TURKEY AND RUSSIA.
Origin of the Ottoman Empire--Siege and Capture of Constantinople
by the Turks--Mahomet--The Sultans--_Abdul Medjid_--His popularity
and power--The Koran.
The Russian Empire--Area and population--Social organization
--Religious policy--Nobility--Serfs--Conscription--The Army
--Progress of Russia and extension of her frontiers--_Nicholas_
--Poland.
In the former half of the sixth century, Justinian was Emperor of
the East. His empire nearly corresponded in geographical extent with
the country which we now call Turkey in Europe. During his reign,
Constantinople was visited by a company of warlike strangers, whose
savage aspect filled all the people with amazement and fear. Their
long hair, which hung in tresses down their backs, was gracefully
bound with ribbons, but in the rest of their habit they resembled the
Huns. These were the first Turks ever seen in Europe. They had come
to offer the Emperor their alliance, which was accepted at a given
price. They had travelled from the foot of Mount Caucasus, where they
first heard of the splendor and weakness of the Roman Empire. Their
origin was beyond that celebrated ridge, and in the midst of another
no less celebrated, and which is variously known as the Caf, the
Imaus, the Golden Mountains, and the Girdle of the Earth. Here lived
the people called Geougen, governed by a great Khan. In the hills
they inhabited were many minerals. Iron and other mines were worked
for them by the most despised portion of their slaves, who were known
by the name of Turks. These slaves, under Bertezena, one of their
number, rebelled against the great Khan, and succeeded in possessing
themselves of their native country. From freedom they proceeded to
conquest, and it was in the course of their victories that they found
their way to the Caucasus. Nearly a century elapsed, and Heraclius
was Emperor. He formed an alliance with the Turks, and so honored
their prince as to place the imperial diadem on his head, and salute
him with a tender embrace as his son. In the ninth century the Turks
were introduced into Arabia. The Caliph Motassem employed them as his
own guards in his own capital. He educated them in the exercise of
arms, and in the profession of the Mahometan faith. No less a number
than 50,000 of these hardy foreigners did he thus foolishly establish
in the very heart of his dominions. In due time they became masters
of some portions of the country into which they had been admitted
as mercenaries. For one of their princes, Mahmood or Mahmud, the
title of Sultan was invented, about a thousand years after Christ.
Its meaning is autocrat or lord. His conquests were very extensive,
and stretched from Transoxiana to Ispahan--from the shores of the
Caspian to the mouth of the Indus.
Toward the close of the twelfth century, Zingis (or Genghis) Khan
organized incredible hordes of Moguls and Tartars, and conquered
nearly all Asia west of India. After his death, the Tartar Empire was
broken up into fragments. Most of these resultant little kingdoms
gradually embraced Mahometanism, and amongst them was laid the
foundation of what is now called the Ottoman (or Turkish) Empire.
Incited by the example and success of the terrible Tartar, Shah
Soliman, prince of the town of Nera, on the Caspian Sea, spread the
terror of his arms all through Asia Minor, as far as the Euphrates.
He was drowned in the passage of that river. His son, Orthogrul,
succeeded him. This chief was the father of Thaman, or Athman, whose
Turkish name has been melted into the appellation of the Caliph
Othman. He was an aspiring and clever man, and soon freed himself
from the control of a superior, as the power of the Mogul Khans had
become well nigh extinct. He resolved to propagate the religion of
the Koran by every means in his power; and began his holy war against
the infidels by making a descent into Nicomedia. This he did in
July, 1299. He was entirely victorious; and for twenty-seven years
he repeated similar inroads, and achieved similar conquests in other
directions. Towards the close of his reign, Prusa (Boursa), the
capital of Bithynia, surrendered to his son Orchan, who, after his
father’s death, made it the seat of his government. This was in the
year 1326, and from that time we may date the true era of the Ottoman
Empire,--the name of which is plainly derived from that of the
Caliph Othman. His power rapidly increased. Many cities and districts
fell into his hands,--amongst others, Ephesus, and the other six
places, in which were the seven churches of Asia. Christianity in all
these localities, except Philadelphia, was speedily extinguished, and
supplanted by Islamism. Orchan had two sons, Soliman and Amurath.
The former subdued Thrace, and possessed himself of Gallipoli, and
was at last killed by a fall from his horse. The aged Emir (for
no higher title had Orchan assumed) wept, and expired on the tomb
of his valiant son. Amurath stept into his place, and wielded the
scimitar with all his father’s energy. By the advice of his vizier,
he selected for his own use the fifth part of the Christian youth in
the provinces which he subjugated. His choice fell on the stoutest
and most beautiful. These were named “yengi cheri,” or new soldiers.
In more recent times the haughty troops, originated in this way, have
gone by the name of Janissaries. At first they were courageous and
zealous in the cause of their new master and new religion. For a long
while they were the _élite_ of the Turkish forces, and in critical
outbreaks have often been a source of great anxiety to the sultans
themselves.
