Nicholas Pavlovitch triumphed over two military revolts;
then, as if the twelve days’ interregnum had not existed, he
dated his reign from the 1st of December, 1825, the day of
Alexander’s death. During the first ten or twelve years of his
reign embarrassments of every kind, followed hard upon one
another. These embarrassments were foreign war, first with
Persia, and next with Turkey; the enmity of Austria whilst this
latter struggle was going on; the abandonment of the Russian
alliance by France, in consequence of the revolution of July,
1830; the insurrection of Poland; the epidemic of Asiatic
cholera in 1831 and the popular riots to which this scourge
gave rise, especially in St. Petersburg; a revolt in the heart
of the military colonies; a famine which desolated the southern
provinces during the years 1834 and 1835; the fires at Åbo,
Tula, Kazan, and at last (December, 1837) at the emperor’s own
residence, the Winter Palace. But all these cruel trials did
not daunt the courage of the new autocrat; they served only to
bring out the firmness of his mind and the strong cast of his
character.--SCHNITZLER.[c]
THE INTERREGNUM
[Sidenote: [1825-1855 A.D.]]
After the 24th of November, 1825, Adjutant-general Diebitsch had begun to
send information to Warsaw of the illness of the emperor Alexander, by
means of letters addressed to General Kuruta. The first courier, bearing
this alarming news, arrived at Warsaw on the 1st of December in the
evening of the very day of the emperor Alexander’s death.
The czarevitch Constantine Pavlovitch did not conceal the painful
presentiment that took possession of him, and wrote to Baron Diebitsch
the same day in the following terms: “In spite of all the consolations
expressed in your letter, I cannot rid myself of the painful impression
it has produced on me. I tell you frankly that if I were to obey the
dictates of my heart I should set off and come to you. But unfortunately
my duties and my position do not permit me to give way to these natural
sentiments.”
The grand duke Michael Pavlovitch was at that time at Warsaw, and
the czarevitch hid even from him and Princess Lovitch the alarming
letters that he received from Taganrog. “I do not speak to you of the
condition of mind in which I now find myself,” wrote the czarevitch to
Adjutant-general Diebitsch on the 5th of December, “for you know only too
well of my devotion and sincere attachment to the best of brothers and
monarchs to doubt them. My position is rendered all the more painful
from the fact that, the emperor’s illness is only known to me and my old
friend Kuruta and my doctor; the news has not yet reached here, so that
in society I have to appear calm, although there is no such calmness in
my soul. My wife and brother do not suspect anything, so that I had to
invent an explanation for the arrival of your first messenger, which I
shall have to do again to-day. If I were to obey only the suggestions of
my heart of course I should have been with you long ago, but you will
naturally understand what hinders me.”
[Sidenote: [1825 A.D.]]
Meanwhile couriers continued to follow upon each others’ heels and
finally on December 7th, at seven in the evening, the czarevitch received
the fatal intelligence of the death of his brother. The report of
Adjutant-general Diebitsch did not shake the czarevitch’s decision as to
the question of the succession to the throne, and he then said to the
grand duke Michael Pavlovitch, “Now the solemn moment has come to show
that my previous mode of action was not a mask, and to terminate the
matter with the same firmness with which it was commenced. My intentions
and my determinations have not changed one iota, and my will to renounce
the throne is more unchangeable than ever.”
Summoning the persons of his entourage and informing them of the loss
that had overtaken Russia, the czarevitch read them his correspondence
with the emperor Alexander in 1822 and ordered that letters to the
empress Marie Feodorovna, and to the grand duke Nicholas Pavlovitch,
should be prepared, stating that he ceded his rights to the succession
to the throne to his younger brother, by virtue of the rescript of the
emperor Alexander of the 14th of February, 1822. The czarevitch here used
the expression “cede the throne to the grand duke Nicholas Pavlovitch,”
because he knew nothing of the existence of the state act which as long
ago as 1824 had invested this cession with the power of a law. Such were
the misapprehensions with which was accompanied Alexander’s secret and
evasive manner of action in regard to the question of the succession.
Meanwhile what was taking place in St. Petersburg? The news of the death
of the emperor Alexander was received in the capital only on December
9th, during prayers which were being said for the recovery of the emperor
in the church of the Winter Palace. The circumstances are thus narrated
by the empress Elizabeth Alexievna herself:
On the 9th inst. at the termination of the liturgy, when prayers for the
health of the emperor had already commenced, his highness was called out
from the sacristy by Count Miloradovitch and informed by him that all
was over. His imperial highness became faint, but recovering himself
he returned with Doctor Rule to the sacristy. The empress was on her
knees and being already prepared by the grand duke’s prolonged absence,
and guessing her lot from his face she grew faint; meanwhile the priest
presented the cross to her, and as she kissed it she lost consciousness.
His imperial highness, turning to his wife, said to her “Take care of our
mother, and I will go and do my duty.” With these words he entered the
church, ordered that a reading desk should be brought in, and took the
oath of allegiance to his beloved brother and emperor, Constantine, which
he ratified by his signature; some others who happened to be there also
subscribed to the same: they were the minister of war Tatistchev, General
Kutusov, the general in waiting Potapov, and all the others who were
present.
Then he presented himself before the Preobrajenski regiment that was
on guard in the palace (the company of his majesty’s grenadiers),
and informed them of the emperor’s death and proclaimed Constantine
emperor. The grenadiers received the announcement with tears, and
immediately took the oath of allegiance. After this his imperial highness
commissioned the general in waiting, Potapov, to inform the chief and all
the other guards of what had taken place and to bring them from their
posts to take the oath, which was done without delay and with sorrow and
zeal; meanwhile General Neitgart was sent to the Nevski monastery, where
were all the general officers of the guards’ corps, with the proposal to
General Voinov to do the same throughout all the regiments of the guards.
Finally similar announcements and instructions were sent to all the
regiments and detachments in both the city and its environs.
Meanwhile the council of the state had assembled and opened its sitting
by the proposal to break the seals of the envelope which contained the
will of the late emperor. Some discussion arose, and finally it was
decided to unseal the packet, in order to learn the last will of the czar.
In the act was drawn up the renunciation of the throne by the czarevitch
and the nomination of the grand duke Nicholas as the emperor’s heir.
Some discussion again arose upon this question, but it was cut short by
the suggestion that his highness should be invited into the presence of
the council. Count Miloradovitch replied that his highness had already
taken the oath and that in any case he considered it unfitting that his
highness should be called, or should come to the council, but offered to
bring all this to his knowledge and to ask that they might be allowed to
come to him in order to report all that had taken place; this was done
and the grand duke replied that he could not hinder their coming.
[Illustration: NICHOLAS I
(1796-1855)]
When the members of the council presented themselves before the grand
duke he informed them that the contents of the act had long been known
to him, namely since July 25th, 1819, but that in no case would he dare
to occupy the place of his elder brother, from whose supreme will his
lot depended, and that holding it as a sacred obligation most humbly to
obey him in all things, he had therefore taken the oath and felt entirely
certain that the council, having in view the welfare of the state, would
follow his example.
The council followed his highness into the church and at his request took
the oath before him; they were then introduced by him into the presence
of the empress mother, who was pleased to inform them that the act and
its content were known to her, and were made with her maternal consent,
but that she also was enthusiastic over her son’s conduct. Confirming
all his actions she requested the council by their united endeavours to
preserve the tranquillity of the empire.
In accordance with the measures taken, by three o’clock in the afternoon
the troops as well as all grades of officials in the government service
had taken the oath confirming the accession to the throne of the emperor
Constantine. During the whole time tranquillity and order were preserved.
It is easy to imagine the astonishment and vexation of the czarevitch
when, instead of receiving the expected commands of the new emperor,
he was informed that all Russia had taken the oath of allegiance to him
as lawful sovereign, and that the will of the late emperor had not been
fulfilled.
Meanwhile early in the morning of December 15th the grand duke Michael
Pavlovitch arrived in St. Petersburg with letters from the czarevitch.
