Menestrier, one of the most agreeable of my countrymen I have met in my
travels, I set earnestly about my excursions, and through the obliging
kindness of Prince Kherkeoulitchev, the governor of the town, I was soon
in possession of all the data requisite to guide me in my researches. I
shall not, however, obtrude upon the reader all the archaeological notes
with which I enriched my journal, while exploring the tombs and
monuments of Panticapea, since I have been anticipated in this respect
by others more competent in such matters, especially M. Dubois
Montperreux.
In roaming about the environs of Kertch, among the innumerable tumuli,
that served as tombs for the sovereigns and wealthy citizens of
Panticapea, one is instantly struck by the exceedingly slovenly and
mischievous manner in which every opening of these mounds has been
performed during the last twenty years. Instead of seeking to preserve
these precious monuments bequeathed unaltered to them by so many
generations, the Russians have been only bent on destroying them, in
order to arrive the sooner at the discovery of the valuable contents
thought to be enclosed within them. All the tumuli _against_ which
official exploratory operations have been directed, have been totally
demolished, or cut in four by wide trenches from the summit to the base,
and no one has even thought of effecting the required researches by
means either of a vertical shaft or by tunnelling.
I have visited all the chief points where the destructive genius of the
Muscovite archaeologists has been exercised; but it would be impossible
for me to describe the grief I felt at the sight of such horrible
devastation. They have not contented themselves with destroying the form
of the monuments; the inner chambers and the mortal remains within them
have been no more respected than the earth and stones that had protected
them for so many ages from all profanation. The bones have everywhere
been taken out of the tombs, and exposed on the surface of the ground to
the inclemency of the weather. M. Menestrier, of whom I have spoken
above, and whose generous indignation has not spared the directors of
these operations, had one day to bury with his own hands the still
entire skeleton of a young woman. I have myself seen soldiers warming
themselves at large fires which they fed with the precious fragments of
wooden sarcophagi they had just discovered.
Among the various tumuli, that situated near the quarantine
establishment north of the town, unquestionably deserved especial
attention on the part of the local administration. Considering the
gigantic dimensions of its central chamber and gallery, both having
corbelled ceilings, it was a truly unique monument, which the government
should have been solicitous to transmit unimpaired to future
generations. The entrance gallery is 36.25 metres long, 2.80 wide, and
7.50 high. The five lower courses forming the basement are each 0.45
thick. Then come twelve other courses, only 0.40 high, and rising in
corbels so as to form a series of regular projections on the interior of
0.12. The two upper courses, which have an interval of 0.25 between
them, instead of being joined by keystones, are merely covered with
large flags laid flat in mortar. The stability of such ceilings is
evidently contrary to all the rules of art, and it is probable that in
erecting them the builders must have used numerous wooden props and
trusts, until the whole structure was consolidated by a sufficient load
of earth. A rectangular opening at the end of the gallery three metres
high and 2.35 wide, gives admission into the interior of the central
chamber or cupola.
The base of the cupola consists of four courses, of 0.40 to 0.45 in
thickness, forming a total height of 1.85. The ground plan of this part
is an irregular square, the sides of which are 4.50, 4.40, 4.45 and
4.30. Above the fifth course the four angles are filled in by stones
forming a circular projection of 0.30 in the line of the diagonal. The
same thing is repeated in the succeeding courses. The curved portions
thus gradually increase in extent, until at the ninth course they form
together a complete circle, the diameter of which diminishes with each
succeeding course, until at top there is only a circular opening of 0.70
diameter, which is closed in the same manner as the upper part of the
entrance gallery. The total height of the cupola is 9.10. The material
is tertiary shell limestone, large quarries of which exist in the
neighbourhood. Of all the tombs recently explored by the Russians, that
of the quarantine is the only one which had been previously opened. It
was found completely empty. The first examination appears to have
occurred at a very early date; perhaps at the time when the Genoese
possessed the small fort of Cerco, at the foot of the mountain of
Panticapea.
Of the tombs with semi-circular arches, that discovered in the summer of
1841 is among the most remarkable. It consists of two distinct chambers
communicating with each other. In the centre of the inner one was found
a wooden sarcophagus with a male skeleton having a crown of dead gold on
the skull. It was from this sarcophagus that the wooden target was taken
representing a fight between a stag and a griffin, which I have
presented to the Cabinet of Antiquities of the Bibliotheque du Roi.
Another coffin found in the centre of the outer chamber contained a
female skeleton in a wonderful state of preservation. The smallest bones
of the fingers and toes were perfect, and where the skull lay was seen a
large quantity of light brown hair. The garments even retained their
form and colour, but they fell to pieces at the least touch. In this
chamber, to the right on entering, there was a small niche, in which had
been deposited the body of a child, with a bronze lamp and two
lacrymatories, one of them of glass, beside it. I have the last two in
my possession.
In 1841, when I first explored the remains of Panticapea, this
remarkable tomb, which excited the admiration of all artists, served as
a place of shelter for the cattle of the neighbourhood, and its fine
entrance gallery was falling to ruin. Some months after my departure the
work of destruction was carried on in the face of day, and the
magnificent pavement of the chamber was shamelessly carried off. At
Soudagh and Theodosia, I could in some degree account for the disastrous
effects of administrative recklessness; the ignorant governors to whom
was committed the sole custody of the antiquities of those towns, could
see in the buildings of past ages only a quarry to be worked for their
own profit. But at Kertch, which possesses a museum, and a committee of
_savans_ to superintend the processes for exploring its antiquities,
such destruction appeared to me quite incomprehensible. It is true the
Russian government cares little about the preservation of monuments,
even of such as directly concern its own history; it granted only 4000
paper rubles for the investigations, and seems in reality to be
interested only about objects of art, such as Etruscan vases, gold
ornaments, small statues, &c., which may serve to decorate the rooms of
the Hermitage; but there exists in Southern Russia a numerous society of
antiquaries, officially constituted, and there cannot be a question,
that if it would or could fulfil in some small degree the nominal
purpose of its creation, it would immediately obtain from the emperor
all the necessary supplies for the conservation of the monuments in the
peninsula of Kertch. Unhappily, that general indifference to
intellectual pursuits, which we have dwelt on in a preceding chapter,
prevails as much with regard to archeology as any thing else. When I
examined the exploring works, and conversed with the learned gentlemen
that directed them, I could not help seeing before me, instead of the
love of knowledge, palpable evidence of private interest and ambition
employing all means to rise in the nobiliary scale of the empire; and
whilst the Russian journals trumpeted forth the admirable discoveries
made in the name of the history of mankind, every man of those who were
disturbing the ashes of the ancient Panticapea thought only of
augmenting his own income, or gaining a grade or a decoration.
Another proof how secondary a consideration in these researches is the
interest of learning and history, is the scandalous neglect of the
sarcophagi, the bas-reliefs, the architectural fragments, and, in a
word, all the large sculptures that cannot be sent to St. Petersburg and
laid before his majesty. When I visited the museum of Kertch, I found
the approaches to the building filled with antiques, which lay on the
ground without any shelter. The noses and chins of the principal figures
on the bas-reliefs had just been broken, perhaps that very morning; yet
the learned committee had not thought of making the least complaint, so
little importance did it attach to the matter. In passing through the
various halls of the museum, I everywhere noticed the same negligence,
and tokens of incessant pillage. Among other relics the destruction of
which I had to deplore, I was shown the remains of a magnificent wooden
sarcophagus, which had been found in perfect condition. It was enriched
with Greek carvings, the prominent parts of which were gilded, and the
hollow parts painted red, and it was in my opinion the most interesting
piece in the museum. Thanks, however, to the obliging disposition shown
by the keepers towards strangers, I doubt if a fragment or two of it yet
remain at this moment. We should never have done, if we were to recite
all the acts of vandalism and depredation of which the museum of Kertch
has been the theatre. The details which we have given will sufficiently
indicate the value of the archeological labours carried on upon the site
of the ancient Panticapea; may the remonstrances we here put forth in
the name of art, literature, and science, attract the notice of all
those Russians who take a real interest in the historical monuments of
their country.
FOOTNOTES:
[71] Superbi discordes et desides Graeci a Genuensibus Italis fracti et
debilitati civitatem eam amiserant (Martini Briniovii Tartaria, 1575).
[72] Cum obsidionem diuturnam ac famem, Genuenses diutius ferre nee
impetum tam numerosi exercitus Turcorum sustinere amplius possent, in
maximum tempum illud, quod adhuc ibi integrum est, centeni aliquot vel
mille fere viri egregii sese receperant, et per dies aliquot in arce
inferiori in quam Turcae irruperant fortiter et animose sese defendentes,
insigni et memorabili Turcarum strage edita tandem in templo illo
universi concidere.--Ibid.
[73] For a more detailed description of the ruins of Soudagh, see the
remarkable work of M. Dubois de Montperreux. Paris, 1843.
[74] Giust. Ann. di Genova, lib. iii.
[75] Formerly French Consul at Theodosia; deprived of his place for his
opinions upon the return of the Bourbons, and now filling the humble
functions of Neapolitan consular agent. He is the author of a valuable
work on the political revolutions of the Crimea.
CHAPTER XLI.
POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL REVOLUTIONS OF THE CRIMEA.
EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF SURFACE--MILESIAN AND HERACLEAN
COLONIES--KINGDOM OF THE BOSPHORUS--EXPORT AND IMPORT TRADE
IN THE TIMES OF THE GREEK REPUBLICS--MITHRIDATES--THE
KINGDOM OF THE BOSPHORUS UNDER THE ROMANS--THE ALANS AND
GOTHS--SITUATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF KHERSON--THE HUNS;
DESTRUCTION OF THE KINGDOM OF THE BOSPHORUS--THE KHERSONITES
PUT THEMSELVES UNDER THE PROTECTION OF THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE
--DOMINION OF THE KHAZARS--THE PETCHENEGUES AND KOMANS--THE
KINGDOM OF LITTLE TATARY--RISE AND FALL OF THE GENOESE
COLONIES--THE CRIMEA UNDER THE TATARS--ITS CONQUEST BY THE
RUSSIANS.
The Crimea comprises a surface of about 1100 square geographic leagues,
divided into two distinct regions. The first of these is mountainous,
and forms a strip of about ninety-five English miles in length along the
southern coast, with a mean breadth of from twelve to sixteen miles; the
second, the region of the plains, presents all the characters of the
steppes of Southern Russia, and extends northward to the isthmus of
Perecop, which connects the peninsula with the continent. The Crimea now
forms part of the government called the Taurid, the territory of which
extends beyond Perecop, between the Dniepr and the Sea of Azof, to the
47th degree of latitude. Simpheropol is its chief town.
In order to give a clear conception of the political and commercial
importance of the Crimea, which, by its almost central position in the
Black Sea, commands at once the coasts of Asia, the mouths of the
Danube, and the entrance to the Constantinopolitan Bosphorus, it is
indispensable to present a rapid sketch of the numerous revolutions
which the march of time and the invasions of peoples have effected in
that important peninsula. It was in the middle of the seventh century
before Christ, that the Milesians made their appearance on the northern
shores of the Euxine. The eastern part of the Tauris, an open country
and easy of occupation, having attracted their attention, they founded
their first colonies there, possessing themselves at the same time of
all the little region which we now call the peninsula of Kertch. The
agricultural prosperity which they soon attained, was quickly known in
Greece, whence it occasioned fresh and important emigrations. Theodosia,
Nymphea, Panticapea, and Mermikion, were erected on the shore of the
little peninsula, and served as seaports for the thriving colonists.