Bajazet, his son and successor, surnamed “Ilderim,” or Lightning, was
a man of fiery and energetic temperament. His territory was rapidly
extended over the whole country, from Boursa to Adrianople, from the
Danube to the Euphrates. He turned his arms against Hungary; and at
Nicopolis defeated 100,000 Christians, who had proudly boasted that
if the sky should fall they could uphold it on their lances. Bajazet
boasted that he would advance to Germany and Italy, and feed his
horse with a bushel of oats on the altar of St. Peter’s at Rome. A
fit of the gout prevented his fulfilment of this threat. Meanwhile
there rose up another great Mogul conqueror, Timour, or Tamerlane,
who avenged the defeat of his ancestors upon the Turks. Bajazet (who
had assumed the title of sultan) was conquered and taken captive.
From the Irtysh and Volga to the Persian Gulf, and from the Ganges
to Damascus and the Archipelago, Asia was in the hands of Timour;
his armies were invincible, his ambition was boundless, and his zeal
might have aspired to conquer and convert the Christian kingdoms of
the West, which already trembled at his name. But he was not master
of a single galley, with which to cross the Bosphorus or Dardanelles.
This insuperable obstacle checked his career. At length he died,
and the Ottoman power, like a strong tree recovering itself after a
storm, began again to stand erect and flourish.
The great-grandson of Bajazet was Mahomet II. He emulated the Grecian
Alexander. He laid siege to Constantinople, investing it with an army
of 258,000 Turks. His navy comprised about 320 vessels, of which 18
were galleys of war. He had engaged the services of a Danish, or
Hungarian, founder of cannon, who made him a field-piece capable of
throwing a ball, which weighed 600 pounds, more than a mile. This
could be fired only seven times in one day. Never before had the
recent invention of gunpowder been employed with such terrible effect
as at this siege of Constantinople. The inhabitants of that city
were more than 100,000, but of those not more than 4,970, together
with a body of 2,000 strangers, were capable of bearing arms. How
small a garrison to defend a city of thirteen, or perhaps sixteen,
miles in extent! Yet, under these doleful circumstances, the city was
distracted with religious discord, just as Jerusalem was before and
during its siege by Titus. An immense chain closed the mouth of the
harbor, whilst the mouth of the Bosphorus was defended by a fleet
which was superior to that of the Turks. The city seemed incapable
of being reduced. The Turks despaired: the Christians triumphed. In
this perplexity it occurred to Mahomet to transport his fleet across
the land. By amazing ingenuity and toil, he accomplished this feat.
The distance was ten miles, yet in a single night he thus launched
eighty of his light vessels into the harbor. The success of this
scheme was perfect. He found his way into the city, which was taken
May 29th, 1453. The last Palæologus, Constantine XI., fell by an
unknown hand, and his body was buried under a mountain of the slain.
The siege had lasted fifty-three days. Besides the multitudes that
fell in fight, about 60,000 of the unhappy Greeks were reduced to
the condition of slaves. Most of those were soon dispersed in remote
servitude through the provinces of the Ottoman empire. The church of
St. Sophia was speedily stripped of all its pictures and images, and
before the lapse of many hours, the _muezzin_, or crier, ascended the
most lofty turret and proclaimed the _ezan_, or public invitation, in
the name of God and his prophet; the Imam preached; and Mahomet the
Second performed the _namaz_ of prayer and thanksgiving on the great
altar, where the Christian mysteries had so lately been celebrated
before the last of the Cæsars. From St. Sophia he proceeded to the
august but desolate mansion of a hundred successors of the great
Constantine; but which, in a very short time, had been stripped of
the pomp of royalty. A melancholy reflection on the vicissitudes of
human greatness forced itself on his mind, and he repeated an elegant
distich of Persian poetry--“The spider has wove his web in the
imperial palace; and the owl has sung her watch-song on the towers of
Afrasiab.”
[Illustration: ABDUL MEDJID, SULTAN OF TURKEY.]
Mahomet removed the seat of his government to Constantinople; a
city so obviously marked out by nature for the metropolis of a
vast empire. The population was speedily renewed. Before the end
of September, five thousand families of Anatolia and Romania had
obeyed the royal mandate, which enjoined them, under pain of death,
to occupy their new habitations in the capital. The Sultan’s throne
was guarded by the numbers and fidelity of his Moslem subjects; but
he strove by a rational policy to collect the scattered remnant of
the Greeks. These returned in crowds as soon as they were assured
of their lives, their liberties, and the free exercise of their
religion. The churches were shared between the two religions; their
limits were marked; and, till it was infringed by Selim, the grandson
of Mahomet, the Greeks enjoyed above sixty years the benefit of this
equal partition. After effecting many other triumphs of his arms,
Mahomet died in 1480, in the midst of great projects he was devising
against Rome and Persia. His grandson soon dethroned and murdered
his own father, and commenced a vigorous reign under the title of
Selim I. He defeated the Mamelukes, and in 1517 conquered Egypt,
Syria, and Palestine. During fifty years the arms of the Ottomans,
both by sea and land, were the terror of Europe and Asia. Especially
was this the case during the government of Selim’s son, Soliman
I., surnamed the Magnificent. His term of power extended from 1519
to 1566. This energetic tyrant took Belgrade, the island of Rhodes
(from the knights of St. John), and Buda. He also subdued half of
Hungary. He exacted a tribute from Moldavia, and so far mastered the
Persians as to make Bagdad, Mesopotamia, and Georgia subject to him.