To the amazement of the court and the inhabitants, the grand duke did
not follow the general example of swearing fidelity to the emperor
Constantine. He did not conceal his regret at what had taken place in
St. Petersburg, nor the apprehension with which the necessity of a new
oath filled him. He dwelt on the difficulty of explaining to the public
why the place of the elder brother to whom allegiance had already been
sworn should suddenly be taken by the younger. The grand duke Nicholas
in answer to his brother repeated what he had already said, that he
could not have acted otherwise in such a position as that in which he
was placed by his ignorance of the sacred acts of the late emperor, and
that neither his conscience nor his reason reproached him. “Everything,
however,” added he, “might yet be amended and take a more favourable turn
if the czarevitch himself were to come to St. Petersburg; his obstinacy
in remaining at Warsaw may occasion disasters, the possibility of which I
do not deny, but of which in all probability I shall myself be the first
victim.”
After long deliberation the grand duke Nicholas decided to write a fresh
persuasive letter to the emperor Constantine, in which he asked him to
decide finally what his fate was to be; and in conclusion he wrote, “In
God’s name, come.” The empress Marie Feodorovna added her persuasions to
those of her son, and not satisfied with these measures it was decided a
few days later to despatch the grand duke Michael to Warsaw to convince
the czarevitch of the necessity of his presence in St. Petersburg.
An answer from the czarevitch to the grand duke Nicholas’ letter
dated the 14th of December was brought to St. Petersburg by Lazarev,
aid-de-camp to Nicholas: “Your aide-de-camp, dear Nicholas, on his
arrival here, confided your letter to me with all exactitude. I read
it with the deepest grief and sorrow. My decision is unalterable and
consecrated by my late benefactor the emperor and sovereign. Your
invitation to come quickly cannot be accepted by me, and I must tell you
that I shall remove myself yet further away, if all is not arranged in
accordance with the will of our late emperor. Your faithful and sincere
friend and brother for life.” But even this letter did not decide the
matter; the return of Belussov from Warsaw with the answer to the grand
duke Nicholas’ letter of December 15th had yet to be awaited.
A new complication remained to be added to all these difficulties. On
December 24th there came to St. Petersburg and presented himself to the
grand duke Nicholas, Colonel Baron Fredericks of the Izmailovski Life
Guards, who had fulfilled the functions of commandant in Taganrog. He
brought to the grand duke a packet from Baron Diebitsch addressed to his
imperial majesty, to be given into his own hands. To the question as to
whether he knew of the contents of the packet, Fredericks replied in the
negative, but added that as the place of residence of the emperor was
unknown in Taganrog, exactly the same paper had been sent also to Warsaw.
Nothing therefore remained for Nicholas to do but to open the mysterious
packet and “at the first rapid glance over its contents,” writes Baron
Korv, “an inexpressible horror took possession of him.” It was on reading
the report contained in this packet that the grand duke first learned of
the existence of secret societies formed with the object of destroying
to the very roots the tranquillity of the empire. The existence of
these societies had been carefully hidden from him by the late emperor
Alexander.
Almost immediately thereafter the courier Belussov returned from
Warsaw with the czarevitch’s decisive answer, which put an end to the
interregnum. Nicholas Pavlovitch was emperor. At nine o’clock in the
evening the emperor sent the following postscript to Adjutant-general
Diebitsch:
The decisive courier has returned; by the morning of the day
after to-morrow I shall be emperor or else dead. I sacrifice
myself for my brother; happy if as a subject I fulfil his
will. But how will it be with Russia? What about the army?
General Tolle is here and I shall send him to Mohilev to bear
the news to Count Saken. I am looking out for a trustworthy
person for the same commission to Tultchin and to Ermolov. In
a word, I hope to be worthy of my calling, not in fear and
mistrustfulness, but in the hope that even as I fulfil my
duty so will others fulfil their duty to me. But if anywhere
anything is brewing and you hear of it, I authorise you to go
at once where your presence is necessary. I rely entirely upon
you and give you leave beforehand to take all the measures
you deem necessary. The day after to-morrow if I am alive I
will send you, I do not know by whom, information as to how
matters have passed off; on your part do not leave me without
news of how everything is going on around you, especially with
Ermolov. I again repeat that here until now everything is
incomprehensibly quiet, but calm often precedes a storm. Enough
of this, God’s will be done! In me there must only be seen the
vicar and executor of the late emperor’s will and therefore
I am ready for everything. I shall ever be your sincere well
wisher,
NICHOLAS.
THE ACCESSION OF NICHOLAS
The czarevitch’s decisive answer was brought by Belussov, not through
Riga, but by the Brest-Lithuani road; and therefore the grand duke
Michael Pavlovitch was still in ignorance of the events at Nennal. The
emperor Nicholas immediately sent an express after him commanding him to
hasten to St. Petersburg. The return of the grand duke to the capital
where his presence was of urgent necessity was thus by chance delayed.
Nicholas had now to occupy himself with the composition of his manifesto;
the inexplicable had to be explained and it presented a task of no
little difficulty: Karamzin and Speranski were set to work upon it.
The emperor Nicholas signed the manifesto on the 25th of December, but
dated it the 24th, as the day on which the question of his accession had
been definitely settled by the czarevitch. It was proposed to keep the
manifesto secret until the arrival of the grand duke Michael, but it was
decided that the troops should take the oath of allegiance on the 26th of
December; meanwhile notifications were sent to the members of the council
of state, calling upon them to assemble on Sunday, December 25th, at
eight in the evening, for a general secret meeting.
When the council of state had assembled at the hour designated, Prince
Sopukhin announced that the grand duke Michael would be present at the
sitting. The hours passed in anxious expectation; midnight approached
and the expected arrival of the grand duke did not take place. Then
Nicholas decided to be present at the sitting alone. Taking the place of
the president, Nicholas himself began to read the manifesto announcing
his acceptance of the imperial dignity in consequence of the persisted
rejection of it by the czarevitch Constantine Pavlovitch. Then the
emperor ordered that the czarevitch’s rescript, addressed to Prince
Sopukhin, president of the council, should be read. The 26th of December,
1825, had come. Commands had been issued that on that day all persons
having access to the court should assemble at the Winter Palace for a _Te
Deum_; eleven o’clock was the hour first named, but this was afterwards
changed to two. Circumstances arose, however, which postponed the _Te
Deum_ to a still later hour. The members of the secret society decided
to take advantage of the end of the interregnum and the approach of the
new oath of allegiance in order to incite the troops to rebellion and to
overthrow the existing order of things in Russia. The secrecy in which
the negotiations with Russia had been enveloped had given occasion for
various rumours and suppositions, and for the spread of false reports
which occasioned alarm in society and especially in the barracks: all
this favoured the undertakings and designs of the conspirators.
The only issue from the position that had been created by Nicholas in
a moment of chivalrous enthusiasm “undoubtedly noble, but perhaps not
entirely wise,” would have been the arrival of the grand duke Constantine
in the capital with the object of publicly and solemnly proclaiming his
renunciation of the throne. But the czarevitch flatly refused to employ
this means of extricating his brother from the difficult position in
which he placed himself; Constantine considered that it was not for him
to suffer from the consequences of an imprudence which was not his, and
the danger of which might have been averted if matters had not been
hurried on, and if he had been previously applied to for advice and
instructions. Thus led into error, some of the lower ranks of the guards’
regiments refused to take the oath of allegiance to Nicholas Pavlovitch,
and assembled at the Pelrovski square, before the senate buildings,
appearing as though they were the defenders of the lawful rights of the
czarevitch Constantine to the throne.
Meanwhile distinguished persons of both sexes began to drive up to the
Winter Palace. Amidst the general stir and movement going on in the
palace, there sat isolated and immoveable three magnates, “like three
monuments,” writes Karamzin: Prince Lopukhin, Count Araktcheiev, and
Prince A. B. Kurakin. At the time when the military men had already
gone out on the square, Count Araktcheiev, as might have been expected,
preferred to remain in the palace. “It was pitiful to look at him,”
writes V. R. Martchenko in his _Mémoires_.
The rioters were stubborn for a long time and would not yield to
exhortation; Count Miloradovitch fell mortally wounded. It began to grow
dusk. Then the emperor Nicholas, at last convinced of the impossibility
of pacifying the rioters without bloodshed, gave orders with a breaking
heart for the artillery to fire. A few grape-shot decided the fate of the
day; the rioters were dispersed, and tranquillity at once reigned in the
capital.
