Foreigners in Russia—The Poles—The oath of
allegiance—Disgraceful treatment—Want of cordiality—Polish
exiles—Greek and Roman churches—Difference of
creed—Saints—Christmas custom—Warsaw—Polish cottages—Peasants:
their treatment—Germans in Russia: their customs; their
mode of life—New-Year’s eve—Pleasing custom—Character of
the Germans—Variety of foreigners—The French—The Turkish
renegade—Mixed society—Conclusion.
In writing about Russia, some notice of the foreign residents will not
be out of place, as they form so great a proportion of the inhabitants
of all the large towns. The most numerous among them are the Poles and
the Germans: the former are dispersed all over the empire, being obliged
to serve as _employés_ and in the army. Centuries of warfare and mutual
cruelties have caused these two great divisions of the same race to hate
each other with an intensity that would have satisfied the great Dr.
Johnson himself. Every Polish gentleman is forced to take the oath, in
which he calls on Heaven to witness that he will shed the last drop of
his blood for the Emperor’s sake. It must be galling indeed to have to
pronounce these words, with the recollection of the wrongs of his country
weighing on his heart, and, perhaps, the remembrance of an outraged
mother or sister who might have been publicly flogged for instilling
sentiments of patriotism into his soul. Let it not be thought that these
are merely idle words. Many a time have I been told of Polish _ladies_
who have been sufferers from the executioner’s lash, not many years ago,
in the very capital of their country. A hundred instances have been told
me, with the names of the unfortunate women who were the victims of such
brutal treatment. To them we may give our pity and compassion—the eternal
shame and dishonour will fall on the head of those at whose command such
acts were done.
Among my acquaintances abroad I numbered a great many Poles, and I
asked a noble one day how he could conscientiously take the oath above
mentioned. “We wait patiently,” replied he, “for the time is not
yet come. As for the allegiance, we make a reservation to ourselves
concerning it; but hope leads us still to expect that the hour for
Poland’s resurrection _will_ arrive. What can _we_ do at present?”
Notwithstanding that the Poles are everywhere received in society, there
is very little cordiality in regard to friendship: many have, it is
true, intermarried with Russians, but they are not, for the most part,
of the superior class of gentry, but are merely petty _employés_, or
people of no “family” in the aristocratic sense of the word. In almost
every part of Russia Polish people may be met who have been banished
from their native land for some political offence, either proved or
suspected. Many have assured me that they were taken away in the middle
of the night from their own house, and perhaps dragged from their bed,
merely on suspicion of being disaffected. It was impossible to refute
the accusation, because, according to the wise laws of despotism, they
had never been confronted with their accusers, or even knew who they
were: very probably the information had been given by some government
spy, the name of whom is “legion” in Poland. One of these victims was a
gentleman who, with his wife, had been imprisoned four months, when they
were hurried away from Vilna to the interior of Russia, and they assured
me that they had not the remotest idea what the crime was of which they
were accused. Added to the antipathy the Poles and Russians naturally
feel for each other politically, the difference in religion contributes
to their animosity; for although the Greek Church and the Roman may
appear in the eyes of Protestants to possess few points of difference,
yet, perhaps for that very reason, their hatred to each other is the
more intense. As far as I could learn, the chief differences between the
Greek and Roman belief consist of a trivial distinction, scarcely more
than verbal, in the doctrine of the equality of the three persons in the
Trinity, of the denial by the Greeks of the necessity of their priests
remaining unmarried, and of the substitution of pictures for images as
objects of worship and reverence. It is true that, since the division of
the Christian Church into the eastern and the western, a vast number of
extra saints have been added to each, which may have caused considerable
jealousy between them. If so, the Russians must triumph, for they have
about twice as many as the Romanists; but, on the other hand, they are
not quite so select.
I once went to dine with some Polish friends on Christmas Day, and I
remarked a quantity of straw scattered under the table. On my begging
to know why this was done, I was informed that it was in commemoration
of the Saviour having been born in a manger: the Russians have not this
custom.
Warsaw is beautifully situated on the Vistula, and contains a great
many buildings erected in former times; but it must be very vexing and
grievous to the people to see the monument in their “grande place”
supported by Russian eagles, publicly reminding them of their loss
of nationality. The Vistula is so extremely shallow that the sand
is everywhere visible through the water. As to the general aspect
of the country, it much reminded me of some parts of England; even
the whitewashed cottages with thatched roofs looked very like those
we see at home, but the peasants bore no resemblance to our sturdy,
independent-looking countrymen. _They_, poor people! with their sullen,
downcast faces, too plainly showed, even more so than the Russian serfs,
how hardly they fared, and how they were ground down by the oppression
of their conquerors. It seemed to me that every Muscovite, dressed in
a little brief authority, was at liberty to play the tyrant over them,
and I used to feel quite indignant at the merciless manner in which the
post-guards treated them. The blows they inflicted seemed almost enough
to break the back of any human being, whilst the screams they elicited
frequently broke the silence of the night, filling our party with horror
and dismay, and made us sincerely pray for the time when retribution
shall fall on the heads of their oppressors, and Poland shall be free
again.
