks rode on through 
 Buzin, and struck the railway at the 
 Ouvemli station. This they burnt, and 
 blew up with dynamite an adjacent bridge, 
 thus effectually destroying the railway com- 
 munication between Rustzuk and Schumla. 
 Having proceeded so for, and having 
 established themselves in the positions 
 shown in sketch F, the Russians were satis- 
 fied. They had masked Rustzuk and the 
 field aimy which still preserved its inactivity 
 168 
 
 under Abdul Kerim, on the White Lom and 
 Solenik Lom. And all this had been ac- 
 complished almost without a shot being 
 fired — certainly without any^erious combat 
 — beyond the little skirmish between the 
 Cossacks and Circassians above described. 
 
 We will now devote a few words to tho 
 advance westwards. 
 
 Simultaneously with the advance on the 
 Lom and on the Balkans, an expedition 
 was sent westwards, under the command of 
 General Krtidener, to seize the fortress of 
 Nicopoli, opposite Turn-Magurelli, when an 
 attempt to force a passage was undertaken 
 on the same night that the Danube was 
 forced at Sistova. 
 
 That attempt, as we have seen, was un- 
 successful, owing to the determined resist- 
 ance of the Turks and their presence ia 
 force. The passage of the Danube, there- 
 fore, as originally planned, was a failure, 
 although that failure was hidden and re- 
 deemed, by the successful passage at 
 Sistova. But that the speedy possession of 
 Nicopoli was regarded by the Russians as an 
 absolute necessity, is evident from their at 
 once sending General Krudener westwards 
 to seize it in the flank and rear, whilst tho 
 Roumanian and Russian forces and batteries 
 on the opposite shore assailed it in front. 
 
 General Krudener, believing, with the 
 rest of the staff, that Osman Pasha was 
 making his way down across the Balkans, 
 or not giving the matter a thought, or not 
 coming where Osman Pasha was, marched 
 straight upon Nicopoli, as though it were 
 the only place in the universe worth 
 tliinking about. Supposing that Plevna 
 was held only by a few detachments of 
 Turkish soldiers, he neglected to send 
 either cavalry or infantry to that place, if 
 only for the purpose of protecting his flank. 
 
 A glance at sketch G will plainly show 
 the great initial error committed at this 
 early stage by the Russians. Although it 
 was certain that Osman Pasha, with 40,000 
 men, was somewhere in the country west of 
 the river Osma, the Russians not only 
 took no measures ta ascertain precisely 
 where Osman Pasha was, but they also 
 neglected to secure the lines of the Osma 
 and Vid, as they had done on the Yantra 
 and Lom. With the exception of General 
 Kriidener's force at Nicopoli— engaged as 
 they were with the attack on that place — 
 and a weak detachment at Lovatz, th© 
 whole line of the Osma and Vid was left 
 I to take care of itself. 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [lom and yantra positions* 
 
 o 
 
 
 "55 
 
 n 
 o 
 
 )( — 
 
 R. Yantra. 
 
 pi 
 
 i 
 
 o 
 
 > o 
 
 OS 
 A4 
 
 e« 
 CO 
 
 o 
 
 CO 
 
 OQ 
 
 I 
 
 a 
 
 O 
 
 
 I 
 
 03 
 
 I 
 
 13 
 
 is 
 
 ► 
 
 o 
 
 3 
 
 PQ 
 
 a 
 ti o 
 
 CIS 
 
 I 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 o.|o 
 
 ea 
 
 > 
 
 0> 
 
 U3 ^ 
 
 8 
 
 o 
 
 
 lZ3 
 
 □□ 
 
 R. Vid. 
 
 169 
 
 si 
 
 ♦ ., % 
 
I 
 
 It 
 
 'I 
 
 I « 
 
 It '> 
 I 
 
 H 1 
 
 CAPTURE OF NICOPOLI.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1877. 
 
 However, elated with their relative suc- 
 cess — gained, be it repeated, because there 
 was no opposition — the liussians under- 
 valued their enemy, and neglected the most 
 elementary precautions in this direction of 
 the field of war. 
 
 Thus, unsecured against any attack on 
 liis left flank or rear, General Kriidener 
 commenced his attack on Nicopoli. The 
 action was opened by the batteries on the 
 opposite bank, which by far outnumbered 
 the Turkish pieces, and equally far exceeded 
 them in weight of metal. Breaches were 
 speedily opened in the crumbling fortifica- 
 tions ; in many places the town was set 
 ablaze, and on the third day the assault was 
 ordered. Advancing from all sides, and 
 supported by the redoubled activity of the 
 Russo-Roumanian batteries, several out- 
 works were at last carried, and Hassan 
 Pasha, the commander, forced to capitulate 
 for want of ammunition on July 16, and 
 yield himself and 6,000 men prisoners. 
 This success was purchased with the loss of 
 about 1,500 Russians killed and wounded. 
 It was therefore the most important affair 
 the Russians had as yet sustained, and gave 
 them a foretaste of what was to come as 
 soon as they really felt the enemy. Had 
 they been wise they would have taken more 
 account of this affair than they did, and 
 have arrived at the conviction that it was one 
 thing to advance unopposed, and another 
 when the road was disputed. 
 
 Meantime the Turks had been fortifying 
 themselves in Plevna, whilst Osman Pasha, 
 hearing that Nicopoli was lost — or perhaps 
 'purposely leaving that place to its fate — 
 was calling up all the forces at his disposal 
 to occupy Plevna, and secure his communi- 
 cations with Sophia by the Orkhanieh Pass. 
 (See sketch E.) 
 
 Some inkling of this movement, or per- 
 haps only the fact that a larger force 
 was at Plevna than at first supposed, caused 
 General Kriidener to send General Schilder- 
 Schuldner, as already mentioned, to seize 
 Plevna, before which place Schilder-Schuld- 
 ner arrived on July 19th, when the positions 
 were as shown in sketch G. 
 
 During the attack on Nicopoli, a few 
 miles south of Sistova, there was a sudden 
 alarm. A Cossack rode in with a hurriedly 
 scribbled despatch from a telegraph clerk 
 at the bridge across the Danube, to the 
 effect that the Turks were marching from 
 Nicopoli on Sistova, and threatening to 
 sever the Russian communications, destrov 
 170 
 
 the bridge, and compromise the safety of 
 the emperor. Immediate steps had to be 
 taken. One brigade of the 11th corps was 
 in Sarevica. The other brigades of the 
 same corps were forwarded. Dispositions 
 were made with the artillery and infantry 
 covering the line of the heights protecting 
 the line of approach from Nicopoli. The 
 emperor himself assumed the chief direc- 
 tion of affairs, and is said to have shown at 
 once the most perfect coolness and compe- 
 tent military ability. The scouts sent out, 
 however, brought back the intelligence that 
 the country in the direction of Nicopoli 
 was quiet, and presently there arrived in- 
 telligence from Baron Kriidener, respecting 
 his success at Nicopoli. It was ultimately 
 discovered that the telegraph clerk had 
 become confused and alarmed by the noise 
 of firing at Nicopoli and concern for the 
 emperor's safety. The incident seems 
 trivial, but shows on what thin ice the 
 Russians were treading with hostile forces 
 left on both flanks. 
 
 To this scare succeeded the elation pro- 
 duced by the capture of Nicopoli, tho 
 triumph being heightened by the arrival of 
 Hassan Pasha, the brave defender of Nico- 
 poli, of whose fighting prowess the Rus- 
 sians themselves spoke with generous ap- 
 preciation. As he fought when free, so 
 Hassan Pasha acted when a prisoner, bear- 
 ing himself before the Great White Czar 
 with true Turkish nonchalance. When 
 asked why he capitulated, he said his 
 ammunition was all gone, and he had been 
 obliged to kill with his own hand three or 
 four soldiers who left their duty. He 
 spoke as rank folly of the conduct of a 
 Russian artillery officer who, when one 
 position was barely carried, rode his guns 
 in among the still undefeated Turks, and, 
 unlimbering, came into action against 
 other positions as yet uninjured. So 
 highly did the Russian staff estimate Ge- ~ 
 neral Kriidener's success, that they con- 
 sidered that gain of the fortress freed them 
 from the threat of attack on their right 
 flank; and one division, the 31st, was 
 thought sufficient, on the line of Plevna- 
 Nicopoli, to protect communications and 
 guard against any trouble from the Widdin 
 direction. The other, the 5th, was in- 
 tended to form a portion of the Balkan 
 advance, which had apparently been so 
 brilliantly inaugurated by General Gourko. 
 To this operation we must now devote our 
 attention. 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [occupation of tirnova. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE FIRST PASSAGE OP THE BALKANS. 
 
 "Whilst, as we have seen, a screen was 
 thrown forward on either side to protect the 
 flanks of the advance on the Balkans by the 
 main force, which was to pierce its way 
 beyond the Balkans into Roumelia, and 
 dictate tbe terms of peace before the walls 
 of Constantinople, General Gourko was 
 entrusted with the task of clearing the way 
 for the Grand Duke Nicholas and the 8th 
 corps. 
 
 But though the passage of the Danube 
 was effected on June 27th, several days 
 elapsed before General Gourko was well on 
 his way to Tirnova with two brigades of 
 cavalry, and field artillery ; and it was not 
 untilJuly 7th that he effected his entrance, 
 almost unopposed, into Tirnova. The Rus- 
 sian staff therefore allowed no less than 
 eight days for a cavalry raid on a place not 
 more than fifty miles distant from Sistova — 
 a rate of marching of six miles a day ! 
 
 Tirnova itself, beautifully situated in 
 the valley of the Yantra, which winds tor- 
 tuously through the town, was occupied by 
 about 1,500 Turkish line, who, after firing a 
 few shots, withdrew over the hills towards 
 Elena, as they were unsupported by any 
 large forces in the vicinity. The place was 
 not fortified, though it might have been 
 made of immense strength ; but would, in 
 that case, also have required a very large 
 number of men to hold it. 
 
 The news that Tirnova was denuded of 
 Turkish troops, and that none were in force 
 in the vicinity, arrived at Sarejar on July 
 8tb, and on the following day the grand 
 duke and the greater part of the 8th corps 
 started to occupy it in force, the grand 
 duke intending to make it his head-quarters. 
 He arrived there on July 12th, with the 
 greater part of the 8th corps, and there- 
 with the town was really occupied by the 
 Russians. The march from Sistova was 
 rather like a military promenade or a 
 triumphal procession than a forced march. 
 Everywhere the people came out to meet 
 the army, offering bread and salt and the 
 most friendly greetings ; while the women 
 and girls offered fruit, and pelted the men 
 with flowers. At the entrance of many of 
 
 the villages, arches were erected, covered 
 with leaves and flowers. Processions, headed 
 by priests, came out singing, with pictures 
 from the churches, standards, and banners. 
 There were deafening cheers, and the most 
 extravagant joy. They insisted on shaking 
 and kissing hands, and shed the cus- 
 tomary tears. At the entrance of the 
 village of Zavada, at the beginning of the 
 gorge that leads to Tirnova, a rude arch 
 was constructed of branches of trees. The 
 whole population of the village gathered at 
 the road-side near it. The soldiers, without 
 orders from their officers, uncovered as they 
 passed under, to the great delight of the 
 people ; while a huge bar of iron, beaten by 
 a mallet, gave forth the first sound re- 
 sembling a bell heard there for four hundred 
 years. Just inside this gorge or hollow there 
 were two very ancient monasteries, built one 
 on each side of a steep mountain side. The 
 priests from these monasteries came down 
 with banners and pictures, and a large 
 beautiful Bible, which as many of the sol- 
 diers as could, kissed as they passed, the 
 people of the monasteries hoisting old bells 
 which had lain hidden in the basements for 
 four hundred years, and the voices of which 
 were soon heard rolling up and down the 
 hollows and gorges of the mountains. 
 
 The reception at Tirnova was splendid. 
 The streets were full of women, girls, and 
 children, who mingled with the soldiers 
 on the most friendly and sociable terms. 
 The windows were teeming with the faces 
 of pretty girls, flags, and streamers. The 
 narrow, crooked streets were choked up by 
 crowds of people, soldiers, horses, and wag- 
 gons, and the whole town was ringing with 
 excitement and joy. Such was the greeting 
 the invaders received at all hands. The 
 grand duke arrived about noon. He was 
 met at the usual entrance to the town by 
 priests in robes chanting prayers in the 
 old Sclavonic tongue, and by immense 
 crowds of people. With deafening cheers 
 he was conducted to the church, where he 
 attended a short service, then passed 
 through the streets, where several arches 
 had been erected with the inscription upon 
 
 171 
 
 im^v 
 
I ■! 
 
 !(• 
 
 
 
 
 1^ I 
 
 ' ! 
 
 in 
 
 
 p 
 
 i ^ 
 
 ! 1 
 
 •I 
 
 i 1 
 
 ^BULGARIAN EXCESSES.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 them of " Welcome," followed by a crowd 
 of girls singing. The women and girls at 
 the windows literally covered him with 
 flowers, while Christo Ignatieff, with the 
 enormous moustache, was quite buried in 
 the carriage under the leaves, flowers, and 
 wreaths showered upon him. The grand 
 duke then went to the quarters already 
 prepared for him. 
 
 The people universally opened their 
 houses to the Russians. There was no trouble 
 about getting billets. The officers had 
 only to inquire at the first house, and if not 
 already occupied they were sure to be re- 
 ceived. In only one village had there been a 
 cool reception. This was Akchair, where the 
 people showed a disinclination to sell any- 
 thing, either because they were afraid the 
 Russians would go away and the Turks 
 come back, or because some flying band of 
 Russians had taken things without payment. 
 The Turkish population fled everywhere, 
 and several villages had been abandoned, 
 the Turks carrying off all their efi'ects that 
 they had not been plundered of. Nearly 
 the whole Turkish population had also fled 
 from Tirnova, carrying off their goods and 
 ■chattels. The houses of those who fled were 
 more or less damaged by the Bulgarian 
 population. Windows and doors were 
 smashed, as at Sistova. The most needy 
 part of the population helped themselves to 
 what the Turks left behind, which was not 
 much. These acts w^re committed during 
 the day or two of anarchy which followed 
 the departure of the Turks and preceded 
 Russian rule. They were repudiated by the 
 better class of Bulgarians, who expressed 
 great chagrin at them, but who professed 
 to have been powerless to prevent them. 
 
 The conduct of these retreating Turks 
 xieserves mention. Though there were iso- 
 lated cases of outrage and murder and vio- 
 lence, they were rare. They drove off all 
 the Bulgarian live stock— sheep, horses, 
 ^nd cattle— they could lay their hands on, 
 but did not go further. 
 
 The grand duk« was thus safely installed 
 in Tirnova, and Prince Mirski was sent 
 forward with part of the 8th corps to at- 
 tack the Schipka Pass in front,whilst Gene- 
 ral Gourko, who had left Tirnova the day 
 before the grand duke arrived, was to try 
 to cross the Balkans at some other point, 
 and attack it in the rear. 
 
 The positions of the Russians and Turks 
 at this juncture—on July 13-14--are shown 
 in sketch H. 
 
 172 . 
 
 At Tirnova there was the grand duke, 
 his left flank protected by Gourko's cavalry 
 till relieved by a detachment of the 8th 
 corps which occupied Slataritza. His right 
 was protected by another detachment at 
 Novoselo, and still further west, at Selvi 
 on the road to Lovatz (see sketch F). Prince 
 Mirski was well forward with his forces at 
 Drenova and Gabrova, scouring the country 
 round Elena. 
 
 In front of these forces lay the Balkan 
 passes. From Tirnova, the road to the 
 Schipka Pass led past Drenova to Gabrova. 
 Midway between these two places the road 
 split, the chief one going on straight to 
 Schipka, and the other to Travna, whence 
 it ran southwards through a difficult pass, 
 and emerged in the valley of the Tundja, 
 opposite the village of Maglis. 
 
 West of Tirnova, a road led to Novoselo, 
 and Selvi>, and Lovatz; to the east, one 
 road ran due east to Slataritza, and another 
 south-east to Elena, This latter road 
 splits at Feda Bey, the high-road running 
 to Elena ; whilst the other, a cross-road, led 
 to the Hainkoi Pass, a difficult, little known 
 pass, seldom traversed by either Turk or 
 Bulgarian except for local purposes, the 
 great traffic between the northern and 
 southern sides of the Balkans being carried 
 on through the Schipka or Slivno passes 
 west and east. 
 
 Of these three passes, two, the Schipka 
 and the Hainkoi passes, have become re- 
 nowned. The third, the Travna Pass, has 
 never been mentioned during the war ; and 
 yet, as we shall show, that pass might have 
 been turned to immense advantage by either 
 Turks or Russians in subsequent combats, 
 as by means of it either party might have 
 outflanked the other. 
 
 South of the Balkans and its passes the 
 river Tundja flowed, from west to east, 
 through a broad valley, the southern boun- 
 dary of which was formed by the Kara Dagh 
 mountains. Thishill approached theBalkans 
 opposite the Hainkoi Pass, and forced the 
 river Tundja to describe a wide bend. On 
 the southern side of the Kara Dagh lay the 
 towns of Eski Zagra, Karabunar, and Yeni 
 Zagra, near which ran the railway from 
 Adrianople to Yamboli. The Kara Dagh 
 is also pierced by two comparatively easy 
 passes leading from the valley of the Tundja 
 into the plains of the Maritza. One of these 
 passes, the most westerly, leads from Kezan- 
 lik to Eski Zagra, and the other from 
 Maglis to Karabunar and Yeni Zagra. 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [positions in the balkans. 
 
 H — Positions of Turkish and Russian Forces 
 in the Balkans on July 13, 14, 1877. 
 
 Voditza. o 
 
 I 
 
 Eilidjilar. o 
 
 I 
 
 KoereTO. 
 
 Djutin. o 
 
 H 
 
 I 
 
 Novoselo. 
 
 Drenova. o 
 
 Gabrova. o 
 
 o 
 
 Travna. 
 
 o 
 
 Tirnova. 
 
 Slataritza. o ll 
 Feda Bey. 
 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 Elena, o 
 
 1 
 
 Behrova. 
 
 "8 
 
 Voinish. o 
 
 
 
 
 Raikovci. o 
 
 • • 
 
 
 
 ParovcL o 
 
 
 
 
 Scbipka 
 
 . I Balkans. . 
 
 * 5 Travna r ^ Pass, 
 
 y I Pass. 
 
 Balkans. 
 
 Hainkoi 
 
 H 
 
 Balkans. 
 
 Konaro. 
 
 Pass. 
 
 o Hainkoi. 
 
 QQ 
 
 o 
 
 Eezanlik. 
 
 o 
 
 Maglis. 
 
 Iflamur. o 
 
 R, Tundja. 
 
 Kara Dagh l ^ 
 
 Hills. 
 
 Dalboka. 
 
 Kara Dagh 
 
 Hills. 
 
 < 
 
 > 
 
 Russians. 
 Turks, 
 
 Eski Zagra. 
 
 ■i Gourko's Infantry, 
 ■ „ Cavalry, 
 
 
 ti. Tundja. 
 
 i 
 
 Teni Zagra. 
 
 Karabunar. 
 
 ! Head-quarters, 
 
 VOL. III. 
 
 2 A 
 
 173 
 
v.) 
 
 ) I 
 
 . 1 
 
 f 
 
 I 
 i 
 
 hi 
 
 n.' 
 
 1 
 
 ii 
 
 i i 
 
 I i 
 
 I 
 
 if; I 
 
 Ii 
 
 r . 
 
 TASSAGE OF THE HAINKGI.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 There were thus three distinct sections of 
 country lying between the Russians at Tir- 
 nova and the great Roumelian plains. The 
 first was the Balkans; the second, the 
 valley of the Tundja ; and the third, the 
 Kara Dagh. 
 
 Now, liaving: arrived in force at Tirnova, 
 the Russians spread out like a fan, as shown 
 in sketch H. The Turks occupied Schipka, 
 Kezanlik, and Maglis with small detach- 
 ments, whilst the gros of their forces were 
 south of the Kara Dagh, at Eski Zagra, 
 Karabunar, and Yeni Zagra ; the basis and 
 head-quarters being at Adrianople, even as 
 the Russian basis was at Tirnova. Should 
 the Turkish basis be forced, the Turks 
 would have to fall back upon the lines of 
 Tchataldja in front of Constantinople (see 
 sketch F). Should the Russian basis be 
 forced, the Czar and his army would have 
 to fall back across the Danube at Sistova. 
 
 In these few lines the whole gist of the 
 Russo-Turkish campaign is contained, and 
 the object of Turk and Russian succinctly 
 •explained. 
 
 The first thing which Greneral Gourko 
 had to do when he left Tirnova on July 11, 
 was to ascertain how far the Turkisli con- 
 centration, said to exist about Osman Bazar, 
 was in force, and whether the alignment of 
 the enemy was prolonged from Osman Bazar 
 in a southerly direction through the Balkans. 
 Accordingly General Gourko led a cavalry 
 reconnaissance on the road in the direction 
 of Osman Bazar, and pushed it home with 
 considerable determination — driving in the 
 isolated detachments of the Turks till he 
 learned that there were some 6,000 Turks 
 in the Osman Bazar district, which, however, 
 constituted the left flank of the Turkish 
 alignment between the Danube and the 
 Balkans. Their position did not prolong 
 itself into the mountains; so, leaving a 
 detachment of the 8th corps, which had 
 followed him, to watch the Turkish position 
 about Osman Bazar, he coolly turned his 
 back, wheeled his cavalry round from east 
 to south, and headed straight for the 
 Balkans. 
 
 At Feda Bey the expedition struck the 
 road^to the Hainkoi Pass. This pass and this 
 road were discovered by Prince Tserteleff, 
 to whom had been confided the whole busi- 
 ness of obtaining information about the 
 roads, the movements of the enemy, their 
 numbers, dispositions, and so on. He soon 
 ascertained that the Turks had fortified the 
 blivno and Gabrova passes in such a way 
 174 
 
 as to render the forcing of a passage at 
 either of them a very difficult matter, and 
 he determined to look for another. Count 
 Moltke, in his book, refers to a pass between 
 those of Gabrova and Slivno, but speaks 
 of it as only a path not practicable for an 
 army. Prince Tserteleff decided to investi- 
 gate this pass, in the hope that it might 
 lead to something. He soon ascertained 
 that it had a very bad reputation — a place 
 that was generally frequented by brigands, 
 and rarely used either by Bulgarians or 
 Turks. Among the Turks he found it had 
 even a worse reputation than among the 
 Bulgarians. It was a kind of tradition 
 among them that this pass was in the clouds, 
 that the defiles leading to it were so wild, 
 so savage and barren, as to be unfrequented 
 by either bird or beast — a kind of mountain 
 desert where nothing could live. Pursuing 
 his investigations, the prince heard of a 
 man who had been through this pass, and, 
 finding him, he learned that he had been 
 through in fact, but that was two 5'ears 
 ago, and the road might have become im- 
 passable since then. But what made the 
 information really important was, that he 
 had been through with one of the ox-carts 
 of the country. If an ox-cart could go 
 through, very probably a cannon might be 
 got through somehow, and it was deter- 
 mined to reconnoitre and explore. Three 
 days before the arrival of the grand duke 
 at Tirnova, General Ranch went forward 
 with 200 Cossacks for this purpose, taking 
 with him Bulgarian guides. Withoutwaiting 
 to explore the road to the end, he immedi- 
 ately began preparing it for the passage of 
 artillery — a task which, as far as the pass 
 itself was concerned, turned out to be no 
 very difficult matter, as the worst part of 
 the road was on the south side. The most 
 wonderful part of it was, that although 
 these 200 Cossacks were workinor three 
 days on this road, with the Bulgarian 
 peasantry coming and going all the time 
 freely, the Turks never got a whisper of 
 their presence, nor any intimation of tho 
 evident intention of the Russians to try 
 this pass. They even sent three battalions 
 from Kezanlik to Slivno to strengthen the 
 positions before the latter place, and these 
 three battalions passed by Hankoi, at the 
 mouth of the pass, the day before the 
 Russians issued out. These three battalions 
 were just where they ought to have been 
 had they but known it, as they ought to 
 have done, and they could have prevented 
 
 I- 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the hainkoi pass. 
 
 the success of the movement. And yet, 
 although the whole Bulgarian population 
 of a dozen mountain villages knew the 
 Russians were there, not one man was 
 found amongst them to inform the Turks. 
 Such is the advantage possessed by an army 
 operating among a friendly population. 
 The Turkish staff either did not know of 
 this pass at all, or, knowing it, believed it 
 to be so impracticable that they did not 
 even think it worth while to place a corps 
 uf observation to watch it. A small body 
 of troops had been there, which had not 
 even been placed there to watch the place. 
 They were merely a small body whose re- 
 treat had been cut off by the Russians at 
 Elena, and who had retreated by this road 
 two or three days before the Russians came, 
 without thinking it worth while to leave a 
 single man to guard the entrance to the pass. 
 
 The only danger, therefore, that the 
 Russians had to fear was, that some wander- 
 ing party of Bashi-Bazouks or marauders 
 should pass that way and discover what 
 they were at, or that the noise made by 
 the Cossacks in repairing the road should 
 excite the curiosity of the small Turkish 
 force which it was known was at Hainkoi, 
 at the outlet of the defile. They did not dare 
 to use powder for blasting the rocks, by 
 which they might have made the road pass- 
 able in several places where it could hardly 
 be called so for artillery in the condition in 
 which it was left by the Cossacks. But 
 Prince Tserteleff, who had greatly distin- 
 guished himself during the passage, and to 
 whom must be given the honour not only 
 of discovering the pass, but of conducting 
 and piloting the advance guard through it, 
 went forward continually with one or two 
 Bulgarians, reconnoitring the route far in 
 advance of even the advance guard. He 
 even disguised himself in a Bulgarian 
 peasant's clothes, and went forward on 
 foot, anxious to see if the road were really 
 practicable before the whole column should 
 advance to what might, after all, be only a 
 sheep-path, over which it would be impos- 
 sible to take artillery ; and he was the first 
 man of the Russian array, and his the first 
 horse, to cross the summit, and the first to 
 open out the defile at Hainkoi. 
 
 The road having thus been decided on, 
 General Gourko collected his cavalry round 
 about Elena, and started southwards without 
 more ado, followed by his infantry and 
 artillery into the wild country, broken up 
 by gorges and clefts, which lay between him 
 
 and the entrance to the pass. He passed 
 through the villages of Voinish and Raikovci 
 to Parovci, a little hamlet made in a gorge 
 of the Balkans, in a dark, narrow little dell, 
 whose sides were so steep that the dozen 
 houses which made up the village seemed 
 to be holding on with hooks and claws, to 
 keep from slipping down into the deep 
 ravine beneath them. 
 
 The silence usually pervading these moun- 
 tains, rocks, and forests, disturbed at 
 most by the occasional cry of some bird 
 startled in its slumbers, was broken by the 
 hum of voices, the impatient stamp of the 
 horses, and the rattle of harness. Just 
 below the village stood a battery of artillery ; 
 and extending two miles further up, and 
 three or four miles further down the dark,, 
 crooked, rocky little hollow, the rest of the 
 army lay asleep on its arms, without fire or 
 supper, waiting the first ray of daylight to 
 resume its march. It was impossible to 
 take the artillery along in the darkness, 
 through one of the most difficult defiles of 
 the Balkans. Absolute silence in the weird 
 stillness of night was absolutely necessary 
 also, which explains the absence of camp 
 fires and supper, and the usual sights and 
 sounds of a bivouac. The glare of camp 
 fires reflected on the sky, and seen from the 
 other side of the mountains, might have 
 given the alarm to the Turks ; and a very 
 small force, a very little thing, would stop 
 the way, and even result in the destruction 
 of the column. They were less than ten 
 thousand men, and were extended along this 
 narrow, crooked defile a distance of seven 
 or eight miles. If the Turks had got wind of 
 the advance, they could have concentrated on 
 the other side, and cut the Russians off in 
 detail as they came out, as easily as one could 
 catch water coming out of a bnnghole. 
 There were other dangers to be thought of 
 too. One thunderstorm would have ren- 
 dered th« road, already so difficult, quite, 
 impassable. Then there was still the possi- 
 bility, though a remote one, of the Turks 
 rapidly concentrating twenty-five or thirty 
 thousand men, and crushing them before 
 they could get reinforcements. It was a 
 hazardous undertaking, but one which, if 
 successful, would ensure the passage of the 
 Balkans to the main army. 
 
 The night, however, was passed in safety ; 
 and in the morning it was found that the 
 road from Parovci to the top of the pass 
 was not nearly so bad as had been supposed. 
 Indeed, the road all the way up to this point 
 
 175 
 
 I 
 
 IK 
 
 »S' 
 
 ^t^ 1. 
 
 -,.. iir 
 
 f'!^ 
 
 ;i,t: 
 
 * : • 
 
"i 
 
 
 !i : 
 
 
 ' I . 
 
 ., 
 
 i 
 
 Mi 
 
 
 1 ■ 
 
 V: 
 
 n. 
 
 'i. 
 
 SURPRISE OF THE TURKS.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1877, 
 
 had been much better than was expected. 
 It had been rough to be sure, full of lioles 
 and stones, in some places passing, for a 
 hundred yards at a time, over mere heaps of 
 stones that covered the whole bottom of the 
 hollow ; at other times through the fields ; 
 but there had been but two or three places 
 as far as Parovci where it had been at all 
 steep. With help from the men in these 
 two or three places, the horses were able to 
 draw the artillery through with ease. At 
 Parovci the road began to grow steep ; and 
 to the summit, a distance of about two 
 miles, the men had to help the horses nearly 
 the whole way. But even here the great 
 difficulty of mountain roads, their narrow- 
 ness, does not seem to have been encountered 
 at all. The road all the way to the summit 
 was made wide enough for the wide-tracked 
 artillery waggons without any difficulty. 
 It led up the side of the little hollow, whicli 
 was thickly wooded to the very top, and 
 opened out on a long narrow ridge, shaped 
 like a saddle, and not more than fifty or 
 sixty feet wide. This was the summit of 
 the pass, the descent on the south side being 
 far more precipitous than the ascent. Here 
 the men had to help to hold the artillery 
 back instead of pushing it forward. 
 
 Two hundred Cossacks were drawn up on 
 this ridge, with their horses' heads turned 
 south, looking away over the interminable 
 labyrinth of mountains, hills, ridges, valleys, 
 hollows, and gorges, through which they still 
 had to bore their way to the valley of the 
 Tundja before their passage could be assured. 
 The first streak of day was just growing 
 visible in the east, and a long flash of rosy 
 light climbing slowly up the sky. Before 
 and beneath was a dark narrow gorge, still a 
 pool of blackness, into which they slowly 
 descended down into the depths of the dark 
 defile. The first three or four hundred 
 yards were very steep ; but at the end of 
 that time they had come fairly into the 
 little hollow, and the descent the rest of 
 the way was gentle and easy, although the 
 road was rough. The hollow was narrower 
 even than the one on the other side, and the 
 trees were large, the branches completely 
 uniting over-head, making it as dark as a 
 cavern. 
 
 A little further on, in a narrow valley, the 
 expedition again camped for the night, 
 being then about half-way between the top 
 of the pass and its outlet at Hainkoi ; and 
 as the Turks, known to be at the issue, 
 were but five or six miles off", no fires were 
 176 
 
 lighted. At break of day the force again 
 moved forward cautiously. General Rauch 
 leading, and at about nine o'clock turned 
 sharp round a projecting bluff that a mo- 
 ment before seemed to completely bar the 
 way, and found the defile suddenly open 
 out to the width of half a mile, and beheld 
 beyond the valley of the Tundja ; and here, 
 not more than half a mile distant, lay a 
 Turkish camp. General Kauch had already 
 learned from the Bulgarians that there were 
 only a couple of companies there ; and 
 counting upon the effect of the surprise 
 and the certainty that the Turks could not 
 know that the whole Russian army was not 
 at his heels, he determined to attack and 
 clear the outlet at once with his two hun- 
 dred Cossacks. They at once began to 
 advance, firing to drive them away. The 
 Turks were complelely taken by surprise. 
 It is not a little remarkable that out- 
 post service should be often the very 
 last thing learned, and that it should 
 never be learned at all by some nations, 
 as by the Spaniards and the Turks, in 
 spite of their having everything else — 
 arms, equipments, organisation — apper- 
 taining to modern warfare. A Spanish 
 army will march boldly within the enemy's 
 lines, billet the troops in a village in a 
 little hollow surrounded by hills half a mile 
 distant, without putting out a single 
 picket, with the usual result of surprise and 
 defeat. The military history of Turkey is 
 full of surprises and defeats caused by the 
 neglect of the outpost service. So the force 
 here, watching a most important point, had 
 put out no pickets ; it was taken by sur- 
 prise, thrown into consternation at the near 
 approach of the Russians, and instantly 
 began to retreat — two companies of infantry 
 of the regular army before 200 Cossacks. 
 I could hardly have believed it if I had not 
 seen it. They fired as they fled, but there 
 was little harm done on either side, the 
 Russian loss being five or six wounded. The 
 Cossacks drove them out on the Slivno road, 
 beyond the village of Hainkoi, whence the 
 fugitives proceeded to Konaro, where, next 
 day, they attacked the Russians, but were 
 repulsed after some sharp fighting. In the 
 course of the day General Gourko arrived 
 with six battalions of Russian sharpshooters 
 numbering about 2,000 men, and towards 
 evening, the Bulgarian legion, the dra- 
 goons, the hussars, the rest of the Cossacks, 
 and the artillery arrived, making up the 
 whole detachment, and the outlet of 
 
 a 
 
 A.D. 1877.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [advance on kezanlik. 
 
 the defile was made safe. The force under 
 General Gourko's command, at this point, 
 consisted of seven battalions of Bulgarians, 
 about 5,000 men; six battalions of sharp- 
 shooters, about 2,000 men, the battalion of 
 sharpshooters being very small ; a brigade of 
 dragoons, 1,000 men ; a regiment of hussars, 
 500 ; and three regiments of Cossacks, 2,500 
 men ; three batteries of field-pieces of six, 
 and a battery of mountain guns light 
 enough to be carried on horses — in all about 
 11,000 men. "With this force," as the 
 correspondent of the Daily Nexus trumpeted 
 forth, " half of which were raw recruits not 
 yet four months under arms, and one-fourth 
 more (the Cossacks) irregulars, the Russians 
 made and secured the passage of the Bal- 
 kans, one of the most formidable bulwarks 
 ever raised by nature for the defence of a 
 country. And they did it with a loss of 
 six men wounded. For the passage was 
 secured from this moment. Even had the 
 attempt to force the pass at Kezanlik 
 proved unsuccessful, the whole army could 
 liave crossed this pass with ease." This 
 outburst of mock enthusiasm on the part 
 of the Daily News correspondent, cha- 
 racterises the whole tone, with some few 
 exceptions, of the Daily News comments 
 on the war. As we have seen, the pass was 
 quite undefended. Where, then, was the 
 glory ? Credit may be given to the Rus- 
 sian leaders for their astuteness in finding 
 an undefended pass across the Balkans ; and 
 the passage may be regarded as a pedestrian 
 feat on the part of the men ; but that is all. 
 The next day there was some appearance 
 of the Turks concentrating to attack. The 
 three battalions that had passed on the way 
 to Slivno two days before seemed to have 
 returned, and made a show as if they would 
 attack. General Gourko took the dragoons 
 and started to meet them, giving orders for 
 the Bulgarian troops to follow, as he wished 
 to try them once under fire. But the three 
 battalions of Turks retired so rapidly before 
 the two regiments of dragoons, that the 
 Bulgarians could not get up to them. The 
 dragoons drove them some ten miles in the 
 direction of Slivno, and then returned to 
 Hainkoi. "This retreat of three battalions 
 of infantry, 2,000 to 3,000 men, before 
 1,000 cavalry, was almost as bad as the 
 flight of two companies before 200 Cos- 
 sacks." This sentence again shows the bias 
 of the correspondent. He does not add 
 that the 1,000 dragoons were supported by 
 10,000 other troops. 
 
 The next day after this aff*air, or the 
 third after the arrival at Hainkoi, General 
 Gourko, leaving the Bulgarians to guard 
 the place, took the rest of the detachment, 
 and started for Kezanlik. They met a 
 small force a short distance from Hainkoi, 
 which fled after firing a few shots. This 
 force retreating before the Russians, proved 
 to be a most unfortunate circumstance for 
 four or five Turkish villages on the way to 
 Kezanlik. They took refuge in these vil- 
 lages, and fired on the Russians from the 
 houses. The result was that the Russians set 
 fire to every house from which they had been 
 fired at, and, the fire spreading, these vil- 
 lages were for the most part destroyed. 
 
 In the meantime the news of the arrival 
 of the Russians had spread to Kezanlik, and 
 the Turkish commander there detached 
 three battalions from the force guarding the 
 Schipka Pass, and sent them to meet the 
 enemy. The Russians met this force near 
 Maglis, about two-thirds of the distance to 
 Kezanlik, and the fight began at once. The 
 Turks had taken position in the gardens, 
 and opened fire as soon as within range. 
 General Gourko then marched straight on 
 Maglis. His troops formed in three co- 
 lumns, one consisting of infantry, close to 
 the mountains. The middle column was 
 cavalry and infantry, and the left column 
 cavalry only, with orders to cover the flank, 
 and if possible to turn that of the enemy. 
 At Iflamur he was stopped by a strong 
 position, and had to cope with the Turkish 
 artillery, cavalry, and infantry. When he 
 was pushing them hard, five battalions of 
 Anatolian Nizams came up as reintorce- 
 ments, and behaved very well. Their fire, 
 begun as it was at 2,000 paces, caused the 
 Russians considerable loss. The Russian 
 orders were, not to open fire till within 600 
 paces of the enemy, and it was in this in- 
 terval that the Russians sufi'ered most. But 
 when their distance was reached, their 
 superiority in numbers allowed them to 
 pour in a fire which soon compelled the 
 Anatolians to give way, with a total loss, at 
 Maglis and Iflamur, of 400 killed and 
 wounded, many of whom fell at close quar- 
 ters, sabre and bayonet having been freely 
 used in the gardens and houses of the 
 villages. But though forced to yield up 
 their° positions, the retreating Turks kept 
 up a running fight all the way to Kezanlik, 
 a distance of six or seven miles ; and that 
 they fought well is proved by the Russian 
 loss in this running fight, which was some 
 
 177 
 
■! t 
 
 I 
 
 i! 
 
 i 
 
 :, 
 
 ^|J 
 
 ATTACK ON THE SCHIPKA.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1877. 
 
 600 killed and wounded, nearly the whole 
 of which took place near Maglis, when the 
 Turkish positions were first carried. 
 
 General Gourko and his forces got into 
 Kezanlik in the evening, and were most 
 enthusiastically greeted by the Bulgarian 
 population. The Turkish inhabitants had 
 withdrawn into their houses, frightened 
 nearly to death. They had been kept in 
 ignorance of the real progress of the Eus- 
 sians by the Turkish papers, which had 
 been announcing a continued succession of 
 victories for the Turkish arms. Their relief 
 upon finding that the Russians passed 
 throuorh the town without molesting: them 
 was very great. But they still had the 
 lower classes of their Buljjarian neighbours 
 to deal with, and this proved to be a far 
 more difficult matter than appeasing the 
 Russians. These Bulgarians had many an 
 old score to settle up, and they proceeded 
 to call the Turks to account with a promp- 
 titude and decision which showed how 
 firmly they believed that Turkish rule and 
 Turkish domination were things of the 
 past. Getting a Cossack or two, of whom 
 there were always a number everywhere 
 without any very absorbing occupation, to 
 go along with them, they went into every 
 Turkish house, and rifled it of as many 
 valuables as they could conveniently carry 
 off. 
 
 Money where it was to be obtained, 
 jewellery, trinkets, ornaments, linen, cloth- 
 ing, carpets, were the things that were 
 seized. No house was as yet, however, 
 thoroughly pillaged and ruined, except a 
 few that had been abandoned by their 
 owners, and those owners were men who, 
 owing to their misdeeds in 1876, did not 
 dare to remain and allow themselves to 
 fall into the hands of the Russians. One of 
 these was a Sadoullah Bey, a namesake 
 of the then Turkish minister at Berlin, 
 whose house was filled with plunder taken 
 from the Bulgarians during the massacres, 
 and whose fields were likewise filled with 
 cattle from the same source. This man's 
 house was thoroughly pillaged and wrecked, 
 as were the houses of half-a-dozen others of 
 the same class. The fault of it all must be 
 fixed upon General Gourko, who for two 
 days allowed the town to take care of itself, 
 so intent was he upon carrying out the task 
 which bad been entrusted to him. Until 
 the pass of Schipka was taken, his position 
 was, of course, a most precarious and critical 
 one. With a small force, completely cut 
 178 
 
 off from the main army, and separated from 
 it by the Balkans, against which the Turks 
 might have rapidly concentrated their whole 
 army south of the Balkans, he was, of 
 course, justified in trying to get possession 
 of the pass, and thus secure his own safety,, 
 before looking after the property of the 
 Turks. Still there appears to have been a 
 method in this system. Almost every town 
 occupied by the Russians was left, at some 
 time or other, to the mercy of the Bulgarian 
 population, to do the work for which the 
 Russians did not care to take the responsi- 
 bility. 
 
 However, having left Kezanlik to tho 
 Bulgarians, General Gourko, after recon- 
 noitring the positions of the Turks in the 
 Schipka Pass, determined upon an imme- 
 diate attack. The village of Schipka is some 
 six or seven miles north from Kezanlik, 
 right at the foot of the mountains. A pecu- 
 liarity of the Balkans is that, while on the 
 north side there is a long series of hills, 
 lesser mountains before you come to the 
 main range, here on the south they stop off 
 short, without any foot-hills at all, unless 
 the other range south of the Tundja Valley 
 may be considered such. As you ride along 
 the valley of the Tundja, you see those 
 monster masses of earth, and rock, and 
 forest rising abruptly out of the plain with- 
 out any intermediate hills or irregularities,, 
 like a row of sugar-loaves placed along a 
 floor and rounded off at the top. The pass 
 is therefore only a couple of miles from the 
 foot of the mountain on the south, and the 
 road up to it very steep and difficult. The 
 Turks had fortified it in the most thorough 
 and effective manner ; and had the Russians 
 been obliged to attack it from the other 
 side, it would have cost them a fearful loss 
 of life. As it was, it cost the Russians 
 something like four hundred killed and 
 wounded. But the Turks were discouraged 
 when they found their positions were turned, 
 and did not fight with any hope or chance 
 of success. A Russian force, under Prince 
 Mirski, had advanced on the Gabrova side, 
 and it had been arranged that a combined 
 attack was to be made on the pass from both 
 sides at once ; but owing to the difficulty of 
 communication, the combination failed. 
 The attack from the Gabrova side was made 
 a day earlier than it ought to have been, 
 and the one from the Kezanlik side a day 
 later, and both were repulsed. 
 
 It had been designed that Gourko should 
 reach Kezanlik on the 16th of July, and on 
 
 A.D. 1877.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [capture of the schipka. 
 
 the 17 th be free to assail in the rear the Turks 
 holding the Schipka Pass, while Prince 
 Mirskiwith the 9th division attacked them in 
 front. But, as we have seen, he was delayed 
 by hard fighting, and the troops were too 
 much fatigued to move further on the same 
 day after the occupation of Kezanlik. So 
 there was no co-operation between General 
 Gourko and Prince Mirski in attacking the 
 Schipka Pass ; but the latter, nevertheless, 
 delivered an attack on that position march- 
 ing southward from Gabrova. He sent 
 against the Turks but one regiment, that of 
 Orloff, which he divided into three columns. 
 The pass was strongly fortified with six 
 successive tiers of intrenchments and bat- 
 teries, and defended by picked Turkish 
 troops, Circassians, and Egyptians. The 
 latter fought very hard. Of Prince Mirski's 
 three columns, that on the right encoun- 
 tered little opposition, and went on some 
 distance till it missed the support of the 
 centre column, fought five or six hours, and 
 then made good its lodgment in the hostile 
 lines. The left column, consisting of two 
 companies, missed its way, and was beset 
 by twelve companies of Turkish soldiers, 
 and had to fight a retreating combat for 
 four hours against terrible odds, losing 
 €ight officers killed and wounded, and about 
 1 50 men. It was brought out of action by 
 the only officer left standing, and he was 
 wounded. 
 
 On the 18th, General Gourko, his men 
 refreshed, advanced to the attack of the 
 Schipka position from the rear. Two bat- 
 talions of rifles formed his advance. As 
 they neared the rear of the position, a flag 
 of truce came out with a parlementaire ; 
 for the Turks, though they had laid in an 
 ample supply of provisions, had forgotten 
 to make arrangements for a supply of water, 
 not having foreseen that their rear would be 
 attacked, where there was plenty of water 
 to be had. 
 
 As soon as the flag of truce was displayed 
 the Russians at once halted, and an officer 
 acting as escort went forward to meet 
 the parlementaire, \V hile negotiations were 
 going on, the Russian riflemen, in their 
 curiosity, quitted their extended formation, 
 and drew together into a mass behind where 
 the officer was communing with the parte- 
 mientaire. The Turks seeing this movement, 
 imagined that the Russians were going to 
 fall upon them and massacre them, and 
 poured volleys of rifle fire in upon them 
 from their positions. The parlementaire 
 
 took to his heels at a signal which the 
 Russians heard but did not comprehend. 
 So sudden and fierce was the fire, that in 
 their two battalions the Russians lost one 
 hundred and forty-two men killed and 
 wounded in a few minutes. The survivors 
 in their fury waited for no order to attack, 
 nor regarded any formation. With one 
 common impulse and with yells of wrath 
 they rushed on. It was a bad quarter of an 
 hour for the Turks ; but the riflemen finding 
 no signs of co-operation in the attack from 
 the north by Prince Mirski, contented them- 
 selves with driving back the Turks some 
 distance, and occupied the abandoned Turk- 
 ish camp in the rear of the fortifications. 
 On the same night, in reply to General 
 Gourko's summons to the Turks to sur- 
 render and abandon the further unavailing 
 defence of the pass, there came a letter 
 from the Turkish commander, Mehemed 
 Pasha, offering to surrender. Negotiations 
 were entered into, and the hour for the 
 surrender of the Turks was fixed for twelve 
 o'clock the next day. An armistice was 
 arranged, and early on that morning 
 the sanitary detachments went forward 
 to bring in the wounded which the 
 rifle battalions had been forced to leave 
 behind. They sent back word that the 
 Turks had fled and vacated the position. 
 The offer of surrender had been a ruse to 
 gain time, and by daybreak the Turks had 
 retreated safely toward Sophia. 
 
 Meanwhile, on the 18th, Prince Mirski 
 had remained quiet, waiting for further 
 information about Gourko's movements. 
 But on the 19th, young Skobeloff, taking 
 some troops of Mirski's, had pushed for- 
 ward Si reconnaissance into the pass from 
 the north. To his surprise he met with no 
 opposition as he passed line after line of for- 
 tifications, and he hastily abandoned Turk- 
 ish camps, with fires yet burning, rations 
 half cooked, and half-written telegrams. 
 At length he reached the crest of the pass, 
 and the view to the south opened before 
 him. Here he saw the tents of General 
 Gourko's camp spread out before him, and 
 within an hour the two columns, Prince 
 Mirski's and General Gourko's, had joined 
 hands across the Balkans. The Schipka 
 and Hainkoi passes were in the power of 
 the Russians. This took place on July 
 19th, the positions then being as shown in 
 the following sketch, I. 
 
 Thus was accomplished the march of 
 General Gourko across the mountains, wbicb 
 
 179 
 
 ';;,l!l 
 
 f 
 
I:\ 
 
 ^ 
 
 n 
 
 1| • 
 
 I ■: 
 
 I I 
 
 POSITIONS ON JULY 19.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 Toditza. o 
 
 I — Positions of Turkish and Russian Forces 
 in the Balkans on July 1 9. 
 
 Kilidjilar. o 
 
 Kosrevo. 
 a 
 
 o 
 
 Djutin. 
 
 I 
 
 o 
 
 Xuvoselo. 
 
 Tiruova. 
 
 Slataritza. o I 
 o Feda Bey. 
 
 Drenova. o 
 
 Bebrova. o 
 
 Elena, o 
 
 I 
 
 Yoinisb. o 
 
 I I 
 
 .1 ^ V 
 
 ■ I' 
 
 
 k. ! 
 
 I: 
 
 ' \ 
 
 I 
 
 . i 
 
 Gabrova. o 
 
 Travna. . 
 
 Raikovci. o 
 FaroTci. o 
 
 I 
 
 Schipka 
 
 \ \ 
 
 Balkans. 
 
 Travna f "{ Pass. 
 Pass. 
 
 Balkans. 
 
 Hainkoi \ 
 
 Balkans. 
 
 -■^^ 
 
 Pass. 
 
 Hainkoi. 
 
 Kezanlik. o 
 
 Kara Dagh. 
 
 R. Tundja. 
 
 Teni Zagra. 
 
 « Karabunar. 
 
 £ski Zagra. o 
 
 Russians, 
 Turks, 
 
 Gourko's Infantry, 
 f, Cavalry, 
 
 ! Head-quarters, 
 
 180 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [panic at Constantinople. 
 
 was regarded at the time as a feat for which 
 a parallel could only be found in the annals 
 of the American war, which treat of Stone- 
 wall Jackson's celebrated cavalry raids. 
 But, as we have seen, there was really 
 nothing remarkable at all about it ; and a 
 study of sketch I, will show that the Russians 
 were guilty of such stupendous blunders, 
 that not even the Seraskeriat could avoid 
 takinsr advantasre of them in some small 
 degree. 
 
 Looking at this sketch, we see that, 
 starting from Tirnova, the Russians enclosed 
 a circle which ran through two passes, the 
 Schipka and the Hainkoi. But the circle 
 was not complete. It was broken by the 
 Travna Pass. Through this pass, whilst 
 engaging the two others, the Turks might 
 have pierced the very centre of the Russian 
 alignment, and have turned both the Hain- 
 koi and the Schipka, whilst Osman Pasha 
 advanced from the west, and Mehemed Ali 
 from the east. But the Turkish commanders 
 either knew nothing of this pass, or they 
 had not the energy to make it practicable, 
 as General Grourko did with the Hainkoi 
 Pass. This, however, does not excuse the 
 
 Russians from having neglected it. At a 
 later period, as we shall see, this neglect, 
 had it been availed of by the Turks, might 
 have cost them the whole campaign ; and 
 had any other staff but a Turkish staff been 
 entrusted with the defence of the country, 
 it is morally certain that it would have de- 
 manded all their exertions for the Russians 
 to have escaped across the Danube. 
 
 Such was the military position in Turkey 
 on July 19th, 1877. Generals Niepokoit- 
 schitzki and Levitzki had successfully blown 
 their bubble. It was radiant with many 
 colours. The blue Danube, the yellow corn- 
 fields of Bulgaria, the green forests of the 
 Balkans, vied therein with the crimson of 
 Kezanlik roses; and imaginative enthu- 
 siasts even thought they could discern the 
 glittering waters of the Bosphorus, and the 
 sheen of the crescent on the dome of St. 
 Sophia. And ever more gorgeous grew the 
 colours, and grew deeper and deeper in 
 intensity, till the black spot began to ap- 
 pear where the bubble at last bursts. That 
 black spot in the Russian bubble was 
 Plevna ; and it was to burst on the very 
 next day. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE SITUATION AT CONSTAlTriNOPLE. 
 
 The news of the passage'of the Danube, the 
 fall of Nicopoli, the advance of Russians 
 to the Lom and beyond the Balkans — all 
 within three weeks — caused a perfect panic 
 in Constantinople. The fugitives streaming 
 into the capital from all directions, increased 
 the confusion; and at Dolmabagtche, the 
 Sultan's palace, the advisability of migrating 
 to Broussa was seriously discussed. The 
 ministry, of course, had to suffer for the 
 misfortunes of the Turkish armies. The 
 Minister for Foreign Affairs, Safvet Pasha, 
 who already began to talk about suing for 
 peace, and Redif Pasha, the Minister of War, 
 as well as Abdul Kerim Pasha, were dis- 
 missed the day after General Gourko had 
 joined hands with Prince Mirski across the 
 Balkans. Redif Pasha and Abdul Kerim 
 were banished to the island of Lemnos. The 
 Sheikh-ul-Islam, Hairullah Effendi, was 
 also dismissed, and succeeded by Kara Halil 
 VOL. III. 2 B 
 
 Effendi; whilst Mustapha Pasha was ap- 
 pointed Minister of War, and Mehemed Ali, 
 an officer of Franco-German extraction — 
 Charles Detroit by name, and born in 
 Magdeburg — was nominated to the com- 
 mand of the army of the Danube in lieu of 
 Abdul Kerim. Safvet was succeeded in the 
 ministry for foreign affairs by Aarifi Pasha, 
 Turkish ambassador in Vienna. South of 
 the Balkans, Reouf Pasha was succeeded by 
 Suleiman Pasha, who was recalled from his 
 campaign in Montenegro to take charge of 
 the armies in this direction. 
 
 Aarifi Pasha and the Sheikh-ul-Islam 
 did not happily inaugurate their tenure of 
 office. Whilst the Sheikh-ul-Islam excited 
 the Mussulmans from the pulpit by the 
 accounts of the cruelties their brethren 
 were suffering at the hands of the Russians 
 and Bulgarians, Aarifi Pasha addressed a 
 circular note to the European powers, draw- 
 
 181 
 
 
•'OPINION IN EUROPE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 r 
 1. 
 
 i 
 
 ;l 
 
 ' 
 
 1 
 
 ing attention to, and protesting against the 
 "barbarities perpetrated in Bulgaria and the 
 Dobrudja, and repudiating, on behalf of the 
 Sultan, any responsibility if the Mussulman 
 population should avenge itself, in other 
 parts of the empire, upon the Christians. 
 
 This despatch was a ridiculous blunder. 
 Rightly or wrongly, the public opinion of 
 the masses in Europe had pronounced sen- 
 tence against the Porte on account of the 
 massacres in 1876 ; and naturally this last 
 step of the Porte placed it, in the eyes of 
 that same public opinion, in the position of 
 the wolf who accused the iamb of being his 
 enemy and oppressor. 
 
 Even Mr. Layard had to protest strongly 
 against this policy of the new minister ; 
 and still more plainly did Prince Reuss, 
 the German ambassador, speak on the 
 subject to Edhem Pasha, the Grand Vizier, 
 and protest against the language of Aarifi 
 Pasha's note, which, he said, was calculated 
 to incite the Mussulmans to reprisals on 
 their Christian fellow-subjects. These re- 
 presentations, supported by those of all the 
 other ambassadors, were so strongly urged, 
 that Aarifi was forced to resign and yield 
 up his post to Server Pasha. At the same 
 time, the agitation in favour of a recall of 
 Midhat Pasha was recommenced ; but it led 
 to no result, chiefly in consequence of the 
 intrigues of Mahmoud Damat, the brother- 
 in-law of the Sultan, who was persuaded 
 by him that Midhat was his most dangerous 
 «nemy. 
 
 Not less intense was the excitement in 
 London when the rapid passage of the 
 Danube and the Balkans, which seemed to 
 presage an early termination of the cam- 
 paign, became known. When the Danube 
 was passed, Admiral Hornby proceeded, on 
 July 3, to Besika Bay with nine ironclads, 
 followed within a few days by four more ; 
 and when Gourko had forced the Balkans, 
 the garrison in Malta was reinforced by 
 3,000 troops. Sir A. Layard proposed to the 
 Porte that the British fleet should pass the 
 Dardanelles, and that Gallipoli should be 
 occupied by British troops in order to assist 
 in keeping order in case of any outbreak 
 of the Mussulman population against the 
 Christians. But the Porte replied, that 
 unless England was prepared to enter into 
 an offensive and defensive alliance with 
 Turkey, they would not be able to give their 
 consent to either of these measures ; and 
 that if, nevertheless, the Turkish govern- 
 ment should insist upon carrying them out, 
 182 
 
 it would be, at the least, under protest on 
 their part. 
 
 This, however, the British government 
 was not prepared to do ; and in the debate 
 in the House of Lords on July 19th — whilst 
 Gourko^s and Mirski's men were frater- 
 nising on the top of the Schipka Pass — 
 Lord Derby declared, in reply to a proposal 
 that England should offer her mediation, 
 that he did not consider the time for such 
 a measure had arrived ; and that as for an 
 armed intervention for the protection of 
 British interests, that could be best effectu- 
 ated at the close of the campaign, when botli 
 the combatants would be exhausted by the 
 struggle, but England be fresh, in the full 
 enjoyment of her power, and unembarrassed 
 in any way. He had informed Count 
 Schouvaloff, he continued, at what point 
 British interests began, and which would be 
 defended by force of arms; and Count 
 Schouvaloff had thanked him for his frank- 
 ness. But till those interests were seriously 
 threatened, England would keep free from 
 any engagements which might trammel her 
 hereafter ; and, for the present, would do no 
 more than keep step with the course of 
 events. 
 
 As for the other powers immediately 
 concerned in the fate of Turkey, their 
 action — or rather inaction — presents no 
 points of interest. They all followed 
 the example of England. In Hungary, the 
 Magyars clamoured in popular meetings for 
 intervention in favour of the Turks, just 
 as, in England, popular meetings, under the 
 leadership of Mr, Gladstone and John 
 Bright, clamoured for intervention in favour 
 of the Russian allies — Bulgar and Serb. 
 These demonstrations had no effect, in 
 either country, on the policy of the govern- 
 ment. Austria-Hungary was aware, that 
 let things turn out as they might, there 
 was not much to fear from Russia ; and 
 that if they let things follow their natural 
 course, Austria-Hungary would also be mas- 
 ters of the situation in European Turkey 
 whilst England commanded in Asiatic Tur- 
 key. Bosnia and the Herzegovina would be 
 there for them to take or leave as might be 
 most advisable, according to circumstances. 
 Greece was in the peculiar position of fear- 
 ing the Russians more than she feared the 
 Turks, yet had not the heart to take side 
 with the Turks nor against them. Having 
 seen how successfully Italy had acquired 
 fresh territory year after year by fighting 
 and being defeated, the Greeks thought it 
 
 I 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [BULGARIAN PILLAGE; 
 
 would be rather a fine thing to try and 
 acquire an extension of their positions by 
 not fighting at all. 
 
 There was thus no help anywhere for the 
 Turks ; and, seeing that this was the case, 
 and convinced that the struggle was one 
 of life and death, they determined to do 
 their best and die in harness. 
 
 On this point they were unanimous ; and 
 in no small measure were they justified in 
 regarding the struggle as one of life and 
 death, in regarding the war as one of ex- 
 termination determined upon by the Rus- 
 sians, when the accounts came in of the 
 cruelties to which their brethren were 
 subjected on both sides of the Balkans, in 
 revenge for what at least was, in the great 
 majority of cases, but a sentimental griev- 
 ance, exploited to the utmost by the Rus- 
 sians for their own purposes. 
 
 That the material condition of the Bul- 
 garian peasant was very good, compared 
 even with that of those in other far more 
 favoured countries whose intelligence and 
 moral qualities secured them a social 
 position much higher than that af the 
 Bulgarian, with much less national pros- 
 perity, is a fact acknowledged on all 
 sides, even by the correspondent of the 
 Daily Neivs, The Thuringian peasant, 
 the vintners of the Tyrol, of the Basque 
 provinces, the clodhoppers of Suffolk, en- 
 joyed social privileges immeasurably above 
 those of the Bulgarian, with a quarter of 
 the Bulgarian's material claims to con- 
 sideration. But then the Thuringian pea- 
 sant, the vintner and the clodhopper were 
 animated by a very different sense of morals. 
 
 The character of the Bulgarian has been 
 well drawn even by his friends ; and a re- 
 pulsive picture it is. It is all very well to 
 talk of oppression having made him what 
 he is ; but his whole history, long before 
 the Turks ever made their appearance, 
 does not recommend him. The other 
 races of the Turkish empire, Armenians, 
 Greeks, Jews, Arabs, have all been subjected 
 to the same course of oppression, but none 
 of them have sunk to the moral depth of 
 the Bulgar, excited to the full exercise of 
 his worst qualities by the civilising Russ. 
 
 We have seen what the Russians and 
 Bulgarians did at Biela and Kezanlik. At 
 Sistova, between the period of the flight of 
 the Turks and the entry of the Russian 
 troops, the Bulgarians sacked and wrecked 
 the Turkish houses without a single excep- 
 tion. The pillage and destruction were as 
 
 sweeping and universal as if the place had 
 been sacked by a victorious army after 
 storming. There was not a whole pane of 
 glass in the window of any Turkish house 
 in all Sistova. The wrecked interiors pre- 
 sented an indescribable chaos of destruction. 
 Cupboards were smashed, floors torn up, 
 shelves torn down, stoves broken, in search 
 of secreted money. The floors were strewn 
 with miscellaneous debris^ and torn books 
 printed in curious characters. Judging from 
 the number of these in the better houses, 
 the wealthier Turks of Sistova seem to have 
 been a reading people^ The furniture was 
 broken in sheer wantonness, and the plaster 
 shattered. The divans were broken up : in 
 fine, the ruin was thorough and universal 
 so far as the interiors of the houses were 
 concerned. Nor was the destruction con- 
 fined to the habitations. There were eight 
 mosques in Sistova, and all were wrecked. 
 Their interiors were scenes of indescribable 
 destruction. The very railings were broken 
 into small pieces, as if in the keen zest and 
 gloating enjoyment of laying waste. The 
 few Turkish shops and stores in Sistova 
 were pillaged of everything valuable, and 
 the fixtures of the interiors were smashed 
 into fragments and splinters. Nothing 
 Turkish in the place escaped wreck, and 
 the aspect of uninjured dwellings intermin- 
 gled with others reduced to the extremity 
 of dilapidation was strange and significant ; 
 for whilst the Turks of Sistova, to judge by 
 the wrecks of their residences, appear to 
 have been a thriving people in a lazy, easy- 
 going way, the Bulgarians showed few indi- 
 cations of having been materially oppressed, 
 or had thriven wonderfully on oppression. 
 Many of their houses were large and hand- 
 some. Paris fashions were not unknown to, 
 or unstudied by, the Bulgarian ladies. Ta 
 excuse their conduct, the Bulgarians asserted 
 that the Turks were committing atrocities 
 in the interior as they retired; but the 
 correspondents with the Russian army, who 
 had every opportunity to satisfy themselves 
 on the point, stated that the conduct of th& 
 Turks, as they evacuated Bulgaria step by 
 step, had a claim to the admiration of the 
 civilised world. They heard once and again 
 of isolated acts of cruelty — there were two 
 Bulgarians with broken heads in the hos- 
 pital at Zimnitza. But what did the world 
 anticipate ? Was it not that the retiring 
 Turks would make Bulgaria a wilderness 
 and a solitude? And how was this an- 
 ticipation justified? In Sistova no Turk 
 
 18^ 
 
 \ 
 
f 
 
 { 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 I < 
 
 ji 
 
 • 
 
 it 
 
 ^ TURKISH MODERATION.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1877^ 
 
 touched the hair of the head of a Bulgarian, 
 handled no scrap of the property of a Bul- 
 garian. In the intervening villages the 
 Bulgarian inhabitants abode under their 
 unharmed roof-trees, with their flocks and 
 herds around them, fearful only in the ap- 
 prehension of the visits from the Cossacks, 
 which they had already learned were not sim- 
 ple visits of politeness. The crops, uninjured, 
 waved rich and ripe in the fields ; the hay 
 stood in cocks in the fields ; there was corn, 
 and wine, and oil, and meal in the land. 
 What the people of Biela suffered in pro- 
 perty was at the hands of lawless Rus- 
 sian straggling soldiers, not at the hands 
 of the Turk, *' unspeakable " though he may 
 be. It is, indeed, not too much to say, that 
 in acting thus the Turks acted erroneously, 
 speaking in a purely military sense. If 
 their military policy was that of retreat, 
 the complement of that policy was to have 
 left desolation behind them, not to leave a 
 land flowing with milk and honey for the 
 behoof of the invader. When Kutusoff and 
 Barclay de Tolly retreated from Minks to the 
 Beresina, and from Beresina to Smolensk, 
 and from Smolensk to Moscow, before the 
 legions of Napoleon, did they leave behind 
 them a fat land, villages teeming with 
 flocks and herds, growing crops asking for 
 the sickle, granaries for the replenishment 
 of the provision trains ? We all know that 
 they left desolation and ashes, and that the 
 desolation and the ashes have counted to 
 Russia for heroism and patriotism, and, 
 what is more to the purpose, for sound 
 military strategy. 
 
 But let the Turk have his due. If defi- 
 cient in the legitimate resources of the 
 military art, he for once, and from whatever 
 motive, erred on the aide of humanity. 
 But it cannot be said that the Bulgarians 
 appreciated his forbearance. We have told 
 the story of the wreck of the Turkish 
 quarter of Sistova. Bulgarian Biela was 
 not quite so rough on Turkish Biela, but it 
 wrought not a little mischief on the latter 
 nevertheless. The Turkish Bey there was a 
 good man, held in high esteem among the 
 Christians, for he consistently protected 
 them from the lawless exactions of the 
 Circassians to the best of his power. The 
 Bulgarian inhabitants besought him to re- 
 main, assuring him that they would speak 
 of him in such terms to the Russians that 
 no evil could befal him. But the Bey did 
 not relish the outlook, and wisely departed 
 with the people of his own nationality. 
 One would have thought that the least the 
 Bulgarians could have done would have 
 been to have respected the good man's 
 house ; but not only was it sacked, the very 
 floor was wantonly broken through. So 
 much, then, for Bulgarian promises and 
 gratitude. 
 
 Hearing all this, exaggerated ten-fold, 
 no doubt, by the fugitives with the increase 
 of their terror and the further they got on 
 their flight, it is not to be wondered at 
 that a fierce determination arose among the 
 Turks so sell their lives and their property 
 as dearly as they could. And that sale 
 began on July 20th, and lasted for six 
 months. 
 
 I* 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE FIRST ATTACKS ON FLEVKA. 
 
 1 
 
 When the commander of the 9th corps 
 proceeded against Nicopoli, he made the 
 omission of protecting his flank by not 
 sending cavalry to occupy Plevna, then only 
 weakly held. Afterwards an easy chance 
 did not offer. A Turkish column from 
 Widdin, marching too late to succour Nico- 
 poli, turned aside and occupied Plevna. 
 With intent to repair the blunder, General 
 Kriidener sent three regiments of infantry 
 against Plevna, and without a previous re- 
 184 
 
 connaiasance. These, after hard fighting, 
 actually occupied the town. They had laid 
 aside their cloaks and packs in the streets, 
 and had quitted the fighting column forma- 
 tion, believing all was over, and were sing- 
 ing as they straggled along. No patrols 
 had been pushed into the recesses of the 
 town. No cavalry had been sent forward 
 beyond. The whole business was slovenly 
 to a degree. The penalty was paid. Sud- 
 denly, from a hundred windows and bal- 
 
 A.D. 1877.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [repulse at PLEVlSrA. 
 
 conies, a vehement fire was poured into the 
 troops straggling along the streets. They 
 were beset on all sides, and had to retreat. 
 One regiment left its packs where they had 
 been taken off in the street. During the 
 retreat, more or less precipitate, 2,771 men 
 and 66 officers were lost. One regiment 
 lost nearly 2,000 men. Thus curtly was 
 the first repulse of the Russians before 
 Plevna made known to the world ; and it 
 was not until a month later that the details 
 of the affair became published. 
 
 There was much controversy as to who 
 was to blame for this catastrophe ; but 
 though it was generally assumed that Krii- 
 dener was responsible for it, yet, consider- 
 ing the fact that, after some temporary 
 relegation, he was entrusted with the com- 
 mand of his corps as heretofore, the 
 assumption is that the staff was entirely 
 responsible for the mischance. 
 
 It was said that Kriidener had orders to 
 occupy Plevna as soon as he had crossed the 
 river. But it is clear that his orders were 
 also to seize Nicopoli, and, by the same 
 process of reasoning, Lovatz also ; and it is 
 clear that he had not men enouo^h to carry 
 out this triple operation. Kriidener may 
 therefore be identified with the Russian 
 staff, and the Russian staff identified with 
 him. Both, no doubt, committed mistakes ; 
 and if, as Kriidener affirms, he could not 
 help doing so, he should have resigned his 
 command. 
 
 As a matter of fact, Greneral Kriidener, 
 occupied with the siege of Nicopoli, not 
 only did not seize Plevna, but even with- 
 drew the cavalry that had been sent there 
 for that purpose to Nicopoli. As cavalry 
 could hardly be used for the storming of re- 
 doubts, his object in doing this can scarcely 
 be conceived, as he had quite enough men 
 to prevent the Turkish garrison from cut- 
 ting its way out. The only explanation is 
 that he had some inkling of the presence of 
 the Turks on his flank, and wished to secure 
 himself from attack whilst occupied with 
 Nicopoli. Had he even occupied Plevna 
 immediately after the fall of Nicopoli, all 
 miffht have been well. Had he even sent 
 out the cavalry to asc2rtain where the 
 Turkish army was, and give warning of its 
 advance, all might still have been well. 
 The neglect to occupy Plevna as long as he 
 positively knew the Turkish army was still 
 far away, would have been of slight conse- 
 quence. But he did not send a single 
 squadron to see whether that army was 
 
 approaching Plevna or not, and the first de- 
 tachment of his army marched into Plevna 
 two hours after the Turks had arrived there, 
 without having thrown out a scout or an 
 advance guard, just as though they were 
 marching through the district of Moscow, 
 This in the enemy's country, within ten 
 miles of an army of fifty thousand men^ 
 But, at the same time, it is evident that no 
 such important and vital measure as the 
 occupation of Plevna and the protection of 
 the right flank, should have been or could 
 have been left to the care of one man already 
 occupied with an important siege. 
 
 The man who should have looked after 
 this matter, and have ascertained that there 
 was no possibility of the Turks seizing the 
 important strategic position at Plevna, was 
 Greneral Levitski. He was practically the 
 executive officer of the grand duke's staff, 
 who had to look after details, see that orders 
 were executed, find the best way of execu- 
 ting them, and who was, besides, the leading 
 spirit in the military councils for the direc- 
 tion of the campaign in general. Greneral 
 Niepokoitschitzki was old, and did not take 
 a very active part in affairs, so that it was 
 Levitski who was the real chief of the staff, 
 and mainly responsible for the direction of 
 affairs. It may not be amiss to say a word 
 about Greneral Levitski here. 
 
 He was among the youngest generals of 
 the army, and was appointed to his high 
 position on account of the talent he dis- 
 played in the peace manoeuvres at St. 
 Petersburg. Here, on the level plains about 
 the capital, where every inch of the ground 
 and every road was known to him, where 
 the fighting was done with blank cartridges, 
 and there were neither killed nor wounded. 
 General Levitski succeeded in handling an 
 army corps very well, and usually won con- 
 siderable advantages over his adversaries. 
 Fighting a real war and handling an army 
 of two hundred thousand men is, however, 
 a different kind of thing from directing 
 those peace manoeuvres ; and, besides the 
 affair at Plevna, there were tactical faults 
 in the distribution of the army for which 
 he was answerable. The army had been, in 
 fact, disposed of in the most unheard-of 
 manner. Divisions, brigades, and even 
 regiments were cut up, parcelled out, and 
 sent to the four points of the compass, and 
 dispersed so far that it was doubtful whether 
 they would ever be able to unite again dur- 
 ing the war. The 14th division, for in- 
 stance, was an example of this. There was 
 
 18J 
 
 V.J 
 
 \ 
 
RUSSIAN BLUNDERS.] 
 
 iriSTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 187T. 
 
 A.D. 1877.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [second attack on plevna. 
 
 a part of it on the road to Osman Bazar, a 
 part at or near Elena, a part at Hainkoi, a 
 part at Selvi, and a part at Tirnova — points 
 that had no tactical connection with each 
 other. 
 
 All this confusion arose from General 
 Levitzki's miscalculating the forces required 
 upon given points, and then remedying the 
 mistake in a hand-to-mouth sort of way, 
 by seizing troops wherever he could get 
 them — a battalion here and a regiment 
 there — to strengthen the respective posi- 
 tions. Then when news was received of the 
 occupation of Plevna by the Turks, Lovatz 
 should have been instantly seized by the 
 Russians ; and for two very good strate- 
 gical reasons. In the first place, with 
 the Turks at Lovatz it was just as impossible 
 for the Russians to cross the Balkans as it 
 was with the Turks in possession of Plevna. 
 The possession of either of these points 
 effectually checked the Russian advance, 
 and Lovatz, equally with Plevna, was most 
 important for the Russians as well as the 
 Turks. 
 
 But even this was not all. A glance at 
 sketch F will show that the road from 
 Plevna to Sophia passes at no great dis- 
 tance from Lovatz, and that, consequently, 
 had the Russians seized Lovatz as soon as 
 the Turks occupied Plevna, they would 
 have threatened the Turkish line of com- 
 munications, and their best line of retreat. 
 The possession of Lovatz was also indis- 
 pensable for a successful attack upon Plevna, 
 for it would have enabled the Russians to 
 completely turn the Turkish positions on 
 the south, and to have brought at least one 
 more division — the 9th, then at Grabrova 
 and Selvi — to the attack. In fact, the 
 possession of Lovatz was so necessary to the 
 Russians before attacking Plevna, that, had 
 the Turks occupied it at the same time as 
 Plevna, the Russians should have taken it 
 before attacking Plevna at all. Yet a week 
 or ten days elapsed between the seizure of 
 ' Plevna and Lovatz by the Turks, and the 
 Russian general-in-chief never thought of 
 profiting by the opportunity thus offered 
 him. The mistake, therefore, of allowing 
 it to be seized and fortified by the Turks, 
 was only less than that of allowing Plevna 
 to fall into their hands. The capture of 
 Plevna by the Turks was a surprise — caused 
 by the most gross and culpable carelessness 
 and stupidity, it is true — but it was still a 
 surprise for the Russian staff. The same 
 cannot be said of the capture of Lovatz ; 
 lb6 
 
 and the fact of their not having forestall d 
 the Turks looks as though neither General 
 Niepokoitschitzki nor General Levitski un- 
 derstood the importance of this strategical 
 point until it was too late. 
 
 Under these circumstances, with the 
 Turks in force at Plevna and Lovatz, orders 
 were issued for the reinforcement of General 
 Krudener's troops. Part of the 4th corps, 
 which was crossing the Danube at Zimnitza 
 on their way to Tirnova, were ordered to 
 proceed to Karagatch, where they were to 
 rendezvous with Prince Schahoffskoi and the 
 larger portion of the 11th corps, which had 
 hitherto been engaged in the futile and 
 thankless bombardment of Rustzuk, about 
 which so much ink has been wasted. Then 
 crossing the river at Zimnitza, the corps 
 had marched on Tirnova, and hopes rose 
 high in its ranks that for its soldiers no 
 more would be the function of hewers of 
 wood and drawers of water, but that they 
 would cross the Balkans and see fighting 
 and earn glory and crosses among the rose- 
 gardens of the Tundja Valley. These hopes 
 were shattered. A day's march from Tir- 
 nova the corps was ordered to bend to the 
 east, and take up a defensive position on tho 
 line of a Turkish march from Schumla by 
 way of Osman Bazar against Tirnova and the 
 Russian communications between that place 
 and the Danube. But, on the 20th of July, 
 there came to the 11th corps the order for 
 yet another long march to assist Kriidener, 
 and it accomplished the distance from 
 Kosarevatch, some twenty miles east of 
 Tirnova, to the vicinity of Plevna, in six 
 days, and that in the intense heat of the 
 summer. 
 
 At the same time the Qth corps came up 
 from before Nicopoli, under General Krti- 
 dener, who sent General Skobeloff to take 
 the command of a brigade of Circassian 
 Cossacks, with which he was to operate 
 against Lovatz and protect the Russian left 
 fiank. 
 
 On the morning of the 29th, Prince 
 Schahoffskoi and his head-quarters moved 
 from Karagatch, and first went forward 
 some distance on the direct road towards 
 Plevna, and advanced into the vicinity of 
 Grivitza, without seeing anything of the 
 enemy. The head-quarters were faithfully 
 followed at a very short interval by the 
 whole of the head-quarter baggage train. 
 Now, the head-quarter baggage train of a 
 Russian general commanding an army corps, 
 and of his staff, is no light thing. Lord 
 
 Albemarle tells us, that in 1828, in the 
 Russian column which crossed the Bal- 
 kans under General Diebitsch, every 
 general officer had his caleche. With the 
 Russian army, it is not alone that every 
 general officer has his carriage — most have 
 more than one — but the larger proportion of 
 field-officers have vehicles also. On Prince 
 Schahoffskoi's staff there was a baggage wag- 
 gon between every two officers, and a 
 surprising number of miscellaneous vehicles 
 besides. The chief of the artillery had a 
 travelling chariot drawn by four horses, 
 <lriven after the manner of a four-in-hand. 
 Servants swarmed ; and every servant con- 
 trived to find a place in or on a vehicle of 
 €ome kind or other. The staff train was 
 lialf a mile long if it was a yard, to 
 say nothing of escort, suttlers, and the 
 priest, who rode in a vehicle of his own. 
 A train such as this must always be a great 
 embarrassment and impediment; even in 
 an advance with favourable means of com- 
 munication it is an incumbrance ; in retreat, 
 along bad roads, it must be a nuisance of 
 the most abominable character ; and here 
 it was following the staff beyond the out- 
 posts, until it was countermarched with 
 considerable precipitation, when the chief 
 turned his horse's head and rode backward 
 within his own forepost line, to the bivouac 
 ground, near Poradim. 
 
 Here, all night, the troops lay on the grass, 
 with tents struck and horses saddled, waiting 
 for an alerte. It was believed that it was 
 the intention to make the attack on July 
 30th, and that the preliminary positions 
 were to be taken up under cover of the 
 •darkness. Fires were made up as if the 
 army were remaining in its positions, with 
 intent to delude the enemy, whilst waiting 
 for orders from General Kriidener; but they 
 came not. About midnight, two officers 
 ffode to him from Prince Scliahoffrfkoi, and 
 brought back instructions that he meant to 
 delay the attack, partly because some of the 
 troops had not come up far enough, and 
 partly to rest the whole after their long and 
 fatiguing march. So about four o'clock 
 in the morning the troops pitched tents 
 again, unsaddled their horses, and lay down 
 on their cloaks for a long unbroken welcome 
 fileep, for the troops were sorely worn with 
 incessant marching, and the cavalry horses 
 were almost exhausted. One great anxiety 
 was relieved. Reports were brought in that 
 no more Turkish troops were marching from 
 Plevna on Lovatz. This removed appre- 
 
 hension of a flank attack in force from 
 Lovatz on the left of the Russian con- 
 verging assault upon the Plevna position. 
 Kriidener and Schahoffskoi thus considered 
 themselves free to concentrate their atten- 
 tion on the latter place, leaving Skobeloff 
 and his cavalry to watch Lovatz, and, indeed, 
 if possible to occupy it. 
 
 During the day (July 30th) the outposts 
 were advanced, and the whole army crept up 
 somewhat closer, the reconnaissances feel- 
 ing the Turks at Radisevo, Tucenitza, Bogot, 
 and Slatina, whilst Skobeloff ascertained 
 that not only was Lovatz strongly held, but 
 was being still further reinforced, and that 
 the Turks also held the line of villages be- 
 tween Plevna and Lovatz with detachments 
 of infantry and cavalry. 
 
 In the afternoon a general council of war 
 was held at Poradim, at which were present 
 Baron Kriidener, Prince Schahoffskoi, and 
 the generals of division and brigades. The 
 colonels of regiments and staff officers waited 
 to receive instructions as to the final dis- 
 positions. It was settled that the action 
 should begin next morning, July 31st, at 
 five o'clock by a general concentric advance 
 on the Turkish positions in front of Plevna, 
 and that Prince Schahoffskoi and the general 
 staff should move forward at four o'clock. 
 Several aides of the Grand Duke Nicholas 
 arrived, and were detailed to various points 
 to make observations, and after the battle 
 to carry reports of the results back to 
 Tirnova. The gravity of the task before 
 the army was fully recognised, for recon- 
 naissances had proved the Turks to be in 
 greater force than was at first believed. 
 Twenty thousand regulars had come from 
 Widdin, and the Turkish positions were 
 known to be strong by nature, and strength- 
 ened yet further by art. 
 
 The night between the 30th and 31st 
 was very wet, and troops did not begin to 
 march forward before six instead of four. 
 
 The number of infantry combatants was 
 actually about 32,000, with 160 field cannon 
 and three brigades of cavalry. Baron Krii- 
 dener was on the right with the whole of 
 the 31st division in his fighting line, and 
 three regiments of the 5th division in re- 
 serve at Karagatch. He was to attack in 
 two columns, a brigade in each. On the left 
 was Schahoffskoi with a brigade of the 32nd 
 division and a brigade of the 30th division 
 in fighting line. Another brigade of the 
 30th division was in reserve at Pelisat. 
 The Turkish position was convex, somewhat 
 
 187 
 
 
 'i*^ 
 
 ' ;f 
 
 •ii 
 
 'II 
 
PLEVNA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [positions at PLEVNA. 
 
 in horseshoe shape, but more pointed. 
 Baron Kriidener was to attack the Turkish 
 left flank from Grrivitza towards the river 
 Vid. Schahofftekoi was to assail their ri«i;ht 
 from Radisevo, also towards the river Vid. 
 On the left flank of the attack stood Skobe- 
 lofi^, with a brigade of Cossacks, a battalion 
 of infantry, and a battery, to cope with the 
 Turkish troops on the line from Plevna to 
 Lovatz, and to hinder them from interfering 
 with the development of Schahoff'skoi's 
 attack. On the right flank stood Lascareff, 
 with a brigade of the 9th cavalry, to guard 
 Kriidener from a counter flank attack. 
 
 The main fault of the dispositions was, 
 that Kriidener and Schahoff"skoi were practi- 
 2ally independent of each other, that the 
 two attacks were too far apart, and without 
 a connecting link; but the gravest evil, 
 which did not rest with the commanders on 
 the spot, was the weakness of the assailing 
 force- After the previous reverse nothing 
 should have been left to chance, and it was 
 tempting Providence to attack the Turks in 
 a strong defensive position with inferior 
 numbers* 
 
 The morning was gloomy, which the 
 Russians regarded as a favourable omen. 
 The troops cheered vigorously as they passed 
 the general. Physically there were no finer 
 men in the world. In the pink of hard 
 condition, and marching without packs, 
 carrying only great-coat, haversack with 
 rations, and ammunition, they seemed fit to 
 go anywhere and do anything. Schahoff- 
 skoi's right column marched over Pelisat 
 and Sgalince. The left column headed 
 straight for Radisevo. The artillery were 
 pushed forward from the first, and worked 
 independently. Kriidener, on the right, 
 opened the action at 9.30 A.M., bringing a 
 battery into fire from the ridge on tlie Turk- 
 ish redoubt above the village of Grivitza. 
 At first it seemed as if the Turks were sur- 
 prised. It was some time ere they replied ; 
 but then they did so vigorously, and gave 
 quite as good as they got from Kriidener. 
 Meantime Prince SchahofFbkoi bore way 
 towards Radisevo, the position at this time 
 (half-past nine) being as is shown in the 
 following sketch {J, No. 1). 
 
 Plevna lies in the hollow of a valley, lying 
 north and south. The ground which inter- 
 vened between the Russians and this valley 
 was singularly diversified. Imagine three 
 great solid waves with their faces set edge- 
 ways to they valley of Plevna, and therefore 
 end on to the Russians also. The central 
 
 wave was the widest of the three, and a 
 cheval of it were the main Turkish positions, 
 of which there were three, one beldnd the 
 other. Although the broadest wave, it was 
 not the highest. The right and left waves 
 were both so high, that one on the crest of 
 either could look down across the interven- 
 ing valleys into the positions of the central 
 wave. I3ut;,then the Turks were astride of 
 all three waves. The crest of the ridge 
 above Radisevo they did not hold in force. 
 Thus far Prince Schahoffskoi was fortunate ; 
 but on the most northerly wave of the three, 
 that against which Baron Kriidener was 
 operatmg, and which was broader and flatter, 
 the Turks had intrenched position behind 
 intrenched position. Both on the top of this 
 ridge and of the central swell stood the 
 camps of Turks with tents all standing be- 
 hind the earthworks, as if they had taken a 
 lease of the ground in perpetuity. 
 
 Baron Kriidener's cannon had opened fire, 
 not only in front of Grivitza, which was the 
 toe of the horseshoe, but against its northern 
 flank also. The return fire, however, was 
 so heavy that he made no way, and for tlie 
 time, at least ,was fast held. Schahofl'skoi's 
 artillery tried to aid him from the crest of 
 the ridge by bringing a battery into action 
 against the Grivitza earthwork ; but the tra- 
 verse of the redoubt was so high that it did 
 no harm. At noon the whole attention of 
 Schahoffskoi's forces was concentrated on 
 Radisevo. 
 
 This village lay in a deep valley behind 
 the southern wave or ridge of the Turkish 
 position, and there was another ridge behind 
 this valley. On that ridge the Russian 
 artillery, placed by Colonel Bischofi'ski, chief 
 of Prince Schahofi'skoi'd statF, were firing in 
 line on the Turkish guns on the ridge 
 beyond the valley, with fine ^ff'ect. The 
 infantry went down into the valley under 
 this covering fire and carried Radisevo with 
 a trivial skirmish, for in the village there 
 were only a handful of Bashi-Bazouks, who, 
 standing their ground,]werc promptly bayo- 
 netted. The Russian infantry remained 
 under cover of the village whilst the batteries 
 prepared the way. These, firing with great 
 rapidity and accuracy, soon compelled the 
 Turkish cannon to quit the opposite height, 
 and it was then practicable for the batteries 
 to cross the valley passing through Radisevo 
 and come into action in the position vacated 
 by the Turkish guns. Following them, the 
 infantry also descended into the hollow, and 
 lay down in the glades about the village, 
 
 I 
 
 •4< 
 
 J — No. 1. — The Second Battle of Plevna, 
 Positions at 9.30 a.m., July 31, 1877. 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 R. Osma. 
 
 5- « 
 
 « 00* -« 
 
 ^ u <a 
 
 as 5* 
 
 l§ I 
 
 a 
 
 !-• 
 OS 
 
 bp 
 
 o a> 
 o 
 
 B 
 
 -a 
 
 be 
 
 Pi 
 
 ei 
 
 K 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 5 
 
 .to 
 
 3 
 
 P3 
 
 a 
 
 N LJ 
 
 1 ci 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 • 
 
 es 
 
 g 
 o 
 
 9 
 
 H 
 
 - Z& 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 3) 
 
 I B 
 
 
 as 
 
 I 
 
 OQ 
 
 
 P4 
 
 t 
 
 h 
 
 s 
 
 a. Vid. 
 
 VOL. IIL 
 
 2C 
 
 89 
 
THE ASSAULT ON PLEVNA.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1877. 
 
 and on the steep slope behind the guns in 
 action. 
 
 Presently the five batteries were ranged 
 along the crest of the ridge beyond Kadisevo, 
 directing a converging fire on the Turkish 
 guns on the central wave or ridge beyond. 
 ^Notwithstanding their exposed position, 
 their fire was heavy and steady over the 
 village of Radisevo, into which were falling 
 many Turkish shells, which flew over the 
 ridge occupied by the Russian cannon. It 
 was strange to witness the peasants standing 
 in bewildered groups in front of their houses 
 with the children playing unconcernedly 
 about the dust-heaps, and enjoying them- 
 eelves without misgiving as to danger 
 whilst the shells were crashing into the 
 placeo Still not a single peasant was injured 
 by the shell-fire, although several hundred 
 fchells must have fallen in the village. In 
 the Turkish positions, four batteries were 
 defending the earthwork about the little 
 village, which seemed to be the foremost of 
 the fixed and constructed positions on the 
 central ridge, It stood on a little knoll, 
 and was well placed for searching with its 
 fire the valleys by which it could be ap- 
 proached. Beyond were more, and yet 
 more, earthworks right to the edge of the 
 broad valley, where the roofs and church 
 towers of Plevna sparkled in the sunshine 
 from out a circle of verdure. The place had 
 an aspect of serenity strangely contrasting 
 with the turmoil of the cannon-fire raging 
 in front of it. It seemed so near that a 
 short ride would have brought one there to 
 breakfast ; yet, ere it could be reached, much 
 blood would have to flow. Already men 
 were dropping fast in the battery, for the 
 position of the guns was greatly exposed, 
 and the Turkish practice was mostly very 
 good. 
 
 Up to one o'clock the infantry had nowhere 
 been engaged. The operations hitherto had 
 been confined to the artillery. Kriidener, 
 on the right flank, had scarcely progressed 
 at all, and his co-operation in a simultane- 
 ously combined attack on both flanks was 
 indispensable to success. He seemed little 
 farther forward than at the commencement, 
 whereas Prince Schahoffskoi was at com- 
 paratively close quarters, and within striking 
 distance. Kriidener was behind, either 
 because his attack was not pushed energeti- 
 cally, or because he was encountering ob- 
 stacles which the left wing had not met. But 
 Kriidener was generally regarded as a slow 
 soldier and an unenergetic man, and Scha- 
 190 
 
 hofFskoi, in his impatience, determined to act 
 independently, and strike the Turks single- 
 handed. If Kriidener was slow, Schahoff- 
 skoi was rash. If the whole force was too 
 small for the work, how much more so was 
 one-half that force ? Fearful was the re- 
 tribution exacted for that error of judgment. 
 
 About half-past two the second period 
 of the battle commenced. To ascertain 
 whether the artillery had sufficiently pre- 
 pared the way for the infantry to act, 
 Schahoffskoi and his staff rode on to the 
 ridge where the batteries were firing, and 
 had to dismount precipitately under a 
 hurricane of shell-fire which the Turkish 
 gunners directed against the little group. 
 A long and anxious inspection seemed to 
 satisfy Schahoffskoi and the chief of his 
 staff that the time had come when the in- 
 fantry could strike with effect. This conclu- 
 sion was arrived at in the face of the fact that 
 the left flank attack had but three brigades 
 all told, one of which constituted the re- 
 serve. In other words, he was about to 
 launch ten or twelve thousand men against 
 commanding intrenched positions held by 
 an immensely superior force, and no whit 
 crushed by preliminary artillery fire. 
 
 Two brigades of infantry were lying down 
 in the Radisevo valley, behind the guns ; 
 the 32nd division — General Tchekoffs bri- 
 gade — on the right, the 1st brigade of the 
 30th division on the left. The leading 
 battalions were ordered to rise up and ad- 
 vance over the ridge to attack. The order 
 was hailed with gkd cheers, for the infantry 
 had been chafing at their inaction, and the 
 battalions, with a swift, swinging step, 
 streamed forward through the glen and up 
 the steep slope beyond, marching in com- 
 pany columns, the rifle companies leading. 
 The artillery had heralded this movement 
 with increased rapidity of fire, which was 
 maintained to cover and aid the infantry 
 when the latter had crossed the crest and 
 were descending the slope and crossing the 
 intervening valley to the assault of the 
 Turkish position. Just before reaching the 
 crest the battalions deployed into line at the 
 double, and crossed it in this formation, 
 breaking to pass through the intervals be- 
 tween the guns. The Turkish shells whistled 
 through them as they advanced in line, and 
 men went down in numbers ; but the long 
 undulating line tramped steadily over the 
 stubbles of the ridge, and crashed through 
 the undergrowth on the descent beyond. 
 No skirmishing line was thrown out in 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 advance. The fighting line remained in the 
 formation for a time, till, what with im- 
 patience and what with men falling, it broke 
 into a ragged spray of humanity, and surged 
 on swiftly, loosely, and with no close cohe- 
 sion. The supports were close up, and ran 
 up into the fighting line independently and 
 eagerly. It was a veritable chase of fight- 
 ing-men impelled by a burning desire to get 
 forward and come to cloao quarters with the 
 enemy firing at them there from behind the 
 shelter of the trenches. 
 
 Presently all along the face of the ad- 
 vancing infantry burst forth flaring volleys 
 of rifle fire. The jagged line of flashes 
 sprang onward through the maize-fields, 
 gradually assuming a concave shape. The | 
 Turkish position was neared. The roll of 
 rifle fire was incessant, yet dominated by the 
 fiercer and louder turmoil of the artillery 
 above. The ammunition waggons hurried 
 up to the cannon with fresh fuel for the fire. 
 The guns redoubled the energy of their 
 cannonade. The crackle of the musketry 
 fire rose into a sharp continuous peal, and 
 the supports that had remained behind, 
 lying just under the crest of the slope, were 
 pushed forward over the brow of the hill, 
 over the dead and the severely wounded, 
 lying where they fell on the stubbles 
 and amid the maize. Still the living wave 
 of fighting-men poured over them ever on 
 and on until the Turkish cannon-fire began 
 to waver in the earthwork. More supports 
 streamed down with a louder cheer into the 
 Russian fighting line. Then there was a 
 wild rush, headed by the colonel of one of 
 the regiments of the 32nd division, and the 
 rest of the officers waving their swords. 
 The Turks in the shelter-trench held their 
 ground, and fired steadily, and with terrible 
 efi'ect, into the advancing forces. The 
 colonel's horse went down, but the colonel 
 was on his feet in a second, and, waving his 
 sword, led his men forward on foot; but 
 only for a few paces ; a moment afterwards 
 he was killed. 
 
 The men, however, kept on, and charged 
 with their bayonets over the parapet and 
 shelter-trench, and in among the Turks like 
 an avalanche, and with this rush the outer 
 edge of the first position was won. Still it 
 took them half-an-hour from the shelter- 
 trench before they again converged and 
 made their final rush at the main earth- 
 work. This time the Turks did not wait 
 for the bayonet-points, but with one final 
 volley abandoned the work, and fell back 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [repulse of the Russians. 
 
 in a huddled mass into the gardens and 
 vineyard behind the position, cramming 
 the narrow track between the trees to gain 
 the shelter of their batteries in the rear of 
 the second position. 
 
 So fell the first position of the Turks. 
 Being a village, it afforded ample cover, 
 and Schahofskoi would have acted wisely 
 had he been content to hold it and 
 strengthen it till Kriidener, on his right, 
 should have carried the Grrivitza earthwork, 
 and come up in line with him. But the 
 Grand Cross of St. George dangled before 
 his eyes, and tempted him to rashness. 
 Kriidener was clearly jammed. The Turks 
 were fighting furiously, and were in unex- 
 pected force on that broad central ridge of 
 theirs, as well as against Kriidener. The 
 first position, in natural as in artificial 
 strength, was child's play to the grim stark- 
 ness of the second on the isolated mamelon 
 with the batteries on the swell behind it. 
 But Schahofskoi determined to go for it, 
 and the word was again, '^ Forward !" The 
 first rush, however, was out of the men. 
 Many must have been blown. They hung 
 a good deal in the advance, exposing them- 
 selves recklessly, and falling fast, but not 
 progressing with much speed. 
 
 Still Schahofskoi kept his finger well on 
 the throbbing pulse of battle. Just in tlie 
 nick of time half his reserve brigade was 
 thrown into the fight immediately below, 
 while the other half took part in the attack 
 more on the left flank. The new blood told 
 at once. There was a move forward, and 
 no more standing and craning over the 
 fence. But the Turks on the flank in the 
 earthwork were also reinforced, and all of a 
 sudden the white smoke spurted forth all 
 along the lip of the epaulement, on the 
 swarms of dark-clothed men scrambling on 
 to it. There was a short but sharp struggle 
 for the pussession of the earthwork on both 
 its flanks, till, at about 6 p.m., the Turks 
 pressed forward a heavy mass of infantry 
 for its recapture. Schahofskoi took a bold 
 step, sending two batteries down into the 
 first position he had taken to keep them in 
 check. Here Russians and Turks were 
 locked awliile in a deadly embrace (sketch 
 J, No. 2); but the Turks were not to be 
 denied, and, in spite of the most determined 
 fighting of the Russians, had reoccupied 
 their second position before seven. The 
 battle was lost. 
 
 The first brigade of the 30th division 
 had early inclined to the left, in the dii'ec- 
 
 lUl 
 
tr ti 
 
 POSITIONS ON JULY 31.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 J — No. 2. — The Second Battle of Plevna. 
 Positions at 6 p.m., July 31, 1877. 
 
 -Ii° 
 
 III 
 
 
 IS 1 
 
 s^ 
 
 
 e' 
 
 R. Osma. 
 
 o « 
 
 ^o 
 
 I 
 
 B 
 
 I 
 
 8 
 
 □El 
 
 o 
 P3 
 
 n 
 
 -O- 
 
 o 
 
 
 2 ^ 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 i 3 ( Jg 
 
 Grivit 
 isero. 
 
 o 
 
 c 
 
 3 
 
 "O 
 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 B 
 
 o 
 
 bo 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 .2 
 
 
 0> 
 
 .2 
 
 M 
 
 s 
 
 •s 
 
 J4 
 
 go 
 
 <s 
 
 I' 
 
 B.ytd. 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 r TERRIBLE SLAUGHTER. 
 
 192 
 
 tion where the towers and houses of Plevna 
 were visible. It was rash, for the brigade 
 was exposinpr its right flank to the Turkish 
 cannon astride of the central ridge ; but the 
 goal of Plevna was a keen temptation. 
 There was no thoroughfare, however. They 
 would not give up, and they could not 
 succeed. They charged again and again ; 
 and when they could charge no more from 
 sheer fatigue, they stood and died, for they 
 would not retire. The reserves came up, 
 but only to swell the slaughter. And then 
 the ammunition failed, for the carts had 
 been left far behind, and all hope failed the 
 most sanguine, as the sun sank in lurid 
 glory behind the smoke-mantled field. 
 
 Two companies of Russian infantry did 
 indeed work round the right flank of the 
 Turkish works, and dodge into the town of 
 Plevna ; but it was like entering the mouth 
 of hell. On the heights all round the 
 cannon-smoke spurted out, and the vine- 
 yard in the rear of the town was alive with 
 Turks. 
 
 Schahofskoi had not a man left to cover 
 the retreat. He had staked all his men on 
 the game, and he had lost them at the game 
 irretrievably. The Turks struck without 
 stint. They had the upper hand for once, 
 and were determined to show that they 
 knew how to make the most of it. They 
 advanced in swarms through the dusk on 
 their original first position, and recaptured 
 their three cannon the Russians had pre- 
 viously taken before these could be with- 
 drawn. The Turkish shells began once 
 more to whistle over the ridge above 
 Radisevo and fall into the village behind, 
 crammed with wounded, the streams of 
 whom wending their painful way over the 
 ridge were incessant. The badly wounded 
 mostly lay where they fell. Later in the 
 darkness the Bashi-Bazouks swarmed over 
 the battle-field, and smote and spared not. 
 Lingering there on the ridge till the moon 
 rose, the staff could hear from down below, 
 on the still night air, the cries of pain, the 
 entreaties for mercy, and the yells of blood- 
 thirsty fanatical triumph. It was indeed 
 an hour to wring the sternest heart. They 
 stayed there long, to learn, if it might be, 
 what troops were coming out of the Valley 
 of the Shadow of Death below. Were there, 
 indeed, any at all to come ? It did not 
 seem as if it were so. The Turks had the 
 range again before dark, and the escort and 
 the retreating wounded were often struck. 
 A detachment of cavalry at length began to 
 
 come straggling up to take over from the 
 staff the forepost duty on the ridge ; but it 
 will give an idea of the disorganisation to 
 say, that when a company was told-off to 
 cover somewhat the wounded in Radisevo, 
 it had to be made up of the men of several 
 regiments. 
 
 About nine o'clock the staff quitted the 
 ridge, leaving it littered with groaning men, 
 and moving gently lest they should tread y 
 on the prostrate wounded. The staff soon 
 lost their way as they had lost their army, 
 and could find no rest for the soles of their 
 feet, by reason of the alarms of the Bashi- 
 Bazouks swarming in among the scattered 
 and retiring Russians. At length, at one in 
 the morning, having been in the saddle 
 since six on the previous morning, they 
 turned into a stubble-field, and, making 
 beds of the reaped grain, commander, 
 correspondent, and Cossack alike rested 
 under the stars. But they were not even 
 then allowed to rest. Before four an alarm 
 came that the Bashi-Bazouks were upon 
 them, and they had to rouse and tramp away. 
 The only protection of the chief of what 
 in the morning was a fine army was a 
 handful of wearied Cossacks. About the 
 Bashi-Bazouks there is worse to tell. At 
 night they worked round into Radisevo, 
 and, falling upon the wounded there, 
 butchered them without mercy. 
 
 Kriidener, too, sent word that he had 
 lost severely, and could make no headway, 
 and had resolved to fall back on the line of 
 the river Osma, which falls into the 
 Danube near Nicopoli. There had been a 
 talk, his troops being fresh, of renewing the 
 attack the next day with his co-operation ; 
 but it is a plain statement of fact that 
 Schahofskoi had no troops to attack with : 
 5,000 men, out of three brigades, had been 
 lost, besides Kriidener's losses. 
 
 In fact, the Russian army before Plevna 
 was completely broken up and dispersed. 
 The regiments, compacted in strong posi- 
 tions at daybreak, were broken up into 
 three streams of fugitive groups, panic- 
 stricken, confused, wearied, harassed, hur- 
 rying away through the dark night across 
 the broken country towards Karagatch, 
 where they had started from confident of 
 victory, and further on still to Bulgareni 
 on the Osma. Skobeloff also had been 
 severely handled, losing 300 men out 
 of one battalion, and had also been forced 
 to retreat before the advancing bodies of 
 Bashi-Bazuukb and Circassians. The fol- 
 
 1U3 
 
 
THE RETREAT.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1877. 
 
 lowing sketch (J, No. 3) gives a graphic 
 picture of the field during the night of 
 July 31st to August 1st; and it also 
 shows how ill-advised the Turks were not 
 to have followed the flying naovements of 
 the Russian army, at least to the banks of 
 the Osma, and then have intrenched them- 
 selves. Had Osman Pasha boldly advanced, 
 striking blow after blow, and had he been 
 supported by Mehemed Ali, who had suc- 
 ceeded Abdul Kerim on the Lom, the 
 Russians might have been crushed on the 
 Yantra and forced back across the Danube. 
 Not a Russian soldier stood between 
 Tirnova and the victorious Turkish army 
 in Lovatz and Plevna. Only a weak divi- 
 sion of the 11th corps stood between Tirnova 
 and the Schumla army. Thus, north of the 
 Balkans — the 8th corps being already 
 committed to the mountains — there was 
 but the 9th corps (already roughly handled, 
 once at Nicopoli and again previously at 
 Plevna), one division of the 11th corps, and 
 the Rustzuk army. But if the Rust- 
 zuk army were marched to the west 
 against Plevna, then the Turkish army of 
 Rustzuk would be let loose on the Rus- 
 sian communications to Tirnova, and the 
 advance over the Balkans be seriously com- 
 promised. The Russian strait was so bad 
 that the scattered detachments were called 
 up from Roumania, and a Roumanian divi- 
 sion, commanded by General Manu, ordered 
 up to the line of the Osma River, whilst 
 the Grand Duke Nicholas precipitately left 
 Tirnova, and hurried up to Bulgareni to 
 check the headlong flight of his shattered 
 armies. 
 
 The following letter, from the Daily 
 News, describes the state of the defeated 
 Russians the night after the battle: — 
 
 " Bucharest, August 2nd. — It was the 
 evening of the battle of Plevna. The sun 
 was going down behind the smoke-mantled 
 heights, in a glow of lurid crimson. The 
 dusk was fast settlinor on one of the 
 bloodiest battle-fields of the century — 
 closing in round the batteries whose guns 
 were still firing, round detached parties of 
 Russian soldiers who were doggedly main- 
 taining the fight against the swarms of 
 Turks who formed a ring around them, 
 firing fiercely into their midst — round the 
 dead and the wounded lyirg thick on the 
 stubbles, on the grassy slopes, in the hol- 
 lows among the maize plants and the oak 
 copses — round the knots of wounded who 
 had crawled for cover to the leeside of the 
 
 19-4 
 
 grain-stacks on the fields, and who lay 
 there in the unspeakable agony of waitin**- 
 for the inevitable doom which they knew 
 too well was to befall them — round the 
 groups of miscreants tramping about the 
 battle-field intent on wreaking that doom 
 on the defenceless wounded, and stoppino- 
 ever and anon to perpetrate some barbarity. 
 Prince Schahofskoi and his staff stood on 
 the summit of the ridge above the village 
 of Radisevo, which was crammed with 
 wounded men. The fate of the battle had 
 hung in the scale for some time, but now 
 all hope of success had gone. There was 
 no reserve among us in the acknowledo-- 
 ment that the attack had been a failure ; 
 all the concern now was to do what was 
 possible towards minimising the results of 
 that failure. There was no conversation ; 
 men's hearts were too heavy for talk. We 
 sat about on the knoll, gazing down into 
 the pandemonium below. The general, 
 alone and apart, paced up and down a 
 little open space in the oak copse, gloom 
 settled on his face. All around us the air 
 was heavy with the low moaning of the 
 wounded, who, having limped or been 
 aided thus far out of the fight, had cast 
 themselves down to gain a little relief from 
 the agony of motion. There was not even 
 water for them, for Radisevo is all but a 
 waterless village, and what water trickled 
 in a tiny rill from the fountain behind the 
 village was struggled for eagerly by the 
 parched and fevered wounded who crowded 
 around it, coveting with a longing, the 
 agony of which the reader can never know, 
 a few drops of the precious fluid. I cannot 
 tell when I most respect and admire the 
 simple honest Russian soldier — whether 
 when he is plodding along without a 
 murmur verst after verst, under a burden 
 just double in weight that which our 
 soldiers carry, cheering the way as he 
 tramps with a lusty chorus; or when, with 
 cheers that ring with sincerity, and with 
 an alacrity which is genuine, he presses 
 forward into the battle; or when he is 
 standing stubbornly confronting his enemy, 
 conscious of being over-matched, yet never 
 dreaming of running away ; or when he is 
 lying wounded but uncomplaining, helping 
 his neighbour in the same plight with 
 some trifling act of tender kindness, and 
 waiting for what God and the Czar shall 
 send him, with a patient, unmurmuring 
 calm that is surely true heroism. 
 
 " The darkness closed in around us, and 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [positions on JUI.Y 31. 
 
 J — ^0, 3. — 77ie Second Battle of Plevna, 
 Positiom at 9 p.m., July 31, 1877. 
 
 lo 
 
 i . 
 
 I 
 
 
 I 
 
 R. Osma. 
 
 s 
 
 g-l 
 
 u 
 <a 
 bo 
 
 "3 
 
 I 
 
 li: 
 
 » 
 S 
 
 es 
 bo 
 
 a 
 
 es 
 
 ui 
 
 1/ 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 • '2 
 
 es 
 
 >- • 
 
 O V 
 
 I 
 
 60 
 
 CS 
 
 00 
 
 
 s 
 
 
 B 
 
 p- 
 
 o 
 
 pa 
 
 I ° 
 "SI 
 
 o 
 cq 
 
 es 
 
 .9 
 
 03 
 CQ 
 
 O 
 
 bo 
 
 o 
 
 P- 
 O 
 
 •.^ 
 o 
 
 00 
 
 B 
 
 3 t" 
 
 
 es 
 N 
 
 fit 
 
 i 
 
 t 
 
 t 
 
 M 
 
 R. Via. 
 
 195 
 
THE BATTLE-FIELD.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 I 
 
 ■I s 
 
 the enemy seemed bent on following the ex- 
 ample of the darkness. We had been on 
 this ridge for a long time beyond the range 
 of the enemy's batteries; but now these 
 were advanced, and we were once more 
 under fire. Through the darkness we could 
 see the flashes of the cannon-shots; they 
 must be back now in the position on the 
 knoll below — the position where, four hours 
 ago, the Russian soldiers had charged home 
 with the bayonet, and whence, two hours 
 ago, the Russian cannon had been firing. 
 A second more, and nearer and nearer came 
 the whistle of the shells, with a swiftly gra- 
 dual crescendo into a scream as they sped 
 over us and crashed down into the village 
 in the valley behind us ; and yet nearer 
 til ere was the flashing of the musketry fire 
 in the darkness : one could watch the streaks 
 of flame foreshortened down in the valley 
 there ; and nerves tried by a long day of 
 foodlessness, excitement, fatigue, and ex- 
 posure to the sun and the chances of the 
 battle-field, quivered under the prolonged 
 tension of endurance, as the throbbing hum 
 of the bullet sped through or over the 
 straggling group. No man dared to say to 
 that stern lowering chief, eating his heart 
 there in the bitterness of his disappointment, 
 that it was a bootless tempting of fortune 
 to linger longer on this exposed spot ; nor 
 did any man care to quit, for the sake of 
 greater safety, the companionship which 
 had endured throughout the day. So we 
 lingered on till our senses became dulled, 
 until some dropped off into slumber, regard- 
 less of the scream of the shells and the hum 
 of the bullets. It was a humane object 
 which so long detained the general in a 
 position so long exposed. There was no 
 force available to line the height, and cover, 
 to ever so little extent, the wounded lying 
 on and behind it from the Bashi-Bazouks, 
 who too certainly were prowling in the 
 vicinity, and ever coming nearer and nearer. 
 An attempt had, indeed, been made to get 
 together a detachment of infantry for this 
 purpose, and a bugler, at the general's 
 order, persistently sounded the assembly; 
 but the result was merely to gather a hand- 
 ful of stragglers from half-a-dozen different 
 regiments ; and although but a company 
 was wanted, that trivial strength could not 
 be collected ; so the general, his staff, and 
 his escort took up for the time a kind of 
 informal forepost duty, and there we waited 
 till the pale calm moon rose and poured 
 the sheen of her white radiance over the 
 196 
 
 battle-field. While it was yet dark there 
 had been no cessation of the firing, both 
 artillery and musketry; and now that 
 heaven was holding a candle to hell, the 
 fire waxed warmer and brisker. Up from 
 out of it, with broken tramp, came a detach- 
 ment, silent, jaded, powder-grimed. There 
 could not have been a company all told ; a 
 lieutenant marched at its head, and it was 
 the remnant — so far as could be gathered the 
 sole remnant — of one of the finest regiments 
 of the 32nd division, that had crossed the 
 ridge over which its debris was now list- 
 lessly trailing itself three fine battalions 
 strong. 
 
 "At length the jingle of cavalry accoutre- 
 ments was heard, and a squadron of dragoons 
 rode on to the heights, and extending in 
 skirmishing order, relieved the head-quarter 
 staff. It was a poor screen to interpose 
 between a victorious and remorseless army 
 and a mass of wounded men ; but nothing 
 more was available. The general had lost 
 an army, the fragments of an army had lost 
 their general. We turned the heads of our 
 jaded horses, and, silent and depressed, rode 
 down the slope across the valley and up the 
 slope beyond. Our pace was a slow walk, 
 for there were wounded men everywhere, 
 limping along the narrow pathway in front 
 of us, prostrate on the grass by the side 
 of it, or asleep in the very dust. Occa- 
 sionally we struck detachments of infantry 
 who had scrambled back out of the fight, 
 and were lying on their arms in utter 
 ignorance of the best direction in which to 
 march. Or it might be a battery of artil- 
 lery, halted in perplexing dubiety whether 
 if they went on they might march into the 
 bosom of the Turkish army. I believe there 
 existed some intention that we should go 
 for the night to a village called Bogot. 
 But we got confused as to the road, and 
 bewildered by the crackling spurts of mus- 
 ketry fire that broke out all around in the 
 most uncomfortable fashion. Were the 
 Turks then wholly round us, that we heard, 
 and occasionally felt, fire as it seemed to 
 north, to south, to east, and to west ? Once 
 such was the confusion that we were fired 
 upon by a detachment of Russian troops, 
 halted in equal bewilderment with ourselves, 
 and expecting an enemy from any or every 
 side. We made halt after halt, but there 
 never was rest for us. A spurt of near 
 firing would stir us, or a Cossack would 
 ride in with intelligence that Bashi-Bazouks 
 were prowling near by; and through all this 
 
 i 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [gourko*s advance. 
 
 harassment there yet lingered with the 
 most sanguine of us the idea that the battle 
 would be resumed next morning, we afford- 
 ing an artillery support to the supposedly 
 fresh troops of Kriidener. Where, I asked 
 myself, is our artillery to take orders for 
 such a purpose ? We did not know where 
 we were ourselves, much less where the 
 army was, of which this groping, forlorn, 
 dejected band were the head-quarters. Of 
 Kriidener's experiences or whereabouts we 
 knew simply nothing. It was useless to 
 despatch aides-de-camp or orderlies without 
 being able to give them a direction in which 
 to ride. All we knew was that everywhere 
 there were wounded men about us, and that 
 we and our horses were dead beaten. 
 
 *' Nature will assert herself. About one 
 o'clock in the morning we turned aside into 
 a field where the barley had been reaped 
 and piled into small stacks. These we tore 
 down, shook some sheaves out as fodder for 
 our horses, and others as beds for ourselves, 
 and, throwing ourselves down, fell into dead 
 slumber. But there was no long rest for 
 us. At three o'clock we were aroused by 
 the tidings that the Bashi-Bazouks were 
 close to us, and the near firing told of 
 the accuracy of the statement. We hud- 
 dled a number of wounded into and upon 
 some carts which came up casually, and 
 started them off, whether in the right direc- 
 tion or not we had no conception. Ugh ! 
 how miserably raw and chill struck the 
 
 bleak morn just before the dawn ! But if 
 the rawness of the air struck to our marrow, 
 hale and sound men as we were, what must 
 have been the sufferings of the poor wounded, 
 weakened by loss of blood, faint in the 
 prostration which follows so inevitably the 
 gun-shot wound ; foodless, without water, 
 lying on the damp grass by the wayside in 
 their blood-clotted clothes! Yet happy 
 they, pitiable as was their plight, in com- 
 parison with their fellows who had littered 
 the battle-field, and had been left behind in 
 Radisevo. The fate of the former we knew 
 from what we had ourselves seen ; of the 
 latter, it was told to us by scared messen- 
 gers, that the Bashi-Bazouks had in the 
 dead of night worked round our left flank, 
 and had fallen upon them and butchered 
 them in their helplessness." 
 
 The reverse of the Russians was thus as 
 complete as the inability of Osman Pasha and 
 Mehemed Ali allowed. This inability per- 
 mitted the grand duke to stay the tide of re- 
 treating and disheartened troops ; and after 
 a while, with the assistance of reinforcements 
 and the Roumanian corps, to regain posses- 
 sion of their positions before Plevna. Here, 
 broken, disallusioned, we leave the Russian 
 army of Plevna in what would have been the. 
 most critical position had the Turks been 
 able to turn their success to advantage, and 
 will now turn to the advance forces under 
 Greneral Grourko, and see how the Plevna 
 reverse affected operations in this quarter. 
 
 1-4. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 GENERAL GOURKO's ADVANCE AND RETREAT. 
 
 Little suspecting what a terrible blow 
 was awaiting the army before Plevna 
 within the next two days, General Gourko 
 was ordered, by the commander-in-chief, to 
 advance with three columns from Kezanlik 
 and converge upon Yeni Zagra, in order to 
 seize and occupy the district south of the 
 Kara Dagh mountains, and cut the line of 
 communication of the Turks with the 
 railway at Yamboli and the western por- 
 tion of Roumelia towards Philippopoli and 
 Sophia. 
 
 Here the Turkish government had placed 
 Suleiman Pasha,, who had successfully 
 
 VOL. UL 
 
 2D 
 
 marched through Montenegro, at a great 
 expenditure of blood, in the command of 
 the army of the Balkans. Taking up his 
 head-quarters at Adrianople, he ener- 
 getically began to organise his troops in 
 view of the impending irruption of the 
 Russians, which he fully expected, and to 
 construct intrenchments and earthworks 
 at the most important points to delay the 
 advance of the enemy. 
 
 A reference to sketch D, page 154, will 
 show Suleiman's general plan. It was to 
 draw together the forces distributed in a 
 circle at Sophia, Philippopoli, Adrianople, 
 
 197 
 
 ...V 
 
 
 % 
 
 f ,. 
 
 >'■' 
 
 r.-- 
 
i* . 
 
 THE BALKAN PASSES.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1877. 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [positions on JULY 29. 
 
 and Slivno, and to converge with them at 
 the Schipka Pass, the keystone of their 
 position, whilst at the same time keeping 
 his communications open with Osman 
 Pasha on his left flank by way of the Or- 
 khanieh Pass, and, on his right flank, with 
 Mehemed Ali, by way of the Slivno Pass. 
 
 This plan was good strategy, but it de- 
 manded a sufficient number of troops, and 
 premised the certainty of forcing the 
 Schipka. Unless this certainty were as- 
 sured, the strategy was faulty ; but, taken 
 all in all, there is no doubt, as the course 
 of events fully proved, that had the Turks 
 simultaneously drawn their net round the 
 Kussians, and that had the commanders- 
 in-chief, Osman, Suleiman, and Mehemed 
 Ali acted in full co-operation at a given 
 moment with each other, the plan, as it 
 stood, would have had every chance of 
 success. Whether the means at the dis- 
 posal of the Turks warranted the plan, is a 
 question which cannot yet be decided, and 
 thus it is not possible to say who was re- 
 sponsible for its ultimate failure. 
 
 Hence, General Gourko having been 
 ordered to advance upon Yeni Zagra, he 
 at once took the necessary dispositions. 
 
 The right column, consisting of the 
 Bulgarian legion, two batteries of artil- 
 lery, and three regiments of cavalry, was 
 to march from Eski Zagra ; the central 
 column, under Gourko himself, consisting 
 of the rifle brigade, a regiment of Cos- 
 sacks, and four batteries of artillery, from 
 Kezanlik; and the left column, of five bat- 
 talions of infantry, two batteries, and some 
 Cossacks, from Hainkoi, the objective of 
 all three columns being Yeni Zagra. 
 
 As will be seen on a reference to the fol- 
 lowing sketch, K l,two of these columns, 
 the one at Eski Zagra, and the other at 
 Hainkoi, had to pass the river Tundja, and 
 effect their passage through the defiles of 
 the Kara Dagh. These mountains, though 
 much lower than the Balkans, still present 
 considerable difficulties. They are, in fact, 
 the out-spurs of the Balkans, and at one 
 time, no doubt, formed part of the mother- 
 range until separated from it by land- 
 slips and the action of the Tundja. Be- 
 tween Slivno and Kezanlik there are three 
 well-defined passes and a defile practicable 
 for mules and horses. 
 
 The first of these passages, from Kezanlik 
 
 eastwards, is the Derbendkoi Pass ; the 
 
 second, the Dalboka Pass ; the fourth, the 
 
 Djinovo Pass, through which the high road 
 
 198 
 
 runs from Yeni Zagra to Slivno. The 
 third is the defile above mentioned, and 
 lies nearly due south of the Hainkoi Pass. 
 South of the Kara Dagh lie the great 
 Roumelian plains, through which runs the 
 railway from Adrianople nearly due north 
 as far as Yeni Zagra, whence it turns east- 
 wards skirting the mountains to Yamboli, 
 whence a high road also runs to Slivno, and 
 another to Karnabad, and so on to Schumla, 
 Varna, and the rest of the Quadrilateral. 
 
 It will be seen, therefore, that the tri- 
 angle, Yamboli-Slivno-Eski Zagra, was of 
 high strategic importance. Whoever held 
 it, commanded at the same time the roads 
 from Adrianople to the Quadrilateral, and 
 consequently both the Russians and the 
 Turks devoted all their energies to its 
 possession. To defend it, Suleiman Pasha 
 called up his troops, and taking Slivno and 
 Adrianople as his bases of operations, dis- 
 posed them so as to converge upon the four 
 passages of the Kara Dagh above men- 
 tioned. He had a column at Slivno, 
 another between Slivno and the Hainkoi 
 Pass, with orders to move forward and draw 
 as close to the Russians, and menace their 
 left flank as much as possible. His centre 
 was disposed south of Djuranli,with detach- 
 ments guarding his right at Yeni Zagra, 
 whilst his left was working up towards the 
 Russian right at Eski Zagra. 
 
 This disposition was a very happy one. 
 It enabled him to offer a concentrated front 
 to the Russians ; whilst threatening both 
 their flanks whatever route they might ad- 
 vance by. If they had all passed through 
 the Derbendkoi and Dalboka passes, his 
 centre could make front against the Russian 
 centre, whilst his left could always overlap 
 the Russian right ; and his right, assisted by 
 the reserves at Slivno, overlap the Russian 
 left. If, on the other hand, the Russians 
 had crossed the Kara Dagh west of Kezanlik 
 to march upon Adrianople, he could have 
 wheeled his left and centre back, pivoting 
 on Yeni Zagra, and have covered the line 
 to Adrianople whilst offering a full front to 
 the Russians either to their full front or 
 concentrate his attack upon their left flank. 
 At the same time the Slivno forces pro- 
 tected his rear and right flank. 
 
 These advantages were apparent to 
 General Gourko. He saw how easily he 
 could be overlapped on either flank, and 
 must have arrived at the conclusion that 
 his only chance of success lay in his being 
 able so to extend his lines as to outflank 
 
 I 
 
 R. Tundja. 
 
 c 
 M 
 
 •a 
 > 
 
 
 
 CE! 
 
 i^._ 
 
 OS 
 
 Q 
 
 2 
 
 sS 
 
 
 < 
 2 
 
 o 
 >■ 
 o 
 
 .9 
 
 3 
 
 _^v^ 
 
 
 
 eS 
 
 Rail to Adrianople. 
 
 u 
 
 <A 
 
 a 
 
 H 
 
 I 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 B 
 
 <J3 
 
 5 
 
 o 
 
 I 
 
 o 
 
 I 
 
 Q 
 
 3 j^ 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 Q 
 
 as 
 
 e8 
 
 B 
 
 u 
 
 § 
 
 s 
 
 B 
 
 a 
 
 M 
 
 J3 
 
 Q 
 
 
 199 
 
ADVANCE ON TENI ZAGRA.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877* 
 
 even Suleiman Pasha's extended flanks — an 
 operation which could not be successfully 
 performed without a superiority of forces. 
 Thus, ordering his column at Hainkoi to 
 make across the mountains and attack the 
 right flank of the Turks at Yeni Zagra, he 
 also commanded the column at Eski Zagra to 
 demonstrate against the centre and protect 
 his right flank. He himself determined 
 to force the Turkish left by way of the 
 Dalboka Pass. This arrangement of General 
 Gourko's repeats, on a smaller scale, the 
 errors committed before Plevna. That Su- 
 leiman Pasha was commanding a large force 
 somewhere south of Eski Zagra, Djuranli, and 
 Yeni Zagra, could not, or ought not to have 
 been unknown to him. Yet he took no 
 measures to prepare the ground. Like 
 Kriidener, he either did not care what 
 Suleiman was doing, or he simply omitted 
 to ascertain, by his cavalry, how near the 
 Turks were to the right flank of his advance. 
 Before advancing on Yeni Zagra, he should 
 have pushed forward reconnaissances on his 
 right till they had felt the enemy, and dis- 
 covered whether he was present in force 
 within striking distance. But this he 
 neglected to do. His idea was to seize 
 Yeni Zagra, occupy the passes through the 
 Kara Dagh, strengthen his position at Eski 
 Zagra, and thus hold the Kara Dagh from 
 Eski Zagra to Yeni Zagra, as the Balkans 
 were already held from the Schipka to 
 Hainkoi. 
 
 This idea only required sufficient forces 
 to carry it out, in order to make it a very 
 good one indeed. Without them, it was a 
 very bad one. Still, though he must have 
 had some misgivings, he set about it, and 
 started for Yeni Zagra from Kezanlik on 
 the 29th July, with a terrible march of 
 forty miles before him. Nevertheless his 
 troops came into action next morning on the 
 left flank of the Turkish intrenchments in 
 front of the railway station at Yeni Zagra to 
 support the attack of the left column on 
 their right flank. The Turks fought des- 
 perately, and the bayonet-fighting was long 
 and strenuous, but after mid-day the Rus- 
 sians forced the position, drove out the 
 Turks, took Yeni Zagra, captured three 
 guns, blew up the railway station, and 
 destroyed an immense mass of Turkish 
 ammunition and stores. For want of 
 cavalry, no pursuit was then possible ; but 
 next day the Cossacks fell on the retreating 
 Turks and pursued them some little distance 
 beyond the railway, till they discovered that 
 300 
 
 the fugitives had found a support and were 
 preparing to stand their ground again. 
 
 The first part of the proi^^ramme had 
 thus been successfully accomplished, but at 
 a considerable loss, and Yeni Zagra was in 
 the hands of the Russians. But in the 
 meantime Suleiman Pasha had gradually 
 been drawing his forces around. The co- 
 lumns advancing northwards were directed 
 in two supporting corps, one against the 
 Russians and Bulgarian legion at Eski Zao^ra, 
 and the other to intercept General Gourko's 
 route to that place, or to take him in the 
 rear, whilst the forces between Yeni Zairra 
 and Yamboli, re-forming under Reouf Pasha, 
 assailed him anew in front. 
 