The _Te Deum_ announced could take place only at half past six. The
troops bivouacked round the palace. “Dear, dear Constantine,” wrote the
emperor the same evening to the czarevitch, “your will is fulfilled: I
am emperor, but at what price, my God!--at the price of the blood of my
subjects.” Arrests were made during that night and investigations pursued
to discover the leaders of the revolt. And thus in the troubles of the
26th of December, the 1st of December, 1825, was terribly recalled.
“The day was one of misfortune for Russia,” writes Prince Viasenski,
“and the epoch which it signalised in such a bloody manner was an awful
judgment for deeds, opinions, and ideas, rooted in the past and governing
the present.” According to the words of Karamzin, on that day Russia
was saved from a calamity “which, if it had not destroyed her, would
certainly have torn her to pieces.” “If I am emperor even for an hour, I
will show that I was worthy of it”; thus spoke Nicholas on the morning of
December 26th to the commanders of the guard regiments assembled at the
Winter Palace; and on that awful day he triumphantly justified his first
and impressive words.
TRIAL OF THE CONSPIRATORS (1826 A.D.)
[Sidenote: [1826 A.D.]]
The emperor Nicholas gave all possible publicity to the proceedings
against the secret societies, the Southern, Northern, the United
Slavonians, and the Polish; then the whole matter was transferred to
the supreme criminal court, which had to pronounce sentence on the
principal participators in the conspiracy. Of the accused, Rileeks,
Muraviev-Alostob, Bestuzhev-Riumin, Pesteb, and Kakhovski were condemned
to death, and the remaining members of the secret societies brought
before the court were exiled to Siberia or other places of incarceration.
No one had expected such a termination to the affair. During the whole
of Alexander’s reign there had not been one case of capital punishment,
and it was looked upon as entirely abolished. “It is impossible to
describe in words the horror and despair which have taken possession of
all,” writes a contemporary and eye witness of the events of 1826 in
Moscow. This frame of mind was reflected in the coronation ceremonies.
The emperor Nicholas appeared extremely gloomy; the future seemed more
sad and fuller of anxiety than ever; all was in sharp contrast to the
enthusiasm and hopes that had accompanied the coronation of Alexander in
1801.
THE CORONATION OF NICHOLAS (1826 A.D.)
Immediately after the termination of the trial of the Dekabrists, the
court proceeded to Moscow for the approaching coronation, which took
place on the 3rd of September. Previously the emperor was rejoiced at the
unexpected arrival of the grand duke Constantine Pavlovitch. According
to Benkendorf “the czarevitch’s appearance was a brilliant public
testimony of his submission to the new emperor and of his conscientious
renunciation of the throne; it was at the same time a precious pledge of
the harmony which bound together all the members of the reigning family,
a harmony conducive to the peace of the empire. The public was delighted
and the _corps diplomatique_ completely astounded. The people expressed
their satisfaction to the czarevitch by unanimous acclamations, whilst
the dignitaries of the state surrounded him with marks of respectful
veneration.”
The day of the coronation was signalised by an important reform in
the administration of the court; the ministry of the imperial court
was created, and confided to Prince P. M. Volkonski. Thus the old and
tried companion of the emperor Alexander I again occupied the post
of a trusty dignitary by the side of his successor. Prince Volkonski
remained minister of the court until his decease, which took place in
1852. Amongst the favours and the mitigations of punishments which were
granted on the 3rd of September, the state criminals who had lately
been condemned were not forgotten; by special ukases the sentences of
all those sent to the galleys, to penal settlements, and hard labour
were mitigated. Those who had been sent to the Siberian, Orenburg, and
Caucasian garrisons, both with and without deprivation of the rights of
nobility, were enrolled in the regiments of the Caucasian corps.
During the emperor’s stay in Moscow, the poet Pushkin, who had been
banished to the village of Mikhailovski, was recalled. From that moment
he regained his lost liberty, besides which the emperor Nicholas said to
him: “In future you are to send me all you write--henceforth I will be
your censor.”
CHANGES IN INTERNAL ADMINISTRATION
On the 18th of October, 1826, the emperor Nicholas returned to St.
Petersburg; although his accession to the throne did not constitute the
opening of a new era for Russia, yet certain changes were made in the
system of administration which had prevailed during the last decade of
the reign of Alexander I. After Count Araktcheiev had been relieved of
the management of the general affairs of the state, it was to be foreseen
that he would not remain long at the head of the direction of the
military settlements. And thus it turned out. In the spring of 1826 Count
Araktcheiev, on account of illness, was given leave to go abroad. In the
report presented by him on this occasion to the emperor he announced
to him economies of more than 32,000,000 rubles made on the military
settlements, and concluded his epistle by observing, “Those impartial
judges--posterity and the future--will pronounce a just sentence on all
things.”
On the return of Count Araktcheiev in the autumn from his travels abroad
he did not again take up his duties. In accordance with a ukase which
then followed, the staff office of the military settlements was united
to the general staff of his imperial majesty, under the jurisdiction
of its adjutant-general Baron Diebitsch. At the same time the Novgorod
military settlement passed under the entire direction of General Prince
Schahovski, who was nominated commander of the grenadier corps; the
Kherson and Iekaterinoslav settlements were put under the supervision of
their chief, Count Vitt (who was also commander of a separate corps),
while the settlements in the villages of the Ukraine and Mohilev
governments remained under the jurisdiction of their former chiefs, who
bore the rank of commanders of divisions. Count Araktcheiev, when he
had finally bidden adieu to his administrative career, settled on his
Georgian estates, where he died in 1834.
Having delivered Russia from the administrative guardianship of Count
Araktcheiev, the emperor Nicholas, in addition, delivered Russian
instruction from the influence of Michael Leontievitch Magnitzki. On
the 18th of May, 1826, a ukase was issued in which it was stated that
“the curator of the University of Kazan and of its educational district,
the actual councillor of state Magnitzki, is by our command relieved
of his functions and of his position as member of the administration
of schools.” But the matter was not limited to this ukase. Magnitzki
continued to live in Kazan and in accordance with his character he
continued to intrigue as usual and indirectly to influence the university
he had left. General Jeltukhin, who had been commissioned to make a
detailed revision of the Kazan University, brought this fact to the
emperor’s knowledge. Nicholas’ reply was rapid and decisive; a courier
was sent with orders to the governor to arrest Magnitzki and send him to
Revel under the surveillance of the commandant. Magnitzki lived there six
years, having given his promise not to absent himself.
An equally sad fate overtook the champion and imitator of Magnitzki,
Dmitri Pavlovitch Runitch, who had filled the office of curator of the
St. Petersburg educational district. By a ukase of the 7th of July, 1826,
Runitch was deprived of his functions and of the position of member of
the chief administration of schools, for his incompetence in the matter
of the direction of the St. Petersburg educational district. The requital
experienced by Runitch for his educational labours was a terrible one; he
languished beneath the consequences for sixteen years and died in 1860 in
the conviction that he had formerly saved Russia, and was suffering for
the good work he had accomplished in the University of St. Petersburg.
_Reforms in the Administration of Justice_
The lamentable condition of the administration of justice in Russia was
one of the first subjects to which the careful attention of the emperor
Nicholas was directed. In a speech pronounced by the sovereign many years
later, in 1833, before the council of state, Nicholas Pavlovitch thus
expressed himself:
“From my very accession to the throne I was obliged to turn my attention
to various administrative matters, of which I had scarcely any notion.
The chief subject that occupied me was naturally legislation. Even
from my early youth I had constantly heard of our deficiencies in this
respect, of chicanery, of extortion, of the insufficiency of the existing
laws or of their admixture through the extraordinary number of ukases
which were not infrequently in contradiction to one another. This incited
me from the very first days of my reign to examine into the state of the
commission appointed for the constitution of the laws. To my regret, the
information presented to me proved to me that its labours had remained
almost fruitless. It was not difficult to discover the cause of this: the
deficient results proceeded chiefly from the fact that the commission
always directed its attention to the formation of new laws, when in
reality the old ones should have been established on a firm foundation.