The Polish dishes are not at all according to the English taste; they
contain too much garlic and sour cream, and are much too coarse to be
pleasant. In all the provinces of Poland through which I have travelled
the bread was extremely bad; even in Warsaw, at the hotels, although the
waiters presented us with what they called English loaves, they bore
very little resemblance to the white bread of London. Perhaps the best
bread in Europe is made in Moscow: it is perfectly delicious.
The Germans in Russia are extremely numerous; they have spread themselves
over the whole country and have monopolized a great deal of the trade.
“There are only two patriotic nations in Europe,” said a Russian admiral,
“Russia and England; the French are partisans of their party; but as
for those Germans, their country is where they find they can gain most
money.” In regard to his judgment on the French, it must be a false one,
for in their history we see many proofs of real patriotism, which show
that, in respect to _them_, he was in error; but his assertion touching
the German people, especially those in Russia, was probably the truth.
They are not liked by the Russians, who look upon them with all the
antipathy of race; added to which, their penurious habits and desire for
accumulating wealth, qualities so different from the national character
of the people among whom they dwell, and their excessive severity as
officers and overseers, cause them to be detested by the lower classes,
while the upper classes look down upon them with disdain, and consider
them as a sordid, money-getting nation, who possess no nobility of soul,
so that with them the name German and “nobody” are synonymous, although,
owing to the German predilections of the Emperor, many of the very
highest places in every department are filled by people of that race.
Among the lower classes they go by the name of sausage-eaters, from their
love of that viand. The Germans in St. Petersburg are mostly from Livonia
and Esthonia, countries long under the Russian rule: indeed the same
may be said of those scattered over the empire; some of them are from
Prussia, but, upon the whole, there are not many from the true Teutonic
states. They live mostly in small colonies, mixing but little with the
Russian society; indeed many of them, although they have been born and
educated in the country, do not speak Russ at all well. They retain
the manners and customs of their ancestors as well as their religion;
they have their Christmas-tree on the eve of Christmas Day, their
commemoration of Luther, and their festivities at the New Year in their
own fashion. The Christmas-tree, with its gay decorations and hundred
lights, the presents laid round it for the children and relations, and
the croque-mitaine, so formidable to baby offenders, are all now so well
known in England that a description of them is not necessary. The Germans
are a social people among themselves, and they enjoy life quietly—_mais
ils mènent une vie ennuyante_. Their society, however agreeable, still
wants that gay animation of the French, which makes even trifling
subjects interesting in conversation.
A great many of the medical men in Russia are Germans, and people of
that nation may be found in every town: I believe I may say, without
exaggeration, that nearly all the bakers’ shops, as well as those of
chemists, are kept by them.
The ladies are exceedingly good housewives, but, as a French person of
my acquaintance remarked, “Elles sont ou des heroïnes de Werter ou des
ménagères.” One of their greatest pleasures consists in going once a
week to the Singanstalt, or singing-club, to which nearly all the young
persons of both sexes belong: the evening is passed in singing German
Lieder, and the choruses from operas and oratorios by national composers,
which they perform in very agreeable style.
One of the most delightful New-Year’s Eves I ever passed was at the
house of a German friend. The family was a very large one, and all the
members of it were assembled, even down to the third-cousins—grandmamma,
grandpapa, all their married sons and daughters, with every one of the
children, those of a few months old included, cousins, nephews, and
nieces, not one was absent. After spending the evening in various social
games, in which both great and small took part, the whole company took
their seats round the room a little before midnight, and waited in
silence until the clock struck twelve, announcing that another year had
passed for ever, and that a new one had already commenced. All those
who could sing stood in a group at one end of the hall, and the instant
that the last stroke had solemnly sounded they burst into a chorus of
thanksgiving. Each then sang a verse in turn, the grandfather, although
past sixty, commencing in a fine tenor; after him sang the eldest son,
and then the eldest daughter, and so on. The words, which are really
beautiful, were partly composed by Voss; other verses had been added by
the singers themselves. They began by thanking God for the renewal of
another great division of time, expressed delight that so many were thus
joyously assembled, with hopes for the welfare of those far away: but in
the midst of their rejoicings they affectingly referred to the dead, who
were sleeping in solitude, wrapped in their cold and silent graves, and
whose place on earth was no more seen; and much emotion was excited by
the following verses:—
“Wer weiss, wie mancher modert
Ums Jahr, gesenkt in’s Grab!