The success of the Milesians stimulated the Heracleans to follow their
example. They chose the most western part of the country, landed not far
from the celebrated Cape Perthenica, and after having beaten the savage
natives and driven them back into the mountains, they settled in the
little peninsula of Trachea, known in our day by the name of the ancient
Khersonesus. Thus were laid the foundations of the celebrated republic
of Kherson, which subsisted, great and prosperous, for more than 1500
years, and the capital of which having become the temporary conquest of
a Grand Duke of Russia, in the tenth century, was the starting point of
that great religious revolution which completely changed the face and
the destinies of the Muscovite empire.
Whilst the Heracleans were consolidating their power by improving their
trade, the Milesian settlements on the Bosphorus were growing up with
magic rapidity, and were spreading even beyond the strait to the Asiatic
coast, where the towns of Phanagoria, Hermonassa, and Kepos were
founded. At first all these Milesian colonies were independent of each
other, but at last they became united into the kingdom of the Bosphorus,
B.C. 480.
As agriculture formed the basis of the public wealth of the Milesians,
it became the object of the new government's peculiar attention. On his
accession to the throne, Leucon relieved the Athenians of the thirtieth
imposed on exported corn, in consequence of which liberal measure those
exports increased prodigiously; the Cimmerian peninsula became the
granary of Greece, and merchants flocked to Theodosia and Panticapea,
where they procured at the same time wool, furs, and all those salted
provisions, which still constitute one of the chief riches of Southern
Russia. As for the import trade, of which history says little, it is
easy to conceive the nature of its operations from the important
archeological discoveries of Panticapea.
The Bosphorians undoubtedly received in exchange for their produce, all
the manufactured goods which wealth and luxury had brought into vogue in
Athens, and it was probably Greek artists who executed all those
magnificent objects of art which are contained in the museum of Kertch,
and which prove that the agricultural colonists of the Tauris did not
fall short of the opulence of their brilliant mother city. Building
materials seem to have formed an important item of importation. There is
no trace of white marble either in the Crimea or on the northern coasts
of the Black Sea; nevertheless, large quantities have been found in the
excavations made at Kertch, and there is every reason to presume that
the huge masses of cut marble employed in the public and private
buildings, were imported ready wrought from Greece.
Despite the dangerous vicinity of the Sarmatians, the kingdom of the
Bosphorus enjoyed perfect tranquillity for above three hundred years,
and through a steady and rational policy increased in prosperity and
riches, until the conquest of Greece by the Romans subverted all the
commercial relations of the East. At that period the Bosphorians,
attacked by the Scythians, and too weak to resist them, threw themselves
into the arms of the celebrated Mithridates, who turned their state into
a province of the Pontus, and bestowed it as an appanage on his son
Makhares.
After the defeat and death of her implacable enemy, Rome maintained the
traitor Pharnaces in possession of the crown of the Bosphorus; but the
new prince's sovereignty was merely nominal, and the successors of the
son of Mithridates, powerless and despoiled of all the Milesians had
possessed on the Asiatic shore of the strait, reigned only in accordance
with the caprice of the Roman emperors.
About the middle of the first century after Christ, the Alans entered
the Tauris, devastated the greater part of the country, and entirely
destroyed Theodosia, which had offered them some resistance. They were
followed by the Goths, who in their turns became masters of the
peninsula. But far from abusing their victory, they blended their race
with that of the vanquished, founded numerous colonies on the vast
plains north of the mountainous region, and followed their natural bent
for a sedentary life and rural occupations. The Tauric Khersonese now
entered on a fresh period of tranquillity and agricultural prosperity.
Unfortunately, Greece was at this period rapidly declining under the
Roman yoke; Rome having become the capital of the whole world, Egypt,
Sicily, and Africa had naturally acquired to themselves the monopoly of
the supply of corn; so that with all its efforts the Tauris could not
emerge from the depression into which it had been plunged by the
political events of the first Christian century.
The remote and inaccessible position of the little republic of Kherson,
preserved its independence during all these early barbarian invasions.
In Diocletian's time, the Khersonites, whose dominions extended over
nearly the whole of the elevated country, had concentrated in their own
hands almost all the commerce that still existed between the Tauris and
some parts of the shores of the Black Sea.[76] Their republic was the
most powerful state of the peninsula, when war broke out between them
and the Sarmatians, who had already seized the kingdom of the Bosphorus,
and given it a king of their own nation. The struggle between the two
rival nations lasted nearly a century, and the Sarmatians having been at
last expelled, the Bosphorians again enjoyed some years of freedom and
quiet. But the peace was not of long duration. The unfortunate peninsula
was soon visited by the most violent tempest that had yet desolated it.
The Huns, from the heart of Asia, came down to the Asiatic side of the
strait, and soon the terrified Bosphorians beheld those furious hordes
traversing the Sea of Azof, which had for a while arrested their
progress. The ancient kingdom of the Milesians was then extinguished for
ever. (A.D. 375.) The numerous colonies of united Goths and
Alans shared the same fate, and all the rich agricultural establishments
of the country were reduced to ashes. Still protected by their isolated
position, the Khersonites alone escaped the devastation, in consequence
of the rapidity with which the torrent of the invaders rushed forth
towards the western regions of Europe.
The Tauris was still suffering under the effects of the frightful
disasters inflicted on it by the Huns, when it was again ravaged by
their disbanded hordes, after the death of Attila. The Khersonites were
now in jeopardy, and in their alarm, they sought the protection of the
Eastern Empire. Justinian, who then reigned at Constantinople, acceded
to their request, but he made them pay dear for the imperial protection.
Under pretence of providing for the defence of the country, he erected
the two strong fortresses of Alouchta and Gourzoubita, on the southern
coast, and the republic of Kherson became tributary to the empire.
In the latter part of the seventh century (A.D. 679) the
Tauris was invaded by the Khazars, hordes that having accompanied the
Huns, had settled in Bersilia (Lithuania), and had been formed into an
independent kingdom by Attila himself. The apparition of these new
conquerors, already masters of a vast territory, made such a sensation
at Constantinople, that their alliance was courted by the sovereigns of
the East, and the Emperor Leo even asked for his son the hand of the
daughter of the kalgan, or chief of the nation. The forebodings of the
imperial government were soon realised, for in the short space of 150
years the Khazars, who had given their own name to the peninsula,
founded a vast monarchy, the limits of which extended in Europe beyond
the Danube, and in Asia to the foot of the Caucasus.
After the Khazars, whose fall was caused chiefly by the attacks of the
Russians, and who thenceforth disappeared entirely from the records of
history, the victorious Petchenegues ruled over the whole land except
the southern territory of Kherson, which was incorporated with the
Empire of the East. Under the sway of this other Asiatic people, the
trade and commerce of the peninsula revived, its intercourse with
Constantinople resumed activity, and the Tauric ports supplied the
merchants of the Lower Empire with purple, fine stuffs, embroidered
cloths, ermines, leopard skins, furs of all kinds, pepper, and spices,
which the Petchenegues purchased in Eastern Russia, south of the Kouban,
and in the Transcaucasian regions that extend to the banks of the Cyrus
and the Araxes. Thus began again for this unfortunate country a new era
of prosperity, unexampled for many previous centuries.
The dominion of the Petchenegues lasted 150 years, and then they
themselves endured the fate they had inflicted on the Khazars. Assailed
by the Comans, whom the growth of the Mongol power had expelled from
their own territory, they were beaten and forced to return into Asia.
The Comans, a warlike people, made Soldaya their capital; but they had
scarcely consolidated their power when they were obliged to give place
to other conquerors, and seek an abode in regions further west. With the
expulsion of the Comans ceased all those transient invasions which dyed
the soil of the Tauris with blood during ten centuries. The various
hordes that have left nothing but their name in history, were succeeded
by two remarkable peoples: the one, victorious over Asia, had just
founded the most gigantic empire of the middle ages; the other, issuing
from a trading city of Italy, was destined to make Khazaria the nucleus
of all the commercial relations between Europe and Asia.
With the Mongol invasion of 1226, the empire of the tzars entered on
that fatal period of servitude and oppression which has left such
pernicious traces in the national character of the Muscovites. Russia,
Poland, and Hungary, were successively overrun by the hordes of the
celebrated grandson of Genghis Khan; Khazaria was added to their
enormous conquests, and became, under the name of Little Tatary, the
cradle of a potent state, which maintained its independence down to the
end of the eighteenth century. Under the yoke of the Mongols the Tauris,
after being oppressed at first, soon recovered; Soldaya was restored to
the Christians, and soon proved that the resources of the country were
not exhausted, and that nothing but peace and quiet were wanted to
develop the elements of wealth with which nature had so liberally
endowed it. In a few years Soldaya became the most important port of the
Black Sea, and one of the great termini of the commercial lines between
Europe and Asia.
The greatness of Soldaya was, however, of short duration: another
people, more active, and endowed with a bolder spirit of mercantile
enterprise than the Greeks, came forward about the same period, and
concentrated in its own hands the whole heritage of the great epochs
that had successively shed lustre on the peninsula from the day when the
Milesians founded their first colonies on the Cimmerian Bosphorus. Being
already possessed of important factories in Constantinople, the Genoese
had long been aware of the circumstances of the Black Sea, and the
immense resources it would place at the disposal of enterprising men who
should there centralise for their own profit all the commercial
relations of Europe with Russia, Persia, and the Indies. The rivalry
which then existed between them and the Venetians, accelerated the
execution of their projects, and in 1820, after having secured the
territory of the ancient Theodosia, partly by fraud, partly by force,
they laid the foundation of the celebrated Caffa, through which they
became sure masters of the Black Sea, and sole proprietors of its
commerce. With the arrival of the Genoese the Tauris saw the most
brilliant epochs of its history revived. Caffa became by its greatness,
its population, and its opulence, in some degree the rival of
Constantinople, and its consuls, possessing themselves of Cerco,
Soldaya, and Cembalo, made themselves masters of all the southern coast
of the Crimea. Other equally profitable conquests were subsequently made
beyond the peninsula. The galleys of the republic entered the Palus
Maeotis; Tana, on the mouth of the Don, was wrested from the Tatars; a
fortress was erected at the mouth of the Dniestr; several factories were
established in Colchis, and on the Caucasian coast, and even the
imperial town of Trebisond was forced to admit one of the most important
factories of the republic on the Black Sea. The Genoese colonies thus
became the general emporium of the rich productions of Russia, Asia
Minor, Persia, and the Indies; they monopolised for more than two
centuries all the traffic between Europe and Asia, and presented a
marvellous spectacle of thriving greatness. All this glory had an end.
Mahomet's standard was planted over the dome of St. Sophia in 1453, and
the intercourse of the Crimea with the Mediterranean was broken off. The
destruction of the Genoese settlements was then inevitable; and the
republic, despairing of their preservation, assigned them over to the
bank of St. George, on the 15th of November, 1453. The consequences of
this cession which put an end to the political connexion of the colonies
with the mother state, were of course disastrous. Despair and loss of
public spirit fell upon the colonists, individual selfishness
predominated in all their councils, and the consular government, before
remarkable for its integrity and its virtues, instead of uniting with
the Tatars, and rendering its own position with regard to the Porte less
perilous, completely disgusted them by a total want of honesty, and by
selling its aid for gold to all the parties that were desolating the
Crimea. So many faults were followed by the natural catastrophe. Caffa
was forced to surrender at discretion to the Turks on the 6th of June,
1473, and some months afterwards all the points occupied by the Genoese
fell one by one into the hands of the Ottomans.