 In either case, as will be seen from the 
 following sketch, K 2, Gourko's position was 
 highly critical. He was nearly fifty miles 
 away from his first base at the Schipka Pass, 
 and had twenty-five to thirty miles of 
 difficult country to traverse before reaching 
 his second base, Hainkoi, the scene of his 
 first successful exploit. As may be supposed, 
 by this time General Gourko began to feel 
 uneasy ; and when, in the afternoon of July 
 30th, there came tidings, by a circuitous 
 route through the Dalboka Pass and the 
 defile west of Yeni Zagra, that the right 
 column was seriously compromised in an 
 attempt to force its way from Eski Zagra, 
 he determined to march westward to its 
 succour. That night (the 30th) he reached 
 Karabunar, where he arrived in darkness, 
 and found the whole valley was illuminated 
 by blazing villages, showing that the Turks 
 must have acquired the upper hand and 
 were present in considerable force. But 
 still he omitted to ascertain properly what 
 forces were confronting him ; and does not 
 seem to have had an idea that Suleiman 
 Pasha "himself was present with his veteran 
 troops from Montenegro, and that as the 
 Bulgarians had treated the Mussulman 
 country between Eski Zagra and Djuranli, 
 the Christian villages and inhabitants were 
 then being treated by the Turks. Five 
 villages round Eski Zagra had been burned 
 by the Bulgarians, and their inhabitants 
 slaughtered to a man — women and children 
 also suffering; altogether 340 souls in one 
 afternoon — and the Turks, excited to the 
 utmost pitch of fury at the ill-treatment 
 their comrades and co-religionists had met 
 with, took a dire revenge, and, as General 
 Gourko was able to see, the whole plain was 
 glowing with blazing villages and hamlets. 
 Under these circumstances General Gourko 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [positions on JULY 30. 
 
 R. Tnndjft. 
 
 c 
 M 
 
 s 
 
 o 
 
 
 0« 
 
 )4 
 
 o 
 
 < 
 3 
 
 O 
 CO 
 
 §^ 
 
 8 
 
 <»3 
 
 .« 
 
 •0 
 
 J. 
 
 t4 
 
 } 
 
 P) 
 
 I 
 
 o 
 
 C 
 at 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 c 
 
 9 
 
 fl 
 
 ja 
 bo 
 
 Q 
 
 a 
 
 OS 
 
 u 
 
 / N 
 
 C 
 
 Rail to Adrianople. 
 
 o 
 
 H 
 
 pq 
 
 i 
 
 9 
 
 I 
 
 ei 
 Q 
 
 m 
 <a 
 
 bo 
 
 a 
 
 
 I 
 
 -a 
 
 f 
 
 
 O 
 
 I 
 
 ja 
 bo 
 ca 
 
 Q 
 
 a 
 a> 
 
 u 
 « 
 
 Q 
 
 I 
 
 •a 
 
 § 
 
 9 
 
 i 
 
 
 . 
 
 I 
 
 •9 
 
 IM 
 
 201 
 
 ^ 
 
OOURKO'S RETREAT.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Pa.d. 1877. 
 
 would have done wisely to effect his retreat 
 at once; but next morning (July Slst) he 
 marched onward upon Djuranli, on the 
 road to Eski Zagra, ignorant of the fact 
 that some 30,000 Turks confronted him, 
 and stopped the road into the latter place. 
 The Turkish batteries swept the road with 
 persistent fire ; nevertheless Greneral Grourko 
 came into action, sending forward five bat- 
 talions of infantry covered by artillery. He 
 had forty-eight horses killed in one battery, 
 and eight in another. Later the Turkish 
 masses strove to turn the Russian left. The 
 operation was resisted by the Tirailleur 
 brigade, supported by two regiments of the 
 9th division, and for the moment the attack 
 was repelled, but with heavy losses. Still 
 later a column of Circassian cavalry strove 
 to turn the Russian right on the mountain 
 slopes, and the attack was succeeding, when 
 there appeared on the scene Leuchtenberg's 
 cavalry, which had cut its way from Eski 
 Zagra, and which repelled the movement of 
 the Circassians and saved the right wing, 
 and, as it turned out, secured the Russian 
 retreat through the Dalboka Pass, as will 
 be seen from sketch K 3. 
 
 Here (sketch K 3) we find the Bulgarians 
 at Eski Zagra being driven back towards 
 the Kara Dagh by the Turkish forces, which 
 were pressing them from the east and south, 
 whilst Gourko was surrounded except on 
 the side of the Dalboka Pass. Had the 
 attack of the Turkish column in front of 
 Djuranli upon the Russian right been suc- 
 cessful, the whole of Grourko's army would 
 have been put to the sword. From this 
 fate it was saved by Prince Leuchtenberg's 
 cavalry, which had left the Bulgarian legion 
 to its fate. Even at this staofe Grourko 
 would have done well to follow his example, 
 and leave his interesting friends to shift for 
 themselves ; but he still pressed on, hoping 
 to outflank the Turkish left. 
 
 This view was all he was to have of Eski 
 Zagra ; for he had scarcely taken his bear- 
 ings when there came to him an orderly who 
 had evaded the Turks, and brought him in- 
 telligence that the Bulgarian legion was 
 beset in Eski Zagra by a force of Turks es- 
 imated at 20,000 men. Gourko, small as 
 was his force, for a moment resolved on an 
 attempt to succour them, and in the 
 meantime determined to maintain his posi- 
 tion ; but his resolution quailed before the 
 appearance of two massive columns of Turks 
 marching on his flank and rear. He had to 
 leave the Bulgarians to shift for themselves, 
 202 
 
 and make good his own retreat through the 
 difficult and narrow Dalboka Pass, and 
 thence through the Hainkoi Pass, accom- 
 plishing his retreat to that place on Thurs- 
 day, 2nd of August, amid cruel hardships. 
 In the retreat the wounded died like flies 
 from jolting and exposure. Hale men suc- 
 cumbed from fatigue and sunstroke. As for 
 the Bulgarian legion composing Gourko's 
 right column, they, after advancing from 
 Eski Zagra ten kilometres towards Karabu- 
 nar, found the enemy and were driven in, 
 and had to retire into the defile north of 
 Eski Zagra, and thence effect their retreat 
 through the Schipka Pass. Of the severity 
 of the fighting a judgment may be formed 
 from the fact, that of the Bulgarian legion, 
 which began sixteen hundred strong, only 
 between four and five hundred ever reached 
 the Schipka. 
 
 The completeness of the dSrouie will 
 appear from a glance at sketch K 4. The 
 stream of panting, panic-stricken fugitives, 
 hurrying on through the Derbendkoi Pass, 
 the other through the Dalboka Pass, were 
 all that remained of the army of the Balkans. 
 By August 2nd, the Russian cavalry were 
 all on this side of the Balkans. The Schipka 
 Pass, however, was strongly fortified and 
 armed with twenty-eight guns, and garri- 
 soned by a regiment of the 9th division. 
 Two regiments held the Hainkoi Pass, which 
 presented a series of formidable defences. 
 There were but few troops at Drenova and 
 Gabrova ; and only one brigade of the 14th 
 division at Tirnova. Reinforcements were 
 at once moved south to strengthen the 
 detachments holding the passes, and fresh 
 cavalry sent against Osman Bazar. In the 
 fighting on the 30th and 3 1st of July, Gourko 
 lost 3,000 men, excluding the Bulgarian 
 loss — over 4,000 men in two days ; and alto- 
 gether, in the four days, over 7,000 men. 
 
 Such was the pitiful ending to the expedi- 
 tion across the Balkans, so dashingly begun. 
 It is impossible not to sympathise with the 
 unfortunate men, and the no less unfortu- 
 nate general who led them to destruction ; 
 but, on the other hand, no words are too 
 strong to stigmatise the conduct of the 
 staff" and commanders-in-chief, whose pride, 
 carelessness, and ignorance caused such a 
 sacrifice of life. The easily-earned glories 
 of July 19th were utterly wiped out, 
 blotted out, by the disasters of July 3l8t, 
 before Plevna and in the Balkans. It was, 
 indeed, a strange fatality that success and 
 disaster on both sides of the Balkans should 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [positions on JULY 31. 
 
 \ It 
 
 I 
 
 o 
 a 
 
 03 
 
 O 
 
 i 
 
 B 
 
 
 ) 
 
 en 
 
 9't 
 
 I 
 
 203 
 
\ ■ 
 
 POSITIONS ON JULY 31.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1877. 
 
 / 
 \ 
 
 i 
 
 R. Tundji 
 
 c 
 M 
 
 'a 
 
 o 
 
 39 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 s 
 
 o 
 
 3 
 
 I 
 
 CO 
 
 25 
 
 I' 
 
 « 
 •< 
 
 
 I 
 
 do 
 Is 
 
 Ui 
 
 a, 
 
 o 
 
 < 
 
 a 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 I 
 
 a 
 o 
 H 
 
 • • 
 
 s 
 
 eS 
 
 bo 
 
 g 
 
 Rail to Adrianople. 
 
 •3 
 
 OS 
 
 Q 
 
 M 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 
 § 
 
 .•-V. 
 
 J 
 
 J5 
 
 I 
 
 '8 
 
 > 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 I 
 
 e • • 
 
 J3 
 
 i 
 
 9 
 
 M 
 
 ^^WM 
 
 t 
 
 » 
 
 M 
 
 it 
 
 
 s'i 
 
 
 iS 
 
 
 o CD 
 
 
 • .8 
 
 
 ■ S 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 •S 
 
 
 5* 5 
 
 
 Russia 
 
 Russia 
 Turks, 
 
 
 
 i:*B 
 
 204 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [the Russians checked. 
 
 signalise these days; and the Turks may 
 well be excused for seeing therein a direct 
 interposition of Allah in their favour. 
 
 The Russians, for the moment, were ut- 
 terly crushed in their advance and on their 
 right. True, it has been said that, two days 
 after the defeated attack, the Russians had 
 so recovered their organisation as to be able 
 to renew it. It was for them of paramount 
 importance to do so, had it been possible. 
 But it was not ; and they stood waiting for 
 the necessary reinforcements, thankful to 
 fortune that they were not assailed in their 
 defensive positions. The Plevna and Bal- 
 kan reverses altered the whole plan of the 
 campaign. 
 
 No more reckless, if victorious, raids 
 were dreamt of, and no more advances, re- 
 gardless of threatening concentrations on 
 the flanks. The Russians virtually aban- 
 doned the expectation of pressing the war 
 successfully across the Balkans for the year. 
 They would have been satisfied to know 
 that, during the three months still available 
 for fighting, they could sweep Bulgaria north 
 of the Balkans clear of the Turkish armies. 
 The Crescent, they felt sure, would wave 
 over the towers of Adrianople and the 
 waters of the Golden Horn for yet another 
 winter. They might, indeed, continue to 
 hold the Balkan passes which they had won. 
 A man does not throw away the keys which 
 open the door of the treasure-chamber. 
 But the orders were to withdraw from all 
 the trans-Balkan positions occupied, where 
 they had not already been forced to retire, 
 and to draw in around the Schipka Pass — 
 this from no direct pressure of the Turkish 
 forces beyond the Balkans, but because of 
 the intrinsic risk always attending un- 
 supported advances when they cease to have 
 a definite object. 
 
 Now to speak of this side the Balkans. 
 The paralysis brought about by the Plevna 
 reverse, forced the Russian attitude for the 
 time to be perfectly passive till the rein- 
 forcements arrived. Seven fresh divisions, 
 not formed into army corps, were on 
 the march, some still in Russia, others 
 pressing on through Roumania. One hun- 
 dred thousand men more were wanted, and 
 were forthcoming, but they had to be 
 waited for. The first brigade of reinforce- 
 ments was expected to cross the Danube in 
 a few days ; but the offensive could not be 
 recommenced before all the reinforcements 
 were to hand. 
 Meantime the Grand Duke Nicholas was in 
 VOL. UL 2 E 
 
 Bulgareni, in rear of the intrenched positions 
 of Schahofskoi and Kriidener, confronting 
 Plevna. Part of Mirski's division stood be- 
 tween Tirnova and Lovatz,to hinder a Turk- 
 ish advance in the direction of the for- 
 mer important centre. Thus shiftily were 
 stopped the gaps through which was threat- 
 ened the right flank of the Russian com- 
 munications ; and though the defensive pro- 
 tection was perhaps sufficient, the means 
 were utterly inadequate for a renewed 
 offensive, for sixty to seventy thousand 
 Turks stood on the Lovatz-Plevna line, 
 and were prepared to take a deal of beating. 
 ^ On the left flank equally a strictly defen- 
 sive attitude was enforced by circumstances. 
 There were available for holding the line 
 from the Danube to the Balkans on this 
 flank, the two corps constituting the army 
 of the Czarevitch, and the 1st division 
 of the 11th corps, left behind by Schahof- 
 skoi when he marched on Plevna; in all 
 about 60,000 men, necessarily attenuated 
 over a long front, so as to leave no gap for 
 the Turks to creep through. 
 
 The Turks were of about the same 
 strength, but they had the advantage of 
 choosing where to strike if they cared to 
 strike at all. Mehemed Ali Pasha could 
 concentrate at Rustzuk or Rasgrad, or 
 Osman Bazar. The Russians had to be 
 ready to face him everywhere. They dared 
 not take the offensive and leave tracts of 
 unguarded flank, and were not strong 
 enough to guard a continuous flank and 
 take the offensive as well. They were 
 obliged to remain on the strict defensive. 
 The investment of Rustzuk had to wait. 
 The troops designed for that duty were 
 needed elsewhere. The siege cannon were not 
 ready even if the troops had been available. 
 The river Lorn still virtually constituted 
 the line of the Rustzuk army, but the 
 head-quarters of the 12th corps had been 
 moved beyond it, from Trestenik to Kadikoi. 
 The head-quarters of the Czarevitch, with 
 the 13th corps about them, advanced from 
 Obertenik to Kaceljevo, thus confronting 
 Rasgrad, while between Osman Bazar and 
 Tirnova the 11th division stood with its 
 head -quarters in Kosarevatz. 
 
 Zimmermann was no further than Tra- 
 jan's Wall. It was a stalemate with him. 
 He was guarding the Dobrudja against 
 an enemy who did not threaten it. He 
 could not push forward with his 30,000 
 men lest enemies from Varna and Schumla 
 should converge upon hioL 
 
 205 
 
 / 
 
ADVANCE ON KARS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1877. 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [captctre of bayazet. 
 
 At the same time the Russian army began 
 to suffer in health, owing in some corps to 
 irregular rations, in others to hard march- 
 ing, in all to heat ; but the greatest pre- 
 disposing cause was the total neglect of all 
 sanitary precautions. They never buried 
 dead horses or oxen, or the entrails of 
 slaughtered cattle. They never dreamt of 
 the wisdom of the latrine system. The 
 result was a general tainting of the air, 
 ■which poisoned men predisposed to fall ill 
 by reason of lassitude from over-fatigue or 
 long abstinence from food, although men in 
 stalwart health escaped. Strangely enougli, 
 the greatest proportion of illness manifested 
 itself in the "personnel of the imperial suite, 
 whose members were comparatively nursed 
 in the downy lap of ease, and fared sumptu- 
 ously every day. General Ignatieff, for three 
 days, was dangerously ill from a species of 
 gastric fever, and Prince Galatzin was also 
 suffering from the same disorder. The 
 emperor had five high officers, known as 
 general-adjutants, on personal service about 
 him. Of these, but one was fit for duty ; 
 the other four were ill. Nearly everybody 
 
 was more or less sick, squeamish, and out 
 of sorts. The reason was not far to seek. 
 The air was tainted thick and heavy with 
 filth and rotting offal. Even tobacco-smoke 
 and brandy were powerless to avert nausea. 
 But at this point, where the errors of the 
 Russians culminated in disaster, the Turkish 
 errors began in a glaring, almost irretriev- 
 able manner. Tuey wilfully threw away 
 their opportunities. A vigorous attack, 
 simultaneously carried out by Osman Pasha 
 and Suleiman Pasha, would infallibly have 
 driven the Russians upon Sistova and Biela 
 at least ; and then, with the co-operation of 
 Mehemed Ali, the chances were that the 
 Russians would have had to retire across 
 the Danube, or have intrenched themselves 
 round the bridge-head at Sistova. But 
 from whatever cause — jealousy of each 
 other, incapacity, want of material — the 
 Turkish commanders neglected to follow 
 up their successes, and they themselves 
 entered the fool's paradise which they had 
 driven the Russians out of. Here we will 
 now leave them, and turn to the operations 
 in Asia Minor. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE CAMPAIGN IN ASIA. 
 
 By the 24th of April, the Russian armies 
 in the Caucasus had taken up their posi- 
 tions on the confines of the frontier. The 
 commander-in-chief was the Grand Duke 
 Michael. He established his head-quar- 
 ters with the centre and main army, which 
 was commanded by General Loris Melikoff, 
 and stationed at Alexandropol, on the 
 main road from that place to Kars. The 
 right wing, called subsequently the Rion 
 corps, was under the orders of General 
 Oklobschio, and was stationed at Ozurgeti. 
 The left wing, under the command of 
 General Tergukassoff, was at Erivan. 
 
 The Turks were in force at Batoum, at 
 Kars, and Erzeroum, with reinforced gar- 
 risons at Ardahan and Bayazet. These 
 places formed the goals which the Russian 
 armies were to reach and seize with all 
 possible expedition. 
 
 The object of this disposition of the 
 Russian armies was to enable all three to 
 20d 
 
 converge upon Erzeroum if possible — that 
 is to say, in case Batoum should speedily 
 fall, as was expected. 
 
 The right, or Rion corps, in this case 
 would then march south-west throujrh the 
 valley of the Tcharuk by way of Tortoum, 
 and fall upon Erzeroum in the north. 
 
 The centre, or Alexandropol army, after 
 seizing or masking Kars, would form front 
 against the Turkish field army between 
 Kars and Erzeroum, supposed to be about 
 Olti and Deli Mussa, and drive it back, 
 falling upon Erzeroum in the east. 
 
 The left, or Erivan corps, would seize 
 upon Bayazet, and, advancing along the 
 valley of the Euphrates, would join with 
 the centre, or arrive before Erzeroum in 
 the south. If it should not be possible to 
 obtain speedy possession of Batoum, then 
 the task of reducinof Kars and Erzeroum 
 would fall upon the two other corps, which 
 would then become the army of the ad- 
 
 vance, and would also operate in three 
 columns; the right against Ardahan, 
 striking the valley of the Tcharuk by way 
 of Ardanudj, whilst the centre and left 
 followed the original plan. — A general 
 bird's-eye view of the scene of operations 
 is afforded in sketch L. The main fault 
 of this plan was, that each of the three 
 corps was isolated from the others by 
 the difficult country, without proper roads 
 or accommodation lying between them. 
 Between th'i Rion corps and the centre 
 corps lay the terribly mountainous country 
 formed by the Kizil Dagh, .the Yagli 
 Dagh, and the Adtschara mountains.* The 
 Erivan corps, on the left, was also separated 
 from the main corps marching on Kars by 
 two almost impassable mountain ranges, the 
 Ala and Kara Dagh in the north, and the 
 Aghry and Perli Dagh, terminating in 
 Mount Ararat in the south, the intervening 
 valley being traversed by the Araxes. Thus 
 the valley of the Euphrates, in which the 
 Erivan corps was to operate, had no means 
 of communicating with the centre except 
 through the difficult pass of Kagisman, 
 across^two ranges of mountains and a deep 
 roadless valley — a distance, be it noted, of 
 fifty miles between the two most accessible 
 points in the valley of the Euphrates and 
 the vallev of the Kars Tchai. As long 
 as each corps was strong enough to stand 
 on its own feet, and required no assistance 
 from the others, there was, of course, no 
 great danger; but the moment that one 
 or the other was out-matched, destruction 
 or a speedy retreat was inevitable. 
 
 However, the Russians were as confident 
 of success in Armenia as they were in Bul- 
 garia; and on April 25th the Rion corps 
 marched on the points agreed upon. 
 
 The Rion corps, under the command of 
 General Oklobschio, after leaving Ozur- 
 geti, was divided into two columns. The 
 right column, under General Scheremtieff, 
 advanced along the Atchmarum road, and 
 felt the enemy on the Kinhisch river, 
 whilst the left column, commanded by 
 General Denibekoff, performed a flank 
 movement, and struck the Turkish camp 
 at Muchaster on the Khatzubani heights. 
 A serious engagement ensued, resulting in 
 the flight of the Turks and the capture ot 
 their camp by General Denibekoff, who at 
 once fortified the heights and intrenched 
 himself in a strong position. The right 
 column also succeeded in establishing a 
 
 • See vol. ii. 
 
 footing near Anchaury, on the river Choruk, 
 a small ■ it deep stream north of Batoum. . 
 Meanwhile the centre, under Loris 
 Melikoff, also advanced in two columns, 
 whilst a flanking column started from 
 Akhaltzik. The two main columns fol- 
 lowed the high road from Alexandropol 
 to Kars together as far as the village of 
 Toknis. Here the road splits, the main 
 road crossing the Kars Tchai at Yamusehli, 
 and the other, a branch road, further 
 south at Pir Ali. At Tiknis, the main 
 column followed the high road by way of 
 Yamnohli, and proceeded to Kurukdara, 
 the second column taking the branch road 
 and passing the night of the 28th April at 
 
 Hadjivali. 
 
 On the 29th and 30th both columns 
 moved forward; the main corps held the 
 northern road, running through Meschka 
 and Kalif Oglu, north of the Yagni Hills, 
 whilst the other column, consisting largely 
 of cavalry, supported by twelve battalions 
 of grenadiers and forty guns, proceeded 
 from Hadjivali to Vezinkoi, as shown in 
 
 sketch M. 
 
 Here the Turks made a sortie under 
 cover of their guns in the fortress, to inter- 
 cept the cavalry, which was making for the 
 bridge over the Kars Tchai at Tasura. This 
 sortie, however, was a very lame affair, and 
 was easily repulsed by the grenadiers and 
 artillery ; whilst the cavalry, scouring the 
 country west of Kars, after successfully 
 crossing the river, actually came in contact 
 with Mukhtar Pasha himself, who was leav- 
 ing Kars with eight battalions, on his way 
 to Erzeroum. He had left a sufficient 
 garrison — or at least as many men as he 
 could spare— in Kars, and was then pro- 
 ceeding to Erzeroum to complete the or- 
 ganisation of his field army. After these 
 incidents, the Russian infantry and Loris 
 Melikoff returned to Zaim and Mazra, leav- 
 ing the cavalry at Vezinkoi to watch the 
 army in the south, whilst a reserve force 
 remained in Hadjivali. 
 
 On the extreme left of the Russian line. 
 General Tergukassoff reached Bayazet on 
 the 30th of April. At his approach, the 
 Turkish garrison, some 1,800 men strong, 
 wisely determined not to attempt to defend 
 the tumble-down citadal and crumbling 
 fortifications of the place, in the teeth of 
 an army superior in numbers, and f( 11 back 
 upon Diadin and Hassan Kaleh, pickmg up 
 the garrisons in these places as they went 
 along. The same day, General Tergukassoff, 
 ^ 207 
 
POSITION IN ARMENIA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.B. 1877. 
 
 I 
 
 
 04 
 
 2o 
 H 
 
 ► 
 
 I 
 
 • 
 
 \ 
 
 -> 
 
 1^ 
 I- 
 
 00 
 
 o 
 
 CO 
 
 
 C3 
 o 
 
 O 
 t4 
 
 ' 1 
 
 Q 
 
 o 
 
 I 
 
 
 > 
 
 ^ 
 .$ 
 
 
 ;J 
 
 
 
 \jr] 
 
 1 /- . '^ 
 
 o 
 
 1 1 -o 
 
 
 • ¥ 
 
 
 • o 
 
 9 
 
 » 
 
 r -^ 
 
 _^ 
 
 as 
 
 &c 
 
 73 
 
 eg 
 
 »< 
 
 l^J 
 
 •< 
 
 .a 
 be 
 
 N 
 
 a 
 
 I 
 
 3 
 
 bo 
 OS 
 
 > 
 
 M 
 
 Dagh. -d 
 
 O 
 
 
 J 
 
 I s 
 
 R. Tcharuk. 
 
 a 
 
 o 
 
 n 
 
 I 
 
 1-^ 
 
 
 J 
 
 g 
 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [positions on APRIL 30. 
 
 •s'o 
 
 o 
 a 
 
 00 
 OD 
 
 S3 
 
 A 
 
 4 
 
 o 
 
 9> 
 
 B 
 
 o 
 u 
 
 208 
 
 1^ 
 
 oo 
 
 o 
 
 CO 
 
 £ 
 
 s 
 
 <5 
 
 
 R. Arpft. 
 
 o ^ 
 
 xa 
 
 OD 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 o 
 
 00 
 
 ■){-J 
 
 S 
 
 o 
 
 R. Arpa. 
 
 k< 
 
 3 
 3 
 
 1! 
 
 I 
 
 t 
 
 e 
 
 rt 
 
 CS 
 
 3 
 09 
 
 
 M 
 
 is 
 
 > 
 
 
 - - -o 
 
 ca 
 
 c 
 
 3 
 
 e8 
 X3 
 
 I 
 
 9 
 
 "5) 
 O 
 
 c3 
 
 LI 
 
 c 
 
 !j 
 
 a> 
 
 CS 
 CS 
 
 u 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 N 
 es 
 
 I 
 
 1^ 
 
 O 
 
 CS ja 
 
 8« 
 
 o- « - 
 
 • 
 
 ;g 
 
 S 
 
 fc3 
 
 
 II 
 
 
 
 . < 
 
 O 
 
 i 
 
 
 ca 
 
 
 a 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 
 u 
 
 ^v. 
 
 Soghanli Dagh. 
 
 209 
 
 N' 
 
ADVANCE ON ABDAHAN.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 rA.D. 1877. 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [assault on ardahan. 
 
 4' 1 
 
 ^1 
 
 leaving a garrison in the place, and send- 
 ing out a few detachments towards Van, 
 continued his onward march along the 
 Euphrates valley. 
 
 The plan conceived by the Russians had 
 thus been fully executed in its initial 
 phases ; and General Loris Melikoff at once 
 • bagan to erect siege batteries against Kars. 
 Under cover of these operations, General 
 Melikoff undertook an expedition against 
 Ardahan. 
 
 A reference to sketch M, will show that 
 the valley of the Kur is separated from that 
 of the Kars Tchai by the Allah Akbar range 
 of mountains, which is a continuation of 
 the Soghanli Dagh. From the Allah Dagh 
 two spurs branch out, one the Kizilah Dagh, 
 and the other the Boghaz Dagh. The 
 former attains a height of over 10,000 feet ; 
 and the latter is close upon 9,000. From 
 the Boghaz Dagh a high ridge stretches 
 across to the Kizil Dagh, 10,500 feet high ; 
 and it was across this connecting ridge that 
 the road ran from Kars to Ardahan by way of 
 Mulkoi, Matschik, Omer Aga, and Kamali. 
 It was along this road, which he com- 
 manded as soon as he had taken up his 
 position at Mazra and Zaim, that Melikoff 
 advanced, and thus cut off all communi- 
 cation between Kars and Ardahan, except 
 by a circuitous route over the Soghanli Dagh. 
 
 In addition to this expedition under 
 Melikoff, Ardahan was attacked from the 
 opposite side by a detachment marching 
 from Akhaltzik on the frontier, which 
 reached Ardahan at the same time as the 
 column from Kars. They were before 
 Ardahan on May 13th, and General Loris 
 Melikoff immediately began making recon- 
 naissances and combining a plan of at- 
 tack. The column from Kars consisted of 
 two regiments of grenadiers, three bat- 
 teries of artillery, two regiments of cavalry, 
 and a company of sappers ; in all about 
 7,500 men, under the command of General 
 Dewel. The column from Akhaltzik was 
 composed of two regiments of infantry, two 
 batteries of artillery, one battalion of sap- 
 pers, half a battery of horse artillery, and 
 three regiments of cavalry ; in all about 
 8,500 men, under the command of General 
 Heimann. The commander-in-chief of the 
 two columns was General Loris Melikoff, 
 under whose direction the attack was made. 
 
 Ardahan is situated on the river Kur, 
 
 the same which runs through Tiflis and 
 
 flows into the Caspian. The fortress was 
 
 comparatively new, and did not exist in 
 
 210 
 
 1854. It was strongly fortified, defended 
 by eleven forts constructed on modern plans, 
 and one on designs drawn up by an Eng- 
 lish engineer. On the south (as shown in 
 the following sketch N), defending the road 
 from Kars, distant two and a-half miles 
 from the town, was the fort of Guli-verdi, 
 built upon a mountain and armed with nine 
 guns, and near to it was another fort armed 
 with three or four guns, on a hill dominated 
 by Guli-verdi, from which it was separated 
 by a valley only two or three hundred yards 
 
 N — Positions Round Ardahan and Forts, 
 May 17, 1877. 
 
 R. Kur. 
 
 Ramazan. x 
 
 LdE2 
 
 Road to OUi. Tchai. x Ardahan. 
 O 
 
 -)(-)( 
 
 Makhrab. x 
 
 I 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 Singer. 
 
 IX 
 Akhali. 
 
 I 
 
 Guli-verdi, 
 
 Russians, 
 
 Turks. 
 X X Forts. 
 )( )( Bridges. 
 
 wide. Near the town, on the same side of 
 the river, were three more forts — on the 
 west Makhrab-tabia, in the centre Akhali- 
 tabia, and on the east Singe r-tabia. This . 
 latter was the one which was supposed to 
 have been designed by an English engineer, 
 and was of somewhat curious construction. 
 There were three lines of defence ; the es- 
 carpments were faced with stone ; and they 
 were built in a triangular shape, with the 
 points towards the attack, and each line of 
 defence rising terrace-like higher than the 
 one before it. On the north side of the 
 
 river there was another fort called Tchai- 
 tabia, which was connected with the 
 southern side by two bridges ; and on the 
 north of the town, about two miles distant, 
 was another strong fortress, called Ramazan- 
 tabia, built like that of Guli-verdi, on a 
 Bteep mountain which overlooks the town. 
 The garrison destined to defend all these 
 forts consisted of about 6,000 men, and all 
 the forts together were armed with 92 guns. 
 The greater part of these guns, however, 
 were of small calibre, besides being old, 
 and quite unable to compete with modern 
 artillery. There were only two 24-pounders 
 in all, the rest being principally 12-pound- 
 ers ; and there was very little ammunition 
 even for these guns, such as they were. 
 
 General Melikoff, after reconnoitring the 
 place, decided to make his real attack on 
 the south against Guli-verdi, while the 
 Akhaltzik columns made a feigned attack 
 against the fortress of Ramazan-tabia on 
 the north. In the first place, the fortress of 
 Guli-verdi seemed more accessible, and he 
 besides discovered that Ramazan-tabia was 
 not armed against the town, and that the 
 guns of this fortress could not be directed 
 against an attack from the south. On the 
 night of May 16th he succeeded in plant- 
 ing four batteries, consisting altogether of 
 sixteen guns, against Guli-verdi on three 
 different points, and on the morning of the 
 17th the batteries opened on the fort, and 
 poured a well-directed and destructive fire 
 into the Turkish batteries. The Turks 
 scarcely replied, partly because the Russian 
 fire dismounted their batteries, and partly 
 because they had little or no ammuni- 
 tion. The consequence of this neglect 
 was, that the whole Russian loss by the 
 Turkish artillery was only six men wounded. 
 About one o'clock the Russians began to per- 
 ceive the Turks retreating in small parties 
 from the fort to the town. " In the even- 
 ing," says the Daily News correspondent, 
 " General Dewel led three battalions to the 
 assault of the heights of Guli-verdi, and 
 carried them without losinsf a man and 
 without firing a shot.'^ This was but na- 
 tural, inasmuch as the fort was already 
 abandoned when the assault was made. 
 The Russians found several of the guns 
 dismounted, and the gunners lying dead 
 beside them, and a considerable number of 
 killed and wounded in the fort. As soon as 
 Guli-verdi was taken, one of the Russian 
 batteries which had been directed against 
 that fortress was then turned towards the 
 
 town, which was still defended bv the 
 forts already mentioned, of Makhrab-tabia, 
 Akhali-tabia, and Singer-tabia. 
 
 While this attack was being directed 
 against Guli-verdi, several other batteries 
 had been planted and directed against the 
 three forts defending the town. By half- 
 past five in the evening of the same day. 
 General Melikoff thought that the assault 
 might be delivered, and General Heimann, 
 who was operating on the left, against the 
 Makhrab-tabia, sent at about the same mo- 
 ment to ask if he sliould not make an attempt 
 upon the works on his side. The assault 
 was ordered all along the line a>^ the same 
 moment, and, although the fort of Singer- 
 tabia was considered the stron^rest, it was 
 the one which fell first. The others soon fol- 
 lowed, although the Turks, as usual, made 
 a very desperate resistance on the walls ; for 
 though so badly off for heavy material, tbey 
 had plenty of ammunition for their small 
 arms. After a desperate fight, in which 
 the principal losses of the Russians occurred, 
 the Turks were finally driven across the 
 river by the two bridges already spoken of, 
 and took refuge in the fort of Tchai-tabia, 
 everywhere hotly pursued by the Russians. 
 When the latter, headed by General Hei- 
 mann, were a few yards from the opposite 
 bank, the bridge gave way before them ; but 
 nothing daunted, the Russians sprang into 
 the water, which was not very deep, and 
 continued to cross by wading. General 
 Heimann himself was one of the first to leap 
 into the water. The Russians had thus 
 obtained possession of all the forts on the 
 south side of the river ; there remained 
 only the fort of Tcbai-tabia and the fortress 
 of Ramazan-tabia on the mountain. The 
 Russians immediately attacked Tchai-tabia, 
 and the Turks were so discoura;;ed by the 
 Russian success and overwhelming numbers, 
 that they scarcely made any resistance, and 
 fled. In fact, they had already begun to fly 
 before the Russian attack began ; so that by 
 dark the town of Ardahan was in complete 
 possession of the Russians. While this was 
 going on. General Dewel was occupying the 
 attention of the garrison in the strong for- 
 tress of Ramazan-tabia on the north of the 
 town. " He soon succeeded, " says the 
 official Russian report, "in silencing the 
 batteries in this fortress, which only fired 
 three or four shots in all ; and towards even- 
 ing, about the time of the assault on the 
 town, he Lkewise ordered an assault. But 
 what was the surprise of the Russians, upon 
 
 211 
 
. 
 
 n 
 
 . J' 
 
 
 CAPTURE OP ARDAHAN.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 enteriDg the fortress, to find that the Turks 
 had all fled. They had evidently become 
 panic-stricken when they perceived that the 
 town was already in the hands of the Rus- 
 sians, and they had retreated to the west 
 by the road towards Batoum and Olti.'' 
 
 A finer description than this, of the 
 affair at Ardahan, has seldom been penned 
 by victorious general or partisan corres- 
 pondent. It can only be compared to the 
 account given by the same paper of the 
 siege of Urgel during the Carlist war, and 
 the assault of the Torre Solsona. This unfor- 
 tunate town had been bombarded by sixteen 
 guns, from 8 A.M. till 12 p.m., witliout any 
 effect upon the one company of men who held 
 it, and who had not one single gun to reply 
 with. At 2.30 P.M., the garrison, seeing that 
 some 2,000 men were preparing to assault 
 it, took their precautions, and, holding the 
 place till 3 p.m., then quietly retired. 
 The Alfonsists then, when there was not a 
 man in the place, successfully " assaulted " 
 it, and not unnaturally captured it. The 
 same was the case at Ardahan. There were 
 no guns of any size, and there was no heavy 
 ammunition. The Russians bombarded fort 
 by fort without drawing a reply, and then 
 assaulted all round in such numbers, that 
 the Turks, fighting as long as they could 
 do any damage to their assailants, wisely 
 withdrew to fight another day. 
 
 The Russian losses, in the whole affair, 
 were 67 killed and 293 wounded, besides 
 one officer killed and ten officers wounded ; 
 making altogether 370 killed and wounded! 
 The loss of the Turks was 70 dead and 
 200 wounded. Among the wounded in the 
 liospital was the constructor of the fort of 
 Singer-tabia. He was found by Colonel 
 Bulmering, the constructor of the Russian 
 batteries, who was anxious to see him and 
 talk with him, but the poor fellow died 
 almost as soon as he was discovered. The 
 Russians captured ninety-two guns, a num- 
 ber of tents and camp material, and a lan^e 
 supply of flour and provisions, but no 
 ammunition ; the Turks had little or none. 
 There were very few prisoners taken ; and 
 those of the Redifs, or reserves, who had 
 been forced to come in from thesurroundinf>' 
 villages, were immediately released and al" 
 lowed to return to their homes ; the Nizams, 
 or regular troops, only were held as prisoners 
 of war. Among the prisoners taken was 
 General Ali Pasha, commander of the Turk- 
 ish left wing, and several Turkish civil 
 officials, besides many officers who had been 
 212 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 wounded or otherwise disabled. The inha- 
 bitants, who had fled during the attack, 
 upon being assured by the Russians that no 
 harm should come to them, began to return, 
 and in a very few days the town had resumed 
 very nearly its ordinary aspect. The Turks 
 taken prisoners had a feeble, half-starved 
 look, which showed how long they had been 
 on short rations, and this in spite of the 
 large supply of stores and provisions which 
 had been found in the town. 
 
 With the capture of Ardahan, and the 
 rapid advance on Kars and Bayazet, the 
 same exultation was felt by the Russians as 
 m Bulgaria, and there was naturally a cor- 
 responding depression in the Turkish ranks. 
 But the disadvantages of a too rapid exten- 
 sion into the heart of a hostile country 
 notorious for its want of communications 
 soon made themselves felt, especially as the 
 Turkish commander adopted the same Fa- 
 bian tactics as his colleagues in Bulgaria. 
 The Russians were perpetually seeking their 
 enemy, who was split up more or less, and 
 confined himself to occupying strong posi- 
 tions, which the Russians were not strong 
 enough to carry and at the same time keep 
 a sufficient force before Kars. 
 
 Thus, after the capture of Ardahan, a 
 period of inactivity set in— the Russians 
 busied with the preparations for the siege 
 of Kars and Batoum, and the Turks with 
 the organisation of their field army. 
 Isolated attacks and counter-attacks oc- 
 curred in the passes and defiles between 
 the advanced posts; foraging parties and 
 reconnaissances starting from Kars on the 
 one hand, and from the Soghanli Dagh on 
 the other. Small detachments of troops 
 and irregular cavalry somewhat harassed 
 the Russians ; the consequence being that 
 both corps, Melikofi^s and Tergukassoff's, 
 fell somewhat to pieces, especially as they 
 had to leave detachments here and there to 
 occupy the places and strategic points which 
 tell into their hands as they advanced. 
 Added to all this, was the difficulty experi- 
 enced by the commissariat and transport 
 services ; so that the grand duke was prac- 
 tically fettered, and did not know what to do. 
 Not strong enough to advance, except by 
 venturesome sporadic raids a la Grourko — 
 whose place in Armenia was filled by Tergu- 
 kassoff— and not strong enough to remain 
 quiet and thoroughly invest Kars, with 
 :\Iukhtar Pasha on the Soghanli threatening 
 his flank and front, he was obliged to leave 
 much to the fortune of war and conceal, by a 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the ARMENIAN PASSES. 
 
 firework display of activity, the real weak- 
 ness he was suffering from. 
 
 Thus, to keep up the fiction of a success- 
 ful advance, he continued the investment 
 of Kars, trusting to the flanking movement 
 being carried out by Grenaral Tergukassoff 
 for something favourable "to turn up," 
 whilst demonstrating against the Turkish 
 positions in the Soghanli and the defile 
 leading to Erzeroum. 
 
 Between Erzeroum and Kars and Arda- 
 han there were two well-marked lines of 
 defence. The first line, in the immediate 
 vicinity of Erzeroum (of which a sketch 
 will be given in the proper place), was 
 formed by the Palantuken Dagh and the 
 Karakaya Dagh in the south, and the Deve 
 Boyun in the east : on the north the ap- 
 proach was pretty open through the 
 valleys of the Tortoum and the Tcharuk 
 rivers. 
 
 The second line of defence was formed by 
 the mountains encircling the uplands, at 
 the eastern apex of which lay Kars. The 
 configuration of this district is admirably 
 shown in the following sketch 0. 
 
 On the north was the Allah Akbar range 
 of hills, separated in the west by a wild, 
 roadless defile from the Charpak Dagh. 
 This, in turn, was divided from the Keshish 
 Geduk in the west, again by a difficult val- 
 ley, through which ran one of the roads from 
 Ardahan. The other, the main road from 
 Ardahan, passed the mouth of this valley on 
 the north, and ran by wayof Pennek,Olti, and 
 Nariman, near which it was joined by the 
 first road, to Erzeroum and Hassan Kaleh. 
 It was also connected with the first road, 
 or Pertes road, by a traverse-path running 
 north of the Keshish Grediik. 
 
 A force, thereforej advancing from Arda- 
 han had a choice of action. It could 
 either attack the rear and flank of any 
 enemy in position on the Soghanli Dagh, or 
 it could advance upon Erzeroum, or demon- 
 strate against both. The keys of the 
 defenders would then naturally be at 
 Pennek, Olti, Nariman, and Bardus. 
 
 South of the Allah Akbar Dagh ran the 
 roads from Kars, which split into two 
 branches at Beg Mahmed (see sketch 0). 
 The northernmost of these branches ran at 
 some distance from the Allah Akbar Dasrh, 
 but close along the slope of a spur of the 
 Soghanli Dagh, jutting out eastward 
 parallel with the Allah Akbar Dagh, and 
 called the Sarykamish Dagh, from the river 
 flowing along its southern base, till it 
 
 VOL. III. 2 F 
 
 entered the pass on the Soghanli Dagh, 
 between the two peaks of Kumri on the 
 north and Chamar on the south, both of 
 them over 9,000 feet high. Issuing from 
 this pass it joined the road running south 
 from Ardahan, between the eastern slopes 
 of the Akrak Dagh and the Soghanli, to 
 Erzeroum and Hassan Kaleh. Here the 
 keys to the defenders' position frohi this 
 point were clearly at the entrance or 
 debouchment of the Chamar Pass^ or at 
 Zevin. 
 
 The southern branch of the road from 
 Kars skirted the southern slopes of the 
 Sarykamish Dagh, and turning southwards 
 ran through Medjingerd between the 
 Soghanli Dagh and the Sirpkatch^ or Mount 
 of the Holy Cross, a rugged peak 9,500 
 feet high, and surrounded by a series of 
 difficult slopes. Thence it ran between and 
 across the hills forming the first ascent of 
 the Ala and Kagisman Dagh on the east, and 
 the Soghanli in the west, till it reached 
 the valley of the Araxes, the northern bank 
 of which it followed to Khorassan and 
 Ardost. On this road the key of the posi- 
 tion was at Medjingerd, at the entrance of 
 the defile between the Soghanli and Mount 
 of the Holy Cross. 
 
 South of the Araxes were the imposing 
 mass of the Aghry Dagh, rising in parts to 
 11,000 feet, and generally averaging 6,000 
 feet above the sea. This range of moun- 
 tains was separated on the south from the 
 Scherian Dagh and the Kilid Grediik, also 
 rising to an average of 6,000 feet, by the 
 river Scherian, along which ran the road 
 from Bayazet to Erzeroum by way of 
 Diadin, Toprak Kaleh, Zeidekan, and Deli- 
 baba, where the water-shed between the 
 Scherian and the Araxes was crossed, Deli- 
 baba itself being already in the basin of 
 the Araxes. From Delibaba the road 
 followed the southern bank of the Araxes, 
 which it crossed at Koprikoi, some fifteen 
 miles west of Khorassan. 
 
 Along this road there was a large choice 
 of defensive positions, which also allowed 
 of flanking attacks against an advancing 
 enemy. Such a position was offered by 
 Toprak Kaleh, Molla Suleiman, and Zeide- 
 kan, east of which the Euphrates, running 
 southwards, opened a lateral approach to 
 the valley of the Scherian, which fell into 
 the Euphrates a few miles south of Kara 
 Kilissa, and through which a force ad- 
 vancing from Melashgerd, Mush, or Bitlis, 
 could attack the right flank, or, if tha 
 
 213 
 
 iM 
 
POSITIONS ON JUNE 21-26.] HISTOEY OF THE 
 
 [i.D. 1877. 
 
 Boad to Ardahan. , 
 Pennek. o ; 
 
 I 
 
 Kaskish 
 Geduk. f 
 
 ■■ Russiang attacking. 
 * » * Russians retreating. 
 Turks. 
 
 ju« 7\trkish Cavalry, 
 
 Charpak 
 Dagh. 
 
 Pertes. 
 
 Allah-Akbar Dagh. 
 
 on- 
 
 Nariman. 
 
 Bardufl. o 
 
 / 
 
 Akrak Dagh. 
 
 X3 
 OS 
 
 Q 
 
 O 
 
 §» 
 CO 
 
 / 
 
 Kumru Dagh. 
 
 0— The Positions on June 26. 
 
 • Beg Mahmed. 
 
 S %■ 
 
 To Kars. 
 
 Karanoza. 
 o 
 
 Chaicar Dagh. 
 
 Sarjkamish Dagh. 
 
 I To Kars. 
 • I • 
 
 o Delimusa. * 
 
 Positions on 
 June 25. 
 
 -d ArdoBt. 
 
 — — o- 
 
 / 
 
 Ala and Kaeisman Dagh. 
 
 Khorassan. 
 
 K. Araxps. 
 
 ■'J 
 
 o \ Delibaba 
 
 ! ) o Hadji Kalil. 
 
 [alias. / o— • : 
 
 Eshek Kalias. / o- 
 
 Scherian Dagh. 
 
 Aghry Dagh. 
 
 Positions on June 21. 
 
 Toprak Knleh. 
 
 
 I 
 
 o > 
 
 To Bayuzet. 
 
 'o Zeidekan. 
 
 o Molla Saleiman. 
 
 Kilid 
 
 214 
 
 Sevik. I /■ 
 Gedttk. W 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [advance on zeidekan. 
 
 defenders' position were properly chosen, 
 and well held, the rear of the advancing 
 foe. Not only that, but the left flank would 
 also be open to attack froDi any force ad- 
 vancing through the pass over the Kilid 
 Gediik, west of Zeidekan (as shown in 
 sketch 0). A fine defensive position was 
 also offered on the line Delibaba, Hadji 
 Kalil, and Eshek Kalias, of which we give 
 a sketch on an enlarged scaie further on. 
 
 Such, therefore, were the roads open to 
 the Russians to choose from, the immediate 
 objectives being, in all cases, Ardost and 
 Khorassan. These gained, there would only 
 remain the line of the Palantuken Dagh and 
 Deve Boyun between the Russian armies 
 and Erzeroum, the capital of Armenia. The 
 plan of campaign for both sides was thus 
 clearly dictated by the exigencies of the 
 country. It was the duty of Mukhtar Pasha 
 to hold, with strong garrisons, the line 
 Pennek and Olti as a first defence, and 
 Nariman and Bardus as the second, against 
 any force advancing from Ardahan. This 
 would have formed the left of the position. 
 His centre should have been protected by 
 equally strong, or stronger garrisons, at the 
 mouths of the Chamar Pass and at Medjin- 
 gerd. His right should have been held in the 
 same way at Zeidekan, forming the first line, 
 and at Delibaba, forming the second line. 
 His active army could then have taken up a 
 central position between Yenikoi and Zevin, 
 ready to march to the assistance of any 
 of his garrisons which might require his 
 help. 
 
 Similarly the Russians had to be prepared 
 to make a series of simultaneous feints along 
 all four roads, two of these feints, at least, 
 being carrit^d out with forces strong enough 
 to turn the feigned into a real attack. 
 
 The only practicable way to have done 
 this, supposing that Mukhtar Pasha kept 
 to the plan dictated by the circumstances 
 of the field, would have been for them to 
 have stationed a large reserve force near 
 Karamza, whence it could advance either 
 on the Chamar Pass or on Medjingerd. 
 Had they done this, or been able to do so, 
 they would have made their feints on Cha- 
 mar and Medjingerd simultaneously with 
 an attack on the Turkish left from Ardahan, 
 and on the right from Bayazet. The reserve 
 could then have converted whichever of 
 these feints was the most successful into the 
 real attack, and there is little doubt but 
 that one of the two would have succeeded. 
 But, whether it would have succeeded or 
 
 not, this was the only rational plan : and 
 had Mukhtar Pasha imitated Osman Pasha, 
 he might have inflicted similar disasters on 
 the Russian armies in Asia. Mukhtar Pasha 
 was bound to be all the more careful as, 
 unlike Osman Pasha at Plevna, he was not 
 assisted by a force hammering at the Rus- 
 sians in the south, and holding them in 
 check in the east ; for Kars, at the most, 
 rendered him no more assistance than 
 Rustzuk did to Osman Pasha. 
 
 We will now, however, quit criticism, and 
 proceed to facts as they developed themselves. 
 
 Whilst Greneral Loris Melikofif was 
 engaged with the capture of Ardahan 
 and the investment of Kars, and recon- 
 noitring the field between Kars and the 
 Soghanli Dagh, General Tergukassoff was 
 pressing on towards Delibaba along the 
 valley of the Euphrates. He occupied 
 Diadin without any serious opposition, and 
 continued his march to Kara Kilissa, where 
 the Euphrates turns southwards, and the 
 Scherian valley commences. Here he was 
 obliged to secure his rear from attack 
 through the Chamar Pass, and sent a body 
 of cavalry forward, which soon dispersed 
 the few troops in Chamar, and then occu- 
 pied the town till it was relieved by some 
 infantry, who intrenched themselves there, 
 whilst the main body continued its way to 
 Toprak Kaleh and Zeidekan. 
 
 Two roads led to Zeidekan from Kara 
 Kilissa, the northern one running via 
 Toprak Kaleh, where the Turks had sta- 
 tioned a couple of battalions for its defence, 
 with a small body of cavalry. Sending one 
 column along the northern road, and pro- 
 ceeding with the main body, also divided 
 into two columns, along the main road, his 
 right wing fell upon the Turks in the east, 
 whilst with his centre he barred the way 
 to Zeidekan, cutting oflf their retreat on 
 this place, and with his left he watched 
 Zeidekan itself, to guard against any sur- 
 prise from this quarter. 
 
 There was, however, no surprise in store 
 for him, and the troops in Toprak Kaleh 
 were soon dispersed, and fled across the 
 mountains as best they could ; whilst the 
 detachment at Zeidekan effected its es- 
 cape southwards and westwards on Delibaba. 
 Still, in spite of the slight opposition he 
 met with, General Tergukassoffs progress 
 was slow. The weather was execrable ; the 
 roads almost impassable ; and he was still 
 further troubled by the reports of a large 
 cavalry force assembling in the Van district 
 
 215 
 
MILITARY POSinONS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [military positions. 
 
 it 
 
 t'H 
 
 li 
 
 1 1 
 
 f 
 
 I! '' 
 
 H*" 
 
 to 
 
 c« 
 
 Q 
 
 J3 
 ttt 
 
 '4 
 
 a 
 
 i M 
 
 OS 
 
 pa 
 
 o 
 H 
 
 9 
 
 be 9 
 
 
 ■i-§ 
 
 ^^^ 
 
 ---> 
 
 s 
 
 
 OS r 
 
 N 
 
 m 
 m 
 
 Q 
 
 M 
 
 
 «> 
 
 o 
 
 O 
 
 «0 
 
 "3 
 
 o 
 H 
 
 !■ 
 
 
 s 
 
 ;4 
 
 OS 
 
 a> 
 
 N 
 
 OS 
 
 OS 
 
 pq 
 
 o 
 H 
 
 / 
 \ 
 
 B 
 
 "■ i 
 I 
 
 9 
 OS 
 
 o 
 
 I 
 
 ►•- -> 
 
 J>4 
 
 s 
 
 
 --0 
 
 S3 
 i4 
 
 CS 
 
 H 
 
 I 
 
 
 ON 
 
 
 s 
 
 
 10 
 
 ■■■< bo 
 
 >4 
 
 
 C3a 
 
 
 CS 
 
 B 
 
 cS 
 
 OS 
 
 p 
 
 
 
 OS 
 
 cS 
 
 •s 
 
 s 
 
 216 
 
 IB 
 
 B 
 
 Vo 
 
 8' . 
 
 'it 
 
 IS 
 
 217 
 
 m 
 
 ^ '^*^**J 
 
MILITARY POSITIONS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1877. 
 
 A.D. 1877.1 
 
 RUSSIAN ExAIPIRE. 
 
 1 
 
 bo 3 
 
 
 Si !; ' 
 
 
 cd 
 
 »-_ 
 &0- 
 o 
 E-t 
 
 § 
 
 CO 
 
 m 
 
 M 
 
 01 
 
 n 
 
 o 
 H 
 
 B 
 
 3 • 
 OQ I 
 
 a] • 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 V- 
 
 / 
 \ 
 
 o 
 
 
 (a 
 
 s 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 -3 
 t 
 
 
 B 
 
 I 
 
 
 IS 
 
 
 V 
 
 Ui 
 
 M 
 
 .a 
 
 (3 
 
 II 
 
 IS 
 
 [success at delibaba. 
 
 on his left flank, which obliged him to 
 move very carefully onwards, and leave 
 detachments here and there to watch the 
 approaches to the valley from the south. 
 Thus, at the end of May, he was still 
 engaged in strengthening his position, and 
 brinL(ing up stores and material to the front, 
 which delayed his advance till towards 
 the middle of June. Then he again moved 
 forward, also by two roads, the main road 
 running direct to within a short distance of 
 Delibaba, and the other by way of Matok 
 and Hadji Kalil. 
 
 The Turks had taken up a position on the 
 heights east of Delibaba, and north of 
 Hadji Kalil. This formed the left of their 
 position. The centre was in front of Deli- 
 baba, facing the high-road to Erzeroum ; 
 and the right was stationed in inadequate 
 force at Eshek Kalias, south of the road 
 from Zeidekan. On June IGth.Tersrukas- 1 
 fioif advanced to the attack, directing his 
 main efforts on the left wing of the Turks, 
 whilst cleverly inserting a force between it 
 and the right wing at Eshek Kalias, and 
 attacking the Turkish centre at the same 
 time, as bhown in the preceding sketch, P 2. 
 
 For some time the combat on the hills 
 between Delibaba and Hadji Kalias was 
 fiercely waged; but the artillery playing 
 with great precision on the Turkish flank 
 at Hadji Kalias, the Turks began to fall 
 back, and at the same moment the right 
 wing at Eshek Kalias was also driven in, and 
 fled along the road to Erzeroum. Soon after- 
 wards the centre, in front of Delibaba, began 
 to waver, and the reluctant fallinof back, 
 step by step, of the left wing soon changed, 
 when they saw their retreat being cut off, 
 into a precipitate flight on Khorassan. 
 With this battle, therefore, General Tergu- 
 kassoff had gained possession of one of the 
 keys to the defence of Erzeroum, and only 
 awaited the orders and co-operation of Loris' 
 Melikoff to continue his advance. 
 
 Meantime Mukhtar Pasha's retrograde 
 movement still continued. Little by little, 
 but surely, it was shortening the distance ' 
 between his army and Erzeroum. From Kars 
 he fell back rather precipitately to avoid I 
 being cut off by the formidable flank move- 
 ment of April 30th, which we have already 
 described. He took up his position on the 
 crests of the Soghanli. Thence, after the i 
 fall of Ardahan, he fell back again to Deli- ! 
 baba in consequence of a demonstration by 
 the Russians on Olti and Nariman, a large ■ 
 body of Circassians and Kurds, lately added ' 
 
 218 
 
 to the central army corps, keeping well in 
 front to prevent a surprise. These troops 
 clashing together with the Russian dra- 
 goons forming the reconnaissances of Loris 
 Melikoff, imagined that the whole of the 
 Russian army was advancing, and re- 
 treated precipitately; so that Mukhtar Pasha, 
 having ascertained that thc-e was no im- 
 mediate danger to be apprehended from 
 General Tergukassoff", and that the advance 
 on Olti was only a demonstration, took up 
 a fresh position at Zevin. The true secret 
 of this continued retiring was the paucity 
 of numbers of the main army. 
 
 Though considerably swelled by re- 
 inforcements, the Turkish central force did 
 not come up to thirty battalions, and many 
 of these were at anything but their full 
 complement. A solitary battery repre- 
 sented the artillery element ; though an- 
 other was at Hassan Kaleh, a day's march 
 to the rear. The slightest flank movement 
 of the enemy threatened to necessitate a 
 general engagement, and was accompanied 
 by a rapid packing up and retiring to 
 a new rearward position. One of the gene- 
 rals in command explained, however, that 
 the retreat from Delibaba followed as a 
 necessary consequence of the falling back 
 of the Circassians. On the left flank, and 
 parallel to the main line of communications 
 of the army, the Sarykamish road was 
 covered by the vedettes of the irregular 
 cavalry. These latter once retired, the 
 army was more or less open to a flank 
 attack, and adopted the system of falling 
 back on the junction of the two roads in 
 front of Zevin. So far, indeed, the central 
 corps, under the command of Mukhtar 
 Pasha, was merely doing duty as a corps of 
 observation, or, at most, retaining nominal 
 possession of the ground, and preventing 
 forays of Cossacks in search of provisions. 
 Serious impediment to the advance of the 
 Russian forces it could not then ofier. 
 Even as it was, the entire ground between 
 Kars and the position of the Turkish army, 
 three days' march, was entirely unde- 
 fended, even by irregulars. On the other 
 hand, the Russian expedition against Olti, 
 of 1,500 Cossacks and three infantry 
 battalions, retired before an equal Turkish 
 force despatched against it. 
 
 In fact, both the Turkish and Russian 
 generals were playing at cross purposes, 
 each wanting the other to think he had the 
 most men, whilst ignorant of what was 
 going on in the other parts of the field. 
 
 219 
 
 ■ii 
 
TERGUKASSOFP'S RBTBEAT."] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 III' 
 
 1 
 
 r' 
 
 The great drawback for the Turks, how- 
 ever, was their want of cavalry. Fifteen 
 thousand Cossacks, hovering like a cloud in 
 advance of the main Russian columns, 
 efifectually screened their movements and 
 prevented their points of concentration 
 from being known. To compete against 
 these, a few hundred mounted Circassians 
 and a squadron of Kurd lancers were 
 hurriedly organised to supply the necessary 
 reconnoitring element. Their vigilance 
 and intelligence were counted on to com- 
 pensate for their paucity of number ; but 
 the Very first time they came in contact 
 with the enemy, they proved quite inade- 
 quate to the mission assigned them. They 
 were surprised, cut up, and retired on the 
 main army> behind which they then 
 camped — a terror and a nuisance to all but 
 the enemy. Mukhtar Pasha was thus 
 forced to have recourse to another means 
 to keep himself informed of the Russian 
 movements. Upper Armenia had ever been 
 infested by bands of Kurd robbers, who^ 
 under various chiefs^ and in detachments of 
 from ten to twenty, lived upon the country, 
 exacting blackmail from the villages, and 
 pillaging travellers ; and it was these men 
 whom the Turkish general had to fall back 
 upon for scouts. 
 
 One of these men, popularly known as 
 Tulu Moussa, or Hairy Moses, enjoyed an 
 extensive renown for his successes in the 
 brigand line. When Mukhtar Pasha was 
 governor of Armenia some years before, he 
 had in vain tried to lay hands on this bandit ; 
 but as soon as the war broke out, Tulu 
 Moussa, stirred by patriotism, entered into 
 negotiations with the military authorities, 
 offering his services in return for a free 
 pardon. His offers were accepted, and he 
 thus became the pasha's main source of 
 information as to the doings of the enemy. 
 Accompanied by half-a-dozen followers, he 
 scoured the country in front, collected in- 
 formation, tracked out the Russian spies, 
 and even ventured in disguise into the 
 enemy's camp. He was a tall spare man of 
 some forty years of age, sallow-faced and 
 hollow-cheeked, his large black lustrous 
 eyes sparkling with energy. A heavy 
 moustache scarce concealed a half-sup- 
 presseid humorous expression about the 
 comers of his mouth, and a dense growth 
 of beard vindicated his title to the sobriquet 
 of "hairy." His attire was brigandishly 
 picturesque in the extreme. A long tunic 
 resembling that of the Circassians, the skirt 
 220 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 A.D. 1877.T 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 fMASSACRE AT BATAZET. 
 
 reaching to the middle calf, of a dark olive 
 tint, and bound at the edges with broad 
 silver lace, was confined round his slender 
 waist by a belt of many silver pieces with 
 pierced pattern. On either breast was a 
 double row of silver cartridge tubes elabo- 
 rately chased and ornamented with green 
 enamel. His sabre and broad-bladed Cir- 
 cassian dagger, masterpieces of carving 
 and enamel, the sheaths and hilts massive 
 silver^ were set with coral and lapis-lazuli. 
 Wide trousers^ and high red-leather boots 
 turning up at the toe, completed his cos- 
 tume. His companions were attired much in 
 the same manner, though less richly. They 
 were quiet, resolute men, but with an un- 
 mistakably brigandish air. 
 
 Such were Mukhtar Pasha*s chief of the 
 "intelligence department" and his aides, 
 and Moussa was well worth a whole regi- 
 ment of cavalry to him, for the information 
 he brought was thoroughly trustworthy. 
 
 Thus Tulu Moussa soon discovered that 
 the forces under Tergukassoff's command 
 were by no means so formidable as his 
 rapid progress would seem to indicate; 
 and at the same time it was ascertained 
 that Loris Melikoff was not prepared to 
 force the Soghanli Dagh for at least some 
 days to come. 
 
 Mukhtar Pasha then determined to strike 
 a blow on his right, after having received 
 remforcements and supplies; and leaving 
 his position at Zevin to the care of Feizi 
 Pasha, he moved down towards Khorassan 
 on June 20th. The next day he sent Ismail 
 Pasha forward with twenty-three battalions, 
 and Ismail, advancing his centre on Delibaba, 
 whilst his left made for Hadji Kalias, and 
 his right for Eshek Kalias, soon succeeded 
 in forcing the Russians back from Delibaba. 
 Tergukassoff, seeing both his flanks out- 
 marched, was forced to retreat precipitately 
 upon Zeidekan, closely followed by the 
 Circassians and Kurds. The Turks still 
 advancing, passing on like a torrent through 
 the valley, did not allow him any rest even 
 in Zeidekan, and he was forced to continue 
 his flight to Kara Kilissa. Here, to his 
 dismay, he heard that the road to Bayazet 
 was in the hands of a large number of Kurds 
 and Circassians, and sixteen battalions of 
 Arabian troops who had advanced from 
 Van, and who effectually cut off his retreat. 
 There was only one means of escape left — 
 that was by the road running north-east 
 from Kara Kilissa across the Aghry Dagh 
 to the Russian frontier (see sketch P). 
 
 Along this path, leaving the greater part of 
 his baggage behind him, Tergukassoff fled 
 with his forces ; and after a series of the 
 most difficult marches, at last succeeded in 
 reaching Russian territory, and arrived on 
 July 5th, defeated and out-manoeuvred and 
 out-numbered, at Igdir, whence he had 
 set out a little over two months before. 
 
 Meanwhile, as may be imagined, the 
 Russian detachments, left to shift for them- 
 selves between Kara Kilissa and Bavazet, 
 had a bad time of it. They were driven 
 in, surrounded, harassed, hunted down, 
 and but few escaped by the wild paths 
 leading over the Aghry Dagh ; and equally 
 did those Christian villages suffer which 
 had too warmly welcomed the Russian 
 forces and given them any assistance. The 
 same events took place here as occurred 
 in the country south of the Balkans when 
 General Gourko retreated and left the villa- 
 gers, whom he had stirred up aq;ainst their 
 Moslem neighbours, to the reprisals of the 
 Turks. All through the valley the Christian 
 villages were sacked and burned, and most 
 of those inhabitants who had not effected 
 their escape were massacred. As for Bayazet, 
 the Russians, thinking only of Turkish 
 regulars, had left but a slender garri- 
 son of some 500 men there, and, as we 
 have seen, pushed on towards Zeidekan 
 with their main forces, with the intention 
 of trying to force Mukhtar's position beyond 
 Delibaba. While engaged in this operation, 
 a horde of Kurds, under the influence, if 
 not actual guidance, of Sheikh Jelaledin, 
 swept down from the Ararat chain of moun- 
 tains, and surrounded the little garrison of 
 Bayazet. The Russians retired within the 
 walls of a mediaeval building, half fortress, 
 half palace, which occupied the summit of 
 the hill above the platform on which Ba- 
 yazet stands. Provisions were scanty, water 
 still more so ; and after a couple of days' 
 blockade the Russians offered terms. Round, 
 and in Bayazet at the time, apart from the 
 Kurds, were seven regular Turkish bat- 
 talions, under the command of Faik Pasha. 
 These bad arrived subsequent to the Rus- 
 sian failure to carry the Delibaba ridge. 
 The pasha willingly received the overtures 
 of surrender, and half the entire beleaguered 
 garrison, without arms, marched from their 
 stronghold. But before the regular troops 
 could take any measures for their security, 
 which at the time no one had any reason to 
 doubt, the Kurd horsemen fell on the dis- 
 armed and surrendered prisoners, massacring 
 
 VOL. in. 2 Q 
 
 every one without exception. On this the 
 gates of the stronghold were closed, the 
 remaining portion of the garrison re- 
 fusing to entertain any proposition after 
 the untoward event which had just taken 
 place. In vain the Turkish commander 
 of the regular forces urged on the be- 
 sieged the expediency of surrendering 
 rather than die of hunger and thirst. The 
 Russian colonel had fallen in the first as- 
 sault of the Kurds on the town, and his 
 wife, within the beleaguered stronghold, 
 incited the soldiery to resistance, taking 
 her share in the defence like any of the 
 troops. Anything was better, the Russians 
 said, than again trusting themselves to the 
 mercy of a faithless horde of bloodthirsty 
 savages. And so several days went by 
 Water was falling short ; but the besieged 
 bit on the plan of mining towards the 
 town, and thus establishing an unseen con- 
 nection with one of the public fountains. 
 For some time this expedient was successful, 
 the adventurous water-seekers being almost 
 entirely hidden from view in the depths of 
 the subterranean opening. But in an evil 
 day some stray Kurd observed the top of 
 a Russian's hat protruding in an unac- 
 countable manner from the soil. He ob- 
 served, and soon guessed the truth. An 
 ambuscade was prepared, and day after day 
 the thirsty Russians had to lament one of 
 their number shot through the head at the 
 gallery entrance. Twenty-six days' siege, 
 since the massacre, had gone by. Provisions 
 had long since run exceedingly short, and 
 the besieging enemy had over and over 
 again shouted to the caged foe the intelli- 
 gence that artillery was coming up to drive 
 them from their refuge. Help, however, 
 was near; and suddenly, on July 15th, as 
 if falling from the clouds, five Russian 
 battalions, with six guns, and 4,000 cavalry, 
 attacked the Turkish force. General Ter- 
 gukassoff, having received reinforcements 
 from the centre, and having reorganised his 
 troops, had sent these men from Igdir to 
 relieve the beleaguered garrison. The 
 struggle was short ; for though the regular 
 battalions resisted bravely, they were forced 
 to retreat, leaving over 1,000 men and three 
 guns in the assailants' hands. The long- 
 suffering detachment in the stronghold 
 above the town were relieved, and, after 
 passing the night in Bayazet, retreated with 
 their deliverers as rapidly as possible, to 
 escape from the Kurds and Circassians, who, 
 as usual, were not where they were wanted, 
 
 221 
 
KIZTL TEPE ATTACKED.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 fi 
 
 in 
 
 , 1 
 
 I \'i I 
 
 11 
 
 but were hurrying up from the valley to the 
 support of the regulars. 
 
 Such was the end of TergukassoflTs 
 advance. By July 19th, there was not a 
 single Russian in the valley, from Bayazet 
 to Delibaba. The collapse south of the 
 Aghry Dagh had preceded the collapse 
 south of the Balkans by a day. 
 
 Meantime, when Loris Melikoff heard of 
 the successful advance of Greneral Tergu- 
 kassofF, and knowing how much he stood 
 in need of help, he determined to effect a 
 diversion, and was not without hope of 
 forcing the positions of the Turks. This 
 determination was strengthened when he 
 heard of the disaster which had befallen the 
 Erivan corps, and how they were in immi- 
 nent danger of being cut off to the last man. 
 In order to prevent such a catastrophe, 
 G-eneral Heimann, accompanied by the 
 commander-in-chief, Greneral Loris Meli- 
 koff, was detached from before Kars, and, 
 encountering Feizi Pasha at Zevin, attacked 
 him without hesitation on the rido-e of 
 rocks where he had intrenched his *army 
 (as shown in sketch 0). Unhappily for the 
 Russians, the means at hand were utterly 
 inadequate to the task imposed upon the 
 soldiers; and finally. General Heimann, 
 
 after having experienced severe losses 
 
 over 3,000 men killed and wounded — was 
 obliged to retreat in disorder to the point 
 from which he had come. 
 
 After this signal victory over General 
 Heimann, Mukhtar Pasha boldly crossed 
 the Soghanli mountains, and occupied 
 strong positions commanding both the roads 
 to Kars, in case the Russians should recover 
 themselves from their defeat and essay to 
 retrieve their position. But General Loris 
 Melikoff, the Russian commander-in-chief, 
 judging his army too weak to besiege Kars 
 and resist Mukhtar Pasha simultaneously, 
 ordered the heavy guns to be withdrawn,' 
 and suspended the bombardment, or rather 
 the siege, of that stronghold. Then he 
 prepared for an action in the field, and 
 camped at Zaim, where he decided to in- 
 trench himself in formidable positions, and 
 to wait for Mukhtar Pasha's attack, till the 
 expected reinforcements allowed him to 
 push forward again. 
 
 The expected attack, however, not reckon- 
 ing isolated skirmishes and reconnaissances 
 which had no decided result, was delayed 
 from day to day, the yavash, yavash 
 (slowly, slowly,) of the Turks, as usual, 
 preventing energetic action on the part of 
 222 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 Mukhtar Pasha, who was forced to lose 
 much valuable time in waiting for stores 
 guns, and munitions. * 
 
 On August 25th, however, the struggle 
 began again on a larger scale. At about 
 three o clock in the morning the Russians 
 were roused by the roar of cannon and 
 volleys of musketry. They supposed, at 
 first, that only outpost skirmishing was 
 going on between the Cossacks and Circas- 
 sians; but the noise growing louder and 
 more persistent, it soon was evident that 
 the Turks, contrary to their usual practice, 
 had attacked in the direction of the camp 
 situated some eight miles off, to the left of 
 the Kurukdara position behind the Utch 
 Tepe. 
 
 The Turkish position on the Aladja 
 mountain extended from the neighbourhood 
 of the ancient city of Ani, now dismal ruins 
 on the Arpa Tchai River, to the vicinity of 
 Kars, from which fortress the supplies were 
 drawn. The main force, however, rested 
 Its left wing on the mountain spur endin^r 
 in the Yagni hills (as shown in sketch Q). 
 Between the Aladja Dagh and Kurukdara 
 there was another steep hill, the Kizil Tepe 
 (Red Hill), which, in an entirely isolated 
 position, towered above the Kurukdara 
 plateau, almost in the very centre of the 
 military positions. On this remarkable 
 eminence the commander-in-chief. General 
 Loris Melikoff, had established his head- 
 quarters on August 17th. It was usually 
 occupied by a single battalion and four field- 
 pieces, and was thus considered as almost im- 
 pregnable. On account of its commanding 
 position over the surrounding flats and un- 
 dulating grounds it was well worth particu- 
 lar attention, and the Turks determined to 
 carry it if possible. 
 
 It was a bright moonlight night. The 
 Dciountains and plains were almost as dis- 
 tinctly visible as in broad day-time. Avail- 
 ing themselves of this circumstance, at 
 two or three o'clock in the morning of the 
 25th of August, about 7,000 Turks crept 
 stealthily, in a compact, noiseless mass, 
 through a dark, deep ravine, without being 
 observed by the careless Lesghian picketl 
 and patrols, till they arrived at the very 
 foot of the Kizil Tepe. Here deploying, 
 they made a sudden rush, savagely yellino- 
 their " Allah-il-Allah," on the eight Russian 
 companies which were stationed on the 
 summit. These men, though surprised, 
 defended themselves courageously at the 
 point of the bayonet without yielding an 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [positions on august 25. 
 
 • I— 
 
 o 
 hi 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 V 
 
 00 
 
 «o 
 
 £ 
 
 
 -ft-- 
 
 R. Arpa. 
 
 o ^ 
 
 S' 
 
 s 
 
 •s 
 •s 
 
 O 
 
 U 
 
 m 
 
 I 
 
 Soghanli Dagh. 
 
 223 
 
 
1 1 
 
 I! 
 
 if. 
 
 KIZIL TEPE CAPTURED.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877, 
 
 inch. Hundreds of Turks who a few seconds 
 before dashed fiercely on with the rifle in 
 their hands, fell to rise no more. At last, 
 however, as the enemy's fast-increasing 
 force threatened to outflank and envelop 
 them altogether, tho Russians were com- 
 pelled to retreat to the camp, protecting and 
 dragging away their four cannons. Here the 
 alarm was given, and, as quickly as possible, 
 infantry and dragoons marched to the 
 rescue, and stormed the hill with dauntless 
 courat^e, in the hope of recovering it in the 
 way in which it had been lost. In spite of 
 their heroic efforts, however, they were re- 
 peatedly repulsed by overwhelming num- 
 bers. The whole hill was like a beehive, 
 thickly thronged with enemies, and had 
 they persisted in their gallant attempt they 
 •would have all been exterminated. In the 
 meanwhile the principal Russian forces 
 encamped at Kurukdara had been roused, 
 and battalions, squadrons, batteries, with 
 ammunition carts and red-cross waggons 
 behind, hastened in long columns into the 
 field. At first utter consternation pre- 
 vailed through the camp, and all was in 
 confusion. Orders were issued to strike 
 tents, pack luggage, and load everything on 
 the numerous commissariat waggons, as the 
 boom of the artillery thundered louder, and 
 the sharp rattling of the breech-loaders 
 grew sharper still. For the moment the 
 Russians thought that they were being 
 attacked by the whole of Mukhtar Pasha's 
 army, and then they began to prepare for a 
 retreat across the frontier. They soon saw, 
 however, that the attack was evidently to 
 gain possession of the Kizil Tepe, and 
 regained their equanimity somewhat in 
 consequence. 
 
 Meanwhile the Kizil Tepe, or Red Hill, 
 a dwarfy height of about 800 feet above the 
 plain, was encircled, top and bottom, by 
 two girdles of smoke and flame. On its 
 rocky, bastion -like summit stood thickly 
 crowded Turkish soldiers, under the cover 
 of the opposite slope, and fired their rifles, 
 aiming down into a ravine across which the 
 Russian Tiflis regiment struggled heroically, 
 but in vain, to reconquer the lost position. 
 The very steep, rocky slope of the hill on 
 that side rendered this task almost impos- 
 sible. The Russians distinctly saw how, in 
 the Turkish ranks, an Imaum, with turban 
 and flowing gown, lifting his hands in 
 fanatical ecstasy above the devoted children 
 of the faith, seemed to be inciting them to 
 withstand the arms of the Moscow Giaour, 
 224 
 
 in Allah's and the Prophet's name. On 
 some other parts of the battle-field Moham- 
 medan priests were equally observed in the 
 foremost lines, apparently animating timid 
 recruits bv fervent words of faith. One of 
 
 * ■ — — — 
 
 these priests was shot. The Turks meant 
 evidently to crush their weakened adver- 
 saries by a general attack, and so they em- 
 ployed all imaginable means to secure 
 success. Many battalions, emerging by 
 scores together, and thousands of irregular 
 horsemen, descended the mountain, and were 
 broutrht at once into action. The whole 
 long line — twelve miles — from the neigh- 
 bourhood of Ani up to Kabak Tepe, on 
 which lies Meschka, on the road to Kars, 
 was swarming with Mussulmans. On the 
 summit of that eminence, situated two 
 miles to the north of the Yagni Hill, three 
 new battalions and clusters of cavalry 
 appeared, with the view to outflank the 
 Russian army, and capture their camp at 
 Kurukdara. Their general advance, how- 
 ever, was checked as soon as the Russian 
 columns of combined arms, the battalions, 
 squadrons, and batteries which left the 
 camp had the necessary time to march to 
 the enemy's encounter and to deploy before 
 him. In the Russian order of battle the 
 extreme left was held by two regiments of 
 dragoons, then followed the remaining bri- 
 gade of General Dowel's division, and next 
 to it, in the centre. Colonel Komaroff's five 
 valiant battalions which had seen hard work 
 ever since Ardahan fell. Connected with 
 them, and directing its front line against 
 the Yagni hills, the division of grenadiers 
 operated with one of its brigades (General 
 Cederholm), while the other remained in 
 reserve. The extreme right was secured by 
 three regiments of Caucasian regular Cossack 
 cavalry and their horse artillery. Numerous 
 troops besides protected the camp. 
 
 It took some hours before those masses 
 were all able to meet the enemy's lines, on 
 account of the considerable distance which 
 originally separated the combatants. In 
 the meantime the exposed camp was broken 
 up, and thousands of carts and waggons 
 transported the tents and the baggage to 
 Kurukdara. The straw and dung were 
 burnt on the spot. Again and again the 
 Russians tried to reconquer the Kizil Tepe 
 by storming, while shells and shrapnels 
 were showered upon its ridge; but again 
 and again they were repelled by the de- 
 fenders, who stood, shoulder to shoulder, 
 behind its rocky edge. On a sudden, shortly 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [battle at yagni hill. 
 
 after the last assault, which was supported 
 and followed by the play of two batteries, 
 thick white smoke rose on the summit, and 
 a long flame carried it to the skies. Frag- 
 ments of carriages, limbs of horses and men 
 were scattered in all directions, or flew up 
 in the air. It was clear that stores of 
 ammunition or a powder-cart had exploded, 
 ignited by a Russian shell. Joy and satis- 
 faction lighted up the faces of the ofl&cers, 
 and one of them made the sign of the cross. 
 A short time afterwards, as regiment after 
 regiment entered successively the line of 
 battle, from the left to the right, in full 
 array, and advanced, deployed in company 
 columns, preceded by the usual double chain 
 of Tirailleurs, with field batteries between 
 them, the roar of the fighting extended 
 gradually from the left to the centre. It was, 
 however, obvious that before the Yagni Hill 
 the fate of the day was to be decided, be- 
 cause from that part of his position only 
 the enemy might have had a chance of 
 forcing the camp, as it was quite open and 
 unprotected in that direction. Yet long 
 ere the Tirailleurs there had mingled their 
 fire with the boom of their cannon and the 
 cracking of their shells. Colonel KomarofiPs 
 brigade in the centre was engaged in sharp 
 infantry fighting. Steadily the Russians 
 gained ground, and drove the Turks over 
 the flats and the undulations till they 
 reached the broad ravine of Subatan, at the 
 foot of the Aladja mountain. In this narrow 
 valley, studded at its opposite side with 
 intrenchments and batteries, the battle 
 came to a standstill, the Russians feeling 
 unable to advance any further, and the 
 Turks satisfied with the advantages they 
 had gained. From advancing beyond, it is 
 highly probable that Mukhtar Pasha's 
 camp might have fallen into Colonel 
 KomarofiPs hands. All energy of resistance 
 on the part of the Turks had decidedly been 
 broken ; they ceased fighting, and retired in 
 disorder. Their dead lay in rows in the 
 valley. In consequence of this mutual 
 pause on different grounds, the fighting 
 died out there at half-past one o'clock in 
 the afternoon. Komaroff was twice wounded, 
 once in his left hand, and shortly afterwards 
 in his left side. Nevertheless, he continued 
 to exercise his command. Prince Tchadjew- 
 adtze, the general in command of the whole 
 cavalry, renowned as one of the ablest and 
 most energetic leaders in the Russian army, 
 was also woimded by the fragment of a 
 shell, which struck him on the head. 
 
 While thus the struggle was going on in 
 the centre, the grenadiers, under General 
 Heimann's special superintendence, and led 
 by General Cederholm, fell in with the 
 enemy. After a brisk cannonade with smart 
 shell and shrapnel practice, the deadly rifle- 
 firing was going on in an uninterrupted 
 line stretching two miles on either side, 
 front against front. Like a light morning 
 mist the smoke was wafted over the hostile 
 forces, and prevented them from taking 
 good aim. The Turks had evidently brought 
 forth their picked men — several Arabian 
 battalions, which fought with resolute stub- 
 bornness, as they are accustomed to do on 
 all occasions, thus constituting beyond doubt 
 the Sultan's best troops. Notwithstanding 
 their superior numbers, and the bravery 
 they displayed, they could not hold their 
 ground for more than a single hour, and 
 then were compelled to fall back to their 
 rifle-pits and intrenchments at the foot of 
 the Yagni hills. Worn out by the want of 
 food and water, having had all day a sun 
 burning like a red-hot iron over their heads, 
 both antagonists were at last satisfied to see 
 themselves finally separated from each other 
 by intervening hillocks. While the infantry 
 rested, completely exhausted by the heat 
 and the work, the cannons still thundered 
 continuously over the whole line, but with 
 considerably less intensity than in the morn- 
 ing. Finally the Turks moved with three 
 fresh battalions, and over 1,000 horse, down 
 the Kabak hill on the extreme right of the 
 Russians, endeavouring to outflank them. 
 The wild, irregular riders, in their fantasti- 
 cal garments, galloped down until they 
 came unexpectedly in sight of the three 
 Caucasian Cossack regiments. Quietly they 
 stood in the valley, drawn in separate lines, 
 with two batteries of horse artillery in the 
 interstices, whilst the Bashi-Bazouks, one 
 after the other, as they rode on stopped their 
 horses, fired their rifles at the enemy, who 
 did not even reply, and turned back at full 
 speed in order to give to their expectant 
 comrades the dismal news that the time for 
 plundering the Russian camp at Kurukdara 
 had not yet come. They apparently judged 
 that the Russian cavalry was more than a 
 match for them, and in this conviction they 
 united again in squadrons, and thought it 
 prudent to wait, under the cover of a con- 
 cealed battery, for their enemies' onset. 
 The Russian regiments, however, warned by 
 some shells from above that they were likely 
 to fall into an ambush of artillery and in- 
 
 225 
 
POsmoNS ON AUGUST 26.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 •3^ 
 
 o 
 
 ■*3 
 
 d 
 
 o 
 
 CO 
 ID 
 
 I 
 
 00 
 
 CO 
 
 t! 
 
 ^ 
 
 s 
 
 Q 
 ^ 
 
 o 
 
 u 
 
 s 
 
 H 
 a> 
 
 R. Arpa. 
 
 o 
 
 3 
 
 •D 
 
 
 u 
 
 C 
 
 OS 
 
 ■)H 
 
 o 
 
 •)(- 
 
 K« Arpa. 
 
 I 
 I 
 I 
 
 (S} 
 
 H 
 
 <(8] 
 
 
 w 
 
 SS 
 
 of 
 
 
 
 « 
 
 
 .•I 
 
 OO / 
 
 « / 
 
 
 . . «o 
 
 •a 
 
 o 
 JS 
 
 . OS , 
 
 o 
 
 I 
 
 a 
 O 
 
 lei 
 
 OS 
 
 n 
 
 S, 
 
 es 
 
 -a 
 
 I 
 
 cS 
 
 I 
 
 fi' 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 JS to 
 bo « 
 
 n " 
 
 
 -)(- 
 
 a^N. 
 
 Id 
 
 0-- -- 
 
 3"^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 60 
 
 c« 
 
 U 
 
 1^ 
 
 as 
 
 226 
 
 Soghanii Dagh. 
 
 r*i 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the ramazan. 
 
 fantry, did not stir. So the fighting ceased 
 at four o'clock P.M. on the whole line in the 
 same succession as it had begun, from left 
 to right. The result was a complete success 
 for the Turks. Although the Russian 
 troops had repulsed, with great slaughter 
 and remarkable pluck, the general attack of 
 the Turks to cover the attack on the Kizil 
 Tepe, and had remained for four hours on 
 the battle-field, they had been, for all that, 
 unable to wrest the principal position, the 
 Kizil Tepe Hill, out of Turkish hands. 
 Mukhtar Pasha did not hesitate to avail 
 himself of the advantageous position which 
 he had obtained, and shifted next day his 
 whole camp down to the plain, where his 
 soldiers were not exposed to the cold night 
 winds as on the mountain, and found an 
 ample supply of water. Here, as the Turks 
 had systematically done during this war, 
 they began intrenching themselves as 
 strongly as possible, having one wing pro- 
 tected by the Kizil Tepe, and the other by 
 the Yagni Hill. The force which the Turks 
 brought into action consisted, according to 
 trustworthy estimates, of thirty battalions 
 of infantry and 8,000 irregular horsemen, 
 with sixty cannons. The Russian army was 
 somewhat inferior in number. The losses 
 amounted in the Russian army, according to 
 the most reliable information, to 280 men 
 killed and 667 wounded. As the Turks 
 were this time the aggressors, it is evident 
 that their losses must have been more con- 
 siderable. Spies and deserters affirmed that 
 they lost not less than 3,000 men. Their 
 skirmishing lines were much thicker 
 manned than those of their adversaries ; and 
 when they retreated over the Subatan 
 ravine, heaps of dead and wounded encum- 
 bered the ground. The chief gain derived 
 from this success was the better camping- 
 ground for the troops in view of the 
 approaching winter, which appears betimes 
 in the highlands of Armenia, and against 
 the cold keen winds of which the men could 
 not have contended on the mountain ranges, 
 covered with snow nearly all the year round, 
 which lie at the foot of Ararat. But in the 
 plain below, sheltered by the accentuated 
 ridges north and south, the conditions 
 changed. Water was abundant. The cav- 
 alry horses and mule trains had no longer 
 to be served with water painfully carried in 
 leathern sacs to the steep heights on which 
 the Turks had been camped, but could drink 
 in the abundant streams of the plain below. 
 The failure of the Russian attempt to 
 
 occupy the valley had left immense quanti- 
 ties of uncut corn at the dispo^tion of the 
 army ; and the fatigue of transport had been 
 in no small degree diminished in conse- 
 quence. Still, by some extraordinary fa- 
 tality, the Turks were unable to make 
 effective use of the advantages they had 
 gained. With the men in high spirits at 
 their successful advance, and continued de- 
 feats of the enemy, the chances of success- 
 fully dealing a decisive blow had enormously 
 increased, especially as Ismail Hakki Pasha 
 had crossed the Russian frontier near Igdir, 
 with the object of making his way up north- 
 wards and cutting ofif the Russian retreat on 
 Alexandropol. 
 
 But with the cold winds of September 
 came also the Mussulman Lent — Ramazan 
 — and at this period the Turk thinks more 
 of fulfilling his religious duties than any- 
 thing else. During the whole of this period 
 of self-denial and mortification of the flesh, 
 the Turks fast from sunrise to sunset. 
 From the moment the dawn colours the 
 eastern sky until the Ramazan gun booms 
 out into the evening air, not a morsel of 
 food crosses the lips of the soldiers, not even 
 a drop of water. And each of the many 
 times a day as the long-drawn, wailing cry 
 of the Muezzin rises above the murmur of 
 the camp, soldiers are to be seen hurrying 
 eagerly to prayer as to a banquet, and un- 
 happy seems the man on duty who cannot 
 join the serried rows of worshippers who, 
 in company, sometimes in battalion, face 
 toward Mecca, and follow the orisons and 
 genuflexions of the Imaum who stands before 
 their centre. Each man takes his place in 
 the ranks, his hands hanging close by his 
 sides. Then he lifts them to his ears, as if 
 to shut out all worldly sounds. Then he 
 lays them on his knees, and bowing his head 
 forward seems lost in contemplation. After 
 a few seconds he sinks to his knees, and 
 leans back upon his heels, and then bowing 
 with his forehead to the earth, exclaims, or 
 rather chants, " Allah Akbar " (Grod is 
 great). Three times he thus bows and 
 chants, and then he stands up, bowing for- 
 ward, chanting three times, " La Illah il 
 Allah " (there is no God but God). The re- 
 mainder of the prayers which follow con- 
 sist principally of long extracts from the 
 " Koran." 
 
 In all his simple religious exercises the 
 Turkish soldier is devoutness and attention 
 itself, and it is perhaps most in privacy that 
 this is most apparent. Frequently one 
 
 227 
 
RENEWED OPERATIONS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 comes unexpectedly upon some rugged 
 soldier in one of the wild, lonely ravines 
 that pierce the hill-sides around, standing 
 before the ragged over-coat which serves him 
 for a praying carpet, and going through his 
 rather active religious motions with a zeal 
 which would do credit to the most self- 
 conscious Pharisee. The stranger who for 
 the first time witnesses the united prayer of 
 Turkish soldiers in camp, is considerably 
 puzzled by the selection of heterogeneous 
 articles brought forward to the place of 
 worship when the Muezzin's call has con- 
 cluded. Religious custom requires that each 
 man be provided with a praying carpet of 
 one description or another, and that he take 
 off his shoes as well. One man brings a 
 jagged sheep-skin, another a goat-hide, a 
 third the saddle-cloth of his horse, a fourth, 
 mayhap, his jacket; every one has some- 
 thing or another on which he may kneel. 
 To see some hundred men thus hurrying to 
 the spot where the blue-robed, white-tur- 
 baned Imaum stands, a stranger to their 
 ways might easily be led to imagine them 
 so many persons eager to dispose of super- 
 fluous garments, and taking advantage of 
 the fortuitous presence of a dealer of 
 Israelitish nationality. 
 
 The Russians, too, seized the opportunity 
 of celebrating national festivals. On Sep- 
 tember 9th the Turks were startled by the 
 thunder of cannon from Karajal, the forti- 
 fied hill on which their right flank rests. 
 The marshal's long brass telescope was at 
 once put in position, and every field-glass 
 was directed against the frowning heights 
 along which the heavy white smoke-clouds 
 clung in the morning air. But they looked 
 in vain for the little secondary smoke- 
 bursts that should have indicated exploding- 
 shells. In advanced positions men ran to 
 their arms, and the parapets were black with 
 eager, puzzled soldiers. But it was only a 
 salute of twenty-one guns in honour of the 
 anniversary of the Czar's coronation. " May 
 Allah destroy him !" was the appropriate 
 Moslem exclamation, when, after due search 
 in a Russian military almanack, the cause of 
 the salute was discovered and conveyed to 
 the soldiery. Three or four days after 
 another blank salute sent them again to 
 their almanack. This time it was an imperial 
 birthday, that of the Emperor or Czarevitch. 
 Whichever it was, the object of the salute 
 had the same Turkish good wishes as on the 
 former occasion. Sometimes there was a 
 light cavalry skirmish out in the plain ; and 
 228 
 
 on such occasions 'a good deal of artillery 
 fire was apt to take place as the combatants 
 came within range of the guns on either 
 side. As a rule, some five or six men were 
 killed, and twice as many wounded. Rarely 
 did the affair go further. 
 
 Towards the end of September, however, 
 the Russians having received considerable 
 reinforcements, there were indications of a 
 renewal of the struggle. These reinforce- 
 ments consisted of the 1st division of the 
 Moscow grenadiers, sixteen battalions, each 
 fully 1,000 men strong, together with forty- 
 eight field-pieces, and two regiments of 
 cavalry. After almost equally long de- 
 liberations, it was decided to make a general 
 attack on Mukhtar Pasha's position on the 
 Aladja mountain and its dependencies of 
 spurs and isolated hills, forming — from the 
 Arpa Tchai river, in the neighbourhood of 
 Ani, to Kars — a continuity of natural 
 strongholds, intrenchments, and batteries. 
 October 2nd was fixed for its commence- 
 ment. Although deep secrecy had ap- 
 parently been kept among the superior 
 generals on the subject, enough of the plan 
 of operations transpired beforehand to leave 
 no doubt about the general features of the 
 impending operations. Everybody in the 
 camp knew what was about to go on, to the 
 great astonishment of the staff". At last 
 they became aware that a man of certain 
 consideration, who was in the habit of 
 sneaking through the camps, without pro- 
 fessing to follow any honest vocation or 
 business, had disappeared on the very eve 
 of the day of action. Though no conclusive 
 proof of his guilt was brought forward, 
 public opinion adjudged him guilty of 
 being a Turkish spy. He did not return, 
 warned, perhaps, by a bad presentiment or 
 some accomplice. 
 
 The general plan of operations was as 
 follows .-—General Sholkownikoff", who, in 
 the absence of General Dewel, was in com- 
 mand of the 40th division on the left, was 
 ordered to turn the Aladja Dagh from Ani 
 with five battalions and a battery. He was 
 expected to reach its summit, and, descend- 
 ing from it, to fall on Mukhtar Pasha's 
 rear. A brigade of the same division was 
 to keep the enemy at bay on his right wing, 
 assisted by a heavy batter} established there 
 some days before, which, as a mere demon- 
 stration, had to cannonade the Kizil Tepe. 
 Here no assault was premeditated, and the 
 object was only to draw the enemy's atten- 
 tion to this point, important for him, but 
 
 *-f 
 
 A.D, 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [attack on little tagni. 
 
 not for the Russians. To General Heimann, 
 with the Circassian division of grenadiers, 
 was entrusted the task of closing in with 
 the enemy's centre and main force, so as to 
 prevent him from withdrawing his troops 
 from Subatan, in order to reinforce other 
 positions which it was intended to take, if 
 possible. To his right, the 1st division 
 of the Moscow grenadiers, at General Loris 
 Melikoff^s direct disposal, had to act against 
 the Yagni hills. The Great Yagni, situated 
 about ten miles from the Russian camp, 
 was a very regular conical hill, with a 
 plateau at the top, towering 750 feet over 
 the plains and smooth undulations stretch- 
 ing from Kurukdara to Kars. A direct 
 assault on that hill, which on former occa- 
 sions had cost the Russians a good deal of 
 blood, was considered as likely to lead to 
 no good result, and in consequence its cap- 
 ture did not enter into the original disposi- 
 tions. 
 
 The real and most important point, 
 according to the views of the staff", against 
 which all efforts had to be concentrated, 
 was Little Yagni, an entirely isolated, 
 bulky elevation, with a comparatively ex- 
 tensive platform on the top. Though of 
 considerably less height than its namesake, 
 its sides were quite as steep, while a rocky 
 crest, very much like that of the Kizil 
 Tepe, bordered its extended summit. This, 
 however, did not consist of a uniform level, 
 but was separated by an intervening flat 
 depression, so as to form three distinct 
 terraces, of which the southern one was 
 about 200 feet higher than the northern. 
 This hill, situated at a distance of about 
 nine miles from Kars and two from the 
 Great Yagni, completely stopped the road 
 from Kurukdara to that fortress. It is 
 very probable that the information upon 
 which it had not only been strongly forti- 
 fied and garrisoned by Turkish infantry, 
 but was also armed with twenty cannon of 
 heavy calibre, was received from spies. 
 The honour of taking by assault this com- 
 manding point was conferred upon the 2nd 
 brigade of the Moscow grenadiers, under 
 Major-General Count Grabbe, and eight 
 battalions detached from Ardahan for that 
 purpose, under General Komaroff", who had 
 been slightly wounded on the 25th of 
 August, but had since recovered. His 
 fellow-sufferer. General Tshadtchewadze, 
 wounded on the same day, had also re- 
 assumed his command of the whole cavalry. 
 Three battalions, which, as a rule, garrisoned 
 
 VOL. Ill, 2 H 
 
 the fortress of Alexandropool, had also been 
 ordered to Karajal, to cover the camp and 
 head-quarters, and to form the re>erve of 
 the 2nd brigade of the 70th division, 
 which had nothing to do but to check an 
 improbable offensive movement of the 
 Turks against the Russian left wing oppo- 
 site the Kizil and the Yagni Tepes. 
 
 The general object apparently was to 
 carry out a complete turning movement on 
 both hostile wings, either to surround 
 Mukhtar Pasha entirely, or to cut off his 
 communication with Kars. Could tliis 
 have been effectually managed, no doubt 
 he would have been compelled to surrender 
 with his army within a few days ; for, his 
 supplies of ammunition and provisions 
 being in danger of immediate exhaustion, 
 he must either have broken through the 
 Russian lines, or tried to make his way 
 with disbanded troops across the Russian 
 territory, in the hope of joining his com- 
 rade, Ismael Hakki Pasha, who was still 
 intrenched before Igfdir. 
 
 The troops ordered for the advance 
 started from their camps at eight o'clock 
 in the evening of October 1st. At three 
 o'clock precisely the next morning the staff" 
 followed, riding at a moderate speed, to the 
 south-west, on a country track over the vast 
 plain. The way was lit by the waning 
 moon anjd countless stars shining with in- 
 tense brilliancy. A cold wind made the 
 trip by no means pleasant, as it brought 
 the temperature near to the freezing-point. 
 The staff consisted of about fifty persons — 
 general officers, aides-de-camp, and ser- 
 vants — escorted by three sotnias of Cossacks 
 from the Caucasus, not armed with lances, 
 but accoutred and dressed like genuine 
 Circassians. The ground, in appearance 
 almost level, was, in fact, cut through at 
 intervals by a few r^cky ravines, between 
 which lay long-stretching undulations 
 rising gradually towards the south. After 
 two hours and a-half of wearisome riding, 
 they arrived at dawn of day at an eminence 
 some 150 feet above the flat-topped ridge 
 of the rising ground called the Kabak Tepe 
 (Pumpkin Hill), 
 
 Hitherto no reports of fire-arms had been 
 beard. But from the top of this command- 
 ing point, at half-past five, sharp and 
 general firing suddenly began. To the 
 right and left, the roar of the cannons, and 
 the sharp, dry, knocking, rattling of the 
 musketry came down, sounding in the dis- 
 tance like the noise produced by the work 
 
 229 
 
 •», 
 
TEBTOUS CANNONADE,] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 r 
 
 of some hundred road-makers, breaking- 
 flint- stones in a re-echoing hall. The 
 principal object of attack, the Little Yagni, 
 . rising now clear in sight, frowned over the 
 plains of Kars like an impregnable fortress. 
 Its summit was surrounded with breast- 
 works, ditches, rifle-pits, and batteries. 
 The Moscow grenadiers and the Ardahan 
 division were already supposed to be at 
 work, but in fact they were not. There 
 were only some forty guns firing, with a 
 range of three miles, at earthworks which 
 were prudently left empty by the Turks. 
 Had the infantry been led immediately to 
 the assault in tirailleur lines before the 
 dawn of day, without firing a single round 
 they would have carried that hill, in all 
 probability, within half-an-hour. In the 
 way the attack was conducted, it was obvious 
 that the enemy, who had there about 3,000 
 men, had time to bring all his available 
 means to the defences. 
 
 ^ As it was, the twelve hours' cannonading 
 did no harm whatever to the earthworks, 
 and inflicted only trifling losses on the 
 garrison, for they had, for the most part, 
 retired to the sides of the hill that were out 
 of range. Meanwhile, on the centre, the 
 impetuous General Heimann had already 
 hurled his division in skirmishing lines 
 against the Aladja mountain, and its 
 northern continuation, the Olya Tepe, 
 separated from it by the upper part of the 
 ravine running down to Subatan. The 
 incessant sharp volleys gave evidence that 
 the Turkish main force had been concen- 
 trated there. It was soon clear, also, that 
 a direct assault on those rocky steeps and 
 terraces, strengthened by numerous in- 
 trenchments and stone barricades, had no 
 better chance of succeeding than on pre- 
 vious occasions. Within the first half- 
 hour it was clear that the carefully elabo- 
 rated plan of operations again combined all 
 the faults of previous tactics, magnified, 
 moreover, by the absence of that dash 
 which, at the beginning of the present 
 campaign, was characteristic of the Russian 
 army. 
 
 Some one seems to have suggested, and 
 brought others to believe, that in this 
 breech-loading time an assault by infantry 
 is obsolete and unnecessary, and that all 
 war might, with less eff'usion of blood, be 
 just as well, or better, done by the artillery 
 alone. Such seemed to be the erroneous 
 idea at head-quarters. Yet, of all the shells 
 fhed during this, or any other war in recent 
 230. 
 
 [a.d. 1877. 
 
 times, by way of preparing an infantry 
 attack, but very few, indeed, ever caused 
 serious damage. During the battle of Aladja 
 Dagh, when they burst in the earth, it was at 
 such a depth that their weak charges were 
 unable to overcome its resistance, and, con- 
 sequently, the fragments did not fly off". 
 They only exploded properly when the shell 
 happened to strike on a rock or other hard 
 substance; whilst at the ridiculous distances 
 of above three miles from which they were 
 fired, they produced little more than an 
 harmless shower of leaden drops. Anyhow, 
 artillery alone was not capable of dislodginc' 
 such stubborn soldiers as the Turks, and 
 thus the cannon still boomed at the rocks 
 and the earth, while masses of infantry 
 were either idling as reserves in the depres- 
 sions of the ground, or were employed in a 
 disastrous but useless skirmishing with the 
 enemy. For hours each tirailleur lay be- 
 hind a heap of stones, which he had pre- 
 viously piled up for his shelter, and took a 
 deliberate aim at some similarly protected 
 adversary. Such fighting only kills and 
 wounds, without the hope of a useful 
 result. At six o'clock in the morning, this 
 state of things was, on both wings, as clear 
 as the rising sun, whose rays gilded the 
 glorious white crown of Mount Ararat. In 
 the centre stood, three miles off", cutting 
 the blue sky with its regular conical profile^ 
 Great Yagni. It covered the front of 
 Mukhtar Pasha's centre and left wing, com- 
 manding the plain before them, and 
 enjoyed the reputation of impregnability, 
 smce at diff"erent times various Russian 
 assaults on its sS-ep slopes had been re- 
 pulsed with considerable loss. From its 
 foot to its top it was covered with rifle-pits 
 and ditches in three superposed rows, cut 
 in conformity with the configuration of 
 the ground in projecting and re-entering 
 angles. 
 
 The prospects of success there appeared, 
 indeed, so very poor, that it was considered, 
 by the Russian staff, useless to attempt the 
 conquest of that natural fortress. There- 
 fore, only a demonstration, supported by a 
 brigade and two batteries, was intended 
 against it, calculated to distract the enemy's 
 attention from the more serious attacks on 
 the Little Yagni. But on examining the 
 Great Yagni, it was found that its garrison 
 was exceedingly feeble. The breastworks on 
 Its base and its middle were not manned at 
 all ; and even the fortifications bordering the 
 top plateau were only very insufficiently 
 
 ?1 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [capture of great YAGNf. 
 
 armed, as was proved by the spasmodic and 
 unconnected rifle-firing and the apparent 
 absence of cannon. On learning this. 
 General Lor is Melikoff ordered a general 
 assault on the hill. From three sides the 
 troops advanced in skirmishing lines, with 
 supports and reserves, cheering as they 
 passed their commanding general, who 
 spoke to them some encouraging words. 
 The cannons, redoubling their firing, flung 
 shrapnel after shrapnel to the top. An 
 hour afterwards the whole hill was swarm- 
 ing with grenadiers, who steadily climbed 
 up its steeps, despite the frantic firing of its 
 defenders. At eight o'clock, the Turkish 
 battalion on the summit of the Great 
 Yagni had ceased to exist. The Russians 
 had entirely occupied the impregnable hill, 
 and were waving joyously their caps and 
 muskets. 
 
 While this was being accomplished, the 
 indiff'erent cannonading on the right, be- 
 tween the Russian batteries and those on 
 the Little Yagni, was still going on. It 
 might have continued for a century, and 
 nothing would have come of it. As soon 
 as it became evident that the men on the 
 top of Great Yagni were genuine Russians 
 and not Turks, the staff" rode off in order to 
 inspect the conquered position, and to 
 decide the further course of operations now 
 possible through so brilliant a beginning. 
 The hill was rather too steep for the horses, 
 and they rode round it to the right, over 
 the plain two miles wide which separated it 
 from Little Yagni, between which and Kars 
 one of the Russian infantry regiments had 
 already been deployed in skirmishing order, 
 and was engaged with that garrison, whilst 
 strong bodies of cavalry, commanding that 
 plain, challenged in vain the Turkish 
 irregular horsemen. All their ferocious 
 Circassians, disgusted on account of their 
 receiving neither pay nor food, had left 
 Mukhtar's camp in a wholesale desertion a 
 fortnight before. Only worthless, cowardly 
 Kurds remained fox the sake of murder and 
 plundering. 
 
 Having arrived on the slopes of the Great 
 Yagni, General Melikoff surveyed the field. 
 Opposite to the Great Yagni ran a high 
 barren ridge, sloping gradually upward to 
 the flat-topped summit of the Olya Tepe, 
 which was severed from the Aladja mountain 
 by the Subatan ravine, about two miles above 
 the village of Hadji Velikoi. This com- 
 manding point — the most important of the 
 whole Turkish position, and subsequently 
 
 well fortified — was literally inaccessible 
 from the plain at the foot of the Aladja, 
 towards which it fell off" some 1,500 feet in 
 a succession of steep gradients and perpen- 
 dicular rocks. At its base the Turks had con- 
 centrated their main force ; and Mukhtar, 
 relying on the strength of Great Yagni, 
 had neglected to occupy the summit with 
 the necessary troops. This fact had been 
 ascertained by the cavalry patrols. Two 
 squadrons of Cossacks had even remained 
 for two hours at Vezinkoi, a village situated 
 to the south of that elevation, right across 
 Mukhtar's only line of retreat, where they 
 met not a single Turkish soldier. The 
 pasha, moreover, was utterly unable to send 
 a sufficient force quickly enough to the 
 Olya Tepe, because he was closely pressed 
 in front bv the 2nd brigade of the Cauca- 
 sian grenadiers, under Major-General von 
 Schack, a Prussian by birth and education. 
 Six of the Russian battalions had just 
 descended the Great Yagni ; six others were 
 near at hand ; and had they been momenta- 
 rily withdrawn from the attack on the Little 
 Yagni, it is probable that they would have 
 taken the Olya Tepe, almost without loss, 
 from the side of its totally unoccupied south- 
 ern ridge. Possibly such movements did 
 not enter the original plan ; but plans are 
 worthless when the fighting has once begun, 
 and all depends on the capacity to seize the 
 favourable opportunity. 
 
 It seems that General Loris Melikoff' 
 asked an officer whether he knew the road 
 to Vezinkoi. The Olya Tepe was obviously 
 the only tactical object worth storming at 
 any cost ; it was the magic point from 
 which the fate of the day was suspended by 
 a thread. lis occupation by the Russians 
 would have unavoidably led to the destruc- 
 tion of Mukhtar Pasha's entire army. Its 
 very key, the Great Yagni, was already in 
 their hands. But at this moment. General 
 Heimann, in an interview with Loris Meli- 
 koff, was pleased to assert formally that his 
 troops, advancing from the Subatan plain, 
 were quite able to finish taking the Olya 
 Tepe, as they had done with the Great 
 Yagni, and that, therefore, the available 
 force might be advantageously employed 
 against the Little Yagni and the garrison of 
 Kars. This strange opinion prevailed. 
 General Loris Melikoff^s genius was im- 
 paired by pernicious advice. His whole 
 staff recognised it, but nobody ventured to 
 utter an objection. General Heimann, of 
 course, did not take the Olya Tepe as h^ 
 
 231 
 
THE OLYA TEPE.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1877. 
 
 had proirised, in his sanoruine fashion, but 
 was, on the contrary, repulsed with con- 
 siderable loss; while the three brigades 
 ordered to assail the Little Yagni had no 
 better chance. Even had the Russians had 
 a reserve of 50,000 men more, they, too, 
 would never have succeeded in the attempt 
 of taking those fortifications and works by 
 assaulting them. This was conspicuous 
 enough at nine o'clock in the morning ; and 
 the wisest plan would have been then to 
 withdraw the troops, for the opportunity 
 had been missed. 
 
 The staff turned its back to the Olya 
 Tepe, and followed the zigzags of the road 
 which the Turks had recently made for the 
 convenience of the garrison on the summit 
 of the Great Yagni. Company after com- 
 pany, as they descended the hill, cheered 
 the commanding general, who wished them 
 good luck. On the hill-side lay a young 
 grenadier, moaning as he tried to lift his 
 head and rest on his elbow to answer the 
 questions and receive the consolations of 
 the general. Overcome, however, by weak- 
 ness and pain, he fell back and shut his 
 eyes, while the blood still gushed from the 
 wound in his side. Higher up, a dead Turk, 
 stretched across the narrow track on his 
 face, compelled the staff to make a circuit. 
 On reaching, at last, the level top of Great 
 Yagni, a ghastly sight struck their eyes. 
 All the pits and ditches around were filled 
 with the corpses of Turks. The dead were 
 almost all shot through their heads, because 
 the remaining parts of their bodies had 
 been sheltered by the parapets. Here they 
 lay as they fell, on their backs or faces, 
 side by side, or one above the other. A 
 negro with grinning teeth hung right across 
 a white soldier, and his long arms stretched 
 out over the rocky abyss. Some preserved 
 the ferocious expression which they had 
 borne when still alive, and lay with clenched 
 lists and distorted limbs ; others, calm and 
 quiet, looked like stone. In a pit, opposite 
 each other, sat two Softas. Though in the 
 uniform of soldiers, they were easily recog- 
 nised as religious students by the white 
 muslin band tied around their fezzes. One 
 had his skull laid open by a shell-fragment, 
 and the other was shot through the temple. 
 Both had obviously been killed by the 
 same shrapnel. Some hundred dead bodies 
 encumbered the trenches ; others lay strewn 
 over the hill-side. 
 
 Meanwhile General Heimann vainly en- 
 deavoured to force the position of the Turks 
 232 
 
 on the southern bases of the Olya Tepe, 
 and soon asked for reinforcements. There 
 could not be spared as long as the attack on 
 the Little Yagni was being carried on : and 
 this hill the Russians erroneously looke*l 
 upon as the key of the position. At one 
 moment it seemed as though success weie 
 about to crown the endeavours of the Rus- 
 sians to carry the Olya with success. This 
 was when, at about 1 P.M., General Schol- 
 kownikoff's brigade appeared on the heights 
 of the Aladja, in the rear and flank of 
 Mukhtar Pasha's position. But Mukhtar 
 Pasha had taken his precautions, and had 
 posted a force on the Aladja Dagh, which 
 not only effectually checked Scholkowni- 
 koff's advance, but also forced him to 
 retreat. 
 
 With this failure to force Mukhtar Pasha's 
 rear, the battle was practically at an end. 
 
 In its immediate results the success of 
 the Russians was a barren one, as will be 
 plainly seen on consulting sketch S, which 
 represents the field looking from Kuruk- 
 dara towards Kars. They had succeeded 
 in inserting a wedge between the ex- 
 treme left and centre of the Turks on 
 the Great Yagni; but were there con- 
 fronted by the positions on the Olya 
 Tepe, and, moreover, exposed to the fire of 
 the Little Yagni and the battalions on the 
 northern slopes of the Aladja Dagh. The 
 position was clearly untenable, and, if tena- 
 ble, useless except at a large expenditure of 
 time, and trouble, and blood, in fortifying 
 it and erecting batteries to bear upon the 
 three positions of the enemy around it. 
 Consequently, it is not surprising that the 
 Russians should have withdrawn the troops 
 who had occupied it, as they did on thb 
 following day. 
 
 But though the immediate results of the 
 day were barren, the indirect gain was 
 great, as the success of General Scholkow- 
 nikoff in gaining the rear of the Turkish 
 positions, demonstrated the possibility of 
 dealing a crushing attack against Mukhtar 
 Pasha m this direction, if carried out in 
 sufficient force. 
 
 And not only that. It had also been dis- 
 covered that the Olya Tepe was the best key 
 to the positions of the Turks. As long as 
 that remained in their hands they could 
 always fall back upon it from the Aladja 
 Dagh and the Little Yagni, and thence 
 retreat into Kars. But the Olya Tepe once 
 m Russian hands, the retreat to Kars would 
 be intercepted, and the whole Turkish army 
 
 ' A.D. 1877.J 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [attack on Russian camp. 
 
 be surrounded if, in addition to the Olya 
 Tepe, the Russians should also gain the 
 rear of the Aladja Dagh in force. 
 
 Mukhtar Pasha plainly saw the danger 
 of his position, but he was almost power- 
 less to avert it ; for whilst the Russians had 
 been receiving reinforcements daily, his 
 own army had been growing less and less. 
 There were only two courses of action rea- 
 sonably open to him. These were, to take 
 
 At half-past two o'clock, p.m., the Rus- 
 sians saw three strong lines of Turkish 
 tirailleurs, one behind the other, advancing, 
 rifles in hand, at a quick pace. They 
 occupied a front of at least three miles in 
 length, were preceded by two batteries, and 
 followed by compact supports and reserves, 
 all arranged in perfect order. The whole 
 force consisted of about 15,000 men, having 
 their right wing covered by the Elizil Tepe, 
 
 S— First Battle of Aladja Dagh, October 2, 1877. 
 
 S. 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 N. 
 
 Ears. 
 
 Vezinkoi. 
 Orlok. o 
 
 K, 
 
 Aladja Dagh. 
 
 [ 
 
 B 
 
 Olya Tepe. 
 
 . 
 
 L- 
 
 R. Arpa. 
 
 Ani. 
 
 Gt. 
 
 r "^ 
 
 L. 
 
 ■J 
 
 [8J 
 
 Yagni. 
 
 Kalif Oglu. 
 
 SI 
 
 Hadjirali. o 
 
 S I 
 
 Subatan. o 
 
 I 
 
 Kabak 
 T. 
 
 Utch Tepe. 
 
 {MP 
 
 KizU T. 
 
 o Eurukdara. 
 
 I I 
 
 Russiam. 
 Turks. 
 
 R. Kars Tchai. 
 
 o Yamusbll. 
 
 a vigorous offensive, and endeavour to 
 strike a decisive blow on the Russian camp 
 at Karajal and Kurukdara, or to fall back 
 with his whole army on Kars, and contiuue J 
 his retreat to Erzeroum. 
 
 The latter would probably have been his 
 best course; but he was naturally disinclined 
 to retreat ; and so, on the following day, 
 October 3rd, he decided on making an at- 
 tempt to dislodge the Russians from their 
 camp on the Karajal. 
 
 and ready to make a desperate attack on 
 the Karajal camp. They supposed that the 
 greater part of the Russian forces had been 
 brought over to the right wing. They were 
 the more led to believe this as, on the pre- 
 vious day, no signs of troops had been shown 
 at Karajal. Greneral Lazare tF, however, 
 with the 40th division, backed by a regi- 
 ment of the garrison of Alexandropol and 
 numerous horsemen, lay in ambush for them 
 during the course of that dav; for the 
 
 
 ♦ i#l 
 
M: 
 
 : i 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 hi 
 
 FAILURE OF THE TURKS.] HISTORY OF THE rA.D. 1877. 
 
 Russians, having received information, I slowly, but always firing. It was of no 
 through their spies, of the projected avail. They were driven back irresistibly 
 attack, were quite prepared to receive the ' from undulation to undulation, till at last 
 
 assaulting foe. Their soldiers lay in rows 
 concealed in the folds of the ground, or 
 behind pyramidal heaps of loose stones. 
 Ostensibly, only two battalions and a bat- 
 tery, together with some cavalry, leaving 
 the Karajal position, marched to the fight. 
 The Turks, encouraged by this apparent 
 weakness, hastened their steps. Their bat- 
 teries galloped ahead, and opened a brisk 
 shell-fire on those of the Russians, who 
 replied steadily with only eight guns. At 
 the same time the Kizil Tepe flung shell 
 after shell at all moving objects on the field 
 — ammunition carts, red-cross waggons, 
 cavalry, herds, and labourers — but without 
 hurting anything but the soil. The skir- 
 mishers, too, rattled away while the Turkish 
 infantry drew nearer and nearer, without 
 firing a round. They dived down into the 
 ravines and reappeared, always resolutely 
 advancing against the Russian cannons, 
 which had in the meanwhile been reinforced 
 by another battery of eight pieces. Although 
 both were exposed to the bullets, they made 
 DO preparations for limbering up, but con- 
 tinued their slow firing. The Turkish 
 batteries were soon silenced by the advance 
 of their own men, who masked them. 
 
 At last the Turks saw the sunbeams 
 dancing on the le^velled rifle-barrels peepin^- 
 
 they turned their backs and ran, seekino- 
 shelter behind their pits and breastworks! 
 But again and again the Russians followed 
 and dislodged them at a rush with the 
 bayonet, compelling them to recede, either 
 step by step, or in short runs. The Turks 
 became, from minute to minute, more dis- 
 heartened. Soon they had had enough of 
 the game, and shortly after nightfall were in 
 precipitous flight towards their fortified 
 camp around Subatan. General Lazareff 
 pursued them fast, even through the dark. 
 His lanterns were the incessant sparkling of 
 the long line of firing rifles, and the occa- 
 sional broad flash of the cannons. When 
 he had lost sight and feeling of the 
 frightened enemy in that pitch-dark night, 
 the firing died, when they took reftige 
 behind their intrenchments; while the Rus- 
 sians, after having thrown up breastworks 
 and pits, passed the night on the ground 
 they had so gallantly conquered. Their 
 losses were severe ; the 40th division alone 
 losing over 700 killed and wounded. Alto- 
 gether, the two days' fighting had cost about 
 9,000 men. 
 
 The failure of his attempt on the Karajal 
 positions, coupled with the intelligence that 
 the Russians were still receiving reinforce- 
 ments, decided Mukhtar Pasha to draw in 
 
 behind stones and sods, and began firing his lines; and at the same time, sending 
 
 with frantift ramnifv. hiif. t\\c\ nrkf olooL-cn «^rl,^^o *^ tj..i.i.: t i ^ :. „ ^ 
 
 with frantic rapidity, but did not slacken 
 moving ahead. Only stray shots from sharp- 
 shooters answered the challenge. Finally, 
 however, the Russians lost their temper, 
 and, returning the fire volley for volley, 
 showed a line of battle of no less extent and 
 power than that of their adversaries. Then 
 they rose together and faced the shower of 
 lead, advancing and firing, firing and 
 advancing, line after line, running from 
 cover to cover, but always moving ahead, 
 right down on the enemy. Every soldier 
 
 eyes were especially fixed on him. It was 
 refreshing to see how this division, in con- 
 trast with the monotonous unproductive 
 skirmishing of their comrades on the pre- 
 vious day, went on without a moment's 
 hesitation, with admirable and matchless 
 courage. The Turks became demoralised 
 by this unexpected resistance, supported by 
 forces quite equal to theirs, if, indeed, not 
 superior. Their advance was checked, and 
 
 orders to Hakki Ismail to recross the fron- 
 tier and fall back upon Delibaba, he ordered, 
 on October 8th, the evacuation of the Kizil 
 Tepe and the lines at Subatan. This was 
 carried out with complete success ; for on the 
 morning of the 9th October the Russians 
 were infinitely astonished at the nocturnal 
 retreat. Still they lost no time in taking 
 advantage of it ; and towards eight o'clock 
 the entire Russian army was in movement, 
 advancing straight towards the abandoned 
 positions. Seven squadrons of Cossacks, 
 
 seemed to believe that the grand duke's preceded by a long line of cavalrv skir- 
 
 eVPS Wfirft PRnfi/»inl]T7 fiver? r^r. ln'rv. T* «,^« ^:«i n. i.^ t 1 /. ,, ,*'. 
 
 mishers, came first, closely followed by an 
 ominous-looking line of batteries. It was 
 a moment of intense anxiety for the Turks, 
 who believed the enemy was about to make 
 a general assault. The Cossacks entered 
 Subatan, and five minutes after, eight guns 
 were in position on the ridge above the vil- 
 lage. Hadji Veli was next occupied, and 
 simultaneously a column of infantry scaled 
 the isolated hill of Kizil Tepe, the capture 
 
 came to a standstill. Soon they retrograded i of which had earned for Mukhtar Pasha the 
 234 ' 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [turning aladja dagb. 
 
 title of " Ghazi," or " Victorious," conferred 
 by the Sultan, together with a sabre of 
 honour, a decoration in diamonds, and two 
 horses from the Padishah's own stables. The 
 Russians at once opened fire, believing for 
 the moment that the whole army was 
 retreating ; but by the evening they be- 
 came aware of the true nature of the move- 
 ment. 
 
 On the 10th all was still. Not a shot 
 from either side, except from one large 
 position gun which the Russians had estab- 
 lished on Kizil Tepe, and from which they 
 threw occasional shells against the redoubt 
 on Lakiridgi Tepe, a conical hill on the 
 extreme right of the Turks. Large masses 
 of Russian troops moved over the plain by 
 Kabak Tepe, ultimately reoccupyicg the 
 greater Yagni Hill, and erecting a heavy 
 battery on the slope commanding the Olya 
 Tepe, whilst long columns were seen by the 
 Turks, defiling towards their right, march- 
 ing in the direction of the ruined city of 
 Ani, on the banks of the Arpa Tchai river. 
 They subsequently disappeared, and the 
 Turks were quite at a loss to account for 
 their destination, till in the afternoon the 
 marshal and his staff rode to the summit of 
 Aladja to reconnoitre, and soon divined the 
 nature of the movement. The fact was, 
 that General Lazaretf, with twenty-six 
 battalions, forty-eight field-pieces, and six 
 regiments of cavalry, was directing a flank 
 movement from the south-east on Mukhtar's 
 line of communication with Kars,and even- 
 tually Erzeroum ; General Scholkownikoff s 
 experiences having demonstrated its prac- 
 ticability. At the same time a field-tele- 
 graph line was established without inter- 
 ruption from the Karajal head -quarters to 
 General Lazarefi's division, following him 
 all along his circuitous march of at least 
 forty miles through a mountainous, hostile 
 country, completely in the rear of the 
 actual Turkish positions : and that this was 
 accomplished without opposition or inter- 
 ruption, fully proves that Mukhtar Pasha 
 was ignorant of Lazarefl"s flank movement. 
 The telegraphic communication was indeed 
 once interrupted, and much anxiety was 
 felt about it ; but within two hours it was 
 re-established. The wind, and not malicious 
 Turks, had thrown down some of the poles. 
 This shows, therefore, that the pasha's 
 hasty retreat from Subatan and the Kizil 
 Tepe was prompted by the comparatively 
 enormous losses he had sustained from the 
 relentless fighting during the week previous 
 
 to his withdrawal, from wholesale desertions, 
 and the reinforcements of the Russians, 
 and not by General LazarefTs intrepid in- 
 terposition. Had his valuable Circassian 
 scouts not disappeared, driven away in 
 despair and disgust, they would have as- 
 suredly succeeded in fathoming the Russian 
 design, or at least in destroying the telegraph 
 line, which enabled a simultaneous move- 
 ment of two columns to be carried out, the 
 object of which was to envelop Mukhtar 
 .Pasha, and compel him either to starve on 
 his barren cold summits or to surrender, 
 for General Lazareff was directed to attack 
 and occupy the Orlok summit and Vezinkoi, 
 while the main army attacked the same 
 points from the front. 
 
 Meanwhile, Mukhtar Pasha took such 
 precautions as he was able against the turn- 
 ing movement being carried out by General 
 Lazareff, and sent Selim Pasha with fifteen 
 battalions to meet him, reinforcing this 
 body of men subsequently with a second 
 division, and entrusting the whole command 
 to Raschid Pasha. 
 
 Against this force, however, General 
 Lazareff was marching with twenty-seven 
 battalions, forty guns, and six regiments of 
 cavalry. His march across the mountains 
 was, of course, somewhat hampered by his 
 cannons and military train, which com- 
 pelled him to seek and follow a rather 
 circuitous carriage road. He was at first 
 guided by the Arpa Tchai river down to 
 Kotchiran. P'rom here he passed over to 
 Dighur, where he left two battalions ; and 
 then, wheeling round to the north-west, he 
 chose for his mark the Orlok Hill and 
 Vezinkoi, This village, strongly in- 
 trenched, secured Mukhtar's position and 
 his communication with Kars ; and Raschid 
 Pasha's duty was to prevent their falling 
 into the hands of the Russians. But after 
 a sharp engagement on the 12th October, 
 in which Raschid was overpowered by the 
 superior forces of the Russians, Lazareff 
 occupied the Oghur Hill, in the rear of the 
 Aladja, on the following day. Then he 
 telegraphed to the grand duke's head- 
 quarters that Mukhtar w^s before him with 
 superior forces, and he urged, therefore, 
 that a simultaneous attack might be directed 
 against the Turkish lines from the Russian 
 front. Tiiis message reached the grand 
 duke precisely at three o'clock on the 
 morning of the 14th. The commander-in- 
 chief at once complied with Lazareff's 
 request. That this was possible was solely 
 
 235 
 
 
■ U 
 
 BATTLE OF ALADJA DAGH.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1877. 
 
 
 
 
 
 due to the remarkable circumstance that a 
 field telegraph had been established, with 
 laudable celerity and regularity, throughout 
 the length of the circuitous line of opera- 
 tions. 
 
 The necessary dispositions were speedily 
 taken, and, on October 14, General Heimann 
 was charged to carry the Olya Tepe at any 
 cost, and had for that purpose the division 
 of the Caucasian grenadiers and fifty-six 
 cannon at his disposal. The Moscow 
 grenadiers, posted on his left, received 
 orders to refrain from acting until that hill 
 was taken. They formed the reserve, and 
 observed the enemy's movements on tlie 
 Aladja Dagh. Opposite this mountain a 
 heavy battery of 24-pounders had, since the 
 12th, bombarded the enemy's camp there 
 night and day, at intervals of fifteen 
 minutes, in order to disturb it and harass 
 the Turks. The right wing was covered 
 by the Ardahan brigade, under General 
 Komaroff, and some regiments of cavalry, 
 which were intended to check the garrison 
 of Kars, and that of the Little Yagni. 
 These positions are shown in the preceding 
 sketch, which exhibits the plan of attack 
 and its ultimate result. Early in the 
 morning of October 15, the acfion com- 
 menced with the attack on the Olya Tepe, 
 whilst General LazareflF gradually worked 
 round from the position indicated in sketch 
 T, to the north of Orlok and Vezinkoi. 
 