Unangemeldet fodert
Der Tod die Menschen ab.
Trotz lauem Frühlingswetter
Wehn oft verwelkte Blätter.
Wer von uns nachbleibt, wünscht dem Freund
Im stillen Grabe Ruh, und weint.”[29]
Tears fell fast from many an eye as each gazed round that circle of
friends and relatives, and all seemed to dread that some beloved face
would be missing ere another New-Year’s Eve found them there assembled;
they were scarcely dried ere the two concluding lines echoed cheerfully
through the hall—
“Wohlauf, und: Gut seyn immerdar
Sey unser Wunsch zum neuen Jahr.”[30]
And then the grand chorus of thanksgiving was sung in gratitude to Heaven
for the hope of an eternal re-union hereafter.
As soon as the New-Year’s hymn had been sung, the sons and daughters
embraced the aged mother and father, and then the grandchildren came
forward to do the same; after them the other relatives, according to
their proximity of relationship, and finally the friends who had been
invited. Champagne was then handed round; universal congratulations and
affectionate embraces followed, after which a merry supper restored the
gaiety and cheerfulness of the whole party.
Although I have mentioned the general character which the Germans bear
among the Russians, it must not be concluded therefrom that they are
not very frequently most estimable people; indeed many of them merit
the utmost respect and admiration. It must be borne in mind that the
lower class in Russia hold _all_ foreigners in detestation, and the
Germanic race more than any other. Until the present war broke out, all
strangers to their country were designated by them “Germans,”[31] for
the petty distinctions of French, English, and so on, were not known to
the half-barbarous serfs; they only knew that they were not Russians,
and concluded therefore that they came from Germany. _Now_ all other
nations of Europe are swallowed up in the designation of English, which
at present is a word of hateful import to them, as our country-people are
held up as the most to be feared and detested.
The French people, as well as the English, live in societies quite
distinct from either the Germans or the Russians; but the French, being
more liked in company, and considered more agreeable, from their gay and
lively temperament, associate much more with the Russians, who take them
as the established model for _bon genre_ and politeness: their language
also is as much used in society as it is in France, for everybody speaks
it; so that, in making friends and acquaintances, our neighbours get on
a great deal better than we do. Among the Russians the English _were_
certainly greatly _respected_ by the upper classes, and were perhaps (if
it be possible for the lower classes to like _any_ foreigner) preferred
by them, especially in matters of business.
There are many Italians and Greeks established in the country; the
latter visit a great deal at the houses of the nobility, their common
religion being a bond of union between them. There are some renegade
Mahometans also in the Russian service. I remember once dining at a
friend’s house where I met several; one of them was a general, who
had previously served the Sultan, and was himself a Turk by birth. In
throwing aside his nationality he seemed also to have thrown away his
natural characteristics; for his laugh was the loudest, and his jest
the merriest, in the whole party. He gave good proof of eschewing the
doctrines of Mahomet, by drinking two bottles of champagne; and when one
of his neighbours took the liberty of reminding him of the prohibition
against wine, his reply was that the Prophet had never tasted champagne,
or he would have ordered the faithful to drink nothing else. There are
of course a great number of Mahometans in the Russian army, as many of
the tribes of the South of Asia profess that religion; also a vast number
of Jews, and even gipsies, are to be found in the army, as no one in
the empire is exempt from military service. I was told that all creeds
are respected by the government. There are not many Englishmen in the
imperial army; I believe the greater part of those so designated are
either Scotch or of Scotch extraction.
Perhaps in no country in the world does one meet so great a variety
of foreigners: almost every nation has its representative in Russia;
from the Norwegian and Swede to the Albanian and Turk, from the
Spanish adventurer to the Moldavian and Wallachian, they are all to be
encountered in society. At an evening party natives of perhaps ten or a
dozen countries may be met, and that not by any remarkable accident, but
merely in an invitation to one’s general acquaintances. French is the
medium by which all these people hold communication with each other, and
interchange ideas; but it is necessary to understand German and Russian
to enjoy a conversation, as it very often lapses into one or the other,
according to the majority of people of either nation in the company. It
is exceedingly disagreeable for those who speak only the French language,
as very frequently, when some interesting anecdote is being recounted, a
chance remark made by some one in German will cause the conversation to
be continued in that tongue, to the great disappointment of the listener.
