T H E C O S S A C KS

N THEIR HISTORY AND COUNTRY

B Y “ RE SON W? P . C S

A E A A N A . E . F. FORNIERLY S ECRETARY O L T C PT I , F THE AMERICAN EMB AS S Y A T PE TROGRA D ” AU TH O R O F PERS IA

NEW YORK B R E N T A N O S 1 919 TED 1 1 BY COPYRIGH , 9 9 ,

B R E N T A N o S

All nght s reserved To MY B ROTHER EMLEN VAUX CRESSON

mO O Y L E -HAGDAD A m F UR JOU RNE A ONG THE TEH RAN C R 190 V N A L 0 . ARA A T I ,

CONTENTS

C HAP TER “ I T H E R F R OP L . O IGIN O THE F EE PE E

II O O OSS C S T H . . E ZAP R GIAN C A K

YERMAK A N D THE COSSAC K CON " U EST O F SIB ERIA B OGD AN H ME LN IC KY : A COSSAC K NATIONAL HERO

T H E STRU GGLE F O R THE U KRAI NE .

VI .

II T H E E N D O F R U R N : L L V . THE F EE K AI E ITT E RU SSIA

VIII . X I .

X T H E O S S C S O F - DAY : R Z O . C A K To O GANI ATI N

XI T H E OSS C S OF T o- DA Y : T H E D O N . C A K

XII T H E RON E RS O F U ROP . F TI E E

ILLUSTRATIONS

i n ss ks Fronti ece Zaporog a Co ac . spi T h e old de f e nde rs Of t h e P olish and Russi an f ron t ie rs ag ainst t h e Tar t ars w ri ting a l e t te r of defiance

t o t h e S ult an.

A Zaporogian Cossack

’ mk s r in i ri Yer a Ma ch S be a S t at u e of Bogdan

T h H t mn Pl t v e e a a o Sketc h Map of t h e "principal Cossack T errit ories

of t h e Pr esent D ay . Kouban Cossacks “ ” of i i A nd Cossacks t h e Wil d D vis on.

FOREWORD

O weave a connected narrative fr om the known episodes of Cossack histor y woul d be a diffi cult and , in many ways , an impossible task . Such

r r a work would , mo eover , involve yea s of patient prepar ation and resear ch f or authentic records concerni ng the subj ect are onl y to be f O Lmd scat t e r e d as isolated chapters or par agraphs among the hi ; pages of Russian , Polish and Turkish story

r Poets and native ba ds were , generally Speaking, “ the chief histor ians of the Cossacks or Free ” of People . The guiding traditions their race , like

r ar e un those Of all pasto al peoples , to be fo d in

olkst orie s songs , ballads and f , rather than in written records . Yet the national ideals thus orally main t aine d have lost nothing thereby in strength or khor ov of influence . The Cossack ballads and od

r the p esent day, like those of earlier times, teach

r h e tman love of f eedom , loyalty to comrades and , and a sturdy devotion to the privileges which the courage of their forefathers obtained for them in the past . Cossack folktales differ in many respects from the heroic legends and peasant by- lines of the

North . They possess , moreover, a characteristic vi FOREWORD strain praise of j oyous adventure and glad living all their own . Filled with the spirit of “ ” of n the Free Steppes , they tell hard k ocks given and taken for the sheer love of fight ; of struggles desperate and bloody, followed by Gargantuan feasting and debauch . Doughty feats with the wine - cup are honoured almost equally with deeds of war . In all these romances the dominant note is the praise of personal liberty and of a freedom often degenerating into license .

h did or - W ile the Cossack , ballad mongers , frankly celebrate the deeds of their heroes in a measure of exaggeration permitted by patriotism l and and poetic icense, the more ambitious labored “ histor ical works of cer tain Polish and Russian writers onl y furnish an account SO mani festly par tial and pr e j u dice d that they have little more schol arly authority than the Cossack folklore tales . A g reat hi storical romance has added to this con All con fusion . that is generally known abroad cerning the most glorious epoch of Cossack history is contained in the heroic pages of the late Henryk o Sienkiewicz . In these masterpieces f fiction the part played by the tyrannical oppressors of the

Cossack patriot Bogdan is lauded to the skies , and “ ” every act of his base - b omfoll owers t oo often tr eated with a fine if unconvincingly nobiliary con tempt . S alvand To French historical authorities , y, Ram baud and notably Lesur (to whose H istoire des FOREWORD vn

K osa ues 1 8 1 4 acknowl q , published in , the author edges himself especially indebted ) we Owe a more ’ r obj ective t eatment of the Cossack s story . Fol lowing their lead the writer will attempt in his work to dispel something of the ig norance so strangely per sistent outside of Russia with respect to the origin and Significance of this military caste “ or . r people The te m Cossack , while generally applied to a char acte ristic branch of the old Russian om cavalry service more properly designates a c

r munity of wa like clans loosely bound together by \

r r r the common tradition of a long and sti ing histo y . If dur ing the closing decades of the imperial system “ ” the Cossack nations became more or less ide nt i fie d w of ith the other peoples the Russian empire , they wer e nevertheless permitted through the strength of their free traditions and the importance

t o r r of of their services the state , to etain the ma ks an outstanding individuality a policy wholly in opposition to the great unifying aim of Russian imperialism . It is the proudest boast of the Cossacks of t o day as of their forbears of the Ukraine that they have never been classed as serfs nor for a mo ment lost their freeman ’ s instinct for the principles of r of a libe ty . While the peasants North Russi

- were bowed in shameful sil hmission t o the Great “ ” Princes of Moscow and later to the dark forces ’ of the Tsar s court and the Baltic - Ger man official d m t he s r the o of the capital on the Neva, hi to y of viii FOREWORD Cossack inhabitants of the southern steppes was ( as we shall later see) a long epic of heroic resistance to

r the encroachments of autocracy. If thei distrust mu k of the infinite docility of the o j i class has often made them in the past the blind instruments of im reaction , their loyalty to Tsardom has never pli ed any abdication of the privileges guaranteed their own caste . While the organization of the present Cossack armies is the outcome of a system which may gen " ” - e r all I . E . y be termed Democratic Feudalism , a popular system of land tenure in return for mil itary ’ r me service to the Old eg i their basic traditions

r we e essentially free and republican . In spite of

r - thei old time loyalty to the Tsar , the Cossack tr oops of the army and notably those about the imperial court were among the first to raise the standard of revolt during the constructive changes

of 1 9 1 7 . March, The return of the Cossacks to the side of popul ar government was but the logical out of come the whole trend of their history . In order to understand the significance of the p r esent Cossack movement in Southern Russia and “ ” the diff er ence separating the former Free People of mu iki the Russian Empire from the o j or peas ant r of r y the north , some knowledge of their histo y and origin is essential . The following pages onl y attempt to sketch sub the outlines of their Ject , yet so far as the author is aware no more comprehensive study of Cossack FOREWORD ix

l a ife and history has ppeared in English . T h e chapter which traces the early history and develop ment of the Cossack race is little more than a syn opsis of facts forming part of a much broader subj ect : the history of the growth and expansion

of . r i Modern Russia Elsewhe e in th s narrative , ff os an e ort has been made to follow, whenever p of n sible , the colourful style the origi al Cossack

r legends and sou ces . These latter are almost always biographical and fragmentary yet they give a vivid picture of their time and subj ect . The story Of ’ Y e rmak s heroic march through the twilight of the northern forests and his discovery and conquest of ’ Siberia ; of B og dan s fight for the Cossack liberties ’ against the proud nobles of Poland ; of Mazeppa s almost forgotten part in the epic struggle between Charles XII of Sweden and Peter the Great for the Empire of the North ; of the strange outbreak of “ ” savagery led by the False Tsar P oug at ch ev the eighteenth century forerunner of the mob leaders of our own day are matters of interest to h t e general reader . Recent events Show the importance of a better understanding of the facts of Cossack history . a ma One qualification t least the author y claim for the task he h as undertaken . Many miles of travel in Cossack country during two fateful years just before and after the Russian Revolution brought him into familiar and friendly contact with t o the Cossacks of the present day . Out of a desire FOREWORD acquaint himself more thoroughly with their story and the part they have played in Russia ’ s develop ment gr ew the notes and studies from which the present volume has been written .

W . P . C . RI CE I E R I Y P N TON UN V S T , 1 9 1 September, 9 . THE COSSACKS

T HEIR HISTORY AND COUNT RY

CHAPTER I

TH E ORIGIN OF TH E “ FREE PE OPLE

HE level plains and steppes of South Russia were known to the ancients as the broad channel followed by the ebb and flow of every fresh wave of conquest or migration passing b e

r tween Eu ope and Asia . The legions of Rome and B yzance found this ter ritory as impossible to oc cu as py by military force the high seas . The little known history of “ Scythia” from the earliest times until the thirteenth century of the Christian — era presents a confused picture of bar bar ous tribes pressing one upon another, the stronger driving the weaker befor e them from the mor e f a

vour e d n . r or hu ting grounds Often, volunta ily by n force , the victors i cluded the vanquished in their “ ” own superior civilization . There are many reasons why it is difficult or impossible to foll ow with any degree of certainty the national history “ — of s r - the e races . Thei long forgotten quarrels ,

r int e rmin lin s thei g g and separations , above all the constant changes in their names and habitat make 2 THE COSSACKS the study of their history as di fficult as it is un ”

. H istoir e des K osa ue profitable ( Lesur, q s . ) Thi s ignorance of the changes —political and economical which are constantly taking place along the amorphous racial frontiers of Eastern t o own Europe , has continued our times . But at recur r ent intervals these Slav bor der lands sepa rating the Occident fr om the O r ient become the scene of political upheavals so vast in their con sequences that the very foundations of European in civilization are shaken their turn . h u The great Tartar invasion w ich , d ring the thir t e e nt h out of s r century , swept A ia and spread ac oss of the steppes Southern Russia , was an occurrence of such magnitude that its echoes tr avelled to the of most distant states E ur ope . The arrival of fug i

o homan r f K s tive bands , Black Bulga s , and other o wild steppe tribesmen at the court f Bela IV, of n r King Hu gary, first spread the fame and te ror of r these new invade s . From these refugees and their descriptions of the enemy the sovereigns of Christendom learned with horror of the fate which in the Short space of a few months had overtaken the most powerful strongholds of the princes of B u s and Muscovy . Even the Poles whose more civili zed and war like state w as generally considered “ ” the bulwark separ ating the barbarians of ancient m Scythia from the communities of E u rope h ad been forced to make the best terms possible : by paying a degradi ng tr ibute to the invaders .

41 THE COSSACKS

Yet complete as the conquest of the Tartars ap pe are d to be it was not destined to outlast the cen

r tu y which saw its rise . A S usual in Or iental de s ot i m p s s the seeds of its dissolution came from n withi . The first resul t of these disaff ections notably a revolt of the Nogai tribesmen against the p r inces of the Golden Horde - was the disappearance of the cr ude administrative system exercised by the ul Tartar r ers over the old tribes Of the steppes . These began once more to reassert their inde

endence . of Kh osar s p Bands Scythian refugees , , “ Kh oman h o aks s K s and , began to leave the marshy deltas of the gr eat river s such as the Don and Dnieper where they had found in common a p r ecarious refuge and mounted on horses stolen from the Tartars returned to their famil iar i haunts . Here a terrible desolat on spoke every “ ” r where of Ta tar Peace . How complete had been the destr uction of whole tribes and settlements of the p r evious inh abitants caught by the over whelming avalanche of Tartar hor semen is pic t ur e d by the monkish chr oni clers of a pr evious gen ’ H klu t V a es r r cration . In a y s oy g these t avelle s “ ” describe how for over thr ee hundr ed leagues they passed thr ough great fields of whitening bones , “ the only Signs that might recall the presence of previous inh abitants of the steppes . The war s of the princes of Tar tary with the r e volt e d Nogai and the struggles of the latter with THE ORIGIN OF THE “FREE PEOPLE ” 5

the Russians now gave to the miserable remnants of the ancient lords of Scythia an opportuni t y to s i recover omething of the r ascendency, over

r the wildest and most dese ted parts of the steppes . As these scattered tribesmen became more Skilled x

in r desert warfare , both Russians and Tarta s oc c asionally sought their all iance and the aid of their

- r r r r ill armed caval y in settling thei qua els . But S lovods whether gathered in armed camps or , or “ else leading an errant nomad life , these war ” of bands , composed refugees and renegades of r i eve y orig n , were a constant menace to the fr ontiers of their more civilized neighbours ; pir at ing on the great rivers and attacking the caravans of

r r i i f r z Russian or Ta tar me chants with nd fe ent eal .

r r In the p eca ious existence of these rovers , we find “ ” the first traces of the frontier civilization of the

Cossacks . No p r oblem of Russian hi story has g iven r ise t o more controversy than that of the or igin of the

i s Cossack race . It now appears establ hed that the influence of the geographi c and climatic conditions

s n which exi t on the steppes , modifyi g to a common type the characteristics of the peoples and tribes ( often of wholly differ ent origin ) who in turn have inhabited the ancient lands of the Scyths —is the paramount factor in solving this

r problem . The t acing of blood ties and relation ships would therefor e seem of less importance than an understandi ng of the conditions under which the 6 THE COSSACKS character istic Cossack civilization has been devel oped . The Russian word K asak of whi ch Cossack is the English equivalent still signifies in several “ ” “ ” r r Ta tar dialects a Ho seman or Rover . By a not unnatural association of ideas this term has been adopted at differ ent times and in widely sep ar at e d localities as a tribal name by nomad peoples

r of the steppes . But the attempt not inf equently made to trace a direct connection between these tribes and the famous K asaki of modern Russia is gener ally based upon far- fetched hi storical anal " og ies . ’ In Clarke s famous Tr avels in the Ukr aine the ingenious theory is advanced that the country of “ Kasachia” mentioned by Constantine Porphyro genetes was the original homeland of the modern “ ” tr ibes of Russia which have taken the general u name of Kasak or Cossack . But the relative m importance of this people lost among powerful

mr x m x s s t h e A ode n e a ple e i t of facility with which r r r s ma m r r r s s r e o y be ade in t acing t ibal elation hip th ough m r N ot f a r r mT ifiis r t h e r no enclatu e alone . f o , nea f on

r s r m t h e r r s t h e t e r tie of old A enia , autho ecently vi ited r it or y occupied by a t r ibe of Ta r ta r o r igin s till called “ ” Ka saks T h e sk s ms a s r u — r s h a s . ill of the e no ad g weave filled t h e bazaar s with a coa r s e but well - woven ca r pet bear

r r mI i s r . t r r ing thei t ibal na e ce tain , howeve , that neithe eth nogr aphically nor hi sto r ically doe s a ny connection e x ist s m r sm between the e no ad t ibe en and t h e Co ssacks of mr ss ode n Ru ia . THE ORIGIN OF THE “FREE PEOPLE ” 7 neighbours whose hi story has survived to the present day is the strongest argument against such a supposition . Moreover, as we have alr eady ou t r of pointed , other t ibes this name have more than once risen to temporary importance in the annals of the steppes . It was not until the latter half of the fifteenth

of r r century that the ebbing tide Ta ta invasion , which for near ly two centuries had submer ged the richest lands of the great Russian plain , once more opened to settlement from the North the rich “ ” i r steppes of the Black Earth d st ict, and the

r t o sca cely less fertile lands the South and East . D uring this long period of subj ection the Russian

r r nation had been held back f om its richest he itage . Scatter ed among the Finnish abor igines of the great northern forests — in that fabulous land of “ ” r Cimmerian darkness where, as He odotus states , “ ” the inhabitants spend half their time in Slumber “ the men of Rus had kept alive the faith of their ancestor s while learning their long lesson of p a so t ie nce and endurance . Thus it came about that many of the old centr es and cities of Holy Rus sia are found today in the most barre n and u nat t r ac tive par ts of the great Russian plain . When the prair ies of the Ukraine the border land” —had ceased to be the hunting grounds of roving nomads , and the Asiatic hordes had with drawn with their flocks and her ds to the oases of

r their native dese ts , the peasant population of 8 THE COSSACKS Northern Russia became filled with a restless fever f or emigration . Out of the dark fir wilderness

— r came bands of pioneers , dazzled by the b ight s i unlight of the steppes , press ng ever south of ward . Thus settlers true Russian blood began once more to populate the war- worn plains of

t hi r r i Scy a where f ee land and , dea er st ll , personal

r r f eedom rewa ded the daring of the adventurer . Whil e fear and hunger had kept them su bmis sive ly huddled about the wooden fortresses of the b o ars i y , no laws had been necessary to cha n the

r peasants to the glebe . Se fdom now began in Rus sia at the time when the feudal system of Eur ope was Sinking into decay . For when the princes and nobles of these nor ther n p rincipalities found their ap anag es and broad grants of for est land fast r e verting to wilderness thr ough the flight of the agri

l r r cu tural labo ers , legal steps we e taken to pre di of ser ve their rights . In e cts Ivan the Terrible r Godou nov and Bo is , we find the legislative traces

of hi . t s great southern movement Yet, in Spite of terr ible punishments and laws enacted to keep the

' mu zk t o o i peasants from roving , the j continued j oin themselves to the remnants of the wild Asiatic “ tribes and the no less bar barous Cossacks of their own wh o race, had established themselves in vaga bond communities following close upon the receding

r o f ontier f Tartar invasion . It would appear that about this time the term Cossack or K asak was first used to descr ibe a THE ORIGIN OF THE “FREE PEOPLE ” 9

r one maste less man , who refused to identify him

' ' self with the K r est zamn or ordinary agricultural laborer ( a class about to fall wholly into the con dition of ser fdom) The same wor d may p r eviously have been used by the Tartars after their conquest of t o Russia to denote tribesmen who, refusing

i r r settle in towns or colon es , prefe ed to continue the

f r nomad and adventurous life O their ancesto s . The name also began to be applied to soldi er- merce “ ” r r na ies f om the steppe war bands , who , while maintaining the war like tr aditions of thi s wander in r r g life, refused to become inco po ated among the men - at - arms attached to the great b oyar s or t o take permanent service in the paid mili tia formed by the

Tsars after the reign of Ivan IV . To the br utal methods of Tartar domini on may be ascr ibed traits which have left a deep mark on the government and policy of the empire

r of the Tsa s . Russian historians are now the first

r s to recognize the depth and fo ce of thi influence . Naturally democratic in their ideals and per sonal

t o r relations , long subj ection the Tarta s taught the

r v r Slav people subse ience, and ( together with late principles bor r owed by Peter the Gr eat from the Prussian system ) furnished their rulers a model of

r greedy despotism and autoc atic power . Even the excesses of revolution in ou r own day Show the per sistence in the Russian state of these pernicious alien influences . hl r — Under the rut ess swo d strokes of Czar Vasili , 1 0 THE COSSACKS

his u and successor Ivan the Terrible , began the p building of the great moder n st ate of Rus sia e ng ul fing in an ever- widening circle of dominion the liber ties of lesser p r incelings and the bou r “ ” e g eoisie of the forest City R publics . Such was t he of fate of Pskov, the Free Republic of Vologda “ r r and the city of Lord Novgo od the G eat .

h on r s Meanw ile , the vast southe n plain , under

r of s s bo ars the leade ship disposse ed y , renegade

ni s Polish nobles , Turkish j a saries , or even some

- r r r r far wande ing French or Ge man adventu e , the character istic civilization of the Ukr aine Cossack

ommi mit ie s di r e c stea ly grew and st engthened . R c ruit e d fr om sturdy vagabonds of every race and ” hi r clan, stolen youths , t eves and pat iots armed with the weapons they had brought with them from Russia or with the bows and arrows of their Tartar neighbours , they fought for and gradually Obtained the right t o exist and to remain free . In view of the importance of geographical con of dit ions upon the inhabitants these plains , it now becomes necessar y to consider at greater length some of the phenomena peculiar to the South Rus

For sian Steppes . thousands of years until the coming of the railways in recent times the prob lems of life on the Russian prairies must have pre sented themselves again and again under the same inevitable for ms . The nations who established their permanent home in this fertile “ smiling wilder ” ness were all endowed with Similar characteristics .

1 2 THE COSSACKS

climax O f a miracle of growth . Under the rays of an almost tropical sun the wide fields of grain change fr om Silvery gr een to tawny gold in the o space f days rather than weeks . But with the ad vent O f another season the arctic winds sweep

r st aight from the Polar seas , unchecked by hill or

r r mountain range , all conque ing, ac oss the whole

s of level expan e New Russia . Upon the sunny steppes tightens once mor e the icy grip of the

r of Empi e the North . There can be no softening .b of r ni of r of r the fib e , no slacke ng the powe s stu dy resistance which above all else characteriz e the

Russian race in the population of such a land . Both in physique and temper ament the lithe dar k inhabitant of the Ukr aine presents the type of a

r r r southe ne . While sprung f om the same stock he is as distinct fr om the blond dweller of the north as the Provencal of France is diff erent from the

- r T o r blue eyed No man . his Slav nature the b ief vision of southern summer has added a touch of

i r imag nation , a capacity for boiste ous enj oyment , n in lacki g, at any rate less apparent , the Russian “ ” of Muscovy. Before the coming of the farmer and his plough the plains of the Ukraine were everywhere covered

8 i r by high waving g rasses , Sim la to the vanished

r r De as prai ies of far weste n America , or the g of r n southe n A dalusia . Often this growth is so thick that a hor seman can only with difficulty force his

- way, and the half wild cattle almost disappear in THE ORIGIN OF THE “FREE PEOPLE ” 1 3 the richness of their pasture . Not even a tree or bush breaks the straight sky line of the horizon .

r r Meandering in wide cu ves , often with a sca cely

r r u r perceptible fall f om no th to south , fo r g eat rivers form the most striking geographical featur es of : r r these plains the Dnieper, the Don , and fa the “ ” eastwar d the mighty Mother Volga and her les ser “ ” companion , the Ural . Her rivers , says Rambaud, “ ’ are the only allies of man against Russia s gr eat ” r enemy distance . In winter their frozen su face,

r and in summer their broad tide , are the p incipal pathways from one part of this gr eat land to an other . It was upon the shores of the great river

r Dniepe , known to the Ancients as the Borys

e r s ss commu t hen s , that the fi t permanent Co ack nit ie s established had their settlements .

fl By slow degrees , under the increasing in uence of peasant immigr ation from the North ( bringing with it the religion of Russia and such rude civili zation as the northern woods had developed ) the “ ” Asiatic and tr ibal featur es of Cossack life began

r XV Ith t o disappea . During the early days of the centur y they had so strengthened their hold upon the broad lands lying between the Dnieper and the “ D on r of , that we find the te ms Free Cossacks the ” “ ” U kraine and even The Republic of the Don used to describe their settlements . 1 4 THE COSSACKS

But the early condition of these wandering Cos sack communities must have been a matter of scor n t mi even o the pri tive tribes of the B ouj iak Tar t ar s

r who we e their neighbours . Family life or social or g anizat ion wer e all but impossible under the con di t ions of r their har ied existence . Some of these steppe bands ( as we Shall later observe in the case “ ” of r the Brothe hood of the Zaporogian Cossacks , inhabiting the Shores and islands of the Dnieper ) even appear t o have forbidden the presence of women in their camps . In the growing Cossack settlements or slovoda only the sturdiest of the children were allowed to

r A S su vive . a preparation for a lifelong struggle “ with the for ces of the steppes their mother s were wont t o plunge them at bir th either into a snow drift or in a mixture of salt and None of the scanty provisions of the tribe could be wasted l of upon weak ings or those unpromising physique .

r When sca cely able to walk , the young Cossacks “ were placed on horseback and soon learned to swim wide rivers thus mounted ( ibid ) . At an ear ly age they were only allowed food when by their unaided skill with b ow and arrow they had brought down the wild game which supplied the

- ot of r family cook p . The clothing the fi st Cossack tr ibesmen was contrived fr om Sheepskins or the

s C hide of wild beasts . Only the hieftains of the

i t i d a u e a u e r H s o r e e l G er r e d s Kos q s . P . Chevalie . r s 1 668 Pa i , . THE ORIGIN OF THE “FREE PEOPLE ” 1 5 highest rank were able to aff ord garments of coarsely woven cloth dyed in brilliant colours

r (ibid ) . In case of sickness the Cossack emedy

r r was to mount on ho seback and , afte galloping across the plain until both steed and rider were ex h au st e d , to open a small vein in the Shoulder of " r their mount and drink the wa m blood . As their flocks and herds mul tiplied upon the generous pasturage there grew up in the for mer “ ” Tar tar desert a character istic light - hear ted civil i zat ion pecul iar to the steppes . In the Little R u s

ma r sians of the present day we y still t ace the manners and customs of this Free Cossack ancestry . Mor eover as their ability to resist the encr oaching of bo ars tyranny the Russian y increased , the Free Cossacks sought an early opportunity to renew re

i ns m l at o with their European kinsmen . A com on danger and their mutual hatred of the Turks and Tartar s wer e forces tending to unite them with their

Chri stian kindred the Russians and Poles . But in Poland the feudal land holder s could find no place in their aristocratic state f or freemen not of the in of noble classes , while Russia the condition the ma k o yz i warned the Cossacks against the dang ers of a too binding alliance with the Tsar . In order to secur e the military aid of the Cos sacks , the Polish kings were forced to allow them

h s m r k S mr s mi s b t e A i ila cu to noted y Engli h an Cla e in hi s T r a vels in t h e Ukr aine in t h e latter par t of t h e eighteenth centur y . 1 6 THE COSSACKS to establish lists or Registers of Free Soldi ers to whom claim of serfage was relinquished by the feudal lords . These latter, however, always claimed possession of the lands occupied by the Cossacks and their right t o liberty as a caste was never recog

ni ze d . of This , as we Shall later see, was the cause the g reat uprising endi ng in the separation of the

Cossack Ukraine from the Polish crown .

of r In Spite these differences , howeve , the eastern l of Cossack steppes began , soon after the downfa l

r r the Tarta s , to be considered the defensive f ontiers of both Poland and the Muscovite empire . The

Cossack warriors of the Polish Ukraine , though clinging tenaciously t o their liberties and denying any right on the part of an alien government to claim their services , often entered the feudal mili tar y compani es of the Polish nobles as volunteers or

- at - paid men arms , while farther to the eastward ,

r r r of thei kind ed ente ed the service the Tsar . The last str onghold of the Tar tar s in Russia Kazan was captured by Ivan the Terrible after

2 1 551 . a long Siege ending October , We find in the list of troops taking part in these operations the p r esence noted of a large contingent of C OS “ sacks : Cossacks of the town and Cossacks of the

u r - co nt y . These together with the newly formed

’ Russian st r eltzz or regular troops took a prominent 5 5 com 1 553 1 5 part in the assault . From to Ivan pl e t e d his conquests along the whole course of the r Volga , finally capturing Astrakhan near the Sho es THE ORIGIN OF THE “FREE PEOPLE ” 1 7

’ of a . dmi the C spian Their a ration f or the Tsar s

r exploits against the common enemy, and pe haps a wholesome realization of the fact that his ar mies now controlled an easy base of app r oach to the “ ” strongholds of their republic, led the Cossacks inh abiting the Shores of the Don to place them s elves under his protection . The Cossacks of the

i r a . Dn eper remained, howeve , in the p y of Poland Thus occurred the first great separ ation in the “ loose confederation of the Free Compani ons of the After the more or less voluntary submission of “ ” the Free Cossacks of the Don the Russian T sar s soon began to make u se of their matchless

r r r mu skil l in f ontier wa fare . An a rangement t u ally favorable was now perfected and the Cossacks be came the basis of a system of de fensive militia poli cing the steppes against the Cr imean Tartar s Al though the Muscovite peasants were brave and ( above all ) docile foot

lim. r ul soldie s , their usef ness as cavalry was ited Pr evious to the time when Cossacks wer e enr olled u e n for this p rpose , it had b en fou d necessary in or der to defend the Open fr ontier s of Muscovy to mobilize every year a for ce of about men . Owing to the fact that the r endezvous chosen lay

r r l on the banks of the ive Oka, this was cal ed the “ ” r s annual banks ser vice . In the ea ly days thi duty had been per for med by the feudal levies of the

m o . c i t . 223 . Ra baud , p , page 1 8 THE COSSACKS

bo ars great y , whose serf and peasant troops at tended the annual musters unwillingly and often at great inconvenience to themselves dur ing the har vest season ( a time ther efore usually chosen by

r A S the Ta tars for their raids ) . early as 1 571 a

bo ar r B or ot insk Russian y , P ince y , began to em ploy a system of mixed Cossack and militia patrols which appears t o have differed but little from the militar y colonies or st anitzi of the later Cossack “ ” armies . During the seasons less favorable to the Tar tar raids a protective ser vice alone was main “ t aine d . This was called the Watch and Post Ser ” vice and consisted of Cossacks living in r ude block

r houses linked together by small fo tified camps . i This first l ne of defense was intended , however, rather to impede the march of the Tar tar raiders and to give war ning of their sudden coming than

r to attempt any se ious resistance . of t w o Mobile outposts composed of squads , four or six r of ho semen , to each which was assigned a “ ” ’ r r regular ide of about a day s j ou ney , j oined together the Cossack encampments or settlements which were gener ally se t upon high places from whence an outlook could be kept across the plains . In each of these encampments hor ses stood ready saddled , so that upon the appearance of suspicious signs the distant black dots in the yellow waste ,

s o or denoting the couts f the enemy, the inevitable clouds of dust raised by the hoofS of their horses

2 0 THE COSSACKS

men, girls and children, ( the latter carefully trans ported in panniers carried f or the purpose) were ‘ sold to the Turkish marke t sfi ’ In p r otecting the Tsar s dominions against the ff intolerable su ering caused by these raids , the Cossack became an invaluable adj unct t o the of armies the empire . When the Tartars ceased to be a menace a new era of discovery opened to Cos

r r sack ente p ise ; when , after absorbing all neigh r of bo ing Russian states, the power the Great Princes of Moscow was turned towards the East in an irresistible movement of expansion which was to extend across Asia to the continent of the New

r Wo ld . Cossack troops played the principal part

r of D oh in these expeditions . Leade s whom the skoi hetman Yermak was the chief and prot otype

crossed Siber ia looking f or a land passage . An obscure Cossack adventurer engaged in this quest was the first European to set eyes upon the l Western coast of the great Al askan peninsu a . Had not the grey waters of the Straits of Behring rolled between the matchl ess energ y of these fr ontier smen might have claimed the weste rn coast

r of Ame ica for the Tsar.