Under this monarch the Ottoman empire reached its climax of renown
and power. Before his death, symptoms of decline began to manifest
themselves. Though extending his authority over an immense tract
of country, he had failed to develop the internal strength, and
consolidate the internal union, of his kingdom. The conquered nations
were not properly incorporated, so as to constitute an integral part
of Turkey. Hence, the frequency of the revolts, which, with varying
success, for a long time after the death of Soliman, alike disturbed
the peace and exhausted the strength of the Byzantine government.
Ever since 1566, the Ottoman sovereigns have, in most instances,
ascended the throne from a prison, and then surrendered themselves to
the effeminate luxuries of the seraglio, until their despicable reign
terminated either by assassination, or by deposition and another
imprisonment. Several grand viziers, or prime ministers, have at
different periods supplied their masters’ deficiencies and screened
their vices. Through the zeal and talents of these active servants
of the State, it has been retarded in its declension and preserved
from utter disintegration. The people continued for many years to
sink deeper and deeper into ignorance, poverty, and helplessness,
whilst in the provinces rapacious Pashas exceeded the cupidity and
emulated the voluptuousness of the Sultan in the capital. The Sublime
Porte, as the Ottoman government is often called, became an object of
contempt and ridicule to all European nations. It remained inactive
and unprogressive, whilst each of these was rapidly striving on
towards the goal of intelligence and freedom, which still waits to be
fully attained. Blindly attached to their fatalistic doctrines, and
elated by their past military glory, the Turks looked upon foreigners
with proud scorn, and despised them as dogs and infidels. Without any
settled place, but incited by hatred of the Christians and a thirst
for conquest, they carried on wars with Persia, Venice, Hungary,
and Poland. The mutinies of the janissaries and the rebellions of
subordinate governors often became dangerous in the extreme: but the
ruling despot contrived from time to time to exterminate the enemies
he feared, by the dagger or the bowstring; and the ablest men were
not unfrequently sacrificed to the hatred of the soldiery or of the
sacred college. The successor to the throne commonly put all his
brothers to death, whilst the people regarded with apathy either the
murder of a cruel Sultan whom they hated, or of a weak one, whom they
could not fear.
The present Sultan Abdul Medjid Khan, born the 6th of May, 1822,
thirty-first sovereign of the family of Osman, and twenty-eighth
since the taking of Constantinople, succeeded his father, Sultan
Mahmoud Khan, on the 1st of July, 1839. He was commencing his
seventeenth year when he ascended the throne. He looked a little
older than he really was, although his appearance was far from
announcing a robust constitution. Some months previously an
inflammation of the lungs had endangered his life. He had been
saved by the care of an Armenian Roman Catholic, who was renowned
for his cures. Slender and tall, he had the same long, pale face as
his father; his black eyebrows, less arched than those of Mahmoud,
announced a mind of less haughtiness and of less energy. His lips
are rather thick, and he is slightly marked with the small-pox. At
this epoch of his life, his features did not present a very marked
expression, as if no strong passion had yet agitated the young
breast. But his eyes, large and very beautiful, sometimes became
animated with a most lively expression, and glistened with the fire
of intelligence. Although Abdul Medjid had not been subjected to
the captivity usually reserved for the heirs to the throne, his
education, which had been directed according to the custom of the
seraglio, had been very superficial, and had not prepared him for the
heavy responsibility which was hanging over him.
Abdul Medjid was much indebted to nature: he afterwards perfected
his education, and has become a most accomplished prince, remarkable
above all for his passionate love of literature and the arts.
The first time the young Sultan presented himself to the eyes of
his subjects he was dressed in an European trousers and coat, over
which was thrown the imperial cloak, fastened by a diamond aigrette.
On his breast he wore the decoration of the Nicham Iflichar; his
head was covered with the fez, surmounted by a diamond aigrette.