Having said thus much of Russia and the Russians, I have but few words
to add. Of the character of the people I leave the reader to draw his
own conclusions, from the anecdotes with which the preceding remarks
are illustrated. That the Russians possess most excellent and amiable
qualities of heart, no one can deny who has ever resided in their
country, or had the pleasure of knowing them. Their virtues are their
own, and many of their grave defects may be ascribed to the evil system
of government under which they have so long suffered. Centuries of
slavery and oppression are enough to change the characteristics of any
people, and to infuse into the national mind all the meanness, cunning,
and moral cowardice of a Helot. Wild though the country be, it is no
inhospitable shore, and the warm-heartedness of the people richly
compensates for the coldness of its clime. It is that which throws a kind
of charm over the remembrance of Russia in the mind of one who has long
resided on its snow-clad plains, and gives an interest to everything
connected with them. There is much to love and little to esteem—much
to admire and little to respect—in Russia and the Russians; and should
these pages ever fall into the hands of my friends there, I entreat them
not to consider what is herein written as ill meant. If I have remarked
upon what is evil, I have not omitted to note that which is good. I have
“nothing extenuated nor set down aught in malice;” and the greatest proof
I can give of my attachment for them is the assurance of the sincere
regret with which I bade adieu to the Russian shores for ever, and of
the anxious and earnest desire with which I look forward to the time
when a change in their system of government shall free them from the
withering thraldom under which they now suffer, and shall enable the many
good qualities of their nation to expand and come to maturity under the
fostering influence of free and enlightened institutions.
GENERAL REMARKS.
In examining the ancient mythology of the Slaves the reader will be
particularly struck not only with the great resemblance it bears to
that of the classic Greeks, but by the apparent engrafting of many
of its superstitions and forms of worship on the Christian religion
as professed in Russia and Greece. Perhaps this affinity between the
ancient Pagan creeds of the two nations may be the cause why both have
so easily embraced the same form of Christianity. The similitude which
is so plainly seen between the Russo-Greek Church and the heathen system
of former ages may also be the reason why mythology is forbidden to be
studied in the schools throughout the empire. Paganism indeed seems not
yet to have entirely disappeared from the land, and it is curious to
remark how easy it is to trace some of the acts and ceremonies of the
Russian Church to their heathen origin. Almost every god and goddess
of antiquity has a corresponding saint in the calendar, and many of
their high festivals are apparently merely those of their Pagan creed
under another name; so difficult is it to eradicate the idolatrous
superstitions of a nation, or to instil into the hearts of a people the
sentiments of a pure religion. The extreme reverence with which the
images of the Virgin and Child are regarded, and their rich settings, are
most probably only the adoration of their former much-loved idol the
Zolotaïa Baba, or the golden woman; who, according to their mythology,
was the mother of the gods. It was highly gilt, and held in its arms the
figure of a child. In the Russian Church the Virgin is never, I believe,
represented without the infant Christ.
The blessing of the waters, which is performed twice a year, although now
regarded as a Christian ceremony, is one very likely to have been derived
from the adoration of the great rivers by the Sclavonic races, especially
the Bog, the Don, and the Danube. The first-named was, according to
the historian, who quotes Procopius as his authority, held in the most
estimation by them; they never approached its shores without fear and
trembling, and they drank of its waters with awe, as if by so doing they
profaned the sacred stream. Lomonosof, the author, even asserts that the
Russian name for God (Bog) is identical with its designation.
The great attachment of the people to the pictures of their saints,
on which the rich, especially of the merchant class, lavish immense
sums, may be traced to the domestic gods of their ancestors, which were
called Domovi Doukhi, or house-protectors, the Lares and Penates of the
Slaves.[32] In every wealthy shopkeeper’s best apartment there is a place
assigned for the patron saints of the family, generally in the corner,
in which is fixed a closet with a glass door, entirely filled with them;
their settings are very costly, generally of silver, gold, and precious
stones. Every shop possesses at least one image, and in the piazzas of
the Gostinoi Dwor there are large portraits of the Virgin suspended,
before which lamps are continually kept burning. In the nobility’s houses
the saints’ images are usually placed in the sleeping-room.
The Russians say that on St. Elias’s day it always thunders, which they
religiously believe is caused by the rumbling of his chariot-wheels among
the clouds; as according to their account the saint takes a drive in
heaven on his name’s day. Undoubtedly this superstition must have been
derived from the worship of Peroun, the Sclavonic Jupiter, which was
formerly celebrated on the day now set apart for the above saint. The
form of this idol was almost identical with that of the classic deity,
and, like the Olympian Jove, he held lightning in his hand and announced
his will in thunders. His statue had a silver head, moustaches and ears
of gold, and feet of iron. Before it a sacred fire was ever burning,
which if the priests neglected they would have been put to death. The
profane representations of the Godhead remarked in a preceding chapter
seem to be merely that of Peroun; the only difference is, that in the
former the figure holds a triangle in his hand instead of lightning. The
heathenish rite mentioned in a preceding chapter, as being performed
by the village women on Midsummer Eve, if it had not its origin in the
worship of Baal, was probably derived from that of Koupalo, the god
of the fruits of the earth, who was adored by the Slaves with a like
ceremony. Perhaps indeed the Sclavonic races, in migrating from the East,
brought with them the idols and traditions of their forefathers: in that
case Koupalo and Baal may have been the same principle. I believe that
the common people still call the rite by the name of Koupalnitza.