’ “ T avels ( See Fletcher s r . CHAPTER II

T H E ZAPOROGIAN COS S A CKS

H ETHER the political condition of the early Cossack settlements of the Uk raine the wide debatable frontier reg ion lying between l Poland , Russia and the Mussu man states to the south and west ever entitled the “ Free People” to be considered a separate state or nationality has been a subj ect of long and fruitless controversy . ul Matchless frontiersmen, the Cossacks co d neither defend nor define the vague boundaries ‘of “ own their Free Steppes . At every crisis their undi sciplined ways and hatr ed of a central author ity led to internal di visions and these in turn to inevitable subj ection by one of the stronger nations surrounding them . During the reign of Ivan the Terrible the ma j ority of the Don Cossacks of their own will b e came subjects of the Russian Tsar whi le claiming privil eges and immunities whi ch have differ enti ated them fr om the Russian mouj ik to the present of day . The Eastern branch the Cossack race thus became part of the great Muscovite empire ( al though they appear to have continued to u se the title of “ republic” among themselves until a recent date . ) 22 THE COSSACKS

During the first half of the sixteenth cent ury n the Cossacks inhabiti g the shores of the Dnieper , found themselves inevitably dr awn into more or less close “ alliance ” with the Poles against the raids r of the Tu ks and Tartars. While resisting to the utmost the claims Of the Polish magnates , whose vague feudal rights extended over a great part of b the lands tilled and defended y the Cossacks , the border st anit zi or settlements remained gen e r all s y subject to the Poli h crown . The kings of Poland soon sought t o direct t o their own advantage the courage and war like c a pacit y which their Cossack neighbors had devel oped through gener ations of warfare against the

Cos common enemy . Under King Sigismond a h tmn l sack e a ( cal ed by the Polish chroniclers Os t aph aeu s ) proposed to the Polish Senate that his countr ymen be formed into a bor der guar d or mili tia to defend the frontier s of the kingdom against the Tartars . H is plan contemplated the building of a flotilla on of the Dnieper below the cataracts , capable transporting two thousand men and four hundred hor ses to any threatened point on the long line of “ river frontier which it was necessar y to hold ” r against these invaders . He assu ed the Polish king that even this small force disciplined in Cos sack fashion coul d eff ectually stop the hordes of “ Ghirai of the Khans the Crimea , who were every where forced to cross the broad stream by swim A ZAPOROGIAN COSSACK

THE ZAPOROGIAN COSSACKS 23 ming their horses and coul d thus be taken at a ” disadvantage .

of O st a h E U S Under a successor p , the Hetman Ru chinskov s D ne i e r , the Co sacks of the p in return f or a p r omised subsidy of lands and money fr om

r of r r the Polish c own , adopted a method f ontie hi of defense, w ch later formed the basis the cele “ b r at e d militar y organization of the Z apor o r of gians . The gene al plan this military system in many ways recalls the conditions Of moder n Cos

r sack milita y service . To the older men , the weak lings and t o the veterans of several campaigns was reserved the p r ivilege of family li fe in the Cossack

or stanitzi r settlements , scattered along the sho es of

r the upper Dnieper, near Kiev . He e they culti vat e d the soil and tended the flocks which formed n the pri cipal riches of the community. in Meanwhile , the younger men gathered armed camps and outposts on the islands below the cata

an racts , ready for y martial adventure that might

r r or p esent itself . These military gathe ings , mus

r r r u te s , were especially f equented du ing the s mmer months or at any time when hostil e raids might be

r r or r r expected . If no fo ay of the Tu ks Ta ta s threatened the Cossacks ’ settlements or the lands of the Polish republic they were p aid t o defend expeditions wer e organized against the Tur kish

L C 1 colonies on the shor es of the Black Sea . g

r r l Cossack boats , manned by chosen wa iors , wou d l i then shoot the rapids of the Dnieper, fal ng with 2 4 THE COSSACKS the suddenness of a thunderbolt upon some distant

r r point Of the Tu kish litto al , even before rumours of their approach coul d reach the outposts of the enemy . In winter onl y the more strategic or threatened points among the islands were for tified and left in charge of a tr ied garrison consisting of a few thou sand men . These chosen troops ( called by the Poles P rcesidenti ) were the bands which became famous at a later day under the local name of “ ” Z a P oro i — or r g men f om beyond the rapids . The principal camp of the Zaporogians protected by outposts and a rude fortress was known as the

The early military organization and strategy of these Dnieper Cossacks was probably but little of diff erent from that the Tartar levies . By the end of the Sixteenth century , however, not only the gar risons of the sit ch but also the troops and mil itia stationed in the agricultural settlements along i the upper Dn eper , had developed a characteristic system of military service . Kost chinskoi In the Hetman Bogdan , whose power was recognized by a maj ority of the fr ee

Cossacks settled along the Polish frontiers , King Stephen Bathory found a leader capable of bring ing or der and di scipline out of the anarchy which had p r eviously existed . Upon Bogdan he formally “ ” conferred the dignity of Hetman of the Ukraine and at the same time presented him with splendid

26 THE COSSACKS

Desirous at first of bui lding up the strength of the Cossack class, the Polish nobles allowed these tr ibesmen t o extend their homesteads and settle

r V olh nia e r ments into southe n Podolia and y , p mitting them to enroll as “ Free Cossacks ” all of the fugitive Russian serfs and other str angers who i succeeded in j o ning their forces . By this wise policy Bathory intended to inter pose between the frontiers of Poland and the rising power of Russia a militar y state or province devoted to the inter

s of . e ts the elective kingdom At the same time , by bringing into cultivation the rich steppes of the Ukraine which had lain desolate for so many cen t ur ie s r of th ough fear the Tartar raiders , he opened new channels f or the commer ce of the Polish cities . r b r k r s mt h e s iched y thei booty thin only of e u ing joy of m s m r s fa ily life . Thu they ca p down with thei wive and child r en about t h e cities belonging to t h e c r own or t h e

r t h e m b m m nobility , va ying onotony y holding a ong the selve s fr equent a ssemblies wher e dis cu ssion often ends in

m e it chimor v In t h T r o bloody co bat . town of ,

r w a s r mb nea Kiev , which g anted to the y Stephen

r r r s r s r Batho y , in ecognition of thei e vice , they have thei

r s r r s r r mmmr k or m a enal , thei t ea u y and thei co on a et eet

r r h e S s r ing place . He e they gathe t poil collected th ough

r r s r m r k s s m thei pi acie f o t h e Tu i h citie of Rou elia and

s M r r r r s r t h e A ia ino . He e , too , they ca efully p e e ve

r r s r mb h e r cha te g anted to the y t epublic of Poland and t h e standa r ds p r e sented to thei r leader s b y Poli sh kings on t h e occa s ions when t h e y have been a sked to take up ” r r m a vand e a s S l n s t h e s . thei a in defen e of tate ( y , J S bie s i k . . I o Vol , page THE ZAPOROGIAN COSSACKS 27

That these wise plans wer e not destined to be fully realized was due to several causes difficult to fore

se e .

r In conside ing the history of the Ukraine , a dis tinction must be made between the agr icultural Cossack settlements of the Upper Dnieper and the “ ” outposts or garr isons of the Z a- P or og i to which r r o the former we e t ibutary . The cataracts f the Lower Dnieper are divided just below the modern city of Ekaterinoslav by an ar chipelago of hun dr eds of r ocky islands covered with a Shaggy

r g rowth of stunted timber and unde brush . To navigate the secret channels of this water y laby r int h r r k i requi es ra e s ill w th the paddle, a knowl edge to be obtained only thr ough constant f a

ili t r r hm mari . B y y th owing up a few ent enc ents of

r r of logs and ea thwo ks any these islands , isolated b a of f r ahnost y the r pids , was capable o fe ing an impregnable defense against the attacks of an

r army not supplied with a tillery . The principal camp or sit ch of the Cossack g ar of l rison was established on one the larger is ands , or at some inaccessible point on the river . This

r r r r main camp was , mo eove , f equently transfer ed fr om one place to another so that the mystery which sur rounded its location hid the var ying num ber s of it s gar rison and added to the difficulties of attack . The militar y capabilities and peculi ar or ganiza tion of the Zapor ogian Cossacks was , a sour ce of 28 THE COSSACKS considerable interest and inquiry among contem

ar l por y mi itary authorities . Many writers of the eighteenth century wholly ignor ant of their real condition compared these famous frontier tr0 0 ps to military orders of chivalry such as the Knights of the Sword in Lithuania, or even the Knights of “ t o Malta . Others compared them the Free “ or Archers of Charles the Seventh , the military ” of colonies of Sparta and the early Grecian state s . A ou t mod S Lesur points , a more reasonable and ern parallel is to be found in that strange republic of filibust ers who almost contempor aneously e s t ablish e d their piratical state among the islands of di r the West In es . If this compa ison does some in justice to the Zaporogians (to whom must be al of n lowed the merit holdi g in check , at a critical of time , the ravages the Mussulman invaders ) it will appear more reasonable if viewed in the light of the intolerable nui sance t o which their preten sions gave rise at a later date . For, while the Cos r se e b sack settlements , as we shall p esently , ecame in the course of time absorbe d by the civil ization of ” r their Russian neighbours , the F ee Companions Of the si t ch refused to adapt themselves in any way to the new modes of life made necessary by the passing of frontier conditions . Long after their ter ritor y had become sur

u l u ni s ro nded by peacefu agricult ral colo ts , the Zaporogians continued to live their own boister ous life as in the days when the Tartar raids almost hourly threatened the community . THE ZAPOROGIAN COSSACKS 29

r no As far as the author is awa e, historian has ever attempted to trace the development of the crude system of island outposts until these became mer ged in the famous militar y br otherhood of the

- semi independent Zaporogians , or, as they gen “ e r all Inde e nd y styled themselves , The Free and p m ” v ent Co munity Beyond the Rapids . N e e rth e of less , the history the long struggle between P o land and Russia for the fer tile p r ovinces of the Ukraine is ver y largely concerned with the doings “ of this turbulent faction among the Cossack na ” r of r tion . To form a t ue idea the appea ance of the famous sit ch or stronghold one must imagine rather an encampment or gathering of rude huts set down amidst a clearing in the forest . These were de of fended by the rapids the Dnieper, or by rude

me dimva o earthworks in no way recalling a l f r tress . Great sheds or barracks built of saplings ,

- covered with horse or cow hides , sheltered the gar or kour n rison and divided it into definite units e s. The member s of each kou ren sleeping under one

kasha r roof, eating their or buckwheat meal f om a of Single great kettle, enj oyed in common a kind i boisterous family life . In spite of the ron di sci pline which their exposed and dangerous position r of sit ch rendered necessary, the gove nment the was j ealously maintained on the most democratic

“ For a gener al sketch of Zapo r ogi an hi sto r y se e a

s m b r ss r va r r D N E ecently publi hed pa phlet y P ofe o . . it zk k y of Khar ov . 30 THE COSSACKS

of lines . The chief this warlike republic was known

t aman sho o a of as the ko v y . Although possessed n i i r ffi almost u l m ted powe s , this o cer was liable at any moment to be deposed from his high position

r by a public meeting of the brothe hood . These assemblies wer e called together by the most in — formal means the clashing of cymbals or the tumultuous cries of any par ty strong enough to

r rouse the gene al interests . Together with his aide

- essoni or issar de camp or j and his clerk , p , the

aman t mm koshovog/ a might thus be su oned on the most fr ivolous p r etext to stand befor e the as

r r s sembled ga i on . Taking his station beneath the

r horsetail standa d that denoted his rank , he was

x of e pected to wait , cap in hand , the outcome the noi sy debate which decided whether or not his ad ministration was satisfactory to the Free Com

r panions . The ceremony just desc ibed was gen e r ally preceded by a drinking bout wher ein quanti

orilka r r ties of g , b andy (with which the ha dy war rior s braced themselves when called upon to make an s u y momentou decision ) , were cons med as a nec

f r essary preliminary to the mental e fort requi ed .

is r r r r s It , the efo e , not su p i ing to learn that such

s not election , more often than , ended in bloodshed . Whenever the tumult seemed to indicate that

r r thei services were no longer requi ed , it was the custom of the Officials composing an unpopular ad ” s r r r mini t ation fo mally to salute thei comrades , and

r clapping on thei Shaggy sheepskin headgear, to THE ZAPOROGIAN COSSACKS 3 1 return to the ranks of their own kou ren thus r e umin s g their rights as Free Cossacks . “ koshovo at amn The election of a new y a then proceeded under conditions which made the ac ce t ance of m p this high honour as hu iliating as pos sible for the successful candidate . The koa ren from which the at aman was to be chosen having

first been decided upon, an individual member was next Si ngled out by the noisy shouts of his ad n h e re nt s . Ten of the most i solent and int ox i c at e d elders of the general assembly were usually deputed to announce to the new Chieftain the hon It no ou r conferr ed upon him . was false modesty that often caused the responsibilities of this high po

sit ion i . ae to be decl ned Like C sar, etiquette de mande d kosh ovo ul that the newly elected y Sho d at least twice refuse the dangerous distinction offered him . It was only after being knocked half sense less by the back slapping and rough congratula tions of his elector s that he might p r oper ly consent to be dr agged beneath the red hor setail standard where the final indignity connected with his in

him. st all at ion awaited The oldest Cossacks

of r present , gathering up handfuls mud f om the river bank , proceeded in turn to smear with this filth the beard and face of their newly - chosen leader . In this condition he was obliged though now e nj oying the dignity of remaining cover ed b e — fore the uncapped assembly t o make a long speech thanking his comrades f or the honours liter ally thrust upon him. 32 THE COSSACKS

A S additional safeguard to the democratic in st it ut ions of the Zaporogians , it was further de creed ( by laws none the less binding because onl y part of the unwritten traditions of the community) that except dur ing an active campaign the kosh t mn l Ovoy a a a Shou d exercise no real authority in the

sit ch . When , however, war had once been declared , even his most despotic commands were implicitly obeyed . In ordinary times t he administration of the aff airs of the Zaporogian sit eh lay in the hands of

n of subb r dinat e a t mn a cou cil a a s elected by the di f k ur n ferent o e e . These were generally selected from among the most popular members of the communi ty and only kept themselves in office by ex e r cising arts of the base st flattery and slavish gen e rosit N O t mn i a a a y. m ght receive any pay, ex cept the privilege of renting stalls to the Jews and other traders venturesome enough to establi sh themselves among the Zaporogians . Commerce o e um was held in s little est em that nearly all h an rights were denied these despised shopkeepers . Any moment might see their stock in trade looted before their eyes , yet the high prices which after some successful raid the Cossacks were liable to “ toss t o the peddlers rather than demean them b selves y bargaining, always attracted a motley crowd of vendors willing to submit to all the hu mil iat ions whi ch might be heaped upon them in return f or the rich profits to be gained .

3 4 THE COSSACKS

as of Zaporogians a kind monkish militia, con st ant ly at war with the infide l s in the defense of

Christianity . Others have described them as a re lig ious order of chivalry with vows of chastity r e n of sembling those taken by the K ights the Sword , who ruled in Lithuania . Although any parade Of piety seems strangely ou t of place in such a rough community, it was consider ed necessary for each new recr uit to b e o long to the Orthodox Greek religion . Matters f of doctrine, we read , were the cause many bloody

r r quarrels among them . Eve y year two p iests and their attendant deacons were sent from a monastery near Kiev to the encampment char ged with cele b r at ing a daily mass . A deep bass voice and ” ability to drink a fair Share of Cossack brandy

r of were , according to Lesur , conside ed part the necessary equipment f or mini stering to the spir it u al needs of this str ange parish . In the face of the fanatical religious zeal of the Tur ks and Tartar s the Zaporogians could har dly all ow themselves to T o of be outdone in this respect . the battle cry Allah "Al lah "” the Zaporogians answered with the “ ” rallying cry of Jesus " On the banners of these strange crusaders were emblazoned the symbols of favourite saints and martyrs of the Ukraine . Their feuds with the Turkish colonies established on the b Black Sea , were embittered y religious hatred as at well as love of plunde r . m t h e r r ms s One of equi e ent occa ionally de anded of candidates desi r ing to ente r t h e Zapo r ogian b r otherhood THE ZAPOROGIAN COSSACKS 35

In their fragile river craft they set out fearlessly across the Black Sea in reckless forays against the Tur k : p r otecting the low sides of their canoes in

of or stormy weather by mats made reeds , else by a r l shing thei boats together to form catamar ans .

ch olai These typical Cossack boats , or , were Often sixty feet in length . They were built in Shipyar ds hidden among the reedy islands of the lower Dnieper by skilful artisans held in high respect among Zaporogians . Often as many as fifteen r r b oa s on a side we e manned y Cossack rower s , while a small cannon was se t on a platform at the ” prow . On account of their size and handiness “ ” the Cossack navy wa s capable of disconcerting

oe r unk r s r h man uv es nown to Tu ki h st ategy, so t at “ ” even the great war galleys of the Al l - conquering u S ltan Murad fell victims to their attack . n These exploits , for which enthusiastic volu teers

n r r were never lacki g, kept up the milita y spi it and discipline of the Zaporogians . Whenever a Short peace with the Tartars of the Crimea ( the foe with which they were most concerned ) per mitted such

C i relaxations , some hiefta n was always ready to lead an expedition against the Sultan . Even when

r their allies were at peace with the Po te , it was “ impossible to prevent these raids on the Land wa s t h e almo st unbelievable feat of paddl ing a canoe up

r r m r s str eamagain st t h e cur r ent of ce tain fo idable apid of t h e L r r s i b t h e s owe D ni epe , t ll pointed out y local pea ant r y . 36 THE COSSACKS

t o of the Infidel . In order avoid unnecessary t o quarrels , it was only after returning the sit ch that the division of the booty took place . On such occasions the whole community woul d indulge in a huge masquerade . Their usual rough and tat t e r e d garments were then replaced with silken Turkish cloaks and the costly velvet cloths of Da u masc s. Rich damasks were ruthlessly cut up to zi oa n make pp , the characteristic trousers of por t ent ou s width aff ected by all true Cossacks of the old school . Thus arrayed and with their Shagg y cal acks p , decorated with ostrich feathers and j ew e ll e d r oce s aigrets , the Cossacks would march in p sion to pay their respects to the neighboring settle all ments , forcing whom they met upon the road t o drink with them Polish nobles or Cossack “ peasants alike . Four or five days were spent in di r . d inking, dancing and boastful scourses Every wher e the Cossacks were accompanied by a rude orchestr a and by serving men bear ing huge j ar s of

r . beer, hyd omel and Cossack brandy Thus , at the end of a few days all the profits of their perilous expeditions would be

as ale a a s 916

When after the Cossack revolution led by B og

mielnicki r dan H , the p incipal Cossack settlements ul of the U kraine passed under the Russian r e, it

”5 r m Thi s deliciou s sounding bever age wa s a fe ented

mx r r . i tu e of honey and wate a” I 289 . L s r o . c it . . See e u , p , Vol , page THE ZAPOROGIAN COSSACKS 37 became apparent ( especially after the rise of the Romanov dynasty) that there wasmno place for such an aggressively independent com unity as that of the Zaporogians within the bor ders of the Empire rul ed by the Tsar . Unl ike the loosely held frontiers k of the Polish ingdom , the Russian marches were

b r r guarded y impe ial t oops . Yet the remoteness of the Cossack settlements and the position occupied b sit ch f or t y the , preserved a cen ury or more the ” r of national p etensions the Zaporogians . But the later history of thi s warlike brotherhood pre sents only a series of episodes without Signs of po i r l t ical development or p ogress . The rare docu

of r - of ments this period , p eserved in the convents

r i the Ukraine , are reco ds of achievements startl ng in their bravery, sometimes chivalrous , but often base and cruel . The love of personal freedom , at a time when their neighbours were bound in shameful u subj ection , alone gives character and nity to their story . A n now attempt will be made to give , in the language and spir it of the original report ( made to the Ataman D or och enko by the great Zapor o i an kosh evo i n s g y S rko ) , some accou t of a famou “ ” foray of the Free Companions againstmthe Crimean Tartars and their allies . This docu ent may be taken as a typical example of the rare “ sources of Cossack history which have survived to the present day although the golden days of the sit ch at the close of the seventeenth cent ury and 38 THE COSSACKS the beginning of the eighteenth were probably filled i with ep sodes similar to the one described . The author h as resisted all temptation (in the inter est of ” histor ical tr uth ) to tamper with the character istic

r r bombast which ma ks the o iginal . These rare written records of Cossack days and the j oyous “ ” diplomatic corr espondence which accompanies

ar e r them , mo eover, of especial interest as having suggested to the great Russian historical painter

R e nin hi s l - p , the subj ect for wel known Cossack

T r e t iakov of pictures in the Gallery Moscow .

It was only when the Dni eper was fill ed with floe s r floating ice , and the steppes cove ed with soft snow that the ever - vigil ant Cossack gar r ison of the sit ch could feel themselves in a measure safe from the attacks of their implacable enemies , the

Tartars of the Crimea . During this season the l fast of St . Phi lip , which occurs Shortly before

r r Ch istmas , was always st ictly kept by the members

r of the orthodox Zaporogian brothe hood . Follow

r of ing this pe iod abstinence , if the weather and the conditions of the plains afforded their usual pro t e ct ion r f or , it was an equally honou ed custom the Cossacks to indul ge in a period of feasting and ” r n d u kenness .

1 675 r In the year , p ofiting by intimate knowl edge of their habits gained by many years of war

r of r in fa e, the Khan the C imea determ ed to attack THE ZAPOROGIAN COSSACKS 39

sit ch the community of the at this time . Turkish troops had been loaned to the Khan of the Crimea by the Turkish Sultan for reinforcements and a serious attempt was to be made to put an end to the depredation of the Cossacks in Turkish territory .

of r e By following the course the Dnieper, yet maining at a di stance of sever al miles from its frozen banks , the vigilance of the Cossack patrols was avoided and a large for ce of Crimean Tartar s and Turkish Janissaries reached the neighbourhood of the Zaporogian encampment unnoticed by its defenders . In j udging of the number s whi ch composed this x nl on important e pedition , we can o y depend the evidence in the Cossack accounts . Let us then f or state , once all , that ( if the worthy Cossack “ pissar or clerk can be believed) on one Side were engaged no less than Janissar ies or regular “ ” r r s T r Tu kish t oop , besides a multitude of a tar

r r of tribesmen , while the usual winter ga ison the

t ch l . si did not , as a ru e , exceed men On ar riving at a spot nearly opposite the island “ s b fortre s occupied y the Zaporogians , the per ” fidi ou s Mussulmen had the good fortune to find the entire Cossack outpost guar ding this important point overcome by their libations in honour of the ” r Holy Day preceding . ( The Cossack histo ian , in str ong and convincing language her e sets forth the iniquity of an atta ck made at such a time ”) “ ” Through the base advantage thus gained nearly 40 THE COSSACKS the entire force of Jani ssarie s and numerous Tar tars were enabled actually to penetrate undis covered within the narrow streets of the encamp ment where they p r oceeded to surround each of the kouren or r , wooden ba racks , in which the Cossack i h compan es were housed . It was at t is j unctu re that their presence was made known to the gar “ Ch e f chika rison by a Cossack named who, moved ” of n by God chanced to glance out a wi dow and, his by the light reflected from the snow, saw to “ m ” l of gri amazement , the si ent ranks the enemy drawn up and awaiting the signal to attack . o ff His courage in n way a ected by this Sight, he proceeded quietly to awaken his sleeping comrades . It was determined that the best method of meeting the attack woul d be t o place at the few available windows the most skilful of the Cossack ul marksmen , while the others sho d load and pass h t o them guns and pistols in rapid succession . T is system of defense in which the other kou rene pres o ently j oined , was apparently s disconcerting to the Turkish troops , that when the gallant defenders sallied out for a final assaul t they found onl y a demoralized mob of the enemy upon whom to wr eak their vengeance .

Following the example of the Cossack historian we shall pas s over the minor tactical details of th e n r struggle which ensued , co fining ou selves to the

42 THE COSSACKS

T o th e K h an of T artary O ur U nwor thy N eig hbour

sit ch We, the Cossack troops of the , would never have conceived the idea of enter ing upon this war had you not commenced hostilities . You have sent against us ( what treacher y ") not only your savage r t he of old Ta tars , but also troops that fool , the not f or Sultan . Had it been the intervention of our r J — w constant friend, the great Lo d csus e " might all have perished in our sleep Now, Since your disloyal ways have br ought upon you dis

r r r . aste ref ain f om troubling us Otherwise , we

ou r will treat you after fashion , and that of our

r w own noble Cossack ancesto s , by beating do n your gates " We wish your Maj esty a long and prosperous reign .

V AN IRK — Signed by I S O , Koshovoy Ataman

h h mu n t r t e w l c mi o o e o (f y) .

At the same time a letter was wr itten to the S ul n tan in Constanti ople , Mahmoud III beginning with a parody of his imperial titles as set forth at the beginning of a letter admonishing the Cossacks to keep the peace . The epithets Show a cunning knowledge of what would be most insulting to a pious Moslem .

T hou T u rkish D evil

B r other and Companion of Lucifer himself I THE ZAPOROGIAN COSSACKS 43

Who dares call himself Lor d of the Christians but is not " Babylonish cook " Brewer of Jer u salem " Goat - keeper of the herds of Alexandria " Swineherd of Great and Lesser Egypt " Ar menian Sow and Tar tar Goat " Insolent Unbe liever " May the Devil Take you " The Cossacks refuse every demand and petition that you now

or ou ma r make to them that y y in futu e invent . Thank us for condescending to answer you "

( Signed) IV A N S IRK O and th e Cossack t r oo s p .

The originals of the above epistles , which , for obvious reasons , have been considerably condensed mi and od fied , are to be found in the annals of Kiev,

371 3 82 1 89 1 . Vol . II , pp . , , See also a pamphlet 1 90 2 s published in Petrograd in by Profe sor I .

v rnit zk E a y. CHAPTER III

YE RMAK AND T H E COS S A CK CON" UE S T OF S IBE RIA

CCORD IN G r to Lesur , the French histo ian ’ wh o i r r u ( , at Napoleon s bidd ng , w ote a ca ef l “ ” and erudite History of the Cossacks ) it was the Singular destiny of the Hetman Yermak and his D onskoi followers to add the immense empire of t o Siberia the Russian crown , rather by chance than thr ough any deliberate plan of discovery or con u of quest . In the co rse an attempt to escape the vengeance they had incurred by br eaking the stern peace declared along the Volga by Ivan the Ter

of r rible , this band ma auding Cossacks were cut ’ “ off by the Tsar s for ces from access to the Free Steppes and obliged to ascend the course of the

r r r mighty river towa ds the unknown No th . He e Yermak repeated among the aborigines of the Arc

nl r tic, exploits o y comparable with the adventu es met with a generation before by Pizarr o dur ing his of " conquest Peru . The vast land known as Siber ia cover s nearly

- one quarter of the habitable globe . Until the latter half of the fifteenth century thi s gr eat expanse of

”5 L s r o . c i t . I 224 See e u , p . Vol , Page . 44

YERMAK 45 territory was as unknown to Europe as the track less ocean crossed by Columbus . About the time that the continent of America was discovered the Russians fir st entered into relations with what was “ ” “ I ou r a then called the land of g , the wide back ” of country beyond the low chain the Urals . Upon the savage tribes of this borderland the free bur “ g he r s of Lord Novgorod the Great laid a n ae tribute of ski s and precious metals . l In an ill - chosen moment j ust after the con quest of Kazan ( 1 556 ) and befor e Ivan the Ter rible had disbanded his victor ious troops a Si berian prince named I adig e r attempted to evade

i s r r e the prom ed yearly tax forme ly paid to the. of public Novgorod , whose liberties the Tsars of Moscow had tr ampled underfoot but a short

r b time before . The loss of the t ibute, paid y the

i n r r th rty thousa d subj ects of the Sibe ian p inceling, “ which had bee n set at a marten Skin per inh abi tant, directed the attention of the redoubtable Tsar towards the resources of the vast unknown ter ritor ies to the eastward of his empire . di r O u st iou In the st ict of g , north of Viatka , a bo are family of Russian g/ of Tartar origin, the

S t r o anovs g , had for several generations exploited n salt and iron mines . Although belongi g to the merchant class , an exception seems to have been made in their favour from the rigid policy of cen

W ali sze s i t 469 s i a b w ki o . c . . . S iber , p , p See al o , y r M. P . P ice . 46 THE COSSACKS t ralizat ion of adopted by the princes Moscow . The “ S t r og anovs not onl y exercised the rights of High Low Justice and , but were also allowed to main r tain an a med force, on a footing which p r epared them either for trade or war with the neighbouring

C r Siberian hieftains . Thei venture appears to have

1 558 A naki v prospered, for, in , e it ch Stroganov

e ( according to records preserved in Moscow) , p t it ione d Ivan the Terrible for a further concession ” of 1 0 6 square versts on the shores of the Kama where he proposed “ to erect a fort against the “ Tartars .

In October 1 9 1 5 the autho r h ad occa sion to V i sit h k Ou st iou t h e t h e t e town of Veli i g , old capital of countr y

r b t h e S t r o a novs . s so r m uled y g Thi place , once e ote , l r r s b i cou d then be eached , without ha d hip , y follow ng t h e new r ail r oad connecting t h e town of Kotla s wi th t h e

- r L s ms a s a s Tr ans Sibe ian ine . Thi town ( al o t ancient Veliki Ou st ioug ) at t h e outb r eak of t h e Wo r ld War e n r mr r s r t h e joyed g eat , if ephe e al , p o pe ity on account of heavy r iver tr affic which gr ew up along t h e no r ther n D r i s s s r for t h e r r vina . He e it nece a y t avelle to change r r s mr r t h e s r r to a ive tea e which , afte fighting low cu ent t h e Oust iou r for da s of g Rive a y and a night , finally land it s s r r r m s r s t h e k pa enge at ancient bo de city , whence Ye a

is s r se t fo r th on h conque t of Sibe ia . T h e fi r st view of Veliki - Ou st ioug t h e piou s silhouette ’ t h e s r or mr r r s s of town thi ty o e g eat chu che and convent s r k t h e m s sk s uddenly b ea ing onotonou y line of tunted fir r s e ms for ms r r t h t ee which —ile bo de al o t uninhabited sho r e s of t h e r ive r p r e sents an inter e sting and unfor e s in t h e r For r s r t he een incident jou ney . eve y co e of

48 THE COSSACKS all that was known of Yermak and his Cossack companions can hardly have induced these pros p e r ou s mer chants to invite the newcomers t o re main longer than necessary in the vicinity of their warehouses filled with stores of precious furs and n n metals . Duri g the dark winter months followi g their arrival , the merchants appear to have urged upon their guests the glor ious advantages to be gained by a campaign against the forest tribes , whose V illages and hunting grounds lay just b e r of yond this f ontier station . In proof these state ments they showed the eager Cossacks nuggets of placer gold and specimens of those st rangely col our e d - of , semi precious minerals the Urals which even modern geologists are Often at a loss to value

or . Am classify ong the Voguls , Ostiaks and other peoples of Finnish origin against whom the S t rog anovs had for generations carried on their inde cisive a forays , the Cossacks were ssured that gold “ ” r was ha dly prized at all . Other booty, it was urged , such as furs and mastodon ivory, might read il y be captured fr om such cowardly and ill - armed forces . It is , moreover , probable that the Cossack leader s ( at least one of whom still felt a noose tickling his neck ) were only t oo glad of an excuse to put further leagues of wilderness between the avenging troops of Ivan the Terrible and their own

guilty persons . n t o Unk own Yermak at this time , his most heroic contest was to be waged with the natural diffi YERMAK 49 cultie s of the wilderness . Such a struggle was less suitable , perhaps , for the poetic treatment of the b l nes y i than his battles with the aborig ines . But any traveller who has had occasion t o visit the country lying about the Urals will find, in the Cossack leader’ s persistent courage as an x of r e plorer, a subject admi ation which will - Th out rival his military achievements . e native tribes they first encounter ed unl ike the more warlike subj ects of the Tar tar princes further to the southward coul d not Oppose any formidable resistance to the better armed Cossacks . Like the scattered remnants of their descendants ul who survive to the present day, the Vog s and O stiaks lived in family groups dispersed in the of of deepest recesses the forest . They were small x t o stature , cowardly and an ious live at peace with their neighbours . In addition to the real dangers of the wilderness they inhabited, a thousand other fooli sh terrors assailed them through their super stit iou s belief in forest demons , wood sprites and other fantastic creatures , whom they propitiated by a system of complicated idolatrous rites . These beliefs forming their onl y religion led them to look upon their chiefs or medicine men with uncanny reverence . — Skilful hunters and trappers so that their filthy bodies were covered with the rare furs of l mink , otter and royal ermine their on y weapons d of defense were bows and arrows . Against such a 50 THE COSSACKS

ie s ve r sar the firearms of the Cossacks , like those con uist adores carried by the q of Peru , were quick to ae establish a terrible superiority . l The almost impenetrable forest through which his Yermak and followers were forced step by step , to cut their way, the swollen streams dashing

r towa ds the Arctic Sea , across which they were i obl ged to pass , and the deep ravines filled with h ux' rises difficul c eva de f of fallen timber , were the ties which at fir st combined rather than the feeble though growing resistance of the native tribes to

On a jour ney thr ough t h e gr eat no r ther n fo r e st ss r r r r s belt of Ru ia efe ed to in a p eviou footnote , t h e autho r encounter ed at eve r y station along t h e new r ail “ ” wa t h e s s s r s t h e M r y de cendant of the e t ibe , o dvins “ ” h o ds t h e r s da s s r and T c u of p e ent y . The e t ange wood

— - - r r s fla t S r ss land c eatu e faced , lant eyed , with colou le — mx s — r s m whity blond co ple ion p e ent any notable dif

s t h e mr r s ss u f e r enc e r m mo i ks i s f o o e obu t Ru ian j . It r s n r t h e s r r s inte e ti g , howeve , to note phy ical cha acte i tics

hi s r r s k r sm h e t r which t infe io toc have t an itted to Slav ace .

