HISTORICAL SKETCH OF BESSARABIA.
Topology--Ancient Fortresses--The Russian Policy in Bessarabia
--Emancipation of the Serfs--Colonies--Cattle--Exports and
Imports--Mixed Population of the Province 424
Note 435
THE
STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &c.
CHAPTER I.
DEPARTURE FROM CONSTANTINOPLE--ARRIVAL, IN ODESSA--
QUARANTINE.
On the 15th of May, 1838, we bade adieu to Constantinople, and standing
on the deck of the Odessa steamer, as it entered the Bosphorus, we could
not withdraw our eyes from the magnificent panorama we were leaving
behind us.
Constantinople then appeared to us in all its grandeur and beauty.
Seated like Rome on its seven hills, exercising its sovereignty like
Corinth over two seas, the vast city presented to our eyes a superb
amphitheatre of palaces, mosques, white minarets and green plane-trees
glistening in an Asiatic sunshine. What description could adequately
depict this marvellous spectacle, or even give an idea of it? Would it
not be wronging creation, as Lamartine has said, to compare
Constantinople with any thing else in this world?
Meanwhile, we were advancing up the Bosphorus, and the two shores,
fringed all along to the Black Sea with cypress groves, and half hidden
beneath their sombre shade, invited a share of that attentive gaze we
had hitherto bestowed only on the great city that was vanishing in our
wake. The Bosphorus itself presented a very animated scene. A thousand
white-sailed caiques glided lightly over the waves, coming and going
incessantly from shore to shore. As we advanced, the Bosphorus widened
more and more, and we soon entered that Black Sea, whose ominous name so
well accords with the storms that perpetually convulse it. A multitude
of vessels of all kinds and dimensions, were anchored at the entrance of
the channel, waiting for a favourable wind to take them out of the
straits, which alone present more dangers than the whole navigation of
the Black Sea. The difficulties of this passage are further augmented in
the beginning of spring and the end of autumn by dense fogs, which have
caused an incalculable number of vessels to be wrecked on the steep
rocks of these iron-bound coasts.
The passage from Constantinople to Odessa is effected in fifty hours in
the Russian steamers, which ply twice a month from each of these ports.
Those who are accustomed to the comfort, elegance, and scrupulous
cleanliness of the Mediterranean and Atlantic steamers, must be
horrified at finding themselves on board a Russian vessel. It is
impossible to express the filth and disorder of that in which we were
embarked. The deck, which was already heaped from end to end with goods
and provisions, was crowded besides with a disgusting mob of pilgrims,
mendicant monks, Jews, and Russian or Cossack women, all squatting and
lying about at their ease without regard to the convenience of the other
passengers. Most of them were returning from Jerusalem. The Russian
people are possessed in the highest degree with the mania for
pilgrimages. All these beggars set off barefooted, with their wallets on
their backs, and their rosaries in their hands, to seek Heaven's pardon
for their sins; appealing on their way to the charity of men, to enable
them to continue that vagabond and miserable life which they prefer to
the fulfilment of homely duties.
It was a sorry specimen of the people we were going to visit that we had
thus before our eyes, and our repugnance to these Muscovites was all the
stronger from our recollections of the Turks, whose noble presence and
beauty had so lately engaged our admiration.
On the morning of the second day, we saw on our left a little island
called by the sailors the Island of Serpents. The Russians have retained
its Greek name of Fidonisi. It was anciently called Leucaia, or Makaron
Nesos (Island of the Blest), was sacred to Achilles, and contained a
temple, in which mariners used to deposit offerings. It is a calcareous
rock, about thirty yards high and not more than 600 in its greatest
diameter, and has long been uninhabited. Some ruins still visible upon
it would probably be worth exploring, if we may judge from an
inscription already discovered.
Soon afterwards we were made aware of our approach to Odessa, our place
of destination, by the appearance of the Russian coast with its cliffs
striated horizontally in red and white. Nothing can be more dreary than
these low, deserted, and monotonous coasts, stretching away as far as
the eye can reach, until they are lost in the hazy horizon. There is no
vegetation, no variety in the scene, no trace of human habitation; but
everywhere a calcareous and argillaceous wall thirty or forty yards
high, with an arid sandy beach at its foot, continually swept bare by
the waves. But as we approached nearer to Odessa, the shore assumed a
more varied appearance. Huge masses of limestone and earth, separated
ages ago from the line of the cliffs, form a range of hills all along
the sea border, planted with trees and studded with charming
country-houses.
A lighthouse, at some distance from the walls of Odessa, is the first
landmark noted by mariners. An hour after it came in sight, we were in
front of the town. Europe was once more before our eyes, and the aspect
of the straight lines of street, the wide fronted houses, and the sober
aspect of the buildings awoke many dear recollections in our minds.
Every object appeared to us in old familiar hues and forms, which time
and absence had for a while effaced from our memories. Even
Constantinople, which so lately had filled our imaginations, was now
thought of but as a brilliant mirage which had met our view by chance,
and soon vanished with all its illusive splendours.
Odessa looks to great advantage from the quarantine harbour, where the
steamer moored. The eye takes in at one view the boulevard, the
Exchange, Count Voronzof's palace, the _pratique_ harbour, and the
Custom-house; and, in the background, some churches with green roofs and
gilded domes, the theatre, Count de Witt's pretty Gothic house, and some
large barracks, which from their Grecian architecture, one would be
disposed to take for ancient monuments.
Behind the Custom-house, on some steep calcareous rocks, sixty or
seventy feet high, stands the quarantine establishment, looking proudly
down on all Odessa. A fortress and bastions crowning the height, protect
the town. All the remarkable buildings are thus within view of the port,
and give the town at first sight an appearance of grandeur that is very
striking.
The day of our arrival was a Sunday; and when we entered the harbour, it
was about four in the afternoon, the hour of the promenade, and all that
portion of the town adjoining the port presented the most picturesque
appearance imaginable. We had no difficulty in distinguishing the
numerous promenaders that filled the alleys of the boulevard, and we
heard the noise of the droshkys and four-horse equipages that rolled in
every direction. The music, too, of a military band stationed in the
middle of the promenade, distinctly reached our ears, and heightened the
charms of the scene. It was, indeed, a European town we beheld, full of
affluence, movement, and gaiety. But, alas! our curiosity and our
longings, thus strongly excited, were not for a long while to be
satisfied. The dreaded quarantine looked down on us, as if to notify
that its rights were paramount, and assuredly it was not disposed to
abrogate them in our favour. One of the officers belonging to it had
already come down to receive the letters, journals, and passports, and
to order us into a large wooden house, placed like a watchful sentinel
on the verge of the sea. So we were forced to quit the brilliant
spectacle on which we had been gazing, and go and pass through certain
preliminary formalities in a smoky room, filled with sailors and
passengers, waiting their turn with the usual apathy of Russians.
We had no sooner entered the quarantine, than we were separated from
each other, and every one made as much haste to avoid us, as if we were
unfortunate pariahs whose touch was uncleanness. All our baggage was put
aside for four-and-twenty hours, and we were accommodated in the
meantime with the loan of garments, so grotesque and ridiculous, that
after we had got into them, we could not look at each other without
bursting into laughter. We made haste to inspect our chambers, which we
found miraculously furnished with the most indispensable things. But
what rejoiced us above all, was a court-yard adorned with two beautiful
acacias, the flowery branches of which threw their shade upon our
windows. Our guardian, who had been unable to preserve the usual gravity
of a Russian soldier at the sight of our ludicrous _travestissement_,
surprised us greatly by a few words of French which he addressed to us.
By dint of mangling our mother tongue, he managed to inform us that he
had made the campaign of 1815, and that he was never so happy as when he
met Frenchmen. On our part we had every reason to be satisfied with his
attentive services.
The first hours we passed in quarantine, were extremely tedious and
unpleasant, in consequence of the want of our baggage. Our books, our
papers, and every thing we had most urgent need of, were carried off to
undergo two whole days' fumigation. But afterwards the time passed away
glibly enough, and I should never have supposed it possible to be so
contented in prison. But for the iron bars and the treble locks which
had to be opened every time we had occasion to leave our rooms, we might
have fancied we were rusticating for our pleasure. A handsome garden, a
capital cook, books, a view of the sea--what more could any one desire?
We were allowed to walk about the whole establishment, on condition only
that we kept at a respectful distance from all who came in our way, and
that we were constantly accompanied by our guardian. On one of the
angles of the rock there is a little platform, with seats and trees,
looking down on the sea, the harbour, and part of the town. In this
delightful lounging-place we often passed hours together, in
contemplating the beautiful spectacle before us.
What a lively source of endless enjoyment does the imagination find in a
broad extent of sea animated by numerous vessels! The bustle of the
harbour, the boats plying with provisions and passengers; the various
flags flying from the mast-heads; the brig preparing to sail, with
canvass unfurled, and the crew singing out as they tramp round the
capstan; a sail suddenly appearing on the horizon, like a bird on the
wing, gleaming in the sun, and gradually enlarging on the sight; the
zones of light and shade, that scud athwart the sea's surface, and give
it a thousand varying aspects; the coast, with its headlands, its
lighthouse, its sinuous and indented lines, its broad beach and belt of
rocks; all these things form a panorama, that completely absorbs the
faculties. You envy the good fortune of those who are outward bound, and
whose course lies over yon smooth expanse of water, limited only by the
sky, in search of other shores and other scenes. You bid them farewell
with voice and gesture as familiar friends, and wish them fair winds and
good speed, as though they could hear you.
We were then in the beautiful month of June; the placid sea was as
limpid and bright as the sky; the acacia was coming into full bloom, and
embalmed the air far over sea and shore with its delicious perfume.
Odessa is full of these trees, and when they are covered with their
odorous blossoms, the streets, the squares, and even the meanest
quarters, put on a charming gala aspect; the whole town is metamorphosed
into a smiling garden.
We feel bound to testify to the excellent arrangements of the quarantine
establishment, and to the ready, obliging disposition of its officers.
Though placed in such propinquity to Constantinople, the Odessa lazaret
may serve as a model of its kind, and the excellence of the system
observed in it is proved by the happy results obtained. Travellers are
subjected to a quarantine of a fortnight only, and merchandise, after
undergoing forty-eight hours' fumigation with preparations of chlorine,
is immediately set free; yet since the existence of this establishment,
there has not occurred in Odessa a single case of plague which could be
ascribed to any defect in the sanatory regulations of the place. There
is no denying the fact that in matters of quarantine, France remains in
the extreme background. The lazaret of Marseilles, is at this day
exactly what it was at the beginning of the last century. All our
discoveries in chemistry and medicine have been of no avail against the
inveterate force of old habits; and up to the present time,
notwithstanding all the remonstrances of commercial men, it has been
impossible to modify the sanatory regulations enforced in our
Mediterranean ports. Marseilles is 600 leagues away from the countries
ravaged by the plague, and yet vessels are subjected there, after
five-and-twenty days' navigation, to a quarantine of forty-five days,
and their cargoes are exposed in the open air for the same period. It
has been frequently proposed to establish a new system, more in
accordance with the advanced state of our knowledge; but it seems that
the efforts of the government have always been defeated by the
prejudices of the inhabitants of the south.
CHAPTER II.
STREETS OF ODESSA--JEWS--HOTELS--PARTIALITY OF THE RUSSIANS
FOR ODESSA--HURRICANE, DUST, MUD, CLIMATE, &C.--PUBLIC
BUILDINGS.
The day of our release from quarantine, was as full of bustle and
annoyances as that of our arrival, the _spolio_ alone excepted. How we
regretted the freedom of the East! There the traveller's movements are
shackled by no formalities, but he is free from the moment he quits his
vessel, to roam about the town as he pleases, without being pestered
with the custom-house and police officers, and the _employes_ of all
sorts that assail him in lands calling themselves civilised. But it is
in Russia especially that he has most reason to pour out his wrathful
imprecations on that army of birds of prey that pounce on him with an
avidity truly intolerable. I can't tell how many formalities we had to
go through from the hour appointed for our leaving the lazaret, until we
finally got out of the clutches of the Custom-house, and could breathe
freely. But our feelings of vexation, strong as they were, gave way to
downright stupefaction, when we entered the town. Was this really that
Odessa which had seemed so brilliant when we saw it from the lazaret,
and which now presented itself to our eyes under so mean and wretched an
aspect? Could we even grace with the name of town the place where we
then were and the streets we beheld? It was a great open space without
houses, filled with carts, and oxen rolling in the dust, in company with
a mob of Russian and Polish peasants, all sleeping together in the sun,
in a temperature of more than 90 deg.