Many more instances could be cited, but the above will suffice to show
that the remembrance of their Pagan creed still exists among the Russians.
When free access can be obtained to the various collections of ancient
manuscripts that are preserved in the monasteries and cathedrals in
Russia, much light will probably be thrown, not only on the belief of the
Slaves, but on their social state, their laws and civilization, of which
so little is at present known in Europe. A Russian gentleman assured me
that he had seen and examined many of these collections, which he thought
were well worthy of the notice of the learned.
There are not many readers of the ancient Muscovite history; indeed, I
believe that few would deem the dry records of the Russian race very
interesting, until the policy of Peter I. and Catherine II. forced the
name of Russia upon the attention of Europe. It is a pity they have not
been more generally studied, as perhaps they would have afforded a kind
of key to the designs of the northern autocrats.
Probably nine out of every ten persons in England imagine that
civilization was almost unknown to the Muscovites anterior to the reign
of Peter the Great, and are not aware that the most powerful republic
in Europe had for its capital the city of Novogorod; and that, until
the ninth century of our era, its wealth and might caused it to be so
respected among the neighbouring states, that the saying, “Who would
dare to attack God and Novogorod the great?” is still a proverb in
Russia. One would be apt to imagine that Peter’s object in building St.
Petersburg was to extend and strengthen his frontiers, and to forward
more effectually the designs of his predecessors; yet perhaps he
committed the greatest error in endeavouring to turn aside the slowly
but surely advancing course of Muscovite civilization (which, although
more Asiatic than ours, would probably have been more solid than it now
is, because gradually acquired), by forcibly and prematurely introducing
that of another race upon his people, teaching ideas that they could
not understand, and making changes that they could not comprehend. The
civilization of England and France was not certainly owing to the swords
of the Romans, for the inundations of the barbarians swept away almost
every vestige of it: the work had to be begun afresh, because it was
not based on a solid foundation. Peter I. made the Russians _polished_,
but not _civilized_; the heart of the nation was not prepared for the
change; they therefore made more progress in learning that which is evil
than that which is good; they were infinitely more apt at acquiring the
vices than the virtues of those set over them as teachers, and from being
simple they became corrupted.
Perhaps it would not be an error to assert that, excepting the nobility
about the court, many of whom are not of Russian descent at all, but
derived from foreign parvenus, and some of the upper classes, the nation
still regrets the innovation of western civilization, and, if they could
have a free choice, they would rather return to the good old times when
Moscow was the capital of their country. The old Russian party, whose
strength is centred in that ancient capital, are daily becoming more
powerful, and may indeed be destined to cause a reaction against the
artificial refinement which has polished a certain portion at the expense
of the community at large. Perhaps it is possible to dam up the waters of
the Volga for a time, but they would inevitably break their bounds, and
find the way to the sea at last through their own natural course.
* * * * *
The republic of Novogorod[33] must have existed for many ages, and
had attained a considerable advance in commerce, and consequently
civilization; for towards the middle of the ninth century we are told
that it declined, and, being attacked by enemies from without, and
weakened by dissensions within, the inhabitants, who could no longer
defend themselves, were obliged to apply to Rurick, the chief of a race
residing on the shores of the Baltic Sea, to become their general, and
to assist them with his soldiers; and just as we see in our own history
that Hengist, Horsa, and Cerdic established themselves as princes on the
shores of Britain, so did Rurick, and his two brothers Sinaf and Trouvor,
become the sovereigns of Novogorod and the immense territories belonging
to the republic; thus laying the foundation of the Russian empire, A.D.
862.
Rurick died in 879, and left a son only four years of age.
* * * * *
The best historians say that the Slaves are not the same race as the
Russians, but that the former assumed the name of their conquerors;
the origin of both is so obscured by the mists of time, that the
learned alone can decide upon the validity of their claims. According
to Herbelot, who quotes the Tartar historian Aboulgasi Baïadour, the
Russians trace their descent through a long line of ancestors to Rouss,
a son of Japhet, whilst the Slaves claim to be derived from Seklab, or
Saklab, another son of the same remote progenitor.
I have heard the Russians frequently assert that they derived their name
from the colour of their hair, which is of a peculiar yellow tint that
I do not think is met with in other countries; indeed those of the true
Russian race, in many of the villages, have hair of a light straw-colour.