T h e fl ss i s r s in uence of Ru ian civilization , howeve , fa t s r s s s r s T h e men r p eading to the e i olated di t ict . gene ally r t h e r r ss t h e ss r ss s T h e wea outdoo d e of Ru ian lowe cla e . m t h e s r r r mm wo en , con e vative fo ce in eve y co unity,

ff t h e r s ms r s - still a ect ancient t ibal co tu e : coa e woven

a - r s s r ms smk g y colou ed hawl cove ing ho e pun oc s or

s r s W r r ss s o long hi t . he eve conce ion have been made t “ ” mr s a s b mm s r ode n tyle , all , though y co on con ent , wea town- made mate r ial of t h e s ame b r ight patter n and r s r x h e r s r mr c o t s colmou , clea ly e hibiting t an ition f o t ibal r ss tu e to individual d e . YERMAK 5 1

r of impede the eastward ma ch the Cossacks . In deed the short northern summer was wholly passed in contending with these natural obstacles , and Yermak realized the necessity of returning once

S t ro a v more to his winter quarters with the g no s. To the lat ter this second winter’ s visit must have been even less welcome than the first . Nor did the diplomatic merchants cease their efforts to e n courage the Cossacks to persist in their adventure of looking f or a practicable pathway toward the “ ” unknown riches in the beyond . When the second slow - coming springtime had arrived Yermak had succeeded in enforcing a system of rigid mil itary discipline among his u n

or ruly followers . Attempts at desertion , diso b e dience of orders were puni shed by cruel pen

alt ie s. of According to Lesur, the crime blas

h em . p y was one of those most pitilessly forbidden ’ B Y ermak s o y rders a portable altar with an ikon “ ” - con of St . Nicholas the Wonder Worker was structed to accompany the little army during its second expedition and before the Holy Ikons a

r renegade monk , assisted by two unf ocked priests , regul arly celebrated a forest mass on Sundays and

Holy Days . The delays of the second winter also enabled the Cossacks to fit themselves out with a little tr ain of portable artillery whose strange thunders ( and the terrifying clouds of thick smoke given off by the coarse gunpowder manufactured by the S t rog 52 THE COSSACKS anovs ) double d its effectiveness against the savage enemy. S t ro anovs b The g , y exciting the cupidity and ambition of the Cossacks simplified the task of their of n leader . Tales the riches awaiti g them , once the forest - guarded mountain chain of the Urals could be crossed , were eagerly listened to during ni l the long winter ghts of enforced id eness . Thus, from an undisciplined band of brigands and ’ n e rmak r ruffia s Y s genius f or leade ship welded a small but highl y tempered little army capable of resisting the hardships they were to encounter f or the second time . ’ Yet the end of a second summer s campaign found Yermak onl y a little farther advanced than at the end Of the previous year . On the banks of the K a or Silver River ( a stream which has Since become famous f or its fisheries ) he decided to pass h the winter in an entrenched camp . T is enabled him of f c , in Spite terrible su ferings from the old , to

on r of r push with the fi st signs Sp ing, his route of following the course the river Toura . Until this point had been reached the principal ’ difficul ties met with on Y ermak s line of march were the natural Obstacles and the problem of obtaining provisions . But the expedition now

r found itself conf onted by more valiant enemies . The Tartar and Tartar - led tribes along the shores of the stream they were obliged to follow off ered a stubborn and unexpected resistance . The whole YERMAK 53 summer was consumed in bitter skirmishes with this new enemy The thi rd long norther n winter was passed in of T chin i s the little town g , near the modern city

of T ioumen. r The Tarta inhabitants of thi s place s n had amassed a con iderable store of grai , and pos sessed besides , flocks of Sheep and cattle, SO that for the Cossacks the winter passed pleasantly r din enough . Sp ing found them descen g the swollen Toura ( seeking to gain the course of a stream now i as recogn zed the Tobol , whose waters were r e ported to be navigable) and here Yermak and hi s follower s encountered for the first time an army formi dable in numbers and equipment . N0 less than six confeder ated Tarta r Chi eftains gather ing ul their subj ect Vog and Ostiak tribesmen , awaited the coming of the Cossacks in an easily defendable pass . Fortunately the latter were now able to “ build and launch upon the lower Toura the long ” boats which many of their number h ad lear ned to manoeuvre with skill among the roc ks and rapids of the D neiper .

r in r The fo ces of the enemy, defend g eve y rocky f ul pass and di fic t portage , though again and again

r e - dispersed , returned with fresh enforcements to

- dispute the Way . The more faint hearted among the Cossacks even began to t alk of returning to l now f Russia . But Yermak cou d a ford to peer at the protests of these malcontents . The intrepid leader at last possessed an unanswerable argument : 54 TH E COSSACKS pointing out the impossibility of returning against

rr of the cu ent the long rapids that lay behind them . In thei r dismal councils even the mutineers decided that the only safety lay in pressing for ward towards ae the unknown . l ’ Y e rmak We now come to an incident in s voyage made famous by the Russian ballad singers the telling of which never fails to draw a shout of

r r r r r laughte f om thei hea e s . In the peasant izbas of or k the North the Cossack villages of the U raine , the cleverly planned ruse invented by the hero Yer mak to disengage his men fr om the ambuscade laid by the Tartars and Voguls is always a favour

- r ite incident of folk histo y . At a place where the little Cossack army was forced t o pass through a long fall of rapids ( a point where the Tobol rushes betweenhigh narrow banks ) the Tar tars had raised a bar rier of rocks and logs clamped together with ” r r h on i on chains , meanwhile ent enc ing themselves

ff r the over hanging cli s along the Sho e . With their little flotilla ru shing headlong towar ds this well - laid

r trap , Ye mak and his men learned of its existence in the nick of time . Some urged the leader to — abandon the boats built with so much toil and indispensable f or the further success of their j our ney and by proceeding across country t o

mr t h e s r b t h e ss b lines Co pa e to y told y Ru ian y with t h e S imila r adventu r e s r ecounted in t h e chr onicle of Gon zalo Piza r r o and O r ellano in their voyage down t h e

r m Amazon f o "uito .

56 THE COSSACKS ang u e d his followers concerni ng the merit to be obtained in recovering from the heathen these sacr ed vessels of gold and silver robbed fr om the

r churches and monaste ies of Holy Russia . ’ Decided by Y e rmak s per suasions t o t urn aside from their j ourney in order to undertake this pious

r r adventu e, the conquest p oved an easy one for of the Cossacks . But the added weight their spoil nearly proved the undoing of these strange ’

. Y e rmak s crusaders Again , in reading the story of exploits we are reminded of the conq u ist ador es Pizarro and Alvar ado in the bleak Andean high in lands , who although starv g, clung to the golden spoils of the Per uvian Incas until they fell ex o h au st e d by the way . But the courage f the Cos sack army was now strengthened by tangible p r oofs that this bleak wilderness actually concealed riches and booty a tithe at least of that promised t r an v them by the S og o s . In their retreat the Tartars had diligently swept

r u r s the enti e co ntryside ba e of provi ions , but Yer mak meets each new danger with another ruse : the of in solemn Fast the Assumption being at hand , stead of the fourteen days of fasting prescribed by l the Russian ritual , the resourcefu Cossack leader “ ” declares a fast of repentance lasting forty days . Thus even the cr uel hunger tearing at their V itals renewed thr ough their mystical faith the

r of r n st ength his little a my . No less sustai ing,

r w as pe haps , the hope of yet richer spoils through YERMAK 57 the sack of the Tartar cities which they knew lay j ust beyond . 9k as ale

Ever true to the unities of a great epic the crisis

of r r . K almou k our ch onicle now app oaches The c

K ou t zum r r Prince , of the impe ial Ta tar house of

Timour Mangou Khan , at this time ruled over all

r the country between the iver Ob and the Urals . T o his exalted leader ship even the rebellious

s Samoyeds , Vogul and Ostiaks now submitted in of the face the common danger . His woodland

sur capital , protected by staked palisades and rounded by a deep moat , was established at a place

- r called Ishir, which , as the ballad ch onicle states , “ r o t the Europeans called Sibi . The site f his for est metropolis (which may have given its name to the whole vast territory Of Siberia) was not f ar

r r t o f om the present city of Tobolsk . He e was occur the inevitable meeting of those whom the by “ ” lines call the lords of the futur e and of the past .

r The battle, long expected and appa ently in equally dreaded by both sides , was decided favour of the Cossacks by a curious incident . A Russian cannon which dur ing some foray with the Tartars had fallen into the hands of the forest f or r tribesmen , had generations been reve ed as

u r a redoubtable fetish by the Vog ls . D agging this t o silent weapon with them the battle field , the savages confidently tur ned it upon the attack of ’ Y e rmak s little army which was advancing upon 58 THE COSSACKS

r of them in a dense mass , the thunde bolts the dreaded fir earms playing like lightning along its dl fr ont . But hee ess of the incantations of the shamans the weapon in which the Voguls had placed their hopes remained obstinately silent . Their fatuous belief in its magical powers had led them to expect their ordinance to vomit destruction of it s own accord upon their enemies "Thus betrayed in their dearest hopes they turned and fled into their impenetrable forests — leaving their Tartar allies

r to bea the brunt of the Cossack charge .

Terribly reduced in numbers , the Cossack forces probably consisted at this time of but little mor e r un than th ee hundred men , while aside from the

- w ar dependable woodlanders , the Tartar trained

r r rio s among the enemy were hardly more nume ous . It would thus appear that the fate of the great Siberian empire hung on the fortunes of what was little more than a woodland skirmish " r n This decisive victo y, won over the ack owledged

- chief of the Trans Ural , and the valuable spoil

r gained in the encounte , encouraged Yermak to take a momentous step . He now decided to enter into negotiations with the distant court of Ivan the sove r Terrible , and to secure a pardon from his e ig n if possible f or all past misdeeds . That Yermak (who had now advanced into an u m ’ known country beyond the reach of the Tsar s justice , and occupied a position comparable to that of an independent prince ) should thus trembling YERMAK 59 seek to make his peace with the di stant ruler in hi oscow of r , is a Sign the great prog ess towards national unity which Russia had made under the

‘ ' “ st e rh Tr Llm the Tsar Vasili and his successor .

ni hidal o r The spectacle of a Spa sh g , all powe ful l r i in his colonial rea m, o dering h mself home to or i execution to await the pleasure of his k ng, had alr eady been noted on mor e than one occasion in

- the chronicles of Spanish America . In Russia , of however, such conduct is the mark a new era . n hi s u But even in maki g doubtf l peace with Ivan ,

Yermak was cautious . Either doubtful of his own or t o reception, anxious maintain his recent conquests , he ordered his lieutenant, Koltso ( who apparently now occupied a wholly subordinate po i n sit o ) to undertake this task . A condemned i r his crim nal , with a p ice upon head, thus became the messenger chosen to announce to Ivan that a r hi vast new te ritory, w ch Cossack courage had con

r . que ed , had been added to his empire of Here , again , the poetic version the folksongs

r r whi ch have built up the popula legend of Ye mak ,

s ar e and the recor ds of hi tory wholly in accord . of Ivan , after listening with interest to the tale ’ Y e rmak s adventures , readily forgave Koltso and “ his companions . Graciously accepting the sixty ” sacks of precious fur s ( whic h the Cossack ar tfully repr esented were but the first tr ibute of a con quer ed nation ) he promised to take Siberia under “ his p r otection . In return , Koltso was charged to 60 THE COSSACKS

deliver to Yermak , besides the cloak which the own ul Tsar wore upon his august Sho ders , a mag nifice nt rOl e cuirass , destined to play a fatal in the ’ n Y e rmak fast approachi g climax of s legendary career . An even more acceptable favour was the prompt dispatch of five hundred troops from Ivan’ s new ’ r r Y e rmak a my who we e sent to reinforce s de pl e t e d forces . These were placed under the tem

or ar r V olkow ski dvori anin p y command of P ince , a , r or courtier from the imperial court . As a fu ther “ of s honour, they were enrolled under the title Co sacks , heretofore no very complimentary appella ” of tion in the eyes constituted Russian authority . of Moreover, the supreme command the expedition ’ t o e rmak appears have remained in Y s hands in of spite of the presence the imperial representative .

ale

’ of e rmak But the long epic Y s adventures now nears its close . The winter following the safe re turn from Moscow of Koltso accompanied by the voe vod one Russian , had been a disastrous for the of i Cossacks . The supply food upon wh ch the ex pe dit ion depended for the cold season was ex au st e d h long before spring, perhaps through the " unexpected arrival of new reinforcements . Much valuable provender had been burned or wasted in brutal unnecessary forays against the villages of

r 2 5 Lesu , page 7 . YERMAK 61 the forest tribesmen . Even the flight of the latter was fatal to their conquerors . The Voguls and ” Ostiaks possessed secrets and char ms unknown to the Cossacks f or capturing the winter game and for fishing during the season when the ice upon the t oo rivers was thick to cut through . Thus , thr ough their own misdeeds famine and a gr eat ou t pestilence broke among the Cossacks . A mong

dvorianin the first to succumb was the , the imperial ’ r courtier commanding Ivan s t oops . Lear ning of these misfortunes the enemy now began to gather in for midable number s and often

s boldly attacked the Cossack camp . Kolt o , Yer ’ r s s dur mak s fellow leade , was ambu hed and lain

o r ing a foray in search f p ovisions . Following thi s series of di saster s the welcome news was brought to Yermak that a car avan of B okh ar iot merchants had arr ived from Centr al

Asia to tr ade with the new Russian outposts . This important mission , it was reported , had been halted ’ ou t zums i r through fear of meeting K Tartar sold e s of ffl on the shores the Vagai , an a uent of the

Irtish . The Cossacks now decided to go boldly forth t o protect the march of the car avan towar ds oo their camp . T late they learned that they had

s been made the victims of a Tartar ru e . Yermak i d and his men , surrounded on all S des in a woo land r ambush , took refuge on an island in the I tish .

r x b He e , while the whole camp slept e hausted y the

r r r r privations of their ma ch , they we e su p ised by 62 THE COSSACKS

the enemy . Yermak , at the head of a trusted hand ul f f of his followers , cut his way with little di ficulty r wh o th ough the ranks of the enemy, no longer

r e da d to meet the hero face to face . Then , while

hi s r making good retreat , a false step th ew the

r r Cossack leader into the swift , deep cu ent of the of stream . The weight his rich cuirass , the fatal of gift the Tsar, from which , with superstitious i reverence , he never had separated h mself, pinned him among the stones at the bottom of the river. T h e A p oth eosis : Here the sober thread of prob ability in the narr ative of Yer mak becomes almost lost in the bright legends which the bylines have ’ r woven about the he o s end . “ r The Ta tars, recognizing the body of the chief tain by the great golden eagle emblazoned on his

n r armor, hu g the co pse upon a framework of poles ,

r f or r and for Six weeks made it a ta get their a chers .

r Yet even the carrion bi ds of prey, wheeling in the ’ r da k clouds about the hero s head , respected the aug ust remains a terrifying and prodigious p r oof to the Mussulmen that the dead leader was of no common clay " At night a cloud of baleful fire flicker ed about his head and this although no Odor of putr efaction arose fr om the ” " r r body The Tarta s , pe suaded by these omens , decided to bury the remains of Yermak with all w the ceremony due to one of their o n heroes . His

f or s e of grave , many generation , b came the resort

shamns or the Tartar magi cians and of the a

64 THE COSSACKS

a are n and not nl Americ u ited, 9 0 o y N orth and outh but E ast and West in S , , putting a chart all ” ’ “ ou e that y s e . ( See Golder s Russian Expansion

1 1 4 . in the Pacific , p . , etc )

If the tossing waters of Behring Strait had not s of th e C topped the long ride ossack pioneers , the western coast of North America might have been ’ added to the Tsar s empire before Anglo Saxon explorers could have gained a foothold hi there . A Cossack captain was the first w te man to set foot upon the coast of Alaska thus linking the history of our great Eastern neighbor Siberia our own A nd with . , while Cossack troopers were fighting to hold a great continent for Civiliza “ ” tion as against Bolshevik frightful ness and misrule in the Siberian capital at Omsk the r e pu t e d saints - day of Yermak the Discoverer was solemnl y recalled by a parade and review Of the armies of Free Russia before his statue at the door of the great Cathedral . CHAPTER IV

B OGDAN H MELNICK Y; A COS S ACK NA TIONAL H E RO

HE magic call of free land had slowly r e peopled the devastated steppes of the Ukr aine following the withdrawal of the Tartar invasion .

r Little did the first hardy Cossack pionee s , who built their homesteads in this “ smi ling wilderness” know or care that by this act they subj ected them selves to the feudal claims of former Polish and

Lithuanian overlords . Too feeble to make good s their pretensions against the Tartars , these noble now sought to exercise their “ rights ” over the new of comers . But until the middl e the seventeenth century some acknowledged leader had been lack i e ing among the Cossack chieftains . Unt l this tim “ the very name of Cossack had indi cated a master ” f t h e less man , di ferentiating their race from Russian peasant class who had long since bartered H mel liberty in exchange for order . In Bogdan nicky the scattered settlements and clans of the steppes found a hero through whose genius their warlike race was to receive f or a brief period the u imp lse of nationality. The industry and courage of the Cossacks had 65 66 THE COSSACKS brought prosperity if not peace t o the deserted steppes . The Polish aristocrats of the border , an e st arost si p g/ and , were now for the first time safe behind the bulwark of their settlements , and already had begun to look with disfavour on their

. con democratic protectors Rightly enough , they “ ” side re d that the Free People were dangerous

f or - neighbors their own serfs , meek , priest ridden folk exploited alike by Jew and Jesuit . In our own day when the problems of a Free ” Poland unite the sympathi es of the victorious f democracies , it is di ficult to realize the meaning that “ Polish Freedom” must have conveyed to the peasant and Cossack population of the U kraine o tw centuries ago . The persistent loyalty with which the Polish people have clungmto their faith and their nationality has won the ad iration of the whole civilized world . Yet the most superficial study of Polish national history reveals the reason f or many of their past misfortunes . The only recognized citizens of the old r e ” l of an e or pub ic Poland were the p g/ , nobles , a class so j ealous of its arrogant equality that the negative vote of a single gentleman could set at naught the deliberations of the entire nobiliary

r body gathered in council . Their pa liaments were usually held in the open fields near Cracow or

Warsaw, often on horseback . These were attended by all of aristocratic lineage who chose to be i present, either to vote or to mpose their opinions STATUE OF BOGD AN

BOGD AN : A COSSACK NATIONAL HERO 67

of by their shouts or the clash their weapons . The great Polish nobles Often attended these as semblie s i r s accompanied by private arm es of ho e ,

foot and artillery, recruited from among their ser fs

i . u r and reta ners Nat rally , few of these a med as sizes passed off without conflict and the spilling of much azure blood .

an No Polish p might engage in trade . To buy

r and sell was considered degrading and, therefo e , “ forbidden their class . Yet these strange repub lican ar istocrats might be come the humble se r vants of a fellow p an without losing their rights in

l r the national assembly. On y the nobles we e per mit t e d own to land , and too often the exploitation of their peasants was left in the hands of Jew or ” nl German factors or overseers . The o y occupa tion of the masters of the soil lay in the more con genial employments of law - making and law of no breaking . In the tumultuous assemblies the biliary Diet only one p r inciple seems to have met

— - with gener al agreement " the God given right of “ ” r the p an to exploit hi s se fs as natural property . Among the free peasants and Cossacks of the Ukr aine it was commonly reported that the Polish priests taught their peasant parishioner s to answer “ a question of the catechi sm beginning W hy has ” “ God created you ? by the hum ble response : To ” give ou r ser vice to our noble lor ds . The civil ization of Poland was Catholic and Roman : the civilization of the border provinces 68 THE COSSACKS looked towards the East and remembered B y f zance . These di ferences have per sisted to the

r p esent time , but in the early seventeenth century, when Catholic Poland was a power ful state and

i l r Russia still in the mak ng, re igious opp ession sowed the seed of di fferences which have not yet

O f r died away . The people the O thodox Ukraine peasants and Cossacks alike could only look t o a distant Tsar for redr ess when the armed emis sar ie s of the oppressing Polish Church rode among

O r them demanding tithes and taxes . else as the wise King Sigismond of Poland is reported to have himself advised them they might “ trust to their ” own Cossack swords . The complete reunion of Poland and Lithuania decreed at Lublin in 1 569 had resul ted in a p r omise to the Gr eek Orthodox population of the border lands that the free dom of their religion would be

l r respected . But the mi itant Catholic o der of the

w as l Society of Jesus firm y entrenched at Warsaw . To the influence of these learned and courtly p r elates the Polish aristocracy owed their aston i shin of z g progress in the arts civili ation and their ,

r t oo ul r pe haps faithf , confo mity to the more super un ficial standards of wester n Europe . The not natural ambition of the Jesuits and of the Polish nobles whose political policy as well as their conscience was dominated by these spiritual di

r r recto s , lay in b inging about the submission of the Orthodox provinces of the Polish frontier t o the

70 THE COSSACKS patent to everyone . In the great cities seals close the doors of our churches and their holy tr easur ies ar e despoiled . In our monasteries the monk s ar e in driven forth and cattle stabled their place . Our children are without baptism and their corpses are thrown out from the town like the bodies of dead animals . Men and women must live together with ’ out God s benediction given by a priest . Death is

r I without confession or sac ament . S not thi s an ” offence against God and will not God avenge us ? i t o Another grievance , even more gall ng the

r r on ie r men t s O thodox f , was found in the behaviour of the Jew and German “ intendants” who usually acted as intermediaries between the Polish lords of the manor and the long - suff ering population of “ u their estates . These nbelievers were often “ of of i given control the rights hunt ng and fishing, the roads and wine shops ” — even access to the Orthodox churches was to be obtained from them only by paying a fee . The bitterest i r ony of the situation we have described lay in the fact that these bur dens wer e

of r laid by the aristocracy, not as in the rest Eu ope , upon a grovelling population of serfs t o whom their lords at least afforded protection , but upon a border of nation alien faith and blood who , following the policy of the Polish kings , possessed a system Of martial preparedness and , indeed , were the princi pal protector s of the Polish frontiers .

The rampart against the Turks and Tartars , BOGD AN A COSSACK NATIONAL HERO 71

formed by the Cossack settlements , had by this l time become fu ly organized . They formed no less s olk than twenty regular Cos ack p i or regiments , or olkovnik each under its own colonel , p . The whole of thi s well disciplined army obeyed the com “ mands of a single military chief called the Hetman ” of the Ukraine , who received his appointment of hi s fr om the King Poland . In all decisions this officer was g uided by the advice of a st arshina or council of the Cossack elders .

r r Besides the above troops, rec uited f om among the inh abitants of the Cossack settlements and the “ ” slovods or ar med villages nearer the Tartar fron

r r tier, the wa like brothe hood of the Zaporog ian Cossacks had now grown into a powerful militar y

r sit ch organization . Their st onghold the formed a permanent camp or rendezvous beyond

r f a the rapids of the Dnieper . These war iors

r — r mous in all Eu ope represented the pe fection, or r of r rather the ext eme, devotion to the p inciples

r r of f ee Cossack life . Thei celebrated infantry were the onl y tr oops capable of withstanding the of r r hou shock Polish caval y , the heavily a med zars r of r or hussa s noble bi th , and the less showy, but no less invi ncible dr agoons . In many places along the border the Cossacks had old - established settlements scattered among the ser f- tilled lands belonging to the Polish and Lit h u i an an . nobles Often these homesteads , which the

C r ossacks had eclaimed from the steppes , were 72 THE COSSACKS tenaciously claimed thr ough some Shadowy feudal right by absentee Polish landlords . By the latter, the Free Cossacks and their institutions were of cour se considered a dangerous example to the doc ile Polish peasantry . In or der to discourage the growth of a class of

r Cossack prop ietors , even the tolerant Polish king,

r r r Stephen Batho y, had t ied to establish a registe “ ” of Free Cossacks whose numbers were not to ix exceed s thousand . The surplus of the Cos — sacks those not needed f or purposes of border defense were Often forced t o labor on the land of some feudal lord . It was concerning the coveted right of inscr iption upon this list of free men and upon grounds of r eligious oppression that the p r in c ipal di ffer ence now arose which was to separate the Cossack nation fr om their allegiance to the kings of Poland . Long patient under wrongs, they felt the power to r edress : the Cossacks of the Ukraine only awaited a hero to lead them in a war of rightful assertion and protest .

H melni ck Bogdan y had been chosen by the

di V l adi sl as or Swe sh King of Poland , ( Valdemar) of of r Vasa , as Hetman the Cossacks the Uk aine , o of n account his record as a soldier, and because

b r i judged y the standa ds of his t me , he possessed — no small Shar e of learning the ability both to read and write . Such talents were almost a mark of er udition among the Cossacks of the seventeenth of century . In his youth a brilliant defense the BOGDAN : A COSSACK NATIONAL HERO 73

fort ress of Z olkie v against the Crimean Tartars n had made his reputation know even in Europe , where the gazettes were always much concerned f “ with Polish a fairs . T h e incident which changed Bogdan from a conscientious Ofli cial of the Polish crown and him i o made the mplacable enemy f his former p a trons is recorded in diff erent ways by contempor ar y — historians , usually according to their race or w a prejudices . All are agreed that he s the victim of l a cruel wrong , and even a Po ish writer of his “ time finds his pr incipal fault t o have be en that he revenged himself upon the state for a pr ivate

Bogdan was a free - holder or non -noble pro prie t or of a small farm and flour mill at a place

If we a r e to accept t h e ver sion set fo r th in Sien ’ “ ” “ ” m r r kiewi c z s r He oic Ro ance Fi e and Swo d , Bog ’ r ul m r dan s eputation wo d not be uch bette than that of a

r r wh o b t h e r r o ul a br utal adventu e , y inciting f ontie p p

r s ms r r t h e P o s tion to evolt , cau ed untold i e y th oughout “ ” m i r m. P r s h s li h Republic , and a ong own count y en o tu ’ f or B o dan s mt h e s r t h e nately g good na e , fine co n of “ ” gifted Polish wr iter f or t h e ba se - bo r n Co ssack and h is “ ” r r m Y a r ma r glo ification of t h e pe r jur ed e ( P ince Je e y

Visnowi e cki a r e s r b s r r s . ) , not ha ed y hi to ical autho itie s m r t h e T h e t r uth i s p r obably to be found o ewhe e between wo r k of fiction r efer r ed to and t h e account found in Sal ’ ” vandy s H is t oi r e de Je an S obi eski . H‘ ’ I 1 89 S alvand s H ist oire de See note , Vol . . , page , y ean o ies i J S b k . 74 THE COSSACKS

Cze h rin of D nie di' is called near the shores the p . H little p r operty lay in a country where for leagues n w or r d arou d the land was o ned , rathe claime , by

r of K onie t s ol ski in the g eat Polish family p . The tendant of these feudal lords casting a covetous eye ’ on the Naboth s vineyard belonging to the Cossack h tman n e , summoned him before a tribu al pre

r Al sided over by their common maste , exander

K oni e t s ol ski . p Here, after due process of feudal law , Bogdan heard himself summarily dispossessed . To protest against such a sentence was unheard - of

h e t an insolence . Yet the m( although he knew that Cossack rights ” stood little chance of prevailing against a Polish magnate who himself interpreted the laws ) ventur ed to take thi s step trusting in “ ” t o his record of past services the republic . As

- sufficie nt an all answer, the veteran soldier was sentenced to serve a term in the j ail of the Koni e t spol ski .