Whirlwinds of dust exactly like waterspouts in all but the material
composing them, darkened the air every moment, and swept the ground with
incredible fury. Further on, we entered a street wider than our highways
in France, and flanked with little houses, one story high, and separated
from each other by uncultivated gardens. The population consisting of
Jews, whose filth is become proverbial in Russia, completed our disgust,
and we knew not which way to turn our eyes to escape the sight of such
loathsome objects. However, as we approached the heart of the town the
streets began to show shops and houses, and the appearance of the
inhabitants grew more diversified. But notwithstanding the carriages and
droshkys that passed us rapidly, notwithstanding the footways of cut
stone, and the Grecian architecture of the corn stores, we reached the
Hotel de la Nouvelle Russie without having been able to reconcile
ourselves to the aspect of the town; and there again we encountered
fresh disappointments. We had been told by many of our acquaintances in
Constantinople that the hotels of Odessa were among the best in Europe;
great, therefore, was our surprise at not finding any one of the
commonest requisites for travellers in the one at which we stopped. No
linen, no bells, no servants to wait on us; it was with difficulty we
could get a carafe of water after waiting for it half an hour. Our
single apartment looked due south, and all the furniture in it consisted
of a bedstead, a chest of drawers, and a few chairs, without a scrap of
curtain to mitigate the blazing sunshine that scorched our eyes. And for
such accommodation as this we had to pay eight rubles a day. But our
amazement reached the highest pitch, when, after giving orders to fit up
the bedstead which made so piteous a figure in this agreeable lodging,
we were informed by the hotel keeper that every article was charged for
separately. "What!" I exclaimed, in great indignation, "do we not pay
eight rubles a day?" "Certainly, madame, but accessories are never
included in the charge for the room. But if madame don't like, there is
no need to have a bed furnished completely. We have generals and
countesses that are satisfied with a plain mattress." We had no desire
to follow the example of their Excellencies, so we were obliged to
submit to our host's terms. It is fair to add, however, that
circumstances to a certain extent justified some exorbitance of charge,
for the Emperor Nicholas and his family were hourly expected, and the
hotels were of course thronged with military men and strangers.
Odessa now lays claim to a respectable rank among the towns of Europe.
Its position on the Black Sea, the rapid increase of its population, its
commercial wealth, and its brilliant society, all concur to place it
next in Russia after the two capitals of the empire. Though but forty
years have elapsed since its foundation, it has far outstripped those
half-Sclavonic, half-Tartar cities, Kiev the holy, the great Novgorod,
and Vladimir, all celebrated in the bloody annals of the tzars, and
already old before Moscow and St. Petersburg were yet in existence.
Odessa is not at all like any of the other towns in the empire. In it
you hear every language and see all kinds of usages except those of the
country. Nevertheless, the Russians prefer it even to St. Petersburg,
for they enjoy greater liberty in it, and are relieved from the rigorous
etiquette that engrosses three-fourths of their time in the capital.
Besides this, Odessa possesses one grand attraction for the Russian and
Polish ladies in the freedom of its port, which enables them to indulge
their taste for dress and other luxuries without the ruinous expense
these entail on them in St. Petersburg. Odessa is their Paris, which
they are all bent on visiting at least once in their lives, whatever be
the distance they have to travel. The reputation of the town has even
passed the Russian frontiers, and people have been so obliging as to
bestow on it the flattering name of the _Russian Florence_; but for what
reason I really cannot tell. Odessa possesses neither arts nor artists;
even the dilettante class is scarcely known there; the predominant
spirit of trade leaves little room for a love of the beautiful, and the
commercial men care very little about art. It is true that M. Vital, a
distinguished French painter, has endeavoured to establish a
drawing-academy under the patronage of Count Voronzof, but the success
of his efforts may be doubted.
The infatuated admiration of the Russians for Odessa is carried to the
utmost extreme, and they cannot understand how a stranger can fail to
share in it. How indeed can any one refuse to be enraptured with a town
that possesses an Italian opera, fashionable shops, wide footways, an
English club, a boulevard, a statue, two or three paved streets, &c.?
Barbarian taste or envy could alone behold all this without admiration.
After all, this enthusiasm of the Russians may be easily accounted for:
accustomed as they are to their wildernesses of snow and mud, Odessa is
for them a real Eldorado comprising all the seductions and pleasures of
the world.
If you will believe the Russians, snow is a thing of rare occurrence
there, and every winter they wonder in all sincerity at the reappearance
of sledges in the streets. But this does not hinder the thermometer from
remaining steadily for several months at 25 deg. or 26 deg. R. below zero, and
the whole sea from becoming one polished sheet of ice; nor does it
dispense with the necessity of having double windows, stoves, and
pelisses, just as in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Great, therefore, is the
surprise of the traveller, who, on the strength of its flattering
_sobriquet_, expects to find an Italian sun in Odessa, and who meets at
every step nothing but frost-bitten faces and sledges. Besides these
wintry rigours, there are the hurricanes that continually desolate the
whole region, during what is elsewhere called the fine season. And these
vicissitudes of the atmosphere are aggravated by another evil still more
distressing, the dust, namely, which makes the town almost uninhabitable
during a part of the year. Dust is here a real calamity, a fiend-like
persecutor, that allows you not a moment's rest. It spreads out in seas
and billows that rise with the least breath of wind, and envelop you
with increasing fury, until you are stifled and blinded, and incapable
of a single movement. The gusts of wind are so violent and sudden as to
baffle every precaution. It is only at sunset that one can venture out
at last to breathe the sea air on the boulevard, or to walk in the Rue
Richelieu, the wide footways of which are then thronged by all the
fashion of the place.
Many natural causes combine to keep up this terrible plague. First, the
argillaceous soil, the dryness of the air, the force of the wind, and
the width of the streets; then the bad paving, the great extent of
uncultivated ground still within the town, and the prodigious number of
carriages. The local administration has tried all imaginable systems,
with the hope of getting rid of the dust, and has even had stones
brought from Italy to pave certain streets, but all its efforts have
been ineffectual. At last, in a fit of despair, it fell upon the notable
device of macadamising the well-paved Rue Italienne and Rue Richelieu.
The only result of this operation was, of course, prodigiously to
increase the evil. A wood paving, to be laid down by a Frenchman, is now
talked of, and it appears that his first attempts have been quite
successful.
In order to give some idea of the violence of the hurricanes to which
the country is subject, I will mention a phenomenon of which I was
myself a witness. After a very hot day in 1840, the air of Odessa
gradually darkened about four in the afternoon, until it was impossible
to see twenty paces before one. The oppressive feel of the atmosphere,
the dead calm, and the portentous colour of the sky, filled every one
with deep consternation, and seemed to betoken some fearful catastrophe.
For an hour and a half the spectator could watch the progress of this
novel eclipse, which as yet was without a precedent in those parts. The
thermometer attained the enormous height of 104 deg. F. The obscurity was
then complete; presently the most furious tempest imagination can
conceive, burst forth, and when the darkness cleared off, there was seen
over the sea, what looked like a waterspout of prodigious depth and
breadth, suspended at a height of several feet above the water, and
moving slowly away until it dispersed at last at a distance of many
miles from the shore. The eclipse and the waterspout were nothing else
than dust, and that day Odessa was swept cleaner than it will probably
ever be again.
During the winter the dust is changed into liquid mud, in which the
pedestrian sinks up to mid-leg, and in which he might soon drown
himself, if his humour so disposed him. A long pole to take soundings
with, would not come amiss to one who had to steer his course between
the slimy abysses with which some streets are filled. Formerly, that is
to say some fifteen years ago, ladies used to repair to the ball-room in
carts, drawn each by a numerous team of oxen. At present the principal
streets are paved and lighted, and one may proceed to an evening party
in a rather more elegant equipage; but the poor pedestrian,
nevertheless, finds it a most difficult task to drag his feet out of the
adhesive mud that meets him whichever way he turns; those, therefore,
who have no carriages in Odessa, are obliged to live in absolute
solitude. The distances are as great as in Paris, and the only vehicle
for hire is what is called in Russia a droshky; that is to say, a sort
of saddle mounted on four wheels, on which men sit astride, and ladies
find it very difficult to seat themselves with decorum. The droshky
affords you no protection from either mud, dust, or rain, and at most is
only suitable to men of business and Russians, who never go out of doors
without their cloaks, even in the height of summer.
Odessa contains no remarkable building. In many private houses and in
most of the corn warehouses, a lavish use has been made of the Greek
style of architecture, which accords neither with the climate, nor above
all with the materials employed. All those columns, pediments, and
regular facades, with which the eye is so soon satiated, are in plaster,
and they begin to spoil even before the building is finished. The
mouldings must be renewed every year, and notwithstanding this care,
most of the houses and churches have an air of dilapidation, that makes
them resemble ruins rather than palaces and temples. The cathedral
itself has nothing to distinguish it but its bulk. One must not look for
the rules of architecture, or for elegance of form, or pleasing details
in the religious edifices. They are monotonous in character, and shabby
in structure and fittings. Their interiors are glaring with pictures and
gilding, but all in the spurious taste of the Lower Empire. The
oddly-accoutred saints, the biblical scenes so grotesquely travestied,
the profusion of tinsel, and the reds, greens, and blues, laid one upon
the other, in the coarsest discordance, far too disagreeably shock the
sight to inspire any serious and pious thoughts.
Odessa has also some synagogues, a Catholic church, and one or two
Protestant places of worship, which from their humble appearance might
rather be taken for private houses. It has but one promenade, the
Boulevard, which overlooks the whole harbour, and is exposed, from its
situation, to frequent landslips. The vicinity of this promenade is the
most fashionable quarter. The theatre, the exchange, the mansions of
Count Voronzof and the Princess Narishkin; a line of very elegant
houses, and the throng of carriages, all bespeak the presence of the
aristocracy. Workmen have been employed for the last two or three years
in constructing a gigantic staircase, to lead by a very gentle descent
from the Boulevard to the sea-beach. This expensive and useless toy, is
likely to cost nearly forty-thousand pounds. It is intended to be
ornamented with vases and statues; but some considerable fissures
already give reason to fear the speedy destruction of this great
staircase, which after all can never be of any use, except to the
promenaders on the Boulevard.
CHAPTER III.
THE IMPERIAL FAMILY IN ODESSA--CHURCH MUSIC--SOCIETY OF THE
PLACE, COUNT AND COUNTESS VORONZOF--ANECDOTE OF THE COUNTESS
BRANISKA--THE THEATRE--THEATRICAL ROW.
The brilliant fetes that took place on the arrival of the imperial
family, happened most opportunely for us, and enabled us to see many
celebrated personages. All the foreigners of distinction who had been
present at the famous review of Vosnecensk, followed the emperor to
Odessa, and prolonged their stay there after his departure. The whole
town was in revolution. The houses of dubious colour were most carefully
re-coated, and even old tumbling walls were plastered and coloured. Te
Deum was chanted in the cathedral the day their majesties arrived; the
emperor and his eldest son attended, and were met at the great doors by
the whole Russian clergy dressed in their richest robes, and headed by
the archbishop. The emperor was accompanied by a long-train of courtiers
and officers, whose golden embroideries and glittering decorations vied
in splendour with the magnificent costumes of the popes and choristers.
