There is no great event in modern history, or perhaps it may be said
more broadly, none in all history, from its earliest records, less
generally known, or more striking to the imagination, than the flight
eastwards of a principal Tartar nation across the boundless _steppes_
of Asia in the latter half of the last century. The _terminus a quo_ of
this flight, and the _terminus ad quem_, are equally magnificent; the
mightiest of Christian thrones being the one, the mightiest of Pagan the
other. And the grandeur of these two terminal objects, is harmoniously
supported by the romantic circumstances of the flight. In the abruptness
of its commencement, and the fierce velocity of its execution, we read
an expression of the wild barbaric character of the agents. In the
unity of purpose connecting this myriad of wills, and in the blind but
unerring aim at a mark so remote, there is something which recalls to
the mind those Almighty instincts that propel the migrations of the
swallow, or the life-withering marches of the locust. Then again, in the
gloomy vengeance of Russia and her vast artillery, which hung upon the
rear and the skirts of the fugitive vassals, we are reminded of Miltonic
images--such, for instance, as that of the solitary hand pursuing
through desert spaces and through ancient chaos a rebellious host, and
overtaking with volleying thunders those who believed themselves already
within the security of darkness and of distance.
We shall have occasion farther on to compare this event with other great
national catastrophes as to the magnitude of the suffering. But it may
also challenge a comparison with similar events under another relation,
viz., as to its dramatic capabilities. Few cases, perhaps, in romance or
history, can sustain a close collation with this as to the complexity
of its separate interests. The great outline of the enterprise, taken
in connection with the operative motives, hidden or avowed, and the
religious sanctions under which it was pursued, give to the case a
triple character: 1st, That of a conspiracy, with as close a unity
in the incidents, and as much of a personal interest in the moving
characters, with fine dramatic contrasts, as belongs to Venice
Preserved, or to the Fiesco of Schiller. 2dly, That of a great military
expedition offering the same romantic features of vast distances to
be traversed, vast reverses to be sustained, untried routes, enemies
obscurely ascertained, and hardships too vaguely prefigured, which mark
the Egyptian expedition of Cambyses--the anabasis of the younger Cyrus,
and the subsequent retreat of the ten thousand to the Black Sea--the
Parthian expeditions of the Romans, especially those of Crassus and
Julian--or (as more disastrous than any of them, and in point of space
as well as in amount of forces, more extensive,) the Russian anabasis
and katabasis of Napoleon. 3dly, That of a religious Exodus, authorized
by an oracle venerated throughout many nations of Asia, an Exodus,
therefore, in so far resembling the great Scriptural Exodus of the
Israelites, under Moses and Joshua, as well as in the very peculiar
distinction of carrying along with them their entire families, women,
children, slaves, their herds of cattle and of sheep, their horses and
their camels.
This triple character of the enterprise naturally invests it with a more
comprehensive interest. But the dramatic interest, which we ascribed to
it, or its fitness for a stage representation, depends partly upon the
marked variety and the strength of the personal agencies concerned, and
partly upon the succession of scenical situations. Even the _steppes_,
the camels, the tents, the snowy and the sandy deserts, are not beyond
the scale of our modern representative powers, as often called into
action in the theatres both of Paris and London; and the series of
situations unfolded, beginning with the general conflagration on the
Wolga--passing thence to the disastrous scenes of the flight (as it
literally was in its commencement)--to the Tartar siege of the Russian
fortress Koulagina--the bloody engagement with the Cossacks in the
mountain passes at Ouchim--the surprisal by the Bashkirs and the
advanced posts of the Russian army at Torgau--the private conspiracy at
this point against the Khan--the long succession of running fights--the
parting massacres at the lake of Tengis under the eyes of the
Chinese--and finally, the tragical retribution to Zebek-Dorchi at the
hunting-lodge of the Chinese emperor;--all these situations communicate
a _scenical_ animation to the wild romance, if treated dramatically;
whilst a higher and a philosophic interest belongs to it as a case of
authentic history, commemorating a great revolution for good and for
evil, in the fortunes of a whole people--a people semi-barbarous, but
simple-hearted, and of ancient descent.
On the 2lst of January, 1761, the young Prince Oubacha assumed the
sceptre of the Kalmucks upon the death of his father. Some part of
the power attached to this dignity he had already wielded since his
fourteenth year, in quality of Vice-Khan, by the express appointment,
and with the avowed support of the Russian Government. He was now
about eighteen years of age, amiable in his personal character, and not
without titles to respect in his public character as a sovereign prince.