Fortunately for the Cossack nation , Bogdan was able to make his escape, and we soon find him an

r honoured guest in that citadel of pe sonal liberty,

t ch of . m the impenetrable si the Zaporog ians A ong the island fortresses defended by this famous of K onie t s brotherhood , even the armed retainers h in im. no polski dared t pursue Meanwhile , the tendant , Czaplinski , in order to revenge himself in ’ r B o dan s true seigno ial fashion , visited g homestead

r at the head of his retainers . The c ime that ensued is recounted in many ways . The poetical necessities BOGD AN A COSSACK NATIONAL HERO 75 of the case may have caused the Cossack ballad histor ians to rouse their countrymen by painting ’ the intendant s conduct in its blackest colours . n h tmn e of Czapli ski , besides depriving the a his “ property sought , in his absence , to place upon the ’ honour of his victim s family an unspeakable out ” rage . The whole incident is but one in a long story of

w as r r r e oppression , yet it the spa k necessa y to fi the powder magazine of Cossack indignation and to rouse their fier ce r esistance to wrongs they had t oo long patiently endured . The war which now “ ” began between the nobles of the Polish r epublic on the one hand and the Free Cossacks and U krai nian peasants on the other was to end only after the fair est provinces of the border land had again “ ” fir and again been devastated with e and sword . It was at the head of near ly Cossack soldiers and a horde of Tartar s whom the pr omised plunder of the Polish castles had enlisted on the

h tman side Of their bitterest enemies, that the e re turned to demand an accounting from the K onie t

A s b e polski . advanced , new volunteers flocked to

r : his standa ds Cossacks , peasants , and gentle of men the Ukraine , whom religious persecution of had driven from their estates . In the space a few weeks he found himself the leader of an army — of irregular troops estimated at men a on u i his whole people in arms . From now nt l death Bogdan was an uncrowned king — the head of a 76 THE COSSACKS

. s m Cossack nation for the first time united As a y b ol or scepter of authority he carried in his hand a

of D ne i e r reed from the Shores the River p . Thinking to crush without di fii cul t y this motley gather ing ( for in spite of the stiffening battalions of Zaporogian frontiersmen the Cossack p olki were scar cely a match for the regular troops maintained by the Polish republic ) a brilliant company of “ ” se t nobles forth from Warsaw as to the chase . Their leader was a br ave young general ot ot k Z olt ivod — Stephen P s i . At y the Yellow — Waters this army of Polish nobles thought to ride roughshod over the peasant bands , but their own defeat was complete and crushing .

l adisl as t he V , the King of Poland wise ruler of a distracted nobility received on his deathbed a message from Bogdan . Although the Cossack u b Chieftain was now victorious , his letter was a s 2 1 648 missive proposal ( dated June , ) suggesting,

r not dictating, the terms of an honou able peace . The principal privilege asked for w as an assurance “ ” of that the ancient rights the Cossacks , notably “ ” of ul r e the famous Register Freemen , sho d be

r r stored , and that the right of f ee wo ship be

- allowed to those of the Greek Orthodox faith . Per ’ haps the very mildness of the tone of B og dan s communication deceived Prince Jeremy V isno

of . wiecki , the new chief the Polish armies Prince Jeremy was the embodiment of Jesuitical int ol

- crance and well born arrogance , but to these de

78 THE COSSACKS h the in abitants of the border villages , brought to the castles and cities of Poland the first news of these unexpected , unbelievable disasters to her i armies . Thus at a t me when Western Europe was celebrating the end of thirty year s of continual b i of bloodshed y sign ng the treaty Westphalia , the border world of the Slav nation took up the burden of war . of V l adi sl as After the death the wise , a great Plenar y Diet of the nobles of Poland was held on P the field of Volna . While the excitable anye ’ scr eamed recriminations at each other s heads trying in disor der ly conclave to elect a new king f or their di stracted nation - Jeremy V isnowie cki of with an army of men , nobles Poland

r r r t o with their se fs and me cena ies , tried stem the P l ava tide of invasion at ce . But at the approach

r i r of the Cossacks and thei allies th s forlo n hope , gathered from all her wide lands to meet Poland ’ s

r ext emity, melted away in most ungentlemanly ’ — panic befor e the waving of B og dan s reed the

r peasant standa d . ’ B og dan s wise policy now spared the farmsteads and the Roman Catholic churches dear t o the Polish of peasants . But upon the castles the nobility, stor ed with treasures of art which excited the admir ation of every E uropean traveller who had visited these distant lands , the advancing host wreaked its

r anger . Bogdan no longer desi ed a mere Cossack V u engeance . He was now the leader of a pop lar BOGDAN A COSSACK NATIONAL HERO 79 movement or j acqu erie which sought to secure the same pr ivil ege f or the peasants of Poland that his victor ies p r omised f or the Cossack inhabitants of “ the Ukraine . While the only electors of the r e ” public the p r ivileged nobles still deliberated of at Volna over the choice a king, Bogdan had

u of U r become the ndisputed ruler the k aine . By establishing popular rul e over an ever increasing expanse of Polish territory , he seemed about to n solve the problem of who should be ki g , in his own w ay . a one of In the c stle at Zamosc, the last of the ” Im r pregnable fortresses Of the Polish bo ders , the armies of Bogdan were besieging a dis t ing uish e d company including the heads of nearly all the greatest feudal families of the western prov

ince s . r r r He e, with their se vants and treasures , we e

P l avace gathered the refugees Of , the lords and

of V ie snowie cki Z a ladies of the great families ,

mo ski r of . T o y , Sobieski , besides othe s lesser note j oin in the defense of this last stronghold of his of all caste , John Sobieski , the future hero Chris

r i tian Europe , had passed du ing the n ght through the triple lines of the Cossack armies . Under this br illiant young Chieftain the besieged

r fo ces still held out , when after five weeks of armed debate the choice of the electors of Poland fell at last upon the candidate least obnoxious to the ma r j ority of the electors . The honour was th ust upon an unwilling prelate , the Cardinal John Cazimir, 80 THE COSSACKS

s a brother of the late king . Thi solution appeared

r of Al p eferable to a choice the Russian Tsar exis , whose ambitious plans would have j oined Poland “ ” and Russia in a personal union . Cardi nal John Cazimir (who was so strangely to end his days in exil e as Abbot of the Con vent of St . Germain des Prés in Paris ) has been “ f or described as too passionate the Church , too

f or all feeble the throne and , above , too honest and ” straightforward for his time and country . His

r r i fi st royal act Showed the latter t aits . Refus ng to

r of r wh o listen to the pa tisans Prince Je emy , in spite of the thorough beating the Polish nobles had Cos received , continued to threaten the rebellious sacks with all manner of legal punishments sol mnl of — e y voted in high conclave the Diet h e ’ offered to treat with B og dan s armies on the basis of their old guarantees .

Over his royal Signature , he wrote to their leader, proposing ahnost in the ter ms used between sov h creig and sovereig n, that the past be forgotten . At the same time he promised to revive and confirm the ancient privileges of the Cossacks which had o been s treacherously violated by the Jeremites . The royal messenger w as instr ucted to deliver at the same time to Bogdan , if he were prepared to

- r e accept them , the horse tail standard and other

r r h mn galia formerly confe ed on every Cossack e t a

r by the kings of Poland . Although the fo tunes of war had raised the man thus honour ed above t he

82 THE COSSACKS soon surrounded and beset by the Cossack and l peasant troops . On y the sudden defection of their of i undependable ally, the Khan Cr mea , saved hi r w Cazimir and s b ide . The Khan had been on over to the Polish side by the promised renewal i of the degrading Polish tr bute paid his ancestor s . In Vi ew of this temporary respite the angry B og

r dan once mo e consented to negotiate . The Old terms of the Cossack demands were mag

animou sl . n y renewed The popular party chiefly insisted upon the expulsion of both Jews and J e s uits from the Orthodox provinces . The rights of the metropolitan of Kiev t o a seat in the Senate of Warsaw and the opening of the Cossack registers to enroll Cossacks —who were thus pro t e ct e d from the claims and exploitation of the P o — lish landh olders was also secured . In a final clause Bogdan was recognized by the King of P 0 h tmn land as his deputy and e a over all the prov inc e s of Little Russia , thus securing the practical o autonomy f the Ukraine provinces .

of r After the peace Zbo ovo , Bogdan had written “ t o the Polish king as follows Through his own

mr example , my father taught me loyalty in y c adle

or by dying f the republic . If I have been forced to l u ? spil noble blood , whose is the fa lt Let your Maj esty inquir e of the nobles who surround him" ’ I am ready, Sire , to satisfy all your Majesty s de

f or m r in sires and , y own pa t, no false pride Shall

e ask one : of t r f e r e . I only thing the certainty ’ ” r living in peace under You Maj esty s laws . BOGD AN : A COSSACK NATIONAL HERO 83

n h i r B od an The unfortu ate Jo n Caz mi , g recog ni ze d in r as a statesman whose wo d he could tr ust . But the Polish nobility of that day could not feel “ ” their honour involved in keeping faith with such

- i low born enem es . The years that followed , k " mar ing alas but a truce in the popular strife ,

r in we e fatal chapters the national story of Poland . an r It is impossible to find y t ue record of this time . The onl y hi storical sour ces are so filled with the recriminations and exaggerations of their authors as t o be almost useless t o the student .

Over the whole Ukraine hangs a red mist , the

firelit l a smoke rising from ham et and ch teau . Hidden by this pall the forms of the contestant s di : are but mly seen peasant mobs , wild Cossack of troops , and the brilliantly armed retainers the ” n o s p a ye f the Poli h republic . Above the charge and shock of the contending armies rise the woeful cries of thousands of innocent V ictims sacr ificed by

r this horrible civil carnage . Even the he oic Bog dan felt the call of ambition and personal spite . of Turning from his pursuit the national enemy, h tmn of r t the e a the U kraine unde ook a campaign against Moldavia in or der to force the volovoda of of that province to bestow the hand his daughter,

r f oe r Rosanda ( promised to his pe sonal , Je emy H me l V ie snowie cki hi s own son ) , on , Timothy nicky . Under the liberal - minded Sultan Mahomed IV ( 1 650 ) Constantinople had become a refuge f or 8 4 THE COSSACKS

all the religious exiles of Europe, fleeing from the of persecution their fellow Christians . The Or thodox patr iarch in the Turkish capital induced Bogdan to accept from the S ul tan the high title “ of r P ince of the Ukraine . A little later , the same influences found no difficul ty in launching the Cossacks upon a renewed crusade against the Catholics and Je suit ize d Uni ates of the border provinces . But the Poles had profited by the respite given ’ them during B og dan s southern campaigns to strengthen their armies with troops of Ger man mer c e narie s of , whose trade war had languished in

r o Eastern Eu ope since the Peace f Westphalia .

r Z bor az Bogdan and his Cossacks , encamped nea , ravaging at their leisure the lands of the V ie sno b wiecki , found himself attacked y these formidable reinforcements . Although the Cossacks defended themselves courageously behind their famous “ ta ” — bor s rampar ts formed by ox - car ts the for tunes O f the day remained with the professional

i . sold ery of Tilly and Wallenstein Moreover , the p r omised Turkish reinforcements failed t o arrive in aid of Bogdan at the critical moment . After the temporary advantages thus gained by the party of the nobles the famous Cossack Register was reduced to But rather than return t o i u the fields of the r Polish oppressors , great n mbers of Cossacks emig rated to j oin their brethren on st anitzi Russian territory . In the on the

8 6 THE COSSACKS

ou Continuing his long harangue , he pointed t many r easons ( notably their common religion) that caused him to give hi s own vote in favor of a

Russian alliance . A loud shout of assent greeted his wor ds . It was decided to send a deputation n him without delay to the Tsar Alexis , beseechi g “ ” to take hi s children of Little Russia under hi s of protection . In an assembly the Russian States m b General sum oned y Alexis , the strong argument was advanced that unless the off ers of Bogdan were accepted , the whole Cossack nation might be forced to place itself under the protection of Turkey or “ ” the Crim Tartars . Reasons of policy decided the Russians to incorporate these turbulent new

r citizens within the empi e, but it is to be noted that “ ” of n no other conquest the Ukrai e ever took place . i H me lnick Meanwhile , T mothy y had once more

e t ou t . s to seek his fatal bride , Rosanda Attacked of by the Poles on the banks the river Bug , he de fe at e d them with great slaughter . While the inter ’ r upt e d nuptials of B og dan s son and heir with ’ Jeremy s betrothed were celebrated , the Polish Diet in the ex tr emity of its despair begged for military aid fr om the Diet of the empire at

Ratisbon . f At the present time, the reasons o fered as an excuse f or such an appeal are worthy of note : “ Fighting always in the name of liberty this Slogan ’ r st engthens the Cossack s cause . If left to them

ma selves the Cossacks y even find partisans in BOGD AN A COSSACK NATIONAL HERO 87

Silesia ready to help them . For these reasons the ’ r r Empero s help is implo ed . Failing to move the

Emperor, the Diet next addressed itself t o the of r Khan the C imea , although one of their p r in cip al gr ievances against Bogdan had been the C O S

r . h sack alliance with the Tarta s T is ferocious ally, whose help they could only hope to secure on con dition that t wo of their Polish provinces be given

hi s f or r ae to troops pillage , also efused his support . l

Although distrusting the Polish nobles , with whom he was but nominally at peace, and in spite of the successes of the Cossack party, the Tsar

Alexis still hesitated in his decision . Bogdan ,

r whose son Timothy had fallen in a border ski mish , now renewed his demands that the Russians Should accept the Cossack alliance . According to Sal vandy the final ar gument which decided the Tsar to make war with Poland was the victory of a bul l “ ” “ ” v r named Mosco y over anothe named Poland, “ ” dur ing one of those trials by ordeal in which the credulit y of that day still saw the judgment of a of higher power . The mathematical academy Warsaw ( a fact authenticated by a despatch of ’ the Emperor s envoy) was at the same time e n gaged in a profound astrological calculation , whose ’ of Al results bore out the j udgment exis bulls , but

r in a sense , of course , favou able to their own

country . The final excuse for opening hostilities by a

I 2 . S al vand o . c i t . . See y , p , Vol , page 88 THE COSSACKS Russian advance against the Polish provinces was found in the studied arrogance of the Polish dip

mat s of l o , who , in spite the continued remon ’ n st rance s of Alexis envoys , i sisted upon address “ ” t c ing the Tsar with one e . less than the maj esty of his imperial titles required . The Moscovite armies quickly overran Lit hu

r ani a , capturing in succession Vilna , G odno and

r Kovno , long cent es of contention between the armies of Russia and Poland . Meanwhile Bogdan and his Cossacks advanced upon the border prov ince s of the south , capturing the proud city of Lem of berg, whose burghers enj oyed the rights Polish of nobility . Few writers the time seem to have realized that the whole political balance of Eastern “ Europe was about t o change . A new Great Em ” pir e whose weight in the future councils of Europe was to become preponderant , had come into ex

e of ist e nc . The defection the Cossacks from their Polish alliance turned the scales of the balanced forces at the command of the two great Slav states in favour of Russia . Henceforth Poland was to remain on the defensive in all her struggles with her mighty neighbour . of By a strange turn events , now briefly to be de in scribed their relation to the Cossack cause, the appear ance of a third enemy in the field alone saved

. r of the Polish state Cha les X Sweden , alarmed by of n the rapid success the Russians in Lithua ia ,

r o tried to secure a sha e f the spoil for Sweden .

9 0 THE COSSACKS

akovsk di George R y, invaded the stracted Polish “ ” f r o republic as the ally o Cha les f Sweden . A

r of now dismembe ment Poland threatened , which might have anticipated the events which occurred

r mor e than a centu y later . Bogdan and his C OS Sacks saw in the onslaughts of this newcomer an opportunity t o recover the liberties which had been

r b lost or rest icted y their agreements with the Tsar . Al though j oining their forces to the new enemy of

r n their Polish oppresso s , the Cossacks fou d them t o selves allied an avowed enemy of Russia . The mar itime nations of Europe now began to take part in these complicated struggles of the Northern ’ l Powers . The j ealous intervention of Sweden s o d

r se a- r enemies , the ival powe s of Denmark and Hol land , forced Charles to retire from Poland in such haste that in his retreat, he had not even time to hi kovsk notify s allies . Ra y escaped the anger Of the Poles through a series of humiliating conces l sions , on y to fall into the hands of the Tartars while retreating homewards . Thus , in the short of six of space weeks , through a series unforeseen events and combinations which their own courage n did little to bri g about , the Polish nobles found their territory rid of the devastating presence of three armies . At this embarrassing j uncture in the aff airs of the Cossacks - hated by the Poles and separated fr om their Rus sian allies ther e disappeared fr om the scene a man , who , in the turmoil of these events BOGD AN : A COSSACK NATIONAL HERO 9 1

so r had played great and singula a part . Able ,

both as a statesman and a warrior , accor ded a

b r r kingly state y all the G eat Powe s , Bogdan con t inu e d until the end of his career to lead the life of

or r a peasant a common soldie . In the same room that he Shar ed with his wife and childr en he re ce ive d embassies from the greatest cr owned heads of Europe . The sudden apoplectic str oke which carr ied O ff the veteran chief of the Cossacks

r removed a factor which , for ten yea s , had played a r Ol e in Eastern Europe which has been compar ed of to that Cromwell in the West . Yet today B og ’ r ”5 dan s name is all but fo gotten in history .

of ma While readers the English race y consider exaggerated a parallel bet ween the Cossack Bog dan and the great Protector, we must take into ac count in our j udgment of these men and their am ff i t bitions , the widely di erent c rcums ances which

r . conf onted them Both tried , in the name of lib e rt y, to build into free states nations just emerging from the tyranny of feudal institutions . Both sought to maintain independent of the autocratic

ove rrune nt s r e g that surrounded them, democ aci s anticipating those of our own day . “ ” is But , by freedom it to be feared the Cossack comrades of Bogdan understood little except am of license . During the siege Z osc at the most u fatal moment of their national fort nes , even the ’ prestige of B og dan s leader ship could not p r event

v S al andy . 92 THE COSSACKS large munb e r s of his followers from deserting the Cossack camp in order to place in safety the rich o C a ll spoil s f the h teaux pi aged by the way . The “ n Cossack troopers that remained, asto ished to find themselves eating their coarse rations from silver i plates , drink ng from golden goblets and Sleeping on couches covered with the richest furs, passed their days and nights in orgies and masquerades . of Simple peasants , dressed in the stolen trappings noble bishops and palatines wasted the stern op ” unit i port e s their courage had won . With the death of Bogdan the free Cossack state he had founded in the Ukraine fell to pieces ahnost — in a ni ght nor were his great proj ects revived until recent times .

94 THE COSSACKS

r their fanatical faith in their feudal rights , lost eve y opportunity of rallying the Cossacks to their stan dard . Religious intolerance soon played its fatal of in r Ol e . The Catholic bishop Cracow grossly

r sul t e d the Orthodox met opolitan of Kiev , whose place had been assured him in the Plenary Council

r - r of the Diet . The G eek O thodox Cossacks , mad d dene by this act , j oined in a sudden massacre of k w the adherents of the Hetman W y o ski . Under the leadership of the son of Bogdan the maj ori ty of the Cossack settlements returned once more to

r their Russian allegiance . The fai est provinces of “ ” the ancient land of Rus , Kiev , Poltava and the broad steppes of the Ukraine were lost forever t o the Polish Cr own . Even in their undeveloped state these rich bor derlands were recognized both by the rul ers of Russia and Poland to be a prize essential of to the predominance their states . A V ivid description of the appearance of the ’ Ukraine at this time is to be fou nd in Sienkiewicz “ famous work , With Fire and Sword . “ The last tr aces of settled life ended on the way to the south , at no great distance beyond Chigirin on of the side the Dnieper, and on the side of the Dniester not far from Uman ; thence forward t o the bays and se a there was nothing but steppe after t wo steppe , hemmed in by the rivers as by a frame . At the bend of the Dnieper in the lower country beyond the cataracts Cossack life was seething , but in the Open plains no man dwelt ; only along the THE ST RU GGLE FOR T HE U KRAINE 95

at r shores were nestled here the e little fields , like e a islands in the s . The land belonged in name t o

Poland, but it was an empty land, in which the Commonwealth permitted the Tartars to gr aze their herds ; but since the Cossacks p r evented this frequently, the field of pasture was a field of battle too .

How many struggles were fought in that region , h ow many people had laid down their lives there , no man had counted, no man remembered . Eagles ,

saw falcons , and ravens alone these ; and whoever from a distance was hear d the sound of wings and

l e r r the ca l of ravens , whoever b held the whi l of bi ds e un circling over one place , knew that corps s or u buried bones wer e lying beneath . Men were h nted A ll in the grass as wolves or wild goats . who wished i engaged in this hunt . Fug tives from the law de fended themselves in the wild steppes . The armed herdsman gu arded his flock , the warrior sought

u T ar advent re , the robber plunder , the Cossack a tar, the Tartar a Cossack . It happened that whole bands guar ded her ds fr om troops of robber s . The l steppe was both empty and fi led , quiet and terrible , peaceable and full of ambushes ; wild by reason of its wild plains , but wild, too , from the wild spirit of men . r At times a g reat war filled it . Then the e flowed ambuls r ch over it like waves Tartar , Cossack egi

or . ments , Polish Wallachian companies In the night- time the neighing of horses answered the 9 6 THE COSSACKS

of howling of wolves, the voices drums and brazen on of tr umpets flew to the island Ovid and the sea , u t chma and along the black trail of K n there seemed an inundation of men . The boundaries of the Com Kamen e monw e alth t s were guarded from y to the Dni eper by outposts and st anitzi; and when the roads were about to swarm with people , it was known especially by the countless flocks of birds

r which , frightened by the Ta tars , flew onward to the north . But the Tartar, if he slipped out from the Black Forest or crossed the Dni ester from the

Wallachian Side , came by the southern provinces

r together with the bi ds .

B of of A ndru sov y the terms the Treaty , signed

r 1 3t h 1 667 Janua y , , the Tsar and the King of Poland came to a first defini te arrangement cover in g the territories Of Ukraine . This document care fully defined the influence each monar ch was to exercise upon the Cossack settlements of the

Dnieper . The classic stream became effectively

r . t he the bounda y between the two states Kiev ,

O f capital Little Russia , was left ( pending future t o negotiations , which the Tsar Alexis looked for in ward without anxiety) the hands of the Russians . m of ul i The ad inistration the turb ent Zaporog an “ ” sit ch was made subj ect to the j oint protection of t o both Crowns , a pretension which , needless say, the Republic of the Free Cossacks beyond the

9 8 THE COSSACKS Moscow in 1 686 both Kiev and Smolensk were o dm n abandoned by Poland t the a inistratio of

s n i r Ru sia , the Tsar u dertaking to mainta n orde along the troubled frontiers of the Crimean Tar

r ta s , thus leaving Sobieski free to continue his hi s famous crusade against sworn enemy, the Tur l kish Su tan . Thr ough the skilful di plomacy of the Tsar Al exis even gr eater as an empire builder than his son Peter the Great these negotiations finally resulted in drawing closer the bond uniting the Cossack class to the Russian Crown . Their obstinate pride and determination to exercise their feudal “ rights ” over a free and warlike population had lost to the Polish nobles of the frontier the j urisdiction they had formerly claimed . It must not be supposed , however, that in passing to Rus sian allegiance the Cossacks abandoned their claim to autonomy . The stor y of the Cossack revolts during the eighteenth century fills an important page in Rus sian history .

Even under the régime Of the last Romanovs a service was held every year in many of the churches of Russia for the solemn cursing with full ritual of all religious and political heretics who in the past had ventur ed to disturb the public or der of the empir e . Mentioned separately the names of THE STRU GGLE FOR THE U KRAINE 9 9

Godounov the False Dmitri , Boris , Stenka

P ou at ch e v Razin , Mazeppa and g were g reeted by “ the clergy with thundering responses of Ana thema " Anathema "” The fact that three of the per sons judged wor thy “ of r this curious distinction we e Cossacks , while the

r r r False Dmit i generally enj oyed thei suppo t , would seem to demonstr ate that even the potent “ ” brew contained in the melting- pot of Russian im

e rialismn f ul r p fou d di fic ty in absorbing such ecal “ ” c it r ant elements as the Republics of the Dnieper,

Jaik the Don and the . it re In spite of s brief importance , the Cossack — ale volt led by Stenka Razin in the years 1 671 3 may uffianism be dismissed as an outbr eak of bor der r led by a par ticular ly successful river pirate and brigand . Profiting by a time of famine and dis tress along the Volga, Razin became a kind of border Robin Hood, enj oying the popularity easily acquired by anyone who pretends to revenge the wrongs of the poor upon the purses of the rich .

His name will , moreover, always be remembered nf or e t able in Russia f or its connection with the u g “ ” . lilt of the song Volga , Volga , etc But his over

Z imbir sk r thr ow near by Ba iatinski and his exe

cut ion at Moscow put a sudden end to a career “ which left no aftermath .

r m1 673 1 679 . T h e date i s va r iou sly given f o to “ h e r s , T h e incident celeb r ated in t popula ong Volga ’ r B s r s Volga , tell s of azin eady olution of an ethical p ob 1 0 0 THE COSSACKS

The early years of the reign of Peter I were tr oubled by a series of revolts or mutini es in the of Cossack territories the Don, which , although hmof r endi ng in a seve e punis ent the ringleaders , exhibited the determination of this import ant branch of the “ Free People not to allow their privileges to be overridden by the growing power of the autocracy . ri or A S in the previous two centu es , the flight emigration of their serfs from the estates of the boyars in the north had continued to excite the ap n prehension of the Russian nobles . Duri g the opening years of the eig ht eenth century it was cal c ul at e d that the call of liberty and free land had dr awn near ly serfs to the Cossack settle

of . ments the Don The Tsar , Peter the Great, whose far- reaching reforms di d not contemplate any immedi ate amelioration of the l ot of the or of peasants the conditions serfdom , now deter mined to send Prince D olg or ouki to force these fugi tives to return . While the Cossacks of the D on at first formally submitted to the authority of the

mr s r t h e r b i l e a i ing th ough captu e y h s Co ss acks of a Per sian p r incess endowed with such sur pa ssing beauty r ms r that h e r cha th eatened to di st r act t h e attention of h e r r mh is s t r s bandit leade f o anguina y dutie , and even sow s r m i h s r r r r r e to di co d a ong enti e t oop . In o de to “ ” m s r ove thi dange to hi s cau se Stenka consigned h is

- s s t h e r r r too fa cinating poil of O ient to a wate y g ave , g r eatly to t h e sati s faction of h i s followe r s and t h e e n h anc ement s hi r r of own popula eputation .

1 02 THE COSSACKS among the settlements or slovods of the Don without further armed resistance . But the dis content ar oused by these innovations was deep and implacable . In considering the treason of Mazeppa and the course adopted by his fellow conspir ators

ur d ing the important events about to be narrated ,

of r the unpopularity these refo ms , which infringed some of the most cherished privileges assured by the Tsar ’ s predecessors to the population of the

r n . Uk ai e , must first be taken into account The historians of this period have generally been t oo deeply in sympathy with the refor ming policies of Peter the Gr eat to do full j ustice t o the Cossack of hi s cause . The actions Mazeppa and Cossack follower s ar e only accounted pe r fidiou s obstacles in ’ the pathway of Russia s progress towards unifica of tion . There is nothing, however, in the history

s r this fateful truggle , whe ein the defeat of a couple of mutinous regiments of Cossacks and a few thousand exhausted Swedi sh veterans actually de cided the balance of power in the north to Show that Mazeppa acted other wise than as a disin t e r e st e d upholder of the rights and national priv ile e of hi r g s s adopted com ades in arms . Consideration of the part played by the Cossacks

of r im in the winter campaign Poltava , th ows an portant light on the militar y history of Charles

XII . Even the Madman of the North , in spite of his over - confident (not to say vain - glorious ) THE STRU GGLE FOR THE U KRAINE 1 0 3

of r methods strategy , would never have pe mitted his army t o be drawn so f ar from its base of sup plies u nless the assurance of Mazeppa had led him “ ” to suppose that a discontented Free Ukr aine party were ready to welcome him as a deliver er . CHAPTER VI

MA ZEPPA

0 have held f or an instant t h e balance of power in the momentous st ruggle which fix ed the su “ mac of pre y of Russia among the Powers the ” North ; to lose by narrowest chance a g reat place in history ; to be remembered only as the hero of a romantic poem ; the central figure of a popular

Cos opera , such has been the strange fate of the h tmn " sack e a Mazeppa S O complete was the downfall of the great Im perial State whi ch Sweden had planned to encir cle the Baltic that Charles XII , whom Voltaire calls in r the lead g milita y genius of his time , now appears but a pale and legendar y figure when contrasted with Peter the Great the mighty rival over whom

r r o he so nea ly triumphed . No st uggle f the eighteenth Century led to more por tentous con sequences than the winter campaign ending in the battle of Poltava . It is signi ficant in V iew of present events to c on sider the part played by the Cossacks of the Ukraine ’ during these decisive moments in the wor ld s his

’ “ ’ T c h aikowski s M r s m See azeppa and By on poe of h e s mm t a e na e .

1 06 THE COSSACKS great a reputation in his discussion of relig ious questions ) agree in repeating the romantic episode which transfor med the youthful Mazeppa from a page at the brilliant Polish court into a leader of the rough Cossack bands of the Ukraine .

Their accounts are , in the main , identical with ’ the cir cumstances nar rated in Byron s famous

r poem . Mazeppa was by bi th a Polish noble from

r o the province of Podolia . Through the g aces f — his per son and an education which at least by comparison distinguished him among his fellows , “ ” he obtained the position of servi ng gentleman in the household of a rich Polish nobleman . The of young wife this notable , having somewhat over frankly exhibited her admiration for Mazeppa ’ qualities , the outraged husband conceived the ven g e ance whi ch eff ectually removed Mazeppa from the neighborhood of his inamorata , but with results f far di ferent from those planned or expected . The on handsome page , bound , naked and defenceless , of of su the back an unbroken stallion , instead c umbin t o c of g the roving wolves the steppes , was carried by his mount among a herd of horses b e i long ng to a camp of wandering Cossacks . Join ing this wild company the youth soon found him a of self enrolled member the band , and in the course of a few month s his education and personal bravery gave him the post of aide - de - camp t o the h e mn t a .

’ At this point the legends su rr ounding Mazeppa s MAZEPPA 1 0 7 advent among the Cossacks give place t o more authentic accounts . A few years later we find him r hetmn risen in tu n to the post of a carr y ing on a series of forays in conj unction with Rus

0 0 r of sian tr ps against the Ta tars the Cr imea . These skirmishes resulted in establishing his repu t at ion , not only as a brilliant and successful leader r in border wa fare , but also as a dependable inst ru of ment Russian policy . r of During the fi st siege Azof, Peter the Great first learned from per sonal obser vation to appr e ciate the qualities and militar y capabilities of his new Cossack subj ects . When a serious check to the Russian forces occurred before that str ong 1 695 fortress in , it was the mobility and resour ce of the Cossack levies under Mazeppa that cover ed “ the retreat of the famous New Ar mies organized

on r by the Tsar the European model . The Empe or “ ” or Bombardier Peter, serving at the time in their of r ranks under the command General Lefo t, took

r w as part in all the hardships of this ret eat . It , r l however, through such defeats that eve y mi itary advantage of Peter the Great was to be obtained . The faulty strateg y which had failed to secur e his object dur ing these first operations was cast aside and Peter now conceived the idea of capturing

Azof by a combined se a and land attack .

On the upper reaches of the river Don, the Tsar his r began at once to construct a mada , consisting “ - s r s of twenty two galley , a hund ed raft and 1 0 8 THE COSSACKS

’ ”le c anoe s The number of the latter craft indicates that the part played by the Cossacks and notably the Zaporogians in these first Russian naval oper n at ions must have been a considerable o e . Relying on their Skill as river boatmen and the tactics de vel ope d during many a raid against the Turks in the Black Sea, they were now launched in a sudden 1 50 0 attack on the Turkish fleet . Less than Cos

nni - sacks ma ng long river boats , similar to those i did used by the Zaporog ans , not hesitate to attack the great Turkish galleys defending the com municat ions by means of which the beleaguered for tress received its provisions from the Turkish colonies of Anatolia . We can readily imagine with what enthusiasm and anxiety the Tsar followed the fortunes of the

Cossack attack . Peter was himself in command of a small wooden frigate . He had now become “ ” r A l e x ie vit ch Stee man Peter , serving under the m “ ” i com and of Admiral Lefort ( for, together w th the principal officers of his staff he had assumed naval titles and duties ) . Prodigies of valour were displayed in the hand to hand conflict which e n

e sued . Little by little the surprising mano uvres of the handy Cossack flotilla completely overcame the mor e regular naval strategy of the Turkish com mander . The Ot toman fleet was gradually dis p e r se d and the heavy galleys separ ated from their fellows and rendered helpless were cap m “ ” s r ss 363 Ra baud , Hi toi e de Ru ie , p. .