The Te Deum appeared to me incomparably beautiful. Whoever would know
the full power of harmony, should hear the religious music of the
Russians. The notes are so full, so grave, of such thrilling sweetness,
and such extraordinary volume, and all the voices, seeming as though
they issued from the depths of the building, accord so admirably with
each other, that no language can express the effect of that mighty music
and the profound emotion it excites. I had often heard enthusiastic
accounts of the Russian church-singing, but all fell far short of what I
then heard. After the Te Deum the archbishop presented his episcopal
ring to the tzar and the grand duke, who kissed it respectfully. The
imperial party then left the cathedral, which was filled with clouds of
incense. The vast throng, assembled in front of the building, dispersed
in silence, without pressure or confusion; and the interference of the
Cossacks, appointed to maintain order, was not for a moment requisite.
In the evening there was a grand illumination, the empress held a
drawing-room, and there was an extraordinary representation at the
theatre, at which the whole imperial family was present. It was noticed
that during the whole evening, the emperor sat behind the empress and
did not once advance to the front of the box. There was therefore not a
single hurrah, but every one seemed to affect ignorance of his majesty's
presence. Next day the merchants gave a grand ball to the imperial
family. It was a very brilliant assemblage: the exchange-rooms were all
full of Highnesses and Excellencies, and the poor merchants cut but a
sorry figure amongst all the embroidered uniforms, the wearers of which
elbowed and pushed them aside contemptuously. With an excessive devotion
to etiquette, they had adopted knee-breeches, cocked-hats, and a
_soi-disant_ uniform, with swords at their sides; but this costume was
far less becoming than the black dress which they would certainly have
done better in retaining. A boudoir all lined with vines had been
constructed for the empress, and the fine clusters of grapes hung from
the branches as if to invite her royal hand to pluck them.
The imperial family remained but five or six days in Odessa, and then
proceeded in a steamer to the Crimea. Their presence in the town
produced on the whole a very favourable impression.
It remains for us to say a few words respecting the society to be met
with in Odessa. It consists of so many heterogeneous elements, that it
possesses no distinctive character of its own; French, Germans,
Russians, English, Greeks, and Italians, all bring to it their
respective opinions, habits, language, interests, and prejudices. The
Countess Voronzof's drawing-rooms are the general rendezvous of that
aristocratic, commercial, and travelling world, which is to be found in
similar admixture only in some of the towns of Italy. The same confusion
prevails among the women; the noble and proud Narishkin may be seen
there side by side with a broker's wife: pure blood, mixed blood, all
shades, all tones, all possible physiognomies are there assembled
together.
Count Voronzof is a veritable _grand seigneur_, and spends more than
L6000 a year in pomps and entertainments. His name, his immense fortune,
and his influence at court give him the predominance over most of the
emperor's favourites. Brought up in England, where his father was
ambassador for more than forty years, he seems more an Englishman than a
Russian, and has retained nothing of his nationality except his devoted
loyalty to the emperor, and the exquisite politeness that distinguishes
the Russian nobles. His talents, his affability, and great facility of
character, secure him numerous admirers amongst the Odessians and
foreigners. Nicholas could not have made a better choice than in
selecting him for governor of New Russia. His sumptuous tastes and vast
wealth give great _eclat_ to the rank he fills, and put him on a par
with the most magnificent lords of Europe. His wife is the daughter of
the celebrated Countess Braniska, whose gigantic fortune was long an
object of astonishment to the Russians themselves. She died but recently
at the age of ninety-five, leaving her immense fortune to her only son,
with the exception only of a fourteenth part, which was all that
devolved, according to the laws of Russia, on her two daughters. Her
avarice was as notorious as her wealth, and stories are told of her,
that far out-do all that is related of the most famous misers. I will
mention but one of them, the authenticity of which was warranted to me
by an eye-witness.
Mr. Dantz, one of our friends, having had occasion to call on the
countess, on matters of business, left his britchka in a court-yard of
her house, in which there was some cattle. A large bundle of hay,
intended for his horses, was hung behind the carriage, according to the
usual custom in Russia. Being shown into a room that looked out into the
court-yard, he became engaged in a brisk discussion with the countess,
who would not yield to any of his arguments, and soon losing patience
rose, as if to put an end to the interview, and walked to a window. But
no sooner had she looked down into the court-yard than she again took up
all the points of the discussion, one after the other, seeming
half-disposed to yield, and keeping Mr. Dantz in suspense for more than
a half an hour. Exceedingly puzzled by this sudden change in the lady's
temper, which he knew not how to account for, he narrowly watched all
her movements, and observed that from time to time she cast a rapid
glance into the court-yard; whereupon he went with affected carelessness
to the window, and what did he see? Two or three horribly lean cows
busily devouring the hay behind his carriage. The countess had prolonged
the interview in order to gain time for her cows to feed at her
visitor's expense; and, accordingly, as soon as the last blade of hay
was eaten up, she resumed all her stateliness, cut short the discussion
with a word, and gave Mr. Dantz his conge.
Odessa is a town of pleasure and luxury, where the ladies, it is said,
ruin their husbands by their profusion and extravagant love of dress. In
addition to the balls, concerts, and soirees of all sorts, performances
for the benefit of the poor are given every year in the great theatre,
by the _court_, as the Countess Voronzof's establishment is called. All
the _elite_ of Odessa, take part in these amusements, which bring in
considerable sums. The countess at first set the example, by herself
performing a part; but an order from the emperor forbade her thus
exhibiting in public, and since that time she confines herself to the
business of managing behind the curtain. The house is always well
filled, and each performance brings in four or five thousand rubles. The
skill displayed by these noble actors is not to be surpassed by any
professional company; but this is not surprising, for every one knows in
how high a degree the Russians possess the talent for imitation;
whatever they see they mimic with ease, and without preparation. It is
needless to add that the performances are in French, and that the
pieces are taken from our stock. M. Scribe is almost the sole
contributor. Nowhere, perhaps, is our witty vaudevillist so much prized
as in Russia.
Odessa possesses the only Italian theatre in Russia. The company is
generally well composed, and gives, during the whole year, performances,
which are but scantily attended, notwithstanding the passionate
admiration which the Odessians affect for Italian music. It is only in
the bathing season, when the Poles fill the town, that the house
presents a somewhat more animated appearance. All the rest of the year
the boxes are almost deserted, and the Jews alone frequent the pit. In
1840, Mademoiselle Georges entered into a six months' engagement with
the manager of the Odessa theatre, and arrived with a numerous company,
including some really superior actors. Yet, notwithstanding her European
celebrity and her ample _repertoire_, she would scarcely have covered
her expenses, but for the strenuous exertions of her quondam admirer,
General N., who welcomed her as though fifteen years had not interrupted
their liaison, and placed his mansion, his equipages, his purse, and his
credit, at her disposal, with all the chivalric gallantry of a Russian
magnifico.
But all his efforts were unable to reverse the very unfavourable
sentence which public opinion had, from the first, pronounced upon his
protege. Notwithstanding the superior talent with which she still plays
certain parts, she was appreciated but by a very small number of
persons; and she left Odessa with sentiments of deep disdain for a
public that so much preferred the paltriest vaudeville to all her bursts
of passion as to make almost open war upon her. A thing till then almost
unheard-of in Russia took place at the last performance of the French
company: a regular cabal was formed, attended with an explosion of very
stormy passions. The whole town was divided into two factions, the one
for Mademoiselle Georges, the other for M. Montdidier, one of her best
actors. Our tragedy queen, it is said, was exceedingly jealous of this
preference, and lost no opportunity of mortifying her rival.
Accordingly, she purposely selected for the last performance, two pieces
in which he had no part. The public, greatly dissatisfied at not seeing
the name of their favourite actor in the bills, repaired to the theatre
in an ill-humour, of which they soon gave very intelligible symptoms.
Things passed off, however, tolerably well until the end of the last
piece; but then there was a call for Montdidier, which was taken up, and
vehemently sustained by the whole pit, notwithstanding all the efforts
of the police, General N's coterie, and the presence of the
governor-general. This incident which had been altogether unforeseen by
the managers, caused them extreme perplexity; no one knew where
Montdidier was to be found. At last, seeing the row increase, Count
Voronzof himself ordered the commissioner of police to go to
Montdidier's hotel, and fetch him alive or dead. The commissioner found
him fast asleep, and quite unconscious of all the agitation he was
causing in the theatre. He hurried thither, and was proceeding to show
himself on the stage, but was stopped by the whole company with
Mademoiselle Georges at their head, under pretext that such a course
would be an infraction of all the rules of the theatre. In short, there
was, for a while, an indescribable tumult. The whole pit stood up and
never ceased shouting until they saw Montdidier rush on the stage, with
his dress in a state of disorder that showed what a hard battle he had
sustained behind the scenes. The angry shouts were now succeeded by an
explosion of applause; the boxes rang with prolonged bravos, and even
Count Voronzof himself was seen clapping his hands and laughing with all
his might. The whole audience seemed to have lost their wits. General
N., quite disconcerted, slunk back into the rear of his box, and said to
one of his friends as he pointed to the stage, "Look at those Frenchmen;
they have only to show themselves to upset all established usages and
principles. They bring with them disorder, rebellion, and the spirit of
revolution; and the contagion soon spreads even among the most sensible
people." In truth nothing of the kind had ever before been seen in
Odessa; and all the jealousies of the _primissime donne_ had never
caused the twentieth part of the confusion that marked that memorable
night.
CHAPTER IV.
COMMERCE OF THE BLACK SEA--PROHIBITIVE SYSTEM AND ITS
PERNICIOUS RESULTS--DEPRESSED STATE OF AGRICULTURE--TRADE
OF ODESSA--ITS BANK.
From the destruction of the Genoese colonies in the Crimea, in 1476,
down to the treaty of Kainardji, a period of 300 years, the Black Sea
remained closed against the nations of the West, and was the privileged
domain of Turkey. Its whole coast belonged to the sultans of
Constantinople, and the khans of the Crimea. The Turks, and the Greeks
of the Archipelago, subjects of the Ottoman Porte, had the sole right of
navigating those waters, and all the commerce of Europe with that
portion of the East was exclusively in the hands of the latter people.
The conquests of Peter the Great, and subsequently those of the
celebrated Catherine II., changed this state of things. The Russians
advanced towards the south, and soon made themselves masters of the Sea
of Azof, the Crimea, and all the northern coasts of the Black Sea.
Nevertheless, it was not until July 21, 1774, after six consecutive
campaigns, and many victories achieved by the Russians, by sea and land,
that the treaty of Kainardji was signed, which by throwing open the
Bosphorus and the Dardanelles, effected a real revolution in the
commercial relations of Europe, and definitively secured to Russia that
immense influence which it exercises to this day over the destinies of
the East. The treaty of Kainardji ere long received a more ample
extension. Austria, France, and successively all the other powers,
partook in the advantages of the Black Sea navigation. Russia was,
therefore, justly entitled to the gratitude of Europe, for the new
channels she had opened to its commerce.
Once mistress of the Black Sea, and free to communicate with the
Mediterranean, Catherine earnestly applied herself to the foundation of
a port, which should be at once military and commercial. The mouth of
the Dniepr, one of the largest rivers of Russia, at first attracted her
attention. General Hannibal founded the town of Kherson upon it, in
1788, by her orders; and in 1783, a Frenchman, afterwards ennobled by
Louis XVI., established the first foreign commercial house there, and
contracted to supply the arsenals of Toulon with the hemp and timber
conveyed down the Dniepr. Kherson, however, did not prosper as might
have been expected. The empress's intentions were defeated by the
exigencies of the system of customs prevailing in the empire, and it was
impossible to obtain for the port of Kherson the franchises so necessary
for a new town, and for the extension of its commerce.