In times more peaceable, and amongst a people more entirely civilized,
or more humanized by religion, it is even probable that he might have
discharged his high duties with considerable distinction. But his
lot was thrown upon stormy times, and a most difficult crisis amongst
tribes, whose native ferocity was exasperated by debasing forms of
superstition, and by a nationality as well as an inflated conceit of
their own merit absolutely unparalleled, whilst the circumstances of
their hard and trying position under the jealous _surveillance_ of an
irresistible lord paramount, in the person of the Russian Czar, gave a
fiercer edge to the natural unamiableness of the Kalmuck disposition,
and irritated its gloomier qualities into action under the restless
impulses of suspicion and permanent distrust. No prince could hope for
a cordial allegiance from his subjects, or a peaceful reign under the
circumstances of the case; for the dilemma in which a Kalmuck ruler
stood at present was of this nature; _wanting_ the sanction and
support of the Czar, he was inevitably too weak from without to command
confidence from his subjects, or resistance to his competitors: on the
other hand, _with_ this kind of support, and deriving his title in any
degree from the favor of the Imperial Court, he became almost in that
extent an object of hatred at home, and within the whole compass of his
own territory. He was at once an object of hatred for the past, being a
living monument of national independence, ignominiously surrendered, and
an object of jealousy for the future, as one who had already advertised
himself to be a fitting tool for the ultimate purposes (whatsoever those
might prove to be) of the Russian Court. Coming himself to the Kalmuck
sceptre under the heaviest weight of prejudice from the unfortunate
circumstances of his position, it might have been expected that Oubacha
would have been pre-eminently an object of detestation; for besides his
known dependence upon the Cabinet of St. Petersburg, the direct line
of succession had been set aside, and the principle of inheritance
violently suspended, in favor of his own father, so recently as nineteen
years before the era of his own accession, consequently within the
lively remembrance of the existing generation. He therefore, almost
equally with his father, stood within the full current of the national
prejudices, and might have anticipated the most pointed hostility. But
it was not so: such are the caprices in human affairs, that he was even,
in a moderate sense, popular,--a benefit which wore the more cheering
aspect, and the promises of permanence, inasmuch as he owed it
exclusively to his personal qualities of kindness and affability, as
well as to the beneficence of his government. On the other hand, to
balance this unlooked-for prosperity at the outset of his reign, he met
with a rival in popular favor--almost a competitor--in the person of
Zebek-Dorchi, a prince with considerable pretensions to the throne, and,
perhaps it might be said, with equal pretensions. Zebek-Dorchi was
a direct descendant of the same royal house as himself, through a
different branch. On public grounds, his claim stood, perhaps, on
a footing equally good with that of Oubacha, whilst his personal
qualities, even in those aspects which seemed to a philosophical
observer most odious and repulsive, promised the most effectual aid to
the dark purposes of an intriguer or a conspirator, and were generally
fitted to win a popular support precisely in those points where
_Oubacha_ was most defective. He was much superior in external
appearance to his rival on the throne, and so far better qualified
to win the good opinion of a semi-barbarous people; whilst his
dark intellectual qualities of Machiavelian dissimulation, profound
hypocrisy, and perfidy which knew no touch of remorse, were admirably
calculated to sustain any ground which he might win from the
simple-hearted people with whom he had to deal--and from the frank
carelessness of his unconscious competitor.
At the very outset of his treacherous career, Zebek-Dorchi was sagacious
enough to perceive that nothing could be gained by open declaration of
hostility to the reigning prince: the choice had been a deliberate act
on the part of Russia, and Elizabeth Petrowna was not the person to
recall her own favors with levity or upon slight grounds. Openly,
therefore, to have declared his enmity towards his relative on the
throne, could have had no effect but that of arming suspicions against
his own ulterior purposes in a quarter where it was most essential to
his interest that, for the present, all suspicion should be hoodwinked.
Accordingly, after much meditation, the course he took for opening his
snares was this:--He raised a rumor that his own life was in danger from
the plots of several _Saissang_, (that is, Kalmuck nobles,) who were
leagued together, under an oath to assassinate him; and immediately
after, assuming a well-counterfeited alarm, he fled to Tcherkask,
followed by sixty-five tents. From this place he kept up a
correspondence with the Imperial Court; and, by way of soliciting his
cause more effectually, he soon repaired in person to St. Petersburg.
Once admitted to personal conferences with the Cabinet, he found no
difficulty in winning over the Russian counsels to a concurrence with
some of his political views, and thus covertly introducing the point of
that wedge which was finally to accomplish his purposes. In particular,
he persuaded the Russian Government to make a very important alteration
in the constitution of the Kalmuck State Council, which in effect
reorganized the whole political condition of the state, and disturbed
the balance of power as previously adjusted. Of this Council--in the
Kalmuck language called _Sarga_--there were eight members, called
_Sargatchi;_ and hitherto it had been the custom that these eight
members should be entirely subordinate to the Khan; holding, in fact,
the ministerial character of secretaries and assistants, but in no
respect ranking as co-ordinate authorities. That had produced some
inconveniences in former reigns; and it was easy for Zebek-Dorchi to
point the jealousy of the Russian Court to others more serious which
might arise in future circumstances of war or other contingencies.
It was resolved, therefore, to place the Sargatchi henceforward on
a footing of perfect independence, and therefore (as regarded
responsibility) on a footing of equality with the Khan. Their
independence, however, had respect only to their own sovereign; for
towards Russia they were placed in a new attitude of direct duty and
accountability, by the creation in their favor of small pensions (300
roubles a year), which, however, to a Kalmuck of that day were more
considerable than might be supposed, and had a further value as marks
of honorary distinction emanating from a great Empress. Thus far the
purposes of Zebek-Dorchi were served effectually for the moment:
but, apparently, it was only for the moment; since, in the further
development of his plots, this very dependency upon Russian influence
would be the most serious obstacle in his way. There was, however,
another point carried which outweighed all inferior considerations, as
it gave him a power of setting aside discretionally whatsoever should
arise to disturb his plots: he was himself appointed President and
Controller of the _Sargatchi_. The Russian Court had been aware of his
high pretensions by birth, and hoped by this promotion to satisfy the
ambition which, in some degree, was acknowledged to be a reasonable
passion for any man occupying his situation.
Having thus completely blindfolded the Cabinet of Russia, Zebek-Dorchi
proceeded in his new character to fulfil his political mission with
the Khan of the Kalmucks. So artfully did he prepare the road for his
favorable reception at the court of this Prince, that he was at once
and universally welcomed as a public benefactor. The pensions of the
counsellors were so much additional wealth poured into the Tartar
exchequer; as to the ties of dependency thus created, experience had
not yet enlightened these simple tribes as to that result. And that he
himself should be the chief of these mercenary counsellors, was so far
from being charged upon Zebek as any offence or any ground of suspicion,
that his relative the Khan returned him hearty thanks for his services,
under the belief that he could have accepted this appointment only with
a view to keep out other and more unwelcome pretenders, who would not
have had the same motives of consanguinity or friendship for executing
its duties in a spirit of kindness to the Kalmucks. The first use which
he made of his new functions about the Khan's person was to attack the
Court of Russia, by a romantic villany not easy to be credited, for
those very acts of interference with the council which he himself had
prompted. This was a dangerous step: but it was indispensable to
his further advance upon the gloomy path which he had traced out for
himself. A triple vengeance was what he meditated--1, Upon the Russian
Cabinet for having undervalued his own pretensions to the throne--2,
upon his amiable rival for having supplanted him--and 3, upon all those
of the nobility who had manifested their sense of his weakness by their
neglect, or their sense of his perfidious character by their suspicions.