 Soon the Olya Tepe was encircled by two 
 broad rings of white smoke — one around 
 its basis, produced by the incessant firing 
 of fifty-six cannons, and the other, on its 
 summit, by the musketry and artillery of 
 the Turks, and the bursting Russian pro- 
 jectiles. This time the Russian gunners 
 behaved well. They had placed their 
 pieces at the reasonable distance of 1,800 
 yards, and laying aside the inefficient shells, 
 concentrated a shrapnel shower on that 
 part of the enemy's front which had been 
 selected to be assailed by the storming*- 
 battalions. Balls of white smoke, waving 
 for awhile in the calm air like balloons, 
 indicated that th© terrible messengers of 
 death and destruction had burst at the 
 proper point for sending fragments and 
 bullets among the lines of the defenders, 
 whilst three strong columns of grenadiers 
 lay in clusters on the steepest parts of the 
 northern side of the hill, waiting there for 
 final orders, in comparative security, be- 
 cause the Turks behind the breastworks 
 were unable to hit them. Seeing this, 
 236 
 
 Mukhtar Pasha sent a strong line of Turk- 
 ish tirailleurs from the Aladja Dagh oppo- 
 site, to the rescue of the hard-pressed 
 position. But before they could even cross 
 the ravine their advance was arrested by a 
 Russian line, which compelled them to 
 withdraw. At the same time the three 
 columns of Russian grenadiers told-ofF for 
 the assault on the Olya Tepe moved on- 
 ward up that hill. These troops at once 
 swarmed on all sides over the yellow 
 hill. Steadily they climbed towards the 
 summit, always firing, in face of the 
 desperate resistance of the Turks, who 
 disappeared in the smoke. Onward the 
 Russians stormed, crowding more and 
 more together as they approached the cone, 
 towards the enemy, while their batteries 
 covered the top level with shells and 
 shrapnels ; till suddenly repeated hurrahs 
 sounded through the air, and the grenadiers 
 jumped in crowds over the enemy's ditches 
 and parapets. Then the Turks, relinquish- 
 ing all hope, ran for their lives, pursued 
 by bullets and bayonets, and the first posi- 
 tion on the Olya Tepe was won at last. 
 
 The next fortified plateau to the south- 
 west, situated just before that of Vezinkoi, 
 was also stormed within an hour, and the 
 white smoke rose on the opposite side 
 of that village. There General Lazaretf 
 assailed the enemy from his rear, and 
 barred his retreat to Kars. The batteries 
 also closed in with the scattered Turks 
 wherever they perceived them, and covered 
 them with a hail-storm of projectiles. The 
 vanquished foe tried to rally and escape in 
 all directions, but found no issue, and was 
 soon closely hedged in by infantry, artillery, 
 and cavalry. Here it is said that Mukhtar 
 himself was wounded in the hand, and 
 sought for attendance and shelter in Kars, 
 abandoning thus his doomed army. In 
 truth, however, he had not received a 
 scratch. He had commanded the battle 
 from the summit of a hill to the east of the 
 Olya Tepe, and had a narrow escape to 
 Kars with his staff, by availing himself of 
 the opening between the Russian centre 
 and General LazareflF. 
 
 Another party of Turks—the bulk of the 
 garrison of the Olya Tepe and its environs- 
 were pursued through a pretty large valley, 
 which is formed by the upper part of the 
 Subatan streamlet and its tributaries ; but 
 the garrison of the Little Yagni managed 
 to eti'ect its escape with all its guns and 
 stores. Meanwhile, the troops on the 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [mukhtar's flight. 
 
 Aladja Dagh, and a great number of those 
 at Orlok and Vezinkoi, finding themselves 
 surrounded, were obliged to yield. This 
 wholesale surrender amounted to twenty-six 
 battalions, thirty-six cannons, and seven 
 pashas, amongst them Raschid Pasha him- 
 self; altogether, about 12,000 prisoners. 
 The losses in killed and wounded, on the 
 Turkish side, amounted to over 5,000 men, 
 whilst the Russians escaped with about 
 
 force even insufficient, it was not to be ex- 
 pected that it would long remain an 
 impediment in the way of Loris Melikoff. 
 Thus the campaign in Armenia, for that 
 year at least, had been decided by the 
 battle of Aladja Dagh. 
 
 After this defeat of the Turkish field army, 
 and the flight of Mukhtar Pasha towards 
 the Soghanli Dagh, the iron band round 
 Kars was so tightly drawn, that no living 
 
 T—Second Battle of Aladja Dagh, October 15, 1877. 
 
 Dighor. 
 o 
 
 IS 
 IS 
 IS 
 
 ■ L 
 
 ^ I Kars. 
 
 Vezinkoi. 
 Orlok. o 
 
 Hadjivali. 
 
 o 
 
 Subatan. 
 
 Eabak 
 T. 
 
 Utch Tepe. 
 
 Kisil Tepe. 
 
 Eurukdara. 
 
 o TamusblL 
 -)( 
 
 2,000. — On the following day, October 
 16th, Mukhtar Pasha remained at Kars, 
 where he left 11,000 men, and on the 17th 
 proceeded, with the remnant of his army 
 (about 3,000 men), towards Erzeroum, to 
 efi"ect a junction with Ismail Hakki Pasha, 
 who was threading his way towards Hassan 
 Kaleh, pursued by General Tergukassoff. 
 Kars alone blocked the way to the Russian 
 advance ; and held by a defeated, dis- 
 organised, disheartened force, and that 
 VOL. IIL 2 I 
 
 Russian*. 
 Turks. 
 * Turis routed, 
 
 being could go out or in without being 
 challenged and stopped. Every day Turks 
 and Armenians, trying to break the block- 
 ade, were arrested, and a heavy artillery fire 
 kept up day and night from the batteries 
 at Metschka and Maghardjik. All this 
 convinced the Turks that the great blow 
 was impending, and that the Russians 
 meant to attack Kars in all earnest ; and 
 when, on November 5th, the Russian army 
 marched from Karajal to Vezinkoi, Husseia 
 
 237 
 
 
MSCRIPTION OF KARS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ', 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 A.D. 1877.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [fall of KARS.' 
 
 
 1 1 
 
 
 Hami Pasha, the commandant, made a 
 Fortie with ten battalions, but was repulsed 
 with such vigour, that the Russians for a 
 few minutes actually penetrated into Fort 
 Hafiz Pasha. The siege batteries were 
 then brought closer to bear upon the east- 
 ern and southern faces of Kars and the 
 girdle of forts around, and the cannonade 
 renewed with increased energy, and prepa- 
 rations made for the assault, which was 
 lixed for November 13th. 
 
 Now Kars, which had become so cele- 
 brated from the stubborn defence in 1855, 
 though strong enough to task any army, 
 was not so strong as it was during the 
 Crimean war ; for after its capture by the 
 Russians, many of the works had been dis- 
 mantled. 
 
 The Mukliss works in the north had not 
 been completed, and were, besides, so con- 
 structed that they did not sweep the whole 
 of the declivity, nor command the paths 
 that led across the river to the Arab Tabia. 
 There was no ditch protecting it, as there 
 ought to have been according to the plan, 
 nor had the works been constructed which 
 were projected for the highest point of the 
 range — about 200 metres off — which com- 
 mands the Mukliss. 
 
 South of the Mukliss lay the Ingliz 
 work. It was a closed work, with one issue 
 from its base on the south-east towards the 
 town. It mounted no cannon, and was only 
 adapted for small-arms fire, but was protected 
 by a trench 7 J feet deep. 
 
 Veli Pasha Tabia consisted of three bas- 
 tioncd faces, closed up in the throat by a 
 crenelated wall and defence barracks, and 
 surrounded by a trench 7| feet deep ; the 
 parapet had a height of nearly 30 feet. 
 There were two entrances to it — one throu^-h 
 the barracks, another into the trench. It 
 had no powder magazine. 
 
 The Tschim was simply a battery, without 
 any trench, but protected by a glacis 75 
 yards in front. It contained a powder maga- 
 zine of a capacity of 50 cubic metres. 
 . West of the Tschim— 1,200 metres dis- 
 tant—lay the Takmash — better known to 
 English readers by the name of Tahmasp. 
 The ascent to this work was graduated, and 
 comparatively easy — a sort of mamelon. It 
 consisted of two closed and connected bas- 
 tions containing barracks and a powder 
 magazine. 
 
 Tich Tepesi— 500 metres north-west of 
 this work — was a closed bastion containing 
 A powder magazine, and provided with ( 
 238 
 
 a trench and a battery in front 25 metres 
 distant, called the Ai Tabia. It mounted 
 eight 24-pounders. The breastworks and 
 batteries, Laz Tepesi, commanding the 
 hamlet of Massad, completed the line of 
 fortifications west of the river Kars-Tchai. 
 
 East of the river, the defences com- 
 menced in the north with the celebrated 
 Arab Tabia on the top of the Kara Dagh, 
 which descends in one unbroken steep de- 
 clivity towards the river, but by three dis- 
 tinct terraces towards the valley on the 
 east; It consisted of a closed bastion with 
 barracks, a small bomb-proof powder matra- 
 zine, and an open work, the whole sur- 
 rounded by a glacis adapted for cannon and 
 rifle-fire. The earth had all to be brought 
 up from the valley below, and there were 
 no trenches or traverses protecting the 
 ramparts. Lying higher than the Ingliz 
 work on the other side of the river, it was 
 an important support against any rear or 
 flank attack upon it. 
 
 The Kara Dagh group consisted of two 
 open works, the chief one nearly surround- 
 ing a plateau of solid rock 20 ft. high, on 
 which the Siaret battery was constructed, 
 commanding the whole group. The chief 
 work contained two powder magazines, the 
 outwork only one. 
 
 Hafiz Pasha Tabia was the strongest of 
 all the works. It was closed, the wall only 
 pierced by one gate towards the town. The 
 whole was surrounded by a deep trench, 
 contained a magazine, and was protected on 
 the south-east by an open outwork called 
 Echali. 
 
 The Chanly Tabia consisted of a closed 
 lunette, and two advanced redoubts, pro- 
 tected by a deep rock-hewn trench and 
 traverses. It contained a powder magazine. 
 
 Suvari, an open work, commanded the 
 road leading from Erzeroum into the town. 
 It contained a small magazine. — So much 
 for the outworks. The citadel was built of 
 brick, with two large and two small towers 
 and a powder magazine. The wall sur- 
 rounding the old town — no other exists — 
 had no military significance whatever. The 
 bomb-proof accommodation in Kars was 
 limited to shelter for 3,000 men in the 
 barracks. Only one of the provision maga- 
 zines, holding four weeks' food, was bomb- 
 proof; but there were five bomb-proof 
 powder magazines, protected against vertical 
 but not against direct fire. 
 
 The armament of the place consisted of 
 150 rifled 24-pounders, mostly muzzle- 
 
 loaders, and fifty-four smooth-bore guns of 
 the same calibre. The garrison should 
 amount to at least 23,000 men ; but the 
 number actually within the walls did not 
 exceed 15,000, with eighteen field-pieces. 
 Water did not exist in any of the outworks 
 beyond what was contained in the cisterns 
 within the closed works. 
 
 Now this description of the place shows 
 sufficiently that Kars was not a town to be 
 taken as soon as looked at, especially when 
 the fact is considered that the rocky nature 
 of the ground would make a regular siege 
 with parallels and zigzags a work of months. 
 This was especially the case with the key of 
 the position — the heights of Kara Dagh, 
 with the Arab Tabia and the Siaret battery 
 within the Kara Dagh group, the earth for 
 which had to be carried up from the valley 
 below. The southern defences to Kars were 
 consequently of smaller value : with the fall 
 of Arab Tabia and Kara Dagh, Hazif Pasha 
 in the south and Mukliss in the west would 
 speedily become untenable. 
 
 When November 13th arrived, however, 
 the weather had made the ground too slip- 
 pery for the attack, which was then post- 
 poned to the night between November 17th 
 and November 18th. 
 
 Referring to the foregoing account, the 
 assault made by the Russians may be easily 
 followed. The columns appointed for the 
 attack silently took up their positions as 
 darkness fell upon the plain. General 
 Lazareff, commanding the right wing, placed 
 himself before the Hafiz Pasha Tabia, 
 situated on a steep valley height, and sur- 
 rounded by a deep ditch. Count Grrabbe, 
 commanding the centre, took up his posi- 
 tion in front of the Chanlv Tabia, a closed 
 lunette, with two advanced redoubts, also 
 protected by a deep trench. Generals Roop 
 and Komaroff, commanding the left, took 
 their places between the Erzeroum road 
 and the river in front of the Suvari Tabia, 
 the open work commanding the Erzeroum 
 road. 
 
 The leading idea in this disposition of 
 the troops was to carry the town and citadel 
 from the south and east, and, by obtaining 
 possession of Hafiz Tabia, to sweep the 
 rocky heights of the Kara Dagh, and allow 
 the storming party to scale them. The 
 attack being carried out by night would 
 prevent the artillery fire from Takmash 
 Tabia and the Tschim battery from flanking 
 the attack on Suvari. — Count Grabbe com- 
 menced the attack in the centre on the i 
 
 Chanly Tabia, and fell dead, pierced by a 
 bullet in the forehead, whilst storming th© 
 works, which were, however, successsfully 
 scaled, in spite of the ladders being a little 
 too short. At the same time, Suvari was 
 taken with a rush, the men pressing onward 
 through the town, driving the Turks before 
 them along the narrow tortuous streett^, and 
 carried the brick-built citadel and its four 
 towers, the attention of Takmash, Veli 
 Pasha, and Tich Tepesi Tabias being en- 
 gaged by smaller parties from the investing 
 lines on the west. Chanly Tabia and Suvari 
 having thus been taken, a portion of the 
 centre was able to co-operate with the right 
 in the assault on Hafiz Pasha Tabia, which 
 fell towards morning, and enabled the men 
 to scale the heights of Kara Dagh, which 
 were only protected by the guns of Hafiz 
 Pasha, and assail the Kara Dai^h Fort in 
 the rear, and force the gates that closed it 
 towards the town. With the chief fort, 
 naturally the outlying works also fell, with 
 their open bases towards the guns turned 
 upon them by the Russians, and at the 
 same time upon Arab Tabia, which tlie 
 Kara Dagh also commanded. The resist- 
 ance at Arab Tabia, however, was stub- 
 born ; but in the morning it was overcome, 
 and the guns played upon the Mukliss and 
 Veli Pasha Tabias, which were consequently 
 also rendered untenable, Takmash Tabia 
 resisting to the last. Harassed thus on all 
 sides in the darkness of night, with not half 
 the men necessary to man the works — to 
 say nothing of reserves — it is not surprising 
 that Hami Pasha, the commandant, was 
 bewildered, or, even were he not bewildered, 
 was powerless to resist the determined on- 
 slaughts all along the line. And when the 
 dawn appeared, and he found Chanly, Hafiz 
 Pasha, and Suvari, with the citadel, in the 
 hands of the Russians, the want of traverses 
 and lines of communication would have 
 prevented his concentrating his forces upon 
 any one point even if he had had the men 
 to concentrate. The best he could do was 
 to defend Veli Pasha and Takmash as long 
 as possible, to secure the retreat of his 
 forces westwards. This he did, and the 
 troops succeeded in escaping from the town, 
 but only to be intercepted and overtaken by 
 the enemy's cavalry, and brought back 
 prisoners to the scene of their defeat, where 
 they were set to work to accomplish, under 
 Russian taskmasters, what their own leaders 
 omitted to do — converting the various 
 works, strengthening them, digging ditches^ 
 
 239 
 
it: 
 
 t 
 
 I 
 
 eSMAN AT BAY.J 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877, 
 
 i-S 
 
 
 \h 
 
 »' 
 
 I 
 ■ « • 
 
 !i 
 
 t . 
 
 'i ( 
 
 : i 
 
 
 erecting breastworks, and carrying out all 
 the various measures which the Eussians 
 determined to adopt to secure them the 
 possession of Kars for ever — or as long as 
 •* for ever " in such matters usually is. The 
 fall of Kars was thus accomplished in one 
 single night ; and naturally there were the 
 usual tales of corruption by Kussian gold. 
 
 Yet the whole proceeding was remarkably 
 simple and easy of unbiassed understanding. 
 It was the very A B C of war ; insufficiently 
 manned forts, a dark night, and a simul- 
 taneoua assault without any premonitory 
 warnings in the shape of a preliminary 
 cannonade to clear the way — a proceeding, 
 by the way, that never accomplishes its 
 object, if the enemy is at all trained to 
 stand artillery fire. The key to the whole 
 mystery — if a matter of course can be called 
 a mystery — lay, firstly, in the fact, that the 
 outworks and forts were not connected, and 
 for the most part not furnished with ditches, 
 whilst the parapets were ill-constructed. 
 Secondly, that the great length of the fire- 
 line — nearly 8,000 yards — required at least 
 a garrison of 24,000 men for its adequate 
 defence; and as the number of troops in 
 Kars, after the defeat of Mukhtar Pasha at 
 Vezinkoi, was barely 15,000 men effective for 
 service, it was abundantly evident that the I 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [fresh RUSSIAN LEVIES. 
 
 place could not hold out long against the 
 forces brought up by the Russians, although 
 the latter included the able-bodied men of 
 Kars in the estimate of their prisoners. 
 
 Undermanned in this way — and that, too, 
 by at least partially demoralised troops— 
 without water, without traverses, the works 
 cut in two by the Kars-Tchai, what wonder 
 that a previously well-concerted plan, mi- 
 nutely settled in all its details, should 
 succeed, when carried out at night by troops 
 yet flushed with their recent victory ? The 
 wonder is that the Turks withstood the 
 assault for so long, and held out for twelve 
 hours against the incessant attacks of the 
 Russians, suffering a loss themselves of 
 about 5,000, and inflicting a loss on their 
 enemies of nearly 3,000, according to their 
 own accounts. The disproportion in the 
 number killed on either side is noteworthy. 
 Had it been reversed, it would have beei 
 explicable. As it was, the only conclusion 
 that can be drawn is, that the Russians gave 
 but little or no quarter that night. Nor 
 can they much be blamed for it. Night 
 attacks are curious affairs, and the men 
 generally like to " ma/c' sicker,'' for there is 
 no knowing what might not be gathering 
 together in front, or on either flank, und^ 
 the cover of night. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 PLEVNA AND SCHIPKA. 
 
 The defeat of the Russians before Plevna 
 for the second time, and the consequent 
 disarrangement of the Russian plans, 
 would, in the face of any other enemy than 
 the Turks, and under better transport ar- 
 rangements, almost certainly have resulted 
 in ending the campaign, at least for the 
 year. This opinion was freely expressed 
 in the most competent military circles ; 
 and it is even said that Count Moltke, on 
 being asked by the emperor what his opinion 
 of the situation was, replied that the posi- 
 tion of the Russians, judged with a full 
 allowance for the incapacity of the Turks, 
 was highly critical, and that if the Turks 
 were at once to assume a vigorous ofi'ensive 
 and make judicious use of their opportunities, 
 the Czar would have to retreat. This was 
 240 
 
 evident to any one ; and even the Seraskeriat 
 was convinced that a vigorous offensive 
 would suffice to crush the Russian armies. 
 
 Unfortunately for the Turks, their idea 
 of a vigorous offensive consisted in hard 
 fighting and brute force. Capable enough 
 of striking hard and furiously for the mo- 
 ment, they appeared unable to take the 
 preparatory steps, and assist, by vigorous 
 strategy and tactics, the blows which their 
 men were able and ready to' deal on the 
 battle-field itself. Thus they were glad to 
 listen to Suleiman Pasha, whose successful 
 march through Montenegro had excited 
 their admiration, and they quite believed 
 his assurances that he would be able to 
 force the Schipka Pass, the key-stone of 
 the Russian arch resting upon the Danube ; 
 
 and that then it would be easy for Osman 
 Pasha and Mehemed Ali Pasha to crush in 
 the two sides. 
 
 Henceforth, till the end of the campaign, 
 this idea dominated the authorities at 
 Stamboul; and all exertions, all supplies, 
 all reinforcements, were devoted to Sulei- 
 man Pasha. 
 
 But to insure the success of this plan, 
 the co-operation of Osman Pasha and Me- 
 hemed Ali, by joining in the attack on the 
 two Russian flanks, with an equally vigour- 
 ous offensive, was an imperative necessity. 
 But it was hopeless to expect such unani- 
 mity of action on the part of the Turks. 
 Vanity, contempt for their enemy, want of 
 mobility, and want of concert between the 
 three commanders, prevented it. The com- 
 manders were not thoroughly independent, 
 but had to refer to Constantinople for orders, 
 and for the sanction of their plans before 
 they could act. Not only was time lost by 
 this roundabout method of intercommuni- 
 cation, but the execution of their proposals 
 was either delayed by the consultations held 
 at the Seraskeriat till it was too late, or 
 the proposals themselves were so modified 
 and tinkered, that nothing or little was 
 left of the originals. 
 
 Meanwhile the Russians, fully aware of 
 their critical position, lost no time in fill- 
 ing up the gaps which had been cut in their 
 ranks. Nothing was more significant of the 
 fears entertained by the Russian staff, than 
 the retreat of the Grand Duke Nicholas 
 from Tirnova to Biela ; and subsequently, 
 on August 13th, to Gorni Studen, where 
 he was soon afterwards joined by the em- 
 peror himself. The inhabitants of Tirnova, 
 as may be imagined, were terrified at this 
 retrograde step of their liberators, and mo- 
 mentarily expected to see the Turkish host 
 of Bashi-Bazouks and Circassians, regulars 
 and irregulars, sweep, like an avalanche, 
 down the mountain slopes, and crimson the 
 Yantra with Bulgarian blood. 
 
 But, beyond pushing forward a cloud 
 of irregulars to Selvi, Osman Pasha did 
 nothing. There was, of course, a good reason 
 for Osman Pasha not to advance. In the 
 rear of his left flank, and immediately on his 
 left flank, there were considerable forces. 
 At Nicopoli there were Russians and Rou- 
 manians combined ; and at Korabia and 
 Kalafat there were also strong divisions of 
 Roumanians, ready and free to cross the 
 Danube at any spot between Widdin and 
 Nicopoli. In addition, there were the 
 
 Servians in his rear, who, although nomi- 
 nally at peace with the Porte, were ready to 
 obey the orders of the Czar at any moment* 
 and cross the frontier to his assistance. 
 Had Osman Pasha thus moved forward, 
 there is no doubt but that in a short time 
 there would have been a formidable army 
 in his rear, ready to fall upon Plevna the 
 moment he left it, and to co-operate with 
 the Russian forces confronting him. 
 
 But, in spite of this, the Turks ought to 
 have been in a position to deal a decisive 
 blow before Roumanians and Servians could 
 get ready to carry out the above-mentioned 
 movements. Three or four days of a rapid 
 simultaneous offensive have often decided 
 a campaign. In fact, every campaign is 
 thus decided at one moment or the other ; 
 and, missing this one grand opportunity, 
 the Turks never had another equal to it. 
 
 But though, for many reasons, the Czar 
 did not wish to avail himself of Servian or 
 Roumanian assistance till the very last mo- 
 ment, the critical position his armies were 
 in obliged him to waive all such considera- 
 tions, at least in the case of the Roumanians. 
 Whilst calling up the two corps stationed 
 between Odessa and the Crimea to the 
 Danube, mobilising the guards, the grena- 
 dier corps, and calling out 185,467 of the 
 reserves and militia, he also issued decrees 
 for the levy of 206,000 recruits ; and at the 
 same time concluded a convention with 
 Roumania, after much negotiation as to 
 the precise position to be occupied by the 
 Roumanian army and Prince Charles, who 
 insisted that he should retain the command 
 of his forces. For some time no result waa 
 obtained, as the Russian staff objected to 
 an independent factor in their arrange- 
 ments; but, at last, a compromise was 
 arrived at, whereby Prince Charles was 
 invested with the command-in-chief of 
 the Russo-Roumanian army before Plevna ; 
 whilst General Zatoff was appointed chief 
 of his staff. 
 
 Meantime, whilst these arrangements 
 were being carried out, the campaign 
 assumed a different character. From taking 
 the offensive, the Russians had to hold 
 themselves on the defensive, and concen- 
 trated all their efforts on the fortification 
 of their positions before Plevna and at the 
 Schipka Pass. At the same time, it was 
 clear that it was absolutely necessary to cut 
 off Osman Pasha from his line of communi- 
 cations with Widdin and Sophia. For the 
 former purpose the Roumanian troops were 
 
 241 
 
• «■ I" 
 
 Hi 
 
 i 
 
 skobeloff's attack.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 11. ! 
 
 !\ 
 
 to be employed, whilst Greneral Gourko and [ 
 his cavalry were to accomplish the latter. i 
 But before either of these steps could be 
 effectually carried out, it was necessary to 
 take Lovatz, which blocked the way to the 
 high-road from Plevna to Sophia. With 
 this object a preliminary reconnaissance 
 was executed by General Skobeloff. 
 
 Leaving the grand duke's head-quarters, 
 he took five battalions of infantry, his own 
 brigade of cavalry, and two batteries of 
 horse artillery, and came out on the Selvi 
 road, half-way between Selvi and Lovatz. 
 His right wing, composed entirely of 
 cavalry, advanced and occupied several 
 villages encircling Lovatz, from the Plevna 
 road to the Selvi road. He then advanced 
 his artillery on the Selvi road to the heights 
 a mile distant from Lovatz, overlooking the 
 town, opened fire with sixteen pieces of 
 artillery, and pushed forward his infantry. 
 
 It was evident, however, from the mo- 
 ment the heights were reached, that the 
 reconnaissance could not be turned into an 
 attack. From 15,000 to 20,000 troops 
 camped in and about the town, while the 
 low hills immediately surrounding the town 
 were strongly intrenched. There was a 
 strong redoubt on a low hill overlooking 
 the Plevna road, while a high, steep hill 
 on the Selvi side was covered with trenches. 
 There were also twelve guns in position, 
 and a considerable number in reserve. All 
 this was apparent to General Skobeloff, who, 
 nevertheless, resolved to feel the enemy, 
 and the hills soon resounded with the roar 
 of artillery and the noise of shells. The 
 Turks replied at once, and, for a time, there 
 was a lively artillery fire. The Turkish 
 artillery practice was very fair; several 
 shells fell near the Russian guns ; but, as 
 the ground was very soft— the battery being 
 planted in a vineyard—they rarely exploded, 
 and when they did explode they only 
 threw up the earth a little, doing no harm 
 beyond killing one man. 
 
 The same was the case on the right flank, 
 where the cavalry advanced within point- 
 blank range of the Turkish guns, and 
 opened fire with two small pieces of horse 
 artillery. The Turks replied, and shells 
 fell continually among the horses and men 
 of the battery without doing any harm, 
 owing to their not exploding until too deep 
 in the ground. There was a panic on the 
 Turkish skirmishing line at first ; but they 
 soon perceived they had only cavalry to 
 deal with, and were not long in recovering 
 
 [a.d. 187:^. 
 
 A.D. 1877.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [active preparations. 
 
 
 their positions. But they did not attack, 
 nevertheless ; whilst, on the other hand. 
 General Skobeloff pushed forward bis in- 
 fantry. From where his guns were placed 
 the road led down a narrow hollow, whose 
 sides were covered with woods, down to the 
 foot of the steep hill which was occupied by 
 the Turks in intrenchments. The infantry 
 went down partly under cover of the woods 
 but not unperceived by the Turks, who 
 poured a heavy fire into the woods. The 
 Russians pushed forward, however, and in 
 much less time than could have been thought 
 possible, had reached the foot of the hill. 
 They announced their arrival with a shout' 
 and began to dodge up the hill two or three 
 at a time, under cover of the bushes and 
 little hollows with which such hills are 
 usually covered, till the reconnaissance 
 began to look like a real attack. The 
 Turkish fire grew heavier and heavier, until 
 it was one continuous roll, far more terrible 
 than the heaviest artillery fire, because a 
 hundred times more destructive. 
 
 It was evident, from this fire, that the 
 Turks were three times as numerous as the 
 Russians. An assault under such circum- 
 stances would have been madness ; and when 
 Skobeloff began to perceive that the attack 
 was growing far too serious, in spite of his 
 orders, he went forward to stop it. The sol- 
 diers were, however,determined on an assault, 
 and the officers maintained, when reproached 
 by Skobeloff, that they could not restrain 
 them. Skobeloff himself, whilst stoppino- 
 to give an order, had his white horse shot 
 under him ; and his escort, which had been 
 composed of six Cossacks, was reduced to 
 three, the others having been more or less 
 seriously wounded— one mortally. 
 
 The fire was still raging along the Turk- 
 ish intrenchments, and the Russians were 
 still pushing forward. Skobeloff, mounting 
 another horse— a sorrel this time— again 
 galloped forward. He reached the foot of 
 the hill shouting and gesticulating, while 
 his trumpeter sounded the retreat, at last 
 with effect, for the skirmishers began to 
 withdraw. Then he went down again, 
 horse and man together, fairly under the 
 Turkish intrenchments, and within easy 
 range of the Turkish fire, which was grow- 
 ing stronger and stronger. They were 
 getting reinforcements from the other side, 
 where they were only threatened with 
 cavalry. The roar was continuous, and 
 rolled up and down the hollow like one 
 continuous crash of thunder, only broken by 
 
 the heavier booming of the artillery. The 
 bullets fell about Skobeloff like hail, but in 
 a few minutes he was up again on another 
 horse, fresh as ever, coming back up the 
 road at a trot. He had not received a 
 scratch. The reconnaissance was over. 
 The troops retired as they came, through 
 the wood under the Turkish fire, which was 
 not very effective, for the whole loss of the 
 Russians was only five killed and twenty 
 wounded on this side. 
 
 The reconnaissance, however, had suc- 
 ceeded in showing that Lovatz would have 
 to be seriously dealt with, and was not to be 
 carried during a cavalry raid, or by a C02ip 
 de main with small forces. For the mo- 
 ment, therefore, action in this direction was 
 limited to an expedition of the 4th corps, 
 under General Gourko, for the purpose of 
 stopping the communications with Sophia 
 across the Balkans, by way of the Orkhanieh 
 Pass (see sketch X, p. 268), preliminary to 
 the complete investment of Plevna, and its 
 ultimate conversion into a Sedan for the 
 Turks. 
 
 Meantime, whilst the Russians were 
 strengthening themselves and their posi- 
 tions with reinforcements and intrench- 
 ments, the Turks began to exhibit consi- 
 derable activity. 
 
 On the 16th of August there was a 
 general reconnaissance, in some force, by 
 the Turks all alouix the Russian left flank. 
 From the Danube to beyond the Balkans, 
 from under the guns of Rustzuk, from 
 Rasgrad, from Osman Bazar towards Be- 
 brova, and at half-a-dozen intermediate 
 places, the soldiers of Mehemed Ali Pasha 
 beat up the Russian positions confronting 
 them. There was not much hard fighting, 
 and little loss on either side ; but the signi- 
 ficance of the business was, that the Turks 
 took the initiative. On the same day, a 
 column of Suleiman Pasha's force attempted 
 strenuously to force the Ilaiukoi Pass, and a 
 Turkish column did, indeed, force its way 
 into the defile, but was there so roughly 
 handled by the Russian artillery in position 
 and by a regiment of the 9th division holding 
 the Pass, that it was compelled to retire. A 
 day or two later, a Turkish division made 
 a threatening demonstration from Grivitza, 
 the redoubt in front of Plevna. The Turks 
 by no means rested after this work, and 
 continued to display a modified activity. 
 They struck out from Rustzuk ; and the 
 same day there was fighting, although not 
 serious, before Osman Bazar, whilst there 
 
 was an artillery skirmish in front of Skobe-> 
 loff's position, near Lovatz, where the Turks 
 began the ball; and the Cossacks under 
 Skobeloff s command were harassed, day and 
 night, by forepost work. Meantime, the 
 2nd division, having crossed the Danube, 
 was massed there preparatory to marching 
 in the Plevna direction. Suleiman Pasha 
 was threatening to attack the Schipka Pass 
 with forty battalions. The defenders of 
 the pass consisted of but twenty companies 
 under General Stoletoff, consisting of the 
 relics of the Bulgarian legion, and three 
 battalions of the 9th Russian division. The 
 2nd division had, therefore, been diverted 
 from its intended destination, and was 
 being marched on Selvi to relieve a brigade 
 of the 9th division ordered to the Schipka. 
 On the Plevna front, few reinforcements 
 had reached the Russian troops holding it. 
 Compared with before the battle, there was 
 but the addition of the Roumanians and 
 the 16th division: but on August 22nd, 
 eight thousand reserves crossed the Danube 
 to fill up the gaps made by the war in the 
 ranks of the 9th corps, which restored that 
 corps to its full strength. On the other 
 hand, Schahofskoy marched his brigade of 
 the 32nd infantry division back to his ori- 
 ginal position at Kosarevac, confronting 
 Osman Bazar, and was thus relieved from 
 continuing the work he found so hard. 
 Thus, on the Plevna front, the Russians 
 were to have two full army corps, the 
 4th and 9th ; two Roumanian divisions of 
 infantry, and the 1 1th cavalry division; 
 Skobeloff s detachment, consisting of a bri- 
 gade of Circassian Cossacks, with some 
 infantry and artillery watching Lovatz ; 
 there was also the 9th cavalry division : the 
 whole Russo -Roumanian force confronting 
 Plevna, thus amounting to from 65,000 to 
 70,000 men. In this estimate was not in- 
 cluded the 4th cavalry division, whose line 
 of detached operation was toward the road 
 through the Balkans from Sophia. 
 
 But whilst these preparations for the 
 capture of Plevna were going on, interest 
 became centred in the Schipka Pass, which 
 Suleiman Pasha was preparing to attack. 
 The people of Tirnova naturally did not 
 feel comfortable under these circum- 
 stances. The grand duke had ridden into 
 Tirnova amid the plaudits and the glad 
 weeping of a population beside themselves 
 with joy. Flowers were showered down 
 from the windows, and strewed his path ; 
 priests and girls struggled for the honour 
 
 243 
 
 ' \ 
 
TIRNOVA ALARMED.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1877. 
 
 I 
 
 I- i 
 
 
 i 
 
 As 
 
 41 1 
 
 1 
 '•A 
 
 of kissing his hand. To be with the Rus- 
 sians in Tirnova, then, was to be a welcome 
 guest, for every door stood open. The 
 strains of triumphal music swept along the 
 quaint narrow streets ; and the precipices, 
 amid which the town hangs, rather than is 
 built, sent back a melodious echo. But 
 after that came the retreat, and strong was 
 the contrast. The road up the steep into 
 the town was blocked by a double row of 
 vehicles, one driven by weary and somewhat 
 irritable Russian soldiers, the other by sul- 
 len Bulgarians, who had found out with 
 great alacrity that they had rights since the 
 Russians came, and were not only no longer 
 subservient, but even, in a tentative way, 
 inclined to be uncivil if they could but 
 harden their nerves. The place was never 
 clean, but it had become fouler than ever. 
 Above the entrance stood, gaunt and ugly, 
 the skeleton of a triumphal arch with just 
 the last shred of decoration, looking like 
 the gallows mourning the abolition of capi- 
 tal punishment. The narrow street was a 
 disheartening chaos of vehicles, whose 
 horses scrambled over the filthy stones; 
 of miserable fugitives squatting listlessly 
 wherever they could find a corner, or trying 
 to push through with their donkeys laden 
 with clothes and children; of Bulgarian 
 civilians, foolishly drunk and reeling about 
 over the stones, amid the jeers of the 
 Russian soldiers; of limp Bulgarian lads in 
 uniform, of whom the Russians persisted in 
 trying to make soldiers — a service for which 
 they lacked alike heart and stamina; of 
 time-worn men of the original Bulgarian 
 Legion, who, having come somehow out of 
 the pandemonium of Eski Zagra with un- 
 cut throats, had drifted back demoralised 
 and disgusted ; of German-Jew chapmen, 
 selling everything, from bad champagne to 
 rubbishing boots ; of marketenders seeking 
 shops whereat to replenish their waggons ; 
 aud of Bulgarian priests walking about in 
 long petticoats. 
 
 Nor was the alarm at Tirnova unfounded. 
 On the 19th of August, Suleiman Pasha, 
 after having made himself master of the 
 whole valley of the Tundja, had already 
 occupied the village of Schipka after a con- 
 tinued struggle against the advance positions 
 of the Russians, till they had fallen back 
 on the head of the pass. The Schipka Pass 
 is not a pass at all in the usual sense of the 
 term. There is no gorge, no defile ; there 
 is no spot where 300 men could make a new 
 Thermopylae ; no deep-scored trench as in 
 244 
 
 A.i>. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [attack on schipka pass. 
 
 the Khyber Pass, where an army might 
 be annihilated without ever coming to 
 close quarters. It has its name simply 
 because at this point there happens to be 
 a section of the Balkans of less than the 
 average height, the surface of which, from 
 the Yantra valley on the north, to the 
 Tundja valley on the south, is sufficiently 
 continuous, although having an extremely 
 broken and serrated contour, to afford a 
 foothold for a practicable track, for the 
 Balkans generally present a wild jumble of 
 mountain and glen, neither having any 
 continuity. Under such circumstances, 
 such a crossing-place as the Schipka Pass 
 afforded was a godsend, although, under 
 other circumstances, a road over it would 
 be regarded as impossible. What was a 
 naere track was made by the Russian 
 pioneers into a really good and practicable, 
 although steep, high-road. The ground on 
 either side of the ridge is depressed some- 
 times into shallow hollows, sometimes into 
 cavernous gorges ; but these lateral depres- 
 sions are broken, and have no continuity, 
 otherwise they would clearly afford a better 
 track for a road than the high ground 
 above. 
 
 The highest peak is flanked on either 
 side, behind the lateral depressions, by a 
 mountainous spur higher than itself, and, 
 therefore, commanding it, and having as 
 well the command of the ridge behind, as 
 is shown in sketch U. The higher one— 
 that is to say, the western of these two 
 spurs, marked A in the sketch— raked the 
 road leading up to the Russian positions. 
 These spurs break off abruptly and precipi- 
 tously on their northern edge, and therefore 
 afforded no access into the valley north of 
 the Balkans. Their sole use to the Turks, 
 therefore, was in affording positions whence 
 to flank the central Schipka ridge, along 
 which ran the road from Gabrova to 
 Schipka. It was possible also for troops to 
 descend from them, struggle through the 
 intervening glens, and climbing the steep 
 slopes of the Schipka ridge, give the hand 
 to each other on the road which runs along 
 its backbone to its summit, where the 
 Russians had constructed a fort, to which 
 they gave the name of Fort St. Nicholas. 
 This done, the Schipka position would, of 
 course, be turned, but the advantage would 
 be of little avail till the road had been 
 opened by carrying the fortified positions 
 on it. Without the command of the road, 
 an enemy might indeed send bands down 
 
 the road on to which he had scrambled, into 
 the lower country about Grabrova, to burn 
 and plunder; but unless he carried the 
 whole of the road, his communications with 
 the Balkans would not be secured. 
 
 Much has been said of the strength of the 
 Schipka position ; but unless strongly held 
 with wide extending arms of defence, it was 
 easy to be attacked, and very difficult to be 
 held with any security. The strength of a 
 position does not depend wholly on its ele- 
 vation, or even on the difficulties of access 
 to a direct attack, but on the clear range 
 around it which its fire can sweep, and its 
 ability to concentrate its fire on critical 
 points. Herein lay the defect of the 
 Schipka as a defensive position. It could 
 not search with its fire the jumble of lateral 
 valleys and reverse slopes which hemmed it 
 in. A brigade of light infantry might have 
 massed in a hollow within 100 vards of the 
 Russian first position, without exposing 
 itself to the artillery fire of that position. 
 
 Such being the positions, the Turks began 
 the attack on the 21st, pushing on directly 
 up the steeps above the village of Schipka. 
 The Russian garrison in the works of the 
 pass then consisted of the Bulgarian legion 
 and one regiment of the 9th division, both 
 weakened by previous hard fighting, and 
 reckoning little more than three thousand 
 bayonets, with about forty cannon. No 
 supports were nearer than Tirnova, a dis- 
 tance of forty miles — a grave omission. 
 The garrison fought hard, and hindered the 
 Turks from gaining any material advantage 
 beyond forcing the outer line of the Russian 
 shelter-trenches on the slopes below the 
 position of Mount St. Nicholas, the highest 
 peak of the Schipka crossing, and marked 
 E E in the sketch. The Russians had laid 
 mines in front of their trenches, which were 
 exploded just as the head of the Turkish 
 assaulting parties were massed above them, 
 and a large number of Moslems were blown 
 up into the air in fragments. The loss to 
 the Russians on the first day's attack was 
 but 200, chiefly of the Bulgarian legion. 
 On the second day, the 22nd, the fighting 
 was not heavy, the Turks being engaged in 
 making a wide turning movement on the 
 right and left flanks of the Russian position, 
 and these attacks were next day developed 
 with great fierceness and pertinacity. 
 
 On this day, August 23rd, the Turks 
 assailed the Russian position on the front 
 and flanks, and drove in the defenders from 
 their outlying ground. The radical defects 
 
 VOL. III. 2 k 
 
 of the position became painfully apparent — 
 its narrowness, its exposure, its liability to 
 be outflanked and isolated. Fortunately 
 for the Russians, reinforcements had ar- 
 rived, which averted the mischief which 
 had otherwise imminently impended. Stole- 
 toff hit his hardest ; but after four long 
 days of intense mental and physical strain, 
 he could not perform impossibilities with 
 30,000 men thundering on his front and 
 flanks. But there had come to him, swiftly 
 marching from Selvi, a brigade of the 9th 
 division, commanded by Greneral Derozinski, 
 and this timely succour had been of material 
 value to Stoletoff. The fight lasted all 
 day; and at length, as the sun grew lower, 
 the Turks had so worked round on both the 
 Russian flanks, that it seemed as though the 
 claws of the crab were about momentarily 
 to close behind the Russians, and that tht 
 Turkish columns climbing either faceofth* 
 Russian ridge, would give a hand to eacl 
 other on the road in the rear of the Russian 
 position, as shown in sketch U. 
 
 The position was critical in the extreme ; 
 but the two Russian generals, Greneral 
 Stoletoff and General Derozinski, expecting 
 momentarily to be environed, liad sent^ 
 between the closing claws of the crab, a 
 last telegram to the Czar, telling what they 
 expected, how they had tried to prevent it, 
 and how that, please Grod, driven into their 
 positions and beset, they would hold these 
 till reinforcements should arrive. At all 
 events, they and their men would hold their 
 ground to the last drop of their blood. 
 
 At six o'clock there was a lull in the 
 fighting, of which the Russians could take 
 no advantage, since the reserves were all 
 engaged. The grimed, sun-blistered men 
 were beaten out with heat, fatigue, hunger, 
 and thirst. There had been no cooking for 
 three days, and there was no water within 
 the Russian lines. The poor fellows lay 
 panting on the bare ridge, reckless that it 
 was swept by the Turkish rifle-tire. Others 
 doggedly fought on down among the rocks, 
 forced to give ground, but doing so griml} 
 and sourly, whilst the cliffs and valleys sent 
 back the triumphant Turkish shouts ol 
 " Allah il Allah ! " 
 
 At this time two Russian generals were 
 on the peak which the first position hah 
 encloses. Their glasses anxiously scanned 
 the visible glimpses of the steep brown roac 
 leading up there from the Yantra valley, 
 through thick copses of sombre green, anti 
 yet more sombre dark rock. Suddenly the 
 
 245 
 
 •a 
 
l.r 
 
 r 
 
 1*^ « 
 
 i, 
 
 ij| 
 
 1 ! 
 i t ■ 
 
 ti, 
 
 I; 
 
 [ I 
 
 f • ' 
 
 J' 
 
 n 
 
 
 li 
 11 
 
 
 TIMELY HELP.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 head of a long black column was plainly 
 visible, like a long serpent coiling up the 
 brown road. Through the green copses a 
 glint of sunshine flaslied and danced on the 
 glittering bayonets, and such a gust of 
 Russian clieers wliirled and eddied among 
 the mountain tops, that the Turkish war- 
 cries were wholly drowned in the glad wel- 
 
 were flanking the right of the Russian posi- 
 tion. At the same time a column of 
 Russian infantry advanced with a swift 
 tramp up-hill till they got within firing dis- 
 tance of the Turks on the right. 
 
 They were a battalion of the rifle brigade, 
 hurried up on Cossack ponies : the brigade 
 itself was not three kilometres behind. 
 
 U — The Positions in the Schipha at 7 p.m., Aiujust 23. 
 
 To Gabrova, 
 
 A 
 
 o 
 
 Khao. 
 
 (s) 
 
 I 
 
 B 
 
 W 
 
 § 
 
 J 
 SI 
 
 I 
 
 < 8 
 
 § 
 
 B 
 
 s 
 
 8 
 
 I — -, — I 
 
 Russians, 
 Turks. 
 
 -f- Batteries. 
 
 ( ) Redoubts. 
 Road. 
 
 ^> 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 I- : •!• 
 
 s 
 
 s 
 
 Is 
 
 § 
 
 X 
 
 l_- 
 
 E 
 
 CZ3 
 
 o 
 
 Schipka. 
 
 come which the Russian soldiers sent to the 
 comrades coming to help them. G-radually 
 the head of the column drew near the little 
 plateau in front of the khan, where they at 
 once brought a mountain battery into action 
 against the Turkish artillery on a wooded ' 
 ridge, by the occupation of which the Turks ; 
 246 
 
 They were led to the attack by General 
 Radetzki himself, who thus saved the day, 
 and then left the attack to develop itself. 
 It was the same rifle brigade which followed 
 General Gourko in his victorious advance 
 and chequered retreat. The brigade had 
 marched fifty-five kilometres straight on 
 
 M 
 f 
 
 HARD FIGHTING.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 rA.D. 1877. 
 
 end without cooking or sleeping, and now 
 was in action without so much as a breathing 
 halt. Such is the stuff of which thorough 
 good soldiers are made. Their general, the 
 gallant Radetzki, accompanied them, and 
 pushed an attack on the enemy's position on 
 that wooded ridge on the Russian right. 
 But Radetzki, who himself marched on up 
 the road with his staff at his back, ran the 
 gauntlet of the Turkish rifle-fire, and joined 
 the other two generals on the peak, hard by 
 the batteries of the first position. As 
 senior and highest officer present, he at once 
 took command, complimenting General 
 Stoletoff, whom he relieved, on the excel- 
 lence of his dispositions and stubbornness of 
 defence. 
 
 In the night there was a renewed attempt 
 to carry the Turkish positions threatening 
 the right flank, for it was felt that there 
 was no safety, far less elbow-room, for the 
 Russians until the Turks should be driven 
 off the dominating wooded ridge looming so 
 ugly on the right flank. The left flank, 
 which the Turks assailed the previous day, 
 was comparatively safe. — The next day, 
 August 24th, the fighting began at day- 
 break with a renewed attack of the Russians 
 on the position threatening their right. 
 The Bulgarian peasant boys displayed 
 singular gallantry in the same work as that 
 in which the despised Indian bheestie has 
 so often done good service to our soldiers, 
 by going down into the actual battle, right 
 into the first line, with stone crocks full of 
 water for the fighting-men. This water 
 was fetched from far in the rear, along a 
 bullet-swept road — for there was no water 
 in the position itself. One lad, who had had 
 his crock smashed by a bullet, wept, not for 
 joy at his fortunate escape, but for sorrow 
 at the loss of the article which enabled him 
 to be of service. 
 
 The fighting hung very much in the 
 valley, and the reinforcements of the 9th 
 division, sent down, effected not much per- 
 ceptible good. About nine Dragomiroff 
 arrived with two reijiments of the 2nd 
 brigade of his own division. The Podolsk 
 regiment he left in reserve near the khan ; 
 with the Jitomer regiment he marched up 
 the road to the first position. There was 
 no alternative but to traverse that fearfuU}^- 
 dangerous road, for the lower broken ground 
 on its left was impracticable, and reported 
 besides to be swarming with Bashi-Bazouks. 
 The Jitomer men lost heavily while making 
 this promenade, and having reached the 
 
 peak, found no safe shelter, for the Turkish 
 rifle-fire was coming from two quarters 
 simultaneously. So the infantry were 
 stowed away till wanted in the ditch of the 
 redoubt. Radetzki and his staff remained 
 on the slope of the peak, and here Drago- 
 miroff joined, and was welcomed by his 
 chief. 
 
 The firing in the valley waxed and waned 
 fitfully as the morning wore on to near 
 noon. The Turks were very strongly estab- 
 lished in their wooded position, and there 
 was an evident intention on their part to 
 work round their left, and edge in across the 
 narrowed throat of the valley, towards the 
 Russian rear. About eleven the firing in 
 the valley swelled in volume. It was almost 
 wholly musketry fire. The Russians had 
 their tirailleurs in among the trees of the 
 Turkish slope, where the battle waged to 
 and -fro — now the Russians, now the Turks, 
 gaining ground. Occasionally the Russians, 
 at some point, would be hurled clean back 
 out of the wood altogether, the Turks 
 following them eagerly to its edge, and 
 lying down while pouring out a galling 
 fire. It seemed an even match ; the Turks 
 and Russians alike accepted valiantly the 
 chances of battle. The Russian tirailleurs, 
 finely-trained skirmishers, looked out dex- 
 terously for cover ; and the Turks displayed 
 fine skirmishing ability ; but the soldiers of 
 the Brianski line regiment were not so good 
 at finding cover. There was clearly no 
 thought among them of quailing, but they 
 stood up in the open and took what came. 
 
 Round the peak, on the slope of which 
 the generals and staff were surveying the 
 scene, bullets were singing like a nest o 
 angry wasps. One struck on the right knee 
 General Dragomiroff, who had been stand- 
 ing calmly in the face of the fire, looking 
 down upon the battle. One of the best 
 generals in the Russian army was thus hora 
 de combat 
 
 Meanwhile the tirailleurs and Brianski 
 regiment were not making headway in their 
 difiicult enterprise of attacking direct in 
 front the steep Turkish slope, with its 
 advantage of wooded cover, although they 
 foiled the efforts of the Turks to work round 
 by their own left into the Russian rear. The 
 Russian staff could see, on the sky-line, the 
 Turkish reinforcements as they came up out 
 of the valley by the road close to their 
 mountain battery, on the bare spot near 
 the edge of their left flank. It was deter- 
 mined, at twelve o'clock, to deliver a 
 
 247 
 
 
GALLANT GENERAL.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ;,„, 
 
 i 
 
 III 
 
 counter flank attack on the right edge of 
 the Turkish ridge, simultaneously with a 
 renewed strenuous attack of the tirailleurs 
 and the Brianski men from below. The 
 two battalions of the Jitomer regiment, 
 each leaving one company behind as sup- 
 ports, emerged from the partial shelter of 
 the peak of the Russian first position, and 
 marched in company columns across the 
 more level grass land at the head of the 
 intervening valley. They bad no great dip 
 to traverse, and their way was good march- 
 ing ground; but the Turkish mountain guns, 
 from the battery high up on the wooded peak 
 of the Turkish position, were ready for them, 
 as also was the Turkish infantry on the 
 Turkish right edge of the ridge. The 
 fire swept through them, and many a gallant 
 fellow dyed the grass with his blood. But 
 the battalions pressed steadily on, and 
 dashed into the wood at the double. The 
 Russian artillery had done its best to pre- 
 pare the way, for their battery on the peak 
 had fired hard while they were crossing 
 over, and a reserve battery near the khan 
 down below had come into action. But soon 
 the artillery had to cease, for there was 
 danger in blind firing into the wood when 
 the men were in it. The arbitrement had 
 to be left to rifle and bayonet. 
 
 The crisis of the battle had arrived. The 
 fighting of the infantry on the Turkish 
 front and flank lasted for a long hour, and 
 raged with great fury, but the Russians 
 gradually gained ground. The Turks first 
 withdrew their battery of mountain guns 
 near their right flank. Then the left 
 battery followed their example, for the 
 tirailleurs and Brian^kis were gaining the 
 ridge on the Turkish left also. There 
 remained but the central peak of the Turk- 
 ish position. That carried, the ridge would 
 be in the hands of the Russians, and their 
 right flank set free from the dangerous 
 pressure on it. 
 
 The fight was on the balance. The 
 Russians, as they stood, could all but suc- 
 ceed, but not quite. It was an intensely 
 critical period, but Radetzki was equal to 
 the occasion. The Jitomer battalions had 
 left two companies in reserve when they 
 inarched out from behind the peak. 
 Radetzki himself took one of these com- 
 panies ; the colonel of the Jitomer regiment 
 placed himself at the head of the other ; 
 and thus led, the two companies set forward 
 to throw themselves into the fray. 
 
 Thus headed by their favourite leaders, 
 248 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 the Jitomers, who had been chafing at their 
 inaction, advanced rapidly, and ringing 
 cheers rose high above the rattle of mus- 
 ketry as they dashed across the grassy slope 
 at the head of the valley, and precipitated 
 themselves into the wood. 
 
 Fortune, thus energetically wooed, yielded. 
 There was a concentric rush on the peak. 
 Its rude breastworks were surmounted; 
 there was some hot bayonet-work, and in a 
 short time they had reached within fifty 
 yards of the redoubt. Here they found 
 obstacles which, for the moment, were quite 
 insurmountable. The Turks had cut down 
 the trees around the redoubt, making an 
 abattis over which the Russians found it 
 almost impossible to pass. They gathered 
 around the edge under cover of the trees, 
 and suddenly made a rush for it, but were 
 driven back with fearful loss. The soldiers 
 became entangled in the masses of brush- 
 wood, trunks, and limbs of the trees over 
 which they were obliged to scramble, while 
 the Turks poured in a terrible fire upon 
 them at this short distance, and mowed 
 them down like grass. Of the first assault 
 launched against the redoubt, very few got 
 back under cover to tell the tale. It was 
 very evident that the assault, under such 
 conditions, could not succeed. Only one 
 battalion had been sent to attack. The 
 force was insufficient, and of this one com- 
 pany sent to the assault Was nearly de- 
 stroyed. Reinforcements were sent by 
 Radetzki, who had returned to his position 
 on the central peak. The attack began 
 again, but dispositions were made to place 
 a large force in such positions that it could 
 pour a heavy fire into the redoubt to cover 
 the assault until the assaulters were almost 
 up to the parapet. 
 
 This attack seemed almost on the point 
 of success, for the colonel in command said, 
 that if reserves were given to him he could' 
 take it. The officer in command of the 
 reserves let them go ; but they were never- 
 theless repulsed. Then Radetzki mounted 
 and rode to the ground, followed by part of ^ 
 his staff". The chief of the staff". General 
 Dimitriofsky, on foot, bareheaded, and sup- 
 ported by two men, with an expression of 
 extreme suff'ering on his face, had put him- 
 self at the head of a battalion to lead the 
 assault. A shell had struck the ground 
 beside him, covering him with earth, knock- 
 ing him down, and rendering him senseless 
 for a few minutes. The attack still went 
 on. The tire became terrible. Fromamono" 
 
 o 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [SULEIMAN REPUDSED. 
 
 the trees rose a large column of smoke, 
 marking the place of the Turkish redoubt, 
 which was dimly seen through it, while the 
 thick woods were full of the roll of the 
 Russian musketrv fire. 
 
 The Russians advanced steadily. They 
 rushed over, or through, the abattis ; they 
 even got into the battery, and actually held 
 it for a few seconds, but were driven out 
 again. They surrounded the place on all 
 sides, pouring into it a terrible fire, but 
 were again driven back. In the meantime, 
 the Turks, to support the defence, began to 
 attack in front and rear. Musketry and 
 artillery were heard coming up from 
 Scbipka, mingling with the nearer din 
 around the redoubt in a most sinister way. 
 The wounded came trooping steadily back, 
 with wounds in their heads, arms, and 
 bodies. Some were on litters. One was 
 carried by his companions. Some were 
 limping along by themselves, presenting a 
 most pitiable spectacle, covered with dust, 
 smoke-begrimed, haggard, wretched. The 
 fight continued until late at night, the 
 wounded coming back steadily all the time, 
 till it was seen that the capture of the 
 redoubt could not be effected that day. 
 
 Still, though the redoubt remained in the 
 hands of the Turks, the ridge and slopes 
 on the Russian right had been cleared, and 
 it was no longer death to ride along the 
 road from Grabrova to St. Nicholas. The 
 conflict was continued during the following 
 two days, the reinforcements which the 
 Russians had received enabling them to 
 strengthen the grip they had acquired by 
 the timely arrival of Greneral Radetzki. 
 
 The redoubt and ridge on the Russian 
 right was abandoned during the night by 
 both combatants, on account of want of 
 water, there being none on the Russian 
 side ; and the road to it on the Turkish side 
 having been threatened by the Russian 
 advance, and reoccupation of the trenches on 
 the southern and western slopes of the peak 
 on which stood Fort Nicholas. On the 26th 
 the Turks returned ; but finding the way 
 effectually barred towards the Gabrova road, 
 they again, and for good, abandoned the 
 position which had been so hotly contested. 
 On August 27th the positions were as shown 
 in sketch V. By that day solitude reigned 
 amongst the woods to the right of Fort St. 
 Nicholas and the Gabrova road, where, for 
 days, such furious fighting had raged. The 
 Russian soldiers at last could walk along 
 the road, from the khan in the rear of 
 
 Radetzki s position, right along to the final 
 peak ot the Balkans on Mount St. Nicholas, 
 and thence down into the shelter-trenches^ 
 without once hearing the whistle of a 
 bullet, where once the air vibrated with the 
 hum of them. 
 
 Suleiman Pasha had had enough for the 
 time of the Schipka Pass. For fi've days he 
 beat out the brains of his gallant stubborn 
 soldiers against its defences and its de- 
 fenders, repeating, on a smaller scale, ex- 
 actly the same errors he knew the Russians 
 had been committing at Plevna during their 
 first assaults on that place, in the face of su- 
 perior weapons, superior men and defences. 
 Terribly had the Turks struggled ; but their 
 valour had proved unavailing, and 5,000 
 Turkish corpses festered in the blazing sun- 
 shine between the Schipka village and the 
 fringes of Mount St. Nicholas. All Suleiman 
 Pasha's Montenegrin soldiers had been re- 
 moved ; and there remained, confronting the 
 Russians, only a few battalions of Egyptians, 
 with some cannon on the heights, and a few 
 more miscellaneous battalions in Schipka. 
 
 The Russian losses were also very heavy, 
 amounting to over 4,000 killed and wounded. 
 They had, however, just managed to save 
 themselves from the danger threatening 
 them, whilst the Turks had gained nothin^r 
 at all. 
 
 It is a strange feature of this war that 
 the commanders all struck isolated blows. 
 Scarcely had Suleiman Pasha been repulsed, 
 when Mehemed Ali commenced an attack 
 all along his line confronting the Russian 
 left. From August 28th to August 30th 
 he made a general advance, and there wai 
 continuous fighting along the front of the 
 centre and right flank army of the Czare- 
 vitch from Nisova on the White Lom south- 
 ward over Solenik, Gagovo, Sultankoi, 
 Popkoi, Mehemedkoi, and beyond, in front 
 of Osman Bazar. Here Mehemed Ali Pasha 
 was personally in command. Great masses 
 of Turks everywhere drove in the Russian 
 forepost line, and at several moments it 
 seemed as if an important battle was im- 
 minent ; but the tactics of the Turks resem- 
 bled those of the combatants in the Ameri- 
 can ci vil war. When they gained any ground 
 they sat and fortified themselves in it by 
 intrenchments before moving to acquire any 
 more. On the other hand, the Russians 
 abandoned the Popkoi position also after 
 having intrenched themselves in it. The 
 reason was stated to be the discovery of its 
 ineligibility as being commanded by higher 
 
 249 
 

 ( 
 
 '4. 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 I' 
 
 SUSPECTED SPY.] 
 
 HISTOKY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 ground within cannon range, whilst the new 
 position was behind the old one. Here the 
 combatants remained looking at each other, 
 whilst there came a jparlementaire from 
 Mehemed Ali Pasha on the subject of the 
 treatment of the wounded and the Bulgarian 
 civil population. He was singularly inco- 
 herent as to the objects of his mission, had 
 
 escort myself when I must pass through 
 their camp. 
 
 With this the attempts of Mehemed Ali 
 to break through the Kussian left came to 
 an end, and Osman Pasha then took up the 
 ball, and directed a serious and well-sustained 
 attack against the Eussian left centre, 
 almost directly in front of Poradim. 
 
 V — Tlie Positions in the ScJiijoha, August 27. 
 
 To Gabrova. 
 A 
 
 1 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 o 
 Khan. 
 
 
 ,f.: 
 
 » • 
 
 hi 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 1 1 < 
 
 A 
 
 (S) 
 
 I 
 
 B 
 
 1 ^ 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 ^!- 
 
 I- i •!• 
 
 I 
 
 Y< 
 
 E 
 
 E 
 
 V ^ ^ 
 
 CB3 
 
 ( ) 
 
 Russians. 
 
 Turks. 
 
 Batteries. 
 
 Redoubts, 
 
 Road. 
 
 DEI 
 
 o 
 
 I 
 
 Schipka. 
 
 I 
 
 no definite proposals to make, and there 
 were suspicions that, in reality, he was a 
 Bpy. On some subjects he was charmingly 
 frank. Speaking to him of the Bashi- 
 Bazouks, the grand duke called them " wild 
 beasts." " Oh," said the envoy, " I am not 
 expected to defend them. I always take an 
 250 ' 
 
 At six o'clock in the morning of August 
 31st, a large force of Turkish cavalry ad- 
 vanced beyond the Turkish foreposts be- 
 tween Ivadisevo and Grivitza, and drove in 
 the Russian advanced posts on the line 
 between the villages of Pelisat and Sgalince. 
 This done, at eight o'clock the Turkish 
 
 A.P. 1877.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [dogged assault. 
 
 leader developed a regular attack in force in 
 a direction already prepared by his cavalry. 
 The Turkish infantry engaged were esti- 
 mated by the Russians at 25,000 men, with 
 more than a proportionate quantity of 
 artillery. The Russian force engaged con- 
 sisted of three regiments of the 16th 
 division, which was not engaged in the 
 previous Plevna battle, and two battalions 
 of the 30th division in reserve, which divi- 
 sion took part in the battle of the 30th of 
 July. The Uhlans and Hussars of the 4th 
 cavalry division arrived in time to be of 
 some service. 
 
 The Turkish attack was in some degree a 
 surprise. General Zatoff was away from 
 Poradim, making a formal visit to Prince 
 Charles, and in his absence nobody was in a 
 position to make comprehensive dispositions; 
 but he returned in time to take the direc- 
 tion of affairs before the fighting was over. 
 It was stubborn, and in places desperate. 
 The chief struggle took place between 
 Pelisat and Sgalince. 
 
 In front of, and beyond Pelisat, the 
 ground rose in a lazy incline for a distance 
 of a mile, and on this ground stood a Rus- 
 sian redoubt. A mile and a-half to the 
 right was the village of Sgalince, the Rus- 
 sian centre, before which was another 
 redoubt, and a series of trenches. Forward 
 towards Plevna the ground still rose higher, 
 so that the Russian positions were com- 
 manded by the positions taken by the Turks 
 in their forward movement. The disadvan- 
 tage could not be avoided by the Russians 
 without falling back several miles. The 
 Russian redoubt, a mile in front of Pelisat, 
 was taken by the Turks early in the fight, 
 and the Russian left wing driven back on 
 Pelisat, in front of which trenches had been 
 duj^: and lined with troops. 
 
 Within an hour the Pelisat redoubt was 
 taken by the Turks, retaken by the Rus- 
 sians, and retaken again by the Turks, who, 
 encouraged by their success, then went 
 straight at the Russian trenches before 
 Sgalince. 
 
 The battle here was terrible, but the 
 Turks were repulsed, and again they re- 
 treated up the hill. It will hardly be be- 
 lieved that they went at it again ; and yet 
 they did so. To those who had watched 
 the two preceding assaults it seemed mad- 
 ness, because the Russian fire never slackened 
 an instant, and the Russian line never 
 wavered, while the Russian reserves, which 
 had been told-off in view of such a contin- 
 
 gency, were waiting behind ready to fall in 
 at the least sign of wavering. 
 
 The scene of carnage was again repeated, 
 but it only lasted a moment. The Turks 
 completely broken, withdrew, sullenly firing^ 
 and taking time to carry off their wounded 
 and many of their dead. Still they held 
 the redoubt, upon which they fell back 
 apparently with the intention of holding it ; 
 but they were not allowed to remain long 
 there. The attack on the Sgalince redoubt 
 in the Russian centre had been equally un- 
 successful with that on the Russian trenches 
 on the left. The Russians pursued them with 
 a murderous fire, and then six companies 
 went at them with the bayonet and swept 
 them out of the Pelisat redoubt like a whirl- 
 wind. At four o'clock the Turks were in 
 retreat everywhere. The Russians occupied 
 the whole of their first positions, besides 
 pursuing the Turks a short distance with 
 cavalry. The Russians were about 20,000. 
 Their loss was estimated at 1,800, and the 
 Turkish loss at 2,000 killed and wounded. 
 
 After this ineffectual attempt to break 
 through the Russian line, Osman Pasha 
 again relapsed into inactivity, the Russians 
 taking advantage of the discouragement 
 always following a repulse to deal a decisive 
 blow against Lovatz. The Russian force 
 engaged consisted of the 2nd division and a 
 rifle brigade which had returned from 
 Grabrova, marching ninety kilometres, with 
 one brigade of the 3rd division under 
 Prince Imeretinski, and Skobeloff s brigade 
 of Circassian Cossacks. None of the Rus- 
 sian troops, except the last brigade, had 
 been previously engaged. Altogether they 
 numbered about 22,000 men; whilst the 
 Turks, in and round Lovatz, had no more 
 than 7,000. 
 
 Skobeloff, on the previous evening, 
 marched from Kakrind, his previous defen- 
 sive position, and carried a position on the 
 north-east of Lovatz, which rendered the 
 place virtually untenable. In the night, 
 therefore, the Turks fell back on the fortified 
 range of heights behind the town, and there 
 awaited the attack. This was begun with 
 artillery at sunrise, and the Russians' ad- 
 vance was so conducted that their artillery, 
 passing south of Lovatz, took up a posi- 
 tion enfilading the range of heights held by 
 the Turks, and also cut off their retreat into 
 the Balkans over the Trojan. Nevertheless, 
 the Turks resisted stubbornly, and were only 
 driven out by hard infantry fighting, which 
 lasted till near sundown, when they tried to 
 
 251 
 
 » 
 
1!^ i' ' 
 
 
 I '■■ 
 
 RENEWED ATTACK.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 lii .) »■ 
 
 i' '• 
 
 U 
 
 
 
 If!' 
 
 i: 
 
 Ta.d. 1877. 
 
 retire upon Plevna ; but Skobeloffs Cossack 
 horse artillery stopped the way, and they 
 went away due west, pursued by Skobeloff's 
 Cossacks and part of the imperial escort. 
 
 The seizure of Lovatz having thus pre- 
 pared the way for a renewed attack on 
 Plevna, by September 6th there were 
 gathered together before Plevna a total of 
 about 90,000 men, supported by 250 field- 
 guns, and twenty heavy siege guns. 
 
 The plan of the attack, which was fixed 
 for the following day, differed but little 
 from the previous plan, with the exception 
 that the left wing was no longer open to 
 attack from Lovatz, and consequently secure 
 against a deroute like that of July 31st. 
 
 The Russians had the ground to the left, 
 the ground of Schahofskoy in the previous 
 battle. The Roumanians had the section of 
 the environment to the right of the centre, 
 being the ground on which Kriidener fought 
 so stubbornly, although inefi'ectually, "^on 
 the 30th of July. The front of each section 
 was of about equal extent. The Turkish 
 positions opposite the Roumanian section 
 were the stronger both by nature and art. 
 But there were only 28,000 Roumanians to 
 50,000 Russians, although it was decided 
 that they should hear the brunt of the 
 attack on the Grivitza redoubt. To the 
 left of the Roumanian right, also menacing 
 Grivitza, stood the Russian 5th division^ 
 prolonged toward the left flank by the 31st 
 
 division. On the downs above Sgalince and 
 Pelisat, where General Krudener, command- 
 ing the 9th corps, made up by the two divi- 
 sions just named, had his head-quarters, 
 the alignment was still further prolonged 
 by the 30th division and the 16th division, 
 reaching from the touch of the 31st division 
 to Bogot, where the 16th division was 
 chiefly massed, and where Greneral Kriloff, 
 commanding the 4th corps, had his head- 
 quarters. Prince Imeretinski, from Lovatz, 
 detached one brigade south to Trojan to 
 guard against trouble from that region, 
 and then marched north along the chaussee, 
 in the direction of Plevna, with three bri- 
 gades—viz., one brigade of the 2nd division, 
 one brigade of the 3rd division, and the 
 Tirailleur brigade, whilst Skobelotf was with 
 
 his Cossacks reconnoitring in the south-west 
 of Plevna. 
 
 In the early morning, before it was light, 
 the various batteries were moved forward, 
 and brought to bear chiefly on the Grivitza 
 redoubt and on the works above Radisevo. 
 The tiring began at half-past six, and con- 
 252 
 
 tinued, without intermission, the whole day, 
 i^n 1?"^^^ repaying leisurely ; whilst the 
 270 Russian guns thundered at their works 
 to prepare the way for the assault by the 
 infantry, who were lying under cover before 
 Grivitza and Radisevo, awaiting the order 
 to advance. Prince Imeretinski and General 
 bkobeloff were also cannonading the Turk- 
 ish positions between Krishine and Radisevo, 
 both of these positions being strono-ly 
 supported by the isolated hill, or mamelon, 
 south-east of the town, and which the 
 Russians considered a key to the position. 
 
 This bombardment of the outer works of 
 Plevna, during which each gun fired once 
 every quarter of an hour, thus makinor 
 12,480 shots during the day, did not pro- 
 duce much effect ; and when the cannonade 
 recommenced the next day, September 8th, 
 it was not easy at first sight to recognise 
 that the Russians had gained any advantage 
 by their profuse powder-burning. The 
 night before, the parapet of the Grivitza 
 redoubt had seemed a good deal jagged by 
 the Russian shell-fire ; but, under cover of 
 night, all its defects had been made good, 
 and it looked as trim as if never a shot had 
 been fired at it. But the Russians had 
 been at work also during the night. They 
 had gained a large slice of ground in the 
 direction of Grivitza ; that is, their working 
 parties had been pushed forward in tho 
 darkness, and a battery of siege guns had 
 been built and armed on an elevation com- 
 paratively close to and overhanging Grivitza 
 village, and within easy battery range of 
 the irrepressible redoubt. 
 
 As soon as the sun rose that battery came 
 into action against the redoubt, supported 
 by isolated big guns. Away to the right, 
 and further to the rear on the left in rear 
 of the advanced battery, the original 
 battery of siege guns sent its fire sweeping 
 down the valley, and over traversing undu- 
 lations into what, in the previous battle, 
 was called the Turkish first position, the 
 redoubt and intrenched village in the 
 central swell. This position was also re- 
 ceiving the fire of two or three batteries of 
 field-guns stationed on the heights beyond 
 Radisevo, the height where Schahofskoy'a 
 cannon stood so long. The redoubt could 
 not reply to the siege battery, the range of 
 the latter being too long, so it accepted 
 punishment from that quarter, and pounded 
 away in reply to the field batteries on the 
 ridge. 
 
 The Russian siege battery firing into the 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the bombardment. 
 
 Grivitza redoubt made admirable practice ; 
 shell after shell burst in the parapet or 
 went slap into the redoubt. Every now 
 and then the guns were silent for ten 
 minutes or so at a time, and sanguine 
 people began to think that the stubborn 
 defence had been abandoned, and that the 
 defenders had departed bag and baggage. 
 But when the Turk is in a place, and means 
 to stop there, he is a difficult customer to 
 dislodge. Tlie pause had been but a short 
 interval to repair damages, and presently 
 the Grivitza gun-fire would recommence in 
 its old jaunty fashion. It was not the key 
 to the position, but its reduction would be 
 a valuable gain ; and instead of spreading 
 their fire as they did, the Russians should 
 have concentrated upon it the whole weight 
 of their bombardment, and made it unten- 
 able by dint of a hailstorm of shells. As it 
 was, they might bombard it for a week, 
 sacrifice a whole brigade of infantry, and 
 then, after all, not succeed in taking it. 
 The assault was intended to have been be- 
 gun the day before, at five in the afternoon ; 
 but owing to late starting and delays by 
 the way, the troops were not quite all in 
 position by the appointed time, and so the 
 attack was postponed. Everywhere on the 
 8 th, however, the infantry were in position 
 waiting for the word. Behind every swell, 
 in the hollow of every depression, lying 
 down behind the screen of Indian corn, were 
 the soldiers, some far away out beyond the 
 butteries, and the Russian shells and Turk- 
 ish shells whistling over their heads without 
 disturbing them. Others were snugly 
 stowed to the right and left of the batteries, 
 lying on the reverse slopes so as to be clear 
 of the hostile shells. All round the edge of 
 tlie horizon, from the river Vid on the 
 north, to the Lovatz-Plevna road on the 
 south, rose up against the pale blue sky the 
 white smoke of the cannon-fire. The Turk- 
 i^h horseshoe was girdled by a cincture of 
 cannon-fire and armed men ; but the Turk 
 hardened his heart and gave back shell for 
 shell, as, in the impending fight, he had 
 made up his mind to return cheer for cheer, 
 rifle-shot for rifle-shot, and bayonet-stab 
 for bayonet -stab. 
 
 Thus the bombardment went on without 
 doing over-much damage, whilst the villa- 
 gers of Grivitza down in the hollow between 
 the batteries, with shells interminably 
 whistling over their heads, were actually 
 eni(;iged treading out their barley, on the 
 primitive threshing-floor of hardened mud, 
 
 VOL. 111. 2 L 
 
 the men shaking the straw, the women 
 driving the ponies in the endless round. 
 
 The Roumanian guns, too, were firing 
 steadily into the Grivitza redoubt from the 
 position at the corner of the wood on Krii- 
 dener's right ; but it was a long range, and 
 the shells fell short of the redoubt on to the 
 slope more to the left instead. Near them, 
 in a little valley, and on a little hill, was the 
 Russian great battery of the right flank, a 
 battery containing twelve siege guns. The 
 emplacement in which these were lodged 
 was rough enough, but strong. This battery 
 had three faces : one armed with six guns 
 looked down the valley towards Plevna, and 
 gave its fire to the redoubt and fortified 
 village known as the Turkish first position. 
 The centre face, with three guns, looked 
 toward a Turkish redoubt behind the 
 Grivitza redoubt, and connecting it with the 
 great Plizitza position on the due north 
 flank of Plevna. The right face, armed 
 with three guns, looked across at the 
 Grivitza redoubt itself. 
 
 Meanwhile the Turks developed a wider 
 range of artillery fire than they did when 
 Schahofskoy and Krudener in vain dashed 
 against their positions. The Turks were 
 very careful in marking time — fired no 
 harder than they found necessary, but re- 
 plied steadily and deliberately in reply to a 
 fire which, to all appearance, was not ma- 
 terially injuring them. 
 
 The Turkish camps on the most northerly 
 ridge were full of men all the way back 
 from the Grivitza redoubt to the Pli- 
 zitza scarped height. On the central swell 
 masses of their infantrymen were lying in 
 the hollows, having turned out for the sake 
 of safety from the shell-scourged redoubts. 
 
 Meantime, whilst the Grivitza-Radisevo 
 positions were being ripened by the shell- 
 fire, the same process was going on in the 
 south and south-west of the Russian line, 
 where Prince Imeretinski and General Sko- 
 beloff were directing the attack. On this 
 side, from the hills bordering the road from 
 Plevna to Lovatz, a fine view was afforded 
 of the line described by the Russian and 
 Roumanian positions round Plevna, which 
 began opposite Bukova, extending nearly 
 parallel with the Sistova road until beyond 
 Grivitza, then curving round past Radisevo 
 until within two miles of Plevna, nearly 
 on the Lovatz road, then extending along 
 the Lovatz road on the ridge as far as oppo- 
 site Krishine. The line thus described was 
 exactly in the form of a reaping-hook, with 
 
 253 
 
 

 r ' * 
 
 DfrrERMINED ATTACK.! 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 W 
 
 w 
 
 If '.■ 
 
 I'' 
 
 h 
 
 
 
 :, 1 
 
 i .-' 
 
 
 
 j 
 
 . 
 
 the point opposite Bukova, the middle of 
 the curve opposite Grivitza, the junction of 
 the handle close into Plevna, and the end of 
 the handle at Krishine. The point nearest 
 Plevna, it will be perceived, was near the 
 Lovatz road, at the junction of the handle 
 with the blade. 
 
 In tliis direction the Russian batteries 
 were within a mile of Plevna, and were 
 shelling one of the redoubts behind Plevna 
 in a corner formed by the course of the 
 Sophia road. Columns of white smoke were 
 rising to the sky, and the sharp whip-like 
 cracks of these field-pieces were mingling 
 angrily with the dull heavy roar of the siege 
 guns in the big battery above. At this 
 moment, about 4 P.M., Prince Imeretinski 
 considered the first position of the Turks 
 ripe for preparations, at least, for an attack, 
 if, indeed, not for the assault itself, and 
 pushed forward the infantry towards the 
 first Turkish position amongst the trees at 
 the foot of the hill on which stood the re- 
 doubt, in the bend of the Sophia road, 
 which the Russians hoped to carry. 
 
 The fire was opened on both sides with 
 much vigour, the infantry arriving in line 
 and beginning the attack. The Turks were 
 posted in the trees at the foot of the moun- 
 tain, and probably half a mile in front ; but 
 the Russians gradually advanced down the 
 side of the mountain through the trees, 
 driving back the Turks, part of whom re- 
 tired upon Plevna, but the greater part 
 upon the redoubt. The Russians pushed 
 down to almost the bottom of the hill, the 
 Turks retreating up the smooth slope lead- 
 ing towards the redoubt by hundreds, and 
 from the redoubt ittielf began to be poured 
 forth a heavy fire upon the Russians on the 
 opposite slope. The Russians pushed down 
 steadily, nevertheless, in loose order, firing 
 as they went ; but as they neared the foot of 
 the slope the Turkish fire became terrible. 
 From the parapets of the redoubt poured 
 forth a steady wave of flame, and the re- 
 doubt itself was soon hidden in the thick 
 fog of white smoke that rose over it. The 
 roar of this tremendous fire was simply 
 fearful, and lasted about twenty minutes. 
 Then the Russian skirmishing line, which 
 had already reached the foot of the slope, 
 began to withdraw, and in a few minutes 
 they had retired to a position half-way up 
 the slope, where they halted, and the 
 slackening of the fire told that, for the mo- 
 ment, the attack upon the redoubt had 
 failed. The Turks then came down again 
 254 
 
 from the redoubt, and re-entered the woods 
 at the foot of the slope where the Russians 
 had been, and likewise those who had re- 
 treated towards Plevna came out again into 
 the maize-fields, on the other side of the 
 ravine, pushing along as though they would 
 turn the right of the Russian attack. This 
 was impos^sible, however, because the Rus- 
 sian infantry were lying close behind the 
 ridge, and would have etfectually prevented 
 any movement of this kind. 
 
 During all the time this fight lasted, the 
 Russian batteries, which had been advanced 
 far down towards Plevna, were quite silent ; 
 and, encouraged by this, and seeing that 
 the Russians remained in the positions 
 to which they had withdrawn on the slope 
 of the mountain, the Turks began to swarm 
 out of the redoubt down to the foot of the 
 slope, attacking in their turn, and bent 
 upon driving the Russians back to the 
 point which they had originally occupied 
 in the morning. But the Russians had 
 already been strengthening their positions 
 by digging, and poured u fire from the line 
 they had occupied, which, in steadiness and 
 fury, was only equalled by the Turks from 
 their redoubt. The Turks had already ad- 
 vanced a considerable way up the slope 
 before the Russians opened fire, and they 
 did not stand a moment under it. They 
 retreated through the trees, and again up 
 the slope to the redoubt, hotly pursued by 
 the Russians, who followed them to the foot 
 of the slope. 
 
 The fire on both sides then became dread- 
 ful, and the Russians having received a 
 considerable number of reinforcements, their 
 advance was far more steady and swift, more 
 self-confident tlian the previous one had 
 been. They swept down into the little 
 hollow between the opposite slopes, and 
 then poured a terrible fire on the Turkish 
 redoubt from behind the trees, and under 
 cover of the banks, stones, earth, and any- 
 thing they could find to shelter themselves. 
 This time the attack was, moreover, sup- 
 ported by the batteries on the right, which 
 now advanced still nearer Plevna, and con- 
 centrated their fire on the Turkish redoubt. 
 At the time the Russians were advancing 
 down the hill, the whole valley was filled 
 with smoke. The town of Plevna, as well 
 as the Turkish redoubts, and even part of 
 the wood where the Russians were, had 
 become invisible. The sun was just setting 
 behind a mass of clouds, but it was seen for 
 a few minutes like a fiery blood-shot eye. 
 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [fight for I^ADISEA'O. 
 
 which tinged the smoke han ging over every- 
 thing with the colour of bl ood. Soon after 
 €unset the firing, after a fe w sudden spurts, 
 ceased for the night, with the exception of 
 a casual alarm. The Russians remained in 
 their positions at the foot of the slope 
 till about 12 P.M., when they withdrew to 
 the summit of the wooded hill whence they 
 had made their attack. During the next 
 day, September 9th, the operations were 
 again limited to artillery fire, the batteries 
 opposite Grivitza gaining ground a little, 
 as well as the heavy siege guns in front of 
 Radisevo. September 10th was passed in 
 the same fashion — a languid, objectless can- 
 nonade, with the only result of advancing 
 the batteries a few yards. The fact is that 
 the staff, wishing to compliment the 
 emperor, had commenced the bombardment 
 on September 7th, the anniversary of his 
 coronation, and intended to take Plevna 
 on September 11th, the anniversary of his 
 saint's day. This was, no doubt, very 
 pretty ; but the expenditure of fireworks, to 
 say the least, was somewhat costly. 
 
 However, on September 11th the supreme 
 effort began. The attack was concentrated 
 on three points — the Grivitza redoubt, the 
 Radisevo ridge leading to the mamelon, 
 and the outlying redoubts of the great 
 Krishine redoubt. The Roumanians were 
 entrusted with the first task. General 
 Kriloff with the second, and General Skobe- 
 loff with the third. It had been decided 
 that the attack should be ushered in with 
 the obligato artillery fire, and commence 
 at 2.30 P.M. A skirmish, however, on the 
 Russian left, between the Turks and Skobe- 
 loffs forces, suddenly developed at 11 A.M. 
 into a regular engagement, which soon be- 
 came general along the whole line. 
 
 In addition to this contretemps, a thick 
 fog, which lasted the greater part of the 
 day, also impeded the operations, and caused 
 a great deal of confusion. The battle thus 
 began on the extreme left, and thence ran 
 round to the right, opposite Grivitza. 
 
 Skobeloflf and Imeretinski, in order to 
 begin the attack on their side upon the 
 redoubt, had to advance their troops on to 
 the hill immediately fronting the redoubts 
 in the bend of the Sophia road. It was 
 from this hill that the attack had been 
 made upon Skobeloff four days before, and 
 the hill had since been abandoned by the 
 Turks, except a few skirmishers. Skobelofi" 
 advanced at eleven o'clock to take possession 
 of this hill. The Turks immediately opened 
 
 fire upon him. This was the beginning of 
 the Turkish attack, which spread from the 
 Lovatz road over Plevna, and up the 
 Radisevo ridge, a position which has already 
 been described. In the middle of this ridge 
 was a low hill, or hump. From this point 
 down to the end of the ridge, scarcely a mile 
 from Plevna, the Russians had planted 
 twenty-eight guns, the greater part of 
 which were not more than 1,000 or 1,200 
 yards from the Turkish redoubts and 
 trenches, and were a continual menace and 
 danger to the Turks, who suddenly decided 
 to try and carry the Radisevo ridge, and the 
 attack here was directed principally against 
 the above hump or hill, opposite one of their 
 own redoubts. It was impossible, owing to 
 the fog and smoke, to see the position of the 
 combatants on either side. The fight lasted 
 until nearly two o'clock. The Turks made 
 three attacks upon Skobeloff, which were 
 successfully repulsed, and two on the Radi- 
 sevo ridge. 
 
 The three fights with Skobeloff were 
 short, quick, and sharp, neither lasting 
 more than five or ten minutes. This was 
 owing to Skobeloff's manner of defence. He 
 ordered his troops to reserve their fire until 
 the Turks came within a hundred yards, 
 then to open upon them a sudden and 
 terrible fusillade, against which no troops 
 could stand This drove them back almost 
 immediately. Three times they came to the 
 charge, and three times were they repulsed 
 in the same sudden and furious manner. 
 
 The two attacks upon the Radisevo ridge 
 lasted longer, and were repulsed with less 
 ease. Not until about two o'clock did the 
 fire die away, showing that the fight for the 
 moment was over. Then the fog lifted 
 slightly, and the position on both sides 
 could be seen. The Turks in the trenches 
 down towards Plevna were trying occa- 
 sional shots, distinguished by little puffs of 
 smoke, with masses here and there in the 
 redoubts, showing, with an occasional shot 
 from their cannon, t.hat they had been re- 
 pulsed with heavy loss — 'how much it is 
 impossible to state ; but as the loss of the 
 Russians fighting under cover was more 
 than 500, that of the Turks must have been 
 between two and three thousand. The 
 three days' artillery fire had evidently done 
 them, however, very little harm, and it 
 showed how strong they felt themselves to 
 risk a repulse, knowing, to a certainty, that 
 it would be followed almost immediately by 
 a Russian attack. Indeed, this attack and 
 
 255 
 
 
 y^ 
 
lit 
 
 m I 
 
 "If 'i f 
 
 PLEVNA VICTORIOUS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 r i 
 
 li 
 
 
 If: 
 
 i 
 
 repulse of the Turks did more to prepare 
 the way for the Russian attack than the 
 whole three days' artillery fire had done. 
 They had suffered severely, and must have 
 been more or less discouraged and de- 
 moralised, as troops, even the best, always 
 are at such a moment. It was most 
 favourable, therefore, for the Russian attack, 
 which was begun almost immediately, and 
 exactly at the time originally intended ; so 
 that the fire had hardly ceased half-an-hour 
 when it began again with unexampled fury. 
 Whilst General Kriloff attacked the 
 redoubts down near Plevna, there was little 
 to be seen along the crest of the Radisevo 
 ridge, where the Russian guns could be 
 perceived at work, with figures flitting 
 round them, dimly seen through the smoke, 
 strangely magnified by the intervention of 
 the fog, until the gunners appeared like 
 giants, and the guns themselves, enlarged 
 and distorted by the same medium, ap- 
 peared like huge uncouth monsters, from 
 whose throats at every instant leaped forth 
 globes of flame. There were moments when 
 these flashes seemed to light up every thin «• 
 around them. Then the guns and gunner*s 
 appeared for an instant with fearful dis- 
 tinctness, red and lurid, as though tinged 
 with blood. Then they sank back again'in 
 shadowy indistinctness, "^^e uproar of the 
 battle rose and swelled until it became fear- 
 ful to hear — like the continuous roar of an 
 angry sea beating against a rock-bound 
 coast, combined with that of a thunder- 
 storm, with the strange unearthly sounds 
 heard on board a ship when labouring in a 
 gale. 
 
 This continued, without ceasing, for 
 nearly two hours. The Russian guns were 
 pouring their fire into the redoubt, and the 
 Russian infantry hailing theirs into the 
 trenches, while the attacking columns were 
 advancing cautiously under cover of the 
 smoke and fog, and standing corn, to get a 
 position as near as possible before making 
 the final rush. At about five o'clock the 
 smoke lifted again, carried away by a gust 
 of wind. At this moment, close before tlie 
 redoubt, down near Plevna, a mass of 
 Russian soldiers rose up in a field of Indian 
 corn, and pushed forward with a shout. 
 The Turkish fire just then seemed to have 
 been dominated, nearly silenced, by the 
 terrible storm of shot and shell poured in 
 by the Russians. The moment seemed 
 favourable for the assault ; but the Russian 
 shout had scarcely died away when there 
 256 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [sKOBELOFF's FURY. 
 
 flashed along the parapet of the redoubt a 
 stream of fire that swayed backwards and 
 forwards, while the smoke rose over the 
 redoubt in one heavy white mass. One 
 continuous crash filled the air with bullets 
 from which, to the spectator, it did not seem 
 possible for even a rabbit to advance. And 
 as it proved, the fire was too heavy for the 
 Russians to make way. There were not 
 enough of them to overpower the Turkish 
 fire— not enough to suck up the Turkish 
 bullets and leave sufficient to carry the 
 parapet. A few struggled up on to the glacis, 
 where they soon dropped, and the whole 
 force remaining was repulsed, and had to 
 fall back. At this moment General Kriloff 
 sent two battalions to pick up the dis- 
 comfited assailants, and lead them on again ; 
 but they had to fall back, and thus his 
 second assault was also repulsed. 
 
 The stupidity of this method of attack 
 was simply criminal. It was a mere matter 
 of calculation. If a thousand men attack 
 another thousand at close quarters for ten 
 minutes, that means that, with breech- 
 loaders, each thousand will be exposed to an 
 initial shower of 4,000 bullets per minute. 
 Two-and-a-half per cent., at least, of these 
 bullets take effect upon the attacking party, 
 of whom 100 men drop in the first minute' 
 whilst the defenders under cover, at most^ 
 lose only 5 per cent. During the second' 
 minute the attacking party are exposed to 
 3,800 bullets, whilst they themselves can 
 only fire 3,600. This time they lose over 
 10 per cent.— say 11 percent.; whilst the 
 defenders lose less than 5 per cent. — say 4^. 
 Thus, at the end of the second minute, the 
 attacking party lose 95 men, reducing their 
 force to 800 men, whilst the defenders lose 
 only 43, so that they still have 907 men to 
 oppose to 800. In the third minute the 
 assailants have to face 3,628 bullets, and 
 can only give 3,200. This reduces the 
 assailants to 682 men, and the defenders to 
 no more than 827. In the fourth minute 
 the assailants can only give 2,728 bullets to 
 the defenders' 3,308 ; this leaves 598 assail- 
 ants to 756 defenders. In the fifth minute 
 the assailants are reduced to 523 men; in 
 the sixth minute to 447 ; in the seventh to 
 337 ; in the eighth to 310; in the ninth to 
 247 ; and in the tenth to 187 men ; whilst 
 the defenders still have, at least, 619 left. 
 In the eleventh minute, the assailants would 
 be reduced to 127; in the twelfth to 67 ; 
 and in the thirteenth to 10, against 585 of 
 the defenders. 
 
 This is supposing equal numbers face 
 each other ; and, at first sight, it would 
 appear necessary for the assailants to 
 number 2,000 only to carry the position. 
 But this is a fallacy, because 2,000 men 
 offer a better mark than 1,000, and 3,000 
 still better ; so thut the loss would be much 
 greater in proportion. To fill up this loss, 
 and render it harmless, therefore, a much 
 larger number than 2,000 men would have 
 to be detailed off to carry the position held 
 by 1,000. Four thousand, at least, would 
 be necessary — and perhaps even 5,000. 
 Likely enough, 2,500 would fall, as against 
 the 1,000 assailed; but if, as we have 
 shown, 415 of the defenders cost 990 of the 
 assailants, the bargain is a fair one. But 
 then 1,000 men would never show the same 
 front to 5,000 as they would to 1,000 ; so 
 that the loss on 5,000 men would, probably, 
 be far less than the loss upon 1,000. 
 
 This view, however, did not recommend 
 itself to General Kriloff; and whilst he was 
 frittering his men away, Skobeloff was pre- 
 paring the ground for the attack on his 
 side. 
 
 At four o'clock he brought down twenty 
 pieces of artillery to the spur of the ridge 
 overlooking Plevna. To not more than 1,000 
 yards distant from the redoubt he advanced 
 his artillery, determined to make a desperate 
 effort to capture the redoubt in front of 
 him. This was a double redoubt in the 
 bend of the Lovatz road, down near 
 Plevna. He had advanced his troops down 
 the slope of the mountain to within easy 
 range. As the Turks immediately opened 
 fire upon him from the redoubt, he returned 
 the fire with steadiness and precision, 
 putting his men under cover as much as 
 possible, his cannon pouring a steady stream 
 of shell and canister into the redoubt as 
 well. In fact, he worked his cannon so 
 much that several pieces were spoiled. He 
 had determined to risk everything to capture 
 this redoubt ; and if Plevna were not taken, 
 it would not be bis fault. P'or three hours 
 he kept up this fire ; and just after KrilofTs 
 second repulse, the Turkish fire having 
 somewhat relaxed, dominated by the Rus- 
 sian, he thought the moment had come for 
 making the assault. 
 
 He had four regiments of the line, and 
 four battalions of sharpshooters. Still 
 keeping up his murderous fire, he formed, 
 under its cover, two regiments in the little 
 hollow at the foot of the low hill on which 
 was built the redoubt, together with two 
 
 battalions of sharpshooters, not more than 
 1,200 yards from the scarp. Then placing 
 himself in the best position for watching 
 the result, he ceased fire and ordered the 
 advance. He ordered the assaulting party 
 not to fire, and they rushed forward with 
 their guns on their shoulders, with music 
 playing and banners flying, and disappeared 
 in the fog and smoke. The advancing 
 column was indistinctly seen — a dark mass 
 in the fog and smoke. Feeling, as it were, 
 every throb of the battle, Skobeloff saw this 
 line begin to waver and hesitate. Upon the 
 instant he hurled forward a rival regiment 
 to support, and again watched the result. 
 This new force carried the mass farther on 
 with its momentum, but the Turkish re- 
 doubt flamed and smoked, and poured forth 
 such a torrent of bullets that the line was 
 again shaken. Skobeloff stood in this 
 shower of balls unhurt. All his escort were 
 killed or wounded, even to his little 
 Kirghiz servant, who received a bullet in 
 the shoulder. Again he saw the line hesi- 
 tate and waver, and he flung his fourth and 
 last regiment, the Libansky, on the glacis. 
 Again this new wave carried the preceding 
 ones forward, until they were almost on the 
 scarp; but that deadly shower of bullets 
 poured upon them ; men dropped by hun- 
 dreds, and the result still remained doubt- 
 ful. The line once more wavered and 
 hesitated. Not a moment was to be lost if 
 the redoubt was to be carried. 
 
 Skobeloff had, however, only two bat- 
 talions of sharpshooters left, the best in his 
 detachments. Putting himself at the head 
 of these, he dashed forward on horseback. 
 He picked up the stragglers; he reached 
 the wavering, fluctuating mass, and gave it 
 the inspiration of his own courage and in- 
 struction. He picked the whole mass up, 
 and carried it forward with a rush and a 
 cheer. The whole redoubt was a mass of 
 flame and smoke, from which screams, 
 shouts, and cries of agony and defiance 
 arose, with the deep-mouthed bellowing of 
 the cannon, and, above all, the steady, 
 awful crash of that deadly rifle-tire. Skobe- 
 loff's sword was cut in two in the middle. 
 Then a moment later, when just on the 
 point of leaping the ditch, horse and man 
 rolled together to the ground, the horse 
 dead or wounded, the rider untotiched. 
 Skobeloff sprang- to his feet with a shout, 
 then with a formidable savage yell the whole 
 mass of men streamed over the ditch, over 
 the scarp and counter-scarp, over the 
 
 257 
 
TERRIBLE LOSSES.] 
 
 irrSTORY OF THE 
 
 Hi 
 
 II I 
 
 fi 
 
 
 i; 
 
 i 
 
 parapet, and swept into the redoubt like a 
 hurricane. Their bayonets made short 
 work of the Turks still remaining. Then 
 a joyous cheer told that the redoubt was 
 captured, and that at last one of the de- 
 fences of Plevna was in the hands of the 
 Russians ; but at what a sacrifice ! In that 
 short rush of a few hundred yards, 3,000 
 men had been left on the hill-side on the 
 glacis, the scarp, and the ditch — one-fourth 
 of his whole force. Skobeloff himself re- 
 garded such attacks upon such positions 
 as almost criminal, and disapproved highly 
 the whole plan of attack on Plevna ; but 
 he believed that if an attack was to be 
 made, it could only be done in this manner, 
 and that although the loss of men might 
 JDe great, as we have just shown it must be, 
 it was better that the loss should be incurred, 
 and the victory won, than half the loss with 
 a certainty of defeat. 
 
 But having gained the redoubt, the ques- 
 tion was, how to hold it. It was dominated 
 by the redoubt of Krishine on the left, 
 exposed at the Plevna side to the fire of the 
 sharpshooters, to the Turkish forces in the 
 wood bordering on the Sophia road, and 
 open to the fire of the intrenched camp. 
 There was a cross-fire coming from three 
 different points. At daylight next morn- 
 ing, September 12th, the Turks opened fire 
 from all sides. The distance from the re- 
 doubt at Krishine had, of course, been 
 accurately measured, and the guns dropped 
 shells into the redoubt with the utmost pre- 
 cision on the exposed sides. The back of 
 the redoubt was a solid rock, on which it 
 was impossible to erect a parapet. All the 
 earth had been used for the construction 
 of the parapets on the other side. It was 
 evident that the position was untenable 
 unless the intrenched camp on the other 
 side of the Plevna and Krishine redoubt 
 could be taken. Skobeloff renewed his 
 demand for reinforcements made the even- 
 ing before. Although his losses had been 
 great, the spirit of his troops was so good 
 that, with another regiment, he was willintr 
 to undertake to capture the Krishine re- 
 doubt and the intrenched camp, or he would 
 undertake to hold the positions until some- 
 thing could be attempted in some other 
 quarter. Could one or two more positions 
 be carried during the next day, say the 
 Krishine redoubt and one intrenched camp 
 on the same ridge as the Grrivitza redoubt, 
 the fall of Plevna might be considered 
 certain. But at sunrise the Turks beijan an 
 258 
 
 [A.D. 187r. 
 
 attack upon the captured redoubt, and the 
 storm of battle again raged with fury there, 
 while all was quiet everywhere else. The 
 desperate attack of the Turks was repulsed. 
 Another attack was made and another re- 
 pulse ; and this continued all daylong, until 
 the Turks had attacked and been beaten 
 five successive times. 
 
 The Russian losses were becoming fearful 
 General Skobeloff had lost 2,000 men in 
 attacking the redoubt. By the afternoon 
 he had lost 3,000 more in holding it, while 
 his battalions shrivelled up and shrank 
 away as if by magic. One battalion of 
 sharpshooters had been reduced to 160 
 men, and one company which had been 150 
 to forty. An immense proportion of officers 
 were killed or wounded. Only one com- 
 mander of a regiment was alive; scarcely a 
 head of a battalion was left. Two officers 
 of the staff were killed, one of whom was 
 Verastchagine, brother of the great artist. 
 Another brother was wounded. General 
 Dobrovolsky, commander of sharpshooters, 
 was killed. One officer was blown to 
 pieces by the explosion of a caisson. Cap- 
 tain Kurapatkin, chief of the staff, standi ncr 
 beside this officer, had his hair singed, and 
 suffered a severe contusion. Only General 
 fekobeloti himself remained untouched He 
 seemed to bear a charmed life. He visited 
 the redoubt three or four times during the 
 day, encouraging the soldiers^tcliing them 
 help would soon arrive ; Plevna would soon 
 be taken ; victory would soon crown their 
 efforts; telling them it was the final de- 
 cisive blow struck for their country ; for the 
 honour and glory of the Russian arms ; and 
 they always replied with the same clieerf 
 shouts, while their numbers were dwindlin(r 
 away by liundreds. He again and a^^aiS 
 sent for reinforcements, and again and a-airi 
 informed the commander-in-chief that the 
 position was untenable. The afternoon 
 wore away and no reinforcements came. 
 
 General Levitzki, however, formally re- 
 fused reinforcements, either because he 
 thought the position, in spite of General 
 ^kobeloff's representations, was tenable, or 
 because he had no reinforcements to crive. 
 General Kriloff, on his own responsibility, 
 sent the remnant of a regiment which had 
 attacked the redoubt ; but of the 2,500 there 
 were barely 1,000 left, so it was utterly in- 
 capable of going into action that day ; and 
 even this regiment arrived too late. General 
 Skobeloff had left the redoubt at four o'clock 
 to go to his tent on a woody hill opposite. 
 
 A.D. 1877.1 
 
 He had been there scarcely an hour when 
 he was informed that the Turks were again 
 attacking the right flank on the Lovatz 
 road, immediately above Plevna. He gal- 
 loped forward to see, and was met by an 
 orderly with the news that the Turks were 
 also attacking the redoubt a sixth time. 
 He dashed forward towards the redoubt, in 
 hopes of reaching it in time, but was met 
 by a stream of his own men flying back. 
 They were exhausted by forty-eight hours' 
 incessant fighting, and were worn out, 
 hungry, and dying of thirst and fatigue. 
 Owing to the inactivity of the Russians 
 during the day, the Turks had been enabled 
 to collect an overwhelming force, which had 
 made one last desperate effort, and had suc- 
 ceeded in driving Skobeloff's force out. One 
 bastion was held to the last by a young 
 officer with a handful of men. They re- 
 fu.-<ed to fly, and were slaughtered to the 
 last man. 
 
 This temporary success of Skobeloff's, 
 which cost him three-quarters of his forces, 
 was all that the Russians had to show for 
 their endeavours on the extreme left. In 
 the centre, Kriloff had been less fortunate 
 in point of success, and but little less un- 
 fortunate in his losses. The great attack 
 had been signally repulsed along the whole 
 Russian line, at an immense loss. 
 
 The only enduring success, purchased at 
 a similar cost, had been obtained by the 
 Roumanians, assisted by the Russians, who 
 carried the formidable Grivitza redoubt in 
 the even in Of. 
 
 At halt- past two P.M. the attack was 
 made by tlie Roumanians, but, by some 
 mistake, the Russians arrived half-an-hour 
 too late. The Roumanians attacked from 
 the east and south-east, the Russians from 
 the south and south-west by a line of skir- 
 mishers, with men carrying scaling-ladders, 
 gibions, and fascines among them. The 
 latter had their rifles slung on their backs, 
 and were ordered in no case to fire, but 
 merely to run forward, fill up the ditch, and 
 place their ladders behind. Then followed 
 the second line, in company column forma- 
 tion for the attack, followed by the third 
 line to support the assault. 
 
 The Turkish fire directed against the 
 assailants was incessant, though it did not 
 do so much damage as might have been 
 expected, owing to the assailants being 
 more or less under cover of the parapets. 
 But in spite of this the assault was repulsed, i 
 and the storming party all fell back except j 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. foRiviTZA redoubt captured. 
 
 two companies of infantry, which had found 
 cover and kept up a brisk fire against the 
 redoubt. 
 
 At half-past five the attack was renewed 
 by a battalion of the Roumanian militia, 
 followed by two Russian battalions of the 
 17th and 18th regiments. The redoubt 
 was then carried, and the Turks withdrew 
 to another redoubt in the rear of the cap- 
 tured one, whence they poured such a 
 withering fire into the Russo-Roumanian 
 party, that before reinforcements could ar- 
 rive they were able to return to the attack, 
 and drove the victors out of their newly con- 
 quered positions. 
 
 Meantime, however, the Russian rein- 
 forcements had arrived, together with three 
 battalions of Roumanians. Then followed 
 a third assault, and the work was finally 
 captured at seven p.m. Four guns and a 
 standard were the trophies of the feat of 
 arms. More than once during the night 
 did the Turks advance with shouts of 
 "Allah !" but no serious attack was made, 
 and in the morning the Turks in Plevna 
 saw the flag-staff defiantly exposing the Rou- 
 manian flag in the hitherto dreaded Gri- 
 vitza redoubt. Thus the capture of this 
 redoubt was the only result of the great as- 
 sault of September Uth, which cost the 
 Russo-Roumanian forces no less than 14,000 
 men. And even this success was of no value, 
 for the Grivitza redoubt was commanded by 
 the Plevnitza redoubt in its rear, whence an 
 increasing fire was kept up, against which, 
 however, the Roumanian garrison held its 
 ground to the last. 
 
 But, like Loris Melikoff, the Russian 
 commanders in Bulgaria knew how to derive 
 service from their experiences. 
 
 The success of the Roumanians, or let us 
 say, the success of the operations at Grivitza, 
 showed them the proper and only way to 
 capture Plevna. They had worked up to 
 the redoubt by sap ; and by sap and starva- 
 tion, Plevna, they at last saw, could only be 
 taken. Plevna, they at last became con- 
 vinced, had been turned into a vast fortress, 
 against which they would have to conduct 
 operations in the same way that the allies 
 proceeded against Sebastopol, or the Ger- 
 mans against Paris. 
 
 And in these circumstances it is not sur- 
 prising that the Russians should think of 
 the veteran general who had rendered them 
 such services twenty years before — of Gene- 
 ral Todleben. His advice was plain, simple, 
 and to the point. It was to invest Plevna 
 
 259 
 
 A. 
 
 
?ii 
 
 ATTACK ON SCHIPKA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [investment of plevna.' 
 
 with a series of earthworks and redoubts, 
 and cut off Osman Pasha from his commu- 
 nication with Sophia and Widdin. Instead 
 of going to Plevna to attack Osman Pasha, 
 the Russians were to make an outer Plevna 
 of their own, and force Osman Pasha to 
 attack them. This advice was not heroic, 
 but it was sensible ; and having: due reofard 
 to the probable course of future events, it 
 was certain of success. 
 
 This was so clear, that every one, ex- 
 cept Osman Pasha, foresaw 'the end. Or, 
 as it may not be fair to hold Osman respon- 
 sible, we may say everybody except the 
 authorities at the Porte. 
 
 As soon as it became apparent that the 
 Russians had changed their plan of action 
 — which speedily became apparent to all 
 the world — Osman Pasha should have 
 changed his, and have evacuated Plevna, 
 which had done all the damage to the Rus- 
 sians wliich lay in its power. What Osman 
 Pasha might have done is of course, more or 
 less,barren speculation. But it is conceivable 
 that, having a small garrison in Plevna, he 
 might have withdrawn all the forces in 
 Western Bulgaria with him across the Bal- 
 kans, and, uniting with Mehemed Ali, have 
 offered a determined front to the Russians 
 on the Lom, and taking the offensive from 
 Kezanlik to Rustzuk, at any rate have suc- 
 ceeded in forcing the Russians further back 
 from the basis. 
 
 However, Osman Pasha did nothing of 
 the sort, and remained in Plevna to be 
 smoked out like a badger out of his hole. 
 The Russian errors before Plevna lasted from 
 June 11th to September Uth. The Turkish 
 errors in Plevna began on September llth, 
 and continued to the bitter end. Grivitza 
 was the turning-point for both. 
 
 But if Plevna was the stone wall against 
 which the Russians ran their heads in vain, 
 the Schipka Pass was equally the stumbling- 
 block of the Turks. Here the endeavours 
 of Suleiman Pasha still remained barren of 
 results, although Fort St. Nicholas, the 
 high rock frowning upon tlie mouth of the 
 pass, which, to the Czar and Sultan, was of 
 equal importance, had an exceedingly nar- 
 row escape of changing owners on the 17th 
 of September. At one time, indeed, soon 
 after the attack commenced, which was 
 shortly Vjefore daybreak (" the darkest hour 
 befoie the dawn " being well chosen as best 
 for all night attacks), it was fully believed 
 that it had fallen. Had the attackinur force 
 veen supported by the efforts of those up >u 
 260 
 
 whom devolved the duty of co-operation, all 
 might have been well with the Turks, and 
 the standard of the Prophet have again 
 assumed its place in the entire range of 
 forts, forming so insuperable an obstacle to 
 the capture of the celebrated pass. Sulei- 
 man Pasha had waited until he had suc- 
 ceeded in forming as handy an army as any 
 of his brother generals could boast of; and, 
 from all that can be gathered, it was no 
 fault of his that the plan he had formed 
 was not crowned with success. The causes 
 have not even yet been fully ascertained ; 
 but there can be no doubt it was in no way 
 his intention to dream of capturing the 
 Russian positions by a direct attack upon 
 the principal one of them. A threatening 
 demonstration on some or one of the chain 
 of forts in the rear of Fort St. Nicholas, and 
 parallel with the main road through the 
 pass, miglit stand a very fair chance of 
 success ; and this would appear to have been 
 intended on the 17th of September. The 
 troops toM-off to commence the attack 
 (nearly ,3,000 in number), did their duty 
 admirably, and succeeded in obtaining a 
 firm foothold upon the rocky fort, a con- 
 siderable portion of which soon fell into 
 their possession. Exposed for hour after 
 hour to a galling fire on their front and on 
 both flanks, it is marvellous how they stood 
 their ground so long; seeing, with their 
 then advantage in point of numbers over 
 the enemy in their immediate front, that 
 they could not, unless a diversion were made 
 in their behalf, hope to maintain their 
 ground even if the entire fort fell into their 
 possession. Upon whose shoulders the 
 blame rests (and certainly Suleiman Pasha 
 himself ought to be freed from it), is not an 
 easy matter to ascertain. The only reason 
 which can be assigned for the failure is, that 
 the points chosen by the right and lett 
 attacks were found to be too strong; still, 
 to capture them was one matter, but to 
 make an important auxiliary movement was 
 a far easier one. Very feeble flank attempts 
 were made by the generals to whom the duty 
 was assigned; and scarcely credible ac- 
 counts were bruited about of the inefficienc}^, 
 and even absence altogether from the fight, 
 of the officers with these troops. The action 
 lasted until nearly mid-day, when the un- 
 supported troops in the centre, having no 
 hope of co-operat on from the east — for in- 
 stance, through the Travna Pass — or from the 
 west, and having actually seen a large body 
 of the enemy rapidly coming up to attack 
 
 them, were very properly ordered to retire. 
 Disappointed and galled as they were, it 
 was not to be wondered at that they fled in 
 disorder down the side of the steep rock 
 which it had co>t them so much to gain. 
 And great was Suleiman Pasha's good for- 
 tune that the fear occasioned by their flight 
 did not communicate to the rest of his 
 army. A useless sacrifice of life and limb 
 was alone the result of the day's work. 
 About 1,000 were killed, wounded, and 
 missing; and there was scant hope of the 
 Turks finding the latter taken prisoners, 
 the bayonet having been actively employed 
 during the retreat. Still, after a defeat, 
 the next thing naturally to be expected is a 
 panic among the troops to whom the for- 
 tune of war has been unfavourable. Such 
 was the case on the night following the 
 attack, when, from some unknown cause — 
 possibly owing to the soughing of the wind, 
 which had risen high as the sun went down, 
 and predisposed the nerves of the pickets 
 to believe every crackling branch a 
 Russian footstep — the alarm was given, 
 and the greatest excitement prevailed 
 amongst the horde of irregulars who formed 
 the rear in advance and the van in retreat 
 of Suleiman Pasha's numt reus army. They 
 cared not to wait until the cause could be 
 ascertained. The fact of the alarm being 
 given was enough, and the Russians might 
 be on their heels. At every step as they 
 rushed pell-mell down, generally laden with 
 the booty they had succeeded in plundering 
 on the march, they added to the confusion, 
 especially amongst the swarm of camp- 
 followers and the great numbers of Bul- 
 garian peasants, who were enforcedly em- 
 ployed in the transport service. It was not 
 for more than an hour after the panic had 
 arisen that any signs of its being allayed 
 could be observed, though the admirable 
 conduct of the regular troops in calmly 
 taking up their assigned positions, should 
 
 have put to the blush even such poltroons 
 as those who had been the first to fly. A 
 little reflection might soon have convinced 
 the most chicken-hearted of Bashi-Bazouks, 
 with his waist stuck full of an armoury of 
 pistols and daggers, that something more 
 than a few strong shots would herald the 
 Russian advance. He did not, however, 
 give himself the time for thinking, but 
 joined his comrades in the rush to the rear, 
 till he discovered himself to be alone and 
 without a following even of the class who 
 are to be found with all armies in the field. 
 Thus more than a month had elapsed since 
 Suleiman Pasha occupied the heights which 
 gave him such a powerful advantage over 
 the Russians, who were cooped up in the 
 rock and behind the earthworks which lay 
 across the pass, and yet nothing had been 
 effected towards the capture of what had 
 become a veritable stronghold. His tele- 
 grams had announced the closing of every 
 inlet of the besieged, with the exception of 
 the main road from Gabrova ; and why this 
 was not attempted to be blocked whilst a 
 sufficient portion of the army kept the 
 garrison at bay, waPbj no means apparent. 
 
 As it was, Suleiman Pasha lost, between 
 August 20th and September 20th, over 
 10,000 men, without reaping the least 
 advantage beyond prolonging the struggle. 
 
 To sum up the state of affairs after the 
 repulse of the third attack upon Plevna, 
 the campaign on both sides may be said to 
 have resolved itself into three sieges. There 
 was the siege of Plevna in the west; the 
 siege of the Quadrilateral in the east by the 
 Russians; and the siege of the Schipka 
 Pass by the Turks. 
 
 Henceforth, operations were confined to 
 the closer investment of their positions on 
 the one side, and attempts to cut the com- 
 munications of the besieged on both sides, 
 whether at Plevna, in the Quadrilateral, or 
 at Schipka. 
 
 CHAPTER XXin. 
 
 THE INVESTMENT OP PLEVNA. 
 
 As soon as the Russians had determined 
 formally to invest Plevna, and reduce it as 
 Ihey would a fortress, Greneral Kriloff was 
 VOL. Ill, 2 M 
 
 placed in command of the cavalry, and sent, 
 to the rear of Plevna on the Sophia road, for 
 the purpose of cutting off the Turkish 
 
 261 
 
 ■-'>■': 
 
krtloff's neglect.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 La.d. 1877. 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 supplies. As the Turks had few cavalry, 
 and that not good, General Kriloff should 
 have had it all his own way. The country 
 was open, well adapted for cavalry move- 
 ments, and an active leader with cavalry 
 and horse artillery sliould have been able to 
 make the passage of convoys difficult. As 
 the Turks had about 50,000 men in the 
 Plevna position, the question of supplies 
 was an urgent one with them, both for pro- 
 visions and munitions ; and the magazines 
 all required replenishing. 
 
 News, however, was received at Russian 
 head-quarters that more Turkish forces 
 were coming from Sophia ; but it was 
 hoped that Kriloff would meet and drive 
 them back. But soon the Russians were 
 surprised to hear of Hifzi Pasha's arrival 
 at Plevna with a small escort. It was 
 supposed that he avoided Kriloff by taking 
 the by-ways ; General Kriloff himself being 
 somewhere between Lukovatz and Teliche. 
 
 But in spite of General Kriloff's proxi- 
 mity, the Turks succeeded in passing two 
 convoys into Plevna under his very nose. 
 The first was a convoy of about 2,000 
 waggons, accompanied^ by reinforcements 
 for Plevna, consisting of ten tabors of 
 infantry, one battery of artillery, and three 
 regiments of cavalry. 
 
 General Kriloff did not discover the 
 presence of these convoys until they had 
 arrived at Teliche, where he went to attack 
 them. He found them already intrenched, 
 with guns in poisition, and mounted in a 
 battery. An artillery fight ensued, which 
 lasted all day, with no result, Kriloff being 
 unable, of course, to attack so large a force 
 of infantry with his cavalry. That night 
 he retired to the previous position he 
 occupied at Dubnik, on the Sophia road, 
 and nearer Plevna. Next day the Turks 
 advanced upon Dubnik, and attacked him 
 in turn. Another artillery fight ensued, 
 which lasted all day. Towards evening, 
 however, two columns of infantry came out 
 of Plevna, and taking Kriloff in the rear, 
 obliged him to withdraw, thus leaving 
 the road open for the passage of the rein- 
 forcements and convoy. He retired upon 
 Trstenik, while General Lascaroff, who had 
 only then succeeded in forming a junction 
 with Kriloff, was obliged to retreat further 
 back across the Lovatz road to Bogot. The 
 Turks, therefore, passed the convoy without 
 the loss of a single waggon. 
 
 The whole affair was very feebly managed, 
 partly because General Kriloff's instructions 
 262 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 were unsuited to the force under his com- 
 mand. He was told to hold the Sophia 
 road at Dubnik, a thing which was 
 manifestly impossible against infantry, 
 especially at a point so near Plevna, where 
 he could be attacked in the rear. A general 
 in command of such detachments should 
 have no definite instructions except to do as 
 much harm as possible to the enemy, 
 choosing his own time and place. Convoys 
 should have been attacked forty or fifty 
 miles beyond Plevna, and the attack kept 
 up if necessary until under the very guns of 
 the place. In a running fight of this kind, 
 extending over forty or fifty miles, even 
 with a convoy protected by infantry, the 
 greater part of the carriages would be 
 smashed by the artillery, the draught horses 
 and oxen killed, and the drivers frightened 
 away. As the Turks had little cavalry, and 
 that only of the very poorest kind, the 
 Russian cavalry could have scoured the 
 whole district between Plevna, Widdin, the 
 Danube, and the Balkans with impunity, 
 the country being so open that there was 
 not the slightest danger of being cut off by 
 infantry. But General Kriloff was not a 
 cavalry man at all, and he handled cavalry 
 as if it were infantry, was afraid of being 
 cut off, and thought he must keep his com- 
 munications open, forgetting that cavalry 
 in a perfectly open country can only be 
 cut off by cavalry, of which the Turks had 
 none worth speaking of. General Kriloff, 
 instead of retiring upon Trstenik " to keep 
 his communications open," should, on the 
 contrary, have cut loose from the Rou- 
 manian right wing, and advanced on the 
 Sophia road to the Balkans with half his 
 forces to meet the next convoy, while 
 the other half might have moved in the 
 direction of Widdin to meet supplies 
 coming from there. 
 
 Upon retiring, Kriloff left two regiments 
 of Cossacks at Etropol to watch the Sophia 
 road, and another convoy slipped through 
 the fingers of this detachment on Septemlier 
 24th. But Etropol was too far from the 
 Sophia road, in the first place ; and, secondly, 
 the Russians did not place outposts suffi- 
 ciently advanced to give warning in time. 
 This convoy, besides, did not come along 
 the Sophia road, but on another alongside 
 it, which the Russians had not discovered. 
 By the time they had received information 
 of its coming, and had reached the scene of 
 action, the convoy was almost under the 
 guns of a protected bridge over the Vid. 
 
 [GOniKO's SUCCESSES. 
 
 But had they charged even then, they 
 might have captured the greater part of 
 the convoy, as it was only protected by 
 cavalry that ran away. They waited, how- 
 ever, several minutes for the artillery to 
 come up, and then the officer in charge 
 lost about fifteen minutes in writin^y a re- 
 port to General Kriloff, to say that he 
 meant to attack. By that time the convoy, 
 for the most part, had got safely over the 
 Vid, either by the bridge or by a ford, so 
 that the report was superfluous. The Rus- 
 sians threw a few shells at them, to which 
 - the guns protecting the bridge instantly 
 answered. Then, as it was quite dark, they 
 retired to Etropol, the whole spoil being 
 one pair of oxen. 
 
 It was perfectly clear that, as long as 
 Osman Pasha had the back-door open, it 
 was no good for the Russians to sit down 
 before the front door and side entrances. It 
 was absolutely necessary to close the ring, 
 and extend the sides of the horseshoe across 
 the river Vid, to the west of the beleaguered 
 place. ° 
 
 Meanwhile the Turks had been fortifying 
 the road from Orkhanieh to Plevna, and 
 had occupied a strong position at Gorni 
 Dubnik, half-way between the rivers Vid and 
 Isker. Here they had erected a large re- 
 doubt, flanked by two smaller ones — the 
 whole held by twelve battalions. Further 
 towards the Isker the Turks had another 
 strong position at Teliche, and a third be- 
 tween Gorni Dubnik and Plevna, at Dolni, 
 or Lower Dubnik. Practically, these posi- 
 tions formed part of the PleVna defences, 
 for without them Plevna could not be held! 
 Once in the hands of the Russians, Chebket 
 Pasha, who was commanding the army of 
 supply for Osman Pasha, could no longer 
 throw his convoys and reinforcements into 
 Plevna. 
 
 It was therefore absolutely necessary for 
 these positions to be in the power of the 
 Russians. Till then the investment could 
 not be completed; and thus General 
 Gourko— Kriloff having amply demons 
 strated his incapacity — was entrusted 
 with the task, and the command of what 
 was called the West Army. He at 
 -, once made a series of demonstrations 
 against all these positions. On October 
 24th, the Russians round Plevna opened a 
 furious cannonade, in order to mask what 
 was going on to the west, and to prevent 
 Osman Pasha making any sortie against 
 General Gourko. This general, after 
 
 marching in force against Teliche, suddenly 
 wheeled round, leaving a division of the 
 guards to attack Teliche, whilst he himself 
 fell upon Gorni Dubnik with twentv-four 
 battalions of infantry, one regiment of cav- 
 alry, and sixty guns. The attack lasted 
 from six in the morning till six at night, 
 when the Turks, utterly exhausted, hoisted 
 the white flag after five of their battalions 
 had escaped to Plevna. The remnants of the 
 remaining seven surrendered. The guards 
 at Teliche were not equally successful, and 
 were signally repulsed ; but on October 29th, 
 Gourko having reinforced the assailants, 
 Teliche also fell. Thence General Gourko 
 wheeled back again upon Dolni Dubnik 
 with a division and a-half and sixty-four 
 guns, before which the Turkish garrison of 
 5,000 men at once retreated into Plevna 
 during the night before the attack had 
 commenced. 
 
 With this operation the line of invest- 
 ment round Plevna was completed by a cor- 
 don of infantry and artillery, besides the 
 army ot the west under Gourko pushing on 
 towards Sophia, and preparing to cross the 
 Balkans far to the west of the force check- 
 ing the Russians at Schipka. 
 
 From Grivitza round to the Lovatz road 
 the line was just where it was at the moment 
 of giving the assault at the last attack on 
 Plevna. The artillery occupied the ridge 
 before Radisevo, with the guns extended 
 down the line towards the Lovatz road to 
 not more than a mile from Plevna. On the 
 Lovatz road General Skobeloff was not so 
 far advanced as he was at the time he made 
 his assault. The Turks, taking advantage 
 of the moment after the battle when the 
 Russians had withdrawn, and warned that 
 their lines were not invulnerable in this 
 direction, constructed four new redoubts* 
 so that Skobeloff, instead of three redoubts', 
 had seven before him. When Skobeloff first 
 attacked here, when Kriidener was defeated, 
 he found no defences at all, and he even 
 entered Plevna, but with only one battalion. 
 As it was, his line had been removed to the 
 front of a village called Brestovetz, on a 
 cross-road to Lovatz. From here the line 
 extended to the Vid. It then crossed the 
 Sophia road about a mile from the bridge 
 over the Vid. From here it passed parallel 
 to the river until just below Opanes, where 
 it again crossed the Vid, and curved round 
 to the Grivitza redoubt, about a mile in 
 front of Grivitza. The Russian line of in- 
 vestment was then thirty miles long. The 
 
 263 
 
 .• »■ 
 
 
SKOBELOFF AT WORK.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 rA.D. 1877. 
 
 A.D. 1877.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the CTRCT.E CT.OSTNG. 
 
 Turkish position measured from the Gri- 
 vitza redoubt to the bridge over the Vid, 
 eight miles ; from the Krishine redoubt to 
 the Bukova redoubt was about five miles. 
 The line was of an irregular, oval shape, with 
 a circumference of about twenty miles. 
 
 With the force the Russians had in the 
 beginning of November (120,000 men), they 
 were able to fill two lines of continuous 
 trenches around the whole line of investment 
 as full as it was convenient for men to lie in 
 trenches. This was, however, one weak 
 point in the investing lines which it was 
 necessary to strengthen. This was the posi- 
 tion in front of Erestovetz. 
 
 After the battle of Plevna it was thought 
 unsafe for Skobeloff to remain in his old 
 positions on the Lovatz main road, and he 
 was ordered to fall back on Tucenitza, com- 
 pletely abandoning the Lovatz road, and 
 placing an impassable ravine, which runs 
 parallel to the road about a quarter of a 
 mile distant from it, between him and the 
 Turks. When he again advanced to occupy 
 his old positions, he found, as above stated, 
 that the Turks had considerably advanced 
 theirs, and had constructed four new re- 
 doubts. He succeeded, however, in occu- 
 pying Erestovetz, on the left of the road, 
 and in constructing a redoubt in front and 
 on the left of the village, and the line of 
 trenches across the road to the ravine 
 already mentioned. The Erestovetz redoubt 
 was j ust opposite the Turkish Krishine re- 
 doubt, from which it was distant about 1,300 
 yards. Eut this Erestovetz redoubt formed 
 a kind of angle projecting into the Turkish 
 lines, and was somewhat exposed and dan- 
 gerous. It became necessary to strengthen 
 it, in consequence of the continual casualties. 
 This could be done by seizing the small 
 wooded hill immediately in front of the 
 right wing between the Lovatz road and the 
 ravine already spoken of. 
 
 It was most unfortunate for the Russians 
 that these positions were ever abandoned, 
 for they Were about as high as the Kri- 
 shine redoubt ; they completely commanded 
 Plevna ; and the two redoubts captured by 
 Skobeloff in the last afifair, and fortified, 
 would have rendered the Russian positions 
 here much stronger than they could after- 
 wards be made. The Turks had since then 
 constructed a strong redoubt on the summit 
 of the hill between the Krishine redoubt 
 and the Lovatz road, the very spot where 
 ISkobeloff planted two batteries during the 
 last affair. It was not the hill with the 
 204 ' 
 
 redoubt which Skobeloff resolved to capture, 
 but one between the Lovatz road and the 
 ravine. It was defended by trenches, and 
 held by about fourteen tabors, perhaps 7,000 
 men, though Todleben believed there were 
 a great many more, as the position was most 
 important. The combined movement was 
 arranged with General Gourko, who was 
 to open fire all along the line, and like- 
 wise advance and occupy the position in 
 front of him towaids the bridge over the 
 Vid, in order to shorten his line likewise. 
 