The dismemberment of Poland gave a new turn to Catherine's commercial
ideas. The port of Kherson was abandoned, or nearly so, in 1796, and the
preference was given to Odessa, which, by its more western position,
considerably facilitated the exportation of agricultural produce,
wherein consisted the chief wealth of the palatinates of Podolia,
Volhynia, and the other provinces newly incorporated with the Russian
possessions. No change, however, was made in the system of customs, and
it was not until 1803, in the reign of Alexander, that a reduction of
one-fourth was made in the duties imposed by the general tariff on all
exports and imports in the harbours of the Black Sea. In 1804, Odessa
was made an entrepot for sea-borne goods, the entrance of which was
permitted into Russia. They might remain there in bond for eighteen
months; a favour which was the more important at that period, because,
as the import duties were considerable, the merchants would have been
obliged to draw heavily on their capital, had they been obliged to
defray them at once. An ukase of the 5th of March, in the same year,
allowed transit, free of duty, to all foreign goods which were not
prohibited in Odessa, or which arrived there from other towns of Russia;
such goods if destined for Moldavia and Wallachia, were to pass through
the custom-houses of Mohelef and Dubassar; for Austria, through those of
Radzivilof; for Prussia, through those of Kezinsky; and foreign goods
sent through these four establishments to Odessa, were allowed free
transit there by sea. These liberal and very enlightened arrangements
vastly augmented the prosperity of Odessa, and soon attracted the
attention of all speculators to that port.
About the year 1817 an increased duty was laid on all foreign goods in
the Black Sea; but at the same period Odessa was definitively declared
to be a free port, without restriction. Things continued thus until
1822; and it was during this interval that all those great foreign
houses were established in Odessa, some of which exist to this day. The
commerce of Southern Russia had then reached its apogee. After the long
wars of the French empire the agriculture of Europe was in a very
depressed condition, and it was necessary to have recourse to Russia for
the corn which other countries could not raise in sufficient quantity
for their own subsistence. Odessa thus became, under the wise
administration of the Duc de Richelieu, one of the most active
commercial cities of eastern Europe; its population increased
prodigiously; the habits induced by prosperity gave a new stimulus to
its import trade, and every year hundreds of vessels entered its port to
take in agricultural freights of all kinds.
Dazzled by this commercial prosperity, till then unexampled in Russia,
and, doubtless believing it unalterably established, the government then
chose to return to its prohibitive system, and, whether through
ignorance or incapacity, the ministry deliberately ruined with their own
hands the commercial wealth of Southern Russia. In 1822, at the moment
when it was least expected, an ukase suppressed the freedom of the port
of Odessa, and made it obligatory on the merchants to pay the duties on
all goods then in the warehouses. This excited intense alarm, and as it
was totally impossible to pay immediately such enormous duties as those
imposed by the general tariff of the empire, the merchants remonstrated
earnestly and threatened, all of them, to commit bankruptcy. The
governor of the town, dismayed at the disasters which the enforcement of
the law would occasion, took it on his own responsibility to delay; and
commissioners were sent to St. Petersburg to acquaint the emperor with
the state of commerce in Odessa. Alexander, whose intentions were always
excellent, and who had no doubt been deceived by false reports, promptly
annulled the ukase. The freedom of the port of Odessa was therefore
re-established, but not to the same extent as before. Concessions were
made to the board of customs, a fifth of the duties exacted in other
Russian ports was imposed on goods entering Odessa, and the other
four-fifths were to be paid on their departure for the interior. The
limits of the free port were also considerably reduced, and two lines of
custom-houses were formed, the one round the port, the other round the
town. These lines still subsist.
The victories of the board of customs did not stop here, and new
measures, suggested and supported no doubt by fraud, were put in force.
We have spoken of the free transit traffic through the towns of
Doubassar, Radzivilov, and Odessa. This traffic was increasing rapidly;
all the merchants of western Asia were beginning to take the Odessa
route to make their purchases in the great fairs of Germany. There was
every probability that Odessa would be one of the principal points of
arrival and exchange for all the produce of Europe and Asia. The
Transcaucasian provinces enjoyed very extensive commercial freedom at
this period by virtue of an ukase promulgated, October 20, 1821.
Redoutkale, at the mouth of the Phasis, on the shores of Mingrelia, was
then the port to which all the goods from Leipsic were conveyed by sea;
from thence they passed to Tiflis and Erivan, and were then distributed
over all the adjacent countries, through Turkey, Armenia, and even as
far as Persia. The Armenians had secured this traffic almost exclusively
to themselves. They appeared for the first time in Odessa in 1823. The
next year they advanced as far as Leipsic, where they bought European
manufactures to the amount of more than 600,000 francs; in 1825 their
purchases rose to 1,200,000 francs, and in 1826 to 2,800,000. All these
goods were conveyed by land to Odessa, and there embarked on the Black
Sea for Redoutkaleh. It may easily be conceived what a happy influence
such a traffic would have exercised over the agriculture and cattle
rearing of Southern Russia, and eventually on the prosperity of the
population engaged in this carrying trade. But all these promising
elements of prosperity were to be annihilated by the narrow views of the
minister of finance. The commercial franchise of the Caucasian
provinces, after having lasted for ten years, was suddenly suppressed on
the first of January, 1832. The most rigorous prohibitive system was put
in force; Tiflis, the capital of Georgia, more than 220 miles from the
Black Sea, was made the centre of the customs administration, and all
goods destined for that part of Asia had to pass through that town to be
examined there and pay duty.
By these arbitrary and exclusive measures, the government thought to
encourage native manufactures; and by prohibiting the goods of Germany,
France, and England, it hoped to force the productions of Russia on the
trans-Caucasian provinces. The transit trade was, of course, proscribed
at the same period. By a first ukase, the merchants were forced to
deposit at the frontier in Radzivilof, double the value of their goods,
and the money was only to be returned to them at Odessa, upon
verification of their bales. It is obviously not to be thought of that
merchants, however wealthy, should carry with them, in addition to the
capital to be expended on their purchases, double the value of their
goods _in transitu_. This new measure, therefore, was sufficient of
itself alone to put an entire stop to the transit trade. The Persians
and Armenians forsook this route, and chose another, to the great
detriment of Russia. At present the value of the transit is from 180,000
to 200,000 francs, the goods being chiefly yellow amber, sent from
Prussia to Turkey. For a charge of fifteen francs per twenty
kilogrammes, the Jews undertake to give security to the customs in
title-deeds, which they hire at the rate of five or six per cent., and
they despatch the goods directly to Odessa.
England, always so prompt to seize opportunities, took advantage of the
blunders of Russia. She secured a position in Trebizond, and her
merchants, recoiling from no sacrifice, formed there an immense
entrepot, from which they soon sent out the manufactures of their
country into all the provinces of Asia. Business to the amount of more
than 2,000,000_l._ sterling, is now carried on in Trebizond, and two
sets of steamboats ply between it and Constantinople.
Thus Russia lost one of the most important commercial lines in the
world, and by her extravagant increase of duties she completely
extinguished the lawful import trade of the Caucasian provinces. But
English and other foreign goods still find their way there by
contraband, and the government officers are themselves the first to
profit by this system; for they are still more desirous than the native
inhabitants to procure manufactured goods, and, above all, at a moderate
price. The prohibitive measures of Russia have, therefore, really
recoiled on the government itself, and the treasury loses considerably
by them, not only in the Caucasus, but also on the European frontiers.
Owing to the freedom of its port, the town of Odessa, of course, suffers
less from the disastrous effects of this prohibitive system, and finds
some commercial resources in its own consumption, and in that of its
environs. Nevertheless, as this consumption, (which notwithstanding the
contraband trade is kept in full vigour by the Jews, and even by the
highest classes,) is out of all proportion to the exportation, and as
there is very little exchange traffic, foreign vessels are gradually
deserting the Black Sea; and, besides this, their charges for freight
are necessarily too high, in consequence of their being obliged in
almost every instance to repair in ballast to the harbours of South
Russia. Then we must take into account the remoteness of the Black Sea;
the dread, not yet quite effaced, with which it is regarded; the
impossibility of finding freights anywhere except in Odessa; the
excessive severity of the winter, and the usual obstructions of the
harbours by ice during three or four months every year. All these things
combine to repel mariners; so that nothing, except extraordinary
cheapness and great profits, could induce merchants to send their
vessels for freight to the ports of Southern Russia.
Thus driven away by the prohibitive system of Russia, many nations are
seeking to establish markets for their productions elsewhere. It is also
to be remarked that agriculture has made very great progress in Europe
since the re-establishment of peace; and consequently the exportation of
corn from Russia has considerably diminished. Nevertheless, we are of
opinion that Southern Russia would have lost little of its agricultural
importance, notwithstanding its system of customs, if the government,
instead of remaining stationary, had sincerely entered on a course of
improvement.
All circumstances seem to combine in New Russia to make the productions
of the soil as economical as possible, and to enable them to compete
successfully with those of all other countries. The soil is virgin and
very abundant; labour is cheap and the price of cattle extraordinarily
low; whilst serfdom, by obliging thousands of men to employ at least
half their time for the benefit of their lords, ought naturally to tend
to diminish the price of bread stuffs. Unfortunately the means of
communication have been totally neglected, and the government has taken
no steps to facilitate transport; in consequence of this the price of
grain, instead of falling is constantly increasing, and merchants are no
longer willing to purchase except in seasons of scarcity. The wheat
sent to Odessa from Khivia, Volhynia, Podolia, and Bessarabia, arrives
in carts drawn by oxen. The journeys are tedious, the extreme rate of
travelling being not more than fifteen miles a day; and they are costly,
for the carriage of a tchetvert or seven bushels of corn varies from
four to six rubles; moreover, the transport can only be effected between
May and September in consequence of the deplorable state of the roads
during the other seven months of the year. The result of all this is
that wheat, though very cheap in the provinces we have mentioned, is
quoted at very high prices comparatively at Odessa, so as not to leave
foreign speculators a sufficient profit to compensate for the length of
the voyage to the Black Sea, the outlay of capital, and the enormous
expenses caused by the quarantines to which many goods are subject.
Besides this, Odessa is the only port that offers any facilities for
commerce; Kherson situated in the midst of a fertile and productive
region, is only a harbour of export, and its commerce cannot possibly
extend; for the ships destined to take in freight at that port must
previously perform quarantine in Odessa. All the landowners are
therefore forced to send their produce to Odessa, if they would have any
chance of sale. But, as we have already observed, the means of
communication are everywhere wanting. It must, indeed, be owned that the
construction of stone-faced roads is attended with great difficulty, for
throughout all the plains of Southern Russia the materials, are scarce
and for the most part of bad quality, being limestone of a friable
character. But might not the produce of a great part of Poland, and of
all new Russia, be conveyed to Odessa by the Pruth, the Dniestr, and the
Dniepr?
The only goods conveyed down the Dniestr consist at present of some
rafts of timber and firewood from the mountains of Austrian Gallicia.
The Russian government has repeatedly been desirous of improving the
navigation of the river in compliance with the desire of the inhabitants
of its banks. A survey was made in 1827, and again in 1840.
Unfortunately all these investigations being made by men of no capacity
led to nothing. An engineer was commissioned in 1829 to make a report on
the works necessary for rendering the river practicable at Jampol, where
it is obstructed by a small chain of granite. He estimated the expense
at 185,000 francs, whereas it was secretly ascertained that 10,000 would
be more than enough. The project was then abandoned. Thus with the best
and most laudable intentions, the government is constantly crippled in
its plans of amelioration whether by the incapacity or by the bad faith
and cupidity of its functionaries. Last year the subject of the
navigation of the Dniestr was again taken up, and it is even alleged
that the Russian government has given orders for two steam-vessels
destined to ply on that river.