* * * * *
Even so early as the ninth century, and probably long previous to that
date, the Novogorodians had much commercial intercourse with the Greeks
of Constantinople. We are told that in their voyages thither they
descended the Dnieper; that on coming to rocks they lightened the weight
of their ships, by discharging the cargoes, and carrying them on men’s
shoulders along the shores; they re-embarked when the danger was passed.
On reaching the mouth of the Dnieper, they waited for a fair wind, and
then coasted along the western shores of the Black Sea, until they came
to the Greek capital, which in their language was designated Tzargrad,
or the City of the Cæsars. Oleg, the guardian of Rurick’s son, is said
to have made a successful attack on Constantinople, and committed
fearful ravages in its vicinity. Leo the Philosopher was then Emperor
of the East, and, being too enervated to defend his capital by arms,
he purchased the forbearance of the Russians by the payment of immense
treasures and costly stuffs, the display of which on their return home
struck their fellow-countrymen with astonishment. Perhaps that event was
the origin of the restless longing and excessive desire of the Russian
people to become the conquerors and possessors of Constantinople; for it
is curious to remark how, ever since that time, they have, generation
after generation, kept their eyes steadfastly fixed on the south, and
have slowly advanced towards the attainment of their object. Treaties of
peace and commerce are still, according to the historian, extant, which
were made between some of the Greek emperors and the early princes of
Novogorod.
* * * * *
Olga, who reigned as regent over the Russians from 945 to 955 A.D., was
thought worthy of being canonized by the Russo-Greek Church because she
went to Constantinople and became baptized as a Christian; but religion
does not appear to have been the sole object of her journey: like a true
Muscovite, she had other designs hidden under its cloak, for we are
expressly told that commercial views as well as pious ones induced her
to go to the Greek capital. Constantine stood as sponsor at her baptism.
The revenge this princess took on the Drevlians, a people who dwelt near
the lake of Ilmen, was certainly anything but saintlike. Olga’s husband,
Igor, having invaded their country, was slain by them: the widow, after
having caused the members of two embassies sent to her by their king
to be murdered, would not be appeased unless she took still greater
vengeance on the nation: to do so she dissimulated her hatred, spoke
fairly to them, and expressed her willingness to forget what had passed,
on condition that for every house in their town they should present her
with three pigeons and three sparrows. The deceived Drevlians joyfully
agreed to the terms; they brought the birds and then returned home; but
Olga caused lighted matches to be attached to them, and then let them go;
they naturally flew back to their nests, and thus set the city on fire.
The inhabitants, in endeavouring to save themselves from the flames, were
put to the sword. Yet before the portrait of this cruel and wicked woman
the Russians of all classes bow and prostrate themselves to the earth,
and beg her intercession for them at the throne of Heaven.
* * * * *
Alexander Nevski, the description of whose tomb has been given in these
pages, reigned in Russia from about the year 1255 to 1264 A.D. The
Russian Church has also thought proper to consider him as a saint, for
no other quality, one would think, than that of his savage cruelty. His
odious barbarities exercised on the inhabitants of Novogorod, after their
struggle to resist their Tartar tyrants, must render his name hateful
to any but to Russian ears. He cut off the noses of some, the ears of
others; ordered their eyes to be pulled out, their feet and hands to be
chopped off; and committed all the actions of cruelty and wickedness he
could think of in respect to them. Yet this wretch is revered and adored
as if he had been a true benefactor to the human race.
In noticing the Nevsky monastery I forgot to mention that it was founded
by Peter the Great near the spot where he had vanquished the Swedes,
and he caused his relics to be transported thither: the costly tomb was
erected by the Empress Elizabeth.
Perhaps Peter saw in Alexander Nevsky’s conduct much resemblance to his
own, and wished to increase his own power over his people by holding up
to their adoration a Czar similar to himself in his actions.
* * * * *
Dmitri, surnamed by Russian historians “the False,” was, according to
them, the Perkin Warbeck of Muscovite history. They affirm that his real
name was Jachko (or in English James) Otrepief; that he was brought up in
a monastery, and assumed the habit of a novice at the age of fourteen.
He himself asserted that he was the son of Ivan the Terrible, or Cruel,
and the legitimate heir to the crown. His history, which is perhaps the
most interesting one in the Muscovite annals, is too long to be inserted
here, but, after having obtained the protection of Sigismund and the
Diet of Poland in 1603, he at last ascended the throne of Muscovy. There
are many circumstances that would lead us to conclude that Dmitri V. was
no impostor. Chuiski, his successor, aimed at the imperial crown, and,
having murdered the Czar, it was to his interest, and to that of _his_
successors, to proclaim that Dmitri was the false heir, lest he might
have left one to inherit his title. Was it not also to the interest of
Michael Romanof, the founder of the present dynasty, still to keep up
the belief.