 The attack was fixed for five o'clock. 
 Ey that time it was so dark that notliing 
 could be seen more than five feet off. Sko- 
 beloff reviewed his troops that were destined 
 for the attack— the battalion of sharp- 
 shooters. He then got down from his horse, 
 went about among the men, talked to them, 
 told them, especially the under-officers, just 
 what they were to do, and finished by inform- 
 ing them he would lead the assault in 
 person. This regiment was one which 
 attacked and carried these same heights 
 during the last affair of Plevna, on ''the 
 second day of the bombardment. The regi- 
 ment, having taken these heights, slipped 
 out of the hands of its officers, and, as will 
 be remembered, pursued the Turks to the 
 foot of the glacis of the redoubt afterwards 
 captured by Skobeloff, with the result that 
 two-thirds of the regiment were destroyed. 
 It was the recollection of this event that 
 decided Skobeloff to lead the attack him- 
 self. It was important that the men should 
 be stopped at the right moment and at the 
 right place, and that the intrenchments 
 which he intended to throw up should be 
 properly laid, as a little mistake easily made 
 might end disastrously. It was not, there- 
 fore, mere bravado which made him decide 
 to lead the assault himself. 
 
 At half-past four he mounted his horse, 
 put himself at the head of his troops, and 
 disappeared in the fog. At five o'clock the 
 fog began to turn dark, showing the 
 approach of night. The Turks must have 
 thought there would be little call for further 
 vigilance that day. On the approach of 
 darkness the roar of eighty guns was heard 
 that vomited splashes of flame upon the 
 murky fog, and then were silent. Then 
 came the scream of eighty shells seeking 
 their destination in the obscurity. Then 
 there was the crash of the infantry fire along 
 the whole line, except on the point of the 
 attack, for it was Skobeloff's design to use 
 the fog for cover, and take the°Turks by 
 
 surprise. The infantry fire rolled along in 
 front of Erestovetz, and soon the bullets 
 began singing overhead, telling that the 
 Turks were replying ; but there was little 
 firing on the right wing, where the attack 
 was to take place. Finally, after about a 
 quarter of an hour, there were two or three 
 volleys in this direction, followed by a Rus- 
 sian shout, and the position was carried. 
 
 As it turned out, the Turks were sur- 
 prised, and did not discover the approach of 
 the Russians until they were within 100 
 yards. Ey the time they had seized their 
 arms and fired two rounds, the Russians 
 were on them with the bayonet, and it was 
 all over. In a moment those who did not 
 fly were bayoneted. The attack was led by 
 two companies of sharpshooters, followed 
 closely by the 9th battalion and the Vladi- 
 mirski regiment. Every man was provided 
 with a shovel, and immediately began mak- 
 ing trenches, as indicated by Skobeloff. In 
 a very few minutes they were under cover 
 from a heavy but ill-directed fire, poured 
 into them from the next hill, not distant 
 more than 250 yards. Skobeloff stayed 
 until about ten o'clock, when he thought 
 the men had made the place secure, and 
 returned to Erestovetz to supper. He had 
 bcarcely washed when the tire broke out 
 again with fury on the right flank. Skobe- 
 loff mounted again, disappeared in the 
 darkness and fog, and did not return till 
 mornino:. He found the Turks makinor a 
 desperate attempt to recapture the position, 
 and arrived on the ground in the nick of 
 time, as some confusion had ensued ; for the 
 reserves, who lost their way in the fog, 
 coming in the wrong direction, got fired 
 into from their own side. There was also a 
 report that Skobeloff was killed, which dis- 
 couraged the troops. He arrived in the 
 middle of the Turkish assault, one fellow 
 having leaped into the trench with the cry 
 of " Allah I" where he was bayoneted. The 
 attack was repulsed ; but the Turks made a 
 second and third one, and each time were 
 driven back with ease. 
 
 With this successful movement of General 
 Skobeloff s, the circle of investment was now 
 drawn as close as could be without actually 
 besieging the Turkish positions. Never- 
 theless, in only two places, at the Grivitza 
 redoubt and on Skobeloff^s position, were 
 the combatants within speaking distance of 
 each other. There was very little of artillery 
 fire during this period ; and Todleben, hav- 
 ing abandoned his plan of concentrated 
 
 volley-firing upon specified points, only put 
 it in practice once in forty- eight hours. 
 
 The Russian lines were completely con- 
 nected by a telegraph encircling the place, 
 so that they could concentrate immediately 
 upon any point of the circle that should be 
 attacked. This was further facilitated by 
 the peculiarity of the ground, which enabled 
 the Russians to see every part of the Turk- 
 ish positions from some point in the Rus- 
 sian lines. Any concentration of the Turk- 
 ish troops could therefore be seen, and the 
 numbers estimated, unless such concentra- 
 tion were to be made at night. Even then 
 the exact numbers could be seen at daylight 
 as soon as the movement began ; so that it 
 was impossible for Osman Pasha to gain 
 time by making feints. If he wanted to 
 break through, he would simply have to 
 gather his troops together during the night, 
 and throw them in a mass upon some point 
 of the Russian lines at daybreak, and get 
 through. The result could hardly be less 
 than disastrous ; though less so, perhaps, 
 than capitulation. 
 
 Much speculation was indulged in as to 
 the direction in which Osman Pasha would 
 try to break through. It seemed scarcely 
 likely that he would attempt it by the 
 Widdin road, where, although the Russian 
 line was weakest, he would be certainly 
 thrown back upon the Danube, and taken in 
 flank besides, if necessary, by the Servians 
 and Roumanians, still at Kalafat and on the 
 Danube. 
 
 In point of fact, Osman Pasha had lost 
 all chance of escaping from Plevna as soon 
 as General Gourko had occupied Teliche and 
 the two Dubniks, and the infantry had 
 closed round to the west of Plevna. Unless 
 the siege of Plevna could be raised by an 
 army marching to its succour, it was doomed 
 to fall, and Osman Pasha and his army pre- 
 destined to surrender. 
 
 Eut where was external help to come 
 from ? As will be remembered, the Turkish 
 commanders were incapable, or incapaci- 
 tated from making any simultaneous move- 
 ment. After the second repulse of the 
 Russians by Osman Pasha on July 31st, he 
 quietly sat down and waited for " something 
 to turn up." Then Suleiman Pasha exe- 
 cuted his attack on the Schipka, August 
 23rd. This was repulsed, and then Sulei- 
 man Pasha sat down and waited for some- 
 thing else to turn up. Thereupon Mehemed 
 Ali also made a series of attacks along the 
 line during the days from August 27th to 
 
 265 
 
 
 
 It 
 
 4 
 
OSMAN PASHA AT BAY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 August 30th ; and, having gained a few 
 yards of ground, he also sat down and waited 
 for something more to turn up. Hereupon 
 Osman Pasha suddenly awoke, and, finding 
 that nothing had turned up, resolved to try 
 and turn it up himself, and made his un- 
 successful sortie on August 31st. This 
 alarmed Sukiman Pasha, and he, too, went 
 forth to find the will-o'-the-wisp of some- 
 thing to turn up, and made his second futile 
 attempt on Fort St. Nicholas September 
 17th. This equally alarmed Mehemed Ali, 
 who suddenly discovered tliat there was 
 nothing to turn up on the Lom lines, and 
 returned to his old positions, much to the 
 astonishment of the Kus.vians and the dis- 
 gust of the Seraskericit, wliicli marked its 
 displeasure by recalling him and appointing 
 Suleimiin Paslia to his plnce, in hopes that 
 he, at least, would try and do sometiiing to 
 break through the Czarevitch's lines, and 
 thus assist Osman Pasha. But neither 
 Suleiman Pasha nor Mehemed Ali could 
 do or have done more than they did with 
 the means at their command. Thus 
 Mehemed Ali insisted, time after time, on 
 the absolute necessity of a thoroughly well- 
 organised telegraph service in the field, 
 and connecting the head-quarters of the 
 different armies amongst each other, as well 
 
 as with Constantinople. Still, in spite of 
 all his endeavours, the Seraskeriat would 
 not con>ent to this, being afraid that, it 
 permitted, it would place too much power 
 in the hands of the commanders, who mi-rht 
 be tempted, by the facility of communica- 
 tions, to conceit measures and plan attacks 
 without the previous permission of the 
 authorities at Constantinople. Then, be- 
 sides this great drawback, there was the 
 lax manner in which even the existing tele- 
 graph service was carried out. There was 
 not only an insufficient number of clerks, 
 but even they were, with very few excep- 
 tions, incompetent to do their work with 
 the exactitude and promptitude requisite. 
 This was perfectly well known to the 
 authorities ; but so great was their anti- 
 pathy and distrust of foreign assistance, 
 that they preferred exposing their country 
 to real danger, rather than run an imagi- 
 nary risk. Battling continually and ener- 
 getically against such abuses and preju- 
 dices, it is not surprising that Mehemed 
 Ali accomplished so little, but that he 
 accomplished so much, and, by a judicious 
 display of the forces and means at his 
 command, to impress the Russsians with an 
 idea of power which he himself was far 
 from possessing. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 CLEARING BULGARIA, 
 
 After having been closely invested, and all 
 the precautions taken to prevent Osman 
 Pasha from effecting his retreat and cutting 
 his way out through the Russian lines, the 
 bombardment of Plevna recommenced all 
 round on November 22nd, the Turks reply- 
 ing 'energetically to their enemy's fire. 
 Already, on November 12th, the Russians 
 considered the position of Osman Pasha quite 
 hopeless, and on that day summoned him 
 to surrender. Though this was denied at 
 the time, good authorities still contend that 
 it was the case. But at any rate, with the 
 capture of the Montule Verde — or Green 
 Hill — by Skobeloff, Osman Pasha's chances 
 of escape were reduced to a minimum. And 
 these chances were still further reduced to 
 zero when the Roumanians crossed the 
 266 
 
 Danube and captured Rahova and Dzibra 
 Palanka, driving the weakened garrisons 
 into Widdin, and occupying the main road 
 from Lom Palanka to Sophia, which cut 
 through Osman Pasha's line of retreat. 
 
 If Osman Pasha had seized the opportu- 
 nities he still had during the month of 
 October, he might have saved his army of 
 40,000 to 50,000 men. But from whatever 
 cause — whether because of his orders from 
 Constantinople, or because he wanted to 
 gain time by engaging and holding fast an 
 army of over 100,000 men, in order to allow 
 the Porte to form a fresh army south of the 
 Balkans — he omitted to do this, and had 
 no further chance of forcing the enemy's 
 , lines, unless he heard the thunder of 
 [ Mehemed All's artillery coming to the rescue 
 
 M 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [acttons on the lom. 
 
 whilst Fazli Pasha on the Lom line, and 
 Raouf Pasha at the Schipka, engaged the 
 troops of the Czarevitch and General 
 Radetzki. That things were rapidly ap- 
 proaching a crisis was apparent from the 
 arrangements the Turkish commanders were 
 making at the last moment. Mehemed Ali 
 was still at Sophia, but had sent forward an 
 advance column, which reoccupied Berkovt- 
 cha. Raouf Pasha opened a heavy fire on 
 the Russian lines in the Schipka Pass ; and 
 Suleiman, having made all the preparations 
 he could, and set the troops going, had re- 
 turned to his command in the Quadrilateral. 
 
 Here, on November 19th, a determined 
 attack was made by the Tiirk.^^, fourteen 
 battalions strong, under the command of 
 Salem and Dilaver Pashas, to force the 
 Russian positions extending from Pirgos to 
 Trstenik, along the high-road from Kustzuk 
 to Biela. The accounts of the action given 
 by the Russians and the Turks differ, but it 
 is easy to reconcile them. The Russians 
 acknowledge that Pirgos was burned to the 
 ground, and that the troops liohling it had 
 to retire to Mctchka. On tlie other hand, 
 the Russians stated that they threw the 
 Turks across the Lom, and pursued them ; 
 and this is borne out by the Turkish state- 
 ment that the Russians attacked Kadikoi, 
 on the Rustzuk side of the Lom, but were 
 repulsed. 
 
 The course of the action was as follows : — 
 Salem Pasha advanced with his infantry 
 from Lipnik, and crossing the Lom under 
 cover of the guns of Sary Bair, fell upon 
 Pirgos whilst the n gular and Ciscassian 
 cavalry, under Dilaver, advanced from 
 Bazarbova and cut the lines between Trstenik 
 and Metchka, thus enabliug Ibrahim Pasha 
 to carry the heights of Metchka until the 
 whole of the 12th Russian division was 
 launched against them, and forced them to 
 retire back across the Lom, pursued in turn 
 by the Russians as far as Kadikoi, where 
 they at last effected a stand, and the Russians 
 withdrew to their old positions. The attempt 
 to break through the Russian lines was 
 therefore a failure. Nor was the cannonade 
 at the Schipka Pass productive of any re- 
 sult. 
 
 This was on November 19th. On the 
 same day the news arrived in the Russian 
 camp that Kars had fallen. Then there 
 occurred one of those episodes so highly 
 characteristic of militarv Christianitv. A 
 Te Deum was sung in the Tucenitza redoubt 
 before Plevna, in the presence of the Czar, 
 
 ' and the god of victories satisfied by full 
 
 salvoes of shot and shell being hurled into 
 
 I the town. In the evening the victims were 
 
 compensated for their wounds by a grand 
 
 display of fireworks in honour of the event. 
 
 Meanwhile, pending the approaching 
 doom of Plevna, the chief interest centred 
 again round the operations of General 
 Gourko. For the second time he crossed 
 the Balkans to carry the war into Roumelia. 
 He accomplished this operation in the same 
 way as he executed his first march, and 
 with much the same object. By almost un- 
 known roads he secured the Hainkoi Pass, 
 with the intention of turning the Schipka 
 Pass. By equally difficult and scarcely 
 known roads he secured the Etropol Pass, 
 with the object of turning the Baba Konak 
 Pass, and, after that, the Ginzi Pass. He 
 failed in his intention at Schipka because 
 he was not supported. But this time he 
 had the assistance of General Schouvalofif, 
 and a sufficient number of men to secure and 
 hold the prizes he snatched away one after 
 the other from the grasp of the Turks. 
 Having secured the positions at Lazeni and 
 l^tropol, he at once continued his advance 
 from Lazeni on Orkhanieh, and from Etro- 
 pol by the cross-road leading to the northern 
 entrance of the Baba Konak Pass. At the 
 same time he advanced from Etropol by 
 another path. This road — very little known, 
 except to the Bulgarian herdsmen — branched 
 off from the road leaving Etropol, and run- 
 ning to the northern entrance of the pass, 
 curved round, via the village of Strigli, 
 into the high-road south of the Baba Konak. 
 And simultaneously he pushed forward along 
 the road from Etropol to Zlatitza, and occu- 
 pied the defiles leading to Kilissekoi and 
 Zlatitza. 
 
 By this movement he turned two of the 
 Turkish positions at the same time. Whilst 
 the column advanced from Lazeni on 
 Orkhanieh, the first column from Etropol 
 was marching by the cross-road upon the 
 northern entrance to the Baba Konak and 
 to cut ofif the retreat of the Orkhanieh 
 garrison, who, when attacked in front by 
 the Lazeni column, and menaced in the 
 flank by the Etropol column, had nothing 
 left but to retreat across the Baba Konak 
 and unite with the bulk of the forces south 
 of Baba Konak, and concentrate between 
 the villages of Gorni Komartzi, Strigli, 
 and Dolni Komartzi. They were obliged 
 to renounce any attempt at holding the pass 
 itself, because of the existence of the road 
 
 267 
 
ADVANCE ON ORKHANIEH.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 leading from Etropol to Strigli, to which we 
 have alluded, and could do no more than 
 strongly intrench themselves in the angle 
 formed by the junction of the high-roads 
 from Orkhanieh and Zlatitza to Sophia and 
 at Zlatitza itself. This movement also 
 necessitated the abandonment of the posi- 
 tions at Lutakovo and Novatchin, and also 
 at Liutibrod, the troops of which retired to 
 the Ogaya Pass. 
 
 ning more or less parallel with each other, 
 now over and along the heights, now in the 
 valley, and more or less commanding each 
 other. Kanitz made use of one of them, 
 but his visit was too short to explore them 
 all. At about four hours' march from 
 Liutibrod, a path branched off southwards, 
 west of Ignatitz, and debouched in the road 
 from Novatchin and Lutakovo, just east of 
 the Ogaya Pass, where the Turkish garri- 
 
 X — The Oinzi and Bdba Konak Passes, 
 
 o BerkoTtcha. 
 
 A — Action Nov. 23. 
 Russians. 
 Turks. 
 
 B— Position Dec. 5. 
 ■MM High-roads. 
 
 Cross-roads, 
 
 Passes. 
 
 o Vratza. 
 
 r^Q 
 
 )(. 
 
 Ginzi 
 Pass. 
 
 Doruk Khan, 
 o Bratiovtza. 
 
 )( 
 
 Tsariski Khan. 
 
 Opiatna. 
 o 
 
 o Metschopoliana. 
 Isker Pass. 
 
 o Dramnitza. 
 
 o Liutibrod. 
 
 To Plevna (70 m.) 
 
 > 
 
 o 
 
 Siidol. 
 
 Osenuvlak. o 
 
 Tcherepis. 
 
 
 
 Ignatitz. 
 
 To Plevna (60 m.) 
 
 Luiakovo. 
 
 >» Novatchin. 
 
 Ogaya. o 
 
 Lukovo. o 
 
 •8- 
 
 1 
 
 o I Osikovo. 
 
 can 
 
 Orkhanieh. 
 
 ] 
 
 To Teteven (15 m.) 
 
 > 
 
 Korila. o 
 
 on 
 
 )( 
 
 Vratshesh. 
 
 Lazeni. o Pravetz. 
 
 To Teteven (10 m.) 
 > 
 
 B 
 
 -o Etropol. 
 
 Baba Konak j/ Pass. 
 
 C 
 
 G. Komartzi. u 
 
 .8- 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 trigii. 
 
 Kilissekoi. o 
 
 I o Zlatitza. 
 
 Sophia. 
 
 Now, referring to the accompanying 
 sketch, which has been compiled from the 
 Kussian staff maps, the plans of Greneral 
 Gourko become singularly plain, and show 
 to what an extent Sophia was threatened. 
 At almost every turn the Turkish positions 
 were outflanked. First of all, we find a 
 path leading along the Isker, well known 
 to the Bulgarian monks of the Tcherepis 
 monastery. It was difficult but practicable, 
 and splits up into a number of paths run- 
 268 
 
 o o 
 
 Saraatzi. D. Komartzu 
 
 •B' 
 
 sons from Lutakovo and Novatchin haa 
 taken up a position. Passing through the 
 Isker Pass, the road, after this cross-path 
 had been left behind, branched off westwards 
 to Opletna, and southwards to Ogaya. 
 From Opletna it ran almost due south to 
 Lukovo and Sophia. From Ogaya, the 
 cross-road curved round into this road, 
 south-east of Korila, where the Turks had 
 taken up a position with an advance guard 
 on the road between Ogaya and Korila. 
 
 A.D. 1877."| 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [plan of advance. 
 
 Now, still referring to sketch X, it will 
 be seen that the Turks did not occupy any 
 position on the Sophia-Opletna road. They, 
 however, possessed one at the entrance of 
 the Grinzi Pass on the road to Berkovtcha. 
 But this pass was tapped, so to speak, in 
 the very middle, by a path which curved 
 round from Opletna and Metschopoliana. 
 At the same time the Ogaya-Korila road 
 was cut through by a road running from 
 Vratshesh to Lukovo. 
 
 Along these roads the Russians pushed 
 forward as the Turks retreated. They 
 pierced through to the Isker Pass, where 
 the Turks had occupied no position in any 
 force. They advanced by the cross-road 
 past Ignatitz, by the road from Novatchin, 
 and by the road from Vratshesh, on the 
 Turkish position at Ogaya. Thus the 
 Ginzi Pass was threatened from Berkovtcha 
 in front and by the Isker Pass column in 
 the rear, whilst the Ogaya position was 
 menaced from three sides likewise. 
 
 These columns, conducted by Generals 
 Gourko and Rauch, were therefore cirry- 
 ing out a turning movement on the Ginzi 
 Pass and Sophia, whilst General Schou- 
 valoff was engaged in operating against 
 the positions of Mehemed Ali at the 
 southern debouchment of the Baba Konak 
 Pass. 
 
 At this point there was also a turning 
 movement in progress. Whilst the Baba 
 Konak was threatened by the columns from 
 Orkhanieh and Etropol, a third column was 
 operating against Zlatitza, so as to gain the 
 high-road to Sophia, and take the Turkish 
 position in the flank at Dolni Komartzi. 
 
 With this general view before him, the 
 reader will be able to understand the de- 
 tailed operations of the Russians in thf ir 
 second passage of the Balkans, and their 
 clearance of the Turkish forces from Bul- 
 garia. 
 
 On Nove-nbor 16th, General Gourko 
 started from Dolni Dubnik for Yablanitza, 
 which he reached on November 18th, and 
 immediately sent out reconnaissances to 
 ascertain the strength of the Turks in the 
 Sophia, Etropol, and Orkhanieh districts. 
 
 It soon appeared that the enemy had 
 occupied very strong positions north of the 
 village of Pravetz, four or five miles east of 
 the Orkhanieh road. Here, before entering 
 the valley of the Orkhanieh, it passed 
 through a very narrow, crooked defile, be- 
 tween rugged mountains, whose sides along 
 the road were so steep in most places, that 
 VOL. III. 2 N 
 
 a man unencumbered by arms, and not sub- 
 jected to the fire of an enemy, would find 
 it impossible to get up. To take such 
 positions by an attack in front was clearly out 
 of the question. It was absolutely neces- 
 sary to turn them ; and this General Gourko, 
 with his experience of the previous passage 
 of the Balkans, and knowledge of the 
 strong and weak sides of the Turkish 
 soldier, was all the more inclined to 
 attempt. It was, however, no easy matter. 
 A reference to skeleton sketch Y, however, 
 will show by what roads General Gourko 
 effected this operation, and also shows the 
 roads by which Osman Pasha would have to 
 effect his retreat if he succeeded in breaking 
 out of Plevna. 
 
 Sketch Y. 
 
 Dubnik. 
 o 
 
 Plevna. 
 O 
 
 Telisch. 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 Krishine. o 
 
 Tschurmakova. 
 
 Perdilovo. o 
 
 Solenik. o 
 
 Lovatz. o 
 
 Yablanitza. 
 
 Sopot. 
 
 Borima. o 
 
 Teteven. 
 jo Pravetz. 
 o Etropol, 
 
 Trojan, o 
 
 ORG 
 
 Zlatitza. 
 
 Rachmanli. Tekk". 
 
 o 
 Giopsa. 
 
 269 
 
 'jf ' 
 
RAUCH AND GOTJRKO'S MARCH.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 The mountain paths, however, leading 
 from Yablanitza, so far from being passable 
 for artillery, as reported, were scarcely 
 practicable for a man on horseback, and 
 none but the hardiest riders with the 
 surest-footed horses would think of climb- 
 ing these steep, slippery paths without 
 diomounting. Nevertheless, General Gourko 
 resolved to make the attempt. 
 
 The Turkish positions were nearly all on 
 the right side of the road. Although they 
 had occupied the other side, they had con- 
 structed no redoubts, and dug no trenches 
 there, judging correctly, that if they could 
 hold the heights on the right side of the 
 road, that would be quite sufficient to 
 bar the passage. On tliis side they had 
 constructed two small redoubts, encircled 
 by mountains, every point commanding the 
 defile with their formidable trenches. A 
 glance at sketch X will show that the Sophia 
 road at Pravetz turns abruptly west to 
 Orkhanieh at right angles to its previous 
 course. Just in this angle is a mountain 
 ridge overlooking the road. This ridge the 
 Turks had chosen for their positions ; and it 
 was by reaching and attacking the ridge 
 from the southern side, that General Gourko 
 determined to turn them. He accordingly 
 despatched General Ranch, with the whole 
 of the advanced guard, to execute this 
 movement with the Simionowsky regiment 
 of the guard, the fir^t and second battalions 
 of sharpshooters, one battery of horse 
 artillery, and six squadrons of cavalry. 
 
 Rauch started from Yablanitza on the 
 2l8t, with orders to march all night, as the 
 distance was only forty kilometres by the 
 map. It was expected he would arrive at 
 noon next day, in time to attack. This 
 was a grave miscalculation. Mountain 
 roads cannot be measured on maps, or the 
 distance should be estimated at twice or 
 thrice that indicated, and the time required 
 for a single horse to make it should be 
 doubled or trebled for the march of an 
 army encumbered with artillery. Rauch, 
 instead of arriving on the 22nd at noon, 
 only arrived on the evening of the 23rd. 
 This, however, was the only miscalculation 
 in the whole movement, and did not affect 
 the result. His road was from Yablanitza 
 to Vidrar, thence down the Mali or Little 
 Isker to Kalugerovo, then up a little stream 
 called the Pravetzka, to the rear of the 
 ridge occupied by the Turks. The road 
 was so difficult and so narrow in many 
 places, that broad-track artillery carriage 
 270 
 
 could only pass with one wheel over the 
 side. They were only kept from tumbling 
 over the precipices by the soldiers holding 
 them by means of ropes passed round the 
 wheels. The heavy munition waggons were 
 worse still, and caused infinite trouble. 
 Rauch, besides, found it impossible to march 
 at night, owing to the dense fog which 
 filled up the valleys nearly every night at 
 that season of the year, and rendered 
 travelling very dangerous, if not impossible. 
 Meantime, while Rauch was strusfirlin'^ 
 
 ' Oct O 
 
 on against these difficulties, General Gourko 
 advanced to Osikovo (see sketch X), and 
 waited for news of him with much anxietv 
 before beginning demonstrations in front. 
 His hope was to surprise the Turks, which 
 could only be done by a rapid movement ; 
 but the day passed away, evening came, and 
 with it word from Ranch that he had only 
 got to Kalugerovo, still a long way from 
 his expected destination. The attack would 
 have to be given up for that day at least ; 
 but in the meantime General Gourko Iiad 
 not been idle. The Kuban Cossacks ad- 
 vanced along the road and drove the Turks 
 from the hill in front of the main position 
 on the right of the road. The Moscow 
 regiment was sent to occupy the hills on the 
 left of the road, opposite the Turkish posi- 
 tions, which thev succeeded in doing: with 
 the loss of three or four men. One battery 
 of horse* artillery, and another of mountain 
 howitzers, were also brought up and planted 
 on the heights immediately overhanging 
 the road opposite the Turkish works, and 
 not more than one thousand yards distant ; 
 and another battery was planted to the 
 right of the road, on the hill, at a distance 
 of about two thousand yards from the 
 nearest Turkish position. These were the 
 only two batteries brought into action on 
 the Russian side. They were put in posi- 
 tion on the night of the 22nd, and opened 
 on the Turks on the morning of the 23rd, 
 when the fog cleared away. 
 
 The Turks answered but feebly as they 
 had but two guns, and these were poorly 
 served. They did not fire more than ten or 
 fifteen times all day. These two batteries 
 pounded away at the Turks. All day long 
 sharpshooters kept up a lively fire, but there 
 was no infantry attack. 
 
 At last, about four o'clock in the after- 
 noon. Ranch's troops were suddenly per- 
 ceived on the top of the high mountain and 
 the other end of the ridge, on the range 
 just where they were looked for, with the 
 
 *> i 
 
 A.D. 1877.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [capture of PRAlTTTZ. 
 
 ■i 
 
 Turks flying down the mountain side before 
 them. Rauch had seized the key of the 
 Turkish position with a loss of twenty-nine 
 men. As this was the highest part of the 
 ridge or range, it was impossible for the 
 Turks to hold the positions attacked in the 
 rear from the heights that commanded 
 them. It was evident they were beaten, 
 and only the approaching night and the fog 
 prevented Ranch's troops from continuing 
 their march along the ridge and attacking 
 at once. 
 
 The Moscow regiment, on the left of the 
 road, then began to descend the height into 
 the valley near Pravetz, and the Turks on 
 the heights on the . other side of the road 
 opened a spirited fire upon them ; but as 
 the object of the Russian movement was to 
 turn the Turkish position from this side as 
 well as the other, and as the plain was wide 
 enough to get out of range of the Turkish 
 fire, the Russians did not lose a man. They 
 quietly occupied Pravetz, where they were 
 likewise stopped by the fog and the dark- 
 ness from joining Rauch and cutting off 
 the Turkish retreat. 
 
 The Turks were thus surrounded on three 
 sides. As was expected, they retreated 
 upon Orkhanieh during the night, abandon- 
 ing the whole position. They had enough 
 men to protect their rear ; but to judge by 
 Ranch's easy victory, they did not fight as ' 
 the Turks fought at Plevna, or the victory • 
 would have cost the Russians at least ten, i 
 or perhaps twenty times what it did cost i 
 them. The whole loss was only about sixty 
 men killed and wounded. 
 
 If we were to judge of the victory by the 
 loss of men it would be but an insiiJfnificant 
 affair; but military events are not to be 
 judged in this way. It was not exactly the 
 passage of the Balkans that had been 
 effected, as there was still a higher range be- 
 fore the Russians ; nevertheless, there were 
 several passes or places where a passage could 
 be effected for making a turning movement, 
 and the Turks had not troops to defend 
 them all. It was only a question of time 
 and weather ; for these passes, though diffi- 
 cult, could be made passable if the weather 
 permitted ; and the weather still favoured 
 the Russians, excepting the fog at night. 
 
 The Russians had thus gained the valley 
 of Orkhanieh. Their advance guard was at 
 Lazeni, between which and Orkhanieh the 
 Turks had erected two redoubts. Detailing 
 a force to watch these redoubts. General 
 Gourko turned his attention to Etropol. The 
 
 capture of this place was accomplished with- 
 out loss, and by the same kind of move- 
 ments, on a smaller scale, that gained the 
 positions at Pravetz. The Turkish earth- 
 works were constructed on the pointed 
 mountains near the village ; but there were 
 left unoccupied the summits adjacent, which 
 commanded the whole valley and the lower 
 peaks, with the Turkish redoubts. To get 
 possession of one of the highest mountains 
 was the work of many hours for the Rus- 
 sians, who dragged up and planted cannon 
 there by the aid of the Bulgarians, who 
 brought their cattle along that were used 
 to mountain work, and could climb where 
 the Russian horses were helpless. 
 
 The first position was gained in a curious 
 way. It was observed that the Turks did 
 not stay in the earthwork, but, in perfect 
 confidence that no one could climb the hill, 
 left an outpost in the redoubt, and the main 
 body remained in the camp back on the 
 hill-side. Some volunteers started to climb 
 the steep at four o'clock on the morning of 
 the 23rd November, and reached the sum- 
 mit near the redoubt at half-past seven, 
 carrying nothing but their rifles and 
 ammunition. When they came within sight ' 
 of the Turkish camp they were perceived by 
 the Turks, who rushed immediately to 
 occupy the redoubt. The Russians, com- 
 prehending at once the importance of first 
 possession, strained every tired muscle to 
 reach the coveted intrenchment before the 
 enemy, and a curious race followed in dead 
 earnest. But the Russians climbed the 
 parapet and were inside just before the 
 Turks arrived, and then the affair was settled 
 in short order. The flankinor movement 
 first mentioned having been made, the 
 Turkish force abandoned the town and the 
 positions, and withdrew upon the Zlatitza 
 Balkan to their fortifications between that 
 place and Kilissekoi, leaving behipd three 
 Krupp guns. The next day the place was 
 occupied by General Gourko, who trans- 
 ferred his quarters to it from Osikovo. 
 
 After the occupation of Pravetz, the 
 Turks remained in force for two davs at 
 Orkhanieh and at Vratshesh, a village at the 
 entrance of the pass, which they had forti- 
 fied with a large and complete line of 
 earthworks extending into the plain in front 
 as far as Orkhanieh. When Etropol fell 
 into General Gourko's hands, these defences 
 of the entrance to the pass became imme- 
 diately untenable, for Etropol lay within 
 a dozen miles from the road behind Vrat- 
 
 271 
 
 
 
 
 
ATTACK O!^ BABA KONAK.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 shesh, and the Russians threatened to 
 intercept the retreat from the latter place. 
 Hence the Turks withdrew precipitately to 
 the summit of the pass into their forts 
 there. Thus, without anything more serious 
 than skirmishes, General Gourko drove his 
 enemy into their final positions, and pro- 
 ceeded to establish himself at once, parallel 
 to his line of offence along the adjacent 
 mountain tops. The commanding point of 
 the Turkish position was the highest peak of 
 the watershed, about three miles east of the 
 summit of the pass, the largest redoubt occu- 
 pying a point on the north-east. The line 
 runs from here south-west to the highest 
 point of the pass, just above the baiting sta- 
 tion called Baba Konak, and was held by four 
 earthworks. Between the road and the 
 great redoubt and the two earthworks west 
 of the pass, two ridges led up to the Turk- 
 ish position from the north, and General 
 Rauch established himself on the ridge to 
 the east, while General Dondeville imme- 
 diately occupied the other. Both joined 
 their summits to the shoulders of the domi- 
 nant peak ; and even one part of this peak, 
 the smaller of the three elevations which 
 composed it, and which was debatable 
 ground at the time of the attack on the 
 earthwork, was seized by the Russians, and 
 cannon planted there within half range of 
 the great redoubt. General Dondeville 
 occupied the line of heights parallel with 
 the enemy's line, as far west as the precipi- 
 tous descent, three kilometres from the 
 summit of the pass. Then the line turned 
 north-west to the road, which it crossed to 
 join that held by Count Schouvaloff on the 
 opposite ridge. Several batteries of nine- 
 pounders were placed in position along the 
 Russian line and cannonaded the enemy's 
 works almost continuously. General Rauch, 
 whose guns were within 650 yards of the 
 great redoubt, threw shrapnel alone. 
 
 The difficulties of bringing heavy pieces up 
 the rough mountain paths, at the best scarcely 
 practicable for horsemen, were overcome 
 only by great energy and the severest toil. It 
 is impossible to render full justice to the con- 
 dition of these paths, gullied by torrents of 
 mud and water, paved with loose boulders 
 and slippery ledges, and mounting in zig- 
 zags often at an angle of 45 degrees. Four 
 yoke of cattle, and from 150 to 200 men 
 to the gun, were occupied two days and 
 nights in making the ascent. The caissons 
 had to be left in the valley, and the 
 ammunition brought up by hand, 200 
 272 
 
 or 300 Bulgarians being employed in this 
 work. The prevalence of clouds, which 
 frequently covered the mountains with a 
 chill, impenetrable mist, made bivouacs 
 behind the lines anything but comfortable. 
 Nevertheless, drenching vapour was prefer- 
 able to the bullets and shells which fell into 
 the camps whenever the air was clear 
 enough to permit the enemy to see the low 
 lines of intrenchments within half range of 
 their rifles. 
 
 The Turks had but fifteen guns in posi- 
 tion — less than half the number mounted 
 by the Russians, and of much smaller 
 calibre. They worked their guns, however, 
 remarkably well. Except an attack on the 
 great redoubt, there was but one engage- 
 ment between the infantry, and that was 
 fought on December 3rd, at Count Schou- 
 valoffs position, west of the road. The 
 Russian line here was so situated that it 
 commanded Baba Konak, but at the same 
 time did not occupy the highest point of 
 the ridge. 
 
 The Turks began demonstrations, on 
 December 3rd, from their two camps near 
 the Baba Konak earthworks, about eleven 
 o'clock in the forenoon, having meanwhile 
 sent a strong detachment around behind 
 the mountain that dominated the Russian 
 right. This detachment shortly after ap- 
 peared on the crest of the mountain, and 
 charged in solid lines against the Russian 
 sharpshooters. Count Schouvaloff had six 
 guns planted on the highest point of his 
 position, and the Turks came so near that 
 he sent volleys of shrapnel into the solid 
 masses with the greatest effect, causing 
 them to break and scatter ; but still they 
 advanced with the cry of "Allah! Allah!" 
 which was repeated by those in the camps 
 all along the line, evidently to encourage 
 the attack and to give the impression of 
 great numbers. On they came within 
 pistol-shot of the Russians, facing the stag- 
 gering volleys from the Berdans and showers 
 of shrapnel. At one time they were so near 
 the guns, that those who were watching 
 the fight from General Dondeville's batte- 
 ries believed the pieces were taken ; but the 
 charging lines were seen to melt away and 
 stream backward down the slope, and the 
 first fierce attack was repulsed. 
 
 Again and again they assaulted with des- 
 peration. The Russian cannon were worked 
 so quickly, that five out of the six pieces 
 became heated and unserviceable, and there 
 was no water for the sponges. The anxious 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [repulse at baba konak. 
 
 spectators on the opposite crests, unable to 
 render assistance, believed the day was lost, 
 when the hot cannonade dwindled down to 
 sullen reports from a single gun, and the 
 lines threw themselves against the very 
 bayonets of the defenders of the rid'^e, with 
 the cry of "Allah ! Allah !" and\he im- 
 petuous rush ; but every time they came 
 up they soon broke before the rifle-fire 
 poured upon them by the Russians in their 
 trenches, and retreated, falling by hundreds, 
 while they were running back down the 
 slope, and leaving at the close of the day, 
 when they repeated the attempt to break 
 the Russian lines, the mountain literally 
 black with dead and wounded. 
 
 The Turks had a force variously estimated 
 at from ten to twenty tabors. Prisoners re- 
 ported that 1,300 men were hors de combat, 
 including one pasha and two colone.s. 
 Count Schouvaloff held his line with two 
 battalions of tlie Moskovisky regiment, and 
 a small detachment of the Empress Tirail- 
 leurs. The Rus^iaa loss was about 3wO. 
 
 The attack was renewed again in the 
 morning ; but reinforcements had come up 
 to the Russians, and the assault was not 
 kept up long ; but still the Turks kept their 
 position close to the Russians, both lines 
 having intrenched, not over 500 paccis 
 apart, conversation and the noise of men 
 working being distinctly audible across the 
 interval. 
 
 For the moment, all forward movements 
 of the Russians stopped. The Turks still 
 
 occupied Lutakova, a town at the base of 
 the mountains north-west of Orkhanieh, and 
 it was known that they were in force in the 
 mountains there. 
 
 Until, however, the great redoubt in the 
 Baba Konuk Pass was taken, either by as- 
 sault or by a flank movement, the further 
 progress of the Russians southwards was 
 effectually barred. But the Russians had 
 learned to be cautious in attacking the 
 Turks in fortified positions ; and Turkish re- 
 doubts were to them especially disagreeable. 
 Genearl Gourko, therefore, wisely deter- 
 mined to obey the strict orders given to him 
 not to undertake any rash enterprises ; and 
 with his experiences in the Hainkoi Pass 
 and the plains of Kezanlik and Eski Zagra, 
 he was not at all sorry to be relieved from 
 the risk of a repetition of those events. 
 
 The Porte, however, w^as highly dissatis- 
 fied vvith the result of Mehem -d Ali's attack 
 on December 3rd, and recalled him, ap- 
 pointing in his stead Chevket Pasha. The 
 fact is, that Mehemed Ali, although a good 
 organiser, does not appear to have been a 
 good lighting general. Had he been asso- 
 ciated with a man like Osman Pasha, the 
 two together might have accomplished 
 much. But as things turned out, neither 
 was of anv use to the other. 
 
 We will now leave General Gourko 
 waiting for reinforcements. These soon 
 came in abundant numbers, for within a 
 few days Pievna was to fall and liberate the 
 armies it had so long detained. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 THE FALL OF PLEVNA. 
 
 Towards the end of November it had be- j 
 come amply apparent to every one, that as I 
 all attempts to relieve Osman Pasha had 
 failed, the moment of his surrender or 
 attempt to cut his way out of Plevna was 
 rapidly approaching. 
 
 But, in truth, his position was hopeless. 
 The Turkish armies in the Quadrilateral 
 could not force the iron wall drawn across 
 the roads to Plevna by the Czarevitch ; 
 Mehemed Ali, Raouf Pasha, and Chevket 
 Pasha were unable to drive away the 
 Russians from the Schipka or Orkhanieh 
 
 passes; and in the extreme west there 
 were tlie Servians panting to get at their 
 old enemy who had taced them at Saitschar, 
 and paralysed all their attempts to gain a 
 footing on Turkish territory. 
 
 Still Osman Pasha determined to attempt 
 to cut his way out, hoping to gain a start 
 before the forces north, east, and south of 
 Plevna, and try to gain the Balkans in the 
 rear of General Gourko, when, in conjunc- 
 tion with an attack by Chevket Pasha, he 
 might possibly succeed in passing the 
 Orkhanieh or the Ginzi Pass. 
 
 2-3 
 
 * ii 
 
THE SORTIE FROM PLEVNA.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 1 
 
 II - 
 
 f 
 
 
 The Russians, bowever, had become aware, 
 by spies and deserters, that Osman was pre- 
 paring for a sortie, and on their part made 
 every preparation to receive him. The 
 . trenches were kept full of troops day and 
 night, divisional and regimental command- 
 ers were advised to be on the alert, and all 
 the posts were doubled and trebled. These 
 measures were taken on Friday night (De- 
 cember 7th) ; but Saturday passed without 
 any movement being discernible amonff the 
 Turks. ^ 
 
 Sunday (December 9th) passed in the 
 same way. The Russians were anxiously 
 on the watch with the usual amount of 
 artillery fire, to which the Turks had not 
 replied for a long time. For the last three 
 or four days the weather had been damp 
 and cold, with heavy broken clouds threaten- 
 ing rain, and about noon on Sunday the 
 clouds thickened, and the dark masses dis- 
 charged themselves in the first snow-storm 
 of the season. By five o'clock the ground 
 was quite white, and the appearance of the 
 country had completely changed. 
 
 The sky was dark and lowering, but the 
 atmosphere white with thickly-falling snow, 
 through which could be caught glimpses of 
 Plevna, with many little columns of blue 
 smoke rising over it, telling of cooking 
 dinners, and giving it a warm, cosy look", 
 much unlike that of a beleaguered city. 
 The huts of the Russian soldiers were soon 
 white, the soldiers themselves going aLout 
 joyously, some cooking their dinners^ others 
 gathering in groups, singing at the top of 
 their voices a welcome apparently to the 
 first snow-fall. Perhaps it reminded them of 
 their far-away homes. There the snow had 
 long since been many feet deep. Now and 
 then the boom of a gun, muffled and indis- 
 tinct like a low growl, broke the stillness as 
 it came through the snow-laden air. 
 
 Across the ravine, at the foot of the Green 
 Hill, where Skobeloff had built an excellent 
 plank bridge, connecting his lines with Zo- 
 toti's and Radisevo, the lights of Brestovatz 
 were barely discernible through the gloom ; 
 and here at Uzendol, Skobeloff's head- 
 quarters, everybody was keenly on the alert. 
 On Sunday evening a spy came in with 
 the news that Osman had issued three days' 
 rations to the troops, 150 cartridges, a new 
 pair of sandals to each man, and that, to all 
 appearances, the concentration would begin 
 at once. A curious detail which he cited 
 was, that each soldier received a small por- 
 tion of oil for keeping his gun in order. 
 274 
 
 [a.d. 1877. 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 At ten o'clock another spy came in, wlio 
 reported that Osman was coneentratin'^ 
 near the bridge over the Vid. The spy had 
 come direct from Plevna, and having given 
 this information he disappeared a^^aTn in 
 the darkness. A few minutes later there 
 was a telegram, stating that from the other 
 side a great many lights were seen moving 
 about in Plevna— an unusual thing. Evi- 
 dently there was some movement on foot 
 and the spies were right. * 
 
 The night wore slowly away. The snow- 
 storm ceased, and was followed by dark 
 clouds scudding swiftly across the sky, with 
 now and then a blast of sleet. At three 
 o clock another spy brought news that the 
 men of SkobelofiPs command had a position 
 on the side of the Green Hill, and that the 
 Krishme redoubts were being abandoned. 
 He was very sure, he said, that all the posi- 
 tions along SkobelofTs side would shortly 
 be abandoned. Would he go along and 
 lead the way into the Krishine redoubts, at 
 the risk of being bayoneted, if his words 
 should not prove true ? Yes, he would ; and 
 orders were given by Skobeloff for the 
 troops to begin to move cautiously forward, 
 and feel their way with care. This was 
 done, and the positions were taken. 
 
 At last it was certain that the Turks were 
 moving, and that the final decisive moment 
 had come. Skobeloff ordered the captured 
 positions to be instantly placed in a state of 
 delt^nce, in case the Turks, repulsed and not 
 yet ready to surrender, should attempt to 
 re-capture tliem. The grey light of morn- 
 ing came. It was cloudy, and threatened 
 more snow. Suddenly there was the boom- 
 ing of thirty or forty guns speaking almoi^t 
 together, followed instantly by that stead v, 
 crashing roll the Russians had learned to 
 know so well. The battle had begun. The 
 giant, after defending himself four months 
 hurling thunderbolt after thunderbolt upon 
 his enemies, was struggling throu<>-h the 
 meshes he had allowed to be thrown around 
 him, and was, in his turn, attackincr the 
 trenches and earthworks which he'' had 
 taught his enemies so well how to defend. 
 It was in the direction of the bridge over 
 the Vid, on the Sophia road, that Osman had 
 decided to break through. Here the 
 country behind Plevna was a wide open 
 plain, into which the gorge leading up to 
 Plevna opened out like a tunnel. The 
 plain was bounded on the Plevna side by 
 steep rocky bluffs, or cliffs, along whose foot 
 flowed the Vid. From these cliffs, for a 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [repulse of the sortie. 
 
 distance of two miles, burst here and there, 
 in quick, irregular succession, angry spurts 
 of flame, that flashed and disappeared and 
 flashed out aijain. Through the covering 
 of smoke could be seen angry spits of fire 
 thick as fire-flies on a tropical night. Now 
 and then, through an irregular curving 
 stream of fire were bodies of men hurrying 
 to and fro, horses, cattle, carriages running 
 across the plain, and, above all, the infernal 
 crashing roll of the infantry fire, and the 
 deep booming of more than a hundred guns. 
 Osman Pasha had, during the night, aban- 
 doned all his positions from Grivitza to the 
 Green Hill, and concentrated the greater 
 part of his army across the Vid, over which 
 he passed on two bridges, one the old, and 
 the other the new one lately constructed. 
 He took part of his artillery, some three 
 batteries, and a train of about 500 or 
 (iOO carriages drawn by bullocks. He suc- 
 ceeded in getting his army, the artillery, 
 and part of the train over by daybreak. 
 The Russians said, that to have started with 
 so large a train, is a proof that he was de- 
 ceived with regard to the number of the 
 Russian forces, and that he believed the 
 Russian line, owing to the absence of 
 General Gourko, was very weak on the Sophia 
 road, and thought another road along the 
 Vid was virtually open. But this train was 
 taken to serve a special purpose in the fight. 
 Indeed, the first thing the Russians per- 
 ceived when daylight broke was a line of 
 waggons drawn by bullocks, advancing 
 upon them in close order across the plain. 
 The smooth open level offered every facility 
 for such a manoeuvre. The Turks were 
 behind these waggons, which, piled full of 
 baggage and eflfects of various kinds, 
 afforded very fair protexition from bullets. 
 
 The attack was directed against the posi- 
 tions held by the grenadiers, north of the 
 Sophia road, whose lines extended from the 
 road to a point opposite Opanes, where they 
 were joined by the Roumanian curving line 
 throuijh Susurla, 
 
 The Turks advanced as far as they could 
 under cover of their waggons, while the 
 Russians poured in a terrible fire on them 
 from their Berdan breech-loaders, scarcely 
 less destructive than the Peabody, and 
 opened on the advancing line with shell 
 and shrapnel. The Turks then did a splen- 
 did piece of bravery, only equalled by 
 SkobelofTs capture of the two famous re- 
 doubts. Probably finding their cover be- 
 ginning to fail them, owing to the cattle 
 
 »?: 
 
 being killed, getting frightened, and running, 
 away, they dashed forward with a shout 
 upon the line of trenches held by the 
 Sibrersky or Siberian regiment, swept over 
 them like a tornado, poured into the battery, 
 bayoneted the artillerymen, officers and 
 men, who, with desperate heroism, stood to 
 their pieces to nearly a man, and seized the 
 whole battery. The Sibrersky regiment 
 had been overthrown and nearly annihilated. 
 The Turks had broken the first circle that 
 held them in. Had they gone on they 
 would have found two more ; but they did 
 not have time to go on, for the Rus- 
 sians rallied almost immediately; whilst 
 General Strukoff, of the emperor's staff, 
 brought up the first brigade of grenadiers, 
 who, led by their general, flung themselves 
 on the Turks with fury. A hand-to-hand 
 fight ensued, man to man, bayonet to 
 bayonet, which lasted several minutes, for 
 tlie Turks clung to the captured guns with 
 dogged obstinacy. They seemed to have 
 forgotten, in the fury of battle, that they had 
 come out to escape from Plevna, and not to 
 take and hold a battery, and they held on ' 
 to the guns with almost the same despera- 
 tion which the Russian dead around them 
 had shown a few minutes before. Nearly 
 all the Turks in the battle were killed. 
 Those in the flanking trenches open to the 
 Russian fire had, of course, very little 
 shelter, and were soon overpowered, and 
 began a retreat which, under the murderous 
 fire sent after them, instantly became a 
 flight. Some took shelter behind the 
 broken waggons, and returned the fire for a 
 time, but the majority made for the deep 
 banks of the Vid, where they found ample 
 shelter from the Russian shells and bullets. 
 They formed there behind the banks, and 
 instantly began to return the Russian fire. 
 
 By this time it was about half-past eight, 
 and the Turkish sortie was virtually re- 
 pulsed ; but the battle raged for four hours 
 longer. The losses inflicted from this time 
 forward were nob great on either side, for 
 both armies were under covsr. The Turks 
 were evidently apprehensive that the 
 Russians would charge and drive them 
 back in a mass into the gorge. The Rus- 
 sians were resolved to prevent another 
 sortie, and so both sides kept it up. Indeed, 
 there seemed at first every probability that 
 the Turks would try it again, though it was 
 evident to any one who knew the strength 
 of the Russian lines and had seen this 
 affair, that escape was hopeless from the 
 
 275 
 
PLEVNA suhrendered."! 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [OSMAN CAPITULATES., 
 
 \i i^< 
 
 first, even though Osman Pasha had had 
 twice the number of men. 
 
 About twelve o'clock the firing began to 
 diminish on both sides, as if by mutual 
 agreement. Then it stopped entirely. The 
 rolling crash of the infantry and the deep- 
 toned bellowing of the artillery were heard 
 no more. It had not ceased more than half- 
 an-hour when a white flag was seen waving 
 from the road leading around the cliffs be- 
 yond the bridge. Plevna had fallen, and 
 Osman Pasha was going to surrender. 
 
 A long, loud shout went up from the 
 Russian army when the white flag was seen, 
 and its significance was understood — a 
 joyous shout that swept over that dreary 
 plain, and was echoed back sonorously by 
 the sullen, rugged cliffs overhanging the 
 scene. The thrill of gladness in the shout 
 showed how deeply the Russian soldiers had 
 dreaded the lonor, weary waiting through 
 ''the winter months amid snow and mud 
 round this impregnable stronghold. It was 
 clear that a load had been lifted from every 
 heart. 
 
 A moment later, a Turkish officer was 
 seen riding over the bridge with a white 
 flag in his hand. He rode forward to 
 General Ganetsky, in command of the 
 grenadiers, halted a moment, and then rode 
 back. As it turned out, he was an officer 
 of inferior rank, and returned because 
 General Ganetsky instructed him to send 
 an officer with the rank of pasha to nego- 
 tiate the terms of capitulation. Then thirty 
 or forty officers and correspondents, headed 
 by General Skobeloff, who had been placed 
 on the Sophia road, rode down the road 
 towards the bridge, within point-blank 
 range of the T»irkish rifles, if the Turkish 
 soldiers grouped in masses on the road be- 
 hind the bridge on the cliffs overlooking the 
 Vid had chosen to open on them. About 
 fifty yards from the bridge, and seventy-five 
 from some masses of Turks on the other 
 side, they halted. General Skobeloflf and 
 two or three other officers waved white 
 handkerchiefs. This signal of amity was 
 answered by the waving of a piece of white 
 muslin, about two yards square, attached to 
 a flag-staff. Then two horsemen came for- 
 ward, each carrying a white flag. They 
 rode across the' bridge and approached the 
 Russian group. There was a moment's 
 conversation with SkobeloflPs interpreter, 
 and then it was announced that Osman 
 himself was coming out, and the two horse- 
 men galloped back. 
 . 276 
 
 " Osman himself coming out !" exclaimed 
 all with surprise. 
 
 " At any rate we will give him a respectful 
 reception," exclaimed one Russian officer, 
 in the gallant spirit of true chivalry. 
 
 "That we will," said another. "We 
 must all salute him, and the soldiers must 
 present arms." 
 
 " He is certainly a great soldier," ex- 
 claimed another, "and he has made an 
 heroic defence." 
 
 "He is the greatest general of the age," 
 said General Skobeloff, "for he has saved 
 the honour of his country. I will proffer 
 him mv hand and tell him so." 
 
 * 
 
 All were unanimous in his praise, and 
 the conversation was kept up about inci- 
 dents of the siege, till it was interrupted at 
 last by shouts of " There he is ! He is com- 
 ing !" Two horsemen were again approach- 
 ing with a white flag, the bearer of which 
 was apparently merely a common soldier. 
 He wore a fez, a long dirty brown cloak, 
 and very ragged foot-gear. The other horse- 
 man wore a bright red fez, which set off the 
 officer's blue cloak. He was clean and 
 natty, and had on fresh gloves. He was 
 comparatively young, with a round, rosy 
 face, clean shaved, light moustache, straight 
 nose, and blue eyes. He did not seem over 
 thirty-five years old. 
 
 " This cannot be Osman Pasha," was the 
 general exclamation. In fact it was not he, 
 but Tefik Bey, his chief of staff. Was it 
 possible that this boyish-looking face be- 
 longed to Osman's right-hand man, who 
 must have played so great a part in the 
 organisation and maintenance of Osman's 
 mighty defence ? It seemed strange, but iti 
 was true. The Turks have the merit at 
 least of not being afraid of young men. 
 There was not one tottering grey-bearded 
 officer in this captive host. Every one 
 saluted as Tefik Bey rode up. He halted 
 for a moment and was silent. He then 
 spoke in French with good accent, ana 
 said, "Osman Pasha" — then he stopped 
 fully ten seconds from his emotion before he 
 proceeded — " is wounded." 
 
 This was the first intimation the Russians 
 had had of this occurrence. 
 
 All expressed their regret. 
 
 " Not severely, we all hope?" exclaimed 
 General Skobeloff. 
 
 "I do not know," was the answer, with a 
 pause of a second betw» en every word. 
 
 " Where is his Excellency ?" was the next 
 question. 
 
 (C 
 
 There," was Tefik Bey's reply, as he 
 pointed to a small house overlooking the 
 road just beyond the bridge. 
 
 Then there was a pause while the Russians 
 scrutinised their strange visitor, and he 
 surveyed them with the most perfect calm- 
 ness, but obvious curiosity. The pause 
 became embarrassing. The Turk showed 
 no hurry to speak, and the Russians evi- 
 dently felt delicacy in asking if he had 
 come to surrender; besides which, there 
 really was no officer there who had the right 
 to treat with him. The situation was 
 critical, and, if it possessed an amusing 
 element, was also embarrassing. Both armies 
 were watching the little group not more 
 than 500 yards apart, with arms in their 
 hands, for the Russian infantry had gradu- 
 ally moved down toward the bridge. 
 Finally, General Skobeloff stammered out, 
 " Is there anybody you would like to see ? — 
 [pause] — With whom did you wish to 
 
 speak ? — Is there anything ? — [pause] — 
 
 What the devil is the matter with the man ? 
 Why don't he speak?" blurted out the 
 general in English, turning to one of the 
 correspondents of the Daily Neivs, Tefik 
 Bey remained impassive. 
 
 " General Ganetsky is in command here. 
 He will be here presently, in case you should 
 like to speak to him," General Skobeloff 
 finally observed. Tefik Bey simply nodded. 
 
 " Osman Ghazi has made a most brilliant 
 and glorious defence," said an officer. " We 
 esteem highly his soldierly character." 
 
 The Turk gazed steadily before him, and 
 gave no sign that he had heard. 
 
 "We look upon him as a very great 
 general," said another. No answer. The 
 Turk's eyes were bent in the direction of 
 Sophia, as though looking for Mehemed Ali 
 Pasha. There was evidently no use trying 
 to converse with this obstinately silent 
 man, and they gave it up. Fortunately, 
 General Strukoff, of the emperor's staff, 
 soon arrived, with powers to treat. He 
 asked Tefik if he had authority from Osman 
 Pasha to negotiate. It appeared not ; and 
 the final result was that Tefik bowed and 
 galloped away back across the bridge. 
 Presently General Ganetsky arrived; and the 
 little group, led by Generals Ganetsky and 
 Strukoff, advanced across the bridge towards 
 the little hut where Osman Pasha lay 
 wounded. The officers waited outside, 
 whilst Strukoff and Ganetsky went in to 
 arrange the terms of capitulation. 
 . The terms of capitulation were easily] 
 
 VCL. III. 2 o 
 
 arranged. The surrender was uncondi- 
 tional. Osman consented at once. If sur- 
 prise be expressed that he should have so 
 suddenly agreed, it is only necessary to 
 state that he could do nothing else. In 
 order to attempt a sortie, he had to abandon 
 all the positions in which he had defied the 
 Russians so long, and to concentrate his 
 army down on the Vid. These positions 
 once lost were lost for ever, because the 
 Russians occupied them almost as soon as 
 he left them. He was down in the valley ; 
 they on the surrounding hills, with an 
 army three times as large as his. He had 
 to surrender without delay, for they were 
 drawing the circle tighter every moment. 
 His position was like Napoleon III.'s at 
 Sedan. The disparity in numbers was 
 greater, and he had not even the shelter of 
 the village. So Osman Ghazi the Victorious 
 surrendered, unconditionally, the gallant 
 army with which he had held the famous 
 stronghold for so long, with which he upset 
 the whole Russian plan of campaign, and 
 with which he defeated, in three pitched 
 battles, Russia's finest armies. 
 
 The terms of surrender having been 
 settled, Osman Pasha got into a carriage and 
 drove off towards Plevna. But he had not 
 gone far before he heard that the Grand 
 Duke Nicholas had arrived at the bridge, 
 and turned back in his carriage to meet 
 him. Osman Pasha was escorted by fifty 
 Cossacks, and there followed him twenty- 
 five or thirty Turkish officers, all mounted 
 on diminutive Turkish ponies. They were 
 all, or nearly all, young men. Scarcely one 
 among them seemed over thirty. Most had 
 the faces of mere boy-students. These 
 were the lads with whom Osman Pasha had 
 accomplished such wonders! The grand 
 duke rode up to the carriage, and, for some 
 seconds, the two chiefs gazed into each 
 other's faces without the utterance of a 
 word. Then the grand duke stretched 
 out his hand, and shook the hand of 
 Osman Pasha heartily and said — "I 
 compliment you on your defence of 
 Plevna. It is one of the most splendid 
 military feats in history." Osman Pasha 
 smiled sadly, rose painfully to his feet in 
 spite of his wound, bowed, and expressed 
 his acknowledgments, and then re-seated 
 himself. The Russian officers all cried, 
 " Bravo 1 Bravo!" repeatedly, and all sa- 
 luted respectfully. There was not one 
 among them who did not gaze on the hero 
 of Plevna with the greatest admiration and 
 
 277 
 
ENTRY INTO PLEVNA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 rA.D. 1877. 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [after the siege. 
 
 11 •• 
 
 
 It '*i 
 
 sympathy. Prince Charles, who had ar- 
 rived, rode up, and repeated unwittingly 
 almost every word of the grand duke, and 
 likewise shook hands. Osman Pasha again 
 rose and bowed, but this time in grim 
 silence. He wore a loose blue cloak, with no 
 apparent mark on it to designate his rank, 
 and a red fez. He was a large, strongly- 
 built man, the lower part of his face covered 
 with a short black beard, without a streak 
 of grey. He had a large Roman nose, and 
 black eyes. The face was a strong face, 
 with energy and determination stamped on 
 every feature — yet a tired, wan face, also, 
 with lines on it that hardly were graven so 
 deep five months ago ; and with a sad, en- 
 during, thoughtful look out of the black 
 eyes. 
 
 " It is a grand face," exclaimed Colonel 
 Gaillard, the French military attache. " I 
 was almost afraid of seeing him lest my 
 expectation should be disappointed ; but he 
 more than fulfils my ideal." 
 
 " It is the face of a great military chief- 
 tain,** said young Skobeloff. '* I am glad 
 to have seen him. Osman Ghazi he is, and 
 Osman the Victorious he will remain, in 
 spite of his surrender." 
 
 There may, perhaps, have been some per- 
 sonal exaggeration in the Russian estimate 
 of Osman Pasha. History will judge. But, 
 thrilling with the impression of the great 
 military event just accomplished, the magni- 
 ficent defence ending in a halo of disastrous 
 glory, there was not one who did not echo 
 Skobelofifs words. Be it remembered that 
 Osman Pasha cannot be judged on ordinary 
 military rules, for the reason that he had 
 not a regular army; technically speaking, 
 not an army at all, but a mob of armed 
 men, with scarcely any organisation, with 
 no discipline, save the natural and passive 
 obedience of the Turkish peasant, and only 
 such military education and experience as 
 were gained in the trenches and on the 
 battle-field. This is the highest form of 
 generalship — to accomplish mighty results 
 with means which most military men would 
 have regarded as hopelessly inadequate. 
 Osman Pasha had scarcely any officers of 
 talent and experience with him. He had 
 borne the weight of this stupendous defence 
 on his own shoulders — a very Titan, defying, 
 with his untrained and scanty levies, the 
 serried legions of one of the greatest military 
 powers of Europe. 
 
 After his meeting with Osman, the grand 
 duke rode on to Plevna. By the time the 
 278 
 
 Russians entered the town it was nearly 
 dark, and it presented a most miserable, 
 wretched appearance. Not that there were 
 any ruins to contemplate, for the Russians 
 did not probably throw above a dozen 
 shells into this part of the town during the 
 whole time of the siege — but narrow, crooked 
 streets, a foot deep with thin liquid mud, 
 in which thousands of men and horses were 
 wandering about without knowing where to 
 go, and without any object; lean, cadaverous- 
 looking inhabitants, who stood outside their 
 doors, and saluted timidly, as though not 
 quite sure that the Turks might not yet 
 come out and catch them at it, and looking 
 in the gloaming more like spectres than 
 anything else ; houses in which were seen 
 no lights nor fires, cold, comfortless, and 
 deserted, made up a scene that, in the 
 gathering darkness of a bleak December 
 evening, was dreary and depressing in the 
 extreme. Whilst General Skobeloff was 
 riding through the streets on the way to 
 his old quarters on the Lovatz road, he 
 met Tefik Bey, Osman's chief of staff, the 
 same who had come over the bridge with 
 the white flag. He had become separated 
 from Osman, and was wandering about 
 with his escort through the muddy streets, 
 nobody seeming to know where to take him 
 or where to go. General Skobeloff imme- 
 diately invited him to dine and pass the 
 night at his head-quarters on the Lovatz 
 road. Tefik Bey at first hesitated, as he 
 thought he ought to endeavour to join 
 Osman ; but nobody knew where Osman 
 was. It seemed then probable that he had 
 accompanied the grand duke to Bogot ; 
 and, at any rate, if he were in Plevna, the 
 task of finding him might be one of hours 
 in the darkness ; so that General Skobelotf's 
 persuasions, joined to those of Colonel 
 Gaillard, whom Skobelofi" had likewise 
 invited, finally prevailed. 
 
 They then proceeded on their way up the 
 Lovatz road, and passed under the two re- 
 doubts taken by Skobeloff in September, at 
 last silent and deserted, up across the 
 Green Hill, across the labyrinth of trencher 
 and works where, only twenty-four hours 
 before, the Turks and Russians were still 
 standing foot to foot and bayonet to bayonet. 
 All now was silent and lonely. Arriving on 
 the top of the hill, a short gallop brought 
 the party to Uzendol, General SkobelofiTs 
 head-quarters. 
 
 A warm fire burning gaily in his mud 
 hut, a glass of vodka, and bome hot soup 
 
 at once thawed their benumbed hands and 
 feet, and they were soon enjoying a hot 
 dinner, with the appetites of men who had 
 been in the saddle since daylight, with not 
 a morsel to eat. Tefik Bey seemed much 
 depressed and downcast. He spoke little, 
 and was at first almost as taciturn as he 
 had been on the bridge. He brightened 
 up, however, as the meal progressed, drank 
 a glass of red wine, a glass of sherry, and a 
 couple of glasses of champagne, when 
 General Skobeloff proposed the health of 
 Osman Ghazi, and drank to the brave de- 
 fenders of Plevna. A merry smile broke 
 over his face when Skobeloff asked him 
 who had commanded the Turks on the 
 Green Hill, and then it occurred to him, for 
 the first time, that his entertainer was 
 Skobeloff, the indefatigable, restless, daring 
 spirit with whom he had exchanged so 
 many hard blows on the Lovatz road and 
 Green Hill. Nobody had mentioned Skobe- 
 loff's name in his presence, nor had Skobe- 
 loff told him who he was ; but the fact that 
 he had come out of the Lovatz road, to- 
 gether with Skobeloff^s question about the 
 Green Hill, was quite enough to enlighten 
 him. So he said, with a smile, "Ah, it is 
 you who gave such tough work on the 
 Green Hill all this time. You are General 
 Skobeloff." Skobeloff laughed, and said, 
 " Yes." " That was a very good attack of 
 yours that evening in the fog and darkness. 
 Very well done. But you did not get it 
 all." "No," said Skobeloff, "I did not 
 want it all." And they both laughed. But, 
 after this momentary fit of sunshine, Tefik 
 Bey soon again relapsed into melancholy 
 and gloom. It was partly the despondency 
 and sadness natural under the circum- 
 stances, partly the reaction on the extreme 
 excitement and tension of nerves during 
 the last few days when preparing for the 
 sortie, and partly extreme lassitude and 
 fatigue. The others had hardly swallowed 
 their coffee, when Skobeloff, taking pity on 
 him, turned them all out, gave up his bed 
 to Tefik, had another hastily made up for 
 Colonel Gaillard, and then retired and 
 passed the night in a hut of one of his 
 officers ; and so ended this eventful day of 
 Plevna. 
 
 The state of the town and its immediate 
 vicinity after the Russians had entered it, 
 gave a terribly^ graphic account of the 
 misery which had long reigned there. 
 
 When the Turks made the sortie, they 
 were obliged to leave the sick and wounded. 
 
 of whom there were thousands, entirely 
 without attendants. There was never a 
 regular hospital in Plevna, the sick being 
 transported to Sophia; and the small ambu- 
 lance corps was at all times insufficient to 
 care for the wounded, even before the town 
 was surrounded. Of course, the attendants 
 at the hospital were ordered to accompany 
 the army when the sortie was made, and 
 they joined their lot with those who tried 
 to break through the Russian lines. The 
 day and night of the battle passed, and the 
 sufferers received no food or water, and 
 their festering wounds were undressed. The 
 following morning the Russians entered and 
 took possession, and made the day one of 
 rejoicing with the visit of the Czar and the 
 imperial staff; but this celebration of the 
 event, however short it may have seemed 
 to the victors, was a long season of horrible 
 suffering for the wretched helpless captives, 
 who stretched their skeleton hands in vain 
 towards heaven, praying for a bit of bread 
 or a drop of water. Neither friend nor foe 
 was there to alleviate their sufferings, or to 
 give the trifle needed to save them from a 
 painful death, and they died by hundreds ; 
 and before the morning of the third day the 
 dead crowded the living in every one of 
 those dirty, dimly-lighted rooms which 
 served to shelter the wounded from the 
 cold and wet, but confined them in a 
 foul and foetid atmosphere of disease and 
 death. 
 
 It was only on the morning of the third 
 day after these wretched, tortured creatures 
 had been left to their fate, that the Russians 
 chose to find opportunity and means to 
 begin, first, the separation of the living 
 from the dead, and then the care of the 
 former. The mosques, the largest houses, 
 and many of the small dwellings had been 
 filled with sick and wounded. Overcrowded 
 in every case, and, from the first, without 
 proper attention, these temporary hospitals 
 were, at the best, most filthy and pesti- 
 lential, and the air was tainted with the 
 stench of undressed wounds, and the corpses 
 which lay unburied in the courtyards. 
 
 The first room entered in one of these 
 charnel-houses contained ninety odd Turks. 
 Of these, thirty-seven were dead, and many 
 others on the point of death. Piteous 
 groans came from between rigid lips, and 
 painful cries for water, and some made 
 feeble signs for food. One or two of the 
 strongest raised themselves, and fixed their 
 hideous, sunken eyes with such a beseeching 
 
 279 
 
 ft 
 
. HORRORS IN PLEVNA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 1 
 
 stare on those who had come to free them 
 from the company of the dead, that it would 
 have softened the hardest heart. The small 
 room, dimly lighted by a high window with 
 one pane of glass, was crowded with forms 
 of thirty or forty ragged, filthy, human 
 beings. Many of these forms were motion- 
 less, and scarcely audible groans were heard 
 • from one or two who raised with diffi- 
 culty their bony hands to their lips, to 
 signify their need of food. There were 
 faint whispers of " Some water ! some 
 water ! " piteous to hear. The dim light 
 was concentrated on the half-naked body of 
 an old man stretched across the entrance, 
 whither he had dragged himself in the last 
 hours of his agony in hope of succour, or at 
 least of a breath of fresh air; for, in the 
 unventilated room, the air was thick with 
 putrid odours, which burst out when the 
 door was opened, overpowering strong men, 
 and causing them to turn sick and faint. 
 The old man's hands were clutched in the 
 rigour of painful death on his nude and 
 meagre breast, and his head lay against the 
 very crack of the door, so that it opened 
 only by rude force. Living and dead were 
 lying together undistinguishable along the 
 walls, behind the door, and under the 
 window. 
 
 This room was one of fifty where a similar 
 spectacle was presented. The pavement of 
 the mosques was covered with crouching 
 forms, some moving at intervals, others 
 motionless and silent. Here and there the 
 faces of the dead came out in ghastly relief, 
 with a fixed expression of great agony. 
 
 Nothing was done but to drag the dead 
 from among the living, let in the light and 
 air, and give water and nourishment in 
 hope of saving some of those who remained 
 alive. Small enough was the force of men 
 who set about this painful task, and meagre 
 enough their means. Three open peasants' 
 ox-carts were all that were available for the 
 removal of the dead, and fifty soldiers to 
 carry the bodies from the rooms to the 
 carts, and bury them in the ditches. As 
 fast as possible, bread and water were dis- 
 tributed, and the feeble wretches fought 
 each other with their last breath in their 
 greed for the nourishment. Some, propped 
 up against the wall, slowly ate until the 
 unmistakable pallor came over their faces, 
 and their eyes were fixed in death. Even 
 the effort of eating the long-needed food 
 was too great for their waning strength. 
 The living clutched at the remaining morsel 
 ^80 
 
 A.D. 1877.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 in the dead man's hand, struggled for it 
 with all their feeble power, and cursed each 
 other and wrangled over the spoil, but to 
 fall dead themselves before they could eat 
 the bread. 
 
 The three open oxen-carts began the re- 
 moval of the dead at once. The hospitals 
 daily supplied more freight of this kind 
 than the slow-moving teams could carry 
 away to the ditches outside. The disinfec- 
 tion of the hospitals was promptly effected. 
 As fast as possible, with the small force of 
 men at hand, the rooms were emptied one 
 after another. After a day or two, some of 
 the Bulgarians were compelled to serve in 
 place of the soldiers, and they set them- 
 selves about the hated task with a brutality 
 terrible to witness. They dragged the 
 bodies down the stairs by the fegs, the 
 heads bumping from step to step with 
 sickening thuds, then out into the court 
 through the filthy mud, where they slung 
 them into the cart with the heads or legs 
 hanging over the side, and so continued to 
 pile up the load with a score of half-naked 
 corpses. 
 
 It was horrible to hear the conversation 
 of the men who did this work. They per- 
 haps brought out a body still warm, the 
 heart still beating, and the flush of life on 
 the cheek. One would say, "He is still 
 alive," and propose to leave him without 
 stopping to decide the question. The 
 others would cry, "Devil take him! He 
 will die before to-morrow, any way. In 
 with him." And so the living went in with 
 the dead, and were tumbled into the grave. 
 When the three carts were full, they started 
 away through the streets toward the ditches 
 outside the town. The horrible load jolted 
 and shook, and now and then a body fell 
 out into the mud, and was dragged into the 
 cart again, and thrown down and jammed 
 in firmly to prevent a recurrence of the 
 accident. This heartless proceeding went 
 on in the public streets, crowded with the 
 men, women, and children of the place, the 
 soldiers, the wounded and the sick; and 
 after so many days of the same spectacle, 
 no one any longer paid attention to the 
 transport of the dead. 
 
 The care of the sick and wounded was 
 now rapidly systematised. The few Rus- 
 sian doctors that were detailed for the 
 service worked very hard, and also the 
 Turkish surgeons who remained ; but the 
 corps was not one quarter large enough 
 to properly attend to the patients. Some 
 
 [neglect of WOUNDED. 
 
 of the hospitals were light, airy, and well 
 purified ; but the mosques were still dark, 
 foul-smelling, and crowded. The dead lay 
 for many hours unattended, and the horrible 
 sights and sounds defied description. In the 
 midst of this, the few Rubsian Sisters of 
 Charity moved about quietly, busy from day- 
 break till dark, bringing comfort to hun- 
 dreds, whose wounds they dreiised, and 
 whose pains they alleviated. 
 
 This is but a slight outline of the scenes 
 that passed in Plevna for days. A long 
 detailed account alone could give anything 
 like an idea of the climax and final act of 
 the drama of Plevna. The town was full of 
 similar pictures. Along the streets were 
 frequently seen one or two wounded who 
 had crawled out from the hospital, and lay 
 dying in the mud. There was no valid ex- 
 cuse for this wilful disregard of human life. 
 The cause is evident — namely, lack of sys- 
 tem. The Russians knew that Plevna 
 must fall, and they expected to find thou- 
 sands of starving men there, and thousands 
 of badly-attended wounded. The exact 
 date of the surrender must have been, as it 
 probably was, a surprise; but the day before 
 the expected event was not the time to 
 prepare for it. There should have been 
 detailed, long before, proper officers to pre- 
 pare everything for the care of the sur- 
 rendered troops. There can be no excuse 
 for the fact that only three open ox-carts 
 were found to transport the dead, and only 
 a score of Bulgarians who ran away at 
 every opportunity, to perform the duty of 
 burying the dead. Out on the plain, near 
 the bridge over the Vid, were bivouacked 
 15,000 or 20,000 prisoners, fighting for 
 bread, miserable beyond description, in the 
 cold, with hundreds of unburied dead 
 covering the ground near the spot where 
 the first attempt was made to break through ; 
 and day after day passed, and their condition 
 did not change, simply because there can 
 be nothing like prompt attention in similar 
 cases where there is no idea of system. 
 The story of the hospitals, of the prisoners, 
 
 and of the Russian disasters, all hano- on 
 one thread. 
 
 But the horrors of Plevna were not all in 
 the town. Some were in the valley of the 
 Vid. In the redoubts which the Russians 
 stormed, hundreds on hundreds of still un- 
 buried bodies lay; the whole ridge of the 
 wooded mountain, the valley beyond, and 
 the hill further on where stood the two 
 redoubts overlooking the town, taken with 
 terrible loss by General Skobelofi' on Sep- 
 tember 30th, were still strewn thickly with 
 the corpses of the Russians who fell on the 
 occasion. Some of these bodies had been 
 partly covered with four spadefuls of dirt, 
 but most of them lay as they fell. Not all 
 as they fell, for the dogs had torn away the 
 limbs of many, and the birds of prey had 
 pecked at the skulls. In the pools of water 
 lay corpses half decayed; pale, withered 
 hands and feet stuck out of the soil on all 
 sides; and horrible, dead, mummified faces 
 stared at one from every little hollow in the 
 ground, and from among every clump of 
 bushes. Some of these bodies had been put 
 in graves within a day or two ; but still the 
 whole region was strewn thickly with these 
 dreadful mementoes of the fight there nearly 
 three months before. 
 
 Around the redoubts the ground was 
 furrowed and dug with thousands of shells, 
 and tons of pieces covered the earth. It was 
 interesting to observe how few shells went 
 into the redoubts, or struck the edge of the 
 redoubts. The majority plunged into the 
 ground just in front. The Turks built 
 great traverses across the redoubts, and 
 under these dug deep bomb-proof shelters, 
 where they were as safe from harm from 
 the shells as in Constantinople; but the 
 whole surface of the hills was literally 
 riddled with holes large enough to bury 
 horses in, and all about lay great unexploded 
 shells. Even away back in the ravines, 
 where the soldiers' huts were, bullets, frag- 
 ments of clothing and equipments, covered 
 the ground; in short, Plevna and its 
 vicinity was one vast charnel-hcuse. 
 
 281 
 
THE COST OF PLEVNA.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Fa.d. 1877. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVL 
 
 RESULTS OF THE FALL OF PLEVNA. 
 
 \ik. 
 
 
 ;> 
 
 \ 'H 
 
 1 
 
 
 When an adjutant brought the news of 
 Osman Pasha's surrender to the Emperor 
 Alexander, with the words, " Plevna lies at 
 your majesty's feet," the Czar replied, " But 
 the war is not yet at an end I " and compli- 
 mented Generals Todleben, Imeretinski, and 
 Ganetzky with the words, " This is entirely 
 due to your exertions, and especially to 
 thine, Edward Ivanovitch (Todleben "). 
 
 On the following day the Czar made his 
 triumphal entry into the City of Horrors, 
 and received Osman Pasha whilst at break- 
 fast in the house of a wealthy Bulgarian. 
 He restored his sword to Osman Pasha 
 whilst complimenting him on the stubborn 
 defence he had made, and appointed Char- 
 kow as Osman Pasha's place of residence 
 during his captivity. Here he was made as 
 much of as though he had been victorious ; 
 and victorious he really was, when it is 
 considered that he had done more than the 
 whole of the Turkish generals combined to 
 oppose the progress of the Russians. From 
 July 19th to December 10th he had held 
 Plevna, and cost the Russians at least 
 30,000 men, besides keeping the whole of 
 their active army in check. He did not 
 surrender until his supplies were exhausted, 
 and a loss of 4,000 men proved to him that 
 all hope of escape was vain. 
 
 No less important to the Russians was 
 the fall of the stronghold. Their imme- 
 diate gain was ten pashas, 2,000 subaltern 
 officers, 128 statf officers, 36,000 men, 
 1,200 horses, and 77 cannon. But the indi- 
 rect gain was the greatest of all. Not only 
 did the fall of Plevna set free the whole of 
 the Russian and Roumanian armies, but it 
 also liberated the Servian army which had 
 been kept in readiness to fall upon Widdm 
 and Osman Pasha's army in the rear, should 
 this appear necessary. Had Osman Pasha, 
 at any moment, succeeded in escaping from 
 Plevna, there can be no doubt, that if he 
 had taken the route towards Widdin, he 
 would have been met by an army of 20,000 
 Serbs, with the Roumanians on his right 
 flank, and the Russians in his rear. 
 
 Much speculation was indulged in, at 
 the time, as to the course the Russians 
 282 
 
 would pursue. Some critics imagined that 
 General Todleben would insist upon the 
 Quadrilateral being cleared before proceed- 
 ing across the Balkans ; others held that 
 fear of England would keep the Russians 
 from marching upon Constantinople ; but 
 the great majority held that the Turks 
 would concentrate their forces round Adri- 
 anople, convert it into a second Plevna, and, 
 if ousted from this position, fall back upon 
 the Tchataldja lines in front of Constanti- 
 nople. 
 
 But neither of these plans were adopted. 
 The moment Plevna had fallen the interest 
 in the campaign ceased to be of a predomi- 
 natingly military interest, and became one 
 of political interest chiefly. It was clear 
 that the disruption of Turkey had com- 
 menced, however it might be disguised 
 under the names of autonomous, feudatory, 
 tributary States, frontier rectifications, or 
 protectorates. Turkey had practically ceased 
 to exist when Osman Pasha was sent into 
 captivity in Russia ; henceforth the battle 
 was between those powers whose interests 
 were involved in the fate of Turkey. 
 
 First and foremost in this struggle was 
 of course. Great Britain. Secondly, there 
 was Austria. Thirdly, there was France. 
 Then came Italy and the minor States, 
 Greece, Servia, Montenegro, and Roumania. 
 The interests of all these States were, how- 
 ever, eclipsed by those of Great Britain ; 
 and for many weeks after the fall of Plevna, 
 all the world was on tenterhooks, waiting 
 for the decision to be taken by the British 
 government. There were abundant counsels 
 proceeding, chiefly from Germany, but also 
 from France, to the effect that England 
 should draw the sword — if not in favour of 
 the Turk, at least against the Russians; 
 and naturally, nowhere was this more desired 
 than at the Porte. 
 
 But not only were there insuperable 
 difficulties which prevented the British 
 government from actively interfering on 
 behalf of the Porte, but it was not to be 
 thought of for a moment, seeing that the 
 end of Turkey had been decreed. British 
 interests were no longer centred in Turkey 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [BRITISH INTERESTS. 
 
 as an empire; they were centred in Turk- 
 ish territory. 
 
 Bolstering up the Sultan would simply 
 mean leaving things just as they had been, 
 with an enormous additional influence of 
 Russia upon the course of Oriental politics. 
 As long as Turkey remained in this equivo- 
 cal state of semi-independence, both Russia 
 and England met on the same ground of 
 ostensible benevolent wishes towards the 
 Porte. That was a fiction which would 
 have to be destroyed. It was absolutely 
 necessary to separate British interests from 
 Turkish interests, and also to separate 
 Russian interests from Turkish interests. 
 As long as Turkey was regarded as a fully 
 independent State, with its conglomeries of 
 tributary States and provinces, the Russians 
 could always say to England, "Why 
 should we disagree ? We both of us wish 
 to sustain Turkey ; we both wish the Otto- 
 man empire to hold the territory neither of 
 us desires the other to have ; and we both 
 of us only desire that the Christian subjects 
 of the Porte should not be oppressed. Our 
 interests are, therefore, identical. Why 
 should we quarrel then ? " 
 
 Herein lay the absurdity. British and 
 Russian interests in Turkey were far from 
 being identical— they were, in fact, diame- I 
 tricaliy opposed. But it was impossible to 
 deny any of the above statements taken 
 singly, or to dispute the logic of the whole 
 as a statement, as an assertion. It all 
 depended upon the truth of the Russian 
 assertion, that the above interests were the 
 real ones, and not the cloak to other designs. 
 But to ascertain this for certain, it was ne- 
 cessary to force Russia's hand, to oblige her 
 to follow suit, and play out her trumps. 
 
 To accomplish this, it was also neces- 
 sary to do one of two things. Either for 
 England to lead trumps at once, or let the 
 Russians go on till they had nothing but 
 trumps in their own hands, and would be 
 forced to lead themselves. 
 
 Unfortunately, the British government, 
 owing to agitation at home, and the incon- 
 gruous elements in the cabinet, decided 
 to adopt the latter course, and force the 
 Russians to lead the trump card. 
 
 This trump card was Constantinople. 
 The British government had declared that 
 England could not afi'ord to see Constanti- 
 nople menaced or occupied by the Russians 
 without taking steps to secure her own 
 interests in the East. On the other hand, 
 so long as the Turkish government remained 
 
 intact in Constantinople, and replied to all 
 proposals for peace with a non possumus^ 
 the Russians could not wait about outside 
 the gates, at the good pleasure of the Porte, 
 and refrain from dealing the coup de grace. 
 They were obliged to bring the war to aa 
 end somehow or other; and there was no 
 other way of doing so than by striking at 
 head-quarters, and at least isolating the capi- 
 tal completely from the rest of the country. 
 This was evident to all concerned ; and 
 towards the middle of December, 1877, the 
 advice was given to the Porte to save as 
 much of its armies as possible, and fall back 
 upon the defence of Constantinople and the 
 lines of Tchataldja only. At first it had 
 been intended to make a stand at Adrianople; 
 but it was pointed out to the Turks that 
 such a policy could only delay the crisis, 
 and increase their difficulties without any 
 corresponding advantages. Sir A. Layard 
 insisted that it would be impossible for 
 England to interfere on behalf of Turkey 
 only. She could only do so if her own 
 interests were menaced. That case would 
 not occur until the capital was menaced. 
 Hence the best method to enlist such sym- 
 pathies and gain such assistance as England 
 was able and willing to give, would be by 
 
 allowing the Russians — nay, forcing them 
 
 to advance on Constantinople itself. Then 
 the moment for British interference, as 
 foreshadowed by Lord Derby, would arrive 
 and the question no longer be one between 
 the Porte and the Russian government 
 only, but between England and Russia. 
 
 To this view the Turkish government 
 gladly subscribed, and were delighted at the 
 prospect of British intervention in whatever 
 shape it might be presented. They at once 
 signified their readiness to accede to the 
 proposal, and gave the necessary orders. 
 
 All this occurred between December 15th 
 and December 20th. As early as that, the 
 future policy of the Turks, as carried out 
 to the conclusion of peace, was definitely 
 settled in its broad outlines, as was pointed 
 out at the time in an article published in 
 the Examiner, entitled, "A Bold Project." 
 This article appeared on December 22nd, 
 and ran as follows: — 
 
 '*A plan of campaign, as much of a 
 political as of a military character, has been 
 communicated to the Turkish authorities, 
 and has apparently been accepted by them. 
 Into the origin of this plan, interesting as 
 the inquiry might be, it is scarcely necessary 
 fn ..v«Tr.,n^ jn whatevcF fertile brain it 
 
 283 
 
 to examine. 
 
 
M 
 
 A BOLD PROJECT.'*] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 r"A BOLD PROJECT." 
 
 may first have arisen, its suggestion to the 
 Turkish government removes it from the 
 field of fanciful imagination to the practical 
 range of accomplished facts. Nor does it 
 much signify what motives dictated the 
 proposal of this plan. Such motives can 
 be imagined as being of diametrically 
 opposed natures. And equally diametri- 
 cally opposed may be the possible results. 
 What the actual result may be, will depend 
 upon the energy with which the plan is 
 carried out by the one party, or turned to 
 advantage by the other. 
 
 " The original idea of this plan is based on 
 the conviction of the Turks, that, under 
 certain circumstances, they would be able to 
 ^cure the assistance of one or more foreign 
 powers in the war against Russia. The 
 plan itself is, that the Porte should concen- 
 trate all its forces at its disposal in the 
 Quadrilateral and the passes leading to it, 
 tiius leaving the road to Constantinople per- 
 fectly open. Constantinople itself would be 
 strongly garrisoned, and the Russians practi- 
 cally invited to come and take it, or confine 
 their efforts to the reduction of the whole 
 Quadrilateral, with its fortresses of Rustzuk, 
 bilistria, Schumla, Rasgrad, Varna, and the 
 lines and earthworks which could be thrown 
 up in various points, and defended with 
 the energy of which the defence of Plevna 
 has shown the Turks to be so capable. £ut 
 the situation in the Quadrilateral would be 
 very different from that at Plevna. Plevna 
 tell on account of the impossibility of 
 keeping open the communications with it. 
 But in the Quadrilateral, the communi- 
 cations with the capital could always be 
 kept open by the Black Sea, of which 
 the Turks have the control, via Varna, 
 through which any amount of the material 
 at the disposal of the Turks, from all 
 sources, covert and overt, would be 
 poured. It is quite impossible to form 
 any estimate of the time that would 
 be requisite for the Russians to end the 
 campaign if the Turks should adopt this 
 plan. The transport of heavy siege material 
 from Plevna and elsewhere would, it is 
 true, be favoured by the hardness of the 
 roads in winter-time ; but this advantage 
 would be more than counter-balanced by the 
 difficulties of constructing siege-works and 
 trenches, &c., in the frozen ground. 
 
 " Nor is this all. The matter is to be still 
 
 further complicated by fresh reinforcements 
 
 from Egypt, to the number of 20,000 men, 
 
 for the protection of Constantinople .or 
 
 284 
 
 otherwise, but in all probability for Con- 
 stantinople, if certain obvious objections of 
 the Porte can be overcome. Further, the 
 policy thus recommended in Europe, it has 
 been suggested, should also be extended to 
 Asia, and the same military tactics adopted 
 there as in European Turkey, with, no 
 doubt, certain modifications, which can 
 easily be imagined. 
 
 "This project has received apparent con- 
 firmation already from two quarters — from 
 the Russian head-quarters, and from Egypt. 
 On Tuesday, the Daily News correspon- 
 dent at the Russian head-quarters, stated 
 that the military authorities were at 
 first strongly in favour of an immediate 
 advance across the Balkans to Adrianople, 
 ' but that another course has been, at least 
 temporarily, dictated by the more diploma- 
 tic element of the imperial head-quarters.' 
 We are in a position to state that this 
 course was dictated in consequence of the 
 above plan having become known to the 
 Russian authorities. The second confima- 
 tion is contained in a letter from the 
 Daily News correspondent at Alexandria, 
 in which he states that the Sublime Porte 
 had sent a demand to the Khedive for 
 20,000 fresh troops, and that a contingent 
 of 6,000 men is about to leave for Con- 
 stantinople. These facts, still further 
 strengthened by the arrival of Suleiman 
 Pasha from Varna with 10,000 men, must 
 be considered not so much as confirmatory 
 evidence of the plan we have mentioned, 
 but rather as evidence of the rapidity and 
 energy with which it is being put into 
 execution ; and it is probably not too much to 
 say, that the same considerations which dic- 
 tated its adoption, also dictated the meeting 
 of parliament at so unusually early a period. 
 
 " Now, the motives which induce the 
 Turks and their friends to adopt this plan 
 are so clear as to speak for themselves. 
 Either the Russians will be obliged to let 
 General Todleben commence the weary work 
 of digging the grave of the Porte with the 
 spade in the Quadrilateral — as Todleben 
 himself had already advised — or they must 
 be prepared to risk the danger of the war 
 party in England succeeding in entrapping 
 the country into war, with the cry of 
 ' Constantinople in danger 1 ' And lest this 
 should not be sufficient to move those who 
 refuse to believe in any danger to Constan- 
 tinople from Russia, the renewed assistance 
 of Egypt under these particular circum- 
 fctances has been determined upon, in order 
 
 to force the Russians to identify Egypt 
 with Turkey, and bring on demands for ex- 
 planations which might result in a casus 
 belli, or the fall of the Beaconsfield minis- 
 try. Which of the two is the more probable 
 is a matter of serious consideration. 
 
 " The importance of this momentous ques- 
 tion cannot be overrated. It speaks for 
 itself. Equally important are the views 
 taken of it by the two great powers, besides 
 England, who are most deeply interested in 
 the settlement of affairs in the East ; and no 
 less important than the relations existing 
 between these two powers themselves — 
 Austria and Prussia — and their respective 
 and mutual relations towards Russia and 
 England. In effect, the German government 
 states, emphatically, that it cannot separate 
 itself from Russia, or refuse to endorse any 
 claims Russia may choose to make, as long 
 as those claims do not injure German 
 interests. At the same time the German 
 government jiever wearies in pointing out 
 that it is the interest and duty of England 
 to protect European interests in the East, 
 intensely hopes that the temper of the 
 nation may be roused to the roar-pitch, 
 and incessantly deprecates the idea of the 
 Marquis of Salisbury, that Germany would 
 act under any circumstances against Russia, 
 as a fundamental error. That the marquis 
 might be eliminated from the cabinet is 
 their sincere desire. If that were accom- 
 plished, they are convinced that Lord Derby's 
 constitutional characteristics would prevent 
 his remaining any obstacle to the policy 
 they would speedily see Lord Beaconsfield 
 carrying out. In short, no stone will be 
 left unturned to induce this country to 
 declare war, or to induce Russia to make 
 such demands as we have already alluded 
 to, and thus precipitate the catastrophe. 
 
 " As regards Austria, her views as to the 
 march of the Russians on Constantinople 
 are rather remarkable, and bear different 
 constructions. The Austrian government 
 has signified that it would not object to an 
 occupation of Constantinople in the same 
 sense as the German occupation of Paris, 
 in order to satisfy the popular and military 
 mind in Russia. That such an event would 
 be regarded as eminently dangerous by the 
 military element in Austria and England is, 
 of course, but natural. But this is a con- 
 sideration which must yield to broader 
 views. The question to be answered is, 
 whether Germany and Austria would remain 
 passive if the temporary occupation of Con- 
 
 VOL. III. 
 
 2 p 
 
 stantinople by the Russians should threaten 
 to become permanent. And then the ques- 
 tion is, if Austria and Prussia should 
 consent to remain thus passive, whether 
 England could not secure her interests in 
 another quarter without incurring the 
 expenses and horrors of a war. The question 
 as to whether Austria's consent to a tempo- 
 rary occupation of Constantinople may not 
 be the result of a trap laid for her by 
 Prussia, is a matter for her own private 
 consideration. Here, again, broader consi- 
 derations must prevail ; for though Austria 
 might disappear, Germany would remain, 
 and it is immaterial for us whether it is A or 
 B who protects those German interests which 
 Prince Bismarck has declared he will protect, 
 and which also protect Constantinople. It 
 is also conceivable that Austria might be 
 willing to allow a temporary occupation of 
 Constantinople, with the full knowledge 
 that the further the Russian army advanced 
 from their basis of operations, the easier it 
 would be to cut their communications. 
 
 " All this is as clear to the advocates of 
 action in favour of the Turks as it is to 
 those who are opposed to it. On public 
 grounds the matter does not allow of argu- 
 ment. But private interests have found a 
 reply to the opponents of such action which 
 may appear very plausible to those in whose 
 hands the decision may be imagined, in 
 some circumstances, to lie. It is said, that 
 much as Germany would like to oppose 
 Russia at Constantinople, she has no option 
 in the matter, and must co-operate with 
 Russia. It is also pointed out, at the same 
 time, that much as Austria would like to 
 oppose Russia likewise, she cannot do so, 
 because she is bound to Prussia, and that, 
 therefore, England — as the only nation 
 which is unfettered — must play a bold and 
 spirited policy. This is a very plausible 
 argument; but bold and spirited as the 
 policy of England ought always to be, it is 
 no part of our duty to assist Germany to 
 keep Alsace and Lorraine, nor to protect 
 Austria against Prussian designs, if any such 
 designs exist. What we have to regard are 
 our own interests in the event of Russia's 
 exceeding her programme of emancipation ; 
 and we have to consider whether our 
 interests in the East can best be consulted 
 by fighting Russia single-handed, for the 
 possession of Constantinople, or by establish- 
 ing ourselves in a position which would 
 effectually secure our interests against 
 attacks." 
 
 285 
 
 • V 
 
SACRED TREATIES.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 
 I 
 
 : 
 
 Thus the Examfiiner, With a few un- 
 important modifications, the programme 
 here laid down was carried out to the letter. 
 The existence of this plan was communi- 
 cated to Count Miinster, and, within a day, 
 found its way to the Russian head-quarters. 
 Count Beust was also made acquainted with 
 it, and led to his stating what the views of the 
 Austrian government were in respect to an 
 occupation of Constantinople. These views 
 were as expressed in the Examiner article. 
 
 The result of this premature disclosure 
 of the plans of the British government was, 
 that the Russians determined to accept the 
 challenge, and, whilst not neglecting the 
 Quadrilateral, still not to undertake its re- 
 duction, but to follow up the retreating 
 Turks and dictate their terms before the 
 very walls of Constantinople, and thus force 
 the British government also to show its 
 hand, by declaring specifically what the in- 
 terests were which it considered of para- 
 mount importance in Turkey ; and also 
 what means it was intended should be 
 taken to secure those interests. 
 
 The Russian diplomatists calculated, that 
 if Great Britain were really prepared to 
 support its interests by force of arms, such 
 a proceeding would be synonymous with a 
 partition of Turkey, or, at any rate, to the 
 commencement of such partition ; and if 
 such were to be the case, then Russia also 
 would be able to drop her mask of benevo- 
 lent action towards the Christians in 
 Turkey, and also take her stand upon 
 *' interests." 
 
 The fact is, that both the governments 
 at St. James's and St. Petersburg, as well 
 as at the Ballhausplatz in Vienna, could no 
 longer refuse to face the fact, that the days 
 of Turkey, as an independent power, were 
 counted, and that the first great blow hav- 
 ing been struck by Russia at the very 
 foundations of the empire, they would have 
 to secure what each considered indispen- 
 sable for its interests. 
 
 It was for this reason that Lord Beacons- 
 field did not allow any intervention imme- 
 diately after the fall of Plevna, in spite of 
 the impatient appeals of his party and 
 the Philo-Turk party. He knew that 
 intervention at that point would be imme- 
 diately construed, by the Opposition and 
 by the Turks, as intervention in favour of 
 the Turkish government; and that even if 
 successful, that intervention would only 
 result in the re-establishment of the old 
 order of things, however much it might be 
 
 286 
 
 disguised. Turkey, he said plainly, must 
 be utterly broken first, so that the clashing 
 interests of Russia and England be brought 
 face to face without the interposition of 
 Turkey in any shape or form. He saw 
 that the end of Turkey had approached, 
 and was determined that England should 
 not suffer by the catastrophe. 
 
 This view of the matter was also taken 
 at Vienna, and, there is little reason to 
 doubt, at Berlin also. At both capitals it 
 was recognised that the apple was not yet 
 ripe enough to be shaken down. A few 
 more blows would suffice, and then the 
 moment for intervention would arrive, and 
 the division, in whatever form, of the spoil. 
 
 Meantime, however, the fiction of an in- 
 dependent Turkey had to be kept up, and 
 also the fiction of the sanctity of treaties. 
 These fictions were still to cost a vast loss 
 of life, and a vaster amount of misery. It 
 is in consequence of such fictions, that since 
 the close of the American civil war, Europe 
 has presented the aspect of one vast camp. 
 Every nation has already armed or is arm- 
 ing to the teeth ; and the relations of one 
 country to the other are more or less 
 framed on the basis of war in abeyance, 
 rather than the basis of actual peace. 
 Practically, there is but an armistice be- 
 tween the most important powers, and a 
 state of things that calls to mind the truces 
 entered into during the Crusades. But 
 this modern peace does not possess the 
 advantages which recommended those of the 
 dark and middle ages. When the Crusaders 
 entered into their truces with the Paynim. 
 it was perfectly well understood that such 
 truces were to terminate at a certain date, 
 after the lapse of five, ten, fifteen, and even 
 twenty years. When the term agreed upon 
 had expired, war recommenced, or the truce 
 was renewed on the same conditions, or 
 with certain modifications, as the caso 
 might be, and as experience had judged 
 necessary. But, under all circumstances, 
 peace was actually ensured for the time 
 determined upon, and there was then, at 
 least, so much confidence in the word of 
 honour given by either combatant, that 
 there was no fear of the compact being 
 broken before the period had elapsed. 
 
 Now, however, the sacred character of a 
 treaty has practically disappeared, chiefly, 
 indeed, in consequence of the rapidity of 
 the changes which an ever-advancing civili- 
 sation entails. These changes are such 
 that they frequently render the stipulatioos 
 
 A.D. 1877.'| 
 
 RUSSIAN ExAIPIRE. 
 
 [a BALKAN WINTER. 
 
 of peace far more onerous to one or the 
 other party than they were ever intended to 
 be. The natural consequence is, that the 
 nation upon which these stipulations bear 
 with undue severity, chafes under the 
 restraint, considers itself unjustly treated — 
 and with reason — and seeks eagerly for an 
 opportunity to throw off the fetters which 
 changing circumstances have invested with 
 a weight far beyond the original burden. 
 
 When, for instance, the treaty of Paris 
 was signed, there was no idea of the Suez 
 Canal becoming a reality. Railways, tele- 
 graphs, steam-ships, have increased at a rate 
 which has enormously altered the relations 
 of one country to another. Fresh centres 
 of commerce have been opened up, both for 
 supply and demand ; the emission of end- 
 less loans has so interwoven the interests of 
 one country with another, that what may 
 have been fit and just ten years ago, is now 
 highly antiquated, out of place, and unjust. 
 
 This fact has been fully recognised by 
 practical men, by the mercantile community 
 at large ; and it is, moreover, so self- 
 evident, that treaties regulating the com- 
 mercial relations of one country with 
 the other, are not concluded for a theo- 
 retical perpetuity, but for a certain stipu- 
 lated number of years, at the end of which, 
 either party can give notice of withdrawal 
 for the purposes of confirmation, revision, 
 or modification, according to the change of 
 circumstances. 
 
 This principle is undoubtedly a sound 
 one ; and if, when sufficiently tested, it 
 works well in commercial affairs, where the 
 sharpness of self-interest attains its acme. 
 
 there seems to be no valid reason why it 
 should not be followed in purely political 
 treaties, at least in the very great majority 
 of cases. Here and there, and under cer- 
 tain circumstances, cases might arise in 
 which it would be advisable to make the 
 treaty final, as far as finality in matters 
 human can be secured; but, generally 
 speaking, no treaty should be concluded for 
 a longer period than twenty-one years, in 
 order to allow the coming generation to 
 judge of their fathers' work, and allowed to 
 revise it, the understanding being, that at 
 the end of that period the contracting 
 powers should meet, and consider whether 
 the contract should be confirmed or sub- 
 jected to such arrangements as might be 
 collectively agreed upon. Not only would 
 such an arrangement be best calculated to 
 prevent war from breaking out, but it would 
 also be the first and most important step to 
 the establishment of an international 
 tribunal for the regulation of international 
 questions. 
 
 It would have teen not only wiser, but 
 more honest, had the powers concerned 
 abandoned the fictions of the treaty of 
 Paris and the independence of Turkey, and 
 proceeded to start from entirely fresh lines, 
 simply considering how their separate in- 
 terests could be secured to fall in with the 
 welfare of the people concerned, whether 
 Turks, Jews, or Christians, 
 
 As it was, however, the war was decreed 
 to go on to the bitter end, and thousands of 
 people to be sacrificed in order to ripen the 
 apple, which so many claimants were wait- 
 ing to share between them. 
 
 ' \ 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 "general winter " IN TBE FIELD. 
 
 Whilst waiting for reinforcements. General 
 Grourko's forces, encamped on the bleak 
 ridges of the Balkans, within range of the 
 Turkish batteries and rifle-fire, had a hard 
 time of it ; but still were not in so deplor- 
 able a condition as their enemies. Great, 
 however, as were the discomforts, the hard- 
 ships, under the rule of " General Winter, " 
 were not so severe in the mountains of the 
 Balkans as they would have been in the 
 
 plains of Roumania or in Russia itself, where 
 the icy east blasts across the uninterrupted 
 surface of bare ground, chilling man and 
 beast to death. 
 
 In the Balkans the mountains protected 
 the men from the cutting winds, whilst the 
 forests supplied an abundance of fuel, and 
 thus fires blazed on every side where the 
 soldiers had rigged up their shelter-tents 
 between the smooth, straight beech trunks, 
 
 287 
 
STRANGE WOUNDS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1877. 
 
 
 and had their garments all hung about to 
 dry ; there was a continuous musical ring 
 of axes and sabres cutting fuel, only inter- 
 rupted by the infernal whizz and angry 
 crack of Turkish shells ; rifles were stacked 
 in long irregular lines, or were clustered 
 about the large trees ; and crowds of soldiers 
 were gathered about the kitchens or busied 
 with the details of their simple toilettes. 
 Some of the bivouacs were continually ex- 
 posed to rifle-fire; not that they were in 
 sight of the Turkish lines, but the bullets 
 went over the crest of the hill, and grazing 
 the earthworks, came dropping into the 
 bivouac in the rear, chipping the trees and 
 wounding men and horses. They were not 
 spent bullets either, for they still had force 
 enough to go through a three-inch sapling, 
 and then stick in a tree beyond. The 
 soldiers in their bivouacs dug great holes 
 in the ground, pitched their tents over 
 them, and then piled the earth and sods up 
 on the side towards the enemy, so they had 
 a very good shelter at all times. The fires 
 were also built in little earthworks, for no 
 one liked to have a live bullet in his kitchen ; 
 and whenever there was a fusillade nearly 
 every man was under cover. The shells and 
 shrapnel came in, but the men took the risk 
 of these projectiles, and attempted no de- 
 fence against them. A thin cloud of blue 
 smoke from the fires rising out of the tree- 
 tops, and drifting away to leeward, marked 
 exactly where the bivouac was placed, both 
 to the eyes of friends away back in the town, 
 and to the sharp sight of the enemy near at 
 hand. Thus closely together lay the two 
 armies on the mountain tops, and when the 
 snow covered the ground, the picturesque- 
 ness of the mountain bivouacs was without 
 parallel. The tree trunks came out sharply 
 with their deep grey colour against the 
 pure white, and every figure was in distinct 
 silhouette. Before the snow fell, the grey 
 over-coats of the soldiers harmonised exactly 
 with the colours of the carpet of dead 
 leaves, and it was difficult to distinguish 
 the men from the ground they lay on. In 
 the snow, too, was written more plainly 
 than with words, the history of the move- 
 ments of each man in the skirmish line. 
 One could follow every step of the advance 
 of the Russians as they drove the Turks 
 from tree to tree upon the open summit, 
 and mark just where each soldier sought 
 shelter — the means he took to get nearer 
 the enemy; and one could even judge 
 accurately the state of the soldier's mind as 
 288 
 
 he dodged from tree to tree, whether he was 
 reckless or cautious, enterprising or timid. 
 The tracks of the Russian boots followed up 
 the prints of the Turkish sandals, just as 
 one finds, in the freshly- fallen snow in the 
 country, the track of a cat following the 
 trail of a bird as it goes from bush to bush 
 in the garden, and then a few feathers and 
 a drop or two of blood, which marks dis- 
 tinctly where the prey was taken. Pink 
 stains on the white ground among the trees 
 on the mountain were only two eloquent, 
 and here and there a pool of blood, that had 
 flowed warm and melted the snow in a dark 
 red spot, showed where men had been hit 
 hard, and the impression of the bodies 
 where they fell, the tracks of the comrades 
 who came to carry them away — all was there, 
 unmistakably, even too plainly legible. The 
 Turkish dead, stripped by their friends for 
 the ragged woollen clothes they wore, lay 
 nearly naked on the spot where they had 
 fallen, their bare legs and arms half buried 
 in the snow, the ghastly spectacle all the 
 more impressive in the cruel cold and the 
 desolate landscape. Nothing, in all the 
 previous battles of the war, was so impres- 
 sive as the sights of a short hour on the 
 mountain the afternoon of the attack, cap- 
 ture, and final surrender again of the re- 
 doubt on the summit of the Baba Konak 
 Pass. The majestic solemnity of the moun- 
 tain scenery ; the awful mystery of the wild 
 forest ; the cold, the snow, and the driving 
 mist; the freshly wounded and the dead in 
 the snow close by; the living who were 
 telling the story of the fight with their 
 rifles still hot in their hands — these were 
 surroundings to make one realise the full 
 extent of the horrors of the war in the 
 mountains. As for the wounded, they were 
 almost equally badly off on both sides, and 
 with the advent of the severe weather their 
 sufl'erings increased tenfold. Some of the 
 wounds were wonderfully eccentric. One 
 man was shot through the lungs, and for 
 some days he actually breathed through the 
 hole in his chest, as could be seen by hold- 
 ing a match to the aperture, when it was 
 literally blown out by the man's breath. 
 Another, a Russian, was wounded just above 
 the right knee, whence the bullet, winding 
 spirally, cork-screw fashion up his leg, 
 finally lodged under his left shoulder-blade. 
 A third, a Turk, was struck in the left 
 cheek by one bullet which also traversed 
 the other, and at almost the same moment 
 was hit by a second in his right cheek, 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [sugar- sticks and candy. 
 
 which also sped through the left. Still, 
 though the cold and the snow severely tried 
 both the healthy and the wounded, they 
 were less trying than the sleet and rain, 
 alternating with heavy drenching mists, 
 which saturated everything with water, and 
 filled rifle-pits and trenches. At these 
 times, when a thick curtain of opaque mist 
 hid the enemy, the effect of the talking 
 and bustle in their lines, as it was magnified 
 by the fog, was surprising. It seemed as if 
 one could almost touch them with a sword's 
 point, and there was a consequent incerti- 
 tude on each side as to what the other was 
 doing that was very trying, quite apart from 
 the difficulties of the position : for bleak 
 mountain tops are not favourable spots for 
 bivouacs ; and although the cold had not 
 yet been very intense, the men had had a 
 sufficient degree to give a good idea of what 
 life on the mountains would be when the 
 winter settled down in earnest, and the 
 snow lay three feet or more deep. Even as 
 it was, the mountain landscape had quite an 
 Arctic aspect, peak on peak as white and un- 
 broken as the summits of the highest Alps, 
 and the plains of Sophia in the distance 
 completely snow-carpetedo But the soldiers 
 accommodated themselves to the snow and 
 cold very well. They had plenty of fresh 
 meat and soup, were warmly clad, and, con- 
 sidering the difficulties of the campaign, as 
 well off as could be expected. Still, as may 
 be imagined, they were eager for a change 
 of some sort, and great was the joy when 
 the news of the fall of Plevna reached them. 
 Officers embraced each other, soldiers 
 cheered, and cheered and cheered again, 
 and everybody felt free to give way to the 
 wildest expressions of delight. General 
 Gourko went to the positions with his staff 
 to tell the great news to the troops in the 
 bivouac there. He remained with Count 
 Schouvaloff, and his aides-de-camp went 
 up into the intrenchments with the tid- 
 ings. The cheers in the bivouacs had 
 announced, long before the aides-de-camp 
 arrived, an event of more than usual im- 
 portance, and all the soldiers were curious 
 to know what had happened. When they 
 were told the news they jumped upon the 
 parapets and waved their caps at the 
 astonished Turks, who were close bv on the 
 opposite ridge, and gave round after round 
 of hurrahs. The sun, which had been veiled 
 for days, just at this time shone out 
 brightly, and the mist dissipated, giving the 
 opposing lines, for the first time for a week, 
 
 a fair sight of each other. In the batteries 
 the numbers were ordered to their posts, 
 and then, while the parapets were lined 
 with men, all waving their caps and 
 cheering frantically, volley after volley of 
 shell was thrown into the enemy's fortifica- 
 tion, for once a joyous and triumphant 
 cannonade. The cheers spread Jike a wave 
 from one end to the other of the line, down 
 in the ravines, back in the woods — away on 
 the summits went the sound until it became 
 a faint hum in the distance, and died away 
 and was renewed again with repeated energy 
 for a long while. This was the beginning 
 of the fete, and that day nothing that could 
 be eaten and drunk to celebrate the tidinjrs 
 was spared, especially as, fortunately for the 
 banqueters, a sutler arrived with an im- 
 mense train of waggons laden with every 
 kind of groceries, delicacies, and small 
 wares, and began to unpack his goods in an 
 empty shop opposite the general's head- 
 quarters. The news of this arrival spread 
 quicker than even the report of the fall of 
 Plevna, to judge by the crowd of officers of 
 every rank who besieged the entrances to 
 the shop long before the proprietor had any 
 intention of opening the establishments 
 The covers were off some of the cases, dis» 
 closing sugar, preserves, bottles, and sta- 
 tionery ; and this attraction was too great 
 to be resisted, so the crowd entered tho 
 shop with good-natured shouldering and 
 hustling, and began to pile up the articles 
 they wanted with a recklessness that would 
 have broken the heart of a methodical 
 shopkeeper. They dived into the great 
 cases, bringing out, with shouts of delight, 
 all kinds of bon-bons and candies, jams and 
 jellies, which they laid hold of with tho 
 eagerness of children, and began to eat on 
 the spot. The sutler and his assistants 
 could do nothing but make spasmodic 
 attempts to regulate the distribution of 
 the stores, which only made the confusion 
 greater, and the happy crowd elbowed and 
 pushed, and continued to help themselves 
 in abundance. As each one gathered his 
 stock of plunder, he was as impatient to 
 pay for it as he had been to get hold of 
 it; and although the sutler calmly took 
 four times the price of the goods at 
 Bucharest, the tariff was never questioned, 
 and bright new gold pieces rattled into 
 his canvas bag in a stream, making music 
 that would have delighted a miser. Doubt- 
 less the glitter of the gold blinded his 
 eyes to the scene of indescribable confusion. 
 
 289 
 
 • V 
 
 
 it ' ■• 'fC Ki 
 
 n 
 
MISERY OP PRISONERS.] 
 
 HISTOEY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 I 
 
 It was really ao interesting and ludicrous 
 spectacle, this merry attack on the sutler's 
 fchop. Colonels and captains, staff officers 
 and surgeons, all jostling one another like 
 so many children at a table full of bon- 
 bons, burying their arms deep in the cases 
 where the sweets were, loading themselves 
 with bottles and parcels, laughing and 
 talking and joking all the time. Officers 
 splashed with mud, their faces tanned and 
 roughened with exposure, dipped into the 
 pots of jam and broke open boxes of bon- 
 bona with laughable earnestness, as if they 
 had been denied sweets since their child- 
 hood, and their early taste had only grown 
 the stronqrer from long abstinence. From 
 the bivouac in the snow on the mountain, 
 where black hard bread and sugarless tea 
 had, perhaps, been for days their chief diet, 
 to a shop piled full of delicacies, was a 
 change which must be experienced to be 
 realised in its entire extent, and, notwith- 
 Btanding the ludicrous aspect of the per- 
 formance, it had a serious side which no 
 one could fail to remark at the moment. 
 This was the absolute necessity for supplying 
 troops exposed to the severity of a winter 
 with such fat and warmth-producers as sugar, 
 oil, or fat. In a mountainous country suo-ar 
 IS the best stimulant of its kind, either pure 
 or in coffee or chocolate. Chocolate is 
 especially beneficent. During some of the 
 long Carlist marches under Dorregaray, a 
 cake or two of chocolate kept the men in 
 good spirits for the whole day, and effectually 
 staved off the cravings of huno-er whilst 
 really furnishing nutriment. 
 • ^ Meantime, trying as was the winter with 
 its snows, rains, and posts for the Russians, 
 it was still more trying to the Turks in the 
 field, and especially to the prisoners. The 
 plains of Roumania presented a vast surface 
 of snow, only broken by the bleak telegraph 
 poles and the fluttering of carrion crows. 
 At times these birds of prey increased in 
 numbers, making almost black the leaden 
 skyc Then afar off, breaking the horizon, 
 a long dark line would come slowly moving 
 in caterpillar-fashion along the road, re- 
 solving itself into a column of Turkish 
 prisoners, in front of whom gleamed the 
 bayonets of their Dorobantz guards as they 
 plodded slowly forward under the weight of 
 their miscellaneous kit. Following came a 
 few Turkish officers, either on ponies or on 
 foot. Behind them marched the men who 
 once kept the flower of the Russian army at 
 bay round Plevna. Spiritless and broken 
 290 
 
 they looked as they trudged wearily along 
 the road to their captivity. Half-starved, 
 almost dead with fatigue and the severe 
 cold, many with fever burning in their eyes 
 — mere stalking bones and foul rags — such 
 had become the brave troops who made 
 the fame of Osman Pasha. Suffering from 
 typhus and small-pox, many fell out of the 
 ranks to lie down and die. " One poor fellow 
 has thrown himself on the snow by the 
 road-side ; he can go no further. A comrade, 
 loth to leave him, follows and tries to per- 
 suade him to struggle once more to join the 
 line. There is no response. He has swooned 
 or is dead. A soldier of the rear-guard now 
 comes up and roughly pushes the living 
 man back to the ranks. Then he kicks 
 with his foot the bundle of rags on the 
 ground. There is no sign. With the butt- 
 end of his gun he turns the head over from 
 the snow. The eyes glare at him with a 
 fixed stare. He is dead. The soldier 
 brutally pushes the body deeper into the 
 snow, shoulders his rifle, and joins his guard. 
 " Thousands of birds of prey whirl round 
 and settle in front and rear, always following 
 this grim procession like sharks round a 
 doomed ship. A few yards further on lies, 
 half-covered with snow, a nude body of 
 another dead Turk, stripped by his com- 
 panions for the little warmth of the rags he 
 wore. A crow has just settled on his 
 clenched hand, and the dogs are slinking 
 round their victim. A few paces more 
 brings us to another miserable, lying as he 
 died with upturned face, staring on heaven 
 through the fast-falling snow. We must 
 now be near a village, for there are pigs 
 about, and we have just seen a skirmish 
 between these swine and the dogs, to see 
 which shall be first at this horrible carrion. 
 It is the village of Putenieu, almost lost in 
 the snow and ice. How different the place 
 looked from what it was when I first passed 
 through its streets in the early summer! 
 The Russian advance guard had then only 
 just gone by, and I was in search of Dragi- 
 miroff to know where the great crossing of 
 the Danube was to take place. We were 
 then suffering from mosquitoes, intense 
 heat, and blinding dust. Now we were 
 shivering in our furs with cold. Putenieu 
 has become a place of great importance 
 since those days. It is now one of the 
 resting-places for sick and wounded soldiers 
 on the road from the Danube to Fratesti, 
 or to the hospitals at Bucharest and in 
 Russia. 
 
 I « 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [RUSSIAN CALLOUSNESS. 
 
 « It is in Putenieu that Dr. H. Sand- 
 with has erected, with funds from the Eng- 
 land-Russian Sick and Wounded Society, 
 an Etape or Hospice to shelter one thousand 
 men. Hundreds of the Turkish sick passing 
 through to Russia also find shelter and com- 
 fort within its walls from the severe cold 
 weather. The director, M. le Baron de 
 Benckendorff, and for the while our good 
 host, is full of work. Not only do his own 
 sick and wounded appeal to his sympathy, 
 but also the miserable Turks ; and they pass 
 through in thousands daily, dead beat, and 
 weary from their long march. ' Four thou- 
 sand passed through to-day,' said the baron 
 to me the morning I arrived. ' Our little 
 village is over-crowded with the sick they 
 have left behind. This evening four thou- 
 sand more are expected.' A loaf of bread and 
 a pound of meat are given to each prisoner 
 just before entering the town. Then they 
 are billeted for the night on the inhabi- 
 tants, choking up their little hovels, breed- 
 ing vermin and pestilence wherever they 
 go. It is indeed hard on the villagers of 
 Putenieu, for there is an endless stream of 
 prisoners. No sooner has one column left 
 than another enters the village. 
 
 " Unfortunately, through this bad ar- 
 rangement on the part of the Russian and 
 Roumanian authorities, the inhabitants ex- 
 pend their annoyance on the poor prisoners, 
 and the Roumanian peasants are very cruel 
 and brutal. They beat these poor wretches, 
 illtreat the sick, and after the darkness 
 hides their cruelty from the Russian eyes, 
 they turn them out into the cold night, 
 which means in their plight, half starved 
 and semi-nude, certain death, for the ther- 
 mometer registers sometimes twenty degrees 
 Reaumur below zero. The result is, that 
 the little dead-house opposite my lodgment 
 is well tenanted the i next morning with 
 frozen corpses. Dr. Sandwith and myself 
 visited this charnel-house. There are two 
 rooms. In one, ten or twelve bodies were 
 lying as they had been pitched in dead, and 
 others must"^ still have had some life left by 
 their expression and the position of their 
 bodies. In the other room four Turks had 
 
 sought shelter from the bitterness of the 
 night, and had cleared a space in the mass 
 of dead, and with scraps of rags from the 
 bodies, and some sticks of straw, had lighted 
 a fire, and were crowded round the wretched 
 smoulder for warmth. One poor shivering 
 wretch, nearly naked, crawled from where 
 he was thought to be lying dead towards 
 the group, and feebly struggled with the 
 rest for a place at the fire. Dr. Sandwith 
 remonstrated with them in Turkish for 
 their un kindness to their miserable com- 
 rade, and so the poor creature was allowed 
 to huddle in with the cheerless circle. We 
 asked them what we could do for them. 
 They were very hungry, some not having 
 eaten for three days. Major Baker and the 
 doctor, who were with me, sought in the 
 village for food ; but nothing, for love or 
 money, could be got but onions and bread. 
 The Russians or Roumanians profess to 
 give them bread and meat for daily rations ; 
 but there is no doubt that many in some 
 way get none, and there are hundreds who, 
 through sickness, cannot eat this rough fare. 
 Soup is dealt out to many by order of the 
 kindly baron, but only the stronger who 
 struggle for it receive il. The weaker go 
 to the wall, and die neglected from sheer 
 starvation, as their poor emaciated bodies 
 will testify in the little dead-house. The 
 weather has been more than usually severe 
 for the last two days, and the mortuary is 
 crowded with dead Turks piled up several 
 feet high, and crowding the passage leading 
 into the street. Every morning waggons 
 cart them, unwashed, uncovered, to the 
 huge pit outside the village, and there 
 these brave and long-suffering men find a 
 last resting-place." 
 
 Such is the description given by the 
 correspondent of the Daily News, as to the 
 way in which the Russians treated their 
 prisoners on the march. Severer still were 
 their hardships when winter set in with all 
 its rigour, and the thermometer sank down 
 to 17 degrees Reaumur below zero. Taken 
 all in all, more perished — men, women, and 
 children — in the months of December and 
 January than during the whole year, 
 
 291 
 
 til 
 
 ' V':' 
 
 Ik . 
 
 "-.17 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 1 
 
 .•I 
 
HARDSHIPS IN THE BALKANS.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVHI. 
 
 PASSAGE OP THE ETROPOL BALKANS. 
 
 
 , 
 
 Not until Christmas-day — fiffeen days after 
 the fall of Plevna — had sufficient reinforce- 
 ments arrived for General Gourko to con- 
 tinue his advance. 
 
 It had been evident, for some time, that 
 he would either have to retire from the 
 positions he had taken on the mountains 
 near the Baba Konak Pass, or else cross 
 the range at any cost, for the severity of 
 the weather made it almost impossible to 
 bring up the supplies and ammunition, 
 and life in the bivouacs on the mountain 
 became daily more and more difficult. 
 Scarcely a night passed but frozen hands 
 and feet were counted by hundreds. 
 Thirty soldiers were frozen to death durino- 
 four days of a great storm, and the numbe'r 
 of sick from exposure amounted to more 
 than 2,000. Before the snow-storm the 
 mountain paths had been rivers of mud, 
 and when these froze solid they became 
 quite impassable, and steps had to be cut 
 with axes. The thin shelter-tents, torn by 
 the wind, and with difficulty kept fastened 
 to the ground in the gales, were exchanged 
 for rude huts covered with turf and logs, 
 and holes dug in the steep banks among 
 the trees. The transports containing warm 
 clothing, which had been long talked of as 
 on the road somewhere between Sistova and 
 Orkhanieh, were not even expected to arrive 
 for weeks, and the soldiers made use of the 
 skins of the bullocks and sheep they slaugh- 
 tered to wrap their feet in and to make 
 jackets of; but with such meagre resources 
 there was little enough alleviation of the 
 suffering from the cold ; and then the men 
 in the trenches along the watershed were 
 constantly exposed, not only to the bullets 
 of the enemy near at hand, but to the in- 
 sidious attacks of the frost, which too often 
 proved a much more dreaded foe. 
 
 The Turks suffered in an untold degree ; 
 but they had much more skill than the 
 Russians, not only in constructing earth- 
 works, but in building shelters ; and often 
 the miserably-clad infantryman behind the 
 breastworks was found stowed away in com- 
 fortable little huts of logs and straw, where 
 a small fire kept several soldiers warm : and 
 292 
 
 for the time he remained there he made 
 these huts his home, and defended them as 
 such. The Russian infantryman, on the 
 contrary, rarely considered himself at home 
 in the trenches, because he remained but a 
 few days, and then was relieved and sent 
 elsewhere. This constant rotation added 
 greatly to the comfort of the soldiers; but 
 for actual service in earthworks it was a 
 mistake, for the soldier who lives for weeks 
 in a breastwork learns every foot of the 
 ground in front, and, when the time comes, 
 will advance with confidence or defend his 
 hut with desperation. The trenches at 
 Plevna illustrated perfectly the difference 
 between the Turk and the Russian in this 
 respect. So in the Balkans, while the 
 Russians endured every discomfort on the 
 mountain tops, the enemy, under the same 
 conditions, was comparatively comfortable. 
 The severe cold was not only unexpected, 
 but was quite unseasonable ; and when the 
 reinforcements arrived, they found them- 
 selves obliged to bivouac in the snow, be- 
 cause every foot of ground in the town of 
 Orkhanieh was already occupied. 
 
 The scenes in Orkhanieh during the storm 
 and cold surpassed description. Generals 
 quartered in tireless rooms and in mud 
 houses, and soldiers sheltered behind piles 
 of snow, or clustered in groups about small 
 fires, were patiently waiting day after day. 
 Officers came in at all hours of the day and 
 night, many on foot from Osikovo, ex- 
 hausted, half frozen, seeking shelter which 
 money could not buy. Salt failed, and 
 bread became scarce ; fifteen francs being 
 given for a small loaf. Wood was a luxury 
 which few could obtain in any abundance ; 
 for, although there were forests in every 
 direction, all the empty carts were used in 
 bringing wood for the hospitals and ovens, 
 and so there were many cases of frozen feet 
 and hands in the town itself. 
 
 Before daylight on Christmas morning 
 the bugles sounded the reveille again and 
 again, and soon the infantry crowded the' 
 streets on the march towards Vratshesh. It 
 was bitterly cold and frosty. The fog had 
 settled down so densely, that before sunrise 
 
 A.D. 1877.J 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the ETROPOL BALKANS. 
 
 the darkness was absolutely impenetrable ; 
 and even after daybreak, objects across the 
 narrow street were vague and indistinct. 
 The fog clung to the houses and trees and 
 the clothing of the soldiers, and froze there, 
 covering every surface with a glistening 
 garment of pure white. At nine o'clock 
 General Gourko and his staff left the town 
 for the bivouac of the dragoons on the 
 chaussee just behind the positions there. 
 