The works on the Dniepr are scarcely in a more forward state than those
of the Dniestr. It is known that below Iekaterinoslaf the course of the
river is traversed by a granite chain, which extends between that town
and Alexandrof, a distance of more than fifteen leagues. At the time of
the conquest of the Crimea and the shores of the Black Sea, it was
proposed to render navigable the thirteen rapids that form what has been
improperly denominated the cataracts of the Dniepr. Works were begun at
various times, but always abandoned. They were resumed under Nicholas
with new ardour, but the government was soon discouraged by the enormous
cost, and, above all, by the peculations of its servants. The whole
amount of work done up to the present time is a wretched canal 300 yards
long, more dangerous for barges to pass through than the rapids
themselves. This canal was finished in 1838. The works had not yet been
resumed when we left Russia in 1841. The rapids of the Dniepr are
therefore still as impracticable as ever, and it is only during the
spring floods, a period of a month or six weeks, that barges venture to
pass them; and even then it rarely happens that they escape without
accident. More than eighty men were lost in them in 1839, and a
multitude of barges and rafts were knocked to pieces on the rocks. The
goods that thus descend the Dniepr consist almost exclusively of timber
and firewood, and Siberian iron. Corn never makes any part of the cargo,
because in case of accident it would be lost beyond recovery. But what
will really seem incredible is, that the German colonists settled below
the rapids, are obliged to convey their produce to the Sea of Azov in
order to find any market for it; hence the greater part of the
government of Iekaterinoslaf, and those of Poltava and Tchernikof,
watered by the Dniepr, are in a perpetual state of distress, though they
have wheat in abundance; and the peasants sunk into the deepest
wretchedness, are compelled every year to make journeys of 300 miles,
and often more, to earn from six to seven francs a month in the service
of the landowners on the borders of the Black Sea. The eastern part of
the government of Iekaterinoslaf profits by the vicinity of the Sea of
Azov, and tries to dispose of its corn in Taganrok, Marioupol, and
Berdiansk, a port newly established by Count Voronzof.
This general survey of the means of transport possessed by Russia, is
enough to show that the corn-trade of these regions owes its vast
development in a great measure to fortuitous circumstances; and that the
absence of easy communication, and the prohibitive system, both tend to
bring it down lower and lower every year. Here follows a statement of
the price of corn at Tulzin, one of the least remote points of Volhynia,
and the cost of carriage to Odessa, during the years 1828-30, and 1839,
40, 41.
1828-30. Rubles. 1839-40-41.
Price of 100 kilogrammes of wheat
on the spot 15.30 63.70
Cost of carriage to Odessa 1.56 2.50
Export Duties 0.39 0.39
------- --------
Total 17.25 66.59
Or _15s. 9d._ _61s. 3d._
From this table we see that prices rose remarkably during the latter
years. We must remark, however, that the years 1828-29-30, were
unusually productive, and the prices prevailing in them are by no means
an average. But it is altogether obvious that with such prices, and an
absolute blank in importation, the commerce of Southern Russia must
necessarily perish. In 1841, the merchants could only offer the masters
of merchant vessels two-and-a-half francs per sack for freight to
Marseilles, while the latter can hardly realise any profit even at the
rate of four francs. For Trieste they offered only twenty, and even
eighteen kreutzers, whereas not less than sixty will yield any
remuneration. Ship owners will not henceforth be tempted to visit Odessa
in quest of gain. The English alone have obtained tolerable freights.
To all these causes of ruin are to be added the enormous charges to
which merchants are subject; those of the first class pay 300 rubles for
their licence, always in advance; the postage charges for letters are
exorbitant; there are persons whose yearly correspondence costs 10,000,
15,000, 20,000 rubles. An ordinary letter to London pays seven and even
eight rubles. Again, the great merchants not choosing to sit idle, keep
up the high prices by their purchases: they may no doubt gain
occasionally by these speculations, but they generally lose. Witness the
disasters and failures of the year 1841. What chance of prosperity can
there be for a trade that at the moment of the departure of the goods,
hardly ever promises any profit at the current prices in the place of
destination, and which consequently lives only on the hope of an
eventual rise? How will it be with it in a few years, when the canals
and railroads projected in Germany, shall have been finished? At this
day the wheat of Nuremberg and Bamberg, reaches England by way of
Amsterdam.
But without going so far, Southern Russia now sees growing up against it
in the Black Sea a competition, which is daily becoming more formidable.
The principalities of the Danube, have made immense progress in ten
years, in consequence of the franchises and privileges bestowed on them
by the treaty of Adrianople. Galatz and Ibraila, now furnish a
considerable quantity of corn to the foreigner; and in spite of the
disadvantages of having to ascend the Danube, masters of vessels now
prefer repairing to those ports on account of their administrative
facilities, and above all by reason of the commercial resources which
importation offers there. In 1839, Marseilles bought more than 4000
hectolitres of wheat in the markets of Galatz and Ibraila, whilst the
port of Odessa hardly supplied it with twice that quantity. We will
return by and by to the question of the Danube, when we come to speak of
Bessarabia.
Another measure fatal to the corn-trade, was the decision of the
government with respect to the confiscated lands of the Poles. After the
revolution of 1831, more than 423,000 peasants were sequestrated to the
crown. These peasants occupied extremely fertile regions lying very near
Odessa: Ouman, the property of Alexander Potocki, made part of them. The
government committed the management of these lands to public servants,
selected chiefly from among the retired veteran officers, or those who
had been incapacitated for service by their wounds. Under such
management, pillage and the most utter neglect were the order of the
day, and the consequence was, that the lands produced literally nothing
to the crown, and served only to enrich their administrators. Weary of
this disorder, the government determined in 1836 to detach nearly 93,000
peasants from these lands, and incorporate them with the military
colonies. Nor did it stop there, but under pretext of removing all
opportunity for extortion on the part of its servants, it issued an
order in 1840, confining the new colonists to the cultivation of oats
and barley, and forbidding them to sow wheat for exportation. These
regulations, occasioned by the general corruption of the public
servants, which the imperial will is powerless to check, produced
melancholy results for the trade of Odessa, and that town was suddenly
deprived of the agricultural produce it used to draw from the fertile
soil of Ouman.
We must now enter into some considerations, bearing more immediately on
Odessa itself. The credit that town enjoys abroad is extremely limited
by the inordinate privileges of the imperial bank. In cases of
bankruptcy, that establishment is entitled to disregard all competing
claims, and to pay itself immediately by the sale of the real and
personal property of its debtor, without reference to his other
creditors; it is entitled to pay itself: 1st. the capital lent; 2nd. A
surcharge of eight per cent., called re-exchange, arising out of the
cost of brokerage and renewal of bills every three months; and, 3rd.
Interest on the capital and surcharge, at the rate of 1-1/2 per cent,
per month, until the whole debt is liquidated. The fatal effects of such
a system may easily be conceived; the merchants of Odessa can seldom
establish a credit with foreign houses.
As for the uses of the bank, they consist: 1st. In discounting town
bills that have not more than four months to run; 2nd. In making
advances on goods; 3rd. In serving as a bank of deposit for the
mercantile houses; 4th. In giving drafts on the other banks of the
empire, and paying their drafts on itself; 5th. In receiving deposits on
interest.
The drafts were of great use in commerce, particularly for the payments
between St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Odessa: the charge upon them was a
quarter per cent., whilst the conveyance of money through the post costs
one per cent., besides postage. This convenient system was unfortunately
put an end to in 1841. The charge on drafts now amounting to five per
cent., operations of this kind have consequently become impossible. It
was, probably, with a view to the revenues of the post-office, that this
sage measure was adopted by the minister of finance.
Every one knows, that in order that a bank of discount should carry on
business profitably for itself and for the commerce it is intended to
assist, it must deal only in genuine commercial bills. Merchants
recognise as genuine and discountable bills, only those drawn by other
places for banking operations, and home bills drawn in consideration of
goods sold for payment at a determinate future date. Now the Odessa bank
not being a bank of issue, does not practise acceptance properly so
called; Constantinople is almost the only town that draws on Odessa, and
that but for small amounts, and as these acceptances are at twenty-one
days' date, they are rarely discounted. Sales of goods for bills are
also seldom practised, and from all we could learn, we believe they make
but a very small part of the business of the Odessa bank. Goods are
generally bought in that town on trust and without bills.
On what bases then have the operations of the Odessa bank hitherto
rested? Rather, we are disposed to think, on fictitious than on real
commerce. From its first establishment, the bank, strong in its
privileges, thought to serve trade by encouraging discounts; and the
facilities it afforded, induced many persons to avail themselves of this
means of credit. Every one in Odessa knows how many disasters have been
the consequence. Suppose a merchant wished to make a speculation, to buy
for instance, a ship-load of wheat, amounting to 12,000_l._; if he had
only 80,000 or 100,000 rubles capital, he obtained the indorsement of
one or more of his friends, and the bank immediately advanced him the
whole sum necessary, at three months. The merchant was, therefore,
forced to dispose of his goods as fast as possible, in order to meet his
engagements with the bank: clogged and disturbed in his operations, and
fearing lest he should involve his friends, he must often have incurred
great losses, and after a few similar speculations, his ruin, and that
of his friends were inevitable. Such has been the fate of many a
merchant, in consequence of the unfortunate facility they found in
obtaining money. The bank ought to have been aware, that instead of
genuine commercial bills, it was discounting mere accommodation paper,
and that there is an immense difference between discount for the
realisation of business actually done, and discount for the realisation
of business yet to be done. Unquestionably, the bank ought to have
modified its system, after seeing the mischiefs it led to; but it has
persisted in its original course, and were it to desist from it without
a radical change of institutions, the operations of an establishment
constructed on so vast a scale would become quite insignificant.
Hitherto, then, the bank of Odessa has completely failed to answer the
purpose for which it was founded; it has done infinitely more harm than
good to trade, and its enormous privileges have, moreover discredited
Odessa abroad. The abolition of these privileges could repair the errors
and mischiefs of the first establishment. The bank would thereby be
compelled to discount only genuine commercial paper, and to do business
on a much smaller scale; but its operations, though restricted, would be
but the more advantageous for itself and for commerce; every one would
then conduct his business with, reasonable regard to the extent of his
means; failures would no longer be so ruinous to creditors; and this new
bank, in correspondence with those of St. Petersburg and Moscow, by
continuing to make transfers as in the beginning, and by accepting
deposits at four per cent., would suffice for all the wants of the
place. Unfortunately, judging from the last measure adopted with respect
to transfers, there is no hope whatever that a new bank will be
established, or that the existing one will undergo the requisite
reforms. Yet if the Russian government, which persists in its
prohibitive system, wishes to avoid the complete destruction of the
commerce of Southern Russia, it must absolutely change its line of
conduct, it must devote its strenuous attention to the means of internal
communication, and render the commercial transactions of Odessa as easy
and economical as possible. What is most deplorable in Russia is, that
the truth never finds its way to the head of the state, and that a
public functionary would think himself undone if he disclosed the real
state of things; hence in the memoirs, reports, and tables laid before
the emperor, the good only is acknowledged, and the evil is always
disguised. Once committed to this course of dissimulation and lying, the
public functionaries render all improvements impossible; and by always
sacrificing the future to the present, do incalculable mischief to the
country. The question is now entertained, of depriving Odessa of its
last franchises, and putting its port on the same footing with the other
commercial places of the empire. If Count Cancrine has not yet succeeded
in doing this, the town has to thank the protection and the influence of
Count Voronzof.
The following table shows the exports and imports at the different ports
and custom-houses of Southern Russia, during the years 1838 and 1839,
the value being set down in paper rubles.
EXPORTS.
--------------------------+---------------------+----------------------
PORTS. | 1838. | 1839.
--------------------------+----------+----------+----------+-----------
| Goods. | Specie. | Goods. | Specie.
| | | |
Odessa |38,300,872| 3,730|48,551,077| 56,406
Ismael (on the Danube) | 3,913,494| 9,915| 2,793,244|
Reny (on the Danube) | 718,040| 50,773| 609,541| 77,745
{Novoselitza| 1,978,172| 163,868| 3,277,660| 81,868
In Bessarabia {Skouliany | 829,602| 525,638| 737,462| 540,618
{Leovo | 96,832| 60,537| 59,906| 36,709
Taganrok | 7,666,943| " | 8,219,648|
Marioupol | 4,152,710| " | 6,808,526|
Berdiansk | 2,971,426| " | 4,107,638|
Kertsch | 226,999| " | 123,082|
Theodosia | 1,281,244| " | 955,108|
Eupatoria | 9,299,365| " | 2,394,867|
Balouclava | | | |
|----------+----------+----------+-----------
Total |64,435,699| 814,461|78,637,759| 793,346
IMPORTS.
--------------------------+---------------------+----------------------
PORTS. | 1838. | 1839.