This inspired me above all with a desire to establish a definite aim
towards which the government must direct its actions in the matter of
legislation; from the methods proposed to me I selected one in entire
opposition to the former methods of reform. Instead of drawing up new
laws, I commanded that first those which already existed should be
collected and set in order, whilst I took the matter itself, on account
of its great importance, under my own immediate direction and closed the
previous commission.”
[Illustration: MARRIED WOMAN OF VALDAI]
With this object was formed and opened on the 6th of May, 1826,
the “second section of his imperial majesty’s own chancery.” M. A.
Balongianski was appointed chief of the second section, but in reality
the work itself was confided to Speranski. The emperor’s choice rested
on the latter, out of necessity, as he did not find anyone more capable
around him. When Balongianski was appointed chief of the second section,
the emperor, in conversing with his former tutor, said to him, speaking
of Speranski: “See that he does not play any pranks, as in 1810.”
Nevertheless, in proportion to Speranski’s successful accomplishment
of the work confided to him, the emperor Nicholas’ prejudices against
him gradually softened and finally gave way to sincere favour and full
confidence. All the accusations and calumnies directed against Speranski
were, in accordance with the emperor’s own expression, “scattered like
dust.”
Thus the emperor Nicholas in his almost involuntary choice was favoured
by a peculiarly fortunate chance and could hardly have found a person
better fitted for the accomplishment of the work he had planned. The
results of Speranski’s fresh efforts, under completely different
circumstances from those against which he had formerly contended, were
the “complete collection of laws,” and a systematic code.
Even before the termination of the trial of the Dekabrists, the emperor
Nicholas took another important measure, which left an imprint on all the
succeeding years of his reign and is directly connected with the events
of the 26th of December. On the 15th of July, 1826, a supreme edict was
issued in the name of the minister of the interior Lanskoi, by which the
private chancery of that ministry was abolished and transformed into the
third section of his imperial majesty’s own chancery. In fulfilment of
this ukase, it was prescribed that the governors of provinces, in matters
which entered within the sphere of the former division, should no longer
present their reports to the ministry of the interior, but should submit
them directly to his majesty.
[Illustration: A WOMAN (SAILOR) OF THE NOGAI TRIBE]
Some days before, on the emperor Nicholas’ birthday, the 6th of July, a
supreme order appeared naming the chief of the first cuirassier division,
Adjutant-general Benkendorf, chief of the gendarmerie and commandant
of the emperor’s headquarters; to him was confided the direction of
the third section. Adjutant-general Benkendorf explains in his memoirs
in the following manner the reasons for establishing the institution
confided to his direction: “The emperor Nicholas aimed at the extirpation
of the abuses that had crept into many branches of the administration,
and was convinced by the sudden discovery of the conspiracy which had
stained the first moments of the new reign with blood, of the necessity
of a universal and more diligent surveillance. The emperor chose me to
organise a higher police, which should protect the oppressed and guard
the nation against conspiracies and conspirators. Never having thought
of preparing myself for this sort of service, I had hardly the most
superficial understanding of it; but the noble and beneficent motives
which inspired the sovereign in his creation of this institution and the
desire to be of use to him, forbade me to evade the duty to which his
high confidence had called me. I set to work without delay and God helped
me to fulfil my new duties to the satisfaction of the emperor and without
setting general opinion against me. I succeeded in showing favours to
many, in discovering many conspiracies, and averting much evil.” With the
creation of the new third section, the committee of the 13th of January,
1807, established by the emperor Alexander, became superfluous; and on
the 29th of January a ukase was issued closing it.
The disturbances of the year 1825 did not pass without leaving traces
on the peasant population; a momentary confusion ensued, freedom was
talked of, and disorders arose in some provinces--a phenomenon often
seen in previous times. The movement amongst the peasants incited the
emperor Nicholas to publish, on the 24th of May, 1826, a manifesto in
which it was declared that all “talk of exempting the villagers in the
state settlements from paying taxes and of freeing landowner’s peasants
and menials from subjection to their landowners are false rumours,
imagined and spread by evil intentioned persons out of mere cupidity
with the object of enriching themselves through these rumours at the
expense of the peasants, by taking advantage of their simplicity.” It
was further said in the manifesto that all classes throughout the empire
must absolutely submit to the authorities placed over them, and that
disturbers of the public tranquillity would be prosecuted and punished in
accordance with the full severity of the laws. It was commanded that the
manifesto should be read in all the churches and at the markets and fairs
during a space of six months; the governors of provinces were sternly
admonished to be watchful in anticipating disorders.
If, however, the emperor Nicholas was forced by circumstances to
promulgate this punitive manifesto, he also issued two rescripts in
the name of the minister of the interior, enjoining upon the nobility
behaviour towards their peasants, which should be in accordance with the
laws of Christianity, thus clearly expressing his desire to protect the
peasant against the arbitrariness and tyranny of the landowners. “In all
cases,” wrote the emperor: “I find it, and shall ever find it, better to
prevent evil, than to pursue it by punishment when it has already arisen.”
Finally the solicitude of the emperor Nicholas for the peasant classes
manifested itself by yet another action. On the 18th of December, 1826, a
special secret committee was formed to which was confided the inspection
of the entire state organisation and administration, with the order
to represent the conclusions it arrived at as to the changes deemed
necessary; the labours of the committee were to be directed also to the
consideration of the peasant question. Besides this the emperor did not
leave without attention what had been said by the Dekabrists, during the
time of their examination before a committee of inquiry, in regard to the
internal conditions of the state in the reign of Alexander I. The emperor
ordered a separate memorandum of these opinions to be drawn up for him
and often perused this curious document, from which he extracted much
that was pertinent.[b]
WAR WITH PERSIA (1826-1828 A.D.)
[Sidenote: [1826-1828 A.D.]]
The shah of Persia thought he saw in the change of rulers and the
troubles by which it was accompanied circumstances favourable to the
recovery of the provinces ceded to Russia by the Treaty of Gulistan. In
August, 1826, he ordered his troops to move forward. The solemnity of
his coronation, which was then being celebrated and whose splendour was
enhanced by the presence of the czarevitch, did not prevent Nicholas from
promptly organising the defence of the empire. A few weeks afterwards
General Paskevitch defeated the Persians at Ielisavetpol, and in the
following year, transferring the theatre of war to the enemy’s territory,
he seized the celebrated convent of Etchmiadzine, the seat of the
Armenian patriarch, and Erivan, one of the great towns of Armenia; he
moreover penetrated as far as Tauris, capital of the Azerbaijan and
residence of the prince royal, Abbas Mirza. Then the shah asked for
peace. It was signed at Turkmantchaï, the 22nd of February, 1828, and
advanced Russia as far as the line of the Araxes, by giving up to her the
provinces of Erivan and Nakhitchevan.
WAR WITH TURKEY (1828-1829 A.D.)
This treaty was concluded, to the great regret of Persia, when the war
with Turkey broke out. This war had been threatening for years; for,
deeply affected by the violences to which the Greeks in the Ottoman
Empire had been exposed ever since the hetaerist insurrection of 1821,
and by the martyrdom which the Greek patriarch had been made to suffer,
Alexander left the sword in its sheath only out of deference to the
members of the Holy Alliance. His successor was thoroughly determined
no longer to subordinate the direction of his cabinet’s policy to the
interested views of these princes and to their fears, though it is true
that the latter were well founded. The Divan, by signing the Treaty of
Akerman (October 6th, 1826), had momentarily averted the storm which
was ready to burst; but still more irritating disputes had afterwards
arisen. The conclusion of the Treaty of London of the 6th of July,
1827, in virtue of which France, England, and Russia gave existence to
a Christian kingdom of Greece placed under their common protection, was
shortly followed by the naval battle of Navarino, fought on the 20th of
October of the same year by the combined fleets of the three powers,
against Ibrahim Pasha, commander-in-chief of the Egyptian forces in the
Morea; and in this memorable conflict, expected by no one, but a subject
of joy to some whilst judged untoward by others, the whole of the navy
which the Porte still had at its disposal was destroyed. Very soon Mahmud
II, yielding to the national desire, let it be understood that he had
never had any intention of lending himself to the execution of a treaty
in virtue of which Moldavia, Wallachia, and Servia were almost as much
the czar’s vassals as his own. This was the beginning of a rupture, and
Nicholas answered it by a declaration of war, which appeared June 4th,
1828, when his army had already crossed the Pruth.