 It was a rare spectacle this group of 
 horsemen as they moved slowly along the 
 ice-paved chaussee. The aides-de-camp 
 were dressed in the most fantastic costumes. 
 Some were in great- coats of dressed skins 
 ornamented with embroidery and buttons. 
 Some were enveloped in Circassian cloaks, 
 all doubled up with the weight of additional 
 clothing, and with capuchons and wraps 
 about the head. General Gourko, leading 
 the group, was alone dressed in a simple 
 surtout, without mufflers of any kind. He 
 rode along apparently unconscious that the 
 frost was turning his beard white, and 
 coverinof himself and horse with frozen 
 crystals. It resembled more a carnival cav- 
 alcade than a general with his staff, the 
 effect being heightened by the picturesque 
 Kuban Cossacks in the convoy with their 
 sheep-skin hats and curious weapons. 
 
 Before the force had been out half-an-hour 
 icicles hung from the men's beards and from 
 the horses' mouths, and like a procession of 
 so many Father Christmases they rode 
 into the defiles through the chill fog, the 
 view being limited to the snow-laden trees 
 along the road-side. The soldiers began to 
 straggle, several dropped, overcome with 
 cold and fatigue, and some were injured by 
 falling on the ice. Shortly after passing 
 Vratshesh the fog became thinner, and the 
 white mountain tops, glistening in the sun- 
 light, shone through the mist as if hung in 
 the air, for the oases were still hidden by 
 the vapour. The road followed by Generals 
 Gourko and Ranch was the one leading from 
 Vratshesh to Lukovo (as shown in sketch X ), 
 and from which the old high-road to Sophia 
 turned off shortly after leaving Vratshesh 
 and crossing the Balkans north of the vil- 
 lage of Tchuriak. This road was the prin- 
 cipal thoroughfare towards Etropol before 
 the chaussee was made. It had been disused 
 for a number of years, and was never more 
 than a narrow neglected bridle-path. It 
 was almost lost among the trees, was gullied 
 with the rain, and grown over with bushes. 
 A few days before the advance, two bat- 
 
 VOL. ui. 2 Q 
 
 talions of the Praobrajensky regiment began 
 to work on the path, graded it somewhat, 
 widened it nearly the whole extent, and cut 
 steps in the ice in the steepest place up to 
 the summit. A portion of the way was in 
 full sight of the Turkish redoubts east of 
 Baba Konak. Therefore work could be 
 undertaken only at night ; and when the 
 advance was made, the path was so good 
 that it was believed that cannon could be 
 brought up with horses. But for a long 
 time, when the road was crowded with men 
 and material, it was completely blocked 
 with artillery^ and infantry. The soldiers 
 made fires along the path and cooked their 
 suppers, taking matters very easy. Four 
 guns- and their caissons were hauled up by 
 hand, and caused great delay. The ropes 
 were short, permitting not more than sixty 
 men to take hold ; and even this number 
 worked with exasperating deliberation. 
 They were soldiers of the line that were de- 
 tailed to bring up the first cannon — small 
 men, unused to such work, and, after a long 
 march from Plevna, did not enter with any 
 enthusiasm into the novel and exhausting 
 labour. 
 
 General Ranch stood half-way up the first 
 steep incline, encouraging the men to pull, 
 and spurring up the officers. The whole 
 night long he climbed up and down the 
 slippery path, endeavouring to communicate 
 some of his activity to the officers and men. 
 The distance up the mountain was, perhaps, 
 four miles, and the entire route was lined 
 with soldiers sleeping on the ice, or gathered 
 around small fires in the snow. When they 
 were awakened and ordered to move on, they 
 never showed any impatience, but, with 
 their inimitable sang-froid, got up and 
 walked a few paces and then slept again, 
 dropping down like dead men. Towards 
 midnight General Gourko came up the 
 path, followed by his staff. He could no 
 longer endure the delay, and his sleepless 
 energy would not permit him to remain 
 inactive in the rear. A Cossack post was 
 found on the summit of the watershed, and 
 here the general and his staff lay down on 
 the snow aroimd two fires, which were kept 
 low that the enemy might not notice them, 
 and slept like the soldiers. The Praobra- 
 jensky regiment had advanced into the vil- 
 lage of Tchuriak, which had already for some 
 days been occupied by the dragooa out- 
 posts, and with them part of the train of 
 packhorses had descended in the early part 
 of the night, so that there was little to eat, 
 
 293 
 
 n 
 
 P i 
 
THE KUBAN COSSACKS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1877. 
 
 pi 
 
 I! 
 
 
 and meagre comfort in the snow bivouac. 
 Officers and soldiers lav around indiscri- 
 minately as near the fires as they could get, 
 for the icy wind was blowing across the 
 peak, and the snow was freezing hard. 
 
 The sun rose on a scene of wonderful pic- 
 turesqueness and a landscape of serene 
 beauty. Generals and aides-de-camp, some 
 wrapped in bourkas and furs, some in over- 
 coats alone, without additional covering, 
 lay there in the snow huddled together 
 about the fires. Cossacks and dragoons were 
 already busy with their cooking, and hun- 
 dreds of horses, tied to the trees about the 
 bivouac, stamped impatiently in the snow. 
 Southward lay the great plain of Sophia, its 
 pure white face only broken by little dark 
 lines where the villages were ; and beyond, 
 half veiled in dense clouds, were the moun- 
 tains further south, and the great peak 
 Vitosh that towers over Sophia. Through 
 the trees eastward was clearly visible the 
 great bare peak near the Baba Konak Pass, 
 and the lines of the Turkish works were 
 drawn on the snow as plainly as pencil- 
 marks on white paper. General Ranch, 
 always on fool, clambered up to the bivouac 
 for a few moments' rest, and to consult with 
 General Gourko. Then both General Ranch 
 and General Gourko were off again to hasten 
 the movements. 
 
 After a hurried breakfast the men airain set 
 to work at the jannon; and at last, by noon on 
 the 26th of iJecember, four 4-poun(iers, with 
 caissons, were placed on the watershed. 
 News had come from the column on the 
 right that the road was well-nigh impass- 
 able, and nothing whatever was heard from 
 Dondeville on the left ; but the guard had 
 started up the mountains near Etropol, and 
 worked with a will. The road down to 
 Tchuriak, being in sight of the Turkish 
 positions, was closed by patrols, and no move- 
 ment permitted in that direction. Every- 
 where all over the mountain top soldiers 
 bivouacked in the snow in picturesque 
 groups, cooking their food and drying tJieir 
 clothing, under little shelters constructed 
 of snow and branches. 
 
 When the twilight came on, the whole 
 force started down the mountain, everybody 
 on foot, for the path was so steep and slip- 
 pery that no horse could carry a rider down. 
 A snow-storm began before they had gone 
 far, and doubled the difficulty of the descent. 
 Part of the way they slid down like so 
 many schoolboys, and afterwards let them- 
 selves down through the undergrowth, for 
 294 
 
 the road was one solid sheet of ice. Two 
 or three miles of this work brought them 
 to the head of the valley, and over the Bal- 
 kans, breathless with the exertion of the 
 descent. They paused a moment, and 
 shook hands in the darkness, and then 
 pushed on to the village, where they 
 slept under a roof as peacefully as it 
 the Turks were twenty miles instead of 
 one mile away. That the Russians were 
 thus allowed to cross the Balkans by so 
 difficult a path, at such a season of the year, 
 was quite inexcusable on the part of the Turks 
 and officers, who, by their carelessness in 
 looking after their outpost and reconnais- 
 sance services, were guilty of murder, and 
 doubly so when they had such self-sacri- 
 ficing men as the Turkish commanders had. 
 
 Tchuriak is a small village hidden away 
 in a gorge, and a narrow valley winds 
 through the hills to the plain beyond, a 
 couple of hours' ride distant. At daybreak 
 on the 27 th^ the brigade of Kuban Cossacks 
 was sent down the valley with one regiment 
 of infantry to the left, and one up on the 
 height to the right, against some Turks in 
 a little rifle-pit on the hill, who fired four 
 rounds and then retired. 
 
 The enterprising Kubans pushed ahead, 
 and saw, out on the plain, a long transport 
 train slowly moving towards Baba Konak. 
 They received orders to try and capture it. 
 About three o'clock, two squadrons — scarcely 
 more than 100 horsemen — dashed down 
 into the plain and cut off half the train, 
 more than 200 waggons laden with provi- 
 sions and forage. The two squadrons of 
 Turkish regular cavalry and Circassians 
 retired immediately when the Kubans 
 came down ; but finding they were not out- 
 numbered, returned and gave battle. After 
 a short sharp fight, in which ten Turks 
 were killed and two Cossacks wounded, the 
 waggons were left in the Russians' hands. 
 The Cossacks cut the telegraph wires, the 
 infantry took up positions on the hills near 
 the plain, past the village of Potop, and 
 the passage of the Balkans was an accom- 
 plished fact. 
 
 At the same time, a part of the column 
 of Dondeville was seen descending the slopes 
 on the left, like a great black serpent ; but 
 it was a part only — the rest finding it im- 
 possible to get the artillery over the heights. 
 A few prisoners were taken, who reported 
 that the movement was a complete surprise; 
 which seems incredible, considering the de- 
 lays which occurred, and the impossibility of 
 
 A.D. 1877.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [rcjssian difficulties. 
 
 finding routes which were not in plain sight 
 of the enemy, especially as, on the 26th 
 December, the brigade of Cossacks had 
 raided up to the river Isker, surprised and 
 routed various bands of Turkish Circassians, 
 and cut off part of a large transport, es- 
 corted by two squadrons of cavalry and a 
 battalion of infantry, gathered over 600 
 head of cattle and a large flock of sheep, 
 and returned at night to Stolnik, having 
 killed three-score of the enemy with a loss 
 of three wounded. 
 
 In addition to Dondeville's column. Gen- 
 eral Weliaminoff's column, which was to 
 have operated further west, also descended 
 into the plains by the Tchuriak road, the 
 descent to Zilava having proved impracti- 
 cable. These troops had undergone the 
 most severe hardships, and reported that the 
 storm on the mountain was terrible. Sol- 
 diers who paused for a few moments became 
 indistinguishable from masses of snow. 
 Many strayed away. All suffered from want 
 of food ; and when they arrived at Sarantzi, 
 or Tashkessen, after an almost continuous 
 march of five days, and for thirty-six hours 
 without a halt, they were drenched and 
 half frozen together. 
 
 The crossing had thus far cost very few 
 lives, and it was accomplished, too, in the 
 face of unusually severe weather, and to the 
 complete surprise of the enemy. The re- 
 sult of the operation was the occupation of 
 the chausse in force, by a large number of 
 battalions of infantry, with artillery in 
 abundance. Therewith all communication 
 between the forces in the Baba Konak Pass 
 and Sophia was cut off, and the only line of 
 retreat left open for the Turks was that 
 by way of Zlatitza, and thence to Tatar- 
 Bazardjik and Philippopoli ; whilst even 
 along this line there was danger to be ap- 
 prehended from the Russians in the Schipka 
 Pass as soon as General Radetzki forced his 
 way through, or the Turks opened it for 
 him. Meantime the cavalry scoured the 
 plain of Sophia, two regiments circling about 
 as far eastward as Dolny-Kamarli, south of 
 Baba Konak, and every day prisoners and 
 captured supplies were brought in. News 
 came in that Lutakovo was evacuated ; and 
 the latest reports from the positions in the 
 pass, declared that the Turks had with- 
 drawn several cannon from the earthwork 
 on the summit of Greota, and were forti- 
 fying somewhere in their rear. They were 
 found to have built three redoubts on the 
 hill near Tashkessen, commanding the road 
 
 at that point ; and the first movement in 
 force, south of the mountains, was to drive 
 them from that position. 
 
 The attack was ordered for the morning 
 of the 31st ; and as this move was planned 
 especially to give the lead to Dondeville, 
 and so complete the chain about the Turks 
 in the positions near the pass, the tidings 
 which reached the force in the evening 
 before the attack, that Dondeville's column 
 had failed to cross the mountains, and had 
 retired to Etropol, was anything but encou- 
 raging. The failure to cross was bad enough, 
 but he had been obliged to leave cannon on 
 the summit, and the artillerymen who re- 
 mained with the guns were all frozen, and 
 buried in the driving snow; and among the 
 infantry the losses were also serious ; for 
 there was no shelter on the cold mountain 
 sides, and the snow made a bivouac there 
 quite impossible. So it was with a certain 
 seriousness that the force went forward 
 through the narrow little valley in the grey 
 light of the early dawn. 
 
 The valley was crowded with reserves, 
 and the artillery was struggling along 
 the icy road. The valley and the moun- 
 tains were covered with snow, the masses 
 of pure white only broken by little dark 
 spots of irregular shape, where villages 
 stood, patches of forests on the slopes, scat- 
 tered trees along the road, and the black 
 straight line of the Russian troops as they 
 marched to attack the positions. 
 
 Directly over the little village, on a . 
 sharp, rocky peak, was seen plainly the 
 dark line of redoubts, and little camps 
 with tents and huts, and lines of infantry 
 filing down the mountains toward the vil- 
 lage. Every man could be seen as plainly 
 as black on white could be, both Turks 
 and Russians ; and the smoke from the first 
 gun was waited for with the same impa- 
 tience as one watches for the curtain to rise 
 in a theatre, though a drama of most in- 
 tense interest was about to commence, 
 where the action was real, and the perform- 
 ers in all earnest, and the stage a broad 
 landscape where every object was as dis- 
 tinctly visible as if presented on a mimic 
 stage. 
 
 The Russian forces were divided into four 
 columns. The extreme right, commanded 
 by General Kurloff, was to cross the road and 
 flank position by advancing over the moun- 
 tain near where the village of Malkocevo is 
 situated. The next column, and in reality 
 the main force, was to rest on the road, 
 
 295 
 
 • V 
 
 f 
 
RUSSIAN SUCCESSES.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 fA.D. 1877. 
 
 5« V 
 
 to demonstrate in front, and to turn the 
 Turkish right flank, near the village of 
 Danskioi, with five battalions, while another 
 column was to cross the mountains between 
 Danskioi and Grorny-Kamarli, and the force 
 of Count Schouvaloff was to advance directly 
 upon the rear of the enemy. 
 
 Shortly after daylight two batteries got 
 into position within easy range of the re- 
 doubt on the Baba Konak, and began to 
 work. General Ranch's column concentrated 
 behind the hill to deploy right and left, and 
 the sharpshooters stolidly climbed the hill 
 where the redoubts were, and toiled slowly 
 up among the rocks and bushes, whilst the 
 Turkish riflemen stood waiting just in front 
 of their earthworks, two or three together. 
 The great, square, black masses of infantry, 
 that stood just beyond the road, began to 
 string out in long lines, and advance against 
 the skirmishers towards the Turkish left ; 
 while two brigades of cavalry, that were sent 
 towards Dolny-Kamarli, moved along in a 
 thin straight line rapidly eastwards. 
 
 All the forenoon the artillery was ex- 
 changing shots with the two Turkish bat- 
 teries. Scattered musketry was heard, and 
 then the batteries from the hill in the 
 rear of the Turks began to fire. Towards 
 noon there was a brisk fusillade on the right. 
 Shortly after it began there came the news 
 that General Mirkovitch was wounded there. 
 The column had met with a stubborn re- 
 sistance. The Turks in the rifle-pits on 
 the mountains defended their left with 
 determination. A caisson exploded in the 
 Turkish battery over the village, giving the 
 signal for ringing cheers that went up all 
 along the line, and Ranch's troops, which 
 joined hands with Kurloff on their right, 
 began to move up the hill between the bat- 
 teries and the village, and soon were on the 
 crest. The order to attack was given them 
 about two o'clock ; and just as they went 
 forward down the slope towards the village, 
 spreading out all over the field, there came 
 a fog, under cover of which they rushed 
 into the village, the Turks running away 
 in every direction. The enemy's batteries 
 ceased firing from the hill, and in a few 
 moments the musketry dropped away into a 
 few straggling shots. 
 
 The Russians entered the village before 
 four o'clock. There were a few stray shots 
 falling into the place, and several men 
 were wotmded there, for the Turks were 
 still resisting stoutly at the Karaula, half 
 a mile up the road ; but the position was 
 296 
 
 evacuated, and only the blood-stained, 
 powder-blackened snow, and a score or two 
 of dead men, showed where the fight had 
 been so hot. In the village were herded 
 hundreds of prisoners. Soldiers were ran- 
 sacking every nook and corner for plunder. 
 Infantrymen were frisking about on cap- 
 tured horses, and there was the ghastly 
 spectacle of dead and wounded on every 
 side. But the worst was not in the streets, 
 for many houses in the village were filled 
 with dead. There was a station of the 
 British National Society of the Red Cross 
 here, and several hospitals, and dead and 
 alive were found lying together as in the 
 charnel-houses of Plevna. 
 
 At dark the fight ceased. A thousand 
 fires twinkled all over the white slopes, and 
 the Russians slept in the houses where fires 
 lighted by the Turks were still burning. 
 The loss, in killed and wounded, amounted 
 to about 300 ; but it was a victory cheaply 
 gained ; for though the key of the position, 
 the mountain on their left, covering their 
 retreat from Baba Konak by the road 
 towards Zlatitza, was still held by the 
 enemy, pickets pushed up the road to tho 
 Karaula. The Turks had resisted with 
 great valour, for they were outnumbered 
 three to one. Their communications with 
 Sophia had been cut four days ; they had 
 seen the Russians pouring over into the 
 valley, and dragging their artillery by paths 
 which were believed to be impassable ; they 
 knew their only hope of retreat from Baba 
 Konak was by the Zlatitza road, and they 
 held their ground like heroes. 
 
 One of the first things picked up in the 
 village was a despatch from Baker Pasha, 
 who commanded there, to Chakir Pasha at 
 Araba Konak, dated the same day, telling 
 how eighteen battalions of Russians had 
 descended the mountains, and twelve were 
 attacking him, and that he was surrounded 
 by a circle of fire. General Gourko did not 
 sleep until he had prepared for the probable 
 retreat of the forces from Baba Konak by 
 sending all the cavalry at his disposal to 
 Petricevo, for Dondeville was to make the 
 crossing to Zlatitza with General Brock's 
 column, and thus remedy in part his failure 
 to cross to Mirkova. 
 
 New Year's morning was hazy and mild ; 
 and as Gourko and his staff rode up the 
 road at daybreak, the mountain tops were 
 all hidden from view. With his ordinary 
 escort of a score or two, some dragomans, 
 and a few Cossacks, the general rode slowly 
 
 A.D. 1878.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [retreat of the TURKS. 
 
 on, passed the pickets at the Karaula, and 
 down the hill towards the triangular valley 
 south of Baba Konak. Half-a-dozen Cos- 
 sacks galloped down the road and divided, 
 part following the road towards Araba 
 Konak, part towards Zlatitza. There was 
 perfect quiet, and every one in the small 
 group of horsemen seemed to feel the un- 
 certainty of the imminent future, for there 
 was little conversation, and they went on, 
 passing a dead man here and there, tracing 
 the paths by which the wounded had 
 dragged themselves to the rear, and those 
 who had fought at Tashkessen the day 
 before, had hastily retreated. No recon- 
 naissance had been made towards Baba 
 Konak; in fact, General Gourko was 
 making the reconnaissance then, riding 
 along as usual at the head of his staff, 
 with only a handful of his escort a short 
 distance ahead of him. A dozen prisoners 
 were soon brought back, and one or two 
 gathered in by the Cossacks came strag- 
 gling along the road. 
 
 Just beyond the place where the road 
 divides, the route towards Baba Konak 
 comes out upon a little knoll, whence the 
 whole of the triangular valley is visible. 
 Here General Gourko halted, and anxiously 
 looked. Near the houses at Araba Konak 
 were several Turkish cannons, and a dozen 
 Cossacks were galloping towards them. All 
 along the further side of the valley were 
 men running through the snow. The 
 Zlatitza road was trodden hard. Cavalry 
 had passed that way, and much infantry ; 
 so it was not surprising to see in the village 
 of Dolny-Kamarli, whither a number of 
 waggons were hurrying, the unmistakable 
 black masses of infantry filling the streets. 
 Cossacks of the escort, who went in that 
 direction, wheeled, and crossed the fields to 
 the left. Those who went towards Araba 
 Konak, rushed off after the flying stragglers, 
 and one by one headed them in. It was an 
 exciting chase, for the horses could not go 
 fast through the deep snow, and the 
 fugitives scampered away until fairly run 
 down, though some knelt and threw up 
 their hands whilst the Cossacks were yet a 
 long distance away. Meanwhile the troops 
 on the Zlatitza began to crawl up the hill- 
 side behind the town, clustered like ants 
 altogether at the foot of the hill, and then, 
 quite like these insects, filling up and 
 struggling along on either side of the moving 
 masses. Six, seven, eight tabors were 
 counted ; but the rest were so huddled 
 
 together, that it was impossible to separate 
 them into battalions. Artillery had been 
 ordered up, and the Russian infantry began 
 advancing along the mountain which had 
 been so vigorously defended the day before, 
 then formed on the road below. 
 
 As the great black masses of fugitives 
 stretched out and filled the road that zig- 
 zagged up the hill, it was clear that there 
 were from 10,000 to 15,000 of them, and 
 that they were moving away in a great 
 hurry. They hastily threw up trenches on 
 the summit of the hill, and by noon 
 scarcely a Turk was visible. Two Russian 
 guns were quickly got up, and there was 
 some shelling and a little musketry ; but 
 the- Turks had had two hours' start, and the 
 pursuit went on over the hills. Before 
 they were out of sight, the thinnest possible 
 black line was observed winding down the 
 White mountain flank beyond, and above 
 Araba Konak. They halted, and then the 
 small knot of horsemen, and the skir- 
 mishers in front of them, still lower down, 
 hastened up to the main body, which 
 speedily formed. Then, for a few moments, 
 General Goui ko doubted whether they were 
 not the Turks, from the positions there ; 
 and the battery of 9-pounders which had 
 just unlimbered where he stood, seemed to 
 have arrived in the nick of time, when 
 suddenly the soldiers gave a hearty hurrah, 
 and the cheer was faintly re-echoed away 
 across on the mountain ; the line descended 
 once more, and turned out to be the Russian 
 column sent to operate in this direction. 
 
 At this moment General Gourko turned 
 round, and said earnestly, "Now we can 
 say, in all conscience, that we have crossed 
 the Balkans, in every phase of the un- 
 dertaking ;" and he shook hands warmly 
 with every one, congratulating those who 
 counted this as their second passage. 
 
 There was certainly cause for felicitation, 
 for the fight had lasted from Christmas 
 until New Year's Day, first with the forces 
 of nature, which were resisted with wonder- 
 ful pluck and patient endurance by the 
 Russian soldiers, and then with the enemy, 
 who were driven from their chosen posi- 
 tions. — A few moments later the column 
 from the mountains filed into the valley, 
 and the soldiers distributed the rice, bread, 
 and salt found in the Turkish camp. Near 
 Araba Konak was a fine large tent of the 
 Red Cross Society, and almost the first man 
 the staff met was the chief doctor of the 
 British National Society, Dr. Leslie, who 
 
 297 
 
 XH? 
 
 » V 
 
 i : I 
 
INVASION OF ROUMELIA.] HISTOKY OF THE 
 
 rA.D. 1877-78. 
 
 'P' ( 
 
 11: ' 
 
 u 
 
 h 
 
 \ ^ 
 
 ;l 
 
 had come from tlie village of Strigli to ask 
 for a guard from Greneral Grourko, because 
 he, with six other doctors, were at work on 
 the Turkish wounded in the village, and 
 it was deserted by the Turks, and not 
 yet occupied by the Kussians. Besides 
 those seven doctors, the correspondent of 
 the Illustrated London Nevjs was also 
 there. The guard was promptly furnished, 
 and the last heard of the doctors was, that 
 they were still with the wounded. The 
 Turkish surgeons all left with the troops. 
 
 With the capture of the Baba Konak 
 Pass, and the successful passage of the 
 Etropol Balkans, the plains of Koumelia 
 lay open to the invaders. There was scarcely 
 a point left where the Turks could have 
 made a stand before Adrianople, even 
 had they had the men and the means 
 to concentrate them. Still, all the work 
 had not yet been done by the Russians. 
 The Turks, scattered into little columns 
 and detachments at various towns, villages, 
 and passes, thought of one thing only — that 
 was, to resist to the last, and inflict as much 
 loss on the enemy as they could, even though 
 sacrificing their own lives in the attempt. 
 
 On the other hand, whatever might be 
 the losses incidental to this spasmodic kind 
 of warfare, the Russians knew that the 
 
 game was all in their own hands. Like a 
 great net they were closing round the 
 Turks, driving them towards Constanti^ 
 nople and the ^gean. In the extreme west 
 the Servians had begun, before Christmas' 
 to cross the Turkish frontier, and had cap- 
 tured Ak Palanka, on the road between Nissa 
 and Pirot, on December 24th, Pirot itself 
 fallmg mto their hands on December 28th 
 where they waited to join hands with 
 C^neral Gourko, and thus effectually cut 
 off all communication between Bosnia and 
 Herzegovina with the rest of the empire 
 except by way of Klek in the Adriatic, 
 whilst even this part was as good as closed 
 to the Turks by the jealous attitude of 
 Austria. In the east. Generals Padetzki 
 and Skobeloff were preparing to force the 
 bchipka, and clear off the army watchino- 
 the issue of the pass at Kezanlik, and joiS 
 hands with the left of General Gourko's 
 command. Thus, from Nissa to Eski 
 Zagra, there was soon to be a line of 
 Servians and Russians joining hands, ready 
 to sweep all before them towards Adria- 
 nople and the capital ; whilst, north of the 
 Balkans, the Roumanians in the west, and 
 the Czarevitch in the east, were thoroucrhly 
 clearing Bulgaria, and consolidating their 
 power and administration there. 
 
 ■;\' 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 THE INVASION OF ROUMELIA. 
 
 
 "Whilst General Gourko was engaged in 
 clearing the Baba Konak Pass and defeating 
 the Turks at Tashkessen, General Weliami- 
 noff was cautiously feeling his way towards 
 Sophia. At Gorni Bugarof he was attacked 
 by the Turks, on January 1st, with such 
 fierceness, that within a couple of hours he 
 lost nearly 300 men ; but the Turks were 
 enormously outnumbered; and this fact, 
 coupled with the recklessness with which 
 they attacked, caused them a loss of 500 
 killed, and upwards of 1,500 severely 
 wounded. The region in the vicinity of the 
 village was thickly strewn with corpses, and 
 for days afterwards the Bulgarians con- 
 tinued their horrible task of stripping the 
 dead. The greater part of the dead lay 
 
 within 100 feet of the shallow Russian rifle- 
 298 
 
 pits, testifying to the heroism of the Turks, 
 who, after advancing across an open corn- 
 field for half a mile, ran straight up the 
 slope within bayonetting distance of their 
 foe, and held their ground until thinned out 
 by the terrible fire, and at last turned back 
 with the Russians upon their heels, and left 
 half their number on the snow before they 
 formed again on the road. After the fight 
 there was an armistice, during which the 
 wounded on both sides were carried off the 
 field, but only the Russian dead were buried. 
 The following afternoon, January 2nd, 
 General Gourko was at Gorni Bugarof, 
 having left Tashkessen at noon. He reached 
 the village just in time to hear the first 
 few shots of a sharp little skirmish going 
 on near a covered bridge over the Isker. 
 
 h ■ 
 
 A.D. 1878.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [evacuation of SOPHIA. 
 
 
 The enemy had thrown up a short line of 
 low earthworks on either side the road be- 
 yond the bridge, and with a detachment of 
 two or three tabors in the trenches, and 
 three times this number in reserve, they 
 attempted to prevent the passage of the 
 river. The Praobrajensky regiment crossed 
 on the ice, turning the Turks by either 
 flank ; and they retired after brief resistance, 
 setting fire to the bridge and the village of 
 Razdimne as they left. The soldiers reached 
 the bridge before the flames had gained 
 great headway, and began to throw water 
 and snow upon the burning timbers with 
 their copper pots, and extinguished the 
 fire before the structure was damaged to any 
 great extent. 
 
 General Gourko crossed while the fire was 
 at its height, making his way with his 
 accustomed coolness through the flame and 
 smoke — the first one to pass over the bridge 
 on horseback ; and his staff followed in mo- 
 mentary expectation that the flooring would 
 give way. If the bridge had been blown 
 up, the passage of the river would have 
 caused no little difficulty. As it was, the 
 whole detachment passed over in safety, 
 followed by the rest of the column, and 
 passed the night in Gorni Bugarof, about 
 ten miles east of Sophia. 
 
 The next day, the enemy still continuing 
 to show a bold front, a strong column was 
 sent round to the north of Sophia, and 
 General Gourko made a personal recon- 
 naissance in that direction, approaching 
 within a mile of the city. Great camps 
 were plainly visible near the road ; the black 
 lines of a dozen earthworks crowned the 
 summits of the hills near the city on either 
 side, and he could plainly see that the 
 fortifications were manned. The attack 
 was decided upon for the morning of the 
 6th, when General Gourko expected to lose 
 3,000 or 4,000 men in the assault; for 
 although he had so disposed his forces as to 
 attack on three sides at once, the storming 
 of the earthworks would have cost many 
 lives. On the 3rd he moved his quarters 
 again, to the establishment of some Turkish 
 Bey near the covered bridge, and prepared 
 to await the arrival of the troops at their 
 designated positions, ready for the attack. 
 
 On the evening of January 3rd there were 
 some lights visible in the direction of 
 Sophia, but there was so much haze that it 
 could not be distinguished whether they 
 were camp fires or burning houses. It was 
 an hour after mid-day on January 4th that 
 
 a Cossack came riding in with a report that 
 Bulgarians had arrived at the outposts with 
 the news that Sophia was evacuated. Every- 
 body had been nerving up for the battle of the 
 next day, and no one could credit the truth 
 of the rumour. In a few moments a second 
 horseman came in, after a hard gallop, 
 bringing official tidings that General Ranch 
 was marching into Sophia to take posses- 
 sion. The plan proposed to, and accepted 
 by the Porte, was thus at last being carried 
 out at an immense sacrifice of life and pro- 
 perty ; and the retreat upon Constantinople 
 had begun with the evacuation of Sophia. 
 The occupation of this city is fairly de- 
 scribed by the correspondent of the Daily 
 News, who writes some ' wholesome truths 
 regarding the meek Bulgarian. When he 
 heard of the evacuation of the town, he 
 says : — 
 
 " We were mounted and off at quick trot 
 almost before the courier finished his re- 
 port, and on the road we overtook a brigade 
 of the guard marching with unfurled banners 
 towards the distant mosques, singing as I 
 have never heard them sing since I saw 
 them cross the bridge at Sistova months 
 ago, every man of them walking as proudly 
 as if he alone had conquered provinces. 
 They answered the salutation of the general 
 cheerily and heartily. He paused only to 
 charge them, with severity of expression in 
 his voice that they knew meant prompt 
 execution of his word, not to raise a hand 
 to plunder on pain of severe and instant 
 punishment, and galloped past to the city, 
 already occupied by Cossacks and the ad- 
 vance guard of the column. 
 
 " The excitement of that half-hour's ride 
 was worth the days of exposure in the 
 mountains, the long and tedious season of 
 waiting ; still I am not sure that, with all 
 the triumphant feeling, there was not a 
 tinge of disappointment in the thought 
 that we had not met the enemy, for the 
 game of hide and seek among the moun* 
 tains was getting wearisome. We had 
 missed the opportunity of smashing the 
 Balkan army, and it had slipped away to 
 face us further south. As we neared the 
 town the road was crowded with peasants 
 hurrying in to have their share of Turkish 
 loot, and scores of them were rummaging 
 the deserted tents in the fields close by, and 
 wrangling over the rubbish there, 
 
 "A crowd of several hundred citizens, 
 led by priests, with banners, crucifixes, and 
 lanterns, and bearing a salver with bread 
 
 299 
 
 ■i- 
 
 I. ^ 
 
 
 9 ■' 
 
 *■-: II- 
 
 
 
 ■I 
 
 It 
 
 '4l 
 
 ^'\ 
 
 P I 
 
ENTRY OF THE RUSSTANS.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1878. 
 
 I* » 
 
 h 
 
 
 '1 
 
 ll * 
 
 
 In 
 
 and salt, ofifered these traditional symbols 
 of hospitality to General Gourko, and then 
 the priests and attendants headed the pro- 
 cession that filed slowly into the first narrow 
 street. It was not the pictorial aspect of 
 this triumphant entrance, nor the conscious- 
 ness that this was an historic moment, nor, 
 indeed, the sense of relief at the successful 
 finish of the first great step of the cam- 
 paign, that for the time fixed my thoughts, 
 but it was rather the lack of heart in the 
 whole business of the reception, the total 
 absence of anything like frank and spon- 
 taneous joy in the crowd of Bulgarians 
 who accompanied us into the town after 
 the formal welcome at the gate. There 
 were exceptions. Old men and women 
 clasped their hands and wept for joy ; in- 
 telligent citizens, of evident good standing 
 in the city, showed by word and deed that 
 they appreciated the change the arrival of 
 the Russians would make. 
 
 " I do not mean to say that the people 
 were not unanimous in their welcome of the 
 Russian army ; I only assert that the con- 
 trast between the reception by the Bulgarians 
 and a similar welcome by any other people 
 I could name was very great. A race with- 
 out heart, their enthusiasm has scarcely a 
 spark of the real stuff in it ; and as we rode 
 through the streets that day, the crowds 
 gathered and gazed and hustled about, and 
 looked as happy, perhaps, as Bulgarians can 
 look ; but not a cheer was heard — not even 
 the murmur of gratification that one hears 
 in the crowd at any fete; only a weary kind 
 of listless satisfaction at the final arrival of 
 the long-expected Russians was visible on 
 the faces of those who welcomed us. What 
 a contrast was there between the bronzed, 
 sturdy soldiers of the guard and the pale 
 and feeble-looking men of the town I What 
 a picture it made. General Gourko and his 
 staff following the banners of the church, 
 and sweeping along throuu^h the crooked 
 streets ; the aides-de-camp in the fantastic 
 uniforms of the winter campaign ; General 
 Gourko at their head, trim, straight, and 
 emotionless as ever ; the hustling crowd of 
 men and boys in many-coloured costumes ; 
 on all sides the fez and the Oriental dress 
 suggesting heat and sunshine ; and, through 
 this flood of colour, the cold grey rigid 
 column of men whose type of face, whose 
 dress, whose every motion, showed them to 
 be of the north. On the one side, listless- 
 ness and inactivity, mental and physical ; 
 on the other, earnestness of purpose, energy, 
 300 
 
 and physical strength. There is little in 
 common between deliverer and delivered, 
 except some similarity of language. 
 
 " Few houses on our route were not barred 
 and shuttered, except those whose swinging 
 doors and broken windows showed them to 
 be already plundered. Out of the windows 
 of some large houses were showered sprigs 
 of evergreen from the hands of young 
 women ; there was a lively rush for the 
 church, where a short ceremony was per- 
 formed, and the triumphal entry was ended. 
 The order in the town was perfect. A large 
 patrol of soldiers walked the streets, pre- 
 venting effectually the destruction of pro- 
 perty and pillage. The Turkish quarter 
 had already been completely sacked by the 
 Bulgarians before the troops came in, and 
 most of the loot was hidden away ; but 
 whenever any one was found with plundered 
 effects he was promptly arrested, and the 
 goods exposed in the streets under guard to 
 be claimed by their proper owners. I mado 
 this a matter of special investigation, and 
 scoured the city in search of plunderers and 
 loot, and found not a single soldier with any 
 article of value except a Kuban Cossack 
 with a small carpet. I naturally supposed 
 that this legitimatised brigand would sell 
 his prize ; and when I offered him a round 
 sum for it, he replied, without hesitation, 
 that he had taken it from a Bulgarian 
 peasant, and was carrying it to deposit with 
 unclaimed goods, and I watched him throw 
 it on the pile with the rest. One of his 
 comrades, however, was proved to have 
 stolen watches and money from foreign 
 doctors and citizens; and, by order of 
 General Gourko, he was tied with ropes and 
 led away and shot. 
 
 " This is not the first time that I have 
 entered a city with victorious troops ; but it 
 is the first occasion in my experience when 
 order was the rule, plunder the exception. 
 To be sure the shops were all rifled before 
 we came in ; but the Bulgarians had to be 
 hunted out of the houses on all sides. 
 There was plenty of clothing and other 
 articles the soldiers were greatly in need of, 
 which were collected together by the troops, 
 not distributed among them ; and the dis- 
 order, if any existed, was only momentary. 
 The only approach to anything like violence 
 that met my notice was the knocking the 
 fez from the heads of the citizens ; and in 
 this sport of doubtful taste I saw some 
 officers thoughtlessly take part. 
 
 "The church where the religious cere- 
 
 A.D. 1878.] 
 
 monies were conducted is next door to the ' 
 hospital of Lady Strangford ; and this was 
 the first place General Gourko visited, 
 simply presenting his compliments to the 
 lady, and assuring her that she would be 
 protected in her work. Beside Lady Strang- 
 ford, her four female nurses, and Dr. 
 Stephenson, the surgeon of the hospital, 
 there also remained at their posts Doctors 
 Wattie and Busby of the Stafford House 
 detachment, and Ruddock and Macpherson 
 of the Red Crescent, with dressers. From 
 these I learned many interesting details of 
 the evacuation. The town had been in con- 
 siderable disorder for several days, for the 
 Russians were expected to arrive a week 
 earlier : in fact, the first question put to me 
 by the doctors was, ' Wiiy were you so long 
 on the road ?' 
 
 " Suleiman Pasha had made a flying visit 
 here about Christmas time; but no one knew 
 he was here until he was gone. From the 
 day the road was cut there was no longer 
 any idea of defending the town, and the 
 troops formed their battalions in the streets 
 on the evening of the 3rd, and left quietly. 
 The signal of the evacuation of the troops 
 was also a signal for the flight of those 
 Turkish families who had not yet departed ; 
 and the clumsy arabas, laden with human 
 beings and household goods, piled in pro- 
 miscuously, creaked over the frosty snow 
 toward the line of retreat, which took the 
 direction of Radomir. There were few 
 enough transports for provisions and am- 
 munition, so the wounded were ordered to 
 quit the town the day of the retreat ; and 
 such of the poor wretches who could crawl 
 away, left the hospitals and dragged them- 
 selves towards the hills. Terror inspired 
 by the tales that the Russians would 
 massacre all their prisoners, gave them 
 strength to begin their journey. Between 
 5,000 and 6,0^)0 thus fled, the majority of 
 them probably to die in the snow before the 
 next day. 
 
 "There were less than 1,000 wounded 
 left in the town after this wholesale evacua- 
 tion, so the surgeons in the Turkish service 
 drew lots to decide which ten of their num- 
 ber should remain. This was a large pro- 
 portion, as there had been but about thirty 
 in charge of the thousands here. Among 
 the ten who remained are one Englishman, 
 one American, and two or three Germans. 
 It is said on all sides that the order had 
 been received from Constantinople to burn 
 the town, and blow up the mosques which 
 
 VOL. III. 2 R 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [conduct of Bulgarians. 
 
 iif 
 
 were stored with powder. I do not know 
 whether this is true or not ; I only am sure 
 tliat a prmted order was issued to each 
 Bulgarian family to leave the town, accom- 
 panied with the verbal message that they 
 took upon themselves the responsibility of re- 
 maining. There was no systematic attempt 
 made, however, to burn the place; and 
 although the Bashi-Bazouks set it on fire in 
 several places, but few houses were burned. 
 Some of the shops had been deserted long 
 ago by their proprietors, and the rest of 
 them were gutted and the loot distributed 
 during the withdrawal of the troops. Every- 
 body took whatever he could lay his hands 
 on, the magazines were broken open, and 
 the Bulgarians all armed themselves, and 
 did not hesitate to use their new toys. 
 
 " The fears of the wounded Turks were 
 not altogether without foundation; fordur- 
 mg the night many of them were murdered 
 while the Russians were still miles away ; 
 and the same fiends who cut the throats of 
 the helpless victims, welcomed the next day 
 the Russians with an innocent smile, and 
 called them brothers. Household goods 
 and provisions strewed the streets, trampled 
 into the snow by the passers-by, and it was 
 a night of confusion. The Europeans who 
 remained in the town feared alike Circassian 
 and Cossack, and prepared to defend them- 
 selves against the irregular soldierv. At 
 daybreak there was scarcely a Turkish 
 soldier in the town ; and the Bulgarians, 
 assembled from the neighbouring villacres, 
 completed the desolation that had*' begun in 
 the night. The morning passed slowly, and 
 still no Russians in sight. The English 
 doctors gathered as many of the deserted 
 wounded as they could care for, and carried 
 them into their hospitals. Finally, shortly 
 after ten o'clock, a single Russian officer, 
 accompanied by two Cossacks, rode alon^r 
 the road towards the town. His first inquiry 
 was, 'Have you any sugar?' and, beino^ 
 answered in the affirmative, he rode into the 
 town about as calmly as if he had come 
 solely m search of the much-desired luxury 
 It was four hours later before General 
 Gourko came in, as I have described above 
 and order was already restored. * 
 
 " We had been hearing, all the way down 
 from Plevna, reports of the great numbers of 
 sick and wounded in Sophia. What would 
 have become of them if the foreicrners had 
 not stuck by them I dislike to conjecture, 
 ilie soldiers had been on short rations for 
 days, and bread was a necessity for them. 
 
 301 
 
 'i 
 
 :V 
 
CAPTUTIE OP PIROT.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Immense quantities of flour and meat, both 
 salt and fresh, and other provisiontJ, were 
 found in the stores here ; but the public 
 ovens that made bread were too few to 
 supply the demands of the soldiers ; and no 
 measures were taken to requisition private 
 ovens ; consequently, the bakers wlio had 
 furnished the hospitals refused to take any 
 orders from them, afraid of compromising 
 themselves with the Russians ; and up to the 
 evening of the third day of the occupation 
 the wounded were without bread. The 
 majority were supplied with food enough to 
 sustain life out of the private stores of the 
 doctors : many suffered from hunger ; a few 
 died from insufficient nourishment ; and the 
 Bulgarian attendants having deserted almost 
 to a man immediately after the occupation, 
 it was only with great difficulty that the 
 wounds were dressed. These wretches of 
 attendants took the opportunity of robbing 
 the wounded of all their money and valu- 
 ables before they deserted, thus adding one 
 of the most brutal of crimes to their cowardly 
 desertion, and completing the list of das- 
 tardlv acts which I am obli^red, in strict 
 justice, to enumerate. 
 
 " On the morning of the fourth day of 
 occupation rations were distributed to the 
 wounded ; the Russian doctors had already 
 begun work, and the hospitals were taken 
 in hand. It is possible that the sufferings 
 of the wounded have been exaggerated ; but 
 as eighty died in the Konak in a single 
 night, it appears to be proved that they 
 were neglected. The question of what 
 should be done with the foreigners found 
 working for the Turks was not settled in a 
 hurry. No one, in fact, seemed to know 
 what would become of them. Up to date, 
 those who were actually in the Turkish 
 service, serving under contract for the war, 
 are still in ignorance of their fate. Lady 
 Strangford has been treated with every con- 
 sideration and respect, and would have been 
 provided with means of transport if she had 
 decided to return to the Turkish lines again. 
 She, however, with her entire suite, will 
 continue her work here, and the surgeons 
 of the Stafford House and Red Cross also 
 remained with her." 
 
 The day before the evacuation of Sophia, 
 and its occupation by the Russian troops. 
 General Gourko decided to open communi- 
 cation with the Servians at Pirot, and sent 
 Prince Tzeratleff to General Horvatovitch's 
 head-quarters. He found the main body of 
 the detachment, the Timok corps, still at 
 302 
 
 [a.d. 1878. 
 
 Pirot, but about to move southward upon 
 Vranya. The capture of Pirot had been 
 attended with little or no disorder; the 
 Turkish property had been confiscated, and 
 the army was living on captured provisions, 
 and had plenty for a number of weeks. 
 Pirot was taken after a fight of a whole 
 day, with the loss of 250 men; twelve 
 cannon were captured. Being assured from 
 attack in his rear through the presence of 
 the Servians, General Gourko did not lose 
 any time in Sophia ; but after a stay of four 
 days, during which he re-formed his troops 
 and took measures for the security of the 
 forces remaining in Sophia, he left, on 
 January 9th, for Philippopoli — the same day 
 that, further east. General Radetzki and 
 General Skobeloff effected the capture of 
 Schipka in consequence of a turning move- 
 ment which took the Turkish army in the 
 rear, and forced it to surrender after a 
 sanguinary contest, during which the Rus- 
 sians lost 5,500 killed and wounded, whilst 
 the Turks lost 32,000 prisoners and ninety- 
 two gUUF. 
 
 Skobeloff, the second day after the battle, 
 marched for Hermanli, the junction of the 
 Philippopoli and Yamboli railways, forty- 
 five miles from Adrianople, with two divi- 
 sions — the 16th (his own division), and its 
 twin, the 39th of the fourth corps, to- 
 gether with two brigades of eight battalions 
 of sharpshooters. Brigades of cavalry of 
 the 3rd division, under the command of 
 General Kartsotf, marched upon Philip- 
 popoli by way of Kalofer and Karlovo. 
 Radetzki's corps, to which the 15th divi- 
 sion had been added, followed Skobeloff as far 
 as Eski Zagra, and marched upon Tchirpan, 
 east of Philippopoli, evidently with the in- 
 tention of surrounding that place, in co- 
 operation with the 3rd division, marching 
 by the Karlovo road ; and thus to cut otf 
 the Turks at Ichtiman, defending that pass 
 against General Gourko. 
 
 The Turks, by this movement of Radetzki 
 and Skobeloff, had the whole valley of the 
 Maritza cut off behind them. In this way 
 the retreating army of Sophia, as well as 
 the Philippopoli forces, had no escape but 
 by throwing themselves into the Rhodope 
 mountains, where there were no roads, and 
 where they were, at any rate, certain not to 
 be seriously molested as long as the Rus- 
 sians were engaged in their advance on 
 Adrianople. 
 
 Meantime, whilst Skobeloff and Ra- 
 detzki were capturing the Schipka army, 
 
 A.D..1878.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [major zeki. 
 
 General Gourko set out from Sophia, his 
 forces following the three roads which lead 
 from Sophia to Philippopoli. General 
 Kriidener was sent along the road skirting 
 the base of the Balkans to Zlatitza, where 
 he found no Turks left, all having fled after 
 the disaster at Schipka. General Welia- 
 minoff was despatched along the road which 
 runs southwards to Samakovo, and thence 
 south-east via Banya to Tatar-Bazardjik, 
 where it joins the central road from Sophia, 
 which winds through the Ichtiman Pass 
 and Trajan's Gate. Along this latter road 
 General Schouvaloff was sent in advance, 
 Generals Gourko and Ranch following on 
 tiie next day by the same road. It was in 
 this Ichtiman Pass that the Bulgarians 
 attacked and murdered Baldwin, Earl of 
 Flanders, during the Crusades. This time, 
 however, the Bulgarians had not had the 
 opportunity of exercising their peculiar 
 talents ; for when the Russians arrived, 
 pillaged shops, smouldering ruins, and 
 empty houses welcomed them to Ichtiman. 
 Many of the largest buildings had been 
 burned by the Turks; not a shop but was 
 sacked and gutted, and very few of the in- 
 habitants remained. Here the Russians 
 learned, much to their surprise, that the 
 Turks had evacuated their positions in the 
 pass called Trajan's Gate, and were retreat- 
 ing southward, pursued by the dragoons ; 
 also, that WeliafninofTs column had been 
 fighting for a whole day north of Sama- 
 kovo, driving the enemy from one little 
 earthwork to another, until he was stopped 
 by the arrival of a messenger from the 
 Turkish lines with a despatch from Con- 
 stantinople, announcing an armistice. The 
 Turkish outposts had refused to fire ; the 
 men had approached and shaken hands 
 with them, and the Turks had called them 
 brothers, believing that peace was declared. 
 Such was the report of the armistice, and 
 it was further strengthened by the appear- 
 ance of a Major Zeki, the chief of staff of 
 Suleiman Pasha, who had come with a 
 sealed despatch addressed to the grand 
 duke, declaring also that an armistice had 
 been agreed upon. General Weliaminoff 
 had replied to the Turkish proposition for 
 cessation of hostilities — " If you don't want 
 to fight, leave Samakovo; for my men can't 
 stay up here in the mountains ; " and the 
 Turks quietly went away. But before the 
 messenger whom General Gourko had sent 
 to telegraph for instructions regarding the 
 armistice could have arrived, a courier came 
 
 in with a message from the grand duke, 
 saying that there were false rumours of an 
 armistice, and that the army was to push on 
 as rapidly as possible. The truth was, that 
 the armistice was agreed to, but had not 
 been actually signed, the Russians not 
 wishing to stay their progress towards the 
 capital ; and then succeeded a consequent 
 stage of indecision, which was scarcely war, 
 though quite as bad. Thus Major Zeki 
 was told that there was to be no halt in 
 the movement. It was rather an odd sight 
 to see the two Turkish dragoons who 
 escorted Major Zeki, with their Winchester 
 rifles slung on their backs, fraternising with 
 the Cossacks ; and it puzzled the few Bul- 
 garian spectators to see a Turkish bimbashi 
 in full uniform, with his sword on, on easy 
 terms with the Russian ofiicers, who invited 
 Major Zeki to dine in their mess. He had 
 the frankness to say, when he was served 
 with plain boiled rice after the cabbage 
 soup — " I had imagined the officers of the 
 Russian army lived in much greater 
 luxury." 
 
 Some one replied — " It is only by your 
 kindness in leaving plenty of stores behind 
 you that we have even these provisions." 
 
 Tliis was Zeki's first experience among the 
 Russians ; and doubtless, from this little 
 incident, he understood what it was to be 
 with a great army cut loose from its base of 
 supplies, and began to comprehend the 
 happy-go-lucky way the Russians had of 
 doing everything. 
 
 A day or two later, Major Zeki, who 
 gained many friends from his sympathetic 
 disposition and pleasant manner, received 
 instructions from the grand duke to present 
 the despatch, the contents of which had 
 already been transmitted by wire, in person 
 at the head-quarters in Kezanlik, whither 
 he went with his two dragoons, escorted by 
 an officer of the staff and two Cossacks, to 
 the complete mystification of the people 
 they met on the road. One thing Major 
 Zeki remarked with a great deal of justice, 
 that the Bulgarians treated the Russians 
 with actual disrespect, and paid no regard 
 whatever to their requests or demands, while 
 to the Turks they were all attention. It 
 was curious to observe how the natives 
 sprang to wait upon the Turkish officer, 
 even while he was in company with the 
 Russians. 
 
 Continuing their march after the de- 
 parture of Major Zeki, the Russians lite- 
 rally scrambled all the way over Trajan's 
 
 303 
 
 • V 
 
 ' i\ 
 
 m 
 
 f Id 
 
RUSSIAN NEW YEAR'S DAY.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1878. 
 
 Gate. The road, which mounts the northern 
 declivity in a succession of steep zigzags, 
 was as smooth as a skating-rink, and was 
 filled with infantry and artillery. Men 
 slipped and slid, horses fell with their 
 riders, the heavy caissons swung from one 
 side of the road to the other, often in 
 imminent danger of dragging the horses 
 over the precipices. From the summit of 
 the pass the view was very wide, embracing 
 the valleys of Ichtiman and Banya no one 
 side, and a large portion of the' Rhodope 
 range of mountains to the south, beyond 
 the plain of Philippopoli. 
 
 The whole descent was a series of dan- 
 gerous slides. Occasionally the horses 
 would slide for many yards, only bringing 
 up against the bank on the side of the road, 
 or among the bushes. The limited supply 
 of iron bad obliged the farriers to put on 
 the smooth flat plates used by the Turks 
 instead of the European shoes ; so that the 
 horses, unaccustomed to their new shoes, 
 skated, awkwardly enough, wherever the 
 ice was smooth. 
 
 At last, towards evening on January 12th, 
 the Russian New Year's Day, the tired and 
 worn-out forces reached Vietrena, about 
 fifteen miles from Tatar-Bazardjik, already 
 burning in the distance. At the same 
 time, a black line of troops, retreating before 
 General Weliaminoff, was seen moving- 
 rapidly along the Samakovo road from 
 Sophia, towards Tatar-Bazardjik. No in- 
 fantry had come up, so it was out of the 
 question to attempt immediate pursuit, and 
 the advance guard celebrated in rather a 
 mild manner, for the material means of 
 merry-making were decidedly meagre, the 
 Russian New Year's Eve. A distinguishing 
 feature of the celebration was a mass, con- 
 ducted in General Gourko's head-quarters 
 by the priest of one of the regiments, the 
 staff officers contributing the vocal music 
 and sonorous responses. It was clear and 
 frosty, and until long after midnight the 
 cannon rattled and jolted heavily down the 
 rough street, and the infantry tramped 
 wearily past to find out but little better 
 halting-places in the plain than those who 
 were obliged to bivouac away up the road 
 in the pass. 
 
 About half-way from Vejtrenova to 
 Tatar-Bazardjik, the highway crosses a low 
 hill, the last notable interruption of the 
 level line of the road for many miles east- 
 ward, and this hill terminates in a rocky 
 knoll, two or three hundred feet above the 
 304 
 
 A.D. 1878.] 
 
 plain. A more advantageous position to 
 witness a battle could not be imagined, for 
 the whole plain for miles lay belo°w, like a 
 plan of the surface in black and white ; and 
 when at daybreak the Russians saw the 
 Turkish army, drawn up in perfect battle 
 order across the road between them and 
 Tatar-Bazardjik, still burning in a dozen 
 different places, they could scarcely wait for 
 the infantry to get up ; indeed it did not 
 get up until after the firing began, for'a 
 couple of 9-pounders were sent down the 
 road far in advance of tlie outposts, with 
 only a handful of Kuban Cossacks as a sup- 
 port, and began to throw shrapnel into the 
 group of Circassians gathered there. 
 
 The Kubans scattered out right and left 
 and trotted away to meet the Circassians^ 
 who were ready to welcome them. For a 
 few moments there was a lively little fire, 
 and then they began to stop and look at 
 one another. The whole plain about Tatar- 
 Bazardjik seemed alive with Turkish 
 cavalry ; large squads were moving here and 
 there; long lines were filing ofi" to the right 
 and left; and besides these movements, 
 preparatory to receiving the expected attack' 
 the infantry strung out in long double lines 
 of skirmishers. 
 
 The Russian infantry soon came over the 
 hill in small detachments, marched ri^ht 
 up to within gun-shot of the Circassia'ns, 
 who hesitated and drew back at their 
 approach, and then the riflemen lay down 
 in the ditches. But no serious attack was 
 made, General Gourko preferring to wait for 
 the arrival of General Weliaminoflf by the 
 Samakovo road, to goading the Turks into 
 a desperate fight. Thus the day passed 
 away. 
 
 The only break in the monotony of the 
 day was the sending of a flag of truce into 
 the Turkish lines with a letter which had 
 been sent by Major Zeki to Suleiman Pasha. 
 Prmce TzereteJeff was chosen to carry the 
 letter ; and, accompanied by a trumpeter 
 and a Cossack, who carried on his lance two 
 handkerchiefs tied together by a corner, he 
 rode down the road. As Tzereteleff had 
 been fired on last summer near Kezanlik 
 while on a similar mission, and had barely 
 escaped being killed, the Russians watched 
 with great interest the little group draw 
 nearer and nearer to the Turkish outposts, 
 until they were within a few rods, and then 
 at last they saw three horsemen come out 
 to meet them. 
 
 It was perfectly evident that the open 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [the biVouac at adAkoi. 
 
 
 preparations for resisting an attack along 
 the road, were only to cover the retreat of 
 the army; and, just as expected, by day- 
 break on the 14th the town was completely 
 evacuated. The bridge on the road was 
 broken, but not seriously injured ; but the 
 one over the Maritza, between the town and 
 the railway station, was entirely burned. 
 Two or three wretched-looking: Buljjfarians 
 fawned on the Russians as they entered the 
 city ; but the streets were otherwise almost 
 entirely deserted, and barricaded with 
 broken cases, shutters, and the confused 
 debris of the shops; so that had the 
 Russians not wisely refrained from attacking 
 the night before, they would have incurred 
 very serious losses. Every house was open 
 and gutted. Bedding, groceries, furniture, 
 small wares of all kinds fairly paved the 
 streets leading toward the railway station, 
 marking the flight of the Moslem popula- 
 tion. The bright sun, shining through 
 clouds of smoke from a hundred burning 
 houses, lighted the scene of destruction and 
 devastation with a reddish glare ; and here 
 and there a dead body, with pools of blood 
 still fresh about it, completed a perfect 
 picture of war in its most tragic aspect. 
 
 Before the Russians had been in the 
 town half-an-hour, the ox-carts, with the 
 household goods and families of the Bul- 
 garian citizens, began to pour in from the 
 fields, and on the other side of the river 
 gathered a great crowd of fugitives waiting 
 to be ferried back. The railway station was 
 crowded, and thousands were swarming all 
 about it, half wild with fright. The Turks 
 had forced all the families to leave the 
 town, in view to a possible attack by the 
 Russians, and they were all hustled to the 
 railway station ; such as there was time to 
 take were carried off, many were compelled 
 to follow the army, and not a few took their 
 own direction in the confusion, and returned 
 when they heard of the Russian occupation. 
 Some three-score prisoners were gathered 
 tip in the town, many of them wounded by 
 the sabres of the advance guard of cavalry, 
 who followed close on the heels of the re- 
 treating enemy. There was one rather 
 amusing capture while the Russians halted 
 in the town. A priest of one of the regi- 
 ments went into a house, and had a fire 
 lighted to make some tea. As the house 
 was not entirely plundered, he thought he 
 might find some sugar in a cupboard near 
 the fireplace ; but instead of sugar he found 
 a Turk with his rifle across his knees, curled 
 
 up in the small space between the door and 
 the wall. Mutual surprise and mutual 
 fear ! But the priest recovered first, and 
 ordered the Turk to give himself up, which 
 he promptly did. While he was drinking 
 his sugarless tea, it occurred to the priest 
 to look in another cupboard, and an exactly 
 similar result followed, and he had the 
 honour of turning over two prisoners to the 
 guard ! 
 
 That evening the camp fires of the re- 
 treating army blazed on the hill-sides 
 beyond the railway, exactly opposite to the 
 Russian lines and the Maritza, and perhaps 
 a couple of miles of rice-fields separated the 
 two armies from one another. The night 
 was bitterly cold, and a piercing wind was 
 blowing ; but it was decided that the river 
 must be forded ; so Count Schouvaloff 
 crossed with several battalions of infantry, 
 and started immediately in pursuit of the 
 rear-guard of the Turks, which was still 
 moving on, followed by a long line of 
 stragglers. The river was full of ice, and 
 the current was so rapid, that the men, 
 breast-deep in the water, could scarcely 
 keep their feet. In their drenched and 
 freezing garments they formed battalions 
 on the right bank, and pushed on cheerfully 
 after the enemy until late in the night, when 
 they bivouacked in the village of Adakoi. 
 
 The columns of Schilder-Schuldner, 
 Kriidener, and Weliaminofi', had all de- 
 scended into the plain during the day, the 
 latter somewhat behind its assigned posi- 
 tion, and the detachment of Count Schou- 
 valoff, which was intended to be the central 
 column, in reality leading. Although the 
 Turkish army was so near, it was playing 
 such an active game, that it was extremely 
 difficult to keep up with it. Of course, 
 General Gourko did not intend to attack 
 it, because, as it was evidently demoralised, 
 its end was certain, and it would have been 
 foolish to sacrifice two or three thousand 
 lives to accomplish a result which time 
 would bring about. When Count Schouva- 
 loff s detachment moved out of the village 
 of Adakoi just before .daybreak, prepared to 
 follow the Turks, who were supposed to 
 have fled in the night, it ran plump upon 
 the enemy quietly waiting there in posi- 
 tion between Karatair and Kadikoi, ad- 
 mirably protected by a little stream which 
 had cut a narrow but deep channel in the 
 earth, quite impassable for any troops. 
 The Turkish right rested' on the road in the 
 village of Ahrianli, so that the hill behind 
 
 305 
 
 41 
 
RUSSIAN LOSSES.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1878. 
 
 Kadikoi was really the centre of their posi- 
 tion. With this voluntary movement on 
 the part of the Turks, the object of Schou- 
 valotf's movement was accomplished; the 
 enemy Jiad paused in his retreat, and the 
 thing to do next was to keep him busy 
 while a column had time enousfh to turn 
 him by his right flank, thus blocking his 
 retreat towards Philippopoli. 
 
 Count Schouvaloff got his men under 
 such cover as the nature of the ground 
 afforded, and began a lively demonstration, 
 and a hot musketry fire was interchanf^ed. 
 Just about the time this began. General 
 Gourko, who had started away from the 
 village of Doghankoi, where he had passed 
 the night, long before daylight reached the 
 point where the river and the road almost 
 meet, very near the village of Ahrianli. 
 Whilst the staff were watching the smoke 
 rise from Philippopoli, and the troops 
 as they marched along the road, three 
 horsemen rode out of the grove upon 
 the opposite bank of the river ; one 
 of them drew his revolver and deliberately 
 fired it three times in their direction, 
 and then turned and quietly trotted 
 away, followed by the second, while the 
 third remained there still looking at the 
 Russians. He was dressed in the Circas- 
 sian costume, and there was a brief moment 
 of doubt whether he was not, after all, one 
 of the scouts of Schouvaloff s column ; but 
 in an instant the Kuban Cossacks, who had 
 an instinct for distinguishing the enemy, 
 were kneeling along the bank and banging 
 away at the Circassian. When the fire 
 began he saluted, wheeled his horse round, 
 and slowly retired, evidently caring no 
 more for tlie buzzing of bullets than for the 
 singing of so many mosquitoes, and chuck- 
 ling all the time at the wild firing of the 
 Russians, who certainly did not distinguish 
 themselves on that occasion, although the 
 mark was not half rifle-shot away. 
 
 It soon became clear the village opposite 
 was full of Turks, who clustered like bees 
 about the houses there. It was a raw, 
 blustering day, and it seemed a pity to 
 order the men to wade the river, which was 
 rushing along, covered with bits of floating 
 ice ; but a ford was found a couple of hun- 
 dred yards above the Russian position, and 
 a battalion waded across and got in and at 
 work in a few moments. After this opera- 
 tion, General Gourko, at the suggestion of 
 Captain Scalon, of his staff, ordered the 
 dragoons of his escort to take the horses of 
 306 ' 
 
 the officers and carry the rest of the soldiers 
 across the stream on horseback. When 
 they rode down the 200 yards towards the 
 ford for this work, the bullets were already 
 falling fast. The road, which had been 
 crowded a short time before, had been well 
 cleared ; a battery was at work a little fur- 
 ther on, and the Turkish shells began to 
 plough up the rice-fields, the muzzles of the 
 Martinis pumping out the bullets like hail. 
 The lead knocked up the snow all around, 
 and there was a buzzing in the air that 
 made the men involuntarily quicken their 
 steps. The firing was not very heavy, but 
 it was effective, for ten out of the sixty 
 horses which carried over the last two bat- 
 talions, were wounded in the space of about 
 an hour. 
 
 When these two battalions got into the 
 village, the music of the fight took a higher 
 key, and there was a constant, ceaseless 
 rattle all day long. Late in the day 
 General Schilder-Schuldner came up to 
 consult with General Gourko, who had been 
 for hours anxiously awaiting the arrival of 
 the column entrusted to the former, which 
 had been ordered early to cross the stream 
 below, to make an attempt to turn the 
 enemy's left. Hours were lost in waiting 
 for this detachment ; and at last, instead of 
 the infantry, there only came the old 
 general himself! But the delay was shortly 
 ended, and the troops came past at quick 
 step. One or two of the soldiers were 
 wounded in sight of General Gourko, for the 
 bullets were still flying about promiscuously, 
 and the squadron of dragoons that was de- 
 tailed to carry three battalions across the 
 ford, lost three or four horses and men 
 during the passage. The entire loss of the 
 day was about 300, a large proportion of 
 SchouvalofTs command. 
 
 Kriidener's detachment, which had gone 
 towards the town, had met with little 
 resistance ; but arriving on the bank of the 
 Maritza, found the bridge completely de- 
 stroyed. A couple of old brass muzzle- 
 loading cannon, on the rocky hill in the 
 centre of the town, blazed away the whole 
 day at the Russians, and there were a score 
 or two of Turks sitting on the hill and 
 firing lazily, with little effect, and others in 
 the streets. But though the loss in Krii- 
 dener's column was only six, not a man of 
 his force got into the town. 
 
 The same squadron of dragoons of the 
 guard which had carried three battalions 
 over the river, returned to General Gourko ; 
 
 A.D. 1878.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [cAPruRE of philippopoli. 
 
 and Captain Bourago, who commanded the 
 squadron, reported that the men were wet, 
 hungry, and cold, the horses fatigued and 
 without food, and asked for further orders. 
 
 " Go and join your regiment," said 
 General Gourko. 
 
 " It is impossible to find the bivouac in 
 the night, your Excellency," was the reply. 
 
 " Then, suppose you go in and occupy 
 Philippopoli; you will find good lodgings 
 there," suggested the general, more than 
 half in jest. 
 
 " Is that your order ?" eagerly asked the 
 captain, 
 
 "It is!" came promptly back in reply, 
 and the captain saluted, mounted quickly, 
 and, forgetting fatigue and cold, led his 
 squadron towards the zone of the enemy's 
 bivouac-fires all along the plain between 
 the river and the mountains, and went 
 away at a trot. 
 
 The adventures of this little band are 
 worth relating. When they came within 
 half a mile of the fires they halted, and 
 scouts were sent forward to report on the pro- 
 bable number of the enemy ; but they re- 
 turned, in the course of an hour, with the 
 news that the bivouac was empty, and that 
 the fires were left burning to deceive the 
 Russians. Then the squadron trotted away 
 in the darkness towards the black mass of 
 the lesser one of the two granite hills that 
 tower over Philippopoli — landmarks in the 
 unbroken plain for many miles. 
 
 Nt-ar the town another bivouac barred 
 the path — this time in a field enclosed by 
 a ditch and bank of earth. Leaving the 
 horses to be led in groups of six to a single 
 man, Captain Bourago and the rest of his 
 force reconnoitred on foot up to the bivouac, 
 and peered over the wall to hear the last of 
 the Turks go away in the distance. The 
 fires were only deserted a few moments 
 before the dragoons arrived. Mounting 
 again, the dragoons, with the platoon of 
 singers at their head, marched into the 
 streets of Philippopoli, waking the inhabit- 
 ants with the unaccustomed music. Every- 
 body was of course surprised and delighted 
 at the arrival of the Russians, and half the 
 population turned out in their night- 
 dresses. 
 
 One of the consuls met Captain Bourago, 
 and begged him to enter his house and take 
 a cup of tea. Over the tea he put the 
 natural question — 
 
 " How many men are here ? " 
 
 •' Oh, very many — an immense force." 
 
 " But I mean here in the city," repeated 
 the consul. 
 
 " Why, we have got a whole squadron of 
 dragoons ! " 
 
 " Then, if you value your lives," said the 
 consul, " you will lose no time in trying to 
 escape, for you are surrounded on all sides." 
 
 With only a moment of hesitation, 
 Bourago ordered his men to mount, and 
 marched away towards the station, where the 
 enemy was reported to be strongest. 
 
 It was then past midnight; the great 
 piles of stores and several houses were burn- 
 ing at the station, and just beyond could be 
 plainly distinguished, by the light of the 
 fires, a great mass of Turkish soldiers in 
 some disorder. In the same formation as 
 before, the dragoons advanced with great 
 precaution, and reached a ditch within 
 short range, concealed themselves in it, and 
 opened a scattering fire, cheering and 
 shouting with all their might. 
 
 Volley after volley answered their fire ; 
 but the bullets passed over their heads, and 
 they began to shoot with all possible 
 rapidity, taking careful aim. The terrific 
 fire of the Turks grew weaker and weaker, 
 and finally melted away, and sounded fur- 
 ther and further off. Then was the moment 
 to charge, and the squadron mounted and 
 went away at a gallop after 1,500 retreating 
 Turks, sabring those who did not imme- 
 diately give themselves up, and captur- 
 ing over fifty prisoners. Surrounding the 
 burning station with a guard, Captain 
 Bourago entered it, and found three consuls 
 there with several of the railway employes^ 
 and learned that a short quarter of an hour 
 before, three pashas were standing there, 
 waiting for a supper to be prepared. It 
 need hardly be remarked that the oflScers 
 of the squadron enjoyed that supper very 
 much. Count Rebender, who, with Lieu- 
 tenant PijofF, had been very active through 
 the whole affair, was given a platoon to 
 clear out the nest on the hill, which he did 
 in short order, and the squadron slept in the 
 town. 
 
 Philippopoli was in a frightful state. 
 For just one week there had been a reign 
 of the greatest confusion. On the 8th of 
 January a telegram had been received from 
 Suleiman Pasha, ordering the city to be 
 evacuated of all its inhabitants, because he 
 intended to burn it on the approach of the 
 Russians. On the following day, news came 
 from the same source that an armistice of 
 two months had been arranged. The 
 
 307 
 
PANIC IN PHiLTPPOPOLi.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Christian schools began again, and business 
 was to some extent resumed, but only a few 
 shops were opened for fear of the Circassians 
 and Bashi-Bazouks. The Turkish families 
 continued to flee, transporting all their 
 household effects to the station, to be sent 
 to Constantinople. Frequent trains were 
 run, carrying thousands of passen^rers, 
 loading the roofs, the steps, and even" the 
 buffers of the carriages with a living 
 freight. Provisions were thrown away o7 
 sold for trifling sums. A yoke of oxen only 
 brought one Turkish pound ; a cow ei<rht 
 piastres (Is. 4d), and a sheep four (StZ.) 
 
 On the 10th of January the last passeno^er 
 train went away; but immense piles^of 
 goods and household effects still remained 
 at the station. Orders came from the 
 medical director at Constantinople to re- 
 move all the sick and wounded (numbering 
 8o0) to the station, to await a train which 
 would be sent to carry themawav ; and this 
 order was executed with as little stir as 
 possible, for fear of augmenting the dis- 
 order. The consuls, English, French, 
 Italian, Greek, and Austrian, met and con- 
 sulted about the best measures to protect 
 the inhabitants, and decided to stay, and 
 to pay no attention to the order to evacuate 
 the town, which had been repeated. The 
 Circassians and Bashi-Bazouks havino- 
 begun promiscuous plundering as early a's 
 the 12th, the authorities in the Greek 
 Church issued 150 muskets to the citizens 
 of that nationality, to protect themselves 
 from the irregular soldiers ; but, of course, 
 there was no authority, civil or religious, 
 which could stop plundering, or pi^vent 
 incendiary fires. On the 14th, before day- 
 light, the bazaar was in flames, and the 
 Russian cavalry being near, the bridge was 
 burned, to prevent them entering the town. 
 The story of the next day has been 
 already told. When the Russians entered on 
 the 16th, it was a picture of ruin and de- 
 struction all along the streets where the 
 shops were, and was smoking in a dozen 
 places. It was rather a ridiculous sio^ht to 
 see a wholo army corps wasting precious 
 hours idly watching the smouldering timbers 
 of the bridge, and the rushing, ice-choked 
 stream that separated them from the oppo- 
 site shore, where thousands of Bulcrarians 
 were frantically shouting and gesticulating. 
 I he staff rode down to the river bank, and 
 there halted, waiting for a small leaky boat 
 that was coming across, when, whether 
 in derision of the inaction of tbe soldiers, 
 
 [a.d. 1878. 
 
 or whether due to the impulse of a half- 
 cracked brain, a sturdy Bulgarian stripped 
 and plunged into the icy water, and half 
 waded, ha f swam, across to the Russians, 
 blowing like a porpoise. He had nothin<^ 
 particular to say, so he was wrapped up iS 
 a rug, and sent away to warm himself. 
 
 Prince Tzereteleff crossed over in the 
 skiff to arrange about the bridge, and in a 
 few moments there was a rope sent across, 
 and a rude ferry established. • Mr. Petline 
 the delegate of the Princess Imperial Red 
 Cross Society was the only engineer who 
 happened to be present, and he undertook 
 immediately the building of a solid struc 
 ture out of railway iron and planks. The 
 Bulgarians were in a state of the greatest 
 excitement ; most of them were armed, and 
 those who came over in the skiff so far lost 
 their heads as to rush down to the water's 
 edge and take deliberate aim at Princo 
 Izereteleff, who was walkino-, in hjs Cir 
 cassian costume, among the^people on the 
 opposite shore, and they would have fired if 
 they had not been suddenly brought to 
 their senses This was the first time the 
 Turks had taken the trouble to hinder the 
 Russian advance by burning a bridge, and 
 the Bulgarians began to construct a foot- 
 bridge on the bases of the piers, and a few 
 enterprising boat-builders soon began ham- 
 mering away in a lively manner on some 
 scows they were making to serve as a ferry. 
 One ford was tried ; but several men got a 
 ducking, and one horseman was swept down 
 s ream. Before long, however, a shallower 
 place was found, and the crossing was at 
 ast effected, with the ice knocking against 
 the horses shoulders and the saddle-flips. 
 
 When Prince Tzereteleff came into the 
 town, he found only two or three maraudin.^ 
 soldiers there for the dragoons were alread? 
 off to new fields, and he constituted himself 
 a special police force to stop pillaging until 
 enough soldiers crossed to form% patrol. 
 In the Stafford House hospital there were 
 two of the Stafford House committee-men, 
 neither of them Englishmen, and two 
 young English doctors in the Turkish ser- 
 vice. Ihe hospital was nearly full of 
 wounded Turks, and all the available force 
 was employed in bringing them up from the 
 station where they had been starving for 
 days huddled together in a temporary 
 wooden building, without attendant.^ with 
 neither food nor water. Many of them had 
 died of starvation and neglect, and the rest 
 were m a miserable state altogether. The 
 
 A.D. 1878.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [BULGARIANS AGAIN. 
 
 single word "ekmek" (bread) caused a 
 general cry of joy. A hundred bony hands 
 were stretched out ; sunken eyes glittered 
 with delight ; those strong enough to move, 
 raised themselves on their elbows, and 
 begged for a morsel. While the biscuit was 
 circulating, one after another of the poor 
 wretches held out a water-jug or a canteen, 
 for there was not a drop of water in the 
 place, and had not been all day. 
 
 The sound of wrangling, and blows of 
 axes close by, betrayed to the experienced 
 ears of the Daily News correspondent, that 
 the beautiful Bulgarians were at their usual 
 work. There was a whole crowd of them, 
 who had got into the store-room of the 
 hospital, where medicines in bulk and a few 
 provisions, like rice and butter, were kept, 
 and were smashing things right and left, 
 and fighting among themselves for the loot. 
 They scattered when the correspondent 
 came upon them in the twilight, but he 
 halted there as many of them as he could 
 surround, and herded them into the hospital, 
 loaded them with jugs and canteens, and 
 started them for water. 
 
 There was considerable firing still going 
 on at no great distance, just in the direc- 
 tion of the spring, and the Bulgarians were 
 not ambitious to distinguish themselves 
 under fire ; but having noticed the muzzle 
 of an easy-acting revolver looking for some 
 one in their vicinity, they thought the 
 safest plan was to bring the water, and did 
 so in haste. But one of them had a half 
 revenge later in the evening ; for as the 
 correspondent was passing an open space in 
 the street, he heard a splutter and a bang, 
 and then a whiz close to his head, and it 
 was evident that some one had sighted him 
 with an old flint-lock. He did not find the 
 fellow, and thought it prudent not to make 
 too careful a search for him, for there were 
 probably a couple of horse-pistols and a 
 yataghan in the would-be assassin's sash, 
 and he had the advantage of being in 
 ambush. 
 
 Meantime, after the Turks had abandoned 
 Philippopoli, they took up a position under 
 Fuad Pasha, a few miles south of the city, 
 to cover their retreat to join the fugitive 
 armv of Suleiman Pasha, which had sue- 
 ceeded in effecting its escape along the 
 Stanimaka road into the Rhodope, or 
 Despoto Dagh. 
 
 The battle-field was not more than an 
 hour's ride distant from Philippopoli, and 
 from a neighbouring mound the fight could 
 
 VOL. UI. 2 S 
 
 be plainly seen. The Turks were firing 
 from the vineyard terraces at the foot of 
 the hills, and waves of musketry swept 
 from one end of the line to the other. But 
 the rifle-fire was not the hottest where the 
 sharpest work was going on, for the Turks 
 charged impetuously down the slopes, and 
 bayonets and sabres were crossed in hand- 
 to-hand fight. In point of fact, the Turks 
 were fairly at bay ; for after slipping away 
 between the columns of Schilder-Schuldner 
 and Weliaminoff, they had halted, completely 
 exhausted, on the hill-sides south of.the city. 
 Dondeville had hurried up across the Ma- 
 ritza and flanked them on the right, Schou- 
 valoff and Schilder-Schuldner were pushing 
 them in front, and Weliaminoff was crowd- 
 ing them on the left. Behind them were 
 the bleak mountains ; on three sides of them' 
 an enterprising, fearless, tireless enemy ; 
 and they resisted in their last ditch with 
 desperation, fighting like lions in their 
 lairs. 
 
 The whole of January 16th the fight con- 
 tinued without intermission, the Russians 
 gradually gaining ground as fresh forces 
 came up, and succeeded in capturing eigh- 
 teen cannon, through a flank movement 
 carried out by General Dondeville, on the fol- 
 lowing morning, January I7th. The Turks 
 charged down the slope with the bayonet in 
 a mad endeavour to recapture the eighteen 
 cannon left in Dondeville's hands the day 
 before. One of the commanders rushed 
 into the thick of the fight with Dondeville's 
 troops, was surrounded, and is reported to 
 have killed and wounded seventeen Russians 
 with his own sword before he was finally 
 cut down. But this headlong assault was 
 stoutly resisted. General Krasnoff especially 
 distinguished himself at the head of the 
 brigade of the 3rd division ; and that day 
 twelve additional cannon were abandoned 
 by the Turks as they retreated sullenly 
 from one terrace to another ; and when, 
 after a most heroic and hopeless resistance, 
 the disorganised, exhausted, famished, half- 
 frozen remnant of an army could hold a 
 bold front no longer, it broke up into small 
 bands, and under cover of darkness dispersed 
 back in the mountains, leaving the remain- 
 ing twenty cannon on the field. 
 
 This was the last stand made by the 
 Turks aoainst General Gourko's victorious 
 forces. Further east. General Radetzki and 
 Skobeloff, hearing of the proximity of 
 General Gourko to Philippopoli, had turned 
 their backs upon that city and proceeded 
 
 309 
 
 . ' 
 
THE VALLEY OF DEATH.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 rA.D. 1878. 
 
 \ 
 
 to Adrianople, which was occupied by their 
 forces on January 20th. 
 
 The news of the collapse of the Ottoman 
 army soon spread over the country; and 
 abandoned to the mercy of Eussian and 
 Bulgarian — Christians — the Moslem popu- 
 lation, knowing that they would seek for 
 justice, pity, or generosity in these quarters 
 in vain, thought but of escaping from their 
 invaded homes. All the way from Philippo- 
 poli to Hermanli, a distance of seventy miles 
 on the road to Adrianople, the road was 
 strewn with the household goods of many 
 thousand families and many thousand 
 bodies. It was one ghastly, sickening pano- 
 rama of death in every form, and of such 
 colossal proportions and horrible character, 
 that it was quite impossible for any one 
 who had not witnessed part of it, to conceive, 
 in the most moderate degree, the nature of 
 the diabolical drama. 
 
 It was along this road that the great 
 mass of the Turkish families fled from the 
 villages at the approach of the Russians. 
 Fugitives from the entire territory, from 
 Plevna to Philippopoli, were for weeks, 
 and even months, endeavouring to make 
 their way to Constantinople, the haven safe 
 from the pursuit of the Muscovite. How 
 many thousand families had gained the vi- 
 cinity of Stamboul before the rapid advance 
 of the Russians it is impossible to estimate. 
 It is certain that the long trains of fngitives 
 blocked all the roads of the Turkish retreat, 
 and seriously hindered and even stopped 
 the march of the troops. After the invest- 
 ment of Plevna, and even before, there was 
 a general exodus to the southward from all 
 the towns threatened by the Russians, and 
 hundreds of trains concentrated by con- 
 verging routes in the valley of the Maritza, 
 the tide being naturally directed towards 
 Constantinople. As the Russians advanced, 
 they never found any Turkish families in 
 any of the villages; and it had been a long- 
 unanswered question what had become of 
 the population ; but a journey along the 
 road from Philippopoli to Hermanli, de- 
 picted, in part, the sufferings of these 
 people, and furnished some adequate idea 
 of the multitude of the Mussulman inhabit- 
 ants who fled panic-stricken before the 
 Russians and Bulgarians. 
 
 As the Russians left the rocky hills and 
 picturesque city of Philippopoli on the 
 morning of the 23rd, and rode eastward 
 along tlae road, the first thing that met 
 their eyes was a number of bodies of Turk- 
 310 * 
 
 ish soldiers lying in the road, crushed by 
 the wheels of passing artillery, and trampled 
 into the mud by the feet of many horses. 
 Before they had gone half-a-dozen kilome- 
 tres, the corpses of peasants, both Turkish 
 and Bulgarian, were to be seen lying on the 
 snow, and some of them had already been 
 exposed to the weather for two or three 
 weeks. Some had blood-stains still fresli 
 on their garments. Dead horses and cattle 
 blocked the path at every few steps, averag- 
 ing two to the distance between the tele- 
 graph posts ; and as one went further and 
 further away from the city the number 
 rapidly increased, and hundreds of aban- 
 doned arabas stood in the road, and choked 
 the ditches alongside. 
 
 The road, too narrow for the immense 
 trains that had passed over it in hasty flight, 
 was supplemented by beaten tracks through 
 the rice-fields on each side; and there were 
 traces of bivouacs in the snow, which be- 
 came more and more frequent, until these 
 side-paths were almost literally carpeted 
 with the debris of camps, and lay between 
 rows of dead animals, broken arabas, piles 
 of rags and cast-off clothing, and human 
 bodies, for thirty-five miles of the whole of 
 the first day's ride from Philippopoli. 
 
 There were bodies of Bulgarian peasants 
 with terrible wounds in the head and 
 neck, sometimes mutilated and disfigured ; 
 women and infants, children and old men[ 
 both Turkish and Bulgarian, fallen in the 
 fields by the road-side, half buried in the 
 snow, or lying in pools of water. It seemed 
 to have been one long battle between the 
 peasants of both races, in which the dead 
 were counted equally for each ; but while 
 many of the bodies bore marks of violence 
 and showed ghastly wounds, the great pro- 
 portion of the women and children were 
 evidently frozen to death, for they lay on 
 the snow as if asleep, with the flush of life 
 still on their faces, and the pink skin of 
 their feet and hands still unblanched. Side 
 by side with these, many corpses of old men, 
 full of dignity even in death, lay stark by 
 the road-side, their white beards clotted with 
 blood, and their helpless hands fallen upon 
 their breasts. From the muddy water of 
 the ditches tiny hands and feet stretched 
 out, and baby faces half covered with snow 
 looked out innocently and peacefully, with 
 scarcely a sign of suffering on their features. 
 Frozen at their mothers' breasts, they were 
 thrown down into the snow to lighten the 
 burden of the poor creatures who were strut^- 
 
 A.D. 1878.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [russo-bulgar christianttt. 
 
 gling along in mortal terror, but soon after- 
 wards to be frozen to death in the severe 
 weather, for they had been travelling in 
 miserable arabas without food or shelter, 
 and with half-starved oxen. Miles of these 
 araba trains were passed on the road, human 
 beings and household effects jumbled in 
 promiscuously. Upon the jolting carts 
 bedding and utensils were piled. Women 
 and children upon donkeys and cattle fol- 
 lowed alongside; and behind, for miles, was 
 a long trail of wretched, weary, half-dead 
 stragglers ; old men and women bent double, 
 crawling along with the aid of crutches or 
 sticks; mothers with infants at their 
 breasts, scarcely moving one foot before the 
 other — all this after long months of flight, 
 constant exposure, continuous dread of 
 marauders, and the hated Muscovites. 
 There was one mother leading along a sick 
 child of perhaps ten years, a mile or more 
 behind one of these trains. The poor girl 
 could with difficulty balance herself on her 
 naked, half-frozen feet. Night was coming 
 on, and the cold wind that chilled even 
 men in their warm clothing, blew about the 
 rags from the suff'ering creature, disclosing 
 emaciated limbs and skeleton body. The 
 mother was in quite as pitiable a condition. 
 Her face and head alone were well wrapped 
 up. The araba train was moving slowly 
 out of sight on the distant hills. A night 
 on the road meant death to both these un- 
 fortunates, and their straggling friends 
 could give them no assistance, because they 
 were for the most part in a similar state of 
 misery. The mother dragged her little one 
 along, fast losing patience as the darkness 
 came on, and finally pushed the sick child 
 into the snow by the road-side, and hurried 
 on without looking behind her. This was 
 one of a series of similar scenes that were 
 enacted before the very eyes of the Russians. 
 At Kuru Tchesme, half-way to Hermanli, 
 there was nothing but a collection of empty 
 buildings and barn-yards. Like the rest of 
 the towns and villages on the road, it had 
 suffered first from the exodus of the fugi- 
 tives, who had pillaged on all sides ; next 
 from the Bashi-Bazouks and Circassians, 
 who had plundered and murdered ; and last 
 from the Russian cavalry, who had pretty 
 well eaten the place bare. Few inhabitants 
 remained in the village. All was despoiled. 
 Even the priest, who always had something 
 if there was anything in the town, lived be- 
 tween bare walls, had no carpets, rugs, 
 bedding, or provisions. But priests and 
 
 Bulgarians were on the look out ; and when 
 the head of a long train of returning Turkish 
 refugee families appeared in the main streat 
 of the village, there followed a scene which 
 is painful in the last degree to describe. 
 The Bulgarians gathered on the side of the 
 street in knots of three or four, waited 
 calmly until the miserable train had got 
 well into the village, when, from every 
 direction, they pounced upon the exhausted, 
 defenceless Turks, and began to carry off 
 their household effects, and even the cattle 
 from the carts. 
 
 One poor woman, leading an ass piled up 
 with bedding, and a child on the top, found 
 her property distributed among half-a-dozen 
 stahvart ruffians in a twinkling, and the 
 little infant on the ground in the mud. The 
 old men and women clung to their only 
 treasures, while the Bulgarians dragged 
 them away. Children yelled with fright, 
 and panic reigned, which started the slowly- 
 moving caravan into a quick march. All 
 this went on before Greneral Grourko was out 
 of sight of the town. So much for Russian 
 protection ! 
 
 From Kuru Tchesme to Haskoi the 
 corpses were more numerous, if anything, 
 than on the route of the day before. The 
 village was full of dead Turkish peasants ; 
 and on asking the Bulgarians who killed 
 them, they replied, with a great deal of 
 effusion and fiendish pride — " We did it. 
 We and our friends did it." 
 
 In Haskoi there were bodies of Turkish 
 soldiers in the streets nearly buried under 
 heaps of stones and bricks, suggesting that, 
 after being wounded and unable to move 
 away, they had been stoned to death by the 
 peasants ; and here also were hundreds of 
 Turkish families who, without arabas or 
 beasts of burden, had taken shelter in the 
 deserted houses. 
 
 Inquiring of one of these families where 
 they had come from, they said that they had 
 left Plevna five months ago, and since that 
 time they had been on the road, and for the 
 past few weeks in a great camp, further on 
 towards Hermanli. For many days they 
 had been entirely without bread or even 
 Indian corn, and had existed solely on the 
 flesh of the cattle that fell on the road. 
 When some bread was given to them, they 
 ate it like starved creatures, crying for joy. 
 The grandmother, father, and mother with 
 an infant at the breast, and a small boy of 
 ten years, had not a single shoe between 
 them, and their only baggage consisted of a 
 
 311 
 
 p «- 1 
 
 »JS 
 
 .• \\ 
 
 \ 
 
 4 H 
 
" DAILY NEWSIANTTY."] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 few old torn bed-quilts, and a kettle to boil 
 meat in. They were in great distress of 
 mind, because the house they occupied did 
 not belong to them ; and not having any 
 means of transport, they were unable to pro- 
 ceed further until fine weather should begin. 
 
 At every step beyond Haskoi, General 
 Gourko met new and more horrifying 
 scenes on his triumphal march ; man and 
 wife lying, side by side, on the same blanket, 
 with two children curled up on the snow 
 near, all frozen dead ; old men with their 
 heads half cut off; and on each side of the 
 road, broad continuous bivouacs deserted in 
 haste, strewn with household effects. For 
 many miles, carpets, bedding, and clothing 
 had been trampled into the mud. The 
 highway was literally paved with bundles, 
 cushions, blankets, and every imaginable 
 article of household use. Broken arabas, 
 too, began to multiply ; and near the little 
 village of Tirali, on either side of the road, 
 there was a perfect forest of wheels, reach- 
 ing to the river on the right, and spreading 
 away up the hill-sides on the left. Several 
 dead Turkish soldiers, and one or two Rus- 
 sians, showed that there had been a little 
 skirmish there ; and the general and his 
 staff rode into the midst of the great deserted 
 bivouac, the horses walking on rich carpets 
 and soft draperies, all crushed and trampled 
 in the mud. 
 
 The scene was at once unique in its 
 general aspect, terribly impressive, eloquent 
 of suffering and disaster to innocent people. 
 Hundreds of acres were covered with house- 
 hold goods. The bivouac reached all along 
 the river bank, following the windings of 
 the road, over the hill, and across the fields 
 where the road made a sharp turn, for a 
 distance of at least three miles, and of vary- 
 ing width. Over this great tract the arabas 
 stood as closely as they could, with their 
 oxen placed together. 
 
 The frames of the carts were, in most 
 cases, broken to pieces. Sick cattle wan- 
 dered listlessly about among the wheels. 
 Corpses of men, women, and children lay 
 about near every araba, and the whole 
 ground was carpeted with clothing, kitchen 
 utensils, books, and bedding. 
 
 It was a pitiable sight to see an old, 
 grey-bearded Turk lying with his open 
 Koran beside him, splashed with blood 
 from ghastly gashes in his bared throat. 
 Bundles of rags and clothes nearly all held 
 dead babies. Crowds of Bulgarians swarmed 
 in this great avenue of death and desola- 
 312 
 
 [A.D. 1878. 
 
 tion, choosing the best of the carts, and 
 carrying away great loads of copper vessels, 
 which lay about in profusion, and mud- 
 soiled bedding, with no more respect for 
 the dead than for the rags they lay on. 
 These scavengers would drive their carts 
 across the heads of dead women and old 
 men without even a glance of curiosity at 
 the bodies ! 
 
 At least 500 dead lay in the bivouac ; 
 no less than 15,000 carts had halted there, 
 large as the number may seem ; and at least 
 75,000 people had deserted the whole of 
 their possessions, and had run away with 
 only what they could carry in their hands. 
 Even General Gourko and his staff were 
 sickened by the continuation of the ghastly 
 panorama for so many hours, and rode on 
 to Hermanli, not leaving the last of the 
 horribly mutilated corpses until they reached 
 the very edge of the village. 
 
 At Hermanli they learned, for the first 
 time, the story of the bivouac. It seems 
 that the advance of the cavalry had been 
 checked, at different villages on the roads, by 
 the very determined resistance of the armed 
 population, who fought with fury. There 
 were seven repetitions of the little scene 
 which occurred near Philippopoli, where 
 the inhabitants fled with the Turkish 
 soldiers, and men and women fired volleys 
 upon the Russians. The correspondent of 
 the Daily News describes this little scene 
 as follows :— " At Derbent, a short distance 
 on the road between Philippopoli and Her- 
 manli, when the Russian cavalry entered 
 after a sharp little skirmish, they were 
 fired upon, and several killed and wounded, 
 from a little stone house. All efforts to 
 parley with the Turks concealed there re- 
 sulted in loss of life; and at last, after several 
 peasants had been shot in the attempt to 
 persuade the inmates to surrender, cannon 
 were brought to bear upon the house, and 
 shells exploded inside, which set it on fire. 
 The defenders were driven out, and advanced 
 upon the mass of soldiers, firing as they 
 came. Of course, they were shot immedi- 
 ately." — From this description one would 
 think that at least some considerable num- 
 ber of the inhabitants had thus been keeping 
 the Russians at bay. But the corresponden't 
 goes on, in the most innocent way, to say — 
 " There were only three peasants in all who 
 made this desperate resistance in their 
 fortress. This incident shows the spirit 
 that animated the Turks to resist the 
 advance of the Russians ; and the history of 
 
 A.D. 1878.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [advance on erzeroum. 
 
 the great bivouac proves the extent and 
 force of the panic which seized those who 
 ran away." He then continues to describe 
 the attack made on the bivouac :— " When 
 the Russian cavalry came in sight of the 
 bivouac there were one or two battalions of 
 Turkish infantrv stationed there as rear- 
 guard, but they dispersed and retired with 
 little attempt at resistance, and a squadron 
 was sent into the great assembly of waggons 
 to find out what it was. They rode on 
 without receiving a single shot until they 
 were right alongside, and within a very few 
 paces of the train of arabas occupying the 
 road, when, from behind these waggons, out 
 from under the rude coverings, and from all 
 sides, came a rattling volley, which emptied 
 some saddles. Then it became evident that 
 a ferocious resistance was to be made, so this 
 squadron retired, and preparations were 
 made to attack the collection of waggons, 
 for it sheltered not only the rear-guard, \)\it 
 also no one knew how many armed peasants ; 
 but before the attack began in earnest the 
 panic caught in the bivouac and spread like 
 wildfire. The immense band of refugees 
 ran away with the soldiers to the mountains, 
 leaving cattle, carts, and all their movables 
 which they could not seize upon at the 
 moment." It need only be pointed out 
 that, in one breath, it is stated that the 
 rear-guard had retired from, and in the uext 
 that it had taken shelter in, the bivouac ! 
 He then continues : — " The cause of the 
 panic was the appearance of SkobelofiPs 
 
 cavalry in the valley of the Maritza, in 
 front of the bivouac. The result of it was 
 doubtless the death of thousands upon thou- 
 sands of Turkish peasants, who are now in the 
 mountains without clothing or food. Still, 
 another result of the flight is the enrich- 
 ment of all the Bulgarians in the neigh- 
 bourhood, for the smoke of the first firing 
 had not cleared away when these ever- 
 watchful individuals pounced down upon all 
 the cattle the soldiers did not drive off, and 
 carried away hundreds of carts laden with 
 plunder." 
 
 This description is a model of disin- 
 genuousness and unscrupulous partisanship. 
 There were over 500 dead lying in the 
 deserted bivouac when the correspondent of 
 the Daily News was there ; yet he states 
 that only a " few saddles of the Russian 
 squadron were emptied, and that before the 
 attack began in earnest, the panic caught 
 like wildfire, and the refugees ran away into 
 the mountains with the soldiers." How, 
 then, does he account for the 500 dead 
 bodies? Comment is rendered superfluous 
 by the report of the official commission in 
 August, 1878, which entirely bears out the 
 view we have taken of the affair. In 
 short, of the 75,000 people, only a few 
 thousands with their arabas were turned 
 back towards their homes by the Russians. 
 The rest escaped from the horrors of the 
 road between Philippopoli and Hermanli, 
 which should bear for all time the name 
 of the Road of the Dead. 
 
 V 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 THB ADVANCE ON EEZEROUM. 
 
 After the battle of Aladja Dagh, as already 
 recounted, Mukhtar Pasha ordered Ismail 
 Pasha to fall back from his positions at 
 Igdir and Bayazet, and join him at Hassan 
 Kaleh, in order to assist in the defence of 
 the Deve Boyun Pass, leading to Erzeroum. 
 Ismail at once complied with this order, 
 and set off with his Kurds, followed step 
 by step by General Tergukassoff, whilst 
 Mukhtar Pasha himself, with the remnant 
 of his troops, was pursued by General 
 Heimann, who effected his junction with 
 
 Tergukassoff at Koprikoi, five-and-tweiity 
 miles east of Erzeroum. 
 
 The Russians lost no time in following 
 up the track of the Turks, and found them 
 intrenched in very strong positions on the 
 Deve Boyun heights, guarding the pass to 
 Erzeroum from the east. But, strong as 
 were the positions, the Turks were not in a 
 state to defend them. Mukhtar Pasha's 
 and Ismail Pasha's men were thoroughly 
 demoralised by their precipitate flight and 
 the disaster at Aladja Dagh, whilst the 
 
 313 
 
 <V.,i 
 
THE RETREAT.! 
 
 HISTORY OF TRE 
 
 fresh troops from Erzeroura were more or 
 less panic-stricken by the exaggerated 
 accounts of the hopeless condition of things. 
 And scarcely had they heard of the full 
 extent of the catastrophe when they found 
 the Kussians already upon them at their 
 very gates. All this, apart from the fact 
 that men never fight so well in the open 
 when they know they have stone walls and 
 their houses behind them, contributed to 
 make the defence of the Deve Boyun a for- 
 lorn hope. Not that the men did not fight 
 well and hold their ground bravely enough 
 when face to face with the enemy ; but "as 
 soon as they saw that they were being out- 
 generaled, as usual, and their flanks turned, 
 as usual, they lost heart; and after an 
 obstmate combat, as long as it lasted. 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 closed by the heights of the Deve Boyun 
 which curve round in the south into the 
 Palentuken Dagh, a range of mountains 
 much cut up into ravines and defiles, run- 
 nmg south and west. North of the valley 
 are the Kara Kayalar Dagh and the Dumly 
 i^5^>i.^°^ i" the west are the heights of 
 feogudli separated from the crest of the 
 ^?^^."^.'^,H^^ I^agh by two deep ravines south 
 otfeogudli and Ozbek respectively; whilst 
 on the north-east lies, in a commanding 
 position, the village of Ilidja, on the high- 
 road from Erzeroum to Trebizonde, Tokat 
 and Erzingian, and opposite to it, on the' 
 slopes of the Kara Kayalar, the village of 
 Cxbushni, m a similar position. 
 
 Now the Kussians were in this difficulty •— 
 They had not sufficient men to surround 
 
 Kara Kayalar Dagh. 
 
 Domly Dagh. 
 
 L 
 
 To Tokat ^ < 1 
 
 o Ghushni. 
 To Baiburt. Mudurga. o 
 
 River Euphrates. 
 
 I 
 
 r -i 
 
 < 
 
 }- 
 
 To £r»ingian, ^_ 
 
 o So^dli, 
 Ravine. 
 
 s 
 
 o Ilidja. 
 
 Gian. o 
 
 I 
 
 -O- 
 
 Erzeroum. 
 
 ■■ A^ 
 
 8 
 
 (ft 
 
 a 
 
 9 
 
 o Zerdige. 
 
 Ozbek. o 
 Ravine. 
 
 I 
 
 Palentuken Dagh. 
 
 I 
 
 1 — Deve Boyun Pass, 
 — ■ ■' Roads. 
 
 Mukhtar Pasha was obliged to give up the 
 pass and fly to the town behind him, leav- 
 ing nothing on the east between him and 
 the victorious Russians but the crumbling 
 walls of Erzeroum and the forts on the Top 
 Dagh, between the town and the Deve 
 Boyun Pass. 
 
 This took place on November 4th, and 
 Erzeroum literally lay at the feet of the 
 Kussians. But between that and entering 
 It was a long step, and this step was not so 
 easy to take, for many reasons. 
 
 The above sketch gives a graphic pic- 
 ture of the town and its surroundings. 
 Erzeroum, it will there be seen, lies some- 
 what south of the river Euphrates, in a 
 swampy valley, through which onlv a few 
 good roads run. In the east this valley is 
 . 314 ^ 
 
 on Tttrks. 
 ^S Russians. 
 
 Erzeroum, nor even to attack it simultane- 
 ously north, east, and south. They mi^ht, 
 mdeed, have succeeded in carrying it by 
 assault from one point, but it would have 
 been at a great loss, and the instructions 
 both commanders had were not to risk any 
 great loss if avoidable. But, apart from 
 this and supposing they had succeeded in 
 capturing the town, they had not sufficient 
 men to hold it and carry on active opera- 
 tions in the field at the same time against 
 the army, which would have left the town by 
 the western gates as soon as they entered it 
 by the eastern gates, and, in truth, have 
 beset them themselves in Erzeroum— thus 
 besieging the victorious enemy, in turn, in 
 the very scene of his success. Kars, it must 
 be remembered, had not yet fallen, so there 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [ERZEROmr. 
 
 was no knowing wlien the reinforcements 
 could arrive which were held in check by 
 this Asiatic Plevna in miniature. 
 
 If, however, it had been possible to carry 
 the town by a cowp de main with a small 
 force, and oblige Mukhtar Pasha to abandon 
 it with his army, the Russians would have 
 been able to move the whole of their forces 
 westwards, and camp at the key of the 
 western approach to Erzeroum, at Ilidja, 
 or even follow up Mukhtar to Erzingian or 
 Baiburt, or to whatever other point he 
 might fall back upon. In short, the only 
 feasible project, under the circumstances, 
 was for the Russians to frighten the Turks 
 out of the town by a surprise, and follow 
 them up whilst the panic lasted. This was, 
 in fact, the plan they adopted, in spite of 
 the reports and rumours industriously set 
 afloat, both in Europe and in Asia, to the 
 effect that Mukhtar Pasha intended to 
 convert Erzeroum into a second Plevna. 
 
 But to have done this, other than dis- 
 organised troops were requisite ; and the 
 simple matter of fact is, that the defeat of 
 the Turks in the action on the Deve Boyun 
 on the 4th November, resulting in the loss 
 of thirty-six cannon, was scarcely less disas- 
 trous than the defeat before Kars. A com- 
 plete panic, with the consequent losses, took 
 place, and was not allayed till the fortifica- 
 tions round Erzeroum inspired the fugitives 
 with a certain sense of safety. Everything 
 was in the most fearful confusion. The only 
 person who kept his senses at all about him 
 was Sir Arnold Kemball. Regarding Sir 
 Arnold Kemball, by the way, a story 
 obtained currency, which, true or not true, 
 was believed in by the Russians at the time. 
 It is said that Sir Arnold, seeing the 
 disastrous result of the engagement, rode 
 off in all haste to Baiburt, to inform the 
 commander of the troops hurrying up from 
 Trebizonde o f what had occurred, and to 
 prevent him from coming up to Erzeroum, 
 thus enabling him to secure Mukhtar Pasha's 
 line of retreat should it be necessary for 
 him to abandon Erzeroum. 
 
 Thus, after the action on the Deve Boyun, 
 Erzeroum was held by one portion of 
 Mukhtar Pasha's and Ismail Hakki's forces ; 
 the rest were at Ilidja and Ghushni ; whilst 
 the reinforcements, such as they were, from 
 Trebizonde, had been placed in positions 
 which would enable them, in conjunction 
 with Mukhtar Pasha's army, to bar the 
 enemy's advance further west, and prevent 
 him from descending into the plains west 
 
 and north of Erzeroum — that is to say, until 
 he had seized the heights of the Palentuken 
 Dagh and the adjoining hill up to Ilidja, and 
 had also occupied the slopes of Dumly Dagh 
 and Kara Kayalar Dagh as far as Ghushni. 
 The possession of these two points, completely 
 commanding the road from Erzeroum, was 
 absolutely necessary before the Russians 
 could have ventured upon any advance. 
 
 Defence and attack were thus clearly 
 prescribed by the natural features of the 
 field. In no case, perhaps, could they have 
 been more stringently laid down. A wide, 
 straggling town, commanded east and south 
 by high hills, protected in the west and 
 north by a belt of swampy ground, stretch- 
 ing for about eight miles in either direction, 
 Erzeroum would have required for its in- 
 vestment a far larger body of troops than 
 the Russians disposed of. A line of invest- 
 ment, to be effectual, would have to stretch 
 over more than forty miles. Hence, as an 
 attack from the west, where the town was 
 quite open, with the exception of one re- 
 doubt, would have been impossible as long 
 as there were sufficient troops in the rear at 
 Ilidja or Baiburt, it could only be taken 
 from the east, south, or north ; and it was 
 Justin these directions that the defences — 
 redoubts and bastions — had been erected, 
 as will be seen from the following sketch. 
 In the north, barring the roads from Gian, 
 Sheikhmetz, and Suk-Tchermuk, there were 
 three works — Kavak Tabia, Nishan Tabia, 
 and Medjidieh Tabia. In the east, on either 
 side of the road which comes winding down 
 from the Deve Boyun, and commanding it 
 for a considerable distance, were the Azizieh 
 and Ahali Tabias. These were flanked in 
 the south by some other works — all open — 
 which are not shown in the sketch — situated 
 on the terraces of the Palentuken Dagh. In 
 the south-west, where the stream which 
 traverses Erzeroum enters the town, there 
 was the Keremen Tabia ; and in the west, 
 commanding the road from Trebizonde and 
 Erzingian, the Djahabane Tabia. Nearly in 
 the centre of the town stood the citadel, the 
 whole surrounded by an old wall, dating 
 from the Genoese occupation, where it had 
 not been patched up by the Turks. 
 
 The course of the combat on the 9th to 
 the 10th of November can be clearly 
 followed when bearing this situation in 
 mind. An attack from the north was not 
 advisable, as General Komaroff, demon- 
 strating through the Tortoum valley, had 
 other objects to attend to, and would thus 
 
 315 
 
 ifH 
 
 f 
 
 /^ 
 

 REPULSE OF THE RUSSIANS.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 if 
 
 
 i 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 have necessitated a change of front on the 
 part of Generals Heimann and Tergukassoff, 
 which could not be thought of. The attack, 
 therefore, had to be conducted on the east 
 and south against the Azizieh and Ahali 
 redoubts. A detachment was sent by 
 General Heimann to advance against the 
 Azizieh redoubt, and another by General 
 Tergukassoff against the Ahali position. 
 But owing either to one of the columns 
 losing its way, as the Russians say, or to the 
 determined defence of the Turks, the attack 
 was unsuccessful. The course of the action 
 was really very simple. The eastern column 
 
 failure of the southern column to carry out 
 its share of the operations. Possibly it lost 
 its way ; but it is much more likely that, 
 flushed with their success on the Deve 
 Boyun, the Russians imagined that the 
 Turks were so demoralised that a handful 
 of troops would suffice to carry the town, 
 force Mukhtar J^asha to retreat, and enable' 
 them to drive him before them and clear 
 the whole plain of his forces. But they 
 were mistaken. Mukhtar Pasha knew per- 
 fectly well that the Russians had not the 
 men to invest the town completely, or cut 
 off his retreat to Ilidja, and that for some 
 
 Flan of Erzeroum and Forts. 
 
 Tchenuuk , 
 
 A >4 
 
 I 
 
 Deve Boyun. 
 
 > 5 
 
 1 
 
 > 6 
 
 Road to Hassan Kaleh. 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 o Tophale. 
 
 1 — Djahahane Tabia. 
 2—Kavak Tabia. 
 3 — Nishan Tabia. 
 A—Medjidieh Tabia, 
 6 — Azizieh Tabia. 
 
 successfully attacked the Azizieh redoubt, 
 occupied it, and made a number of prisoners ; 
 but the southern column — which, if any 
 column lost its way, must have been that 
 one — failed to carry the Ahali position 
 which, flanking the Azizieh, rendered it un- 
 tenable for the Russians, who, therefore, 
 withdrew at dawn in the presence of the 
 reinforcements which had been hurried up, 
 and which followed the retreating Russians 
 till they were thrown back on their main 
 forces on the Deve Boyun. In so far, there- 
 fore, the Turks could justly claim a victory. 
 The repulse was, no doubt, due to the 
 316 
 
 6— Ahali Tabia. 
 7 — Keremen Tabia. 
 8 — Citadel, 
 ■ Russians. 
 Ihtrks. 
 
 time to come his line of march westward 
 would be secure. He therefore naturally 
 determined to throw as many impediments 
 in the way of the Russians as he could with- 
 out compromising himself. At any time, 
 supposing the Russians attacked in force 
 from the east, south, or immediately north 
 of Erzeroum, he could fall back on the posi- 
 tions he had prepared in the west. By this 
 means he gained time for "something to 
 turn up." 
 
 Meantime the alarm in Erzeroum itself 
 was great. Cavalry soldiers, going wildly 
 about, informed the public that the Russians 
 
 A.D. 1877.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the bombardment. 
 
 had taken the Azizieh Fort. At two o'clock 
 in the morning the enemy had stormed the 
 advanced work on the southern extremity 
 of the Top Dagh. It seems they surprised 
 the garrison, and even entered into the great 
 stone barracks amid the work ; for, after- 
 wards, the Turks saw the broad scaling- 
 ladder they had left in the fosse. They had 
 surprised the sleeping sentinels and got 
 into the place before any one was rightly 
 aware of what was going on ; and it was even 
 said that the assailing force, some two com- 
 panies of grenadiers, wore fezes in order to 
 deceive the defenders. Anyhow, the Azizieh 
 Fort was taken; and it was only towards day- 
 break that Mehemed Pasha, the same officer 
 who carried the Kizil Tepe, succeeded in 
 retaking it. Had it been known what was 
 really going on at the time, a most dis- 
 astrous panic would probably have ensued. 
 
 As it was, the troops, armed citizens in- 
 cluded, remained steady at their posts. 
 Shortly after daybreak, the din of com- 
 bat got further and further off, for the 
 Turks had already assumed the aggres- 
 sive, and were fighting down at the western 
 end of the Deve Boyun Pass. A long line 
 of cavalry, supported by heavy reserves, was 
 halted across the valley mouth, whilst a 
 heavy infantry engagement went on away 
 up the pass, where the Turkish troops were 
 pursuing the Russians, who had failed to 
 hold their own in the Azizieh Fort, until a 
 body of Russian troops pushed along the 
 mountain slopes which gird the plain south 
 of Erzeroum, to sweep the Turkish line of 
 retreat. Then the Ottomans began to retire 
 precipitately, fearing lest this demonstration 
 might develop into a real attack, and, in 
 case of success, cut off their retreat. Before 
 this sudden retreat there was considerable 
 disorder. The armed townspeople, who 
 had made a sally, had allowed themselves to 
 be drawn too far, and when the enemy re- 
 assumed the offensive, withdrew with a cer- 
 tain amount of haste ; but, for the moment, 
 the danger was over. The conflict had, 
 however, been very severe, and Russian and 
 Turkish dead covered the ground within 
 and without the ramparts of Azizieh ; the 
 former, as usual under such circumstances, 
 entirely stripped of their clothing. Some 
 of the townspeople, in a spirit of uncom- 
 promising hatred, were maltreating their 
 dead enemies — one man jumping with both 
 heels on the still fresh body of a Russian, a 
 gurgling cry escaping from his mouth with 
 ^ach concussion. The bodies were buried 
 
 VOL. III. 2 T 
 
 as quickly as possible, by order of Mukhtar 
 Pasha. The Turkish loss was nearly 700 
 hors de combat, and that of the Russians 
 about 900. On November 12th, at dusk, 
 the Russians made another attempt on 
 the Medjidieh and Azizieh forts, but, for 
 the second time, without success, ancj with- 
 out inflicting much damage or loss of life 
 on the defenders and population of the 
 town. In spite of the din and roar outside 
 the places and along the ramparts, the 
 streets were quiet enough. The Armenian 
 population, like so many rabbits in a 
 burrow, sought the furthermost shelter of 
 their rickety houses ; whilst the Moslems, 
 the privileged warriors, were all at the ram- 
 parts. Nasty troops of wolf-like dogs, who 
 belong to nobody, cowered on the rubbish- 
 heaps at the corners, and showed their 
 glimmering teeth at the few passers-by, 
 called outside by the circumstances, or at 
 the half-drowned soldiers, heavily laden with 
 clot-like bread packed in their sodden 
 blankets. Poor fellows ! they took it all 
 calmly enough. There was Allah, and the 
 Padishah, and Mukhtar Pasha, who bade 
 them go ; and used as they were to obey every 
 nod of a nameless pasha, far off' in a pro- 
 vince it would take a gazetteer to find out, 
 how could they dream that victory was not 
 chained to their standards ? And yet the 
 battle of Aladja and the capture of Deve 
 Boyun were not so remote. One of the best 
 characteristics of British troops is that they 
 don't know when they are beaten. Turkish 
 soldiers possess this quality to a rare ex- 
 treme, and thus they were ready to defend 
 Erzeroum in spite of all. 
 
 Towards midnight the attack was repulsed 
 along the whole line, and all was silent till 
 the dawn should bring in its usual accom- 
 paniment of shells and rockets. These latter 
 projectiles made more noise than they could 
 do harm in an eai th-roofed, stone-built 
 town like Erzeroum. There was a great 
 deal of whizzing, followed by a blazing 
 glare of red light, and a thundering detona- 
 tion. At first these missiles frightened the 
 Turkish soldiery immensely ; but they were 
 not long getting used to them, and con- 
 sidered them no worse than shells. It was 
 curious to go out into the streets after the 
 attack. Every one was still at his post. 
 The liquid mud which, on the occasion of a 
 rainfall, takes the place of water in Erze- 
 roum, duly fumbled its heavy way down 
 the ill-paved precipitous streets ; the uneasy 
 dogs still felt inclined to snap at the untur- 
 
 317 
 
 4 ' 
 
 Ifi 
 
 * .. 
 
BLOCKADE OF ERZEROUM.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 A.D. 1878.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 baned stranger ; and from away out in the 
 plain came the pattering fire of the obstinate 
 Muscovites, unwilling to abandon their 
 attack even though repulsed. 
 
 Thus far, the fighting of the population 
 of Erzeroum was immensely superior to that 
 of Kars. Old Moslems, with long white 
 beards, and brass-ringed octagonal-stocked 
 muskets of another age, stood, hour after 
 hour, in the advanced forts, awaiting the 
 attack with a bravery that might have been 
 an example to younger men. A little 
 way further on, one saw men bearing some- 
 thing muffled in a dusky blanket. It was 
 a wounded man. Then came many more 
 such. Smothered fires gleamed along the 
 rear of the ramparts. They were lit to 
 enable men perishing in the bitter cold 
 night to stand the biting temperature. 
 Ever and anon a bugle was sounded. 
 
 followed by many another The sonnerie 
 was " Long life to the Padishah !" and wild 
 cries, far from cheerful, replied to the call. 
 But all the devotion and endurance of 
 the Turkish troops in Erzeroum could not 
 check the course of events outside, and on 
 November 20th Mukhtar Pasha was in- 
 formed of the fall of Kars, and summoned, 
 for the second time, to surrender. He re- 
 fused; and by November 23rd, already a 
 large body of troops was added to General 
 Heimann's forces, and henceforth the hopes 
 of the defenders of Erzeroum were centred, 
 not without some reason, on " General 
 Winter ; " and, it may be added, on a still 
 more powerful ally who speedily put in an 
 appearance—" General Disease." These 
 two grim officers exacted more victims in 
 Asia than in Europe, and caused Russia the 
 loss of some of her best officers. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 THE END OF THE CAMPAIGN IN ARMENIA. 
 
 In the beginning of December, a caravan 
 of camels from Persia was passed throuf^h 
 the Russian lines round Erzeroum. When 
 it came to the Russian camp, the head man 
 was asked what his goods consisted of, and 
 he replied, carpets, and that they were con- 
 signed to an agent in Erzeroum, to be 
 forwarded to England. The Russians took 
 three or four carpets, and gave the man a 
 note to the agent, saying they hoped he 
 would not charge too much, and that 
 they would pay him in a few days when 
 they came to Erzeroum. Those few days, 
 however, were spun out to eighty, for it was 
 not until February 22nd that the Russians 
 entered Erzeroum ; and then only in con- 
 sequence of the signature of the armistice. 
 
 It is true that the tenacity of the Turks 
 in holding their positions in Asia Minor, 
 had only an indirect influence on the course 
 of events, and that when the European 
 armies collapsed, the fate of Erzeroum was 
 interesting chiefly to the inhabitants only. 
 Indeed, the wisdom of the Turkish com- 
 manders in attempting to defend Asia 
 Minor with a field army at all, may be 
 doubted, and the question be asked, whether 
 it would not have been better for the Porte 
 318 
 
 to have concentrated all its forces in Euro- 
 pean Turkey. There would also have been 
 political wisdom in this step ; for the Porte 
 might have felt assured, that however 
 indifferent to the fate of Danubian Turkey, 
 the British government could by no means 
 afford to ignore the fate of Asia Minor ; 
 and that, come what might, England would, 
 in all circumstances, take care that the 
 Russians should not acquire a preponde- 
 rating influence south of the Black Sea. 
 
 However, all these considerations do not 
 alter the fact that, until December 27th, 
 when he went to Constantinople, Mukhtar 
 Pasha held his ground against the Russians 
 in Erzeroum, whilst stout old Dervish 
 Pasha did the same in Batoum. 
 
 Though within cannon-shot of the town 
 since the battle of Deve Boyun, the Russians, 
 with the exception of the two attempts to 
 storna Erzeroum, remained almost entirely 
 inactive, at least as far as hostilities were 
 concerned. Still they had been steadily 
 pushing their way down the Olti valley, 
 and behind the Palentuken mountain south- 
 east of the town, both columns gradually 
 converging to a point of union in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Ilidja. Both forces were thus 
 
 in alarming proximity to the Trebizonde 
 road, and it was only a matter of a few 
 days at the furthest for the town of Erze- 
 roum to be completely blockaded. For 
 some days past the Turks had been accus- 
 tomed to see, from the ramparts of the town, 
 the Cossacks leisurely marching from one 
 village to another, requisitioning corn and 
 forage, only three-quarters of an hour's 
 march from the Olti gate of Erzeroum. 
 The guns on the Kop Dagh opened fire, and 
 succeeded in forcing the Cossacks to retire 
 after they had asked about forage, and 
 whether any Turkish troops were concealed 
 in the village. 
 
 The Russians, however, were rapidly 
 closing round Erzeroum; and on January 
 1st, when Edhem Pasha, who occupied 
 Ilidja to watch the fords and bridges of the 
 Euphrates, started on a patrolling expedi- 
 tion towards Pernacaban, the Cossacks who 
 occupied the village of Usni, an hour and 
 a-half's march distant, took advantage of the 
 circumstance to try and surprise Ilidja. 
 At half-past four o'clock they were already, 
 to the number of some eight or nine hun- 
 dred, so close to it, that the advanced guard 
 could be counted without the aid of a glass. 
 At this juncture the Turkish cavalry, warned 
 of the danger, hurriedly returned to Ilidja, 
 but only just in time to prevent its capture. 
 The Russians advanced up to the banks of 
 the river ; but, finding they could not ar- 
 rive at the village before the Turks, they 
 drew off to their camp at Usni. The situ- 
 ation had become critical in the extreme, 
 for to maintain their communications with 
 Trebizonde open, the Turks required a much 
 larger force at Ilidja than they possessed. 
 The Kara Su, half-way between Ilidja and 
 Erzeroum, expands into an elongated sheet 
 of water, known as the Ilidja Su. It is 
 here crossed by two bridges, its depth ren- 
 dering it unfordable. While these bridges 
 were held, a formidable obstacle intervened, 
 during the summer and autumn, between 
 the Russians and the Trebizonde road, which 
 runs more or less parallel to the stream ; 
 and some flying columns of cavalry amply 
 sufficed to prevent parties of the enemy 
 from molesting the traffic. In winter, how- 
 ever, matters became greatly changed. The 
 intense cold froze the river to a depth of 
 eighteen inches ; and cavalry and ox- 
 waggons could pass across it. It practically 
 ceased to be an obstacle ; and the Russians 
 did not neglect to take advantage of the cir- 
 cumstance to possess themselves of the road 
 
 [TURKISH CARELESSNESS. 
 
 on its southern bank leading to Trebizonde, 
 and on January 4th, at about ten o'clock in 
 the forenoon, six battalions of Russian 
 infantry, preceded by two regiments of 
 cavalry, boldly crossed the Kara Su, and 
 took possession of Ilidja. Their first act 
 was to cut the telegraph wires, and to 
 throw out vedettes in the direction of Bai- 
 burt ; whilst Edhem Pasha, supposing that 
 he saw only the advanced guard of a whole 
 army corps, immediately fell back hurriedly 
 upon Aschkale. 
 
 A correspondent of the Daily News was 
 quietly reclining on the floor of his oda at 
 Aschkale, the best in the miserable village, 
 that of the local magnate or Bey, when 
 Edhem Pasha, looking like King Christmas 
 white from head to foot with hoar frost, 
 rushed in, and divesting himself of his 
 numerous fur coats, and head and face 
 wrappers, threw himself on a mattress at 
 the fire opposite that occupied by the cor- 
 respondent. He seemed greatly perturbed 
 in spirit. He gave several orders in rapid 
 succession about outposts and vedettes, and 
 then his servant produced a large wicker- 
 covered gallon bottle of rhaki. 
 
 He turned abruptly to the correspondent, 
 and asked what his countrymen were about. 
 England seemed going to sleep, he said. 
 "There is Erzeroum completely blocked; 
 its last avenue of communication with the 
 outer world cut off; all the same as lost." 
 And he continued pouring out his dis- 
 satisfaction in the same strain for about an 
 hour. 
 
 The "Special" felt glad that he had 
 taken the rather emphatic hint of the Cos- 
 sacks on the previous evening, and left 
 Ilidja there and then. Edhem Pasha seemed . 
 divided in opinion as to whether he should 
 retreat on Erzingian, or merely push for- 
 ward to Pernacaban. "You'll have the 
 Russian cavalry here to-morrow," he said 
 " and there is no knowing how we may be 
 cut off." ^ 
 
 He asked if General Kemball was still at 
 Pernacaban, and on being answered in the 
 affirmative, proposed going to him the next . 
 day. 
 
 The evening wore on with such talk, and 
 orderlies and officers coming and going con- 
 tinually on one business or another, when, 
 at about half-past nine in the evening, an 
 orderly arrived with a despatcli, to the 
 effect that, the same afternoon, Mehemed 
 Pasha had made a sortie from Erzeroum in 
 connection with a flank movement led by 
 
 319 
 
 i 
 
 ':! 
 
 i 
 
 / 
 
ERZEROUM INVESTED.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 '[A.D. 1878. 
 
 si 
 
 Ismail Pasha, and that the Russians, after 
 a brief cannonade, had evacuated the vil- 
 lage, and retired across the river again. 
 The pasha thereupon somewhat regained 
 his composure, and immediately issued 
 orders for the entire force to be ready to 
 march back to Ilidja within an hour. 
 
 Then followed a scene of confusion such 
 as has been rarely witnessed. Bugles 
 sounded and re-sounded in vain. There 
 was no response save on the part of the 
 local guard and a couple of dozen Kara- 
 kalpaks, or irregular horsemen. The pasha 
 stormed and raved, despatched his second 
 in command and his aides-de-camp hither 
 and thither, but all in vain. 
 
 " Where are the officers ? where are the 
 men ? " 
 
 "In the different villages,'' was the 
 reply. 
 
 In fact, the thing was only reasonable, 
 inasmuch as no orders had been given on 
 the subject. Aschkale was a miserable 
 tumble-down hamlet of a few dozen cabins 
 crowded by an excessive population. It 
 was impossible to find quarters for 1,600 
 men and horses there ; and the subordinate 
 officers had given carte blanche to their 
 men to find lodgings where and when they 
 could. 
 
 The night was bitterly cold, and a kind 
 of sniothering smoke like frozen mist filled 
 the air, rendering a man invisible at fifty 
 3^ards. Just the sort of weather for a sur- 
 prise, had the Russians been in a position 
 to effect one. The soldiers accordingly 
 went off in scattered parties to different 
 villages, some two, three, and four, and 
 even ten miles distant. This may seem in- 
 . credible; but it is positively true. Some 
 came as far as Pernacaban, ^ three hours' 
 ride from Aschkale. Orderlies' were at once 
 sent ofif to the surrounding villages to order 
 the men in ; but notwithstanding every effort, 
 not more than five or six hundred could be 
 got together by midnight. There were 
 fragmentary squadrons without officers, 
 and officers without men. Possibly this 
 scattering of the troops was the only avail- 
 320 
 
 able means of finding the cover so impera- 
 tively necessary, for it was almost certain 
 death to attempt bivouacking on such a 
 night ; but with the enemy in such supposed 
 dangerous proximity, it was courting cer- 
 tain destruction. 
 
 The pasha, having seen this fraction of 
 his command on their way back to Ilidja, 
 went to bed ; but started himself long before' 
 daylight in the same direction. He did 
 not, however, remain long in Ilidja. On 
 January 8th, he suddenly put in an appear- 
 ance at Pernacaban, on the road to Baiburt, 
 announcing that the Russians had occupied 
 Aschkale with a considerable force, he him- 
 self narrowly escaping being made prisoner. 
 ^ He owed his escape to the timely warn- 
 ing of his host, who informed him that the 
 Russian cavalry was advancing its flanks to 
 surround the village. The bulk of the Zap- 
 tieh cavalry and Karakalpaks were stationed 
 at Karabuyouk Khan, two hours and a-half 
 distant along .the Erzeroum road. The 
 Cossacks, moving stealthily along the oppo- 
 site bank of the frozen Kara Su, under 
 cover of the dense snow-fog, and crossing 
 on the ice, succeeded in surprising the 
 Turks, some 600 strong. There was no 
 fighting. The Ottomans fled in disorder. 
 Those who were well mounted fled across 
 the plain, scattering in every direction ; 
 and those whose horses failed them were 
 either cut down or made prisoners. The 
 Russians then immediately advanced, occu- 
 pying Aschkale, and pushing a force to- 
 wards Pernacaban, three hours' march 
 further on. 
 