After the disaster of the Genoese colonies, the great lines of
communication of the trans-Caucasian regions, the Caspian, the Volga,
the Don, and the Kouban, were broken, having lost their feeders, and all
the commercial relations with Central Asia were for a while suspended.
The Venetians, who had obtained from the Turks the right of navigating
the Black Sea, in consideration of a yearly tribute of 10,000 ducats,
strove in vain to take the place their rivals had lost; they were
expelled in their turn from the Black Sea, the Dardanelles were closed
against all the nations of the West, and the Turks and their subjects,
the Greeks of the Archipelago, alone possessed the privilege of passing
through the strait. In our remarks on the Caspian we have already
pointed out the new outlets which the Eastern trade procured for itself
by way of Smyrna, and the great revolution which followed Vasco de
Gama's discovery.
Under the reign of the first khans, who were tributary to the Porte, the
Crimea lost all its commercial and agricultural importance. Continual
wars, and incessant revolts, sometimes favoured, sometimes punished by
the Porte, added to the still deeply-rooted habits of a nomade and
vagabond existence, for many years precluded the regeneration of the
country. But a rich fertile soil, and a country abundantly provided with
all the resources necessary to man, triumphed over the natural indolence
of the Tatars, just as they had done before by the savage hordes that
successively invaded the Tauris. The hill sides and valleys became
covered with villages, and all branches of native industry increased
rapidly with the internal tranquillity of the country. The corn, cattle,
timber, resins, fish, and salt of Little Tatary furnished freights for a
multitude of vessels. The commerce of Central Asia, it is true, was lost
for it beyond recovery, but the exportation of its native produce and of
that which Russia sent to it by the Don and the Sea of Azof, was more
than sufficient to keep its people in a very thriving, if not an opulent
condition. Caffa shared in the general improvement; it rose again from
its ruins, became the commercial centre of the country, as in the time
of the Genoese, and its advancement was such, that the Turks bestowed on
it the flattering name of Koutchouk Stamboul (Little Constantinople).
The dominion of the khans extended at this period, in Europe and Asia,
from the banks of the Danube to the foot of the mountains of the
Caucasus, and the indomitable mountaineers of Circassia themselves often
did homage to the sovereigns of the Tauris. The Mussulman population was
divided in those days into two great classes: the descendants of the
first conquerors, known by the special designation of Tatars; and the
Nogais, nomade tribes who, subsequently to the conquest, had come and
put themselves under the protection of the illustrious Batou khan. The
former, mixed up with the remains of the ancient possessors, formed the
civilised part of the nation. Possessing the mountainous regions, and
residing in towns and villages, they were both agriculturists and
manufacturers; whilst the Nogais, who lived in a manner independently in
Southern Russia, applied themselves solely to cattle rearing. They were
at that time divided into five principal hordes: the Boudjiak occupied
the plains of Bessarabia from the mouths of the Danube to the Dniestr;
the Yedisan, the largest, which could bring into the field 80,000
horsemen, encamped between the Dniestr and the Dniepr; the Djamboiluk
and Jedickhoul, the remnants of which still inhabit the territory of
their ancestors, extended from the banks of the Dniepr to the western
coasts of the Sea of Azof; lastly, the tribes of the Kouban, nomadised
in the steppes between that river and the Don, which now form the domain
of the Black Sea Cossacks. All these tribes collectively could, in case
of urgent necessity, bring into the field upwards of 400,000 men. Such
was the political condition of Little Tatary, when the Russian conquest
of the provinces of the Sea of Azof and the Black Sea destroyed all the
fruits of the great social revolution which had been effected in the
habits of the Mussulmans by the new development of trade and commerce.
The first Muscovite invasion took place in 1736. A hundred thousand men,
commanded by Field-marshal Munich forced the Isthmus of Perecop, entered
the peninsula, and laid waste the whole country, up to the northern
slope of the Tauric chain. The peace of Belgrade put an end to this
first inroad, but the political existence of Little Tatary was,
nevertheless, violently shaken; and from that time forth the khans were
kept in continual perplexity by the secret or armed interventions of
Russia, their subjects were stimulated to revolt, and they themselves
were but puppets moved by the court of St. Petersburg.
In 1783, Sahem Guerai abdicated in favour of the Empress Catherine II.,
and the kingdom of the Tatars, exhausted by extensive emigrations and
bloody insurrections, finally ceased to exist; and then perished rapidly
the last elements of the prosperity of a land that had been so often
ravaged, and had always emerged victoriously from its disasters.
Previously to this period, in 1778, the irresistible command of Russia
had determined the emigration of all the Greek and Armenian families of
the peninsula, and an agricultural and trading population had been seen
to quit, voluntarily as Russia pretends, fertile regions, and a
favouring climate, to settle in the savage steppes of the Don and the
Sea of Azof. About the same period, and under the same influence, began
the emigration of the Tatars and Nogais, some of whom retired into
Turkey, others joined the mountaineers of the Caucasus. The Russian
occupation accelerated this disastrous movement, and on the day when the
tzars extended their frontiers to the banks of the Dniestr, the
celebrated horde of Yedisan disappeared entirely from the soil of the
empire. The Tatars of the region between the Dniepr and the Sea of Azof
did not emigrate in such numbers as the others, for the imperial
government had hemmed them in, even previously to the conquest, by
formidable military lines on the east and on the west. The heaviest
calamities fell, of course, on the peninsula, which was covered with
fixed settlements, and was the centre of the Tatar civilisation and
power, and there the scenes of carnage and devastation which had marked
the irruption of the barbarians from Asia were renewed in all their
horrors. The peninsula lost at least nine-tenths of its population; its
towns were given up to pillage, its fields laid waste; and in the space
of a few months that region which had been still so nourishing under its
last khan, exhibited but one vast spectacle of oppression, misery, and
devastation.
Since that period there have elapsed sixty years, during which the
Russian domination has never had any resistance to encounter or revolt
to quell; and yet, notwithstanding the opening of the Dardanelles, the
Tauris has been unable, to this day, to rise from the deep depression
into which it was sunk by the political events of the close of the
eighteenth century. It is true, no doubt, that very handsome villas have
been erected on the southern coast, and that luxurious opulence has made
that region its chosen seat; but the vital and productive forces of the
peninsula have been smothered, its trade and agriculture have been
destroyed; and that bootless quietude in which the dwindled population
of the Tatars now vegetates, results, in fact, only from the destruction
of all material resources, and the extinction of all moral and
intellectual energy which have come to pass under the sway of the
Russian administration.
FOOTNOTES:
[76] Const. Porph. de adm. Imp., c. xiii.
CHAPTER XLII.
COMMERCIAL POLITY OF RUSSIA IN THE CRIMEA--CAFFA SACRIFICED
IN FAVOUR OF KERTCH--THESE TWO PORTS COMPARED--THE
QUARANTINE AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE SEA OF AZOF, AND ITS
CONSEQUENCES--COMMERCE OF KERTCH--VINEYARDS OF THE CRIMEA;
THE VALLEY OF SOUDAK--AGRICULTURE--CATTLE--HORTICULTURE--
MANUFACTURES; MOROCCO LEATHER--DESTRUCTION OF THE GOATS--
DECAY OF THE FORESTS--SALT WORKS--GENERAL TABLE OF THE
COMMERCE OF THE CRIMEA--PROSPECTS OF THE TATAR POPULATION.
When the Russian authority was fully established in the Crimea, and the
inevitable disasters attending the occupation of a country by Muscovite
troops had subsided, the imperial government seemed for a while disposed
to rekindle the embers of the peninsular prosperity. The Emperor
Alexander was personally acquainted with the intrinsic value of the
country, and manifested the best and most earnest intentions in its
favour; but unfortunately he could not overcome the inveterate habits of
the Russian functionaries, and their utter indifference to the true
interests of the empire. Half measures, therefore, were all that was
effected; custom-houses and quarantines were established, Caffa
exchanged its name for that of the Milesian colony, German villages were
founded,[77] large grants of land were made to Russians and strangers,
vines were planted, and the cultivation of the olive was attempted; but
all capital questions were overlooked or misconceived; no thought was
given to the matter of markets or to commercial relations; and the
government persisting in its prohibitive system, assimilated the Crimea
to the other provinces, in spite of strong remonstrances, and repudiated
all thoughts of mercantile freedom, the only means by which it could
have given new life to the Crimea, and created an active and industrious
population in the place of the Tatar tribes, of whom war and emigration
had deprived the country.
But in lieu of such privileges Caffa was from the first endowed with a
tribunal of commerce, a quarantine, and a custom-house of the first
class; and if it could not recover its old greatness under the new
domination, it might at least have expected to become one of the chief
places of export and import in southern Russia, within the bounds
prescribed by the exigencies of the customs. Situated at the extremity
of the Tauric chain, not far from the Cimmerian Bosphorus, possessing
the only trading port open to vessels in all seasons, in easy
communication with rich and productive regions, this town possessed
every possible claim to the peculiar attention of the Russian
government. But the hopes which had been at first conceived, were
entirely disappointed, and the unfortunate Theodosia was positively
devoted to abandonment and destruction.
It is not easy to determine the real motives for which the old Genoese
city was abandoned in favour of its rival on the Cimmerian Bosphorus.
The ostensible reasons were sanatory measures, the necessity of having a
general quarantine at the entrance of the Sea of Azof, encouragement of
coasters and lighters, and the utility of a vast emporium opened to the
productions of all Russia. We believe, however, that all these arguments
were in reality of very secondary weight, and that the downfall of
Theodosia is to be ascribed to nothing else than an absurd vanity. To
resuscitate the ancient name of _Odessus_; to found a town called
_Ovidiopol_ in a country where Ovid never resided; to lead our
geographers into error by giving the name of _Tiraspol_ to a mean
village on the Dniestr, in the front of Bender; to substitute the name
of _Theodosia_ for that of Caffa; all these innovations might have
pleased certain archaeologists, but how was it possible to resist the
thought of rebuilding the celebrated capital of the kingdom of the
Bosphorus? How irresistible the temptation to raise a new and great
city at the foot of Mithridates' rock! The memory of the Milesians had,
therefore, to fade before that of the illustrious sovereign of Pontus;
Theodosia was despoiled of its privileges and its revenues, its tribunal
of commerce was transferred to Kertch, and double arbour dues were
imposed on vessels touching there before arriving at the latter port.
Assuredly no stronger testimony could be borne to the superiority of
Theodosia than that which was embodied in these arbitrary measures, nor
could there be a more incontestible proof of the caprice to which the
Genoese town was sacrificed. Caffa was infinitely better fitted than
Kertch to satisfy those conditions which the official orders announced
as the grounds for destroying its commercial position. The Kertch roads
are often closed against vessels for three or four months continuously;
the anchorage is unsafe, and often disastrous, both from the want of
shelter and from the shallowness of the water. The port of Theodosia, on
the contrary, is always open, and shipwrecks are unknown there. During
the fine season an active service of lighters might have concentrated
there all the freights brought by the Don and the Sea of Azof. In this
way the commercial intercourse with Russia by the Black Sea would never
have suffered the least interruption; and, what is an incalculable
advantage in those latitudes, foreign vessels, being no longer
constrained to make the long and difficult passage to Taganrok, or to
run the risk of wintering in the ice, might, if they failed to obtain
freight at Theodosia, have proceeded in search of one without loss of
time to the southern shores of the Black Sea. All these grand
considerations, which had raised the prosperity of Caffa so high, were
superseded by the dictates of vanity.