The new king, while thus continuing the costume of his father,
nevertheless presented only a pale resemblance to him. Simple
without affectation, he cast around him glances full of softness
and benevolence. Everything announced in him the _debonnaire_
successor of an inflexible ruler; nothing hitherto had indicated
what great and precious qualities were concealed beneath the modest
and tranquil exterior. He was received favorably by his people, but
without any demonstration of enthusiasm. It was feared that this
delicate youth could scarcely be equal to the importance of his
duties. People pitied him, and, at the same time, trembled for the
future prospects of the country. The women alone, touched by his
youth and his appearance of kindness, manifested their sympathy
for him openly. When he went through Constantinople to the Mosque
of Baiezid, they ran towards him from all parts: “Is not our son
handsome?” they cried, adopting him with affection. When he was only
seventeen years of age, the official cry was heard in the streets
of Constantinople, “His Highness, our most magnificent lord, Abdul
Medjid, has risen to the throne! God will that his reign make the
happiness of his people!” The new monarch soon began to play the part
of a reformer. He assured to all his subjects, without exception,
perfect security for their lives and fortunes, a regular mode of
taxation, as also of recruiting the army; he abolished the monopoly
and venality of the public offices; insured the public administration
of justice and the free transmission of property; and founded all the
public institutions and administrations upon the systems of Europe,
particularly of France, yet with every attention to the peculiar
customs and prejudices of his own people. Abdul Medjid speedily
became the idol with all classes. Their esteem was increased by his
extreme amiability of temper, and heightened almost to infatuation
by the taste for literature which he displayed, and for his ardent
endeavors to raise the educational character of his subjects. The
reign of Abdul has been sullied by no execution, by no act of
cruelty. None of his ministers have ever lost their lives along with
their office and power. He has been very kind to his brother, Abdul
Aziz Effendi, allowing him both life and liberty, and making him a
frequent companion. In the troubles which agitated Western Europe
in 1848 and 1849, the Sultan acted a noble part in refusing to
deliver up, at the dictation of Russia, certain Hungarian and other
refugees, who had fled to him for shelter. In this firm course he was
supported, both by his own people, and also by France and England.
In Turkey, the Sultan is the supreme and absolute ruler; there exists
no one but himself who can be said to possess any power. He issues
his edicts, which have the force of laws. He commands the whole naval
and military power of the country. He sometimes, though in violation
of the Koran, which is the very ground-work of his authority, imposes
taxes on the people, and levies them as he likes, either generally,
or locally, or partially, making one place, or one set of persons,
or one individual, pay, and not the rest of his subjects. And, with
few exceptions, the whole nation is subject to his absolute will
and caprices, and there is no one who does not derive from him all
the authority and weight he possesses in any employment, or in any
station.
As, however, the Sultan cannot do all the business of the country,
but, on the contrary, from the indolent habits of the East, and the
worse and more effeminate habits contracted by the bad education of
despotic princes, passes his time inactive and averse to employment
of any kind, he is obliged to delegate his power to ministers and
officers of different kinds,--yet all of these are named and removed
by him, and are absolutely dependent on his pleasure or caprice. His
prime minister is called the Grand Vizier; the minister of foreign
affairs is the Reis Effendi; the governors of provinces are called
bashaws or pashas; the admiral is called the capitan (captain) pasha,
and so forth; the judges are called cadis; and all these act in
the Sultan’s name, and obey, absolutely, whatever orders he gives
them; so that, if he pleases to order that a cause be decided in a
particular way, the judges must obey; and applications to the Sultan,
or the bashaw, or governor of a province, to interfere for this
purpose, are very frequent. Thus there is no possibility of resisting
his superior authority, or controlling his universally prevailing
influence, unless it be that some kind of limits are fixed by the
Koran, and by the bodies of priests and lawyers who interpret it, and
administer the laws founded upon it, and whom it is not the practice
of the Sultan to interfere with, although he appoints all their
chiefs, either directly, or through his governors. The chief priest,
or primate, or archbishop, is called the Grand Mufti, and owes his
promotion to office to the Sultan entirely, at whose pleasure he
continues to hold it till he is removed.
The Eastern tyrant orders any individual to be seized and put to
death for a look, much more for a mutinous word. He walks through
his capital, perhaps in disguise, and settles some dispute between
his subjects by ordering one to give up his property to another,
because he thinks, upon a moment’s inquiry, that the latter has a
right to it, or merely because his caprice makes him lean to one
rather than the other. He hears a charge against a man, and at once
strangles him on the spot; or he takes a dislike, and, without any
pretext at all, kills him, and sells his family for slaves. He covets
some one’s house, or garden, or jewel, or wife, and instantly seizes
it, or kills the owner that he may take it. Even this is not the
worst that the people suffer; for, were this all, men might be safe
by keeping at a distance, and the despot cannot be everywhere. But
where he himself is not, his deputies, his bashaws, or, as in some
countries they are called, his beglerbegs, are, and their subaltern
oppressors. Each has all the sovereign’s prerogatives in his own
person; and though they are all liable to be summarily punished, not
only by removal, but by being strangled with the bowstring sent to
be inflicted upon them, and although the prince does now and then
so punish wicked governors, yet he has a direct interest in their
exactions; for one of his largest revenues is the succeeding as heir
to all persons in his service; and in case they should conceal, or
secretly make over to their family the gains they have made in the
public service, the Sultan, during their life, squeezes the money
from them, and puts them to the tortures by the bastinado--severe
strokes on the soles of the feet--and by other torments, in order
to discover their property. The bowstring is used in a way quite
characteristic of the Turkish despotism. The Sultan, or his vizier,
if he be the person ordering the punishment, sends an officer,
generally one of very inferior rank, to the bashaw who has been
complained of, and whose conduct has, behind his back, been examined
by the government at Constantinople. He carries a bowstring with him,
and the order of the Sultan in writing, sealed with the imperial
signet, dipped into black ink, and signed with the Sultan’s cipher of
toghra. The bashaw, if he has a power in his hands which enables him
to set the sovereign at defiance, and to rebel against his authority,
avoids seeing the messenger, and puts him to death on some pretext,
as having him waylaid, and representing him as killed by banditti.