 With this evacuation of Ilidja by the 
 Turks, the investment all round Erzeroum, 
 by the Russians, could no longer be pre- 
 vented; and henceforth, neither army nor 
 garrison did anything but keep in its posi- 
 tions until the town was entered, in accord- 
 ance with the terms of the armistice, which 
 was signed on January 31st. Batoum, how- 
 ever, still held out, and resisted, success- 
 tuUy, a determined attack by the Russians 
 on January 30th, the day before the armis- 
 tice was signed. 
 
 t 
 
 
 I 
 
 m 
 
 f' 
 
 "♦ *i 
 
A.D. 1878.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the BRITISH FLECT. 
 
 1 i 
 
 
 2 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 THE ABMISTICE, 
 
 With Adrianople in the bands of the Rus- 
 sians, and their armies converging in every 
 direction upon Constantinople, it became 
 clear to the Turks that the supreme mo- 
 ment had at last arrived ; and that what- 
 ever diversity of opinion might prevail as to 
 the course of action to be ultimately adopted, 
 it was absolutely necessary to stay the 
 advance of the Russians. As this could not 
 be done by force, there was nothing left but 
 to submit to the Russian conditions for an 
 armistice, which armistice, however, was to 
 depend upon the agreement as to the bases 
 of a definite peace. True, at one moment 
 it seemed as though there was another way 
 out of the difficulty. That was when the 
 British fleet, under Admiral Hornby, sud- 
 denly arrived from Besika Bay at the mouth 
 of the Dardanelles on January 25th. 
 
 Crowds lined the shores on both sides of 
 the Hellespont. The enthusiasm amongst 
 the Turks was at its height. ^' At last," 
 they said, "the English are convinced 
 the Russians are not fighting for the Bul- 
 garian Christians, and are coming to help 
 us." But when the flag-ship of Vice- 
 Admiral Hornby, the Sultan, was abreast the 
 Castles of the Dardanelles, a boat put ofi" 
 from the shore. Presently the fleet came 
 to a standstill in mid-channel, the ships 
 blowing off" steam. H.M.S. Sultan saluted 
 the Turkish flag, and the salute was immedi- 
 ately returned by Fort Sultanieh ; then, 
 right-about-face, the whole of the vessels 
 steamed outside the Straits again, whence 
 they had so recently come. This was in 
 consequence of a telegram from Mr. Layard, 
 to the effect that the Porte refused, in virtue 
 of the treaties, to allow the fleet to pass the 
 Straits. It had been presumed that, as the 
 Porte had given the requisite permission to 
 pass the Dardanelles on a previous occasion, 
 this would remain valid, or that no difficulty 
 would be found in obtaining fresh permis- 
 sion, and Mr. Layard was requested by Lord 
 Derby to obtain the necessary document. 
 The Porte refused, alleging that the cir- 
 cumstances had changed. The preliminary 
 conditions of peace and the armistice liad 
 been agreed to, though not yet signed ; and 
 
 the advance of the fleet would be construed 
 as hostile to Russia. The allegation as to 
 the protection of the lives and property of 
 British subjects was admitted on all hands 
 to be insufficient, the condition of the 
 capital having improved, and the danger of 
 disturbances having become immensely less 
 since the armistice and the presence of the 
 Russian army in virtual possession of the 
 lines of Constantinople. The Turks, more- 
 over, pointed out, that if the fleet entered 
 with permission, the Russians would pro- 
 bably occupy the city; and it was even 
 asserted that the Grand Duke Nicholas had 
 telegraphed to this eflfect on hearing of the 
 proposal. Whether true, or not, that the 
 grand duke uttered this threat — probably 
 not, as otherwise Lord Derby would cer- 
 tainly have made mention of it in one of 
 his tattling moments — it is certain that the 
 Russians took credit to themselves for this 
 sudden flight of the British fleet ; and, on 
 the following day, a placard was posted up 
 on the gates of the British embassy, and at 
 other places, on which were printed the 
 words, in large type — " Lost, between Besika 
 Bay and Constantinople, an ironclad fleet. 
 Any one giving information will be hand- 
 somely rewarded." 
 
 But, though the fleet failed to accomplish 
 its ostensible object, the real object of its 
 despatch to the Dardanelles had been 
 attained. This was, to hurry on the negotia' 
 tions, and relieve the minds of ministers 
 and the public as to their nature. 
 
 On January 27th the Grand Duke Nicho- 
 las arrived at Adrianople, accompanied by 
 the Turkish ambassadors, who had been 
 sent to arrange the terms of the armistice 
 and the bases of the future peace. Little 
 progress was made at first, however, for two 
 reasons, both of the same kind. The Rus- 
 sians wanted to gain time for their armies 
 to reach the points they had determined to 
 reach in order to consolidate their position ; 
 whilst the Turks also desired ardently to gain 
 time in hopes of " something turning up " 
 in their favour. To attain this object they 
 both adopted the simple plan of referring 
 to head -quarters — that is to say, to St. 
 
 3^1 
 
 
 1, 1 
 
 HI 
 
THE NEGOTIATIONS. J 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Petersburg and Constantinople. Hence 
 endless delays, real confusion amongst the 
 Turks, and a well-calculated confusion 
 amongst the Russians in the matter of orders 
 sent, or not sent — as best suited the purpose 
 — to the commanders of the different armv 
 corps and detachments. 
 
 At the same time, both the grand duke 
 ' and M. Nelidoff professed to have no power 
 to discuss conditions. They simply offered 
 their terms, and gave the Turks the alterna- 
 tive of acceptance or refusal. After two 
 days' negotiations the Turks decided to re- 
 fuse, although the grand duke and M. Neli- 
 doff used every argument to persuade them 
 to accept, informing them that the march 
 of the armies would be stopped the moment 
 they consented, and that their refusal was 
 the destruction of the Turkish empire, 
 which Russia had no wish to bring about. 
 
 They were informed that Adrianople and 
 Philippopoli were taken, the army of Sulei- 
 man completely destroyed, and that the 
 Russians would continue to march upon 
 Constantinople unless they accepted. 
 
 Namyk Pasha exclaimed, " Well, then, if 
 the Ottoman empire must perish, let it 
 perish by force. We will never sign our 
 own death-warrant.'' 
 
 He was, however, induced to reconsider 
 this decision, and he and Server Pasha asked 
 two hours for reflection. At the end of 
 this time they answered that they could not 
 accept. 
 
 Both the Russians and the Turks declined 
 to tell any one the conditions, but Sir 
 A. Layard was able to obtain them in- 
 directly, and to communicate their general 
 drift to his government at home. The 
 Turks objected, more or less, to all the con- 
 ditions ; but the one which prevented the 
 agreement was the Bulgarian autonomy. 
 They were ready to yield every other point 
 but this, which they considered equivalent 
 to the destruction of the Turkish power in 
 Europe. They were willing to grant auto- 
 nomy, as provided for in the programme of 
 the conference. The Russians replied to 
 this, that the programme of the conference 
 was the minimum reduced to the most 
 slender proportions in order to avoid war. 
 As this object was not obtained, they must 
 now demand a far more efficient kind of 
 autonomy, something like that of Servia 
 and Roumania, with Bulgaria extending 
 very near Constantinople on one side, and 
 to Salonica on the other. This was, of 
 course, equivalent to the extinction of 
 
 [A.D. 1878. 
 
 322 
 
 Turkish power everywhere in Europe, except 
 merely Constantinople. This they would 
 not accept. They were willing to cede Kara 
 and Erzeroum, willing to grant the com- 
 plete mdependence of Roumania and Servia 
 the free passage of the Straits to the Rus- 
 sian fleet, and a war indemnity, but not 
 the autonomy of Bulgaria. 
 
 It was just on this point, however, that 
 the Russians were the most rigid. They 
 left all the other questions for ulterior dis- 
 cussion, apparently recognising the fact that 
 all those questions concerned Europe, and 
 not Russia and Turkey alone. On the one 
 question of Bulgarian autonomy only were 
 they inflexible. There was no question of 
 the cession of the Turkish fleet ; thoucrh, of 
 course, that might arise in ulterior discus- 
 sions on the question of a war indemnity. 
 The whole course of the negotiations showed 
 that Russia wished to conclude a direct and 
 separate peace with Turkey, however much 
 the conditions of that peace might be after- 
 wards discussed and modified by Europe. 
 These conditions were, a cession of territory 
 in Asia, the question of the Straits, and a 
 war indemnity. Although she meant to 
 force the Turks to consent to these things 
 m principle, she expected Europe to 
 sanction their confirmation and application. 
 In this way Russian diplomacy offered no 
 hold to the English government to seize as 
 a pretext for war ; for England could not 
 declare war to prevent Bulgarian autonomy, 
 the only question on which the Russians 
 professed to be inflexible. 
 
 At last, however, the Turks yielded, and on 
 January 31st the armistice was signed at 
 Adrianopl(i, and Count Keller was sent 
 by General Skobeloff from Tchataldja to 
 Mukhtar Pasha at Kadikoi, to arrange the 
 lines of demarcation and the neutral ground 
 between the two armies during the armis- 
 tice. General Skobeloffs head-quarters were 
 to remain at Tchataldja until the signature 
 of peace. His cavalry arrived there on 
 February 6th, and ho himself, with the 
 head of his infantry column, on the follow- 
 ing day. General Gourko's advance guard 
 arrived in Silivri, on the coast of the Sea of 
 Marmora, on February 7th also. 
 
 There was some difficulty in getting the 
 Turks to evacuate the ground stipulated in 
 the protocol, though it was agreed that tliey 
 should evacuate all their positions by Febru- 
 ary 6th. It was to see if they meant to do 
 so or not, as well as to arrange the lines of 
 demarcation, that Count Keller went to 
 
 A.D. 1878.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [tchataldja evacuated. 
 
 Kadikoi ; in fact, Mukhtar Pasha had not, 
 until a late hour at night, received any in- 
 formation about the terms of the armistice 
 from Constantinople, and thought the two 
 armies were simply to remain where they 
 were at the moment the armistice was 
 signed, and he was surprised to find the 
 Russian troops continually advancing. 
 
 Thus when General Strukoff, of Skobeloffs 
 cavalry, arrived on February 5th at Silivri, 
 he found the Turks still there ; and they at 
 first refused to leave the place, as they had 
 had no orders to that efi'ect. It was not 
 till he brought up a battery, and threatened 
 to fire on them, that they finally consented 
 to leave. It was stipulated in the protocol 
 that the Russian lines should be from Buyuk 
 Tchekmedje, on the Sea of Marmora, along 
 the right bank of the Kara Su river to the 
 Lake of Derkos, on the Black Sea ; and the 
 Turkish line from Kujuk Tchekmedje, on the 
 Sea of Marmora, to the village of Ak Bunar, 
 on the Black Sea, leaving a space of about 
 seven miles between the lines as neutral 
 ground. The village of Derkos was on 
 neutral ground, as was also the whole 
 Turkish line of defence, and the fortifica- 
 tions of Buyuk Tchekmedje. The Turks 
 really abandoned their last line of defence, 
 and left Constantinople at the mercy of the 
 Russians, with the line of Kujuk Tchekmedje, 
 not fortified, nor were they allowed to work 
 on them by the terms of the armistice. 
 
 In consenting to this arrangement. Server 
 and Namyk Pashas must either have been 
 completely panic-stricken, thinking that 
 the only way to keep the Russians from 
 Constantinople was thus to throw them- 
 selves on the generosity of the grand duke, 
 or else, having abandoned all hope, they 
 wished to give the Russians a proof of their 
 sincerity in thus needlessly abandoning 
 their last line of defence. The fact is, the 
 Russians could not have attacked these 
 lines for fully two weeks, as they would not 
 have had up enough infantry to do so, for 
 the positions were amongst the most formid- 
 able in the world. 
 
 The valley of Kara Su, far above Tcha- 
 taldja, is nothing but a marsh, crossed by 
 one or two causeways, over which no troops 
 could have passed for fully two months; 
 and it was further shortened by the Lake 
 of Derkos. The possible line of attack was 
 not over seven or eight miles long, not 
 more than a third of the length of Osman's 
 lines at Plevna, and Mukhtar had 30,000 
 .or 40,000 men, good, bad, and indifferent, 
 
 with whom he might have held this line at 
 any hazai;d, and the Russians could not 
 have insisted on its evacuation, for the reason 
 that they could not be ready to attack for 
 two weeks. In their possession this line 
 would have put the Turks on a much better 
 footing for the peace negotiations. How- 
 ever, they abandoned all idea of holding it, 
 and Mukhtar received orders to give it up. 
 He only asked for a delay of three days to 
 remove his heavy artillery and stores, and 
 promised to evacuate the line by February 
 1 0th. General Skobeloff informally granted 
 that delay, while reserving to himself the 
 right to watch the proceedings step by step, 
 and see that they were really carried out. 
 He informed Mukhtar that unless he saw 
 that the evacuation was taking place, he 
 should consider himself authorised, by this 
 continued violation of the armistice, to 
 occupy the neutral ground, and seize what- 
 ever war material, cannon, &c., he might 
 find there. As Skobeloff had not yet 
 enough troops up to attack these formidable 
 positions, this threat was what the Ameri- 
 cans call a game of bluff. The grand duke, 
 however, considered it of the greatest im- 
 portance to have these positions evacuated 
 at once, and Skobeloff tried to get it done 
 by means of threats and bluster in lieu of 
 force, which he had not yet got at his dis- 
 posal. 
 
 The reason for this anxiety to obtain 
 possession of the coveted lines was evident. 
 Peace was not certain until it was signed. 
 Meantime the Russians had the possibility 
 of English interference continually before 
 their eyes — an event which a discussion of 
 the conditions of peace might still bring 
 about. But, with the lines of Buyuk 
 Tchekmedje in their possession, as they 
 virtually would be when the Turks evacuated 
 them, Constantinople was practically as 
 much in their hands as if there were 
 sentinels at the doors of St. Sophia. 
 
 Meantime, however, both Turks and 
 Russians tried hard to deceive each other. 
 The Turks assured the Russians that they 
 had 85,000 men behind their lines. The 
 Russians assured the Turks that they had 
 100,000 ready to attack upon a moment's 
 notice, and were only restrained from doing 
 so by consideration for them. 
 
 On February 10th, however, true to his 
 promise, Mukhtar Pasha completed the 
 evacuation of the neutral territory. All 
 his army retired behind the lines of Buyuk 
 Tchekmedje; but the heavy artillery still 
 
 323 
 
 
 P 
 
 pi 
 
 • '.i 
 
N 
 
 1 
 
 THE BRITISH FLEET.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1878. 
 
 A.D. 1878.] 
 
 remained in position, and a good deal of 
 war material was still on neutr^il ground, 
 because the Turks could not remove it. 
 Skobeloff told Mukhtar to at least remove 
 the guns from their platforms. Constan- 
 tinople was thus virtually in the hands of 
 the Russians, just as much as if they were 
 already in the place. They had the sense 
 not to enter, that was all. Skoheloff, while 
 going over the lines of delimitation, was 
 near enough to see the place. He and the 
 whole of his staff, with the escort, sat on 
 their horses and gazed on the capital for 
 some minutes. There was some disappoint- 
 ment expressed that they should not have 
 been allowed to march in ; but all were in 
 general very glad the war was over. 
 
 There was still, however, considerable 
 alarm lest a conflict should arise between 
 England and Russia; for, with the occupation 
 of the Tchataldja lines, Russia had played 
 the first of her trump cards. Constan- 
 tinople was threatened. With this threat 
 the necessity for action to protect British 
 interests had arisen ; and, in spite of dis- 
 sensions at home, and in spite of the pro- 
 tests of the Porte, the British fleet was 
 ordered to pass the Dardanelles, and take 
 up any position, within easy distance of 
 Constantinople, that might appear suitable 
 to the admiral. If necessary. Admiral 
 Hornby was to force an entrance. The 
 Porte, however, contented itself with a pro- 
 test, and Admiral Hornby arrived with his 
 fleet in the Sea of Marmora on February 
 14th, and anchored off Princes' Islands. 
 
 The movement was dictated, not so much 
 by the presence of the Russians so close to 
 Constantinople, as by the knowledge, which 
 had been allowed to leak out, of the 
 conditions of peace which the Russians laid 
 down. These were such that, if insisted 
 on, war between England and Rus^sia was 
 inevitable. It was therefore absolutely 
 necessary that a force should be on the 
 spot ready to keep the Straits open in case 
 of necessity. 
 
 Meantime, pending the signature of 
 peace, both Russians and Turks lost no op- 
 portunity of strengthening their positions, 
 in view of a possible resumption of hos- 
 tilities. Rustzuk was given up to General 
 Todleben on February 21st ; the Turks were 
 retreating to Schumla and Varna, in com- 
 pliance with the terms of the armistice; 
 whilst, on the other hand, the lines of Bulair 
 stretching across the isthmus of Gallipoli, 
 and Gallipoli itself, were strongly garrisoned 
 324 
 
 by the Turks, and Mukhtar Pasha and Me- 
 hemed Ali were indefatigable in strength- 
 ening the lines before Constantinople, 
 from the Black Sea down to the extreme 
 limit of the neutral zone by San Stefano. 
 The Russians, on their side, held the whole 
 country west of Constantinople, along a 
 line drawn from Derkos on the Black^Sea 
 to Buyuk Tchekmedje on the Sea of 
 Marmora, as well as the northern coast of 
 the Sea of Marmora, whence a neutral zone, 
 two miles either side of Examile, was drawn 
 to the Gulf of Enos, north of the isthmus 
 of Gallipoli, and separated the Russian 
 lines from the lines of Bulair, which 
 stretched across the isthmus from sea to 
 
 sea. 
 
 Already, by the middle of February, the 
 Turks, if it had been necessary, could have 
 made a stronger resistance on the Gallipoli 
 fortifications than was generally supposed^ 
 Though Constantinople was virtually in the 
 hands of the Russians, Gallipoli was far 
 from being similarly situated without a 
 severe struggle. Twenty-two thousand 
 Turkish troops were in the lines of the 
 fortifications, with fifty Krupp cannons of 
 large calibre on the modern system, and 
 thirty-six on the old system. Ammunition 
 trains were constantly leaving for the lines, 
 notwithstanding the probability of the pre- 
 liminaries of peace being speedily signed ; 
 whilst three ironclads of the British°fleet, 
 with Vice-Admiral Commerell on board, 
 were watching the Straits. The Flamingo 
 was at Rodosto, and three other vessels of 
 the fleet in the Gulf of Ismid, with 
 Admiral Hornby ; whilst three more were 
 cruising between Enos and the north- 
 western coast of the Gallipoli Peninsula, in 
 the Gulf of Saros, watching the movements 
 of the Russians. 
 
 Under these circumstances the negotia- 
 tions for the definite signature of peace 
 were carried on. All three countries, Eng- 
 land, Turkey, and Russia, were quietly but 
 actively preparing for the worst, and in- 
 trigue, diplomacy, and war were mixed up 
 in a conflict for the supremacy, to a degree 
 which made this period one of intense 
 excitement and anxiety. All three countries 
 were trying to find a way out of the wood ; 
 but the worst of it was, that even supposing 
 a way was found, it by no means followed 
 that it would suit all three ; so that, in fact, 
 three roads had to be cut out of the densest 
 undergrowth of political brushwood that 
 ever perplexed a craftsman. 
 
 \ 
 
 Thus no one was surprised to hear that 
 the Russians took the opportunity, when the 
 British fleet arrived, to reply by a counter 
 move. On February 21st, General Gourko 
 suddenly left Adrianople, his staff receiving 
 only two hours' notice of his departure ; and 
 next day it was known that the whole of the 
 head-quarters' stafif. General Ignatieff, and 
 the Diplomatic Chancery, were to start on 
 the following morning for San Stefano, close 
 to the south-western gate of Constantinople, 
 and there was a forward movement of the 
 Russian troops. 
 
 This sudden change of plans was coinci- 
 dent with the news of the fall of Server 
 Pasha ; and it was this which seemed to have 
 decided the movement, although it had 
 evidently been in contemplation before, as 
 an answer to the coming of the British fleet. 
 The coming of the fleet was the second 
 trump played out to follow the Russian 
 first, and the coming of the Russians to San 
 Stefano was their reply. 
 
 However, General Ignatieff was very glad 
 of a good pretext for getting nearer Con- 
 stantinople. The negotiations had been 
 going on slowly, although Safvet Pasha was 
 supposed to have full powers to treat. But, 
 in fact, he continually refused to accept 
 point after point without orders from Con- 
 stantinople, and telegraphic communication 
 was constantly mysteriously interrupted. 
 He was three or four days getting an answer. 
 It was the same with the telegrams to 
 General Ignatieff. They were four or five 
 days en route. 
 
 Then Safvet Pasha was taken ill, and it 
 was with the greatest difficulty General 
 Ignatieff could get him to go on with the 
 work. He wanted, from the first, to await 
 the arrival of Saadoullah Bey from Berlin. 
 He had completely forgotten the whole pro- 
 gramme of the conference, and had to be 
 continually referred to it. Again, he did 
 not know the lines of delimitation agreed 
 upon in the armistice, and had no map. 
 He had to accept whatever the Russians 
 told him on this head. One day he com- 
 plained to General Ignatieff of the depre- 
 dations of the Circassians in some village 
 south of Sophia, and asked if the Russians 
 could not stop it. General Ignatieff showed 
 him that this village was on the Turkish 
 side of the neutral ground, and therefore it 
 was the business of the Turks to keep order, 
 but offered to send Russian troops there if 
 he wished to punish the Circassians. Under 
 such circumstances it was most diflScult to 
 
 VOL. IJI. 2 U 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [Russians in san stefano. 
 
 
 push the negotiations rapidly. General 
 Ignatieiff said the end of it would be, that he 
 would have to deliver an ultimatum in 
 order to get peace signed. 
 
 It is impossible to say whether these 
 delays were caused by the natural and 
 ordinary unreadiness of the Turks, or by a 
 wish to gain time. General Ignatieff 
 thought, or professed to think, that the 
 knowledge of the views of the powers during 
 the conference had much to do with it, and 
 that the Turks imagined that no peace signed 
 under such circumstances could be final 
 and conclusive — a view borne out by sub- 
 sequent events. Then came news of the fall 
 of Server Pasha, and Safvet said that the 
 negotiations must be suspended until fur- 
 ther orders. 
 
 This was the last straw on the camel's 
 back. It was immediately decided to go to 
 San Stefano, the consent of the Turks to 
 that step having been previously obtained. 
 The Turks also agreed to abandon the last 
 line of defence, Kujuk Tchekmedje. All 
 these delays gave General Ignatieff the 
 very pretext he wanted to get nearer to 
 Constantinople — a step which he insisted 
 upon most strongly. 
 
 The grand duke, hereupon, left Adrian- 
 ople on February 22nd, with the head- 
 quarters' staff. It was a .beautiful day. 
 Everybody was in the best spirits, delighted 
 at the exchange of the muddy streets of 
 Adrianople for the pretty village of San 
 Stefano, on the shores of the Sea of Mar- 
 mora. 
 
 They arrived at Tchataldja about six in 
 the evening. Here General Skobeloffs 
 corps, and part of the guards, were drawn 
 up to receive the grand duke. He reviewed 
 them, and found the troops, having had a 
 rest, in excellent condition ; but when on 
 the point of continuing the journey, he was 
 accosted by Tahir Bey, the Turkish officer 
 appointed for regulating the lines of delimi- 
 tation, who, for some days, had been at 
 Skobeleff's head-quarters. Tahir said that 
 Mukhtar Pasha had had no orders to with- 
 draw his troops from Kujuk Tchekmedje. 
 He could not, therefore, allow the Russian 
 troops to occupy these positions, nor to go 
 to San Stefano. 
 
 This was news indeed, and of the most 
 serious nature. The Turks were refusing to 
 do what they had agreed upon, and were 
 stopping the grand duke after allowing him 
 to come as far as Tchataldja. Had the 
 Turks held out, there could have been only 
 
 325 
 
 k 
 
 
 ..1 
 
 
 
 
THE GRAND DUKE'S WRATH.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [\ 
 
 one result — the assault of the Turkish posi- 
 tions next morning at daybreak. 
 
 The moment was an exciting one, and for 
 a couple of hours the two enemies seemed 
 again on the brink of war. The telegraph 
 was set going, but nothing seemed to come 
 of it; and, finally, the grand duke grew 
 very angry and indignant. He thought he 
 was being trifled with. The spirit of his 
 father rose within him ; and as he walked 
 up, his resemblance to the Emperor Nicholas 
 was striking, and it was still more evident 
 when he called Tahir Bey, and said to him, 
 with an energy that made the latter 
 tremble — " Go and tell Mukhtar Pasha, 
 that when I give an order he must obey 
 it, and at once, or it will be the worse for 
 him. Go." 
 
 There was a dead silence for a moment. 
 Everybody felt the gravity of the situation. 
 Tahir withdrew precipitately, sprang upon 
 a locomotive, and in a moment was'' flying 
 through the darkness down over the line to 
 Kujuk Tchekmedje, as fast as steam could 
 carry him. It was then known by all the 
 officers present, that unless the Turks 
 abandoned the positions instantly, they 
 would be attacked at daylight. The situa- 
 tion was considered very critical. Peace was 
 trembling in the balance, and yet there was 
 not the slightest desire expressed at head- 
 quarters for the continuance of the war 
 under any circumstances whatever. 
 
 Mr. Gladstone seemed to fear the danger 
 of the army escaping from the control of 
 cooler heads at St. Petersburg. There was 
 not the slightest danger of this. There had 
 not been a move without orders. The 
 British fleet had done its work most eff"ectu- 
 ally, and the Russians knew, best of all, how 
 critical their position was in spite of their 
 apparent advantages, and that they had no 
 chance in a war with England. The aver- 
 sion of the grand duke for the continuation 
 of the war was shown in a somewhat 
 amusing way. While waiting for the 
 result of Tahir's mission, the question of 
 what was going to happen was criticised in 
 an animated manner. The grand duke, 
 who was excited and indignant at the situa- 
 tion, asked Skobeloff", it is said, what he 
 thought of it. The latter, with the reck- 
 less indifiference which characterised him, 
 replied — 
 
 " For my part, Monseigneur, I think we 
 shall have to fight England." 
 
 " Oh, but you are a madman," exclaimed 
 
 the grand duke in a half-angry manner, 
 
 326 b ^ J 
 
 [A.D 1878. 
 
 turning from him, and spitting as every 
 Russian peasant spits when anything dis- 
 pleases him. 
 
 Finally, after two hours, news came that 
 the positions were being evacuated by 
 Mukhtar, and that the Russians were march- 
 ing in. At midnight the train was again 
 in motion, and at two o'clock on Sunday 
 'morning the grand duke was in San Stefano. 
 The line Kujuk Tchekmedje was abandoned 
 completely by Mukhtar, who withdrew his 
 forces behind the little creek that empties 
 itself into the Marmora, half-way between 
 San Stefano and Yedi Kuleh. 
 
 The Russians were delighted with the 
 pretty little place. San Stefano, though 
 not a Dutch model of cleanliness at any 
 time, appeared quite clean and bright, after 
 Bulgaria. The weather was delicious, and 
 the quay and sea-shore presented a very 
 animated appearance, lined with oflScers in 
 brilliant uniforms, ladies, and the popula- 
 tion walking up and down, listening to the 
 music played all day long. It was very 
 pleasant to watch the glimmer of the sun- 
 shine over the Sea of Marmora, with Mount 
 Olympus in the misty distance. Numerous 
 boats and caiques gave animation to the 
 scene close at hand, and picturesque groups 
 of Cossacks bathing their horses were con- 
 tinually seen. General Ignatieff" inhabited 
 a pretty villa, whose walls were washed by 
 the waves, and from the windows of which 
 the minarets of St. Sophia were plainly 
 visible. It was here that peace was to be 
 signed. 
 
 As regards the progress of the negotia- 
 tions, no point had been touched upon but 
 questions relating to Bulgaria, and little 
 advance had been made even in the arrange- 
 ment of the frontiers. True, the outlines h'ad 
 been generally arranged, but the details in 
 no case had been settled ; and it was just on 
 the details the Turks made their chief stand. 
 
 When General Ignatieff, to induce Safvet 
 Pasha to hurry the negotiations, told him 
 that the Russian military expenses were 
 2,000,000 roubles daily, and that for every 
 day's delay this sum would have to be 
 added to the war indemnity, he exclaimed 
 — "But this sum is enormous I Why do 
 you spend so much on your army ? We do 
 not spend a tenth of this sum on ours. 
 You pay your officers too much. Your 
 army is too expensive ; and it is not right 
 we should pay for it." 
 
 Then Safvet objected to Rasgrad being in- 
 cluded in Bulgaria, because it was a Mus- 
 
 A.D. 1878.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 Fpeace signed. 
 
 *.,'( 
 
 Bulman town, although in the middle of a 
 Christian country. General Ignatieff could 
 only reply---" If you will pick up Rasgrad, 
 and carry it bodily out of the country, we 
 shall be glad to get rid of it ; but we can- 
 not allow it to remain under Turkish rule 
 as long as it is where it is." 
 
 Then the Turks continually harked back 
 to the condition of things before the war, and 
 denied that there were ever any massacres 
 in Bulgaria to the extent asserted by the 
 Russians, and maintained that Edib Effendi's 
 report, whicli Mr, Schuyler and Mr. Baring 
 called a tissue of falsehoods, was quite 
 correct and truthful. This shows how in- 
 corrigible the Turkish officials were. Even 
 after all the disasters brought upon them- 
 selves, they still clung to the old story, and 
 refused to see that there was any cause for 
 complaint, or any necessity for reform. 
 
 If General Ignatieff had been contented 
 to go back over the old ground, and dis- 
 cuss questions which had been settled long 
 ago, the peace negotiations might have 
 lasted a year. He was continually obliged 
 to recall them to the subject in hand, and 
 pin them down to it. At last, however, 
 what with threats, cajoling, promises, and 
 appeals, the terms of the proposed peace 
 were agreed to on March 3rd. 
 
 In General Ignatieffs quarters, in a little 
 house by the sea-side at San Stefano, shaken 
 by the increasing gale that tore across the 
 Sea of Marmora, were busy, all night long, 
 the secretaries of both diplomatic bodies, 
 copying and arranging for the signatures 
 the treaty of peace, the result of the con- 
 cluded negotiations. All night long Prince 
 Tzereteleff' dictated the treaty to his col- 
 league, Chebachoff, who wrote and wrote 
 through the long hours until the document 
 was finished. Although wearied by con- 
 tinuous labour, these two secretaries, 
 appreciating the value of their work, kept 
 at their task, only stopping for refreshment 
 and to listen to tlie scratch of the reeds of 
 the Turkish secretaries in an adjoining 
 room, busy with their own copy, until the 
 dull dawn found them still at the table, 
 Countess Ignatieff herself looking in every 
 now and then to see that they were not 
 neglecting their work. Then, the last 
 word being on paper, they slept amid 
 the confusion of documents, maps, and 
 Volumes. 
 
 Scarcely was it daylight when, notwith- 
 standing the storm, there was an unusual 
 movement in the village. There was a 
 
 general idea that peace was to be signed that 
 day. The steamers from Constantinople 
 came rolling along through the rough sea, 
 overladen with excursionists attracted by 
 the review which had been announced to 
 take place in celebration of the anniver- 
 sary of the Czar's accession to the throne. 
 Greeks, Bulgarians, Turks, and Russians 
 crowded the little village, besieging the 
 restaurants, swarming about the doors of 
 houses whence were supposed to issue some 
 of the great personages who were to become 
 famous in history, all impatiently awaiting 
 the hour of 2 p.m., the appointed time of 
 the review. The horses of the grand duke 
 and his staff were gathered about the 
 entrance to his quarters, and keen-eyed 
 spectators, ready to interpret the slightest 
 movement of the commander-in-chief, 
 formed unbroken ranks around the group 
 of horses in the street. 
 
 One o'clock passed. Two o'clock passed, 
 and still no movement. People began to grow 
 serious, began to feel that something was in 
 the air — were sure that this was the decisive 
 moment — that peace and war were trembling 
 in the scale; and one said to the other, 
 " This is an event in history ;" and each be- 
 lieved himself an actor in the scene— such 
 was the impressiveness of thehour. At length 
 word was given out that the review was post- 
 poned until three o'clock; but that hour 
 came and went, and brought only another 
 postponement for an hour. Later, rain 
 fell, but the people remained at their posts. 
 
 At last their patience was rewarded. 
 About four o'clock the grand duke 
 mounted, and rode to the Diplomatic 
 Chancery, where he asked at the door, " Is 
 it ready ?" and then galloped towards the 
 hill where the army was drawn up. Here 
 he halted again for a few moments. Finally, 
 a carriage came whirling out of the village. 
 General Ignatieff was in it; and when 
 he approached, he rose and said — " I have 
 the honour to congratulate your imperial 
 highness on the signature of peace." 
 
 There was a long loud shout. Then the 
 grand duke, followed by about 100 officers, 
 dashed forward to where the troops were 
 formed on rising ground close by the sea- 
 coast, just behind San Stefano lighthouse, 
 and began riding along the lines. As he 
 passed, the soldiers did not know that peace 
 had been signed, as it was still unannounced ; 
 but soon the news spread, and the cheering 
 grew louder and more enthusiastic. There 
 were Schouvaloff^s and Ranch's divisions, 
 
 327 
 
 '51 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 «4 
 
 
 . m 
 
 
GRAND REVIEW.] 
 
 / 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 "with the sharpshooters of the guard, and 
 cavalry and artillery in line, and the grand 
 duke passed between the ranks in review. 
 Very different, indeed, was the appearance 
 of these soldiers then, and that of the same 
 men months before. During their interval 
 of rest they had patched and cleaned their 
 clothes, repaired and polished their boots, 
 washed and brushed up generally, so that 
 they looked as trim and neat as could be. 
 
 After riding between the lines, the grand 
 duke halted on a little eminence, whence all 
 the troops could be seen, and formally made 
 the announcement of the peace : — 
 
 " I have the honour to inform the army 
 that, with the help of God, we have con- 
 cluded a treaty of peace." 
 
 Then another shout burst forth from 
 20,000 throats, rising, swelling, and dying 
 away. There was a general feeling of reliel" 
 and satisfaction. Still, the news of peace 
 was not greeted with anything like the 
 wild excitement and enthusiasm caused by 
 the emperor's proclamation of war at Kis- 
 cheneff. There stood the famous regiment 
 of Peter the Great, the Praobrajensky, often 
 the first to attack in many of the late 
 battles of the war. There were the troops 
 who had faced the enemy on the bleak 
 summits of the Balkans at Baba Konak 
 for a long, cold, and terrible month. There 
 were the men who had toilod over the 
 slippery mountain paths, scantily fed, thinly 
 dressed, dratrging the heavy guns across 
 into the valley, finding, after their struggles 
 with cold, hunger, and fatigue, a desperate 
 enemy to resist them on every hill-top. 
 These were the same brave fellows who 
 had made the long march from Sophia to 
 Philippopoli, who had run that race for 
 enormous stakes with Suleiman's army, and 
 finally thrown their great force against the 
 wall of the Khodope mountains, and smashed 
 it to pieces. These were the men whose 
 courage, devotion, and unparalleled endur- 
 ance will go down to history. 
 
 And there, gathered scarcely more than 
 a rifle-shot away, was the enemy they had 
 found worthy of their steel. For on the 
 crest of the neighbouring hill stood the 
 Turks in groups, interested spectators of the 
 scene — those very fellows who had kept the 
 snowy ridge of Shandarnik, defending gal- 
 lantly the great gate of Eoumelia; an^d who 
 at last, after a memorable retreat, had 
 fought like heroes on the hills of Stanimaka. 
 These two armies stood looking at each 
 Other at this moment of final peace : like 
 328 
 
 [a.d. 1878. 
 
 true soldiers they had learned to respect 
 and esteem each other, and welcomed peace 
 as an honourable finish to the fight which 
 they cared not to prolong. It was the 
 beginning of a new friendship formed on the 
 basis of actual experience of qualities that 
 had hitherto been unrecognised. 
 
 After the review, gathering his officers 
 about him where the priest stood ready for 
 the Te Deum, the grand duke spoke briefly 
 and emphatically, saying — 
 
 "To an army which has accomplished 
 what you have, my friends, nothing is im- 
 possible." 
 
 Then all dismounted, uncovered, and a 
 solemn service was conducted, the soldiers 
 all kneeling. A few ladies were present at 
 this ceremony ; among them Madame Igna- 
 tieff, kneeling on a fur rug beside her 
 carriaofe. 
 
 All the generals except Skobeloff were in 
 attendance. He was back in Tchataldja. 
 Baron Loenhausen and Captain Bella, the 
 Austrian military attaches, the former wear- 
 ing the Cross of St. Vladimir, received for 
 coolness under fire ; the latter with the St. 
 George, for acting as Skobeloff^s aide-de- 
 camp on the day he took the redoubts on 
 the Lovatz road; Colonel Gaillard, tho 
 l<rench attache, who had been with the 
 grand duke ever since the army was mobi- 
 lised, eighteen months back, decorated with 
 the St. Vladimir around his neck; Major 
 Liegnitz, the Prussian attache, with the St. 
 George, for services at the Grivitza re- 
 doubt; Lieutenant Green, the American 
 attache, wearing the St. Vladimir for the 
 last Balkan campaign ; and, finally, two 
 bwiss attaches, who had arrived Justin time 
 for the Te Deum, 
 
 The religious ceremony over, the grand 
 duke took his stand, and the army began to 
 hie past with a swinging rapid stride, in 
 torcible contrast with the weary pace with 
 which they used to drag themselves slowly 
 along at the end of their long and exhausting 
 marches, scarcely, at times, able to put one 
 foot before the other. The night was fall- 
 mg, and darkness settled quickly over the 
 scene; but the grand duke sat immov- 
 able on his horse whilst the troops were 
 still passing, and listened to their joyful 
 shouts ringing in the air, and the measured 
 tramp, tramp going off in the darkness. 
 
 And it was fit that the ceremony should 
 end in darkness ; for the instrument just 
 signed was the signal for a period of dark- 
 ness and general anxiety that has not been 
 
 A.D. 1878.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 fSERVIA— -MONTENEGRO. 
 
 equalled since the great wars of Napoleon I. 
 After the usual preambles, this document, 
 known as the treaty of San Stefano, ran as 
 follows : — 
 
 Art. 1. — In order to put an end to the 
 perpetual conflicts between Turkey and 
 Montenegro, the frontier which separates 
 the two countries will be rectified conforma- 
 bly to the map hereto annexed, subject to 
 the reserve hereinafter mentioned, in the 
 following manner : — From the mountain of 
 Dobrostitza the frontier will follow the line 
 indicated by the Conference of Constanti- 
 nople as far as Korito by Bilek. Thence 
 the new frontier will run to Gatzko (Meto- 
 chia-Gatzko will belong to Montenegro), 
 and towards the confluence of the Piva and 
 the Tara, ascending towards the north by 
 the Drina as far as its confluence with the 
 Lim. The eastern frontier of the princi- 
 pality will follow this last river as far as 
 Prijepolje, and will proceed by Roshaj to 
 Sukha-Planina (leaving Bihor and Roshaj 
 to Montenegro), Taking in Bugovo, Plava, 
 and Gusinje, the frontier line will follow 
 the chain of mountains by Shlieb, Paklen, 
 and along the northern frontier of Albania 
 by the crests of the mountains Koprivnik, 
 Babavik, Borvik, to the highest peak of 
 Prokleti. From that point the frontier 
 will proceed by the summit of Biskaschik, 
 and will run in a straight line to the lake 
 of Tjiceni-Hoti. Dividing Tjiceni-Hoti 
 and Tjiceni-Klastratijit will cross the lake of 
 Scutari to the Boyana, the thalweg of which 
 it will follow as far as the sea. Niksich,Spuss, 
 Gatzko, Podgoritza, Jabliak, and Antivari 
 will remain to Montenegro. A European 
 commission', on which the Sublime Porte 
 and the government of Montenegro shall 
 be represented, will be charged with fixing 
 the definite limits of the principality, 
 making on the spot such modifications in 
 the general tracing as it may think necessary 
 and equitable, from the point of view of 
 the respective interests and tranquillity of 
 the two countries, to which it will accord in 
 this respect the equivalents deemed neces- 
 sary. The navigation of the Boyana having 
 always given rise to disputes between the 
 Sublime Porte and Montenegro, will be the 
 subject of a special regulation, which will be 
 prepared by the same European commission. 
 
 Art. 2. — The Sublime Porte recognises 
 definitively the independence of the prin- 
 cipality of Montenegro. An understand- 
 ing between the imperial government of 
 Russia, the Ottoman government, and the 
 
 principality of Montenegro will determine 
 subsequently the character and form of the 
 relations between the Sublime Porte 
 and the principality as regards particu- 
 larly the establishment of Montenegrin 
 agents at Constantinople, and in certain 
 localities of the Ottoman empire, where 
 the necessity for such agents shall be 
 recognised, the extradition of fugitive crimi- 
 nals on the one territory or the other, 
 and the subjection of Montenegrins travel- 
 ling or sojourning in the Ottoman empire 
 to the Ottoman laws and authorities, accord- 
 ing to the principles of international law 
 and the established usages concerning the 
 Montenegrins. A convention will be con- 
 cluded between the Sublime Porte and 
 Montenegro to regulate the questions con- 
 nected with the relations between the 
 inhabitants of the confines of the two 
 countries and with the military works on 
 the same confines. The points upon which 
 an understanding cannot be established will 
 be settled by the arbitration of Russia and 
 Austria-Hungary. Henceforward, if there 
 is any discussion or conflict, except as regards 
 new territorial demands, Turkey and 
 Montenegro will leave the settlement of 
 their differences to Russia and Austria- 
 Hungary, who will arbitrate in common. 
 The troops of Montenegro will be bound 
 to evacuate the territory not comprised 
 within the limits indicated above within 
 ten days from the signature of the prelimi- 
 naries of peace. 
 
 Art. 3. — Servia is recognised as indepen- 
 dent. Its frontier, marked on the annexed 
 map, will follow the thalweg of the Drina, 
 leaving Little Zwornik and Zakar to the 
 principality, and following the old limit as 
 far as the sources of the stream Dezevo, 
 near Stoilac. Thence the new line will 
 follow the course of that stream as far as 
 the river Raska, and then the course of the 
 latter as far as Novi-Bazar. From Novi- 
 Bazar, ascending the stream which passes 
 near the villages of Mekinje and Irgoviste 
 as far as its source, the frontier line will 
 run by Bosur Planina, in the valley of the 
 Ibar, and will then descend the stream 
 which falls into this river near the village 
 ofRibanic. The line will then follow the 
 course of the rivers Ibar, Sitnitza, and Lab, 
 and of the brook Batintze to its source (upon 
 the Grapachnitza Planina). Thence the 
 frontier will follow the heights which sepa- 
 rate the waters of the Kriva and the Veter- 
 nitza, and will meet the latter river by the 
 
 329 
 
 
 n 
 
 I 
 
 HI 
 
 4 
 
 »« 
 
BULGARIA.] 
 
 HISTOEY OF THE 
 
 t^ ^ 
 
 shortest route at the mouth of the stream 
 Miovatzka, which it will ascend, crossing 
 the Miovatzka Planina and redescending 
 towards the Morava, near the village of 
 Kalimanci. From this point the frontier 
 will descend the Morava as far as the river 
 Vlossina, near the village of Staikovtzi. 
 Keascending the latter river, as well as the 
 Linberazda, and the brook Koukavitze, the 
 line will pass by the Sukha Planina, will 
 • run along the stream Vrylo as far as the 
 Nisawa, and will descend the said river as 
 far as the village of Kronpatz, whence the 
 line will rejoin by the shortest route the old 
 Servian frontier to the south-east of Karaoul 
 Bare, and will not leave it until it reaches 
 the Danube. Ada-Kale will be evacuated 
 and razed. A Turco-Servian commission, 
 assisted by a Russian commissioner, will, 
 within three months, arrange upon the spot 
 the definite frontier line,and will definitively 
 settle the questions relating to the islands 
 of the Drina. A Bulgarian delegate will 
 be admitted to participate in the work of 
 the commission when it shall be engao-edon 
 the frontier between Servia and Bulgaria. 
 
 Art. 4.— The Mussulmans holding lands 
 in the territories annexed to Servia, and 
 who wish to reside out of the principality 
 can preserve their real property by having' 
 them farmed out or administered by others. 
 A Turco-Servian commission, assisted by a 
 Russian commissioner, will be charged to 
 decide absolutely, in the course of two years, 
 all questions relating to the verification of 
 real estate in which Mussulman interests 
 are concerned. This commission will also 
 be called upon to settle within three years 
 the method of alienation of State property 
 and of religious endowments (Vacouf), as 
 well as the questions relative to the interests 
 of private persons which may be involved. 
 Until a direct treaty is concluded between 
 Turkey and Servia determining the charac- 
 ter of the relations between the Sublime 
 Porte and the principality, Servian subjects 
 travelling or sojourning in the Ottoman 
 empire shall be treated according to the 
 general principles of international law. The 
 Servian troops shall be bound to evacuate 
 the territory not comprised within the above- 
 mentioned limits within fifteen days from 
 the signature of the preliminaries of peace. 
 Art. 5.— The Sublime Porte recognises 
 the independence of Roumania, which will 
 establish its right to an indemnity, to be 
 discussed between the two countries. Until 
 the conclusion of a direct treaty between 
 330 
 
 fA-D. 1878. 
 
 Turkey and Roumania, Roumanian subjects 
 will enjoy m Turkey all the rights guaran- 
 
 Poiers'' '"^ **''^' ""^ ^^^^^ European 
 
 Art. 6.— Bulgaria is constituted an au- 
 tonomous tributary principality, with a 
 Christian government and a national militia. 
 Ihe definitive frontiers of the Bulgarian 
 principality will be traced by a sl)ecial 
 Russo-Iurkish commission before the eva- 
 cuation of Roumelia by tlie imperial Rus- 
 sian army. This commission will, in 
 working out the modifications to be made 
 on the spot in the general tracing, take into 
 account the principle of the nationality of 
 the majority of the inhabitants of the border 
 districts, conformably to the bases of peace 
 and also the topographical necessities and 
 practical interests of the intercommunica- 
 tion of the local population. The extent of 
 the Bulgarian principality is laid down in 
 general terms on the accompanying map, 
 which will serve as a basis for the definitive 
 fixing of the limits. Leaving the new 
 frontier of the Servian principality, the line 
 will follow the western limit of the Gaza of 
 ;^ rania as far as the chain of the Kara Dagh. 
 Turning towards the west, the line will 
 ^llow the western limits of the Cazas of 
 Koumanovo Kotchani, Kalkandelen, to 
 Mount Korab , thence by the river Welest- 
 chitza as far as its junction with the Black 
 l^rina. Turning towards the south by the 
 Drma, and afterwards by the western limit 
 of the Caza of Ochride towards Mount 
 Linas, the frontier will follow the western 
 limits of the Cazas of Gortcha and Starovo 
 as far as Mount Grammes. Then by the 
 lake of Kastoria, the frontier line will re- 
 join the river Moglenitza, and after having 
 toUowed Its course, and passed to the south 
 of lanitza (Wardar Yenidje), will so bv 
 the mouth of the Wardar, and hy the 
 Galhko, towards the villages of Parga and 
 of Sarai-keui; thence through the middle 
 of Lake Bechik-Guel to the mouth of the 
 rivers Strouma and Karassou, and by the 
 sea-coast as far as Buru-Guel; thence 
 striking north-west towards Mount Tchal- 
 
 \T' .1 ^^^ f^^'° ^^ Rhodope as far as 
 Mount Krouschowo, by the Black Balkans 
 Kara-Balkan), by the mountains Eschek- 
 koulatchi, Tchepelion, Karakolas, and 
 Tschiklar, as far as the river Arda. Thence 
 the line will be traced in the direction of 
 the town of Tchirmen, and leaving the town 
 ofAdrianopletothesouth,by the villages 
 of Suguthon, Kara-Hamza, Arnaout-keui, 
 
 A.D. 1878.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 Akardji, and Enidje, as far as the river 
 Tekederessi. Following the rivers Teke- 
 deressi and Tchorlouderessi as far as Loule- 
 Bourgaz, and thence, by the river Soudjak- 
 dere as far as the village of Serguen, the 
 frontier line will go by the heights straight 
 towards Hakim-tabiassi, where it will strike 
 the Black Sea. It will leave the sea-coast 
 near Mangalia, following the southern 
 boundaries of the Sandjak of Toultcha, and 
 will come out on the Danube above Rassova. 
 Art. 7.— The Prince of Bulgaria shall be 
 freely elected by the population, and con- 
 firmed by the Sublime Porte, with the 
 assent of the Powers. No member of the 
 reigning dynasties of the great European 
 Powers shall be capable of being elected 
 Prince of Bulgaria. In the event of the 
 dignity of Prince of Bulgaria being vacant, 
 the election of the new prince shall be made 
 subject to the same conditions and forms. 
 Before the election of the prince, an assem- 
 bly of Bulgarian notables, to be convoked at 
 Philippopoli (Plowdiw) or Tyrnowo, shall 
 draw up, under the superintendence of an 
 imperial Russian commissioner, and in the 
 presence of an Ottoman commissioner, the 
 organisation of the future administration, 
 in conformity with the precedents estab- 
 lished in 1830 after the peace of Adria- 
 nople, in the Danubian principalities. In 
 the localities where Bulgarians are mixed 
 with Turks, Greeks, Wallachians (Koutzo- 
 Vlachs), or others, proper account is to be 
 taken of the rights and interests of these 
 populations in the elections, and in the pre- 
 paration of the .organic laws. The intro- 
 duction of the new system into Bulgaria, 
 and the superintendence of its working, 
 will be entrusted for two years to an imperial 
 Russian commissioner. At the expiration 
 of the first year after the introduction of 
 the new system, and if an understanding on 
 this subject has been established between 
 Russia, the Sublime Porte, and the cabinets 
 of Europe, they can, if it is deemed neces- 
 sary, associate special delegates with the 
 imperial Russian commissioner. 
 
 Art. 8. — The Ottoman army will no 
 longer remain in Bulgaria, and all the 
 ancient fortresses will be razed at the ex- 
 pense of the local government. The Sub- 
 lime Porte will have the right to dispose, as 
 it sees fit, of the war material, and of the 
 other property belonging to the Ottoman 
 government, which may have been left in 
 the Danubian fortresses already evacuated, 
 in accordance with the terms of the armis- 
 
 [PRINCE OF BULGARIA. 
 
 tice of the If^ January, as well as of that 
 in the strongholds of Schoumla and Varna. 
 Until the complete formation of a native 
 militia sufl[icient to preserve order, security, 
 and tranquillity, and the strength of which 
 will be fixed later on by an understanding- 
 between the Ottoman government and the 
 imperial Russian cabinet, Russian troops 
 will occupy the country, and will give armed 
 assistance to the commissioner in case of 
 need. This occupation will also be limited 
 to a term approximating to two years. The 
 strength of the Russian army of occupation, 
 to be composed of six divisions of infantry 
 and two of cavalry, which will remain in 
 Bulgaria after the evacuation of Turkey by 
 the imperial army, shall not exceed 50,000 
 toen. It will be maintained at the expense 
 of the country occupied. The Russian 
 troops of occupation in Bulgaria will main- 
 tain their communications with Russia, not 
 only through Roumania, but also by the 
 ports of the Black Sea, Varna, and Bourgas, 
 where they may organise, for the term of 
 the occupation, the necessary depots. 
 
 Art. 9.— The amount of the annual 
 tribute which Bulgaria is to pay the Suze- 
 rain Court, by transmitting it to a bank to 
 be hereafter named by the Sublime Porte, 
 will be determined by an agreement between 
 Russia, the Ottoman government, and the 
 other cabinets, at the end of the first year 
 during which the new organisation shall be 
 in operation. This tribute will be calcu- 
 lated on the average revenue of all the terri- 
 tory which is to form part of the principality. 
 Bulgaria will take upon itself the obliga- 
 tions of the imperial Ottoman government 
 towards the Rustzuk and Varna Railway 
 Company, after an agreement has been come 
 to between the Sublime Porte, the govern- 
 ment of the principality, and the directors 
 of this company. The Regulations as to the 
 other railways {voies fei^ees) which cross 
 the principality, are also reserved for an 
 agreement between the Sublime Porte, the 
 government established in Bulgaria, and the 
 directors of the companies concerned. 
 
 Art. 10.— The Sublime Porte shall have 
 the right to make use of Bulgaria for the 
 transport, by fixed routes, of its troops, 
 munitions, and provisions to the provinces 
 beyond the principality, and vice versa. In 
 order to avoid difficulties and misunder- 
 standings in the application of this right, 
 while guaranteeing the military necessities 
 of the Sublime Porte, a special regulation 
 will lay down the conditions of it within 
 
 331 
 
 f '" 
 
 til 
 
 •■'I 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Ill 
 
 1 
 
!f 
 
 !' 
 
 THE DANUBE AND CRETE.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 three months after the ratification of the 
 present Act by an understanding between 
 the Sublime Porte and the Bulgarian gov- 
 ernment. It is fully understood that this 
 right is limited to the regular Ottoman 
 troops, and that the irregulars, the Eashi- 
 Bazouks, and the Circassians will be abso- 
 lutely excluded from it. The Sublime 
 
 Porte also reserves to itself the right of 
 sending its postal service through the 
 principality, and of maintaining telegra- 
 pliic communication. These two points 
 shall also be determined in the manner, 
 and within the period of time, indicated 
 above. 
 
 Art. 11. — The Mussulman proprietors, 
 or others, who fix their personal residence 
 outside the principality, may retain their 
 estates by having them farmed or admin- 
 istered by others. Turko-Bulgarian com- 
 missions shall sit in the principal centres of 
 population, under the superintendence of 
 Russian commissioners, to decide absolutely, 
 in the course of two years, all questions 
 relative to the verification of real property 
 in which either Mussulmans or others may 
 be interested. Similar commissions will 
 be charged with the duty of regulating, 
 within two years, all questions relative to 
 the mode of alienation, working, or use, for 
 the benefit of the Sublime Porte, of the 
 property of the State, and of the religious 
 endowments (Vacouf), At the expiration 
 of the two years mentioned above, all pro- 
 perties which shall not have been claimed 
 shall be sold by public auction, and the 
 proceeds thereof shall be devoted to the 
 support of the widows and orphans, Mus- 
 sulman as well as Christian, victims of the 
 recent events. 
 
 Art. 12. — All the Danubian fortresses 
 shall be razed. There shall be no strong- 
 holdg in the future on the banks of this 
 river, nor any men-of-war in the waters of 
 the principalities of Roumania, Servia, and 
 Bulgaria, except the usual stationnaires and 
 the small vessels intended for river-police 
 and custom-house purposes. The rights, 
 obligations, and prerogatives of the inter- 
 national commission of the Lower Danube 
 are maintained intact. 
 
 Art. 13. — The Sublime Porte undertakes 
 to render the passage of Soulina again 
 navigable, and to indemnify the private 
 individuals who have suffered loss by the 
 war and the interruption of the navigation 
 of the Danube, applying for this double 
 charge a sum of 500,000 francs from the 
 332 
 
 [a.d. 1878. 
 
 amount due to the Sublime Porte from the 
 Danubian commission. 
 
 Art. 14. — The European proposals com- 
 municated to the Ottoman plenipotentiaries 
 at the first sitting of the Constantinople 
 Conference shall immediately be introduced 
 into Bosnia and Herzegovina, with any 
 modifications which may be agreed upon in 
 common between the Sublime Porte, the 
 government of Russia, and that of Austria- 
 Hungary. The payment of arrears of taxes 
 shall not be required, and the current 
 revenues of these provinces, until the 1st of 
 March, 1880, shall be exclusively applied to 
 indemnify the families of refugees and in- 
 habitants, victims of recent events, without 
 distinction of race or creed, as well as to the 
 local needs of the country. The sum to bo 
 received annually after this period by the 
 central government, shall be subsequently 
 fixed by a special understanding between 
 Turkey, Rnssia, and Austria-Hungary. 
 
 Art. 15. — The Sublime Porte engages to 
 apply scrupulously in the island of Crete, 
 the Organic Law of 1868, taking into 
 account the previously expressed wishes of 
 the native population. An analogous law 
 adapted to local requirements shall likewise 
 be introduced into Epirus, Thessaly, and the 
 other parts of Turkey in Europe for which 
 a special constitution is not provided by the 
 present Act. Special commissions, in which 
 the native population will be largely repre- 
 sented, shall in each province be entrusted 
 with the task of elaborating the details of 
 the new organisation, and the result of 
 their labours shall be submitted to the Sub- 
 lime Porte, who will consult the imperial 
 government of Russia before carrying it 
 into effect. 
 
 Art. 16.— As the evacuation by the 
 Russian troops of the territory which they 
 occupy in Armenia, and which is to be re- 
 stored to Turkey, might give rise to con- 
 flicts and complications detrimental to the 
 maintenance of good relations between the 
 two countries, the Sublime Porte engages 
 to carry into effect, without further delay, 
 the improvements and reforms demanded by 
 local requirements in the provinces inhabited 
 by Armenians, and to guarantee their se- 
 curity from Kurds and Circassians. 
 
 Art. 17. — A full and complete amnesty 
 is granted by the Sublime Porte to all 
 Ottoman subjects compromised by recent 
 events, and all persons imprisoned on this 
 account, or sent into exile, shall be imme- 
 diately set at liberty. 
 
 A.D. 1878.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [war INDEMNmr. 
 
 Art. 18.— The Sublime Porte will take 
 into serious consideration the opinion ex- 
 pressed by the commissioners of the 
 mediating Powers as regards the possession 
 of the town of Khotour, and engages to 
 have the works of the definitive delimitation 
 of the Turco-Persian boundary carried into 
 effect. 
 
 Art. 19. — The war indemnities and the 
 losses imposed on Russia, which his majesty 
 the Emperor of Russia claims, and which 
 the Sublime Porte has bound itself to re- 
 imburse to him, consist of — 
 
 (a.) 900,000,000 roubles for war expenses 
 (maintenance of the army, replacing of war 
 material, and war contracts). 
 
 (h,) 400,000,000 roubles on account of 
 damag3 done to the south coast of Russia, 
 to her export commerce, to her industries, 
 and to her railways. 
 
 (c.) 100,000,000 roubles for injuries in- 
 flicted on the Caucasus by the invasion ; 
 and, 
 
 (d,) 10,000,000 roubles for costs and 
 damages of Russian subjects and establish- 
 ments in Turkey. Total, 1,410,000,000 
 roubles. Taking into consideration the 
 financial embarrassments of Turkey, and in 
 accordance with the wishes of his majesty 
 the Sultan, the Emperor of Russia consents 
 to substitute for the payment of the greater 
 part of the moneys enumerated in the above 
 paragraph, the following territorial ces- 
 sions ; — 
 
 (a.) The Sandjak of Toultcha, that is to 
 say, the districts (Cazas) of Kilia, Soulina, 
 Mahmoudie, Isaktcha, Toultcha, Matchine, 
 Babadagh, Hirsowo, Kustendje, and Med- 
 jidie, as well as the Delta Islands and the 
 Isle of Serpents. Not wishing, however, to 
 annex this territory and the Delta Islands, 
 Russia reserves the right of exchanging them 
 for the part of Bessarabia detached from her 
 by the Treaty of 1856, and which is bounded 
 on the south by the thalweg of the Kilia 
 branch and the mouth of the Stary- 
 Stamboul. The question of the apportion- 
 ment of waters and fisheries shall be 
 determined by a Russo-Roumanian commis- 
 sion within a year after the ratification of 
 the Treaty of Peace. 
 
 (6.) Ardahan, Kars, Batoum, Bayazet, and 
 the territory as far as the Saganlough. In 
 its general outline, the frontier line, leaving 
 the Black Sea coast, will follow the crest of 
 the mountains which separate the affluents 
 of the river Hopa from those of the river 
 Tcharokh, and the chain of the mountains 
 
 VOL. III. 2 X 
 
 to the south of the town of Artwin, up the 
 river Tcharokh, near the villages of Alat 
 and Bechaget ; then the frontier will pass 
 by the peaks of Mounts Dervenikghek, 
 Hortchezor, and Bedjiguin-Dagh, by the 
 crest which separates the affluents of the 
 rivers Tortoum-tchai and the Tcharokh, by 
 the heights near Zaily-Vihine, coming down 
 at the village Vihine-Kilissa to the river 
 Tortoum-tchai; thence it will follow the 
 Sivridagh chain to the pass {col) of the 
 same name, passing south of the village of 
 Noriman ; then it will turn to the south- 
 east and go to Zivine, whence the frontier, 
 passing west of the road which leads from 
 Zivine to the villages of Ardost and Horas- 
 san, will turn south by the Saganlough 
 chain to the village of Gilitchman ; then by 
 the crest of the Charion-Dagh it will arrive, 
 ten versts south of Hamour, at the Mourad- 
 tchai defile ; then the line will follow the 
 crest of the Alla-Dagh, and the summits of 
 the Hori and Tandourek, and passing south 
 of the Bayazet valley, will proceed to rejoin 
 the old Turco-Persian frontier to the south 
 of the lake of Kazli-gueul. The definitive 
 limits of the territory annexed to Russia, 
 and indicated on the map hereto appended, 
 will be fixed by a commission composed of 
 Russian and Ottoman delegates. This com- 
 mission, in its labours, will take into account 
 the topography of localities, as well as con- 
 siderations of good administration, and other 
 conditions calculated to insure the tran- 
 quillity of the country. 
 
 {c) The territories mentioned in para- 
 graphs (a) and (6) are ceded to Russia as 
 an equivalent for the sum of one milliard 
 and one hundred million roubles. As for 
 the rest of the indemnity, apart from the 
 10,000,000 of roubles intended to indemnify 
 Russian interests and establishments in 
 Turkey— namely, 300,000,000 of roubles— 
 the mode of payment and guarantee of that 
 sum shall be settled by an understanding 
 between the imperial government of Russia 
 and that of his majesty the Sultan. 
 
 (d) The 10,000,000 roubles claimed as 
 indemnity for the Russian subjects and es- 
 tablishments in Turkey, shall be paid as 
 soon as the claims of those interested are 
 examined by the Russian embassy at Con- 
 stantinople and handed to the Sublime 
 Porte. 
 
 Art. 20.— The Sublime Porte will take 
 effective steps to put an amicable end to 
 the law-suits of Russian subjects pending for 
 several years, to indemnify the latter if 
 
 333 
 
 (If 
 
 *.,.. !«• 
 
 
EVAC?UATION OF TURKEY.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 
 need be and to carry into effect, without 
 delay, all judgments passed. 
 
 Art. 21.— The inhabitants of the districts 
 ceded to Russia who wish to take up their 
 residence out of these territories, will be free 
 to retire on selling all tlieir real property, 
 for this purpose an interval of three years 
 IS granted them, counting from the date of 
 ratification of the present Act. On the 
 expiration of that time, those of the inhabit- 
 ants who shall not have sold their real 
 property and left the country shall remain 
 Kussian subjects. Real property belonging 
 to the State, or to religious establishments 
 situated out of the localities aforesaid, shall 
 be sold within the same interval of three 
 years as shall be arranged by a special 
 Kusso-iurkish commission. The same com- 
 mission shall be entrusted with determinincr 
 how the Ottoman government is to remove 
 Its war material, munitions, supplies, and 
 other btate property actually in the forts, 
 towns, and localities ceded to Russia, and 
 not at present occupied by Russian troops. 
 
 Art. 22.— Russian ecclesiastics, pihrrims, 
 and monks travelling or sojourn in cr in Tur- 
 key m Europe or in Asia, shall enjoy the 
 same rights, advantages, and privileges as 
 the foreign ecclesiastics of any other nation- 
 ality. The right of official protection by 
 the imperial embassy and Russian consulates 
 m lurkey is recognised, both as regards the 
 persons above-mentioned, and their posses- 
 sions, religious houses, charitable institu- 
 tions &c., in the the Holy Places and 
 elsewhere. The monks of Mount Athos, of 
 Kussian origin, shall be maintained in all 
 their possessions and former privileges, and 
 shall continue to enjoy, in the three con- 
 vents belonging to them, and in the adjoin- 
 ing buildings, the same rights and privileges 
 as are assured to the other religious estab- 
 lishments and convents of Mount Athos. 
 . Art. 23.— All the treaties, conventions, 
 and agreements previously concluded be- 
 tween the two high contracting parties 
 relative to commerce, jurisdiction, and the 
 position of Russian subjects in Turkey, and 
 which had been abrogated by the state of 
 war, shall come into force again, with the 
 exception of the clauses affected by the 
 present Act. The two governments will be 
 placed again in the same relation to one 
 another, with respect to all their engage- 
 ments and commercial and other relations, 
 as they were in before the declaration of 
 war. 
 
 Art. 24.— The Bosphorus and the Darda- 
 334 
 
 rA.D. 1878. 
 
 nelles shall remain open in time of war as in 
 time of peace to the merchant-vessels of 
 neutral States arriving from or bound to 
 Russian ports. The Sublime Porte conse- 
 quently engages never henceforth to estab- 
 lish at the ports of the Black Sea and the 
 Sea of Azov, a fictitious blockade {blocus 
 \Pf^^fh at variance with the spirit of the 
 declaration signed at Paris on the Ath of 
 April, 18o6. 
 
 Art. 25.— The complete evacuation of 
 Turkey in Europe, with the exception of 
 Bulgaria, by the Russian army will take 
 place within three months after the con- 
 clusion of the definitive peace between his 
 majesty the Emperor of Russia and his 
 majesty the Sultan. In order to save time, 
 and to avoid the cost of the prolonged 
 maintenance of the Russian troops in Tur- 
 key and Roumania, part of the imperial 
 army may proceed to the ports of the Black 
 bea and the Sea of Marmora, to be there 
 shipped in vessels belonging to the Russian 
 government or chartered for the occasion. 
 The evacuation of Turkey in Asia will be 
 effected within the space of six months, 
 dating from the conclusion of the definitive 
 peace, and the Russian troops will be en- 
 titled to take ship at Trebizond, in order to 
 return by the Caucasus or the Crimea. The 
 operations of the evacuation will berrin 
 immediately after the exchange of ratifica- 
 tions. 
 
 Art. 26.— As long as the imperial Rus- 
 sian troops remain 'in the localities which 
 in conformity with the present Act, will be 
 res ored to the Sublime Porte, the adminis- 
 tration and order of affairs will continue in 
 the same state as has existed since the occu- 
 pation The Sublime Porte will not par- 
 ticipate therein during all that time, nor 
 until the entire departure of all the troops. 
 Ihe Ottoman forces shall not enter the 
 places to be restored to the Sublime Porte, 
 and the Sublime Porte cannot be^in to 
 exercise its authority there, until notice of 
 each fortress and province having been 
 evacuated by the Russian troops shall have 
 been given by the commander of these 
 troops to the officer appointed for this pur- 
 pose by the Sublime Porte. 
 
 nir ^^'T^^' ^"^^^°^^ ^^^^^ undertakes 
 not to punish m any manner, or allow to be 
 punished, those Ottoman subjects who may 
 have been compromised by their relations 
 with the Russian army during the war. In 
 the event of any persons wishing to with- 
 draw with their families when the Russian 
 
 A.D. 1878.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [naval operations. 
 
 troops leave, the Ottoman authorities shall 
 not oppose their departure. 
 
 Art. 28.— Immediately upon the ratifi- 
 cation of the preliminaries of peace, the 
 prisoners of war shall be reciprocally re- 
 stored under the care of special commis- 
 sioners appointed on both sides, who, for 
 this purpose, shall go to Odessa and Sebas- 
 topol. The Ottoman government will pay 
 all the expenses of the maintenance of the 
 prisoners that are returned to them, in 
 eighteen equal instalments in the space of 
 six years, in accordance with the accounts 
 that will be drawn up by the above- 
 mentioned commissioners. The exchange 
 of prisoners between the Ottoman govern- 
 ment and the governments of Roumania, 
 Servia, and Montenegro, will be made on 
 the same bases, deducting, however, in the 
 account, the number of prisoners restored 
 by the Ottoman government, from the 
 number of prisoners that will have to be 
 restored to that government. 
 
 Art. 29.— The present Act shall be rati- 
 fied by their imperial majesties the Emperor 
 of Russia and the Emperor of the Ottomans, 
 and the ratifications shall be exchanged in 
 fifteen days, or sooner if possible, at St. 
 Petersburg, where, likewise, an agreement 
 shall be come to as to the place and the 
 time at which the stipulations of the present 
 Act shall be invested with all the solemn 
 
 forms usually observed in treaties of peace. 
 It is, however, well understood, that the 
 high coiitracting parties consider themselves 
 as formally bound by the present Act from 
 the moment of its ratification. 
 
 In witness whereof the respective pleni- 
 potentiaries have appended their signatures 
 and seals to the present Act. 
 
 Done at San Stefano, the "'""""i*" Fesrn«ry, 
 
 one thousand eight hundred and" seventy- 
 eight. ^ 
 
 (Signed) 
 
 C'*- N. Ignatiew. 
 Nelidow. 
 Safvet. 
 sodoullah. 
 
 - Final paragraph of Article 11 of the Act 
 
 ^^y» * Kh^l: 1878, which was omitted, and 
 which should form an integral part of the 
 said Article :— or 
 
 The inhabitants of the principality of 
 l^ulgaria, when travelling or sojourning in 
 the other parts of the Ottoman empire, 
 shall be subject to the Ottoman laws and 
 authorities. 
 
 (Signed) C'«- K Ignatiew. 
 Neijdow. 
 Safvet. 
 
 o o . SODOULLAH. 
 
 San Stefano, ^•^^i,^l,>|; 1878. 
 
 111 
 
 
 t 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 THE NAVAL OPERATIONS AND DESCENT ON THE CAUCASIAN COAST. 
 
 Though the naval operations of the Turks 
 and Russians during the war, as well as 
 the descent on the Caucasian coast, were so 
 utterly insignificant in their extent and 
 results as to make it unadvisable to break 
 the thread of the narrative, some mention 
 may now be made of them in order to 
 complete the picture of the war. 
 
 Still, insignificant as were the results of 
 the operations of the Turkish and Russian 
 navies, the very fact is of considerable in- 
 terest, as showing what small results are to 
 be expected from so expensive and dan- 
 gerous an institution— dangerous to friends 
 more than to foes— as an ironclad fleet. 
 
 Without entering into any learned 
 
 technical discussion as to the relative merits 
 of ironclads, wooden vessels,, torpedoes, &c., 
 and the claims of those interested in their 
 manufacture, it is almost impossible for a 
 layman not to endorse the assertion of 
 frince Bismarck— made, it is true, in refer- 
 ence to another matter-that whales cannot 
 make war upon elephants. 
 
 The duties of a navy, and what is ex- 
 pected from a fleet, differ very much now- 
 a-days from what they were, and what was 
 expected from men-of-war in the days when 
 the naval supremacy of England was at its 
 height. Then ships made war upon ships- 
 fleet was pitted against fleet— cruisers 
 scoured the seas, chasing the enemies' trans- 
 
 335 
 
 n 
 
 in 
 
 •if 
 
 ^ 
 
THE TURKISH FLEET.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Ta.d. 1877. 
 
 ports, convoys, and merchantmen ; and it 
 •was only on rare occasions, comparatively 
 speaking, that a fleet was pitted against land 
 defences. 
 
 Now, however, the idea seems to be, that 
 if the enemy possesses a mighty fortress by 
 the sea, a still mightier floating fortress, in 
 the shape of an ironclad, is to be steered up 
 to it and be pitted against it; whilst, to 
 protect his land fortress, the enemy follows 
 suit, and constructs his ironclads likewise. 
 They mostly go to the bottom, however, or 
 are blown up, or otherwise suddenly dis- 
 appear — especially in times of peace — like 
 tlie Captain^ the Vanguard, and the 
 Grosser Kurfurst At most they have 
 hitherto been saved by carefully remain- 
 ing at home, like the celebrated Popoffkas ; 
 and when they are expected to begin to 
 do their work, they unaccountably blow 
 up like the Lutfi Djelil In fact, so far, 
 the moral to be deduced from the fable of 
 the earthenware pot and the iron kettle, does 
 not at all apply to the case of ironclad 
 versus wooden ship. 
 
 These doubts and fears were very gene- 
 rally diffused, not only amongst the public, 
 but also amongst naval men and scientific 
 constructors ; and when the war between 
 Turkey and Russia commenced, the world 
 expected a fine and interesting display of 
 skill, and a higlily instructive course of 
 naval warfare. 
 
 As usual, tlie world was disappointed, and 
 all the results were of so negative a character, 
 that the way has been paved to the ques- 
 tion, which is sure to arise on the first 
 failure of the fleet to accomplish its mission 
 — whereunto is an ironclad fleet good ? And 
 the reply to that question will raise the 
 consequent one — namely, whether it will 
 not be better to revert to the old system, 
 and keep ships to fight against sliips, and 
 not against stone walls on dry land ? It is 
 said — indeed, it is a fact — that during the 
 Abyssinian war, the ironclad squadron was 
 ordered to proceed to Gondar, or as near to 
 it as possible. But, as that interesting 
 place was some 300 miles inland, on the top 
 of a high mountain in the heart of Africa, 
 the squadron punctually obeyed orders by 
 steaming to Massowah — the nearest point 
 possible — which, however, happened to be 
 300 miles away from Gondar. Ridiculous 
 as this incident was, it is not more ridiculous 
 than to expect a fleet to successfully compete 
 with land fortifications, on which cannon of 
 any calibre necessary to pierce an ironclad 
 336 
 
 can be mounted, and destroy it before it 
 even comes within range, to say nothing of 
 the torpedoes which can safely be launched 
 against it. 
 
 It is true that the Turks might have 
 made much more use of their fleet than 
 they did, had it not been for two circum- 
 stances. But as these circumstances were 
 unavoidable, and are sure to recur in any 
 war, the results of any future operations by 
 ironclads will probably have also to be 
 described with a " might have been." These 
 circumstances are : firstly, the terror of 
 torpedoes, which more or less paralyse the 
 men ; and, secondly, the aversion to risk 
 the loss of ^uch costly articles of naval 
 luxury. In fact, like many other articles of 
 luxury, the ironclad seems to be more calcu- 
 lated for show than for use. In this respect, 
 in daring of men and commanders, and 
 general handiness, the Russians showed to 
 much better advantage than the Turks. 
 
 When the war broke out, the Turks had 
 a flotilla on the Danube consisting of the 
 following vessels: — Fethi Islam (Moslem 
 Victory),^ Burywidelan (Heart-piercer), 
 Semendria, Scodra, and Podgoritza. These 
 five vessels were small craft about 115 feet 
 long, fitted with 80-horse power engines, 
 and carried, each of them, two 80-pounder 
 Armstrong guns in a battery protected by 
 2-inch armour. In addition to these 
 armoured gun-boats, there were two of recent 
 construction, and much more formidable in 
 every respect, the Isher (Lion) and Saiffee 
 (Sword). They each carried two 80- 
 pounder Krupp guns in revolving turrets 
 on the upper deck, protected by 3-inch 
 armour, and a belt of the same thickness 
 was placed round the water-line. Their 
 length was 120 feet, and the horse-power of 
 the engines 100. These seven vessels, how- 
 ever, did not form the whole of the naval 
 force, as there were several wooden steamers 
 armed as gun-boats ; and soon after the war, 
 the two large sea-going monitors, Lutfi- 
 Djelil and Hiftzi Rahman, were sent up 
 the Sulina branch into the main river. 
 These last-named ships were a most valu- 
 able addition to the defence, and gave great 
 trouble at first to the Russian batteries, 
 until one of them came to an end, as we 
 have already related, in a somewhat inex- 
 plicable manner — by accident, the Turks 
 say ; by the effect of their artillery fire, the 
 Russians: and thus the affair remains in 
 dispute. The evidence inclines in favour of 
 the Turkish view, for the Luffi-Djelil had 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [loss of TURKISH SHIPS. 
 
 been out of action for nearly an hour when 
 the catastrophe, by which so many human 
 beings were killed, took place. At all 
 events, the fruits of victory were to the 
 Russians, even though they had been in no- 
 wise instrumental in her destruction. Up 
 to this time nothing had been seen of the 
 Russian torpedoes, though a good deal was 
 said about the Danube having been mined ; 
 and Hobart Pasha was supposed to have run 
 the gauntlet of all sorts of dangers in the 
 Rethymo : but the manner in which the 
 Turkish ships moved about, is sufficient 
 evidence that nothing in that way had been 
 done at that time to the main river. 
 
 When war was declared the Russians had 
 nothing afloat on the Danube, though they 
 had a steam-launch or so at Ismail or 
 Vilcova, on the Kilia branch, and had some 
 eight or ten, all ready for launching, at 
 Galatz, to be used as torpedo boats. Their 
 first care was necessarily the bridge over 
 the Sereth ; and to protect this against the 
 Turkish gun-boats, a number of torpedoes 
 were unquestionably placed across the 
 channel where its waters flow into the 
 Danube. In a short time, however, the 
 Russians were prepared to take the ofi'ensive 
 with their torpedo launches, and the first 
 fruits was the destruction of the gun-boat 
 Saiffee, The batteries erected along the 
 Roumanian shore soon put a stop to the 
 circulation of the Turkish gun-boats, and the 
 flotilla was shortly afterwards blocked up 
 in various places by lines of torpedoes laid 
 across the stream. The Turks themselves 
 assisted to this end by keeping the greater 
 number of the vessels moored under the 
 fortifications of Widdin, Silistria, Nicopoli, 
 and Rustzuk, instead of making them move 
 up and down to gall the Russian workmen 
 with their fire, and .thus impede the erec- 
 tion of the hostile batteries. The conduct, 
 at this period, of those charged with the de- 
 fence of the Ottoman empire is really inex- 
 plicable. They acted as if it had never been 
 their intention to defend the Danube at all ; 
 not the slightest opposition was off'ered to 
 the progress of the enemy's works on the 
 opposite side of the river, and no provision 
 at all was made for the movements of the 
 gun-boats. 
 
 There was no depot of coals at any of the 
 above-named fortresses ; and it was only by 
 an arrangement with the Varna Railway 
 Company that a small quantity of fuel was 
 obtained at Rustzuk. The supineness of 
 the Turkish naval authorities in this respect 
 
 is extraordinary ; for, properly made use of> 
 this flotilla would have delayed the Russian 
 passage for weeks. There was an admiral 
 sent to command the gun-boats at least a 
 fortnight before the war, and the «tate of 
 the coal depots must have been known weeks i 
 before the hostilities actually commenced. 
 Hobart Pasha is in nowise responsible for 
 what occurred, for Abdul Kerim delibe- 
 rately refused to allow him in any way to 
 interfere with the arrangements that had 
 been made for the disposal of the squadron. 
 When the Russians crossed at Sistova there 
 was a gun-boat looking on quietly, and as if 
 regarding the passage of a friendly army, 
 instead of hostile foes bent upon the destruc- 
 tion of Turkish power; and after a time 
 she steamed away to report the news at 
 head-quarters. The meaning of all this, as 
 well as the general neglect of the Danube 
 line of defence in the first instance, we shall 
 never know, for the Turks are very lenient 
 to military and political offenders ; and such 
 are the ramifications of their intrigues, that 
 once an examination were opened, no one 
 could say where it could be decently closed 
 without allowing, perhaps, the most culpable 
 ofi'enders to escape. Of the armoured gun- 
 boats forming part of the flotilla, three in 
 addition to the turret-vessel Lutfi-Djelil 
 were lost by the Turks — namely, the Saiffee^ 
 destroyed by a torpedo, and the Podgoritza 
 and Scodra, which fell into Russian hands 
 at the taking of Nicopoli. These two small 
 craft were put into working order to bo 
 made use of for attacking the others. Besides 
 the vessels above named, the Turks lost four 
 wooden vessels — the Sulina, a regular 60 
 horse power gun-boat of the old type, de- 
 signed for the Baltic during the American 
 war, and three river steamers of no particu- 
 lar value as fighting-ships — the first-men- 
 tioned by a contact torpedo, and the others 
 by the fire of the Russian batteries. 
 
 To return to the Russian offensive opera- 
 tions. Their next move was of a far bolder 
 nature — no less than an attack upon the 
 ironclad squadron lying off Sulina, under 
 the command of Hassan Pasha — the block- 
 ading fleet, in fact, designed to keep the 
 Russian steamers shut up in Odessa and 
 Sebastopol. A number of steam-launches, 
 fitted with pole torpedoes, to be exploded by 
 electricity, came down at night from Kilia. 
 Hobart Pasha, who at that time held no 
 special appointment, and was therefore 
 without authority, had pointed out to the 
 admiral in command the exposed position of 
 
 337 
 
 <■>! 
 
 
 I 
 
 ■**l 
 
 • ''I 
 
 
TORPEDOES V, IRONCLADS.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 f 
 
 i 
 
 , 'I 
 
 ■."I 
 
 ;, 1 
 
 the Turkish ships, suggesting, as a defence 
 against torpedo attacks, a cordon of boats 
 with ropes or small chains between ; but, as 
 usual, the advice was not followed, the 
 Turks contenting themselves with keeping 
 a good look-out on board of each ship, and 
 having a guard-boat or so rowing round. 
 Besides this, a certain amount of signalling 
 with flashing lights, which preceded the 
 attack, aroused the attention of the Turks, 
 so that they were found on the alert. All 
 the men were at their quarters, the guns 
 loaded and run out, and the ships were 
 engaged in slipping their cables when the 
 enemy's boats came up. The Idjlalieh, an 
 ironclad corvette, was the ship singled out 
 by Lieutenant Poutsliakine, who led the 
 attack ; and had he been ably seconded by 
 the other boats, in all probability that ship 
 would have been destroyed. He successfully 
 brought his little craft under the bows ; but 
 his torpedo " got foul " either of the spur or 
 the cable, and so exploded without effecting 
 any injury to the enemy's vessel. The water 
 thrown up probably swamped his boat, 
 though she was supposed to have been sunk 
 by the Turkish fire. She had, however, 
 advanced too close to the Idjlalieh for that 
 vessel's guns to have produced any such 
 effect, for the gunports of a man-of-war 
 allow of but very little depression, and the 
 Turkish man-of-war undoubtedly escaped 
 more by accident than by good manai^ement 
 or a carefully planned defence. The Russian 
 attack should have been more concentrated; 
 it failed, and the Turks have, therefore, 
 every right to claim the victory. In the 
 meantime the Russians had been fitting up 
 several swift merchant steamers and the 
 fast-steaming yachts of the emperor ; and 
 shortly after this the Turks were much dis- 
 gusted at hearing of the destruction of 
 several of their collier-brigs ; but it did not 
 occur to them, apparently, that it might be 
 worth while trying to prevent it. 
 
 This was a game the Russians could well 
 play, having such secure places for retreat 
 asSebastopol, Odessa, Balaklava,and Kertch. 
 The run from any one of those ports to the 
 Turkish coast is very short, so that it is not 
 surprising that they managed to avoid cap- 
 ture. No real blockade of the Russian ports 
 was ever instituted, so that there was 
 nothing to prevent their free egress or in- 
 gress ; and the only wonder is that the raids 
 were not more frequent. So slightly were 
 the regulations with regard to blockade 
 maintained, that Greek ships arrived at 
 338 
 
 [a.d. 1877. 
 
 Constantinople with corn from the Russian 
 ports. The Russian cruisers were specially 
 well fitted out for their work. Painted an 
 " invisible " grey, lying low in the water, 
 with nothing but pole-masts visible above 
 the deck, and burning smokeless coal, the 
 lumbering Turkish ironclads had not the 
 smallest chance against them in the game 
 of « hare and hounds." The latter could be 
 seen miles ofT, their approach betrayed by 
 the dense cloud of black smoke given out 
 by the Heraclea coals; and thus the light- 
 heeled enemy, by a change of course, always 
 managed to avoid a rencontre. Throughout 
 the war the Russians made no use of "their 
 Popoffkas. They were kept well within the 
 harbour of Odessa ; for as fighting-ships they 
 have proved a complete failure. The 
 Russian navy had not made the progress 
 that was expected, and had really no%ery 
 efficient sea-going men-of-war. The officers 
 and seamen of the Black Sea fleet, however, 
 did great service in the way of torpedoes 
 and individual exploits of considerable dar- 
 ing. Thus the encounter between the Vesta 
 and the Fethi Bulend, which occurred on 
 the 22nd of July, 1877, was a very spirited 
 contest between an unarmoured vessel and 
 an ironclad, and the Russians deserve great 
 credit for having thought of escaping in 
 any other manner than by steaming away 
 at the highest rate of speed, the Vesta hav- 
 ing kept up a running fight before a stern 
 chase for several hours. The Russian 
 torpedo attack at Soukhum-Kale was aimed 
 at the Arsari Shefket, an ironclad corvette 
 which was lying on guard at that place, 
 towards the end of the evacuation. The 
 Russian steamer Constantine, which was 
 specially fitted up for torpedo work, brought 
 down some four torpedo launches, and sent 
 them in on the night of the 24th of August, 
 1877, when the eclipse of the moon seemed 
 to offer special advantages in the obscurity 
 which naturally ensued. The attempt to 
 destroy the corvette was foiled in a great 
 measure by the guard-boats, as any one of 
 the launches got close to her, and the torpedo 
 being fired at a distance from the ship's 
 side, produced no other effect than throwing 
 a quantity of water upon her decks. The 
 Russians, however, managed to make good 
 their retreat, and retired under the impres- 
 sion that the Arsari Shefket was done for, 
 the torpedo having, as they imagined, 
 blown such a hole in her bottom as would 
 send her speedily below. 
 
 A very skilfully-planned attack against 
 
 1-! 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [contact torpedoes. 
 
 ! '-I 
 
 the Sulina squadron only resulted in the 
 destruction of a small wooden gun-boat. 
 The attack was of a twofold nature — the 
 enemy were to be lured over ground pre- 
 viously prepared with contact mines ; or, 
 failing this, the ironclads were to be sunk 
 or driven out of the harbour by mortar- 
 firing, or guns pointed with extreme eleva- 
 tion. The Russian flotilla safely passed 
 Sulina, and entering the St. George's 
 branch (which, with their usual want of 
 foresight, the Turks had neglected to close), 
 proceeded leisurely to Tuldsha, and from 
 thence descended the Sulina river, seeking 
 for torpedoes as they came. Stopping at 
 the sixth mile, securely hidden from view by 
 a bend of the river and the tall reeds of the 
 neighbouring swamps, the torpedo lighters 
 were sent ahead during the night to lay the 
 mines, which was most successfully done, 
 though the Turks poured in a hot fire. 
 The guns of the latter, however, did not 
 range more than 3,500 yards, so that their 
 ammunition was only thrown away to no 
 purpose. 
 
 The next morning the Sulina was sent 
 out by the Turks beyond the protecting 
 chains to assist the little Cartal tug-boat, 
 which had previously gone up to recon- 
 noitre. From the latter having safely 
 passed the suspected ground, the Turks 
 seem to have thought that the Sulina 
 might do the same with impunity, not 
 taking into consideration the difference in 
 their draught of water. The consequence 
 was that the Sulina struck upon a torpedo, 
 and was instantly destroyed. The Russian 
 contact torpedoes, used on this occasion, 
 show to what perfection the art of submarine 
 mining is now being brought. They com- 
 bined in their construction both the ele- 
 ments of safety in placing them, and the 
 certainty of explosion when struck by a 
 passing body. Small bichromate of potass 
 batteries are placed all round the case, 
 screwed into small cylinders, and each of 
 these are placed in circuit with its regu- 
 lators, with a fuze inserted amongst the 
 gun-cotton. The whole chain of these 
 electric circuits are not completed until the 
 mine is placed, and every one has retreated 
 to a safe distance, when, the main wires, 
 being joined, the affair is ready for action, 
 the batteries not working until the plates 
 are acted upon by the bichromate of potass. 
 The solution of bichromate of potass is 
 placed in a glass tube hermetically sealed , 
 
 and protected from accidental fracture by a 
 thick lead covering. When a ship or other 
 passing object strikes this arrangement, 
 which projects outside the torpedo case, the 
 glass tube is broken, and the solution com- 
 ing in contact with the zinc and carbon 
 plates, a current of electricity is immedi- 
 ately generated, and the torpedo explodes. 
 After the destruction of the Sulina there 
 was not the slightest chance of getting 
 another vessel to mount the stream, and so 
 the Russians had to fall back upon the 
 other part of their plan, and commence the 
 bombardment. This they did from a safe 
 distance, far beyond the range of the Turk- 
 ish guns, and from first to last poured in 
 some 200 shells. No great damage was 
 inflicted on the town, and none at all on the 
 shipping. The latter escaped as by a 
 miracle ; the shot and shell fell all around, 
 but the two corvettes at the booms were 
 never struck once ; though had only one of 
 the shots, fired with so high a trajectory, 
 but fallen upon the deck of an ironclad, it 
 would probably have placed her hors de 
 combat, by sending her to the bottom of 
 the river. 
 
 The descent on the Abchasian coast, and 
 the attempted raising of the mountain 
 tribes against the Russians, was even less 
 productive of results than the abortive ex- 
 pedition of Omar Pasha during the 
 Crimean war. Beyond somewhat delaying 
 the march of the Russian troops southwards, 
 and causing much misery amongst the 
 inhabitants who rose, the Porte gained 
 nothing at all by the expedition. 
 
 Hussein Pasha, the Turkish admiral, did 
 nothing with his ironclads but threaten the 
 coast, cannonading the stations, and landing 
 predatory bodies of Circassians, who burned 
 the villages and devastated the country 
 lying along the shore on an extended scale. 
 Sukhum Kaleh was bombarded and burned 
 to the ground, and several attempts were 
 made to bombard Poti, but without any 
 success. Altogether, the movement was a 
 complete failure ; and the only benefit which 
 the Turks derived from their navy was, that 
 it prevented the Russians from despatching 
 stores and reinforcements by sea from 
 Odessa to the Danube. And even this was 
 but a very poor result, and did not hamper 
 the Russians in any way, as they commanded 
 the lines of railway from Russia to the 
 Danube. The only inconvenience they, 
 suffered was a slight increase of expenditure. 
 
 339 
 
 i 
 
 I'. 
 
 :« 
 
 >.»■' 
 
GREEK NATIONALITY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1877. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 THE GREEK QUESTION. 
 
 
 \" 
 
 Before entering upon the troubled period 
 ushered in by the San Stefano treaty, some 
 account of the attitude of Greece during the 
 war is necessary for the complete compre- 
 hension of the vexed questions to which the 
 Russo-Turkish conflict gave birth. 
 
 There was a time, and not so very long 
 ago, when the Hellenic factor in the 
 Eastern Question was the chief factor in 
 that very complicated problem. The 
 Greeks were then synonymous with the 
 Eastern Christians, and from them pro- 
 ceeded all the movements towards emanci- 
 pation from the Turkish yoke. But in 
 recent years all this has changed. The 
 Slavs emerged from their long obscurity, 
 and thus the Eastern Question was rendered 
 much more complicated than it was before. 
 The Bulgarians and other members of the 
 Slavonic race had discovered that they had 
 a nationality of their own, and began to 
 show political aspirations inconsistent alike 
 with Turkish and with Greek supremacy. 
 Even if they had stood alone their numbers 
 would have made them a very important 
 factor in the problem ; but they did not 
 stand alone. They found a powerful ally 
 in Russia, who advocated their cause in 
 order to extend Russian influence, and, if 
 possible, to plant the Russian eagle on the 
 banks of the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. 
 The Slavonic Question was thereby identified 
 with the question of Russian extension. 
 
 The Greeks had not, however, forgotten 
 their own political existence, such as it is. 
 If they had been silent during the com- 
 mencement of the war, it was not because 
 they had given up their aspirations, and 
 were indifferent to what was taking place in 
 Turkey. Never, perhaps, had they watched 
 with more intense interest the current of 
 daily events. They believed that at last 
 the sick man, who had for centuries been 
 such a burden to them, was really approach- 
 ing his latter end, and they thought more 
 than ever about his inheritance. But with 
 profound disgust they observed that their 
 claim as heirs was no longer so strong, and 
 60 likely to be regarded as it once was. They 
 found that there were no longer Philhellenes 
 340 
 
 in Western Europe, and that this class of 
 enthusiasts had become as extinct as the 
 mammoth and the megatherium, and that 
 if any happened to come forward, they 
 would be powerless anachronisms. The dis- 
 cussions about the possibility of Greek re- 
 generation had given place to the cry — 
 "L'avenir est aux Slaves I" All this was 
 very saddening to the Hellenic heart. 
 " Why," asked the Greeks, " have we been 
 thus abandoned by Western Europe ? Have 
 we not proved ourselves able to govern our- 
 selves, and shown ourselves a respectable 
 member of the European family of nations ? 
 Our government, we are quite ready to 
 admit, is not all that could be desired. We 
 are cursed by a class of youths and full-grown 
 men who call themselves politicians, and 
 aspire to become Prime Ministers ; and as 
 we have not places and money enouo^h to 
 satisfy the aspiration of all these place- 
 hunters, many' ministries are overthrown, 
 and the regular administration greatly 
 hampered by personal rivalries and in- 
 trigues. Besides this, too, we do not pay 
 our debts. If, therefore, you compare our 
 government and our country with the more 
 advanced nations of Western Europe, you 
 will certainly form a low opinion of us. 
 But such a comparison is grossly unfair. To 
 judge us justly, you should compare us with 
 what we were before our emancipation ; and 
 if you do that, you cannot fail to be struck 
 by the enormous progress we have made in 
 half a century. If your memory does not 
 go back so far as that, and if you doubt the 
 written testimony on the subject, you can 
 still make the comparison for yourself by 
 visiting the northern provinces of the king- 
 dom, and then passing into the purely 
 Greek portions of Thessaly and Epirus. 
 What the Greek villages and towns in these 
 two provinces now are, the villages and 
 towns of the kingdom were before the 
 emancipation. Compare, for example, the 
 Piraeus with Salonica. The natural posi- 
 tion of the two towns is equally good ; but 
 what a diff'erence in the history of the two 
 towns during the last fifty years I Fifty 
 years ago the Piraeus was a miserable 
 
 V-, 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [greek complaints. 
 
 village ; now it is a flourishing town with 
 about twenty manufactories of various 
 kinds, and is every year increasing in pros- 
 perity. And what has been the history of 
 Salonica during that period ? On a small 
 scale, the history of the Turkish empire in 
 general — that is, gradual, inevitable decay. 
 If it has made some little progress, it has 
 to thank the Greek inhabitants, who, in 
 spite of Turkish misrule and oppression, 
 have to a certain extent improved their 
 condition. If only some serious, conscien- 
 tious Englishman would go and live for 
 some time in the kingdom of Greece and 
 the Greek provinces of Turkey, and then 
 give the results of his investigations to the 
 world, the British public would have truer 
 notions as to what the Greeks are, and as to 
 what the emancipated Greeks have done. 
 We should then have true Philhellenes— not 
 generous sentimentalists, who loved and 
 admired us because of the heroic deeds and 
 artistic genius of our forefathers, but cool- 
 headed practical men who can appreciate 
 and admire the material, intellectual, and 
 moral progress of a young, struggling 
 nation. We do not ask you to remember 
 Pericles, or Phidias, or Demosthenes, or 
 even the heroic men who, within living 
 memory, fought and died for their country. 
 Forget if you will all our glorious past, and 
 look on us as we are. If you observe 
 closely and accurately what is before you, 
 and compare it with what was fifty years 
 ago, we have no reason to fear your de- 
 cision. 
 
 On these and similar grounds the Greeks 
 asserted that they were being most unjustly 
 neglected. At a moment when the Eastern 
 Question was about to be, at least, tem- 
 porarily solved, they were hardly spoken of. 
 They did not, however, intend to sit quietly 
 still and be left out in the cold. If there 
 was to be any distribution of the sick man's 
 goods, they were determined to have, if 
 possible, a share. These ideas, industriously 
 propagated by the politicians, naturally 
 caused a good deal of excitement in Greece, 
 and considerable military preparations were 
 made in view of possible contingencies. 
 The Greek argument was, that having taken 
 up arms, Russia would not lay them down 
 till she had humiliated the Turks; and 
 that when she had done that, there would 
 be a congress, or something of the kind, to 
 decide upon the arrangements for the future. 
 In these arrangements the interests of 
 Russia and the Slavs would be first con- 
 
 VOL. Ul. 2 Y 
 
 sidered. If Greece had taken part in the 
 struggle, her claims would also receive 
 attention ; but if she remained quiet, no one 
 would think of giving her anything. 
 Plainly, then, her best policy, it was 
 argued, was to strike a blow at the sick 
 man whilst the life was still in him. But, 
 on the other hand, the striking of this blow, 
 in view of distant prospect>7e advantages, 
 might lead to direct consequences of a very 
 disagreeable kind. The Turkish fleet was 
 still at large, and Hobart Pasha might think 
 it his duty to bombard at once the Piraeus, 
 Syra, Patras, and all the other important 
 towns on the sea-coast. Enormous loss 
 could thereby be inflicted on Greece with- 
 out withdrawing a single regiment from the 
 Danube or Asia Minor. 
 
 Thus Greece was animated by two dia- 
 metrically opposed motives. She would 
 very much have liked to fight, but she per- 
 ceived clearly the dangers she would expose 
 herself to by entering on the struggle. As 
 might naturally be supposed, the irrespon- 
 sible part of the Greek public were, for the 
 most part, advocates of decided action, 
 " This is," they said, " a question of life and 
 death, and we must be content to run a 
 certain risk. The risk, however, is not so 
 great as it appears. Surely England would 
 never allow Hobart Pasha to bombard peace- 
 ful unfortified towns containing a very large 
 amount of English property. If England 
 will not interfere, we will find means of 
 defending ourselves as our forefathers did in 
 the War of Independence ; and if we should 
 be unsuccessful, Europe will certainly not 
 allow Turkey to eat us up altogether." 
 Such were the sentiments of a very large 
 section of the Greek public. On the other 
 hand, the ministry were more peacefully 
 inclined, and strove — or at least professed 
 to strive — to calm the public, who clamoured 
 for an invasion of Thessaly and Epirus, 
 where the Greek population were waiting 
 for the signal to rise and inaugurate a 
 spectacle similar to that in Servia, when 
 Russia helped the insurgents without de- 
 claring war against the Porte. The most 
 difficult position of all was that of the 
 king. He wished to preserve peace; but he 
 also knew that if he tried to stem the flood 
 of popular feeling too long, his fate would 
 be that of Otho. 
 
 As it was, it was loudly insisted on in 
 Athens and Syra, that if King George de- 
 sired to retain his crown, he must do some- 
 thing. So far, he had done nothing to 
 
 341 
 
 1 
 
 r 
 
 ■'•'I 
 
 H 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 ■m 
 
 ■m 
 
 *''i 
 
 n», 
 
THE RIVAL MINISTERS."! 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 ii 
 
 justify the expectations the Greeks had 
 formed from his connexions in London and 
 St. Petersburg. His journey to England 
 raised these hopes for a time, and it was 
 thought that he would come back with some 
 valuable consideration in return for the 
 "loyalty" the Greeks had evinced in their 
 relations with the Porte, and their self- 
 denial in not complicating matters by an 
 intervention in the Turco-Servian conflict* 
 But when he returned empty-handed — 
 when, above all, it was found that the con- 
 ference had only busied itself with the Slav 
 question, and that this question had even 
 been transferred to the Mediterranean side 
 of the Balkans, then the Greeks began to 
 lose their patience, and discovered that the 
 great friends of the Vikings' son, and the 
 Vikings' son himself, were animated by 
 other interests than those of Greece. They 
 complained that their king was a Dane, 
 their queen a Russian ; and that the chil- 
 dren of the royal pair were in a fair way of 
 becoming Germans, their education being 
 entrusted to a Prussian — Dr. Liiders. They 
 felt themselves also highly aggrieved that 
 the former secretary of the queen — M. Dom- 
 boffski — had been replaced by M. Tatisefif, 
 in consequence of an imperial Russian 
 ukase ; and obstinately refusing to see that 
 this ukase had reference onlv to M. TatisefTs 
 position as a Russian subject and within the 
 Russian empire, they insisted that it was an 
 impertinent interference, and an attempt to 
 extend Russian administration into the 
 Greek kingdom. Thus there gradually 
 arose a party which had its chief seat in 
 that especially revolutionary centre, Syra, 
 which became louder and louder in its de- 
 mands that King George should really prove 
 himself an Hellene, and not a marionette 
 pulled by Russian or British strings ; whilst 
 throughout Greece generally there was a 
 very strong feeling that something must be 
 done. 
 
 This state of things was made use of by 
 the two rival ministers, Koumoundouros and 
 Deligeorgis, each in his own fashion. Kou- 
 moundouros wished to obtain what Greece 
 claimed by an alliance with Russia and in 
 concert with the Russians. Deligeorgis, on 
 the contrary, wished to attain the same 
 object by arrangement with the Porte. 
 Between these two stood Charilaos Tri- 
 koupis, who insisted on a united and 
 frankly-declared national policy, and was 
 strongly opposed to unofficial war, either in 
 a military or a political sense. This pro- 
 342 
 
 gramme had the advantage of satisfying the 
 Greeks of all parties, with the exception of 
 the tufthunters and intriguers — a rather 
 numerous race in Greece — who found his 
 Spartan patriotism impregnable against 
 their little plans of personal advancement. 
 Among these three men King George had 
 to choose ; and in view of the strong feeling 
 against the Slavs, it was foreseen that his 
 choice would be limited to Deligeorgis or 
 Trikoupis. Deligeorgis was a popular man, 
 and idolised by the educated youth, on 
 account of his wonderful power of oratory. 
 Thus, in popular esteem, both Deligeorgis 
 and Trikoupis held about equal places ; but 
 Deligeorgis was a man of more varied re- 
 sources; and his policy of coming to an 
 arrangement with the Porte regarding 
 Thessaly and Epirus must be read between 
 the lines. For Deligeorgis, the Porte was 
 in this case the Phanar and not the Divan ; 
 and it was just possible that the interests of 
 the Greeks of the empire might become, 
 through his exertions, identical with those 
 of the Greeks of the kingdom. The in- 
 dependence of Cis-Balkan Bulgaria would 
 greatly promote such an understanding; 
 but the extension of an independent Bul- 
 garia beyond the Balkans would render it 
 a certainty. The knowledge of this fact 
 was an additional reason for the Russians 
 confining their chief efforts for future terri- 
 torial acquisitions in Asia Minor. They 
 knew perfectly well, that unless they could 
 manipulate Greece through the agency of 
 Koumoundouros, Germany and England 
 would support Greece; whilst there could be 
 no two opinions in Europe as to whether the 
 Slav or the Greek race is better adapted for 
 the promotion of civilisation and the de- 
 velopment of commerce and agriculture at 
 Constantinople and south of the Balkans. 
 On the whole, therefore, it seemed at one 
 time as if Trikoupis's independent national 
 policy had the best chance of success. 
 
 But the great impediment to an indepen- 
 dent national policy lay in the constitution 
 of Greek society, in the feebleness of the 
 nation, and its exposure to an attack by sea. 
 
 When we find that the employes and 
 their families form no less than one-twelfth 
 of the population of Greece, we can easily 
 understand that the financial and economic 
 condition of the country must be highly 
 unsatisfactory. Still more serious does the 
 matter appear when we remember that the 
 country was burdened, at the outset of its 
 career, by a debt it could not pay — by a 
 
 1... 
 
 i 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 «':^'. 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the greek capital. 
 
 legacy of passions that formerly found a 
 vent against the Turks, but since then have 
 caused the formation of numberless factions; 
 and, finally, by being saddled with a king 
 of foreign extraction, whose only chance of 
 founding a dynasty depended upon the 
 force of arms, or the consolidation of a con- 
 stitutional monarchy. Besides all this, 
 there exists the fact, which it is useless to 
 ignore, that the people are over-educated 
 for their means, or possess too much 
 mobility of intellect to be able to devote 
 themselves to manual labour. The mode 
 of life, the climate, permit them to dis- 
 regard those conditions of existence which 
 the inhabitants of less favoured countries 
 cannot afford to disregard. The conse- 
 quence is, that though the population of 
 Greece has increased from 710,000 in 1832, 
 to 1,600,000 in 1876, the resources of the 
 country have not been developed in propor- 
 tion to the powers of this increase. Thus 
 there arose the same cry in Greece that 
 was heard in Dalmatia — more territory and 
 a greater working population. 
 
 These sentiments pervade all classes of 
 Greek society. Even the Greek peasant 
 is more ambitious and enterprising than 
 the rest of his kind in other parts of the 
 world. Agriculture is not all the world 
 for him, as it is for the Bulgarian ; and, 
 unlike the latter, his whole family is not 
 chained to the soil as the one business of 
 life. The sons and daughters go out to 
 seek their fortunes, and generally succeed 
 in making them. The Greek peasant is, 
 moreover, a clever fellow, and not ill- 
 educated. He takes a keen interest in 
 politics, reads the village newspaper with 
 avidity, and listens with enthusiasm to the 
 history of his country, and the deeds of his 
 ancestors told in stirring song. He is 
 eloquent, too, and can debate excellently 
 over the coffee or raki, or state his case 
 with perfect sangfroid to the consul or 
 other authority, when the Bulgarian would 
 hardly be able to utter an intelligible word. 
 The Turkish Greek is, moreover, intensely 
 patriotic ; he is proud of free Hellas, and 
 is confident that some day he, too, will be 
 free. He is more luxurious than the 
 Bulgarian, his dress less coarse, his food 
 better served, bis house better built, his 
 school better organised, his wife and 
 daughters more refined and better dressed. 
 
 In conceding all this, it must also be 
 confessed that the material progress of 
 Greece, since its independence, has been 
 
 very great ; and nowhere is this progress 
 more evident than in the capital, though, 
 as we have seen, it is also noticeable 
 amongst the rural population. 
 
 There is enough that is enjoyable in 
 Athens, and far more than the traveller 
 will find in Constantinople. Go out for a 
 walk on a fine evening to the Place de la 
 Concorde, where the band of the king's 
 guard plays in the afternoon; join the 
 crowd of promenaders on foot, on horse- 
 back, and in carriages on the fashionable 
 northern avenue to Patissia, past the cafes^ 
 where hundreds of motley idlers lounge in 
 chairs at round tables cumbering the 
 spacious side-walks; look back to the 
 south, where the stupendous rock of the 
 Acropolis, with its shattered temples and 
 crumbling mediaeval walls, sits like a 
 diadem on the brow of this fair Hellenic 
 queen ; turn to the west, where the rays of 
 the setting sun dart from the crests of the 
 ^galeos and the Parnes, gilding on the 
 opposite side the dark masses of the 
 Hymettos and Pentelikon, revealing and 
 relieving their rugged ravines and ''their 
 bold outlines, which stand out distinctly 
 as if carved in the deepening blue of the 
 sky ; walk about, or sit and muse, or listen 
 to the easy chat of those idle groups, and 
 one cannot but half wonder at, half envy 
 that happy vacuity of earnest thought and 
 incapacity of sustained action which make 
 up so large a part of this blessed Eastern 
 existence, yet .not the whole of it. For, 
 after looking at Athens, with its 50,000 
 good-looking, intelligent, sensitive, aspiring 
 people, their schools, museums, and libra- 
 ries, all improvised, yet all thriving and 
 promising, it is almost impossible to 
 conjure up the cluster of wretched hovels 
 which bore the name of Athens under Otto- 
 man rule fifty or sixty years since. Com- 
 paring this little oasis of European civili- 
 sation with Volo, or Larissa, or Janina, or 
 any of the hotbeds of Turkish sloth, 
 especially with that horrid Pera-Galata, 
 that sea of deep, foetid mud, out of which 
 emerge, like islands, the sumptuous palaces 
 of their diplomatic Excellencies, produces 
 the most emphatic evidence of the utter 
 impotence of these same Excellencies to 
 work out any material good^ even at their 
 very doors. 
 
 But that there are drawbacks to all these 
 good things at Athens, that there is some- 
 thing rotten in this new state of Greece, no 
 one will deny. There are some incurable and 
 
 343 
 
 1 
 I 
 
 • ,»i 
 
PI- 
 
 ATHENIAN DRAWBACKS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1877. 
 
 H 
 
 11 
 
 some not easily mended faults in the soil 
 and climate ; for the mild and sweet early 
 days of May are soon over, and before the 
 end of the month the torrid heat sets in, 
 and the glare of the sun in the inju- 
 diciously broad thoroughfares, with the 
 reflection of the smooth flasr-stones and 
 white walls, is dazzling and blinding ; and 
 the dust rises in huge dense clouds at 
 every breath of wind, and chokes you at 
 every step if you venture out of doors, and 
 creeps through the windows that you dare 
 not open, and covers the table you are 
 writing at and the very bed you sleep on. 
 There is no such scourge in the world as 
 Athenian chalk-dust ; for all the new 
 streets are macadamized, and for one 
 house that is rising from the ground the 
 foundations of a score of others are laid ; 
 and in spite of political anxiety and 
 financial distress, the chipping of the 
 stonemason's chisel is heard at all hours in 
 every quarter, whilst the wind sweeps 
 through the rubbish-heaps in the open 
 spaces, and Athens has scarcely one drop of 
 water to slake tlie thirst of her burning 
 streets and squares. 
 
 This is all owing to the centuries of 
 human unthrift and stolidity which has 
 made of Attica a torrid desert for- six or 
 seven months in the year. There was a 
 time, as Sophocles tells us, and as the 
 guide-books translate, when '* beautiful 
 fields bloomed, when nightingales sighed 
 and lamented among the groves of Colonus, 
 along its green hedges and walls mantled 
 with dark ivy." Days are mentioned when 
 the Cephisus and Ilissus were streams of 
 water and not beds of arid stones as they 
 aro now ; when people could talk of 
 "sacred foliage teeming with fruits in 
 shady coolness, nourished by gentle breezes, 
 untouched by storms." The ravages of 
 man have done away with all that. Men 
 still living in Athens remember the fires 
 with which the last strips of forest in the 
 glens of Hymettus and Pentelicus gleamed 
 round Athens night after night, as they do 
 now incessantly in the gorges of the moun- 
 tains of Albania, visible from Corfu. The 
 savage cultivators of the soil in these 
 regions burn their woods to fertilise the 
 fields with their ashes. By the destruction 
 of trees of many ages' growth they insure a 
 paltry crop for one season. But the ex- 
 periment cannot be twice made ; the havoc 
 is now complete ; the mischief can no 
 further go. With every trace of vegeta- 
 344 
 
 tion, every vestige of moisture vanishes 
 early in the spring from the Attic land, and 
 before the end of May all is parched, burnt, 
 pulverised, bare, scorched, and desolate. 
 No one plants trees ; no trees planted would 
 have any chance of living; and where 
 nature, by the inexhaustible strength of her 
 recuperative energies, puts forth here a 
 bud, there a bulb, where a chance seed 
 dropped from a bird, or wafted by the 
 wind, might be the means of again cover- 
 ing the land with trees and blessing it 
 with new verdure and moisture, the goat 
 comes browsing, crops up, tears up, the 
 very rock to which the roots cling with 
 unavailing vital instinct. Nowhere in the 
 world, perhaps, is the proportion of goats 
 to all other cattle so great as it is in Athens 
 and the surrounding territory. The 
 niggardly boor of Attica cherishes a 
 quadruped that gives milk and eats 
 nothing — eats, that is to say, what costs 
 its owner nothing, but what is in reality 
 " the heart of the land." This improvi- 
 dence, let it be repeated, is not peculiar to 
 Athens or to other parts of Southern 
 Grreece. But no country has sinned on 
 this score more grievously than Attica, no 
 town more bitterly rues the consequences 
 than Athens, and no country or town, to 
 all appearance, is less alive to the enormity 
 of the evil, or less earnestly inclined or 
 determined to devise a remedy. That 
 woods could be planted everywhere around 
 Athens, that the mountains, if protected 
 from the goats, would again teem with 
 vegetation up to the highest rocks, and 
 that verdure and moisture would again be 
 as plentiful as they were in the days of the 
 great tragedian, no one will doubt who sees 
 in how few years the king's garden and 
 other plantations have sprung up to the 
 greatest luxuriance. And barren as is the 
 country, by the fault of the governing 
 classes more than by the fault of the 
 people, just as barren are its politics — no 
 doubt, in a great measure, owing to the 
 relations of Greece with and towards the 
 Greek provinces of Turkey. Besides the 
 associations, or clubs, to which we have 
 alluded on an earlier page (p. 11) there was 
 a crowd of newspapers expounding the 
 views of these clubs and the various 
 parties. 
 
 But, in spite of all the intrigues of the 
 societies, the exertions of the politicians— in 
 spite of the popular clamour, and notwith- 
 standing the noisy patriotism of Leonidas 
 
 A.D. 1877.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 fCABINET OF COMPROMISE. 
 
 Bulgaris — or perhaps in consequence of all 
 this, on the principle that too many cooks 
 spoil the broth, the long-expected " action " 
 did not go beyond the ostentatious concen- 
 tration of Greek troops on the frontier ; 
 whilst Leonidas Bulgaris, styling himself 
 president of the insurrectional comite, issued 
 a proclamation, calling upon the people of 
 Thessaly, Macedonia, and Epirus, to take up 
 arras. Photiades Bey made energetic re- 
 presentations to the Greek ministers on the 
 subject, and called upon them to arrest 
 Bulgaris, but without success, the ministers 
 alleging that they could not take such a 
 measure without endangering their existence 
 as a Cabinet. 
 
 Meantime the ministers exhibited much 
 activity in their diplomatic negotiations 
 with England, Turkey, and Rouraania ; and 
 towards the end of July, 1877, Trikoupis 
 had a long conversation with the English 
 ambassador, Mr. Stuart, who assured him 
 that the interests of the Greeks would not 
 be lost sight of by England. This has been 
 interpreted as though Mr. Stuart was allud-r 
 ing to the interests of the Greek govern-r 
 ment in Athens. Such was not the case. 
 The conversation referred only to the in- 
 terests of the Greek subjects of the Porte, 
 in view of any extension of the privileges of 
 the Slav subjects which might be pre- 
 judicial to them. In the same sense must 
 the notes be considered which the Greek 
 Cabinet addressed to its agents at foreign 
 Courts. This attitude was rather at vari- 
 ance with the expectations entertained by 
 the Greeks from the Cabinet of Compromise, 
 at the head of which was Canaris, and, 
 whose raison d'etre lay in its being supposed 
 to represent the universal national wish ; 
 and it was also at variance with the military 
 preparations that were rapidly approaching 
 completion^ At the same time, the excite- 
 ment throughout Greece became so great, 
 that it was feared that if the Cabinet did 
 not abandon its temporising policy, it would 
 be forced to resign, and make way for a 
 more resolute one. The national enthu- 
 siasm exhibited itself in considerable con- 
 tributions of men, arms, and money ; and 
 the men of the first extraordinary reserve 
 were welcomed everywhere by processions of 
 the inhabitants, and bands of music, and 
 the customary festal virgins. They were 
 all at their posts even bejfore the appointed 
 time, so that the increase of the army to 
 27,000 men was now an established fact 
 by the beginning of August, 1877. 
 
 And yet matters still remained in the 
 same undecided state. The fact was, that 
 the Greek government were sufi"ering from 
 a plethora of advice. It was an open secret 
 that they had been formally assured by the 
 German government of its fullest sympathy ; 
 but this assurance was somewhat diminished 
 by the proviso, that such sympathy could 
 not practically extend beyond the limits 
 imposed by Great Britain. But as to what 
 these limits were, the Greek government 
 had not been able to ascertain. In no case 
 had the promises of the British ministers 
 gone beyond the general assurance that the 
 interests of Greece should not sufi'er in 
 favour of any other nationality subject to 
 the Porte ; but at the same time it was 
 pointed out, that any premature action 
 would forfeit the good wishes of the govern- 
 ment of Great Britain, and prevent any 
 interference with such maritime dispositions 
 as the Turkish government might see fit to 
 adopt. This language made a decided im- 
 pression upon some members ot the Athens 
 Cabinet, who found themselves opposed by 
 the more independent members, whose idea 
 was in favour of co-operation with Russia — 
 or, to use the more exact phrase — of parallel 
 action with Russia, independent of Russian 
 control, but still en rapport with St. 
 Petersburg. Canaris, however, was opposed 
 to this, as indeed to any war at all, until 
 the success of the Russian arms appeared 
 assured beyond all doubt. So, too, was the 
 Phanar opposed to any action ; and when 
 certain occurrences in the Russian monastery 
 of Pantaleimon, on Mount Athos, in con- 
 nexion with intrigues in the Bulgarian 
 monasteries there, seemed to point to an 
 attempt to Slavonicise the peninsula, the 
 Fhare du Bosphore called upon the Porte 
 to vindicate its rights, and banish the 
 Russian and Bulgarian monks. The Porte 
 would have consented, but Prince Reuss 
 protested against the measure, and it was 
 not carried out. Again, the Phanar ren- 
 dered important services to Turkey during 
 the war. Thus, the banking firm Sarifi 
 advanced £300,000 to the Porte, in addition 
 to former sums advanced by the same firm, 
 and by Messrs. Negroponte and Stefano- 
 vitch. The Phanar also had the chief con- 
 tracts for the supplies of the Turkish army. 
 There was thus a great division of interest 
 between the Greeks of the kingdom and 
 those of Constantinople, and part of the 
 Greeks of London and Vienna. But the 
 people of Greece felt very stronglv that the 
 
 345* 
 
 / 
 
 I 
 
 Id 
 
 ;: 
 
 1 I 
 
 tl 
 
 1*1 
 
 I 
 
 
SAN STEFANO TREATY.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1878. 
 
 jackal's part was not a worthy one to play, 
 especially not for such a nation as the 
 Greek, and had besides a shrewd idea that 
 it was a dangerous game to play. It is 
 true, the Greek Cabinet was prepared to 
 enter into an alliance with Russia on certain 
 conditions. These conditions were, that 
 Russia should formally engage to renounce 
 for herself and the Slavs any claim to the 
 country south of the Balkans; that the 
 occupation of towns largely inhabited by 
 Greeks, such as Adrianople, should be tem- 
 porary only; and thirdly, that Russia 
 should sell her ironclad fleet to Greece in 
 order to secure the services of the 30,000 
 sailors Greece was prepared to furnish I The 
 little kingdom had thus no small idea of its 
 importance. But, extravagant as these 
 demands may appear, it might have been 
 wise on the part of the Russians to have 
 acceded to them. Greece must not be 
 measured by the Morea and the Pelopon- 
 nesus. There is a larger Greece — the 
 Greece that has kept the Porte on its legs 
 for many centuries, and which was capable 
 of keeping it oa its legs still for many a 
 year to come. 
 
 However, the result of all the commotion 
 was, that the government took no action 
 itself, and regarded the exertions of Bul- 
 garis and the clubs to raise an insurrection 
 in Thessaly with a lenient eye, the ministers 
 assuring the Turks and the foreign govern- 
 ments that the movement was not dan- 
 gerous, and was of great use as a safety- 
 valve, and eminently calculated to save 
 troubles and complications between the 
 government of Greece and its hard-beset 
 neighbour. 
 
 This was the state of affairs immediately 
 preceding the treaty of San Stefano. The 
 Greek government was waiting to pick up 
 whatever crumbs might be dropped by the 
 great powers, and the Greek people were 
 occupied in watching the course of the in- 
 surrection, and finding a vent for their 
 superabundant excitement in denunciation 
 of the Turks, .England, Russia, France, 
 Germany, and the rest of the world in 
 general — not even forgetting Italy, whose 
 example of acquiring provinces without 
 fighting for them, or even by a series of 
 defeats, they were all so eager and ready to 
 follow. 
 
 HI 
 
 CHAPTEK XXXV. 
 
 THE TREATY OF SAN STEFANO BEFORE EUROPE. 
 
 Although the treaty of San Stefano was 
 signed on March 3rd, it was not officially 
 communicated to the British government 
 until March 20th. Probably this was due, 
 in some measure, to the Russian govern- 
 ment desiring to allow some of the excite- 
 ment it caused to subside before its official 
 presentation, but chiefly in order to gain 
 time and allow the military authorities to 
 take the strategic steps also permitted by 
 the treaty before any foreign government 
 could interpose on the basis officially pro- 
 vided by the treaty itself. 
 
 The wisest thing about the whole treaty 
 was its qualification, " preliminary." This 
 qualification was wise for two reasons. 
 First of all, because it opened the way for 
 a peaceable abrogation of the articles, which 
 England for one — and probably the whole 
 of Europe — would declare inadmissible and 
 contrary to previous treaty obiiijations. 
 346 
 
 Secondly, it was wise from a Russian point 
 of view, because it also opened the way to 
 a period of anxiety, indecision, and tension 
 which could not but act more or less un- 
 favourably to trade and commerce gene- 
 rally, and England's commerce especially. 
 By this means it was hoped that dissatisfac- 
 tion with the Beaconsfield ministry would 
 be engendered in England, and pave the 
 way to the accession of a Liberal Cabinet, 
 with which the Russian government ima- 
 gined it could more easily deal. 
 
 In fact, the San Stefano treaty inau- 
 gurated a policy which was consistently 
 carried on all through the year 1878. The 
 mot (Tordre of this policy was harassment, 
 and it extended from the Adriatic to the 
 Afghanistan frontier of India. 
 
 But, in spite of the damage done to 
 business — in spite of the indubitable desire 
 of the British people for peace — even at a 
 
 A.D. 1878.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [anglo-austriax policy. 
 
 moderate sacrifice — it was acknowledged on 
 all sides that the treaty of San Stefano 
 could not be allowed to stand. This opinion 
 Europe unanimously expressed as soon as 
 the text of the treaty had been published. 
 
 But even some time before its publica- 
 tion, the ministers and ambassadors of the 
 difi'erent powers were made aware of the 
 general character of the document ; and, in 
 reply to their objections, the Russian diplo- 
 matists replied that really it did not much 
 matter what was signed between Russia and 
 Turkey, as the treaty would be laid before 
 the powers, and have to receive their sanc- 
 tion before it became a definite agreement 
 with full international force. 
 
 As soon, therefore, as the preliminary 
 arrangements for an armistice — to be fol- 
 lowed at once by negotiations for peace — 
 had been signed. Count Andrassy, the 
 Austrian Minister for Foreign AfiFairs, 
 addressed a despatch, on February 5th, to 
 all the great powers, in which he stated 
 that Austria had always reserved her right 
 to exercise her share of influence over the 
 definitive regulation of the conditions of 
 the future peace. The imperial govern- 
 ment of Russia, to which he had communi- 
 cated this point of view, had fully appreci- 
 ated it ; and, as preliminaries of peace had 
 just been signed between Russia and Turkey, 
 the moment appeared to have come to 
 establish the agreement of Europe on the 
 modifications which it may become neces- 
 sary to introduce into the treaties of 1856 
 and 1871. The most suitable means to 
 bring about this agreement appeared to the 
 Austrian government to be the assembly of 
 a conference of the powers signatory of the 
 treaty of Paris of 1856, and of the protocol 
 of London of 1871. Count Andrassy there- 
 fore begged to invite the Cabinet of St. 
 James's to be good enough to join in a 
 conference of the powers signatory of the 
 above-mentioned international acts, and 
 hoped there would not be any objection to 
 the assembling of the conference at Vienna. 
 As soon as the acceptance in principle of this 
 invitation by the Cabinets invited should 
 be signified, he would hasten to propose to 
 them the manner and the date of meeting. 
 
 To this despatch Lord Derby replied on 
 February 7th, accepting the Austrian invi- 
 tation, which was also accepted by the 
 other powers. 
 
 Meantime, however, between the signa- 
 ture of the armistice and the signature of 
 the San Stefano treaty, a better knowledge 
 
 of the probable character of that instrument 
 had been acquired, and the chief result of 
 this better knowledge, as far as England 
 was concerned, was the demand by the 
 Beaconsfield ministry for a credit of 
 £6,000,000, in order, should the conference 
 proposed meet at Vienna, to be prepared 
 for extreme measures if no agreement were 
 arrived at. This credit parliament voted 
 by a large majority, especially as the public 
 were in an intense state of excitement at 
 the critical state of affairs. For, notwith- 
 standing the ratification of peace at St. 
 Petersburg and the re-establishment of 
 the Russian embassy and consulate at 
 Constantinople, the relations between Eng- 
 land and Russia, and the mystery which 
 overhung the precise conditions of peace, 
 made the situation most serious. The 
 evacuation by the Turkish troops of various 
 points between Buyukdere and Kilios on 
 the Black Sea, and the uncertainty whether 
 the points thus evacuated were or were 
 not to be occupied by Russian troops, of 
 course added to the gravity of the phase of 
 the " Eastern Question " through which the 
 world was passing. Naturally, at such a 
 moment, the most wild and extravagant 
 rumours were circulated, not only in Pera 
 and Stamboul, but also in London and 
 Paris, as to a further advance of the Rus- 
 sians towards Constantinople. There was 
 considerable reason for such apprehensions; 
 for, day by day, the Russians gradually 
 drew nearer to the capital and the shores 
 of the Bosphorus. Between Daoud Pasha 
 and Belgrad, the line occupied by the Rus- 
 sians ran from San Stefano throusrh the 
 villages of Nymphis, Aipas, Kalfa, Ayo 
 Ghiorghi (St. George), and thence on the 
 north-west of the forest of Domonadere, 
 through Istenia to Boghazkeui, and to the 
 Black Sea coast. 
 
 Belgrad itself not only was evacuated, but 
 Kilios also. Kilios is a fortress with forty- 
 four guns, in charge of which but a small 
 number of troops was left. In fact, Demir- 
 jikoi, Ferikoi, Sekeriyehkoi, and all the 
 villages where Turkish troops were stationed, 
 were being evacuated as rapidly as possible, 
 and the troops pouring into Stamboul and 
 elsewhere. This evacuation left open to the 
 Russians all the fortresses between Belgrad 
 and Roumelia Pharanaki (Lighthouse), the 
 extreme point on the European side of the 
 entrance to the Bosphorus from the Black 
 Sea. The forts between that point and 
 Buyukdere were — Papas Point, with 
 
 247 
 
 
 
 .41 
 
 m 
 
 i 
 
 a' 
 
 ! 
 
i 
 
 MINISTERIAL MANCEUVRES.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1878. 
 
 i» 
 
 eleven guns ; Fort Karibjeh, with seventeen 
 guns; Bujuk Liman, where there were a 
 powder magazine and twenty-two guns; 
 Kavak, with batteries containing twenty 
 guns ; and Sariyeri, about two miles from 
 Jiuyukdere, which contained a battery of 
 eight 24-pounders. 
 