--------------------------+----------+----------|----------+-----------
| Goods. | Specie. | Goods. | Specie.
| | | |
Odessa |17,483,635| 3,825,258|19,297,201| 3,994,799
Ismael (on the Danube) | 253,697| 1,632,996| 238,996| 820,035
Reny (on the Danube) | 50,193| 797,497| 85,429| 553,174
{Novoselitza| 221,324| 1,939,604| 245,198| 3,048,064
In Bessarabia {Skouliany | 222,507| 497,200| 195,088| 721,015
{Leovo | 52,336| 29,932| 55,664| 26,291
Taganrok | 5,887,901| 1,415,596| 5,334,369| 2,885,279
Marioupol | 300| 640,660| 987| 1,515,525
Berdiansk | " | 768,722| " | 825,113
Kertsch | { 175,321| | { 250,887|
Theodosia | { 673,535| 1,678,658| { 695,130| 1,891,947
Eupatoria | { 185,480| | { 131,222|
Balouclava | 6,605| | |
+----------+----------+----------+----------
Total |25,212,834|13,226,132|26,520,171|16,281,242
Total of Duties| " | 8,492,074| " | 8,215,426
--------------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------
The foreign goods that entered the interior of the empire in 1839, by
way of Odessa, amounted in value to 9,130,148 paper rubles, which,
curiously enough, was not even half the total importation of that port.
From this we may judge of the consumption of Odessa, and at the same
time of the extent of the contraband trade.
From these tables we see that there is no equilibrium in the trade of
Odessa. Southern Russia absorbs every year more than 15,000,000 of
foreign specie, and its exports are treble its imports. It is evident
that such a trade rests on no solid basis; that its prosperity is due
only to accidental circumstances, and that ships will gradually abandon
the Black Sea, and seek some other destination, wherever agriculture
flourishes, and is accompanied by a less exclusive system of customs. In
the present state of things, the cultivation of corn in Egypt would be
enough to ruin immediately all the ports of Southern Russia. With such
contingencies before it, the government of Russia ought to ponder well
before obstinately persevering in its present system. Mariners do not
like the northern parts of the Black Sea, and once they shall have left
them, they will return to them no more.
The year 1839 was most memorable in the commercial history of Odessa.
The exports, consisting almost entirely of corn, amounted to 48,000,000
paper rubles. The harvests in the country had been very abundant, and as
those of the rest of Europe were very unpromising, the demand was at
first so encouraging that the merchants launched out into the boldest
speculations. These were successful for a while, but disasters soon
followed, and the houses which were supposed to have realised profits to
the amount of millions, failed a year or eighteen months afterwards.
Since that time trade has always been in a perilous state. In 1840,
under the still subsisting influence of the movement of the preceding
year, there was a diminution of 7,184,021 rubles; and in 1841 the first
quarter alone presented a decrease of 6,891,332 rubles in comparison
with the corresponding quarter in 1840.
On examining a general table of the exportation of Odessa, we see that
during Napoleon's wars its commerce, completely stationary, did not
exceed five or six millions of rubles. After the events of 1815, during
the horrible dearth that afflicted all western Europe, the exports rose
in 1817 to more than 38,000,000. In 1818 they fell without any
transition to 20,000,000. During the war of 1828-29 they sank to
1,673,000. After the treaty of Adrianople, Southern Russia, being
encumbered with an excess of produce, the exports again rose to
27,000,000. After this they varied from twenty to thirty, until 1839
when they reached the highest point they ever attained, namely,
48,000,000. We have already explained the causes of this factitious
augmentation. From these data we see that the activity of the trade of
Odessa has always arisen out of fortuitous circumstances, which are
becoming more and more rare, and that it is by no means the result of
the progressive development of agricultural resources: the country is,
therefore, completely stationary.
It is also easy to convince ourselves, by simple comparison, that the
commerce of Southern Russia is far from prosperous. In 1839, the most
productive year, the custom-houses yield but 8,215,426 rubles; and ten
seaports distributed over more than 400 leagues of coast, together with
three land custom-houses, show on an average but from forty-five to
fifty-five millions of exports, and hardly a third of that amount of
imports; whilst Trebizond alone annually sends out more than 50,000,000
worth of English goods into the various adjoining countries.
CHAPTER V.
NAVIGATION, CHARGE FOR FREIGHT, &C. IN THE BLACK SEA.
Of all the seaboard of the East, the coasts of the Black Sea are those
from which the expense of freight are the greatest. Different
circumstances combine in producing this effect. 1. The amount of
importation being inconsiderable, most of the vessels must arrive in
ballast, or with a very scanty cargo. 2. The vessels are exposed to long
delays in the Archipelago, and still more so in the Dardanelles and the
Bosphorus. Fifty days may be taken as the average duration of the voyage
from Marseilles, Genoa, Leghorn, or Trieste, to Odessa. It does not take
longer to reach America from the same ports, by a voyage at once less
difficult and more lucrative. 3. The Black Sea is situated at the
extremity of the inland seas of Europe, and its coasts, which have
little traffic, especially with each other, offer few resources to
merchant vessels; so that if there is nothing profitable to be done at
Odessa or Taganrok, a ship has no alternative but to take freight at
ruinously low prices, or to return in ballast, and retrace some hundred
miles of a route on which it has already incurred such delays. Certain
merchants often take advantage of the distressing position of the
masters, and for many years past, a part of the profits on some goods
sent to the Mediterranean, has regularly consisted in the sacrifices to
which the shipowner has been compelled. 4. The passage through the
Straits of Constantinople subjects vessels freighted in the Russian
ports for those of the Mediterranean, to a quarantine which, besides
consuming from thirty-five to forty days, always entails considerable
expense. It is generally reckoned that it takes a vessel fully six
months to accomplish the voyage both ways between a Mediterranean port
and Odessa, and to get _pratique_ again, even supposing it to have
tolerably favourable winds, and to obtain cargo almost immediately in
the Black Sea, a thing which unhappily occurs very seldom. Now a
Mediterranean brig of 275 tons, or 200,000 tchetverts' burden, has a
crew that costs at least 800 rubles a month for wages and keep. If we
add to this, for wear of rigging, insurance, and harbour-dues 400
rubles, we shall have more than 1200 rubles a month for ordinary
expenses, without reckoning what storms and other casualties may
occasion. Thus the cost of a six months' voyage will amount to 7200
rubles.
Before 1838, the average price of freight in paper rubles was as
follows:
Per Per 2000 Tchetverts,
Tchetvert. or 275 Tons.
For Constantinople 1.40 2,800
Trieste 2.33 4,666
Leghorn 2.66 5,332
Genoa 4.25 8,500
Marseilles 2.40 4,800
Holland 5.75 11,500
England 7.00 14,000
From this table it appears that the freights did not pay the ordinary
expenses of the vessels, with the exception of those bound for England,
Holland, and Genoa, under the Sardinian flag.
Odessa has hardly any intercourse with the portion of the Black Sea
coast subject to the Sultan, but it often furnishes cargoes for the
banks of the Danube, to vessels of not more than twelve feet draught.
These vessels usually proceed to Galatz and Ibraila. Those which have no
return cargo, touch at Toultcha and Isacktcha, to take in firewood;
others ship a cargo at Galatz and Ibraila, for Constantinople and the
Mediterranean. Good prices for freight are generally procured in the
Danube, particularly of late years. The progress of agriculture in the
principalities, and the facilities met with in their ports, attract
foreign captains, and many of them have entirely forsaken Odessa for
Galatz.
The government supplies, the war in the Caucasus, and private
speculations likewise afford employment to a certain number of vessels
between Odessa and the Russian provinces of the Black Sea, and the Sea
of Azov. The prices of freight in these cases depend on the greater or
less demand, but they are always kept very low by the competition of
Kherson _lodkas_ (large coasting vessels). These lodkas ply at a very
cheap rate, but they are exposed to risks which ought to make them less
sought after than better built and better commanded vessels. The passage
from Odessa to Taganrok, is tedious and expensive, above all for vessels
which are obliged to be accompanied with lighters, in order to pass the
Straits of Kertch where the waters are low, and must then anchor in the
Taganrok-roads, at a distance of ten from the shore. We may confidently
estimate the voyage between Taganrok and Odessa both ways, as of two
months' duration.
Thus navigation is hardly more prosperous than trade itself. If it Has
hitherto maintained a part of its activity, this must be attributed to
the great number of vessels belonging to the Mediterranean, to the
influence of a past period, fertile in profit, and to commercial
routine. Nevertheless, a revolution is gradually taking place, and
already many vessels that formerly frequented the Russian ports, have
found means to employ themselves advantageously on the Ocean. We find
their names mentioned in foreign journals, in the shipping intelligence
from America and India, and it is probable they are quite as successful
there as others that have not yet chosen to visit the coasts of Southern
Russia.
CHAPTER VI.
AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURES OF SOUTHERN RUSSIA--MINERAL
PRODUCTIONS--RUSSIAN WORKMEN.
In justification of its prohibitive system, the government alleges the
protection and encouragement it owes to native industry. Now it is
evident that absolute exclusion cannot favour industry. The high tariff,
it is true, seems to secure a certain market for Russian manufactures;
but it results from it that those manufactures, being kept clear of all
competition, are worse than stationary; for the manufacturers, whose
number is very limited, agree among themselves to turn out exactly the
same sort of workmanship, and in the same proportion. Moscow is now the
centre of all the manufactures of silk, cotton, and woollen stuffs,
shawls, &c.; yet, in spite of all the privileges secured to those
establishments by the tariff, a great number of them have failed of late
years. Their goods have become so bad that they could no longer compete
in sale with smuggled articles. In 1840, or 1841, the emperor made a
journey to Moscow, on purpose to preside over the meeting of
manufacturers; but unfortunately ukases and proclamations are
inefficient to create a body of manufacturers; the imperial desires in
nowise altered the face of things.
There are at this day, in Russia, two great branches of manufacturing
industry, one of which, employing the raw materials furnished by the
soil, such as iron, copper, and other metals, belongs properly to
Russia, and has no need to fear foreign competition. It is true we
cannot speak very highly of the Russian hardware and cutlery, but they
find a sure sale, the inhabitants caring more for cheapness than
quality. The most important manufactures of this sort are established at
Toula, and in the government of Nijni Novgorod; the materials are
furnished by Siberia.
The Ural is one of the most remarkable mountain chains on the globe, for
the extent and variety of its mineral wealth. I say nothing of its gold,
silver, and platina ores; they add too little to the real prosperity of
the country to call for mention here. The iron ores of Siberia are
generally of superior quality; but as the processes to which they are
subjected, are somewhat injudicious, the iron produced from them is
seldom as good as it might be. The working of the iron mines has been a
good deal neglected of late years, landowners having turned their
attention chiefly to the precious metals; hence the prices of wrought
and cast iron have risen considerably in Southern Russia, which employs
those of Siberia exclusively. The carriage is effected for this part of
the empire by land; in one direction by the Volga, the Don, and the Sea
of Azov, in another by the Dniepr. The journeys are long and expensive,
and often they cannot be effected at all in consequence of
irregularities either in the arrivals, or in the river floods. The
present price of pig-iron is from eighteen to twenty francs for the 100
kilogrammes, and of bar-iron from forty-four to forty-five francs, in
Kherson and Odessa. I do not know the prices at the places where the
iron is produced, but whatever they may be, these figures show how much
Russia has yet to do towards facilitating the means of internal
communication. Of copper, lead, &c., notwithstanding the cost of
carriage, Russia exports a considerable quantity to foreign countries.