Kertch then was declared, in 1827, a port of the first class, with a
custom-house of entry and exit. A vast lazaret was immediately
constructed, and five years afterwards appeared the famous sanatory
orders which still regulate the navigation of the Sea of Azof. The
duration of the quarantine was fixed at thirty days, but before that
time can begin to run, the vessel must be moored within the lazaret, and
every thing on board, including the effects of the crew, must be
subjected to a fumigation of twenty-four hours. This operation being
ended the sailors land, after having first divested themselves of all
their dress and portable articles; the sails are plunged in water by the
servants of the establishment, and the hull of the vessel is
disinfected. After these preliminaries, which often occupy from ten to
fifteen days, the sailors return to their vessels, and their days of
quarantine begin to count. All these regulations are in curious contrast
with those of the lazaret of Odessa, where the quarantine lasts only
fifteen days.
This new system, which was in fact an interdict upon the Sea of Azof,
told of course in favour of Kertch. But the factitious prosperity of
that town appears to us to have already reached its utmost limit, and we
doubt much that the best devised or most stringent orders can ever give
to its port those elements of commercial prosperity which nature has
refused to it. Hence we see, that to avoid the delay and cost of the
Kertch quarantine, the merchants of Taganrok and the neighbouring towns,
use lighters almost exclusively to carry their goods to the vessels
moored in the Cimmerian Bosphorus. On their arrival in the channel,
these lighters are put into the hands of the crew belonging to the
vessel to be freighted, and their men remain on shore during the
trans-shipment. This being accomplished, the lighters are fumigated for
twenty-four hours, and then taken back by the lightermen to the Sea of
Azof. All these operations, however, are tedious, costly, and uncertain;
and the only reason why the merchants have adopted this plan of
proceeding is, that they all are reluctant to incur the great expenses
of storing their goods in Kertch, and that the paucity of lighters,
together with the irregularity of the winds, and the many shoals in the
Sea of Azof, render shipments extremely expensive, so that no additional
charge could be easily borne. At the opening of the navigation in 1839,
freight between Taganrok and Kertch cost as much as four rubles per
tchetvert of wheat, and 1-1/2 in the course of the summer. M. Taitbout
de Marigny, who has paid great attention to all these matters, estimates
the freight charges in question as equivalent on the average to those
usually paid to Black Sea vessels bound for the Archipelago.[78]
A remarkable result of this whole system of quarantine and customs is as
follows. Suppose two vessels start simultaneously from the
Mediterranean, the one for Taganrok, the other for Odessa, and that the
latter failing to obtain a cargo, shall quit Odessa after its fifteen
days' quarantine, and sail for the Sea of Azof: there is every
probability that after remaining at Taganrok long enough to take in its
cargo, it will on its return still find the first vessel in the Kertch
roads, waiting to complete the formalities required before it can enter
the Sea of Azof. Such measures as these, would inevitably keep aloof
from the ports of the Sea of Azof, and even from that of Kertch, every
vessel that was sure of its cargo beforehand. It is needless to insist
afresh in this place on the superiority of Theodosia, considered as a
general entrepot of the goods arriving in the Sea of Azof, and of those
which might have flowed directly into its port through the Isthmus of
Arabat.
As for the commercial resources belonging intrinsically to the town of
Kertch, it is enough to look at its situation at the extremity of a
long, depopulated, and sterile peninsula, and its distance from every
route, whether political or commercial, to be assured that they must be
quite futile. Seven years after the creation of its port, the annual
customs' revenue had not risen above 1200 rubles. In 1840, the whole
quantity of corn that had issued from the town of Kertch since its
origin, whether directly or through the medium of its entrepots,
scarcely amounted to 5000 tchetverts, and the receipts of the
custom-house for the same year were but 695,130. If from this sum we
deduct 551,108, the amount of the excise on salt destined exclusively
for Russian consumption, and a further considerable sum produced by
other imposts, there will remain an exceedingly small amount to
represent the nett commercial revenue. The port of Kertch has,
therefore, by no means fulfilled the grand expectations so foolishly
conceived of it; it has ruined the great city of Theodosia, robbed the
Crimea of its commercial importance, cut off all chances of prosperity
from the ports of the Sea of Azof, and crippled navigation; and all this
without any profit worth speaking of to itself, and without the least
prospect of ever rising above the low condition in which it is doomed to
vegetate, both by its geographical situation, and the nature and
configuration of the adjacent regions.
The results have not been much more satisfactory as regards the growth
of the Russian mercantile navy. According to official reports, which we
believe exaggerated, there were, in 1840, in the Sea of Azof, 323
vessels measuring about 26,000,000 of kilogrammes, and manned by 1517
individuals. If we recollect that the Sea of Azof is but a marsh, the
greatest depth of which does not exceed fourteen metres, that the crafts
which ply in it, pursuing always the same invariable track, hardly
require the simplest rudiments of nautical skill for their management,
and that the navigation of the sea is usually interrupted during four or
five months of the year, it will be easily conceived that the maritime
advantages which may accrue to Russia, from the closing of the Sea of
Azof, must be very insignificant, not to say quite illusory.
We have now to examine the manufacturing and agricultural resources of
the Crimea, and the measures which have been taken by the imperial
government to further them. The cultivation of the vine may be
considered as at present the most important, if not the most productive
branch of industry in the country. When Russia took possession of it,
the vineyards were concentrated in the southern valleys of Soudak,
Kobsel, Koze, and Toklouk, and in those of the Katch, the Alma, &c., on
the northern slope of the Tauric chain. These vineyards which seem to
have existed from very remote antiquity, were all in the plain, where
they were subjected to continual irrigations after the system of the
Greeks and Tatars. The consequence of this mode of culture was that the
crops were extremely abundant, and the wine of a very poor quality.[79]
After the Russian occupation, however, the business of vine-growing
increased considerably in the northern valleys, which were soon
frequented by the merchants of the interior, who were attracted both by
the extraordinary cheapness of the produce, and by the facilities of
transport. Thus the wines of the Crimea found their way into the
interior of the empire, but they were chiefly used for mixing and
adulteration; the small quantity that was sold in its original state was
always of very bad quality, so that the peninsular wines were in very
bad repute, and for a long while lost all chance of sale. This
well-merited depreciation was such that even in our own day a merchant
of eminence in Moscow or St. Petersburg would have thought it a serious
disgrace to him to admit into his cellars a few bottles of Crimean wine.
Such was the state of the vine cultivation in the Crimea, when Count
Voronzof was named governor-general of New Russia. Under his active and
enterprising administration, a bold attempt was made to change the whole
system of cultivation, so as to produce wines capable of competing
advantageously with those of foreign countries.[80] The valleys, with
their method of irrigation, were therefore abandoned, and the preference
was given to the long strip of schistous and _eboulement_ grounds which
stretches along the seaside between Balaklava and Alouchta, on the
southern coast. Count Voronzof set the example with his characteristic
ardour; his first operations took place in 1826 at Aidaniel,[81] and six
years afterwards he was the owner of 72,000 vine plants. The example of
the governor-general was quickly followed, and in 1834, there were
already 2,000,000 stocks in the country, from cuttings brought chiefly
from the Rhenish and the French provinces.
When the vines were in full bearing, the next thing to be considered was
to find a market for their produce; but here arose a great and
unforeseen difficulty, and the brilliant expectations of the planters
were soon miserably disappointed. In spite of the difficulties of the
route, some merchants yielded to the earnest solicitations of the
governor-general and his imitators, and arrived on the coast to
purchase; but the demands of the proprietors were exorbitant; their
first outlay had been very great, and their produce small, yet they were
bent on realising at once the amount of their investments. They thought,
too, that by setting a high price on their wines, they would secure
their reputation; accordingly they fixed it at twenty to twenty-five
rubles the vedro (0.1229 hectolitres), and immediately they lost all
chance of sale.
The business prospered better in the valley of the Soudak, where the
same modifications had been introduced into the culture of the vine. The
hill wines were sold at the rate of twelve to fifteen rubles the vedro,
and those of the plain at five and six. But this did not last long; in
1840 the wine growers of Soudak could no longer dispose of their stock,
though they had reduced their prices to two and three rubles for the
best qualities, and to one and one and a half for the lowland wines. As
to the wine-growers of the southern coasts, they were very glad at that
time if they could find purchasers at the rate of five or six rubles the
vedro.
Several causes contributed to these unfortunate results. The southern
coast, as we have already said, consists of a long narrow strip of
argillaceous schist and detritus, with a very steep inclination, and
overtopped throughout its length by high cliffs of jura limestone. In
consequence of these topographical conditions, the heat is very great in
summer; the soil, which is quite destitute of watercourses, dries
rapidly, and the many ravines by which it is intersected, completely
deprives it of any little moisture that may remain in it. The scarcity
of rain augments these disadvantages, so that the vine plants procured
from abroad degenerate rapidly; as the grapes cannot ripen before
autumn, the wine loses much in quality; and, moreover, the quantity is
far from abundant, in proportion to the extent of the ground. These
circumstances, combined with those occasioned by the desire to exalt the
wines of the Crimea in public opinion, inflame both the pretensions of
the proprietors and the indifference of the merchants, who could never
have disposed of the coast wine at the high prices asked for it. These
were afterwards considerably diminished, but not sufficiently to produce
any effect. Whatever be said to the contrary, it is certain that the
wines of the southern Crimea can never sustain any sort of comparison
with those of France or the Rhine; hence they continued to be held in
low repute, and the merchants of the interior still found it more to
their advantage to make their purchases in the northern valleys, which
were easy of access, and where the wine was incomparably cheaper. In
spite of all their efforts, therefore, the wine-growers of the southern
coast could not find a market for their produce, and were obliged to
consume the chief part of it themselves.
It may, perhaps, excite surprise that no attempt has been made to evade
the difficulties of land-carriage by seeking outlets by sea, and
procuring customers in the great maritime towns of Russia. But unluckily
there exists between Russia and Greece an ancient treaty, which the
tzars, for political considerations no doubt, persist in religiously
observing, and by virtue of which Greek wines are received almost free
of duty in the imperial ports. Whoever is aware of the prodigious
quantity and incredible cheapness of the wines of the Archipelago, and
of the great facilities they afford for effecting mixtures and
adulterations, will easily conceive, that with such a competition to
encounter, the sale of Crimean wines became absolutely impossible. If
the culture of the vine in the Crimea was induced by encouragements on
the part of the government, then the landowners were grossly duped. But,
as we shall explain by and by, the ministry seem never to have looked
favourably on this branch of industry, and the vine-growers have only
their own extreme want of forethought to blame for all the disasters
that have befallen them.
At Soudak, however, the mischief appears to us attributable solely to
the misconduct of the authorities. We have already stated that the
vintage speculations of Soudak were at first much more prosperous than
those of the southern coast. The situation of the valley, which is of
very easy access for northern traffic, and the decided preference of the
German colonists for white wines, for many years kept the fine plain of
Soldaya in a thriving if not an opulent condition. But unfortunately,
that western part of the coast not being within the region which the
governor-general and the great landowners had taken under their special
protection, Soudak was completely abandoned to her own resources; her
roads were left without repairs, and the local administration took no
measures whatever for the preservation of order and the security of
individuals. When I visited the coast in 1840, the roads of this
district were in the most deplorable condition;[82] they were strewed
with fragments of carts and casks; a German waggoner was killed in my
presence by the breaking down of his waggon; thieving and pillage were
the order of the day in the valley, and the proprietors could only
preserve their chattels by keeping a close personal watch upon them day
and night.
The consequences of this culpable neglect may readily be imagined.