* * * * *
Michael Romanof, the ancestor of the present Czar, was the son of a
Boyar, or Muscovite noble, named Phedor Nikititch. He was not a _prince_,
or of _Russian_ descent; but they say his forefather was a Prussian
named Andrew, who emigrated to Russia towards the end of the fourteenth
century. He was elected Czar in 1613.—_Levesque, from a MS. on the
imperial family._
* * * * *
Siberia was conquered by Yermak, an Ataman or Hetman of the Don Cossacks,
between the years 1577 and 1580, and by him secured to the Czar Ivan IV.
Yermak was drowned in the Vagai, one of the tributary streams of the
Irtish, 1583.
* * * * *
The Samoïdes, or Samoyedes, are a race of people inhabiting a wild marshy
country in the extreme north of Siberia, its shores being washed by the
Frozen Ocean. The word Samoïde, Samoïede, or Samoïade, means a cannibal
according to most authors, but it does not appear that they merit such an
appellation: they pay a tribute of skins yearly to the Czar, but, like
most of the nomads of Siberia, they _govern_ themselves.
* * * * *
The custom mentioned in the fourteenth chapter regarding the offering of
bread, &c., made to the Church after a funeral, is apparently derived
from Shamanism, for it is also a rite performed by those who profess that
religion, and also on the fortieth day. Shamanism is still professed
by immense numbers of the nomads, although its doctrines are now much
corrupted: it was formerly an universal belief, even so far west of the
Ural mountains as Jaroslaf.
* * * * *
The Russian language is one of the richest and most beautiful in the
world: it is soft and agreeable in sound, and has not the defect of the
Italian in being too effeminate; it contains many words that express
the same ideas. If ever a Sclavonic Milton or Shakspeare arise, he will
find an inexhaustible treasure in his native tongue wherewith to express
his thoughts, but at present there is scarcely any national literature,
owing to the deadening influence of the government. The principal Russian
authors are Poushkin the poet, Karamsin the historian, and Kriloff the
writer of fables. In the alphabet there are thirty-six letters, of which
a great number are vowels: many of them are purely Greek characters.
A friend who understood the classic tongues assured me that a great
similitude existed between Russ and Greek; the resemblance to Erse
remarked by my Highland acquaintances has already been mentioned.
The words which appear to be spelled with so many consonants merely
contain letters of which we have not the equivalent,—such as shtch, cz,
tch, which are each expressed in Russian by a single character.
In the preceding pages, whenever Russian words occur, the true
orthography has not been given, but they are written according to the
sound as nearly as possible.
FOOTNOTES
[1] A verst is about five furlongs. A verst and a half, with the addition
of six yards, makes a mile.
[2] I was informed that they tie a string round the head and then cut the
hair in a straight line: the poll of the neck is shaved quite bare.
[3] The Greek Church forbids any carved images, although it allows
painted ones: they say “graven images” are expressly forbidden; how
they get over the ensuing “nor the likeness,” &c., they could never
satisfactorily explain.
[4] The Russians begin preparing a dowry for their daughters almost as
soon as they are born, and they accumulate an immense quantity of things
by the time they are marriageable.
[5] The unmarried girls have their hair done in one long thick plait
hanging straight down the back; the married have two, which are twisted
under the head-dress.
[6] The priests are so called in Russia.
[7] The heat is so great for some weeks in the summer that I have heard
people who have just arrived from India declare it is more insupportable
than anything which they had experienced in that country.
[8] So absurdly anxious is the government to prevent even the faintest
echo of the voice of freedom from being heard in Russia, that it is a
positive fact that the librettos of the operas of Masaniello and William
Tell were ordered to be changed lest the subject should be too exciting!
[9] In Russia there are many superstitions regarding this animal; the
people never eat it, as they consider it unclean. Perhaps this might have
arisen from their ancient Pagan creed, as one of their idols had the body
of a woman and the head of a hare.
[10] The Russians make a kind of tea out of these blossoms, which they
take as a cure for a cold; also of dried raspberries, which is used for
the same purpose—a decoction of either producing a violent perspiration.
[11] The coffin for an old person is generally covered with black and
trimmed with silver, but for a young person it is pink or white, with a
quantity of gold ornaments; wreaths of flowers, according to the age of
the dead, are laid on the top.
[12] The Russians have a strange idea that the Jews steal children to eat
them, especially at the time of Pentecost, and no reasoning will persuade
them of the absurdity and falsehood of this idea.