Not content with these valuable sources of wealth, which alone would
suffice for the support of a vast and truly national industry, Russia
has thought it desirable to create for herself a manufacturing industry
such as exists in other countries of Europe, and to arrive at this end
she has devised a system of the most absolute prohibition. How far has
she been successful? Of all European countries Russia is unquestionably
placed in the most unfavourable circumstances for contending with
foreign manufactures. Situated as she is at the extremity of Europe, she
can only be reached by long, difficult, and expensive routes; and as her
manufactures of stuffs, silks, &c., are all concentrated in Moscow, the
expenses of carriage are enormous. Thus the cottons landed in Odessa
are first carried to Moscow, and then return, after being wrought, to
the governments of the Black Sea. The want of capable and intelligent
workmen is also one of the most serious obstacles to the establishment
of manufactures; the Russian peasant is essentially agricultural, and
knows nothing of handicraft trades, except so far as they are of service
to him in his daily labours; and then, by constitution and by the
effects of that long slavery that has weighed and still weighs upon him,
his ideas are naturally contracted and can never apply themselves to
more than a single object. The sole talent he possesses in a really
remarkable degree is that of imitation. The black enamelled work of the
Caucasus is admirably imitated at Toula; and at Lughan, in the
government of Iekaterinoslaf, they make very pretty things in Berlin
iron, copied from Prussian models. This talent for imitation is no doubt
valuable in the workshops where they are constantly making the same set
of things, and in the same way; but it becomes completely inefficient in
the manufactories for piece-goods, in which there must be incessant
innovation and improvement: hence we find all the great manufactories,
after being at first managed by foreign superintendents and workmen,
fall gradually into decay from the moment they are transferred to native
hands. The Russians are essentially destitute of imagination and the
spirit of invention; and then the proneness of the workmen to laziness
and drunkenness cannot but be fatal to industry. The workman is always
seeking some pretext to escape from labour; he has his own calendar, in
which the number of holidays is doubled; these he employs in getting
drunk, and the days following them in sleeping off his liquor. The
result is, that he passes half the year in doing nothing, that he
strives to sell his day's work at the dearest possible rate, and that
the working time being thus indefinite, it is impossible to fix
punctually the time of production. This unhappy moral condition of the
labouring classes is the same throughout all Russia, and may be regarded
as one of the worst evils incidental to the native industry. To these
obstacles, proceeding from the very nature of the people, are superadded
physical difficulties no less imperious. In France, England, and
Germany, when any new manufacture is established, it always rests on
other branches already in existence, and about which it has no need to
employ itself. In Russia, on the contrary, in order to succeed in any
branch of manufactures, it is necessary at the same time to create all
the accessories connected with it. Every one knows what a vast quantity
of merino and other wools Southern Russia supplies, and it would seem at
first sight that of all manufactures that of woollen cloths ought to
offer the fairest chances of success in that country. But it is not so:
I have visited two or three cloth factories on the banks of the Dniepr
belonging to foreigners, and managed by them with an ability beyond all
praise; yet it was with the utmost difficulty and through the personal
labour of their proprietors that they were able to subsist. The
government itself, some years ago, erected at Iekaterinoslaf one of the
largest cloth manufactories I am acquainted with; the looms were set in
motion by two steam-engines, and several hundred workmen were employed.
The establishment, nevertheless, was closed after three years'
existence, and I myself saw all the materials sold at a great
depreciation.
The number of manufacturing establishments of all sorts in Russia
amounted in 1839 to 6855, and that of the workmen employed to 412,931,
not including those engaged in the mines and in the smelting-houses,
forges, &c., belonging to them. We will enumerate as the most important
branches of Russian industry:--
Establishments.
Manufactories of Cloth and Woollen Stuffs 606
Silks 227
Cottons 467
Canvass and other Linen Goods 216
Tan Yards 1918
Tallow-melting Houses 554
Manufactories of Candles 444
Soap 270
Metal Ware 486
In this table the manufactories of woollen cloths, silks, and cottons,
together figure but as 1300; and yet it is in a great measure to the
supposed encouragement which the government desires to afford these
branches of industry, that Russia owes her system of customs; for
setting aside a few objects of luxury, Russia has no need to fear
foreign competition with regard to any other articles. Certainly, if the
silk and cotton manufactures could exercise a beneficial influence upon
the prosperity of the country, if they were necessary to supply the
wants of the whole population, in that case we could to a certain extent
understand the sentence of exclusion pronounced on foreign goods; but
the productions of the Moscow factories are destined only for the
aristocracy and the trading classes, and the 40,000,000 of slaves that
constitute the European population of Russia, consume but an
insignificant portion of them, all their clothes being wrought by their
own hands.
It is not surprising then that all the manufacturing establishments are
concentrated in Moscow, that being the place where the aristocratic and
trading part of the community exist in most considerable numbers, and
where there is most certainty of finding customers. Everywhere else the
chances of success would be few or none: witness Southern Russia where
all manufacturing attempts have hitherto failed, notwithstanding the
advantages it derives from its seaports. The three governments composing
it reckon at this day but 2000 workmen, even including those who work in
the rope walks and the tallow houses.
According to authentic documents the numbers of the nobility and
tradespeople do not exceed 3,000,000. Without a complete alteration,
therefore, in the manners and habits of the peasants, it is impossible
to hope that the manufacture of piece-goods can ever attain a great
development, and it would have been infinitely better to have left the
supply of these articles to importation; the imperial treasury would
thereby have been a gainer, and more active relations with the foreigner
would have afforded valuable guarantees for the prosperity of the
country. But Russia suffered herself to be seduced by the most brilliant
branch of industry of our times; she, too, wished to have her cachemires
and her silks; and not considering that agriculture is for her the most
lucrative, the most positive of all branches of industry, she recoiled
from no prohibitive measure in order to favour some indigenous
manufactures. I say again, Russia is before all things a country for the
production of raw materials. Agriculture, including therein the breeding
of cattle, evidently forms the basis of the national prosperity, and it
is only by facilitating its extension and its outlets that Russia can
hope to secure the future welfare of its people.
If at this day the establishment of new villages in Southern Russia is
becoming so difficult, it is not for want of land, but because the
peasants have no means of ready transport for their produce, and because
also the want of importation, naturally exercising a great influence
upon the price of corn, signally restricts the demand from abroad. Is it
not indeed deplorable to see the most fertile and productive governments
of New Russia sunk in extreme penury by the want of roads, and by the
culpable neglect of the administration which deprives them of the
navigation of the rivers! Will the government at last open its eyes to
the mischiefs of the course it is pursuing? We can scarcely hope so. All
the commercial reports of the empire dress up things in so fair a light,
and the public functionaries agree so well together in falsifying public
opinion, that the emperor, beguiled by the brilliant picture incessantly
laid before his eyes, cannot but persevere in the fatal course adopted
by his predecessors.
CHAPTER VII.
DEPARTURE FROM ODESSA--TRAVELLING IN RUSSIA--NIKOLAIEF,
OLVIA, OTSHAKOF--KHERSON--THE DNIEPR--GENERAL POTIER--
ANCIENT TUMULI--STEPPES OF THE BLACK SEA--A RUSSIAN
VILLAGE--SNOW STORM--NARROW ESCAPE FROM SUFFOCATION--A
RUSSIAN FAMILY--APPENDIX.
After some months' stay in Odessa, we left it in company with General
Potier, a Frenchman by birth, to pass the winter at his country-house.
Travelling would nowhere be more rapid than in Russia, if the
posting-houses were a little better conducted and more punctual in
supplying horses. The country is perfectly flat, and you may traverse
several hundred leagues without meeting a single hill. Besides this, the
Russian driver has no mercy on his horses; they must gallop
continually, though they should drop dead under the whip. Another reason
that contributes to the rapidity of posting, is, that there are never
less than three or four horses yoked to the lightest vehicle. The
general's carriage being rather heavy, we had six horses, that carried
us along at the rate of fifteen versts (ten miles) an hour. We found the
rooms in the posting-stations much more elegant than we had expected;
but this was owing to the journey of the imperial family, for whom they
had been completely metamorphosed. The walls and ceilings were fresh
painted with the greatest care, and we found everywhere handsome
mirrors, divans, and portraits of the emperor and empress. Thanks,
therefore, to the transit of their majesties, our journey was effected
in the most agreeable manner, though on ordinary occasions, one must
make up his mind to encounter all sorts of privations and annoyances in
a long excursion through Russia. The towns are so few, and the villages
are so destitute of all requisites, that one is in sore danger of being
starved to death by the way, unless he has had the precaution to lay in
a stock of provisions at starting. The post-houses afford you literally
nothing more than hot water for tea, and a bench to rest on. The Russian
and Polish grandees never omit to carry with them on their journeys a
bed with all its appurtenances, a whole range of cooking implements, and
plenty of provisions. In this way they pass from town to town, without
ever suspecting the unfortunate position in which the foreigner is
placed who traverses their vast wildernesses. The latter, it may be
said, is free to follow their example; but the thing is not so easy.
Supposing even that he was possessed of all this travelling apparatus,
still the expense of carriage would imperatively forbid his taking it
with him, whereas the Russians, who generally travel with their own
horses, may have a dozen without adding to their expenses. As for those
who have recourse to the post, they care very little about economy, and
provided they have a good dinner prepared by their own cooks, a soft bed
and all other physical comforts, they never trouble themselves to
calculate the cost. But as for the foreigner who travels in this
country, the inconvenience I have just mentioned is nothing in
comparison with the countless vexations he must endure, simply because
he is a foreigner. Having no legal right to lay his cane over the
shoulders of the clerks of the post, he must make up his mind to endure
the most scandalous impositions and annoyances at their hands, and very
often he will be obliged to pass forty-eight hours in a station, because
he cannot submit to the conditions imposed on him. Neither threats nor
entreaties can prevail on the clerk to make him furnish horses if it
does not suit his humour. The epithet _particularnii tcheloviek_ which
is applied in Russia to all who do not wear epaulettes, and which
signifies something less than a nobody, is a categorical reply to the
traveller's utmost eloquence.
Before we reached Kherson, we stopped at Nicolaief, a pretty town, which
has been for some years the seat of the Admiralty formerly established
in Kherson, and which is daily increasing at its rival's expense. Its
vast dockyards attract a whole population of workmen, whose presence
swells its wealth and importance. Its position on the Bug, its new
houses and pretty walks planted with poplars, make it the most agreeable
town in the government. When we passed through it, a splendid ship of
the line of three decks had just been completed, and was waiting only
for the ceremony of being christened to take its place in the Black Sea
fleet.
Four or five leagues below Nicolaief, on the right bank of the Bug, near
its embouchure in the liman[1] of the Dniepr, are the ruins of Olvia or
Olviopolis, a Milesian colony founded about 500 B.C. There have
been found inscriptions and medals which put the origin of these remains
beyond all doubt. Lower down on the liman of the Dniepr, not far from
the sea, is the fortress of Otchakov, which formerly belonged to the
Turks, and then formed a considerable town, known by the name of Ozou.
It was twice taken by the Russian troops on the 13th of June, 1737,
under the command of Marshal Munich, and on the 6th of December, 1788,
under Potemkin. At present, not a trace of the Turkish sway remains in
the village. All the Mussulman buildings have been pulled down to give
place to a steppe, on which some Russian cabins and about fifty
miserable shops have been set up. The environs of Otchakov also present
traces of the abode of the ancient Greeks. In 1833 there were found here
a fragment of a bas-relief in tolerable preservation, a male torso, and
an offering with an inscription from certain Greek military chiefs to
Achilles, ruler of the Pontus.
Otchakof was founded at the close of the fifteenth century, by Mengli
Cherei, khan of the Crimea, on the ruins of Alektor, a little town
belonging to a queen of the Sauromatians, and which was destroyed
probably by the Getae at the same time as Olvia, 100 B.C.
Alektor must have possessed specimens of Greek workmanship, but they
disappeared under the hands of the Turks, who employed them in building
Otchakov.
Kherson, where we arrived in the evening, retains no relics of its
ancient opulence, or of the importance it derived scarcely fifty years
ago from its commerce, its port, and its admiralty; at present, it
exhibits the melancholy spectacle of a town entirely ruined; its
population does not exceed 6000 or 8000 souls. Odessa and Nicolaief have
dealt it mortal blows, and it now subsists only by its entrepot for the
various productions of the empire, which are conveyed to it by the
Dniepr, and forwarded by lighters to Odessa. It has even lost its
custom-house for imports, retaining only the privilege of exporting; and
beside this, the vessels which take in cargo at Kherson, must first
perform quarantine in Odessa. Fevers and the Jews are likewise
formidable foes to its prosperity. Expelled from Nicolaief and
Sevastopol, the Israelites swarm like locusts in Kherson, and form
almost its whole population. Nothing can be more hideous than the
appearance of the Russian Jews. Dressed in a uniform garb, consisting of
a long robe of black calico, fastened with a woollen girdle, canvass
drawers, and a broad-brimmed black hat, they all present so degraded a
type of humanity, that the eye turns from them with deep disgust. Their
filthiness is indescribable; the entrance of a single Jew into an
apartment is enough suddenly to vitiate the atmosphere.