Purchasers diminished in number year by year, the wines lost their
value, and the unfortunate proprietors with large stocks on hand were
reduced to great poverty. All sorts of expedients were adopted under the
pressure of the calamity; the wines were turned into vinegar, but again
the speculation failed for want of a market. We heartily desire that our
reasonable remonstrances in favour of Soudak may reach the imperial
government, so that effectual measures may be taken to revive the great
natural wealth of that magnificent valley. We do not know the intentions
of the present finance minister, but it is to be hoped that he will not
partake the narrow views of his predecessor. Count Cancrini was a
fanatic partisan of the consumption of foreign wines, and at the same
time the declared enemy of the home growth, which he regarded as most
injurious to the customs' revenue of the empire.
In the present state of things it is not easy to predict the future
fortunes of the Crimean wine production. For our own part, we are
thoroughly convinced that France has no sort of competition to fear on
the part of those regions. Whether the cultivation of the vine be
concentrated in the valleys or on the hill sides, we do not think that
the vintage can ever rival ours. It has been very justly remarked that
wherever the vine and the olive grow together, the wines cannot have
that delicacy and that _bouquet_ which belong only to our temperate
climates. We believe, however, that if the wines of the Archipelago were
subjected to higher duties, if the means of transport were rendered more
facile, and increased cultivation were given to the more open hill sides
that extend towards the east of the Tauric chain, the Crimea would soon
be enabled to supply the demand of the whole empire for the commoner
sorts of wine, and the result would, perhaps, be extremely advantageous
in diminishing the mischievous use of ardent spirits. Such a change as
this would evidently be not at all prejudicial to French commerce, which
sends only wines of the first quality to the south of Russia.
According to a report printed in the Russian journals of 1834, and cited
by M. Dubois, the 7,100,000 vine plants, contained in that year on the
old and new plantations, were distributed as follows:--
South-west coast of the Crimea 1,600,000
Soudak and south-east coast 2,000,000
Valley of the Katch 2,000,000
" the Alma 500,000
" the Belek 500,000
German colonies 500,000
The wine yielded by the vintage of 1832, was 32,307 hectolitres, of
which 1694 were the produce of the south-west coast, 6050 that of
Soudak, and 7865 that of the valley of the Katch.
The plantations have augmented considerably since that time; we cannot
venture, however, to accept as authentic, the following statistics of
the annual production of the Crimea, given us by landowners in 1840:--
Valley of Soudak 80,000 vedros 9,760 hectolitres
Southern coast 120,000 " 14,640 "
Northern valleys 750,000 " 91,500 "
We have not much to say of the other branches of agriculture; they are
all in the most deplorable state. The magnificent forests, yielding such
quantities of timber, that formerly clothed the mountains, are rapidly
disappearing. Camel breeding, formerly very productive to the Tatars of
the plain, has given place to lank flocks of merinos. The most fertile
valleys are in the same state of desolation in which they were left by
the great calamities at the close of the last century, and the peninsula
now produces scarcely corn enough for its own consumption. Horticulture
alone has made any real progress. Some foreigners practise it with
profit in the northern valleys, which for many years past have enjoyed
the privilege of supplying all the fruit used at the tables of Moscow
and St. Petersburg.
Manufactories are almost in the same state of decay as agriculture.
Morocco and other leathers formerly constituted an important part of the
exports from the Crimea; at present the value of these exports is no
more than 129,646 rubles. It is about five years since this branch of
industry was ruined. All that time there existed on the mountains of the
peninsula a great quantity of goats, which being left at liberty,
caused, it must be confessed, much damage to the forests, by nipping off
the young shoots. According to the usual Russian practice of attacking
secondary causes rather than going at once to the root of any evil, the
local administration could devise nothing better in the case than to
proclaim a war of extermination, by giving every one the right of
hunting and killing goats, in all places and at all seasons. The goats
were almost all destroyed, and with them fell of necessity the greater
part of the manufactories for morocco leather. It would certainly have
been easy for authorities, possessed of any practical ability, to
preserve the forests without exterminating the goats; but as they would
not, or could not, deal with the real destroyers, the noble landowners,
they wreaked their spite on the quadrupeds. It is really inconceivable
with what rapidity the finest forests of the Crimea are disappearing;
year by year whole hills are totally stripped, and the government, stern
as it has shown itself against the goats, takes no means to check this
fatal devastation. Several great landowners are engaged in lawsuits
gravely affecting their rights, and meanwhile, until their causes shall
have been decided, they use their opportunity to cut timber as fast as
possible. Foremost in those proceedings is Admiral Mordvinof, who has
already destroyed the exceedingly rich forests that clothed the hills
above the valley of Baidar. The effects of this clearing away of the
forests are already felt severely; the rivers are diminishing in volume,
a great number of springs have run dry, and fire wood, now costs as much
as forty rubles the fathom at Ialta.
Another branch of industry, likewise very profitable in former times,
was the working of the rich salt-pits in the environs of Kozlov
(Eupatoria). Only a few years ago eighty vessels used to come to the
port from Anatolia, to take in cargo. The price of the salt was then
very low, but the trade was nevertheless a source of employment and
profit for all the surrounding population. The minister of finance was
jealous of the profits realised by individuals in this trade, and
therefore laid a considerable export duty on the salt. In the following
year not a single vessel came from Anatolia, and it was soon ascertained
that, prompted by necessity, the people of the southern shores of the
Black Sea had found rich salt-pits in their own territory.
The following table of the commerce of the Crimea in 1838 and 1839, is
taken from official documents. The figures contained in it are in our
opinion exaggerated, for they do not by any means agree with those
resulting from the detailed table we shall give further on.
------------+-----------------------+-----------------------
| IMPORTS. | EXPORTS.
|-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------
| 1838. | 1839. | 1838. | 1839.
------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------
| rubles. | rubles. | rubles. | rubles.
| | | |
Kertch | 175,321 | 250,887 | 226,999 | 123,082
Theodosia | 673,535 | 695,130 | 1,281,244 | 955,108
Eupatoria | 185,480 | 131,222 | 2,299,365 | 2,394,867
Balaclava | 6,605 | | |
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------
Total | 1,040,941 | 1,077,239 | 3,807,608 | 3,473,057
------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------
Be it remarked that among the exports corn alone figured in 1839 for
835,486 rubles for Theodosia, and 1,755,052 rubles for Eupatoria; and as
all this corn came from countries beyond the Crimea, the nullity of the
peninsular exportation is apparent. Moreover, the gross total of three
and a half millions is scarcely the fifteenth part of the annual
exportation of the town of Odessa alone. In order to give a more exact
idea of the industrial and commercial situation of the Crimea, we set
down the details of its exports and imports in 1839.
IMPORTS.
---------------------------+-----------+------------+-----------+
ARTICLES. | KERTCH. | THEODOSIA. | EUPATORIA.|
---------------------------+-----------+------------+-----------+
| rubles. | rubles. | rubles. |
Cotton | 49,993 | 33,650 | |
Cotton thread | 4,080 | 4,986 | |
Turkish cotton cloths | 14,164 | 532,976 | |
Chairs | 5,750 | | |
Wooden vessels | 3,645 | 2,441 | |
Woollen caps | 4,504 | 29,218 | |
Oil | 20,636 | 3,589 | 16,997 |
Sickles | 5,000 | | |
Wines | 12,069 | 2,190 | 2,342 |
Porter | 4,600 | 2,171 | |
Cassonade | 14,354 | | |
Fresh and dried fruit | 100,402 | 15,107 | 27,464 |
Fine pearls | | 4,000 | |
Coffee | | 4,319 | 25,102 |
Linen thread | | 2,204 | |
Nard juice and grapes | | 6,269 | |
Turkish tobacco | | 3,345 | 7,823 |
Olives | | 3,467 | |
Raw silk | | 9,008 | |
Dyed silk thread | | 20,915 | |
Oak galls | | | 20,387 |
Colours | | | 13,814 |
Vegetables | | | 2,122 |
Pepper | | | 3,063 |
---------------------------+-----------+------------+-----------+
EXPORTS.
---------------------------+-----------+------------+-----------
ARTICLES. | KERTCH. | THEODOSIA. | EUPATORIA.
---------------------------+-----------+------------+-----------
| rubles. | rubles. | rubles.
Raw hides | 15,152 | 22,653 | 68,312
Fish | 7,310 | |
Red caviar | 13,113 | |
Linseed | 6,100 | |
Rapeseed | 6,600 | |
Wheat | 31,040 | 745,031 | 1,544,313
Wool | 41,185 | 19,087 | 344,997
Cordage | | 3,275 |
Woollen felt | | 7,670 | 31,424
Tanned leather | | 18,375 | 5,150
Flax, hemp, and stuffs | | 11,323 | 27,065
Butter | | 8,133 | 61,445
Bar iron | | 2,340 | 14,700
Salt | | 8,813 | 5,700
Soda | | 4,691 |
Rye | | 48,157 | 66,600
Barley | | 39,485 | 1,333,640
Millet | | 2,870 | 1,910
Glue | | | 3,494
Raw Hemp | | | 3,264
Locks | | | 22,296
Copper utensils | | | 3,050
Brass, and brass wire | | | 4,650
Cutlery | | | 13,509
Swords and epaulettes | | | 3,000
Sheep skins | | | 3,650
Suet | | | 11,893
Turpentine | | | 2,100
Beans | | | 8,589
Flour | | | 2,120
Raw silk | | | 3,200
---------------------------+-----------+------------+-----------
We do not at all coincide in opinion with those who attribute the
decadence we have just described to the general character of the people
of the East. The Orientals, it is true, have none of that feverish
activity which characterises the people of our climes; besides which
their wants are so limited and so easily satisfied, that they can never,
in their present social condition, become strenuous workers. Yet we have
seen that the Tatars, when they first occupied the country, were
distinguished for their agricultural and industrial labours, whether it
was in consequence of their mixture with the old races, or merely of the
propitious climate; they also employed themselves with such success in
gardening and the cultivation of the vine and of corn, that the Crimea
under the khans was considered one of the chief regions whence
Constantinople drew its supplies. It was only the steppe tribes, whose
sole wealth was their cattle, that remained true to their primitive
habits and their nomade life. In like manner there exists to this day a
very striking difference, both intellectual and physical, between the
two fractions of the Mussulman race of the Crimea.
We believe, therefore, that under a better system it would have been
easy to revive the laborious disposition of the Tatars by facilitating
and encouraging commercial transactions, and gradually effacing the
disheartening apprehensions under which the Mussulman population have
naturally laboured since their great calamities befel them. Assuredly we
cannot blame Russia for that depopulation of the country which was the
first cause of its decadence. As victors, the Russians used all the
rights of the strong hand to consolidate their conquest and extinguish
all chance of insurrection. The means no doubt were violent, disastrous,
and often even exceeded all the bounds of humanity; yet it was scarcely
possible but that excesses should be committed in a war between Russian
Christians and Mussulman Tatars, who had so often braved, triumphed
over, and swayed the Muscovite power. In fairness, therefore, we can
only criticise the measures adopted by the Russian government
subsequently to the conquest, from the day when the country was
completely pacified, and the Tatars submitted implicitly to the new
yoke, and lost all hope of deliverance.
We have already seen how an act of caprice annihilated the commercial
prosperity of Theodosia, which would naturally have had the greatest
influence over the industrial development of the peninsula; and we have
pointed out the mischievous measures that ruined various branches of the
native trade. To these depressing causes, for which the government with
its fatal system of prohibition and its half measures is alone
responsible, we must add others no less active, because they principally
affect the agricultural population who stand most in need of
encouragement. We have already repeatedly mentioned the countless
depredations of the inferior government agents. In the Crimea the
difference of religion and language, and the difficulty of making any
kind of appeal for redress, naturally rendered the local administration
more troublesome and rapacious than in any other province. The
consequence was that the Tatars led a life of fear and distrust,
agriculture languished, and every man cultivated yearly only as much as
was necessary for the subsistence of his family, that he might not
excite the cupidity of the _employes_.