1 1 0 THE COSSACKS i bitions of Tsar Peter . Moreover it was at th s j uncture that the King of Sweden died and his son 1 8 Charles , a lad but years of age , came to the of so throne . In the accession youthful a prince both the Tsar and the King of Poland saw an op port uni t y of ridding themselves of a rival power own o whose ambition clashed with their . The p sitiou occupied by Sweden had long gi ven her the control of the Balance of Power in the north . In ever y election for the Polish crown the King of Sweden had either sought the electoral honor for himself or had made his support essential in choosing the successful candidate . r of Another reason u ged Augustus Saxony, the of newly elected King Poland , to curb the hated “ ” imperialism of Sweden . So unpopular was this German p r ince in his elective kingdom that he wel comed any opportunity for a foreign war which would turn the attention of his Slav subj ects from

f r internal a fairs . Ce tain of victory in this enter prise he even took steps to reserve the honors of the promised campaign for the detested bodyguard of German troops who had accompanied him from of Saxony. But the King Poland and the Tsar were to learn that Charles of Sweden , in spite of his of youth , was the first military genius his age and that he commanded the most perfectly dr illed and disciplined army in the north . In the course of a single brilliant campaig n Charles drove the King of Poland from the prov MAZEPPA 1 l 1

of ince Lithuania . The Russians who had mean while advanced towards the Baltic were thrown into consternation by these events . At his leisure Charles now inflicted upon the Tsar ’ s troops a

. V great defeat at Narva This ictory, the more ’ humiliating because even Peter s per sonal bravery was involved thr ough stories of his cowardly con duct during the battle , also threatened the Rus ’ sians confidence in the value Of the military re forms he had been at so much pains to introduce in of r ll place their Old d i and tactics . Meanwhile, isolated from his subj ects by the intrigues of Piper ’ r r ( Charles great fo eign ministe , whose diplomacy ’ was almost as redoubtable as his master s swor d ) the King of Poland had become a dishonoured fugi tive in his own dominions . The new candidate im posed upon the Poles in the person of Stani slaus Le sczynski was but a docile representative of the real King Charles of Sweden . But the genius of Peter the Great never dis played itself so brilliantly as after these disasters . ” “ The Swedes , he repeated again and again, will ” r soon teach us how to fight . Gathe ing a new army he attempted to intervene on behalf of the deposed Saxon elector Charles easily crushed their united eff orts at Al transtadt ( 1 70 6) Even the electoral dominions of Saxony wer e now thr eatened and Augustus , in order to save his r r e German possessions , was obliged fo mally to nounce all p r etensions to the throne of Poland . So 1 12 THE COSSACKS thr eatening was the danger that he consented at the bidding of Char les to write a letter of con ki L e scz ns . gratulation to his successor, y Peter nevertheless resolved to continue the contest .

In the long struggle between Russia , Poland and

at Sweden that ensued , success almost invariably tended the armies of Charles XII . During this per iod the fortunes of Sweden were carried to their

r highest pinnacle . Histo ians now see that the ’ ” Mad King s resolve to shatter the yoke of Mos covite influence in Poland by str iking at the hear t ’ of r Pete s vast empire , was more than a military of adventure . The success such a plan would have safeg uarded the new Swedish possessions along the Baltic and established upon a lasting foundation n his scheme , now all but realized , of maki g Sweden

r f the supreme a biter o the north . But in the nine years which had elapsed since of the battle Narva , Charles had expended ’ Sweden s hoarded treasure of men and money. Raw r ecrmuits now weakened the ranks of the vet eran regi ents he had inherited from his father . Youthful pride and obstinacy had induced him to di scard the prudent ministers whose advice had been of such advantage in the earlier years of hi s

. r reign Charles might, with eve y advantage , have accorded the peace which the Tsar so earnestly de sir ed in order t o carry out his great plan of in ternal reform . He , nevertheless , continued active r f or prepa ations a new campaign .

1 1 4 THE COSSACKS

mon pe rialis the inhabitants of the Cossack prov ince s . In the crisis now confronting him he took

- Al refuge in a time honoured ruse . though a half century of warlike service had till now seemed to h tmn e a weigh but lightly upon the veteran , at Peter ’ s summons he seemed suddenl y overtaken by For all the ills of deferred old age . weeks at a time he remained in bed invisible to his followers , or else ,

r um propped in a g eat chair , supported by n erous f cushions , he only received the Cossack O ficers to accept their condolences and to issue orders in the of feeble voice of a valetudinarian . In expiation past Sins he commenced the construction of a great church , and to his former boon companions , ex pressed the edifying sentiment that “ his thoughts were wholly withdrawn to the affairs of another ” life . of Nevertheless , in careful fulfillment his duties as hetman he appeared to make every effort to fur nish the Tsar with the levies of troops requir ed . These were placed under the command of a Cos sack colonel named Apostol . Although all these measures were taken in Mazeppa’ s name and he appeared zealously preparing to oppose the in vasion of r the Swedes , it seems equally ce tain , that at the same time constant negotiations were carried on f of with the emissaries of Char les . O fers free dom and autonomy f or the Ukraine were fr eely ’ made by the Swedish monar ch : Mazeppa s place was assured as the head of an independent state MAZEPPA 1 15

of guaranteed by the armies Charles . At last the h et man consented to enter into open revolt against the Tsar . In order to act with more certainty he suddenly qui tted his r Ole of an invalid and placed

i of r A h mself at the head the Cossack a mies . p pearing to yield to the urgent appeals of the Ru s r sian gene als , he ordered all hi s p olki to cross the " Polish frontier . Charles does not appear t o have rated very high the military ability of the troops recr ui ted among the Cossacks and peasant - proprietors of Little

Russia . He was anxious , however, to secur e a base f or supplies f or his own armi es and guides or m f n of r the vast un apped cou try the Uk aine,

r whe e he intended to develop his campaign . P e r ’ haps the weakest featur e of Charles plans was his dangerous confidence in the ability of his veterans to overthrow almost any number of Russian tr oops which coul d be br ought against him . But as the lk r Cossack p o i were only needed as auxilia ies , Ma zeppa was instr ucted to maintain his fellow countr ymen in a state of discontent a none too difficult task "" - without defini tely engaging himself until the last moment . ’ The hetman s position was, however, soon com

’ “ ” r -e s XII N t h e Norb e r g s Hi sto r y of Cha . othing in e mr s i s mr s t h e m hi sto r y of t h ti e o e confu ing than nu be c a m given with r e spect to t h e t r oop s engaged dur ing this

ai n Nor b er e e - ss t h e p g . Even g , although an y witne of

s r . events h e descr ibe , cannot be wholly elied upon 1 1 6 THE COSSACKS plicated by the constant reports which his rivals for war ded to the capital in order to convince the t Tsar of his disloyal y . At first Peter was deaf to

r n ol d all such rumou s , believi g that Mazeppa in his age would never betray a confidence he had done

r r so much to deserve . As a f esh p oof of his belief ’ in the hetman s loyalty the Tsar sent back to the in n Ukraine bound heavy chai s , the principal agents of the malcontents who had undertaken the long j our ney to Moscow in order to denounce ’ r s of h t an s . m their chief Thus pe i hed two the e of oldest comrades in arms , Iska , a colonel the Cos of sacks Poltava, devoted to the cause of Russia,

K out ch eb e of one of r and y, chief the most impo tant

s of C i familie the Ukraine . These h eftains who had ’ been the fir st to discern Mazeppa s intended

r r r b t eache y, would have been spa ed y the hetman

r if they would j oin his side , but sco ning to save

r r thei lives at such a cost , both we e now put to a shameful death with heavy blows fr om a poleaxe befor e the assembled p olh and their own fellow "e t wnsme n o .

For a brief time Mazeppa appear s again to have r of wavered , pe haps touched by this display loyal confidence on the part of a master he w as ab out to betr ay . In his indecision he decided t o summon a

of r o council the Cossack notables , and himself p posed that a deputation be sent to Moscow to l ay

T h e above event s a r e t h e subject of a famous s cene ’ “ ” T ch aikowski s r in ope a of Mazeppa .

11 8 TH E COSSACKS k U raine . But Mazeppa had either miscalcul ated the resentment which had been aroused by these li measures , or, as appears more kely, the Cossacks hesitated to ally themselves with their ancient l enemy, Poland . When thus cal ed upon to forego at a few moments ’ notice the traditions and resent

of - i ments a life t me , they may have remembered that Mazeppa himself was of Polish origin . Their turbulent O r thodoxy caused them t o recall all that their ancestors had suff ered at the hands of the Catholic gentry and Jesuit leaders of the Polish ’ ul ill - court . The res t of Mazeppa s timed frank f his ness was far di ferent from expectations . i At first a gr m Silence greeted his eloquence , while murmurs of di sapp r oval followed each new pro

r e u posal . As he ended his appeal to Cossack p j “ ” of on dice , cries Treason were heard all sides . In the uproar that followed Mazeppa even ap pears to have had some difficulty in escaping from the violence of the Russian partisans among his excited followers . i ni With but two reg ments remai ng loyal , both i “ ” belong ng to his personal guard , his invasion of Poland became little better than a flight from the “ ” Ukraine . Of all the host of Cossack cavalry with whom he had promised t o await his allies upon the shores of the Desna there remained but a hand ful of horsemen , while the main body of the U krainians and Cossacks retur ned homewards to ’ make their submission to the Tsar s generals . MAZEPPA 1 19

n One consolation remai ed , however, to Mazeppa in his extremity . The famous Zaporogian COS Sacks were by this time too deeply compr omised by ’ the wily hetman s intrigues to desert his cause and they now se t forth in their usual tumul tuous array n ’ to j oi Mazeppa s little army . Realizing the importance of ensuring the loyalty mn of this important part of the Cossack co mu ity, the Tsar had in the early stages of the events just narrated for war ded a present of Sixty thousand

flor ins sit ch r to the . It had, howeve , pleased the independent humour of these war riors to keep the money sent by the Rus sians and at the same time to hi declar e f or Char les and s Polish allies . In the ’ pages of N or b e rg s Histor y a full account is given of of these negotiations , wherein the customs the once famous Zapor ogian br otherhood appear in no ” or very creditable light . Their war leader,

t aman kosh e vo a y , was , at this time , a Cossack k r named Gor dian o. This wo thy had but a short time befor e narrowly escaped massacr e in the cour se of the tumultuous public assembly which had elected him to his ofii ce a fact for which he held the envoys of the Tsar responsible . It was the recollection of this incident which may have f di sposed him so warml y t o adopt the cause o the

Hetman Mazeppa . At a meeting held in a secret spot on the shore of the Dikanka the temporary submission of the Zaporogians to the Het man of the

- U kraine had been agreed upon . The horse tail 120 THE COSSACKS standards of the Zaporogians had been dipped be fore the national flag of the Ukraine , and Mazeppa in an eloquent speech pointed out the necessity of an alliance against the Tsar . In order formally t o celebr ate the accession of the Zaporogians to the “ ” Cossack cause a banquet was now served to the sit ch delegates from the . Around a board fur ni sh e d with a magnificent service of silver plate (borrowed f or the occasion from a Polish gentle man among Mazeppa ’ s retinue ) the Zaporogians renewed their solemn oath of allegi ance t o the cause of Char les XII and the Polish party with whom he was in alliance . On leaving the tent where these ceremonies had taken place the Zaporogian dele gates were found to be in a state of complete drunkenness . Some of the more intoxicated even insisted on taking away the silver plates and gob lets as a souvenir of the occasion saying that this ’ was a Zaporogian s privilege . An unfortunate ’ butler in an ill - advised attempt to save his master s property aroused the anger of these turbulent guests and was seized and stabbed to death . Not

V content with thus indicating their inj ured dignity, the noble Zaporogi ans now declared through their K osh e vog that if they were not allowed to keep this im spoil , according to ancient custom , they would mediately break off the newly- formed union t o

r which they had engaged thei followers . The matter was satisfactorily arranged , but during a subsequent interview with the King of Sweden it

1 22 THE COSSACKS

’ Me nt chikov In the meantime , , the Tsar s

. A S favourite , had not been idle we have already obser ved the Russian troops had for some time been prepar ing f or the not unexpected defection of Ma zeppa and the Zaporogians . Shortly after the h e t

’ man s departure , Mazeppa learned that his own all household , together with the provisions he had amassed there for the winter campaign of t h e i Swedi sh army, had been captured by a brill ant

Russian attack . To serve as an example the Cos sack notables of the town were put t o death by v of Me nt chiko with every refinement cruelty . On

mm r ot a off t h e s s wh o was r r s P p , Bol hevi t co ande , a e ted r late . “ Captain Ber s seized t h e safe containing t h e Bol shevi st r s wa r fund of uble . Then , with Colonel Pota

s s ks r r s t h e mr s ff t h e l l x po , Co ac a e ted A e ican Con u , Fe i t h e r s r s s t h e r Cole ; B iti h and F ench Con ul , and F ench

r ss T h e l f s r k Milita y Mi ion . al ied o ficial we e ta en to a

r t h e s s ks m t h e m ba n and hidden , Co ac holding the and oney s s n s mh a s ho tage u til o et ing definite happened . “ When t h e allies landed and t h e local counter - r evolution s s m s r k m ul 1 . 2 t h e b o e out al o t i taneou ly on Aug and ,

s l s r r s . T h e ss ks r Con u we e elea ed Co ac , howeve , after

r ms s r decla ing mthe elve eady to suppo r t t h e new Gover n m r s r s t h e ent clai ed that they we e ec etly again t B 0 1 sh eviki r th oughout . “ N ss s s eedle to add , uch appeal to old Co ssack Law wo ul d have little standing in t h e Co ss ack ter r ito r ies although wild band s like t h e Siber ian bo r der r uffians led “ ” b v r S e nenov ss ks mnl - m Gene al Co ac in na e o y ight r e so r t to such a plea . MAZEPPA 1 23 the same scaff old perished a famous Cossack colonel named Glut chov and a Pr ussian officer named K oeni g se ck who had acted as the Cossack Chief of l Artil ery . At the same time an effigy of Ma “ ” zeppa was vicariously tortur ed and solemnly de graded from the rank of hetman while a cross of ’ . r nn St And ew was torn from the ma ikin s breast . A mor e eff ectual punishment than this chi ldish mummery was the solemn anathema launched r of against the hetman by the met opolitan Kiev, a terr ible indictment which included all the Orthodox Cossacks who wer e fighting with the heretics of against the head the Russian church .

l D onskoi As in the case of the rebel ious , the lacerated bodi es of the most important of Ma ’ zeppa s adherents were placed on rafts and sent ’ r ni r ad ift on the D eper, so that the news of the Tsa s vengeance might be spread along the whole course of that stream . of At the famous battle Poltava , whose course and the momentous resul ts it entailed have so often been described , the Cossack nation again found r Cos itself hopelessly divided . The maj o ity of the “ sacks and free citizens of the Ukraine fought under the banners of the Tsar, their oppressor . On the Side Of Charles XII the Zaporogians and the ’ hetman s faithful r egiments distinguished them selves in a last vain blow f or the liber ties of the

Ukraine . But the armies of Sweden , until now

V ictorious against Russian troops , were for the first 12 4 T HE COSSACKS

’

m ni y d . Th e sa oo s ti e defi tel defeate T r s tr p , thor oughl y dr il led aft er t h e E uropean model and

e r a sc o in s t r hi s g ne ls ho led adver i y, we e at last able ’ t o prove their wor th and t h e value of Peter s p a ’

i i in . ussi a a ur a l s o t ent tra n g R s n t l al ie , c ld and

ist an e o l t n ss t o e a hi an d ce , add d c mp e e e a d fe t w ch t i cip at ed the app alling disast er whi ch over took

eo centur v a e . ss a not w n he Napol n a l t r Ru i , S ede , came the preponderant p owe r in t h e nort h of u o il e f or s r di tini s tt l E r pe , wh e, exc pt p o a c mu e , li e “ ” more w as heard of t h e liberties of the Ukraine " e v l mt il t h e pr sent da .

“ I t w a s t h e r ec ollec ti on of Nar va t h a t ca us ed Cha r les e o t v A t da r a w — to lo se t h ba tt le of P l a a . yb e k t ent v one th ous and confident Swed es attacked t h e Rus sia n for c es t h m r c s kin t h r ill r T h e n ta g wi e but fou pie e of a t e y . Ki g

r s t t h e k i a. t r r wn b V in pe on conduc ed attac , ly ng in lit e d a two ho r se s on account of t h e wound he h a d r eceived a ’ h s r nb ak s m Sli e us al r h r d e few da v befo e . p fa o cav y c a ge t

s e nemv i t h r a ur a . T h e Bl u covit e r ma ons w g e t co ge fo ti t h e s r wh o ha himse l wer e dr iven in and T a d f h ur r ied to

h r l t h r o h his ha mc u t . r ally t e e eived a bu le t g “ Bl ent e hik ov h a d th r ee h or se s kill ed under himand ” t h e i s r o e r s r s d sh out i al r ea dy Swed h t o p ai e a of v ct or y . h or tl r r in t h e s s oun r t t ck t e Sh v afte , du g Ru ian c te a a , two ho r s es ca r r ying t h e wounded chi ef of t h e Swedi s h

s r ki l b y voll e v r e sh t h ir fo r ce we e l ed a of g ap o , and t e

w a s k n 4 n r mn — 2 1 wh mr place ta e by 2 i fant y e of o we e

r h se t h e a me t Indee n e shot down befo e t e clo of e g g n . d th e pe r so nal cour ag e of both t h e Ts ar ( se r ving wi t h t h e

- r r e r eme t i ev ple ti tle of Majo r ge ne r al unde Gene al Sh )

r s w a s s l r y t a e heir a nd Ch a le di p a y ed to eve advan g , in t

or su r ema c ter r ib le duel f p v.

1 26 THE COSSACKS t ive s were thrust by their followers into a leaky boat and with an escort of about a dozen men abandoned to the swollen stream . Such was their t o peril that , in order save themselves from sinking, ’ the greater part of the hetman s treasure was thrown into the river . At the same time a terrible fate overtook a large body of Swedish and Cossack cavalry who sought to cross the flooded Dnieper by swimming their horses in a compact mass , following the methods of o the ancient Tartar invaders . Near the middle f the river this living raft became broken apart and the struggling horsemen met a terrible death among the rocks and rapids . Swept along by the ice floe s of the treacherous stream their bodies aecom panie d the flight of their chief and the Hetman Ma zeppa towards their exile in Turkish territory . A few days later the fugitive learned of the de f w h feat o the army commanded by Loe en aupt . ’ Continually p r essed by Me nt chikov s cavalry this general had finally been forced to surrender ; fourteen thousand veteran Swedes laying down

r their a ms to less than nine thousand Russians . ’ The days when Charles troops , as at Narva , had not hesitated to attack a force of Russians double or treble their own strength were ended . This victory was a final disaster to the Cossack

e nt hik v faction devoted to Mazeppa . M c o refused t o include in the armistice and ter ms of surrender any amnesty for the Cossack partisans found MAZEPPA 127 am di ong the Swe sh armies . All who coul d not e s “ cape were massacred ou the river bank within ” sight of their fatherland , while the rest, accord ’ ing to the Tsar s orders , were relentlessly hunted “ ” down in their lairs . After thi s execution onl y three thousand Zap orog ian warrior s remained of all that famous ’ brotherhood . On the approach of the Tsar s

r r r t oops , these we e fo ced to seek shelter among

r their ancient enemies the Tu ks . Realizing the value of such allies the Khan of the Cr imean T ar in hi s tars welcomed them camp , in spite of the in wrong they had done his territory the past . In order to show the Russians that they had definitely passed under Ottoman protection he conferr ed upon Mazeppa and the Zapor ogian Hetman Gor di r anko the insignia of Turkish generals . Lands we e also se t apart f or the Zaporogians on the shor es of m sit ch oninke the K , where in ancient ti e the or encampment of the free republic had been eleglé locat e d .

The unfortunate hetman , Mazeppa, did not long e s survive his disgrace . With the feeble Cossack cort which had remained faithful to his cause he took refuge ( still accompani ed by the King of

s r . 1 1 6. Le u , p ” 5 num r r so r T h e Zapo r ogians we e , howeve , educed in t h e ks t h e ber s that they we r e not able to r esi st attac of ms s r r Russians and soon found the elve obliged to eti e

r m. far ther into t h e C i ea 12 8 THE COSSACKS Sweden ) at Bender under the protection of the r hi s Sul tan of Turkey . He e last days were con st ant ly tr oubled by the fear that he might be de o liver ed up to the agents f the Tsar . For losing

r mi i of s ght mo e i med ate advantages , Peter now showed himself determined to secure the person of the old comrade in ar ms who had so traitorously

r . dese ted him But the Ottoman Sultan , in spite of br ibes of money and ofle r s even mor e advant a

e ou s t o . g , remained loyal the Cossack chieftain In

r their misfo tune, a warm friendship appears to

r have united Mazeppa and the fallen hero Cha les .

Al l r r through the last illness of the fo me hetman , the young monar ch continued to encour age the dying veteran with hopes of future success and

r of revenge . Although Cha les after a series ex t r aor dinar y adventures was at last restored to his

hi aze a native land, pp was unable to bear the double

r o weight of yea s and misfortune . At the age f eighty he died in the Turkish camp without learn ing of the disaster which soon after over took his r ul of great enemy the Tsa , in the f l tide his suc cess at the battle of the Pruth .

1 30 THE COSSACKS

“ for th the Tsar was legally Autocrat and t he Ukraine became officially known by the hateful “ title as the Province of Little Russia . At the same time a demand was made upon each of the Cossack p olki or regiments for a contingent of men to be incorporated among the troops of the

Russian ar my . By this means it was clearly indi c at e d that the Cossacks of the Ukraine were now considered liable to regul ar mili tar y service like any other subj ects of the empire . This policy also effectually weakened the power of resistance which

’ ’ the regiments furni shed by the st amt zz might have opposed to Peter ’ s reforms” had they remained at their full strength . In or der to accentuate the changes which the old Free Cossack ” régime had suffered separate c ourts of j ustice wer e established at Joukh off to administer the new Russian law instead of the old “ Cossack law based upon the Institutes of Mag de ” r u bur g . The only appeal f om this trib nal lay in

r the cou ts of the empire and not , as heretofore , in the gr eat Cossack reunions or the Council of Elders

’ of st mtza each a .

Meanwhile , in his camp at Bender, sometimes

r b r u t eated y the Tu k as a disting ished prisoner, again consulted as an ally , Charles XII continued his intrigues against the Tsar and his vehement ap peals to the power s of Europe to be allowed to return to his kingdom .

After the death of Mazeppa , Charles had con THE E ND OF THE FREE UKRAINE 1 31 t inue d on terms of friendly intimacy with Peter r O lick , who had been elected Hetman of the Zap

or o ians . g The new chief of the former Free Re public was now wholly under the influence of his r i r Tu k sh pat ons . Al though such base sycophancy offended the turbul ent or thodoxy of his compau ions , Orlick affected even the dress of the Ottoman r protecto s . In order to make his position mor e r secure , he also ma ried a Tartar woman chosen in of of the seraglio the Khan the Crimea . His con duct could not fail to widen the breach which al ready existed between the Zaporogians and the

Cossacks of the Ukraine . But Peter still viewed with suspicion the border hi s n A n population of new provi ce . y Cossack sus p e ct e d of intercourse with the Zaporogians was cruelly put t o death or transported to the pe stil en tial marshes of Lake Ladoga , where tremendous dr ainage works were in progr ess in the neighbour f hood o the new capital . This harsh treatment aroused widespread discontent throughout the

w r of r Ukraine , and a a e this spi it of revolt, both the Turks and Zapor ogians were encouraged to at tempt once more an invasion of the Russian frontier .

r f In fu therance o this scheme, the diplomats of the Porte and the Grand Vizir of the Khan of T ar tary pretended to treat the Zaporogians as an in a dist rib dependent power . In manifesto widely ut e d among the villages of the old Ukraine the 1 32 THE COSSACKS

Cossacks were called upon to return t o their Polish u re allegiance . The T rks not only promised to establish the rights of the Zaporogians , but also offered to assist the Cossack settlements along the ni upper D eper to regain their former freedom , if they would openl y resist the oppressions and ex actions of the Russians . An expedition was next set on foot by the Porte wherein thirty thousand picked Tartar and Turkish troops were to j oin with Orlick and his Z aporo gians in an invasion of the Russian and Polish

Ukraine . In the same army was included a con tingent of Poles disaffected by the Tsar’ s treat un ment of their co try, under the leadership of a of P ot ot ski powerful noble the ancient house of . During this skilful ly planned political - military — campaign wherein the diplomacy of Charles is plainl y visible orders were given to spare the Poles and Cossacks of the invaded districts while punishing without mercy the Russian troops and

r thei adherents . This scheme, however , did not coincide with the time - honoured methods employed b of y the Tartars in their war fare . The subj ects the Khan and the even less disciplined Z aporo gians soon began to indulge their talents for ruth less pillage, and following a few slight military

s succe ses in the beginning of the campaign , the allied armies di spersed in search of plunder . This enabled these scattered bands to be easily defeated by regu lar Russian troops under Prince Galitzine

1 34 THE COSSACKS been for the fascinations and diplomacy of his new un wife , the Empress Catherine, and the wholly of expected clemency the Turkish vizir, Tsar Peter “ — no longer the Great woul d probably have

r ended his career a p isoner in Constantinople . At the cost of nearly all the ready money in his won treasury, a dearly military reputation and a disastrous treaty , the emperor of all the Russias was at last enabled to retur n to his dominions in of spite of the frenzied protests the Swedish king . By the humiliating terms of the temporary peace “ of Falkse n , which closed these negotiations, the Russians retur ned the for tresses of Azov and Tag

nr o mi a g , com and ng the littoral of the Black Sea , to the Turks . In the same document they promised “ ” not to infri nge the liberties of the Cossacks of Poland nor those under the protection of the Khan of Crimea . But these advantages the Zaporogians o enj oyed for only a brief period . By the terms f of l the Treaty Pruth a more regu ar arrangement, f ar con less favourable to the Free Cossacks , was cluded between the Tsar, the Khan of Crimea and the Porte . The Tsar was allowed to keep Kiev, together with the castles and fortified places de fending the surrounding provinces as far south as “ ” r Samara and O el . To the Free Cossacks was assigned a territory with vaguely defined bound ff aries , forming a bu er state between the Southern province belonging to the Tsar and the Turkish provinces of the Black Sea and the Crimean lit THE END OF THE FREE U KRAINE 1 35

toral . A final clause , highly galling to the national

of r susceptibilities the brothe hood , engaged the Tsar on one hand and the Khan and Sul tan on the other to repress and punish any invasion by the Zaporogians across the border s of the ter r itory set u se aside for their . These measur es wer e fatal to li k ’ O r c s dream of an independent Cossack p rinci lit p a y and put an end f or the time being to further military activities on the part of his turbulent followers . Al though the Zaporogians had voluntarily

r r sought the p otection, rathe than an alliance with , the Turks and Tartars , and could therefor e hope for no special favour s from these tr aditional ene — mies , they appear nevertheless to have felt

r r greatly aggrieved at thei t eatment . A special cause of complaint was the too ready acquiescence of r r r their commander, O lick, in every new equi e

of . r r e ment the Turks The Hetman , in o der to

r s main in favour with the Po te , even con ented to

r r r r allow the Cossacks to be dep ived of thei a tille y, while constant dr ill and reviews enfor cing the irk some Turkish discipline in their ranks wer e looked upon as an infringement of their easy- going mili ” t h e tary privileges . Although Free Companions were soon weary of an alliance or tutelage which so estr anged them fr om their fellow - Coss acks of r r in Russia , during the lifetime Pete the G eat their overtures of peace were tr eated with contempt . It was not until the year 1 732 that events occur r ed 1 36 THE COSSACKS

’ which caused a modification in Russia s policy of u towards them . On the death Aug stus II ( to whom the Tsar had gi ven the crown of Poland after Poltava) the Polish republic had relapsed into the customary state of anarchy which preceded the election of every new candidate to the vacant throne . Another king, Augustus III , was soon R e imposed upon the Poles by the Russian armies . senting this act of arbitrary power, a party among the Polish nobility and peasants now resolved once more t o ask for the help and intervention of the

Tartars and Cossacks . of l of In view the possibi ity such an invasion, the ministers of the Empress Ann were more ready than their predecessors to negotiate with the Zap

r ians f a or o og . A Russian o ficer visited the Z p o f or at man gian camp with regalia and presents the a and the chiefs of the K ou r ens Not onl y was an “ ” invitation extended t o the Free Companions t o

r r e - retu n to their old allegiance , and to establish the sit ch on r Russian territo y, but a present of several million roubles was also offered towards the r e building and equipment of their camp below the of cataracts the Dnieper . In order to counteract the success of these nego t iat ions , the Sultan sent messengers from Constan t inople charged with even richer presents than those ff o ered by the diplomats of the Russian mission . But the Cossack leaders repulsed the Turk ish overtures with scorn , and , loud in their expres

1 38 THE COSSACKS It will readily appear from the preceding para graphs that the old characteristics of the sit ch a border garrison drawn from the Cossack frontier settlements of the Ukraine as a protection against the raids of Tartars had by this time wholly dis appeared . The Zaporogians had become in the course of time little mor e than an organized band of

r uffians border , anxious only to sell their services to the best advantage . Their conduct during the year s of their association with the Porte had more

r r old over est anged them f om their neighbours . It is even doubtful whether the true “ Cossacks ” in their ranks represented any element but the offscourings and incorrigibles of the Ukrainian Cossack vill ages and farmsteads . The last occasion on which the Zaporogians were reg ul arly employed as auxiliar ies by the Russian government was in the war which broke out between

Russia and the Porte . The open violation of the ’ of b su c ce ssors t h e Treaty Pruth y Peter s , Empresses A nn Elizabeth and , left no other course open to the

Sultan but war . In the famous campaigns which Miinnich ensued , planned by General , the Turkish provinces of the Black Sea and the ter ritories of the

Khan of the Crimea were overrun and devastated . Near ly eight thousand Zaporogians shared the ditfi c ult ie s of and the privations the expedition , and their knowledge of the peculiar tactics of desert v war far e made them of great ser ice . of c At the siege Ochakov, an operation arried on THE END OF THE FREE UKRAINE 1 39

se a r by land and , the Zapo ogians constructed a fleet of their famous long boats and in these fragile craft boldly attacked the Turkish fleet . As at the of di siege Azov, the sconcerting movements of this light flotilla succeeded in inflicting heavy damage l of upon the gal eons the enemy . The char acter istic reward received for these actions is se t down by Lesur in the following terms : “ ‘ ’ Letters patent of satisfaction ; a great stand ard embroidered with the arms of Russia ; a hor se tail Cossack standard enr iched with gold ; an enam e lle d bundchuk or koshevo se v a mace for the y, and eral millions of roubles as a gratification for the ‘ ’ Free Companions . At the same time A nn is reported to have caused herself to be inscribed as of sit ch r in a member the a st ange distinction, ”

nl n . deed , for this woma ess commu ity in r i However, by thus aiding the dest uct on of

r of ri their t aditional foes , the Tartars the C mea , the Zaporogians had at the same time removed the principal reason for whi ch their unrul y gar rison r had so long been tolerated . The passing of f ontier conditions along the borders of the Ukr aine ine v it ably led to the di sappear ance of the Zapor ogian t h of si c , the classic stronghold Cossack liberties and traditions .

r , In 1 768 , in a last bu st of Zaporog ian fury the garrison of the sit ch had fallen upon the hap “ A ll less fr ontiers of the Poli sh Ukraine . who were not of the Greek religion , including old men, 1 40 THE COSSACKS

women , children , nobles , servants , monks , labourers , artisans , Jews , Catholics , Lutherans , were mas sacred without di stinction . The entire province presented the appearance of a city taken by as ” ul . sa t . ( Lesur ) di The lust for plunder, masquera ng under the excuse that their co- religionists were persecuted by

of . the Poles , was the cause this outrage Such bar b ar it y sent a thrill of horror through all the civilized courts of Europe . So g reat was the indignation that the Empress Catherine hastened formally to disclaim all responsibility f or the behaviour of her ul Zaporogian subj ects . Russian reg ar troops were sent to surround the isolated bands returning to the si t ch of , and besides depriving them their loot , forced the maj ority of the best troops to enroll in

’ the sternl y disciplined Cossack slovodmregi nl ments of the Ukraine . O y the outbreak of an other Tur kish war saved the sit ch from further r e r l p isa s. A sudden attack by Turks and Tartars on n the new frontier provi ces , coinciding with the strange revolt of the wild Cossacks of the Asiatic “ frontier under P oug at ch ev the false Peter the ” Third deferred this righteous execution .