Here was a colossal outline of wickedness; and by one in his situation,
feeble (as it might seem) for the accomplishment of its humblest parts,
how was the total edifice to be reared in its comprehensive grandeur?
He, a worm as he was, could he venture to assail the mighty behemoth of
Muscovy, the potentate who counted three hundred languages around the
footsteps of his throne, and from whose 'lion ramp' recoiled alike
'baptized and infidel'--Christendom on the one side, strong by her
intellect and her organization, and the `Barbaric East' on the other,
with her unnumbered numbers? The match was a monstrous one; but in its
very monstrosity there lay this germ of encouragement, that it could not
be suspected. The very hopelessness of the scheme grounded his hope, and
he resolved to execute a vengeance which should involve as it were,
in the unity of a well-laid tragic fable, all whom he judged to be his
enemies. That vengeance lay in detaching from the Russian empire the
whole Kalmuck nation, and breaking up that system of intercourse which
had thus far been beneficial to both. This last was a consideration
which moved him but little. True it was that Russia to the Kalmucks had
secured lands and extensive pasturage; true it was that the Kalmucks
reciprocally to Russia had furnished a powerful cavalry. But the latter
loss would be part of his triumph, and the former might be more than
compensated in other climates under other sovereigns. Here was a scheme
which, in its final accomplishment, would avenge him bitterly on the
Czarina, and in the course of its accomplishment might furnish him
with ample occasions for removing his other enemies. It may be readily
supposed indeed that he, who could deliberately raise his eyes to the
Russian autocrat as an antagonist in single duel with himself, was not
likely to feel much anxiety about Kalmuck enemies of whatever rank. He
took his resolution, therefore, sternly and irrevocably to effect this
astonishing translation of an ancient people across the pathless
deserts of Central Asia, intersected continually by rapid rivers, rarely
furnished with bridges, and of which the fords were known only to those
who might think it for their interest to conceal them, through many
nations inhospitable or hostile; frost and snow around them, (from the
necessity of commencing their flight in the winter,) famine in their
front, and the sabre, or even the artillery of an offended and mighty
empress, hanging upon their rear for thousands of miles. But what was
to be their final mark, the port of shelter after so fearful a course
of wandering? Two things were evident: it must be some power at a great
distance from Russia, so as to make return even in that view hopeless;
and it must be a power of sufficient rank to ensure them protection from
any hostile efforts on the part of the Czarina for reclaiming them, or
for chastising their revolt. Both conditions were united obviously in
the person of Kien Long, the reigning Emperor of China, who was farther
recommended to them by his respect for the head of their religion. To
China, therefore, and as their first rendezvous to the shadow of the
great Chinese Wall, it was settled by Zebek that they should direct
their flight.
Next came the question of time; _when_ should the flight commence:--and
finally, the more delicate question as to the choice of accomplices.
To extend the knowledge of the conspiracy too far, was to insure
its betrayal to the Russian Government. Yet at some stage of the
preparations it was evident that a very extensive confidence must be
made, because in no other way could the mass of the Kalmuck population
be persuaded to furnish their families with the requisite equipments
for so long a migration. This critical step, however, it was resolved to
defer up to the latest possible moment, and, at all events, to make no
general communication on the subject until the time of departure should
be definitely settled. In the meantime, Zebek admitted only three
persons to his confidence; of whom Oubacha, the reigning prince, was
almost necessarily one; but him, from his yielding and somewhat feeble
character, he viewed rather in the light of a tool than as one of his
active accomplices. Those whom (if anybody) he admitted to an unreserved
participation in his counsels, were two only, the great _Lama_ among the
Kalmucks, and his own father-in-law, Erempel, a ruling prince of some
tribe in the neighborhood of the Caspian sea, recommended to his favor
not so much by any strength of talent corresponding to the occasion, as
by his blind devotion to himself, and his passionate anxiety to promote
the elevation of his daughter and his son-in-law to the throne of a
sovereign prince. A titular prince Zebek already was: but this dignity,
without the substantial accompaniment of a sceptre, seemed but an empty
sound to both of these ambitious rivals. The other accomplice, whose
name was Loosang-Dchaltzan, and whose rank was that of Lama, or Kalmuck
pontiff, was a person of far more distinguished pretensions; he had
something of the same gloomy and terrific pride which marked the
character of Zebek himself, manifesting also the same energy,
accompanied by the same unfaltering cruelty, and a natural facility
of dissimulation even more profound. It was by this man that the other
question was settled as to the time for giving effect to their designs.
His own pontifical character had suggested to him, that in order to
strengthen their influence with the vast mob of simple-minded men whom
they were to lead into a howling wilderness, after persuading them to
lay desolate their own ancient hearths, it was indispensable that they
should be able, in cases of extremity, to plead the express sanction of
God for their entire enterprise. This could only be done by addressing
themselves to the great head of their religion, the Dalai-Lama of Tibet.