The campaign of 1828, which accomplished nothing more than the taking of
Braila and Varna, did not give a high idea of the strength of Russia;
and when the emperor made up his mind to take part in it in person,
his presence wrought no change in the feebleness of the results. But
it was not the same with the campaign which followed. Not only did the
Russians again pass the Danube, but after having beaten the grand vizir,
Reschid Pasha, at Koulevtcha, on the 11th of June, Diebitsch marched
them across the Balkans for the first time, a feat which won him the
name of _Sabalkanski_, and proceeded straight to Adrianople, where he
was scarcely more than two hundred kilometres (about 125 miles) from the
Ottoman capital. At the same time Paskevitch took Erzerum in Asia, and
the two generals would doubtless have joined hands in Constantinople but
for the efforts of diplomacy and the fear of a general conflagration.
For Russia was already too powerful; she had been allowed more than
was compatible with the policy of the system of balance, no doubt from
the fear of incurring a grave responsibility by troubling the peace
of Europe. But a prospect like that of the occupation by Russia of
Constantinople and the Straits silenced this fear.
[Sidenote: [1829 A.D.]]
Austria was ready to send her troops to the help of the Turks, and
the English also seemed likely to declare for the vanquished. It was
therefore necessary to come to a halt. Russia reflected that, after
all, “the sultan was the least costly governor-general she could have
at Constantinople,” and lent an ear to moderate conditions of peace.
Nevertheless, if the Treaty of Adrianople, signed September 14th, 1829,
delivered nothing to her in Europe save the mouths of the Danube, in
itself a very important point, it enlarged her territories in Asia by
a part of the pashalik of Akhalzikh, with the fortress of that name,
besides abandoning to her those of Anapa and Pothi on the Black Sea; it
considerably strengthened Muscovite influence in the principalities,
and still further weakened Turkey, not only morally but also materially
by the great pecuniary sacrifices to which she had to subscribe. That
power, once so formidable, was henceforth at the mercy of her northern
neighbour, the principal instrument of her decay.
THE POLISH INSURRECTION (1830-1831 A.D.)
[Sidenote: [1830 A.D.]]
But Russia was in her turn rudely shaken by the insurrection in Poland,
always her mortal enemy after she had ceased to be her rival.[c]
It was in Moscow that the emperor Nicholas received news of the further
progress of the Belgian revolution, in consequence of which the king
of the Netherlands found himself obliged to ask for the assistance of
his allies by virtue of the existing treaties. The emperor at once
despatched orders to Count Tchernishev, Field-marshal Saken, and the
czarevitch to place the army on a war footing. The czarevitch was not
pleased at the martial turn given to the diplomatic negotiations; still
more dissatisfied was the Polish Society of that time, which sympathised
with the revolution of July; neither was the army in sympathy with the
approaching campaign, which would bring it into armed collision with
France in the name of the principles of the Holy Alliance. Although
tranquillity apparently reigned in Warsaw, yet the secret societies
continued to carry on their destructive work with success.
[Illustration: COUNT DIEBITSCH-SABALKANSKI
(1785-1831)]
Various ominous signs of the approaching catastrophe were not, however,
wanting; but the czarevitch continued to lull himself with impossible
hopes that all was peaceful and tranquil and would remain so. As to the
European powers allied to Russia, they did not enter into the matter with
such decided zeal. In the present case it was the Russian autocrat alone
who was ready with entire disinterestedness to take up the defence of
the infringed lawful order. The other powers found it incomparably more
expedient to have recourse to the co-operation of diplomatic remedies;
the result was that, instead of an armed intervention, a general European
conference for the settlement of the Belgian question by peaceful means
took place in London.
Count Diebitsch was still in Berlin awaiting the termination of the
negotiations confided to him, when they were suddenly broken off by an
event upon which the field-marshal had not in the least calculated at
the given moment. On the 3rd of December, 1830, Diebitsch received from
the Prussian minister, Count Berastorf, news of the revolution which had
taken place in Warsaw on the 29th of November: the Polish army, forming a
prepared coalition, had taken up arms against Russia. There remained but
one thing for Diebitsch to do and that was to hasten to St. Petersburg
as quickly as possible. Meanwhile in St. Petersburg the emperor Nicholas
had received only the report of the czarevitch concerning the rising of
the troops and of inhabitants of Warsaw on the evening of the 7th of
December, 1830.
On the next day a parade of the Preobrajenski regiment was appointed
to take place, and as usual the emperor came to the riding school. At
first everything proceeded in the usual manner; there were even no
traces of inward agitation manifest upon the handsome face with its
regular, classic profile, which preserved its habitual expression of
majestic nobility. At the termination of the parade the emperor rode into
the middle of the riding school, called the officers around him, and
personally communicated to them the intelligence of the Warsaw rebellion:
“I have already made arrangements that the troops designated by me
should move on Warsaw, and if necessary you too shall go, to punish the
traitors and re-establish order and the offended honour of Russia. I know
that under every circumstance I can rely upon you,” said the emperor. A
unanimous outburst of indignation momentarily seized upon all present and
then enthusiastic cries resounded: “Lead us against the rebels: we will
revenge the offended honour of Russia.” They kissed the emperor’s hands
and feet and the hem of his garment with shouts and cheers. The outburst
of indignation was so violent that Nicholas considered it necessary to
moderate it, and with the majesty that was natural to him he reminded
the officers surrounding him that not all the Poles had broken their
oath; that the ringleaders of the insurrection must be punished, but that
vengeance must not be taken on the people: that the repentant must be
pardoned and hatred not allowed.
From the subsequent reports of the grand duke the emperor learned that
the czarevitch had permitted the portion of the Polish army that remained
with him to return to Warsaw; in exchange for this the deputies who came
to the czarevitch promised him and the Russian detachment a free passage
to the frontiers of the empire. It was decided that a sufficient number
of troops should be concentrated in the Polish frontier to allow of
decisive measures being taken against the insurgents. Count Diebitsch was
appointed commander-in-chief of the acting army, whilst the office of
chief of the staff was filled by Count Tolle.
When the czarevitch reached the Russian frontier he wrote as follows to
the emperor Nicholas: “And now the work of sixteen years is completely
destroyed by a set of ensign-bearers, young officers, and students. I
will not further enlarge on the matter, but duty commands me to bear
witness to you that the landed proprietors, the rural population, and in
general all holders of property of any kind are up in despair over this.
The officers and generals as well as the soldiers are unable to keep from
joining the general movement, being carried away by the young people
and ensign-bearers who led everyone astray. In a word, the position of
affairs is extremely bad, and I really do not know what will come of it.
All my measures of surveillance have led to nothing, in spite of the fact
that everything was beginning to be discovered. Here are we Russians at
the frontier, but great God in what a condition!--almost barefoot, for we
all came out as if at the sound of an alarm, in the hopes of returning
to barracks, whilst instead awful marches have had to be made. The
officers have been deprived of everything and have almost nothing with
which to clothe themselves. I am broken hearted; at the age of fifty-one
and a half years I never thought to finish my career in this lamentable
manner after thirty-five and a half years of service. I pray to God that
the army to which I have devoted sixteen years of my life may be brought
to reason, and return to the path of duty and honour, acknowledging its
previous errors, before coercive measures have to be taken. But this is
too much to expect from the age in which we live, and I greatly doubt the
realisation of my desires.”
Any agreement with Poland became daily more impossible and both sides
prepared for war. On the 17th of December the emperor Nicholas’
proclamation to the Polish army and nation was issued, and on the 24th
a manifesto was published offering means of reconciliation to all those
who returned to their duty. Meanwhile General Chlopicki was installed
as dictator in Warsaw, but he was unable to save Poland from a rupture
with Russia. Two deputies were sent to St. Petersburg to enter into
negotiations with the emperor Nicholas; they were the minister of
finance, Prince Lubetzki and a member of the diet, Count Ezerski. But
neither could these negotiations avert the bloody events of the year
1831. “It is hard to foresee the future,” wrote the emperor to the
czarevitch; “but weighing the relative probabilities of success, it is
difficult to suppose that the new year will show itself more distressing
for us than the year 1830; God grant that I may not be mistaken.