Representations were , however, made to induce “ the Zaporogians to conform t o the laws of civiliza ” tion . In vain they obj ected that their organiza tion had always existed as it stood . Their peculiar discipline ( or rather the lack of military rul es ) they justified by the successes of their tactics against the

1 42 THE COSSACKS of the sit ch now form part of the Russian govern ” " f E kat e rinasl av . ment, o , Kherson and Tauride The conditions of the Cossacks living in the

r s 1 775 An uka se i ssued by Cathe ine in Augu t , , con h e tains a ca r eful analysis of h e r political r ea son s f or t s It m s mr r r annihilation of t h e Zapo ogian . e bodie , o eove , an inter e sting r eview of t h e hi sto r y of t h e sit c h which h a s

r mt h e s s for t h e r r s s gener ally fo ed ba i a e tudie dealing T h e ss with thi s subject . following edifying pa age would mr ss m t h e me m t h e see to indicate that e p e laid uch of bla f or t h e diso r de r ly conduct of t h e Zapo r ogians upon their m s r s u s r epugnance f or fa ily life Hi to ian tell that s ks r m r t h e Cos t h e Zapo r ogian Co s ac once fo ed pa t of

ss r r s s r s acks of Little Ru ia , but that they afte wa d epa ated s mr s s ms r m themselve s f o the e and adopted anne and cu to h r mr r m at W t e ul of thei r own . hile fo e e ained faithf ly r h e r s s m r s t t a ch ed to thei ove eign , latte e tabli hed the t h e r s of t h e D r r s elve s beyond cata act niepe , whe e , having m r mr r m little b y little aug ented thei nu be , they finally fo ed r k ss a s s r it s a wa li e and political a ociation , ingula in

s ms a s wa s r r t h e s t h e r r cu to it cont a y to view of C eato . T h e o r dinances which tend to facilitate t h e p r opagation e ms s r s r b t h e Z a r of t h hu an pecie we e not con ide ed y po o ns t h e r r ul s t h e s s m gia . One of p incipal e of e tabli h ent fo r bade t h e Co ss acks to br ing with themfr omt h e U kr aine

r s or r . s ss k s m thei wive child en Thi Co ac cu to , r s m which a o e fr o a desir e not t o expo se their familie s t h e r t h e m r r mr r to fu y of ene y, and in o de to i p ove thei s b r mr mms s wa s di cipline y f eeing the f o do e tic tie , finally r aised to t h e place of a ca r dinal p r 1nc 1pl e by t h e Zapor o

i s . r t h e r k s r e n g an Th ough wo ing of thei law , which r r joined celibacy , they fo got thei native land and lived on t h e sho r es of t h e D nieper in a state of absolute ” r r s s i e pon ibility . THE END OF THE FREE U KRAINE 1 43

' settlements or st amtzi of Little Russia differed but little at the end of the eighteenth century from that of O nodvor tzi or - of the , peasant proprietors Greater o Russia . From the account f contemporary

r writers , it would appear that the wa like qualities which formerly distinguished the Ukraine — fos t e r e d by a life of continual campaigning against their numerous enemies had lar gely disappeared under the conditions brought about by the long enforced peace following the firm establishment of

Russian rul e . The old system of land tenur e was fast disap pearing and great estates had alr eady been formed from Cossack land and granted to Russian ‘ and

Polish nobles . Moreover at this time the ancient territory of the Free Ukraine was invaded on all e n sides by the advance of Russian colonists . An tire new province , known as New Servia, was thus settled on the Turkish frontiers with a population drawn from the Chr istian provinces of Turkey and

peasants of Northern Russia . In order to estab

lish these newcomers as quickly as possible , Cath erine sent regiments of dragoons to plough and

sow these fertile territories long uncultivated owing

to fear of the Mussulman . is Internal change also threatened the ch aract er tic civilization of the Cossacks of Little Russia . During the short -lived rule of Peter III an attempt was made to introduce a system of nobility among i the officers of the Cossack reg ments , undermining 1 44 THE COSSACKS the democratic principle of equality which had formed one of the strongest traditions of Cossack

i . l fe Under Catherine the Great, even more stren u ou s measur es were taken to wipe out all diff er ence s between the Ukraine and the neighbouring

Russian provinces . During the strange parliament summoned at Petrograd by the Empress (in an access of what she ” “ flattered herself was liberalism ) we find r epre ” sentatives from the U kraine Cossacks among the delegates forcibly gathered to deliberate upon a ” o general system f laws for the people of Russia . of Proud their national customs and regulations , the Cossacks of the Ukraine appear t o have st r e nu ou sly resisted all these innovations . But the ter ’ R oumianzov now r ible , Catherine s favourite min not l f or ister, would a low this imperial passion i Co r eform to be den ed . The delegates from the s sack provinces were dragged to the capital in chains and forced t o take part in the debates under f the guard o Russian troops . As a result of their strange deliberations a new code of laws was adopted for the Ukraine , in which the ancient cus toms of the Cossacks were given little consideration . Thus a new impetus was given the great migration of Cossacks towards the Caucasus and the Kou ban beyond the settlements of the Don where their descendants have preserved their customs t o the present day.

1 46 THE COSSACKS military leadership which the Bolshevik chieftains of the present day might well envy . Above all he appears as a master of the note of religious appeal which in Russia must always accompany “ popular” success an appeal recalling the dominant note of Russian life, whether made in the name of a

s of schi m in the Orthodox Church , on behalf some socialist doctrine like that preached to - day in the “ ”Ie form of a gospel according to Mar x ? After the partition of Poland and the suc ’ cess of Catherine s ar mies during their Polish cam

ai ns p g , every curious detail with respect to the “ vast empire governed by The Semiramis of the ” Nor th was eager ly sought after and commented

of cor upon in the distant capitals Europe . The respondence which the Empress Catherine con sc ie nt iou sl y maintained with Voltaire and Diderot ,

f r e re besides her letters to Grimm , her uno ficial p

’ m t h e r s ks i s A ong autho boo an edition ( in Ge r “ of ml T h e man s r r or ) a pa ph et entitled Fal e Pete Thi d , t h e L r s t h e Ye mel a n P ou a t ~ ife and Adventu e of Rebel y g ” “ r s b S e ff e r chev . O iginally publi hed in England , y y t in ’ r s ms r s W s r k wa s r s Angel Cou t , e t in te , thi wo t an r r m D l t h e lated into F ench , Ge an and utch . A though style of it s content s sca r cely r ises above t h e des c r iption s “ ” - — contained in t h e Chap Books of t h e time dealing with t h e life and death of celeb r ated c r iminal s t h e e x

r aor dina r r s r s b t h e ms r t y inte e t a ou ed y now al o t fo got “ ” ten adventur e of t h e Co s sack u su r per obtained f or thi s biogr aphy a wide ci r culation f or sever al gener ations

r s following t h e st ange event s it de c r ibes . POUGAT CHEV sent at ive and accredited gossip in Paris kept this extraordinary woman constantly befor e the eyes of her contemporaries . For in spite of their fine con f or i tempt kings and kingsh p , the philosophers thus honoured were in no way averse to publishing the details of their literary intimacy with a powerful

. i on r sovereign Cather ne , the othe hand, for ever off b m cut y the circu stances of her position fr om the brilliant society sh e felt so well qualified to grace , seems to have been consoled by the thought that vicariously at least she had become known to salons of the Paris and London . Soc ial phil osophy was the fashionable distraction “ ” f - o the hour . Like the Parlor Bolsheviki of ou r own day, Catherine delighted in the parading b e fore her literary f r iends principles of the most ad v ance d and enlightened liber alism . Taking its tone fr om the dilet tant e reformers of the gar dens of rr of r s Versailles , the co espondence the Emp es Autocrat is constantly concerned with the soluti on of problems concerning the welfare of h e r fellow “ beings and the Rights of Man . The news which P ou at ch e v sh e herself announced of the revolt of g , bringing to the attention of these cour tly r epu bli cans the stirring of mighty p r imitive forces in the as se n depths of a wholly unknown Russia , came a ’ sat ional bit of news to Catherine s correspondents. In the doings of the mysterious beings known as ” Cossacks they may perhaps have r ecognized the embodiment of that str ange philosophical conce p 1 48 THE COSSACKS

e so tion , Primitive Man, whose virtues wer lauded by their oracle , M . Rousseau . And the fact that the hardy rebel chieftain ( the Cossack leader “ ” P ou at ch v to whom Catherine refers as M . g e ) actually claimed to be the husband of the Tsarina added an almost scandalous touch to a situation i of filled with every possibil ty interest . From the mass of exaggerations and fiction which have grown up about the great Cossack revolt and the person of P ou g at ch e v we may now t r y to clear away some of the inaccuracies with which the legends of the Chap - Books have overlaid as se t in t h established facts . Yet even forth e

r of pages of the j udicious histo ian the Cossacks , of Lesur, the barest report these doings would “ dl t o seem har y require literary embellishment . If audacity of character and conception and ex — cesses dictated by brutality and ferocity can on make a brigand worthy to figure in history, no e has more merited this deplorable honour than t h e ” “ subj ect of the present account . ( Histoire des

K osa u e s . q , Lesur ) eme l an P ou Y at ch e v t h y g , generally known by e m “ Y e me lka w Russian di inutive of his name , , as

' t 1 72 3 tz of Z imov born abou in the Cossack st ama, nika a on D on h j the . Enrolled at an early age in t e Cossack regiment to which this district was obliged it s to furnish quota , he followed the campaigns and ’ shared in the honors gained by Catherine s armies during the Seven Years ’ War and in the

1 50 THE COSSACKS medan conviction that t o die for the faith was the hi ghest form of happiness . To stop the spread of Raskolnik doctrine all kinds of limitations had been placed upon the ac t ivitie s of their missionaries . In many places they

r own we e forbidden to property, or when permit t o ted to do so were forced pay double taxes . In some towns it was enacted that , like Jews , the Raskolni ki must wear clothing of a distinguishing colour and fashion . These measures had the usual effect of religious per secution : increasing both their zeal and numbers . In the older provinces of the Ukraine the strong

r arm of the Orthodox Church , st engthened by the determination of Peter the Great to rule over a “ ” r i unifo m and rel giously united empire, reduced even the most fanatical opponent of his policy to

- silence or obedience . To the Puritan minded Ras ” kolniki existence in Holy Rus sia became int ol

r c able .

In the remote provinces of New Russia , along the Asiatic frontier, especially among the Cossacks of the J aik whose free traditions were opposed to n of a y infringement personal liberty , many Raskol niki who had fled f or refuge found that their teach ing met with particular successi ’

“ ” aik wa s t h e mb t h e r s r J na e y which p e ent Rive

r mr k t h e h e ss ks U r al wa s fo e ly nown and title of t Co ac

s s r s T h e r w im it . m U a s long settled on ho e na e of al b mr a s a n s m r t h e r po sed y i pe ial edict pu i h ent afte evolt P OUGAT CH EV 1 51

It was probably in the company of one of these bands that P oug at ch e v emigrated to this congenial r frontier atmosphe e . Here he was assur ed of a welcome both as a Raskolniki and as a Cossack who r ff had al eady su ered in the cause of liberty by r e n sisti g the har sh discipline of the slovodi of the

Don . i f o Even allow ng r a certain degree of religi ous ’ s P ou at ch ev s incerity in g beliefs , the cour se of con now duct he adopted tends to show that consider a n hi tions of morality entered very little i to s plans .

' his Jaikskoz P ou at Soon after arrival among the , g chev became the chief of a mixed band of Cossacks

r and frontiersmen who, on the p etence of levying toll or passage money from the mer chants tr avel ’ i - Ko l ng in the no man s land near the River nt ai, in reality carried on depredations worthy only of

a crew of bandits . For some time these str ange “ ” Puritans continued to spoil the Egyptians with w considerable success . In the end it as as a common

highwayman , rather than on account of any dan “ ” erou s g revolutionary activities , that he earned

ou at ch ev h a d s m b P A s led y g finally been ta ped out . an k s r smmr m ss r r exa ple of Co ac con e vati , y f iend P of . Bo odin ( a delegate of t h e U r al sk Co ssacks to t h e rmecent Congr ess r ms me h held in Pet r ogr ad) info that a ong t e fi r st

p r oject s ente r tained b y t h e l oc a l gat her ing of t h e Oos s acks in t h e town of U r al sk after t h e Ma r ch r evoluti on t h e c omm wa s a p r opo sal to change t h e official title of u “ m ss ks t h e ni mt h e n t y by r esu ing ancient a e of Co ac of

J aik . 1 52 THE COSSACKS the di stinction of being arrested by the authoritie s

za f or . and taken to Ka n j udgment Soon after, through the carelessness of the Russian officials in charge of his prison and the aid of fellow - Raskol niki , he managed to escape . Now began the career which h as given t o P oug i at ch ev such strange and terrible notoriety. H s e plan was to return, with as little delay as possibl , i J to the d stant Cossack bands of the aik, where, of ul among the malcontents the frontier, he co d resume his interrupted leadership . Disguised as a boatman he followed the great highway of the Volga and its tributaries until these carried him to a point where the settlements near t h e town of "6 iksk i Ja o could be reached .

His return came at an opportune moment . The Russian government had again attempted to intro duce among the unruly inhabitants of this thinly pop u lated province the same military reforms that had been imposed on the Cossacks of the Dnieper on of and D . Besides the settlements the ancient

J aikskoi , whose origin is traced from the remnants of of J Scythian tribes , Cossacks the lower aik included large numbers of runaway Russian serfs and religious refugees . Above all else they were a

- liberty loving race .

So identified h a d t h e Co ssacks become with t h e r iver ’ “ ” s r s r ms kl t r affic on the e g eat t ea that in H a u yt s Voyage s we find t h e Engli sh Mer chants Adventu r er s of t h e Mus c ov m r r r n r h v m r t e co pany efe i g to thei boat en unde “ m a sak s or b a r kme n na e of C .

1 54 THE COSSACKS selves ousted from great tracts of rang e neces rnm sary for their cattle , the gove ent had sought t o force them to more “ civil ized pursuits ” by cutting off the subsidies which had been allowed t o every head of a Cossack family in return for his military services against the neighbouring Turkoman tribes of ni men . The strong element Raskol ki among the Cossacks held to their beliefs with fanatical determination . These observances were often the cause of serious trouble with the authorities . Like ’ bo ars of the y Peter s time, the sectarians refused , “ on or n religious grounds , to shave trim the cor ers of the beard . When the military authorities were ordered to enroll these matchless horsemen into “ regiments of Hussars for service du ring the

r of Tu kish war, the first act the general in com one t h e mand ( a German, of many serving in Russian armies ) was to order that his bearded recruits be publicly shorn in the principal square of the town of Jaikskoi . His fixed belief that no hu ssaf could fight unless wearing moustaches pre scribed by the German regulations ended in the massacre of all the foreign officers engaged in r e cruit in g service . Only the arrival of regular troop s put an end to this mutiny . The leaders , enj oying of the approval and support the Cossacks , easily escaped to the neighbouring desert . In their secret headquarters on the Kirghiz

P ou at ch e v of re steppes , g j oined the leaders this ’ o volt . Al though in the eyes of the Tsarina s ffi POUGAT CH EV 1 55 cials P ou at chev nl g was o y an escaped convict , his “ prestige was now established among the Old B e ” lievers by the impr isonment he had suffer ed for his religious belief . Successful defiance of the reg ul at ions protecting the merchants on the caravan road was but an added title to their respect . Before long he found himself elected the leader of a band “ of desert Free Companions , who, with some pre tence of copying the organization and customs of the Zaporogian Cossacks , now declared themselves

r independent of all authority. Travelling me chants and caravans were attacked under the pretext of levying toll on all who ventured across their terri “ ” tory . Organized lifting of the cattle belonging to their more peaceful neighbours also furnished

of . the means an easy, even j oyous , existence 1 773 P ou at ch e v In the spring of the year g , per haps in order more formally to establish his leader of ship among his wild companions , or dreaming wider opportunities for his ambition , appears first to have conceived the planof appealing to their allegiance by claiming to be the mur dered Tsar ma Peter III . Wildly improbable as the scheme y

appear, it had , nevertheless , many features which u rr promised success . The circ mstances su ound r t ing the assassination of this unwo hy monarch , r e whom Catherine had supplanted , had always mained a disquieting mystery to the peasants of l ( f or Russia . According to popu ar belief but what historical reasons it is difficult to determine ) he 1 56 THE COSSACKS was generally supposed to have suff ere d martyr dom on account of his devotion to the cause of the “ ” peasant reforms . Among the Old Believers and the other strange sects which flourished on the

Russian borders , he was , moreover, greatly revered because of the leni ency he had shown to their n brethren duri g his brief and disordered reign . The manner in which the Empress had succeeded her unworthy husband on the throne had always been left unexplained by Catheri ne in her proclamations announcing this event in distant parts of the em pire . The belief appears to have existed that the rightful Emperor was only held in pri son by the f o ficials devoted to Catherine and her favourites . “ ” Thus the rumou r that Father Peter was still alive had probably long been current among the Cos sacks of the Asiatic frontier before P oug at ch ev sought to turn the legend to his own advantage .

P ou at ch ev f or or g , this device impersonation , could not even claim originality . Only a century — before the b oy Tsarevitch Dmitri murdered r G ou donov by his ambitious gua dian , Boris had been successfully irnpe r sonat e d by a mysterious personage known in history under the name of the ” i one False Dm tri . This was probably Gregory O st re ie v p , a young monk who , with the support of ul the Polish nobility ( whose cred ity, in view of of the questions policy it involved , it is unnecessary t o fathom ) , actually succeeded in revenging upon the son of the Russian usurper the crime to which

1 58 THE COSSACKS succeeded in backing up his pretensions with a Fal st affian army in whose ranks marched four or

- e five fellow pretenders , each impersonating som mil fi“ member of the imperial f a y It woul d seem highly probable that the traditions of these more or less successful impostors would have been preserved in the folk - songs and legends

’ of D on st amtz P ou at ch ev n. the a where g was bor In tur ning their example to account by attempting to exploit the be lated popularity of the ignoble husband of Catherine the Great , the bandit leader onl y followed a generally successful precedent well known in Cossack history . From the beginning P oug at ch e v seems to have found little difli cult y in inducing the maj ority of his companions to accept hi s pretensions to be Peter ul III , the rightf Tsar of Russia . While the Rus sian author ities tr eated with ridicule the bombast “ ” of the false monarch who , from his capital or of J aik dr encampment in the salt desert , ad essed e them in pompous manifesto s , new recruits flocked i to his standard in alarm ng numbers . Soon the Raskolniki and the eleme nt of di scontented peas a C nts and landless ossacks , to whom his eloquence i in was generally d rected , began to believe in the fallibility of this fierce desert Messiah . A few easily won military successes also added stability k to his throne . S ilfully choosing as the obj ect of his attacks the almost defenceless German colon “ m s de r ss 88 See Ra baud , Hi toi e Ru ia , page 2 . POUGAT CH EV 1 59 ist s i , establ shed by Catherine near the Free Cossack lands , and therefore obj ects of particular hatred — to the entire Cossack population, h e di r ected a r t o popular c usade restor e this territory to the pre viou s r . r um owne s His speedy t i phs were even “ ” r tempered with a ce tain royal clemency . Leaving i to his alien v ctims the bare necessities of existence ; in r eturn f or a promised tribute and the acknowl e d me nt g of hi s imper ial claims their lives wer e spared . At the same time a rich boot y p r ovided his foll ower s with much needed stor es and equip ment to continue their campaign . Al ong the course of the lower Jaik onl y the p rin c i al J aikskoi t o p town , , was able resist the fury ’ of P ou at ch e v s g attack . When summoned to sur “ ” in r of render the name of the Tsar, the leade s the garrison replied that they were t oo familiar wi th the name of P oug at ch ev and the reputation of the ruffians composing his band even to consider such l an impudent demand . In the face of this cha lenge , whether because he felt himself unprepared for a

or on ff siege , account of the possible e ect of the der isive rebuke he had received upon the allegiance of P ou at ch ev his followers , g now returned to his r desert str onghold , where he began busily rec uiting r i his forces for an attack upon Orenburg, the p n cipal town of the Russian frontier provincesm. The Governor of Or enbur g was at this ti e an r r officer in the regular Russian army, newly a ived and without experience in desert warfare . Under 1 60 THE COSSACKS estimating the force of a movement led by so ridi cu “ ” lous an individual as a false Peter III he ang rily ordered the small garrison of the t wo nearest fron tier outposts to proceed , without delay, against the of ni rebels . By a series light ng marches such as only Cossack troops are capable of performing P oug at ch e v succeeded in defeating first one and then the other of these detachments . The soldiers who volunteered to j oin his ranks were welcomed

of . among the armies the pretender The remainder, f including nearly all the o ficers , were pitilessly mas ne o sacred . ( When o recalls the composition f ’ l of Catherine s frontier armies , the lifelong exi e the serf- soldiers and criminals who served out their penal sentences in its ranks , it is in no way sur prising to learn that many disciplined recruits were gained by the rebels from prisoners and deserters from the imperial forces . )

Orenburg, the rich centre of an important group of caravan trails crossing the Turcoman deserts , although defended by a fortress and heavy earthen walls , was next attacked . Onl y the courageous conduct of the garrison of a neighbouring post whose defense delayed the advance of the Cossacks long enough to enable the governor to obtain rein ’ c forcements , saved the capital of Russia s Asiati ’ provinces from the fierce attack of P oug at ch ev s army. n n Followi g the conti ued success of their leader, these had now become a force by no means to b e

1 62 THE COSSACKS

The personality of P oug at che v had by this time become entirely merged in that of Peter III . Per haps deluded by some strange doctrine of trans substantiation , he appeared to have persuaded him of self of the actual truth his claims . His supporters among the Raskolniki enabled himto adopt the mi le of prophet as well as Tsar . Dressed in gor g e ou s pont ific al robes he distributed absolution and blessings on h is wild followers reduced t o a state of ’ P ushkin reverential awe by these mummeries . ( s “ ’ ” The Captain s Story, a piece of brilliant fiction on n founded profou d historical research, deals with these events . ) On his banners was inscribed in letters of gold “ ” the legend R edi vivus e t u lt or ( Resurrected and

- f avenging) . About his person high titled o ficers ffi im and attendants exercised their o ces real and ag inar of y . At meals Polish noblemen , authentic lin

c . of age , served him as lackeys To the sound trum pets and the beating of drums royal toasts were “ ” drunk to the future of the popul ar cause . In ove rmnent of hi s the g strange dominions a council of i of bo ars min sters , with the title y , carried out his orders and issued u kases in due form . An order of chivalry was established which conferred grand iloqu e nt titles upon Cossack peasants and Kal k mou c . P ou at h e v braves g c even succeeded in issuing a rough coinage bearing his effigy with the “ title Peter III Emperor of all the Russias . Had P oug at ch ev possessed the streng th of char POUGAT CHEV 1 63 acter necessary to maintain the rele he had first f a fected that of a religious and social reformer of the forces discontent might have gather ed fr om

r - all over Russia to his banne s . The long p r omi sed b reforms , demanded y the peasants , had been but ’ the amusement of Catherine s leisure . The endless formal enquiries and repor ts which sh e had caused to be drawn up with refer ence to taxation and peas “ ” ant emancipation, and the Congress to which del e at e s r g were d agged , sometimes in chains , to listen r nl to adulation of thei mistress , were o y intended by ’ “ r her courtiers to flatter the Tsa ina s liberalism . The signs of a deep rooted discontent with the li estab shed order was everywhere apparent . In spite of the grotesque pretensions which at ’ P ou at ch e v a n tended his career, g s crusade ag i st the nobles and landlords might have gathered a f or “ midable . following Like the False Dmitri , he now dreamed of Moscow and a thr one in the Kr em of r lin . The gravity the situation which conf onted

C . r atherine was , to a certain degree , admitted P oc l amat ions in which she at last condescended to no ’ P ou at ch ev s tice , and even argue , with respect to g claims to be Peter III now appeared . Although “ she wrote t o Voltaire of the doings of Monsieur ” at ou at ch ev r de P g , she was , neve theless , careful at “ the same time to war n her subjects to obey only ” the laws signed by my own hand . An appeal was

r Letter s of Cather ine to Voltai e . 1 64 THE COSSACKS also made to the Cossacks of the Jaik t o return to " their true allegiance . A measure far more dangerous t o t he cau se of the pretender was an offer of a tremendous reward roubles ) to be paid for his person or proof P ou at chev of his death . g , who could neither read nor write , caused a series of manifestos to be issued in answer to these u kases promising among other refor ms freedom of the serfs and restoration of all

Cossack privileges . This was a political move of i o no little sagacity . Even in the d stant parts f ’ “ ” European Russia P oug at ch e v s p r ogram was everywher e greeted with enthusiasm . ’ The chief danger to P oug at ch e v s cause was now to arise fr om his own natural ferocity of character and the unbreakable chains of brutal passions . his Imagining that kingly state was now assured , he allowed himself to indulge with impunity in the most outrageous debauchery . His conduct soon became a cause for scandal among the Raskolnik elders who had formed his first disciples . The “ ” unco guid of the Cossack community rigid f ol lowers of the text of the ancient Scriptures might condone acts of freebooting and pir acy which could be considered in accordance with the divine di “ ” or nance to spoil the Egyptians , but the spec ff tacle which their leader soon a orded them , and especially his amorous subjection to a notor ious of Jaikskoi of harlot , lost him the support these

”5 L s r 2 2 1 . e u , page

1 66 THE COSSACKS lowers barely succeeded in escaping t o the unknown country among the foothills of the Urals . Through the success of these military operations the great Cossack rebellion was generally supposed in Eu c P ou at ch e v rope to be at an end . But the ause of g had become identified with the wrongs of the peas f of of ants , the su ferings the enforced colonists the Siberian frontier and the “ privileges” of whi ch the

Cossacks felt themselves unjustly deprived . Even the wild tribes of Bashkirs and K almou cks inbah iting the deserts and steppes about Orenburg looked to P oug at ch e v to relieve them of the taxes ’ and tasks imposed upon them by Catherine s offi

r . r ce s His misfo tunes , moreover , had done much to wipe out the unfavour able imp r ession made by his

r excesses in the minds of the Pu itan Raskolniki . In ever—increasing numbers recruits once more

r b t avelled y desert ways , unknown to the Russians , “ ” of z to j oin the new Army Revenge . Fanatici ed by his indomitable eloquence and energy, his wild horsemen made a sudden descent upon the frontier blockhouses undeceiving the ofli cial s who had ’ thought P oug at ch e v s powers for mischief- making at an end . ’ This time the help of one of Russia s ablest gen e r al s , Michelson ( a soldier of Scottish descent, the

r oma z v R r o in favou ite pupil of the great ) , was voke d t o meet the situation . Wholly new tactics were adopted . " uantities of mounted tr oops were

mr u i p ovised from the foot regiments , and d ring a POUGAT CH EV 1 67 nn ru ing battle of thr ee days Michelson finally su c c e e de d r r his in co ne ing enemy . A crushing defeat put an end to the str ange car eer of the Cossack “ ” “ ’ ” redivzvu s r Peter III no mo e . P oug at ch e v r escaped , but veteran t oops , includi ng sever al r egi ments of Cossacks from the Don lately returned r r f om the Turkish wa s , were now used by the R u s sian author ities to hunt down the scatter ed bands of . r w the malcontents A last t agic episode as, how

- , ill of ever to be added to the fame the chieftain . The wrongs of the di spossessed Cossacks and

’ peasants who formed a large part of P oug at ch e v s armies , j ustified in a measure their actions and

n . s their revolt agai st tyranny But no cau e , how

r s r eve j ust, could long pro per unde such a leader . “ ” r s To the last , the ca eer of the Cos ack Tsar r e mains unr elieved by a single r ay of noble or gener “ ” ou s r intention . Seldom was a popula her o so

o r n unworthy f his oppo tu ities . The news of the ’ final defeat of P oug at ch e v s armies was coupled of r r his r e with that a brutal mu de which , even in

l r treat , he paused to accomplish . The phi osophe wh o Lowitz , , with a few learned companions , had been engaged in sur veying a route f or a canal to j oin the great highway of the Volga with the Black “ ” r r b r Sea , was su p ised y the fleeing Tsar Pete

wr r savant v dur ing this o k . The celeb ated to gi e point to a br utal jest w as imp aled U pon a l ong “ ” stick in or der to continue star gazing . ’ P oug at ch e v s intemperate and br utal nature was 1 68 THE COSSACKS also the cause of his final capture . In spite of the ul reward set upon his head, three faithf compau ions had shared with him the dangers and priva in tions of hi s flight . While lurking hiding among of the salt lakes not far from the Jaik , one these three overcome by fatigue and the hopelessness — of their situation dared to suggest to his chief

P ou the advisability of considering a surrender . g at ch e v , perhaps thinking to overawe his comrades , without hesitation drove his dagger into the ’ speaker s throat . The companions of the murdered man now threw themselves on their leader and binding him with ’ n dl him his own horse s rei s and bri e, carried to the

r Z ah arov Russian troops unde General , com k k i ai s o . manding the town of J From this place , “ ’ ” which had been the scene of Peter III s wildest exploits and excess successes , he was carried to

Moscow in an iron cage , a species of terrible show

t o . and example all the villages ~along the way In captivity P oug at ch ev showed the p sych ologi cal transformations so cormnon to wild and br utal him natures . His j ailers and those who visited in his of prison were astonished to find , instead the ter rible monster created by popular belief , a mild and of cring ing convict continually hopeful a reprieve . Yet the extraordinary powers of persuasion or personal magnetism of which the Cossack leader was master wer e to be exercised even upon his “ executioner . The sentence passed upon the False

CHAPTER IX

T H E H E T MAN PLA T OV

N the days of public r ej oicing following the Peace of Paris no hero of the ar mies of the Grand Coalition which had overthrown Napoleon enj oyed such unr ivalled popularity as the Hetman

of of . Platov , the leader the Cossacks the Don The versions of his terrifying exploits which became curr ent in Europe were often so exaggerated that the hetman — like Mazeppa — b egan to be considered by a later gener ation as a character in

. l in own fiction A ways modest his accounts , Platov

V i o r became the ict m f overzealous biog aphers . It is only l n recent years that writers of his own race have succeeded in making clear the histor y of the stirr ing events in which he took part and the im portant militar y r file played by the Cossacks during the retreat of the French from Moscow . ’ Dur ing P l at ov s visit to England in the personal

l r suite of the Emperor A exander, his fame th eat ened to eclipse even the reception accor ded to the “ ” r Tsar Idealist himself . At a memo able race meeting held in Ascot in the year 1 8 1 5 the hetman was almost mobbed by his admirer s : his arr ival was greeted by a tempest of cheers so prolonged that 170 T HE HETMAN PLATOV

1 72 THE COSSACKS by his biographers that the elder Platov knew h ow to read and write , advantages which he took pains Mat ve i r or son . to secu e f his , young Ivanovitch But ’ in the warlike times of Catherine s reign school days

' wer e necessar ily brief in all Cossack st anitzz on the f u Don . At the age of thirteen we find the ture hetman serving as a private in the ranks of the

T ch e rkask r egiment . Like all tr ue Cossacks Platov welcomed the end of the long peace which was marked by the out

of r r k . r break the fi st Tu ish war Great, therefo e , was his disappointment when the elder Platov was summoned ( on account of his knowledge of the frontier conditions ) to the general staff in Pet ro in son grad , so that his absence his became charged i ’ f with the direction of the fam ly s modest a fairs . It ’ was in disobedience , therefore, of his father s orders that in 1 770 Platov j oined his old comrades - in- arms n in the Crimea , where they were then serving u der

m D ol or ou ki the co mand of the Russian General g .