On his accession to the government, Count Voronzof, with his natural
kindness, applied himself strenuously to improve the condition of the
Tatars; he took them under his special protection, and prevented the
rapacity of his underlings as far as in him lay. Unfortunately, his
efforts could hardly avail beyond the limits of his own estates, and all
his generous intentions were baffled or worn out by the incessant
pettyfogging arts of the _employes_. Nothing could more signally
exemplify the distrustful feelings of the Tatars, than the events which
occurred during the famine of 1833, which was so great that whole
families perished of hunger. Moved by these misfortunes the government
offered aid to the Tatars, but incredible as it may appear, the
proffered succours were generally refused, so much did the Mussulmans
dread the price which would be afterwards exacted for such assistance.
Towards 1840, after the creation of the ministry of the domains of the
crown under Count Kizilev, the imperial government set about the task in
which Count Voronzof had failed. Men of the best character for
intelligence and probity were sent to the Crimea, but their efforts were
all ineffectual, and they soon retired in disgust from the useless
struggle. The unfortunate Crimea was again surrendered to the unlimited
power and endless knaveries of the captain _ispravniks_, and of the
worthy subaltern agents of the local administration.
What are the destinies ultimately reserved for the Mussulman population
of the Crimea,[83] now numbering barely 100,000 souls?[84] We are
strongly inclined to anticipate its total extinction at a more or less
remote date. The tribes are rapidly degenerating; the moral and physical
forces of the nation are daily declining; the territorial wealth of the
Tatars has been destroyed, sold, or divided; the native families
distinguished for their past history or for their fortunes have
disappeared; the population, instead of increasing, diminishes. There
remains, therefore, no element of vitality to revive the effete remains
of a power that made Russia tremble during so many centuries, and that
even menaced for a while the political existence of all Europe.
FOOTNOTES:
[77] These colonies now consist of nine villages, with a population of
1800 souls.
[78] _Trade of the Sea of Azof, in 1838 and 1839._
--------------------+-----------------------+----------------------
| IMPORTS. | EXPORTS.
+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------
| 1838. | 1839. | 1838. | 1839.
| Rubles. | Rubles. | Rubles. | Rubles.
| | | |
Taganrok {Goods | 5,887,901 | 5,334,369 | 7,666,943 |13,813,323
{Cash | 1,414,596 | 2,885,279 | |
| | | |
Marcoupol {Goods | 300 | 987 | 3,422,107 | 6,276,882
{Cash | 640,660 | 1,515,525 | |
| | | |
Rostof on {Goods | | | 3,205,406 | 6,078,037
the Don {Cash | | | |
| | | |
Bordiansk {Goods | | | 2,971,426 | 4,107,638
{Cash | 768,722 | 825,113 | |
+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------
Total | 8,712,179 |10,561,273 |17,265,882 |30,275,880
--------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------
[79] De La Mottraye, who visited the Crimea in 1711, speaks of a Soudak
wine the flavour of which he compares with Burgundy. At that period the
wines of the northern valleys sold at 2-1/2 centimes the bottle. In
Peyssonel's time, in 1762, the Soudak wines fetched from 32 to 38
centimes the bottle; those of Belbek 22 to 25, and those of Katch, of
which De La Mottraye speaks, 13 to 15. The Ukraine Cossacks and the
Zaporogues consumed the greatest portion of these wines; about 1210
hectolitres annually according to Peyssonel. In 1784, at the time of the
Russian occupation, the price of Soudak wine was 5 to 6 centimes the
litre; it rose to 65 centimes in 1793, during the war with Turkey.--(See
Pallas, Voyage dans la Russie Meridionale.)
[80] Previously to Count Voronzof, M. Rouvier, who introduced the breed
of merino sheep into Russia, had planted vines from Malaga on the hill
sides of Laspi, at the western extremity of the chain; but his example
had not many imitators.
[81] Aidaniel is north-east of Ialta, a little town, the chief station
for steamboats.
[82] Of roads perfectly practicable for wheeled vehicles there exist in
the Crimea: 1. The road leading from Simpheropol to Sevastopol, skirting
the northern slope of the Tauric chain; its length is thirty-nine
English miles; 2. That from Simpheropol to Ialta, crossing the mountains
at the foot of the Tchatir Dagh, forty-nine miles; 3. That from Ialta to
Balaclava, proceeding along the southern coast as far as Foros, where it
passes on to the northern side of the mountains; its length is forty
miles between Ialta and Foros; the second portion was in course of
construction in 1840. This line of road seems to us extremely
ill-contrived. It has been carried along the very foot of the
jura-limestone cliffs, for the purpose of avoiding expense in crossing
the ravines; and thus it is completely exterior to the vine-growing and
cultivable district, and every proprietor who desires to use it must
make a private road at his own expense, in order to reach the elevated
level of the highway. We say nothing of the roads in the plains, the
construction of which, just as in the interior of Russia, consists
merely in tracing the breadth and direction by a ditch on either side.
[83] Hitherto the Tatars have been exempted from military service; they
are merely required to furnish one squadron to the imperial guard, to be
discharged every five years. As for the taxes imposed on them they
amount to the illusory sum of 8_s._ 4_d._ for every male individual, not
including duty work on roads, transports, &c.
[84] The total population of the Crimea is about 200,000, including
Russians, Greeks, Armenians, Karaites, Germans, and other foreigners.
CHAPTER XLIII.
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.
To complete our account of the southern regions of Russia, it remains
for us to speak of Bessarabia, the most remote province which the tzars
possess on the shores of the Black Sea, and the country which formed,
down to the commencement of the present century, one of the most
valuable possessions of the principality of Moldavia. We will not now
endeavour to withdraw the veil that covers the history of past ages, or
discuss the effects produced upon this province by the expeditions of
Darius and of Alexander, the Roman conquests, the Tatar invasions, and
the Mussulman dominion: we will confine ourselves to contemporaneous
facts, the only ones which can have some chance of exciting, if not
interest, at least curiosity.
Bessarabia is bounded on the south by the Danube, north and east by the
Dniepr and the Black Sea, and west by the Pruth, which separates it from
Moldavia, and by Bukovine, a dependency of Austria. It thus forms
between two rivers which might easily be rendered navigable, a strip of
more than 375 English miles in length, with an average breadth not
exceeding fifty. This strip, which expands gradually as it approaches
the sea, is divided into two regions, totally distinct both in
population and in topographical character. The southern part, to which
the Tatars have given the name of Boudjiak, consists of the flat country
which extends to the sea between the mouths of the Danube and lower part
of the Dniestr. It has all the characteristics of the Russian steppes,
possesses but a few insignificant streams, and is chiefly fitted for
rearing cattle; it yields little to tillage, except in some localities
along the watercourses, where numerous colonies of Germans and
Bulgarians are settled. The northern part adjoining Austria is, on the
contrary, a hill country, beautifully diversified, covered with
magnificent forests, and rich in all the productions of the most
favoured temperate climates.
At the period when the Russians appeared on the banks of the Dniestr,
the Boudjiak steppes were occupied by Nogai Tatars, nomades for the most
part, who after having been at first tributary to the khans of the
Crimea, had placed themselves under the protection of the Porte; whilst
the northern region was possessed by a numerous Moldavian population,
essentially agricultural, subjected to the laws of serfdom, and
acknowledging the authority of the hospodars of Jassy. The Ottoman
power was represented solely by military garrisons holding peaceful
possession of the two fortresses of Ismael and Kilia on the Danube, and
those of Khotin, Bender, and Ackerman, on the Dniestr.
The fortress of Ismael is famous for the sieges sustained in it by the
Turks against Souvarof. Its fortifications have not been much increased
by Russia; she keeps in it a numerous garrison, and a considerable
amount of artillery. The little flotilla of the Danube is stationed at
the foot of the walls. The fort of Kilia is now quite abandoned.
The fortress of Khotin is half of Genoese, half of Turkish construction.
The citadel or castle is an irregular square, flanked by enormous
towers. The Turks and the Russians have added new fortifications to the
old works, without however increasing the strength of the position. In
the present state of military art, Khotin is of no importance whatever.
Commanded on all sides by hills, and situated on the very edge of the
Dniestr, it would not resist a regular siege of a few hours. The walls
consist of courses of brick and cut stone, and bear numerous Genoese
inscriptions. Over the principal gate are seen a lion and a leopard,
chained beside an elephant bearing a tower. These figures are in the
Eastern style, and date from the time of the Turks. The doors and the
uprights of the windows are adorned with verses from the Koran. The
great mosque of the fortress has unfortunately been demolished, and
nothing remains of it but its minaret, which stands alone in the midst
of the place, as if to protest against the vandalism of the conquerors.
On the other side of the Dniestr, at a short distance from the river, is
Kaminietz, the capital of Podolia.
Bender and Ackerman likewise possess two castles of Genoese and Turkish
construction: the latter situated on the liman of the Dniestr, has been
abandoned; the former, which stands on the main road to Turkey, has a
garrison. Between Bender and Khotin, on the banks of the Dniestr, are
the ruins of a fourth fortress called Soroka, which merits a special
description, inasmuch, as it is altogether different from the other
edifices we have noticed in Southern Russia. It forms a circular
enclosure of thirty-one metres, interior diameter. At four equidistant
points of the circumference, stand as many towers, projecting externally
in a semi-cylindrical form, whilst on the interior they are prismatic.
Between the two towers on the river side, there is a fifth which
commands the single gate of the castle. The interior diameter of the
towers is 5.5 metres; the thickness of the walls is 3.8 metres. They
have embrasures in the upper parts, and a few openings at various
heights. All round the walls in the inner court there is a circular
range of apartments on the ground, in tolerable preservation, and
consisting of ten casemates seven metres deep, lighted only from within.
They formed probably, the stables of the fortress. Above this range are
the remains of an upper story, which, of course, served with the towers
for lodging the garrison. The whole building exhibits the greatest
solidity, and the mortar is wonderfully hard. But it is a bitter
disappointment to the traveller that there are no inscriptions on the
walls, or sculpture of any kind to fix the date of the edifice. The
fortress never had ditches; its strength consists only in the height and
thickness of its walls. The only entrance is towards the Dniestr, four
or five yards from the scarp that flanks the river. This arrangement was
probably adopted in order to secure a means of retreat, and of receiving
provisions by way of the river.--The general appearance of the castle
reminded me of the Roman fortresses erected against the barbarians,
remains of which exist in many parts of Europe.
Bessarabia was justly considered, at the period referred to above, as
one of the most fertile and productive provinces of the Black Sea.
Ismael and Remy were its two great export markets for corn; Ackerman
sent numerous cargoes of fruit and provisions of all kinds yearly to
Constantinople; the magazines of the fortresses were profusely filled
with wheat and maize; the countless flocks of the Boudjiak steppes
supplied wool to the East and to Italy; and Austria alone drew from them
annually upwards of 60,000 heads of cattle. Such were the circumstances
of Bessarabia at the time when the Russians, in the worst moment of
their disasters, at the very time when Napoleon was entering their
ancient capital, had the courageous cleverness to obtain the cession of
that province, and advance their frontier to the Danube, at the same
time securing the inestimable advantage of being free to withdraw their
troops from it, and march them against the invader.