 Thus, at that moment, before the Turks 
 had had time to recover from the blows 
 they had received, or to secure whatever 
 positions remained to them before the 
 capital, the Russians could easily have 
 seized Constantinople, and have obtained 
 the control — for a time at least — of the 
 Bosphorus. 
 
 Against such a step the British fleet was 
 practically powerless to interfere for a time. 
 Admiral Hornby would have had quite 
 enough to do to hold the Dardanelles and 
 assist the Turks to hold the lines of Bulair 
 and Gallipoli. At the same time, however, 
 there was never any fear amongst the mili- 
 tary authorities in London that the Rus- 
 sians would take such a step. They knew 
 perfectly well that Russia was playing a 
 game of brag ; and there is little doubt, too, 
 that, as far as immediate contingencies were 
 concerned, the British government was 
 playing the same game. 
 
 Still, even a game of brag costs money. 
 It cost the Russians a large sum of money 
 daily on account of their army ; and it cost 
 England pretty nearly the whole of the 
 :g6,000,000 before the game was played out. 
 It may not be very dignified to acknowledge 
 this ; but facts are facts, and, as there was 
 considerable danger of Russia obtaining 
 what she wanted from the Turks by bully- 
 ing them, and bragging, it was wiser for the 
 British ministry to talk still bigger, and 
 play a still bigger game of harmless, though 
 expensive brag, than to plunge into the 
 miseries of war. At the same time the 
 game was a safe one to play ; for should 
 brag have been insufficient, there were the 
 means at hand to render it grim earnest 
 indeed. Still, we repeat it, we have the 
 very best authority for saying, that at no 
 period after the capture of Adrianople, and 
 the entry of the British fleet into the 
 Dardanelles and the Sea of Marmora, was 
 there the slightest apprehension at the War 
 Office that the Russians would occupy 
 Constantinople. All the excitement and 
 tension following the signature of the treaty 
 of San Stefano, up to its modification by 
 the Berlin congress, might have been 
 fipared had there but been a rational system 
 348 
 
 for conducting foreign afl'airs by open dis- 
 cussion and parliamentary means, instead 
 of in a hole-and-corner fashion round a 
 dozen green tables. 
 
 But, in addition to these matters of fact 
 which precluded the occupation of Con- 
 stantinople, there were good military reasons 
 at that moment — ^.e., as long as the British 
 fleet was in the Sea of Marmora, and had 
 its communications open through the Dar- 
 danelles, as well as the central of the Asiatic 
 side of the Bosphorus. 
 
 A reference to the sketch of Constanti- 
 nople will show that, as long as the sea and 
 Scutari were held by the Turks and English, 
 the retention of Constantinople by the 
 Russians, even if they succeeded in occu- 
 pying the whole of the European coast of 
 the Dardanelles, would have been rendered 
 impossible except at an immense expendi- 
 ture of blood and treasure, as the city was 
 open to bombardment throughout its length 
 from south to north, and east to west, by 
 the fleet and by batteries on the Asiatic 
 coast, and at Scutari. For tliis reason the 
 Russians never dreamt of occupying Con- 
 stantinople itself. What they contemplated 
 was the encircling of the city with a series 
 of strong earthworks along the Tcha- 
 taldja lines, and thus prevent any communi- 
 cation with the interior. This plan would 
 have entailed much more trouble and loss 
 of life on the Turks and English, in case of 
 a war, than any other, as it would have 
 obliged them to fight their way by land, 
 and disembark troops more or less in the 
 face of the enemy. In two words, Con- 
 stantinople was never in any danger of 
 falling into the hands of the Russians? But 
 that this was the case, was due only to the 
 foresight and determination of Lord Bea- 
 consfield, who insisted upon sending the 
 fleet before the very walls of the city, and 
 thus created the situation which prevented 
 the Russians from capturing the city. Had 
 he not sent the fleet, there is very little doubt 
 but that not only Constantinople would 
 have been seized, but Scutari and the 
 Asiatic side of the Bosphorus as well. And 
 then England and Europe might have pro- 
 tested as long as they chose, or have com- 
 menced hostile operations against the Rus- 
 sians under the most unfavourable circum- 
 stances. 
 
 But though Constantinople itself may 
 not have been in any immediate danger, 
 there was, nevertheless, considerable danger 
 of war breaking out for many reasons— 
 
 
 n., 
 
 A.D. 1878.'| 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [agitation in INDIA. 
 
 
 reasons it is not necessary to enter into here, 
 but of which one — the deciding one in fact — 
 was the attitude taken up by Russia in 
 Central Asia against India and British rule 
 and influence on the north-western frontiers 
 of the Punjaub and Scinde and Cashmere. 
 
 Already, during the summer of 1876, 
 secret Russian agents had been sent to 
 Cabul to secure the favour of the Emir 
 Shere Ali, the ruler of Afghanistan ; and 
 this, coupled with other indications of a 
 similar character, pointed clearly to an in- 
 tention, on the part of Russia, to prepare a 
 course of agitation in India and the outly- 
 ing principalities, similar to that in Servia 
 which preceded the Russo-Turkish war. 
 
 Against this state of affairs it was neces- 
 sary to take precautions ; and as there is no 
 military organisation in England like those 
 of the other continental powers, which 
 permits the mobilisation of a large army at 
 a few days' notice, it was necessary to take 
 steps long before any immediate cause for 
 action arose. 
 
 Thus, for divers reasons of a military and 
 strategic, as well as a political character, 
 it was determined not only to call out the 
 reserves, but also to despatch a body of 
 Indian troops to the Mediterranean. On 
 this determination being arrived at by the 
 rest of the cabinet. Lord Derby resigned his 
 post as Foreign Secretary, and was suc- 
 ceeded by the Marquis of Salisbury, 
 
 This defection of Lord Derby's was quite 
 in accordance with what we have already 
 said of his character long before he so fully 
 justified that opinion by his subsequent 
 conduct. At the same time it caused no 
 slight embarrassment to the ministers, for 
 it had been intended to land the Indian 
 troops at Alexandretta ; and there is good 
 reason to believe that Lord Derby threat- 
 ened to divulge this plan if persisted in. 
 In consequence thereof, it was decided — 
 weakly decided in our opinion — to land 
 them at Malta instead. The necessary 
 orders to prepare for this step were sent to 
 India. These orders were followed up by 
 the order calling out the reserves ; this 
 order Lord Derby stating to have been one, 
 though not the chief of his reasons, for 
 resigning. 
 
 Now all these steps placed England on 
 the verge of the boundary which separates 
 peace from war ; and it was necessary, not 
 only to state clearly what would be the 
 cause of such war, but also to justify the 
 steps taken. With the first object, Lord 
 
 VOL. III. 2 z 
 
 Salisbury addressed a despatch to all the 
 English embassies abroad ; and with the 
 second. Lord Beaconsfield moved an humble 
 address to the Queen, thanking her for the 
 message of April 1st, calling out the 
 reserves in order to afi'ord government an 
 opportunity to justify its action and take 
 the opinion of parliament on the subject. 
 
 The following is the despatch which 
 Lord Salisbury addressed to Lord Loftus 
 and the other ambassadors : — 
 
 "Foreign Office, April 1, 1878. 
 
 "My Lord, — Sir, — I have received the 
 Queen's commands to request your Excel- 
 lency to explain to the government to 
 which you are accredited the course which 
 her majesty's government have thought it 
 their duty to pursue in reference to the 
 preliminaries of peace concluded between 
 the Ottoman and Russian governments, and 
 to the European congress which it has been 
 proposed to hold for the examination of 
 that treaty. On the 14th January, in view 
 of the reports which had reached her 
 majesty's government as to the negotiations 
 for peace which were about to be opened 
 between the Russian government and the 
 Porte, and in order to avoid any possible 
 misconception, her majesty's government 
 instructed Lord A. Loftus to state to Prince 
 Grortschakoff' that, in the opinion of her 
 majesty's government, any treaty concluded 
 between the government of Russia and the 
 Porte affecting the treaties of 1856 and 
 1871 must be an European treaty, and 
 would not be valid without the assent of 
 the powers who were parties to those trea- 
 ties. On the 25th January the Russian 
 government replied by the assurance that 
 they did not intend to settle by themselves 
 ('isolement ') European questions having 
 reference to the peace which is to be made 
 (' se rattachant a la paix'). 
 
 "Her majesty's government, having learnt 
 that the bases of peace had been arranged 
 between the Turkish and Russian delegates 
 at Kesanlik, instructed Lord A. Loftus, on 
 the 29th January, to state to the Russian 
 government that her majesty's government, 
 while recognising any arrangements made 
 by the Russian and Tufkish delegates at 
 Kezanlik for the conclusion of an armistice, 
 and for the settlement of bases of peace as 
 binding between the two belligerents, de- 
 clared that in so far as those arrangements 
 were calculated to modify European trea- 
 ties and to affect general and British 
 
 349 
 
 • 1 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 
SALISBURY'S DESPATCH.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1878. 
 
 n» 
 
 interests, her majesty's government were 
 unable to recognise in them any validity 
 unless they were made the subject of a 
 formal agreement among the parties to the 
 treaty of Paris. On the 30th of January 
 Lord A. Loftus communicated this declara- 
 tion to Prince GortschakofiL and his high- 
 ness replied that to effect an armistice certain 
 bases of peace were necessary, but they 
 were only to be considered as preliminaries 
 and not definitive as regarded Europe ; and 
 stated categorically that questions bearing 
 on European interests would be concerted 
 with European powers, and that he had 
 given her majesty's government clear and 
 positive assurances to this effect. On the 
 4 th of February the Austrian ambassador 
 communicated a telegram inviting her ma- 
 jesty's government to a conference at 
 Vienna, and her majesty's government at 
 once accepted the proposal. On the 5th of 
 February his Excellency addressed a formal 
 invitation to Lord Derby, stating that — 
 * L'Autriche - Hongrie, en sa qualite de 
 puissance signataire des actes interna- 
 tionaux qui ont eu pour objet de regler le 
 systeme politique en Orient, a toujours 
 reserve, en presence de la guerre actuelle, 
 sa part d'influence sur le reglement definitif 
 des conditions de la paix future. Le gou- 
 vernement imperial de la Russie, auquel 
 nous avons fait part de ce point de vue, I'a 
 pleinement appreciee. Aujourd'hui que les 
 preliminaires de paix vieunent d'etre signes 
 entre la Russie et la Turquie le moment 
 nous semble venu d'etablir I'accord de 
 I'Europe sur les modifications qu'il devien- 
 drait necessaire d'apporter aux traites sus 
 mentionnes. Le mode le plus apte a amener 
 cette entente nous parait etre la reunion 
 d'une conference des puissances signataires 
 du traite de Paris 1856 et du protocole de 
 Londres de 1871.' Austria, as a signatory 
 of the treaties referring to the East, has 
 always reserved its share of influence in re- 
 gulating the future treaty of peace. This 
 has been acknowledged by the Russian gov- 
 ernment ; and thus the Austrian govern- 
 ment, now that the preliminaries of peace 
 have been signed, proposes a conference of 
 the powers who signed the treaty of 1856. 
 On the 9 th instant the Austrian govern- 
 ment proposed, that instead of the confer- 
 ence at Baden-Baden, as previously con- 
 templated, a congress should be assembled 
 at Berlin. Her majesty's government re- 
 plied th^t they had no objection to this 
 change, but that they considered 'that 
 350 
 
 it would be desirable to have it understood, 
 in the first place, that all questions dealt 
 with in the treaty of peace between Russia 
 and Turkey should be considered as subject 
 to be discussed in the congress ; and that 
 no alteration in the condition of things 
 previously established by treaty should be 
 acknowledged as valiji until it has received 
 the assent of the powers.' On the 12th 
 March Count Beust was told that her ma- 
 jesty's government must be perfectly clear 
 on the points mentioned in the letter to him 
 of the 9th instant, before they could de- 
 finitively agree to go into congress. On 
 the 13th, her majesty's government ex- 
 plained further the first condition : — ' That 
 they must distinctly understand, before they 
 can enter into congress, that every article in 
 the treaty between Russia and Turkey will 
 be placed before the congress, not neces- 
 sarily for acceptance, but in order that 
 it may be considered what articles re- 
 quire acceptance or concurrence by the 
 several powers, and what do not.' On the 
 14th the Russian ambassador communicated 
 the following telegram from Prince Gorts- 
 chakoff: — 'Toutes les grandes puissances 
 savent deja que le texte complet du traite 
 preliminaire de paix avec la Porte leur sera 
 communique des que les ratifications auront 
 ete echangees, ce qui ne saurait tarder, II 
 sera simultanement public ici. Nous 
 n'avons rien a cacher.' All the great 
 powers know that the complete text of 
 the preliminary treaty will be communi- 
 cated to them as soon as the ratifications 
 have been exchanged. It will be published 
 here at the same time. We have nothing 
 to conceal. On the 17th Lord A. Loftus 
 reported that he had received the following 
 memorandum from Prince Gortschakoff : — 
 ' In reply to communication made by Lord 
 A. Loftus of the despatch by which Lord 
 Derby has replied to the proposal of Count 
 Beust relating to the meeting of the con- 
 gress at Berlin, I have the honour to repeat 
 the assurance which Count Schouvaloff has 
 been already charged to give to her ma- 
 jesty's government — viz., that the preli- 
 minary treaty of peace concluded between 
 Russia and Turkey shall be textually com- 
 municated to the great powers before the 
 meeting of the congress, and that in the 
 congress itself each power will have the full 
 liberty of its appreciations and of its action.' 
 In a despatch received on the 18th, Lord 
 A. Loftus stated that Prince Gortschakoff had 
 said to him that of course he could not impose 
 
 A.D. 1878.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. Fthe Salisbury despatch; 
 
 silence on any member of the congress, but 
 be could only accept a discussion on those 
 portions of the treaty which affected Euro- 
 pean interests. Lord Derby having asked 
 Count Schouvaloff for a reply from Prince 
 Gortschakoff, his Excellency informed him, 
 on the 19th, that he was ' charged to re- 
 present to her majesty's government that 
 the treaty of peace concluded between 
 Russia and Turkey — the only one which ex- 
 isted, for there was no secret engagement — 
 would be communicated to the government 
 of the Queen in its entiret}^ and long be- 
 fore (' bien avant ') the assembling of the 
 congress. The government of the Queen, in 
 like manner as the other great powers, re- 
 served to themselves at the congress their 
 full liberty of appreciation and action. 
 This same liberty which she did not dispute 
 to others, Russia claimed for herself. Now, 
 it would be to restrict her, if, alone among 
 all the powers, Russia contracted a preli- 
 minary engagement.' On the 21st, Lord 
 Derby replied that her majesty's govern- 
 ment could not recede from the position 
 already clearly defined by them, that they 
 must "distinctly understand, before they 
 could enter into congress, that every article 
 in the treaty between Russia and Turkey 
 would be placed before the congress, not 
 necessarily for acceptance, but in order 
 that it might be considered what articles 
 required acceptance or concurrence by the 
 other powers, and what did not. 
 
 "Her majesty's government were unable 
 to accept the view now put forward by 
 Prince Gortschakoff, that the freedom of 
 opinion and action in congress of Russia, 
 more than of any other power, would be re- 
 stricted by this preliminary understanding. 
 Her majesty's government therefore desired 
 to ask whether the government of Russia 
 were willing that the communication of the 
 treaty en entier to the various powers 
 should be treated as a placing of the treaty 
 before the congress, in order that the whole 
 treaty, in its relation to existing treaties, 
 might be examined and considered by the 
 congress. On the 26th Count Schouvaloff 
 wrote to Lord Derby that the imperial 
 cabinet deemed it its duty to adhere to the 
 declaration which he was ordered to make 
 to the government of the Queen, and which 
 was stated in the letter which he had the 
 honour to address to him, dated the 19th 
 of March. As different interpretations Ijad 
 been given to the * liberty of appreciation 
 and action ' which Russia thought it right 
 
 to reserve to herself at the congress, the 
 imperial cabinet defined the meaning of the 
 term in the following manner : — ' It leaves 
 to the other powers the liberty of raising 
 such questions at the congress as they 
 might think it fit to discuss, and reserves 
 to itself the liberty of accepting or not ac- 
 cepting the discussion of these questions.* 
 " Her majesty's government deeply regret 
 the decision which the Russian government 
 have thus announced. How far the stipu- 
 lations of the treaty of San Stefano would 
 commend themselves as expedient to the 
 judgment of the European powers, it is not 
 at present possible to decide. But even if 
 a considerable portion of them were such as 
 were likely to be approved, the reservation 
 of a right, at discretion, to refuse to accept 
 a discussion of them in a congress of the 
 powers, would not on that account be the 
 less open to the most serious objection. An 
 inspection of the treaty will sufficiently show 
 that her majesty's government could not, in 
 a European congress, accept any partial or 
 fragmentary examination of its provisions. 
 Every material stipulation which it con- 
 tains involves a departure from the treaty of 
 1856. By the declaration annexed to the 
 first protocol of the conference held in Lon- 
 don in 1871, the plenipotentiaries of the 
 great powers, including Russia, recognised 
 ' that it is an essential principle of the law 
 of nations that no power can liberate itself 
 from the engagements of a treaty, nor 
 modify the stipulations thereof, unless with 
 the consent of the contracting powers by 
 means of an amicable arrangement.' It is 
 impossible for her majesty's government, 
 without violating the spirit of this declara- 
 tion, to acquiesce in the withdrawal from 
 the cognizance of the powers of articles in 
 the new treaty which are modifications of 
 existing treaty engagements, and inconsis- 
 tent with them. The general nature of the 
 treaty, and the combined effect of its several 
 stipulations upon the interests of the signa- 
 tory powers, furnish another and conclusive 
 reason against the separate discussion of 
 any one portion of those stipulations apart 
 from the rest. The most important conse- 
 quences to which the treaty practically 
 leads are those which result from its action 
 as a whole upon the nations of south- 
 eastern Europe. By the articles erecting 
 the new Bulgaria, a strong Slav State will 
 be created under the auspices and control 
 of Russia, possessing important harbours 
 upon the shores of the Black Sea and the 
 
 351 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 i''<{ 
 
 
 ' i* 
 
 <I 
 
 I 
 
 f 
 
THE SALIS^tTRY DESPATCH.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 1* 
 
 Archipelago, and conferring upon that 
 power a preponderating influence over both 
 political and commercial relations in those 
 seas. It will be so constituted as to merge 
 in the dominant Slav majority a consider- 
 able mass of population which is Greek in 
 race and sympathy, and which views with 
 alarm the prospect of absorption into a com- 
 munity alien to it not only in nationality, 
 but ir\ political tendency and in religious 
 allegiance. The provisions by which this 
 new State is to be subjected to a ruler 
 whom Kussia will practically choose, its 
 administration framed by a Russian com- 
 missary, and the first working of its in- 
 stitutions commenced under the control of 
 a Russian army, sufficiently indicate the 
 political system of which in future it is to 
 form a part. Stipulations are added which 
 will extend this influence even beyond the 
 boundaries of the new Bulgaria. The pro- 
 vision, in itself highly commendable, of 
 improved institutions for the population of 
 Thessaly and Epirus, is accompanied by a 
 condition that the law by which they are 
 to be secured shall be framed under the 
 supervision of the Russian government. It 
 is followed by engagements for the protec- 
 tion of members of the Russian church, 
 which are certainly not more limited in 
 their scope than those articles of the treaty 
 of Kainardji upon which the claims were 
 founded which were abrogated in 1856. 
 Such stipulations cannot be viewed with 
 satisfaction either by the government of 
 Greece or by the powers to whom all parts 
 of the Ottoman empire are a matter of com- 
 mon interest. The general effect of this 
 portion of the treaty will be to increase the 
 power of the Russian empire in the coun- 
 tries and on the shores where a Greek popu- 
 lation predominates, not only to the preju- 
 dice of that nation, but also of every country 
 having interests in the east of the Mediter- 
 ranean Sea. The territorial severance from 
 Constantinople of the Greek, Albanian, and 
 Slavonic provinces, which are still left under 
 the government of the Porte, will cause 
 their administration to be attended with 
 constant difficulty and even embarrassment ; 
 and will not only deprive the Porte of the 
 political strength which might have arisen 
 from their possession, but will expose the 
 inhabitants to a serious risk of anarchy. By 
 the other portions of the treaty analogous 
 results are arrived at upon other frontiers of 
 the Ottoman empire. The compulsory 
 alienation of Bessarabia from Roumania, the 
 352 ' 
 
 rA.D. 1878. 
 
 extension of Bulgaria to the shores of the 
 Black Sea, which are principally inhabited 
 by Mussulmans and Greeks, and the acqui- 
 sition of the important harbour of Batoum, 
 will make the will of the Russian government 
 dominant over all the vicinity of the 31ack 
 Sea. The acquisition of the strongholds of 
 Armenia will place the population of that 
 province under the immediate influence of 
 the power which holds them; while the 
 extensive European trade which now passes 
 from Trehizond to Persia will, in conse- 
 quence of the cessions in Kurdistan, be 
 liable to be arrested at the pleasure of the 
 Russian government by the prohibitory 
 barriers of their commercial system. Pro- 
 vision is made for an indemnity, of which 
 the amount is obviously beyond the means 
 of Turkey to discharge, even if the fact be 
 left out of account that any surplus of its 
 revenues is already hypothecated to other 
 creditors. The mode of payment of this 
 indemnity is left, in vague language, to 
 ulterior negotiations between Russia and 
 the Porte. Payment may be demanded 
 immediately, or it may be left as an unre- 
 deemed and unredeemable obligation to 
 weigh down the independence of the Porte 
 for many years. Its discharge may be 
 commuted into a yet larger cession of terri- 
 tory, or It may take the form of special 
 engagements subordinating in all things the 
 policy of Turkey to that of Russia. It is 
 impossible not to recognise in this provision 
 an instrument of formidable efficacy for the 
 coercion of the Ottoman government, if the 
 necessity for employing it should arise. 
 
 "Objections may be urged individually 
 against these various stipulations; and 
 arguments, on the other hand, may possibly 
 be advanced to show that they are not in- 
 dividually inconsistent with the attainment 
 of the lasting peace and stability which it 
 is the highest object of all present negotia- 
 tions to establish in the provinces of Euro- 
 pean and Asiatic Turkey. But their sepa- 
 rate and individual operation, whether 
 defensible or not, is not that which should 
 engage the most earnest attention of the 
 signatory powers. Their combined effect, 
 in addition to the results upon the Greek 
 population and upon the balance of mari- 
 time power which have been already pointed 
 out, is to depress, almost to the point of en- 
 tire subjection, the political independence 
 of the government of Constantinople. The 
 formal jurisdiction of that government 
 extends over geographical positions which 
 
 '»■ 
 
 \ i 
 
 A.D. 1878.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [the saltsbuiiy despatch. 
 
 must under all circumstances be of the 
 deepest interest to Great Britain. It is in 
 the power of the Ottoman government to 
 close or to open the Straits which form the 
 natural highway of nations between the 
 ^gean Sea and the Euxine. Its dominion 
 is recognised at the head of the Persian 
 Gulf, on the shores of the Levant, and in 
 the immediate neighbourhood of the Suez 
 Canal. It cannot be otherwise than a 
 matter of extreme solicitude to this country 
 that the government to which this jurisdic- 
 tion belongs should be so closely pressed by 
 the political outposts of a greatly superior 
 power, that its independent action, and even 
 existence, is almost impossible. These re- 
 sults arise, not so much from the language 
 of any single article in the treaty, as from 
 the operation of the instrument as a whole. 
 A discussion limited to articles selected by 
 one power in the congress would be an 
 illusory remedy for the dangers to English 
 interests and to the permanent peace of 
 Europe which would result from the state 
 of things which the treaty proposes to 
 establish. The object of her majesty's 
 government at the Constantinople confer- 
 ence was to give effect to the policy of 
 reforming Turkey under the Ottoman 
 government, removing well-grounded griev- 
 ances, and thus preserving the empire until 
 the time when it might be able to dispense 
 with protective guarantees. It was obvious 
 that this could only be brought about by 
 rendering the different populations so far 
 contented with their position as to inspire 
 them with a spirit of patriotism, and make 
 them ready to defend the Ottoman empire 
 as loyal subjects of the Sultan. This policy 
 was frustrated by the unfortunate resistance 
 of the Ottoman government itself, and, 
 under the altered circumstances of the pre- 
 sent time, the same result cannot be at- 
 tained to the same extent by the same 
 means. Large changes may, and no doubt 
 will, be requisite in the treaties by which 
 south-eastern Europe has hitherto been 
 ruled. But good government, assured peace, 
 and freedom for populations to whom those 
 blessings have been strange, are still the 
 objects which this country earnestly desires 
 to secure. In requiring a full consideration 
 of the general interests which the new 
 arrangements threaten to affect, her 
 majesty's government believe that they 
 are taking the surest means of securing 
 those objects. They would willingly have 
 entered a congress in which the stipulations 
 
 in question could have been examined as a 
 whole in their relation to existing treaties, 
 to the acknowledged rights of Great Britain 
 and of other powers, and to the beneficent 
 ends which the united action of Europe has 
 always been directed to secure. But neither 
 the interests which her majesty's govern- 
 ment are specially bound to guard, nor the 
 well-being of the regions with which the 
 treaty deals, would be consulted by the 
 assembling of a congress whose deliberations 
 were to be restricted bv such reservations as 
 those which have been laid down by Prince 
 Gortschakoff in his most recent communica- 
 tion. 
 
 *' Your Excellency will read this despatch 
 to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and 
 give him a copy of it. — I am, &c., 
 
 (Signed) " Salisbury." 
 
 This despatch naturally caused intense 
 excitement in Russia and amongst the 
 Liberal party. It was objected to on the 
 score that it was calculated to lead to 
 war, as it was, more or less, a defiance of 
 Russia, and, moreover, contained no defi- 
 nite proposal, but was confined to criticism. 
 
 These objections were true and untrue. 
 The despatch certainly did contain a defi- 
 ance of Russia, but only in case Russia 
 should object to yield in conformity with 
 the criticisms contained in the document, 
 and all of which resulted in one very defi- 
 nite proposal, or rather demand — namely, 
 that Russia should undertake to lay the 
 whole treaty of San Stefano before the 
 powers in congress, in order to allow those 
 powers to determine how each article 
 separately, or in conjunction with all or 
 any of the rest, affected the previous treaties 
 of 1856 and 1871. 
 
 Nothing could be plainer or simpler than 
 this position of the British government ; but 
 so many quibbles were made use of on all 
 sides, in England, amongst the office- 
 seekers, as well as in Russia, that weeks 
 were wasted in refuting the most puerile 
 arguments. 
 
 That the position taken up by Lord 
 Salisbury in his despatch was warranted by 
 the course of events, and that his defiance 
 of Russia, such as it was, was also justified, 
 is amply proved by a retrospect of the 
 course of the negotiations, and the relations 
 between England and Russia since the 
 commencement of the dispute in the East. 
 
 Lord Derby, in his reply to the circular of 
 Prince Gortschakoff, announcing and vindi- 
 
 353 
 
 :P 
 
 "' 1 
 
 I ■ ; 
 
 J 
 
 4 
 
 ■^ a 
 
RUSSIAN ASSURANCES.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1878. 
 
 '!■ 
 
 m 
 
 eating the commencement of the war be- 
 tween Kussia and the Porte, had urged many 
 reasons and considerations why he could 
 not agree with the circular ; why he thought 
 the Russian government had made out no 
 case whatever for their belligerent conduct ; 
 and, finally, after having urged many 
 reasons of that kind, he concluded with this 
 paragraph — "The course on which the 
 Russian government has entered, moreover, 
 involves graver and more serious considera- 
 tions. It is in contravention of the stipu- 
 lations of the treaty of Paris, 1856, by 
 which Russia and the other signatory 
 powers engaged, each on its own part, to 
 respect the independence and territorial 
 integrity of the Ottoman empire, and the 
 conference of London of 1871, at the close 
 of which this stipulation was affirmed by 
 the Russian plenipotentiary, who signed the 
 declaration, affirming it to be an essential 
 principle of the law of nations, that no 
 power can liberate itself from the engao-e- 
 ments of a treaty, or modify the stipulations 
 thereof, unless with the consent of the oon^ 
 tracting parties, by means of an amicable set'- 
 tlement. In taking action against Turkey of 
 its own accord, having recourse to arms 
 without further consultation, the Emperor 
 of Russia separated himself from the Euro- 
 pean concert which had been maintained, 
 and, at the same time, departed from the 
 course to which he himself authoritatively 
 recorded his assent." 
 
 This announcement was made at the 
 beginning of the war, as far back as May 
 1st, 1877. It was upon the principles of 
 that declaration that Lord Beaconsfield 
 founded his policy ; and had not the above 
 engagement been entered into by the Rus- 
 sian emperor, if it had not been held a 
 solemn one in the face of Europe, no policy 
 like that would have been adopted by 
 England. Consequently, these principles 
 "Were acted upon when government received 
 private information that negotiations were 
 about to commence between the belligerent 
 powers. No sooner had the information 
 reached them than the Secretary of State 
 addressed to her majesty's ambassador at 
 St. Petersburg, instructions to state, that 
 in order to avoid possible misconceptions, 
 and in view of reports which had reached 
 her majesty's government, they were of 
 opinion that any treaty between Russia and 
 the Porte, affecting the treaties of 1856 and 
 1871, must be a European treaty, and 
 would not be valid without the assent of 
 354 
 
 the powers who were parties to those treaties. 
 On the 23rd of January, having received no 
 answer from Russia with respect to these 
 representations. Lord Derby telegraphed 
 to Lord Loftus, pressing for an answer; but 
 on the 24th of January, ten days after the 
 original representation. Lord Loftus an- 
 nounced, that though he had received no 
 answer himself, he believed that Prince 
 Gortschakoff accepted his original repre- 
 sentation regarding the opinion of her 
 majesty's government, which did not neces- 
 sarily require an answer ; but, if an answer 
 was required, it would probably be given by 
 his majesty's ambassador in London; and 
 accordingly, on the day after, a message was 
 received by Count Schouvaloff, and com- 
 municated to Lord Derby in the shape of 
 an extract from the telegram from Prince 
 Grortschakoff:— "We repeat the assurance 
 that we do not intend to settle by ourselves 
 European questions having reference to the 
 peace that is to be made." Meanwhile, 
 information reached government of the 
 negotiations that were taking place between 
 Russia and the Porte at Kesanlik— -nego- 
 tiations which were conducted with the 
 Utmost secrecy and mystery. Lord Derby, 
 therefore, on the 29th of January, addressed 
 the following despatch to Lord A. Loftus : — 
 <' I have to instruct your Excellency to state 
 to the Russian government, that 'her ma- 
 jesty's government, recognising in the 
 arrangement made by the Russian govern- 
 ment with the Turkish government at 
 Kesanlik the conclusion of an armistice 
 and the basis of a peace, declare that so far 
 as those arrangements are calculated to 
 modify European treaties, and to affecti 
 general and British interests, they are un- 
 able to recognise in them any validity, 
 unless they are made a subject of a formal 
 agreement between the parties to the 
 treaty of Paris." At the same time. Lord 
 Derby sent a circular in identical language 
 to her majesty's ambassadors at all the 
 Courts, ending with this additional sen- 
 tence : — " Her majesty's government enter- 
 tains the hope that the view of the case as 
 we have stated it, which is entirely based 
 upon the treaties, and more especially upon 
 the treaty of London of 1871, will receive 
 the assent of the powers who were parties to 
 that treaty." On the 30th of January, the 
 following reply was received from the Rus- 
 sian government in a despatch from Lord 
 A. Loftus: — "I received your lordship's 
 despatch yesterday, containing declarations 
 
 I 
 
 A.D. 1878.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [negotiations. 
 
 relative to the validity of the treaty of 
 peace, and I have this morning communi- 
 cated them to his highness. Prince Gorts- 
 chakoff stated, that to effect an armistice 
 certain bases of peace were necessary, but 
 that they were only to be considered as pre- 
 liminary. He stated categorically that the 
 questions therein of European interests 
 would be concerted with the European 
 powers, and gave an assurance to that 
 effect." To the same effect were the state- 
 ments of the Russian amhaasador in Lon- 
 don; and there is no doubt that Count 
 Schouvaloff made no representation to her 
 majesty's government which he was not 
 justified in making by the instructions 
 which he possessed. 
 
 This is the diplomatic history of the 
 month of January, the month in which 
 parliament assembled. The above declara- 
 tions by the Russian minister, which her 
 majesty's government were induced to be- 
 lieve satisfactory, were also deemed satisfac- 
 tory to the Austrian government ; because, 
 immediately after their receipt — that is, in 
 the early days of February — a formal invi- 
 tation was received from the government of 
 Austria to a conference to be held at Vienna 
 — a communication made with the know- 
 ledge of Russia, and, to use the language of 
 the despatch, "appreciated" by Russia. 
 A distinct understanding ('* reglement defi- 
 nitif ") was to be arrived at with regard to 
 the general affairs touched by the war, and 
 in which all necessary modifications might, 
 with the concurrence of the signatory 
 powers, be effected in the previous treaties, 
 to harmonise them with the present situa- 
 tion. Thus it was avowedly as a signatory 
 to the treaties of 1856 and 1871 that 
 Austria sent the invitations, and it was in 
 their character as signatories that the 
 powers received them. The month of 
 March was not rich in diplomatic docu- 
 ments, but it was not an uneventful month. 
 During the whole of that period Austria 
 was busy in conferring with the different 
 Courts of Europe, and making arrangements 
 for the meeting of the congress. There were 
 many suggestions made. There was the 
 project that the congress should assemble 
 at Vienna ; but objections were made by 
 some powers to the meeting being held in 
 a capital city. Then there were discussions 
 as to the presidency, to the locality, and to 
 the name of the meeting — whether it should 
 be called a congress or a conference, both of 
 which are exactly the same — and whether 
 
 it should be presided over by a Secretary of 
 State, or by some other minister. All these 
 were discussions which occupied many 
 minds ; but they did not occupy the mind 
 of the British government : that government 
 never made the slightest difficulty on those 
 hands. There were persons mentioned, 
 perhaps, of whom they did not highly 
 approve as presidents of the conference — as, 
 for instance, Prince Grortschakoff ; they did 
 not always approve of the locality which was 
 suggested ; but they never made any objec- 
 tion of any kind. They thought that the 
 interests of peace were of too vast a magni- 
 tude to weigh, for a moment, with these 
 comparatively petty considerations ; and so 
 far as government were concerned, as to 
 whether it was to be a conference or a con- 
 gress that was to be held, whether it was to 
 assemble at Vienna or at Berlin, or who was 
 to be the president of the conference, or 
 matters of that kind, no difficulties at all 
 were made by them. Grovernment were 
 anxious that this congress or conference 
 should meet, and they held that its meeting 
 was the only means then attainable by which 
 the peace of Europe could be obtained. 
 Thus, early in March, an invitation arrived 
 from Austria to meet the congress at Berlin. 
 The objections which had been made to 
 Vienna as being a capital city seemed to 
 have been waived, and a congress at Berlin 
 was invited. Without a moment's hesita- 
 tion government accepted that proposition, 
 and asked no reason why Berlin should be 
 favoured instead of Vienna. All that was 
 wanted was a meeting of the congress ; but, 
 in order that there should be no delay, and 
 remembering the most critical events that 
 had taken place in February, when Austria 
 was carrying on these preliminaries for the 
 minor purposes of the negotiation, and re- 
 membering that (juring the whole of that 
 time secret negotiations were carried on 
 between Russia and the Porte, and that 
 during those negotiations the Russian armies 
 were advancing, and, if not occupying, en- 
 circling Constantinople — and remembering, 
 also, that they had felt it their duty to 
 advise her majesty to send her fleet to the 
 Sea of Marmora, government considered 
 that it was very important, that when they 
 assented to a congress at Berlin, the policy 
 of her majesty's government should be again, 
 in an unmistakable manner, expressed. 
 Accordingly, the Secretary of State, on the 
 4th of March, wrote to Count Beust, that 
 "her majesty's government, however, con- 
 
 355 
 
 ^ 
 
 It-' 
 
 4 
 
 I 
 
 M 
 
" LIBERTY OF APPRECIATION."] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1878. 
 
 ,i . ' 
 
 m 
 
 ►I* 
 
 sidered that it would be desirable to have 
 it understood, in the first place, that the 
 whole question of the treaty between Rus- 
 sia and Turkey should be considered a sub- 
 ject to be discussed in the congress, and 
 that no alteration in the condition of things 
 previously established should be acknow- 
 ledged till it had received the consent of 
 the powers." Therefore, notwithstanding 
 the eventful and the perilous circumstances 
 that were occurring, government were con- 
 sistent in maintaining the great principle 
 which they vindicated before the war com- 
 menced, which they repeated on other 
 occasions, and of which, when the congress 
 was about to meet, they felt it their duty 
 to remind the other powers. A day or two 
 afterwards. Lord Derby — uneasy, probably 
 from some rumours that may have reached 
 him, or some slight indications of the Rus- 
 sian policy — wrote, on the 13th of March : — 
 " With reference to my despatch of the 8th 
 instant, I have to request your Excellency 
 to inform Count Andrassy, that in order to 
 avoid any misapprehension as to the mean- 
 ing of their recent declaration contained in 
 my note to Count Beust of the 9th instant, 
 her majesty's government desire to state 
 that they must distinctly understand, before 
 they enter into congress, that every article 
 in the treaty between Russia and Turkey 
 will be placed before the congress, not 
 necessarily for acceptance, but in order that 
 it may be considered what articles require 
 acceptance or concurrence by the several 
 powers, and what do not." After some 
 slight delay, government received the fol- 
 lowing communication from Prince Gorts- 
 chakotf, dated the 17th of March : — 
 
 "In answer to the communication by 
 Lord Augustus Loftus of the despatch in 
 which Lord Derby has answered the pro- 
 posal of Count Beust respecting the meeting 
 of a congress at Berlin, I have the honour 
 to repeat the assurance which Count Schou- 
 valoff has already been instructed to give to 
 the government of her Britannic majesty — 
 namely, that the preliminary treaty of 
 peace concluded between Russia and Turkey 
 will be textually communicated to the great 
 powers before the meeting of the congress, 
 and that, in the congress itself, each power 
 will have the full liberty of its apprecia- 
 tions and of its action (' la pleine liberte de 
 ses appreciations et de son action ')." 
 
 Now, of the meaning of " liberty of its 
 appreciation and of its action," different 
 interpretations may, no doubt, be furnished ; 
 356 
 
 but it was an expression of classical 
 obscurity, in which Delphi itself could 
 hardly be more perplexing. Then comes a 
 note which, on the 21st of March, the 
 Secretary of State addressed to Count 
 Schouvaloff : — 
 
 "Her majesty's government have con- 
 sidered the communication which you were 
 authorised by Prince Grortschakoff to make 
 on the 19th inst. Her majesty's govern- 
 ment cannot recede from the position 
 already clearly defined, that they must dis- 
 tinctly understand, before they enter into 
 congress, that every article of the treaty 
 between Russia and Turkey should be placed 
 before the congress, not necessarily for 
 acceptance, but in order that it may be 
 considered what articles require acceptance 
 or concurrence of the other powers, and 
 what do not. Her majesty's government 
 are unable to accept the view now put 
 forward by Prince Gortschakoff, that the 
 freedom of opinion and action in congress 
 of Russia, more than every other power, may 
 be restricted by this preliminary understand- 
 ing. Her majesty's government further 
 desire to ask the government of Russia 
 whether the communication of the treaty 
 in its entirety to the various powers, shall 
 be treated as a placing of the heads before 
 the congress, in order that the whole treaty 
 may be considered and examined at the 
 congress." 
 
 To this government received a conclusive 
 answer. " I lost no time," said Count 
 Schouvaloff, "in communicating to Prince 
 Gortschakoff the tenor of the letter you did 
 me the honour to address to me on the 21st." 
 As different interpretations had been given 
 to the " liberty of appreciation and action '* 
 which Russia thought it right to reserve to 
 herself at the congress, the imperial cabinet 
 defined the meaning of the term in the 
 following manner: — "It leaves to the 
 other powers the liberty of raising such 
 questions at the congress as they might 
 think it fit to. discuss, and reserves to itself 
 the liberty of accepting, or not accepting, 
 the discussion of these questions'' Now 
 this simply meant that, though any of the 
 powers might raise objections, Russia re- 
 served her right . not to discuss them I 
 Thus, however ambiijuous the laniruao^e was 
 in previous instances, however various may 
 have been the expressions used, there is no 
 doubt that the correspondence between the 
 two Courts ended in a refusal, on the part 
 of Russia, of that which England believed 
 
 '%■ 
 
 1 . i 
 
 A.D. 1878.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [dangers of the treaty. 
 
 to be a just, a necessary, and an absolutely 
 indispensable condition of her entering 
 into the congress ; and which, as was con- 
 tended by all Europe, Russia, by her pre- 
 vious engagements as one of the signatories 
 of the treaties of 1856 and 1871, was bound 
 to comply with — viz., to submit the treaty 
 of San Stefano for discussion in the congress. 
 That treaty consisted, as we have seen, of 
 twenty-nine articles, and, with the exception 
 of mere technical ones, every article was a 
 deviation of some sort, if not a violation. 
 It was for this reason that it was negotiated 
 in secrecy, and encircled in mystery from 
 the beginning to such a degree, that the 
 Porte was commanded by Russia not to 
 allow a single stipulation to be known to 
 the neutral powers — not even to the neutral 
 powers who were the allies of Russia, and 
 without whose neutrality Russia could not 
 have accomplished its purposes, and who 
 would never have adopted that policy of 
 neutrality unless they had believed that 
 Russia was bound by the treaties of 1856 
 and 1871. In the first place, the treaty of 
 San Stefano entirely abrogated and abolished 
 what is called Turkey in Europe — the 
 dominion of the Ottoman empire in Europe. 
 It created, in the first place, a large State 
 which, under the name of Bulgaria, is 
 inhabited by many races who are not Bul- 
 garians. It reached to the shores of the 
 Black Sea ; it seized upon the ports of that 
 sea ; it extended to the coasts of the ^gean, 
 and it appropriated the ports of that coast. 
 It provided for the government of this new 
 Bulgaria by a prince who was to be selected 
 by Russia; its administration was to be 
 organised and supervised by a commissary 
 of Russia ; and this new State was to be 
 garrisoned for an indefinite period of years, 
 but certainly for two years, by Russian 
 troops. But it was not merely this vast 
 district — this vast extent of country — which 
 was taken from the Porte, and in which the 
 government of Russia was substituted for 
 that of Turkey ; but by provisions and 
 stipulations in the treaty, the distant pro- 
 vinces of Greece, of Epirus and Thessaly, 
 and Bosnia, were almost entirely cut off 
 from Turkey, and were invested with privi- 
 leges — that is to say, new laws, which were 
 to be devised and supervised by Russia : so 
 that it may be fairly said that the whole of 
 the dominions in Europe of the Ottoman 
 Porte were taken from it, and, for its power 
 and administration, those of Russia to be 
 substituted. The case was similar in Asia. 
 VOL. III. 3 A 
 
 The arrangements with regard to Asia would 
 have converted the Black Sea almost as 
 much into a Russian lake as the Caspian. 
 The harbour of Batoum, which had not been 
 acquired by conquest, and was still in the pos- 
 session of the Porte, was seized by Russia. All 
 the strongholds of Armenia were seized by 
 Russia. The same process which was to be 
 applied to European Turkey, was also to be 
 applied to the province of Armenia ; and the 
 rest of that great province, which was 
 nominally left to Turkey, was to be subjected 
 to laws devised and supervised by Russia. 
 Then, besides all this, there were the claims 
 of Russia on that district of Bessarabia of 
 which she was deprived after the Crimean 
 war. This was not a trifling matter, or one 
 in which a mere local interest was at stake. 
 The clause in the treaty of Paris with 
 regard to the cession of the district of 
 Bessarabia was a clause upon which Lord 
 Palmerston placed the utmost stress and 
 importance. It involved, he said, the 
 emancipation of the Danube; and it was 
 Lord Palmerston, and not a local interest, 
 that insisted upon the insertion of that 
 clause in the treaty of Paris. It was in- 
 serted in the original preliminaries. An 
 attempt was made by Russia to evade the 
 fulfilment of that article ; and Lord Palmer- 
 ston considered it of such importance, that 
 even the congress of Paris was, at one 
 time, nearly broken up because of the 
 efforts to evade the carrying of that cession 
 into effect. Therefore, this closing of seas 
 and of rivers, this securing of the freedom 
 of the Danube, which was the great boast 
 of the congress of Vienna, and was almost 
 the only remaining achievement, was a 
 matter of European interest which was of 
 great moment, for it also concerned the 
 navigation of the Black Sea and British 
 commerce there. Again, if the treaty of 
 San Stefano had been sanctioned by Europe, 
 British commerce carried on from Trebi- 
 zond, a mere roadstead, through Persia and 
 Central Asia, would be stopped through the 
 cession of Kurdistan. It concerned, also, 
 the free navigation of the Straits ; because 
 if this treaty were carried into effect, one 
 consequence would be that the Sultan of 
 Turkey would be reduced to a state of abso- 
 lute subjection to Russia. It was impossible 
 to reconcile that either with the freedom of 
 the Straits or the opening of the navio-a- 
 tion of the Black Sea, or all those rights 
 and privileges which Europe had hitherto 
 enjoyed with regard to those waters, because 
 
 357 
 
 it 
 
 I 
 
 
 ■ ' 1 
 
 fi 
 
 liH 
 
 
RUSSIAN MEMORANDUM.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1878. 
 
 \Hi 
 
 r 
 
 4 
 
 they were in the possession of a nominally 
 independent sovereign. It simply meant 
 the subjugation of Turkey, and leaving Con- 
 stantinople in the hands of a power so 
 enfeebled and so subjected to Russia, as to 
 virtually and practically, in the long run, 
 place the command of that fine situation in 
 the hands of Russia, and Russia only. 
 
 All these considerations, which had more 
 or less found expression in Lord Salisbury's 
 despatch, were sufficient to induce parlia- 
 ment, by a large majority, to approve of the 
 action which the government had taken ; 
 and on the following day, April 2, the pro- 
 clamation calling out the reserves was pub- 
 lished in the London Gazette, and posted 
 up in the usual places, where it attracted 
 large crowds, who generally approved it. 
 
 How imprudent it would have been for 
 government to rely upon such vague terms 
 as " full liberty of appreciation," &c., was 
 proved by a slight but remarkably charac- 
 teristic incident. Sir H. Elliot had in- 
 formed his government that Prince Grorts- 
 chakofF had declared that he would not 
 allow the Bessarabian question to be dis- 
 cussed at the congress. In the ^ published 
 correspondence, the authority for this state- 
 ment was mentioned as a " trustworthy 
 person ; " and the Opposition, thinking 
 they had got the opportunity to cast dis- 
 credit on the government sources of infor- 
 mation, vehemently insisted on knowing 
 who this trustworthy person was. It turned 
 out to be the Roumanian agent at Vienna, 
 who had received the following despatch 
 from the Roumanian minister, M. Cogal- 
 niceano, and had communicated it to Sir H. 
 ElUot :— 
 
 " Bucharest, March 16, 1878. 
 
 " At my request, Greneral Grhika has had 
 an explanation with Prince Grortschakoff on 
 the question of Bessarabia and the inten- 
 tions of Russia with regard to it. Prince 
 Gortschakoff declared to our agent, that 
 notwithstanding our clamouring, both at 
 home and abroad, the Russian decision was 
 irrevocable ; that she would not bring this 
 question before the congress, because it 
 would be an offence to the emperor ; that if 
 another power wished to do so, she would 
 not be a party to it ; that it was with us 
 that she wished to treat ; that if she could 
 not succeed in making us give in, she would 
 take Bessarabia from us by force ; that if 
 we made an armed resistance, it would be 
 fatal for Roumania." 
 
 It is true this was denied by the Russian 
 358 
 
 government; but the only result of the 
 denial, as far as government were con- 
 cerned, was that Lord Salisbury declared 
 that he was very glad he did not feel called 
 upon to express an opinion as to which of 
 the two parties spoke the truth. 
 
 After this exposure, and the decided steps 
 taken by the British government, the Rus- 
 sian Chancellor thought fit to reply without 
 delay to Lord Salisbury's circular ; and on 
 April 19th, a memorandum, dated April 7th, 
 was published by the Times in a special 
 edition late at night; Sir W.Harcourt enter- 
 ing the House of Commons quite breathless, 
 triumphantly bearing aloft several dozens 
 of the paper still reeking from the press. 
 The memorandum itself was couched in the 
 following terms : — 
 
 " First. It is not the case that the treaty 
 of San Stefano creates a new Bulgaria, or a 
 strong Slav State, under the control of 
 Russia. Bulgaria existed,* although op- 
 pressed. Europe acknowledged this, and 
 wished to remedy it. The conference of 
 Constantinople indicated the measures 
 which it considered necessary in order to 
 obtain this result. In suggesting them the 
 plenipotentiaries certainly had no intention 
 of rendering them ineffectual. It must be 
 admitted that their object was to endow 
 Bulgaria with a national existence and real 
 administrative self-government. In such a 
 case, a State of Bulgaria, though divided 
 into two powers, would have been consti- 
 tuted in embryo, and, developing under the 
 protection of Europe, would have led to the 
 result which the treaty of San Stefano seeks 
 to arrive at. The refusal of the Porte, and 
 the war which followed, prevented, accord- 
 ing to the admission of the Marquis of 
 Salisbury himself, the return, pure and 
 simple, to the programme of the conference 
 of Constantinople. The treaty of San 
 Stefano has simply rendered the consent of 
 the Porte obligatory to a more complete, 
 precise, and practical programme of reforms; 
 but the fact that the treaty of San Stefano 
 is merely a preliminary one, indicates that 
 the Russian cabinet only wished to estab- 
 lish the principle without prejudicing its 
 definitive application, which necessitated 
 technical investigations, an exact apprecia- 
 tion of geographical necessities, and the 
 conciliation of numerous interests. This is 
 why many of the articles are drawn up in 
 
 * This was absurdly untrue. Bulgaria, before tha 
 war, only extended to the Balkans, and not to the 
 ^gean, absorbing halt' Roumelia. 
 
 
 k 
 
 A.D. 1878.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [RUSSIAN MEMOR/LNDUM. 
 
 vague terms, leaving room for future under- 
 standing upon the modifications deemed 
 necessary. 
 
 " Second. The treaty of San Stefano does 
 not place the new State under the control 
 of Russia. The Russian cabinet has done 
 what it did for Moldo-Wallachia in 1830. 
 Experience shows that the work accom- 
 plished then in the principalities was useful, 
 and contributed to the prosperity of those 
 provinces. It cannot be said that the Eu- 
 ropean equilibrium has in any way suffered 
 from this measure, or that Russia has gained 
 any preponderating influence through it,* 
 It may be added that, if Moldo-Wallachia, 
 which owes its existence to Russia, that 
 borders it, has succeeded in rendering itself 
 perfectly independent of her, we may 
 a fortiori reckon upon the same result for 
 Bulgaria, the territory of which, in a cer- 
 tain anticipated contingency — the cession 
 of the Dobrudscha to Roumania — would be 
 separated from Russia. 
 
 " Third. The maximum term of two years 
 was fixed for the provisional occupation of 
 Bulgaria, because that lapse of time was 
 judged necessary in order to maintain order 
 and peace, and protect the Christian and 
 Mussulman populations against reciprocal 
 reprisals, reorganise the country, introduce 
 national institutions and a native militia, 
 and also because if the occupation had been 
 indefinite it might have been looked upon 
 as a preliminary to taking possession of the 
 province, which in no way entered into the 
 views of the imperial cabinet. It need not 
 be said that, the term being approximative, 
 the imperial cabinet is quite ready to 
 abridge it as much as possible without in- 
 juring the success of the difficult work that 
 had to be accomplished in the interests of 
 the general peace, 
 
 " Fourth, The delimitation of the State of 
 Bulgaria was indicated only in general 
 terms. The sole fixed principle laid down 
 is that of the majority of the population, 
 and certainly it is difficult to imagine one 
 more equitable or more rational. It meets 
 the objections deduced from the difference 
 of race of the minority, the interests of 
 which have, moreover, been guaranteed by 
 express stipulations; but the application 
 of that principle has been reserved for the 
 mixed commission, the local investigations of 
 which can alone dispel all the uncertainty 
 gurrounding these disputed questions. It has 
 
 It enabled the Russians to march their armies 
 safely through Roumania into the very heart of Turkey. 
 
 been objected to the preliminary treaty that 
 it assigns to Bulgaria ports on the Black 
 Sea ; but the Constantinople conference it- 
 self judged that, without outlets upon the 
 sea, that country could not prosper. As to 
 the ports on the ^gean, the commercial 
 development of Bulgaria was alone in view ; 
 and certainly Russia would not profit by 
 that development, but England and the 
 powers whose Mediterranean commerce is 
 much more active than that of Russia, and 
 which will always be a powerful agent for 
 the maintenance of their influence. 
 
 " Fifth. The preliminary treaty in no way 
 places Bulgaria under the domination of a 
 ruler chosen by Russia. It is formally 
 stipulated that the ruler shall be elected 
 by native administrative councils, with the 
 confirmation of the Porte and the assent of 
 Europe, and that the members of the 
 reigning dynasties shall be excluded. It is 
 not easy to see what better guarantees 
 could be given for the freedom of the elec- 
 tion. As to the organisation of the princi- 
 pality, it is confided to an assembly of 
 native notables. The Russian commissary 
 has merely to exercise the right of surveil- 
 lance, in concert with the Ottoman com- 
 missary. Moreover, an understanding be- 
 tween the great powers and the Porte is 
 expressly reserved in order to assign to the 
 Russian commissaries special delegates, 
 pending the provisional measures taken by 
 the authorities. The Russians have no in- 
 tention, as is affirmed, of making Bulgaria 
 enter the Russian political system. Scarcely 
 anything has been changed in the institu- 
 tions to which the country is accustomed. 
 Attention has merely been given to the exe- 
 cution of the law, which was defective. 
 Some new arrangements have been intro- 
 duced — the abolition of exemption by pur- 
 chase from military service ; the abolition 
 of the tithes, and their replacement by a 
 more normal impost; the abolition of the 
 farming of the taxes, the principal source 
 of abuses ; and finally, the right assigned 
 to the Christians in mixed localities to 
 challenge, during the elections, such Mus- 
 sulmans as are known to have been guilty of 
 acts of fanatical persecution against the 
 Christians. In addition, the state of siege 
 in which the country was placed during the 
 war rendering indispensable the nomination 
 of Russian governors, Bulgarian vice-gover- 
 nors were everywhere assigned to them, in 
 order that after the peace, and as tranquillity 
 became re-established in the country, the 
 
 359 
 
 'hi" I 
 
 i 
 
 II 
 
 (A 
 
 
 4 
 
 ill 
 
\:.L,i 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 H* 
 
 
 . *, 
 I •» 
 
 RUSSIAN MEMORANDUM."] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 rA.D. 1878. 
 
 latter might be substituted for the Russian 
 governors, without interrupting the regular 
 course of the administration of the country. 
 The exclusive object of all these preliminary 
 measures was, to protect the national de- 
 velopment, and render possible the meeting 
 of the first Bulgarian assembly summoned 
 to settle the institutions of the princi- 
 pality. 
 
 "Sixth. The assertion that the treaty of 
 San Stefano would extend Russian influence 
 beyond the limits of Bulgaria by stipu- 
 lating for improved institutions in Epirus 
 and Thessaly cannot but occasion surprise. 
 If Russia had made no stipulations in 
 favour of these provinces, she would have 
 been accused of sacrificing the Greeks to 
 the Slavs. If she had stipulated for the 
 vassal autonomy, that is censured in the 
 case of Bulgaria, she would have been ac- 
 cused of entirely destroying the Ottoman 
 empire, and of establishing Russian in- 
 fluence there. The imperial cabinet has 
 always understood the mission assigned to 
 it by history as protector of the Christians 
 in the East, without regard to race or sect. 
 If it has made more complete and more 
 precise stipulations in favour of Bulgaria, it 
 is because that country was the principal 
 cause and scene of the war, and because 
 Russia had acquired positive rights as a 
 belligerent ; but in confining herself to sti- 
 pulate improved institutions for the Grreek 
 provinces, she reserved to the great powers 
 the faculty of claiming more extended 
 ameliorations. It is equally incorrect to 
 say that the treaty of San Stefano has 
 stipulated that those institutions were 
 traced in a Russian direction. The general 
 type to which they have been assimilated 
 by the treaty is that of the Cretan settle- 
 ment — which was agreed to by the Porte 
 under the influence of the great powers. 
 The treaty stipulated that the application 
 of these arrangements should be carried out 
 by a special commission, in which the native 
 element would be largely represented. It 
 is true it compels the Porte to consult 
 Russia before executing the stipulations, 
 but does not prohibit it from also consulting 
 the representatives of friendly powers. 
 
 " Seventh. The subsequent clause respect- 
 ing the protection of the members of the Rus- 
 sian church must have been quite misun- 
 
 * But only in order to break up a strong^, or at any 
 rate a moderately strong-, Turkey into a series of small 
 powers, whose antagonisms would prevent them from 
 opposing any serious resistance to Russia, 
 
 360 
 
 derstood to be assimilated to that of the 
 treaty of Kainardji, abolished 1856. The 
 clause of Kainardji concerned the Greek 
 orthodox religion, and might embrace all 
 the Christian subjects of the Sultan profess- 
 ing that religion. The clause of the treaty 
 of San Stefano mentions exclusively monks, 
 priests, and pilgrims, either Russian or of 
 Russian origin, and stipulates in their 
 favour only the same rights, advantages, and 
 privileges which belong to ecclesiastics of 
 other nationalities. After this it is impos- 
 sible to consider the assertion just, that the 
 stipulations, as a whole, of San Stefano are of 
 a nature to increase the power of the Rus- 
 sian empire in countries where the Grreek 
 population predominates, to the prejudice 
 of that nation, and of all the countries hav- 
 ing interests in the East and the Mediter- 
 ranean. 
 
 " Eighth. The assertion is at least exagge- 
 rated that the San Stefano stipulations 
 respecting the retrocession of Bessarabia, 
 the extension of Bulgaria to the Black Sea, 
 and the acquisition of the port of Batoum, 
 would render the will of Russia predominant 
 over the whole of the districts of the Black 
 Sea. Russia powerfully contributed in the 
 past to emancipate Grreece and Roumania.* 
 It is not easy to see in what manner her 
 power has more profited thereby than that 
 of other States. The retrocession of Bes- 
 sarabia by Roumania would be simply a 
 return to the order of things, modified 
 twenty-two years ago, for motives which no 
 longer have any existence, legal title, or 
 even pretext, since the liberty of the naviga- 
 tion of the Danube has been placed under 
 the control aud guarantee of the interna- 
 tional commission,! more especially from 
 the moment when Roumania proclaims her 
 independence and Europe seems disposed 
 to recognise it. It should be remarked, 
 moreover, that this retrocession does not 
 include the whole of the part of Bessarabia 
 ceded in 1856. The delta of the Danube 
 is excluded, and the proposal of the Russian 
 government is to restore it to Roumania, 
 from which it was taken in 1857. This 
 circumstance considerably reduces the im- 
 portance of the retrocession demanded, 
 from the point of view of its influence upon 
 the navigation of the mouths of the Danube. 
 " Ninth. Batoum is the only good port on 
 
 + This did not prevent Russia from blocking up the 
 river from the Black Sea to the Austrian frontier, stop- 
 ping all navigation, and doing serious damage when it 
 suited her in '76 and '77. 
 
 A.D. 1878.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [RUSSIAN MEMORANDUM". 
 
 this coast which suits the commerce and the 
 security of Russia, withdrawing from a war 
 which she has carried on by herself, and at 
 her exclusive cost. It is, therefore, by no 
 means a gratuitous concession ; it is far from 
 being the equivalent of the pecuniary in- 
 demnity which it would represent. As to 
 the acquisitions in Armenia, they have only 
 a defensive value. It is possible that 
 England would prefer to see these strong 
 positions in the hands of the Turks ; but 
 from the same motives Russia attaches value 
 to their possession for her own security, in 
 order not to have to lay siege to them in 
 every war that may take place, as with the 
 fortress of Kars, wliich she has had to take 
 three times in the course of half a century. 
 Cessions of territory are a natural conse- 
 quence of war. If England had wished to 
 save Turkey from them, all she had to do 
 was to join Russia, as was twice proposed to 
 her, at the time of the Berlin memorandum, 
 and again during the mission of Count 
 Elstow Sumarakow to Vienna, with the 
 view of exercising a collective mari- 
 time pressure on the Porte, which would 
 probably have been sufficient to attain the 
 results now gained at the cost of so much 
 bloodshed. The English government, hav- 
 ing refused these proposals, ought not now 
 to deny to Russia, who has shed her blood, 
 the right to demand the establishment of a 
 condition of things which will henceforth 
 relieve her from the necessity of similar 
 sacrifices, or at any rate will render them 
 less burdensome.* It is wholly impossible 
 to understand the consequences which are 
 attempted to be derived from these recti- 
 fications of frontier, as regards the freedom 
 of European commerce, from Trebizond by 
 way of Persia. These assertions are in contra- 
 diction with those more than once advanced 
 by different members of the British cabinet, 
 according to which the actual possession by 
 Russia of Erzeroum and Trebizond would in 
 nowise endanger English interests. The 
 rectifications of frontier in Asia stipulated 
 in the treaty of San Stefano are far from 
 having this extent. It is to push distrust to 
 extravagance to affirm that they place Russia 
 in a position to impede by prohibitive bar- 
 riers the commercial system of Europe, 
 
 " Tenth, The complaint which has been 
 made respecting the indemnity claimed of 
 
 * The government refused to act thus — above all, be- 
 cause it would have been contrary to treaty arrange- 
 ments, and would have premised an alliance with 
 Russia, and an identity of interests which did not and 
 could not exist. 
 
 Turkey in the treaty of San Stefano is cer- 
 tainly unfounded. The amount of this in- 
 demnity bears no proportion to the oppres- 
 sive burdens which the war has imposed on 
 Russia. It may be that the amount exceeds 
 Turkey's present means of payment, and in- 
 creases the difficulty she experiences of 
 satisfying her creditors. But it should be 
 remembered that Turkey failed in her 
 obligations to her foreign creditors before 
 the war, and in consequence of the disorders 
 caused by her bad administration.! It may 
 be hoped that if peace is established on 
 those reasonable bases which the treaty of 
 San Stefano has in view, and to which the 
 sanction of Europe would give a durable 
 and solid character, there would result for 
 Turkey a diminution of expenditure, and an 
 increase of resources which would place her 
 in a position to respond to the claims of her 
 foreign creditors. It was in view of these 
 possible results that the stipulations of the 
 treaty of San Stefano relative to the in- 
 demnity were left in the vagueness which is 
 now made a ground of complaint. If the 
 amount of the indemnity is criticised, much 
 more would have been the requirement of 
 immediate payment. No precise mode of 
 payment had been insisted on : we might 
 have encroached upon some source of 
 revenue already hypothecated to the foreign 
 creditors of the Porte, In the treaty of San 
 Stefano this has been avoided by reserving 
 the mode of payment for ulterior settle- 
 ment. It is true that by taking this pre- 
 caution we are exposed to the suspicion of 
 designing to paralyse or to dominate Turkey 
 for a series of years, or else to commute the 
 indemnity for new territorial acquisitions. 
 It would have been more simple J and natural 
 to suppose that the design was to consider 
 the interests of Turkey, as well as those of 
 Europe, and to uphold the Turkish govern- 
 ment in the path of a faithful observance 
 of its engagements, and of pacific relations 
 profitable for all. But against suspiciou 
 and distrust no remedy avails. 
 
 '* Eleventh. At the conclusion of the des- 
 patch of the Marquis of Salisbury, we learn 
 with pleasure that the object of the govern- 
 ment of her Britannic majesty, and its desire, 
 are always to ensure the good government, 
 peace, and liberty of the populations to 
 which these benefits are wanting. We see 
 
 + And, it must be remembered, in consequence 
 of General IgnatiefTs evil advice to the Sultan, which, 
 after due allowance for party feeling and exaggerated 
 reports, can no longer be doubted. 
 
 + Excessively simple ! 
 
 361 
 
 - < 
 
 !'t 
 
 
 ft 
 
 *Wi 
 
 
■■(■ 
 'i 
 
 ' *i 
 .'A 
 
 I 
 
 / 
 
 h * 
 
 I i» 
 
 RUSSIAN MEMORANDUM.] 
 
 HISTOEY OF THE 
 
 with equal satisfaction the admission frankly 
 made that this policy has been frustrated 
 by the unfortunate resistance of the Otto- 
 man government itself; that in presence 
 of the modified circumstances of the 
 present time, the same result cannot be 
 obtained to the same extent by the same 
 means— that is, the programme of the con- 
 ference of Constantinople — and that great 
 changes may, and no doubt will be necessary 
 in the treaties by which the south-east of 
 Europe has hitherto been governed. If we 
 add to these considerations that the reite- 
 rated refusals of the English government to 
 associate itself to a material collective pres- 
 sure to be exercised upon the Porte have 
 prevented Europe from obtaining pacifically 
 the results desired by the London cabinet 
 itself, we cannot but recognise that the war 
 and the peace of San Stefano have responded 
 to the exigencies of the situation that the 
 Marquis of Salisbury has explained with 
 great frankness and much elevation of 
 ideas. That situation may be thus summed 
 up : — The existing treaties have been suc- 
 cessively infringed for twenty-two years- 
 first, by the Turkish government, which 
 has not fulfilled its obligations towards the 
 Christians ; then by the united principali- 
 ties ; by the French occupation of Syria ; 
 by the conference of Constantinople itself, 
 which constituted an interference in the in- 
 ternal affairs of the Ottoman empire. The 
 Marquis of Salisbury has himself recognised 
 that great changes must and ought to be 
 made.* Under present circumstances we 
 have yet to learn how his lordship 
 means to practically harmonise these 
 treaties, and the rights recognised by 
 Great Britain and other powers, with the 
 friendly desire towards the realisation of 
 which the united action of Europe has 
 always been directed, of good government, 
 peace, and liberty for the populations to 
 which these benefits have hitherto been 
 wanting. It remains also to be made known 
 how, without the preliminary bases laid 
 down by the San Stefano treatv, his lord- 
 ship means to attain the object' desired by 
 all while taking fairly into account the rights 
 acquired by Kussia for the sacrifices she^'has 
 borne — and borne alone — in order to render 
 the realisation of them possible. The des- 
 patch of the Marquis of Salisbury contains 
 no reply to these questions.! This is why 
 
 * But the dispute was as to the means by which those 
 Changes were to be effected. 
 t This is not true. The xMarquis of Salisbury plainly 
 
 «50a 
 
 [A.D. 1878. 
 
 it seems that the considerations it contains 
 would have more naturally found an entire 
 liberty of appreciation and of action, had 
 the objections been accompanied by practical 
 propositions of a nature to ensure an under- 
 standing for the solution of the actual diffi- 
 culties in the general interest of a solid and 
 durable pacification of the East." 
 
 Now, although this reply of Prince Gort- 
 schakoffs was excessively colourless, and left 
 no clue as to his future intentions— whether 
 he meant to accede to Lord Salisbury's 
 demands that the whole of the treaty of 
 San Stefano should be considered as having 
 been laid before congress, still it raised hopes 
 in the best-informed quarters amountino* 
 to conviction, that Russia would ultimately 
 yield, and only wanted to gain time to 
 exercise all her influence and persuasion 
 upon other powers to assist her, or, at any 
 rate, not to oppose her. 
 
 One of the great difficulties in Prince 
 Grortschakoffs way was the attitude of 
 Austria, If he could have been sure that 
 Austria would allow herself to be com- 
 promised by an occupation of Bosnia and 
 Herzegovina, and thus take part in a 
 practical division of Turkey, his course of 
 action would have been clearly marked out. 
 But he was not sure to what extent Austria 
 could be involved. There were, it is true, 
 many factors on which he could rely ;— on 
 the discontent of the Hungarians, on the 
 ambition of the Italians, the desire of Ger- 
 many to interfere in Austrian affairs, &c., 
 &c, : but all the factors were more or less 
 uncertain — almost as uncertain as the in- 
 tentions of the British government. 
 
 It was therefore absolutely necessary to 
 ascertain exactly— or as exactly as possible 
 —what were the minimum demands of 
 
 Austria and England to be put forward at a 
 congress. This was also the opinion of 
 Prince Bismarck, who stated roundly and 
 plainly, that unless the respective cabinets 
 could agree as to the minimum demands 
 and the maximum concessions, it would be 
 useless for him to issue invitations or fix the 
 day for congress to assemble. 
 
 Prince Bismarck therefore advised the 
 three cabinets of London, Vienna, and St, 
 Petersburg, to negotiate separately on these 
 points ; and when an understanding was 
 arrived at, he would be prepared to name the 
 day for congress to assemble. 
 
 stated that the object desired could be obtained by a con- 
 gress, before which Russia should agree to lay the prQ- 
 liminary treaty which she concluded at San Stefano. 
 
 tti 
 
 t 
 
 ^ ll 
 
 A.D. 1878.] 
 
 EUSSIAN ExAIPIRE. 
 
 This was ultimately agreed to; and 
 whilst General Ignatieff took the sense of 
 the Vienna cabinet on Austro-Russian 
 questions and interests. Count Schouvaloff 
 acquired from Lord Salisbury exact and 
 precise information as to what Great Britain 
 would demand, and what she would concede. 
 With this information Count Schouvaloff 
 proceeded to St. Petersburg, the stipulation 
 on all sides being that the negotiations 
 should be kept strictly secret. 
 
 While all this was going on, however, the 
 military preparations continued on all sides. 
 Austria had partially mobilised her troops, 
 and had also taken a credit of £6,000,000. 
 Russia kept her armies in readiness to 
 resume hostilities at any moment, and took 
 measures in Roumania to secure her flank 
 and rear against any Austrian attack ; and 
 the British government displayed the utmost 
 activity in naval and military preparations, 
 and kept a strict watch upon all the Rus- 
 sian movements. 
 
 Consequently, though the chances of a 
 congress meeting had really greatly in- 
 creased, it was only behind the scenes that 
 this was known. Otherwise matters were 
 apparently of a nature eminently calculated 
 to inspire alarm. But the least disquieting 
 incident was the sudden information, pub- 
 lished on April 17th, that the British 
 government had ordered the following troops 
 
 ^[THE INDIAN TROOPS. 
 
 frona India :-The 9th Bengal cavalry, the 
 1st Bombay light cavalry, the 2nd Ghoorkas, 
 
 0.!.,^^,^]'/°^ ^^'^ ^^"^^^ regiments, the 
 25th Madras regiment, two regiments of 
 Bombay native infantry, two field batteries 
 ot artillery from Bombay, two companies of 
 sappers and miners from Bombay, and two 
 from Madras.— This step was hicrhly ap- 
 proved of by the great majority of °the pub- 
 lic, especially as the Russians had announced 
 their intention of fitting out a fleet of vessels 
 to prey upon British commerce in the event 
 of war, and were bringing an enormous pres- 
 sure to bear upon the Porte to induce it to 
 surrender Varna, Schumla, and Batoum. 
 To this, however, the Porte refused to con- 
 sent, alleging, with much force, that as the 
 treaty of San Stefano was only preliminary 
 and had, according to the Russians them- 
 selves, to be sanctioned by Europe before it 
 became valid, they could not be expected to 
 fulfil its provisions until this sanction had 
 been obtained. Thus for the moment there 
 was a pause in the great drama pending the 
 decision of the Czar as to the congress ; and 
 in the meantime Roumanians, Turks, 
 Greeks, Serbs, Lazes, Armenians, Kurds' 
 Albanians, Pomaks, and Bosnaks, all went 
 more or less their own peculiar ways 
 endeavouring to acquire a position which 
 would entitle them to a hearing or considera- 
 tion at the congress. 
 
 
 ! H 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 THB FIGHT FOE THE SICK MAN*S lEGACy. 
 
 From the Adriatic to the Caspian, from the 
 Danube to the iEgean Sea, all the rival 
 races, tongues, and nationalities had been 
 thrown into a flutter of excitement by the 
 treaty of San Stefano. Everybody hated 
 everybody else, and nobody trusted the 
 other. It was a very whirlpool of conflict- 
 ing passions; and round this whirlpool 
 stood frowning and forbidding the hard 
 granite rocks of Russia and England, and 
 at the foot of these rocks lay the shifty, 
 shifting, graceless quicksands of Austria— a 
 danger to friends as well as to foes, but 
 deservedly swept partially away by the tur- 
 bulent flood washing their treacherous 
 borders. 
 
 Everybody was more or less disenchanted 
 
 with his proteges and fiiends. The Hun- 
 garians began to lose their admiration for 
 the Turks as soon as they saw that the tide 
 of war had set in irrevocably against the 
 Porte, and that probably they, the brave 
 and valiant Magyars, would have to fight 
 their own battle. In England, even Mr. 
 Forbes announced that he felt obliged to 
 confess that the Bulgarians, in American 
 parlance, were a big « fraud ; " whilst in 
 Russia, one of the prominent journals pub- 
 lished the following account of the course 
 of events : — 
 
 "July, 1876.— Wild enthusiasm. Com- 
 plete enchantment with the Servians. De- 
 sire for war, 
 
 ^'October, 1876. — Despondency. Dis- 
 
 363 
 
 r ; 
 
 
\ 
 
 THE "SALISBURY COAT."] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 J! 
 
 l1 
 
 enchaDttnent with regard to the Servians ; 
 hostility towards them ; and regret for what 
 has been done for them. 
 
 "November, 1876. — Enthusiasm for a 
 war in the interest of the Bulgarians. Pity 
 for, and sympathy with them. 
 
 "April, 1877.— Complete ecstasy. Bro- 
 therly love for the Bulgarians. Dissatisfac- 
 tion with the Servians. 
 
 "August and September, 1877. Des- 
 pondency in consequence of failures (before 
 Plevna and elsewhere). Silent irritation 
 against the Bulgarians. Readiness to aban- 
 don the whole thing if only a way could be 
 found out of it. 
 
 "December, 1877.— Intoxication from 
 success. Desire to carry the thing out to 
 the end. Bad feeling towards the Bul- 
 garians. 
 
 "February, 1878.— Wild delight at the 
 peace and the yielding disposition of 
 Turkey. Sympathy with Turkey and cor- 
 responding coolness towards the Bulgarians. 
 Passionate determination to insist on the 
 acquisition of Batoum. Consciousness of 
 the necessity of this acquisition. In- 
 difiference to the question of England and 
 Austria. 
 
 "May, 1878.— Complete disenchantment 
 on the score of the Bulgarians. Suspicions 
 of insincerity on the part of the Turks. 
 Talk about Batoum not being so necessary 
 for us as it had formerly seemed. Some- 
 thing like disgust with the Eastern Ques- 
 tion. Talk about getting the thing finished 
 anyhow." 
 
 This is a very fair picture of the actual 
 state of Russian opinion. There was onlv 
 one sentiment which remained unchanged— 
 that was hostility to and hatred of°Eno-- 
 land and everything English. This feeling 
 was even extended to the matter of coats. 
 Amongst the enterprising speculators who 
 arrived at Buyukdere during the presence 
 of the Russian officers was a ready-made- 
 clothes dealer, who hoped to make money 
 by supplying a civil costume to the Russian 
 officers. A Russian officer did come to him 
 one day, and he wanted a coat ; and, after 
 looking at several, he found one which he 
 said he would buy, as it fitted him as well 
 as if it had been made for him. The 
 tailor agreed with him, of course, but 
 thoughtlessly remarked, in descanting upon 
 the qualities ^f the garment, that it was 
 the latest style worn in London, and was 
 known as the "Salisbury coat." "The 
 what coat ? " asked the Russian, The dealer 
 364 
 
 [a.d. 1878. 
 
 repeated that the coat was named after 
 Lord Salisbury, and the Russian im- 
 mediately pulled it off, picked up his uni- 
 form, and walked out of the shop. 
 
 Another matter which greatly disen- 
 chanted the Russians, was the expenditure 
 caused by the prolongation of negotiations, 
 and which amounted to more than the 
 amount spent during the actual hostilities. 
 This was but natural, inasmuch as, during 
 active operations, there was never any ques- 
 tion of payment for stores captured and 
 contributions levied on the Turkish towns 
 and villages. With the cessation of hosti- 
 lities, however, payment to a certain extent 
 had to be made, so that between the 13th 
 of March and the 27th of May, 1878, 
 the paper money in circulation increased 
 by more than 69,000,000 roubles, and 
 100,000,000 of exchequer bonds were 
 issued. Thus, in the space of two months 
 and a-half, the national debt had been in- 
 creased, in round numbers, by 170,000,000 
 
 that is to say, by considerably more than 
 2,000,000 a day, whilst during the war the 
 monthly cost was not more than 30,000,000. 
 The probability of this heavy daily expendi- 
 ture being continued during several weeks, 
 and perhaps months, was, of course, not a' 
 pleasant prospect, especially for those who 
 believed— and their name was legion— that 
 the congress would end in a new war. In 
 addition also to their troubles abroad, the 
 Russian government had its hands full at 
 home with Nihilist and Socialist conspira- 
 cies and riots, the excitement in conse- 
 quence reaching its height when General 
 Trepoff, the Minister of Police, was fired at 
 and severely wounded by a woman named 
 Vera Sassulitch ; and the would-be assassin, 
 though she confessed her crime, was ac- 
 quitted by a jury in St. Petersburg. 
 
 The whole story is too characteristic of 
 Russian society to be omitted here. Vera 
 Sassulitch's attempt was connected with a ^ 
 trial of certain Nihilists, which lasted for a 
 considerable time, and which ended finally 
 in the acquittal of the majority. Amongst 
 those who had previously been convicted°of 
 an attempt on the security of the State, 
 and of plotting against the government, 
 was a man named Bogoliuboff, who, before 
 being sent to penal servitude, had been 
 kept for some time in a House of Detention 
 of the Ministry of Justice, used only for 
 persons under arrest. Now, in Russia, 
 since the new legal enactments, the internal 
 regulations of the law courts and other legal 
 
 "'*>! 
 
 A.D. 1878.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [vera sassulitch. 
 
 establishments were independent of the 
 ordinary police agents and gendarmes, who 
 have not even access to these places. 
 General Trepoff having proceeded to this 
 house, and having seen that Bogoliuboff 
 was taking a walk in the yard, with se- 
 veral persons under arrest, pointed out 
 this breach of the regulations, and ordered 
 the man to retire. Bogoliuboff, not know- 
 ing who the general was, answered with 
 rudeness, keeping his cap upon his head 
 and refusing to remove it, for which acts 
 General Trepoff gave orders to the authori- 
 ties that he should receive twenty-four 
 strokes with a birch as a punishment. Al- 
 though Bogoliuboff had already forfeited 
 his civil rights, this order was nevertheless 
 arbitrary and illegal. There was a kind of 
 insurrection in the prison in consequence, 
 and the fact soon became known to the 
 Nihilists outside, who corresponded among 
 themselves throughout the empire. Mdlle. 
 Vera Sassulitch, also a Nihilist, and in love 
 with Bogoliuboff, swore to avenge him. 
 She accordingly watched for General Tre- 
 poff, and as he was coming out of a con- 
 fectioner's shop, held the muzzle of a re- 
 volver close to him and fired, placing his 
 life for several weeks in danger. On 
 April 12, she was brought to trial and was 
 acquitted by the jury, although she ad- 
 mitted before that body and the judges, that 
 in attempting the life of General Trepoff 
 she had been actuated by a spirit of re- 
 venge and with the premeditated intention 
 of killing him. It must be admitted that 
 an acquittal under such circumstances as 
 these was scarcely to be expected. Still, 
 the verdict was received with applause by 
 the people in court, composed in a large 
 measure, it need hardly be said, of adhe- 
 rents of the accused woman. There were, 
 meanwhile, in the reserved seats several 
 eminent personages — among others the 
 Chancellor of the Empire, Prince Gorts- 
 chakoff, who held General Trepoff in high 
 esteem. Without waiting for the departure 
 of the crowd of Nihilists and students who 
 blocked up and surrounded the building in 
 which the court sits, the Chancellor imme- 
 diately caused Mdlle. Sassulitch to be set 
 at liberty. Scarcely had she set foot in the 
 street when she was loudly cheered by the 
 mob— so great was the indignation at Gen- 
 eral Trepoff having inflicted corporal chas- 
 tisement on Bogoliuboff; and the curious, 
 who always assemble on such occasions, be- 
 gan to follow her, shouting all the time. 
 
 VOL. III. 3 B 
 
 Seeing this, a local functionary showed her 
 into a vehicle, that she might return home 
 in peace. But immediately the boldest 
 ot the students endeavoured to mount upon 
 the vehicle and take the place of the driver. 
 Being prevented from doing this, they fol- 
 lowed for some distance, and at last the 
 mob became so dense that the vehicle was 
 obliged to stop. Mdlle. Sassulitch alighted 
 from it ; then, the police endeavouring to 
 restore the circulation, an affray took place, 
 amidst which two shots were fired one 
 striking a student in the forehead and 
 stretching him on the ground stone dead, 
 and the other wounding a woman. Mdlle' 
 Sassulitch herself re-entered her residence 
 safe and sound ; but the next morning she 
 had already disappeared, and successfully 
 baffled the police in their attempts to re- 
 arrest her; so that Prince Gortschakoff's 
 stratagem of setting her at liberty com- 
 pletely failed in its treble object. 
 
 Then, besides being troubled at home by 
 conspiracies and outbreaks of Nihilists and 
 Socialists, the Russians were also harassed 
 by insurrection in the rear of their vic- 
 torious armies. The remnants of Suleiman 
 Pasha's armies who had escaped to the 
 Rhodope made common cause with the 
 Pomaks inhabiting that region, and took to 
 arms to such an extent that it was consi- 
 dered necessary to send a commission to in- 
 quire into their grievances, and the general 
 condition of Thrace. In reply to the com- 
 missioners, the Pomak delegates declared 
 that they were driven to arms by the abomi- 
 nable cruelties practised upon them by 
 Bulgarians, who had, they alleged, hunted 
 them down like wild beasts. Some exag- 
 geration it was natural to expect in their 
 account, but there were many patent facts 
 which substantiated the complaints of the 
 Thracian Moslems and rendered their 
 despair intelligible. From Adrianople to 
 Phihppopolis nothing was to be seen but 
 the blackened ruins of deserted villat^es. 
 The Mahommedans of that region who had 
 not time to fly before the Russian advance 
 overtook them were pillaged, slaughtered, 
 or dispersed as soon as the Russians entered 
 the district. The attention of the Russian 
 commanders was absorbed in military ar- 
 rangements, and while they were thus oc- 
 cupied the Bulgars improved the shinin<r 
 hour and enjoyed a glorious feast of blood"! 
 rape, and plunder ; and this condition of 
 affairs lasted for some time after the signa- 
 ture of peace. There were, indeed, Bul- 
 
 365 
 
 v; 
 
 ■i-J 
 
 . "I" 
 
 I. Hi 
 
 
 * r'<M 
 
BULGARIAN ATROCITIES.] HISTORY OP' THE 
 
 Ta.d. 1878. 
 
 garians who took no part in these acts of 
 ferocity; but the great majority pursued 
 the Moslem with fanatical hate, .bent, 
 seemingly, on his extermination. The first 
 act of Kussian organisation in new Bulgaria 
 was to place the police and the magistracy 
 in the hands of the Bulgars, and to disarm 
 all the»Mahommedan population. Thus the 
 Bulgars were invested with powers which 
 enabled them to follow up the persecution 
 . of the Moslems with telling effect, using the 
 law as their instrument of oppression. " I 
 have seen," said Wassa Etfendi, one of the 
 Turkish commissioners, " a Mahommedan's 
 house sold over his head by decree of a 
 Bulgar magistrate for a paltry sum, and the 
 buyer forthwith destroy it and sell the ma- 
 terials." The Mahommedan fugitives who, 
 furnished with Russian passes from head- 
 quarters at SanStefanOjhad returned to their 
 former homes, were not permitted to take 
 possession of their property. The Bulgarian 
 police entirely ignored the Russian permit. 
 It is true that a Russian officer presided over 
 every tribunal; but as he did not understand 
 Bulgarese, he could exercise no real check 
 over the proceedings on the Bench. Bulga- 
 rian delinquents thus enjoyed a very wide 
 liberty, and were never convicted on the ac- 
 cusation either of Moslem or Grreek. Round 
 about Philippopolis the commissioners saw 
 camped in the marshes several thousand 
 Mahommedan refugees literally rotting away 
 with miasmatic diseases. They were only 
 permitted to encamp in these pestilential 
 spots, not being even suffered to depart and 
 join their brethren in the mountains. A 
 ration of three-quarters of a pound of bread 
 was allowed by the municipality to the 
 children, and that body also offered work on 
 the roads to the men. But the able-bodied 
 men were so few, the wages so small, and 
 the payment so tardy that few found relief 
 in this manner. When the commissioners 
 expostulated with General Stolepine, com- 
 manding at Philippopolis, on the careless- 
 ness, indifference, and incapacity displayed 
 by the Russian officers in the execution of 
 civil functions, his Excellency replied that 
 there was nothing astonishing in the fact. 
 The officers so employed were, he said, 
 all military men, totally untrained for civil 
 employment, and for the most part very 
 ignorant ; had they been capable men they 
 would have been retained for civil employ- 
 ment in Russia. In the town of Philippo- 
 polis the police compelled the Mahommedan 
 residents to sweep the streets. While the 
 366 
 
 commissioners were in Philippopolis a raid 
 against the fez worn by all Ottoman sub- 
 jects except the Bulgars was made by the 
 Bulgarian populace, and for two days this 
 symbol of allegiance to the Sultan was 
 snatched from the head of every wearer who 
 dared to appear with it in the street, and then 
 torn and trampled under foot. The third 
 day the fury calmed down, Greeks, Catho- 
 lics, and Jews who were fez-wearers before 
 having sought peace under shelter of that 
 shaggy shako of sheepskin which Bulgarians 
 wear, and which is called a calpak. " If we 
 suppose," says Wassa Effendi, " that Greeks 
 and Catholics fare much better than the 
 Moslems, we are certainly under a delusion." 
 While the commission was sitting in Philip- 
 popolis the Bulgarians attacked a Catholic 
 institution in a suburban village, stripped 
 the cure of the church naked, and in his pre- 
 sence violated the sisters of the institution. 
 "My note-book," added Wassa Effendi, "is 
 full of cases of cruelty, injustice, or outrage 
 which from day to day came within the 
 range of my own observation." With re- 
 gard to the mission with which Wassa 
 Effendi and his colleague, Samih Pasha, 
 were charged, it was, as the Russians who 
 asked for it knew it would be, an utter 
 failure. No amount of persuasion would 
 induce these unfortunate people to surrender 
 themselves to the Christian mercies of the 
 Bulgars. The commissioners invited the 
 chiefs to come and confer with them, but 
 the chiefs refused. A deputation composed 
 of Turkish and Russian officers was there- 
 fore despatched to the mountain to hold a 
 parley with the commanders of the militia 
 of the Pomak nation, the style assumed by 
 the combatants of the Rhodope. The de- 
 putation was received at the Pomak out- 
 posts, and conducted to the tent of the chief, 
 who spoke to them as follows : — 
 
 " We are here solely to protect ourselves 
 from the Bulgars. All through the war we 
 were hunted and massacred. After the war, 
 misled by false promises of the Russians, we 
 went back to our homes, where we were 
 again hunted and massacred. You your- 
 selves have seen our ruined villages. We 
 saw that our extermination was planned, 
 and we prefer fighting for our lives to being 
 butchered like sheep. We will molest no 
 one, but we will defend ourselves against 
 attack. We shall not descend into the 
 plain, for we are not insurgents ; we are 
 not here to attack, but only to defend. We 
 will listen to no advice, nor believe any pro- 
 
 m 
 
 1 
 
 < *;. 
 
'I 
 
 •I 
 
 f 
 
 
 r \. 
 
 The lUustraMons by ii.WarreD;*! ICngtavod. by J. Kifecaot 
 
 TlieMAp, lh:avm ^-iLxL^iavBd iy J.RapVau 
 
A.T>. 1878.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the pomaks. 
 
 mises. We will not lay down our arms ; in 
 our greatest agony we appealed for help and 
 protection in vain. We have only ourselves 
 to trust to. We have no political project, 
 no ideas of revolt." 
 
 The deputation wished to see another 
 chief superior to the author of the fore- 
 going declaration, but the Pomaks would 
 not consent to take the Russian officers to 
 him. At first the Turkish delegates refused 
 to be separated from their Russian col- 
 leagues ; but on the Pomaks pointing out 
 that on their own ground it was for them 
 to make their own rules, the Turkish officers 
 consented to go without the Russians to 
 the presence of a leading member of the 
 provisional government of the Pomak 
 people. The big chief held much the same 
 language as the little chief outside had be- 
 fore held, but added : — 
 
 " We have no serious cause of complaint 
 against the Russians. From time to time 
 they have even protected us against the 
 Bulgars, but they are quite powerless to 
 give us efficacious and constant protection. 
 They have not the means to do so. The 
 Bulgars have massacred us, are massacring 
 us, and will massacre us ; so we will listen 
 to no promise, to no advice. We will not 
 lay down our arms ; and now that you have 
 heard that, go to your homes and come 
 here no more." 
 
 The officers of the deputation stated that 
 the Pomaks occupied strategic points, and 
 were organised and encamped as an army 
 in time of war. Another deputation, des- 
 patched later, was turned back by the out- 
 posts. They saw abundance of cattle and 
 of agricultural implements ; also great num- 
 bers of women and children. It was the 
 belief of the commissioners, that if the Rus- 
 sians had been at all equal to the task they 
 undertook, and had made any serious effort 
 to protect life and property and maintain 
 justice between Christian and Mussulman, 
 the subsequent difficulties would not have 
 arisen. There was, however, strong reason 
 to believe that General Ignatieff planned 
 the expulsion oj: extermination of the 
 
 Mussulmans ; as, it will be remembered, the 
 first decision regarding the fugitives was 
 that they should not be permitted to return 
 to their homes. When this decision, against 
 which Austria protested, was revoked, it 
 was already too late. Most of the mischief 
 had been done, and the Bulgars had broken 
 loose from the control of their liberators. 
 The position of the Pomaks was most piti- 
 able. The commission was held and it 
 failed, but its failure gave to the Russians 
 a warrant for attacking the Pomaks in their 
 mountain refuge ; so that those who escaped 
 getting their throats cut had only to look 
 forward to being shot by the Russian 
 troops. 
 
 Much the same state of things prevailed 
 on the Greek frontiers in Thessaly, in 
 Albania, along the Montenegrin frontier, 
 and in Crete. All parties, the Turks in- 
 cluded, expected wonders from the Berlin 
 congress; and interesting to the partici- 
 pators in all these local struggles as their 
 individual deeds might be, Europe did but 
 little more than shrug her shoulders and 
 say, " I told you so." In fact, everybody 
 triumphantly said to everybody else, no 
 matter to what phase of the question he re- 
 ferred, '^ I told you so." And the strange 
 part of it all was, that almost every one of 
 these vain-glorious persons was right — such 
 was the diversity of interests, and such was 
 the multitude of possibilities and probabi- 
 lities which allowed persons of the most 
 divergent opinions to be right on some 
 point or other of one and the same question, 
 the said point, of course, appearing to the 
 arguer to exhaust the whole subject. 
 
 Meantime, however, the negotiations for 
 the assembling of the congress had gradu- 
 ally come to a conclusion. Each of the 
 cabinets concerned had at last found a me- 
 thod of arranging the basis upon which each 
 thought it could successfully dupe the 
 other; and thus at last the grand news 
 gradually leaked out, towards the end of 
 May, 1878, that all difficulties had been 
 smoothed away, and that the congress would 
 meet in Berlin on June 13, 1878. 
 
 367 
 
 ( 'I 
 
 /^ 
 
 ■1 ^41 
 
 ■■ n 
 
 •I 
 
 vi 
 
 'Vri I 
 
/ 
 
 •ii 
 
 / 
 
 THE CONGRESS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1878. 
 
 A.D. 1878.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [the RABZIWILL PATJlCfE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 THE BEELIN CONGRESS. 
 
 For many days after it had been definitely 
 settled that the congress was to meet at 
 Berlin, this city was highly excited. For, 
 although the attempts of Hoedel and 
 Nobiling on the old emperor's life had cast 
 a certain gloom over the town, the buoyant 
 spirits of the Berliners could not long be 
 damped, especially as the choice of their 
 town for so important a meeting was a 
 direct homage to the new position of glory 
 which Grermany had attained in consequence 
 of her successful war across the Rhine. 
 
 Great, also, was the excitement in all the 
 other capitals — least of all, perhaps, in 
 Paris, which considered itself, somehow or 
 other, defrauded out of the congress ; and in 
 St. Petersburg, where hopes were low, and 
 fears were high. In London, on the other 
 band, there was almost a paean of expec- 
 tant victory rising above the subdued 
 murmur of the Liberal malcontents, and 
 entirely drowning the hoarse wail of Mr, 
 Gladstone, when it was known that the 
 modern Dick Whittington of politics, Ben- 
 jamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield, was 
 ; about to cross the seas and enter the lists 
 against the wily Chancellor of the White 
 Czar. No pains were spared duly to im- 
 press this fact upon the world at large. 
 The newspapers — above all, the Times, 
 popularly supposed to have been specially 
 purchased by the Queen for the private use 
 of Lord Beaconsfield and Prince Bismarck — 
 sent hosts of correspondents to the city on 
 the Spree, and opened enormous accounts at 
 the Berlin bankers for ordinary and extra- 
 ordinary expenses. There were there M, 
 Blovitz, a Franco-Bohemian, the ordinary 
 correspondent of the Times at Paris, and 
 who afterwards became known, for a short 
 time, as M. de Blovitz. There was Mr. 
 Mackenzie Wallace, who was special corre- 
 spondent at St. Petersburg ; and there was 
 M. L. Abel, a talented Prussian, who was 
 the standing correspondent at Berlin. Then 
 there was M. E. Simon, of the Memorial 
 iJiplomatique of Paris; Herr Skreijschow- 
 ski, of the Folitik at Prague ; M. Etienne, 
 of the Neue Freie Fresse, and about 100 
 more, all ready to chronicle word and deed, 
 368 
 
 and say what ought to be, what ought not 
 to be, and what might, could, and should 
 have been. 
 
 As for the plenipotentiaries and diplo- 
 mats, with or without a seat at the green 
 table, their name was legion. Great BHtain 
 was represented by three plenipotentiaries 
 — Lord Beaconsfield, Marquis of Salisbury, 
 Lord Odo Russell. Secretaries — Mr. Mon- 
 tagu Corry, Mr. Philip Currie, Mr. Henry 
 Neville Dering, Mr. Hertslet, Mr. Algernon 
 Tumor, Mr. Austin Lee, Hon. J. Bertie, 
 Hon. Eric Barrington, Mr. Charles Hop- 
 wood, Mr. E. Le Marchant Gosselin, Mr. 
 Arthur Balfour, Lieutenant-General Sir 
 Lintorn Simmons, Captain Edwards, Cap- 
 tain Ardagh, and Captain Fitzgerald. 
 
 Germany . — Prince Bismarck, Under- 
 Secretary of State Von Biilow, Ambassador 
 Prince Hohenlohe Schillingfiirst. Secre- 
 taries — Privy Councillor of Legation Bu- 
 cher. Envoy Von Radowitz, Councillors of 
 Legation Busch and Baron Holstein, Secre- 
 taries of Legation Von Biilow, Count 
 Herbert Bismarck, and Count Rantzan. 
 
 Russia, — Plenipotentiaries — Ambassa- 
 dor Count SchouvalofF, Ambassador Baron 
 D'Oubril, Prince Gortschakoff. Secretaries 
 -—Privy Councillor Baron Jomini, Coun- 
 cillor of State Baron F'redericks, Secretary 
 of Legation Count Adlerberg, General 
 Anjutschin, Colonels Bobrikoff and Bogo- 
 lubofif, and Councillors Sorokin and Toonoff. 
 
 Austria, — Plenipotentiaries — Count An- 
 drassy. Ambassador Count Karolyi, Privy 
 Councillor Baron Haymerle. Secretaries — 
 Chief of Section Baron Schwegel, Envoy 
 Herr von Teschenberg, Councillors Baron 
 Hiibner, Von Kosiek, Doczy, Von Ascher, 
 Secretary Von Peachy, Baron Mayer, and 
 Baron Pasette. 
 
 France. — Plenipotentiaries — M. Wad- 
 dington. Ambassador Comte de St. Vallier. 
 Secretaries — M. Despres, Directeur dcs 
 Afifaires Politiques ; M. Duclerc, Sous Chef 
 de Cabinet; Secretaries of Embassy, Comte 
 de Mouy, Fourchon, Paul Despres de la 
 Motte, Attaches Comte Montalivet, Vicomte 
 de Beaucaire. 
 
 Italy, — Plenipotentiaries — Count Corti, 
 
 AmbaFsador Count Launay. Secretaries — 
 Councillors of Embassy Curtopassi and 
 Chevalier Tosi, Secretaries Marquis Bialbi 
 and Marquis de Malaspina. 
 
 lurkey. — Plenipotentiaries — Alexander 
 Caratheodori Pasha, Ambassador Sadoullah 
 Bey, General Mehemed Ali Pasha. Secre- 
 taries — Parnies Efi'endi, Conseiller du 
 Ministare des Afi*aires Etrangeres; Feri- 
 doun Bey, Chef de Departement au Minis- 
 tere des Afiaires Etrangeres; Secretaire 
 d'Ambassade Oban Bagdadlian Efifendi ; 
 Hatchik Effendi, Navum Effendi, Chefs de 
 Bureau au Ministere des Afiaires Etrangeres. 
 
 Besides these, there were in Berlin, but 
 without any right to a seat at the congress, 
 the Roumanian ministers, MM. Bratiano 
 and Cogalniceano ; the Montenegro Se- 
 nators, Petrovitch and Radonitsch ; the 
 Servian premier, Ristics; and the Greek 
 minister, M. Delyannis. 
 
 The Radziwill Palace, shortly before pur- 
 chased by the German government, and 
 assigned to Prince Bismarck as his official 
 residence, immediately after being taken 
 possession of by the new tenant, was 
 destined to become the scene of this 
 most distinguished diplomatic assembly, 
 The palace, an old-fashioned structure in 
 the flat renaissance characteristic of the 
 later style of the 18th century, occupies 
 three sides of a quadrangle, the fourth 
 being taken up by a paved court, with a 
 garden in front. Unpretending in size and 
 design, the building has yet an aristocratic 
 air. The large windows of the central 
 section betoken noble halls ; the low side 
 wings indicate indiff'erence to the use of 
 space ; while the obsolete architecture, and 
 the time-worn, discoloured bricks of the 
 roof, combine with the new pointing of the 
 walls to show antiquity in an excellent 
 state of repair. The interior of the build- 
 ing is in keeping with the front view. A 
 wide hall and a spacious staircase lead to 
 the central circular saloon, which was the 
 appointed home of the congress. All the 
 apartments are in white stucco, with 
 Grecian columns, perhaps a little bare, but 
 noble in their chaste and lofty simplicity. 
 There is a special entrance to the wing in- 
 habited by Princess Bismarck, guarded by 
 well-proportioned statues of Germania and 
 Borussja, Close to the saloon, the ceiling 
 of which is decorated with the escutcheons 
 of the various German States, is Prince 
 Bismarck's study and a reception-hall, fur- 
 Dished in gorgeous Persian taste. All these 
 
 rooms, with several adjoining chambers ap- 
 pointed as bureaux, were allotted to the 
 congress. From the first three rooms large 
 folding-doors open upon a splendid old 
 park, the umbrageous recesses of which 
 might be visited by the plenipotentiaries 
 either for private tete-a-tetes or for recrea- 
 tion after the fatigues of the exhausting 
 debates. In accordance with the taste of 
 the prince and princess, the furniture of 
 the house, especially in the sitting-rooms, 
 is very unpretending. The prince himself 
 was in good health, the excitement of the 
 grand meeting acting as a tonic upon his 
 poor susceptible nerves. So that there was 
 no further talk of his resignation, which had 
 been spoken of, as it always is when things 
 go wrong— that is, not exactly to his mind. 
 But though Prince Bismarck was nomi- 
 nally the central planet round which the 
 rest of the brilliant galaxy revolved, Lord 
 Beaconsfield was a star of more than the 
 first magnitude, difficult as it may be 
 to imagine such a dimension. 
 
 The reception given to Lord Beaconsfield, 
 on the one hand, and Prince Gortschakoff 
 on the other, ofi'ered a significant contrast. 
 Lord Beaconsfield's journey from the Ger- 
 man frontier to Berlin was a veritable 
 triumph. Curiosity and enthusiasm every- 
 where prevailed, and people thronged to the 
 station to see him. At Cologne, where 
 there was two hours' notice of his approach, 
 the station was invaded by Germans, who 
 greeted him with hurrahs ; and had he 
 looked round him, he might have seen the 
 Grand Duke of Oldenburg, who, not wish- 
 ing to make himself conspicuous, took off 
 his hat like the rest of the crowd. On re- 
 entering the saloon, Lord Beaconsfield 
 found it decorated with flowers ; and when, 
 on starting, he expressed his thanks for this 
 attention, and sent a rose to the lady who 
 superintended these arrangements, fresh 
 cheers greeted this act of gallantry. At 
 Berlin there was the same eagerness ; and 
 here, in the Kaiserhof Hotel, the Crown 
 Princess prepared a mark of distinction by 
 a present of flowers and strawberries from 
 the new palace nurseries at Potsdam— a 
 present which gave rise to many pleasant 
 remarks that a dukedom was waiting for 
 the successful earl. Nothing of the kind, 
 however, was there for Prince Gortschakoff. 
 He knew that the man against whom he 
 had so long been pitted was receiving the 
 homage of Germany, which was indifferent 
 about himself. His arrival made no stir, 
 
 369 
 
 m 
 
 ' • ill 
 
 
ANGL0-RUS3IAN AGREEMENT.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [a.d. 1878. 
 
 A.D. 1878.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. [anglo-russian agreement. 
 
 nor disturbed the usual solitude prevailing 
 around the Russian embassy. Here, how- 
 ever, was the very danger which engaged 
 the attention of all the prominent members 
 of the congress. The simultaneous pre- 
 sence of Lord Beaconsfield and Prince 
 Gortschakoff was one, and perhaps the 
 principal, cause which might derange all 
 calculations. The latter was in a state of 
 health which made him nervous. He felt 
 that he was nearing his end, and he would 
 not have liked to sink below the horizon 
 without leaving behind him a ray of glory. 
 He would not have liked to end with a 
 defeat. Lord Beaconsfield, younger and in 
 better preservation than the prince, was at 
 the pinnacle of his career, and aspired to a 
 crowning triumph. Between the two men 
 any question might become a personal one, 
 and reason would then no lon<rer suffice to 
 solve it. The great and only chance of 
 averting this danger lay with Prince Bis- 
 marck, who, for many reasons, did not at 
 that moment desire to see a conflict break 
 out that might have involved himself, as it 
 undoubtedly would have done had the con- 
 gress dissolved without agreeing. What 
 might happen afterwards did not so much 
 matter. 
 
 Punctually at the appointed time, June 
 13th, at two o'clock, the first sitting of the 
 congress was opened by Prince Bismarck in 
 the grand hall of his new official residence. 
 An hour before the meeting ^ crowd as- 
 sembled in the Wilhelmstrasse to see the 
 plenipotentiaries alight. The first to arrive 
 were the Italian ambassadors, Count Corti 
 and Count Launay, in grand uniforms 
 covered with gold lace and embroidery. 
 They were speedily followed by Count 
 Andrassy, dressed as a Honved hussar, and 
 Count Karolyi, conspicuous in the furred 
 cloak peculiar to the Hungarian magnate. 
 Then came, in official garb, Prince Gorts- 
 chakoff and Baron D'Oubril, Baron Hay- 
 merle, Count Schouvaloff, M. Waddington, 
 Count St. Vallier, and the German and 
 British plenipotentiaries. The first sitting 
 was entirely taken up with the exchange of 
 credentials and other indispensable pre- 
 limiparies. 
 
 The moment of the opening of the con- 
 gress was marked by the hoisting of the 
 German standard on the flag-staff of the 
 Chancellor's mansion. Prince Bismarck 
 invited the members to take their seats at 
 the semicircular table placed in the centre 
 of the spacious hall, where they sat ac- 
 370 
 
 cording to the alphabetical order of the 
 names of the countries represented by them. 
 
 At the commencement of the sitting, as 
 pre-arranged, Count Andrassy, in the name 
 of all the members of the congress, ex- 
 pressed the hope that the health of his 
 majesty would soon be restored, and men- 
 tioned the unanimous anxiety of Europe 
 for his prompt recovery. Count Andrassy 
 also expressed the satisfaction of the pleni- 
 potentiaries at the reception Germany had 
 given them. Prince Bismarck replied, 
 expressing his belief in the success of the 
 congress, and his particular desire to see 
 perfect harmony established among the 
 eminent representatives of Europe. The 
 appointment of secretaries to the congress 
 was then proceeded with, Herr Bucher and 
 M. de Mouy being chosen. Deputy-secre- 
 taries, in case of their absence, were also 
 nominated. Prince Herbert Bismarck was 
 among the latter. The secretaries were then 
 immediately introduced and officially pre- 
 sented to the congress by Prince Bismarck. 
 Prince Bismarck then solicited secrecy for 
 the deliberations. The members present 
 agreed to this, but no promise or oath was 
 demanded. Lord Beaconsfield then ad- 
 dressed the congress upon the advisability 
 of withdrawing the Russian and British 
 forces from before Constantinople; but 
 Count SchouvalofF objected on the score of 
 the danger of an outbreak. Here the 
 matter dropped, and it was then resolved 
 to adjourn till Monday, in order to give the 
 members time to become personally better 
 acquainted with each other, and to negotiate 
 between themselves as much as possible 
 before the divers subjects were broached in 
 congress itself. 
 
 The day then wound up with a grand 
 dinner at the palace; whilst the Crown 
 Princess invited Lord Beaconsfield to a 
 domestic tea, Lord Salisbury remaining at 
 work in the English embassy. 
 
 So far, therefore — that is, for twelve hours 
 — everything had passed off most happily. 
 So did the first twelve hours of the follow- 
 ing day ; but then there came a thunderbolt. 
 
 The very day after congress had met, and 
 its members pledged themselves to secrecy, 
 the Globe printed the text of an agreement 
 between the governments of England and 
 Russia, signed at the Foreign Office«on the 
 30th of May. The agreement comprised 
 two memorandums. The title of the first 
 memorandum was, "Project of a Memo- 
 randum determining the points upon which 
 
 an understanding has been established be- 
 tween the governments of Russia and 
 Great Britain, and which will serve as a 
 mutual engagement for the Russian and 
 English plenipotentiaries at the congress.*' 
 
 After a preamble, expressing the desire 
 of the Russian and English governments to 
 establish an understanding that may obviate 
 the settlement of the Eastern Question by 
 the sword, the memorandum runs thus : — 
 
 "1. England discards the longitudinal 
 division of Bulgaria, but the representative 
 of Russia reserves to himself to point out 
 the advantages of it to the congress, pro- 
 mising, nevertheless, not to insist upon it 
 against the definitive opinion of England. 
 
 " 2, The arrangement of the boundaries 
 of Southern Bulgaria should be modified in 
 such a manner as to remove them from the 
 ^gean Sea, according to the southern 
 delimitation of the Bulgarian provinces 
 proposed by the conference of Constanti- 
 nople. This does not concern the question 
 of the frontiers so much as it refers to the 
 exclusion of the littoral of the Korean Sea — 
 that is to say, to the west of Lagos. From 
 this point to the coast of the Black Sea the 
 discussion of the frontier will remain free. 
 
 "3. The western frontiers of Bulgaria 
 should be rectified upon the base of nation- 
 alities so as to exclude from that province 
 the non-Bulgarian populations. The western 
 frontiers of Bulgaria ought not to pass in 
 principle a line traced from close to Novi- 
 Bazar to Koursha Balkan. 
 
 "4. The Bulgaria replaced in the limits 
 which are mentioned in the points 2 and 
 3 shall be divided into two provinces — 
 namely: — The one to the north of the 
 Balkans should be endowed with political 
 autonomy, under the government of a 
 prince ; and the other to the south of the 
 Balkans should receive a large measure of 
 administrative self-government {autonomie 
 administrative) — for instance, like that 
 which exists in English colonies — with a 
 Christian governor named, with the ac- 
 quiescence of Europe, for five to ten years. 
 ' "5. The Emperor of Russia attaches a 
 peculiar importance to the retreat of the 
 Turkish army from Southern Bulgaria. 
 His majesty does not see any security or 
 guarantee for the Bulgarian population in 
 the future if the Ottoman troops are main- 
 tained there. Lord Salisbury accepts the 
 retreat of the Turkish troops from Southern 
 Bulgaria, but Russia will not object to what 
 is enacted by the congress respecting the 
 
 mode and the cases where the Turkish 
 troops would be allowed to enter the 
 southern province to resist an insurrection 
 or invasion, whether in a state of execution 
 or in a state of menace. England, never- 
 theless, reserves to herself to insist at the 
 congress on the right of the Sultan to be 
 able to canton troops on the frontiers of 
 Southern Bulgaria. The representative of 
 Russia reserves to himself, at the congress, 
 complete liberty in the discussion of this 
 last proposition of Lord Salisbury. 
 
 " 6. The British government demands 
 that the superior officers {chefs superieurs) 
 of the militia in Southern Bulgaria should 
 be named by the Porte with the consent of 
 Europe. 
 
 "7. The promises concerning Armenia 
 stipulated by the preliminary treaty of 
 San Stefano should not be made exclusively 
 to Russia, but to England also. 
 
 " 8. The government of her Britannic 
 majesty taking, as well as the imperial 
 government, a warm interest in the future 
 organisation of the Greek provinces of the 
 Balkan Peninsula, the Article 15 of the 
 preliminary treaty cf San Stefano shall be 
 modified in such a manner that the other 
 Powers, and notably England, may have, 
 like Russia, a consulting voice in the future 
 organisation of Epirus, Thessaly, and the 
 other Christian provinces resting under the 
 dominion of the Porte. 
 
 " 9. In so far as the war indemnity is 
 concerned, his majesty the emperor has 
 never had the intention of converting it 
 into territorial annexations, and he does 
 not refuse to give assurances in this respect. 
 It is understood that the war indemnity 
 will not deprive the English government of 
 its rights as creditor, and it will, in this 
 respect, remain in the same state that it 
 stood before the war. Without contesting 
 the final decision which Russia will take 
 with respect to the amount of the in- 
 demnity, England reserves to herself to 
 point out to the congress the serious objec- 
 tions which she sees to it. 
 
 " 10. As to the valley of Alashkert and 
 the town of Bayazid, that valley being the 
 great transit route for Persia, and having 
 an immense value in the eyes of the Turks, 
 his majesty the emperor consents to restore 
 it to them; but he has demanded and 
 obtained, in exchange, the cession to Persia 
 of the little territory of Khotour, which the 
 commissioners of the two mediatory Courts 
 have found just to restore to the Shah. 
 
 371 
 
 I 
 
 « I 
 
 
ANGLO-RUSSIAN AGREEAIENT.] HISTOEY OF THE 
 
 [A.D 1878. 
 
 IS 
 
 "11. The government of her Britannic 
 majesty would have to express its profound 
 regret in the event of Kussia insisting 
 definitively upon the retrocession of Bessa- 
 rabia. As, however, it is sufficiently 
 established that the other signatories to the 
 treaty of Paris are not ready to sustain by 
 arms the delimitation of Roumania, stipu- 
 lated in that treaty, England does not find 
 herself sufficiently interested in this ques- 
 tion to be authorised to incur alone the 
 responsibility of opposing herself to the 
 change proposed, and thus she binds herself 
 not to dispute the decision in this sense. 
 In consenting not to contest the desire of 
 the Emperor of Russia to occupy the port 
 of Batoum and to guard his conquests in 
 Armenia, the government of her majesty 
 do not hide from themselves that grave 
 dangers, menacing the tranquillity of the 
 populations of Turkey in Asia, may result 
 in the future by this extension of the 
 Russian frontier. But her majesty's govern- 
 ment are of opinion that the duty of pro- 
 tecting the Ottoman empire from this 
 danger, which henceforth will rest largely 
 {d'une TKiesure speciale) upon England, can 
 be efifected without exposing Europe to the 
 calamities of a fresh war. At the same 
 time the government of the Queen take 
 cognizance of the assurance given by his 
 imperial majesty that in the future the 
 Russian frontier will be no more extended 
 on the side of Turkey in Asia. Her 
 majesty's government being consequently 
 of opinion that the modifications of the 
 treaty of San Stefano, approved in this 
 memorandum, suffice to mitigate the objec- 
 tions that they find in the treaty in its 
 actual form, engage themselves not to dis- 
 pute the articles of the preliminary treaty 
 of San Stefano which are not modified by 
 the ten preceding points if, after the articles 
 have been duly discussed in congress, Russia 
 persists in maintaining them. 
 
 "It may be, that during the discussions 
 in congress the two governments may find 
 it preferable to introduce, of a common 
 accord, fresh modifications, which it would 
 be impossible to foresee ; but, if the under- 
 Btanding respecting these new modifications 
 be not established between the Russian and 
 English plenipotentiaries, the present me- 
 morandum is destined to serve as a mutual 
 engagement in congress for the plenipoten- 
 tiaries of Russia and Great Britain. 
 
 " In faith of which this document has 
 been signed by the Russian ambassador at 
 372 
 
 London and the principal Secretary of 
 State of her Britannic majesty. — Done at 
 London the 30th of May, 1878. 
 
 " SCHOUVALOFF. 
 
 " Salisbury." 
 
 The second memorandum forms an annex 
 to the first, and was signed by both pleni- 
 potentiaries on the same date. It runs as 
 follows : — 
 
 "Besides the stipulations of the pre- 
 ceding memorandum, the British govern- 
 ment reserve to themselves to point out to 
 the congress the following points : — 
 
 "(a) The English government reserve to 
 themselves to demand of the congress the 
 participation of Europe in the administra- 
 tive organisation of the two Bulgarian 
 provinces. 
 
 "(6) The English government will dis- 
 cuss in congress the duration and the 
 nature of the Russian occupation of Bul- 
 garia and of the passage through Rou- 
 mania. 
 
 "(c) The name to be given to the 
 southern province. 
 
 " (d) Without touching on the territorial 
 question, the British government reserve to 
 themselves to discuss the questions of the 
 navigation of the Danube, in which matter 
 England has rights by treaty. 
 
 "(e) The English government reserve to 
 themselves to discuss in congress all ques- 
 tions relative to the Straits. But the 
 Russian ambassador at London takes cogni- 
 zance of the verbal communication which 
 he has made to the principal Secretary of 
 State — that is to say, the imperial cabinet 
 stands by the declaration of Lord Derby of 
 the 6th of May, 1877, and notably :—' The 
 existing arrangements made under Euro- 
 pean sanction which regulate the navigation 
 of the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles 
 appear to them (the British government) 
 wise and salutary ; and there would be, in 
 their judgment, serious objections to their 
 alteration in any material particular.' And 
 the Russian plenipotentiary will insist at 
 the congress on the status quo. 
 
 "(/) The English government will ad- 
 dress to his majesty the Sultan a request to 
 promise Europe to protect equally on 
 Mount Athos the monks of other nation- 
 alities. « SCHOUVALOFF. 
 
 . " Salisbury." 
 
 This memorandum was received with 
 very mixed feelings in all quarters. It was 
 profoundly displeasing to that faction at 
 
 A.D. 1878.] 
 
 St. Petersburg which thought even the 
 treaty of San Stefano too mild, and which 
 would have risked a conflict with England 
 rather than have allowed the government 
 of Constantinople to escape from a state of 
 vassaldom to the Czar. It was equally dis- 
 pleasing to a large party in England. 
 Expectations, it will be remembered, were 
 spread before the conference of Constanti- 
 nople. A small section of the public was 
 afterwards as much annoyed as the great 
 mass of the people was gratified by the 
 moderate spirit of the instructions which 
 Lord Salisbury carried to the Turkish 
 capital, and by the proposals which he him- 
 self made for the improvement of the 
 Ottoman empire. Precisely the same kind 
 of surprise came to many people again. 
 The ministerial plans for the future of 
 Turkey were found to be national in the 
 best sense of the term, short of delaying 
 war, and hence they were disappointing 
 alike to an active party which would cancel 
 all the Russian conquests, and to another 
 equally active band which would clear 
 away the whole of the Ottoman administra- 
 tion. What, it was asked, has the govern- 
 ment gained by obtaining the vote of credit 
 for six millions, by bringing the Indian 
 troops to Malta, and by constituting itself 
 the champion of international law ? 
 
 The answer is very simple. In the first 
 place, if government had not used firm 
 language and made military preparations — 
 played the same game of brag, in fact, to 
 which we have already alluded— the Rus- 
 sians might have done much more than 
 enforce the treaty of San Stefano. They 
 could have found a score of pretexts for 
 entering Constantinople itself. In fact, 
 the blundering and the rashness of the 
 Turks would have given the Grand Duke 
 Nicholas some such excuse every forty-eight 
 hours. Perhaps he might have taken up 
 and expressed his purpose of holding a 
 strong position on one side or other of the 
 Bosphorus, and thus the action of the 
 Russian troops would have made it in- 
 describably difficult to prevent the out- 
 break of another war. But the firm front 
 of the government did much more than 
 prevent the Russian army from passing be- 
 yond San Stefano. It also brought about 
 some highly important changes in the con- 
 ditions of peace. The first, as the agree- 
 ment between the two powers shows, was 
 in the administrative arrangements for 
 European Turkey. The treaty of San 
 VOL. III. 3 c 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [objections to agreement. 
 
 Stefano virtually included the whole of 
 that country within the limits of one great 
 Bulgaria. Bosnia and Herzegovina were, 
 indeed, left to the Porte ; but, as they were 
 cut oflf from Constantinople by the new 
 province, the connexion between them and 
 Constantinople could not have lasted for a 
 month, though, at the same time, there 
 cannot be the least doubt that the treaty 
 presupposed the annexation of these pro- 
 vinces by Austria, to whom they were 
 offered, and by whom they were virtually 
 accepted. The Greek provinces were also 
 left ; but, as they were also to be separated 
 from the capital by Bulgaria, they would 
 also have fallen away. A strip of territory 
 along the Black Sea and the Sea of Mar- 
 mora was to remain under the direct 
 authority of the Porte ; but it was to be so 
 small that it would have afforded little 
 revenue and slender military protection. 
 Thus the government of Constantinople, 
 whatever the future character of it might 
 be, would have had a formidable neighbour 
 in the new State ; and it is difficult to say 
 what would have been the strength or the 
 tendencies of such a province. That danger 
 was prevented by the agreement of the two 
 governments. Thus Constantinople was 
 emancipated for the moment, at least from 
 influences which might have been fatal to 
 its independence. It was to be left in pos- 
 session of territory not only considerably 
 larger than the portion which was specified 
 in the treaty of San Stefano, but stretching 
 along the coast of the ^gean, and oflfering 
 an unimpeded passage to all the provinces 
 which were still connected with the Porte. 
 Another great change was the division of 
 Bulgaria into two parts. The Northern, 
 stretching from the Danube to the Balkans, 
 was, it is true, to be virtually independent 
 of Constantinople ; but such a change had 
 been made inevitable by the war. The 
 Southern Bulgaria, on the other hand, was 
 not to receive much greater powers of self- 
 government than those suggested by the 
 preliminary conference of Constantinople. 
 The Sultan would be able to appoint the 
 chief officers of the local militia, and the 
 congress had liberty to provide that, in case 
 of emergency, he might garrison the strong 
 places of the province. The two Bulgarias 
 together were not to be so large as the 
 one mapped out at San Stefano. That to 
 the south of the Balkans was not to touch 
 the ^gean or go so iar to the west as in 
 General Ignatietf s bold draught, and was 
 
 373 
 
(( 
 
 TENPENCE AN HOUR."] 
 
 HISTOKY OF THE 
 
 rA.D. 1878. 
 
 in some respects smaller than that which 
 ■was sketched at the conference. Thus the 
 Slavs were to be prevented from swamping 
 the Greek communities on the shores of the 
 ^gean Sea and towards the west of Turkey. 
 Government also stipulated that it, as 
 well as Russia, should have a share in de- 
 termining the administrative arrangements 
 of the Balkan peninsula. Both the Bul- 
 garias were to be fashioned by the congress 
 instead of by Russia ; and, so far, the 
 treaty of San Stefano was repealed. Nor 
 had Russia made good her claim to decide 
 what kind of self-government was to be 
 given to the Greek provinces. She was to 
 share that power with England and the 
 rest of Europe. The memorandum of 
 agreement showed, therefore, that govern- 
 ment had gained much, even in European 
 Turkey ; but still more important were the 
 stipulations with respect to the Asiatic 
 provinces. The relinquishment of Bayazid 
 and the valley of the Alashkert was in 
 itself a considerable change. It was trivial, 
 however, in comparison with the arrange- 
 ments foreshadowed by some short phrases 
 in the memorandum. The government, 
 after stating that it would not prevent the 
 Czar from occupying Batoum and keeping 
 his conquests in Armenia, added that, in 
 consequence of such an extension of the 
 Russian frontier, the tranquillity of the 
 populations of Turkey in Asia would pro- 
 bably be menaced by grave dangers. Hence 
 it took note of the assurance given by the 
 emperor, that the frontiers of Russia 
 should not in future be extended further 
 into Turkey in Asia. That was the record 
 of a highly important pledge. It was a 
 promise made, not to a weak government 
 like the Porte, or to the European powers 
 collectively, but to England individually. 
 Thus Russia recognised the special right of 
 England to protect the Asiatic part of the 
 Ottoman territory. To free that point from 
 the slightest ambiguity. Lord Salisbury 
 inserted a still more significant phrase. 
 The duty of guarding Turkey in Asia will 
 henceforth, he said, "rest in a special 
 manner on England." Thus Russia put 
 her seal to a document which unequivocally 
 stated that England may assert a right of 
 guardianship over Asia Minor. 
 
 But having said so much, all that can be 
 said in favour of the memorandum, or the 
 policy which dictated it, is exhausted. 
 
 Though it was condoned, belauded, and 
 exalted as a clever work, meeting the 
 374 
 
 exigencies of the moment for the sake of 
 peace, there was a o jep concealed feeling 
 against it. It was felt unworthy of England^ 
 and people were glad to forget it, and glad 
 when it was merged in the decisions of the 
 congress and buried out of sight, it was 
 hoped, for ever. In two words, it was felt 
 that this memorandum, which practically re- 
 sulted in a partition of Turkey and a share 
 of the spoil, and in defiance of former 
 treaties, ill became a country whose boast 
 had been, up to the last moment, that it was 
 prepared to defend those treaties at any 
 cost, and had fraudulently appropriated the 
 applause of Europe on that score at the very 
 monaent its government was violating its 
 cherished principles and treaties. 
 
 Henceforth it was easy to foresee that the 
 decisions of the congress would be closed 
 more or less on the principles and condi- 
 tions laid down in this document. It was 
 equally evident that some similar arrange- 
 ment had been arrived at between Russia 
 and Austria ; of which arrangement England 
 was as well aware as Austria had been aware 
 of the Anglo-Russian agreement. 
 
 That Austria was aware of the arran^-e- 
 ment is proved by one small but significant 
 fact. ^ That is, that when asked in the 
 Austrian chamber whether tlie document 
 published by the Globe, through the instru- 
 mentality of a writer paid at the rate of 
 lOcZ. an hour for copying it, was authentic, 
 Count Andrassy replied in exactly the same 
 terms as his British colleague, the Marquis 
 of Salisbury — that the document in question 
 was unauthenticated and " unworthy of your 
 lordship's confidence." 
 
 What the Anglo-Austro-Russian agree- 
 ment was, became evident from the sitting 
 on June 28th. 
 
 The sitting might well be entitled the 
 morganatic marriage of Bosnia with Count 
 Andrassy. It might be said that the con- 
 gress, after having occupied itself with the 
 Bulgarian drama, had now proceeded to the 
 high Bosnian and Herzegovinian comedy. 
 It was a patent fact, that ever since the com- 
 mencement of the insurrection in Turkey, 
 Austria had cast longing eyes towards this 
 province, the cradle of the insurrection 
 which resulted in the meeting of the con- 
 gress.^ Count Andrassy's persistent coquetry 
 had finished by triumphing over time and 
 difficulties ; but even at the last moment he 
 had not the courage to lead the object he 
 coveted publicly to the altar. Congress was 
 kind enough to facilitate a morganatio 
 
 A.D. 1878.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 fAUSTRO-BOSNIA. 
 
 marriage between them. But though Count 
 Andrassy only married Bosnia and Herze- 
 govina with his left hand for the moment, 
 it was quite well understood that it would 
 not be long before the hand changed. In 
 short, congress decided unanimously — the 
 Turks excepted — that Austria should pro- 
 ceed to the military occupation of Bosnia, 
 and have charge of the administration of 
 that country. At the beginning of the 
 sitting. Count Andrassy rose and read a 
 Tnemoire, which might be called an indirect 
 demand of marriage. He showed that for a 
 whole year Austria was alarmed at the in- 
 surgent condition prevailing on her fron- 
 tiers, and at the agitation which crossed 
 them and spread into the interior of the 
 Austrian empire. He pointed out that 
 Austria had 150,000 Bosnian refugees on 
 her hands, who refused to return to Bosnia 
 while it remained under Turkish domina- 
 tion, which could afford them neither exist- 
 ence nor security, and that they would pre- 
 fer to support the misery and humiliation 
 of exile and Austrian charity to returning 
 to their homes, either already devastated or 
 threatened with being so later. Count 
 Andrassy showed that Turkey was not in a 
 position to maintain tranquillity in this 
 province ; that it would remain in a state of 
 misery and revolutionary agitation against 
 the domination of Turkey ; that this re- 
 volutignary agitation would infallibly reach 
 the adjoining Slav populations ; and that 
 congress, if it allowed such a state of things 
 to exist, would have serious responsibilities 
 as regards the future tranquillity of Europe. 
 Count Andrassy added that he did not ask 
 public marriage with Bosnia — that is to 
 say, he did not ask that the province should 
 be annexed to Austria — he only begged the 
 congress to come to some solution ; and if 
 this solution appeared to him practical and 
 acceptable, Austria would be the first to 
 adhere to it. 
 