I should like to see you peacefully settled in your Belvedere and
order re-established throughout; but how much there yet remains to be
accomplished before we are in a condition to attain to this! Which of the
two must perish--for it appears inevitable that one must perish, Russia
or Poland? Decide for yourself. I have exhausted all possible means in
order to avert such a calamity--all means compatible with honour and my
conscience--but they are exhausted. What remains for me to do?”
[Sidenote: [1831 A.D.]]
Soon the diet assembled in Warsaw took a decision which completed the
rupture between Poland and Russia. On the 25th of January, 1831, the diet
declared the Romanov dynasty to be deprived of the throne of Poland. The
Poles themselves thus unbound the hands of the emperor, and the duel
between Russia and Poland became inevitable. The emperor replied to the
challenge by a manifesto in accordance with which the Russian troops
crossed the Polish frontier, and on the 25th of February a decisive
battle took place before Prague at Grokhov, by which the Polish army was
obliged to retreat to Warsaw with a loss of twelve thousand men.
But Count Diebitsch did not recognise the possibility of taking advantage
of the victory gained, and which would have been inevitably completed by
the occupation of the Polish capital; and Sabalkanski was not fated to
become prince of Warsaw. The Polish troops retreated unhindered across
the only bridge to Warsaw; the new Polish commander-in-chief Skrjinetzski
set out to reorganise the army, the rising spread even to the Russian
governments, and the campaign, against all expectations, dragged on for
six months. Meanwhile it was a war upon which depended, according to the
expression used by the emperor, “the political existence of Russia.”
On the 26th of May Diebitsch gained a second victory over the Polish
army, which also terminated by the favourable retreat of the latter;
and on the 13th of June, the emperor found occasion to write to his
field-marshal: “Act at length so that I can understand you.” The letter
was however not read by Count Diebitsch, for on the 10th of June the
field-marshal suddenly died of cholera in the village of Kleshov near
Pultiusk. He was replaced by Field-marshal Count Paskevitch-Erivanski,
who was as early as April, 1831, called by the emperor from Tiflis to St.
Petersburg. It was decided to cross the lower Vis-Suta and move towards
Warsaw. The czarevitch Constantine outlived Count Diebitsch only by a few
days. He also died suddenly of cholera at Vitebsk, in the night between
the 26th and 27th of June of the year 1831.
[Illustration: FIELD-MARSHAL PASKEVITCH
(1782-1856)]
The Polish insurrection from that time daily grew nearer to its
definitive conclusion; it was determined by the two days’ storming
of Warsaw, which took place on the 7th and 8th of September. Finally
Field-marshal Paskevitch was able to communicate to the emperor the news
that “Warsaw is at the feet of your imperial majesty.” Prince Suvorov,
aide-de-camp of the emperor, was the bearer of this intelligence to
Tsarskoi Selo on the 16th of September.
Nicholas wrote as follows to his victorious field-marshal: “With the help
of the all-merciful God, you have again raised the splendour and glory
of our arms, you have punished the disloyal traitors, you have avenged
Russia, you have subdued Warsaw--from henceforth you are the most serene
prince of Warsaw. Let posterity remember that the honour and glory of the
Russian army are inseparable from your name, and may your name preserve
for everyone the memory of the day on which the name of Russia was again
made glorious. This is the sincere expression of the grateful heart of
your sovereign, your friend, and your old subordinate.”
After the fall of Warsaw the war still continued for a while, but not
for long. The chief forces of the Polish army, which had retired to
Novogeorgievsk, finished by passing into Prussian territory at the end of
September, and on the 21st of October the last fortress surrendered. The
Polish insurrection was at an end. But the peace, attained by such heavy
sacrifice, was accompanied by a new evil for Russia; in Europe appeared
the Polish emigration, carrying with it hatred and vociferations against
Russia and preparing the inimical conditions of public opinion in the
west against the Russian government.
THE OUTBREAK OF CHOLERA AND THE RIOTS OCCASIONED BY IT (1830 A.D.)
The emperor had hardly returned to St. Petersburg from opening the
diet in Warsaw, when suddenly a new care occupied the attention of the
government. The cholera made its appearance in the empire. This terrible
illness, until then known to Russia only by name and by narratives
describing its devastations, brought with it still greater fear, because
no one knew or could indicate either medical or police measures to
be taken against it. General opinion inclined, however, towards the
advantages to be derived from quarantine and isolation, such as had
been employed against the plague, and the government immediately took
necessary measures in this direction with the activity that the emperor’s
strong will managed to instil into all his dispositions. Troops were
without delay stationed at various points and cordons formed from them
and the local inhabitants, in order to save the governments in the
interior and the two capitals from the calamity.
In spite of all precautions, however, a fresh source of grief was added
to all the cares and anxieties that pressed upon the emperor at that
period. Since the 26th of June the cholera had appeared in St. Petersburg
and in a few days had attained menacing dimensions. This awful illness
threw all classes of the population into a state of the greatest terror,
particularly the common people by whom all the measures taken for the
preservation of the public health--such as increased police surveillance,
the surrounding of the towns with troops, and even the removal of
those stricken with cholera to hospitals--were at first regarded as
persecutions. Mobs began to assemble, strangers were stopped in the
streets and searched for the poison they were supposed to carry on them,
while doctors were publicly accused of poisoning the people. Finally, on
the 4th of July, the mob, excited by rumours and suspicions, gathered
together at the Hay Market and attacked the house in which a temporary
cholera hospital had been established. They broke the windows, threw the
furniture out into the street, wounded and cast out the sick, thrashed
the hospital servants, and killed several of the doctors. The police were
powerless to restore order and even the final appearance of the military
governor-general Count Essen did not attain the necessary result. A
battalion of the Semenov regiment forced the people to disperse from the
square into the side streets, but was far from putting a stop to the
disturbance.
The next day the emperor Nicholas went on a steamer from St. Petersburg
to Elagium Island. When he had heard the reports of various persons as to
the state of the town he got into a carriage with Adjutant-general Prince
Menshikov and drove to the Preobrajenski parade-ground in the town, where
a battalion of the Preobrajenski regiment was encamped. When he had
thanked the troops, the emperor continued his way along the carriage road
where he threatened with his displeasure some crowds and shopkeepers;
from there he drove to the Hay Market where about five thousand people
had assembled. Standing up in his carriage and turning to the mob, the
emperor spoke as follows: “Misdeeds were committed yesterday, public
order was disturbed; shame on the Russian people for forgetting the
faith of their fathers and imitating the turbulence of the French and
Poles! They have taught you this: seize them and take those suspected to
the authorities; but wickedness has been committed here, here we have
offended and angered God--let us turn to the church, down on your knees,
and beg the forgiveness of the Almighty!”
The people fell on their knees and crossed themselves in contrition; the
emperor prostrated himself also, and exclamations of “We have sinned,
accursed ones that we are!” resounded throughout the air. Continuing his
speech to the people, the emperor again admonished the crowd: “I have
sworn before God to preserve the prosperity of the people entrusted to
me by providence; I am answerable before God for these disorders: and
therefore I will not allow them. Woe be to the disobedient!”
At this moment some men in the crowd raised their voices. The emperor
then replied: “What do you want--whom do you want? Is it I? I am not
afraid of anything--here I am!” and with these words he pointed to his
breast. Cries of enthusiasm ensued. After this the emperor, probably as
a sign of reconciliation, embraced an old man in the crowd and returned,
first to Elagium and afterwards to Peterhov. The day afterwards the
emperor again visited the capital. Order was re-established, but the
cholera continued to rage. Six hundred persons died daily, and it was
only from the middle of July that the mortality began to diminish.