When the Russians took possession, the Nogais, many tribes of whom had
previously emigrated, completely forsook their old possessions, and
withdrew beyond the Danube, and thus there remained in Bessarabia only
the Moldavian population, who were Greek Christians, like the Russians.
The conduct of the government towards the Bessarabians was at first as
accommodating and liberal as possible. Official pledges were given them,
that they should retain their own language, laws, tribunals, and
administrative forms of all kinds. The governors of the country were
chosen from among the natives, and the province remained in the full
enjoyment of its commercial immunities and franchises, which were the
grand bases of its agricultural prosperity. But these valuable
privileges soon begot jealousies; the old administration fell into
discredit through its own injudicious pretensions, and perhaps also in
consequence of political intrigues against it, and it became exposed to
the incessant hostility even of the boyars. The outcry was so great,
that the Emperor Alexander, wishing to satisfy the population,
determined that a new constitution should be framed, which should be
more in harmony with the habits, the wants, and the state of
civilisation of the country.
A committee of twenty-eight was appointed to draw up this constitution,
conspicuous among whom was M. Pronkoul, one of the most eminent boyars
of the country. He had the chief hand in framing the constitution, and
he promoted the adoption of its most liberal articles, with a very
laudable spirit and much cleverness, no doubt, but with by no means a
just discernment of the state of things. As soon as the commission had
completed its task, Alexander visited Bessarabia, in 1818, and was
welcomed with the most cordial gladness, and the most sumptuous
rejoicings. He received from the province a national present of 5000
horses, and was quite amazed at the prosperity and the inexhaustible
resources of his new conquest. It was naturally desired to take the
opportunity of his presence for the ratification of the new
constitution; but that was not to be had so readily, since it brought in
question the principle of the political unity of the empire. It was
rightly represented to Alexander that it would be imprudent and
impolitic to give a final and decisive sanction to a system, the real
value and fitness of which could only be made known by time. The emperor
yielded to these considerations, and merely ordered that the
constitution should be put in force, without prejudice to the future.
The fundamental principles of this constitution were as liberal as
possible; too liberal, indeed, to have had the slightest chance of
enduring. Bessarabia retained all its nationality; the governor and the
vice-governor alone could be Russians, all the other functionaries were
to be Moldavians; the province continued to enjoy all commercial
immunities, and the finances, too, were under the immediate inspection
and control of the natives. To any man of common sense and foresight,
the maintenance of such a constitution was a chimera. Was it to be
imagined that Russia would allow the subsistence of a conquered province
on its extreme frontiers, in contact with Turkey, governing itself by
its own laws, and possessing an administration diametrically opposed to
that which controls the other governments of the empire?
The Moldavian boyars nevertheless considered the promulgation of the
constitution as a victory, and thought in their infatuation they might
defy all the chances of the future. But events soon undeceived them, and
the mismanagement of their own institutions provoked the first blow
against their privileges. In accordance with old customs the government
continued to sell the taxes by auction, and they were generally farmed
by the great landowners of the province. This vicious system of finance,
which had been practised under the Oriental regimen of the hospodars,
could not fail to have fatal consequences under the new system of
things. As we have already said, Bessarabia had retained her commercial
freedom in its full extent after her union with Russia. It rapidly
degenerated into an abuse, through the improvident prodigality of the
Moldavians, and the extravagant ideas of civilisation and progress that
fermented in all their brains; luxury increased beyond measure among the
nobles, and Kichinev, the capital, became famous through all the
country for its sumptuous festivities, and the wealth of its ware-rooms.
The consequence was that the receipts of the treasury proceeded in the
inverse ratio of the progress of luxury; and the farmers, whose expenses
swallowed up more than the revenue, were last unable to pay the sums
they had contracted for. The imperial government was of course indulgent
during the first years, and had not recourse to any severe measures.
This conduct encouraged the defaulters, and the disorder of the finances
at last reached such a pass as called indispensably for the strenuous
intervention of the imperial government. The commercial franchises of
the province were suppressed therefore in 1822, the prohibitive system
of the imperial customs was introduced, and the payment of all arrears
was rigorously exacted. This last measure of course gave occasion to
endless suits and executions, and so the ruin of the principal families
was accomplished at the same time as the destruction of all their
political influence, and the government had then only to fix the day
when its principles of political unity should have complete force in its
new conquest.
The constitution thus impaired, subsisted, however, until the death of
Alexander; but on the accession of Nicholas it was completely
suppressed; Bessarabia was deprived of all its privileges, and even of
its language, and was assimilated in all points of administration to the
other provinces of the empire; with the exception, however, that the
government, in order to ensure the ulterior success of its measures,
took from the inhabitants the right of electing their captain
ispravniks, or officers of rural police.[85]
So radical a revolution could not be effected without bringing with it
serious perturbations. It is enough to recollect what we have said of
the venality of the public functionaries, in order to guess what the
Bessarabians must have had to endure at the hands of that multitude of
Russian _employes_ who took up their quarters in the towns and villages.
The intrigues and pettyfogging artifices of these men complicated more
and more the already numerous lawsuits; and the daily increasing
perplexities in the relations between the landowners, the freedmen, and
the serfs, overthrew all the elements of the national wealth. To all
these causes of disorganisation were added the military occupation of
the country in the time of the Turkish war, and this was the more
onerous because the rich procured themselves exemption for money, and
the whole burden fell on the petty proprietors and the peasants.
When the country fell into this state of exhaustion, the boyars were
not slow to remonstrate: and they did so with such vehemence, on the
occasion of the journey of the Emperor Nicholas, in 1827, that he
resolved to have a commission appointed, to report to him at St.
Petersburg, on the grievances of the province. The election of the
commissioners took place immediately; but as the boyars revived their
old pretensions, whilst the government strenuously adhered to its system
of political unity, it was not possible to come to an understanding
respecting the ameliorations to be introduced into the administrative
regimen. The elections, after being frequently annulled and recommenced,
produced no result, and the last commission named was finally dissolved
without having been able to repair to St. Petersburg.
All these long altercations necessarily produced asperity in the
relations of Bessarabia with the superior administration, and at last
the imperial government, weary of these discussions, was ready to take
any measure to reduce the Moldavians to the most absolute political and
administrative nullity, even to the prejudice of the national
prosperity. To this end it was determined to cut off the last means of
influence which serfdom afforded to the boyars, by issuing an ukase, by
virtue of which all serfs were declared free, with the right of residing
where they pleased. The consequences of this abrupt emancipation were,
of course, disastrous to agriculture. Urged by intrigues, or by the
chimerical hope of bettering their physical condition, the serfs
abandoned their old abodes to settle elsewhere, and chiefly on the lands
recently acquired by the Russians. In this way many villages were left
deserted, the lands remained untilled, and the landowners found
themselves suddenly deprived of the hands necessary for their work.
Putting aside all political considerations, this measure of the
government was unquestionably premature. Nothing in the moral or
physical condition of the Bessarabians could as yet justify so radical a
destruction of all that belonged to the old system. The state of the
serfs was in fact very tolerable, and quite in harmony with the
civilisation of the country. The peasants were no further bound to the
soil, than inasmuch as a certain portion of it was placed at their
disposal. Their duties to their lords were defined by rule, and
consisted generally of eighteen days' labour in the year, some haulages,
and the tithes of their produce. The landowners, no doubt, occasionally
abused their power in a cruel manner; but these abuses were not without
remedy. A resolute and conscientious administration might easily have
put an end to them. Under the present system, the peasants possessing no
lands appeared to us in reality much more enslaved, and in a far less
satisfactory physical condition. Formerly, the interests of the lords
and the serfs were closely united, the prosperity of either necessarily
inferred that of the others; but now that the emancipated serfs,
possessing no means of subsistence of their own, cultivate the land only
in virtue of a contract, the landowners think only how to get as much
profit out of them as possible, during the time the engagement lasts,
and care nothing what becomes of them afterwards. The peasants, it is
true, have a right of appealing to the tribunals; but in consequence of
the venality of the latter, their complaints generally serve only to put
them to expense, and make their condition worse. A rich boyar said very
naively to me on this subject, "How do you suppose the husbandman can
obtain justice, when for every egg he gives we give a silver ruble?"
Again, the frequent changes of abode are very pernicious, from the loss
of time and the expense they occasion. Other dwellings must be built,
new habits must be contracted; the peasant is soon reduced to
destitution, and finds himself obliged to accept whatever terms are
offered him. In this way the dependence of the rural population is but
the more grievous for being limited, and their situation towards the
landlords is without security for the present, or guarantee for the
future. Nor have their duty labours undergone any modification, and the
abuses are exactly the same as under the old regime. Without exceeding
the limits of the regulations, a peasant pays his master tithes of all
agricultural produce, besides 1^r.20 for every head of large cattle,
0.16 for each sheep, and one hive of honey out of every fifty he
possesses. He takes upon himself, moreover, all repairs of buildings,
enclosures, &c., supplies night watchers, executes annually at least
three haulages over thirty-eight miles of ground, and seldom works less
than twenty-eight or thirty days for his landlord, often as much as
fifty or even sixty. In point of physical welfare, therefore, the
results of emancipation are quite illusory, and the more so as the
peasants enjoy no political rights, and support all the burdens and
_corvees_. In fine, the new system has as yet produced only loss,
trouble, and embarrassment, both to large and small fortunes. As to
hopes for the future, none can be seriously conceived, except for very
distant times. It will require many years even for a wise and
enlightened administration to rectify the state of a country whose
population consists of a scanty body of landowners, and a mass of
peasants without fixed domicile, possessing no other resources than the
chance of a limited engagement, and the labour of their hands.
We will not go into details of all the measures adopted by the Russian
government with reference to the agricultural and commercial affairs of
Bessarabia: they were as contradictory and as irrational as those we
have noticed in our account of the Crimea. The immigrations of the
Bulgarians[86] and Germans,[87] it is true, were favoured, and they
were granted the most fertile lands of the Boudjiak; several villages of
Cossacks[88] and of Great Russians[89] were settled in the same regions;
and attempts were even made with some success to colonise a few nomade
tribes of gipsies.[90] But all these excellent creations, the first idea
of which belongs to the head of the state, were largely counterbalanced
by the mischievous measures of the local boards. Thus, for instance, in
consequence of the division among the great landlords of all the immense
meadows formerly possessed by the hospodars, and which they used to rent
out in pasture, the national business of rearing zigai sheep was
destroyed, and gave place to some ruinous attempts to introduce the
merino breed. Extreme injury was done at the same time to the breeding
of horses and horned cattle, a business which the government had already
seriously damaged by forcing the proprietors of such stock to become
Russian subjects or give up their employment, and by impeding by
countless vexatious formalities the entrance of foreign merchants into
the province, and their sojourn in it. In 1839, Bessarabia sold only
2365 horses, whereas formerly Austria alone drew from it from 12,000 to
15,000 every year for her cavalry.[91]
The following general table of the exports and imports of Bessarabia by
the Danube and by land is drawn up from official documents. It cannot,
however, indicate precisely the commercial situation of Bessarabia,
since a considerable portion of the goods declared in five places named
belongs only to the transit trade through the province, which, moreover,
receives a quantity of manufactured and other goods from Southern Russia
that are not mentioned at all in the table. Our figures would require a
certain reduction to make them accurately represent the true state of
the case.
BY THE DANUBE.--IMPORTS.
-----------------------+-----------------------+----------------------
| 1838. | 1839.
NAMES OF PLACES. +-----------+-----------+-----------+----------
| Goods. | Cash. | Goods. | Cash.
-----------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------
| rubles. | rubles. | rubles. | rubles.