Him they easily persuaded to countenance their schemes: and an oracle
was delivered solemnly at Tibet, to the effect that no ultimate
prosperity would attend this great Exodus unless it were pursued through
the years of the _tiger_ and the _hare_. Now, the Kalmuck custom is to
distinguish their years by attaching to each a denomination taken from
one of twelve animals, the exact order of succession being absolutely
fixed, so that the cycle revolves of course through a period of a
dozen years. Consequently, if the approaching year of the _tiger_ were
suffered to escape them, in that case the expedition must be delayed for
twelve years more, within which period, even were no other unfavorable
changes to arise, it was pretty well foreseen that the Russian
Government would take the most effectual means for bridling their
vagrant propensities by a ring fence of forts or military posts; to say
nothing of the still readier plan for securing their fidelity (a plan
already talked of in all quarters), by exacting a large body of hostages
selected from the families of the most influential nobles. On these
cogent considerations, it was solemnly determined that this terrific
experiment should be made in the next year of the _tiger_, which
happened to fall upon the Christian year 1771. With respect to the
month, there was, unhappily for the Kalmucks, even less latitude
allowed to their choice than with respect to the year. It was absolutely
necessary, or it was thought so, that the different divisions of the
nation, which pastured their flocks on both banks of the Wolga, should
have the means of effecting an instantaneous junction; because the
danger of being intercepted by flying columns of the Imperial armies was
precisely the greatest at the outset. Now, from the want of bridges, or
sufficient river craft for transporting so vast a body of men, the sole
means which could be depended upon (especially where so many women,
children, and camels were concerned,) was _ice_: and this, in a state
of sufficient firmness, could not be absolutely counted upon before the
month of January. Hence it happened that this astonishing Exodus of a
whole nation, before so much as a whisper of the design had begun to
circulate amongst those whom it most interested, before it was even
suspected that any man's wishes pointed in that direction, had been
definitively appointed for January of the year 1771. And almost up
to the Christmas of 1770, the poor simple Kalmuck herdsmen and their
families were going nightly to their peaceful beds without even dreaming
that the _fiat_ had already gone forth from their rulers which consigned
those quiet abodes, together with the peace and comfort which reigned
within them, to a withering desolation, now close at hand.
Meantime war raged on a great scale between Russia and the Sultan.
And, until the time arrived for throwing off their vassalage, it was
necessary that Oubacha should contribute his usual contingent of martial
aid. Nay, it had unfortunately become prudent that he should contribute
much more than his usual aid. Human experience gives ample evidence
that in some mysterious and unaccountable way no great design is ever
agitated, no matter how few or how faithful may be the participators,
but that some presentiment--some dim misgiving--is kindled amongst
those whom it is chiefly important to blind. And, however it might have
happened, certain it is, that already, when as yet no syllable of the
conspiracy had been breathed to any man whose very existence was
not staked upon its concealment, nevertheless, some vague and uneasy
jealousy had arisen in the Russian Cabinet as to the future schemes of
the Kalmuck Khan: and very probable it is--that, but for the war then
raging, and the consequent prudence of conciliating a very important
vassal, or, at least, of abstaining from what would powerfully alienate
him, even at that moment such measures would have been adopted as
must for ever have intercepted the Kalmuck schemes. Slight as were the
jealousies of the Imperial Court, they had not escaped the Machiavelian
eyes of Zebek and the Lama. And under their guidance, Oubacha, bending
to the circumstances of the moment, and meeting the jealousy of the
Russian Court with a policy corresponding to their own, strove by
unusual zeal to efface the Czarina's unfavorable impressions. He
enlarged the scale of his contributions; and _that_ so prodigiously,
that he absolutely carried to head-quarters a force of 35,000 cavalry
fully equipped; some go further, and rate the amount beyond 40,000: but
the smaller estimate is, at all events, _within_ the truth.
With this magnificent array of cavalry, heavy as well as light, the Khan
went into the field under great expectations; and these he more than
realized. Having the good fortune to be concerned with so ill-organized
and disorderly a description of force as that which at all times
composed the bulk of a Turkish army, he carried victory along with
his banners; gained many partial successes; and at last, in a pitched
battle, overthrew the Turkish force opposed to him with a loss of 5000
men left upon the field.
These splendid achievements seemed likely to operate in various ways
against the impending revolt. Oubacha had now a strong motive, in the
martial glory acquired, for continuing his connection with the empire
in whose service he had won it, and by whom only it could be fully
appreciated. He was now a great marshal of a great empire, one of the
Paladins around the imperial throne; in China he would be nobody,
or (worse than that) a mendicant-alien, prostrate at the feet,
and soliciting the precarious alms of a prince with whom he had no
connection. Besides, it might reasonably be expected that the Czarina,
grateful for the really efficient aid given by the Tartar prince, would
confer upon him such eminent rewards as might be sufficient to anchor
his hopes upon Russia, and to wean him from every possible seduction.
These were the obvious suggestions of prudence and good sense to every
man who stood neutral in the case. But they were disappointed. The
Czarina knew her obligations to the Khan, but she did not acknowledge
them. Wherefore? That is a mystery, perhaps never to be explained. So
it was, however. The Khan went unhonored; no _ukase_ ever proclaimed his
merits; and, perhaps, had he even been abundantly recompensed by
Russia, there were others who would have defeated these tendencies
to reconciliation. Erempel, Zebek, and Loosang the Lama, were pledged
life-deep to prevent any accommodation; and their efforts were
unfortunately seconded by those of their deadliest enemies. In the
Russian Court there were at that time some great nobles pre-occupied
with feelings of hatred and blind malice towards the Kalmucks, quite as
strong as any which the Kalmucks could harbor towards Russia, and not,
perhaps, so well-founded. Just as much as the Kalmucks hated the Russian
yoke, their galling assumption of authority, the marked air of disdain,
as towards a nation of ugly, stupid, and filthy barbarians, which too
generally marked the Russian bearing and language; but above all, the
insolent contempt, or even outrages which the Russian governors or great
military commandants tolerated in their followers towards the
barbarous religion and superstitious mummeries of the Kalmuck
priesthood--precisely in that extent did the ferocity of the Russian
resentment, and their wrath at seeing the trampled worm turn or attempt
a feeble retaliation, re-act upon the unfortunate Kalmucks. At this
crisis it is probable that envy and wounded pride, upon witnessing
the splendid victories of Oubacha and Momotbacha over the Turks and
Bashkirs, contributed strength to the Russian irritation. And it must
have been through the intrigues of those nobles about her person, who
chiefly smarted under these feelings, that the Czarina could ever
have lent herself to the unwise and ungrateful policy pursued at this
critical period towards the Kalmuck Khan. That Czarina was no longer
Elizabeth Petrowna, it was Catharine the Second; a princess who did not
often err so injuriously (injuriously for herself as much as for
others) in the measures of her government. She had soon ample reason
for repenting of her false policy. Meantime, how much it must have
co-operated with the other motives previously acting upon Oubacha in
sustaining his determination to revolt; and how powerfully it must have
assisted the efforts of all the Tartar chieftains in preparing the minds
of their people to feel the necessity of this difficult enterprise, by
arming their pride and their suspicions against the Russian Government,
through the keenness of their sympathy with the wrongs of their insulted
prince, may be readily imagined. It is a fact, and it has been
confessed by candid Russians themselves, when treating of this great
dismemberment, that the conduct of the Russian Cabinet throughout the
period of suspense, and during the crisis of hesitation in the Kalmuck
Council, was exactly such as was most desirable for the purposes of
the conspirators; it was such, in fact, as to set the seal to all their
machinations, by supplying distinct evidences and official vouchers for
what could otherwise have been at the most matters of doubtful suspicion
and indirect presumption.