Far more dangerous in its consequences was the revolt that arose in
the Novgorod military settlements. Here the cholera and rumours of
poisoning only served as a pretext for rebellion; the seed of general
dissatisfaction among the population belonging to this creation of Count
Araktcheiev continued to exist in spite of all the changes introduced by
the emperor Nicholas into the administration of the military settlements.
A spark was sufficient to produce in the settlements an explosion of
hitherto unprecedented fury, and the cholera served as the spark. Order
was however finally re-established in the settlements and then the
emperor Nicholas set off for them quite alone and presented himself
before the assembled battalions, which had stained themselves with the
blood of their officers and stood awaiting, trembling and in silence the
judgment of their sovereign.[b]
THE WAR IN THE CAUCASUS (1829-1840 A.D.)
The possession of the Caucasus is a question vitally affecting the
interests of Russia in her provinces beyond that range of mountains,
and her ulterior projects with regard to the regions of Persia and
Central Asia. Here are the terms in which this subject is handled in a
report printed at St. Petersburg, and addressed to the emperor after the
expedition of General Emmanuel to Elbruz in 1829:
“The Circassians (Tsherkessians) bar out Russia from the south, and may
at their pleasure open or close the passage to the nations of Asia.
At present their intestine dissensions, fostered by Russia, hinder
them from uniting under one leader; but it must not be forgotten that,
according to traditions religiously preserved amongst them, the sway of
their ancestors extended as far as to the Black Sea. They believe that
a mighty people, descended from their ancestors, and whose existence
is verified by the ruins of Madjar, has once already overrun the fine
plains adjacent to the Danube, and finally settled in Panonia. Add to
this consideration their superiority in arms. Perfect horsemen, extremely
well armed, inured to war by the continual freebooting they exercise
against their neighbours, courageous, and disdaining the advantages of
our civilisation, the imagination is appalled at the consequences which
their union under one leader might have for Russia, which has no other
bulwark against their ravages than a military line, too extensive to be
very strong.”
For the better understanding of the war which Russia has been so long
waging with the mountaineers, let us glance at the topography of the
Caucasus, and the respective positions of the belligerents.
The chain of the Caucasus exhibits a peculiar conformation, altogether
different from that of any of the European chains. The Alps, the
Pyrenees, and the Carpathians are accessible only by the valleys, and
in these the inhabitants of the country find their subsistence, and
agriculture developes its wealth. The contrary is the case in the
Caucasus. From the fortress of Anapa on the Black Sea, all along to the
Caspian, the northern slope presents only immense inclined plains, rising
in terraces to a height of 3,000 or 4,000 yards above the sea level.
These plains, rent on all directions by deep and narrow valleys and
vertical clefts, often form real steppes, and possess on their loftiest
heights rich pastures, where the inhabitants, secure from all attack,
find fresh grass for their cattle in the sultriest days of summer. The
valleys on the other hand are frightful abysses, the steep sides of which
are clothed with brambles, while the bottoms are filled with rapid
torrents foaming over beds of rocks and stones. Such is the singular
spectacle generally presented by the northern slope of the Caucasus. This
brief description may give an idea of the difficulties to be encountered
by an invading army. Obliged to occupy the heights, it is incessantly
checked in its march by impassable ravines, which do not allow of the
employment of cavalry, and for the most part prevent the passage of
artillery. The ordinary tactics of the mountaineers is to fall back
before the enemy, until the nature of the ground or the want of supplies
obliges the latter to begin a retrograde movement. Then it is that they
attack the invaders, and, intrenched in their forests behind impregnable
rocks, they inflict the most terrible carnage on them with little danger
to themselves.
On the south the character of the Caucasian chain is different. From
Anapa to Gagri, along the shores of the Black Sea, we observe a secondary
chain composed of schistous mountains, seldom exceeding 1000 yards in
height. But the nature of their soil, and of their rocks, would be enough
to render them almost impracticable for European armies, even were they
not covered with impenetrable forests. The inhabitants of this region,
who are called Circassians, are entirely independent, and constitute one
of the most warlike peoples of the Caucasus.
The great chain begins in reality at Gagri, but the mountains recede from
the shore, and nothing is to be seen along the coast as far as Mingrelia
but secondary hills, commanded by immense crags, that completely cut off
all approach to the central part of the Caucasus. This region, so feebly
defended by its topographical conformation, is Abkhasia, the inhabitants
of which have been forced to submit to Russia. To the north and on the
northern slope, westward of the military road from Mozdok to Tiflis,
dwell a considerable number of tribes, some of them ruled by a sort of
feudal system, others constituted into little republics. Those of the
west, dependent on Circassia and Abadja, are in continual war with the
empire, whilst the Nogaians, who inhabit the plains on the left bank of
the Kuma, and the tribes of the great Kabarda, own the sovereignty of
the czar; but their wavering and dubious submission cannot be relied
on. In the centre, at the foot of the Elbruz, dwell the Suanetians, an
unsubdued people, and near them, occupying both sides of the pass of
Dariel, are the Ingutches and Ossetans, exceptional tribes, essentially
different from the aboriginal peoples. Finally we have, eastward of the
great Tiflis road, near the Terek, little Kabarda, and the country of the
Kumicks, for the present subjugated; and then those indomitable tribes,
the Lesghians and Tchetchens, of whom Schamyl is the Ab del Kadir, and
who extended over the two slopes of the Caucasus to the vicinity of the
Caspian.
In reality, the Kuban and the Terek, that rise from the central chain,
and fall, the one into the Black Sea, the other into the Caspian, may
be considered as the northern political limits of independent Caucasus.
It is along those two rivers that Russia has formed her armed line,
defended by Cossacks, and detachments from the regular army. The Russians
have, indeed, penetrated those northern frontiers at sundry points,
and have planted some forts within the country of the Lesghians and
Tchetchens. But those lonely posts, in which a few unhappy garrisons
are surrounded on all sides, and generally without a chance of escape,
cannot be regarded as a real occupation of the soil on which they stand.
They are, in fact, only so many pickets, whose business is only to watch
more closely the movements of the mountaineers. In the south, from Anapa
to Gagri, along the Black Sea, the imperial possessions never extended
beyond a few detached forts, completely isolated, and deprived of all
means of communication by land. A rigorous blockade was established on
this coast; but the Circassians, as intrepid in their frail barks as
among their mountains, often passed by night through the Russian line
of vessels, and reached Trebizond and Constantinople. Elsewhere, from
Mingrelia to the Caspian, the frontiers are less precisely defined, and
generally run parallel with the great chain of the Caucasus.
[Sidenote: [1835 A.D.]]
Thus limited, the Caucasus, including the territory occupied by the
subject tribes, presents a surface of scarcely 5000 leagues; and it is in
this narrow region that a virgin and chivalric nation, amounting at most
to 2,000,000 of souls, proudly upholds its independence against the might
of the Russian empire, and has for upwards of twenty years sustained one
of the most obstinate struggles known to modern history.
The Russian line of the Kuban, which is exactly similar to that of the
Terek, is defended by the Cossacks of the Black Sea, the poor remains
of the famous Zaparogians, whom Catherine II subdued with so much
difficulty, and whom she colonised at the foot of the Caucasus, as a
bulwark against the incursions of the mountaineers. The line consists
of small forts and watch stations; the latter are merely a kind of
sentry-box raised on four posts, about fifty feet from the ground. Two
Cossacks keep watch in them day and night. On the least movement of the
enemy in the vast plain of reeds that fringe both banks of the river, a
beacon fire is kindled on the top of the watch box. If the danger becomes
more pressing, an enormous torch of straw and tar is set fire to. The
signal is repeated from post to post, the whole line springs to arms, and
500 or 600 men are instantly assembled on the point threatened. These
posts, composed generally of a dozen men, are very close to each other,
particularly in the most dangerous places. Small forts have been erected
at intervals with earthworks, and a few pieces of cannon; they contain
each from 150 to 200 men.