His stay at the main front was , however, not a

r one of p olonged , for we next hear him stationed among the frontier garrisons of Cossack troops on the shores of the Kouban . With them he engaged in a brisk little campaign against the war like moun t aine e r o ac coma s f the Caucasus , a never failing p ’ nime n t of Russia s wars against the Sultan . Duri ng the years 1 775 - 1 777 Platov served with the Russian troops engaged in hunting down the of rebellious Cossacks the Jaik , who under their THE HETMAN PLATOV 1 73

P ou at ch ev unworthy leader, g , were defending their right to follow out their own religious customs and beliefs . After the capture and execution of the ” False Tsar Peter, Platov continued t o ser ve in

r i the border garrison along the Kouban , ea n ng dis tinction and exper ience in campaigns against the

Le s hians courageous Tcherkess, g and the other n of mou tain tribesmen these romantic r egions . The outbreak of Catherine ’ s second war against the Turks was welcomed by Platov as offer ing an opportunity f or more rapid promotion . At the famous siege of O t ch akov he found himself pr o 1 789 moted t o be a colonel of Cossacks , and in (when his regiment captured the famous Turkish gener al Gazan Pasha) Potemkin consented to lend r him his powerful support , the surest road to fu ther r r promotion . To please her favou ite the emp ess “ appointed Platov Hetman of all the Cossacks of i r the Don , and to th s title was sho tly added that of Governor of the province of Ekater inoslav . A few months after this event the young het man ’ s reputation for personal br avery and his con tinned warlike success caused Cather ine to express “ a wish to meet the most famous Cossack of her hi armies This high compliment , w ch was con veye d t o Platov through his protector, Potemkin , involved a long and tedious journey to Petr ograd . At cour t he was received with favours which mig ht well have turned the course of his career, or even 1 74 THE COSSACKS engaged him in a dangerous rivalry with his patron the favourite .

The great Catherine , although by no means in in her first youth , had never ceased to show her t e re st in gallant and especially in handsome wh o soldiers . For those bravely served her o S o she considered no reward t o exalted . pleased was the Empress with the young Cossack ’ s martial yet modest bearing that sh e even accorded him of the honour personally conducting him thr ough the marvels of the imperial apartments . b umme d For nearly a week the Winter Palace with the news of his good fortune . Ambassadors of Great Powers began t o conce rn themselves with “ ” a possible change in the i mper ial policy of the day . But age had not made Catherine more con of stant . Soon tiring the simple and soldierly of manners her new favourite , an intimation that sh e would no longer detain him from his military

r duties ended his brief career as a cou tier . We can well imagine with what relief young Platov quitted of a the stifling atmosphere the Winter Pal ce , heavy with scent and intrigue , to breathe once more the of pure breezes the Don steppes . ’ Yet this interlude in P l at ov s military career does not seem to have caused him to lose the favour of

cu o the powerful Potemkin . In their cynical j y “ ” of ment power, the group of ministers surround

r ing the Emp ess had little time f or j ealousy . Under Z oub ov , another favourite promoted by Catherine

1 76 THE COSSACKS

- fitt in war fare . These were replaced by tight g u Prussian military t nics , plaited queues , buckled shoes , gaiters and the awkward beaver hats worn ’ " by Frederick s troops of the line . How seriously the Emperor was attached to these military details is shown by his treatment of the

r S ouvarov of veteran gene al , hero a hundred vic t oriou s wh o r f or com battles , was sent to Sibe ia “ posing a little rhyme in which the virtues of wig ” “ ” powder and gun - powder were somewhat di sre spe ct fully compared . “ Russia no longer looks for conquest, nor war ” r like agg andizement only for peace . This was the platitudinous message which Paul ’ s diplomats were instructed to deliver to a distracted Europe " In pur suit of his mania for undoing the schemes of r his great p edecessor, the Russian troops on the frontiers of Per sia were so abruptly withdrawn

r n that the b ave little ki gdom of Georgia , which for centur ies had formed the bul wark of Chris t ianit y against the forces of Islam , was left to bear , almost without warning , the brunt of the uneven struggle .

our During this time the subj ect of sketch , the ’ of r Hetman Platov, like many others Cathe ine s party, had the misfortune to fall under the morbid of i displeasure the Emperor . No reasons were g ven f or the order which exiled him to the provincial

r capital of Kostroma , f om which place he was soon m “ ” s r ss 51 3 . See Ra baud , Hi toi e de Ru ie , p . THE HETMAN PLATOV 1 77 afterwards brought under heavy guard to Petro in grad and imprisoned the fortress of St . Peter " and St . Paul . Platov has himself descr ibed the painful condi f tions o his captivity passed in company with many ’ f of other distinguished o ficials Catherine s reign . How this second involuntary stay in the capital mu st have r ecalled str ange memor ies of his fir st visit " “ Even in Summer the dampness and cold which radiate fr om the walls of ou r p r isons pene

r trate to the ve y bones . In the hot season we all

r r . ou r suffer f om feve In winter, however, condi tion is far worse . We must then huddle together

r about the stoves to keep from f eezing, in spite of the blinding sting of the wood smoke which fills our of cells . Nearly all us are half blind from this

r cause . Our only dist action is to watch the antics

o . r f the rats These are everywhe e , but though at l first odious , they have fina ly became my most sympathetic companions . ’ Like many another brave soldier of Catherine s

r r r a my, Platov might have emained fo gotten among the sad company gathered in this famous s for tress until death released him , had not a fre h ’ turn in the weather- vane of Paul s foreign policy incidentally recalled himto his sovereign ’ s

t am It i s now known that Platov wa s accused of Kalmouk per ing with t h e loyalty of t h e Ki r ghiz and a mo u mt h e s s r h d sm t r ibe en with who hone t oldie beco e p p

m t h e . l a r dur ing his ca paign along Kouban 1 78 THE COSSACKS

of memory . The course the French Revolution had been di verted by the personal ambitions of Bonaparte into channels more acceptable to Paul ’ s t r e ach autocratic vi ews . Moreover the cowardice or ery shown by his Austrian all ies during the cam paig n against the French in Switzerland had cooled ’ his enthusiasm f or the Hapsburgs . Napoleon s great victory over the Austr ian armies at Mar engo

. am w as applauded all over Russia The English

as ador b s , always alert to note the varying changes ’ “ of Paul s enthusiasms , now reported that por traits of Bonaparte are found even in the public rooms of the imperial palaces .

on r no o or Bonaparte , the othe hand , lost pp t unit y to reconcile Paul to the great changes which had taken place since the Revolution on the map

r of of Eu ope . Soon after an interchange notes marking beyond a doubt the new di sposition of the f Russian foreign o fice , the courts of Europe heard with astonishment of a “ great proj ect” upon which the armies of France and Russia were about to embark . From the correspondence which was now exchanged between Paul and Napoleon with r e spect t o an invasion of India it is difficult to deter mine h ow deeply Napoleon entered into the pr ac of i tical details the adventurous scheme . H s doubts concerning its successful outcome are everywhere apparent . But as a diversion likely to trouble pub

r r lic opinion in G eat B itain , and as a lure whereby the Russian monarch might be more firmly attached

1 80 THE COSSACKS thr ough the country under the j urisdiction of the T powerful Khans of Khiva and Bokhara . o co operate with this difficult campaign the hetman of of D on D e ni ssov the Cossacks the , Orlov , was or dered to proceed at once to Orenburg . of ffi The soldier who , all his o cers , could best

r out aid the empero in carrying the proposed plan , w r as a forgotten p isoner in the fortress of St . Peter

- l . T o and St . Pau transfer the ex hetman Platov fr om a prison cell to the command of an important militar y expedition was an act which presented no

r incong uities to a convinced autocrat like Paul .

r nl The imp isoned Cossack chieftain , thus sudde y dr awmn fr om the society of rats and convicts by a sum ons to the Imperial Council , was confident that his last hour had come . Shaved and dressed in

- — his old fashioned uniform scorning the assur anecs of his j ailers he bade farewell to his com

r rades , and marched b avely forth to his expected

. r r m execution His su p ise may be i agined when he found himself suddenl y introduced by a side door

r to the Winte Palace , where , after a meal such as

f or di he had not enj oyed months , he was led rectly

r of into the p ivate study the Emperor . Reassured by the Emperor ’ s manner ( which as Platov himself tells us seemed t o ignore both the ’ ’ hetman s past wrongs and Paul s share therein ) the pr isoner of yester day was invited to give hi s opinion upon the intricate military aff airs which ’ now engaged the Tsar s attention . THE HETMAN PLATOV 1 81

On the table before the strangely assorted pair wmere spread out the only available maps of the al ost unknown regions of Asia where Paul had

n r fil e plan ed to initiate the of Alexander the Great .

No one knew better than Platov himself the unsur “ f of mountable di ficulties these desert wastes . Her e is the path I have chosen for you — the route of ” l dram A exander the Great, said the Emperor ati ?” . t o cally Can you follow it, India Al though recognizing at a glance the military faults and incongr uities of the scheme p r oposed by the Emperor Paul , Platov ( as he declar es in “ hi s memoirs ) was fully resolved t o follow any line

' r r P e t e which led away f om the p ison of St . r and ” l r St . Pau . Without fu ther committing himself he gr avely nodded his approval of ever ything the

r r r impe ial strategist had p oposed . More than eve satisfied with his own plan and his manner of choos

t o r out r r s ing a general car y it , the Empe o di missed ’ P l at ov s hi s late prisoner . On the lapel of coat , stained and discoloured by the smoke and dirt of his

i . prison , glittered the h gh Russian order of St John im of Jerusalem . In his pocket was a draft on the l perial treasury f or an a most unlimited amount , and a snuffbox or namented with the insignificant r r features of his master . It is mo e than p obable that Platov, whose breast had already been deco rated by the great Catherine “with as many crosses ” f or r as a graveyard , cared but little these honou s compared to the liberty he thus so strangely regained . 182 THE COSSACKS

Without waiting the expiration of the three days graciously allowed him in Petrograd, the hetman one se t out for the Don, where he was received as returni ng from the dead . Cutting short all demon st rat ions of welcome he began at once to gather the ni tr oops of the warlike commu ty, without , however , disclosing the obj ects of the ill - planned campaign r upon which they were to set forth . Eve y Cossack capable of carrying a lance was ordered to report n at a given rendezvous , bri ging with him two ’ horses and six weeks provisions . In the month of 1 80 1 January, , Cossacks of the Don were able to set forth on their long march towards the o deserts f Asia . B akmet iev In Orenburg the Russian governor, , had assembled provisions , camel transport and even a cor ps of interp r eters speaking the languages or dialects of the numerous tribes whose count ries t they were to traverse . Before their depar ure fr om the fortress a letter from Paul was read prom “ ” of ising the Cossacks all the riches India . Plung ing boldly into the ahnost trackless wilderness that lay beyond the frontier outposts the Russian troop s travelled like mariners across an unknown sea, or o t h marching, rather navigating, by means f e compass and observed positions of the stars . On the horizon hovered great bands of horse K almou k i c s men , Bashkirs and , aston shed to see a body of troops so numerous that they coul d not be attacked by any known tactics of desert warfare .

1 84 THE COSSACKS

At last the hetman was obliged t o yield t o the demands of the mutineers . Glad of an excuse which hindered him from further carrying ou t of plans he considered impossible execution, he ordered that a camp be formed to rest the tired h hor ses and attend to the sick . At the same time e sent out scouts and patrols in order to obtain news ’ A l l of Knorring s expedition . soon realized that this halt was but the preliminary to an inevitable u return . In the mirage which ha nted the desert horizon Platov now began to se e once more the slender golden spire which crowns the grim sil honette of the fortress of St . Peter and St . Paul . It was at this critical juncture that a messenger arrived with the welcome news of the sudden death of the Russian Emperor . Paul had been the vic tim of a palace revolution which resulted in seating hi s son , the popular young Grand Duke Alexander,

on . the throne All Russia breathed more freely, of but nowhere , we may be sure , was the news this change more welcome than in the famine - stricken e camp where , on the pitiless Turcoman d sert , the uncalculating ambition and faulty geography of a tyrant had engaged the Cossacks of the Don in a hopeless quest . Thus ended the first and last at

fir m t h e r s r s t h e belief in uncanny powe of yellow ace . mi r T h e t h e r r r s s Kalmou c k ag c lo e of Ta ta p ie t and b onzes is r s t h e r s da m held in high e pect to p e ent y a ong t h e s r s s s s t h e ss r r upe titiou pea ant of Ru ian f ontie . See ’ “ ” M. r r s . P . P ice Sibe ia THE HETMAN PLATOV 1 85

of b tempt an invasion of India y land , a plan which , of r since the days Peter the G eat , had tempted the

of r ambition succeeding Russian sove eigns . T h e years that ensued between the events just related and the outbreak of the Napoleonic war s of

’ 1 80 7- 1 8 1 2 were per haps the happiest of P lat ov s “ life . The Russian biographer assur es us the het man was looked upon by the Don Cossacks as a father to whom the wants of all the Cossacks were ” th e of own as well known as needs his family . The peaceful duties of admini strating the Cossack st an itai kept him mor e busily employed than dur ing his most energetic campaigns . The capital of the Don

N ovot ch e rkask his provinces , , was moved under

it s direction to present site , and the ancient capital , u of always subj ect to the in ndations the Don, n of was abandoned . The fou dations several n important public buildi gs were laid, and among s the first of these a cathedr al and public school . The education of the Cossack childr en was the sub ’ s j cet of the hetman s par ticular attention . A chool system was organized caring for the needs of the

n z childr en in the most remote st a it i . Those who could not otherwise secur e the services of a teacher were brought to N ovot ch erkask at the public ex pense . At the same time Platov used all his powerfu l influence to preserve the traditions of Cossack na

t ional life . To those who wished to change the ” “ old frontier ways he pointed ou t that it was only 1 86 THE COSSACKS their military organi zation which diff erentiated t he n Cossacks from the surrounding peasant populatio , whose abj ect condition they all despised . Towards f wh o a class of young Cossack o ficers , thought by abandoni ng their characteristic uniforms and by imitating the ways and manners of the local Rus sian nobility to raise themselves above their fellows , he was especially severe . Recognizing that in uni versal service —the basis of the Cossack system of land tenure — lay their chief usefulness to the

Russian state , he mercilessly enforced the disci t o pline necessary ensure their privileged position . Even at the present day the lessons taught by the worthy hetman are playing their part in keeping the Cossacks alive to their duties in the great strug gle which Russian democracy is waging against of Bolshevism and the poison Marxian Kultur . At the outbreak of the first Russian campaign 1 80 7 against the Emperor Napoleon , in , Platov i of . was nearly s xty years age He might , there f or fore , have honourably asked permission to con u e n t in his calm and useful retirement . But like a other famous Cossack leader, Mazeppa , his most renowned exploits were to be performed after the age when a general and especially a leader of light cavalry is considered unfit f or active se r ’ vice . During the Turkish wars Russia s Cossack cavalry and the peculiar tactics which their officers had perfected had aroused the interest of military students all over Europe . But although invaluable

1 88 THE COSSACKS

nl the Kouban , the Terek and the Urals . But o y a leader enj oying their respect and confidence coul d i turn their m litary talents to the best account . ’ P l at ov s personal popularity and prestige made him an invaluable leader of these redoubtable squadrons among whom the free Cossack spirit t oo often degenerated into license and indiscipline . hi of n For t s reason, in spite his adva ced years , out u ov him K o s urged to take part in the coming campaign . In treating of the glorious campaign of 1 8 1 2 the up r ising of the entire Russian nation against Napoleon ’ s ambition for World Power only the part played by the Cossack tr0 0 ps will be consid

i - six ered here . Th rty thousand Cossacks formed the vanguard of the heroic army which first ad vance d against Napoleon . These were divided into lki “ fifty p o or regiments , each provided with its u own light artillery . The flying col mn under Pla ’ ov m of t s im ediate command was composed four

chas teen regiments , to which were added a few seurs and dr agoons . The principal duty assig ned to the D onskoi troops was that of cover ing the flank s of the second army under the command of

old . his friend and patron , Prince Bagration A great rivalry soon sprang up between Na ’ pole on s scouts Polish uhlans and hussars and the Cossack cavalry . During the advance of King ’ Jerome s army ( at the ver y beginni ng of the French attack ) three regiments of uhlans on their THE HETMAN PLATOV 1 89

N ov or ou dk way to g a wer e cut off in the village of

’ K are li chi i P lat ov " by two reg ments of s tr oops . The gr eater par t of the uhlans fell or were taken r r r p isone at the fi st onslaught, while the rest wer e

’ pur sued t o the very outpost of Jer ome s head r qua ter s . For more than a month these combats between

r Polish and Cossack caval y continued . It was largely due to such minor engagements fought b e

old - mi tween these time ene es that the advance of

r so r the main F ench army was se iously retarded, a delay whi ch enabled Bagration t o retire in good

r B obr in k o der to his entrenchments at s . Thi s task accomplished Platov was ordered to

s r cros the Dnieper and to j oin the first a my . While attached to this new command Platov and his Cos sacks witnessed the terr ible disaster of the fir st bat tle of Bor dino . While this engagement was not of a char acter to give the Cossacks an opportunity r to employ thei peculiar tactics , nevertheless Prince

t ou sov - ia - r Kou , the aged commander chief , decla ed “ that Platov was getting t oo old f or active service . Showing little mercy f or an officer who had grown

r K ou t ou sov r e gr ey in the same se vice as himself, lie ve d the veter an of his command in the field , him r or der ing to proceed to the Don in o der to gather new r einfor cements . ’ P l at ov s soldier ly rej oinder t o this crushing blow was redoubled activity in ser ving the cause

Ka r or T h e Fifth Isvol a ski and t h e Second p . 1 90 THE COSSACKS

w e . of his beloved country, now g ro n so desp rate Every Cossack military colony had long since been nl swept of recruits at the first call to arms . O y the old men and children t oo young to bear arms had been left to help the women in tilling the field . ’ It was among these veterans of Catherine s wars and their younger grandchildren that Platov de in fin t e rme d to d material for his new regiments . Weapons were improvised from the ancient n trophies of former Cossack campaig s , taken from the walls and made over to suit more modern mu i ns u of nit o . From the Mon ment Victory erected after the Turkish wars before the new church in N ovot che rkask six ancient bronze cannon were r e covered and made serviceable by mounting them n of on cart wheels . In an i credibly short space ” time this heroic forlorn was ready for the road . Between g rey - headed heroes who had served with Potemkin and S ouvarov were placed children of twelve and fourteen glowing with pleasure at this ’ unexpected privilege of playing a soldier s part . None but a Cossack population could have pro duce d such a levy . At their head marched the sep t ua enarian mg hetman , now once more serving as the lls si ple colonel of a Cossack p o . The arrival of these recruits in th e Russian headquarters camp at Tarantino was the occasion of a spirited ovation . Without regard to the pres Kout ou sov ence of , the Cossack sires , in high spirits , showered good - natured abuse upon the regular

1 92 THE COSSACKS sans and such feeble troops as the veteran levies of the Don could now venture to measure their str ength against the most famous regiments of ’ ” r Napoleon s gua d . The English Cossack Wilson in his memoirs recounts a ghastly saying current in nk “ the Cossack ra s , It is a shame to leave such skinny ghosts wandering about without their graves .

Platov, restored once more to service with his old division, had singled out the corps commanded by the Viceroy of Italy as his special prey, troops which still courageously kept up a semblance of discipline . All day , through the driving snow , the fugitives saw far acr oss the terrifying expanse of w white plain about them , a long dark line follo ing out of of their march . Just musket shot , bands

Cossacks prowled awaiting nightfall . Around every bivouac their fit f ul sleep was haunted by a nightmare of Cossack pikes . To fall but a few paces behind the column meant a terrible death at the hands of outraged peasantr y and their Cossack protectors . 2 8 R ab ou a On October , near g , an attack in

r fo ce was made by a Cossack flying column , and of it the long straggling line fugitives , dragging a self like wounded snake across the steppes , was off cut in two . The rear half , thus hopelessly cut , tried to save itself by breaking up into little bands . Sixty- four cannon fell into the hands of the Cos sacks . The greater part of these troops perished THE HETMAN PLATOV 1 93

on from cold the steppes or wer e killed by the Cossacks . When the unfortunate Viceroy had taken refuge at Smolensk (without cavalry or transport and with only twelve cannon) , Platov, gathering fifteen r egiments and all the Don artil r y , e r le next engaged N y and the heroic rea guar d , “ r as taking f om the Lion , even his enemies called 1 3 00 the famous marshal , prisoner s and four cannon .

At Kovno , where the enemy were at last dr iven from Russian soil , Ney and his rearguard made a

final heroic stand . After another victory stub b ornl won y , Platov and his Cossacks hear d a Te

r Deum in the public square , the ho semen drawn up in grim and silent ranks , while the inhabitants

r knelt about them . Befo e the bell s which rang ou t so air i joyfully in the cold had ceased the r pealing, the Cossacks swept beyond the fr ontier into

History next notices Platov and his Cossacks

r r on l prepa ing to take pa t in the attack Danzig, stil ’ T h in the possession of Napoleon s German allies . e news that Frederick William of Pr ussia had finally summoned up cour age to j oin the Alliance in the “ ” Befr eiungskrieg caused the surr ender of that

r place . On the oad near Kalice , Platov was sent to meet the none too her oic Hohenzollern and soon after conducted himto the Gener al Staff of Em

T h e t r ue Slav always r efe r s to t he land we st of

Ru ssia in thi s wa y. 1 94 THE COSSACKS

e r or l of p A exander, the real Liberator Germany . “ At the famous Battle of the Nations , fought at in 1 81 3 Leipzig October, , Platov received the Cross

n r . of St . A d ew To reward his conduct during the engagement

r k - ou - r r nea Fran fort Ode , the e remained no higher honour t o bestow upon the hetman . The thanks of his sovereign and a di amond aigrette to or na ment his Cossack T shapka were the onl y official of means recognizing the valor of his troops . It n was , perhaps , fortu ate that the war was drawing to a close " The last warlike enterprise in whi ch we hear of Platov and hi s Cossacks was their chivalrous at P o e tempt to rescue the captive p at Fontainebleau .

rmfo t unat of r But the r e head the Roman Chu ch ( dragged about together with the royal treasures of France in the wake of the fallen conqueror ) had already left that place . Thus the strangest booty that could have fallen into the hands of the or thodox Cossacks of the Don escaped their well meant efforts . of h is Soon after the peace Paris , Platov made famous visit to London of whi ch we have already ” f ol had oc casion t o speak . The hundred days ’ lowing Napoleon s return from th e island of Elba cost the veteran a last long ride across E urope to the battle of Waterloo . His next return to the now peaceful shores of the

to . r Don was , however, be the last For three yea s

CHAPTER X

A F T - D A Y ‘ O A T H E COS S CKS O O . RG NIZA TION AND GOVE RNMENT

of T the close the imperial régime, the term Cossack” was legally applied to a distinct f class or caste within the Russian state , di feren t iat e d by well - de fine d rights and duties from the Fo ordinary subj ects of the empire . r military reasons the Tsar ’ s government fostered the clan spirit and esprit de c orps which has always char “ ” act e rize d the Free People . To the North Russian peasant the Cossack troops were often associated with measures of po

. e lice and oppression Historical reasons , as we hav seen , have also played their part in separating the ' — Cossack from the M ouj zk class whose infinite docility the former have always regarded with con e tempt and aversion . Yet the distrust existing b ” tween them and the great gray mass of the Rus sian peasantry did not prevent the Cossacks from playing a notable r éle in the events which brought 1 about the constructive revolution of 9 1 7 . The Cossacks are at present organized into “ ” eleven armies , each occupying its own settle

’

or . stanitzz or ment allotted territory Their , set 196

198 THE COSSACKS

t o n in order foster the commu ity spirit, all land ceded by the Russian crown to the different Cos ” t o sack armies was be held rigorously in common . This principle with certain modifications brought “ ” about by the passing of the frontier conditions ( notably in the Don reg ion ) underlies the system of Cossack land tenure to the present day . Each “ ” adult male Cossack soul is entitled to the use of 30 dessiatines ( about 75 acres ) of agricultural

r - land . These allotments may be e distributed yearly, and the quantity increased , if local condi tions ( such as the quality of the land ) make such “ a step desirable . The areas set aside for military ” h or se b r e e din purposes are used for forestry , and g , and as a reserve for the future needs of the com u m nity .

r r e ime admini s Under the fo mer imperial g , the “ ” t rat ion of the Cossack armies was placed di r e ctl of y under the ministry war, where a special “ Chancellery had charge of all matters affecting “ this class of citizens . A special Committee of the Cossack armies” aided the Chancellery in its de c isions all of l , and questions both civil and mi itary

r character we e decided by these two organizations .

r ad While in theo y elective , the members of this visory committee were formerly in reality ap pointed by the Minister of War . One of the first acts of the various Cossack congresses which rati fie d the change to a republican form of government w as to provide for a popular and representative ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT 1 99

i membership of this mportant body . The prin c i l a rm . : D on p Cossack a ies , viz , Uralsk , Terek, Koumban , Orenburg and Astrakhan , have each one on s m i per anent representative thi com ittee , wh le the smaller Cossack communities of Western and

Eastern Siberia have each one delegate . ” The head of each army preser ves the ancient of t amn f a a un title , an o fice usually iting the mili

of - r tary and civil duties a governor gene al . At ’ — the head of each st amtza whi ch usually com pri ses from one to four vill ages according t o the — ’ ' size of their population is placed a st amtzz ataman wh o r , is responsible for the gene al order .

r r Out of respect for Cossack pa ticula ism , each

’ mtz mi st a a in theory became an ad nistrative unit enj oying the fullest autonomy . The actual gover nment in most of these com munit ie s is generally exercised by a council of

r Cossack elders , generally men past milita y age,

r b whose pat iarchal decisions are respected y all . This council or sbor is responsible to a st anit za gather ing in which all the Cossack heads of families of in ar e represented . In view , however, the creasing population and the unwieldy proportions which these gatherings attained in many of the

’ st amtzi old of obshi kr on larger the principle the g , “ ” l i .e ., the Circle of All , is general y limited to communities not exceeding twent y or thi rty fam r ili e s . In the larger communities a rep esentative system has been adopted based on the universal 200 THE COSSACKS

-five suff rage of men over twenty years of age . De c isions must be reached in all important aff airs by

- the vote of at least a two thirds maj ority .

’ ' stamtzz non- or In the Cossack Cossacks , persons ” not of o the military class, are permitted to live n of the payment certain dues to the community, o but without the right to vote r hold office . ( Jews were formerly rigorously excluded from the en3oy ment of this privilege . ) Cossacks have the same fondness for cattle raising and other pastor al pursuits noticeable in the

r inhabitants of nea ly all new countries . Like the “ ” tr ue cowboy of the Far West - with whom he has much in common the Cossack will only put his hand t o the plow when driven to it by t h e o t h sternest necessity . Although in many parts f e Cossack country the soil of the steppes is surpass in l r of g y ich , the rigours a continental climate are felt with especial severity . In these vast almost f treeless plains droughts , loods and other climatic extremes are enemies of the Cossack husbandmen . Under the imper ial government the breeding of horses and cattle was especially encouraged in order to furnish mounts for the cavalry, and to ensure the best resul ts the Ministry of Agriculture pro vi e d d the Cossack herders with blooded stock . Breeding farms are established for the direction and supervi sion of this industry at convenient points . Besides horses a great part of the wealth of the

2 02 THE COSSACKS

o them as a distinct body in the c mmunity . Each l Cossack was sti l required to furnish his own horse , un iform and weapons , and the only changes made in the old conditions of Cossack service had in view placing the Cossack armies in a p osition enabling them to co- operate with the regul ar troops of the " Russian line fi Nearly all the Cossack troops engaged in the heroic struggle which the Russian army made on the side of the Alli es during the opening years of the World War, were cavalry formations . The levy of the united Cossack armies j ust before the war constituted a mi nimum of 1 44 cavalry regi ’ “ 830 s tma o ments , or hundreds and a quota of l light Cossack arti lery , accompanying the infantry l di visions . As Cossack cavalry dril included a certain training in infantry tactics , their services ul were usef even in trench warfare , but it was as scouts and raiders that the traditional Cossack qualities gained f or these troops such well - deserved reputation . For military purposes all male Cossacks are di vid d e e into two general categories , active and r m t h e ms ms ss k r W ms hile any of o t fa ou Co ac eg i ent r m r ff r r m s wea a unifo which di e s little f o tho e of t h e ss r r m r r r s o s t h m C s e Ru ian d agoon egi ent , o e cha acte i tic s k mr r ac ilita y d e ss i s an adaptation of t h e Ci r ca ssian t c h e r keska —t h e e u m convenient mar tial co stume of t h r M ss m n conque able u ul an Tcher kess t r ibesmen wh o i habit r t h e s s pa t of Cauca u . ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT 203 serve . The active category is again divided into three divisions : l o ( ) Preparatory, composed f Cossacks and c ili n adets undergoing m tary i struction . 2 ( ) Line Cossacks . 3 or di ( ) Depot reserve for the second vision . Cossack military service begi ns at eighteen year s and is continued as follows : three year s in the pr e paratory class ; twelve years in the line ; five years in “ n ” the reserve . The li e category, in view of the i i long service requ red, is d vided into three divisions , onl y the first of whi ch serves constantly with the c ol ours , while the other two are allowed to remain near “ l ” their homes subj ect to the cal to arms . ( See

R u ssian E nc clo edia r b . S aroff . y p , a ticle y A ) With the negligible exception of twenty in ” f ant r y hundreds and a greatly reduced quota

r of light Cossack artillery, nea ly all the Cossack “ ” ae r or u r . troops serve as caval y , dismo nted caval y l In addition to the reg ular Cossack troops the

r a r of impe i l a mies included a division cavalry, t o armed and drilled according Cossack methods , but exclusively recruited among the war -like tribes

r Le s hi ans D a he s of the Tche kess , Abkhazes , g , g l r tani , etc . These wi d ho semen , who compose the “ ” “ ” i or celebr ated Dikki Div sion Wild Division , enj oy not only a great reputation f or reckless

T h e above figu r es a r e bas ed upon widely diffe r ing “ ” data furni shed b y t h e u sual official s our ces befo r e t h e

a r e t h e r s r s r . r evolution . They given with g eate t e e ve 2 04: THE COSSACKS bravery but alsomfor the excesses which they are reputed to com it in enemy territory. Few, if any, of these troops are Cossacks , and only the sim ilarit y of dress and equipment causes them to be confused with the latter . On the other hand a bit ter rivalry exists between them and the true Cos sack troops against whom their ancestors were so in i long engaged frontier feuds and sk rmishes . ( This is the division which General Kornilov was reported to be leading in his much misunderstood movement against the former Provisional Govern ment . ) The Cossack divisions preserved their discipline to the last during the terrible moments when Bol shevik propaganda w as successfully sowing dis

in n . order the Russian li es As noted elsewhere , the Cossack regiments everywhere gave their sup port to the changes brought about by the const ru c tive revolution of March 1 9 1 7 ( conducted along “ lines so acceptable t o the traditions of the Free People ” ) By keeping intact military organization most of the Cossack regiments were able then to reach their own territory during the horrors of t he

Bolshevik demobilization . They thus escaped the l ot of so many wretched peasant soldiers of the old nl rég ime , who found it necessary to e ist in the ragged regiments of the Red Guards in order to keep body and soul together . When the Bolshevik officialdom directorate , which had replaced the of old i the rég me at Petrograd , sought to obtain Cos

2 06 THE COSSACKS

At a time when Russia is di stracted by the at tempts of doctrinaires to solve the vast problems of land tenure left by the collapse of the imperial r é gime , it is interesting to consider the present situ

st anit ation of the Cossack land holder . The zi rep resent a system of communal ownership developed by practical experience and adj ustment through a

r l long pe iod of time, and thorough y adapted to the needs of the Cossack community . U nl ike the grinding tyranny of the mir the primitive communal system under which the Russian peasants of the north sought t o administer their own affairs the Cossack system has been able to i e fi ort give wide latitude to indiv dual , and even to adapt itself to the passing of frontier conditions by frankly admitting the right t o private ownership . Thus land ( such as orchard and homestead land) wher e permanent improvements have been made ’ through the owner s own ou tlay of work or capital becomes , with certain restrictions , private prop

e r t . n y It is , therefore , easy to u derstand why Bolshevik p r opaganda has met with so little suc not cess , only among the peasant proprietors of r n the Uk ai e , where Cossack civilization ceased to a o Cos exist many years g , but also in the newer “ ” r sack te ritories, of the armies established during the last century along the eastern frontiers of N e w s Russia . In spite of the infiltration of landles peasants from the Nor th among the Cossack set t le ment s of e , the doctrines Marxian Socialism hav ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNMENT 207 ge nerally met with a hostile reception thr oughout the Cossack territories . The situation was well set forth in the homely language of a delegate of the Uralsk Cossacks to “ the Cossack congress in Petrog rad : The C os — ‘ ’ — sacks or Free People of Russia have not maintained their liberty and manhood during these centuries of crushing autocratic tyranny without learning how to preserve their own liberties in their w o n fashion . The spectacle aff orded us by the prophets of a Socialistic cul t imported from Ger many and preached by an alien race is enough to of disgust any lover freedom , to whatever nation he may belong . It seems to be forgotten incer tain parts of Russia that in the organization and administration of our kas ak x lands we have our selves developed what may be called the onl y prae m t o tical system of co munity life be found in ac w ’ tual operation any here on the world s surface . “ We , therefore , demand, and feel ourselves i more than ever prepared to nsist upon , the main t e nance under a democratic order of the privilege — to manage our own aff airs a privilege which could not be withheld from us under a tyrannical nl autocracy. This can o y be secured , we feel cer mof tain , through a régi e complete local autonomy embracing all the widely differing provinces of the of old empire . The geographical character the Russian empire clearly indicate s what form of gov h s e rnment should there exist . T is hould be similar 208 THE COSSACKS to that prevailing in the United States : a fe deral s our ol republic, wherein the Cossack territorie , d neighbours of the Ukr aine and the reg ions of North

Russia, will all find their place , and freedom to live their own lives according to their own tradi n ” tions and aspiratio s.