Nevertheless, in the face of all these arguments, and even allowing
their weight so far as not at all to deny the injustice or the impolicy
of the Imperial Ministers, it is contended by many persons who have
reviewed the affair with a command of all the documents bearing on the
case, more especially the letters or minutes of Council subsequently
discovered, in the handwriting of Zebek-Dorchi, and the important
evidence of the Russian captive Weseloff, who was carried off by the
Kalmucks in their flight, that beyond all doubt Oubacha was powerless
for any purpose of impeding, or even of delaying the revolt. He himself,
indeed, was under religious obligations of the most terrific solemnity
never to flinch from the enterprise, or even to slacken in his zeal;
for Zebek-Dorchi, distrusting the firmness of his resolution under any
unusual pressure of alarm or difficulty, had, in the very earliest
stage of the conspiracy, availed himself of the Khan's well known
superstition, to engage him, by means of previous concert with the
priests and their head the Lama, in some dark and mysterious rites of
consecration, terminating in oaths under such terrific sanctions as no
Kalmuck would have courage to violate. As far, therefore, as regarded
the personal share of the Khan in what was to come, Zebek was entirely
at his ease: he knew him to be so deeply pledged by religious terrors to
the prosecution of the conspiracy, that no honors within the Czarina's
gift could have possibly shaken his adhesion: and then, as to threats
from the same quarter, he knew him to be sealed against those fears
by others of a gloomier character, and better adapted to his peculiar
temperament. For Oubacha was a brave man, as respected all bodily
enemies or the dangers of human warfare, but was as sensitive and timid
as the most superstitious of old women in facing the frowns of a priest,
or under the vague anticipations of ghostly retributions. But had it
been otherwise, and had there been any reason to apprehend an unsteady
demeanor on the part of this Prince at the approach of the critical
moment, such were the changes already effected in the state of their
domestic politics amongst the Tartars by the undermining arts of
Zebek-Dorchi, and his ally the Lama, that very little importance would
have attached to that doubt. All power was now effectually lodged in
the hands of Zebek-Dorchi. He was the true and absolute wielder of
the Kalmuck sceptre: all measures of importance were submitted to his
discretion; and nothing was finally resolved but under his dictation.
This result he had brought about in a year or two by means sufficiently
simple; first of all, by availing himself of the prejudice in his favor,
so largely diffused amongst the lowest of the Kalmucks, that his own
title to the throne, in quality of great-grandson in a direct line from
Ajouka, the most illustrious of all the Kalmuck Khans, stood upon a
better basis than that of Oubacha, who derived from a collateral branch:
secondly, with respect to that sole advantage which Oubacha possessed
above himself in the ratification of his title, by improving this
difference between their situations to the disadvantage of his
competitor, as one who had not scrupled to accept that triumph from an
alien power at the price of his independence, which he himself (as
he would have it understood) disdained to court: thirdly, by his own
talents and address, coupled with the ferocious energy of his moral
character: fourthly--and perhaps in an equal degree--by the criminal
facility and good-nature of Oubacha: finally, (which is remarkable
enough, as illustrating the character of the man,) by that very
new modelling of the Sarga or Privy Council, which he had used as a
principal topic of abuse and malicious insinuation against the Russian
Government, whilst in reality he first had suggested the alteration to
the Empress, and he chiefly appropriated the political advantages which
it was fitted to yield. For, as he was himself appointed the chief of
the Sargatchi, and as the pensions of the inferior Sargatchi passed
through his hands, whilst in effect they owed their appointments to his
nomination, it may be easily supposed that whatever power existed in the
state capable of controlling the Khan, being held by the Sarga under its
new organization, and this body being completely under his influence,
the final result was to throw all the functions of the state, whether
nominally in the Prince or in the council, substantially into the hands
of this one man: whilst, at the same time, from the strict league which
he maintained with the Lama, all the thunders of the spiritual power
were always ready to come in aid of the magistrate, or to supply his
incapacity in cases which he could not reach.
But the time was now rapidly approaching for the mighty experiment. The
day was drawing near on which the signal was to be given for raising
the standard of revolt, and by a combined movement on both sides of the
Wolga for spreading the smoke of one vast conflagration, that should
wrap in a common blaze their own huts and the stately cities of their
enemies, over the breadth and length of those great provinces in which
their flocks were dispersed. The year of the _tiger_ was now within one
little month of its commencement; the fifth morning of that year was
fixed for the fatal day, when the fortunes and happiness of a whole
nation were to be put upon the hazard of a dicer's throw; and as yet
that nation was in profound ignorance of the whole plan. The Khan, such
was the kindness of his nature, could not bring himself to make the
revelation so urgently required. It was clear, however, that this could
not be delayed; and Zebek-Dorchi took the task willingly upon himself.