We had already had occasion in Odessa to see into what an abject state
this people is fallen in Russia; but it was not until we came to Kherson
that we beheld them in all their vileness. What a contrast between their
sallow faces, disgusting beards, and straggling locks, plastered flat on
the skin, their brutified air, and crawling humility, and the easy,
dignified bearing, the noble features, and the elegant costume of the
Jews of Constantinople! It is impossible to bring oneself to believe
there is any thing in common between them, that they belong to the same
race, and have the same rules and usages, the same language and
religion. But the cause which has produced such a difference between two
branches of one people, is a question involving political and
philosophical considerations of too high an order, to be discussed here;
all we can say, is that, in seeing the Jews of Kherson, and comparing
them with their brethren of the East, we had evidence before us of the
depth to which governments and institutions can debase mankind.
The streets of Kherson are thronged with these miserable Israelites, who
carry on every kind of trade, and recoil from no species of occupation,
provided it be lucrative. Their penury is so great, that they will run
from one end of the town to the other for a few kopeks, and in this
respect they are of much use to the stranger, who would be greatly
embarrassed if they were not at hand, ready to render him every possible
service. The moment a traveller arrives at an inn, in New Russia, he is
beset and persecuted without ceasing by these officious agents, who
place at his disposal their goods, their persons, all they have and all
they have not. It is to no purpose he threatens them and turns them out
a hundred times; they care little for abuse; and do what you will, they
sit themselves down on the ground opposite your door, and remain there
with imperturbable phlegm, waiting their opportunity to walk in again,
and renew their offer. Many a time have we seen Jews thus spend four or
five hours consecutively, without evincing the least impatience, or
seeming to regret the waste of time they might have employed more
profitably, and go away at last satisfied with having gained a few
kopeks.
It was in the government of Kherson that the plan of forming Jewish
colonies was first tried. Several were established in the districts of
Kherson and Bobrinetz, and in 1824 these contained nine villages, with a
population of 8000 souls, settled on 55,333 _hectares_ of land. All the
new colonists are wholly exempt from taxation for ten years; but after
the lapse of that time, they are placed on the same footing as the other
crown peasants, except that they remain free from military service for
fifty years.
The colonisation of these Jews was no easy matter; at first, it was
necessary to keep the most rigorous watch over them, to prevent them
from leaving their villages. The colonists are all dependent on the
governor-general of New Russia, and each of their villages is under the
control of a non-commissioned officer of the army. I have not the least
idea of the object for which the government founded these colonies,
which, as far as agriculture is concerned, can be of no use to the
country. Was its motive one of a philanthropic kind? I do not think so.
I should rather suspect that the prospective advantages in a military
point of view may have been the inducement, an opinion, which seems
justified by the fact, that the Russian government has found it
necessary, for some years past, to enrol the Jews by force in the naval
service. The unfortunate men are chiefly employed as workmen, and I have
seen great numbers of them in the arsenals of Sevastopol and Nicolaief.
The aspect of Kherson is as dismal as that of Nicolaief is brilliant and
lively. Nothing is to be seen but dilapidated houses and abandoned
sites, which give it the appearance of a town devastated by war. But
viewing it from a distance, as it rises in an amphitheatre on the banks
of the Dniepr, with its numerous belfries, its barracks, and its
gardens, one would be far from suspecting the sort of spectacle its
interior presents. Above all, one cannot conceive why a town in such a
position, with a river close at hand, navigable for ships of war, should
have been thus abandoned; but such has been the imperial will, and
Kherson, completely sacrificed to Odessa, now shows scarcely any signs
of life, excepting its great wool washing establishments, which employ
hundreds of workmen, and its retail trade, which the Jews monopolise.
The only remains of its past greatness the town has preserved, are its
title as capital of the government, and its tribunals. The governor
resides in it, no doubt much against his will; but many great families
have forsaken it on account of the fevers prevailing in it during a part
of the year, with more fatal violence than in any other region. They are
occasioned by the wide sheets of water left behind by the inundations of
the Dniepr, and which, finding no issue when the river returns to its
bed, stagnate among the reeds, until the rays of the sun are strong
enough to make them evaporate. Fetid and pestilential exhalations then
rise, and produce malignant and typhoid fevers that almost always prove
mortal.
The population of Kherson, like that of all the other towns in Southern
Russia, is a medley of Jews, Armenians, Russians, Greeks, Italians, &c.;
a few French have been long settled there, and have acquired some
wealth; some deal in wood, others are at the head of the wool-washing
establishments I have already mentioned. Among the latter, there is a
Parisian, who, by dint of washing and rewashing wool, and that too on
another's account, has managed to amass nearly 12,000_l._ in less than
eight years. The _lavoirs_ of MM. Vassal and Potier are the most
considerable in Kherson, giving daily employment to more than 600 men.
The Dniepr seen from Kherson, resembles a vast lake studded with
islands; the views it presents are very beautiful, and partake very much
of the character of maritime scenery. The estate we were going to lay on
the other side of the river, and we had the pleasure of travelling about
fifteen versts by water, through the labyrinth of islands, and a
constant succession of the most enchanting views. We found horses
waiting for us on the opposite bank, and in less than four hours we were
at Clarofka, our journey's end.
M. Potier, the proprietor of Clarofka, is an ex-pupil of the Polytechnic
School, who was sent to St. Petersburg by Napoleon, with three
colleagues, to establish a school of civil engineering. In 1812, the
government fearing lest they should join the French, sent them away to
the confines of China, where they were detained more than two years.
When our troops had evacuated Russia, and the presence of these young
men was no longer to be feared, the Emperor Alexander recalled them, and
gave them each a pension of 6000 rubles, to indemnify them for their
exile. From that time forth, they all made rapid progress in fortune and
in honours. M. Potier was for a long while director of the civil
engineering institution. He is highly esteemed by the Emperor Nicholas,
who wished to attach him completely to his court, by conferring on him a
post of the highest importance, but M. Potier always refused, and at
last succeeded in obtaining permission to retire. He is the son-in-law
of M. Rouvier, who made himself popular in Russia and even in France, by
being the first to introduce the breed of Merino sheep into Southern
Russia. M. Potier followed his father-in-law's example, and has more
than 20,000 sheep on his estate.
The estate of M. Vassal, another son-in-law and successor of M. Rouvier,
is but a dozen versts from Clarofka. It is larger than many a German
duchy; but instead of the fertile fields and thriving villages that
adorn Germany, it presents to view only a vast desert with numerous
tumuli, salt lakes, and a few sheep folds. These tumuli exact models of
mole-hills, from ten to fifteen yards high, are the only hills in the
country, and appear to be the burial-places of its old masters, the
Scythians. Several of them have been opened, and nothing found in them
but some bones, copper coins of the kings of Bosphorus, and coarse
earthen utensils. Similar tombs in the Crimea have been found to contain
objects of more value, both as regards material and workmanship. This
difference is easily accounted for; the Milesian colonies that occupied
part of the Crimea 200 years ago, spread a taste for opulence and the
fine arts all through the peninsula; their tombs would, therefore, bear
token of the degree of civilisation they had reached. They had a regular
government, princes, and all the elements and accessories of a kingdom;
whilst our poor Scythians, divided into nomade tribes like the Kirghises
and Kalmucks of the present day, led a rude life in the midst of the
herds of cattle that constituted their sole wealth.
Agriculture could never have yielded much in these steppes, where rain
is extremely rare in summer, where there are neither brooks nor wells
for irrigation, and where hot winds scorch up every thing during the
greater part of the fine season. It is only on the banks of the rivers
that vegetation makes its appearance and the eye rests on cultivated
fields and green pastures. There are indeed here and there a few
depressions, where the grass retains its verdure during a part of the
year, and some stunted trees spread their meagre branches over a less
unkindly soil than that of the steppe; but these are unusual
circumstances, and one must often travel hundreds of versts to find a
single shrub. Such being the general configuration of the country, it
may easily be imagined how cheerless is the aspect of those vast plains
with nothing to vary their surface except the tumuli, and with no other
boundaries than the sea. No one who is unaccustomed to that monotonous
nature can long endure its influence. Those dreary wastes seem to him a
boundless prison in which he vainly exerts himself without a hope of
escape. And yet that flat and barren soil from which the eye turns away
so contemptuously, has become a source of wealth to its present
proprietors by the great success of the first experiments in Merino
sheep-breeding. It was M. Rouvier, who first conceived the happy idea of
turning the unproductive steppes into pasture. The Emperor Alexander,
always ready to encourage liberal ideas, not only advanced the projector
a sum of a hundred thousand rubles, but gave him even a man-of-war to go
and make his first purchases in Spain, and on his return, granted him an
immense extent of land, where the flocks, increasing rapidly, brought in
a considerable fortune to M. Rouvier in a few years. His sons-in-law,
General Potier and M. Vassal inherited it, and formed those great
establishments of which we have spoken. Thenceforth the stock of merinos
increased with incredible rapidity in New Russia; but an enormous fall
in the price of wool soon occurred, and many proprietors have now reason
to regret their outlay in that branch of rural economy, and are
endeavouring to get rid of their flocks. The rams which fetched 500 or
600 francs in 1834 and 1835, were not worth more than 250 or 300 in
1841. In 1842, a landowner of our acquaintance had made up his mind to
part with his best thorough-bred rams for 140 and even 100 francs a
head. The exportation of wool increased, nevertheless, during the last
years of our stay in Russia; but this was only because the landowners,
after holding out a long while, found themselves at last constrained to
accept prices one-half lower than those current a few years before, and
to dispose of the wools they had long kept in their warehouses. Here was
another instance of the disastrous consequences of the Russian
prohibitive system; it has been as fatal to the wool-trade as to that in
corn.
Clarofka is a village consisting of fifteen or twenty houses, each
containing two families of peasants. It is some distance from the farm,
which alone contains more dwellings and inmates than the whole village.
The steward resides in a very long, low house, with small windows in the
Russian fashion, and an earthen roof, and standing at the edge of a
large pond, the fetid exhalations from which are very unwholesome during
the hot season. A few weeping-willows wave their branches over the
stagnant water, and increase still more the melancholy appearance of the
spot. The pond is frequented by a multitude of water-fowl, such as teal,
gulls, ducks, pelicans, and kourlis, that make their nests in the thick
reeds on the margin. Beside the house, according to the Russian custom,
stand the kitchens and other offices, the icehouse, poultry-yard,
wash-house, cellar for fruit and vegetables, &c. A little further on are
the stables and coach-houses, containing a great number of carriages,
caleches, droshkies, and a dozen horses; other buildings, including the
workmen's barracks, the forge, the gardener's and the miller's dwellings
are scattered irregularly here and there. Two great wind-mills lift
their huge wings above the road leading to the village. All this is not
very handsome; but there is one thing indicative of princely
sumptuousness, namely, an immense garden that spreads out behind the
house, and almost makes one forget the steppes, so thick is the foliage
of its beautiful alleys. One is at a loss to conceive by what miracle
this park, with its large trees, its fine fruit, and its charming walks,
can have thus sprung up out of the scorched and arid soil, that waits
whole months for a few drops of water to clothe it in transient verdure.
And indeed to create such an oasis in the heart of so barren a land,
there needed not one miracle, but a series of miracles of perseverance,
toil, and resolution, seconded by all the means at the disposal of a
Russian lord. All kinds of fruit are here collected together; we counted
more than fifty varieties of the pear in one alley. Grapes of all kinds,
strawberries, beds of asparagus of incomparable flavour, every thing in
short that the most capricious taste can desire, grows there in such
abundance, that seeing all these things one really feels transported
into the midst of regions the most favoured by nature.