21 0 T HE COSSACKS steppes have di sappeared in a cloud of dust and a scamper of hoofs towards the more congenial frontiers of Asiatic Russia their spirit remains alive in the individualistic and independent peas o ant landholders f Little Russia . “ A ny description of the old Cossack country of c of South Russia , notably the provin es the Don , must first take into account the geographical in fl uences of the great steppes upon the development of t z this ypical civili ation . The great prairies of wil d grass have given way

- i a nd to far stretch ng wheat fields, the Cossack st anitzi have been replaced by the vil lages of South e Russian peasants . Nevertheless conditions p culiar to the Black Sea littoral still give a charac~ t er ist ic of note to the scenery . Travellers every race and country have exhausted their vocabulary in trying to convey some idea of the eff ect made upon the observer by the ceaseless uniformity of e this landscape . The r ader will , therefore , be spared a re petition of these descriptions and asked instead to consider the more cheerful side of the subj e c t the enormous agricultu ral possibilities and the stores of natural wealth which in many

r places unde lie these plains . For in spite of their monotony when viewed from the standpoint of scenery the steppes of Little Russia are perhaps the richest agricultural region in the world . Their fertility is due to the famous “ ” t shern z ml un o e i or black earth which covers the THE DON 2 1 1 derlying strata for more than a yard in thickness a deposit which except for certain sandy stretches , extends over nearly the entire souther n of n portion Russia from the D ieper to the Caspian . In many places the name pop ul arly given this rich soil is no exaggeration, for when newly turned by the plow it is almost as black as coal . The compo sitiou of this natural garden soil is due t o a century of long process . Layers decaying vegetation are deposited by the natural crop of grasses with which these plains are covered every season when left uncultivated . The Russian peasant firmly b e lie ve s that even without manure or artificial fer t ilize r the richness of this land is inexhaustible . In many parts scientific investigation seems to bear out his contention that manures are not only su

f . per luous , but detrimental By plowing to a depth of only six inches the black earth is capable of gi ving phenomenal crops f or five or six years in succession after which if allowed to lie fallow dur ing a few seasons all it s fer tility appears to return . It is this natural richness of soil which has brought about the dangerously improvident forms of agricul ture t o which the Cossack farmer is

. d t o wedded Indee , his inability compete with more skillful farmers from less fertile localities lies at the bottom of his slow exprop r iation by the latter when ever they meet in open competition . If fertility were the only question to be considered in the black e arth region , the plains of South Russia would be 2 1 2 THE COSSACKS an agricultural paradise and the Cossacks and peasants inhabiting them the happiest of men . U n

r fo tunately, however, these vast plains are the scene of such sudden and violent changes of weather

r ff that no human ingenuity may forestall thei e ect . So powerful are the rays of the southern sun that disastrous droughts frequently result from a sea sonable rainfall deferred but for a few days .

r r Again , unde no mal winter conditions these plains ar e of covered by snow for five months the year, forming a necessar y protection against the biting frost which otherwise destroys the autumn sowing . “ ” But in many par ts of the black earth region (notably towar ds the east ) the violent winds of

or r n winter blow unchecked by hill fo est, carryi g

r away the snowy covering , the eby allowing the soil

or to freeze sometimes to a depth of a yard more . In such cases the whole p r ocess of sowing must be

r o begun over again in the spring . The prefe ence f “ ” the Cossack old - timer for cattle raising and

r on r b eeding , even such fe tile pasturage, is there

r for e r eadily to be unde stood . In the face of great natural forces wholly b e

r omni o yond his cont ol , fatalism and faith in the p tence of a higher power are outstanding charac

r i t e ist c s of the Cossack farmer . These qualities

r car ied beyond a certain point are, however , curi ou sly liable to resemble indolence and improvi

lVIor e ove r dence . , these faults are especially dan g e rou s when they do not carry with them the in

21 4; THE COSSACKS grain cultivation of whi ch ends onl y at the foot of their dingy walls . No wonder that an unconquerable optimism the true American “ western spirit” pervades the o v population f these fa oured lands . In the clear ’ air and flooding sunlight of the old steppes the northern Russian peasant nature expands with re “ of r e newed activity . The strong force passive ” of i r sistance , so characteristic the fatal stic No th of Slav civilization , is transformed into a source boundless physical energ y . Even the great work shops and foundries se t down among the smiling landscape of fields and orchards lose much of the grim enslaving aspect which characterize the roar ing mills of the commercial quarters of Petrograd i and Moscow . In the prom sed land of the old Cos “ ” sack Republic of the Don a new commercial pr o l e t ariat is arising a new race of workers who seem to have absorbed some of the sturdy tradi of of tions freedom the early inhabitants . t of n Kharkov is a ci y about i habitants . The ancient architectural features of the old

U krani an capital have all but disappeared . German on influence is evident every hand . A hideous Lutheran Church of raw red brick raises its towers next to the bul bous cupolas of the Russian cathe l dral , whi e long streets are lined with houses and ” shops in the modern style of Munich and of Carlsruhe . Indeed , the threat German com mercial domination was the dir ect cause of the early THE DON 2 15 revolutionary movements which broke out in Khar kov in 1 9 1 7 . Another reason for this hostile at t it ude to the German influence at Petrograd lay in the fact that Kharkov had a large population of

Poles from German Poland , who had settled here in the freer commercial atmosphere of Russia . A few hours ride beyond Kharkov brings the r st anitzi travelle to the first of the Don Cossacks . The first view of these villages shows them to b e long to a different civi lization . Comparison with of mu k' the settlements the o j i workmen who have invaded their territory since the opening of the great modern factories of the D onet z makes this

' f . mu k o i contrast the more remarkable For the j , i s even in new surround ngs , long remain true to type . Even where there is little to prevent their villages from spreading at their ease across the steppes , ’ or of atavism , love each other s company, keeps them crowded about the great red - brick factory m an buil di ngs , in uch the same way that their ce st or s huddled about the fortresses of their over

- lords in the Tartar raided pinewoods of the north . The villages inh abited by the true natives of the soil present a far diff erent appearance . The first

’ mt z inh abi view of the Cossack st a a shows that their tants take interest not only in the outer appearances , but also concerning questions of cleanl iness and : sanitation . Another significant fact schoolhouses begin to appear beside the churches . Each neat 2 16 THE COSSACKS fenced g arden is of precisely the dimensions pre ’ ml scribed by its owner s i itary rank in the Cossack lk po . Even the favourite sunflowers of Little Rus sia h n , w ich stand senti el about every modest door e in way, seem to have been mano uvred to place at ’ m the drillmaster s com and . Orchards whose boughs are nearly breaking with their weight of fruit , and an occasional vineyard n producing the heady Cossack wi e , show the suita bilit y of this rich steppe land f or any kind of agri culture . There is , however, another side to the picture . Often for miles at a stretch , the land lies fallow or is left in luxurious pasture for herds of u cattle , sheep and st rdy little Cossack horses , among whom occasionally appears the gaunt apoc alypt ic silhouette of a camel mother and her ungainly offspring . Now and again the sight of a wheat - fie ld stretching in its broad shimmering ex panse t o a misty horizon g ives an insight into the of true agricultural possibilities the Don country, “ ” of m e r but this latter method far ing wholesale , minding one of America or the Canadian provinces

of no . the West , is in way indigenous to the soil Even the implements used in this form of hus r flimsie r o bandry are American , the cheaper and

German imitation of American models . Cossack capital is often interested in the development of

- - - these grain lands , yet even the well to do Cossack proprietor still infinitely prefers to do his farming of by hand . The owner many such broad acres is

21 8 T HE COSSACKS policy of toleration . Armenians and Jews are obtaining control of nearly all the retail business in of t he the neighbourhood Rostov, and even in last stronghold of Cossack conservatism N ovotcher of a kask . Yet, in spite these signs of the ch nging times the Cossack stil l remains to a surprising de i gree the master in h s own house . e f re The old Cossack communal syst m , while of quently modified by alien changes , has , in point fact , prospered exceedingly through this peaceful fi invasion . A de nite share in the increment earned of st anitza falls to nearly every member the . Thanks t o the conservative workings of Russian law the proprietor is as har d to expropriate as the traditional limpet . This many a promoter of mod ern , if dubious , prosperity discovered to his cost . With respect to every new project proposed the ffi sa Cossack o cials and elders must have their y, and a spir it of healthy cons ervatism prevails in their councils . of N ovot ch erkask Even the first glimpse , the

Cossack capital , will show that here, at least , the old t ways are still followed . The s reets , though

-b o wide and tree ordered , are often s steep that only a horseman may safely negotiate the grade . On of a the crest the highest hill rises the cathedral , war like little shrine set about with cannon and other trophies captured from the Turks and Engli sh dur i ing the Cr mean war . In a narrow space of flat ground in front of the sbor stands a fine statue of TH E DON 2 19

s the famou hetman Yermak , the embodiment of

Cossack genius , who first conquered Siberia for the

Russian empire in the days of Ivan the Terrible . A ll about the Cathedral are built the g reat barracks and other military dependencies , while even the private houses clearly indicate the military rank of rather than the wealth their owners . i The little museum , wh ch stands near by, is a veritable Acropolis f or the whole D onskoi race and the treasur es it contains are proudly exhibited to the rare visitor : crudely carved Scythian idols of i of are reminders the prim tive Lords the Steppes ,

' beautiful ly chisell ed Greek coffins tell of the early commercial colonies established on the Black Sea littoral ; marble slabs bearing long inscriptions in Latin record a succeedi ng influence that of the Genoese merchant - lords who formerly occupied “ strategi c points on the great Highway of the Na ” tions .

Next to these remains , showing the commercial

' D on importance of the basin in ancient times , are

- piously preserved the regalia , half Tartar, half

r old at a Ch istian , of the Cossack chieftains and mans : a of the Don horset il standards , copied from

' those c ari'ie d before the Asiatic khans when they - bou ndchouks went to war ; the heavy silver gilt , or

- of f r war clubs , formerly the insignia o fice, ca ried by the hetman ; icons and Cossack standards em broidered with the pictures of wonder- working of U saints and martyrs the kraine, who aecom 220 THE COSSACKS pani e d the wild chivalry of the D on in their wars ale r against the T art a s. There is also preserved in the museum a me ’ mento of Empress Catherine s famous j ourney through the newly conquered provinces of Southern

Russia . It was from the window of a travelling vehicle ( which sh e presented to the D onskoi ) that she gazed upon the carnivalesque villages which the zeal of her favourite Potemkin caused t o be wr ted all along the route followed by the imperial cortege in its j ourney across the empty Cossack steppes . The boisterous welcome of the Cossack st anitzi of the Don a contrast to the theatrical re3oicing s of ’ ba ader es P ot e mkin the fictitious peasants and y of s improvised population seems to have pleased the august sovereign , who showed them the most gra

iou s . D onskoi c side of her character The , in turn , elected her an “ honorary Cossack ” and still cherish the memory of Mother Catherine ’ s visit to their capital . In the library of the museum are carefully pre served the charter s and other documents attesting the privileges conferred upon the D onskoi race by

Another inter esting r elic i s a finely jewelled swo r d “ p r e sented b y t h e Mer chant s of t h e City of London ( in r ecognition of t h e s er vice s t h e Co s sacks r ender ed to t h e cause of t h e G r and Al liance of a centur y ago against “ ” t h e mr s wel t - oli t ik N t h e f a i pe iali tic p of apoleon) to s m T e m ch rk as ou het an Platov , a native of old k, and one e r s t h e r s of t h founde of p e ent city .

THE DON 221

succeeding Tsars , each confirming the rights which the valour of the Cossack armies obtained at the hands of the Russian autocrats . N ovot che rkask is the centre of the Cossack edu

cat ional . system It boasts of a large institution , the “ ” Academy, whose faculty was famous all over

Russia for the sturdy independence of its teachings . The Cossack school system was liberally endowed and illi teracy is lower in the D on st anitzi than in o old any province f the empire . CH APTER XII

TH E FRONTIERS OF E UROPE

E S S than a c entury ago no traveller would have dreamed of crossing the river Don with — out a strong escort of Russian troops unless j ourneying as the guest of some Cossack chieftain “ ” or hetman of the Cossacks of the Black Sea . Con cerni ng this wild countr y the Englishman Clarke “ ” wrote in his celebrated Travels in the Ukraine as “ follows : Here one finds the Cossack race still living according to the manners and customs of their ancestors . A savage pride in their complete independence is reflected in their dress and manner of existence . Each Cossack is the equal of every of other member the community, whether clad in

m - n or in si ple sheep skins and dwelli g in a cave , habiting a fine well - built house and dressed in ” velvet c overed with gold and silver lace . And until the coming of the great trunk line connecting ” the Petroleum - Metropolis of Bakou on the Cas " - ou - pian Sea with Rostov Don , these primitive frontier conditions were to be found existing over t o of all the fertile steppes the north the Caucasus .

s —on- D on is s m mr Ro tov a bu y young co e cial city r and s r i r for t h e D on r t he po t di t ibut ng cent e egion. It 222

22 4 THE COSSACKS sit ch or , the armed camp stronghold whence they formerly se t at defiance not only the authority of the Turks and Tartars , but also (when it so pleased their humour) the commands of the Russian Tsars as well . At the present day the descendants of the “ Free Companions” differ little from other Cossack of communities the Russian frontier . The enter prise and ener gy which characterized their forbears now is exercised along wholly peaceful lines . Foreign agricultural machines are sold in all the principal shops of Ekaterinodar . The spectacle afforded by a bewhiskered Cossack armed with the n n i evitable dagger, peacefully bestridi g an Ameri can mowing machine is wholly typical of the “ ” r new days . Bee culture , a t aditional occupation of o the steppes , where the wildflowers give honey f especially agreeable flavour, is another vocation car ried on with success by these descendants of the of redoubtable pirates the Lower Dnieper . In the sandier parts of the plains cattle and sheep raising ( pastoral pursuits in which the Cossack population excel ) are the p r incipal source of the wealth of ” these fortunate Cossacks of the Kuban .

Al of ong the foothills the great Caucasian walls , where the Terek flows through flat , sandy plains to “ the Caspian Sea , lies the territory of the Cossack Army of the Terek To the nor th lies a salt desert inhabited only by nomad Buddhist Kal THE FRONTIERS OF EU ROPE 225 moncks so isolated by their inhospitable su r roundings that they are able to continue the primi tive existence of their forefathers within a few hun dred versts as the crow flies of Russian civili

zation. s These are generally peaceably di posed , but in the mountains to the south of the Terek in the highland fastness of Kab ar dia and Daghestan dwell Mussulman tr ibes whose independent spir it

o r r is a c ntinual source of petty diso der . He e , in a

ab r r r verit le natural fo t ess , the Caucasian he o

S ch aml y and his followers made their last heroic stand ag ainst the Russian forces but half a centur y ago . b t In the isolated valleys , unvisited except y hat

- unwelcome fellow brigand , the Russian tax gath ’ h ml s S c a erer, y descendants have maintained their tribal customs to the p r esent day . On these the Cos

t n t zi r sack s a i still keep ca eful watch , for now and again some local Robin Hood ventures to exercise the old tribal right to exact an involuntary toll on I6 the Russian post r oadsfi ’ i s In Tolstoi s splendid story, The Cossack, found the following description from the Russian

- old st anitzi of view point of the Grebenski , whom the pr esent - day Cossacks of the Kuban and Terek are the successors :

’ But a few months befo r e t h e wr iter s la st visit l adikavka s h a d to V , a noted outlaw been hunted down I k s r wh o by t h e Ter ek Co ssacks . tal ed with eve al people ’ s r r s r t h e h a d seen thi popula he o body b ought into city, 226 THE COSSACKS

in The whole l e of the Terek along which , for t st an t o some eigh y versts , are scattered the i zi , r of Gre b e nsk villages the y Cossacks , has a di s o t inct ive character, by reason not only f it s situa

of ul . i tion , but also pop ation The river Terek , wh ch n separates the Cossacks from the mou taineers , ll flows turbid and swift , but sti in a broad and tran on quil current , constantly depositing gray silt the

- low , reed g rown right bank, and undermining the steep but not lofty left bank , with its tangled roots

- of century old oaks , decaying plane trees , and un ls rb ru sh . au de On the right bank lie , or native nk villages , peaceable but restless ; along the left ba , or half a verst from the river , and seven eight versts

a . r apart , stretch the Coss ck villages In forme of t or times , the maj ority hese villages outposts were on the very edge of the river ; but the Terek each year, sweeping farther away from the moun r e tains towa d the north , has kept undermining th m , in old i and now there remain sight only the ru ns , i gardens , pear trees , poplars , and l mes , thickly r overgrown , and twined about with blackbe ries and - one l wild grape vines . No any longer ives there, nl of r on and the o y signs life are the t acks the sand , made by deer, wolves , hares , and pheasants, which haunt such places . st anitza st anitza A road runs from to , through - Al the forest , as a cannon shot would fly . ong the road are the military stations or cordons , guarded by Cossacks . Between the cordons are watch

m b h is r s t h e r sm acco panied y weeping elation and t ibe en wh o r s r efu ed to abandon thei feudal chief , even in death . s h ad m r s a h The e beco e volunta y captive upon he r ing t e

s his n m . new of u ti ely end

228 THE COSSACKS

kept up their relations with the mountaineers , and l the chief traits of their character are love of iberty,

. nfl o l aziness , brigandage , and war The i uence f nl Russia has been exerted o y in a detrimental way, by forced conscriptions , the removal of their bells , and the presence of troops quartered among them . The Cossack is inclined to have less detestation for the mountaineer - j ig it who has killed his brother than for the soldi er wh o is quartered on him for the sake of protecting his village , but who scents up

- his b ut with tobacco smoke . He respects hi s moun tain enemy ; but he disdains the soldier, whom he r egards as an alien oppressor . In the eyes of the Cossack the Russian peasant is a nondescript creature , uncouth and beneath con of tempt, the type which he finds in the peripatetic l or Little Russian pedd er emigrant, called by the

- sh a oval or . Cossacks p , tile wearer The height of style there is to dress like the

Tcherkess . His best weapons are procured from the mountaineers ; from them also his best horses are r bought or stolen . The young Cossack brave p ides on of himself his knowledge the Tartar language , i s on and , when he a drunken spree , he speaks

Tartar even with his brother . h In fact t is petty population of Christians , bar de d r n r ica in a little co ner of the world , surrou ded - m by semi civilized Moham edan tribes and by sol diers , regards itself as having attained the highest of on degree culture , looks the Cossack as alone of f worthy the name of man , and a fects to despise ne every o else . The Cossack spends the most of his time at the cordons , in expeditions , hunting and r fishing . He almost never wo ks at home . His hi u presence in s st anitza is an exception to the r le , THE FRONTIERS OF EU ROPE 229

r but wmhen he is the e he lounges . Wine is a common r com odity among all the Cossacks , and d unken ness is not so much a universal propensity as it is - f ulfilmnt e a rite, the non of which woul d be r e gar ded as apostasy . The Cossack looks on a woman as the instrument

- of his well being . Only while sh e is unmarried does he allow her t o be idle and make mer ry ; but when she is once a wife he compels her to work f or him of from youth to the very end old age . He is thor oughly Oriental in his demand on her obedience

. of of and toil As the result this state things , woman , though to all appearances in subj ection , becomes powerfully developed both physically and l morally , and , as is common y the case in the East, possesses incomparably more influence and conse u e nce in f r q domestic a fai s than in the West . Her seclusion from society and her inurement to hard manual labour g ive h e r still more author ity and com

ff . mand in domestic a airs The Cossack who , in the of p r esence strangers , regards it as unbecoming to talk affectionately or gossip with his wife , cannot help feeling her super ior ity when he is left alone with her . His whole house , his whole estate, his ui whole establishment have been acq red by her, and ar e maintained solely by her labours and exertions . And though he is obstinately convinced that toil is f or degrading a Cossack , and is the proper occupa r r e t tion only of a Nogai labou e or a woman, y he has a dim consciousness that everything that redounds own r e to his comfort , and that he calls his , is the of sult of this toil , and that it is in the power his or mother his wife , even though he looks on her as r his i his se f , to deprive him of all that makes l fe agreeable . 230 THE COSSACKS

r Mo eover, the constant hard field labour , and the duties intrusted to them , give a peculiarly inde “ ” u re b n pendent , masc line character to the g e women , and have served to develop in them , to a remarkable degree , physical powers , healthy minds , decision and stability of character . The women are for the most part stronger and more intelligent , better developed and handsomer, than the men . The “ ” beauty of the women among the Gr e b ensky ( or Ter ek ) Cossacks is due to the striking union in them of the purest type of the Tcherkess with the full and powerful build of the northern woman . i dr : t t h e The r usual ess is Tcherkess the Tar ar shirt , b shmt - ni - e e , or under tu c, and the foot gear called c h u vyaki; but they wear the kerchiefs in the Rus

. n of sian way The weari g clean , rich and elegant r of attire , and the deco ation their cottages , belong i ” to the nseparable conditions of their existence .

Whi le the monotonous garrison routine of the st anitzi of the Terek still offers the occasional con genial adventure of a foray against their wild mountaineer neighbours , the Astrakhan Cossacks in who have their headquarters the picturesque , but of unhealthy metropolis the lower Volga , are prin cipally engaged in the lucrative but unwarlike trade

a of fishing . The Astrakhan Cossacks form a f st n disappeari g branch of the Cossack race . Origi nally an offshoot of the D onskoi they are now slowly being absorbed by the neighbouring non l Cossack popu ation . The whole nor thern end of the shallow sandy

232 THE COSSACKS

kra it s i , only to be obtained at best near the place of origi n .

0K fli' 0 fi

Just across the administrative boundaries of European Russia lies the little Cossack capital of

Uralsk , still in many ways the most characteristic of the Cossack communi ties . The adventurous his tory of this frontier stronghold is especially associ ated with the name of P oug at ch ev and the great of of Cossack revolt the reign Catherine II . Fol “ lowing the defeat of the armies of the False Peter ” III , only accomplished after a long and bitter of J aile f or struggle , the ancient name , which had merly distingui shed both the Cossacks and their country, was changed to its present name of " Uralsk . On account of their isolation from their neigh U ralski K asaki bours , the have preserved many of nn the ma ers and customs of the ancient Cossacks , of long since abandoned by the Cossacks the Don . In these rarely visited di stricts the ancient system of Cossack land tenure and communal existence in A are still maintained all their purity. ( See p pe ndix . ) of U The Cossacks the ralsk deserve, perhaps more than any other branch of their race , to be “ ” old called the true survivors of the Free People .

’ t h e r s vi s U r sk 1 9 1 6 t h e Since autho it to al , in , old m a ik h a s r na me of J been esto r ed by a vote of t h e Co ssack m . co unity THE FRONTIERS OF EUROPE 2 33

For more than three hundred years they have T o figured in Russian hi story . the remnants of of i i ancient tribes , perhaps Scythian orig n , fug tive Russian peasants and other foreigners j oined them selves to form the earliest community inhabiting th e a k shores of the J i . Among these first settlers of were many religious refugees , a majority them belonging to the strange Russian sect known as “ ” R askolniki or Old Believers . These Russian sectarians , rather than obey the reforming edicts of the Tsars who desir ed to modernize the ritual of r God the ancient faith , fled to the dese ts to worship i of after the primitive fash on their fathers . A cen sus made during the reign of Peter the Great ( 1 723 ) shows that the colony included the members of of several sects dissenters , many of whom held to of R kolniki creeds stranger than those the as . Along the shores of the J aik all who were persecuted and oppressed , whether Poles , Hungarians or Cossacks of the Don , could live their lives as they pleased . It was not until the end of the eighteenth century that the Russian Government sought to exercise any control other than a nominal supervision over

- these liberty loving citizens . It is to be feared , however , that the Cossack Puritans of Uralsk had their own strange ideas of the ethi cs of freedom :

or of f , as one their rollicking songs expresses it ,

‘ r mr ss k l s Fo e ly we Co ac fe low m t h e se a Sailed at ho e upon ; Our long boat s upon t h e water s r s Took a toll f r omKh iv and Pe ia .

r di . r ce See an a r ticle by N . Bo o n Popula Scien

Monthly . 234 THE COSSACKS As long as these austere brigands confined their attention to the subj ects of the Shah and the Khan of Khiva the Russian Government interfered but f little with their a fairs . It was only when , at the of end the eighteenth century, Russian trade upon the Caspian began to be an important factor that of the business piracy fell upon evil days . However , the great extension which contact with Russian merchants gave to the fishing industry more than made up for the toll which the Cossacks formerly levied on the trade passing near their shores . A n h interesting istorical note , concerning these ” n fishing Cossacks , may be fou d in Hak ’ ” l uyt s Voyages . In this account we are told 1 673 ff that in , Master Geo rey Ducket, returning from his fifth voyage for the Muscovy Company , “ ul of of ran afo these pirates , when , by reason the variety of the winds and dangerous flats of the Caspian Sea ” he was riding at anchor near their h shores . He tells that certain Rus Cossacks , w ich ar e outlaws or banished men came to us with divers boats under cover of friendship and entered ” r of ou ship . The suspicious conduct these visi tors , however, soon undeceived the wise British merchants with respect to their intentions and they “ thereupon took their hatchets and skowr e d the ” hatches . For many years the U ral ski Cossacks have lived as orderly and peaceable an existence as frontier t o conditions permit . They were among the first

2 36 THE COSSACKS

’ sia s ambition the rich oases of Khiva , Merv, B o

of Mu ssu khara , and Samarkand , the centre hnan cul ture and power in the days of the World Empire of Tamer lane . Between Orenburg and Tashkent a commercially of strategic line railway, which may be said to rank bu t t o - second in importance the Trans Siberian , now unites European Russia with these prosperous

Asiatic markets . The wonderful fruits grown in the or chards of Samarkand and Bokhara were b e fore the present disturbances transported via Oren bur g in long trains of refrigerating cars and distributed all over the Moscow area . On the far Chinese frontier a great cotton - raising district had al so sprung into existence du ring the last t wo of nm decades imperial gover ent , when the abroga tion of the Russo - American commercial treaty caused the government to aim at becoming economi in cally independent this respect .

r on The present city of Orenbu g, standing a high f blu f, overlooking a boundless sweep of Tartar n steppes , is fast losi g its Cossack character through nfl of the i ux an alien commercial population .

In the neat public gardens of Orenburg, where befor e the advent of the Bolsheviki a Cossack band t o discoursed almost nightly the promenaders , the population of Orenburg could be studied in all the strange variety of its racial elements . Apparently on of inh abi the best terms , the Russianized Tartar tants and the military and civil officials of the gov THE FRONTIERS OF EUROPE 237 e rnment here met on common ground . Hither came the comely Tartar maiden ( who of h e r national costume onl y retained the not unbecoming Tartar headdr ess ) t o flirt discreetly with the stu of C i dents the ossack m litary school . On the benches sat Sart and Tartar merchants talking over ’ the day s business with Russian or Armenian shop keeper s . Ranking after the territory of the Don and

Uralsk Cossacks in extent , the land of the Oren

h in r burg Cossacks , stretc ing a long na row band of along the course the upper Uralsk River, is far

r mo e Cossack in character than the capital city . Yet under the coloni al policy of the old imperial gov e rnme nt , the fertile land was becoming filled with

- r non- mu new come s of the Cossack class o j ik colonists from the overcrowded villages of the north , besides Tartar peasants from the south .

- Even the half nomad tribesmen , Kirghiz and Kal

n r mo cks , who have wande ed over these plains since nn the days of the Golden Horde, are now begi ing to settle in village communities . Often these little agglomerations are composed partly of mud huts old or hovels , partly of the felt tents of the more

r conservative t ibesmen .

r r Eve ywhe e the virgin soil is capable , even under

r m the most p i itive agricultural conditions , of phe nomenal r eturns f or labour expended upon it . The statistics of Orenbur g show that the popul ation of r this province and its dependencies we e , before the 238 THE COSSACKS

war, among the most rapidly growing communities of Russia . The Russian has always been successful as an Asiatic colonist f or reasons worthy of considera “ ” new tion by our mandatory powers . In this “ ” n - one melti g pot may study the process , so much “ ” freer of race - p r ide than the Anglo - Saxon h methods of colonization, w ich enabled the Tsarist government to fling wide the frontiers of their Em

r pire du ing the last half of the nineteenth century . In this task of Europeanization the Cossack has o played an important r le . Fitted by his origin and history to be an intermediary between East and

West , he is happily endowed with sympathy and understanding for two often irreconcilable view points . Above all , he has none of the fine contempt “ ” for the yellow races which ’ b eset s the Anglo not Saxon , to mention the now happily disarmed K ultur apostles of . Aside from the pathetic and ridiculous attempts of the Bolsheviki to introduce their stereotyped Marxian kult ur into the world — old Cosmos of Asia Russia has played a note

r o wo thy r le in her Asiatic dominions . While show

imilat ion ing powers of as , only to be explained by

i s r of Russian racial h to y, the rule Tsarism was generally less resented among her subj ect nations ’ than England s milder sway in India . Autocracy and its methods came from Asia and is in no sense generally disliked by the vast maj ority of Asiatics

- to day .