But if not, he at once, on receiving the messenger’s communication,
kisses the sealed paper and the bowstring, bares his neck, and allows
the man to strangle him, when his body is either buried privately,
or thrown to be devoured by dogs, according as the people, or the
troops, at the seat of his government, are well or ill disposed
towards his person.
The foundation of the whole Turkish law is laid in the Koran, or
Mohammedan scriptures; and here the absolute power of the sovereign
is distinctly pronounced, and the duty of passive submission to his
will inculcated upon all, as a duty to God immediately rendered.
THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE.
The aspect of affairs in Europe gives the public a strong interest
in measuring the forces and the energy of the great antagonist whose
aggression has called forth the fleets and armies of England and
France to battle after an unbroken peace of forty years. It has
seldom happened to any nation to engage in hostilities with a foreign
power whose real strength and resources are so imperfectly known. No
other empire but that of Russia ever succeeded in keeping so vast a
portion of the globe a secret and a mystery from the rest of mankind.
We know that she possesses territories wider than the realms of
Tamerlane; and that the troops under her banners are as countless as
the hosts that followed Napoleon when he was the master of Europe.
Russia, taking its whole extent, is by much the largest empire of
which there is any record in the annals of the world; and vast as
it is, it may be said to be compact and continuous, without the
intervention of land belonging to any other power. In this great
empire every variety of climate is to be found, and every vegetable
production, from those of the climate of southern Europe to the icy
regions of the north, where vegetation fails, and nature is for ever
bound in unproductive fetters--may, in one district or another, be
brought to maturity. Nor are the mineral riches less copious; for
there is scarcely a valued product of the mine which may not be
obtained in some part of Russia, and several of the most useful ones,
in great abundance, and of excellent quality. We insert a correct
table[3] of the population and extent of the empire.
More than a hundred peoples, speaking a hundred different idioms,
inhabit the surface of the empire. But almost all these peoples are
scattered along its frontiers. The whole interior is inhabited by
one sole race, that of the Russians proper. The Russian race alone
consists of about 50,000,000 souls, whilst all the other tribes of
the empire put together do not exceed 15,000,000.
AREA AND POPULATION OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE.
---------------------+-----------+-----------------------+------------
| Area in | Population in | Mean
| English | | Population
Natural Divisions | Square +-----------+-----------+in 1852, per
| Miles. | 1846. | 1852. | Sq. Mile.
---------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+------------
Great Russia, | 328,781 | 19,220,900| 20,403,371| 62·
Little Russia, | 150,141 | 11,093,400| 11,775,865| 78·4
New Russia, | 96,636 | 3,070,700| 3,259,612| 33·7
White Russia, | 70,399 | 2,767,200| 2,937,436| 41·7
Western Provinces, | 47,076 | 2,704,300| 2,870,667| 60·9
Baltic Provinces, | 36,616 | 1,659,800| 1,761,907| 48·1
Northern Provinces, | 536,226 | 1,338,300| 1,420,629| 2·6
Ural Provinces, | 447,788 | 10,146,000| 10,770,181| 24·
Cossack Districts, | 123,776 | 1,089,700| 1,156,736| 9·3
Poland, | 49,230 | 4,857,700| 5,156,543| 104·7
Finland, | 135,808 | 1,412,315| 1,499,199| 11·
+-----------+-----------+-----------+------------
Total in Europe, | 2,022,477 | 59,360,315| 63,012,146| 31·1
=====================+===========+===========+===========+============
Caucasian Provinces, | 86,578 | 2,850,000| 2,850,000| 32·8
West Siberia, | 2,681,147 | 3,500,000| 3,500,000| 1·3
East Siberia, | 2,122,000 | 237,000| 237,000 | ·11
American Possessions,| 371,350 | 61,000| 61,000 | ·16
+-----------+-----------+-----------+------------
Total Extra European,| 5,261,075 | 6,648,000| 6,648,000| 1·26
+-----------+-----------+-----------+------------
Totals, | 7,283,552 | 66,208,315| 69,660,146| 9·5
---------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+------------
In respect to Race, the population of the Russian Empire may be
classed approximately, as follows;--
{Lithuanic {Lithuanians
{ Branch { and Letts, 2,000,000
{ {
Sarmatian Race.{ {Russians 49,000,000 }
{ {Bulgarians and }
{Slavonic { Illyrians, 5,000,000 } 56,000,000
{ Branch {Poles, 6,500,000 }
----------
58,000,000
Germans, 650,000
Dacian Romans, 750,000
Tshúds, 3,400,000
Tartars, 2,150,000
Mongols, 250,000
Munshús, 100,000
Hyperborean Races, 200,000
Caucasian Tribes, 2,750,000
Greeks, 70,000
Jews, 1,600,000
Gipsies, 30,800
Miscellaneous, 50,000
---------
12,000,000
----------
Total, 70,000,000
In respect to religion, there are probably in the Russian
Empire 50,000,000 belonging to the so-called _Greek_ Church (i.