But where or how should this notification be made, so as to exclude
Russian hearers? After some deliberation, the following plan was
adopted:--Couriers, it was contrived, should arrive in furious haste,
one upon the heels of another, reporting a sudden inroad of the
Kirghises and Bashkirs upon the Kalmuck lands, at a point distant
about one hundred and twenty miles. Thither all the Kalmuck families,
according to immemorial custom, were required to send a separate
representative; and there, accordingly, within three days, all appeared.
The distance, the solitary ground appointed for the rendezvous, the
rapidity of the march, all tended to make it almost certain that no
Russian could be present. Zebek-Dorchi then came forward. He did
not waste many words upon rhetoric. He unfurled an immense sheet of
parchment, visible from the outermost distance at which any of this vast
crowd could stand; the total number amounted to eighty thousand; all
saw, and many heard. They were told of the oppressions of Russia; of her
pride and haughty disdain, evidenced towards them by a thousand acts; of
her contempt for their religion; of her determination to reduce them to
absolute slavery; of the preliminary measures she had already taken by
erecting forts upon many of the great rivers of their neighborhood;
of the ulterior intentions she thus announced to circumscribe their
pastoral lands, until they would all be obliged to renounce their
flocks, and to collect in towns like Sarepta, there to pursue mechanical
and servile trades of shoemaker, tailor, and weaver, such as the
freeborn Tartar had always disdained. 'Then again,' said the subtle
prince, 'she increases her military levies upon our population every
year; we pour out our blood as young men in her defence, or more often
in support of her insolent aggressions; and as old men, we reap nothing
from our sufferings, nor benefit by our survivorship where so many
are sacrificed.' At this point of his harangue, Zebek produced several
papers, (forged, as it is generally believed, by himself and the Lama,)
containing projects of the Russian court for a general transfer of the
eldest sons, taken _en masse_ from the greatest Kalmuck families, to
the Imperial court. 'Now let this be once accomplished,' he argued,
'and there is an end of all useful resistance from that day forwards.
Petitions we might make, or even remonstrances; as men of words, we
might play a bold part; but for deeds, for that sort of language by
which our ancestors were used to speak; holding us by such a chain,
Russia would make a jest of our wishes,--knowing full well that we
should not dare to make any effectual movement.'
Having thus sufficiently roused the angry passions of his vast audience,
and having alarmed their fears by this pretended scheme against their
first-born, (an artifice which was indispensable to his purpose, because
it met beforehand _every_ form of amendment to his proposal coming from
the more moderate nobles, who would not otherwise have failed to
insist upon trying the effect of bold addresses to the Empress, before
resorting to any desperate extremity,) Zebek-Dorchi opened his scheme of
revolt, and, if so, of instant revolt; since any preparations reported
at St. Petersburg would be a signal for the armies of Russia to cross
into such positions from all parts of Asia, as would effectually
intercept their march. It is remarkable, however, that, with all his
audacity and his reliance upon the momentary excitement of the Kalmucks,
the subtle prince did not venture, at this stage of his seduction, to
make so startling a proposal as that of a flight to China. All that he
held out for the present was a rapid march to the Temba or some other
great river, which they were to cross, and to take up a strong position
on the further bank, from which, as from a post of conscious security,
they could hold a bolder language to the Czarina, and one which would
have a better chance of winning a favorable audience.
These things, in the irritated condition of the simple Tartars, passed
by acclamation; and all returned homewards, to push forward with the
most furious speed the preparations for their awful undertaking. Rapid
and energetic these of necessity were; and in that degree they became
noticeable and manifest to the Russians who happened to be intermingled
with the different hordes, either on commercial errands, or as agents
officially from the Russian Government, some in a financial, others in a
diplomatic character.
Amongst these last (indeed at the head of them) was a Russian of some
distinction, by name Kichinskoi, a man memorable for his vanity, and
memorable also as one of the many victims to the Tartar revolution. This
Kichinskoi had been sent by the Empress as her envoy to overlook the
conduct of the Kalmucks; he was styled the _Grand Pristaw_, or Great
Commissioner, and was universally known amongst the Tartar tribes
by this title. His mixed character of ambassador and of political
_surveillant_, combined with the dependent state of the Kalmucks, gave
him a real weight in the Tartar councils, and might have given him a
far greater, had not his outrageous self-conceit, and his arrogant
confidence in his own authority, as due chiefly to his personal
qualities for command, led him into such harsh displays of power, and
menaces so odious to the Tartar pride, as very soon made him an object
of their profoundest malice. He had publicly insulted the Khan; and upon
making a communication to him to the effect that some reports began to
circulate, and even to reach the Empress, of a design in agitation to
fly from the Imperial dominions, he had ventured to say,--'But this you
dare not attempt; I laugh at such rumors; yes, Khan, I laugh at them to
the Empress; for you are a chained bear, and that you know.' The Khan
turned away on his heel with marked disdain; and the Pristaw, foaming
at the mouth, continued to utter, amongst those of the Khan's attendants
who staid behind, to catch his real sentiments in a moment of unguarded
passion, all that the blindest frenzy of rage could suggest to the most
presumptuous of fools. It was now ascertained that suspicions _had_
arisen; but at the same time it was ascertained that the Pristaw spoke
no more than the truth in representing himself to have discredited these
suspicions. The fact was, that the mere infatuation of vanity made
him believe that nothing could go on undetected by his all-piercing
sagacity, and that no rebellion could prosper when rebuked by his
commanding presence. The Tartars, therefore, pursued their preparations,
confiding in the obstinate blindness of the Grand Pristaw as in their
perfect safeguard; and such it proved--to his own ruin, as well as that
of myriads beside.