[13] Cronstadt, the celebrated port of St. Petersburg, although strongly
fortified, which of course is to protect the capital, is in itself a
wretched town; most of the houses are of wood, the streets unpaved, and
containing scarcely a single handsome building. There was much talk of
immense batteries and mines under the water; but people who had resided
there for years assured me that it was not possible that it could be true.
[14] The expenses of the Russian Court, we were informed, amount to
about forty millions of silver rubles per annum, or rather more than six
million three hundred and thirty-three thousand pounds sterling.—_From a
Russian authority._
[15] This unfortunate prince, although thus named, might have been the
true heir: there are many more circumstances to prove that he was so
than that he was not; his extreme resemblance to his father, his public
recognition by his mother, and the cross that had been placed round his
neck at his baptism, &c. But it was too much against the interest of his
successors for them to acknowledge his rights; his name is still yearly
anathematized in the Russian churches, to keep up the belief in his
imposture.
[16] A learned Russian traveller assured me that even the account he gave
of his journeys in the north of Asia was not allowed to be published;
only those parts wherein the desolation of the land was not exposed were
permitted to be printed.
[17] The executioner (it is said) is always made intoxicated before
inflicting the punishment of the knout.
[18] It is almost a compliment to Ivan IV. so to call him.
[19] St. George with the dragon is the insignia of the Russian order, as
well as of the garter in England.
[20] Kremlin is a Tartar word; it means a fortress.
[21] In Russia civilians, as well as military men, have the title of
general; it is, therefore, usual to distinguish them by the designation
of military or civil as the case may be.
[22] Yet they always spoke of the United States as a half-savage country,
and of the Americans as half civilized.
[23] A Russo-French gentleman, who is the possessor of large property in
these mines, assured us that the idea that the Emperor derives much from
them is entirely false; that the expense of working them is enormous, and
the time that they can be excavated in each year is very short; added to
which is the charge of transport; and, above all, the necessity of their
productions passing through the hands of the _employés_, who, according
to Russian custom, rub off a great deal in the process. “It is true,”
said he, “that sometimes large amounts are forwarded to the capital,
which make a figure in print, but they omit to say what expenses were
incurred in obtaining them. You may be sure that very little in the way
of profit reaches the Imperial Treasury, but private speculators make
them pay better because they themselves superintend them.”
[24] In order to ensure the fidelity of the Finnish people, the Emperor
took a journey to Finland, and, after having exerted all his talents
_pour faire l’aimable_, he promised them fifty years of immunity from
taxation, &c.
[25] So little do the Russians know of the true state of affairs, that,
since writing the above, I have received two letters from Russia, in the
first of which my friend begs me to “excuse the faults, for she is so
much interrupted by the cannonading in honour of their _great victories_
over the Turks.” In the second it is stated that “thirteen thousand
English have been slain near Anapa!” which, according to the writer, took
place about a month before the army left Varna; and I was further told
that “the manner in which we treat the prisoners of war, in giving them
neither food nor money, is disgraceful to a Christian country.” To one of
these epistles is a postscript, giving me to understand that the British
fleet were too frightened to remain before Cronstadt, &c.
[26] Vladimir, Prince of Novogorod.—_Nestor._
[27] Peter the Great caused immense levies to be made throughout his
dominions to furnish men sufficient to construct his capital; crowds
of Cossacks were also brought from the Ukraine after Mazeppa’s defeat,
who, together with the prisoners of war taken from Sweden, were all
employed in the work of excavation; and in laying the foundations
hundreds of thousands, it is said, perished from fatigue, pestilence, and
ill-treatment. One hundred thousand died from famine alone.
[28] A fool, an ass.
[29] These lines may be thus translated:—
“Who knows how many wither
In a year sent to the tomb,
Summon’d unwarned thither
To meet their final doom,
In spite of th’ warm breath of spring,
Which often faded blossoms bring?
Ah! which of us shall stay to mourn for those
That lie wrapp’d in the silent grave’s repose?”
[30]
“Cheer up! and good be ever there,
Shall be our wish at this new year.”
[31] German in Russ is _niemetz_, from _niemoe_, dumb. The Slaves always
so designated those who could not speak their language. According to
some authors, the name of Slaves is derived from _slovo_, a word, and
_slovene_, _i.e._ men who speak. The letter _o_ in Russian frequently
takes the sound of _a_. Others say that the name is derived from _slava_,
glory.
[32] I have myself seen in the remote villages grotesque figures painted
on the wall outside of the cottages, or else a frightful demon on the
apex of the roof in front, which the peasants called a domovoi or
house-guardian.
[33] The city of Novogorod alone, it is said, contained four hundred
thousand inhabitants.
LONDON: PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET, AND CHARING
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