e. _Byzantine_ Catholics); about 7,000,000 _Roman_ Catholics
(chiefly Poles); and upwards of 3,000,000 Protestants (Germans
and Tshúds).
Relative proportion of the dominant race to the other races in
the Russian dominions:--Slávs to non Slávs, as 29 to 6, or 4·8 to
1: Russians to non-Russians, as 7 to 3, or 2·3 to 1.
No other state in Europe possesses so numerous a population belonging
to one nation. Even France contains but 32,000,000 of Frenchmen
out of 35,000,000 or 36,000,000 of inhabitants; and Great Britain
about 19,000,000 of Englishmen out of 30,000,000 of inhabitants. The
36,000,000 inhabitants of Great Russia speak identically the same
language, from the highest classes to the lowest, from the Emperor
to the peasant. The dialects of the White Russians and of 7,000,000
of Little Russians are slightly different, but still comprehensible.
To this complete unity of language must be added, among the Great
Russians, the most surprising uniformity of manners and customs.
Another still more important element of political strength is the
unity of the Russian Church. This unity is complete amongst the
Little Russians and Ruthenians, a few of the latter only being in
communion with the Church of Rome. The Great Russians are divided
by a schism, but the Staroverzi (or members of the old faith) have
seceded from the Established Church, not on the grounds of doctrine,
but of ceremonial usages.
Although the first Russian empire, which was governed by Rurik, was
founded by Normans (the Varangians), who must have introduced into
Russia the fundamental Germanic institutions and the principles of
the feudal system, this system never took root amongst the Sclavonian
population. On the contrary, all the popular institutions of Russia
assumed the patriarchal character, which is peculiarly adapted to
the Sclavonian race, and especially to the Russian people, which in
this respect _closely resembles the ancient nations of the East_.
The social organization of Russia forms in all its relations and
degrees an uninterrupted scale of hierarchy, every step of which
rests on some patriarchal power. The father is the absolute sovereign
of the family, which cannot exist without him. If the father dies,
the eldest son takes his place and exercises the full paternal
authority. The property of the family is common to all the males
belonging to it, but the father or his representative can alone
dispose of it. Next comes the village or township, which is like
an enlarged family, governed by an elected father or starost. This
starost is elected for three years. His power is absolute, and he is
obeyed without restriction. All the inhabited and cultivated lands
of the village are held in common as undivided property. No portion
is ceded as private property. The starost divides the fruits or
profits of the whole amongst them. So, again, all these villages or
townships form the nation; a nation of men equal among themselves,
and equally subject to the chief of the empire and the race--the
Czar. The authority of the Czar is absolute, like the obedience of
his subjects. Any restriction on the authority of the Czar appears
to a true Russian as a monstrous contradiction. “Who can limit the
power or the rights of a father?” says the Russian; “he holds them,
not from us, who are his children, nor from any man, but from God,
to whom he will one day answer for them.” The mere form of words,
“It is ordered,” has a magical effect on the Russians. They pay the
same respect to the agents of the government, whom they regard as the
servants of the Czar, and to all their superiors. A Russian calls
_batiouschka_--_little papa_--not only his father or an old man, but
the starost, or any of his superiors. The Emperor himself is never
addressed by the people by any other name. An old serf will call his
master “little papa,” even though he should be a child of ten years
old.
In Russia there is no national or domestic association which has not
its centre, its unity, its chief, its father, its master. A chief is
absolutely indispensable to the existence of Russians. They choose
another father when they lose their own. The starost is elected to
be unconditionally obeyed. This must be well understood in order to
comprehend the true position of the Czar. The Russian nation is like
a hive of bees, which absolutely require a queen-bee. In Russia the
Czar is not the delegate of the people, nor the first servant of the
state, nor the legal owner of the soil, nor even a sovereign by the
grace of God. He is at once the unity, the chief, and the father of
his people. He does not govern by right of office, but, as it were,
by the ties of blood, recognised by the whole nation. This feeling is
as natural to the whole population as that of their own existence,
insomuch that the Czar can never do wrong. Whatever happens, the
people always think him right. Any restriction on his power, even
to the extent of one of the German Diets, would be considered in
Russia an absurd chimera. The Czar Ivan IV. committed the most cruel
actions, but the people remained faithful to him, and loved him all
the more. To this day he is the hero of the popular ballads and
legends of the country. When the Czar Ivan the Terrible, weary of
governing, sought to abdicate, the Russians flung themselves at his
feet to entreat him to remain on the throne.