Christmas arrived; and, a little before that time, courier upon courier
came dropping in, one upon the very heels of another, to St. Petersburg,
assuring the Czarina that beyond all doubt the Kalmucks were in the
very crisis of departure. These despatches came from the Governor of
Astrachan, and copies were instantly forwarded to Kichinskoi. Now, it
happened that between this governor--a Russian named Beketoff--and the
Pristaw had been an ancient feud. The very name of Beketoff inflamed
his resentment; and no sooner did he see that hated name attached to
the despatch, than he felt himself confirmed in his former views with
tenfold bigotry, and wrote instantly, in terms of the most pointed
ridicule, against the new alarmist, pledging his own head upon the
visionariness of his alarms. Beketoff, however, was not to be put down
by a few hard words, or by ridicule: he persisted in his statements: the
Russian Ministry were confounded by the obstinacy of the disputants; and
some were beginning even to treat the Governor of Astrachan as a bore,
and as the dupe of his own nervous terrors, when the memorable day
arrived, the fatal 5th of January, which for ever terminated the
dispute, and put a seal upon the earthly hopes and fortunes of
unnumbered myriads. The Governor of Astrachan was the first to hear the
news. Stung by the mixed furies of jealousy, of triumphant vengeance,
and of anxious ambition, he sprang into his sledge, and, at the rate of
three hundred miles a day, pursued his route to St. Petersburg, rushed
into the Imperial presence,--announced the total realization of his
worst predictions,--and upon the confirmation of this intelligence
by subsequent despatches from many different posts on the Wolga, he
received an imperial commission to seize the person of his deluded
enemy, and to keep him in strict captivity. These orders were eagerly
fulfilled, and the unfortunate Kichinskoi soon afterwards expired of
grief and mortification in the gloomy solitude of a dungeon; a victim
to his own immeasurable vanity, and the blinding self-delusions of a
presumption that refused all warning.
The Governor of Astrachan had been but too faithful a prophet. Perhaps
even _he_ was surprised at the suddenness with which the verification
followed his reports. Precisely on the 5th of January, the day so
solemnly appointed under religious sanctions by the Lama, the Kalmucks
on the east bank of the Wolga were seen at the earliest dawn of day
assembling by troops and squadrons, and in the tumultuous movement of
some great morning of battle. Tens of thousands continued moving off the
ground at every half-hour's interval. Women and children, to the amount
of two hundred thousand and upwards, were placed upon wagons, or upon
camels, and drew off by masses of twenty thousand at once--placed under
suitable escorts, and continually swelled in numbers by other outlying
bodies of the horde who kept falling in at various distances upon the
first and second day's march. From sixty to eighty thousand of those
who were the best mounted stayed behind the rest of the tribes,
with purposes of devastation and plunder more violent than prudence
justified, or the amiable character of the Khan could be supposed to
approve. But in this, as in other instances, he was completely overruled
by the malignant counsels of Zebek-Dorchi. The first tempest of
the desolating fury of the Tartars discharged itself upon their own
habitations. But this, as cutting off all infirm looking backward from
the hardships of their march, had been thought so necessary a measure by
all the chieftains, that even Oubacha himself was the first to authorize
the act by his own example. He seized a torch previously prepared with
materials the most durable as well as combustible, and steadily applied
it to the timbers of his own palace. Nothing was saved from the general
wreck except the portable part of the domestic utensils, and that part
of the woodwork which could be applied to the manufacture of the
long Tartar lances. This chapter in their memorable day's work being
finished, and the whole of their villages throughout a district of ten
thousand square miles in one simultaneous blaze, the Tartars waited for
further orders.
These, it was intended, should have taken a character of valedictory
vengeance, and thus have left behind to the Czarina a dreadful
commentary upon the main motives of their flight. It was the purpose
of Zebek-Dorchi that all the Russian towns, churches, and buildings of
every description, should be given up to pillage and destruction, and
such treatment applied to the defenceless inhabitants as might naturally
be expected from a fierce people already infuriated by the spectacle
of their own outrages, and by the bloody retaliations which they must
necessarily have provoked. This part of the tragedy, however, was
happily intercepted by a providential disappointment at the very
crisis of departure. It has been mentioned already that the motive for
selecting the depth of winter as the season of flight (which otherwise
was obviously the very worst possible) had been the impossibility of
effecting a junction sufficiently rapid with the tribes on the west of
the Wolga, in the absence of bridges, unless by a natural bridge of ice.
For this one advantage the Kalmuck leaders had consented to aggravate
by a thousandfold the calamities inevitable to a rapid flight over
boundless tracts of country with women, children, and herds of
cattle--for this one single advantage; and yet, after all, it was lost.
The reason never has been explained satisfactorily, but the fact was
such. Some have said that the signals were not properly concerted
for marking the moment of absolute departure; that is, for signifying
whether the settled intention of the Eastern Kalmucks might not have
been suddenly interrupted by adverse intelligence. Others have supposed
that the ice might not be equally strong on both sides of the river,
and might even be generally insecure for the treading of heavy and
heavily-laden animals such as camels. But the prevailing notion is, that
some accidental movements on the 3d and 4th of January of Russian troops
in the neighborhood of the Western Kalmucks, though really having no
reference to them or their plans, had been construed into certain
signs that all was discovered; and that the prudence of the Western
chieftains, who, from situation, had never been exposed to those
intrigues by which Zebek-Dorchi had practised upon the pride of the
Eastern tribes, now stepped in to save their people from ruin. Be the
cause what it might, it is certain that the Western Kalmucks were
in some way prevented from forming the intended junction with their
brethren of the opposite bank; and the result was, that at least one
hundred thousand of these Tartars were left behind in Russia. This
accident it was which saved their Russian neighbors universally from
the desolation which else awaited them. One general massacre and
conflagration would assuredly have surprised them, to the utter
extermination of their property, their houses, and themselves, had it
not been for this disappointment. But the Eastern chieftains did not
dare to put to hazard the safety of their brethren under the first
impulse of the Czarina's vengeance for so dreadful a tragedy; for
as they were well aware of too many circumstances by which she might
discover the concurrence of the Western people in the general scheme of
revolt, they justly feared that she would thence infer their concurrence
also in the bloody events which marked its outset.
Little did the Western Kalmucks guess what reasons they also had for
gratitude on account of an interposition so unexpected, and which at
the moment they so generally deplored. Could they but have witnessed the
thousandth part of the sufferings which overtook their Eastern brethren
in the first month of their sad flight, they would have blessed Heaven
for their own narrow escape; and yet these sufferings of the first month
were but a prelude or foretaste comparatively slight of those which
afterwards succeeded.