 The Marquis of Salisbury then rose, and 
 following the example of Prince Bismarck, 
 constituted himself the honest broker of the 
 indirect union of Bosnia with the Austrian 
 empire. The Marquis of Salisbury also read 
 a memoire. In it he declared that England 
 was penetrated by the justness of the obser- 
 vations of the first Austrian plenipotentiary ; 
 and as his noble friend rejected public 
 appropriation, and contented himself with 
 left-hand annexation, he proposed to the 
 congress to decide that Austria be charged 
 to occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina, and 
 
 administer them ; that it was of public in- 
 terest for Europe to place these provinces 
 under the direct protection of a powerful 
 State ; that this State could only be the 
 empire of Austria, which was the immediate 
 neighbour of Bosnia and Herzegovina ; and 
 that it was on this empire that the task 
 devolved of bringing the insurrection to an 
 end. 
 
 M. Waddington, acting as first witness of 
 the proposed union, then begged to be 
 heard, and declared that, after having 
 listened to the two papers which had just 
 been read, he thought Lord Salisbury's pro- 
 posal should be adopted by the congress in 
 the interest of Turkey herself, seeing that 
 the continued possession of Bosnia and 
 Herzegovina would constitute for that 
 power a weak point, imposing on it sacri- 
 fices out of proportion either to its own 
 resources or those of Bosnia, and would 
 expose it on that side to fresh troubles and 
 fresh claims. He concluded by saying that, 
 in the name of France, he adhered to the 
 proposal just submitted to the congress by 
 the Marquis of Salisbury. 
 
 Count Corti, without formulating precise 
 restrictions, put several indirect questions, 
 to which, however, he called for no answer. 
 He agreed, but without any great hearti- 
 ness, with the proposal submitted to con- 
 gress, and no doubt thought of a future 
 j morganatic marriage between himself and — 
 say, the Italian Tyrol ! 
 
 Prince Gortschakoff adhered purely and 
 simply to Lord Salisbury's motion without 
 any further remarks. 
 
 Germany, in the person of Prince Bis- 
 marck, who presided over the congress, kept 
 silent, and a moment of suspense followed. 
 It was naturally expected that the mother of 
 the brood whose fate was in question should 
 also express her opinion, and perhaps, that 
 in recalling all the trouble caused her by 
 the province, Turkey would show herself 
 delighted at the idea of getting rid of jt in 
 any way whatever. But the maternal heart 
 contains unsearchable mysteries. At last 
 the Turkish plenipotentiary rose, and he, 
 too, read a memoire, Turkey, he said in 
 substance, could not possibly consent to the 
 separation demanded of her. She was only 
 bound, he said, by the treaty of San Stefano, 
 and the demand in question exceeded the 
 limits of that document. Turkey herself 
 was in a position to protect and administer 
 Bosnia, and what the powers proposed to do 
 for her she could take upon herself to accom- 
 
 375 
 
'\ 
 
 CYPRUS.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 rA.D. 1878. 
 
 plish. Apart from this, however, the Turk- 
 ish plenipotentiaries had formal instruc- 
 tions which forbade them to consent to 
 this concession ; and without wishing to 
 hamper the work of the congress or shirk 
 the obligations imposed on them by the 
 decisions of this assembly, they declared they 
 could not agree to the proposal of the Mar- 
 quis of Salisbury, 
 
 Hereupon Lord Beaconsfield rose, and 
 declared that England could not but adhere 
 to the motion she had made — that Bosnia 
 and Herzegovina, if left in the keeping of 
 the Porte, would unnecessarily tend to break 
 up that cohesive state of the empire deemed 
 essential to her by the friends of Turkey 
 themselves, and by those who wished to pro- 
 cure for Europe a lasting peace. He called 
 to mind in a trenchant manner how Turkey, 
 even before the war, and when still in the 
 plenitude of her power, was not able to get 
 the better of an insurrection which had 
 broken out in Herzegovina, and stated that, 
 consequently, it was impossible for Europe, 
 in a still worse state of affairs in Turkey, to 
 confide to the Porte the security of these 
 provinces, which must call forth the solici- 
 tude of Europe. He concluded by calling 
 for the adoption of the motion before the 
 congress. 
 
 Finally, Prince Bismarck rose, and ex- 
 pressed his astonishment that the Turkish 
 plenipotentiaries hesitated to yield to the 
 unanimous opinion of the congress. He 
 reminded them that the congress, by efforts 
 "which had been uninterrupted, and by in- 
 cessant mutual concessions, had determined 
 to restore to Turkey provinces far more con- 
 siderable than those in question, and which 
 she had renounced by the treaty of San 
 Stefano. With regard to the restrictive in- 
 structions referred to by the Turkish pleni- 
 potentiaries, he urged them to ask for new 
 directions at once which would permit them 
 to give their adhesion to the views of the 
 congress. 
 
 The proposal of the Marquis of Salisbury 
 was then submitted to and adopted unani- 
 mously by the members of the congress, 
 except Turkey and x\ustria, who abstained 
 from voting. Thereupon the bridegroom, 
 Count Andrassy, rose and declared that he 
 accepted the bride presented to him by the 
 congress for better, for worse. 
 
 But whilst this morganatic marriage of 
 Count Andrassy with the fair Illyria, or 
 Bosnia, was being consummated in a matter- 
 of-fact prosaic manner before a number of 
 376 
 
 more or less amused witnesses, nobody 
 thought that the sedate widower, the 
 essence of all the proprieties, one of the 
 bulwarks of the State, and a pillar of the 
 church — perhaps even a warden of the 
 parish church at Hughenden — had actually 
 contracted a clandestine marriage with a 
 lady of, to say the least, the most doubtful 
 mythological antecedents. Yet so it was. 
 The aged Earl of Beaconsfield had actually 
 wedded the ever youthful, though somewhat 
 notorious Cyprian Venus. With this fair 
 lady he had actually been secretly passing 
 his honeymoon at Berlin, jealously screening 
 her charms and beauties from the gaze of the 
 vulgar herd, until at the last moment when 
 that delectable period was about to end, he 
 led the fair damsel forth from her place of 
 concealment, and proudly introduced her — 
 not to the profane criticisms of a congress — 
 but to the elite of the world assembled at Ber- 
 lin — introduced her to them as his youthful 
 bride, whom all were to admire, but none to 
 approach with undue familiarity. 
 
 On July 9th — a few days before the signa- 
 ture of the treaty of Berlin — parliament was 
 presented with a correspondence containing 
 the terms of a convention between Great 
 Britain and Turkey, concluded on June 4, 
 1878, and setting forth, in the following des- 
 patch by Lord Salisbury, some of the reasons 
 for such a convention ; — 
 
 No, 1, 
 The Marquis of Salisbury to Mr. Layard. 
 
 " Foreign Office, May 30th, 1878. 
 
 " Sir, — The progress of the confidential 
 negotiations which have for some time past 
 been in progress between her majesty's 
 government and the government of Kussia, 
 make it probable that those articles of the 
 treaty of San Stefano which concern Euro- 
 pean Turkey will be sufficiently nudified to 
 bring them into harmony with the interests 
 of the other European powers, and of 
 England in particular, 
 
 "There is, however, no such prospect 
 with respect to that portion of the treaty 
 which concerns Turkey in Asia. Is is suffi- 
 ciently manifest that, in respect to Batoum 
 and the fortresses north of the Araxes, the 
 government of Eussia is not prepared to 
 recede from the stipulations to which the 
 Porte has been led by the events of the war 
 to consent. Her majesty's government have 
 consequently been forced to consider the 
 effect which these agreements, if they are 
 neither annulled nor counteracted, will have 
 
 A.D. 1878.1 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [CYPRFS. 
 
 upon the future of the Asiatic provinces of 
 the Ottoman empire and upon the interests 
 of England, which are closely affected by 
 the condition of those provinces, 
 
 "It is impossible that her majesty's 
 government can look upon these changes 
 with indifference. Asiatic Turkey contains 
 populations of many different races and 
 creeds, possessing no capacity for self- 
 government, and no aspirations for indepen- 
 dence, but owing their tranquillity and 
 whatever prospect of political well-being 
 they possess entirely to the rule of the 
 Sultan. But the government of the Otto- 
 man dynasty is that of an ancient but still 
 alien conqueror, resting more upon actual 
 power than upon the sympathies of common 
 nationality. The defeat which the Turkish 
 arms have sustained, and the known em- 
 barrassments of the government will pro- 
 duce a general belief in its decadence, and 
 an expectation of speedy political change, 
 which in the East are more dangerous than 
 actual discontent to the stability of a govern- 
 ment. If the populations of Syria, Asia Mi-r 
 nor, and Mesopotamia see that the Porte has 
 no guarantee for its continued existence but 
 its own strength, they will, after the evi- 
 dence which recent events have furnished 
 of the frailty of that reliance, begin to cal- 
 culate upon the speedy fall of the Ottoman 
 domination, and to turn their eyes towards 
 its successor, 
 
 " Even if it be certain that Batoum, and 
 Ardahan, and Kars will not become the 
 base from which emissaries of intrigue will 
 issue forth, to be in due time followed by 
 invading armies, the mere retention of them 
 by Russia will exercise a powerful influence 
 in disintegrating the Asiatic dominion of 
 the Porte. As a monument of feeble defence 
 on the one side, and successful aggression 
 on the other, they will be regarded by the 
 Asiatic population as foreboding the course 
 of political history in the immediate future, 
 and will stimulate, by the combined action 
 of hope and fear, devotion to the power which 
 is in the ascendant, and desertion of the 
 power which is thought to be falling into 
 decay, 
 
 "It is impossible for her majesty's 
 government to accept, without making an 
 effort to avert it, the effect which such a 
 state of feeling would produce upon regions 
 whose political condition deeply concerns 
 the Oriental interests of Great Britain. 
 They do not propose to attempt the accom- 
 plishment of this object by taking mili- 
 
 tary measures for the purpose of re- 
 placing the conquered districts in the 
 possessisn of the Porte. Such an under- 
 taking would be arduous and costly, and 
 would involve great calamities, and it would 
 not be effective for the object which her 
 majesty's government have in view, unless 
 subsequently strengthened by precautions 
 which can be taken almost as effectually 
 without incurring the miseries of a pre- 
 liminary war. The only provision which 
 can furnish a substantial security for the 
 stability of Ottoman rule in Asiatic Tur- 
 key, and which would be as essential after 
 the re-conquest of the Russian annexations 
 as it is now, is an engagement on the part 
 of a power strong enough to fulfil it, that 
 any further encroachments by Russia upon 
 Turkish territory in Asia will be prevented 
 by force of arms. Such an undertaking, 
 if given fully and unreservedly, will prevent 
 the occurrence of the contingency which 
 would bring it into operation, and will, at 
 the same time, give to the populations of 
 the Asiatic provinces the requisite confi- 
 dence that Turkish rule in Asia is not des- 
 tined to a speedy fall. 
 
 "There are, however, two conditions which 
 it would be necessary for the Porte to sub- 
 scribe before England could give such assur- 
 ance. 
 
 *' Her majesty's government intimated to 
 the Porte, on the occasion of the conference 
 at Constantinople, that they were not pre- 
 pared to sanction misgovernment and op- 
 pression ; and it will be requisite, before 
 they can enter into any agreement for the 
 defence of the Asiatic territories of the 
 Porte in certain eventualities, that they 
 should be formally assured of the intention 
 of the Porte to introduce the necessary re- 
 forms into the government of the Christian 
 and other subjects of the Porte in these 
 regions. It is not desirable to require more 
 than an engagement in general terms, for the 
 specific measures to be taken could only be 
 defined after a more careful inquiry and de- 
 liberation than could be secured at the pre- 
 sent juncture, 
 
 ^' It is not impossible that a careful 
 selection and a faithful support of the in- 
 dividual officers to whom power is to be 
 intrusted in those countries would be a 
 more important element in the improve- 
 ment of the condition of the people than 
 even legislative changes ; but the assurance 
 required to give England a right to insist 
 on satisfactory arrangements for these pur- 
 
 377 
 
 ( 
 
 I 
 
 4 
 
 
 •I- 
 'I 
 
CYPRUS.! 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1878. 
 
 t 
 
 . 
 
 poses, will be an indispensable part of any 
 agreement to which her majesty's govern- 
 ment could consent. It will further be 
 necessary, in order to enable her majesty's 
 government efficiently to execute the en- 
 gagements now proposed, that they should 
 occupy a position near the coast of Asia 
 Minor and Syria. The proximity of British 
 officers, and, if necessary, British troops, 
 will be the best security that all the objects 
 of this agreement shall be attained. The 
 island of Cyprus appears to them to be in 
 all respects the most available for this 
 object. Her majesty's government do not 
 wish to ask the Sultan to alienate territory 
 from his sovereignty, or to diminish the 
 receipts which now pass into his treasury. 
 They will, therefore, propose that, while the 
 administration and occupation of the island 
 shall be assigned to her majesty, the terri- 
 tory shall still continue to be part of the 
 Ottoman empire, and that the excess of the 
 revenue over the expenditure, whatever it 
 at present may be, shall be paid over 
 annually by the British government to the 
 treasury of the Sultan. 
 
 " Inasmuch as the whole of this proposal 
 is due to the annexations which Eussia has 
 made in Asiatic Turkey, and the conse- 
 quences which it is apprehended will flow 
 therefrom, it must be fully understood that 
 if the cause of the danger should cease, the 
 precautionary agreement will cease at the 
 bame time. If the government of Russia 
 should at any time surrender to the Porte 
 the territory it has acquired in Asia by the 
 recent war, the stipulations in the proposed 
 agreements will cease to operate, and the 
 island will be immediately evacuated. 
 
 " I request, therefore, your Excellency to 
 propose to the Porte to agree to a conven- 
 tion to the following effect, and I have to 
 convey to you full authority to conclude the 
 same on behalf of the government : — 
 
 " ' If Batoum, Ardahan, Kars, or any of 
 them, shall be retained by Russia, and if any 
 attempt shall be made at any future time 
 by Russia to take possession of any further 
 portion of the Asiatic territories of the 
 Sultan, ^s fixed by the definitive treaty of 
 peace, England engages to join the Sultan 
 in defending them by force of arms. In 
 return the Sultan promises to England to in- 
 troduce necessary reforms (to be agreed upon 
 later between the two powers) into the 
 government of the Christian and other sub- 
 jects of the Porte in these territories ; and, 
 in order to enable England to make 
 378 
 
 necessary provision for executing her en- 
 gagement, the Sultan further consents to 
 assign the island of Cyprus to be occupied 
 and administered bj England.' — I am, &c., 
 
 " Salisbury." 
 
 No. 2, 
 
 Sir A. H. Layard to the Marquis of 
 
 Salisbury, 
 
 " Therapia, June 5, 1878, 
 "My Lord, — I have the honour to en- 
 close the convention of defensive alliance 
 between England and Turkey to secure the 
 Sultan's territories in Asia for the future 
 against Russia, signed yesterday at the im- 
 perial palace of Yeldiz by his Excellency Saf- 
 vet Pasha, the Turkish Minister for Foreign 
 Affairs, and myself, as her majesty's ambas- 
 sador extraordinary and plenipotentiary. 
 " I have, &c., 
 (Signed) «A. H. Layard." 
 
 (Enclosure in No. 2.) 
 
 Convention of Defensive Alliance hetiveen 
 Great Britain and Turkey, signed June 
 4, 1878. 
 
 " Her majesty the Queen of the United 
 Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 
 Empress of India, and his imperial majesty 
 the Sultan, being mutually animated with 
 the sincere desire of extending and 
 strengthening the relations of friendship 
 happily existing between the two empires, 
 have resolved upon the conclusion of a con- 
 vention of defensive alliance with the object 
 of securing for the future the territories in 
 Asia of his imperial majesty the Sultan. 
 
 " Their majesties have accordingly chosen 
 and named as their plenipotentiaries, that 
 is to say :— i- 
 
 " Her majesty the Queen of the United 
 Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 
 Empress of India, the Right Honourable 
 Austen Henry Layard, her majesty's am- 
 bassador extraordinary and minister pleni- 
 potentiary at the Sublime Porte ; 
 
 " And his imperial majesty the Sultan, 
 his Excellency Safvet Pasha, Minister for 
 Foreign Affairs of his imperial majesty ; 
 
 " Who, after having exchanged their full 
 powers, found in due and good form, have 
 agreed upon the following Articles : — 
 
 "Art. 1.— If Batoum, Ardahan, Kars, 
 or any of them shall be retained by Russia, 
 and if any attempt shall be made at any 
 future time by Russia to take possession of 
 any further territories of his imperial 
 
 mm» 
 
 A.D. 1878.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE, [anglo-turkish convention. 
 
 majesty the Sultan in Asia, as fixed by the 
 definitive treaty of peace, England engages 
 to join his imperial majesty the Sultan in 
 defending them by force of arms. 
 
 "In return, his imperial majesty the 
 Sultan promises to England to introduce 
 necessary reforms, to be agreed upon later 
 between the two powers, into the govern- 
 ment, and for the protection of the Chris- 
 tian and other subjects of the Porte in these 
 territories : and in order to enable England 
 to make necessary provision for executing 
 her engagement, his imperial majesty the 
 Sultan further consents to assign the island 
 of Cyprus to be occupied and administered 
 by England. 
 
 " Art. 2. — The present convention shall 
 be ratified, and the ratifications thereof 
 shall be exchanged, within the space of one 
 month, or sooner if possible. 
 
 " In witness whereof the respective pleni- 
 potentiaries have signed the same, and have 
 affixed thereto the seal of their arms, 
 
 " Done at Constantinople, the fourth day 
 of June, in the year one thousand eight 
 hundred and seventy-eight. 
 
 (L.S.) "A. H. Layard. 
 (L.S.) "Safvet." 
 
 No. 3. 
 
 Sir A, H, Layard to the Marquis of 
 
 Salisbury, 
 
 (Received July 8.) 
 
 "Therapia, July 1, 1878. 
 
 " My Lord, — I have the honour to en- 
 close the original annex to the convention 
 entered into between England and Turkey, 
 for the occupation of the island of Cyprus 
 by the former, signed this day by the grand 
 vizier and myself. 
 
 "Your lordship will perceive that I 
 have made the alterations in Articles 3 and 
 4, as instructed by your lordship, to pre- 
 vent the Porte from claiming as average 
 revenue under the third clause the yield of 
 land which it has let or sold under^the fourth. 
 The grand vizier insisted upon inserting in 
 Article 3 the amount of surplus of revenue 
 over expenditure, but it is provided that the 
 sum mentioned is to be verified hereafter. 
 
 "The Article providing that Turkey 
 shall not be called upon, in case of the 
 evacuation of the island, to pay for im- 
 provements, &c., was withdrawn from the 
 annex on the assurance given by me to the 
 grand vizier that your lordship would 
 cause a revised Article to be framed in the 
 
 sense desired by his highness, but at the 
 same time meeting the objections put for- 
 ward by your lordship. 
 
 " I have, &c., 
 (Signed) "A. H. Layard." 
 
 (Enclosure in No. 3.) 
 Annex to the Convention of Defensive 
 Alliance between Great Britain and 
 Turkey , signed June 4, 1878. 
 
 "The Right Honourable Sir A. H. 
 Layard, G.C.B., and his highness Safvet 
 Pasha, now the grand vizier of his mnjesty 
 the Sultan, have agreed to the following 
 annex to the convention signed by them, as 
 plenipotentiaries of their respective govern- 
 ments, on the 4th of June, 1878 : — 
 
 " Annex. — It is understood between the 
 two high contracting parties, that England 
 agrees to the following conditions relating 
 to her occupation and administration of the 
 island of Cyprus : — 
 
 " 1. That a Mussulman religious tribunal 
 (Mehkemei Sheri) shall continue to exist 
 in the island, which will take exclusive 
 cognizance of religious matters, and of no 
 others, concerning the Mussulman popula- 
 tion of the island. 
 
 "2. That a Mussulman resident in 
 the island shall be named by the Board 
 of Pious Foundations in Turkey'(Evkaf), to 
 superintend, in conjunction with a delegate 
 to be appointed by the British authorities, 
 the administration of the property, funds, 
 and lands belonging to mosques, cemeteries, 
 Mussulman schools, and other religious 
 establishments existing in Cyprus. 
 
 " 3. That England will pay to the Porte 
 whatever is the present excess of revenue 
 over expenditure in the island ; this excess 
 to be calculated upon and determined by 
 the average of the last five years, stated to 
 be 22,936 purses, to be duly verified here- 
 after, and to the exclusion of the produce 
 of State and Crown lands let or sold during 
 that period. 
 
 " 4. That the Sublime Porte may freely 
 sell and lease lands and other property in 
 Cyprus belonging to the Ottoman Crown 
 and State (Arazii Miriye ve Emlaki Hou- 
 mayoun), the produce of which does not 
 form part of the revenue of the island re-» 
 f erred to in Article 3. 
 
 "5. That the English government, 
 through their competent authorities, may 
 purchase compulsorily, at a fair price, land 
 required for public improvements, or for 
 
 379 
 
 .! 
 
 'I 
 
/ 
 
 ADVANTAGES OF CYPRUS.] HISTORY OF THE 
 
 I 
 
 other public purposes, and land which is 
 not cultivated. 
 
 "6. That if Russia restores to Turkey 
 Kars, and the other conquests made in 
 Armenia during the last war, the island of 
 Cyprus will be evacuated by England, and 
 the convention of the 4th of June, 1878, 
 will be at an end. 
 
 "Done at Constantinople, the 1st day of 
 July, 1878. ^ 
 
 (Signed) «A. H. Layard. 
 
 " Safvet.'* 
 
 rA.D. 1878. 
 
 This convention was a plain declaration 
 to the world, that for the future England 
 meant to put an end to all miscnievous 
 ambiguities regarding Turkey. Grovern- 
 ment would no longer be entangled in the 
 snye of a common engagement for an un- 
 certain object, such as the seventh clause of 
 the treaty of Paris of 1856, regarding the 
 guarantees for the integrity of the Turkish 
 empire. As the proceedings of the con- 
 gress proved, England did not abandon her 
 right to make her voice heard, if it should 
 seem necessary, in respect to changes in 
 European Turkey. But the military gua- 
 rantee for which she became responsible 
 would be henceforth one and simple — t.e., to 
 resist by force of arms any future attempt by 
 Russia to take possession of any further ter- 
 ritories of the Sultan in Asia as fixed by the 
 definitive treaty of peace ; and an undertak- 
 ing thus fully and unreservedly given could 
 not, as Lord Salisbury urged, but tend to 
 " prevent the occurrence of the contingency 
 which would bring it into operation." 
 
 There was certainly much to fire the 
 imagination in the bond which practically 
 added Cyprus to the possessions of the Eng- 
 lish Crown. Cyprus is a type of the islands 
 and the provinces which make up the loose 
 fabric of the Ottoman empire. The old 
 records of our civilisation begin in those 
 lands, and the technicalities of the Eastern 
 Question are blended with the most familiar 
 names of Biblical story or classic legend. 
 Cyprus has gone through the usual vicissi- 
 tudes of places over which conquest after 
 conquest has rolled. The Greek, the Roman, 
 the Saracen, the Crusader, the Genoese, the 
 Venetian, and the Turk have all in turn 
 been its masters and woven its name into 
 the literature of Europe. They have all 
 used it for purposes of conquest, and for 
 little else. The idea that the masters of a 
 dependency should look to the welfare of 
 its people is a modern addition to political 
 380 ^ 
 
 morality, and the light of it has never shone 
 on Cyprus. The Crusaders employed it as 
 a restmg-place, the Italian republics as a 
 source of wealth, and the Turks as a place 
 for the production of revenue. As the Ot- 
 toman empire has made little change in its 
 fiscal practices, Cyprus lived under a system 
 admirably fitted for stifling human energy 
 and the island is in much the same state as 
 It was generations ago. But henceforth 
 everything will be changed. The strength, 
 the quietude, and the security of British 
 rule will bring capital to the place and offer 
 a rich field for commercial enterprise. 
 Harbours will be deepened or constructed. 
 Ihere will be a naval station, and thus the 
 constant bustle of English activity. If a 
 railway should ever be made from any port 
 of the Levant to the Persian Gulf, Cyprus 
 may become a place of some commercial 
 importance. In fact, the best news which it 
 has ever heard in the course of its long his- 
 tory is, that it has passed under the rule of 
 England. The Mussulman as well as the 
 Christian part of the population did not fail 
 to rejoice over the arrival of an English 
 governor, as nations do when delivered from 
 foreign occupation. Cyprus will now be 
 able to profit by some of the prosperity that 
 has come to Western lands which were 
 peopled by wandering tribes when it had al- 
 ready a considerable place in history. 
 
 To England the possession will be of much 
 maritime importance. It might have seemed 
 that Mitylene would have been a better 
 naval station, because it is within easy sail 
 of the Dardanelles ; but, in truth, it would 
 always be easy for the greatest of maritime 
 powers to close that narrow passage without 
 permanently lying in wait at the entrance. 
 If Constantinople is in some ways an in- 
 comparable port, it has the disadvantage of 
 being more easily sealed up than many 
 naval stations even of the fifth and sixth 
 magnitude. Cyprus, on the other hand, is 
 much better adapted for protecting the 
 most important link in the chain of British 
 communications with the sea, since it is the 
 nearest island to the Suez Canal. Short of 
 a position in Egypt close to the Canal it- 
 self, Cyprus is the best place that England • 
 could have occupied. But for many reasons 
 the taking of Egyptian territory was im- 
 practicable, and the possession of the island 
 IS attended with certain special advantages. 
 It will enable British ships to be always in 
 the neighbourhood of the Canal, and it will 
 put an end to the fear that the passage 
 
 A.D. 1878.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [peace signed. 
 
 could be stopped. At the same time it 
 practically m:ikes England the master of 
 Syria. It has sometimes been predicted 
 that Russia would gradually steal through 
 Armenia until she should reach the Gulf of 
 Alexandretta, and thus make herself a Medi- 
 terranean power. In still bolder flights of 
 fancy it has been supposed that she would 
 push through the Syrian Desert until she 
 should reach Egypt, and cut off the route 
 to India. These are not very wise specu- 
 lations. But, even if they were once high 
 probabilities, they need now cause no alarm. 
 Cyprus closes the Gulf of Scanderoon, the 
 point to which Russia would naturally 
 come if she should meet with no resistance, 
 and the port of the same name could at any 
 time be occupied by British ships. It is 
 one of the finest natural harbours in the 
 world. Indeed, some enthusiastic witnesses 
 maintain that it is the finest. Others 
 qualify the description by saying that, at 
 certain seasons of the year, the violence of 
 the winds makes the anchorage uncertain. 
 There can be no doubt, at least, that the 
 place is made terribly unhealthy by the 
 marshes with which it is surrounded. Still, 
 if the port were to become necessary for any 
 of the purposes specified in tho engagement 
 with Turkey, those marshes might be 
 drained. Batoum, which was once very 
 unhealthy, is said to have lost its bad repute 
 since the draining of the marshes behind 
 the town. And such is the configuration of 
 the coast, that the power which commands 
 any one part of the way can bar the whole 
 of the coast-road to Egypt. The space be- 
 tween the mountains and the sea is so nar- 
 row that, sallying from Cyprus or Alexan- 
 dretta, a naval power could cut it at any 
 point. As for the idea that an invading 
 army could gradually creep towards Egypt 
 through the Syrian Desert, it is enough to 
 say that England must first of all have to 
 lose the command of the sea, and there- 
 fore the power of sending troops to posi- 
 tions which could be easily held by a small 
 
 force. 
 
 Cyprus is thus, on the whole, the best 
 station that could have been chosen. The 
 Porte will now be expected to develop the 
 vast natural resources of its Asiatic empire, 
 or, at least, to let that task be done by 
 others. The country must now be opened 
 up by roads, and, perhaps, by railways. 
 Something more will doubtless be heard of 
 the scheme to construct a railway through 
 the Euphrates or the Tigris Valley— a pro- 
 
 VOL. 111. 3d 
 
 position which the select committee of the 
 House of Commons investigated in 1872, 
 and to which it gave a qualified assent. A 
 good many facts and opinions may then be 
 culled from the evidence of the witnesses 
 against as well as for the project. To con- 
 struct a line through more than 900 miles 
 of thinly populated and sometimes desert 
 country would certainly be a bold enter- 
 prise. But, if the government should think 
 that such a railway is necessary to insure 
 the safety of British communications with 
 India, the starting-point would in any case 
 be commanded by Cyprus. That island 
 will, in fact, be an admirable naval station, 
 whether for the purpose of protecting the 
 Suez Canal, securing a second road to India, 
 or giving Great Britain the requisite au- 
 thority in its relations with the Porte. 
 
 With this convention, the Anglo-Russian 
 agreement, and the Austro- Hungarian com- 
 mission to occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina, 
 interest in the doings of the congress cul- 
 minated for the moment, and the subse- 
 quent negotiations were hurried over with 
 but a scant show of decency ; and on July 
 13th — ^just one month after the assembling 
 of congress — the Berlin treaty of peace was 
 signed in the Chancellor's mansion at Berlin- 
 To perform the solemn act the plenipoten- 
 tiaries appeared in uniform, attended by 
 their secretaries and staffs. The ceremony 
 was opened by Prince Bismarck thanking 
 the plenipotentiaries for the zeal evinced in 
 promoting the pacific result of the debates, 
 and for the assistance they had kindly given 
 him in accelerating the prompt and satis- 
 factory despatch of business. Dwelling 
 upon the mutual concessions made, the 
 prince regarded them as a good omen for the 
 future, and was fain to hope that the con- 
 ciliatory attitude assumed by all parties 
 concerned would have permanent results for 
 the consolidation of peace. 
 
 The seven copies of the treaty, printed on 
 parchment and bound in red morocco 
 leather, were then placed on the table and 
 signed by the plenipotentiaries, the seals 
 having been previously aflSxed by the secre- 
 taries. The parting scene had now arrived. 
 The French name of his country beginning 
 with an A, Count Andrassy, according to 
 the alphabetical order of precedence observed 
 by the congress, rose to deliver the fol- 
 lowing address to the president of the 
 assembly : — 
 
 " Gentlemen, — At this, the moment when 
 our efforts have resulted in a general under- 
 
 3«1 
 
 1| 
 
 I 
 
 I' M 
 
•FRESH WAR.1 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 
 I 
 
 standiDg, it would be impossible for us not 
 to render homage to the eminent statesman 
 who has directed our labours. He has in- 
 variably aimed at assuring and consolidating 
 peace. With this in view, he has devoted 
 all his endeavours to reconcile differences, 
 and put an end as speedily as possible to 
 the uncertainty which weighed so heavily 
 on Europe. Thanks to the wisdom and the 
 untiring energy with which our president 
 has guided our labours, he has contributed 
 in a high degree to the prompt success of 
 the work of pacification which we under- 
 took in common. I feel sure, therefore, of 
 meeting with the unanimous assent of this 
 august assembly in proposing to offer our 
 warmest thanks to his most serene highness 
 Prince Bismarck. And while we are now 
 about to separate, I think I shall further- 
 more best respond to your feelings by utter- 
 ing our respectful gratitude for the gracious 
 hospitality we have received from his 
 majesty the German emperor and his august 
 imperial family." 
 
 All the members rose to signify their 
 recognition of the services rendered by the 
 German Chancellor in directing the debates. 
 Prince Bismarck said a few words of thanks, 
 and all was over. The sitting occupied 
 nearly an hour. When the plenipotentiaries 
 left the palace there was a large concourse 
 of people in the Wilhelmplatz, waiting to 
 profit by the last opportunity of seeing^he 
 diplomatic celebrities. Prince Gortsch'akoff 
 was carried down-stairs. Lord Beaconsfield 
 seemed in good health, and looked grave 
 and gratified as he entered his carriage to 
 drive to the Crown Prince's palace. M. 
 Waddington had a private interview with 
 Prince Bismarck after the sitting. Count 
 Schouvaloff had his little son with him, the 
 boy having apparently been taken to' the 
 entrance-hall to give him an opportunity 
 of remembering the event. Princess Bis- 
 marck, Countess Bismarck, and a few other 
 ladies looked down upon the ceremony from 
 a box in the hall, while Herr von Werner, 
 the painter, whose brush was to perpetuate' 
 the congress, sat at the table with the pleni- 
 potentiaries. 
 
 At six o'clock in the afternoon the Crown 
 
 382 V 
 
 [A.D. 1878. 
 
 Prince and Crown Princess entertained 170 
 persons, including the plenipotentiaries, am- 
 bassadors, envoys, and entire diplomatic 
 statt, at a grand dinner in the White Hall 
 of the old Schloss. All the princes and prin- 
 cesses of the royal family were present. After 
 the second dish his imperial highness rose 
 and proposed the following oflScial toast :— 
 Ihe hopes with which a month a^o, in 
 the name of the emperor, I greeted the 
 Illustrious statesmen assembled in couirress 
 have been happily realised. The work of 
 achieving peace, so much desired by Europe 
 has just been crowned by their efforts. As 
 interpreting the feelings of my august 
 lather, I rejoice to render homage to the 
 wisdom and the spirit of conciliation which 
 have brought about this great result. The 
 understanding which has just been estab- 
 lished will be a new pledge of peace and 
 public weal. The assistance of Germany is 
 secured beforehand in all tending to assure 
 and preserve these great blessings. In the 
 name of his majesty, I drink to the health 
 ot the sovereigns and governments whose 
 representatives have signed, on this memor- 
 able date, the treaty of Berlin." 
 
 Thus ended the first act of the great 
 drama which began in 1876, when the cur- 
 iam rose upon the wild mountains and 
 forests of Bosnia and Herzegovina, lurid 
 with the gleam of fires, and re-echoing with 
 the clang and clash of war. 
 
 For two long years the sanguinary scenes 
 shifted, now to 8ervia, now to Montenegro, 
 to Bulgaria, to Asia, till the curtain felf at 
 rJerlin. 
 
 Yet, scarcely was the ink dry with which 
 the treaty of peace was written, when the 
 curtain rose again for the second act, after a 
 stornay overture, upon the selfsame scene 
 which opened the first act— upon the wild 
 mountain lands of Bosnia and Herzegovina 
 upon the same lurid conflagrations, and the 
 same clang and clash of war. 
 
 Such was the first practical commentary 
 upon the treaty of peace, which required the 
 umted labours of ninety diplomatists for 
 thirty days to conclude. 
 
 Consequently it fully deserves a chapter 
 to Itself. ^ 
 
 A.D. 1878.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [treaty of BERLIN. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 THE TREATY OP BERLIN. 
 
 The following despatch from the Marquis 
 of Salisbury, enclosing a copy of the treaty 
 signed at Berlin, July 13, 1878, was pre- 
 sented to parliament on July 19, 1878. 
 
 The Marquis of Salisbury to her Majesty's 
 
 Frincipal Secretary of State, 
 
 (Received July 15.) 
 
 "Berlin, July 13, 1878. 
 
 " Sir, — I have the honour to enclose a 
 copy of the treaty which was signed to-day 
 at Berlin by the seven signatory powers of 
 the treaty of Paris. 
 
 " The treaty is one of unusual length, 
 and enters fully into the various questions 
 raised by the treaty of San Stefano, so far 
 as they affect the dispositions of the treaty 
 of Paris. The alterations which are made 
 in the preliminary treaty are very large, 
 and extend to nearly all the articles of that 
 instrument. Their general effect has been 
 to restore, with due security for good 
 government, a very large territory to 
 the government of the Sultan, and 'they 
 tend powerfully to secure from external 
 assault the stability and independence 
 of his empire. Provisions having for 
 their object to insure entire equality of all 
 religions before the laws have been applied 
 to all the territories affected by the treaty. 
 
 "The policy which has received the 
 sanction of the congress of Berlin is gene- 
 rally coincident with that which has been 
 sustained by her majesty's government since 
 the treaty of San Stefano was published, 
 and which was indicated in the circular of 
 the 1st of April. A statement has been 
 made, and constantly repeated, especially 
 upon the continent, that the views set forth 
 in that despatch have been abandoned in 
 the subsequent action of her majesty's 
 government. To obviate the continuance 
 of such a misconception, it may be well to 
 point out in detail how far the decisions to 
 which her majesty's government have as- 
 sented in the congress of Berlin correspond 
 with the language of the circular. 
 
 " The essential contention of the circular, 
 that the articles of the preliminary treaty, 
 as being a departure from the treaty of 
 
 Paris, must be discussed by congress as a 
 whole, has, it is hardly necessary to say, 
 both in theory and practice, been admitted 
 to the largest possible extent. Of the de- 
 tailed objections made in the circular to the 
 treaty of San Stefano, the first and the 
 most important is couched in the following 
 terms : — 
 
 " The roost important consequences to 
 which the treaty practically leads are those 
 which result from its action as a whole upon 
 the nations of South-Eastern Europe. By 
 the articles creating the new Bulgaria, a 
 strong Slav State will be created under the 
 auspices and control of Russia, possessing 
 important harbours upon the shores of the 
 Black Sea and the Archipelago, and con- 
 ferring upon that power a preponderating 
 influence over both the political and com- 
 mercial relations in those seas. 
 
 " It will be so constituted as to merge in 
 the dominant Slav majority a considerable 
 mass of population which is Greek in race 
 and sympathy, and which views with alarm 
 the prospect of absorption into a com- 
 munity alien to it, not only in nationality, 
 but in political tendency and religious 
 allegiance. 
 
 " The provision by which this new State 
 is to be subjected to a ruler whom Russia 
 will practically choose, its administration 
 framed by a Russian commissary, and the 
 first working of its institutions commenced 
 under the control of a Russian army, suflfi- 
 ciently indicates the political system of 
 which in future it is to form a part. 
 
 " It will be seen that all these objections 
 have been removed by the treaty of Berlin. 
 It has radically changed the disposition 
 of the vast region to which, in the treaty of 
 San Stefano, the name of Bulgaria is given. 
 Nearly two-thirds of it have been replaced 
 under the direct political and military rule 
 of the Sultan : and in this re-transfer are 
 included Thrace and Macedonia, in which 
 the Greek populations affected by that in- 
 strument are almost exclusively to be found. 
 Bulgaria, speaking generally, is now con- 
 fined to the river barrier of the Danube, 
 and, consequently, has not only ceased to 
 
 383 
 
 
 (' El 
 
 
 'f? 
 
 If 
 
 I 
 
TREATY OF BERLIN."] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1878. 
 
 A.D. 1878.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [treaty of BERLIN. 
 
 possess any harbour on the Archipelaj^^o, 
 but is removed by more tlian 100 miles 
 from the neighbourhood of that sea. On 
 the Euxine the important port of Burgas 
 has been restored to the government of 
 Turkey ; and Bulgaria retains less than 
 half the seaboard originally assigned to it, 
 and possesses no other port except the road- 
 stead of Varna, which can hardly be used 
 for any but commercial purposes. The new 
 Slav State, therefore, is no longer strong — 
 no longer merges in a Slav majority any 
 considerable mass of Greek population, and 
 will certainly not confer upon Russia any 
 preponderating influence over either the 
 political or commercial relations of those 
 seas. 
 
 " The events of the late war must for 
 many years secure to Russia a great au- 
 thority in this State, which will be assisted 
 by affinity of language and similarity of 
 religion. But the influences under which 
 its institutions were to have been formed 
 and to have commenced their working, will 
 no longer be specially Russian. The Rus- 
 sian and Ottoman commissaries, who will 
 supervise the election of the prince and the 
 selection of a constitution by the 'notables,' 
 will be placed under the authority of the 
 conference of ambassadors at Constanti- 
 nople, acting through a consular commis- 
 sion upon the spot ; and the retirement of 
 the Russian army from the province must 
 take place before the period at which the 
 working of the new institutions is to begin. 
 Its administration, therefore, will be framed 
 by others besides a Russian commissary, 
 and the first working of its institutions will 
 not be commenced under the control of a 
 Russian army. 
 
 "The territorial severance from Constan- 
 tinople of the provinces left under the 
 government of the Porte by the extension 
 of Bulgaria to the ^Egean, was another of 
 the results indicated by the circular of the 
 1st of April, as tending to weaken the 
 political strength of the government of 
 Turkey. The restriction of Bulgaria to the 
 valley of the Danube has necessarily re- 
 stored the continuity of the dominions 
 remaining to the Porte. The special pro- 
 tection which is stipulated for ecclesiastics 
 of the Russian religion, and for Russian 
 monasteries on Mount Athos, and the power 
 reserved to the Russian government of 
 shaping the institutions to be given to the 
 rest of European Turkey, were objected to 
 by her majesty's government as tending to 
 384 
 
 increase the power of the Russian empire 
 in the countries and on the shores where a 
 Greek population predominates. 
 
 " These exclusive stipulations have been 
 entirely abandoned. The treaty contains 
 large provisions for securing religious liberty 
 to all .'persons, natives or foreigners, living 
 within the Ottoman dominions ; but no 
 special privileges are created for the mem- 
 bers of any single nation. Improved in- 
 stitutions will be given -to Thessaly and 
 Epirus, but their form will be determined 
 in the last resort, not by the government of 
 Russia, but by a European commission. 
 
 "The pecuniary indemnity, to which 
 many objections were taken by her 
 majesty's government, has been excluded 
 altogether from the treaty of Berlin. The 
 congress declined to revise a contract which 
 was no infraction of the treaty of Paris, and 
 which it was, therefore, within the compe- 
 tence of two independent powers to con- 
 clude. But declarations were made in con- 
 gress, and are recorded upon the protocol, 
 which profoundly modify its practical 
 effecto The Russian plenipotentiaries de- 
 clared that Russia would not seek to annex 
 territory in satisfaction of the indemnity, 
 and that they would not contend that it 
 should be preferred either to debts guaran- 
 teed by other governments, or to debts in 
 respect to which Turkish revenues had been 
 hypothecated. The English plenipoten- 
 tiaries declared that they could not recog- 
 nise in the indemnity any claim of priority 
 over the debts of any kind which were 
 anterior to it in date. It results from these 
 declarations that Turkey is not inter- 
 nationally bound, and cannot be compelled 
 to pay any portion of the indemnity until 
 the claims of the creditors of loans anterior 
 to the war have been paid in full. If the 
 prosperity of Turkey should ever increase to 
 such a height as to satisfy this condition, 
 then the indemnity may be undoubtedly 
 demanded. But in such a contingency it 
 will no longer be a disproportional, or even 
 a heavy burden upon the finances of Tur- 
 key. The stipulation must be regarded as 
 one which in its actual form is not con- 
 trary to international law, but of which 
 the performance must, in the nature of 
 things, be postponed to a period infinitely 
 remote. 
 
 " The replacement under Turkish rule of 
 Burgas, and the southern half of the sea- 
 board of Bulgaria on the Euxine, and the 
 strictly commercial character assigned by 
 
 the treaty to Batoum, have largely obviated 
 the menace to the liberty of the Black Sea 
 which was contained in the original pro- 
 posals. The retrocession of the district of 
 Bayazid necessarily removes all apprehen- 
 sions of any obstacle being interposed to 
 arrest the European trade from Trebizond 
 to Persia. 
 
 " So far, the congress has applied an 
 adequate remedy to all the dangers which, 
 in the judgment of her majesty's govern- 
 ment, were threatened by the treaty of San 
 Stefano. 
 
 " On the other hand, the provisions of the 
 treaty of Berlin have not withdrawn from 
 Russia any of the Armenian strongholds 
 which had been acquired in the late war, 
 though a portion of the annexed district has 
 been surrendered, 
 
 " Her majesty's government have already 
 provided by arrangements, external to the 
 action of the congress, suitable precautions 
 against the dangers threatened by those 
 annexations, 
 
 " This completes the list of the detailed 
 objections advanced against the treaty of 
 San Stefano in the circular of April. With 
 the exception of those last named, which are 
 dealt with by the recent convention with 
 Turkey, these objections have all been met 
 by the treaty of Berlin, 
 
 " But in that circular it was emphatically 
 declared that it is not to any of those 
 details, taken separately, that the opposi- 
 tion of England was chiefly directed, 
 ' Their separate and individual operation, 
 whether defensible or not, is not that which 
 should engage the most earnest attention of 
 the signatory Powers. Their combined 
 effect, in addition to the results upon the 
 Greek populations, and upon the balance of 
 maritime power, which have been already 
 pointed out, is to depress, almost to the 
 point of entire subjection, the political in- 
 dependence of the government of Constan- 
 
 same territorial arrangements have the effect 
 of attaining the essential aim which in their 
 recent negotiations her majesty's govern- 
 ment have had in view — the independent 
 existence and action of the government of 
 Constantinople. The political outposts of 
 Russian power have been pushed back to 
 the region beyond the Balkans, and its 
 opportunities for establishing influence in 
 the reduced Bulgaria have been materially 
 diminished. 
 
 " The Sultan's dominions have been pro- 
 vided with a defensible frontier, far removed 
 from his capital. The interposition of the 
 Austrian power between the two inde- 
 pendent Slav States, while it withdraws from 
 him no territory of strategical or financial 
 value, offers him a security against renewed 
 aggression on their part which no other 
 possible arrangement could havo furnished. 
 Rich and extensive provinces have been re- 
 stored to his rule ; at the same time that 
 careful provision against future misgovern- 
 ment has been made, which will, it may be 
 hoped, assure their loyalty, and prevent a 
 recurrence of the calamities which have 
 brought the Ottoman power to the verge of 
 ruin. 
 
 '* Arrangements of a different kind, 
 but having the same end in view, have 
 provided for the Asiatic dominions of 
 the Sultan security for the present, and 
 the hope of prosperity and stability in the 
 future. 
 
 ^'Whether use will be made of this — pro- 
 bably the last^opportunity which has been 
 thus obtained for Turkey by the interposi- 
 tion of the Powers of Europe, and of 
 England in particular, or whether it is to 
 be thrown away, will depend upon the sin- 
 cerity with which Turkish statesmen now 
 address themselves to the duties of good 
 government and the task of reform. 
 
 I haye, &c., 
 
 " Salisbury." 
 
 To facilitate future reference we give the 
 
 (( 
 
 tinople. It cannot be otherwise than a 
 
 matter of extreme solicitude that that official English text of the treaty. 
 
 government should be so closely pressed by ' 
 
 the political outposts of a greatly superior 
 
 Power, that its independent action or even 
 
 existence is almost impossible.' 
 
 " To these three cardinal objections the 
 congress of Berlin has supplied an entire 
 remedy. The Greek populations no longer 
 fall within the boundaries of the autono- 
 mous Slav principality; and all Russian 
 influence has been removed to a distance 
 
 from the shores of the iEgean Sea. The tions raised in the East by the events of the last years 
 
 * 385 
 
 (Translation.) 
 
 **In the name of the Omnipotent God. 
 
 ** Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kino^dom of 
 Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India, His 
 Majesty the Emperor of Germany, King of Prussia, His 
 Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, &c.. 
 Apostolic King of Hungary, the President of the French 
 Republic, His Majesty the King of Italy, His Majesty 
 the Emperor of all the Russias, and His Majesty the 
 Emperor of the Ottomans, desiring to regulate with a 
 view to European order, conformably to the stipulations 
 of the Treaty of Paris of 30th of March, 1856, the ques- 
 
 
 .'■'I 
 
 r I 
 
TREATY OF BERLIN.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 f 
 
 and by the war terminated by the preliminary Treaty of 
 San Stefano, have been unanimously of opinion that the 
 meeting of a Congress would offer the best means of 
 facilitating an understanding. 
 
 " Their said Majesties and the President of the French 
 Republic have, in consequence, appointed as their 
 Flenipotentiaries, to wit : 
 
 "Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of 
 Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India, the Rieht 
 Honourable Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield, 
 Viscount Hughenden, Peer of Parliament, Member of 
 Her Majesty s Most Honourable Privy Council, First 
 Lord of Her Majesty's Treasury, and Prime Minister of 
 England ; the Most Honourable Robert Arthur Talbot 
 Gascoyne Cecil, Marquis of Salisbury, Earl of Salisbury, 
 Viscount Cranborne, Baron Cecil, a Peer of Parliament. 
 Member of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy 
 Council, Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for 
 J oreign Affairs ; and the Right Honourable Lord Odo 
 William Leopold Russell, Member of Her Majesty's 
 Privy Council, Her Ambassador Extraordinary and 
 Plenipotentiary at the Court of His Majesty the Emperor 
 of Germany, King of Prussia; 
 
 '* His Majesty the Emperor of Germany, King of 
 Prussia Otho, Prince Bismarck, His President of the 
 Council of Ministers of Prussia, Chancellor of the 
 Empire; Bernard Ernest de Bulow, His Minister of 
 State and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs ; and 
 Chlodwig Charles Victor, Prince of Hohenlohe-Schil- 
 lingsfurst, Prince of Ratibor and Corvey, His Am- 
 bassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the 
 French Republic, Great Chamberlain of the Crown of 
 Bavaria ; 
 
 " His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of 
 Bohemia, &c., and King Apostolic of Hungary, Tules, 
 Count Andrassy of Csik of Szent-Kiraly and Karasna- 
 Horka Grandee of Spain of the First Class, Privy 
 Councillor, His Minister of the Imperial Household and 
 for Foreign Affairs, Lieutenant Field-Marshal in His 
 Armies; Louis Count Karolyi of Nagy-Karolyi, Cham- 
 berlain and Privy Councillor, His Ambassador Extra- 
 ordinary and Plenipotentiary at the Court of His Ma- 
 jesty the Emperor of Germany, King of Prussia ; and 
 Henri, Laron de Haymerle, Privy Councillor, His Am- 
 , bassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at the Court 
 of His Majesty the King of Italy ; 
 
 TT^^^^r^TI''"^^"^ °^ ^^^ ^'■^"^^ Republic, William 
 Henry Waddington, Senator, Member of the Institute 
 Minister Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs ; Charles 
 Raymond de la Croix de Chevriere, Count de Saint- 
 Valher, Senator, French Ambassador Extraordinary and 
 Plenipotentiary at the Court of His Majesty the Emperor 
 of Germany, King of Prussia ; and Felix Hippolvte 
 Desprez Councillor of State, Minister Plenipotentiary 
 of the First Class, charged with the direction of Poli- 
 tical Affairs at the Department for Foreign Affairs • 
 
 '• His Majesty the King of Italy, Louis, Count Corti, 
 Senator, His Minister for Foreign Affairs ; and Edward 
 Count de Launay, His Ambassador Extraordinary and 
 Plenipotentiary at the Court of His Majesty the Emperor 
 of Germany, King of Prussia ; 
 
 '• His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias. Alex- 
 ander, Prince Gortschakoff, His Chancellor of the 
 Empire; I'eter, Count de Schouvaloff, General of 
 Cavalry, His Aide-de-Camp General, Member of the 
 Council of the Empire, and His Ambassador Extra- 
 ordinary and Plenipotentiary at the Court of Her 
 Britannic Majesty ; and Paul d'Oubril, Privy Councillor 
 His Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at 
 the Court of His Majesty the Emperor of Germany. 
 King of Prussia ; ^ 
 
 -And Ilis Majesty the Emperor of the Ottomans, 
 A exander Caralheodory Pasha, His Minister of Public 
 Works; Mehemet AH Pasha, Mushir of His Armies; 
 and ^adouliah Bey, His Ambassador Extraordinary and 
 1 lenipotentiary at the Court of His Majesty the Emperor 
 of Germany, King of Prussia : 
 
 386 
 
 [a.d. 1878. 
 
 aJ2I^?t ^^^°'^'"S: to the propositions of the Court of 
 Austria-Hungary, and on the invitation of the Court of 
 Ge many, met at Berlin furnished with full powers, 
 ^%hlch were found m good and due form. ^ 
 
 An understanding having been happily established 
 
 ktions?! ' '^'^ ^"'' ^^'"'"^ ^° '^^ ^«^^°^^-i"g ^''P"- 
 
 and ^HW^^ I.— Bulgaria is constituted an autonomous 
 fml 1 "^^ Pnnc'pality under the suzerainty of his 
 impend majesty the Sultan ; it will have a Christian 
 government and a national militia. -2. The princiSv 
 
 frontier follows on the north the right bank of the 
 
 Danube from the former frontier of Servia up to a p Jint 
 
 to be determined by a European commission to the^elst 
 
 ;u r»'f' ^"^ ^^^"^^ """"s to the Black Sea to the 
 
 t"^ Th 'ir 1%"';^' '^ ^"^^"^^^^ ^" Roumanian teri! 
 L J; n ^u""^ ^^u -?'"'^' ^^^ ^^^'^'•" boundary of BuL 
 garia. On the south the frontier follows upwards from 
 Its mouth the rnid-channel of the brook near which aS 
 
 theDe fe ^"^"^' "°'T obliquely the valley of 
 
 and nirtt nT M '/"''"u r^^°^^"''^^ ^"^ Kemhalik 
 and north of Hadzimahale after having crossed the 
 Deli-Kamcik at 2^ kilom. above Cenget; reaches the 
 Brelf ' P?'9t«Huated between Tekenlik and A dos' 
 Bredza, and follows it by Karnabad Balkan, Prisevica 
 Balkan Kazan Balkan to the north of Kotd as far as 
 
 Great Balkan, the whole length of which it follows up 
 
 L pT""'/^ ^^;^"^- ^^''^ '' J^av^s the crest of 
 the Balkan, descends southwards between the villages 
 ofPirtopandDuzanci, the one being left to Bulgaria 
 and the other to Eastern Roumelil as far as the 
 brook of Tuzlu Dere, follows that stream to its junc^ 
 
 meets the Smovskio Dere near the village of Petricevo 
 leavmg to Eastern Roumelia a zone with aTaZs 
 of 2 kilom. above that junction, ascends between 
 the brooKs of Smovskio Dere and the Kamenica 
 following the line of the watershed so as to t;^n 
 to the south-west at the level of Voinjak and reach 
 directly the point 875 of the Austrian s'aff r^ap 
 
 Jf fh T Y ^r"i\'"'' ^^^"-'^' ^"e'^^ t'^e upper basm 
 of the brook of Icht.man Dere, parses between Bogdina 
 and Karaula, so as to rejoin the line of the watershed 
 separating the basins of the Isker and the Marica be- 
 tween Camurli and Hadzilar, follows that line by the 
 summits of Velina Mogila, the 'col' 53,, Zmailica 
 Vrh, Sumnatica and adjoins the admini.tra ive boun! 
 daiy of the Sandjak of Sofia between Sivri Tas and 
 Cadir Tepe. From Cadir Tepe, the frontier taking 
 a south-westerly d rection, follow^ the watershedN^? 
 tween the basins of the Mesta Karasu on the one sS^e 
 and the Struma Karasu on the other, runs along e 
 crests of the mountains of Rhodope called Demir Kap7 
 Iskoftepe, Kadimesar Balkan, and Aiii Gediik m/tA 
 Kapetnik Balkan, and thus joi'ns the former ad ni in iLl- 
 nve frontier of the Sandjak of Sofia. From Kapltnik 
 Balkan the frontier is indicated by the watershed between 
 the va eys of the Rilska reka and of the Bistrica leka 
 and follows the ridge called Vodenica Planina descend- 
 ing into the valley ot the Struma at the junctfon of this 
 
 ITrXi'^ f^' "^^' 'r'''^^ '\' village o^fBlrlk 
 to lurkey. It ascends then south of the village of 
 
 Jelesnica, and reaches by the shortest line the chdn of 
 Golema Planina at the summit of Gitka, and rejoins 
 of'snfi. l"'""'''' -/^"^inistrative frontier of the Sandjak 
 of Sofia leaving, however, to Turkey the whole of the 
 basin of the Suha reka. From Moun^Gitka the we tern 
 fron.er goes towards Mount Crni Vrh by the mountains 
 of Karvena Jabuka, following the former a7m hS ve 
 limit of the Sandjak of Sofia in the upper part of he 
 basins of Egnsu and of the Lepnica, ascends with it he 
 crests of Babina Polana, and i-each^sMount C n i Vrh 
 trom Mount Crni Vrh the frontier follows the waterl 
 shed between the Struma and the Morava by the sum 
 
 ■^rprntr-r^rrTT'i."' 
 
 A.D. 1878.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EJMPIRE. 
 
 [TREATY OF BERLIN. 
 
 mits of the Streser, Vilogolo, and Mesid Planina, rejoins 
 by the Gacina, Cma Trava, Darkovska, and Drainica 
 Plan, then the Descani Kladanec, the watershed of the 
 High Sukowa and of the Morava, goes straight to the 
 Stol, and descends from it so as to cut the road from 
 Sofia to Pirot, 1,000 metres north-west of the village of 
 Segusa. It ascends in a straight line the Vidlic Planina 
 and thence Mount Radocina in the chain of the Kodza 
 Balkan, leaving to Servia the village of Doikinci, and 
 to Piulgaria that of Senakos. From the summit of 
 Mount Radocina the frontier follows towards the west 
 the crest of the Balkans by Ciprovec Balkan and Stara 
 Planina up to the former eastern frontier of the princi- 
 pality of Servia, near to the Kula Smiljova Cuka, and 
 thence that former frontier as far as the Danube, which 
 it rejoins at Rakovitza. This delimitation shall be fixed 
 on the spot by the European commission, on which the 
 signatory Powers shall be represented. It is understood 
 —a. That this commission will take into consideration 
 the necessity for his imperial majesty the Sultan to be 
 able to defend the Balkan frontiers of Eastern Roumelia. 
 —d. That no fortifications may be erected within a radius 
 of 10 kilom. from Samakow. — 3. The Prince of Bulgaria 
 shall be freely elected by the population, and confirmed 
 by the Sublime Porte, with the assent of the Powers. 
 No member of the reigning dynasties of the great Euro- 
 pean Powers may be elected Prince of Bulgaria. In 
 case of a vacancy in the princely dignity, the election 
 of the new prince shall take place under the same con- 
 ditions and with the same forms. — 4. An assembly of 
 notables of Bulgaria, convoked at Tirnova, shall, before 
 the election of the prince, draw up the organic law of 
 the principality. In the districts where Bulgarians are 
 intermixed with Turkish, Roumanian, Greek, or other 
 populations, the rights and interests of these populations 
 shall be taken into consideration as regards the elections 
 and the drawing up of the organic law. — 5. The follow- 
 ing points shall form the basis of the public law of Bul- 
 garia : — The difference of religious creeds and confes- 
 sions shall not be alleged against any person as a ground 
 for exclusion or incapacity in matters relating to the 
 enjoyment of civil and political rights, admission to 
 public employments, functions, and honours, or the 
 exercise of the various professions and industries in any 
 locality whatsoever. The freedom and outward exer- 
 cise of all forms of worship are assured to all persons 
 belonging to Bulgaria, as well as to foreigners, and no 
 hindrance shall be offered either to the hierarchical or- 
 ganisation of the different communions, or to their 
 relations with their spiritual chiefs. — 6. The provisional 
 administration of Bulgaria shall be under the direction 
 of an imperial Russian commissary until the completion 
 of the organic law. An imperial Turkish commissary, 
 as well as the consuls delegated ad hoc by the other 
 Powers, signatory of the present Treaty, shall be called 
 to assist him so as to control the working of this provi- 
 sional regime. In case of disagreement amongst the 
 consular delegates, the vote of the majority shall be 
 accepted, and in case of a divergence between the 
 majority and the imperial Russian commissary or the 
 imperial Turkish commissary, the representatives of the 
 signatory Powers at Constantinople, assembled in con- 
 ference, shall give their decision. — 7. The provisional 
 regime shall not be prolonged beyond a period of nine 
 months from the exchange of the ratifications of the pre- 
 sent Treaty. When the organic law is completed the 
 election of the Prince of Bulgaria shall be proceeded with 
 immediately. As soon as the prince shall have been 
 installed, the new organisation shall be put into force, 
 and the principality shall enter into the full enjoyment 
 of its autonomy. — 8. The treaties of commerce and of 
 navigation as well as all the conventions and arrange- 
 ments concluded between foreign Powers and the Porte, 
 and now in force, are maintained in the principality 
 of Bulgaria, and no change shall be made in them with 
 regard to any Power without its previous consent. No 
 transit duties shall be levied in Bulgaria on goods passing 
 
 through that principality. The subjects and citizens and 
 commerce of all the Powers shall be treated in the 
 principality on a footing of strict equality. The im- 
 munities and privileges ot foreigners, as well as the rights 
 of consular jurisdiction and protection as established by 
 the capitulations and usages, shall remain in full force 
 so long as they shall not have been modified with the 
 consent of the parties concerned. — 9. The amount of the 
 annual tribute which the principality of Bulgaria shall 
 pay to the Suzerain Court — such amount being paid into 
 whatever bank the Porte may hereafter designate — shall 
 be fixed by an agreement between the Powers signatory 
 of the present Treaty at the close of the first year of the 
 working of the new organisation. This tribute shall be 
 calculated on the mean revenue of the territory of the 
 principality. As Bulgaria is to bear a portion of the 
 public debt of the empire, when the Powers fix the 
 tribute they shall take into consideration what portion 
 of that debt can, on the basis of a fair proportion, be 
 assigned to the principality. — 10. Bulgaria takes the 
 place of the imperial Ottoman government in its under- 
 takings and obligations towards the Rustchuk-Vama 
 Railway Company, dating from the exchange of the 
 ratifications of the present Treaty. The settlement of the 
 previous accounts is reserved for an understanding be- 
 tween the Sublime Porte, the government of the princi- 
 pality, and the administration of this company. The 
 principality of Bulgaria, likewise, so far as it is con- 
 cerned, takes the place of the Sublime Porte in the 
 engagements which the latter has contracted, as well 
 towards Austria-Hungarj' as towards the company, for 
 working the railways of European Turkey in respect to 
 the completion and connection, as well as the working 
 of the railways situated in its territory. The conventions 
 necessary for the settlement of these questions shall 
 be concluded between Austria- Hungary, the Porte, 
 Servia, and the principality of Bulgaria immediately 
 after the conclusion of peace. — 11. The Ottoman army 
 shall no longer remain in Bulgaria; all the old for- 
 tresses shall be razed at the expense of the principality 
 within one year, or sooner if possible ; the local govern- 
 ment shall immediately take steps for their demolition, 
 and shall not construct fresh ones. The Sublime Porte 
 shall have the right of disposing as it likes of the war 
 material and other effects belonging to the Ottoman 
 government which may have remained in the fortresses 
 of the Danube already evacuated in virtue of the 
 armistice of the 31st January, as well as of those in the 
 strongholds of Scimmla and Varna. — 12. Mussulman 
 proprietors or others who may take up their abode out- 
 side the principality, may continue to hold there their 
 real property, by farming it out, or having it adminis- 
 tered by third parties. A Turco-Bulgarian commission 
 shall be appointed to settle, within a period of two years, 
 all questions relative to the mode of alienation, working, 
 or use on the account of the Sublime Porte, of property 
 belonging to the State and religious foundations 
 (Vakoufs), as well as of the questions regarding the 
 interests of private persons engaged therein. Persons 
 belonging to the principality of Bulgaria, who shall 
 travel or dwell in the other parts of the Ottoman 
 empire, shall be subject to the Ottoman authorities 
 and laws. — 13. A province is formed south of the 
 Balkans which will take the name of •Eastern Rou- 
 melia,' and will remain under the direct political and 
 military authority of his iaiperial majesty the Sultan, 
 under conditions of administrative autonomy. It shall 
 have a Christian governor-general. — 14. Eastern Rou- 
 melia is bounded on the north and north-west by 
 Bulgaria, and comprises the territories included by the 
 following line :— Starting from the Black Sea the frontier 
 follows upwards from its mouth the mid-channel of 
 the brook near which are situated the villages of 
 Hodzakioj, Selam-Kibj, Aivadsik, Kulibe, Sudzuluk, 
 crosses obliquely the valley of the Deli Kamcik, passes 
 south of Belibe and Kemhalik, and north of Hadzimahale, 
 after having crossed the Deli-Kamcik at 2^ kilom. above 
 
 387 
 
 \ 
 
TREATY OF BERLIN.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1878. 
 
 Cengei ; reaches the crest at a point situated between 
 Tekenlik and Aidos-Bredza, and follows it by Karnabad 
 Balkan, Prisevica Balkan, Kazan Balkan to the north of 
 Kotel as far as Demir Kapu. It proceeds by the prin- 
 cipal chain of the Great Balkan, the whole length of 
 which it follows up to the summit of Kosica. At this 
 point the western frontier of Roumelia leaves the crest 
 of the Balkan, descends southwards between the villages 
 of Pirtop and Diizanci — the one being left to Bulgaria 
 and the other to Eastern Roumelia, as far as the brook 
 of Tuzlu Dere, follows that stream to its junction with 
 the Topolnica, then the latter river until it meets the 
 Smovskio Dere near the village of Petricevo, leaving 
 to Eastern Roumelia a zone with a radius of 2 kilom. 
 above that junction, ascends between the brooks of 
 Smovskio Dere and the Kamenica, following the line 
 of the watershed so as to turn to the south-west at the 
 level of Voinjak and reach directly the point 875 of the 
 Austrian Staff map. The frontier line cuts at right 
 angles the upper basin of the brook of Ichtiman Dere, 
 passes between Bogdina and Karaula, so as to rejoin the 
 line of the watershed separating the basins of the 
 Isker and the Marica, between Camurli and Iladzilar, 
 follows that line by the summits of Velina Mogila, the 
 *col' 531, Zmailica Vrh, Sumnatica, and rejoins the 
 administrative boundary of the Sandjak of Sofia between 
 Sivri Tas and Cadir Tepe. The frontier of Roumelia 
 leaves that of Bulgaria at Mount Cadir Tepe, following 
 the line of the watershed between the basins of the 
 Marica and of its affluents on one side, and of the Mesta 
 Karasu and of its affluents on the other, and takes the 
 direction south-east and then south along the crest of the 
 Despoto Dagh Mountains, towards Mount Kruschowa 
 (whence starts the frontier line of the Treaty of San 
 Stefano). P>om Mount Kruschowa the frontier is the 
 same as the line laid down by the Treaty of San Stefano ; 
 that is to say, the chain of the Black Balkans (Kara 
 Balkan), the mountains Kulaghy-Dagh, Eschek-Tsche- 
 pellii, Karakolas, and Ischiklar, from whence it descends 
 due south-east till it reaches the river Arda, and follows 
 the mid-channel of this river up to a point close to the 
 village of Adacali, which remains to Turkey. From 
 this point the frontier line ascends the crest of the 
 Bestepe-Dagh, which it follows, then descends and 
 crosses the Maritza, at a point situated 5 kilom. above 
 the bridge of Mustafa Pasha ; thence it takes a northerly 
 direction by the line of the watershed between Demir- 
 hanli Dere and the small affluents of the Maritza to 
 Kiideler Bair, whence it runs east to Sakar Bair ; from 
 this point it crosses the valley of the Tundza in the 
 direction of Biijiik Derhend, which is left to the north, 
 as also is Soudzak. From Biijiik Derbend it regains 
 the line of the watershed between the affluents of the 
 Tundza on the north and those of the Maritza on the 
 south, up to the level of Kaibilar, which is included 
 in Eastern Roumelia, and passes to the south of V. 
 Almali between the basin of the Maritza to the south and 
 the various streams which flow straight into the Black 
 Sea, between the villages of Belevrin and Alatli ; it 
 follows to the north of Karanlik the crests of Vosna 
 and Zuvak, th^ line which separates the waters of the 
 Duka and those of the Karagac-Su, and rejoins the Black 
 Sea between those two rivers. — 15. His majesty the 
 Sultan shall have the right of providing for the defence 
 of the land and sea frontiers of the province by erecting 
 fortifications on those frontiers, and maintaining troops 
 there. Internal order is maintained in Eastern Roumelia 
 by a native gendarmerie assisted by a local militia. In 
 forming these corps, the ofificers of which are nominated 
 by the Sultan, regard shall be paid in the different locali- 
 ties to the religion of the inhabitants. His imperial 
 majesty the Sultan undertakes not to employ irregular 
 troops, such as Bashi-Bazouks and Circassians, in the 
 garrisons of the frontiers. The regular troops detailed 
 lor this service must not in any case be billeted on the 
 inhabitants. When they pass through the province they 
 shall not make a stay there. — 16. The governor-general 
 
 388 
 
 shall have the right of summoning the Ottoman troops 
 in the event of the internal or external security of the 
 province being threatened. In such an eventuality the 
 Sublime Porte shall inform the representatives ot the 
 Powers at Constantinople of such a decision, as well as 
 of the exigencies which justify it. —17. The governor- 
 general of Eastern Roumelia shall be nominated by 
 the Sublime Porte, with the assent of the Powers, for a 
 term of five years. — 18. Immediately after the exchange 
 of the ratifications of the present Treaty, a European 
 commission shall be formed to arrange, in concert with 
 the Ottoman Porte, the organisation of Eastern Rou- 
 melia. This commission will have to determine, within 
 three months, the powers and functions of the governor- 
 general, as well as the administrative, judicial, and 
 financial system of the province, taking as its basis the 
 various laws for the vilayets and the proposals made 
 in the eighth sitting of the Conference of Constantinople. 
 The whole of the arrangements determined on for 
 Eastern Roumelia shall form the subject of an imperial 
 firman, which will be issued by the Sublime Porte, and 
 which it will communicate to the Powers. — 19. The 
 European commission shall be charged to administer, 
 in concert with the Sublime Porte, the finances of the 
 province until the completion of the new organisation. — 
 20. The treaties, conventions, and international arrange- 
 ments of any kind whatsoever, concluded or to be con- 
 cluded between the Porte and foreign Powers, shall apply 
 in Eastern Roumelia as in the whole Ottoman empire. 
 The immunities and privileges acquired by foreigners, 
 whatever their status, shall be respected in this province. 
 The Sublime Porte undertakes to enforce there the 
 general laws of the empire on religious liberty in favour 
 of all forms of worship. — 21. The rights and obligations 
 of the Sublime Porte with regard to the railways of 
 Eastern Roumelia are maintained in their integrity. — 
 22. The strength of the Russian corps of occupation in 
 Bulgaria and Eastern Roumelia, which shall be com- 
 posed of six divisions of infantry and two divisions of 
 cavalry, shall not exceed 50,000 men. It shall be main- 
 tained at the expense of the country occupied. The army 
 of occupation will preserve its communications with 
 Russia not only through Roumania, in accordance with 
 arrangements to be concluded between the two States, 
 but also through the ports of the Black Sea, Varna, and 
 Bourgas, where it may, during the period of occupation, 
 organise the necessar}' depots. The period of the occupa- 
 tion of Eastern Roumelia and Bulgaria by the imperial 
 Russian troops, is fixed at nine months from the date 
 of the exchange of the ratifications of the present Treaty. 
 The imperial Russian government undertakes that 
 within a further period of three months the passage of 
 its troops across Roumania shall cease, and that princi- 
 pality shall be completely evacuated. — 23. The Sublime 
 Porte undertakes scrupulously to apply in the Island of 
 Crete the organic law of 1868, with such modifications 
 as may be considered equitable. Similar laws adapted 
 to local requirements, excepting as regards the exemp- 
 tion from taxation granted to Crete, shall also be in- 
 troduced into the other parts of Turkey in Europe 
 for which no special organisation has been provided 
 by the present Treaty. The Sublime Porte shall depute 
 special commissions, in which the native element shall 
 be largely represented, to settle the details of the new 
 laws in each province. The schemes of organisa- 
 tion resulting from these labours shall be submitted 
 for examination to the Sublime Porte, which, before 
 promulgating the Acts for putting them into force, 
 shall consult the European commission instituted for 
 Eastern Roumelia. — 24. In the event of the Sublime 
 Porte and Greece being unable to agree upon the rectifi- 
 cation of frontier suggested in the 13th Protocol of the 
 Congress of Berlin, Germany, Austria- Hungary, France, 
 Great Britain, Italy, and Russia reserve to themselves 
 to offer their mediation to the two parties to facilitate 
 negotiations. — 25. The provinces of Bosnia and Herze- 
 govina shall be occupied and administered by Austrisl- 
 
 A.D. 1878.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [treaty of BERLIN. 
 
 Hungary. The government of Austria-Hungary, not 
 desiring to undertake the administration of the Sand- 
 jak of Novi-Bazar, which extends between Servia and 
 Montenegro in a south-easterly direction to the other 
 side of Mitrovitza, the Ottoman administration will con- 
 tinue to exercise its functions there. Nevertheless, in 
 order to assure the maintenance of the new political 
 state of affairs, as well as freedom and security of com- 
 munications, Austria-Hungary reserves the right of 
 keeping garrisons and having military and commercial 
 roads in the whole of this part of the ancient vilayet of 
 Bosnia. To this end the governments of Austria- 
 Hungary and Turkey reserve to themselves to come to 
 an understanding on the details. — 26. The independence 
 of Montenegro is recognised by the Sublime Porte and 
 by all those of the high contracting parties who had 
 not hitherto admitted it. — 27. The high contracting 
 parties are agreed on the following conditions : — In 
 Montenegro the difference of religious creeds and con- 
 fessions shall not be alleged against any person as a 
 ground for exclusion or incapacity in matters relating to 
 the enjoyment of civil and political rights, admission to 
 public employments, functions, and honours, or the 
 exercise of the various professions and industries in 
 any locality whatsoever. The freedom and outward 
 exercise of all forms of worship shall be assured to all 
 persons belonging to Montenegro, as well as to 
 foreigners, and no hindrance shall be offered either to 
 the hierarchical organisation of the different communions, 
 or to their relations with their spiritual chiefs. — 28. The 
 new frontiers of Montenegro are fixed as follows: — 
 Starting at Ilino-brdo to the north of Klobuk, the line 
 descends to the Trebinjcica towards Grancarevo, which 
 remains to Herzegovina, then ascends the course of 
 that river up to a point I kilom. below its confluence with 
 the Cepelica, and from thence passes by the most 
 direct line on to the heights which border the river 
 Trebinjcica. It then proceeds in the direction of 
 Pilatova, leaving that village to Montenegro, and con- 
 tinues along the heights in a northerly direction, main- 
 taining as far as possible a distance of 6 kilom. from the 
 Bilek-Korito-Gacko road, up to the ' col ' between the 
 Somina Planina and Mount Curilc, whence it proceeds 
 in an easterly direction by Vratkovici, leaving this village 
 to Herzegovina, up to Mount Orline. Starting from 
 this point, the frontier, leaving Ravno to Montenegro, 
 goes straight to the north-north-east, crossing the sum- 
 mits of the Lebersnik and of the Volujak, then descends 
 by the shortest line on to the river Piva, which it crosses, 
 and rejoins the river Tara, passing between Crkvica 
 and Nedvina. From this point it ascends the Tara to 
 Mojkovac, from which place it passes along the crest 
 of the ridge as far as Siskojezero. Leaving this point, 
 it coincides with the former frontier as far as the village 
 of Sekulare. From there the new frontier passes along 
 the crests of the Mokra Planina, the village of Mokra 
 remaining to Montenegro ; it then reaches the point 
 2166 on the Austrian Staff map, following the principal 
 chain and the line of the watershed between the Lim on 
 the one side, and the Drin as well as the Cievna (Zem) 
 on the other. It then coincides with the existing boun- 
 daries between the tribe of the Kuci-Drekalovici on one 
 side, and the Kucka-Krajna, as well as the tribes of 
 the Klementi and Grudi, on the other, to the plain of 
 Podgorica, from whence it proceeds towards Plavnica, 
 leaving the Klementi, Grudi, and Hoti tribes to Albania. 
 Thence the new frontier crosses the lake near the Islet of 
 Gorica-Topal, and, from Gorica-Topal, takes a straight 
 line to the top of the crest, whence it follows the water- 
 shed between Megured and Kalimed, leaving Mrkovic to 
 Montenegro, and reaching the Adriatic at V. Kruci. On 
 the north-west the frontier will be formed by a line 
 passing from the coast between the villages of Susana 
 and Zubci, and terminating at the extreme south-east 
 point of the existing frontier of Montenegro on the 
 Vrsuta Planina. — 29. Antivari and its sea-board are 
 annexed to Montenegro under the following conditions : 
 
 VOL. III. 3 E 
 
 — The districts situated to the south of that territory, 
 in accordance with the delimitation above laid down, 
 as far as the Boyana, including Dulcinjo, shall be 
 restored to Turkey. The commune of Spica, as far as 
 the southernmost point of the territory indicated in the 
 detailed description of the frontiers, shall be incorpo- 
 rated with Dalmatia. Montenegro shall have full and 
 complete freedom of navigation on the Boyana. No 
 fortifications shall be constructed on the course of that 
 river except such as may be necessary for the local defence 
 of the stronghold of Scutari, and they shall not extend 
 beyond a distance of 6 kilom. from that town. Mon- 
 tenegro shall have neither ships of war nor flag of war. 
 The port of Antivari and all the waters of Montenegro 
 shall remain closed to the ships of war of all nations. 
 The fortifications situated on Montenegrin territory be- 
 tween the lake and the coast shall be razed, and none 
 shall be rebuilt within this zone. The administration 
 of the maritime and sanitary police, both at Antivari 
 and along the coast of Montenegro, shall be carried 
 out by Austria-Hungary by means of light coast-guard 
 boats. Montenegro shall adopt the maritime code in 
 force in Dalmatia. On her side Austria- Hungary under- 
 takes to grant consular protection to the Montenegrin 
 merchant flag. Montenegro shall come to an understand- 
 ing with Austria-Hungary on the right to construct and 
 keep up across the new Montenegrin territory a road 
 and a railway. Absolute freedom of communication 
 shall be guaranteed on these roads. — 30. Mussulmans or 
 others possessing property in the territories annexed to 
 Montenegro, who may wish to take up their residence 
 outside the principality, can retain their real property 
 either by fanning it out, or by having it administered 
 by third parties. No one shall be liable to be expro- 
 priated otherwise than by legal process for the public 
 welfare, and with a previous indemnity. A Turco- 
 Montenegrin commission shall be appointed to settle, 
 within a period of three years, all questions relative to 
 the mode of alienation, working, or use, on the account 
 of the Sublime Porte, of property belonging to the State 
 and religious foundations (Vakoufs), as well as 0/ the 
 questions regarding the interests of private parties engaged 
 therein. — 31. The principality of Montenegro shall come 
 to a direct understanding with the Ottoman Porte with 
 regard to the establishment of Montenegrin agents at 
 Constantinople, and at certain places in the Ottoman 
 empire where the necessity for them shall be admitted. 
 Montenegrins travelling or residing in the Ottoman 
 empire shall be subject to the Ottoman laws and authori- 
 ties, according to the general principles of international 
 law, and the customs established with regard to Mon- 
 tenegrins. — 32. The Montenegrin troops shall be bound 
 to evacuate within twenty days from the date of the 
 ratification of the present Treaty, or sooner if possible, 
 the territory that they occupy at present beyond the new 
 limits of the principality. The Ottoman troops shall 
 evacuate the territories ceded to Montenegro within the 
 same period of twenty days. A supplementary period 
 of fifteen days shall, however, be granted to them, as 
 well for evacuating the fortresses and withdrawing the 
 stores and material of war from them, as for drawing 
 up inventories of the implements and articles which can- 
 not be immediately removed. — 33. As Montenegro is to^ 
 bear a portion of the Ottoman public debt for the new ' 
 territories assigned to her by the Treaty of Peace, the re- 
 presentatives of the Powers at Constantinople shall 
 determine the amount of the same in concert with the 
 Sublime Porte on an equitable basis. — 34. The high 
 contracting parties recognise the independence of the 
 principality of Servia, subject to the conditions set forth 
 in the following Article. — 35. In Servia the difference of 
 religious creeds and confessions shall not be alleged 
 against any person as a ground for exchsion or in- 
 capacity in matters relating to the enjoyment of civil and 
 political rights, admission to public employments, func- 
 tions, and honours, or the exercise of the various pro- 
 fessions and industries, in any locality whatsoever. The 
 
 389 
 
 1 
 
TREATY OF BERLIN.] 
 
 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 [A.D. 1878. 
 
 freedom and outward exercise of all forms of worship 
 shall be assured to all persons belonginij to Servia, as well 
 as to foreigners, and no hindrance shall be offered either 
 to the hierarchical organisation of the different com- 
 munions, or to their relations with their spiritual chiefs. 
 — 36. Servia receives the territories included in the fol- 
 lowing delimitation : — The new frontier follows the 
 existing line ascending the mid-channel of the Drina 
 from its confluence with the Save, leaving Mali Zwornik 
 and Sakhar to the principality, and continues to follow 
 the former boundary of Servia as far as the Kopaonik, 
 leaving it at the summit of the Kanilug. From that 
 point it follows at first the western boundary of the 
 Sandjak of Nisch by the southern spur of the Kopaonik, 
 by the crests of the Marica and Mrdar Planina, which 
 form the watershed between the basins of the Ibar and 
 Sitnica on one side, and that of the Toplicaon the other, 
 leaving Prepolac to Turkey. It then turns to the south 
 by the watershed between the Brvenica and the Med- 
 vedja, leaving the whole of the basin of the Medvedja 
 to Servia ; follows the crests of the Goljak Planina (which 
 forms the watershed between the Kriva-Rjeka on one 
 side, and the Poljanica, Veternica, and Morawa on the 
 other), as far as the summit of the Poljanica. It then 
 follows the spur of the Karpina Planina as far as the 
 confluence of the Koinska and the Morawa, crosses 
 this river, and ascends by the watershed between the 
 Koinska brook and the stream which falls into the 
 Morawa near Neradovce, to reach the Sv. Ilija Planina 
 above Trgoviste. Thence it follows the crest of the Sv. 
 Ilija as tar as Mount Kljuc, and passing by the points 
 marked 1 5 16 and 1547 on the map, and by the Babina 
 Gora, it reaches Mount Crni-Vrh. From Mount Crni- 
 Vrh, the new delimitation coincides with that of Bul- 
 garia, that is to say : — The line of frontier follows the 
 watershed between the Struma and the Morava by the 
 summits of Streser, Vilogolo, and Mesid Planina, 
 rejoins by the Gacina, Crna Trava, Darkovska, and 
 Drainica Plan, then the Descani Kladanec, the water- 
 shed of the High Sukowa and of the Morava, goes 
 straight to the Stol, and descends from it so as to 
 cut the road from Sofia to Pirot, 1,000 metres north- 
 west of the village of Segusa. It ascends in a straight 
 line the Vidlic Planina, and thence Mount Radocina 
 in the. chain of the Kodza Balkan, leaving to Servia 
 the village of Doikinci, and to Bulgaria that of Senakos. 
 From the summit of Mount Radocina the frontier fol- 
 lows towards the north-west, the crest of the Balkans by 
 Ciprovec Balkan and Stara Planina up to the former 
 eastern frontier of the principality of Servia, near to the 
 Kula Smiljova cuka, and thence that former frontier 
 as far as the Danube, which it joins at Rakovitza. — 37. 
 Until the conclusion of fresh arrangements no change 
 shall be made in Servia in the actual conditions of the 
 commercial intercourse of the principality with foreign 
 countries. No transit duties shall be levied on goods 
 passing through Servia. The immunities and privileges 
 of foreign subjects, as well as the rights of consular juris- 
 diction and protection, as at present existing, shall remain 
 in full force so long as they shall not have been modi- 
 fied by mutual consent between the principality and the 
 Powers concerned.— 38. The principality of Servia takes 
 the place, so far as it is concerned, of the Sublime Porte 
 in the engagements which the latter has contracted as 
 well towards Austria- Hungary as towards the company 
 for the working of the railways of Turkey in Europe, in 
 respect to the completion and connection, as well as the 
 working of the railways to be constructed on the terri- 
 tory newly acquired by the principality. The conven- 
 tions necessary for ettling these questions shall be con- 
 cluded, immediately after the signature of the present 
 Treaty, between Austria-Hungary, the Porte, Servia, 
 and, within the limits of its competency, the principality 
 of Bulgaria. — 39. Mussulmans possessing property in 
 the territories annexed to Servia, who may wish to 
 reside outside the principality, may retain their real 
 property, either by farming it out or by having it admin- I 
 
 390 * 
 
 istered by third parties. A Turco-Servian commission 
 shall be appointed to settle, within a period of three 
 years, all questions relative to the mode of alienation, 
 working, or use, on the account of the Sublime Porte, 
 of the property belonging to the State and religious 
 foundations (Vakoufs), as well as of the questions 
 regarding the interests of private persons engaged therein. 
 — 40. Until the conclusion of a treaty between Turkey 
 and Servia, Servian subjects travelling or residing in 
 the Ottoman empire shall be treated according to the 
 i^eneral principles of international law.— 41, The Ser- 
 vian troops shall be bound to evacuate within fifteen days 
 from the exchange of the ratifications of the present 
 Treaty the territory not comprised within the new limits 
 of the principality. The Ottoman troops shall evacuate 
 the territories ceded to Servia within the same term 
 of fifteen days. A supplementary term of an equal 
 number of days shall, however, be granted to them 
 as well for evacuating the fortresses and withdrawing 
 the provisions and material of war as for drawing up 
 the inventory of the implements and objects which 
 cannot be removed at once.— 42. As Servia is to bear a 
 portion of the Ottoman public debt for the new terri- 
 tories assigned to her by the present Treaty, the repre- 
 sentatives at Constantinople shall fix the amount of it 
 in concert with the Sublime Porte on an equitable basis. 
 —43. The high contracting parties recognise the in- 
 dependence of Roumania, subject to the conditions set 
 forth in the two following articles.— 44. In Roumania 
 the difference of religious creeds and confessions shall 
 not be alleged against any person as a ground for 
 exclusion or incapacity in matters relating to the enjoy- 
 ment of civil and political rights, admission to public 
 employments, functions, and honours, or the exercise 
 of the various professions and industries in any locality 
 whatsoever. The freedom and outward exercise of all 
 forms of worship shall be assureil to all persons belonging 
 to the Roumanian State, as well as to foreigners, and no 
 hindrance shall be offered either to the hierarchical 
 organisation of the different communions, or to their 
 relations with their spiritual chiefs. The subjects and 
 citizens of all the Powers, traders or others, shall be 
 treated in Roumania, without distinction of cieed, on a 
 footing of perfect equality.— 45. The principality of 
 Roumania restores to his mnjesty the Emperor of Russia 
 that portion of the Bessarabian territor}' detached from 
 Russia by the Treaty of Paris of 1856, bounded on the 
 west by the mid-channel of the Pruth, and on the 
 south by the mid-channel of the Kilia Branch and the 
 Stary-Stamboul mouth.— 46. The islands forming the 
 Delta of the Danube, as well as the Isle of Serpents, the 
 Sandjak of Toultcha, comprising the districts (cazas) of 
 Kilia, Soulina Mahmoudie, Isaktcha, Toultcha, Matchin, 
 Babadagh, Hirsovo, Kustendje, Medjidie, are added to 
 Roumania. The principality receives in addition the 
 territory situated to the south of the Dobroutcha as far 
 as a line starting from the east of Silistria and termina- 
 ting on the Black Sea, south of Mangalia. The frontier 
 line shall be determined on the spot by the European 
 
 commission appointed for the delimitation of Bulgaria. 
 
 47. The question of the division of the waters and 
 the fisheries shall be submitted to the arbitration of the 
 European commission of the Danube.— 48. No transit 
 duties shall be levied in Roumania on goods passing 
 through the principality.— 49. Roumania shall have 
 power to make conventions to determine the privileges 
 and attributes of consuls in regard to protection within 
 the principality. Existing rights shall remain in force 
 so long as they shall not have been modified by the mutual 
 
 consent of the principality and the parties concerned. 
 
 50. Until the conclusion of a treaty between Turkey and 
 Roumania, fixing the privileges and attributes of 
 consuls, Roumanian subjects travelling or residing in the 
 Ottoman empir.- and Ottoman subjects travelling or 
 residing in Roumania, shall enjoy the rights guaranteed 
 to the subjects of other European Powers. — 51. With 
 iCgard to public works and other enterprises of a like 
 
 A.D. 1878.] 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 [treaty of BERLIN. 
 
 nature, Roumania shall be substituted for the Sublime 
 Porte as regards its rights and obligations throughout the 
 ceded territory. — 52. In order to increase the guarantees 
 which assure the freedom of navigation on the Danube 
 which is recognised as of European interest, the high 
 contracting parties determine that all the fortresses and 
 fortifications existing on the course of the river from the 
 Iron Gates to its mouths shall be razed, and no new 
 ones erected. No vessel of war shall navigate the 
 Danube below the Iron Gates with the exception of 
 vessels of light tonnage in the service of the river police 
 and Customs, The * stationnaires ' of the Powers at 
 the mouths of the Danube may, however, ascend the 
 river as far as Galatz. — 53. The European commission 
 of the Danube on which Roumania shall be represented 
 is maintained in its functions, and shall exercise them 
 henceforth as far as Galatz in complete independence of 
 the territorial authorities. All the treaties, arrangements, 
 acts, and decisions relating to its rights, privileges, pre- 
 rogatives, and obligations are confirmed. — 54. One year 
 before the expiration of the term assigned for the dura- 
 tion of the European commission the Powers shall come 
 to an understanding as to the prolongation of its powers, 
 or the modifications which they may consider necessary 
 to introduce. — 55. The regulations respecting naviga- 
 tion, river police, and supervision from the Iron Gates 
 to Galatz shall be drawn up by the European commis- 
 sion, assisted by delegates of the Riverain States, and 
 placed in harmony with those which have been or may 
 be issued for the portion of the river below Galatz. — 
 56. The European commission of the Danube shall 
 come to an arrangement with the proper authorities to 
 ensure the maintenance of the lighthouse on the Isle of 
 Serpents. — 57. The execution of the works which have 
 for their object the removal of the obstacles which the 
 Iron Gates and the Cataracts place in the way of navi- 
 gation is entrusted to Austria-Hungary. The Riverain 
 States on this part of the river shall afford every facility 
 which may be required in the interest of the works. 
 The provisions of the 0th Article of the Treaty of 
 London of the 13th March, 1 871, relating to the right 
 of levying a provisional tax in order to cover the cost 
 of these works, are maintained in favour of Austria- 
 Hungary.— 58. The Sublime Porte cedes to the Russian 
 empire in Asia the territories of Ardahan, Kars, and 
 Batoum, together with the latter port, as well as all the 
 territories comprised between the former Russo-Turkish 
 frontier and the following line : — The new frontier 
 starting from the Black Sea, and coinciding with the 
 line laid down by the Treaty of San Stefano as far as a 
 point to the north-west of Khorda, and to the south of 
 Artwin, continues in a straight line as far as the River 
 Tchoroukh, crosses this river and passes to the east of 
 Aschmichen, going in a straight line to the south so as to 
 rejoin the Russian frontier indicated in the Treaty of San 
 Stefano, at a point to the south of Nariman, leaving the 
 town of Olti to Russia. From the point indicated near 
 Nariman the frontier turns to the east, passes by 
 Tebrenec, which remains to Russia, and continues as far 
 as the Pennek TschaJu It follows this river as far as 
 Bardouz, then turns towards the south, leaving Bardouz 
 and Jonikioy to Russia. From a point to the west of the 
 village of Karaougan, the frontier takes the direction 
 of Medjin^ert, continues in a straight line towards the 
 
 summit of the mountain K: ssadagh, and follows the line 
 of the watershed between the affluents of the Araxes on 
 the north and those of the IHIourad Sou on the south, as 
 far as the former frontier of Russia. — 59. His majesty 
 the Emperor of Russia declares that it is his intention 10 
 constitute Batoum a free port, essentially commercial. — 
 60. The valley of Alaschkerd (arranged in detail by 
 commission, subsequently) and the town of Bayazid, 
 ceded to Russia by Article 19 of the Treaty of San 
 Stefano, are restored to Turkey. The Sublime Porte 
 cedes to Persia the town and territory of Khotour, as 
 fixed by the mixed Anglo- Russian commission for the 
 delimitation of the frontiers of Turkey and of Persia. — 61. 
 The Sublime Porte undertakes to carry out, without 
 further delay, the improvements and reforms demanded 
 by local requirements in the provinces inhabited by the 
 Armenians, and to guarantee their security against the 
 Circassians and Kurds. It will periodically make known 
 the steps taken to this effect to the Powers, who will 
 superintend their application. — 62. The Sublime Porte 
 having expressed the intention to maintain the principle 
 of religious liberty, and give it the widest scope, the 
 contracting parties take note of this spontaneous declara- 
 tion. In no part of the Ottoman empire shall difference 
 of religion be alleged against any person as a ground for 
 exclusion or incapacity as regards the discharge of civil 
 and political rights, admission to the public employments, 
 functions and honours, or the exercise of the various 
 professions and industries. All persons shall be 
 admitted, without distinction of religion, to give evidence 
 before the tribunals. The freedom and outward exercise 
 of all forms of worship are assured to all, and no hindrance 
 shall be offered either to the hierarchical organisation of 
 the various communions or to their relations with their 
 spiritual chiefs. Ecclesiastics, pilgrims, and monks of 
 all nationalities travelling in Turkey in Europe, or in 
 Turkey in Asia, shall enjoy the same rights, advantages, 
 and privileges. The right of official protection by the 
 diplomatic and consular agents of the Powers in Turkey 
 is recognised both as regards the above-mentioned per- 
 sons and their religious, charitable, and other establish- 
 ments in the Holy Places and elsewhere. The rights 
 possessed by France are expressly reserved, and it is well 
 understood that no alterations can be made in the status 
 quo in the Holy Places. ,The monks of Mount Athos, 
 of whatever country they may be natives, shall be main- 
 tained in their former possessions and advantages, and 
 shall enjoy, without any exception, complete equality of 
 rights and prerogatives. — 63. The Treaty of Paris of 
 March 30, 1856, as well as the Treaty of London of 
 March 13, 1871, are maintained in all such of their 
 provisions as are not abrogaied or modified by the pre- 
 ceding stipulations. — 64. The present Treaty shall be 
 ratified, and the ratifications exchanged at Berlin within 
 three weeks, or sooner if possible. In faith whereof 
 the respective plenipotentiaries have signed it, and 
 affixed to it the seal of their arms. — Done at Berlin, the 
 thirteenth day of the month of July, one thousand eight 
 hundred and seventy-eight — (Signed), Beaconsfield, 
 Salisbury, Odo Russell, V. Bismarck, Biilow, Hohenlohe, 
 Andrassy, Karolyi, Haymerle, Waddington, Saint- 
 Vallier, H. Desprez, L. Corti, Launay, Gortchakow, 
 Schouvaloff", P. D'Oubril, Al. Caratheodory, Mehemed 
 Ali, SadouUah." 
 
 391 
 
 111 
 
 |i 
 
 THE END. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abel, Dr. Carl, on Slav tongues, ii., 298. 
 
 Abdul Aziz, deposition of, iii., 107 ; death of, iii., I08. 
 
 Adrianople, capture of (1829), ii., 65. 
 
 Agence Russe^ the, iii., 105. 
 
 Agram, iii., 55. 
 
 Agreement, Anglo-Russian (1878), iii., 371, 
 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, congress of, ii., 45. 
 
 Aksakoff, M., ii., 300- 
 
 Aladja Dagh, first battle of, iii., 233 ; second, iii., 237. 
 
 Alexander I., accession of, i., 379; treaty of, with 
 
 England, i., 380; declares war to France, i.,390; 
 
 invades Turkey, i., 413; annexes Finland, ii., 5; 
 
 pursues Napoleon I., ii., 36 ; death of, ii., 47. 
 Alexander II., accession of, ii., 170; declares war to 
 
 Turkey, iii., 137. 
 Alexinatz, battle of, iii., 112; capture of, iii., 119. 
 Alexis, son of Peter the Great, i., 177; his trial, i., 
 
 183 ; death of, i., 186. 
 Alliance, Anglo-French, ii., 1 16. 
 Allies, landing of the, at Gallipoli, ii., 127. 
 Alma, battle of the, ii., 133. 
 Andijon, assaults on, ii, , 282. 
 Andrew, of Suzdal, accession of, i., 31 ; attempts to 
 
 consolidate Russia, i., 32 ; murder of, ibid. 
 Anna (Duchess of Courland) succeeds Peter II., i., 210 ; 
 
 her death, i,, 217. 
 Anne, Princess, becomes Regent, i,, 219; her deposi- 
 tion, i., 221. 
 Antichrist, the, in Russia, ii., 217. 
 Aral, Lake, ii., 263. 
 Ardahan, capture of, iii., 210. 
 Armenia, ii., 293. 
 Arnou, the basin of the, ii., 264 ; changes of the, ii,, 265 ; 
 
 life on the, ii., 267. 
 Artel, the, ii., 198. 
 Auerstadt, battle of, i., 395. 
 Austerlitz, battle of, i., 391. 
 Azoff, Peter's capture of, i., 13S; restoration of, i., 168. 
 
 Baba Konak, iii,, 272. 
 
 Balaklava, battle of, ii., 1 37. 
 
 Balkans, passage of the, by Diebitch (1828), ii., 64; by 
 
 Gourko, iii., 159; his retreat across, iii., 197. 
 Baltic, operations in (1854), ii,, 146. 
 Batorsch, battle of, ii., 358. 
 
 Bayazet, capture of, iii., 207 ; massacre at, iii,, 221, 
 Bender, siege of, i., 279. 
 Benningsen, General, i., 369; i., 379; i., 397; i.i 
 
 403. 
 Beresina, passage of, ii., 34. 
 
 Berlin congress, the, iii., 367 ; treaty of, ii., 385. 
 
 Biela, outrages in, iii., 165. 
 
 Biren, Ernest von, i., 211 ; fall of, i., 218. 
 
 Bismarck, Prince, ii., 333. 
 
 Black priests, the, ii., 213. 
 
 Black Sea treaty, abrogation of the, iii., 19. 
 
 Bokhara, disputes with, ii., 239; treaty with, ii., 247. 
 
 Boluinski, i., 217. 
 
 Bomarsund, bombardment of, ii., 147. 
 
 Boris Godunoff murders Dmitri, i., S3 ; enforces serf- 
 dom on the peasants, i., 85 ; is elected Czar, i., 87 ; 
 becomes despotic, i., 89 ; his sudden death, i., 96. 
 
 Borodino, battle of, ii., 25. 
 
 Bosnia, iii., 63. 
 
 Braila (Brabilov), capture of (1828), ii., 62. 
 
 British fleet, despatch of to Besika Bay, iii. , 89. 
 
 Bryce, Professor, on Armenia, ii., 292. 
 
 Bulgaria, agitation in, iii., 93 ; customs of, iii., 95 ; 
 massacres in, iii., 99, 
 
 Buriats, the, ii., 271. 
 
 Burnaby, Captain, ii., 258, 
 
 Byzantianism, iii., 93. 
 
 Catherine, i., 228 ; her lovers — Soltikoff, 1., 229 ; 
 Poniatoftski, i., 230; Orloff, i., 241; conspiracy 
 against Peter III., i., 242; sole ruler, i., 249; 
 coronation of, i., 254; code of laws of, i., 278; her 
 patronage of science, i., 275 ; declares war to Tur- 
 key, i., 276 ; her favourite Panin, i., 287 ; makes 
 peace with the Sultan ; fresh favourite of, i ., 293 ; 
 conspiracy of Pugatscheff against, i., 295 ; Potemkin, 
 her favourite, i., 297 ; her court, i., 303 ; her death, 
 i'> 331 » character of, i., 332. 
 
 Cavour, Count, manifesto of, ii., l6l. 
 
 Caucasus, the, ii., 88 ; war in, ii., 93 ; subjugation of, 
 ii., 94. 
 
 Censors, Russian, ii., 307. 
 
 Central Asia, Russians in, ii., 231 ; historical sketch of, 
 ii., 263. 
 
 Central Asian trade, origin of, ii., 270. 
 
 Charles XII., i., 154; his invasion of Russia, i., 158 ; 
 his death, i., 190. 
 
 Chudojar Khan, ii., 285. 
 
 Circassians, the, ii., 92 ; war against, ii., 93. 
 
 Citate, battle of, ii., no. 
 
 Citonisca, the, ii., 303. 
 
 Clergy, Russian, ii., 209, 
 
 Commerce, ii., 222. 
 
 Communia, the, ii., 363, 
 
 Conference, the, of Constantinople, iii., 125. 
 
 Congress, the Panslavonic, ii., 297 ; iii., 5. 
 
 Congress of Berlin, iii., 367, 
 
 Constantine, proclamation of as Emperor, ii., 52; his 
 renunciation, ii., 51. 
 
 Convention, Russo- Prussian (1863), "•> 3^8; Anglo- 
 Turkish (1878), iii., 376. 
 
 Copenhagen, battle of, i., 368. '' 
 
 Correspondents of the Times, iii., 6. 
 
 Cossacks, history of, ii., 228. 
 
 Crimea, invasion of, by Marshal Munich, i., 213 ; by 
 the allies, ii., 130. 
 
 Customs, Russian, i., 203. 
 
 Cyprus, cession of, to England, iii., 376. 
 
 Czartoriski, Prince, ii., 350. 
 
 Danish fleet, seizure of, by England, ii., 3. 
 Dantzic, capture of, by the French, i., 400. 
 
 y 
 
 \ 
 
 -M 
 
394 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 395 
 
 Danube, first passage of, iii., 145 ; second passage, 
 
 iii., 150. 
 Dardanelles, passage of the, by British fleet (1806), 
 
 i., 414; secret treaty regarding the, ii., 86; conven- 
 tion regarding the, ii., 87. 
 Daschkaw, Princess, memoirs of, i., 241, 256. 
 Delibaba, battles of, iii., 219. 
 Dissenters, Russian, ii., 217. 
 
 Djakovo, Mr. MacCoU and Canon Liddon at, iii., 67. 
 Dmitri Donskoi, accession of, i„ 44 ; his conflicts with 
 
 the Prince of Twer, i., 45 ; his defeat of the Tartars, 
 
 i., 4.6 ; death of, i., 48. 
 Dmitri, the Pretender, ascends the throne, i., 99 ; his 
 
 marriage to Marina Mniszek, i., 102 ; his murder, 
 
 i., 103. 
 Dolguriki, i., 209. 
 Dorpt, siege of, i., 153. 
 Dyen^ the, ii., 301, 
 
 Education in Russia, ii., 182. 
 
 Elizabeth, Princess, i., 220; Empress, i., 223; deatt 
 of, 1., 234. 
 
 Endurance, Russian, ii., 207. 
 
 Erfurt, meeting at, ii., 7. 
 
 Erzeroum, advance on, iii., 313. 
 
 Eski-Zagra, battle of, iii., 202. 
 
 Eupatoria, battle of, ii., 167. 
 
 Europe, gates of, iii., 45. ,' 
 
 Extortion, Russian, ii., 253. 
 
 Eylau, battle of, i., 399. 
 
 Fairs, Nijni-Novgorod, ii., 223. 
 Famine in Russia, i., 89. 
 Fanar, the, iii., 97. 
 Favre, Jules, iii., 29. 
 
 Feodor Ivanovitch succeeds Ivan the Terrible, i., 81 : 
 
 he dies, i., 86. 
 Feodor, son of Alexis, accession of, i., 124 ; death of. 
 
 i., 127. 
 Ferghana, the, ii., 281. 
 Finland, annexation of, ii., 5. 
 Finns, the, ii., 202. 
 Fiume, iii., 47. 
 Frederick Augustus, i., 212. 
 Friedland, battle of, i., 403. 
 
 Gagarin, Prince, governor of Siberia, i., 191. 
 Galitzin, Prince, i., 129; banished, i., 132. 
 Georgia, annexation of, i., 384; historical sketch of. 
 u., 286. 
 
 Ghengis Khan, character of, i., 33; invasion of Cau- 
 casus by, i., 34. 
 
 Golden Horde, establishment of, in Russia, i., 37. 
 Gorden, General, i., 133. 
 Gortschakoff and Earl Granville, ii., 250. 
 Gothard, passage of the, i., 361. 
 
 Gourko, General, iii., 159; defeat at Eski-Zagra, iii. 
 202 ; successes of, iii., 263. ' 
 
 Greece, war of, against Turkey, ii., 60; agitation in 
 in., 340. ' 
 
 Greek newspapers, iii., 11. •• 
 
 Grivitza, capture of, iii., 257. 
 Grusia, ii., 287. 
 Gus^avus Adolphus, i., 316. 
 
 L** 
 
 IL li \ '.ITS and customs, ii., 205. 
 
 H^mkoi Pass, passage of, iii., 175. 
 ' Heilsburg, battle of, i., 402. 
 
 Helena reigns in place of her infant son, i., 66. 
 
 Hellas, iii., 11. 
 
 Holstein, Duke of, i., 205. 
 
 Holy Alliance, the, ii., 45. 
 
 Holy Sepulchre, disputes concerning the, ii., 104. 
 
 Hungary, revolution of (1848), ii., loi. 
 
 Icons, the Russian, ii., 209. 
 
 Igor, accession of, i., 10; his expedition to Greece. 
 
 I., II ; assassination of, i., 12. 
 Igor, of Suzdal, seizes Kieff", i., 31. 
 Imperial Alliance, the, iii., i. 
 Independence, Greek war of, ii., 60. 
 India, proposed invasion of, by Russia and France 
 
 >•» yi^ ; ii., 7. ' 
 
 Inkermann, battle of, ii., 140. 
 
 Insurrection at Moscow, i., 116. 
 
 Isiaslaf, accession of, i., 25 ; wars of, i., 26 ; protection 
 
 of by Poles, i., 26; death of, i., 27. 
 Ismail, fall of, i., 321. 
 
 Ivan I. wealth and cunning of, i., 42 ; death of, i., 44. 
 Ivan II., 1., 44. > » H^ 
 
 Ivan III., accession of, i., 51 ; his crafty policy, i., 52 ; 
 his annexation of Novgorod, i., 54 ; causes his 
 brothers death, i., 57; his invasion of Lithuania, 
 1., 58 ; he adopts the title of Czar, i., 58 j erects the 
 Kremlin, 1., 60; death of, i., 63. 
 
 Ivan ly. (the Terrible), miserable youth of, i., 67 : 
 ferocity of, 1., 68; his revenge upon his old tormentor. 
 Ibid. ; he abandons Moscow, i., 71 ; frightful mas- 
 sacre at Novgorod, l, 75 ; his favourite son's death. 
 »•» 79. 
 
 Jena, battle of, i., 395. 
 
 Jews, oppression of the, in Russia, ii., 362 ; in Servia 
 ".i 363- 
 
 Karageorgevitch, Prince, iii., 14. 
 
 Karakalpaks, the, ii., 269. 
 
 Kars, capture of (1829), ii., 64; defence of (1854), ii., 
 
 149; surrender of (1855), ii., 155; attack on (1877), 
 
 ni., 222 ; capture of, iii., 237. 
 Kasbek, Colonel, ii., 288; description of I^es, Schaw- 
 
 schwelhi, and Armenians, ii., 290, et sea, 
 Katkoff", M., ii., 301, 305. 
 
 Kauff"mann, General,.attacks Khiva, ii., 243 ; concludes 
 treaties with Khiva and Bokhara, ii., 245, 247 
 
 Khiva, expedition against, ii., 95, 233 ; advance on 
 (i»70), u., 241 ; capture of, ii., 243; treaty with, ii., 
 244. 
 
 Khokand, description of, ii., 284 ; Khan's palace at. 
 u., 285. 
 
 Kieff and Novgorod, i., 4. 
 
 Kinburn, battle of, i., 315. 
 
 Kolin, battle of, i., 227. 
 
 Kolkol^ the, ii., 296. 
 
 Kosciusko, i., 327; imprisonment of, i., 329: release 
 
 of, 1., 338. 
 Kossuth, ii., loi. 
 Kovanskoi, Prince, i., 129. 
 Kunersdorf, battle of, i., 231. 
 Kurds, the, iii., 41. 
 
 Langiewicz, ii., 344. 
 
 Lazes, the, ii., 287. 
 
 Lefort, the Genevan, i., 133; death of, i., 147. 
 
 Leipsic, battle of, ii., 27. ^ 
 
 Levitzki, General, iii., 140. 
 
 Lewenhaupt, i., 155. 
 
 Liddon, Canon, simplicity of, iii., 61. 
 
 Liegnitz, battle of, i., 233. 
 
 Light Brigade, charge of, ii., 139. 
 
 Ligny, battle of, ii., 43. 
 
 Literature, Russian, ii.,307. 
 
 Livadia, iii., 120. 
 
 Lom, advance on the, iii., 161. 
 
 London, treaty of, iii., 17. 
 
 Louis XVIII., restoration of, ii., 40. 
 
 Lubomirski, Prince, ii., 353. 
 
 MacColl., Malcolm, absurdities of, iii., 61. 
 
 Macgahan, Mr., expedition of, iii., 99. 
 
 Magazines and reviews, Russian, ii., 213. 
 
 Marghilan, description of trade of, ii., 281. 
 
 Mar Shanium, iii., 35. 
 
 Matschin, battle of, iii., 147. 
 
 Mazeppa, i., 159. 
 
 Mehemet Ali, ii-, 83. ... „ r, • / a -i 
 
 Memorandum, the Berlin, ni., 87; Russian (Apnl, 
 
 1878), iii., 358 ; Anglo-Russian, m., 371. 
 Mentschikoff", i., 138; fall of. i., 209. . ,x^ c 
 
 Michaelowitch, Alexis, accession of, i., US; death ol, 
 
 i., 123. ... 
 
 Michael, Prince, of Servia, murder of, 111., 15. 
 
 Midhat Pasha, iii., 94- 
 
 Mijatovich and Ristich, MM.,m., 73. 
 
 Miletics, trial of, iii., 81. , j ,u f 
 
 Mirovitch, conspiracy of, 1., 263 ; failure and death ot, 
 
 i., 265. . . 
 
 Moldavia, invasion of, by Russia, 1., 413. 
 
 Momonoff, Count, i., 324. 
 
 Monks, Russian, ii., 213. 
 
 Mortality in Russia, ii., 205. 
 
 Moscow Gazette, the, ii., 305- ... ^ 
 
 Moscow, capture of, ii., 27 ; burning of, u., 2». 
 
 Mouravieff", General, siege of Kars by, n., 151. ^ ., 
 
 Mozafifer-Eddin, Khan of Bokhara, defies Russia, u., 
 239 ; defeats General Tchernaieff, ii., 240 ; is defeated 
 by RomanofTski, ii., 240; concludes treaty with Rus- 
 sia, ii., 247. 
 
 Munich, General, i., 212. 
 
 Namangan, attacks on, ii., 283 ; trade of, tbid. 
 Napoleon I., first invasion of Russia by, 1., 396; at 
 Tilsit, i, 408; second invasion of Russia by, ii., 20; 
 at Moscow, ii., 27 ; his retreat, ii., 31 : defeat at 
 Leipsic, ii., 37; deposition of, ii., 40 ; leaves Elba, 
 ii., 42 ; exile to St. Helena, ii., 44. 
 
 Narishkin, Peter, i., 133. 
 
 Narva, battle of, i., 147 ; siege of, 1., 154. 
 
 Navarino, battle of, ii., 61. 
 
 Nelson, Admiral, i., 367. 
 
 Nestorians, the, iii., 37- 
 
 Nevsky, Alexander, i., 39- 
 
 Nicholas I., accession of, ii., 53 ; insurrection against, 
 ii., 53 ; coronation of, ii., 57 ; declares war to Persia, 
 ii 59; declares war to Turkey (1828), 11., 62 ; his 
 cruelties in Poland, ii., 80 ; alliance with Turkey, 
 ii-, 85; proposes a partition of Turkey, ii., 97; 
 invades Turkey, ii., 107 ; death of, ii., 168. 
 
 Nicon, the patriarch, introduces reforms into the Russian 
 church, ii., 216. .. 
 
 Nicopoli, attack on, iii., 156: capture of, 111., 170. 
 
 Niemen, interview on, 1., 406 ; passage of, u., 20. 
 
 Nientschantz Fort, capture of, i., 151. 
 
 Niepokoischitzki, General, iii., 139. 
 
 Nihilism, ii., 208. 
 
 Nijni-Novgorod, fair of, ii., 223. 
 
 Note, Vienna (1855), ii., 159? the Andrassy (1876), 
 
 iii-, 57- 
 Novi, battle of, 1., 357* 
 
 Obriad, the, ii., 209. 
 
 Odessa, bombardment of, ii., 145* .. 1 
 
 Oleg, Regent, i., 7 ; invasion by, of Constantinople, 
 
 1., 8; death of, i., 9. ^^i. • .• • ,, 
 
 Olga, accession of, i.. 12 ; becomes a Christian, 1., 13 ; 
 
 resigns to Sviatoslaf, i., 14. 
 
 Oltenitza, battle of (1853), ii., 107. 
 
 Omladina, the, ii., 305 ; the, in Servia, ni., 77. 
 
 Orkhanieh, advance on, iii., 268. 
 
 Orloff, Alexis, i., 281. 
 
 Orloff, Count, (1854), iii., 19- r • o ^ «u f 
 
 Orloff", Gregory, i., 241 ; disgrace of, 1., 287; death ol, 
 
 i., 309- 
 
 Osman Pasha, iii., 185 ; his sortie from Plevna, iii., 
 
 274; surrender of, iii., 276. 
 Ostermann, Count, i., 209. 
 Ostrolenka, battle of, ii., 77* 
 Otchakoff, capture of, i., 318. 
 
 Pahlen, Count, i., 369 ; exile of, i., 381. 
 
 Panisaufka, battle of, ii., 357. 
 
 Panslavism, sketch of, ii., 296. 
 
 Paris, capture of, by the allies, ii., 39, 45. 
 
 Patkul, i., 156. 
 
 Patriarchate, abolition of, i., 192. 
 
 Paul I., accession of, i., 335 ; eccentricities of, i., 339 ; 
 finance of, i., 345 ; alliances of, against France, i., 
 351 ; designs on Malta, i., 352 ; declares war to 
 France, i., 352; alliance with England, i., 364; 
 alliance with Denmark and Sweden against England, 
 i., 366 ; conspiracy against, i., 371 ; assassination of, 
 
 i., 371. 
 Perjfski, General, his expedition against Khiva, ii., 235. 
 Persia, war with (1796), i., 321 ; scrange end of, i., 350 ; 
 war with (1804), i., 416; invasion of, by Russia 
 (1826), ii., 57. 
 Peter III., accession of, i., 235; his seizure of church 
 lands, i., 239 ; conspiracy against, i., 241 ; abdication 
 of, i., 248 ; assassination of, i., 251. 
 
 Peter the Great (Narishkin), i., 133; conspiracy to 
 murder, i., 137 ; conquers the Swedes under Charles 
 XII., i., 160 ; his victory at Pultowa, i., 163 ; engages 
 in war with Turkey, i., 166 ; his defeat of the Swedish 
 fleet, i., 170 ; his second visit to Europe, i., 172 ; he 
 abolishes patriarchism, i., 192; death of, i., 198; 
 anecdote of, i., 201. 
 
 Peter II. (Alexievitch), accession of, i., 208 ; death of, 
 i., 210. 
 
 Petersburg, St., foundation of, i., 152, 
 
 Plague in Moscow (I77i)> i.s 283. 
 
 Plevna, first repulse at, iii., 185; second attack on, 
 iii., 187 ; second repulse, iii., 191 ; bombardment of, 
 iii., 253; investment of, iii., 261; capture of, iii., 
 
 276. . , 
 
 Poland, Poniatowski, king of, i., 261; Catherines 
 
 interference in, i., 267 ; first partition of, i., 2^9 ; 
 
 second partition of, i., 329; insurrection of (1830), 
 
 ii., 70 ; rebellion of 1863-4 in, ii., 314 ; progress of, 
 
 ii., 344; suppression of, ii., 359. 
 Poles, the, in London and Paris, ii., 349. 
 Poletylo, massacre at, ii., 326. 
 Police, secret, in Russia, ii., 199. 
 Pomaks, the, iii., 366. 
 Poniatowski, Stanislaus, i., 230; King of Poland, 
 
 i., 261. 
 Popes, Russian, ii., 215. 
 Potemkin, Count, i., 297 ; death of, i., 326. 
 Praga, capture of, i., 329. 
 Press, the Russian, ii., 300. 
 Press, the Servian, iii., 71. 
 Project, a bold, iii., 283. 
 Protocol, the, iii., 132. 
 Pruth, battle of the, i., 166. 
 Pruth, passage of {1812), ii., 62. 
 Pugatscheff", conspiracy of, i., 295. 
 Pultowa, battle of, i., 152. 
 Pultusk, battle of, i., 297. 
 Pustowojtoff, Mademoiselle, ii., 347. 
 
 Races of Russia, ii., 200. 
 
 Raskol, ii., 216. 
 
 Red Cock, the, ii., 208. 
 
 Ristics, despatch of M., iii., II4. 
 
 Roads and railways, ii., 219. 
 
 Romanoff", Michael, accepts the crown, i., II2. 
 
 Rosen, Dr., and M. Kartzoff", iii., 73. 
 
 Rural Russia, ii., 205. 
 
 Rurik the pirate, i., 5 ; death of, i., 7. 
 
396 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Russell, Earl, despatch of, on Polish affairs, ii., 335. 
 Rustzuk (Roudschouck), siege of (iSlo), ii., 13. 
 Ryswick, battle of the, i., 320, 
 
 Salisbury, despatch from Lord (April, 1878), iii.» 349. 
 
 Sardinia declares war to Turkey, ii., 161. 
 
 Save, the, iii., 60. 
 
 Schamyl, ii., 93 ; death of, ii., 94. 
 
 Schawscheti, the, ii., 291. 
 
 Schipka, capture of, 179 ; battles at, iii., 245, 250. 
 
 Schouvaloff, Count, Minister of Police, ii., 199 ; ambas- 
 sador to England, ii., 249. 
 
 Schumla, siege of (1810), ii., 12 ; do. (1828), ii., 62. 
 
 Schuyler, Mr., report of, ii., 251. 
 
 Scio, battle of, i., 280. 
 
 Sebastopol, siege of, ii., 135 ; second bombardment of, 
 ii., 165 ; third bombardment of, ii., 171 ; fall of, 
 ii., 173 ; anecdotes of siege of, ii., 174. 
 
 Segur, Count, memoirs of, i., 31 1. 
 
 Serfs, liberation of, ii., 195. 
 
 Servia, disputes of, with, iii., 9 ; agitation in, iii., 70 j 
 declares war to Turkey, iii., 107. 
 
 Silistria, capture of (1829), ii., 64; siege of (1854), ii., 
 120. 
 
 Sinope, massacre at, ii., 108. 
 
 Skobeloff, General, iii., 140. 
 
 Skorzynecki, General, ii., 75. 
 
 Slavonic dialects, ii., 297. 
 
 Slavs, legends of the, ii., 238; dissensions of, ii., 341 ; 
 the Austrian, ii., 243; the, at home, iii., 69 j cus- 
 toms of, iii., 71. 
 
 Soltikoff, i., 229. 
 
 Sophia, i., 127. 
 
 Staroshte, the, ii., 197. 
 
 Steppe campaigning, ii., 261. 
 
 Stralsund, capture of, i., 172. 
 
 Straniki, the sect of the, ii., 217. 
 
 Strelitz, insurrection of, i., 129; conspiracy of the, to 
 murder Peter, i., 137. 
 
 Strossmayer, Bishop, iii., 63. 
 
 Sugar industry, ii., 227. 
 
 Suleiman Pasha, repulse of, iii., 249. 
 
 Suomi, the, ii., 202. 
 
 Superstition, Russian, ii., 208. 
 
 Suwarrow, General, i., 315 ; character of, i., 319; dis- 
 grace of, i., 353; restoration oi^ibid, ; in Italy, i., 
 354; in Switzerland, i., 358; reverses of, i., 362; 
 disgrace and death of, i., 363. 
 
 Sviatopolk succeeds Vladimir I., i., 22 ; defeat of, by 
 Yaroslaf, i., 23 ; death of, 1., 23. 
 
 Sviatopolk II., accession of, i., 28 ; death of, ibid. 
 
 Sweden declares war to Russia (i74i)» »•» 219; do., 
 i., 316. 
 
 Synod, the Russian, ii., 210. 
 
 Syr-Daria, Russia on the, ii., 275. 
 
 Tamerlane,^ invasion of Russia by, i., 49. 
 
 Tartars, invasion of Russia by, i., 35 ; second invasion, 
 i., 37 ; burn Moscow, i., 47 ; defeat of, by Dmitri 
 Donskoi, i., 46 ; invasion under Tamerlane, i., 49. 
 
 Tchernaia, battle of the, ii., 173. 
 
 Tchernaieff, General, iii., 103. 
 
 Tchesme, battle of, i., 280. 
 
 Tchin, the, ii., 197. 
 
 Tea-trade, ii., 225. 
 
 Tirnova, occupation of, iii., 171. 
 
 Todleben, General, ii., 135. 
 
 Tolstoi, Count, works of, ii., 311. 
 
 Torpedoes, Whitehead's, iii., 49. 
 
 Treaty of Belgrade, i., 215 ; of Kutschuk-KainardjI, 
 i., 291; of Constantinople, i., 309; of Varela, i., 
 319; of Jassy, i., 325; of Presburg, i., 392; of 
 Tilsit, i., 408; of Bucharest (1812), ii., 14; of 
 Paris (1814), ii., 41 ; Bccond, of Paris (1815), ii., 
 44; of Adrianople {1829), ii., 65 ; of Unkiar-Skelessi, 
 ii., 85 ; of Paris (1856), iii., 25 ; of London, iii., 17 ; 
 of San Stefano, iii., 346 ; of Berlin (1878), iii., 385. 
 
 Trebbia, battle of the, i., 355. 
 
 Tsak, the, ii., 198. 
 
 Turcomans, raid on (1873), ii., 253. 
 
 Turkey declares war to Russia (1787), i., 315 ; war 
 against Russia (i 810), ii., 12; invasion of, by Russia 
 (1828), ii., 62 ; alliance with Russia, ii., 85 ; invasion 
 of, by Russia (1853), ii., 106 j by Russia (1877), iii., 
 137. 
 
 Ukraine, Cossacks of the, i., 117; insurrection of, 
 
 under Bogdan Chmielnicki, i., 119. 
 Ultimatum, Russian, to Turkey, ii., 105 ; British, to 
 
 Russia, ii., iii. 
 
 Valtelina, battle of, ii., 23. 
 
 Varna, siege of (1828), ii., 63. 
 
 Vassily, accession of, i., 48 ; death of, i., 49. 
 
 Vassily, Vassilievitch, succession of, i., 50; blinded by 
 
 his cousin, the son of Yury, i., 51 ; death of, i., 51. 
 Vassily, Ivanovitch, accession of, i., 64 ; his contests 
 
 with the Tartars, i., 65 ; his death, i., 66. 
 Vatican, the, and Russia, ii., 359. 
 Vienna, congress of (1814), ii., 42 ; conference of (1854), 
 
 ii., 119. 
 Vladimir I. seizes Kieff, i., 18; adopts Christianity, 
 
 i., 20 ; death of, i., 22. 
 Vladimir, Monomachus, accession of, i., 28 ; testament 
 
 of, i., 29 ; death of, i., 30. 
 
 Wallace, Mackenzie, on Russian superstition, ii., 197. 
 
 Warsaw, capture of, ii., 79. 
 
 Waterloo, battle of, ii., 44. 
 
 Weeping, Russian capacity for, ii., 320. 
 
 White, Consul, vagaries of, iii., 74. 
 
 White priests, the, ii., 214. 
 
 Wielopolski, Marquis, ii., 3 1 5. 
 
 Williams, General, surrender of, at Kars, ii., 155. 
 
 Yagni Hill, battles of the, iii., 225, 230 ; capture of, 
 
 iii., 231. 
 Yaroslaf, accession of, i., 23 ; wars of, i., 23 ; code of 
 
 laws by, i., 24 ; death of, i., 25. 
 Yaxartes (Syr-Daria), the, ii.,275; navigation of, ii., 
 
 277 ; trade on, ii., 279 ; life on, ii., 280. 
 Yury, of Moscow, i., 41 ; accession of, i., 42. 
 
 ZiMNlTZA, passage at, iii., 155. 
 
 Zorndorf, battle of, i., 231. 
 
 Zuboff, Count, i., 324 ; disgrace of, i., 350 ; his con* 
 
 spiracy against Paul, i., 370. 
 Zurich, battle of, i., 360. 
 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 
 
 1010676228 
 
 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 
 
 This book is due on the date indicated below, or at the 
 expiration of a definite period after the date of borrowing, as 
 provided by the rules of the Library or by special arrange- 
 ment with the Librarian in charge. 
 
 DATE BORROWED 
 
 DATE DUE 
 
 DATE BORROWED 
 
 DATE DUE 
 
 
 1 
 
 T9a> 
 
 \/3 
 
 ca8(n4i)Mioo 
 
 BRIHLE DO NOT 
 PHOTOCOPY 
 
 ■ iWH1l «W i 
 
 JUL j> 194$ 
 
 $i 
 
END OF REEL 
 PLEASE REWIND