The feeling of the Russians is not so much one of deep attachment to
their country as of ardent patriotism. Their country, the country of
their ancestors, the Holy Russia, the people fraternally united under
the sceptre of the Czar, the communion of faith, the ancient and
sacred monuments of the realm, the tombs of their forefathers--all
form a whole which excites and enraptures the mind of the Russians.
They consider their country as a sort of kinsmanship to which they
address the terms of familiar endearment. God, the Czar, and the
priest, are all called “Father,”--the Church is their “Mother,” and
the empire is always called “Holy Mother Russia.” The capital of the
empire is “Holy Mother Moscow,” and the Volga “Mother Volga.” Even
the high road from Moscow to Vladimir is called “our dear mother the
high road to Vladimir.” But above all, Moscow, the holy mother of the
land, is the centre of Russian history and tradition, to which all
the inhabitants of the empire devote their love and veneration. Every
Russian entertains all his life long the desire to visit one day the
great city, to see the towers of its holy churches, and to pray on
the tombs of the patron saints of Russia. “Mother Moscow” has already
suffered and given her blood for Russia, as all the Russian people
are ready to do for her.
There is not in Europe any nobility which possesses such large
fortunes, (?) such vast personal privileges, such _liberties_, (??)
such political rights in the internal administration of the empire,
(???) or so much physical power as the Russian aristocracy. The
nobles possess in absolute property more than one-half of the lands
under tillage. More than half the population of Russia Proper, that
is, more than 12,000,000 of souls, which means more than 24,000,000
of heads, are not only their subjects, but their serfs.
It must be understood that in Russian rent-rolls the term “souls”
means exclusively the males on an estate. In every valuation of the
agricultural population, however, the unity taken is the Tiéglo of
two souls, or, more exactly, five persons; the women and younger
children being included.
The class of Russian serfs, or _mougiks_, represents, according to
M. Leouzon le Duc, no less than one-twentieth part of mankind. It
exceeds the whole population of France or Austria, and is computed
to amount to no less than forty millions of human beings. The
condition of these serfs differs in no material respect from that
of the negro slaves of the United States, for the law holds them
to be absolutely disqualified from possessing property; all they
may earn or hold is really the property of their lord, and at his
mercy. The Russian landlord is armed with a power which even the
American planter does not possess. He is bound to feed the terrible
conscription of the army, year by year, with an aliquot part of his
own peasants. The rule of the Russian army is twenty-five years’
duty. The power of drafting off particular men into the army amounts
to an absolute control over their existence. The body of the serf is
equally subject to every caprice of the master, and the use of the
whip is universal. The virtue of the female serf is in his power,
and it is considered an honor among the Russian peasantry to reckon
the adulterous offspring of their master amongst their own. The law
itself precludes all redress, for the _Swod_ expressly enacts that,
“if any serf, forgetting the obedience he owes to his lord, presents
a denunciation against him, and especially if he presents such a
denunciation to the Emperor, he shall be handed over to justice, and
treated with all the rigor of the laws--he, and the scribe who may
have drawn up his memorial.” We cannot conceive in any country or any
age a more complete annihilation of human independence, or a more
total degradation of human society.
The pay of the Russian army in all ranks is wretchedly small. The
common soldier receives about $7 50 a year; a lieutenant-general
about $850; a colonel, $500; a captain from $250 to $300.
THE PROGRESS OF RUSSIA.
There is something really grand and imposing in the steady march of
Russian dominion, since Peter the Great first consolidated his empire
into a substantive state.
On his accession, in 1689, its western boundary was in longitude 30
degrees, and its southern in latitude 42 degrees; these have now been
pushed to longitude 18 degrees and latitude 39 degrees respectively.
Russia had then no access to any European sea; her only ports were
Archangel in the Frozen Ocean, and Astrakhan on the Caspian: she has
now access both to the Baltic and the Euxine. Her population, mainly
arising from increase of territory, has augmented thus:--
At the accession of Peter the Great, in 1689, it was 15,000,000; at
the accession of Catharine the Second, in 1752, it was 25,000,000; at
the accession of Paul, in 1796, it was 36,000,000; at the accession
of Nicholas, in 1825, it was 58,000,000.
By the treaty of Neustadt in 1721, and by a subsequent treaty in
1809, she acquired more than the kingdom of Sweden, and the command
of the Gulf of Finland, from which before she was excluded.