For now began to unroll the most awful series of calamities, and the
most extensive, which is anywhere recorded to have visited the sons and
daughters of men. It is possible that the sudden inroads of destroying
nations, such as the Huns, or the Avars, or the Mongol Tartars, may have
inflicted misery as extensive; but there the misery and the desolation
would be sudden--like the flight of volleying lightning. Those who were
spared at first would generally be spared to the end; those who perished
would perish instantly. It is possible that the French retreat from
Moscow may have made some nearer approach to this calamity in duration,
though still a feeble and miniature approach; for the French sufferings
did not commence in good earnest until about one month from the time of
leaving Moscow; and though it is true that afterwards the vials of wrath
were emptied upon the devoted army for six or seven weeks in succession,
yet what is that to this Kalmuck tragedy, which lasted for more than as
many months? But the main feature of horror, by which the Tartar march
was distinguished from the French, lies in the accompaniment of women
[Footnote: Singular it is, and not generally known, that Grecian women
accompanied the _Anabasis_ of the younger Cyrus and the subsequent
Retreat of the Ten Thousand. Xenophon affirms that there were 'many'
women in the Greek army--pollai aesun etairai en tosratenaeazi; and in
a late stage of that trying expedition it is evident that women were
amongst the survivors.] and children. There were both, it is true, with
the French army, but so few as to bear no visible proportion to the
total numbers concerned. The French, in short, were merely an army--a
host of professional destroyers, whose regular trade was bloodshed, and
whose regular element was danger and suffering. But the Tartars were a
nation carrying along with them more than two hundred and fifty thousand
women and children, utterly unequal, for the most part, to any contest
with the calamities before them. The Children of Israel were in the same
circumstances as to the accompaniment of their families; but they were
released from the pursuit of their enemies in a very early stage of
their flight; and their subsequent residence in the Desert was not a
march, but a continued halt, and under a continued interposition of
Heaven for their comfortable support. Earthquakes, again, however
comprehensive in their ravages, are shocks of a moment's duration. A
much nearer approach made to the wide range and the long duration of the
Kalmuck tragedy may have been in a pestilence such as that which visited
Athens in the Peloponnesian war, or London in the reign of Charles II.
There also the martyrs were counted by myriads, and the period of the
desolation was counted by months. But, after all, the total amount
of destruction was on a smaller scale; and there was this feature of
alleviation to the _conscious_ pressure of the calamity--that the misery
was withdrawn from public notice into private chambers and hospitals.
The siege of Jerusalem by Vespasian and his son, taken in its entire
circumstances, comes nearest of all--for breadth and depth of suffering,
for duration, for the exasperation of the suffering from without by
internal feuds, and, finally, for that last most appalling expression of
the furnace-heat of the anguish in its power to extinguish the natural
affections even of maternal love. But, after all, each case had
circumstances of romantic misery peculiar to itself--circumstances
without precedent, and (wherever human nature is ennobled by
Christianity) it may be confidently hoped--never to be repeated.
The first point to be reached, before any hope of repose could be
encouraged, was the river Jaik. This was not above three hundred miles
from the main point of departure on the Wolga; and if the march thither
was to be a forced one, and a severe one, it was alleged on the other
hand that the suffering would be the more brief and transient; one
summary exertion, not to be repeated, and all was achieved. Forced
the march was, and severe beyond example: there the forewarning
proved correct; but the promised rest proved a mere phantom of the
wilderness--a visionary rainbow, which fled before their hope-sick eyes,
across these interminable solitudes, for seven months of hardship and
calamity, without a pause. These sufferings, by their very nature, and
the circumstances under which they arose, were (like the scenery of the
_Steppes_) somewhat monotonous in their coloring and external features:
what variety, however, there was, will be most naturally exhibited
by tracing historically the successive stages of the general misery,
exactly as it unfolded itself under the double agency of weakness still
increasing from within, and hostile pressure from without. Viewed in
this manner, under the real order of development, it is remarkable that
these sufferings of the Tartars, though under the moulding hands of
accident, arrange themselves almost with a scenical propriety. They seem
combined, as with the skill of an artist; the intensity of the misery
advancing regularly with the advances of the march, and the stages of
the calamity corresponding to the stages of the route; so that, upon
raising the curtain which veils the great catastrophe, we behold one
vast climax of anguish, towering upwards by regular gradations, as if
constructed artificially for picturesque effect:--a result which might
not have been surprising, had it been reasonable to anticipate the same
rate of speed, and even an accelerated rate, as prevailing through the
later stages of the expedition. But it seemed, on the contrary, most
reasonable to calculate upon a continual decrement in the rate of motion
according to the increasing distance from the head-quarters of
the pursuing enemy. This calculation, however, was defeated by the
extraordinary circumstance, that the Russian armies did not begin
to close in very fiercely upon the Kalmucks until after they had
accomplished a distance of full two thousand miles; one thousand miles
further on the assaults became even more tumultuous and murderous; and
already the great shadows of the Chinese Wall were dimly descried, when
the frenzy and _acharnement_ of the pursuers, and the bloody desperation
of the miserable fugitives had reached its uttermost extremity. Let us
briefly rehearse the main stages of the misery, and trace the ascending
steps of the tragedy, according to the great divisions of the route
marked out by the central rivers of Asia.
The first stage, we have already said, was from the Wolga to the Jaik;
the distance about three hundred miles; the time allowed seven days.
For the first week, therefore, the rate of marching averaged about
forty-three English miles a day. The weather was cold, but bracing;
and, at a more moderate pace, this part of the journey might have been
accomplished without much distress by a people as hardy as the Kalmucks:
as it was, the cattle suffered greatly from overdriving: milk began to
fail even for the children: the sheep perished by wholesale: and the
children themselves were saved only by the innumerable camels.