But notwithstanding all the vigilance of the Cossacks, often aided by the
troops of the line, the mountaineers not unfrequently cross the frontier
and carry their incursions, which are always marked with massacre and
pillage, into the adjacent provinces. There are bloody but justifiable
reprisals. In 1835 a body of fifty horsemen entered the country of the
Cossacks, and proceeded to a distance of 120 leagues, to plunder the
German colony of Madjar and the important village of Vladimirovka, on
the Kuma, and what is most remarkable they got back to their mountains
without being interrupted. The same year Kisliar, on the Caspian, was
sacked by the Lesghians. These daring expeditions prove of themselves how
insufficient is the armed line of the Caucasus, and to what dangers that
part of southern Russia is exposed.
The line of forts until lately existing along the Black Sea was quite as
weak, and the Circassians there were quite as daring. They used to carry
off the Russian soldiers from beneath the fire of their redoubts, and
come up to the very foot of their walls to insult the garrison. Hommaire
de Hell relates that, at the time he was exploring the mouths of the
Kuban, a hostile chief had the audacity to appear one day before the
gates of Anapa. He did all he could to irritate the Russians, and abusing
them as cowards and woman-hearted, he defied them to single combat.
Exasperated by his invectives, the commandant ordered that he should be
fired on with grape. The horse of the mountaineer reared and threw off
his rider, who, without letting go the bridle, instantly mounted again,
and, advancing still nearer to the walls, discharged his pistol almost at
point-blank distance at the soldiers, and galloped off to the mountains.
As for the blockade by sea, the imperial squadron has not been expert
enough to render it really effectual. It was only a few armed boats,
manned by Cossacks, that gave the Circassians any serious uneasiness.
These Cossacks like those of the Black Sea, are descended from the
Zaparogians. Previously to the last war with Turkey they were settled
on the right bank of the Danube, where their ancestors had taken refuge
after the destruction of their Setcha. During the campaigns of 1828-29,
pains were taken to revive their national feelings, they were brought
again by fair means or by force under the imperial sway, and were then
settled in the forts along the Caucasian shore, the keeping of which was
committed to their charge. Courageous, enterprising, and worthy rivals
of their foes, they waged a most active war against the skiffs of the
mountaineers in their boats, which carry crews of fifty or sixty men.
The treaty of Adrianople was in a manner the opening of a new era in
the relations of Russia with the mountaineers; for it was by virtue of
that treaty that the czar, already master of Anapa and Sudjuk Kaleh,
pretended to the sovereignty of Circassia and of the whole seaboard of
the Black Sea. True to the invariable principles of its foreign policy,
the government at first employed means of corruption, and strove to
seduce the various chiefs of the country by pensions, decorations, and
military appointments. But the mountaineers, who had the example of the
Persian provinces before their eyes, sternly rejected all the overtures
of Russia, and repudiated the clauses of the convention of Adrianople;
the political and commercial independence of their country became their
rallying cry, and they would not treat on any other condition. All
such ideas were totally at variance with Nicholas’ schemes of absolute
dominion; therefore he had recourse to arms to obtain by force what he
had been unable to accomplish by other means.
Abkhasia, situated on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, and easily
accessible, was the first invaded. A Russian force occupied the country
in 1839, under the ordinary pretence of supporting one of its princes,
and putting an end to anarchy. In the same year General Paskevitch,
then governor-general of the Caucasus, for the first time made an armed
exploration of the country of the Circassians beyond the Kuban; but he
effected absolutely nothing, and his expedition only resulted in great
loss of men and stores. In the following year war broke out in Daghestan
with the Lesghians and the Tchetchens. The celebrated Kadi Mulah, giving
himself out for a prophet, gathered together a considerable number of
partisans; but unfortunately for him there was no unanimity among the
tribes, and the princes were continually counteracting each other. Kadi
Mulah never was able to bring more than 3,000 or 4,000 men together;
nevertheless, he maintained the struggle with a courage worthy of a
better fate, and Russia knows what it cost her to put down the revolt
of Daghestan. As for any real progress in that part of the Caucasus,
the Russians made none; they did no more than replace things on the old
footing. Daghestan soon became again more hostile than ever, and the
Tchetchens and Lesghians continued in separate detachments to plunder
and ravage the adjacent provinces up to the time when the ascendancy of
the celebrated Schamyl, the worthy successor of Kadi Mulah, gave a fresh
impulse to the warlike tribes of the mountain, and rendered them more
formidable than ever.
After taking possession of Anapa and Sudjuk Kaleh, the Russians thought
of seizing the whole seaboard of Circassia, and especially the various
points suitable for the establishment of military posts. They made
themselves masters of Guelendchik and the important position of Gagri,
which commands the pass between Circassia and Abkhasia. The Circassians
heroically defended their territory; but how could they have withstood
the guns of the ships of war that mowed them down whilst the soldiers
were landing and constructing their redoubts? The blockade of the coasts
was declared in 1838, and all foreign communication with the Caucasus
ostensibly intercepted. During the four following years Russia suffered
heavy losses; and all her successes were limited to the establishment of
some small isolated forts on the sea-coast. She then increased her army,
laid down the military road from the Kuban to Guelendchik, across the
last western offshoot of the Caucasus, set on foot an exploration of the
enemy’s whole coast, and prepared to push the war with renewed vigour.
In 1837 the emperor Nicholas visited the Caucasus. He would see for
himself the theatre of a war so disastrous to his arms, and try what
impression his imperial presence could make on the mountaineers. The
chiefs of the country were invited to various conferences, to which
they boldly repaired on the faith of the Russian parole; but instead
of conciliating them by words of peace and moderation, the emperor
only exasperated them by his threatening and haughty language. “Do you
know,” said he to them, “that I have powder enough to blow up all your
mountains?”
[Sidenote: [1839 A.D.]]
During the three following years there was an incessant succession
of expeditions. Golovin, on the frontiers of Georgia, Grabe on the
north, and Racivski on the Circassian seaboard, left nothing untried to
accomplish their master’s orders. The sacrifices incurred by Russia were
enormous; the greater part of her fleet was destroyed by a storm, but all
efforts failed against the intrepidity and tactics of the mountaineers.
Some new forts erected under cover of the ships, were all that resulted
from these disastrous campaigns. “I was in the Caucasus in 1839,” says
Hommaire de Hell, “when Grabe returned from his famous expedition against
Shamyl. When the army marched it had numbered 6000 men, 1,000 of whom,
and 120 officers, were cut off in three months. But as the general had
advanced further into the country than any of his predecessors, Russia
sang pæans, and Grabe became the hero of the day, although the imperial
troops had been forced to retreat and entirely evacuate the country
they had invaded. All the other expeditions were similar to this one,
and achieved in reality nothing but the burning and destruction of a
few villages. It is true the mountaineers are far from being victorious
in all their encounters with the Russians, whose artillery they cannot
easily withstand; but if they are obliged to give way to numbers, or to
engineering, nevertheless they remain in the end masters of the ground,
and annul all the momentary advantages gained by their enemies.”
The year 1840 was still more fatal to the arms of Nicholas. Almost all
the new forts on the seaboard were taken by the Circassians, who bravely
attacked and carried the best fortified posts without artillery. The
military road from the Kuban to Guelendchik was intercepted, Fort St.
Nicholas, which commanded it, was stormed and the garrison massacred.
Never yet had Russia endured such heavy blows. The disasters were such
that the official journals themselves, after many months’ silence,
were at last obliged to speak of them; but the most serious losses,
the destruction of the new road from the Kuban, the taking of Fort St.
Nicholas, and that of several other forts, were entirely forgotten in the
official statement.
On the eastern side of the mountain the war was fully as disastrous
for the invaders. The imperial army lost four hundred petty officers
and soldiers, and twenty-nine officers in the battle of Valrik against
the Tchetchens. The military colonies of the Terek were attacked and
plundered, and when General Golovin retired to his winter quarters at the
end of the campaign, he had lost more than three-fourths of his men.
The great Kabarda did not remain an indifferent spectator of the
offensive league formed by the tribes of the Caucasus; and when Russia,
suspecting with reason the unfriendly disposition of some tribes, made
an armed exploration on the banks of the Laba in order to construct
redoubts, and thus cut off the subjugated tribes from the others, the
general found the country, wherever he advanced, but a desert. All the
inhabitants had already retired to the other side of the Laba to join
their warlike neighbours.[d]
THE EMPEROR’S CONSERVATIVE PATRIOTISM