By the three partitions of Poland in 1772, 1793, and 1795, and by the
arrangements of 1815, she acquired territory nearly equal in extent
to the whole Austrian Empire. By various wars and treaties with
Turkey, in 1794, 1783, and 1812, she robbed her of territories equal
in extent to all that remains of her European dominions, and acquired
the command of the Black Sea.
Between 1800 and 1814, she acquired from Persia districts at least as
large as the whole of England; from Tartary, a territory which ranges
over thirty degrees of longitude. During this period of 150 years,
she has advanced her frontier 500 miles towards Constantinople,
630 miles towards Stockholm, 700 miles towards Berlin and Vienna,
and 1000 miles towards Teheran, Cabool, and Calcutta. One only
acquisition she has not yet made, though steadily pushing towards
it, earnestly desiring it, and feeling it to be essential to the
completion of her vast designs and the satisfaction of her natural
and consistent ambition, namely,--the possession of Constantinople
and Roumelia,--which would give her the most admirable harbors and
the command of the Levant, and would enable her to overlap, surround,
menace, and embarrass all the rest of Europe.
NICHOLAS, THE REIGNING CZAR.
Nicholas Paulovitch, the son of Paul the First and Maria Feodorowna,
is the fifteenth sovereign of the Romanoff dynasty. He is of a great
height, and is very proud of it. His air is serious, his glance
wild, even a little savage; his entire physiognomy has something
hard and stern in it. The Emperor never shows himself but in the
military costume, the stiffness of which is in perfect keeping with
his tastes, and which makes his great height still more conspicuous.
His face and whole deportment are noble and commanding. He speaks
with vivacity, with simplicity, and the most perfect propriety; all
he says is full of point and meaning,--no idle pleasantry, not a
word out of its place. There is nothing in the tone of his voice
or the arrangement of his phrases that indicates haughtiness or
dissimulation, and yet every one feels that his heart is closed, and
its deep secrets studiously concealed.
Nicholas has a boundless delight in seeing his soldiers, and in
reviewing them. He is unsurpassed for the skill and despatch with
which he passes numerous regiments in review, in the Place of Arms,
at St. Petersburg. Woe to the poor soldier who shall be convicted of
a button badly fastened, or a buckle out of its place! The eagle eye
of the Emperor will search in the very thickest part of the ranks for
infractions of this description, and his inflexibility is known. He
is, nevertheless, a timid rider, and travels by drosky or sledge, in
preference to horseback.
The Emperor leads a life of restless and incessant activity. Morning,
noon, and night, he is engaged in the public business brought beneath
his notice from the different sections of the various departments. In
private life he is free from immoralities, and sets a worthy example
of conjugal fidelity to all his subjects.
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 Sclavonic. His carriage and his
attitude are naturally imposing. He expects always to be gazed at,
and never for a moment forgets that he is so.
In Poland, as well as Siberia, incredible cruelties have been
committed in the name of Nicholas and his command. The way in which
he is striving to Russianize that once free country, will appear from
the following extract from the “Russian Catechism of Poland,” taught
to Polish children.
“Question 1.--How is the authority of the Emperor to be considered,
in reference to the spirit of Christianity?
“Answer.--As proceeding immediately from God.
“Question 17.--What are the supernaturally revealed motives for this
worship (_i. e._ of the Emperor)?
“Answer.--The supernaturally revealed motives are, that the Emperor
is the vice-regent and minister of God to execute the divine
commands, and, consequently, disobedience to the Emperor is
identical with disobedience to God himself; that God will reward us
in the world to come, for the worship and obedience we render the
Emperor, and punish us severely to all eternity should we disobey
or neglect to worship him. Moreover, God commands us to love and
obey from the inmost recesses of the heart every authority, and
particularly the Emperor, not from worldly considerations, but from
apprehensions of the final judgment.”
The Empress of Russia, Alexandra, is the daughter of Louisa, the
queen of Prussia, and sister to the now reigning King of Prussia.
She was born July 13th, 1798. Ever since the accession of Nicholas
she has been suffering from an ill state of health, necessitating
frequent travelling and change of air. She is said to have always
exercised a beneficial influence over her husband, by tempering his
passion and his excesses. Though she does not possess any superior
qualities, the atmosphere in which she lives has not been able to
efface the good principles which she imbibed in the Court of Prussia.
The countenance of the Empress is represented to be mild, radiant,
and benignant, resembling in its sweetness of expression that of a
ministering angel. The late Marquis of Londonderry, in his “Tour in
the North of Europe,” says--“The indescribable majesty of deportment
and fascinating grace that mark this illustrious personage are
very peculiar. Celebrated as are all the females connected with
the lamented and beautiful Queen of Prussia, there is none of them
more bewitching in manner than the Empress of Russia; nor is there
existing, according to all reports, so excellent and perfect a
being.”