Ismael | 253,697 | 1,632,996 | 238,996 | 820,035
Reny | 50,193 | 797,497 | 85,429 | 553,174
+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------
Total | 303,890 | 2,430,493 | 324,425 | 1,373,209
EXPORTS.
Ismael | 3,913,494 | 9,915 | 2,793,244 |
Reny | 718,040 | 50,773 | 609,541 | 77,745
+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------
Total | 4,631,534 | 60,688 | 3,402,785 | 77,745
BY LAND.--IMPORTS.
Novo Selitza, Austrian | | | |
frontier | 221,324 | 1,939,604 | 245,198 | 3,048,064
Skouleni on the Pruth | 222,507 | 497,209 | 195,088 | 721,015
Leovo on the Pruth | 52,336 | 29,932 | 55,664 | 26,291
+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------
Total | 496,167 | 2,466,745 | 495,950 | 3,795,370
EXPORTS.
Novo Selitza | 1,978,172 | 163,868 | 3,277,660 | 81,868
Skouleni | 829,692 | 525,638 | 737,462 | 540,618
Leovo | 96,832 | 60,537 | 59,906 | 36,709
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------
Total | 2,904,696 | 750,043 | 4,075,028 | 659,195
-----------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------
Total of the customs and other duties realised in 1838, in the five
localities above-named, 360,332 rubles, and in 1839, 319,134 rubles.
From some scattered details we have already given, the reader may
conjecture that the population of Bessarabia is exceedingly mixed. The
Boudjiak numbers among its inhabitants, Great Russians, Cossacks,
Germans, Bulgarians, Swiss vine-dressers, gipsies, and Greek and
Armenian merchants. The northern part of the province, on the contrary,
is occupied almost exclusively by the Moldavian race, whose villages
extend even along the Dniestr to the vicinity of Ackerman. Jews abound
in the northern part; there are very few in the towns of the Boudjiak;
leaving them out of the account the Bessarabian population may be
divided into four great classes: the nobles, the free peasants who
possess lands, the newly emancipated peasants, and the gipsies. The
nobles consist of the ancient Moldavian aristocracy, the public
functionaries, retired officers, and a great number of Russians, who
have become landowners in the province. To this class we must join the
Mazils, who are descendants of the ancient boyars, but whom war and the
numerous revolutions that have desolated the land have reduced to
penury. They form at present an intermediate class between the new
nobles and the peasantry, and differ from the aristocracy only in not
taking part in the elections of the judges and marshals of the nobles.
The free peasants are those, who, having been emancipated in times more
or less remote, possess lands, and depend neither on the great landlords
nor on the crown, though subject to ordinary imposts and _corvees_. The
newly liberated peasants consist of those who are settled, by virtue of
a contract or agreement, on lands belonging to individuals or to the
crown; they form the majority of the population. The Bohemians are still
subjected to the laws of slavery. Some of them, to the number of 900
families, belong to the crown, and the rest to Moldavian landowners, who
usually employ them as servants, workmen, and musicians.
In Bessarabia, as throughout Russia and the principalities of the
Danube, the new generation of nobles have completely renounced the
habits of former days. They have of course adopted the straight coat,
trousers, cravat, and all the rest of our Western costume; there is
nothing striking in their outward appearance. The old boyars alone
adhere to their ancestral customs; a broad divan, pipes, coffee, dolces,
and the kieff after dinner, are indispensable for them; and to some of
them shampooing is a delicious necessity. I know a certain nobleman who
cannot fall asleep without having his feet rubbed by his Bohemian. But
what above all strikes and delights every stranger, especially a
Frenchman, is the eager and cordial hospitality and kindness he
encounters in every Moldavian house. One is sure of meeting everywhere
with men who sympathise heartily with every thing great and useful to
mankind which our civilisation and our efforts have produced in these
latter times. It is only to be regretted that these brilliant qualities
are often tarnished by the corruption which administrative venality and
rapacity, supervening upon long military occupations, have insensibly
diffused through all classes of the population.
The Bessarabian of the lower class is by nature a husbandman; he very
rarely plies a trade. To know his real worth he must be seen in the
interior of the country, far from the towns. The Moldavian peasant is
brave, gay, and hospitable; he delights to welcome the stranger, and
generally would be ashamed to receive the slightest present from him.
The Russians accuse him of excessive sloth, but the charge appears
unfounded. The Moldavian peasant seldom, indeed, thinks of accumulating
money, but he always works with zeal until he has attained the position
he had aspired to, the amount of comfort he had set his heart on; and,
in reality, it is not until after the fulfilment of his desires that he
becomes lazy, and that his efforts are generally limited to procuring
his family the few sacks of maize necessary for its subsistence. But
increase his wants, make him understand that there are other enjoyments
than those in which he indulges so cheaply, and you will infallibly see
him shake off his natural apathy, and rise to the level of the new ideas
he has adopted.
The most charming thing in the Moldavian villages is the extreme
cleanliness of the houses, which are generally surrounded by gardens and
thriving orchards. Enter the forest dwelling, and you will almost always
find a small room perfectly clean, furnished with a bed, and broad
wooden divans covered with thick woollen stuffs. Bright parti-coloured
carpets, piles of cushions, with open work embroideries, long red and
blue napkins, often interwoven with gold and silver thread, are
essential requisites in every household, and form a principal portion of
the dowery of young women.
In general, the women take little part in field labours, but they are
exceedingly industrious housewives. They are all clever weavers, and
display great art and taste in making carpets, articles of dress, and
linen. The great object of emulation among the women of every village,
is to have the neatest and most comfortable house, and the best supplied
with linen and household utensils.
Such was Bessarabia, when I visited it in detail, on my return from my
long journeys in the steppes of the Caspian. I visited it a second time
when about to quit Russia for the principalities of the Danube; and when
I crossed the Pruth, I could not help reiterating my earnest prayers
that the inexhaustible resources of this province may at last be duly
appreciated, and that effectual measures may be taken to put an end to
that languor and depression in which it has been sunk for so many years.
FOOTNOTES:
[85] Bessarabia now includes nine districts, the capitals of which,
beginning from the south, are Ismael, Ackerman, Kahoul, Bender,
Kichinev, Orgeiev, Beltz, Soroka, and Khotin. Kichinev is the capital of
the government; it was formerly a poor borough on the Bouik, a little
river that falls into the Dniestr; the preference was given it on
account of its central position. Its population is now 42,636, of whom
from 15,000 to 18,000 are Jews. It is to the administration of
Lieutenant-general Foederof that the town owes the numerous
embellishments, and the principal public edifices it presents to the
traveller's view.
[86] The Bulgarian colonies, the most prosperous of all those that have
been established in the Boudjiak, numbered in 1840, 10,153 families,
comprising 32,916 males, and 29,314 females. The surface of their lands
has been estimated at 585,463 hectares, of which 527,590 are fit for
tillage and hay crops, and 57,873 are waste. The Bulgarian colonists pay
the crown 50 rubles per family. The corn harvest amounted, in 1839, to
211,337 tchetverts. They have contrived to preserve among them the breed
of zigai sheep, the long strong wool of which is in demand in the East,
and formed, previously to the Russian occupation, the chief wealth of
the Bessarabians: they now possess about 343,479.
[87] The German colonies include nineteen villages and 1736 families.
They are in a very backward condition.
[88] After the destruction of the celebrated Setcha of Dniepr, the
Zaporogue Cossacks withdrew in great numbers beyond the Danube, and
settled with the permission of the Turks on that secondary branch of the
Balkan which runs between Isaktchy and Toultcha. During the wars of 1828
and 1829, the Russian government contrived to gain the allegiance of
many of the descendants of these Zaporogues who served it as spies.
Their number was so considerable that after the campaign Russia formed
them into military colonies in the Boudjiak. These colonies increased
greatly in consequence of the asylum they afforded to all the refugees
and vagabonds of Russia, and presented, in 1840, an effective of two
regiments of cavalry of 600 men each, with a total population of 3000
families, having eight villages and 50,000 hectares of land.
[89] We have no exact data respecting these villages, the situation of
which is wretched enough. Their population consists entirely of
fugitives, to whom the government had for many years granted an asylum
in Bessarabia to the detriment of the neighbouring government.
[90] The gipsies have three villages containing 900 families. The
establishment of these colonies was not effected without difficulty, and
it required all the severity of a military administration to make them
sow their grounds.
[91] Since our departure, the Russian government seems disposed to
interest itself on behalf of Bessarabia. We are informed that it is at
present turning its attention to the navigation of the Dniestr, a matter
of the more importance since the Dniestr washes Bessarabia throughout
its whole length, and there is not yet in that province any means of
communication practicable at all seasons.
NOTE.
To complete our author's account of Sevastopol, we subjoin an abstract
of a paper by Mr. Shears, C.E., which was read at the meeting of the
Institution of Civil Engineers, January 12, 1847.
"Sevastopol is very peculiarly situated, amidst rocky
ground, rising so abruptly from the shore, that there was
not space for the buildings necessary for a dockyard. On
account of the depth of water close in shore, and other
natural advantages, the emperor determined to make it the
site of an extensive establishment, and as there is not any
rise of tide in the Black Sea, and the construction of
cofferdams would have been very expensive and difficult in
such a rocky position, it was decided to build three locks,
each having a rise of ten feet, and at this level of thirty
feet above the sea to place a main dock with lateral docks,
into which vessels of war could be introduced, and the gates
being closed, the water could be discharged by subterranean
conducts to the sea, and the vessel, being left dry, could
be examined and repaired, even beneath the keel. A stream
was conducted from a distance of twelve miles to supply the
locks, and to keep the docks full; this, however, has been
found insufficient, and a pumping-engine has since been
erected by Messrs. Maudsley and Field, for assisting.
"The original intention was to have made the gates for the
docks of timber, but on account of the ravages of a worm,
which it appears does not, as in the case of the Teredo
navalis or the Tenebranes, confine itself to the salt water,
it was resolved to make them with cast iron frames covered
with wrought iron plates.
"There are nine pairs of gates, whose openings vary from 64
feet in width and 34 feet 4 inches in height for ships of
120 guns, to 46 feet 7 inches in width, and 21 feet in
height, for frigates.
"The manipulation of such masses of metal as composed these
gates demanded peculiar machines; accordingly, Messrs.
Rennie fitted up a building expressly, with machines
constructed by Mr. Whitworth, by which all the bearing
surfaces could be planed, and the holes bored in the ribs,
and all the other parts, whether their surfaces were curved
or plane. The planing was effected by tools which travelled
over the surface, backward and forward, cutting each way;
the piece of metal being either held in blocks, if the
surface was plane, or turned on centres, if the surface was
curved. The drilling was performed by machines, so fixed,
that the pieces could be brought beneath or against the
drills, in the required direction, and guided so as to
insure perfect uniformity and accordance between them.
"Travelling cranes were so arranged, as to take the largest
pieces from the wharf, and place them in the various
machines, by the agency of a very few men, notwithstanding
their formidable dimensions; the heelposts in some cases
being upwards of 34 feet long. Each endless screw, for
giving progressive motion to the cutting tools, was 45 feet
long. Some idea may be formed of the manual labour avoided
by the machines, when it is stated, that the surface planed
or turned in the nine pairs of gates equals 717,464 square
inches; and in some cases a thickness of three-quarters of
an inch was cut off. The surface in the drilled bolt holes
equals 120,000 square inches."
The paper gave all the details of the construction of the
gates, and the machinery for making them; and was
illustrated by a series of detailed drawings.
THE END.
C. WHITING, BEAUFORT HOUSE, STRAND.
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